66 



CHAPTER VIII. 



DISTRIBUTION OF MAN COiltilllied HILL TRIBES OF IXUIA RANK AND PRIORITY OF BLACK AND 



WHITE RACES. 



There stiU remains undisposed of one other j)eculiar type of liuinan beings which seems to be very 

 much in jxfi casu with the Andamaners, excej^t that the latter have their place of abode sui-rounded 

 hy the sea, while the former are surrounded by di-y land and a sea of strange people. It is what are 

 called the Ilill tribes of India. A number of isolated tribes, each speaking a language of their own, 

 and described as the most degraded sj)ecimen8 of humanity on the face of the earth, are found in the 

 fastnesses of the mountains of India and some of the Malayan Islands, and of the adjoining continent. 

 They exist in one or two parts of Borneo ; * they are not found in Sumatra,t nor in Java, at least now ; J 

 but they occur in the Malay Peninsula,^ in Siam, and, it was said, in Burmah ; tliej^ are also said to 

 be found in parts of Cochin China, || and even in China itself. They are not found, or perhaps it 

 would be safer to sa,y not noip found, in Ceylon,'|{ but they still remain in a good many of the moun- 

 tainous parts of India in all the three Presidencies, where they are known under the name of Tudas 

 or Todars, Badagars, Koters, Kurumbers, Bheels, Kulis,** &c. The more general opinion regarding 

 these Hill tribes is that they formerly occupied the land round about their present fastnesses, and 

 that they had been gradually encroached upon by the other nations which now occupy the country 



* Earl, op. cit. 144 ; auJ Dalton iu 

 Notices of tbt! ludiiui Archip." 1831, ]). 49. 



Moor's 



+ Earl, op. cit., 175. 



X Kemains of some ancient race, whicli had used spear- 

 heads simihu- to those used by the present inhabitants of 

 North Austraha, are described as having been found in 

 Java, in the " Natuurkundige Tydschrift voor Nederlaudsch 

 Indie," 185(1. 



§ A woully-liaired race called Lemauys. See Ander- 

 son, in " Journal of Indian Archip." iv., 425, 1838. 



II A savage race of people, very black, and resembling 

 in their features, the Caflres. Chapman's " Report to the 

 Bengal Government of a Diplomatic Mission to Cochin 

 China, in 1778," in Parliamentary Papers relating to India. 



IT The Veddahs of Ceylon .?eem only what may be called 

 a, feral tribe of the other Cingalese. 



** Mijor-General Brings gives the following as the 

 names of soma of these tribes, adding that there are many 

 others of which he has not sufBcient details, viz. "Minas, 

 Mers, Bhils, Dhiro Kolies, Mhars, Manga or Mans, Beder.s, 



Dhera, Gowlies, Barka, Tallary, Carumba, Cherumars, 

 Morawa, CoUary, Pnlly, Pariah, Yenedy, Chenchy, Gond, 

 Kond, Sawara, Banderwa, Cheru, Bengy, Kooki, Garro, 

 Kassia, Hajin, Bhar, Dhanuk and Dhome." And he adds, 

 " Among these tribes the etymologist may, without diffi- 

 culty, trace the names of many of the territorial divisions 

 which have been assigned to several portions of India by 

 the Hiudfts. Thus, Kolwan, from the Koles ; Bhilwan 

 and Bhilwara, from the Bhils ; Mhar-rashtra, by contrac" 

 tion Mharatta, from the Mhars ; Man Desa, from the Mans 

 or Mangs ; the city of Beder, from the Beders ; Gondwara, 

 from the Gouds ; Oria-Dcsa, or Orissa, from the Orias ; 

 Kolwan and Koliwara, from the Koles." 



Doubtless, many of these may be mere sub-races of the 

 Hindoos ; my argument applies only to those whose p>hy- 

 sical and other characters approach those of the Negritos. 

 See " Report on the Aboriginal Tribes of India," by Major- 

 General John Briggs, in Reports of the British Association. 

 1850, p. 159. 



