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r
DESCRIPTIVE ETHNOLOGY.
VOL. II.
LOUDON :
PRINTED BT WOODFALL IKD KINDER,
ANOKL COURT, gXIRirKR STRKBT.
DESCRIPTIVE ETHNOLOGY.
E. a. LATHAM, M.A., M.D., F.R.S.,
VOL. II.
EUEOPE, AFBICA, INDIA.
LONDON-.
JOHN VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW.
HDCCCUX.
^tV. Library, Univ. Colif, Sanfe Out
3(0
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PACK
The Liihuanic Branch of the Barmatian Stock. — The Old Prussians. —
The Lithuanians. — The Tatshvings. — The Lets .... 1
CHAPTER II.
The Slavonic Branch of the Sannatian Stock.— The Russians.— Servians.
— Lekh or Poles. — Tahek or Bohemians. — Bulgarians.— Panslavo-
nism. — Original Slavonic Area 9
CHAPTER III.
The Skipetar, or Albanians 21
CHAPTER IV.
The Latins or Italians, and the Gtreeks or Hellene& — The Germans. — The
Kelts.— The Euskaldunac, or Basks 27
CHAPTER V.
Populations, other than Italian, speaking a language derived from the
Latin 43
CHAPTER VI.
The Dioscurians or Caucasians of Caucasus. — The Circassians 50
CHAPTER VII.
The Dioscurians or Caucasians of Caucasus. — Tshetsh and TjesgianB 54
CHAPTER VIII.
The Dioscurians, &c. — The Gboigians. — The Lasi .64
CHAPTER IX.
The Dioscurians, &o.— The Iron 68
CHAPTER X.
The Haik or Armenians 70
CHAPTER XI.
The Semitic Populations.— The Arabians. — Syrians. — Samaritans . .74
CHAPTER XII.
The Semitic Populations. — The Abyssinians of Tigr6 and Amhara. —
The Agows.— The Falasha.— The Gafat 02
VI CONTENTS.
CHAPTBR XIII.
PAQS
The Copts. — The Bishari — The Nubians. — ^The Populations, &c., of Eor-
dovan, of Darfur, of Sennaar. — The so-called Negroes of Abyssinia.
— The Galla Family, i. e. the Danakil, the Somauli, and the Gallas
proper 09
CHAPTEE XIV.
The Tibbu. — The Bomtii and Howssa Qroups. — ^The Sungai. — The Ama-
og.— The Fula 108
CHAPTEE XV.
The Wolof or Joloi — Serere. — Serawuli. — Felup. — Balantes. — Biafar. —
Nalu. — Sapi — Bagnon. — Bago. — ^Bissago 123
CHAPTER XVI.
The Mandingo Group. — ^Bago of KalunL — ^Timmani. — ^Bullom. — The Vei
Syllabarium. — Susu, &c. — Sokko, &c. — TheKrumen . .127
CHAPTER XVII.
Populations of the Ivory, Pepper, Gk>ld, and Slave Coasts. — The Avek-
vom. —The Kouri, the Fantis, and Ashantis. — The Gha or Akkra
and Adampi Tribes. — ^The Kerrapay. — ^The Dahomey, Toruba, Benin,
Ibo, Tapua, Old Calabar, Dualla, Isubu, Fernando Po, Ediya, and
other Tribes 133
CEEAPTER XVIII.
The Kafir and Hottentot Families 150
CHAPTER XIX.
Certain Populations belonging to the unexplored Parts of Africa to the
South of Abyssinia. — The Gonga Family.— The Eloikob .16
CHAPTER XX.
Certain Populations belonging to the imperfectly explored Parts of Africa.
— ^The Mobba, &c., of Darseleh.— The Bagirmi. — ^The Mandara. —
The Tribes between the Mandara and the Nufi.— The Battas, &c. .172
CHAPTER XXI.
The Persian Cboup. — The Kurds. — ^The Persians proper. — Talish, Tajiks,
and Uiyat.— The Gypsies of Persia. — The Seistaunis . 185
CHAPTER XXU.
The Biluch Tribes 198
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Afghans.— The Western Tribes.— The Durani.— The Ghilzyes.— The
Eastern Afghans 201
CONTENTS. vi
CHAPTEE XXIV.
PAQB
Certain equiTocal A^hans. — The Baraich.— The Terfns. — ^The Caoken. —
The NausBera 226
CHAPTEE XXV.
The Paropamisans of the Oxus. — Cohistanis. — ^Kafira, &c . . . 230
CHAPTEE XXVI.
TheBrahiii 264
CHAPTEE XXVII.
Anaent History and AntiqaiticB of Penia. — Eolation of Persia to India.
—The Eeligion of Andent Persia.— The Panda . .269
CHAPTEE XXVIII.
The Ancient Langua^a of Perma and India.- — ^The Persepolitan of the
Cimeifoiin Inscriptions. — ^The Caubul Coins. — The Pali Inscriptions.
—The Sanskrit and Pali of literature 276
CHAPTEE XXIX.
On the Languages akin to the Tamul. — The Telinga. — The Tamul proper.
— ^The Canarese.— The C(irgi.— The MaUyalam.— The Tulu, or Tu-
lava.— The Ghond.— The Ehond.— The Eastern KoL— The Eajma-
haL— The Tamul elements of the Brahiii 281
CHAPTEE XXX.
Eolations of the Langoages akin to the Tamnl. — Eelations of the Lan-
guages akin to the Sanskrit 291
CHAPTEE XXXI.
The languages akin to the Hindi.— The Eashmeri.— The Hindi.— The
Gujerati. — The Bengali — The Udiya. — Mahratta. — Sectional and
intermediate forms, &c. — Migratory Populations and Trades. — The
Gypsies.— The BhU Dialects.— The Hindostani . . .296
CHAPTEE XXXII.
India as an Influence. — Its action upon Tibet, Ava, &c. — Upon the
Islands of the Indian Archipelago. — Brahminism and Buddhism . 800
CHAPTEE XXXm.
lie Alphabets of India 823
CHAPTEE XXXIV.
The Frontiers of India and Persia. — The Paropamisans. — The Afghans.
—The Caukers, &c.— The Brahiii and Biluch .826
CHAPTEE XXXV.
Foreign Influences in India. — Bacchic (?). — Assyrian (?). — Persian. —
Turanian. — Macedonian. — Arab.— Afghan. — Turk (Tshagatai) . 840
I • ■
via CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
PAQK
Oenend View of the Divisions of the Population of India. — Cast . . 344
CHAPTBE XXXVII.
Populations speaking either Hindi or a I^mguage akin to it. — Cashmir . 850
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Populations speaking either Hindi or a Language akin to it. — ^The Rajput
and Jut Division.— The Sikhs 860
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Populations speaking either the Hindi or a Language akin to it. — The
Rajput and Jut Division. — Sind. — Kutch. — GHijerat . . . 869
CHAPTER XL.
Populations speaking either Hindi or a Language akin to it. — ^The Rajput
and Jut Division. — Rajputana, Rajwarra, or Rajasthan . 388
CHAPTER XLI.
Populations speaking either Hindi, or a Language akin to it. — ^Delhi, Al-
lahabad, Bahai', Bengal, Orissa 889
CHAPTER XLII.
Populations whose Language is either Hindi, or akin to it. — ^The Sub-
himalayans 897
CHAPTER XLIII.
TheMahzattas 408
CHAPTER XLIV.
The Populations whose Language is akin to the Tamul. — The Rajmahali
Mountaineers. — ^The Kols. — The Khonds. — The Sours . .415
CHAPTER XLV.
The Telinga, Canarese, Tulava, Malayalam, and Tamul Districts . 459
CHAPTER XLVI.
Ceylon. — The Maldives and Laocadives. — Migratoiy and other Popula-
tions of Continental India 468
CHAPTER XLVII.
Populations of the Malayan Peninsula. — Orang Benua and Malays Proper.
— Semang. — Sakai. — Johore Tribes. — Orang Laut . . .481
CHAPTER XLVIII.
Retrospect. — Relative Influence of the preceding Populations upon the
History of the World at large. — Zone of Conquest. — Origin and
Diffusion of Civilization ........ 497
DESCRIPTIVE ETHNOLOGY.
CHAPTER I.
The Lithuanic Branch of the Saimatian Stock.— The Old PnuBiaiiB.— The
Lithuanians. — The Tatshyings. — The Lets.
In beginning the notice of the Ugrian stock vnth the
Finlanders a sacrifice was made to convenience. It
would have been more scientific to have taken them
last ; inasmuch as they are the population most closely
allied to the first members of the exclusively European
group. Of this^ the most eastern division is the Sar-
matian ; the Sarmatian stock falling into two branches :
(1) the Lithuanic^ or Prussian ; {2) the Slavonic^ Slavo-
nian, or Slavic.
The present representatives of what was once the great
Lithuanic family are only to be found in fragments. A
few are Prussian subjects. The majority, however,
belong to the Russian Governments of Kurland, Liefland
(Livonia), Estonia, Witepsk, Vilna, and Grodno — further
south than which latter Government they are not to be
found. Nor yet are they to be found west of the Vistula.
There are several Lithuanians in Prussia, but only in
East Prussia. West Prussia has none.
In the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries things
were very difierent. All Prussia was Lithuanic ; the
VOL. II. B
5^
2 OLD PRUSSIANS.
parts on the Vistula as well as the parts on the Niemen —
the parts even beyond the Vistula. All was Lithuania as
far as the frontiers of Pomerania ; where it was Slavonic.
Where, then, were the Germans? In Hanover, West-
phalia, and the parts to the west of the Elbe. They had
yet to conquer their present occupancies in the two
Prussias ; — the two Prussias, for when we write about
the Lithuanic populations, the division into East and West
is important. West Prussia was, and is, the more
thoroughly Germanized of the two. In both, however,
the present Germans are Prussians in the way that
an Englishman is a Briton, i. a. not at all. An English-
man is a German upon soil originally British. A Prussian
is a German upon soil originally Lithuanic.
The most Lithuanic parts of East Prussia are the parts
to the east of the Pregel, the villages near Tilsit, Gum-
binnen, Ragnit, and Pilkallen ; the termination in -alien
{gallen or kallen) being common — as are many other
Lithuanic forms. As is also the use of two names, one
Lithuanic and one German, for the same place. In
Livonia we may find three.
I think Prussia and Prussian are native denominations,
and that the Old Prussians who gave their name to the
country were a separate substantive division of the family.
That they differed from the others in language is known
by the short specimens that have come down to us of the
dialect of Samland, Nattangen, and a part of Oberland,
as it was spoken about a. d. 1550.
In the twelfth century the Prussians were a powerful
nation. In the second they bore the name Gothones, and
occupied the amber country. The Germans called them
Bsten, or men of the east ; this being the origin of the
words na-naTot and ^styii, in Strabo and Tacitus. The
Germans who conquered them called them Guddon. At
OLD PRUSSIANS. S
the present time the name Pakul is to be found in songs
and legends, which, in other respects, are purely German ;
Pakul being the name of the old Prussian god PikuUos.
As it was in the west so was it in the south. Indi-
yidually, I believe that, in the time of Tacitus, a Lithu-
anic language was spoken as far south as Gallicia, and
that it was that form of speech which Tacitus attributes
to the Gothini and calls Gallic. Be this as it may, it is
certain that the parts between the northern frontier of the
present Gallicia and the boundaries of ancient Prussia,
were occupied in the thirteenth century by a powerful
nation which is sometimes called Pollexiani, but oftener
Getuini, Jaczwingi, Jentuisiones, and Gets, and which
is especially stated by contemporary authorities to have
been one of the four divisions of the Lithuanic name ;
the other thlree being the Prussian, the Lithuanic proper,
and the Let. Of the Yatshving language we have no
specimens — only a few proper names, e. g* Xomatus,
Mestor, Rausimodus, Taifal, and Podlakus, the latter
being, in all probability, the individual from whom the
present district of Podlachia bears its name.
The Yatsh-vings lay to the south of the East Prussians,
and to the east of the Poles, in the present province of
Sierdec, and in the Podlachia of the older maps. They
are said also to have extended as far as the marshes about
Pinsk at the head-waters of the Pripecz. At the begin-
ning of the thirteenth century they were formidable to
both Russia and Poland. This population, ^Wast and
warlike, greedy of honour, allied in language, rites, re-
ligion, and customs to the Lithuanians, the Samogitians,
and the Prussians, dedicated, too, like them, to the wor-
ship of idols, a population of which Drohyczyn was the
metropolis, was so broken in a great battle against
the Poles, under their Duke, Boleslav, in the year of
B 2
4 OLD PRUSSIANS.
our Lord ISSS^ as to become well-nigh extinct, a few
only remaining ; some of whom were attached to Poland,
some to Lithuania. They never retreated, and never
refused a battle, however unequal." This is the language
of the chroniclers in speaking of the now unknown Yatsh-
vings. The Poles were their chief conquerors.
Of the Lithuanian proper the district of Samogitia is
the chief, though not the only, locality. As a general
rule, however, it has been displaced by the Polish on the
west and south, and by the Russian on the east. It is
a form of the Lithuanian proper, rather than one of
the Prussian, that is spoken at the present time in East
Prussia. Such, at least, is the general opinion. It is
possible, however, that the difference between the two
sections may be exaggerated.
The Lets are the Lithuanic occupants of Courland
and Livonia, differing from the Lithuanians in dialect
and in their external relations. Whilst the Lithuanian
proper has been pressed upon by the Pole, it is the Ger-
man who has encroached upon the Let — the towns of both
Liefland (Livonia) and Kurland being German rather
than Slavonic, as is the territorial nobility, the civiliza-
tion, and the creed.
The Lithuanians have been pressed upon by the Poles
and by the Germans. They seem, however, themselves
to have pressed upon the Estonians. That the Liefs of
Liefland were Fins has already been stated. So probably
were the Koralli, Karelians, or Kurs, of Kurland. So
also the populations who gave the Fin name Suome to the
fenny districts of £famland and fi^amogitia. It is possible
that, at the present moment, no single representative of
the Lithuanic family may stand on soil originally Lithua-
nic. What was originally Lithuanic is now Polish or
German. What is now Lithuanic was originally Fin.
LITHUANIANS AND LETS. 6
In their physical form both the Lets and the Livonians
have many points in common with the Fins. They are
light rather than dark, with undersized, rather than stout,
bodies, flattish faces, and skulls (as far as they have been
observed) somewhat truncate at the occiput. This may
be accounted for by intermixture, or it may be accounted
for by original similarity. To say nothing about the fact,
just noticed, of the Lithuanic occupancies being origi-
nally Fin, the physical conditions of soil and climate are
the same for both populations. So are the pursuits. The
marshy flats of both Livonia and Estonia are rich in their
produce both of corn and flax ; and it is on the purely
agricultural labours of the flax-dresser and the corn-
grower that the industry of both the Estonian and the
Let expends itself. As are the occupations, so are the
ideas. The seed-time and the harvest are the cliief times
for festivity. The influences, imaginary as well as real,
that afiect the change of seasons, and determine the vicis-
situdes of the weather, are alike invoked on both sides of
the Salis ; for the Sails is the river of Livonia that divides
the Let area from the Estonian.
Flax, oats, oaks, flrs, aspens, willows — these give the
imagery to nine-tenths of the popular poetry of the
countries under notice.
As early as A. d. 1691 a fragment of the popular
poetry of the Lithuanians found its way into print. It
runs thus : —
Ar asz taw ne mielas buwau ?
Su tawimi ruggelus pjowjau ;
Su tawimi Bzeneli grebjau ;
Su tawimi awiieles riszau.
Or,
Do I not become dear to thee ]
With thee the rye I cat ;
With thee the hay I raked ;
With thcc the oaU I bound.
6 LITHUANIANS AND LKTS,
In 1745 Ruhig added a few more specimens; which^
attracting the notice of Lessing and Herder, appear in the
work which, like the ancient ballads of our own language,
has done so much towards the creation of a taste for the
poetry of a natural life, the famous Stimme der Vblker.
Nothing, however, that could be called a collection pre-
ceded the publication of the Dainos, by Rhesa, a. d. 1825.
Dain&, which is, word for word, the Daina of theRumanyo,
and, perhaps, the Duan of the Kelts, and, as such, a very
remarkable term, means song of the people — volksgesang^
as the Germans translate it. A daina (plural dainos) is
secular in respect to its subjects, rather than ecclesiastic,
a religious poem being called g^sme. The dainos are
handed down from father to son, are sung on all occa-
sions tndi by every one, are simple in construction, with-
out rhyme, and of no great length. They generally
embody a sentiment, or exhibit an image ; and are rarely
sufficiently narrative to deserve the name of ballad.
They preserve more than one archaism, e.g. the horse of
common life is an arklys, the steed of the dainos is azirgas.
They preserve, too, more than one relic of paganism.
It is the Mother Earth, or the Goddess Zemyna, that
gives the corn and flax. It is the sea-god Bangputys
who raises the billows. It is Lamia who brings luck.
The better known names of Perkynos and PikuUos are
of frequent occurrence. This implies that the number of
dainos is considerable. Rhesa gives eighty-five. In the
collections, however, of Nesselmann and Schleicher, the
two being taken together, they amount to about four
hundred.
I have elsewhere* given my reasons for believing that a
great deal of the history of the Goths belongs, not to
the Germans, but to the Lithuanians ; the main argument
* Native Baces of the Ruaaiaii Empire— The Germania of Tacitas.
LITHUANIANS AND LETS. 7
in favor of this yiew> lying in the fact of the subjects of
Alaric, Theodoric, and the other conquerors of the fourth,
fifth, and sixth centuries having been Goths only as
Englishmen are Britons ; t. e. not at all. In Germany
they never bore tlie name. They received it when they
settled on the soil of the Getas. If so, some portion,
at least, of the old inhabitants of Dacia and Thrace were
Lithuanic ; a fact of importance when the remarkable
relations between the Lithuanic and the Sanskrit come
under notice.
Apparently, the Lithuanians are the most western
members of the stock to which they belong. In Prussia
they come in direct contact with the Germans ; with
nothing Slavonic in the interval. In Livonia and Estonia,
they lie to the west of Russia. Yet it is only in appear-
ance, that they seem to intervene between the Slavonians
and the Germans. Germany has pressed up to their
frontier. Russia has lapped round. Their real relations
to the west are what they are in Lithuania ; between
which country and Germany ^the whole of Poland is
interjacent, and to the east of which lie the Ugrians.
The clear and unequivocal history of the Lithuanic
family, eo nomine^ begins no earlier than the eleventh
century ; when the Teutonic Knights, the Knights of the
Sword, and the Poles invaded East Prussia, Courland,
Liefland, Lithuania, and the Yatshving country ; the
movement being from west to east.
In Poland the Yagellon dynasty was, more or less,
Lithuanic. I say " more or less " because it is believed
to have been Slavonic as well; the Lithuanians, as a
general rule, being considered to be anything but a nation
of conquerors. With the doctrine thus suggested, 1
dijBTer in toto; having given my reasons elsewhere.*
* Native Baces of Buasia.
8
LITHUANIANS AND LETS.
The present distribution of the Lithuanians of Russia
is as follows :- —
In Kovno
•
•
. 568,794
Vilna
•
•
. 188,320
— Courland
•
•
7,434
— Grodno
•
•
2,338
716,886
The Let population,
on the other hand, runs thus : —
In Courland
•
. 401,939
— Livonia
•
. 318,872
— Vitepsk
•
. 14^,497
— Kovno
•
6,341
— St. Petersburg
2,000
— Pskov •
•
458
Total of Lithuanians .
Lets
872,107
716,886
872,107
1,588,993
To these add certain members of the same stock in
East Prussia.
THE SLAVONIANS.
CHAPTER II.
Tne Slaronic Branch of the Sarmatian Stock. — The Rnssians.— Serrians.
— ^Lekh or Poles. — Tshek or Bohemians.— Bulgarians. — Panslayonism.
— Original Slayonic Area.
The Lithuanians are one of the two branches of the
great Sarmatian stock. The Slavonians are the other.
The Slavonians fall into five divisions. I take the one
which abuts upon Lithuania first. This is
1. The Russian or Moscovite. — In language^ at least, it
is closely connected with
2. The Servian. — The occupancy of the Servians Proper
is, as we expect, Servia. But many other countries are,
more or less, Servian. Bosnia, Turkish Croatia, and
Herzegovna are Servian. Dalmatia is, in its essentials of
blood and language, Servian. Carinthia, Camiola, and
Croatia, the language of which is sometimes called Vend
and sometimes lUyrian, are Servian. Montenegro is
Servian. The Uskoks and Morlakians are closely akin
to the Servians.
3. The Polish. — The Lekh, or Poles, are the Slavonians
of the great central levels of Europe. Akin to them are
the Serbs, or Vends, of Lusatia and the Circle of Kotbus,
along with the now Germanized Linones of Luneberg, as
well as the isolated Kassub of Rugenwalde in Pomerania.
4. The Tshek of Bohemia. — A German of the parts
about Prague and Olmutz, a German of the country of
10 THE SLAVONIANS.
Huss and Ziska, is a Bohemian or a Moravian only as an
Englishman is a Briton, or a Spaniard of the New World
a Mexican, t. e, not at all. He is simply a German on
Slavonic soil. The real indigetuB are the Tshek, for so
they call themselves. Whether the term be native from
the beginning is more than I can say. Word for word, it
is Daci, of which we have the intermediate form T^axoi,
The Tshek is the language of Bohemia and Moravia. Akin
to it is the Slovak, of the southern part of the western
Carpathians, in contact with the Magyar of Hungary.
5. The Bulgarians. — The language of Bulgaria is Sla-
vonic. We may also add with safety, that its basis
is something either Servian or Russian, or, if not this
exactly, something between the two. The country
over which it is spoken belongs to the area where the
two forms are supposed to have graduated into each
other. Yet the Bulgarian is as little purely Servian
as it is purely Russ. It has more than one Turk
sound, more than one Turk combination. The Turk,
like all the Siberian forms of speech, prefer an inflection
at the end, to one at the beginning of a word. The Bul-
garian (in this respect standing alone amongst the Slavonic
tongues) not only has a definite article, but incorporates
it with the substantive to which it is attached, and, not
only does this, but places it at the end of that word,
rather than at the beginning. The Albanian does the
same. So does the Rumanyo of Wallachia. So do the
Norse languages. But no Slavonic tongue does so except
the Bulgarian. Now the Bulgarian blood is pre-eminently
mixed. It is Fin, Turk, and Sarmatian — certainly, more
or less Slavonic ; probably, more or less Lithuanic.
At an early period, the Scriptures were translated into
Slavonic ; from which it followed that the language into
which they were rendered became written. Its alphabet
THE SLAVONIANS. 11
was founded on the Greek ; inasmuch as the Christianity
which it conveyed was the Christianity of Constantinople,
f. e. that of the Greek Church. The missionary who
introduced it bore the respected name of Cyrill, and the
alphabet is known as the Cyrillian. It is one of the best
and worst in Europe. It is good because it is full, and
contains, for each simple single sound, a simple single
sign. It is bad because it is founded upon the capital
letters only ; and, so being founded, is fitter for inscrip*
tions than for writing. Nevertheless, it is the alphabet of
the Russian portion of the Greek Church ; and how large
that portion is I need not say. It is an alphabet by means
of which more than one language of Caucasus, Siberia,
and even Armenia, has been reduced to writing.
What modem dialect represents this Old, or Church,
Slavonic ? Some say the Russian, some the Servian,
some the Bulgarian. It is certainly not the Bulgarian,
and, probably, neither the Russ nor the Serb exactly* I
believe it to be a dialect now extinct, but one which,
originally, was spoken in some part of Hungary or Tran-
sylvania.
And now we may ask how these divisions and sub-
divisions of the Slavonic name are determined. Do
they graduate into each other, or are they separated
by broad and trenchant lines of demarcation? There
are broad and trenchant lines of demarcation and there
are the phenomena of transition.
The members of the southern division^ the Servian and
Russian (for the Russian, though at the present time spoken
in both Siberia and America, originated in the parts about
the Danube and the Carpathians), run into each other (the
Russian being the most of an outlyer) but not into the
members of the northern group, of which the Slovak is
their nearest congener. Yet the Slovak affinities are
12 THE SLAVONIANS.
Tshek, Moravian, and Bohemian. The Serh of Lusatia
is more Polish than Bohemian ; not, however, without
Bohemian elements. The isolated dialects of Luneburg
and Pomerania are Polish. In one word, the affinities
are just what the geographical relations suggest.
What applies to the language applies to the creed.
The northern and southern divisions are natural, provided
always that we consider the Russians as southern and
Servian. At the same time, there are the phenomena of
transition and intermixture.
The Germanized Slavonians of Luneburg, the Ger-
manized Slavonians of Pomerania, the Poles, the Serbs
of Lusatia, the Bohemians, the Moravians, and the Slo-
vaks are either Romanists or Protestants ; in other words,
they took their Christianity from Rome rather than
Greece. On the other hand, the Russians, the Bul-
garians, and the Servians took their Christianity from
Constantinople, and belong to the Greek, or Eastern,
rather than to the Roman, or Western, Church.
In Illyria, by which I mean Croatia, Carinthia, and
Camiola, there is (or rather there has been) an inter-
mixture. The discovery of old writings in what is called
the Glagolit alphabet has rewarded the industry and
acumen of the investigators of the lUyrian, or Vend,
dialects ; the . Glagolit alphabet being Greek in origin,
and, as such, betraying a Constantinopolitan influence.
It differs from the Cyrillian in detail only. Practically
speaking, however, it is merely a literary curiosity. The
Dalmatian, Carinthian, Camiolan, and Croatian dialects
are written, when written at all, in Roman letters ; the
Cyrillian alphabet being Servian and Russian. The
letters go with the churches.
One portion of the Slavonic stock is neither Protestant
nor Romanist ; neither Latin nor Greek. Bosnia, along
THE SLAYOMUNS. IS
with part of Bulgaria^ is, to a great extent, at one and
the same time, Slavonic and Mahometan.
It is an enormous mass — this great Slavonic stock, and
we have (so to say) to distribute its component parts.
We have done so in the way of language. We have
done so in the way of creed. We have done so in the
way of alphabet. We now consider its political analysis.
Russia. — The lion's share is Russian. To Russia be-
longs, with a small exception, everything that is Russ.
To Russia, too, belongs the greater part of the Polish
division. A few Servians, and a few Bulgarians, are
Russian.
The Russ division itself, however, falls into sections
and subsections, both in respect to physical conforma-
tion and dialect. The Great Russian is spoken over
the greater part of Russia, over Central Asia, and
Siberia, over parts even of North-western America, with
a minimum amount of dialectual difference, and with a
minimum amount of difference between it and the written
language. All this indicates the recency of its diffusion,
combined with the homogeneous character of the form of
speech diffused.
The White Russians belong to the Government of
Smolensk, their frontier being Lithuanic, their original
political relations Lithuanic, and (as such) some of their
differentiating characteristics Lithuanic also. Haxthausen
states that they are weaklier in body, and worse-looking
in the face, than the others.
The Little Russians coincide with the Polish frontier,
as it stood originally ; the Ukraine and the south-west
Governments being their chief area. They have the credit
of being as much better-looking than the majority as the
White Russians are worse. They extend into Austria,
and in Hungary, Bukovinia, and Gallicia, are known as
14 THE SLAVONIANS.
Rusniaks or Ruthenians. Malorussian is their Mus-
covite name. A good deal more than I can either confirm
or contradict, has been said about their separate nation-
ality. It lies, I imagine, much within the same limits as
that of the English and the Scotch — Kiev being the
Malorussian Edinburgh.
Smolensk, Mohilev, Minsk, Vitepsk, Grodno, Vilna,
and Bialystock are the White Russian ; Pultava, Khar-
khov, Tshemigov, Kiev, Podolia, Volhynia, Ekaterinoslav,
Kherson, Bessarabia, and Taurida are the Little Russian
Governments ; the rest being Great Russian.
Great Russians . . . 35,000,000
Little Russians . . . 13,000,000
White Russians . • . 2,700,000
Total . . . 50,700,000
The Little Russians are the most purely Slavonic.
From Kiev northwards and from Kiev eastwards, ran the
lines of Slavonic occupancy ; the valley of the Dnieper
leading across the water-sheds to those of the Yolkov
and the Volga. Of some of the special Slavonic popu-
lations who thus extended themselves, Nestor gives the
names. These were the Polyane, the Derevlyane, the
Dregovitshi, the Polotshane, the Syevera, and others.
The Desna, the Sula, and the Polota, are the rivers upon
which they were more especially located ; the present
Governments of Kiev, Orel, Kaluga, Smolensk (partly),
Novogorod (partly), being the eminently Russian locali-
ties. The Poles and Lithuanians pressed upon them on
the west ; the Pripecz being a Polono-Lithuanic river,
rather than a Russian one. As to the southern Govern-
ments, they were Turk. So was the greaterpart of the
Volga. The Ugrians, in Nestor's time, still predominated
THE SLAVONIANS. 15
on the Oka and the parts beyond the Valdai hills. There
were some Scandinavians in the north ; but how they
became Slavonized is uncertain.
Volhynia and Podolia were the battle-fields between
the Russian and the Pole ; the valley of Don^ a battle-
field between the Russian and^the Turk. Of the Ugrian
struggles in the north the history is obscure ; though such
struggles there were. Novorogod was the point from
which the line of conquest in this direction originated ;
Olonets, Archangel, Vologda, and Viatka, the parts re-
duced.
The Slavonians of Russia outnumber all the others put
together. They are almost all, however, Russians. If
we look for representatives of the different divisions of
the family we must look elsewhere. We must look
towards
Austria. — The Tsheks of Bohemia are Austrian. So are
the Tsheks of Moravia. So are the Slovaks of Hungary,
on the north. So are the Croats of Hungary and Croatia
on the south. So are the Carinthians. So are the Slavo-
nians of Camiola and Styria. So are those of Dalmatia.
So are the Poles of Gallicia. So are the Rusniaks, or
Little Russians, of Gallicia and Bukhovinia.
Thirkey. — Bulgaria belongs to Turkey. Turkish Croatia
is what its name denotes, an Ottoman dependency. Upper
Moesia is but a part of Servia ; yet it is (which Servia is
not) Turk. So is Mahometan, but Slavonic, Bosnia.
Mo»/«wyro.— Montenegro, Czemogory, or the Black
Mountain, lies between wind and water. It professes to
be independent ; but is in a state of chronic warfare with
the Albanian part of Turkey, is menaced by Austria and
subsidized by Russia. It belongs to the Greek Church.
Servia. — Independent.
Prussia. — ^To Prussia belong the Poles of the Duchy of
16 THE SLAVONIANS.
Posen. To Prussia, too, belongs the fragmentary popula-
tion of the Kassub, of Pomerania, occupant of a portion
of the Rugenwalde.
Kassub Paternoster^
Ojtfiche nasch, ktory ies w niebie. Swietsono badsch imie twe.
Prsydscb twe krolesiwo. Twa sie wola stani, iako w niebie, tako j
na siemi. Ohieb nasch powschedny day nam dscbi^ja. T odpusch
nam nasche winy iako y my odpustschamy naschim winowaytsom ;
a nie wodscb nas w pokussenie ; ale nas sbaw ob sljego. Bo twe iesta
krolestwo, twoia moa, y potschesnosch (cbwala) as na wieki wiekow.
Amen.
To Prussia, too, belong the Serbs of the circle of Kot-
bus, divided only by their political relations from the
Slavonians of
Saxony. — These are the Serbs of Lusatia, few in
numbers, yet once occupants, not only of the whole of
Saxony, but of much of the country beyond. It was
their ancestors who, as the Vandali Silingi (2/xiyyo«), or
the Vandals of Silesia, are joined with the Goths who
conquered Spain. It was the ancestors of these obscure
Serbs of Lusatia who gave the name Andalusia (the
Vandalland), to the finest province of the peninsula.
Hanover. — The Linones of Luneburg are now completely
Germanized.
In the same works wherein the eastward prolongation
of the Slavonic area is investigated, I have given reasons
for believing that the southern Slavonians, of the very earli-
est historical period, extended as far westward as the Keltic
frontier ; in other words, that the Tyrol, the Vorarlberg,
Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and even parts of Switzerland and
Savoy, were what Bohemia and Carinthia are now, t. e.
Slavonic occupancies. That the movement of the Sla-
vonians in general has been from west to east, and from
south to north, is certain. In the time of Charlemagne,
there were no Germans to the east of the Elbe. In the
THE SLAVONIANS. 17
sixth century, there were but few Russians beyond the
Dnieper. The Slavonians have retreated before the
Germans, die Ugrians before the Slavonians. Hence,
the blood and language coincide but partially. Much of
what belongs to the German language is Slave in blood.
Much of what belongs to the Russian is Fin.
The influence of the Slavonic stock upon the history
of the world is material rather than moral or intellec-
tual, its great representative being Russia. Yet the
/ Slavonic languages are spoken by, perhaps, eighty millions
of human beincrs. At any rate, Schaffarik's tables trive
the foUowing numbers :-
Poles
Bohemians*
Lusatians
Illyriansf
Bulgarians
Russians .
. 9,865,000
. 7,167,000
140,000
. 7,246,000
. 3,587,000
. 51,184,000
Total . 78,691,000
It is difficult to contemplate such a vast brotherhood
in language as this, without asking why it is that the
literary influence of the Slavonians is so little. It is
certainly no fault of the language ; the nearest congeners
of which are the Sanskrit, the Latin, and the Greek.
As little is it due to any inferiority of organization. The
list of true and imdoubted Slavonians who have walked
in the first ranks of science is a long one, whilst, if it did
but know, or would but own it, half Germany is Slavonia
in disguise.
* This includes the Slovak of Hungaiy.
f This includea the Servian, Croatian, Dalmatian, Montenegro, and
Carinthian.
VOL. II. C
18
PANSLAVONISM.
Still, there is nothing that can worthily be called a
national Slavonic literature. Why ? The full details I
am not prepared to give. I can only indicate two or
three of the facts which have had most to do with the
hindrance of one.
In the fii-st place, the civilizing and the christianizing
influences have had a divided origin. There were the
Greek creed, the Greek alphabet, and the Greek way of
thinking for the Servians and Russians. There were the
Roman alphabet and the Latin models for the Bohemians
and Poles. A Polish literature can scarcely be said to
have had an existence, so thoroughly has Latin been the
vehicle of Polish thought.
In the second place, the great material expansion of
the Slavonian tongue has been towards the parts most
remote from Europe, and from the quarter where the civi-
lization is the least European. It is Russia that, at the
expense of the Ugrians, has spread itself abroad. It is
the Slavonism of Mecklenburg, Pomerania, Brandenburg,
Bohemia, and Austria, which, under the pressure of
Germanism, has receded, and is receding.
Thirdly, the Slavonic stock is most irregularly dis-
tributed, as may be seen from the following tables.
POLITICAL DISTRIBUTION OP THE SLAVONIC STOCK.
Great RasBiana..
Little RusBians..
\niite RutsiauB..
BalpiriaDB
SenianB and )
BosniaDB ... j
CroatianB
Carinthiaiu
Poles
TshckhB
Slovaks
Up|>er Sorabians
Lower Sorabiaua
Total
Russia.
Austria.
Prussia.
Turkey.
Cracow.
Saxoay.
85.314,000
■ •■
• ••
• ••
• ••
■ ••
10.370,000
2,774.000
• ft
• ••
• ••
• •■
2,726.000
• •■
• ••
• ■•
• ••
•••
80,000
7,000
•••
3,600,000
• ••
t • •
100,000
3,694,000
• •■
2,000,000
• ••
■••
••■
801,000
• ••
• ■ •
• ••
• ■■
1.151,(00
■ ■«
• • •
•••
4,912.000
2.341.000
1,982.000
■ • •
130.000
• ••
■••
4,S70,0<<)
44,(XMJ
• • ■
• •■
«■■
• « ■
2,763.(J00
• ■■
■ • •
« ■•
«••
• •■
■ •■
88,0(X)
• ••
■ ••
60,000
• ••
• ••
U,OWj
■ ••
■ ••
• ••
53,502,OCO
16,791,000
2.108,000
6,100,000
130,000
60,000
ToUl.
35,314,000
13,144,000
2,726.000
3,587,000
5,294,000
801.000
1,161.(H)0
9,365.000
4,414.0(K)
2,753,000
98,000
44,000
78,691,000
PANSLAVONISM.
19
RELIGIOUS DISTRIBUTION OF THE SLAVONIC STOCK.
Great Ruwians
Little Russians
White Russians
Bulgarians .«•
Greek
Church.
United Greek
Church.
Ronun
Catholic.
Protestant.
Maho-
medan.
35,314.000
10,154,000
8.376,000
3.287,000
2,880,000
• ■•
•••
■••
•••
• «•
• •■
•••
2.996i0OO
»■•
•••
• • •
•••
*■•
• ••
■ •«
• ••
■ «•
36a000
60,000
1,864,000
801,000
1.188.000
8,923,000
4,270,000
1,963,000
10,000
• ••
« ■■
■ ••
• •«
«••
•••
is',000
442,000
144,000
800,000
88,000
44.000
• ••
mmm
250,000
550.000
• ••
• ■•
• ••
■••
«■ •
• ••
«••
Servians and Bosnians
Croatians
Carinthians
Poles «
Tihekha
Slovaks
Upper Sorabians
Lover Sorabiaus
Total
54,011,000
2,990,000
19,859,000
1,581.000
800,000
Is this great language always to stand dumb in the
world of thought ? I can only answer this by stating, that
there is such a word as Panslavonism. It is the creation
of a literary man, and by the writings of literary men
the doctrine which it embodies has chiefly been developed.
It means that, with such a slight diflerence as actually
exists between the extreme forms of the Slavonic speech,
a literature should be developed, which all Slavonians
should read ; that in Austria and Posen it should replace
the German ; and that in Servia and Russia it should
be national.
But Panslavonism has a political, as well as a literary
bearing. This varies with the country. In Poland, it
means absolute equality between the Pole and Russian,
the two separate nationalities being merged under the
great generality of Slavonism. In Russia it means the
propagation of the Greek creed, and the displacement of
such languages as the Turk and Rumanyo by the Russian
or Servian. In Servia and Montenegro, it means dislike
to all things Ottoman ; and in Hungary, the denial of
the right of predominance to the Magyar minority. It
means, in short, different things in different places. It
means, however, most especially, the non-recognition of
the assumed superiority in literature and science on the
c 2
20 PANSLAVONISM.
part of the Germans, and the development of the Slavo-
nic press, whose domain shall be co-extensive with the
language. It began, as has been stated, in Bohemia, where
the Slavonic civilization is the highest, and where the
German contact is the least satisfactory to the Slavonian.
TRB SKIPETAK. 21
CHAPTER in.
The Skipetar, or Albanians.
At the present time the Albanian population is one of
the most isolated in the world ; being surrounded by
Turks^ Greeks, and Slavonians. But as the Turks, at
least, are intrusive, and as the whole .of the country to
the north has, from the beginning of history, been the
scene of continual invasion and displacement, the pre-
sumption is in favour of the ancestors of the present
Skipetar (for so the Albanians call themselves) having
once extended further northwards in the direction of
Ugria, as well as further east in the direction of Cau-
casus.
Albania extends from Montenegro to the Gulf of Arta.
Eastwards it reaches the back-bone of Turkey, or the
watershed between the small rivers which empty them-
selves into the Adriatic and the larger ones which fall
into the iBgean.
The occupants of this district fall into the following
divisions, clans, or tribes.
1. The Ghegh, containing —
a. The proper Ghegh, conterminous with the Slavonian
coimtries of Montenegro, Bosnia, and Herzegovna,
bounded on the south by the river Drin.
ft. The Mirdit, south of the Drin, in the province of
Kroia.
22 THE SKIPETAB,
2. The Toski, — In the mouth of a Ghegh, Toski is the
name for the South Albanians in general. The true and
proper Toski, however, in the limited sense of the word,
are a tribe of the river Voyutsa. Another tribe which
a Ghegh would call Toski, but which the Toski, in the
limited sense of the word, call Lyap, calls itself Arb;
its occupancy being the ancient Chaonia. The Dzhami
touch the Greek frontier, Parga and Suli being two of
their towns.
The Skipetar of the parts about B6rat, on the Ghegh
and Toski frontier, are said to be, in respect to their
dialect, intermediate, or transitional — Ghegh, however,
rather than Toski.
The Ghegh proper, and the Mirdit, are more dark than
fair, and more Christian than Mahometan ; some belonging
to the Greek Church, and some being Romanists.
The Toski have often light complexions and grey eyes.
Like the Lyap and Dzhami, they are chiefly Mahometans.
The Christian Toski are, almost wholly, of the Greek
Church.
The tribe system is, perhaps, stronger in Albania than
in any part of Europe ; the Highlands of Scotland not
excepted. This engenders no small amount of private
war, arising out of blood-feuds. A Skipetar, even in time
of peace, goes armed. Indeed, he belongs to a country
that, though European, and (as such) supposed to be civi-
lized, is to be compared with Circassia or Kurdistan,
rather than with Scotland or Switzerland. The worst of
the Turk garrisons, whether in Asia Minor or in Africa,
are composed of Albanian, or, as they more usually
called, Amaout soldiers ; and it is through these hard and
unscrupulous men that the Pashas do their worst deeds.
The state of hostility between the Montenegriners and the
Albanians of their frontier is chronic.
OR ALBANIANS. 2S
Though shepherds, robbers, and soldiers, the Albanians
must not be looked upon as exclusively landsmen. Those
of the islands exhibit great naval aptitude. As sailors
they are both bold and skilful.
They marry young; and become betrothed still younger.
When this is the case the principals have but a small
voice in the marriage preliminaries. The parents effect
these long before the sons and daughters are adolescent.
What Hahn calls Doric love, and considers innocent and
proper, deserves a coarser and more disreputable name.
The best traits in the Skipetar character are their love
of liberty, their love of their country, their courage, and
their confidence in each other. Hence their chief repre-
sentatives in history have been warriors ; first and foremost
of whom stands George Castriotes, Little Alexander, or
Scanderbeg. That there was Skipetar blood in more
than one of the heroes of antiquity is nearly certain.
There was Skipetar (it would then be called Illyrian)
blood in the veins of more than one of the kings
of the Hellenic world. Pyrrhus, for instance, and the
Temenids of Macedonia were, probably, more or less
Skipetar.
It is the opinion of Hahn that the Ghegh division
coincides with the lUyrians, the Toski with the Epirots of
antiquity.
There are Albanians beyond the boundaries of Albania,
i. c. in Greece, in the Banat, in Turkey, in Italy, and in the
Ottoman garrisons wherever they exist. In like manner,
there are many parts of Albania which are other than
Skipetar. The parts about Ochrida are a Bulgarian
occupancy. Greek districts indent the northern, Servian
the southern, frontiers. Besides these, there is more than
one Rumanyo or Wallachian settlement, both on the
frontier, and in the heart of the country.
S4 THE SKIPSTAB
Numbers of Skipetar.
In Greece, Attica^ Megara, Salamis, the
Piraeus 30,000
Boeotia 25,000
Phokis 5,000
Valley of Sperchius .... 10,000
Euboea (South) 25,000
Andros (North) 6,000
Argos 25,000
Korinth and Achaia .... 15,000
Acadia 10,000
Hydra 12,000
Spezzia 10,000
173,000
In Austria, Clementines of Ninketze
andHerkovtzeinSyrmia . . (?)
Erizzo, a suburb of Zara
in Dalmatia 880
Pervi, near Pola in Istria 210
In Russia (Bessarabia)
In Italy, Calabria Ulteriore
Calabria Citeriore
Basilicata
Capitanata .
Terra d'Ottranto .
Abruzzo Ulteriore
Sicily .
1,090
1,328
4,407
30,812
10,090
13,465
6,844
220
19,713
85,551
OR ALBANIANS.
25
To which add a few families in Venice^ chiefly or ex-
clusively in the parish of S. Cassiano. Add^ too, as areas
more or less Albanian, some villages of the Monte Gar-
gano in Italy, and those of Bronte, Biancaville, S.
Michele, and S. Angelo in Sicily. Here, however, fusion
has taken place, and the general character is Italian or
Sicilian.
Engliah.
Skipetar*
Bonudcf
Serriaa.
Man
nyeri
anthrdpos
tshorek
Head
koke
keiald
glava
Hair
lyezh
mali
Ylasi
Eye
Ba
omma
oko
Ear
Teihe
(^tion
arc
Nose
khoundes
muU
noB
Mouth
goye
stoma
uflta
Tooth
demp
odonti
znb
Tojiffue
gzoiikhe
gldflSd
yasik
Hand
dori
kheir
raka
Foot
kame
podi
noga
Sun
dyel
heUo8
suntshe
Moon
khenne
sel6nd
mesestah
Star
oU
astron
zvezda
Fire
zyarri
fdtia
ogany
Water
ouye
neri
coda
One Albanian poet seems to be almost a classic. At
any rate, he was no untaught bard. He wrote in his
native tongue ; but his poems are on the Turkish model,
(itself but Persian at second-hand), and are full of exotic
words. His name was Nesim Bey, and he was bom at
Premet. He compared the eyebrows of his mistress to
the holy stone of the mosque of Mecca, the Kaaba ; and
was maltreated as a blasphemer for doing so.
The popular poetry, though not without vigour, and
though dedicated to the recital of warlike actions, has less
of the ballad character than that of the Servians. A great
deal of it is sentimental and exotic. Of the ancient mytho-
Toski dialect.
f Modem Greek.
26 THE SKIPETAR.
logy it gives us but little. At the same time, there is no
lack of Skipetar superstitions. There is the belief in the
evil eye ; in the vampire ; in men with tails ; and^ ap-
parently, in lycanthropy. There is the belief in fairies,
both male and female, fair in form, amiable in dis-
position. On the other hand, there is the fear of the
Kore, a malignant baby-eater. The tutelary spirit of the
house takes the form of a snake, that lives on the walls,
shows itself but seldom, and rustles behind the wainscot
when danger approaches. When all the males of the
family die, it leaves. The Kutshedra causes droughts.
The Sukyeneza has four eyes. The Lubra, like the Kore,
feeds on the flesh of infants. The Ore takes note of
the prayers and wishes of men. Mauthia shines bright
in a dress of gold and jewels. Dif is endowed with more
than mortal strength.
The area of the Skipetar has, doubtless, been greater
than it is. In the direction of the southern Ugrians, and
the most south-western Dioscurians, it probably extended
far northwards. I think this, because the displacements in
Thrace, the valley of the Danube, and Russia, are enor-
mously great — and not only are they this, but they are old
as well. The Getae were possibly, the Scythians were
certainly, intrusive — even in the time of Herodotus.
Again, all Greece, the Morea included, seems to have once
been Skipetar. This, however, was before the occupancy
of the Hellenes ; the origin of whom is suggested in the
next chapter.
THE ITALIANS AND HELLENES. 27
CHAPTER IV.
The Latins or liaUans, and the Qreeks or Hellenes. — ^The Germans. — The
Kelts. — The Euskaldnnac, or Basks.
The Italians and Greeks, — Respecting populations so
well known as the Romans and the Athenians, the Latins
and the Hellenes, the Italians and the Greeks, I have
little to say in the way of ordinary detail. Their early
civilization, and their influence on the world's history, are
palpable and patent. The physical conditions, both in
the way of climate and sea-board, under which this civi-
lization was developed, are amongst the earliest teachings
in geography. Their southern physiognomy has been,
over and over again, contrasted with the blonde com-
plexions and light hair of the Germans ; and their great
intellectual aptitudes have been admitted to either accom-
pany, or represent, a fine, and almost faultless, organ-
ization.
No one asks the descriptive ethnologist for a history of
either Rome or Greece, Both Rome and Greece, however,
have their ethnologies. In noticing these, I shall limit
myself to the three questions which, in the present state
of our inquiries, are the most important. These are —
I. The relations of the Greek and Latin groups to
each other.
II. The relations of the division which the two groups
constitute to the other families of Europe.
^8 THE ITALIANS AND HELLENES.
III. The relation of the modem Greeks and the modern
Italians to the ancient.
I. The relations of the Greek and Latin groups to each
other. — Roughly speaking, this is represented by the
relations of the Latin and Greek languages ; languages
which have long been admitted to constitute branches of
the same stock, or sub-sections of the same section, rather
than separate classes or separate sections. The exact
value of the class thus constituted is another question.
The current phraseology sufficiently indicates likeness as
well as difference, difference as well as likeness. What is
the geography, what the history that accounts for this ?
Whence came the Greek that it is so like the. Latin,
whence the Latin that it is so akin to the Greek ? Some-
where or other the two must have been in close geo-
graphical contact. At present they belong to two different
peninsulas, with the sea between them in one direction «
and a vast block of Albanian and Slavonic territory in
the other. What was the original continuity? I have
given elsewhere* my reasons for making even the most
ancient Hellenes not only foreign to the soil of Greece
(which was originally Skipetar), but also Italian in origin;
a doctrine which implies not only a maritime migration,
but also the high probability of the Hellenes having
been, to a great extent, a population of half-bloods;
Italian on one side, Albanian, Illyrian, or Epirot on the
other. This is because no mode of migration is less favour-
able to the purity of the migrants than a sea- voyage;
where space is limited and females an encumbrance.
Let Greece under the leadership of Agamemnon be as
truly Hellenic as Kent and Essex were Anglo-Saxon in
the reign of Alfred. What does it prove in the way of
the occupants being aboriginal ? As little as the English
* Ethnology of Europe, page 97, &c.
THE ITALIANS AND HEIXENES. 29
character of the counties in question at the time referred
to. Four centuries (or even less) of migration may easily
give all the phenomena that occur; for the area of
Hellenic Greece is smaller than the kingdom of Wessex
or Northumberland^ and the country but little more im-
practicable.
II. THe relations of the Italians and Hellenes to the other
families of Europe. — If Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily were
the occupancy of the ancestors of the Hellenes, it follows,
from the position of those countries at the extremity of the
peninsula, th^t the connection of the Greek language with
the other tongues of Europe must be indirect, or through
the Latin. If so, the Greek is what is called Indo-
European only so far as it is Roman, Oscan, Umbrian,
or the like.
Again, the Greek blood must be far less Hellenic than
the language, the Greek relations, in the way of blood,
being, more or less, Skipetar. In other words, the con-
nection between the Kelts and Germans of Great Britain
(whatever it was) repeats itself in that of the Albanians
and the Hellenes.
The Greek language being spoken at the extremity of
«
an area, has no congeners except on the north. In this
direction it is suceeded by the Latin and its allied forms
of speech, which lead up to the other three great members
of the division called Indo-European, viz. the Keltic,
the German, and the Sarmatian. Its connections with
these are by no means equal. In Keltic elements the
Latin has been shown to abound ; but it has also been
shown that these elements are intrusive, t. e* that they are
Latin in the same way that the Norman elements of our
own tongue are English. In their grammatical structure
the Kelt and Latin are widely different.
That the Latin should be more Slavonic than German
30 THE ITALIANS AND HEIxLENES.
is what we expect h priori. The untenable doctrine that
the Slavonians of Carinthia and Carniola are recent
settlers is, or ought to be, abandoned. This being given
up, the southern Slaves and the northern Italians are in
geographical juxtaposition.
III. The relation of the modern Greeks and the modem
Italians to the ancient. (1.) The Greeks. — ^Why is it that
when we compare a map of modem with one of ancient
Greece, such a small proportion of the old classical names
can be found ? Such is, undoubtedly, the case. Yet,
subject to Turkey as Greece, until the present century,
has been, the majority of the new names is not Turkish.
On the contrary, it is chiefly Slavonic.
As early as a. d. 682, movements set in towards Greece,
Thrace and Macedon being overrun by Slavonians. The
details here, however, are obscure, and there is an occa-
sional confusion of the Slaves with the Avars. The latter
nation, however, seems to have made no notable settlement
in Southern Greece at least. In the latter half of the
seventh century, Thessaly, Epirus, several of the islands,
and parts of Asia Minor, were overrun. In the ninth,
Macedon is called Sklavinia. In the eleventh, Athens is
sacked, and the inhabitants driven to take refuge in the
isle of Salamis. Under Constantine Porphyrogeneta,
the presence of an Hellenic population is an exception.
" In Macedon," he writes, " the Scythians dwell, instead
of the Macedonians.'' Again, " the whole country is
Slavonized."
But the most remarkable passage is the following,
which shows that a Slavonic population is so far the
rule that where an approach to the ancient population is
found it is dealt with as a remarkable phenomenon ; and
that by a Greek writer : — " It must be known that the
inhabitants of the settlement (Kacrfov) Maina, are not of
THE ITAIJANS AND HELLENES. SI
the race of the aforesaid Slaves, but of the old Romans,
and even till the present time, they are called by their
neighbours Hellenes, from having been originally pagans
and idolaters like the old Hellenes." — De Adm, Imp. i. 50.
Latin writers, equally with the Greek, considered
Grreece to be Slavonic : — ** Inde (i. e. Sicilia) navigantes
venerunt ultra mare Adrium ad urbem Manafasiam in
Sclavinica terra." By Manafasia, is meant Napoli di
Malvasia in the Morea.
More than this. The details of some of these Slavonic
populations are given ; so that we know that there were
EzeritsB and Milengi in the Morea, with Dragovitse,
Sagudatse, Velegezetse, Verzetae, and others in Northern
Greece.
So much for the Slavonic, the most important of the
foreign elements, in the modern Greek blood. Others
there are besides ; viz. Albanian, Italian, Turk, Bulgarian,
Wallachian, Arab, and even French, and Catalonian.
To say that there is no blood-connection at all between
the present Greeks and the old Hellenes, would be an
over-statement. It is no over-statement, however, to
say that the foreign elements of intermixture are both
numerous and important. They are, probably, at their
maximum in the Ionian Islands, and in Boeotia ; at their
minimum in the land of the old Laconians, the truly
Hellenic character of the Zakones having long com-
manded attention.
(2.) The Italians. — Ligurian, Etruscan, and, more or less,
Keltic in the north ; Keltic, to some extent, in even the
Umbrian, Sabine, and Sanmite countries ; and Greek in
the south ; Italy, in even the time of the Romans, must
have been more Italian in language than in blood. And
so it is now — the most Italian parts of it being the more
inaccessible districts of its middle third of the peninsula,
32 THE ITALIANS AND HELLENES.
the country of the Marsi, Peligni, Vestini, and similar
allied populations. Yet even here there has, in all pro-
bability, been admixture from the time of the Republic
to our own. Thus, in the second century of our era,
Frontinus tells us of the Cornelian and Baebian Ligurians
in Samnium. These were the descendants of a colony
transplanted from Liguria by P. Cornelius Cethegus and
M. Baebius Tamphilus. In the same Samnium (saving
its Kelt elements one of the most Italian parts of Italy),
there was a Bulgarian colony in the time of the Lombards.
We know of these. Of how many other similar inter-
mixtures may we be ignorant ! The constitution of the
Roman armies was pre-eminently heterogeneous ; so much
so, that, in speaking of a soldier of the Empire, it is
better to call him a legionary than a Roman — so easily
may he have been a Briton, a Gaul, a Gennan, a Sla-
vonian, an African.
Of the so-called barbarian inroads, some were Sarma-
tian, e. g. that of the Vandals and Gepidse ; some Turk,
€. g. that of the Huns, Avars, (?) Heruli, and Skiri ; some,
perhaps, more or less Ugrian, t. e* that of the Bulgarians.
The German settlements, however, are the most important.
The conquest by Theodoric was not only permanent, but
it was the first of three from the same stock. Them-
selves, probably, of mixed blood, having taken it up,
during their various settlements on the Lower and Middle
Danube, from the Slavonians and Turks of the countries
with which they came in contact, the Ostrogoths, to the
amount of not less than two hundred thousand, settled in
the most favoured parts of the country. When Italy
is recovered by Narses and Belisarius, more than one
hundred and fifty years after, they are only ejected from
power, not bodily put out of the land.
The Lombard dominion rapidly succeeded the Ostro-
THE ITALIANS AND HELLENES. 33
goth. Partial invasions of Bavarians, Suabians, and
Alemanni were^ for a time, successful. But the Lom-
bards ruled over all Italy, with the exception of the
Exarchate of Ravenna, till the conquest by Charlemagne,
and over the Duchy of Beneventum till the conquest of
Sicily by the Normans. Since then, there has been
Spanish, French, Austrian^ and Albanian intermixture.
The main foreign elements, however, in Italy are those
of the original Latin basis (Kelt, Etruscan, and Greek),
and those of the German superadditions.
Sicily^ 8fc. — Sicily and the extreme south of Italy
deserve a separate notice. By hypothesis they were
originally Greek ; the mother-countries of what was
afterwards HeUas. They then presented the phenomenon
of what we may call a reflected colonization. Colonies
from the colony came back to the mother-country, esta-
blishing cities like Naxos, Gela, Syracuse, &c., — some
Doric, some Ionic. Then, or concurrently, came settlers
from Africa, some Libyan, some Punic. Then came the
conquest by the Romans, before which, I believe, no one
imagines that Sicily was, in any respect, Latin. Between
A. D. 827-878 the island was reduced by the Arabs. By
the end of the eleventh century the Normans (Scandina-
vian and French) had established themselves. French,
Catalonian, modem Greek, and Albanian elements may
all be found in Sicily. Of the amount of these we can
only conjecture ; and that very loosely. This uncertainty
gives value to the few facts that have come down to
us in a numerical form. One of these is the following.
When the Norman power was broken up, 60,000 Saracens
(Mahometans, though not necessarily Arabs) were removed
from Sicily to Nocera in the south of Italy.
Of the 19,000 actual Albanians of Sicily the details
are as follows : —
VOL. II. D
34 THE ITALIANS AND HELLENES.
In Contessa
. 3,000
— Mezzojuso .
. 4,623
— Palazzo d' Adriano
. 5,450
— Plana de' Greci .
. 5,920
— S. Cristina
720
19,713
Besides these, there are several other villages where the
blood is Albanian, the language Sicilian.
Is the intercourse between the two sides of the
Adriatic, which these Albanian colonies imply, recent
or old ? Both. Migrations from the opposite coast —
migrations other than Greek — ^modified even the early
populations of Italy. The Chaonian name was common
to both sides of the Gulf. Again, the Galabri, writes
Strabo, are a '' people of the Dardaniatae, in whose land
is an ancient city." Word for word, Galabri is Calabri.
Without being identical, the name of the Italian
lapyges (which was to all intents and purposes another
name for Calabri) is closely akin to lapodes ; so that, in
Italy, we have Calabri called also lapyges, and, in Illyria,
lapodes near a population called Galabri.
Again, the Sallentines were partly Cretans, associated
with Locrians and lUyrians.
Again, the district wherein the legends concerning
Diomed prevailed is also the district of the Daunii,
whom Festus connects with Illyria.
I conclude the notice of Italy with the following
table, which gives the foreign elements of the countries
south of the Alps, along with the islands of Sicily,
Sardinia, Corsica, and Malta ; all of which are, more or
less, Italian, though it is doubtful whether they can all
be properly called Italy. Malta, for instance, is Arab in
speech, English in its political relations.
THE GERMANS.
35
A.REAS.
inyria
1
•
•g
C
J
•
1
■
•
j
1
O
al
■
•
•
s
t
1,200
40,000
190,000
20,000
SiO
300
500
8,200
7,630
lOi)
Lombardy ...
■ ■•
■ ■•
60
600
■ ••
• • ■
60
lial. Tyrol ...
6,500
• « *
■ * ■
«••
■ ■ ■
• •■
•••
• ■ «
100
Sardinia
• ••
78,000
• ••
• ••
100
8,000
• ••
6,820
100
Parma
680
Modena
• ••
■ ••
• «•
«• ■
• ■ I
• • •
• ••
9,710
• •■
Ttticany
• ••
■ •■
• ••
• • ■
400
■ ••
• •■
7,060
■ ••
Slates of
the Church
• ■«
• ■«
• ■•
«•»
160
• ••
• ••
10,090
80
Two Sieiliea..
• ••
•••
■ ••
85,661
18,000
• ••
• ■•
2.000
300
Teaaino
andValait
800
• ■ ■
••a
■ ••
■ •«
•••
• ••
...
• ••
Malta
130,000
■ • ■
Corsica
Total
■ •■
• ■■
■ ••
mma
85.901
640
■ •■
...
• • ■
H7S4 210,000
78,000
330
S0,S90
8,000
130,000
40,190
740
The German Stock.
The German area, as it exists at the present moment^
contains —
1. The Germans of the German empire, the Dutch of
Holland, and a portion of the Swiss.
S. The Germans of the Baltic provinces of Russia;
by which is meant Kurland, Liefiand (Livonia), and
Estonia.
3. The English and Lowland Scotch of the British
Islands, their colonies and dependencies, and the United
States of America.
4. The Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes ; along
with
5. The occupants of the Fero Isles and Iceland.
Add to these detached settlements in Hungary, Italy,
Russia, and elsewhere.
The most northern occupants of the German area are
the Norwegians of the parts about Vardo and Ham-
merfest, within the Arctic Circle. The most southern are
the Germans of the Sette and Tredici Commune, in Italy.
The Swiss occupy the Alps. The Hollanders lie on or
below the level of the sea. If we take in the English
D 2
36 THE GERMANS.
colonies, the di (Terences in the way of latitude and
climate become still stronger.
In England no spot is a hundred miles from the sea.
The same may, probably, be said of Norway. In
Saxony and Bohemia we have the least maritime localities
in Europe.
The German populations are, to a man. Christians;
there being no such a combination as a German language
and a Mahometan creed. They are also Christians of
the Western Church ; their present alphabets being exclu-
sively of Latin origin*
Of their original paganism, all Christian nations
retain more than they care to own. The Germans,
however, retain less than the Sarmatians.
The German civilization is more uniform than the
Slavonic, and the literature more developed.
Of the little real self-government that exists in the
world the Germans have well-nigh the monopoly. It is
not, however, on the soil of Germany proper that it has
its growth. It must be sought for in Norway, in Great
Britain, and in the United States.
The particular forms of speech that have developed
themselves into literary and national languages are the
English, from the Anglo-Saxon ; the Dutch of Holland ;
the German ; the Danish (which is the literary language
of Norway as well as Denmark) ; the Swedish ; and the
Icelandic, — the provincial dialects being numerous. In
Germany these fall into two divisions — the Piatt Deutsch
(Low German) and the Hoch Deutsch (High German).
The Dutch of Holland belongs to the former ; the lite-
rary German to the latter. The difference between them
is less marked in reality than in books. The Hessian is
the most northern of the High German dialects, of which
one of the extreme representatives is the Bavarian. The
THE GERMANS. 37
Frisian of Friesland, on the other hand (unless we treat it
as a separate language), belongs to the Low German
division ; as did the Old Saxon and the Anglo-Saxon of
Hanover and Holstein, the mother- tongue of the English.
The Frank of the Carlovingian period was intermediate.
The Norse, or Scandinavian languages, form a separate
division. They all have a middle or passive voice. They
all have a post-positive article. Thus — jeg kalle = / call;
whilst / am called is expressed by jeg kalles. Also— «» sol
= a sun. The sun is sol-en (solen). There are other
distinctions, but these are the chief.
As a general rule, the German populations call them-
selves by the same name that they are called by us of
England, e.g. a Swede calls himself a Svenske ; a Dane,
a Danske; a Norwegian, a Nordmand; a Swiss, a
Schweitzer. There is, however, one remarkable excep-
tion. The names German and Germany are foreign to
the Germans proper. They know them, indeed, to a
great extent, because it is generally known that Germania
was the Latin for Germany. The native name, however,
for themselves, is Deutsche, and, for their country,
Deutschland. The French called them Allemands, from
the Alemanni ; the Italians, Tedesci, from Theotiscus, a
Latinized form of Deutisc, or Deutsch ; the Slavonians,
Niemce. Meanwhile, the Germans call the Slavonians
Wends. Another German name for populations other
than German is Welsh, from wealh, meaning a foreigner,
and, in some cases, a slave. In the eyes of the old
Angles, the older populations of our island, whether
Roman or British, were Welshmen, and their country
Wales. In the eyes of a German proper, Italy is
Welschland, and the Italians Welschmen. So are the
French of the parts about Liege, being known as Wal-
loons. It was, however, the Germans of their neigh-
38 THE KELTS.
bourhood who gave the name. The Valais, or Wallis
district, in Switzerland, is Welsh. Of the two Danu-
bian Principalities, the western is named Wallachia.
Wallachia, however, is no native name, but, word for
word, Wales, or Welschland.
The Germans are more blonde than dark, and are,
probably, the tallest and the heaviest men in the
world* Clear pink and white complexions are common
amongst them. In the towns, however, brown hair and
dark eyes preponderate. In Friesland and Sweden the
number of light-haired individuals is the greatest. Whe-
ther there is anything like purity of blood anywhere to
the north of the Baltic, the east of the Elbe, the south of
the Mayne, or the west of the German Ocean, is doubtful.
Scandinavia was originally Fin ; Britain, Keltic ; the
remainder Slavonic.
The Kelts. — With the exception of a large district
between the Loire and the Pyrenees, which was Iberian,
and an irregular tract along the Rhine, the whole of the
ancient Gallia was Keltic. So was, part, at least, of
Helvetia, or Switzerland ; part, too, of Batavia, or Hol-
land. How much of the Piedmontese Alps was Keltic
is uncertain. It is only certain that, at a very early
period, the Kelt frontier was advanced far into Italy;
into the valley of the Po, into the valley of the Tibur.
A strong case may be made out for there having been a
Kelt population in Umbria, in the Sabine district, and in
Samnium. Much of the blood of the Romans was
Kelt; and so is much of the Latin language. The
further migrations pf this population into lUyria, the
valley of the Danube, and Asia Minor, though generally
believed in, stand on very insufficient evidence. I am
satisfied that the population which gave its name to
ancient Gaul was different from the one which, according
THE KELTS. 39
to Tacitus^ spoke the Gallic language in the parts about
Moravia and Upper Hungary ; one being Gallic, the
other Gallician — as different from one another as Lithua-
nians and Welshmen. Isolated settlements, however, of
true Gauls seem to have existed in Pannonia. Though
less ubiquitous than they are generally supposed to have
been, the Kelts of Gaul were a x^onquering and an in-
trusive population. The details of their settlements in
ancient Spain and Portugal are obscure* The impor-
tance of those in Italy has, probably, been undervalued.
The other great Kelt occupancy was the British Isles.
The Kelts of Gaul, with the exception of a remnant
in Brittany, have been first Romanized, then modified
by the Goths and Franks of Germany. From the
Romans they have taken their language ; from the
Germans the name France.
The Kelts of Britain, with the exception of the
Welsh, the Manxmen of the Isle of Man, the native
Irish, and the Scotch Highlanders, have, after having
first been modified by the Romans, been Germanized by
the Angles. In Britain both the name of the country
(England) and the language is German.
The blood, however, of even the most English parts of
England must needs be more Keltic than the tongue ;
inasmuch as the probability of any notable amount of
German females having been brought over in the ships of
Angles is small. At the present moment, the difiusion
of Keltic blood over the domain of the English language
is great ; the Irish migration into America being the chief
agent.
The Kelts, however, with their full and complete cha-
racteristics of language and nationality, are a fragmentary
population. They fall into two branches : —
1. The British, represented by the Bretons of Brittany
40 THE KELTS.
and the Welsh. The first of these constitute the Armo-
rican^ the second the Cambrian, section ; the division
being chiefly philological. To the latter belonged the
now extinct language of Cornwall.
2. The Gaelic. — This division comprises the Manxmen,
the Irish Gaels, and the Scotch Gaels.
The languages of the* two divisions are mutually unin-
telligible. All the Gaels, however, can understand each
other; and, with care and attention, a Welshman may
understand a Breton. To the eye, the affinity between
these two languages is greatly disguised by the difference
in the orthographies. So is the affinity between the Gaelic
and British branches in general.
The early civilization of the Kelts of Gaul, at least,
was on the comparatively high level of the Iberians of the
Spanish peninsula and of the northern Italians. They
dwelt in towns, cultivated the land, submitted themselves
to powerful chiefs, were capable of forming alliances and
organizing campaigns. The chief creed was Druidism.
Of their ancient paganism they retain in their present
Christianity as little as any population in Europe. Deuce,
meaning the devil, is Keltic,
The Kelts of Gaul were a light rather than a dark
population. At the present time tliere are two types.
In South Wales brunette complexions and black hair are
common. So they were in the time of Tacitus. So they
are in Brittany. In the Scotch Highlands red or sandy
hair is common. The combination of truly blue eyes and
black hair, which many say is a Kelt character, I have
rarely met with anywhere. Under similar conditions,
there is but little difference between the Kelt and the
German. In Cornwall and in North Wales, hundreds of
individuals of pure Keltic blood are not to be dis-
tinguished from the men of Hanover and Holstein.
THE BASKS. 41
The Bretons of the British branch are Roman Catho-
lics, the Welsh Protestants. Of the Gaels, the Manx-
men are Protestant, the Scotch Highlanders more Protes-
tant than Romanist, the Irish, Romanist.
The Euskaldunac, or Basks. — The western extremity of
the Pyrenees, where France and Spain join, gives us a
locality rendered famous by the historical events of San
Sebastian and the legends of Fuentarabia, with the
provinces of Bearn and Gascony on the French, and
Navarre and Biscay on the Spanish, side of the moun-
tains. Here it is where, although the towns, like
Bayonne, Pampeluna, and Bilbao are French or Spanish,
the country people are Basques or Biscayans — Basques
or Biscayans not only in the provinces of Biscay, but
in Alava, Upper Navarre, and the French districts of
Labourd and Soule. Their name is Spanish (the word
having originated in that of the ancient Yascones), and it
is not the one by which they designate themselves ;
though, possibly, it is indirectly connected with it. The
native name is derived from the root Eusk-; which
becomes £usk-ara when the language, Eusk-kerria when
the country, and Eusk-aldunac when the people are
spoken of; so that the Basque language of the Biscayans
of Biscay is, in the vernacular tongue, the Euskara of the
Euskaldunac of Euskerria.
That the Euskara is no new tongue may be inferred
from the fact of its falling into dialects, which Humboldt
limits to three.
a. The Biscayan Proper.
&. The Guipuscoan is the western Biscayan.
c. The Laburtanian is the Euskarian of France,
spoken in the parts about St. Jean de Luz ; and which,
in the district of Soule, is supposed to fall into a sub-
dialect.
42 THE BASKS.
The general name for the numerous ancient popula-
tions^ occupants of Hispania and Gallia, who are, on
reasonable grounds, believed to be represented by the
present Basks, is Iberic, or Iberian^ from the old name of
the Spanish peninsula. It is in the present Bask that
many of the geographical names of the ancient Iberia are
significant.
SPANIARDS, ETC. 43
CHAPTER V.
Populations, other than Italian, speaking a Language derived from
the Latin.
The populations other than Italian, and, as such, the
occupants of a soil whereof the original blood was different
from that of the pure and proper Italians, but who,
nevertheless, have been sufficiently Romanized to speak a
language of Latin origin, are the following : —
1. The Sardinians and Corsicans. — The exact relations
of the earliest occupants of these islands is unknown.
Before the Roman conquest, Carthaginian influences had
been extensively at work. Since the break-up of the
Romans, Spain has told most on Sardinia, France on
Corsica. The language of both islands is, however, more
Italian than aught else.
2. TTie Spaniards and Portufftiese. ^^The aborigines of
the Spanish peninsula were of the Iberian family, repre-
sented, as has been stated, by the Basks. There appears
also to have been certain Kelt occupants. At any rate,
there is the name Celtiberi. As it was in Sardinia, so it
was in Spain. Before Rome, Carthage had effected
settlements. Neither were Greek elements wholly want-
ing. Since the Roman period, the Goths and Arabs have
been the chief intruders.
The Catalonian and Valencian forms of speech are
44 THE FRENCH.
Provengal rather than Spanish proper. The Spanish
proper is the Castilian dialect. Gallicia is Portuguese in
language ; the Portuguese itself being remarkable for its
exhibition of nasal sounds ; which, wanting, for the most
part, in Italian and Castilian, appear in the French.
The most Arab part of Spain is Grenada ; Catalonia
the most German. Andalusia is Vandal usia, the country
of the Vandali Silingi or Vandals of Silesia. The
remains of an Alan (and, as such, a Turk) invasion have
yet to be discovered.
Next to the Italian the Castilian is the most like the
Latin.
Of the Spaniards beyond the frontier of Spain, the
great areas are Central and South America; then, at a
long interval, the Philippine, and Marianne, and Caroline
Islands.
The Portuguese are to be found in Brazil, Africa, and
India, and other less important localities.
Both Spaniards and Portuguese have largely mixed their
blood with that of the populations with which they have
come in contact.
The French. — The ethnological basis in northern and
central France was Keltic, m southern, Iberian. The
extreme forms of speech are the Proven9al dialects of the
south on the one side, and the Walloon of the parts about
Liege on the other. In parts of Belgium the earlier popu*
lation was German. Speaking, however, generally, we
may say that the French blood is Keltic and Italian;
the superadded elements being chiefly German, Gothic^
Frank, Burgundian, &c.
The chief occupancy of the French beyond the frontier
of France is Lower Canada ; after that, Algeria.
What applies to France applies, in the main, to Swit-
zerland and Savoy ; though I think that, in some of tlie
THE RUMANYO.
45
Alpine localities, the original population was Slavonic.
Different from one another as are the French of Paris
and the Italians of Rome, there are Piedmontese dia-
lects of which the position is equivocal ; so thoroughly is
the French like the Italian, or (changing the expression)
the Italian like the French. Mutatis mutandis^ the same
may be said of the Catalonian of Spain, and the Pro*
yen9al.
The Rumanyo of Wallachia, Moldavia^ and Bessarabia, —
The name by which a Wallachian, a Moldavian, or a
Bessarabian designates himself, is a name which we find,
in some form or other, widely spread elsewhere, in a
variety of forms, and with no slight latitude of meaning.
It is the name the Gipsies give themselves; which is
Rommani. It is the name of the modem Greek lan-
guage ; which is Romaic. It is the name of the language
of the Grisons ; which is Rumonsch. It is the name of
the old Romance language of France. It is the name of
that part of European Turkey which corresponds with
ancient Thrace, and of which Constantinople is the capital,
viz. Rumelia. It is the name of a large portion of Asia
Minor, Roum. It is a name as honourable as it is widely
spread ; for wherever we find it it reminds us of the old
sovereignty of Rome.
The language does the same, as may be seen from the
following extracts.
1.
BUMANTa
Bela in larga ralle ambU,
Erba verde lin caldl ;
Cantil, qui cantand plangelL,
Qaod t6ti munti resnnlL
Ea in gennnchi se pnneH,
Oehi in bub indireptft ;
Ecce, aai vorbe face& :
Donme, domne, bune domne.
LATnr.
Puella in lai^ valle ambulabat^
Herbam yiridem leniter calcabat,
Cantabat, et cantando plangebat,
Ut omneB monies reBonarent :
Ilia in genua se ponebat,
OciiIoB snniim dirigebat ;
Ecce, sic yerba faciebat :
Domine, domine, bone domine.
46
THE RUMANYO.
2.
BUKAKTO.
Nucn, fagu, frassinu
Mult ae certik intra s^ne.
Nuce, dice frassinu,
Quine yine, nuci cullege,
Cullegend si ramuri frange :
Yaide dar de pelle a tua I
Dar tu fage, mi vecine.
Que Yoi spune in m6nte tene :
Multe fere saturasi ;
Qui pr6b6ne nu amblasi ;
Quum se au geru apropiat
La pament te an si culcat,
Si in focu te an si aruncat, &c.
LATIir.
Nuz, fagus, fraxinuSy
Multum certant inter se.
Kux, dicit fraxinus
Qnisquis venit, nnces leg^t,
Colligendo ramos frangit :
YsB itaque pelli tuse I
At tn fage, mi yicine,
Quae exponam mente tene 1
Multas feras saturasti.
At baud bene ambulasti ;
Quum gelu appropinquat
Ad payimentum te deculcant
Ad focum projicinnt.
3.
English.
Rnmuiyo.
Latin.
Heaven
ceriu
coelum
Moon
luna
luna
Mountain
munte
mens
Lake
lacu
lacns
Sm
mare
mare
Bank
ripa
ripa
^Btver
rivu
riyus
Smoke
fumn
film us
Spark
sebinte
scintilla
Light
lumine
In men
Shadmo
umbra
umbra
Wind
yentu
yentuB
Lightning
fulger
fulgur.
The previous specimens are in Roman letters. The
Roman alphabet, however, is strange to the Rumanyos.
They took their Christianity from Constantinople ; so that
the creed is that of the Greek Church, and their alphabet
is Slavonic, like the Servian and Russ. This is as if the
Latin were vmtten in Greek characters. Were it so, it
would be (what the Rumanyo actually is) strangely dis-
guised.
It was the legions of Trajan, and the colonies intro-
duced by that conqueror, that carried the Latin language
THB RUMANYO. 47
into the Rumaiiyo area^ which, in the second and third
centuries, was co-extensive with the ancient province of
Dacia, — Romanized by Trajan ; abandoned by Aurelian.
After its abandonment hordes of barbarians overran it,
displacing, in some districts, the Romanized population,
in others modifying it. The invaders who did this were
chiefly of the Turk or Ugrian stock, Huns, Bulgarians,
Avars, Pet^hineks, and, lastly, Magyars. Even before
the time of Aurelian these foreign elements had been
partially introduced. Some of the Germans of Moesia
must have been in some part of the ancient Dacia ; u e.
on the Sereth and Pruth — not to mention the original
inhabitants, who, in my mind, at least, were Lithuanic.
The Rumanyo are dark-skinned, black-haired, and
black-eyed ; more tall than short, with prominent features,
and faces more long than round. Their resemblance to
the figures on Trajan's column has either been observed or
imagined. Their Christianity is still redolent of heathenism.
At the head of their Pantheon stand Smou and Smeone,
mother and son. Smou, the son, can change his shape,
and visit men in any form he likes. He does so some-
times, and makes love to mortal maids incognito. His
dwelling is underground. Here his mother, Smeone, keeps
house for him ; upon the whole, being the better disposed
being of the two : for Smou, though possibly more good
than bad, is fickle and odd-tempered. It is his mother
who keeps him steady and good-humoiu'ed.
Smou is as much good as bad ; but Balduru is a being
of unmodified evil. The fens, the bogs, the rocks, the
glens, and the caverns, are his residences ; and when men
find any of these more suspicious-looking than usual,
they tremble lest Balduru should lay hold of them.
Vilva is Wallachian, and Slavonic as well; in name,
wholly ; in attributes, but partially. In Servia she is the
48 THE RUMANYO.
dark-eyed maiden of the nighty with hair black and
flowing, and ejes black and bright. In Wallachia she
is half-dragon and half-snake.
Sina is the Goddess of Hunting ; Sina, who is also
called Dina and Diana. She may safely be identified
with the Latin Diana. But it is by no means so safe to
derive her from Italy. The Bohemians, far 'beyond the
influences of Rome, had also a Diana, of which the clas-
sical mythologists take too little cognizance.
The Muma padura, the mother of the woods, is more
good than bad, more kind than vicious, more old tlian
young. When children lose themselves in a forest, she
protects them.
The water, like the wood, has its divinities. When the
Wallachian maid fills her vessel, she pours out a spoonful
or two for the water goddess.
The Morii are ghosts in general. So are the Strigoi,
in Latin Strigse. When a child is bom, the bystanders
throw a stone behind them, saying, this to the Strigou
The Sinit (Sanctus) is the festival to the domestic
genius special to each hearth, the Lar of the Romans,
vnth his feast-day under a Christian designation.
The Murony is the vampire, in which every Rumanyo
believes.
Priccolitsh is a Murony under a modification, being,
like the vampire, a bloodsucker. It is, however, horses,
goats, pigs, and sheep, rather than men, that he drains.
And this he does only at night, and after changing himself
from his usual form of a human being into a dog. A
female Priccolitsh is a Priccolitshone.
There are Wallachians beyond the boundaries of Wal-
lachia. The Wallachian colonists, called also Kutzo-
Wallachians, are to be found in three localities —
L In the mountains between Macedonia and Albania.
THE ROMANCE SWISS. 40
2. In the Pindus range between Thessaly and Albania.
3. In the highlands between Boeotia and Albania.
There are settlers^ too, in Albania, and in Italy.
The Rumanjo of Russia are as follows : —
In Bessarabia . . 406,182
— Kherson . . . 75,000
— Ekaterinoslav . . 9,858
— Podolia .... 7,429
498,369
In the Principalities they may amount to 2,000,000.
In Transylvania they number about 900,000, being more
numerous than any other population. Thus : —
Rumanyos .... 900,000
Magyar .... 700,000
German .... 250,000
Slavonians, Greeks, Jews,
Armenians, Gypsies . 206,000
2,056,000
The Swiss of the Orisons, — The Romance of the two
parallel valleys formed by the streams of the Upper Rhine
and the Upper Inn is in the same category with the
Rumanyo of Wallachia. It is a separate and indepen-
dent derivative of the Latin.
VOL. II,
50 THE DIOSCTTRIANS.
CHAPTER VI.
The DioBcnriana, or Gaucasians of Caacasas. — The Circassiana.
The mountain-range of Caucasus must not be con-
founded with the Government of Caucasus. Neither
must it be supposed that the term Caucasian as applied
to one of the primary divisions of the human species is
either accurate or convenient. The moment we have to
treat of the Caucasus proper, as the occupancy of a very
complex population, confusion arises.
The most northern of the Caucasians proper are the
natives of Circassia. In this word the first C should be
sounded as in Italian, t. e. as the ch in chest. Many
actually write Tsherkes, instead of Circassia, and it
would be well if the practice were general. In all pro-
bability the ordinary spelling, which is purely that of an
Italian, is due to the Genoese of the Crimea, who first
gave currency to the name.
This is not native. It is the Russians and Turks who
talk of the Tsherkes of the Circassian part of Caucasus,
not the Circassians themselves.
Word for word, Tsherkes is Kirgiz. Should any one
doubt this, let him learn that another Turk name, Kasak,
is also applied to the Circassians.
The really native names are Adig6 and Absne. By
these three divisions of the Circassian population speak
of themselves, and of each other. A collective name
THE CIRCASSIANS. 51
for the whole group they have not — ^not, at leasts a native
one.
The Adig6. — Word for word, A-dig-^ is Ztixoi, the
name ander which the author of the Periplus of the
Euxine, written in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian,
speaks of one of the tribes of the coast. In doing this,
he places them east of their present locality ; which is
more inland, to the north of the axis of Mount Caucasus,
and on the drainage of the Kuban.
The division of which the Adige are the representatives,
although now exclusively mountaineers, was once spread,
more or less, over the plains to the north of the Caucasus,
as well as over the hills and valleys of the great range
itself. No wonder. Both Turks and Russians have en-
croached on their area, once larger than it is at present.
More than one map of the fourteenth century carries a
Circassian population from the Straits of Yenikale to the
mouth of the Don, along the whole eastern coast of the
Sea of Azof; and Klaproth believes that the present
Kosaks of these parts are, more or less, Circassian in
blood.
Equally strong is the evidence to a Circassian popula-
tion in the Crimea. The upper part of the river Belbek,
in the south of that peninsula, is called Tsherkes-tiis, or
the Circassian plain, to this day. On it stand the remains
of the Tsherkes-kyerman, or Circassian fortress. The
particular division to which these Tsherkes of the Don
and the Crimea belonged seems to have been that of the
Kabarda tribes.
The Kabarda. — There is a Great and a Little Kabarda,
which lie on the Terek rather than the Kuban, and slope
towards the Caspian rather than the Black Sea. The
patriarch, or hypothetical father, of the Kabarda tribes is
Inal.
E 2
52 THE DIOSCURIANS.
The Absni, — The sea-coast between Sukhumkaleh
and the Straits of Yenikale, along with the valleys of
the rivers that descend from the western slope of Cau-
casus^ is the occupancy of the Absn^. So they name
themselves. The Georgians, however, call them Mib-
khaz and Abkhazi, their country being Abkhazeti.
This ending in -eti appears and re-appears. It is the
Georgian for -land; so that Abkhazeti is Abkhazia
land. A Persian would call it Abkhazistan. The
Adige form is Abazi, and the AdigS name for the
Absne is Kushkhasip Abasi, or the Abasi beyond the
Mountain, the Transalpine Abasi. That Ab-sn^ and
Ab-azi are the same words is probable. That Abazi and
Abkhazi are the Greek and Latin terms "A&atryoi and
Abasci is evident.
The Great Abaska-land, or Abkhazeti proper, extends
from the frontier of the Adige to Mingrelia and the
Suan country — both Georgian. It contains the following
tribes: —
Netshkwadzha
Bakh
Abasekh
Tshegreh
Bzubbeh
Kasilbeg
Ubukh
Barrakai
Tubi
Midaveh
Bakh
Beshilbai.
The six tribes of the Little Abaska-land call them-
selves Tepanta ; being called by the Adig€ Baskekh, and
by the Turk populations of their neighbourhood Alte-
kezik Abasi. Some are subject to Russia; some in-
dependent.
It is in Circassia where the feudal structure of society
is the most strongly marked, and where the relation
between the vorkh^ or rwhle^ and the pshi^ or retainer^ is the
TH£ CIACASSIANS.
53
closest. The Circassians^ too^ are most in the habit of
selling their daughters to the harem-masters of Constan-
tinople and Egypt. If a Circassian maiden stays at
home, she is sold in marriage to one of her own country-
men. If shipped to Constantinople she is sold to a
foreigner.
The divisions of the Circassians are pretty distinctly
marked by their dialects.
EagUth.
Tiherkes.
Abas.
Kamiiliai, or Turk.
Man (homo)
dzug
agn
keahi
{vir)
tie
katzha
erkhek
Head
Bhha
kah
bash
Hair
shhats
kuakokh
zadzh
£ue
nne
ullah
g<$8
Ear
takumah
lexnha
kulak h
Nose
pch
pintaa
biirun
Mouth
dzhe
utsha
ul
TooUi
dzeh
pitz
kburt
Tongue
bsa
ibz
tish
Foot
tie
ahepeh
ayakh
Hand
ia
meppe
kol
Sun
dgeh
marra
gun
Moon
masah
mis
at
Star
vhagoh
yetshua
Uldua
Fire
mapfa
mza
ot
Water
pseh
dzeh
8U
Stone
miTveh
kaa
tash
Tree
dzig
adzh
ayadzh
One
se
seka
bir
Two
tu
akhba
iki
Three
Shi
khpa
ntsh
Four
ptie
pshiba
diirt
Five
tkhu
khuba
bcHh
Six
khi
ziba
alty
Seven
ble
bishba
yedy
Eight
ga
akhba
sekys
Nine
bgu
ishba
tokua
Ten
pahe
zheba
on.
54 THE DIOSCURIANS.
CHAPTER VII.
The Dioflcuiiaii% or Caacaaians of Caacasaa.— 'Tshetsh and Leogiana.
T HAVE objected to the tenn Caucasian. The term by
which I propose here, as elsewhere, to replace it is Dios-
curian.
Dioscurias is the name of one of those towns of the
Caucasian sea-coast which is not only mentioned by
ancient writers, but mentioned with reference to one of
the most remarkable characteristics of modem, as it also
was of ancient, Cauceisus. This is the multiplicity of
languages and dialects. The business, says Pliny, of
Dioscurias had to be transacted through the medium of
thirty interpreters. Now, the number of interpreters
that would be requisite for a similar function in modem
Caucasus, is undoubtedly fewer, the Turkish being pretty
generally understood, and serving as a kind of lingua
franca. Nevertheless, the actual number of separate sub-
stantive languages, dialects, and sub-dialects, is still con-
siderable.
The distribution of these numerous Dioscurians over
tlieir several localities is difficult or easy, according to the
distinctness or indistinctness of the investigator's view of
the physical geography of the parts whereof they are the
occupants. Of primary importance in this matter is the
direction of the axis of the Caucasian range, and next to
this the river-system of the Caucasian drainage.
The axis of the mountains runs from north-west to
THE TSHETSH AND LES6IANS. 55
south-east, from the mouth of the Kuban and the parts
opposite the Peninsula of Kertch in the Crimea to the
Promontory of Baku on the Caspian.
The drainage, therefore, is double ; one portion of the
rivers falling into the Black Sea and one into the Caspian.
The Black Sea influents are the Kuban, and the minor
rivers Enguri, Rion, and Tshorok, running westward.
The Caspian rivers are the Terek, and, of subordinate
importance, the Kuma and the Koisu.
There is, then, the double drainage ; and there is, of
necessity, the watershed to match. Here the two great
mountains of Elbruz and Kasbeck take prominence ; the
former dividing the Kuban from the Terek; the latter,
the Terek from the Kur.*
With these preliminaries, and with the remark that the
Circassians faced the Euxine, and that the Lesgians, when
we come to them, will face the Caspian, we may consider
the intermediate population of the watershed ; a popula-
tion truly inland; truly central; a population with affi-
nities in the way of language which connect it with both
its eastern and its western neighboui*s.
This population is called by the Russians Tshetshents,
by the Turks, Tsherkes, and by the Andi Lesgians, Miz-
dzhedzhi. One of their tribes is named Kisti, the Georgian
name for their area being Kisteti. Guldenstadt has used
this name as a general denomination for the whole group ;
for which he is blamed by Klaproth. The word, however,
has the merit of being pronounceable, which is scarcely
the case with Klaproth's choice, Mizdzhedzhi. In the
opinion of the present writer, Tshetsh, the Russian word
divested of its non-radical elements, is the most eligible.
The Galga, Halha, or Ingush division of the Tshetsh,
■ A good view of the physical geography of CancaRus is to be found
ia the fifth volume of the Westminster Review, pp. -180-519.
56
THK DIOSCURIANS.
in contact with the Circassians of the Little Kabarda^ are
the most western memhers of the group. They call them-
selves Lamur^ or Hillmen.
The second section is called
By themselves . • Arshte.
— the Tshetshents . Aristoyai.
— certain Turk tribes Kara-bulakh.
They occupy part of the valley of the Martan^ or
Fartan.
The third section is that of the Tshetsh^ or Tshetshents
proper^ in contact with and to the east of the Arshte.
£ngU8h.
Tiheteb.
Ing;iuh.
TBherkei.
Man {homo)
Bteg
Btag
dzug
(vir)
maile
mairilk
tie
Hfxtd
korte
korte
Bhha
Hair
kazheresh
beshkenesh
BhhatB
Eye
berik
beig
tme
Ear
lerik
lerk
takumah
Nose
mara
znirha
peh
Mouth
bagga
yist
dzhe
Tooth
tsargisli
tsergiBh
dzeh
Tongue
mot
motte
bsa
Foot
kok
kog
tie
Hand
kuik
kulg
ia
Sun
malkh
malkh
dgeh
Moon
but
but
TQi^jMvh
Star
seta
seta
vhagoh
Fire
tze
tze
mapfa
Water
khi
khii
pseh
Stone
kera
kera
mivreh
Tree
khie
khie
dzig
One
tza
tza
Be
Two
Bhi
Bhi
tn
Three
koe
koe
Bhi
Four
di
di
ptle
Five
pkhi
pkhi
tkhu
Six
yalkh
yalkh
khi
Seven
nor
nor
ble
Eight
bar
bar
g»
Nine
iah
ish
bgu
Ten
itt
itt
pshe.
THE TSHETSH AND LESGIANS.
57
The Tushi lie on the upper Alasani, within, or on, the
Georgian frontier. They are the only members of the
Tshetsh group of whose language we know the gram-
matical structure ; of which the following is a sketch.
The declension of the personal pronouns is as follows.
With a slight modification it is that of the ordinary sub-
stantive as well.
SingaHiMT.
1.
Thou.
He.
Nominative
BO
ho
•
0
OeniHve
Bai
hai
•
oxn
oux
•
Dative
son
■/Ml A
hon
■
oxutn
oxun
•
IngbrucHve
BOIUI
as
asa
ah
•
aha
•
ouxna
OXUB
oxuse
Affective
BOX
hox
ouxse
oxux
•
AUative
BOgO
faogo
oxugo
ouxgo
Elative
BOXi
hoxi
•
ouxxi
■
oxxi(l)
Comitaiive
BOCi
hoci
•
oxuci
•
ouxci
oxci ®
Terminative
BOgomci
hogomci
ouxgomci
Adesnve
Bogoh
hogoh
ouxgoh
Ablative
Bogredafa
I
hogredah
ouxgore
ouxgoredah.
Fhuml.
We.
, , 1-
Ye.
8U
They.
Nominative
wai
Ibxo
obi
Genitive
wai
'txai
Boi
oxri
•
Dative
wain
'txon
sun
Buna
alB
oxam
Instructive
wai
a'txo
oxar
asi
BUX
oxia
•
oxarz
•
Affective
wux
'txox
AUative
waigo
'txogo
BUgO
oxargo
Illative
wailo
'txolo
BUlO
oxarlo
•
Elative
waixi
'tzoxi
Buxi
oxarxi
Comitative
waici
'txoci
snci
oxarci
58
THE DIOSCURIANS.
Floral.
Adeasivt
Inesaive (c)
AhUvbive (c)
EkUive (e)
Conversive
We. Ye.
waigoh 'txogoh sugoh
wailoh 'txoloh Buloh
waigre 'txogre Bugre
wailre 'txoire gulre
waigoih 'txogoili Bugoih
They.
oxargoh
oxarloh
■ ■
ozargore
ozardah
oxarlore
oxaigoih.
That some of these forms are no true inflexions, but
appended prepositions, is speedily stated in the text.
Cardintl.
Ordinnl.
1.
cha
duihre
2.
si
Bilge
8.
zo
•
xal^e
4.
ahew
dhewloge
5.
pxi
pxilge
6.
jetz
jeixloge
7.
worl
worlog©
Cardintl.
Ordinal
8.
bari
barloge
9.
ifla
issloge
10.
itt
ittloge
11.
cha-itt
cha-ittloge
12.
si-itt
si-ittloge
19.
tqeexf
iqeexcloge
20.
tqa
tqalge.
This last word the author of the grammar connects
with the word tqo = also^ over again {auch, wiedertim), as
if it were 10 doubled, which it most likely is. In like
manner tqeexc is one from twenty = undeviffinti : —
100 = pxauztqa=5 X 20.
200 a ifatatq » 10 X 20.
800Bpzii8eatq = 15 X 20.
400 = tqauziq = 20 X 20.
500 = tqauzig pxauztqa= 20 X 20 + 100.
1000 = sac tqauziqa icaiqa= 2 X 400 + 200.
The commonest signs of the plural number are -t and
'St. The suffixes -ne and -df, the latter of which is
found in Lesgian, is stated to be Georgian in origin. No
reason, however, against its being native is given.
In verbs, the simplest form is the imperative. Add to
this -a, and you have the infinitive. The sign of the
conditional is A^ or A ; that of the conjunctive le or /•
The tenses are —
(1.) Present, formed by adding -a or -u to the root:
i. e, to the imperative form, and changing the vowel.
THE TSHETSH AND LESOIANS. 59
(2.) Imperfect, by adding -r to the present.
(3.) Aorist, formed by the addition of -r to the
(4.) Perfect ; the formation of which is not expressly
given, but which is said to differ from the present in not
changing the vowel. However, we have the forms xet =
find, weii= found; (perf.) xetin= found (aorist). From
the participle of the perfect is formed the
(5.) Pluperfect by adding -r.
(6.) The future is either the same as the present, or a
modification of it.
I give the names of those moods and tenses as I find
them. The language of the Latin grammar has, probably,
been too closely imitated.
The first and second persons are formed by appending
the pronouns either in the nominative or the instructive
form.
The participle of the present tense is formed in -in ; as
daffo = eat, dagu-in = eating.
The participle of the preterite ends in -no ; as xace =
hear, xac-no = heard, ,
There are auxiliary verbs, and no small amount of
euphonic changes, of which one, more especially, deserves
notice. It is connected with the gender of nouns.
When certain words (adjectives or the so-called verb sub-
stantive) follow certain substantives, they change their
initial. Thus ha'txleen wa, = the prophet i$, ha'txleensi 6a
= the prophets are, waso wa. = the brother is, wa-sar 6a =
the brothers are.
Again — naw ja, = the ship is, nawr d8L = th€ ships are;
bstiuno^a = the wife is, bstee da, = the wives are.
This is said to indicate gender, but how do we know
what gender is ? The words themselves have neither form
nor inflexion which indicates it. Say that instead of
gender it means sex, i, e. that the changes in question are
60 THE DIOSCURUNS.
regulated by natural rather than grammatical characters.
We still find that the word now is considered feminine —
feminine and inanimate. This, however, is grammatical
rather than natural, sex — ^'das weibliche Geschlecht wird
bey unbelebten Gegenstanden auch im Plural durch
j'y bei belebten durch a ausgedriickt.*' Then follow
the examples just given. How, however, do we know
that these words are feminine ? It is submitted that the
explanation of this very interesting initial change has yet
to be given. It recalls, however, to our memory the
practice of more languages than one, the Keltic, the
Woloff, the Kafre, and several other African tongues,
wherein the change is initial, though not always on the
same principle.
So, also, the division of objects into animate and in-
animate recalls to our mind some African, and numerous
American, tongues.
Such is the notice of the first of the Mizhdzhedzhi or
Tshetsh (we may say Lesgian) forms of speech of which
the grammatical structure has been investigated.
The Lesffians, — The Lesgian rivers fall into the Caspian.
Daghestan and parts of Tabasseran are Lesgian. The
drainage of the Koisu and Terek is, more or less, Lesgian,
The Eastern Caucasians are chiefly Lesgian, the Western
being chiefly Circassians.
The Lesgian area reaches the Persian districts of Shir-
van, so that we find it spoken under the Persian name
Lesgistan, or country of the Lesgians. Lesgian itself
is believed to be, word for word, the Greek Artyou.
The Georgian form is Lekhi, the Iron Leki, the Arme-
nian Leksi and Leker. Again, one Lekos, the fifth son
of Targamos, is, according to the Georgian account,
the eponymus of the Lesgian tribes. He dwelt between
Derbend and Tarki.
THE TSHETSH AND LESGIANS. 61
Daghestan^ Lesgistan^ or the country of the Lesgi^ is
the ancient Albania ; the country conquered by Pompey.
Lesgian^ like Circassian, is no native name; for the
LesgianSy like the Circassians, have no name which is at
once native and collective. Its details are to be found in
tlie hilly country out of which the rivers of Daghestan
arise, the actual coast of the Caspian being Turk and
Persian rather than Le^gian. It has been already stated
that the Kara-kaitak are actual Turks. The rivers that
most help us in our topography are the Aksu on the
north-west, a feeder of the Terek, the Koisu on the
north-east, falling into the Caspian (both with Turk
names), and the Samar, to the south of Derbend.
The Marul division. — In the watershed between the
Aksu and Koisu (Turkish terms) lie the tribes of the
Marulat. Word for word, Marulat, the plural of Marul,
from Mehr a hill, is the Greek MavfaXot, The Marulat
tribes are —
Khunsag
Burtuna
Kaseruk
Anzukh
Hidatle
Tebel
Mukratle
Tumurga
Ansokul
Akhti
Karakhle
Rutul
Gumbet
Tshari
Arrakan
Belakan.
The Audi and Kabutsh are outlying members of this
group. So are the Dido and Unso, whose districts lie as
far south as the upper Samur.
The Kasi'kumuk lie to the east of the Koisu, in the
Kara-kaitak district, and in part of Tabasseran.
The Akush. — The Akush and Kubitsh lie between the
Koisu and the upper Manas and the Buam.
62
THE DTOSCTRIANS.
The Kwra — In South Daghestan.
The Lesgians are called
By the Circassians
Tshetsh .
Hannoatshe,
Sueli,
The Turk character of some of the names of their
tribes is remarkable. It is probable that in the last part
of the term Karakle (of which Hiddalte and Mukratle
may be variations) we have the Turk offlu = son. Bur-
tuna, though the name of a river, is, apparently, Turk.
Tshari is decidedly so. One of the Tshulym tribes are so
named. But the most important name is Chunsag, the
name of the Cumanian Turks of Hungary, whose district
now bears that name. Between the Danube and Theiss
lie the Great and the Little Chunsag, t. e. the Great and
Little Cumania. Hungary was once an occupancy of
the Avars ; of the Avars who came from the Russian
Government of Caucasus ; allied to the Alans, allied to
the Cumanians, allied to a population mentioned but
rarely, but still mentioned as being both Caucasian in its
geography and Turk in its ethnology — the Savir (2a/Sf»poi).
Now one of the terms applied to the Marul Lesgians,
adopted by Klaproth, but pretermitted by the present
writer because it appears to be other than native, is Avar;
whilst the name by which the Suani, who also call the
Karatshai Ows (As), designate the Iron is Sawiar. I think
that some of the Dioscurians are Turks who have un-
learned their language.
Eiigluh.
Amr.
AnUhnkh.
Tihui.
AndL
Man {homo)
b&hardzh
tshi
tshi
(wr)
tshi
bahartsh
bahartsh
heka
Head
beter
beter
beker
mier
Hair
sab
sab
sab
rirgi
Eye
beer
beer
kharko
Ear
een
in
ecn
hanka
Nose
khomag
khumug
xnudmsh
mahar
THE TSHETSH AND LESOIANS.
CJ
Engliflh.
Avar.
Anttlinkli.
Tshari.
Aodi.
MouOi
kaal
kaal
kaal
kol
Tooik
sibi
sibi
sibi
BOlvol
Tongue
maats
maats
maats
mits
Foot
pog
POg
POg
tsbeka
Hand
kwer
kwer
kwer
kazhu
Sun
baak
baak
baak
mitli
Moon
moots
moots
moots
horts
Star
zoa
zoa
zabl
za
Fire
tsa
Isa
tsa
tea
Water
htlim
htlim
khim
tlen
Stone
itso
teb
khezo
hinzo
Tree
gaet
tketur
One
zo
zo
hos
zev
Two
kigo
kigo
kona
tshego
Three
fthabgo
tavgo
khabgo
khlyobgu
Four
akgo
ukkgo
ukhgo
boogu
Five
sugo
shogu
shngo
inHhtnga
Six
antgo
antlo
ankhgo
ointlgn
Seven
antelgo
antelgo
antelgo
ot'khkhlngu
Eight
mitlgo
mitlgo
mikgo
beitlgu
Nine
itshgo
itBgo
itshgo
hogotsha
Ten
anntago
antsgo
anzgo
khotsogu.
English.
Dido.
Aknth.
Kasi Kamnk.
Man {homo)
murgul
viri
(tnr)
tsekvi
adim
tshu
Head
tkin
bek
bek
Hair
kodi
ashme
tshara
Eye
ozurabi
iihli
ya
Nose
mall
kank
mai
Mouth
haku
moU
Bumun
Tooth
kiUa
tsulye
kertshi
Tongue
mets
limtsi
maz
Foot
rori
kash
dzan
Hand
retla
kak
kua
Sun
buk
beri
barkh
Moon
butfri
baz
bars
Star
tea
zuri
tsuka
Fire
iBi
tsa
tsha
Water
htli
shin
tahin
Stone
gal
kaka
tsheru
Tree
guruahed
kalki
mursh.
64 THE DIOSCURIANS.
CHAPTER VIII-
The Dioscnrians, &c — The Georgians. — ^The Lazi.
The most northern, and at the same time the rudest,
of the Georgian populations, are the descendants of the
Suani, lying inland, on the south-eastern frontier of the
Absn^ Circassians, at the head-waters of the Zkhenistz-
khali, Eguri, and Egrisi, between Sukhumkaleh and the
Phasis. They call
Themselves Suan.
The Abkhas Mibkhaz.
— Kartuelians Mkarts.
— Mingrelians MimreL
— Karatshai Ows.
— Iron Saiviar.
The last two names, as has been shown, are important
instruments of ethnological criticism.
The Mingrelians. — Like the Circassians, the Mingrelians
face the Euxine, belonging to the drainage of the Phasis ;
the upper portion of which is
Imeritian. — Imerethi is the land of Imer, or Iber;
word for word, the ancient Iberia. To the east of Ime-
rethi lies the watershed of the Phasis and Kur, the
occupancy of the
Kartuliy Kartueli, or Kartulinian branch of the Geor-
gians. The Kartueli form of speech is the Georgian of
THE GEORGIANS. 65
Tiflis; the Georgian of the literature and alphabet. It
IS also the dialect of Kakheti^ and^ according to Klaproth,
of Imereti as well.
Gvriel is connected, in the way of dialect, with Min-
grelia, being, probably, transitional to the speech of that
principality and
Lasnstany or the country of the Lazi. This extends along
the sea-coast, from the parts about Batum, at the mouth
of the Tsorok, to Rizeh, east of Trebizond — perhaps
further. Inland it extends over the country between
Kars and the Black Sea. Its exact boundaries, however,
are not known.
The Lazi are subject to Turkey, and are Mahometan
in creed. The other Georgians are Christians, according
to the Church of Armenia, and subject to Russia. Like
some of the Tsherkes, the Lazi were originally Christian ;
their conversion having been effected about the seventh
century. Even now, they abstain, to a great extent, from
polygamy.
It is well known that the physical appearance of at
least two of the Dioscurian populations, has been highly
extolled, and that models of manly strength and female
beauty are sought in the proverbially fine populations of
Georgia and Circassia.
There is some exaggeration here. As compared with
their neighbours on the side of Russia — as compared
with their neighbours on the side of Turkey, the popula-
tions under notice are handsome and well-formed ; and,
as there is a vast traffic in female slaves for the harems of
the Ottoman Turks, the best samples of the two popu-
lations find their way to Europe. From these the rest
is judged. Again, the Circassian warriors represent the
Caucasians of the north-west ; and it is upon them that
VOL. II. F
66 THE GEORGIANS.
our ideas of the Circassian conformation are based. But
Circassia (and this must be borne in mind) is a land of
castes — of high-caste nobles and of low-caste plebeians.
It is a land of caste and feudalism ; war being, at one and
the same time, the occupation of the nobles, and the
means by which the greatest number of individuals are
brought in contact with the nations of Europe. The
evidence of those who have formed their opinions from
residence in Caucasus rather than &om the slave-markets
of Constantinople is by no means over-favourable. Pallas,
as quoted by Prichard, writes that the men, ** especially
amongst the higher classes, are mostly of a tall stature,
their form being of Herculean structure. They are
very slender about the loins, have small feet, and un-
common strength in their arms. They possess, in general,
a truly Roman and martial appearance. The women are
not uniformly Circassian beauties ; but are, for the most
part, well-formed, have a white skin, dark-brown hair, and
regular features." He adds, " I have met with a greater
number of beauties among them than in any other un-
polished nation."
This is the language of fair and moderate encomium.
Reineggs, however, so far denies their claim to superior
beauty, as to write that he knows not " what can have
given occasion to the generally-received prejudice in
favour of the female Tcherkessians. A short leg, a small
foot, and glaring red hair, constitute a Tcherkessian
beauty."
The main differentia, however, of their organization lie
in the statements of Klaproth — viz., that they have
" long faces, and thin and straight noses."
Again, he writes that the Abassians, a tribe of the
Circassians, are '' distinguished by narrow faces ; heads
THE GEORGIANS. 67
compressed at the sides ; by the shortness of the lower
part of their faces ; by prominent noses, and dark brown
hair."
A few of the Georgians proper are Mahometans ; but
they are scarcely the Georgians of Georgia, They are
those of Abbasabad in Khorasan, where they were settled
as colonists by Shah Abbas. A few of these only adhere
to their original faith.
F 2
68 THE IRON.
CHAPTER IX.
The Dioscuriana, &c. — ^The Iron.
The distinction between the name by which a population
designates itself, and the name by which it is designated
by its neighbours, always important, is of pre-eminent
consequence in the ethnology of the Iron ; as was sug-
gested when the Alans, or Osi, were under notice.
The population which now commands our attention
calls itself Iron ; but is called by the Georgians Osi.
This name the Russians have adopted ; so that, in their
eyas, the Iron are Asetinzi, or men of Osethi = Osi-land,
The population which the Greeks, Arabs, and Italians
called Alan, called themselves As. They settled on the
Georgian side of the Iron country, or (perhaps) on the
Iron side of Georgia. They, probably, adopted, more
or less, the Iron language, so as to appear, in the eyes of
the Georgians, Iron ; the actual Iron appearing as Osi.
At any rate, Osi (as has been stated) is the Georgian
name for the Iron ; though by no means the native one.
By a blunder (for it is no less), excusable only because
it is common, Klaproth identifies the two terms, and, by
treating the Iron as if they were actually Osi or As,
transfers much of the real, and some of the supposed,
history of Alania, Bellad-Allan, or Alanland, to Iron-
istan, or the country of the Iron. He also gives undue
prominence to the foreign, or wrong, name ; telling us,
THE IRON. 69
indeed^ that it is other than native, but, nevertheless,
using it as the ordinary denomination. Doing this, he
has given currency to an exceptionable appellation.
The following is Klaproth's doctrine : —
The Osset are the Yas of the Russians ;
As or Alan ;
— Medes of Sarmatia ;
— Medes of Herodotus.
Be it so. That the Osset are the Yas and As is true.
But what is the evidence to their being Iron ?
The Mede affinity rests on a different basis, i. e. that of
the native name, which is, doubtless, a very interesting
one. Iran is a name for Persia. The title of the Sas-
sanian kings, as deduced from both coins and inscriptions,
is Malka Malkani Irdn, or Kings of the Kings of Iran,
Malka Irdn wa Aniran, or King of Iran and Not-iran.
Whether the Iranian element of the Sassanian empire
was Median or not, is another question.
I can give but little information concerning the Iron.
Their language, of which there is a dictionary by Sjogren
in Russian characters, falls into at least two dialects, one
of which is the Dugorian. The people are Christian, and
to a great extent Russianized. Tlie great military road
runs through their country, which lies to the north of
Tiflis. In his account of Caucasus, Haxthausen gives
several Iron legends. They do not, however, illustrate
either a pagan or a heroic age.
70 THE ARMENIANS.
CHAPTER X.
The Haik or Armenians.
The name by which the Armenians are known in
Europe is, I think, of Syrian origin. The populations
to which it is applied call themselves Haik. Their chief
occupancies are the Turkish province of Erzeroum,
and the Russian district of Erivan, this being 4 new
accession to the Russian empire ; having, till lately, be-
longed to Persia. It is in Erivan where the chief monas-
tery, Etshmiazin, the residence of the patriarch, lies.
In Erivan also stands Mount Ararat, the centre round
which the legends and superstitions of Armenia most
especially collect themselves. The chief town, however,
is Erzeroum. Here the native population assimilates
itself in dress and manners to the Osmanli Turks ; from
whom the Armenians differ in language (though most of
them can speak Turkish) and creed.
The Armenians are a pre-eminently Christian nation,
with a native alphabet, a canon containing several books
which the Western Church considers apocryphal, a ritual
more Greek than Latin, and a system of monasteries that
reminds us of the Buddhism of Tibet.
The influence of Armenia upon the world's history
has been inconsiderable; limited, very nearly, to the
neighbouring country of Georgia. The land itself has
had periods of independence and even power. As a general
rule, however, its political relations have been those of
Persia. At present, as has been stated, they are Persian,
Turk, and Russian.
THE ARMENIANS. 71
But there are Annenians beyond the limits of Armenia.
There is a colony in Persia near Isfahan, founded by
Shah Abbas, the founder of the Georgian colony in
Khorasan. There are Armenians in India, and many
thousands in Constantinople. In European Russia their
census is as follows : —
Astrakan . .
. 5,272
Bessarabia
. 2,353
Ekaterinoslav
. 14,931
St. Petersburg
170
Stauropol . .
. 9,000
Tauris . . .
. 3,960
Kherson . .
. 1,990
Total . . . 37,676
But the most important settlement is that of the Mechi-
tarist monks on the island of St. Lazarus, in Venice.
Here is the centre of the Armenian literature ; with its
library, rich in MSS., some published, some unpublished.
Nine-tenths of the Armenian compositions that appear
in print proceed from this Venetian press.
In figure the Armenians are more massive than the
Persians. They have been likened to the Jews, the
Turks, and the Afghans.
In the towns they show great commercial aptitude,
and, with the Jews and the Parsis, both more or less
strangers to the countries to which they naturally belong,
may be classed amongst the communities who more es-
pecially attach themselves to the business of the banker
and merchant, rather than the soldier, sailor, or agri-
culturist. In Armenia, however, they cultivate the soil,
which is sub-Alpine in character. Erzeroum lies be-
tween 6000 and 7000 feet above the level of the sea.
Their language has been considered to be what is called
72
THE ARMENIANS.
Indo-European, on, however, insufficient grounds. Its
nearest affinities are what its geography suggests, t. e.
with the Iron and Persian, and (more remotely) with the
Arabic on the south, and the Ugrian dialects on the north.
At the same time it is by no means closely connected with
anything.
Engliah.
ArmeDian.
Iron.
Georgian.
Man (homo)
mart
moi
katAI
(vir)
air
lag
kmari
Head
klukh
ser
tavi
Hair
hyer
dzikkn
tma
lav
mas
Bye
agn
atsk
tsaate
tyali
Noae
untsh
kit
findzh
tshkhwiri
Mouth
pjcran
dzug
plri
Ear
Qngn
agantsh
khua
kuri
Beard
morusk
botao
rikhi
thuh
taveri
Blood
ariyun
aizkhli
Tooth
adamn
dendag
khbiU
Hand
dzyem
kukh
kheli
Foot
wot
kakb
phekhi
Tongue
tyesu
awsag
ena
UmH
zird
zerde
guli
Sun
aryev
khor
mse
Moon
luzin
mai
mtware
Star
azdegh
stal
rarzklavi
Fire
bur
eing
tactakhli
gi%
Water
tahur
dun
tzkhali
Snow
ziun
mit
towli
Stone
khar
dor
kwa
HiU
ear
khogh
mta
Fish
tsugu
kef
tevaL
Before their conversion, the Armenians were, more or
less, fire-worshippers. In the eighth and ninth centuries
Nestorianism took strong root amongst them, and many
are Nestorians now. Some arc Roman Catholics. One
THE ARMENIANS. 73
of the oldest translations of the Scriptures is in the
Armenian. So is more than one work of the fifth, sixth,
seventh, and eighth centuries; the history of Moses of
Chorene being the chief. As may be expected, the lan-
guage of these compositions is very different from the
Annenian of the present time, with which many Turk
elements are incorporated.
74 THE SEMITIC POPrLATIONS.
CHAPTER XI.
The Semitic Populations. — ^The ArabiinH SyriMig. — Samaritans.
I NOW make a somewhat sudden transition, and prepare
myself to give a sketch of the ethnology of south-western
Asia and Africa, before I consider the remaining popu-
lations of Asia, viz. the Persian and the Indian.
The Semitic group. — A certain group of populations,
currently believed to have been the descendants of Shem
rather than of either Ham or Japhet, were called by (I
believe) Eichom, Semitic. They spoke languages all
but mutually intelligible. They were on the confines of
Africa; but they were not Negro. They were, in respect
to their physiognomy and their influence on the world's
history, what is called Caucasian rather than Mongolian.
They formed a natural group. Whether it were a large one
is a different question. In biblical criticism they were all
important. Their language was that of the Old Testament,
the Talmud, and the Syrian fathers. It was, in another form,
that of the Koran. In other words, it was the language of
the Judaic portion of Christianity, and of the primary
source of Mahometanism. It was also the language of the
earliest alphabet of Phenicia and the Punic colonies. It fell
into the Aramaean, the Arabic, and the ^thiopic divisions.
The Aramaean contained the Hebrew, the Samaritan, the
Chaldee, and the Syriac of Edessa, Palmyra, Damascus,
and other important and interesting cities. It was
written when Greece and Rome were unlettered. It
sounded strange to the Africans of the parts about Car-
THE ARABIANS. 75
thage^ strange on the shores of many a Mediterranean
island, strange in Spain. It was the language of enter-
prising merchants, bold mariners, monotheist priests. It
was as much (and more) the language of the proper
historian as of the ethnologist. Yet, like the Latin and
the Greek, it will draw but little attention to the details
of the men who spoke it — little in the present work.
The present work is descriptive rather than historical. It
is descriptive rather than historical because it deals with
the existing rather than the by -gone state of things. It
takes the populations of the world as it finds them;
noticing them more or less fully in order that the descrip-
tion may serve as a basis for a certain amount of palaeon-
tological research. It relegates the earlier periods of
their history to the civil historian. It does more. It
passes sicco pede over the families which are supposed to
be generally known. How little it said about the
Greeks; how little about the Romans, the Slavonians,
the Germans !
The present work says next to nothing about the Jews.
It fails to find them as a pure Jewish population on
Jewish soil. It finds them spread over many countries, and
the writer of it believes that, in a general way, their his-
tory and distribution is understood. Of the Chaldee name
the briefest notice would have to be preceded with pages
and pages of preliminary criticism. The Samaritans it re-
cognizes as the occupants of a single district. The Syrians
are eo nomine and ed lingud neariy in the same category.
The Arabians. — The influence of the Arabian family
upon the world's history, anterior to the time of Mahomet,
is hard to ascertain. It appears, however, to have been
far from inconsiderable. The notices in Scripture suggest
the likelihood of the tribes of the Desert, at least, having
been much what they are at present ; saving, of course, the
76 THE ARABIANS.
fact of their being pagans rather than Mahometans.
They were independent and predatory. They were pro-
bably occupants of some districts in -^gypt ; of some in
Syria; of some in Persia. As a seafaring population
they were known but little. Tlie Mediterranean was the
highway of the Greeks and the Phenicians; and the
nature of both its trade and its colonies is well under-
stood. Not so the details of the commerce with India
and the eastern coast of Africa. The Indian Ocean and
the Red Sea may have been traversed by fleet after fleet
of adventurous Arabs ; and yet no record has come down
to us telling us what countries they visited, or with what
populations they mixed their blood. That there was some
maritime enterprize amongst the Arabians of the southern
part of the peninsula is certain. How early it exhibited
itself, and how far it went, is another question. It is
assuredly unsafe to assume that the Arabs were ex-
clusively a population of landsmen. They are not so now.
They were not so at the beginning of the historical period.
Their early religion was what is called Sabasanism;
the cultus of the heavenly bodies being its chief charac-
teristic. It was, however^ by no means free from idolatry;
nor is it certain that it was the creed of the whole penin-
sula. Neither can we say what it borrowed from, or
what it gave to, the neighbouring countries, e, g. JEgypt,
-Ethiopia, Chaldaea, Mesopotamia, Judaea, and Persia.
In all these regions there are traces of influences from
Arabia anterior to the time of Mahomet. With Maho-
met, however, begins the aera of the Arab conquests, the
Arab creed, Arab science, Arab literature. Before the
time of the Prophet there were letters in Arabia. Before
his time there was a partial amelioration of the original
paganism ; there was an incipient Cliristianity. The
field, however, was narrow ; and there was but little of
p^*^
THE ARABIANS. 77
what was Arab beyond the frontiers of Arabia — little
compared with what there has been since.
At the present moment the Arabic alphabet is in use
amongst all Mahometan nations; being that of the
Turks, the Persians, the Malays, a portion of the Indians,
and some of the Africans — some even of the Negroes,
some even of the Negroes of America. It was not,
however, indigenous to Arabia ; but, on the contrary, of
Syrian origin — as was much of the early Arab literature.
The Arab family is all but absolutely Mahometan.
There were, however, Mahometan Slavonians in Bosnia ;
and, in a like exceptional manner, there are Christian
Arabs in Malta. At any rate, the language of that
island is Arabic.
The physical influence of the Arab stock upon the
populations beyond Arabia is to be found in the history
of the early conquests of the Prophet and his successors.
It gives us, however, but a part of the whole ; though it
carries us as far as the Pyrenees on one side and beyond the
Indus on the other. The actual range of either the Arab
creed or the Arab commerce extends farther — farther by
far. As far as twelve degrees, south latitude, Arab trade
has advanced in Africa, There are Arab settlements in
Bokhara and Khorasan. There are Arab habits and
Arab letters in and beyond the Malayan Peninsula.
Arab coins of the Caliphat have been dug up in large
quantities in Siberia. The Mammoth of the Lena is,
word for word, the Behemoth of the Nile.
There are several principles upon which the great mass
of the Arab family, as it exists at present, may be divided.
There is the difference between the Christians and the
Mahometans; the former, as has just been stated, being
extremely exceptional, and probably mixed in blood.
Then there are the numerous forms of Mahometanism
78 THE ARABIANS.
itself^ some old^ some new. There is the old schism
between the Sunnites and the Shiites; the majority of
the Arabs being Sunnite — not, however, exclusively.
The sporadic intercurrence of Shiites exhibits itself on
the very soil of Arabia, and in the very city of the
Prophet. Then there is the modern sect of the Wahabis,
puritans, and reformers, numerous in northern and
eastern Arabia, numerous beyond the confines of Arabia.
In the way of politics, there are the Arabs of an
organized government like that of the Imam of Muskat,
the Arabs of the sea-port town of Dzhidda, who are
tributary to the Porte, the nominally dependent Arabs
of -ffigypt, the actually independent tribes of the Desert.
Socially, there are the Arabs of the towns, who are mer-
cantile rather than agricultural ; the Arabs of the villages,
who are fellalis or cultivators; the Arabs of the sea-
coast, who are fishers ; and the Bedawy, or Beduins, who
are spread over the Desert — sheep-breeders, camel-
breeders, breeders of horses, warriors, robbers.
Lastly, there are the Arabs of the Arabian peninsula^
and the Arabs of the parts beyond Arabia, — t . e. Syria,
Palestine, Persia, -^gypt, Barbary, and many other coun-
tries; wherein, however, the population is less important,
the characteristics more uncertain, the blood less pure.
Such, amongst others, are Spain and India, along with
Sumatra, and more than one other island of the Indian
Archipelago.
Those travellers who have gone most minutely into the
details of the geography of the peninsula and the genea-
logies of the Arab tribes, lay considerable stress upon a
distinction, which, though it may possibly be real, is
certainly different from the form in which it is usually
exhibited. The Arabs of the south differ from the
Arabs of the north, the former being the descendants of
THE ARABIANS. 79
Kahtan rather than Aduan^ the latter being the descen-
dants of Adnan rather than Kahtan. Meanwhile, Adnan
is of the blood of Ishmael ; whilst Kahtan is, word for
w^ord, the biblical Yoktan. Adnan, too, is akin to Yarab.
This implies that the most Arab elements of the Arabian
stock are those of the north. Be this as it may, the
histories of the two regions are different. Of the northern
Arabs the blood is that of the tribes allied to the Naba-
theans and Idumeans, the social and political relations
being with Syria, Palestine, Persia, and ^gypt. To
South Arabia belonged the important empire of the
Himyarites, or Homerites, occupants of a double line of
coast ; a line which on one side faced Ethiopia, and, on
the other, fronted the Indian Ocean. India and Abys-
sinia are, or were, to the Kahtanians what Assyria and
the Holy Land were to the Ishmaelites. Further notices^
however, of this difference will appear as we proceed.
It is convenient to begin with the northern branch, the
particular district in which it is first noticed being —
Nedzhd. — Nedzhd is Central Arabia. The frontier
town, however, of even Central Arabia is treated by the
writer who has best described it as Syrian, t. e. as belong-
ing to the Syrian Desert. Algawf, writes Wallin, is
sometimes called Bab el Nedzhd, or the Gate of Nedzhd,
being the first p]ace in that district. Its architecture is
Syrian. The physiognomy of the population is Syrian.
The intercourse with Syria is great. We have a full
account of AlgawFs very remarkable constitution. It
consist of twelve quarters, or suk^ each suk being divided
and subdivided. Thus Algharb (a suk) has its six sec-
tions. Of three of these the chief occupants are Sham-
mar Arabs of the tribe Hamulet Almun&sibe. The
inhabitants of a fourth were originally Ruwala nomads
of the Eneze tribe ; those of the fifth, Sirhan Beduins.
80 THE ARABIANS.
Artisans from all parts of Syria and Arabia occupy the
sixth. In Suk Ibn Alder the population is mixed,
but the main tribe is an old one* It came from the
S.E., t. e. from the Shakra. Gubbe lies between Shakra
and Algawf. On the way the Shakra migrants seem
to have passed through Gubbe. At any rate, a few
families, older than the rest, profess a Gubbe origin.
And the Gubbe people believe that their Algawf o£&et is
in possession of certain old books in an unknown lan-
guage. Two other mkB are Syrian* In Khadma die
blood is Beduin, and the habits as nomad as residence
in a town allows them to be. Ten families, the Muta*
walladin, are more or less African. Algarawy consists of
four families of artisans ; Shammar in origin. Who
founded Algawf? Soliman, the son of David, 800 years
(«c) after the birth of Christ. This prominence of
Solomon belongs to Northern rather than Southern
Arabia. Every quarter has its own head, who decides
differences. The sovereignty, however, is vrith the Sham-
mar chief, to whom they pay tribute ; as they do to the
Beduin sheiks of the parts around. At present the Algawf
people are Wahabi. In the time of Mahomet they were
Christians, Jews, and pagans. The evidence in favor of
their having been the first is the strongest. The worship
of an idol named Wud (love), is the fact. from which (if
real) we infer their paganism. Such are details of one
town in Central Arabia. They serve to illustrate the
general character of the others. The division into suk is
common, though so many as twelve is a rarity.
The Dzhebel Shammar, or the Hills of the Shammar,
are the occupancy of the most important tribes of the
Nedzhd, bigoted Wahabis, but ignorant. The Alabde
and Algafar are the chief tribes of the Shammar name
on Shammar land. Two other, however, of its great
THE ARABIANS. 81
divisions are occupants of a large district beyond the
bounds of Arabia. There are the Sufuk and Alzakarit,
with their sections and subsections, in Mesopotamia.
Even in Shammar, the present occupants are anything
but aboriginal. The Beni Tamar, builders of cities now
in ruinsy in Syria as well .as in Nedzhd, belong to the old-
est stratum of the population ; if, indeed, they be real.
Then there is a local legend which derives the names of
the two Shammar mountains, Aga and Selma, from two
Amalekite lovers. Then there is the possibly historical
account of two invasions ; one from the Adnanian Hed-
zhaz which introduced the extinct Beni Asad and the
existing Beni Temim as intrusive occupants into Nedzhd,
and, after them, from Kahtanian Yemen, the Beni
Tay and the true Shammar. If all this be true, there
must be much intermixture, the elements being Adna-
nian and Kahtanian, not to mention those supplied by the
aborigines. The Beni Temim represent the Adnanians.
They occupy, to the amount of about 500 families, the
largest village in the district ; along with a few smaller
ones. By certain ** peculiarities of manner, appearance,
and language," (what are they ?) " they are easily dis-
tinguished *' from the Shammar. They are agricultural
and peaceful rather than nomad and warlike.
The Hedzhaz. — The Arabs of the Hedzhaz are the
children of Adnan rather than the children of Kahtan.
The Arabs of Mekka and Dzhidda, the Mekkawy and
the Dzhiddawy, notwithstanding the importance of their
occupancies, are, by no means, to be considered as fair
samples of their family. They are pre-eminently a
mixed population ; African, Turk, or Persian in blood,
Arab in creed and language. As far, however, as a
really native population exists, it is inconsiderable;
belonging to the Beduin tribes of the neighbourhood,
VOL. II. G
8^ THE ARABIANS.
converted into settlers. In the time of Mahomet the
first of these was that of the Koreish ; and of Koreish
families, real or supposed, some few are still to be found.
The Mekkawy tattoo their faces; the mark that they
use being a sign of their origin. The Mekkawy skin
is darker, and the Mekkawy figure somewhat ligbter
and more wiry than that of the men of Medina. In
Medina, however, the population is mixed also; the
representatives of the true Arab stock being the members
of the Ocos, Kezredzh, and Beni Hossein tribes; the
latter being Shias rather than Sunnites. Another section
of the Medina Arab is called Khalifyi ; being descended
from the Abassides. In the other towns of the west
coast, Mokha excepted, where the foreign intermixture is
considerable, the blood is comparatively pure. It is, as a
general rule, that of the neighbouring Bediiins, converted
into settlers.
Southern Arabia — Yemen, Hadramaut, Oman, — The
Arabs of Southern Arabia are the occupants of that
favoured part of the peninsula known to the ancients as
Arabia Felix. They are in contact with the Indian
Ocean as well as the Red Sea. They are divided by a
minimum amount of water from the Abyssinian part of
Africa. They are opposite to a considerable portion of
the Somauli coast. They are the children of Kahtan.
More or less Himaryite, or Homarite, in blood, history,
and civilization, they are occupants, at the present time,
of Mokha, Sana, Rodda, and Loheia, as townsmen, and
of the southern third of the peninsula as Bedtiins.
There are hilly districts in the Kahtanian area, and the
Arabs of the hills are intermediate in character to the
Arabs of the town and the Arabs of the Desert; rude
in manners, and ^ignorant in respect to the details of
their creed. The formula " there is but one God, and
TH£ ARABIANS. 83
that Mahomet is his prophet/' contains their whole
doctrine. Of these tribes^ a few out of many arrest
attention. The Merekede, a branch of the Asyr, are
accused of the habit attributed to the Jakuri Hazaras^
t. e. that of prostituting their wives. Of the Beni Kelb,
strange stories are believed in respect to their rudeness
and the inarticulate character of their language. They
bark like dogs {Kelb) rather than talk. They probably
use an extreme dialect. Jl^e Dowasdr are blacker than
their neighbours. The Beni Yam, like the Beni Hossein,
are mixed in creed, the Beduin families being Sunnite,
the settlers Shia.
Aden, the first town on the Indian Ocean, and now
a British possession, has a mixed population. It was
once a Turk occupancy. It contains Jews, Banians
(from India), Somaulis, and other Africans. The Jews,
to the amount of about 300, occupy a separate quarter,
are artizans, are carriers, are labourers, but not soldiers.
The tribes of the parts around are the Futhali (robbers),
the Bareiki, the Beni Nayi, the Beni Dummiri, the
Kaseidi, the Beni Goseidi, the Mahudi, and, further
inland, the Dzhaffa, the Heshed, and the Bekeyl to the
east of Sana.
Further to the east, on the sea-coast, at least, and for
the parts about the town of Makulla, the physiognomy
changes, and the men are black and undersized, almost
as black and far shorter than the Somauli, who, at Makulla,
are numerous. Makulla is the port of Hadramant, a
valley some sixty miles in length, running parallel with
the coast, with numerous towns and villages, ruins and
inscriptions. The tribes further to the east are those of
Mahara, Ad, and Amelik. At Hasek is the tomb of
the prophet Hud, the fourth in descent from Shem. To
the back of Hasek lie the Mahrah and Gara tribes, whose
Q 2
84
THE ARABIANS.
language is believed to bear a special affinity to the lan-
guage of the Himyarite inscriptions*
English.
Back
BeUy
Cow
Donkey
Eyebrow
Fire
Father
Fifth
Frog
God
Hair
Knee
MUk
Month
Ifoee
Bed
Bice
Bope
Sword
Svn
Star
White
Further east lie the Diyabi occupancies ; the occupan-
cies of a group of tribes or sub -tribes. Their govern-
ment is patriarchal. Instead of Sheiks they have Abu,
or elders, whose office is, for the most part, hereditary,
but whose power is only what the voice of the majority
in their meetings for the discussion of business allows.
There are seven of these Abu to the Diyabi. There
would be but one Sheik. For all thefts within his dis-
trict the Abu is answerable, and, if the thief cannot,
the Abu must, make reparation to the parties injured.
If, however, the thief have property, the Abu claims a
third of it over and above the amount restored.
It was through the Diyabi country that Lieut. Welsted
Mflhari.
Soootnn.
dara mothan
tadah
djof
bakar6t
heir
ah%jor
hiyhar
Bheewot
flheiwat
heb
Beit
Bodah
dthafrAt
bal
Bhof
Bhif
bank
ishakhof
huf
varak
nakhrir
nahir
aufar
aufer
hiraz
arhaz
keiood
ket
shakee
aahko
heiom
fihohum
kabkob
kokab
^llabon
lebhem.
THE ARABIANS. 85
passed on his journey to the ruins of Nakeb el Hadzhar.
The Arabs referred them to their pagan ancestors. ** Do
you believe," said one, " that these stones were raised by
the unassisted hands of the Kaffirs ? No ! no ! they had
devils, legions of devils, to aid them." Wall inscrip-
tions in a similar character were found at Hasan Gorab.
There, however, they were ascribed to the Feringees
(Franks).
From Cape Isolette, eastwards, dwell the Beni Geneba ;
whose Sheik lives at Sur. They fall into two classes*
The first is that of fishers ; generally a despised one*
To the north of Dzhidda they are despised. The Huteim
of the Peninsula of Sinai are despised. The Geneba,
however, are not despised, and with the Beduins of
their neighbourhood they eat, they associate, and they
intermarry. The pastoral tribes are, to a great extent,
troglodytes. The date is their chief food.
Now come the tribes of Dzhailan, Oman, Dhorrah,
and Batna, Oman being the province in which the metro-
polis of the Imam of Muskat is situated. The Muskattis
are a mixed population — Persian, Biluch, Jewish, Indian,
African — African most especially ; inasmuch as the African
island of Zanzibar belongs to the Imam. The towns, in
the strict sense of the word, for these parts, are few.
Muskat is built of brick and stone. So is Rostak. So
are few, or none, of the others. Of the Beduins, the
most important are the Beni-Abu-Ali, said to come
from Nedzhd, — Wahabis and enemies to the Beni-Abu-
Hasan.
About Dzhebel Akdan the mountaineer character pre-
dominates, and the people, closely attached to their
native valleys, rarely mix with either the Beduins or the
townsmen.
At the narrowest part of the entrance to the Gulf be-
86 THE ARABIANS.
gins the pirate coast, and extends about 300 miles north-
wards. Though now reduced in power, the tribes of this
part have been formidable from the dawn of their history.
Ibn Haikal shows how old he considered their habits to be,
when he writes that before the deliverance of the Israelites
from the bondage of ^gypt a pirate king seized all the
ships that passed his port. India was harajssed by them.
The Portuguese were harassed also. To the Imam of
Muskat they have always been troublesome. In 1809
they brought upon themselves the heavy hand of the
English rulers of India ; and Has in Khaimah and Leit
on the island of Kishm, were destroyed.
The evidence of Lieut. Welsted to the existence of
either a real or supposed superiority on the part of the
Pirate Coast Arabs to both the Beduins and the towns-
people is decided. The former are tall, fair, active,
and muscular. When not at feud with their neigh-
bours, or when a north-westerly gale prevents them
from putting out to sea, they employ themselves in
fishing and diving for pearls ; the season for the latter
occupation being from June to September. In order
to hold his breath the longer, the diver places across
his nose a piece of elastic horn; which compresses the
nostrils.
Of the northern portion of the peninsula I have little
to say ; believing that, upon the whole^ the character of
its inhabitants is that of the Arabs of Nedzhd.
Of the Arabs of the Syrian Desert something has been
said already ; those of the extreme south have been
stated to be conterminous with the tribes of Algawf.
Have we not written that that town was, in the eyes of
the Syrians, the Gate of Nedzhd, t. e. the frontier town
of Arabia ? Have we not also written that the Algawf
physiognomy is, more or less, Syrian ? The distinction
THE ARABIANS. 87
implied by this term may now be illustrated. Syrian
features^ Egyptian features, Jewish features, are often
associated by writers upon Arab tribes. The creed is
Mahometan, the language Arabic, the frame Syrian, &c.
This means that it exhibits a departure from the Bed6in
type, which gives spare and wiry rather than square
or massive figures ; the latter being found amongst the
undoubted Syrians, the Syrians who exhibit, over and
above this particular physiognomy, the other character-
istics of a language allied to that of the Syrian fathers
and a Christian creed. How far they may denote Syrian
blood, disguised by the use of the Arabic language, is
another question. Mutatis mutandis, the same applies to
the Egyptians and the Jews. It is only certain tliat the
Arab language is extended far beyond the domain of the
Arab blood.
The tribes of the Syrian Desert belong also to the
cultivated districts of Syria; inasmuch as, on the frontier,
a definite division between the fixed and locomotive
populations finds place. Some keep to the cultivated
country throughout the year. Others change their occu-
pancy with the season.
Of the locomotive tribes, the most important division
is that of the Aenaze, Anase, or Aneze, of which the
Wulad Ali, the £1 Hesene, the Raualla, and the Besher
are sections ; falling into subsections, viz. the Wulad Ali
into five, the £1 Hesene into two, and the Besher into six.
The parts about PalmjTa, or Tadmor, are in the Anaze
country. To the north-east, in the parts about Horns
and Hama, lies a Turk district ; the tribes whereof are
called by the Arabs £1 Turkman.
To the southern section of the permanent settlers
belong the Arabs of the Holy Land, a mixed population
both in blood and creed. About Kerak, at least, near
88 THE ARABIANS.
the Dead Sea, some of the tribes are Turk, some
Christian.
In Hauran, Auranitis, Batanaea, or Bashan, the El
Feheily, the Serdzye, the Ahl Dzhebil, and the Kerad
tribes are intermediate in character to the migrants and the
settlers. The true agriculturists, however, of the district
are the Druses; the Haourans being pre-eminently a
Druse occupancy. The parts between Hauran and
Damascus belong to the Ledzha tribes, one of which, at
least, £1 Turkman, is, what its name denotes, Turk.
In the Oases the population is more permanent than
locomotive. In Khaibar the complexioii of the occu-
pants is very dark ; a fact which Burckhardt expressly
attributes to the heat and moisture of the locality. He
adds that Jewish blood is believed to run in the veins of
the Khaibar families ; also adding that their language is
decidedly Arab, as is every other character.
TJie peninsula of Sinai and MgypU — The southern
tribes of the peninsula of Sinai are, more or less, fisher-
men; and, as such, a despised rather than a respected
population. In the north they form an extension of the
tribes of Syria.
In ^gypt the dialect changes. The Maazi tribes,
however, to the south-east of Cairo, speak after the
manner of the true Arabians, which the Howatut, to the
north, and the Beni Wassil and Atouni, to the south, do
not. About Kosseir, in £6° N.L., the blood changes, and
that notably; and the names Bishari, Bedzha, and
Ababde come in-— all the names of tribes which are, at
least, as much Nubian as Arab. Of these the Ababde
are Arab, the others Nubian, in language. The northern
Ababde belong to -ffigypt, the southern to Nubia.
And now either the foreign elements increase, or the
character changes. The Arabs of Syria and Palestine were
THE SYRIANS. 89
on the soil of a population originally akin to them ; the
differences between the Arab and the Jew^ the Arab and
the Syrian, being, in many respects, unimportant. The
Arabs, however, of Africa are on the soil of no less than
three different families, varieties, or groups, viz. the
Copt, the Nubian (in the widest sense of the term),
and the Berber ; not to mention the more distant
settlements in the central and south-eastern parts of
the continent.
The Sheyga of Sennaar are described as actual blacks ;
black in colour, Arab in blood — Arab in blood, inasmuch
as the purity of their descent is especially borne witness
to. The Arabs of Nubia and Kordofan are represented
by the Kubbabish, and other less important tribes ; Arab
intruders being found in Darfur, in Borgu (or Waday), in
Bomu, especially the parts about Lake Tshad, the occu-
pancy of the Beni Sliman, or Sons of Solomon. Then
there are the districts of the Abyssinian frontier, more or
less African, but, at the same time, more or less Arab as
well. Finally, there are the two divisions of
a. The Western Arabs, or the Arabs of Barbary,
Morocco, and the Sahara; and
b. The South-eastern Arabs of the shores of the
Pacific between the sea and the frontier of the Abys-
sinians, the Somaulis, the Gallas, and the northern mem-
bers of the Kaffir group.
Less strongly contrasted with the natives of their several
districts are the Arabs of Khuzistan and Irak Arabi, where
the contact is with either pure Persians or Kurds. So it is
in parts of Mesopotamia, where the frontier, besides being
Kurd, is Turkish as well. In this latter district the chief
tribe is that of the Shammar. In Khuzistan it is that of
the Montefidzh. In the low levels about the mouth of the
Euphrates the Arab becomes a feuman, and dwells in
90 THE SYRIANS.
huts thatched with reeds in moist and malarious localities.
The Beni Rechab bear a name which reminds us of the
Rechabites of Jeremiah (chap, xxxv.), from whom they
may or may not be descended. If, however, their name
mean " sons of the stirrup," as Mr. Loftus, who visited
them, suggests, Rechab is no true eponymic term, and
Rechabites may exist wherever stirrups are in use. Re-
chabites are mentioned by Benjamin of Tudela. Their
occupancy, however, lay in Yemen. As for those of
Mesopotamia, they claim to be old inhabitants of the
country; though, in more details than one, they differ
from the surrounding tribes. Their prince or chief is an
Emir, not a Sheikh. They are sullen and inhospitable ;
addicted to plunder ; Jewish in physiognomy, and as such
contrasted with the undoubted Arabs of their neighbour-
hood, the Kuzzeil, the Beni Lam, the Affedzh, and the
Montefidzh.
The Stjrians speaking Syriac, — A few families, occupants
of Libanus, are stated by trustworthy travellers to be not
only Syrian in blood (as are many apparent Arabs), but
Syrian in speech as well.
A few others in the same category may perhaps be
found in Mesopotamia. I am unable, however, to state
whether the fact of their being able to speak Syriac
(supposing it to be real) is evidence to the present exist-
ence of the Syriac as a living language. It may be
spoken as Latin is spoken by certain Poles and Hun-
garians, t. ^. as a dead language learned from books.
The scriptures of the Mendseans of the parts about
Disful in IQiuzistan are in Syriac.
In Syriac, too, are those of the Maronites, the
Malabar Christians, and the Caldani, or Christians of
Kurdistan, whose complexion is comparatively fair,
whose eyes are gray, and whose beards are often reddish.
THE SAMARITANS.
91
Englith.
Arabic.
Syruic.
Hebrew.
Head
ras
rish
TOsh
Hair
saro
shar
sear
Eye
ayn
eyn
ayn
Ecar
adzn
adno
ozen
Ko9e
anph
hh^tm
aph
Mouih
pham
phum
pi
Tooth
sen
sbeno
sbcn
Tongue
lishan
lesbono
lashon
Hand
yad
yad
yad
Foot
rigl
rcglo
regel
Sun
shams
shemsbo
sbemesh
Star
kaukab
kukbo
kokab'
Day
yawm
yearn
yom
Night
laila
lailo
laila
Fire
anisat
eshotto
esh
Water
ma
mayo
mayim
One
akhad
hbad
eh had
Two
thuna
tharin
shanim
Three
thaleth
thoUh
shelosb
Four
arbat
arba*
arba'
Five
hhams
hhamesh
hhamesh
Six
sit
ftheth
shesh
Setfen
sab'
sheba'
sheba
Eight
sam&ra
tbmon
shemoneh
Nine
tish
tsha
tesha'
Ten
ashar
'sar
'asar.
The Samaritans. — The national existence of the Sama-
ritans terminated B.C. 721, when the ten tribes were
conquered by Shalmaneser. The extent to which this
conquest put an end to the blood and language is an-
other question. Some Samaritans were, doubtlessly,
transplanted into some localities beyond the frontier of
Samaria. Some as doubtlessly remained on their native
soil. At the present time a few families calling them-
selves by the ancient name are to be found in the
neighbourhood of Nablus. They preserve a copy of the
Pentateuch of considerable but uninvestigated antiquity.
A few, too, are said to dwell in Cairo.
92 THE ABYSSINIAKS.
CHAPTER XII.
The Semitic popalations, — The AbywHiTiianB of Tigr^ and Amhara.--»
The AgowB.— The Falaaha.~The Qafat.
Arabia leads to Africa; less, however, through the
Isthmus of Suez than by the way of Abyssinia. For
Abyssinia is in its essentials a truly Semitic country;
Semitic after the fashion of Syria or Arabia itself.
Whether it were always so is another question.
The country is mountainous^ and, where not moun-
tainous, a plateau. It scarcely touches the sea; the
eastern slopes of its eastern range being the occupancy of
the DanakiL
The Tigri Abyssinians.—Tigre, on the north, is rich in
the remains of antiquity; the parts about Axum, its
ancient capital, being of the most importance. The lan-
guage is a derivative from the ancient Geez, in which
was made the w^thiopic translation of the Scriptures.
Allied to the Hebrew and Arabic, it differs in its alphabet,
which is syllabic.
Amhara* — So is that of the neighbouring province of
Amhara ; the language whereof, with the same general
aflSnities as the Tigr^, is less closely a representative of
the old ^thiopic.
Both the Amharic and Geez are written from left
to right, not from right to left, like the Arabic, &c.
THE ABTSSINIANS.
93
EngUih.
Amhnrie.
Tigrt.
Qod
iBger
eager
Sun
teai
tsai
Star
qnoknb
k6hhab
Wind
ne&s
nef&8
Sain
zenam
zenab
Cfhuds
demana
debena
Earth
mider
midre
HiU
amba
amba
MounUiin
tarara
amba
Odd
werk
wark
SUver
bir
beroor
Qrasa
Bar
aare
FruU
fre
fre
Flower
abbeva
ambova
Bee
nir
nebe
Honey
mar
mahar
Wheat
ainde
aindi
Water
▼aha
mi
WeU (toaJter)
azukt
aankte
Horse
feras
ftraa
Ass
biyah
erge
Mule
bnkalo
bagale
Cow
laam
laame
Ox
berai
bebheral
Sheep
bug
bugge
Ooat
feel
tele
Horn
kand
kerne
Lion
anbaaa
inbaea
Bird
wof
wofeef
Father
abate
above
Mother
enate
enoe
Friend
wada<ye
fetonye
Head
TB8
rasi
Hair
tsegnr
tangare
Eye
ain
aini
Nose
afintcba
affinkyaba
Mouth
af
af
Tongue
melas
melhaa
Voice
dimts
dimtae
Beard
tim
iehame
Shoulders
iekusba
keaa
Arm
e^je
eed
Bowels
mania
amet
Heart
lib
libbe
Blood
dnm
dam
94
THB ABYSSINIANS.
Eugltth.
Amharie.
Tigrt.
Leg
igger
iggere
Year
amit
imet
Month
war
warre
Week
Bamint
Bumrnam
Near
kerib
kemb
Far
rook
rook
Above
lai
lab
Below
taich
takti
Small
tanash
niahte
ShaH
achir
atteer
Dark
tchelema
sellemat
Heavy
kttbdal
kubbid
BiUer
memarar
muirur
Sweet
taffeet
touin
Weak
dekama
dukoom
Red
ki
kiyeh.
Middle-sized, and well made, the Abyssinians vary in
colour. Some are perfectly black; but the majority
have a red tinge ; and so come-out brown, nut-coloured,
or copper-coloured. The features are often European,
t. e. an aquiline nose stands out in prominent contrast to
that of the typical negro. The cheeks are often sunk, so
that the face looks elongated. The hair is dark and crisp,
not to say curly. The limbs are well formed.
As is the Armenian in Asia, so is the Abyssinian in
Airica. Both are Christian populations in contact with
Mahometans. Both hold exceptional creeds. It was
about A.D. 330 that Frumentius introduced the Gospel
into ^Ethiopia. It is still retained. Abyssinia, however,
is the rudest of all Christian nations.
The Agows. — Except that they are somewhat stouter
in make, the physiognomy of the Agows is that of the
proper Abyssinians. They differ, however, in language.
They also differ in civilization. The little Christianity
that is to be found amongst them is scarcely two cen-
turies old. Damot and Lasta are the chief Agow pro-
vinces.
THE ABYSSINIANS. 95
The Falaska. — The Falasha dialects are Agow rather
than either Tigre or Amharic, the Falasha populations
being sometimes highlanders, like those of the mountain-
ranges of Samien^ sometimes lowlanders, like the men of
Dembea. The Kimmont hills to the north-east of
Gondar (in the Amharic country) are Falasha. The
Falasha greatly resemble the Jews in their habits and
customs, and, by more than one writer, have been treated
as actual Israelites. It is only certain that they exhibit
many Jewish characteristics.
Gafat. — The Gafat language, akin to the Amharic, is
rapidly disappearing. The Amharic displaces it ; whilst
the Galla, in many places, displaces the Amharic. A
small district in the province of Damot is the Gafat
locality.
Abyssinia, as we have said, is the rudest of all Christian
nations. Its Christianity is not only imperfect and partial,
but is complicated with Judaism and Mahometanism. The
homely narrative of Nathaniel Pearce, an English sailor
who was left in the country, at his own desire, by Lord
Yalentia, and who resided in it more than ten years, tells
us that although the Abyssinians *' are Christians, they are
in some ways like Jews, and some ways like savages. For
why they are like Jews is, they keep holy the Saturday as
well as the Sunday, both equal alike. They also keep the
three fast days of Nineveh, which they call the feast of
Annemoi, or Jonah the prophet; and have a holiday
yearly for Abraham and Sarah. And for why they are
like savages, they eat the flesh whilst the blood is still
warm in the veins. They keep very strict in their fasts ;
the fast of our Saviour or Lent, is flfty-six days,
which begins in March and ends in May ; the fast of
Nineveh — the fast of the Apostles — the fast for the
death of the Virgin Mary, &c. The priests of their
96 THE ABYSSINTANS.
separate parishes have a great feast at the end of every
fast."
An account of one follows* It shows on unexception-
able* evidence that the brutal habit of eating the warm,
raw, and still-quivering flesh of animals is Abyssinian.
The assembled guests take the sacrament, kill a cow, and
^^ before the animal has done kicking, and the blood still
running from its throat, the skin is nearly off one side,
and the prime flesh cut off and with all haste held before
the elders of the church, who cut about two or three
pounds each, and eat it with such greediness, that those
who did not know them would think they were starved ;
but at all times they prefer the raw to the cooked
victuals."
Some of the women tattoo themselves. In no country
are they married earlier. In no country is marriage more
a matter of bargain. In no country is disparity of age
less heeded. A man of sixty may marry a child of eight.
" I have known," writes Pearce, " several girls given to
men of that age, who have been bom since I have been in
the country ; which is not yet ten years. Some girls have
children at thirteen or fourteen years of age. You may
by chance find a girl who is still a virgin at eleven or
twelve years in the provinces of Tegri and Inderta (En-
derta), but I can venture to say there is not one in the
Ammerrer (Amhara) country above nine or ten. The
king will give his daughters to any of his chiefs he thinks
proper at the age of eight or nine. I, when a stranger
amongst them, used to think it impossible that a child of
that age could be fit for marriage ; but I since find that
it is their natural custom."
With all this, the analogue of the European nun is to
be found in Abyssinia ; inasmuch as a woman, on for-
swearing marriage, may wear a skulUcap like a man, and
THE ABYSSINIANS. 97
turn priest. She may not, however, enter a certain part
of the church called Bethlem. She may also become
possessed of a devil ; as was Pearce's own wife. " She
was five or six days very ill, and her speech so much
altered that I could scarcely understand her. She then
began to be continually hungry, and would eat five or
six times in the night and never sleep." Then came a
passion for begging, then the habit of addressing men
as women, and women as men; then fits. And now her
friends prepared to cure her. They hired trumpeters.
They dressed up with all sorts of gewgaws. They called a
meeting and feasted. They showed her to the company.
Then she danced and jumped, and jumped and danced ;
ever and anon dropping one of her ornaments. When
the sun set she dropped the last, and started to run. A
young man with matchlock runs with her. She drops.
He then fires over her body, and asks her name. She gives,
having previously denied, it. Her friends then take her to
church, when she is washed with holy water, and cured.
As are the women so are the men. Priests swarm.
The little learning of the country is monopolized by
them. They use this in the encouragement of super-
stitions. They fail, however, to check either the licence
of the polygamist, or the profligacy of his wives and
concubines. They fail, too, to enforce the sanction of
oaths, which are broken as systematically and as ceremo-
niously as they are taken. Takely Georges acted thus : —
a priest held up a cross, wliich was sworn by. The priest
went his way. Then said Takely Georges — " Servants,
you see the oath I have taken. I scrape it clean away
from my tongue that made it." Thereupon he scraped his
tongue, and spat away his oath. The men to whom he
swore reminded him of it, saying — " Your majesty has
perhaps forgotten what you swore to ? "
VOL. II. H
'
98 THE ABYSSINIANS.
Takely Gearffes. — " No, I have not ; but, after you
were gone, and before I had eaten or drunk, I scraped it
from the tongue that made it, and this before all my
house." Such are the methods by which perjury is or-
ganized in a land of nuns and priests. '' If what I now
swear to be not true, may God blow my soul away from
me as I blow away the fire from this candle." The swearer
then suits the action to the word, blows out the light, and
keeps or forgets the imprecation as it best suits him.
As in many other parts of Africa, it is considered a
misfortune for a woman to bear twins. It is not thought
natural to breed like a dog ; and children have been put
to death in order that the reproach of so doing might be
avoided.
Bad amongst the bad are the practices to which the
Abyssinians resort in war. They always mutilate the
dead body, and wear the parts cut off as a trophy.
Sometimes they mutilate the living man. Fearce, who
was constrained to join in one of their wars, killed some
of the enemy in the " presence of the ras, but would not
be so inhuman as to mangle a dead body ; for which the
ras was much displeased."
THE coFrs. 99
CHAPTER XIIL
The Copts.— The Bishari.— The Nabians.— The Populationfly &c., of
KordoTftn, of Barfor, of Seimaar. — The so-called Kegroes of Abys-
ainia. — ^The Galla Family^ i. e. the Danakil, the Somanli, and the
Gallas Proper.
The Copts. — The Copts are the descendants of the
ancient Egyptians. As a separate population, with the
full characteristics of language and nationality, they are
wholly or nearly extinct. Much of their blood runs in
Arab veins ; and many a true Arab, on the strength of his
frame being somewhat less wiry and spare than ordinary,
has been put down for an individual of mixed blood.
The analysis, however, is difficult. As a spoken lan-
guage the Coptic is extinguished. As a written one it still
exists. The Copts, who are Christian, still read a Coptic
version of the Scriptures and other Coptic ecclesiastic
writings. Many of the scribes or clerks of Cairo are Copts.
In form they are somewhat massive, with fleshy limbs, heavy
features, noses more flat than prominent, eyes somewhat
oblique (so, at least, it is said), thickish lips, dark com-
plexions; more yellow or brown than either black or
white. The Copt language has been called sub-Semitic.
It may be this without ceasing to be African. Indeed,
it has numerous African affinities.
The Bishari. — The true -Egyptian area must not be
supposed to transcend the eastern boundary of the valley
of the Nile ; the coast of the Red Sea being other than
Egyptian. In the parts about Kosseir a new element
appears — new to the reader, old to the soil. The family
to which the ruder aborigines of north-eastern Africa
II 2
100 THE BISHARI.
belong now comes into view. The Ababde are Bishari,
the Bishari Ababde, with this difference — the Bishari
preserve their own language, the Ababde speak Arabic.
Such, at least, is the common statement ; though I am
unable to give the evidence on which it rests. I only
know that the presumptions are in favour of its being
true. The Ababde lie nearest the Nile ; the Bishari
nearest the sea. Both are to be found in Mgyjit ; both
in Nubia. The Ababde, the northern members of the
family, differ from the Arabs in colour and in the tex-
tiure of their hair, which is either elaborately frizzled or
curiously curled.
The Bishari proper are succeeded by the Adareb, whose
best-known occupancy is the country about Suakin. One
of these tribes reaches as far inland as the neighbourhood
of Shendy. In Suakin the principal people affect an
Arab origin ; indeed, Burckhardt commits himself to the
doctrine that, word for word, Adareb is Hadramaut.
The Taka Tribes. — The parts between the Mareb and the
Atbara or Tacazze are the occupancy of the Hadendoa,
Hammadab, Hallenga, and other tribes, known by the
general name of Taka, Bishari in form, features, and
complexion. They feed sheep and camels, hunt ostriches,
collect senna, make occasional razzias upon Sennaar and
Dongola, quarrel with the Ababde where the ground is
debateable, deny that they eat raw flesh, but own to
drinking warm blood.
The Barea» — The Barea, whose name is other than
native, lie on the north-western frontier of Abyssinia.
They are but imperfectly known, and not fully described.
Mansfield Parkyns's is the work wherein they appear
with most prominence. It describes them as formidable
frontagers to the Abyssinians of Walkait, being bold,
active, and predatory warriors.
THE NUBIANS. 101
Nubians. — The Nile ceases to be ^Egyptian below
AssuaD, the ancient Syene. Where ^gypt ends Nubia
begins. Upper Egypt and Lower Nubia touch. Both
are full of ancient remains ; those of northern Nubia
being ^Egyptian, those of southern being -^thiopic or
Abyssinian, in character. The true Nubians lie along
the river. Their language is neither Coptic nor Arabic.
It is unintelligible to the Bishari and the Abyssinian. Its
dialects are the Kensi in northern, the Nub (or Nubian
proper) in middle, and the Dongolawy in Dongola or
southern. Nubia. The Nubians are often called Bar-
abbra, Berber, or Berberin, Subject to jEgypt, they are
imperfect Mahometans ; agricultural and commercial in
their habits ; not a little mixed in blood. Their hair
is long and crisp ; their colour brown rather than black.
Rtippell calls the Dongolawi bronze-coloured ; also stating
that the Dongolawi face is oval, the nose curved, the
lips thick. The Bishari have elongated faces, prominent
noses, long and twisted hair.
The Koldagi of Kordovan, — The speakers of the Kol-
dagi, one of the numerous languages of Kordovan, are,
in language at least, closely allied to the Nubians.
Darfur, — The Fur, or Furians, of Darfur are imperfect
Mahometans, who speak a language with Koldagi affini*
ties. They are black, and far more like the ordinary
negro than are the Nubians or Bishari. Many Arab
tribes are spread over their country, which has been but
little visited.
West of Darfur lies Darsaleh, an unexplored district,
concerning which some of our notices come from the
east, vid Nubia and Kordovan, and others from the
west, vid Bornu, in connection with which kingdom I
shall notice it.
Sennaar and the parts in contact with it now command
102 THE SENNAAR TRIBES.
attention. As long as the Nile runs parallel to the sea,
and keeps a straight course, the ethnology of the parts to
the east of its valley is simple. South, however, of Nubia
it makes a bend westward. It also receives feeders from
the east, and the ethnology is complicated accordingly.
There is a wider tract of alluvial soil, with a blacker set of
tribes to occupy it. The dark skin of the Sheyga Arabs
has already been mentioned. It is as black as that of the
natives; though who the natives are cannot exactly be
said. There has been conquest and intrusion in Sennaar.
The intrusive tribes, however, coming, as they are be-
lieved to have done, from the neighbouring districts, are
not likely to have been very diflTerent from the aborigines.
The proportion they bear to the aborigines and Arabs is
uncertain. The chief population is called Funge. We
have no specimen of the Funge language eo nomine. It is
probably akin to that of the Fazoglo tribes, whose
language, as known through a vocabulary of Tutshek's, is
that of
The Qamamyl of Cailliaud.
More remotely connected with both the Fazoglo and
with each other' are the languages named by Riippel —
ShaMn to the south of the Sennaar and Kordovan
frontier.
Denka. — The Denka are pagans and idolaters.
Skiliik. — The Shiluk are pagans of the Bahr El
Abiad; skilful in the management of canoes, who have
woolly heads, and swear by the sun.
The Tumali country lies to the south of Obeid, between
IP and IS"* N.L. It is divided into two kingdoms of
unequal size, the smaller of which is the superior. Its
name is Tumali Tokoken, and it is the seat of a Wofter,
to whom the Eliot of Tumali Debili is subordinate, but
who is himself subordinate to the king of Takeli, who
THE TAKELI TRIBES.
103
is a vassal of the Viceroy of ^gypt. The Tumali of
Tutshek is all but the Takeli of Riippelly of which the
Dai, or Daier, is a dialect.
Knglith.
Darfor.
KoldagL
Shabnn.
Shillnk.
Man
dnedeh
kordu
le
uguila
Head
tobu
oar
eldah
uidzh
Eye
kTili
kale
leg
uang
Noae
donni
hein
nagul
nng
Mouth
ndo
aul
keing
dok
Tooth
kaki
gehl
engar
lek
Tongue
dali
ghiada
denkela
leb
Ear
dilo
nilge
neni
yib
Hand
donga
oahi
nimel
kiam
Foot
taroh
kaddo
ongi
lusUella
Fire
utu
eka
yah
maidzh
Waier
koro
otu
knaf
fi
Sun
diille
68
quedynde
kiong
Moon
daal
nondo
eiwah
goi
Star
uri
onda
robah
kielo
Tree
karra
saleg
yareh
yad
Stone
dita
kager
kokol
niarkiddi.
Fertit lies still further to the south.
EncUih.
Faxoglo.
Denka.
TakelL
Fertit.
Man
meloko
mood
ead
koshi
Head
alio
nam
aik
knmmu
Eye
are
ninu
nndik
allah
Nose
kara
onm
endir
aue
Mouth
anta
tok
engiarr
ammah
Tooth
doTidit-ufuti ledzh
nim
ensi
Tongue
halla
leb
auga
timi
Ear
ilai
yet
hennn
utai
Hand
raba
mib
ora
adgianas
Foot
—
kwen
dakaak
tibrenu
Fire
mo
maid^
ebe
ouwe
Water
fi
fioa
ek
ongou
Sun
mondzo
akol
ani
aloh
Moon
shig
fai
oar
ibae
Ska-
Ibo
kuol
lain
berabe
Tree
engoule
tiem
(a
donsu
Stone
bele
kur
aman
ekbur.
Within the frontier of Abyssinia, yet other than
Abyssinian, are
104
THE DIZZELA, ETC.
The Dizzela. — This is the name of a tribe occupant of
a portion of the Agow country.
7%6 Dalla^ — This is the name of a population on the
Tacazze.
Both the Dizzela and Dalla are called Shangalla or
Shankali; but this is a general term applied by the
Abyssinians to the blacker and ruder populations of the
western part of the country. That the languages, at
least, are different, may be seen troia the following list: —
English.
Dizzela.
Dalla.
Man
gunza
kwa
Woman
ingnffii
dukka
Bead
illiikoma
annasunga
Eyes
niikumah
wa
Nose
kotama
bubana
Ears
tsema
ukuna
Teeth
kuusma
Tonffue
kotettuma
Sun
woka
wah
Moon
beja
terah
Star
beja
shanda
Fire
tuma
Water
iah
Stone
uga
Tree
gea
One
metama
ilia
Two
ambanda
belle
Three
quokaga
sette
Four
xaacha
salle
Five
mankooB
bufisame
Six
wata
erde
Seven
linjeta
barde
Eight
suggoata
quonqueda
Nine
sasa
qunntelle
Ten
chikka
quullakudde.
About 17° N.L. the Bishari populations are succeeded
by the most northern members of the great
Galla or Ilmormo family ^ containing
1 . The Danakil.
2. The Somauli.
THE GALLAS. 105
8. The Gallas proper.
. 1. The Danakil call themselves Afer^ Danakil being
an Arab name, word for word the same as Dongola —
though the Dongolawy are Nubians. The country named
Adel or Adaiel is Danakil rather than Somauli.
2. Word for word, Somauli (an Arab name) is Suwahili
and Sofala. The Somauli area begins a little to the south
of the Straits of Babelmandeb.
3. The Gallas proper belong to the interior rather than
the coast, their area being of great magnitude and sinu-
ous in outline. The Asubu tribesj for instance, have en-
croached on the Danakil, the Edjow upon the Amharas.
Over all the southern part of Abyssinia the Gallas have
spread far and are likely to spread fnrther.
Akin to the Bishari in form and habits, the Gallas are
long-haired, dark-skinned, prominent-featured shepherds,
robbers, and marauders ; savage in their mode of warfare,
yet not without commercial and maritime aptitudes when
the neighbourhood of the sea and the trade with Arabia
encourage them.
The Gallas fall into tribes and sub-tribes, and are almost
exclusively pastoral. In the direction of Abyssinia they
have encroached. The kingdom of Shoa is no longer
Abyssinian, but Galla. So is that of Efat. The town
of Ankober is a Galla capital, though mixed in regard
to its population. In religion the Gallas are imperfect
Mahometans, imperfect Christians, and pagans ; the chief
Christianity being in the districts conquered from Abys-
sinia. As warriors they are savage among the savage, de-
lighting in the massacre and mutilation of their prisoners.
English. Biahari. Ifubian. Balla. Galla.
Man otak itga kwa nama
Woman tataket Ideynga dukka rete
Head ogounna ourka annasunga mata
Hair tamo shigertyga anna rofensa
106
BI8HARI, NUBIAN,
English.
Bishari.
Nubian.
Dalla.
GaUa.
Eyes
tilyly
mainga
wa
hedzha
Nose
ogenuf
Boringa
bubona
fimyan
Tongue
medabo
arruba
Mouth
oyaf
akka
ma
afian
Teeth
tongrek .
nyta
ilkae
Ears
tongy
okiga
ukiimi
gura
Beard
hamoi
sameyga
arreda
Foot
ragad
oyg»
fana
Sky
otryk
sema
Sun
toyu
mashakka
wah
addu
Moon
ondzhim
inatiga
terah
dzhea
Star
windzhega
BbnnfJA
urdzhe
Fire
toneyt
ika
tiima
iblddeh
Water
ayam
amanga
beya
beshan
Tree
dzhoUaga
ilia
monka
Stone
awey
uga
dagga
One
engaro
werka
ilia
toko
Two
molobo
onogha
belle
lumma
Three
mehay
toskoga
aette
sedde
Four
fadyg
kemsoga
aalle
affur
Five
eyyib
didzha
buBBume
shnr
Six
esaagoar
gordzhoga
erde
dzba
Seven
eBsarama
kolodga
barde
tnrbah
Eight
eesambay
idonoga
kwonkwedah
seddet
Nine
ogamhay
oskoda
kwuntelle
BUggul
Ten
togaaerama
dimaga
kwiiUakudde
kudun.
Within the Galla area, as elsewhere in northern and
eastern Africa, the great admixture of Semitic elements
makes the analysis of both the blood and language of the
numerous tribes a matter of no little difficulty. On the
Bishari frontier, for instance, the Shiho form of speech is
more Danakil than Amharic ; whilst the Arkiko is more
Amharic than Danakil.
Engiiih.
DanaklL
Arkiko.
Sbiho.
Amharic.
Head
ammo
ammo
ras
ras
Nose
Banna
Ban
anf
afincba
Mouth
afa
af
af
af
Eye
inte
inte
en
ain
Teeth
bndena
ekok
enob
ten
Sun
aero
airo
tsai
taal
Moon
alsa
alBa
weme
tkerka
AND 6AI.LA LANOUAOES.
107
Sngliih.
DuakU.
Arkiko.
Shibo.
Amharic.
Ska-
ettakta
ittak
kokub
kwokub
Fire
gira
gera
esaat
aaat
Water
leh
le
mi
waha
SUme
data
dak
bnimet
dengea
One
innike
inek
ante
and
Two
lumma
lamma
kille
kwillet
Three
Budde
adda
selas
Boat
Four
fere
afur
ubah
arrat
Five
konoyole
kon
amtis
aumist
Six
leheye
leh
sfU
aediflt
Seven
melhene
melhen
gnbhu
Bubhat
Eight
bahara
bahr
theman
semint
Nine
segala
Buggai
tse
zatti
Ten
tubban
tnmmum
aesur
assir.
The Hurur vocabularies of Salt^ Beke^ and Burton^
though to a great extent Semitic^ have several Galla,
Somauli^ and Danakil names for even the most familiar
objects, e. g.
EngliAh.
Harnr.
Danakil, 8m:.
Arabic.
Tofnq%tA
arrat
arruba
lishan
Sun
ihr
airo
Bhams
and others. These elements require a careful analysis ;
and even the Semite portion, when separated, requires a
second elaboration. The iEthiopic ivords have to be kept
apart from the Arabic.
108 THE TIBBU. ETC.
CHAPTER XIV.
The Tibbu. — The BomM and HowBsa groups. — The Sungai. —
The Amazig.— The Fala.
The Tibbu. — The eastern part of the great northern
desert is the occupancy of the Tibbu family, divided, like
all the groups that have hitherto been noticed, into tribes
and sub-tribes. They have not been very fully described.
Lyon, M^ho saw much of the families about Gatrone,
speaks in high terms of their physical form. The females
were light and elegant in shape, with aquiline noses, fine
teeth, European lips, delicate feet and ankles, jetty skins.
The men were slender and active. The tribes of the south
of Fezzan are comparatively quiet and settled. Those of
the desert, however, are thieves and pagans. They dwell
in huts made of skins of animals and grass or palm-
leaves, some being troglodytes. The female slaves sell at
a high price, on account of their beauty ; the men at a
low one. They are ill-adapted for hard or continuous
work. Dates and flesh are their chief food. They also
eat the seeds of the khandal or colocynth apple.
Parts of Elanem, and certain districts along the shores
of Lake Tshad, visited by Dr. Barth, are Tibbu ; the
Tibbu area being in contact with that of
The Bornuif or men of the important kingdom of
Bomu. As is the geography, so is the ethnology. Along
with_ others, I expect that the more we learn concerning
these two populations, we more closely we shall connect
them* At present, however, the relations between the
tribes of the desert and the occupants of that long zone
THE AMAZIG.
109
of kingdoms or countries which, under the name of Kor-
dovan, Darfur, Darsaleh, Begharmi, Bornu, and Howssa,
stretch from the Nile to the Niger, are obscure.
The Bidduraa islanders of the Lake Tshad speak a
language akin to the Affadeh dialect of the Kanuri.
Howssa. — Due west of Bornu, with which it is conter-
minous, lie the Howssa districts, succeeded by the coun-
try of which the great metropolis is
Timbuktu. — Some obscurity hangs over the details of the
parts about Timbuktu. Caillie names the language of
Timbuktu Kissour and gives a specimen of it, different
from that of Denham, different from that of Hodgson
(who agrees with Denham), different from that of Barth,
whose specimen is headed Emghadesie. Upon the whole,
however, they agree.
EngliBb.
Snngai.
KiMonr.
Timbnctoo.
Emghtdetie.
Hodgson,
CailUS.
Denham,
Bartk.
Man
harroo
barre
barree
berfua
Woman
owee
boai
weoy
waei
Head
bonga
bomo
bongo
benm
Eye
moo-fig
nemode
mob-inka
mua
Mouth
meafig
mi
mey
mai
Nose
nenee
nini
nini
Hand
kembee
lamba
kambab
kanba
Foot
kee
na-kidi
kay
kae
Sun
oinoo
ouena
ofitli
u6na
Moon
handoo
idoa
bandn
Fire
monee
nounez
janee
boru
Water
baree
bari
bari
an
One
afoo
afaa
afibo
nifo
Two
hinka
ainka
nabinka
abinka
Three
binzA
aindbia
nabinga
abinza
Four
etakee
ataki
attakee
ettbaki
Five
egoo
igou, borgou
aggoo
The Amazig family. — The fringe of the Mediterranean
is Arab. The Sudanian area is Borniii, Howssa, Sungai,
and the like. But what is the desert that lies between ?
A part was Tibbu ; but only a part. What is the re-
mainder ? Kabail, Amazig, or Berber ; the latter being
an inconvenient name. Have we not seen that the
110 THE AMAZIO.
Nubians were also called Barabbra or Berberin ? At the
same time^ it is from the Amazig, or Kabail, Berbers that
the States of Barbary take their name.
The Amazig area is the largest in Africa, extending
&om the confines of ^gypt to the Atlantic Ocean. More
than this — the Canary Islands, until the extermination or
fusion of their aborigines, were Amazig. This we know
from the fragments of the Guanch language which re-
present the language of the opposite coast.
Again — the ancient Mauritanians and Gaetulians were
not only the occupants of the Amazig area, but of Ama-
zig blood. Of Amazig blood were the native tribes with
which the Greeks of the Cyrenaica came in contact. Of
Amazig blood were the native tribes with which the
Phenicians of Utica and Carthage came in contact. The
subjects of Masinissa and Jugurtha occupied localities of
which the ancient names are explained by means of the
modem Amazig.
At the present time there are five names for five divi-
sions of the Amazig populations, and seven names for
the Amazig forms of speech. How far either series is
natural is another question.
(I.) The Kabails, who speak the Kabail language, are
the Amazig of the northern part of Algiers rather
than Morocco.
(2.) The Showiah are the Amazig of Morocco rather
than Algiers. They occupy, however, some of the cen-
tral districts of Algiers ; their language being the Showiah.
(3.) The Shiluk lie to the south of Morocco, their lan-
guage being the Shiluk.
(4.) The Berbers belong to the south-eastern parts of
Algiers^ to Tunis, to Tripoli, and the corresponding parts
of the Sahara. Their dialects are the Larua and
Zenaitia.
Larua is the name of the Amazig of the Isle of
THE AMA.ZIG.
Ill
Dzherba, and of the Dzhebel Nfus (?) in Tunis. In Tripoli
it is spoken in the town of Zuara. In Algeria it is
limited to some of the oases, being especially stated to
be spoken at Waregla, Temasin, and Tuggurt, collectively
called Wadreag. Carrette observes, as Hodgson had
done before him, that the Amazig population of "Wad-
reag is extremely dark — almost as black as that of the
negro, the features being other than negro. The Arabs
of the same district are only brown.
The oasis of Twat is the locality of the Zenaitia form
of speech.
(5) The Tuarik, who, perhaps should be less tren-
chantly separated from the Berbers of Wadreag and
Twat, ' are the occupants of the rest of the Sahara, are
bounded on the east by the Tibbu, and on the south by
the Nigritian, or Sudanian, populations.
The oasis of Siwah, the ancient Ammonium, is Amazig.
The part of the Amazig area which is best known is
(as may be expected) Algeria. For this we have the
following statistics, taken from an elaborate work of
Carrette on the origin and migrations of the principal
tribes of Northern Africa.
PROVINCE OF
Circle of R6ne .
Lacalle
L'Edough
Guelma
PhillipviUe
Constantine
Setif .
Kalifat of Medzhana
Eastern Kabilia .
Total
CONSTANTINE.
Arabs.
10,340
14,320
7,230
6,340
5,360
297,330
40,180
115,650
Amazig.
900
4,780
34,490
14,820
594,230
7,950
130,900
505,750 788.070
11^
THE AMAZI6.
PROVINCE OF ALGIERS.
Arabs.
Subdivision of Algiers
Miliana
Medea.
Orleansville
The Sahara.
Total
125,600
33,800
125,000
34,000
30,000
PROVINCE OF ORAN.
Arabfs.
Subdivision of Oran .
Mostaganem.
Tlemcen
Maskara
The Sahara
50,300
52,500
40,100
96,200
185,400
Total
RECAPITULATION.
Arabs.
Province of Constantine • 505,750
Algiers . . 348,400
Oran . . 4«4,500
Amazig.
302,100
52,400
3,200
46,900
34,000
348,400 438,600
Amazig.
34,200
26,300
3,200
4«4,500 63,700
Amazig.
788,070
438,600
63,700
Total
.1,278,650 1,290,370
From Carette we get the following contributions
to the history of the name. The Arab pedigrees are
chiefly founded on the word Berber. One is to the effect
that when Afrik, the son of Kis, the son of Saifi, in-
vaded Africa &om the Himyarite parts of Arabia, and
heard what he thought was the patois of the native
tribes, he exclaimed, "What a berberat" («. e. jargon)!
Another derives the Berbers from Ber, the son of Kis,
a king of ^gypt. A third makes them a colony of
Amalekites, who murmured (berbema) at being taken so
far from their country. A fourth gives the Berbers and
THE AMAZI6. 113
the Egyptians the same origin^ «. e. one from Kobt^ the
son of Kanaan^ the son of Ham^ the son of Noah. A
fifth makes Dzhalut, or Goliath^ their ancestor and
names one of the mountains near Siwah Dzhalut-el-
Berber.
The Arab pedigrees attach themselves to the name
Berber, the native to the name Amazig. Ber, the son
of Kis, had a mother named Tamzigh. Mazigh was a
descendant of Kanaan. The contrast between the two
names is well shown in the following narrative. When
Amru-ben-Aas, the first of the Mahometan conquerors
who entered Tripoli, came in contact with the natives of
that country, six men, with their heads shaved, presented
themselves before him, and professed their readiness to
adopt his creed. Amru sent them to Omar. Omar asked
who they were. ** Sons of Mazigh." " What does this
mean ? " His attendants answered, *^ It means the same as
the sons of Ber, the son of Kis." " How do you live ?"
said Omar. **We breed horses." "Have you any
towns?" "We never build."
Of all the indigenae of the soil of Africa, the Amazig
have been the most conspicuous (should we not rather
say the least inconspicuous ?) in history. Some of their
tribes are prominent in the eighth and fifteenth centuries.
The Senhadzha, for instance, take an active and in-
fluential part in the elevation of the Fatimite dynasty,
eventually having dynasties of their own — the Zeirite
and the Hammadite, both Algerian. Mohammed-Abdallah-
ben-Toumart is the most conspicuous individual of the
Masmuda, a deformed hero, whose thighs were joined
together, so that his legs were only separated at the knees,
which prevented his riding; but learned, enthusiastic,
and brave. Half as prophet, half as warrior, i. e. in
that semi-secular and semi-religious character which is so
VOL. II. I
114 THE AMAZIO.
common in the history of the Desert tribes, he broke the
power of the Almoravids, the power of the Almoravids
itself being Amazig. If he really composed a work in
the Amazig language, on the nature of God, and the
duties of man to man, it must be the oldest composition
in any African language, save and except the iBthiopic
and Egyptian. However, he died a.d. 1130, and ap-
pointed Abd-el-Mumed, warrior and insurgent, as his
successor; warrior, insurgent, and conqueror* He re-
duced the power of the Almoravides, and the power of
the Arabs. He invaded Spain, conquering Grenada*
He was a conqueror and an administrator as well ; the
founder, too, of the Almohad dynasty, which lasted till
A.D. 1269, when it was overthrown by the Beni Mrin of
the Zenata division.
I have mentioned the Almoravids and ^ their power.
Who were they ? Word for word, Al-moravid is Mara-
bout, a Marabout being, in Morocco and the Mandingo
countries, a Mahometan priest. The Almoravid is by far
the most important of all the Amazig dynasties ; and in
a notice of the Amazig populations as an influence in the
world's history, the Almoravid kings are to Africa what
the lines of Tshingiz-khan, Tamerlane, or Togrul Beg
are in Asia. It was the Almoravids who most especially
carried Mahometanism into Nigritia, Sudania, or the
black districts of Africa, as opposed to ^gypt and
Maiuitania. Timbuktu is an Almoravid foundation.
This presumes that the details of Carette in the difficult
separation of the Amazig fi:om the Arabs are to be taken
as they are found. I have neither the will nor the way
of taking exceptions to them in general. I only confess
that, at times, I see a difference between the evidence and
the doctrine. How little, too, is the criticism that has
been expended on the details of African Mahometanism t
THB FULA. 115
One contribution towards a clear view of them is the
history of Amazig* Another is that of
The F\Ua. — Towards the end of the last century a vast
number of wandering pastoral tribes spread over that
part of Central Africa which is called Sudania, and under-
went a change in respect to their social and political
organization^ which Prichard compares with that of the
Arabs at the time of Mahomet. Many- — ^but not all — of
them embraced Mahometanism, and that with more than
ordinary zeal and devotion. They visited the more civi-
lized parts of Barbary^ they performed pilgrimages to
Mecca, they recognized in one of their sheiks, called
Danfodio, a prophet with a mission, to preach, to convert,
to conquer. Under his inspiration they attacked the
pagan populations of the countries aroiud — Guber to the
north, and Xubbi to the south, Zamfra, Kashna, and
parts of the Houssa country to the east. Their war-cry
was Alia Akbar; their robes and flags were white, em-
blematic of their purity. Kano was conquered without
a blow, so was Yaouri, so was the town of Eyo or
Katunga on the Niger, so was part of the Nufi or Tapua
country — even the frontier of Bomu was violated.
Danfodio*s death, which took place in 1818, was pre-
ceded by fits of religious madness ; not, however, before
he had consolidated a great Fellatah kingdom, and
become the terror to the States around. It was in vain
that a portion of his conquests revolted. The present
Sultan of Sakkatu is the most powerful prince of Africa,
whether pagan or Mahometan.
Most of these Fellatas are Mahometans, some retaining
their original paganism; but whether pagan or Maho-
metan, they are still the same people. Their features are
the same, their pastoral habits the same, their language
the same. This is one of the most isolated tongues of
I 2
116 THE FULA.
Africa ; with plenty of miscellaneous, but no very defi-
nite or special, affinities.
In Borgho, u e, in tlie parts about Boussa, and Wawa,
visited by Lander, there are two populations, one speaking
a language akin to the Yoruba, one akin to the Fellatah;
so that there are Fellata o£&ets in Borgho. But here,
according to Lander, they have been in the country from
time immemorial. Here, too, they hold themselves as a
separate people from the Fellatas of Sakkatu, dominant
and powerful as that branch is, and respectable as would
be the connection. Such, at least, is Lander's statement.
Their name, too, undergoes a slight modification, and is
Filani. They have neither idea nor tradition as to their
origin.
All this looks as if Borgho were the original country
of the Fellata stock, the starting-point from which
they spread themselves abroad. If so, their movement
must have been from south to north.
But we have yet to hear the whole of their history.
Under the names of Fula, Fulahs, Foule or Peule, they
appear elsewhere. Where ? As far north as the Wolof
(or Jolof) country — as far north as the parts between
the Senegal and the desert — as far north as 17® N.L.
Here, between Galam and Kayor, is a vast Fula district
— the district of the Fulas of the Siratik. Here, on the
south bank of the river, lie the Fulas of Foutatorro, an
elevated tract of land forming the watershed to the
Senegal and the Gambia.
Thirdly, far in the interior, on the high ground over
which Park passed from the drainage of the Senegal to
that of the Niger, is a Fula-^t<, or country of the Fulas,
between Bambuk and Bambarra.
Fourthly, there are the Fulas to the south of Bam-
makoo, in the parts called Wasselah, on the Niger itself.
THE FULA. 117
Fifthly, in 11^ N.L., on the head-water of the Rio
Grande, is the large kingdom of the Fouta-jallo Fulahs,
of which Timhu is the metropolis ; surrounded by dry
or rocky deserts and exposed mountain pastures, pro-
lific with sheep, oxen, goats, and horses. Here, although
the use of the plough is unknown, the occupants culti-
vate the soil and exercise more than one of the me-
chanical arts. They forge iron and silver, weave and
tan, support schools and mosques. To the south lie
the Sulimana tribes more or less akin to the Mandingoes.
From these, Laing learnt, that the acquisition of the
country about Timbu by the Fulas of Futa-jallo was
an event of no great antiquity, having taken place about
A.D. 1700.
There are other Fula, Fellata, and Filani localities {e.g,
in Bomu), but an enumeration of the foregoing has been
sufficient. It shows the vast space of ground covered by
the population so-called.
The Fulas exhibit a decided physical and moral supe-
riority over the ordinary negros ; this being chiefly due
to their Mahometanism. Although the particular shade
of the particular colour which best suits the Fula is
not a matter upon which authors write with unanimity,
the testimony of all observers goes to the fact that,
whether Filani or Fellata, Fellata or Fula, whether
pagan or Mahometan, whether Sudanian or Senegam-
bian, whether mountaineer or desert-born, the Fula
is something peculiar. Sometimes his complexion is
intermediate to that of the African and the Moor;
sometimes he is described as being tawny, with soft
hair, and with lips by no means prominent : sometimes
the skin is of a reddish -black, the countenance being
regular. "The tribe of Fulas," writes Golberry, ''which
under the name of Foules or Peuls, has peopled the
118
THE FULA.
borders of the Senegal between Podhon and Galam, are
black with a tinge of red or copper colour ; they are in
general handsome and well-made ; the women are hand-
some^ but proud and indolent." Hence, to the Fula-
jallo Fulas the very definite and suggestive term Red
Peuls has been applied; to which the name Black
Peuls stands in opposition, this meaning the Fulas of
the north bank of the Lower Senegal.
English.
Tiba.
Berber.
Fnlah.
Man
mar
alia
Head
igrof
aghaf
hore
Eye
tiat
teit
yitere
Ear
tamaznkt
temazug
nofiiri
Mouth
imi
im
himdnko
Tongue
elies
deumgal
Tooth
tagumest
nyire
Hand
tUB
afuB
eamerejango
Foot
tishknnt
atar
teppere
Fire
iflghraran
efeu
jeingol
Water
aman
aman
diyam
Sun
ettij
nange
Moon
ayor
leura
Star
atar
ka&di.
The extent to which the tribes of the present chapter
agree or differ is a question of no little interest. So is
the nature of their historical actions and reactions upon
each other. That these have been considerable is certain ;
and it is also certain that the results have been important*
Herein lies the justification of the manner in which they
have been grouped. I am^ far from being certain that it
is strictly ethnological. The Howssa populations are
black, and have been compared to negros. The Amazig
are liker to the Arabs.
The Amazig are Mahometans. Many of the Howssa
people are pagans. In all this there is difference. At
THE ¥ULA» 119
the same time there has been historical contact^ and in
this historical contact lies the natural character of the
group. Timbuctoo is said to be an Amazig foundation.
It stands^ however^ on Sungai soil. Sackatu stands on
Howssa soil ; but the dynasty that rules it is Fula.
Again — the earliest division of the Amazig tribes^ evi-
dently that of a logograph, rather than an actual observer,
is that of Ebu Khaldun. He arranges the population
under one of two divisions; (1) that of the Brani^ and
{2) that of the Medgras. This division is said to have
had its origin in Eastern Algiers. In the province of
Constantine is an ancient monument believed by the
natives to be the burial-place of their oldest kings. It
is called Medgiftsen. The valley of one of the rivers of
Mount Aures (the Mons Aurasius) is called Wadi Branis.
The name Branis occurs again in Morocco. Ksila^ the
most important opponent of the early Mahometan in-
vadersy is said to have been a king of Aurba and Branis.
The subdivisions of the Brani were —
1. Azdadzha. 5. Ketama.
2. Masmuda. 6. Senhadzha.
8. Auria. 7. Aurira.
4. Adzhisa.
Of the Medgras, also called El-Beter,
1. Addasa. 3. Dari^a.
2. Nfusa. 4. Leuta.
The subdivisions are again subdivided ; e. g.:
The Aurira are divided into the Hauara, the Meld (or
Lehana), the Mkhar, and the Feldan ;
The Hauara fall into the Mhla and Kemlan ;
The Meld into the Stat, Urfel, Mserta, Akil ;
The Mkhar into the Maus, Zemur^ Kebba, and
Merisa;
The Feldan into the Kemsana, Urstif, Biata, and Bel.
120 THE IM6HAD AND IMOSHAG.
Word for word, I believe Brani to be Bomu. Does
this, then^ mean that the history of the Algerian Brani is
the history of a Kanuri population ? Not necessarily.
All that it necessarily means is that the gloss Brani was
widely diffused.
Again — the darkness of the Tuarik skin has long com-
manded attention. What does it come from ? From a
southern occupancy, or from negro intermixture? Or
from both i Future inquiries may give the answer.
The following is Dr. Barth's account of the oasis of
Ghat. A freeman in the Berber there spoken is Amo-
shag, freemen being Imoshag. An unfree person, on the
contrary, is Amghi, of which the plural is Imghad. This
latter term, which the author first mistook for a Gentile
name, afterwards proved to be a common term for subor-
dinate populations in general. That there was a differ-
ence in form and feature between the Imoshag and the
Imghad is expressly stated. It is also stated that this was
greater with the women than the men. Many of these
were almost black, and (as such) more or less like negros.
The evidence that any difference of language coincided
with this difference is by no means decided. '* Many of
the people, indeed, seem to be bilingual ; but by far the
greater part of the men do not even understand the
Howssa language." Do the women ? "I am persuaded
that they were originally Berbers who have become de-
graded by intermixture with black natives." This may
or may not be the case.
The Imghad, capable of furnishing about 5000 men,
are divided into four sections — the Batanatang, the Far-
kana, the Segigatang, and the Warwaren. They live in
the parts around Ghat rather than in the town itself.
Amaziff of Morocco. — Except in the parts along the
Mediterranean there are Amazig tribes over the whole of
THE GUANCHES.
1^1
Morocco. In the northern division the Girwan, Ait
Imure, Zian, Gibbellah^ and Zimurh-Shelluh are found
to the vest of Mekinez ; chiefly in the mountain range.
It is here, too, where they occur in the central district ;
of which the chief occupants are Arabs of the Duquella,
Abda, Rahammena, and Shedma tribes.
On the other hand, in the southern division, or the pro-
vinces of Draha and Suse, it is the Amazig who prepon-
derate ; the tribes being those of theEmsekina, the Exima,
the Idautenan, the Idaultil, the Ait-alter, the Kitiwa, the
Messa, the Shtuka, and half the Ait-bamaran ; the other
half of which is Arab. The Suse population is warlike
and independent. The Idautenan are free from tax and
tribute. They shave the head in front, and wear their
hair long behind.
It is the Suse tribes with which the Canary islanders
have the most decided affinity. This extends to such
minute details as the following : —
The common food of the islanders, writes Glasse, '* was
barley-meal, roasted, and mixed with goats' milk and
butter, and this dish they called Asamotan." The same,
writes Jackson, *' is the common food of the Shelluhs of
Atlas, and they call it by a similar name — Azamitta."
The extent to which the few fragments of the Lancerotta
and Fuerteventura dialects agree with the Shelluh may
be seen from the following table : — ♦
Engliab.
Canary.
Shellah.
Barley
temafiin
tumzeen
Sticks
tczzezes
tezezerat
Palmrtree
taglnaste
taginast
PeUicoat
tahujan
tahuyat
Water
ahemon
amen
Priest
faycag
faquair
Ood
acoran
mkoom
Temple
almogaren
* Jackson, p. 232.
talmogaren
1S2
THE GUANCHES.
Engliih.
CaDaiy.
Shellah.
House
tamojanteen
tigameen
Hog
tawaeen
tamonren
Oreen Fig
archormase
akermuse
Shy
tigot
tigot
Mountain
thener
athraar
VaUey
adeyhaman
douwaman.
The parts between Morocco and the drainage of the
Senegal are chiefly Arab ; perhaps wholly so in regard to
language. At any rate, the Amazig elements have yet to
be investigated.
The Tibbu language, originally placed in the same
class with the Amazig, has since been separated — in my
mind, prematurely.
THE WOLOP, ETC. 123
CHAPTER XV.
The Wolof or Jolof.— Sercre.— Serawuli.— Pelup Balanies.— Biafiu:.—
Nalu.— Sapi.— Bagnon. — Bago.-— Biaaago.
The Wolof ^ — ^The Lower Senegal is the occupancy of
the Wolofs, or Jolofs, who are black-skinned^ tall, and
well-made. The lips are but moderately thick, the fore-
head being prominent ; sometimes remarkably so. Ma-
hometanism has, as yet, made but little progress with the
"Wolof. At the same time they are intelligent and ener-
getic. From the parts about Lake Kayor to the north
of the Senegal, as far as to the parts about Cape Verde,
the Wolof language is spoken. Akin to it is that of
The Sereres, the actual occupants of Cape Verde ; who,
like the Wolofs, are black pagans, with maritime apti-
tudes. Both Wolofs and Sereres may be found in
London, having come over as sailors ; the former being
the commoner.
Not so
The Serawulu — ^The Serawuli lie to the back of the
Wolof area, and are a wholly inland population ; pastoral
rather than agricultural; black, well-made, and energetic.
KoUe states that they are divided into six tribes, viz.,
the Gadsaga, the Gidemara, the Hanyaga, the Dzafunu,
the Haire, and the Gangari. Galam, Kaarta, Ludamar,
and parts of the Bambarra country, are, more or less,
Serawuli.
124
THE FELUP, ETC.
English.
Wolof.
Serawuli.
Man
gor
yago
Woman
dzhigen
yahare
Head
buob
yime
Nose
bokan
norune
Eye
bot
yare
Ear
nop
taro
Mouth
gemei
rake
Tooth
bei
kambe
Tongue
lamei
nene
Sun
dzhagai
kin
Fire
Befara
imbe
Water
ndoh
dsi
One
wian
bane
Two
yar
fillo
Three
yat
aikuo
Four
yarint
narato
Five
dzudom
karago.
The Felup. — The Felup country is a low alluvium be-
tween the mouths of the Gambia and Casamanca : the
people being rude and savage. They file their teeth, and
occupy but a small area. What applies to them applies,
generally, to the populations of the coast from the Gam-
bia to the Mandingo frontier. Several mutually unin-
telligible languages are spoken within a comparatively
small area. Such is that of
The Papel, at the back of the Portuguese settlements
at the mouth of the Cacheo ; also on one or more of the
Bissago islands. Such is that of
The Bagnon, another population of the Cacheo. Such,
too, is that of
The Balantes or Buhnda, spoken in part of the Bissago
group, and also on the continent.
Kngltih.
Felup.
Fap«l.
BagDon.
Bttlanda.
Man
aneine
nyient
ndigen
nyends
Wonum
aaeh
nyas
ndikam
gnin
Head
fokou
bene
bigof
ko
No8e
enyundo
bihl
nyankin
pfuna
Eye
gizil
pckil
kegir
fket
THE BAGO,
ETC.
EDgUsh.
Felnp.
Fapel.
Btgnoo.
Bttknda.
Ear
gano
kebara
kinaf
gelo
Mouth
butom
montun
bare
psum
Tooth
finin
pinyi
harl
kRit
Tongue
furcrup
peremte
buremndz
demadn
Sun
bunah
ono
binek
lehu
Fire
Bambul
buro
kuade
kledaa
Water
momel
munsop
mundn
wede
One
fiinod
0I0&
nonduk
foda
Two
fugapten
ngepugaa
hanuk
gsibn
Three
fufuaten
ngadsint
halal
kahn
Four
fubaregen
ngebakr
harenek
taaila
Five
futogen
kinyene
kiluk
kif.
125
The Nalu extend to or beyond the Nunez ; on which^
I believe, reside
The Sapi, rude and pagan like the rest.
The'Bago, — From KoUe's notice of the Bago I infer that
the name is other than native. If so, it may easily be a
name applied to different populations. Kolle writes that
there are three different Bago countries, one of which is on
the Nunez, and another on the Pongas. These may be
Nalu or Sapi, since he also writes that the occupants speak
closely-allied languages. But of these he has given no spe-
cimens, as the speakers prefer the independence of their
native country to visiting Sierra Leone. Those of the first
and second division are said to go naked — entirely so ; so
much so as to be remarked by the Bagos of the third group.
The Bissago* — The Bidsogo or Bidsoro of Kolle, is
spoken, at least, on the islands Ankaras and Wan of the
Bissago group. Word for word, Bidsogo seems to be
Basare. If so, and if the Basare, as is stated, lie between
the Bulanda and the Bagnon, we have their continental
locality as well.
English.
Biafada.
Kala.
Bid«>g(
Man
■■
laxnkiele
Woman
gnin
Head
baofa
ko
bu
Nose
gandzini
minjeni
nomo
126
EngUih.
Eye
Ear
Afauth
Tooth
Tongue
Sun
Fire
Water
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
THE
BIAFADA.
Biafikda.
Naln.
agiri
nkiet
gunu&
mineau
muau
misole
akede
mfet
wndema
milembe
wiinari
miyakat
furn
met
mambia
mial
numa
dendeg
bihe
bele
biyo
pat
binehi
binam
gubida
tedu
Bidaogo.
ne
kono
kana
kanyi
nuname
ibande
muntaro
nyo
modige
mundsawe
iflobe
wagene
modewikoro.
The Nalu has hoth Bagnon and Bulanda affinities.
THE MANDINOOS. 127
CHAPTER XVL
The Handingo Group. — Bago of Ealum. — Timmani. — Bullom.— The Yei
Sjllabarium. — Subu, &c. — Sokko, &c. — The K rumen.
The Mandingos, Bembuk, Bambarra, and Dzhallunka popu-
lations.— The western portion of the Sungai area is bounded
by the most inland members of the great Mandingo family,
some of which are to be found on the Dzholiba, some on
the upper feeders of the Senegal, some on the Gambia,
some on the sea-coast, along which they extend from the
parts opposite the Isles de Los to Cape Mount ; further
too than this if, by moderately raising the value of the
class, we include the Krumen amongst the Mandingos.
However, the most inland portion of the Mandingo
country is Bambarra on the Dzholiba ; west of which lie
Bembuk and Dzhallunkadu, or Dzhallunkaland ; then
the proper Mandingo districts on the Lower Gambia.
All these populations are Mahometan, conmiercial, and,
comparatively speaking, civilized ; the differences of dia-
lect lying within a small compass.
If so, why place them here ? Why not have brought
them in contact with the Amazig and Fulas of a preced-
ing chapter ? The answer to this lies in the fact of the
family being a large one, and of the foregoing character-
istics being applicable to only a part of it. Much of
what is Mandingo, in the wider sense of the term, is
pagan, rude, and isolated.
At the mouth of the river Nunez some of these rude
128 THE MANDINGOS.
members appear on the coast, which continues to be, more
or less, Mandingo until we pass Cape Mount.
The Bago of Kalum, opposite the Isles de Los, speak
a dialect, which along with that of the Landoma of KoUe,
is closely akin to
The Timnehj or Timmani^ to the east of Sierra Leone.
Akin to which is
The Bullom, of which the Mampa or Sherbro is a
dialect.
The Vei. — The parts about Cape Mount are the occu-
pancy of the Vei.
The existence of what has been called a native alpha-
bet in the Vei language must now be noticed. It has
been known about nine years, and has commanded the
attention of more than one investigator. The first notice
of it was given in the beginning of 1849, by the com-
mander of H.M.S. Bonetta, Lieut. Forbes, who enquired
whether the missionaries of Sierra Leone had ever heard
of a written language amongst the natives of the parts
about Cape Mount. He also showed a MS., which was
soon afterwards in England and in the hands of Mr.
Norris, who decyphered and translated it. Meanwhile the
Missionary Committee appointed Mr. KoUe to visit the
country referred to by Lieut. Forbes and to make inqui-
ries on the spot. This led him to the presence of a Vei
native, named Doalu Bukere, about forty years old. He,
assisted by five of his friends, invented the alphabet in
question ; the details being as follows : —
About fifteen years ago he (Doalu Bukere) dreamed a
dream, in which a tall, venerable whit« man, in a long
coat, appeared to him, saying, " I am sent to you by other
white men,"
Doalu Bukere. — What for ?
Man in the long coat. — I bring you a book.
THE VEI ALPHABET. 129
2>. B, — Good ; but what is its nature ?
Man in long coat. — You must take it to the rest of the
people ; but neither you nor any one else who will read
it must eat either dogs or monkeys, nor yet anything
found dead, whereof the throat has not been cut. Nor
must you touch the book on those days in which you
have touched the fruit of the to-tree.
Look, Doalu, this sign means t, this na. Now read
both together.
D. B.—Ina. What is the book ?
Man in hng coat. — Wait a little, and I will tell you bye
and bye.
Whereon D. B. awoke, sad. His instructor, when tell-
ing him to spell ina (=: come here), wrote the signs with
his fingers on the ground.
Now D. B. had a brother named Dzhara Barakora, and
four cousins, Dzhara Kali, Kalia Bara, Fa Gbasi, and So
Tabaku, who all agreed that the dream was a divine re-
velation ; indeed Kali Bara had a dream on the matter of
his own.
The five, however, invented the alphabet, which is a
syllabarium, and taught it, first in Dzhondu, and after-
wards in Bandakoru.
That D. B. was a man of no ordinary capacity I
readily believe, without placing the invention of the Vei
syllabarium amongst the more extraordinary instances of
African ability. It is anything but an alphabet of wholly
independent origin ; though, at the same time, it has not
been definitely deduced from any older one. It is not
English, nor yet Arabic. In being a syllabarium, and
written from left to right, it resembles the ^Ethiopic ;
but the details of its affinities have yet to be worked out.
It should be compared with the alphabet of the carved
rocks of the Berber country.
VOL. IT. V
130 THE VEI ALPHABET.
The important point connected with its valuation as a
proof of capacity, is the fact, that D. B. had learned, when
a youth, to read English, and, afterwards, Arabic. A mis-
sionary had taught him when a boy, and the Koran was
the creed of his people. When grown to be a man he
was all but a regular letter-carrier. His masters, who
were slavers and traders, despatched him to distant places,
as a messenger, and he told Mr. KoUe that the communi-
cation of distant events by means of the letters he con-
veyed struck him very forcibly. " How is this, that
my master knows everything I have done in a distant
place ? He only looks at the book, and this tells him
all. Such a thing we ought to have, by which we
could speak to each other even though separated by a
great distance."
Kalia Bara, too, speaks of the sense the Vei people had
of the advantages of being able to write. " At that time
my father Doalu Worogbe began to like books. And the
people said the Poro (Europeans) have long heads ; no-
body has such a long head as the Poro. But some of
our people did not believe this. Then I said to my
father — * Why do you call what I maintain a lie ? Can
any Vei man write a letter to his friend, and that friend
read it?'"
I think that over and above the wish of the Vei to
have an alphabet, they wished also to have a peculiar one
— one that the Arabs and English could not read^ though
the Vei could. That their language particularly required
a syllabarium nowhere seems to have struck them ; nor
does it strike us. The Vei is a Mandingo form of speech,
and to the ordinary Mandingo the Arabic alphabet has
long been applied without inconvenience. Upon the
whole, D. B.'s alphabet is a cypher, rather than aught else.
At the same time, the conversion of an alphabet into a
THE KRUMEN. 131
syllabarium is a work requiring some thought and in-
genuity.
At the back of the Bullom^ Timmani, and Yei districts,
lie —
TheSusu,
The Kissi,
The Mendi areas, wherein are spoken languages akin to
the Pessa, Kossa, and other Mandingo forms of speech.
The details of the south-eastern extension of the Man-
dingo area are unknown. It is believed, however, that
they extend over some portion of the Kong range, so as
to lie behind not only the Kru country, but the parts
to the back of the Ivory, and even part of the Gold,
Coast. The dialects of these districts belong chiefly to
The Sokko, or Asokko, division.
I have just stated that by moderately raising the value
of the Mandingo class we may include within it the Km,
or Krumen, populations. Indeed^ the Gio and Mano dia-
lects of Kolle are transitional.
The KrUy Krumen, or Croomen, speak the Dewoi (at the
back of Cape Mesurado), the Basa, the Kra (or Kru
proper), the Grebo, and the Gbe forms of speech of
Kolle ; akin to which are the Kanga, Mangri, and Gien,
dialects of the Mithridates. They extend from Cape
Mount to Cape Palmas.
The Kru has been called the Scotchman of Africa.
He leaves, without hesitation, his own country to push
a fortune wherever a wider field is to be found. He is
ready for any employment which may enable him to in-
crease his means, and ensure a return home in a state of
improved prosperity. There the Kruman's ambition is to
purchase one or two head of cattle, and one or two head
of vvdves, and to enjoy the luxuries of rum and tobacco.
Half the Africans that we see in Liverpool and London
K ^
132
THE KRUMEN.
are Ejrumen, who have left their own country when young,
and taken employment on board a ship, where they exhi-
bit a natural aptitude for the sea. Without being nice
as to the destination of the vessel in which they engage,
they return home as soon as they can ; and rarely or never
contract matrimony before their return. In Cape Coast
Town, as well as in Sierra Leone, they form a bachelor
community, quiet and orderly ; and in that respect stand
in strong contrast to the other tribes around them.
Besides which, with all their blackness, and all their typi-
cal negro character, they are distinguishable from most
other western Africans ; having the advantage of them in
make, features, and industry. Hence, a Kruman is pre-
eminently the free labourer of Africa ; quick of percep-
tion and amenable to instruction. His language has been
reduced to writing by the American missionaries of Cape
Palmas.
English.
Mandingo.
Ballom.
TimmanL
Km.
Man
ke
nopugan
wanduni
nyiyu
Woman
moBo
noma
wnnibom
nyiro
Head
ku
bol
rabump
debo
Nose
nu
umin
asot
mera
Eye
nya
lifol
rafor
gie
Ear
tulo
noi
alena
noga
Mouth
da
nyen
kisen
nno
Tooth
nyi
idsan
raaek
nye
Tongue
n6(i
limelim
ramer
me
Sun
tele
lepal
ret
giro
Fire
ta
dyom
nant
ne
Water
dsi
mem
mant
ni
One
kele
bill
pin
do
Two
fila
tain
peran
BO
Three
sawa
ra
pesaa
ta
Four
nani
hiol
panle
nyle
Five
lolu
man
tomat
mo.
THE AVEKVOM.
133
CHAPTER XVIL
Populations of the Ivory, Pepper, Qold, and Slave Coasts. — The Avekvom.
— The Eouri, the Fantis, and Ashantis. — The Oha or Akkra and
Adampi Tribes. — The Kerrapaj. — The Dahomey, Toruba, Benin,
Ibo, Tapna, Old Calabar, Dnalla, Isabu, Fernando Po, Ediya, and
other Tribes.
The Grain Coast is the country of the Krunien ; the
Gold Coast that of the Fantis and Ashantis. For the
parts between we know little of the sea-board, less of the
interior. The chief language of the Pepper and Ivory
Coast is
The Avekvom^ with miscellaneous affinities.
£nglith.
Arm
Blood
Bone
Box
Canoe
Chair
Dark
Dog
Door
Ear
Fire
Fisk
Fowl
Oround-nut
Hair
Honey
House
Moon
Moskelo
OU
Bain
Bainy season
ATektom.
ebo
evie
ewi
ebru
edie
fata
eshim
etye
eshinavi
eshibe
eya
etsi
esu
ngeti
emu
lyo
eva
efe
efo
inyn
efuznmo-Bohn
eshi
other Languagei.
ubok, Efik,
eyip, Efik ; eye, Je6«.
beu, Fanti,
br&nh, Cfrebo,
tonh, Orebo,
bada> Oreho.
esum, Fanti; ekim, Efik,
iga, ayga, Telm,
nsnny, Efik,
esoa, Fanti,
ija, Fanti,
eja, eya, Fanti,
suseo, Mandingo ; edia, Yehu.
nkatye, Fanti,
ihwi, Fanti.
ewo, Fanti ; oyi, Yebu.
ifi, Fanti ; ufog, Efik,
h&bo, Oreho ; ofiong, Efik,
obong, Fanti.
ingO} Fanti,
sanjio, Mandingo,
ojo, rain^ Tebu,
134
THE AVEKVOM.
English. Avekyom.
Salt etsa
Sand eeian-na
Sea etyu
Stone desi
Thread jeai
Tooth enena
Water esonh
Wife emise
Cry yam
(?tve nae
Oo le
jri22 bai
English, one.
Avekvom, eton.
Kossa, ito.
Peasay toA.
Km, e^tx.
Baasa, c?o.
Popo, da.
Haussa, dea,
EnglUh, two.
Avekyom, anyu.
Popo, ono.
English, three.
AvekTom, oza.
Uhobo, eTsza,
KoBsa, shau.
Pessa, saua.
English, four.
Avekvom, ana.
Mandingo, &c., na/ni,
Kru, &c., nnt€.
Other Languages.
ta, Qreho,
utan, Efik,
idu, Orebo.
sia, shia, Ordto.
gise, Ord>o,
nyeng, Mandingo ; gae, Chrebo,
HSU, Fanti.
muso, Mandingo; mbesia, Fantu
igu, Fajitu
nye, <?re6o ; no, ^^
oio, ye6u.
fii, Mandingo ; pa, Te^u.
English, fiye.
Avekyom, en^
Fanti, envm.
Ashanti, tnnt.
English, six.
Avekvom, atmi.
Ako, e/^
English, eight.
Avekvom, c^ye.
Ashanti, auotui.
Fanti, auo^t.
Appa, ^tto.
Popo, to^u.
Moko, tva,
English, ten.
Avekvom, e/tti.
Fanti, idu.
Eissi, to.
Benin, ti.
The chief family of the interior is one for which I
propose the name
Kouri. — The Kouri area, as I imagine, lies hetween the
Kong moimtains and the Niger, heginning where the
eastern divisions of the Mandingo group end. It is also
bounded by the Howssa and Ashanti areas. The country
has not been explored by Europeans. Word for word,
THE GOLD COAST TRIBES. 135
I believe Kouri to be Goburi, Cumbri, Kafir^ and
Giaour.
The Fantisy jishantis, and other allied populations of
the Gold Coast, come now under notice. The most
general name for the language of these parts is, according
to Riis, who has published a grammar of it, Otshi. It
is spoken by the Ashanti, Denkyira, and Yasa populations ;
also by the Fanti ; also by the natives of the districts
named Akim and Akwam (Akwambu) ; also by those of
Akripon and seven other towns of Akwapim.
In the Otshi pantheon the supreme divinity is called
Onjama, or Nyankupong, the latter word meaning the
sky or heavens. Nyankupongis also called Odamangkama,
or the Creator; Amosu, the rain -giver; Amovua, the
sun-giver. The spirits of the hill, the forest, the
rock, the river, &c., are called Obosom, apparently a
derivative from the root sum = shadow, Abonsam being
the evil demon, and Sasabonsam the god of the earth,
more bad than good.
These points are noticed because we are now in a part
of Africa where the Mahometan influences are at a
minimum, and where the pagan observances are known to
a fair degree of accuracy. We are in the region of the
purest, f . e, the grossest and most unmodified, fetichism —
snake-worship, medicine-men, obi -sorcerers, superstitious
ordeals, devil-drivers, and Mumbojumbos. The inhabi-
tants of a Fanti village meet at nightfall, with sticks and
staves, to yell and howl. By doing this they fancy that
they have frightened the devils from the land, which
when they have done, they feast.
The yam custom is held in September. The king
takes part in it. So do his medicine-men. So does
every one else who can. A procession is formed ; noisy,
irregular ; over which the king, seated in a basket, carried
136 THE GOLD COAST TRIBES.
by his slaves, and with an umbrella over his head, pre-
sides. On reaching his dwelling, a sacrifice is made of
eggs and fowls. It used (as is believed) to have been one
of a human being. A yam is then tasted, and pro-
nounced fit to eat. This having been done, the people
consider themselves &ee to dig for them.
A fisherman will not go to sea on a Tuesday, nor will
a huntsman enter the forest on a Friday.
A being named Tahbil resides in the substance of the
rock upon which Cape Coast is built, and watches the
town. Every morning, offerings of food or flowers are
left for him on the rock. Most villages have a corre-
sponding deity ; and in earlier times there is good reason
for believing that human beings were sacrificed to him.
If the survivors of a deceased Fanti be poor, the corpse
is quietly interred in one of the denser spots of the
jungles ; and if rich, the funeral is at once costly and
bloody ; since gold and jewels are buried along with the
dead body, and human sacrifices not unfrequently ofiered.
The administration of justice is rude and summary,
the evidence consisting, for the most part, in either absurd
ordeals or cruel tortures. The dhoom test is common
over all western Africa. A poisonous or an emetic infu-
sion is made. Innocence drinks and ejects, guilt swallows
and dies of, it. That the priest, sorcerer, or medicine-
man is often the detector of crime is what we expect.
What is called *' tying Guinea fashion '* is one of the
sharpest of their tortures. The arms are drawn together
behind the back by a cord fixed half-way between the
elbows and shoulders. A piece of wood is then inserted,
by means of which the cord can be tightened or loosened.
The African analogue of the boot is a block of wood and
a staple. By driving in the staple any amount of ago-
nizing pressure can be applied.
THE GOLD COAST TRIBES. 137
At the same time there is the exercise, among the
Fantis more especially, of some little industry and art.
The hardest workers are the fishers, who use a canoe of
wood of the bombax, from ten to twelve feet in length,
and strengthened by cross timbers. The net — a casting
net — is made from the fibres of the aloe or the pine-
apple, and is about twenty feet in diameter (?). Next to
these come the farmers, whose rough agriculture consists
in the cultivation of maize, bananas, yams, and pump-
kins ; and lastly, the gold-seekers. Of this there is abun-
dance ; and where the European coin of the coast ceases,
the native currency of gold-dust begins. Sums of so
small a value as three half-pence are thus paid ; smaller
ones being represented by cowries. The highest of their
arts is that of manufacturing gold ornaments, and this is
the hereditary craft of certain families. These transmit
the secret of their skill from father to son, and keep the
corporation to which they belong up to a due degree of
closeness, by avoiding intermarriage with any of the more
unskilled labourers.
There is, too, a little weaving, and a little skill in pot-
tery.
An African empire begins with a number of petty
States with a little headman (by courtesy called king) to
each. They quarrel with one another imtil some poli-
tician, stronger or more crafty than the rest, reduces them
and consolidates an empire. The Ashantis have thus,
within the last century, made themselves the ruling
power in the domain of the Otshi language. In the
Aquapim, and perhaps in many of the neighbouring,
chieftaincies, the headmanship descends from the uncle to
the sister's son, as is the case, over and over again, in
India, in North-Westem America, and elsewhere. In
Congo the children of the females of royal blood succeed,
138
THE GOLD COAST TRIBES.
tbe mothers being permitted to choose their husband, and
to sell him if he fail to suit.
There is slavery everywhere. The worst form of
slavery is that of the captive taken in war. His life is
spared in order that he may be sold. A milder condition
is that of the adstricttis familim. Here the servitude is
domestic, and the slave is one of the family. Removal
from the native soil is ensured against. Slavery of this
kind is often voluntary. An able-bodied man may pawn
his body, or borrow money on his labour. Of course
debts may be worked out on this principle.
The Accra, Inkra, or, as the natives call it, the Gha
language is nearly related to the Otshi, being spoken
near Cape Castle, the Adampi or Tambi* being a dialect
of it.
The Kerrapay is spoken in Abiruw, Odaw, Aokugwa
(with Abonse), Adukrum and Apiradi, villages or towns
of Akwapim, other than Otshi ; in which, however, the
Otshi, as the language of the dominant population, is
generally understood.
Date and Kttbease. — These, like Abiraw, &c., are Ak-
wapim villages, whereof the language is other than Otshi.
It is other than Kerrapong, Kerrapay, Kerrapi, or Klre-
pee as well.
English.
Akknih.
Adamp6.
Kreep6.
Fire
lah
lah
edjo
Water
noo
n}u
6ch6
Shy
n'wa
e'om
jiinm&
Sun
un
pun
&W&
Moon
yoii'che'16
u'raxnm^
w&la
Star
ourahme
u'rainm6 dodo'e
rotev'e
Air
koy'ah
koiyo
av'vuvoh
Ood
mah'u
mah'wa
mah'nu
Devil
bo'san
az*z&
baiya
Man
bom'ma
nu^mu
u'chu or amma
* Not Tembu, which is a Kouri dialect.
THE GOLD COAST TRIBES.
139
EngKab.
Akkrah.
Adainp6.
Kreep^.
Woman
yo
ye'o
yonno
Boy
b&ka
jho'qii&
deyv6
Girl
ob'bli'o
yft'yo
tubboquft
Infant
abbe'fak'o
jho'qu&-borbio
y6v6'alyil
White man
blofonyo
blofon*o
yovo
Wife
n'yah
a'yo
Bun'no
Head
6chii or 6cho
y6
tab
Hair
echawe
y^buoh
dah
Eye
emay or hingma
hingm&i
unkn
Nose
gungo
gugon
watt6
Mouth
narbo
nj'am
num6
Teeth
nConeeng
lun'go
addu
Tongue
lill&
lill&
adda
Ear
to6 or toy
toe
etto
One
eku'me
kok'ka
dek'kah
Two
en'yo
en'yo
a'va
Three
ett&
etU
atong
Four
e4}'w&
&<y'way
eii'ii&
Five
en'nu'mo
en'nuo
atton
Six
ek'pah
ek'pah
&d'da
Seven
pahVo
m'pah'go
adderr^
Eight
pah'no
pahn'yo
en'y6
Nine
na'ing
n&
en'yeda
Ten
nu'mah
nn'mah
&'wo.
The Fot. — This is the name for either the chief tribe
or the chief language of Dahomey. Of all the countries
of A&ica, Dahomey has the credit of being the most
truly savage. The greatest of the fetishes is the snake,
which finds its way into both holy and secular buildings,
and is feared, fed, and respected. Slavery, like super-
stition, is nowhere more general than in Dahomey. So
is cruelty both in war and punishments. The Dahomey
Amazons have commanded attention. The king is said
to have a regiment consisting of four thousand of his
wives. Strange as this (even allowing for exaggerations)
appears to be, it is of a part with the institutions of the
neighbouring countries. Where wives are married by
the score or hundred, they must be utilized. Clapperton
found the queens and half- queens of the King of Eyeo
at long distances from the palace trading for him ; half-
140 THE OOLD COAST TRIBES.
agents, half-housekeepers, with heavy loads on their
heads, just like the wives of ordinary monogamists.
The King of Kiama's wives were something more. He
showed himself to Clapperton with his train, in which
were six spear-bearers, young girls from fifteen to seven-
teen years of age, with a fillet round their heads, strings
of beads round their waists, and nothing anywhere else.
The following are translations of some of the Dahomey
songs.
1.
WheD Yonibah said she could conquer Dahomey ;
When we meet we 'U change their night into day ;
Let the rain fall :
The season past, the riyer dries.
Yorabah and Dahomey I
Can two rams drink from one calabash 1
The Yoribahs must have been drunk to say
Dahomey feared them,
They could conquer Dahomey.
2.
There 's a difference between Oezo and a poor man ;
There *s a difference between Gezo and a rich man.
If a rich man owned all,
Qezo would still be king.
All guns are not alike ;
Some are long, some short, some thick, some thin.
The Yoribahs must be a drunken nation,
And thus we will dance before them.
8.
Gezo is king of kings ! j
While Gezo lives we hare nothing to fear.
Under him we are lions, not men.
Power emanates from the king.
4.
Let all eyes behold the king !
There are not two but one —
One only, Gezo !
All nations haye their customs,
But none so brilliant or enlightened.
As those of Dahomey.
People from far countries are here :
Behold all nations, white and black.
Send their ambassadon.
THE YORUBA GROUP. 141
AMAZONS' CHORUS.
With these guns in our hands.
And powder in oar cartouch-boxes.
What has the king to fearl
When we go to war, let the king dance,
While we bring him prisoners and heads.
GENERAL CHORUS.
Let the king g^nt war speedily !
Do not let our enei^es be damped.
Fire cannot pass through water.
The king feeds us ;
When we go to war.
Remember this !
We are clothed and fed by Gezo ;
In consequence our hearts are glad.
The Yoruba, — ^The area of the Yarriba or Yoruba forms
of speech succeeds that of the F6t. It scarcely^ if at all,
touches the sea. The point, however, where it most
nearly approaches it is the country about Badagry and
the River Lagos. Here it lies between Dahomey and
Benin. Clapperton, who visited the capital of the king-
dom of Eyeo, makes the natives a little less savage than
those of Dahomey ; he makes them, for instance, shocked
at the extent to which the Dahomey people sacrificed
human beings. At the same time his notice of their
funeral is as follows. Over a poor man no ceremony at
all. Over a rich man the firing of guns, and a feast in his
house. Over a king the sacrifice of certain caboceers,
certain women, certain favourite slaves. These were
poisoned ; the dose being administered by a fetish-man
in a parrot's egg. If it failed to take effect the victim
gained nothing by the failure. On the contrary, he was
presented with a rope, and sent home to hang himself.
In respect to the ordinary sacrifices made during the
celebration of their customs it depends upon the fetish-
142 THE YORUBA GROUP.
man whether it be human or not. Something must be
offered up ; if a man, a criminal.
The land rises gradually from the sea, being strong and
clayey, until it reaches a granite range of hills, between
400 and 800 feet above the level of the narrow, winding,
and well-watered valleys. The hillier the land the scantier
the wood. The women, who are, as usual, slaves and
drudges to the men, are coarse-looking and plain. The
men, however, " have less of the characteristic features of
the negro than any I ** (i. e. Captain Clapperton) " have
yet seen ; their lips are less thick, and their noses more
inclined to the aquiline shape than negroes in general.
The men are well made, and have an independent
carriage.-**
In the province of Wawu the name Cumbrie appears ;
word for word, in my mind, Kaffir. When Clapperton
asked the Sultan of Bowssa who were first inhabitants of
the country, he answered : " The Cumbrie ; " his own an-
cestors having come from Bornu, and the Sultan of Nike
being descended from a younger branch. I understand
this to mean that certain elements of the Bowssa civiliza-
tion came from the east, i.e. partly from Bornu and
partly from Howssa ; the Howssa language being under-
stood by even the Cumbrie.
The details of the Gha and Yoruba have been exhibi-
ted by native ethnologists ; strange as the term may
appear. More than one paper on the former nation has
been published by Mr. Hanson, more than one edition of
a Yoruba grammar by Mr. Crowther. On Mr. Hanson's
notices more will be said in the sequel. Mr. Crowther's
grammar gives us the following legend and proverbs: —
It is said by the Torubans, that fifteen persona were sent from a certain
region ; and that a sixteenth, whose name was Okambi (an only child),
and who was afterwards made king of Yoruba, volunteered to accompany
THE YORTJBA GROUP. 143
them. The peraonage who sent them out presented Okambi with a small
piece of black cloth, with something tied up in it ; besides a fowl, a ser-
vant, and a trumpeter. Okinkin was the name of the trumpeter. On
opening the gate of this unknown region, they observed a large expanse
of water before them, through which they were obliged to wade. As they
went on, Okinkin, the trumpeter, reminded Okambi of the small piece of
cloth, by sounding the trumpet according to the instructions he had pre-
viously received from the personage above mentioned. The cloth being
opened, a palm-nut, which was deposited in it with some earth, fell into
the water. The nut grew immediately into a tree, which had sixteen
branches. As the travellers were all fatigued from their long march in
the water, they were very glad of this unexpected means of relief; and
soon climbed up, and rested themselves on the branches. When they
had recruited their strength^ they prepared again for the journey; yet
not without great perplexity, not knowing in what direction they should
proceed. In this situation, a certain personage, Okikisi, saw them from
the region whence they set out, and reminded Okinkin, the trumpeter,
of his duty; on which he sounded again, and thus reminded Okambi of
the small piece of black cloth, as before. On opening it, some earth
dropped into the water, and became a small bank ; when the fowl which
was given to Okambi flew upon it, and scattered it ; and wherever the
earth touched the water, it immediately dried up. Okambi then de-
scended from the palm-tree, allowing only his servant Tetd, and his trum-
peter, to come down with him. The other persona begged that the
might be allowed to come down ; but he did not comply with their re-
quest until they had promised to pay him, at certain times, a tax of 200
cowries each person.
Thus originated the kingdom of Yoruba, which was afterwards called
Ife ; from whence three brothers set out for a further discovery of better
countries.
1.
Marks made with buje do not last more than nine days,
Marks made with inabi do not last more than a year.
2.
The farm-house will be after the farm.
The ridge of the roof will be after the house.
3.
If you have no money (to give), you may pay visits ;
If you cannot visit, you may send kind messages.
4.
A pleader (with the gods) wards off death,
A pleader (with the judge) wards off punishment;
If the heat is oppressive
A fan wardH off that.
144 THE YORUBA GROUP.
5.
Howeyer a ruined mad wall may be gamishedi the trouble will be
useless ;
But all trouble bestowed upon things made of wood i« adTantageons.
6.
The owner maj broach his cask of liquid, or barrel of powder ;
But he who is sent with it dares not broach the cask.
r.
He who sees another s fkults knows well how to talk about them ;
But he covers hia own with a potsherd.
8.
Ordinary people are as common as g^rass ;
But good people are dearer than an eye.
9.
Let the white pigeon tell the woodpecker,
Let bird tell bird.
10.
When there are no elders, the town is ruined ;
When the master diesy the house is desolate.
11.
Beg for help and you will meet with refusals ;
Ask for alms, and you will meet with misers.
12.
We wake, and find marks on the palm of our hand,
We do not know who made them ;
We wake, and find an old debt,
We do not know who contracted it.
18.
If a needle fkll from a leper's hand, it requires consideration (to
pick it up) ;
If a great matter is before the council, it requires deep thought.
14.
No one can cure a monkey of squatting ;
So no one can depriye a man of his birthright.
15.
A pistol has not a bore like a cannon ;
A poor man has not money at his command as the rich.
16.
A wild boar, in the place of a pig, would ravage the town;
And a slave made king would spare nobody.
THE YORUBA GROUP. 145
17.
The iiyary of a bag
Is (cauaed by) the iiyury of the pack-rope ;
If the pack-rope breaks.
The bag will go down.
18.
To a liar a lie is natural ;
Anything which a man is in the habit of doing is natural to him.
19.
The forest is very dark.
The night is very dark ;
The darknesd of the night is deeper than the darkness of the forest.
20.
The elephant makes a dost.
The buffalo makes a dust ;
The dust of the elephant Hides that of the bufialo.
21.
Mouth keeping to mouth,
Lip keeping to lip,
Bring trouble to the jaws.
22.
Sacrifices were prescribed to the turkey-buzzard. But it refused to offer
them.
Sacrifices were prescribed to the Akalla vulture, But it refused to offer
them.
Sacrifices were prescribed to the pigeon, And it offered them.
28.
The locust will eat,
The locust will drink.
The locust will go away ;
But where will the grasshopper hide itself 1
24.
When the day dawns.
The trader takes his money.
The spinner takes her spindle,
The warrior takes his shield,
The weaver takes his batten.
The farmer wakes, himself and his hoe,
The hunter wakes with his quiver and bow.
The chief negros of Abbeocuta are Yoribanis.
VOL. II. L
146
THE TBOS.
English.
Kouri.
Dahomey
Man
abalo
Bunu
Wornan
alo
nyoni
Hexid
nyoro
ta
Nose
moro
awoti
Eye
esire
nuku
Ear
tingbanu
oto
Mouth
noro
onu
Tooth
gede
adu
Tongue
nsolumure
ede
Fire
gmin
zo
Waier
lem
•
Zl
One
kadum
ode
Two
nale
owe
Three
nadeso
ato
Four
nanasa
ene
Five
TiftTi^ia
ato.
The Iho Group, — Conterminous with the Yoruba area
lies that of the Ibo group, on each side of the Nun stream
of the Niger. Here reside several of the kings and king-
lings with whom our treaties have to be made against the
slave trade ; kings who give licences to trade, and who
make the access to the interior part of the country prac-
ticable or the contrary. There are kings and cabooceers
— viceroys with kings over them — ^so that there is a sort
of feudal chain of vassalage and sovereignty. King
Emmery, for instance, was, at the time of the Niger
Expedition, the chief of a village on the river Nun, him-
self being a subject to King Boy of Brass Town. Then
there was the kingdom of Iddah, with its subordinate
kingships, whilst Kakanda and Egga were the dependen-
cies of a really consolidated monarchy at Sakkatu.
At best, however, the African monarch, except in
the Mahometan kingdoms, is but a sorry potentate; a
drunken, sensual, slave-dealing polygamist. When Drs.
Mc William and Stanger visited this same King Emmery,
his dress was a uniform coatee that had belonged to a
drummer in some English regiment, a plain black hat,
THE IBOS.
147
and a blue cotton handkercliief for the lower man — a
blue cotton handkerchief for drawers, trousers and stock-
ings, collectively ; the dress of the ordinary natives being
limited to a simple shirt, with a cloth round the middle.
In this we get one of the measures of the amount of
English influence and trade.
The huts are of clay, arranged in squares rather than
in rows; and when the soil is low and liable to be flooded,
they are raised some feet from the ground on a founda-
tion of wooden pillars ; in which case a ladder leads to
the principal opening. The king's palace is an assemblage
of such huts ; a miniature town ; one side of the square
which they form being the women's quarters. Here
reside the numerous wives, half-wives, and ex-wives of
the sovereign, the number of which is always conside-
rable, since the rank of the man regulates it. The fol-
lowing table gives us, in the first column, the names of
the different members of the Court of King Obi of Ibo
in 1840; in the others, their age, and the numbers of
their wives and families : —
1. Ajeh, king^g brother . .
2. Amorara, judge and king's
mouth . . .
3. Ozama, headman
4. Omenibo, headman
6. Amebak, headman
6. Magog, bugler .
7. AmbUi, headman
8. Ogrou, headman
9. Obi, king . . .
Age.
Wives.
40
40
35
82
28
84
35
30
44
Living.
80
4
4
8
4
2
3
3
110
Dead.
40
2
2
2
1
1
2
1
Childben.
Liring.
Dead.
uncertain.
2
3
3
6
3
2
uncertain.
6
6
6
6
3
11
2
The nearer the sea the greater the amount of negro
characteristics.
The Ibos of the Delta are extreme negros. Not so,
however, the inhabitants of Iddah, where the greater
L 2
148 THE AKELI.
** altitude of the district and the superior dryness operate
in their favour. The people are in general welUmade ;
the features are more softened and rounded than the lb us*
Their lips protrude, but are less thick; the forehead
ample, though retreating. Altogether they have a look
of superior intelligence."
When they touch the Yoruba and Nufi districts, the
Ibo tribes come within the weak influence of an imper-
fect Mahometanism. As a rule they are Pagans. They
are succeeded by the tribes who speak
The Efik and its allied dialects, occupants of the parts
about the old Calebar River, but closely related to
The Attam or Otam populations of inland districts, the
exact boundary of whose area is unknown. On the
south the Efik and Attam tribes are succeeded by
The Bimbia, Ihmlla^ and Isubu tribes, closely akin to
which are
The Amboise Islanders and the Ediya of Fernando Po,
men whose skins are yellow or coppery, rather than
black ; the island being volcanic.
The Benga, — The Benga inhabit the Islands of Corisco
Bay and the two capes by which the bay is bounded.
They amount to about 4000. Their language is spoken
by a number of allied tribes to the north and north-east.
To the Mbiko, Dibwe, Belengi, and the population ex-
tending southward it is unintelligible. The language of
these is probably that of
The Mpongwe, or tribes of the lower Gabiin, to the
back of which lie
The Akeli, whose language is the Bakeli, and whose
skins are lighter than those of the coastmen, darker than
those of the mountaineers of the interior. Their bodies
are said to be disproportionately long to the extremities.
They fall into divisions and sub-divisions ; are often at
THB NUFI.
149
war ; cultivate the soil a little ; hunt and engage in trade
when opportunities present themselves of acting as factors
between the Mpongwe and
The PangwCy a large tribe from the interior, occupant
of the country behind the Sierra de Chrystal mountains.
We now return to the Ibo frontier, to the north of
which lie the members of
The T(qma, or Nufi, group, with lighter skins, and more
regular features than any of the tribes of the coast;
pagans with a tincture of Mahometanism, and, like the
Yoribanis, with whom they are conterminous, encroached
upon by the Fulas.
English. Nafl.
lbn»
Udom.
Isubn.
Man bagi
nuoke
mann
mome
Woman isagi
ndiom
manka
moito
Head eti
iRi
esi
molofo
Nose eye
• •
imi
ntananam
mbemba
Eye eye
anya
lemar
liso
Ear tagba
nte
eton
itoe
Afouth emi
ono
anyo
mulongo
Tooth eka
ezi
leman
isongo
Tongue dzentaiu
ile
leliwe
yeme
Fire ena
oko
ngun
moya
Water nua
mmeli
alap
maliwa
One wene
ote
dzidsi
yoko
Two guba
abo
beba
wewai
Three guta
ato
besa
pelalo
Four guai
ano
bele
benen
Five gutsu
isa
berom
betanu.
The exact details of the Nufi
area on its
southern and
western frontiers are
unknown.
The class i
is a large one.
one to which several of the languages from the unexplored
parts of Africa belong.
* Tbe Isoama dialect of the Polyglotta Africana.
150 THE KAKIR GROUP.
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Kafir and Hottentot Families.
And now we are again on the sea-coast, just south of
the equator, and in the parts between the Gabun and the
Congo. The details here are obscure ; but as we move
southwards they improve. The European influences
change. With the parts to the north of the equator the
English have more to do than the Portuguese; though
the influence of that nation is, even there, considerable.
We know this as a matter of fact. We might, however,
even without evidence, infer it. The oldest European
words in the jargon of the West Africans are Portuguese,
e. g. savey {know), caboceer, fetish. English, however, is
rapidly gaining ground. The missionaries by whom the
Bakeli, Mpoongwe and Benga languages have been re-
duced to writing are American, the Christianity which
they introduce being Protestant. In Loango, however,
it is the Romanist creed from the Portuguese teacher.
In Congo the Portuguese influence increases ; and in
Angola it is represented by the important metropolis of
San Paolo de Loando. It extends as far inland as Cassange ;
and as far along the coast as 15^ S.L., there or there-
abouts.
Beyond this both the political and ethnological rela-
tions run south, t. e, in the direction of the Cape, where
Dutch and English influences replace those of Portugal.
These last, however, will reappear when the Cape has
been doubled and the Kafir and Zulu districts, on the
THE KAFIR GROUP. 151
eastern side of Africa, have been passed. Inhambane and
Sofala are Portuguese. More to the north, Arabia
makes itself felt. Have we not spoken of the African
possessions of the Imam of Muskat on the Zanzibar
coast and in the area of the Suwaheli, or Sohili ?
With these preliminaries I proceed to enlarge on the
word Kaffir, Kaffre, or Kafir. It has two meanings. It
means, in its more limited sense, the Kaffres of CafTraria,
chiefly of the Amakosa tribe, the men who have given so
much trouble to the Cape colonists. But it also has a
wider or more general signification, and in this case it
serves as the designation of a large family of allied popu-
lations— a very large family — one of the largest in
Africa.
The connecting link between its numerous branches is
the language, of which the structure has (amongst others)
the following characteristics. Suppose that in English,
instead of saying
Afan's £^og, we said daxi dog^
Sun's beam — Jun &eam,
i^ther's Slaughter — chther iJaughter,
Daughter's father — -ykughter father ;
in such a case we should accommodate the sound of the
word in the possessive case to that with which the word
in the nominative case began. And if we did this, we
should assuredly do something very remarkable in the
way of speech. Now the Kaffre tongues all do this.
It is done by the Amakosa, the Zulu, the Fingo, the
Bechuana. It is done by the languages of Benguela,
Angola, Congo, and Loango, &c. It is done by the lan-
guages on the eastern coast as well, as far as the Equator.
It is done, so far as we know, by the languages of the in-
terior. It is certainly done by the languages of the
Great Lake Ngami.
152 THE KAFIR GROUP.
The Kaffre division, then, is a large one ; and it is
based chiefly on similarity of language. In physical
form, the range of difference is great. Some of the
Kaffres are negro, others brown in colour, and with lips
of moderate thickness.
On the other hand, more than one good writer has en-
larged upon the points of contrast ; and such there cer-
tainly are, if we take the more extreme forms — the typi-
cal Kaffre and typical Negro. In the latter, for instance,
the skin (as aforesaid) may be brown rather than black.
Then the cheek-bones may project outwards ; and where
the cheek-bones so project beyond a certain limit, the
chin appears to taper downwards, and the vertex upwards.
When this becomes exaggerated we hear of lozenge-
shaped skulls. Be this as it may, the breadth in the
malar portion of the face is often a remarkable feature in
the Kafire physiognomy. This he has in common vnth
the Hottentot. Sometimes, too, the eye is oblique ; the
opening generally narrow.
In going over the details of the great Kafir family it
is convenient to take them in the following order : —
1. The Portuguese districts of the western coast;
from the Equator to 16^ S.L., there or thereabouts.
2. The corresponding portions of the eastern side of
the continent, t . e. the coasts of Zanzibar, and Mozam-
bique, along with the Portuguese districts on the Pacific,
or the countries of Botonga, Sofala, Imhambane, &c.
3. The Zulu and Kafir countries.
4. The interior.
1. 7he Portuguese area on the west, — In making the
southern boundary of the Gabun tribes the frontier of
the Kafir area, I consult convenience rather than accu-
racy. The line must be drawn somewhere, and when,
although drawn where it is, it is, to a great extent, arti-
THE KAFIR GROrP. 153
ficial, it would be just the same if it were carried further
north. The physical formation of the Gabun and Came-
roon tribes is that of the occupants of Loango. The
alliterational system, though current throughout the Kafir
languages, is, by no means, confined to them. The
Benga, Dualla, Atam, and other groups, exhibit it as
well. But as these graduate into the Tapua, Ibo, and
their allies, nothing is gained by associating them with
the Kafir forms of speech.
I repeat, then, the notice that the line of demarcation
between the northern members of the Kafir, and the
southern members of the Isubu, family, is provisional
and artificial rather than definite and natural.
In Loango and Congo the men and women are more
negros than aught else. The skin, however, is some-
what lighter. They are either pure pagans or imperfect
Christians ; their Christianity being due to the mission-
aries from Portugal. There is domestic slavery, and the
slavery of the slave-merchants; quite as much of the
latter as of the former.
Except that the Portuguese influence is greater in the
latter countries, the ethnology of Loango and Congo
is that of Angola and Benguela also; the parts best
known being those on the coast. The particular tribe
of the parts about Cassange, the most inland of the Por-
tuguese settlements, is that of the Bangala ; many of
whom are imperfect Christians, and more or less Portu-
guese in blood. Of the Basongo, an allied tribe, Living-
stone gives the following description : —
" All the inhabitants of this region, as well as those of
Londa, may be called true negroes, if the limitations
formerly made be borne in mind. The dark colour, thick
lips, heads elongated backwards and upwards and covered
with wool, flat noses, with other negro peculiarities, are
154 THE KAFIR GROUP.
general ; but while these characteristics place them in the
true negro family, the reader would imbibe a wrong idea,
if he supposed that all these features combined are often
met with in one individual. All have a certain thickness
and prominence of lip, but many are met with in every
village in whom thickness and projection are not more
marked than in Europeans. All are dark, but the colour
is shaded off in different individuals from deep black to
light yellow. As we go westward^ we observe the light
colour predominating over the dark, and then again,
when we come within the influence of damp from the
sea air, we find the shade deepen into the general black-
ness of the coast population. The shape of the head,
with its woolly crop, though general, is not universal.
The tribes on the eastern side of the continent, as the
Caffres, have heads finely developed and strongly Euro-
pean. Instances of this kind are frequently seen, and after
I became so familiar with the dark colour as to forget
it in viewing the countenance, I was struck by the strong
resemblance some natives bore to certain of our own no-
tabilities. The Bushmen and Hottentots are exceptions
to these remarks, for both the shape of their heads and
growth of wool are peculiar — the latter, for instance,
springs from the scalp in tufts with bare spaces between,
and when the crop is short, resembles a number of black
peppercorns stuck on the skin, and very unlike the thick
frizzly masses which cover the heads of the Balonda and
Maravi. With every disposition to pay due deference to
the opinions of those who have made ethnology their
special study, I have felt myself unable to believe that
the exaggerated features usually put forth as those of the
typical negro, characterize the majority of any nation of
south central Africa. The monuments of the ancient
Egyptians seem to me to embody the ideal of the inhabi-
I
THE KAFIR GROUP. 155
tants of Londa, better than the figures of any work of
ethnology I have met with."
The Kisama on the Coanga are still independent. The
few seen by Livingstone reminded him of the Hottentots.
The LiboUoi their neighbours, are also, as yet, unsub-
dued, as are many others besides.
2. The intertropical area an the eastern side of Africa.
— ^This extends from the equator to the tropic of Capri-
corn, or a little beyond. It comprises the coasts of Zan-
zibar, and Mozambik, where the influences are Arab, and
where the population is called Suaheli, Suwaheli, or
Soheli, the language being the Kisuaheli. The most
northern tribes are
The Pocomo, on the river Maro, or Pocomosi, who ex-
tend, perhaps, as far as the equator.
Then on each side of 5^ S.L., to the north and west
of Mombaz itself, come the Wanika, the Wakamba (or
Merremengo), the Wataita, five days inland, the Taviati,
further westward still, ending with the Msegua and
Msambara, of the parts opposite Pemba Island and the
river Pungani.
The fVanika, impeitect Mahometans, marry early, are de-
scribed as drunken, thievish, and irascible, as disfiguring
their bodies by filing their teeth and scarring their skins,
as holding feasts, and pouring the blood of a slaughtered
bullock over the graves of their dead.
The Wakamba are herdsmen, when at home, traders
when abroad. They sell rather than barter, t. e. they
know the use and value of money. They have long hair,
which they twist into strings, Galla fashion, are patriar-
chal in their government, brew from the sugar-cane, and
shoot with poisoned arrows.
These tribes are native, and comparatively unmixed.
They all lie somewhat inland, and, so doing, must be dis-
156 THE KAFIR GROUP.
tinguished from the population of the coast. This is of
two kinds — native and Arab. The native is, in the es-
sential elements of physical form and language, the same
as the tribes just enumerated ; or, if not actually the
same, closely allied. Their name is, word for vford, that
of the Somauli under a modified form, and of Arab
origin or application. Their creed is Mahometan. In
short they are Pocomo, Wanika, &c., converted and
turned maritime. Betveeen them and the Arabs there
are all degrees of intermarriage and intermixture. Some
of the most abnormal and strange-looking blacks of the
streets of London are Sohili half-bloods. Their face is
full and flat, their skin brovmish-black, their hair long
and crisp rather than woolly, their extremities long, their
nostrils patulous.
The island of Zanzibar is an Arab rather than an
African settlement, belonging to the Imam of Muskat,
who claims no small portion of the opposite coast. The
population of the town is estimated at 200,000, the
chief language being Arabic, the creed Mahometan, the
government despotic. The slave-trade with foreigners is
professedly forbidden under pain of death ; the citizens,
however, may purchase for their own use. The Africans
thus brought over are called Sidis, or Murima. Amongst
them are to be found representatives of most of the tribes
of Eastern Africa. A few children are annually exported
to Persia.
The fringe of the Zanzibar coast is Sohili ; the natives
being to be sought inland.
The fringe of the Mozambique coast is also Sohili.
Of the populations of the interior, of which the Makua
are the chief, it is safe to say that they are closely allied
to those of the parts behind Zanzibar ; and they seem,
from specimens of their language and descriptions, to be, at
THE KAHR GROUP.
157
least, as much akin to each other. The Maravi, Muntu,
MetOy Matatan, Eariman(Quilimani), vocabularies of the
Polyglotta Africana^ though some of them lie five de-
grees apart, are all members of the same section of the
same division ; all members, too, of the divisions which
contain those of
EngliBh.
Wantka.
'Wakamba.
Msambara.
SohOJ.
Man
mnta
muntu
mgossi
mtu
Woman
mtaheta
muka
mdere
mtumke
He/ul
dzitzoa
mulue
mtoe
kitoa
Eye
dzityo
ido
yisso
dahito
Nose
pula
embola
pum
pua
Tongue
lammi
uimi
uraka
ulimi
Tooth
dzino
ino
zino
dzhino
Ear
aikiro
idu
gutui
ahikio
Hand
mukono
mukono
mukono
makono
Foot
gnlu
mudaxna
emrondi
gu
Sun
dzna
kua
zua
dzhna
Moon
maesi
moi
muesi
muesi
Star
nioha
nioa
ninieai
niota
Fire
muotto
muagi
muotto
muotto
Water
madji
mandzi
mazi
madzhi
Stone
dziwe
dziwe
ziwe
dzhiwe
Tree
mahi
matte
muti
mti
One
emmenga
umue
moBi
emmodaha
Two
embiri
ill
kaidi
embili
Three
tahu
itatu
katatu
tatu
Four
enne
inna
kanna
enne
Five
tjano
idano
kashano
tano
Six
tandaho
dandatu
ententatu
aetta
Seven
fangahe
mama
fungate
aabaa
Eight
nane
munda
nane
nani
Nine
kenda
kenda
kenda
kenda
Ten
kumi
kumi
kumi
kumu.
The Sohili words foi
* six and
seven are Arabic.
English.
C. Delgado.
Maravi.
Sofala.
Lourenzo Marqnca
One
mozi
modze
posa
tshinyua
Two
mbiri
viri
piri
ie-biri
Three
natu
tatu
tatu
tinaro
Four
ine
nai
shina
mune
Five
tanu
insanu
sano
klano
158
THE KAFia GROUP.
English.
C. Delgado.
Maravi.
Softila.
Loarenio Marqaei
Six
BiU
intandu
tantatu
Seven
saba
dzimbi
Bhinomoe
Eight
nane
dwere
zero
Nine
kenda
mwinda
fumbaxnoe
Ten
kumi
kumi
gumi
kume.
So/ah is the country of the Somali and Suhawili,
under a slightly-altered name. Its name alone is suffi-
cient to indicate an Arab influence, which, originally,
was greater than at present. At present, the Portuguese
possessions, beginning on the Mozambique coast, com-
prise all the Sofala country, and something beyond it.
In Imhambane we leave the tropic of Capricorn, and a
little further to the south find ourselves in the neigh-
bourhood of Dutch and English rather than Portuguese
colonists.
The Arabs who called the northern and equatorial
tribes of the eastern coast Somali and Suwahili, called
those of the extreme south Kafirs or Infidels; from
which we infer that, where the Kafijr area begins, the
Arab influence either ends or decreases. It either ends
altogether, or is too weak to eflect proselytism.
South of Delagoa Bay lie the Tambukis, succeeded by
the Fingos and Zulus, or Amazulus, for the parts about
Port Natal. Then come the Kafirs.
The extremity of the African continent is Hottentot ;
so is the greater part of the coast between Cape Town
and Walwisch Bay. Hottentot but, more or less, Kafir
also ; as will be seen in the notice of the populations of
the interior. This means the populations beyond the
range of the Cape colonists, the populations of Lake
Ngami, the populations of the parts between Cassange,
and the Lower Zambesi — Cassange as a Portuguese settle-
ment on the west, the Lower Zambesi as a Portuguese
settlement of the east. It is needless to add that these
THE KAFIR GROUP. 159
lines give us the route of Livingstone. They also involve
notices from Galton^ Anderson, Gumming and others.
The populations of the areas thus illustrated fall into two
primary divisions ; (1) the Kafir, (2) the Hottentot. Of
these
The Kafirs present themselves under two types. Some
are brown rather than black. Others, like the Angola
and Mozambique tribes, are black rather than brown.
The languages of all are closely allied. Also the creeds.
As a general rule the browner varieties are found on the
table-lands ; the blacker along the watercourses.
The Amakosas, Sfc. — The eastern and north-eastern
frontagers to the colonists of the Cape are the Kafirs
in the limited sense of the term, the Koosa (or Amakusa),
the Ponda (or Amaponda), the Tembu (or Amatembu), as
the case may be; the Zulu (or Amazulu) being in the
parts about Port Natal, with the Fingoes either on their
frontier or amongst them.
Amongst the Kafirs the head man of the village settles
disputes, his tribunal being in the open air. From him
an appeal lies to a chief of higher power ; and from him
to some superior, higher still. In this way there is a long
chain of feudal or semi-feudal dependency.
The wife is the slave to the husband ; and he buys her
in order that she should be so. The purchase implies a
seller. This is always a member of another tribe. Hence
the wish of a Kafir is to see his wife the mother of many
children, girls being more valuable than boys.
Why a man should not sell his offspring to the members
of his own tribe is uncertain. It is clear, however, that
the practice of doing so makes marriage between even
distant relations next to impossible. To guard against
the chances of this, a rigid and suspicious system of re-
straint has been developed in cases of consanguinity ; and
160 THE BITSHUANA TEIBES.
relations must do all they can to avoid meeting. To sit
in the same room^ to meet on the same road, is undesirable.
To converse is but just allowable, and then all who choose
must hear what is said. So thorough, however, has been
the isolation in many cases, that persons of different sexes
have lived as near neighbours for many years without
having conversed with each other ; and such communica-
tion as there has been, has taken place through the me-
dium of a third person. No gift will induce a Kafir
female to violate this law.
The Kafirs belong to the hills on the side, rather than
to the plateau in the centre, of the continent. The great
name of the interior is that of
The Bitshuana or Beckuana, whose language is the Se-
chuana. They are bounded by the Kafirs on the East,
and the Griquas and Bushmen on the south. On the
west they extend into the Kalahari, a desert, where they
become degenerate and under-sized; where, too, they come
in contact with the Namaqua, and other, Hottentots.
They either touch the frontier of the Ovaheriro or
Dammaras, in the part between Walwisch Bay and Lake
Ngami, or are divided from them by a strip of Hottentot
ground. Their limits on the north are uncertain. It is
only certain that, year after year, they advance them-
selves. The Bechuanas of the level country are more
brown than black, the true Kafirs being more black than
brown.
The tribes and sub-tribes of the Bitshuanas, writes
Livingstone, " are named after certain animals. The
term Bakatla means They of the monkey; Bakuena,
They of the alligator ; Batlapi, They of the fish ; each
tribe having a superstitious dread of the animal after
which it is called. A tribe never eats the animal which is
its namesake, using the term iloy hate or dread, in refer-
THE BITSHUANA TRIBES. 161
ence to killing it. We find traces of many ancient tribes
in the country in individual members of those now ex-
tinct, as the Bat&u, They of the lion, the Banoga, They
of the serpent ; though no such tribes now exist. The
use of the personal pronoun, Ba, Ma, Wa, Va, or Ova,
Am, Kij &c., prevails very extensively in the names of
tribes in Africa. A single individual is indicated by the
terms Mo or Le. Thus Mokw&in is a single person of the
Bakwain tribe, and Lekoa is a single white man or Eng-
lishman ; Makoa being Englishmen."
The Bakwains, the Basuto, the Bamangwato, and other
tribes of less importance, cover the country between
Kuruman and the Lake Bakwain (word for word, Bi-
chuana) lying beyond the Bichuanas and within the
tropic. The former belong to the desert, the latter to
the hill-country. The valley of the Zouga takes us to
Bayeiye. This is what the indigent of the parts about
the Lake call themselves ; Bayeiye meaning men. Their
conquerors call them Bakoba or slaves. The Baye'ye are
more negro than Bichuana in appearance : sooty-skinned,
and ill-featured, but robust ; snuff-takers and drinkers of
beer of their own brewing ; polygamists, too, and super-
stitious. Their women smoke dakka. They are said to
have owned herds before the Batoana took them away.
In their damp and humid soil they suffer from rheuma-
tism, ophthalmia, and fevers ; being also subject to the
small-pox. Their conquerors are hunters, herdsmen, and
warriors, recent intruders, and Bichuana in language,
Sebituane, a man of mark in many respects, led them.
The whole district is subject to inundations, so that the
houses of the small villages stand on mounds. The Ba-
rotse country, when under water, looked like a vast lake.
The Balonda Tribes. — The river which runs through
this leads to the watershed between the Congo and the
VOL. II. M
162 BALONDA AND BATOKA TRIBES.
Zambesi ; the occupants of the Congo districts being
members of the Balonda group. The Balonda or the
occupants of Londa, are woolly-headed blacks of the true
negro type, and they are contrasted in many respects with
the Bichuana tribes to the south. Their women are allowed
no little influence, mix in their politics, and are capable
of succeeding to the captaincy. They swear by their
mothers ; the Bichuana swearing by their fathers. Near
every village may be seen some rude idol, the image of
a lion or alligator, before which they lay offerings and
beat drums in cases of sickness, or when the chase has
been unsuccessful. The Balonda frontier touches Angola*
Such the line which takes us from the Lake Ngami
westwards. What do we find in the east? What lies
between the Lake and Pacific ?
Tlie Batoko and the Batonga. — ^The Batoka are in the
same category with the Bayeiye. They lie within the area
of Sebituane's conquests ; pagans, savages, head-hunters.
At a hamlet belonging to the son of a chief named Mo-
yara, a ^* number of stakes are planted in the ground, and
I " (Dr. Livingstone) "counted fifty-four human skulls
hung dn their points. These were Matabele, who, unable
to approach Sebituane on the island of Loyela, had re-
turned sick and famishing. Moyara's father took ad-
vantage of their reduced condition, and, after putting
them to death, mounted their heads in the Batoka fashion.
The old man who perpetrated this deed now lies in the
middle of his son's huts, with a lot of rotten ivy over his
grave. One cannot help feeling thankful that the reign of
such wretches is over. They inhabited the whole of this
side of the country, and were probably the barrier to the
extension of the Portuguese commerce in this direction.
When looking at these skulls, I remarked to Moyara,
that many of them were those of mere boys. He assented
BALONDA AND BATOKA TRIBES. 163
readily, and pointed them out as such. I asked why his
father had killed boys. * To show his fierceness/ was the
answer. ' Is it fierceness to kill boys ? * * Yes, they had
no business here.' When I told him that this probably
would ensure his own death if the Matabele came again,
he replied, * When I hear of their coming I shall hide
the bones.' He was evidently proud of these trophies
of his father's ferocity, and I was assured by other
Batoka that few strangers ever returned from a visit to
this quarter."
The Batoka tribes, like the Australian, knock out the
upper front teeth of their children when they arrive at
puberty. '^ This is done by both sexes, and though the
under teeth, being relieved from the attrition of the
upper, grow long and somewhat bent out, and thereby
cause the under lip to protrude in a most unsightly way,
no young woman thinks herself accomplished imtil she
has got rid of the upper incisors. This custom gives all
the Batoka an uncouth old-man-like appearance. Their
laugh is hideous, yet they are so attached to it that even
Sebituane was unable to eradicate the practice. He
issued orders that none of the children living under him
should be subjected to the custom by their parents, and
disobedience to his mandates was usually punished with
severity; but notwithstanding tliis the children would
appear in the streets without their incisors, and no one
would confess to the deed. When questioned respecting
the origin of this practice, the Batoka reply, that their
object is to be like oxen, and those who retain their teeth
they consider to resemble zebras. Whether this is the
true reason or not, it is difiicult to say ; but it is notice-
able that the veneration for oxen which prevails in many
tribes should here be associated with hatred to the zebra,
as among the Bakwains ; that this operation is performed
M 2
164 THE DAMMARAS.
at the same age that circumcision is in other tribes ; and
that here that ceremony is unknown."
The Batoka of the valleys are dark ; those of the hills
light — " of the colour of coffee and milk." They smoke
hemp.
Word for word, Batoka is Batonga. The Batonga men
of the eastern districts go naked, and when they salute a
stranger roll themselves on their backs and slap the out-
side of their thighs. Most of the Kafir tribes are curious
and careful with their hair. With the Bashukolompo "a
circle of hair at the top of the head, eight inches or more
in diameter, is woven into a cone eight or ten inches high,
with an obtuse apex, bent, in some cases, a little forward,
giving it somewhat the appearance of a helmet. Some
have only a cone, four or five inches in diameter at the
ba^ie. It is said that the hair of animals is added, but the
sides of the cone are woven something like basket-work.
The headman of this village, instead of having his brought
to a point, had it prolonged into a wand, which extended
a full yard from the crown of his head. The hair on the
forehead, above the ears, and behind, is all shaven off, so
they appear somewhat as if a cap of liberty were cocked
upon the top of the head. After the weaving is performed
it is said to be painful, as the scalp is drawn tightly up ;
but they become used to it."
Tete is in Batonga what Cassange is in Angola, viz. a
town of the Portuguese frontier.
The Dammaras. — A third line has yet to be followed ;
one firom the Lake to Walwisch Bay, illustrated by
Oalton and Anderson. On the sides of this lie the
Ovaheriro, or men of the Heriro language, who, until
lately, were described as Dammaras. It is in their habits
that the Ovaheriro (with whom we may join the Ovam-
pantieru) and Ovampo chiefly differ. Both have a fine
THE HOTTENTOTS. 165
frame of body, well-shaped limbs, regular features for
Africans, and a fair facial angle of about seventy degrees.
But the Ovampo, who are agricultural, are more orderly
and more honest than their southern neighbours. Their
capital, Ondonga, is laid out in neat farms of com and
pasture. Their laws against theft are severe. The king
rules mildly but despotically. They possess the entire
carrying trade between the Ovaheriro and the Portuguese.
All this looks like regular industry, to which their fertile
country in no small degree contributes. The Ovaheriro
are drawn in more unfavourable colours. A tree is sup-
posed to be their ancestor — or rather two trees, one at
Omaruru and one on the road to Ovampo. They prac-
tise circumcision.
The ethnological relations of the Ghou and Soun
Damup will be considered when the Hottentot division
comes under notice.
The Hottentots. — The Saabs, or Bushmen, are the Hot-
tentots of the most unfavoured parts of the Cape, who,
being destitute of flocks and herds, live the life of mise-
rable troglodytes, subsisting on what they find in the chase.
It is the Saab upon whose unfavourable exterior we found
our opinion of the form and features of the Hottentot
family in general. He is under-sized, being often little
more than four feet high. He is a starveling, too, in bulk ;
his limbs being slight, his body light, his frame weak. His
cheek-bones project ; hia eyes are oblique, small, black,
bright, and wild ; his skin yellow or brown ; sometimes like
parchment, sometimes like weak cofiee. His hair grows
in small tufts, showing interspaces of scalp between the
twisted knots, which have been compared to a curled shoe-
brush. His small skull, like that of the African in gene-
ral, has a long diameter from fore to aft, with a consider-
able development of the occipital portion. The nates are
often steatomatous.
166 THE HOTTENTOT TRIBES.
The Gonaqua occupy the watershed between Great Fish
and the Orange Rivers, of which latter
I'he Korana hold the middle portion ; the lower being
the occupancy of
The Namaquaa, — How far north do these extend ? At
least as far as the tropic; beyond which the ethnology
becomes obscure. In the first place, there are numerous
Namaquas who are recent intruders, and, as such, in
contrast with the native inhabitants. These are called by
the general name of Bushmen ; being, for the most part,
Nareneen, Ounip (or Topners), and Kubabees, all specifi-
cally stated to be Hottentot. The district to which they
belong is, more or less, Heriro or Kafir. Some part of
it is called the Dammara land.
The authority for the following statements is Galton.
The native form of the word Dammara is Damup ; the
language to which it belongs being the Hottentot. In
this it has three meanings : —
1. It denotes the occupants of the country in general,
whether Ovaheriro, Ovampantieru, or aught else.
It denotes two specific populations : —
S. The Ghou Damup, and
3. The Soim Damup, allied in language, appearance,
and superstitions, but different in locality.
The Ghou Damup are hill-men, the range of moun-
tains between 19^ and 23° S.L. being their occupancy.
They are considered as an inferior population by the
Heriro. The Hottentots who preceded the Heriro de-
spised them. This they did so long as they were them-
selves powerful. Since, however, the Ovaheruro have
encroached upon them they have been humbler and more
friendly. In some instances they have been driven to the
same fastnesses as the Damup, and where this has been
done intermarriage has taken place.
The Soun Damup lie on the drainage of the Lake, on
THB HOTTENTOT TRIfiES. 167
or within the frontier of the Mationa (t. e. Bitshuana),
to whom they are field-labourers. They are specially
stated to be in the same class with the Ghou Damup,
whatever that may be.
Mr. Gal ton considers them to be d^enerate Ovampo.
His evidence requires criticism. He separates them from
the Ovaheriro and Ovampantieru, with whom '^they
have nothing in common." He connects the Soun
Damup with the Ghou Damup, and likens both to the
Ovampo. Yet he makes the former ^'a peculiar race of
negroes^ speaking the Hottentot tongue.*'
Whatever may be the ethnology of these obscure tribes
it is certain that the northern Namaquas and the Bush-
men most allied to them are by no means the half-starved
Saabs of the desert; but^ on the contrary, an active
people, who not only hold their ovm against the Ovahe-
riro, but actually encroach upon their area.
It is probable that there are members of the Hottentot
family as far north as 19^ S.L., and as far west as the
parts about Lake Ngami.
The Oerlams are chiefly of mixed blood, Hottentot and
Dutch. So are
7%6 GriqtMy called also Baastaards, a pastoral popula-
tion, upwards of 15,000 in number, on the north side of
the great bend of the Orange River. They are the
descendants of Dutch fathers and Hottentot mothers.
A mixture of Griquas and Hottentots occurs also on
the Kat River, a feeder of the Great Fish River, in the
district of Somerset, and on the Kafir frontier. Here
they are distributed in a series of distinct locations, amid
the dales and fastnesses of the eastern frontier. Many
of them are discharged soldiers ; so that, in reality, like
the borderers of old, they form a sort of military colony.
168 THE BLOIKOB.
CHAPTER XIX.
Certain populations belonging to the nnexplored parts of Africa to the
South of Abyssinia.— The Gonga Family.— The Eloikob.
The following populations agree in the negative character
of being neither decidedly Abyssinian nor decidedly
Galla, though they exhibit both Galla and Abyssinian
affinities. Neither are their relations to the tribes of the
south ascertained. They lie on or within the frontier of
the terra incognita. The present position, then^ is provi-
sional.
The Gonga Orottp. — Moving from the Galla and Amha-
ric areas towards the interior, we meet with a population
whose languages are known through Dr. Beke's vocabu-
laries under the names of Kaffa, Woraita, Wolaitsa, and
Yangaro. They all belong to one and the same class.
This we call Gonga. The Gonga tribes, as noticed by
Ludolf, dwelt to the south of the Bahr-al-Abiad, about
10® N. L. The language of Enarea was Gonga. There,
however, it has been displaced by the Galla.
The Eloikob. — I describe the population which comes
now under notice by its native name, which is Eloikob ;
partly because, as a general rule, the native names are the
best, and partly because something will be said in the
sequel respecting the name itself. Eloikob is one of those
words, so common in the East African, and not wanting
elsewhere, whereof the plural is the simpler, the singular
the more complicated, form. They are generally col-
lectives, the limitation of them to a single object being
THE ELOIKOfi. 169
exceptional. In the instance before us the Loikob or
Eloikob is the name of the nation ; OIoik6ban or Oloika-
bani, that of a single member of it. I call these forms
singular and plural, though in reality they are collective
and individual.
The Wakamba change the name Eloikob into Akabi
and Mukabi, singular and plural, and by the time the
word reaches the missionaries, merchants, and travel-
lers of the sea- coast, it has become Wakuafi (plur.) and
Mkuafi (sing.) ; the name of the language being Kekuafi.
It is under these designations that the two fullest no-
tices of them are given, Mr. Pickering's and Dr. Krapfs.
The former derived his information from slaves at Zanzi-
bar, where they are numerous ; the latter from one at
Mombaz, who gave the following account of the origin
of his nation.
In the beginning a man resided on Oldoinio Eibor, or the White Moun-
tain. Engai placed him here.
He was superior to all other beings :
His name was Keiterkob.
On Mount Sambu lived Enj6m&si Enanner, with his wife, whose name
was that of Mountain on which they resided, or Sambu.
Mount Sambu is high, but not so high as Oldoinio Eibor. Oldoinio
Eibor has white matter on the top ; which Mount Sambu has not.
When Enj^m&si heard of Neiterkob he visited him, and took with him
his wife, who conceived of Neiterkob, and bore children.
Keiterkob also taught Enjem&si the taming of wild oxen.
At length he disappeared from Oldoinio Eibor and Enj6mftsi returned
to Mount Sambu.
I interpret this account somewhat differently from the
learned missionary whom we have to thank for it. I see
no necessity for making (as he does) the white matter on
the Oldoinio Eibor snow. It may much more easily have
been white limestone, of which definite mention is made
in the sequel, and which is specially stated to belong to
the Eloikob district.
170 THE ELOIKOB.
In the name Neiter-kob I see that of the eponymus of
the Eloi-kob ; and that of Enge-Masi that of the neigh-
bouring Masai. At any rate there is the special statement
that Mount Oldoinio Eibor is the primitive home, or
head-quarters of the former, Mount Sambu that of the
latter. To this add that the two tribes, though hostile,
are said to be allied in manners, form, and language.
The name of their highest deity is Engar, or Angayai,
between whom and the Eloikob, Neiterkob acts as a me-
diator.
The Eloikob, who are circumcised polygamists, of all
things hate and despise the tiller of the soil, so thoroughly
are they a population of herdsmen. Lemasegnot, the
slave to whom Krapf addressed himself for information,
boasted that he had defied his master to inure him to agri-
culture, and had succeeded in his defiance. He would
rather die than use a hoe.
The Eloikob are either intrusive conquerors in some
part of their area, or the owners of imported slaves ;
since they employ the service of, at least, two subordinate
castes, the Elkonono and the Wandurobo. The former
are smiths, the latter hunters of elephants and procurers
of ivory. Whether these have a language of their own
remains to be proved ; Dr. Krapf writes that " it appears
that they have."
The Eloikob, themselves, watch their cattle, hunt for
game, fight against their neighbours. In this they find
the great business of their lives. The warriors of the
nation are the young unmarried men between seventeen
and twenty-five, who remain in their parents' houses, and
form a sort of Eloikob militia. At the head of the State
are the aged men who carry neither spear nor shield about
with them, but only the bow and stick. The shield and
spear are the arms of the youths. They fight bravely.
THE ELOIKOB, ETC. 171
and spare but few, neither giving nor asking quarter.
They fight, too, with skill and cunning, and consider their
spear and club as equal to the muskets of the coastmen.
Some of the tribes perforate the lobe of the ear^ the
highest aristocrats having the largest borings.
Their festal beverage is a kind of hydromel or mead
called olmarua ; honey being abundant in their country.
Butter they use as an ointment rather than as food. They
have several dyes.
Earthquakes they ascribe to the movements of a cow
that supports the earth.
They have an ordeal of chewing. When an accused
Oleikobani makes an oath, the priest, medicine-man, or
Oleikon, boils some roots, mixes them with his meat, gives
him the mess to eat, and watches whether he swallows
it. Should it stick in his throat he is guilty.
The following are the names of some of the Eloikob
tribes, — Enganglima, Burrabuyu,Modoni,Tigerei, Kiwia,
Koppe-koppe, Elburgineji. In a Suaheli account the
Wandurobo take the appearance of a separate substan-
tive population called M&u and Wamau.
172 THE DAR-RUNOA TRIBES.
CHAPTER XX.
Certain populations belonging to the imperfectly-explored parts of Africa.
— The Mobba, &c., of Darsaleh. — The BagirmL— The Mandara. —
The tribes between the Mandara and the Nufi.— The Battas, &c.
Exploration from the west has reached but little beyond
Bornu ; exploration from the east but little beyond Kor-
dovan. Hence the intermediate countries are known, at
first handy only on their frontiers. Nevertheless, some-
thing has been collected respecting the centre, means
being supplied by the writings and relations of such
Arabs as have used their opportunities for observation.
I begin with the districts that fill up the parts between
Darfur and Bornu ; Darfur being followed by Darsaleh,
and Bagirmi ; Bagirmi by Mandaxa. Mandara will lead
to Adamowa, and the tribes along the Tshari; which will,
in their turn, bring us to the Nufi districts ; these giving
an area which has already been noticed.
Darsaleh, Borgho, Waday, or the Mobba country. — Dar-
saleh is, like Darfur, imperfectly Mahometan. Like
Darfur it contains numerous Arab tribes. Whether many
Fulas have reached it is doubtful.
The Mobba is the chief language of the tribes of
Waday proper.
The Menagon, Manarit, Tama, Gnorga, Darna, Kubu,
Sungori, Mimi, Moewo, Kashemer^, and Korunga (or
Karinga) are members of a group called Abu Sharib,
the most western members of which lie on, or within, the
Darfur frontier.
THE DAR-RUNGA TRIBES. 173
I imagine that the Ko-runga of Barth are the people of
Dar-runga as described by Browne — ^partly negros, partly
of a red or copper colour ; honest men and cleanly (there
being abundance of water in their country), but pagans,
and inordinate slave-dealers.
Some of these tribes shoot poisoned arrows. Others
use red-hot spears. These the women supply. They
light a fire behind the line of combatants, and exchange
the heated ones for the cooled. Cannibalism is laid to the
charge of some. So is the practice of wearing, on their
hands and heads, the skin of their enemies. They make
their own arms ; and that of iron. They then heat the
head, stick it in the trunk of a certain tree, and bring it
out poisoned.
Ettgliih.
Dar-ranga.
i
Man
kamere
Woman
mimi
Eye
khasso
Ear
neaso
Hand
tUBSO
Foot
itar
Sun
agning
Water
tta
Fire
nimiek
One
kadenda
Two
embirr
Three
attik
Four
mendih
Six
sabotikec
Seven
ow
EigU
sebateis
Nine
atih
Ten
btif.
The Dar-runga word for God is Kinga, and Kingago is
a Dar-runga exclamation. Compare the Eloikob Enga.
The Tibboo frontagers (on the north) belong to the
Zokhawa and Guraan tribes; the Arabs of Waday
itself to those of the Mahamid, the Beri Helba, the
174 THE DAR-RUNGA TRIBES.
Shiggegat, the Sebbedi, the Sefeddin, the Beni Hassan,
the Missiriye Zoruk (black), the Missiriye Homr (red),
the Kozam, the Zojud, the Dzhattena, the Zabbade, and
the Abidiye, the Nuwaibe Sabalat, the Korobat, the
Kolomat, the Terjem, the Wel&d Rashid and others.
Of the numerous terms applied to the kingdom under
notice —
Waday is applied by the Bornui.
Bargu Furians.
Darsaleh Arabs.
Mobba being probably native.
Word for word, I believe that Saleh = Shiluk. As
this term appears and re-appears in different parts of
Africa, it is, probably, Arab. It by no means implies
affinity between the populations to which it is applied.
This may, or may not, exist.
The phenomenon, of which we have undoubted evi-
dence in the Fula and Mandingo countries, is said to be
repeated in Darsaleh. A number of tribes are red rather
than black. Such are some of the Darkulla populations.
Such, too (as we infer from the names) are some of the
Arabs. Such, too, certain members of the Mobba divi-
sion. That the difference of hue coincides with a dif-
ference of soil and sea-level is probable a /?noH; whilst
the little evidence we possess on the question is in favour
of such being actually the case.
Bagirmu — The writers who have been furthest beyond
the frontier of Bagirmi are Denham and Barth. The
latter expressly states that the form of the natives is
favourably contrasted with that of the Kanuri of Bornu.
He compares it with that of the Fula, adding that the
skin is darker — indeed that it is black. Of their morals
he speaks less favourably ; and more unfavourably still of
the great extent to which slavery and slave-hunting pre-
THE MANDARA GROUP. 175
vail. The kingdom is a Mahometan one ; the creed, how-
ever, is rude and imperfect. Much of the original pagan-
ism shows through it. Much exists in a purely unmodi-
fied form. The general surface of the soil is level, lying
at a height of about 900 feet above the sea, with conside-
rable rivers, numerous watercourses, and swampy districts
not a few. There are large plains of black argillaceous
soil, which lie under water during the rainy season. There
are large collections of conical huts dignified by the name
of towns and capitals. There are cultivated tracts of sor-
ghum and other grains. There are flocks and herds of cattle.
These, when the dry season sets in, are removed from place
to place in search of water. There is, then, both grazing
and tillage ; the former giving rise to habits more or less
locomotive. Arabs, too, there are from the East, and
Fulas from the west, the former being called Shiwa.
They chiefly belong to the Salamat, Beni Hassan, Welid
Musa, Wel&d Ali, and Deghaghera tribes. They lived
scattered over the country, occupants, in some places, of
whole villages.
The Mandara group. — The occupancy of the divisions
and sub-divisions of the Mandara group lies to the south
and south-east of Bomu. The only Europeans who have
set foot upon it are Denham and Barth. The latter
expressly states that the inhabitants of Kotoko belong to
the great race of Masa, to which the people of Logon,
the Musgu, and the Mandara proper, also belong. Mean-
while, his map carries Kotoko to the Lake Tsad, whilst
the text gives to that province the Affadeh language ; the
Afladeh language being Bomiii. With these elements of
uncertainty I suspend my judgment as to the exact details
of the area under notice. It may possibly be prolonged
to Lake Tshad. If so, it is interjacent to the Bom4i
and Bagirmi areas. It is more probably, however, a
176 THE MUSGU.
southern language, i. e. a language belonging to the
parts on each side 10^ N.L. .
"Whatever may be the ethnology of Kotoko and Logone,
provinces in close contact with Bomu and Bagirmi, more
or less Mahometan in creed, more or less Fula and Arab
in population, and not deficient in civilization, the dif-
ference between them and
The Musffu is decided. The Musgu lie between IP and
l(f N.L., being pagans. The evidence, however, that
their language is Mandara rather than Affadeh is capable
of improvement. The following extract from Barth
gives us their physical form : — " The village we had just
reached was named F&kal&, and is one of the most con-
siderable places in the Musga River. A large number of
slaves had been caught this day, and in the course of the
evening, after some skirmishing, in which three Bornti
horsemen were killed, a great many more were brought
in ; altogether they were said to have taken one thousand,
and there were certainly not less than five hundred. To
our utmost horror, not less than one hundred and seventy
full-grown men were mercilessly slaughtered in cold blood,
the greater part of them being allowed to bleed to death,
a leg having been severed from the body. Most of them
were tall men, with not very pleasing features* Their fore*
head, instead of shelving backwards, was generally very
high, and the line of the face straight ; but their thick
eyelashes, wide, open nostrils, thick lips, high cheek-
bones, and coarse bushy hair, gave them a very wild ap-
pearance* The proportions of the legs, with the knee-
bone bent inwardly, were particularly ugly ; and on the
whole they were all of a dirty black colour, very far from
that glossy lustre which is observed in other tribes*
Most of them wore a short beard. The ears of several
were adorned with small copper rings, while almost all of
THE MUSGU. 177
them wore round their necks a thick rope made of the
dtim-bush or ngille^ coarsely twisted^ as a sort of orna-
ment.
" This female slave was certainly worthy of a sketch,
as she was one of the most stately women I saw here.
But I entertained some suspicion that she was not of
Musgii origin, but belonged to the Marghi ; for in the
whole of the Musgu country I had not observed a single
individual of red colour, but all were of the same dirty
black, approaching to what the French call cafi au lait,
while this woman was of a red complexion. She certainly
wore in her under lip the large bone, the national emblem
of the Musgu females ; but this custom she might have
adopted. As for herself, she would neither give me any
information with respect to her origin, nor sit still in order
to allow me to finish my sketch. She was tall and well-
grown, with the exception of the legs, which were rather
crooked ; and being still a young woman, her breasts had
not yet attained that bag-like shape which is so disgusting
in the elder females of this country. Her features were
only a little disfigured by the bone in the mider lip. Her
neck was richly ornamented with strings of beads, but
these were as little peculiar to her as the cotton cloth
roimd her loins, having been given her by the new
master into whose hands she had fallen. The national
dress of the Musgu females consists of nothing but a
narrow bandage, formed of bash, twisted like a rope,
which is fastened between the legs and round the waist
like a T bandage."
The Marghi tribes are, perhaps, favoured in the way of
form and feature beyond their congeners. The hair of a
youth most especially admired by Dr. Barth " was short,
curled, but not woolly. He, as well as his mother and
the whole family, was of a pale or yellowish red com-
VOL. II. N
178 THE MUS6U.
plexion, like rhubarb." A thin metal plate was stuck
through the mother's under lip. Other individuals were,
more or less, copper-coloured. Some of them were just
Mahometan enough to be able to repeat a few formulas,
and to cover the native nakedness of their semi-adult
offspring with an apron of cotton.
The Babur, akin to the Marghi, are somewhat less
modified by Mahometanism.
The Marghi and Musgu pay great respect to the
memory of their ancestors.
" There was one object which attracted my attention in
particular, as it testified to a certain degree of civili-
zation, which might have shamed the proud Mohammedan
inhabitants of these coimtries. For while the latter are
extremely negligent in burying their dead, leaving them
without any sufficient protection against the wild beasts,
so that most of them are devoured in a few days by the
hyaenas, here we had regular sepulchres, covered in with
large well-rounded vaults, the tops of which were adorned
by a couple of beams cross-laid, or by an earthen urn.
The same sort of worship as is paid by these pagans to
their ancestors prevails in a great part of Africa, and
however greatly the peculiar customs attached to the
mode of worship may vary, the principle is the same;
but I nowhere more regretted having no one at hand to
explain to me the customs of these people, than I did on
this occasion. The urn most probably contains the head
of the deceased ; but what is indicated by the cross-laid
beams I cannot say."
So writes Dr. Barth, who passed through the land of
the Marghi to that of
The Batta — occupants of Adamawa, where his personal
explorations ended. The Batta tribes lay on each side
of the Tshadda, where they were succeeded by those
THE BATTA.
179
of Hamaruwa, the Domo and the Mitshi made known to
us hy the expedition of 1854 under Dr. Baikie,
Man
Woman
Head
Eye
Mouth
Beg[anni.
gaba
geujo
kammu
tara
Nose
Teeth
Tongus
Foot
Sun
Moon
Star
Fire
Water
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
SeiKn
EigU
Nine
Ten
amo
nganah
njanja
kaja
peddu
mane
keddi
Bub
mattah
6oh
mi
mika
tfihilli
marta
doso
dokemi
Mandara.
BatU.
yili
mano
mukgi
metshe
ire
hodashi
ishe
bashi
we
braiahi
tihi
uktere
ekilo
sare
nesudabtae
erakha
iyagaga
bishiya
motsbe
tiri
trioko
motflhekan
kara
be
yawi
die
pale
hido
bua
pe
kaji
makin
ufade
fat
ilivi
tuf
nkohe
tokuldaka
VTiyi
tokulape
tisi
farfat
masdmani
tambido
kalawa
bu.
We may now take a retrospect with a special view to
the general questions connected with the ethnology of
the great continent over which we have travelled. How
slight the influence of Africa upon the history of the
world has been is known to the most cursory reader.
It is only so far as the Semite populations are African
that it has any notable position at all. A little influence
may be given to the Egyptians, a little to the Berbers ;
provided always that the Almoravids be as Berber as
they are represented. South, however, of the Berber
area, nothing is to be found in Africa which has ever
affected either Asia or Europe, in the way of either con-
N 2
180 GENERAL VIEW
quest or civilization. Where the Gallas, the Furians^
the Borniai, the Howssa populations, the Sungai or the
Mandingos have encroached, they have done so at the
expense of their neighbours. Of distant conquests thej
have known but little ; of conquests beyond the Medi-
terranean and the Isthmus of Suez nothing. Neither
have their arts or inventions spread abroad. They have
had none to spread. From others they have taken a little.
To none have they given. The amount of invention
involved in the Vei syllabarium has been considered.
Lying beyond the pale of both Brahminism and Budd-
hism, the original mythologies of pagan Africa have been
affected by only three of the great religions — ^Judaism,
Christianity, and Mahometanism. In respect to the first
I am unable to form a satisfactory opinion. There
are Jewish customs, more or less general, and more
or less decided, all over Africa. The Falasha of
Abyssinia have been actually called Jews. Upon the
Gha or Akra nation (a nation whose occupancy lies
as far west as the Gold Coast) we have a careful and
instructive paper by Mr. Hanson, himself of Gha origin.
It tells us of the existence amongst his countrymen
of, not only the practice of circumcision, but of nume-
rous minutue as well — too striking to be what is called
accidental. How are they to be explained? Has actual
Judaism ever extended itself in Africa? Have points
of Mahometanism been mistaken for things Judaic ?
Or is Judaism itself much more African than is gene-
rally supposed ? .1 incline to this last doctrine. I only,
however, incline to it. The details of tribe upon tribe
are still desiderated.
Christianity in Africa is both old and new. It is of
old standing in Mgypt and Abyssinia. Within the
domain of the European missionaries it is new. So far
OF AFRICAN ETHNOLOGY. 181
as these are from Portugal it is Romanist. So far as
they are from England^ America, Holland, or Denmark,
it is Protestant. One of the most interesting investiga-
tions in the history of African civilization is that of the
corruptions of the early Christianity. Dr. Beke has
committed himself to the opinion that certain Galla
tribes are relapsed Christians.
More, however, than it is Jewish, more than it is
Christian, is Africa Mahometan. It is, in one respect,
more Mahometan than pagan. The area over which the
Koran to some extent or other is recognized, is (I think)
larger than that of the purely heathen populations.
Not one of the countries to the north of 10® N.L. is
without a tincture of Mahometanism ; the zone which
they form being carried across the very broadest part of
Africa. Then come the districts of the west ; amongst
which Yoruba, the Ibo country, and the Nufi country
exhibit a more or less imperfect and partial Mahometan-
ism ; a Mahometanism which again shows itself amongst
the Somaulis and the Suwahelis of the Pacific. As the
Mahometans are in the habit of calling the unconverted
populations with which they come in contact by the name
of Kafir, we may find in the geographical distribution of
this term, a rough outline for the boundary lands be-
tween the Mahometan and the pagan. As a preliminary,
however, we must remember the numerous changes of
form which the word can undergo ; also remembering
that when it gets taken up by the tribes to which it is
applied, it accommodates itself to the phonesis of a new
language — and that an African one. Considering then
that, word for word, it is Guebre and Giaour in Asia, I
am prepared to believe that it is Cumbri and Kouri in
Africa. I think, too, that it may be Yaouri, and, not
impossibly, Yoruba. If so, however, the -ba may be the
182 GENERAL VIEW
'be in Ful-6«j the Howssa form of Fula. Be this as it
may, it is certain that where names of this kind occur,
there is Mahometanism on one side, and paganism on the
other. It is also certain that the name, in the first in-
stance at least, is other than native. It is the name by
which such and such populations are designated by their
neighbours rather than the name by which they designate
themselves. What applies to Kafir applies to other words
as well. I think that Fulah, Felup, and Wolof are the
Arabic Fellah. I think, too, that Shiluk {Shiluh, or Shilha)
and Berber must be Arabic words. They apply to popu-
lations which, except that they are in contact with an
Arab occupancy, have nothing in common sufficient to
account for the identity of name. As an instrument of
criticism, tlie principle of which the terms under notice
are examples may be enlarged on. Here, however, they
are noticed as measures of the infiuences from Arabia.
To the settlements effected in Africa by the Phoeni-
cians, the Greeks, and the Romans, I merely allude.
They belong to the civil historian, and the archaeologist.
On those of the Vandals I lay little stress ; though much
speculation has been set afioat by them. The light skin
of certain mountaineers of the Atlas has been referred
to a European origin.
For the languages of Africa a careful criticism is most
especially needed. The alliterations of the Kafir lan-
guages are so remarkable that their value as a character-
istic has been exaggerated. But they are found beyond
the Kafir area. They are found in the BuUom, the Tim-
mani, and other languages. What do they mean ? Do
they mean that, notwithstanding a considerable diflTer-
ence of vocabulary, and decided affinities in another di-
rection, the dialects in which they appear are Kafir or
South African ? No. They merely remind the cautious
OF AFRICAN ETHNOLOGY. 183
investigator that classes in philology are, like classes in
botany or zoology, unnatural when founded on a single
characteristic.
Another caution. Of the numerous divisions of the
African family that which is the best known to learned
men is the negro ; inasmuch as nine out of ten of the
Africans seen in either Europe or America belong to it.
The slaves are chiefly negro. Some, indeed, are Fulas,
some Kafirs — some, but few. The mass is from a single
district, the coast of Guinea. That this gives us a fair
sample of the varieties of the African physiognomy is
unlikely. It may possibly give us the exception rather
than the rule. And this is what it actually does. The
extreme negro is found on only a few areas. He is found
on the coast between the Senegal and the Congo ; and he
is foimd to some distance in the interior. He is found
in the parts about Lake Tshad^ in Sennaar, and in several
isolated spots besides. But he is not found in the vast
tract occupied by either the Berbers of the north, or the
Bitshuanas of the south. He is not found in the high-
lands of Ethiopia. He is not found amongst the widely-
spread Fulas. All these tribes are expressly stated to .be
other than negro. Then come the Bishari, the Nubians,
and the Gallas ; who, by their length of hair and pro-
minence of feature, are easily separated from the true
negro; though negro-like in many respects. Let these
represent a second class of Africans. Let them stand
between the typical negro and the Berber.
Let the physical geographer now be called in, and let
him divide the continent of Africa into the dry plateaus
and the moist alluvia. The men of the Fula type will
belong to the former, the true negros to the other. To
say that there are no light-coloured men in swampy loca-
lities would be inaccurate. It would also be inaccurate
184 AFRICAN ETHNOLOGY.
to deny that some negros are to be found on high levels.
As a general rule, however^ the negro conformation and
the alluvial soil go together. Read any work upon the
ethnology of the water system of the Nile. Read the de-
scriptions (not always free from exaggeration) of the fine
Caucasian (so-called) Abyssinians; of the half-African
Copts ; of the negro -like (but not n^ro) Nubians ; and
finally of the Sennaar blacks.
Mark, on a map, the areas over which these several
varieties are spread. Compare it with the geological
chart of Russegger ; and the closeness of the coincidences
will, perhaps, surprise you. The blacks are found on the
tertiary and recent deposits. The primitive and volcanic
tracts will give the European faces. The intermediate
conformations will be found on the sandstones. Read
Livingstone. The same results will present themselves,
and the author himself will draw attention to them. The
negro is an exceptional African.
THE PERSIAN GROUi>. 185
CHAPTER XXL
The Persian group.~The Kurds.— The Persians proper.— Talish, Tiyiks,
and Iliyat. — The Gypsies of PeiBia.>-The Seistaunis.
From Africa back to Asia. From Arabia, where the
two continents join, to the valley of the Tigris. From
Armenia to Persarmenia. From the empire of the
Turkish Sultan to the empire of the Persian Shah.
From Arabia to Persia ; and, afterwards, from Persia to
Hindostan.
We shall find that this arrangement is convenient. We
need only remember that, with the exception of the
Indians, all the populations which come in contact with
the great Persian area have already been described — on
the north, the Turks and Dioscurians ; on the west, the
Armenians ; on the south, the Arabs.
Of this great Persian area the most western part is the
occupancy of
The Kurds ; by which I mean the Kurdistan, or Kurd-
land, of the maps — this and something more. Both north
and south of the Kurdistan of the maps Kurds are to be
foimd, and that in considerable numbers — both north and
south, both east and west. For the population is not only
spread continuously over a large area, but is sporadic as
well. There are Kurds in eastern Persia, Kurds in Asia
Minor, Kurds in Syria, Kurds elsewhere.
The Kurds are, to a great extent, a population of the
frontier ; some being within the Turkish, others within
the Persian, boundary. Many of them, however, are but
186 THE KURDS.
nominal subjects to either Persia or Turkey. Where the
hill ranges are high, and the country is impracticable,
the chiefs are all but independent. Could they but be
united, they would be wholly so ; for their spirit is high,
their temper hot, their character energetic, their habits
martial. They keep up a chronic state of warfare with
each other. They levy black mail after the fashion of
borderers. Like the Skipetar of Europe, whom they
resemble in character, they always go armed ; ready to
fight, ready to rob ; ready to serve as an escort against
robbers like themselves. They are wiry and bony in
make, with extremely prominent features, elongated
faces, and dark skins. Mahometans in the way of creed,
they are but too ready to sharpen their swords for on-
slaughts upon their Christian frontagers ; and of Chris-
tian frontagers there are many. In the north there are
the Armenians ; the Kurds being numerous in Armenia,
the Armenians in Kurdistan. In the central districts li&
the Caldani, Christians in creed, Syrians in respect to the
language of their liturgy. In the south there is little
but Mahometanism ; the Mahometanism of the Turks
and Arabs of Mesopotamia, the Mahometanism of the
Arabs and Persians of Khuzistan. Lastly, there are the
Kurds of the Russian empire in Erivan, in Karadagh,
in Karabagh, and in the south parts of Georgia.
The family, then, comes in contact with Dioscurians,
Armenians, Turks, Caldani, and Arabs on the west, witli
Persians on the east.
The Kurds are a population of tribesmen ; falling into
divisions and subdivisions. Thus the Bulbassi contains,
as sections, the Kabaiz, the Manzun, the Mamash, the
Piran, the Rummuk, and the Sinn and Taafah. The Bul-
bassi chiefs are called Muzzin. When a Muzzin dies,
the strongest and bravest of his sons succeeds ; birth being
THE KURDS. 187
only a presumption in favour of the eldest. A chief,
once nominated, cannot be deposed. The women marry
within their own tribe. Blood feuds may be extinguished
by the payment of so many oxen. A certain number of
thieves is attached to each tribe, whose business is to rob
for the chief.
The Jaf, the Bebber, the Sindjavi, the Afshar, are
similarly constituted ; each with its chief, its district, and
its private wars.
The southernmost members of the Kurd family are
exclusively Persian ; Lak tribes, Faili (Feili) tribes, or
Buktiyari tribes, occupants of the parts to the south of
Kirmanshah, which are, for the most part, mountainous.
The analogue of the Tajik (of whom more will be said
in the sequel) is to be found in Kurdistan. The exist-
ence of the tribe is the rule ; its absence the exception.
Yet certain subordinate populations, the Guraan and the
Kelowsp6 (white caps), are said to be tribeless. They are,
perhaps, extra-tribual, t. e. beyond the pale of the re-
cognized and ascertained divisions.
As a general rule, the Kurds are Mahometans. At
any rate they are more Mahometan than aught else. The
Yezids are this ; the Yezids, who have improperly been
called Devil-worshippers. They simply conciliate Satan.
He is powerful. He is easily offended. Hence, they
speak of him either not at all, or with respect ; eschewing
the name in all imprecations and oaths ; pained when
they hear others use it.
The name KurA is historical. Word for word, it is
Gordiau Word for word, it is JKarduchi. Word for
word, it may possibly be Khasdim and Chaldedi. That
the Karduchi, however, of the Anabasis, the men whose
bows and slings inflicted more mischief upon the Ten
Thousand retreating Greeks than all the armies of Arta-
188 TH£ KURDS.
xerxeSj were the ancestors of the present Kurds, is gene-
rally and reasonably believed. Again — the famous
Saladin seems to have been a Kurd of tlie Ayubite
division of the RawadiaBi ; as was also the historian
Abulfeda. I write this after Gibbon ; who suggests,
however, the likelihood of the blood of both the sultan and
the philosopher having been mixed. The orthodox Arabs,
who saw with grief and shame that the tribe under notice
was infected with the heterodox doctrine of the metem-
psychosis, '^ insinuated that its descent was only on the
mother's side, and that its ancestor was a stranger who
had settled amongst the Curds." This is likely enough.
The name Ayub is Arabic. The chief qualities of both
Saladin and Abulfeda were those of an Arab. The Kurd
frontier, in their time (as it is now), was Arabian.
The Persian proper. — Conterminous on the west with
the Kurds, the Persians proper extend both eastwards
and northwards ; their area being one of great magnitude
and irregular outline. It contains, as may be expected,
a great deal of what is purely Persian. It also comprises
many tracts wherein the language, at least, is intrusive.
The Persian, for instance, of Erivan, and a great part
of Aderbijan, is spoken on a soil originally Armenian ;
the Persian of Shirvan on a soil originally Dioscurian.
Daghestan, to the north of the great axis of Caucasus,
is a Persian name, meaning the land of the Dahse. Yet
its speech is, to a great extent, Persian ; which, to the
north, is succeeded by the Turk of Tartary. The details
of its extension in the east will be seen in the sequel.
At present it is sufficient to say that the blood and lan-
guage by no means appear to coincide. The former must
be, in Daghestan, more or less Lesgian ; in Shirvan, Les-
gian or Georgian ; in Aderbijan, Armenian.
The Talish. — Between the mouth of the Kur and
THE TALISH. 189
Ghilan, a narrow tract of land, of which a part seems to
be mountainous, and a part fenny, is the occupancy of
the Talish.
They are spare, raw-boned men, strong, but not tall,
hardy, active, and devoted to their chiefs. They reminded
Frazer — as so many mountain tribes remind North Britons
— of the Scotch Highlanders. One young man takes
charge of his chiers firelock, another of his cloak, a third
of his pipe. A fourth stands by his horse's head as he
mounts.
Their country extends from the Suffid-rood (there or
thereabouts) to the point whereat the mountain subsides
into the plain of Moghan ; part being Russian, part
Persian. There are, I believe, some Turk and some
Mongol families amongst the Talish. The data, however,
for an accurate ethnology are wanting.
The Talish country runs along the side of the Caspian.
So do the provinces of
Ghilan and Mazenderan, to the back of which lie the
mountains of the Elburz range, whilst the parts along
the coast are alluvial, fenny, swampy. Hence, we find that
some of the occupants are mountaineers, others marsh-
men. As a general rule, they are rude and hardy ; agri-
culturists along the lower levels, herdsmen in the hills.
They are by no means of pure blood.
There are the Dioscurians at the one end of their area ;
the Turkomans at the other. There are certainly Turks
in the central districts ; and, I believe, a few Mongols.
Asterabad and the northern part of Khorasan belong,
in the way of ethnology, as much to Tartary as to
Persia.
Aderbijan, — Aderbijan, in contact with the Dioscurian,
Armenian, and Turk districts of Kars, Erivan, and Kara-
bagh is Turk on its northern, and Kurd on its western
190 THE PERSIANS PROPER.
frontier ; is the hilly occupancy of a rude and hardy
population ; is believed to be, in respect to its ancient
history, Mede rather than Persian ; is believed to be the
land in which the religion of the Magi most especially
flourished; is believed to be the country wherein the
local dialects give the nearest approach to the ancient
language. In Dizmar, for instance, it has been specially
stated that Pehlevi is spoken.
The remaining provinces belong, more or less, to the
great central desert; for we must remember that when
the broken country of the north, the low levels that
fringe the Caspian, and the drainage of the Tigris have
been subtracted, Persia, notwithstanding its ancient glory,
and its poetic associations, is neither more nor less than a
barren steppe, to the north of which lies Tartary, to the
south, Arabia — steppe and desert also; steppe and desert;
the one continuing itself northwards into the tundras of
Siberia, the other becoming intertropical, equatorial,
African.
From each of these quarters exotic influences have
been brought to bear upon Persia; morally and mate-
rially, materially and morally. The blood of most, per-
haps of all, the Persian dynasties has been Turk. Arabia
gave the Koran.
The inhabitants of the towns are, as a general rule, of
mixed origin. In language they are Persians. They are
also, for the most part, Persians in physiognomy and
habits. Their being, however, all this is perfectly com-
patible with their being, more or less, Indian, Turk,
Mongol, Arab, or Dipscurian in blood. In the first
place, the whole land has been overrun by foreign con-
querors (chiefly from the north), over and over again. In
the next, it has always been the custom of Persian and
Turkish sovereigns to foimd cities, and (as a means of
THE PERSIANS PROPER. 191
doing so) to transplant populations. Thirdly, there are the
effects of trade ; fourthly, the necessities of government.
These introduce the foreign merchant and the strange
soldier. Hence, the natives of towns like Heraut or
Ispahan are Herautis or Ispahanis rather than simply
Persians.
The extent to which names like these imply a dif-
ference between the citizens who bear them and the
ordinary Persians of the country around depends upon
the circumstances of each particular case.
The Persian of the villages is called by a name which
has already been noticed — the name Tajik. A Tajik in
Bokhara is a Persian as opposed to an Uzbek. A Tajik
in Persia proper is a countryman as opposed to a towns-
man. It is not, however, every occupant of a rural
district who is a Tajik. In order to be this he must be a
tiller of the soil rather than a feeder of flocks ; a farmer
rather than a grazier ; a man of fixed residence rather
than a locomotive migrant.
Being this, the chances are that he will be a Persian also ;
a Persian in language, and a Shiite in creed. On the other
hand, the migratory populations of the country^ numerous
as they are, are, as a general rule, not only other than agri-
cultural in habits, but other than Persian in language.
The opposite to a Tajik is an Iliyat, the Tajik being a
Persian, a cultivator, and a Shiite; the Iliyat being a
Sunnite, a herdsman, and a Turk, an Arab, or a Kurd, as
the case may be.
To one of these three classes can all the Iliyat, or
locomotive tribes of Persia, be referred. The extent,
however, to which they are Kurd, Arab, or Turk ex-
clusively is by no means accurately known. I am not
aware that, with the exception of the Aimauks, (who are
scarcely to be. classed with the sporadic tribes now under
192
THE PERSIANS PROPER.
notice) there are any actual Mongol Iliyats on Persian
soil. At the same time, I believe that there is much
Mongol blood in the veins of men whose language is
other than Mongol.
Then there are the Indians of the towns, especially the
Banians, whose business is trade, and who, as a general
rule, intermarry with one another.
Then there are the gypsies, who, in Persia, as else-
where, are Indians in blood, and, to a great extent,
Indians in language also. They hang about the towns ; in
this respect differing from the Iliyats who prefer the open
country. They hang about the towns, being, in craft or
profession, tinkers, horse-jobbers, fortune-tellers. They
rarely marry out of their own bands or taifehs ; are known
under the names Duman, Kaoli, Gaob&z, and Ghurbat,
or Kiurbat, and are very imperfect Mahometans.
Kurbat is the name of a division of the gypsies of
Syria, whose language, which is reasonably believed to
be nearly the same as that of the Khurbat of Persia, is as
follows : —
English.
Kurbat.
Daman.
Head
sir
munras
Hair
yal
khalluf
Ear
kan
priuk
Eye
akki
jow
Tooth
dandeir
ghi61a
Hand
kostam
dast
Sun
gaham
gaham
Moon
heiuf
heiuf
Star
astara
astara
Fire
ag
ar
Water
pani
how
I
man
man
Thon
to
to
He
hui
hui
One
ek
ek
Two
di
di
Three
turrun
Bih
THE TAJIKS.
XngUah.
Knrbat.
Damau.
¥<ifUT
tshar
tshar
Five
pexy
pc^j
Six
Bbesh
Bhesh
Seven
heft
heft
Bight
heat
hest
Nine
na
na
Ten
daa
deh.
198
In no province of Persia is the population wholly
Persian. There are foreign elements everywhere. There
are foreign elements even where we omit the sporadic
Iliyats. There are foreign elements because the frontier
is, in all cases, overstepped by some portion of the popu-
lations of the neighbouring areas. Thus — Aderbijan is
not only Persian, but also Armenian, Kurd, and Turk.
Irak is (on its western frontier) Kurd. Khorasan is
Turk, Afghan, and Hazareh. Khuzistan is Arab. Arab,
too, are the eastern parts of Ears and the parts along
the Persian Gulph. Arab, too, are the southern districts
and maritime fringes of
Kerman and Mekran. — Of these the inner districts are
Persian; not, however^ without Turk, Biluch, Brahiii,
and Afghan elements.
Biluchistan will be considered by itself. It contains,
as opposed to the true Biluches, several settlements of
Tajiks, who are called by the true Biluches, Dehwaur.
The northern division of the Persians beyond the
frontier of Persia proper has yet to be noticed. To some
slight extent it has been noticed already ; the Uzbeks of
the Oxus having been described as intruders into a
region oripnally Tajik. This they were in Balk. This
they were in Kunduz. This they were in Khost, in
Inderaub, in Taulikhaun, in Huzrut Imaum, in Khullum,
in Meimuna, in Andkhu, in Shibbergaun, and in Bokhara.
In all these districts, large or small, weak or powerful,
there are mixed populations of Uzbeks and Tajiks ; and
VOL. II. o
194 THE TAJIKS.
in all of these the Uzbeks are the newer, the Tajiks the
older, population. Whether they are the aborigines
is another question.
The natives of Aderbijan were said to represent the
Medes rather than the proper Persians. The Tajiks of
the parts under notice are occupants of the ancient
Bactria ; Bactria and Sogdiana. Their land is the Trans-
oxiana of. the classical, the Mahawulnaher of the Arabic,
writers. In Bokhara they are called Sarts.
In Persia proper a Tajik is a Tajik as opposed to an
Iliyat ; the Iliyat being an Arab, a Turkoman, or a Kurd,
as the case may be.
On the Oxus a Tajik is a Tajik as opposed to an Uzbek ;
who, besides being a Turk and a nomadj is also a political
superior.
In Afghanistan a Tajik is a Tajik as opposed to an
Afghan or Hazareh.
In Biluchistan he stands in contrast to the Biluch and
Brahui.
The names are
In Persia Tajik.
— Bokhara Sart.
— Afghanistan Deggaun.
— Biluchistan Dehwaur.
A Tajik is also called, in the non-Persian countries,
a Parsiwan.
Tajiks maybe found as far from Persia as Chinese Tur-
kestan— even further. Dr. Falconer tells me that, when
in Cashmir, he met with one from the drainage of the
Irawadi.
In the villages round all the great tovnis of Afghanistan
Tajiks abound. Those on the Caubul river are specially
called Caubulis. In
Seistaun the mass of the population is Tajik. The very
THE TAJIKS. 195
oldest occupants, however, either in fact or by hypothesis,
are the fenmen of the great lake. They are said to differ
from the ordinary Seistaunis both in form and habits.
They are big, black, and ill-featured. They dwell in
hovels of reed. They employ themselves in fishing and
fowling. They are probably the ordinary inhabitants
under certain physical conditions — the conditions that, in
Africa, give us negros.
As Aderbijan was Mede, as the Oxus was Bactrian, as
Fars is Persian in the stricter sense of the term, so is
Khorasan Parthian ; and as the Parthians were, in all
probability, Turkomans from Tartary, it is likely that the
blood of even the Tajiks is mixed ; the mixture being of
ancient date.
I follow Elphinstone in calling the Seistaunis Tajiks.
Whether, however, they have all the Tajik characters is
doubtful. In the desert district, their occupations and
habits must be, more or less, those of the Iliyats. It is
only certain that they are Persians rather than either
Afghans or Biluches.
I am unable to say what latitude maybe given to the term.
As long as we have the Persian tongue, the Shiite creed,
and the settled habitation, along with an Iliyat neighbour,
with whom he may be contrasted, we have a full and perfect
Tajik. But what if, with one characteristic retained, we
lose another ? What if we have men whose language and
blood are more or less Persian, but whose habits are pas-
toral ? What if we find them the sole occupants of their
area, instead of being in contact with Iliyats ? What if
they be independent ? What if they fall in tribes ?
What if their speech be akin to that of Persia rather
than actually Persian ? What if — we may go on asking
questions of this kind far faster than they can be answered.
And after all they may be questions concerning names
o 2
196 THE TAJIKS.
rather than facts. The fact that we must best understand
is the following : viz. that there are certain populations in
contact with the Afghans and the Uzbeks who are more
Persian than either Uzbek or Afghan. Pro tantOj they
are Tajik.
In the Gilzye portion of the Afghan country lies the
occupancy of
The BvTuhi of Logur and Butkauk. Tradition^ or
what passes as such, not ooly makes the Buruki foreign
to their present localities, but gives, as the date of their
settlementi the eleventh century, it being the Sultan
Mahmud who settled them. Whence did he transplant
them ? This is unknown. Some deduce them from the
Kurds. They themselves claim an Arab extraction.
They fall into tribes, each tribe with a chief of its
own, and with separate lands and strongholds. They
are good soldiers, and, as such, respected by the Af-
ghans. Eight thousand families is about the number
of the Buruki.
The Purmuliy or Fermuli, whose numbers are about
equal to those of the Buruki, reside in the Kharoti
country ; the parts about Orghun being Fermuli. Others
live to the west of Caubul. They are brave and war-
like, carrying on unceasing hostilities with the Kharoti
tribes around them. Some, too, are soldiers in the
regular army of the Amir. Many are engaged in trade ;
more in husbandry. Their origin is obscure.
The Shulmani seem to have moved from south to north,
from the banks of the Korrum, which was their earliest
locality, to the parts about the Tira range. At the end
of the fifteenth century they are in Hustnugger, whence
they are expelled by the Eusofzye. There are still a
few who retain a peculiar form of speech, of which I
have not seen a specimen.
THE TAJIKS.
iy7
The Tiri are a small tribe in the Shainwari country.
Eogliflh.
Bnroki.
Engliih.
Bnniki.
Head
Bar
ViUage
gram
Nose
neni
Hotue
ner
Eye
tsimi
Egg
wolkh
Ear
goi
Milk
pikakh
Tooth
gisM
Fish
mahi
Sun
toayi
One
she
Moon
marwokh
Tiffo
do
Star
Btura
Three
glie
Day
rofih
Four
tshar
Night
gha
Five
peig
Fire
arong
Six
kaha
Water
wokh
Seven
wo
Stone
gap
Eight
antsh
Tree
darakt
Nine
noh
City
kshar
Ten
das.
The Sirdehehs are a
small tribe who live at Sirdeh to
the south-east of Ghu.
zni.
All these populations eith
er now lie
or originally lay
to the south
of the
Caubi
il river ; indeed, with the
exception of the Shulmanis
of the Hustnugger district,
all do so^ even now.
198 THE BILUCHES.
CHAPTER XXII.
The Blluch Tribes.
The Biluch. — Biluchistan is the land of the Biluches^
just as Afghanistan is that of the Afghans^ and Hindostan
that of the Hindus.
The Biluch are all but Persians in language. Yet they
are not Tajiks any more than the Kurds are Tajiks. They
are tribesmen. They are herdsmen. They are, more or
less, migrant, and not a little predatory. In habits they
are Iliyats. The Kurds are this ; and, except that Kurd-
istan lies to the west, and Biluchistan to the east of
Persia proper, a Kurd is a Biluch, and a Biluch a Kurd.
There are, of course, differences between the two. They
are, however, unimportant. The skin of the Biluch is
dark. The thirtieth parallel, which (there or thereabouts)
bounds the Biluch country on the north, limits Kurdistan
on the south.
Some of the Biluches live in mud houses; others even
invest themselves in forts ; but the usual lodging is the
tent, or gedaun as it is called. This is made, like that of
the Afghans, of black felt or camlet, stretched over a
frame of wicker-work made of the tamarisk. An assem-
blage of gedauns constitutes a tumun or village, the occu-
pancy of a kheil, the same word we have so often met
with in Afghanistan. So many kheils form a tribe. As
the locality of a Biluch tumun may vary, the name of
THE BILUCHES. 199
the kheil may vary also ; the name itself being taken
from the locality, from the head-man in it, or from some
real or accredited quality of the members of which it
consists. In Western Biluchistan we may find one half
of the kheil in gedauns, the other in huts.
A nation that lives in tents must needs be pastoral,
and it is well if it be not predatory also. No Biluch
is free from the character of a robber; least of all
the Biluch of the west. Mounted on camels, frugally
furnished with dates, bread and cheese, and a little
water in a leathern bag, the depredators ride on with
as few stoppages as possible till they come within
a few miles of the spot upon which the attack is
determined. Here they rest their camels. At night
they remount, accomplish the small remainder of their
journey, and make their merciless attack. The spoil
being attained, they prefer to return home by a fresh
route ; always returning expeditiously. There is no
care for camel flesh, and journeys of from eighty to
ninety miles are often made within the four-and- twenty
hours. The number of beasts exceeds that of the men ;
one of whom may manage as many as ten or twelve — all
laden with spoil, and in danger of either pursuit or
attacks by the way. At first the lot of such slaves as
may have been taken is pre-eminently miserable. They
are blindfolded as soon as caught, and tied on the camel
that conveys them to the country of their future masters.
The women's heads and the men's beards are then shaved,
and the hair extirpated with lime. This is to disgrace
them in the eyes of their countrymen should they
succeed in returning to them. However, when once
made safe, they are treated kindly, and soon become
reconciled to their lot, attached to their masters, and (it
is the master that speaks) so unwilling to change their
200 THE BILUCHES.
condition '^that the severest punishment we can inflict
upon them is to turn them about their business.*'
The representative of the Biluches^ in the way of
politics^ is the Khan of Kelaut. The field in which
they show with the greatest historical prominence is
North- Western India^ as will be seen when we treat of
Sind. How far, however, either the annals of the
ELhanat, or the records of the (so-called) Biluch con-
quests of Sind and the neighbouring countries, are
Biluch in the strict ethnological sense of the word, will
be considered when the Brahui tribes come under notice.
At present it is enough to say that a man may be a
Biluchistani, or native of Biluchistan, without being a
true Biluch, just as a man may be a native of Great
Britain without being of British (t. e, Welsh or Cornish)
blood.
THE AFGHANS. 201
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Afghana.— The Western Tribes.— The Durani.— The Ghilzyes.— The
Eastern Afghans.
Afghanistan is the country of the Afghans; whose
language is the Pushtti or Pukhtu.
In India this last name takes the form Patau ; and an
Afghan of India is a Patan.
The Western Afghans. — The Durani. — The western Af-
ghans are more of a pastoral people than the eastern ; not
that the former are all shepherds; nor yet that the latter
are all agriculturists. Neither assertion would be accurate.
Even with the western Afghans, it is only certain that
the extent of land devoted to flocks and herds is greater
than the extent under the plough or spade. That the
number of shepherds is greater than that of the settled
villagers and townsmen is by no means certain. Elphin-
stone considers that it is less. Many tracts are highly
cultivated. The summer station is called the Eilauk,
which is a Turk word. The winter station is called the
Kishlauk, which is a Turk word also. The tent, how-
ever, is called by a native Afghan term, Kizhdee. It is
of coarse camlet and black in colour, so that the Turks
call it KarauUee, and the Persians Siahtshaudur, both of
which words mean black tent. The less a tribe moves the
better its tent. Some, indeed, have two sorts, one
spacious and commodious for the chief residence, the
other lighter and less bulky for the migrations.
202 THE AFGHANS,
There are nine Durani tribes — the Mauku^ the Khou-
gani, and seven others^ the names whereof all end in -zye.
This means the same as Beni in the Arabic and Hebrew
genealogies^ or Mac in the Scotch. Hence («. ^.), the
BaMTik-zye are the Beni Baurik, the Mac Bauriks, or the
Children of Baurik^ a mode of expressing relationship
which by no means implies the personal existence of any
real individual so-called. Some^ perhaps all, of these
nine tribes are divided into kheils ; thus the Suddo-zye is
a division of the Popul-zye. Amongst these kheils^ one
has, generally, a pre-eminence, and supplies the chief, or
khan, of the higher denomination. The Suddo-zye is
the Khan-kheil of the Popul-zye, so far as the sub-
ordination of the former to the latter is a reality. So
great, however, are the privileges of the Suddo-zye that
it may pass for a separate clan rather than a branch of
any tribe.
Following, however the classification of Elphinstone,
we find that the names for the nine Durani tribes are as
follows : — Popul-zye, AUekko-zye, Baurik-zye, Atchik-
zye, Noor-zye, Ali-zye, Iskhauk-zye, and the two others
first named, Khougani and Mauku. Of these, the first
is the largest, the two last the smallest. The influence
of the Amir is more visible among the Duranis than
amongst the other tribes, and the nearer a Durani district
is to Candahar the greater it is. With the more distant
tribes, that of the Sirdars exceeds that of the Central
Government.
In person the Durani are stout and well made, with a
considerable variety of feature. Some have round and
plump faces; with others the countenance is strongly
marked ; with most the cheek-bones are prominent. The
beard is an object of care. The young men clip it into
shape. All, however, encourage its growth. Some of
THE DURANIS. 203
tlie shepherds let their hair grow loose and to its full
lengthy so as to present a wild and shaggy aspect. It is
more usual^ however^ to dress it with some care. A
shaven stripe down the middle of the head is the common
fashion. Long curls are occasional.
They rarely go out armed, except for long journeys, a
matchlock being the ordinary weapon. And this prepares
us for a comparative absence of inter- tribual feuds so com-
mon amongst the eastern Afghans. The influence of the
female is considerable, and few restraints are put upon
her freedom. When the family is by itself, the men and
women eat together ; but at parties they separate. In a
caravan in which Mr. Foster travelled a lady Afghan
took the absolute command. Men marry between eighteen
and twenty, women between fourteen and sixteen. The
Durani dance is called the Attun. It is danced, almost
every evening, vrith songs and tales to accompany it. This
is when the business of tlie day and universal amusement
of the chase is over. It is also after the duties of
religion have been performed. In these the Atchik*
zye tribe alone is negligent ; all the other Duranis being
religiously given — religiously given, but not intolerant.
There is no encampment without a Mollah, and no mem-
ber of it who omits his prayers. The creed is Sunnite.
Few of the lower orders read. Of the higher, many are
familiar with the compositions of the Persian poets.
The love of his country is one of the strong passions of
the Durani Afghan, and holy amongst the holy places of
his land is the Durani city of Candahar. It is in
Candahar that the powerful men of the tribe are chiefly
buried ; and, even when they die at a distance from
Afghanistan, their bodies are carried thither to be
entombed. As a general rule, however, a Durani travels
but little, and rarely as a merchant or adventurer.
204 THE AFGHANS,
Their character is drai/^n favourably both by Elphin-
stone and others^ and, what is more, the evidence of the
rest of the Afghans is cited in confirmation of their good
qualities. The tribes that least like their rule speak of
them with respect, and praise them as compared with any
third ruler, actual or possible. It is a merit of the Durani
in the eyes of the other Afghans that they have replaced
and keep out the Ghilzyes; for the Ghilzye rule is gene-
rally deprecated, and the Ghilzye ascendancy dreaded.
Even the Ghilzyes themselves admit the hospitality and
bravery of the Duranis.
From this favourable character one tribe must be ex-
cepted— that of the Children of Atshik or the Atchik-
zye, a tribe whose highest numbers are under 5000.
They are pre-eminently pastoral, keeping their flocks in
the valleys and heights of the Khojeh Amram and the high
country of Toba, and their camels in the sandy plain of
Shorabuk, where they are conterminal with the Barait-
shes. They wear their beards undipped, their clothes
unchanged for years ; are large, strong, quarrelsome men ;
inhospitable; without mosques or MoUahs, careless in
the performance of their religious duties (but withal
intolerant), and inveterate robbers. The Durani, un-
willingly owning them as kinsmen, admit their courage,
their fidelity, and their value as soldiers.
The Ghilzye is the second great name in Afghanistan.
The number of its divisions is eight, the Ghilzye
analogues of the Populzye, &c., being as follows: —
1st and 2nd — the clans of Hotuki and Tohki, from
the first of which have sprung the kings, from the second
Vizirs, of the Ghilzye dynasty.
3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th — the clans of Solimaun-kheil,
Ali-kheil, Suhauk, Under, and Turruki.
8th — the Kharoti.
THK GHILZYES. 205
To these add the division of the Shirpau^ no true kheil
or clan^ but an association formed out of the other
eight.
Of these^ the Solimaun-kheil is by far the most im-
portant, amounting to between 30,000 and 35,000 fami-
lies. The following are its subdivisions : —
The Kyser-kheil and Summul-zye (or Ismael-zye)
who live in a state of comparative independence, and
with migratory habits, to the south and east of Ghuzni ;
The Staunizyes, and the
Ahmed- zyes — the former agricultural, the latter pas-
toral.
The Ghilzyes of the Durani frontier resemble the
Duranis, with whom they most especially come in contact.
Thus — it is chiefly in their form of government that the
Tohki and Hotuki are other than Durani. The Turruki
recede still more from the Durani type, and the Unders
more than the Turruki. The direction of the Ghilzye
country is from north-east to south-west, the Kyser-
kheil and Xharoti being the most eastern, and the Ah-
medzye, the Suhauk, and the tribes about the city of
Caubul, being the most northern. Ghuzni, too, is Ghil-
zye, lying between the occupancies of the Unders and the
Alikheil.
I have remarked that the first distinction drawn between
a Ghilzye and a Durani is a political one. The Governments
of the two divisions differ. Among the Durani, though the
power of the Amir and the authority of the Sirdars
were, to a great extent, in the inverse ratio to each other,
there was, still, a large amount of authority on both
sides. The Ghilzyes are much more lightly ruled. Their
constitution, however, is less democratic than that of
Eastern Afghans, the chief of whom are
The Berdurani tribes. — The Berduranis are the Afghans
206 THE AFGHANS.
of the north-eastern parts of Afghanistan, occupying the
lower course of the Caubul river, and the parts between
the Indus, the Hindu Cush, and the Salt Range. The
Ghilzyes bound them on the west. On the north they
touch the populations akin to the Siaposh, on the east
the Indians of Hindostan. As a general rule, the Indus
is their boundary. Here and there, however, there is a
Berdurani occupancy beyond it. Peshawur is the chief
Berdurani town.
The tribes of the parts about Peshawur are the follow-
ing five — the Children of Mahomed, the Children of
David (Mahomed-zye and Dawiid-zye), the Momunds,
the Guggiani, and the Khulils. The Mahomed-zye and
Guggiani, strictly obedient to the Amir and their own
chief, occupy the parts about Hust-nugger, or the Eight
Villages. The Momunds of the plain, or Lower Mo-
munds, are also British subjects ; in this difiering from the
Upper Momunds, who will be noticed in the sequel.
The Khuttuks (British subjects) lie to the south of the
Caubul river, and to the west of the Indus ; a portion
of them having extended itself into Hindostan. They
fall into two divisions. The further they lie south the
greater their independence. The northern Khuttuks
are fairer in complexion than the tribes of Peshawur,
though more or less Indian in dress and habits. The
southern Elhuttuks occupy a more impracticable country,
and are ruder.
The Bung^h (British subjects) occupy the valley so-
called.
The Khyberis are the tribes of the famous Khyber Pass.
Word for word, I believe their name to be Kafir. I
think that the name is well explained by supposing that,
after the infidels of the parts around them had thrown off
their infidelity, the men of the inaccessible ranges of the
THE AFRIDIS. 207
Khyber mountaiii continued to retain theirs^ just as, at the
present moment, the Kafirs of Kafiristan do. There is
another point connected with this name that deserves
notice. A supposed connection between the Afghans
and the Jews has commanded no little attention from
more learned men than one. Now, one of the points that
favour, or are supposed to favour the doctrine, is the
similarity between the words Kyber and Heber (Hebrew).
The Khyber division consists of three independent
tribes — the Shainwairis of little, the Urukzyes of great,
and the Afridis of very great, political importance.
The Urukzye are herdsmen and soldiers, soldiers and
herdsmen — ^herdsmen who are, more or less, migratory in
their habits. In the winter they live along the lower
levels of the Kohaut and Tiri hills. In the summer they
drive their flocks and herds to the mountain tops. Three
of the divisions — (a) the Shikhan, (i) the Mishti, and
(c) the Rabewkheil, occupy districts on the British
boundary.
The most important, however, of our frontagers are the
Afridis, who are wholly independent, fierce, factious,
inaccessible, and strong — said (and, perhaps with reason,)
to be faithless.
The A&idis are important from their numbers. They
are also important from the passes of which they are the
custodians. They cut in between the British districts
of Peshawur and Kohat, so that the road between them
runs through the Afridi country. It runs through two
passes, the Kohat, and the Gulli or Jewaki. Each of
these has been the subject of more than one quarrel
between either the Afridis amongst themselves, the
Afridis and some neighbouring tribe, or the Afridis and
the British Government. The tribes thus mixed up
with the politics of the frontier are (besides the Bun-
208 THE AFGHANS.
gush^ already mentioned^ and the Jewaki, Bori, Bussikheil^
and Bustikheil sections of the Afridi name), those of
TheSipah . .500)
-Buzotu . . 300 I fighting men.
Small as these tribes are, they are independent.
The Khyber pass itself, to the west of Peshawur, is
about twenty-five miles long, rugged, narrow, tortuous, and
often enclosed by precipitous and perpendicular walls of
rock. Essentially predatory, the tribes on each side of it
are largely paid for the permission to pass ; largely, but
not always suflBiciently ; a Khyberi escort being, by no
means, sufficient to ensure a safe passage through the
Khyberi country.
The Khyberis are lean, but muscular, dark-skinned,
with prominent cheek-bones and high noses. This is also
the Kurd physiognomy. In the vallies they have the
terraced houses so common in Afghanistan ; in the moun-
tains, movable huts of mat. In some parts they are
truly troglodyte ; occupants of excavations in the rock.
A dark turban, a dark blue tunic, and sandals of straw —
this is the dress of a Khyberi, whose arms are a sword,
a short spear, and a matchlock with a wooden fork to
serve as a rest. Their habits make them excellent
marksmen and good soldiers, so far as they can be
relied upon for keeping their hands from plunder ; for
they love this better than fighting, and may fall upon
the baggage of the army to which they belong, if they
find it unguarded. This they did in the battle that lost
Shah Shu j ah his crown.
The Children of Joseph — the Eusof-zye — are, perhaps,
the most uncontrolled of all the Afghans. They are also
amongst the most quarrelsome. Divided into numerous
small communities, chiefly democratic, their form of
government is eminently patriarchal. Contrasted with
THE EUSOFZYB. 209
the feudalism of the Duranis, the Eusofzye system re-
minds us of the Lesgian and Mizhdzhedzhi communities
of eastern Caucasus as opposed to the Circassian aristo-
cracies of the west.
The Eusofzye division is numerous — numerous^ but
closely packed ; for it is agricultural rather than pastoral,
and it occupies warm and fruitful valleys rather than
bleak and barren mountains. Its eastern limits touch
the Indus, and, at one point, cross it ; for the district of
Drumtour on the eastern side of that river is Eusofzye,
just as another district, lower down, is Khuttuk.
The limits of the Eusofzyes touch the Indus on one side
and the Punjkora on the other. On the south they
extend to the Caubul. The northern part of the plain
of Peshawur is Eusofzye. So is the valley of Bunir.
So also those of Swaut, Punjkora, and Chumla. In all
these the Eusofzyes have been encroachers, and in all
of them the older population, although it has retired,
is still represented. As a general rule, the higher the
level of the valley the more aboriginal and the less Eusof-
zye its character. Let us remember this ; also remember-
ing that between the valleys there are hill-ranges as well
as at the head of them. The plain belongs to the Afghan,
the hill-range to the tribes he has dispossessed.
Swaut, Bunir, Punjkora, and the Eusofzye part of
the valley of the Caubul, are the lands of the Akkozye, the
Mullezye, and the Lawezye. Each clan owns his share
of the soil, to which the original occupant is bound as
a serf, under the denomination of fakir. The principle
upon which the land is divided is so remarkable that I
shall give it in extenso, and in the very words of Elphin-
stone : — " Each of these clans divided its lands among its
khails at a general meeting of the clan, and this arrange-
ment was repeated throughout all the subordinate divisions.
VOL. II. P
210 THE AFGHANS.
Each of the khails receives its lands in perpetuity ; but
a different arrangement v^as adopted within itself. The
lands of each of its divisions were allotted only for a certain
number of years, and were to be changed at the end of
that period for those of some other, so that each might
share equally in the fertility or sterility of the soil.
Thus, each independent division of the Khauzoozyes
retains the lands assigned to it at the original distri-
bution ; but the subdivisions interchange their lands, in a
manner which I shall endeavour to illustrate by the
example of the Naikpeekhail, a division of the Khail of
Khauzoozye, and clan of Accozye, which is now an in-
dependent Oolooss, divided into six clans.
" The lands of the Naikpeekhail are divided into two
parts, equal in extent, but, of course, not exactly equal
in fertility ; the Oolooss is also divided into two parts,
which draw lots every ten years for the choice of land.
If the lot falls on the half which is already possessed of
the best share, it retains its possession ; but if it falls on
the other half, an immediate exchange takes place. The
two half Ooloosses meet every ten years to draw lots, at
a village which lies on the borders of the two shares of
lands. Vast numbers of people attend to witness the
ceremony ; but as the exultation of the victors, and the
anger of the vanquished party, would produce tumults
in such an assembly, the Mulliks put off drawing the
lots on various pretences, till the people get impatient,
and return to their homes. When the crowd is dispersed,
the chief of the whole Naikpeekhail draws the lots, and
announces the result, which is received in the victorious
party with public distributions of charity, firing of
matchlocks, and all other marks of rejoicing. The
change of lands is accomplished without much trouble or
confusion ; each clan of one half Oolooss is paired with a
THE EUSOrZYE. 211
clan of the other, and the two thus paired, cross over into
each other's lands.
** When the lot has deteimined that the half Ooloosses
are to retain their former lands, the three clans of each
cast lots among themselves for a new distribution of their
share, which is divided into three portions.
^* On the two last occasions, when lots were drawn among
the Naikpeekhail, the half which had the worst share was
successful each time, and, in consequence, there have been
two complete interchanges of land within the last four-
teen years. It is impossible not to suppose that the
uncertain tenure on which the lands are held under this
institution, must be a great bar to improvement ; but, in
spite of this obstacle, the Eusofzye country is cultivated
with great industry and success, and the villages, water-
courses, and other immovable property, are as good as
in most parts of Afghaunistaun. It might also be ex-
pected, that there would be a civil war in the Oolooss, as
often as the land was to be exchanged ; and, in fact, at
the expiration of the last term but one, the half of the
Naikpeekhail which was in possession of the best lands,
refused to submit to the usual custom of drawing lots.
The MuUiks of the other half complained loudly of
this injustice, and called on all the other Accozyes to
prevent the subversion of the ancient custom of the
tribe ; so many Ooloosses declared in their favour, that
their opponents were forced to give way, and to draw
lots as usual.
" This custom is called Waish. It prevails through the
whole of the Eusofzyes, and also among the Mahommed-
zyes. The period for which the lands are to be retained,
however, varies throughout. In Boonere, for instance,
the Waish is performed annually. Among the Jadoons,
a branch of the Eusofzyes, individuals interchange
p 2
212 THE AFGHANS.
among themselves^ but there is no Waish among clans.
With the Otmaunkhail, on the contrary, the \?hole tribe
cast lots every twenty years. Among the Gundehpoors
in Damaun, also, the lands are divided into six shares,
corresponding to the number of clans in the tribe, and
all the clans draw lots for the order in which they are to
choose their shares. The period at which this ceremony
is to be renewed, is not fixed permanently as among the
Eusofzyes, but while one Waish is taking place, it is
determined in the council of the tribe, when the next is
to happen; the term is generally from three to five
years. What is most surprising is, that all these trans-
actions take place among the lawless Gundehpoors,
without quarrels or bloodshed.
^^ None of the eastern Afghauns but those already
mentioned, and two or three clans of the Oorookzyes,
have this custom. There are some traces of its having
prevailed among some tribes in Khorassaun, but the only
remaining instance of its existence that has reached me,
is among the Baraiches, where village sometimes draws
lots with village, or man with man, but without any
Waish among clans.*'
One of the Eusofzye saints pronounced upon his
countrymen that they should always be free, but never
united. And his prophecy has been true. Few com-
munities are more anarchic. No Eusofzye chief has
authority equal to a constable in England.
*' I shall illustrate the above observations by an account
of the proceedings of a part of the Ghalleekhail, one of
the clans of the Naikpeekhail.
** The part of the Ghalleekhail which I am to speak
of, inhabits at present the village of Galoche, which is
shared by portions of three other clans. Each clan lives
separately under its own chief (who is called Mushir,
THE EUSOFZYE. 213
and who is subordinate to the Mullik of his own clan)^
and these quarters of the village are called Cundies. All
the relations of each Cundj are to its own clan^ and it
does not seem more connected with the other Cundies in
the same village, than if they lived in different parts of
the country. The Mushir of each Cundy maintains a
public apartment, where all councils are held ; here also
the men meet to converse and amuse themselves; and
here they receive guests and transact all public business,
unmixed with the members of the other Cundies. Such
an assembly of discordant materials into one spot, can-
not take place without frequent convulsions. Accord-
ingly, scarce a day passes without a quarrel : if there is
a dispute about water for cultivation, or the boundaries
of a field, swords are drawn, and wounds inflicted, which
lead to years of anxiety and danger, and end in assas-
sination. Each injury produces fresh retaliation, and
hence arise ambuscades, attacks in the streets, murders of
men in their houses, and all kinds of suspicion, confusion,
and strife.
'^ As these feuds accumulate, there is scarce a man of
any consequence who is not upon the watch for his life.
In every village are seen men always in armour, to
secure them from the designs of their secret enemies,
and others surrounded by hired soldiers, to the
number of ten or twelve, and sometimes of fifty or a
hundred.
** Anwur Khaun, the Mullik of the Ghalleekhail,
always sleeps in his Hoojra, or public apartment, away
from his women, surrounded by his male relations ; his
servants all sleep round, except four or five, who keep
watch ; all have their arms ready by them, and if one of
them goes beyond the threshold of the apartment, he
must be guarded by four or five armed men. I have
214 THE AFGHANS.
been told by Mozirrib Kbaun (the nephew of Anwur
KhauD, a lad about eighteen years old), that he has seen
several attacks on this apartment by one of the Cundies
of the same village, but they failed from the alertness of
the defendants.*'
Of the more anarchic clans the Naikpeekhail seem to
be the worst. The following is a sample of their quar-
rels. The father of a Naikpeekhail Eusofzye, named
Mozirrib, ^* had a dispute with a man named Sirundauz,
about the boundaries of their lands : high words passed,
and in the end Mozirrib 's father was wounded. Anwur
Khaun, his brother, and uncle to Mozirrib, is the head of
all the Ghalleekhail, yet he had no means of redress be-
yond those possessed by any other individual. A Jeerga
was held on the occasion, which does not seem to have
had much effect. A few days afterwards, when Anwur
Khaun went to the Hoojra, accompanied by Mozirrib,
then only sixteen, and ten or twelve of his relations,
some well armed, and others having only their swords,
they found Sirundauz there, with twenty of his friends
in full armour. This did not deter Anwur Khaun from
reproaching him with his behaviour ; his attack brought
on the usual consequences, a desperate affiray took place,
in which Mozirrib received a severe cut on his head, and
Anwur Khaun was covered with wounds ; many of his
relations were also wounded. A son of Sirundauz, and
another of his partisans, were killed. As Anwur Khaun
had killed the first man, he was considered to be in the
wrong, and was obliged to fly with all his family. At
last he was wearied with his exile, and submitted to
Sirundauz, giving him his sister and his niece (a sister of
Mozirrib 's). Sirundauz behaved with courtesy ; he said
he considered Anwur's sister as his own, and restored her
to her relations ; but he kept the other without marrying
THE EUSOFZYB. 215
her (for the Naikpeekhail never marry a woman given in
price of blood)^ and from that day Mozirrib saw his sister
no more. The pursuit of blood had, indeed, been put an
end to, but no intercourse took place among the families;
Sirundauz and Anwur never meet when they can avoid
it, and when they do, they turn their heads away.
Mozirrib, in answer to a question, what he would do, if
he met Sirundauz alone, replied that he would instantly
attack him, that he might anticipate the assault which
Sirundauz would assuredly make on him. Such fury
after a reconciliation would be blamed even among the
Naikpeekhail, but says Mozirrib, ' A man's heart burns
for his relation that was killed.' "
One of the commoner causes of war between tribe and
tribe arises out of the abduction of a woman from one
Ulus to another, or from an elopement from a man's
own Ulus to another; abduction being common, and
sanctuary in the case of elopement never being denied.
Thus — " The wife of a Fakeer of the Naikpeekhail
eloped into the lands of the Bauboozyes. The Fakeer
followed with some of his relations to kill his wife ; and
as he was lurking about for this purpose in the night, he
was set upon and killed, with one of his relations, by the
person who had carried off the girl, and some of his new
protectors. When the news reached the Naikpeekhail,
their Khaun sent a drummer to summon the Mulliks of
the six clans, and consulted with them on the propriety
of a war. The Mulliks returned to their clans, and con-
versed with the heads of Cundies, who took the sense of
the people at meetings in the Hoojra ; all were eager for
revenge, and in three days the whole Oolooss assembled
in arms, and marched on the same night to an embank-
ment which turned part of the river of Swaut into the
lands of the Bauboozyes. They broke down the em-
216 THE AFGHANS.
bankmenty and erected a redoubt to prevent its being
rebuilt.
" The Bauboozyes, who saw the water cut off from
their cultivation, immediately assembled, and marched
against the redoubt. The Naikpeekhail were six thou-
sand, and the Bauboozyes much more numerous. Both
sides had some horse, and some hundred Jailumees (cham-
pions distinguished by a fantastic dress, and bound to
conquer or die).
** The rest were a mob, some in thick quilted jackets,
some in plate armour, some in coats of mail, and others
in leathern cuirasses; all armed either with bows or
matchlocks, and with sword^ shields, long Afghaun
knives, and iron spears.
** When the armies came in sight, they at first fired on
each other; afterwards the Jailumees turned out, and
engaged with the sword; at last the main bodies came
into close combat. The brave men on each side were
mixed together, and fought hand to hand ; the cowards,
who were much the greater number, hung back on both
sides, but joined in the general clamour; every man
shouted and reviled his adversaries with as loud a voice
as he could. Even the women of the Fakeers (for those
of the Eusofzyes could not appear in public) stood
behind the line, beating drums, and distributing water to
refresh the weary. At last both sides were exhausted,
and retired to their homes.
" Numbers on both sides were killed and wounded. It
was, says my informant, a tremendous battle ; songs were
made on it, and the news went to Peshawer to the king.
" It led, however, to no important result ; the redoubt
remained, the lands of the Bauboozyes were ruined for
want of water, the war continued for three years, many
other Ooloosses joined each side, and the whole country
THE EUSOrZYE. 217
up to the mountains was embroiled. At last many
Khauns of neutral Ooloosses interposed, and meditated a
peace."
In making the Naikpeekhail the most lawless of the
Eusofzjes we have shown that there are degrees in their
anarchy. In some cases, indeed, there is an approach to
an organized consolidation of power in the hands of some
powerful or astute chief. Such a one was Kaussim Khan,
chief of MuUizyes, who succeeded in making for himself
a power of life and death over his Ulus, and of abolish-
ing private warfare. Some of this power he obtained by
policy, some by war against the Kafirs of his frontier.
The whole number of Eusofzyes, including their
fakirs and dependants, may amount to 900,000, though
Elphinstone is unwilling to carry it higher than 700,000.
The fakirs form more than half. Some of these are of
Afghan blood, who have been reduced to migrate from
their own district and become serfs in the country in which
they found refuge. Some are of Indian origin — Hindkis
and Cashmirians. The majority, however, are the old
occupants of the land — Deggauns and Swautis.
Many of the Eusofzyes have fair complexions, grey
eyes, and red beards. They are stout and brave ; quar-
relsome, as has been said ; proud, as living as masters
among slaves. Their morality is best in the high country ;
worst in the plains, where it is bad ; very bad — where
idleness induces vice, gambling, bang-eating, opium-*
eating, and worse. The influence, on the other hand, of
the MoUahs is great — tyrannical. For an omission of the
regular prayers, or neglect of the fasts, they either inflict
bodily punishment, or disgrace the offender by public ex-
posure on an ass. The intolerance is in proportion to
their immorality.
When an Eusofzye becomes impoverished, the spirit
218 THE AFGHANS.
of clanship steps in to save hiin from disgrace. A sub-
scription is raised to set him up again. Sometimes
(though this is discreditable) he goes the round of the
villages^ and^ stopping outside each^ waves his loongee.
This ensures a contribution. Or he may go on a pilgri-
mage to» Mecca, or he may seek his fortunes in India.
And this is a common resource. Notwithstanding the
love of their country so general to mountaineers, and which
is not less strong, but rather stronger, in Afghanistan
than elsewhere, the numbers of Patans (for so they are
called in India) in Hindostan, sometimes mixed vnth the
native Indians, sometimes collected together under their
own chiefs, is very great. Of the Afghan settlements in
India by far the most important is that of the Rohillas,
a settlement which will require a separate notice.
Next to the Eusofzye come the Turkaun (or Turco-
launi) and the Othmankail, the former in Bajour, the
latter in the hills between Bajour and Swaut. The Bauz,
or chief of the Turcolauni, has great power over his tribe.
There are no fakirs in the Turcolauni country.
The Upper Momunds are connected with the Khyberis
rather than the Momunds of the plain of Peshawur, or
Lower Momunds. They occupy the hill-range between
the Punjkora, and the Kuner rivers. The Currapa,
between Peshawur and Jellalabad, is in the Upper Mo-
mund country. Mulliks have considerable power over their
separate clans, but not so much as to dispense with refe-
rences to the Jirgas. The Khan is only powerful through
his influence vrith the Mulliks, except in the time of war.
He has no revenue from his tribe at all. He has, how-
ever, a salary from the Amir, from whom he also holds
lands. This is the price for the Currapa pass being
kept passable, and for a contingent to the royal army. A
single Momund, as an escort, ensures the safety of a
s
THE TURTS, ETC. 219
traveller through the Momund country. Without one
you are sure of being robbed. Two kheils of the Upper
Momunds are nomad, and move in the spring with their
camels and black tents to the head waters of the Hel-
mund.
For the remaining tribes we have no longer any general
name like Berdurani, Ghilzye, or Durani. We may,
however, for the sake of convenience, designate the
majority of them as the Afghans of the Punjab frontier ;
some of them being the Afghans of the Damaun —
the Damaun meaning the eastern skirt of the Solimani
range. Others are true mountaineers.
The Turis touch the Upper Bungush ; the Jaujis the
Turis ; the frontier being a scene of inveterate hostility.
The Turis are Shiah, rather than Sunnite Mahometans.
Some of the Jaujis live in houses half sunk in the earth.
The Esaukheil occupy not only the banks of the
Indus, but some of its islands ; cultivators of wheat and
occupants of villages, but still lawless robbers.
In the valley of Bunnti, which belongs to British India,
the population is mixed in origin. It has a bad name.
Before the conquest of the Sikh empire there was
chronic warfare along the whole Bunnu frontier ; for
the warlike Yiziris were continually making raids upon
the valley. The effect of this was to coop-up the Bun-
ntiches in small high- walled villages, and to limit their
locomotion to the parts immediately under their shelter.
It is evident that Mr. Temple, from whose report the
newer notices of the frontier tribes is, for the most part,
taken, lays great stress upon what he calls ^' the propen*
sity inherent in the Bunntiches to surround themselves
with walk," and the ** morbid desire to wall themselves
in *' as physical influences. He says that, as a general
rule, they have lived, from their childhood, " within four
220 THE AFGHANS.
square walls twenty-feet high ; " and that many of them
have never been more than a few miles from their native
village. Hence^ they stand in an unfavourable contrast
to their neighbours. Hence, they are under-sized, and
sallow-skinned. As is the body, so is the nund. Their
moral qualities are of the worst. They are capable of
reckless perjury, of deliberate assassination. It is
admitted, however, that they are quiet, orderly, and
regular in revenue matters. It is suggested, too, that
some noble characters have arisen amongst them. Upon
the whole, however, their name is a bad one. The first
settlement of the aifairs of the Bunnii valley was effected
by Major Edwards ; in whose Year on the frontier of the
Punjab the first full account of the Bunnu population
is given.
Bunnu is British, Dour is independent ; or rather the
Amir of Caubul is free to take it to himself. It has not
been treated as a portion of the Sikh empire. Its popu«
lation, like that of Bunnu, is mixed.
The Yiziri is one of the more important names of
Afghanistan. The tribes it embraces (divisions and sub-
divisions) are numerous. The men who bear it are brave,
active, warlike, and predatory. They are amongst the
rudest of the Afghans. They have the credit, perhaps, of
being ruder than they are. Their occupancy is in the
mountains^ to the back, and on each side, of Bunnii and
Dour. They may muster, perhaps, 30,000 men. They
quarrel, however, amongst themselves ; so that the whole
force of the name is scarcely destined to be ever enlisted
in the same cause.
I have said that the Bunni& valley has been the
scene of inroad after inroad. It has, for the most part^
been the Viziris who were the aggressors* Indeed,
some of them have effected permanent settlements in
THE DAMAUNS. 221
the valley, transforming themselves into agriculturalists.
These are British subjects. A few of their mountaineer
brethren may admit the authority of the Amir of Cau-
bul. The mass, however, is, both in practice and theory,
thoroughly independent.
The chief division is into the Ahmedzyes, and the 0th-
manzyes. To the former belong
The Hatti . . . kheil
— Sudun
— Mohmund
— Bezund
To the latter
The Sirke . . . kheil
— Omerzye
— Paenduh kheil
— Bodin . . .
The Bukki | The Jani
The Nurmi.
Other divisions are, the Toroe, the Khojul, the Gunge,
the Husein, the Taze, and (more important, from the cir-
cumstance of their having been mixed up with the quarrels
of the frontier) the Muhsud, and the Kabulkheil.
The Murwuts are, I believe, wholly British. They are
stout active men, of mixed habits (t. e. they are, more or
less, agricultural as well as pastoral) who have been once
more predatory than they are now.
The Damaun tribes are more or less migratory. Many,
too, are more or less mercantile. This gives a greater
mixture of manners than we find amongst the Berduranis.
Their dress is more Indian than their look ; for many of
them are fair rather than dark.
Of the particular tribes each has something character-
istic and differential.
The Gundehpoors are, perhaps, the rudest ; the Bau-
burs the most civilized. They have among them not only
merchants but capitalists; and properties as large as
£30,000, an immense treasure for these parts, are perfectly
222 THE AFGHANS.
safe. A portion of the Bauburs live in Sehra, beyond
the Solimani range, contiguous to the Shirauni, whom
they resemble.
The Damaun tribes put a control upon their natural
lawlessness by the election of temporary and responsible
magistrates, armed with power sufficient to keep the
peace, but not sufficient to endanger the freedom of the
tribe. They are selected from each kheil in such pro-
portions as to make up the number of forty in all;
whence they are called Chelwashtis, from the Pushtu
word chelwasht = forty. Their head, or fore man, is
styled the Amir of the Chelwashtis. The whole tribe
bind themselves by oath, on his election, to support his
authority ; being at the same time fully prepared, both
to watch its exercise, and to check its abuse. The
Meankheil has four Amirs, and suffers from the division
of power and responsibility accordingly. The Chelwashti
system, though a characteristic of the Damaun tribes,
is by no means either universal throughout the Damaun,
or limited thereto. Of the Damaun tribes two dispense
with it. Of the tribes other than Damaun two or more
adopt it — the Shiraunis, and the Gilzyes of Kuttawauz.
The Chelwashti system has been noticed as Tajik. It is
also Nausser.
The Meankheil tribe is remarkable for being but incom-
pletely Afghan, inasmuch as one out of the four parts of
which it consists is Baktiari, the Baktiari being Persians.
The Storianis are so thoroughly a frontier tribe that
part of their area has been conquered from the Biluches.
This serves as their winter station, their summer one
being in the high country belonging to the Mussakheil
Cankers. A quarrel, however, with one of the tribes
whose land lay between the two points made the migra-
tions impracticable. So half the tribe sold its flocks and
THE SHERAUNIS. 223
took to tillage at once ; and the other half, with the ex-
ception of two clans, did the same soon afterwards.
These two pastoral clans of the Storiani have Spusta, on
the south-western skirts of the Tukt-i-Soliman, as their
summer settlement.
The Sheraunis are the occupants of the Tukt-i-Soli-
man. They are pre-eminently agricultural, cultivating
wheat, practising irrigation, keeping but few horses or
camels and more oxen than sheep — hardy and frugal.
They have bold features, grey eyes, and high cheek-bones.
They never kill an ox ; but, should one die, cut its throat
with certain ceremonies prescribed by their religion, and
eat it in defiance of their religion ; for the Koran forbids
the use of flesh of animals that die of disease as human
food. They marry late ; and the father gives his daugh-
ter a dowry instead of selling her (as is usually the cus-
tom) for a price. They have no serfs, no domestic servants.
The few artificers and tradesmen of their country are
Hindus or settlers from the Damaun. All the tribes
that make their annual migrations through the Sherauni
country have to fight their way : a traveller, however,
with a native escort may pass through it in safety. The
chief of the Sheraunis is called Nika or grandfather. He
is elected as the head of the oldest Sherauni family, and
is believed to be imder the special guidance of Heaven.
From every keeper of sheep he receives a lamb annually;
from every keeper of oxen a calf ; to omit the payment
of which is to ensure some misfortune to the family of
the defaulter. The Nika is the only true and legitimate
judge. He hears the case, puts up a prayer to be enabled
to decide justly, and is sure of his injunction being
obeyed, for the fear of divine punishment is its sanction.
The Chelwashti system is most in force in the parts dis-
tant from the Nika's residence ; the two authorities being
ii24f THE SHERAUNIS.
in the inverse ratio to each other. There is a Mullah in
each village, who takes a tythe.
The Khan of Murhail is under the Nika of the
Sheraunis, the Murhai country heing Spusta. The
tribe itself is pre-eminently pastoral, and resides in tents.
The tribes of Hurrepaul and Kuppeep are branches
of the Sherauni.
Where the Sherauni portion of the Solimani range
ends, the Zmurri portion begins. The Zmurris are said
to rob less than the Sheraunis ; but in other respects to
resemble them. They are the most southern Afghans
of the main ridge of the Solimani range.
THE CAUKER8, 225
CHAPTER XXIV.
Certain equiyocal Afghans. — The Baraich. — The Terina.— The Caukera. —
The KaoaaerB.
Seistan lies on the rivers Helmund and Furrarud.
Shoraubuk, due east of Seistan, lies on the Lora. It is
the occupancy of the Baraich.
East of Shoraubuky and higher up on the Lora, is
Pishin. Pishin is the occupancy of the Tor Teiin.
East of the Terin districts lies the land of the Caukers.
1 . The Baraich are divided into four clans, each of which
has a Khan at its head, who, acknowledging the su-
premacy of the Amir of Cabul, pays a tribute of a
hundred horses. The Baraich are great camel-breeders.
2. The Tor, or Black Terin occupy Pishin.
3. The Spin, or White Terin reside in the valley of
Zawura, and in the open plains Tull and Chutialli.
Stretching into Cutch Gundava, they well nigh touch
the Indian frontier. The statement that they resemble
the Durani Afghans is by no means conclusive evidence
to their being actually Afghan. I place them in the
present group provisionally. They are, more or less,
isolated, the population by which they are separated
from the Tor Terin being that of
4. The Caukers. — The head-waters of the Lora lie within
the Cauker country, which is wild and inaccessible. It
forms a square of about 180 miles, between the Atshik-
VOL. II. Q
226 THE CAUKERS.
zye country, the Spin Terins, the range of Soliman,
and Biluchistan ; beginning at the Siona Daug, a high,
cold, and barren plain, fitted only for pasturage, but im-
proving as we move southwards into the valleys of Tor
Murgha, Nureen, Togye, Hunna, and Burshore.
This is the district of the Cankers of Afghanistan ;
but as all the Caukers are not within the limits of the
Afghan country, a political division must be made be-
tween the ones just noticed and those of their southern
frontier. The valley of Shawl, granted by Ahmed
Shah to Nusser Khan, Prince of the Biluches, is
no longer considered as part of the Afghan country.
The name of the particular branch of the Caukers
that occupies Shawl, the name of the Caukers of
Biluchistan, is Cassye, or Casia — word for word, the
same as the name Casia on the frontiers of Arracan and
elsewhere in many places. Casia, indeed, and Cauker,
are both words which may appear and re-appear as often
as such words as Highlander, Dalesman, or Mountaineer in
England.
The clan of Punnee, occupant of Seewee, in See-
weestan, is Canker.
The Caukers of Burshore closely resemble the Terins ;
the other elements of the Canker name bear no exact re-
semblance to any of the populations around them. They
are divided into at least ten clans, and these are sub-
divided. Their manners are by no means uniform. In
Cunchogye they live in tents, and a single family may
constitute an encampment. In Boree there are villages
with terraced houses, the use of the tent being occasional.
All the Boree Caukers belong to one tribe — that of
Saraun. Yet they fall into as many as twelve indepen-
dent communities, often hostile to each other. Each vil-
lage is under its own Mushir, and it is only during a war
THE NAUSSERS. 227
that the several Mushirs acknowledge any single chief.
Within the villages the jurisdiction of the Mushirs is
limited. He calls a Jirga on weighty matters. Minor
ones take their course.
The rudest part of the Cauker country is the centre.
To go half naked is contrary to the notions of decency
of an Afghan. A Cauker of the middle district, how-
ever, goes naked from the waist upwards during the sum-
mer. In some places they are said to live in caves, being
troglodyte, like some of the Khyberis.
5. 7^ Naussers are specially stated to speak Pushtu,
or the language of the Afghans. At ** the same time,'*
writes Elphinstone, " their features and expression cer-
tainly indicate a race distinct from that nation.'* The
kindred which they claim with the Afghan Hotuki is one
which the Hotuki themselves deny.
The Naussers have no fixed habitation at all. In spring
they are to be found in small encampments of some four
or five tents in the Tohki and Hotuki countries. As the
season advances, they congregate more numerously, and
their encampments enlarge themselves to the amount of a
hundred or more to the village — if so it may be called ;
the migration consisting of short stages in quest of grass
for the flocks. These, however, change their character
when autumn commences ; for, then, there is a meeting
in council, a striking of tents, and a general movement
for a more distant locality. This is the Damaun, between
which and the summer quarters lies the hostile country of
the Viziris. For passing this, the whole body divides
itself into two divisions, each of which makes for
Kunzoor, on the banks of the Gomul; Kunzoor, on
the banks of the Gomul, which is the general rendezvous
for the whole Nausser body — a body amounting to some
30,000 souls, not to mention flocks of sheep and herds
Q 2
228 .THE NAUSSERS.
of camels. The tumult that ensues at the approach to
Kunzoor is not decreased by the occasional quarrels that
often ensue between hostile sections of the immigrants,
crowded as they are, towards the end of the march, in one
narrow valley — tents, cattle, and men — ^men, cattle, and
tents. When all are assembled, they appoint Chelwash-
tis, and march onwards; the power of the Chelwashtis
having suppressed all feuds, and determined the order
of march as well as the means of defence against the now
prepared, and always hostile, Viziris. No Viziri gfives
quarter to a Nausser. At length, after a dangerous
march through narrow defiles, beset with ambuscade, they
emerge into that part of the Damaun which lies north of
Scind, and south of the Murwut country. Each horde
has its own allotted ground, on which it encamps in
circular groups of tents, within which the cattle are shut
up at nights. The women work, the men idle or hunt.
When the snow on Tukt-i-Soliman melts they prepare
for returning to their spring and summer quarters, appoint
Chelwashtis, and (what is more important) a Khan, as a
general dictator over the whole body, break up their
camps, and turn their faces westwards. The appoint-
ment of a Khan is all-important ; though only during
the Nausser migrations. When collected in the larger
encampments, they are governed by their own Mushirs.
A Khan undertakes to organize and direct them during
their migrations ; but when they are spread over the
country in the small detachments that have been spoken
of, they go on as nearly as possible without any govern-
ment at all. A measure of a Khan's value during a
march is found in the following piece of conduct of
Jurrus Khan. He was anxious to remain in the Da-
maun with 300 or 400 of his kinsmen. The expedition,
however, was stopped till he could be prevailed upon to
THE NAUSSERS. 229
accompany it. The Khan and Mushirs are elected from
the chief Nausser families, and are subject to deposition
for incompetency. The Mushir (or MuUik) settles all
disputes, can expel an offender from the camp without an
appeal to the Jirga, and is absolute director in respect to
all camp and quarter movements. Any four or five indi-
viduals may advise him. He is free, however, to act in
defiance of their advice.
230 THE PABOPAMISANS.
CHAPTER XXV.
The Paropamisans of the Ozus.— OohiBtanifl^ — ^Kafirs, &c.
I NOW come to a class for which I propose the name
Paropamisan, its chief area being the parts between the
southern slope of the Hindukush and either the main
stream of the Indus itself or that of its feeder the
Caubul river. To these drainages^ however, it is by no
means limited. Some of its members are on the water
system of the Oxus, some on that of the Yarkend river,
some (perhaps) on that of the Amur. They are all moun-
taineers, most of them being independent, and some being
either actual Kafirs (t. e. infidels) or imperfect converts
to Mahometanism. Our knowledge of them is eminently
imperfect. For this reason it is far from unlikely that
some of the populations now coming under notice may
be more properly denominated Tajik.
The language, however, of a Paropamisan is Indian
rather than Persian. The language of a Tajik is Persian
rather than Indian. If so, the class under notice is
transitional. This I believe it to be. I repeat, however,
the statement, that it is one concerning which our details
are of the scantiest.
The valuable, though fragmentary, journal* of Mr.
Gardiner, gives us the following account of the super-
stitions of the Therba and Shuli tribes.
Kme— February 24th, 1830.
* Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, rol. xxn.
THE THERBA, EIX!. 231
Place — £• or N.E. of Bamian, near a place called
Dror, where the new and intrusive population is that of
the Kalzuhi Turkoman, the aboriginal that of the Thur,
or Thurba, and Shu, or Shuli, tribes.
A small pool at the bottom of a deep valley is the site
of Moh's death. It is believed to be bottomless. The
water is bitter and bituminous; bubbling up with sul-
phuretted hydrogen, and surrounded by incrustations of
sulphur. Lambent flames are said to occasionally play
over its surface. Near it is a dark cave, and in this cave
are the remains of idols — more than one. The chief of
these represent Moh and his wife, M&bun, deities whom
even the Mahometans of the district reverence. No one
enters the cave with his shoes on.
Two other caves are dedicated to Sheh, the destroyer,
and Zhei, the God of Fire. At each new moon the
Therba (who reckon by months rather than years) make
a fire-offering to Zhei.
Two other caves are dedicated to Hersh and Maul.
Small beads of gold and stone, found in these parts by
natives who dig for them, are called Solomon's grains.
Moh created the earth, and his wife M&bi^n created the
wilderness. From them sprung the first giant race.
They slept alternately for 999 moons, and reigned
450,000 moons. After this period, three sons rebelled,
viz. Sheh, the life-destroyer, Zhei, the fire-god, and
Maul, the earth-quaker ; and by their combined efforts,
Moh was buried beneath the mountains. Confusion
lasted 5000 moons, after which the three victors retired
each to his own region for 10,000 moons. Maul was lost
in darkness of his own creating, Sheh fled with his
family towards tlie sun, which so much enraged Zhei,
that he caused fire to spread over the earth; this was
quenched by the spirit of Mabun, but not till the whole
232 THE PAROPAMISANS.
giant race was destroyed, and the earth remained a desert
for 3000 moons. Then Hersh and Lethram, originally
slaves of Moh, and great magicians, emerged from the
north, and settled in these mountains. By some Lethram
is considered as the incarnate spirit of Mdbtn and the
Queen to whom Hersh was vizier. Hersh had three
sons,* Uz, Muz, and All. These he left in charge of all
their families, while with a large army he travelled
toward the sun in pursuit of Sheh, who was supposed to
be still living. So the three sons of Hersh and their
descendants reigned happily for 18,000 moons, till Khoor
(Cyrus ?) invaded and conquered the country, but after
many years' struggle, they expelled the invader, and
retained the name Khoorskush (Cyrus killed) now Khir-
ghiz. The descendants of Hersh continued to reign for
10,000 moons more till Khoondroo (Alexander?) invaded
the country, after which no separate legend of them
seems to be recollected.
In the same district stands the fort of E^ormishi,
to which you ascend by a series of steep steps on
hands and feet. Then comes a narrow ledge of rock,
from which a ladder of skin-ropes, or a basket and
windlass, takes the explorer upwards. At the top, a
basin of bubbling brilliant water, hot in the winter and
cold during the summer, always full, and never over-
flowing, gives rise to the following legend — ^an echo of
remarkable clearness adding to the mysterious character
of the spot.
When Noah was at Mecca, Khor, the chief of the dis-
trict, went to pay homage to him. Thereat Noah was well
pleased, and promised to grant him any favour for which
he should ask. So Khor asked for water. But the voice
* Whose names seem retained in the Uztagh, Muztagh, and Altai
mounlaint).
THE THERBA, ETC. 233
in which he spoke was rough and loud, and his manner
coarse. At this the patriarch was offended. So that
instead of blessing the land of Khor he cursed it, and
condemned it to become solid rock. Nevertheless, he
kept his promise in the matter of the water, and sent his
grandson Shur to carry it into effect. The grandson
cried Nu Shu. Echo answered Nu Shu. The sound
Nu Shu reached Mecca. And now Nu Shu is the sound
which the water murmurs, and which echo still conveys to
Mecca ; the place retaining the name of the three parties
concerned — Khor, the prince who spoke so rudely ; Noah,
the patriarch who disliked Khor's manners ; and Shu, the
grandson who did the work in opening the basin and
calling out the words which echo delighted in repeating.
Wood's legend of the valley of Meshid is to the effect
that, in former days, it was overrun with scorpions, and
that to avoid them a certain king whose name was Soli-
man, whose throne was the Tukt-i-Soliman, lived on the
top of a hill, but had his meals prepared in the valley.
A line of men handed up his dishes. In one of them, a
spider was concealed in a bunch of grapes, which stung
and killed him. The valley, now containing scarcely 100
families, once held 100,000 workmen.
Gardiner gives the following account. Esh is a desert.
Its localities suit these parts. Its chief city was depo-
pulated by snakes, that took the colour of the rocks on
which they were found — ^blue to blue, green to green.
The pass at the end of the valley really abounds in ser-
pents.
Again, the Koh Umber mountain, central to Tauli-
khaun, Kunduz, and Huzrut Imaum, was transported to
its present site from Hindostan ; as a proof of which all
the herbs indigenous to India, are to be found on its
sides.
S34
THE PAROPAMISANS.
Again, the undulating plain of Reikshan is associated
by a Badakslii with all the misfortunes of its country.
Khan Khoja, a Mahometan fugitive, at the head of
400,000 men, cursed it. It was to be three times depo-
pulated. It has, already, twice been conquered by the
Uzbeks.
In the same districts are legends to a great amount,
which Wood, pudicitue causd, withholds.
I read all this thus : — there was a barren tract with
Hindu legends.
Again, putting together, as I best can, the details of
Gardiner, so as to give a geographical result, I come to
the conclusion that, the following are the western Paro-
pamisans, t. e. the Paropamisans of the Oxus, occupants
of the parts to the west of the Belut Tagh.
1. Kafirs of Esh, calculated at
2. Ushah .
These are generally called Kafirs.
3. Khai (Kheil ?) Kru .
4. Gob or Gabr (Guebre ?)
5. Ghar • •
6. Lah or Lashi
7. Udii .
8. Phaluth or Phah
9. Shuli, or Shu
10. Khuruk, or Kru
11. Therba, or Thur
15,000
12,000
12,000
12,000
12,000
12,000
12,000
12,000
15,000
12,000
12,000
These are other than Mahometan, but, still, not called
Kafirs.
12. Bhur 25,000
13. Mhar 40,000
THE COHISTAKIS. 235
These are Nimchi Mussulmen, half Mahometans^ or
Mahometans with a certain amount of heathenhood.
Moguls are met with in the northern portion of this
area.
The tribes who own these superstitions are especially
stated to be connected with each other. Their language
is specially stated to differ from both the Persian and
Arabic ; whilst Sanskrit affinities are suggested. That it
is other than either Turk or Mongol, is shown in the con-
text. I have but little doubt as to the ethnological place
of the men and women who speak it. Their geographical
position is obscure. A few may belong to the north-
western part of the Cohistan of Caubul. The mass,
however, are on the western slope of the Belut Tagh, on
the Kafir frontier of Buduskun, and on the drainage of
the Ox us. The most northern tribes appear to be in con-
tact with the Paropamisans of the Yarkend river, of whom
more will be said hereafter,
I now turn to
The Cohistanis of Caubul, occupants, more or less
partially, of the valleys of the Ghorebund, the Punjir,
the Nijrow, the Tugow, the Alishang and Alighur, and
the Lower Kuner.
TTie Pushai, or Pushye is one of their dialects, but little
different from
The Lughmani of the district called Lugman, and
The Deggauni. — ^The name Deggaun applies to the
tribes of the lower Kuner. It applies to others as well.
The Deggauns, however, in the limited meaning of the
word, are the natives of the valley of the Kuner, in the
parts about its confluence with the Caubul river.
£36
THE PAROPAMISANS.
English.
Lnghman.
Piuhai.
KAshkar.*
Man
adam
pai^jai
moashi
Woman
IPftghi
zalf
kumedi
Head
Hhir
sir
sur
N08t
matht
nast
naskar
Tongue
jub
jib
legin
Eye
aneh
anch
ghach(0
Ear
kad
kad
kad
Hand
atth
ast
Tooth
dan
dan
dond
Foot
pae
pong
Sun
thar
Moon
mae
mae
Day
lae
dawas
chhoi
Night
veil
vyal
paniya
Fire
angar
angar
ingar
Water
waig
wark
ugh
Tree
kati
kadi
Stone
wad
wad
FUh
mach
macch
One
i
f
i
T%DO
do
do
jn
Three
te
ie
tmi
Four
char
char
chod
Five
panj
pwy
POAJ
Six
khe
she
chui
Seven
that
sat
snt
Eight
akht
ash
ansh
Nine
no
no
nehan
Ten
de
de
jash.
TTie Punjkora and Lundye Valleys. — East of the Kuner
lies the country of the Turcolaini, Othmankheil, and
Eusofz ye, Afghans. It lies^ however^ in the valleys rather
than the hills ; the valleys of the Punjkora and Lundye
rivers. The skirts of mountains, and the mountains
themselves, however, preserve the remains of an older
class of occupants, Swautis of the valley of Swaut, &c.,
of which the details are obscure. The evidence that
their affinities are with the tribes to the north is satis-
factory.
* Spoken in Chitral; or upper part of the Kuncr river.
THE KAFIRS.
237
I imagine that the following
speech of the highlanders of
Swauti language.
short Yocahulary of the
Der best represents the
Eugliah.
Deer.
Tirhai.
Man
mifth
Woman
IB
Head
Bhish
Foot
khor
Bye
achhi
achha
Nose
nlBtur
nasih
Tongue
jib
zhibba
Tooth
dand
danda
Hand
ihoho
hast
Lip
dudh
Ear
kan
kan
Day
duB
das;
WaJter
wahe
▼a
MUh
Bhid
dudh
One
yak
ik
Two
do
da
Three
fihta
tra
Four
chor
tBor
Five
panch
pants
Six
alio
kao
Seven
Bhat
sat
Eight
pasht
akt
Nine
noh
nao
Ten
das
da&
The Puraunchehs are, by Elphinstone, who only knows
them as a class of carriers, called Hindki. He adds,
however, that Baber gave them a separate language. I
have been told that this is still spoken by a few families.
Kafifistan. — And now comes a vast block of moun-
tainous country, imperfectly explored, imperfectly con-
verted to Mahometanism. It is bounded by the Belut
Tagh districts on the west. On the east it touches Chinese
Turkistan and Little Tibet. To the south lies Afghanis-
tan, and to the north Kokan or Fergana, where the popula-
tion is Tshagatai Turk. It is eminently, pre-eminently, a
Cohistan, or country of mountains ; for the Hindukush and
238 THE PAROPAMISANS.
the Belut Tagh^ along with other ranges more mysterious,
still belong to it. It is a land of gorges and valleys ; of
short streams and of long rivers. These, as we expect,
belong to different drainages. They will, probably, be our
best landmarks in the perplexed geography of these parts.
Some of them are carried into the Indus. Of these
one series is received by the Caubul river ; another by
the Shayuk.
The best measure of the inaccessibility of the coimtry
is to be found in the name of one of its districts, E^fir-
istan. What this means we have already seen. Is it not
the land of the Kafir, Giaour, or Infidel, whereunto Maho-
metanism, triumphant elsewhere, has failed to penetrate ?
If such spots exist in western Asia, they must be few and
far between. They must be defended by either the most
impracticable conditions of nature, or the most fanatic
obstinacy of man. Be this as it may, there is within a
day's journey of Shiite Persia, of Sunnite Turkistan, of
Buddhist Tibet, and of Brahminic India, a true Kafir-
istan, whither no Mahometan can with safety penetrate.
Kafiristan and Kafir are of course Mahometan desig-
nations; a name which is, at one and the same time,
native and general, being wanting. Other names there
are, Afghan and Mahometan also, though not impossibly
native as well, as, Siaposh, Speen (white) Siaposh, and Tor
(black) Siaposh.
The following *' are the names of some of their tribes.
" 1. Traiguma, Gimeer, Kuttaur, BairaguUee, Chai-
naish, Dimdeau, Waillee Wauee, Cauma, Cooshteea,
Dhaing, and Wauee, called Puneeta by the Mussulmai:(ns.
" 2. Caumojee, Kistojee (whose chief town isMunchee-
ashee), Moondeegul, Camtoze (half of whom are towards
Budukhshaun, and half towards Lughmaun), Puroonee
(whose capital is Kishtokee), Tewnee, Poonooz, Ushkong,
THE KAHRS. 239
Umshee, Siinnoo, Koolumee Roose Turkuma (to whom
belong Kataiir and Guinbeer), Nisha, Chumga^ "Wauee,
Khoollum^ Deemishy Eerait^ Sec, &c.
" 3. "Wauee Daiwuzee^ Gumbeer, Kuttaur^ Pundect,
Khoostoze^ Caumozee Divine, Tsokooee, Hurunseea, and
Chooneea."
Again :
*^ The common names at Caumdaish were Chundloo,
DeemoOy Hazaur Meenik, Bustee, and Budeel. The
names of certain men at Tsokooee were Gurrumbaus,
Azaur, Doormiaus PranchooUa, Gemeeruk, Kootoke,
Oodoor, Kummur, and Zore. Those of certain women
were Meeankee^ Junailee^ Maulee Daileree Jeenoke, Zoree
Puckhoke, Malkee, and Azauree. The names of four
men at Kuttaur were Toti, Hota, Gospura, and Huzaur,
and of one woman Kurmee."
The Caumdaish call their chief god Imra ; the Tsukooe
Kafirs call him Dagun. Their Paradise is Burry Le
Bula ; their hell, Burry Duggur Bula. Buggish is the
god of the waters. Mauni expelled Y6sh, or the Evil
Principle. Seven brothers bore the name Paradik. Their
bodies were of gold. So were those of the seven brothers
named Purron. One or more of their gods was called
Shee Mahadeo.
They have idols of stone and wood, male and female,
mounted or on foot. One in particular is mentioned as
having been erected by a Kafir magnate during his own
lifetime. He purchased the privilege of doing so by giving
a series of feasts to the village. Fire is used at their sa-
crifices ; blood also ; the blood of cows as well as of other
animals. The details of a sacrifice are as follows : —
" There is a stone set upright about four feet high, and
in breadth about that of a stout man. This is the Imrtan,
or holy stone, and behind it to the north is a wall. This
24/0 THE PAROPAMISANS.
is all the temple. The stone represents God. They say,
* This stands for him, but we know not his shape.' To
the south of the Imrtan bums a fire of Kauchur^ a species
of pine which is thrown on green, purposely to give a
great deal of smoke. A person whose proper name is
Muleek, and his title Ota, stands before the fire, and
behind him the worshippers in a row. First, water is
brought him, with which he washes his hands, and taking
some in his right hand, throws it three times through the
smoke or flame on the Imrtan, saying every time Sooch,
that is, pure ; then he throws a handful of water on the
sacrifice, usually a goat or cow, and says Sooch. Then
taking some water, and repeating some words (meaning,
' do you accept the sacrifice ? ' &c.), he pours it into the
left ear of the sacrifice,which stands on his right. (MooUah
Nujeeb saw two sacrifices, one to God and one to an idol.)
If the animal now turn up its head to heaven, it is
reckoned a sign of acceptance, and gives great satisfaction ;
afterwards water is poured in the right ear, and a third
time on the forehead, and a fourth on its back. Each
time Sooch is once said. Next throwing in some fuel,
he takes a handful of dry wheat-flour, and throws it
through the fire on the stone ; and this flour they reckon
a part of God ; and again he throws both hands full of
Ghee into the fire ; this also is a portion of God. They
do not in either of these ceremonies say Sooch, but now
the priest says with a loud voice. He! and after him
three times the worshippers and he say He Umuch ! that
is, accept ! This they accompany each time with a
gesture. They put their palms expanded on the outside
of their knees, and as they raise them in an extended
position, say He Umuch ! The priest now kills the goat
with a knife, and receiving in both hands the blood,
allows a little to drop into the fire, and throws the re-
THE KAFIRS. 241
mainder through the fire on the Imrtan (or idol, in case
of an idol), and again three ' He Umuch ! ' The head
is now twisted off (to the left), and thrown into the fire,
but no * He Umuch ! ' Wine is then brought in a bowl,
and the priest dropping a little into the fire, throws the
rest through it (the ghee, too, was thrown out of a bowl),
and three He Umuch! The priest now prays God,
* Ward off the fever from us ! increase our stores ! kill
the Mussulmauns ! after death admit us to Bureleboola,
or paradise ! * and three He Umuch are said. The priest
now brings forward and places before himself a Pusha, or
person possessed by a spirit, who, after stretching forward
his head into the smoke, and shaking it in it, turns up his
eyes to heaven, and prays as before ; the priest and wor-
shippers three times say loudly He Umuch ! Next each
man puts the fingers of each hand together to his mouth
and kisses them, next to his eyes, and lastly to his head :
then all retire, and sit or lie down in one place. They
now put the blood of the victim, with a little water, on
the fire, and after it has simmered a little, put in the
flesh, which is soon taken out half raw and eaten. But
if the victim be a cow, it is divided, and each man carries
bis own home. The priest gets a double share in both
cases. During the meal they sip some wine, mixed with
a deal of water, and furnished by the person who gives
the victim. The bones are now burnt. The circum-
stances are the same when the sacrifice is before an idol,
but the only one of this sort seen by Moollah Nujeeb,
was to Koomy, an idol some distance to the south of the
village, on a height of difficult access ; they contented
themselves with throwing those things towards it. They
had no Kibla, and their idols face always indifferently ;
but Moollah Nujeeb cannot now tell whether in all the
VOL. IT. R
2iS THE PAROPAMISANS.
Umrtans and Umrumas the worshippers face to the
north, A cow is struck one blow with an axe on the
forehead, of which it dies."
They hate the Mahometans, who " frequently invade
their territories in small parties to carry off slaves, and
once or twice have undertaken more important ex-
peditions against them. About thirty years ago there
was a general crusade (if I may be allowed the expression)
against them. The Khaun of Budukhshaun, one, at
least, of the princes of Kaushkaur, the Paudshah of
Coonner, the Bauz of Bajour, and several Eusofzye
Khauns, confederated on this occasion, and met in the
heart of the Caufir country; but notwithstanding this
success, they were unable to keep their ground, and were
forced to evacuate the country, after suffering con-
siderable losses. The arms of the Caufirs are a bow
about four feet and a half long, with a leathern string,
and light arrows of reeds with barbed heads, which they
sometimes poison. They wear also a dagger of a peculiar
shape on the right side, and a sharp knife on the left,
with which they generally carry a flint, and some bark of
a particular kind, which makes excellent tinder. They
have also begun to learn the use of firearms and swords
from their Afghaun neighbours.
" They sometimes go openly to attack their enemies, but
their commonest mode is by surprisals and ambushes, and
they expose themselves to the same misfortunes by
neglecting to keep watch by night. They often under-
take remote and difiicult expeditions, for which they are
well suited, being naturally light and active ; when pur-
sued, they unbend their bow, and using it as a leaping
pole, make surprising bounds from rock to rock. Mool-
lah Nujeeb saw the men of Caumdaish march out against
THE KAPTRS. 243
another tribe. The rich wore their best clothes^ and
some put on black fillets ornamented with cowry shells^
one for every Mussnlmaun whom the wearer had killed.
They sung a war-song as they marched away, in which
were the words, Chera hi, Cheri hi, Makrach, and he
learned that when they had succeeded in coming on an
enemy unprepared, they set up a loud whistle, and sing a
song, of which the chorus is Ushro oo Ushro : on such
occasions they put every soul to death. But their chief
glory is to slay the Mussulmauns; a young Caufir is
deprived of various privileges till he has performed this
exploit, and numerous distinctions are contrived to
stimulate him to repeat it as often as may be in his
power. In the solemn dances on the festival of Nummi-
naut, each man wears a sort of turban, in which is stuck
a long feather for every Mussulmaun he has killed : the
number of bells he wears round his waist on that
occasion is regulated by the same criterion, and it is not
allowed to a Caufir who has not killed his man to flourish
his axe above his head in the dance. Those who have
slain Mussulmauns are visited and congratulated by their
acquaintances, and have afterwards a right to wear a little
red woollen cap (or rather a kind of cockade) tied on the
head ; and those who have killed many may erect a high
pole before their doors, in which are holes to receive a
pin for every Mussulmaun the owner has killed, and a
ring for every one he has wounded. "With such en-
couragement to kill them, it is not likely the Caufirs
would often make Mussulmauns prisoners : such cases
have happened when the Caufirs were defending their
own village, and they then made a feast with great
triumph, and put the unfortunate prisoner to death in
much form, or perhaps sacrificed him to their idols.
R 2
244 TUB PAROPAMISANS.
" They, however, have sometimes peace or truce with
Mussulmauns. Their way of striking a league is as
strange as their mode of war. They kill a goat and dress
the heart, hite off half, and give the rest to the Mussul-
maun ; the parties then gently bite each about the region
of the heart, and the treaty is concluded.
" Though exasperated to such fury by the persecution
of the Mahommedans, the Caufirs are in general a harmless,
affectionate, and kind-hearted people. Though passionate,
they are easily appeased : they are merry, playful, fond
of laughter, and altogether of a sociable and joyous dis-
position. Even to Mussulmauns they are kind when
they admit them as guests, and though Moollah Nujeeb
was once obliged to be kept by the other Caufirs out of
the way of a drunken man of their nation, he was never
threatened or affironted on account of his religion by any
man in possession of his faculties."
The Koh-i-ghar Kafirs shave the head ; but when they
kill an enemy allow a lock to grow. The Koh-i-kaf and
Koh-i-loh tribes reverse this process. The hair grows
naturally, but has a lock taken away from it when a
Mussulman has been slain. Hence, whilst the Koh-i-
ghar heroes rejoice in long locks, those of the Koh-i-kaf
and Koh-i-loh may be bald shavelings. A party of
Bhuri, with some Kafir girls for sale, had one of extraor
dinary beauty ; the price asked for her being about half
an ounce of silver. This tells us the state of the frontier.
The Mahometans steal the Kafir women ; the Kafirs kill
the Mahometan marauders. The country is one which
suggests legends and superstitions of all kinds. Some-
times the torrent disappears in some mysterious chasm
leading to vast caves. Sometimes the caves themselves
bear signs of human occupancy, excavated in labyrinthine
THE KAFIRS. 245
windings^ intricate, sculptured, and carven into pillars,
the pillars themselves being figured.
In some of the chasms it is customary to consecrate
certain medicinal herbs. Down one, near the Zi&rat of
Abba Shah, it is customary to hang a sort of gentian,
and to leave it suspended for a month. After which it
serves as a panacea.
Then there are the ruins of old cities ; sonie of the
monuments of which apparently bear inscriptions. About
a mile and a half north of Esh, a Kafir district, bare
and barren, is a colossal horse in pitchstone, measur-
ing fifty-five feet from ear to hoof, forty-two from
chest to tail. Nor is it the only one. Two others —
like the first, in ruins — lie on the other two sides of the
town.
The basaltic rocks, as is their habit in similar countries,
assume fantastic shapes; sometimes that of a man, or
man-like being. When this is the case, the Mussulman
of the neighbourhood sees a petrified Kafir; and if
asked who effected the petrifaction, answers Abraham.
One of these, the Babo Bulan, is about twenty-five feet
high, with red eyes, and an aquiline nose. Art has here,
most probably, assisted nature. The Babo Bulan is an
object of mysterious awe.
The fort of Ustam is said to have been built by
Rustum, whose name is that of the great Persian hero.
However, the legend makes him a son of Timur. Such
are the elements of the Kafir fictions, and such their
mixture. Half the inhabitants of the parts about
Ustam are Mahometan, half Akaa. The foundations of
the fort are Cyclopean, i. e. they consist of vast blocks
of more than twenty feet in length.
Of the Akaa, the most Mahometan tribe is that of the
246 THE PAROPAMISANS.
Ujuem. Elsewhere the belief in the Koran is but slight.
The men are short, stout, hardy, and clothed in skin ;
the women plain.
The Keiaz tribe seem to be among the rudest. The
caves of the highest peaks are their occupancies. They
hunt, eat raw flesh (which is unlikely), and are said to be
cannibals, which is more unlikely still. Their women
are handsome. When a Keiaz lover wishes to marry, he
lays his bow at the foot of the fair one. If she take it
up, kiss, and return it, the knot is tied, and she is his
wedded wife. By varying this practice she can divorce
herself, t. e. by taking her husband's bow and flinging
it on the ground before him. Thirdly — she may make
the ofier herself, by imslinging one from the shoulder of
the man she selects. On the other hand, their husband
can sell them. He can also make them over to his
visitor ; who, if he be a Hindu devotee, may have the
choice of the whole Keiaz wifedom ; for the credulous
mountaineers venerate these impostors, and believe that
such progeny as their wives or daughters may bear to
them are more or less divine.
The ruins of Mahu are in the Akaa country; the
Turks of the neighbourhood being of the Kibi tribe.
Ma and Hu were twin brothers, descendants of Toth,
Emperor of the East. Ma was a righteous prince ; but
Hu was wicked. Hu murdered Ma by burying him
alive.
Before his death, however. Ma invoked the same fate
on Hu. So the mountain tumbled down upon him and
his. This is the account of the origin of the vast
excavated tumulus of Ma-hu.
Such are the fragmentary notices of the northern
Kaflrs, and their congeners, the half-Mahometans, as
THE AKAA.
247
taken from an appendix to Elphinstone's Caubul^ and a
paper of Dr. Gardiner's in the Asiatic Transactions of
Bengal.
The following vocabularies for the parts nearest the
Tibetan frontier are from Cunningham's Ladakh. The
Khajunah of Hunz and Nagar is a very remarkable
form of speech. All that can be said is that its nearest
affinities are Paropamisan.
English.
Shina.
Arniya.
Kliajannh.
Man
muBha
rag
Lir, er
Woman
grin
kamri
gUB
Head
Bhis
sur
yetia
Eye
achhi
ghach
ilchin
Ear
kund
kad
iltumal
Nose
note
naakar
gomopoBh
Mouth
anzi
diran
gokhat
Tooth
duni
dond
game
Hand
hath
hast
gurengga
Foot
pa
pang
goting
Blood
lohel
le
multan
Shy
agahi
asman
ayeBh
Sun
Buri
sa
Moon
yan
halans
Star
taro
Batar
aai
Fire
agar
ingar
phu
phu
Water
wahi
augr
chil
River
Bin
Bin
Bindha
Stone
bat
dhan
Tree
turn
kan
Wood
katho
9 m
Jin
gaahil
One
ek
•
1
hin
Tufo
do
jtt
alias
Three
che
trin
UBko
Four
chhar
chod
walto
Five
push
punj
Bundo
Six
Bhah
chui
miahando
Seven
sat
But
Ulo
Eight
ast
ansh
altambo
Nine
no
neuhan
huncho
Ten
dahi
iash
tormo.
248 THE PAROPAMISANS.
As far as their blood goes, some of the Little Tibetans
may be Paropamisan. When I wrote my notice of Bultis-
tan I had no reason to believe that this was the case. I have
since, however, seen several casts of Bulti faces brought
into this country by the brothers Schlagentweit. They are
anything but Bhot. They are, on the contrary, more Per-
sian than aught else. How far they may represent the
average physiognomy is another question. Assume that
they do so, and it becomes probable that, in the Maho-
metan districts of Tibet, the blood and language differ.
If so, it is the Bhot tongue that has encroached. If so,
the dialects which it has displaced are, in all probability,
Paropamisan in the south, and Turk in the north ; Turk
in Kheris, Khapalu, and Chorbad. This, however, is a
suggestion rather than a doctrine. Dard is the name
for the Paropamisans of the valley of the Indus, and of
the mountains on each side. Indeed, Cunningham uses
the term in a generic sense, and calls his Shina, Armiya,
and Khajuna vocabularies specimens of the Dard lan-
guage. The term is convenient. It is also old. The
Indian Puranas speak of the Daradas, the classical writers
of the Daradas. Whether it be sufficiently general is
another question. The tribes, on the other hand, of
Chitral and Gilghit are called Dunghers ; Dungher being,
also, a Hindu word. The Dangri vocabulary of Vigne
represents the language of these Dunghersj word for
word, the two names being the same.
That certain Paropamisans are, in the way of creed,
either actual Hindus or Buddhists is specially stated by
Gardiner ; whose table I give as I find it. I hang a doubt,
however, upon the last name of the list, Bhoti. What is
the evidence that the Bhoti are not the ordinary Bhots of
Tibet? The list, however, runs thus : —
THE WAKHANIS. 249
Kafirs {Paropamisans) an the borders of Turkistany Hindus
or Buddhists.
Bu, or Buli, calculated at 12,000
Kahuz, or Huhi 12,000
Pbah, or Phagi 12,000
Aspah 12,000
Kulis 12,000
Muklu 12 000
Maha 12,000
Kalesh, Malesh, Lesh 12,000
Chinese Subjects.
Beh, or Behel calculated at 12,000
Plahi, or Plaaghii — 12,000
Bhoti 12,000
• And now we turn to the west; to the parts above Bu-
dukshan (which is an ordinary Tajik district), and the
drainage of the Oxus. The highest habitable district on
the river is
Wakhan, the occupancy of the Wakhani. — By habitable I
mean permanently habitable, and I draw attention to the
qualification, because, although the first seventy miles of
the river have no fixed residences upon them, they are
the summer resort of the Kirghiz nomads, as has been
stated in the sketch of that population. Where the
stream from the Sir-i-kol meets the stream of the
Durah Mastodzh, t. e. about the points named Issar
and Langerkish in Wood's Map, the highest part of
the fixed occupancy of the Wakhani begins, and it
stretches downwards as far as the frontiers of Badak-
shan and Shugnan. Shugnan succeeds Roshan ; and
below Roshan comes Durwauz, all on the very stream
of the Upper Oxus. North of Durwauz lies Kara-
tegin.
250 THE PAROPAMISANS.
I think that these States are all in the same category ;
notwithstanding a statement of Wood's that the Shug-
nani or Roshani language is peculiar. Savings however,
any exception that may arise out of this difference, the
States of the Upper Oxus form a convenient and not
unnatural division.
They are Tajik as opposed to the Kirghiz and Uzhek
countries of the north and east of them.
They are Tajik with a minimum admixture of Uzbek
elements, a point which distinguishes them from Kunduz
and Bokhara. Politically, however, they are more or less
Uzbek, t. e. subject to the Khan of Kunduz.
They are on the drainage of the Oxus rather than the
Caubul and Indus. This separates them from the Co-
histanis of Caubul, whose political relations are with
Afghanistan rather than Turkistan. Also from the Chi-
trali, &c. Finally —
They are Mahometans rather than pagans ; though in
other matters closely akin to the Kafirs of Kafiristan,
with whom the Badakshi and Wakhani are conterminous
on their southern frontier.
So scanty is the population of Wakhan that the
whole number of the subjects of the Wakhani Khan
is 1000 — there or thereabouts. This is distributed over
a few small villages, for which we have the names
Kila Khoja, PuUu, Issar, Ishtrakh, Langerkish and
Kundut, the latter under a monarch over fifteen families.
At present the chief objects of tillage are barley and
peas — ^both grown in quantities insufficient for the con-
sumption of the Wakhani, who supply the deficiency
by importations from the districts lower down ; a defi-
ciency due to the want of skill and industry as
much as to sterility of the soil or the harshness of the
climate. At one time the population was thicker, and a
THE WAKHANIS. 251
considerable trade passed through Wakhan in the way
from Kunduz to Yarkend. This supplied a revenue.
So did (and does) the slave trade. The Shak-durah, a
mountain valley to the north of the Wakhan^ is the land
upon which the Mahometan Wakhani foray, the Shak-
durah people being themselves Mahometan. The unhappy
wretches thus kidnapped in the veriest violation of the
Koran, which forbids the sale of true believers, are chiefly
bartered for horses with the Uzbeks, who, in their turn,
sell to the Chitrali. To the Uzbek Khan of Kunduz,
too, the Wakhani owe their very imperfect allegiance.
Of fifteen Wakhani measured, the tallest stood five feet
seven inches and a half, the shortest five feet one inch
and three-quarters. This is taller than the Ladakhi Tibe-
tans. The physiognomy is Tajik ; " there is nothing
peculiar in their facial line nor in their eyes and hair."
The sheep of a Wakhani constitute his chief wealth.
The goat of the country gives a wool equal to the famous
Tibetan staple, so valuable for the manufacture of the
Cashmir shawls. The dog is like a Scotch colly, of the
Chitrali breed, vigilant and courageous. The chief tree,
or rather shrub, is the red willow. In April the seed
is sown, in July reaped. There are some so-called Kafir
forts in Wakhan.
In Roshan and Shugnan the natural strength of the
country, which is accessible only at midsummer, and that
through treacherous passes, protects the inhabitants against
invading armies, but not against murderous forays.
Shugnan, for instance, a little before Wood's journey, had
lost 500 out of its 1000 families, the nominal population of
both it and Roshan. The two districts pay a joint tribute
of fifteen slaves to the Khan of Kunduz. Stone fruit
grows abundantly in Shugnan and Roshan ; so does
wheat.
252 THE PAROPAMISANS.
Durwauz, besides wheat, grows cotton. Its indepen-
dence is complete. The Durwauzi are Sunnites.
Karategiuy to the north of Durwauz, vacillates in its
allegiance between Kunduz and Kokan. After Karate-
gin, the country becomes Turk.
In speaking of the Little Tibetans I stated that their
chiefs pretended to be descended from Alexander. Many
of the Paropamisans do the same.
Baber enumerates the tribes who, in his day, inhabited
Caubul. In the plains were Turks, Aimaks, and Arabs.
Are these last, eo nomine and ed lingudy still existing ?
In the hills were Haz^rehs, Afghans, Kafirs, and Tog-
derris. What are the Togderris ?
The languages were Arabic, Persian* Turk, Moghul
(Mongol), Hindi, Pushtu (Afghan), Pushai, Purancheh,
Gubri (Kafir), Buruki, and Deggh&ni. We have speci-
mens of all these except the Purancheh.
It is scarcely necessary to enlarge upon the interest and
importance of the Kafir and half-Kafir countries. Nor
are they inaccessible. Contiguous to the British districts
of Caubul, they are, though closed to the Mussulman^
accessible to the Frank and Hindu. That the physical
difficulties are insurmountable is unlikely. The Belut
Tagh is neither higher nor more abrupt than the Hima-
layas. The value of the fables about Alexander is
worth investigation. The possibility of Macedonian and
Bactrian remains should stimulate the energy of the ar-
chaeologist. The analysis of the mythology of the only
population in the Persian portion of India whose creed
is older than Mahometanism, would be a well-rewarded
labour. To the physical geographer the mountains give
a quaquaversal watershed ; some of its waters falling into
the Indus, some into the Oxus, some into the Amur,
some into the river of Yarkend. How sadly indefinite
THE PAROPAMTSANS. 253
are the boundaries of the countries marked Kashgar,
Gilgit, Chitral, Astor, Hunz^ and Nagor in the ordinary-
maps!
From two quarters can knowledge best be sought —
from Caubul and from Cashmir. Ladakh has been reduced
by the Sikhs. More than this^ it has been made the basis
for offensive operations against the Paropamisans of the
Bulti frontier. The power of Gulab Singh has been
felt in Astor^ Hunz^ and Nagor.
To follow up the Kuner from Jellalabad to its head
waters ; to turn eastwards ; to cross the watershed^
and follow the largest of the rivers that reach the Indus,
would be at once practicable and pregnant with results.
The account in Elphinstone is that of Mullah Nujib,
who penetrated into Kafiristan from Punkjora on the
east and reached Cumdaish, within three days of Badak-
shan^ on the west.
254 THE BRAHUI.
CHAPTER XXVI.
The BrahdL
With few populations is the consideration of their lan-
guage of greater importance than with the Brahfii ; and
with few has its value been more utterly ignored. That it
differed from that of the Biluches, and equally so from the
Pushtu of the Afghans, was known to both Elphinstone
and Pottinger — for both state the fact. Both, however,
treat the Brahiii as Biluches with certain differential
characteristics ; neither asking how far some of these
may be important enough to make them other than
Biluch. This is because the political term Biluchistan
has concealed one of the most important and interesting
affinities in ethnology.
A short specimen of the Brahui language in Leach's
vocabularies commanded the attention of Lassen, who,
after enlarging upon its difference from the Persian,
Biluch, and Pushtu, drew attention to some notable simi-
larities between the numerals and those of the South
Indian dialects. Following up this suggestion, the pre-
sent author satisfied himself, much to his surprise, that
the Brahui tongue was, in many respects, Tamul, an
opinion which others have either recognized or been led
to form from their own researches.
In the country, however, which they now occupy, the
Brahui consider themselves aboriginal ; the Biluch ad-
mitting that they are themselves of foreign origin. The
rugged and impracticable nature of the Brahui moun-
tains favours this view. Of any creed anterior to the
THE BIRAHU. 255
introduction of Mahometanism no traces have been dis-
covered, though, doubtless, discoverable. As Mahome-
tans, they consider themselves favoured, inasmuch as the
Prophet, mounted on a dove, paid them a visit one night,
and left a number of saints behind him for their guidance.
Forty of these lie buried under a mountain to the north
of Kelaut, called The Mountain of Forty Bodies y'^ a place
held sacred and visited not only by Mahometans other
than Brahtli, but by the Hindus also. The particular
form of the Brahiii Mahometans is the Sunnite, in
which they agree with the Biluch.
They differ from the Biluch most in language, as has
been stated already.
They differ from the Biluch also in physical form, and
that notably. To this Pottinger speaks most decidedly :
— " The contour of the people of these two classes is as
unlike, in most instances, as their languages, provided
they be die descendants of a regular succession of ances-
tors of either." He adds that the two populations inter-
marry. Again, — *' It is impossible to mistake a man of
one class for a member of the other. The Brahiii, in-
stead of the tall figure, long visage, and raised features of
their fellow-coimtrymen, have short, thick bones, with
roimd faces and flat lineaments ; — in fact, I may assert
that I have not seen any other Asiatics to whom they bear
any resemblance ; for numbers of them have brown hair
and beards." They are hardy; for they tolerate the
scorching sun of Cutch Gundava equally with the cold
frost of their own proper mountain-range. They are
hardier, perhaps, than the Biluch. They are also more
migratory than the Biluch, changing their pasturages
several times in the year. They are harder workers;
many of them in the plains to the south of Kelaut being
* Ib not this the tale of page 2571
266 THE BRAHUl.
agricultural labourers. The product of their industry — '•
which they dispose of to the occupants of the towns —
along with the sale of a few coarse blankets and felts,
forms the bulk of their traffic. Of their moral character
I find a favourable account. They are less revengeful
and less quarrelsome, though not less courageous, than
the Biluches. Their chiefs have considerable power.
Their women are but slightly, if at all, secluded. Their
arms are the sword and the matchlock, in the use of
which they excel, rather than the spear, for which they
profess a kind of contempt. Their dress is the same for
summer and winter. They are great eaters, especially of
animal food. This they consume both fresh and dried.
The drying is done by exposing the meat to the sun, after
which it is smoked over a fire of green wood.
The division into tribes is Brahui even as it ia
Biluch, Afghan, Turk, Arab, &c., the number of the
tribual divisions being great. Pottinger gives the names
of seventy-four ; for fifty-two of which he gives the num-
ber of their fighting men. That of the Mingul, amount-
ing to 10,500, is the highest. The lowest is that of the
Jyanee, which is no more than sixty.
The list of Brahui tribes could be doubled. " Were it
answering my purpose I could enumerate twice as many
more, but the foregoing list includes the principal ones in
point of numbers, and will suffice to prove the multipli^
city of the Brahoo^, to say nothing of the absolutely in-
numerable keik into which they are subdivided." About
one-fourth of the names end in -zye, as Jumvl-zyeey Samo-
zyee, &c.
The Kumburani tribe has two distinguishing charac*
ters. It only partially intermarries with the others, i. e.
it receives wives from them, but not husbands, a common
form of exclusiveness.
THE BRAHUI.
257
It is also divided into three distinct ranks^ — (1) the
Ahmedzyes, (2) the Khani, and (3) the Kumburani in
the limited sense of the term.
English.
Brahdi.
Blluch.
HfM
katumb
Hair
pishkou
phut
Eye
khan
tsham
Ear
khaff
Tongue
davi
zawan
Tooth
dandan
dathan
Nose
bamliB
phonz
Foot
nath
path
Sun
dey
Moon (new)
nokh
nokh
Star
istar
Fire
khakar
as
Water
dir
aph
Tree
darakht
darashk
Stone
khall
sing
I
I
ma
We
nan
m&
Thou
ni
than
Ye
num
shumCl
One
asit
yak
Tv>o
irai
do
Three
mnHit
shai
Four
tshar
tshjar
Five
pandzh
pantsh
Six
shash
shash
Seven
haft
•
hapt
Eight
hast
hast
Nine
nu
nu
Ten
dah
dah.
The following is a Brahui legend.
" A fragal pair, who had been many years united in wedlock, had to
regret that their union was unblessed by offspring. The afflicted wife
repaired to a neighbouring holy man, and besought him to confer his
benediction, that she might become fruitful. The sage rebuked her,
affirming that he had not the power to grant what Heaven had denied.
His son, afterwards the famed Hazrat Ghous, exclaimed that he felt con-
vinced that he could satisfy the wife ; and casting forty pebbles into her
lap, breathed a prayer over her, and dismissed her. In process of time
she was delivered of forty babes, rather more than she wished, or knew
VOL, II. S
258 THE BRAHUI.
how to provide for. In despair at the overflowing bounty of the Euperior
powers, the hu&band exposed all the babes but one on the heights of
Chehel Tau. Afterwards, touched by remorse, he sped his way to the
hill, with the idea of collecting their bones, and of interring them. To
his surprise he beheld them all living, and gambolling amongst the trees
and rocks. He returned and told his wife the wondrous tale, who, now
anxious to reclaim them, suggested that in the morning he should carry
the babe they had preserved with him, and, by showing him, induce the
return of his brethren. He did so, and placed the child on the ground
to allure them. They came, but carried it off to the inaccessible haunts
of the hill. The Br^hdis believe that the forty babes, yet in their infan-
tile state, rove about the mysterious hill. Hazrat Ghous has left behind
him a great fame, and is particularly revered as the patron saint of chil-
dren. Many are the holidays observed by them to his honour, both in
Balochist6n and Sind. In the latter country, the eleventh day of every
month is especially devoted as a juvenile festival, in commemoration
of Hazrat Ghous." — Mcuaon*8 Journeys in Balochistdn, Affgfumistan, dec
vol. iL pp. 83 — 5.
The representative of the Brahuis, in the way of poli-
tics, is the Khan of Kelaut. The extent to which his
dominions are Brahiii rather than Biluch will be consi-
dered in the sequel.
HISTORY OF PERSIA. 259
CHAPTER XXVII.
Ancient History and Antiqaitiea of Persia. — Relation of Persia to India.
— The Beligion of Ancient Persia. — The Parsis.
The populations more or less akin to Persia^ have now
been enumerated in detail. The relations of Persia,
however, as a preliminary to the ethnology of Hindostan,
still stand over for notice. Of these two countries, the
histories are inseparable. There were numerous Indians
on the soil of Persia and Afghanistan, and there was
scarcely a town of Caubul without its Hindus.
The literary language of India, allowance being made
for a difference of dialect, is the inscriptional language of
Persia.
Again, — Persian armies and Persian immigrants have,
over and over again, occupied portions of India. They
have done this so much, that even the strongest par-
tisans of Indian autonomy and Indian self-develop-
ment have admitted that, in analysing the ethnological
elements of Hindostan, some part, at least, of Persia
must be taken into account. But what do we gain by
doing this, as long as Persia itself has been unsubmitted
to analysis ? What if, while Persia is an ingredient of
India, Turkistan, Arabia, Armenia, Caucasus, and even
parts of Europe, are ingredients of Persia ? It is clear
that an analysis is needed.
We have two instruments for effecting this, history
and archaeology. I begin with the first.
3 2
260 HISTORY OP PERSIA.
The general presumptions in favour of a Turk intrusion
into the land of Persia have been already considered.
They constitute the preliminaries to many questions in
ethnology in general. To the particular ethnology of
Persia they are a preliminary with which no ethnologist
can dispense.
I consider that the ordinary notices of the once for-
midable Parthians suggest the belief that they were of
the Turk stocky i. e. that they were what the classical
writers would have called Asiatic Scythians; the Per-
siansy Sacse ; the Mongols and Tibetans, Sok. If so, the
Arsacidae were what most of the Persian dynasts of the
true historical period have been, foreigners to the soil over
which they ruled, but not foreigners to the soil which,
from the Caspian to the Paropamisus, lies parallel with
that of Persia. Let Persia be called (as it is called at the
beginning of its history), Iran, and let the parts beyond
its frontier be called (as called they were) Turan, and
the Arsacidae were Turanians. Turanian, however, was
scarcely the word for the Latins and the Greeks. They
used, instead of it, Scythian. Few of them, however,
paid much attention to language as an instrument in eth-
nological criticism. For this reason the special statement
of Justin, that the speech of the Parthians " was midway
between the Scythic and the Mede, and consisted of a
mixture of the two," is valuable. Amongst modem writers
Erskine unhesitatingly commits himself to the doctrine,
that ** the Parthians were a foreign race, who never fully
assimilated with the native inhabitants." The Parthian
coins have Greek legends. The particular Parthian pro-
vince was Khorasan.
I now submit the following inference from the simila-
rity of the names Parthia and Persia ; which are as much
alike as the Greek words, ^ip$u and vipcu. I submit that^
HISTORY OF PERSIA. 261
word for word, Parthia is Persia, and Persia Parthia ; one
being the name of a particular district, and, as such, im-
plying a local conquest; the other being the name of
a kingdom in general, and, as such, conveying the idea
of a consolidation of power and a ruling dynasty. Just
what is supposed to have taken place with these instances,
has actually taken place with the word Frank. There
is the particular Burgundian conquest of Franche Compt^.
There is the general French conquest of France. Both,
however, were German ; just as, mutatis mutandis , both
Parthia and Persia are held to be Turanian. Let this
be admitted, and the dynasty of Cyrus may have been
Turanian, even as was that of the Arsacidae. It was
certainly other than Mede. The consideration, however,
of the Mede and Macedonian dynasties stands over for
the present.
Meanwhile, let those of Cyrus and the Arsacidae bring
us down to the epoch of the Sassanidse. Word for word
this seems to give us the Mongol title Zaisan. I do not,
however, press this. I believe that current opinion is in
favour of the Sassanidae having been foreign dynasts.
They are succeeded by the Caliphs ; out and out
Arabian. But before the ninth century is over, the dis-
turbances of the Turkish guards (the Turanian praetorians
to an Arab court) have broken out, and Bagdad is in their
hands. The Caliphat is shaken. The Taherites are
nominally subordinate, practically independent. They
govern in Khorasan, and they have come from the other
side of the Oxus. This, however, is only a presumption
in favour of their being Turanian. The Soffarids, who
only reign from a.d. 872 to a.d. 902, may, not impro-
bably, be Persians. The Samanids, who succeed them, like
the Taherites, are from the north. They ** passed the
Oxus with 10,000 horse ; so poor that their stirrups were
262 HISTORY OP PERSIA.
made of wood, so brave that they vanquished the Soffa-
rian army, eight times more numerous than their own." •
The Bowids (from 933 to 1055) are said to have intro-
duced the title of Sultan, a Turk term.
From the Bowid period to the present time, every king
of either Persia, or any part of Persia, who consolidates
a power with any pretension to stability, is either a Turk
or a Mongol. Sebectegin, Mahmtid of Ghizni, Togrul
Beg, Malek Shah, Alp Arslan, are all Turks. The Temu-
ginian conquerors are Mongols ; the Timurian, Turks.
It must be admitted, then, that the presumptions are in
favour of the negative, and, therefore, hazardous, state-
ment that the soil of Persia has never been permanently
ruled by a native dynasty.
The doctrines suggested by names like Sacastenef and
Indoscythae have already been noticed.
That a Turanian dynasty interposed between that of
the Macedonians in Bactria, and the Arsacidse, is shown
by coin after coin, illustrative of the parts on the drain-
age of the Oxus during the first and second centuries of
the Christian era.
Such is the primd facie evidence (independent of that of
the arrow-headed inscriptions which will be noticed here-
after) in favour of an influx of influential Turanians into
Persia, beginning early and ending late. Such, too, the
notice of the influences from Arabia. The Caliphat gave
them. But Arabia is not the only Semite country which
has told on Persia. Assyria has done the same. So has
Media. So also Macedonia.
As the notice of both Assyria and Media involves a
special line of criticism, it is only Macedonia which now
arrests our attention. Alexander's army, so far as we see
in it a civilizing influence and a vehicle for the thought
♦ Gibbon, chap. lii. t Vol. i. p. 515.
HISTORY OF PERSIA. 263
and learning of Eastern Europe, was an army of Greeks.
Its captain was a reader of Homer. One, at least, of its
generals was a historian* A geographer accompanied it.
A philosopher or two might be found among its court
elements. If we look at it, however, as a mere material
force (and in this light the physical historian ought to view
it), it was a Macedonian medley of half-barbaric Hellenes,
Thessalians, and lUyrians. It may have had in its ranks
Getae and Thracians. Should any of its members be, at
the present moment, represented by any of the mysterious
tribes of the Paropamisus, the chances are against their
being Greeks. Skipetar blood is more likely to be
found amongst the Kafirs and Wakhanis than Hellenic.
This, however, is but a speculation. Nevertheless, it is
one which illustrates the case out of which it grows.
Materially speaking, the Macedonians were, to a great ex-
tent, other than Hellenes. Morally and intellectually,
they were Greeks. It was in north-eastern Persia that
their power and language lasted longest. Soon after
the death of Alexander it took root. By the end of
the first century it was shaken by the Turanians.
The general import of the arrow-headed, or cuneiform,
inscriptions is now pretty widely known. They represent
three forms of speech. One of these, akin to the literary
language of India, will be noticed ere long. The other
two find their place here. Of these one is Semitic, and
one Turanian. The simple existence of the Semitic
record tells us this much, viz. that in the reign of
Darius, as well as earlier and later, there was a suffi-
cient amount of Assyrian blood within the limits of
the Persian empire, to make it either necessary or con-
venient for public inscriptions to be written in the
Assyrian tongue. The details tell us much more. This,
however, is enough for the present question ; which mere-
264 HISTORY OP PERSIA.
ly asks whether the foreign influences that have acted
on Persia are great or small^ new or old, homogeneoiis or
composite. Our answer is, that they are both multiform
and ancient. They are not only Semite as well as Tura-
nian and Greek, &c., but they are Semite in two ways.
Arabia gave the Koran ; but one thousand years before
the birth of Mahomet, Chaldea gave something else.
There have been the older and the newer elements. And,
in the time of the Sassanians there is evidence to an in-
termediate series of influences.
Respecting the Turanian inscriptions Mr. Norriss,
whose opinion I am fully prepared to adopt, has laid
down the following doctrine. They are not Turk ; as we
may possibly expect a priori. They are not Mongol.
They are rather Ugrian or Fin. If so, we must sup-
pose that, just as certain southern members of the great
Fin family penetrated into Hungary in the tenth century,
so did certain of their congeners, some fifteen hundred
years earlier, penetrate into Persia. Be this as it may,
the elements of the ethnology of Persia were, in the time
of Darius, as well as before and after, sufficiently com-
plicated to require two languages other than native for
the rock inscriptions of royalty.
Roughly speaking, the arrow-headed inscriptions re-
present the times of Darius and his successors.
To one who holds that Persia was in the same category
with Parthia and that Parthia was Turanian, the lan-
guage of the inscriptions, which is other than Turanian,
and, at the same time, not Semite, is more likely to be
Mede than aught else — Mede rather than Persian.
Meanwhile the only remaining dynasty, the last in the
order of notice, but the first in time, calls us ; the dynasty
of Deioces, Pliraortes, Cyaxares, and Astyages. Now
Deioces was a Mede, a Mede of a nation to which the Bys«,
HISTORY OF PERSIA. 265
the Par^takaeni, the Stnikhates, the Arizanti, the Budii»
and the Magi belonged, as opposed to that of the Persians,
who were, according to their yivea, Pasargadae, Maraphii,
Maspii, Panthialaei, Derusisei, Germanii (a Turk gloss),
Dai, Mardi (a Ugrian gloss), Dropiki, and Sagartii. That
there were actions and re-actions of the kind suggested by
the previous remarks in the time of Deioces, is evident
from the text of Herodotus. The Assyrians had held
the Medes in subjection. The Medes had not only been
successful in throwing off the yoke from themselves
but had reduced the Persians. The Scythians and Cim-
merians were overrunning not only Media and Persia,
but Syria and Palestine as well. Let the history, then,
of Persia speak to the great extent to which that country
is the land of a mixed population.
It is Mede ; it is Persian proper; it is Turanian.
More than this, the Cimmerii were Europeans ; so that
it has not been from Asia alone that its foreign elements
have been derived.
The Cimmerii were Europeans. And so, in one sense,
were the Scythians mentioned by Herodotus. They were
the Skoloti of the southern parts of Russia rather than the
Sakae of independent Turkistan. They entered Media
by the way of Caucasus. The Parthians, though equally
Turk, entered Persia from the parts between the Caspian
and the Paropamisus.
More unequivocally European than either the Scythians
or the Cimmerii were the Thracians. It is impossible to
study the campaign of Darius on the Danube without
admitting that, notwithstanding all our tendencies to draw
broad and trenchant lines of demarcation between the
^ast and west, the early history of the Thracians, the
Getse, and the south-eastern Sarmatians is, to a great
extent, that of Media — of Media rather than Persia. I am
266 HISTORY OP PERSIA.
far from thinking that the Danubian principalities of the
Great King were mere outlying possessions. I think that,
of Media as opposed to Persia, they were central and in-
tegral parts, and that Macedonia was Persian quite as much
because it was Thracian, as because it was Greek.
The influence that Greece exerted upon not only Persia
in general, but that part of Persia in particular which
lay nearest to India, is a matter of ordinary history. The
influence of Rome is less distinctly seen. By Rome I
mean the Rome of the west ; Latin Rome ; Rome proper
rather than Greek Rome, Byzantine Rome, Constantino-
politan Rome. From the time of LucuUus to that of
Julian there were either Roman proconsuls, or kings pro-
tected by Rome along the whole of the north-western
frontier. There were Roman wars against the Seleucidae,
and Roman wars against the Arsacidse. In after times
there was Rome at second-hand from Constantinople.
It is chiefly through their early Christianity that Sjrria
and Armenia (the former more especially) have acted on
Persia. Persian Christianity, however, was short-lived.
Yet it passed across the land so as to reach Turkistan,
India, and even China.
The preceding analysis has been given because it is
only when we undervalue the relations betwen Persia and
Europe on one side and the relations between India and
Persia on the other, that the phenomena presented by the
ancient language and the ancient literature of Hindostan
become mysterious ; for mysterious they must be in the
eves of those who maintain that the Yedas are three
thousand years old, and that the undeniable affinities be-
tween the Sanskrit and the languages of the west are ex*
plained by deducing the Russian, the German, the Latin,
and the Greek from Asia. Any two points may be iso-
lated by ignoring the interjacent area. The archaeology
HISTORY OF PERSIA. 267
of Persia is, to a great extent, the archaeology of Hindo-
Btan. Persia has acted both morally and materially on
India. Turkistan, Arabia, and Europe have similarly
acted on Persia. Something was found on the land;
something was brought into it ; something was given off
from it. This is the ordinary procedure when popula-
tions act and re-act on each, or where one acts on a se-
cond and the second on a third. What has been brought
into Persia is, in some cases, extremely clear. It is clear,
for instance, that one, at least, of the languages of the
cuneiform inscriptions was an importation. So was
Mahometanism. So were a great many other things.
The religion of the ancient Persians may or may not have
originated on the soil of Persia. It is certain that it was
from Persia that it more especially spread itself. It is also
certain that, if foreign, the date of its introduction was
early. Fire-worship, however, may have been Median ra-
ther than Persian proper, inasmuch as Media was (and is) a
•
land where inflammable gases issue in mysterious currents
in several localities. One, especially, near tlie city of
Baku, is a nobject of devotion to the Guebres, who
make pilgrimages to the spot, where " a blue flame, in
colour and gentleness not unlike a lamp that bums with
spirits," rises from the earth, and is supposed to be eter-
nal. It may also, if we look at it on its sidereal, rather
than its igneous aspect, have been Chaldaic or Arabian ;
for Sabaeanism, as it is called, or the worship of the stars
and planets, is pre-emimently Semitic.
I shall call the creed under notice Parsiism or Zoroas-
trianism indifferently. The chief data for its investigation
are of three kinds : — the evidence of ancient authors
other than Persian ; the Parsi scriptures themselves ; the
practices and belief of the present fire-worshippers.
The Persians, writes Herodotus, think it foolish to
S68 PARSIISM.
build temples. Yet they sacrifice. They sacrifice on the
higher mountains. They sacrifice to the sun^ the moon^
the earth, to fire, to the winds. They have learned,
of late, from the Assyrians and Arabians, to worship
the deity called Mylitta by the former, Alytta by the
latter, Mithra by themselves. The priest, girt with a
wreath of myrtle, divides the victim, lays the parts on
herbs, of which the trefoil is the chief, sings a hymn, and
prays for all the Persians and the King of Persia. Lepers
and white pigeons are not allowed to be near the sacrifice.
He may not defile a river by even washing his hands in it.
A Magus ofiiciates. The bodies of the dead are first torn
by dogs and birds, then interred. Previous to interment
the body is smeared with wax. A Magus kills no ani-
mals except for the purpose of sacrificing. White is the
colour of the sacred horses, of Nisaean breed. When
Cyrus crossed the Gyndes one of the white horses plunged
into the stream, whereon the king swore that from that
time forward the river should not wet even the knees of a
woman. So he turned off the main stream into 180
channels. Xerxes flogged the Hellespont, and threw fet-
ters into it. Again, at sunrise he poured a libation from
a golden cup into it, and prayed. Having finished the
prayer he threw into the waves a golden cup and a scime-
tar. He also sacrifices white horses to the Strymon.
Again, — " the Persiaijs look upon fire as a god, and think
it wrong to burn a dead man in a divine flame.*' Again,
Xerxes sacrificed to the winds. Again, Darius wished
to have his statue placed on the temple of the ^Egyptian
Vulcan, and Xerxes sacrificed to the Trojan Minerva.
Dates forbade the fleet to approach Delos because it was
the birth-place of Apollo and Diana. Xerxes buried cer-
tain boys and girls in honour of the god underground.
The Magi, a ycvoj of Media, interpreted dreams, prophe-
PARSIISM. 269
sied, and performed incantations. Ctesias makes Darius
Hystaspes build an altar to the God of the firmament.
Xenophon kills bulls, horses, and other victims according
to the direction of the Magi. Strabo makes it unlawful
to breathe on fire, according to whom the Cappadocians
kept up a perpetual fire.
All this is the worship of the elements; especially
is it fire-worship and sun-worship. It is not, however,
Zoroastrianism in full. It is not the religion of the
two principles. Of this, however, Xenophon gives an
inkling. *^ I have two souls," says Araspes to Cyrus,
*' for a single soul cannot be bad and good at the
same time," &c. Plutarch, from Theopompus, gives us
Oromazes and Areimanius opposite and antagonistic
to each other, the former of whom makes benevolence,
truth, equity, wisdom, and joy ; the latter their opponents.
The former, too, makes the stars, and appoints Sirius
guardian. He also makes twenty-four gods, and puts
them in an egg, when Areimanius makes twenty-four
others, who crack the egg, and out comes good and bad
mixed. The heresy of Manes is stated by more than one
of the early ecclesiastic writers to be Zoroastrian.
This gives us the great Dualism, along with a host of
minor deities, who are, more or less, abstractions.
The next testimonies are those of the early Syrian and
Armenian Christians. These give us a picture of fire-
worship as it existed under the Sassanians. Elisaeus in
his History of the Religious Wars of the Persians and
Armenians (as translated by Neumann) gives us the
following proclamations and notices : —
"All peoples and tongaes throughout my dominions must abandon
their heresies, worship the sun, bring to him their oflferings, and call him
god ; they shall feed the holy fire, and fulfil all the other ordinances of
the Magi."
270 PARSIISM.
Again —
" Mihmerseh, Grand Yizier of Iran and Daniran, to the Armenians
abundant greeting :
" Know, that all men who dwell under hearen and hold not the belief
of the Mastesens, are deaf and blind, and betrayed by the devU-Berpent ;
for, before the heavens and the earth were, the great god Zruan prayed a
thousand yeais, and said : ' If I, perhaps, should have a son, named
Yormist, who will make the heavens and the earth/ And he conceived
two in his body, one by reason of his prayer, and the other because he
said perhaps. When he knew that there were two in his body, he said :
* Whichever shall come first, to him will I give over my sovereignty.' He
who had been conceived in doubt passed through his body and went
forth. To him spake Zruan: 'Who art thouV He said: 'I am thy
son Yormist.' To him said Zruan : ' My son is light and fragrant breath-
ing; thou art dark and of evil disposition.' As this appeared to
his son exceeding harsh, he gave him the empire for a thousand
years.
" When the other son was bom to him, he called him Yormist He
then took the empire from Ahrmen, gave it to Yormist, and said to him :
' Till now I have prayed to thee ; now thou must pray to me.' And
Yormist made heaven and earth ; Ahrmen, on the contrary, brought forth
evil ; and thus they divided themselves among creatures ; the angels are
of Yormist and the devils of Ahrmen : All good, in heaven and here
below, is from Yormist; all evil, which is done here and there, is produced
by Ahrmen. And thus, whatever is good on this earth, this has Yormist
made ; and whatever is not good^ that has Ahrmen made : as, for example,
Yormist has made men; Ahrmen has made sorrows, sufferings, and
death ; all misfortunes and mournful events which occur, as also lament-
able wars, are the work of the evil being ; as fortunate events, riches,
tune, honour, and health of body, beauty of countenance, eloquence in
speech, and length of years, all have their being from good ; but all
which is not so is the corrupt working of evil."
Again —
'' The Persian troops which had been in the land of the Huns are
marching hither, with many other troops which had been placed at the
gates. Besides these, they are accompanied by three hundred learned
Magi, who are to dispeise themselves throughout the land, convert every
one, pull down the churches, and force all to conform to the king's com-
mand. These Magi say : If you receive our &ith of your own free will,
then shall you receive from the king honours and presents, from the court
also a remission in the taxes ; but if you receive it not freely, we have
orders to construct fire-temples in the boroughs and cities, to kindle the
fire Behram, and to appoint Magi and Mogbeds learned in the law
PARSIISM. 271
throughout the land. Should any one attempt resistance, he will
suffer death, and his wife and children will be regarded as aliens, and
banished."
The following gives us an insight into some of the
more serious absurdities of the creed.
" Again, the Magi assign the following cause for the origin of light —
they overturn what has just been said, and give another ground for the
creation of the sun. They say : ' Ahrmen invited Yormist to a banquet.
Yormist came, but would not partake of the meal till their children had
fought against each other. Now after the son of Ahrmen had overthrown
the son of Yormist, and they required an umpire and could find none,
then they created the sun, that he might be the umpire between them.'
Now they infer from this that Ahrmen is omnipotent even with regard to
the sun, and contend that he took part in the creation of light. But was
there, in reality, no other umpire present *? — could they not have gone to
the Father, or to Him to whom the Father and Son, according to their
mythology, had addressed their prayers Y
"And wherefore, then, were they in enmity against each other,
Yormist and Ahrmen, who had been confined in one womb, who were
about to banquet together, and who, by mutual co-operation, created the
sun and set him up as umpire ] But one Ssaratashd teaches the following
disgraceful doctrine, that the Sun and the Light were made in maternal
and sisterly embraces, and taught the nation that they might perpetrate
the same atrocity : and to veil this disgrace it was given out that they
(the Sun and the Light) were created for the office of umpire : for as their
doctrines of belief are not contained in books, they sometimes say this,
and at others they say that, and mislead the ignorant by it. But if Yormist
was Qody he was in a situation to create the sun, as well as the heavens
and the earth, out of nothing, and not through a crime, or because there
was no umpire at hand."
This is fcom Esnik, who is the chief evidence to the
doctrine that both Ormuz and Ahriman are only second-
ary creations^ the primary entity being Zeruan Akerane,
I. e. Time Increate.
'' Before yet anything was made, either the heavens or the earth, or
any creature whatsoever which liveth in the heavens or on the earth, was one
named Zeruan, a word signifying the same with destiny or fame, A thousand
years he offered sacrifice that he might obtain a son, who should have the
name Ormisd, and should create heaven and earth and all things in them.
After a thousand years of sacrifice he began to reflect, and said, ' The
sacrifice which I have performed, does it conduce to the end, and shall a
272 PARSIISM.
son, Ormisd, be bom to me, or do I Btrive in vain V While he thought
thus, Ormisd and Ahrmen were conceived in the body of their mother.
Ormisd was the ofikpring of the sacrifice, and Ahrmen of the doubt.
Zeruan knew this, and said, — ' Two sons are in the mother's womb : he
who shall first come forth to me will I make the king.' Ormisd knew his
fathei^s thought, imparted it to Ahrmen, and said, ' Our &ther Zeruan in-
tends to make him king who shall first come to him;' and Ahrmen,
hearing this, pierced through the body of his mother, and stood before
his fiither. Zeruan, looking on him, said, ' Who art thou V And he said,
' I am thy son/ Then Zeruan spoke to him : ' My son is of odoriferous
breath and resplendent appearance, but thou art dark and of an evil
odour.' While they were thus speaking together, Ormisd was bom at his
proper time, and he was bright-shining and sweet-breathing. He went
forth and came before Zeruan : and when Zeruan looked upon him, he
knew that this was his son Ormisd, for whom he had ofiTered sacrifice. He
took the vessel which he had in his hand, and wherewith he had sacrificed,
gave it to Ormisd, and said, ' Hitherto I have sacrificed for thee, now and
henceforward thou mayest sacrifice for me:' and hereupon Zeraangave
his vessel to Ormisd, and blessed him. Ahrmen saw this and said to
Zeraan, ' Hast thou not taken an oath, whichsoever of the two sons shall
first come to me, him will I make king)' Zeruan, that he might not
break his oath, said to Ahrmen, ' 0 thou false and evil-doer 1 to thee be
dominion given for nine thousand years ; but I appoint Ormisd lord over
thee. After the nine thousand years Ormisd shall rale, and what he
wishes that shall he bring to pass.' "
The Mahometan writers were all subsequent to the
time of the Sassanidae. For this reason their evidence
is not noticed. That of the Syrians is less full than that
of the Armenians. Hence it is believed that the pre*
ceding notices, though anything but exhaustive, give a
fair and sufficient notion of Zoroastrianism as a living
creed at its zenith.
As a living creed at the present moment, Zoroastrian-
ism is held by a few Parsis in Kirman, a few in Khora-
san, and a great many more (the bulk of the faith) in
Guzerat. In respect to its scriptures —
The Yendidad is a dialogue between Oromasdes and
Zoroaster. The Yashna and Vispared are liturgies.
The Khurdavesta is also a liturgy. The Yasts are minor
and more fragmentary compositions.
PARsrisac. a73
There are, of course, in the Persian language several
works which treat of Zoroastrianism, and which increase
the bulk of the Parsi literature. Others, of which the
Bundehesh is the chief, are in what is called Pehlevi.
The language, however, of the religion of real life is the
Gujerati, in which the Parsiism of India embodies its
teaching, and conducts its controversies ; for there are, at
least, two sects — that of the Khadimi and that of the
Rasami — who differ on a question analogous to that of the
old and new styles in England. One admits, the other
denies, the intercalation of a month. There are other
elements of controversy besides, as will soon be seen.
The Parsiism of the present time has much that re-
minds us of Judaism. It makes few proselytes. It is
not a religion for a poor man. Its adherents are chiefly
mercantile. It differs, however, from Judaism in having
never developed itself into any other religion ; so that the
creed which should stand in the same relation to the
Zendavesta that Christianity does to the Old Testament
is non-existent. This isolates Parsiism even more than
Judaism is isolated.
The doctrines themselves are taken from the Zenda-
vesta, and it cannot be said that the contents of the
Zendavesta itself are unexceptionable. The apparent
purity of a simple elementary worship, with a matter so
suggestive of spirituality as fire for its main object,
excited the imagination of the first investigators of the
religion of the ancient Persians. The Parsi scriptures
themselves, though not without better things, are full of
angels and observances, of impossible epochs and absurd
developments. That these are not taken verbatim et lite^
ratim speaks well for the present state of thought
amongst the Parsis. The extent to which a freedom of
interpretation existed (provided that it did exist, and was
VOL. II. T
274f PARSIISM.
not evolved by the occasion) might not have been known
had not the creed come within the sphere of the activity
of the Bombay missionaries. These having got into con-
troversy with the Parsis, found them ready to take their
own part. I know the arguments of their defence only
through the work of their arch-antagonist, the Rev.
John Wilson, of the Scottish Church, which puts them
in the light of eclectic critics rather than servile biblio-
laters. They explain away their angels by making them
abstractions, and excuse their ceremonies by reducing
them to symbols. In short, they rationalize.
Thus— it is objected that they worship Feruher or
Angels.
Answer by Dosabh&i. " Faruhar means johar* They
call that johar, which is in English called Essence. It is
a majitak, or logical word. In Arabic, they apply johar
to an article which is composed of its own substance ; and
they apply the word araz to an object which is composed
of another object. Take for example the sun and sun-
shine : — The jokar is the sun and the sunshine is araz.
Take another example, of wood, and a chair : — the wood
is johar and the chair is araz, for the chair is made from
wood, and if there were no wood, there would be no chair.'*
Whether the trains of reasoning hereby suggested are
strictly Zoroastrian or not is unimportant. Let them be
ever so opposed to the original doctrine, Parsiism is stiU
a creed, of which all that can be said is that its modem
form differs from its ancient. In the fifth century,
Zoroastrianism persecuted. In the nineteenth, it ra-
tionalizes.
ANCIENT LANGUAGES OF PERSIA AND INDIA. 275
CHAPTER XXVIIT.
The Ancient Language of Persia and India. — The PenepoHtan of the
Cuneiform Inscriptions. — The Caubal Coins. — ^The Pali Inscriptions.
— The Sanskrit and Pali of Literature.
The next step in the ethnology of Persia and India is the
consideration of those languages of which we have the
oldest specimens, and of which the influence has been
greatest. They all belong to one and the same class.
The language of this class that has commanded the
greatest attention is, undoubtedly, the Sanskrit. Sanskrit,
however, is by no means the most convenient name for
the class ; nor is the Sanskrit language the most conve-
nient to begin with. The most convenient form of speech
to begin with is what may be called
The Persepolitan. — The following is a sample at large
from an inscription on the tomb of Darius at Naksh-
i-Rustam, according to the text and translation of Sir
H. Rawlinson : —
1 Baga wazarka Auramazd&, hja im
2 &m bumim ad&, hya awam asm
8 Unam ad&, hya martiyam ad6, h
4 ya shiyfttim ad6 martiyahy&,
.5 hy& D&r(a)yayum khsh^yathiyam ak
6 unaush, aivam paruwan&m khsh&yath
7 iyam, aivam parnwan&m fram&ta
8 ram.
The Qreat Qod Ormazd, (he it was) who gave this earth, who gave
that heaven, who gave mankind, who gave life (?) to mankind, who
made Darius King, as well the King of the people, as the lawgiver of
the people.
T 2
276 THE ANCIENT LANGUAGES
Many inscriptions in the same language are found else-
where, e,g. at Behistun, at Hamadan, and at Van. As
a general rule, they occur in conjiinction with two others
in different languages. Whenever they do this, they take
what may be called the place of honour, t. e. when the
columns are arranged horizontally they stand at the left
hand, so as to be read first, and, where there is a grouping
round a centre, it is in the centre that the present language
finds its place. Again, on a Persepolitan monument it
stands alone. It is with good reason, then, that Sir H.
Rawlinson considers that this is the primary language of
the Achsemenian dynasty — a language of which the other
members of the trilingual inscriptions are translations.
. Whether it be Persian rather than Mede is another ques-
tion. It is safe to call it the language of the first in-
scriptions. It is safe, too, as well as convenient, to call it
Persepolitan, inasmuch as, in Persepolis, it is found by
itself.
In respect to its matter, it is the edicts of the Achae-
menian kings which this language more especially em-
bodies; the most important of which is that of the Behis-
tun inscription. In respect to its structure it is closely
akin to the oldest Sanskrit. There is no evidence, how-
ever, to it having ever been spoken in India, nor yet in
the east of Persia. It is on the Kurd frontier, and in
Fars, that samples of it most abound. It is only in in-
scriptions, and only in the cuneiform characters that it is
found. Whether the Persepolitan inscriptions give us the
oldest compositions in the class of languages to which they
belong is uncertain. Most Sanskrit scholars would say
that they do not. It is certain, however, that they are
the oldest compositions that bear a date. Next to these
come
The legends of the Cauhd coins. — The kingdom which,
OF PERSIA AND INDIA. 277
after the death of Alexander the Great, was founded in
the north-east of Persia is better known through its coins
than its historians. Of the former, some thousands have
been deciphered. They show that the nearest successors
of Alexander ruled as Greeks, their names being Greek
and the legends on their coins being Greek. Letters and
legends, however, other than Hellenic soon appear, and
a series of coins, some bearing native, some bilingual,
inscriptions follows. The mintage then degenerates, the
names become barbarous, and the signs of a fresh dynasty
of conquerors from Scythia show themselves. All, how-
ever, that is not Greek in the way of legend, belongs
to the same class as the Persepolitan inscriptions on
the one side and the literary Indian on the other. The
fullest history of the dynasties in question is that of
Professor Wilson, in the Ariana Antiqua. He calls the
alphabet Arian.
The Pali of the oldest inscriptions. — Cotemporary with
the earlier but older than the later Caubul coins, are
certain inscriptions on pillars at Dauli and Girnar,
knovm most especially through the papers of Prinsep ; one
of which gives us what will be noticed more fully in the
sequel, the famous edict of Priyadasi, prominent and con-
spicuous in the real or supposed history of Buddhism.
The language is a form of the Pali ; the date of the in-
scription the reign of Sandracottus, or Chandragupta, the
cotemporary of Seleucus.
Whether the inscriptions of the last two alphabets give
us the oldest forms of the language to which they belong
is uncertain. Most Sanskrit scholars would say that they
do not. It is certain, however, that, next to the Per-
sepolitan, they are the oldest compositions that bear a
date.
Whether they give us the oldest alphabets is also un
^8 THE ANCIENT LAN6UA6SS
certain. It is only certain that thej give us the oldest
documents on which an Indian alphabet appears.
The language of the Sassanian coins, ^c. — ^The coins and
inscriptions of the Sassanian kings exhibit a language
of which it is unsafe to say much. It has affinities
with the ones preceding. But it has also prominent
Semite elements. The coins themselves are, of course,
politically speaking, Persian. The alphabet, however, is
Semitic. It contains no vowels, and only eighteen con-
sonants. The legends which it embodies have, of course,
a definite date. They range over the fifth, sixth, and
seventh centuries.
Now come the compositions which, whether older or
newer than the ones which have preceded, have no
dates.
These fall into three great divisions : — (1) the Sanskrit,
{2) the Pali, and (3) the Zend of the written literatures
as opposed to the language of the inscriptions.
1. The Sanskrit » — The language of those numerou3>
long, and important compositions, of some of which further
notice will be taken when we treat of the Brahminic lite-
rature of India, is the Sanskrit ; the Sanskrit with its
Devanagari alphabet, its fuller forms, and (along with
other characteristics) its dual number, as opposed to the
Pali. Of the Sanskrit, some forms are older than those of
the literary language in general and some newer. Some
present archaisms, some degenerations.
The Sanskrit of the Vedas is older than that of the
great mass of the Sanskrit literature. How much is
another question.
A Pracrit is a form of speech which, to explain ob*
scurum per obscurius, bears the same analogy to the San-
skrit that the Lingua Rustica of ancient Rome may have
borne to the pure Latin of Cicero. Or it may be com-
OP PERSIA AND INDIA. 279
pared to the Megarian dialect in the Acharnenses. Or it
may be compared to the Gascon French in Moli^re ; or
to the Bolognese^ and other dialects, introduced upon the
Italian stage side by side with the purer Tuscan. It is
in the Hindu dramas where the Pracrits are to be found ;
and it is women and servants who chiefly speak it.
The Kaivi will be noticed when the influence of India
upon Java, and
The Fan, when the influence of India upon China, is
considered.
2. The Pali. — The scriptures of Tibet, Mongolia, Pegu,
Ava, Siam, Kambojia, and Cochinchina, so far as they are
composed in the learned or holy language of the Bud-
dhist creed rather than in the vernacular of the several
countries, are not in Sanskrit, but in Pali — Pali, the lan-
guage of the Buddhism of the south of India. How far
it was the language of Buddhism altogether, especially
of the Buddhism of the north, is another question.
S, The Zendf or lanffuaffe of the Parsi scriptures. — This is a
form of speech which requires more criticism than it has
found. The matter which it exhibits is supposed to be
older than the time of the Sassanidae ; the form only
in which it appears being attributed to that dynasty.
Under the Arsacidae learning and religion had declined.
There was a general knowledge of Zoroaster and his
doctrines; but the Zoroastrian scriptures were wanting.
So the old men with the long memories were looked up,
and the Zendavesta, with its congeners, was constructed
from their dictation. The result of this is a book dis-
covered in India, in the seventeenth century, in a lan-
guage difierent from that of the Sassanian coins, but
akin to the Persepolitan and the Sanskrit. The alpha-
bet, however, is not Indian — or rather it is and it is
not. The letters are the letters of the Sassanian
280 THE ZEND.
legends adapted to writing; but the principles upon
which they are applied are those of the Indian alphabet.
They have eight or nine vowels — additions. In other words,
the alphabet of the Sassanian coins consists of eighteen,
the alphabet of the Parsi scriptures of forty-two characters.
TTie lanffuage of the glosses to the Zendavesta. — In the
same letters as the Zend, t. e. in letters which represent
the Sassanian inscriptions in a cursive form, are to be
found certain glosses to the Zendavesta, which are neither
Sassanian nor Persian proper, nor yet Gujerati, nor yet,
exactly
The language of the Bundehesh (a work on the mythology
of the Zendavesta), though closely akin to it, and writ-
ten in the same characters.
That the preceding forms belong to the same class
has already been stated. It should now be added that
the Sanskrit and Pali are Indian rather than Persian ; the
Persepolitan Persian rather than Indian ; the rest Persian
in some respects, Indian in others, e. g. the Caubul
legends are Pracrit in the way of language ; whilst their
alphabet is, in some respect at least, Semitic. On the
other hand, the Zend alphabet is, in some respects, Indian,
while the language itself is Persepolitan, rather than
either Sanskrit or Pali. More, however, will be said
on this head when the alphabets of India, &c., come
under notice. More, too, when the origin of the present
Persian and the modem dialects of India is considered.
LANGUAGES AKIN TO THE TAMUL. 281
CHAPTER XXIX.
On the Languages akin to the Tamul. — ^The Telinga. — The Tamul proper.
—The Canareae.— The CdrgL— The Malayalam.— The Tulu, or Tulaya.
—The Ghond.— The Khond.— The Eastern Kol.— The RiymahaL—
The Tamul elements of the Brah^.
The languages which form the subject of the present
chapter are the languages akin to the Tamul. Between
these and the languages akin to the Sanskrit there is a
strong contrast. The further we go into the ethnology of
India^ the clearer this will be seen. The languages of the
last chapter were dead ; the languages of the present are
living.
The earlier writers (and early in Indian ethnology
means the writers of the beginning of the present century)
certainly undervalued them. The habit, too, of speaking
of them as the languages of Southern India is incon-
venient; for, in ordinary parlance, few of us make
Southern India to begin at the Ganges. Mysore and the
Carnatic, the Madras Presidency and the Canara country
are southern in every sense of the word. Bombay, too, is
in the southern half of India, if we begin with Cashmir.
Yet the Rajmahal hills are north of Bombay, and the
Rajmahali form of speech is Tamul — the word, of course,
being taken in a general sense. Add to all this the Tamul
elements of the Brahui, and the reasons against localizing
the great family to which that name applies increase. So
far from being South Indian, it is not exclusively Indian.
282 LANGUAGES AKIN TO
It is Persian as well. The origin of the Brahdi has
nothing to do with this view. We are simply looking to
the actual distribution of the Tamul tongues in space, as
they exist at the present moment. We are simply guard-
ing against the influence of certain expressions which may
lead us to under-estimate its extent.
The reasons for giving prominence to the forms of
speech now coming into view are less manifest; indeed,
the practice of doing so is anything but general. Yet
nothing is clearer than the geographical contact between
the languages of India and those akin to the Tibetan
along the whole range of the Himalayas. Along the whole
range of the Himalayas, from Cashmir to the end of
Asam, the two groups touch each other definitely and
directly; no intermediate language intervening. All
that is not Tibetan, Nepaulese, or Burmese, is Hindu;
all that is not Hindu is Burmese, Nepaulese, or Tibetan.
Such the general character of the frontier. In its details
we may fairly presume there has been a difierence. What
if the Tibetan or Nepaulese tongues have once extended
further south, so that the Hindu dialects have encroached
upon them ? Nepaul, at the present moment, is Bhot.
May not the parts south of Nepaul once have been the
same ? What if the history of the Hindus in the north
of Hindostan be that of the English in England, the
Nepaulese and Tibetans representing the Welsh of Wales ?
In such a case the whole valley of the Ganges may once
have been, more or less, Bhot. More than this. There
may have been a time when (for the eastern half of India
at least) the southern frontier of the Tibetan, and the
northern frontier of the Tamul, areas touched each other.
What if the Ganges separated them, even as the Rhine
separated Gaul from Germany ? I do not, at present,
say that this was the case ; I only point out the bearings
THE TAMUL. 283
of the Tibetan tongues upon the ethnology of India, I
add^ too, that in one point, at the present moment, the
distance between the two extremities of the two areas is
not more than sixty miles as the crow flies. In the parts
to the north and north-east of Calcutta the monosyllabic
languages of the Garo hills are spoken to within a short
distance of the northern bank of the Ganges. In the parts
west of Calcutta the Rajmahal hills actually abut upon the
river firom the south. Yet the Rajmahal area is Tamul.
Again — the original language of Kooch Bahar has its
southern frontier a little to the north of Agra; to the
south of which populations reasonably believed to belong
to the Tamul family make their appearance.
The TelugUy TeloogoOy Telaga, Telunga, or Telinga, is
spoken from Chicacole on the north to Pulicat on the
south, extending in the interior as far as the eastern
boundaries of the Mahratta districts; so as to be the
vernacular language for upwards of fourteen millions of
individuals in the northern Circars, and in parts of Hy-
derabad, Nagpiir, and Gondwana. The drainages of the
Kistuah and Pennaur rivers are within the Telinga area.
The great stream of the Godavery has Telinga districts on
each side of it. A third or more of the eastern Ghauts is
Telinga. Then there are the Telinga populations of the
parts beyond the proper Telinga area, chiefly in the Tamul
districts — Naiks, Reddies, &c. Of these there may be a
million; yet it is doubtful whether the Telinga populations
are either the most enterprizing or the most civilized of
their class. With a smaller population there is, at the
present moment, more activity amongst the speakers of
The TamuL — Whether this was always the case is an-
other question. The energy of the latter population is
measured by the extent to which Tamul servants, Tamul
labourers, Tamul tradesmen, are to be found beyond
284 LANGUAGES AKIN TO
the proper boundaries of their language, working hard,
pushing their fortunes, making money. This is consi-
derable. As the parts on each side of the Godavery are
Telinga, the districts which the Cavery waters are Tamul.
Madras is Tamul, Pondicherry is Tamul, Tranquebar is
Tamul, Negapatam is Tamul, the Camatic is Tamul. In
fact, the Tamul language succeeds and replaces the
Telinga about Pulicat, a little to the north of Madras,
and is spoken all along the coast of Coromandel to Cape
Comorin. It then turns to the north, and constitutes the
vernacular of the southern part of the Rajahship of Tra-
vancore, giving way to the Malayalim in the parts about
Trevandrum. Inland, it extends to the Ghauts and Nil-
gherries — say to the parts about Coimbatiir. It is the
language of a vast plain ; contrasted in this respect with
the Telinga, which is spoken over a varied surface, some-
times level, oftener broken.
Ten millions is the number given to the speakers of
the Tamul tongue. They are not, however, confined to
the district just indicated. There are Tamul settlers in
Ceylon, especially in the north-western parts of the
island. The coolies of the coffee plantations are gene-
rally Tamul all over the island. There are numerous
Tamul merchants in the capital ; and " ere long," writes
Mr. Caldwell, " the Tamilians will have excluded the
Singalese from almost every ofiice of profit or trust in
their own island." The majority of the domestic servants
and camp-followers, even in the Telinga portions of the
Presidency of Madras, are Tamul, and whatever may be
the vernacular dialect, the Tamul is current in all the
military cantonments of Southern India. Cannanore is
in the Malayalim, Bangalore in the Canarese, Bellary in
the Telugu, Secunderab in the Hindostani, countries;
nevertheless, the language which (if not heard oftenest)
THE TAMUL, 285
is, at leasts thoroughly understood, is the TamuL Then
there are the Klingsin Pegu, in Penang, and in Sincapore.
These, as a general rule, are Tamul. So are the emigrants
to the Mauritius. Of course they have been compared to
the Scotch, also to the Greeks. They may or may not
be like them. If they were not active and energetic the
comparison would never have been made.
The Tamul, being a language long cultivated, is known
in two forms — ^an ancient or literary, a modern or collo-
quial.
The literary Tamul is called the Shen Tamul.
The colloquial Tamul is called the Kodun Tamul.
West of the Telinga, west of the Tamul, and in the
central table-land of Southern India, is spoken the ver-
nacular language of Seringapatam and Mysore.
The CanaresCy Karmadiy or Kamataka. — Mysore is its
centre. Yet it touches the coast in the district of
Canara between Goa and Mangalore, a district to which
it is scarcely indigenous, but one in which it has suc-
ceeded the Tulava, a language that will soon come under
notice. On the east it nowhere even approaches the
sea. Nor is it the only language of Canara. Beside it
there is the Tulava. Beside it is the Malayalam of the
southern frontier. Beside it is the Konkani of the
northern frontier — the Konkani, which is a dialect of the
Mahratta, and, as such, strongly contrasted with the other
three forms of speech. In the Nizam's country it reaches
as far north as Beder, the frontier between it and the
Mahratta being, in many districts, eminently irregular.
There are two stages, or forms, of the Canarese, even
as there were two forms, or stages, of the Tamul. The
ancient or literary dialect exhibits a difference of in-
flexion in several notable details — ^a difference of in-
flexion, not merely of words.
286 LANGUAGES AKIN TO
The Coarffif or language of Coorg and Wynaad, is a
dialect of the Canarese.
Including the Coorgis, the number of individuals who
speak the Canarese may amount to 5,000,000.
The Malayalam, if we allowed ourselves to refine upon
its affinities, would possibly find its place immediately in
contact with the Tamul. It is the Tamul with which it
comes in the closest geographical contact. Like the
Tamul it is a language of the extreme south. It has
been imagined to be of special Tamul origin. It is, how-
ever, a separate substantive language, possibly more akin
to the Tamul than its other congeners — ^but no Tamul
dialect.
The Malayalam is the language of the western side
of the coast of Malabar. On its east lies the Canarese ;
on its north the Tulava; on its south the Tamul.
The Tamul succeeds it at Trevandrum, the Tulava
and Canarese of Canara, about Mangalore. It stretches
over about six degrees of latitude, but only in a nar-
row strip between the Ghauts and the sea. It is the
vernacular of Cochin, and the northern and middle parts
of Travancore.
JTie Tulu, Tuhtva, or T\ilava is spoken by no more than
150,000 souls. It succeeds the Malayalam about Man-
galore, and reaches, northwards, the Mahratta frontier
about Goa. Like the Malayalam, it covers but a strip
between the Ghauts and the ocean. It is said to re-
semble both the Malayalam and the Canarese, the latter
most.
The following are, according to Caldwell, the writer
from whose Dravirian Grammar the preceding details are
exclusively taken, the statistics of the above-mentioned
languages.
THB TAMUL. 287
1. Tamul is spoken by
2. Telinga „
3. Canarese „
4. Malay alam „
5. Tulu „
10,000,000
14,000,000
5,000,000
2,500,000
150,000
31,650,000
The previous forms of speech constitute a natural group
— a natural group, and not a very large one. They all
belong to the Dekhan. They are all spoken by popu-
lations more or less Hindu. They are all the languages
of the civilized Indian. Their area is continuous; in
other words, they are all in contact with each other, and
their frontiers join. There is nothing between the
Telinga and the Tamul, the Tamul and the Canarese, the
Tamul and the Malayalim. Their area is continuous.
The forms of speech that now come under notice,
though in all essentials closely allied to the preceding, in
some respects form a contrast rather than a counterpart
to them. They are spoken by the ruder, rather than the
more civilized, sections of the Indian family. They are
spoken beyond the Dekhan as well as within it. They
are spoken in the hill and jungle rather than in the town
and village. They are spoken by either actual pagans or
imperfect Hindus. For the purposes of literature they
have been wholly neglected. There is not a native
alphabet amongst them. Finally, their area is, in many
places, either actually discontinuous or very irregular, t. e.
they are separated, or nearly separated, from each other by
languages of either a different family or a different branch
of the same. The level country is Hindu both in creed
and language. The mountain which it encompasses is
other than Hindu in language, and pagan in the way of
creed.
288 LANGUAGES AKIN TO
The Ghond. — This is the language of that portion of
India which is marked in the maps as Gondwana ; or,
if not in the white district^ of its hillier and more
impracticable portions. Like most of the localities
which preserve, in fragments, the older populations of
a country, it is a watershed. The northern feeders of
the Godavery, and the south-eastern of the Nerbudda,
take their origin in the Ghond country, of which, the
greater part lies considerably to the north of the most
northern portion of Telinga area, and of which the north-
em frontier, is (in the way of language), Hindu, the western
and south-western Mahratta. As the region, however, to
the south and south-east of Gondwana has been but im-
perfectly explored, I am unable to say whether it is abso-
lutely isolated. It may or may not touch certain parts
of Telingana. Again, it may or may not, touch tlie
western portions of the
Sotir, Khondy and Kol areas* — Word for word. Sour is
Sairea, a name which will appear in the notice of Bun-
delcund and elsewhere. It is no native term, but one
by which certain Hindus designated certain populations
different from themselves. It indicates, then, a negative
character ; from which it follows that the populations to
which it applies may or may not be allied ; the affinity or
the difference being, in each instance, determined by the
special circumstances of the case. It is necessary to be
familiar with the distinction, in order that we may not
be misled by names.
Word for word, Khond is Ghond, a name which has
already appeared. It is no native term, but one by which
certain Hindus designated certain populations different .
from themselves.
Word for word, Kol is Kiili, a name which will appear
in the notice of Gujerat or elsewhere. It is no native
THE KONDS. 289
term^ but one by which certain Hindus designated certain
populations different from themselves.
The Sours^ Konds, and Kols are the Orissa analogues
of the Gonds of .Gondwana. They occupy the fast-
nesses of the eastern Ghauts rather than the more com-
plicated ranges of the centre. They run in a rough kind
of parallelism to the sea ; their direction being vertical,
t. e, from north to south rather than horizontal, t. 6. from
east to west. At the same time they run sufficiently in-
land to touch parts of Gondwana ; so that the distini^tion
between the present group and the preceding is, probably,
artificial ; Gondwana, for the most part, having been ap-
proached from the west, the Kond country from the
east ; Gondwana having been treated as an eastern district
of the Mahratta country, the Kond region as a western
portion of Orissa.
It is the Kond section that is best known; both in
respect to its proper ethnology and its geography. It is
this last alone which now lies under notice. The Konds
are found as far north as 20^ N. L., and as far east as
the sea-coast. This brings them to the parts about
Ganjam, about Kuttak, Juggernauth, and the Chilka
Lake. Southwards they extend below Chicacole ; por-
tions of the Yizagapatam district being Kond. This is
within the Telinga area.
The Sours (wholly within Telingana) extend from the
southern frontier of the Konds to the Godavery.
The Sours to the south — the Konds in the centre—
the Kols to the north — this is the distribution north-
wards.
The Rajmahali mountaineers. — These are the occupants
of the Rajmahal hills in the neighbourhood of Bogilpur.
How far their area is continuous with that of the northern
Kols is uncertain. It is only certain that the numerous
VOL. II. u
290 THE BBAHUI.
dialects of the Gonds, Konds^ Kols, Sours, and Rajma*
halis, are, at one and the same time, connected with each
other, and connected with the Telinga, the Canarese, the
Tulava, the Malayalim, and the Tamul.
The BrahHi. — ^The Tamul elements of the Brahiii have
already been noticed. The details of the Brahui occu-
pancy will be noticed in the sequel.
LANGUAGE OF INDIA. 291
CHAPTER XXX.
BelaMoxu of the langnageB akin to the Tamnl. — ^RelatioiiB of the lan-
gaagee akin to the Sanskrit.
The languages akin to the TamuL — The aj£nity of these
is the one suggested by their geography. Their nearest
congeners are the Tibetan and Burmese. The Tamul
forms of speech, however, are in a higher stage of de-
velopment. They are what is called agglutinate; i. e.
they exhibit inflections ; but those inflections can, for the
most part, be reduced to separate words incorporated with
the main term. Doing this, they stand in the same rela-
tion to the languages of the so-called monosyllabic class
on the south, that the Turk, Mongol, Tungus, and
Ugrians stand on the north and west. Whatever relation
they may have with these last is indirect. In agreeing
with them in structure, t. e, in their stage of develop-
ment, they are their analogues, not their congeners.
Whether there may not be direct (but intrusive) Tura-
nian elements in India is another question.
The languages akin to the Simskrit. — These are all truly
inflectional rather than agglutinate, i. e. they are in the
condition of the Latin and the Greek with their cases and
tenses, rather than in that of the English or French with
their prepositions and auxiliary verbs which have re-
placed them, or that of the Burmese and Tibetan wherein
they have yet to be fully developed.
The Sanskrit, then, and its congeners are inflectional,
after the manner of the languages of Europe, and, being
u 2
292 LANGUAGE OF INDIA.
tbis^ stand in strong contrast to all the Tamul dialects,
which are (as aforesaid), after the fashion of the Turk and
Fin, agglutinate.
There is, then, a contrast here. There is another and
a stronger one when we pass over to the field of the
monosyllabic tongues. With the Tibetan, with all the
Nepaulese dialects, and with the Burmese, the Sanskrit
differs more decidedly than with the Tamul. Both
these contrasts are important. They make us ask the
following question : — If the Sanskrit be unlike its neigh-
bours on the south, if it be more unlike its neighbours
on the north, and if it be equally foreign to the frontier
languages on the east, what is it like ? What is it like,
and where are its congeners ? They are not to be found
on the frontier of India ; so that the Sanskrit comes from
the north and west rather than from the south and east.
The Sanskrit language. — Westwards lie the Persian local-
ities ; the localities for the language of the cuneiform
inscriptions, and perhaps of the Zend. Can these be
in what we may term their proper siius^ i. e. in geo-
graphical contact with the languages next akin? One
of these is the Arabic, which is as little like the Sans-
krit as axe the Turk and Mongol. Another is the
Armenian, which is somewhat more like, and another,
the Iron, which is decidedly like the modem Persian.
None, however, are the nearest congeners to either
the Sanskrit or the Zend. To find these we must go
westward, beyond the Black Sea and the Hellespont;
beyond the Don. We must enter Europe. The nearest
congeners to the Sanskrit are the languages of the
Russian empire ; then those of Rome and Greece ; then
those of Germany. Changing the phrase, the Sans-
krit belongs to the same class with the Sarmatian, the
classical, and the German tongues; a class to which some
LANGUAGE OF INDIA, 293
(perhaps most) philologues add the Keltic. The ordinary
(but exceptionable) name for this group is Indo-Ger-
manic (or Indo-European) ; the languages which belong
to it being spoken in Germany (or Europe) and in Hin-
dostan. Its most eastern division is the Sarmatian,
which falls into two branches — the Slavonic and the Lithu-
anic, the latter lying east of the former. Now, without
doubt, the affinities of the Sanskrit are closer with the
Lithuanic than with any other language on the face of
the earth. It is not what we expect & priori. Still, it is
the case.
I should add, however, that this is not the usual lan-
guage of philologues ; who, generally speaking, are satis-
fied with making the Sanskrit Indo-European, without
deciding to which of the other members of the class it
has the greatest affinity. I look upon this as the cause
of much error ; inasmuch as it is evident that to
search for the origin of a language that is equally allied
to half a dozen others (unless, indeed, it stand in the
centre of them) is a waste of learning and acumen.
Next to the Lithuanic, the Sanskrit is most like the old
Slavonic ; which is, again, the most eastern member of its
class.
The Sanskrit is more closely allied to the Lithuanic
than to aught else. In making the comparison, however,
one very important fact must be remembered. The
oldest specimen of the Lithuanic is no older than a.d.
1500. In Sanskrit there are compositions 2000 years
old. The Sanskrit, in fact, is in the stage of the Latin
and Greek. The Lithuanic, on the contrary, though not
exactly in the modem condition of the Spanish or
Italian, is, nevertheless, in an advanced stage. It has,
doubtless, had inflections, which, like those of other
languages, have existed and have died out — died out
S94 LANGUAOfi OF INDIA.
before the language was reduced to writing, and before
their existence could be recorded. In some respects,
then, the Latin and Greek are more like the Sanskrit
than is the Lithuanic, inasmuch as they are in the same
stage, the stage wherein inflections are numerous. Never-
theless, the real affinities are Lithuanic. Those with
Germany are less close. Those with the Keltic tongues
more remote stiU.
Here we pause for the present, and pass on to a new
class of facts.
LANGUAGES AKIN TO HINDI. 295
CHAPTER XXXI.
Tlie langaages akin to the HindL^The Kaahmeri.— The Hindi — The
Gtgerati. — The BengalL-*-The Udiya — The Mahratta. — Sectional and
Intermediate Fonns, &c. — Migratory Populations and Trades. — The
Gypsies.— The Bhil Dialects.— The HindostanL
If the Sanskrit and the Pali be dead languages, and if
the languages akin to the Tamul be limited to the areas
which have been described (and they ctre so limited),
what are the living forms of speech in those parts of
India which lie north of the Dekhan and west of the
Gond and Kond countries ? What, indeed, are the
forms of speech for certain tracts east of Gondwana ?
What is the language of Bengal ? What is the language
of the natives of Orissa itself, who are other than Kond ?
What is the language of Oud, of Delhi, of the Rajput
country, of the Desert and the whole drainage of the
Indus, of Gujerat, of the Mahratta country ? It was
not Sanskrit. Sanskrit^ like Latin, has ceased to be
spoken. It was not Telinga or Canarese. Canarese and
Telinga belong to the Dekhan.
There is a class of languages which we may describe,
as we have described the Pali, the Telinga, and their
respective congeners. There is a class of languages
the members of which may be said to be akin to the
Hindi. Saying this we use a circumlocution. There are
reasons, however, for doing so. That they are akin to
the Hindi and to each other no one denies. That they
belong to one of the two groups which have preceded no
one denies either. That they are Tamul rather than
Sanskrit many deny. That they are Sanskrit rather than
296 LANGUAGES AKIN TO HINDI.
Tamul some deny, some doubt. It is best, then, to
describe them as Hindi, or akin to the Hindi.
So much for the term. The group itself is dealt with
as a separate class, not because it belongs to neither of
the preceding, but because it is doubtful to which of the
two it should be referred.
At the same time the group is, from a certain point of
view, a natural one. All the languages it contains agree
in giving the following contrasts. As compared with the
Sanskrit they are poor in inflections; even as the Italian,
when compared with the Latin, shows poor. As com-
pared with the Tamul tongues, they abound and over-
abound in words of Sanskrit origin ; even, as compared
with the Dutch or the Danish, the English abounds in
Latinisms. It is unnecessary to say to what difference of
opinion these conditions may give rise. There is the
claim for the Sanskrit, and there is the claim for the
Tamul, origin of the languages of northern India, with
authorities and arguments on both sides. The highest
authorities, and the greatest number of advocates, are for
the Sanskrit. Whether the best arguments are in the
same predicament is another question.
The dialects of the present group are numerous, and
some of them will be noticed as we go on. At present it
is convenient to enumerate the following six languages
—for separate substantive languages they are usually
considered to be.
1 • The Cashmirian of Cashmir.
2. The Brij Basha, or Hindi.
3. The Gujerati, or Gujerathi, of Gujerat.
4. The Bengali of the lower Ganges, the valley of
Asam, and parts of Sylhet and Chittagong.
5. The Udiya of Orissa.
6. The Mahratta or Marathi of Aurungabad, &c.
LANiSUAGES AKIN TO HINDI. 297
I give these divisions as I find them, adding that^
though convenient^ they are^ by no means, unexception-
able. In the first place, the difference between a lan-
guage and a dialect has never been satisfactorily ex-
plained : so that neither term has yet been defined. It
will be seen, ere long, that there are several other forms
of Indian speech, of each of which, though we may say
with truth that it is more Hindi, more Bengali, or more
Marathi than aught else, we cannot say that it is a
Marathi, a Bengali, or a Hindi dialect. For this reason
it is inexpedient to give the numbers of individuals by
which each tongue is spoken. And it is also inconvenient
to say whether such and such languages are mutually
unintelligible. It is only certain that whatever difference
may exist between any two is exaggerated rather than
softened down when they are written. This is because
the alphabets, though all of Sanskrit origin, differ from
each other in detail.
Of the six languages under notice, the Cashmiri, the
Gujerati, and the Udiya, are spoken not only over the
smallest areas, but by the fewest individuals ; the largest
areas being those of the Marathi and Hindi, the largest
mass of speakers being those of the Bengali language.
It is the Bengali which has the greatest tendency to ex-
tend itself beyond the frontiers of India ; the Bengali of
Asam and Chittagong being the form of speech which is
more especially encroaching upon the Tibetan and Bur-
mese areas.
The languages that lie in the closest contact with the
members of the Tamul group are the Marathi and Udiya.
The affinities of the Cashmirian with the Dard tongues
are decided.
I guard against the notion that the difference between
the six tongues of the foregoing list is greater than it
298 LANGUAGES AKIN TO HINDI.
really is. A little more Sanskrit or a little less ; a little
more Persian or a little less; a Telinga or a Canarese
element more or less ; an alphabet of more or less detail
— in these points and the like of them consist the chief
differences of the languages akin to the Hindi.
I guard, too, against the notion that the preceding list
is exhaustive. Before Hindostan has been traversed we
shall hear of such sectional and intermediate forms as the
Jutki, the Sindi, the Punjabi, the Haruti, the Marwari,
the Konkani, and others ; of all whereof thus much may
be said —
1. That they are allied to each other and to the
Hindi.
2. That they are not akin to the Sanskrit in the mani-
fest and unequivocal way in which the Sanskrit, Pali,
and Persepolitan are akin to each other,
3. That they are not Tamul or Telinga in the way that
the Canarese, the Kond, &c., are Canarese, Tamul, and
Telinga.
Necdum finitus Orestes. — There are certain populations
which drive trades that require movement from one part
of the country to another, trades like those of the
drovers, knife-grinders, and the like, in England. Most
of these have a mode of speech more or less peculiar.
They will be noticed hereafter. Meanwhile, it may be
laid down, as a general rule, that their dialect is that
of the country to which they more especially belong, i. e,
more Hindi than Tamul in the Marathi, &c., more
Tamul than Hindi in the Canarese, &c., countries.
The Gypsy language. — That this is Indian is well known*
What are its affinities, Tamul or Hindi ? HindL Hence
it belongs to the present group.
The Bhil, Sfc, dialects.— In habits the Bhils, the Wdrffli,
the Kols of Gujerat, and other allied tribes, are, on the
LANGUAGES AKIN TO HINDI. 299
western side of Gondwana, what the Sours, the Konds,
and the Kols of Bengal are on the eastern. All are
believed, on good grounds, to be of the same blood. At
the same time, the language of the first is akin to the
Hindi; just as the Cornish is English, though the blood
of the Comishman is Welsh. The Welshman, however,
has preserved what the Comishman has lost, t. e. the
characteristic of language. Mutatis mutandis, this is
what is believed, on reasonable grounds, to be done by
the Konds and Bhils, &c. On the eastern side of India
the language and blood coincide. On the western the
blood is southern, the language northern — the language
Marathi, the blood more or less Canarese and Telinga.
The only form of speech that now stands over for
notice is
The Hindostani. — ^Tbis is the language of the Maho-
metans of Hindostan. It is essentially and fundamen-
tally Hindi, but it comprises more Persian and more
Arabic words than any of the true vernaculars. It is
written, moreover, in Arabic characters.
300 INDIA
CHAPTER XXXII.
India as an influence. — Its action npon Tibet, Aya, &c. — Upon the islands
of the Indian Archipelago. — Brahminism and Buddhism.
Important as are the great polytheist mythologies of
Greece and Rome in the history of art and literature,
they have been but little influential in the history of the
world at large. They may safely be ignored in the present
chapter, which is devoted to a short notice of what may
be called the six great creeds of mankind, viz. Judaism,
Christianity, Mahometanism, Parsiism, Brahminism, and
Buddhism. All these agree in being the religions of a
lettered language ; so that their doctrines can be ex-
pounded, their canons embodied, and their controversies
conducted by means of writings more or less permanent,
more or less capable of both multiplication and diffusion.
When this is the case, creeds both increase in stability
and become susceptible of development. They become
measures of the multiplicity of ways in which the human
mind can employ itself upon transcendental subjects, and
they also grow into historical influences and determine
the moralities or immoralities of nations. The division,
then, between the lettered and unlettered religions is
natural. As for the unwritten superstitions of the ruder
varieties of mankind, it is convenient to denote them by
the general name of paganism. It is also convenient to
call the paganism of Asia and Europe shamanism ; that
of Africa fetichism. It is convenient to do this. I do
not say that it is strictly scientific.
That the six great lettered religions fall into groups is
manifest. The first three are in decided and palpable
AS AN TNPT.UENCE. 301
relations to each other, connected by their common mono-
theism, connected by their common recognition of several
prophets and patriarchs. They belong to the west rather
than the east, to those parts of the world where northern
Africa and western Asia come in contact. The languages
of the countries in which they arose were Semitic ; and
Semitic is the language of two of their scriptures^ the
Old Testament and the Koran.
In like manner Buddhism and Brahminism are con-
nected ; connected both in the doctrines which they con-
vey and the language in which those doctrines are
embodied. They belong to the east rather than the west,
and they originated in those districts where Persia,
Central Asia, and India join. The languages in which
they are embodied are closely allied ; indeed, they are a
dialect of one language rather than separate forms of
speech. The alphabets which represent them differ. So
do the Arabic and the Hebrew. So do the Hebrew and
Samaritan. This agreement in speech, combined with a
difference of expression, is a common phenomenon in the
history of religions.
What Brahminism and Buddhism are in the matter of
language that is Farsiism also. Whether Zend or Peh-
levi, the speech of the fire-worshippers was akin to that
of the Indian rituals. The Zend and Pehlevi alphabets,
however, are other than Indian. That there are Parsi
elements in the Indian mythology is well known. It is
well known, too, that from actions and reactions between
the creeds of Judaea and Chaldsea, there is something
Parsi (the word is used in its widest sense) in Judaism,
something Judaic in Parsi.
As a religious influence, Parsiism is either station-
ary or retrograde. It is not dead like classical poly-
theism. It is only deficient in development. Its
SOS INDIA
history, however, I believe to have been important ; for I
believe that in Turkistan, in Mongolia, in parts even of
China and Siberia, not to mention many districts of
Caucasos, there was, before the diffusion of the present
Buddhist and Mahometan theologies, a more or less im«
perfect fire-worship.
Of the western religions, Judaism, of the eastern,
Brahminism, are what may be called passive, t. e. they
care little to propagate themselves abroad. What is
Brahminism out of India ? Who are Jews except the
children of Israel ? The religions for the Gentiles are
the remaining three.
I have not made these remarks solely and wholly for
the sake of either suggesting analogies or exhibiting the
sketch of a classification. I have rather made them as
preliminaries to a special fact connected with India as an
infiuence on the history of the world. India, beyond the
area of Hindostan, is chiefly a great religious infiuence
so far as it is Buddhist ; just as the western or Semite
religions are chiefly forces so far as they are either
Christian or Mahometan. Yet India, at the present
moment, is no Buddhist country at all. Neither are
Palestine and Asia Minor Christian. Yet it was in them
that Christianity arose. The country that propagates a
creed is not always the country that retains it.
The country that propagates a creed is not always the
country that originates it. Neither Greek nor Latin
Christianity originated in either Greece or Rome.
There is no Buddhism, eo nomine, in continental India
at the present moment ; though there is plenty of it in
the island of Ceylon, and remains of it, as well as
existing modifications, on the mainland.
There is no Buddhism, eo nomine, in continental India,
at the present moment.
AS AN INFLUENCE. 80S
Is Buddhism^ then, Indian in its origin ? It is not safe
to affirm even this. Fair reasons (to say the least of
them) can be given for believing that, originally, Bud-
dhism was foreign to the soil of Hindostan.
What, then, is its connection with India ? It developed
itself on the soil of that country and from that country
it diffused itself.
It spread from two points, from the north and from the
south. Of the Buddhism of the north, the Sanskrit
rather than the Pali was the vehicle, and the route by
which it diffused itself was Nepaul, Tibet, Western China,
Mongolia, and Japan.
With the Buddhism of the south, the island of Ceylon
is more especially connected. Its vehicle was the Pali
rather than the Sanskrit, and the countries over which it
spread were Pegu, Burma, Siam, and Kambojia.
With the creed went the alphabet and with the alpha-
bet the civilization.
Hence, it is India to which nine-tenths of the civiliza-
tion of the eastern part of continental Asia is due.
Indian also is the earliest civilization of the more civil-
ized parts of the Indian Archipelago ; though, at the
present moment, the details of their older creeds and lite-
ratures are obscure. Mahometanism, except in a few
places, has superseded the religion introduced from India.
The island of Bali, however, is at this moment Indian.
So is a small district in Java. Amongst the Battas of
Sumatra ; amongst the Philippine islanders ; amongst the
rude tribes of the interior of the Malayan peninsula ;
amongst even the Dyaks of Borneo the paganism is, by
no means, pure and unmixed. On the contrary, it always
exhibits Indian elements. Perhaps it may be styled a
degraded Hinduism.
I am not prepared to say how far this peculiar offset
304 THE PAB^I.
of the Indian religion is Buddhist rather than Brahminic^
or Brahminic rather than Buddhist. It is sufficient for
it to be Indian. Being this^ it helps us to the measure
of the influence of India as a civilizing power.
As suchy India is what she is^ only so far as she is either
Buddhist or Brahminic. How far are Buddhism and
Brahminism the indigenous growths of the Indian soil ?
Whatever may be the best manner of exhibiting a series
of recognized and undoubted historical details^ it is mani-
fest that for the purposes of investigation, the right points
to begin with are those that are well defined, whether in
time or place. In geography we look for accurate latitudes
or longitudes ; in archaeology for ascertained dates.
Upon this principle, in attempting a sketch of the
early history of the two great religions of India, I shall
begin as I began with the Sanskrit and Pali records ; t. e.
with the facts that bear dates.
The notice of Herodotus can scarcely be called the
notice of a religion. It is rather the account of an
abominable social practice. Still, as it has its religious
aspect, I give it.
The notice of Herodotus, to all appearance, rests upon
the accounts given to the author by certain informants in
either Persia or Babylonia.
It is to the effect that the land of the Indians was wide
in extent, and heterogeneous in respect to its occupants ;
that a multitude of tongues was spoken within its
boundaries ; that some of the Indians were nomads, some
Ikbthyophagi ; that these last dwelt in the marshy swamps
of the Delta of Indus ; that they ate their fish raw. In
all this there is rudeness and barbarism. So there is the
following account of the Padaei. They dwelt to the
east of the Ikbthyophagi, and were eaters of flesh. This,
however, was raw. When any one was sick, the men of
THE KALATir. 305
bis acquaintance would kill him^ provided he were a
man. If she were a woman, the females would do the
same. This they did in order to enjoy a feast ; for all
that were killed were also eaten ; and, as the ailment
spoilt the quality of the flesh, it was in vain that the
future victim protested against being treated as a patient.
He was killed and eaten, say what he might about being
in health.
The Kalatii, we are told in another part of the Hero-
dotean account, ate their parents. Whether these were
the same people as the Padsei is uncertain. It is only
certain that they shrunk with horror from the idea of
burning their dead.
Another tribe (name unknown) abstained from the
slaughter of animals, and fed only upon vegetables. The
sick they carried to some lone spot in the wilderness
and left to die. They showed their rudeness in other
matters as well. They kept themselves, however, inde-
pendent. They " dwelt at a distance from the Persians,
towards the south, and never obeyed Darius." Mean-
while the northern part of the Persian frontier gave signs
of civilization. A city named Kaspatyros* was near the
Paktyan land {JJcMrt/iHii x^p^ &nd i^ot far from the
districts which yielded gold. The men that held it were
the most warlike of the Indians, and their manners were
like those of the Bactrians.
That, word for word, Padaei is Batta,f has long been sur-
mised. That, tribe for tribe, the Batta are the descend-
ants of the Padsei is by no means certain. All that can
fairly be inferred from the name is that certain Indians
called certain tribes of their frontier by that name.
"Word for word, Vaddah is the same as Batta. A rude
* Also written Kaspapyros,
t The name of a population in Sumatra.
VOL. II. X
306 BRAHMINISM.
tribe in contact with an Indian population — this (and
no more) is what comes of the roots P-^, jB-/, or V-d*
Word for word, Kaspatyrus may or not be Cashmir.
Place for place, the two localities certainly coincide.
The next notices represent the knowledge derived from
the Macedonian conquest. They make it clear that,
when that event took place, there were asceticism and phi-
losophy in India. Before the Macedonian conquest there
were, its nominUms, Brachmani, Sarmani, and Gymnoso-
phistse. These observed practices, more or less, Buddhist
and Brahminic (either or both), practices out of which
either Buddhism or Brahmanism might evolve itself;
practices which either the Buddhist or the Brahmin may
claim as evidence to the antiquity of his creed. Brah-
minism, however, and Buddhism are one thing, practices
out of which either or both may be developed are another.
At the same time, or but a little later, we find evidence
to a tenderness for animal life and to a difference between
Brahmins and non-Brahmins.
Laws qf the Brahmins which are in /iu2ia.— Again, among the Indiana^
the Brahmins, among whom there are many thousands and tens of thou-
sands, have a law that they should not kill at all, and not revere idols,
and not commit fornication, and not eat flesh, and not drink wine, and
among them not one of these things takes place. And there are thou-
sands of years to these men, lo ! since they goyem themselves hy this law
which they have made for themselves.
Another law which is in India, — And there is another law in India, and
in the same clime, belonging to those, whioh are not of the Jbmily of the
Brahmins, nor of their doctrine : that they should serve idols, and commit
fornication, and kill, and do other abominable things, which do not please
the Brahmins. And in the same clime of India there are men that by
custom eat the flesh of men, in the same manner as the rest of the nations
eat the flesh of animals. But the evil stars have not forced the Brahmins
to do evil and abominable things ; nor have the good stars persuaded the
rest of the Hindoos to abstain from evil things ; nor have those stare
which are well arranged in their places which it is proper for them, and
in the signs of Zodiac which relate to humanity, persuaded those who eat
the flesh of men to abstain from using this abominable and odious food.
BRAHMINISM. 807
This is from Bardesanes, Whether the facts just given
constitute Brahminism is another question. It is certain
that they fail to give us much that is Brahminic^ e, g.
Sutti, and the Brahminic system of incarnations, &c.
I should add that the Caubul coins exhibit certain
signs or symbols of both (? either) Brahminism or Budd-
hism.
What Brahminism really is in full is to be found only in
the practices and literature of the creed. The Brahmin-
ism, however, of the present time, and the Brahminism
of the oldest works in the Sanskrit language, are different
things. The oldest works in the Sanskrit are —
The Vedas. — The Vedas are hymns that formed either
the part or the whole of an actual or possible ritual,
the deities which they invoked being what is called
elemental, t. e. personifications of earth, fire, water, the
meteorological forces, and the like. Indra, for instance,
(or the firmament,) conquers the Vrita, (or vapours,) with
the Maruts, (or winds,) as allies.
An Ashtaka is a book ; a Sukta is a hymn. Out of
the 1^1 Suktas of the third Ashtaka, forty -four are ad-
dressed to Agni. Word for word, Agni is the Latin
ignis, the Slavonic ogon; its meaning being fire; fire,
however, personified, spiritualized, deified. Sometimes
the attributes are obscure, and the language mystical;
sometimes, instead of a series of epithets, we have a
legend or an allusion to one. Sometimes it is Agni alone
that is addressed ; sometimes it is Agni in conjunction
with some other personification.
1. I glorify Agni, the high priest of the sacrifice, the diyine, the
ministrant, who presents the oblation (to the gods), and is the possessor
of great wealth.
2. May that Agni, who is to be celebrated by both ancient and
modem sages, conduct the gods hither.
X 2
308 THE VEDAS.
8. Through Agni the worshipper obtains that afflaence, which in-
creaees day by day, which is the fionrce of fame and the multiplier of
manic ind.
4. Agni, the unobstructed sacrifice of which thou art on every side
the protector, assuredly reaches the gods.
5. May Agni, the presenter of oblations, the attainer of knowledge ;
he who is true, i^enowned, and divine, come hither with the gods 1
This is a fair sample of the simpler style of invocation.
The following supplies a contrast by being more mysti-
cal:—
1. I, Agni, am by birth endowed with knowledge of all that exists ;
clarified butter is my eye; ambrosia is my mouth; I am the living
breath of threefold nature, the measure of the firmament, eternal warmth ;
I am also the oblation.
2. Agni, thoroughly comprehending the light that is to be under-
stood by the heart, has purified himself (by the three) punning (forms),
he has made himself most excellent treasurer by (these) self-manifes-
tations, and has thence contemplated heaven and earth.
Large as is Agni's share of the invocations of the third
Ashtaka, that of Indra is larger ; forty-eight Suktas
being addressed to Indra^ or the firmament, either singly
or conjointly : —
1. Come, Indra, and be regaled with all viands and libations, and
thence, mighty in strength, be victorious (over thy foes) !
2. The libation being prepared, present the exhilarating and effi-
cacious (draught) to the rejoicing Indra, the accomplisher of all things.
3. Indra, with the handsome chin, be pleased with these animating
praises : do thou, who art to be reverenced by all mankind, (come) to
these rites (with) the gods.
4. I have addressed to thee, Indra, the showerer (of blessings), the
protector (of thy worshippers), praises which have reached thee, and of
which thou hast approved !
5. Place before us, Indra, precious and multiform riches, for enough,
and more than enough, are assuredly thine t
6. Opulent Indra, encourage us in this rite for the acquirement of
wealth, for we are diligent and renowned !
7. Grant us, Indra, wealth beyond measure or calculation, inexhaus-
tible, the source of cattle, of food, of all life.
8. Indra, grant us great renown and wealth acquired in a thousand
ways, and those (articles) of food (which are brought from the field) in
carts !
THE VEDAS. 309
9. We invoke, for the preserration of oar property, Indra, the lord of
ivealth, the object of sacred yerses, the repairer (to the place of sacrifice),
praising him with our praises !
In the fourth Ashtaka there is somewhat less of a
monopoly, though the shares of both are large.
The Maruts are the winds, and, next to Indra and
Agni, they have the most hymns addressed to them.
1. The Haruts who are going forth decorate themselyes like females :
they are (gliders through the air), the sons of Rudra, and the doers of
good works, by which they promote the welfare of earth and heaven :
heroes, who grind (the solid rocks), they delight in sacrifices 1
2. They, inaugurated by the gods, have attained nu^jesty, the sons of
Budra have established their dwelling above the sky : glorifying him
(Indra) who merits to be glorified, they have inspired him with vigour !
the sons of Prisni have acquired dominion t
3. When the sons of the earth embellish themselves with ornaments,
they shine resplendent in their persons with (brilliant) decorations ; they
keep aloof eveiy adversary : the waters follow their path !
4. They who are worthily worshipped shine with various weapons :
incapable of being overthrown, they are the overthrowers (of mountains) :
Harutsi, swift as thought, intrusted with the duty of sending rain, yoke
the spotted deer to your cars !
5. When Maruts, uiging on the cloud, for the sake of (providing)
food, you have yoked the deer to your chariots, the drops &11 from the
radiant (sun), and moisten the earth, like a hide, with water !
6. Let your quick-paced smooth-gliding coursers bear you (hither),
and, moving swiftly, come with your hands filled with good things : sit,
Maruts, upon the broad seat of sacred grass, and regale yourselves with
the sweet sacrificial food !
7. Confiding in their own strength, they have increased in (power); they
have attained heaven by their greatness, and have made (for themselves) a
spacious abode : may they, for whom Vishnu defends (the sacrifice) that
bestows all desires and confers delight, come (quickly) like birds, and sit
down upon the pleasant and sacred grass !
8. Like heroes, like combatants, like men anxious for food, the swift-
moving (Maruts) have engaged in battles : all beings fear the Marutfl,
who are the leaders (of the rain), and awful of aspect, like princes 1
9. Indra wields the well-made, golden, many-bladed thunderbolt,
which the skilful Twashtri has framed for him, that he may achieve great
exploits in war. He has slain Yritra, and sent forth an ocean of water 1
10. By their power, they bore the well aloft, and clove asunder the
mountain that obstructed their path : the munificent Maruts, blowing
upon their pipe, have conferred, when exhilarated by the soma juice,
desirable (gifts upon the sacrificer) !
310 THB VEDAS.
11. They brought the crooked well to the place (where the Mani ww),
and sprinkled the water upon the thirsty Gotama : the Tariously-radiant
(Maruts) come to his succour, gratifying the desire of the sage with life-
sustaining waters 1
12. Whatever blessings (are diffused) through the three worlds, and
are in your gift, do you bestow upon the donor (of the libation), who
addresses you with praise; bestow them, also, Maruts^ upon va, and
grant us, bestowers of all good, riches, whence springs prosperity !
Then there are the Aswins, or the inferior suns ; Ushas
or the dawn : Varani, which is, word for word, Uranus ;
Mithras, and other deities of greater and less import-
ance, the majority of which are elemental, meteorologi-
ical, or telluric. Yupa, the post to which the sacrificial
victim is bound, has also a hymn : —
1. Yanaspati, the devout, anoint thee with sacred butter at the sacri-
fice ; and whether thou standest erect, or thine abode be on the lap of
this thy mother (earth), grant us riches.
2. Standing on the east of the kindled (fire), dispensing food (as the
source) of undecaying (health) and excellent progeny, keeping off our
enemy at a distance, stand up for great auspiciousness.
3. Be exalted, Yanaspati, upon this sacred spot of earth, being
measured with careful measurement, and bestow food upon the offerer of
the sacrifice.
4. Well clad and hung with wreaths comes the youthful (pillar) ;
most excellent it is as soon as generated ; steadfast and wise venerators
of the gods, meditating piously in their minds, raise it up.
5. Bom (in the forest), and beautified in the sacrifice celebrated by
men, it is (again) engendered for the sanctification of the days (of sacred
rites); steadfiist, active, and intelligent (priests) consecrate it with in-
telligence, and devout worshipper recites its praise.
6. May those (posts) which devout men have cut down, or which,
Yanaspati, the axe has trimmed, may they, standing resplendent with
all their parts (entire), bestow upon us wealth with progeny.
7. May those posts which have been cut down upon the earth, and
which have been fabricated by the priests, those which are the accom-
plishers of the sacrifice, convey our acceptable (offering) to the gods.
Of the mass of the Yedas an idea may be formed &om
the following data* A single hymn is called a sukta. So
many suktas make an anuvaka, so many anuvakas an
adhydya; so many adhy&yas an asiaka, ogdoad, or book.
THE YEDAS. 311
forming an eighth of the whole Rigveda. The third
volume of Wilson's translation comes to the middle of
the whole, so that the Rigveda alone gives six volumes
of h3rmns. But the Rig is only one out of four Vedas ;
for besides it there is the Sama-veda ; there is the Yagur-
veda; and there is the Athava-veda — four in alL The
Rig-veda, however, is the chief, containing nearly all the
important matter of the rest; the Athava-veda being
later in date than the other three, to which it forms a sort
of supplement. These four compositions form the Sari"
hita, or text. The Sanhita itself, with the hymns it
embodies, forms the mantra, or ritual, a ritual upon which
there are notes and supplements.
Without being a Veda, in the strict sense of the
term, the Brahmyanas are Yedaic. So that here we have
another series of works ; themselves incomplete without
Vedangas (in which the grammar of the Vedas is ex-
plained) and Upanishads, which are a sort of supplement.
Few works are less metaphysical than the Yedaic
hymns. This, however, does not prevent the existence
of a Vedanta philosophy. The connection, however, lies
chiefly in the name. Wherever there is tendency to
rationalism anything can be rationalized.
It is not for nothing that this list of works, more or
less Yedaic, has been given. That the Yedas are a root
out of which much has grown is a fact of great import-
ance in our criticism. Dates they have none. Failing
these, what can we have recourse to ? We must take a
measure of the extent to which the original hymns have
developed a system, and then ask at what rate such deve-
lopments proceed.
The Institutes of Menu* — ^Later than the Yedas, and in
many respects different from them, are the Institutes of
Menu. These give us the legal, social, and political,
312 THE INSTITUTES
rather than the poetical and religious, aspects of Brah-*
minism. The Brahminism, too, is of a more advanced
growth ; containing much for which the Vedas have been
appealed to in vain. It contains, for instance, the doctrine
of cast.
Sir Ctravea Haughlon*8 TranslcUum.
1. For the sake of preserving this nniveree, the Being, supremely glo-
rious, allotted separate duties to those who sprang respectiyely from his
month, his arm, his thigh, and his foot.
2. To Brahmins he assigned the duties of reading the Yeda^ of teach-
ing it, of sacrificing, of assisting others to sacrifice^ of giving alms, if they
be rich, and, if indigent, of receiving gifbs.
8. To defend the people, to give alms, to sacrifice, to read the Veda, to
shun the allurements of sensual gratification, are, in a few words, the
duties of a Cshatriya.
4. To keep herds of cattle, to bestow largesses, to sacrifice, to read the
scripture, to carry on trade, to lend at interest, and to cultivate land, are
prescribed or permitted to a Yaisya.
5. One principle duty the Supreme Ruler assigns to a Sfidra ; namely,
to serve the before-mentioned classes, without depreciating their worth.
6. Man is declared purer above the navel ; but the Self-Creating Power
declared the purest part of him to be his mouth.
7. Since the Brahmin sprang from the most ezdellent part, since he
was the first bom, and since he possesses the Yeda, he is by right the
chief of this whole creation.
8. Him, the Being, who exists of himself, produced in the beginning,
from his own mouth, that having performed holy rites, he might present
clarified butter to the gods, and cakes of rice to the progenitors of man-
kind, for the preservation of this world.
9. What created being then can surpass Him, with whose mouth the
gods of the firmament continually feast on clarified butter, and the manes
of ancestors, on hallowed cakes 1
10. Of created things, the most excellent are those which are animated ;
of the animated, those which subsist by intelligence ; of the intelligent
mankind; and of men the sacerdotal class.
11. Of priests those eminent in learning ; of the learned, those who
know their duty ; of those who know it, such as perform it virtuously ; and
of the virtuous, those who seek beatitude from a perfect acquaintance with
scriptural doctrine.
12. The very birth of Brahmins is a constant incarnation of Dherma,
God of Justice ; for the Brahmin is bom to promote justice, and to pro-
cure ultimate happiness.
13 When a Brahmin springs to light, he is home above the world, the
OP MENU. 813
chief of all creatures, aaaigiied to guard the treaanry of duties, religious
and civil.
14. Whatever exists in the universe, is all in effect, though not in form,
the wealth of the Brahmin ; since the Brahmin is entitled to it all by his
primogeniture and eminence of birth.
15. The Brahmin eats but his own food ; wears but his own apparel ;
and bestows but his own in alms : through the benevolence of the Brah-
min, indeed, other mortals enjoy life.
16. To declare the sacerdotal duties, and those of the other classes in
due order, the sage Menu, sprung from the self-existing, promulged this
code of laws.
17. A code which must be studied with extreme care by every learned
Brahmin, and fiilly explained to his disciples, but must be taught by no
other man of an inferior class.
18. The Brahmin who studies this book, having performed sacred rites,
is perpetually free from offence in thought, in word, and in deed.
19. He confera purity on his living family, on Ms ancestors, and on his
descendants, as &r as the seventh person; and He alone deserves to pos-
sess this whole earth.
The Epics. — A nearer approach is made to the existing
form of Brahminism in the Ramayana and the Mahabha-
rata; the Ramayana being the name of a poem which
gives US the exploits of Rama, whilst the Mahabharata
is a narrative of the Great War.
That both are later than the Vedas is evident from not
only the general character of the details, but &om the
fact of both the Vedas and the Vedangas being mentioned
by name in their text. The more a man knows of them
the wiser and better he is represented to be. The hero
of the Ramayana is Rama, who is Vishnu incarnate.
The scene lies in Oud. The subject is the conquest of
such parts of India as, at the time when the poem was
written, belonged to Brahminic India; of Lanka, or
Ceylon, most especially. That an island in the south is
reduced at an earlier period than the interjacent portions
of the continent to its north is remarkable. It suggests
the idea of ships and sailors.
The following is the opening of the Ramayana as trans-
lated by Wilkins : —
814 THE BPICS.
J salate Kama» the beautifiil, the elder brother of Bnkshmima^ the illiw-
trioua Kughoo, the hugband of Seeta, the descendant of Knkootstha, Ml
of clemency, a sea of excellencies, the friend of Brahmans, the yirtaoos
one, the gOTereign, devoted to tnith, the son of Dnsharatha, him whose
body is blae, the benign, the delight of the nniyeiBey the glory of
Eughoo's race, Kaghava, the enemy of Karuna.
Victory to Kama, the glory of Kughoo's race, the increase of Konahnlya's
happiness, the destroyer of the ten-headed, to Dosharathay whose eye ia
like the water lily.
I salnte Yalmeeki, the kokila, who, mounted on the bfaach of poe^,
sounds the delightfal note kama, kama, Kama. Salutation to the lord of
the Moonisy the blessed, the Tupushee, the abode of all knowledge. To
this Yalmeeki salutation.
Yalmeeki, the chief of the Moonis, deyoted to sacred ansterities, and
the perusal of the Yeda, the incessant Tupushee, pre-eminent among the
learned, earnestly inquired of Karuda^ Who in the uniyerse is transcen-
dent in excellence, yersed in all the duties of life, grateful, attached to
truth, steady in his course, exuberant in yirtues, delighting in the good of
all beings? Who is heroic, eloquent, loyely, of subdued anger, truly
great 1 Who is patient, free from malice, at whose excited wrath the gods
tremble ? Who is great, mighty in preserving the three worlds 1 Who
devoted to the welfare of men t The ocean of virtue and wealth. In
whom has Hukshmee, the complete, the beautiful, chosen her abode 1 Who
is the equal of Urida, TTnula, Soorya, Indoo, Shukra, and Oopendral
From you, 0 Naruda ! I would hear this. Ton are able, 0 diyine Sage, to
describe the man. Naruda, acquainted with the present, the past, and the
future, hearing the words of Yalmeeki, replied to the sage : Attend : the
numerous and rare qualities enumerated by you, can with difficulty be
found throughout the three worlds ; not even among the Devtas have I
seen any one possessed of all these. Hear : he who poaseaBes these, and
virtues far beyond, a full-orbed moon, a mine of excellence, is of Ishwa-
koo's race, and named Kama ; of regulated mind, temperate, magnanimous,
patient, illustrioust self-subdued, wise, eminent in royal duties, eloquent,
fortunate, &tal to his foes, of ample shoulders, brawny arms, with neck
shell-formed, and rising cheeks, eminent in archery, of mighty energy, sub-
duing his enemies, with arms extending to the knee, manly, of fine-formed
head and open fixint, of mighty prowess, whose body is exact in symmetry,
of hyacinthine hue, who is full of courage, with eyes elongated, his cost
circular and full, who is fortunate, imprinted with auspicious marks, versed
in the duties of life, philanthropic, steadily pursuing rectitude, sapient,
pure and humble, contemplative, equal to Pngapati, illustrious, supporting,
the world, subduing his passions, the helper of all, the protector of virtue,
skilled in the Yedas and Yedangas, deep in all the Shastras, strong, ac-
quainted with the secrets of nature, practising erery duty, penetrating,
amiable to all, upright, ample in knowledge, of noble mind, ever attended
by the good, as the ocean by the rivers, the companion of truth, social, the
THE PUBANAS. 315
only lovely one^ Kama, tke seat of OTery yirtne, the increaser of Kouahnlya's
joy, profound like the deep, immovable aa Heemaluya, heroic as Yishnoo,
grateful to the sight aa the full-orbed moon, in anger dreadful as the con-
flagration, in patience like the gentle earth, generous as Dhanude, in verity
ever unequalled. By these his matchless virtues he conferred felicity on
his subjects, and therefore is known by the name Kama.
The Mahabharata is the Great War waged between
the Yadava and the Pandava dynasties ; the scene being
laid in the parts about Ujein. The uniformity of style
and composition is said to be less in the Mahabharata than
in the Ramayana ; so that some parts of the former poem
are older or newer than others. The fictions in both are
supernatural, impossible, outrageous. In both the chief
deity is Vishnu.
The Puranas. — The Puranas are compositions in the
form of dialogue, between certain enquirers and Brahma,
upon points of cosmogony and early history — also upon
the attributes and actions of the three great deities ; of
Siva and Vishnu most especially, both incarnate. They
(I follow Wilson almost verbatim) are derived from the
same system as the Epics. They represent, however, mo-
difications of opinion and feeling. They repeat and ex-
pand the epic cosmogony. They give special importance
to new divinities; Vishnu and Siva most particularly.
They give new legends. They are possibly founded upon
earlier compositions. The word Purana means old. A
typical Purana is, according to the lexicon of Umura
Sinha, Pancha-lackshanam, or that which has five charac-
teristic topics. These are —
1. Cosmogony.
2. Secondary creation, or the destruction and renova-
tion of worlds.
S> Genealogies of Gods and patriarchs.
4. Reigns of the Manus, or periods called Manwantaras.
5. History of the kings of the Solar and Lunai* families.
316 THE PURANAS.
The existing Puranas scarcely meet the conditions here
implied. Yet they meet them, perhaps, half way.
The Puranas are eighteen in number. Of these the
best known, as well as the most important, is the Vishnu
Purana, accessible to English readers through the trans-
lation of Wilson. It is the great repertorium for the
elements of Brahminism in its working form.
The Upa-puranas are minor compositions, akin to the
full Puranas both in matter and in form. They may be
as few as four, as many as eighteen.
The " Vishnti Pur&n£ has kept very clear of any par-
ticulars from which an approximation to its date may be
conjectured." Wilson refers it to the eleventh cen-
tury.
Now comes the notice of the general character of the
Sanskrit literature. The best preliminary to the classi-
fication of this is a general view of the literature of
Greece. In some shape or other every form of Sanskrit
literature has its equivalent in that of Greece. In some
shape or other most forms of Greek literature have their
correspondents in Sanskrit. Are there Epics in the lan-
guage of Stesichorus ? So are there in that of Parasara.
Was there a New Comedy in Greece ? There was some-
thing very like it in India. The nearest analogues of the
Vedas (respect being had exclusively to the class of com-
positions to which they belong) are, perhaps, the Homeric
and Orphic hymns, by no means the only hymns of Greece.
The Greek equivalents to the laws of Menu, though they
have not come down to us in their full form, have had a
real existence on the soil of Greece. Subject for subject,
the authors of the Puranas dealt with the same kind of
questions that the Greek logographers investigated.
Mutatis mutandiSf the same applies to the grammarians
and lexicographers. Both are conspicuous in India;
BUDDHISM. 317
both in Greece — Alexandrian Greece^ however, rather
than Athenian. And where there were grammarians and
lexicographers, there were there geometricians also ; in
jEgypt as in India, in India as in ^gypt. There was
science in both countries. There was, also, in both,
philosophy. The Yedanta philosophy of India has
already been noticed. It has its counterpart in Flaton-
ism and Neo-platonism.
Buddhism. — Buddhism is one thing. Practices out of
which Buddhism may be developed are another. It has
been already suggested, that the ideas conveyed by the
terms Sramanae, and Gymnosophistae are just as Brahmi-
nic as Buddhist, and, vice versd, just as Buddhist as Brah-
minic.
The earliest dates of specific Buddhism are of the
same age as the earliest dates of specific Brahminism.
Clemens of Alexandria mentions Buddhist pyramids,
the Buddhist habit of depositing certain bones in them,
the Buddhist practice of foretelling events; the Buddhist
practice of continence ; the Buddhist Semnai or holy vir-
gins. This, however, may be but so much asceticism.
He mentions this and more. He supplies the name
Bouta; Bouta being honoured as a god.
Porphyry tells us of an important point wherein the
Brachmans and the Samanai difiered. The former were
bom to the dignity ; the latter elected. This shows that
though both may have been in the same category as to
their ascetism, there was a difference between them ; a
difference which exists at the present day.
Cyril of Alexandria states that there were Samans
(whom we may now especially connect with the cultus of
Bouta) in Bactria.
From Cyril of Jerusalem we learn that Samnaism was,
more or less, Manichaean, Manichaeanism being, more or
318 BUDDHISM.
less^ Samanist. Terebinthus, the preceptor of Manes,
took the name Baudas. In Epiphanius Terebinthus is the
pupil of Scythianus. Suidas makes Terebinthus a pupil
of Baudda, ^ho pretended to be the son of a virgin.
And here we may stop to remark, that the Mongol
Tshingiz-khan is said to be yirgin-bom ; that, word for
word, Scythianus is Sak ; that Sakya Muni (compare it
with Manes) is a name of Buddha. Even so cautious a
speculator as Professor Wilson admits that Buddha may
be the gentile name Bhot. I think that he might have
maintained that such was actually tlie case. Its quasi'-
synonym Sakya bears just the same relation to the word
Sak or Sakse. Be this as it may there was, before a.d.
300,
1. Action and reaction between Buddhism and Chris-
tianity.
2. Buddhist buildings.
3. The same cultus in both Bactria and India.
Whether this constitute Buddhism is another question.
All this and more may have existed, and yet the cultus
to which it belonged have been just as far from Buddhism
in the ordinary acceptation of the word, as modern
Judaism is from Christianity, or the doctrine of the
Sadducees from modem Judaism.
The Buddhist records themselves are —
1. Chinese. — The most that can be got from the earliest
Chinese accounts is that in (say) the sixth century there
was Buddhism in both China and India. The following
is a piece of Chinese grammar for the Sanskrit.
Chinese. Sanskrit English.
Po'-po-ti Bharati He is
Po'-po-pa Dhavapa They two are
Po'-&n-ti Bhavanti They are
Po'-po-Bse Bhavasi Thou art
Po'-po-po Bhavapa You two are
Chinete.
Po'-po-t*a
Po*-po-mi
Po'-po-hoa
Po*-po-mo
Pa-Ia-aha
Pu-lu-ahao
Pu-la-fiha-BO
Pu-lu-sha-tsie
Po-lu-Bha-pien
Pa-la-Bha-nan
BUDDHISM.
Sa&skrit.
Bhavatha
Bhavami
Bhavavak
Bhavamah
Noun.
Punishah
Panuhaa
Puriiahfo
Parnshasya
Parush&bhy&m
PiiniBhinim
S19
English.
You are
I am
We two are
We are
Man
Two men
Men
Of a man
Of two men
Of men.
2. Northern. — It has already been stated that the
vehicle of the Buddhism of Nepaul and Tibet was the
Sanskrit rather than the Pali language. In like manner,
mutatis mutandis^ the vehicle of the
3. Southern^ or Cingalese, Buddhism was the Pali rather
than the Sanskrit.
4. Monumental. — There are
a. Architectural,
b. Sculptural,
c. Sepulchral,
d. Inscriptional.
The literary documents are, of necessity^ valid for the
time at which they were written, and no other. They
are, of necessity ^ valid only so far as they are evidence.
What they tell us of the times previous to their composi-
tion may, or may not, be true. How far they are so depends
on the details of each particular case. The anusprobandi
lies with the supporter of their accuracy. They contain
a doctrine, a discipline, a philosophy, and a history. They
are the scriptures of Buddhism, and from them must the
nature of Buddhism, as a whole be ascertained. The
doctrine, the discipline, and the philosophy are dateless.
The historical portion gives us three Councils ; the latest
of which took place about B.C. 153. I take this date as I
320 BUDDHISM.
find it. It tells us thus much — that earlier than b.c. 153
the work from which it is deduced could not have been
composed. Common sense tells us that it need not have
been composed even then. Who could write about the
third council before it had met? This date is got from
the Sanskrit authorities.
What applies to the Sanskrit applies^ h fortiori, to the
Chinese. Say that in the sixth century there was a
voluminous mass of Chinese translations from the Indian.
Mutatis mutandis, there was the same in the Christian
world. There were translations from the Greek in
SyriaCy in Armenian^ and in German. Yet the works
from which they are translated were, each and all, at the
the very least, fifty years later than the birth of our
Saviour.
When Buddhism has so much in common with Chris-
tianity, and the Indian literature so much in common
with the Greek, the question as to the probability of there
being borrowings and lendings must be worked out with
special attention to dates. A century more or less may
seriously afiect our results.
What applies to the Sanskrit is believed on good
grounds to apply, a fortiori, to the Pali. The evidence
that the Buddhist scriptures in this last-named language
are newer than those in Sanskrit is less conclusive than
it was in the case of the Chinese. Still it is satisfactory ;
so that, upon the whole, we may commit ourselves to the
doctrine that no canonical works in Buddhism are older
than the scriptures of northern India. That these are
not older, and may be much newer, than B.C. 153, has
already been stated.
Of monuments the most important are the Yiharas
or monasteries, and the Sthupas, or topes. Now, it is one
thing to be a temple, or a tumulus ; another thing to be a
BUDDHISM. 321
Buddhist tumulus^ or a Buddhist temple. It is one
thing to be a king^ another thing to be King Lear* Of
records that are^ at one and the same time^ monumental,
Buddhist, and undoubted, none are older than a.d. 300.
Non metis hie sermo. The criticism of the Pali scriptures,
'the Viharas, the topes, and the cave-temples, along with
nine-tenths (or more) of the preceding facts, is Professor
Wilson's.
And now comes the notice of the famous Priyadarsi
memorials. Dhauli is in Kuttak. Girnar in Guzerat.
Kapurdigiri in Caubul. In each of these localities is a
long and well-known inscription. It is the same, in the
way of language and contents, in all. The inscriptions
themselves are ancient. They contain the name of Anti-
ochus. They are admitted, even by Wilson, to be, more
or less, Buddhist. Be it so. It only shows the germs of
the creed, not the full creed itself. It is true that, by
certain assumptions, more than this may be got out of
them. In a Singalese work some centuries later it is
stated that Priyadarsi was Asoka ; Asoka being a great
propagator of Buddhism according to the historians of
several centuries after his time. What, however, is
the warrant for the identification ? To say that Priya"
darsi means Asoka is certainly a statement which may
possibly be true. But it is not the planus literdlis et
grammaticalis sensus of the word.
As the Brahminic, or Sanskrit, literature reminds us of
Greece, so does Pali Buddhism suggest comparisons with
Christianity. It has its monachism, its councils — both
conspicuous — I had almost said characteristic. If these
resemblances are spontaneous they are very remarkable
phenomena. Are they so? Are the presumptions in
favour of their being so ?
I can only say, in answer to this, that if we claim an
VOL. II. Y
S22 BUDDHISM.
inordinately high antiquity for either Buddhism or Brah-
minism we must assume something that, in the eyes of
the cautious critic^ is illegitimate. To few of the monu-
ments can we assign a truly historic date. Their epoch,
then, is assigned on the score of internal evidence. The
language is much more archaic than that of the Insti-
tutes, and the mythology ^o much simpler ; whilst the
Institutes themselves are similarly circumstanced in re-
spect to the Epics. Fixing these at about 200 b.c., we
allow so many centuries for the archaisms of Menu, and
so many more for those of the Yedas. For the whole,
eleven hundred has not been thought too little ; which
places the Yedas in the fourteenth century B.C., and
makes them the earliest, or nearly the earliest, records in
the world.
It is clear that this is only an approximation. Now,
although all inquirers admit that creeds, languages, and
social conditions, present the phenomena of growth^ the
opinions as to the rate of such growths are varied — and
none are of much value. This is because the particular
induction required for the formation of anything better
than a mere impression has yet to be undertaken — till
when, one man's guess is as good as another's. The age
of a tree may be reckoned from its concentric rings, but
the age of a language, a doctrine, or a polity, has neither
bark like wood, nor teeth like a horse, nor a register like
a child.
THE ALPHABETS OF INDIA. 8^
CHAPTER XXXIII.
The Alphabet of India.
The alphabet of the very earliest specimen of the lan-
g^uages akin to the Sanskrit is cuneiform. It is found
only in Persia. It belongs to the reigns of Darius and
his successors.
The alphabet of the next earliest d(Ued monuments is
of the older Caubul coins; those of Eukrates and his
successors. This is what is called by Wilson Arianian,
or Arian. It is written from right to left, and, pro tantOf
is Semitic. It is held (and that on reasonable grounds)
to be an older form of what appears afterwards as Sas-
sanian.
It is monumental, t. e» in capitals, and in a form
adapted for coins and inscriptions rather than documents
written currents calamo. It is monumental rather than
cursive.
In a cursive form it comes out, later, as the Zend of
the Parsi scriptures, &c. It has, however, taken addi-
tions— Indian in character. Still, it is so far Semitic as
to run from right to left.
The alphabet of the oldest Pali monuments of the soil
of India is that of the Dhauli and Gimar inscriptions. It
has more than one character like those of the old Greek
alphabet, and, like the old Greek alphabet, it is written
from left to right. It appears, under modifications, in
Y 2
324 THE ALPHABETS OF
the coinage of the d3'nasties called Saurasthra, Gupta,
and Rajput.
The alphabet of the oldest MSS. (which, it must be
observed, are not Pali but Sanskrit) is called Deyanagari.
It is inscriptional rather than cursive, in so far as it
consists of capitals. It is a modification of the inscrip-
tional and monetary Pali. As such, it runs from left
to right.
The alphabets of the vnritten languages akin to the
Hindi are all visibly and manifestly derived from the
Devanagari.
The alphabets of the languages akin to the Tamul are
derived from some form of some prototype of the De-
vanagari— ^scarcely from the actual Devanagari. They are
rounded rather than angular, t. e. they are cursive rather
than either inscriptional or capital.
The alphabets of the Indian archipelago will be noticed
in their proper place.
On these facts two observations must be made : —
1. That the alphabets of the Greek type — for so we
may call those that run from left to right — are of equal
antiquity vrith those of the Semite type, or those that run
from right to left.
2. That the alphabet of not only the oldest MSS., but
that of the so-called oldest compositions in Sanskrit (the
pre-eminently literary language of Brahminic India) is
of Pali origin.
The details of the extent to which the right-to-left, or
Arian, and the left-to-right, or Indian, alphabets are used
concurrently are curious.
The legends of the oldest coins are Greek. Then
comes the Arianian : then the Indian and Arianian con-
currently.
The Gimar and Dhauli inscriptions are Indian. The
INDIA. 325
Kapur-di-giri inscription (which^ in language and im-
port^ is the same as the other two) is Arianian.
The provisional hypothesis which best accounts for this
concurrence runs thus : —
The left-to-right alphabet reached IndisLvid Asia Minor
and Northern Persia.
The right-to-left reached it vid Babylonia and South-
ern Persia.
326 THE INDIAN FRONTIER.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
The Frontien of India and Persia.— The Paropami8ang.~The Afghans.-
The Caukere, &c.— The Brahiii and Biluch.
I AM satisfied that the chief details of immediate ethnolo-
gical importance to India are the details of its frontier.
Tliese are Persian. But the frontier of Persia is Asia
Minor, and the frontier of Asia Minor^ Europe.
The Paropamisans. — Of the Paropamisan boundary, the
minutia on the west are obscure. The Huzara country is
a British dependency. It is divided amongst numerous
petty chiefs, e. g. the Khan of Tumoul, the chief of the
Dhtinds, the chiefs of the Gukkurs, and others. They
are (I believe) Mahometans. West of these occupancies
lies the valley of
Kaghan ; and west of Kaghan, on the very crest of the
hills, the country of
The Hussunzye; whose name, at least, is Afghan or
Patan.
I cannot say what, in these parts, is Afghan, what
Paropamisan, what Indian proper.
Afghanistan. — That the Afghans themselves are far more
heterogeneous in the matter of blood than of language is
patent from more signs of intermixture than one. In the
first place, there are few points in the map of Afghanis-
tan whereof it is not said that the occupants are, more or
less, recent and intrusive. The Ghilzyes, for instance.
AFGHANISTAN. Sisi?
are derived from the Ghor mountains. That certain
Berduranis have moved from west to east is specially
stated^ whether truly or otherwise is of no importance.
The present observations merely go to prove the fact of
there being presumptions in favour of the Afghan blood
being mixed. The men themselves have no general name for
their own country ; t. e. no name at once general and native,
for Afghanistan is a Persian term. It is one thing for the
mountains of Ghor to have contained Afghan settlements
at an early period, another thing for them to have been the
cradle of the race. Let it be admitted, for argument's sake,
that the princes of Ghor belonged to the Afghan tribe
of Suri, and that at so early a period that their dynasty
was considered old even in the eleventh century. What
does this show ? Simply that there were Afghans in two
districts ; Afghans who, in the Ghor principalities, may as
easily have been immigrants as indigenae.
Add to this that the districts named Gour are no less
than three in number. The king of one of them reduced
" Raver and Xermessir, which separate Ghor from Hin-
dustan." This is an extract from Herbelot, upon which
the editor of the last edition of Elphinstone remarks that
in Raver and Kermessiry names which, totidem Uteris and
toiidem syUabts^ no longer exist, we may have the present
appellations of the Dawer and Gurmsir districts. If so,
Hindostan must have extended far westwards. Whether
it did so or not, and whether (assuming it to have done
so) the boundary was ethnological rather than political,
is another question.
The Arabs call the Afghans Solimani. This I believe
to mean the occupants of the parts about the Tukt-i-
Soliman, who were probably neither more nor less than
the first members of the group with whom the Mahome-
tans came in contact. If so, India must have been en-
SaS THE INDIAN FRONTIEE.
tered on the south, vid Biluchistan and Sind, rather than
by the valley of the Caubul.
The locality, then, of the nucleus of the nation is still
to be discovered. The language, I think, originated in
the north-east, t. e. on the Paropami%an rather than the
Carmanian frontier. The language, however, is purer
than the blood. This is largely Tajik, not a little Mon-
gol, largely (perhaps) Indian, very largely Turk. There
are special statements that certain Afghan tribes, at a cer-
tain date, spoke Turkish. There is garden after garden
named bagh^ and more than one hill named dagh. There
are the tribual names Othmankheil and Turcolaini, along
with other terms less transparently Turk. The question,
however, is suggested rather than exhausted. There is
much blood in India which has come from Afghanistan,
and much in Afghanistan which has come from Persia,
Turkistan, and Mongolia.
The Cankers, &c.— I do not say that these are not
Afghans. I only desiderate the evidence to their being
such. They may be Persian, Biluch, Brahui, Indian
(wholly or partially), rather than truly Afghan.
Biluchistan. — As compared with the term Biluchistan,
the term Afghanistan is clear and unambiguous. Afghan-
istan, whatever may be the details as to the descent of its
occupants, is, at any rate, the region of the Pushtu lan-
guage. Mutatis mutandisy Biluchistan should be the same.
It is nothing, however, of the kind. It is pre-eminently
a political designation. It means the country of the
Biluches. But many of its occupants are Brahuis. Nor
is this all. I know of no definite test which enables us
to separate, in a thorough-going manner, the two popula-
tions. I hardly know which is the more important of the
two. The four works that tell us most about them are
those of Pottinger, Masson, Postans, and Burton. In the
BRAHtlS. 329
two last the view is taken from Sind^ the conquest of
which country is (apparently) attributed to the Biluch
proper rather than to the Brah6is^ the Kalora and Talpur
dynasties being simply called Biluch.
The inference from the notices of both Postans and
Burton is^ that^ in Biluchistan^ the Biluch family is
the rule, the Brahui the exception.
From this Masson, and, to a certain extent, Elphin-
stone suggest something very dijSerent. Biluchistan is,
doubtless, the name of the country which Masson de-
scribes. Yet when he comes to detail, it is a Brahui
history that he investigates. The Sehrais, a Mahometan
family from Sind, govern at Kelaut, until they are dis-
placed by the Sewah (Hindus), who are, in their turn,
expelled by the Brahtiis.
Again, the Brahui conquest is believed to have been
effected under Kambar, of the Mirwari tribe. Now the
Mirwari is the head tribe, the Khan-kheil as it would
be called in Pustu ; whilst Kamburani is the actual term
for one of the primary divisions of the Brahui name.
From this we may infer, that Kambar (whether a real or
hypothetical personage) was the hero of the dominant
family. In accordance with this, it is fixed that the power
of the descendants of Kambar should be supreme and
hereditary, whilst from the two next tribes, the Raisani
and the Zehri, Sirdars should be appointed, for Sahara-
wan and Jhalawan respectively ; these Sirdarships being,
also, hereditary. Meanwhile, the Vizeers were to be Deh-
waurs, or Tajiks. Time goes on until, at the beginning
of the last century, Nazir Khan, the most energetic and
intelligent of the Kelaut Khans, attempts (and that effec-
tively) to introduce union and homogeneity into the
Biluch community. The Rinds are settled in Saharawan,
the Magazzi in Jhalawan. Kutch Gundawa is added to
330 THE INDIAN FRONTIER.
Khanat, So is Shall. So is Mastung. So are Hur-
rund and Dajil. So are Kej and Punjghir. This is
during the last days of the Kalhora dynasty in Sind.
The history (it is Masson who gives it) is continued up
to the present period ; and throughout tlie whole of it
the Khelat Khans are called Brahuis.
Again, in Ferishta, and doubtless, in other historians of
India as well, there are numerous notices of a hostile
nation called the Yarahas ; the particular portions of
Hindostan which they attacked being the western States
of Rajasthan.
All this gives to the Brahui population of Biluchistan
a much greater prominence than the name of their country
suggests. The name suggests the predominance of the
Biluches.
That the foregoing cautions against being misled by
the name of the district are, by no means, unnecessary
will soon become manifest. When Sind comes under
notice we shall find it necessary to speak of, at least,
one Biluch dynasty ; that of the Talpurs. That the
Talpurs were so far Biluch as to have come from Bilu-
chistan may safely be asserted. Whether they were Bi-
luches is another matter. What if they were Brahuis ? I
raise, rather than solve this question. The ethnological
position of the tribes of Biluchistan must be determined
by the circumstances of each individual case. I doubt
whether it can always be determined at all. Physical ap-
pearance is something : but the physical appearance of
both the Brahuis and the Biluches varies. Language,
too, is something; but it is especially stated that the
blood and the language by no means coincide. And
here the Biluch tongue preponderates. I find no evi-
dence of any Biluch tribes having unlearned their own
tongue and adopted the Brahdi. I find decided evidence,
BRAHUIS. 331
however, of certain Brahuis being in the habit of speak-
ing Biluch. The khans and sirdars of the Mingalls
and Bizunjus do so. It would be vulgar to use the
Brabtii.
I find, too, that this latter language is said to be pecu-
liar to Jhalawan and Saharawan. Now, admitting that
these are the chief Brahtii localities, we must be con-
vinced that there is much Brahui blood beyond them.
Again, it is probable that certain Brahuis may have
adopted the Jutki and Sind dialects.
That certain Rinds (Biluches) have done so, is specially
stated by Masson ; who (along with others) tells us that
their physical form is, more or less, Indian ; at any rate,
that it differs perceptibly from that of the Nharui tribes
of the west. What, then, I ask, is the evidence that the
Rinds are Biluch at all ? Their form is Indian ; their
language Indian. They come, indeed, from Biluchistan
— but so do some of the Brahtiis and some of the Juts.
What is the evidence, &c. ? I ask this for information.
I do not say that it is wanting. I think it very likely
til at it can be adduced. I only suggest that it is wanting.
At present the Rinds are Biluchistanis (t. e* men of a
country named after the Biluches), rather than Biluches
in the proper sense of the word.
The typical Biluches, then, are the Nharui tribes of the
west ; and the typical Brahtiis certain tribes of Saharawan
and Jhalawan. The others are, to all appearance, more
or less, the exhibitors of mixed characteristics.
These characteristics may be derived from several
quarters ; from Central Asia, from Arabia, from Persia,
irom Caubul, from India.
Central Asiatic elements. — These may be either Turk
or Mongol. Laying aside the doctrines suggested by
the local names, especially Seistan (Segistan), (which is
332 THE INDIAN FRONTIER.
Sakastene, or the country of the Sakae) as well as those
implied in the term Indoscjthae^ let us look at Masson's
list of the Brahui, and Pottinger's of the Biluch^ tribes*
The first gives the names Saka and Minghal ; both re-
ferable to the Western Provinces. That Saka is Sakas is
suggested by Masson liimself. Can Minghal be Mongol ?
Possibly. That Mekran is not beyond the confines of the
Mongol world is shown in the following genealogy. The
Numris of Luz trace their origin to Samar the founder
of Samarkand, who had four sons — Nerpat, the father
of the Numris and Jukias; Bopat, the father of the
Bhats of Jessulmer; Gajpat, father of the Chura Rajputs;
and Aspat, father of the Tshagatai — the Tshagatai being,
of all the Turks, the most mixed-up with the Mongols.
Indeed, to suppose that the two words are synonymous
is as legitimate here as in India, where (as is well known)
the empire founded- by Baber, is called the empire of the
Great Mogul, t. e, Mongol. Yet Baber was a Tsha-
gatai Turk, and no Mongol at all.
Let, then, the Brahui name Mingall be considered as a
probable form of Mongol — word for word. Whether it
stand for a Turk tribe or a tribe from Mongolia, in the
strict sense of the term, is another question. The names
of both Tshingiz-khan and Timur are known in the parts
about Kelaut.
Arabian, — I lay but little stress upon tlie so-called
tradition of the Biluches that they came from Arabia.
I have elsewhere suggested that Arabia may mean the
Arabius fluviusy and the promontory of Arabat in their
own immediate neighbourhood. In this, too, it is pos-
sible that we may find the origin of the name of the
Arab Gudur, a Luz tribe. On the other hand, the Arab
conquest of Sind, and the parts to the west of the Indus,
in the first century of the Hegira, is a historical fact, so
BRAHtlS. 333
that, over and above a certain amount of imaginary,
there may, also, be some real, Arab blood in Biluch-
istan.
Persian. — The Nushirvanis of Kharan (it is Masson
who speaks), along with the Bajputs of Udipiir, trace
their origin to Nushirvan. Such the doctrine. Valeat
quantum. It shows, at least, Persian ways of thinking.
In like manner the Shirwani Brahuis believe that their
forefathers came from Shirwan, which they may easily
have done, or have not done.
The Mehmasani bear a Kurd name. So do the Lari ;
though not one exclusively Kurd. So do the Kurds,
eo nomine and totidem Uteris. The Kurds of Dasht
Bedowlat, Merv, and part of Kutch Gundava, are divided
into
The Made Zai
Shudan Zai
Zirdad Zai
The Saltag Zai
Shadi Zai
Massutari.
Word for word, Zai appears to be the Afghan Zye.
Caubul. — The Kaidrani of the hills about Khozdar
appear in Masson*s list as Brahtiis,
I have found them, however, treated as Biluches, as
Afghans, and as a population neither Afghan nor Biluch.
There are two divisions of the name, the occupancies of
which are separated from each other.
The Bizunji are, in like manner, called Brah6i, yet the
name appears elsewhere, and that beyond the Brahiii area.
Indian. — That the Jatuks of Masson's Brah&i list are
Juts is suggested by Masson himself. It is also suggested
by Masson himself that the Kalmatti of his Brahiii list
are Sindis.
Then there are the tribes that appear both as Biluch
and Brah6i.
Also the Langhow tribe, the members of which are said
334 THE INDIAN FEONTIER.
to be enfranchised slaves of the Rinds ; a fact^ however,
which is not incompatible with their being Brahui in
blood.
And now, premising that I, by no means, consider that
the above-named exceptions are conclusive, and that I
have exhibited them chiefly for the sake of making out
a case in favour of the blood of the Brahui and Biluches
being more or less mixed, and with the view of inducing
others to go minutely into the analysis, I give the re-
mainder of Masson's list.
In the Western Provinces.
Afirwari
Gitshki
Homarari
Sanghur
Hallada
Rodahi
Rakshani (?)
In Saharawan.
Mahmudshahi
Bangul-zai
Shekh Husseini
Sunari,
Raisani
Sirperra
Ghazghi
Samalari
In Jhalawan.
Zehri | Saholi
Lutiani.
So much for the details of the Brahui name as opposed
to the Biluch.
The details of the Biluch name, as opposed to the
Brahui, are as follows.
The first division is into the western and the eastern
Biluches, the western Biluches being named Nhartii ;
the eastern, Mugsi and Rind.
The Nharui. — The Nhanii list contains seven names,
three of which may be other than Biluch.
1. TTie Rakshani. — In Masson the Rukshani are made
Brahui.
THE BILUCHES. 335
2. The Mitigs. — Word for word, this seems to be Min-
gul.
3. Kurd, — This is the name for the tribes of Bush-
kurd, Xohuki, and Mydani ; tribes which are, probably,
Kurd in blood as well as in name.
To the following four tribes no exception is taken.
They are, probably, true Biluches.
The Sajadi
Khasogi
The Urbabi
MuUikah,
They lie to the south of Seistaun, between the Brahiii
frontier and the Kurd districts ; these last leading to the
truly Persian province of Kirman.
By *^ true Biluches " I mean men whose language
neither is nor has been either Brahtii or Jut, and who
are, in other respects, Persian rather than Indian, and
Biluch rather than either Afghan or Kurd.
I have already noticed the statement that the Rinds, to
some extent at least, speak Jutki. To what extent?
Burton writes that the Domki, Magasi (Magazzi Mugsi),
Burphat (Bulfat), Kalpher (Kalpur), and many other
smaller tribes, speak the hill language; the hill lan-
guage meaning the Biluch. Meanwhile, the Rinds,
Talpurs, Murris, Chandiya, Jemali, and Laghari speak
" either Jatki or the hill-tongue ; and their selection
depends upon the district they inhabit." The Bulfat,
however, are specially connected with the Numris, who
are Sindi in speech. Again — the " Jataki is also called
Siraiki from Siro, or Upper Sind, where it is commonly
spoken by the people, and Belocki (Biluch) on account of
its being used by several of the Biluch clans settled in
the low country. The Langha or Sindhi bards seem to
prefer it to their own language, and many well-educated
natives, especially Belochis, have studied it critically and
composed works in it.*' All this goes for the Rinds
336 THE INDIAN FRONTIER.
being Indian rather than Persian in speech. All goes to
the suggestion of the following question — is there any
better reason for making them Biluch than the fact of
their coming from Biluchistan ?
Be this as it may, there is a certain number of tribes
that belong, or are supposed to have originally belonged,
to the Khanat of Kelaut rather than to India proper,
and who are other than Afghan as well as other than
Brahui in speech. Their manners and religion — ^pre-
datory and Mahometan — are Biluch ; their language
and physiognomy more or less Indian. Their political
importance is considerable, inasmuch as they lie along the
whole of the Dera Ghazi Khan frontier, beginning where
the Afghans end and extending into Sind.
The most northern of these, after the Khetrans, whose
place is ambiguous, are —
The KkusraniSf on the hills, and
The Mutkanis, on the plains. Then follow
The Bozdars, of whom there are, at least, the following
sections —
The Sehami
— Suwami
— Gulamani
The Jelalani
— Chandiah
— Shahani.
The Bozdars are both mountaineers and occupants of
the lower country.
The Lunds, and
The Khosahs, on the plains. Khosa is a Rajput name.
The Lagaris.
The Gkurkanis. — ^These occupy Hurnmd and Darjil,
falling into
The Lushari | The Durkhani, and
The Chakri.
TTie DrishukSf a peaceable, and
THE INDIAN FRONTIER 337
The Murri, a warlike; tribe ;
The Mazarisj and
The Bugtis (both powerful), succeed ; south of whom
the Brahiii name appears.
All the preceding tribes belong to the British frontier ;
either on or within it.
Behind the frontier, especially in Kutch Gundava,
lie
The Dumki The Puzh
— Pugh — KuUiii,
and others. These appear in both Masson and Pottinger,
and, by both authors, they are especially stated to be
Rind, t. e. Rind rather than Mugsi.
TTie Magazzi of Masson seem to be the Mugsis of Pot-
tinger. Of the Magazzi, however, all that is said by the
former author is that they are the inveterate enemies of the
Rinds. Pottinger, on the other hand, gives the following
list of their tribes : —
The Lashari
The Musari
— Matyhi
— Kukrani
— Burdi
— Isobani
— Unurs
— JuUani
— Nari
— Turbundzye
— KuUimderani
— Jekrani
The J
^utki.
The Jekrani are probably Rind; the Jutki, Juts in
the proper sense of the term. The Musari and the
Lashari have already appeared. They were among the
tribes of the frontier (Lusharis and Mazaris). Upon the
whole, it seems that the Rind area is Kutch Gundava
rather than the valley of the Indus, the Mugsi area the
valley of the Indus rather than Kutch Gundava. The
details, however, are very obscure.
VOL. II. z
338 THE INDIAN raONTIER.
But little has to be said concerning the archseologj of
the Brahiii country. It contains but few ruins^ and none
of any very great importance. Of coins, but few have
been found within its limits ; of inscriptions (I believe)
none. That some, however, exist is specially stated. It
should be remembered, however, that, vnth the exception
of Pottinger and Masson, few Europeans have, at one
and the same time, explored the country, and given an
account of their explorations. Hence the statement that
" of its Greek rulers we have no vestiges," is one which
future discoveries may not improbably modify. A city
was founded in Arachosia by Demetrius. Near Kelaut
are the sites of three towns— of Sorra Bek, of Kuki, and
of a third with an unknown name. These, however, seem
to have belonged to the times of the Kalifat.
At Mehara, in the hills, to the east of Kelaut^ are a
few caves and cave-temples; also the remains of what
is called a city of the infidels (Kafirs) ; also walls and
parapets of stone — works of the infidels too. Hinglatz,
in Luz, is a sacred spot, visited by both Hindu and
Mahometan pilgrims. It is in the eyes of the latter, at
least, the shrine of the Bibi N&ni == the Lady Mother.
It is suggested by Wilson that, word for word, Nani is
Nanaia^ the name of a goddess, which appears on many of
the Caubul coins.
Let us now assume, provisionally ^ that the Brahiiis are
Indian, and ask (such being the case) what are the
western boundaries of India ? Where does it begin ?
If the Brahuis be as Indian as their language is
believed to make them, and if the Gitshki and Minguls,
and Rakshanis, be Brahui, the Indian area must be carried
as far north as Noshky, and as far west as Punghir and
Kij. If so, half Mekran is Brahui. Noshky touches the
Baraich districts of Shorabuk, and all but touches Seis-
THE INDIAN FRONTIER. 339
taun. It is watered by the river Kaiser. It is the oc-
cupancy of the Rakshanisj upon whom the Minguls from
the parts about Kelaut have encroached. They reside in
tents.
Panjghur, an agricultural district^ is cultivated by the
Gitshki ; as is Kij — after which begins the territory of
the Imaum of Muskat on the souths and Persia proper
on the north.
That India, then, in some shape or other, has a great
extension westward is manifest. It shows itself long
before we get to the Indus. Indeed, it is by no means
easy to say where India begins or Persia ends.
z 2
340 FOREIGN INFLUENCES
CHAPTER XXXV.
Foreign inflaences in India. — Bacchic (?).— Aasyrian (?)• — Persian. — Tura-
nian.— Macedonian. — Arab. — Afghan. — Turk (Tehagatai).
Of the invasions of India, the chief are
1. The conquest by BaccAitf.— Whether this be so purely
mythic as is generally believed will be considered in
the sequel. Say, however, that it is ever so much so.
The belief in its existence shows, at least, that Greece
and India were contained in the same world of fiction.
Now, where there is a community of fiction there are
also other points of contact — direct or indirect.
2. The conquest by Semiramis. — This, if real, would in-
troduce Assyrian influences.
3. The Persian conquest. — In order for any part of
India to have become a part of the empire of Darius
conquest from Persia must have been ejSected.
4. 7\iranian conquest. — If no conquest firom Turania
had been eflfected the term Indo-scythae would be non-
existent.
5. TTie Macedonian conquest, ending in a permanent
occupation of Bactria, has already been noticed. This
brought Greece upon the Indus.
6. The Arab conquest. — In the forty -fourth year of the
Hejra, the Mahometans appear on the frontier of India —
the Mahometans of the Kalifat, Arabs in language and
nationality. Their impression, however, is but slight.
They invade, and retire from, Multan ; but the occupancy
IN INDIA. 341
is partial, and the withdrawal early. They also invade
Sind, but not, in the first instance, effectually.
Forty-eight years later, in the reign of ^- -
Walid, begin what may be called the cam- ^
paigns and conquests of Mohammed Casim,
a brave, skilful, and successful general. They end in the
reduction of Multan and Sind. How much further his
arms penetrated is doubtful. There is a notice of his
having begun a march toward Canuj, in which he suc-
ceeded in reaching a place which seems to have been
Udipur. His actual conquests, however, we limit to the
above-named countries, the countries most immediately
on the Persian or Afghan frontier. I imagine that his
army was largely recruited from Persia, it being expressly
stated that it was raised at Shiraz.
The conquests of Casim were made over to his succes-
sor, in whose family they remained for about thirty-six
years, when a native insurrection, of which we do not
know the detedls, ended in the ejection of the Mahome-
tans and the restoration of Sind and Multan to the
Hindus. This state of things lasted 250 years — from 760
to 1000, there or thereabouts.
The Turk conquests. — The first undoubted Turk dynasty
in India was founded a.d. 1000 — say when Canute was
King of England. Its founder's name was Mahmud. He
was governor of Korasan under the Samanid successors
of the Caliphs. His chief town was Ghuzni, so that he
is called Mahmud of Ghuzni, or Mahmud the Ghuznivid,
he and his descendants forming the Ghuznivid dynasty.
His father was a Turk, Sebek-tegin (a Turk compound) by
name. He was originally a slave, his patron and prede-
cessor in the occupancy of Ghuzni having been a slave
also ; also a Turk.
Such the dynasty. The country from which India was
34^2 FOREIGN INFLUENCES
invaded, the kingdom of this dynasty, was Caubul. It was
in the parts about Ghuzni that Alp-tegin first found the
nucleus of his empire. One historian states that he had
with him, when he first attempted his independence, 3000
Mamelukes ; and a Mameluke, at this time, would be a
Turk, not (what he is now) a Circassian, or something else
of mixed blood and no definite extraction. He would,
doubtless, too, have numerous additions from the Ghuzni
district itself, and these would be chiefly Afghans. Let
us say, then, that the bulk of what Mahmud of Ghuzni,
or his father, Sebek-tegin, may have called the army of
India, was Turk and Afghan, without going too minutely
into the question as to how far the two terms mean the
same thing. I imagine, too, there must have been in it
Persians, Lughmanis, and perhaps Biluches.
The hostilities that led to the Ghuznivid conquest of
India began with Sebek-tegin, but the conquest itself was
the work of Mahmud. The opponents to both were the
Rajputs of western and northern Rajasthan.
The descendants of Sebek-tegin held India from the
death of Mahmud, a.d. 1030, to that of Khusru Malik,
A.D. 1186. They were all Turk on the father's side at
least — probably on the mother's as well. The succeeding
dynasties are all Turk.
Tamerlane retired from India a.d. 1399. For two
months after Tamerlane's departure there was anarchy,
then the rule of a chief named Ekbal, then the restora-
tion of Mahmud ; who is succeeded by another chief,
Doulat Klian Lodi, who, at the end of fifteen months, is
expelled by the governor of the Punjab. This takes
place fourteen years after Tamerlane's departure; during,
however, Tamerlane's lifetime.
It is as a subordinate to Tamerlane that the governor of
the Punjab, who expels Doulat Khan Lodi, afiects to
IN INDU. 343
govern. His name is Khizr Khan, and he is a native of
India, probably an Indian rather than a Turk. If he
has no Turk blood at all in his veins, he is the first ruler of
India without it. He is, moreover, a Syud, t. e. a descend-
ant of Mahomet, so that he and his three descendants
constitute what is called the Syud dynasty. Soon after
his seizure of Delhi, his original province, the Punjab,
revolts, and his family has to struggle for it during the
whole duration of the dominion.
The Syud dynasty ruled thirty-six years, i. e, from
1414 to 1460, when Ala-u-din, the fourth of the family,
makes over his capital and titles to
An Afghan^ Behlol Khan Lodi, the first ruler of the
house of Lodi. The kings that this house gave to India
were three in number — by name Behlol Lodi (already
mentioned), Secander Lodi, and Ibrahim Lodi, under
whose reign India was invaded by
The Tshagatai Turk^ Baber, the founder of the empire
of the Great Mogul. As a Tshagatai, Baber came from
the Mongol frontier ; the extent to which Mongol elements
entered into his army being indicated by the name of the
dynasty.
Since the time of Baber the foreign influences have
been Portuguese, Dutch, French, and English.
344 GENERAL VIEW OF THE DIVISIONS OF
CHAPTER XXXVI.
General view of the diyiaions of the population of India. — Cast.
I NOW bid farewell to the numerous preliminaries by
which the notice of the populations of India proper has
been preceded^ and I use the term India proper because,
in the forthcoming chapter, no notice will be taken of
the Paropamisans and the Brahiii. Ethnologically, in*
deed, they are Indian ; geographically, they are Persian.
They ought not, perhaps, to be excluded. The objects,
however, of the present work are mixed. If it were
more purely scientific than it is, I should claim them for
Hindostan. The Hindostan, however, of the forthcoming
notices extends no further westwards than Cashmir, the
Punjab, and Sind.
Qui bene dividet, bene docet. For our primary division
the best basis is language, either actually existing or rea-
sonably inferred. This gives us ;
1. The populations whose languages, as now spoken,
are Tamul rather than Hindi, along with such Bhils and
Kols as are believed to have unlearnt their own tongue
and to have adopted that of their neighbours. It also
comprises (though the evidence to their belonging to this
group is capable of great improvement) the Mairs, Minas,
Moghis, and some others ;
2. The populations whose languages are Hindi rather
than Tamul, the chief of which are the Cashmirian, the
Hindi itself, the Bengali, the Uriya, the Gujerathi, and
the Marathi.
THE POPULATlOfNS OF INDIA. 345
Are the forms of speech the best basis for our minor
divisions ? I think not. I think it better to take in more
characteristics than one. I also think it better to form
our groups by type rather than definition. If these views
be rights the classification will explain itself.
1. In the extreme north-west, Cashmir stands by itself.
It is largely Mahometan. It is Paropamisan as much as
it is Indian. It is a land without (or with a minimum of)
casts.
2* The next division is less simple. Like the first it is
largely Mahometan. It is also Sikh. It is by no means
sharply defined on its frontier. So far as it is Hindu (and
it is so to a very great extent) it is Kshetriya rather than
either Sudra or Brahminic. Its area is nearly, but not
wholly, commensurate with the extension of the Rajput
dynasties, present or past, patent or inferred.
3. The third contains the pre-eminently Brahminic
districts along the Ganges, from Oud to Bengal inclu-
sive. It also contains the area of the Uriya language.
4. The fourth contains the populations that occupy
the southern slope of the Himalayas, in contact with
the Bhots of Tibet, Nepal, Sikkim, Butan, and Asam.
5. The fifth gives us the Marattas, who are Sudras
rather than either Kshetriyas or Brahmins.
And here we may notice the meaning of the word cast.
When two sections of the same group, class, or division,
refuse to intermarry, there is an approach to it. There is
an approach to it when the intermarriage is other than re-
ciprocal, i.e. when a man of one section may take his
wife 6om another, though wives, similarly situated, may
not take husbands.
There is an approach to it when individuals of difierent
sections may not eat together ; or when they will not eat
food cooked or served by one another.
346 CAST.
There is the same when mutual contact is eschewed.
There is the same when certain branches of the popu-
lation are limited to the exercise of certain trades, crafts,
or professions, and when (as, of necessity, must be the
case) these trades, crafts, or professions become heredi-
tary.
When one class is, in any one of these ways, separated
from the other, an approach to cast is the result. When
several principles of separation are united the approach
becomes nearer.
Nearer still does it become when, in addition to these
forms of mutual repulsion, the cohesion of the several
members of the same class is strengthened by common
ceremonies, legends, beliefs, prejudices, and genealogies,
real or hypothetical.
Let all this take place, and let certain classes be held
more honourable than others, cast becomes more decided.
The higher classes avoid, despise, abhor the lower.
Let the number of classes be great, and the degrees of
dignity will be numerous. There will be a highest and a
lowest.
All this is cast, and of all this there is more in India
than in any other part of the world. There are ap-
proaches to it, however, in most countries.
In most of the reports and memoirs upon Hindostan,
lists may be found of the casts of the several districts.
They are often long ones. They differ, too, from one
another. In many cases they do this simply because the
languages are different. In essentials they agree. They
chiefly consist of the names of trades. There is the cast
of cultivators, gardeners, fishers, porters, sweepers, and
the like — ^some high, some low. The lists, however, are
long, and the casts are numerous.
The lists are long and the casts are numerous when we
CAST. 347
look at the realities of Indian life as it exists at the
present moment. And, except that in a ruder condition of
society, the division of employments was less, the lists of
the earliest historical period are long also.
Theoretically, however, the number of casts is four.
1. There is the priestly cast, or that of the Brahmins.
2. There is the warrior cast, or that of the Kshetriyas.
3. There is the Yaisya class, or that of the merchants ;
and
4. There is the lowest class, or that of labourers — the
Sudra class.
The outcasts are of no class at all. The commonest
name for these is Pariah.
The origin of these is given in an extract from the
Institutes of Menu, already laid before the reader.
I doubt, notwithstanding, whether this fourfold gene-
rality was ever an historical fact.
I think that priests, soldiers, merchants, and labourers
were Brahmins, Kshetriyas, Yaisyas, and Sudras only in
the way that apes, lions, horses, and hogs are Quad-
rumana, Carnivora, Solidungula, and Pachydermata. In
ethnology, as in zoology, it is' the species only which has
a tangible definite existence. The genus lies in the mind
of the contemplator.
In ethnology, however, as in zoology, the genus and
species may coincide. In India this is done by the class
of Brahmins. Whatever else a Brahmin may be, he is a
member of a privileged order. Hence arises the obser-
vation of one of the classical authorities on India to the
effect that India is the land, not of four, but of one
superior, and many subordinate, casts. To a certain ex-
tent, the terms Rajput and Kshetriya coincide. The
Vaisyas, however, are pure erUia rationis.
The Mahratas are called Sudras. This can but mean
34-8 CAST.
that they are neither Brahmins nor Rajputs ; at any rate,
no fact in history is more patent than their activity,
courage, and success as soldiers.
The extent to ^hich the rules of cast press upon indi-
viduals can never be laid down in generals. The details
of each case regulate it. The most stringent restraints
can be set aside by actual lawlessness. The Pindarris,
for instance, who were armed robbers, but at the same
time so numerous as to resemble an army rather than a
banditti, found no difficulty in recruiting themselves from
all classes. The Sikhs, again, and the several members
of the casts which they left upon conversion, keep up
both domestic and social arrangements, and marry and are
given in marriage with each other. The view on the part
of the Hindus of their neighbourhood (who, it should
be remarked, are not of the strictest) is, that it is a politi-
cal confederation of which their converted brothers have
made themselves members. On the other hand, the cases
are numerous where the violation of the laws of cast are
unnaturally strict; and that without defeating them-
selves. They are so (for instance) in Nepal, as will be
seen when that country comes under notice. Cast, then,
is easily lost or easily regained as circumstances dispose.
Upon the origin of so peculiar an institution much
speculation has been expended — some, perhaps, wasted.
Many maintain that, wherever it occurs, there has been
invasion and conquest. If so, it implies the juxta-
position of tWQ hostile nations, and tells a tale of in-
trusion, resistance, subjugation, slavery, contempt. That
this is a possible, and not an improbable, mode of develop-
ing such an institution as cast is clear. Whether it be
the only one is doubtful. There is cast, in some degree or
other, all over the world. Hereditary privileges are
cast. Monopoly of employment, continued from father
CAST. 349
to son, is cast. Social exclusiveness is cast. The tribe-
system and the cast-system are often contrasted, and it is
true that the circumstances under which the two are
evolved are, for the most part, different. Yet there are
tribes who assume a superiority over the rest, and refuse
to intermarry with them. Again — the tribe and the
municipality are contrasted. But what is the tribe
whereof the members have certain occupations but cast ?
Thus far we have considered cast as a condition and as
an effect. But what is it as cause ? Assuredly, it is a
great ethnological force. Let the business of a jockey,
on one side, or of a pugilist, on the other, become, even
in England, hereditary, and it is clear that the one will
give big, the other small, men. In like manner, though in
a less degree, Brahminism must encourage one physiog-
nomy, Sudraism another. We are justified, then, in
taking cognizance of cast even where it may not coincide
with original ethnological differences.
S50 CASHMIR.
CHAPTER XX XVII.
Populations whoee Languages are akin' to the Hindi. — Caahmir.
Cashmir is a basin rather than a valley ; the bottom of a
lake rather than the holm of a river.
The physical form of its occupants is that of the Paro-
pamisans.
On the side of Tibet, its frontier is decided and defi-
nite ; by which I mean that the whole of Cashmir is
Cashmirian. No fragments of any earlier occupancy
have been discovered within its frontier. On the east, it
stands contrasted with the more purely Hindu countries
of Kistewah, and the Sub-himalayas in general. The
difference, however, here is one of degree rather than
kind.
On the west the details are obscure ; the exact extent
to which the parts interjacent to Cashmir and Swaut
are Cashmirian, Afghan, or Dard being unknown.
The language is quite as much Paropamisan as Hindi.
This, however, is the language of common life rather
than the language of literature and polite society. The
literary language is Persian. As far, however, as the
Cashmirian is written, it is written in a character derived
from the Devanagari.
Word for word, Cashmir is believed (and that on
reasonable grounds) to be Caspatyrus, or Caspapyrus.
So that the notices of the country are early.
Cashmirians beyond the limits of Cashmir ace nume-
rous, for the population is industrial and commercial.
CASHMIR. 351
They are also numerous in Tibet, where intercourse and
intermarriage between the two populations are by no
means uncommon.
In the way of politics, Cashmir is Sikh, having been
so since 1831 ; in creed, however, it is Mahometan, the
Mahometanism being mixed. To a certain extent, it is,
like that of Persia, Shiite. To a certain extent, it is, like
that of Afghanistan, Sunnite, for between the break-up
of the Mogul and the rise of the Sikh power, Cashmir
was a portion of the Durani dominion. That many of
the converts have been forcibly made is stated by good
authorities, and the fact seems likely. It is certain that,
at the beginning of its history, Cashmir was one of the
strongholds of Brahminism ; at the same time the reign of
the first Mahometan king belongs to the fourteenth cen-
tury. His descendants and successors reign till (about)
the end of the sixteenth century ; when Cashmir, ceasing
to be independent under kings of its own, becomes one of
the subahs of the Mogul empire. As such, it is the least
part of itself. Pukhli and Bajowr belong to it. So does
Swaut. So do Caubul and Zabulistan. I mention this
to show that, even in the way of politics, its connections
have run westwards.
Description qf Cashmir by Ahuifaael.
The whole of the subah represents a garden in perpetual spring, and
the fortifications with which Nature has furnished it are of an astonishing
height, so that the grand and romantic appearance cannot fail of delight-
ing those who are fond of variety, as well as they who take pleasure in
retirement. The water is remarkably good, and the cataracts are en-
chantingly magnificent. It rains and snows here at the same seasons as
in Tartary and Persia ; and during the periodical rains in Hindostan, here
also fall light showers. The soil is partly marshy, and the rest well-
watered by rivers and lakes. Violets, roses, narcissuses, and innumerable
other flowers, grow wild here. The spring and autumn display scenes de-
lightfully astonishing. The houses, which are built of wood, are of four
stories, and some higher, and they are entirely open, without any court-
yard. The roofs of the houses are planted with tulips, which produce a
352 CASHMIR.
wonderfdl effect in the spring. In the lower apartments are kept the
cattle and lumber ; the family live in the second story ; and the third and
fourth stories are used for warehouses. Earthquakes are very frequent
here, on which account they do not build their houses of btick or 8tone»
but of wood, with which the country abounds. Here are, however, many
ancient idolatrous temples, built of brick and stone, some of which are in
perfect preservation, and others in ruins. Here are various woollen manu-
fiictures, particularly of shawls, which are carried to all parte of the globe.
Although Caahmir is populous and money scarce, yet a thief or a b^gar
is scarcely known amongst them. Excepting cherries and mulberries,
they have plenty of excellent fruits, especially melons, apples, peaches,
and apricote ; grapes, although in abundance, are of few kinds, and those
indifferent In general they let the vines twist round the trunks of the
mulberry trees. The mulberry trees are cultivated chiefly on account of
the leaves for the silkworms, little of the fruit being eaten. The silk-
worms* eggs are brought from Kelut and Little Tibet, but those of the first
place are best The inhabitants chiefly live upon rice, fish, iresh and dried,
and vegetables, and they drink wine. They boil the rice over night, and
set it by for use for the next day. They dry vegetables, to serve in the
winter. They have rice in plenty, but not remarkably fine. Their wheats
which is black and small, is scarce, and mowng, barley, and nakhud are
produced, but in small quantity. They have a species of sheep, which
they call Hundoo, resembling those of Persia, the flesh of which is ex-
ceedingly delicious and wholesome. The inhabitants wear chiefly woollen
clothes, an upper garment of which will last several years. Their horses
are small, but hardy and sure-footed, and they are very cheap. They
breed neither elephante nor camels. Their cows are black and ugly, but yield
plenty of milk, of which is made good butter; Every town in this wobah has
as many handicraftsmen as are found in the large cities of other countries.
They have no fiiirs, all their goods being sold at regular shops. In their
cities and towns there are neither snakes, scorpions, nor other venomous
reptiles. Here is a mountain called Mahades, and every place from whence
it can be seen is free from snakes, but the country in general abounds with
flies, gnats, bugs, and lice. Sparrows are very scarce, on account of the
general use of pellet bows. The inhabitante go upon the lakes in small
boats to enjoy the diversion of hawking. They have partridges; the elk
is also found here, and they train leopards to hunt them. Most of the
trade of this country is carried on by water, but men also transport great
burdens upon their shoulders. Watermen and carpenters are professions
in great repute here. Here dwell a great number of Brahmins.
Cashmir is the only portion of Hindostan of which there
is a native history. When Akbar " led his victorious
standards into the region of perpetual spring, the natives
presented him with a book called Raj Turungi, written
CASHMIR. 353
in the Sanskrit language^ and containing the history of
the princes of Cashmeer for 4000 years back." Akbar
ordered it to be translated into Persian. The original
text has since been procured, and as it is *^ the only
Sanskrit composition yet discovered to v^hich the title of
history can with any propriety be applied," it has com-
manded no little attention. An elaborate essay upon it
by Professor Wilson* gives us a clear view of its gene-
ral character. It gives us, too, not a few of its details. It
gives us, too, a view of the authorship. At any rate, it
gives us the names and approximate dates of four authors.
The first of these is Calhana, who quotes as predecessors
Suvrata, Narendra, Hela Raja, Padma Mihiri, and Sri
Ch'havillac&ra, along with Nila Muni, a purana. The
history of Calhana begins vnth the fabulous ages, and
comes down to a.d. 1027. The author himself is believed
to have lived about the middle of the following century.
Then follows
Jonah Raja, author of the Rijfivali, who begins where
Calhana ends, and, himself, ends a.d. 1410; followed by
Sri Ydri, whose Sri Jaina Rajd Taringini continues the
R&j&vali down to a.d. 1477.
The fourth part was added by the order of Akbar. It
brings the work down to the time of that monarch.
It is the history of Cashmir as an independent Maho-
metan kingdom, that this latter part of the work, more
especially, delivers. It is a domestic history ; t. e, its
range is a narrow one. The political horizon, a single
mountain-basin, must needs be limited. It comprises
Tibet, Kashgar (or the Paropamisan countries), Buduk-
shun, and part of Caubul. Of Indian principalities, the
little rajahship of Kistewah is Cashmfr's nearest neigh-
bour, and it is into Kistewah that the Cashmirian
* In the Tranaactiona of the Asiatic Society, vol. zv.
VOL. II. A A
354 CASHMIR.
captains are most particularly in the habit of retreating
when defeated. Of external enemies the most formid-
able are the Turks, by whom invasion after invasion is
effected ; the way lying over the Baramula pass. Of
internal movements the chief are made by the Chuk,
Reigna, and Magrey — ^names which I give as the names
of either actual tribes or of something more or less tribual.
The Chuks are probably, word for word, the Gukkers.
Mahometanism was introduced as early as a.d. 1341.
It took root, however, but slowly and imperfectly, until
the end of the century, when Ali, a Syud, who had in-
curred the anger of Timur, fled from his native city of
Hamadan (a.d. 1388), and, attended, it is said, by 700
others, settled in Cashmir. His son, a fugitive also,
introduced 300 more. And now the zeal for making
proselytes burned bright and hot, and shrines multiplied,
and persecution set-in. The Hindu temples were either
burnt or thrown down. The Hindu devotees were forced
to abjure their religion. Industry, however, was en-
couraged, and Cashmir became, under its independent
princes, what Abulfazel described it. The Rishis, a set
of Mahometan ascetics, numbered, in the reign of Akbar,
about 2000. They have since either simply decreased, or
become wholly extinct. So much for the times described
by the last three authors of the chronicles of Cashmir.
The work of Calhana may or may not be trustworthy
for the times immediately preceding those of the author.
The mass of his statements is fabulous.
Most of the kings bear Indian names. Some, however,
are specially stated to be Turks ; whilst, in one of the
very oldest and most decidedly fabulous dynasties, the
title of each and all of the kings is the Turk adjunct,
khan. One of these Tm'anian kings introduced Buddliism.
Eventually, however, Brahminism prevailed.
CASHMIR. 355
Older^ however^ than either of the great Hindu creeds^
was the worship of Nagas or snake Gods. Abulfazel
relates that he found carvings of snakes in seven hundred
places — these being objects of respect.
" Whether," writes Wilson, ** the Cashmirian worship
of snakes was mystical, at least in the earliest ages, may
be questioned. There is likewise reason to suppose that
this worship was diffused throughout the whole of India,
as besides the numerous fables and traditions relating to
the NcyaSy or snake gods, scattered through the Pur&nas,
vestiges of it still remain in the actual observances of
the Hindus. It seems not improbable that the destruction
of the whole serpent race by Janamejaya, the son of Pa*
ricshit, recorded in the Puranas as a historical fact, may
in reality imply the subversion of the local and original
superstition, and the erection of the system of the Yedas
upon its ruins." The culius itself was old. A strange
passage in Strabo tells, that ^' Abisarus fed two serpents
{ipoKovrai) ; one of which was 80, the other 140 tubits
long." Again, Taxiles showed Alexander an enormous
snake, which he reverenced as the symbol of Dionysus.
These notices (from Wilson) are not given for nothing.
Like so many other phenomena, they point westwards.
Stories connected with snakes appear twice in Gardiner's
account of the Kafirs. Stories connected with snakes
appear more than once in the mythology of Persia:
prominent amongst which is that of Iblis and Zohauk—- *
Iblis tempts Zohauk, a youth who, until the time of his
temptation, is well disposed and virtuous, to the commit-
tal of gross crimes, and to the indulgence of an epicurean
sensuality. Taste after taste is gratified. Every day
something newer and more delicate than the luxuries of
the day before appears at table ; and that with the promise
that " to-morrow there shall be something more delicious
A A 2
356 CASHMIR.
still." Pampered and corrupted, Zohauk now asks Iblis
how he can ^how his gratitude. ** By allowing me to
kiss your naked shoulder." So Zohauk stripped, and
Iblis kissed, and from the spot between the shoulder-
blades, which he touched with his venomous and deceptive
mouth, sprang two black snakes. Some time after this
happened, Iblis, in the garb of a physician, visited Zohauk,
and prescribed as the only means of preventing him from
being gnawed into nothing by the serpents, a daily meal
of human brains. So Zohauk fed the snakes ; even as
did Taxiles.
Now Zohauk was a usurper, the true king being
Jamshid, for some time a fugitive in Zabulistan; for some
time a wanderer in Caubul — ^in both places a drinker of
wine.
Of Jamshid's family is the famous champion Rustam,
who fights against {inter alios) the great Turanian cham-
pion Afrasiab, in Caubul, in Segistan, in Zabulistan and
elsewhere.
There is nothing new in the notice of these numerous
fictions. It is well known that they constitute the basis
of the great poem of Firdausi — the Shah Nameh;
wherein the stories of Jamshid, Feridun, Kavah the
blacksmith, Zohrab, and others form a cycle. There is
nothing new in the notice of them. There is no reason
for mentioning them on their own account. The fact
that claims attention is that of their localization in the
Paropamisus — on the Paropamisus itself and on each side
of it, in Cashmir as well as in Afghanistan, in Afghanistan
as well as in Cashmir.
In both countries Jamshid is a real name. It was borne
by one of the kings of Cashmir. It is borne, at the
present time, by one of the tribes of the Hazarehs, or
Afghans. Suhauk, too (word for word Zohauk), is the
CASHMIR.
857
name of another of them. Forts, of which the building
is attributed to Rustam, are common over the whole
district. Finally, either Chitral or Kafiristan is the so-
called wine-cellar of Afrasiab.
In the notice of Hwantsian, Cashmir stands prominent.
His account contains a long story of a serpent that lay
in the middle of the lake. Of the draining of the lake
the following legend is native.
The couDtry was entirely covered with water, in the midst of which a
demon, Jaladeo, resided, who preyed upon mankind, and Reized upon
every thing and person he could meet with in the neighbouring regions.
It happened, at length, that Cashef, the son of Marichi, and according to
some accounts, the grandson of Brahmi, visited this country, and having
spent some time in pious abstraction on mount Sumar, turned his atten-
tion to the desolated appearance of the earth, and inquired its cause : the
people told him of the abode of Jaladeo in Sati Sar, and his predatory
incursions upon them. The heart of Cashef was moved to compassion,
and he took up his residence in Koubadan, near Hirapur, for a thousand
yearsy employing that period in religious austerities ; in consequence of
which Mah&deo appeared to him, and assented to his prayers for the ex-
tirpation of Jaladeo ; Mah&deo accordingly sent his servants Yishnu and
Brahm& to expel the demon. Yishnu was engaged in the conflict one
hundred years, when finding that the mud and water afforded a secure
retreat to the Deo, be at last made the chasm at Baramouleh, by which
the waters were drained ofi", the demon exposed, taken, and slain, and the
country recovered and rendered habitable ; being thence called Cashef-
Sir, or the Mountain of Cashel — AsicUic ResearcheSt vol. xv. p. 94.
The first of the following tables gives us the comparison
between the Cashmirian and the Paropamisan forms of
speech : the second the words common to the two chief
Paropamisan dialects, the Cashmirian, and the Hindi.
(1.)
English.
Cuhmfri.
Amiya.
KhigaiiBh.
Man
mann
rag
hir
moash
er
Woman
zanana
kamri
kamedi
gns
Head
kalah
sur
yetes
Eye
akh
ghakh
ilchin
858
CASHMIR.
Englfsli.
Cnshmfri.
Arniya.
Khignnalt.
Ear
kan
kad
iltnmal
Nose
nasi
naskar
gomoposh
Mouth
aso
diran
gokhat
Tooth
dand
dond
gome
Hand
atha
hast
giirengghar
Foot
khor
pang
goting
Blood
rath
le
maltAn
Shy
nab
asman
ayesh
Sun
aftab, suraj
aa
Moon
tsandar
halans
Star
tarah
Batar
aso
Fire
nar, agan
ag, ingar
phu
Water
ab, pani
auqr
chil
River
bulwit
Bin
sindha
Stone
khain
dhan
Tree
kulu
kan
Wood
zan
■ •
jin
gashil
One
ak
i
ban
Two
zih
juh
altas
Three
trafi
tnii
usko
Four
tsor
chod
walto
Five
panz
push
snndo
Six
shah
chili
mi-shando
Seven
Bat
BUt
talo
Eight
ath
ansht
altambo
Nine
noh
neuhan
hancho
Ten
dah
(2.)
jash
tormo.
English.
Cnshmfri.
Shina.
Arniya.
Panjab, fcc
Air
have
haira
hawa
Arrow
kan
kon
kanera
Blood
lohel
loha
Daughter
dbi
dhi
Ear
kan
kund
kan
Earth
birde
bhum
prither
bhumi
Eye
ach
achhi
ach
akh
Fire
agan
agar
ag
ag
Foot
pa
pang
pan
Grass
ghaso
katB
ghas
Hair .
wal
balo
Bur
bal
sar
CASHMIR.
359
Kngliab.
Honey
Leaf
Milh
Moon
Mouth
Name
Night
Noee
Snow
Son
Star
Stone
Sun
Tooth
Wood
Right Jiand
Red
Behind
Strait
Dry
Hard
Hot
Large
Ripe
Thick
CashDifri.
manch
dod
tsandar
aso
rat
shin
tarah
dand
dachin
pat
Bynd
hok
tat
bod
Shina.
macchhe
patta
dudh
yun
asi
noma
rat
Amiyii.
hin
pucha
taro
bat
suri
dhuni
katho
dachin
lolo
pato
Buntlio
Bukho
koro
tatto
baro
pakko
tulo
najskar
him
satar
dond
Pnnjnli, &c.
makhir
patta
dudh
jun
nam
rat
nasika
him
patr
tara
patthar
snnj
dand
kath
dakhin
lal
pit
Bidha
Bukha
karha
tatta
bara
pakka
tula.
That the Khajunah is the least Indian of the Paropa-
misan forms of speech has already been stated.
360 THE SIKHS, IfiTC.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
PopaUtionB whose language is akin to ihe Hindi. — The Riypat and Jot
diyiaion. — The Sikha.
The second division is, in the way of creed, Sikh,
Hindu, and Mahometan.
In the way of cast, its nohlest tribes are Kshetriya
rather than either Brahminic or Sudra; though, of course,
in the Sikh and Mahometan districts, the spirit of cast
is abated.
The chief form of speech is the Hindi, of which the
dialects are numerous — the Hindi, rather than the Ben-
gali, Uriya, or Marathi.
Its area is bounded by Cashmir, Afghanistan, Biluchis-
tan, the Ocean, and the Vindya mountains — there or
thereabouts. In the north, it approaches the Himalayas,
in the east and north-east the Jumna — sometimes touching
it. In the east its boundaries are obscure. They lie
beyond the Chumbul, beyond the Sind, and, in some
cases, beyond the Betwa.
This contains —
1. The valley of the Indus.
2. The Desert.
3. The hilly districts of the AravuUi range, and the
drainage of the south-western feeders of the Jumna.
4. The drainage of the rivers that fall into the gulfs
of Kutch and Cambay.
5. The Peninsula of Gujerat.
TH£ SIKHS, ETC. 361
Politically speaking, it contains the Punjab, Sind, tlie
proper Kajput country, Gujerat, and other districts of
less importance and prominence.
On the east it is Hindu ; on the west, Sikh and Ma-
hometan.
As this difference of creed is attended with a difference
of nomenclature, it is necessary to be on our guard
against being misled by terms. As a general rule, a Raj«
put is a Hindu. As a general rule, a Jut is a Mahome-
tan. As a general rule, a Jut is a peaceable cultivator.
For all this the Jut may be, in blood, neither more nor less
than a converted Rajput ; and, vice versd, the Rajput may
be but a Jut of the ancient faith. That other differences
have been effected by this difference of creed is likely.
The difference between arms and tillage as a profession,
the difference between a haughty autonomy, and a sub-
missive independence, are sure, in the course of time, to
tell upon the temper and the features. That they have
done this in the cases before us no one doubts. At the
same time, it is safe to maintain that, before the intro-
duction of Mahometanism, the difference between the
Jut and the Rajput was but slight. That the Sikhs are,
mutato nomine y and, tnutatdfide, with few exceptions. Juts
is a matter of ordinary history.
The Punjab, — The notices of some of the populations
of the valley of the Indus are well nigh as old as those
of the river itself. This was crossed by Alexander : so
that the kings who opposed him were Punjab sovereigns.
Such were Porus and Taxiles.
Lower down the stream lay the dominions of kings
whose names end in -khan — MimcanuSf and Oxycanttf.
Later in time comes the name Indoscyth».
Memorials of the kingdom founded by the successors
362 THE SIKHS, ETC.
of Alexander^ have been found on the eastern side of the
Indus — though less abundantly than in the valley of the
Caubul river.
Word for word, Multan is supposed to be the country
of the Main,
In the way of physical geography, the Punjab falls
into the hill-country, and the low-country. The hill-
country (the details of which are imperfectly known)
belongs to the remnant of the Great Sikh Empire, rather
than to Britain. It was left to Gulab Singh.
On the southern frontier of Cashmir lie what were once
the petty independencies of Priinch, Raj our, &c. ; now
parts of Gulab Singh's dominion. They are Mahometan
rather than either Hindu or Sikh. The rajahship of
Jumma, the original territory of Gulab Singh, is Sikh.
The parts marked in the map as the country of
The Bumhas is but little known. I cannot say in
what respect the Bumbas differ from another population
with whom, both geographically and ethnologically, they
are connected, viz..
The Kukkars. — Word for word, this is Cauker ; and it
is a name which occurs frequently in the Mahometan
historians. It seems to be the general name for the moun-
taineers of the Salt range, and the ranges to the north.
That occupants of districts like these are hard to conquer,
is what we expect i priori. We find that it was their
habit to harass the armies of most of the invaders from
the west. The Kukkars and Bumbas form a natural di-
vision of the Punjab population. So do the inhabitants
of the level country.
Essentially these are (Jits) Juts — t. e, they are Jut in
blood, language, and physical form ; though not, wholly,
Juts 60 nomine. They are Sikhs rather than Mahometans ;
THE SIKHS, ETC. 863
but, before they became Sikh, they were Jut in every
sense of the word.
The Sikh sect came into existence in the latter half of
the fifteenth century, its founder, Nanak Shah, having
been bom in the district of Lahore, a.d. 1469. He was
both the founder of a sect himself, and the father of a
founder, inasmuch as one of his two sons, Dherm Chand,
took to asceticism and originated the sect named, at first,
Udasi ; but afterwards (and now) Nanak Putrah, or sons
of Nanak. It is one of the existing Sikh sects. Nanak
was a devotee, a philosopher, and a writer. The first of
the Sikh scriptures, the Adi Grunt'h, was composed by
him. He saw with equal pain the bigotry of the Maho-
metan, and the superstition of the Hindu. He wished to
replace both by a pure and charitable monotheism. Yet
his means were conciliatory. He dealt tenderly with ab-
surdities of both belief and practice. He was a man of
peace rather than war.
(2.) Guru Angaa succeeds him ; himself succeeded by
(3) Amera Das, succeeded, in his turn, by (4) Ram Das ;
who leaves his authority to
(5.) Arjunmal, who, adding to the chapters of the
original Adi Grunt'h, puts the whole into form, and gives
shape and consistency to what is now a definite and im-
portant creed — the creed of a sect which up to this time
has comported itself quietly, mildly, inoffensively. But
Arjunmal is murdered by the Mahometans ; and
(6.) Har Govind succeeds him. But not as the head
of a peaceable population. The anger of the Sikhs is
awakened, and a long series of hostilities, destined, in the
end, to overthrow all the I^ahometanism of the Punjab,
now commences. Every Sikh now wears steel. Every
Sikh is a zealot, and a soldier. Har Govind, priest mi-
litant and prophet captain, wears two swords, ^* the one to
364 THU SIKHS, ETC.
revenge the death of his father, the other to destroy the
miracles of Mahomet." He has converted a race of
peaceable enthusiasts into an army of fiery soldiers. In
1644 his grandson
(7.) Har Ray succeeds him ; succeeded by
(8.) Har Crishn, succeeded by
(9.) Tegh Behadur — These are the days when Aurungzeb
is emperor ; no good days for any new sect ; least of all
for one that has set itself against the Koran. The Sikh
power is broken — partly by the strong hand of the em-
peror, partly by internal dissensions. In the days of
Aurungzeb and Tegh Behadur, miracles are wrought by
the Sikh gurus or priests, especially by Har Crishn, and
Ram Ray. Tegh Behadur himself is murdered : even as
Arjunmal was murdered. Like causes, like effects. Out of
the blood of Arjunmal rose the awakened spirit of the
Sikhs, under Har Govind. Out of the blood of Tegh
Behadur rises the power of his son,
(10.) Guru Govind — When his father died he was a
stripling ; but he devoted himself to revenge. Like the
Pindari and Mahratta chieftains, Guru Govind opened
the ranks of his army and the gates of his faith to all
comers. Nanak wished to abolish cast, and taught that
before God all men were equal. It was a saying of Guru
Govind's, that the four tribes of Hindus, the Brahmins^
the Kshetriyas, the Yaisyas, and the Sudras, would, like
lime, betel -nut, betel-leaf, and catechu, become all of one
colour when chewed. The name Sikh he changed into
Singh (Lion), a name first assumed by the Rajputs. He
required that every man should bear arms, should wear
a blue dress, should let his Jiair grow, and should use,
as a part of his salutations, Glory to the Guru (spiritual
leader). The Grunt*h, or book of the scriptures, was to
be his law, his duty obedience to his chief, his pleasure
THE SIKHS, ETC. S65
war. It is Govind himself — priest^ soldier, and poet —
who writes the following : —
Cripil ngea, wielding his mace : he croBhed the skull of the fierce
Hyat Khan. He made the blood spnrt aloft, and scattered the brains of
the chief, as Chrishna crushed the earthen yessel of butter. Then Nand
Chand raged in dreadful ire, launching the spear and wielding the sword.
He broke his keen scymitar, and drew his dagger, to support the honour
of the Sondi race. Then my maternal uncle, Cripkl, advanced in his
rage, and exhibited the skilful war-feats of a true Cshairiya. The mighty
warrior, though struck by an arrow, with another made a yaliant Khan
fall from his saddle ; and Saheb Chund, of the Cshatriya race, strove in
the battle's fury, and slew a blood-thirsty Khan, a warrior of Khorasan.
• •••*••
The blood-drinking spectres and ghosts yelled for carnage; the
fierce Hetala, the chief of the spectres, laughed for joy and sternly
prepared for his repast. The vultures hovered around, screaming for
their prey. Hari Chund (a Hindu chief in the emperor's army), in his
wrath, drawing his bow, first struck my steed with an arrow; aiming a
second time, he discharged his arrow ; but the deity preserved me, and it
passed me, only grazed by my ear. His third arrow struck my breast ;
it tore open the mail and pierced the skin, leaving a slight scar : but the
God whom I adore saved me. When I felt this hurt, my anger was
kindled ; I drew my bow and discharged an arrow ; all my champions did
the same, rushing onwards to the battle. Then I aimed at the young
hero and struck him. Hari Chund perished, and many of his host;
death devoured him who was called Biji among a hundred thousand
Rij43. Then all the host, struck with consternation, fled, deserting the
field of combat. I obtained the victory through the Jhvour of the Most
High; and, victorious in the field, we raLsed aloud the song of triumph.
Biches fell on us like rain^ and all our warriors were glad.
Hero as he is, Govind finds it necessary to yield to the
superior power of Aurungzeb ; and becomes a fugitive,
a wanderer, a madman. He had written to the emperor
thus: " You make Hindus Mahometans, and are justified
by your laws. I, on a principle of self-preservation, will
make Mahometans Hindus. You may rest in fancied
security. But beware, I will teach the sparrow to strike
the eagle to the gromid." The latter part of the vaunt
was never realized. Many a Mahometan, however, was
made a Hindu. The proselytes fall into four divisions,
366 THE SIKHS, ETC.
retaining^ as Sikhs, the distinctive appellations as Maho-
metans. Two of these are founded on their pedigree,
two on their country: —
Syud Singh
Sheikh Singh
Mogul Singh
Patau Singh.
The latter part of Govind's life is obscure. He was
the last ruler of the Sikhs who was, at one and the same
time, a religious chief, and universally acknowledged to
be such. The number ten was fated, and Govind was
the ninth from Nanak. He was the last head of a united
Sikhdom. His friend, however, and follower, Banda,
availed himself of the confusion which set-in after the
death of Aurungzeb, plundered the country, and defeated
some of the minor Mahometan chiefs, especially Foujdar
Khan, governor of Sirhind, and murderer of the infant
children of Govind. Quarter was neither asked nor
given. The wife and children of the murderer were
sla\ightered. There was an indiscriminate massacre in
Sirhind ; there was the same, or sadder, bloodshed, when
the province of Saharanpur was invaded. The buried
dead are said to have been disinterred; the unburied
were mutilated and exposed to wild beasts.
The power as well as the temper of these savage sec-
tarians has become formidable; but it is broken. The
following notice of the death of Banda and his followers
is from a Mahometan, and an enemy. — " They not only
behaved firmly during the execution, but would dispute
and wrangle with each other, who should suffer first.
Banda was at last produced, his son being seated on his
lap. His father was ordered to cut his throat, which he
did without uttering one word. Being then brought
nearer to the magistrate's tribunal, the latter ordered his
flesh to be torn off with red-hot pincers, and it was in
THE SIKHS, ETC. 367
those moments he expired ; his black soul taking its
flight by one of those wounds^ towards the regions for
which it was so well fitted." A proof that Banda^ with
all his authority and bravery, was no true religious chief
to the whole Sikh sect is found in the fact of some
writers having considered him a heretic. He departed
from more than one of the institutions of Nanak, and he
put to death some of Govind's most devoted followers for
n6t doing as he did.
The extirpation of the Sikhs is now attempted. The
remnant flies to the hills. Yet, thirty years afterwards,
when Nadir Shah invades India, we find them descending
upon the plains.
In 1805, the country, according to Sir T. Malcolm,
who, being with the army under Lord Lake, describes
what he saw and heard, was weak, distracted, disunited.
There were different districts, and different chieftaincies
in the country between the Beas and Ravi. '* Runjit
Sinh of Lahore, Futteh Sinh of Aliwal, and Jud'h Sinh
of Ramgadia, are the principal chiefs."
How familiar are, at least, two of the names, now !
The consolidation of the Sikh power under Runjit Singh,
and its subsequent overthrow, are events that have taken
place before our eyes.
The Punjab is a district wherein the traces of either
anything Tamul from the south, or anything Bhot from
the north, are at a minimum. We cannot, indeed, say that
they exist at all. At the same time, we cannot say that
they do not.
Of recent intrusion there has been abundance. The
extent to which the valley of the main stream of the
Indus, is more or less, Afghan and Biluch has already
been noticed. Turk names (Hissar, &c.) of geographical
localities are numerous. Upon the whole, however, the
868 THE SIKHS, ETC.
Punjab has been a country to pass through rather than
to settle in.
Bahawtdpur {Daudputra), — This is one of the pre-
eminent Biluch districts of India^ — whatever that word
may mean ; the Biluch intrusion being recent. The creed
is chiefly Mahometan, the older elements of the popula-
tion Jut.
SIND. S69
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Populations speaking either the Hindi or languages akin to it. — The
Riiypnt and Jut dirisions. — ^Sind.— Kutch. — Gnjerat.
India^ even when we take no account of the Brahuis^ and
limit ourselves to the prolongations of the Sind popula-
tion, extends far into Mekran.
The special Sind tribes do this. So do
Tlie Juts, Jits, Jauis, — Word for word, all these forms
are the same ; though they apply to populations between
which there are some notable differences both in respect
to habits and creed.
In the parts beyond the India frontier^ in parts of
Caubul and Biluchistan^ a population more or less sporadic
and gypsy-like, bears the name. Of this we take no notice.
In the Punjab the term is Jit ; the Punjab being pre-
eminently a Jit occupancy, and the blood of the Sikhs
being (as aforesaid), for the most part, Jit.
Sind, along with a portion of the Desert, is the chief
occupancy of the Mahometan Juts; the congeners of
whom, with the same name, extend over the greater part
of Rajputana ; until at Bhurtpore and Dholpore we find
an actual Jaut dynasty.
The Juts of Kutch Gundava have already been noticed.
The Juts of Sind are Mahometan cultivators — ^numerous
and peaceable descendants of the first converts. They fall
into divisions and subdivisions, called khum, a term
which re-appears with a similar meaning in Biurma. The
VOL. II. B B
370 SIND.
camel is the chief animal of the Sind Juts, who live
together in large communities, sometimes with fixed,
sometimes with movable, dwellings. Sometimes they hire
themselves to the Biluch landowners as agricultural
labourers.
Sindis to the west of Sind. — As far within the limits of
Mekran as Hormara, on the Kalamat creek, lives a small
tribe which believes that it came originally from Sind.
Whether this be true is uncertain. It is only certain
that considerably to the west of Cape Monze a Sindi
population is to be found.
TTie Afierf.— This is the name for the maritime and
fishing tribes for the eastern coast of Mekran. The Meds
fall into four divisions —
The Jellar Zai
— Chelmar Zai.
The Gazbur
— Hormari
These may or may not be in the same category with
the Kalamatti tribes.
The Numri. — This name is sometimes spelt Lumri. It
is that of the chief population of the small province of
Luz, one of the numerous dependencies of the Khanate
of Khelaut. The minute details of the Numri group
differ. The most specific account, however, is the follow-
ing.
Fighting Men.
The Jamutri division can muster 600
_ Shuru 200
— Burah 300
— Shukh 100
— Warah 100
— Mungayah 300
1600
The Arab Gudur tribe is, perhaps, other than Numri ;
SIND. 371
inasmuch as it professes to be^ what its name suggests^
Arabian in origin.
The Numri is the chief population of Luz. But it
is not confined to the province. The Jokias and Jukrias
of Sind differ from the Numri in their political relations
only. The Numri are Mahometans.
The Chuta, — On the upper and middle part of the Hub
river, v^hich falls into the sea at Cape Monze, lies a rugged
district occupied by the Chuta, wrhose origin is said to be
Sumrah, v^hose dress is Brahui, v^hose manners are pas-
toral, v^hose houses are huts. They are, probably, in
the same category as the Numri.
They bring us to Sind proper.
The history of Sind gives the foUov^ing periods :—
(1.) From the earliest times to the Mahometan conquest.
— During this period the invasion of Alexander took
place ; one of the results of v^hich v^as the descent of the
Indus by Nearchus. But, before this, Turanian occu-
pancies had been effected, and Indoscythse is the name
of one portion of the Sind population.
(2.) From the Mahometan conquest to the end of the
Ghuznevid dynasty. — The Mahometan conquest v^as one
of the conquests of the Kalifat. This means that the
conquerors were Arabs rather than Persians or Afghans.
Under Mahmud of Ghuzni the influence would be both
Afghan and Turk.
Of the Sumrah and Summa dynasties which succeeded,
the latter, at least, appears to have been Hindu. At the pre-
sent time there are few or no Kshetriyas in Sind ; conse-
quently few or no Rajputs. The Summa chiefs, however,
conquered Kutch. Now, Kutch is, to a great extent,
Rajput. More than this, some of the Rajput families affect
a Summa, or Sind, origin. Jam, a Bhot word, was the title
of the Summas, who were overthrown by Shah Beg
B B g
372 SIND.
Arzhun^ prince of Candahar^ a.d. 1519. Soon after
which Mirza Isa Tirkhan, a military adventurer, raised
his family to power. The prince of Candahar seems to
have been an Afghan ; Isa Tirkhan, a Turk. The next
were —
The Kaloras and Talpuras. — Long before a.d. 1736 the
power of the central Government had been diminished,
and the protection of its distant States had become im-
possible to the descendants of Akbar and Aurungzeb.
Meanwhile, the descendants of one Adam Shah, of the
Kalora tribe, who, in the fifteenth century, had imbibed
fanaticism from the teaching of a holy man, Mian Maho-
med Mikidy, had become powerful, both in religious
influence and in secular possessions. They had appro-
priated lands belonging to others, and had defended their
appropriations by the sword. They were a set of fighting,
formidable fakirs. In 1717 Mian Nur Mahomed had
obtained from Mahomed Shah the title of the Friend of
God, and the government of Sewestan. By '36, he was,
to all intents and purposes, the ruler of Sind.
By A.D. 1768 the Kalora dynasty was overthrown by
the Talpurs.
In '43 the British replaced the Talpurs.
At the present moment Sind is the least Indian part
of India. The extent to which it has admitted foreign
influences has been suggested by the preceding sketch of
its history.
The Sindi form of speech falls into dialects and sub-
dialects, each of which approaches the language of its
neighbourhood. Thus the Siraiki of Upper Sind con-
tains numerous Jutki words ; whilst the Kutch dialect has
Gujerati elements ; and a third dialect, belonging to the
Thull, or Desert, and spoken as far as Jessulmir, has
borrowed from, or given to, the Marwar. It is the Ian-
SINB.
373
guage of the Shikari (hunters) and Dedhs (tanners), who
are said to have their own peculiar scriptures called Pali,
written in a peculiar character. The Lar form of speech
is the purest, Lar being Lower Sind.
Eoglish.
Man
Woman
Head
Hair
Eye
Ear
Hand
Foot
Mouth
Tooth
Tongue
Day
NigU
Sun
Moon
Star
Fire
Water
Tree
Stone
Sar.
main
murs
Eal
matho
war
choti
ak
kan
hath
chambu
per
wat
dand
jhibh
dink
rat
siij
chandr
taro
bar
pani
Bandaro
wanper
rahan
khod
Lar.
mihri
sifii
jhonto
kar
dandan
adit
jando
jeru
FunJabL
manas
gharwali
sir
bal
akh
kan
hath
pao
mukh
dand
din
Hit
suraj
chand
tara
pani
rukh
hatar
Among the subordinate populations of Sind are
TTie Moana or Miani. — A Miani is a boatman, a fisher-
man, and a Mahometan — strongly built and dark skinned.
Many of the Miani, like the Chinese, live on the water,
rather than by its side. When occupants of a town, the
Miani have a separate quarter. Their women are lax
and handsome ; an inordinate portion of them being
courtesans and dancing girls. The name re-appears in
374 siND.
Kutch. The Meyanna, however, of the Meyann^ district
in Kutch, are robbers by profession, and but half Ma-
hometans \n creed. A section of them called Munka
neglects circumcision. When a Munka dies a bundle of
burning grass is laid on his face previous to interment.
Arab families. — Syuds, or descendants of the Prophet,
Kurayshi, or descendants of the ancient Koreish, Alawi
and Abbasi, descendants of Ali and Abbas, are all to
be found in Sind.
Meman. — The Memans, numerous about Hyderabad,
Sehwan, and Kurrach6, are industrious, w^ell informed,
and sharp bargainers. I do not know their special cha-
racteristics, or whence they get their name. They are
Mahometans.
The Khwajo. — The Khwajo are heretics, holding the
Ismaelite creed. They amount to some 300 families,
and are believed to be of Persian origin.
The Sidi. — Under the Amirs there was a considerable
importation of slaves from the eastern coast of Africa.
The trade has now either ceased or decreased. The full-
blood African is called Sidi ; the half-blood, Gaddo ; the
Quadroon, Gambrari.
The Khosa fall into two divisions. The first con-
tains those of Upper Sind, who are peaceable cultivators.
The second is represented by a body of robbers, who,
within the present century, left Sind, and betook them-
selves to the Desert, where they joined the Sodha in their
forays, being numerous, bold, and well mounted.
Sind leads to
Kutch. — Of actual Juts, eo nomine ^ Kutch contains few
or none. Their analogues, however, and perhaps their con-
geners, are
The Katti. — A Katti is a herdsman, occupant of the
districts of Pawur, Puchur, and Parkur, or the parts on
KUTCH. 375
the norths rather than the south of Kutch, resembling in
dress, habits^ and dialect.
The Ahir, with whom^ however, he does not inter-
marry.
The Rehberi, — Neither the Ahir nor the Rehberi, still
less the Katti, refuse to eat with Mahometans. Their
widows are free to form second marriages.
The Rajputs are either Jareyas or Waghelas. The
Waghela Rajputs, or the Rajputs of the district of Wagur
(the most eastern part of Kutch), are few in numbers,
and unimportant in respect to their influence. A few
families represent their original power; for powerful they
were before the rise of the Jareyas. They resemble the
Rajputs of Gujarat, except that they are somewhat less
scrupulous. This is what we expect from their neigh-
bourhood and relations; for the leading Rajputs of
Kutch, the Jareyas, are half Mahometan. They eat
food cooked by Mahometans, and swear by Allah.
Some, indeed, are stricter, and adhere to the cultus of
Vishnu. The general character, however, of the Jareya
Hinduism is lax. The more a Jareya venerates Vishnu
the more he abstains from spirits and indulges in opium.
The nearer he approaches the Mahometan the less he
takes of opium, and the more of spirits. The two vices
seem to stand in an inverse ratio to each other. In both
of them few ; in one almost all, indulge. Every village
has its still, sometimes applied to sugar, sometimes to
dates, sometimes to carrots. The Jareya wakes to drink
and drinks to sleep. His bard, a musician {bhat or
lunga)y amuses him during the waking intervals with song
or story. His wives intrigue. It is in vain that, after
the strictest fashion of the Mahometans, they are se-
cluded. They intrigue with high and low. They in-
trigue and do worse. In no part of India is female
$76 KUTCH.
infanticide more general than in the Jareya districts.
Sometimes it is effected by means of opium^ sometimes
by drowning the infant in milk, sometimes by smothering.
The father hears that his wife has been delivered, and
that the child is in heaven. So he bathes and asks no
questions. Should the mother hesitate or delay, he de-
clares his resolution not to enter her house as long as the
child lives.
In respect to female infanticide but too many of the
Mahometans act after the manner of the Rajputs ; with
whom they agree in blood, and differ only in creed.
To the north of the Waghela district lies Parkur, an
oasis, and, in cases of attack, a place of refuge. Its one
poor town, and its twenty poor villages, represent the
power, such as it is, of the Sodha Rajputs, or the Raj-
puts of the Desert, between Kutch, Sind, and Jessulmir.
Less Hindu than even the Jareya, the Sodhas are dis-
tinguished by their creed only from the Mahometans
of their area and neighbourhood. They are herdsmen,
poor and unlettered. They intermarry with the Rajputs
around them, but not with each other. And they give
their daughters, who are remarkable for their beauty, to
the Mahometans. In doing this, they show themselves
in a strong contrast to the Jareyas, with whom the birth
of a girl child is not only a misfortune, but the cause of a
crime. The Sodha practice, on the other hand, like that
of the Circassians, makes capital out of the female part
of the family. The Rajput father sells. The Maho-
metan husband buys.
A Sodha gives his daughter or sister one day in mar-
riage, and has no scruple, the next, in driving-off the
cattle of his bridegroom.
The Chawrah. — The geographical names Kurrir, Khori,
and Kawra, appear in the parts to the north of Kutch,
KUTCH.— GUJERAT. 377
and I have little doubt as to their being connected with
that of the population so-called^ a population occupant
of Kutch, reduced in power, and limited in numbers ; a
population, however, which has some imperfect Rajput
rights, though practically subordinate to the Jareyas.
Xutch leads to
Gujerat. — The area of the Gujerathi language begins
to the west of the Little Desert. This assumes that
the language of the occupants of that district is either
Kutchi or Sindi. If it be not, the Gujeratlii extends
somewhat further westward. In Kutch itself it is the
language of business and literature, though not the ver-
nacular of the people. To the east and north-east of
the Run it is spoken on both sides of the lower Luni,
though to what extent inland is uncertain. In Marwar
the dialect changes ; and I presume (without being cer-
tain) that the language of the Bhils of Sirohi is other
than Gujerathi. In the Rewa Kanta the population is
Kol, the exact details of the Kol philology being un-
investigated. Along the coast, however, the language is, to
a certainty, Gujerathi. So it is on the neck of the penin-
sula. So it is on the neck of the peninsula of Kattiwar. So
it is in Cambay, and a great portion of the Surat coUec-
torate. Here, however, change begins. In Durhampur
and Bundsla, petty States to the south-east of the town
itself, the Marathi shows itself. Both languages, how-
ever, are in use. In Penth, still further to the south,
(though at the same time to the north of the Bamauu
river,) the language is " Marathi with numerous Guje-
rathi words."
Between the Little Desert, Marwar, and the Gulf of
Kutch, lies a mass of extremely small States.
Four of these are Mahometan, viz. Pahlunpur, Rad-
hunpur, Warye, and Terwara.
378 GUJEEAT.
Four are Rajp6t, viz. Thurad {cum Morwara), Wao,
Soeghauniy Deodur, and Suntulpur {cum Charchut).
Two are Kol, or Kuli — Bhabhur and Kankruj.
In the north-eastern parts of Fahlunplir the language
approaches the Marwari. Again — though the larger
portion of the area is Mahometan in respect to its
dynasties^ the decided majority of the population is
Hindu ; the Gujerati, rather than the Hindostani, being
the language of even the Mahometan minority. In Sun-
tulpur there is a Ahir population. Terwara and Deodur,
though Rajput in the way of politics, are as thoroughly
Kuli as Bhabhur and Kankruj. The Kols affect a
Rajput origin, and explain their loss of cast by the fact
of their ancestors having made marriages of disparage-
ment. The Kols, too, where they come in contact with
the Bhils, look upon themselves as the superior people.
In Fahlunplir the Mahometans are from either some
other part or from Afghanistan, the ruling family itself
being Patau. Of the other two divisions — the Sheiks and
Synds — the former call themselves after the name of the
country from which they came, and are Behari, Nagori,
or Mundori Mussulmauns, according as they came from
Behar, Nagore, or Mundore. Others, of Rajput origin,
are Purmas, Chowras, and Rahtors. The Boraks speak
Arabic. The Mehmans are descended from the Sind
Lohanas.
Amongst the Hindus the Brahmins are —
1. Owdich Brahmins 3. Meywara Brahmins
2. Suhusra Owdich 4. Omewul Brahmins
5. Sirmali Brahmins.
To which add certain half-bloods, who have lost cast by
marriages of disparagement.
The Kshatryas are either Rajputs or Banians.
The Rajputs are —
GUJBRAT. 379
1. Purmar 6. Chowan
2. Solunkhi 7. Rathor
3. Gohil 8. Diol
4. Chowra 9. Rana
5. Waghela 10- Jhalla
11. Deora.
The Banians are —
1. Visa Sirmali 4. Dussa Sirmali
2. Uswal 5. Pancha
3. Pirwal 6. Wussawul Nagra
7. Dussawul Nagra.
Of the Sudras, the most important class is that of the
Kumbi, or cultivators, who fall into the Leora, the Ar-
juna, and the Kurwa divisions.
That the Kuli affect a Rajput origin has already been
stated. Hence they take Rajput patronymics, and are —
1. Rathor Kiili 4. Songhurra Chowan
2. Waghela Kuli 5. Dabi Kiili
3. Solunkhi Kiili 6. Mukwana Kuli.
These details may serve as a sample of the complexities
of Indian ethnology — in the parts under notice more com-
plex than usual. Sind, Gujerathi, Bhil, Kuli, Rajput,
and Mahometan populations, meet in the parts between
Marwar and Kattiwar ; Kattiwar being the name for the
country of the Katti, the peninsular portion of Gujerat.
For this, the newer occupants are Rajputs, the older
Ahirs, Katti, and Babrias, t. e. what we have observed in
Kutch repeats itself here. In Jhalawar the Rajputs are
of the Jhala branch. They either take their name from,
or give it to, the district. In Hallar they are Jareyas,
guilty here, as elsewhere, of female infanticide. The
Rajah of Purbunda in Soruth is a Jetwa Rajput.
Gohilwar is the occupancy of the Gohillas, whose name
is conspicuous in the history of Marwar. When the
880 GUJERAT.
Rahtors from Caniij invaded Marwar, they found the
Gohillas in the land, and ejected them from it. The
result was the settlement in Gohilwar. This may he a
true history, or it may merely be a hypothesis founded
upon the appearance of the name in two places.
In most, perhaps in all, of the districts of the peninsula
there are Katti. Their chief locality, however, is, as the
name suggests, the central district of
Kattiwar proper, — The Katti of Kattiwar proper con-
sider themselves to be descended from Khat, who was
produced by Kurrun. Kurrun struck his rod on the
ground, and out came Khat. The function of Khat was
to steal certain cattle from Berat or Dholka. He after-
wards married the daughter of aii Ahir in the district of
Powar, between Sind and Kutch. He had eight sons.
His descendants seek their fortune and join the Charun
who are doing the same. They reach the town of Dhauk,
the chief of which was Walla Rajput, who marries one
of their women, and becomes a Katti. From Walla come
the Shakayut, or chief nobles ; the other division con-
sisting of the Urtia (Ourteea) or inferiors. The Katti
then went to Kutch, moving thence under a leader who
saw the sun and took advice from it, in a dream. They,
then, came into their present occupancy which was (till
then) held by Ahirs and Babrias. They expelled
The Babrias, who still give their name to Babriawar,
a district on the sea-coast, south of Kattiwar proper, in
which they are the chief inhabitants ; poor, rude, pre-
datory ; less predatory now, however, than they have
been. The Babrias are said to be the offspring of an Ahir
with a Kuli woman. They intermarry with the Ahirs.
TTie Sidi of Mttzuferabad, or Jafarabad. — ^Muzuferabad
is the fort of Babriawar. The governor is always a Sidi,
t. e, an African in blood, and a slave in origiu. The details
GUJERAT. 381
of the history hy which they became independent sailors
are unknown.
The Mher pretend to be Rajputs, their claim being
doubtful. In every village belonging to the Rana of
Purbunder there is a certain number of Mhers, who are
charged with its defence. They are supported by grants
of land. They breed horses and camels ; the males of
which they give to the Rana. They were formerly
exempted from paying taxes ; their personal services
being all that the State required. At present, however,
they are taxed — though lightly.
A portion of the Purbunder army, the militia, consists
of these Rebharis and Mhers. A portion consists of
foreign mercenaries, chiefly from Arabia and Mekran.
So that
Arab and Mekrani elements are to be considered in the
ethnology of western Gujerat.
The Mian occupants of the fortified town of Mallia,
are said to have been introduced into the district of
Muchukund from Waghur, having originally come from
Sind. This may be a historical fact, or it may be a
mere inference from the name. The Mian under notice
are predatory Mahometans.
Of the Ahir and Rebhari notice has already been
taken.
The Isthmus is more Bhil and Kol than the Peninsula,
the petty States of Dunduka, Runpur, and Gogo, being
more especially Bhil. In Dholka there is a considerable
amount of Mahometanism.
The parts between the Suburmuti and the Mahi con-
tain Kulis ; the fewest of which are in Neriad, the most
in Bijapur.
The parts between the Mahi and the Nerbudda are
Bhil and Rajput; Bhil and Rajput, but not without Mahu*
882 GUJERAT.
metan elements. Some of the districts belong to the
Company, some to the Guikowar, some to Sindia's terri-
tory. Some are independent. Some are mere village
chieftaincies.
The parts between the Nerbudda and Tapti are Bhil ;
Bhil and Rajput, but not without Mahometan elements.
Rajpipla, to the north-east of Surat, is, pre-eminently,
a Bhil area. So are the more impracticable districts of
the coUectorate of Surat, or the parts between the Tapti
and the Damaun Gunga ; in which, however, we pass (as
already stated) from the Gujerathi to the Maratta area.
As a rule, Kandeish is Bhil, so that its. details will be
given when that population comes under notice.
THE RAJPUTS. 383
CHAPTER XL.
PopiUatioiiB speaking either Hindi or a language akin to it. — The Haj-
put and Jut diyiaions. — Biy'putana, Bigwarra, or B^jaathan.
Tod, who takes the Rajput districts as he found them
when he wrote, gives the following boundaries, —
1. To the north — the sandy desert beyond Bikanir.
2. To the south — the Nerbudda.
3. To the west — the Mahometan districts on the Indus.
4. To the east — the river Sind, a feeder, from the
south of the Ganges.
This gives us Bikanir, Jessulmir, Marwar, Mewar,
Ajmir, Jeypur, Biindi, Kotah, and Malwa, and other
districts of less importance ; altogether a very considerable
portion of India.
It also leads us to ask the import of the word Rajput in
its stricter sense. In any other country but a country of
casts, like India, Rajputana would be a land of tribes ;
one or more of which possessed (or claimed) a superiority
over the others. In India it is this, with the phenomena
of cast superadded.
The highest tribual division seems to be a kula^ word
for word, the Afghan kheiL A kula contains so many
sachas ; a aacha so many gotras. The races are thirty -six
in number, some being of solar, some of lunar, descent.
The Rajputs of Mewar, as they exist at the present
384 THE RAJPUTS.
moment, are Rajputs of the Sisodia division ; Sisodia
being the name of a sacha. The kula to which it belongs
is the Gehlot, or Grahilot — Suryavansi (Solar or Sun-
bom) in blood, and attached to the Lord of Chitor.
Silladitya, the last prince of Gujni, leaves a posthumous
son named Grahaditya, whence Grahilot, or Gehlot. In
the sixth century this name is replaced by Ahar ; the
Aharya dynasty ruling in Chitor. Chitor, however,
they leave in the twelfth century, under two brothers,
Rahup and Mahup. Rahup settles in Dongurpur, where,
at the present moment, his descendants, the Aharya
Rajputs, are to be found. Meanwhile, Mahup fixes
himself in Sisodia. All this seems to be mere logography.
What, however, are the real facts ? Out of the twenty-
four sachas into which the Gehlot kula is divided, eight
are ** almost extinct," eleven are "small and obscure."
In Dongurpur there are some Aharyas; in the Desert
some Mangulias ; in Marwar some Piparras ; in Mewar
the proud and powerful Sisodias. The following legend
shows how mythologies degenerate. Colonel Tod, our
authority, is speaking of a part of Mewar.
In these wilds an ancient Rana of Cheetore had sat down to a goU
(feast), consisting of the game slain in the chase ; and being very hungry-
he hastily swallowed a piece of meat to which a gad-fly adhered. The
fly grievously tormented the Rana's stomach, and he sent for a physician.
The wise man (Jbid) secretly ordered an attendant to cut off the tip of a
cow's ear, as the only means of saving the monarch's life. On obtaining
this forbidden morsel, the bdd folded it in a piece of thin cloth, and
attaching a string to it, made the royal patient swallow it. The gad-fly
fastened on the bait, and was dragged to light. The physician was re-
warded ; but the curious Rana insisted on knowing by what means the
cure was effected ; and when he heard that a piece of sacred kine had
passed his lips, he determined to expiate the enormity in a manner which
its heinousness required, and to swallow boUing lead (seesa) I A vessel
was put on the fire, and the metal soon melted ; when, praying thai
his involuntary offence might be forgiven, he boldly drank it off; but lo !
it passed through him like water. From that day the name of the tribe
was changed from Aharya to Seesodia. - - •
THE RAJPUTS. 385
Such is the Gehlot kula. That of the Agnicula is
more complex. Before falling into sachas it divides
itself into four primary branches —
1. The Pramara^ with thirty-five sachas;
2. The Purihana ;
3. The Chaluk, or Solankhi ;
4. The Chohan.
To the Purihanas belong —
a. The Sodha ;
b. The Sumra ;
c. The Omutwarra families ; all real — the two former
being found in (or on the frontier of) Sind, the latter in
a district so-called.
The Yadu kula stands in contrast with the Gehlot in
being of Lunar rather than Solar origin. It contains —
The Bhattis of Jessulmir^ amongst whom is a belief
that their ancestors came from Zabulistan, a Turk dis-
trict;
The Jareyas of Kutch ;
The Yadu of Kerowli, a small State on the Chumbul ;
The Sumaicha of Sind converted to Mahometanism.
The Rah tor kula contains twenty-four sachas. Its
original occupancy was Canuj. It is at present a real
and important dynasty in Marwar.
The Kutshwaha kula holds Amber or Jeypur.
The Chohans, already mentioned as Agniculas (twenty-
four sachas), rule in Bundi and Kotah. They also occupy
parts of the Desert.
The Chaluks held Bhagelkund.
The Chawura or Chaura are in Gujerat. They are
neither Lunar nor Solar.
All these are real families^ whose pedigrees and preten-
sions are, in the latter part of their so-called annals, his-
torical. Others, however, are, evidently, either fictitious
VOL. II. c c
386 THE RAJPUTS.
or false. There is a kula called Hun, of which all we know
is that Hun is what it is called.
There is a kula called Jit. This, however, is neither
more nor less than the denomination of that widely-
spread group of tribes which has already been noticed.
Nearest to Sind and the Punjab lies
Jessulmir, a true Rajput district, the Rajputs being of
the Bhat section. The cultivators, however, are, as is
expected. Jut.
Bikanir^ Jut and Rajput, differs from Jessulmir
chiefly in the real or supposed origin of its nobles, the
Rajputs of Bikanir being Rahtors from Marwar, who
entered the country under a chief named Bika ; whence
the name Bikanir.
Bhutnair, on the northern frontier of Bikanir, is, pro-
bably, one of the more especially Turanian parts of
India. It lies on the road from the Indus to the Ganges,
and, as such, is likely to have been important in the
eyes of the invaders. A little to the east stands Hissar,
Turk in name. The opponent of the earlier Rajputs
was Chugti (Tshagatai) Khan.
In the notices of the wars of the Jessulmir frontier
the name Barahi continually occurs. Word for word,
this is Brahui.
The Pokuma Brahmins of these parts are of suspicious
purity. The bridegroom buys his bride, Turk fashion.
The horse has amongst the Pokumas undue and un-
Indian importance. The bridle is an object of real or
feigned respect. So is a pickaxe ; for the Pokurna Brah-
mins are said to have earned their rank by digging the
great Pokurna reservoir.
Marwar. — From Bikanir Bhutnair — from Marwar
Bikanir — this is the order of invasion. Bika was a
Rah tor Rajput of Marwar. Like all the countries
THE RAJPUTS. 387
already mentioned, Marwar is, more or less. Jut. But
this it may be without being other than Hindu. It is,
however, something more than Jut. It is Maruwfi,r,
Marusthan, or Marudesa — ^not the country of Death (as
has been argued), but the country of the Mairs.
In the thirteenth century, ». e. a.d. 1212, eighteen
years after leaving Canuj (mark the multiples of six),
Seoji and Saitram, Rahtor Rajputs^ invaded the country
of the Gohillas and other Hindu populations, occupants
of the valley of the Liiny ; occupants, too, of tlie western
skirts of the Aravulli, but not occupants of the range
itself. There were Brahmins amongst them, e. g. the
Palla Brahmins, who invoked the aid of the strangers
against certain Mair tribes of the contiguous hills. The
help was given. Land. was appropriated. The original
Brahmins were made uncomfortable in a land once their
own. Others, too, besides them, got oppressed and
ejected; so that, in the course of time, the district of
Marwar became Rajput. Mundore first, and afterwards
Jodpur, were founded as capitals.
The most numerous of the inhabitants of Marwar are
the Juts. Colonel Tod considered that they formed
about five-eighths of the population, the Rajputs form-
ing two-eighths. The chief Brahmins are of tlie San-
chora class.
Amber or Jeipur. — Mewar, like Marwar, is Jut and Raj-
put. Mewar, like Marwar, is, more or less, other than
Hindu. The Minas are to Mewar as the Mairs are to
Marwar.
Beyond the Chumbul, the pure Rajput character is
less prominent. Beyond the Chumbul, there has been
contact with either the Gonds or a population akin to
them. There has, also, been the Brahminism of the north
bank of the Ganges. There has, also, been the subse-
c c 2
388 THB RAJPUTS.
quent intrusion of the Mahrattas. This excludes the
parts about Gwalior (Siudia's territory), and Buudel*
cund, from the Rajputana of Tod, though, in many
respects, they are truly Rajput.
Bhurtpur and Dholpur are Jaut.
BhopaL — Partly on the drainage of the Ganges and
partly on that of the Indus, Bhopal is, more or less, a
watershed ; and as it is in physical geography so is it in
ethnology. It is Hindu and Gond ; so much so, that I
find the statement that the boundary between Gond-
wana and Malwa ran through the metropolis ; one gate
belonging to one district, the other to the other. Some
part of the population of the hillier districts is Gond at
this moment. The bulk is Hindu ; but the Nawaub is a
Mahometan of Afghan blood, and so are many of his
subjects.
Rewas {Bagelcund). — That the Rajputs extended thus
far is a matter of history. The soil, however, is essen-
tially and originally Gond.
Malwa is Rajput in the north, Bhil and Mahratta on
the south.
INDIANS OP THE OANQBS. 389
CHAPTER XLI.
Populationa speaking either Hindi, or a language akin to it. — Delhi,
Allahabad, Bahar, Bengal, Orissa.
BiKANiR and Bhutnair are Rajput. In the parts^ how-
ever, to the north a change takes place, — a change both
in way of ethnology and physical geography. The
limits of the Sandy Desert are passed, and the distance
between the drainages of the Ganges and the Sutlej
decreases. The foot, too, of the Sub-himalayan hills is
approached. The watershed, however, between the two
great rivers is insignificant.
The political geography is complicated. To the south
lies the frontier of the Rajput country ; to the north the
territory of the Raja of Bisahur ; to the north-west the
Sikh frontier ; to the south-west Delhi ; in the centre the
small Rajaships of Puttiala*, &c.
With the district in question begins GangeticHindostan,
as opposed to the India of the Desert and the Indus. The
distance from Afghanistan, Biluchistan, and the Paropa-
misus, has increased. Bahar and Bengal are approached.
The district is important in the way of history. It is
the point towards which so many of the invaders of India
made their way. It was at Paniput where the decisive battle
between the Mahrattas and the Patans was fought. It was
in the parts about Thanesar that the army of Mahmud of
Ghuzni was met by the army of Anungpal of Jeypur.
390 INDIANS OF THE GANGES.
The name Hissar points to a Turk, the name Huniana to
an Iranian, occupancy.
More than this, the two small, but famons rivers, the
Sersiiti and the Caggar, find their channels in the sands
of Hurriana; the Sersnti being, word for word, the
Seraswati, and the Caggar being identified with the
Drishadwati ; these in their turn being the rivers upon
which the Institutes of Menu place the first occupancy
of the Brahmins, or Brahmaverta. The sacro-sancti-
tude of rivers (impossible in the Desert and kept with-
in moderate limits on the water-system of the Indus,)
now becomes conspicuous. The Ganges throughout its
course is holy. Its feeders to the north are holy also.
They are holy in the eyes of both the Hindu and the
Bhot. Was it not said, when the Kooch, Bodo, and
Dhimal were under notice, that the Pantheon of those
semi-pagan populations consisted in the deities of the
streams and streamlets of their irriguous countries?
And will it not be seen, when we come to Oud, that,
at the present moment, both Mahometans and Hindus
believe that to swear by a river is to take the most bind-
ing of oaths ?
That a natural group begins in these parts is true. And
it is also true that it is pre-eminently Brahminic. In no
part of India do the members of the holy class bear so
great a proportion to the rest of the population as in the
districts about to be noticed. At the same time no de-
cided line can be drawn. Still less can Rajput blood
and Rajput modes of thought be excluded. In many
respects Oud is one of the most Rajput countries of
India. It is the seat of the great Solar and Lunar
dynasties. What the Sersiiti district is in Menu, that
is Oud in the Ramayana.
Neither must a great amount of Mahometanism be
INDIANS OF THE GANGES. SdV
ignored. Though no portion of the present area be
Mahometan after the fashion of Sind^ the fact of Delhi
having been the metropolis of the Great Mogul is im-
portant.
To recapitulate —
In the eyes of the author of the Institutes the parts
about the Seraswati were the first occupancies of the
Brahmin.
In the eyes of the military critic they are the parts
for which a foreign army would^ most especially^ make
its way.
In the eyes of the actual historian they are the locali-
ties of the first Turk and Mongol occupancies.
What all this points to is evident. The parts about
the Sersuti are the terminus of the high road to India,
and beyond the Sersuti the pre-eminently Indian parts of
India begin.
The district, however, which first comes under notice
is somewhat exceptional.
Rohilcund. — The name is Hindu, the area to which it
applies Hindu and Afghan. Roh, in the Punjabi dialect,
means a hilly district, and denotes the eastern frontier of
the Biluch and Patau countries. The western boundary
of Dera Ghazi Khan is called Roh. The Rohillas, then,
of Rohilcund are Patans or Afghans. The settlement
was made in the beginning of the last century. At the
present time the majority of the population of Bareilly
(and perhaps of the country round) is Mahometan rather
than Brahminic.
Canuj. — Less important, at the present moment, than
Delhi, Agra, Allahabad, and the other great cities of the
Doab, Canuj claims attention from its antiquity, and from
the name it gives to the chief division of the Brahminical
392 INDIANS OF THE GANGES.
cast. Before the Ghuznevid conquest, it was the metro-
polis of a large empire, which the Rah tor Rajputs believe
to have belonged to their ancestors. The Can^j (Cana-
cubya). Brahmins and the Ujein Rajputs are the noblest
divisions of their respective classes.
Oud. — Brahminic, Rajput, and Mahometan, Oud, along
its northern frontier, is Sub-himalayan, i.e. it touches
Nepal. Whether there are Bhot elements in Oud will
be considered in the sequel.
Bahar, — Bahar, or the kingdom of Magada, is the mother-
country of the language of the Buddhist scriptures — the
Pali. In (say) the seventh century, or the time when the
Chinese traveller Hiouen Thsang visited India, Buddhism
was, if not the dominant creed, at least, on a par with
Brahminism. At the present time, Bahar is one of the
least Buddhist parts of Hindostan.
In north Behar Bhot elements present themselves.
In Delhi, in Agra, and in AUaliabad, the language is
Hindi; being spoken in the greatest purity about Agra.
In Bahar it changes character. Still it is Hindi rather
than Bengali.
Bengal, — The Bengali form of speech belongs to the
provinces from which it takes its name, from which it has
extended itself both into Asam and Arakan ; where it
has encroached upon the Burmese and Tibetan. That
it is bounded on the north by the Kooch, Bodo, Dhimal,
Garo, Aka, Abor, Dofla, and other dialects, has already
been suggested in the notice of those tribes. In Sylhet
and Tippera the Bengali is similarly intrusive.
From the number of individuals by whom it is spoken,
and from its geographical contiguity to the Indo-gangetic
peninsula, the Bengali is, perhaps, the most important of
Indian languages.
BENGAL AND ORTSSA. 393
In the district of Midnap6r, it is succeeded by
The Uriya of Orissa, into which some of its dialects are
believed to graduate. To the back of the Uriya area lie the
Khond^ to the south the Telinga, districts, the latter of which
begins at Ganjam. At Baurwah, however, to the south
of that town, the Uriya re-appears. At the same time, it
is pronounced Telinga-fashion ; in other words, d replaces
r, and Uriya and Gerh, become Udiya and Gadda,.
Of all the forms of speech akin to the Hind! the
Uriya is most unimportant. It is spoken but by few in-
dividuals. It is but slightly cultivated. The work that
has the most pretensions to originality is a poem on the
conquest of Conjeveram. The rest of the literature
consists of translations.
Of Bengal, Gour was the capital, and it is believed
to have been the capital of an important empire ; of an
empire which spread itself, both towards the north and
towards the east: towards the east most especially^
Asam being conquered from Bengal. From Bengal,
also, must have spread the Brahminism of Munip^r and
Arakan.
Of Orissa the political influence has been but slight.
In the way of physical form, it may safely be said that
the best features and the stoutest limbs are to be found
within the area of the Hindi dialects. This means that
the men of Oud, Allahabad, &c., are better-made than
those of Bengal. Oud, however, and Allahabad, &c., lie
higher up the river. That the muscular power of the
Bengalis is but slight is generally, if not universally,
stated ; indeed, extreme effeminacy, both in the way of
their physique and morale, is attributed to them. In the
turai this attains its maximum. In the tvrai, however, there
is a difference of blood. This may or may not exist in the
S94 BENGAL AND ORISSA.
sunderbunds ; \vhicli are inhabited by but few occupants,
and those unhealthy ; sufferers from fever, sufferers from
ague, sufferers from dysentery, sufferers from cutaneous
disorders.
According to Stirling the men and women of Orissa
are even inferior to the Bengalis.
Of both we may say, with safety, that the language is
Indian. Of neither can we safely say that the blood and
language coincide. The lower Ganges but just separates
the northernmost members of the Tamul, from the south-
ernmost members of the Bhot, stock. There are the Kols
and Sontals in the Rajmahal hills. There are some
miserable undersized Sontals in the jungles of Midnap^r.
They are tribes denominated impure in Dinajpur, the
district in which stood the ancient Gour metropolis.
There is a tract in Pumia called Gondwara. In the
Mechpara districts of Rungpur there are both Bodos
and Garos. Surely, then, there is a mixture of blood in
both Bengal and Orissa ; and that mixture is three-fold.
In Bengal, too, and in Orissa, the military element
(by which I mean that cast which has elsewhere been
called Rajput and Kshetriya) notably decreases. There
are Brahmins in both districts ; and these numerous. There
are Sudras; who are numerous also. There are mixed
classes and impure classes — numerous as well. But the
analogues to the Rajputs are few. The nearest approach
to them is in what is called the militia of Orissa ; where-
in the landowners take the appearance of petty feudal-
ists, and can call into the field a certain number of armed
followers. It is, however, specially stated, that the blood
of these fighting-men is mixed ; some being of Telinga,
some of Mahratta, some of Afghan, some of Khond
origin.
BENGAL AND ORISSA.
395
£ngliflh.
Man
Tooth
Head
Hair
Mouth
Eye
Ear
Hand
Foot
Blood
Day
Night
Sun
Moon
Star
Fire
Water
Stone
Tree
Bengali.
Aiam.
manushya
manuh
danta
dant
mastak
mur
kesh
chul
Bull
mukh
mukh
chhakhyuh
Bokn
kama
kan
h&t
hU
had
bhori
rakta
tez
din
din
ratri
rati
Burjya
beU
Chandra
jun
tara
tora
agni
« ■
pani
pani
prastan
hil
gachh
gosh
Uriya.
minipo
danto
motha
balo
muho
akhi
kan
hato
goro
rokto
dino
rate
Burjiyo
chando
tora
nina
pani
pothoro
gochcho.
Bundelcund and Sindia^s country, — Of the districts to the
south of the Ganges, between the proper Rajput country
on the west, Orissa and Bengal on the east, and Gond-
wana on the south, I say but little. Sindia's country
and Bundelcund are the most important of them. Their
ethnological character is mixed ; the elements being what
we expect from their geographical relations. To the
north lie the southern portions of the Doab, Allahabad,
and Bahar ; to the south and east decided Gond districts ;
to the west a region as decidedly Rajput. Such being
the case, it is safe to say thus much — that
1 . The parts to the west of the Chumbul are chiefly
Rajput with superinduced Mahratta elements ;
2. The parts to the east of the Soane are chiefly Kol ;
3. The actual valley of the Ganges is in the same
category with the districts on the opposite side ;
396 BUNDELCTJND, ETC.
4. The Gondwana and Mahratta frontiers are, more or
less, Mahratta and Gond.
The language is an outlying form of the Hindi : the
creed Brahminic. The Jains, however, begin to show
themselves ; increasing in numbers and importance as we
move towards the south and south-west ; being numerous
in Central India, numerous in the Mahratta countries,
and pre-eminently numerous in the area of the Tulava
language on the Mahratta and Canarese frontiers.
THE SVB-HIMALATANS. 397
CHAPTER XLII.
Populationjs whose language is either Hindi or akin to it — The Sub-
himalayans.
This division is, by no means, wholly natural. It con-
tains the northern members of the two last sections. A
Punjabi, on the edge of Tibet, is still, in most respects,
a Punjabi. A Bengali on the frontier of Butan is, in
most respects, still a Bengali. We cannot even say that
the physical conditions of its area are uniform. That the
range of the Himalaya is a mountain-range is true ; but
it is not true that the soil and climate of its slope are the
same throughout. The high levels at the head-waters of
the five rivers are one thing. The j ungles of the parts above
the lower Ganges are another.
The real character of the class lies in the nature of its
ethnological frontier. From Cashmir to Upper Asam
the populations vnth which the Hindu comes in juxtapo-
sition, are Tibetan, Bhot, or Burmese. The phenomena
of the line of contact justify the formation of the present
class ; a class which for the purposes of investigation is,
to say the least of it, eminently convenient.
The general history of the populations under notice is,
for the western portion of their area at least, just what we
expect, a priori^ from the face of the country. The face
of the country is like that of Little Tibet — so many val-
leys— so many lords of the valley. We begin with a
mass of petty Rajaships. By conquest or intermarriage
398 THE SUB-HDfALATANS.
they become confluent, and two or three smaller form
one larger one. Eyentoally they get absorbed by the
powers of their neighbourhood.
In the way, Kistewar, Hanur, &c., between Cashmir
and the Sutlej, belong to Gulab Sing's dominion ; whilst
Gurwhal is divided between Great Britain and the Raja
of Bisihur. Kumaon is wholly British ; the parts to the
east of Kumaon, Nepalese.
As a general rule, the blood of the Rajas and their
descendants is either actually Rajput, or believed to be
so. The creed, too, is, as a general rule, Brahminic.
There is, however, something Sikh in the western and
something Buddhist in the eastern districts.
Where both the physical conformation and the lan-
guage are Bhot, we have, of course, an actual Tibetan
or Nepalese. Where one only of these characteristics
occurs, we have a possible one. Where, both being
absent, we have Tibetan customs, Tibetan supersti-
tions, or Tibetan names of places, we have the elements
of an interesting investigation. That these do occur is a
fact. I am unable, however, to give the details. Captain
Cunningham finds Tibetan names beyond the limit of the
existing Tibetan localities. Most writers have noticed
instances of the Tibetan practice of polyandria in Kiste-
war, Sirmor, &c.
From Cashmir to the Sutlej, the frontier with which
the Hindu area comes in contact is Ladaki — ^i. «. it is
Ladakh, rather than Tibet proper, which overlies the hill-
country belonging to Gholab Sing.
The Rajaship of Bisihur touches Kunawer and Hun-
grung.
Kumaon (which is British), and the forty-six Rajaships
(which are Nepalese), underlie Tibet proper.
In eastern Nepal, in Sikkim, and in the parts beyond, lie.
THE SUB-HIMALAYANS. 399
between the Hindus and the Tibetans, an intermediate
series of minor populations, Magar, Gurung, and the like.
It is not necessary to give the details and order of these.
It has been done already.
From Kumaon to Nepal proper, the language (a
variety of the Hindi) is called Khas. In Nepal proper
it is called Parbatiya or Purbutti, i . e. the Highland form
of speech.
Kumaon. — Kumaon, being British, is known, in detail,
through an elaborate report by Traill. In the northern
districts the people are strong, but short, stout-built,
and fair-skinned. In the south the colour is darker, the
stature greater, the form more spare. In the interme-
diate districts the type is also intermediate.
Spirits, as a stimulus, are commoner in Gurwhal than
in Kumaon. In both provinces tobacco is smoked by all
but the high-class Brahmins, who substitute for it the
inspissated juice of the hemp.
The Hinduism of Kumaon is of that imperfect kind,
which leaves room for innumerable vestiges of the
original paganism to show themselves. Every Village has
its own especial deity, and, humbler than the Hindu
temples (but not less venerated) their shrines are found
over the whole country. The region, too, of spirits is
both wide and populous. The individual who has died a
violent death may revisit the earth as a Bhut, to haunt his
posterity through many generations, and to be appeased by
sacrifices and offerings. The bachelor who, without get-
ting married, dies at an advanced age, becomes a will-of
the-wisp, or Tola, whose society is shunned even by his
brother spirits ; for which reason he is only seen in lone
places. The ghosts of men killed in hunting haunt the
forests in which their deaths occurred^ and these are Airi.
To hear the voice of an Airi (and it may be heard halloo-
400 KUMAON.
ing to its dogs) is to become obnoxious to some future
misfortune. The ilfo^cfn axe the ghosts of young children,
buried instead of being burnt. The Mas&n haunt villages
in the shape of wild animals. The Acheri are the ghosts
of young children also ; but of females. They it is who
love the lonely mountain-top, better than the inhabited
village — but only during the daytime. At dusk they
descend to hold revel. To meet with a train of Acheri is
death. Neither is it safe to cross the spots where the
revels are usually held, even in the daytime, and when
they are not there. The intruder may get molested ;
especially if she be a female, or wear any red in her dress ;
for red is the colour that the Acheri most especially dis-
like. Numerous optical phenomena that present them-
selves under certain atmospheric conditions, in moun-
tainous countries, are attributed to the Acheri.
The village-gods are, in name at least, Hindu. Some
of these are obnoxious to men, some to women, some
to children, some to cattle. Ruma, one of them, moves
from place to place riding on a rock, never molesting
men, but by no means sparing females. Should he take a
fancy to one her fate is fixed. She will be haunted by
him in her dreams, pine and die.
The Bogsa is a sorcerer, endued with the property of
becoming a wild beast at will. Lycanthropia, then, or its
analogue, is a Kumaon superstition ; as is the belief in the
evil eye.
Kumaon, though now British, is an acquisition from
*
Nepal ; so that, in reference to its political history, it
must be looked upon as a portion of the
Nepalese Empire. — This falls into two extremely na-
tural divisions ; a western and an eastern. The former,
originally containing Kumaon, now con tairs what may be
called the districts of the forty-six Rajaships.
l^PAL. 401
I speak of forty-six Rajaships. The reader, however,
will find more than forty-six names. This is because
the exact details of the nomenclature are not known.
The number, however, is forty-six.
I shall also speak of these forty-six petty Rajaships
being divided into two primary groups ; one containing
twenty-two, the other twenty-four, districts. Here, how-
ever, as before, there will be some unimportant uncertain-
ties as to the distribution. The majority will belong
decidedly and undoubtedly to one of the two divisions.
For the parts, however, where they meet there will be
a few doubtful, or equivocal, names.
The twenty-two will be called, as they are in many
maps, the Baisi ; the twenty-four, the Chaubisi, Rajas.
Of the two divisions, the Baisi is more western. It
begins when we leave Kumaon for Nepal. The Chau-
bisi group extends from the eastern frontier of the Baisi
to the parts about Kathmandu, or Nepal proper; Ne-
pal in the limited sense of the term ; Nepal, the occu-
pancy of the Newar.
The list is as follows : — the Rajaships being taken in
their order from west to east. Those at the beginning
of the list are most undoubtedly Baisi, those at the end
most undoubtedly Chaubisi. The doubtful ones are those
of the middle.
Baisi and Chaubisi Rajaships,
1. Tumila 8. Bangpai 15. Palabang
2. Acham 9. Rughun 16. Khungri
S. Duti 10. Muiskot 17. Bingri
4. Cham II. Satatala 18. Piutana
5. Dipal 12. Malaneta 19. Gajal
6. Chhinachin 13. Dang ^. Jahari
7. Jajarkot 14. Salyana 21. Bilaspur
VOL. II. D D
402
NEPAL.
22. Roalpa
23. Malebum
24. Kalagong
Ghurikot
25. Balihang
26. Gutum
27. Dharma
28. Galkot
29. Isma
SO. Durkot
31. Argha
32. Kachi
33. Gulmi
34. Palpa
35. Garahang
36. Poin
37. Satahung
38. Birkot
39. Nayakot
41. Dhor
42. Gajarkot
43. Rising
44. Ghiring
45. Tanahung
46. Lamjun
47. Tarki
48. Musikot
49. Gorka.
40. Kaski
Of these the most important axe, Malebum, Yumila,
and Gorka. Malebum belongs to the debateable land
between the two divisions. The Raja of Yumila was a
sort of Kaiser, or emperor, to the rest. They all, or
nearly all, acknowledged his supremacy. They took &om
him the iikay or mark of authority. They allowed him
to interfere in their private quarrels when the balance of
power was endangered. On the other hand, they yielded
as much actual obedience as their inclinations, regulated
by their power of resistance, prompted. Still, the Raja
of Yumila was the Raja paramount. Besides admitting
the supremacy of a head, the chiefs formed amongst
themselves subordinate confederations. Thus ; Lamjun
marched with Tanahung and Kaski ; Tanahung being
followed by Dhor, and Kaski by Satahung. Birkot, in
like manner, headed Garahang, Poin, and Nayakot. And
so acted others towards others. There was a league
called Athabhai, or the eight, another called Satbhai, or
the seven, brothers. The brotherhood, in these cases,
might be real or imaginary.
In regard to its constituent population, the Rajaship of
Yumila is the most Bhot, about one-fourth being Hindu,
and three-fourths Tibetan.
NEPAIi. 403
Tumila^ so far as it is other than Hindu, seems to be,
to a great extent, Tibetan.
Malebum, so far as it is other than Hindu, seems to be,
to a great extent, Gurung.
In Malebum, however, we find the name Jareya ; it be-
ing believed that an impure chief of that name had once
great power in Malebum. His daughter married a Gau-
tamiya (Buddhist) Brahmin, by whom she had twenty-two
sons, I. e, the twenty-two Rajas of the Baisi group.
The term Jareya points to Raj as than ; indeed, Rajput
blood (either real or pretended) still continues to be the
rule.
In the ordinary maps Malebum is the most conspicuous
name for these parts. It is, in reality, the name of the
State, which, until the rise of the Gorka dynasty, was
the head of the forty-six Rajaships.
As Malebum and Yumila rose at the expense of the
petty States aroimd them, Gorkha rose at the expense of
Malebum and Yumila.
Gorkha, so far as it was other than Hindu, seems to
have been chiefly Magar. The details of its history, as
a sovereign dynasty, are given by both Hamilton and
Kirkpatrick.
Of the Hindus of Nepal, the blood seems to be, for
the most part, either Rajput or Brahminic. The de-
scendants of a Brahmin father and a native mother take
high rank in Nepal. Lower than their fathers, higher
than their mothers, they take the rank of Kjshetriya ; bear
the title of the father and wear the thread.
The Khas fall into divisions, being Thapa, Bishnyat,
Bhandari, Karki, Kh&nka, Adhikari, Bisht, Kunwar,
Baniah, and the like. They fall, too, into sub-divisions,
e. g, the
D D g
404
NEPAL.
Bagyal
Takurjal
Palami
Laminchanya
Powar
Ghimirya
Gagliya
Suyal
Maharaji
Khulal
Sunyal
Khapotari
Parajuli
Gudar
Deoja
are members of the Thapa.
Akin to the Khas, yet differing in the real or supposed
details of their origin (inasmuch as their fathers were
Kshetriyas rather than Brahmins^ and their mothers Hindu
rather than Nepalese), the Ekthariah fall into the
Burathoki
Bohara
Raya
Chiloti
Ravat
Dangi
Katwal
Raimarjhi
Khati
Bhukhandi
Maghati
Bhusal
Chohan
Khutal
Boghati
Dikshit
Khatil
Pandit
Bavan
Parsai
Mahat
Chokhal
Barwal
Chohara
1
sections ; differing only in the details of their origin from
the Thakuri^ whose blood is royal, their ancestors having
been the dynasts of some petty principality. The divi-
sions of the Thakuri, are
Sahi Sena
Malla Singh
NEPAL. 405
Maun Hamal
Chohan Ruchal
Chand Jiva
Raksbya.
These details vfill not have been superfluous if we allow
them to stand as a sample of the division and subdivision,
which both the soil and the social system undergo in
countries like Nepal — where the systems of both cast
and tribe meet, and where the physical geography gives us
hill and valleys.
Populations of dovhtful or equivocal position. — The diffi-
culties of determining the exact details of the Indian and
Bhot (or Nepalese) frontier have already suggested them-
selves. Sometimes there is the loss of some notable cha-
racteristic, such as creed or language. Sometimes there
is an actual intermixture of blood. Physical form, our
best guide, is by no means, infallible. A Bhot from the
higher Himalayas is, undoubtedly, a different being from
a Rajput or Brahmin. But who will say that a Bhot from
the jungles or the turai is the same, in skin and feature,
as his congener from the snow-levels, or that he is so very
different from the Kol, or Khond ? Our best authority,
on these matters, Mr. Hodgson — zoologist and physiolo-
gist, as well as philologue — by no means commits himself
to any very trenchant lines of demarcation ; indeed, he
has, on one occasion, shown great and laudable candour
in admitting that a certain language belonged to the Bhot
group, whereas the physical conformation of the men who
spoke it h&d been previously described by him as Tamul.
Beginning at the Sutlej, and moving eastwards, we find
the following populations belonging to the class under no-
tice. To each and all of them the following questions
apply — Are they in the same category with the lower class
Hindus ? Or are they in the same category with the Che-
406 NEPAL.
pang, Dhimal, and Bodo tribes ? Or are they a iertium
quidf
Chumars. — These have already been noticed. They
occupy parts of Kunawer ; and (Bhot fashion) practise
polyandria.
Domangg. — ^In the same districts as the Chumars. Word
for wordy Domang is
Dom. — ^The Doms of Kumaon have already been no-
ticed. So have the
Rawai of the same country.
The Tharu. — ^These are the occupants of the twraij or
belt of forest at the foot of the Himalayas. The Tharu
first show themselves in Oud, and extend far eastwards.
In the western half of Nepal^ and on the alluvia of
the rivers which form the Gunduk, lie
1. The Denwar 3. The Kumhal
g. — Durri 4. — Manjhi
5. The Bramho.
These have been described by Mr. Hodgson as dark-
skinnedy light-limbed, oval-faced, and high-featured men ;
more like the Khonds than the Tibetans or Nepalese.
They consider themselves Hindus ; and belong chiefly to
the Magar frontier.
Further to the east, where the Nepalese populations are
Murmi, Limbu, and Kirata, and where the Hindus are
the Hindus of north Bahar, lie (along with certain Tha-
rus, whom they resemble) the
Gangai^ chiefly in Morang ; the
Bhawar, an impure tribe, once dominant ; the
Bntar, and the
Aniwari once extended far beyond the frontier of Ba-
har. The
Rajbansi Kooch have already been noticed. They are
succeeded by the Dhimal, Bodo, and Gharo ; congeners
NEPAL. 407
of whom must originally have extended to the Ganges, or
even beyond it. It is with Bengalis, on one side, and the
Lepchas and Lhopa/on the other, that these most espe-
cially come in contact.
That the whole of Asam, even where the language is
Bengali, and the creed Brahminic, is Bhot or Burmese in
blood, has already been stated.
The heterogeneous character of the tribe and cast
names of Nepal requires a special analysis. The lists
given above are only a few out of many. What is gene-
ral, what special ; what natural, what artificial, should be
distinguished.
408 THE M&HBATTAS.
CHAPTER XLIII.
The Mahrattas.
The present section is pre-eminently a natural one;
differing, in many significant respects, from all the pre-
ceding. In the first place, the Mahrattas are the most
southern members of the group to which they belong.
In the next, they belong to a broken, if not a mountain-
ous, country. Deserts like those of Bikanir, alluvia like
those of the Gangetic districts, find no place within the
Mahratta area. At the same time, none of its levels are
so high as the mountain-basin of Cashmlr.
Again, the Mahratta country faces the sea ; the sea that
connects India with Persia, Arabia, Africa, and Europe.
It will^ therefore, not surprise us if we find African and
Mahratta elements in contact.
The main differentuB^ however, lie in the relations of the
Mahrattas to the populations whose language is akin to
the Tamul. Up to the present time, the northernmost
members of this class appear as intruders upon the proper
Hindu areas. That they are not this we reasonably infer;
the inference being that the intrusion has been on the
other side. It was the Bhils and Kols who were the
aborigines, the Rajputs and their congeners who were the
strangers. At the same time^ as the map now stands, the
Kol and Bhil districts take the appearance of exceptional
prolongations from the south. Their occupancies indent
the Hindu and Gujerathi frontiers. They only, however,
indent them.
THB MAHRATTAS. 409
Now, instead of merely indenting the Mahratta dis-
tricts^ the aboriginal localities surround them. There are
both Bhils and Kols to the north of the northernmost
Mahrattas. There are Kols in Gujerat, and there are
Bkils in Rajputana. There were Bhils, indeed, on the
very edge of the valley of the Indus. That in some
cases the Mahratta language comes in direct contact with
both the Hindi and the Gujerathi, is true. But it is also
true that, as a general rule, its northern frontier is Bhil
and Kol, its eastern, Gond and Telinga, its southern,
Tulava and Canarese.
The physical form of a Mahratta is most usually con-
trasted with that of the Brahmin and the Rajput ; by the
side of which it shows to disadvantage. As a general
rule, writes Elphinstone, the lowest of the Rajputs wear
an air of dignity. As a general rule, the highest of the
Mahrattas comports himself meanly. The latter, how-
ever, are hardy and active, and, if somewhat undersized,
well-proportioned. Their skins are dark, and their features
irregular. The best commentary, however, upon their
physical and moral constitution is their history.
They are Sudras (so-called) rather than either Kshetri-
yas or Brahmins. The fact of their being so has, perhaps,
disparaged their personal appearance. They should be
compared, not with the Rajputs and Brahmins, but with
the lower casts in general of the rest of India.
Their language is, undoubtedly, in the same category
with the Hindi, whatever that may be, i. e. its affinities
are with the Gujerathi and Bengali, rather than with the
Tamul and Telinga. It is, however, a somewhat out-
lying member of the class ; so much so, that, in the hands
of those writers who deny the Sanskrit origin of the group
in question, the Mahratta has been the chief instrument
of criticism. '' The others are what the Mahratta is ; and
410 THE MAHRATTAS.
the Mahratta is more Tamal than Sanskrit." Such is
the train of reasoning.
The alphabet is a derivation firom the Deyanagari, which
it closely resembles. It does this because it has been but
recently adopted. The literature it embodies is unim-
portant.
The historical area of the Mahrattas is far wider than
the ethnological. Its extension, however, is recent. It
began in the reigns of Shah Jehan and Aurungzeb, being
founded by Sivaji, whose blood seems to have been
mixed, t. e. Rajput as well as Mahratta. He was the
son of Shahji, who was the son of Maloji, who was the
son of Bapji, who was the husband of a lady of the very
respectable Mahratta family of the Bhonslay. Maloji
entered the service of a chief who, though, perhaps, in
fact a simple Mahratta, had fair pretensions to some
Rajput blood. At any rate, he bore himself as a man
who is, at once, proud and practical. When Shahji, a
child, was presented to him, his own daughter (a child
also) was also in his presence. ** What a fine couple they
would make," was his observation — ^heard by Maloji, and
hoarded-up in the treasure-house of his memory until
some years had passed, and a public occasion brought him
before his chief, and gave him an opportunity of remind-
ing him of what he called a betrothal of his (the chiefs)
daughter to his (Shahji's) son. As Shahji had risen in the
world, his version of the story was admitted, the marriage
was effected, and Sivaji, the most prominent hero of all
India, was the of&pring. If the details of his career are
withheld from the reader, it is not because they are foreign
to ethnology. The biography of the representative men of
the ruder portions of mankind is pre-eminently an ethno-
logical subject. The life, however, of Sivaji belongs to
Indian history in general. In the way, however, of ex-
THE MAHRATTAS. 411
tending the political power of his nation, his father did a
little before him. He carried it southwards. In the ser-
vice of 9 and (perhaps) second in command to, the Raja of
Bejapur, he received a grant of land and power in the
Carnatic. This brought him to the parts about Madras,
where the Polygar of Mudkul was at war with the Raja
of Tanjore. Shahji joined the former, helping him to
conquer his opponent ; quarrelled with him about the
spoils ; defeated him ; so that the descendants of Shahji
were Rajas of Tanjore when that district became a
British dependency. Sivaji himself turned his sword
northwards. At first the captain of an organized body of
banditti, then the zemindar of Punah, then a self-imposed
potentate to the districts of his immediate neighbourhood,
he is invited by Aurungzeb to join him in the war against
his brothers. He plays his own game, however, and re-
fuses to connect his fortunes with those of the imperial
bigot ; of whom, however, it was his future fate to hear
and see more than enough. He plays his own game; with
the Raja of Bejapur as his first opponent. From him he
wins more than one valuable fortress. He, then, takes
the important towns of Kalian and Surat, extending his
power to the sea. An Indian navy is first heard of in the
days of Sivaji. It is, however, employed against him.
We shall notice it in the sequel, when the sub- African
districts of the western coast of India come under notice;
when the Sidis of Abyssinian blood appear as elements of
the heterogeneous population of Hindostan. The event-
ful life, however, of Sivaji draws towards its close, and
he dies master of the whole of the Konkan, and of a
large block of territory in the interior. This he leaves
in a strong position, and in an aggressive attitude ;
fresh and full of vigour, and (as such) strongly con-
trasted with the decrepit empire of the Moguls. It
412 THB BIAHRATTAS.
was eminently a Hindu rather than a Mahometan organi-
zation.
The Mogul empire is breaking up. It has strength
enough to reduce the kingdoms of Bejapur and Hydera-
bad ; but not strength enough to defend them against the
Mahrattas. Neither are the southern districts of the
Rajput coimtry free from the Mahratta inroads. Berar
on the Gondy and Kandeish on the Bhil country, are
plundered* Meanwhile, the districts of Aurungabad,
Beder, and parts of Berar, are consolidated by the Ni-
zam-ud-Mulk into a kingdom destined to retain the title
of the foimder, but not destined to be held by his succes-
sors. The dominion of the Nizam will become Mahratta.
The founder, however, of the name was a Turk, Kulich
Khan, son of Ghazi-ud-Khan. The Turks, who had been
introduced into India by the conquest of Baber, were
simply Moguls. The Turks who, &om time to time, were
introduced as mercenaries, were distinguished as Turani
(or Turanian) Moguls. Kulich Khan was the chief of
the Turani Moguls of the Dekkan. He effects the sepa-
ration of the Nizam districts from the empire. He fails
to keep them free from the Mahrattas, who, about the same
time, conquer Gujerat.
The empire grows weaker and weaker.
Delhi is sacked by Kuli-Khan.
A few years later the power of the Ro-
~ * hilla Afghans is established in the imme-
diate neighbourhood of the capital, and Rohilcund be-
comes the seat of disturbance and the source of danger.
Indeed, the Afghan aggressions have a double origin,
Rohilcund and Afghanistan itself. The Durani dynasty
is rising in power ; and the two representatives of the
Patau name unite in hostility to the Moguls. The weak-
est of the successors of Akbar calls in the treacherous
THE MAHRATTAS. 413
aid of the Mahrattas, who now find their way to the
parts beyond the Ganges, to Allahabad, to Delhi, to Oud.
They make common cause with the Rohillas : quarrel with
them ; make common cause again. Still they are essen-
tially antagonistic to the Duranis. The i'taa
latter win the great battle of Faniput;
with which ends the history of the Mogul India.
The area of the Mahratta language extends along the
coast from the Damaun Gunga river to Goa — there or
thereabouts. In the interior, however, it is spoken some-
what further to the north — indenting the Gujerat area,
upon which it seems to have encroached. Eastward it
extends into Hyderabad and Berar, where it comes in
contact with the Gond and Telinga. Southward it is
bounded by the Tulava and Canarese.
The Mahratta blood must be, to a great extent, Bhil.
The Mahratta creed is, to a great extent, Jain.
The foreign settlements on the Mahratta area are nu-
merous. These are chiefly
Parsi^ as in Gujerat.
African y as in Cambay and Jinjira.
The Africans of these parts agreeing with those of
Sind, in being called Sidi,* are, in other respects, very
different. They are not only free but dominant. In
the time of Aurungzeb, the admiral of the fleet was
a Sidi.
JewisK — In Kolaba.
Portugueze^ chiefly in Sawuntwara, and the parts about
Goa.
In the way of politics, the Mahratta area is very
variously distributed. It contains several petty (very
petty) independent States. The greater part of Portu-
gueze India is Mahratta.
* Also Hubshesh.
414
THE MAHRATTAS.
The Guicowar, Sindia, and Holcar territories, are the
same.
Specimen of the language.
English.
Marathi.
Gnjentbi.
HiadosUnL
Man {homo)
m&niiah
jana
&dmi
(w)
puniRh
manns
mard
Woman
baiko
bayadi
randi
He^4
doksheh
xnathum
sir
Hair
kes
nim&lo
b&l
Eye
doleh
&nkh
aukh
Ear
kan
k&n
kan
N09t
nakh
nak
nak
Mouth
t'hond
mohodam
monh
Tongue
jib
jubh
jIbh
Tooth
dant
d&ni
d&nt
Hand
hat
hfith
hath
Foot
paie
pag
panw
Sun
suria
Buraj
sui-aj
Moon
tshundr
cb&nd
chand
Star
tahandanl
t&ro
tar&
Day
vuas
din
din
Night
ratr
rat
rat
Fire
vistd
&g
as
Water
panni
pan!
pan!
Tree
dzad
brakflh
jhada
per
Stone
duggud
patthar
patthar.
The numerals, like those of the Bengali, Uriya, &c.,
are Hindi.
TIIK RAJMAHAUS. 415
CHAPTER XLIV.
The popalations whose language is akin to the Tamnl. — The Bajmahali
mountaineers. — The KoIb. — ^The Rhonda. — The Soars.
It has already been stated that the Tamul populations
and their congeners have been called the natives of
southern India. It has also been suggested that this
term is inaccurate. That the parts about Cape Comorin
are Tamul is true ; and true it is that the Dekkan^ or
southern half of India^ is what may be called Tamil-
iform. But it is by no means true that these districts
constitute the whole of the Tamul area. This extends
not only far beyond them^ but far beyond them to the
north. At one point it actually touches the Ganges, and
that at the present time, and in an unequivocal manner.
More than this, it all but touches the southern limit of
the Bhot and Burmese areas — a fact to which attention
has already been directed. The occupants of
The Rajmahal hills, on the southern bank of the
Ganges, in the parts about Bogilpur, have long been
known as a population whose language and manners dif-
fer from tliat of the ordinary Hindu of the districts
around. In the Asia Polyglotta, a specimen of their
dialect stands by itself, isolated on all sides, i. e. with
no Hindu, no Tamul, no Tibetan affinities — the Garo
being isolated also. No wonder. When the Asia Poly-
glotta was written, the Tamul class was limited to the
south of India, the Khond, Gond, and Kol fonns of
speech being wholly, or all but, unknown.
416
THE RAJMAHAUS.
The extent to which it agrees with these may be
inferred from the following comparison of the pro-
nouns.
fngliih.
Bl^mahal.
Tuital,8co
/
en
nftn, en
Thou
nin
ntn
He, she, U
ath
ftta
We
nam
n&m
om
dm
Te
nina
nim
TKfy
awar
avar
This
Ih
t
That
llh
&
Here
ino
inge
There
ftno
ange.
For a long time the Rajmahali mountaineers were the
terror of the neighbouring districts. They robbed, they
levied blackmail. A strong bamboo bow with a poisoned
arrow was their weapon. With this they made themselves
formidable to the Mahometan powers, troublesome to the
Company. With this they defended their dense jungles,
or rather the jungles defended them. Every arrow was
imseen, certain, fatal. The Company failed in their
measures of coercion, as the Mahometans had failed
before them.
Kindness was then tried, and it was successful. The
epitaph of Cleveland, bearing date 1784, records that
" without bloodshed or the terrors of authority, employ-
ing only the means of conciliation, confidence, and
benevolence, he attempted and accomplished the entire
subjection of the lawless and savage inhabitants of the
jungleterry of R6jamahal, who had long infested the
neighbouring lands by their predatory incursions, inspired
them with a taste for the arts of civilized life, and at-
tached them to the British Government by conquest
over their minds, the most permanent, as the most rational,
THE URAON.
417
mode of dominion." The tomb on which it is inscribed
was erected at Bhagulpur by order of the Governor-
General and Council of Bengal.
The skin of the Rajmahalis is dark, their face broad,
their eyes small, their lips thicker than those of the men
of the plains. That features of this kind suggest a variety
of illustrations is what we expect h prwri. *' The Raj-
mahali physiognomy is Mongol," writes one. ** The Raj-
mahali physiognomy is African," writes another.
The creed is, more or less, Hindu ; its Hinduism being
of an imperfect and degenerate character. Bedo is one of
its gods ; word for word, the Batho of the Bodos ; word
for word, the Potteang of the Kukis ; word for word,
Buddha. Their priesthood, like that of the Bodos, con*
sists of Demauns and Dewassis; men whose functions
have been already explained.
The nearest congeners to the Rajmahali mountaineers
are the speakers of
The Uraon dialects, whose occupancy is the hilly coun«
try to the south and south-east. Word for word, Uraon
seems to be Uriya.
English.
Uraon.
Bajmahali.
Man
alia
male
Head
knk
kupe
Hair
chntti
tali
Ear
khebda
khetway
Eye
khan
khane
Blood
kheiiB
keaa
Botie
khochal
kochal
Foot
dappe
key
Hand
khekhah
sesa
Sun
dharmi
ber
Moon
chando
bilpe
Star
binka
bindeke
Fire
chek
chiche
Water
nm
am»
The Kob. — That Kol is a word which is applied by the
VOL. II. E E
418 THE KOLS.
Hindus to certain populations distinguished from them*
selves, and that it is also a term of general application,
has already been stated ; the Kols of Gujerat having been
brought under notice when the ruder tribes of western
India commanded our attention. Word for word, the
two names are identical. Between the eastern Kols of
Monghir, Ramgurh, Chuta Nagpur, Gangpur, Sirgujab,
and Sumbhulpur and the Uraon and Rajmahalis the chief
difference seems to be that of dialect.
The divisions and subdivisions of the Kol name are
numerous.
The Sontak, indigenous to Chuta Nagpur and the parts
about Palamow, have, since the beginning of the present
century, intruded themselves into some of the Rajmahali
occupancies, which now contain two separate populations,
allied to each other, though speaking languages which are
said to be mutually unintelligible. It was with these
northern and intrusive Kols that the recent disturbances
arose. Like Kol, the name Sontal is found in western, as
well as eastern, India. There was a Sontalptir in Gujerat.
According to the Sontal mythology, the first two
mortals bore the names of Pilchu-hanam and Pilchu-
brudhi, one being a male, the other a female; being
also brother and sister to each other, and the children
of a duck's egg. A deity named Lita, or Marang Buru,
brought them together as man and wife. In Orissa, this
Lita, or Marang Buru, is very specially worshipped, and
that both privately, as a domestic deity, and in public,
by means of feasts and festivals. Of this god there is a
stone image at Sikar-ghat, a place of resort and cere-
mony. It stands on one of the feeders of the Ganges,
which receives in its waters, twice a year, a bone of some
deceased Sontal, thrown in by one of the surviving
relations, who makes a pilgrimage to the spot for the
i
THE SONTALS. 419
purpose of doing so. Other ceremonies accompany this
act — ^lustral^ or purificational^ in character.
Maniko is the elder brother of Marang Buru^ and is
invoked once a year by the Naikis (mark the word) or
priests^ who sacrifice to him fowls — Bodo and Dhimal
fashion. His sister's name is Jaherera.
Connected with every Sontal village is a grove called
Jaher, in which the Manjhi-hanam, or the founder of the
village^ is periodically worshipped.
The domestic gods are called Odah-Bonga. Bonga
means deity. Abge Bonga is the name of a god who is
worshipped twice a year. The offerings to him consist
of rams^ he-goats, and red cocks, upon which all the
males (but none of the females) regale themselves — ^burn-
ing the leavings.
Rankini, a bloody-minded female, is said to be occa-
sionally propitiated by human sacrifices.
The Sontals swear by the skin or by the head of the
tiger. They swear also by their gods and by the lives
of their children.
The Ho. — The Ho are the best known of all the Kols ;
not, however, because they have been visited by the
greatest number of Europeans, but because they have
been made the subject of a valuable monograph by
Lieutenant Tickell in the Journal of the Asiatic Society
of Bengal.* The parts about Singbhum are their
locality.
The Ho are locomotive agriculturists; t. e. they sow
the soil, and work it with the hoe ; but are unskilled in
the art of manuring. Hence, the lands on which they
settle soon become exhausted, and fresh clearings are re-
quired. Their villages, too^ are small, though the houses
of which they consist are well-built. The walls are of
* Vol. ix . part ii.
E E 2
420 THE HO.
iiiud^ but strong and solid. The roofs are of thatch, well
laid on. The veranda is supported by wooden pillars,
rudely carved. The residence of the family consists of
three rooms, one for eating, one for sleeping, one for
stores* The outhouses are at a little distance ; some for
pigs, some for poultry, some for servants.
The Ho dress but lightly, some of them wearing next
to nothing. The women work. The men hunt — or
rather hawk ; for falconry is both their business and their
pastime. The bow is the chief weapon.
A Ho bridegroom buys his bride ; or rather, his father
buys her for him, the price being so many head of cattle.
Whether, however, the match is to take place at all de-
pends, to an inordinate extent, upon the omens that the
parties concerned meet in their way from house to house.
Should anything unlucky present itself, a sacrifice of fowls
is made, and prayers put up to Singbonga (of whom more
will be said hereafter), to the efiect that, if the parties still
wish to be united, better omens may attend their next
negotiation. After looking over Captain Tickell's list
of evil auguries, I wonder that Ho marriages ever take
place. It contains almost everything that either runs or
flies. If a vulture, crow, magpie, oriole, woodpecker,
jackall, hare, bee, snake, &c., pass behind the negotiator,
there will be a death. If a certain kind of ichneumon
drag a certain kind of spider across the road, the bride will
be dragged away by a tiger the first time she goes out for
wood or water. If a hawk seize a bird, the same. If a
certain kind of vulture fly siiigly, or in front of its flock,
death to one of the four parents — death to the bride*s
parent if the village of the bride, to the bridegroom's if
his village, be the nearest^ — death to a father if the bird
be a male, to the mother if a female. If the great wood-
hawk hover overhead, death to both mother and son at
THE no. 421
childbirth. Should a branch fall from a tree, death.
The dung-beetle rolling dung portends hard work and
little reward. Such are a few of the evil omens. There
are some good ones to set against them. Upon the whole,
however, the signs of bad luck preponderate. That the
marriages are attended by feasts is what we expect
a priori. There are feasts and ceremonies as well.
There are ceremonies, too, at the birth of children, at
the naming of them, at burials. There are ceremonies
in abundance ; but of a definite recognized priesthood
very little. The following is a Ho dirge : —
We never scolded, never wronged you ;
Come to OS back ;
We ever loved and cherished yon, and have lived long together
Under the same roof;
Desert it not now 1
The rainy nights, and the cold blowing days, are coming on;
Do not wander here.
Do not stand by the burnt ashes ; come to ns again 1
Tou cannot find shelter under the peepul when the rain comes down.
The saul will not shield you from the cold bitter wind.
Come to your home 1
It is swept for yon, and clean ; and we are there who loved you ever ;
And there is rice put for you ; and water ;
Come home, come home, come to us again J
Dead bodies are interred, and gravestones placed over
them. This, however, is insufiicient to keep down the
spirits, which are believed to walk about during the day,
and to keep within- doors at night. A certain spot, upon
which is placed an offering, is kept clean for them. Ac-
cording to the Ho mythology —
Ote Boram and Sirma Thakoor, i. e. Sing Bonga, or God, were self'
created. Sing Bonga is the sun. After them the moon was self-created.
Ote Boram and Sirma Thakoor then made the earth ; after that they
clothed it with grass, trees, rocks, water; they then made cattle, which
were first bom in Bogo Bochee; after them all wild animals. They
then made a little boy and a little girl, at the bottom of an immense
4^2 THE HO,
rayine, and as they had no houses to lire in^ the gods told them to in.
habit a huge crab's cave (Katkomo4). They grew adult, and Sing Bonga
came to see them every day, and called them his grandchildren ; but at
length seeing no hopes of any progeny, from their extreme simplicity,
he taught them the art of making £ely (rice beer), the use of which
caused those sensations, which were in due time the means of peopling
the world.
After the creation of man, Sing Bonga, or the sun, married Chandoo
Omol, or the moon, from whence sprung four sons and numerous daugh-
ters. Now the four sons kept with their father, and the daughters lived
with their mother, and as the sun rose every day, with his four hot> fiery
sons in addition, the whole world began to bum ; and all the animals
and man perishing with heat, entreated the moon to save them : so
the moon resolved within herself to destroy the sun*s sons, and went, and
accosting the father, said, " Our children do much harm to the world,
and will soon destroy your labour. I am determined to eat mine ; do
you also devour yours." The sun promised he would follow the moon's
example ; and so when she hid all her daughters, and came and told him
she had devoured them, he destroyed and eat all four of his children ;
after which the moon released her daughters from confinement. This
artifice so enraged the sun, that he drew his sword and cut the moon in
half, but repenting afterwards of his anger, allowed her to get whole in
certain days, though she still remained condemned to be in half at others,
and BO she remained, and all her daughtera, with her, which are the
stars.
Now, some time after the first man and woman had lived together and
known each other. Sing Bonga came down and asked them what progeny
they had ; they say unto him, " Grandfather, we have twelve sons and
twelve daughters." These twenty-four lifted up their voices and said,
" Great grandfather, how can we brothers and sisters all live together ?"
Sing Bonga said, " Go you and make preparations and make a great feast,
rice and bufialoes* flesh, and bullocks' flesh, goats, sheep, pigs, and fowls
of the air, and vegetables;" and they did so : and when the feast was
prepared. Sing Bonga said, " Take ye two by two, man and woman, that
which shall please you most, and that shall ye have for share, to eat all
the days of your life, apart from the rest, so that none shall touch his
brother's share."
And so when the feast was prepared, the first pair and the second pair
took bufialoes' and bullocks' flesh, even as much as they could carry,
and these became the Kol and Bhoomy race; then a pair took
the rice; and other pairs, male and female, rice and vegetables, and
these became Bramlns, Bj^'poots, Chuttries, and other Hindoos; and
others took away the goat's flesh and fish, and became other kinds of
Hindoos ; the Bhooians took the shell-fish. Lastly, when nothing was left
but the pigs' flesh, came two pair and took it away, and these are Sontals
and Eoormees to this day ; and when all the feast was cleared away, there
THE HO. 4^
remained one pair who had nothing, and to them the Kols gave of their
share, and these are Qhaasees to this hour.
And BO all these went and lived separately, and peopled the world,
and multiplied exceedingly, and Sing Bonga taught those who liyed in
fax countries other languages, and he gaye people of different trades their
implements.
And after this from the Kols, from their senior house, sprung the
English, who also eat of bollocks' flesh. But they are the senior children,
and the Eols the junior 1
And after the world was peopled, Sirma Thakoor destroyed it once,
with the exception of sixteen people, because people became incestuous,
and unmindful of God, or their superiors.
Wicked men are bom again as dogs, pigs, or lizards. Suttees never
are bom again, but remain burning for ever in their pits, and come
out at night, wandering about, still burning. Good people after death
are bom again in some better condition in life than formerly. And this
order of things will remain for ever and ever.
When men die, their spirits go to the Sing Bonga, who asks them how
they have lived, and judges them. The wicked he whips with thomy
bushes, and sometimes buries them in great heaps of human ordure,
and after a while sends them back to be bom in this world as dogs, cats,
bullocks, lizards, &c. The good man he sends back to be born a still
greater and better man than he lived before, and all that he had given
away in charity. Sing Bonga shows him heaped up in heaven, and restores
it to him.
Other deities are Nag6 Erra, Desa Uli, Marang Bonga,
and Pangura, his wife — ^village gods ;
Chanala Desum Bonga, whose wife is also Pangtira,
the god of married women ;
Horaten Ko, a god of the roads ;
Mahli Bonga and Chandu Omol ;
Jaer Buri is the wife of Desa Uli.
Pigs and fowls are the chief offerings. Idols are
wholly wanting. There is singing, dancing, and drink-
ing at the festivals, some of which degenerate into orgies.
Of domestic worship there is not a little. Every case of
sickness involves a sacrifice, and an application to the
soothsayer. That the Ho is eminently addicted to super-
stitions is clear. Whether he be more so than the rest of
the rude world is doubtful.
424
THE HO.
The name for a Ho tribe is kili — word for word^ the
Afghan kheiL A man cannot marry a woman of his own
kilt, nor eat with a man of a different one.
TTie Bendkars. — ^The Bendkars form a single tribe con-
sisting of about 300 individuals, their occupancy being
the Bendkar Bum or the Bendkar hills. These lie to
the north of Keonjur and the south of Kolehan.
The Bendkars speak either the Ho or the Uriya; are
half Hindus ; worshippers of Kali ; eat neither pork nor
beef; drink water from a Ho's hand, but will eat with
neither Ho nor Hindu. They bum their dead.
EOL DiALBOIS.
EDKtish.
Singbum Kol.
Sontal.
Bhom^.
Mnndala.
Man
ho
horh
horro
horl
Hair
nb
ub
ub
np
Head
bo
bnho
buho
bohn
Ear
latur
lutur
Intur
Intur
Eye
met
met
met
med
Blood
mjan
mynn
mynn
mynn
Bone
jang
jang
jang
JMlg
Foot
kata
Buptyanga
kata
kata
Hand
ihi
thi
thi
tlhi
Sun
Bin^
singmanal
Bingi
singi
Moon
chanda
chandu
chanda
chanda
Star
epil
ipU
ipil
ipil
Fire
sengel
sengel
eengel
BingU
Water
dah
dah
dah
dha
One
mi
midh
moy
miha
Two
barria
barria
barria
baria
Three
apia
pia
apia
apia
Four
npunia
ponia
npnria
upnia
Five
moya
monegotang
monaya
moria
Six
turia
turingotang
turrya
turia
Seven
iya
iaiigotang
*8ath
•Bath
Fight
irlia
iralgotang
•ath
•ath
Nine
area
aregotang
*nou
*noko
Ten
gelea
gelgotang
•daa
•daago.
As far as I can judge from some short vocabularies from
• Hindu.
THE KHONDS. 4@5
Gondwana^ the affinities of the Kol dialects (of which the
Ho is one) run westwards rather than eastwards, whereas
The Khond dialects extend east and south, in the direc-
tion of Orissa and the Telinga frontier. Fuller and more
elaborate than Lieut. Tickell's paper on the Ho is that of
Captain Macpherson on the Khonds ; or rather on their
religion, their human sacrifices, and their female infanti-
cide. It is the great repertorium for our knowledge of
the superstitions of the so-called aborigines of India.
Pagan we can scarcely call them, inasmuch as, in the
following notices, it is impossible to overlook the exist-
ence of ideas introduced from both ordinary Hinduism
and Parsiism. The chief Khond deity, Bura Pennu,
created for himself a consort whose name was Tari. He
also created the earth. He walked abroad upon the
earth — Tari, his wife, with him. But her affections were
cold, and when Bura asked her to scratch the back of his
neck for him, she refused. There were other causes of
quarrel as well, but this refusal was one of them. And
now Bura determined upon creating beings that should
truly and warmly serve and love him, and, to this end,
he made man. Tari opposed him as much as she could,
but not effectually.
Man, when made^ was pure, good, and healthy. But
Tari envied his purity, goodness, and health, and sowed
the seeds of sin and evil, '* as in a ploughed field."
Physical evil Bura met by antidotes, but moral evil he
left mankind free to either choose or reject. A few
rejected it at once and from the first. To these Bura
said, " Become ye gods ! living for ever, and seeing my
face when ye will, and have power over man, who is no
longer my immediate care." The greater part, however,
chose evil, and had it as mankind has it now.
Tari, then, is the evil, Bura the good principle ; and
4^6 THE KHONDS.
whilst the sect of Tari holds that she will eventually win,
the sect of Bura believes in the final prevalence of good.
Meanwhile, the struggle goes on, the weapons being hail,
and rain, and wind, and lightning, and thunder. The
comet of '43 was watched by the Kols with intense
interest. They took it for a new weapon.
The first class of the minor gods of the Khond Fan-*
theon is the ojBTspring of Bura and Tari, and their offices
(which may be collected in detail from the subjoined list)
are to meet the primary wants of man — wants originating
out of the introduction of evil. There are
Pidzu Pennu = the God of Rain.
Burbi Pennu = the Goddess of New Vegetation and
First Fruits.
Petterri Pennuthe God of Increase and Gains.
Klambo Pennu = the God of the Chase.
Loha Pennu = the Iron God, i. e. the God of War.
Sundi Pennu = the God of Boimdaries. These are
invoked in all ceremonials next to Baru and Tari.
The sinless men, who, having at once and from the
first rejected evil, were taken up by Bura, form the
next class. They are tutelary to the different Khond
tribes.
The third class consists of deities sprung from the gods
of the other two — e. g.
Nadzu Pennu = the Village God.
Soro Pennu = the Hill God.
Jori Pennu = God of Streams.
Idzu Pennu = House-god.
Munda Pennu = Tank God.
Suga Pennu = God of Fountains.
Gossa Pennu = God of Forests.
Kutti Pennu = God of Ravines.
Bhora Pennu = God of New Fruits,
THE KHONBS. 4@7
Dinga Pennu, the Judge of the Dead, is the only one
of the Dii Minores who does not reside on the surface of
the earth, or a little above it ; for the ordinary habit of
the other deities is to move about in atmospheric space, in-
visible to human eyes, but not invisible to the eyes of the
lower animals. Of the spirits, then, Dinga Pennu is one ;
but he is not one of the spirits that walk abroad upon the
earth. He resides in the region beyond the sea, where
the sun rises, upon a rock called Grippa Yalli = the
Leaping Rock. It is smooth and slippery, '^ like a floor
covered with mustard seed," and a black unfathomable
river flows around it. To this the souls of men speed
after their death, and take bold leaps in order to get on
it. Hence its name. Some of these leaps succeed, but
the greater part fail, in which case the limbs may be
broken, or the eyes knocked out by the attempt, and
when this happens, the deformity thereby contracted is
communicated to the body next animated. Upon Grippa
Valli sits Dinga Pennu writing the register of the deeds
of men, and casting-up the account of their good and
evil actions. Should he adjudge immediate beatification,
the soul passes at once to the world of happy spirits.
Should the evil, however, outweigh the good, it is recom-
mitted to earth, and sent to its own proper earthly tribe
to be re-born. Men have four souls. First, there is the
one which is capable of happy communion with Bura.
Secondly, there is one attached to the tribes on earth,
and, in each particular tribe to which it belongs, it is
re-bom as often as it dies. Upon the birth of a child
the priest determines who it is whose soul, having pre-
viously departed in death, has thus returned. Thirdly,
there is a soul that is punished for sins done in the flesh ;
and, fourthly, there is one that dies w^ith the body.
Under such a thorough system of metempsychosis as this
428 THE KHONDS.
is, it is only natural for the different degrees of earthly
prosperity or adversity to be looked upon as so many
degrees of reward or punishment. Hence, the inflictions
most dreaded are neither more nor less than the penalties
of a former course of vice. Of these the most terrible
are poverty, bodily deformity, epilepsy, cowardice, and
the want or loss of male offspring. The chief sins
are—
1. To refuse hospitality.
S. To break an oath or promise.
3. To speak falsely, except to save a guest.
4. To break the pledge of friendship.
5. To break an old law or custom.
6. To commit incest.
7. To contract debts, the payment of which is ruinous
to a man's tribe, the tribe being responsible.
8. To skulk in time of war.
9. To divulge a public secret.
The chief virtues are —
1. To kill a foe in public battle.
2* To die in public battle.
3. To be a priest.
To these add, amongst the sacrificing tribes, —
To be a victim to the Tari.
A strong feeling of pedigree, blood, or tribe, is indi-
cated in this code, and it is no wonder that, in all feast-
ings and ceremonies, a long array of ancestors is invoked.
Neither is the belief wanting tliat the kindest and wor-
thiest of the departed spirits may be prevailed upon to
intercede with Dinga Pennu for a discretionary and mer-
ciful exercise of his formidable jurisdiction.
It has been stated that Dinga Pennu, the judge of the
THE KHONDS. 429
dead^ is the only one of the Khond Dii Minores who
does not inhabit either the earth or the atmospheric space
immediately above it. He does not do this. Neither do
Tari and Bura, but they are no Dii Minores ; but on the
contrary, the parents of the Pantheon. The remainder,
then, are of the earth, but not earthly. They are shaped,
too, as human beings, though their tissues are other than
human. They have bodies of human form, but of ethe-
real texture. And they have also human passions, out of
which legend upon legend has been evolved.
Such is the general view of the Khond divinities.
The general view of their cultus is as remarkable for
what we miss in it as it is for what it displays. There
are no Khond temples. There are no Khond images.
The stream, the grove, the rock, the glen, with the sky
only above them, constitute the Khond shrines. The
Khond priest is called Janni. Of the Janni there are
two classes ; one exclusively priestly, the other free to do
anything but fight.
Deferring, for awhile, the notice of the cultus of the
two primary divinities, Bura and Tari, I lay before the
reader a sketch of the more curious amongst the rituals
for the worship of the divinities of the second and third
orders, — the worship of the beatified and deified beings,
who, choosing good rather than evil, were taken up to
Bura, at the beginning being unfrequent and (probably)
simple.
The first two may be taken together. Pidzu Pennu is
the God of Rain, and Burbi Pennu the Goddess of New
Vegetation. Their functions being easily confused, their
rites are similar. When Pidzu Pennu has to be invoked,
the elders traverse their village and cry ** Vessels Ho ! "
which means that vessels of arrack are to be brought out.
These are carried to the tree or stone sacred to Burbi
430 THE KHONDS.
Pennu. Pidzu Peimu then comes upon the priests when
the offerings are deposited under the tree, and the meet-
ing is seated, and the great Janni, wiUi two minor
assistants, performs the following worship apart.
The Janni first calls on Bura and Tari, and then on
Pidzu Pennu, and all or most of the other gods, who (it
is hoped) will exert their influence with him. Then
follows the prayer, after which they kill the sheep,
and either give its flesh away or leave it on the field.
The liquor they drink. The Janni stays a little longer
than the rest, in case any god may have to question him
concerning any omission or imperfection of the cere-
monial. '* If we have unconsciously omitted to do
honour on this occasion to any god, we pray of the other
deities to intercede for us, and pacify him.*'
The God of Increase and Gain is Petterri Pennu, wor-
shipped at seed-time* A rude car is made of hasket-
work and bamhoo. This the Janni drags to the head of
the tribe that takes precedence, and obtains from him a
little of each kind of seed and some feathers. Having
made a circuit of the village with a like object, the car is
then accompanied to some appointed field by the young
men of the village beating each other and the air with
sticks. The seed thus carried out is the share of the evil
spirits, who are held to be driven out with the car. The
next day a hog is killed, and Petterri Pennu invoked.
After this the hog is eaten ; only, however, by the elders ;
for the young men went afield with the car. They have,
however, their revenge for their exclusion, and waylay
the feasters on their return, pelting them with jungle
fruit. On the third day the head of the chief tribe sows
his seed, after which the rest may do so too,
A stone in the neighbourhood of each village is dedi-
cated to Klambo Pennu, on which the huntsman lays
THE KHONDS. 431
offerings, and also sharpens his axe or arrow^ Klambo
Pennu being extreme to mark any neglect of himself, or
any violation of the rules of the chase.
Loha= Iron, and Loha Pennu, the god of war, is, lite-
rally, the Iron God. In the grove sacred to Loha Pennu
is buried a piece of iron, or an iron weapon. When war
threatens it appears above the surface, emerges further on
the eve of battle, and subsides when peace is made.
Loha Pennu, however, presides only over the wars
between Khonds and enemies other than Khond, or (at
any rate) over those between different tribes* Quarrels
within the tribe he leaves alone. The offering of a fowl,
rice, and arrack, within the precincts of a holy grove and
in the presence of the assembled warriors, precedes the
invocation to Loha Pennu.
And now, when all have snatched up their arms, the
priest commands silence, and recites a hymn, concluding
by the words " Arm and march." They march, and the
priest accompanies them to the enemy's boundary, over
which an arrow is shot, by some one indicated by the
divining sickle. Thirdly, a branch of some tree growing
on the enemy's soil is cut off, and carried away to the spot
where the exsertion of the iron indicates the invisible pre-
sence of Loha Pennu. Here it is clothed like one of the
enemy, and, with certain invocations, thrown down on the
symbol or shrine of the divinity. The enemy has full
time given him for the completion of similar rites.
The declaration, then, of a Khond war is a matter of
no small form and ceremony. So, also, are the overtures
for peace and the ratifications of treaties. When one of
the two belligerent parties is weary of war, the interven-
tion of some friendly or neutral tribe is requested. If
this be successful, a kind of mixed commission of two old
men on each side is appointed in order to ascertain the
432 THE KHONDS.
will of Loha Pennu as indicated by certain divinations.
In a basket of rice an arrow is placed upright. If it
remain so, war proceeds. If it slant, the ceremonies that
bring in peace are continued. The population makes a
procession. The priest, with rice and two eggs, calls on
Loha Pennu. They now fill a dish with hog's fat, and
place a cotton wick in it. They light this, and if the
flame be straight, the augury is for war; if not, for
peace.
The peace-dance is one of long duration, and frantic
excitement.
Sundi Pennu, the God of Boundaries, may be invoked
by two hostile parties on the same occasion, inasmuch as,
ex vi termini, he is common to them both. He may not^
however, be so invoked on the same day. Hence, when a
quarrel as to boundaries arises, there must be at least two
days before the fighting begins, for (as has been seen in the
case of Loha Pennu) it is part and parcel of the military
code of the Khonds for each belligerent to allow the
other time for his ceremonies.
Of the ceremonials for the divinides of. the third class
the two selected for notice are those for
1. The Village God, Nadzu Pennu.
2. The God of Fountains, Sugu (or Sidruju) Pennu.
A stone under a cotton tree is the place of worship for
Nadzu Pennu. The tree is planted when the village is
founded, and when the village is founded the priest says
to the tree, " I bring you by order of Bura Pennu, who
commanded us to build the village, as did also and— f
and " (naming some ten or twelve divinities).
The people feast and the tree is planted,
A day or two afterwards the Janni meets the villagers
again, when an old man, stupid and clownish for the
occasion, gets up, with him, the following dialogue ; —
THE KHONDS. 433
Old man. — What, I pray yon, may be the meaning of the planting of
this stick 1
Janni, — If yon don't know, friend, yon must assuredly be a g^at block
— a mere jungle-stick, yourself. And how, 0 friend block, may I ask,
did you find legs to bring you hither] You must have acquired them in
some wonderful way. But since you are come to us, I will enlighten you,
and make a man of you. Enow, then, that when Boora Fennu first
ordained that villages should exist, he gave us the tree which yon now see
planted, for a model in all these respects. That our families should
spread like the branches of this great tree, strongly and widely. That
our women should resemble its lovely and glowing red flowers. That, as
the birds are attracted by the love of those sweet flowers, so the youths
of neighbouring tribes should come, attracted by our young daughters.
That, as of the flowers of this tree not one falls barren, but all unblighted
bear fruit, so should it be with our women. That our sons should, in
their youth, be rough, sharp, and keen, like the young branches of this
tree, which are covered with thorns ; but that, as those thorns disappear
with age, so should they become smooth and cool when youth is past
And lastly, this tree is given us as an example that we should live as
long as it, a most long-lived tree. Boora Pennu thus ordained, and gave
us this model tree.
Old man. — And for what purpose, I pray, is this hog (or buffalo, as the
case may be) ?
t/a»nt.— One places things which are of value on a stand. We place
flesh upon leaves, rice in vessels of earth or of metal ; a man rests upon
a couch ; and this animal is an offering upon which the commands of
the deity may rest.
The victim is then killed^ and some of its dung mixed
with straw and put on the tree-top.
When a spring dries up no divinity is the object of
more earnest prayer than Sugu (or Sidruju) Pennu, the
God of Fountains. Failing in his ordinary invocations,
the Janni takes the cocoon of a silkworm, empties it, and,
at the dead of night, repairs, at the risk of his life, to
some spring, situate in a dijSerent village, or belonging to
other proprietors, and tries to wile away its waters to his
own dried-up water-course. To this intent he mutters
prayers or spells, fills the cocoon, and walks back. At
the well which has gone dry, the elders of the village
await him — the elders, but no women or youths. The
scanty contents of the cocoon are now poured into it, and
VOL. II. F F
434 THE KHONDS.
a sheep or a hog is sacrificed to Sugu Pennu. If all goes
favourably a stream of water will have passed from the
full well to the empty one, underground, and along the
line that the priest took in his way back.
Salo = a cattle-pen, and kallo is the name of a certain
spirituous liquor. Hence, the Salo-kallo is the liquor
prepared in the cattle-pen, or the Feast of the Cattle-pen-
liquor. It is a great yearly festival, and Bura Pennu is
the divinity in whose honour it is held. Every branch of
every tribe, every member of every village celebrates it,
and it is at the time of the rice-harvest that such cele*
bration takes place. It lasts five days ; during which the
celebrators eat freely, and over-freely, of the kennab,
which is fermented rice, with intoxicating, stimulant, or
narcotic properties. The Salo-kallo is a period of great
licence. The most serious part of it consists in the re-
citation by the Janni of the doctrines or legends of the
Khond Cosmogony, the origin of Evil, the Antagonism
of Tari and Bura, &c. A hog is the sacrifice.
The next great festival in honour of Bura is the Jakri,
or Dragging; the origin whereof is as follows: —
The woman, Umbally Bylee, appeared as a tiger, and kiUed game every
other day, and all ate of it. There was at that time a fight between the
people of Kotrika and those of Kundika. But it was private strife,
carried on in womanish fashion, before the art of taking life and that of
public battle were known. Umballj Bylee said, " I will kill any one of
your enemies you please." They said to her, ''Kill so and so;** and she
went as a Mleepa tiger, and killed him. Then the people placed un-
bounded faith in her, and said to her, " Teach us this new knowledge, and
show us the art of killing." She replied, '* I will teach you ; but thence-
forward you must do one thing." And she accordingly taught the art of
Mleepa to a few, so that they practised it ; and she then said, " Now you
must worship me by the sacrifice of men, or the earth shall sink beneath
your feet, and water shall rise in its place, and I will abandon you." The
earth heaved terribly— as some think, from the wrath of Boora Pennu ;
some, in obedience to the power of the Earth Goddess. Fear filled the
minds of all, and, as directed, they set up a pole beyond the village, and
brought human victims, and all was prepared for the sacrifice. But now
TlIK KHONDS. 435
tiie God of Light sent a god bearing a mountain, who straightway buried
Umbally By lee therewith, and dragged forth a buffalo from the jungle
and said, " Liberate the man, and sacrifice the buffalo. I will teach you
the art of Mleepa in eyery form." And he taught that art, and the art
of public war.
So, the buffalo having been dragged from the jungle,
the festival took the name of the Dragging.
But ^hat is Mleepa ? Mleepa is a kind of tiger.
The ordinary animal is believed by the Khonds to be
good rather than bad, a friend rather than an enemy. This
is because when he hunts down some other wild animal,
and eats only a part of it, the Khond, who may find the
remainder, has the benefit of its predaceous propensities.
It is only when it is other than an ordinary animal that
the tiger kills men ; when it is either a tigriform man, or,
perhaps, even Tari herself metamorphosed. Tigers of this
kind are Mleepa tigers.
Tari is malevolent and must be propitiated, and in the
necessity of appeasing an evil-minded, rather than in the
spontaneity of feeling that delights in doing homage to a
kind being, lies the chief difference between the worship
of Tari and Bura. In other respects, what applies to the
one applies to the other also. The sect of Tari, like that
of Bura, believes that the latter has provided remedies
for the consequences of the introduction of evil ; but it
holds that these remedies are only partial, incomplete, and
insufficient, that although the soul after death may enjoy
happiness under Bura, the body during life may be sorely
afflicted by the ill-nature of Tari.
Such earthly good as Tari permits is on the express
condition of her being worshipped with human sacrifices,
upon which she feeds. The sacrifices are made periodi-
cally and publicly, also on certain occasions by indi-
viduals. The tribe, tlie sub tribe, the village, may offer
them. At the periodical sacrifices each head of a family
F F 2
4^ THE KHONDS.
procures a shred of the human flesh. The victims are
provided hy the trihe, each memher contributing accord-
ing to his means. When special occasions demand a
special victim, whoever furnishes it receives its value, and
is exempted from contribution for the next time of
offering. Should an individual lose (say) a child, carried
off by a tiger, the tiger will be held to have been Tari, and
the priest will be invoked. After certain formulas he will
declare that Tari must be pacified, and the father will bind
himself to find a victim within the year*-a victim called
Tokkiy or Keddi, by the Khonds themselves, Meriah by the
Oriyas. The Tokki, to be acceptable, must be the full
and unimpeached property of the ojSerer, acquired by
purchase. It is better still if his father has been a victim
before him, or if he has been devoted to the gods as a child.
The purchase of victims is made from the men of one of
two casts, the Panwa (or Dombanga) and the Gahinda,
some of such wretches being attached to each village.
They procure them by kidnapping from the Hindus.
Sometimes they sell their own o£&pring. A long interval
may elapse between the purchase of a victim and its im»
molation.
The Tokki (or Keddt), being brought blindfold to the
village for which he is destined to become the oiSering, is
lodged with its head-man, in fetters if an adult, at liberty
if a child, and here he is honoured as a being con*
secrated and hallowed, and, on the whole, scarcely un-
happy. Everyone welcomes him, and should he grow,
and have intercourse with any of the village females, the
father or husband is only too thankful for the distinction.
Sometimes a female, herself a victim, is specifically awarded
to him, along with a portion of land and stock. The con-
dition of the parents is now inherited by the offspring, and
the children of such unions are liable to be sacrificed, when
THE KHONDS. 437
called, which is not always. Escape is rare, nothing
being more sedulously inculcated on the victim than the
conviction that his death will bring him to immediate hap-
piness, his flight to certain and well-deserved misfortune.
And now the time of oblation comes on. The victim,
hitherto unshorn, has his hair cut off, and the village per-
forms the ceremony called bringa* By this they make
the vow that a sacrifice shall be effected. All wash their
clothes and go out of the village, headed by the priest,
who invokes Tari.
The first day and night of the festival thus horribly
solemnized is devoted to drunkenness, frantic dances, and
all kinds of impure excitement, excitement which it is
deemed to be impious to resist. Upon the second
morning the victim is led forth to some grove solemn and
shaded, and never violated by the axe, and to some
stream sacred because it flows through it. Such are the
spots that so many superstitions love and choose ; choose
for the most unholy rites. A post is now sunk in the
ground, and the victim fastened to it, anointed with oil
and ghee, daubed with turmeric, adorned with flowers.
So he remains till the third morning, when a little milk
and sago is given him. At noon the barbarities by
which he is deprived of life begin. His limbs are
broken, for, as he must die unbound, he must also be
prevented from escaping. The ritual varies — the follow-
ing, the fullest, in the possession of Captain Macpherson,
is given in extenso, notwithstanding its length.
The Priests Invocation,
0 Tari Pennn ! when we omitted to gratify yoa with your desired food,
you forgot kindness to us. We possess but little and uncertain wealth.
Increase it, and we shall be able often to repeat this rite. We do not
excuse our fault. Do you forgive it, and prevent it in future by giving
us increased wealth. We here present to you your food. Let our houses
be so filled with the noise of children that our voices cannot be heard by
4'38 THE KHONDS.
those withoat. Let our cattle be bo numerous that neither fish, frog, nor
worm may live in the drinking ponds beneath their trampling feet Let oar
cattle so crowd our pastures that no vacant spot shall be visible to those
who look at them from afar. Let our folds be so filled with the soil of
our sheep that we may dig in them as deep as a man*s height without
meeting a stone. Let our swine so abound that our home fields shall
need no ploughs but their rooting snouts. Let oar poultry be so nume-
rous as to hide the thatch of our houses. Let the stones at our fountains
be worn hollow by the multitude of our brass vessels. Let our children
have it but for a tradition that in the days of their forefathers there were
tigers and snakes. Let us have but one care, the yearly enlargement of
our houses to store our increasing wealth. Then we shall multiply your
rites. We know that this is your desire. Give us increase of wealth,
and we will give you increase of worship.
After this each individual present asks for what he
wishes ; and the priest continues : —
Umbally Bylee went to cut vegetables with a hook. She cut her fin-
ger. The earth was then soft mud; but when the blood-drops fell it
became firm. She said, " Behold the good change ! cut up my body to
complete it !** The people answered, " If we spUl our own blood we shall
have no descendants. We will obtain victims elsewhere. Will not the
Dombo and the Gahi sell their children when in distress) and shall we
not give our wealth for themT' and they prayed thus : —
"May the gods send the exhausted Dombo, his feet pierced with
thorns, to our door ! May the gods give us wealth.**
Their prayer was answered. They procured and sacrificed a victim.
The whole earth became firm, and they obtained increase of wealth.
The next year many victims came for sale, and the people thanked the
gods, saying, " You have sent us victims, and have given us wealth."
Thenceforward the world has been happy and rich, both in the portion
which belongs to the Ehonds, and the portion which belongs to Bajahs.
And society, with its relations of father and mother, and wife and
child, and the bonds between ruler and subject arose. And there came
into use cows, bullocks, and bufialoes, sheep, and poultry. Then also
came into use the trees and the hills, and the pastures and grass, and irri-
gated and dry fields, and the seeds suitable to the hills and to the valleys,
and iron and ploughshares, and arrows and axes, and the juice of the
palm-tree, and love between the sons and daughters of the people,
making new households. In this manner did the necessity for the rite
of sacrifice arise.
Then, also, did hunting begin. A man brought in a rat, a snake, and
a lizard, and inquired if they were fit to eat. Then the Earth Goddess
came and rested on the Janni, and said to him, " Give names to all the
wild animals, distinguishing those that are fit and those that are unfit
THE KHONDS. 439
for nse, and let men go to the Jungles and the hills, and kill the aambur
and spotted deer, and all other game, with arrows and with poison." And
men went to hunt.
While hunting, they one day found the people of Darungabadi and
Laddabarri (tribes of the Souradah Zemindary, adjacent to Goomsur,
which do not offer human sacrifices) offering sacrifice. Their many
curved axes opened the bowels of the victims, which flowed out. They
who went to the hunt said, " This ceremony is ill-performed. The god-
dess will not remain with you.'' And the goddess left these awkward
sacrificers, and came with our ancestors. These people now cut trees
only. The deity preferred the sacrifice at the hands of our forefathers,
and thenceforth the whole burden of the worship of the world has lain
upon us, and we now discharge it.
Tari Pennu in this way came with our ancestors. But they at first
knew only the form of worship necessary for themselves, not that neces-
sary for the whole world. And there was still much fear; and there
were but few children, and there were deadly snakes and tigers, and
thorns piercing the feet. They then called upon the Janni, to inquire
the will of the goddess, by the suspended sickle. He said, " We practise
the rite as it was first instituted, worshipping Ihe first gods. What fault,
what sin is oursi" The goddess replied, " In a certain month, wash your
garments with ashes, or with stones; make kenna; purchase a child;
feed him in every house ; pour oil on him and on his garments, and ask
for his spittle; take him into the plain, when the Earth Qoddess demands
him; let the Janni set him up; call all the world; let friendship reign;
call upon the names of the first people ; cut the victim in pieces ; let
each man place a shred of the flesh in his fields, in his grain store, and
in his yard, and then kill a buffalo for food, and give a feast, with drink-
ing and dancing to all. Then see how many children will be bom to
you, how much game will be yours, what crops, how few shall die. All
things will become right."
We obeyed the goddess, and assembled the people. Then the victim
child wept, and reviled, and uttered curses. All the people rejoiced,
except those with whom the child had dwelt, and the Janni. They were
overwhelmed with grief; their sorrows prevailed entirely over their
expectations of benefit, and they did not give either their minds or their
faith to the gods. " The world," said they, " rejoices, we are filled with
despair;" and they demanded of the deity, "Vfhj hate you instituted
this miserable heart-rending rite V Then the Earth Qoddess came again
and rested upon the Janni, and said, "Away with this grief. Your answer
is this : when the victim shall weep, say to him. Blame not us, blame
your parents who sold yon. What fault is ours? The Earth Goddess
demands a sacrifice. It is necessary to the world. The tiger begins to
rage, the snake to poison, fevers and every pain afflict the people ; shall
you alone be exempt from evil ) When you shall have given repose to
the world, you will become a god, by the will of the gods."
440 THE KHONDS.
The victim answers : —
Hare yon no enemies, no vile and useless child, no debtor to another
tribe who compels you for his debts to sell your lands ; no coward who in
time of battle skulks with another tribe) Have you none of these to
seek out and sacrifice?
Tlit Janni, — We have acted upon quite different views. We did not
kidnap you on the road, nor while gathering sticks in the jungle, nor
when at play. The souls of those whom you would have us sacrifice can
never become gods. They are only fit to perish by epilepsy, &lling in
the fire, or by ulcers, or other dread diseases. Such sacrifices would be of
no avail. To obtain you, we cleared the hill and the jungle, fearless of
the tiger and the snake. We stinted ourselves to fill your parents, and
gave them our brass vessels ; and they gave you to us as freely as one
gives light from a fire. Blame them ! Blame them !
The Victim, — And did I share the price which my parents received t
Did I agree to the sale ? Ton now tell me this. No one remembers his
mother's womb, nor the taste of his mother^s milk ; and I considered yoa
my parents. Where there was delicate food in the village, I was fed.
When the child of any one suffered, he grieved ,* but if I suffered, the
whole village grieved. When did you conceive this fraud, this wicked-
ness to destroy me 1 Tou, O my father, and you, — ^and you, — and you, —
0 my fathers I do not destroy me.
The MuUickoy or chief of the village in which the vic-
tim was kept, or his representive, now says :—
This usage is delivered down to us from the first people of the first
time. They practised it. The people of the middle time omitted it.
The earth became soft An order re-established the rite. Oh, child, we
must destroy you. Forgive us. Tou will become a god.
The Victim, — Of this your intention I knew nothing ; I thought I was
to pass my life with you. I assisted to build houses and to clear fielda
for my children. See 1 there are the palm-trees I planted. There is the
mowa tree I planted. There is the public building on which I laboured
— its palings still white in your sight. I planted the tobacco which you
are now eating. Look behind you 1 The cows and the sheep which I
have tended look lovingly at me. All this time you gave me no hint of
my intended fiikte. I toiled with you at every work with my whole mind.
Had I known of this doom, I had still toiled, but with different feelings.
Let the whole burden of my soul's grief, as I remember the past, lie upon
you.
The, Chirf. — You are about to become a god. We shall profit by your
fate. We cannot argue with you. Do you not recollect that, when your
father came to claim your uncompleted price, you snatched up a shining
brass vessel; that we said, *' That is your father's," and you threw it at
him, and ran away amongst the sheep 1 Do you not recollect the day on
THE KHONDS. 4*1
whicli we cut your hair, devoting you to sacrifice 1 And do yon not recol-
lect that when many were sick, and the Janni brought the divining
sickle, he declared "The earth demands a victim 1**
Then several persons around say, *' I should have told
you^ and I, and I ;*' and several give answers such as *' I
thought of our hard labour to acquire you, which had
been wasted, had you escaped from us ;" and, — " You
might have known all well."
Tfie Victim. — It is true I did observe something of this ; but your
aged mothers, and your wives, and your beautiful children, my brothers
and sisters, assured me that you were humane, and would never kill one
so useful and so beautiful as L " They wiU rather," said your mothers
and children, " remembering your acts and your ways, sell these fields,
and these trees, and that tobacco, to procure a substitute." This I be-
lieved, and I was happy and laboured with you.
The Chirf, — We cannot satisfy you. Ask your fitther, who is present.
I satisfied him with my favourite cattle, my valuable brass vessels, and
my sheep, and with silken and woollen cloths, and axes. A bow and
arrows, not four days old, I gave to his fancy. Your parents, forgetting
your beauty, forgetting the pleasure of cherishing you, turned their hearts
to my cattle and my brass vessels, and gave you away. Upbraid them.
Heap imprecations upon them. We will curse them with you, imprecat-
ing upon them — that all their children may be similarly sacrificed. That
they may lose, within the year, the price for which they sold you. That
they may have a miserable and forlorn old age, lingering childless and
unfed. That when they die in their empty house, there may be no one
to inform the village for two days, so that, when they are carried out to
be burned, all shall hold their nostrils. That their own souls may after-
wards animate victims given to hard-hearted men, who will not even
answer their death-plaints consolingly. Curse them thus, and we will
curse them with you.
The victim will now turn to the Janni, saying : —
And why did you conceal my fate 1 When I dwelt with the Mullicko,
like a flower, were you blind, or dumb, or how were you possessed, that
you never said, ** Why do you cherish, so lovingly, this child — this child
who must die for the world 1" Then had I known my doom and leapt
from a precipice and died. Your reason for concealment— living as yon
do apart from men, is— that you thought of yourself. " I am great The
whole world attends on my miniBtrations." But, world, look upon him 1
Wliat miscreant eyes i What a villainous head, with hair like a sumbully
tree t And see how enraged he is ! What a jabber he makes 1 What a
body he has got, starved upon worship which depends upon men's griefii 1
442 THE RHONDS.
— A body anointed with spittle for oil ! Look, O world ! Look, and
tell ! See, how he comes at me, leaping like a toad I
The Janni replies : —
Child ! why speak thus) I am the Mend of the gods; the first in
their sight. Listen to me. I did not persuade 3'^our father or your
mother to sell you. I did not desire the Mulliekos to sell their fields to
acquire your price. Your parents sold you. These Mulliekos boagfai
you. They consulted mo. Inquiring, "How may this child become
blessed?" The hour is not yet over. When it is past how grateful will
you be to me I You, as a god, will gratefully approve and honour me.
ThiS Victim. — My father begot me ; the Mulliekos bought me, my life
is devoted, and all will profit by my death. But yon, O Janni 1 who
make nothing of my sufferings, take to yourself all the virtue of my
sacrifice. You shall, however, in no respect profit by it.
The Janni, — The Deity created the world, and everything that lives ;
and I am his minister and representative. Gk>d made you, the Mullicko
bought yon, and I sacrifice you. The virtue of your death ia not yonn»
but mine ; but it will be attributed to you through me.
Tlie Victim, — My curse be upon the man who, while he did not share
in my price, is first at my death. Ijet the world ever be upon one side
while he is on the other. Let him, destitute and without stored food,
hope to live only through the distresses of others. Let him be the
poorest wretch alive. Let his wife and children think him fouL I am
dying. I call upon all — upon those who bought me, on those whose food
I have eaten, on those who are strangers here, on all who will now share
my fiesh— let all curse the Janni to the gods 1
The Janni. — Dying creature, do you contend with me 1 I shall not
allow you a place among the gods.
The Victim.— Ir dying I shall become a god, then will you know whom
you serve. Now do your will on me.
The cruelties of the absolute immolation are now
drawing nearer and nearer still, and, in a few minutes^
the victim will be torn to pieces, quivering with life, by
the fanatic and maddened crowd around him. The exact
spot for the sacrifice has been determined beforehand, t. e.
the night previous, and by a strange kind of divination.
A number of persons are sent in the dark with sticks in
their hands, and with orders to probe and poke some
portion of the ground about the village in order to find a
crack or opening, for such is the spot indicated by the
Earth Goddess as the exact locality for the sacrifice. This
THE KHONDS. 443
being founds a short post is fixed in it, in the morning.
Round this they place four larger ones, and in the middle
the victim. The arm of a growing tree is now riven half-
way down, and the victim, forced into the cleft, like
Milo, is left for it to close on him ; the natural elasticity
of the timber being assisted by ropes round its open ex-
tremity. These the priest, with his assistants, draws
tighter and tighter. He then wounds the victim
slightly with an axe, and leaves him to the crowd. They
throw themselves on him, and strip the flesh from the
extremities and trunk, leaving the head and intestines un-
touched.
Such are the usual rites ; subject, however, to vari-
ations in the way of detail. In one district the victim is
slowly burnt to death, with horrible cruelties besides. A
low stage with a roof-like ridge is raised, and the victim
fastened to it. Fire is then applied in such a manner as
to make him writhe and struggle up and down the two
slopes alternately. The more tears he sheds the more
abundantly will Tari allow a supply of rain. The next
day he is cut to pieces.
None but the worshipper can approach the victim.
Strong parties guard his remains against wild beasts the
night after the sacrifice, and, the next day, the chief and
priest consume them along with the whole carcase of a
sheep, on a funeral pile. The ashes are scattered over
the fields, or made into a paste, and plastered over the
bams and granaries.
Two formalities are indispensable : —
1. To the father or seller of the victim, as the case
may be, a dkulj is given. This is a bullock, equivalent to
a payment in full satisfaction of all demands.
S. A bullock is sacrificed and made a feast of, with the
following prayer to Tari : —
444 THE KHONDS.
0 Taii Peana ! You haye afflicted ub greatly ; have brought death to
onr children and our bullocks, and failure to our com ; — hare afflicted na
in every way. But we do not complain of this. It ia your desire only to
compel u8 to perform your due ritea, and then to raise up and enrich
U8. We were anciently enriched by this rite ; all around us are great
from it ; therefore, by our cattle, our flocks, our pigs, and our grain, we
procured a yictim and offered a sacrifice. Do you now enrich ns. Let
our herds be so numerous that they cannot be housed ; let children so
abound that the care of them shall overcome their parents — as shall be seen
by their burned hands ; let our heads ever strike against brass pots innume-
rable hanging from our roo& ; let the rats form their nests of shreds of scar-
let cloth and silk ; let all the kites in the country be seen in the trees of
our village, from beasts being killed there every day. We are ignorant of
what it is good to ask for. You know what is good for us. Give it to us.
When the victim has been cut to pieces, the deputies,
who have been sent from the several villages to receive a
shred of its flesh, return home. At home, the few who
have remained behind, keep fast till their arrival. The
bearer of the flesh rolls it up in the leaf of the guglut
tree, and, when he gets near the village, lays it on a
cushion of grass, and deposits it in the place of the
public meetings. He then divides and subdivides it
amongst the heads of families, saying : —
0 Tari Pennn ! our village offered such a person as a sacrifice, and
divided the flesh among all the people in honour of the gods. Now, such a
village has offered such a one, and has sent us flesh for you. Be not dis-
pleased with the quantity, we conld only g^ve them as much. If yon wiU
give ns wealth we will repeat the rite.
Other formulas and feas tings defer the full completion
of the ceremony until the fourth day from the return of
the Janni and his distribution of the flesh. A bufialo is
then slaughtered and feasted on, its inedible parts being
left for the spirit of the victim (Tokki, Keddi, or
Meriah). Nor is this all. A year afterwards a hog is
sacrificed to Tari Pennu with this invocation : " O Tari
Pennu ! up to this time we have been engaged in your
worship, which we commenced a year ago. Now the
rites are completed. Let us receive the benefit.**
THE KHONDS. 445
The practice of female infanticide amongst the Khond
tribes is at least as common as that of human sacrifices ;
indeed, there is no part of the population where it is
utterly unknown and unpractised. At the same time
some sections of the population are more infanticidal
than others. Of these the most conspicuous are certain
of the sect of Bura — ^not of Tari, as we might at first
expect. To such an extent is the practice carried among
the more extreme adopters of it, that, except when a
mother's first child is a girl, no female infant is allowed
to live. So deadly is the efiect of this pernicious custom
that villages of more than a hundred houses may occa-
sionally be seen without a single female child.
The religious view of the practice is as follows : — Bura
found so little comfort in his own wife, Tari, that he came
to the conclusion that women were only to be tolerated
as necessary evils, and gave his instruction, advice, or
injunctions to mankind accordingly. He gave them^ in
short, an express admonition to bring up as many females
as were necessary for the good of society, and no more.
Other reasons lie in the belief that the amount of soul
assigned by Bura to a given generation is limited, and
that the less there is for women the more there is for men.
Is it because the social position of the woman is un-
naturally low diat this practice of female infanticide thus
predominates? By no means. So far from the con-
dition of Khond females being bad, or even indifferent, the
very reverse is the case. They have many and high
privileges, privileges which are believed to be the highest
and most numerous amongst the tribes that most espe-
cially practise infanticide.
One of these privileges is a very near approach of
polyandria. Whilst infidelity on the part of a married
man is punished by fines and other penalties, little or
446 THE KHONDS.
no constancy is required on the part of the wife. A
wife^ too, may quit her husband, and take another, at
any time, except when she is enceinte^ within a year of
her marriage, or within a year of the birth of a child.
Nor is this all ; her property goes with her, being re-
claimed by her father. But the tribe at large is answer-
able for the debts of its individual members. Hence,
when wiyes are capricious the community suffers.
'* To any man but a rich and powerful chief, who is able
to make large and sudden restitutions, and to his tribe, a
married daughter is a curse. By the death of our female
infants before they see the light, the lives of men without
number are saved, and we live in comparative peace."
The Sours. — Long as have been the notices of the Kols
and Khonds, they are but extracts from still more elabo-
rate descriptions. Of the Sours I can give no such
accounts, having no data of equal or even approximate
magnitude to refer to. As a general rule, they are said
to form the third or (counting the Uraon and Bajma-
halis) the fourth section of one great class, the so-called
aborigines of the eastern Ghauts, as opposed to the Bhils
and Kols of the west, and the Gronds of the centre.
With these they, in all probability, agree in most of the
points wherein they differ from the ordinary Hindu.
Their area begins where that of the Khonds ends, and is
extended as far south as the Pennaur — there or there-
abouts. It is succeeded by that of
The Chenchwars — an allied population, lying along the
mountains that run southward, between the Kistna and
the Pennaur.
In one important respect both the Sours and the
Chenchwars differ from the Khonds, Kol, and Uraon.
They lie within the true Tamul area, and, so doing, pre-
sent no notable contrast, in the way of language, to the
THE KHONDS.
447
populations around them. Their languages arc represented
by the following lists, in which the Chentsu (word for word
Chenchwar) presents the most Hindu forms — indeed, as
far as the following list is evidence, it. is actually Hindi.
English.
Khond.
Savara.
Gadaha.
Yernkala.
Clientsa.
Man
lokka
mandra
lokka
mumisam
manus
Head
tlavu
abobumu
bo
talayi
mund
Eye
kannuka
amu
oUo
Bupan
aycnkhi
Ear
kirru
luv
nintiri
Boyi
kan
Mouth
Budda
amnka
tummd
vayi
xnu
TooUi
ahama
ajagna
ginna
pallam
dat
Blood
rakko
miyamo
yignam
regam
Uhu
Bone
pasa
ajagna
vondramgoyi
yamaka
had
Band
kiy'u
asi
titti
ky
hat
Foot
vcBtaxna
%ii
adugesananu
keru
khoju
I>ay
vujjagn
tamba
simmya
pammaru
din
Sky
mudengi
agasa
konda
menu
sarg
Sun
bela
Yuyu
aingi
beruli
bcia
Moon
layidi
vonga
arke
tarra
xnasu
Star
sukala
tute
tsukka
tsukka
bhudaka
Fire
nade
togo
Bungol
nerupu
agin
Biver
jodi
nayi
roggilu
aru
ladi
Stane
viddi
aregna
bird
kellu
paththar
Tree
xnranu
anebagna
sunabbo
chede
marom
gaU
One
rondi
aboy
y ok ail
vondu
•yek
Two
jodeka
bagu
rendu
rendu
•duyl
Three
tinigota
yagi
mudu
mume
•tin
Four
sari
vonji
nalugu
nalu
• char
Five
panchu
mollayi
ayidu
anju
• panch
Six
kudni
am
aru
• chhe
Seven
*Bata
guUi
yedu
yegu
•sat
Eight
«ata
tamuji
yenimide
yettu
•ath
Nine
* Dogatta
tinji
tommidi
ombadu
•lo
Ten
• d080
galliji
pade
pottu
• das.
As for the Kol forms of speech, they seem to extend
considerably towards the west, inasmuch as more than one
of the dialects from Gondwana, and (as such), eo nomine^
Gond is decidedly Kol. Such are the Cur and Chunuh
Hindi.
448 THE GONDS.
specimens. The details, however, of the line of demar*
cation are obscure.
The Gonds. — Mutatis mutandiSy what applies to the
Sours and Chenchwars applies to the Gonds — they are
Kol, Khond, or Uraon in the points wherein they most
especially differ from the Hindus. Of the details of
their creed we know but little. Of the poetry or legend
the following is a sample : —
Sandtnimje^s Seng.
Sandsunyee's song hear, 0 Father.
Six wives he took, Sing-Baba not bom,
Seventh wife took, by her Sing-Baba waa conceived.
Of her pregnancy Father was not informed.
Departed Father, his kinsfolk being assembled together.
For this reason to some one it happened to offer a sacrifice to a €k>d.
Hereupon Sing-Baba began to be bom.
Small wife was sleeping, the other six were there.
Said they, gndn basket's mouth into her head let us introduce.
In our house child is bom.
So said, so done, into month her head introduced.
And Sing-Baba was bom.
Sing-Baba having taken up, into bufhloe's stable threw.
And a puppy instead placed.
And said, a puppy is bom.
A puppy having brought forth.
Crows to frighten they set her,
Sing-Baba, buffaloes said, that him let none hurt,
Nor blow strike, and into his mouth milk having poured him suckled.
The six wives said, let us go and see him, is he living or deadi
Sing-Baba was playing.
Thence indeed having taken him into cows' stable threw.
The cows said Sing-Baba let no one hurt
Or blow strike, into his mouth milk pouring him suckled.
Therefore information they sent to seek, is he living or dead 1
Sing-Baba was playing.
Thence having taken well into threw.
On the third day having gone to see, is he living or dead ?
Sing-Baba there indeed was playing.
Thence indeed having taken, tiger's path upon.
They threw him, tiger's female and male were coming;
Sing-Baba's cries they heard.
Tigress compassion felt, " my child it is."
THE SONG OF SAMSUMJF. 449
Haying said so, took him away. Their den came to and their pups
from apart act,
Meat bringing their pups to feed
Their pups weaning, with milk Sing-Baba suckled,
So continuing to do, Sing-Baba grew up.
One day his mother her whelps
Together brought, and to whelps began to say
Tourselves among together stay, fight not.
The third day Sing-Baba said, my body is naked
To me a dhoty, dohnr, and pugrey give.
She going Bazar road seated remained.
A muslin-maker and cloth-maker that way came
Having got up ran, they their bundles haying thrown away fled,
She having taken up brought Sing-Baba took and put on
And his mother's feet kissed,
Staying staid then one day indeed began to say
That to me a bow give. She again went
Seated remained a sepoy armed with a bow that way came.
She ran having cried out. Bow thrown away, he fled.
She having it came and to Sing-Baba gave ;
Sing-Baba big brother little brother together played.
Birds shot big brother little brother to them gave to eat
So continuing to do, Sandsumji home returned with his Mends
And Sandsumji began to say has any one become inspired, let him
arise ,*
God into any one not entered? Then Sing-Baba iiispiration received.
Sing-Baba was coming, big brother little brother together were
Coming came, in the midst was a brihman
Him Sing-Baba required to get up, he refused ;
Big brother became angry, the br&hman eat up
Sing-Baba the image took up.
All began to say, that you who are you 1
He said that you the bufialoes and cows ask
And to his little brother said, mother go and call.
He ran and called.
These three species before the punchait assembled came.
Then Sing-Baba said that them question,
From them they asked, this one who is hel
First the buffitloes said this Sandsumjee's son is.
They said, you how understand ? These said
In our house two days staid. How did he remain 1
These said thy six wives having taken into our house to kill threw
And there not injured, then cow's house into threw
From these asked, How into your house Baba came 1
The cows said, At our house two days stayed.
These six wives thence having taken into well threw,
VOL. TI. O G
450 THE KOLS, ETC.
There indeed not injared, thence taking I know not where took.
Sing^Baba they questioned that thence yon went where ?
He 8aid of my mother ask.
They mother-tigreeB asked
Yon where found ) She said
On my road these six wives threw away 1
I having taken brought, my whelps weaning.
Milk him suckled and here there with prey
My young fed. All-understood, tigress'
Feet embraced, and her a God established.
And these six wives to this Tigress gave.
That day Sing-Baba illustrious became
And Tigress indeed as a God established became.
Of Sandsumjee Baba this song is.
Of Bhirry bamboo jungle Bhirri the song is.
In the original the first ten lines run thus : —
Sandsumjee-na s6ka kuy&t, ro B&b&n,
Sark ask kitur, Sing-Baban hiU6 piittfir,
Yirr&n ask kitiir, awit6 Sing-B4b4n autarietiir.
Aulir y6tana Baban p6nwakd.
Taksit6n Baban, tunwa pari sumpt6 ki&16
Barik6 bouke aie penk putta sika.
Hikkc Sing-Baban putti-14-ai latur.
Loro askna sowati, sar(in mutta.
Awf tun, koti aun&t4 tulla diirissf , " assun inga chawa putti,"
Ud it, ah6 kint ann&t6 tullatiin durritiin.
The Kol or Kvlis of Gujerat. — These differ from the
Ghondsy Sec, in speaking a language, that (in the pre-
sent state of opinion) is held to agree with the Hindi
rather than the Tamul ; in other words, they are tribes
who, from being in closer contact with the Gujerati, and
Mahratta Hindus, have either unlearned their own tongue,
or adopted so many Hindi words as to disguise it. Mis-
cellaneous notices concerning them have already been
given.
The Mairs. — These seem to be the Kols, Bhils, Khonds^
or whatever else we choose to call them, of Marwar, as
The Minos are those of Mewar ;
The Moghia being those of Amber or Jeypur.
THE BHILS. 451
That their occupancy is the hill country rather than
the plains^ and that it reaches the Ganges has already
been stated. They are the hill men of the AravuUi.
The Bhik. — These also have already been mentioned.
They extend far towards the north. In the desert to the
north and north-west of Marwar, they approach the fron-
tier of Sind.
In Marwar itself they are numerous. Between Sirohi
and Udipur they constitute the chief population, being the
occupants of a hilly district, in small communities under
leaders with the title Ravmt. The Rawut of Oguna, when
Tod was in his country, could muster as many as 5000
bows. He was in all but name independent, paid no
tribute, obeyed no one. One of the Colonel's men, who
penetrated into these parts, found that the Lord of the
Mountain was dead, his men abroad, his widow alone in
the hut. He told his story, and asked for a passport.
This was an arrow from the quiver of the late chief. It
carried the bearer safe through the whole country. The
symbolic power of the arrow has already been noticed.
Mahm6d of Ghuzni was told what it meant in Turkistan,
when he held his dialogue with the Tshagatai chief.
In Malwa the Bhilalahs are Bhils, with a certain
amount of real or reputed Rajput blood. They " com-
bine the pride and pretensions of the Rajput, with the
cunning and roguery of the Bhils, and appear to be,
without exception, a debauched and ignorant race,
often courageous from constant exposure to danger, but
invariably marked by an equal want of honour and
shame. Many remarkable instances of their being of
this character came within my knowledge. The Bhil-
lalah and Sundi chiefs were the only robbers in Malwa,
whom under no circumstances travellers could trust.
There are oaths of a sacred but obscene kind amongst
G Q 2
452 THE BHILS.
those that are Rajputs, or who boast their blood, which
are almost a disgrace to take, but which they assert the
basest was never known to break before Mundiiip Singh,
a Bhilalah, and some of his associates, plunderers on the
Nerbudda, showed the example."*
The great centre, however, of the Bhils is Kandeish^
itself the alluvium of a river, but encompassed with
mountains. To the north lies the Satpura range, the
watershed to the Nerbudda and the Tapti. To the south
the Satmalla and Ajunta ranges give an easterly spur to
the Grhauts. This is what the Bhil country is in the way
of physical geography. Politically speaking, the space
between them is bounded by portions of the Guicowar,
by portions of the Holkar, and by portions of the Nizam
territory. Three agencies, however, are British.
1. The north-west
2. — north-east \ Bhil agency.
3. — southern
The Bhil districts take in a portion of the area between
the Ghauts and the sea, — the Daung or Dang country, a
land of forest and jungle. Hence, we must be prepared
to hear of the Dang Bhils. So we must of the Satpura
(or northern), and Ajunta (or southern) Bhfls. The Ma-
habarata mentions the Bhils. The Mahometan histories
of Gujerat and Malwa mention them. The Kandeish
records say little about them. ' The inference is, that the
latter are late in date ; in other words, that all Kandeish
before it was Mahratta, was Bhil, rude and unlettered.
Another fact in favour of this view is the circumstance of
many Bhil tribes being Mahometan. This means that
Mahometanism was the first powerful influence that
acted on them. In Baglan, to the north and north-west,
* Maloolm*8 Central India, vol. ii. p. 156.
THE BHILS. 453
they are cultivators. There are Bhils in Bugswara, on
the other side of the Ghaut. The general title of a Bhll
chief is Naik, Few Naiks belong to an old dynasty.
It was under Aurungzeb that the majority of the
Mahometans became proselytes, of whom many relapsed.
This should teach us to look for traces of an abortive
Mahometanism amongst them.
They are agricultural rather than industrial or com-
mercial. They are graziers rather than farmers. Yet
they are scarcely to be called graziers or herdsmen. They
are rather the analogues of the sub-Himalayan tribes
like the Kooch and Bodo, who are locomotive agri-
culturists. They sow and reap, but before they reap or
sow they clear the land by burning the trees upon it.
They clear and manure. They then crop and exhaust.
They exhaust and leave. A great deal is said about the
extent to which, when disease or accidental death is
superstitiously accounted for, they are ready and willing
to migrate. I think that the exhaustion of the soil may
have something to do with their readiness. They are
hunters and fowlers, their architecture being of the
rudest. Their huts are compared to bee-hives. This
means that they are low and rounded, made of wattles.
The village system is fully developed among them. The
Jagla is the head of the village, the Naik of the tribe.
The village watchman is, by theory, appointed by the
Naik ; by practice, by the head man of the village.
The chief Mahometan Bhils in Kandeish are —
The Turvi, on the north-east ; well-made, fair-corn -
plexioned.
The Nirdhif to the south, on the Ajunta range.
Then, in the scale of civilization, come
The Mutwari,
454 THE BHILS.
The Burduy
The Dorepi, and
The Khotilf of the north-west, basket-makers, culti-
vators, and gum-collectors. It is to the wax and gum
collectors in general that the term Khotil is applied.
Then come, ruder still, allied in wildness, but separate in
occupancy,
The Nahal, on the Turvi frontier.
The Bhils drink. They marry as many wives as suits.
They rob. They reverence their chiefs. They swear on
a strangely-foul mixture of salt, cow-dung, and joware.
They have the credit of keeping oaths thus sworn. They
play on an instrument which Scotchmen compare to the
bagpipe.
The Kalapurruj, Durio, Naiko, and Chowdri are Bhils,
who, from the western side of that jungly part of the
Ghauts which is known as the Dang Forest, have spread
themselves over some of the lower levels, especially over
parts of Bugswara. They are small-made, bright-eyed,
dark-skinned ; shy and locomotive ; skilled in the use of
the bow ; professors of sorcery. Their chief respect they
show to trees and stones remarkable for either size or
shape. The death of a child, a cow, or even a few fowls,
will make a whole family migrate from the village in
which it took place to some less ill-omened spot.
The Wdrali. — The Wdrdli have Marathi names and
speak the Marathi language. When asked What are the
names of your wives ? the answer was, '* We never men-
tion the names of our wives." When further pressed, each
man gave the name of his neighbour's, no one that of his
own wife. Girls marry at twelve or thirteen, boys at sixteen
or seventeen. The dialogue, conducted by Dr. Wilson
and the Rev. J. Mitchell on one side, and some W&rali of
THE WARALI. 455
the parts about Umargaum in Havoli pergunna (a Portu-
gueze dependency) on the other, from which the pre-
ceding statements have been taken, thus proceeds : —
Do you giye any instractions to your children 1 Tea, we say to them.
Don't be idle, Work in the fields, Cut sticks, Collect cow-dung, Sweep the
house, Bring water, Tie up the cows.
Do you give them no more instructions than these 1 What more do
they need 1
Don't you teach them to read or write ? No W&ralis can either read or
write.
Do you give them any instructions about God 1 Why should we speak
about God to them 1
What God do you worship 1 We worship W&ghii (the lord of tigers).
Has he any formi He is a shapeless stone, smeared with red lead and
ghf (clarified butter).
How do you worship him 1 We give him chickens and goats, break
cocoa-nuts on his head, and pour oil on him.
What does your God give to you 1 He preserves us from tigers, gives us
good crops, and keeps disease from us.
But how can a stone do all this for you ? There is something besides
the stone at the place where it is fixed.
What is that thing 1 We don't know; we do as our forefathers showed
UB.
Who inflicts pain upon you 1 W6ghi&, when we don't worship him.
Does he ever enter your bodies] Yes, he seizes us by the throat like a
cat, he sticks to our bodies.
Do you find pleasure in his visits 1 Truly, we do.
Do you ever scold W&ghi& 1 To be sure we do. We say. You fellow,
we have given you a chicken, a goat, and yet you strike usi What more
do you want ]
Do you never beat W&ghi& 1 Never.
Whether do you bury or bum your dead 1 We bum them.
What interval occurs between the death and the burning 1 We allow
no interval when the death occurs during the day. When it occurs during
the night, we keep the body outside till the break of day.
Why are you so hasty in the disposal of your dead ] Why should we
keep a corpse beside us 1
Where does the soul go after death ? How can we answer that question '\
When a man dies in sin, whither does he go*? How can we answer that
question 1
Does he go to a good place, or a bad place 1 We cannot tell.
Does he go to heaven or to hell 1 He goes to helL
What kind of a place is hell ? It is a bad place ; there is suffering in it.
Who are in hell 1 We don't know what kind of a town it is.
456 THE WAR A LI.
Where do good people go after death 1 They go to Bhagay&n.
Don't they go to W&ghi6 ) No, he liyes In the jungles.
Where ia Bhagay&n 1 We don't know where he is, and where he is not.
The W&rili believe that the country which they now
occupy has always been theirs. A line drawn from
Damaun to Jowar cuts their country. So does a line
drawn from Jowar to the Dhano creek. In many places
they come within a few miles of the sea* This means
that the hills which give its southern feeders to the
Damaun and its northern to the Surya rivers are W&r&Ii.
Some belong to British, some to Portugueze, India;
some to the independent State of Jowar. The tribual
system prevails amongst them, the tribes being numerous.
There are, amongst others, the
Ravatia
Meria
Bantria
Wangad
Bhangara
Thakaria
Bhavar
Jhadava
Sankar
Kharbat
Pileyane
Bhendar
Kondaria,
&c.
No man marries a wife of his own division.
7%c Kathkuri or Katodi. — These take their name from
the hath or cat-echu, of which they have almost the exclusive
preparation. They are small and dark, with low fore-
heads and curly hair. They have a belief that they are
descended from the monkeys and bears which Adi
Narayun, in his tenth incarnation of Rama, took with
him for the destruction of Rawun, king of Lanka. Him
he conquered. Meanwhile, the promise was made to his
ursine and simious allies that in the fourth age they
should become human beings. They object to mention-
ing the name Rama, except on their death-beds;
THE KATODI. 457
when they mutter it as long as they can. The Dhor
Kathkuri eat the flesh of the cow. The Mahratta Kath-
kuri, though they ahstain^ have no natural repugnance to
it. They abstain because if they did not they would be
forbidden to enter a Hindu village. We have the names
of five of their tribes —
1. Helam 3. Gosavi
2. Powar 4. Jadavi
5. Sindhi.
These are Hindu.
They acknowledge the existence of a supreme being
named Tsher. They have their domestic gods and god-
desses. They practise incantation, and encourage the
awe with which the Hindu regards tlieir imprecations ;
for a Hindu believes that a Katodi can transform himself
into a tiger.
The women are on an equality with the men. Their
marriages are conducted without the intervention of any
Brahmin. The bride chooses her husband. A few twigs
are stuck on the heads of the couple. A few words of
ceremony are muttered. A feast follows, at which any-
thing or everything may be eaten, and at which much is
drunk, for the Kathkuris are amongst the least temperate
of the Mahratta populations, and most of what they
earn by their catechu goes to the shop of the Parsi
liquor-merchant. They name their children on the fifth
day, generally giving an ordinary Mahratta name. The
dead are burned. If wood be wanting, they are buried
along with a pot of rice. Some time after the interment
the bones are taken up and burned. Persons dying of
cholera are always buried first, their bones being burnt
afterwards.
Like the gutta-percha hunters of the Malayan penin-
sula, the Katodi have a sort of slang of their own.
458
1
THE KATODI.
English.
Kifttodi of Kolaba.
English.
Katodt of Rolaba
CaU
akh
Hawk
moregai
Boiled rice
anuj
Take
li
Hedgehog
ahfda
Give
wope
Kite
alav
Turban
salii
Crab
kirlti
Dog
Biliia
Fowl
k6kdai
Boy
Bon
Iguana
gohur
Qiri
8ori
Arrow
chGmboti
Crow
hadia
Munjus
nagdlia
Man
hodus
Crane
bngad
Woman
hodis.
The miserable huts of the Katodi stand outside the
villages. The brown-faced monkey is one of the few
animals whose flesh they hesitate to eat. They say that
it has a human soul.
The Mhars, like the Katodi, live on the outskirts of
villages, and are abhorred by the Hindus. They cut
wood and grass. They measure land. They remove
carcases from the towns, eating those of bujBTaloes and
bullocks.
THE TELINGA, ETC. DISTRICTS. 469
CHAPTER XLV.
The Tellnga, Canarese, Tu]ava» Malayalam, and Tamul diatricts.
When the Mahratta area, on one side, and the Uriya, on the
other, have been left behind us, the continuous and homo-
geneous character of the remaining population can no
longer be overlooked. There is no longer a question as to
whether the proportion of Sanskrit vocables in the languages
be sufficient to either disguise their character or effect sl
transformation. Whatever may be meant by Hindu affi-
nities, the affinity itself is now out of sight. Neither are
there any populations like the Kols and Bhils, the Mairs
and Minas ; where the language and blood are believed to
differ, the former belonging to the north, the latter to
the south. All south of the Mahratta and Uriya districts
is, in speech at least, either Tamul or Tamuliform.
There are derivatives from the Sanskrit in abun-
dance ; but these derivatives are not only foreign to the
original language in the way that the French of the Nor-
man conquest is fdteign to the speech of England, but
are admitted, on all hands, to be so. The creed, however,
is Hindu. •
The creed in the Tamul districts is Hindu, even as it is
Hindu in Rajputana or Bengal.
But it is not wholly and exclusively Hindu in either
Bengal or Rajputana. Neither is it in the Dekkan.
There are mountains and forests in both areas, and the
460 THE TELINOA, ETC. DISTRICTS.
mountain and the forest have ever been the fastnesses in
which the older creeds, the older habits^ the older physi-
ognomies, and the older dialects of a country, resistant to
the encroachments that change the ethnology of the level
plains, longest linger. The analogues of the Kol and
Khond, the W&r&li and Katodi, are numerous in southern
India. In southern India, however, their language belongs
to the same class as that of their more-civilized neigh-
bours, and (so doing) fails to create contrasts. To some
extent, however, contrasts exist; and, to some extent,
they will be noticed.
Again — in even the most Hindu parts of the districts
under notice there are customs and beliefs which, if
found at all in the other parts of India, are, by no means,
very prominent and characteristic. In other words, there
is Hinduism in the south in abundance, but there is also
much that appears to be other than Hindu — other, and
apparently older.
As a general rule, the Tulava and Malayalam countries
exhibit extreme forms of the Telinga, Canarese, and Tamul
peculiarities.
As a general rule, such peculiarities as appear in an
extreme form in the Tulava and Malayalam districts, and
in a moderate one in Canara and Malabar, are to be
found, in some shape or other (either fragmentary or
rudimentary), in northern India. This means that the
differences are differences of kind rather than degree.
At the same time, the Dekkan is Indian in the way
that Brittany is Parisian, or Wtles English. The politi-
cal relations and the creed agree. The blood disagrees to
a great extent, the language to a greater extent still.
Of predial slavery there is more in Tamulifortn India
than in Hindostan proper.
So there is of the Jain, or semi-Buddhist, creed.
THE TELINGA, ETC. DISTRICTS. 461
So there is of the Sudra cast, as opposed to the
Kshetriya and Brahminic.
So there is of what may he called, for want of a better
name, the no-cast system. Few Asiatic terms are commoner
in Europe than the word Pariah. It is generally translated
outcast But, as the past participle of the English for the
Latin word jado, and the Portugueze word cast have no
etymological connection, and as the link between the two
words is nil, and as their relationship is neither closer nor
more distant than that between the English word sparrow-
ffrass and the Latin asparagus, the correspondence is no
correspondence at all, and the translation is exceptionable.
Hence it is best to speak only of Sudras and the classes
below them. Now the Sudras are the chief cast of the
Dekkan, the Sudras being, according to theory, the lowest
of all casts. In a Brahminic district this inferiority is pos-
sible. In a Kshetriya district it is possible. In a Yaisya
district (if such a thing existed) it would be possible also.
But what in a district where the Sudras themselves are
dominant? It is improbable, to say the least* The
lowest man in his own country always discovers an in-
ferior in a strange one. As parasites are fed upon by
parasites ; as the lowest depth leads to a deeper still ; as —
but why go on with metaphors ? The Sudras are power-
ful in southern India ; and their inferiors are, perforce,
other than Sudra. In their own eyes they are the lowest
of four casts. If so, their serfs and slaves must be of no
cast at all. Such is the Sudra view. The Pariahs are
below them — ergo, the Pariahs are without cast.
But what say the Pariahs ? Do they ignore the prin-
ciple of cast ? By no means. In the first place, there is the
great right and left hand struggle, as bitter as was that
of the green and blue factions of the Constantinopolitan
462 THE TELINGA, ETC. DISTRICTS.
Circus, as to whether they or the Pallas move on such
or such a side at such and such processions. Then there
are some half-dozen lower groups with members of which
no Pariah will intermarry or eat. But each of these
groups is equally exclusive. What is the true inter-
pretation of this ? This has already been suggested.
The four great divisions are genera; the minor classes,
whose name is legion, are species. If the Pariahs are
anything, they are instances of a fifth genus. Outcasts or
objects they may be. They are not men without cast.
Whatever they are, they are the most numerous, eo
nomine^ at least in southern India — in southern India,
where the standard of the highest is but low ; in southern
India, where the magnates are Sudra.
The characteristic, however (if it be one), which has
commanded the most attention is that of polyandria.
In the present work it has already been noticed. It is
Tibetan and Tamul, but it is North American as well.
It is more or less African. It is more or less a practice
of many countries. I am unwilling to give it a general
character. I prefer to exhibit a few concrete instances.
Amongst the Moylar of the Tulava country, a widow,
tired from celibacy, but restrained from re-marriage, may
go to a temple and eat some rice. She may then choose
between living in the temple or out of it. If she decide
upon being an indweller, she takes a piece of cloth and a
daily allowance of rice. She then is bound to sweep the
temple, fan the idol with a yak's tail, and submit herself
to the embraces of men of her own cast only. The sons
of Brahmin women are called Moylar. They wear the
Brahminical thread, and employ themselves about the
temple. The girls are given in marriage to them.
The out-door prostitutes (for this is what they really
POLYANDRIA. 463
are) may cohabit with any one of pure descent. They pay,
however, a sum not exceeding half a pagoda to the
temple.
Compare this with the accounts given by Herodotus of
the practice in the Assyrian temples.
In the Malayalam country the Nairs are Sudras — Sudras,
but often soldiers. They fall into eleven classes, of which
three are superior to all the rest, and, more or less, on an
equality with each other. Thus, a Kirit may marry the
daughter of either a Sudra or a Chamadu, whose pro-
fession is akin to his own. The fourth class, however,
are palanquin-bearers, and the tenth and eleventh are
potters or weavers. The men take their wives before
they arrive at puberty. After consummation, husband
and wife live apart, the latter in the house of her mother
so long as she lives, and in that of her brother after-
wards. Doing this, she is free to cohabit with any one
she chooses ; with any one or with any number of ones.
It is only necessary that her lovers be her equals or supe-
riors in cast. The consequence is, that no Nair son knows
his own father, and vice versd, no Nair father knows his
son. What becomes of the property of the husband ?
It descends to the children of his sisters. The eldest
male manages the landed property. The personal is
divided. A man's mother manages his house ; when she
dies, his eldest sister. Brothers, as a matter of course,
live under the same roof. Should one separate from the
rest, he takes a sister with him. This is the descensus per
umbilicum, — part and parcel of polyandria ; polyandria
being Nair, but not Nair exclusively.
The purity of cast is continually impaired ; where is it
not ? But there are ways and means by which a partial
reparation is effected. In many cases the original diffe-
rence is of no notable amount ; and when this is the
464
POLYANDRIA.
case, the ofisprmg follows the condition of the lower of
its parents. If the mother be higher than the father,
the father's cast is the child's also. If the father be the
higher^ the child goes to the side of mother.
But what if the difference be great ? In this case it is
of no importance, provided that the father be the higher of
the two progenitors. But if it be the mother, suicide or
abortion is the result, — we may almost say the remedy.
When the abandonment of cast is on the side of the
female, so that a woman of either high or middle rank
has conceived by a man of the lower (and that such cases
actually happen, is the express statement of Mr. Cald-
well), the child never sees the light. The miserable
mother either destroys herself, or procures abortion.
English.
TamaL
Malayalom.
Canarwe.
Tdagu.
Man
al
al
ala
al
Head
talei
tala
tale
tala
Hair
mayir
talamudi
kudala
ventruka
Ear
kadu
kada
kiri
cheyi
Eye
kan
kanna
kanna
kanna
Mouth
vayi
vaya
bayi
noni
Tooth
pal
palla
kalla
palla
Bone
elumbu
ella
eluva
emika
Blood
udiiam
chora
nettura
netturu
Egg
muttei
mutta
tattl
motti
gaddu
Day
pagal
pagal
bagala
pagala
Night
ira
rav
irala
reyi
Sky
yanam
manam
bana
minna
Sun
pakalon
Bur}'a
hotta
podda
Moon
tingal
tingal
tingala
Star
vanmin
minjawna
chukki
chokka
Fire
neruppu
tiyya
benki
nippa
Water
tanni
vellam
nira
nilla
River
aru
puzha
hole
era
Stone
kal
kalla
kalla
rayi
Tree
scdi
chedi
gida
chetta
maram
maram
mara
Village
ur
tara
desam
halli
uru
ura
POLYANDRIA
•
Engliah.
Tftmiil.
llalayalam.
CanareM.
Tdiigii.
Snake
pamba'
pamba
hava
pamu
I
nan
gnan
nana
nenu
Thou
ni
ni
ninu
niyu
m
avan
avan
ayana
yadu
She
aval
aval
ayaltt
ame
It
adu
ada
adu
adi
We
nam
gnangal
nayn
memu
Te
nir
ningal
niyn
miru
They
avar
avara
ayani
yam
Mine
enada
enre
nannada
nadi
Thine
unada
ninre
ninnada
nidi
Hie
avanada
avanre
ayana
yadidi
Our
namadu
nangade
nammadu
madi
Tour
umada
ningade
nimmadu
midi
Their
ayarudu
ayarude
ayarudu
yaridi
One
onru
onna
ondu
yokati
Two
irandu
renda
eradu
rendu
Three
munru
mnnnu
muru
mudu
Four
nala
nala
nalku
naluga
Five
aiga
anja
ayidu
ajidu
Six
ara
ara
aru
aru
Seven
* ezha
ezha
elu
edu
Eight
ettu
etta
entu
enimidi
Nine
ombada
ombada
ombhattu
tommidi
Ten
patta
patta
hattu
padi.
465
When the details of the superstitions of the indepen-
dent tribes and the lower easts shall have been investi-
gated^ an inkling towards the original mythology of
Southern India will become possible. A belief in pysachi^
or spirits ; a veneration of a black stone, and a Shammanist
diabololatry are the chief phenomena towards which our
present imperfect evidence points. There is also a deity
named Buta to whom fowls are offered, every man being
his own priest, just as is the case with the Bodo and
Dhimal.
It is one thing to be a Pariah, or a man of such low
cast as to be contemned by the Sudra. It is another
thing to be the analogue of the Bhil or KoL Of these
last the chief occupancy is the Nilgherry Hills and the
VOL. II.
H H
466
THB TtJDAS, BTC.
range between tbem and the Mahratta frontier. The
Nilgherry Hills, however, are the parts which have been
best investigated. They give us
Hie Tudas. — Infanticide polyandrists, who are few in
number, and less Hindu than their neighbours:
The Kohatars. — Occupants of the lower ranges, and
eaters of beef:
The CurumbarSf Curumars, or Curbs ;
The Irular — (compare the name fFarali), and
The Budugura — all fragmentary, pagan, and semi-pagan
populations. In the Tuda creed the black stone has a
prominent place. The fuller form of the word is Tudava^
apparently, word for word, Tulava.
The Makarasar. — ^These are the analogues to the Tudas,
&c., in the hills of the Malayalam country.
Specimen qf Language,
English.
Toda.
Kobatar.
Budngur.
Cunimbar.
Irular.
Man
al
ale, manija
manija
manisha
manisha
Woman
kuch
pern mage
hennu
henna
ponnu
Head
madd
mande
mande
mande
tele
Eye
kann
kanna
kannu
kannn
kanna
Ear
kevvi
kive
kive
kive
kada
Tooth
pareh
palle
halla
halla
pallu
Mouih
bor
yai
bai
bai
vai
Blood
bach
netra
netni
netaru
ktta
Bone
elf
yelave
yellu
yella
yellamba
Foot
kal
kalu
kalu
kala
kalu
Hand
koi
kei
kei
kei
kei
Day
nal
nale
dina
dina
nalu
Sun
birsh
potte
hottu
hotta
podu
Moon
teggal
tiggule
tiggalu
tingla
nalam
River
pa
pevi
holla
nira
palla
Waier
nir
nire
niru
nira
dani
Fire
nebb
kichchu
kichcha
tu
dilth
dije
tee
One
vadd
vodde
Tonda
vondu
vondu
Two
ed
yede
yeradu
yerada
emdu
Three
mudu
munde
mura
muru
mara
Four
nank
nake
nalku
nalka
naku
THE TUDAS, KTC.
467
EnglUh.
Five
Six
Seven
EigU
Nine
Ten
Tada.
Utah
ar
el
ett
anpath
path
Kohatar.
ai\je
are
yeye
yette
vorupade
patte
Budagnr.
eidii
am
yellu
yettu
Curambar.
eidu
aru
yellu
yettu
Irular.
eindu
aru
yettu
yettu
vombattu vombattu rombadu
hattu hattn pattu.
Of these, the Budugur and Curumbar are somewhat
more Hindi than the rest ; the Tuda being the most pe-
culiar.
11 H
o
468 THE 8IN01IALBSK.
CHAPTER XLVI.
Ceylon. — The Maldives and Laccadires. — Migratoiy and other populations
of Continental India.
In one important point Ceylon differs from Continental
India. It is, to a great extent, Buddhist. In Continen-
tal India there was only an approach to Buddhism. In
Ceylon it actually exists, eo nomine, and with its own
proper literature ; a literature of which the Pali, rather
than the Sanskrit, is the vehicle.
That there were traces of what was called Diabololatry,
or Devil-worship, in Southern India has already been
stated. When Siva entered the country (so runs the
doctrine), he found himself unable to extinguish the
ancient worship of the aborigines, without, to a certain
extent, allying himself with it. So he made himself his
own son, named Vira Bhadra, whose wife Bhadra Cali is
the patroness and mother of the present Shanars, whose
business it is to cultivate the palmyra tree, and whose
cast is one of the very lowest. They belong to the Con-
tinent. Their adtus, however, illustrates that of the Sin-
ghalese.
When an offering to a devil has to be made, a devil-
dancer is sought out firom either the head men of the vil-
lages, or from some amateur devotees who are often females.
There is no regular priesthood. The officiating individual
dresses himself as some particular devil, with cap and
THE SINGHALESE. 469
bells, horns and drum, and, above all, a bow. On the
frame of this bow a series of bells is fastened, the bow
resting on a pot, and being struck by a plectrum. One
musician strikes the string, another produces the bass
note out of the brass pot, a third beats cymbals. Mean-
while the devil-dancer gradually works himself into a
frenzy ; when he is supposed by the lookers-on to have
the powers of the devil he represents. As a present
deity they worship him, tell him their grievances, reveal
their wants, implore his oracles. This is the Shaman-
ism of Southern India, as exhibited by the Shanars of
Tinevelly.
In Ceylon there is a diabolical literature or liturgy.
I.
Come, thoa Bangainary Deril, at the sixth hour. Come, thou fierce
Devil, upon this stage, and accept the offerings made to thee !
The ferocious Devil seems to be coming, measuring the ground by the
length of his feet, and giving warnings of his approach by throwing
stones and sand round about. He looks upon the meat-offering which is
kneaded with blood and boiled rice.
He stands there and plays in the shade of the tree called Demby. He
removes the sickness of the person which he caused. He will accept the
offerings prepared with blood, odour, and reddish-boiled rice. Prepare
these offerings in the shade of the Demby tree.
Make a female figure of the planets with a monkey's face, and its body
the colour of gold. Offer four offerings in the four comers. In the left
comer, place some blood, and for victims a fowl and a goat. In the even*
ing, place the scene representing the planets on the high ground.
The face resembles a monkey's face, and the head is the colour of gold.
The head is reddish, and the bunch of hair is black and tied. He holds
blood in the left-hand, and rides on a bullock. After this manner make
the sanguinary figure of the planets.
n.
O thou great devil Maha-Sohon, preserve these sick personB without
delay I
On the way, as he was going, by supernatural power he made a great
noise. He fought with the form of Wessamoony, and wounded his head.
The planet Saturn saw a wolf in the midst of the forest, and broke his
neck. The Wessamoony gave permission to the great devil called Maha-
Sohon.
470 THB SINGHALESE.
0 thoo gresA devil Mahft-Sohon, take away thecie BicknesBes by accept-
ing the offerings made frequently to thee. — ^The qualities of this deyil are
these : he stretches his long chin, and opens wide his month like a
eavem : he bean a spear in his right hand, and grasps a great and strong
elephant with his left hand. He is watching and expecting to drink the
blood of the elephant In the place where the two and three roads meet
together.
Influenced by supernatural power, he entered the body of the princeas
called Godimbera. He caused her to be aick with severe trembling sick-
ness. Come thou poor and powerless devil MaharSohon to fight with me,
and leave the princess, if thou hast sufficient strength.
On hearing these sayings, he left her, and made himself like a blue
cloud, and violently covered his whole body with flames of fire. Furiously
staring with his eyes, he said, " Art thou come, blockhead, to fight with
me who was bom in the world of men 1 I will take you by the legs, and
dash you upon the great rock Maha-meru, and quickly bring you to no-
thing."
Thou wast bom on Sunday, the first day of the month, and didst receive
permission from the King of Death, and didst brandish a sword like a
plantain-leaf. Thou .comest down at half-past seven, to accept the offer-
ings made to thee.
If the devil Maha-Sodon cause the chin-cough, leanness of the body,
thirst, madness, and mad babblings, he will come down at half-past seven,
and accept the offerings made to him.
These are the marks of the devil Maha-Sohon : three marks on the
head, one mark on the eye-brow and on the temple ; three marks on the
belly, a shining moon on the thigh, a lighted torch on the head, an offer-
ing and a flower on the breast. The chief god of the burying-place will
say, May yon live long 1
Make the figure of the planets called the emblem of the great buiying-
place, as follows : a spear grasped by the right hand, an elephant's figure
in the left hand, and in the act of drinking the blood of the elephant by
broising its proboscis.
Tip the point of the spear in the hand with blood, pointed towards the
elephant's face in the left hand. These effigies and offerings take and
offer in the burying-place, — disceming well the sickness by means of the
devil-dancer.
Make a figure of the wolf with a large breast, full of hairs on the body,
and with long teeth separated from each other. The effigy of the Maha-
Sohon was made formerly so.
These are the sicknesses which the great devil causes by living among
the tombs : chin-cough, itching of the body, disorders in the bowels ; windy-
complaints, dropsy, leanness of the body, weakness and consumptions.
He walks on high upon the lofty stones. He walks on the ground
where three ways meet. Therefore go not in the roads by night : if you
do so, you must not expect to escape with your life.
THE SINGHALESE. 471
Make two figures of a goofiQ, one on each aide. Make a lion and a dog
to stand at the left leg, bearing four drinking-cups on four paws —and
make a moon's image, and put it in the burying-place.
Comb the hair, and tie up a large bunch with a black string. Put
round the neck a cobra-capella, and dress him in the garments by making
nine folds round the waist. He stands on a rock eating men's flesh.
The persons that were possessed with derils are put in the burying-
place.
Put a corpse at the feet^ taking out the intestines through the mouth.
The principal thing for this country, and for the Singalese, is the worship
of the planeta.*
That the more impracticable districts of so large an
island as Ceylon should contain the analogues of the fihils,
Kols, Khonds, and their congeners, is what we expect h
priori. We also expect that the analogues of the Pariahs
and the so-called outcasts will be forthcoming. There is
Buddhism in Ceylon it is true, and it is also true that the
Buddhist creed is opposed to many distinctions upon
which Brahminism insists. At the same time there is
enough of the latter to develope the ordinary phenomena
of Hinduism, and these exist to a considerable extent.
The population which, on the strength of its pagan or
semi-pagan wildness, has commanded the most attention,
bears the name Yaddah, a name which is, more or less
general, and which is apparently of Hindu origin. It
certainly applies to a very rude class of Singhalese.
Whether, however, they represent the aborigines of the
island, or whether they are the equivalents to the Pariahs,
is uncertain. I know of no monograph that gives us the
details of their creed. I learn, however, from Dr. Rost,
who has kindly favoured me with more than one valuable
fact relating to the population under notice, that their
language varies but little from the common Singhalese.
Now, the common Singhalese is far more Sanskrit than
either the Tamul or the Malayalam ; far more Sanskrit
• From Callaway's "Translation of the Koldn KaUanunwa:'
472
THE SINOHALESE.
than any member of the class to which those languages
belong.
English.
SioghaleM.
Sanskrit
Fall
Man {hotno)
manuahyayH
Jana
jana
minihA
mannah
(wr)
punhayA
pirimiyA
pnnuha
poriBO
WoTnan
silt
gum
Btrf
itthi
Head
olawa
iaa
siraB
Biro
Hair
iaakd
kesa
keao
Eye
Ksa
aksiya
akflhi
akkhi
net
chakflhnh
Ear
kana
-^.
Nose
nAhe
nft8&
nte&
Mouth
kata
mukham
mukham
Tooth
data
danta
danto
Tongue
diwa
jihya
jiyhft
Hand
ata
hattho
hastaya
hasta
Foot
patula
pAdaya
pada
pftdo
Bone
ashtiya
l&tiya
Blood
le
lohitam
lohitam
rndhiraya
raktam
Day
dawaaa
dinam
dinam
Night
ratriya
r&tri
r&tti
Sun
iia
sSrya
sariyo
Moon
handa
Chandra
chando
Star
taruwa
t&rft
t&rft
tArukawa
sit&rft
Fire
ginna
gindara
agni
aggl
Water
diya
diyara
ndakam
ndakam
watura
Jalam
jalam
Tree
gaha
Trikaha
rukkho
Stone
gala
praatara
p&ah&na
One
ek
eka
eko
Two
de
dwi
dwi
Three
tun
tri
ti
THE SINOHALESB.
473
English.
SingbaleM.
Sanikrit.
FiU.
Four
hatara
ehatur
chatu
Five
pas
panohan
pancha
Six
ha
ghash
chha
Swen
hat
Bapian
satta
Eight
ata
aahtan
attha
Nine
nama
naran
nara
Ten
daha
dasa.
The Rodiyas. — A better claim to stand as the represen-
tatives of a primitive population can be put in for the
Rodiyas,^ who exhibit a striking dissimilarity " in their
physical characteristics^ being much more robust and
vigorous." They are found only in the interior, and that
as a sporadic population, sometimes in one district,
sometimes in another, their numbers being inconsider-
able— ^a thousand (perhaps) in all.
EngKih.
Eodija.
English.
Rodiya.
Man (vir)
gawA
Hand
dagala
Woman
giiwl
Blood
lata
Head
keradiya
Sun
tlayat teriyangd
Hair
kaluw&li
Moon
hapa teriyangd
Eye
l&watd
Stare
hApangawal
Ear
irawawd
Fire
dulumCl
Note
irawuwa
Water
nllatu
Mouih
galla
Tree
uh&lla
Tongue
galagewnna
Stone
boraluwa.
That this gives us a wide departure from both the
Singhalese and the dialects more especially connected
vnth the Hindi is as manifest. At present, however, it
is the only representative of its class.
The Maldive and Laccadive islanders, — In language they
approach the Singhalese proper, or the Singhalese with
its Hindu elements. Their alphabet, however, is Arabic.
* See Paper by Simon Oaaie Chitiy, Esq., in Joamal of the Ceylon
Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. zi.
4.74.
THE MALDIVE ISLANDESS.
English.
MBldivenn.
Man (AoTiio)
mihung
(wr)
firihennng
Woman
anghenung
Head
bo
Hair
iBtari
Hand
aitila
Foot
fiyoln
Tongue
du
TooOi
dai
Nose
nefai
English.
Maldireau.
Mouth
aga
Eye
lo
Day
duas
Night
re
Sun
iru
Moon
hadu
Star
tari
Fire
ali&ng
Waier
feng
Tree
gas.
The chief aliment is from the cocoa-nut-tree ; the
cocoa-nut- tree and fish*
In all parts of India there are numerous populations
of settlers, or colonists, rather than true natives. There
are, for instance, Tamul labourers in Ceylon, Telinga
families in the Tamul and Canarese countries, Canarese
in the Mahratta districts, and vice versd. What occurs,
more or less, in most parts of the world occurs to an
inordinate extent in Hindostan. The details, however,
of these settlements lie beyond the pale of our present
inquiry.
Then there are the locomotive, or migratory classes —
analogues of the travelling tinkers and pedlars of Eu-
rope, analogues to the gipsies of Europe. In Britain
the gipsies are wanderers without fixed habitations ;
whilst, at the same time, they are more abundant in some
parts of the island than others. They have no very defi-
nite occupation ; yet they are oftener tinkers and tinmen
than aught else equally legal. They intermarry with the
English but little. All this is cast, although we may not
exactly call it so. Then, again, they have a peculiar lan-
guage, although it is so imperfectly known to the majority
of the British gipsies as to have become well-nigh extinct.
Of the chief of the tribes in question a good account
THE MIGRATORY TRIBES. 475
is given by Mr. Balfour. This list, howeyer, which is as
follows, may be enlarged.
1. The Bunjaras, or Bunjarris. — Lumbari is another
name for the population. So is Gohur. According to
Balfour the latter is the name by which they designate
themselves. This is probable ; since it means, in their
language, man* They are bullock-owners ; and as the
bullock is the chief beast of burden, they are grain-
merchants. Their communities are called Tanda, their
chiefs Naik. They affecta Rajput descent, and fall into
the four following divisions.
a. Rahtor, on the head-waters of the Wurda on the
Gondwana frontier ; the field of their operations extend-
ing to Mysore south, and the Concan west.
&• The Buriiah, to the east of the preceding, firom Chi-
cacole to Nellore.
c. The Chauhan, in Mysore.
d. The PovrnTf in Orissa, and on the east of Gondwana.
Akin to the Bunjaras are-^
3. The Multanis of the parts about Aurungabad, who
emigrated from Multan in 1739. They are Mahometans.
3. The Beopari are also carriers and traders of the
Deccan •
4. TTie Him-shikarij or Him-pardi, who call themselves
Bhouri, are hunters. They fall into the following tribes,
two of which bear Rajput names : —
1. Rhator, or Mewar 3. Sawundia
2. Chouhan 4. Korbiar
5. Kodiara.
The chiefs of their communities are called Howlia;
their festivals Holi. They steal as well as hunt.
5. The Tarremuku — This is what a class of wandering
tinkers call themselves ; being also called, by others, Ghis-
sari, Lobar, and Bail-kumbar.
476 THE MI6RAT0BT TBTBBS.
6. The Korawa, — In Bejapur, Hyderabad, and Ca-
nara, the Bajantri or Gaonka Korawa are musicians,
basket-makers, and, real or supposed, thieves, who tattoo
themselves.
7. 7%6 Bhaiu train themselves for the performance of
feats of strength, which they wander from village to vil-
lage to exhibit.
8. JTie Muddikpur earn a 'living by catching fish with
nets, and their women earn a little by knitting, and by
tattooing the dark blue marks on the foreheads of the
brahmins and lingaets ; but their chief occupation is the
exhibition of the transparencies used in representing the
battles of the Panch Pandya, five brothers, whose exploits
are, we believe, detailed in the Ramayana. The figures
are painted on deer-skin with very brilliant colours, and
the story being one the Hindu never tires in listening to,
in every village after night-fall you may see the represen-
tation of the battles, and hear the Keeli Katr describing
the heroes' deeds.
" Their females are very virtuous ; and one woman
has been known to give birth to twelve children. Read-
ing and writing is unknown amongst them. Their dress
and food are the same as the Hindus among whom they
dwell.
"They live in square huts formed of grass sewed to-
gether, the whole being, perhaps, a rupee in value. These
they themselves make, and carry with them at their
periodical migrations, which custom renders obligatory
every three months — a longer stay would, they say, sub-
ject them to some dire calamity ; and as the third moon
passes by, the spot that yesterday was a merry encamping
ground, is to-day a desolate and unoccupied waste.
** The Muddikpur seem to have no idea of a Supreme
being. They pay their devotions to the transparent
THE MIGRATORY TRIBES.
477
figures with which the battles of the Panch Pandya are
represented ; the box of bamboo containing them is each
morning placed on a part of the floor fresh covered with
cow-dung ; and on the lid being opened to expose the
drawings, they bum frankincense, and bow down to the
ground in worship : — * Oh Panch Pandya, by you we
live, continue to give us our daily bread ! *
" They are not restricted to one wife, and they bury all
their dead, except lepers, whom they bum." ♦
9. The Ramusis. — Men of predatory habits in the
Mahratta country, but Canarese or Telinga in speech and
origin; like
10. The Mangs— aXso in the Mahratta country
11, 12. The Thugs aniDacoiis, widely distributed, gang-
robbers and thieves.
Last of all (premising that the preceding list is, by no
means, exhaustive) I draw attention to —
13. The Gipsies.— That these, wherever found, and
under whatever names they are described, are in physical
form and language, Indians, is now well known.
(1.)
English.
Goliuri.
Bowri.
Taremnki.
Man
gohur
mankhoe
lokro
Woman
gohurni
manuBsi
chali
He/ui
mathoe
goddo
mathoe
Eye
auk hi
dolo
dolo
Nose
nak
nak
nak
Ear
kan
kan
kan
Hand
hath
hatha
hath
Foot
pae
pug
Water
pani
pani
pani
Stone
bhatta
bhattn
duggru
Earth
jami
bhoe
mattri
Tree
jharr
jhar
jhar.
♦ E. Balfour on the Migratory Tribes of Central India. Journal As.
Soc. Beng. vol. ziii.
478
THE MIGRATORY TRIBES.
EagUsh.
Man
Woman
Head
Eye
Nose
Ear
Hand
Foot
Fire
Water
Stone
Earth
Tree
(2.)
KorewL
amliin
punjeri
nerpu
kellay
tirri
mnm
BhatfLi.
miiiia
jo
mtindhi
akhoe
Ink
knnnu
hut
pae
pani
pathar
bhai
jhar.
The wandering life of these, and other similar tribes^ is
not, by itself, sufGcient to justify us in separating them
from the other Hindus. But it does not stand alone.
The fragments of an earlier paganism, and the firagments
of an earlier language, are phsenomena which must be
taken in conjunction with it. These suggest the likeli-
hood of the Gohuri, the Bhatti, and their like, being in
the same category with the Khonds and Bhils, &c., i. e,
representatives of the earlier and more exclusively
Tamul populations. If the gipsy language of England
had, instead of its Indian elements, an equal number
of words from the original British, it would present the
same phsenomena, and lead to the same inference as that
which is drawn from the Bhatti, Bowri, Tarremuki, and
Gohuri vocabularies, viz. the doctrine that fragments
of the original population are to be sought for amongst
the wanderers over the face of the country, as well as
among the occupants of its mountain strongholds.
(8.)
EngliBh.
Ramusi.
Mang.
Eye
kunnul
kewrja
Teeth
piindal
chawur
Sun
goanda
goanda
FOREIGN ELEMENTS.
479
English.
Bamaai.
Mang.
Moon
phakat
goanda
Fire
dhupa
dhupa
Water
nidul
nir
Stone
ratal
upalla.
The following is a list of words which, apparently, are
slang terms : —
Engliab.
Bagwan.
Thug.
One
ungud
udanka
Tvx}
dake
Bheluki
Three
ruk »
udanu
Four
phoke
pok(i
Five
b(it
mol(i
Six
dag
Bhely
Seven
puyater
paTitrti
Eight
mung
mungi
Nine
kone
tiVBU
Ten
Bula
avataru
Eleven
ekla
ekpuni
Twelve
jewla
habni.
Foreign settlers. — The classes just enumerated were
Indian. The following, though occupant of the soil of
India, are foreign to it* Some of them have already been
mentioned. A long list, however, of alien elements will
be given, in order that the very heterogeneous character
of the ethnology of India may stand forth in its full due
prominence.
1. Persian. — Parsis in Gujerat, Mekrani soldiers, &c.
2. Biluch. — In Sind and Bahawulpur.
3. Patan (t. e. Afghan). — In Rohilcund and parts of
the Mahratta country.
4. Arab. — The Moplahs of the Mahratta and Tulava
districts, savage, bigoted, and dangerous Mahometans.
5. Jewish. — The Beni Israel of Kolapur. The Jews
of Cochin.
6. Syrian and Persian. — There is, probably, both Syrian
480 FOREIGN ELEMENTS.
and Persian blood amongst the so-called St. Thomas
Christians of Cochin.
7. Armenian. — In Calcutta, Dacca, &c.
8, 9. Turk and MongoL — This is the blood of many of
the royal families ; also of many settlements originally
military.
10. ^yHcfln.— The Sidi, &c.
11. European, — Portuguese, Dutch, Danish, French,
English.
Of these, the Persians, Biluches, Patans, Turks, Mon-
gols, Africans, and Portuguese, have most mixed them-
selves, by marriage, with the natives ; the Jews and
Armenians the least.
MALA^YS. 481
CHAPTER XLVII.
Popalations of the Malayan Peninsiila. — Orang Benua and Malays proper.
— Semang. — SakaL— Johore tribes. — Orang Laut.
The empire of Siam extends into the Malayan peninsula^
and in the Malayan peninsula the character of the popu-
lation changes. The language is no longer denominated
monosyllabic^ notwithstanding the existence of a great
quantity of monosyllabic affinities. The physical con-
formation is no longer called Mongol or Mongolian^ in
the strict and more limited sense of the term ; though it
is often termed Mongoliform or Mongoloeid, t. e. like
that of the Mongols. The chief points of difference
may be collected from the details of what is forthcoming.
I prefer leaving these to the acumen and attention of the
reader to giving any general view of them. It would be
neither difficult nor unsafe to say that, as a general rule,
the Malay populations were darker in colour than the
members of the neighbouring classes. It would be neither
difficult nor unsafe to say that they were shorter in
stature. Both statements might possibly be true if sub-
jected to an average, of which, however, there is no
chance. Both, however, might be false. It is un-
deniable that there are some Malays shorter than certain
Burmese, or Tibetans, and it is probable that there are
many. It is equally undeniable that there are some
Malays darker in respect to their skin than some Chinese
or Tunkinese. Yet it is also true that some are lighter
VOL. II. I I
482 THE MALAYS
than other members of the same stock. Again^ the skull
of the Malay is said to grow narrow towards the vertex ;
so that, with its prominent cheekbones and small chin,
the Malay face resembles a lozenge or an ace of diamonds.
That this is true of some Malays I by no means deny.
It is true, I believe, of many. At the same time, the
induction that such notices suggest is far from being
sufficiently established. It rests on too small a number
of observations.
The same criticism applies to the notices of the temper
and disposition of the Malay tribes. Some are sullen,
or at least, abundant in sullen individuals. Others, how-
ever, axe cheerful ; fond of music, fond of song. There
is nothing in the moral and mental constitution of the
Malay to justify any broad line of separation between
them and their frontagers.
The real characteristic of the Malays is connected wath
the area which they occupy, and (so connected) is, in the
first instance at least, rather a point of physical geography
than proper ethnology. The Malays are the most insular
population in the world. All Sumatra is Malay. So is
all Borneo. With a slight change of type the Philippines
are the same. The only Malays occupant of any portion
of the continent are those of the narrow tongue of land
which runs south of Siam till it ends in the island of
Sincapore. This is the Malayan Peninsula — no island,
but, as its name denotes, a near approach to one ; and, as
its name denotes, a Malay occupancy. Such proximity to
the sea cannot fail to exert an influence on the habits and
aptitudes of the occupants of the countries to which it
appertains. It makes them mariners perforce, or, doing
less than this, encourages maritime enterprize, maritime
activity, maritime civilization. We must expect to find
trading communities in such localities. We must not be
OF THE MALAYAN PENINSULA. 483
surprised to find pirates. Malays, too, in outlying and
distant areas must not surprise us. Malays, too, we may
find in the middle of London ; just as we find Indians
from Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay ; Malays who have
formed part of some English ship's crew. More nume-
rous still, both in Liverpool and London, are the
Philippine islanders — short and thick-set men, with the
dress and garb of an English or Spanish sailor. Walking
behind one of these, we may fancy that it is a country-
man of our own whom we are following. It is only when
we see his face that we find the difference.
Much has been written about the excitability of the
Malay character, and the influence of stimulants upon it,
much about the state of madness into which a Malay
may work himself when under the influence of an
apparently uncontrollable passion he abandons himself to
a violent animal paroxysm and runs amuck {amok is the
native word) at all he meets ; like the old Berserks of the
Scandinavian sagas. That Malays do this is true, and it
is, perhaps, true that they do it oftener than the indi-
viduals of other stocks. Yet the Chinese and many
other populations do the same. The Chinese, too, and other
nations are quite as capable as the Malays of gambling
like madmen, and staking their whole personal posses-
sions, their freedom, and even their life, on the strength
and courage of a cock or quaiL
It is the tribes, however, of the Malayan Peninsula
rather than the great Malay group in general, which are
now under notice — the tribes of the only portion of the
old continent which have yet to command attention.
They fall into two divisions, (1) the pagan or semi-
pagan, and (2) the Mahometan, the phenomena which
have presented themselves in India being re-presented
here. For " Hindu," read " Mahometan," and for
1 1 2
484 THE SEMANG.
** Khoud " or ** Kol," read " Orang Benua," and, mutaiig
mutandis, the now familiar contrast between the occupant
of the sea-side or fertile plain, on one side, and the
mountain or forest, on the other, will reappear. In the
more impracticable districts of the Malayan Peninsula
traces of an original paganism are abundant. Engrafted
upon this will be found traces of Indian influence, in
the shape of Brahminic and Buddhist creeds ; sometimes
as purely Brahminic or Buddhist as in India itself, but
oftener in either a fragmentary or rudimentary form, —
fragmentary where it has been overlaid by a subsequent
conversion to Mahometanism, rudimentary where it has
not been strong enough to eradicate the aboriginal super-
stitions. The third series of influences is from Arabia,
for the Malays, in the more limited sense of the word, are
Mahometans.
With these preliminaries we may enter upon the details
of the Mahometan and Pagan populations of the Mala-
yan Peninsula ; taking care to distinguish between them.
The former will be called Malays, the latter Orang Benua.
Orang means man, whilst benua means soily land, or
country, so that orang benua means men of the soiL The
words belong to the proper Malay language, and are ap-
plied by the Malays to the natives of the land around.
In the present work they will be used even more vndely
than they are used in the Peninsula. They will be ap-
plied as a generic denomination to all the older tribes of
the Peninsula, and to their analogues, or equivalents in
the islands. They will be uised, in short, much as the word
aborigines is used in ordinary ethnography. Particular
names, however, will be given to particular divisions of
them. Of these the first and most northern contain —
The Semang tribes. — Semang is a Malay word ; a word
applied by the Mahometans of Keddah, Perak, Tringanu,
THE SAKAL 485
and Salangore to the pagan tribes of the interior^ a uame^
more or less^ general and collective ; a name^ however,
which is probably strange to the Semang themselves.
That it is general and collective is inferred from the fol-
lowing divisions of the populations to which it applies.
1. The Semang Paya axe those who reside on the
borders of the morasses,
2. The Semang Bukit are the occupants of the hills.
3. The Semang Bakow love the neighbourhood of the
sea, the creeks, and the districts where the mangrove
grows.
4. The Semang Bila are somewhat less rude than the
others, and approach the Malays in habits and civilization.
TThe Sakau — The Sakai, like the Semangs, are known by
their Malay name, and, like the Semang, are divided into
classes.
1. The Sakai Bukit are, like the Semang Bukit, men of
the hills and mountains.
2. The Sakai Jina, like the Semang Bila, are, more or
less settled, and imperfectly civilized.
TTie HalaSf though known by a different name, are,
apparently a branch of the Sakai. They are, probably,
the rudest members of the class. They tattoo the face
and breast. They pierce, not only the ears, but the car-
tilage of the nose, inserting porcupine quills in the bore.
The little that is known of the Sakai religion is as
follows: —
The superior Spirits are named Nyani, the inferior
Patch.
The latter are the cause of thunder ; and hence, in a
thunderstorm, the Sakai rush out of their houses, brand-r
ishing poles and sticks, and uising similar means to frighten
them.
A man and his wife are put in an arbour. The rest of
4^6
THE ORANG BENUA.
the company stand outside and sing. This invokes a spirit^
who takes possession of the couple ; indicating the fact
by some mysterious noise. When this has been heard,
the possessed pair come out, and say their say; every
word of which is believed to be inspired.
EogliBh.
JnniL
MaJay.
Man
teunkal
tumkal
orang
Woman
mabei
badon
perampuan
He4id
kala
k»y
kapala
Eye
med
med
mata
No9e
muk
mak
idong
MovJth
temut
ban
mnlut
Tongue
litig
iedah
Tooth
lemun
yua
gigi
Ear
pol
anting
telinga
Hand
tong
chas
tangan
Foot
chau
kaki
Blood
koad
cheong
dara
Bone
gehe
aieng
tnlang
Sky
kael
Umgit
Sun
mitkakok
mitkakok
matahari
Moon
balan
kachik
bnlan
Star
bintang
bintang
Fire
us
ua
api
Water
hoh
bateao
ayer
Tree
kuing
chuk
poko.
The Sakai are the Orang Benua of Pahang, or rather
Sakai is the Pahang word for an aboriginal.
Between Pahang and Johore lies a terra incognita^ covered
with jungle and occupied by a population of dammer and
rattan gatherers, whose habits have yet to be described, but
which axe probably those of the
Or<mg Benua of the southern third of the peninsula, ue.
Johore. — The . great repository for the ethnology of the
populations under notice, as well of many others, is the
Journal of the Indian Archipelago, the chief authority
being the Editor, Mr. Logan. From his paper upon
what he calls the Mintira tribes of Johore, the whole of
THE ORANG BBNUA, 4«87
the following account is taken. Whether Mintira be the
best and most convenient denomination is doubtful. Some
of the tribes to which the description applies, are called
Jakun^ or Jokong, a name which has, for some time, been,
more or less, current. It will be used in the present work
when wanted. The name, however, is of less importance
than the description. Tliis is that of the pagan or semi-
pagan Orang Benua of Johore.
The general form of government is patriarchal. Each
tribe, village, or settlement is under the direction of an
elder or B^tln. Under the B&tin come two subordinates
termed Jennang and Jurokrd. The Pawang is the equi-
valent to the priest, or physician. When a B4tin dies, the
nearest relation presents his eldest son to be elected as his
successor. If the tribe refuse him, the second son is put
up ; and if he be refused, a third. So on till the family is
exhausted, and a fresh one tried. Mutatis mutandis^ this
applies to the Jennang and Jurokra also ; except that the
B&tin (and not the tribe at large) appoints them.
The social and political relations between the Orang
Benua and the Malays are easily understood. We
•
know beforehand what they will be. The Malay will
despise the Orang Benua, the Benua hate the Malay.
Nevertheless there will be some slight degree of inter-
marriage after the ordinary jus connubii of different popu-
lations. Malay men will take to themselves Benua wives
far oftener than Benua men will take wives from the
Malays. This means that there will be marriages of dis-
paragement, in which it is more usual for the man to
elevate the woman than for the woman to elevate the
man. Children thus produced can scarcely be called half-
bloods, so little is the difference between the two original
stocks.
We know, too, what to expect commercially. The
488 THE ORANO BENUA.
Malays will buy and sell with the Benuas ; but they will
buy cheap and sell dear. They will be the only popula-
tion that comes in immediate contact with them, and,
they will take care and pains to keep others away.
The dress is no dress ; but simply the chawat, a narrow
strip of cloth passing between the legs, and fastened round
the waist. Sometimes this is of cloth, but the ruder and
more aboriginal material is a piece of beaten bark. The
more general the use of the chawat, and the more primi-
tive its fabric, the ruder the tribe. The women are the
first to abandon it ; substituting for it the sarong or Malay
petticoat. For this reason the words chawat and saronff
have almost a technical meaning. They will often re-ap-
pear; sometimes in speaking of countries where other
terms are current.
The more elaborate ornaments are plain brass rings and
bracelets. The ears are pierced ; the size of the bore
being, like the use of the chawat, a rough measure of the
rudeness of the tribe. Sometimes there is a simple per-
foration ; as large, perhaps, as a quill, but not much larger
than the weight and size of the ring requires. Sometimes,
a wooden plug, a rolled leaf, or a piece of cloth replaces
it. Sometimes the hole is artificially and indefinitely en-
larged by the insertion of wooden pins or rollers gradually
increasing in size.
The teeth are filed.
The first of the stimulants is, perhaps, tobacco. The
cigar into which it is rolled is called roko* The women
smoke it as well as the men, and when they take it out of
their mouth transfer it to their ear.
The characteristic of the dwelling-house is, that it is
raised on posts or piles ; sometimes driven in the ground,
sometimes consisting of trees cut down. A rude ladder
leads to an open doorway. Tlie walls are of bark, the
TITE ORANG BENUA. 489
thatch of leaves^ or rice-straw. Sometimes there are but
three, sometimes no more than two sides. One in which
Mr. Logan slept had only one. This was a break-wind —
such as the aborigines had in Tasmania — rather than a
house. A mat to sleep on is the most constant piece of
furniture ; pillows and curtains being rarer. Gourds of
different kinds hold the water ; though not exclusively.
Amongst the articles of furniture in a comparatively well-
' furnished hut, I find two iron pans, two earthenware pots,
two saniotiffs (a kind of basket), sarongs, handkerchief,
hair-pin, and brass rings.
Like so many other rude tribes, they find no difficulty
in procuring fire by rubbing two pieces of wood together.
In one stick they make a slight cavity or depression.
Another they sharpen into an imperfect fit. A few quick
revolutions give a light.
The dwelling-house, hut, or cabin, stands in a ladang or
clearing ; the clearance being made by means of fire.
The spot is chosen, its genii propitiated by certain preli-
minary forms or offerings, and the trees that overshadow it
felled, and left to dry. They are, then, burned. The plants
that follow are the kledi, a substitute for the potato,
different kinds of yams, a sort of water-melon, the sugar-
cane, maize, rice, and tobacco. The men effect the clear-
ance and the first plantation ; after which the females
do the work of weeding and watering. The chief fruit is
I the durian.
To this extent the Orang Benua are imperfect agri-
culturists. They are fishermen and hunters, as well.
The fish are chiefly taken in nets, eel-pots, and weirs —
not by the rod and line, nor yet (I think) by the means of
the bow and arrow, as is so often done in South America,
Upon this point, however, I speak with hesitation. So
many habits are common to the equatorial populations of
490 THE ORANG BENUA.
the Indian Archipelago and America^ that I am unwill-
ing to hazard any negative statement.
The forest supplies snakes^ which are not uncommon
articles of food^ monkeys, which are commoner still,
deer, and wild hogs. These they catch in pitfalls, or
hunt with dogs. The latter, the companion of man in
so many countries, is found in every family. Sometimes
there are several. So is the Malay cat. So is the domes-
tic fowl.
For catching pigeons and other wild hirds, they have
several kinds of hird-lime.
After the body has been buried, a fire is lit over the
grave^ and kept up for three or seven nights to prevent
the hantUy or spirit of the deceased, from crying under-
ground. Another practice consists in placing a bamboo
stake close to the nose of the corpse, so as to act as a sort
of funnel for the gases engendered by the decomposition
of the body to escape. It is chiefly confined, however, to
children ; it being held, that should their integuments
^ be allowed to burst the living mother would sympathize
with them.
The most characteristic weapon is the sumpitan. With
the tribes under notice it is about seven feet long, and made
of bamboo. It is about three-fifths of an inch in diameter.
This, however, is not thick enough for its length ; so it is
enclosed in a larger one. Hence, the true instrument is
a sumpitan within a sumpitan ; the bore being made by
the hands of nature. The Dyak weapon is very skilfully
contrived. It consists of a simple piece, artificially per-
forated. This difference between the natural and the arti-
ficial bore, will re-appear in South America. Some tribes
will bore their own sumpitans: others cut them ready
bored. The arrows are about ten inches in length ;
tipped with the poisonous juice of the ipoh.
THE ORANG BENUA. 491
The mythology of what we may call the contineDtal
Malays will not command much of our attention at
present. In more than one of the islands it will show
itself in a fuller^ and more instructive form. It is suffi-
cient to say, that its basis is that of the paganism of the
rude tribes of Aya, Siam, and Asam, the paganism of an
untutored population of the inter-tropical districts of
south-eastern Asia. More or less of it has been seen
already; the samples being miscellaneous and fragmentary.
The ethnologist regrets that they are thus exhibited.
His data^ however, are fragmentary and miscellaneous.
He can only lay before the reader such facts as happen to
have been recorded. It may be, however, that these are
enough to convey a general idea — and a general idea of
Asiatic paganism, whether northern or southern, whether
eastern or western, in the form that it took before either
Parsiism or Buddhism, Brahminism or Mahometanism,
effected their respective modifications is all that in the
present state of our knowledge is possible. And, in re-
spect to the paganism under notice, it is a patent fact, as
will be seen when we come to Borneo, that both Brahmi-
nism and Mahometanism have modified it.
In respect to physical form, one of our best authorities,
the French missionary, M. Favre, was informed, in
answer to his questions about the Jakuns of Johore, that
they were darker than those of Pahang ; in other words,
that the latter were whiter and fairer than the former.
They were as white as Europeans. They were numerous.
They were also valuable as articles of commerce ; selling
well at the town of Pahang, and selling well at Siam.
They were small, however, in size ; though comely. The
Malays formed parties to hunt them, and beat the forest
for them just like Europeans at a deer-himt. Are these
simply fairer families than the allied populations, or are
492 THE ORANG BENUA.
they, more or less, albino ? Probably the former — '* other
persoDs who have seen this species of Jakuns, tell me that
they are not so white as Europeans, but that they ap-
proach more to the colour of the Chinese, which is most
probable."
In the immediate neighbourhood of the town of Ma-
lacca, the aboriginal population is but scanty, the whole
number being, perhaps, under 400, M. Favre, who
visited those of Reim, Ayer Baro, Gassing, Kommendar,
Bukit Singhi, the river Muar, Pankalang kota, Poghalay,
Sagu, Lemon, Segamon, and the river Pago, found
amongst them -traces of an intermixture of Portuguese,
probably on the fathers' side. So at least he interpreted
the following signs. After having been persuaded to
visit the town of Malacca, they asked to be shown the
upper part of the door of the fortress, on which they
found the sculptured figures of a king and queen of Por-
tugal. These they said were their ancestors. Many
others, similarly questioned, said that they were the de-
scendants of the Orang puti or white man ; a statement
that certain resemblances to the lower class of Malacca
Portuguese confirmed ; as did the highly probable report
that more than once criminals or maldbntents had fled
from the city into the interior — betaking themselves to
the bush, after the fashion of outlaws of every age and
country. Add to this that more than one Portuguese
term is said to be found in their vocabularies.
So much for the general statement as to their likeness
to the Portuguese. When we come to the details we
find it repeated. They are specially stated to be as tall
as the common run of Europeans, and to be dark-skinned.
On the other hand their hair is more frizzled, a point re-
minding us of the Semang.
Putting all this together I commit myself to the doc-
MALAYS. 493
trine that some of the Orang Benua are darkeri some
lighter, than the average ; some showing the ordinary de-
parture from the current physiognomy under the influence
of certain physical and social influences, and some doing
so as an efiect of actual intermixture. That they are
fundamentally Malay I believe. Their traditions (or
what simulates them) run to this efiect.
But the ordinary Malays proper, who occupy the towns
of the sea-coast, and the more practicable inland districts
of Kedah, Perak, Pahang, Tringano, and Johore, of the
Malayan peninsula, are, in general, by no means either
savages or pagans ; but, on the contrary, civilized Maho-
metans who have, as' a matter of credible and reasonable
history, brought their civilization from Sumatra. In re-
spect to their settlement the tradition (or what passes as
such) is as follows : — a.d. 1160, Sang Nila Utama, a de-
scendant of Alexander the Great, founded Sincapore at the
head of a Sumatran colony. About a hundred years later
Tu Puttair founded Malacca from Sincapore. He had no
women with him ; so he took to wife a Jakun woman of
Taba on the river Naning, and his companions followed
his example. He was himself a Menankabaw chief, but
his ofl&pring were of mixed blood. This is, I believe, an
explanation with circumstances originating out of the at-
tempt to explain the relations between the Malays and
Orang Benua, for that they are connected is believed, more
or less, on both sides. There are Malays who connect
their remote ancestors with the Jakuns, and Jakuns who
believe that the Malays are descendants of their own dis-
tant forefathers. Nor is there anything in the Sumatran
origin of the latter that militates against this view. Orang
Benua may have left the peninsula for the island, de-
veloped a civilization in their insular locality, and then
revisited the old country as settlers.
494 MALAYS.
But vfhjf if the population are really akin, should
there be any doubt as to the kindred ? Surely the
Malays of Sumatra^ if they were actually the descendants
of certain pagans of the continent^ would, despite the
difference of creed, have recognized their ancestors.
By no means. Changes may have been effected in
either of the two occupancies. Changes may have been
effected in both. Let us look to what has happened
in our own island in respect to our own relations with our
congeners of Germany.
In the eighth century the Angles of Great Britain,
themselves originally Pagan Germans, took an interest in
the spiritual welfare of the so-called Old Saxons, a tribe
of Westphalia, immediately related to their own con-
tinental ancestors ; these Old Saxons having retained their
primitive Paganism. The mission partly succeeded, and
partly failed.
Now, if in addition to this partial success of the Angle
mission, there had been a partial Angle colonization as
well, and if, side by side with this, fragments of the old
unmodified Paganism had survived amongst the fens and
forests up to the present time, we should have had, in the
relations of England and Germany, precisely what I
imagine to have been the case with the Malayan peninsula
and the island of Sumatra* Like Germany, the penin-
sula would have supplied the original stock to the island ;
but, in the island, that stock would have undergone cer-
tain modifications. With these modifications it would —
so to say — ^have been reflected upon the continent — re-
colonizing the old mother-country. But would the
Christians from England have recognized in the pagans of
Germany their cousins ? In the time of King Pepin —
possibly. In the time of Charlemagne— probably. In
the time of the electors of Hanover — certainly not, — not
THE BIDUANDA KALLANG. 495
at least, without that amount of literary knowledge
which we as Englishmen possess, but which the Malays
of Sumatra at the time of their separation, and the
Jakuns, at the present time, are without.
Two divisions of the Orang Benua have a special inte-
rest.
1. The Biduanda Kallang of the parts about Sincapore.
Their present locality is the banks of the most southern
of the rivers of the peninsula, the Pulai. Thither they
were removed when the British took possession of the
island of Sincapore ; of which they were previously the
joint occupants — joint occupants, because they shared it
with the tribe which will be next mentioned. They were
boatmen rather than agriculturists. But they were only
freshwater sailors ; since, though they lived on the water,
they avoided the open sea. They formerly consisted of
one hundred families ; but have been reduced by small-
pox to eight.
Their priest or physician is called bomo, and he invokes
the hantu, or deities, the anito of the Philippine Islanders,
the Hi of the Tahitians ; and, probably, the wandong and
vintana of Australia and Madagascar respectively.
They bury their dead after wrapping the corpse in a
mat ; and placing on the grave one cup of woman's milk,
one of water, and one of rice ; when they entreat the
deceased to seek nothing more from them.
Persons of even the remotest degree of relationship are
forbidden to intermarry.
The account of their physical appearance is taken
from too few individuals to justify any generalization.
Two, however, of them had the forehead broader than
the cheekbones, so that the head was pear-shaped. In a
third, it was lozenge-shaped. The head was small, and
the face flat. The lower jaw projected; but not the
496 THE 0RAK6 SLETAR.
upper-— SO that ** when viewed in profile, the features
seem to be placed on a straight line, from which the pro-
minent parts rise very slightly."
2. The Orang Sletar. — The original joint-occupants of
Sincapore with the Biduanda Kallang, were the Orang
Sletar, or men of the river Sletar ; differing but little from
the former. Of the two families they are the shyer, and
the more squalid ; numbering about two hundred indi-
viduals and forty boats. Their dialect is Malay, spoken
with a guttural pronimciation, and with a clipping of the
words.
At the birth of a child they have no ceremonies ; at
marriage a present of tobacco and rice to the bride's
mother confirms the match : at death the deceased is
wrapped in his garments and interred.
Skin diseases and deformities are common; neverthe-
less, many of their women are given in marriage to both
Malays and Chinese ; but I know of no account of the
mixed progeny.
A low retreating forehead throws the face of the Orang
Sletar forwards, though the jaw is rather perpendicular
than projecting.
RETROSPECT. 497
CHAPTER XLVIII.
Retrospect. — ^Relative inflaence of the preceding populations upon the
history of the world at large.— Zones of conquest. — Origin and
diffoflion of cirilization.
A RETROSPECTIVE view of the wide field over which our
inquiries had carried us was taken when we passed from
Asia to Europe, and when Africa had yet to come under
cognizance. At the present moment, the islands of the
Indian Archipelago, and the Pacific, along with New
Guinea, Australia, and Tasmania, still stand over. So does
the whole of America, the New World as it is often called ;
though, in many respects, it is no newer than Polynesia
— ^indeed, scarcely so new. Old or new, however, the
aforesaid areas still stand over for notice.
And, in one respect, they constitute (if not a new) at
least, a difiTerent world. Until recently they have stood
apart from the three old continents ; and, even now, the
influences are all on one side. There is action, but no re-
action. There is giving but no taking. There is recipro-
city in plenty ; but to speak after the fashion of the Irish,
it is wholly and exclusively on one side. The action, in
the world's history, of the parts described upon the parts
that have yet to be investigated, is at a minimum. The
action of the parts that have yet to be investigated upon
those that have already been described is nil. India and
Arabia have acted upon Sumatra and Java, but how have
Java and Sumatra afiTected either Arabia or India, either
India or any other portion of the continent ? The world of
VOL. II. K K
498 RBTHOSPECT.
action and re-action is the world we have just surveyed,
and, most assuredly, we can, with all propriety and con-
venience, pause and look back.
Our first retrospect was partial. It took-in Asia alone.
Yet it was convenient. It gave a measure of the relative
importance of, at least, four great classes, the Tungus, the
Mongol, the Ugrian, and (above all in magnitude and in-
fluence) the Turk. But even this it gave incompletely.
The Turks (to go no farther) had only a fraction of their
history exposed. Did we not see, when India and Persia
were under view, that, in both countries, Turk conquests
had been effected ? To have mentioned these, however,
in the first instance, would have been to anticipate.
Then there are the Sarmatians — conquerors like the
Turks. And the Germans — conquerors like the Sarma-
tians. And the Romans — conquerors too ; conquerors
and civilizers — great as a material, great as a moral power.
And the Greeks — conquerors to a great, civilizers to a
greater, extent.. And the Arabs, and the Jews — the Se-
mite populations in general.
Of these I shall take my view from a point in the region
of theory. Let us look at certain physical conditions, and
ask how far they may determine the comportment of the
populations to which they apply.
That the cold and darkness of the extreme north are as
unfavourable to the development of bodily strength as the
enervating heat of the tropics is adverse to the strenuous
and continuous exhibition of either physical or moral
energy, is true as a matter of fact ; no truer, however,
as a fact, than the plain and patent inference from it in
favour of the temperate zone being that which best pro-
motes activity and enterprise. That it should do this is
what we expect a priori. That it has actually done this is
what we find from observation. A population lying mid-
ZONES OF CONQUEST. 4®9
way between the Arctic circle and the tropic, provided that
it felt the instinct of aggression and conquest (and what
populations fail to feel it ?), would strike as with a double-
edged sword* To the north it would smite the poor and
weak, the undersized and the ill-provided ; to the south,
the enervate and the opulent — loving peace not wisely but
too well. The populations who thus create fear on both
sides are, one and all, the occupants of an area which
is as truly, in the way of history and ethnology, a zone
of encroaching conquerors, as the temperate is a zone of a
medium climate.
It is scarcely too technical to call it a zone of conquest.
That the lines by which it is bounded shall exactly coin-
cide with those that give the parallels of latitude is im-
probable. It is rather to be expected that they will run
irregularly — ^like the isothermals. They do so. From
the mouth of the Elbe to the mouth of the Amur the
ethnological areas are as follows : — 1. German, 2» Sarma-
tian, 3. Ugrian, 4. Turk, 6. Mongol, 6. Mantshu; con-
cerning each of which the following general statements
may be made.
Their occupants have effected encroachments upon the
areas of their frontagers, both north and south : whereas,
from neither the south nor the north has any one of the
frontier populations permanently dispassessed the men of
the middle zone.
In detail —
I. The limit of Germany to the north is the Arctic
Ocean ; on the very edge of which are to be found the
Swedes and Norwegians of Scandinavia. On the south,
the displacement of the older occupants has been less.
France, however, is a German name: the Duchy of
Beneventum was a Lombard occupancy : Catalonia is
the land of the Goths: Murcia is the March, So nearly
600 ZONES OF CONQUEST.
has the i/vhole of western Europe been overrun from
Germany. What, however, are the Keltic, the Spanish,
the Italian, or Greek occupancies in Germany ?
2. Sarmatia, like Germany, is limited only by the ocean.
Archangel is Russian, just as Hammerfest is Norwegian.
Ragusa is Slavonic. The Slavonic elements in Greece
have long commanded attention.
S. The Ugrian class is, at the present time, in such a
fragmentary condition, that it appears to give an excep-
tion. Several Fin populations, however, have been de-
cidedly intrusive and encroaching. Most especially have
they extended themselves northwards. That the Fin-
lander has encroached upon the Lap is evident from what
is going on before our eyes at the present moment. That
the Yoguls and Ostiaks are from the south has already
been suggested. That the Magyars of Hungary are from
the north is a matter of history.
Now, however, the Ugrians are a broken stock. Who,
however, are the men who have dispersed them? To
what groups and latitudes do they belong ? Very nearly
to those of the Ugrians themselves. The Turks have en-
croached from the east : the Sarmatians from the west.
Between the two, the once wide Ugria, like iron between
hammer and anvil, has been denationalized. It belonged
to a class of strong occupancies. Of that class, however,
it was the weakest. It was the land of neither the horse
nor the camel. With an inconsiderable sea-board, it had
vast and almost impenetrable forests.
That, even in those parts of Russia where the speech is
Slavonic, the blood is, to a great extent, Ugrian, has
already been stated. Besides this — even now — the Fin
of Finland is spoken within the Arctic Circle, the Magyar
of Himgary, on the Danube.
4. There are, at present, Turks on the Mediterranean,
ZONES OF CONQUEST. 501
viz. the Ottomans. There are Turks on the Icy Sea^
viz. the Yakuts.
5. The north and south prolongations of the Mongol
area are unimportant.
6. The Tuugus tribes, however, have been eminently
encroaching. The Mantshiis have conquered China.
Meanwhile, the northern coast of Siberia (as is inferred
from the affinities between the Samoyed, and Jukahiri
forms of speech) was once continuously Ugrian. At the
present time there is no continuity at all. The Yakut
Turks have broken-in on one part: Tungiis tribes on
another. Both touch the Icy Sea.
Such are the phenomena presented by the Old World.
The New, when it comes under notice, will give the same.
The several portions of the zone under notice differ
from each other, chiefly in being (1) forest, {2) steppe,
or (3) sea-board. Of the last there is the most in Europe ;
of the second in Asia. The Ugrians are pre-eminently
the foresters. Of morasses and mountains the protective
powers are less than is generally supposed. The Bask
part of the Pyrenees, and Caucasus, doubtless, preserve
not only an old population, but, also, one of its chief
characteristics — ^language. So does Albania. The Ro-
mance, however, and the German of the Swiss Alps, are
equally intrusive. So is the Hindi of the southern,
and (apparently) the Bhot of the northern slope of the
Himalayas.
If bodily force were the only factor in the valuation of
the relative importance of the different divisions of man-
kind, our observations would now terminate. Without,
however, mental activity it is of little avail even as a
material power or a means of effecting conquests and
encroachments. The Barbarians (as they are called) of
the North (by which the Greeks and Romans meant
602 CIVILIZATION.
Central Europe) were always formidable. As long^ how-
everi as they were pure Barbarians^ the effect of their
inroads were evanescent* They were the permanent con-
querors of great and consolidated empires only when they
became tinctured with civilization.
Now the physical conditions of civilization are by no
means those of the physical conditions of rude strength.
Climate has something to do with them ; soil something ;
sea-board more. In the mind, however, of the present
writer, the prime impulse is given by the mutual contact
of dissimilar populations with dissimilar wants. If so,
civilization is the product of neither blood nor nationality.
It is rather a result of the contact of more nationalities than
one. The natural history, however, of civilization is one
thing ; anthropology and ethnology another ; and allied, as
the three subjects undoubtedly are, they still differ. With-
out, then, going into the physical part of the subject,
I content myself with drawing attention to the historical
importance of those great fiimilies whose occupancy is
the parts where Europe, Asia, and Africa join ; where a
narrow neck of land separates the Indian Ocean &om the
great inland sea of Europe, and where the Nile from the
south, and the Dnieper from the north, bring Sarmatia
and Ethiopia within the same great commercial basin of
the Mediterranean ; in the eastern end of which I believe
that civilization arose — the civilization of the world at
large — native to the parts in question — ^native to no other
part of the world beside.
Out of the many fictitious dualisms with which the so-
called philosophy of history abounds, I believe this of the
centre of civilization and the zone of material force to
be real. If so, it tells us what to expect. A little
consideration shows that it is easier for the hardier
populations of the north to adopt the civilization of
CIVILIZATION. 503
their southern frontag[ers than for the natives of the
south to invest themselves with the robnster energies of the
north — ^north and south here meaning Germany, Sarmatia,
and Turkistan on one side, and ^gypt, Syria, Greece,
and Italy on the other. Hence, when the so-called Bar-
barians adopted the arts of Greece and Rome, the situs
of the great powers was changed.
Turks and Sarmatians. — As long as the civilization of
the southern frontier of the middle zone was nascent
or incomplete, the Turks and Sarmatians, whose ethno-
logical history has yet to be duly investigated, were the
great encroachers. To each, I believe that many of the
pre-historic influences are to be referred — to the Turks
much of the nationality of Asia Minor, Persia, Syria,
Arabia, Northern Africa, and (not impossibly) Italy —
to the Sarmatians much of what passes for Italian,
Greek, German, Scandinavian, Median, and Indian.
The details, however, of the evidence upon which these
surmises rest are far too lengthy to find place. The
author has exhibited them, more or less fully,* elsewhere.
He would rather increase than diminish the areas of his
previous speculations.
Since the civilization of the southern frontier (in the
consideration of which Mahometan Arabia must not be
overlooked) has been difiused, Germany, Slavonia, and the
Romanized portions of Iberia and KeltikS, have given
forth the predominant influences. All of which have
superadded to the ruder elements of their original
strength, the forces deducible from the art, the literature,
the policy, the science of both Greece and Italy,^-of
Italy as acted on by Greece, of Greece as acted on by
Phenicia and -^gypt — acted upon, itself an agent.
* Especially in ^o^ive Races of the JRusaian Empire, and Uie Oermania
of TucUua, with Ethnological NoieB,
504 CIVILIZATION.
Germans. — The ethnology of the Sarmatians involves
that of the Germans, the original magnitude of their
respective areas being a point upon which current opinion
is open to grave exceptions. As a matter of history it
was the Elbe which, in the time of Charlemagne, divided
Germany from Slavonia ; to the east of which river no
German occupancy existed. I hold that in the time of
Tacitus the relations of the two areas were the same ;
believing that the contrary opinion, in favour of all the
nations whose names appear in the Germania of Tacitus
being actually Germans^ is utterly untenable. If so,
the southern side of the Baltic was Sarmatian. If so,
a Sarmatian conquest of Scandinavia, anterior to that
effected by the Germans, is probable. How far there is
actual evidence in favour of one is another question. In
the mind of the present writer there is a great deal.
That the Vandals were Slavonians rather than Germans,
and that the actual Germans of the history of the Lower
Empire were only Goths, so far as they intruded them-
selves upon the country of the Gets are, in the mind of
the present writer, both important facts, and facts that
magnify the early importance of the Sarmatians, and
diminish that of the Germans.
Indeed, the extension of the German influence has
been effected almost wholly within the historical period,
subsequent to the extension of the Roman Empire north-
wards ; and, generally speaking, from points where Roman
civilization had, more or less, established itself.
Kelts. — The test of language makes the Keltic one
of the subordinate divisions of mankind ; the popu-
lations which speak the Breton and the Welsh, the
Manks or the Gaelic, being, one and all, in a fragmentary
condition, and the individuals of which they consist
being counted by the thousand rather than the million.
CIVILIZATION. 505
The test, however, of language applies but imperfectly
to either Gaul or the British Isles, over each of which
important areas the blood is certainly more Keltic than
the speech. It is this in even the eastern parts of
England and the northern parts of France. It is so in a
still greater degree in the west of England, in Cornwall,
in the Isle of Man, in Scotland, and in Ireland.
And here it may be remarked that in those districts
where the blood and speech coincide, and where the
strain is the purest, we find a perennial supply of ele-
ments which, when transplanted elsewhere, by means of
emigration, cannot but fail to Kelticize the stock with
which they come in contact. In America, the offspring
of parents whereof one is English and the other Irish,
may marry an aboriginal of Ireland, whose child may,
in its turn, do the same. In this way the Kelt family,
as tested by its genealogy, may increase ; whilst, as tested
by its language, it may fall off. Whatever may be its fate
in this respect, it is clear that its outward and visible
characters have not only a decided tendency to change,
but that, these being lost, little is left but an abstrac-
tion. Hence the Keltic family, like the Ugrian, must be
looked upon as the family of a diminishing area.
Like that of the Ugrians, the Keltic area has lain be-
tween two forces — the rude force of Germany, and the
civilization of Italy. It was first broken by the former.
Whilst Italy was barbarous the Kelts were formidable.
Their extension, both eastward and southward, though
overvalued, has been considerable. It was effected, how-
ever, when the civilization of Italy was but nascent.
The present work, however, is upon Descriptive
Ethnology, rather than either the Philosophy (so called)
of History or the Natural History of Civilization. If it
were not so, the evidence in favour of the foregoing view
VOL. II. L L
606 CIVILIZATION.
ivould run over many pages. What has been already
written is written solely with the object of combining
the acknowledged influence of the great material powers^
like those of Germany, Sarmatia, and Turkistan, as well
as those of Greece, Rome, Syria, and ^gypt with a
theory, or hypothesis, which places them in the con-
dition of the elements of a generalization.
Wuodfall and Kinder, Prmten, Anf^el Court, bkiniicr street, London.
OTHER WORKS ON ETHNOLOGY,
By Dr. R. G. LATHAM.
NATUBAL HISTOBY of the VABIETIES of MAN.
8vo, Illustrated, £1 U.
MAN and his MIGRATIONS. Foolscap 8vo, 6«.
ETHNOLOGY of EUBOPE. Foolscap 8vo, 6«.
ETHNOLOGY of the BRITISH ISLANDS. Foolscap
8yo, 5#.
ETHNOLOGY of the BRITISH COLONIES and DE-
PENDENCIES. Foolscap 8vo, 6s.
JOHN VAN VOORST, 1, Patkrnostbb Row.
The NATIVE BACES of the RUSSIAN EMPIRE.
H. BAILLIERE, Reobnt Stbeet.
WOKKS ON PHILOLOGY,
By Dr. R. G. LATHAM.
I.
The ENGLISH LANGUAGE. By Dr. R. G. Latham.
F.B.S. Fourth Edition. 2 vols. 8to. U. Ss, cloth.
II.
A HAND BOOK of the ENGLISH LANGUAGE, for the
Use of Students of the Universities and Higher Classes of Schools.
Bj Db. R. G. Latham, F.R.3. Third Edition. 12mo. 7«. 6c2. cloth.
III.
A SCHOOL GRAMMAR of the ENGLISH LANGUAGE,
adapted for General Use. By Db. B. G. Latham and an Experienced
Teacher. Foolscap 8yo. [In the Press,
IV.
An ELEMENTARY ENGLISH GRAMMAR, for the Use
of Schools. By Db. R. G. Latham, F.R.S., late Fellow of King's
College, Cambridge. Sixth Edition. 12mo. 4s. 6cL cloth.
V.
LOGIC in its APPLICATION to LANGUAGE. By Dr.
B. G. Latham, F.R.S. 12mo. 6s» cloth.
VI.
ELEMENTS of COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY. By Dr.
R. G. Latham, F.R.S. 1 vol. 8vo. [Preparing.
London : WALTON and MABEBLY.
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THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CAUFORNIA, SANTA CRUZ
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