626 Note on the Mechis. [August, 



articles of home and imported produce. They are generally comely 

 and disposed to fleshiness ; the usual dress is a sari (robe) of red silk 

 made of the " Indi" or thread of the silk worm which feeds on the 

 castor-oil plants, and their ornaments are confined to bangles and 

 necklaces of white shell. The Indi silk is entirely a domestic manu- 

 facture, and wove by the women, who also color it with the lac dye. 

 The Mech language has no written character, nor is it, I believe, allied 

 to the Sanscrit ; whether it is of Tibetan or Burmese extraction, or 

 akin to the aboriginal Indian dialects known among the Coles, 

 Goonds, Beels, and other wild tribes, I am unable to say ; but perhaps, 

 the accompanying small vocabulary may enable competent persons to 

 decide its root and original country. The Mechis are necessarily un- 

 educated, except with a very few exceptions, in the Bengali language, 

 from which they have derived all the terms in use for articles common 

 to a state of life removed from the savage. I regret, that I have not as 

 yet had an opportunity of meeting a person intelligent enough to give 

 me some idea of the construction of the language ; this must remain 

 for further inquiry. In the vocabulary I have omitted entering words 

 for which the language has no equivalents of its own, except in a few 

 instances, to prove the rule above noticed. All the words with B af- 

 fixed are evidently corruptions of Bengali or Hindi ; none of the metals 

 except " silver" and "iron" have names. There is no word for 

 " money." Gender is designated by the affix of " Jilla" or male, and 

 " Jeu" or female, for all animals but man.* 



In the arts the Mechis have made but small progress, they excel in 

 the care of their cotton agriculture, but as they grow only the common 

 annual plant, the produce is not of a superior kind. Weaving is confined 

 to the women as a domestic art. They are not addicted to trade, are 

 averse to military service, have no artizans among them, are truly in 

 a very primitive state of society. They are however very cheerful, 

 have no jealousy or prejudice towards strangers, are industrious, and 

 honest, and crimes of violence, so far as I can learn, are of rare occur- 

 rence among them. 



A. CAMPBELL. 



* The names of the months and days of the week are Bengali, and the Mechis who 

 furnished me with the vocabulary are unable to give more than nine of the cardinal 

 numbers in their own language. 



