balochracehistor00damerich

o THE B A LOCH RACE
Opinions as to the appearance of the Baloches have
varied as much as those regarding their origin. Pottinger
compared them to the Turkomans, 1 while Khanikoff detected
a strong resemblance to the Kirghiz, probably to one of the
least Mongolian in appearance of the tribes included under
this name. Pottinger denied all resemblance to the Arabs,
while, on the other hand, many travellers speak of their
Arab features. Sir T. Holdich, who advocated their Arab
origin in a paper on the ' Arabs of the North-West Frontier,'
read before the Anthropological Society in 1899, considers
the resemblance both in character and appearance very
strong. Sir E. Burton, who knew the Baloches well and
had an almost unrivalled acquaintance with the Arabs, did
2
not favour this view. He says :
' His appearance bears
little resemblance to that of Ismail's descendants. The
eye is the full, black, expressive Persian, not the small,
restless, fiery Arab organ ;
the other features are peculiarly
high, regular, and Iranian ; and the beard, unerring in-
dicator of high physical development, is long and lustrous,
thick and flowing.'
The general vague idea that the Baloches have Arab
features seems to be based mainly on the fact that they
have long aquiline noses, which are supposed to look
Jewish ; and they are, therefore, assumed to be Semitic
and Arabs. But this is not the Arab type. The latter is
well described by Von Luschan, 3 who remarks that the
Beduins must be considered as pure descendants of the
Old Semitic race :
' They have long, narrow heads, dark
complexion, and a short, small, and straight nose, which
is in every respect the direct opposite of what we are
accustomed to call a typical Jewish nose.' To this it may
be added that the Arab nose is very commonly depressed
at the root, a characteristic hardly ever found among the
Baloches. The great abundance of hair and beard among
1 Pottinger's ' Travels in Beloochistan,' 1816, pp. 268, 269.
2 Burton's ' Sind Eevisited,' 1877, vol. ii., p. 159.
3 Quoted in « Man
Past and Present,' by A. A. Keane, 1900, p. 502.