The " Koh" of Chota-Nagpore. 1 57 



saved the goddess Kali when, as Runkini, she ran away from Pochete. 

 Discredit has attached to the Bhoomij and Sonthal in consequence of 

 the human sacrifices offered at this shrine of Runkini, hut the whole 

 establishment and ritual are essentially Braminical. The Bhoomij 

 and Sonthal races personally do not much care for the blood-thirsty 

 goddess. The Bhoomij is the branch of the Moondah race that has 

 spread farthest in an eastern direction. Bhoomij are to be found in 

 Molmrbhunj and Keonjur, though perhaps not so much at home there 

 as in Dhulbhoom. 



The Sonthals are now chiefly massed in the Sonthal Pergunnahs, 

 but they muster strong in Molmrbhunj, and there are several colonies 

 of them in the Singbhoom district. They are an erratic race, and 

 their ancient traditions arc lost in the history of their modern migra- 

 tions ; but my idea is that their chief settlements in Bengal were once 

 on the Damoodah river, and that they gave way to the Koormees, an 

 industrious Hindoo race, who now form the bulk of the population in 

 that part of Manbhoom. 



In a southerly direction the next tribe of u Dasyus" that we come 

 across are the Khunds, but I am unable to trace any point of resem- 

 blance between them and the Moondah, either in their religion with 

 its morbid superstitions and horrible human sacrifices, or in their 

 language. 



To trace the further ramifications of the Moondahs we must proceed 

 west, not south, and take up the link in the hills and highest table- 

 lands of Sirgoojah and Juspore, where we find the wildest of the race 

 in the Korewahs. I have given a brief note on them in the paper 

 above quoted, and have only to add that the Korewahs are quite 

 unaware of the connectionship between themselves and the Kols. 

 They do not acknowledge, and do not see, that the languages are almost 

 identical. This would not, I conceive, have been the case if the 

 Korewahs had broken off from their Satyomba kinsfolk. 



The Korewahs are another branch of the family, and the history 

 of their migrations is no doubt an independent one. It is probable 

 that they were forced back into the hills they now occupy by the 

 Gooands, as a Hindooized clan of that people became the dominant 

 race in the plains of Sirgoojah. Moreover, as pointed out by 

 Mr. GL Campbell, at a late meeting of the Society, we have in 



