482 
sake of placing his head and hands and feet in their fields to ensure 
a more abundant harvest®). The fate of slaves is not hard. They are 
made to work, but not harder than the women of the village in which 
they are captives. Two forms of mimic warfare are practised. There 
is the w'ar-dance in which warriors, in full festival panoply, review, with 
realistic war-cries, every circumstance of defence and attack. This has 
the effect of inflaming undecorated youths to sally forth and win the 
“cordons” and “garters” of warriors. The stonethrowing and fisticuff 
festivals held at certain seasons are on the other hand excellent outlets 
for their pent up martial ardour. During these, rival parties assemble 
outside the village and attack each other fiercely with fists and teeth. 
Sometimes stones may be thrown, but all w'eapons are debarred, and the 
severest blows bestowed on an opponent are rarely taken into account and 
never lead to subsequent feuds^). The warcry used is a shrill Mh, hilh ; 
not to be confounded with the ho, ho already described, from which it 
differs in being articulate. Both sexes join in slow figure-dances—com¬ 
memorative of love-episodes. Onlookers sing bars before and clap hands 
after each figure. Women dance by themselves a lively quickstep. 
Hunting is a universal occupation. The forests contain deer and 
wild pig ; on the higher hills are found bears and telu ,—a ruminant akin 
to the “serao” but peculiar to the Bareil range. These are usually 
pursued by hunting parties, though those who have muskets sometimes 
go out alone or in pairs. They have a tall fierce breed of dogs with short 
erect ears and usually of a black and white colour. Men are often severely 
injured and sometimes killed outright by the bears. Tigers and leopards 
from the lower valleys at certain seasons carry off cattle or even kill men. 
Then a blood-feud is declared ; armed warriors beat the jungle systematic¬ 
ally till the animal is discovered and surrounded. The ring of spears con¬ 
verges : though more than one may succumb when the tiger tries to force 
the circle no one flinches and the animal rarely escapes. All try to spear it, 
fot its head counts only less than a man’s ; hence good skins cannot 
be had. The birds taken are pheasant, partridge and woodcock, also the 
hornbill for the sake of its feathers. A large rat is also eagerly sought. 
1 ) Butler :/(3c. cit. p. 157. 
2 ) Stewart: Jour. Asiat Soc. of Bengal loc. cit. 
S) Capricornis bubalina : a rare ruminant of the N. W. Himalaya. For an account 
of its habits see Adams : Wanderings of a naturalist in India p. 220. The Bareil serao 
is rather larger a,nd is. red, , Its habits are identical with those of its western congener. 
^#3 
Si 
