S5S K O O 
fhould his bride be from another parah, as often happens, 
the two parahs feaft and caronfe with each other alter¬ 
nately. At thefe, and all their feftivals, there is much 
drinking of a liquor made of the rice called deengkroo, 
of which the Kookies are very fond. There are two kinds 
of this liquor, the one pure and limpid; and the other of 
a red colour, from an infufion of the leaf of a particular 
tree called bangimillah, which renders it highly intoxi¬ 
cating. They indulge very freely in the life of both kinds, 
except when they go on hoftile excurfions ; they then ri¬ 
gidly abftain front them. In January and February they 
ufinally marry, becaufe they have provifions in the greateft 
plenty, and it is their moil idle time. 
When any perfon dies in a parah, thecorpfe is conveyed 
by the relations of the deceafed, and depofited upon a 
ftage raifed under a fhed creeled for the purpofe, at fome 
diitance from the d welling-houfe. While it remains there, 
it is carefully guarded day and night from the depreda¬ 
tions of dogs and birds, by fome one of the family, and 
a regular fupply of food and drink is daily brought and 
laid before it. Should more than one cafualty occur in a 
family, the fame ceremony is obferved with re'peel to each 
corpfe; and, at whatever time of the year perfons may 
happen to die in the parah, all the bodies mud be kept in 
this manner until the nth of April, called by the Ben¬ 
galees beejfoo. On that day all the relations, of the de¬ 
ceafed alienable and convey their remains from the fheds 
to different funeral-piles prepared for them on a particu¬ 
lar fpot without the parah, where they' are burnt; as are 
alfo the feveral fheds under which the bodies had lain 
from the period of their deceafe. After this melancholy 
ceremony is over, the whole party repairs to the houfe of 
him in whole family the firii cafualty occurred in that 
year, and partakes of an entertainment given by him in 
honour of the dead. On the following day a fimilar feaft 
is given by him in whofe family the next cafualty of the 
feafon had happened ; and thus, the feaft goes round in 
i’ucceflion, until one is given for each of the dead. In 
this pious prefervation of the dead till a certain day in 
the year, when only the laft folemn funeral rites can be 
performed to their remains, there is a lingular coinci¬ 
dence in the practice of the Kookies with that of fome 
of the tribes of the North-American Indians, as related 
in Bertram’s Travels ; and it muft appear a curious fa< 5 t, 
that, in fo very particular an inftance, there fbould be 
this fimilitude in the cuftoms of two favage people, 
placed in fuch oppoiite parts of the world ; where the 
climate, and other peculiar local circumftances, are fo to¬ 
tally different. 
The Kookies have an idea of a future ftate, where they 
are rewarded-and punifhed according to their merits in 
this world. They conceive that nothing is mote pleafing 
to the Deity, or more certainly enfures future happinefs, 
than deftroying a number of their enemies. The Supreme 
Being they conceive to be omnipotent, and the Creator of 
the world, and all that it contains. The term in their 
language for the Supreme Being is Khogein Pootteang. 
They alfo worfhip an inferior deity, under the name of 
Sheem Sauk, to whom they addrefs their prayers, as a me¬ 
diator with the Supreme Being, and as more immediately 
Interefting himfelf in the concerns of individuals. To 
the Supreme Being they offer in facrifice a gyal, as being 
their mod valued animal ; while to Sheem Sauk they fa¬ 
crifice a goat only. In every parah, they have a rudely- 
formed figure of wood of the human fhape, reprefenting 
Sheem Sauk ; it is generally placed under a tree, and to it 
they offer up their prayers before they fet out on any ex- 
curfion or enterprife, as the Deity that controls and di¬ 
rects their aftions and deftiny. Whenever, therefore, 
they return fuccefsful, whether from the chace, or the at¬ 
tack of an enemy, they religioufly place before Sheem 
Sauk all the heads of the flain, or of their game killed, as 
expreffive of their devotion, and to record their exploits.. 
Each warrior has his own particular pile of heads, and, 
according to the number it confifts of, his character as a 
K O O 
hunter and warrior is eftablilhed in the tribe. Thefe 
piles are facred ; and no man dares attempt to filch away 
his neighbour’s fame, by dealing from them to add to his 
own. They likewife worfhip the moon, as conceiving it 
to influence their fortunes in fome degree. And in every 
houfe there is a particular poll confecrated to the Deity, 
before which they always place a certain portion of what¬ 
ever food they are about to eat. In the month of January 
they have a folemn facrifice and feftival in honour of the 
Deity, when the inhabitants of feveral neighbouring pa¬ 
rahs (if on friendly terms) often unite and kill gyals, and 
all kinds of animals, on which they feaft, and dance and 
drink together for feveral days. They have no profelfed 
minifters of religion, but each adores the Deity' in fuch 
^manner as he thinks proper. They have no emblem, as 
of Sheem Sauk, to reprefent the Supreme Being. 
The Kookies having no coins among them, but fuch 
as find their way from the plains, for the few necelfaries 
they want they barter their produce with the Choomeeas, 
who are the medium of commerce; and on thefe occafions 
the Choomeeas are never allowed to enter their parahs, 
but are obliged to remain at a certain diftance, whither 
the articles of exchange are brought; fuch is their extrema 
jealoufy of admitting any ftrangers within their parahs, as 
already noticed. They frequently vifit a Mug chief, com¬ 
monly known by the name of the Comlahpore rajah, who 
is fettled among the hills, in the fouthern parts of this dif- 
trifr, and to whom they make themfelves understood from 
the fimilarity of their language. They can give no account 
of the country to the eaftward of their hills; but they have 
a tradition that it is an open level country, like the plaia 
of Chittagong. The Kookies are a great terror to the 
Bengalees fettled on the borders of the jungles in the 
Runganeeah and Aurangabad diftricls ; and a particular 
annoyance to the wood-cutters, whofe bufinefs leads them 
far into the forefts, and whom they have frequently fur- 
prifed and cut off. Whenever an unfortunate event of 
this nature has occurred, it has always been remarked, 
that the Kookies carry nothing away from the flain but 
their heads, and fuch fait as they may have with them. 
They Itand fo greatly in awe of fire-arms, that the report 
of a Angle mufket will put a whole party to flight; on 
this account the rajah of the Choomeeas, who is fo imme¬ 
diately in the neighbourhood, keeps in his fervice a num¬ 
ber of pehluwans, or men with fire-arms ; but, notwith- 
ftanding, his people have been obliged to abandon feveral 
places, by the depredations committed by the Kookies. 
Though the rajah is upon terms of friendfhip with fome 
of the tribes, yet, in the courfe of their migrations, thefe 
are fucceeded by others that he knows nothing of, and of 
whofe approach even he is ignorant, until his people are 
cut off; he is, therefore, under the neceflity of being con- 
ftantly prepared to repel thefe attacks, which, from being 
always made in the night, it is impoflible to guard againft. 
Afiaiic Refearchcs , vol. vii. 
KOOLASS'IAH, a fmall ifland in the Sooloo Archipe¬ 
lago. Lat. 6.22. N. Ion. 120. 38. E. 
KOO'LBARY, a town of Hindooftan, in Golconda ; 
thirty-five miles fouth of Combamet. 
KOO'LEUT, a town of Hindooftan, in Lahore: twenty - 
feven miles ealt of Behnburg. 
KOOLIKOR'RO, a town of Africa, in the kingdom 
of Bambarra, on the Niger; a confiderable mart for fait s 
330 miles fouth-weft of Sego. 
KOOLUCON'DA, a town of Hindooftan, in Myfore t 
thirteen miles north-eaft of Nagamungalum. 
KOO'MAR, a town of Hidooftan, in Bahar : thirteen 
miles eaft-north-eaft of Bahar. 
KOOMBEKHAR', or Potters ; a caft of Hindoos, 
who took their origin from the connexion of a man of 
the Sooder caft with a woman of the Chehtree. 
KOOMBOO', a town of Africa, in the kingdom of 
Tenda. Lat. 12. 42. N. ion. 12. W. 
KOOM'KIE, J. [Indian.] A female elephant trained 
to decoy the males into captivity, 
KOO'NARa 
