Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924024153987).pdf/584

 GON

506 district

claim a

common

Bais origin, and are

known by

various local desig-

nations.

After the Brahmans the most numerous class are the Ahlrs, with a total of 122,106. They almost all belong to the Gwdlbans "^^'

division,

and make excellent

Next come the Koris with 110,916, and

after

cultivators.

them the Kurmis with

92,391, of which those to the north of the district oris. urnua. 'beiong to the Gujarati sub-division, while those in the south are called Khurasia after the great Kalhans raj.

There are 44,978 Kahars, and of these theGharuks of GondaandMahadewa are most numerous, and supply a large number of our Kaiiars. bearers. Even before annexation they used to wander all over northern India, from Calcutta to Bombay and Peshawar, in search of service in English families, and they are distinguished by their general honesty and intelligence. The Kahfc around Colonelganj are Those in the north, Bots, and also supply a large number of servants. Gurias, are generally employed either in agriculture or ferrying and fishing the numerous streams.

though occasionally found in that position, do not enjoy the same monopoly of the village chaukis as their brethren in western Oudh. Araks very frequently hold the but the Khatiks supply the majority both of watchmen and of

Basis,

post,

thieves.

Along many of the

and lakes are found members of the Chai and castes. They gain a precarious life by fishing Chai and Ke-wats. ^^^ conveying travellers in their boats, and remember with some pride their extraction from the terrible Nishadas of early Hindu rivers

Kewat

legend.

The Bhands, who along the Ganges

are notorious as professional pimps, occur here as good cultivators and even village lessees, with a leisure devotion to Bacchus and Terpsichore. Two very singular tribes, the Tharus and the thieving Barwfc, in this district are almost peculiar to Tulsipur and Gonda, and are described under those parganas.

™

The remnants

of the aboriginal tribes, though not strong in point of numbers, are various in kind. Scattered over the Aboriginal tribes. district we find Tharus, Bhars, Doms, Basis, A'raks, Khatiks and Nats. Of these, the first three are the pioneers of cultivation. Squatting at the edge of the jungle, they clear the trees and prepare the land for tillage, only to leave it, when the task is accomplished, to the steadier industry of the Kurmi or the Ahlr. They retreat further and further north with the retreating forest, and will perhaps eventually disappear altogether. The Bhars are known as keen sportsmen and good shots with their exceeding rough matchlocks.

Among e

the castes of Gonda special mention must be made of the Barwars, a predatory tribe, which presents a curious , arwars. instance of the tendency to subdivision so common in