THE ABOEIGINAL TRIBES 117 



in places where tlie sacred thread is openly sold to aspirants 

 by the chiefs and their obsequious Brahmans. 



As might be expected, the Gonds have gone further in 

 the adoption of these Hindii sentiments than the other 

 tribes. They are far more numerous; they occupy large 

 tracts of low coimtry intermixed with the Hindus; their 

 semi-Hiadu chiefs possessed the ruling power of the country 

 for many generations ; and possibly they belong to a branch 

 of the human race more susceptible of modification than 

 the others. Their Tamuhan congeners in Southern India, 

 while losing httle of their aboriginal physical type, have 

 conformed en masse to the customs and rehgion of lEnduism ; 

 -while the Kolarian stock, wherever found, has obstinately 

 resisted intermixture with the Hindii. 



In the next chapter I propose to give a sample of the 

 legends current among the Gonds, which indicate their own 

 consciousness of the importance of the change that has 

 been wrought among them by their acceptance of Hindu 

 ideas ; and in the meantime will proceed to some description 

 of the aboriginal behefs and institutions, which still he, 

 in the most advanced of their sections, laut a httle way 

 below the svirface, and which, among the tmdiluted deni- 

 zens of the wilder regions, are yet found in their primitive 

 purity. 



It is not an easy matter for the inquirer among such 

 tribes really to ascertain the peculiarities of their language, 

 rehgion, or ideas. Like aU savages there is a child-liie 

 vagueness about their conceptions which it is very difficult 

 to get the better of, and to this is added a suspiciousness 

 which frequently leads them to dehberately withhold informa- 

 tion the object of which they are unable to comprehend. In 

 the case of these particular tribes, moreover, the admixture 

 of Hinduism has proceeded so far that one has to be con- 

 stantly on his guard against admitting as belonging to them 

 what is in fact of foreign origin. An intimate acquaintance 

 with Hindii behefs and pecuharities is therefore the first 

 essential quahty of him who attempts to ascertain the 

 distinctive features of these races; and from the want of 

 this great mistakes have constantly been made in describing 

 them. The poverty of their languages is another great 



