The Indian Government has another little frontier war on its
hands. The Jowakis, a mountain tribe near Kohat, have been invading and plundering English villages. As the Government is- bound to protect its villagers, a force of '2,500 men, all natives, have been despatched to reduce the Jowakis to order, levy a fine equal to the value of the property destroyed or stolen, demand all rifles, and insist on the construction of a road through the territory. This kind of expedition has been found necessary at intervals of about three years ever since we annexed the Punjaub, and is only regarded as important when there is nothing else to talk about. There is no objection to it, being, as it is, a mere measure of police, except this, which, we believe, greatly troubled Lord Lawrence, who, stern as he was, was a man of conscience. These unlucky hillsmen do not plunder our villages from patriotic- motives, but because they have too little to eat. They have little. arable land, they are incapable of steady industry, and they see the British peasantry getting fat to a most aggravating degree. So. they rob. We had our own Jowakis once,—Kerrs, Scotts, Grahams, and what not. They were compelled to plough instead of "raiding," and their chiefs are all nobles now, and levy nothing except rent.
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