'Travels in Beloochistan and Sinde; accompanied by a geographical and historical account of those countries, with a map.' [‎153] (195/476)

X
LOOREES. 153
had simply offered to acknowledge his authority and pay the cus
tomary fines, on which their proffered allegiance had been accepted,
and their King, as they called him, formally invested in the Sirdaree
or chiefship of Mughsee. Revenge alone had stimulated the gang to
this atrocity: they had desired permission, prior to the seed-time,
which had then elapsed about two months, to settle for a season in
the neighbourhood of the village, in order to cultivate a small piece
of ground, which application was harshly refused, and they were
thieatened with chastisement if seen, after a certain period, within
the district. They disappeared, until the armed men that had been
called together to expel them, had returned to their agricultural
occupations * ; and, one night, making a forced march from a spot at
which they had been secreted in the mountains, they suddenly seized
the Sirdar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. 's house and butchered him and his whole household : the
villagers made no attempt to save any of them, and spoke with the
utmost indifference of the cruel fate impending over the son. In
more peaceful climes than these, where the lives and properties of
men are guarded by laws divine and human, the mind revolts at the
bare idea of such wickedness, and it is scarcely credited that it exists ;
but in these regions the case is widely different: here, the most
familiar topics of conversation are bloodshed and rapine, and habit
has brought the natives to view crimes, at which human nature ought
to shudder, not only with unconcerned apathy, but as subjects of
amusing discussion.
I he Loorees, who were the active people on this occasion, are a
class of vagabonds who have no fixed habitations ; and in many other
respects their character bears a marked affinity to the gipsies of
Europe. They speak a dialect peculiar to themselves, have a King
to each troop, and are notorious for kidnapping and pilfering. Their
favourite pastimes are drinking, dancing, and music, the instruments
Here, and in many other parts of the country, the people quit the villages in spring,
and go to any fertile valley or plain within a moderate distance, where they feed theTr
flocks and cultivate a little grain, returning at the end of autumn.