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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 11, p. 146.

146 TIM DJNGS produce. are by far the most important products. Ndgd and inferior rice are the chief crops, but superior food-grains are being introduced. The people depend to a considerable extent on game, fish, roots, and berries, 8:c. They are well provided with cows and bullocks, but buffaloes and goats are rare, and sheep are never seen. The rainfall is heavy, probably_ loo inches or more, but reliable data regarding both rainfall and temperature are not available. Throughout the rains and cold season (June 15 to February 15) the country is very unhealthy, few natives from outside being able to keep well for long during this period. From the middle of February to the middle of June the Dings are healthy, and, except in some of the valleys, not unpleasantly liot. 1Vlalarial fever, dysentery, and colds are the commonest com- plaints. About one-fourth of the population are Bhils, and the rest Koknis and Varlis. Not one of them can read or write. They are polite, lazy, and addicted to the use of mahud spirits. Their occupations are cultivation, hunting, and fishing ; but they have recently taken readily to labour, and now work willingly on roads, buildings, and to some extent on timber operations. Formerly they changed their villages very frequently. Now they are gradually being induced to settle down. Under the former native governments the Bhils were the terror of the neighbouring districts, and on occasions the most indiscriminate vengeance was wreaked on them for their habitual depredations. On the occupation of Khandesh by the British in 1818, anarchy was at its height--the roads were impassable, villages were plundered, and murders committed daily, the only protection the inhabitants of the plains could obtain being through regular payment of blackmail. An expedition was sent into the Dang country, but at the end of three months less than half the force marched back into Malegaon, the others having succumbed to the malaria of the jungle. At that time Captain (afterwards Sir James) Outram came among the Bhils. First conciliating them with feasts and his prowess in tiger- shooting, he eventually succeeding in forming a Bhil corps, originally based on nine men who had accompanied him on shooting expeditions. In 1827 this Bhil corps numbered 6oo rank and file, who fought boldly for the Government and suppressed plundering. Crime is now rare. The few offences that occur are mainly cases of illicit distillation, and the roads are as safe as in settled British Districts. The only police force maintained in the Dangs consists of seven constables stationed at Ahwa. There are fourteen petty estates in the Dangs, as shown on the next page. All are held by Bhil chiefs, of whom four claim the title of Raja; the others are called Naiks, Pradhans, or Ponwars. All are practically independent, though a nominal superiority is awarded to the Garvi chief, under whose banner the rest were bound to serve