The people occupying Garhwal and Kamaon are the Kanawari inhabitants of Bushahr, the Nilang, who do not differ from those of Hundes, and the inhabitants of the Bliotia Mahal of Ka.maon and Garhwal, who are of mixed Tartar and Indian descent.
Farther to the east of these, the numerous valleys interspersed throughout the mountains of Nepal are occupied by various races. The features of the aboriginal tribes mark them as of Mongoloid origin. They are in the eastern part of the country. West of the Kali river the people are of Hindu origin. Proceeding from west to east, the following tribes occur in Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan, viz. the Tibetans or Cis - Himalayan Bhutia, the Sun war, the pastoral Gurung, the Magar, the Jariya, the Newar, the Dhenwar, Manjhi, Bhutia, Bhaura, Murmi, Newar, Kiranti, Limbu, Lepcha who inhabit Sikkim, and the Bhutanese or Lhopa.
Assam and the north-east frontier province of British Burma have many tribes in their valleys and on their borders, some of them still barbarians. Assam province is bounded on the north by the Himalaya, the frontier tribes from west to east being successively the Bhutia, Aka, Dofla, Miri, Abor, and Mishmi. On the north-east the Mishmi hills sweep round the head of the valley. Along its southern borders are (from west to east) the Kuki or Lushai tribes, the state of Hill Tiperah, the Kom Naga, Angami Naga, Singpho, Shan, Khamti, and Kunoung, and the races in Munipur.
Between lat. 25° and 26° N. are tribes in the Garo, Khassya, and Jaintia hills, and in the valley are the Aham (128,980), Chandal . (122,457), Chutia (51,482), Kaibartta (128,525), Koch or Rajbansi (300,000), and Kolita (179,000).
Other tribes occupy the Abar, Naga, Patkoi, and Barel ranges, as also the Chittagong and Arakan hill tracts, and the Yoma mountains sepa rating British India from Independent Burma. These are the Shandoo, Ka-mi, Khyn, Mri.
There are other and larger tribes of non Hinduized aborigines interspersed amongst the civilised nations. In 1872, exclusive of those in the Madras Presidencyand in the Feudatory States, they were estimated at 17,716,825.
Bengal, . . . 11,116,883 Berar, . . . 163,059 Assam, . . . 1,490,888 Mysore, . . . 89,067
N. W. Provinces, 377,674 Coorg, . . . . 42,516 Oudh, . . . 90,490 British Burma, . 1,004,991 Panjab, . . . 959,720 Bombay, . . . 711,702 Central Prov., 1,669,835 Nearly all that is known of their early history or origin has been derived from their physical appearance, which has proved them to belong to one or other of the great families of mankind. Mr. B. Hodgson writing from the Himalaya, and Mr. Logan writing from Penang, have laid great stress on this means of ascertaining their first appearance in India, in preference to the linguistic test.
Nearly sixty different tribes are specified among the aboriginal races in the provinces of Bengal and Assam. The most numerous of these are the Santal, of whom there are 850,000 in British territory alone, exclusive of others in the Tributary Mahals. The Santal dwell in villages in the jungles or among the mountains, apart from the people of the plains. They give their name to a large district, the Santal Parganas, 140 miles north-west of Calcutta.
The Gond are in numerous tribes, many of them semi-barbarous, others of them under rulers who claim a Rajput descent. They are partly under the Hyderabad Government, partly under the British in Chutia Nagpur, Berar, Orissa, and Ganjam, with 1,500,000 of them in the Central Provinces. The Maria Gond still use strong bamboo bows, which they hold with their feet and draw with their hands.
The Bhumij of Orissa, of Chntia Nagpur, and dispersed through various districts of Bengal, numbering in all about 200,000, were known formerly as the Chuar, and distinguished for their martial habits.
The Bhil have no language of their own. They are scattered through a wide extent of country, from Dowlatabad in lat. 19° 57' N. to Mewar in 25° 26'. They are careless, indifferent culti vators, are decidedly predatory, and have suffered severely from all the regular governments ; but they are unyielding, and only in 1882 compelled the Mewar Government to give in to their wishes. There arc few wilder or more lawless tracts throughout the length and breadth of the Indian Peninsula than the hilly region occupied by the The natives of Bombay style them Kala Puruj, or black men.