The “ Kols” of Chota-Nagpore. 175 
and sub-proprietors, and the massacre of all that the incensed Kols 
could find. 
The Kols of Chota-Nagpore, generally a good-tempered, mild, inoffen- 
sive race, become wild with excitement on this question, and nothing 
can reconcile them to a decree or order which in any way infringes on 
what they consider their proprietary right. According to their theory, 
dispossession for generations can no more annul their right in the 
land than it can extinguish the ties of blood. The courts will not 
always accept this doctrine, and the Kols cannot regard as equitable 
any decision that excludes it. 
An Oraon family lives very promiscuously in a small, indiffer- 
ently constructed and untidy looking hut, and their village often consists 
of a street or court of such huts. In all that relates to their inner 
domestic life, they are less susceptible of improvement than the other 
tribes. They have no gardens or orchards attached to individual houses, 
but the groves of fruit-trees that they plant outside the village form a 
beautiful feature in the scenery of Chota-Nagpore, and they have 
generally, in and about the village, some fine trees which are common 
property. In every Oraon village of old standing there is a house called 
the ‘‘ Doomcooreea”’ (Bachelor’s Hall), in which all unmarried men 
and boys of the tribe are obliged to sleep. Any one absenting himself 
and spending the night elsewhere in the village is fined. In this 
building the flags, musical instruments, yaks’ tails, dancing equipments 
and other property used at the festivals are kept. They have a regular 
system of fagging in the Doomcooreea. The small boys have to 
shampoo the limbs of their luxurious masters, and obey all orders 
of the elders, who also systematically bully them to make them, it is 
alleged, hardy. In some villages the unmarried girls have a 
house to themselves, an old woman being appointed as Duenna 
to look after them. She is always armed with a stick to keep the 
boys off. A circular space, in front of the Doomcoorea, is kept 
clear as the village dancing ground. It is generally sheltered by 
fine old trees, and seats are placed all round for spectators or tired 
dancers. 
The Doomcooreea is never used by boys of the Moondah tribe. It is an 
institution quite unknown to the Hos, but the Moondahs and Hos build 
themselves houses in which all the family can be decently accommo- 
