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



houses form a village, without any rigid uniformity or any defences 

 whatever. 



Furniture is very scant, consisting only of a rare hedstead, some 

 sleeping mats, a stool or two, and some swinging-shelves ; and all of 

 these are made at home. Household utensils are a few earthen vessels 

 for carrying and holding water, some metallic cooking, eating, and 

 drinking pots, and a couple of knives, to which we must add the spin- 

 ning, weaving, dyeing, and brewing apparatus of the women. All the 

 latter are of the simplest possible form and homemake : the earthen 

 and metallic pots and pans are purchased in the Kocch marts. There 

 are none of iron nor of copper ; all are of brass or of other mixed me- 

 tals that are metallic, owing, it is said, to the dearness of iron and cop- 

 per. There are no leathern utensils. Baskets of bamboo and of cane 

 and ropes of grass, are abundant and of homemake, by the men who 

 likewise haft all the iron implements they purchase abroad, for agri- 

 cultural or domestic uses. It has already been said that lights are dis- 

 pensed with beyond what is afforded by an ample fire. 



Clothes. — With both people they are made at home and by the women. 

 The Bodo women wear silk procured from the castor plant worm, which 

 they rear at home in each family. The Bodo men and Dhimals of both 

 sexes wear cotton only. Woollen is unknown, even in the shape of 

 blankets. The manufactures are durable and good, and not inconveni- 

 ently coarse — in fact, precisely such as the people require : and the 

 dying is very respectably done with their own cochineal, morinda, or 

 indigo, or with madder got from the hills — but all prepared by them- 

 selves. The female silk vest of the Bodos possessed by me is 3^ feet 

 wide by 7 long, deep red, with a broad, worked margin of cheque pattern 

 — and of white and yellow colours, beside the ground red — above and 

 below. This garment is called Dokhana by the Bodo, and must be a 

 very comfortable and durable dress, though it somewhat disfigures the 

 female form by being pressed over the breast as it is wrapped round the 

 body, which it envelopes from the armpits to the centre of the calves. 

 The female garment of the Dhimals differs only in material, being cotton. 

 It is called Bonha. The male dress of the Bodo consists of two parts 

 — an upper and a lower. The former is equivalent to the Hindu chadar 

 or toga. It is called Shuma, and is 9 to 10 cubits by 3. The latter, 

 styled Gamcha, and which is 6 cubits by 2, is equivalent to the Hindu 



