Note 60 — Chapter VI

The Mahometan Arabs, who, under the Caliph Valid, established themselves on the coast of Malabar, and in the northern part of India, are at present commonly called Moors. The Patans, or, as they are otherwise called, Afgans or Afguans, have nothing in common with these Arabs but their religion. They are a branch of the Albanians from Mount Caucasus, as has been already remarked by Gœrber and Dr. Reineggs, or Ehlich. The Armenians cannot pronounce the letter l in the middle of a word, and therefore they call the Albans or Alwans Aghwans. These aborigines of the Caucasian territories were known to the ancient writers, Strabo, Pliny, Ammianus Marcellinus, and Dio Cassius. According to the last-mentioned author they extended themselves from the Tanais (Don) to the Ganges. These people, who had thus wandered as far as India, were subdued by the Saracens, and converted to the Mahometan Religion by the sword, but they afterwards recovered their independence. Some of these Patan chiefs founded in the neighbourhood of Delhi small principalities; others penetrated into the Decan, and made themselves masters of small provinces, which have been since taken from them by Nizam Aly, the Marattas, and Tippoo Saib. Even the Rohillas are a race descended from the Patans. See Edwards’s Memoir of a Map comprehending the countries between the Black Sea and the Caspian. London 1788, p. 6. and M. C. Sprengel’s Allgem. Hist. Taschenbuch. Berlin 1786. F.