1851.] Notes upon a Tour through the R/ijmahal Hills. 545 



of which are understood by the Hindustani man, nor are the two lan- 

 guages understood by the two races. 



The Sonthals are interlopers as will be explained hereafter, the hill 

 men are the original inhabitants, whose history may be summed up 

 as follows. 



From the days of the MuAammadan kings to 1764 A. D. these hill 

 people were the scourge and terror of the neighbouring districts, from 

 whose inhabitants they levied black mail, and when that could not .be 

 obtained, armed bands fully equipped with powerful bamboo bows 

 and poisoned arrows, descended from the hills, murdered all who op- 

 posed their progress ; they pillaged the country far and near, carrying 

 away grain, salt, tobacco, money, cattle and goats, or indeed any thing 

 they could lay their hands upon, and, retreating to their jungly fast- 

 nesses where no one dared follow them, defied their victims. 



Cases have been known where the zemindars of the plains have, for 

 the sake of inflicting an injury on a neighbouring zemindar with whom 

 they have been on bad terms, invited the hill-men to descend from 

 their hills and plunder his land and crops ; the inviting zemindar 

 offering the hill-men a free and safe passage through the plains as far 

 as the spot to be ravaged, but several cases of treachery on the part of 

 the inviting zemindars ending in the death of more than one hill chief, 

 at last broke off all connexion with, and destroyed all confidence 

 between, the hill-men and the zemindars. 



This unsatisfactory state of affairs lasted for some years after the 

 British Government had taken charge of Bengal and Behar ; and as 

 the constant descents of the hill-men threatened to annihilate the 

 ryots in the neighbourhood of the hills, and as no boats could moor on 

 the southern bank of the Ganges without being robbed, and as the 

 dak runners conveying the mail between Calcutta and Benares were 

 constantly murdered at the foot of the hills, and the wallets robbed 

 of their contents, for in those days the only high road to Benares 

 from Calcutta passed through Rajmahal, Sikrigalli and Teliagarhi, 

 Government at last tried what force would do ; troops were sent 

 against the hill-men, but with a very doubtful success ; the jungles on 

 the hills being exceedingly dense, there being no roads, no supplies 

 and no chance of the hill-men coming to an open fight, no impression 

 could be made upon them ; the MuAammadans, before the English, had 



4 A 



