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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JULY, 1890.
and when compared with their neighbours, the Bani Kara, may almost be considered diminutive; so that the Mahras, neither in appearance nor language, bear much resemblance to the Soķotrans. How, or at what period they became possessed of the island, I have been unable to discover.
The Bani Kara36 (or Beni Quorra, as they themselves pronounce the word) also called (ks) Hakli, are a fine race of Beduins inhabiting the Sabhân Mountains, which extend from Ras Marbât to the village of Håsik. The latter place marks the north-east, and Rås Dtharbat 'Ali (o
the south-east termination of their maritime boundary. Between Ras Dtharbat 'Ali and Damķot there are as many Mahras as Ķaras, therefore this interval may be consi. dered neutral ground.
For the purposes of the present inquiry it is necessary to compare the Kara (Gharah) tribe with the Soķotrans, and the following account of the former by Dr. Carter7 is almost as complete as can be desired :
“Their country is mountainous, and cavernous, and consists of a white stratified limestone formation, rising from four to five thousand feet above the level of the sea. The upper parts of the mountains are covered with good pasturage, and their slopes with a dense thicket of small trees, among which the frankincense and several other species of gum trees are the most plentiful.
“The whole tribe are essentially Troglodytes, from the nature of the country in which they live ; which, in every direction, affords them much better natural habitations than any they could erect for themselves.
"They consist of a fixed, and nomadic population; those who still continue to inhabit the caverns of their ancestors, and those who wandering from place to place, chiefly seek their subsistence in a predatory life; of the two, the former appear to furnish the most favorable specimens of their tribe.
« The following are their physical and ethnographical characters. They are quick, active, tall, and well made, but too slender to be termed athletic, being more formed for agility and enduring fatigue, than for great bodily exertion : their features are, generally speaking, handsome, and their expression pleasing and generous, with a quick and apprehensive eye; but with no deficiency of boldness, or determination in the character. Their skin is of a lightbrown colour, with a shade of red in it; their hair glossy black, long, crisp and curling, and principally confined to its natural localities, the other parts of the body presenting little or none; even on the face there is seldom hair enough to be perceived at the distance of more than twelve paces off. The face is oval, the forehead low, but not receding, the frontal sinuses prominent, and the eyebrows more horizontal than arched: the eyelashes long, black and thick; the eye itself moderate in size, transparent and clear, with a deep, brown-black coloured iris. The nose, which is proportioned to the oval figure of the face, is long, and compressed laterally, with a slight aquiline profile; the nostrils, which are also compressed, have their alo a little elevated, but this elevation appears more than it is in reality, from a prolongation of the septum nasi towards the upper lip. The lips are thin, the upper one short, with its stiperior border slightly elevated. The incisor teeth perpendicular, the chin rather projecting than receding, the posterior angles of the jaw more square than obtuse, and the cheek-bones high and prominent.
“Nothing can be more simple than their clothing; a long piece of coarse blue cotton, wrapped two or three times round their loins, and descending towards their knees, in the manner of a short kilt, is all that the men wear; sometimes, however, they twist a second piece round their waist, which serves as a belt; and to prevent their antrimmed hair from falling over their face and shoulders, they bind a small black cord round the margin of the scalp, so as to include the whole mass within its turns, and then secure the longer portion at the lower
ترا on قره
بني
- Jour. B. BR. A. S., January, 1846.
