Page:The Sikhs (Gordon).djvu/108

78 feeling, and evolved an individuality built upon traditions, the brotherhood bond of the pahal, and a common cause, resulting in a distinct type of mind, character, and physique. They became a select ruling race, self-confident and independent, the bone and sinew of the mass of the people. At the close of the eighteenth century the Sikh confederacies formed an unruly republic in which arms more than laws prevailed, and courage preferably to equity and justice was the virtue most valued and respected.