Mqjor-Gene?'al Sir J. Malcolm on the BJtills. 89 



ashes, as a manure, which they make of the wood cut down to clear the 

 fields they cultivate. 



They often possess cattle, and, when at peace with the inhabitants of the 

 plain, they breed fowls in great numbers, the sale of which is a source of 

 profit. 



From a census * taken of the Bhill population, of the VindJiya range, it 

 appeared, that there were not more tiian six to the square mile. This cal- 

 culation may, perhaps, be applied to this race, over all the countries in 

 which they dwell. Their exposure to the elements, the hazards they daily 

 incur, their poverty, and the contagious distempers to which they are lia- 

 ble, have operated against their increase ; but the change, recently effected 

 in the condition of many of these tribes, will, no doubt, tend to augment 

 their numbers. 



Sufficient has been said to illustrate the habits, and manners, of the BMlls. 

 A few words will complete the picture of this extraordinary race, as far as 

 relates to their past, and present, condition. Existing, as they have hitherto 

 done, under despotic governments, which placed them beyond the pale of 

 civil society, and which not only gave them no encouragement, or protec- 

 tion, but authorized the lowest of the fiscal officers to take their lives, 

 without trial, considering themselves a proscribed and contemned race, 

 ignorant to a deplorable degree, believing in witchcraft, blindly obedient to 

 the orders of their chiefs, subject to extraordinary privations, and constantly 

 exposed to danger from their fellow-creatures, and from the ferocity of the 

 wild beasts, with whom they shared the forests, the Bhills have, in conse- 

 quence, become the enemies of order and peace. They have cherished 

 predatory habits, as the means of subsistence ; and receiving no mercy, or 

 consideration, they have sought, from natural impulse, to revenge the 

 wrongs they have sustained. Time has interwoven their habits of life, and 

 feelings, with their superstitions, until they actually believe, that they were 

 created to prey upon their neighbours. " I am Mahddeva's thief," is the 

 common answer of a Bhill, detected in a crime ; and his promise of amend- 

 ment is usually so qualified, as to period,| that it seems more like a truce, 

 than a pact of permanent good conduct. Nevertheless, from what has 



* Vide Central India, Vol. II. p. 223. 



f " I will not rob, during your riij (government)," was the inrariable answer I received from 

 a Bhill, H-lien I desired a pledge of future good conduct. 



Vol. I. N 



