76 An Account of the Tribe of Mhadeo Kolies. [Jan, 



The Mettah Kolies appear to be confined entirely to Bombay, where 

 they have between five and six hundred houses. From residing on the 

 hill, or rising ground, south of Mazagong, they are occasionally termed 

 Doonggurry Kolies, from Doonggur, a hill. The part of the native town 

 called Doonggurry derives its name from these Kolies, having origi- 

 nally been the first inhabitants, not only of that spot, but of the island 

 of Bombay. In fact, they assert that the place belonged to them in 

 days of yore. They are all fishermen and seamen ; they do not retail 

 the fish themselves, but hand them over to other persons in the bazar. 

 There are persons of considerable wealth among them, who are owners 

 of vessels that trade along the Malabar coast, navigated by sailors of 

 their own tribe. The head Patells, Gopalljee Guary and Bheojee Soory, 

 adjust all disputes connected with their caste. Such persons as are prov- 

 ed guilty of unchaste and immoral acts are expelled from the tribe, and 

 not received back again into their community. These Kolies consume 

 large quantities of liquor at their festivals, and convivial and ceremonial 

 meetings. The wives of the Mettah Kolies devote the glass bangles of 

 the right hand to the deep, to propitiate the spirit of the ocean for the 

 sake of their husbands, in the same manner the Sone Kolies do, and they 

 replace them with silver ones. They worship Khundoba, Bhyroo and 

 Bhowany. 



In Bombay, Thannah, Bhewndy, Kallian, Bassein, Damaun, &c. we 

 find a people, termed by the inhabitants, the Christian, or Portuguese, 

 Koly. It is said that their ancestors were of the tribe of Sone Kolies, 

 and that they were forcibly converted to Christianity, some ages ago, by 

 the Portuguese. These people are cultivators, extractors of toddy from 

 the palm trees, and others sellers of fish. They follow the precepts of 

 the Roman Catholic faith ; but it seems an extraordinary schism has 

 sprung up among them, or, it ought rather to be said, that some of them 

 have forsaken the true faith, and reverted to paganism. This retrogres- 

 sion took place about the years 1820 and 1821, when that terrible 

 scourge, the cholera morbus, was raging so furiously in the Konkan, 

 and along the coast. Many of these poor ignorant creatures, seeing 

 desolation spread in their families by this heavy visitation, thought 

 they would be much more fortunate and happy, were they to pay their 

 adorations to Devy, Khundoba and Wittoba, than by continuing to do 

 so to the Almighty. A portion of them having accordingly come to 

 this resolution, they at once abandoned the true God, and supplicated 

 these false idols to be merciful and kind to them, and to relieve them 

 from the distress by which they were surrounded. They have disconti- 

 nued all intercourse with their Christian brethren, and resumed the cus- 

 tom of wearing the sendhy, or tuft of hair on the crown of the head. 

 They employ Brahmans at their nuptial ceremonies, but the other Hin- 

 doo Kolies, considering them a contaminated race, hold no communica- 



