The Uzbeks of Sanghas (G. C. Napier, 1876)

The Uzbeks of Sanghas

November 19^th, 1874. To Sanghas, 18 miles. ― Marched to the village of Sanghas, or “Chardeh,” so called from its being the principal of a group of four villages. The other three villages are Andigan and Jurba, in the plain west of Sanghas, and Khoda Shah to the north. A fifth village, Kofr, lying at the mouth of the pass from Bujnurd, belongs to the group. Sanghas and the three first-mentioned villages lie well out in the plain, not less than 10 miles from the pass. To the south, distant 4 to 5 miles, is a low ridge, beyond which lies the Plain of Jouvain; east and west is an almost unbroken level waste as far as Nishabur on the one side and Bostam on the other. The village lands, of a light-coloured but rich loamy alluvium, are well-watered by a small stream flowing from the Hissar (Bujnurd) Pass. The water of the stream, in common with all the water of the plain, is brackish, but serves for irrigation, and is not undrinkable even to those not habituated to its use.

For more than a mile round Sanghas the ground is covered with remains of ruined houses and walled gardens. On inquiry, I found that the evident decrease in the population was not due to the famine, for it had fallen lightly on these villages. The fine springs forming the source of their water-supply had not been materially affected by the three years’ drought, but had continued to yield sufficient to irrigate the village lands and to support the population. The true causes are obscure. Within the recollection of the predecessors of the present oldest inhabitant, from whom I received the information, Sanghas numbered 750 houses; it has now only 200. Numerous kanats (underground water-courses), almost all traces of which are now obliterated, supplemented the supply from the stream. This decline may possibly be attributed to a long period of neglect, misgovernment, and insecurity; but these causes alone seem insufficient. For ten years the people have enjoyed absolute immunity from Turkoman ravages, and a light and fixed revenue demand; but there has been no proportional increase in cultivation or population. Deficient water-supply would alone suffice to produce the results visible, and the deficiency may be attributable either to a decline of industry or to actual decrease of rainfall. The latter has not been observed, and is not admitted; but the former is disproved by the aspect of the people, of their dwellings and their fields, and the evidence of care in husbanding and distributing the available supply of water.

The people of Sanghas and the minor village are, according to their own account, Uzbegs, brought from Bokhara at some long-forgotten period, probably by Mahomed Shaibany, who is known to have transferred a number of Persians to Bokhara. They number 1000 houses, and, though known as Uzbegs, are now undistinguishable in features from the Azans or Persians and the Kurds and Turks, with whom they have mingled. An ascent of the Kuh-i-Buhar, a few miles to the west of the route, afforded a fair view of all the principal passes used by the Turkomans as far as Nardin, distant about 20 miles. The main chain of the Alburz is for that distance broken into low disconnected ridges, between which intervene wide expanses of ravine-cleft pasture-lands. Nothing but a line of strong forts at short distances would suffice to protect the border on the interior line, but the outer line of mountains or Kuh-i-Atak is much more connected and difficult of access, and it is probable that a few well-placed posts would cover the whole of the interior and fertile mountain-tracts.

G. C. Napier, Kazi Syud Ahmad — Extracts from a Diary of a Tour in Khorassan, and Notes on the Eastern Alburz Tract. With Notes on the Yomut Tribe (1876)