1844.] Natives in Central India. 7 



their Howlia is an incarnation of the deity. The occurrence of murder 

 or other grave crime my informant had never heard of; but all minor 

 matters are decided by these chiefs. On them likewise devolves the 

 duty of summoning the different members of the tribe to aid in snar- 

 ing the tiger, for which villagers and proprietors occasionally offer high 

 rewards. This, when earned, they divide into three shares, one for 

 the god of the river, one for the god of the wilds, the remaining third 

 being apportioned equally among those who were present at the cap- 

 ture, the Howlia or chief obtaining no greater sum than another of 

 the community. They all assemble at the Holi festival, at the place 

 of the Houlia's residence, when he collects his income, the community 

 subscribing one rupee a head. 



Among other modes of obtaining subsistence, thieving is one which 

 they look to as no small means of support. Gang robbery, or any 

 system attended with violence, they are not addicted to ; but no field 

 or stack of grain is safe from their depredations when they are in the 

 neighbourhood. For this, severe fines, and death itself, were often 

 inflicted on them, while the country was ruled by the native princes ; 

 for though the hunters have only a narrow loin-cloth as clothing, and 

 the persons of the women are scarcely hidden by the few rags they 

 pick up in the fields and sew together, yet, when in the grasp of native 

 chiefs, the fear of death has made them produce two to five thousand 

 rupees to purchase forgiveness and regain their freedom. It may be 

 from the recollection of such scenes, that, notwithstanding their seem- 

 ing poverty, all classes assert these wretched-looking beings to be the 

 possessors of vast wealth, and when in the fields in their lonely camps, 

 sheltered by a few tattered rags stretched overhead, they are at in- 

 tervals plundered by the ruthless robbers we term decoits. 



For the first five years after the beard first appears, it and the hair 

 is cut once a year, but ever after they wear both unshorn, and their 

 long shaggy locks add to their uncouth appearance. The bodies of 

 the dead are buried. Few attain sixty years of age, and ten is the 

 greatest number of children they have known one woman to bear ; 

 nor have they ever heard of any one being killed by a tiger, though 

 one of them has assisted at the capture of eight of these creatures. 

 They call themselves a branch of the Dhoongur, the Shepherd or 

 Vesya race. 



