362 T. H. Hendley — An Account of the Ilaiwar Bhils. [No. 4, 



hair, go into the centre of the circle, where they dance alone for a while ; 

 when weary they retire but not for long. At a great dance at Khairwara, 

 I once saw a baifagi with his matted hair, his naked mud-bedaubed skin, 

 his long beard, deer-skin, &o., imitated to the life, greatly to the delight of 

 the Bhils, who every now and then stimulated their countryman, evidently 

 a favourite and noted performer, by their applause and the application of a 

 long pole. Women join in Bhil dances with the men, in tbe same circle, 

 but not mixed with them, unless they be members of the same family. The 

 dance at the Holi is usually performed without sticks, with hideous yells 

 and songs, the men all besmeared with red powder and excited with wine ; 

 such a scene is very suggestive of Bacchanalian orgies, or a dance of devils. 

 Skilled performers exhibit a war-dance, armed to the teeth, and imitate a 

 combat, pretending to fire at each other with bow or gun, flourishing swords 

 in a most real fashion. To be carried on the shoulders of a principal comba- 

 tant in the mimic fight is considered a great honour. 



The glianna is the favourite, the asl or true dance of the desert court 

 of Marwar ; there women are the performers, their wands are parti-coloured, 

 and these they strike together, in unison, as they glide round the circle, with 

 a very pretty effect. Quite lately the dance was revived at Udaipur. 



It is very curious, ' that this amusement, which would appear to be 

 very ancient, has been best retained by the most distant court, and the wildest 

 people of India. 



Nicolo Conti, the Venetian, early in the 15th century refers to nautches 

 in rings and lines, and to girls having two sticks, which they struck against 

 each other, as a pretty spectacle. 



This dance I should imagine to have no connection with solar or plane- 

 tary worship, the progression being unfixed, neither sunwise nor the reverse. 



Diseases. — The Bhils are a healthy race. They dread small-pox — for 

 which they practise innoculation, at present rather avoiding vaccination — and 

 cholera, as evidenced by their reverence for the Hindu deities, who are supposed 

 to be the authors of these disorders. Cholera is not a common disease amongst 

 them, but small-pox is very fatal. The remedy for everything is the actual 

 cautery ; few adults, few children, and even animals are without scars. Ento- 

 zoa are not very common, although the Minas, very unclean feeders, as far as 

 my experience goes, appear very subject both to Ascarides and Tape-worm. 

 Guinea worm attacks almost everybody. In the Indian Medical Gazette 

 of March 18.72, I published statistics of 3229 cases of the disorder. All 

 the sufferers were admitted from the men of the Maiwar Bhil Corps in the 

 twenty-seven years ending December 1870, giving a yearly average of ll'Oo or 

 at the rate of 3031 per thousand of strength ; *§- were admitted in the six 

 summer months, ^ in September and October, and the remainder in the cold 

 months. The cause of this disorder is not definitely settled, but my impres- 



