Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 6.djvu/280

MOHANA. of the rulers of Sind, who married Nuren, the beautiful daughter of a fisherman. The event is celebrated in the legends of the country, and Shah Bhetai, the poet, has given it a Sindee immortality in one of his Sufi effusions. The Mohanas are by no means a moral people; their language is gross in the extreme, and chastity seems to be unknown among them. The men are hardy and industrious, but incurably addicted to bhang, opium, and all kinds of intoxication. Probably their comfortless and precarious life—half of which is spent in, or on, the water—drives them to debauchery. They are admirable swimmers, as might be expected; and the children begin that exercise almost as soon as they can walk. The Mohana, though depraved, are by no means irreligious. They keep up regular mosques and places of worship, with peers, mullas, and all the appurtenances of devotion. The river Indus is adored by them under the name of Khwajah Khiso, and is periodically propitiated by a cast offering of rice, in earthen pots covered with red cloth. There are many different clans among the Mohana race. Their caste disputes are settled by the head men, who are called Changa Marsa, and invested with full power to administer justice to those who consult them."

In the Photographs both the men are shown holding their nets with their triangular wooden frames, to which the net is attached. Plate 337-2 shows also the large earthern vessel which is their support in the water, where it is placed mouth downwards; and the fisherman, lying upon it on his stomach, strikes out into the stream in quest of prey. Much strength and dexterity is required in the management of the net, and in taking out the fish when caught; but the man is master of his craft. The best fish caught in the Indus is the palla, which is rich and delicate, with something the flavour, in season, of the salmon. The nets shown are especially used for the capture of the palla.