82 An Account of the Tribe of Mhadeo Kolies. [Jan. 



monkies ; also hares, pea fowl and jungle fowls, with many birds, small 

 and large, of rare and variegated plumage. 



Exclusive of the principal passes in the western ghauts, there are 

 numerous foot paths, leading over the mountains, from the Koly habita- 

 tions above, to the villages below in the Konkan. These paths are 

 very intricate, and it is with much difficulty the people travel along 

 them when loaded, and proceeding with the produce of their fields to 

 the bazars on market days ; where the rock is very precipitous they use 

 a simple bamboo ladder,* which enables them to effect their passage by 

 the most direct routes. 



During the south-west monsoon, which in general sets in about the 

 end of May, or first fortnight in June, on such days as the rain ceases, 

 not only the summit of the mountains, but the valleys are enveloped in 

 general in a very dense fog, consequently there is always a damp and 

 chilly sensation in the atmosphere at this period. While the months 

 of April and May are often extremely sultry and oppressive below, it 

 is comparatively cool on the tops of the hills. It may be observed, 

 that the scale of the atmospherical heat, as indicated by our thermo- 

 meters at times in such situations, is an imperfect measure of sensible 

 heat. The climate is unhealthy, after the termination of the monsoon, 

 and the inhabitants suffer much from fever and ague in the months of 

 September, October and November. 



The population of the tract just described consists of Thakoors,f 

 some Hutgur and Telwur Kanarahs, and a few Bunjaries, in addition to 

 the Kolies; J including also, some Koonbies, who have intruded them- 

 selves within a few ages past. 



The following is given as the popular tale of the origin of the Kolies. 

 After the death of one of the rajahs of the race of the sun, named 

 Rajah Venn, who was a very great sinner and a very disreputable per- 

 son (an account of him is given in the Bhugwutta Pooran), a man of a 

 dwarfish size, sprung from his left arm, and he was called Neeshad 

 (base born), and directed by some saint to take up his residence among 

 mountains and forests. He, consequently, was the ancestor of all 

 Keerauts,§ or the barbarous and savage people who inhabit wild places, 

 and subsist by the chase. One of the descendants of Neeshad and a 

 female shoodur, were the parents of the Poolkuss ,• and a male of the 

 Neeshad lineage and a female of the Poolkuss family, were the parents 

 of the Koly. He was to subsist, by killing whatever animals he en- 

 countered in the jungles and forests. It may further be stated, that 



* They place a substantial bamboo, divested of its branches, except a small stump that 

 is left at each joint or division, to be used as a step. 



t A short account of these people will be communicated in a separate paper hereafter. 



t There are some Mhadeo Kolies settled around Jowair in the Konkan ; the Rajah of 

 Jewair is a Koly. There are some of the same tribe in Bombay. 



\ Keeraut, Poolinda and Shubbur, are the Sanskrit terms applied to the Bhecls, and 

 other wild hilly tribes. 



