1852.] On the Sites of Nikaia and Boukephalon. 247 



Kuttri. We have therefore full assurance that his peculiarities belong 

 to the stock of which he is descended. He has no historical records, 

 but believes himself of the race of the hero Ram,* and probably with 

 some reason. The Kuttris are diffused through the whole Punjaub. 

 There is probably not a village which has not one or more of them. 

 When they take military service they make good horse and fooj. 

 soldiers. They appear to me to abound most upon the banks of the 

 Sootlej. Fifty years have scarcely elapsed since they penetrated to the 

 upper valleys of Huzura, a circumstance tending to account for their 

 nonconversion to Islam, when nearly all other Punjaub tribes of the 

 plains were converted. 



Now, it is manifest, that the Kuttri tribe is not aboriginal. It 

 would be manifest, I think, to all acquainted with the tribes of India, 

 that his descent is from none of them. In spite of the levelling 

 influence of the Hindu idolatry he differs essentially from every Hindu 

 tribe, and from none more than from the Khettris of India. 



One branch of the Kuttri race is called Sohbti, agreeing as well 

 with the Greek name 3o>7ret0oif as Kuttri agrees with Ka0atot. This 

 branch is found in the Doaba of the Ravi and Sootlej ; in the eastern 



* The Kuttri says of himself that he is of one and the same race as the Khettri 

 of Hindustan, but that to escape the great persecution of that race by Pursram 

 Brahman, who had vowed to exterminate them, those living in the Punjaub re- 

 nounced their birthright as Rajpootres and Khettris and became merchants. 



t Strabo calls this tribe 2a>7ret0oi, and says that the salt mines are in their coun- 

 try. The town of Pind Dadun Khan is peopled by Khethris and their most cele- 

 brated Teerut is Kuttahss in the Salt Range. 



$acrl 8' zv if) ^.wireidovs X^P? bpvKT&v a\5)v opos dvcu, apictiv Svvdfxeuov '6 Ay rfj 

 'ivdiKrj. Strabo, xv. 700. 



The salt hills are intimately associated with the origin of the Kuttri tribe. Their 

 yearly purification at the fountain of Kuttahss, which I once witnessed, is one of 

 the most picturesque and interesting spectacles in the world. Kuttahss is a foun- 

 tain rising from a cleft in the limestone rock, and flowing from thence eastward 

 down a valley of the table- land. It is said to be one of the eyes of the world and 

 to be quite unfathomable, until a scientific gentleman the other day plumbed it 

 with a few fathoms of line. The Kuttris from all parts assemble here yearly to 

 bathe and worship. 



The Sohbtis are in great force in the town of Jullalpore Jutt, near Guzerat in 

 the Jetch Doaba. 



