1 78 PANJAB CASTES.
2 arc all Sunnis. The boundary between tbc Ushtarani and Babar was originally tlie Ramak .itTeam.
3 But in a war between them the former drove the latter back beyond the Shii'an stream whiih now
4 forms their common bonnJary.
5 The Babar are a tribe of the Shiiani stock whose affinities have been described in section 400,
6 thouch they are now quite separate from the Shirani proper. They are divided into two sections, [P
7 one livins ivhclly within our border, while the other holds the hill country opposite, hut on the
8 other side of the Sulemaus The two have now little connection with each other. The Biibar
9 of the ijlains hold some 180 square miles between the Ushtaruii and Mian Khel, Chandwaii beingf
10 their chief town ; and include the JIahsud and Ghora Khel elan> of the tribe. The result of their
11 quarrels with the Ushtarani has just been mentioned, while their advent in the plains has been
12 described in section 400. They are a civilised tribe, most of them bein^ able to read and write, and
13 are much addicted to commerce, being tiie richest, quietest, and most honest tribe of the sub-
14 Suleman plains. Sir Herbei-t Edwardes considered them " the mot superior race in the whole of
15 '' the trans-Indus districts," and their inteUia;ence has given rise ti the saying " A Bahar fool is a
16 '• Gand.apur sage." Tliey are extremely democratic, and hare never had any recognize! Chief.
17 Indeed the tribe is a scattered one, many of them still residing in K i.ndahar and other parts of
18 Khorasan. Some of them are still engaged in the pawindah traffic. They cultivate but little
19 themselves.
20 The Mian Khel are a Lohaui tribe whose coming to the district and subsequent movements
21 have already been described in section 339. They hold some 260 square miles of pla'n countrv
22 between the Ganlapra- and the Babar. With them are associated the Vakhtiar (see section 339)
23 who, thoudi of Persian origin, now fonn one of their principal sections. The greater number of
24 the-n still engage in the trans-Indus trade ; and they are the richest of all the pawindah tribes,
25 dealing in the more costly descriptions of merchandize. They are divided by locality into the
26 Draban and Miisa Khel sections, the latter of which hold the south-west quarter of their tract.
27 They are a peaceable people with pleasant faces, and more civili-ed than most of the pawindah
28 tnbes. Tliey seldom take military service, and cultivate but little themselves, leaving the business
29 of agriculture to their Jat tenants. Tliey have a hereditary Khan who has never possessed much
30 power.
31 The Gandapur. — The origin of the Gandapur has been described in section 399. Besides the
32 original stick, thcv include by affiliation some off-shoots of the Shirani. the Mnshezai section of the
33 Ghurghu-hti Pathans. and the Baiiizai section of the Ynsafzai tribe. The manner in which they
34 obtained their present country is described in section 339. They hold the whole of the north-
35 western part of trans-Indus Derah Ismail east of Tank and south of the Nila Koh ridge of the
36 Salt-range, comprising an area of 460 square miles abutting on the Sulrmans to the west; and the
37 town of Kulachi is their head-quai-tei-s. They were originally a poor pawindnh and pastoral tribe,
38 but they now cultivate more largely than any other Derah Ismail Pathans. They reached the
39 height of their prosperity about the middle of the ISth century, but lost their eastern possessions
40 some 70 years later, they being confiscated by the Saddozai Governor of Leiab. They still engage
41 in the pawindah traffic. They are lawless, brutal and uncivilised ; and their hereditary Khan
42 has but little power.
43 The Bitanni include all the descendants in the male line of Baitan, the third son of Kais.
44 They orisinallv cecupied the western slopes of the northern Sulemans ; but, being hard pressed
45 by the Gbilzai, moved, in the time of Eahlol Lodi, through the Gomal Pass and occupied the eastern
46 side of the north of the range, a? far north oi its junction with the Salt-range and as far west as
47 Kaniguram. Some time after the Waziri drove them back to beyond Garangi, while the Gurbuz
48 contested with them the possession of the Ghabhar mountain. They now hold the hills on the west
49 border of Tank and Bannu, from the Ghabbar on the north to the Gomal valley on the south. In
50 their disputes many of the tribe left for Hindustan where their Lodi kinsmen occupied the throne of
51 Dehli, and the trilie has thus been much weakened. Sheikh Baitan had fonr sons, Tajin, Kajin,
52 Ismail, and Warshpiln. The tribe consists chiefly of the descendants of Kajin, with a few of those
53 of Warshpiin. Ismail was adopted by Savban, and his descendants still live with the Sarhani
54 Afghans. Tlie Taji'n branch is chieily represented by the clans l")hanne and Tatte. said to be
55 descended from slaves of Tajin. A small Saiyad clan called Koti is affiliated to the Bitanni. Till
56 some 50 years ago they lived wholly beyond our border; but of late they have spread into the Tank
57 pi -.ins where they now form a large proportion of the Pathau population, occupying some 550
58 square miles, chiefly south of the Takwara. They also hold some Imd in the Bannu district at
59 the mouth of the passes which lead up into their hills. They are a rude people just emerging
60 from barbarism, hut keen-witted. They are of medium weight, v.-iry, and active, and inveterate
61 thieves and abettors of thieves ; and they have been called the jackals of the Waziri. They have
62 no coaimon Chief. The proverbial wit of the countryside thus expresses their stupidity and
63 thrif llessness. — " The drum was heating in the plains and the Bitanni were dancing on the hills ;"
64 and " A hundred Bitanni eat a hundred sheep."
65 The Daulat Khel.- The coming of this tribe to the district has been described in section 399.
66 Their principal clan was the Katti Khel ; and under their Chief Katal Khan the Daulat Khel
67 ruled Tank and were numerous and powerful about the middle of the 18th century. They