THE ARABIAN RACE. 



259 



made in regard to Cutch : and a Rajpoot sailor was serving in the 

 Bombay ship at Mocha, under a Muslim commander. 



Indian Muslims, are likewise common at Zanzibar; and it was 

 said of them, that " after getting married and mixed up a little, they 

 wanted to pass for Arabs." Most of the White women I saw at Zan- 

 zibar, belonged to the class of Indian Muslims. 



Two or three Belooches, were pointed out to me at Zanzibar, and 

 others again at Bombay. They seemed to have affinity with the In- 

 dian Muslims, rather than with the Sindians and Bedouins; but I am 

 hardly prepared to decide from these few examples. Belooche women 

 have been sometimes imported for the harems of Zanzibar. 



e. Westerfi Hindoos. 



In the various ports of Arabia and Eastern Africa, individuals 

 may occasionally be met with, who differ remarkably in their bearing 

 and costume from the surrounding population. An equal difference 

 will be found in the qualities of the mind ; in a surprising amount 

 of intelligence and general information. These people have influ- 

 ence, not however derived from battles; their empire is not of the 

 sword; neither is it based on their religion. They are the idolatrous 

 merchants of India; who for ages, have mainly held the commerce of 

 the above-named countries. 



My acquaintance with the Cutch Banians, commenced at Aden; 

 and at first, I mistook them for Parsees. Whom they resemble in 

 many striking particulars ; as in their names, in their general style 

 of dress, and in their shaving the beard with the exception of the 

 mustache, (a circumstance possibly connected with the prevalence of 

 the same fashion at Cairo) ; but on further acquaintance, I was soon 

 able to distinguish a peculiar style of countenance. 



The Banians visiting Mocha and the neighbouring parts of Arabia, 

 belong to a different caste from those usually seen at Zanzibar, Mus- 

 cat, and Bombay. They may be distinguished by the more flattened 

 turban ; the shape of which, as is shown by Niebuhr's figure, has noi 

 changed for the last eighty years. 



At Zanzibar, I was more particularly struck with the analogy to 



