Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 5.djvu/62

 MULLAHS, OR BOATMEN. (239)

HE Mullahs form a special tribe of themselves, and, although Mahomedans, do not intermarry with other Mussulmans, except on rare occasions. They are found on all the rivers of the Punjab, and on the Indus down to the sea; and, though they have been converted, are probably little changed since the days of Alexander the Great. They are a laborious, free-living people, eating fish and meat ordinarily, and by no means averse to an occasional dram, though they are not habitual consumers of spirits. They are Soonnee Mahomedans, necessarily very ignorant, but peaceable and well disposed. As their calling gives them only ordinary subsistence, none of them attain any high social rank; but the ownership of a boat or two ensures respectable competence. Some of them are employed on the river steamers, and make good pilots, watching the changes in the sand banks after every flood. In ascending the rivers, and when the wind is contrary, they track their boats with great labour; when the And is fair they use a large square sail. Some of the Mullahs are handsome men, with strong muscular developments, and fine beards. They have no peculiar costume, and are generally naked to the waist, except in the coldest weather. The men are often comparatively fair, with brown or hazel eyes; but their women, except the aged, are seldom seen. The ordinary occupation of the Mullahs is transporting grain and other produce from mart to mart along the rivers, and sometimes they carry passengers at low rates; they also manage the ferry boats on all the rivers. In regard to the freights they undertake to deliver, they are said to be very honest and careful. The centre figure represents a reis, or captain, perhaps owner of a boat, a respectable looking aged person, and his companions are two of his boatmen.