1 070 TEMPORARY IfAOIflTRACT OF THE CHBLWASHTfcC
2 widioot tbe l€Mt restniiit. Ji^y of them are paatonUt .ifid-tliiiott
3 all are merchaB^ or icanien. Part of every tribe - goea upl vwf
4 ^ik^ to Khorassann ; firom this and other reasons, they have a'gveater
5 mixture of the manners of that country than the Berdooraunees }
6 though they retain strong marks of their original connection with
7 Hindostan. They are generally simple and honest, less litigious than
8 tiietiil)cs with which I am comparing them, less bigoted and in-
9 tolerant, and less addicted to every kind of vice and, debauchery.
10 Being still more remote from the seat of the royal aiilhdiity, they
11 are under little control from the government ; and some of them
12 seem, till witlnn tin s(~ tilty years* to have lived in as nuich anarchy
13 as the KiKsotives. l^ut this has been correcte<l in the greater part
14 of them bv the election of temporary magistrates, invested with suf-
15 ficient powers to preserve the public peace, but prcvt;nted by the
16 short duration of their office from appl) ing it to any purpose incon-
17 sistent with the freedom of the tribe. Tliis magistracy is, iudeetl, the
18 featiue in the tribes of Damaun which most distinguishes them Irom
19 the other A%hauns. It prevails among all these tribes except two,
20 and also in the neighbouring mountain-tribe o£ S3keerauDee. It is
21 aiho in me among the Ghiyiea of Kiitte«raii% and the Kaners, but
22 among no other people of whom I hasre information.
23 llieae magistratea are in aome tribes eUcted by the MnUika* in
24 others b/the heads of ftmiliea. They are chosen fat their personal
25 qualities^ 'the number of their relations, and their general wei|^ in
26 the. tribes and are anned with power to maintain order, and to punish
27 the breadi of it by fines* end in some tribes, even by corporal punish-
28 ment. , They are selected fiom eadi Ehul in fixed proportions, whidi
29 were at first deugned lo make up the number of ibity (whence these'
30 cffieeia are called Chelwaahtees*), and they are under the anthdrit^
31 of one chief, called the Ifeer of the C3ielwa8htees»47ho is elected in
32 the same manner as the rest. The duty of the Meer of the Chel- '
33 Digitized by Google