712 Account of the Origin, etc. of the [July, 



of the fixed population; they ahound in Chardwar and Noudwar: in Nou- 

 gaon and Tularam's country, they are the most numerous tribe next to 

 the Mikirs and Lalongs ; in Kammp next to the Dhekra and Kocch ; 

 whilst in the marches or forest frontier of the north, from Bijni to Ali- 

 ganj of Morung, they form the sole population, except the few Dhimals, 

 who are mixed with them ; and in the eastern marches from Gauhati 

 to Sylhet, they are less numerous only than the Garos, Rabhas and 

 Hajongs, not to mention, that the two last, if not all three, are but 

 Bodos in disguise. I look upon the Rabha as merely the earliest and 

 most complete converts to Hinduism, who have almost entirely aban- 

 doned the Bodo tongue and customs, and upon the Hajongs or Hojai 

 Kacharis of Nowgong, as the next grade in time and degree of conver- 

 sion, who now very generally affect a horror at being supposed confreres 

 in speech or usages with the Bodo, though really such. Nor have I 

 any doubt, that the Garos are at least a most closely affiliated race, and 

 no way connected with the monosyllabic-tongued tribes around them.* 

 I do not, however, at present include the Garos, or Rabhas or Hajongs 

 among the Bodo, who are now viewed as embracing only the Meches 

 of the west and the Kacharis of the east and south ; and, so limited, 

 this race numbers not less than 150 to 200,000 souls. An accurate 

 general census seems out of question except for Assam, but the above 

 enumeration is given as an approximate result of several statements 

 obligingly supplied to me by Mr. Kellner, Mr. Scott, Dr. Campbell, 

 and that enlightened traveller Permanand Acharya, Thus the Bodo 

 race extends from Tipperah and the country of the Kiikis on the south- 

 east, to Morung and the country of the Kichaks to the north-west, cir- 

 cling round the valley of Assam by the course of the Dhansri, en route 

 to the north, though Major Jenkins assures me that Bodos may be 

 found even east of that river in the Assam valley. The latitude and 

 longitude of the Bodo country are the same with those of the Kocch 

 country, to speak without any affectation of a precision the subject does 

 not admit of, and thus we may say the Bodo extend from 25 to 27 

 north latitude, and from 88 to 93|- east longitude ; and that the Dhi- 

 mals are confined to the most westerly part of this wide range of coun- 

 try, or that portion lying between the Konki and the Dhorla. My 



* See Note at page 703. 



