articles of home and imported produce. They are generally comely and disposed to fleshiness; the usual dress is a sari (robe) of red silk made of the "Indi" or thread of the silk worm which feeds on the castor-oil plants, and their ornaments are confined to bangles and necklaces of white shell. The Indi silk is entirely a domestic manufacture, and wove by the women, who also color it with the lac dye. The Mech language has no written character, nor is it, I believe, allied to the Sanscrit; whether it is of Tibetan or Burmese extraction, or akin to the aboriginal Indian dialects known among the Coles, Goonds, Beels, and other wild tribes, I am unable to say; but perhaps, the accompanying small vocabulary may enable competent persons to decide its root and original country. The Mechis are necessarily uneducated, except with a very few exceptions, in the Bengali language, from which they have derived all the terms in use for articles common to a state of life removed from the savage. I regret, that I have not as yet had an opportunity of meeting a person intelligent enough to give me some idea of the construction of the language; this must remain for further inquiry. In the vocabulary I have omitted entering words for which the language has no equivalents of its own, except in a few instances, to prove the rule above noticed. All the words with B affixed are evidently corruptions of Bengali or Hindi; none of the metals except "silver" and "iron" have names. There is no word for "money." Gender is designated by the affix of "Jilla" or male, and "Jeu" or female, for all animals but man.* In the arts the Mechis have made but small progress, they excel in the care of their cotton agriculture, but as they grow only the common annual plant, the produce is not of a superior kind. Weaving is confined to the women as a domestic art. They are not addicted to trade, are averse to military service, have no artizans among them, are truly in a very primitive state of society. They are however very cheerful, have no jealousy or prejudice towards strangers, are industrious, and honest, and crimes of violence, so far as I can learn, are of rare occurrence among them. A. CAMPBELL. * The names of the months and days of the week are Bengali, and the Mechis who furnished me with the vocabulary are unable to give more than nine of the cardinal numbers in their own language. pepper, banjóólóó maize, toomba to die, thibaî to sleep, móódóóbal sit down, jhopiî go quickly, kōōkri tang ditto of castor-oil insect, indi horn, kong hide, āboo hoof, yakong tail, lanjye wool, komun a man, manchi taut (coarse hempen cloth), phasala hemp, phatoo til (sesamum orientale), shibeem dal (pease), shobai a temple, modie ne no (literally a flower, booibar ditto tree, lie phang root of tree, rudda be phang a bridge, chye kong build a bridge, chye kong ka the plains of Bengal, haien a young elephant, megadet oodai Bootan, aga phar a grave, phokma snow, hem leather, bigoor mattress, gondoo a Bootanee, kongar a Bengalli, hashá a Mahomedan, tōōrōōp a Priest or pujari, modie hōõis a Nipalese, muggur a boat, nan a jungle fowl, hangrūni dausru a male, jilla a female, jeu spirits, chaoo large, ghidett small, udye tall, gujau short, gahye broad, goo-ar a great man, grah manichi to laugh, meniyao to cry, dagup to beat, shītuknuh to be angry, brapmo one, munche two, munye three, muntum four, munbre to swim, chanturri a well, dîre kor blacksmith, kamar weaver, he daio huntsman, mye kankea a spotted deer, kotia menbeang distiller, shoondi fine cloth, he goba coarse ditto, he rujja below, ching to one side, chapin Cardinal Numbers. five, munbha six, mundho seven, munchini eight, munjo kunnü [No numeral beyond this] night, hor year, buruk (B) hard, guzia cheap, gair dear, kom heavy, eeliching |