Page:Vizagapatam.djvu/90

VIZAGAPATAM. made by the Dombus, with a black blanket in case of rain or cold. The distinctive dress of the Gadabas, Khonds, Porojas and Savaras is mentioned in the accounts of those communities below. Everyone carries a tangi, a light kind of axe. The jewellery of the hill people chiefly consists of glass beads and of massive and clumsily -worked brass and copper ornaments. German silver is the latest cry, and the correct thing in rings in some places is a cast of an eight-anna bit in this metal worn áa la marquise. Much of this finery is made on the plains and sent up to the hills by Kómatis, but some of it is locally manufactured by the Chitra Ghásis. Many of the hill folk wear the palm-leaf umbrella-hat which is so popular on the west coast. In the plain taluks, the staple food of the masses is either cambu or ragi. In general terms it may be stated that south and west of Vizagapatam the former is more eaten than the latter,while north of that town the reverse is the case. Rice, as elsewhere, is the food of the Bráhmans and the rich.

On the 3,000 feet plateau and in the Ráyagada country sámai is the staple food; round Gunupur, Naurangpur, Jeypore and Malkanagiri much rice is eaten; and in the Savara country, hill cholam. The hill people eke out their grain with unusual substitutes, such as the pith of the sago-palm, pounded mango-kernels and dried mohwa flower. The Uriya-speaking Bráhmans, unlike others of that caste, eat fish and flesh and also smoke. The numerous strong drinks of the hill folk are referred to in Chapter XII.

The average Telugu eats more chutneys and vegetables and less meat than the Tamil, and flavours his food more with mustard and less with pepper and chillies. Betel-chewing is little practised, but, except in the higher castes, all the men, most of the women (who usually put the lighted end of the cheroot in their mouths) and many of the children smoke much tobacco. The people have no lack of amusements. On the plains, wandering acrobats and ballad-mougers are commoner than usual. At the village deities' festivals, boys amuse themselves by dressing up in character and pretending to be girls, elephants, tahsildars, constables and so on. This practice has developed into the acting of regular plays, one of the most popular of which is the old story (Mr. Carmichael describes it as flourishing forty years ago) of the extortionate tahsildar who at first in his might bullies everyone around him, afterwards falls a victim to the blandishments of the dancing-girls and spends all his substance upon them; and at last gets a tákíd from the Nawab cancelling 70