Statistical jRepori on the 



[No. 35, 



sects, bats-dung is tlirown over the field, and sometimes assafoetida 

 — but more frequently decamullee is enclosed in a gourd and buri- 

 ed in the stream that imgates tlie rice. An earthen pot whitened, 

 or the skull of a bullock, is set up in the field to avert the all 

 di-eaded evil eye. Hunnumaun's protection from evil spirits is in- 

 vited by offerings of sugar, rice, and flowers — and the wrath of the 

 SaJcfis they endeavour to avert by the promise of a goat. Hather 

 more attention is paid to the cultivation of the dry grains, especial- 

 ly the jowaree — for on them the Coonhee depends for his subsis- 

 tence, while the rice goes to pay his rent, satisfy other land dues, 

 and above all his Bunnya creditor. The jowaree is sown broad 

 cast, or with the drill plough, after the ground has been careful- 

 ly ploughed at least twice — but in the stiffer soils, and where there 

 is much grass, sometimes five times. They give the soil a light top 

 dressing with the dust of bones and ofial burnt, procured for them 

 by the Choomars. On rare occasions it is manured with cow^-dung, 

 and with much anxiety do they watch the growth of a crop which 

 is their sole resource against starvation, and sundry are the appli- 

 ances, which their ignorance and superstition suggest to render it 

 productive. "When the stalks are too red they sacrifice a goat and 

 sprinkle the blood on the field. "When too black, bats-dung, and 

 when too white, milk and dhye, are thrown on the crop — when 

 worms attack the stem two or three of the insects are rolled up in 

 a cotton wiok which when dipped in a mixture of ghee, sesamum, 

 and castor oil is placed on a human skull raised on a stick, and 

 then set fire to —if a skull be not procurable the shell of a land 

 tortoise (the Testudo geometrica) is substituted — this last cere- 

 mony smacks of the human sacrifice of the Khonds — but the fol- 

 lowing can be typical only of such a rite now happily exploded. 

 "When a very serious blight threatens his jowaree, the Coonhee geta 

 up at dead of night, collects five handsful of earth from a Coomar''8 

 workshop, five from the dhohees ghat, and five from the place 

 where a corpse has been consumed ; these he mixes together and 

 forms, as well as he can, a human figure on the ground, the earth 

 of which is then thrown on the field. The charm will have no ef- 

 fect if any one should be cognizant of it. 



Por the Indian corn the ground is prepared much in tlie same 

 way as for the jowaree — but it is more frequently manured with 

 cow-dimg, and the seed is planted by the women in the drills form- 



