74 WILD MEN OF THE WOODS. 



sides have a brilliant and curious effect among their rugged 

 surroundings of grey rocks and stones. The bread made from 

 all these grains is black, coarse, and bitter to the taste. 

 These people, however, seemed to thrive well on their frugal 

 fare, as they all looked robust and hearty, and were of a finer 

 build than the inhabitants of the lower and middle ranges. 

 But they are evidently of opinion that water is only intended 

 for drinking, most of them being literally coated with grimy 

 dirt. And as for their clothing, I doubt whether it is ever 

 removed, unless it be at the prompting of the parasites that 

 infest it. 



There are some curious specimens of humanity to be found 

 dwelling among the forests about the Chipla, called " Eazees," 

 compared with whom the villagers are quite tiivilised. As 

 they are few in number, and hardly ever visit the villages, I 

 much regretted not having had an opportunity of becoming 

 personally acquainted with them. The villagers described 

 these " junglee admi " (wild men of the woods), as they termed 

 them to me, as being almost on a par with the beasts of the 

 wilds they inhabit, subsisting chiefly on what they can secure 

 with their bows and arrows, and by snaring. I at first sus- 

 pected their existence to be a myth, until I afterwards learnt 

 on good authority that it was a fact. My old friend Colonel 

 Fisher, senior Assistant Commissioner of Kumaon, gave me 

 the following short account of these interesting barbarians. 

 "They were the original indigenous inhabitants of the 

 country about there, but the persecutions to which they 

 were subjected by the Kumaon Eajas, and especially by their 

 neighbours the Goorkhas, were so cruel, that they abandoned 

 their hamlets and retired into the wildest and least inhabited 

 parts of the country, and lived on wild roots, fruits, and fish, 

 and game, and lost all recollection even of their language. 

 They had a language of their own, but it is quite extinct 

 now ; in fact, I was told by the Eajwar of Askote, they them- 

 selves have entirely disappeared from Kumaon, though there 



