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



from twenty to at least two or three hundred in one or two of 

 them. Having found out the exact number of persons in a few 

 families, and made a good many inquiries, about most of the villages, 

 bearing on the point of population, I should put down the total 

 number of Boksas in this tract as at least two thousand, and possibly 

 nearer three thousand. 



Of the fifteen villages, eleven were visited. All are built on 

 the same plan of one straight street generally of considerable width 

 (in some cases as much as forty to fifty feet) and kept very clean, 

 in both respects, differing remarkably from the ordinary villages 

 of the plains. Tbe huts are placed end to end with intervals after 

 every group of three or four, and the walls are, for the most part, built 

 of wattle (of split bamboo) and dab, but sometimes of chhuppar, of 

 which latter the roofs also are constructed. The houses are window- 

 less, but each has a door in front and another behind, the latter 

 affording access to the sheds for cattle, &c. The doorways and roofs 

 are very low, and the floors of beaten earth are considerably raised 

 above the general level of the ground, and are kept scrupulously clean. 

 The only " furniture" in the houses, besides an occasional charpdi, or 

 more frequently small chheuppars (which are often used to sleep on, as 

 cheaper than the former), consists of a few cooking vessels and one or two 

 barrel-shaped utensils three or four feet high and fully as much round, 

 made of wattle and dab, and used for storing grain. 



There is no change made in the houses or household arrangements 

 during the rains, so that these western Boksas do not at any time 

 " live in houses built on poles," as is stated to be the case with those 

 opposite Kumaon. 



The members of the tribe are of short stature and very spare 

 in habit, in both respects, somewhat exceeding the ordinary Hindoo 

 peasant of the district, from Avhom, however, they do not differ 

 much in general build or in complexion. No measurements of 

 their crania were made, but so far as ordinary inspection goes, their 

 features are marked by several of the Turanian peculiarities. Thus,, 

 the eyes are small, the opening of the eyelids being narrow, linear and 

 horizontal (the inner angle not inclined downwards so far as I observ- 

 ed), the face is very broad across the cheekbones, and the nose is 

 depressed, thus increasing the apparent flatness of the face, the jaw is 



