194 The “ Kols”’ of Chota-Nagpore. 
new earthen vessel and deposited on the rice, and the hole is filled in 
and covered with the large slab which effectually closes it against 
desecration. 
The collection of these massive grave stones under the fine old 
tamarind trees is a remarkable feature in Kol villages, and almost an 
indelible one, for they are found in many places where Kols have not 
existed for centuries. Besides the grave stones, monumental stones 
are set up outside the village to the memory of men of note. They 
are fixed in an earthen plinth, on which, shaded by the pillar, the ghost 
is supposed to sit. The Kheriahs have collections of these monu- 
ments in the little enclosure round their houses, and offerings and 
libations are constantly made to them. 
The funeral ceremonies above described are of a composite order, 
mingling with the Hindoo custom of cremation, what was in all 
probability their original mode of burial; but a very profound 
reverence for the dead pervades them all. I think it is very probable 
that the Kols originally disposed of their dead differently. The coffin, 
though put together on the faggots that are to consume it, has projec- 
tions as if to facilitate transport. Omit the burning and substitute 
burial, and we have the careful disposal and subsequent adoration of the 
dead that is practised by the Chinese ; but the burning of the body and 
the long retention of the ashes in a portable form may have been 
adopted at a time when the tribe could not be certain of continued 
residence in one place. 
Tickell has given at length the Ho legend of the origin of the human 
race. It is supremely absurd, and very few of the present generation 
know anything or care anything about it. I have always found such 
legends changeable and untrustworthy. With no written record to 
give them permanence, they are altered either to suit new con- 
ditions or the fancy of the reciter. Thus though the Kols have 
known the Hnelish for little more than half a century, they assign to 
them a most honourable place in their genesis. The Assam Abors and 
Garrows do just the same. 
T do not think that the present generation of Kols have any notion 
of a heaven or a hell that may not be traced to Brahminical or Christian 
teaching. The old idea is that the souls of the dead become “ bhoots,” 
spirits, but no thought of reward or punishment is connected with the 
