1849 ] Kdcch, Bodo and Bhimdl People. 711 



thicker ; beard deficient ; colour brunet as in the last, but darker on 

 the whole and, as in it, very various. Such is the general description 

 of the Indian Arians and Tamulians. With regard to the particular 

 races of the latter, it can only be safely said, that the mountaineers ex- 

 hibit the Mongolian type of mankind more distinctly than the low- 

 landers, and that they have, in general, a paler, yellower hue than the 

 latter, among whom there are some (individuals at least) nearly as black 

 as negroes. Among the Kols* I have seen many Orauns and Mundas 

 nearly black ; whereas the Larkas or Hos (says Tickell) are as pale, 

 and handsome too, as the highest caste Hindu 1 The Kocch, Bodo 

 and Dhimal are as fair as their Bengali neighbours on one side, and 

 scarcely darker (especially the Bodo) than the mountaineers above 

 them on the other side, arid whom (the latter) they resemble in the 

 style of their features and form, only with all the physiognomical cha- 

 racteristics softened down, and the frame less muscular and massive. 

 The Kols have a similar cast of face, and a very pleasant one it is to 

 look upon in youth, exhibiting ordinarily far more of individuality, 

 character and good humour than the more regular but tame and lifeless 

 faces of the Arian Hindus. 



Bodo and Dhimal Location. — I proceed now from the Kocch tribe to 

 the Bodo and Dhimal tribes, who occupy the entire northern and eastern 

 skirts of the Kocch country, between the open plains and the mountains, 

 both of which sites, generally speaking, they avoid, and adhere to the 

 great forest belt that divides the two, and which is, on an average, from 

 15 to 20 miles broad. The Dhimals, who seem fast passing away as a 

 separate race, and whose numbers do not now exceed 15,000 souls, are 

 at present confined to that portion of the Saul forest, lying between the 

 Konki and the Dhorla or Torsha, mixed with the Bodo, but in separate 

 villages, and without intermarriage. But the Bodo are still a very numer- 

 ous race, and extend, as foresters, from the Surma to the Dhansri, and 

 thence, via, Bijni and the Bhutan and Sikim Tarai, to the Konki, besides 

 occupying outside the forest limits, a large proportion of central and lower 

 Assam. In the divisions of Darang and Chatgari they constitute the mass 



* Kol is an old and classical name, and the best I think for the great mass of 

 aborigines intervening between the Bhils, the Gonds, and the Ganges — at least till 

 we know them better. The Orauns, Mundas, K61s proper and Larkas, seem to be 

 distinct, and the chief families or stirpes. 



