8 
other operations against the rebel Sepoys in 1857-58, 
they displayed admirable enduranee and valour. 
The Muzbee Sikhs, in general, are a powerful ath- 
letic body of men, having no trammeis of easte, 
eating animal food habitually, and drinking freely 
of ardent spirits. Polygamy is not much practised 
among them, and their women work as hard as their 
hnsbands. They have no particular costume or lan- 
guage, both being what is current in their country ; 
the men wear a simple tunic, turban, and loose 
baggy drawers; the women the petticoat, boddice, 
and scarf, chiefiy of coarse material. 
/.—Mahomedans. 
The Mahomedans of India are dividecl infco four general classes without distinction hy 
creed; namely, Syud, Sheikh, Moghul, and Pathan. Of these the two first are the most 
nunierous and most ancient, the Syuds claiming to be the descendants of Mahomed, 
through Fatima his daughter, and the Sheikhs constituting the remainder of those pro- 
fessing Mahomedanism, who formed the great bulk of the people. Pathans as well as 
Moghuls are Syuds and Sheikhs; but a clannish and exclusive spirit has, in the main, 
kept them separate. The Moghuls are the descendants of those immigrants into India 
who followed the Tartar and Toorky invasions and dynasties, and who always constituted 
large proportions of the Imperial armies ; and the Pathans belong tothe races of Afghans 
who, the original Mahomedan invaders of India, founded many dynasties of kings and 
emperors of Delhi, and gradually formed colonies in many portions of the country. 
They are settled in great force in Rohilkund, a term derived from Rohilla, an appellation 
which attaches itself to all Afghans, most particularly to the inhabitants of the passes 
into Afghanistan, and their neighbours the tribes inhabiting the country to the north- 
west of the Punjab, who were doubtless the progenitors of those of Rohilkund. 
The Pathans or Afghans are found throughout Northern India, and many of them are 
in the Service of native princes. His highness the Nizam, in particular, employs consi- 
derable numbers of them in the civil and military departments of his administration. 
A large colony of Pathans existed at Kurnool, in the Madras Presidency, which was an 
independent principality up to the year 1838, when the reigning Nawab was convicted 
of treasonable intrigues and imprisoned. His territory was afterwards annexed to the 
Presidency of Madras, and his numerous retainers were embodied in a corps of local 
irregulär cavalry, called the Kurnool Horse, which still exists. 
The Pathans have not mixed with the ordinary Mahomedan population of India, and 
have, by marrying exclusively into their own Afghan tribes preserved a peculiar and 
eminently national character. Many of them are very fair, and have the grey or blue 
eye of the parent stock, with brown hair. Their women are described to be very 
handsome, but they are, if possible, more iealously guarded than any other of the 
Mahomedans. ' 
The Pathans besides being soldiers, are dealers in horses, as well as breeders of them 
to a great extent. They are also bankers and money-lenders, not objecting, on religious 
grounds, to taking usurious interest. They are often successful administrators of pro- 
vinces under native Governments, but in such positions are not unfrequently violent and 
cruel. Among the tribes are found many dissenters from the orthodox faitli: not a few 
of them are Shiahs, and others believers in the “ Ghyr Mehdavee ” doctrines, which 
recognise a further revelation by a prophet who is to appear hereafter. 
No. 31. The Imperial Family of Delhi. 
For many years the King of Delhi was recognised 
as the nominal head of Government in India. His 
name was upon the British, as all other coinage, and 
the British Governor-General styled himself his ser- 
vant. On occasions of successions in the native 
States, the customary offerings were made to the king, 
who, in return, sent dresses of honour and letters of 
congratulation and confirmation ; while, to the last, 
the farce of pretending to seek distinction and titles 
from the king, was kept up by the rulers of states 
who had shaken off all allegiance to Delhi, and in 
the days of its great misfortunes had carefully avoided 
all connexion with, or assistance to it. This, indeed, 
might have been considered a harmless exereise of 
royal privilege, which could not, under existing cir- 
cumstances, be interfered with; but, as it subse- 
quently transpired, the palace of Delhi beeame the 
focus of all the deep-lying discontents of the Maho 
medans of India, and when the native portion of the 
Bengal army broke out into actual mutiny, and, as 
far as possible, rallied round the king, there seemed