Proceedings
of the
Royal
Geographical Society (Great Britain)
Norton Shaw, Francis
Galton, Clements Robert Markham, William Spottiswoode,
Henry Walter Bates, John Scott Keltie
Published 1879
The Basin of the Helmand.
By C. E. MARKHAM, C.B., Secretary K.G.S.
(Read
at the Evening Meeting, February 24th, 1879.)
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Page 195
and even Sir Henry Rawlinson
hesitates to pronounce a decided opinion on the subject.
The whole of the region on the southern slopes of the
Siah-Koh, and in the upper valleys of the Farah-rud,
Khash-rud, Helmand, and Arghandab is inhabited by the
Aymaqs and Hazaras. The Aymaqs are to the west of the
Hazaras, and inhabit the Ghori country, numbering some
450,000 souls. They are chiefly occupied as shepherds,
living in tents, their chiefs occupying strong castles. The
Aymaqs are divided into Taimanis, Timuris, and Zuris.
The Farah-rud River drains part of
the Ghori country, and flowing south-west for about 200
miles,' falls into the Lake of Seistan. It is crossed by
the main road from Kandahar to Herat, and
Connolly says that it is nearly dry during part of the
year. But in the spring it is a wide and deep river, and
during floods caravans are sometimes detained for weeks.
A great deal of the water is taken off for irrigation.
The Khash-rud, east of the
Farah-rud, also rises in the Siah-Koh. Conolly describes
it as having a broad bed with not much water. In the low
country, as they approach the lake, these rivers have
their banks fringed with tamarisk -bushes, mimosa; and
dwarf palm.
The River Helmand rises at Fazindaz
in the Paghman Mountains, 11,500 feet above the sea, and
after a south-westerly course of 700 miles, falls into
the Seistan Lake. Near its source it is crossed, at
Gardan-Diwar, by the Kabul and Bamian
(Bamiyan) road, between the Unai and Hajikhak
Passesand here the elevation is 10,076 feet. At this
point the Helmand Valley has been visited by Masson,
Burnes, Wood, Griffith, and by English officers during the First
Anglo Afghan War (1838 - 1842). The river flows along
the northern skirt of the plateau of Urt, a plain on the
crest of the Paghman Range 8 miles wide, and 9000 feet
above the sea. Here it is joined by the Ab-i-Siah stream
coming from the southern slope of the Hajikhak Pass.
Thence it passes on, down a deep valley for 35 miles,
hugging the southern skirts of the Koh-i-Baba, to Ghaoch-
Khol, a village at the junction of the Ab-i-Dilawar. The
banks are fringed with rose-bushes and osiers. It next
receives rivers on the left bank from the Paghman Hills,
called the Tirin and Gurumah, which flow through
districts called Tirin, and Nesh; surveyed by Captain
Sanders in 1840. After leaving the mountains through
which it flows for several hundred miles, the Helmand
takes a course along the eastern border of a pastoral
district called Zamindawar, which extends for 40 miles to
the west of the river. Most of the wool exported from Afghanistan comes from
Zamindawar; which district is inhabited by the Alizai
branch of the Durani clan of Afghans. An important river
called the Bugran, rising in the Siah-Koh, and flowing
for some distance parallel with the Khash-rud, waters
Zamindawar from north to south, and falls into the
Helmand. Lieutenant Cooper, in 1840, mapped about 80
miles of the course of the Bugran, from the Helmand to a
place called Hazar-Darakht, far up in the mountains.
| JBOC Note: |
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The Taimani people date back to the
Il Khanid dynasty era of Iran. In a fight
over succession, status, and power the 4
branches of the Mongol people went to
war. The Taimani were of the Golden Horde
and they became trapped in Afghanistan
after they were seperated from the Golden
Horde by the IL Khanid Mongols. They
were welcomed in to the Herat area by
the Khan of the Chagatai Mongols who
allowed them to stay. See a
Seh Mihraba Taimani Rug to the left.
The people we now know as the Timuri are
the descendents of the people who went
with the Safavi. In the very beginning of
the 17th century Shah
Abbas the Great created two of the
final Kizilbash tribal federations both
in the eastern end of his Empire. The
first group were the Popalzai tribe the
founding tribe of Durrani Pashtuns, who I
will deal with elsewhere. They were given
land between Herat
and Kandahar.
The Turkic tribes of the Herat
area were organized as the Chahar Aimaq.
Since the Chahar Aimaq confederation
ceased to exist years ago it is easiest
to see them as a language group. The
descendents of the people who belonged to
the Confederation are the ones who are
the native Chahar Aimaq speakers today. www.Sil.org
lists the dialects as "TAIMURI
(TEIMURI, TIMURI, TAIMOURI), TAIMANI,
ZOHRI (ZURI), JAMSHIDI (JAMSHEDI,
DJAMCHIDI, YEMCHIDI, DZHEMSHID),
FIROZKOHI, MALIKI, MIZMAST, CHINGHIZI,
QEDAI NAO HAZARA AIMAQ, ZAINAL,
KHAZARA". See my Guide
to Timuri Rugs
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