the child was born-is also selected. As a matter of fact, however, I found almost every Birhōr having two, and, in a few cases, more than two names. Out of eighteen Birhōrs whose sāki names I particularly noted, twelve were named after their paternal grandfathers, one after his paternal great-grandfather, four after their maternal grandfathers, and one after his father's elder brother. One of these only had no second name, one had two names besides his sāki-name and the rest had each one other name besides his sāki name. Their

names are given

Other name.

Būdhů.

Lenga, Mangal.
Būṛkā.

Gulibaha.

Thepō

...

Narsing

Akal

Lijō.
Răbdă.

...

Răgăi.
Gādi

Where a man has another name besides his sāki name, he is ordinarily called by the other name. In the case of twin children, if both are male, they are generally named 'Ram and Lachman'; if both are female they are named 'Gangi' and Jauni'; and if one of the twins is a male and the other female, the male child is named either Ram' or 'Lachman'

according as it happens to be the elder or the younger of the twins, and similarly the female child is named either ‘Gängi’ or' Jauni' according as it is the elder or the younger of the twins. But the sāki ceremony will be duly gone through and sāki names selected as usual.

IX. THE TUKUI-LUTUR OR EAR-PIERCING CEREMONY,

The ears of the child are ceremonially perforated generally in the month of Aghan (November) following the birth. A quantity of rice-flour is prepared and made into twenty-eight small round cakes. These are covered over with a sal leaf above it and one below it, and are placed one above the other in a vessel of boiling water on the night before the ceremony. The following morning, the child is anointed with oil and pounded turmeric and bathed in cold water. The sāki or, in his absence, some other relative is seated on a wooden plank (gāṇḍu or pinṛhā) placed over a quantity (usually two pailās or about four pounds) of unhusked rice. The child is seated on the lap of this relative. Two other men sit down each on one side of the child with a copper kūnausi (ear-piercing needle) in hand and pierce a hole in the lobe of each ear of the child. Then each of the two ear-piercers take up a black fowl and strikes it twice against the wooden seat (gānḍu). The fowl thus killed is taken inside the kitchen and roasted. A bamboo umbrella is then stuck up over the wooden seat. One of the ear-piercers throws seven of the cakes on to the roof of the hut, the other ear-piercer throws on the same roof the rag containing mustard seeds which had been so long tied round the neck of the child; as he does so, he says:-"From to-day the child is taken into the jüt (tribe). O! spirits and ghosts, do ye henceforth leave him." Two or three boys who have already perched themselves on the roof cat up the seven cakes which are said to be meant for the first seven days of impurity'. The boys then come down. Now the sāki or somebody on his behalf takes up one cup of oil, and some relative of the child holds in his hand another cup of oil, and each in his turn anoints every one present with the oil. Each guest has also brought with him one

small earthen pot of oil besides two or three pailās of unhusked rice. This rice is placed on the wooden seat (gānḍu) and the oil is dropped on the head of each guest, till at length oil begins to drip down the limbs of all present. This is known as 'sāki-oil'. Two jars of rice-beer along with the remaining twenty-one cakes of rice-flour are now distributed amongst the guests. After eating the cakes and drinking the rice-beer, the guests disperse.

By the boring of the ears, the child, as we have seen, is supposed to enter the jāt or tribe. Some Birhōrs expressed their idea about the matter to me with this quaint simile:

"Just as castration admits a bull into the jat of oxen, so by the ear-boring ceremony, a Birhōr child, so long merely a human child, is admitted into the jat or tribe. "

So essential is this ceremony considered by the Birhōr that a child dying before the ceremony is performed, must have its ears pierced after death and before being carried to its grave.

XI. SOME CHILDHOOD CUSTOMS.

When a child has one or more teeth behind the front row, some one tells the child :— "We married you to the dog of so and so (names some neighbour who keeps a dog)." It is believed that this will serve to make the extra teeth fall off at the same time as the milk teeth fall off.

When a child is observed to be gradually wasting away, it is said to suffer from puni-dukh, and is laid out by its mother early one morning before the house has been swept clean, on the open space (angan) in front of the hut, and some other woman takes it up in her arms saying " Alas! alas! why has such a fine child been cast away?" It is believed that this will in most cases restore the child to health. If this expedient fails, the child is expected to be cured if it is weighed in a balance. It is again weighed after a month or two to see how much it has gained in weight.

So long as a baby is carried in the mother's arms or slung on her back, its mother while going to some other tanda or to some village or market-place, either puts a mark of soot between its

eyebrows to protect it from the evil eye or evil spirits, or, while crossing a stream, she generally takes up a little sand, and ties it up at one end of her cloth. On her return journey, when her house is in] sight, she takes the sand between the tips of her two fingers and throws it away behind her back.

XI. CICATRIZATION AND TATTOOING.

Birhōr boys of about twelve or thirteen years of age burn scalds on each other's hands with lighted wicks. No bad effects of any sort are said to result from the omission of this practice which is now looked upon only as a test of the power of manly endurance. It is however different in the case of the tattooing of girls.

Birhōr girls of from ten to twelve years of age must have tattoo marks made on their arms, chest, chin, nose and the upper side of the feet, with an iron needle. No tattoo marks are made either on the forehead or the temples as amongst the Oraons. Where possible, a Māhāli or Ghāsi woman is called in to make the tattoo marks. Floral designs are commonly used. It is believed that if a girl is not tattooed, her spirit will on her death remain in the other world (uku) under a semar tree clasping its trunk with both her arms.

XII-LIFE IN THE DORMITORIES,

In a Birhōr ṭāndā there are two small huts made of leaves and branches of trees, which are used, one as (a) The building. the dormitory or Gitij-ōṛā for bachelors, and the other for spinsters. The two huts are situated generally at one end of the settlement and at a little distance from each other. The maidens of the ṭāndā gather twigs and branches for making their dormitory and their parents and other relatives construct it. The bachelors gather the materials for the construction of their dormitory and they and their relatives construct it. These huts are fairly commodious and vary with the size of the settlement. The boys' dormitory has only one door to it, but the maidens' dormitory is generally provided with a second door at the back.

(b) Constitution and Manage

ment.

Boys are admitted into their dormitory when they are about ten years old and sleep there at night until their marriage. When a boy is married, he gets a separate hut made for himself and his wife. Similarly girls are admitted into their gitij-oṛā at the age of about ten and sleep there at night until marriage. In the boys' dormitory there is no recognized headman, although the most intelligent and tactful amongst the inmates is recognized as their leader. In the maidens' dormitory, an old widow of the settlement acts as the guardian of the inmates at night. She sleeps at the main door as if to prevent the intrusion of outsiders into the dormitory and to keep watch over the movements of the girls.

(c) Morality in the Dormitories.

Although post-nuptial immorality is practically unknown among the Birhōrs, liaisons between bachelors and spinsters are the rule rather than the exception. The back-door to the maidens' dormitory is supposed to enable the girls to go out to satisfy calls of nature without disturbing the old duenna. In practice, however, this door affords means of escape to boys who may have entered the hut during the absence of the old woman and also enables girls to stealthily go out to meet their lovers who notify their approach by some preconcerted sound generally made with the hand striking the leaves and branches forming the wall of the hut. The old woman, even if awake, pretends to be asleep and thus connives at these practices. Every bachelor has his sweetheart amongst the maidens. And I am informed by some Birhōr elders that to attract a maiden he loves, a young man sometimes approaches her without any clothes on his body.

There is, however, a well-recognized rule of fidelity amongst Birhōr maidens and bachelors. It is considered wrong for any boy to go with a maiden who is known to be the sweetheart of another boy; and although such breach of etiquette is not punished with a fine, the aggrieved boy has the support of his fellows when he seeks to retaliate by himself sleeping with