The Ethnology of India. 53 



help thinking that the Bhooya palanquin bearers of Chota-Nagpore 

 may be the same as the Buis of Nagpore Proper. At any rate it 

 might be worth inquiring. These Bhooyas or Bhooians have been 

 reputed to be the Aborigines of Bengal, and if that be so, it would 

 quite account for their being found both in Orissa in the west and 

 in Assam on the east. The difficulty is that there seem to be no 

 such people now in Bengal, nor have I been able to identify them 

 with any caste under another name. If, however, one travels in a 

 palanquin from the Chota-Nagpore country into Bengal or Orissa, 

 the bearers will be relieved not by Kahars as in Hindoostan, but by 

 Gwallas or cow-keepers. These Gwallas do the work of palanquin- 

 bearing and domestic service in Bengal, functions not performed by 

 Gwallas so far as I know in any other part of India. An Aheer or 

 up-country Gwala would never dream of such work. In fact the 

 Gwallas in Bengal take the place of the Buis or Boys of the centre 

 and south of India. They are now the most numerous Hindoo 

 caste in Bengal and especially in Orissa. As I said, Major Tickell 

 describes the original Bhooians as rich in cattle. May not the 

 Hindoos have adopted them and turned them into Gwallas ? I 

 should also however mention that the lowest or sweeper class are called 

 I understand in Bengal " Buimals," but I have not been able to 

 ascertain the derivation of that word. 



The Bengalees are certainly in many respects different from any 

 other people of India, and if the Bhooyas are the Aboriginals of a 

 great part of Bengal? we may the more readily believe that they are 

 in fact different from the Coolees and l>ravidians who have gone to 

 compose the Hindoostanees and Southerners respectively. Who they 

 are, and where they came from, are questions which open out a wide 

 field of inquiry. Can any Aboriginal language or words spoken by 

 them be traced ? may they have any dash of more eastern blood ? 

 Is the mode of carrying palanquins rather a Chinese than an Arian 

 fashion ? 



If we knew something more of the Garrows and the Garrow lan- 

 guage, they might possibly supply, a link in the history of Bengal. 



Another race mentioned by Col. Dalton, as found both in the West 

 and in Assam, are the Kolitas, whose name might suggest some 

 relation to Coolees ; but they seem to be now considered rather high 



