Captain W. C. Hay describes the Bliotias of Spiti in the N.W. Himalaya as a physically robust race, with strongly - marked, weather - beaten countenances, of middling height, with flat faces and noses, and in general small eyes, the skin of a light-brown colour, with a ruddy hue derived from the reflection of the sun from the snow. The smallness of the eye is particularly mentioned by observers in other localities, as in Bhutan.
The Sutlej people are amiable and gentle, free of low cunning, having the appearance of a mixed race between the Tartar and the common hairnet]. They are fair, well made, and strong, but are filthy and indigent. The women have a toga fastened round the waist.
The Kula province consists of the mountain basin of the Beas, and the west bank of the Sutlej. Sultanpur, its capital, is elevated 4584 feet. The chain bounding the Sutlej on the west is considerably higher than that on its east bank, and is crossed into Sukcyt by the Jalauri pass, elevated 12,000 feet. The province of Chumba bounds it on the west, and the physical features 1 of Kulu and Chumba are similar. The poorer Kulu people wear only a blanket wound around the waist, and one end flung across the shoulders and pinned across the chest ; men and women often dress alike, but the long hair of the women is plaited in one tress. The women of Kulu and the adjoining states are inordinately fond of ornaments. Both men and women suspend round the neck several amulets of mother-of pearl engraved with mystical figures. Polygamy is contmon.
Dogar, an uneducated, ignorant tribe, origin ally Hindu or Chauhan Rajputs, but converted to Muhammadanism at some unremembered date. They dwell on the borders of the Panjab, chiefly along the banks of the Sutlej river. They are indifferent farmers and cultivators. Like the Paehada, the Dogar wears a waist - cloth or loongee.
The Chilas country is bounded on the north by the Indus river, on the south by the water shed of the ridge over Liilfisur lake, ou the east by the watershed of the same ridge as above Lfilasur lake, culminating in the lofty peak of Munga Parbut. The Astor boundary marches with Chilas here on the west to a point beyond the village of. Sazeen, where the Indus takes a turn to the south-west. Chilas affords good pasturage, but lies under snow for a considerable portion of the year.
The Sheen, claiming an Arab descent, are the proprietary and governing class. Crime is rare, women have more liberty and power than among Muhammadan tribes, but breaches of chastity are punished by death. They were visited in 186G
by Dr. Lehner at the request of the Bengal Asiatic Society. Their language seems distinct from Pushtu, Persian, and Hindi, and is not under stood by their neighbours the Syud race, who inhabit Dareil and Tankir to the west of Gilgit. According to their own traditions, the inhabitants of Chilas were conquered about the middle of the 18th century, and converted to the Muhammadan faith. Up to about 1840 the Kaghan Synds received quantities of gold dust as religious dues from the people of Chilas ; but when the Syuds, aided by the Sikhs, failed in an attack on Chilas, tho dues were abandoned. A second attack by the Sikh nation was successful, and a small annual tribute of 3 tolas of gold dust and 100 goats is paid to the Kashmir durbar.
The Gilgit territory is in lat. 35° N. and long.
E. The Indus river runs through it from N.H. to S.W. It is on the 'southern declivity of the Hindu Kush, between Chitral on the west and Baltistan (Little Tibet) on the east. In the Bannu valley there are races intermixed, of -whom may be noticed the Dardu of Gilgit and Chilas. Gilgit, in Tibetan Gyilgyid, has an area of 2500 square miles on the right bank of the Indus.
The Dard race, lying along the Indus to the westward of Ladakh, speak three distinct dialects, and use the Persian character in writing. The three dialects of Dardu are called Shina, Khajuna, and Arniya. The Shina dialect is spoken by the peoples of Astor, Gilgit, and lower down in Chilas, Dareil, Kohli, and Palas, on both banks of the Indus ; the Khajuna by the people of Hunza and Nager, and the Arniya in Yasan and Chitral. Astor has an area of 1600 square miles on the left bank of the Indus. The Dard or Hurd are supposed by Vigne to be the Dadien (AaSizoci) of Herodotus, and the people who now occupy the country called Dardu. According to Burnes, the mir of Badakhshan, the chief of Darwaz in the valley of the Oxus, and the chiefs eastward of Darwaz who occupy the provinces of Kulub Shughuan and Wakkau north of the Oxus, also the hill estates of Chitral, Gilgit, and Iskardo, are all held by chiefs who claim a Grecian descent. The whole of the princes who claim descent from Alexander are Tajak, who inhabited the country before it was overrun by Turki or Tartar tribes. The Kashmir people have their own peculiar language. The Balti people of Little Tibet say that Ladakh, Iskardo, Khopalu, PuHk, Nager, Gilgit, and Astor are distinct Tibets.