2 Notes of a tour in the Tributary Mehals. [No. 1, 
The Brahmini river in its progress from Gangpore has forced its 
way through the barrier of hills separating the two districts, and 
enters the valley I am describing, after a course of eight miles through 
a beautiful glen, in a succession of rapids and loughs, the latter swarm- 
ing with alligators. The shortest route from Gangpore to Bonai is by 
a rugged path through this pass; but is only practicable in the dry 
weather. 
Bonaigurh, where the Rajah resides, is in the valley, occupying a 
bend of the river in latitude 28° 49’ N. and longitude 85° H., being 508 
feet above the sea level. It has the river on three sides, and is sur- 
rounded by a mud wall and moat, within which are about 150 houses, 
including those of the chief, his court-house, and jail: the village 
altogether, inside and outside the gurh, contains about 300 houses, 
but nothing that can be called a bazar. The inhabitants are the 
Brahmins and other retainers of the Rajah; his own family, including 
most of the collateral branches, legitimate and illegitimate; people 
practising trades—workers in brass and pewter, potters, weavers, 
smiths ; and people of low caste, Gonds, Pahans, Ghassees and Domes. 
Ooriah is the language spoken, and the costume and customs followed 
are those of the Orissa provinces. This includes a lavish use of 
saffron in their ablutions, hair neatly dressed with silver ornaments, 
and a general tidy appearance. They have good features and rather 
fair complexion. The young girls, till they attain the age of puberty, 
are very scantily dressed. The only garment usually worn by them 
is a ‘‘ kopin’—a scarf, round the loins and between the legs. This is 
national and classical, as we find from the images of the oldest temples, 
that it was the favourite costume of the Hindu goddesses, who thus 
enjoyed the full play of their limbs. The young people of both sexes 
are fond of adorning themselves with wreaths of bright yellow flowers. 
There are 217 inhabited villages in Bonai, and from the number of 
houses returned by the topographical survey recently completed, the 
population may be estimated at fifteen thousand six hundred souls. 
About one half of the agricultural population is of the ‘ Bhooya” 
caste or race. They are doubtless the earliest settlers, and it was from 
their hands that the ancestor of the present Rajpoot Rajah first ob- 
tained his insignia as chief. The Bamra and Gangpore Rajahs are 
reported to have in the same manner derived their chieftainships from 

