108 An Account of the Tribe of Mhadeo Kolies* [J AN". 



The Kolies bury their dead, and observe the same funeral ceremonies 

 as the members of the Shoodur tribe. The bodies of such persons as 

 die of a lingering disease, also those who die suddenly, are burnt, their 

 death being considered to have been caused by conjuration and witch- 

 craft. They examine the ashes, either the same evening or the follow- 

 ing morning, in the expectation of discovering some proof of the cause 

 of the death ; for they verily believe that if the deceased had stolen or 

 unjustly retained any article of food or wearing apparel, &c. (and the 

 owner of such an article consequently practised some necromantic 

 pranks in order, that the thief or thieves might be visited by some 

 affliction), that a small portion of the said article, enveloped in a part of 

 the intestines, will remain unconsumed by the fire, and will be seen 

 smoking when the rest of the body has been reduced to dust. If the 

 friends of the deceased are satisfied that, by the magical powers of the 

 owner of the article, their friend was put to death, they seized the sup- 

 posed murderer, and reported the particulars of the affair to the govern- 

 ment agents. If the man or woman, thus apprehended, could bribe the 

 influential persons in the district, the affair terminated here ; otherwise 

 the magician was kept in confinement in one of the hill forts for some 

 time. 



Many of the Kolies experience a considerable degree of uneasiness 

 and alarm, lest they should some time or other, incur the displeasure 

 of some of the magicians* or witches in their neighbourhood, especially 

 the Thakoors and their females, who have the credit of being 

 very great adepts in the necromantic art. In such a state of 

 society, we need not be surprised at hearing of such things, for his- 

 tory informs us, that the Egyptians, Jews, Greeks and Romans, 

 also people of more modern times, believed in the reality of demonia- 

 cal possessions ; that they supposed spiritual beings did occasionally 

 enter into the sons and daughters of men, and distinguished themselves 

 in that situation by capricious pranks and acts of wanton mischief ; 

 in fact, that they afflicted men and cattle with diseases. All nations 

 and tribes immersed in ignorance and superstition, have much the 

 same notions on this subject ; the faith of few people is more staunch 

 in the belief of such things than that of the Kolies.f Whatever malady 

 man, woman or child, or even their cattle, may be seized with, the 



* There is a Koly family, consisting at present of several brothers, living in a village a 

 couple of koss from Kotool, who are considered great bhootallies, or conjurers. They 

 have the credit of having committed th e most atrocious acts ; any of their neighbours, who 

 molest or annoy them, they distress at a most unmerciful rate. They destroy and lay 

 waste the corn, the sugar cane and produce of the fields, of persons they dislike. Those 

 that have attempted to make a stand against their evil practices have been forced to quit 

 their homes, although they have expended money (in vain) to bribe persons of influence, 

 in the hope of overthrowing the bhootallies. It is said that the members of the family, for 

 a series of generations, have possessed this influential power. 



+ All the Hindoos and Mahomedans appear to dread the influence of incantations, and 

 implicitly believe in the mischievous effects of the evil eye, the existence of ghosts and 

 the power of witchcrafts. 



