8 Migratory Tribes of [No. 145. 



THE TAREMOOK, OR WANDERING BLACKSMITH. 



The Wandering Blacksmith is known in the Dekhani language, as 

 Ghissaris ; as Lohars by the Mahrattas ; and from the Canarese they 

 receive the name of Bail-Kumbar, but they term themselves Taremook. 



Their traditions affirm the northern provinces of Hindustan to 

 have been their original country ; but the cause or the period of their 

 emigrating thence has not been preserved. As a race, they are dark, 

 though not black, and somewhat taller than Hindoos.in general. They 

 are to be seen dwelling on the outskirts of almost every village 

 throughout India, though their numbers are not great; the largest 

 number of families the old Taremook who gives me this information 

 has ever seen in one place, amounting to ten, a community of perhaps 

 sixty people. It is rare to find them occupying houses in towns ; 

 but, for the greater facility of migrating, they encamp outside the 

 walls, where they reside, exposed to the changes of the weather, from 

 which they are barely sheltered ; a ragged and patched cloth, two or 

 three yards long, being all a family have for their protection. They 

 are blacksmiths by trade, and are very poor, living from hand to 

 mouth. The women collect wood in the jungles, to make the charcoal 

 necessary in their husbands' trade : the movement of the forge-bellows is 

 likewise the duty of the women, many of whom assist their husbands 

 by working the sledge-hammer. Their language they term Taremooki : 

 that spoken by the communities in the Dekhan contains several 

 Mahrattee and Canaree words, a mixture probably resulting from 

 their lengthened sojourn on the border countries of these two nations. 



The richest Taremook my informant has ever seen, was said to be 

 worth ten thousand rupees ; but though some individuals collect a 

 little money, he has never known any one learn to read or write. The 

 dress of this migratory race is like that of other Hindus. Their religion 

 is the Brahminical, Kandoba being the deity to which their worship 

 is chiefly directed. Their marriages are conducted similarly to the 

 customs of the Hindoos, but intoxicating drinks are largely used. 

 They have earned a great name for gallantry, and it is a very usual 

 thing to hear of the rough Taremook levanting with another man's 

 wife. On the occasion of a birth, they sacrifice in the name of Satwai. 

 They burn the bodies of married people, and lay the ashes by a river's 



