Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 6.djvu/202

BRAHOOEES. young son, Nusseer Khan, became a fugitive. A chief, Newaz Khan, was selected from a former ruling branch of the family, but which had not enjoyed power for a century, and possessed little hold on the affections of the people.

Many outrages and difficulties ensued, and Lieutenant Loveday, who had been appointed resident political officer at Khelat, was murdered by the Brahooees. Matters continued in this unsatisfactory state till 1841, when the late Sir James Outram, then Commissioner in Sind, employed Colonel Stacy to induce the real chief, Nusseer Khan, hitherto a fugitive, to surrender to the British. This was happily accomplished, and in a short time he was restored to his father's dominions; and, on the 1st of October, 1841, executed a treaty with the British at Khelat. These wise measures had the immediate effect of calming; the Brahooee tribe, and no further anxiety has been experienced. In 1854, the Khan of Khelat paid a friendly visit to Mr. Frere, the Commissioner of Sind, and the parties separated with mutual assurances of goodwill and friendship. Although classed by many among the Belochees as part of the population of Belochistan, the Brahooees are yet a separate people. Their language is distinct, and they claim to be aborigines; whereas the Belochees admit their own foreign descent. Nor are they Afghans, their language being different from Pushtoo. They are Mahomedans of the Soonnee sect, and attribute their conversion to Mahomed himself, who, mounted on a dove, paid them a visit, and left a number of holy men to guide them. The place of his appearance, a mountain near Khelat, is still held sacred. Pottingers account of the Brahooees is favourable. They are more industrious and hard working; than the Belochees, less revengeful and quarrelsome, though not less courageous. Their chiefs have considerable power. Their women are but slightly, if at all, secluded. Their arms are the sword and matchlock, in the use of which they excel. Their dress is the same for summer and winter. They are great consumers of animal food, which they eat both fresh and dried. The drying is done by exposing the meat to the sun, after which it is smoked over a fire of green wood. Of the Brahooee clans Pottinger gives the names of seventy-four; of these the Mingul is the most numerous, and can supply 10,000 fighting men. Dr. Latham considers that the number of the tribes could be doubled; but Pottinger's list includes the principal, and will suffice to prove the muiltiplicity of the Brahooees, to say nothing of the absolutely innumerable keils (or clans) into which they are subdivided. Masson's Journeys in Belochistan, &c., supplies many interesting particulars of the Brahooees, to which the general reader is referred.

The subject of the Photographs 321 and 321-2 are groups of armed and unarmed Brahooees; fine athletic men, with a decidedly national cast of features, differing from the Belochees and Afghans. The long locks in the younger men, which are objects of especial care, are remarkable characteristics of the tribe.