others in lieu thereof do give them near as much, in Arrows, Cloth &c. fearing lest they should otherwise appear no more. 1681. Arrows to be made them. It hath been reported to me by many people, that the How they wilder sort of them, when they want Arrows, will carry bespeak their load of Flesh in the night, and hang it up in a Smith's Shop, also a Leaf cut in the form they will have their Arrows made, and hang by it. Which if the Smith do make according to their Pattern they will requite, and bring him more Flesh: but if he make them not, they will do him a mischief one time or another by shooting him in the night. If the Smith make the Arrows, he leaves them in the same place, where the Vaddahs hung the Flesh. Formerly, in this Kings Reign these wild men used to They violently lye in wait, to catch Carriers people, that went down with took away Oxen to trade at the Sea-Ports, carrying down Betelnuts, Carriers goods. and bringing up Cloth, and would make them to give them such things as they required, or else threatning to shoot them. They fearing their lives, and not being able to resist, were fain to give them what they asked; or else most certainly they would have had both life and goods. too. At which this King sent many Commanders with their Soldiers to catch them, which at length they did: But had not some of themselves proved false to them, being incouraged by large promises, they could never have taken them. The chief being brought before the King, promising amendment, were pardoned: but sent into other Woods with a Command not to return thither any more, neitheir to use their former courses. But soon after their departure, they forsook those Woods they were put into, and came to their old haunt again, falling to their former course of Life. This the King hearing of, and how they had abused his Pardon, gave command either to bring them dead or alive. These Vaddahs knowing now there could be no hope of Pardon, would not be taken alive, but were shot by the Treachery of their own men. The heads of two of the chiefest were hanged on Trees by the City. And ever since they have not presumed to disturb the Countrey, 1681. Hourly with the people. nor the King them he only desiring their quiet, and not to be against him. About Hourly the remotest of the Kings Dominions there are many of them, that are pretty tame, and come and buy and sell among the people. The King once having occasion of an hasty Expedition against the Dutch, the Once made to Governour summoned them all in to go with him, which they did. And with their Bows and Arrows did as good service as any of the rest but afterwards when they returned home again, they removed farther in the Woods, and would be seen no more, for fear of being afterwards prest again to serve the King. serve the King. Their habit and Religion. [p. 63.] A Skirmish about their bounds. Curious in They never cut their hair but tye it up on their Crowns in a bunch. The cloth they use, is not broad nor large, scarcely enough to cover their Buttocks. The wilder and tamer sort of them do both observe a Religion. They have a God peculiar to themselves. The tamer do build Temples, the wild only bring their sacrifice under Trees, and while it is offering, dance round it, both men and women. They have their bounds in the Woods among themselves, and one company of them is not to shoot nor gather hony or fruit beyond those bounds. Neer the borders stood a Jack-Tree; one Vaddah being gathering some fruit from this Tree, another Vaddah of the next division saw him, and told him he had nothing to do to gather Jacks from that Tree, for that belonged to them. They fell to words and from words to blows, and one of them shot the other. At which more of them met and fell to skirmishing so briskly with their Bows and Arrows, that twenty or thirty were left dead upon the spot. They are so curious of their Arrows that no Smith can their Arrows. please them. The King once to gratifie them for a great Present they brought him, gave all of them of his best made Arrow-blades: which nevertheless would not please their humour. For they went all of them to a Rock by a River and ground them into another form. The Arrows they use are of a different fashion from all other, and the Chingulays will not use them. 1681. They have a peculiar way by themselves of preserving How they Flesh. They cut a hollow Tree and put honey in it, and preserve their hen fill it up with flesh, and stop it up with clay. Which flesh. es for a reserve to eat in time of want. It has usually been told me that their way of catching How they take lephants is, that when the Elephant lyes asleep they strike Elephants. their ax into the sole of his foot, and so laming him he is in their power to take him. But I take this for a fable, ecause I know the sole of the Elephants foot is so hard, nat no ax can pierce it at a blow; and he is so wakeful that they can have no opportunity to do it. Some they give. disposition. For portions with their Daughters in marriage they give The dowries hunting Dogs. They are reported to be courteous. of the Chingulays in discontent will leave their houses and friends, and go and live among them, where they are civilly entertained. The tamer sort of them, as hath been said, will sometimes appear, and hold some kind of trade with the tame Inhabitants, but the wilder called RambaVaddahs never shew themselves. But to come to the civilized Inhabitants, whom I am A description chiefly to treat of. They are a people proper and very well of a favoured, beyond all people that I have seen in India, Chingulay. wearing a cloth about their Loyns, and a doublet after the English fashion, with little skirts buttoned at the wrists, and gathered at the shoulders like a shirt, on their heads a red Tunnis Cap, or if they have none, another Cap with flaps of the fashion of their Countrey, described in the next Chapter, with a handsom short hanger by their side, and a knife sticking in their bosom on the right side. They are very active and nimble in their Limbs and Their very ingenious: for, except Iron-work, all other things they disposition. have need of, they make and do themselves: insomuch that they all build their own houses. They are crafty and treacherous, not to be trusted upon any protestations: for their manner of speaking is very smooth and courteous, insomuch that they who are unacquainted with their dispositions and manners, may easily be deceived by them. [p. 64.] For they make no account nor conscience of lying, neither |