balochracehistor00damerich

14 THE BALOCH RACE
Sporadic cases of the settlement of Arab families among
the Baloches probably occurred during their residence in
Karman and Mekran, as such cases occurred throughout
Persia, Turkistan, Afghanistan, and Northern India ; but
in such cases the ultimate effect on the general population
is but small. Isolated instances of the survival of Arab
features may perhaps be pointed out, and it seems to be
the general opinion of travellers in Mekran that the
families of the chiefs show such features rather than the
greater number of their tribesmen. But among the tribes
along the Indian Frontier— 'the Arabs of the Indian Border,'
as Sir T. Holdich calls them—with whom I can claim a
long and intimate acquaintance, I am convinced that there
is no such distinction. The typical and characteristic
Baloch face is found equally among chiefs and tribesmen,
and true Arab features are very rare.
The Rajput origin advocated by the late Dr. Bellew 1
deserves some consideration, but his attempt to prove that
all Baloches, jointly with a very large section of Pathans,
were of Indian descent was doomed to failure. If he had
confined himself to stating that there are some Rajput and
Jatt elements in the present Baloch nation, and that the
Pathan tribes of the Sulaman range are, to a considerable
extent, of Indian origin, he would have obtained general
assent ; but he attempted to show, on philological grounds
mainly, that every tribe or clan whose name he could
ascertain was descended from some Indian caste or got,
and he displayed a good deal of ingenuity in comparing
these names with those of their supposed Indian pro-
genitors.
He commences with the name Baloch, which he con-
siders identical with the Balaecha (Balaicha) clan of the
Chauhan Rajputs, and at the same time he finds a clan
of the Afghan Durrani named Bahrech, which he identifies
with another Chauhan clan, the Bharaecha (properly,
1 'Ethnography of Afghanistan,' by H. W. Bellew, C.S.I., 1891,
pp. 171, 172, and 175-187,