Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 2 (2nd edition).pdf/49

 BALUCHISTAN. spend

their

39

time in feasting, so that the ceremony seems intended

rather to furnish enjoyment to the living, than to render honour to

the dead.

The common

dress of the Brahui is a coarse white or blue calico their buttoned round the neck, and reaching below the knee trousers are made of the same cloth, or of a kind of striped stuff called shirt,

susi,



and puckered round the

On

ankles.

silk or cotton-quilted cap, fitted to

their

heads they wear a small

the shape of the skull, and a kafnmar-

round their waists. The Baluchis on the head, and wide trousers unconfined at the ankle. In winter, the chiefs and their relatives appear in a tunic of chintz, lined and stuffed with cotton and the poorer classes, when out of doors, wrap themselves up in a surtout made of cloth, manufactured from a mixture of goats’ hairs and sheep’s wool. The women’s dress is very similar to that of the men their trousers are preposterously wide, and made of silk, or a mi.xture of silk and

band or

sash, of the

wear a similar

same

colour,

dress, but a turban





cotton.

The

fluctuation of

power renders

it

difficult to

define precisely the

During the reign of Nasir Khan the whole kingdom might be said to have been governed by a complete despotism yet that ruler so tempered the supreme authority by the nature of the government of Khelat.



privileges granted to the feudal chiefs within their

a casual observer,

it

The tribes all exercise the right of selecting The Khan has the power of confirming nomination



but

merely nominal.

own

tribes, that, to

bore the appearance of a military confederation.

this

power

The Khan

is

their

or

own

sarddr, or head.

disapproving of

their

be

never exercised, and appears to

of Khelat declares war, and makes treaties

connected with the whole of Baluchistan, and can order the sarddr of each tribe to attend in person with his quota of troops. Agreeably to a code of regulations framed by one of the earliest princes of the

Kumbaranf

dynasty, the

entire administration of justice

is

vested

in

Each sarddr., however, has thefts, and disputed points of

the person at the head of the government. the power of adjusting petty quarrels,

every description,

among

the inhabitants of a

in all cases of importance,

Khan

an appeal

lies

khd

or society



but,

in the last instance to the

at Khelat.

—

The amount of revenue enjoyed Revenue and Military Resources by the Khfin of Khelat is inconsiderable, as the ruling races, Baluch and Brahui, pay no direct taxes, and their poverty and simple habits prevent His income is therefore them from contributing much indirectly. derived from his resources as a proprietor of lands or towns ; from a proportion of the produce paid in kind by the Afghan, Dehwar, and and from from dues on local and transit trade J4t cultivators .

j



arbitrary exactions, a

never-failing

mode

with

Eastern potentates of