would
like to refrain from interference in tribal home policy, finds that,
amid a host of conflicting units, he is the only possible court
of appeal. This results in an intermediate form of government: the
Indian Penal Code does not obtain; tribal laws and customs are the
recognized judicial guides, and there is a minimum of interference
with the people; yet the Political Officer is the supreme authority,
and combines in himself the executive and judicial administration of
the area.

Notwithstanding the exclusiveness of the religion that these
people profess, they find it impossible to do their business or
live comfortably without the help of the ubiquitous and obsequious
Hindu. Just as much as the great Mughal Emperors of old found it
best to have Hindus for the posts of treasurer, accountant, adviser,
etc., so the frontier chief of to-day has his Hindu vassal always with
him, to keep his accounts, write his petitions, and transact most of
his written and judicial business. The majority of the shopkeepers
also are Hindus. Even under the settled administration of British
India the Muhammadan has never become such an adept at bargaining,
petty trade, and shopkeeping as the more thrifty and quick-witted
Hindu. Thus in every village of any pretension there are the Hindus,
with their shops, who make their journeys to the big market-towns
on the frontier--Peshawur, Bannu, and Dera Ismail Khan--and return
with piece-goods, matches, looking-glasses, and a variety of Western
trinkets, as well as the food-stuffs which the Afghan covets, but
cannot produce himself, such as white sugar and tea. These Hindus
are regarded as vassals by the Muhammadan community they supply,
and each Hindu trader or shopkeeper has his own particular overlord
or Muhammadan malik, who in return for these services guarantees his
safety, is ready to protect him--by force of arms, if necessary--from
rival Muhammadan sections, and to revenge any injury done to him as
if it were a personal one to himself.

The Hindu supplies the brains and the Muhammadan the valour. The
Hindu is ever ready to outwit his overbearing but often obtuse
masters, and under British rule avails himself of the protection
the law affords to do things he would not venture on across the
border. Once when travelling across the border my guide was an outlaw,
who had been obliged to fly from British territory after committing
a murder. He told me that he had gone into partnership with