The " Kola" of Chota-Ncigporc. 177 



Suigi,* Pongla, Madhi, Makoo, Roomeea Saggi, Dinli, Natri, Akli, 

 Bangi, Julli, and the Hindoo names of the days of the week are very 

 commonly given. The following are the names of boys — Rumsi, Birsa, 

 Somra, Daharoo, Singra, Satri,Dubroo, Doolkoo,Didoo, Runka, Biggoo. 

 But they have adopted many foreign names, and the names of British 

 officers they have known and esteemed, are thus preserved amongst 

 the Hos of Singbhoom, and may be handed down from generation to 

 generation. Thus " Major" and " Captain" have become common 

 names in the Colehan, originally taken from Major lloughsedge, the 

 first British officer they ever saw, and Captain Wilkinson (now Col. 

 Wilkinson) whom they regard as their greatest benefactor. Doctor, 

 Tickell, &c. are also common. Girls, when three or four years of age, 

 receive their mark of caste. Three lines tattooed on the forehead and 

 two on each temple, four dots on the chin and one on the nose. It 

 does not appear to be connected with any religious custom, nor is it 

 applied with any ceremony, and as neither the Moondahs nor the 

 Qraons have any particular term for it in their own language, it is 

 probable that they adopted it from the Sudhs or Hindoos. Some 

 Moondah girls of Chota-Nagpore have different marks. Those of 

 Singbhoom have adopted the arrow, appropriately enough, as the 

 national weapon of the» lords and masters. 



The Kheiiahs and Juangas, though isolated from the Moondahs and 

 Oraons, have the same triple and double marks on the forehead and 

 temples. The Oraon boys are marked, when children, on the arms by 

 rather a severe process of puncturation, which they consider it manly to 

 endure. The only reason I have heard assigned for this custom is, that 

 through it even the naked dead may have a distinguishing mark. 



When a girl approaches maturity, it is incumbent on her to bind 

 up her hair, and from that period of her life she is restricted to food 

 prepared by her own people. As a child with her hair loose, she is 

 permitted to partake of whatever is edible, no matter by whom prepared. 

 Young men enjoy this liberty of appetite till they marry. They then, 

 to use their own expression, put salt in their flesh, and must not 

 partake of food prepared by aliens. The Oraons have a veneration 

 for salt, and they are not absolutely prohibited from partaking of 



* A common name and also the name of a goddess, and the name, I see, of 

 one of the young ladies from the Andaman Islands. 



