DS 4-30 . L 6 T ■a PROBSTHAIN &■ Co. §f jj Oriental Booksellers, fe. j=41 Great Russell Street j, ■•5 British Museum, LONDON, IV. C. ?- Tff -w? rrf»' WILD RACES OF SOUTH-EASTERN INDIA. / Ilv (’apt. T. H. LEWIN, Orputu Commissioner of p?tll Cracts. “ I think that all details become interesting when they relate to, and serve to depict, the characteristics of people of whom we have known little until now, and with whom it is desirable to cultivate more intimate terms . ’* — Letter from Lieutenant Samuel Turner , Ambassador to Thibet , addressed to Mr. John Macpherson, Governor-General of Bengal, 2nd March , 1784. fton&on : W M H. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE. 1870 . Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/wildracesofsouthOOIewi flnsicribrtl In) ^mntsiSum TO MRS. GEO. GROTE. CONTENTS. PART I. THE HILL TRACTS. PAGE The Country — Its Boundaries — Rivers — Scenery — Soil — Climate — Roads — Produce — Forests — Cul- tivation — Fauna ...... 7 The Rise and Progress of British Power in the Hill T Tacts — Old Records — Portuguese Influence — Character of the Revenue System — Relations of the Hill Chiefs to the British Authorities — Present System of Administration — Its Nature and Weaknesses ...... 46 PART II. THE HILL TRIBES (SONS OF THE RIVER). Introduction — The Hill Tribes — Classification — Our Relations with Burmah affected by them — Customs common to all Hill Tribes — Slavery, &c. ......... 72 Vlll CONTENTS. PAGE The Kliyoungtha (Tributaries) — Their Clans — Re- ligion — Festivals — Dress — Social Habits — Songs — Pi'ovei'bs — Marriages — F uneral Ceremonies — Legends— Drama ...... 93 The Chukmas (Tributaries) — Their Origin — Chronological List of Chiefs — Language — Claus — Festivals — Religion — - Love-making — Marriages — Funerals — Criminal Punishments — Songs — Music . . . . . . . .157 PART III. THE HILL TRIBES (SONS OF THE RIVER) Continued. The Tipperali and Mining Tribes (Tributaries) ; with their Modes of Life and Habits . . .190 The Kumi, Mru, Khyeng, Bungjogee, and Pankho Tribes (Tributaries), and their Customs . . 220 The Ivookies or Lhoosai and the Shendoos (Inde- pendent Tribes) — Their Customs now and a Century ago ....... 246 Conclusion . . . . . . . .341 INTRODUCTION. J^OVELTY is as attractive now as ever it was, even in tlie days when the Athenians went about hearing or telling of some new thing. I think, therefore, that no apology is needed in introducing to English readers races of people of whom but little is known, and whose habits and customs have never before been described. The mighty empire of Hindostan is now bound up by a hundred ties of interest with the present and future of England. Many are the hearths by which is kept sacred the empty place of some dear member of the family circle, who is absent in those torrid B 2 INTRODUCTION. climes ; and books relating any thing new of this far-off but no longer strange land of the East, are studied by all classes of English people with sentiments of growing attention and admiration for the great but unfinished work we are carrying on there. These pages were written day by day among the people of whom they treat, during a three years’ sojourn among them. Some- times under the shelter of a straw-thatched bungalow on a remote hill top, with the pathless jungle undulating in vast sweeps of hill and dale beneath the gaze ; at other times in boats, poling along the hill streams, or by the firesides of the people in their bamboo- houses, perched securely in some hillside nook. The work was commenced at first with no fixed plan as to a detailed account of these races of men ; indeed, as one of their many proverbs says, “ Unlaid eggs cannot INTRODUCTION. 3 be counted but I simply noted down as I heard them any tales, traditions, or striking- customs that fell under my observation in the course of my wanderings among them. Little by little, however, my interest was awakened and my affections drawn to them : I found them a people worthy of esteem, worthy of note. It is unfortunately too often the cus- tom among English people, as a body, to con- temn and despise all races speaking an alien tongue ; among the commonalty at the pre- sent time even, the French are regarded as an outlandish and ignorant people ; while as for people like these hill races, whose skin is dark and breech bare, out and alack ! they are savages and barbarians forsooth, very little better, indeed, than the apes among whom they reside. I have, nevertheless, found among all wild and so-called barbarous races, that when one grows acquainted with their 4 INTRODUCTION. language, and they, becoming habituated to you, allow a knowledge of their social life and habits, they are very much the same as other people ; there is not much difference, indeed, between human nature all the world over, — they love and hate, eat and drink, live and die, in much the same, and often in a far more natural and sensible manner than we of the civilized races, who hold ourselves so loftily aloof in our fancied intellectual and moral superiority. It would seem almost a solecism to announce this fact as if it were some novel discovery ; but any one who has lived in the East and seen our Englishmen, whether Government officials, merchants, or planters, will, with some rare exceptions, find that they know, and care to know, nothing of the people they are thrown among — they are with them but not of them — hardly troubling themselves, indeed, to become acquainted with INTRODUCTION. the language of the people among whom they live, and never admitting them, or seeking themselves any admission into social intimacy or friendship. Broad and umbrageous as is the tree of our Eastern Government at pre- sent, this is the canker that will eventually eat it through at the root, until it fall with a crash, in ruin. This very book is a proof of my assertion. We have been living at the door of these hill races, and in close contact with them for more than eighty years, and yet no English- men (Government officials or otherwise) that I ever met, knew any thing of them in any way, save that perhaps they were dully con- scious of the proximity of certain hill tribes, who, as was stated in an official document quoted in the body of this work, “ go un- clothed, and know not the use of fire-arms.” It is, then, into the private life of these 6 INTRODUCTION. simple and primitive races that I venture to introduce my readers ; to make them, if so it may be, partakers of wild hospitality, and intimate with the domestic society of men and women — children of Nature. WILD RACES OF SOUTH-EASTERN INDIA. PART I. THE HILL TEACTS. RISING from the rice swamps and level land of the Chittagong District, of which it forms the eastern boundary, there stretches out a vast extent of hilly and mountainous country, inhabited by various hill races. Of this country and of these people I purpose here to give some account, but more especi- ally I shall notice such part of it as, lying between Lat. 21° 25' and 23° 45' north, and 8 THE HILL TRACTS. Long. 91° 45' and 92 c 50' east, is subject to British rule, and distinguished by the name of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The country in question lies on the south- eastern shores of the Bay of Bengal, and is bounded on the west by the maritime District of Chittagong ; on the south and east, as far as the Blue Mountain, by the Province of Arracan ; on the north, by the Fenny River, which divides the Hill Tracts from Hill Tip- perah, a semi-independent State ; while to the north and north-east the boundary is unde- fined, and may be said to be conterminous with the extent to which the influence of the British Government is acknowledged amongst the hill tribes in that direction. The extent of the district, however, may be roughly summarized as the country watered by the Rivers Fenny, Kurnafoolee, Sungoo, and Matamooree, with their tributaries from the water-sheds to the entry of these rivers into the Chittagong District. The River Fenny and the western major tributaries of the Kurnafoolee have their KIVEIiS. 9 sources in the range of bills from which, on the other side, rises the Dallesur and Gotoor streams, which again are affluent of the River Barak in Cachar. The Kurnafoolee 1 , or, to call it by its hill name, the Kynsa Khyoung, has its rise in a lofty range of hills to the north-east ; from this same range springs the Sonai and Tipai streams, tributaries of the Barak in Cachar, and the Koladan or Koladyne River, which last debouches into the Indian Ocean at Akyab in Arracan. The Sungoo 2 3 , or Rigray Khyoung, and the Matamooree, or Moree Khyoung, take their rise in the range of hills which divides Arra- can from the Chittagong Hill Tracts on the south-east. Of these two rivers, the Kurna- foolee is the principal. It is navigable at all seasons of the year, for boats of considerable 1 Kurnah, an ear (Sanscrit) ; foolee, or pboolie, from phool, flower. The Mahommedan Wuzeer during the Moghul rule is said to have dropped his earring into the river ; hence the name. 3 Sungoo, from sunkh, a shell. 10 THE HILL TRACTS. size, as far as 20 miles beyond Kassalong, one of our frontier guard-posts; but here all further progress is stopped by the Bur- khul rapids, which offer an insurmountable obstacle to further progress. Above Burkhul the river narrows considerably, as it enters the higher ranges of hills : its course has not been followed further than the Dema- gree falls, some three days’ journey above Burkhul. Boats, however, can proceed three days’ journey northwards up the Kassa- long and Chingree streams, both of which are tributaries of the Kurnafoolee. The scenery along the course of the Kurnafoo- lee and its tributaries is for the most part dull and uninteresting, the river flowing be- tween high banks of earth, covered either with tall elephant grass or dense jungle, which effectually prevent any view being ob- tained of the surrounding country. At one place only on the Kurnafoolee, shortly after reaching the small Police Station of Ranga- muttee, the character of the scenery changes from its usual dull monotony of reaches of SCENERY. 11 still water and walls of dark green verdure to a scene of marvellous beauty, resembling somewhat the view on the Rhine, near the Lurleibero;. Dark cliffs of a brown vitreous rock, patched and mottled with lichens and mosses of various colours, tower up on either hand ; while occasionally, on the right or left, shoots back a dark gorge of impenetrable jungle. At this place the river runs with great rapidity through a rocky defile, and at some seasons of the year it is difficult for boats to make head against the strength of the current. The character of the scenery on the Fenny River is much the same as that of the Kurna- foolee. Here and there on the banks of the stream, or perched on the ridge of some adja- cent hill, may be seen the houses of the hill men ; and they and their families, the women in quaint distinctive dress, grouped them- selves on the bank, to observe our boats going up. The sources of the Fenny River have not been visited or surveyed. The rivers in the southern part of the 12 THE HILL TRACTS. district differ considerably from tliose of the north. The country is more rocky, and the adjacent hill ranges narrower and of greater height. The Itiver Sungoo is known by three names. In the upper portion of its course it is called Rigray Khyoung by the hill men ; about midway, before entering the plains, it is known as the Sabuk Khyoung ; while in the plains, the Bengallees have given it the name of the Sungoo. It is a clear stream, running for the most part of its hill course over sand and among rocks ; it abounds in small rapids, and in its higher parts is navigable only to the smallest boats. Ordinary-sized boats of burden can, in the dry season, go no further than a place called Bundrabun. The Matamoree, or Moree Khyoung, is a shallow and not very important stream, run- ning parallel for a great part of its course with the Sungoo, although the rivers debouch by different mouths into the sea. Although the course of the river itself is monotonous, yet up some of its affluents, particularly as they near their sources in the hills, the scene SCENERY. 13 becomes one of unmixecl beauty. I remem- ber once going up tlie Twine Kliyoung, a tributary of this river. The stream ran briskly in a narrow pebbly bed, between banks that rose nearly perpendicularly, and so high that the sun only came down to us by glints, here and there. Enormous tree ferns hung over our heads, some 50 feet up, while the straight stems of the “ Gurjun” tree shot up without a branch, like white pillars in a temple ; plantains, with their broad drooping fronds of transparent emerald, broke at intervals the dark-green wall of jungle that towered up in the background, and from some gnarled old forest giant here and there the long curving creepers threw across the stream a bridge of nature’s own making. Sometimes we came upon a recess in the bank of verdure which rose on either hand ; and there the tinkling of a cascade would be heard behind the veil, its entry into the stream being marked by a great gray heap of rounded rocks and boulders, toppled and tossed about in a way that showed with 14 THE HILL TKACTS. what a sweep the water came down in the rains. Scarlet dragonflies and butterflies of purple, gold, and azure, flitted like jewels across our path ; while silvery fish, streaked with dark-blue bands, flew up the stream be- fore us, like flashes of light, as we poled along. The western limit of China, the Province of Yunan, is shown in the map as about 97° 98' degrees of Longitude east, in the Parallel of 24°. Our eastern frontier, then, is not more than 300 miles from the western boundary of China. The tribes in that direc- tion are known to have intercourse with the Province of Meckley, subject to the King of Burmah, and it seems not improbable that at some future time a practicable route might be discovered between the sea-port of Chitta- gong and the eastern portion of the Empire of China. This idea was contemplated as early as 1761, when Mr. Harry Verelst, the Chief of Chittao'ono; wrote to the President of the Council, Fort William, that “ we have reason to believe that a passage may be found SCENERY. 1 5 through the mountains of Tconke 3 into Thibet and the northern parts of Cochin China. Although this may be a work of time, yet, when effected, it may redound greatly to the State of Europe.” The area of the Chittagong Hill Tracts is estimated to be 6796 miles. The most noticeable feature of the country is that it is divided into four river valleys, marked out more or less distinctly by well-defined chains of hills running parallel from the south in a north-westerly direction. The Sungoo and Matamoree Rivers, until they enter the plains, run parallel to the hill ranges, forming two of the river valleys alluded to. The Kurna- foolee and Fenny Rivers, however, run trans- versely across the line of the hills. The river valleys here are formed by large tributary streams entering the Kurnafoolee at right angles to its course. 3 No such place as Tcouke is known to us now ; but as Mi'. Verelst was reporting on the prospects and resources of the Chittagong District, it seems not un- likely that he referred to the hills which abut thereon. 16 THE HILL TRACTS SOIL. The soil of the district is composed for the most part of a rich loam, but in many parts the hills are found to consist of a schistose clay, much resembling sand-stone in appear- ance, which falls to pieces very easily on force being applied. In the alluvial valleys and watercourses large pieces of dicoly-tedonous wood are frequently found lying in a hori- zontal position : they are usually more or less petrified. The climate of the Hill Tracts is distin- guished by two characteristics ; its coolness, and its unhealthiness as regards foreigners. There are no hot winds in the hills, and the hottest part of the year is tempered by cool sea-breezes. It is the custom of the people to remain in their villages until the cultiva- tion season commences in May, and then the whole country-side moves up, every man to his patch of cultivation, on some lofty hill. It is to this custom, I consider, that their comparative immunity from sickness may be traced, for hill men, on abandoning their usual mode of fife, and taking to other occu- CLIMATE. 17 pations not involving the periodical move to the hill tops, are nearly as much subject to fever as the people of the plains. During the months of November, Decem- ber, January, and February, dense fogs settle over the hills during the night, seldom clear- ing away until the middle of the following day. Those fogs, however, do not seem to have an unhealthy effect, as the four months in which they prevail are the healthiest throughout the year. During the month of February some rain generally falls, but the rainy season does not set in until the end of May or beginning of June, wdien it continues, almost without intermission, until the end of September. The quantity of rain that falls is very large, the average yearly fall being about 120 inches. During the rainy season, it is well-nigh impossible to move about the country on account of the rising of the hill streams. Before the setting in of the rains, the hill people lay in a stock of provisions, as at that season of the year the bazaars are abandoned by the men c 18 THE HILL TRACTS. of the plains, and trade almost entirely ceases. It is at this season of the year that the large floats of timber come down with the rising of the waters from the hills. The most unhealthy month of the year is September, the close of the rains. Fever of a bad type is then very prevalent. In the months of April and May the epidemics of small-pox and cholera make their appearance, ceasing at the commencement of the rains. The nreva- r lent wind during the rains and hot season is from the south-west. An easterly wind, if of long continuance, is said to be unhealthy. In the cold season the wind generally comes from the north. At the commencement and breaking up of the rains, violent storms of thunder and lightning occur. Where the hills rise to any considerable height, they become rocky and precipitous, the lower ranges being composed generally of sand or a rich loam. The dark-brown rocks, of which the higher ranges are composed, are un- doubtedly of igneous origin ; indeed subter- CLIMATE. 19 ranean volcanic force must at some remote period have caused the strange bellowy up- heaval of the face of the country, which gives it its present distinctive character. On the 2nd of April, 1762, Chittagong was violently shaken by an earthquake, the earth opening in many places, and throwing up water and mud of a sulphureous smell. At a place called Bardavun a large river was dried up ; and at Bakur Chunak, near the sea, a tract of ground sank down, and 200 people, with all their cattle, were lost. Unfathomable chasms are described as remaining open in many places after the shocks ; and villages, some of which subsided several cubits, were overflown with water, among others, Deep- goung, which was submerged to the depth of 7 cubits. Two volcanoes are said to have opened in the Seeta Ciinda Hills. The shock was also felt at Calcutta 4 . There are at pre- sent in the Seetakoond Range, in the Chitta- gong District, several hot springs, from one 4 Lyall’s Geology, vol. ii. ch. xvi. p. 250 ; Dodsley’s Ann. liegist. 173; Phil. Trans, vol. liii. C 2 20 THE HILL TRACTS. of which an inflammable gas rises in such quantity, that it is kept constantly burning over the spring. I have heard also of hot springs existing in the Loongshem Range in this District, but I have not visited them. Salt licks are found at many places in the hills ; the best known are those at Bhang-a- mora, in the north, and Mawdang Tlang, in the eastern part of the district. Lignite is found at two or three places in the hills, but no coal has as yet been dis- covered. An inferior species of lime-stone is found in two places ; on being burnt, how- ever, it has not given a return sufficient to render its manufacture profitable. In many parts of the district are found large and richly alluvial plains, covered for the most part with forest trees. These plains, if cleared of timber, would be found admirably adapted for plough cultivation. Far in the jungles on the banks of the Myannee, an affluent of the Kassalong River, are found tanks, fruit-trees, and the remains of masonry buildings, — evidence that, at some by-gone CLIMATE. 21 period, the land here was cultivated and in- habited by men of the plains. Tradition attributes these ruins to a former Rajah of Hill Tipperah, who, it is said, was driven from that part of the country by hordes of hill men coming from the south. At one place only in the hills, at Rangamuttee, on the Kurnafoolee River, has the usual method of cultivation by the plough been introduced ; and there are there about 120 families of Bengallees who till the land. The settlement, although established some six years ago, does not appear to have increased either in num- bers or in the area of land brought under cultivation. Along the whole border of the district adjacent to Chittagong the narrow glens and small patches of low land have been cultivated by the Bengallees ; but the men of the plains have an invincible objection to enter the hills. They are, I believe, prin- cipally deterred from settling there by the in- salubrity of the climate, which seems to be deadly to their race, although innocuous to the hill men. 22 THE HILL TRACTS — ROADS. There are at present no roads in the dis- trict ; the nature of the country, indeed, with its transverse ranges of hills, offers very great engineering; obstacles to the construction of roads or the employment of wheel-carriage. Paths there are, of course, in every direction ; but, with the exceptions to be mentioned hereafter, only such paths as the people of the country can make use of. The favourite path throughout the district is the sandy bed of a stream, as it offers coolness for the feet and shade from the umbrageous canopy of jungle overhead. In crossing a hill range, however, this sort of path necessarily be- comes of a precipitous, not to say break-neck, description. During the last few years a line of paths has been cut through the jungle, connecting the Government frontier guard-posts and the three principal stations in the Hill Tracts : these paths, however, are cut chiefly with a Hew to military defensive operations, and are not much used as yet by the country people. There are four bazaars or markets in BAZAARS. the hills, to which the hill people resort to barter their produce for such articles of daily consumption as salt, spices, dried fish, and the like, which are only procurable from the plains. These bazaars are situated at Kassalong, Rangamuttee, and ( fiiandragoona, on the Kur- nafoolee, and at Bundrabun, on the River Sungoo. The bazaar at Chandragoona derives a fictitious importance from that place being at present the head-quarters of the district ; but should the central station be at any time removed, the bazaar would collapse, the posi- tion occupied not being a true mercantile centre, and the bazaar, moreover, being brought into a competition which it is un- able to sustain with the adjacent market of Rangonea, which is an old - established place of barter, much resorted to by the hill population \ The population of the hills also resort to such of the markets of the plains as may be 5 The question of the transfer of the district head- quarters from Chandragoona to Rangamuttee is at pre- sent under the consideration of the Bengal Government. 24 THE HILL TBACTS. within a day’s journey from their homes, along the border of the Chittagong District. The hill men bring down for sale cotton and timber, either in the rough or hewn into boats ; and if much pressed for money, they collect for sale the oil-bearing seeds of a tree in the jungle (chal mongree), or cut and float down a raft of bamboos. They also occa- sionally bring in for sale ivory and wax in small quantities. The principal articles dis- posed of to the hill people in the bazaars are salt, tobacco (in small quantities), piece goods, metal goods, trinkets, dried fish, pigs, and cattle. About 50,000 cubic feet of timber per annum, it is calculated, is brought down yearly to the plains from the Hill Tract forests ; and 55,854 maunds of cotton are estimated to be yearly exported by the hill people, — this in addition to the not incon- siderable quantity reserved by them for home consumption. The Hill Tracts, indeed, seem peculiarly well fitted, both in soil and climate, for the production of cotton. The quantity produced, however, depends almost entirely PRODUCE FORESTS. 25 upon tlie amount of rain-fall. Too heavy a fall of rain spoils the cotton crop ; there is espe- cial danger of this at the commencement of the rains, when the plants are young. Measures have been taken to introduce im- proved varieties of the cotton plant among the hill tribes. The Flora of the Hill Tracts is of the Malayan type ; the forests being principally of brilliant, glossy evergreen trees. Throughout the whole district are found large tracts of valuable forest trees. Teak is not indigenous, but thrives if planted ; it grows, however, plentifully in the forests on the other side of the hill range separating this district from Arracan. A large trade in railway-sleepers has lately sprung up from the port of Chittagong ; the Port Conservator estimates that upwards of 30,000 sleepers have been exported during the last two years. As yet no organized inquiry into the vege- table products of this part of the country has ever been instituted, and but little, conse- quently, is known on the subject. The tea 26 THE HILL TRACTS. plant is believed to be indigenous in the district, but it lias not hitherto been found in abundance. The fir-tree and the caout- chouc tree are found in the lofty hills in the east of the district ; but the hitherto unsatis- factory relations existing between us and the more remote hill tribes have prevented any use being made of these otherwise valuable forest products. In the wilder parts of the district the forest trees are festooned with numerous ligneous creepers ( phytocrene ) hanging in a labyrinth of coils from every tree ; some are as thick as a man’s arm. On cutting one of these, water is obtained ; and as they grow on the loftiest hill where water is often not obtainable, this pro- perty of theirs is most useful. The most curious thing is, that should the coil be cut in one place only, so as to leave two pendent ends, no water issues. It is necessary to cut a piece clean out of the creeper with two quick, consecutive strokes, before water is obtained. If with an unskilled hand three or four hacks are made before severing it, PRODUCE. 27 tlie only result is a dry stick. Two speedy cuts, however, aud from the piece of creeper trickles out about half a tumbler full of clear, cool water. The hill men explain this by saying that when the stem is cut the water tries to run away upwards. There is also a tree in the jungles called “ chowr ” by the Bengallees, and “ samul ” in the Tipperah tongue. The young shoots of this tree are delicious eating, being white and tender, with a filbert flavour. Between the outer husk and the trunk of this tree is a soft layer of substance that makes an excel- lent tinder. In shady spots is also found another edible plant, something like asparagus ; the Ben- gallees call it “ tara.” It is cultivated as a vegetable by the Bengallees, but the wild variety growing in the virgin soil of undis- turbed forests is far superior. The young shoots of the cane and bamboo, just as the young plant emerges from the earth, are very good eating. On the hills, also, the wild yam is found plentifully, so that no man able to 28 THE HILL TRACTS. searcli for food in the jungles could starve in these hills. The hill people have many plants and sim- ples which they use medicinally. They make two or three dyes from the roots and leaves of plants. They also use a certain creeper in catching fish ; this plant, when steeped in a stream, and the water confined by a dam, has the property of intoxicating and stupefy- ing the fish, which come floating, belly up- wards, to the surface of the water, and are then easily caught. There are eleven varieties of the bamboo found throughout the hills, and canes grow in profusion. The cane is the hill man’s rope; with it he weaves baskets, binds his house together, and throws bridges over the otherwise impassable hill torrents. The bamboo is literally his staff of life. He builds his house of the bamboo ; he fer- tilizes his fields with its ashes ; of its stem he makes vessels in which to carry water; with two bits of bamboo he can produce fire; its young and succulent shoots provide a THE BAMBOO. 29 dainty dinner disli ; and lie weaves bis sleep- ing mat of fine slips thereof. The instruments with which his women weave their cotton are of bamboo. He makes drinking-cups of it, and his head at night rests on a bamboo pil- low ; his forts are built of it ; he catches fish, makes baskets and stools, and thatches his house with the help of the bamboo. He smokes from a pipe of bamboo ; and from bamboo ashes he obtains potash. Finally, his funeral pile is lighted with bamboo. The hill man would die without the bamboo, and the thing he finds hardest of credence is that in other countries the bamboo does not grow, and that men live in ignorance of it. Throughout the whole of India, indeed, the bamboo occupies a forward place in the domestic economy of the inhabitants. It re- mained only that it should be deified; and this, it seems, has been done. In Dr. Bal- four’s account of the migratory tribes of Central India (J. A. S., No. 61 of 1844), he tells of a tribe called the Bhatos, a tribe who follow the profession of athletse, and perform 30 THE HILL TRACTS. most of their feats with the aid of a bam- boo. “ Their patron goddess is Korewa, an in- carnation of Mahadeva. Her shrine is situ- ated at the village of Thekoor, near Kittoor, around which dense forests of bamboos grow. One they select, and the attendants of the temple consecrate it. It is now called ‘ gun- nichari,’ or chief, and receives their worship annually. To it, as to a human chief, all respect is shown ; and in cases of marriage, of disputes requiring arbitration, or the occurrence of knotty points demanding con- sultation, the ‘ gunnichari ’ is erected in the midst of the counsellors or arbiters, and all prostrate themselves to it before commencing the discussion of the subject before them.” This is certainly the best kind of chief I ever heard of. In like manner, one of the clans in the Hill Tracts (the Riang Tipperahs) offer wor- ship to the bamboo. They do not, however, go the length of the Bhatos, in considering it as a chief, for it is to them merely an irnper- CULTIVATION. 31 sonation or representative of the deity of the forest. The mode of cultivation pursued in the hills is common to all the tribes ; indeed, wherever hill tribes are found throughout India, this special mode of cultivating the earth seems to prevail. It is known as “toung-ya” in Burmali and Arracan, as “dhai-ya” in the Central Provinces, while here the method is usually called “joom,” and the hill men pursuing it “ joomahs.” The modus operandi is as follows : — In the month of April, a convenient piece of forest land is fixed upon, generally on a hill-side, the luxu- riant under-growth of shrubs and creepers has to be cleared away, and the smaller trees felled : the trees of larger growth are usually denuded of their lower branches, and left standing. If possible, however, the joomah fixes upon a slope thickly covered with a bamboo jungle of the species called “dolloo;” this, compared with a dense tree jungle, is easy to cut, and its ashes, after burning, are of greater fertilizing power. Although the 32 THE HILL TRACTS. clearing of a patch, of dense jungle is no doubt very severe labour, yet the surround- ings of the labourer render his work pleasur- able in comparison with the toilsome and dirty task of the cultivators of the plains. On the one hand, the hill man works in the shade of the jungle that he is cutting ; he is on a lofty eminence, where every breeze reaches and refreshes him ; his spirits are enlivened and his labour lightened by the beautiful prospect stretching out before him : while the rich and varied scenery of the forest stirs his mind above a monotone. He is surrounded by his comrades ; the scent of the wild thyme and the buzzing of the forest bee are about him ; the young men and maidens sing to their work, and the laugh and joke goes round as they sit down to their mid-day meal under the shade of some great mossy forest tree. On the other hand, consider the moiling toil of the cultivator of the plains. He maun- ders along with pokes and anathemas at the tail of a pair of buffaloes, working mid-leg in CULTIVATION. 33 mud ; around him stretches an uninterrupted vista of muddy rice land ; there is not a bough or a leaf to give him shelter from the blazing noon-day sun. His women are shut up in some cabin, jealously surrounded by jungle ; and if he is able to afford a meagre meal during the day, he will munch it solus, sitting beside his muddy plough ; add to this, that by his comparatively pleasurable toil, the hill man can gain two rupees for one which the wretched ryot of the plains can painfully earn, and it is not to be wondered at that the hill people have a passion for their mode of life, and regard with absolute contempt any pro- posal to settle down to the tame and mono- tonous cultivation of the dwellers in the low- lands. The joom land once cleared, the fallen jungle is left to dry in the sun, and in the month of May it is fired ; this completes the clearing. The firing of the jooms is some- times a source of danger, as at that season of the year the whole of the surrounding jungle is as dry as tinder, and easily catches fire. D 34 THE HILL TEACTS. In this way sometimes whole villages are destroyed, and people have lost their lives. I have myself seen a whole mountain-side on fire for four days and four nights, having been ignited by joom-firing. It was a magnificent sight, but such a fire must cause incalculable injury to the forest : young trees especially would be utterly destroyed. Generally, how- ever, by choosing a calm day, and keeping down the fire at the edges of the joom, by beating with boughs, the hill people manage to keep the firing within certain prescribed limits. A general conflagration, such as I have mentioned, is of quite exceptional oc- currence. If the felled jungle has been thoroughly dried, and no rain has fallen since the joom was cut, this firing will reduce all, save the larger forest trees, to ashes, and burn the soil to the depth of an inch or two. The charred trees and logs previously cut down remain lying about the ground ; these have to be dragged off the joom, and piled up all round ; and with the addition of some brush-wood CULTIVATION. 35 form a species of fence to keep out wild animals. Work is now at a stand-still, till the gather- ing of the heavy clouds and the grumbling of thunder denote the approach of the rains. These signs at once bring a village into a o O o state of activity ; men and women, boys and girls, each bind on the left hip a small basket filled with the mixed seeds of cotton, rice, melons, pumpkins, yams, and a little Indian corn; each takes a “ dau 6 ” in hand, and in a 0 The “dad ” is the hill knife, used universally through- out the country. It is a blade about eighteeu inches long, narrow at the haft, and square and broad at the tip ; pointless, and sharpened on one side only. The blade is set in a handle of wood ; a bamboo root is con- sidered the best. The fighting “dad” is differently shaped ; this is a long pointless sword, set in a wooden or ebony handle ; it is very heavy, and a blow of almost incredible power can be given by one of these weapons. With both the fighting and the ordinary dad one can make but two cuts ; one from the right shoulder down- wards to the left, one from the left foot upwards to the right. The reason of this is, that in sharpening the blade, one side only gives the edge, slanting to the other straight face of the blade. Any attempt to cut in a way contrary to those mentioned causes the dad to turn in n 2 36 THE HILL TRACTS. short time every hill-side will echo to the “ fioiya,” or hill call, (a cry like the Swiss jodel,) as party answers party from the paths winding up each hill side to their respective patches of cultivation. Arrived at the joom, the family will form a line, and steadily work their way across the field. A dig with the blunt square end of the dao makes a nar- row hole about three inches deep ; into this is put a small handful of the mixed seeds, and the sowing is completed. If shortly after- wards the rain falls they are fortunate, and the hand on the striker, and I have seen some bad wounds inflicted in this manner. The weapon is iden- tical with the “ parang latok ” of the Malays. The ordinary hill dad is generally stuck naked into the waist- hand on the right hip, but the lighting dad is provided with a scabbard, and worn at the waist. The dad to a hill man is a possession of great price. It is literally the bread winner ; with this he cuts his joom and builds his houses ; without its aid the most ordinary operations of hill life could not be performed. It is with the dad that he fashions the women’s weaving tools ; with the dad he fines off his boat ; with the dad he notches a stair in the steep hill-side leading to his joom ; and to the dad he frequently owes his life, in defending himself from the attacks of wild animals. CULTIVATION. 37 have judged the time well ; or (unparalleled luck) if they get wet through with the rain as they are sowing, great will be the jollification on the return homo, this being an omen that a bumper season may be expected. The village now is abandoned by every one, and the men set to work to build a house, each in his own joom, for the crop must be carefully watched to preserve it from the wild pig and deer, which would otherwise play havoc among the young shoots of the rice. The jooms of the whole village are generally situated in propinquity ; a solitary joom is very rare. During the rains mutual help and assistance in weeding the crop is given ; each one takes his turn to help in his neighbour’s joom ; no hoeing is done ; the crop has merely to be kept clear from weeds by hand labour, and an ample return is obtained. If the rain be excessive, however, the cotton crop is liable to be spoilt, as the young plants die from too much water. The first thing to ripen is Indian corn ; this is about the end of July. Next come the 38 THE HILL TRACTS. melons, of wliicli there are two or three sorts grown in the jooms ; afterwards vegetables of all sorts become fit for gathering; and finally, in September, the rice and other grain ripens. At this time the monkeys and jungle fowl are the chief enemies of the crop. In the month of October the cotton crop is gathered last of all, and this concludes the harvest. The rice having been cut, is beaten from the ear in the joom : it is afterwards rolled up in rough straw-covered bales and carried to the granary in the village. The country suffers sometimes severely from the visitations of rats. They arrive in swarms, and sweep every thing before them : they eat up the standing corn and empty the granaries of the hill people — nothing stops them. They are said to come from the south, and, strange to say, disappear as suddenly as they make their appearance. The hill folk gravely assured me that during the last visi- tation, which occurred in 1864, the rats were transformed into jungle fowl ; in proof of this, they point out a peculiar draggling feather in CULTIVATION. 39 the tails of the jungle fowl, which they assert to be a rat’s tail. Besides grain and cotton, the hill tribes grow tobacco. This is planted principally in small valleys on the banks of the hill streams. The best tobacco is grown in the country near the Matamoree River. Throughout the whole of the Hill Tracts I know no single instance of a hill man culti- vating with the plough : indeed, it is rare to find a man earning his livelihood in any other way save by joom culture. Near the villages of some of the chiefs a few acres of plough- cultivated land may sometimes be seen ; this, however, is invariably tended by Bengallee servants engaged for the purpose. The forest conservancy restrictions lately introduced will, however, it is thought, induce many of the hill population to settle down as plough culti- vators. In the country adjacent to the Fenny, where, in consequence of constant jooming, jungle had wholly disappeared, and grass taken its place, the attempt was once before made with 40 THE HILL TRACTS. every prospect of success : owing to their fear of the independent tribes, the people of that part of the country were unable to move to fresh joom land further eastward, and their own country was thoroughly exhausted from over- cultivation ; but they steadfastly held aloof from the plough, preferring to earn a precarious subsistence by the cutting and selling of bamboos and the hewing out of boats. Some few of them, who had or could borrow a small amount of capital, took up the profession of itinerant traders ; while others earned or added to their means of livelihood by rearing and herding cattle, for which the country afforded ample pasturage. The independent tribes have now, however, become quiet, and the people of the Fenny have since then steadily moved to the east- ward, and occupied fresh joom land. The villages of the hill people are formed chiefly by communities composed of persons connected either by blood or marriage. The site of the village is changed as often as the spots fit for cultivation in the vicinity are VILLAGES. 41 exhausted. Land once joomed cannot be re- cultivated for a period of eight to ten years, as in less than that time a sufficient growth of jungle does not spring up to give the neces- sary coating of fertilizing ashes, without which the joom crops would yield but a poor return. They do not seem to be acquainted with the method of terrace cultivation pursued in the Himalayas ; indeed the slope of the hills in most parts is so steep, that it is doubtful whether this mode of cultivation would be practicable. I have sometimes met a hill community as they were changing their residence : long files of men, women, and children, every soul of the village, in fact, proceed to their new place of abode, each one with a long circular basket slung at their backs and supported by a broad strip of soft bark passing over the forehead : each family accompanied by a numerous tribe of the very curly-tailed black hill dog. In some of the baskets are their household goods ; in others, a child and a young pig sleep con- tentedly together. In the old village they 42 THE HILL TRACTS. have left behind, perhaps, half their property, and this without fear, as there are no thieves in the hills. One of these deserted villages presents a curious spectacle ; there are all the evidences of occupation and recent life, but every living creature has disappeared. Gran- aries may be seen half full of grain : large wooden mortars for pounding the grain, the weaving implements of the women, and some half-finished clothes, all left behind for them to take away at their leisure. They have gone probably a long distance (two days’ journey) to the new site of the village ; and on arriving there, every family has to build its own house. Each tribe in the hills has a different way of building ; and of this I shall speak further, when referring to the distinctive peculiarities of each tribe. Our own tributary hill tribes all build their houses of bamboo, raised from the ground about ten feet, on bamboo sup- ports, with numerous smaller bamboo props supporting the floor, the roof, and the walls, in every conceivable direction. The floor and walls are made of bamboo split and flattened VILLAGES. 43 out ; the numerous crevices give free access to every breeze, and render a bill bouse one of the coolest and most pleasant of habita- tions. The roof is also of bamboo cross- pieces, thatched with palmyra, or “ attop ” leaves, called by the Bengallees “ krook pata.” This forms an impervious and lasting roof, which need only be renewed once in three years, whereas the ordinary grass-thatched roof has to be repaired every year. A hill house perched in an exposed position on the ridge or spur of a lofty eminence looks the frailest structure in the world; its strength, however, is surprising, and in spite of the fearful tempests that sometimes sweep over the hills, I never heard of a house having fallen or being injured by the wind. The domesticated animals of the hill peo- ple are the “ guyal,” the cow, buffalo, goat, dog, cat, pig, and the common fowl. The four last-named animals are common to the whole district. Long-haired varieties of the cat, dog, and goat, are found among the independent tribes. The guyal, also, are 44 THE HILL TRACTS. rarely found with any tribe save those that are independent of our authority. The cow and buffalo are principally found among the people inhabiting the Fenny River country, as that part of the district offers the greatest advantages for pasturage. One of the most marked peculiarities of the Hill Tract forests is their silence. There would seem to be but few wild animals in the hills, numerically speaking. I have travelled for miles in the wildest part of the district without seeing fur or feather : almost every species of wild animal, however, is found in the hills ; and to be a good and successful hunter is a great merit in the eyes of the tribes. The gibbon monkey (hooluq) is found throughout the hills, and towards the south on the coast the fisher monkey (simia syno- molgus) is met with. The lemur is also not unfrequently met with. There are also the small common monkey, which, in large flocks, does dire mischief to the standing crops of the hill men, and a long-tailed white-whiskered ANIMALS. 45 variety, — the lungoor. The flying fox (ptero- pus edulis), the horse-shoe bat, and the small house-bat or flitter mouse, are all found in the hills ; also the musk-rat, the badger, the Malay black bear, and several species of wild cats. Tigers are not uncommon, but they do not do much harm. The wild dog is said to be met with, but I have not seen it. The mongoose, the large dark-brown squirrel, the red squirrel, the yellow-bellied variety, the field rat, the bamboo rat, and the porcupine (histrix leucorus), are all more or less fre- quently met with. The elephant and the Assam rhinoceros are common. The former roam in large herds of 100 to 150 all over the district. The double-horned Sumatran species of rhinoceros was formerly thought not to be a native of this part of the country, but a specimen has recently been captured alive, and brought to Chittagong by Captain Hood, of the Elephant Khedda Department. It was smooth-skinned and unmistakably two- horned. A small, black species of hog is found throughout the district, as also the 46 THE HILL TRACTS. barking deer, the muntjak, and samber; gnyal and wild buffalo are not uncommon. Of birds we have the following varieties : — the beemra (edolius remifer), shrikes, the bulbul, warblers, the water-wagtail, hoopoe koel, the carrion crow (this bird is found largely along the western frontier, but ceases entirely on going far east), minah, hornbill (buceros cavatus), small green parrots, a large blue king-fisher with a red neck, a small variety of the same species, the niglit-jar, the anvil bird, the peacock, Argus pheasant, the matoora or Arracan pheasant, the button quail, jungle fowl, green pigeon, the large wood-pigeon, ring-dove, kites, fish-eagles, and a few wild duck and snipe. I have seen one partridge, but they are very rarely found in the district. The boa-constrictor is common, and is found of enormous size. Several kinds of poisonous snakes are also met with. The hills and sea-board of Chittagong, until the rise and consolidation of British authority, were the border-land upon which several races struggled for supremacy. Arra- EARLY SETTLERS. 47 canese, Moguls, and Portuguese all preceded us as masters of the country ; and all have left behind them traces of their former supre- macy. Bernier’s travels and the Seer-ul- Mutakher-ein give some curious glimpses of the state of affairs in this part of the world previous to the advent of the English. One extract from Bernier, in particular, from its style and vividness of detail, I think worthy of excerpt here, thus : — “ I shall now bring before the notice of my readers Aurungzebe’s uncle, Sbaista Khan, who, as I have already said, contributed in an essential degree, by bis eloquence and intrigues, to the exaltation of bis nephew, lie was appointed, as we have seen, Governor of Agra a short time before the battle of Kedgwa, when Aurirng- zebe quitted the capital to meet Sultan Suja. He was afterwards nominated Governor of the Deccan and Com- mander-in-Chief of the forces in that province, and, upon Emir-Jemla’s decease, was transferred to the Govern- ment of Bengal, appointed General of the army in that kingdom, and elevated to the rank of Mir-ul-omrah, which had become vacant by the death of Jemla. “It is due to Shaista’s reputation to relate the im- portant enterprise in which be was engaged soon after bis arrival in Bengal, — an enterprise rendered the more interesting by the fact that it was never undertaken bv bis great predecessor, for reasons which remain unknown. 48 THE HILL TRACTS. The narrative will elucidate the past and present state of the kingdoms of Bengal and Arracan, which have hitherto been left in much obscurity, and will throw light on other circumstances which are deserving of attention. “ To comprehend the nature of the expedition medi- tated by Shaista, and form a correct idea of the occur- rences in the Gulf of Bengal, it should be mentioned that the kingdom of Arracan, or Mugh, has contained during many years several Portuguese settlers, a great number of Christian slaves, or half-caste Portuguese, and other Europeans collected from various parts of the world. That kingdom was the place of retreat for fugitives from Goa, Ceylon, Cochin, Malacca, and other settlements in India, held formerly by the Portuguese, and no persons were better received than those who had deserted their monasteries, married two or three wives, or committed other great crimes. These people were Christians only in name ; the lives led by them in Arracan were most detestable ; massacring and poisoning one another with- out compunction or remorse, and sometimes assassinating even their priests, who, to confess the truth, were too often no better than their murderers. “The King of Arracan, who lived in perpetual dread of the Moguls, kept these foreigners as a species of advanced guard for the protection of his frontier, per- mitting them to occupy a sea-port, called Chittagong, and making them grants of land. As they were unawed and unrestrained by the Government, it was not surprising that these runagates pursued no other trade than that of rapine and piracy. They scoured the neighbouring seas TREATMENT OP SLAVES. 49 in light gallies called galliasscs, entered the numerous arms and canals of the Ganges, ravaged the islauds of Lower Bengal, and often penetrating forty or fifty leagues up the country, surprised and carried away the entire population of villages on market days — and at times, when the inhabitants were assembled for the celebration of a marriage or some other festival. The marauders made slaves of their unhappy captives, and burnt what- ever could not be removed. It is owing to these re- peated depredations that we see so many fine islands in the mouth of the Ganges, formerly thickly peopled, now entirely deserted by human beings, and become the desolate receptacles of tigers and wild beasts. “ Their treatment of the slaves thus obtained was most cruel; and they had the audacity to offer for sale, in the places which they had but recently ravaged, the aged people whom they could turn to no better account. It was usual to see young persons, who had saved them- selves by timely flight, endeavouring to-day to redeem the parent who had been made captive yesterday. Those who were not disabled by age the pirates either kept in their service, training them up to the love of robbery and practice of assassination, or sold to the Portuguese of Goa, Ceylon, St. Thomas, and other places. Even the Portuguese of Ilooghly, in Bengal, purchased with- out scruple those wretched captives, and the horrid traffic was transacted in the vicinity of the island of Galles, near Cape Das Palmas. The pirates, by a mutual understanding, waited for the arrival of the Por- tuguese, who bought whole cargoes at a cheap rate : and it is lamentable to reflect that other Europeans, since E 50 THE HILL TRACTS. the decline of the Portuguese power, have pursued the same flagitious commerce with the pirates of Chittagong, who boast that they convert more Hindoos to Christianity in a twelvemonth than all the Missionaries in India do in ten years, — a strange mode thus of propagating our holy religion by the constant violation of its most sacred pre- cepts, and by the open contempt and defiance of its most awful sanctions. “ The Portuguese established themselves at Hooghly under the auspices of Jelian Guire, the grandfather of Aurungzebe. “ That prince was free from all prejudice against Christians, and hoped to reap great benefit from their commerce. The new settlers also engaged to keep the Gulf of Bengal clear of pirates. Shah Jehan, a more rigid Mussulman than his father, visited the Portuguese at Hooghly with a terrible punishment. They provoked his displeasure by the encouragement afforded to the depredators of Arracan, and by their refusal to release the numerous slaves in their service, who had all of them been subject to the Moguls. He first exacted, by threats and persuasions, large sums of money from the Portu- guese, and when they refused to comply with his ulti- mate demands, he besieged and took possession of the town, and commanded that the whole population should be transferred as slaves to Agra. “ The misery of these people is unparalleled in the his- tory of modern times ; it nearly resembled the grievous captivity of Babylon, for even the children, priests, and monks, shared the universal doom. The handsome women, as well married as single, became inmates of THE PORTUGUESE. 51 the seraglio ; those of a more advanced age or of inferior beauty were distributed among the Omrahs ; little chil- dren underwent the rite of circumcision, and were made pages ; and the men of adult ago, allured for the most part by fair promises, or terrified by the daily threat of throwing them under the elephant’s feet, renounced the Christian faith ; some of the monks remained faithful to their creed, and were conveyed to Goa, and other Portu- guese settlements by the kind exertions of the Jesuits and Missionaries at Agra, who, notwithstanding the calamity, continued their dwelling, and were enabled to accomplish their benevolent purpose by the powerful aid of money, and the warm intercession of their friends. “ Before the catastrophe at Hooghly, the Missionaries had not escaped the resentment of Shah Jehan. lie ordered the large and handsome church at Agra, which, together with one at Lahore, had been erected during the reign of Jehan Guire, to be demolished. A high steeple stood upon this church, with a bell, whose sound was heard in every part of the city. Some time before the capture of Hooghly, the pirates made a formal offer to the Viceroy of Goa to deliver the whole kingdom of Arracan into his hand. Bastian Consalvez was then Chief of the pirates, and so celebrated and powerful was he, that he married the King of Arracau’s daughter. It is said that the Viceroy was too arrogant and envious to listen to this proposal, and felt unwilling that the King of Portugal should be indebted to a man of low origin for so important an acquisition. There was nothing, however, in the proposal to excite surprise, being con- sonant with the general conduct of the Portuguese in 2 E 52 THE HILL TRACTS. Japan, Pegu, Ethiopia, and other places. The decay of their power in India is fairly ascribable to their mis- deeds, and may be considered, as they candidly allow, a proof of the Divine displeasure. Formerly their name was a tower of strength; and all the Indian princes courted their friendship, and the Portuguese were dis- tinguished for courage, generosity, zeal, religion, immen- sity of wealth, and the splendour of their exploits ; but they were not then, like the Portuguese of the present day, addicted to every vice and to every low and grovel- ling enjoyment. “ The parties, about the time of which I am speaking, made themselves masters of the island of Sandiva, — an advantageous port commanding part of the mouth of the Ganges. On this spot the notorious Fra Joan, an Augus- tine monk, reigned as a petty sovereign during many years, having contrived, by what means is unknown, to rid himself of the Governor of the islands. “ These also are the identical freebooters who, as we have seen, repaired in their galliasses to Dacca for the purpose of conveying Sultan Suja to Arracan. They found means of opening some of his chests, and robbing him of many precious stones, which were offered secretly for sale at Arracan, and disposed of for a mere trifle. The diamonds all got into the hands of the Dutch and other Europeans, who easily persuaded the ignorant thieves that the stones were soft, and consequently of no real and intrinsic value. “ I have said enough to give an idea of the trouble, vexation, and expense to which the Mogul was for many years exposed by the unjust and violent proceedings of SHAISTA KHAN. 53 the pirates established in Arracan. He had always been under the necessity of guarding the inlets of the king- dom of Bengal, or keeping large bodies of troops and a fleet of galliasses on the alert. All these precautions, however, did not prevent the ravaging of his territories; the pirates were become so bold and skilful, that with four or five galliasses they would attack and generally capture or destroy fourteen or fifteen of the Mogul’s galleys. “ The deliverance of Bengal from the cruel and inces- sant devastations of these barbarians was the immediate object of the expedition contemplated by Shaista Khan upon his appointment to the goal of that kingdom. But he had an ulterior design, that of attacking the King of Arracan, punishing him for his cruelty to Sultan Suju and family. Aurungzebe was determined to avenge the murder of those illustrious personages, and, by a single example, to teach his neighbours that the princes of his blood, in all situations and under all circumstances, must be treated with humanity and reverence. “ The Governor of Bengal accomplished his first plan with consummate address. It was scarcely practicable to march an army into the kingdom of Arracan, owing to the great number of rivers and canals that intersect the frontier; and the naval superiority of the pirates rendered it still more difficult to transport an invading force by sea. It therefore occurred to Shaista to apply to the Dutch for their co-operation ; and, with this view, he sent an envoy to Batavia, with power to negotiate, on certain conditions, with the General-Commandant of that colony, for the joint occupation of the kingdom of 54 THE niLL TRACTS. Arracan, in the same manuer as Shah Abas treated formerly with the English in regard to Ormus. “ The Governor of Batavia was easily persuaded to enter into a scheme that offered an opportunity of still further depressing the Portuguese influence in India, and from the success of which the Dutch Company would derive important advantages. lie despatched two ships of war to Bengal for the purpose of facilitating the conveyance of the Mogul’s troops to Chittagong ; hut Shaista, in the meantime, had collected a large number of galliasses and other vessels of considerable tonnage, and threatened to overwhelm the pirates in irremediable ruin if they did not immediately submit to the Mogul's authority. ‘ Aurungzebe is fixed in the resolution,’ said he to them, ‘ of chastising the King of Arracan, and a Dutch fleet, too powerful to be resisted, is near at hand. If you are wise, your personal safety and the care of your families will now engross all your attention, you will quit the service of the King of Arracan and enter into that of Aurungzebe. In Bengal you shall have as much land allotted as you may deem necessary, and your pay shall be double that which you at present receive.’ “ The pirates about this period had assassinated one of the King of Arracan’s principal ofiicers, and it is not known whether they were more struck with terror by the punishment awaiting them for that crime, or moved by the promises and threats contained in Shaista’s com- munication. Certain it is, however, that these unworthy Portuguese were one day seized with so strange a panic as to embark in forty or fifty galliasses, and sail over to Bengal ; and they adopted this measure with so much SHAISTA KHAN. 55 precipitation that they had scarcely time to take their families and valuable effects on board. “ Shaista received these extraordinary visitors with open arms ; gave them large sums of money ; provided the women and children with excellent accommodation in the town of Dacca ; and after he had thus gained their confidence, the pirates evinced an eagerness to act in concert with the Mogul’s troops, and shared in the attack and capture of Saudiva, which island had fallen into the hands of the King of Arracan. Meanwhile, the two Dutch ships-of-war made their appearance, and Shaista having thanked the Commanders for their kind intentions, informed them that he had now no need of their services. I saw the vessels in Bengal, and was in company with the officers, who considered the Indian’s thanks a poor compensation for the violation of his engagements. In regard to the Portuguese, Shaista treats them, not perhaps as he promised, but certainly as they deserve. He has drawn them from Chittagong ; they and their families are in his power ; an occasion for their service no longer exists ; he considers it, therefore, quite unnecessary to fulfil a single promise. He suffers month after month to elapse without giving them any pay, declaring that they are traitors, in whom it is folly to confide — wretches who have basely betrayed the prince whose bounty they had experienced. “ In this manner Shaista Khan extinguished in Chitta- gong the power of those Portuguese who had depopulated and ruined the whole of Lower Bengal. Time will show whether his enterprise against the King of Arracan will be crowned with similar success.” 56 THE HILL TRACTS. The earliest record of our dealings with the hill tribes is a letter from the Chief of Chitta- gongto the Governor-General, the Honourable Warren Hastings, Esq., dated 10th April, 1777, in which he reports that “ a moun- taineer, named Ramoo Cawn, who pays the Company a small revenue on their cotton farm, has, since my being here, either through ill usao^e from the revenue farmer, or from a disposition to revolt, for some months past, committed great violence on the Company’s landholders, by exacting various taxes and imposing several claims on them with no grounds of authority or legal demand.” The letter goes on to state that the writer “ was flattered with hopes of securing the person of this said Ramoo Cawn ; ” but this scheme proved abortive, as the man fled from his usual place of residence. “ He has now assembled men in yet larger bodies,” and has called to his aid “ large bodies of Kookie men, who live far in the interior parts of the hills, who have not the use of fire-arms, and whose bodies go un- RISE OP BRITISH POWER. 57 clothed.” This contumacy on the part of Ramoo Cawn was. subsequently met by stop- ping all supplies, and not allowing the hill people to have access to our bazaars ; and these measures appear to have been success- ful, as we hear no more of this person. Tra- dition in the hills tells us of such a rising of the Chukma tribe ; and with reference to this Ramoo Cawn, or Khan, I am the more dis- posed to ascribe the disturbance in question to the Chukma tribe, as they alone, of all the hill people, employ a quasi Mohammedan no- menclature. The Kookie men, however, re- ferred to, do not appear to have quieted down so quickly, for in November, 1777, we find the Chief of Chittagong addressing Captain Edward Ellesker, commanding the 22nd Bat- talion of Sepoys, and ordering some men to be sent “ for the protection of the inhabitants against some Kookies,” and “ to assist in making a kheddah.” From the above letters and other sources, I gather that we at that time collected revenue from the hills in the shape of a tax on cotton 58 THE HILL TEACTS. brought down from the hills, which tax was farmed out to some second party. It is also curious to note that as early as 1777 the Government had established kheddalis, and drew their supply of elephants partly from this district. The records having reference to our rela- tions with the hill tribes, obtainable in the Government offices at Chittagong, are but scanty and intermittent. The attention of the executive seems to have been principally directed to the administration of the Dis- trict of Chittagong Proper, and it was only when some lawless outrage or default of tribute payment forced them into notice that mention is made of our frontier tribes. There are, therefore, large gaps in the thread of narrative of by-gone years, when we can only conclude that the tribes were quiet, and the authorities content to let them remain so. On the 6th May, 1784, Government wrote to Mr. Irwin, the Chief of Chittagong, de- siring to have his opinion fully, whether, by lenient measures, the inhabitants of the hills ■RISE OP BRITISH POWER. 59 might not be induced to become peaceable subjects and cultivators of the low lands. No practical result, however, ensued, and the tribes do not crop up again until the 21st April, 1829, when Mr. Ilalhed, Commissioner, writes that he finds that the hill tribes are not subjects, but merely tributaries. “ I do not recognize any right on our part to interfere with their internal arrangements. We have no authority in the hills ; the payment of the tribute which is trivial in amount in each instance is guaranteed by a third party, resi- dent in our own territory, and who is alone responsible. He derives his own profit from the arrangement under stipulations w T hich have no place in his agreement with us. He is merely an agent, or mooktear, or medium of communication between his constituents and the authorities. He is not the ruler of the clan he represents, and possesses no con- trol over the members of it,” &c. Up to 1829, therefore, we seem to have exercised no direct influence or rule over the hill tribes. The near neighbourhood, how- 60 THE HILL TRACTS. ever, of a powerful and stable Government naturally brought the chiefs by degrees under our influence, and by the end of the 18th century every leading chief paid to the Chit- tagong Collector a certain tribute or yearly gift made to purchase the privilege of free trade between the inhabitants of the hiils and the men of the plains. These sums were at first fluctuating in amount, but gradually were brought to specified and fixed limits, eventu- ally taking the shape, not of tribute, but of revenue paid to the State. Until the year 1860 it appears we did not interfere directly with the internal economy of the hills. In that year, however, the in- dependent tribes, known by the generic name of Kookies, committed some murderous out- rages on British subjects in the adjacent Dis- trict of Tipperah. These raids were of so organized a description, and on such a large scale, as to cause well-founded anxiety to Government ; and in July, 1860, a Superin- tendent of Hill Tribes was appointed to the charge of the hills, which were henceforth RISE OF BRITISH FOWER. 61 known by the name of the Hill Tracts of Chittagong. The committal of the raids was clearly brought home to the tribes residing in the north-eastern part of the Hill Tracts, and, accordingly, on the 27th January, 1861, an expedition, under the command of Major Raban, entered the hills, and inflicted punish- ment on the tribe principally concerned. The primary object of the appointment of a Hill Superintendent was the supervision of the independent tribes ; and for the next few years attention was principally directed to the preservation of the peace of the frontier. In 1867 the oilicial designation of the officer in charge of the district was changed from Superintendent of Hill Tribes to Deputy Com- missioner of Hill Tracts, and he was vested with full control of all matters pertaining both to revenue and justice throughout the Hill Tracts. At the same time the district was apportioned into subdivisions, and subordi- nate officers placed in charge thereof. A force of 375 men, fully armed, equipped, and officered, has been allotted by Govern- 02 THE HILL TRACTS, ment for the defence of the frontier. The men are principally natives of the hills, and are as yet untried in active service. The general instructions of Government for the guidance of the Hill Tract authorities (Government of Bengal, Letter No. 3300, dated 20th June, 1860) are comprehensive, and so indicative of the wise and beneficent course of policy which has been pursued towards the hill people, that I venture to give here an abstract thereof, as follows : — 1st . — To allow no middle-men between the hill man and the “ hakim,” all mooktears or attorneys being prohibited from employment in matters between hill man and hill man. 2nd . — Simplification of procedure and free- dom from expense were attained by directing that equity, guided by the spirit of the law, should be observed, no stamps required, and no costs further than actual and necessary expenses. Justice in fact to be administered in the simplest and most expeditious manner possible. 3rd. — The customs and prejudices of the GOVERNMENT INSTRUCTIONS. 63 people to be observed and respected. We are to interfere as little as possible between tlie chiefs and their tribes. 4