The Baloch Race: A Historical and Ethnological Sketch - Tapa blanda

THE name Baloch is used in two distinct ways by travellers and historians. In the first place, it is employed as including all the races inhabiting the geographical area shown on our maps under the name of Balochistan; and in the second place, as denoting one especial race, known to themselves and their neighbours as the Baloch. It is in the latter signification that I employ the word. I take it as applying to the Baloch race proper, not as comprising Brahois, Numris and other tribes of Indian origin, nor any other races which may be found within the limits of the Khan of Kilat's territory, or the Province of British Balochistan. On the other hand, it does comprise the true Baloch tribes outside those limits, whether found in Persia on the west, or in Sindh and the Panjab on the east. In the native use of the word, apart from modern political boundaries, Balochistan includes Persian Balochistan, the Khanat of Kilat, and the British Districts of Dera Ghazi Khan (with the adjoining mountains), Jacobabad, and part of Shikarpur as far as the Indus. Applying the test of language, the true Baloches may be considered as those whose native language is (or was till recently) Balochi, and not Brahoi, Persian, Sindhl, Jatki, or Pashto. The spelling and pronunciation of the name have varied considerably, but the Baloches themselves only use one pronunciation — Baloch, with the short a in the first syllable and the o in the second.

Mansel Longworth Dames (1850–1922) was a scholar of oriental and Portuguese languages. Longworth Dames was born in Bath in 1850, the eldest son of George Longworth Dames and Caroline Amelia Brunswick. Longworth Dames passed the Indian Civil Service examination in 1868, and on his arrival in India in 1870 was posted to the Punjab. He served continuously till his retirement in 1897, apart from in 1879 when he was on special duty with the troops during the Second Anglo-Afghan War.