1865.] On the Boksas of Bijnour. 157 
of these puwrohits, and found two of them apparently most ignorant 
and stupid, while the third was fairly intelligent, sensible and com- 
municative. 
A considerable proportion of the tribe follow Ndnak Mathd, 7. e. 
have adopted the Guru of the Sikhs as theirs, indeed they are 
called Sikh by their brethren, and not Nénak shdhis as followers of 
Nanak are in Hindustan generally. The ordinary Boksa does not 
“take Nanak’s name” at all. In some of the villages, including 
Bugnalli which is by far the largest of all, the proportion of Sikhs to 
the others is very nearly or quite equal, but in some especially of the 
western villages, there are few or no Sikhs. 
Among so rude a people as the Boksas, it would be vain to expect 
to find any elaborate set of religious tenets either held or understood by 
such a sect as these Sikhs, and accordingly their one distinctive mark is 
avoidance of spirituous liquor, opium and charras, which the Boksas 
in general use freely. The Sikhs will not even smell spirits vo'urtarily, 
nor will they use the hookah or eat in the house of one who has 
smoked on the same day. It is said that the purohits also adhere to 
the latter rule. Tobacco is lawful to the followers of Naénak, and 
they, and the rest of the tribe intermarry without restriction, the 
wife and children as above mentioned invariably following the man’s 
sect. 
The Boksas bear an excellent moral character. I have no definite 
information as to their intimate domestic and social relations, but 
for three years at least, not one of the tribe had been a party 
in either a civil or criminal suit in the district courts. Any 
disputes that occur are referred to the village elders, and in extra- 
ordinary cases, it would appear that the pudhdn of one of the more 
important villages (Bagnulli or Chuttroowali) is called to adjudicate, 
but such quarrels of any moment are extremely rare. 
Their indolence and ignorance are fully as remarkable as their 
inoffensiveness. They have a strong objection to all labour which is 
not absolutely essential to provide means for subsistence ; for example, 
near some villages immense quantities of manure, of which they well 
know the value, were lying unused, the trouble of taking it to their 
fields being too much for them; and they assigned as the reason for 
not collecting Kino (Mrakkigond) in the forest that it would be 
barri mehnat, although it is really very light work, 
