30 BHOTIA MEHALS 



the court for that purpose, to whom also was granted authority for adju- 

 dicating the civil and criminal pleas pending among the Bhotias. The 

 internal management was left to the Defter is or Patwdris, and to the 

 " Jjfirhas," or heads of villages, by whom also the detailed cess was ap- 

 portioned, being laid every third year wholly on the land, and during the 

 intervening period levied in the shape of a capitation, or rather of a pro- 

 perty tax. The " Burhas" in addition to the usual dues on marriages, 

 &c, received a small public allowance from the rents of their respective 

 villages : they were also assisted by petty officers, corresponding with the 

 Mukaddam and Kotwal of the Hindu village institutions. These, again, 

 were similarly remunerated. The garrisons above-mentioned, appear to 

 have been retained in the ghats, principally with the view of protecting 

 the inhabitants from the incursions of the Bhotias of the neighbouring 

 ghats, more particularly of the " Jdts,"* or natives of " Jamla" a Bhotia 

 state, east of the Kali. 



On the Gorkha invasion, the principal opposition made to their arms 

 was from the Bhotias : for the period of nine years, after the submission 

 of the rest of Kumaon, the Juwdris frustrated every effort made for their 

 conquest, and it was a consideration of their commercial interests, rather 

 than any successes of the invaders, which ultimately induced a subjection 

 to that power. This resistance on the part of the Bhotias, joined to an 

 exaggerated reputation for wealth, marked them out for peculiar exac- 

 tions : the public demand rose gradually to Rupees 7,000 in Niti, 12,500 

 in Juwdr, 10,000 in Darma, and 5,000 in Byanse, while in some years 

 nearly double those sums were extorted, under various pretences, by the 



officers 



* As the Jdts of Hindustan are considered of Tartar race, may there not have been some 

 original connection between their ancestors and the Juts otJamla. 



