92 Tlie Ethnoloyy of India. 



of the unpadded recruits looked at first rather lanky. The modern 

 Kajpoots are quite as Hindu as, and a good deal more prejudiced 

 than, the Bramins. In their own villages they are pleasant good 

 fellows enough, but as Sepoys they were a disagreeable overbear- 

 ing set, and, so far as I can gather, were upon the whole about the 

 worst class in the mutiny. 



As agriculturalists their style of cultivation, &c, is much the same 

 as that of the Jats, although very greatly inferior. They are very 

 fond of land, and do not affect the finer garden cultivation but the 

 broad farming style of agriculture. They also keep cattle when the 

 country is fitted for it, and are very fond of laying their hands on 

 other people's cattle when they have the chance, — a weakness from 

 which the Jats also are not altogether free. 



They are as a rule wholly un-literary, and very much confine them- 

 selves to the two professions of agriculture and arms. 



The Rajpoots everywhere speak dialects of the ordinary Hindee. 

 I am not aware that any traces of any other language have ever been 

 found among them. 



The Koonbees or Koormees. 



To the south of the Rajpoots and Jats, the country is mainly occu- 

 pied by the class above mentioned. In all the central and eastern 

 parts of the N. W. Provinces, or in fact of Hindustan generally, the 

 Koormees are scattered about in considerable numbers as a well- 

 known and very industrious class of quiet cultivators. They own 

 villages of their own, and are also more widely spread in detached 

 families or groups of families. They affect the finer garden style 

 of cultivation much more than Jats and Rajpoots, and like the Jats 

 are assisted by industrious women. 



As I shall afterwards notice, the Koonbees seem to be nearly con- 

 nected with the Mallies, whose name we apply to the whole profession 

 of gardeners. 



The name is variously written, Koormee or Coormee, Kunabi, 

 Kunbee or Koonbee, and there is no doubt that the terms are syno- 

 nymous. 



In Hindustan the Koormees do not go much beyond their own 

 agricultural calling, but they are not absolutely unknown as Sepoys, 



