OF NORTHEASTERN BENGAL. 113 



are extremely fond ; they delight to hear the tinkling of 

 these bells, and the clicking of their anklets and buckles 

 as they strike their legs together in the Santhal craco- 

 vienne. 



They wear rings at the elbows, ear-rings and nose-rings, 

 even the children; they also use a kind of Castanet, with 

 which they mark the time in their graceful, exact evolu- 

 tions. The women even indulge in the practice of dyeing 

 their eyebrows, and the men often bang their hair. In 

 fact, there is hardly a fashion of modern male or female 

 ornamentation, which is not borrowed from and a relic of 

 barbarism. 



Life must be pleasant to the Santhal, cultivating his 

 land, dancing to the music of his flute, carousing at the 

 harvest festivals, and going in convivial parties to the hunt ; 

 in the last they are ardent and skilful, though they gener- 

 ally avoid the tiger and the bear. Their native weapons 

 are the bow, the spear, and the battle-axe, the last of which 

 they throw with great force and accuracy. They make 

 excellent police for the jungle districts, as they are proof 

 against malaria. 



In the disposal of the dead, they in some respects re- 

 semble the Hindoos ; the body is burned on a pyre, and 

 two pieces of bone from it are taken to the Damuda, their 

 sacred river, to be carried out to the "great ocean," and 

 there be gathered to those of his fathers ; from these bones 

 is to be made the new body, in which the deceased dwells, 

 and continues life in the other world. 



Once a year they collect in vast numbers for a hunt of 

 extermination of wild beasts; they hunt by day, and at 

 night hold their feasts and councils. Every man, who can 

 support himself, or, as they say, who can stand on his own 

 legs, has the right to vote at their meetings. 



According to Dr. Caldwell, the Indian populations have 



