There are no grounds for believing the Bilúch to have been other than the aborigines of the country which they occupy; as their advent lies beyond the historical period; beyond the pale of admissible tradition. We may, perhaps, be told that they came from Arabia; an origin which their Mahometanism, their division into tribes, and their manners, suggest; an origin, too, which their physiognomy by no means impugns. Yet the tradition is not only unsupported, but equivocal. The _Arabia_ that it refers to is, probably, the country of the ancient _Arabitæ_; and that is neither more nor less than a part of the province of Mekran, within--or nearly within--the present Bilúch domain. Hence, they may be _Arabite_, though not _Arabian_; or rather the old _Arabitæ_ of the _Arabius fluvius_ were Bilúch. But the Arabs are not the only members of the Semitic family with which the Bilúch have been affiliated. A multiplicity of Jewish characteristics has been discerned. These are all the more visible from their contrast to the manners of the Hindús. Intermediate in appearance to the Hindú and the Persian, the Bilúch "cast of feature is certainly Jewish;"[49] his tribual divisions are equally so; whilst the Levitical punishment of adultery by stoning, and the transmission of the widow of a deceased brother to the brothers who survive, have been duly recognized as Hebrew characteristics. We know what follows all this; as surely as smoke shows fire. Levitical peculiarities suggest the ubiquitous decad of the lost tribes of Israel. We shall soon hear of these again. Tribes under chiefs--hereditary succession--pride of blood--clannish sentiments--feuds between tribe and tribe--the sacro-sanctity of revenge as a duty--the suspension of private wars when foreign foes threaten--greater rudeness amongst the mountains--comparative industry in the plains--the business of robbery tempered by the duties of hospitality--black mail, &c. All this is equally Bilúch, Arabian, and Highland Scotch; and it all shows the similarity of details which accompanies similarity of social institutions. Ethnological relationship it does _not_ show. The word _Bilúch_ is Persian. The bearer of the designation either calls himself by the name of his tribe, or else glorifies himself by the term _Usul_ or _Pure_. The tribes or _khoums_ are numerous. Sir H. Pottinger gives the names of no less than fifty-eight; without going into their subdivisions. If, however, instead of details, we seek for classes of greater generality we find that _three_ primary divisions comprise all the ramifications of the Bilúch. The first of these is the _Rind_; the other two are the _Nihro_ and the _Mughsi_. The daughter of a Rind may be given to a Rind as a wife; but to marry into a tribe of Nihro or Mughsi extraction is a degradation. Here the elements of _caste_ intermix with those of _tribe_ or _clan_.