Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 5.djvu/107

 AFREEDEE. (248)

HE Afreedees are one of the principal frontier tribes of the north-west, inhabiting the mountains and passes which- He west and south-west of Peshawar. They are bold and sturdy soldiers, but restless and troublesome, as they always have been, from the period of the invasion of Alexander the Great to the present time. It is probable that at no period of the history of the frontier, have the Afreedees of the passes ever been so peaceably disposed as at present. Many of them have enlisted in our frontier regiments, and serve very faithfully and creditably; but it is a question whether the wild character of these mountaineers can ever be materially changed. In the early periods of Mahomedan invasions of India, the kings of Afghanistan were obliged to purchase the privilege of descending and ascending the passes; and the subsequent emperors of Delhi, as long as they retained Afghanistan, paid the Afreedee chiefs regular subsidies, and were dependant upon their forbearance for the maintenance of communications and of trade. During the Sikh rule of the Punjab, frontier wars were ordinarily in progress, and during the British war in Afghanistan, though the Khyber pass had been forced, the chiefs of the locality were afterwards paid regular allowances; and it was the withdrawal or curtailment of these allowances, together with the national movement against the British occupation of Kabool, that brought about the disastrous massacre of British troops, in the memorable retreat from the Afghan capital. After the Punjab war, and the British occupation of the country up to the base of the Afghan mountains, settlements for the purpose of trade were made with the Afreedees and other tribes; but the inherent lawless spirit of the mountaineers has often displayed itself, and led to collisions with them, in which, by their uniform defeat, even in their strongest and apparently impregnable positions, it may be hoped they have learned the hopelessness of effectually resisting the discipline and valour of British troops. The Afreedees are all Soonnee Mahomedans, fanatical and bigoted; but they are industrious after their fashion, cultivating their somewhat poor lands, and trading to Peshawur with salt