1-1 Migratory Tribes of 



people to the earth, they place rice and oil at the head of the 

 grave, and stand near to watch what creature comes to cat 

 it, drawing the happiest omen of the state of the departed from 

 the crow visiting the spot. 



THE MUDDIKPOR. 



Many names have been given to the migratory people wo 

 are now noticing ; Keeli Katr, or Kootaboo, Kublgira or ferry- 

 man, Koli, and Barkur, are those most usually employed ; but 

 Muddikpor is the designation they apply to themselves, They 

 are generally tall and powerful men, with an olive-yellow com- 

 plexion, and arc now very numerous throughout India. They 

 say that their original locality was the village of Talicot, near 

 Sorapore, and that however far they be now dispersed, all 

 classes continue to speak the Mahratta tongue, though they 

 must likewise acquire a kno^yiedge of the language of the 

 country they wander about in, to enable them to earn a liveli- 

 hood. Their traditions carry back their origin to the obscure 

 periods of Hindu history ; and they say they have sprung from 

 ten individuals, and thus account for the ten tribes into which 

 we now find them divided ; and this traditionary account of a 

 common origin receives corroboration from the circumstance 

 that all the tribes marry and eat together. 



In each tribe an individual is superior to the others, to whom 

 the rank descends by birth, though no title is attached to the 

 office. All disputes that arise are arranged by a jury, whose 

 decisions are made in accordance with the customs of their 

 forefathers received by tradition. 



These wanderers earn a living by catching fish with nets, 

 and their women earn a little by knitting, and by tattooing the 

 dark blue marks on the foreheads of the brahmins and lingaets ; 

 ])ut their chief occupation is the exhibition of the transparencies 

 used in representing the battles of the Panch Pandya, five 

 brothers, whose exploits are, we believe, detailed in the Rama- 

 yana. The figures arc painted on deer-skin with very brilliant 

 colours, and the story being one the Hindu never tires in listen- 



