148 On the Boksas of Bijnour. [No. 3, 
Rohilkhund they would appear not to have extended in any numbers 
to the eastward of Kilpoory, beyond which the Tharoos, a similar race 
begin to prevail, and their chief settlements were near Guddurpoor 
and Roodurpoor. On the rearrangement of the canal system of that 
part of the Rohilkhund Tarai, the Boksas were concentrated to the 
north of Guddurpoor, where their settlement is now known by the 
name of Boksdr. Nearly 300 years ago this term was applied to a tract 
a little further to the eastward, in which, at that time, probably the 
greater number of the tribe resided. Captain Jones, about 1845, gave 
the number of inhabitants of (the present) Boksaér as 2,293, and I 
have no information, subsequent to that date, shewing what proportion 
of the Boksas of the neighbourhood may still inhabit scattered 
villages. 
The Boksas inhabiting the forest to the east of the Ramgunga, 
who are called by those of Bijnour Purbid Boksas, and sometimes 
Khalsé, are described as mild, inoffensive and truthful, but indolent, 
fickle and unthrifty, and extremely ignorant; and, ere they were 
taken in hand by British officers, they are said to have been kept 
in grinding poverty by the usurers and their own Pudhan. They 
are stated also to have shewn an invincible disinclination to settle 
down for more than two years on one spot, yet never to emigrate 
outside of the Forest and Tarai, to be excessively partial to the flesh 
of game, especially wild pigs, and to exhibit a “wonderful immunity 
from the effects of malaria.” 
The Tharoos or Tharwi above alluded to, present many points 
of resemblance to the Boksas, though neither will acknowledge 
any connection with the other. But the former cover a much greater 
extent of country than the latter, as from the point a little west of 
the Sardah where the two tribes dovetail, the settlements of the — 
Tharoos stretch eastward through the forests of northern Oudh and ~ 
Goruckpore to the river Gunduck. 
I can find no evidence that on the east the Tharoos meet the 
Meches, who are called by Dr. Hooker “ decidedly Indo-Chinese,” 
and who occupy a similar position abreast of Darjeeling, to that held 
by Tharoos and Boksas to the west, and to whom they appear to 
possess a considerable resemblance. 
The fact of different segments of the Sub-Siwalik forest being = 

