VERNACULAR JSaMES. 



native banker and middleman it has, in many cases, been 

 profitable beyond the dreams of avarice ; to the Saoria it has, 

 in the majority of cases, brought a temporary affluence which 

 is the portal to wretchedness — abject poverty is no misnomer 

 among the Saorias of to-day." 1 



On this policy of permitting pushing races to indefinitely 

 extend their cultivation at the expense of the forest tracts, 

 Mr. Ball 2 says that the jungles may be regarded as the 

 saving of the lower races from famine, and did thev not 

 afford nutritious food in abundance, the result of a famine 

 like that of 1866-67 would probably be not merely decimation, 

 but utter depopulation throughout extensive areas. 



Tributary States.— The table above (p. 35) includes 

 all the tributary states of Chota Nagpur-as they stood at the 

 time of the census of 1901. It has to be recollected, how- 

 ever, that politically most of these have since been excluded 

 from Chota Nagpur. Their population varies much, and in 

 Udaipur is only 43 persons to the square mile, in Sirguja 

 there were 54 persons in 1891 and 58 in 1901, Gangpur had 

 76 and 95 respectively, while Kharswan has 252 persons to 

 the square mile. The last as well as Seraikhela are practi- 

 cally in Singbhum, and include a very large percentage of 

 Hos. In Gangpur the Oraons, Gonds and the Kolarian 

 Kharias are the most numerous. Where Gangpur is shown 

 after a plant name, this name is usually Kheria. 3 The 

 Kharias are also frequent in Ranchi and Singbhum, and are 

 said to frequent the Dalma range in Manbhum. The Kerwaa 

 are said 4 to be the sole inhabitants of the tableland forming 

 the south barrier of Sirguja (or Sarguja) called the Main pat, 

 but their plant names are not available and, taking the state 



1 Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. II, 4. 



2 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. II, 1867. 



3 The caste name was not always specified in the field notes, henot 

 the locality only is stated. 



* Hunter, in Imperial Gazetteer. 



41 



