DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5833#0155
THE BHILLS.
135
dispositions, and many of them are intelligent and
industrious."
With all their rapacity, the Bhills have certain
notions of honour, to which they are known so scru-
pulously to adhere, that no traveller ever doubts their
pledge of protection. With a Bhill guide, a person
may travel through the districts most infested by
them without the slightest molestation. They would
put any one of their tribe to death who should rob a
person so protected. Their skill in robbery is extraor-
dinary. They have been known to make a hole
through the wall of a bungalo, and carry on their de-
predations so stealthily as to clear the room, and even
take the bed-clothes from a person asleep without
waking him. When they enter a house or a tent,
they are always naked, and so covered with oil that
it is almost impossible to seize them. Upon each arm
is usually fastened a sharp knife, with the blade pro-
jecting upwards ; thus, if they are laid hold off in the
dark, the person seizing immediately releases them :—
indeed, they are very rarely taken.
An officer, witli whom I was acquainted, had a
narrow escape from death by attempting to seize a
Bhill who was in the act of robbing him. It happened
in the neighbourhood of Guzerat. This person was
asleep in his tent, when, suddenly waking, he felt
the quilt slightly twitched: suspecting that some one
was not far from his bedside, he soon began to
breathe hard, as if he were in a sound sleep. In a
short time the twitch was repeated with some ad-
ditional force. Satisfied that there was a robber
near him, he suddenly sprang from his bed: a Bhill
135
dispositions, and many of them are intelligent and
industrious."
With all their rapacity, the Bhills have certain
notions of honour, to which they are known so scru-
pulously to adhere, that no traveller ever doubts their
pledge of protection. With a Bhill guide, a person
may travel through the districts most infested by
them without the slightest molestation. They would
put any one of their tribe to death who should rob a
person so protected. Their skill in robbery is extraor-
dinary. They have been known to make a hole
through the wall of a bungalo, and carry on their de-
predations so stealthily as to clear the room, and even
take the bed-clothes from a person asleep without
waking him. When they enter a house or a tent,
they are always naked, and so covered with oil that
it is almost impossible to seize them. Upon each arm
is usually fastened a sharp knife, with the blade pro-
jecting upwards ; thus, if they are laid hold off in the
dark, the person seizing immediately releases them :—
indeed, they are very rarely taken.
An officer, witli whom I was acquainted, had a
narrow escape from death by attempting to seize a
Bhill who was in the act of robbing him. It happened
in the neighbourhood of Guzerat. This person was
asleep in his tent, when, suddenly waking, he felt
the quilt slightly twitched: suspecting that some one
was not far from his bedside, he soon began to
breathe hard, as if he were in a sound sleep. In a
short time the twitch was repeated with some ad-
ditional force. Satisfied that there was a robber
near him, he suddenly sprang from his bed: a Bhill