132 MANUFACTURING IRON. 



president. It therefore seldom happens that any 

 disputes amongst these people are carried to 

 the Judge of the district for his decision.* 



There is also another class of people residing 

 in the hills, who manufacture iron, known by 

 the name of Lohars^ not so respectable as the 



* I was at Belleah during the vernal festival of the Huli, 

 and was much gratified to see several old men, at least sixty 

 years of age, dancing on the green, and throwing habbear 

 (pink powder) over one another with as much cheerfulness 

 and glee as if they had been children. It is a strange co- 

 incidence, that at this festival, which generally finishes 

 about the end of March or beginning of April, they 

 should have the custom of making Huli fool (as we have 

 of making April fools on the 1st of that month), by sending 

 letters, and making appointments, in the names of persons 

 who are known to be absent from their homes, and the 

 laugh against the fool is proportionable to the goodness of 

 the plot. They have another vernal festival, named Bhu- 

 vina, on the 9th of Baisach, exclusively for such as keep 

 horned cattle for use or profit, when they erect a pole and 

 adorn it with garlands, and perform much the same rites as 

 used to be adopted by the English on the 1st of May, which 

 is another strange coincidence in the customs of the two 

 countries. With the Hindoos these are very ancient fes- 

 tivals. 



f- Lohah is the Hindoostanee word for iron. 



