An Account of (he Tribe of Mhadeo Kolies. 



[ApltiL 



promissory note on stamped paper the interest charged is theDohotary, 

 or twenty -fd-ir per cent. ( 



If the man who has got himself thus entangled in debt is a person of 

 considerable energy, spirited and litigious, he will attend the court in 

 the hope of being able to obtain some redress ; but in this he often fails. 

 The vakeels (agents) employed by the plaintiff preclude his having any 

 chance of justice done him, so the scene terminates by having his pro- 

 perty sold to satisfy the rapacious Bunniah. 



In fact the Bunniahs, before they come to the resolution of prosecuting 

 a man in our courts, adopt every precaution to ensure his being com- 

 pletely ensnared before they lodge a complaint against him. Bonds, 

 receipts &c. are all forthcoming, and duly attested ; such other eviden- 

 ces, oral and documentary, as may be required are at hand ; the victim 

 to be sacrificed and lodged in jail is carefully selected for the purpose, 

 in the expectation that the trial and sentence may make a more forcible 

 impression on the other Koly debtors. 



Many of these men surrender their cattle or pledged property at once 

 to the Bunniah, rather than submit to the vexation, inconvenience, and 

 expense of being dragged from their families and homes to attend 

 the court at a distance, which may decree them to be imprisoned. 

 Others of the Kolies fly to a distance from their homes to escape the 

 tormenting calls of their creditors. Those who abscond, not unfre- 

 quently change their names, and too often subsist by leading an idle and 

 thievish life— several of those who joined ihe formidable gangs that 

 assembled in the Rajoor hills in 1828-29 & 30, were men wbohad become 

 desperate from being inextricably plunged in debt. They told me, after 

 they were captured, that they joined the gang in the hope of being able 

 to secure some money or ornaments by plunder, to enable them to pay 

 off their debts and reside in peace in their own village. 



The poorer classes of Kolies andThakoors are in some seasons oblig- 

 ed to borrow seed grain from the Bunniahs ; for one maund of rice or 

 khoorachny borrowed, they return two maunds at harvest time in ordi- 

 nary seasons ; but in dear years, the Bunniah gives one maund on the 

 promise of receiving three in return. For other inferior grain a half 

 or fifty per cent, is given to the lender. I may add here that such of the 

 Kolies as were of a turbulent disposition and unsettled habits, not un- 

 frequently endeavour to realize by robbery money to pay their arrears 

 of revenue and to settle with the Bunniahs ; at other times, the rogues 

 adopted what they considered an indemnifying system with the Bun- 

 niahs, that could be neither profitable nor agreeable to the latter. 



During a dark night ten or fifteen Kolies would aUack the Bunniah's 

 house. They made a point of destroying his book of accounts or any 

 papers they could lay their hands on, by putting them in water and tear- 

 ing them to pieces. They would, if greatly exasperated, take the Bun=- 



