240
C."IL GI.T
living in Dardistan, and their neighbours of Hunza-Nagar and Yasin
would be equally astonished. If consulted, they would probably
describe their country as Shinaka, or the land of the Shins, where
Shina is the spoken language. They are an Aryan people, stoutly
built, cheery, honest, frugal, and sober. They are devoted to polo,
and are fond of dancing. The inhabitants of Astor wear a peculiar
head-dress, a bag of woollen cloth, half a yard long, which is rolled
up outwards at the edges until it gets to the size to fit comfortably
to the head, round which the roll makes a protection from cold or from
sun nearly as good as a turban. Their houses are small, with very
small doors, and are usually built out from the mountain-side. Warmth
is the one consideration. The Astoris have some very peculiar
customs. Drew notices that they hold the cow in abhorrence. They
will not drink cow's milk, nor will they burn cow-dung, the universal
fuel of the East, and in a pure Shin village no one will eat fowls or
touch them. They practise inoculation for small-pox, their one
epidemic. The people of Astor``are Musalmans, two-thirds being of
the Sunni persuasion, and the rest being either Shiahs or Maulais.
There is no religious intolerance among them.
Drew mentions the following caste divisions: Ronu, Shins, Yashkun,
hremins, and Dums. As regards the Ronu caste, he says that there
are a small number of families in Gilgit. Biddulph, in his Tribes
of the Hindu Poosh, says that it forms 6 per cent. of the Gilgit popula-
tion, and that it is the most honoured caste of all, ranking next to
Mukhpuns or the Raja caste of Dardistan.
The majority of the Astoris belong to the Yashkun caste, and the
Shins are few in number, under 3,ooo. They are more numerous in
Gilgit, the total number of Shins being, according to the last Census,
7,733. The Shins are regarded with great respect by the Yashkuns
and the other castes. The Yashkuns claim the Shins as their fore-
fathers. The Shins give their daughters to Ronus and to Saiyids,
but take wives from the Yashkuns.
Far away in Central Ladakh in the Hann valley live other Dards
of the Buddhist religion. They have retained the Aryan type of the
country whence they came, and its Shina dialect, but they wear the
pigtail and the Ladakhi cap. It is said that, though Buddhist by name,
they really worship local spirits and demons. They practise polyandry,
but they will not eat with Tibetan Buddhists, and, like the Shins in
Dardistan, they hold the cow in abhorrence.
In Gilgit, as in Astor, there are few social subdivisions, for the
people are forced to depend on themselves for most wants of life. The
language spoken is Shina, though only a small percentage of the
population is Shin. The religion is Muhammadan, Shiahs prepon-
derating. There is an entire absence of fanaticism. The national
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