102 ON THE SANTHALS 



highest magistrate in the district, the so-called pargana. 

 The last has under its jurisdiction thirty to sixty villages, 

 and forms a strong, connecting link between them. Many 

 heads of towns and other chosen men have seats in this 

 superior court ; but over these is the voice of the public 

 assembly, which has in its hands the final decision, like a 

 supreme court. These customs indicate a former culture 

 far superior to their present, though they have always 

 preserved a kind of representative or self-government. 



Their features are not sharply-marked, and there is a 

 tendency to fulness of feature aud of body. The face is 

 almost round, with cheek bones moderately prominent; 

 eyes full and without obliquity ; nose not prominent, but 

 broad and depressed ; mouth large, with full and project- 

 ing lips ; hair straight, coarse and black ; they are ne- 

 groid in color and appearance, and rarely more than five 

 and one-half feet high. The females have small hand- and 

 feet, and peculiarly large and lustrous eyes which the an- 

 cients would call "ox-eyed," a compliment which they 

 paid to the goddess Juno. 



They have comfortable homes, huts with walls of mud, 

 aud floors well raised, to avoid dampness and creeping 

 vermin. The houses are often surronnded by a kind of ve- 

 randa of bamboo lattice Avork, covered with trailing vines 

 and flowers ; they are neatly kept and gayly colored with 

 stripes of red, white and black, by the use of native clays 

 and charcoal ; they have partitions, securing privacy and 

 decency. They prefer to have their villages to them- 

 selves and do not like foreigners, especially Brahmans ; 

 but as they clear and cultivate the land, the crafty and en- 

 terprising Hindoo gets admission, and, finally, obtains 

 the mastery over their honest simplicity, and, sometimes, 

 by offering higher rents to the government, ejects the 

 Santhal. 



When a child is about ten years old, he is taken into 



