Page:The Indian Antiquary, Vol. 4-1875.djvu/364

Zfoa mm* Ulflk] VfJTBS ON KHiXDESH. Lir lir-ro. Krom his time till now most of the district bus hud peace j but every now and then Indications appear thai theold?pii not quite died out- la 1857*8 & Khftl named Ksji Sing raised ft considerable force or rebels and plunderers in the north, ami was only put down after a sharp notion fuuifUt at A nib a Pan!, hi the Shads Taluks; and within my own inemor. feranom of Bhlll Chiefs with neighbouring S States have throe time* threatened considerable lxuices. The lust and rami serious occa- btou was when the Gaikwid was put in posses- aion, in tfi70, of ft certain disputed tensftorj calbxl the W a j p ft r Taraf, lying between the Nesn and Tapli avers, which hi* uEficiuIs imme- diately proceeded to administer in a manner that soon produced a state of tin mring to open rebellion in Ins territory, and organised mosatrooping in the adjacent parrs of ours. Poor the rest, tho Bhill, if let alone arid unexposed to the corrupting influences of «- good follow eaoagtti honftft except for occasional docaitiea undertaken under pressure of hunger or from giueti da ©ear {like French wars), i'nl, gonttrons and cheerful, and even at times inu in a spasmodic way. His faults arc a childish unsteadiness and fickleness, and a eonsiderubJu taste for country spirito; but t he race Is certainly improvable. Jlujo r L'ursy tb hit', recorded a hirndnr opinion from obser* in Xiiriur. 1< U uwAy ftcoo asar j to add that litis race luive never exercised any orgn Oie ! i "" r .-" >■■■■■' of the " Dang" and 4 ' MuwiV States are indeed H b 1 11 s , djthey "make-be I umeti indeed" to he tt«jputs ; but thuy arc luuruly captains of bands of thieves crystal Lixed nnd localized into so-called states lay Onr conquest of tin" country, tlio troubles immediately preceding which had • iioSihtd them to acquire a certain amount of predatory pOU Thu Bk 11 lit cultivate in a fashion; ami as ltiohgood waste land available thuy use UlO plough, and are not oft. (within Khjunlcbh proper) to ttw rude ul tutu of th* hmmt* system. W .can, nf not only their HdMb bol villages. But their ohamet- > I ustrJeS urO tlioso connected with their beloved jungles. cutting and cstrrying timber, Hrc-wood, and bamboos ; collecting lac and lbr»t fruit* ; and thu unremitting pursuit of almost every creature that bath lit;'- fjboj do not cat men', and T have never uvystilf known them to eat beef, but have every reason to believe that those ■ forests do «n. Well these tat- ns uhuost everything in Ibb to the BhuTs I bavu seen them eat the grab of tho TusatrB-mlk moth-, and their resonroiw in the vogetablf kingdom arc equally extensive, in- eluding the bitter roots of certain water-lilies j iii id tho fruit wrm of the pfmpat4ii» (Fiam Tbey hsre a. saying of their own, " If ail thu world were to die of hunger Bhill would romain," which has a double mean- "gt — a^llnding Hntly to their omaivorous palatas, and Bccondly conveying a meaning b"ko that of tin- liordcr motto "Thou sluilt want ere I "' They ilw thu pike, sword, and march, lock, but their distinguishing weapon hi the bow, which those of the hills draw with some ttfiact. The bow and arrow is the mark of a Hhill on any document. They have no separate constructed language, b«l possess a peculiar vocabulur)' of their u»vn, winch thuy are rather shy of imparting to nny one tdse ; and thongh I bare sometimes imagined that I had got Imni of pecnlinr words, I always found rltcm hi the end traceable bd otiw luuguagca. The words NUoij, Nml-dt/, and Narp, meaning 'a boar.' occur among all the bill-tribes of tltn Ui-khan, and art) not Bpwially BhSH. One or two olHoers have Efciren! liines itea of snob words' The Bhilia ueldom ride T even ott ponies; a few were utdisted into 21 cavalry regiment at Malugam some yuan ago, but they mostly desmted. As infantry, however, they arc capnhle of a ccrtaiu amoonl lino : and the bravery, emlur* ftQOO, nnd fidelity of the Kli'indesb Bhlll Coqw have boon long approved* wliiletwo gfmeratkmM of good living have improved the do* oondants Of Ontram's first recruits in 10 n very fine nice, uud their liospitol is perhaps a solitary imttauce among military medical oHtablislunants d oocnplcte el)sencc of a certain class of disen&c*. In Western Khiindeib there an.' thrvc race* often txmfonndod with B b 1 11 s , hut belding tbcmaalnis separata and mineri/ir. The first arc theOAwidsor M4 who has, whom I suspect • RJirrH w Ttii*n% to* ItoAya ot *1«» Cmtnl Pxertnow. mid eu«»»to la «tn«s &«** Mi lioralai tts jmi|{k sad ■o wuur in Uto uum-