16 Notes of a tour m the Tributary Mehals. [No. l f 



peared in camp with forty warriors of the tribe. Their costume was- 

 nothing in particular, except that they had very shaggy heads of hair, into 

 which their store of spare arrows were stuck by the barbs. They each 

 carried in one hand a very powerful bow and two or three arrows, and 

 in the other the gleaming long edged battle-axe of the country. The 

 arrows are carefully made with flat bright heads of iron, 9 inches long- 

 and 2J in breadth, with long barbs, the edges and points all carefully 

 sharpened. These are attached to light reeds, the other ends of which 

 are neatly spirally feathered. 



The men were mostly short of stature but with well knit muscular 

 frames, springy and energetic in action, better looking and of lighter 

 complexion than the Oraons of the plateau. There was no remark- 

 able protuberance of the maxillary processes nor lowness of forehead. 

 Those who were old enough had beards and moustaches. They evinced 

 no timidity, but immediately on seeing me, gruffly vociferated that 

 they had had nothing to eat all day, and they wanted immediately,, 

 rations of rice, dal, oil, salt, tobacco and pig, and expected as they 

 had come so far to see me, that they were each to be presented with a 

 pap, a coat and a ^oaist cloth. 



I placed a small earthen pot on a peg, and offered it as a mark to 

 those amongst them who wished to shew their skill in archery. In 

 great excitement, all eagerly volunteered, bows were instantly strung,, 

 and though they did not once hit the small target, they all planted 

 their arrows close to it, and a man in the same position would not 

 have escaped. I tried them afterwards at a tree at 40 yards, and almost 

 every arrow told. Their bows are very powerful, and arrow after 

 arrow was delivered with a force and rapidity that made one feel a 

 very profound respect for this, our once national weapon. In bush 

 warfare it is more formidable than the matchlock, and I do not doubt 

 that the Korewahs could render a hostile entry into their country, 

 a difficult and dangerous task. 



There is every point of resemblance between them and the wilder 

 section of the Lurka Coles, and so little do the languages of the two 

 tribes differ, that my slight accpiaintance with that of the Coles, enabled 

 me to understand what the Korewahs, on first appearing, were demand- 

 ing ; and a Cole chaprassee of mine kept up a conversation with them. 



It is almost unnecessary to seek for further proofs of affinity, but they 



