194 The " Koh" of Chota-Nagpore. 



new earthen vessel and deposited on the rice, and the hole is filled in 

 and covered with the large slab which effectually closes it against 

 desecration. 



The collection of these massive grave stones under the fine old 

 tamarind trees is a remarkable feature in Kol villages, and almost an 

 indelible one, for they are found in many places where Kols have not 

 existed for centuries. Besides the grave stones, monumental stones 

 are set up outside the village to the memory of men of note. They 

 are fixed in an earthen plinth, on which, shaded by the pillar, the ghost 

 is supposed to sit. The Kheriahs have collections of these monu- 

 ments in the little enclosure round their houses, and offerings and 

 libations are constantly made to them. 



The funeral ceremonies above described are of a composite order, 

 mingling with the Hindoo custom of cremation, what was in all 

 probability their original mode of burial ; but a very profound 

 reverence for the dead pervades them all. I think it is very probable 

 that the Kols originally disposed of their dead differently. The coffin, 

 though put together on the faggots that are to consume it, has projec- 

 tions as if to facilitate transport. Omit the burning and substitute 

 burial, and we have the careful disposal and subsequent adoration of the 

 dead that is practised by the Chinese ; but the burning of the body and 

 the long retention of the ashes in a portable form may have been 

 adopted at a time when the tribe could not be certain of continued 

 residence in one place. 



Tickell has given at length the Ho legend of the origin of the human 

 race. It is supremely absurd, and very few of the present generation 

 know anything or care anything about it. I have always found such 

 legends changeable and untrustworthy. With no written record to 

 give them permanence, they are altered either to suit new con- 

 ditions or the fancy of the reciter. Thus though the Kols have 

 known the English for little more than half a century, they assign to 

 them a most honourable place in their genesis. The Assam Abors and 

 G-arrows do just the same. 



I do not think that the present generation of Kols have any notion 

 of a heaven or a hell that may not be traced to Biahminical or Christian 

 teaching. The old idea is that the souls of the dead become " blwots" 

 spirits, but no thought of reward or punishment is connected with the 



