Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 5.djvu/77

 OOTMANZYE PATHAN.

(242)

HE Yoosufzye or Eusofzye Pathans are a large frontier tribe of Afghans, who inhabit the valley of Peshawur, and the Hazara district, on the right bank of the Indus, south and south-west from the Momund and other tribes, till they join the district of Peshawur; they are divided into several clans, one of which is the Ootmanzye. In the fifteenth century the Yoosufzyes descended from Kabool into the Peshawur valley, conquered the tribes who then possessed it, and settled there, gradually extending their power and settlements into the Hazara, or plains beyond the valley which was too limited to maintain them. The Ootmanzyes, though fond of military service, are at home cultivators of the soil, and are an industrious and thriving people. They are Mahomedans, ignorant and bigoted, but in the main orderly, inoffensive, and, for the present, loyal to the British Government. They have the virtues and vices of all Afghans, and are thus described in The Kingdom of Kabool and its Dependencies:—" Their vices are revenge, envy, avarice, and obstinacy; on the other hand they are fond of liberty, faithful to their friends, kind to their dependants, hospitable, brave, hardy, frugal, industrious, and prudent." In their mode of living they are less luxurious than the Mahomedans of India, and their food is plainer; but they do not differ from other Soonnee Mahomedans, in the practice of their religious belief The Yoosufzyes, in considerable numbers, have entered the British military service of India, and submit to its discipline. They make excellent soldiers, and their valour and endurance are beyond question. Many of them, from time to time, have entered the service of native princes, under the designation of Rohillas; and at one period they were numerous, with members of other Afghan frontier tribes, in the service of His Highness the Nizam. In the Deccan, however, they were found turbulent and lawless, and their numbers have been gradually reduced. They are in general bad shots, though they carry guns; and their favourite weapons are a broad, heavy sabre, and knife or dagger, with which, protected by a