696 The Hodesum (improptrly called Kolehan). [No. 103. 



trumping up a story about a child, which had been discovered on the 

 banks of a tank at the town of Pittooreea, guarded and shaded 

 from the sun by a Covra, or Nag, and which he presented to them 

 as their king. This is the present reputed origin of the '' Nagbun- 

 sees/' who to this day are the Rajas of the country ; the Raj Gadee, 

 or Paietukht, was first at Chootia, a town about ten milse south of 

 Pittooreea, from whence the name of the country, " Chootia Nagpoor." 

 What it was called by the Moondas before this event, is not known. 

 As the Hindoos spread and prevailed, the effect of their tyranny and 

 extortions was to reduce the Oradus into complete slavery, and drive 

 the Moondas into open revolt. After a long struggle, the latter were 

 compelled to confine themselves to the jungles of Sonepoor to the 

 south, and the wooded slip of land which to the east raises Chota 

 Nagpoor Proper above the rest of Central India. Wandering south-east- 

 ward, many settled themselves in the wild hilly tracts, now known as 

 Koehang, and in the immense jungles and mountains to the south 

 and west of the present village of Porahaut. Numbers passed over 

 into the low country, east of Nagpoor, now comprised in the zemin- 

 darees of Rahe Boondoo and Tamar, subservient to Chota Nagpoor, 

 where mixing with the lowest classes of Bhoornijes and Bhooians, 

 (supposed aborigines of Bengal) they merged into a mongrel race, 

 known as ^' Tamarias;" and a great proportion traversing the hills and 

 forests of Koehang, passed out eastward, into the open tract now call- 

 ed Singbhoom and the Kolehan. 



The last are the subjects of the present memoir. 

 It appears that the Moondas, or as they now call themselves, the 

 Hos, found Singbhoom on their arrival to be peopled by Bhooians, 

 an inoffensive, simple race, but rich in cattle, and industrious cul- 

 tivators, who first allowed them to form settlements in the neighbour- 

 ing woods, and afterwards permitted them to reside in the central 

 open tracts. Here they remained together for some time, when the 

 country appears to have passed into the hands of " Surawuks,'* a race 

 of Bengalee Bramins, now almost extinct, but then numerous and 

 opulent, whose original country is said to be Sikrbhoom and Pachete. 

 Their arrival produced a repetition of the scenes which had forced the 

 Moondas, or Hos, from Chota Nagpoor. But in the latter instance, 

 the oppressions of the Surawuks ended in their total expulsion from the 



