1 276 PANJAB CASTES.
2 They set long lines of these nooses in the grass arross the jungles : from this
3 line they arrange iwo rows of scarecrows cnnPisting of bits of rag and the
4 like tied on to the trees and grass ; they then drive the jungle, and the fright-
5 ened deer and other animals, Ijceping Ijctween the lines of scarecrows, cross
6 the line of nooses iu which their feet become entangled. In addition to
7 hunting they uialcc articles of grass and straw and reeds and sell them to the
8 villagers. The Bawarias are a vagrant tribe whose proper home appears to
9 be Mewar, Ajmer, and Jodlipur ; in the Panjal) tliey are chiefly found along
10 the middle Satluj valley in Sirsa. Pirozpur, Favidkot, Lahore, and Patiala,
11 though they occur in smaller numlicrs in Hissar, Rohtak, and Gurgaon, all
12 on the Rajpiitana border. They are black in colour and of poor physique.
13 But thougli they are primarily vagrants, they have settled down in some
14 parts, and especially iu tlie Firozpur District are largely employed as field
15 labourers and even cultivate land as tenants. Their skill in tracking also is
16 notorious. They are by no means always, or indeed generally criminal, in
17 tliis Province at least ; and iu Lahore and Sirsa seem to be sufllcicnlly in-
18 offensive. But in many parts of the Panjab, and generally I believe in
19 Eajpiitana, they are much addicted to crime. I am indebted to the kindness
20 of Mr, MacCracken, Personal Assistant to the Inspector- General of Police,
21 for the figures of Abstract No. 97 on page 312,* which shows the number of *!■■ 280-
22 each criminal caste registered under the Criminal Tribes Act in each district
23 of the Panjdb. From these figures it appears that the Bawarias are registered
24 as professional criminals only in Firozpur and Ludhiana, and that in the
25 former district only a small portion of the caste is so registered. Even where
26 they are criminal they usually confine themselves to pe(ty theft, seldom em-
27 ploying violence. About one-tenth of them are returned as Sikhs, but hardly
28 any as Musalmans. They eat all wild animals, including the pig and the
29 lizard, and most of them will eat carrion. But it is said that the ordinary
30 Brahman officiates at their weddings, so that they can hardly be called outcast.
31 They, like most thieving classes, worship Devi, and sacrifice to her goats and
32 buffaloes with the Ijlood of which they mark their foreheads ; and they rever-
33 ence the cow, wear the clioii, burn their dead, and send the ashes to the
34 Ganges. It is said that the criminal section of the tribe will admit men
35 of other castes to their fraternity on ])aymcnt. They have a language of their
36 own which is spoken by the women and children as well as by the men.
37 They are said to be divided into three sections : the Bidawati of Bikaner who
38 trace their origin to Bidawar in Jaipur, do not eat carrion, disdain petty theft
39 but delight in crimes of violence, will not steal cows or oxen, and affect a
40 superiority over the rest ; the Jangali or Kalkamalia' generally found in the
41 Jangaldes of the Sikh States, Firozpur, and Sirsa, and whose women wear
42 black blankets ; and the Kaparia who are most numerous in the neighbourhood
43 of Dehli, and are notoriously a criminal tribe. The three sections neither eat
44 together nor intermarry. The Kalkamalia is the only section which are still
45 hunters by profession, the other sections looking down upon that calling. The
46 Kiipai-ia are for the most part vagrant ; while the Bidiiwati live generally in
47 fixed abodes.
48 576. The Aheri and Thori (Caste Nos. 91 and 100). — It appears almost
49 certain that, so far as the plains of the Panjiib are concerned, these two sets of |
50 figures refer to the same caste and should be taken together. In the hills the '
51 ' Also called Knldlialjallia, from dhalla a skirt, the Mauket formiDg a pi-tticoat, \