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Memoir on the Hodesum (improperly called Kolehmi.)—By Lieut- 



TiCKELL. 



(Continued from page 709.) 



The Hos villages are in general unpicturesque, owing to their 

 building on high barren spots, where the trees attain no size; they 

 are very irregular, each house being separated and hedged in by itself, 

 with its own little plot for planting maize, til, or tobacco; a street for 

 suggers, generally runs through the village, and in the centre, an open 

 space of turf, shaded by two or three tamarind trees, contains the 

 slabs of stone under which the " rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep." 

 On these stones the people assemble daily to talk or lounge, when 

 there is no work to do in the fields. They scarcely ever build by 

 rivers, preferring the vicinity of some small spring. The beautiful 

 Byturnee, every wind of whose stream would be a subject for the 

 artist's pencil, or the poet's pen, runs its crystal waters through regi- 

 ons of deserted forests, where the vastness of canopying trees, and the 

 luxuriance of wild vegetation, show the richness of the soil ; while four 

 or five miles inland, the country is populous and well cultivated. I have 

 never satisfactorily ascertained the reason of this bad taste ; but among 

 other causes, I have been told it was for fear of their little children 

 tumbling into the water ! Whatever it may be, the open, barren spots 

 they select are more healthy than those selected for beauty would be. 



A Hos if he be worth three or four ploughs, lives in a very comfort- 

 able manner. The houses of the Moondas and Mankees are substan- 

 tial and capacious, built so as to enclose a square. The walls are of 

 stout and well joined stockading work, covered with mud, and 

 neatly " leeped" or plastered with cow-dung, or chalk and water. 

 The principal buildiog is commonly ornamented with a verandah 

 (Pindegee,) supported on carved wooden pillars, and covered 

 with an excellent thatched roof. It is divided into three compart- 

 ments — a sleeping room, an eating room, and one for general stowage. 

 Opposite this house, and about thirty paces off, is another of ruder 

 construction, for servants, travellers, or guests, and the flanks are 

 joined by " Byres," or cow-houses, a granary, and often a pig-stye. In 

 the centre of the square generally stands a pigeon-house, built of logs, 

 on high timbers, neatly thatched over. None of their villages are ex- 

 tensive, owing to the dislike they have to congregate together, for fear 



