The Rawat or Raji of Kamaon lead a wander ing and uncivilised life in the forests on the eastern borders of the district. They are a remnant of a prior population, whom Mr. Traill thinks are of the same race as the Dom. The Rawats appear to have been a knightly and equestrian order among the Bhils, and they have a tradition that their ancestors were the aboriginal princes of Kamaon. The terms Dom and Rawat are not peculiar to Kamaon. The Dom is found in many parts of India, and Rawat is the name of another widely disseminated race. The Rajivaru of Kama on speak Telugu. They practise medicine. The tongue spoken as the bill dialect of Kamaon is in the main Hindi, but has affinities, to the Bengali lin some of the popular terminations, in the verb to be, and in some other particulars.
The Chuinang, Chamar, or Kohli of the adjacent Himalayan province on the west, evidently belong to the same race. They are a degraded class, usually darker than the Kanet (or, proper, Kana wari), and some are said to have woolly hair.
Rhuksa.—In the hills of Kamaon, in the forests from Sabna on the Sarda to Chandpur on the Ganges, is a tribe called Bhuksa. They claim to be descendants of the Powar Rajput, to have been expelled from Dhar, and taken refuge first, in Oudh, and then in their present location.
.The Kanet is an agricultural race in the Simla Hills and east of the Sutlej.' They are a local tribe, holding most of the land on the Simla Hills. They are inferior in position to Rajputs, more perhaps of the level of the Kurmi and Lodhi, but they are often educated, and are generally ministers to the Rajput chiefs. Their women are very nice looking, and all the tribe who are not (in the upper hills) in contact with Tartars are quite Aryan, though not very large. They follow a corrupted Hinduism ; their villages contain Hindu and Buddhist temples, and the people worship at both ; and their marriages are con ducted by Lama priests according to the Buddhist ritual, and the Ilindu and Buddhist Kanets inter marry. The northern Kanets are polyandrists, but one brother remains at home while the others are away on business, and the women are often childless. The southern Hindu Kaneta are not polyandrists.
The Tibetan colony at Mohasii, just above Simla, are powerful, ruddy - looking people, entirely unlike Indians ; their women are indus trious, but very unattractive.
In Lower Kunawar the preponderating language is Ilindi, and is called but the Blot pre ponderates in Upper Kunawar. The Lubrung or
Karam, and the Lidung or I,ippa, are varieties of the 31ilchan. In Sungnain the word Thebur skild is used to designate all variations from the regular form of speech. In Kunawar, Buddhism decreases in the central districts, and disappears in the southern, where Brahmanism in an impure form occurs with local gods and irregular priests, every hill having its deota or genius. Polyandry is general in Kunawar, from the higher classes and lowest Chamars, one family having one wife, the elder brother being the more special husband. It is called Kfirpa. The mean number of inhabit ants to a house in various parts of Kunawar is six.
The Kunau'ari or Kanet are the principal race in Lower Kunawar. They are physically Aryan; but are Tibetans in disposition and manners.
In the upper valleys of the Sutlej, in Spiti and Kunawar, are mixed races exhibiting much Tibetan blood, and in religion apparently more Buddhist than Hindu.
The Kohli of Kunawar are a distinct and degraded class, darker than the Kanet, and some are said to have woolly hair. Colonel Cun thinks it probable that they belong to the ancient Sudra or pre-Aryan race. They seem allied to the Doms of Kunawar. Indeed, Kohli of Simla, Garhwal, Kunawar, and the plains of Northern India call themselves indifferently Kohli or Chamarai. They are an aboriginal race. They are distinct from the Kanet, who regard the Kohli as out-castes, and neither eat nor intermarry with them. In the Himalaya the Kohli are polyandrists. They are porters and labourers and weavers, village musicians, playing on the pipe and tabor, each tune with a marked character of its own. Every Knnawar village contains a portion of them. The Kohli are not Cliamars or carriers, but are cultivators, weavers, palanquin-bearers, village servants, fishermen. They worship snakes, also the Gramma-devata or village lares et penates, and are occasionally pujaris. They are cleanly ; they drink, but in moderation. In Gujerat many hold petty chieftainships, with estates attached to them. They are not allowed to enter temples or make offerings except by the hands of priests.
The Bhotia race occupy Darma, Chandans, and Byans in the N.W. Himalaya.
Si pal is the name of the men of Siba in Darma. In Byans a dialect of Hindi is spoken. Byans Rikhi is a mythical saint, who is supposed by the people of Byans to be dwelling on the top of the Kelirong mountain. He is supposed to represent the rishi Vyasa.