e, the Croats, Pandours
and Tolpatches of 18th-century European armies. The term is also used of a
mounted force, existing in peace time in various provinces of the Turkish
empire, which performs the duties of gendarmerie.

BASHKALA, the chief town of a sanjak of the vilayet of Van in Asiatic
Turkey. It is a military station, situated at an elevation of 7500 ft.
above sea-level in the valley of the Great Zab river. It stands on the east
slope of lofty bare mountains, overlooking a wide valley on the farther
side of which flows the Zab. On a knoll above is a ruined fortress formerly
occupied by a Kurdish Bey. The population numbers some 10,000, principally
Kurds, but including 1500 Armenians and 1000 Jews. The place is important
as the centre of the Hakkiari sanjak, a very difficult mountain district to
the south-west containing numerous tribes of Kurds and Nestorian
Christians, and also the many Kurdish tribes along the Persian frontier.
The houses are well built of sun-dried brick, and the streets are wide and
fairly clean. Good smiths' and carpenters' work is [v.03 p.0466] done. The
bazaar is small, although a thriving trade is done with the mountain
districts. Owing to the great elevation the winter is extremely severe, and
the summer of short duration. Wheat, barley, millet and sesame are
cultivated on the plain, but fruit and vegetables have mostly to be
imported from Persia. Roads lead to Van, Urmia in Persia and Mosul through
the Nestorian country. The Kurd and Nestorian tribes in the wilder parts of
the Hakkiari Mountains are under slight government control, and are
permitted to pay tribute and given self-government in a large degree.

(F. R. M.)

BASHKIRS, a people inhabiting the Russian governments of Ufa, Orenburg,
Perm and Samara, and parts of Vyatka, especially on the slopes and confines
of the Ural, and in the neighbouring plains. They speak a Tatar language,
but some authorities think that they are ethnically a Finnish tribe
transformed by Tatar influence. The name Bashkir or Bash-kurt appears for
the first time in the beginning of the 10th century in the writings of
Ibn-Foslan, who, describing his travels among the Volga-Bulgarians,
mentions the Bashkirs as a warlike and idolatrous race. The name was not
used by the people themselves in the 10th century, but is a mere nickname.

Of European writers, the first to mention the Bashkirs are Joannes de Plano
Carpini (_c._ 1200-1260) and William of Rubruquis