﻿466 AX ACCOUNT OF THE BAZEEGURS, 



They also li.ne apcculiar jargon formed upon similar 

 priiK iv-'es wi.h hat of tlie Bazeegurs. This forma- 

 tion of a sep:!rate dialect conveys no very favourable 

 impression of either of these sects, since many peo- 

 ple may conceive it so much resembles the cant of 

 rogues ut:.o;ig ourselves, invented for the purpose of 

 concealing their conduct as much as possible from 

 honest men. 



They inter their dead, and the only ceremony 

 seems to be to forget their sorrows, by getting com- 

 pletely drunk immediately afterwards, 



Ma.iiy of the subdivisions of this class of men pay 

 jittle or no attention to cleanliness, or any restric- 

 tions in diet, eating dead jackalls, bullocks, horses, 

 or any kind of food procurable. Besides their usual 

 occupation, the men collect m.edicinal herbs, catch 

 mungooses, squirrels, and particularly the bird call- 

 ec! rA7/' ■; the former, if not saleable, answer admi- 

 rably for a feast. The birds are dried and used as a 

 medicine. Their women do not attend them durinp' 

 the exhibition of their juggling exploits, but liave 

 a peculiar department allotted to themselves, which 

 consists of the practice of physic, cupping, palmistry, 

 curing disorders of the teeth, and marking the skin 

 V of the Hindoo women, an operation termed Godna ; 

 they usually sally out in the morning with a quantity 

 of the herbs and dried birds, and, begging from door 

 to door, offer their services generally to the females 

 only, in the cure of whose ailments they pretend to 

 have a peculiar knowledge. Should it so happen 

 that they do not return home before the Jackal's cry 

 is heard in the evening, their fidelity is suspected, 



and 



Djkyt, notorious for their depredations as pirates in the Soondurbun 

 branches of the Gunga or Ganges, by the name of Dccoirs. If we 

 may credit very respectable testimonies of the iac(, these Dukyts, are 

 frequently guilty of sacrificing human victims to K^ee, under circum. 

 stances of horror and atrocity scarcely credible. 



