TUDAS MOHAMMEDANS. 271 



ftthletic, with a bold bearing, and long black hair ; their 

 countenance, distinguished by a Roman nose and a large 

 full-speaking eye, is sometimes marked by deep gravity, 

 sometimes animated by a lively and mirthful expression. 

 The women display the same features with a feminine cast, 

 and have their long black tresses floating over the neck and 

 shoulders. Though modest, they display a frankness and 

 self-possession to which the sex in the low country are 

 strangers ; but their appearance is injured by want of clean- 

 liness and an ungraceful costume. They all live in patri- 

 archal simplicity, raising no grain, nor rearing any domestic 

 animal except the buffalo, whose milk yields the ghee or 

 clarified butter, which forms their only exportable produce. 

 They dwell by families in small morris or clusters of huts, 

 migrating from one to another according to the conve- 

 nience of pasturage. They seem strangers to war, having no 

 weapons of attack or defence ; yet their demeanour is hardy 

 and fearless, betokening a sense of superiority to the neigh- 

 bouring tribes, compared to whom they dignify themselves 

 with the exclusive title of men. They are strictly honest, 

 and, without fastening their doors day or night, live in per- 

 fect safety. They are reproached with habitual indolence ; 

 but the report that they put their infants to death seems yet 

 too slight to fix so deep a stain on their character. 



It seems necessary here to introduce some account of the 

 Asiatic races not Hindoo, who have settled in India. These 

 are chiefly Mohammedans, the descendants of the early 

 conquerors, reinforced by successive hordes of Uzbecks and 

 Patans, attracted thither by the hopes of rising to power 

 and fortune. The fall of the Mogul empire nearly annihi- 

 lated their importance. It converted them into military ad- 

 venturers, who either swelled the predatory bands, or found 

 employment in the native courts, recommended by their 

 boldness and courage. Mr. Prinsep mentions a class called 

 the Punne Patans, who carried on a singular species of life- 

 insurance. A great man, surrounded by enemies and in 

 danger of assassination, obtained from them a contract to 

 kill any one who might be chargeable with violence towards 

 him ; and the knowledge of this engagement, which they 

 were known to fulfil with scrupulous punctuality, formed a 

 material safeguard to the person assured. The Mussulman 

 character, reserved and simple in private life, but proud and 



