________________
MISCELLANEA.
MAY, 1904.]
Fishing in the open sea is carried on by three kinds of outrigger canoes: the small boat (hudá oru) keeping close in shore, the single-masted larger one (ruval oru) venturing further out, and the largest (yattrá oru) constructed for stormy weather and carrying an oblong sail on two masts. The nets used vary from a drift net (mádela) to one with meshes so small that only a darningneedle-sized twig can pass through (kudádela).
(To be continued.)
MISCELLANEA.
FEMALE TATTOOING AMONGST
GHILZAIS.
BY GANGA SAHAI,
Assistant Settlement Officer, Kohát.
THE following notes were taken from the members of a family of Tarakki Ghilsais, whose camp was visited by me at Chichina. Their story was as follows:
The great Ghilzai tribe formed two-thirds of the population of Afghanistan, the remaining onethird being Tajik. Their ancestral home lay on the other side of the Shutargardan Range and extended as far as Khurasan. They were also called Kachis, probably owing to their migrations to British territory in winter. As a rule they are a well-to-do class of people and trade in ghf, carpets, sheep and horses. They live in kishdais or small tents made of blankets and carry their goods about on camels. In winter they settle in groups of families in British territory in villages, where by old custom they are allowed to graze their eattle on payment of a fixed tax. Some of the tribesmen look after the cattle on the hills, while others use the camels in selling wood and the carrying of salt trade. They intermarry among themselves at mature age, between 20 and 25, and alliances with Pathâns in British territory are rare occurrences and even then only due to poverty or love. They have the reputation of being a set of well-behaved people with a good moral character.
Of the various sections of the Ghilzai Tribe, some have a fancy for picturesque tattooing, others like only one dot on the forehead, while the rest did not tattoo at all. My informant gave the following detail:
Tarakkis,
Badni Khel,
Hamrån Khel, Suleiman Khel. (partly known as Katwaz), Barik Khel, Jamal Khel, Wurdag,
Andar,
who live about Kandahår and Kalât, and practise picturesque tattooing.
Nasir, Shinwari
and Malla Khel, NiAzis,
147
who live about Hazâristân and use only one dot. [Some of the Malla Khels, however, have told me that they were originally Sayyids and that tattooing did not prevail amongst them.]
The Bahrâm Khel, who live about Hazâristan, and the Taghar Ghilzais, who live about Lôgar, have no taste for tattooing.
The object in view is purely attraction. The operation is done when the girl is between 12 and 14. Three or four needles are taken and pricked into the flesh, and then collyrium (ranja) and soot collected by burning the gum of a kind of tree called mauz are rubbed over it.
The tattooing is done on the chin, forehead, cheeks, and backs of the hands. The following forms were common among the women of the family I visited:
W
Between the eye-brows.
這是
Chin.
Cheeks.
