The Nāṣirī Generations 245.6

245.6

Saklab, son of Yafis, made some request to the chief of his ulus or tribe — one writer says, to Gumari, Khurz, and Rus, to be allowed to dwell with them — which was not granted, and, on this account, enmity arose between them. Others say, that the descendants of Saklab, having become much more numerous than the others, came to a fight with their kinsmen, but, being worsted, took up their residence in more distant parts, farther west, beyond the seventh clime, where the cold is great. They appear to have not only made up their feud in these latter days, A.D. 1876, but also, for political purposes, to have merged into one people. ’Abd-ullah-i-Khurdad-bih calls him Sag-lab — سگ لاب — and says that he was suckled by a bitch, hence the name, and which, if true, may account for the very Christian-like proclivities manifested lately by his simple-minded “Christian” descendants, so-called, in cutting off ears, lips, noses, and heads, and otherwise mutilating their dead foes, a very dog-like disposition. They — the Slavs of European writers — are notorious for such-like acts, as Tacitus and Procopius testify. Rus, son of Yafis, is the ancestor of the Rusians [Russians]. Being held in little account, and without sufficient means, he continued, for some time, to dwell along with Saklab, but, subsequently, left him. Among the descendants of Rus the custom prevails of giving the parents’ whole inheritance to the daughters, and nothing but a sword to the sons.