NASSUK, 
143 
great personal strength and activity. According to 
Oriental custom, they were educated to the trade of 
their forefathers; but Yakoob, the eldest, being of a 
proud ambitious disposition, and filled with the spirit 
of adventure, was no sooner free from the bondage 
of his apprenticeship, than he cast aside the tools of 
his humble calling, and with them the designation ul- 
Suffar (the brazier) ; assuming the sabre and shield, 
as implements more in accordance with his taste 
than the hammer and anvil. Having enlisted under 
the banners of Mohummed Tahir, he soon discovered 
that the subordination of a soldier’s life was even less 
tolerable than that which he had quitted ; but at the 
same time, being delighted with the excitement of 
strife and the prospect of military plunder, he deter- 
mined to wage war upon his own account. 
The bent of Yakoob Lais’s mind had led him to 
associate with the most daring pulwans (athletes) 
among his comrades, men whose prowess and courage 
were unrivalled; but who, in one respect unlike 
himself, having been bred to arms and the discipline 
of a soldier’s life from childhood, felt not the hardship 
of restraint. Laying before these men the tempta- 
tions of booty and enterprise, he easily induced them 
to join him upon certain secret predatory excursions, 
in which he acted as their leader ; and so large were 
their emoluments, so fascinating their adventures, 
that he had ultimately little difficulty in persuading 
them to desert from the army, and give themselves 
