44 TJie Ethnology of India. 



territory the country of the Lurka Coles is called " Kolhan." The 

 Bheels are the proper possessors of the hills farther in the interior 

 and east of the Koolees, there occupying both the Sautpoora and 

 the Vyndia ranges, and extending into Rajpootana. In the latter 

 direction and about the Vyndians some of the tribes claim to be 

 crossed with Rajpoots, and these are called Beelalahs. The Bheels 

 are numerous in Candeish, and are found in some parts of the adjoining 

 Deccan. They sometimes find their way to the Coast where they 

 are stated to be known as c Dooblas' or the " Kala Pooruj" or ' black 

 men.' The Koolees seem to be scattered down the Coast country 

 nearly as far as Goa, and north again into the ' Thurr' and the 

 neighbourhood of Scinde. While the wilder Koolees of the hills 

 are like the Bheels, the mass of more civilised Koolees are said to 

 be not only fairer and more Caucasian in feature, but also more sly 

 and cunning and less truthful. A large proportion of both races 

 have been much diluted in point of l aboriginality' of feature by 

 intermixture, but the Bheels less than the others. Many of the 

 Koolees live in villages and adopt some Hindoo practices. They are 

 stated to average about 5 feet 3 inches in height. Though most of 

 them are now quiet agriculturists and labourers, they were not always 

 so. The wilder tribes of the race are still predatory, and Forbes 

 mentions the Koolees as by far the most numerous of the arm-bearing 

 castes who in former days, living in the hills between Goozerat and 

 Rajpootana, disturbed the country. He describes them as of dimi- 

 nutive stature, with eyes which bore an expression of liveliness and 

 cunning, clothes few, arms bow and arrows, habits swift and active, 

 bold in assault, but rapid in flying to the jungles, independent in 

 spirit, robbers, averse to industry, addicted to drunkenness, and quar- 

 relsome when intoxicated ; formidable in anarchy, but incapable of 

 uniting among themselves. This description seems exceedingly well 

 to apply to the wild Bheels of modern days, whom indeed Forbes 

 classes with the Koolees. 



Many of the Bheels are so independent and so much apart in their 

 own hills and jungles, that it seems very strange that they should 

 have no language of their own ; I think that the search for such a 

 language, or the remains of it, should not be abandoned without very 

 careful inquiry. 



