MERCENARIES. 



163 



are mostly from the regions about Kech and 

 Bampur : they are mixed up with a rabble rout 

 of Arabs and Afghans, of Sidis ^ and Hindostan 

 men. The corps spoke some half-a-dozen differ- 

 ent languages, and many of the members have 

 left their country for their country's good — a 

 body of convicts, however, generally fights well. 

 The Mekrani especially are staunch men behind 

 walls, and if paid, drilled, and officered, they 

 would make as ' varmint ' light-bobs as any Ar- 

 nauts. They have a knightly fondness for arms : 

 a ' young barrel and an old blade ' are their de- 

 light : hke schoolboys, they think nothing so 

 fine as the report of a gun; consequently am- 

 munition is kept by the CO., and is never served 

 out except before a fight. All use the match- 

 lock : while good shots are rare, many are toler- 

 ablv skilful with sword and shield. Their 

 nominal pay is from S2 to $3 per mensem, a 

 pittance of some 20 pice (120 pice = §l) per diem : 

 this must find them in clothes and rations as well 

 as in arms ; often there is not a sandal amongst 



1 The full-blooded negro is called Sidi (Seedy) or Sidi 

 bhai ('my lord brother') throughout "Western India. I have 

 said that the expression, derived from his address to his master, 

 is unknown at Zanzibar : to Europe it is made familiar by El 

 Cid Campeador, but it must not be confounded with Sayyid, as it 

 has lately been by a writer in the Athenaeum (No. 2288, Sept. 

 2, 1871). 



