BALUCHISTAN. spend
their
39
time in feasting, so that the ceremony seems intended
rather to furnish enjoyment to the living, than to render honour to
the dead.
The common
dress of the Brahui is a coarse white or blue calico their buttoned round the neck, and reaching below the knee trousers are made of the same cloth, or of a kind of striped stuff called shirt,
susi,
and puckered round the
On
ankles.
silk or cotton-quilted cap, fitted to
their
heads they wear a small
the shape of the skull, and a kafnmar-
round their waists. The Baluchis on the head, and wide trousers unconfined at the ankle. In winter, the chiefs and their relatives appear in a tunic of chintz, lined and stuffed with cotton and the poorer classes, when out of doors, wrap themselves up in a surtout made of cloth, manufactured from a mixture of goats’ hairs and sheep’s wool. The women’s dress is very similar to that of the men their trousers are preposterously wide, and made of silk, or a mi.xture of silk and
band or
sash, of the
wear a similar
same
colour,
dress, but a turban
cotton.
The
fluctuation of
power renders
it
difficult to
define precisely the
During the reign of Nasir Khan the whole kingdom might be said to have been governed by a complete despotism yet that ruler so tempered the supreme authority by the nature of the government of Khelat.
privileges granted to the feudal chiefs within their
a casual observer,
it
The tribes all exercise the right of selecting The Khan has the power of confirming nomination
but
merely nominal.
own
tribes, that, to
bore the appearance of a military confederation.
this
power
The Khan
is
their
or
own
sarddr, or head.
disapproving of
their
be
never exercised, and appears to
of Khelat declares war, and makes treaties
connected with the whole of Baluchistan, and can order the sarddr of each tribe to attend in person with his quota of troops. Agreeably to a code of regulations framed by one of the earliest princes of the
Kumbaranf
dynasty, the
entire administration of justice
is
vested
in
Each sarddr., however, has thefts, and disputed points of
the person at the head of the government. the power of adjusting petty quarrels,
every description,
among
the inhabitants of a
in all cases of importance,
Khan
an appeal
lies
khd
or society
but,
in the last instance to the
at Khelat.
—
The amount of revenue enjoyed Revenue and Military Resources by the Khfin of Khelat is inconsiderable, as the ruling races, Baluch and Brahui, pay no direct taxes, and their poverty and simple habits prevent His income is therefore them from contributing much indirectly. derived from his resources as a proprietor of lands or towns ; from a proportion of the produce paid in kind by the Afghan, Dehwar, and and from from dues on local and transit trade J4t cultivators .
j
arbitrary exactions, a
never-failing
mode
with
Eastern potentates of
