Not savages: a defence of the Uzbeks
Editorial contextElphinstone argues that the European picture of the Uzbeks as ferocious barbarians comes from confusing them with the Kalmyks (the garbled word in the scan) and 'other rude Tartar tribes' further north. He does not hide the slave trade in Bukhara, but on the word of Afghan and Tajik travellers he calls the Uzbeks 'as good a people as any in Asia'. The rest of the page, badly scanned, says that anyone who imagines the Uzbeks as savages will be surprised to learn that Bukhara rivals Peshawar in population, has numerous colleges and caravanserais, and tolerates all religions.
of the Uzbeks, appear to be unjust, and is probably owing partly to our confounding them with … other rude Tartar tribes between them and Russia … men are sold in Bokhaura like cattle; but in other respects, by all that I can learn, both from Afghaun travellers, and from Taujiks of Bulkh and Bokhaura, I have reason to think the Uzbeks as good a people as any in Asia.
About Uzbeks
Keep in mind
Second-hand; he names his sources as Afghan travellers and Tajiks of Balkh and Bukhara.
The scan is too rough to double-check this quote by machine. Compare it with the page.
Hazara wives who run the household
Editorial contextElphinstone is surprised to find that among the Hazaras, a tribe he calls nearly savage, women have more standing than anywhere nearby. They manage the house and property, are consulted on everything, are never beaten and are not secluded. He also records, from hearsay, lurid claims about their morals which he admits are contradictory.
The wife manages the house, takes care of the property, does her share of the honors, and is very much consulted in all her husband's measures. Women are never beaten, and they have no concealment.
About Hazaras
Keep in mind
From informants; the same page repeats gossip about Hazara women that Elphinstone himself calls inconsistent.
'The name of Tartary is unknown in those regions'
Editorial contextSetting out the geography north of the Hindu Kush, Elphinstone divides the lands into Turkestan (west of the Pamirs) and 'Chinese Turkestan' (east of them), using the local name for Turk-speaking country. Then he adds a blunt note: the people who live there do not call it Tartary. The word was a European map label, not a local one.
All the country west of Beloot Taugh, and north of the Oxus, is called Toorkistaun, a term which may be extended to the east of Beloot Taugh, as far as there is reason to think the Turkish language is spoken … The name of Tartary is unknown in those regions.
About Uzbeks and other Turkic peoples of Central Asia
Keep in mind
Based on what his Central Asian informants told him, not on a visit.
Hill people with 'Tartar' faces who say they came from the Moguls
Editorial contextElphinstone is puzzled by the Aimaqs and Hazaras: they live in the heart of Afghanistan but look, speak and behave quite differently. They have no history of their own origin and speak a dialect of Persian, yet their features and a tradition point to Mongol ancestry. He goes on to cite the historian Abu'l-Fazl, who says they are remnants of a Mongol prince's army.
Their features, however, refer them at once to the Tartar stock, and a tradition declares them to be the offspring of the Moguls. They are, indeed, frequently called by the name of Moguls to this day, and they are often confounded with the Moguls and Chagatyes, who still reside in the neighbourhood of Heraut.
About Aimaqs and Hazaras
The Uzbeks sweep south and take Bukhara
Editorial contextElphinstone explains who the Uzbeks were: a people who crossed the Jaxartes (Syr Darya) around 1500 and drove the heirs of Tamerlane out of Bukhara, Khwarazm and Ferghana. The next sentence is badly damaged in the scan, but it seems to say that the Uzbeks belong to the great division of mankind known in Asia as Turks, who together with the Moguls (and a third people whose name is illegible) 'compose what we call the Tartar nation'. So for him 'Tartar' is a European umbrella word for Turks and Mongols together.
The Uzbeks first crossed the Jaxartes about the beginning of the sixteenth century, and pouring on the possessions of the descendants of Tamerlane, soon drove them from Bokhaura, Khoarizm, and Ferghauna, and spread terror and dismay to the remotest parts of their extended empire.
About Uzbeks
Keep in mind
Page is heavily garbled; the words after this sentence can only be read in part.
Victims' blood smeared on faces and beards
Editorial contextThe Aimaqs are quiet under their chiefs, Elphinstone says, but savage in war. He reports throwing prisoners off cliffs and shooting them with arrows, and one occasion, told him by a man who was there, when they drank their victims' blood. A footnote (garbled) compares this to the Mongols' treatment of prisoners.
I have authentic accounts of their throwing their prisoners from precipices and shooting them to death with arrows; and on an occasion at which a … with whom I have conversed assisted, they actually drank the warm blood of their victims, and rubbed it over their faces and beards.
About Aimaqs
Keep in mind
An atrocity story from a single informant, the kind of tale told about enemies; Elphinstone could not check it.
The evil eye that eats a man's liver
Editorial contextIn a footnote Elphinstone records an Afghan belief that some Hazaras have a power of 'fascination': reading the damaged scan, they can eat out the liver of anyone they stare at. He calls it a fable, common in India and Persia and pinned on various tribes. It is a good example of a travelling rumour attached to a people seen as outsiders.
who … the liver of any person on whom they fix their eyes. This fable is very common in India and Persia, and is attributed to various tribes.
About Hazaras
Keep in mind
The words describing the power itself are badly garbled in the scan; the gloss gives the most likely reading.