THE BALOCH. 



133 



they had been rendered responsible to him for the 

 safety of my person and property. As has been men- 

 tioned, Lieut. -Col. Hamerton had advanced to them before 

 departure a small sum for outfit, and had promised 

 them, on condition of good conduct, an ample reward 

 on the part of H. M.'s Government after return to 

 Zanzibar. These men were armed with the usual match- 

 lock, the Cutch sabre, — one or two had Damascus 

 blades, — the Indian hide-targe, decorated with its usual 

 tinsel, the long khanjar or dagger, extra matches, flints 

 and steels, and toshdan, or ammunition pouches, sen- 

 sibly distributed about their persons. 



The Jemadar Mallok led from Zanzibar seven war- 

 riors of fame, yclept severally, Mohammed, Shahdad, 

 Ismail, Belok, Abdullah, Darwaysh, and the Seedy Jelai ; 

 at Kaole he persuaded to follow his fortunes, Khuda- 

 bakhsh, Musa, Gul Mohammed, Riza, and Hudul a 

 tailor boy. 



The Jemadar Mallok is a monocular, and the Sanscrit 

 proverb declares : 



" Rare a Kana (one-eyed man) is a good man and sound, 

 Rare a ladye gay will be faithful found." 



Mallok is no exception to this rule of the " Kana." He 

 is a man with fine Italian features, somewhat disfigured 

 by the small-pox: but his one eye never looks you 

 " in the face," and there is an expression about the 

 mouth which forbids implicit trust in his honesty. He 

 proclaims himself to be somewhat fonder of fighting 

 than of feeding, yet suspicious circumstances led me to 

 believe that he was one of those whom the Arabs de- 

 scribe as " first at the banquet and last at the brawl." 

 He began with a display of zeal and activity which 

 died young; he lapsed, through grumbling and discon- 



K 3 



