The Head men are Pathans of the “Thar” tribe, commonly called “Thar Kheyles.” They are believed to be the descendants of Afghan soldiers who came into India with the armies of Timur Baber and Nadir Shah.
Then there are two or three divisions of the farmer class known as “Awans,” good soldiers and no better people in all India, and “Ghurkās”—fine, tough men. Also the barber class, or “Naies,” also called “Napit”; the shoemakers, or “Mochīs”; the potters, or “Koobhars”; the weavers, or “Powlees”; the blacksmiths, or “Lohars;” and so on, with a sprinkling of “Merasis,” or “Dooms,” who fill the post of Genealogists and Bards to the community, and who are the reciters of warlike poetry.
These last are for the most part the receptacles and custodians of the old village folk-lore, though sometimes amongst the farmers living as they do a simple and rustic life, many tales of the remote past have been retained, and the barbers, too, have been occasionally known to relate them.
Above Ghazi, and at a distance of about twelve miles on the same side of the river, are the villages known by the general name of “Thorbela.” The word locally means “Black Island,” after an island which was situated in front of them, but was washed away in the floods of 1842. Since that date many of the huts have been erected at some distance from the banks. The village is an important one, and contains a thriving and industrious community. To get to “Thorbela” the traveller has to pass through the small village of “Mohat,” between which and Ghazi is the ferry across the Indus to the populous town of “Topi.” This town contains the same admixture of races as at Ghazi, but in addition a larger proportion of the “Juddoon” tribe who speak the “Pushtu” language, which has some similarity to the Semitic.
The whole of this district will well repay a visit at any time, and the interest is greatly enhanced when one calls to mind the many historical events that have taken place, in and around it, in years long gone by.
It was at Attock (Atak) that Alexander the Great is believed to have crossed the Indus B.C. 326. The ancient name of this city was said to be “Taxila,” so named after a petty king who joined his forces with those of Alexander in the attack and defeat of King Porus, and it was here that Alexander rested his army for three days, and was royally entertained by its reigning Sovereign.
It is, however, quite foreign to my purpose here, to dwell at any length on the ancient history of this part of India and the Punjâb generally, called by the Greeks the “Pente Potamia.” I will not either touch upon the supposed route taken by Alexander across the “Paropamisus” Mountains (Hindu Kush), which is still a very disputed point.
My purpose in referring to this old history, is to draw attention to the fact that in the traditions that these non-recording Ghazi folk have handed down of their gods, their heroes, and preternatural beings, they appear to have kept ever in their memories this visit of Alexander to India, in the legend of “Secundur Zulf Kurnain,” which forms one of the tales of this series.
It was at this little village of Ghazi, and in the districts adjoining it, remote at the time from all European influence, that Mr. Thomas Lambert Barlow resided for over thirty years. He was employed by our Government in the Salt Revenue Department, and in the execution of these arduous duties, he was as a matter of course thrown into almost daily contact with all classes of the natives. He found it necessary to acquaint himself with their various dialects, and it was not long before he was able to communicate freely with every caste and tribe.
No European could have had a better opportunity of getting at the thoughts and feelings of the people than he had, and being on friendly terms with most of them, they would talk to him, and before him, with perfect freedom, and altogether with an absence of that kind of restraint, which I can say from my own knowledge, is felt more or less by most natives of India when in the presence of a European.