Baloch

“ As usual on such occasions, the Baloch began to clamour for more rations—they received two cloths per diem—and to demand a bullock wherewith to celebrate their Eed or greater Festival. There were several Arab merchants at Kawele, but they had exhausted their stock in purchasing slaves and ivory. None in fact were so rich as ourselves, and we were reduced to ten shukkah, ten fundo of coral beads, and one load of black porcelains, which were perfectly useless. ”

“ He has also married his daughter to Ali Akbar, the eldest son of Hashmat-ul-Mulk Mír ’Alam Khán, the Persian governor of Sistan. The Nahroe Baloch, of whom Sharíf Khán is the present representative, are comparatively modern settlers in Sistan. About the beginning of the present century, the Kayáni chief Bahrám Khán, being pressed by the Sanjarání Baloch on the one side, and the Sárbandi and Shahrki on the other, called in the aid of the Nahroe Baloch under their chief ’Alam Khán, and settled them on the south borders of Sistan as a check upon the encroachments of the others. ”

“ In the “garrison-towns” the soldiers and their families form the principal part of the population. These men, who call themselves Baloch, are, with few exceptions, originally from Mekran, and from the lowlands about Guadel. Many of them have been born and bred in Arabia. In former days their fathers migrated from their starving homes to Maskat, in the Arab dows which visited their ports, to buy horses, and to collect little cargoes of wheat and salt. In Arabia they were fakirs, sailors, porters, and day-labourers, barbers, date-gleaners, asinegos, beggars, and thieves. ”

“ The plundering habits of these Baloch, and their constant hostilities with the neighbouring Afghan nomads, led to the abandonment of the Garmsel route from Kandahar to Sistan, and the country soon became a den of thieves, and the refuge of outlaws of all the surrounding provinces, who attached themselves to the Baloch chief as mercenaries and dependants. ”

“ My companion and I, when well enough to ride, mount our asses, led by the gunbearers, who carry all necessaries for offence and defence; when unfit for exercise, we are borne in hammocks, slung to long poles, and carried by two men at a time. The Baloch tending their slaves hasten off in a straggling body, thinking only of escaping an hour’s sun. The Jemadar, however, is ordered to bring up the rear with Said bin Salim, who is cold and surly, abusive and ready with his rattan. ”

“ At about eight miles we came to a solitary mound on the Abdullahabad reach or bay. It is called Sangar, or “the breastwork,” and is said to be the first place seized from the Núrzai by the celebrated Baloch freebooter, Abdullah Khán, after whom the country is now named. This notorious robber was the chief of a small party of Sanjarání Baloch nomads, who [197] are said to have come here from the Kharán and Núshkí districts in the troublous times following Nadír Sháh’s devastating march through the Garmsel in 1738. ”

“ I at once summoned the Jemadars, and wrote in their presence a letter reporting the conduct of their men to the dreaded Balyuz, the consul, who was supposed to be still anchored off Kaole. Seeing the bastinado in prospect, the Jemadar Yaruk shouldered his sabre, slung his shield over his arm, set out in pursuit of the fugitives, and soon succeeded in bringing them back. He was a good specimen of the true Baloch mountaineer—a tall, gaunt, and large-boned figure, with dark complexion deeply pitted by small-pox, hard, high, and sun-burnt features of exceeding harshness ”

“ Calát is the capital of Balochistan, and the summer residence of the chief. It is a fortified little town, situated on the plain at the extremity of a low ridge of hills called Sháh Mírán, and contains about 8000 inhabitants—a mixture of Baloch, Brahoe, Jat, and Dihwár, with a few Hindu families. The town is indescribably filthy, and wears a thoroughly decayed look. It is the largest town in the country, and the valley in which it stands is the most populous. There are several villages and fruit-gardens crowded together on the upper part of the valley near the town. ”

“ Rahmat the Mekrani calls himself a Baloch, and bears the proud title of Shah-Sawar, or the Rider King. He is the Chelebi, the dandy or tiger of the party. A good-looking brown man, about 25 years of age, with a certain affectation and girlishness of speech and tournure which bode no good, the Rider King deals in the externals of respectability: he washes and prays with artificial regularity; he is ever combing his long hair and beard; he trains his bushy mustache to touch his eyes, and he binds on crookedly a huge turban. His cue is to affect the Jemadar, to take command. ”

“ When one was fagged, the man that should have relieved him was rarely to be found, consequently two or three stiff trudges knocked them up and made them desert. Said bin Salim, the Jemadar, and the Baloch, doubtlessly impressed with the belief that my days were numbered, passed me on the last march without a word—the sun was hot, and they were hastening to shade—and left me with only two men to carry the hammock, in a dangerous strip of jungle where, shortly afterwards, Salim bin Masud, an Arab merchant of Msene, was murdered. ”

“ Baloch allies, under their own chief Nasír Khán, defeated the Persians and slew their leader, ’Ali Murád Khán, governor of Tabbas, who came here to give them battle. By this victory Tabbas was annexed to the Durrani kingdom.
A finer sight for a fair fight could not be found. The ground dips down to the wide plain or júlagah of Junabad [333] in an uninterrupted slope, and affords a splendid field for the use of cavalry, as is expressed in the name, applied generally to the succession of valleys or plains that characterise the physical geography of this country. ”

“ I can only suggest, with due diffidence, that this is intended for Kúch the well-known Baloch city in Persian Carmania (Kirmán) and meant by Richardson’s “Koch u buloch.” But as the writer borrows so much from Al-Mas’udi it may possibly be Aúk in Sístán where stood the heretical city “Shádrak,” chapt. cxxii.
552. i.e. The excellent (or surpassing) Religious. Shaykhah, the fem. of Shaykh, is a she-chief, even the head of the dancing-girls will be entitled “Shaykhah.” ”

“ But all men cannot—in fact, very few men can—boast the eye, the nerve, and muscle of glorious Gordon Cumming.
Returning to Kiboke, the Baloch are excited, 248and as the game rises again, matchlocks bang dangerously as pop-guns. Presently the Jemadar, having expended three bullets—a serious consideration with your Oriental pot-hunter—retires from the contest, as we knew he would, recommending the beasts to us. Bombay punches on the boatmen, who complain that a dollar a day does not justify their facing death. At last a coup de grâce, speeding through the ear, finds out the small brain ”

“ The Baloches are Mahometans, who deal much in camels, and are mostly robbers by land or on the rivers, murdering all they rob; yet are there very honest men among them in Guzerat and about Agra. While I was in Sinde, they took a boat with seven Italians and a Portuguese friar, all the rest being slain in fight. ”

“ The Kambarání take wives from both tribes, but they give their daughters to neither, though all are Sunni Muhammadans. In the days of their prosperity, the Kambarání chiefs ruled over the whole of Balochistan as independent despots, owning only nominal allegiance to the Afghan monarchy established by Sháh Ahmad, Durrani. At that time, as now, Balochistan comprised six principal divisions, viz., Kach, Gandáva, Jhálawán, Calát, Sahárawán, Makrán, and Las Bela. Only the four first of these divisions now acknowledge the authority of the Calát chief. ”

“ Both among the Mahometans and Hindoos there are many men of most undaunted courage. The Baloches are of great note on this account among the Mahometans, being the inhabitants of Hjykan, adjoining to the kingdom of Persia; as also the Patans, taking their denomination from a province in the kingdom of Bengal. [236] These tribes dare look their enemies in the face, and maintain the reputation of valour at the hazard of their lives. ”

“ In Balochistan, these plateaux rise in steps one above the other between the hills up to the tableland of Calát. North of this they fall in steps to the Kandahar plain, which itself sinks towards the south-west to the Sistan basin. In Persia they rise in a similar gradation from the shores of the Persian Gulf and basin of the Tigris up to the tablelands of the interior, where they sink again gradually to the lowest part of the salt desert in the south-east portion of the country. ”

“ They are not a homogeneous race. Peoples of Arab extraction intermixed with people of Dravidian and Persian stock are all lumped together under the name of Baluch. The Marri and Bugti tribes, who occupy the most southern buttresses of the Suliman Mountains, are Rind Baluchis, almost certainly of Arab extraction. They came to Sind either with the Arab conquerors or after them, and remained there mixed up with the original Hindu inhabitants. The Arab type of Baluch extends through the whole country at intervals, and includes all the finest and best of Baluch humanity. ”

“ Balak was heartily glad to see Balaam. The prophet had been a long time coming, but better late than never. The next day they went "up into the high places of Baal," from which they could see the utmost part of the people of Israel. "There they are," said Balak, "confound them! leprous slaves out of Egypt, bent on stealing other people's lands, and sticking to all they can lay hands on; bloodthirsty vagabonds, who fight people with whom they have no quarrel, and kill men, women, and children when they are victorious. Now, Balaam, do your duty. Curse them, and lay it on thick." ”

“ Balkh awaits its Layard, and not only Balkh, for there are mounds and ruins innumerable scattered through the breadth of the Balkh plain.
As one approaches Balkh by the Akcha road from the west, one looks anxiously around for some outward signs of its extreme antiquity. They are not altogether wanting, but time and the mellowing hand of Nature have rounded off the edges of the mounds of debris which lie scattered over miles of the surrounding country, brushing them over with the fresh green of vegetation, and leaving no sign by which to judge of the age of them. ”

“ When a man will not speak, will not lie to gain a case for his lawyer—or save himself, there is something! Now, listen to me, and I will tell you the story of Malachi. Then you shall judge.
“I never saw such a face as that girl had down there at Lachine in Quebec. I knew her when she was a child, and I knew Malachi when he was on the river with the rafts, the foreman of a gang. He had a look all open then as the sun—yes. Happy? Yes, as happy as a man ought to be. Well, the mother of the child died, and Malachi alone was left to take care of the little Norice. ”

“ There are thirteen indigenous tribes of Pathan origin, of which the Kakars (q.v.) are by far the most important, numbering more than 100,000 souls. They are to be found in the largest numbers in Zhob, Quetta, Pishin and Thal-Chotiali, but there are a few of them in Kalat and Chagai also. The most important Baluch tribes are the Marris, the Bughtis, the Boledis, the Domkis, the Magassis and the Rinds. Owing partly to the tribal system, and partly to the levelling effect of Islam, nothing similar to the Brahmanical system of social precedent is to be found in Baluchistan. ”

“ Biluches.—When the frontier was separated off the Biluch district of Dera Ghází Khán with its strong tribal organization under chiefs or tumandárs was left in the Panjáb. The Biluches are a frank, manly, truthful [Pg 105] race, free from fanaticism and ready as a rule to follow their chiefs. They are fine horsemen. Unfortunately it is difficult to get them to enlist.
Patháns.—Both politically and numerically the Patháns are the predominant tribe in the N.W.F. Province, and are of importance in parts of the Panjáb districts of Attock and Mianwálí. ”

“ But Balloche remembered his experience with the Berbers, and he left the villages to one side.
He kept on traveling South. He had a vague idea that somewhere there he would find a land which would welcome him ... him and the little girl. There was never a doubt of this quest in his heart. His past life seemed washed clean by the dry, clear heat of the desert days, the biting chill of the desert nights. He had even forgot Canichon le Mak', the young brother whom he had loved with a peculiar, brutal love. There was nobody in all the world but the little child—“Aziza” she said was her name. ”

“ Would these wolves ever release their prey? Bhallu Khan was of a kindred tribe. What did he think of the chances? But the old forester, who, like most barbarians or semi-barbarians, always answer what they imagine the inquirers would like best to hear, replied that he thought the chances were good. All men loved money—even the sahibs would rather have plenty than little—he interpolated with a whimsical smile. Baluchi loved money too. Umar Khan would probably release his prisoner if plenty of rupees were offered him. ”

“ It is leased from Kalat, and forms a distinctive province, being brought under the ordinary forms of civil administration in British India. Beyond it, north and south, lies independent Baluchistan, which is under British political control. Its administrative staff is usually composed of military officers. The degree of independence enjoyed by the various districts of Baluchistan may be said to vary in direct proportion to their distance from Quetta. No part of Baluchistan is beyond the reach of the political officer, but there are many parts where he is not often seen. ”