with her petticoat we lose our caste; we should be allowed to eat
and drink with our tribe, but not to perform worship with them nor to
assist in burial rites. If a woman piles up a heap of stones and puts
her petticoat upon it and throws filth upon it and says to any other,
'This disgrace fell upon your ancestors for seven generations back,'
both are immediately expelled from our caste, and cannot return to
it until they have paid a large sum of money."

4. Organisation for dacoity

As in the case of the Badhaks the arrangements for a dacoity were
carefully organised. Each band had a Jemadar or leader, while the
others were called Sipahis or soldiers. A tenth of all the booty taken
was given to the Jemadar in return for the provision of the spears,
torches and other articles, and of the remainder the Jemadar received
two shares and the Sipahis one each. But no novice was permitted
to share in the booty or carry a spear until he had participated in
two or three successful dacoities; and inasmuch as outsiders, with
the exception of the impure Dhers and Mangs, were freely admitted
to the Sansia community in return for a small money payment, some
such apprenticeship as this was no doubt necessary. If a Sipahi was
killed in a dacoity his wife was entitled to a sum of Rs. 350 and
half an ordinary share in future dacoities as long as she remained
with the gang. The Sansias never pitched their camp in the vicinity
of the place in which they contemplated an enterprise, but despatched
their scouts to it, themselves remaining some twenty miles distant.

5. Description of a dacoity

The scouts, [611] having prospected the town and determined the
house to be exploited, usually that of the leading banker, would
then proceed to it in the early morning before business began and
ask to purchase some ornaments or change some money; by this request
they often induced the banker to bring out his cash chest from the
place of security where he was accustomed to deposit it at night,
and learnt where it should be looked for. Having picked up as much
information as possible, the scouts would purchase some spear-heads,
bury them in a neighbouring ravine, and rejoin the main body. The party
would arrive at the rendezvous in the evening, and having fitted their
spears to bamboo shafts, would enter the town carrying them concealed
in a bundle of _karbi_ or the long thick stalks of the large millet,
juari. [612] One man was appoint