206 Notes on the Bendkar, a people of Keonjur. [No. 123, 



and twos about the base of the hill. Except on some few festive occa- 

 sions, such as marriages, their manners are solitary and unsociable, and 

 the poverty and misery of their mode of living almost surpasses belief, 

 it being a common custom for a family to leave their hut in the morn- 

 ing, and pick up their entire subsistence for the day by grubbing in the 

 jungle for roots, berries, hay, leaves of some species of trees ; and then 

 return as night falls, like mere wild beasts to their dwellings. When 

 their scanty crops of maize, goradhan, (coarse rice) chunna, (gram), &c. 

 are ripe, they fare somewhat better, and are occasionally able to bring 

 some of the produce of their fields down to the nearest villages to barter 

 for cloth. Their mode of cultivation is miserable; they earth up 

 the furrows and water courses on the hill sides, and thus form small 

 straggling khets or fields, which are liable occasionally to be washed 

 bodily away, and should the crop attain maturity, the poor Bendkar is 

 obliged to share it liberally with the wild pigs, deer, pea-fowl, and a 

 host of such marauders, who help themselves at night to it, with 

 impunity. 



These people are not required to pay rent in money or in kind ; but 

 at the requisition of the nearest Sirdar, the Keonjur Raja's Dewan 

 at Kalkapershaud, they are liable to be called upon as tegars, or coo- 

 lies, to assist in conveying the baggage of the Raja, or of any of his 

 household in their annual visits to Juggernauth. These, a very few, 

 are acquainted with the use of money, but the majority neither know 

 nor value it. 



The party with me consisted of three men, an old woman, a girl, and 

 a boy ; the two latter were pretty. They had never seen a " white face," 

 nor indeed even a respectable or well-dressed native. They had 

 never even heard the word " Saheb," nor knew its meaning. Every 

 thing of course was therefore a novelty and a source of amazement ; 

 the tents, horses, elephants, the sepoys and suwars with me, all attracted 

 eager attention, not a little mixed with alarm. Only one of them had ever 

 seen a gun fired off, and the grand exhibition of a bird shot while flying 

 past, afforded great astonishment and delight. With all this ignorance, 

 these poor people were pleasing in appearance, clean in person, and 

 decorous in manner. They looked on quietly and demurely at every 

 thing, and after a visit of two days, rather joyfully took their departure, 

 not being, I suspect, quite satisfied of their safety while in my camp, al- 

 though much re-assured by dint of gentle usage and kindness. The su- 

 wars with their bushy beards and long scarlet coats, appeared to afford 

 them much uneasiness, and must have enforced on their minds greater 

 awe and reverence than my less imposing costume ! 



They burn their dead, but do not collect the ashes, nor destroy any 

 of the deceased's property with his body, (as the Koles do.) Their 

 marriages are simple, being merely the bridegroom taking away his 

 bride to his house, when the parents of both sides have consented, and 

 have both added their quota to the stock supplied for the maintenance 

 of the couple. No crimes (at least public crimes) appear to be known 

 among this people, and they have no chief, or person possessing any 

 kind of authority, to punish such. The smallness of their numbers, and 





