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The Scottish Romance Tradition C 1375 C 1550 Nation
Chivalry and Knighthood 1st Edition Sergi Mainer Digital
Instant Download
Author(s): Sergi Mainer
ISBN(s): 9789042029767, 9042029765
Edition: 1
File Details: PDF, 1.82 MB
Year: 2010
Language: english
 The Scottish Romance
Tradition c. 1375 – c. 1550
 Scottish Cultural Review
of Language and Literature
Volume 14

Series Editors
Rhona Brown
University of Glasgow

John Corbett
University of Glasgow

Sarah Dunnigan
University of Edinburgh

James McGonigal
University of Glasgow

Production Editor
Ronnie Young
University of Glasgow

SCROLL

The Scottish Cultural Review of Language and Literature publishes new

work in Scottish Studies, with a focus on analysis and reinterpretation of
the literature and languages of Scotland, and the cultural contexts that have
shaped them.

Further information on our editorial and production procedures can be

found at www.rodopi.nl
 The Scottish Romance
Tradition c. 1375 – c. 1550
Nation, Chivalry
and Knighthood

Sergi Mainer

Amsterdam - New York, NY 2010

Cover image: Detail from Histoire de Merlin
(BnF, Manuscrit, Français 95 fol. 167) © Bibliothèque nationale de France

Cover design: Pier Post

The paper on which this book is printed meets the requirements of “ISO
9706: 1994, Information and documentation - Paper for documents -
Requirements for permanence”.

ISBN: 978-90-420-2975-0
E-Book ISBN: 978-90-420-2976-7
©Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam - New York, NY 2010
Printed in The Netherlands
 To my parents

Als meus pares

Ara et penso — tan lluny! —

i t’invento un posat
expentant, perquè m’omplis
aquest buit de la tarda.
(Miquel Martí i Pol, 1929–2003)
 Contents

Acknowledgements 9

Preface Contextualising Medieval Scottish

Romance 11

Introduction Late Medieval Scotland and the

Romance Tradition 27

Chapter One National Constructs in the Medieval

Scottish Romances 41

Chapter Two The Hero’s Progression 103

Chapter Three The Historical Romances 157

Chapter Four The Arthurian Romances 193

Chapter Five The Alexander and Charlemagne

Romances 223

Conclusion The Scottish Romance Tradition 257

Bibliography 265

Index 281
 Acknowledgements

I would like to show my gratitude to, first of all, R.D.S. Jack and
Philip Bennett, who supervised my MSc and PhD dissertations, giving
constant, patient advice, which has helped me in every piece of
research I have completed ever since.
I would also like to thank Cordelia Beattie, Sarah Carpenter,
Ruth Evans, Gavin Miller, David Salter, and all the other people who
have contributed in one way or another to the writing of this book.
Many thanks also to Sarah Dunnigan, Rhona Brown and James
McGonigal for their priceless comments and to Ronnie Young, who
patiently and diligently dealt with my numerous queries in the
production of this book.
Last but not least, I would like to acknowledge my family and
friends who have always been very supportive – many thanks to all of
them.
 Preface

Contextualising Medieval Scottish Romance

It is almost impossible to devise a whole acceptable characterisation

of romance owing to its different generic manifestations throughout
the Middle Ages and beyond. How can the same classification
embrace the Old French romans d’antiques of the mid-twelfth century
and Squyer Meldrum (c.1550–55) by the early modern Scottish writer,
Sir David Lindsay? A four hundred year gap divides the two which
gives rise to the cultural and historical particularities which make each
work distinctive. Critics of the novel, or of cinema, do not seem to
share the obsessive desire to create definitions which will encompass
all the novels ever written and all the films ever made. How many
different definitions of romance are therefore needed? Can or should
we group together a certain number of texts to enable the task to be
made easier; and, if so, how artificial or valid might such potentially
anachronistic or arbitrary divisions prove? After all, in Scotland, the
first preserved romance – or at least the first romance with strong links
to the country – is the early thirteenth-century Roman de Fergus by
Guillaume le Clerc, who has been identified with William Malveisin,
bishop of Glasgow and subsequently of Saint Andrews (Owen ed.
1991: 162–69). Fergus is a comic Arthurian romance written in
Anglo-Norman and set in southern Scotland.
This preface attempts to give some answers to these questions
but by no means seeks to be definitive or comprehensive. I will begin
by approaching romances in general from a diachronic and synchronic
perspective and by alluding to the most common generic and modal
classifications. Their reciprocity with other contemporary literary
forms such as epic or saints’ lives will also be examined. I will then
question “romance” by suggesting why the most productive approach
to medieval Scottish romance is one based on linguistic, territorial,
and national concerns as well as the broader premises of medieval
aesthetics.
12 Preface

Medieval Romance: a critical overview

Linguistically, the evolution of the term “romance” has undergone

major changes. In the twelfth century, the word was initially applied
to any translation from Latin into a romance language: roman, romanz
or romanç, and romanzar or romançar as a verb. Its function was
therefore to make a text available for a larger audience. The language
of prestige and learning, Latin, was translated into the language of the
vast majority of the population, the vernacular. Romance rapidly
developed into a term not only to designate a translation but any nar-
rative in a romance language. This broad sense of the word was
maintained during the late Middle Ages. Now, university students of
literature would think of Chrétien de Troyes’ texts or, in English, Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight as exemplary medieval romances.
Chrétien, who lived in the second half of the twelfth century, is
regarded as the single most influential figure in the development of
romans courtois, a sub-genre which idealises knightly and courtly
manners (but which can also satirise and critique those values), and
where fin’amors (uninspiredly adapted as “courtly love”) tends to be
the moving force. Chrétien wrote four Arthurian romances: Erec et
Enide, Cligès, Le Chevalier de la charrette, Le Chevalier au lion and
Le Conte du Graal (all composed between c.1170 and c.1190). They
were later employed as the basis from which the corpus of Arthurian
literature expanded all through the Middle Ages and beyond. Never-
theless, rarely do students first think of the equally influential and
masterful thirteenth-century Roman de la Rose in French or the
remarkable Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell in English. The implica-
tions of such assumptions have relevance for the approach to Scottish
romance taken in this study. In the case of the medieval French
romance canon, both the works of Chrétien and the Roman de la Rose
have received significant scholarly attention. Yet Chrétien’s narratives
are labelled as romans courtois whereas Guillaume de Lorris and Jean
de Meun’s long poetic narrative is defined as an allegorical romance.
In the examples from the English corpus, the prominence of the Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight romance over Sir Gawain and Dame
Ragnell is seen in the way in which university syllabuses favour the
former in general introductions to medieval English literature.
Although the superior aesthetic value of Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight could be argued, such syllabuses, while surely designed to
 Contextualising Medieval Scottish Romance 13

offer students the best possible introduction to medieval literature and

romances, condition their perception and understanding of the genre.
Rather ironically, however, in late medieval England, the figure of
Gawain was more well-known owing to the so-called popular
romances dealing with his prowess than through the courtly Gawain-
poet; these embrace Gawain’s proeza fully, that is, his excellence not
only on the battlefield but also in the courtly, feudal and religious
realms. Therefore, what is now the most famous and highly praised
English romance was hardly regarded as such in its own time.
These two illustrations raise important issues about the reception
and perception of medieval romances in the Middle Ages and now.
Even when the term romance is used in its most general sense, most
students assume – probably because they have been trained to think in
such a way – that it refers to what Gaston Paris classed as roman
courtois in the nineteenth century (Paris 1883: 518–19) rather than
any other manifestation of the mode. In Scotland, the situation is
different but not better: at universities the historical romances
Barbour’s Bruce and Hary’s Wallace are the most broadly known and
studied, even more so in history than in literature departments,
whereas the remaining corpus of Older Scots romances are rarely part
of the syllabus. Conversely, medieval Scottish literature modules tend
to centre on the great fifteenth- and sixteenth-century makars Robert
Henryson, William Dunbar, Gavin Douglas and Sir David Lindsay.
Consequently, when students pursue postgraduate studies the great
makars and not the romances tend to be favoured. Only during the last
few years has there been a growing interest in the Older Scots
romances. But they still remain on the periphery of the periphery of
medieval literature.
The influence and relevance of Chrétien’s Arthurian narratives in
the general conceptualisation of romance was critically established
even before Erich Auerbach wrote his highly influential Mimesis: The
Representation of Reality in Western Literature in the mid-twentieth
century. Auerbach, however, regarded Chrétien de Troyes’ works as
the archetypal roman courtois. Following Auerbach, scholars identi-
fied the shared features of romance in a rather restrictive manner.
They concluded that the common elements consist of: a challenge to
the hero, the physical journey through a mysterious landscape, the
single-handed combat against the arch-villain, who might be related to
the supernatural world, a highly idealised beloved lady, and a happy
14 Preface

ending. Although such characterisation accords with most early

romances in French, it would certainly exclude most Older Scots
romances. That is, the definition only works in a particular place at a
particular time. Indeed, to include not only the Scottish narratives but
also other European texts and traditions such as the early Spanish, the
Anglo-Norman or the English, in which, as a general rule, fin’amors is
not one of the basic features, a much more general selection of shared
motifs must be made. The vast majority of romances contain an aris-
tocratic male hero (either a knight or a king unless it is a comic text)
and there is an avanture involving a challenge to the hero. This is as
far as the definition can go if it is to encompass most (not even all) of
the medieval romances written in Europe – a definition which does
not take us very far. Therefore, having Chrétien as the archetype cre-
ates problems since it presupposes that the quality of the other
romances should be measured against the Frenchman’s texts. This
creates difficulties for a broad analysis of the genre insofar as both the
intellectual and socio-political contexts as well as the aesthetic values
of a romance composed in Champagne in the late twelfth century can-
not be judged in the same way as one written, for example, in late
fifteenth-century Scotland such as Eger and Grime. This would be as
artificial a comparison as to examine a novel by Paul Auster according
to eighteenth century literary standards or to expect a contemporary
film to respond to the artistic precepts and political anxieties of the
expressionistic German films mode during the Republic of Weimar.
A definition must be found which justly encompasses the major-
ity of romances but which, at the same time, allows for fundamental
differences between them. The obvious divergences between
Chrétien’s narratives and the Middle Scots Eger and Grime or
Lindsay’s Squyer Meldrum (composed in a very different socio-
political and cultural milieu) suggests the need for careful and subtle
qualifications within a single, overarching definition. The overall
designation should be general and, as Gillian Beer suggests and most
critics agree, inclusive (Beer 1970: 24). Owing to the difficulty in
identifying the genre or mode through clear and easy theoretical
assumptions, the most general, inclusive and completely acceptable
definition which can be given is that romance is a narrative of a
certain length. The problem is that this does not take us very far since
exactly the same can be said about chansons de geste, novels and
films. During recent years there has been a tendency to define
 Contextualising Medieval Scottish Romance 15

romance not on the basis of shared literary motifs but according to its
recreational function (Field 1999: 152) or the prospective audience of
the texts. Rosalind Field’s approach is particularly enlightening since
it focuses on the genre’s main purpose and contrasts romance with
purely didactic texts. At the same time, it includes the action-centred
works such as romans courtois and the popular and allegorical
romances, which are habitually the two poles most difficult to
reconcile in a broad classification. This definition on the basis of
different audiences is particularly useful in differentiating the French
romans courtois from Anglo-Norman romances, or within England,
the sophisticated romances of the Ricardian period (including Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight) from the apparently less sophisticated
peripheral texts of the same, previous and later periods, known as
popular romances; these have been regarded as minor texts because of
the negative connotation of the adjective “popular” in contrast to
“courtly” and “aristocratic” (Putter and Gilbert eds 2000: 2–3). Only
during the last few years have studies such as The Spirit of Medieval
English Popular Romance reinstated these works’ value. Nonetheless,
as this book argues, this procedure is less effective in the context of
the Scottish romances which are not straightforwardly analogous to
the French and English narratives; Scotland’s socio-political
particularities can be shown to influence the composition of literary
romance. For instance, the probable Middle Scots text, Eger and
Grime, is commonly termed as a popular romance, yet the first record
of its existence alludes to its audience, which is not only courtly or
aristocratic, but the King of Scots himself, James IV (Dickson and
Paul eds 1877: 1: 330).
In his English Medieval Romance, W.R.J. Barron reverts to
Aristotelian philosophy in order to outline a workable definition of
romance not as a genre but as a mode. Employing Aristotle’s Poetics
to romance, Barron attaches mythic (the hero is superior in kind),
romantic (the hero is superior in degree) and mimetic (the hero’s
actions are liable to the criticism of others) characteristics (Barron
1987: 2). All three modes are present in romances, varying in empha-
sis on every occasion. Barron points out that the search for an ideal
common to most romances has been present from Ancient Greek
literature to our present day (Barron 1987: 4). The narrative of medie-
val romance combines mimetic and symbolic overtones (Barron 1987:
5). These premises allow for a very flexible approach to the numerous
16 Preface

manifestations of the romance mode in which elements from saints’

vitae, epic, comic literature or lyric poetry fluidly intermingle.
Barron’s approach is particularly good in helping to disentangle the
symbiotic nature of medieval literature in which there are extensive
correspondences and analogues between genres. In Scotland, owing to
the later development and survival of romance, its dialogue not only
with other genres but also other traditions is even more palpable.
Like any literary genre, romance is constantly changing, chal-
lenging and recreating itself (Gaunt 2000: 46). The transformations of
the main characteristics of the broad-spectrum definition should then
be studied within more concrete classifications of the genre. The latter
should go beyond, but not ignore, the typical differentiations between
roman courtois, popular romance, allegorical romance, hagiographical
romance or historical romance. Each text should be examined in
accordance with the appropriate parameters of place and time of
composition: its historical, cultural, intellectual, and aesthetic
contexts. This book seeks to achieve that goal in relation to a series of
Scottish romance texts, many of which remain relatively unknown and
are both critically and culturally undervalued. In exploring early
Scottish romance through the lens of the relationship between history
and changing aesthetic values, it shows the ideological role played by
literature and culture in the construction of national identities. In order
to help convey the cultural distinctiveness and singularity of Scottish
romance and to enable the reader to gain a broad sense of some
important comparative contexts, the remainder of this Preface offers a
brief account of the French, Anglo-Norman, and Middle English
traditions. Although numerous romances such as the Old Occitan
Jaufre (written between 1160 and 1250 depending on different
theories) elude exact dating, some assumptions about their political
and aesthetic environments can still be made which enable useful
comparison to be made with those other romances written in the same
region about the same time as well as to those written elsewhere in
Europe. This necessarily involves some “labelling”; and, as with most
labelling, it might seem arbitrary and artificial. Yet because the fol-
lowing definitions are based upon late medieval literary paradigms
and historical contexts they are more likely to avoid the pitfalls of
those definitions based on too wide-ranging approximations of
romance.
 Contextualising Medieval Scottish Romance 17

The French chanson de geste and roman courtois

For the purpose of this book, the kinds of romances which directly
influenced the Scottish corpus are those in French, Anglo-Norman and
English. Before examining the development of the roman courtois in
France, it is necessary to give a brief account of the chanson de geste.
This is important not only because of its influence on, and inter-
changes with, the roman courtois, but also because it will provide
necessary background for the understanding of Scottish conceptions of
romance.
Historically, the chanson de geste originated in oral tradition and
had a large number of formulae. For many years, the later emergence
of romance presupposed that it was a more literary genre which led to
the assumption that the appearance of romances meant an improve-
ment or, as Sarah Kay affirms, “development” (Kay 1995: 2) in
literature. This was regarded as a reflection of the changes in the mid-
twelfth century which saw the transition from a more bellicose society
to those created out of the establishment of royal and aristocratic
courts which had a growing interest in culture and courtliness. This is
known as the so-called twelfth-century Renaissance. Kay, however,
rejects this traditional opposition between the two genres, arguing that
it is based on “a generic convention of literary history” which favours
the existence of an immature stage of literary culture against which a
new, maturer, and apparently “better” culture can be assessed. In this
way, the chansons de geste become the primitive Other of the
sophisticated roman (Kay 1995: 3). Ironically, by supporting such a
conjecture, some medievalists were creating the very form of
alienation and exclusion which medieval studies in general opposed.
In the same way as the chanson is undervalued by romance, so
arguably have the Middle Ages been by later periods. Enlightenment
conceptions of historical progress have biased a perception of the
Middle Ages as anchored and compressed in the middle of nowhere:
between the knowledge of the Classical period and the rebirth of the
Renaissance; a hiatus in the evolution of western history; a time in
which superstition and faith were at the core of society and thinking.
Thus, if for more than one hundred years medievalists have
demonstrated that the Middle Ages are not so middle, Kay is also
restating the importance of the chanson de geste far beyond the mid-
twelfth century.
18 Preface

Manuscript evidence shows that chansons, lais, didactic texts,

hagiographical stories and romans courtois were compiled together
from the twelfth up to the early fourteenth century. This reveals the
synchronicity of these genres as well as their reciprocating inter-
changes (Gaunt 2000: 48; Kay 1995: 4–5). Foreign writers and
scholars travelling through France would have had access to chansons
de geste for a longer period than that strictly confined to the 1150s.
Therefore, their influence on literature in other languages can be more
largely attested. The English Charlemagne romances demonstrate how
writers translated and appropriated the chansons into the English ver-
naculars, taking the name of romance even if the basic traits of the
epic were preserved. As well as this obvious correspondence with
English literature, textual evidence suggests that there were other,
more subtle ways in which chansons impinged on European literary
traditions.
Despite the obvious individual divergences between them,
chanson de geste are easier to categorise as a genre than romance
since the vast majority of them share decasyllabic stanzas (laisses;
either rhyming or based on assonance), and problematise the
discordant nature of French history in a way very different from
contemporary historiography (Kay 1995: 8). In contrast to the
European dimension of romances, the confinement of chanson to the
French or Anglo-Norman speaking communities – with very few
exceptions such as the Old Occitan Girart de Roussillon – helps to
establish more common motifs in a less vague manner. Most critics
agree that male heroes dominate the action and the women appearing
are not the highly idealised and venerated ladies typical of the roman
courtois, but their role is much more politically-centred, expanding
from a means to attain power and land to being the instigators of
revenge (a recurrent theme in the genre). Heroic battle scenes are
frequent and loyalty to a leader or one’s own people takes precedence
over personal pretz (knightly and courtly reputation) or amatory self-
realisation. All these epic elements are also characteristic of most
Scottish romances, a fact which raises questions about the later
influence of chansons, and the survival and transformation of the epic.
Around the year 1150, as far as extant evidence is concerned, the
literary cultures of the territories which presently constitute France
were dominated by the chanson de geste, saints’ vitae, and the poetry
of the troubadours (with its different genres ranging from the love
 Contextualising Medieval Scottish Romance 19

lyric canso to the political or moral sirventes or the debating tenso). In

this context, romance began to take shape and flourish under the
secular patronage of the nobility. The influence of the martial action
of the chanson, the allegorical framework of the vitae and the stylised
fin’amors and cortesia of the troubadours help the formation, devel-
opment and establishment of the roman courtois.
By the mid-twelfth century, political, social and cultural changes
had occurred which are associated with the birth of romance. Socially
and economically, the growth of cities and the expansion of trade
helped the proliferation and strengthening of the middle classes.
Centres of government and courts were also expanding and spreading.
Culturally, the first universities were being established which facili-
tated the access of lay people to knowledge. Consequently, literacy
was no longer confined to clergymen, administrative workers and a
few members of the laity, but was gradually developing among the
nobility and middle classes at courts and cities. All these phenomena,
commonly known as the twelfth-century Renaissance, created a new
and larger audience with different aesthetic tastes. Romance was one
of the responses to such cultural innovation.
With the appearance and consolidation of the roman courtois, a
dialogue is set up between the epic chanson and the courtly romance.
One genre does not suddenly supplant another but a series of corre-
spondences and mutual exchanges takes place. Kay illustrates this by
alluding to the Saxon episode in the early thirteenth-century Roman de
la violette taken from Les Saisnes (c.1200), an epic piece, and to the
Arthurian motifs deployed in the Bataille Loquifer (c.1200), a
chanson. Following Fredric Jameson’s approach to genre, Kay also
asserts that the chansons reveal the “political unconscious” of
romance, which underplays or veils the social-political conflicts of
symbolic order in the epic; the romans, in contrast, problematise some
of the repressed historical aspects of the chanson de geste (Kay 1995:
5–6).
There are a few romances in Old French earlier than those of
Chrétien de Troyes. The most well-known are Floire et Blacheflor,
whose amor vincit onmia story encouraged many different versions
and translations into most European languages, and the three romans
d’antiques, Roman de Thèbes, Roman d’Enéas, and Benoît de Sainte-
Maure’s Roman de Troie written between 1150 and 1165. Chrétien
composed his first preserved work, Erec and Enide, slightly later,
20 Preface

about 1170. Owing to Chrétien’s influence in the establishment and

development of the genre, it is convenient to start the examination of
the roman courtois with his Arthurian narratives. The historical and
pseudo-historical setting of chansons de geste and the preceding
romans d’antiques, or even of Floire et Blacheflor, is replaced by the
mythical territories, mysterious forests and unreal kingdoms of King
Arthur. Although these places might still be in Britain, they lack the
pretended historicity of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum
Britanniae. The allegorical construction of the narrative is made possi-
ble through a potentially symbolic location. The more blatant political
motivations of the chansons, in which the destiny of a collective is at
the core of the narrative, are replaced by the individual quest whose
politics concern the private arena: the position and aspirations of the
knightly class. The figure of the chevalier errant is idealised even
when it responds to the real conditions of some landless nobles, who
perceived martial success as one of the few ways to progress in soci-
ety. For one of these knights, another way to achieve a more stable
financial situation was by marrying a lady, an heiress of sizeable
wealth (Knight 1983: 81–82). Fin’amors was the transcendental reali-
sation of such longing. Chrétien, who was probably acquainted with
the great troubadour Bernart de Ventadorn (Topsfield 1981: 50),
adapted the sophistication of fin’amors, which, in the absence of a
shared political motivation, becomes the moving force for the action
(Auerbach 1953: 141). At the same time, however, fin’amors con-
cealed the social ambitions of these lesser noblemen. Under the
appearance of the perfection of love and cortesia, real tropological
issues (ethical, political, or moral) of relevance to the audience were
scrutinised. If, in the epic, the masculine aspects of knighthood are
emphasised in its heroes, the roman courtois creates the need for an
equilibrium between masculine and feminine attributes. Similarly, the
divergences between dual opposites, such as sofrirs (humility) and
orguel (pride), or between mesura (courtly and knightly moderation as
governed by reason) and foudatz (foolhardiness and submission to
human appetites), are assessed in order to create the ideal attitude and
conduct of the perfect knight in each situation, whether at court or on
the battlefield. The interaction of the different virtues is also neces-
sary: proeza, for instance, must be counterbalanced with mesura,
otherwise it can lead to foudatz and defeat when in conflict.
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storming, which had to be delayed in consequence. The first
experience of the Black Mountain Expedition, was to find our maps
showing the Indus miles out of position, and the insignificance of the
foe alone saved a disaster. Almost, all the minor expeditions across
the frontier have been handicapped by similar ignorance, involving
frequent mistakes, costing needless lives. While officers would often
have gladly filled up idle hours at a frontier outpost by informing
themselves more fully, or have occasionally exchanged leave to
Kashmir, for liberty to combine sport and reconnaissance in an
unexplored valley, had more facilities been afforded them. It was
good a system like this should be modified ; it would be better if the
change introduced last year could be made even more radical. The
origin of the present sketch was in a suggestion, that such
information as was available, put into a compact and intelligible
form, would be appreciated by many Indian readers, which led to
the publication in the Lahore paper of a series of twenty-four
articles, dealing with the leading Border tribes. The first of these
urged the desirability of a change, and that the acquisition of the
fullest information in no sense involved any aggression. The
substance of the remaining chapters, have from time to time, in one
form or other, been contributed to the Civil and Military Gazette and
the Pioneer. That the policy advocated has to
 8 ACROSS THE BORDER. some extent been accepted would
perhaps be hardly sufficient excuse for reproducing them ; but it
seemed to the writer, considering the constantly increasing attention
given to Indian affairs, some handy account of its most important
frontier people, however imperfect, might be acceptable to a wider
public. Along and across such a length of Border, with a series of
tribes and clans, of passes and jDeaks, of valleys and streams,
whose topography, ethnography, statistics, and history fill eight or
nine volumes of special, and " confidential " gazetteers, not to speak
of papers, reports, and monographs, it is obviously impossible to
deal more than generally. And in cases where to many readers the
differences are not of more consequence than between tweedledum
and tweedledee, and where the people are subdivided into nearly as
many clans and septs as there are valleys and glens, it would be
wearisome to differentiate too closely. Such divisions as present
some marked peculiarity only have been dealt with, and for these
endeavour has been made to notice the more general, rather than
the especially particular, characteristics. Readers who are sufficiently
interested, or curious, to require information more precise, will find
they can fall back on a field of study of the most extensive character,
one in fact, more resembling the vast, and too frequently dry-as-
dusty plains of India, than the circumscribed but fresher green with
which the less aspiring are content.^ These hills and highlanders
are, however, very full of interest, although the interest be of a
different kind to that inspired ' Tiie works mainly used in the
following pages, and from which I have often quoted are : Tlie
Official Gazetteers of Afghanistan, Bilochistan, and the North- West
Frontier, so far as the matter is not confidential ; the Settlement
Reports of Dera Ghazi, Dera Ismail, Bannu, Kohat, Peshawur, and
Hazara ; Paget and Mason's Expeditions against tlie N.-W. Frontier
Tribes; Niamat Ullah's History of the Afijhdns ; Priestley's Haiydl-i-
Afghdni ; Plowden's Kalid-i-Afghdni ; Elphinstone's Kdhul ; Bellew's
Yuf^afzai and Races of Jfghdnisfdn ; Eaverty's GulshaniRoh and
Sclectiojus ; Hughes's Ijilochiftdn ; Hetu Kam's Bilochndma ; Burton's
Siml ; Biddulph's Tribes of the Hindu Kuzh, &c., &c., &c.
 RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT. 9 by some modern
productions of British rule in India, by the congress agitator, or the
aspirant for senatorial fame. Neither Pathan nor Biloch can be said to
be in the forefront of this advanced party. They probably do not
muster a single B.A. or eloquent talker, demanding education in
every direction — save, perhaps, of good manners. Their ideas on
the subject of Representative Councils are probably limited to the
tribal jirghas, or the regimental durbar. Like a famous borderer of
Scott's, though " good are they deemed at trumpet sound," " gentle
" is not an epithet that fits thou well. Kevertheless, they probably
have the touch of nature that makes them kin to the sympathies of
Englishmen in a greater degree than certain others in Hindustan,
who are at present making themselves more heard. It is impossible
to associate with them, even in a casual way, without feeling they, at
least, are men. Possibly it may be thought too much has been made
of their romantic side, their alternating pillage, murder, and sudden
death with softer sentiments, and, as Elphinstone somewhere says,
desperate forays with strains that might have tuned a shepherd's
pipe. But besides being splendid fighting animals, both have
undoubtedly qualities taking and excellent, and the supposition that
every Biloch is a thief, and every Pathan a murderer in his heart — in
the sense those terms are understood by us — is altogether wide of
the mark. Both have held their own as freemen through centuries of
disturbance ; both echo the Briton's sentiment that anything is
preferable to slavery. That if " never united they should always be
free," is a familiar saying of their own. Both have the warlike
instincts and enterprise which brought the Briton to India, and have
kept him there, that whilom established the Pathan soldier of
fortune, or his descendants, from the Punjab to the Deccan, and
that if the Biitish power were withdrawn, would not improbably find
him so establishing himself again. To look at a gathering of Biloch
chiefs or Pathrm soldiers in one
 10 ACROSS THE BOEDER. of our regiments, compels a
tribute of admiration. " By Jove, sir," was the remark of an
essentially British officer at a recent camp, " if I could not command
a British regiment, I would ask for nothing better than to lead a
Punjab one." The regiment probably contained more Sikhs than
Pathans, but the sentiment applies to both, and represents fairly
enough the feeling that would inspire a soldier. Perhaps it may also
be argued, that to advocate the bringing of these independent tribes
more directly under our rule, is illogical, and sounds very like an
attempt to take away their liberties. This is only true in the
narrowest sense. The Biloch, the Khattak, or the Yusafzai, has lost
none of his manly characteristics, because he has exchanged
anarchy for civilized government. He is just as free as he was before,
he is certainly more prosperous ; further, he is contented, and even
proud of having become a British subject. Granting he has been
deprived of the excitement of turning his knife or his riHe against his
neighbours, he still looks forward to the chance of using them
against an enemy. Moreover, it is a necessity of the situation. Sooner
or later, and much better sooner than later, this great friuge of
Borderland must come more immediately under British influence.
The theory that we should sit down on the left bank of the Indus,
and wait until an invading host has formed up on the other side, has
been, for better or worse, permanently abandoned. In its place, we
have accepted the more reasonable one, that it is better to deal with
an enemy outside the gate of the fort, than to let him in, and fight
him afterwards inside. There can be no middle course ; no meeting
him halfway, or fighting with the river at our immediate back, except
under the direst necessity. The passes along the border are the
gates of India on the north ; to hold them properly, we must be
perfectly free to come and go on both sides, and having admitted so
much, the only logical continuation of the argument, necessitates
the tribes who now
 RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT. 11 occupy the passes
becoming our certain allies, or our loyal subjects, and the latter
appears the safer. The idea that the difficulty can be got over, if the
passes are covered by dotting down a fort here and a fort there,
garrisoned by our troops, is a hopelessly impracticable one. It is
hardly credible " To Kandahar "—Tunnelling for the Railway through
the Khojak. that its advocates have carefully examined a map,
allowed their imagination to dwell on the gigantic network of hills
and valleys to be defended, or considered the enormous garrisons to
be permanently withdrawn from our modest available army. If forts
and garrisons are required, their place is surely in front, and not
 12 ACnOSS THE BORDER. behind the passes, just as the
position of the bastion is in front and not behind the ramparts. And
of these natural ramparts and forfcilicatious, the Border tribes should
essentially be made a part of the garrison; they may in the future be
found a most valuable part. Lahore, Felruary, 1890.
 CHAPTER I. SIND AND THE LOWER INDUS. Of the 1,000
miles of this North-West frontier, extending from Karachi to Kashmir,
from the Arabian Sea to the glaciers of Nanga Parbat, the first 300
border the province of Sind. A length of which it may be said that
though the physical conditions do not differ materially — except
perhaps occasionally for the worse — from those j)re vailing in the
Derajat division of the Punjab : the Border tribes, our intercourse
with them, our familiarity with their country, and the strategical
conditions affecting it, belong to an entirely distinct category.
Roughly speaking, along the whole of this, and about 100 miles of
the Dera Ghazi Khan district, our neighbours are all Biloches of
various tribes, beyond again all Afghans or their connections.
Besides the difference in race between these two, their natural and
political organizations have little in common, and our relations with
them are managed on two different systems. In the Biloch, we have
to deal with a strong tendency to the aristocratic and monarchical
form of government under acknowledged chiefs ; in the Afghans,
witli decided republicans, recognizing little more than the petty
head-men of petty clans. Through Persia and Khelat, which Biloch
capital is within fifty miles of the Sind plains, is perhaps our most
vulnerable point, for
 14 ACROSS THE BOEDER. an invading army could by this
route, reach India with infinitely less dirticulty than by any through
Afghanistan or the Hindu Kush. But on the other hand, we are most
advantageously situated to defend it. From Karachi as a base,
unassailable so long as England is mistress of the seas, we have, in
addition to the great highway of the Indus, railway communication
running from all parts of India to the front beyond the passes, to an
almost impregnable position on the Khwaja Amran range, and within
easy striking distance of Kandahar. By our friendly arrangements
with the Khan of Khelat, and tlie occupation of Quetta, commanding
on the north and west all the direct routes from Kandahar to the
Punjab, and on the south the passes leading into Sind, a position
has been established that would render aggression from that
direction practically impossible. The Peshin plateau, moreover, is of
considerable extent ; and our cantonments there, capable of
extension at any time. The climate is well suited to Europeans, and
with easy railway communication to India, will soon become more
popular with the native army. The Khan of Khelat was perhaps not
more anxious for us to go there, than the Bukhara and Kliivan Amirs
to welcome the Russian ; but he has now thoroughly allied himself
with us, and he is undoubtedly far more firmly established as the
acknowledged head of the Biloch State than he could ever have
been without us, if indeed he had been able to hold his own at all.
For constant feuds and complete anarch}^ has been substituted
peace and tranquillity. Except a few insignificant raids by Marris and
Bughtis on the Upper Sind frontier, the people have settled down to
accept our presence, and as their prosperity increases — for our
advent has brought substantial benefits in the shape of liard cash —
to look on our coming as the best fortune that could have beftillen
them. From Karachi to Quetta is only 600 miles, or by the Bolan 550,
the tunnel through the Kojak will shortly be finished, the materials
are ready to caiTy the line on from the
 SIND AND THE LOWER INDUS. 15 other side of the range
to Kandahar, and it only remains to insist on the construction of this
bit of railway, some seventy miles, to measure the distance from
Karachi to Kandahar, or a suitable position on the Helmund by hours,
and those hours might be made as few as from Bombay to Delhi.
The whole of Bilochistan has been thoroughly explored, and to some
extent surveyed, up to the Persian frontier. Much information about
the tribes and the less known routes was acquired by Sir Robt.
Sandeman's mission to Southern Bilochistan. The Persian snrvey of
Sir Oliver St. John, has been connected with the Indian system,
though something may still be desirable in the way of maps. Our
surveyors have advanced much beyond this ; even the wild Marri
and Bughti hills, in fact, pretty well the whole of what is shown on
modern maps as Sewestan, is being gradually brought under
systematic survey. The districts of Hurnai, Thai Chotiali, and Vitakri,
have been examined in almost every direction, and the " Route Book
" of the Sewestan country will son be as complete as of any other
part of India. Before crossing the rugged hills that separate the
almost more rugged Biloch from the Delta and lower valley of the
Indus, it is but fair to halt and take in a general view of this, the
most westerly and probably the warmest little bit of our Indian
Border. A hotter sort of Egypt, but physically and politically
suggesting many resemblances in common ; a country literally made
by another, and a greater, Nile. So much of it as is not a delta, at
one time or other formed a channel, a bank or an island, of the
Indus, whose waters, according to history and tradition, seem to
have travelled over the whole of it, backwards and forwards from
Kachh to Karachi ; its very name a Sanskrit term signifying water.
Even now a vast waste of silt, sand, or arid rock, with occasional
intervals of rich cultivation, due to a net-work of canals, water-
courses, and old creeks ; its towns and villages mainly houses of
sun-dried bricks, or huts of wattle ; its only
 16 ACROSS THE BOEDER. mountain?, a succession of bare,
comparatively low ridges locally known as the Kirthar — which rise
occasionally to 7,000 feet — and Hilla ranges, and the Pabb hills,
separating it on the West from Balochistan. For the rest, 150 feet is
a lofty hill to break the universal flatness. On the east, sand ; plains
of sand, deserts of sand, hills of sand, rolling waves of them. And
through the whole length the mighty Indus, the leading feature of
the picture ; that collecting together the five rivers of the Punjab, all
the hill streams of the Sulaimaus, the Sufed Koh, and a great length
of the Himalaya, rolls down a turbid stream, at once the great
fertilizer of the country, the highway for the transit of its
merchandize, and for long, the only means of communication for its
inhabitants. A land of dust-storms, of extremes of heat and cold ; a
summer where for weeks together the thermometer never falls
below 100°, and a winter where it often sinks below freezing point.
That enjoys the minimum of rain and the maximum of heat. With
little of grandeur and not much variety of scenery ; even the great "
sweet-water sea " being essentially a monotonous river. From the
low, flat, and often insalubrious mud banks of the coast, to the dusty
plains of Shikarpur, " the gate of Khorasan," there is little in the way
of woodland, groves, or gardens, while of forests there are none.
There are creeks, that perhaps occasionally rise to the dignity of
lakelets, but these exceptions savour more of the waters of the Styx,
than of the abode of naiads or of nymphs, and what there is of the
picturesque depends mainly on bold outline, and the scenic effects
of changing light. Except the camels on its salt plains, the buffaloes
in its marshes, and venomous snakes everywhere, it has few animals
of any consequence, though it is naturally stronger in birds and
fishes. And though a classic ground by association with almost every
invader of Hindustan— Greeks, Arabs, Mughals, Persians, Afghans,
and Biloches —
 SLVD AND THE LOWER INDUS. 17 they seem to have left
behind them no monuments or records of their presence. Perhaps
there was no bit of it lasting enough to make such records possible
in a country like this Sind. Of living records however, in the shape of
naturalized tribes, there are many — Arabs, Afghans, Biloches, and
even Africans, who together make up a considerable proportion of
the population. The Sindi proper, a somewhat mongrel Hindu,
converted under the Khalifs to Islam, does not occupy a very high
place in the scale of oriental peoples. If his detractors give him a
worse name than he deserves ; even his admirers put his merits as a
somewhat negative quantity. Inoffensive, kindly if not cleanly, and
indifferent honest ; what between a long succession of invasions, the
Border people who constantly harried him, and the Hindu dealers
and go-betweens who impoverished him, he probably had but a
poor chance of exhibiting much of sweetness or of light, and the
prosperity of both the people and the country dates from the time of
British occupation. It has not been possible for this occupation to
change the climate, or to alter the natural features of the country,
but it has done almost everything else for Sind. The development of
a system of irrigation, by canals drawn from the Indus and its
tributaries, has served to make that river do almost what the Nile
does for Egyj)t. A flotilla of steamships, and subsequently a railway
through the centre of the country, which by the completion of the
Sukker Bridge now provides uninterrupted communication with the
entire Indian railway system, has gone far to make it the highway for
the bulk of the trade of the Punjab and North-Western frontier. While
the small fishing village, wrested by the Taipur Amirs from Mekan
half a century ago, has become one of the first of the great seaports
of our Indian Empire, and with its extensive conveniences, its
excellent harbour, and its flourishing institutions, it is hard to say
what possibilities the future may not have in store for Karachi. c
 CHAPTER II. BILOCHISTAN AND THE EIL0CHE8.
BiLOCHlSTAN, in tlie ordinary acceptation of the term, includes all
the country between the Arabian sea and Afghanistan ; Sind and
Persia. The Persian frontier, once a subject of constant dispute, was
settled by a mixed commission under Sir F. Goldsmid in 1870. On the
north is the Biloch desert, blending with the Afghan districts formerly
dependent on Kandahar, but both this and the north-eastern
boundary is, to say the least, ill-defined. It is perhaps more correct
to say the country is here bounded by the assigned districts, or
British Bilochistan, the northern boundary of which is at present
under consideration in the Foreign Office of the Indian Government.
Within these limits is included, the mountainous province of
Sarawan, with its capital Khelat, West of the Hala range, the equally
mountainous province of Jalawan, its chief the second noble of
Bilochistan. Between the Hfda mountains and Sind, is the
proverbially sultry Kaclihi Giindava, the country of the had-i-simum,
or "blast of death"; the flattest and hottest province of all, but as
including the two great thoroughfares from Sind, commercially the
most valuable. South again, between the final spurs of the Hala
range and the .sea, is the little triangle of Lus, with its capital Beyla,
under its hereditary chief called the Jam. And last, the less known,
 BILOCHISTAN AND THE BILOCHES. 19 the most barren,
though by far the most extensive region of Makran, the ancient
Gredosia, extending from Lus to the boundary of Persia, and
including the Kohistdn, or land of mountains, on the west, and the
bulk of the Bilochi^tan seaboard. The most striking: characteristics
of almost the whole of this The Best Trade on the Stony Hills of
Bllochistan. extensive country, are a succession of rugged mountains
and narrow valleys, for the most part barren or uncultivated,
conditions due to a great extent, to the want of water. Of rivers,
there can hardly be said to be any ; what streams there are, have
more of the nature of torrents, filled only at rare intervals, and which
frequently c 2
 20 ACROSS THE BORDER. disappear ia the ground at no
great distance from tlieir source. In the north, a large part of
districts like Nushki, Chagai or Sistan deserve no better appellation
than desert, and the very names of plains like the DasM-i-hc-daulat,
" the plain without wealth," Dasht i hcdar, " the uninhabitable
waste," Bast i Goran, " the desert of wild asses," or the Rcgistdn, "
the country of sand," are sufficiently expressive. There is a saying
that the most useful knowledge for a traveller to possess is a
knowledge of the watering places, which the Biloch classifies as "
sweet," " good," " drinkable," and " bitter." Really or nominally, all
these provinces are under the Brahui Khan of Khelat, and the chiefs
acknowledge him as their suzerain. Albeit this suzerainty has always
been more nominal than real, and it may be doubted if it was ever
complete. At no time can it be said the turbulent Biloch chiefs were
kept in order save when the Khan received, not merely recognition,
but assistance from the British Government. When that assistance
was withdrawn, chronic anarchy resulted ; and even now, anarchy
would follow almost immediately if British control were withdrawn
again. The history of the dynasty for a century back, is mainly the
story of successful robbers on a large scale, a succession of deeds of
lawlessness, rapine, bloodshed ; for though the average Biloch
would deem private theft disgraceful in the extreme, plunder and
devastation of a country have always been held as honourable deeds
deserving the highest commendation. The hereditary chiefs of
Sarawan and Jalawan with their hereditary standard bearers bearing
banners of red and yellow, had always the privilege to sit on the
Khan's right and left, their place in battle right and left of the centre,
and the national flag tri-colour with the red, yellow and royal green.
No measure of importance could be passed without their consent,
nor the two large provinces they represent taxed, save by a Vazir
chosen from among the Tajiks, the principal revenue payers, who
had almost equal hereditary finan 
 BILOCHISTAN AND THE BILOCHES. 21 cial powers. The
revenue varied with the ability of the Khan to enforce the payment
of so-called state dues. The claim for military service — based on a
description of feudal tenure, but differing from that of the ancient
Normans, or equally ancient Rajputs, in that the troops, once on
active service, were at the charges of the state — was generally
acknowledged, but the number of troops that could be assembled
depended on the popularity of the Khan, or the cause for which they
were required to fight. Several of the chiefs, like the Jam of Beyla
recognised no claim, beyond rendering to the head of the
confederacy this feudatory service in case of need. The Brahui Khan,
Nasr, is practically the first man of any rank who stands out of the
historic fog enveloping the more modern Brahui and Biloch
genealogical story. He seems to have united a formidable
confederacy of chiefs, maintained a sort of supremacy, and
established something like a decent government. But he was first a
nominee of the great Persian conqueror, Nadir Shah^ and
subsequently a fief of Ahmad Shah of Kabul, a position from which
even his declaration of independence in 1758 did not entirely relieve
him. His forty years of rule — from 1755 to 1795 — is what a
distinguished authority calls the Augustan age in Bilochistan ; but
even then it would have been difficult to define the various rights of
the ruler, his Sardars, and his subjects. On all hands he is admitted
the most distinguished Biloch as a soldier, statesman, and ruler, and
to have combined the most exceptional virtues with the most
vigorous government. He put down rebellion and encouraged trade,
made triumphant war and established successful gardens. His justice
and equity are still household words among the people, and he had
discretion enough to interfere as little as possible with his feudal
chiefs. But when he died, full of years and honours, the whole
country almost immediately fell back into anarchy. The governors of
provinces, and the chiefs of districts withdrew their allegiance, the
country was distracted
 22 .1 CROSS THE BORDER. ^vith broils, and the power of
the ruler of Khelut diminished even more rapidly than Nasr had
augmented it. When the British moved through the Bolan to
Afghanistan in 1839, the Khan though said to be dangerous, was
comparatively insignificant. General Wiltshire, with about 1000 men,
is reported as taking Khelat in " a few minutes." When a second
Nasr was recognized by the Outram treaty of 1841, he described
himself as a vassal of Kabul. From the conquest of Sind by Sir
Charles Napier in 1843, to the revised treaty with Khelat drawn up
by Major Jacob in 1854, the Khan was little better than a puppet in
the hands of an intriguing minister, while the tribes, each on its own
account, plundered unrestrained in all directions. Raids on the
Border were constant, life and property everywhere unsafe. With
Jacob's treaty and his powerful control, came a brief period of
wonderful prosperity, to be succeeded again by a broken treaty and
a renewal of disorder. Nasr the Second it is said was poisoned, the
present Khan, Mir Khudadad, who as a boy succeeded, was driven
out and another set up only to be murdered. The chiefs of Lus, and
of Wadd in Jalawan Avere in chronic rebellion, the people of Kej in
Makrun threw off all pretence of allegiance. The Marris and Bughtis
were constantly on the war-path. Anarchy became so hopeless, the
British Government had again to interfere, not less at the request of
the Khan than of his subjects, and to restrain the tribes from tearing
themselves and their country to pieces. The treaty of 1854, with
certain additions, was renewed in 1876, on the basis of the Khan's
receiving substantial aid from the British Government, including a
subsidy of an annual lakh of rupees. He to have no relations with
any other foreign state, and to permit the occupation of such
positions in his territory by British troops as the Government of India
may consider advisable. Since then, the relations have been drawn
closer, our Government has accepted the situation of the paramount
power, the old disputes
 BILOCHISTAN AND THE BILOCHES. 23 between the various
chiefs have been happily settled, and the position of the Khan as
head of a powerful confederacy, and ruler of all Bilochistan,
established. Certain districts, inchiding the valley of Quetta have
been made over for permanent occupation by our troops ; while by
the treaty of Gundamak, all Afghan rights, real or pretended, in the
districts of Thai Chutiali, Sibi. and Peshin, up to the mountain barrier
that separates that valley from the plain of Kandahar, were assigned
to us, and have now been regularly incorporated with the British
administration. The Border line has, in fact, been moved up to the
Khawaja Amran range. The tribes which give the name to the
country are, as will be subsequently noticed, neither the most
numerous nor the most powerful. The race from which the present
rulers are drawn, call themselves Brahuis, and assert, on somewhat
doubtful authority, a prior occupation and a distinct origin.
Bilochistan however, and not Brahuistan, has universally come, even
by the Brahuis themselves, to be the accepted name of the country,
and its people to be spoken of as Biloches. They or their various
divisions, are the dominant race all along the Border, practically as
far north as the commencement of the Dera Ismail Khan district, and
in them we have by far the pleasantest of our neighbours.
Essentially a nomad — good-looking, frank, with well-cut features,
black and well-oiled flowing hair and beard, attired in a smock frock,
that is theoretically white, but never is washed save on the rare
occasions when he goes to durbar — the Bilochi is a general
favourite. He is a bit of a buck, and when he finds himself passing
into the sere and yellow, dyes his hair. It is not uncommon to find an
old gentleman with eyebrows of deep black, and the tip of his beard
gradually shading off through purple to red, to the roots of pure
white. His wife makes quite a toilet and arranges her hair in many
effective plaits, but any connection with soap and water would be
voted by either as a mark of the worst effeminacy.
 24 ACROSS THE BORDER. He shares with the Pathan many
of tho virtues and vices peculiar to a wild and semi-civilized people ;
but in most respects he presents the most agreeable contrast. Both
are given to hospitality, both ready to exact an eye for an eye, and a
life for a life ; but the Biloch prefers to kill his enemy from the front,
the Pathan from behind. To both, "Allah is Great and Muhammad is
his Prophet ; " though the Pathan is often a dangerous fanatic, while
the Biloch is perfectly willing to have his prayers said for him. As
Ibbetson pithily puts it, he " has less of God in his head, and less of
the devil in his nature." There is a story of one who, asked why he
did not keep the fast of Ramzan, replied that he was excused, as his
chief was keeping it for him. " What are you doing ? " said another
to a pious Muhammadan saying his evening prayers in the plains.
"Praying in the fear of God," said the plainsman. " Come along to my
hills," rejoined the Biloch, " where we don't fear anybody." Both have
but dim perceptions of the difference between meum et tuum,
preferring " the good old rule, the simple plan, that he shall take
who has the power, and he shall keep who can." Tliere is a Biloch
proverb that " God will not favour a man who does not steal and rob
; " and there is no doubt that, though he does not much like work,
he is extremely partial to rupees. Whatever he does, he first inquires
what his Jmlck, or " share in rupees," is to be. Both are English in
their love for horses and everything connected with them. Like the
Dean's sister in Dandy JDicJc, a Biloch who cannot afford a whole
mare, will own as many legs as he can manage, keeping her a
quarter of a year for each leg of which he is owner. The political
organization of both is tribal : but the Pathan is essentially a Radical
— every man as good as his neighbour, and better — and will obey
no one but the Jirgah or democratic council, and not always that ;
while the Biloch is as loyal to his chief as a Highland clansman to a
Mclvor. Consequently, Government can deal as safely with a
 BILOCHISTAN AND THE DILOCIIES. 25 Biloch tiimandar, as
with any other limited monarch ; and this fact alone has materially
simplified all the frontier arrangements on the borders of Bilochistan.
To attempt any detailed notice of the subdivision of the many tribes
and clans would be wearisome ; but most of them have similar
characteristics, which go to make them good subjects and valuable
feudatories. They are physically powerful, hardy, bold, and manly,
naturally warlike, open in manner, as a rule truthful and faithful to
trust. They have been so often and so fully described, ethnologically
and otherwise, by many writers, it is perhaps unnecessary to enter
into much detail about them. Of their use as auxiliary troops there
are probably not two opinions. The late Sir Charles Macgregor, who
knew them very well, entertained a high estimate of their value. He
speaks of them as " a hardy, warlike race ; their style of fighting
peculiar and much more deadly than that of their neighbours, the
Pathans. The Biloch dismounts and pickets his mare, and then enters
the md4e, sword and shield in hand, while the Pathan engages with
his matchlock from a distance, if possible under cover, and seldom
closes with his adversary. Their courage is of a sterner kind, and this
is shown not so much in their encounters with us — thou oh. all
things considered, they have fought better against us than the
Afghans ever did — as in their tribal feuds, and in the infinitely
bolder manner in which they carry out their raids in our territory. An
Afghan at feud with his neighbour gets into a tower or behind a
rock, and waits till he can murder him in cold blood ; a Biloch
collects all the wild spirits of his clan, and attacks his enemy in force,
sword in hand, generally losing very heavily. The determined
gallantry of the 700 Bughtis, who refused to surrender to
Merewether's horsemen, though escape was hopeless, but allowed
themselves to be shot down till more than two-thirds had fallen, is
worthy of a page in history. Although as a race they are poor, living
from hand to mouth, they will not be induced
 26 ACROSS THE BORDER. to take regular service, as they
will not wear uniform or undergo discipline, and are impatient of
control. Their objections to our service are mainly as follows : —
They are afraid of their hair being cut ; they object to any bat white,
or dirty -white clothes ; and they do not wish to leave their homes.
It is, in fact — with the Biloches as w^ith all wald races at first —
they require careful handling, and they will wear anything, go
anywhere, and do anything they are asked." The most ordinary tact
would suffice to ensure a large supply of particularly excellent
material, pre-eminently suited for irregular cavalry. Born horsemen,
the breeders of a particularly hardy and enduring race of horses ;
and equally hardy and enduring themselves, they have further the
spirit engendered by generations of freedom.
 CHAPTER HI. RELIQUES OF BILOCH HISTORY. Of anything
approaching to authentic history, the Biloches have less than most
Border people. From whence they came, the route they travelled,
who were their progenitors, are still very much matters of
conjecture. They have no written character, and consequently no
literature. "War is looked upon as the first business of a gentleman,
and every Biloch is a gentleman. Even agriculture is despised, and
the arts viewed with contempt ; the art of writing would fall actually
beneath contempt. The Douglas, in Mao^mion, thanks his saint "
that son of mine, save Gawin, ne'er could pen a line ; " and this is
very much the attitude of the Biloch. Whatever there is of tribal or
national tradition has been handed down in the poems and ballads
of which they are exceedingly fond, and many of which are probably
of considerable age. " Sweet, singing minstrel, bring your guitar ;
Bind a large turban on your head. Let the good man receive gifts
from the generous. " Sweet, singing Kelan, bring hither the guitar of
rejoicings ; Bring unto my life the fresh breeze of the morning —
Strike powerfully with your fingers. Drive out grief from the bright
body," and others of the invocations collected, and admirably
translated by
 •28 ACROSS THE BORDER. Dames,^ might, with little
alteration, pass muster among Sir Walter Scott's collection. Like most
MuhammadcUi tribes, Biloch tradition uniformly points Laghari
Biloches. to Arabia as their original home. One popular story derives
the word Biloch, from Bachh, a son, and Luch, a slave girl in the
harem of Muhammad bin Harun. According to Rawlinson, it is
derived from Belus, who is identified with the Nimrod of Scripture,
the son of Cush. The Persians write the word Bilush, and " Kiish wa
Bilush" is a term employed in that country to indicate certain
nomadic tribes. Personally they consider a derivation from Bad ^
Sketch of the Biloch Languacjc by Dames,
 KELIQUES OF BILOCH HISTORY. 29 Log, " lawless " folk, as
more in keeping with their universal reputation for rapine and
murder ; and a favourite couplet is to the efifect that the Biloch who
steals and murders, secures heaven to seven generations of
ancestors. Though if half the stories of their former habits be true,
both the moss-trooping ancestors and their descendants would
probably find a heaven, without forays and with no neighbours'
cattle to lift, an insufferably dull place. They existed, says the Biloch
Ndniah of Hetu Ram,i before the days of the Prophet. The famous
old Persian King, Naushirwan, is in the Shah Ndmah made to
complain that " the ground had become black with Biloches." In
these far-off times they claim to have dwelt in the low hills of Halah
— Aleppo. The Aleppo people called them Biloches, and more than
one Muhammadan author explains this to mean " barbarous tribes,
inhabiting the mountains of Garmsir, Sistan and Makran." When
Yaziz, the second Ummiyah Khalif, fought with Hazrat Imam Hasan,
and the latter was killed, the Biloches who, according to their story,
sided with him, had to fly to Kirman and Sistan in Persia, from
whence again they moved to Makran, the present Bilochistan, and
the Sulaimans. Their Avanderings form the subject of many poems. "
We are the servants of Hazrat 'Ali, Tlie true Imam of tlie Faith. From
Aleppo we came, On account of the struggle witli Yazid." " There are
four and forty tribes ; the foremost is Mir Jalal Khan" — or the
jooet's tribal chief for the time being. " By stages we march. From
Kurljala and the cities of Sistan. The Hots 2 settle in Makran. The
Khosas in Kach. Dividing out water and dry land. In Nali the Nohs.^
The Jatoes [and others] in Sibi and Dadur. The Einds settle in
Sarawan. The Lasharis in Gandava. This is our footprint and track.
This the Biloch record." Douie's translation of the Biloch ndmah. ■
Mazaris and Dieshaks. ''A luanuh of the Einds.
 30 ACROSS THE BORDER. Another story tells of friendship
between the Kirman ruler and the Biloch Chief, Ilmash Rumi, who
had become vastly powerful — forty-four tumans of 10,000 each,
says an old Persian chronicle. A tumandar being the head of 10,000
men, as he is now the tribal chief. By and by the successor of the
Kirman ruler picked a quarrel wdth the successor of the chief,
demanding a girl for his harem from each tnmdn. The Biloches
dressed up and sent boys in girls' disguise ; but, as the legend goes,
fearing the ruler's disappointment, quitted Kirman, and took refuge
in Makran, " a somewhat waste country," but which they " devoted
themselves for 500 years to cultivate." Ballads and traditions testify
to a common origin of tribes now widely separated, and differing
greatly ; so much so that it is doubtful if a northern Balochi could
make himself intelligible to a Makrani of the south. And though a
Brahui of Khelat might understand a Bughti, some philologists would
classify their respective languages as belonging to entirely different
stocks. Four sons and one daughter of the chief under whom they
made the Makran migrations, gave their names to as many famous
tribes, of which two stand out as markedly prominent — the Binds
and the Lasharis. Of the former there is now no representative clan
bearing the name, thou2h almost all the leadin^r frontier Biloches
claim to be of Rind extraction. All true Border Biloches, in fact, are
either Rinds or Lasharis, and it is these sections that furnish the two
great legendary heroes — Mir Chakar the Rind, Mir Gwaharam the
Lashari ; the Percy and the Douglas of Border ballad. 'Orii^inally
tliey were l)oth l)r()therp, God knows both of the same family." But
Riband Rind and Rawan Lashari were in love with the same woman.
" A fair one of a thousand wiles and sweet sugared speech. A bane
of many lovers." They staked their fortunes in love on a
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