ACROSS THE SALT RANGE H3
besides at Paniala. But before giving the substance of
Gandhiji's talks, it is necessary to note a few things about
the people to whom his remarks were addressed, their
characteristics and traditions.
Unlike the term Afghan which is used, in its widest
sense, to denote any inhabitant of the modern kingdom
of Afghanistan, the term Pathan has a linguistic deriva-
tion, being a corruption of Pukhton, the Pukhtu-speakers.
It includes all Pushtu- or Pukhtu-speaking people of
Southern and Eastern Afghanistan and the Indian border-
land. One of the points which Badshah Khan used often
to emphasize in his public speeches was that in the Front-
ier Province everybody was a Pathgn who had made that
province his home and spoke Pukhtu, irrespective of
whether he was a Hindu, Sikh or Mussulman. And as
a matter of fact there are Hindus and Sikhs, women and
children settled among the Pathans who have adopted the
Pathan dress and who can speak only Pushtu. They have
even adopted the Pushtu suffix zai~ son of \
By temperament the Pathans are a childlike and jovial
race. They are fond of music, poetry and folk-dances and
when exhilarated, will express their exuberance by the
firing of ' festive shots J. Their favourite instruments of
music are drums (nagara), flute (surnai) and bagpipes.
In appearance the Pathan is of a stalwart make, lean
and wiry. Throughout our tour we did not come across
a single Pathan with a paunch, thanks to lean meat which
lie consumes and his sparing use of starch. He never
moves without his weapons. When grazing his cattle or
driving his beasts of burden, when tilling the soil or at-
tending a fair or a public function he is still armed. His
rifle or his long, heavy jezail (as the old style Pathan
matchlocks are called), which is generally slung over his
left shoulder, the belt of cartridges and the knives and
daggers that are stuck about his person, one of them often
between the nape of his neck and the collar of his mantle,
are never laid aside outside his home and during his wak-
ing hours. He is a crack shot and an adept in ambuscade
and mountain guerrilla warfare.