Note 115 — Volume II. (continued 2)

The ordinary Biloch. 2. Of the ordinary Biloch Mr. Ibbetson writes115:—“The Biloch presents in many respects a very strong contrast with his neighbour, the Pathân. The political organisation of each is tribal: but while the one yields a very large measure of obedience to a chief who is a sort of limited monarch, the other recognises no authority save that of a council of the tribe. Both have most of the virtues and many of the vices peculiar to a wild and semi-civilized life. To both hospitality is a sacred duty and the safety of the guest inviolable; both look upon the exaction of blood for blood as the first duty of man; both strictly follow a code of honour of their own, though one very different from that of modern Europe; both believe in one God whose name is Allâh, and whose Prophet is Muhammad. But the one attacks his enemy from in front, the other from behind; the one is bound by his promise, the other by his interests; in short the Biloch is less turbulent, less treacherous, less blood-thirsty, and less fanatical than the Pathân; he has less of God in his creed, and less of the devil in his nature. His frame is shorter and more spare and wiry than that of his neighbour to the north, though generations of independence have given to him a bold and manly bearing. Frank and open in his manners and without servility, fairly truthful when not corrupted by our Courts, faithful to his word, temperate and enduring, and looking upon courage as the highest virtue, the true Biloch of the Derajât frontier is one of the pleasantest men we have to deal with in the Panjâb. As a revenue-payer he is not so satisfactory, his want of industry and the pride which looks upon manual labour as degrading, making him but a poor husbandman. He is an expert rider; horse-racing is his national amusement, and the Biloch breed of horses is celebrated throughout Northern India. He is a thief by tradition and descent; but he has become much more honest under the civilising influences of our rule.