154 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE. 



village, but was one of a party of Doms or Pahariahs 

 (hill-men), who were on their way to the wooded 

 tracts to the South-east. They had been without 

 food for days, and on the bare plain in this part 

 of the country there were no birds to snare. They 

 found the village deserted, and as he was too weak 

 to follow his people they had left him in the hut 

 to die. He had lain there all the previous day, 

 and not a soul had come near the village. At night 

 the dogs had smelt him out and attempted to 

 attack him, but he had beaten them off. They 

 renewed their attack in the morning and he again 

 kept them off, but only for a time, as they had 

 recommenced their attack and would certainly 

 have killed him had I not come up and saved 

 him from being eaten by them. " Ough ! ' the 

 poor wretch quivered and fainted off. 



In a little time my chuprassee (messenger) came 

 up with several villagers and a charpoy, and the 

 poor fellow was carried to my camp and taken 

 care of by my servants. 



On my return to camp after the Christmas 

 vacation I found Purdasee much better. Pur- 

 dasee was not his real name, but on being 

 asked who he was, he said he was a " Purdasee " 

 (literally a man from foreign parts, but used col- 

 loquially to designate anyone extremely poor) ; so 

 the name stuck to him. He belonged to the great 

 clan of wanderers and outcasts found all over 

 India and known under various names, such as 

 Doms, Ghassias, Bhujs, Kooravers, etc. They are 

 wanderers all of them, having no settled habitation, 



