4 pressions, i. 202. but very irascible, and so prone to feel deeply injuries, whether real or imaginary, that they frequently vent their resentment or grief in suicide, to which they are frightfully addicted. In occasional collision with British troops, they 2 Bacon, First Im- have not shown themselves remarkable2 for courage. These rude people have been won over by proselytizing Brahminists to a certain observance of their rites and festivals, and are besides polytheists, worshipping several imaginary deities, whom they strive to propitiate by sacrifices; they, however, say, that as they have never seen those deities, they cannot assign them shapes. The Khonds, who inhabit the central part of Orissa, are represented as having made some progress 3 Macpherson, ut in civilization. Agriculture is practised by them with a supra, 49. p. 48. degree of skill and energy which is rarely surpassed in India, and which has produced a degree of rural affluence rarely paralleled." The same writer, however, represents the population to be so scanty as to suggest grave doubts of his accuracy, either as to the numbers of the people, or to their alleged proficiency in agriculture. As to physical constitution, the Khonds are of the average stature of the Hindoos, muscular, robust, symmetrical, and active. The skin varies in hue in different individuals, from deep copper-colour to yellowish olive. The face is rather handsome, with high expanded forehead, prominent cheek-bones, nose aquiline in some instances, though not in all, but generally broad at the top; lips full, but not thick; mouth rather large. The whole physiognomy is generally indicative of intelligence and determination, blended with good humour. They fight with bows and arrows, slings, and battle-axes, and are considered to be brave, neither giving nor taking quarter. Their good qualities are stated to be love of independence, bravery, hospitality, and industry; but they are dreadfully vindictive, and addicted to drunkenness. They are polytheists, believing in the existence of various imaginary divinities, and worshipping the earth, the moon, the god of war, and many other objects, beside the Hindoo goddess Kali. The god of the earth is, however, the most revered, and, under the influence of a detestable superstition, his votaries seek to propitiate him by the sacrifice of human victims, generally children, bought for the purpose from those who steal them from neighbouring people. It appears to be a rule, that no Khond should be sacrificed, and no victim is considered to be acceptable unless bought with a price. This horrible rite is intended to induce the god of earth to favour them with plentiful crops. At the time appointed by their priests, a feast is held, and after it has continued for two days and two nights, a scene of drunken and obscene revelling, the victim is brought out on the third day, and bound to a stake. Its limbs are then broken, and the priest having struck it with an axe, the crowd set upon it, and crying aloud, "We bought you with a price, no sin rests on us," hew the living body into pieces, each carrying away a bloody morsel, which they throw on the earth in some part of their grounds. The number of human beings yearly murdered in this manner was formerly very great. Macpherson states that he found seven victims held in readiness for immediate sacrifice in a valley two miles long, and less than three-quarters of a mile wide. The British government has made strenuous efforts to check the practice, but the Khonds adhere to the sanguinary rite with dreadful pertinacity, and with unflinching ferocity defend their fastnesses, where, for the greater part, malaria would inevitably destroy an invading force. There is reason, however, to hope that ere long the country will be purged from these fearful crimes. By an act of the government of India, passed in September, 1845, the Governor-General is empowered to withdraw the districts where they prevail from the jurisdiction of the ordinary authorities, and to place them under a special officer, called "the agent for the suppression of Meriah sacrifices," who is of course selected with particular regard to vigilance, energy, firmness, and discretion. The Saurias are slaves to the same superstitions as are the Khonds, but are considered much more savage and barbarous. They are represented "as in general a harmless, peaceable race, but so Stirling, ut entirely destitute of all moral sense, that they will as readily supra, 204. and unscrupulously deprive a human being of life as any wild beast of the woods, at the orders of a chief, or for the most trifling remuneration." The language of the Urias is a dialect6 6 Id. 205. of Sanscrit, closely resembling the Bengalee; and the basis of the alphabet is the Nagari. The Gond language is spoken in some parts towards the western frontier. The Khonds use two distinct dialects, each containing many words of Tamul Act of Govt. of India, xxi. of 1845. 7 Calcutta Review, x. 217. Parliamentary Return, April, 1851. E.I.C. Ms. Doc. 2 Garden, Tables of Routes, 4. E.I.C. Ms. Doc. 1 E.I.C. Ms. Doc. and Teloogoo. Of the dialects of the Coles, we have no information. Sumbulpoor, the only considerable town in the country, Boad, and Sohnpoor, are described under their respective names in the alphabetical arrangement. The principal routes are, 1. From north-east to south-west, from Calcutta, through Midnapore, to Sumbulpoor; 2. from east to west, from Cuttack, through Sumbulpoor, to Nagpore and Kamptee. The decline of the ancient royal house of Orissa dates from the death, in 1524, of Rajah Pertab Rudra Deo, an event which the Hindoo monarchy was not destined long to survive. Its downfall may be regarded as consummated in 1592,7 when a lieutenant-governor arrived from the Mahomedan kingdom of Bengal to assume charge of the administration of Cuttack. With the exception of this province, and a portion of Midnapore, Orissa was acquired by the East-India Company in 1765, by virtue of the firman of Shah Alum, emperor of Delhi, granting the Dewanny of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa. OSIMLEE.—One of the Cossya hill states: it is surrounded entirely by the other hill states, and extends from lat. 25° 20' -25° 59', long. 91° 26'-91° 41'. It is forty-three miles in length from north to south, and sixteen in breadth, and has an area of 350 miles.1 square OSMANPOOR,1 in the British district of Agra, lieutenantgovernorship of the North-West Provinces, a village on the route from the city of Agra to Bareilly, by Khasgunj, and 142 miles N.E. of the former. The road in this part of the route is bad; the country much cut up by ravines, and very partially cultivated. Lat. 27° 19', long. 78° 11'. OSSOOR.-See Oossoor. OTTAPUDARUM.-A town in the British district of Tinnevelly, presidency of Madras, 28 miles N.E. by E. of Tinnevelly. Lat. 8° 56', long. 78° 5'. OUDANULLA.-See OONDWA NULLAH. OUDE, a kingdom so called from the ancient city of the same name, is bounded on the north and north-east by the territory of Nepaul; on the east by the British district of Goruckpore; on the south-east by the British districts Azimgurh and Jounpoor; on the south by the British district 2 Trigon. Survey Report. von Hindustan, i. 201. Allahabad; on the south-west by the Doab, including the British districts Futtehpoor, Cawnpore, and Furrukhabad; and on the north-west by Shahjehanpoor. It lies between lat. 25° 34′-29° 6′, long. 79° 45'-83° 11'; is 270 miles in length from south-east to north-west, and 160 in breadth. The area is 23,738 square miles.2* The north and north-eastern part, E.I.C. Ms. Doc. lying along the base of the Sub-Himalaya, or continuation of the Sewalik range, has not been well explored by Europeans; it forms part of the Terrai or wooded marsh stretching through that part of Hindostan, and, suffering from a deadly malaria, is scarcely habitable. Tieffenthaler, who penetrated into this tract, states it to be generally a forest, impassable on account of the 3 Beschreibung close growth of trees, underwood, and reeds, and giving shelter to the elephant, rhinoceros, bear, wild kine, wild hog, and deer. The general surface of the Oude country is a plain, declining from north-west to south-east, according to Butter Topography of at the rate of seven inches per mile; and hence in that direction is the course of the principal rivers, the Raptee, Surjoo or Ghogra, Goomtee, and Saee. The elevation of Birimdeo guardhouse, at the north-western angle, is estimated by Webb5 at Field-Book. 798 feet above the sea; that of the left bank of the Ganges,t at the south-eastern point, may be concluded to be 346. The only irregularities in the surface are caused by the various degrees of resistance opposed to the abrasive effect of water by the different consistence of the soils. Some patches of kunkur6 6 Butter, Topog. or calcareous conglomerate undergo abrasion very slowly, and stand seventy or eighty feet above the neighbouring country, which, consisting of softer materials, has been washed away by the agency of water. In consequence of the abundance of this indurated conglomerate, the rivers, however winding, have permanent channels, which the current gradually deepens, and in general perfectly drains the soil, though there are some 'Gazetteer, il 353. Oudh, 3. E.I.C. Ms. Doc. of Oudh, 3. 2 Prinsep, India Tables, ii. 186. * Hamilton estimates it at 20,000 square miles; Sutherland' at Journ. As. Soc. 23,923. + The distance of this point by the river's course above Benares, is, according to Garden,' 153 miles, and according to Prinsep (G. A.), the slope of the waterway in this part of its course is six inches per mile. Prinsep (J.) estimates3 the elevation of Benares above Calcutta at 246 feet, or about 270 above the sea. Consequently, the elevation of the southeastern part of Oude may be assumed at 270 feet + 76, or 3461. Beng. 1833, p. 490. 1 Tables of Routes, 162. tion in British 3 As. Res. xv. Append. p. x. Meteor. Journ. at Benares. 7 Butter, 16. extensive pools or marshes; but these are for the most part exhausted of water during the dry season, either by evaporation or irrigation. The most extensive of these pools is near the town of Betagano, in the south-eastern extremity of the territory. It is sixteen miles in length and eight in breadth, and was originally formed in the deserted bed of the Ganges. Its exhalations are productive of great mortality, many of the permanent inhabitants dying of intermittents, and immigrants from other parts rarely surviving a year. The climate of Oude is dry during the greater part of the year, and subject to wide extremes, the temperature sometimes rising to 112°, and at others sinking to 28°. The cool season extends through November, December, January, and February, and is pleasant and salubrious, though occasionally rather chilly, sometimes to such an extent that thin ice appears on shallow water; but in sheltered spots the sun has considerable power throughout the season. March, April, May, and June, are the hot months; noon daily bringing a westerly wind, loaded with fine light greyish sand, which obscures the horizon, gives a sombre hue to the entire atmosphere, and is so sultry and drying as to cause woodwork to crack. The temperature, however, generally diminishes towards sunset, and rarely continues oppressive throughout the night. Occasionally the wind blows from the east all day, and is loaded with oppressive vapour from the swamps of Bengal, or Assam. The power of the hots winds is observed to be steadily on the increase. Sometimes hurricanes, accompanied by thunder, lightning, and rain, set in, and do extensive damage. The annual fall of rain varies greatly in amount, as the rains sometimes commence in the middle of June and terminate in October, while at other times they last only two months. The consequence is, that in some years 9 Butter, Topog. eighty9 inches fall, in others not more than thirty. 8 Lord Valentia, Travels, i. 161. of Oudh, 16. The soil in general is light, there being a preponderance of siliceous and calcareous earth, especially in the form of kunkur or calcareous conglomerate. With the exception of this latter, no portion of rock larger than a grain of sand is to be found in the original soil; but the beds of the rivers contain small fragments of felspar, hornblende, quartz, and mica, brought down from the northern mountains. The Goomtee and the Tons (North-eastern) abound in shells, which yield a fine |