The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-26
A REsOURCEFUL PEOPLE.
They Had No Holy Place, SO They
Killed a Man and Made One.
Philadelphia Telegraph.

Those terrible Afridis who are fighting
against the British are creatures OF Infinite
resources. and when they want a thing
they generally get it one way or another.
Before the recent outbreak the AfridiS es-
age, in their country, and the way they
did it amounted to a stroke of genius. The
neighhoring tribes all had Zarats, and the
people went on pilgrimages to them and
boasted of TIE virtues emanating from the
dead holy men who were buried beneath
the shrine.
Now. there does not seem ever to have
been any holy man among the Afridis, and
in order to have a real Ziarat you must
first have a holy man to bury. The Afridis
mad been busy so many centuries robbing
caravans and stealing sheep that they had
not had time to pay any profound atten-
ton to their spiritual welfare, and really
did not feel the want of place of pilgrim
age.
Not long ago, however, some Mullahs APP
peared among them and began to point out
their deficiencies in this respect. 1t was
shown to them that they did not even have
Ziarat, and were in a bad way generally.
A wave of religious fervor swept over the
tribe, and it was resolved that something
must be done at once or black eyes and
lemonade would not be their portion in the
MohaJmmedan heaven. A council OF the
elaboration. it was decided that what was
most needed was a Ziarat. If they could
only get q Ziarat they would feel compar
atively respectable, and there would be no
further cause for complaint on the part OF
the Mulahs.
Inen the question: dIOSe DIS " SCltiHS
saint for the shrine. One of the chiefs said
that he knew of Khattak. who lived out
among the hills, who would fill the bill, but
he was unfortunately still alive. The coun-
ell thought that that might be remedied,
and so the Khattak was sent for He was
put through rigid examination as to his
high principles and general virtues and he
brought lot of testimony to prove how
holy he waSJ-t
"a Nils examination being satisfactory, they
Slew the astonished Khattak then and
there" and buff a big pile of STONES over
his body 1When they proclaimed their deed
and in a week the pilgrims We're locking
to the new Ziarat, and the reproach was
removed from the land Naturally the men
coup" were looked upon by the AfridiS as
public benefactors o. approved piety.
Among the Afridis the man most re-
pected is the man who is the most expert
rhef. In fact, thievery is the only road TO
distinction among them. The scheme by
which. until of late, Britain muZzed these
desperate folk is ingenious and worthy of
note To pay an Afridi to behave himself
every day of the week is a course too ex-
pensive for any government. But by ar
rangement they have undertaken, at
price, to behave after the fashion OF CHRIS
tians on two days a week. The other I'VE
are devoted to throat-cutting, piiaglng
remaining two they have hitherto sat
quietly on their hilltops and watched with
watering mouths the rich caravans pass
TO and fro in the pass beneath.
If a shot was fired on those days the tribe
on whose ground the outrage took place
got LOCO rupees stopped out of its allow
ance next quarter day. Of this sum the
If it happened to be a good shot, while the
government was the richer for the rest.