in the Lower Valley of the Indus and Cutchi. 401 



as the Thurr, which separates Sindh from Cutch and Guzirat, 

 they are predatory, but in Sindh are cultivators and peace- 

 able, and for Biltichis, an industrious class. I am not aware 

 that there are any physical peculiarities distinguishing tribes 

 generally, though, as will be hereafter noticed, the desert and 

 hill Bilachis differ in costume, stature, and habits from their 

 brethren of Sindh. There are numerous other tribes in the 

 line of country designated, but they scarcely merit detail, 

 were not the materials wanting. 



The Biltichis, in their divisions into tribes, have a great 

 deal of the family pride which distinguishes the Rajput ; and 

 of the above heads of families, the Rinds are considered to 

 hold a particularly high place — many of the other tribes, 

 therefore, claim Rind extraction, such as the Murris, Dumkis, 

 Jekranis, and others. In marriage this is particularly ob- 

 servable ; a daughter may be given by a Rind to a Bind^ but 

 it would be considered degrading to marry into a lower order 

 of clan, the extreme pride with which this people boast of 

 their claim, as before observed, to " Usidy A real unmixed 

 Biltichi blood is peculiar, and seldom seen amongst Mahome- 

 dans in the East, though happily for them they are, or pretend 

 to be, totally ignorant or unmindful of the very low estima- 

 tion in which, as a people, they are elsewhere held, the term 

 Biluch being by the other inhabitants of these countries lite- 

 rally translated by its initial Persian letters to mean ^ be, 

 thus t-* bud or bad J 14m, lorchur or vagabond, and ^. chccm, 

 choz or thief, a silly invention in itself, but significant of the 

 bad character this people have gained. 



The Biltichis located in Sindh, acquired under the late 

 Biluch dynasty a great and important share of the country, as 

 Jabgirdars and feudatories, the tenure by which they held 

 their possessions being military service, and very analogous 

 to the old feudal system in Europe. This also obtained 

 throughout the whole of Biltichistan. Locating themselves in 

 the plains, and on the banks of the river, the Biltichis in Sindh, 

 though wild and barbarous as compared with the inhabitants 

 of our own Indian provinces, were yet superior in this respect 

 to their untamed brethren of the desert and mountains, who, 

 occupied alternately as robbers or shepherds, are as wild as 



