1 90 PANJAB CASTES.
2 largest, while the Mi'ta Khel are uo longer to be found in Afghauistau and the Mi'ii Khel have been
3 amalgamated with the Mallkdiu and Aka Khel. Some of the principal divi ion^ are shown
4 below : —
5 1. MitaKhel.
6 2. Miri Khel.
7 f Bassi Khel.
8 „,,_.,, \ Madda Khel.
9 3. AhaKUl --j Sultan Khel.
10 . Miro Khel.
11 • Maimana Khel ...J. jj,,. ^,^,„^,^^ ^^^^^ ( MalikdU Khel.
12 r„. ,-, , ( Kuki Khel.
13 [FuraKhel ■ ^Kan,arKkel.
14 ,„, ., 1 I \Qamhar Khel.
15 4. UlaKhel (Khaibai-j ^Sepah
16 Afridi). izakhaKhel.
17 ( Hasan Khel.
18 5. Adam Khel •••TGalli
19 (.Ashu Khel.
20 But for practical purposes they are divided at present into eight clans, viz., Kuki Khel, Malik-
21 din Khel, Qanibar Khel, Kamar Khel, Zakha Khel, Aka Kliel, Sepah and Adam Khel, whose
22 names are printed in italics in the above table.
23 The Adam Khel, who include the Hasan Khel and jMwaki septs so well known on our border,
24 occupy the range betn-eeu Kohat and Peshawar, from Akor west of the Kohat pass to the Khafcik
25 boundary. The Hasan Khel hold the land along the soutliern border of the Peshawar and the
26 north-ea'stern border of the Kohat district. Next to them come the Aka Khel who hold the low
27 range of hills fr.mi Akor to the Bara river, the Bassi Khel sept lying nearest to British territory.
28 These two clans occupy the south-eastern corner of the Afridi c juntry, and lead a more settled life
29 than their kinsmen, being largely engaged in the carriage of wood and salt between Independent
30 Territory and British India. Tlie other tribes are in some degree migratory, wintering in the lower
31 hills and valleys, while in the hot weather they retire to the cool recesses of the upper mountains.
32 But their general distribution is as follows : North of the Bara river is the Kajiiri plain,
33 which forms the winter quarters of the Malikdi'n Khel, Qambar Khel, Sepah, and Kamar
34 Khel. The Qambar Khel pass the summer in Tirah. The Sepah's summer ijuarters are in the Bara
35 valley ; while the Kamar Khel spend the hot mouths in the spiu-s of the Safed Koh between Maidan
36 and Ba'ra, and are better cultivators and graziers and less habitual robbers than their kinsmen. The
37 Zakha Khel are the most wild and lawless of the Afridi clans. Their upper settlements are in the
38 Maidan and Bara districts, and then' v\Tnter quarters lie in the Bazar valley north of Landi Kotal,
39 and in the Khaibar from Ali Masjid to Landi Kotal. Their children are christened by being passed
40 backwards and forwards through a hole made in a wall after the fashion of a burglar, while the parents
41 repeat "Be a thief ; be a thief, " an cthortatiou which they comply with scrupulously when they arrive
42 at years of discretion. They are notorious as Uars and thieves, even among the lying and thieving
43 Afridi. The Kiiki Khel hold the eastern mouth of the Khaibar, and the pass itself as far as Ali
44 Masjid. In summer they retire to the glen of Kajgal, north of Maidan, in the Safed Koh. They
45 trade in firewood, and offend rather by h;u-bouring criminals than by overt acts of aggression. The
46 Afridi is the most barbarous of all the tribes of our border. All the Karlanri,^ with the single
47 exception of the Khatak, are wild and uncontrollable ; but must of all the Afridi. '' Ruthless
48 " cowardly robbery and coldblooded treacherous murder are to an Afridi the salt of life. Brought up
49 " from earliest childhood amid scenes of appalling treachery and merciless revenge, nothing has yet
50 " changed hmi : as he Uves, a shameless cruel savage, so he dies, let he is reputed brave, and
51 " that by men who have seen him fighting ; and he is on the whole the finest of the Fatlian races of [P.
52 " our border. His physique is exceptionally fine, and he i, really braver, more open and more
53 " treacherous than other Pathans. This much is certain, that he has the power of prejudicing
54 " Englishmen in his favour ; and few are brought into contact with him who do not at least begin
55 " with enthusiastic admiration for his manliness."' He is tall, spare, wiry, and athletic ; hardy
56 and active, but impatient of heat. His women are notoriously unchaste. His is only nominally
57 a Musalman, being wholly ignorant and intensely superstitious. The Zakha Khel removed the
58 odium under which thev suffered of possessing no shrine at which to worship, by inducing a
59 sainted man of the Kaka Khel to come and settle among them, and then murdering him in order
60 to bury his corp-e and thus acquu-e a holy place of their own. I'he Afridi are intensely demo-
61 cratic, the nominal Chiefs having but little power.
62 The MuUagori. — North of the Afridi come the Mullagori, a small and inoffensive tribe who
63 are associated witli the hill ilohmand, but whose Pathan origin is doubtful. They hold
64 the Tartarah country north of the Khaibar range. They are noted thieves, but confine them-
65 selves to petty offences.
66 » Macgregor's Gazetteer of the North-Westertt Frontier, verb. Afridi.