30 Migratory Tribes of 



try, they say, was Rajputanah,* but they now are spread over 

 Hindostan, all adhering to the same customs, and speaking the 

 same language. This bears a strong resemblance to the language 

 of Guzerat, though there are many words in it without affi- 

 nity with any of the dialects we are acquainted with. At the 

 head of the Binjarries in the Dekhan are two individuals who 

 receive the title of Naeks. They reside in Hyderabad, and 

 the encampments located near that city refer any disputes 

 that arise to them for their decision ; but the chief occupation 

 of these Naeks is to keep up a correspondence with the diffe- 

 rent parts of the country, to gain early information from loca- 

 lities where war or famine has raised the price of grain. 



The Binjarries are grain merchants ; indeed the name is 

 given them from their occupation ; and their traffic being car- 

 ried on by bullocks, they traverse the most impracticable 

 countries to collect supplies, which they pour into the districts 

 where scarcity prevails, or they move in the track of large 

 armies, to furnish them with grain during the campaign. In 

 carrying on war in India, where armies carry their magazines 

 along with them, the services of the Binjarries are almost in- 

 dispensable, and their occupation renders them sacred. For 

 this reason, though moving among hostile bodies in time of 

 war, they consider themselves secure from being molested by 

 any party, and there have been instances of large bodies pass- 

 ing near camps, and though refusing to dispose of the grain 

 they carried, being allowed to move on to the enemy, the dread 

 of alarming them, and thus banishing them for ever, being suffi- 

 cient to protect them from interruption. The time of hostilities 

 or of dearth was a period of activity among them ; but our suc- 

 cesses have restored order to India, and have sent our troops to 

 cantonments, and with the return of peace, nothing occurs to in- 

 terrupt the labours of the husbandman, and scarcity seldom pre- 

 vails. These changes have done much to make the Binjarries 



* On the summits of the hills (formerly islets) which, united, form the 

 island of Bombay, reside about 75 families of cultivators, who say they 

 emigrated from Kajputanah. Many of the words in the language of this 

 people, and the dress of their women, are similiar to the Gohurs. They 

 call themselves Purmans. 



