Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 5.djvu/161

GENERAL SKETCH OF THE FRONITER AFGHAN TRIBES. some political object or revenge at the bottom of it; but the Afreedee has so natural a relish for violence, that no prospect of gain and permanent advantage is sufficient to ensure his keeping his hands off a traveller when he arrives at that unexceptionable spot in the old family Durrah, where wayfaring parties have usually been dealt with." The Afreedees, indeed, seem always to have been specially addicted to violence of all kinds, and it is related of General Avitabili, in a recent number of the Edinburgh Review, October, 1871, that, as one means of suppressing their predatory acts, he conferred an estate upon an individual, the tenor of the holding of which was that fifty Afreedee heads should be presented every year; and for any failure in this number, a fine of fifty rupees should be deducted for each head short. There is no doubt of this fact, which may have been of an exceptional nature; but it exemplifies the difference which exists, and which must be more and more apparent to all the frontier tribes, year by year, of the just and merciful Government with which they have now to deal, in comparison with the more savage character of the Sikh Government which preceded it.

The subject is capable of much larger discussion than the space at disposal will admit of, but enough perhaps has been said to illustrate the character of the five tribes with whom the British Government is now face to face on the north-west frontier of India, and with whom it has to deal with skill and moderation, and at the same time with stern unbending resolution and justice. It is evident that any vacillation or timidity would embolden and excite them beyond control; and while they are not interfered with, so long as they are peaceful, it may be hoped that they at once fear and respect the power which, if occasion required, would be put forth in all its strength to punish and repress outrage or open war. One want in the many reports that have been consulted on this subject, is the total absence of any particulars, most interesting as they would be, in regard to the social habits, manners, customs, and the like, of these tribes, so distinct as they are from other Indians in their organization and, it may be said, national character. It can only be inferred that as yet sufficient intimacy and confidence does not exist between our officers on the frontier and these tribes; that their mountains and their varied peoples cannot as yet be explored or thoroughly understood; and that it must necessarily be a work of time to reconcile long-existing lawlessness and savagery with the peaceful requirements of modern times.