600 Notes on Northern Cachar. [No. 7. 



My four divisions are 1st, Cacharees ; 2nd, Meekirs ; 3rd, Nagas ; 

 4th, Kookies. 



1st, Cacharees. This nation is divided into two distinct clans, viz. 

 the Hazai or plain Cacharee and the Purbuttia or hill Cacharee. 

 The former of these, numbering in N. Cachar about 2,500 souls, 

 forms the dominant class of the district, having formerly given 

 Rajahs to the whole of the country, having still a royal family of 

 that line extant, being of the same clan as the late Toolaram, and 

 being, by superior intelligence and education, raised above the other 

 inhabitants. The Hazai Cacharees would appear to have been 

 formerly possessed of the plains and kingdom of Cachar Proper ; 

 but they have gradually been driven northward. Many are still to 

 be found in Cachar Proper, residing at the foot of the hills, and 

 cultivating small patches of plain ground among the Teelahs ; but 

 by far the greater portion of them occupy the habitable portions of 

 Toolaram' s country and the lowlands on the river Dyung and 

 Jamunah. They have a language of their own, quite distinct from 

 Assamese or Bengali, and differing from that of the hill Cacharees. 

 In religion they are Hindus, evidently not primitive but proselyte 

 ones, their superstitions and customs tending to anything but what 

 would be considered orthodox by a brahman of Benares. They eat 

 pigs and fowls freely, sacrificing them also to their deities, and 

 are likewise much given to opium and spirituous liquors. They 

 have no distinction of castes among themselves, and may eat all 

 together. There is, however, a distinctive hereditary title among 

 them which meets with great consideration. I am at a loss to 

 determine whether this be a religious or a civil distinction. The 

 title, being that of " Burmon" affixed to the name, would lead one 

 to infer that they derived it from their adopted religion, and that 

 those so titled were nothing less than Cacharee brahmans. But 

 again no caste exists, and the Burmons are undoubtedly the aris- 

 tocracy of the Cacharees. 



The Hazai Cacharees, living in the lowlands are the only people in 

 the district who cultivate with the plough, and pay a land-tax. They 

 are a hardy, quiet and industrious people, and cultivate rice and cotton, 

 finding a market for the latter down the river Dyung. While engaged 

 in the primitive occupation of agriculture, they appear to be worthy 



