1-865.] On tlie Boksas of Bijnour. 149 



inhabited by three tribes which acknowledge no relationship, and 

 which, at the same time, have many peculiarities in common, is deserv- 

 ing of more attention than it appears to have hitherto attracted. 



To the westward of the Granges, there are some Boksa villages 

 inside the Siwaliks, in the Dehra Doon, but I can discover nothing 

 certain regarding their numbers, nor as to whether any of the 

 tribe inhabit the forest outside the Siwaliks in the Saharunpore 

 district. These western Boksas are called by those of Bijnour, 

 Mehras or Meri, and are acknowledged by them as in every respect 

 of the same caste with themselves. But isolated statements by 

 members of such ignorant tribes can hardly be accepted without 

 check, for the Patli Doon Boksas repudiated all bardddri with the 

 31eri, as well as with the Purbid. whom they asserted to be nothing 

 but Tharwi, and to eat frogs and lizards. 



"We need not, however, suppose their ignorance to be strikingly 

 exceptional, for, at an early period of my inquiries, I was informed, 

 upon what would ordinarily be called " good authority" in the 

 Bijnour district, that the Boksas were chiefly remarkable for living 

 in houses built on poles, for the indifference of their women to decent 

 clothing, and for mainly earning a livelihood by gold-washing. As 

 will be seen by and bye, there is some little truth in the last state- 

 ment, while the two first are baseless. But this is beaten by the 

 characteristics attributed to the Boksas of Dehra Doon by the other 

 inhabitants of the district, who say that the former are famous for 

 dealings in witchcraft, for successful treatment of insanity and syphilis, 

 and for their pot-bellies, all which peculiarities probably originate in 

 the imagination of the narrators. 



The number of inhabited Boksa villages in the Bijnour district 

 outside the Siwaliks, including two in the Patli Doon within 

 the outer hills, is fifteen, of which the thirteen outside are pretty 

 equally distributed over the Forest, but are rather more numerous 

 towards its western end. Of these, four are situated near the base 

 of the Siwaliks on the inner edge of the Forest, five on canals at 

 some distance from either border of the latter, and four — all in 

 the eastern part — on or near its outer edge in the Tarai proper. 

 It is out of my power to give aught like a correct census of 

 these, but the number of inhabitants in single villages, ranges 



