1845.] Hill Tribes in the Chittagong District. 385 



lord's house without a just cause, her relations are obliged to give back 

 the money received, but should the husband send her away he has no 

 more claim. Should the Bunzoo, in his warlike excursions, capture 

 any young women he generally sells them, but if he cannot he has 

 them under his keeping without being considered his wives ; their con- 

 sorts are generally well treated, but they are far from paying them the 

 same attention as the civilized people do. One of them a'sked me in 

 the most serious manner if it was true, " that Europeans worshipped 

 their wives." The chain of hills which separates Chittagong and the 

 Tippera district from the Birman Empire is inhabited by a number of 

 tribes differing little in appearance, but partly in habits and language ; 

 but the features of those tribes, particularly the flatness of the occipital 

 bone, resemble the Burmese so much that I am not far from believing 

 they have a common origin, and if the Bunzoos are not so strongly built, 

 and so well made as the Burmese, it might be in consequence of their 

 mode of living, which, as it has been observed by Cuvier, in few gene- 

 rations will deteriorate the physical character of the highest races of man- 

 kind. The Kookies appear to be the most numerous of all tribes ; to the 

 N. E. of Chittagong, not far from Casalon which is a branch of the Chit- 

 tagong river is one of their kings, who rules over six or seven thousand 

 houses ; he has on his hill ponies, cows, &c. How far he takes advantage 

 of his authority, I have not been able to ascertain. The Bunzoo tribe 

 is chiefly centered towards the S. E. ; having no annals of their own it 

 is impossible to trace their origin, and to warrant an opinion on the 

 subject, requires more information than 1 could get. According to them, 

 formerly they were more powerful and numerous than they are now. 

 The Kookies taking advantage of their number, subjected them to their 

 yoke. Their language appears very poor, they have no word to express 

 the days of the week, but borrow them from the Burmese. Their dialect 

 contains many Kookie and Burmese words. They compute their years 

 as the Kookies do by the number of their crops. Persons who build theo- 

 ries on the analogies of language, will find at the end of this letter a 

 small vocabulary which will assist them. The Bunzoos distil from rice 

 a fermented liquor, the drinking of which seems to afford them great 

 luxury. They pour into a cup the spirit ; which goes round the com- 

 pany, every person, not excepting the women and children, taking a 



draught, and they never separate till the liquor is finished ; but how far 



3 H 



