Part of Bengal and the Kingdom of Ava. HI 



considered as of the same race, although their princes have 

 adopted Hindu names and customs, and may very likely be 

 of Hindu origin ; but I did not learn their genealogy. It is 

 probable, however, that both thev, and a considerable portion 

 of their subjects, who in former times cultivated the plains 

 between the eastern hills and the Megna, came from Hindus- 

 tan and settled among the Tripura nation, as from their build- 

 ings they evidently appear to have been a race much farther 

 advanced in society. The mode of succession which prevails 

 in the family may seem to militate against the Hindu origin 

 of the Tripura Rajas. The Raja is not succeeded by his 

 son, but by his nephew. In 1798 the Dhup Raja was con- 

 sidered as the heir apparent, although his father was then 

 alive, and an older man than Radun Manik, who then was 

 prince. A similar practice, however, prevails in Malabar ; but 

 then it is a sister's son who succeeds. The same indeed may 

 be the case in Tripura ; for at the time when I noted the na- 

 ture of the succession, I was not aware of the nature of the 

 succession through females used in Malabar, and the father 

 of the Dhup Raja may not have belonged to the family ; it 

 may have been by his mother that he was nephew to Radun 

 Manik. 



The Tripuras cultivate what are called jooms, of which 

 the following is the nature : — During the dry season, the 

 people cut down to the root all the bushes growing on a 

 sufficient extent of hilly land, that has a good soil. After 

 drying for some time, the brushwood is set on fire, and by 

 its means as much as possible of the large timber is destroy- 

 ed ; but if the trees are large, this part of the operation is 

 seldom very successful. The whole surface of the ground 

 is now covered with ashes, which soak into the soil with the 

 first rain, and serve as a manure. No sooner has the ground 

 been 6oftened by the first showers of the season, than the 

 cultivator begins to plant. To his girdle he fixes a small 

 basket, containing a promiscuous mixture of the seeds of all 

 the different plants raised in jooms. These plants are chiefly 

 rice, cotton, capsicum, indigo, and different kinds of cucur- 

 bitaceous fruits. In one hand the cultivator then takes a 

 dibble, pointed with iron, if this can be procured, and with 



