14 Account of the Kookies or Lunclas. 



fewer than four or five hundred hihabitants, and sometimes 

 contains one or two thousand. Towards our frontiers^ how- 

 ever, where there is little apprehension of danger, a tribe 

 frequently separates into several small parties, which form 

 so manv different parahs on the adjoining hills as may best 

 suit tlieir convenience. To give further security to the 

 parahs, in addition to their naturally strong situation the 

 Kookies surrovmd them with a thick bamboo pallisadc; and 

 the passages leading into them, of which there are com- 

 Jnonlv four or five in difi'crent (juartcrs, they strictly guard 

 day and night, especially if there is any suspicion of dan- 

 ger ; but, whether there is or is not, they are at all times 

 extremely jealous of admitting strangers within the parah : 

 thev build their houses as close to each other as possible, 

 and make tliem spacious enough to accommodale four or 

 five families in every house. They construct them after 

 the manner of the Choomeeas and Mugs, that is, on plat- 

 forms or stages of bamboo, raised about six feet frcmi the 

 ground, and'enter them by ladders, or, more IVequently, by 

 a sinde stick, with notches cut in it, to receive the foot : 

 underneath the stages they keep their domestic animals. 

 Ail these precautions of defence strongly indicate the con- 

 stant state of alarm in which they live, not only from the 

 quarrels of the rajahs with each other, but also from the 

 hostile fends of the different tribes, not excepting those who 

 are attached to the same rajah. Depredations on each other's 

 property, and the not siviug up of such refugees as may fly 

 from one parah to anofher, are the most frequent causes of 

 q\iarrel ; when they carry on a most destructi\e petty warfare, 

 in which the several tribes arc more or less involved accord- 

 ing as the principals are more or less connected among thom. 

 On these occasions, when an enterprise is not of sutlicient 

 importance to induce the chief to head all the warriors of 

 ttic parah, he always selects a warrior of approved valour 

 and address to lead the party to be detached. 



Tiiey always endeavour to surprise their enemy, in pre- 

 fcr^^nce to engnaing him in open condial, however conlidcnt 

 of supcrioritv^they may be. With that view, when on any 

 hostile excursion, they never kindle a fire, but carry with 

 them a suiTiciency of ready-dressed provisions to serve dur- 

 ing the probable term of their absence ; they marcli in the 

 night, prccccding with tl-.e greatest expedition, and observ- 

 ing the most profound silence ; when dav overtakes them, 

 thev iialt, and lie concealed in a kind of hammoc, which 

 they fasten among the branches of the loftiest trees, so that 

 the\' cannot be perceived by any person passing underncalh. 



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