Umarkot.

—This stronghold (kot) of the Umars, until a very few years back, was the capital of the Sodha Raj, which extended, two centuries ago, into the valley of Sind, and east to the Luni; but the Rathors of Marwar, and the family at present ruling Sind, have together reduced the sovereignty of the Sodhas to a very confined spot, and thrust out of Umarkot (the last of the nine castles of Maru) the descendant of Siharas, who, from Aror, held dominions extending from Kashmir to the ocean. Umarkot has sadly fallen from its ancient grandeur, and instead of the five thousand houses it contained during the opulence of the Sodha princes, it hardly reckons two hundred and fifty houses, or rather huts.[30] The old castle is to the north-west of the town. It is built of brick, and the bastions, said to be eighteen in number, are of stone. It has an inner citadel, or rather a fortified palace. There is an old canal to the north of the fort, in which water still lodges part of the year. When Raja Man [314] had possession of Umarkot, he founded several villages thereunto, to keep up the communication. The Talpuris then found it to their interest, so long as they had any alarms from their own lord paramount of Kandahar, to court the Rathor prince; but when civil war appeared in that region, as well as in Marwar, the cessation of all fears from the one, banished the desire of paying court to the other, and Umarkot was unhappily placed between the Kalhoras of Sind and the Rathors, each of whom looked upon this frontier post as the proper limit of his sway, and contended for its possession. We shall therefore give an account of a feud between these rivals, which finally sealed the fate of the Sodha prince, and which may contribute something to the history of the ruling family of Sind, still imperfectly known.

The Fate of the Sodha Tribe. Assassination of Mīr Bijar.

—When Bijai Singh ruled Marwar, Miyan Nur Muhammad, Kalhora, governed Sind; but being expelled by an army from Kandahar, he fled to Jaisalmer, where he died. The eldest son, Antar Khan, and his brothers, found refuge with Bahadur Khan Khairani; while a natural brother, named Ghulam Shah, born of a common prostitute, found means to establish himself on the masnad at Haidarabad. The chiefs of Daudputra espoused the cause of Antar Khan, and prepared to expel the usurper. Bahadur Khan, Sabzal Khan, Ali Murad, Muhammad Khan, Kaim Khan, Ali Khan, chiefs of the Khairani tribe, united, and marched with Antar Khan to Haidarabad. Ghulam Shah advanced to meet him, and the brothers encountered at Ubaura[31] (see map); but legitimacy failed: the Khairani chiefs almost all perished, and Antar Khan was made prisoner, and confined for life in Gaja-ka-kot, an island in the Indus, seven coss south of Haidarabad. Ghulam Shah transmitted his masnad to his son Sarfaraz, who, dying soon after, was succeeded by Abdul Nabi. At the town of Abhaipura, seven coss east of Sheodadpur (a town in Lohri Sind), resided a chieftain of the Talpuri tribe, a branch of the Baloch, named Goram, who had two sons, named Bijar and Sobhdan. Sarfaraz demanded Goram’s daughter to wife; he was refused, and the whole family was destroyed. Bijar Khan, who alone escaped the massacre, raised his clan to avenge him, deposed the tyrant, and placed himself upon the masnad of Haidarabad. The Kalhoras dispersed; but Bijar, who was of a violent and imperious temperament, became involved in hostilities with the Rathors regarding the possession of Umarkot. It is asserted that he not only demanded tribute from Marwar, but a daughter of the Rathor prince, to wife, setting forth as a precedent his grandfather Ajit, who bestowed a wife on Farrukhsiyar. This insult led to a pitched battle, fought at Dugara, five coss from Dharnidhar, in which the Baloch [315] army was fairly beaten from the field by the Rathor; but Bijai Singh, not content with his victory, determined to be rid of this thorn in his side. A Bhatti and Chondawat offered their services, and lands being settled on their families, they set out on this perilous enterprise in the garb of ambassadors. When introduced to Bijar, he arrogantly demanded if the Raja had thought better of his demand, when the Chondawat referred him to his credentials. As Bijar rapidly ran his eye over it, muttering “no mention of the dola (bride),” the dagger of the Chondawat was buried in his heart. “This for the dola,” he exclaimed; and “this for the tribute,” said his comrade, as he struck another blow. Bijar fell lifeless on his cushion of state, and the assassins, who knew escape was hopeless, plied their daggers on all around; the Chondawat slaying twenty-one, and the Bhatti five, before they were hacked to pieces.[32] The nephew of Bijar Khan, by name Fateh Ali, son of Sobhdan, was chosen his successor, and the old family of Kalhora was dispersed to Bhuj, and Rajputana, while its representative repaired to Kandahar. There the Shah put him at the head of an army of twenty-five thousand men, with which he reconquered Sind, and commenced a career of unexampled cruelty. Fateh Ali, who had fled to Bhuj, reassembled his adherents, attacked the army of the Shah, which he defeated and pursued with great slaughter beyond Shikarpur, of which he took possession, and returned in triumph to Haidarabad. The cruel and now humbled Kalhora once more appeared before the Shah, who, exasperated at the inglorious result of his arms, drove him from his presence; and after wandering about, he passed from Multan to Jaisalmer, settling at length at Pokaran, where he died. The Pokaran chief made himself his heir, and it is from the great wealth (chiefly in jewels) of the ex-prince of Sind that its chiefs have been enabled to take the lead in Marwar. The tomb of the exile is on the north side of the town [316].[33]

This episode, which properly belongs to the history of Marwar, or to Sind, is introduced for the purpose of showing the influence of the latter on the destinies of the Sodha princes. It was by Bijar, who fell by the emissaries of Bijai Singh, that the Sodha Raja was driven from Umarkot, the possession of which brought the Sindis into immediate collision with the Bhattis and Rathors. But on his assassination and the defeat of the Sind army on the Rann, Bijai Singh reinducted the Sodha prince to his gaddi of Umarkot; not, however, long to retain it, for on the invasion from Kandahar, this poor country underwent a general massacre and pillage by the Afghans, and Umarkot was assaulted and taken. When Fateh Ali made head against the army of Kandahar, which he was enabled to defeat, partly by the aid of the Rathors, he relinquished, as the price of this aid, the claims of Sind upon Umarkot, of which Bijai Singh took possession, and on whose battlements the flag of the Rathors waved until the last civil war, when the Sindis expelled them. Had Raja Man known how to profit by the general desire of his chiefs to redeem this distant possession, he might have got rid of some of the unquiet spirits by other means than those which have brought infamy on his name.

Chor.

—Since Umarkot has been wrested from the Sodhas, the expelled prince, who still preserves his title of Rana, resides at the town of Chor, fifteen miles north-east of his former capital. The descendant of the princes who probably opposed Alexander, Menander, and Kasim, the lieutenant of Walid, and who sheltered Humayun when driven from the throne of India, now subsists on the eleemosynary gifts of those with whom he is connected by marriage, or the few patches of land of his own desert domain left him by the rulers of Sind. He has eight brothers, who are hardly pushed for a subsistence, and can only obtain it by the supplement to all the finances of these States, plunder.

The Sodha, and the Jareja, are the connecting links between the Hindu and the Muslim; for although the farther west we go the greater is the laxity of Rajput prejudice, yet to something more than mere locality must be attributed the denationalized sentiment which allows the Sodha to intermarry with a Sindi: this cause is hunger; and there are few zealots who will deny that its influence is more potent than the laws of Manu. Every third year brings famine, and those who have not stored up against it fly to their neighbours, and chiefly to the valley of the Indus. The [317] connexions they then form often end in the union of their daughters with their protectors; but they still so far adhere to ancient usage as never to receive back into the family caste a female so allied.[34] The present Rana of the Sodhas has set the example, by giving daughters to Mir Ghulam Ali and Mir Sohrab, and even to the Khosa chief of Dadar; and in consequence, his brother princes of Jaisalmer, Bah and Parkar, though they will accept a Sodha princess to wife (because they can depend on the purity of her blood), yet will not bestow a daughter on the Rana, whose offspring might perhaps grace the harem of a Baloch. But the Rathors of Marwar will neither give to nor receive daughters of Dhat. The females of this desert region, being reputed very handsome, have become almost an article of matrimonial traffic; and it is asserted, that if a Sindi hears of the beauty of a Dhatiani, he sends to her father as much grain as he deems an equivalent, and is seldom refused her hand. We shall not here further touch on the manners or other peculiarities of the Sodha tribe, though we may revert to them in the general outline of the tribes, with which we shall conclude the sketch of the Indian desert.

Tribes.

—The various tribes inhabiting the desert and valley of the Indus would alone form an ample subject of investigation, which would, in all probability, elicit some important truths. Amongst the converts to Islam the inquirer into the pedigree of nations would discover names, once illustrious, but which, now hidden under the mantle of a new faith, might little aid his researches into the history of their origin. He would find the Sodha, the Kathi, the Mallani, affording in history, position, and nominal resemblance grounds for inferring that they are the descendants of the Sogdoi, Kathi, and Malloi, who opposed the Macedonian in his passage down the Indus; besides swarms of Getae or Yuti, many of whom have assumed the general title of Baloch, or retain the ancient specific name of Numri; while others, in that of Zj’at [Jat], preserve almost the primitive appellation. We have also the remains of those interesting races the Johyas and Dahyas, of which much has been said in the Annals of Jaisalmer, and elsewhere; who, as well as the Getae or Jats, and Huns, hold places amongst the “Thirty-six Royal Races” of ancient India.[35] These, with the Barahas and the Lohanas, tribes who swarmed a few centuries ago in the Panjab, will now only be discerned in small numbers in “the region of death,” which has even preserved the illustrious name of Kaurava, Krishna’s foe in the Bharat. The Sahariya, or great robber of our western desert, would alone afford a text for discussion on his habits [318] and his raids, as the enemy of all society. But we shall begin with those who yet retain any pretensions to the name of Hindu (distinguishing them from the proselytes to Islam), and afterwards descant upon their peculiarities. Bhatti, Rathor, Jodha, Chauhan, Mallani, Kaurava, Johya, Sultana, Lohana, Arora, Khumra, Sindhal, Maisuri, Vaishnavi, Jakhar, Asaich, Punia.

Of the Muhammadan there are but two, Kalhora and Sahariya, concerning whose origin any doubt exists, and all those we are about to specify are Nayyads,[36] or proselytes chiefly from Rajput or other Hindu tribes:

Zjat; Rajar; Umra; Sumra; Mair, or Mer; Mor, or Mohor; Baloch; Lumria, or Luka; Samaicha; Mangalia; Bagria; Dahya; Johya; Kairui; Jangaria; Undar; Berawi; Bawari; Tawari; Charandia; Khosa; Sadani; Lohanas.

The Nayyāds.

—Before we remark upon the habits of these tribes, we may state one prominent trait which characterizes the Nayyad, or convert to Islam, who, on parting with his original faith, divested himself of its chief moral attribute, toleration, and imbibed a double portion of the bigotry of the creed he adopted. Whether it is to the intrinsic quality of the Muhammadan faith that we are to trace this moral metamorphosis, or to a sense of degradation (which we can hardly suppose) consequent on his apostasy, there is not a more ferocious or intolerant being on the earth than the Rajput convert to Islam. In Sind, and the desert, we find the same tribes, bearing the same name, one still Hindu, the other Muhammadan; the first retaining his primitive manners, while the convert is cruel, intolerant, cowardly, and inhospitable. Escape, with life at least, perhaps a portion of property, is possible from the hands of the Maldot, the Larkhani, the Bhatti, or even the Tawaris, distinctively called “the sons of the devil”; but from the Khosas, the Sahariyas, or Bhattis, there would be no hope of salvation. Such are their ignorance and brutality, that should a stranger make use of the words rassa, or rasta (rope, and road), he will be fortunate if he escape with bastinado from these beings, who discover therein an analogy to rasul, or ‘the prophet’: he must for the former use the words kilbar, randori, and for the latter, dagra, or dag.[37] It will not fail to strike those who have perused the heart-thrilling adventures of Park, Denham, and Clapperton—names which will live for ever in the annals of discovery—how completely the inoffensive, kind, and hospitable negro resembles in these qualities the Rajput, who is transformed into a wild beast the moment he can repeat, “Ashhadu an lā ilāha illa allāh! [319] Ashhadu anna Muhammad rasūlu-llāh,” “there is but one God, and Muhammad is the prophet of God”: while a remarkable change has taken place amongst the Tatar tribes, since the anti-destructive doctrines of Buddha (or Hinduism purified of polytheism) have been introduced into the regions of Central Asia.

On the Bhattis, the Rathors, the Chauhans, and their offset the Mallani, we have sufficiently expatiated, and likewise on the Sodha; but a few peculiarities of this latter tribe remain to be noticed.

The Sodha Tribe.

—The Sodha, who has retained the name of Hindu, has yet so far discarded ancient prejudice, that he will drink from the same vessel and smoke out of the same hukka with a Musalman, laying aside only the tube that touches the mouth. With his poverty, the Sodha has lost his reputation for courage, retaining only the merit of being a dexterous thief, and joining the hordes of Sahariyas and Khosas who prowl from Daudputra to Gujarat. The arms of the Sodhas are chiefly the sword and shield, with a long knife in the girdle, which serves either as a stiletto or a carver for his meat: few have matchlocks, but the primitive sling is a general weapon of offence, and they are very expert in its use. Their dress partakes of the Bhatti and Muhammadan costume, but the turban is peculiar to themselves, and by it a Sodha may always be recognized. The Sodha is to be found scattered over the desert, but there are offsets of his tribe, now more numerous than the parent stock, of which the Samecha is the most conspicuous, whether of those who are still Hindu, or who have become converts to Islam.

The Kaurava Tribe.

—This singular tribe of Rajputs, whose habits, even in the midst of pillage, are entirely nomadic, is to be found chiefly in the thal of Dhat, though in no great numbers.[38] They have no fixed habitations, but move about with their flocks, and encamp wherever they find a spring or pasture for their cattle; and there construct temporary huts of the wide-spreading pilu,[39] by interlacing its living branches, covering the top with leaves, and coating the inside with clay: in so skilful a manner do they thus shelter themselves that no sign of human habitation is observable from without. Still the roaming Sahariya is always on the look-out for these sylvan retreats, in which the shepherds deposit their little hoards of grain, raised from the scanty patches around them. The restless disposition of the Kauravas, who even among their ever-roaming brethren enjoy a species of fame in this respect, is attributed (said my Dhati) to a curse entailed upon them from remote ages. They rear camels, cows, buffaloes, and goats, which they sell to the Charans and other merchants. They are altogether a singularly peaceable race; and like all their Rajput brethren, can at will [320] people the desert with palaces of their own creation, by the delightful amal-pani, the universal panacea for ills both moral and physical.

The Dhāti Tribe.

—Dhat, or Dhati, is another Rajput, inhabiting Dhat, and in no greater numbers than the Kauravas, whom they resemble in their habits, being entirely pastoral, cultivating a few patches of land, and trusting to the heavens alone to bring it forward. They barter the ghi or clarified butter, made from the produce of their flocks, for grain and other necessaries of life. Rabri and chhachh, or ‘porridge and buttermilk,’ form the grand fare of the desert. A couple of sers of flour of bajra, juar, and khejra is mixed with some sers of chhachh, and exposed to the fire, but not boiled, and this mess will suffice for a large family. The cows of the desert are much larger than those of the plains of India, and give from eight to ten sers (eight or ten quarts) of milk daily. The produce of four cows will amply subsist a family of ten persons from the sale of ghi; and their prices vary with their productive powers, from ten to fifteen rupees each. The rabri, so analogous to the kouskous of the African desert, is often made with camel’s milk, from which ghi cannot be extracted, and which soon becomes a living mass when put aside. Dried fish, from the valley of Sind, is conveyed into the desert on horses or camels, and finds a ready sale amongst all classes, even as far east as Barmer. It is sold at two dukras (coppers) a ser. The puras, or temporary hamlets of the Dhatis, consisting at most of ten huts in each, resemble those of the Kauravas.

The Lohāna Tribe.

—This tribe is numerous both in Dhat and Talpura: formerly they were Rajputs, but betaking themselves to commerce, have fallen into the third class. They are scribes and shopkeepers, and object to no occupation that will bring a subsistence; and as to food, to use the expressive idiom of this region, where hunger spurns at law, “excepting their cats and their cows, they will eat anything.”[40]

The Arora Tribe.

—This class, like the former, apply themselves to every pursuit, trade, and agriculture, and fill many of the inferior offices of government in Sind, being shrewd, industrious, and intelligent. With the thrifty Arora and many other classes, flour steeped in cold water suffices to appease hunger. Whether this class has its name from being an inhabitant of Aror, we know not.[41]

The Bhātia Tribe.

—Bhatia is also one of the equestrian order converted into the commercial, and the exchange has been to his advantage. His habits are like those of the Arora, next to whom he ranks as to activity and wealth. The Aroras and Bhatias have commercial houses at Shikarpur, Haidarabad, and even at Surat and Jaipur [321].[42]

Brāhmans.

—Bishnoi is the most common sect of Brahmans in the desert and Sind. The doctrines of Manu with them go for as much as they are worth in the desert, where “they are a law unto themselves.” They wear the janeo, or badge of their tribe, but it here ceases to be a mark of clerical distinction, as no drones are respected; they cultivate, tend cattle, and barter their superfluous ghi for other necessaries. They are most numerous in Dhat, having one hundred of their order in Chor, the residence of the Sodha Rana, and several houses in Umarkot, Dharnas, and Mitti.[43] They do not touch fish or smoke tobacco, but will eat food dressed by the hands of a Mali (gardener), or even a Nai (barber caste); nor do they use the chauka, or fireplace, reckoned indispensable in more civilized regions. Indeed, all classes of Hindus throughout Sind will partake of food dressed in the sarai, or inn, by the hands of the Bhathiyarin. They use indiscriminately each other’s vessels, without any process of purification but a little sand and water. They do not even burn their dead, but bury them near the threshold; and those who can afford it, raise small chabutras, or altars, on which they place an image of Siva, and a ghara, or jar of water. The janeo, or thread which marks the sacerdotal character in Hindustan, is common in these regions to all classes, with the exception of Kolis and Lohanas. This practice originated with their governors, in order to discriminate them from those who have to perform the most servile duties.[44]

The Rabāri Tribe.

—This term is known throughout Hindustan only as denoting persons employed in rearing and tending camels, who are there always Muslims. Here they are a distinct tribe, and Hindus, employed entirely in rearing camels, or in stealing them, in which they evince a peculiar dexterity, uniting with the Bhattis in the practice as far as Daudputra. When they come upon a herd grazing, the boldest and most experienced strikes his lance into the first he reaches, then dips a cloth in the blood, which at the end of his lance he thrusts close to the nose of the next, and wheeling about, sets off at speed, followed by the whole herd, lured by the scent of blood and the example of their leader.[45]

Jat Tribes.

—Jakhar, Asaich, Punia are all denominations of the Jat race, a few of whom preserve under these ancient subdivisions their old customs and religion; but the greater part are among the converts to Islam, and retain the generic name, pronounced Zjat. Those enumerated are harmless and industrious, and are found both in the desert and valley. There are besides these a few scattered families of ancient tribes [322], as the Sultana[46] and Khumra, of whose history we are ignorant, Johyas, Sindhals, and others, whose origin has already been noticed in the Annals of Marusthali.

We shall now leave this general account of the Hindu tribes, who throughout Sind are subservient to the will of the Muhammadan, who is remarkable, as before observed, for intolerance. The Hindu is always second: at the well, he must wait patiently until his tyrant has filled his vessel; or if, in cooking his dinner, a Muslim should require fire, it must be given forthwith, or the shoe would be applied to the Hindu’s head.

The Sahariya Tribe.

—The Sahariya is the most numerous of the Muhammadan tribes of the desert, said to be Hindu in origin, and descendants of the ancient dynasty of Aror; but whether his descent is derived from the dynasty of Siharas (written Sahir by Pottinger), or from the Arabic word sahra, ‘a desert,’ of which he is the terror, is of very little moment.[47]

The Khosa Tribe.

—The Kosas or Khosas, etc., are branches of the Sahariya, and their habits are the same. They have reduced their mode of rapine to a system, and established kuri, or blackmail, consisting of one rupee and five daris of grain for every plough, exacted even from the hamlets of the shepherds throughout the thal. Their bands are chiefly mounted on camels, though some are on horseback; their arms are the sel or sang (lances of bamboo or iron), the sword and shield, and but few firearms. Their depredations used to be extended a hundred coss around, even into Jodhpur and Daudputra, but they eschew coming in contact with the Rajput, who says of a Sahariya, “he is sure to be asleep when the battle nakkara beats.” Their chief abode is in the southern portion of the desert; and about Nawakot, Mitti, as far as Baliari.[48] Many of them used to find service at Udaipur, Jodhpur, and Suigam, but they are cowardly and faithless.

The Samaicha Tribe.

—Samaicha is one of the nayyad, or proselytes to Islam from the Sodha race, and numerous both in the thal and the valley, where they have many puras or hamlets. They resemble the Dhatis in their habits, but many of them associate with the Sahariyas, and plunder their brethren. They never shave or touch the hair of their heads, and consequently look more like brutes than human beings. They allow no animal to die of disease, but kill it when they think there are no hopes of recovery. The Samaicha women have the reputation of being great scolds, and never veil their faces [323].

The Rājar Tribe.

—They are said to be of Bhatti descent, and confine their haunts to the desert, or the borders of Jaisalmer, as at Ramgarh, Kiala, Jarela, etc.; and the thal between Jaisalmer and Upper Sind: they are cultivators, shepherds, and thieves, and are esteemed amongst the very worst of the converts to Muhammadanism.[49]

The Umar Sūmra Tribe.

—Umars and Sumras are from the Pramar or Puar race, and are now chiefly in the ranks of the faithful, though a few are to be found in Jaisalmer and in the thal called after them; of whom we have already said enough.[50]

The Kalhora, Tālpuri Tribes.

—Kalhora and Talpuri are tribes of celebrity in Sind, the first having furnished the late, and the other its present, dynasty of rulers; and though the one has dared to deduce its origin from the Abbasides of Persia, and the other has even advanced pretensions to descent from the Prophet, it is asserted that both are alike Baloch, who are said to be essentially Jat or Gete in origin. The Talpuris, who have their name from the town (pura) of palms (tal or tar), are said to amount to one-fourth of the population of Lori or Little Sind, which misnomer they affix to the dominion of Haidarabad. There are none in the thal.

Nūmri, Lūmri, or Lūka Tribe.

—This is also a grand subdivision of the Baloch race, and is mentioned by Abu-l Fazl as ranking next to the Kulmani, and being able to bring into the field three hundred cavalry and seven thousand infantry. Gladwin has rendered the name Nomurdy, and is followed by Rennel.[51] The Numris, or Lumris, also styled Luka, a still more familiar term for fox,[52] are likewise affirmed to be Jat in origin. What is the etymology of the generic term Baloch, which they have assumed, or whether they took it from, or gave it to, Baluchistan, some future inquirer into these subjects may discover.[53]

The Zott[54] or Jat Tribe.—This very original race, far more numerous than perhaps all the Rajput tribes put together, still retains its ancient appellation throughout the whole of Sind, from the sea to Daudputra, but there are few or none in the thal. Their habits differ little from those who surround them. They are amongst the oldest converts to Islam.

The Mer, Mair Tribe.

—We should scarcely have expected to find a mountaineer (mera) in the valley of Sind, but their Bhatti origin sufficiently accounts for the term, as Jaisalmer is termed Mer.[55]

The Mor, Mohor Tribe.

—Said to be also Bhatti in origin.[56]

The Tāwari, Thori, or Tori Tribe.

—These engross the distinctive epithet of bhut, or ‘evil spirits,’ and the yet more emphatic title of ‘sons of the devil.’ Their origin is doubtful, but [324] they rank with the Bawariyas, Khengars, and other professional thieves scattered over Rajputana, who will bring you either your enemy’s head or the turban from it. They are found in the thals of Daudputra, Bijnot, Nok, Nawakot, and Udar. They are proprietors of camels, which they hire out, and also find employment as convoys to caravans.

Johya, Dahya, Mangalia Tribes.

—Once found amongst the Rajput tribes, now proselytes to Islam, but few in number either in the valley or the desert. There are also Bairawis, a class of Baloch, Khairawis, Jangrias, Undars, Bagrias, descended from the Pramar and Sankhla Rajputs, but not possessing, either in respect to numbers or other distinctive marks, any claims on our attention.

Dāūdputra, Bahāwalpur State.

—This petty State, though beyond the pale of Hinduism, yet being but a recent formation out of the Bhatti State of Jaisalmer, is strictly within the limits of Marusthali. Little is known regarding the family who founded it, and we shall therefore confine ourselves to this point, which is not adverted to by Mr. Elphinstone, who may be consulted for the interesting description of its prince, and his capital, Bahawalpur, during the halt of the embassy to Kabul.[57]

Daud Khan, the founder of Daudputra, was a native of Shikarpur, west of the Indus, where he acquired too much power for a subject, and consequently drew upon himself the arms of his sovereign of Kandahar. Unable to cope with them, he abandoned his native place, passed his family and effects across the Indus, and followed them into the desert. The royal forces pursued, and coming up with him at Sutiala, Daud had no alternative but to surrender, or destroy the families who impeded his flight or defence. He acted the Rajput, and faced his foes; who, appalled at this desperate act, deemed it unwise to attack him, and retreated. Daud Khan, with his adherents, then settled in the kachhi, or flats of Sind, and gradually extended his authority into the thal. He was succeeded by Mubarik Khan; he, by his nephew Bahawal Khan, whose son is Sadik Muhammad Khan, the present lord of Bahawalpur, or Daudputra, a name applied both to the country and to its possessors, “the children of David.”[58] It was Mubarik who deprived the Bhattis of the district called Khadal, so often mentioned in the Annals of Jaisalmer, and whose chief town is Derawar, founded by Rawal Deoraj in the eighth century; and where the successor of Daud established his abode. Derawar was at that time inhabited by a branch of the Bhattis, broken off at a very early period, its chief holding the title of Rawal, and whose family since their expulsion have resided at Ghariala, belonging to Bikaner, on [325] an allowance of five rupees a day, granted by the conqueror. The capital of the “sons of David” was removed to the south bank of the Gara by Bahawal Khan (who gave it his name), to the site of an old Bhatti city, whose name I could not learn. About thirty years ago[59] an army from Kandahar invaded Daudputra, invested and took Derawar, and compelled Bahawal Khan to seek protection with the Bhattis at Bikampur. A negotiation for its restoration took place, and he once more pledged his submission to the Abdali king, and having sent his son Mubarik Khan as a hostage and guarantee for the liquidation of the imposition, the army withdrew. Mubarik continued three years at Kabul, and was at length restored to liberty and made Khan of Bahawalpur, on attempting which he was imprisoned by his father, and confined in the fortress of Khangarh, where he remained nearly until Bahawal Khan’s death. A short time previous to this, the principal chiefs of Daudputra, namely, Badera Khairani, chief of Mozgarh, Khudabakhsh of Traihara, Ikhtiyar Khan of Garhi, and Haji Khan of Uchh, released Mubarik Khan from Khangarh and they had reached Murara, when tidings arrived of the death of Bahawal Khan. He continued his route to the capital; but Nasir Khan, son of Alam Khan, Gurgecha (Baloch), having formerly injured him and dreading punishment, had him assassinated, and placed his brother, the present chief, Sadik Muhammad, on the masnad: who immediately shut up his nephews, the sons of Mubarik, together with his younger brothers, in the fortress of Derawar. They escaped, raised a force of Rajputs and Purbias, and seized upon Derawar; but Sadik escaladed it, the Purbias made no defence [326], and both his brothers and one nephew were slain. The other nephew got over the wall, but was seized by a neighbouring chief, surrendered, and slain; and it is conjectured the whole was a plot of Sadik Khan to afford a pretext for their death. Nasir Khan, by whose instigation he obtained the masnad, was also put to death, being too powerful for a subject. But the Khairani lords have always been plotting against their liege; an instance of which has been given in the Annals of Bikaner, when Traihara and Mozgarh were confiscated, and the chiefs sent to the castle of Khangarh, the State prison of Daudputra. Garhi still belongs to Abdulla, son of Haji Khan, but no territory is annexed to it. Sadik Muhammad has not the reputation of his father, whom Bijai Singh, of Marwar, used to style his brother. The Daudputras are much at variance amongst each other, and detested by the Bhattis, from whom they have hitherto exacted a tribute to abstain from plunder. The fear of Kandahar no longer exists at Bahawalpur, whose chief is on good terms with his neighbour of Upper Sind, though he is often alarmed by the threats of Ranjit Singh of Lahore, who asserts supremacy over “the children of David.”

Diseases.

—Of the numerous diseases to which the inhabitants of the desert are subjected, from poor and unwholesome diet, and yet more unwholesome drink, rataundha or night-blindness, the narua or Guinea-worm, and varicose veins, are the most common. The first and last are mostly confined to the poorer classes, and those who are compelled to walk a great deal, when the exertion necessary to extricate the limbs from deep sand, acting as a constant drag upon the elasticity of the fibres, occasions them to become ruptured. Yet such is the force of habit that the natives of Dhat in my service, who had all their lives been plying their limbs as kasids, or carriers of dispatches, between all the cities on the Indus and in Rajputana, complained of the firmer footing of the Indian plains, as more fatiguing than that of their native sandhills. But I never was a convert to the Dhati’s reasoning; with all his simplicity of character, even in this was there vanity, for his own swelled veins, which could be compared to nothing but rattans twisted round the calf of his limbs, if they did not belie his assertion, at least proved that he had paid dearly for his pedestrianism in the desert [327]. From the narua, or Guinea-worm, there is no exemption, from the prince to the peasant, and happy is the man who can boast of only one trial. The disease is not confined to the desert and western Rajputana, being far from uncommon in the central States; but beyond the Aravalli the question of “How is your narua?” is almost a general form of greeting, so numerous are the sufferers from this malady. It generally attacks the limbs and the integuments of the joints, when it is excruciating almost past endurance. Whether it arises from animalculae in sand or water, or porous absorption of minute particles imbued with the latent vital principle, the natives are not agreed. But the seat of the disease appears immediately under and adhesive to the skin, on which it at first produces a small speck, which, gradually increasing and swelling, at length reaches a state of inflammation that affects the whole system. The worm then begins to move, and as it attains the degree of vitality apparently necessary for extricating itself, its motions are unceasing, and night and day it gnaws the unhappy patient, who only exists in the hope of daily seeing the head of his enemy pierce the cuticle. This is the moment for action: the skilful narua-doctor is sent for, who seizes upon the head of the worm, and winding it round a needle or straw, employs it as a windlass, which is daily set in motion at a certain hour, when they wind out as much line as they can without the risk of breaking it. Unhappy the wretch whom this disaster befalls, when, happening to fall into a feverish slumber, he kicks the windlass, and snaps the living thread, which creates tenfold inflammation and suppuration. On the other hand, if by patience and skill it is extracted entire, he recovers. I should almost imagine, when the patriarch of Uz exclaims, “My flesh is clothed with worms: my skin is broken and become loathsome. When I lie down, I say, when shall I arise and the night be gone?” that he must have been afflicted with the narua, than which none of the ills that flesh is heir to can be more agonizing.[60]

They have the usual infantine and adult diseases, as in the rest of India. Of these the sitala, or ‘smallpox,’ and the tijari, or ‘tertian,’ are the most common. For the first, they merely recommend the little patient to Sitala Mata; and treat the other with astringents in which infusion of the rind of the pomegranate is always (when procurable) an ingredient. The rich, as in other countries, are under the dominion of empirics, who entail worse diseases by administering mineral poisons, of whose effects they are ignorant. Enlargement of the spleen under the influence of these fevers is very common, and its cure is mostly the actual cautery.

Famines.

—Famine is, however, the grand natural disease of these regions, whose legendary stanzas teem with records of visitations of Bhukhi Mata, the ‘famished mother,’ from the remotest times. That which is best authenticated in the traditions of several of these States, occurred in the eleventh century, and continued during twelve years! It is erroneously connected with the name of Lakha Phulani, who was the personal foe of Siahji, the first Rathor emigrant from Kanauj, and who slew this Robin Hood of the desert in S. 1268 (A.D. 1212). Doubtless the desiccation of the Ghaggar River, in the time of Hamir Sodha, nearly a century before, must have been the cause of this. Every third year they calculate upon a partial visitation, and in 1812 one commenced which lasted three or four years, extending even to the central States of India, when flocks of poor creatures found their way to the provinces on the Ganges, selling their infants, or parting with their own liberty, to sustain existence.[61]

Productions, Animal and Vegetable.

—The camel, ‘the ship of the desert,’ deserves the first mention. There he is indispensable; he is yoked to the plough, draws water from the well [328], bears it for his lordly master in mashaks, or ‘skins,’ in the passage of the desert, and can dispense with it himself altogether during several days. This quality, the formation of his hoof, which has the property of contracting and expanding according to the soil, and the induration of his mouth, into which he draws by his tongue the branches of the babul, the khair, and jawas, with their long thorns, sharp and hard as needles, attest the beneficence of the Supreme Artist. It is singular that the Arabian patriarch, who so accurately describes the habits of various animals, domestic and ferocious, and who was himself lord of three thousand camels, should not have mentioned the peculiar properties of the camel, though in alluding to the incapacity of the unicorn (rhinoceros) for the plough, he seems indirectly to insinuate the use of others besides the ox for this purpose. The camels of the desert are far superior to those of the plains, and those bred in the thals of Dhat and Barmer are the best of all. The Rajas of Jaisalmer and Bikaner have corps of camels trained for war.[62] That of the former State is two hundred strong, eighty of which belong to the prince; the rest are the quotas of his chiefs; but how they are rated, or in what ratio to the horsemen of the other principalities, I never thought of inquiring. Two men are mounted on each camel, one facing the head, the other the rear, and they are famous in a retreating action: but when compelled to come to close quarters, they make the camel kneel down, tie his legs, and retiring behind, make a breastwork of his body, resting the matchlock over the pack-saddle. There is not a shrub in the desert that does not serve the camel for fodder.