Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 6.djvu/168

 JOKYAS. (313)

ONG the many converts to Mahomedanism in Sind were the Semma, or Soomera, family or tribe of Rajpoots, ehose princes are mentioned in the Introductory Sketch of the History of Sind. They were Jams of Tattah, and reigned until deposed by the Mahomedans, having, during their incumbency, embraced Mahomedanism. This branch of the family remained in Sind, while the Hindoo branch is represented at present by, the chiefs of Cutch, who bear the title of Jam. Of the Sind Jams the head is (or was) Mihr Ali, an unquiet old man of seventy, who possesses large estates in land, of which he has relinquished some portions for a pension paid from the treasury. The estate is badly managed, and yields comparatively little revenue.

The Jokyas represented belong to the police, and are armed in the usual manner. It will be seen at a glance how widely their features differ from those of real Mahomedan tribes, how they utterly lack the comeliness and dignity of the Belochees. It is very probable that they intermarry in their own tribe exclusively, and thus the ancient Hindoo physiognomy, in this case a remarkably ugly type, has been preserved.