1 VAGRANT, MENIAL, AND ARTISAN CASTES. 279
2 to the neighbourhood of Multan, where they are a purely fishing and hunting
3 caste of vagranl habits, living on the banks of the river. But they have
4 spread up the Satluj as high as Firozpur and Lahore, and on the upper jrarts
5 of the river work chiefly as boatmen though they still fish and are great
6 hunters. In fact Mr. Wilson says that all the Sirsa MallShs or boatmen are
7 Jhabels, and it is very prol^able that many Jhabels have in that district, and
8 perhaps elsewhere, returned themselves as Mallah.
9 There ai'e small colonies of Jhabels in Hushyarpm-, Gurdaspm-, and
10 Kapiirthala, who are hunters and fishermen, divers and well-sinkers, and somo-
11 tinies own a little land. They look upon the calling of boatman as degrading,
12 and will not intermarry with the Jhabels of the Satluj. In Gurdaspur the
13 word is said to include men of any caste who make theii- living from the fens
14 or swamps ; but I doubt the accm-aey of this statement. (See also next
15 paragraph under Kehal.)
16 580. The Kehal or Mor (Caste No. 161).— Tne Kehals or IMors, for the
17 two appear to be identical and I have joined the figures together, are a vagrant
18 fishing tribe found on the banks of the lower Satluj, Chenab, and Indus.
19 Mr. O'Brien writes of them in his GiOS3(iri/ : —
20 " Tliey profess Mahomedanism, but eat alligators, turtles and tortoi'ses, which they justify
21 " by a text of Imam Shaft.' They derive their name from kehara, Sindhi for lion; but perhaps
22 " the Sanskrit kewada or ' fi-hermau' is a more jjrobable derivation."
23 And in his Settlement Report he writes : —
24 "The Kehals and Mors are said to he one tribe. In the north of the district they are
25 '' called Mors, cat crocodiles and tortoises, and no Mahomedan will associate with them. In the
26 '' south they do not eat these animals, and are considered good MaliomcJans. The Kehals and
27 '■ Mors live by fishing, but some of them, as well as of the Jliabels. have taken to agriculture, and
28 '' are fond of cultivating samiika, a grain that is sown in the mud left by the retreating river.
29 ''These trihci live separately in villages near the rive-, called Miaui, from me, a ' ftshermau.'
30 ''There is an old report in tlie Deputy Commissioner's office, which says that these three ti'ibeo
31 '' were cannibals ; bnt modern observation does not confirm this."
32 The Kehals also catch and eat lizards. It is said that a crocodile can
33 [P. 313] smell a Mor from a long distance, and will flee at his approach ; and some
34 officers who have come into contact with the tribe tell me that they are in-
35 cKned to believe the statement, for that they would do the same. Of the 1,251
36 Kehals entered in the tables, 390 returned themselves as Mor and SOI as
37 Kehal.
38 581. The Gagra (Caste No.l33).—Gagra is a small caste, for the most
39 part Musalmans and chiefly found in the central districts, who wander about
40 catching and eating vermin. But their hereilitary occupation is that of
41 catching, keeping, and applying leeches ; and they are often called Jukera,
42 fi-om jonk, a " leech. " They also make matting and generally work in
43 grass and straw, and in some parts the coarse sacking used for l>ags for pack
44 animals and similar purposes is said to he made almost entirely by them.
45 The Musalman Gagras marry by nikdh. They seem to fulfil some sort of
46 functions at \veddings, and are said to receive fees on those occasions.
47 It is said that they wirship Bala Shilh, the Chuhra Guru.
48 582. TheMina (Caste No. 166j.— The Mina is, in the Panjab at least,
49 almost invarialily criminal. In Alwar and Jaipitr, however, which are his
50 home, this does not appear to be the case. Indeed the Jaipur State is said to
51 be " really made up of petty Mina States, now under the chieftaincy of the
52 Kachwaha Rajputs. " In Gurgaon indeed he cultivates land, but this does
53 * Vide note ' on previous page.