Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 3.djvu/24

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MUHAWUTS.
(114)

THIS class is found all over the northern provinces. Then- chief occupation is ear-cleaning and cupping; the latter operation being performed by a cow's horn, with a hole at the pointed end, through which they draw and exhaust the air. They are not migratory, and are settled chiefly in large cities, where they practice as a low order of what may be termed quack doctors. Then religion is Mahomedan. Many of the Muhawuts are very clever in alarming weak people about their health, and getting their own services called into requisition. They are also clever at pretending to work cures. Their principal diet is animal and vegetable food, the same as other Mahomedans, and their degree of longevity is nothing remarkable.