﻿184« ACCOUNT OF THE 



The following account of them was taken from 

 a native of the Rungajieeah district, who, when a 

 boy, was carried away, in one of their predatory ex- 

 cursions, and, after a captivity of twenty years, 

 found means to return to his family. 



The Kooldes, or Lunctas, (as they are also called, ) 

 are the least civilized, of any of the people we as 

 yet know, among these mountains: like all moun- 

 taineers, they are of an active, muscular make, hut 

 not tall ; they are stouter, and of a darker com- 

 plexion th^n the C/ioomeeas*', and, like them, have the 

 peculiar features of all the natives of the eastern 

 parts of Asia, namely the flat nose, small eye, and 

 broad round face. 



The tradition of the Kookies respecting their origin 

 is, that they, and the Mugs, are the offspring of the 

 same progenitor, v/ho had two sons, by different 

 mothers, The Alugs, they say, are the descendants 

 of the eldest, and the Kookies of the youngest son. 

 The mother of the youngest having died during his 

 infancy, he was neglected by his step- mother, who, 

 while she cloathed her own son, allowed him to go 

 naked ; and this partial distinction being still ob- 

 served, as he grew up, he went by the name of 

 Lu77cta, or the naked. Upon the death of their 

 father, a quarrel arose between the brothers, which 

 induced the Luncta to betake himself to the hills, 

 and there ))ass the remainder of his days. His de- 

 scendants have continued there ever since, and still 

 go b}- the name of Lunctas ;■ though, properly speak- 

 ing, the term is only applicable to the male part of 

 them, as the females wear a short apron before, 

 made of cloth of their own manufacture, and M'hich 

 falls down from the loins to the middle of the 

 thigh ; and both sexes occasionally throw a loose 



sheet 



* Choomeeas are the inhabitants of the first range of hills bordering 

 on the plains to the north and ernt of the province of Chittagong, 

 and are tributary to the Honourable Company ; their Tillages are called 

 Choomit 



