ho
have changed their languages, Bodo, Garo, or something closely akin, in
ethnological position.

The extent to which different portions of the once great Kocch nation
have abandoned or retained their original characteristics is easily
measured.

1. Those who have changed most speak a form of the Bengali, and are
imperfect Mahometans; imperfect, because their creed is strongly
tinctured with Hinduism. Thus the very epithet which they apply to
themselves is Brahminical; _Rajbansi_=_Suryabansi_=_Sun-born_. The
converted Kocch of the Mahometan creed are chiefly of the lower order
of the province of Behar.

2. Those who have changed, but changed less than the _Mahometans_ of
Behar, are either Brahminists or Buddhists--speaking the same Bengali
dialect as the last. These are chiefly the higher classes of the
population of Behar. They are Kocch in the way that the Cornishmen are
Welsh. They consider them _Rajbansi_ also. Doubtless, their Hinduism is
imperfect; _i.e._, tinctured with the original paganism.

3. The primitive, unconverted, or _Pani_ Kocch, have either not changed
at all, or changed but little. They retain the original name of Kocch;
which is not endured by the others. They retain their original tongue,
which, according to Buchanan, has no affinity with any of the Hindu
tongues. They retain their original customs; and they retain their
original paganism. Lastly, Mr. Hodgson attests the "entire conformity of
the physiognomy of all--with that of the other aborigines around them."
He adds that he cannot improve on Buchanan's account of them, which is
as follows:--"The primitive or Pani Kocch live amid the woods,
frequently changing their abode in order to cultivate lands enriched by
a fallow. They cultivate entirely with the hoe, and more carefully than
their neighbours who use the plough, for they weed their crops, which
the others do not. As they keep hogs and poultry they are better fed
than the Hindus, and as they make a fermented liquor from rice, their
diet is more strengthening. The clothing of the Pani Kocch is made by
the women, and is in general blue, dyed by themselves with their own
indigo, the borders red, dyed with Morinda. The material is cotton of
their own growth, and they are better clothed than the mass of the
Bengalese. Their huts are at least as good, nor are they raised on posts
like the houses of the Indo-Chinese, at least, not generally so. Their
only arms are spears: but they use iron-