368 T. H. Hendley — An Account oftlie Maiwdr Bhils. [No. 4, 



he flies at once to the highest hill for refuge, a prey to his own fears. The 

 dilated large nostril, the moveable and prominent ear are very suggestive of 

 distrust. His food is of the coarsest, the hardest Indian-corn, and to masticate 

 this his teeth are all very large, the dentine of the very toughest and rough- 

 est description ; the incisors are squai'e, broad, fixed vertically in the gums, 

 but are generally flat instead of sharp at the edges, bearing marks like those 

 of the horse, approaching the molars in appearance. These teeth are also very 

 large and strong, and to carry them of course there is the huge jawywhich neces- 

 sitates large muscles, to accommodate which there must be wide and project- 

 ing zyzomatic arches, the beginning of a broad skull. It is quite possible, 

 therefore, that the difference between the Bhil and Hindu crania may have 

 been produced by the long action of a different kind of food ; measurement 

 of the skull would therefore appear to give no certain proof that the races 

 are distinct, but if the historical and philological differences are as marked, 

 it would confirm them strongly. In the Vedas, the ancient inhabitants of 

 India are spoken of as Dasyus or enemies ; they are the goat-nosed, the nose- 

 less, the black skinned ; they are taunted with eating raw flesh ; and we may 

 prove that there was some foundation for the expressions thus made use of 

 in the case of the Bhil, if he were what he is to-day. We have found that 

 his nasal organ is ill-shapen, broad with large nostrils, a striking contrast 

 with the nose of the Brahman, the typical and perhaps only unmixed Aryan, 

 for it has been stated that there are no Vaisyas or Kshatriyas of pure de- 

 scent and few Sudras even, these having been unable to preserve their identity 

 during the long sway of Buddhism. The Bhils and aborigines generally, 

 for those very reasons which prevented them from becoming a prey to the 

 Aryan invaders (presuming them to be non-Aryan), namely their distance 

 in the South, and their inaccessibility in the hills, were likewise enabled to 

 resist the influence of the followers of Sakya Muni. The Bhil is almost 

 black, and with regard to his flesh-eating propensities hardly an abhorrer 

 of anything, and it is considered I believe that the historical proofs of 

 distinction are forcible enough, but the craniological and philological 

 certainly are less so. 



Amongst the men measured were some Grasias and Minas. These could 

 be at once told by their pyramidal long skulls, and are supposed to be hybrids. 



Arms. — The Bhils are not a long-armed race, and have no great mus- 

 cular strength ; nor are those movements, which require facility of manipula- 

 tion, easily performed. 



In the Mahabharat it is mentioned that as a penalty for fighting 

 against the royal Krishna, the Bhils were condemned to lose the forefinger 

 of the right hand, that they might never again enter into conflict with the 

 friends of the hero (whom one slew, however) ; hence it is said they never 

 use the forefinger in drawing the bow; but times have changed since then. 

 I noticed, however, in examining their hands, that few could move the fore- 



