'Travels in Beloochistan and Sinde; accompanied by a geographical and historical account of those countries, with a map.' [‎54] (96/476)

54 BELOOCHES AND BRAHOOES.
all other barbarous tribes, is so blended with romantic fiction and tales
of wonder, that I have found it exceedingly difficult to reduce either
the one or the other to any credible form. They are divided into two
great classes, severally known by the appellations ol Belooche and
Brahooe, and these two are again subdivided into such an infinite
number of tribes, who take their names from the most trivial circum
stances, that it is morally impossible to account for them : the chief
under whom they serve, the district or country to which they belong,
or the tradition whence they derive their descent, are the most common
designations they assume. Between these two superior classes, the
leading distinctions that I observed were in their languages and ap
pearance ; and unquestionably they constitute the greatest that can
exist between men of the same colour and inhabiting the same nation.
The Belooche or Beloocheekee (so the language of the Belooches is
called), partakes considerably of the idiom of modern Persian, and at
least one half its words are borrowed from that language, but greatly
disguised under a corrupt and unaccountable pronunciation : the
similarity of sound is, however, so very striking, that during my
journey amongst these people, I latterly understood from my know
ledge of Persian, almost every sentence that I heard spoken in Beloo-
chee. The Brahooekee is, on the contrary, so dissimilar in its sound
and formation, that I never recollect to have remarked in it a single
expression in any way approaching the idiom ot Persian. It contains
an extensive portion of ancient Hinduwee words, a circumstance
which will be explained in the historical account of this class, and as
it strikes the ear, bears a strong resemblance to Punjaubee, the dialect
spoken in that part ol India called the Punjaub.*
The contour of the people of these two classes is as unlike in most
instances as their languages, provided they be the descendants of a
regular succession of ancestors of either ; but the frequent inter-
* I here speak alone of the sound, as I am equally unacquainted with either of the
languages 1 venture to compare.