Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 5.djvu/71

TANAOLEES. Durra is ascribed, somewhere, it is said, beyond the Khyber. His name would seem to indicate a Hindoo or Boodhist extraction, "and to clear their pedigree of so unpleasant a suspicion, the Tanaolees, by an easy substitution of 'M' for 'B,' and of 'Khan' for 'Deo,' and by the omission of Baba altogether, give him the alias of Meer Khan, and introduce him into the Pathan family."

It is more probable, perhaps, that the Tanaolees as Bactrians, or Boodhists, became early converts to Mahomedanism among the other Afghan tribes who threw off idolatry and embraced that faith, possibly about a thousand years ago. From Tanawal Durra, their chief, with his family and their followers, emigrated to the right bank of the Indus, below the great Mahabun mountain, and made their first settlement at Ushra, a village nearly opposite to Kirplia. Thence, as their numbers increased, they crossed to Delira, below Kirplia, and gradually extended their possessions on both sides of the river. The tribe subsequently divided into two portions, or clans, Hindwal and Palal, each, in former days, owing allegiance to a chief, who ruled them as a feudal lord, and to whom they paid revenue for their lands, and rendered military service; but among the Palais disorders and feuds divided the clan, and contests for the chieftainship have left two claimants to the now almost empty honour.

The Tanaolees now inhabit the mountainous tract lying along the left bank of the Indus, from the black mountain of the Hussunzye Pathans, to Torbeyla, and also hold a tract of country, to which Umb, the seat of the Hindwal chief, gives its name, out of British territory. It is situated on the right bank of the Indus, enclosed on three sides by the Ootmanzye, Amazye, and Muddakhel branches of the Yoosufzye tribe, and bounded on the fourth side by the river. The Tanaolees support themselves almost exclusively by agriculture, and their principal food is unleavened bread with buttermilk and butter; but fowls, eggs, fish, and game are also articles of diet. Of those who live in the hills, many are as fair as Italians, with eyes of light hazel or greyish blue, and frequently brown hair and reddish beards. Those who live on the low-lying lands near the Indus are darker. All are stout and active men, and have the reputation of being good soldiers and staunch partizans. They are hardy and simple in their habits, generally free from the vices of thieving and debauchery; but credulous, obstinate, and unforgiving. They are Mahomedans of the Soonnee sect, and, like all frontier hill tribes, are extremely bigoted.

Ferishta's History of the Mahomedan Power in India gives very numerous instances of the chronic state of warfare which the Afghan frontier tribes maintained against the forces of the emperors of Delhi. There was seldom peace in the north-west frontier in any reign, and the most persistent rebels appear to have been the Yoosufzyes and the clans in connection with them, among whom, there can be little doubt, were the Tanaolees. In 1586, the outrages committed