Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 5.djvu/70

TANAOLESS. The British tribes in Hazara are as follows:—


 * 1) Tanaolees, or TurnoAvlees;
 * 2) Gukkurs;
 * 3) Doond and Suttee;
 * 4) Kaghan Syuds;

and some other divisions of minor note, who are comparatively insignificant. The tribes which belong to, and adjoin the Peshawur district, will be subsequently mentioned.

Of the above Hazara tribe, the Tanaolees or Turnowlees are the most powerful, and, with their chief, they possess a principality with an area of 250 square miles. Its chief retains the right of internal jurisdiction, and the original grant, by Maharajah Golab Singh, of Cashmere, has been confirmed by the British Government. He is bound by his tenure to furnish a quota of militia for local service, when called upon; and the tribe of Hazara can supply at least 30,000 good soldiers, if they are required. The present Tanaolee chief personally, is loyal and faithful, and is powerful enough to rule his tribe and prevent misconduct. But the Tanaolees have been occasionally restless, and the intrigues of fanatical priests have not progressed without bad effects on portions of them. On the tribe of the Hazara, the Sikh government, while it existed, was never able to make impression, any more than its predecessor, the government of the Moghul emperors; and it has remained to that of the British to introduce order, where before, and for centuries past, utter lawlessness has prevailed.

The first political transaction with the Tanaolee chief occurred in 1851, when Mr. Carne and Mr. Tapp, of the Customs Department, were attacked and murdered within the Tanaolee boundary, by a party of Hussunzyes, the adjoining tribe. The Tanaolee chief was called upon to act, and he delivered up a number of Hussunzyes as hostages, and being attacked by that tribe, suffered severely. The Tanaolee chief now demanded British aid, and a force, under Colonel Mackeson, invaded the Hussunzye country in 1853, and burnt many of their villages. This punishment had a very salutary effect, and while the prompt assistance to him secured the loyalty of the Tanaolee chief, the Hussunzyes have been materially restrained.

According to the official description, the Tanaolees, or Turnowlees, pretend to trace the origin of their tribe to the Caliph Abbas, the paternal uncle of Mahomed, whose son, they say, was driven from Medina, and went to seek his fortune in foreign lands; and his descendants found their way through Baghdad and Egypt to Meshed, and thence, by toilsome steps and through many hardships, to Swat, in the mountains of the extreme north-west corner of the Punjab. Finally, about eleven generations ago, Baba Beer Deo, their acknowledged ancestor, emerges from the mists of a fabulous genealogy in a glen, to which the name of Tanawal