172 Journal of a voyage from [March, 



right appeared high. There were fields of stubble and patches cover- 

 ed with the cotton plant. We passed one inlet from the river on 

 the right, and ajhari jungle extending a short distance on the bank, 

 but low and thin. "We stopped at Bhundri, estimated distance from 

 Wallipura four kos. This village, like the rest which we passed to- 

 day, is hardly deserving of remark : it contains a small paka mosque, 

 which is in much danger of being destroyed by the river. The 

 dwelling houses, of which there may be 100, are all of mud, either 

 thatched or with kacha terraced roofs. Tt has two baniahs' shops. 

 The inhabitants are chiefly Mussalman zemindars. Bhundri and 

 Kh&npur, Wazir ke Gaur, villages in the neighbourhood, are inha- 

 bited by a caste of Putial Rajputs, who claim descent from Rajas 

 HosrAL and Jagpal. Their ancestors were converted to Islamism 

 some five centuries ago by Hazrat Shah Katal Chishti, one of 

 the descendants of Hazrat Sheikh Farid, the famous saint of Pdk 

 Patan. His relics are deposited somewhere between the villages of 

 Talwdrd and Sheikh Chishti under the shade of a grove of babul trees : 

 there is his khdngdh or shrine, which the surrounding inhabitants visit 

 in great crowds on certain days of the year to pay him the honors 

 due to a saint. 



The Patials retain many of their Hindu customs, especially the 

 ceremonials at births and marriages, in which the Brahmin priest often 

 assists and claims the usual fees. 



They intermaiTy only among themselves, it being thought a disgrace 

 to give their daughters in marriage to a person of different caste or 

 descent. 



The Jats, Gujars, Harnis, Arrains, who chiefly compose the pea- 

 santry of the country from above Lodiana down to Firozpur, all claim 

 descent more or less remote from a Rajput stock. They are generally 

 ill-looking, tall and thin, but with large bones and sinewy limbs. 

 The usual dress of the better sort is a blue-colored dhdti, tied some- 

 what differently from the common mode, reaching down nearly to 

 the ankles, and seeming to embarrass their motions in walking. With 

 this they wear a large cotton chadder or sheet, which is either flung 

 in double folds over the shoulder and across the breast, or used to 

 cover the whole body ; it is exchanged for a blanket in the cold 

 weather. The turban is of cotton, either plain or dyed blue, and tied 

 sometimes Sikh fashion in a high topi, and sometimes in loose folds, 

 leaving gr»at part of the head uncovered. The coarse cotton cloth 

 which forms their ordinary wear is a home manufacture. The poorer 

 among them are little troubled with clothing of any description. 



