ce, owned almost entirely
by our fellow-countrymen, and, with few exceptions, managed by them. At
first Chinamen were employed, but they have been dispensed with, and the
entire work is now done by hill people under English superintendence.

(2) THE NATIVE INHABITANTS OF KUMAON.

[Sidenote: THE INHABITANTS OF KUMAON.]

The hill people of Central and Southern India, the Kols, the Santhals,
the Bheels, and others, as is well known, widely differ in race,
language, customs, and religion, from the Hindus and Mussulmans of the
plains. In Kumaon, on the other hand, the great majority are strict
Hindus, worshippers of the Hindu gods, and scrupulous observers of caste
rules. It would appear that when the ancestors of the Hindus, coming
from Central Asia, crossed the Indus, and took possession of the country
now called the Punjab, they made raids into the lower range of the
Himalayas, killing their inhabitants, or turning them into slaves. The
descendants of the aborigines are at present found in a class called
Doms, who form the artisan portion of the population, and are also
largely employed in agriculture. The Muhammadans form a very small part
of the population, and are almost entirely emigrants from the plains.

The character of the hill Hindus, in its essential elements, closely
accords with that of their brethren elsewhere. They worship the Hindu
gods, practise Hindu rites, and are imbued with the Hindu spirit. The
Brahmans and Rajpoots are proud of their position, firm in maintaining
it, and shrink from everything which would invalidate it. Under native
rule the high-caste spirit had full scope, for we are told that for
murder a Brahman was banished, and a Rajpoot heavily mulcted; while
other murderers were put to death. Such offences against the Hindu
religion as killing a cow, or a Dom making use of a _huqqa_ (the pipe
for smoking), or a utensil belonging to a Brahman or Rajpoot, were
capital offences. The power obtained by the Brahmans was shown by the
fact that, when the province came under British rule, one-fifteenth of
its arable land belonged to the religious establishments.

All the Hindu gods and goddesses are worshipped in the hills, but the
hideous goddess Kalee is the favourite object of worship. Small temples
to her honour are found all over the province, many of them in solitary
places on the tops of hills, to which it is meritorious to make
pilgrimages, and around which at certain seasons melas are h