784 The Hodesum (improperly called Kolehan), [No. 104. 



of fire or contagious diseases ; so that the crest of almost every rising 

 ground throughout the country, is occupied by a few scattered houses. 

 The nomad tribes of Hos, who inhabit the hilly tracts, are obliged to 

 move every third year, to make fresh clearings in the forest. The 

 soil in these places is very rich for the first sowings, but not being 

 manured, gets exhausted in three or four years. 



The Hos wear very little clothing ; even the most opulent among 

 them, who have quantities of cloth and ornaments, prefer keeping 

 their finery shut up at home, for the purpose of adding to the 

 pageantry of their funerals. Their raiment consists of a doputta, 

 (which is gladly thrown off, unless on state occasions) and a neat 

 narrow dhotee, called " Botoe." They wear the hair oiled and comb- 

 ed backward, and fastened in a " toupee" behind, but unlike the 

 Oraous and Moondas of Chota Nagpoor, adorn their heads with no 

 ornaments. The men however are fond of earrings and small beads, 

 or plaited necklaces and bracelets ; most of them also wear charms 

 against snakes, tigers, or diseases, tied round their necks. These the 

 Hindoos in the neighbourhood make a profitable trade of, in selling 

 to them. The women of the lowest order go about in a disgusting 

 state of nudity, wearing nothing but a miserably insufficient rag 

 round the loins, at the same time their breasts and necks are loaded 

 with immense bunches of bead necklaces, of which they are extrava- 

 gantly fond. They perform the hardest duties in the fields, digging, 

 shovelling, weeding, drawing water, and getting in wood from the 

 jungles. Constant exposure and work renders them prematurely shri- 

 velled and ugly; the young women and girls of the better classes 

 are however a striking exception. They are well, and at times hand- 

 somely dressed, with a tasteful proportion of ornaments, without the 

 stupid shyness and false modesty thought proper among Hindoo 

 women ; they are becoming and decorous in their manners, most 

 pleasing in their looks, and doubly engaging from the frank and con- 

 fiding simplicity which true innocence alone gives ; some few of them 

 are very pretty, although more roughly cast than Hindoo girls. Their 

 open, happy countenances, snowy white teeth, and robust, upright 

 figures, remind one of Swiss peasant girls. Prostitution is quite un- 

 known among them, and no more restraint is placed on females than 

 in our own country. 



