Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/197

Rh Khond country, a Pariah folk who live amongst the Khonds, and used to supply the human victims for the Meriah sacrifices. Indeed, the Khonds, who hold them in contemptuous inferiority, call them Dōmbas as a sort of alternative title to Pānos. The Paidis of the adjoining Savara or Saora country are also, doubtless, kinsmen of the Dōmbs. [The same man is said to be called Paidi by Telugus, Dōmbo by the Savaras, and Pāno by the Khonds. It is noted in the Census Report, 1881, that the Pāno quarters in Khond villages are called Dōmbo Sai.] In most respects their condition is a very poor one. Though they live in the best part of the Presidency for game, they know absolutely nothing of hunting, and cannot even handle a bow and arrow. They have, however, one respectable quality, industry, and are the weavers, traders, and money-lenders of the hills, being very useful as middlemen between the Khonds, Sauras, Gadabas, and other hill people on the one hand, and the traders of the plains on the other. I am informed, on good authority, that there are some Dōmbs who rise higher than this, but cannot say whether these are, or are not crosses with superior races. Most likely they are, for most of the Dōmbs are arrant thieves. It was this propensity for thieving, in fact, which had landed some hundreds of them in the jail at Vizagapatam when I visited that place, and gave me an opportunity of recording their measurements." The averages of the more important of these measurements are as follows: —