MOHANA, a fisherman race in Sind, who appear to be converted Hindus, but they claim to be of Arab descent from the town of Arlitab. They have five clans,—the Bundri, Karacha, Lana, Jhabar, and Wungara. They fish in the creeks and channels. They profess Muhammadanism. The Jhabar eat the porpoise and crocodile, and are deemed unclean. The Mohana features are peculiar, and the complexion very dark ; some of the women are handsome when young, but hard ship, exposure, and other causes soon deprive them of their charms. They are to be found chiefly about the lakes of Manchar, Maniyar, and Kinjur. At the last place are some ruins of a palace built by Jam Tamachi, one of the rulers of Sind, who married Nureu, the beautiful daughter of a fisherman. The event is celebrated in the legends of the country, and the poet Shah Bhetao has given it a Sindi immortality in one of his Sufi effusions. The Mohana are not a moral
people. Their language is gross in the extreme, and chastity seems to be unknown to them. The men are hardy and industrious, but addicted to kindsbhang, opium, and other kinds of intoxication. • They are admirable swimmers ; children begin that exercise almost as soon at they can walk. They keep up regular mosques and places of worship, with Pir, Mullah, and all the appurtenances of devotion. The river Indus is adored by them under the name of Khajah Khizr, and is period ically propitiated by a caste offeringkof rice, in earthen pots covered with red cloth. Their caste disputes are settled by the headmen, who al called Changa Mursa, and invested with fu powers to administer justice to those who cor suit them.