100 REV. FR. J. HOFFMANN, S.J. 



walk of a lanky , weak-kneed, long-legged individual, who threatens to fall to pieces 

 at every step he takes : tapa-tupu or tapa-tupu-tapa-tupu describes the waddling kind 

 of walk of stout but stunted individuals : sil-sil is used of an unkempt, disorderly head 

 of hair. 



Jngles, like other words, may be used metaphorically, i.e., transferred to mental 

 or moral dispositions. Thus chom-chom is applied to any roof or covering that spreads 

 regularly downward from a single point, and, therefore, presents the shape of a dome, a 

 pyramid, an umbrella. Hence it denotes the pleasant impression made by the regular- 

 ity of shape, as well as by that of a safe and snug dwelling or covering. It corresponds 

 therefore to the English cosy or snug. This idea of covering or enclosing a material 

 space is transferred to the moral sphere by being applied to the character or disposition 

 of persons ; thus chom-chom is used of a reticent character, or a forbidding behaviour, 

 as opposed to a frank and cordial manner. 



Often they take the present tense affix tan, plus the linkword a. In the subse- 

 quent line the a is then generally left out. 



Burure mandukam hale ribi-ribitana ho 

 Berate sarajom hale gasa-gasatan. 



On the mountain the mhowa-fruit lies thick and dense like the big black ants when 



they move in a body, 

 In the valley the sal-tree fruit lies closely packed like the small red ants when they 



crawl over each other, 



i.e., just now, or at this season, edible fruit is plentiful everywhere on hills and 

 in valleys. 



These jingles are used also in vivid descriptions or in excited moods in the ordinary 

 conversational language, but not nearly so frequently as in the songs. In these they 

 occur with such a profusion that they must be considered as a distinct factor in the 

 outward form of Mundari poetry. 



They are, in their own way, very apt means towards the main end of poetry as 

 the following considerations will show : — 



They directly describe not so much the objects, as the pleasant or painful impres- 

 sions and feelings caused by them, cf . the meanings given above on pp. 98 and 99. 



It may, perhaps, be said that they seem to point to a widened sense of imitative 

 harmony or that faculty of imitating, by so-called words, certain impressions made on us. 

 Whereas with us such words are now mainly restricted to sensations of sounds, these 

 aborigines would seem to have preserved and developed that faculty so as to extend 

 it to all the other sensations and even to purely mental (non-sensaticnal) impressions : 

 cf . doed'-doed' descriptive of the feeling of weariness and annoyance at the dreary mono- 

 tony of a long road or an apparently endless plain one is traversing ; and ari-ari des- 

 criptive of the utter dejection and despair caused by repeated failure. 



This seems to derive some confirmation from the two following facts : — 



(a) If these jingles be broken up and either the first or the second part be taken 

 by itself alone, it has no longer any meaning for the Mundas themselves. Everyone 



