ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.
They had no opinion of the deterrent effects of mere imprisonment on the Dombus. 'You fatten them and send them back' they said, and they suggested that a far better plan would be to cut off their right hands.
They eventually proposed a plan of checking the cattle-thefts which is now being followed in much of that country. The báranaiks, or heads of groups of villages, were each given brands with distinctive letters and numbers and required to brand the skins of all animals which had died a natural death or been honestly killed; and the possession by Dombus, skin-merchants or others of unbranded skins is now considered a suspicious circumstance the burden of explaining which lies upon the possessor. Unless this or some other way of checking the Dombus' depredations proves successful, serious danger exists that the rest of the people will take the matter into their own hands, and as the Dombus in the Agency number over 50,000 this would mean real trouble.
Attacks upon supposed sorcerers are still not uncommon in the Agency, In one instance a wizard's front teeth were pulled out by the local blacksmith to render him unable to pronounce his spells with the distinctness requisite to real efficacy (a similar case also occurred recently at Bimlipatam, the teeth being there knocked out with a stone); and in another, three Khonds whose dead brother's chest refused to burn on the funeral pyre killed the man who they therefore thought must have bewitched him, hacked the chest from the corpse, burnt it, and then gave themselves up to the police. The practice of carrying the handy axes called tangis, which is universal in the Agency, and the fondness of the hill man for strong waters lead to many cases of grievous hurt in sudden quarrels.
Two of the chief difficulties with which the police have to contend are the general ignorance of the Khond, Savara, Gadaba and other tribal languages, and the opportunities for escape afforded by the propinquity of the Bastar and Kálahandi States.
Up to the time of the permanent settlement, such police as existed were under the orders of the zamindars and renters and were paid by grants of land. In the larger towns kotwáls were appointed to the immediate charge of them. Between 1802 and 1816 the village police were under the District Magistrate, who was then the same officer as the District Judge and did no touring. This system was a failure. The transfer of the force to the charge of the Collector effected some improvement, but the men were badly paid and had revenue, as well as police, duties.
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