1 POPULATION, MANNBRS, AND CUSTOMS. 77
2 added to others of a revolting character, places
3 the Sikh very low in the scale of humanity. The
4 Kashmirian is not a whit better. He is a liar
5 and a juggler; selfish, superstitious, ignorant,
6 dishonest, and false.* The virtues which the
7 Sikhs link to their heavy catalogue of vices, are
8 few in number. Charity to faquirs (religious
9 fanatics) constitutes almost their only good
10 quality, and even this is the result of supersti-
11 tion. Charity is exercised as a part of a re-
12 ligious duty, which is supposed to carry with it
13 ultimate rewards. Offerings of grain and money
14 are deposited in the temples, and each of these
15 edifices has a corps of chilas or licensed beggars
16 attached to it, whose business it is to scour the
17 country, and by importunity to raise funds for
18 the support of the institution and themselves,
19 and the gratis entertainment of travellers and
20 strangers who may halt for a temporary repose.
21 Each village contributes a sum, levied by the
22 chief, to form a fund called the Mulha, which is
23 dispensed to wandering beggars and necessitous
24 strangers. Sometimes small parcels of land are
25 assigned to professional mendicants, who take up
26 their abode upon them, and are reputed to pass
27 their time in craving benedictions upon the head
28 of their liberal donor. Thus it is apparent that
29 no part of the charity of the Punjaubee is the
30 * Moorcroft.