“ They make good soldiers and excellent pioneers. The amir’s companies of engineers are recruited from the Hazaras, and they form perhaps the most effective corps in his heterogeneous army. They are now recruited into the British service in India. ”

“ They are of middle size but stoutly made, with small grey eyes, high cheek bones and smooth faces. They are descendants of military colonists introduced by Jenghiz Khan, who occupy all 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 north of Kabul. ”