1 210]
2 BILOCH, PATHAN, AND ALLIED RACES. 81
3 At the same time tlie Daur, a tribe of e\'il repute in eveiy sense of the
4 word, occupied the banks of tlie Toehi beyond oiu- Ijordei-, which they
5 still hold. Some 400 years ago the Bangi Khel Khatak, whose history
6 will be sketched in sections 406-7, oeci;pied the trans-Indiis portion of
7 the district above Kalabagh and the spur which the Salt-range throws
8 ovit at that point. This they have since held without disturbance.
9 When the Darvesh Khel Waziri (see above), moving from their
10 ancestral homes in Birmil, drove the Bannuchi out of the Shawal hills,
11 they occupied the country thus vacated, and for 350 years confined them-
12 selves to the hills beyond our border. But during the latter half of last
13 century they began to encroach upon the plain country of the Marwat on
14 the right bank of the Tochi, and of the Bannuchi on the left bank of the
15 Kurram. At first their visits were confined to the cold season ; but early
16 in the present century, in the period of anarchy which accompanied the
17 establishment of the Sikh rule in Bannu, they finally made good their
18 footing in the lands which they had thus acquired and still hold.
19 The latest comers are the Bitanni (see section 401), who have within
20 the last 60 years occupied a small tract on the north-eastern border of the
21 Marwat at' the foot of the hills. Thus Pathans hold all trans-Indus
22 Bannu, and as much of the eis-Indus portion of the district as lies north of a
23 line joining the junction of the Kurram and Indus with Sakesar, the peak at
24 which the Salt-range enters the district and turns northwards. The trans-
25 Indus Pathans, with the partial exceiDtion of the Niazi, speak Pashto of the
26 soft and western dialect; the Niazi speak Hindko, especially east of the Indus.
27 404. I now proceed to a detailed description of the different tribes,
28 beginning from the south : —
29 The Marwat hold almost tbe whole of the Lakki tahsil, that is to say the south-eastern
30 half and the whole central portion of the country between the trans-Indus Salt-range and
31 the Wazfri hills. Within the last fifty years they ha\-e begun to retrace their footsteps aud
32 liave passed southwards over the Salt-range into Derah Ismail, where they occupy small
33 tracts wrested from the Kundi in tbe northern corner of Tank and along the foot of the hills
34 and from tbe Bahich in tbe Paniala country. Their most important elans are the Miisa Kbel,
35 Acha Khel, Khuda Khel, Bahram. and Tapi. With them are associated a few of tlie Niazi
36 who remained behind when the main body of the tribe was expelled. The Marwat are as fine and
37 law-abiding a body of men as are to be "found on our border They are a simple, manly, and
38 slow-witted people, strongly attached to their homes, good cultivators, and of pleasing
39 appearance. Their women arc net secluded. Tl.eir history has been sketched in section 399.
40 Their hereditary enemies the Khatak say of them : "Keep a Marwat to look after asses ;
41 " his stomach well filled and his feet well worn."
42 The Bannuchi bold the central portion of the Bannu tahsil, between the Kurram and Tochi
43 rivers. Their history is narrated in section 403. They are at present perhaps more hybrid
44 than any other Pathan tribe. Tliev have attracted to themselves Saiyads and other doctors of
45 Islam in great numbers, and have "not licsitated to intermarry with these, with the scattered
46 representatives of the former inhabitants of their tract who remained with them as hamsdi/ah,
47 aud with the families of tbe various adventurers who have at different times settled amongst
48 them ; insomuch that " Bannuchi in its broadest sense now means all Mahomedans, and by
49 " a streteh, even Hindus long domiciled within the limits of tbe irrigated tract originally
50 " occupied by the tribe." The descendants of Shitak, however, stUl preserve the memory of
51 their separate origin and distinguish tbemselves as Bannuchi proper. They are of inferioi
52 physique, envious, secretive, cow ardly, lying, great bigots, inoffensive, and capital cultivators.
53 Sir Herbert Edwardes says of tliem : "" The Baunuchis are bad specimens of Afghans ; can
54 " worse be said of any race ? They Lave all the vices of Pathans raukly luxuriant, their
55 " virtues stunted." Their Isakhi clan, however, is famed for the beauty of its women. " Who
56 " marries not an Isakhi woman deserves an ass for a bride."
57 The Niazi hold all the southeru portion of Isa Khel and the country between Mianwali
58 aud tbe hills ; iu other words so much of tbe Bannu district as is contained between the Salt-
59 range on either side tbe Indus, and tbe Kurram and a line drawn from its mouth due east across
60 G