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213 THE TURCOMANS. 213

regard to the sentiment of the Kurds. In modern times the efforts of Nadir Shah to settle this question have been the most successful. Nadir Shah, as one of themselves — a Turcoman of the tribe of Affshar — had claims upon their sympathy such as no other ruler ever possessed, and consequently we find that during his life-time they were not only remarkably tranquil, but also ardent in the support they afforded him in his numerous enterprises. But considering that Nadir Shah himself was in his earlier days the leader of a band of robbers, it is safe to assume that the condition of the Khorasan frontier was not then greatly different to what it is at present. From a robber chief Nadir soon became the leader of a small but organised band of Turcomans ; and this was the beginning of that army with which, composed of many nationalities, Turcoman, Persian, and Afghan, he afterwards achieved such remarkable triumphs. During his life-time the Turcomans were well content to share in his success, and the alteration of his capital from Isfahan to Meshed, and the construction of the strong fortress of Khelat-i-Nadiri in the Turcoman country, made his power most vigorous and firmly established in that region which had before been most disturbed. But upon his death they relapsed into their old habits, and again became a thorn in the side of their more peaceful neighbours, whether Persian or Khivan, but more especially the former. From the death of Nadir to the close of the eighteenth century the Turcomans carried on their raiding expeditions into Khorasan, sometimes penetrating still farther into the country to