150 Account of a Journey from Kurrachee to Hinglaj. [No. 98. 



feelings will be allayed by time. In a country so divided into 

 petty tribes as Beeloochistan, where the authority of the chief, 

 although acknowledged^ is but little heeded, and where no man's 

 life or property is safe, further than he can himself protect it, 

 for a traveller to straggle from his party is of course unsafe, 

 as the wretched state of poverty and starvation in which the 

 greater portion of the population exist would induce them 

 to make a dash at him for the sake of his clothes. I was 

 warned of this at Soumeanee, and could never leave our camp 

 without one of the attendants following me at a distance to 

 watch over my security. While halted at the river, upwards 

 of sixty Beerooee and Noomreea families collected round us 

 to be fed ; they came from all parts, and I had therefore an 

 opportunity of inquiring about their mode of life. The milk 

 of their camels, goats, and ewes, the dried berry called beera, 

 wild herbs, and a very small quantity of the coarsest jowaree are 

 what they subsist on ; meat they seldom touch, as all the male 

 animals are disposed of for clothes or grain, and the females 

 kept for their produce. Dates are considered a luxury, so 

 much so, that when at Soumeanee, I was told of a Noomreea 

 having asked a banian in whose shop he saw a pile of bags 

 of them, whether he took any rest at night. On the Hindoo 

 replying, of course he did ; the Noomreea expressed his surprise, 

 and said, were he there, he should be eating the dates day 

 and night. Whenever I offered money, food was always re- 

 quested in lieu of it. The complexions of the females are more 

 fair than could have been expected from their exposed mode 

 of life, and the number of children with them was, as is usual 

 among a poor population, very great. The Beerooees all wear 

 the low conical cap, which affords even less protection to 

 the head than that of Scinde. All were armed, mostly with 

 a matchlock and long knife : some had swords. Neither they 

 nor the Noomreeas pay any regular tribute, but on occasions of 

 festivity, the chiefs raise contributions in kind from the heads of 

 families. All are liable to be called on for military service, 

 during which time they receive food and trifling pay. In the 

 Yam's territory, whenever cultivation is carried on, iC one third'' 

 of the produce goes to the chief, and the remainder is left to 



