[73] My Sazîni calls the people of his own place = Bigé; those of Tórr = Manuké, and those of Harbenn = Jure.
[74] The two Kafirs in my service in 1866, one of whom was a Bashgali, seemed inoffensive young men. They admitted drinking a portion of the blood of a killed enemy or eating a bit of his heart, but I fancy this practice proceeds more from bravado than appetite. In “Davies’ Trade Report” I find the following Note to Appendix XXX., page CCCLXII. “The ruler of Chitrál is in the habit of enslaving all persons from the tribes of Kalásh, Dangini and Bashghali, idolaters living in the Chitrál territory.”
[75] Both my Gilgiti follower, Ghulam Muhammad, and the Astóri retainer, Mirza Khan, claimed to be pure Shîns. The former returned to my service some years afterwards and was measured together with other Dards. ([See Appendix V.])
[76] My Sazîni says that the Dôms are below the Kramìns and that there are only 4 original castes: Shîn, Yáshkunn, Kramìn [or “Kamìnn”] and Dôm, who, to quote his words, occupy the following relative ranks: “The Shîn is the right hand, the Yáshkunn the left; the Kramìn the right foot, the Dôm the left foot.” “The other castes are mere names for occupations.” A Shîn or Yáshkunn can trade, cultivate land or be a shepherd without loss of dignity—Kramìns are weavers, carpenters, etc., but not musicians—as for leather, it is not prepared in the country. Kramìns who cultivate land consider themselves equal to Shîns. Dôms can follow any employment, but, if a Dôm becomes a Mulla, he is respected. Members of the several castes who misbehave are called Mîn, Pashgun, Mamin and Môm respectively. “A man of good caste will espouse sides and fight to the last even against his own brother.” Revenge is a duty, as among Afghans, but is not transmitted from generation to generation, if the first murderer is killed. A man who has killed another, by mistake, in a fight or otherwise, seeks a frank forgiveness by bringing a rope, shroud and a buffalo to the relatives of the deceased. The upper castes can, if there are no Kramìns in their villages, do ironmonger’s and carpenter’s work, without disgrace; but must wait for Kramìns or Dôms for weaver’s work. The women spin. The “Dôms” are the “Rôms” of Gipsy lore.
[77] These legends should be compared with the Chitrál Fables published by Mihtar Nizám-ul-Mulk in the Asiatic Quarterly Review of January, 1891, namely: “the vindictive fowl,” “the golden mouse,” “the mouse and the frog,” “the quail and the fox.” [See Appendix III.] as also Legends in “The Hunza-Nagyr Handbook.”
[78] The scrupulousness of the Gipsies in discharging such obligations, when contracted with a member of the same race, used to be notorious. The Dôms or Rôms of the Shins are the “Romany” of Europe and our “Zingari” is a corruption of “Sinkari” or inhabitants on the borders of the River or Sin = the (Upper) Indus.
[79] Tromba, to be made eatable, must be ground into flour, then boiled in water and placed in the “tshamúl” [in Astori] or “popúsh” [Ghilgiti], a receptacle under the hearth, and has to be kept in this place for one night, after which it is fit for use after being roasted or put on a tawa [pan] like a Chupatti [80] Almost every third man I met had, at some time or other, been kidnapped and dragged off either to Chilás, Chitrál, Badakhshán or Bukhárá. The surveillance, however, which is exercised over prisoners, as they are being moved by goat-paths over mountains, cannot be a very effective one and, therefore, many of them escape. Some of the Kashmir Maharajah’s Sepoys, who had invaded Dardistan, had been captured and had escaped. They narrated many stories of the ferocity of these mountaineers; e.g., that they used their captives as fireworks, etc., etc., in order to enliven public gatherings. Even if this be true, there can be no doubt that the Sepoys retaliated in the fiercest manner whenever they had an opportunity, and the only acts of barbarism that came under my observation, during the war with the tribes in 1866, were committed by the Kashmir invaders. [81] This is undoubtedly the canis rutilans, a species of wild dog, which hunts in packs after the wild goat, so numerously found in the high mountains round Gilgit. The snow-ounce also pursues it. Dardistan, specially Hunza, is the paradise of the ibex, the wild sheep, including the ovis poli, and the red bear. [82] Only so much has been mentioned of the Genealogies of the rulers of Nagyr, Hunza, and Dîr, as belongs to this portion of my account of Dardistan.