INTEODUCTORY 19 



otter tribes of the north-east ; and in the very centre of 

 these highlands, on the high plateaux of Puchmurree and 

 Gavilgarh, surrounded and isols-ted by the Gonds, are 

 found another race, called Kurs or Korkiis, whose language 

 and general type are almost identical with these Kols 

 and Santals, though they themselves are utterly unaware 

 of the connection. All these Kolarian tribes difier radically 

 in language from the Dravidian Gonds; aud some con- 

 nection has been traced between them and the aboriginal 

 races of countries lying to the east of India. Further 

 to the east again, in the Mykal range, and like the Korkus 

 imbedded among the Gonds, is found a small body of 

 Bygas, who have not yet been traced either to the Kolarian 

 or the Dravidian stock. They present, from many circum- 

 stances to be afterwards noticed, the most curious ethnical 

 problem of all. Less raised above the condition of the 

 mere hunting savage than any, and clinging to the most 

 secluded solitudes, they have yet entirely lost all trace 

 of their own language, and speak instead a rude dialect 

 of the tongue of the Aryan immigrants. They present 

 some points of aflfinity to the Bheels of Western India, of 

 whom also, in the extreme west, some 20,000 are reckoned 

 in this cauldron of peoples. The number of the aborigines 

 is completed by about 25,000 souls, forming the fag-ends 

 of tribes who have lost all semblance of distinct cohesion, 

 without language or territory of their own. 



Which of these entirely distinct families are the au- 

 tochthones of the land, or which of them first settled here, 

 may possibly never be known. None of them have any 

 reliable tradition of their arrival ; and no evidence bearing 

 on the subject, beyond what has been already mentioned, 

 has been discovered. ' It is not within the scope of my 

 present purpose to attempt any elaborate investigation 

 into the ethnical history or peculiarities of these tribes. 

 The evidence yet recorded is too scanty to yield valuable 

 results ; and such has been the admixture of their customs, 

 religion, and language with those of the Hindus, that it 

 is improbable now that much of their original distinctive 

 peculiarity remains to be discovered. Yet there is much 

 that is curious and interesting in their present condition, 



