414 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA. 



fight through it with the help of the worthy though not very 

 skilful native apothecary attached to our camp, while B. went 

 off to do as much of the exploration as possible in the mean- 

 time. Next morning I was carried up to a small village half 

 way up the hill, and which the aneroid showed to be about 

 2,450 feet above the sea. Here I was met by the th&kur of 

 Laafd,, the landowner of a considerable hilly tract round about 

 Laafagarh, who, with the utmost civility, led the way to a 

 commodious hut he had prepared for my accommodation, of 

 leafy boughs from the forest, under the shade of a large ban- 

 yan tree, while my tent was being made comfortable in the 

 old fort on the top of the hill. A gang of wild Bhumids from 

 the thdkur s hill villages had been collected to carry up my 

 things ; and throughout the day I was " interviewed" by little 

 knots of them, who would steal to the door of the hut, squat 

 down on their hams, with their axes hitched over their arms, 

 and their funny little leaf pipes stuck behind their ears, and 

 remain perfectly contented as long as we let them, drinking 

 in the strange appearance and surroundings of the sahibs. 

 "Without his formidable battle-axe (tongid,) and his leaf pipe 

 (chongee) you will rarely see the Bhumid of these eastern 

 regions. The pipe is twisted in a few seconds out of the leaf 

 of the palas tree, a peculiar twist making the bowl and its 

 narrow neck in the most perfect manner. It looks simple, but 

 I never could acquire the knack of it, and my pipes always 

 came to pieces before they were well lit. The BhumnCs smoke 

 them once or twice, and then make another. They spoke 

 capital Hindi, and were not at all shy in conversation, though 

 wilder in appearance even than those of their race who live in 

 the Mandld, district. Here the tribe is known only by the 

 name of Bhumia, the term Byga, which is their commoner 



* Butea frondosa, after which the whole district of Bilaspur is named. 



