148 On the Boksas of Bijnour. [No. 3, 



Rohilkhund they would appear not to have extended in any numbers 

 to the eastward of Kilpoory, beyond which the Tharoos, a similar race 

 begin to prevail, and their chief settlements were near Guddurpoor 

 and Roodurpoor. On the rearrangement of the canal system of that 

 part of the Rohilkhund Tarai, the Boksas were concentrated to the 

 north of Guddurpoor, where their settlement is now known by the 

 name of Boksar. Nearly 300 years ago this term was applied to a tract 

 a little further to the eastward, in which, at that time, probably the 

 greater number of the tribe resided. Captain Jones, about 1845, gave 

 the number of inhabitants of (the present) Boksar as 2,293, and I 

 have no information, subsequent to that date, shewing what proportion 

 of the Boksas of the neighbourhood may still inhabit scattered 

 villages. 



The Boksas inhabiting the forest to the east of the Ramgunga, 

 who are called by those of Bijnour Purbid Boksas, and sometimes 

 Khalsi, are described as mild, inoffensive and truthful, but indolent, 

 fickle and unthrifty, and extremely ignorant ; and, ere they were 

 taken in hand by British officers, they are said to have been kept 

 in grinding poverty by the usurers and their own Pudhan. They 

 are stated also to have shewn an invincible disinclination to settle 

 down for more than two years on one spot, yet never to emigrate 

 outside of the Forest and Tarai, to be excessively partial to the flesh 

 of game, especially wild pigs, and to exhibit a "wonderful immunity 

 from the effects of malaria." 



The Tharoos or Tharwi above alluded to, present many points 

 of resemblance to the Boksas, though neither will acknowledge 

 any connection with the other. But the former cover a much greater 

 extent of country than the latter, as from the point a little west of 

 the Sardah where the two tribes dovetail, the settlements of the 

 Tharoos stretch eastward through the forests of northern Oudh and 

 Goruckpore to the river Gunduck. 



I can find no evidence that on the east the Tharoos meet the 

 Meches, who are called by Dr. Hooker " decidedly Indo-Chinese," 

 and who occupy a similar position abreast of Darjeeling, to that held 

 by Tharoos and Boksas to the west, and to whom they appear to 

 possess a considerable resemblance. 



The fact of different segments of the Sub-Siwalik forest being 



