176 The ‘ Kols” of Chota-Nagpore. 
dated. Their houses are more isolated, occupy much more space and 
are in appearance much more civilized than those of the Oraons, with 
verandahs, well raised plinths and separate apartments for the married 
and single members of the family. Every Moondah village has its 
dancing place, though it has no Doomcooreea. The best Korewah 
villages consist of about forty houses built round a large square, in the 
centre of which is the dancing arena; but as the Korewahs are nomads, 
changing their abodes every second or third year, their villages may 
be regarded as mere standing camps. ‘The Kheriahs build substantial 
comfortable houses like the Hos. It is curious they have the same 
word ‘“‘Q”’ for a house and the sky. The Moondah word “ Ora” is, 
like the Turkoman “ Ova,” a house or tent. The flags kept in the 
Oraon Doomcooreea appear to be an Oraon institution. Every village 
or group of villages, probably the head quarters of each “‘ Parha,” has 
its peculiar flag, and we have actually had cases in courts praying for 
injunction against villages charged with having assumed flags that 
did not belong to them ! 
I will now proceed to review the customs of the Moondahs and 
Oraons together, taking care to note all points of divergence that are 
known to me. 
After the birth of a child, the mother has to undergo purification, 
and on the same day that this ceremony takes place, which is simply a 
process of ablution, the child is named. Elderly females or matrons, 
friends and relations assemble for this purpose, and a vessel containing 
water is placed in the midst, and as the name first selected is 
pronounced, one of the women drops a grain of rice into the water. 
If the grain of rice sinks, that name is discarded, and the experiment 
is repeated with the second name on the list, and so on till, as the name 
is pronounced, the grain floats. (Tho Garrows of the eastern frontier 
have a similar method for divining the name of the spirit they ought 
to invoke on particular occasions.) If the name of some friend is 
chosen, it is considered as establishing a tie between the child and his 
namesake, resembling that which subsists between a Christian child 
and his godfather. The person whose name is selected is always 
called Saki or Sakhi, a word of Sanscrit origin meaning friend, so that 
in “nam Saki’ we have in meaning and sound our word namesake. 
Lhe following are some names of girls, Jambi, Jima, Jingi, Turki, 
