flattish, the face-round, and the cheek-bones high; the lips
and mouth large and often displaying a fine set of teeth;
the eye. is quick and brilliant. They are clean and neat in
their appearance, and wear their hair in a manner quite
characteristic and altogether different from their neighbours'
the Wodidks, or the Orissans, who tie it in a knot behind.
Having combed it all to the front, they » l i t up like a large
round, of tape and fit it on the forehead, above the right eyei
It is ornamented with strings of red' cloth and porcupine
quills, or iron needles are stuck into.it, which not only ornament
and -secure' it, but likewise prevent their being caught
by the hair of the head. By way:of additional ornamenfca
little neat iron comb is added to the head-gear: some wear
the knot differently, and a few others wear the. hair dfeose*
but it is principally among the young men that the greatest
attention is paid to the dressing of the 'hair. - Theyfcftiave
little or no beard: perhaps theydestroy it with chuna-m,
like some of the tribes in the Philippine Isles;' as mentioned
in Prichard’s ‘ History of Man.’ They have no covering
to the head, and in fact are naked with the exception of
the loins, round which they wind a long narrow piece of
cloth, the extremities of which, neatly chequered with red,
hang down in front and rear. Some of the head men wear
a red chequered plaid. They are all passionately”fond of
intoxicating liquors, and they prepare amongst themselves
a potent description from the buds and-flowers of the
JBassia latifolia, called by them Ippeg (Mhroanoo-treejg
which grows abundantly. Their instruments of war are the:
battle-axe and bow, in the use of which They are extremely
expert. Clenching the former with both hands, the thumbs
supporting the shaft, it is said they- can inflict tremendous
blows. They have them of all shapes and sizes ; the shaft
neatly ornamented with brass wire, the point armed with a
sharp piece of iron, by which they rest the instrument in
the ground. Every Khond is armed either with a battle-
axe or bow; at home or at the plough, asleep or busy in the
chase, they are always at his side. The bows are either
made of bamboo, or of a hard wood called Ksely, the tree
of which I did not see.-"The string is made of a strip of
the hard outer rind of the bamboo. The women have no
pretensions to beauty : the mouth is large and lips pro-
tùherantf-the nose ‘flat and broad, and cheek-bones high,
and the-face as tattoed all over with long streaks, three or
four parallel, in each place where there is room. The ears
stick out and are pierced: round the edge with holes, in each
of which a, piece of stick is inserted. They wear a profusion
of different coloured- small beads round the neck, principally
black : those whom I saw were scantily clothed with a chequered
cloth.”
“ The Khonds are absorbed in the grossest ignorance and
superstition, and practice that most horrible and ancient of
rites, human sacrifice, by the perpetration of which, as they
supposé, they propitiate the earth, the great object of their
wild and frantic adoration, and procure fertility. This
rite, almost of itself, seems to point out the very ancient
origin oft thesd* people ;^&ùt when a fuller vocabulary of
their language, shall be collected, then all doubts on the
subjecf will be cleared up, and those learned in oriental and
classic^lore will ’be able to trace the history1 and origin of
thesetwihl mountaineers*” : -
“ The description of some of the tribesof the Polynesian
Isles, as given from Marsdeu, in Prichard’s ‘ History of
Man,’ nearly answers for the Khond tribe. He says,
‘ They are rather below the middle stature; their bulk is
in proportion; ^ The limbs are, for the most part, slight
and well-shapéd: The women flatten the noses and pull
out the. ears of their infants.’ Whether the Khonds have
these practices I know not, but: their noses and ears correspond,
in a certain degree, to the description, which is, no
doubt, considered a mark of beauty.”
4. Of the Yanadu-jati, a Wild People, of Sri-hari-eotta.
A manuscript in the Mackenzie collection, in the Telügü
language, contains an account of the first settlement of a
Hindi colony of people, who were worshippers of Siva,
in the district of Sri-hari-cotta, near Madras.* The
* Thé situation of Sri-hari-cotta is twenty-three miles to the northward of
Palicat, which is on the coast to the northward of Madras.