The Ghilzai is reckoned as a Pathan, and he is also connected with the Afghan. Nevertheless his origin is distinct; he claims only ties of faith and affinity of language with other Afghan peoples. The Ghilzai rank collectively as second to none in military strength and in commercial enterprise; further their chiefs take a leading part in the politics of the country, possessing much influence at Kabul. They are a fine, manly race of people, and it is from some of their most influential clans (Suliman Khel, Nasir Khel, Kharotis, etc.) that the main body of Povindah merchants is derived. These frontier commercial travellers trade between Ghazni and the plains of India, bringing down their heavily-laden _kafilas_ at the commencement of the cold weather and retiring again to the hills ere the summer heat sets in. During the winter months thousands of them circulate through the farthest districts of the peninsula, where it not infrequently happens that they prove to be troublesome, if not dangerous, visitors. Underlying the predominant Afghan and Ghilzai elements in Afghan ethnography there is the Tajik, who, representing the original Persian possessors of the soil, still speaks his mother tongue. There are pure Persians in Afghanistan, such as the Kizil Bashis of Kabul and the Naoshirwans of Kharan. The Tajiks are the cultivators in the rural districts: the shop-keepers and clerks in the towns; while they are slaves of the Pathan in Afghanistan no less than the Hindkis are in the plains of the Indus. Next in importance to the Tajik is the Mongol Hazara, who speaks a dialect of Persian and belongs to the Shiah sect of Mahommedans. The Hazaras occupy the highlands of the upper Helmund valley, spreading through the country between Kabul and Herat, as well as into a strip of territory on the frontier slopes of the Hindu Kush. In the western provinces they are known as Hazaras, Jamshidis, Taimanis and Ferozkhois; in other districts they are distinguished by the name of the territory which they occupy. They are pure Mongols; intermixing with no other races, preserving their language and their Mongol characteristics they are uninfluenced by their surroundings. In Afghan Turkestan the Tajik is allied with the Uzbeg and Turcoman; the chief Turcoman tribes left to Afghan rule being the Alieli of the Daolatabad-Andkhui districts and the Ersaris of the Khwaja Salar section of the Oxus frontier. Originally robbers and raiders, they have now beaten their swords into ploughshares and concern themselves with agricultural pursuits.