DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36956#0020
temptation offered by the wife of one of his neighbours. As a result of
the long-lasting feuds, m daytime, many respectable persons did not dare
to leave their towers - which had been erected for their personal protec-
tion. When Tangir and Darel, finally, became a part of the territory ad-
ministered by Pakistan in 1953, such disputes were settled by the mutual
payment of blood-money. But peace never lasted long. Prior to my re-
turn m 1958, my field-assistant had been murdered, a sad testimony to
the persistence of ancient customs.
In Darel, whither we had shifted after five weeks, we were confronted
with an earlier, distinctly different system: here the closed and fortified
villages (kof) still prevailed. The stories of the peripheral houses formed
a closed line of defence. Towers marked the comers and the entrance.
The pitched roof was assembled from boards without any fastenings.
Passage in the narrow lanes was difficult. In mid-summer the land-
owners moved to the high meadows with their cattle. The fields were
fanned by share-croppers, who had to endure the attacks of the local
Tiger mosquitoes' (Jettmar 1960:130-138).
The mosque was situated at the fringe of the settled area, near to the
smithy and the bz'jnk, i.e. the gathering-place sumounded by platforms
supported by high posts. Most of the graves were concentrated in this
area. The stables fonned separate compounds. Those for the goats were
considered to be pure and sacred. The threshing floors were concentrat-
ed on a hillock; many of them had small shacks for keeping gram.
Not all the population settled in the compact kot. The richer, who had
acquired many enemies, erected faimsteads with defence-towers and
more modem buildings.
During the next few days, we visited several other villages, primarily
Phuguch, but also those at Samigal and Manikhal. There we observed
that towers had been erected even inside the koz: - strongly reminding us
of Castel Gandolfo in Italy.
4
the long-lasting feuds, m daytime, many respectable persons did not dare
to leave their towers - which had been erected for their personal protec-
tion. When Tangir and Darel, finally, became a part of the territory ad-
ministered by Pakistan in 1953, such disputes were settled by the mutual
payment of blood-money. But peace never lasted long. Prior to my re-
turn m 1958, my field-assistant had been murdered, a sad testimony to
the persistence of ancient customs.
In Darel, whither we had shifted after five weeks, we were confronted
with an earlier, distinctly different system: here the closed and fortified
villages (kof) still prevailed. The stories of the peripheral houses formed
a closed line of defence. Towers marked the comers and the entrance.
The pitched roof was assembled from boards without any fastenings.
Passage in the narrow lanes was difficult. In mid-summer the land-
owners moved to the high meadows with their cattle. The fields were
fanned by share-croppers, who had to endure the attacks of the local
Tiger mosquitoes' (Jettmar 1960:130-138).
The mosque was situated at the fringe of the settled area, near to the
smithy and the bz'jnk, i.e. the gathering-place sumounded by platforms
supported by high posts. Most of the graves were concentrated in this
area. The stables fonned separate compounds. Those for the goats were
considered to be pure and sacred. The threshing floors were concentrat-
ed on a hillock; many of them had small shacks for keeping gram.
Not all the population settled in the compact kot. The richer, who had
acquired many enemies, erected faimsteads with defence-towers and
more modem buildings.
During the next few days, we visited several other villages, primarily
Phuguch, but also those at Samigal and Manikhal. There we observed
that towers had been erected even inside the koz: - strongly reminding us
of Castel Gandolfo in Italy.
4