15 
1902.] T. G. Bailey —The Secret Words of the Cuhras. 
the whispered words “ kajja camda I ” (a jat is looking). This inter¬ 
ruption in his gaimi (thieving) he feels to be most inopportune. He feels 
still more ill at ease when he bears another hoarse whisper “ thip ja 
(hide yourself) palwe lioja ” (get to one side). He calls back “ kaipkar 
kar (throw a clod of earth) loth lai su ” (beat him or kill him) and 
emerges from the house. The neodl (theft) has not prospered. The 
two thieves flee by different ways to their homes, and next day discuss 
with great astonishment, bordering on incredulity, a report which has got 
abroad that a kajjd has been attacked by two Cuhra churm (thieves) 
who were engaged in Idlll (robbery) and has almost lug gay a (died). 
An account given me of an event which took place in a town in which 
I was staying will serve as an introduction to the subject of cattle 
poisoning and carrion eating. 
“ Aj ik ithtlie dahdl sohwi te tomi Kausi lug gai. Te kise 
To-day a here very fine and fat cow died and someone 
Rdrlcea de kol police nukar kitl bhai Rid wiccB 
to-the-Hindus having-gone accusation made that out of the Cuhras 
kise j& tiarl sairt, ja lanjl marl, j§ kise tart; 
someone either poison gave or poisoned-iron-point smote or in some way 
nal gcind ditti. Te Rarkea kathdyd si bhai asi na inha; lift 
killed. and the Hindu said that we neither to-tliem 
khanjara tilmn deage te na inhs nff llpra sairdge 
the carrion to eat will give and not to them the skin will give. 
Each company of Cuhras is supposed to possess at least one 
rukhm. or cattle poisoner. It is his business to arrange for the poison¬ 
ing of suitable animals. He charges six annas for a cow and eight 
annas for a buffalo. The poison is made up into little balls, white, and 
black, and green, the black and green being more potent. One tola 
put into the food of a cow is sufficient to cause death in 24 hours, 
but a buffalo requires two tolas. They say that ahorse will not take food 
with the poison in it. For this reason they kill horses with poisoned 
sharp-pointed instruments, which are made in two sizes; the smaller 
can be concealed in the hand and is called a lanjl, the larger is a short 
stick with the poisoned iron point affixed to the end, and is called 
chaggi. 
It is extremely hard to get Cuhras to admit any knowledge of 
these practices or even of the secret w T ords. After speaking to a con¬ 
siderable number of the people I have come to the conclusion that 
a fair proportion of them are genuinely ignorant of the less common 
words of their vocabulary. Militating somewhat against this is the 
fact that they, one and all, delight in the songs sung by their giyanis, 
which contain a proportion of secret words. There is little doubt 
