1 42 PANJAB CASTES.
2 is a saured tluty aud the safety of the gutsl inviolable ; both look upon the
3 exaction of "blood for blood " as the first duty of man ; both follow strictly
4 a code of honoui- of theii- own, though one very different from that of
5 modern Europe ; both believe in one God whose name is Allah, and whose
6 prophet is Mahomet. But the one attacks his enemy from in front, the
7 other from behind ; the one is bound by his promises,^ the other by his
8 interests; in short, the Biloch is less turbulent, less treacherous, less blood-
9 thirsty, aud less fanatical than the Pathan : he has less of God in his creed
10 and less of the devil in his natm-e.
11 His frame is shorter and more spare and wiry than that of his neighbour
12 to the north ; though generations of independence have given to him too a
13 bold aud manly bearing. Frank aud open iu his manners aud without
14 servility, fairly truthful when not corrupted by om- Courts, faithful to his
15 word, temperate and enduring, and looking upon courage as the highest
16 virtue, the tme Biloch of the Derajat frontier is one of the pleasantest men
17 wc have to deal with in the Panjab. As a revenue payer he is not so satisfac-
18 tory, his want of industry, and the pride which looks upon manual labour
19 as degrading, making him but a poor husbandman. He is an expert rider,
20 hoi'se-racing is his national amusement, and the Biloch breed of horses is
21 celebrated throughout Northern India. Till quite lately he killed his colts
22 as soon as they were born ; and his preference for mares is expressed in the
23 proverb — " A man with his saddle on a mare has his saddle on a horse ; a
24 " man with his saddle on a horse has his saddle on his head.''^ If he cannot
25 afford a whole mare be will own as many legs of one as he can manage j and,
26 the Biloch mare having four legs^ will keep her a quarter of each year- for
27 each leg of which he is master, after which she passes on to the owner of the
28 remaining legs. He is a thief by tradition and descent, for he says, " God
29 " will not favour a Biloch who does not steal and rob ■" and " the Biloch who
30 " steals f ecures heaven to seven generations of his ancestors.'"' But he has
31 become much more honest under the civilising influences of our i-ule.
32 His face is long and oval, his features finely cut, and his nose aquiline ;
33 he wears his haii- long and usually in oily carls and lets his beard and whiskers
34 grow, and he is very filthy in person, considering cleanliness as a mark of
35 effeminacy. He usually carries a sword, knife and shield ; he wears a smock
36 frock reaching to his heels and pleated about tlie waist, loose drawers and a
37 long cotton scarf ; and all these must be white or as near it as dirt will allow
38 of, insomuch that he will not enter our army because he would there be
39 obliged to wear a coloured uniform. His wife wears a sheet over her head,
40 a long sort of nightgown reaching to her ankles, and wide drawers ; her
41 clothes may be red or white ; and she plaits her hair in a long queue.
42 377. As the trae Biloch is nomad in his habits he does not seclude his
43 women ; but he is extremely jealous of female honour. In cases of detected
44 adultery the man is killed, and the woman hangs herself by order. Even
45 when on the war-trail, the women aud children of his enemy are safe from
46 him. The Biloch of the hills lives- iu huts or temporary camps, and wanders
47 with^ his herds from place to place. In the plains he has settled in small
48 villages ; but the houses are of the poorest possible description. When a male
49 child IS born to him, ass's dung in water, symbolical of pertinacity, is dropped
50 into hts mouth from the point of a sword before he is given the breast. A
51 ' TheriJ 18, in tie hills above Hamucl, a " stone or cairu of cursing," erected »? a perp«tu«l
52 memorial orthe treachery of one who betrayed his fellow.