Narrative by Major-General John Campbell of his operations in the hill tracts of Orissa for the supression of human sacrifices and female infanticide

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-V

NARRAT1 V i:

BY

MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN CAMPBELL,

CB.

NARRATIVE

MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN CAMPBELL,

C.B.
OF HIS OPERATIONS

FHE HILL TRACTS OF ORISSA

TIIE SUPPRESSION OF HUMAN SACRIFICES
AND FEMALE INFANTICIDE.

IDrmteo tot ^prib'ate Circulation.

LONDON:
HURST AND BLACKETT,

13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STK I I
1861.

:DS4-£5

0&C3

LONDON :,

Printed by A. Schulze, 13, Poland Street.
WE4IRY MORSE STEPHENS

PREFACE.

In presenting the following imperfect
sketch of my humble labours in the Khond
country, for the perusal of my friends, I
disclaim all pretension of doing anything
more than offering a plain, unvarnished
statement of what I saw and did. I have
only in my possession fragments of official
Reports, and some private memoranda, to
guide me — but I can safely assert, that the
information, so far as it goes, may be fully
relied on.

I look back with unfeigned gratification
and thankfulness at having been the in-
strument used to accomplish a great and

L

UG92

VI PREFACE.

good work, and I owe much to that illus-
trious statesman, the late Marquis of Dal-
housie, Governor- General of India, who
took the liveliest interest in this enterprise
of civilization and humanity, and gave it,
on every occasion, his powerful and gene-
rous support.

By the most Noble the Marquis of Twee-
dale, when Governor and Commander-in-
Chief of Madras, the most cordial sympathy
was manifested, and from this distinguished
nobleman I never failed to receive the most
convincing proofs of the deep interest he
felt in all our operations for the Suppression
of Human Sacrifices, and Female Infanti-
cide in the Hill Tracts of Orissa.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
Introduction — Some account of the District, or Zemin-
dary of Goomsur — The Vicissitudes of the Rajahs. 1

CHAPTER II.
Some Description of the Hill Country of the Khond
Tribes — Their Habits and Manners — Anecdotes —
Religion of the Khonds — Sacrifices — Danger and Dif-
ficulty ot its Abolition — My Appointment by Govern-
ment to the Khond Districts. .... 9

CHAPTER HI.

My First Efforts in the Goomsur Hills — Khond Council
— The Success of my Endeavours and Rescue of one
Hundred and Five Victims — General Result of Four
Years' Labour in these Hills. ... 37

Vlll CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IV.

I leave for China — Appointment of Captain Macpher-
son — His Injudicious Measures and their unfortunate
Results — General Dyce called in — Captain Macpherson
removed, and my Appointment — The Disturbance
brought to an End, and the Khonds of Boad pledged
to abstain from Sacrifice. .... 49

CHAPTER V.

Some Description of Chinna Kimedy — Visit to the Infan-
ticidal Tribes of Soorada — One of their Traditions —
Their Customs — Eirst Entrance into Chinna Kimedy —
Measures Adopted — Modes of Sacrifice — District of
Mahasingi, Numerous Victims found—" Possi Poes ;"
Pledge themselves to abstain from Sacrifice-^-Proceed
to Boad — No Repetition of the Sacrifice — Concluding
Reflections. 72

CHAPTER VI.

Captain Frye proceeds to Chinna Kimedy — His Death—
Boad and Goomsur are visited, and in the latter four
little Schools founded — Maji Deso Patna — Curious
Customs of Sacrificing and Non-sacrificing Tribes —
Mudderpore, Rescue of Victims — Extracts from Report
to Government 104

CHAPTER VII.

Return to my Duties and proceed to Mahasingi — Some
Description of this District — Go on to Bissum Cuttack

CONTENTS. IX

Account of his little Kingdom and Quarrel with Rajah
of Jeypore — Rescue of Meriahs — Ryabiji — Chunder-
pore — Godairy — Lumbargam — Attack on my Camp —
Attack repelled and Meriahs brought in — Bundari —
Junnah Sacrifices — Revisit Sooradah — Infanticide —
Flight of Khonds to my Camp — Account of the Meriahs
settled in the Low Country. . . . 115

CHAPTER VIIL

I revisit the Infanticidal Districts — Results — Again
enter Chinua Kimedy and prevent a Sacrifice in Bondi-
gam — Further Submission in these Districts — Restora-
tion of some original Meriahs — Conduct of the Tribes
of Toopunga — Collision and Subsequent Surrender of
these Tribes — Proceed to Bundari in Jeypore — Account
of the three Destined Victims— Revisit Ryabiji — The
one Exception in Jeypore— Some Account of the
Kootiah Khonds — Kalahunde — Patna — Ruined Temples
Muddenpore — Mahasingi — Revisit Boad — Number of
Victims Rescued during the Season — Return to the
Low Country 148

CHAPTER IX.

All the Tribes of Upper and Lower Chinua Kimedy
visited — Their Prosperity and Increasing Familiarity —
Read Proclamation — Reply of Khond Chiefs— Delivery
of Runaway Meriahs— Capture of a Notorious Kid-
napper— Reception at Jeypore — No Sacrifice there
since 1852 — Ryaghur and Linkapore— Some Account

X CONTENTS.

of them — Toomool — Sickness — Account of People and
Country — Bundusir — Rajah Fatty Narain Deo of
Kalahund — Concluding "Remarks. . . 175

CHAPTER X.

Brief Summary of my Mode of Acting — The Relations
between the Khonds and the Rajahs — Necessity of
conciliating the Hill Tribes — Account of the Distribu-
tion of the Rescued Victims — The Opposition I en-
countered— Conclusion. . . . . 190

Appendix. 207

f,l

NARRATIVE.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION — SOME ACCOUNT OF THE DISTRICT, OB IE -

MINDARY OF GOOMSCR THE VICISSITUDES OF THE

RAJAH.

So little is known in England of the
wild mountain tribes inhabiting the Hill
tracts of the ancient kingdom of Orissa,
and still less of the barbarous practices
which prevailed amongst them, that I have
ventured, at the special request of several
esteemed friends, to compile a brief narra-
tive of the efforts which have been made to

B

«',«««« « • • •

suppress the cruel rite of human sacrifice,
which annually doomed to a frightful and
bloody death hundreds of victims, as
also to check the revolting practice of fe-
male infanticide, which deprived of life,
almost in the very hour of their birth,
between seven and eight hundred female
children.

Between the Mahanuddy river, which
empties itself into the Bay of Bengal, near
to Cuttack, and the river Godavery to the
south, the country is divided into some
forty or fifty petty principalities, ruled over
by chiefs of " Ooryah'' caste. These chief-
tains of Orissa are undoubtedly of very
ancient origin. They claim for themselves
a fabulous descent, each great family bear-
ing as his coat-of-arms the animal or object
from which his ancestors sprung. Thus,
for example, the rajah, or prince and ruler

I j'.!''n\uN:v ••• 3

of Goomsur had a peacock ; another prince
had a snake ; another a bamboo tree, and
such armorial bearings are no small source
of vanity and pride.

These various petty rulers are generally
uneducated and devoid of all mental cul-
ture. Many, from early debauchery and
unbridled indulgence of their passions, be-
come completely imbecile. Indeed, amongst
this class of men, imbecility and feebleness
of character is the general rule. The state
exacts from each of these rulers an annual
tribute, varying from one to eight thousand
pounds. It usually happens that this tri-
bute money is in arrears. The state presses
for payment, and if the rajah cannot raise
the amount, his estate is frequently ad-
ministered for him by the revenue officers
of government, until the debt due is cleared
off : but if the arrears be very heavy, then

b 2

it is sold to liquidate the amount due.
The government is most generally the pur-
chaser.

I will, in as few words as possible, sketch
the history of one of these little palatinates,
and I select that of " Goomsur,,, because
it was owing to the deposition of the reign-
ing prince, and the annexation of his coun-
try to the British dominions, that we first
became acquainted with the fact of human
victims being sacrificed on the altar of a
bloody superstition.

The little principality of " Goomsur"
reckons about four hundred square miles,
one half of which is primeval forest, the
other cleared and well cultivated. In 1783,
its ruler was named Rajah Vikramah Bunge,
and the yearly tribute demanded from him
was five thousand pounds. He failed to
fulfil his engagements, and consequently

RAJAH VIKEAMAH BUNGE. 5

was deprived of his estate, and his brother
Lutshmunnah Bunge substituted. He
agreed to pay double the amount required
from his brother, and placed himself and
kingdom entirely under the control of
native bankers and money dealers, who be-
came his security for the due payment of
the tribute. This man died, leaving his
son, Streckarah Bunge, to reign in his stead.
Very chequered was the existence of this
native prince. Disgusted at first with the
state of affairs, and slightly fanatical, he
abdicated in favour of his son, Dhunagi
Bunge, and made a pilgrimage to some
holy shrine : but after a few years' absence,
he returned, expelled his son, resumed the
reins of government, and boldly bid de-
fiance to the paramount power by refusing
to pay any tribute at all.

Necessarily this challenge was not long

0 DHUNAGI BUNGE.

unanswered, and the government troops
soon gave a good account of this unruly
rajah, who once more became a private
gentleman — the supreme government having
determined to replace his son Dhunagi
Bunge at the head of affairs. In fact, this
harassed district was in a constant state of
oscillation between father and son, who
alternately reigned and were disposed.
Thus Dhunagi Bunge had not long been
reinstated, when, in consequence of the
commission of atrocious crimes, it was
found absolutely necessary again to depose,
and further to incarcerate him. Then came
the father's turn again, but like other illus-
trious princes, he had in exile neither learnt
nor forgotten anything; and after a very
short possession of power, he failed to pay
the stipulated tribute, and expiated his of-
fences in exile in a distant country. Once

KHONDS. 7

more the government gave the son Dhunagi
Bunge a chance of retrieving his past errors,
he was brought back from confinement and
re-installed as ruler of Goomsur. With
common prudence he might have been ruler
to this hour, but he boldly hoisted the
standard of rebellion, paid no tribute, and
betook himself and his establishment to
those mountain fastnesses where dwell the
various tribes of Khonds, who owe and
yield a certain ill-defined allegiance to the
lowland ruler, of which I will speak again
hereafter.

Then ended the eventful career of this
man and his family. The government of
India determined on the complete subjuga-
tion of the country. A large force under
General Taylor was employed for that pur-
pose, and the Hon. Mr. Russell was named
as the political agent, with very extensive

8 HON. ME. EUSSELL.

powers. I was appointed an assistant and
also secretary to Mr. Russell, and took an
active part during the whole campaign
which extended over two years. The un-
happy rajah was hunted from place to
place, and finally died at a little moun-
tain fortress. The whole country be-
came part of the British territory, whatever
members of the Bunge family remained
were made state prisoners, and a campaign
of almost unexampled severity terminated
in the accomplishment of all the objects of
the government.

CHAPTER II.

SOME DESCRIPTION OF THE HILL COUNTRY OF THE KHOND

TRIRES THEIR HABITS AND MANNERS — ANECDOTES—

RELIGION OF THE KHONDS — SACRIFICES — DANGER AND
DIFFICULTY OF ITS ABOLITION — MY APPOINTMENT BY
GOVERNMENT TO THE KHOND DISTRICTS.

The harassing operations to which I have
referred in the preceding chapter, first
brought us into contact with the wild and
warlike races of Khond tribes, who dwell
on the table land of the great chain of
mountain ranges which extend nearly north
and south from the Mahanuddy to the
Godavery.

These mountains are about one hundred
and fifty to two hundred miles distant from

10 PRODUCE.

the sea, and from two to three thousand
feet above it. Their steep and rugged sides
are densely covered with the bamboo,
damur, and other common Indian trees.
Game of all kinds abound, and the larger
description of animals, tigers, panthers,
bears, wild buffaloes, &c, are numerous.

The means of access to these highland
regions are most difficult. Steep narrow
winding paths through the ravines conduct
to the mountain table-land, and the ascent
is equally wearisome and troublesome.
When at last the summit is reached, the
eye beholds a well-watered, open country,
producing abundantly rice, oil seeds, tur-
meric, and sometimes large crops of dhall,
(a kind of pea) and millet. The Khonds
know nothing of the science of agriculture ;
they exhaust the soil with crops without
intermission, then abandon their fields to

HILL TEIBES. 11

become again a forest, and clear fresh
jungle land for future crops.

These Hill tribes in no one way resemble
the inhabitants of the plains, whence, I
should judge, they had been driven by the
successive conquering races whose descen-
dants now occupy them. Hence we find
in their language, though a dialect entirely
of itself, words evidently having both a
Telingah, Canarese, and Ooryah origin.

The inhabitants of the Orissa range of
hills are chiefly called " Khonds," " Gonds,"
and " Sowrahs ;* the two latter races are
not addicted to the practice of human sa-
crifice. The language of the Sowrahs is
distinct from that of the Khond tribes.
This narrative has almost exclusive refer-
ence to the Khonds.

Khond communities are divided into dis-
tricts and villages. A community is formed

12 PANOO CASTE.

of a union of villages, called a " Mootah,"
and these again united, form a district.
Each village has its own chief or " Mulleko,"
and also an officer called " Digaloo" or in-
terpreter, of the "Panoo" caste, a race
very useful to the Khond tribes, who regard
them as in every way their inferior. The
" Panoo " is the man of business of the
Khond, who holds it beneath his dignity to
barter or to traffic, and regards as plebeians
all who are not warriors or tillers of the
soil.

Districts again are governed by a chief of
Ooryah extraction, called "Bissoi," the
descendant usually of some daring adven-
turer, whose fallen fortunes drove him to
the hills, where, with his band of followers,
he received a cordial welcome from the
mountain tribes. The Khonds regarded
such a warrior more capable to rule over

TILLAGES. 13

them, and more fit to lead them on in
battle, than one of their own tribe.

Their villages vary in size from twenty
to eighty houses, well and substantially
built of planks split from the damur tree,
and rudely fashioned into shape with an
axe. The roof is of bamboo, thatched over
with grass. One long street usually forms
the village, which has at either end a rough
palisade. Clusters of villages are always
built together both for defence and culti-
vation.

Rice is the great staple of cultivation,
and great pains are bestowed thereon. The
fields are formed in a succession of terraces
to which water, when available, is conducted
with no mean skill. Near the villages to-
bacco is invariably grown, a rough, coarse,
strong leaf, indispensable however to gratify
the Khond appetite. Their implements of

14 HUNTING.

husbandry are most primitive. Their
wooden plough, drawn by buffaloes, or
else small oxen, merely scratches the
ground.

Their breed of cattle is very inferior.
In their mountains goats abound, but
few sheep. The Khonds do not use milk,
but can assign no reason for their absti-
nence.

They have a passion for the chase.
Their hunting season opens in the hot
months, about April, which is the period
when they burn the underwood and rank
grass of the jungles, and this operation
drives the wild animals from their lairs to
seek a refuge in the unburnt forest. They
are then pursued by the Khonds, who are
exceedingly expert at tracking game. If in
hunting, an elk, or other large game is
wounded, the measure of his " gottira " or

MAEEIAGE. 15

slot is taken, and they have an admitted
right to pursue him to any distance, even
beyond their own boundaries, until it is
killed or captured. A division of the
quarry is then made in accordance with
well established usage, so much to the
hunters, so much to the villagers on whose
land it has been killed, and on some occa-
sions the rajah, or low-country chief receives
a portion.

In the event of any dispute regarding
the identity of the pursued animal, the
measure of the first slot is produced and
received as conclusive.

The hunting season is one of universal
revelry and drunkenness. Marriages are
usually celebrated at this time, and through-
out every district is heard the sound of
their rude shrill musical instruments. I
should have mentioned that the bow and

16 KH0NDS.

arrow and battle-axe are the hunting wea-
pons employed.

It is somewhat singular that the Khond
tribes have never adopted the matchlock,
sword, or shield, which are always carried
by their Ooryah chief, or " Bissoi/' and his
followers, and are so superior to the Khond
weapons.

The Khonds generally are an active race,
wiry and lithesome in make, and but im-
perfectly acquainted with the value of
cleanliness. They drink deeply, and obtain
a very intoxicating liquid from the fer-
mented juice of the feathery palm, and also
from the "mowah" tree. They largely
out-number all other classes, and are the
acknowledged lords of the soil. Next in
importance is the Panoo caste, and then the
Ooryah followers of the district chief.

Their clothing consists merely of a few

MARTIAL COSTUME. 17

yards of coarse cotton cloth bound round
the loins, ornamented with a separate piece
striped with red, and dangling down be-
hind like a tail. Their thick black hair
wound round and round their heads is fas-
tened in front by a knot, over which is tied
a strip of red or other cloth. In their
hair they invariably stick three or four
cigars, very simply formed by rolling a
green leaf into a conical shape, and fill-
ing it with their coarse chopped tobacco
leaf.

It is only, however, when they go out
to battle, and tribe meets tribe in hostile
array, that they adorn themselves with all
their finery. Then they swathe their heads
in thick folds of cotton cloth, with pea-
cocks' feathers waving in defiance, cover
their bodies with pieces of skins of bears or
elks ; and proud indeed is the warrior who

c

18 FIGHTING.

can sport over all a couple of yards of red
cloth.

I once witnessed two tribes, each num-
bering about three hundred men, drawn up
in battle array. On this occasion, I pre-
vented any serious results. They had
already been three days engaged in the
preliminaries of the fight, for many cere-
monies are gone through ere comes the tug
of war.

Champions from either side perform
war dances between the hostile ar-
mies ; these dances are accompanied by
offensive and insulting epithets, and each
side challenges and abuses the other. At
last they are sufficiently excited, and from
words the dancers come to blows j then a
general melee ensues, which is rarely at-
tended with great loss of life, and at night
the opposing parties draw off to their re-

KHOND WOMEN. 19

spective quarters, only to recommence the
following day.

The Khond women are as scantily clad as
the men. They partake of the prevailing
weakness of their sex in their intense love
of ornaments and finery. Coloured beads
are highly prized and generally used, with
a rude and heavy description of brass
bracelet worn on their arms and ankles.
As a class, they are not good looking, and
their standard of morality is not, I regret
to say, very elevated ; hence endless quar-
rels amongst the tribes, who regard the
abduction of a woman by a man of another
tribe as a common insult to them all, and
unless reparation be made to the injured
husband, war is declared against the tribe
of the abducting party, and all who are
more or less distantly connected with the
disputants are drawn into the quarrel,
c 2

20 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS.

Many of their marriage customs are pe-
culiar. On one occasion whilst taking an
evening ride, I heard loud cries proceeding
from a village close at hand. Fearing some
serious quarrel, I rode to the spot, and there I
saw a man bearing away upon his back some-
thing enveloped in an ample covering of scar-
let cloth ; he was surrounded by twenty or
thirty young fellows, and by them protected
from the desperate attacks made on him by
a party of young women. On seeking an
explanation of this novel scene, I was told
that the man had just been married, and
his precious burthen was his blooming
bride, whom he was now conveying to his
own village. Her youthful friends, as it
appears is the custom, were seeking to re-
gain possession of her, and hurled stones
and bamboos at the devoted bridegroom's
head, until he reached the confines of his

1TLTA BAG. 21

own village. Then the tables were turned,
the bride was fairly won, and off her
young friends scampered, screaming and
laughing, but not relaxing their speed
until they reached their own village.

The Khonds are firm believers in magic,
and frequently attribute death or misfor-
tunes of any kind to enchantment. They
believe that witches have the faculty of
transforming themselves into tigers, and
are then called "Pulta Bag." This belief
is very similar to the superstition of the
peasants of Normandy or Brittany, who
thought that certain people had power to
change themselves into wolves, and very
often did so change themselves for
the purpose of frightening others and
doing mischief. I had heard often of
these " Pulta Bags," and one example came
under my own observation.

22 TIGEE.

Whilst examining some magisterial cases,
I observed a crowd approaching with two
women in front, guarded by three or four
armed men. In due time they were
brought before me, and charged by a
Beniah Khond, (one of a tribe of Khonds
inhabiting the slopes of the mountains,) with
having transformed themselves into tigers
killing and carrying off his son. His story
was : — " I went in the evening to the
jungle near my village accompanied by my
son, to gather fire-wood. We were en-
gaged in doing so when a tiger sprung
upon my son and carried him off. I pur-
sued, shouting and making as much noise
as I could, when suddenly on turning the
shoulder of a rock I saw there two women
standing on the top of it. The thing was
now clear, the " Pulta Bag," alarmed at my
shouts and close pursuit, concealed the

IMPOSTURE. 23

body of ray son and resumed their original
shape. I took them prisoners to my village,
where they confessed to what I now charge
them with, here they are, ask them."
I did ask them, and to my surprise both
women acknowledged that the Beniah
Khond's story was true, they had killed his
son, and had power to transform themselves
into tigers. Determined to undeceive the
people as to this extraordinary belief, I told
the women that I would release them on
condition of their transforming themselves
into tigers in my presence, which, to the
horror of my people, they agreed to do if
taken to a neighbouring jungle. This I
ordered to be done ; when seeing no mode
of escape, they threw themselves on the
ground, imploring mercy and pardon, and
confessing the imposture. They stated that
they were poor, and lived by imposing on

24 EELIGION.

the credulity of the villagers, who supplied
them with food and clothing whenever they
chose to ask for it, to secure themselves
and cattle from their depredations in the
form of a " Pulta Bag." Some were con-
vinced of the imposture, but the majority
were disappointed that the supposed
witches were not burned or drowned.

Of the religion of a people such as the
Khonds, who have no written language, it
is not easy to speak with precision. I made
many efforts to acquire correct information
on this point, but I met with so many con-
tradictions and such vagueness and variety
of opinion that I abandoned the attempt,
satisfied that their so called religion was
probably a corruption and admixture of
Buddism and Hindooism, or other ancient
systems brought from the plains, from
whence, as I have already said, the Khonds

WOMAN SACRIFICES. 25

originally came. Nevertheless, I am aware
that a complete system of Mythology has
been devised for them, but much has been
introduced of which the Khonds know
nothing. One thing however is certain,
that, saving a very few tribes, they all pro-
pitiate their deity, always a malevolent
being, with human sacrifices. In the Hill
countries of Goomsur and Boad, the human
blood is offered to the Earth Goddess,
under the effigy of a bird, to obtain abun-
dant crops, to avert calamity, and to insure
prosperity in every way.

In Chinna Kimedy hills this deity is re-
presented by an elephant, but the general
purposes of the sacrifice are the same.

In the district of Jeypore, the being to be
propitiated by human victims is the " blood-
red god of battle Manicksoroo." Thus
sacrifices are offered on the eve of a battle,

26 MEEIAH.

or when a new fort or an important village
is to be built, or when any danger is im-
minent, and, in short, for general bene-
fits.

In dependant of the general sacrifices
offered by the community, it is not an
uncommon thing for private individuals to
make special offerings of human beings in
order to secure the attainment of any par-
ticular object.

The religion of the Khonds varies in
different parts of the country. There are
tribes, not numerous, who never sacrifice,
and others who destroy their female off-
spring, but do not sacrifice. As I have
previously stated, both the motive and man-
ner of the sacrifice differ amongst the tribes,
though the rite itself is invariably performed
with great cruelty.

The victims, called " Meriah," must be

PRICE OF A VICTIM. 27

bought with a price. This condition is
essential. They may be of any age, sex
or caste, but adults are most esteemed as
being the most costly and, therefore, the
most acceptable to the deity. They are
sometimes purchased from their parents or
relations, when these have fallen into
poverty, or in seasons of famine ; but they
are often stolen from the plains by pro-
fessed kidnappers. In some cases Me-
riah women are allowed to live until they
have had children to Khond fathers, which
children are reared for sacrifice, but are
not put to death in the village where they
are born, but exchanged for children of a
similar birth from another village. They1
are always well treated. The price of a
victim is rarely paid in money, almost
universally in kind, and varies from ten to
sixty articles. Cattle, pigs, or goats, brass

28 ADOPTED CHILDEEN.

vessels or ornaments are the chief medium
of barter. The sacrifice must be celebrated
in public before the assembled people.

Persons are also purchased by the
Khonds, or procured by them for adoption
into their families, as helps in household
affairs, and in the labours of cultivation.
These are called " Possiapoes," adopted
children, and are usually obtained when
young. They often marry into the family
of their protector, and in the course of
time merge into, and are lost in the general
mass of inhabitants.

I may here quote the following interest-
ing portions of a Report by Mr. Russell,
relating to human sacrifices, and dated 11th
May, 1837.

" In the ' Maliahs ' (hill tracts) of Goom-
sur, the sacrifice is offered annually to
' Tada Penoo/ the earth god under the effigy

HUMAN SACEIFICES. 29

of a peacock, with the view of propitiating
the deity to grant favourable crops. The
1 Zani/ or priest, who may be of any caste,
officiates at the sacrifice, but he performs
the 'Pooga/ (offering of flowers, incense,
&c.) to the idol, through the medium of
the ■ Zoomba/ who must be a Khond boy
under seven years of age, and who is fed
and clothed at the public expense, eats
alone, and is subjected to no act deemed
impure.

" For a month prior to the sacrifice, there
is much feasting, intoxication, and dancing
round the ■ Meriah,' (victim) who is adorned
with garlands, &c, and on the day before
the performance of the barbarous rite, is
stupified with toddy, and is made to sit,
or is bound at the bottom of a post, bear-
ing the effigy above described. The assem-
bled multitude then dance round to music,

30 VILLAGE IDOL.

and addressing the earth say, ' 0 God, we
offer this sacrifice to you; give us good
crops, seasons, and health ;, after which they
address the victim. ■ We bought you with
a price, and did not seize you; now we
sacrifice you according to custom, and no
sin rests with us.'

" On the following day, the victim being
again intoxicated, and anointed with oil,
each individual present touches the anointed
part, and wipes the oil on his own head.
All then march in procession round the
village and its boundaries, preceded by
music, bearing the victim in their arms.
On returning to the post, which is always
placed near the village idol called c Zacari
Penoo,' represented by three stones, a hog
is killed in sacrifice, and the blood being
allowed to flow into a pit prepared for the
purpose, the victim who has been previously

HEATHENISH RITE. 31

made senseless from intoxication, is seized
and thrown in, and his face pressed down
till he is suffocated in the bloody mire. The
Zani then cuts a piece of flesh from the
body, and buries it near the village idol, as
an offering to the earth. All the people
then follow his example, but carry the
bloody prize to their own villages, where
part of the flesh is buried near the village
idol, and part on the boundaries of the vil-
lage. The head of the victim remains un-
mutilated, and with the bare bones is
buried in the bloody pit.

" After this horrid ceremony has been
completed, a buffalo calf is brought to the
post, and his four feet having been cut off,
is left there till the following day. Women,
dressed in male attire and armed as men,
then drink, dance and sing round the spot,
the calf is killed and eaten, and the Zani

32 BAKBABOUS PRACTICE.

dismissed with a present of rice, and a hog
or calf. Of the many ways in which the
unhappy victim is destroyed, that just
described is perhaps the least cruel, as in
some places the flesh is cut off while the
unfortunate creature is still alive."

This, then, was all that we knew in May,
1837, of the sacrifice of human beings
among the Khond tribes of the Hill tracts
of Orissa. A few extracts from the Report
above quoted, as to the dangers attending
the attempt to abolish this barbarous prac-
tice, will not be out of place.

" No one is more anxious for the discon-
tinuance of this barbarous practice than I
am, but I am strongly impressed with the
belief that it can be accomplished only by
slow and gradual means. We must not
allow the cruelty of the practice to blind us
to the consequences of too rash a zeal in

bissois. 33

our endeavours to suppress it. The super-
stition of ages cannot be eradicated in a
day, the people with whom we have to deal
have become known to us only within the
last few months, and our intercourse has
been confined to a very small portion of a
vast population, among the greater part of
whom the same rites prevail, and of whose
country and language we may be said to
know almost nothing. Any measure of
coercion would arouse the jealousy of a
whole race, possessing the strongest feeling
of clanship, and whatever their ordinary
dissensions, likely to make common cause
in support of their common religion. The
1 Bissois/ the only people who could pos-
sibly be expected to second our views, have
only a few peons in whom they could rely
on such an occasion. The great mass of
their subjects are Khonds, their influence

D

34 COERCION.

is the moral effect of habit, not of physical
power ; and men thus situated cannot be
expected to aid in the compulsory aboli-
tion of a custom which all the surrounding
tribes hold sacred. Are the government
prepared to engage in an undertaking,
which, to be effectual, must lead to the
permanent occupation of an immense terri-
tory, and involve us in a war with people
writh whom we have now no connection,
and no cause for quarrel, in a climate
inimical to the constitution of strangers,
and at an expense which no human fore-
sight can calculate ?

" From all I have seen of them, I feel
convinced that no system of coercion can
succeed. Our aim should be to improve to
the utmost our intercourse with the tribes
nearest to us, with a view to civilize and
enlighten them, and so reclaim them from

GANJAM DISTRICT. 35

the savage practice, using our moral influ-
ence rather than our power. The position
we now hold in Goorasur is favourable to
the purpose, and it probably is so in some
places beyond the frontier also."

In a Minute of consultation of a sub-
sequent date, the Hon. Mr. Russell writes,

" Captain Campbell has acquired a know-
ledge of the country and people of the Hill
tracts in the Ganjam district, under cir-
cumstances never likely to occur again, and
his local experience and personal influence
with the different Hill chieftains, give him
an advantage over any other person who
could be appointed to the situation of
Principal Assistant to the Commissioner/'

I have made these quotations to shew
the small extent, at this period, of our
knowledge regarding both the people and
the countries where human sacrifices pre-

d 2

36 KHONDS.

vailed ; and further to prove the difficulties
and dangers which beset the question, of
the measures best adapted for the suppres-
sion of these revolting ceremonies. It may
also be gathered from the extracts what
amount of personal influence I was likely
to bring to bear upon the minds of the
Khonds from my knowledge and experience
acquired during the war, immediately sub-
sequent to which it pleased the Government
to appoint me to the revenue and magis-
terial charge of Goomsur, Sooradah, Boo-
daguddah, Daracota and Aska, with spe-
cial charge over the Khond inhabitants of
these countries.

CHAFrER III.

MY FIRST EFFORTS IN THE GOOMSUR HILLS — KHOND COUN-
CILS— THE SUCCESS OF MY ENDEAVOURS AND RESCUE
OF ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE VICTIMS — GENERAL RESULT
OF FOUR YEARS' LABOUR IN THESE HILLS.

In December, 1837, I ascended the
Khond Hills, escorted by a few " Irregu-
lars," raised by myself from the inhabitants
of the village skirting the mountain range.
These recruits were bold and hardy fellows,
inured to the climate, and from their youth
upwards accustomed to bear arms. Several
of them had earned distinctive titles, be-
stowed by their rajahs for deeds of gallau-
try. For instance, one was called * Joogar
Singh," which means " Lion in War ;" an-

38 SAM BISSOI.

other " Runnah Singh/' or " Strong in
battle;" another "Poki Singh," "Swifter
than a Lion," and so forth.

Amongst these men, a few possessed a
slight colloquial knowledge of the Khond
dialect, and were of great value to me.

I called to my councils the intrepid old
chief, Sam Bissoi of Hodzagur, who had
been raised for his invaluable services dur-
ing the campaign to the dignity of chief of
the Khonds of Goomsur, by the title of
"Buhadur Bukhshi," with whom T was
well acquainted, and who had been my
companion during the war in many a
harassing " dour " and skirmish ; and hav-
ing fully explained my views, the plan of
procedure, and the part I expected him to
perform — into which he most heartily en-
tered— I summoned all the chiefs of vil-
lages and " Mootas " of the Goomsur

PUNDA NAIK. 39

"MaHalis," (mountains,) to assemble with
their " Digalos" at Oodiagerry, the fort of
the late rajah.

These men had all received the turban of
investiture to office from my hands, at the
conclusion of the war, and consequently
knew me well, and at the time appointed
nearly all attended, to the number of about
three hundred, accompanied by so many of
their Khond followers, attracted by cu-
riosity, that there could not have been fewer
than three thousand men present.

I sat under the shade of a tree, the
Khond chiefs ranged in a semicircle in front,
seated on the ground, and the others col-
lected in groups around us. Through Sam
Bissoi and another Ooryah chief of some
influence, named Pun da Naik, I explained
to the assembly the horror with which we
viewed the rite of human sacrifice. "In

40 HUMAN SACEIFICES.

no part of our dominions did it exist, and

now that they were British subjects they

too must abandon it. The subjects of the

state, whether Khond or Ooryah, are the

children of the state, and wherever the life

of one of her children was taken, then a

life assuredly would be required. Was it

not their own law — life for life. Ages past,

we too sacrificed human beings, but we

were then fools and ignorant, now we know

better, and desire to give the same wisdom

to our subjects, that they may learn the

uselessness and sin of human sacrifices,

may live at peace with each other, and be

prosperous. The inhabitants of the plains,

and even several of the neighbouring

Khond tribes do not sacrifice human

beings, and where are there stronger men

or finer crops ?"

Every argument I could think of, likely

ASSEMBLY OF KHONDS. 41

to make an impression on such minds, was
used, and finally I requested that they
would discuss the question among them-
selves, and let me know the result of their
deliberation. The assembly then broke up,
and I waited their reply in great anxiety,
for a compromise had been proposed to
me, of permitting one sacrifice annually
for the whole of the Khonds of Goomsur.
This proposal was at once sternly re-
jected.

The assembly again met, and after some
preliminaries, five or six of the oldest and
most influential of the Khond chiefs came
forward to express the sentiments of the
majority of the meeting, which they did
with great self-possession and remarkable
fluency, to the following purport :

" We have always sacrificed human
beings. Our fathers handed down the

o>

42 RESULT.

custom to us. They thought no wrong
nor did we ; on the contrary we felt we
were doing what was right. We were
then the subjects of the Rajah of Goomsur,
now we are the subjects of the Great Govern-
ment, whose orders we must obey. If the
earth refuses its produce, or disease des-
troys us, it is not our fault, we will aban-
don the sacrifice, and will, if permitted,
like the inhabitants of the plains, sacrifice
animals."

It would be tedious to relate all that
passed, and the long and exciting discus-
sions which ensued, but in the end the
assembly was dismissed with orders to
meet again on a certain day, bringing with
them all the victims intended for sacrifice.
The result was most gratifying, and far
beyond my most sanguine hopes. At the
appointed time, nearly one hundred human

OATH. 43

beings, male and female, intended for sa-
crifice were delivered to me.

The assembly was again harangued by
myself as on the first day, and subsequently
the people were addressed by several in-
fluential Khond speakers, who impressed
upon them the necessity of obedience to the
orders of the State.

The chiefs then took an oath peculiar to
themselves. Seated on tiger skins, they
held in their hands a little earth, rice and
water, repeating as follows :

" May the earth refuse its produce, rice
choke me, water drown me, and tiger
devour me and my children, if I break the
oath which I now take for myself and my
people to abstain for ever from the sacrifice
of human beings."

My sword was then passed round from
chief to chief, as a mark of submission on

44 MEEIAHS.

their part, and of protection on mine.
Presents were distributed, and I then dis-
solved my second Khond Assembly, and
they returned to their homes.

Some chiefs of the more distant villages
had failed to bring their Meriahs, but
seeing how their fellow chieftains had
acted, soon followed their example ; and
thus one hundred and five Meriahs
were, in less than one month's operations,
rescued from a cruel death. They were of
different ages. Many were restored to
their relations on the plains, some were
eagerly sought after for adoption by handi-
craftsmen, and others in the low country.
The civil and military^ officers took charge
of a few, and T had twelve instructed as
domestic servants, and to be employed as
interpreters in our future intercourse with
the Khonds.

ABBITRATORION. 45

For four years I continued to watch over
the Khonds of Goomsur, visiting them
once, sometimes twice, every year, and
during these visits settling all their impor-
tant affairs. From their most serious dif-
ferences, even blood feuds down to the
simplest family quarrels, in which the fair
sex bore a prominent part, I was their
arbitrator ; and by giving them at all times
free access to me, and joining in their
hunting parties, I acquired their confidence
in no slight degree, and was enabled to ex-
ercise the influence thus obtained for the
attainment of the benevolent objects of the
Government.

Many visited me at my dwelling on
the plains, such was the confidence in-
spired by the facility which had been
afforded them for attending fairs in the
low country, where they were carefully

46 BOAD.

I

protected, and soon ^became expert bar-
gainers.

I instituted a strict search after kidnap-
pers, and apprehended three notorious
offenders, who were brought to trial and
imprisoned.

I recommended the construction of a
road through the heart of the Khond
country, as the first great step towards the
civilization of the inhabitants, and I urged,
with all the force I could use, the necessity
of extending operations for the suppression
of the Meriah rite, into the neighbouring
principalities of Boad and Chinna Kimedy.

My health had suffered much from per-
sonal exposure in these unhealthy regions ;
where a tree, or a straw heap was very
frequently my only shelter at night —
nothing to be complained of on service in
the field, but far from agreeable in the

FIRST CAMPAIGN. 47

t

ordinary routine of a peaceful duty ; but I
was well repaid by the peace and repose
which universally prevailed in the countries
under my charge, and in the fact that in
January, 1842, the Meriah sacrifice was at
an end among the Khonds of Goomsur,
though I did not pretend to have eradicated
all inclination for the rite from the minds
of these wild people.

Thus terminated what I may designate as
my first campaign, with the special object
of conquering the religious prejudices of the
wild tribes of Goomsur, and extinguishing
their atrocious rite of sacrificing human
victims.

I desire in all sincerity to speak with
diffidence of my own exertions, and I regret
the necessity of such frequent and unavoid-
able use of the personal pronoun. But I
may be allowed warmly to rejoice over the

48 PROFITABLE RESULTS.

results of these five years of labour. The
chieftains and their tribes were my at-
tached friends. A commencement of
civilization had been made, more than one
hundred victims saved from a violent and
bloody death, and the public performance
of the Meriah sacrifice entirely suppressed
amongst the Hill Tribes of Goomsur.

49

CHAPTER IV.

I LEAVB FOR CHINA — APPOINTMENT OF CAPTAIN MACPHER-
SON — HIS INJUDICIOUS MEASURES AND THEIR UNFORTU-
NATE RESULTS GENERAL DTCE CALLED IN — CAPTAIN

MACPHERSON REMOVED, AND MT APPOINTMENT — THE
DISTURBANCES BROUGHT TO AN END, AND THE KHONDS
OF BOAD PLEDGED TO ABSTAIN FROM SACRIFICE.

Earlt in the year 1842 I took leave of
my Khond subjects, and joined my regi-
ment proceeding on service to China.

Captain Macpherson was then appointed
to the charge of the Gooinsur Khonds, he
having previously with a large establish-
ment— a doctor, a company of soldiers, and
five elephants, provided by Government to
carry his tents — proceeded into the Khond
country of Soorada, where female infanti-

50 GOOMSUR KHOND.

cide was known to prevail. Unused to the
feverish climate of these mountains, he re-
turned after an absence of about twenty-five
days, prostrated with fever, and his escort
and followers totally disorganised from the
same cause.

In 1843 and 1844 he passed a few days
in each year in the Goomsur Khond coun-
try, but did not go far into the interior,
nor indeed was there any necessity for his
doing so, for the Khonds had given up the
Meriah sacrifice, though they were clam-
orous, (as when I had left them) that
their neighbours of Boad and Chinna
Kimedy should also be compelled to relin-
quish the rite. In these countries the
abominable Meriah was openly performed,
and in several instances the flesh of the
sacrifice, brought from thence to their fields
by the Khonds of Goomsur, was a sore

CAPTAIN MACPHEESON. 51

trial to such as were sincerely desirous of
adhering to their pledge.

Most unhappily for himself and the
country under his charge, Captain Macpher-
son conceived a prejudice against the bold
and independant chief, Sam Bissoi, and in
an evil hour the Government was per-
suaded to sanction the banishment of this
chief and several of his family. His dig-
nities were taken from him, and also his
estate and country, and in his place Ootan
Sing Dulbera, priest of Tentulgur, was set
up. Captain Macpherson restored to this
man with much pomp, an idol formerly in
the Dulbera's keeping.

About the middle of 1844, Captain Mac-
pherson went to Calcutta. His assistant,
Mr. Cadenhead, visiting the Khond coun-
try a few months after Sam Bissoi's expul-
sion, found the new chief, Ootan Sing of
e 2

52 SAM BISS0I.

Tentulgur, insulted and derided, without
authority or power, and the Khonds banded
together under a son of Sam Bissoi's, who
had been thought too insignificant to be
removed, calling for the restoration of their
old chief, and threatening to revert to their
ancient sacrifice, unless their neighbours of
Boad and Chinna Kimedy were coerced
like themselves.

The removal of Sam Bissoi, one of the
oldest and most influential of all the Ooryah
chiefs, had been a fatal mistake, and had
had the most injurious effects on the chief-
tains of the same class in Boad. It in-
spired the resolute with a spirit of opposi-
tion, and the timid fled into concealment.
Captain Macpherson soon discovered his
error, for he reports that the new chief,
Ootan Sing, had so disgusted all by his
avarice, his want of courage, and his bad

BOAD TRIBES. 53

faith, that he was compelled to contemplate
his removal.

Such was the condition of the Khond
" Maliahfl " of Goomsur in 1845.

At this time the Agency for the Sup-
pression of Human Sacrifice was remodelled,
and extended powers conferred upon
the agent, Captain Macpherson, who with
three European assistants, a large na-
tive establishment, and thirteen ele-
phants took the field in Boad early in
1846.

" He found," as he states, " the Boad
tribes more prepared than he had ventured
to hope to adopt the required changes.
Every tribe was pledged by its representa-
tives after the manner of the Goomsur
tribes, to relinquish the Meriah rite, and
then the holders of victims bringing them
with emulous haste, in seven days about

54 EAJAH OP BOAD.

one hundred and seventy were delivered to
him."

But, alas ! this promising commence-
ment was of short duration, for a few days
later the agent's camp was surrounded by a
mob of Khonds, who compelled him to
restore to them the victims that one week
before they were said to have brought in
with " emulous haste/'

The same night the agent struck his
camp, and marched towards Goomsur carry-
ing the Rajah of Boad with him ; but the
Khonds gaining courage from this apparent
flight, pursued the agent, and being joined
by some of the Goomsur tribes, demanded
the freedom of the Boad Rajah, which was
yielded them, and the retreat continued
till the arrival of reinforcements from the
plains, when the Khonds were driven
away.

CORRUPTION. 55

This was a lamentable beginning of the
new agency from which so much had been
expected. The Khonds were triumphant,
the God of Victory, " Manicksoro," had
conquered, and the bloody sacrifice of the
Meriah was secure.

The gross corruption and extortion prac-
tised by the principal native servants of the
agent's establishment towards the people of
Boad, whose minds were thereby alienated
and alarmed, were, I am satisfied, the
moving causes of this sudden revulsion of
feeling evinced by the Khonds, from the
disposition to bring in their Meriahs, to
the armed resolution with which they de-
manded their restoration.

The rainy season was now at hand, when
the climate of the hills has a fatal effect on
the health of both Europeans and natives
of the plains. The agent was compelled to

56 CHOKRO BISSOI.

quit the Khond " Maliahs," and return to
the low country to prepare for the opera-
tions of the next season, when it was hoped
he would recover both the prestige he had
lost, and the wretched victims he had de-
livered over to the exasperated Khonds.

During the rainy season, the Ooryah and
Khond chiefs of Boad and Chokapaud, (a
hill valley of Goomsur) were not idle, for
they assembled a considerable number of
matchlock men, many of them from Goom-
sur, led by Chokro Bissoi, the nephew of
Dora Bissoi, formerly chief of the Goomsur
Khonds, and who was in this emergency
brought from the neighbouring principality
of Ungool.

In November, 1846, Captain Macpher-
son again ascended into the Khond coun-
try of Boad, with a considerable force. He
found almost every village deserted on his

PLUNDER. 57

approach, and the inhabitants concealed in
the recesses of their jungles, to which, in
many instances, they had conveyed their
grain and valuables. The deserted villages
were burned, and the jungle strongholds
searched for by the troops, who, on several
occasions, were stoutly opposed ; but there
were no symptoms of submission, though
the principal positions were in full military
possession.

At this time, seeing that his matchlock-
men could not contend successfully with
the sepoys, Chokro Bissoi devised and skil-
fully executed a descent into the plains of
Goomsur, where he and his followers com-
menced plundering and burning villages
ID retaliation of and after the example set
them in Boad.

This lamentable state of affairs both in
the Hill tracts of Boad and in the plains of

58 MAJOE-GEKEKAL DYCE.

Goomsur, continued till Marcli 1847, when
Major-General Dyce, in command of the
northern division of the Madras army, was
empowered to take upon himself complete
political authority in the whole of the terri-
tory under the control of the agent in the
Hill tracts of Orissa, and was instructed to
establish the most direct intercourse with
the chiefs of the Hill tribes, and to give
the people in opposition to our Government
a clear and correct view of the benevolent
intentions entertained towards them.

Major-General Dyce reported on the
20th of March, "that he wished to give
all the assistance in his power to Captain
Macpherson to give effect to his measures
for the restoration of tranquillity, but no
change had taken place in the aspect of
affairs, and he had come to the conclusion
after communicating with many influential

CAPTAIN MACPHERSOX. 59

persons, and from actual observation, that
tranquillity would not be restored under
the present agency, owing to the extreme
hatred manifested throughout these districts
against Captain Macpherson and his esta-
blishment— the result as is generally stated
of the oppressive conduct of the Agency
towards the inhabitants of these " Mootas,"
and above all the harsh and cruel measures
resorted to, whenever it has been necessary
to display the power, as it is termed, of the
Government against any of these ignorant
and deluded people."

I am very unwilling to dwell upon this
painful portion of the measures pursued
for the suppression of the Meriah sac-
rifice in Boad, suffice it to say, the policy
pursued by General Dyce was most suc-
cessful. The removal of Captain Macpher-
son and his establishment at once put an

60 PEOMOTION.

end to the opposition to Government, tran-
quillity was restored, and nothing remained
but the embers of the disturbance kept
alive by Chokro Bissoi, the leader of the
matchlock men, whose opposition in Boad,
and atrocities in the plains of Goomsur,
placed him beyond the pale of forgiveness.
In the meanwhile I had returned with
my regiment from China, where I had
received the honour of the third class of
the Order of the Bath, and the brevet
rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and was em-
ployed in suppressing an insurrection in
Golconda, a hill Zumendary to the south-
ward of Vizagapatam, which happily was
overcome ; but the climate was fatal to
several of my officers and men, and I also
suffered so severely from fever that I was
compelled to go to sea and Ceylon for the
recovery of my health.

APPOINTMENT. 61

In January, 1847, the Government of
India being dissatisfied with and alarmed
at the results of the policy pursued by Cap-
tain Macpherson, and contemplating his
removal from the Khond Agency, requested
the most noble the Marquis of Tweedale,
the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of
the Madras Presidency, to recommend an
officer to supersede him. 1 was named, and
was ordered to proceed to the scene of the
disturbances without delay, and I left
Madras about the time that General Dyce
had arrived in Goomsur.

I mention this fact to show that the
supercession of Captain Macpherson was
the premeditated act of the Supreme Go-
vernment, and that this intention was
merely confirmed not originated by Ge-
neral Dyce's most faithful reports of the
miserable state in which he found both

62 CAPTAIN MACPHEKSON.

Boad and Goonisur. Indeed, months
before, on the 17th of May, 1846, the
Secretary to the Government of India wrote
to Captain Macpherson : —

" I am directed to express the regret of
His Honour in Council that your operations
for the suppression of human sacrifice
among the Khonds have, in this first season
of your proceedings, been attended with
untoward circumstances, not anticipated by
the Government. It was a very serious
error, when engaging in hostilities attended
with lamentable consequences, and you
found it necessary to call for military sup-
port, to imagine that Government would
be satisfied to receive the only accounts
which it possessed of the position in which
you were placed from common rumour or
newspaper reports."

In May, 1847, I received charge of the

OPERATIONS. 63

Agency for the Suppression of Human Sa-
crifice and Female Infanticide in the Hill
Tracts of Orissa.

The corrupt practices of the native estab-
lishment of the late Agency made it impos-
sible to employ any of them, and I had
new instruments to form, a work of great
difficulty.

Early in November of the same year, ac-
companied by the now broken down and
disheartened old chief, Sam Bissoi, who had
been recalled from banishment, I ascended
the ghats into the Goomsur Khond
country, and it was affecting to see the
reverence with which the people received
their old " Abba," as they called him, as he
passed them on his way to Hodghogur, his
paternal property.

From Goomsur I marched into Boad,
and placed myself in communication with

64 NEW EXPEDITION.

the Rajah and his principal officers, and
those Khond chiefs whose confidence in us
had been restored by the publication of
proclamations extensively circulated, an-
nouncing the removal of the late Agency
and clearly explaining the views of Govern-
ment, and the principles on which I in-
tended to carry them out.

We had not proceeded far in our pre-
liminary measures, when I was unexpectedly
ordered to to take command of a military
expedition into Ungool, a Hill principality
bordering on that of Boad, on the north
side of the Mahanuddi river : the Supreme
Government having determined to coerce
the Rajah, who was refractory, and had
committed several atrocities on villagers,
subjects of a neighbouring principality, and
scornfully refused to give any redress. I
had political charge as well as military com-

CAPTAIN MACVICCAR. 65

mand of the expedition, which in two
months was brought to a successful
termination, by the dispersion of the troops
of the Rajah, the destruction of his forts,
and the capture of the Rajah himself,
together with his principal advisers. For
these services, I received the thanks of the
Governor- General of India in Council.

During my absence in Ungool, my assist-
ant, Captain Macviccar was placed in
charge of Boad and Goomsur, with direc-
tions to abstain from all aggressive move-
ments unless absolutely necessary, but to
keep the disaffected in check. At this
time an attempt was made to sacrifice a
young girl, who had been shewn to and
accepted by their supposed deity, and the
day for sacrifice appointed ; but through
the energetic measures adopted by Captain
Macviccar, the Meriah was rescued, and

F

66 KHONDS OF BOAD.

four Khond chiefs, leaders in the proposed
sacrifice, cleverly captured.

On the 19th of February, 1848, I left

Ungool, and marched to Boad with three

companies of the 29th regiment, three of

the 41st, and a small party of the Ramghur

Horse. I found that Chokro Bissoi had

obtained a strong hold on the Khonds of

Boad by his succesful resistance last season

to Captain Macpherson, and his promising

to procure for them the uninterrupted

performance of the Meriah sacrifice. This

bold promise was precisely adapted to gain

the devotion of the Khonds, and the

struggle about to ensue was to settle the

point whether the Government could, "or

could not enforce its will of putting a stop

to tile immolation of human beings.

Hitherto the Khonds of Boad had been

triumphant, and the tokens of success,

ARRANGEMENTS. 67

one hundred and forty of the victims, un-
happily extorted from Captain Macpherson,
were still in their power.

I made a careful distribution of the little
force at my disposal, strictly prohibiting
offensive operations or the slightest injury
of any kind to person or property. Gradu-
ally the deserted villages were rcoccupied,
and when at last the leading chieftains ap-
proached, matters were ripe for the dis-
cussion of the great question which brought
us there.

Long and tedious councils were held,
and every argument considered suit-
able to persuade them to desist from an
abhorrent rite was applied and enforced ;
but it must be admitted that the deter-
mination I unmistakeably manifested, the
plain and forcible exposition of the views of
Government, and the kind reception the
p 2

68 OPERATIONS IN BOAD.

chiefs experienced from me, produced the
most effect.

It would be tiresome to recount the
circuitous routes we journeyed over; dis-
tricts unheard of by Europeans were
traversed, and more gloomy, pestilential
regions are rarely seen ; but it was of the
first importance that the work in Boad
should be a thorough one, and it was
essential to satisfy those chiefs who had
made their submission that it was no
partial business, and that what had been
exacted from them would be exacted from
all.

The operations in Boad were protracted
to an unusually late period in May. At
this time of the year, the rank grass and
underwood in the jungles is set fire to, in
anticipation of the rains in June, and the
heat from the sun and dense hot smoke

success. 69

from the fires burning on every hill, make
the climate almost unbearable.

Severe cases of fever were alarmingly
prevalent amongst all classes, many of
whom were sent from time to time to the
low country, where, I grieve to say, two
of the officers died. Cheered, however, by
each day's successful work, it was impos-
sible to stop ; and I had the satisfaction of
reporting that with two exceptions every
influential man in Boad had completely
submitted to the will of the Government,
and pledged himself, by swearing in the
most solemn manner, henceforth to abstain
from the Meriah sacrifice ; and in token of
their submission and obedience they de-
livered two hundred and thirty-five Meriah
victims, including those surrendered by
Captain Macpherson, with the exception of
three who had been sacrificed. One of

70 MEEIAH.

the modes of sacrifice in Boad is as fol-
lows : —

Three days previous to immolation there
is great feasting, rioting, and dancing, and
the most gross and brutal licentiousness.
On the fourth day the Meriah is taken
round the village in procession to each door,
when some pluck hair from his head, and
others solicit a drop of spittle, with which
they anoint their own heads. Afterwards the
victim is drugged, and then taken to the
place of sacrifice, his head and neck being
introduced into the reft of a strong bamboo
split in two, the ends of which are secured
and held by the sacrificers. The presiding
priest then advances, and with an axe
breaks the joints of the legs and arms ; the
surrounding mob then strip off the flesh
from the bones with their knives, and each
man having secured a piece, carries the

CHOKEO BISSOI. 71

quivering and bloody morsel to his fields,
and there buries it.

The rebel Chokro Bissoi after some
trifling resistance, was fairly hunted out of
the country, bitterly upbraiding the Khonds
with having deserted him, and I had the
satisfaction of reporting to the Government
that tranquillity had been restored to Boad
and Goomsur.

The rainy season was passed in the low
country, recruiting our health and prepar-
ing for operations for the suppression of
the Meriah sacrifice in Chinna Kimedy.

72

CHAPTER V.

SOME DESCRIPTION OP CHINNA KIMEDY — VISIT OF THE IN-
FANTICIDAL TRIBES OP SOORADA — ONE OF THEIR TRADI-
TIONS THEIR CUSTOMS — FIRST ENTRANCE INTO CHINNA

KIMEDY — MEASURES ADOPTED MODES OP SACRIFICE

DISTRICT OF MAHASINGI, NUMEROUS VICTIMS FOUND

" POSSI POES ;" OR, AGRARIAN SLAVES THE TRIBES

PLEDGE THEMSELVES TO ABSTAIN FROM SACRIFICE

PROCEED TO BOAD NO REPETITION OF THE SACRIFICE

CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS.

Chinna Kimedy is a principality a little
to the south and west of Goomsur, having
about one hundred and twenty villages on
the plains, which are fertile. The inhabi-
tants are for the most part Ooryahs, who
have frequently suffered from the incursions
of the adjoining mountaineers, (Khonds)

EAJAHS. 73

whose savage valour generally obtained for
them an easy victory — while in case of a
reverse, their fastnesses received them and
their impenetrable jungles afforded a secure
retreat.

The late Rajah was accused of tyrannical
conduct by the Khond tribes, who pro-
fessed allegiance to him, and they invaded
and devastated the low country, carrying
the Rajah and his three sons captives to
their mountains. After some time, the old
man was ransomed for a considerable sum,
and his son, the present Rajah, released,
because he was supposed to be at enmity
with his father. From this little sketch, it
will be apparent that the low country Rajahs
are most unwilling to risk a collision with
the Hill tribes, and this was an important
fact to be borne in mind in our attempts to
suppress human sacrifice. There must

74 SACRIFICES.

necessarily be a good understanding
between the chiefs and us, but no such
overt act as might tend to infuriate the
Khonds against their Rajahs, as aiders and
abettors in extirpating their long cherished
rite.

The Khond " Marians'' of Chinna Kimedy
comprise a portion of the chain of moun-
tains in continuation of those of Boad and
Goomsur, to both of which it adjoins. The
inhabitants are essentially of the same stock,
and their tribal divisions very similar. The
Khond chiefs of villages and w Mootas" are
termed " Maji," instead of " Mulliko" as in
Goomsur, or " Khonro" as in Boad, and
the chiefs of districts " Patur" instead of
" Bissoi."

The sacrifice in Chinna Kimedy is not
offered to the earth alone as in Goomsur
and Boad, but to a number of deities,

CHINNA KIMEDY. 75

whose power is essential to life and happi-
ness ; of these " Manicksoro," god of war,
* Boro PeDoo,,, the great god, " Zara
Penoo," the sun god, hold the chief place.
The time of sacrifice is a time of unmitigated
revelry, in which the women share. In
some districts the victim, after certain
ceremonies, is flung violently to the ground
and held or bound down while the flesh is
cut off piece-meal. The shreds thus pro-
cured are afterwards buried in their fields.
Another mode of sacrifice I will describe
further on.

Several of the most inaccessible tribes
have never acknowledged the authority of
the Rajah, and generally the sacrificing
Khonds of Chinna Kimedy do not visit the
plains to attend the fairs, as do those of
Goomsur and Boad, but dispose of their
turmeric, their sole article of barter, for

76 DETEEMINATION.

salt, cloth, or brass vessels, to traders from
the plains, who are also very frequently
professed kidnappers.

Considering the character given of the
people, it was by no means improbable that
resistance might be attempted, and from
our ignorance of them and of their country,
the enterprise was an arduous one, and it
was necessary to provide for all contin-
gencies.

Nothing but the sternest necessity would
ever cause me in this good work to use
force, but 1 felt satisfied that the resolute
expression of the will of Government, and
the assumption of a determined attitude,
which would declare more plainly than
words the fruitlessness of all attempts at
opposition, was at once the most merciful
and most effectual way of accomplishing
our object.

FEMALE INFANTICIDE. 77

The Governor- General of India in Coun-
cil having expressed every confidence in
my experience and judgment, authorised
me to prosecute my measures in such man-
ner as might appear to me expedient. Thus
trusted, and my policy supported by the
Most Noble the Marquis of Dalhousie, I
entered with confidence on my mission.

Previously, however, to commencing my
difficult task in Chinna Kimedy, I paid a
visit to the hill country or " Maliahs " of
Soorada, where female infanticide largely
prevails. In about thirty villages, two hun-
dred and thirty-one boys were counted
under ten years of age, and only twenty
females under that age, and even the few
rescued Meriiili giril who had been given
in marriage to Khonds of the infanticidal
tribes, were found to have destroyed their
female offspring, or to have suffered them

78 DENKO MULLICO.

to die in obedience to their husbands' com-
mands.

As a sample of the many fables which
are common as to the origin of female in-
fanticide, I give the following.

In ancient times there was a man called
" Denko Mullico," who had four sons. Of
these four brothers, the three eldest begat
eight sons each, and the youngest, two
daughters, who could get no husbands, and
in consequence became connected with cer-
tain of their cousins. This sad circum-
stance induced the brothers, whose sons
were not guilty, to deprive the brother,
whose sons had contaminated their female
cousins, of all his property. On this, the
two guilty females drowned themselves in
a tank called " Reda bondo." Afterwards,
the elder brothers condoled with the dis-
graced younger brother, and concluding

EELIGIOUS CUSTOMS. 79

that their alienation from, and contention
with him, was occasioned by his female
issue, they then determined that thence-
forward their female issue should be des-
troyed, and solemnised this determination
by invoking their deities " Poboodi n and
" Boropenoo ;" and since that time the
practice of female infanticide has been main-
tained.

The Khonds here say that in obedience
to orders to discontinue the custom, they
had tried to do so, but that, nevertheless,
their female children died, which they attri-
bute to having violated the solemn oath of
their ancestors.

This custom, however, does not in reality
spring from religious feeling, but is prac-
tised as a matter of convenience. The
Khonds of these tribes, when they marry,
give an equivalent to the wife's father for

80 MAEEIAGE.

her, which the father is obliged to repay to
the husband should she desert him for an-
other man, from whom the father can then
claim the equivalent. This gives rise to
endless difficulties and broils of frequent
occurrence, which they think to avoid by
marrying women from distant places, for
whom they give a much smaller sum than
for wives of their own tribe. Moreover, they
profess to consider it degrading to give
their daughters in marriage to men of their
own tribe, and that it becomes their own
manliness to marry only the daughters of
a distant country.

The remedy for this inhuman and unna-
tural crime is a perplexing and difficult
question. The people pleaded poverty, and
the influence of long transmitted tradition
as their justification. I endeavoured by
every means in my power, to convince

TEIBES OF SOORADA. 81

them of the heinous crime of depriving a
child of life because it was a female, and I
declared that if they persisted in doing so,
it would be considered as a most serious
offence and treated accordingly.

I tried to remove from their minds the
prejudice against marrying females of their
own community, and promised them wives
from the rescued Meriahs, whom I hoped
would, when in greater numbers, exercise a
favourable influence, and be a check on the
other inhabitants. The assembled chiefs
then signed an agreement henceforward to
rear their female offspring. It was the
best remedy I could devise, and I left an
intelligent native officer to watch over them.

The manner in which these infanticidal
tribes of Soorada pay homage to a superior
is very remarkable, and to a stranger
alarming. They rush into the camp in a

82 COMPLAINTS.

compact phalanx of from sixty to two hun-
dred men, uttering shrill cries, brandishing
their battle-axes, and circling at a run,
they advance and retire in imitation of a
fight, and at last charge straight at the
dignitary ready to receive them, to whom
they present their offering of rice, a few
addled eggs, and a kid. They then seat
themselves on the ground, with the chiefs
and " Majis " in front, and business com-
mences.

When preferring a complaint, a Khond
or Panoo will throw himself on his face
on the ground, with hands joined, and a
bunch of straw or grass in his mouth ; and
I have more than once found myself in
danger of a fall by the violent shying of
my horse, at the sudden appearance of
three or four of these complainants throw-
ing themselves on the ground before him.

CAUTION. 83

I was hurried away from my labours
among the infanticidal tribes in Soorada by
intelligence which reached me of a general
sacrifice of Meriahs, resolved on by the
Khonds of Chinna Kimedy, rather than
that they should fall into my hands. I
hastened onwards, and my sudden, though
not altogether unexpected appearance,
stayed the murderous proceeding.

I was fully alive to the necessity of pro-
ceeding with the extremest caution on my
first introduction to a wild and warlike race
of men, who, of necessity, were prejudiced
against me, as a subverter of their ancient
and much loved rite. I was sensible that
any false or hasty step might plunge me
into war with the whole of these tribes,
and horrible indeed would have been a
warfare in these dense forests, and almost
unknown mountains, where the climate was

g 2

84 KAJAHS.

not the least deadly foe we should have had
to contend against.

In the outset, I had the good fortune to
conciliate and gain the confidence of Rajah
Adikund Deo, of Chinna Kimedy, and of
his tributary Rognat Deo, Tat Rajah of
Guddapore, and their subordinate chiefs.
This was a great step, for without their aid
and co-operation I could scarcely have
hoped to accomplish the object in view,
save by recourse to measures of severity
painful even to contemplate.

I purposely avoided placing these rajahs
at any time in antagonism with their hill
subjects. I never allowed them to appear
on the scene when the slightest appearance
of coercion was needful, but confined all
such acts exclusively to my own establish-
ment ; though following my invariable
course of procedure, I employed an inter-

MY MISSION. 85

mediate cutchery agency as little as possi-
ble, and placed myself at once in direct
communication with all classes.

From the very first, I openly, and in the
most plain and intelligible manner, pro-
claimed the chief design of my appearance
among them. Without any disguise or
circumlocution, I told them that Govern-
ment had sent me for the sole and avowed
purpose of putting an end for ever to the
inhuman and barbarous murders yearly
perpetrated by them, and if needful, force
the surrender of all the victims held in pos-
session, and destined to die this cruel death.
All their other ancient usages, I impressed
upon them, would be strictly respected ; the
Government was anxious to befriend them,
and willing to assist them. If any were
suffering oppression, redress should be
afforded, and justice meted out with an im-

86 DISTRICT DIVISIONS.

partial hand, but this Meriah sacrifice, this
inhuman practice must at once and for
ever be laid aside. This plain speaking
was eminently beneficial, there was and
could be no mistake in their minds regard-
ing the unalterable resolve of Government,
and the presence of my armed escort, added
not a little to the weight of my declara-
tions.

The Chinna Kimedy Maliahs are divided
into seven districts. The several districts,
which are each ruled by an Ooryah chief, or
" Patur," are subdivided into " Mootas"
and villages, and these are governed re-
spectively by a Khond chief, styled " Maji,"
as in the Maliahs of Soorada. Between
these districts there is but little intercourse,
owing to the feuds which are constantly
occurring.

In the secondary range of mountains the

MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS. 87

villages are far apart, and the valleys,
with very few exceptions, present a poor
and barren appearance, contrasting, in this
respect, most unfavourably with the more
richly cultivated valleys of Boad and Goorn-
sur. Water is less abundant than in the
higher range, and barren and uninviting is
the country in every particular, the eye be-
holding only a succession of mountains,
thickly covered with the ordinary " damur"
tree, and with bamboo. The districts on
the upper range, or table-land, are more
picturesque, and open valleys may there be
seen in a high state of cultivation, and
abundantly watered.

Throughout these mountains, human sa-
crifice, or female infanticide, prevails, with
the exception of the large and fertile dis-
tricts of Sarungudda, Chundragerry, and
Deegee, where, happily, though surrounded

88 HORRID EITE.

by sacrificing and infanticidal tribes, (the
same race with themselves,) neither the
Meriah nor infanticide is practised.

One of the most common ways of offer-
ing the sacrifice in Chinna Kimedy, is to
the effigy of an elephant, rudely carved in
wood, fixed on the top of a stout post on
which it is made to revolve. After the
performance of the usual ceremonies, the
wretched Meriah is fastened to the pro-
boscis of the elephant, and amidst the
shouts and yells of the excited multitude of
Khonds, is rapidly whirled round, when, at
a given signal by the officiating " Zani," or
priest, the crowd rush in, seize the Me-
riah, and 'with their knives, cut the flesh
off the shrieking victim as long as
life remains. He is then cut down, the
skeleton burnt, and the horrid orgies are
over. In several villages, I counted as

POSSIA POES. 89

many as fourteen effigies of elephants,
which had been used in former sacrifices.
These I caused to be overthrown by the
baggage elephants attached to my camp, in
the presence of the assembled Khonds, to
shew them that these venerated objects had
no power against the living animal, and to
remove all vestiges of their bloody super-
stition.

In the large district of Mahasingi of
Chinna Kimedy, one hundred purchased
individuals were found, several of whom
had marks of irons on their wrists and
ankles, shewing that they had been fettered
to prevent escape. Only fifty-four of this
number were destined for sacrifice, the rest
had been bought as serfs, or for adoption
("Possia Poes") either by the Ooryah
inhabitants, a considerable and influential
body, or by the Khond " Majis." When

90 AEGUMENTS

I was fully satisfied that no foul play was
intended towards these serfs, or " Possia
Poes," I ordered their re-delivery, first tak-
ing a registry of them, and receiving from
their several proprietors the usual security,
together with a written agreement, whereby
they were bound carefully to preserve these
individuals, and to produce them when re-
quired.

Daily, and almost hourly, were these
wild mountaineers assembled in my camp.
I wearied both the Khonds and myself
with every argument I could think of to
induce them to desist from a practice cruel
and guilty in the sight of God and man.
I recalled to their minds their own law of
" life for a life," and challenged them to
gainsay, if they could, its justice when ap-
plied to their own practice of slaying their
fellow-creatures; and I related at length

AGAINST HUMAN SACRIFICES. 91

how I had marched over Goomsur and
Boad, and had swept away every Meriah
from those countries, utterly abolishing the
revolting rite ; how their brethren in these
neighbouring countries had most solemnly
pledged themselves never again to sacrifice
human beings, and how abundantly they
had prospered in house and field since ab-
staining from the rite. I also very spe-
cially directed their attention to the fertile
districts of Sarungudda and Deegee, where
no human blood is shed to propitiate a
sanguinary god, and where the fields are as
productive as their own.

It would be tiresome to recapitulate fur-
ther details of our many interviews. I had
not quite all the speaking to myself, for I
invariably called on them to reply whether
my speech was true or false, fair or unfair,
and their general answer was, " It is true,

92 PLEDGES.

it is just. Our fathers sacrificed and
taught us to do so. The Great Govern-
ment has sent a mighty chief to forbid the
practice, and he must be obeyed. Let us
then do as our brothers of Goomsur and
Boad have done, and sacrifice buffaloes,
goats, and pigs, instead of human beings."
After many and long conferences, an
agreement was drawn up, as in Goomsur,
and the document signed by all the prin-
cipal men present, certain binding Khond
formalities being observed to strengthen
their pledge. It was then delivered to me
by the chiefs, who turned round, and ad-
dressing the assembled Khonds, called on
them to be true to the pledge which they
had taken, not only for themselves, but for
all. The chiefs were then invested with
turbans. Presents of small sums of money
and strips of red cloth were distributed,

FALSE REPORTS. 93

my tent and its contents inspected with
wondering curiosity, and the assembly
broke up.

As may very naturally be supposed,
when it is considered that this was the first
time they had been visited by an European,
a considerable degree of reserve was fre-
quently evinced by the people. Groups of
men, women, and children, sat gazing on at
some distance, fearful to enter the camp.
They had heard reports, spread by evil-
disposed persons, that I was collecting
Meriahs, for the purpose of sacrificing
them on the plains to the water deity, be-
cause the water had disappeared from a
large tank which I had constructed, and
that my elephants required, periodically, a
certain number of Meriahs to be served
to them as food.

No effort was spared to undeceive and

94 VICTIMS RESCUED.

conciliate all ranks, and to prove that our
object was single in coming among them,
and I am happy to think that the opinion
entertained of us in the end was not un-
favourable. The strictest discipline was
maintained in camp, and in no part of the
countiy did person or property receive the
slightest damage.

Two hundred and six Meriah victims
were rescued in this our first season in the
"Maliahs" of Chinna Kimedy, though I
doubt not some were hidden from us, or
carried to a distant part of the country.

From Chinna Kimedy I proceeded into
the Boad Hills, where my assistant, Cap-
tain Macviccar, had been travelling for
some time. The entire abolition of the rite
of human sacrifice which so recently pre-
vailed throughout the Maliahs of Boad, is
a subject of sincere congratulation. Not

CALCUTTA REVIEW. 95

one drop of blood had been shed this year
at the shrine of their barbarous superstition,
nor the least disposition evinced to break
the pledge which they had taken last year.
The whole of these hills have been tra-
versed, and the same pleasing results
exhibited in every quarter.

It may be profitable to dwell for a little
on the causes which have produced these
most gratifying effects throughout the
Hills of Boad and Goomsur, for it appears
to me of the last importance that the grounds
upon which the suppression has been
effected should not be misunderstood, and
there seems great danger of misapprehen-
sion here, judging from an article in the
"Calcutta Review," a magnificent array
of language united to a grievous perversion
of facts.

In the Boad country, we ought in the

96 JUDICIOUS MEASURES.

first place to be most thankful to God
whose bountiful harvest so powerfully and
mercifully seconded our efforts j and to
Him, too, we owe it that during the year
the Khonds enjoyed immunity from all but
the most ordinary sickness. Next we may
ascribe much of our success to the felt and
acknowledged power of the Government
to enforce its will, that will having always
been unreservedly and without the slight-
est compromise declared to the Khonds,
wherever met by myself or my assistant,
and proclaimed universally throughout the
country.

There was no cautious inquisition as
formerly recommended, but the glaring
fact was dealt with, as an enormity which
the Government neither could nor would
suffer longer to exist. I mention this
prominently, because the success which has

CONVERSION. 97

attended our labours in Bbad and Chinna
Kimedy conclusively demonstrates the
advantage of a firmer, bolder, and more
decided line of policy than was deemed
prudent in the days of our earlier connec-
tion with these Hills, and 1 venture to
assert that if I had met with the same
support in 1838-39 as I have since done,
the good work of Meriah suppression would
in all human probability have been as far
advanced in 1841 as it was in 1849.

It could not rationally have been ex-
pected that moral persuasion alone — I do
not, however, allude to that of the gospel
— would or could with such rapidity con-
vert a race of people shrouded in the
grossest darkness from a superstition
which for centuries had been rivetting its
chains. I should indeed have been aston-
ished if the prosperous results which have

98 THE GOSPEL.

blessed our efforts on the Hills could have
been attributed exclusively to the weight
and influence of the moral reasonings we
adduced. Such discourses should never
be omitted, and every where and on all
occasions impressively urged ; but had we
rested on our arguments alone, I fear we
should have effected little. Hence, in
assigning motives for abstaining from their
ancient rite, the Khonds rarely make
allusion to the moral persuasion that had
been urged upon them, but lay marked
stress upon the futility of all resistance, and
the necessity of obeying the will of the
Government.

I have not alluded to the great precursor
of civilization — the gospel — not because I
am insensible of its fitness for these wild
tribes, who have no prediliction for Brah-
mins, but simply because it is not within

GRATIFYING RESULTS. 99

the province of the Government of India to
introduce any agency of the kind. I may,
however, express the hope that in due
season these poor savages will be visited by
the teachers of a higher and purer wisdom
than that of man.

In this season, from Chinna Kimedy and
Boad, three hundred and seven Meriahs
have been rescued. About one hundred
and twenty little children have been placed
under the care of the missionaries at Ber-
hampore and Cuttack at the expense of the
Government. The married Meriahs,
together with a number of youths of the
same class, have been settled in villages
and set up as cultivators, others have been
apprenticed to different trades, and a few
are learning gardening; about fourteen
have been placed under the protection of
private individuals, and twenty-five have

B 2

100 NEW ROADS.

enlisted in my corps of Irregulars. The
marriageable females are gradually being
married to the Khonds of the infanticidal
tribes, and others of suitable position, and
are sought after as being the wards of
Government, from whom they receive a
fitting dowry. For the unmarried females
and very young children, an asylum has
been formed at Soorada under the superin-
tendence of steady matrons, where the
young women are practised in household
affairs suited to their station ; and from
whence, at a proper age, the children are
removed to the care of the missionaries for
instruction.

The road which I recommended to be
made into the Goomsur Khond " Maliahs,"
by the Coormingia Pass, is in progress. One
hundred and eighty-four miles of new
routes, never before traversed by Europeans,

LIEUTENANT FRYE. 101

have been surveyed this season in the
Khond country, and I have recommended
a road to be opened through the Goomsur
and Boad "Maliahs," to Sohunpore on
the Mahanuddy, not only as facilitating in
a military point of view the communication
with Nagpore, but as opening up an easy
line of road for the extensive traffic which
is carried on by the Brinjaries, who are the
chief purchasers of the salt manufactured
on the sea-coast of the Ganjam district, and
which they dispose of in the interior. The
moral effect on the Khonds of a well-fre-
quented road passing through their country
would be very great.

Lieutenant Frye, an officer whose ac-
quirements as a linguist were of the first
order, laboured very zealously in the acqui-
sition of the Khond language. He adopted
the Ooryah alphabet as the best suited to

102 CAPTAIN MACVICCAR.

express the sounds of this new dialect ; and
to facilitate the study of it by the Ooryahs
attached to the agency, a vocabulary has
been printed, and the Meriah children at
the mission schools at Berhampore readily
understand and converse with Lieutenant
Frye.

The Khond "Maliahs," always insalu-
brious, were most prejudicial this season to
the health of the whole of the Agency
Establishment. My assistant, Captain
Macviccar, whose services had been beyond
praise, was prostrated with fever, the conse-
quence of exposure and hard work in these
unhealthy mountains, and in the month
of May, 1849, he was sent to the Cape
of Good Hope for the recovery of his
health.

I struggled hard against disease, but at
length was obliged to yield, and in the

COMMENDATION. 103

month of October following was ordered
to the Cape on medical certificate.

I had again the honour of receiving the
thanks of the Governor- General of India
in Council, and the expression of the lively
satisfaction which His Lordship experienced
in learning the full and happy results of
my exertions.

Captain Frye was appointed my assis-
tant, and I handed over the charge of the
Agency to him, fully instructing him in
the principles on which the work for the
suppression of the Meriah was to be
conducted.

104

CHAPTER VI.

CAPTAIN FRYE PROCEEDS TO CHINNA KIMEDY HIS DEATH

BOAD AND GOOMSUR ARE VISITED, AND IN THE LATTER

FOUR LITTLE SCHOOLS FOUNDED — MAJI DESO PATNA

CURIOUS CUSTOMS OF SACRIFICING AND NON-SACRIFICING

TRIBES MUDDENPORE, RESCUE OF VICTIMS — EXTRACTS

FROM REPORT TO GOVERNMENT.

In December, 1849, during my absence
at the Cape, Captain Frye revisited, but
by a different route, the same districts of
Chinna Kimedy, which 1 had previously
traversed, and have described in the last
chapter.

His labours were most successful. A
very large number of the persons brought
to him were of the serf, or " Possia " class,
and he very properly converted into mar-

VICTIMS. 105

riage, the state of concubinage in which
many of these young women, with their
children, were living. The usual security of
the chiefs was taken for the well-being and
security of these mothers and their off-
spring.

All the families restored and settled by
me on a similar footing last season, were
shewn to Captain Frye.

In the report of his proceedings, Captain
Frye states that a Meriah, once shewn
to a Government officer, is considered unfit
for sacrifice according to the Khond creed.
If this were true, there would obviously
have existed no necessity for removing a
single destined victim ; a simple regis-
try would have been sufficient. I had
painful experience in 1847, of the fallacy
of such an idea; it will be remembered
that not only were the Boad Meriahs

106 FALLACY.

shewn to Captain Macpherson, but actually
delivered, and in his custody, until violently
redemanded, and unhappily redelivered to
their Khond owners, and three were cruelly
sacrificed ere I could save them. It is
very transparent why Captain Macpherson
adopted this theory of unfitness for sacri-
fice after being shewn to an official of
Government ; but I am at a loss to account
for Captain Frye's having revived it, as he
brought to the plains nearly two hundred
Meriahs, (as he supposed), though many
were only "serfs," and subsequently re-
stored. Still he was on the safe side in
removing them, until absolutely certain
that they incurred no risk, and it afforded
very convincing proof of the little weight
he attached to the assertion of their no
longer being regarded as worthy objects of
sacrifice.

SCHOOLS. 107

This officer devoted himself with un-
wearied energy to confirming and enlar-
ging the work I had already so happily
commenced, and subsequently fell a victim
to fever contracted in these sickly hills of
Chinna Kimedy.

I gladly bear testimony to the great
merits of this lamented officer.

Early in October, 1850, Captain Mac-
viccar returned to his post of officiating
agent.

He visited the tribes of Upper Goomsur,
the scene of my earliest labours, and found
the people contented and prosperous.

After no inconsiderable opposition and
hesitation on the part of the Khonds, he
succeeded in establishing four schools. He
passed through Boad, saw the Khond
chiefs and their tribes who renewed their
pledges, and he bestowed on them tokens

108 MAJI DESO.

of the favour of Government, no human
blood having been shed in Boad for the
last two years.

In Maji Deso, a country midway between
Boad and Patna, he broke fresh ground,
and found that though these Khonds, in
civilization far outstripped their neighbours
of the Boad and Goomsur hills, still they
sacrificed human beings. The custom was
to purchase victims immediately preceding
the sacrifice which is offered to their
deity, not for the purpose of obtaining
cereal produce, but for general prosperity
and blessings for themselves and fami-
lies.

The mode of performing the sacrifice
equals, if it does not exceed in cruelty, the
practice of other countries. After the ap-
pointed ceremonies, the Meriah is sur-
rounded by the Khonds, who beat him vio-

INHUMAN CEBEM0NY. 109

lently on the head with the heavy metal
bangles which they generally wear. If
this inhuman smashing does not imme-
diately destroy the victim's life, an end is
put to his sufferings by strangulation.
Strips of flesh are then cut off the body,
and each recipient of the precious treasure
carries his portion to the stream which
waters his fields, and then suspends it on a
pole. The remains of the mangled carcase
are buried, and funeral obsequies performed
seven days after.

The few Meriahs that were in the
district were delivered up, and the chiefs
pledged in the usual manner to renounce
the Meriah rite.

In Patna, which was afterwards tra-
versed, the Khonds gradually delivered up
their Meriahs, and swore never again to
offer human sacrifice. They arc advanced

110 KHONDS.

in civilization, well under subjection to their
rajah, and pay taxes.

There was much sickness among the
people of this Zumendary, several hundreds
came to the camp-hospital, thankfully re-
ceiving the medicines offered to them, and
the kindness and attention shewn them
left on their minds a favourable impres-
sion. f

In the M Mootas" of Sooah, Toopah, and
Goakah, it not un frequently happens that
sacrificing and non-sacrificing Khonds are
the inhabitants of the same village. They
live in harmony, interrupted only for seven
days when a victim is slain, at which time
the non-sacrificers remain in perfect re-
tirement, and never pass through the front
entrance of their houses when they go to
their fields until the seven days are expired,
then the funeral ceremonies of the poor

REPORT. Ill

victim are performed, and all reunite as
before.

From the " Mootas" of Patna he passed
on with rapidity to Muddenpore, the
residence of Koosung Sing, the Tat Rajah, to
whom the " Mootas" of Mohungerry Oorla-
doni and Taparunga are subject, and from
thence eighty- nine Meriahs were removed,
and fourteen Possias registered.

Captain Macviccar thus concludes his
Report, " The Meriah sacrifice is in abey-
ance, if not abolished. Exchange and
barter of Meriahs is almost neutralized by
the large number removed from that con-
tingency. The country in fact is ours, and
it only requires vigorous operations on the
sacrificing frontier* to render the rite, as
regards Chinna Kimedy, one of the things
of the past."

* Of Jeypore, which borders on Chinna Kimedy.

112 DOOEGA.

He does not think that the cessation of
human sacrifice implies a change of religion,
as had been supposed. " It is well known
that human sacrifice once prevailed in the
low country, but yielded to the superin-
cumbent weight of foreign authority, which,
whether Mussulman or European, ex-
tended to the base of the wild hills in
which it now holds sway. The blood-
thirsty Doorga, the dread personification of
evil, is the deity propitiated by the
Khonds, under infinitely diversified forms
and names, and when the deity is obliged
to accept, as at the " Doorga" sacrifice of
the plains, the blood of beasts, the evil of
human sacrifice is at end, although their
religion has undergone no change. The
test then of abolition is the substitution of
an inferior animal as the victim. This has
taken place in Boad and Goomsur, and to

SUPERSTITION. 113

some extent in Patna, but as yet in few
places of Chinna Kirnedy. Just because
they can procure human flesh from a neigh-
bouring country — "The Khondwill surren-
der his victims, and forbear the rite in his
own person ; nay, there may not be a single
sacrifice throughout the length and breadth
of the particular country, but if there be
within reach a place where human blood
flows on the altar of this superstition,
thither its votary will repair, and so long
as a morsel of flesh is buried in the field,
the rite remains intact, though the loss of
human life may be to some extent di-
minished."

The operations of the season may be
briefly summed up.

The tribes of Boad and Goomsur had
stood firm to their pledge of abstention from
sacrifice, and unruffled tranquillity pre-

1

114 CHINNA KIMEDY.

vailed. A step in the path of civilization
had been taken by the opening of schools.

The Chinna Kimedy tribes gave as yet
no symptoms of relapse, and more victims
had been given np.

I wish these gratifying results could have
been obtained at a less cost of suffering to
the European officers employed.

115

CHAPTER VII.

RETURN TO MY DUTIES AND PROCEED TO MAHASINOI

SOME DESCRIPTION OP THIS DISTRICT — GO ON TO BI3SUM
CUTTACK — ACCOUNT OP HIS LITTLE KINGDOM AND QUAR-
REL WITH RATAH OP JEYPORE RESCUE OP MERIAHS

RTABIJI — CHUNDERPORE — GODAIRY — LUMBARGAM — AT-
TACK ON MY CAMP ATTACK REPELLED AND MERIAHS

BROUGHT IN — BUNDARI — JUNNAH SACRIFICES — REVISIT

800RADAH INFANTICIDE — PLIGHT OP KHONDS TO MY

CAMP — ACCOUNT OP THE MERIAHS SETTLED IN THE
LOW COUNTRY.

Early in October, 1851, I returned to
my post. On the 18th November I as-
cended the Khond mountains, and passing
through the heart of the Goomsur "Mal-
liahs," from whence the Meriah rite had
been thoroughly extirpated, I entered the

i 2

116 TRADITION.

large district of Mahasingi of Chinna Ki-
medy. The point of this extensive country
which I first reached was Sarungudda, on
the borders of Boad.

The tradition respecting Mahasingi is,
that in former times it was the residence of
a powerful Rajah, who exercised sway over
the districts of Mahasingi, Barcooma, and
Sarungudda. He died, leaving three sons,
the eldest to rule over Mahasingi, the se-
cond, over Barcooma, and the third, and
youngest, over Sarungudda and Kurtolly.
The latter, being a good and just man, and
much esteemed by the Khonds, endea-
voured to wean them from the sacrifice of
human beings, but not succeeding, he pre-
pared, with all his family and followers, to
leave them, and had made one march to-
wards the plains, when they, moved with
sorrow at the sight of their departing chief,

MAHASINGI. 117

and having no love for his brothers, into
whose hands they were sure to fall, en-
treated him to return, which, after much
persuasion, he consented to do, on condi-
tion of their forsaking human sacrifice.
To this they agreed, and bound themselves
by the most solemn oaths, which, to this
day, they have not broken ; and the de-
scendants of the younger brother, Chey-
tun Patur, and Dawdy Patur, now rule
over these non-sacrificing tribes, who are
as courageous and as prosperous as their
neighbours.

I found that the district of Mahasingi
had suffered grievously from long-existing
feuds, in consequence of which, much land
had become waste and neglected. On
some of these lands, I was able to settle
eighteen Meriah families, in all, fifty-
three persons, and near this settlement, in

118 JEYPORE.

an island formed by a mountain stream,
on the site of the ancient fort of Mahasingi,
I built a bungalow. According to popular
tradition, the fort had been taken posses-
sion of by demons, the island deserted, and
the fort allowed to go to decay.

From Mahasingi, I penetrated through
an unexplored country to Bissum Cuttack
of Jeypore, where I found the Tat Rajah,
Nairraindur Deo, in considerable uneasiness
respecting the object of my mission, for the
proclamation regarding it which I had
issued some months previously, had not
reached him. He was at feud with his
superior, the Rajah of Jeypore, who had,
about eighteen years before, on pretence of
arrears of tribute, seized and imprisoned
his father, who, after six years, died in con-
finement. During that time, and the six
years following, the Rajah of Jeypore ad-

NAIEEAINDUE DEO. 119

ministered the affairs of Bissum Cuttack,
keeping Nairraindur Deo, who was then
young, under restraint ; but about six
years ago, the population of Bissum Cut-
tack expelled the Rajah of Jeypore's people,
and brought Nairraindur Deo to his fort,
where they had since maintained him.
Thinking I had come to take part against
him, he had some hesitation in visiting me ;
but I soon satisfied him as to my inten-
tions, and confidence being established, he
zealously set about assembling the Khond
chiefs of his country, himself in person
going to those distant villages where any
reluctance was shewn by the inhabitants to
come to me, for he holds the Hill tribes in
complete subjection, and has a following of
about five hundred matchlock men.

In his house, I discovered a youth who
had been purchased by him for sacrifice,

120 BISSUM CUTTACK.

and had undergone all the ceremonies pre-
paratory to his immolation to the god of
battles, " Manicksoro," in the event of a
collision with the troops of the Rajah of
Jeypore ; which very nearly occurred, for
taking advantage of my presence, the rajah
dispatched a force to Bissum Cuttack ; but
I would permit no hostilities, and the force
sent was not strong enough to effect its
purpose without my countenance. Nair-
raindur Deo was quite willing to pay the
customary tribute to his superior, the Rajah
of Jeypore, but he demanded a settlement
of accounts for the twelve years the Rajah
had administered the revenue of Bissum
Cuttack.

I saw a very large proportion of the in-
habitants of this hill Zumendari, and of the
adjoining " Moota" of Doorgi, and I learnt
with much satisfaction, from concurrent

CRUEL RITE. 121

testimony, that with the exception of two
small " Mootas," Ambadola and Kunka-
body, bordering on Chinna Kimedy, the
Meriah sacrifice had ceased for more than
two generations, though some of the vil-
lages still participated in the cruel rite, by
procuring flesh of Meriahs from the neigh-
bouring district of Ryabiji. This flesh,
to be efficacious in securing the fertility of
their fields, must be deposited in the
ground before sunset on the day of the
sacrifice, and to ensure this, instances are
related of pieces of human flesh having
been conveyed, by relays of men, an incre-
dible distance in a few hours.

From the two small "Mootas," Amba-
dola and Kunkabody, four Meriahs were
removed ; all, ' I believe, that were in their
possession.

From Rajah Nairraindur Deo I received

122 NAIREAINDUR DEO.

the youth destined by him for sacrifice.
The victim, when offered by the Ooryah
chief, is called " Junna ;" and this sacrifice
is performed on important occasions, such
as going to battle, building a fort in an im-
portant village, and to avert a danger.

I lost no opportunity of impressing upon
the inhabitants collectively and individually
the heinousness of the crime of human sa-
crifice, and that those who were present at
the sacrifice, and appropriated part of the
flesh for their fields, were little less criminal
than the actual sacrificers. At the cere-
monial of leave-taking, I presented Rajah
Nairraindur Deo with a detonating rifle,
which pleased him much.

The inhabitants of this district, are, in
civilization, far in advance of the Khonds of
Boad and Chinna Kimedy. They speak
Ooryah, and are dressed more like Ooryahs

RYABIJI. 123

than Khonds, and they carry on a consider-
able traffic with the plains. The country
also, by comparison, appears well cultivated
after the dense jungly tracts which separate
Chinna Kimedy from Jeypore.

On the 17th of December, we left Bis-
sum Cuttack for Ryabiji, in an easterly
direction, through a mass of jungle and
rugged hills wooded to the top. The
country is badly watered, and the only
cultivation is found round the villages,
which are far apart.

In the " Moota" of Ryabiji, the Meriah
prevails to a great extent, and the Khonds
resemble in appearance and character those
of Chinna Kimedy, but the dialect they
spoke was different, and could with diffi-
culty be understood by my Khond inter-
preters. Here, ignorant of localities, I was
obliged to feel my way cautiously, for at

124 CHTTNDERPOEE.

the commencement of my operations, the
Ooryah chiefs, not fully comprehending
what was expected of them, were of very
little use. Gradually their confidence in-
creased, and eventually sixty-nine Meriahs
were rescued from Ryabiji " Moota."

Here, as in all other places, the same
language was held to the Khonds respect-
ing the Meriah rite, and all who had
brought in Meriahs, and the chiefs and
principal men of the several villages, signed
the usual pledge to abstain for ever from
the abominable sacrifice.

From Ryabiji to the "Moota" of Chunder-
pore, our course was to the north and east,
the country being of the same inhospitable
character, affording no supplies of any
kind. There my escort of sepoys became
so disheartened and prostrated by sickness,
both officers and men, that I was obliged

GODAIBY. 125

to send them to the plains, retaining only a
few of the most hardy of the men ; but
they too, and my establishment generally,
soon gave way, and provisions becoming
scarce, I found it necessary to push for the
more open country of Godairy.

At Godairy, a large Ooryah village, on
the banks of the Bangsadara river, the
country is well cultivated, and has a mixed
population of Khonds and Sourahs. A
considerable traffic in rice and other grains,
and timber for building purposes is carried
on with the plains. The Khonds, compara-
tively a civilised race, after some little eva-
sion and procrastination, delivered up their
Meriahs to the number of thirteen, and
readily entered into the usual agreement to
abandon the rite of human sacrifice for
ever.

Here I commenced the erection of a

126 SOURAHS.

bungalow of three rooms. It was built on
posts of about eighteen feet high, with
walls of planks, and a thatched roof, after
the fashion of the Khond houses, to which
was added an open verandah all round, of
six feet high. It was intended as a rest
house, and as a mark to the Khonds that
our visits were not temporary merely, but
that we might be among them at any
time.

At this place I first came in contact with
the Sourah race. They are of a fairer
complexion, and their features resembling
the Gentoos of the plains, have a better
expression than those of the Khonds.
They speak a different dialect, they are less
dissipated in their habits, and consequently
more athletic in their persons, which they
adorn with beads and bangles, more common
to females than to men. Their arms are

PLUNDEBERS. 127

the battle-axe, bow and arrow, though a
few have matchlocks. They are professed
thieves and plunderers, and are the terror
of the inhabitants of the plains. Even the
Khonds, so ready to fight among them-
selves, would rather avoid than seek a quar-
rel with the Sourahs, who generally make
their attacks under the cover of darkness,
a mode of warfare which the Khond seldom
puts into practice.

The Sourahs do not sacrifice human
beings, nor is female infanticide known
among them, but some of them participate
in the Meriah, by procuring flesh from
places where the sacrifice occurs, and bury-
ing it in their fields. They did not seem
to attach much importance to the rite, and
at once promised to have nothing more to
say to it even as spectators.

From Godairy, where I left some sick

128 LUMBAEGAM.

men, I proceeded on the 14th of January
in a north-easterly direction, over an unex-
plored country, and by difficult paths to
Luuibargam, of " Mai Moota," of Godairy.
Lumbargam is one of a cluster of six vil-
lages, each occupying a distinct basin or
dell, surrounded by rugged wooded moun-
tains, communicating with each other by
paths difficult for any but a mountaineer to
travel. These villages are generally at feud
with each other, but on the occasion of my
visit, they were closely united to repel the
retribution which they supposed I had come
to exact for the murders in which all were
more or less concerned, of the three messen-
gers of the " Nigoban " manager of Go-
dairy, who under cover of being the
bearers of a proclamation respecting the
Meriah, had extorted buffaloes, goats, and
brass vessels from the Khonds.

ROADS. 129

It is not easy adequately to convey a
just notion of the patience, perseverance,
and forbearance required in dealing with
these wild people, suspicious to a degree,
easily moved to violence, and acting appa-
rently more from animal instinct than the
reasoning of human beings. For eleven
days I was encamped in rice fields, which
during that time, were twice flooded with
rain. I had also to cut a way, not without
considerable difficulty, through the jungle,
over two ghats, leading to three of the
principal villages, in order to communicate
with, and undeceive the people. Either
they did not comprehend me, or there was
some underhand influence at work which I
could not detect. These Khonds were of
the wildest I had yet met with ; their coun-
try has no superfluity of produce for sale
or barter, and they seldom leave their own

K

130 AN ATTACK.

bounds except to fight with some neigh-
bouring tribe, which they are prone to do
on very slight provocation. After repeated
threats and demonstrations, emboldened
by the smallness of the force at my dis-
posal, about three hundred of them attacked
my camp, shouting and yelling more like
demons than men. The attacking party
were supported by as many more, uttering
cries of encouragement from the rocks and
jungle which surrounded the camp, but a
steady and resolute advance soon drove
them off. A few shots completed the rout,
and we pursued them rapidly over the
mountains till they were lost in the jungle
dells on the other side.

The next day delegates arrived from the
several villages of the confederation, and
the day following all came in, made their
submission, delivered up thirty-three Me-

SUCCESS. 131

riahs, and entered into the usual agreement
to forsake the sacrifice of human beings for
ever. Confidence was established, and my
camp crowded with our late foes, gazing
with astonishment at all they saw. The
Chief of Lumbargam, Brino Maji, who
had been the first to submit, had the
" Sari M or turban conferred him, a token
of recognition on the part of Government
and of fealty on his.

The whole neighbouring population were
intensely watching the result of the strug-
gle at Lumbargam, the successful termina-
tion of which exercised a most favourable
influence on the proceedings which followed
in the large " Moota " of Sirdapore, where
the Khonds declared that they might as
well fight against the sun !

From Lumbargam I proceeded in a
southerly direction, in three marches, by

k 2

132 SIEDAPOEE.

the most difficult paths I ever travelled, to
Sirdapore, where all the Khonds were
ready to wait upon me, with the exception
of those of Dagodi, who on the third day
after my arrival, came in with the Meriahs,
and from them I learnt that they had
bribed one of the inferior Ooryah officers of
the district, who had considerable influence
with them, to keep me from their village,
and so enable them to retain their Meriahs.
I caused the amount of the bribe to be
repaid in my presence, and sent the of-
fender to his master the Rajah of Jey-
pore.

I found Sirdapore distracted by internal
feuds, many lives had been lost, villages
burned, and a considerable portion of the
land left uncultivated for several seasons to
the great distress of the people. These
feuds I had the happiness of healing. I

FEUD. 133

also settled many desperate dissensions of
old standing in other parts of the Khond
country, and thus restored to the villages
and fields several hundred families, who
had been driven by their more powerful
opponents to take shelter in the jungles,
where they were exposed to great hardships,
living in temporary huts, raised in unas-
sailable positions, and subsisting on such
jungle fruits and roots as they could find.
Where the disputants are more equally
matched, the feud is kept alive by their
plundering each other of cattle, and by
acts of hostility; for although all parties
may be most desirous of a settlement, it is
not easy to bring them together. Indeed,
it has occurred repeatedly that the very men
who have come secretly to me begging that
I would compose their quarrel, have been
the loudest to disclaim in public all desire

134 OORYAH PATURS.

for an arrangement, preferring, as they
said, to fight it out.

When, however, the parties agreed to
submit their feuds to my arbitration, I
assembled the chiefs of as many neutral
tribes and Ooryah Paturs as were within
reach, and forming a sort of court under
some convenient tree, I heard from each
side the origin and details of the quarrel,
the number of cattle taken, and the num-
ber of lives lost by each. The latter I
generally found very evenly balanced, for
they are very unwilling to admit having
lost more men than their adversary, and
account only for those openly slain. Those
who have been waylaid and secretly mur-
dered are passed over as having been
devoured by a tiger or snake. There is of
course much loud and angry disputations,
but eventually the record of their respec-

DISPUTES. 135

tive losses in cattle or articles, reckoned by
knots on a cord made from the bark of a
tree having been handed to me, I called
upon the Khond and Ooryah chiefs
to give their opinion as to what the
award should be; and this being duly
pronounced and settled, the opponents
are then brought together, swear eternal
friendship, hug and embrace each other,
and receiving from me a small money
present, they return to their homes re-
joicing that they can now go to their
occupations without fear of being way-
laid.

The people of Sirdapore, with the excep-
tion of two or three villages bordering on
Chinua Kimedy are on a par in point of
civilization with the Khonds of Bissum
Cuttack and the lower parts of Godairy.
They do not rear Meriahs as in many

136 CHTJNDEEPORE.

other places, but procure Meriah flesh
from Ryabiji and Chunderpore.

When a sacrifice is considered necessary,
they unite and purchase a victim for the
occasion ; but at once, without any hesita-
tion, they agreed to abandon the rite and
all participation in it for ever. They came
freely into my camp, and I have no reason
to doubt the sincerity of their promise.

On the 6th of February I returned to
Godiary to procure provisions and to for-
ward the work of the bungalow. From thence
I marched in four days by Seirgooda, Biji-
pore, Kiloondi to Chunderpore, one of the
strongholds of the Meriah, second only to
Ryabiji. The Khonds came to me much
more readily than on my first visit a few
weeks before, and delivered up their
Meriahs. Several of the Khond chiefs on
being asked to sign the pledge, which was

BUNDAEI. 137

always carefully explained to them, to
abandon the sacrifice answered,

" Many countries have forsaken the
Meriah sacrifice at the orders of the Great
Government, why should not we do so
also?"

The people of Bundari, one of the princi-
pal Khond villages of this M Moota," refused
to come to me, or send me their Meriahs.
They fled with every thing they could
remove to their concealed fastnesses in the
mountains, which I failed to discover. In
riding in the direction of Bundari I there
found the cause of flight. A post spotted
with blood, to which a victim had been
fastened by the hair, the head still sus-
pended from the post to which the sacri-
ficial knife was attached. This piteous
sight agitated the whole camp, and all felt
they could not leave Bundari till the five

138 JUNNA.

victims still in the possession of these
barbarians were rescued.

The sacrifice which had taken place, called
" Junna/'is performed as follows, and is al-
ways succeeded by the sacrifice of three other
human victims, two to the sun to the east and
west, and one in the centre, with the usual
barbarities. A stout wooden post is firmly
fixed in the ground, at the foot of it a nar-
row grave is dug, and to the top of the post
the victim is firmly fastened by the long hair
of his head. Four assistants hold his out-
stretched arms and legs, the body being
suspended horizontally over the grave with
the face towards the earth. The officiating
" zani," priest, standing on the right side,
repeats the following invocation, at intervals
hacking with his sacrificing knife the back
part of the shrieking victim's neck :

" O, mighty Manicksoro, this is your

MANTCKSOEO. 139

festal day." (To the Khonds the offering
is ■ Meriah/ to the Rajahs ■ Junna.') w On
account of this sacrifice you have given to
rajahs countries, guns, and swords. The
sacrifice we now offer you must eat, and
we pray that our battle-axes may be turned
into swords, our bows and arrows into gun-
powder and balls, and if we have any quar-
rels with other tribes, give us the victory,
and preserve us from the tyranny of rajahs
and their officers."

Then addressing the victim, "That we
may enjoy prosperity, we offer you a sacri-
fice to our God Manicksoro, who will im-
mediately eat you, so be not grieved at our
slaying you. Your parents were aware
when we purchased you from them for sixty
'giinties,' (articles) that we did so with
intent to sacrifice you; there is therefore
no sin on our heads but on your parents.

140 VICTIMS.

After you are dead we shall perform your
obsequies."

The victim is then decapitated, the body
thrown into the grave, and the head left
suspended from the post till devoured by
wild beasts. The knife remains fastened
to the post till the three sacrifices already
mentioned have been performed, when it is
removed with much ceremony. The knife
and post used in the sacrifice I have alluded
to, are now in my possession.

I used every exertion to communicate
with the people. I even offered them par-
don for the grievous offence they had com-
mitted, but it was of no avail. Provisions
became scarce, sickness prevailed to an
alarming extent, and as the only means of
saving the lives of the three victims whose
sacrifice would have assuredly followed
that which had been already perpetrated,

SOORADA. 141

I most reluctantly ordered the village of
Bundari to be burnt, and also eight posts,
the relics of former sacrifices, to be des-
troyed. The successful evasion of this
people would, if unpunished, have set a
most injurious example to the whole sacri-
ficing population.

Leaving Bundari on the 24th of Feb-
ruary, I passed through the secondary
range of hills of Chinna Kimedy, inhabited
by sacrificing tribes, and was gratified to
find that they continued true to their
pledge of forsaking the Meriah rite.

The lateness of the season, and the diffi-
culty of procuring a sufficiency of water
for my camp in the infanticidal " Maliahs,"
prevented my visiting those tribes, but on
my arrival in Soorada, below the ghats,
many of the chiefs and a great number of
the Meriah females who had been married

142 INFANTICIDE.

to Khonds of these tracts, visited me with
their children, to receive the usual presents
of clothes, &c, and from them I learned
with satisfaction that female children were
now generally preserved, and in cases where
they were destroyed, it was done with great
secresy, and not openly as in former times.
The officer I had employed in superintend-
ing them, confirmed this report.

The number of real Meriahs rescued this
season was one hundred and fifty-eight, the
number of " Possiahs," registered and re-
stored to their owners, sixteen.

It is deserving of remark that four
Khonds, who had formed attachments to
Meriah women, fled with them to my camp
for protection in Jeypore, preferring to for-
sake their country and people, rather than
that their wives (as they may be called)
and children should run the risk of being

SELLING WOMEN. 143

sacrificed. Two Kliond women also fled
from Bundari with Meriah youths, from
motives of humanity as they stated to me,
but I think they were influenced by a more
tender feeling. Several other similar in-
stances occurred in my various journeys,
but not to the extent which might have
been expected, owing to a belief generally
entertained by the Meriahs that having
once partaken of " Meriah food/' rice, tur-
meric, &c, prepared with certain cere-
monies, they have no longer any inclination
to escape, as the following incident will il-
lustrate.

In 1839, three young women of the
Panoo caste of the plains were hired by
a seller of salt-fish and salt, to carry his
merchandise into the Khond " Maliahs,"
where having sold his goods, the villain sold
the women also. On the complaint of their

144 ESCAPE.

relations, they were sought after, recovered
and sent to me by Sam Bissoi, chief of
Hodzaghur. On my questioning them,
they said they had twice attempted to
escape, but were brought back where the
Khonds compelled them to eat of the
Meriah food, after which they became
reconciled to their fate, and lost all inclina-
tion to escape.

The districts of Ryabiji and Chunder-
pore have been the strongholds of the Me-
riah sacrifice in Jeypore. Out of the one
hundred and fifty-eight Meriahs of the
season, one hundred and four were from
these two districts. They have now been
traversed throughout. We know all the
principal villages, and their chiefs, and they
know something of us, and of our object in
coming to them. The first operations
among a wild and strange people, always

KYUTS. 145

the most difficult and most hazardous,
having been successful, those of succeeding
seasons, if the same principles are adhered
to, are mere gleanings, but the perils of the
climate must always remain the same.

The Meriah females were more eagerly
sought after in marriage by the Khonds of
Sooradah and Chinna Kimedy than for-
merly, and several have been married to
Meriah youths, settled as "Ryuts," in
Goomsur and elsewhere.

The Meriah families, formerly settled as
"Ryuts" in Goorasur, are doing well.
About a third of the number — those origin-
ally established — have this year, for the
first time, paid the rent of their land.
From a third, the full amount was collected,
but remitted, to support them till next har-
vest, and for seed. And a third, more re-
cently settled, are maintained at the expense

L

146 FEVER.

of the State. By the next harvest, I anti-
cipate that nearly all will be in a condition
to support themselves ; but they are gener-
ally idle, restraint of any kind is distasteful
to them, and they miss their favourite
toddy, and the many esculent roots which
abound in the mountain forests.

Sickness was, as usual, this season our
deadliest foe. My escort of native troops
was soon disabled, and hors de combat. I
had no alternative but to send them to the
plains. I need not say how much my
movements were crippled, nor could I have
accomplished what I did but for the in-
valuable aid of my own faithful Irregulars,
who were well acclimated, and fit for any-
thing.

Of the few European officers with the
regular troops, one died of fever, and the
other three were sent off to various cli-

BECRUITING. 147

mates, in search of the health they had lost
in the Hills.

I remained, during the rainy season,
when residence in the Hills is impossible,
at Berampore and Gopaulpore on the sea-
coast; and with my establishment, endea-
voured so to recruit our healths, as to en-
able us again to take the field when the
season permitted.

l 2

148

CHAPTER VIII.

I REVISIT THE INFANT1CIDAL DISTRICTS — RESULTS — AGAIN
ENTER CHINNA KIMEDY AND PREVENT A SACRIFICE IN

BONDIGAM — FARTHER SUBMISSIONS IN THESE DISTRICTS

RESTORATION OF SOME ORIGINAL MERIAHS CONDUCT OF

THE TRIBES OF TOOPUNGA — COLLISION AND SUBSEQUENT
SURRENDER OF THESE TRIBE£ — PROCEED TO BUNDARI IN

JEYPORE — ACCOUNT OF THE THREE DESTINED VICTIMS

REVISIT RYABIJI — THE ONE EXCEPTION IN JEYPORE

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE KOOTIAH KHONDS KALAHUNDE

PATNA — RUINED TEMPLES MUDDENPORE MAHASINGI

REVISIT BOAD NUMBER OF VICTIMS RESCUED DURING

THE SEASON — RETURN TO THE LOW COUNTRY.

The month of November, 1852, found
me once more in the Soorada infanticidal
tracts, where I passed some time, and per-
sonally examined into the condition of the
people. I went to five villages, and ascer-

PRESENTS. 149

taincd the number of children under five
years of age in each family, and having
thus obtained accurate information to this
extent, I deputed a practised and intelli-
gent man of my establishment to go lei-
surely from village to village, counting the
houses and families in each, and the num-
ber of female children, under five years of
age, in each family.

Wherever I halted, mothers with their
children assembled round my tent, and I
showed special favour, and made presents
— handsome, in their eyes — to those who
had female children. To each I gave four
or five yards of stout cotton cloth, and to
the children, strings of coloured glass beads.
Combs and small looking-glasses were also
distributed to laughing mothers and
screaming children, who were freely ad-
mitted to my tent, which, with its con-

150 SMALL POX.

tents, they examined with wonder, fre-
quently exclaiming to each other, "It is
the house of a god."

Small-pox commits great havoc through-
out these hills. I endeavoured to introduce
vaccination, but only with partial success ;
though such was the confidence entertained
of our skill and desire to benefit them, that
sick persons, young and old, were brought
to the paths by which I was expected to
pass, in hopes of receiving something to
cure them.

From the infanticidal tribes, I passed
into the country of the sacrificing tribes of
Chinna Kimedy, where I succeeded in cap-
turing the actual perpetrators of, and several
of the principal participators in a sacrifice
which was performed last season. I was
also fortunate in preventing a sacrifice at
the village of Bondigam, for which a victim

SACRIFICE. 151

and all necessary accessories had been
hastily provided ; but timely information
enabled me to rescue the victim, a girl of
about six years old, two hours only before
the time appointed for her immolation.
Some days after, I secured the leaders in
the proposed outrage.

The interrupted sacrifice was not pre-
meditated, but arose from a sudden temp-
tation, which these wild people could not
resist. They had, some years before, paid
a sum of money to a Panoo of Guddapore,
to provide them with a Meriah. In the
meantime came the orders prohibiting hu-
man sacrifice, and the Panoo evaded the
fulfilment of his .agreement. This year the
Khonds were pressing, and insisted on their
money being returned ; the Panoo, not
having the money, or, possibly, calculating
that the Khonds would not dare to sacri-

152 BEOKEN PLEDGE.

fice, gave them his own daughter, Ootoma.
But he was mistaken ; the temptation was
too great, the earth deity seemed to have
provided the blood which had been inter-
dicted her, and the Khonds of Bondigam
at once determined on the sacrifice, which
was so happily prevented.

My new assistant, Lieutenant MacNeill,
was successful in the western part of Chinna
Kimedy, where he seized three chiefs, the
joint pepetrators of a sacrifice at Solavesca
of Baracooma, part of the flesh of which
was brought to the Khond chiefs of Pos-
sunga, who received it ; but they afterwards
came to me voluntarily in a body ready, as
they said, to endure any punishment I
chose to inflict, for they had broken their
pledge, and had been tempted to receive
the forbidden flesh.

The ready submission of these wild men,

SUBMISSION. 153

when they could have easily evaded me,
and their simple confession of wrong, clearly
indicated the proper course to be pursued
towards them. After impressing on their
mind that the participators in Meriah flesh
were equally guilty with the actual sacrifi-
cers, I dismissed them to their villages, de-
taining only the Khond who had brought
the forbidden flesh to Possunga.

In every district there is a party sincerely
disposed to abandon the sacrifice of human
beings. There are also some un tameable
spirits, whom nothing but severity can
restrain from their ancient murderous rite.
Such persons say,

" What can he do to us ? he won't burn
our villages, nor shoot us. When we
threaten him he only tries to catch us, and
it is our own fault if he does that."

I afterwards procured the submission of

154 CHIEFS OF THE MOOTAS.

the only " Mochas" in Chinna Kimedy that
were in opposition, Toopunga and Parig-
hur. From Parighur, four Meriahs and
fourteen " Possiahs" were delivered to
me.

These last, to the very great content-
ment of the people, being the wives,
originally purchased as Meriahs, and child-
ren of three of the principal chiefs of the
" Moota," were at once restored ; and I
learnt that it was from fear that these
cherished ones should be removed, that
they were deterred from earlier making
their submission, and pledging themselves
as they now did with much apparent sin-
cerity to abandon the sacrifice of human
beings for ever.

A very different spirit actuated the
people of Toopunga, inhabiting a rugged
country, and very difficult of access. This

TOOPUNGA. 155

people are a wild, unruly set ; they had
been long at variance with the Ooryah
chief of Shoobernagery, and though sum-
moned by us for three successive seasons,
they refused to come or give up their
Meriahs. They were determined to fight,
and having a high character for courage
among the neighbouring tribes, it was
absolutely necessary for the success of my
operations, endangered by this bold de-
fiance, to bring the question to an issue.

After a toilsome night march, I arrived
early in the morning with a small party of
my Irregulars at the principal cluster of
villages of Toopunga. I endeavoured to
parley with the people, but the only reply
I received was threats of destruction, and
of making a Meriah of me if I did not in-
stantly quit their territory ; and, accordingly
when the warriors of the tribe assembled —

156 BUCHADAE PATTJE.

summoned together by the sounding of
horns — they came pouring down upon me
through the jungle in several parties,
evidently bent on trying the question with
their battle-axes. In self defence, and
much against my will, I was compelled to
fire. The courage of the men of Toopunga
failed, and they fled leaving their villages,
(from which all property had been removed
some days before,) to the mercy of the
excited followers of the Ooryah chief of
Shoobernagery who accompanied me, and
who, with the matches of their matchlock
guns, set fire to three small villages.

Soon after the Khonds of Toopunga
hastened to Buchadar Patur, the Ooryah
chief of the district, with their Meriahs,
and entreated him to intercede with me for
pardon. They then made unconditional
submission.

CHINNA KIMEDY. 157

Although I regretted the attack made
upon me by the people, the result had a
marked and salutary effect not only on
Toopunga, but on the whole of the sacri-
ficing tribes of Chinna Kimedy. Many of
the Khond chiefs expressed the greatest
satisfaction at the punishment with which
the audacious tribe of Toopunga had been
visited, and all the Ooryah chiefs were
unanimous in declaring that nothing had
been wanting for the final suppression of
the Meriah sacrifice but an unmistakeable
manifestation of the determination of Go-
vernment to put an end to it. They could
now, they said, speak with authority to
their Khonds, and point to Toopunga as a
warning to those who opposed the orders
of Government for the suppression of the
Meriah.

From Chinna Kimedy, I proceeded to

158 BUNDARI.

Bundari of Jeypore. I found the people
anxiously looking for my arrival, uncer-
tain as to their reception, in consequence of
the sacrifice perpetrated by them last year
— as already related — and the destruction
of their village, a measure to which I had
been forced, as the only means of averting
the fate of three victims in their possession,
and doomed for sacrifice. They soon, how-
ever, gained confidence, and came to me
with their Meriahs, throwing themselves on
the mercy of the Government. Of the
three victims intended for sacrifice, one
had made his escape to my camp, another
had died, and the third, a young woman
who had undergone the usual preliminary
ceremonies, and being the property of the
community, they requested might be re-
moved, lest her presence should prove a
temptation, as they were determined to

PLEDGE. 159

abandon the sacrifice of human beings for
ever. Two others, young girls of twelve
and fourteen were delivered to me, with
the earnest desire that they might be given
in marriage to two young Khonds of the
village. To this I agreed, on the usual
securities being taken, and they were be-
trothed in my presence.

The chiefs then signed the pledge to for-
sake the Meriah rite, received back the
grain which I had caused to be removed,
when their village was destroyed, and a
handsome present of money to assist in
rebuilding it. The whole assembly ad-
mitted the justice of the punishment which
had been inflicted on the people of Bundari,
and wondered at the liberality and mercy
of the Great Government towards the peni-
tent offenders.

Before leaving Bundari I was requested

160 ETABIJI.

by the chiefs to erect a post on the site of
the new village which they were about to
build, as a mark that it was sanctioned by
authority. I accordingly rode to the site
of the old village, but the chiefs came in
haste, exclaiming, u Not there ; that ground
has been accustomed for many years to
human blood, and will continue to demand
more — we will build on new ground." I
followed where they Jed, and on the spot
pointed out, erected a substantial post
amidst the shouts and rejoicings of men,
women and children.

From Bundari I moved to Ryabiji, where
I remained several days, receiving the
Khonds of the district who came in crowds
to visit me. The principal village of Rya-
biji had been deserted for several years,
and its inhabitants living in small hamlets
scattered around, were contemplating the

RESCUED VICTIMS. 161

building of a new Ryabiji, the old town
having been abandoned, as the people told
me, on account of its having been taken
possession of by demons, who had brought
death and disease to their families and
flocks. I was solicited to mark the spot to
be fixed on as the centre of the new village,
which I did, and ordered a display of roc-
kets and fireworks in the evening, to the
great delight of the people who had never
seen anything of the kind before.

From the Ooryah Patur of this district,
I rescued three Junna youths who were in-
tended for sacrifice on the building of this
village. In presence of all the Khonds of
the district, the Junnas were delivered to
me by the Patur, who in the most ener-
getic manner abjured the rite, and called
upon them to witness the abjuration, and
to admire the virtue of this gentleman

M

162 BARBARITY.

(meaning myself) who made no distinction
in administering justice between Ooryah
and Khond,

From Ryabiji I marched to Godairy, and
thus having passed through the strong-
holds of the Meriah in Jeypore, I was
gratified to find that out of two hundred
and twenty Khond villages, only one chief,
Larunga, Maji of Dadojoringi, refused to
produce his Meriahs ; and he alone of all
the Khonds of Jeypore performed the
Meriah sacrifice last year after I had left
the country.

This sacrifice had been attended by a
comparatively small number of people, and
these were disgusted with an extra piece of
barbarity, distasteful even to them. After
the victims, a man and a woman, had been
sacrificed, and whilst their remains were
being thrown into the hole prepared for

CONFIDENCE. 163

them, a child of the woman, about three
years old, crept near this Maji, when the
monster seized him by the legs, and
whirling him round his head dashed him
into the grave, where he was buried with
the mangled remains of his mother.

It afforded me much satisfaction to see
the confidence with which these wild men
of Jeypore now visited my camp on this
my second appearance among them, show-
ing a remarkable contrast to their shyness
of last season ; even my old opponents of
Lumbargam, Serdapore, and Bapella, came
a distance of twenty-four miles to see me.

To some of the most intelligent of the
Khond chiefs I offered to restore their
Meriahs for adoption, but they refused to
receive them back, alleging that they would
be a temptation to the people. A more
convincing proof of the progress made in
m 2

164 KOOTIA KHONDS.

weaning these people from their ancient rite
could not be desired.

At this place, my assistant joined me
from the jungly "Mootas" of Lunkagher,
Goomagur, and Goonjideso of Chinna
Kimedy, where he was going on very
successfully, when sickness compelled him
to leave for a more open part of the
country, bringing with him forty Meriah
victims.

The inhabitants of the " Mootas" above
named, are a wild race known as Kootia
Khonds, speaking a dialect of the Khond
language differing considerably from that
spoken by the surrounding tribes. They
have very little rice cultivation, use no
ploughs, and subsist chiefly on the different
kinds of pulse and other dry grains
grown in patches on the slopes of the
hills.

TOOAMOOL. 165

From Godairy I sent the greater part of
my escort, who were suffering from fever,
with my assistant back to the plains through
the lower part of the Chinna Kimedy
"Maliahs," and proceeded myself on the
12th of January, 1853, to Bissum Cuttack
of Jeypore, where I found the Khonds under
their zealous and energetic ruler, Nairrain-
dur Deo, in perfect tranquillity and true to
their pledge.

From Bissum Cuttack I pursued my
course to Calahundi of Nagpore, with the
intention of visiting Tooamool, a hill
principality, tributary to Calahundi, the
chief of which was under restraint at Nag-
pore, charged among other offences, with
encouraging, or conniving at the perform-
ance of the Meriah sacrifice among his
Khonds, but I found Tooamool in such a
state of anarchy, and the people so ex-

166 RAJAH OF CALAHUNDI.

asperated against the Rajah of Calahundi,
that it would have been worse than useless
to have entered the country for Meriah
suppression purposes. In the absence of
their own chief, I should have been looked
upon as a partizan of the Rajah of Cala-
hundi, and in that supposed character there
was much risk of my being brought into
collision with the Khonds and other in-
habitants who were prepared to resist, as
they had already done, even the authority
of His Highness the Rajah of Nagpore.

From Calahundi I passed through a con-
siderable portion of the Khond country of
the Patna Zumindari, and satisfied myself
that the Meriah sacrifice had not within the
memory of man existed to a greater extent
than the sacrifice of one or two victims
throughout the whole country once in five
or six years. Patna is not a mountainous

PAGODAS. 167

country, it has vast plains, now but partially
cultivated, yet bearing the marks of former
extensive cultivation in numerous remaius
of tanks and rice embankments.

At some distance from a village called
Soorada, may be seen a remarkable collec-
tion of pagodas, which I visited, and
counted one hundred and twenty of various
dimensions. They were built of cut stone,
without cement, and most of them are in a
state of dilapidation. On the largest tem-
ple is some writing in the " Devi Nagari"
character, but now illegible. In the centre
of this group of pagodas was a circle two
hundred and ten feet in circumference, sur-
rounded by a wall of cut stone, twelve feet
high, with sixty-five niches on the inner
side, containing sixty figures of goddesses
in a variety of attitudes, and in the centre
of the circle, placed on a raised platform,

168 TEMPLES.

sat a remarkable figure, tolerably carved, as
were also the others, in stone. Pew of these
deities were recognised by my people,
though among them were two Brahmins.
The tradition here is, that these temples
were built by magicians, and the guide,
who pointed out the way, would not go
within two miles of them. Even my own
people were rather uneasy. The conclusion
that I came to was, that this part of the
country must have been occupied by a race
of Hindoos, of whom there is now no trace.
It is now thinly inhabited by a compara-
tively civilized people, who call themselves
Khonds, though they do not speak their
dialect. Their language and dress are
Ooryah, and they are very industrious.

Prom Patna I passed into the small hill,
Zumendari of Muddenpore, tributary to
Calahundi, and found it distracted by in-

A LEPER. 169

ternal dissensions, owing to a departure
from the regular line of succession to the
chieftainship, in the person of the youngest
brother of the recently deceased chief, in-
stead of the elder brother, who is, unhap-
pily, a leper. Though thus disagreeing
among themselves, they professed obedience
to the British Government, and delivered
up the last of their Meriahs.

The Rajah of Calahundi, or Kirond,
Futty Narrain Deo, a well educated and
superior man, was with me for some days,
and promised to use his best endeavours to
effect a compromise between the brothers,
by fixing the succession on the son of the
leper, at the death of the present chief.

From Muddenpore of Calahundi, I pro-
ceeded to Mahasingi of Chinna Kimedy,
halting at several places by the way, to
receive the visits of the Khonds, talk to

170 CHIEFS OF DISTRICTS.

them, settle their disputes, and make en-
quiries respecting the Meriah.

At Mahasingi, I met by appointment
twenty-two Ooryah and Khond chiefs of
districts and " Mootas" of Chinna Kimedy,
and after considerable discussion, succeeded
in settling several blood feuds of long
standing, some of them respecting boun-
daries, which I marked out. Before leav-
ing, I strongly impressed upon the chiefs,
and succeeded in convincing them, that
dissensions among themselves materially
weakened their authority over their people.
At parting, T presented them with silver
anklets and bracelets, silk, cloth, and cotton
shawls, according to their rank.

These men had rendered most essential
services, for several years, in their respec-
tive districts. To the cordial co-operation
of the Ooryah, and the ready acquiescence

BEWARDS. 171

of the Khond chiefs, we owe much of the
success which has attended our operations.
They have been put to great, but unavoid-
able, inconvenience by their attendance on
ray movements, and have exposed them-
selves to a considerable amount of obloquy
for their ready assent to the views of
Government. They had hitherto received
no reward or remuneration beyond the
usual subsistence money for themselves and
followers, when employed on the public
service. These silver anklets and bracelets
are greatly prized by the Hill chiefs as
marks of distinction, and it is very desirable
that they should be encouraged to continue
the valuable aid they are so capable of
rendering.

From Mahasingi of Chinna Kimedy I pro-
ceeded into the Boad " Maliahs." Through-
out, the Khonds came crowding to see their

172 NEW BOAD.

" father," and I recognised many familiar
faces among the men who hurried onto
clear the paths of jungle and other ob-
stacles, shouting and laughing as they
went.

During my stay in Boad, I learnt with
great satisfaction that the Meriah sacrifice
was not even spoken of among the Khonds,
that the whole land had repudiated the
cruel rite, and that there had not been a
human victim slain since 1847. I also
took the opportunity of examining a con-
siderable portion of the road which had
just been finished between Goomsur and
Sohunpore on the Mahanuddi. It is
difficult fully to appreciate the value of this
road, both as a line of traffic into Nagpore
as well as to the inhabitants of Chinna
Kimedy and Boad. Already was the road
well frequented by " Brinjaries," carrying

MERCHANDISE. 173

cotton and wheat to the coast. About
twenty thousand bullocks have passed this
season, and will return again laden with
salt. The Khond inhabitants instead of
waiting in their villages for the arrival of
the travelling merchants, who annually
visit them to purchase horns, oil seeds,
turmeric, and other produce, now carry
these articles to the weekly markets on the
plains, obtain better prices, and purchase
what they may require at more reasonable
rates. I met several large parties of
Khonds and Ooryahs going to the fair, and
among them a good many women, who,
until the opening of the road, had never
ventured on the journey.

The rescued Meriah victims, settled as
cultivators, are now, I am happy to say,
acquiring regular habits of industry. About
thirty of them were employed throughout

174 VICTIMS RESCUED.

the season in the construction of the
Sohunpore road.

The number of Meriahs rescued this
season is one hundred and fifty, and one
hundred " Possiahs," or serfs, were regis-
tered and restored to their owners.

The operations of this season were
brought to a close in March, 1853, when,
wearied with our labours and worn with
incessant fever, which spares no one in
those hills, myself and the Agency estab-
lishment returned to the low country.

175

CHAPTER IX.

ALL THE TRIBES OF UPPER AND LOWER CHINNA KIMEDT
VISITED THEIR PROSPERITY AND INCREASING FAMI-
LIARITY— READ PROCLAMATION — REPLY OF KHOND
CHIEFS — DELIVERY OF RUNAWAY MERIAHS — CAPTURE

OF A NOTORIOUS KIDNAPPER RECEPTION AT JEYPORE

— NO SACRIFICE THERE SINCE 1852 — RYAOHUR AND
LINKAPORE — SOME ACCOUNT OF THEM — TOOMOOL — SICK-
NESS— ACCOUNT OF PEOPLE AND COUNTRY — BUNDUSIR

RAJAH FUTTY NARAIN DEO OF KALAHUND CONCLUDING

REMARK8.

Though still suffering from the effects
of fever it was imperative that no season
should pass without our presence amongst
the various Hill tribes. Accordingly, in
November, 1853, I prepared for what

176 MOUNTAINS.

proved to be my last campaign in the
Khond Tracts.

On my way to Chinna Kimedy I paid a
short visit to the Infanticidal tribes, and
was satisfied that to some extent they now
rear their infant female children. The
complete suppression of this practice must
be the work of time and careful super-
vision.

The lower and upper ranges of the
Chinna Kimedy mountains were visited by
myself and my assistant. We met every
tribe, not one evaded us, nor was one
village deserted, as in former years.

The Khonds assembled in crowds in our
respective camps, and with a freedom
never before evinced by them ; selling or
exchanging with our people the produce of
their fields, for money, salt, bread, or
pieces of cloth. After they had completed

PROCLAMATION. 177

their barter, the chiefs of " Mootas" and
villages with their people assembled round
our tents, and listened attentively to the
reading of a proclamation in the Khond
dialect, reiterating the prohibition of the
sacrifice of human beings, and permitting
them to substitute animals instead. Copies
of this proclamation were left in every
" Moota." Each chief was invited
freely to express his sentiments on this pro-
clamation, which many did without hesita-
tion, saying,

"When you first came among us we
were like beasts in the jungle, doing as
our fathers had done ; but we now clearly
comprehend that your only object in com-
ing is to stop human sacrifice. Not a fowl
or anything else has been taken from us,
not even a fence injured by the people of
your camp. Our fields produce crops as

N

178 A SCAPEGOAT.

good as formerly, and sickness is not more
prevalent. Our Meriahs have been all re-
moved, and now we are of one mind,
determined never more to have anything
to do with human sacrifice. Moreover, it
is no use resisting the orders of the Great
Government."

In two or three places it was asked,
Cf What are we to say to the deity ?" They
were told they might say whatever they
pleased. Then one of the chiefs repeated the
following formula : " Do not be angry with
us, O, goddess, for giving you the blood of
beasts instead of human blood, but vent
your wrath on this gentleman, who is well
able to bear it. We are guiltless.,,

Seventeen Meriahs only have been found
this season in the whole of Chinna Kimedy,
and these were delivered up voluntarily by
their owners. Nine Meriahs who had

BUDDO MUNDO. 179

deserted from villages on the plains wherein
they had been located, were either given
up, or surrendered themselves because
their former owners would not receive
them. One of these young men on being
remonstrated with, on the risk he had run
of suffering a cruel and painful death,
replied, " It is better to be sacrificed as a
Meriah among my own people and give
them pleasure, than to live on the plains.
Am I not a Meriah ?"

Thirty-seven Possia women, who had
been purchased when very young, were
with their children (sixty-three in number)
registered and restored to their husbands.

I succeeded in effecting the capture of
Buddo Mundo, a notorious kidnapper of
children, who last year had sold his own
daughter Ootoma as already related. She
is now with other rescued Meriahs under

n 2

180 EESTOEATIONS.

the care of the missionaries at Berhampore,
and is a child of rare intelligence, and of
the most affectionate disposition.

In the Khond tracts of Jeypore my re-
ception was most gratifying. I visited my
old opponents of Lumbargam, Bapola and
Bundare, and found them contented and
happy ; they, with all the Khonds of Jey-
pore, declaring their fidelity to the pledge
they had taken.

Two Meriah women who had been given
in marriage to Khonds of the Soorada In-
fanticidal tribes, and who had fled from
their husbands, were given up, and a Meriah
youth who had escaped from me last season
was brought back by his owner, Indro-
mooni Maji of Byabiji, a fine intelligent
Khond. This chief reproached me for
having allowed him to escape, for, said he,
" he has undergone the ceremonies prepara-

A MISTAKE. 181

tory to sacrifice, and therefore is a tempta-
tion to us; take him away with you."
This, among similar instances, shews that
it is not a fact as has been stated, that " a
Meriah victim once in the possession of, or
produced before a Government officer is a
victim no longer, his atoning efficacy des-
troyed, his sacred character profaned, there
is no fear after this pollution of his being
sent to the stake;" and I have already
mentioned three instances where Meriahs
were sacrificed after having been in the
possession of Government officers.

There has been no sacrifice, nor attempt
to sacrifice in Jeypore since March, 1852.

From Jeypore I passed in a north-wes-
terly direction through the Zumendaries of
Ryaghur and Linkapore, a fine, open, level
country, and well cultivated. The popula-
tion consists of Khonds and Tcllogoos. The

182 TOOAMOOL.

Khonds are an industrious and civilised
race, and pay rent for their land like their
Tellogoo neighbours. They acknowledged
having occasionally procured the flesh of a
victim from Jeypore, but for many years
no sacrifice had taken place among
themselves. Through these Zumindaries
upwards of twenty thousand " Brinjary "
bullocks pass from the interior to the
coast with oil seeds, wheat and cotton, and
return laden with salt.

From Linkapore I sent my assistant
through the hilly country of Bundasir of
Calahundi, inhabited by sacrificing tribes
of Khonds, while I turned nearly west
towards Tooamool. Sickness had for some
days been on the increase in my camp, and
at the second march into the mountain
ranges of Tooamool, increased greatly.
The doctor in medical charge of the camp,

CLIMATE. 183

and the officer commanding my escort of
sepoys, being added to the list with severe
fever. I was therefore compelled — while
it was yet possible to procure carnage for
the sick — to send them all back to the low
country, where I am glad to say they
arrived in safety.

Tooamool which we reached by a succes-
sion of difficult ghats, is on the table-land
of a high range of mountains, in length
about thirty-two miles east and west, and
in breadth about fourteen. The climate is
very trying ; the thermometer in my tent
at six o'clock in the morning ranged from
35° to 38°, and at noon from 81° to 83°;
we had often hoar frost and thin ice, which
was there seen for the first time by my na-
tive followers.

The inhabitants subsist on different kinds
of maize, grown on the slopes of their hills,

184 CULTIVATION.

which are almost cleared of jungle, and
cultivated to the top. Their rice cultivation
is very scanty. The crops this season
had failed in these high regions, as well as
in the plains, so I had great difficulty in
supplying even my reduced camp, and we
were frequently on half rations.

I found the Khonds tractable and well
disposed, though at first somewhat alarmed,
but they soon gained confidence, and men,
women, and children came into my camp
freely. They had never seen a European
before, and my tent and its contents,
elephants and horses, were great attrac-
tions.

I ascertained beyond a doubt that the
Khonds of Tooamool did not rear Meriahs,
but when they had determined on a sacri-
fice, they applied to the Tat Rajah, who
sold to them some unfortunate person

PLEDGE. 185

accused of sorcery, from sums varying from
twenty to fifty rupees.

After the usual meetings and consulta-
tions, and frequent palavers amongst the
chiefs, they in the presence of their people
signed the pledge to forsake the Meriah
right for ever. They declared that no
sacrifice had taken place since the removal
of their Tat Rajah, three years ago, to
Nagpore, where he lately died a prisoner.

" They had heard," they said, " that the
1 Company ' " — they knew the mysterious
name — "had sent a great officer to the
Khonds of Jeypore, and Chinna Kimedy,
to abolish the Meriah sacrifice, and they
had felt disappointed that no officer had
been sent to them. They were now, how-
ever, pleased to find that they were held
in equal estimation with their brethren of
other countries."

186 SACBIFICING ABANDONED.

At Koorlapaut, a tributary of Calahundi,
on the same mountain range as Tooamool,
the Khonds came to me with perfect con-
fidence. They made a statement with
respect to the Meriah, similar to that given
by the Khonds of Tooamool.

My assistant, who traversed the Khond
mountains of Bundasir of Calahundi, found
the Khonds most submissive and tractable.
Formerly when they required a sacrifice,
they purchased a victim from some distant
country, but the Rajah of Calahundi,
Futty Narrain Deo having forbidden the
Meriah, and twice punished them very
severely, once for sacrificing, and a second
time for attempting to sacrifice, they were
resolved to give it up, and now that the
Great Government had sent an officer to
them, they were confirmed in that resolu-
tion. In plain fact, they knew from the

CALAHUNDI. 187

experience of their neighbours, that no
opposition was likely to be effective.

To this Rajah, Futty Narrain Deo, great
credit is due, for his earnest and effectual
efforts for the suppression of human sacri-
fices in the Hill Zumindaries, under his
authority ; and all that was required for the
perfecting of his work, was the personal
communication which I have now had with
his Khonds; impressing them with the
wholesome conviction that not only are
they responsible to their Rajah, but also to
the Government, whose officers have pene-
trated into all their fastnesses.

In Calahundi I met several large droves
of " Brinjary,, bullocks proceeding to the
coast for salt ; their owners complained
bitterly of the heavy transit dues levied
from them by the different petty Zumindars,
or landed proprietors, through whose

188 ZUMINDARS.

territory they passed, amounting in the
aggregate to nearly half the price paid by
them at the sea-coast for their salt. The
Zumindars keep the paths by which the
cattle travel tolerably clear, and protect the
Brinjaries from molestation, though they
are well able to take care of themselves.

Could the population which has been
driven away by famine and disease be re-
placed, the vast plains of Calahundi and
lower Patna, now lying waste, studded
with ancient temples and ruined tanks,
might become as rich and productive in
cotton and other crops as the most fertile
parts of Nagpore.

The narrative of the operations which
brought to a close this season's labour,
speaks for itself. The Khonds every where
were making sure and certain progress in
their complete emancipation from the cruel

AGREEABLE WORK. 189

rite of human sacrifices which for ages had
prevailed amongst them.

It was destined that my humble but
earnest labour amongst these Mountains
tribes of Khondistan should this season
terminate for ever ; but I can never cease
to feel the warmest and most heartfelt
interest in their welfare. My work in
these hills was always to me a labour of
love, and I linger with affectionate remem-
brance on the many years I lived among
them, and pitched my tent in their moun-
tain villages.

I will only ask the reader's patience for
one more chapter, and then " my tale is
told."

190

CHAPTER X.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF MT MODE OF ACTING— THE RELATIONS
BETWEEN THE KHONDS AND THE RAJAHS — NECESSITY
OF CONCILIATING THE HILL CHIEFS — ACCOUNT OF THE
DISTRIBUTION OF THE RESCUED VICTIMS — THE OPPOSI-
TION I ENCOUNTERED — CONCLUSION.

It will not, 1 hope, be supposed from
the imperfect narrative which I have traced
that the Hill tribes upon any occasion, and
more especially in the early days of our
intercourse with them, readily yielded to
our wishes, and abandoned their ancient
rite. On the contrary, long days and
nights of almost interminable discussion
invariably preceded any surrender on their
parts ; but I have not deemed it needful to

PROGRESS. 191

exhaust the reader's patience with a con-
stant repetition of these very necessary, but
most wearying, councils and debates.

The first step of progress was to gain the
favourable opinion of the low country rulers,
or rajahs. It is impossible accurately to
define the exact position of these little
magnates to their Hill subjects. It is cer-
tain that the former claim an obedience
never yielded by the latter, whilst it is
equally certain that the Khonds have a
strong feeling in favour of the rajah, who, it
must be allowed, interferes with them gener-
ally as little as possible. He is entitled,
equally with their own Hill chiefs, to
certain perquisites paid on successions, and
sometimes a portion of the fines and forfeits
levied on account of offences ; but in truth
it very much depends upon the temper of
the Khonds whether these rajahs ever

192 ALLEGIANCE.

receive anything. The tribes, however,
bestow a certain amount of rice, vege-
tables, &c, upon any officer deputed by the
Rajah to visit them, but they regard this
more as a compliment than a matter of right.
Indeed they consider that they are com-
pletely in depend ant ; they believe themselves
the original owners of the land, and pay no
rent or taxes to " outsiders," though
amongst themselves they sometimes
sell or rent their fields — a process
fertile in disputes amongst a people without
a written language.

Notwithstanding this very vague allegi-
ance, my first step was always to secure
the cordial co-operation of the rajahs of the
plains, and by visits, presents, and a con-
ciliatory demeanour, I generally achieved
my end. These men, like all others, are
governed by self-interest, and they soon

NATIVE CHIEFS. 193

found that they would be no losers by
affording us their influence, limited though
it was, to attain our objects amongst their
Hill people.

The next and far more important step
was to win over the Ooryah chiefs called
" Bissois" and " Paturs," according to the
district. I have come in contact with
sixty-five chiefs in the several divisions of
Boad, Chinna Kimedy, Jeypore, and
Kalahundy, and I have never removed one
from his position.

All were not equally well disposed to
forward my views for the suppression of
human sacrifice, for they all derived a
certain advantage from it, in the shape of
offerings from the Khonds on the occasion
of a sacrifice ; but, notwithstanding this, I
did not attempt to subvert their authority,
for 1 knew from experience that anarchy

o

194 OORYAH CHIEFS.

and confusion would have been the result '
1 rather, by forbearance and conciliation,
strove to gain their confidence, and to
elevate them both in their own estimation
and in that of their Khonds.

From long hereditary sway their chiefs
exercised considerable influence, and had
the power of moving to much mischief;
or by precept and example smoothing the
way, and satisfying their people of the true
object of our coming among them. The
great point in the first instance was to
bring these wild men into personal com-
munication with me; that difficulty once
overcome, the sure foundation of a sucess-
ful issue was laid. The Ooryah chiefs
then, were my principal instruments for the
suppression of the Meriah rite, and on
them I chiefly depend for maintaining the
ground we have gained.

NAEBAINDUR DEO. 195

As an instance of the hearty co-operation
of the Ooryah chiefs, I may mention the
conduct of the Tat Rajah, Narraindur Deo,
of Bissum Cuttack, who, when informed
that his Khonds were preparing to take
part in a sacrifice which was performed in
March, 1852, in Ryabiji of Jeypore, pe-
remptorily forbade their going, and plainly
told them, that if they went, he would
waylay them on their return, and shoot
every man he could find. Not one went to
the place of sacrifice. In other instances,
purposed attacks on me were averted by
them ; and in those I was forced to repel,
the Ooryah chiefs, coming in as intercessors
for *their discomfited Khonds, acquired
new influence — and the submission which
followed was complete.

I anticipate highly important results
from the diffusion of knowledge, and
o 2

196 MEEIAH CHILDREN.

spread of education among the Khonds, by
means of the Meriahs now under instruction
in the plains.

The great object I had in view in send-
ing the younger Meriah children, eighty-
four girls, and one hundred and sixteen
boys, to be educated by the missionaries,*
was, that the most intelligent might be
brought up as teachers, and eventually
settle among their own wild people,
where, by precept and example, under the

* Mr. and Mrs. Stubbins, and Mr. and Mrs.
Wilkinson, to whom I confided a portion of my
young Meriahs, resided at the military station of
Berhampore in Ganjam. Mr. and Mrs. Buckley
were stationed at Cuttack, in the province of that
name, and Mr. Bachelor at Balasore. I have had
every reason to be well satisfied with the training
bestowed by those worthy people upon the Meriah
children.

LIBERALITY. 197

blessing of God, the pure principles of our
holy religion might take root. It was a
well-understood part of their education,
that they should not be allowed to forget
the Khond language, but that it should be
cultivated by means of the educational
works prepared in that dialect by Captain
Frye.

The Government of India have made
liberal provision for these young people,
both for their present support, and future
settlement in life, when their training,
either as teachers, artificers, or husband-
men, is completed. Already, some of the
elder ones are earning their own livelihood,
and some of the young girls have sent me
presents of needlework, highly creditable to
their aptitude for instruction.

I often endeavoured to obtain accurate
information regarding the number of human

198 EEPOETS.

victims annually sacrificed previous -to our
operations. The Khonds, always unwilling
to speak on the subject, gave conflicting
evidence.

Mr. Ricketts, the commissioner of Cut-
tack, who, in 1837, rescued sixteen boys
and eight girls from the Boad districts, was
informed by one Khond that he had wit-
nessed fifty sacrifices, and by another
Khond, that he had never seen but three
or four.

Captain Macpherson reports in February,
1846, that "about one hundred victims
had been immolated in the tracts of Boad,
bordering upon Goomsur, in anticipation of
the usual season for sacrifice."

The number of Meriah victims rescued
during the operations I have sketched, from
1837 to 1854, was one thousand five hun-
dred and six.

REPORTS.

199

.

Males.

Females.

Total.

rom Goomsur

101

122

223

„ Boad

181

164

345

„ Chinna Kimedy

313

353

666

„ Jeypore .

77

110

193

„ Calahundi

43

34

77

„ Patna

2

•j

a

717 789 1,506

And within the same period, eleven hun-
dred and fifty-four " Possias" were regis-
tered, and restored to their owners.

The following record will shew how these
fifteen hundred and six Meriahs have been
provided for.

Males. Females. Total.

Restored to relatives and
friends, or given for adop-
tion to persons of character
in the plains. . . . 194 148 342

200 EEPOETS.

Males. Females. Total.

Given in marriage to

Khonds and others of suit-

able condition.

267

267

Supporting themselves in

public or private service. .

53

22

75

Died

69

88

157

Deserted. .

63

14

77

In Missionary schools at

Cuttack, Berhampore and

Balasore.

116

84

200

Settled as cultivators in

different villages.

195

111

306

At the Asylum, Soorada.

27

55

82

717 789 1506

Among the infanticidal tribes, great pro-
gress has been made in weaning them from
their cruel practice. The result of the in-
quiry of 1854, shews a registry of nine

SUPPRESSION OF SACRIFICE. 201

hundred and one females under five years
of age, in two thousand one hundred and
forty-nine families located in villages, where
I can state from my own observation that
in 1848 there were few if any female chil-
dren to be seen.

It affords me heartfelt gratification to be
able to give so satisfactory a statement of
the suppression of the Meriah sacrifice in
Goomsur, Boad, Chinna Kimedy, Jeypore,
Calahundi, and Patna, though it would be
as injudicious as impolitic to leave them to
themselves for some years to come.

These countries are almost blank spaces
on the map, which affords as little aid in
tracing the course and extent of the opera-
tions I have described, as it did in direct-
ing my often tedious and toilsome marches.

It is not without pain that I refer, ere 1
conclude, to the unceasing and bitter oppo-

202 MISEEPEESENTATION.

sition I encountered shortly after my return
from China and my appointment as Agent
to the Governor- General, in supercession
of Captain Macpherson. Not only did the
most violent articles appear almost daily in
the press, frightfully distorting all my acts,
and causing much alarm to the Govern-
ment— but in the very country which was
the scene of my operations, men were em-
ployed to propagate and foment all kinds
of false reports, and this, too, in a country
just recovering from the throes of a rebel-
lion. How I was hindered and harassed
by these malignant reports I need not now
relate. Happily I triumphed over these
difficulties, and by the kind permission of
Lord Dalhousie, I published an answer to
a tissue of gross misrepresentations, which
appeared in the " Calcutta Review/' and
since then all opposition ceased.

CAPTAIN MACVICCAE. 203

Increasing ill-health warned me that I
must seek some relaxation from this wear-
ing climate. I felt that I had accomplished
my mission, and that I might now with-
draw. I had been cheered in my labours
by the unvarying support of the Govern-
ment I served, and I have recorded in an
Appendix some of these marks of approval.

I left the Hill tracts of Orissa with un-
feigned sorrow, but I was the more recon-
ciled to this necessity, as my able and
zealous Assistant, Captain Macviccar, had
rejoined me from England, and was pre-
pared to take my place.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX.

One special object in printing the follow-
ing orders, letters, &c, is to shew that from
the very outset of my connexion with the
Khond country, I enjoyed the confidence
of superior authority. From the Honour-
able Mr. Russell, General Taylor, Sir
Frederick Adams, Lord Tweedale, Lord
Hardinge, Lord Dalhousie, and the late
Court of Directors of the East India Com-
pany, I received the following expressions
of approval.

208 APPENDIX.

I have thought it might not be un-
interesting to reprint an article published in
one of the Local journals long after I had
quitted India.

APPENDIX. 209

Extract from Division Orders by General
G. A. Taylor, Commanding Northern
Division, dated Waltair, 10th June, 1834.

The command of the troops in Kimedy
suddenly devolved upon Captain Campbell,
41st Regiment, at a very critical period,
and when the state of affairs required active
zeal, intrepidity, and judgment. Captain
Campbell on this occasion as on many sub-
sequent ones, when in command of his regi-
ment, has proved he possesses these valuable
qualities in an eminent degree.

Copy of a Letter from General Sir
Frederick Adams, Governor of Madras,
dated 26th June, 1834.

Dear Sir,
I have had most sincere gratification in
reading the high and well deserved en-

21 0 APPENDIX.

comiums passed upon your zeal, energy,
and ability by the Commissioner, Mr.
Russell, and by Brigader- General Taylor,
during the long and arduous service in
which you have been engaged in the
Circars. Praise from such men is worth
ambition, and much do I feel gratified in
saying I believe it is entirely merited.

It is a matter of very sincere regret that
I have it not in my power at this moment,
and under the operation of the existing
regulations, to show some more substantial
proof of the estimate I have formed of your
merits, than can be conveyed by mere
words ; but be assured that my intention of
doing so is most sincere, and I only wait
for an opportunity to give adequate proof
of my desire to evince it.

Extract from General Orders, Madras
Government, 1st July, 1834.

The 41st Regiment deserves particular

APPENDIX. 211

notice. This was the only corps employed
in Kiraedy at the commencement of the
insurrection of the Hill Chiefs, and not
only afforded effectual protection to the
inhabitants, and enabled them to secure
their crops from the ravages of the insur-
gents, but made successful attacks on
several of their strong posts before the
arrival of any reinforcement. Since the
formation of the Brigade, it has constantly
been actively employed in co-operation with
the other troops. Captain Campbell, who
succeeded to the command of the corps
on the lamented death of Major Baxter, has
greatly distinguished himself by his firm
and judicious conduct at that critical
period, and by the ability and energy he
has evinced on all occasions of active ser-
vice.

212 APPENDIX.

Extract from a Letter addressed by the
Honourable G. E. Russell, Esq., Commis-
sioner, to the Chief Secretary to Govern-
ment, Fort St. George, dated 12th August,
1836.

Meanwhile letters arrived from Captain
Campbell, conveying the gratifying assur-
ance that all was well at Oodingherry. On
approaching it, a large body of Khonds
were observed within a few hundred yards
of the camp, who as he advanced came
forward with the evident intention of
attacking his party. A canister shot from
the howitzer failed to do any execution,
but Captain Campbell gallantly charging
with his little band of six troopers, killed
ten men and took one prisoner, which so
intimidated them, that they never after-
wards ventured to show themselves in any
numbers. The men who fell, resisted to
the last, and one of the trooper's horses, or

APPENDIX. 213

rather a horse lent by Captain Campbell,
was killed by an arrow.

Extract from General Orders by the
Government of Madras, dated 4 th March,
1837.

The Right Honourable the Governor in
Council considers Mr. Stevenson, the
Collector and Magistrate of Gangarn, and
Captain Campbell of the 41st Regiment
N.I., at first Secretary to the Commission,
and afterwards Assistant to the Collector
and Magistrate of Gangara, to be entitled
to high commendation for their zealous and
efficient co-operations with the Honourable
Mr. Russell on all occasions.

Extract from a Minute of the Honourable
Mr. Russell, dated \§th January, 1838.

Captain Campbell has acquired a know-

214 APPENDIX.

ledge of the country and people of the
Hill Tracts in the Gangam District under
circumstances never likely to occur again ;
and his local experience and personal influ-
ence with the different Hill chieftains give
him an advantage over any other person
who could be appointed to the situation of
Principal Assistant to the Commissioner.
My acquaintance with Captain Campbell
commenced during the military operations
in Kimedy, and all I have seen of him has
been on service. I will not say that I
have no private feelings towards him, for
no one who knows his value as a public
officer can do otherwise than feel an inter-
est in him ; but I can with truth declare
that the opinion I have stated is founded
on public grounds only.

Extract from the Minutes of Consulta-
tion, Madras Government, dated 27th
January, 1838.

The testimony borne by the Honourable

APPENDIX. 215

Mr. Russell to the merits of Captain Camp-
bell, and the peculiar qualifications posess-
ed by him for the projected office of
Principal Assistant to the Commissioner in
Goomsur, is as creditable to that officer as
it is satisfactory to Government, and the
recommendation submitted therein for his
appointment to that office will receive
favourable consideration.

Extract from the Minutes of Consultation,
Madras Government, dated \kth March,
1838.

The Right Honourable the Governor in
Council has observed with much satisfac-
tion the great success which has attended
Captain Campbell's exertions to suppress
the practice of Human Sacrifice in the
Goomsur Maliahs, which is considered to
be very creditable to that officer.

216 APPENDIX.

Copy of a Letter from the Agent in Gan-
gam to the Chief Secretary of the Govern-
ment, of Madras dated 28th October, 1841.

Sir,

I have the honour to request that you
will lay before the Right Honourable the
Governor in Council the accompying letter
dated the 26th inst., addressed to me by
Major John Campbell, 41st Regiment,
N.I., my Principal Assistant, intimating his
wish to join his regiment in the event of
its being destined for active service in
China.

In submitting this communication, it
may be permitted me to express my ac-
knowledgment of the very valuable assist-
ance I have received from Major Campbell
during the last four years, and my regret
should the exigencies of the public affairs in
other quarters cause the temporary with-
drawal of his service from this District.

APPENDIX. 217

Extract from a Letter from the Honour-
able Court of Directors, dated 17 th June,
1S4G.

Consequent upon disturbances in the
Golcondah District, and the great want of
available troops in the Northern Division,
the immediate movement of the 41st Regi-
ment from Palaveram to Vizagapatam by
sea was ordered. Notice the alacrity dis-
played on the occasion, which is considered
highly creditable to Lieutenant-Colonel
Campbell, and the 41st Regiment, as well
as to all the departments concerned.

Remarks by the Most Noble the Marquis
of Tweedale, Governor and Commander-
in-Chief, Madras,

Although all departments concerned

218 APPENDIX.

used their utmost to accelerate the embar-
kation of the corps, to Colonel Campbell,
C.B., is due the credit of having the
wishes of Government carried into effect
so promptly, as he never made a difficulty
from first to last.

Extract from a Letter from the Secretary
to the Government of India, to Lieutenant-
Colonel J. Campbell, C.B , Agent in the
Hill Tracts of Orissa, dated 12th Feb-
ruary, 1849, with reference to the Cam-
paign against TJngool.

I am directed to inform you that the
Right Honourable the Govern or- General in
Council considers that you have conducted
the duty with which you were charged in a
manner highly satisfactory ; and His Lord-
ship in Council desires me to convey to
you the thanks of the Government for the

APPENDIX. 219

promptitude and decision with which this
service has been performed.

Extract from a Letter from Secretary to
the Government of India, with the Governor-
General, dated 28th April, 1849.

In reply, I am directed to observe that
the Governor-General considers this Report
as a very sensible and most satisfactory
one, and to request that you will convey to
Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell the Governor-
General's approbation of the firmness, skill
and judgment which he has displayed in
the performance of the arduous duties com-
mitted to him, and to assure him of the
lively satisfaction which His Lordship has
experienced in learning the full and happy
results of his exertions.

220 APPENDIX.

From F. J. Halliday, Esq., Secretary to
the Government of India, to Lieutenant-
Colonel J. Campbell, C.B., Agent in the
Hill Tracts of Orissa, dated 16 th June,
1849.

Sir,
I am directed to acknowledge the receipt
of your letter dated the 31st ultimo, with
its enclosure, and in reply to assure you of
the great regret with which the President
in Council has learnt that the state of your
health compels you to resign your appoint-
ment. During the period you have been
at the head of the Agency for the Suppres-
sion of the Meriah sacrifice, the Govern-
ment have had every reason to be satisfied
with the progress which has been made to-
wards the extinction of that rite, and
equally so with the commencement which
you have made in the adoption of measures
for the suppression of the crime of female
infanticide. Your proceedings have always

APPENDIX. 221

appeared to be judicious, and well adapted
for effecting the great end in view, and
from your continuance at the head of the
Agency, the Government had confidently
anticipated the early and complete extirpa-
tion of the Meriah rite within the limits
of the tract of country under your super-
vision.

From George Couper, Esq., Under-Secre-
tary to the Government of India, dated 3rd
March, 1854.

Sir,
I am directed to acknowledge the receipt
of Colonel Campbell's letter, dated the 9th
ultimo, and in reply to convey the expres-
sion of the satisfaction of the Governor-
General in Council, at the results as therein
reported of the operations of the Orissa
Agency during the past season.

222 APPENDIX.

From F. F. Courtenay, Esq., Private
Secretary to the Most Noble the Governor-
General of India, to Major- General Camp-
bell, C.B., dated Uth April, 1855.

Lord Dalhousie desires me to express to
you his regret at learning that the state of
your health is such as to cause the loss to
the Government of India of services which
he has frequently had occasion to appre-
ciate so highly, and approve so cordially,
as those which you have rendered in the
Hill Tracts of Orissa.

The following observations are extracted
from a despatch from the Honourable the
Court of Directors, dated 14th June, 1854,
and were forwarded to the Head- Quarters
of the Agency, after my departure, by the
Secretary to the Government of India, who
stated that the Governor- General, Lord
Dalhousie, felt assured that the Agency

APPENDIX. 223

would receive with satisfaction this appro-
ving testimony emanating from the highest
authority.

" In conducting the operations, and deal-
ing with the rude inhabitants of the coun-
try, the officers of the Agency have expe-
rienced no ordinary difficulties, and appear
to have shewn a wise discretion and a clear
perception of the best method to secure
success. They have maintained an attitude
of firmness, without unnecessary resort to
forcible measures. They have calmed
angry feelings by conciliation, and have
opposed rational persuasion to popular pre-
judice and error. They have substituted
confidence by temperate explanation in per-
sonal conferences. The means of concilia-
tion have been so well directed in the ma-
jority of instances, as not only to overcome
the opposition, but to obtain the co-opera-
tion of the leading men.

" Viewing the Meriah operations as a
whole, they have been highly successful,

224 APPENDIX.

and are creditable to the officers concerned ;
nor is it in measures of repression alone
that we see cause for present satisfaction
and future hope.

" It is obvious that the germs of an ulti-
mate civilization have been planted in the
country, and we may entertain a confident
hope that the advance of the population
towards a higher social condition, will be in
an accelerated ratio of progress/'

Human Sacrifices in Orissa.

Extracted from "Friend of India"
dated September 28th, 1854.

All over India the warfare against the
darker crimes is everywhere proceeding,
and everywhere successful. Mr. Gubbins
at Agra, Mr. Montgomery at the Punjab,
and Mr. C. Raikes everywhere, are weaning
the people from their habit of infanticide.
Though thuggee by poisoning still flou-

APPENDIX. 225

rishes, thuggee in its traditional form may
be considered almost extinct. Captain
Hervey at Bombay pursues the criminal
tribes who wander over the Western Presi-
dency. Mr. Jackson in Bengal is enlarging
the sphere of his operations against the
Dacoits, and his hands will speedily be
strengthened. Finally Colonel Campbell
reports from Orissa the almost entire sup-
pression of the practice of offering human
victims, once as prevalent in Khondistan as
in Cart huge. In every one of these cases
it must be remembered that the crime has
been attacked by a special agency, armed
with exceptional powers, and backed by
laws which recognize the principle, that
crime is deserving of punishment and not
of impunity.

Hitherto the difficulties in the way of
the Government of India have been almost
entirely moral. Thuggee as well as infanti-
cide have flourished almost entirely through
the deadness of the moral sense, and of the
natural affections. They were not regarded

226 APPENDIX.

as crimes by those who committed them,
and like drunkenness in England, required
preventive, even more than retributive le-
gislation. In Bombay, the difficulty with
the criminal races is the hereditary charac-
ter of the tribes, who, like the gipsies in
Europe, consider theft and fortune-telling
as their natural occupations, the work they
were born to do. Even in Bengal, the
great cause of dacoity is the cowardice of
the people, who are afraid either to cut
down the dacoit, or to bear testimony
against him. In Orissa, there were, in
addition to these moral impediments
to improvement, a physical one of no
small magnitude. The Khonds are not
only dead to all sense of their crime, and
confident that it is directly sanctioned by
the deity, but they also dwell in fastnesses,
which it is scarcely possible to invade.
The moral obliquity which protects the
White-boy in Ireland, and the physical cir-
cumstances which guard the banditti in
Calabria, are here united, and in their most

APPENDIX. 227

impracticable form. Legislation is useless
among a people without the paie of law.
Threats are absurd where they cannot be
enforced even by a campaign. Bribery is
powerless when the people believe a crime
to be their greatest earthly gain, and moral
suasion seems impracticable when applied
to races who would consider a Missionary
an acceptable offering to the Gods. The
British Government, if placed in such cir-
cumstances, would probably employ force,
as it has done on the coast of Africa, or let
crime and people perish together, as in some
parts of the continent of Australia. The
Indian Government has not adopted either
course. It has neither shut its eyes to
a fearful crime, or attempted to bring
wild tribes back to humanity by whole-
sale slaughter. A succession of Agents,
trained in the school of Indian Politi-
cals, have, for twenty-five years, steadily
brought the moral influence derived from
irresistible physical strength to bear upon
the crime.

q 2

228 APPENDIX.

We have no intention of passing again
over ground already familiar to our
readers. Still less are we about to re-open
the controversy as to which of three able
officers may have obtained the greatest
measure of personal success. We confine
ourselves strictly to an analysis of the
measures adopted for the suppression of the
crime, and the degree of success that has
been attained. The infected district
stretches down the coast from the borders
of the Orissa mountains far into Madras,
over a territory as large as Wales. The
country, itself semi-independent, forms
part of two Presidencies, and it was not
till 1845 that the Government centralized
their operations by the creation of a separate
agency.

Erom that moment the practice of
human offerings rapidly declined. Every
clan obeys its own chief, and every chief
found it advantageous not to be at war with
the great Empire beyond his borders. Here
was at once a ground of influence. Every

APPENDIX. 229

chief was informed that his favour from the
British Government, depended entirely
upon his efforts for the suppression of
human offerings. The majority consented,
but their promises were broken, and the
people, who are convinced their temporal
welfare depends upon the practice, were as
indignant as Tetzel when his indulgences
were denounced. In some districts they
became turbulent. Their chiefs were pro-
tected from their wrath, their country was
opened by rough jungle paths, and they
themselves were overawed by bodies of
troops traversing their most inaccessible
jungles. In other districts, numbers of
children purchased for slaughter, are in-
tended to labour as slaves, and the pur-
chasers fancied they would lose money
while incurring vengeance from above.
Their fears were quieted, and as soon as
sound guarantees were obtained for the
victims' lives, the boys were left to labour.
In some places again, young women were
retained by the chiefs as concubines, and

fc '

230 APPENDIX.

afterwards sacrificed to the gods. The
chiefs were persuaded to marry them,
and thus put an end to all danger of their
lives.

All victims preparing for sacrifice were
demanded, and usually conceded, and
during 1852-53, in only one instance was
it necessary to employ the ultima ratio of
force. Even in this case Colonel Campbell
was attacked before he permitted his men
to fire, and this solitary act of severity has
produced the best effects. The determina-
tion of the Government, maintained for
half a generation, the incessant visits to
the hills, and the surveillance which amid a
passive or discontented population is almost
marvellous, have convinced the moun-
taineers that resistance is impossible.
Right or wrong, with their creed or against
their creed, the practice must be aban-
doned. It is abandoned accordingly. In
Boad where the slaughter of children was
carried to an extent we are almost afraid to
record, where bits of flesh cut from the

APPENDIX. 231

living man were strewed on the field as a
miraculous manure, where the land, so to
speak, was guanoed with human blood, the
practice has ceased to exist. In the
Chinna Kimedy mountains, it is also
suppressed, and Colonel Campbell thus
records the existing sentiment of the
people : —

" Each chief was invited freely to express
his sentiments on this important subject,
which many did without hesitation, saying,
that when we first came among them they
were like beasts in the jungle, doing as their
fathers had done before them ; they now
clearly comprehended that our only object
in coming was to stop human sacrifice ; not
a fowl or any thing else was taken, not
even a fence was injured by the people of
the camp, their fields produced crops as
good as formerly, and sickness was not
more prevalent ; it was no use resisting
the orders of the Sircar ; their Meriahs had
been all removed, moreover they cost much

232 APPENDIX.

money, and they were now of one mind
determined never more to have anything
to do with human sacrifice. In two or
three places it was asked, ' what shall we
say to the deity ?' they were told to say
whatever they pleased, when the spokes-
man repeated the following formula. * Do
not be angry with us, 0 Goddess ! for
giving you the blood of beasts instead of
human blood, but vent your wrath upon
that gentleman who is well able to bear it ;
we are guiltless.' "

Nor is that all. The very source of the
crime has been attacked. The people have
become convinced that famine does not
follow the abolition of the practice. They
have been relieved of a severe money pres-
sure caused by the purchase of the victims.
They are entering more and more into the
commerce of the plains, and are cultivating
every year a wider breadth of ground.
Finally, we would fain believe that degraded
as these tribes have been, the natural

APPENDIX. 233

instinct which forbids the shedding of
unnecessary blood, and the natural affection
which makes men guard their young, are
recovering their force. To sum up, in
eighteen years a crime worse than any
known in Europe has been eradicated —
twelve bandied and sixty human beings
have been preserved from a horrible
death — an entire people has been in-
duced to forego a crime sanctioned alike
by antiquity and by superstition — and a
district as large as Wales has been raised a
whole grade in the career of civilization.
All this has been effected by a Government
declared to be oppressive, and by the class
whom India honours, and England stigma-
tizes as Politicals.

We have but one word to add. Colonel
Campbell has been concerned in these ope-
rations from the first. His firm gentleness
has made them successful in the end. He
has spent no small portion of a life away
from civilization, and in a scene where his
efforts have been honoured only by philan-

234 APPENDIX.

thropists. Had he destroyed in battle the
number he has saved from immolation, he
would have received honours, which should
not be denied only because of his modest
appreciation of his own success.

THE END.

LONDON :

Printed by A. Schulze, 13, Poland Street.

ERRATA.

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„ 1 17 , 7 hn.tUh /br hralths

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