1 4M
2 THE KINO CHIEE
3 of liiB liflnditiiy doeii} thu^'ibft heid of « dan cp«Din«t!d« ^
4 tmdpi "Mdk it fimuBhea^ and Ae auhiirtiniile' offim ^ te.Miil^
5 liin and Mnahiza of Umib and anbdirliioDa niidcff Mnu aach cork
6 It is ob?ioua Aat thia military command must render tins, power of
7 the Sirdars greater llian that of the chiefs of other tribes, and theit
8 antiiority is fiirther strengthened by the wealth and splendor which
9 fliej derive from the sitoatKMia about the comt, whege att great cttioea
10 are in the hands of Doocaunces. As these advaoti^^ oonfenrod
11 by. the Eu^i it might be expected th^ the Siidaia would bei^ept liy,
12 them in a state of entire subservience to the government ; and this is
13 rendered the more natural, as the people hold their lands directly of
14 the Crown, and consequently have not that dependence on their
15 chiefs which characterized the feodal system. The independence oi
16 the Sirdars is, however, maintained by the influence over their clans,
17 which they derive from their birth, and from the patriarchal institu-
18 tions of the Afffhaun tribes. This is at once sufficient to estabhsh
19 their importance, for the dynasty of Suddozyo is mainly upheld by
20 the Dooraunees, and the crown would be transferred wilhout a
21 struggle iVmu one member of it to another by a general combination
22 of that tribe; consequently the King iis in a great measure dependent
23 on the good'nin the Booraunee chiefs, and is obliged to conciliate
24 that Older hy. bestowing on it. a large portion of power and honor,
25 though in Rality he viem it with jealousy, and ia ootrtawa% Bt^
26 ployed in indiiect attempts to imdermine it Hie poweis of the
27 parties m pretty nearly halancej. In disputed auooeasions, tfaecfaief
28 Buy often kad his dan to the candidate for whom ha is be^
29 yet no DcM»amiee dan haa ever risen against the fimfly of SudUosye
30 QB aeaouut of the penenal ii^uxieB or diigtiflt of its Sfiidar : on the
31 ether hand, though the Kii^ has been known to exerdae the pcmet
32 of nominating men not descended from the head &mily to be Sirdan»
33 and even of appointing a man of one clan to be Sirdar of another ;
34 yet in these cases he aeems to have pushed his authorily fifftherfhan
35 the Dooirnimees wwe iriUing to submit to; chieft» soiypointedj were
36 Digitized by Google