144 - The Ethnology of India. 



while in one sense, without our attempting to interfere in their internal 

 affairs (that they will not permit for an instant), they are becoming 

 more and more our military retainers. A very large number of them 

 pass though our service, and a steady income is derived from it. 



The Pathans south and south-west of Peshawar are pure and 

 rough, but the Eusofzies and tribes to the north seem to differ con- 

 siderably in character. In fact, as I have before mentioned, the Pathans 

 are comparatively recent conquerors and colonists of the northern hills 

 and valleys. They have there mixed much with people of an Indian 

 type, pre-Hindu it may be, but probably the ancestors of Hindus. 

 These people have not the Hindu caste which, for the most part, pre- 

 vents amalgamation on the part of the Khatrees, and I think there 

 can be little doubt that their blood has much influenced the 

 character of the Eusofzye clans. The purer Afghans are extremely 

 illiterate, and the very opposite of bigots in matters of religion. 

 The Eusofzies are perhaps all the fairer and handsomer for the inter- 

 mixture of blood ; they are also more civilised in their manners and 

 much more literary. And they have imbibed very much of that 

 veneration, that religious capacity, which distinguishes the oldest 

 Indian branch of Arians. Mahomedans as they are, they really 

 seem to have some religious zeal, and they are very much priest- 

 ridden. In fact the Akhoond of Swat and other priests have, to' 

 some extent, induced the tribes to submit to a certain and partial 

 religious government, if it can be called by that name. The priests 

 seem to have considerable grants of land, and at any rate succeed in 

 levying a regular tithe from the landholders and cultivators, whose 

 differences they settle as far as they can. It is among these people 

 that discontented Mahomedan immigrants from Hindustan have 

 found some sort of shelter. It should be understood that intermix- 

 ture has not destroyed the military qualities of the Eusofzies. 

 themselves. With an inferior population at home to cultivate their 

 fields, they are amongst the most notable Pathan soldiers who have 

 pushed their fortunes in India. 



The proper Afghan constitution is democratic in the extreme, so 

 much so that any sort of government on a large scale is almost im* 

 possible, and the Ameer's authority is confined to a few open valleys 

 (for the most part cultivated by inferior races) and to a very uncertain 





