105 



suppose admits of a doubt; not so that many parts are still in- 

 fested by tribes of wild men, and most audacious robbers, under 

 the names of Gracias, Bheels, Coolies, Cotties, and other plun- 

 derers; who, either in gangs or individually, way-lay the traveller. 

 During our sojourning on the banks of the Myhi, Sabermatty, 

 and other Guzerat rivers, not a night passed in which our camp 

 was not robbed and plundered by these banditti. Thevenot's 

 Merdi-Coura certainly no longer remain, but as the existence of such 

 a people is a curious circumstance, which probably will be proved 

 hereafter, it may not be uninteresting to mention his remarks on 

 the country near Sourban, where we were now encamped, and 

 from whence we marched the following- morning to Baroche. 



" On leaving Baroche," this intelligent writer observes, " I 

 journeyed to Sourban, and having crossed the brook Dader,I arrived, 

 at Debca, which lies on the side of a wood; the inhabitants 

 thereof were formerly called Merdi-Coura, or Anthropophagi, 

 man-eaters; and it is not very many years since man's flesh was 

 there publicly sold in the markets. It seems to be a nest of robbers; 

 the inhabitants, who are for the most part armed with swords, are 

 a most impudent sort of people : passengers are always upon their 

 guard; nay, they are obliged to carry a lance with them whenever they 

 go only to the water-side. When my friends found I was to travel 

 through this country, they advised me, for my security, to take a 

 Tcheron (I suppose one of the Charuns mentioned with the Bhauts 

 at Neriad) with a woman of his caste or tribe, to wait upon me 

 until I were out of danger. These Tcherons are a caste of Gentiles, 

 who are highly esteemed amongst the idolaters; if a traveller have 

 any of these with him he thinks himself safe, because the Tcheron 



VOL. Ho p 



