OF BHARATAVAESA OR INDIA. 
Ill 
and Kols, which is still occasionally asserted to exist and to 
which I have repeatedly alluded. 
The Kolis appear originally as mountaineers, but after- 
wards descending to the plains, some settled down as agri- 
culturists, while many others selecting the seashore became 
fishermen and sailors.^^ 
The Koli mountaineers were not long ago the guardians 
of the hill-passes, especially of those in the Ajanta range and 
in the Western Ghats. Their ancient position as lords of the 
mountains is to this day certified by the fact that the 
See C. Lassen's Indische Altertkumskunde, vol. I, p. 137 (or 108): 
" Bhilla sitzen hier nocli in dam Granzgebirge nach Malva, Hajputana und 
siidliclier ; ein grosser Theil der Bevolkernng besteht aus einem andern 
urspriinglicli ahnlichen Volke, den Kuli {Kola), welches aber Brahmanische 
Sitten dem grossem Theile nacb angenommen hat." Compare further Rev. 
M. A. Sherring's Eindu Tribes and Castes, vol. II, pp. 307-316. 
Sir George Campbell remarks in his Etlmology of India about the Kooleos 
on pp. 42-45 as follows : "I find, however, that the opinion of those quali- 
fied to judge seems to tend to the belief that there is no essential dilference 
between the two tribes (the Koolees and Bheels) . Forbes in his Ras Mala says . 
' Koolees or Bheels, for though the former would resent the classification, the 
distinctions between them need not be here noticed.' Captain Probyn says : 
' I think there is no actual difference between Koolees and Bheels. Their 
religion is the same.' Mr. Ashburner : ' There is no real difference between 
Bheels and Koolees ; their habits, physiognomy and mode of life are the 
same, modified by local circumstances.' And the Rev. Mr. Dunlop Moore 
says : ' Koolees frequently marry Bheel wives.' Other authorities, however, 
say that they do not intermarry. They both seem to claim a northern and 
not a southern origin, pointing to the hills of Rajpootana and the north 
of Goozerat. The Bheels say that they were originally called Kaiyos ; Sir 
John Malcolm says that they are related to the Meenas of Rajpootana, and 
once ruled in the Jeypore country. Forbes again tells us that the Koolees 
were originally called Mairs, while in Rajpootana, Col. Tod speaks of Mairs 
or Meenas as one race . . . Though probably in the main of the same class 
and similar origin, the Koolees and Bheels are now quite distinct tribes, and 
there is this considerable difference that the Koolees have come much more 
into contact with Aryan blood civilization . . . The Koolees are the Abori- 
gines of Goozerat (where they now live in considerable number), and of 
the hiUs adjoining that Province. The hills east of Goozerat are called 
' Kolwan ' and seem to be the property of Koolee tribes . . . The Bheels are 
the proper possessors of the hiUs farther in the interior and east of the 
Koolees . . . The Koolees seem to be scattered down the Coast country 
nearly as far as Goa, and north again into the ' Thurr ' and the neighbour- 
hood of Scinde. While the wilder Koolees of the hills are like the Bheels, 
