Thursday, January 17, 2019

Khorasanli tribe near Khoy (Lieut.-Colonel W. K. Stuart, [1835] 1854)


Khorasanli tribe near Khoy




Each village has a headman, called the “Ket Khoda.” This functionary received a present of 100 piastres this morning, which he was very near losing, for an outrageous attempt to cheat in the charge for provisions. I enjoyed a last view of Ararat from the brow of a steep hill which bounds the plain of Kara Aineh. We rode through defiles during the greater part of the day. We were met and escorted by the Chief of the Khorasanloo tribe of Eelyaut Turks, and a detachment of his followers, all in Persian tribes. They galloped about, and enacted mock attacks and pursuits like our Kurdish friends yesterday, whenever they came to a piece of level ground. Their pistols, worn at the waist, are fastened by a cord, and thrown over the shoulder when discharged. In galloping, the Persians keep the body upright from the knee, throwing their left shoulder forward, and drawing back their right arms; the lower part of the leg is a good deal bent. The bridle is held high and short round the horse's neck. The saddles are so high that they, and not the horses, are pressed by the rider's thighs.


Lieut.-Colonel W. K. Stuart, Journal of a residence in Northern Persia and the adjacent provinces of Turkey. — London: Richard Bentley, 1854. P. 124—125.

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