The “ Kols” of Chota-Nagpore. 183 
The Nagpore Kols, whether of the Moondah or Oraon tribe, and all 
the cognates of the Moondahs that I know of, are passionately fond of 
dancing, and with them dancing is as much an accomplishment as it is 
with the civilized nations of Hurope. They have a great variety 
of dances, and in each different steps and figures are used, of great 
intricacy, but they are performed with aneatness and precision that 
can only be acquired by great practice. Little children are hardly 
on their legs, before they begin to learn their dancing steps; and 
the result of this early training is that, however difficult the 
step, the limbs of the performers move as if they belonged to one 
body. They have musical voices and a great variety of simple me- 
lodies. It is a fact that, when we raised a corps of Kols, their early 
practice in keeping step and time greatly facilitated the operations 
of drill; and the Missionaries have availed themselves of the musical 
talents and taste of the Kol converts to produce congregational singing 
that would be a credit to an English country church. 
The dances are seen to the greatest advantage at the great periodi- 
cal festivals called ‘“ Jatras.”” They are at appointed places and 
seasons, and when the day comes, all take a holiday and proceed to the 
spot in their best array. The girls, on these occasions, put on their 
best dress, generally a white ‘ saree” with a broad red border. They 
tastefully arrange flowers in their hair and plumes of the long breast 
feathers of the paddy-bird. The young men wear Turkey red turbans, 
and add a snow white cloth to their usually scanty garb, and also 
adorn themselves with flowers and peacock’s feathers. As parties from 
the different villages come near the trysting place, they may be 
observed finishing their toilettes in the open fields; when all is ready, 
the groups form, and their approach from different sides, with their 
banners and yak’s tails waving, horns and symbols sounding, mar- 
shalled into alternate ranks of lads and lasses all keeping perfect 
step and dress, with the gay head-dresses of the girls and the numer- 
ous brass ornaments of the boys glittering in the sun, forms a very 
lively and pleasing picture. They enter the grove where the meeting 
is held in jaunty dashing style, wheeling and countermarching and 
forming lines, circles and columns with grace and precision. The 
dance with these movements is called “ khurriah,”’ and they are held 
in all months of the year, a series of them following each other at 
