1 BILOCH, PATHAN, AND ALLIED RACES. 45
2 range, while the Biloches fi'om Sindh began to spread up the Indus. Many
3 of these latter took service with the Langah rulers of ^Multan and were granted
4 lands along the river ; and about 1180 A. D. Ismail Khan and Fatah Khan,
5 the two sons of Malik Sohrab Khan, and Ghazi Khan, son of Haji KhSn,
6 all Dodai Biloches and of Rind extraction, founded the three Derahs which
7 still bear their names, overcame the Lodis of Sitpui', and established themselves
8 as independent rulers of the lower Derajat and JIuzaffargarh, which position
9 thev and their descendants maintained for nearly 300 years.^ Thus the
10 Southern Biloches gradually spread up the valleys of the Indus, Chanab, and
11 Satluj ; while the Derah Ghazi tril>es came down from their hills into the
12 jmehhdcl or sub-montane tract, displacing a Jat population and driving them
13 down to the river, where they still form an important element of the popula-
14 tion even in tracts owned by Biloches. In 1555 a large body of Biloches
15 accompanied Huraayun, whom they had previously harassed in his retreat, in
16 his victorious re-entry into India, under the leadership of Mir Chakar, the
17 great Rind hero of Biloch story. They are said to have consisted chiefly of
18 Laghari, Drishak, Gopiiug, and Jatoi. Mir Chakar eventually settled in
19 Montgomery, where a consideraljle tract, still partly held by Biloches, was
20 granted to him by the grateful sovereign, and died and was buried at Satgarh
21 in that district. It is probable that many of the Biloch settlements in the
22 eastern districts of the Province sprang fi-om Humayun''s attendants.
23 The tribal organisation of the Biloches now covers the whole of our
24 southern frontier as far north as the boundary between the two Derahs,
25 being confined for the most part to the hiUs and the land immediately
26 under them, but stretching east to the Indus in the neighbourhood of
27 Rajanpur. There is also a large Biloch element throughout the river lands
28 of the Indus in both the Derahs, more especially in the southern and
29 northern portion of Derah Ghazi and just above the Derah Ismail border ;
30 while in Bahdwalpur and Muzaffargarh they form a large proportion of
31 the whole population, and they hold considerable areas on the Satlu] in
32 jMultan, to the north of the Ravi in Montgomery, on the right bank
33 195"] of the Chanab and along the Jahlam in Jhang, and on the latter river in
34 Shahpur. But outside the Derah Ghazi Khan district, and indeed along the
35 greater part of the river border of that district, the Biloch settlers own no
36 allegiance to any tribal Chief, are altogether external to the political organisa-
37 tion of the nation, and do not hold that dominant position among their
38 neighboiu's which is enjoyed by the organised tribes of Derah Ghazi. Many
39 of them have been settled in their present holdings within comparatively
40 recent times or, to use the words of Mr. Tucker, have acquired them "a«
41 cultivating proprietors, rather than as a military caste which ruled the country
42 but left the occupation of the land to the Jats." Figures showing the dis-
43 3g.9 tribution of the Biloches will be found in Abstract No. 65, page 191.*
44 380, Tribal organisation ol the Biloches.— Sohrab Khan, the chief of
45 the Dumki, a Rind tribe, is the nominal head of the Biloches, or at any rate
46 of those on our fi'ontier ; while all the northern tribes beyond our border
47 acknowledge the supremacy of the Brahoi Khan of Kelat, a supremacy the
48 reality of which has always varied with the personal character of the Khan,
49 and which it is probable that our own frontier policy has lately saved from
50 total extinction. But for all practical pm-poses the frontier tribes are
51 ' The subsequent history of these tribes is related in section 385.