The Ethnology of India. 53 
help thinking that the Bhooya palanquin bearers of Chota-Nagpore 
may be the same as the Buis of Nagpore Proper. At any rate it 
might be worth inquiring. These Bhooyas or Bhooians have been 
reputed to be the Aborigines of Bengal, and if that be so, it would 
quite account for their being found both in Orissa in the west and 
in Assam on the east. The difficulty is that there seem to be no 
such people now in Bengal, nor have I been able to identify them 
with any caste under another name. If, however, one travels in a 
palanquin from the Chota-Nagpore country into Bengal or Orissa, 
the bearers will be relieved not by Kahars as in Hindoostan, but by 
Gwallas or cow-keepers. These Gwallas do the work of palanquin- 
bearing and domestic service in Bengal, functions not performed by 
Gwallas so far as I know in any other part of India. An Aheer or 
up-country Gwala would never dream of such work. In fact the 
Gwallas in Bengal take the place of the Buis or Boys of the centre 
and south of India. They are now the most numerous Hindoo 
caste in Bengal and especially in Orissa, As I said, Major Tickell 
describes the original Bhooians as rich in cattle. May not the 
Hindoos have adopted them and turned them into Gwallas? I 
should also however mention that the lowest or sweeper class are called 
I understand in Bengal “ Buimals,”’ but I have not been able to 
ascertain the derivation of that word. 
The Bengalees are certainly in many respects different from any 
other people of India, and if the Bhooyas are the Aboriginals of a 
great part of Bengal, we may the more readily believe that they are 
in fact different from the Coolees and Dravidians who have gone to 
compose the Hindoostanees and Southerners respectively. Who they 
are, and where they came from, are questions which open out a wide 
field of inquiry. Can any Aboriginal language or words spoken by 
them be traced? may they have any dash of more eastern blood ? 
Is the mode of carrying palanquins rather a Chinese than an Arian 
fashion ? 
If we knew something more of the Garrows and the Garrow lan- 
guage, they might possibly supply a link in the history of Bengal. 
Another race mentioned by Col. Dalton, as found both in the West 
and in Assam, are the Kolitas, whose name might suggest some 
relation to Coolees; but they seem to be now considered rather high 
