Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 13, 1902.djvu/289

Rh I have already alluded to the unwillingness to surrender refugees. This is a prominent feature in the tribal system. The bāut, or refugee, who flees for safety to the tribe, is sacred and must not be given up. The strength of this feeling is still very strong; the ballads contain many allusions to it. In one of those relating to Mir Chākar and Gohar, Bagar Jatoi calls out to Chākar, "When did a hero ever fail his refugees?" and proceeds to tell the story of Bibari and the lizard. Bibari sat in front of her hut and some boys came by. A lizard dropped out of a dwarf-palm and the boys pursued it, driving it into the house. Bibari stood in front of them, and begged them to spare the lizard, as it was her refugee; but they paid no attention to her and killed it. She went to her husband and said to him, "If you do not go to war on account of this lizard, I am your sister and you my brother," and he proceeded accordingly to take revenge.

Another case often quoted is the behaviour of Chākar to the Lashāri women, already mentioned, and the conduct of Noḏẖbandagh towards Mir Chākar himself, when he mounted him on his own mare Phul, and allowed him to escape from the other Lashāris. A favourite story bearing on this point is that of Dodā Gorgezh. A certain man who possessed a miraculous herd of cattle took refuge with Dodā, and died bequeathing his wife Sammi and the cattle to Dodā's protection; Dodā sacrificed his life in the cause, and his tomb is shown at Garmāf, where he was killed. Dodā's wanderings in the mountains are vividly described in a poem attributed to his son Bālāch, who ultimately, with all the rest of the family, met his death at the hands of the Buleṯẖis. One passage in this poem expresses the very spirit of the born mountaineer:

"The mountains are the Baloches' rampart, the cliffs are better than an army; the lofty heights are our comrades, the pathless gorges our dearest