Account of the Kookies or Lunctas, 17 



of the labour, and no rank exempts them from it ; the wife 

 of the c.hicf and the wife of his vassal work alike in the 

 same field. 



A proper spot being found on the declivity of some hill 

 contiguous to the parah, the men cut down the jungle upon 

 it in the month of March, and allow it to remain there 

 until sufficiently decayed to burn freely > when they set it 

 on fire, and thus at once perform the double purpose of 

 clearing awav the rubbish, and of manuring the ground with, 

 its ashes. The women now dig small holes, at certain di- 

 stances, in the spot so cleared, and into each hole they 

 throw a handful of diflerent seeds they intend to rear, which 

 are all jumbled together in a basket slung over the shoulder: 

 the seeds are then covered with earth, and left to their fate; 

 when in due time, according to their various natures, the 

 plants spring up, ripen, and are reaped in succession : rice, 

 Indian corn, and the mustard plant, are thus seen in the 

 same field. Of rice they have a great variety, and two or 

 three kinds peculiar to the hills : one of these, the chei-ehy 

 is uncommonly fine, and has the peculiar quality of affect- 

 ing, as a laxative, persons not in the habit of eating it. The 

 other sorts are called belt, deengkroo, roomkee, sepooee, lang- 

 soo, and loulteh ; but it is not exactly ascertained, whether 

 or not these are different species of grain, or the same kind 

 receiving different names from the season of reaping it. 

 The beh is reaped in July, the chereh in August, the deeiig- 

 hroo in September, the roojukee in October, and in Novem- 

 ber the seepooee, haugsoo, and boultek. They have another 

 small grain called cutckoo, and a variety of beans, as the 

 harass, burgiiddee, and toorate : the seed of the mustard 

 plant they cat, but express no oil from it. Of the o-ourd 

 and cucumber plants they have several kinds ; and turmeric, 

 yams, and tobacco, they cultivate; but the latter they have 

 in small quantity, though very fond of it. 



In their forests they have abundance of honey, but are 

 ignorant of the method of separating it from the wax of the 

 comb. 



Their domestic animals are g)'al«, goats, hogs, dogs, and 

 fowls ; and of these the gval is by much the most valued, 

 both on account of its milk and its Hesh. As already men- 

 tioned, it is a species of cow peculiar to these hills, w liere 

 it is met in its wild state : in shape it resembles the heavy 

 strong make of the wild buflalo, but has much shorter 

 horns : its colour is brown, acquiring a lighter shade to- 

 wards the belly, which, as well as the legs, is often white : 

 il3 milk is nearly as rich as the cream of common cow milk, 



VoL.XVIf. No.65. B and 



