Answer:

1 Biddulph, J., Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh, Calcutta, 1880, p. 1.Google Scholar

2 The region is little known to the outside world, although valuable descriptive and historical accounts were published by travellers and political officers during the nineteenth century. A few excellent studies have also been published during the twentieth century, mostly concerned with the linguistics, ethnology, or glaciology of particular groups or localities. Quantitative data are few and fragmentary, both for the past and the present: even though certain official data are now collected for all parts of the region (for example, during recent population censuses) many of these data are ‘classified’ and hence not available. This paper is largely based on material that the author collected in the region at various times between 1962 and 1966.

3 Some of these ‘caste’ distinctions represent the subjugation of an established population by an invading group; some are associated with the artisan groups and with the provision of specialized services; while others probably represent former stages in the conversion to Islam, when those members of the population who were already Muslim were prevented from giving women in marriage to those who remained non-Muslims. For examples, see Biddulph, 1880, p. 36; Lorimer, D. L. R., The Dumaki Language: Outlines of the Speech of the Doma, or Bericho, of Hunza, Nijmegen, 1939, p. 9;Google Scholar and Barth, Fredrik, Indus and Swat Kohistan: An Ethnographic Survey, Oslo, 1956, p. 42.Google Scholar

4 E.g., Drew, Frederic, The Jummoo and Kashmir Territories: A Geographical Account, London, 1875, pp. 456 ff.Google Scholar

5 Traditional peaceable procedures for settling disputes and attaining rank are described by Muhammad, Ghulam in ‘Festivals and Folklore of Gilgit’, Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of BENGAL 1905–1907, I, 1907, p. 103.Google Scholar See also Frontier and Overseas Expeditions from India, I, ‘Tribes North of the Kabul River’, Simla, 1907, pp. 36–7.Google Scholar

6 Barth, , 1956, pp. 79 ff.Google Scholar

7 E.g., Barth, , 1956, pp. 79–86.Google Scholar

8 This has already been suggested byJettmar, Karl in ‘Ethnological Research in Dardistan 1958: Preliminary Report’, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 105, 1, 1961, p. 85.Google Scholar

9 The Sunni predominance in the southern part of the main Chitral valley is the result of secondary missionary activity. Local differences in the codes of the three sects are directly reflected in the agriculture; for example, in the distribution of cannabis-cultivation in Chitral, and in the growing of fruit for wine elsewhere.

10 There was no rule of succession, and on the DEATH of a mehtar his brothers and sons fought among themselves until all but one were killed or forced into exile. These periodic struggles seem to have been largely confined to the upper class and to the capital and did not necessarily result in disruption of the administration. On the accession of a new mehtar provincial and other officials were expected to transfer their allegiance, hence the proverb which has often been misunderstood by foreigners: ‘He who rules my country is my king.’ During the nineteenth century at least, the Katore mehtars effectively kept the peace within their own territory, and the relative security of life and property there was remarked upon by several of the EARLY travellers.

11 One group particularly liable to enslavement was the Kalash, a conquered but non-Muslim people inhabiting parts of the southern Katore territory. In addition to the Katore, the Kushwaqt and the rulers of Gilgit (i.e. in those principalities where centralized rule was long-established) used to sell their own subjects into slavery. Their right to raise revenue in this manner was apparently explicit, and largely by this means they paid for the import of costly luxury goods that were used on formal occasions. Men, women and children were in fact a major exportable resource, with the advantage of being relatively easily moved over difficult terrain. See, inter alia, Moorcroft, William and Trebeck, George, Travels in the Himalayan Provinces of Hindustan and the Punjab: In Ladakh and Kashmir; in Peshawar, Kabul, Kunduz and Bokhara; from 1819–1825 (ed. Horace, Hayman Wilson), II, London, 1841, p. 270;Google ScholarDurand, Algernon, The Making of a Frontier: Five Years' Experiences and Adventures in Gilgit, Hunza, Nagar, Chitral, and the Eastern Hindu-Kush, London, 1900, pp. 51–2;Google ScholarVans Agnew, P. A., ‘Diaries of Mr P. A. Vans Agnew, Assistant to the Agent, Governor-General, North-West Frontier, on deputation to Gilgit—1847’, The Political Diaries of the Resident at Lahore and his Assistants 1846–1849, VI, Lahore, 1915, p. 288.