1897.] G-. N. Dutt —Notes on the Vernacular dialects of Saran. 197 
Having finished the principal pargana dialects prevalent in the 
district, I now come to racial and tribal dialectical differences. The 
professions of barber, oilman the washerman the milkman 
carpenter (sRffe), are followed by Hindus and Muhammadans 
alike, forming themselves into a separate caste. The Muhammadan 
milkman is called (Gaddi) and Muhammadan Baniya, 
(Rikl). The Hindi spoken by the Muhammadans is different from that 
spoken by the Hindus having an admixture of Urdu, as statement E 
will show. 
Of the aboriginal tribes the Magjiaiwd Dams, the Natuds and 
Siarmarwas (jackal hunter), (but not the Musahars who speak Hindi 
just in the same way as other Hindus) use a distinct dialect of their 
own in conversation among themselves, and these dialects are quite 
unintelligible to others. Appendices F, G & H are specimens of their 
language. 
As it may be interesting to give a short account of these tribes, 
I take the liberty to deviate a little from my subject. The Bengal 
Police Code speaking of Maghaiwa Doms says: “ The Maghaiwa of 
Camparan and Saran are inveterate wanderers and thieves. They 
build neither villages nor huts, but shelter themselves under sirkls , 
bushes, and blankets, moving from place to place in search of plunder. 
They extend their operations into Nepal. They enter houses at night 
(not by a mine) by the door and carry no light. They are armed with 
knives which they freely use. Sometimes they strap them to their fore¬ 
arms, so that the blade projects at the elbows. When attempts are 
made to arrest them they become dangerous and resist strenuously, 
wounding themselves or threatening to dash a child to the ground, so 
as to deter the Police from acting. They occasionally use as accom¬ 
plices, the bad characters of the locality in which they are working. 
They are feared and detested by the people ; but some of the less 
respectable land-holders permit them to squat and share their plunder.” 
Natuds : —A low born type of Muhammadans who allow their 
daughters to be professional prostitutes, but not their daughter-in-law 
or wives whom they purchase when they are very young. Mr. Magrath 
describes them: “ They are a vagabond race, seldom settling down and 
having as their nightly covering a small pent house of reeds commonly 
called a sirki. They not unfrequently profess to be Muhammadans and 
are said to be regularly circumcised. They are most of them hard 
drinkers, and resemble so much the gypsies of Europe, that it seems 
almost impossible not to identify the two. They have a secret 
language like the Gypsies besides the ordinary dialect used by them.” 
J. i. 26 
