332 WILD MEN AND WILD BEASTS. 



Lists of the decisions were given to all, and the settlement of 

 the awards and penalties within their own districts was left 

 to the chiefs themselves. 



The heavy jungles in the country lying between Allee 

 Eajpore and Guzerat were occupied by an aboriginal race 

 called Naikras. Partaking of many of the Bheel character- 

 istics, they are more wild and uncivilised. The unhealthy 

 nature of these malarious forests is evident from the wretched 

 appearance of the Naikras, whose sole clothing, among the 

 male population, often consists in a cord round the waist, 

 under which a narrow strip of cloth is passed. The hair is 

 worn long and uncontrolled, and lies on the head in a thick 

 and filthy mat, tanned by the sun to a russet brown. They 

 are armed with the universal bow and arrows, swords, and a 

 few matchlocks. 



Some disturbance being anticipated among these wild men, 

 Colonel Buckle moved his camp to the jungles near the moun- 

 tain of Powaghur, and as a party of the Guzerat Bheel Corps, 

 under Major Bonnor, was to join him from Dohud, the latter 

 officer invited me to co-operate by joining their camp. I 

 accordingly moved across the frontier, taking with me my 

 usual escort of a serjeant and twelve troopers of the Central 

 India Horse, and twenty-five men of the Malwa Bheel Corps. 

 We spent some days encamped in these jungles, and, during 

 our stay, the Naikras who had threatened to give trouble 

 came in and were promised a settlement of their grievances, 

 on which they swore upon drawn swords, and imitation foot- 

 prints of tigers, that they would abstain from disturbing the 

 peace of the country. The above form of oath was meant to 

 imply that they hoped they might fall by the sword, or be 

 eaten by tigers, if they broke their promises there and then 

 solemnly made. 



