DANG BHILS AND PHAS PARDHTES 



acred and will never assist in the destruction of this 

 mimal. 



Thoroughly disliking work of any kind, they do very 

 ittle cultivation. They are ruled by their separate chiefs, 

 )r Naiks, who have very high ideas of their dignity as 

 [lajahs, claiming to be descended from the Rajpoots, 

 !onsequently never descend to labour or work of any sort, 

 thinking this fit only for their subjects. They, when not 

 esting or idling otherwise, roam about the jungles with 

 )Ows and arrows in search of hare or peacocks. 



The country which these Dang Bhils inhabit is most 

 mhealthy and difficult of access, consisting as it does of 

 I mass of steep, wooded, flat-topped hills, lying to the 

 lorth-west of the District of Khandesh. 



While on the subject of Bhils and the sporting pro- 

 ilivities of these people, I am reminded of another class or 

 ;lan, for they can scarcely be termed a tribe, who, though 

 :juite distinct from the Bhils, are also sportsmen, but of a 

 jomewhat lower order, for to describe them accurately, 

 they are professional hunters or snarers of game. 



These Phas Pardhies, as they are called — the word Phas 

 meaning a *' snare " — are extraordinarily clever in catch- 

 ing partridges and quails whose calls they have learned 

 to imitate with an accuracy quite remarkable for any 

 human voice to have acquired. In their methods too they 



equally proficient and the snares they employ are most 



niously contrived. They consist of a rack or light 

 l)oo rail about four and a half inches high; this rail 

 rame has upright poles of bamboo fastened to it about 

 six inches apart, between these pieces is a running noose 

 of horse-hair. This apparatus being concealed in the grass, 

 the birds are slowly driven towards the trap, and in trying 

 to pass l)etween the poles are caught by the head, neck, 

 or fret as the case may be. 



i was fortunate in being able to secure one of these 

 Haj)s, the men being very loatli to part with them, and was 

 much struck with the ingenuity of the contrivance and 

 exquisit<' delicacy of the workmanship which, as they said 

 • riily, cannot be attained nowadays. 



Their traps for catching deer and pigs are made much on 

 ii line plan, though naturally on a much larger scale — 



L 14ft 



I 



