DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3909#0168
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There are also other Gojals under a Raja of Gojal on the Badakhshan road.
The Chilasis call the Siah posh Kafirs = Bashgali (Bashgal is the name of the
country inhabited by this people who enjoy the very worst reputation for cruelty.) They are
supposed to kill every traveller that comes within their reach and to cut his hose or ear off as a
trophy. *
The Chilasis were originally four tribes; viz.
the Bagote of Buner,
the Kane of Takk,
the Bote of the Chila.5 fort,
the Matshuke of the Matshukd fort.
The Bote and the Matshuke fought. The latter were defeated and are said to have
fled into Astorand Little Tibet territory.
A Foreigner is called " 6sho."
Fellow-country men are called "maleki."
The stature of the Dards is generally slender and wiry and well suited to the life of a
mountaineer. They are now gradually adopting Indian clothes, and whilst this will displaoe
their own rather picturesque dress and strong, though rough, indigenous manufacture, it may
also render them less manly. They are fairer than the people of the plains (the women of
Yassin being particularly beautiful and almost reminding one of European women), but on the
frontier they are rather mixed—the Chilasis with the Kaghanis and Astoris—the Astoris and
Ghilghitis with the Tibetans, and the Guraizis with the Tibetans on the one hand and the
Kashmiris on the other. The consequence is that their sharp and comparatively clear com-
plexion (where it is not under a crust of dirt) approaches, in some Districts, a Tatar or Moghal
appearance. Again, the Nagyris are shorter than the people of Hunza to whom I have
already referred. Just before I reached the Ghilghit fort, I met a Nagyri, whose yellow mous-
tache and general appearance almost made me believe that I had come across a Russian in
disguise. I have little hesitation in stating that the pure Shin looks more like an European
than any high-caste Brahmin of India. Measurements were taken by Dr. Neil of the
Lahore Medical College, but have, unfortunately, been lost, of the two Shins who accom-
panied me to the Panjab, where they stayed in my house for a few months, together with
other representatives of the various races whom I had brought down with me. The prevalence
of caste among the Shins also deserves attention. We have not the Muhammadan Sayad,
Sheykh, Moghal, and Pathan (which, no doubt, will be.substituted in future for the existing
caste designations), nor the Kashmiri Muhammadan equivalents of what are generally mere
names for occupations. The following List of Dard Castes may be quoted appropriately
from Part II:—
* The two Kafirs in my service in 1866, one of whom was a Bashgeli, seemed inoffensive young men. They
admitted drinking a portion of the blood of a killed enemy or eating a bit of his heart, but 1 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 Chitral is in the(habit of enslaving all persons from the tribes of Xalasn, Dangini and
Bashghali, idolaters living in the Chitral territory."
There are also other Gojals under a Raja of Gojal on the Badakhshan road.
The Chilasis call the Siah posh Kafirs = Bashgali (Bashgal is the name of the
country inhabited by this people who enjoy the very worst reputation for cruelty.) They are
supposed to kill every traveller that comes within their reach and to cut his hose or ear off as a
trophy. *
The Chilasis were originally four tribes; viz.
the Bagote of Buner,
the Kane of Takk,
the Bote of the Chila.5 fort,
the Matshuke of the Matshukd fort.
The Bote and the Matshuke fought. The latter were defeated and are said to have
fled into Astorand Little Tibet territory.
A Foreigner is called " 6sho."
Fellow-country men are called "maleki."
The stature of the Dards is generally slender and wiry and well suited to the life of a
mountaineer. They are now gradually adopting Indian clothes, and whilst this will displaoe
their own rather picturesque dress and strong, though rough, indigenous manufacture, it may
also render them less manly. They are fairer than the people of the plains (the women of
Yassin being particularly beautiful and almost reminding one of European women), but on the
frontier they are rather mixed—the Chilasis with the Kaghanis and Astoris—the Astoris and
Ghilghitis with the Tibetans, and the Guraizis with the Tibetans on the one hand and the
Kashmiris on the other. The consequence is that their sharp and comparatively clear com-
plexion (where it is not under a crust of dirt) approaches, in some Districts, a Tatar or Moghal
appearance. Again, the Nagyris are shorter than the people of Hunza to whom I have
already referred. Just before I reached the Ghilghit fort, I met a Nagyri, whose yellow mous-
tache and general appearance almost made me believe that I had come across a Russian in
disguise. I have little hesitation in stating that the pure Shin looks more like an European
than any high-caste Brahmin of India. Measurements were taken by Dr. Neil of the
Lahore Medical College, but have, unfortunately, been lost, of the two Shins who accom-
panied me to the Panjab, where they stayed in my house for a few months, together with
other representatives of the various races whom I had brought down with me. The prevalence
of caste among the Shins also deserves attention. We have not the Muhammadan Sayad,
Sheykh, Moghal, and Pathan (which, no doubt, will be.substituted in future for the existing
caste designations), nor the Kashmiri Muhammadan equivalents of what are generally mere
names for occupations. The following List of Dard Castes may be quoted appropriately
from Part II:—
* The two Kafirs in my service in 1866, one of whom was a Bashgeli, seemed inoffensive young men. They
admitted drinking a portion of the blood of a killed enemy or eating a bit of his heart, but 1 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 Chitral is in the(habit of enslaving all persons from the tribes of Xalasn, Dangini and
Bashghali, idolaters living in the Chitral territory."