The evolution of Nushki--The Zagar Mengal tribe--Tribal
feuds--Competition in trade--Venturesome caravans--Pasand
Khan--Dalbandin and its geographical situation--Game big and
small--Dates--A famous Ziarat--A Beluch burial ground--Preparing
corpses for interment--How graves are cut into the ground--Beluch
marriages--Beluch thoughtfulness towards newly married couples--A
mark of respect.
Having given a general sketch of the agreements with the principal chiefs
we will now return to matters relating to the most important point, the
pivot, as it were, of our route--Nushki.
When Nushki was taken over by the British Government, the leading tribe
in the district was the Zagar Mengal, a Brahui tribe. They had settled in
Nushki approximately a century or 150 years ago, and were a most powerful
tribe, supposed to number about 9,000, a large proportion of whom lived
in Registan (country of sand), to the north and mostly north-east of
Nushki across the Afghan frontier. The Zagar Mengal Sardar was in Nushki
itself, and he had a right of levying what is termed in Beluch, _Sunge_
(a transit due) on all merchandise passing through Nushki. Foreseeing how
such a right would interfere with trade, the British Government came to
terms with the Sardar, by which, instead of his transit dues, he
undertook what is called in Beluchistan a _noukri_ or service (old custom
by which a man supplies a number of _sawars_ and is responsible for
them).
The next thing was to settle all the tribal feuds. Three or four tribes
were at war. Cases were carefully inquired into and settled according to
Beluch law, through the medium of a tribal _jirga_, a council of elders.
One case led to another and eventually all were settled up to everybody's
satisfaction.
In the meantime traders from Shikarpur, from Quetta, and Kelat, began to
be attracted to Nushki; a bazaar was started and is fast growing from
year to year. One hundred thousand rupees have already been spent on it,
with the result that a number of competing traders came in. Competition
resulted in good prices, which further attracted trade, first from the
districts to the north in the immediate vicinity of Nushki, and later
from further and further afield.
The name of Nushki--practically unknown a few years ago--is at present
well known everywhere, and the place has, indeed, become quite an
important trade centre. From Nushki, as we have seen, a chain of posts,
manned by local Beluch levies, was pushed west as far as Robat on the
Persian frontier. Even as late as 1897 trade in these parts was limited
to a few articles of local consumption, and Persian trade was represented
by a stray caravan from Sistan that had forced its way to Nushki and
frequently lost men, camels and goods on the way. The venturesome
caravans seldom numbered more than one or two a year, and were at the
mercy of a Mamasani Beluch called Pasand Khan, who lived in Sistan and
levied blackmail on such caravans as came through. This man was well
acquainted with all the marauders who haunted the stretch of country
south of the Halmund between Sistan and Chagai. Pasand Khan levied at the
rate of twenty krans (about 8s. 4d.) per camel, and saw the caravans in
comparative safety as far as Chagai, from which point they were left to
their own devices and had to force their way through to Quetta as best
they could.
Next to Nushki along the route, Dalbandin--owing to its geographical
situation, its ample supply of good water and good grazing--is probably
the most important spot, and may one day become quite a big place. There
is direct communication from this spot to Chagai (and Afghanistan),
Robat, Ladis, Bampur, Kharan, the Arabian Sea, Charbar, Gwadur, Ormarah,
Soumiani and Quetta. Even as things are now, Dalbandin is a somewhat more
important place than any we had met on coming from Robat, with a very
large _thana_ and a couple of well-provided shops. Captain Webb-Ware's
large camp made it appear to us men of the desert quite a populous
district. There was excellent water here and good grazing for camels,
while on the hills close by ibex shooting was said to be good. Gazelles
(_Chinkara_ and Persian gazelle), both called _ask_ in Beluch, are to be
found in the neighbourhood of this place, and wild asses (_ghorkhar_)
nearer Sahib Chah. _Katunga_ (sand grouse), _sisi_, _chickor_, a few
small bustards (_habara_), and occasionally ducks are to be seen near the
water, but taking things all round there is little on the road to repay
the sportsman who is merely in search of game.
[Illustration: Circular Ziarat With Stone, Marble and Horn Offerings.]
[Illustration: Ziarat with Tomb showing Stone Vessels.]
The spacious rest-house at Dalbandin was quite palatial, with actual
panes of glass in all the windows, mats on the floor, folding chairs to
sit upon, tables and Indian bedsteads. Thanks to the kind hospitality of
Captain Webb-Ware, I had a most pleasant and instructive day's rest here,
and nearly made myself sick by greedily eating irresistible Beluch dates,
the most delicious it has ever been my luck to taste. These dates are
very carefully prepared in earthen jars with honey, and they say that
only one date--the best--is picked from each tree. No description could
ever come up to their delicate flavour.
There is a famous Ziarat a couple of miles from Dalbandin which well
repays a visit. The larger Ziarat itself is circular, 25 feet in
diameter, with a mud and stone wall 4 feet high round it. It has a door
to the east and a tomb to the west. A bundle of sticks is laid outside
the wall, and another much larger, with red and white rags upon it, at
the head of the tomb, the latter being covered as usual with pieces of
white marble and round stones. At the head of the grave near the upright
sticks was a large stone with holes in the centre, and also a number of
wooden drinking cups, masses of horns, sticks, whips, ends of broken
bottles, bits of rope, etc. These fragments of civilization hardly added
to its picturesqueness. The tomb lay from north to south--a very curious
fact, for, as a rule, the head of the tomb in other Ziarats was to the
west. The tomb, however, lay in the western portion of the Ziarat circle.
The enclosing wall was adorned with horns of sacrificed goats, and, in
fact, outside to the south was the sacrificial spot with some large slabs
of stone smeared with blood, and the usual upright sticks, but no rags
appended to them. It had, nevertheless, some decoration of horns.
A second Ziarat was to be found on the top of the hill--generally these
Ziarats go in couples, the principal one on the summit of a hill, the
other at the foot, the latter for the convenience of travellers who have
not the time or the energy to climb to the higher sacred spot,--and this
Ziarat was 45 feet long also with a tomb--this time of black rounded
stones--with an upright white slab of marble. The wall of black stones
was 1½ feet high. Below this, to the south, was a third smaller oval
Ziarat, 20 feet long, 12 feet wide, with many offerings of horns perched
on poles to the west, and a heap of fancy stones, together with some
implements such as a mortar, pestle, and cups. A fourth Ziarat, very
small, with a mud tomb on which two mill stones had been deposited, was a
little further on and had a solitary rag flying.
Near these Ziarats was an extensive Beluch burial-ground, to which
bodies were brought from very great distances for interment. There was a
large rectangular Mesjid, the first I had seen of that shape, at the
western point of the graveyard, and three smaller ones at the other
corners, and the graves were very nice and tidy, formed generally of
fragments of yellow marble, a high stone pillar at the head and one at
the foot, and little chips of marble along the upper centre of the grave.
Others more elaborate had a neat edge and centre line of black stones and
coloured end pillars, while some consisted of a pile of horizontal sticks
with an upright one at each end.
The bodies of more important people, such as chiefs, were given larger
tombs, often very gaudy and of a prismatic shape, made of myriads of bits
of crystal within a black border of stones. Occasionally a trench was dug
round the graves.
It was interesting to note that here, too, as on the Kuh-i-Kwajah, one
saw "family graves" which, although not in actual compartments like those
on the Sistan mountain, were, nevertheless, secluded from the others
within a low boundary stone wall. The prismatic graves seldom rose more
than 1½ feet above ground, but the semi-spherical tumuli which marked
some of the more important burial places were from 3½ to 4 feet high.
These tumuli were either of mud or of large smooth pebbles, and generally
had no pillars. One or two, however, had a pillar to the west.
To the east of the graveyard the graves which seemed of a more recent
date had sticks at each end instead of stone pillars, and these were
connected by a string to which, halfway between the sticks, hung a piece
of wood, a ribbon, or a rag. The meaning of this I could not well
ascertain, and the versions I heard were many and conflicting. Some said
these were graves of people who had been recently buried, it being
customary to erect the stone pillars some months after burial, and that
the string with dangling rag or piece of wood was merely to keep wolves
from digging up dead bodies. Others said it was to keep evil spirits
away, but each man gave a different explanation, and I really could not
say which was the true origin of the custom. The pillars over a man's
grave, some say, signify that the man died without leaving issue, but I
think this is incorrect, for it would then appear by most graves that the
Beluch are the most unprolific people on earth, which I believe is not
the case.
Children's graves were usually covered with pieces of white marble or
light coloured stone, and those of women were generally smaller and less
elaborate and with lower pillars than men's graves.
The preparing of corpses for interment is rather interesting. With men,
the lower jaw is set so that the mouth is closed tight, and is kept in
this position by the man's own turban which is wound round the chin and
over the head. The eyes are also gently closed by some relative, and the
hands placed straight by the sides. As soon as life is pronounced
extinct the body is covered over with a sheet and the dead man's
relations go and procure new clothes, after which the body is removed
from the tent or house and is taken towards a well or a stream, according
to circumstances. Here the body is laid down and carefully washed, after
which it is wrapped up quite tight in sheets--so tight that the outline
can plainly be distinguished. In most cases, a pillar is put up, a few
stones laid round, or the outline of a grave drawn on the spot where the
body has lain to undergo this operation. The body is then removed to the
burial ground and laid most reverently in the grave.
[Illustration: Beluch Mesjid and Graveyard at Dalbandin.]
Beluch graves are most peculiarly cut into the ground. Instead of being
vertical, like ours, they are in three sections. The higher is vertical,
and leads to an inclined side channel giving access to a lower last
chamber, in which the body is actually deposited. The origin of this, I
was told, is to prevent hyenas and wolves digging up the bodies.
[Illustration: Section of Beluch Grave.]
When once the body is laid in its place of rest, dried sweet-scented rose
leaves are spread over it in profusion, and then the grave is filled up
with stones and plastered with mud. The channel between the two chambers
is filled entirely with stones, and the upper chamber entirely with
earth.
Some few of the graves I saw had fallen through, but most were in
excellent preservation and appeared to be well looked after by the
people. That the Beluch are provident people we had palpable proof in
this cemetery, where one saw several graves ready for likely future
occupants.
Another Mesjid, a circular one seven feet in diameter, was further to be
noticed to the north-east of the graveyard. It had yellow marble pillars
of sugar-loaf and cylindrical shapes and was enclosed by a neat stone
wall.
A Beluch marriage is a practical business transaction by which a girl
fetches more or less money, camels or horses, according to her personal
charms, beauty, and social position. Beluch women, when young, are not at
all bad-looking with well-cut features and languid eyes full of animal
magnetism like the Persian, and they seem shy and modest enough. The
Beluch men have great respect for them, and treat them with
consideration, although--like all Orientals--they let women do all the
hard work, which keeps the women happy.
A marriage ceremony in Beluchistan bears, of course, much resemblance to
the usual Mussulman form, such as we have seen in Persia, with variations
and adaptations to suit the customs and circumstances of the people.
A good wife costs a lot of money in Beluchistan, although occasionally,
in such cases as when a man has been murdered, a wife can be obtained on
the cheap. The murderer, instead of paying a lump sum in cash, settles
his account by handing over his daughter as a wife to the murdered man's
son. Bad debts and no assets can also be settled in a similar manner if
the debtor has sufficient daughters to make the balance right.
Under normal circumstances, however, the girl is actually bought up, the
sum becoming her property in case of divorce. When the marriage ceremony
takes place and the relations and friends have collected, the first step
is for the bridegroom to hand over the purchase sum, either in cash,
camels, or sheep. A great meal is then prepared, when the men sit in a
semicircle with the bridegroom in the centre. Enormous quantities of food
are consumed, such as rice saturated with _ghi_ (butter), piles of
_chapatis_ (bread) and sheep meat. A man who pays four or five hundred
rupees for a wife is expected to kill at least twenty or thirty sheep for
his guests at this entertainment, and there is a prevailing custom that
the bridegroom on this occasion makes a gift to the _lori_ or blacksmith
of the clothes he has been wearing since his betrothal to the girl.
The women on their side have a similar sort of entertainment by
themselves, stuff themselves with food to their hearts' content, and wash
it down with water or tea. At the end of the meal a bowl is passed round
and each man and woman rinses mouth and hands.
The _Sung_, or betrothal, is regarded as most sacred, and much rejoicing
is gone through for several days with music and dancing and firing of
guns, and this is called the _nikkar_, just preceding the _urus_, or
actual marriage ceremony, which is performed by a Mullah. The bridegroom,
having ridden with his friends to a neighbouring Ziarat to implore
Allah's protection, returns and sits down in the centre of the circle
formed by the men. Two of his friends are sent to fetch the girl's
father, who is led down to the assembly.
The bridegroom again assures him in front of all these witnesses that
should he from any fault of his own divorce his wife he will forfeit the
premium paid for her, whereupon the father replies that he will settle a
sum on the girl as a "_mehr_" or dowry. The father then departs, and
returns, bringing the bride wrapped up in her best clothing and
_chudder_.
A slightly modified Mussulman form of marriage is then gone through, and
the Mullah asks the woman three times if she agrees to marry the man.
Everything having passed off satisfactorily, the happy couple depart to a
hut or tent placed at their disposal, and very discreetly, nobody goes
near them for some considerable length of time.
It is said that the thoughtfulness of the Beluch towards a newly-married
couple will go so far that, even if the tribe were stalked by the enemy,
no one would go and warn the happy couple for fear of disturbing them!
The bridegroom stays with his bride for several days, and if he belongs
to some other village or encampment, will then return to his home, and
leave his wife behind for months at a time.
Beluch wives are said to be quite faithful, and at the death of the
husband go for a considerable time without washing. This mark of respect
for the husband is, however, extensively indulged in even before the wife
becomes a widow--at least, judging by appearances.