assist the singular changes in the mouths of the rivers effected by the more powerful and direct influence of the sand bars thrown up in the conflict between the river freshes and the tidal wave during the fury of the monsoon.

Sand dunes are not confined to the coasts, but are seen on the banks of the larger rivers in the interior of the peninsula, and on the table lands. During the dry season, the beds of these rivers, deriving but a scanty supply of water from perennial springs, usually present large arid wastes of sand. These are acted upon by the prevailing westerly winds, which blow strongest during the months of June, July, and August, and raise the sand into drifts, which usually advance. upon the cultivation in an easterly direction.

At Honoor, in the Ceded Districts, on the banks of the Hogri, about twelve years ago, at a season when the westerly winds were unusually strong, and but little rain had fallen, the dunes invaded and buried land under cultivation, in one year alone, to the extent of more than eight chains, not since reclaimed. The next year they threatened the village itself, and the sand rose in its streets to the height of five feet. The village of Bodúrti, about eight miles distant, was totally buried about thirteen or fourteen years ago. At the time of my visit, in 1839, it was completely covered by the sand drift, with the exception of the tops of the walls. On the banks of the Pennaur, in the Cuddapah district, I have ridden over a whole village overwhelmed by a sand dune: the only indication of its site was the top of an old pagoda projecting from the sand.

The advance of these moving hills is usually very regular where no obstruction presents itself, such as high bushes, trees, hedges, &c., which are often planted by the natives purposely to arrest the progress of these invaders on their cultivated lands. The sand is often held together and retarded by the embraces of the long fibrous plants that grow up and are interwoven with its layers: the Kakivéru, Jihar chettu, and the Ag bush (Asclepias gigantea), are those that most frequently occur. The hills of blown sand near Honoor present a gentle slope to windward, up which the particles of the sand are moved by the wind, and fall over on the leeward side at an angle of about 45°.

A precisely similar contour assumed by heaps of particles of sand acted upon by currents of air, on the small scale, has been noticed by Mr. Lyell, in describing the production of the ripple mark on the sands of Calais; and his explanation of the process by which these hills in miniature are obliterated, reproduced, and advance over the graves of their predecessors, will equally apply to the formation and advance of the sand hills of Honoor. "The mode of the advance,"

says he', "

was by continual drifting of grains of sand up the slopes A B and C D, many of which grains, when they arrived at B D, fell over

B

A

C

D

E

the scarps B C and D E, and were under shelter from the wind, so that they remained stationary, resting, according to their momentum, on different parts of the descent, and a few only rolling to the bottom. In this manner each ridge was distinctly seen to move slowly on as often as the force of the wind augmented. Occasionally part of a ridge, advancing more rapidly than the rest, overtook the ridge immediately before it and became confounded with it, thus causing those bifurcations and branches which are so common." In some cases fluviatile shells have been blown up and imbedded in the sand; ripple marks left by the wind on their surfaces, and the process of consolidation, is alone wanting to transform the sand of yesterday's accumulation into a fossiliferous ridge.

I have observed similar sand drifts to be frequent in the Libyan desert, whence impelled by the westerly winds, they are sure to advance on and threaten the fertile valley of the Nile; and where, as in India, they have overwhelmed many of the ruins of ancient Egypt. The phenomenon of Jebel Nakús, (described in a previous paper,) in the wilderness of Sinai, I found to proceed from a heap of fine sand drifted on the steep side of a ridge of sandstone hills, and covering it from base to summit.

Those singular local whirlwinds, called pisáchas, or Devils, by the natives, whirl up sand in their eddies to an enormous height, and transport it across hills, rivers, and sheets of water of considerable magnitude. They are often strong enough to carry up pebbles, and land, marine, and freshwater shells, which are thus occasionally deposited in situations above the drainage level of the country, at a distance from their native beds, 'and in situations where it would be otherwise difficult to account for their presence, except by the agency of the aquatic and other birds that prey on the tenants of shells.

1 Lyell's Elements, Vol. I., p. 43.

[To be continued].

ART. XII.-The Chenchwars; a wild Tribe, inhabiting the Forests of the Eastern Ghauts. By CAPTAIN NEWBOLD, F.R.S., &c., Assistant Commissioner for Kurnool.

[Read June 15, 1844.]

SINCE the year 1836 I have occasionally come in contact with a singular half-savage race of aborigines in Southern India, and have lately sent them a few questions, which, with their answers, I have the pleasure to forward to the Society. The information, though scanty, is full of interest, as relating to the remnants of one of the many races that inhabited India prior to the Brahmanical invasion, by which it is more than probable they were compelled to flee to the rocks and caves for shelter, stigmatised in Hindu annals as demons and rakshasas.

They are known to the neighbouring villagers by the name of Chenchucoolam, Chenchwars, and Chensuars. The tract where they have fallen under my observation, lies in the jungles covering the westernmost range of the Eastern Ghaut line, extending north and south between the Pennaur and the Kistna, and known locally by the name of the Nalla and Lanca Malla. They are doubtless to be found north and south of these limits; and, if I mistake not, there are a few aborigines resembling the Chenchwars inhabiting the hilly and jungly country north of Madras.

The aborigines of the Nalla Mallas are most frequently seen by travellers in the vicinity of the wild and difficult passes that cross the chain from the Cummum and Budwail valleys to the table lands of Kurnool and the Ceded Districts, where a few of them are employed as a hill police. The number inhabiting the tract I have described may be about 1200, but this is a mere approximation.

They inhabit clearings in the retired parts of the forest, one of which I unexpectedly entered while on a shooting excursion near Pacherloo, in the Nundi Cunnama pass. Their village consisted of bee-hiveshaped huts, huddled together in a cleared spot, cleanly swept and surrounded by jungle. The huts had walls of wicker-work, about three feet high, and conical roofs of straw, with a sort of screen thrown in front of the low entrance. The men, nearly in a state of nudity, were lying outside, here and there, fast asleep in the sun, tired probably with watching or hunting wild beasts during the night, while the women, rather more decently clad, were preparing their food, or nursing their children near the doors of their huts. The whole resembled a Hot

tentot kraal more than anything else. A number of large dogs instantly attacked the intruder, but were kept at bay with the butt of

my gun until their somnolent masters were on the alert, and came to the rescue.

Features.-The women dress much in the style of the wandering female basket-makers, and resemble them in feature more than the Telugu Hindus, their neighbours. The features of the men are small and animated; the cheek-bones higher, and more prominent than those of the generality of Hindus; the nose flatter, and the nostrils more expanded. Their eyes are black and piercing; in stature they are usually lower than their neighbours. Their hair, which they wear very long, and rolled up at the back, or near the crown of the head, like that of a woman, is not the frizzly hair of the Papuan or the Hottentot, but is more shaggy and less straight, probably from exposure, than that of the Hindu; in person they are usually slightly but well formed, except about the knee, which is large, and the leg ; the colour of the skin is slightly darker, and the disposition to cutaneous eruptions greater. Altogether they resemble what might be the produce of a cross between the Jacoon aborigine of the Malay Peninsula and a common Telugu Ryot of the neighbouring villages, more than any class of the human race that I can imagine or have

seen.

Language. They converse in Telugu, and affirm that they have no peculiar language of their own, but their pronunciation of it is harsh and peculiar; in intonation of voice and animated gesture, they often reminded me of the Malayan Jacoons. They have no written character, nor could I find a single individual who could read or write.

History. They have no written inscriptions, either on stone, copper, or palmyra leaf; and no tradition of their origin, farther than that they have always understood that their ancestors have inhabited these jungles and mountains ever since the mountains were created, and that they never emigrated from any other country. The Brahmans, however, with that love of appropriation that distinguishes them, have presented me with the following legend of the origin of the Chenchwars.

Previous to the incarnation of Sri Krishna Swami, in the Dwapara Yug, (the third of the four great ages,) the Chenchwars were shepherds of the Yerra Golla caste; Obal-Iswara, the Nrisimha swami of Obalam, (a celebrated hill-shrine in the Nalla Mallas,) having taken away and kept, as a Chenchita, a maid of the Yerra Golla family, begat upon her children, of whom they are the descendants, and are consequently styled Chenchwars.

Religion. They appear to have little or no idea of religion beyond

what they have picked up from the surrounding Hindus. The testimony of the Atkoor Chenchwars, as will be seen, savours strongly of Brahmanical interpolation, and embraces the leading doctrine of the metempsychosis, while the Nundial Chenchwars assert their perfect ignorance of a God or soul, and I know they are not in the habit of worshipping images, beyond attempts to propitiate some of the Hindu saktis through fear, a custom which has even extended to MussulThe questions touching their religion have been imperfectly put and imperfectly answered. Better information on this head is required before any theory is built upon it.

mans.

Customs. The distinctions of caste, the crimes of infanticide, sati, human sacrifice, and cannibalism, are unknown. They (such as can afford it) practise polygamy. Their marriage consists in a simple agreement before the assembled relatives and elders of the tribe. The Atkoorians state that they burn their dead usually; but bury whenever it is desired by the nearest relatives of the deceased. The Nundialites affirm that they always bury, and it appears to be the custom, as among some of the Tartar tribes, to carry the weapons of the deceased to the grave; but whether they are buried with the corpse or not, I have not yet been able to ascertain.

Communities and Laws.-They are divided into little tribes, or clans in each clan there are certain heads, or elders, who decide disputes, and punish malefactors; murder is atoned for by death. Passing through the jungle near Pacherloo, I observed a skull, bleached by the sun, dangling from the branch of a tamarind tree, which I was informed was that of a murderer and hill robber, put to death by these sylvan judges, whose simple code seems to be founded upon the same principle as the Lex talionis.

Dress and Weapons.-Some of the better classes wear a cloth round their waist, short pantaloons reaching to the knees, and a handkerchief round their head, like the Hindu Kunbi; but the generality content themselves with a dirty rag to cover their nudity. The elders are distinguished usually by being armed with a spear, a hatchet, or a matchlock, while their less fortunate brethren are obliged to content themselves with a rude bamboo bow and arrow of reeds, tipped with iron. A flint and steel, and a small supply of tobacco, of which they are extremely fond, completes the Chenchwar forester's equipment. They are not remarkably expert as archers, if I may judge from the awkwardness they exhibited in dispatching an unfortunate sheep I had picketed for them at forty yards, and which was held out to them as the reward of the best marksman.

I found them good beaters, patient and docile, with a remarkably