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BRH.

　Brh literally means 'Forest-man.' According to Mr. Risley, they are 'a small Draviian tribe of Chota Nagpur who live in the jungle in tiny huts made of branches of trees and leaves, and eke out a miserable living by snaring hares and monkeys, and col- lecting jungle products, especially the bark of the chob creeper (Bauhinia scandens), from which a coarse kind of rope is made. They claim to be of the same race as the Kharwars.'

　According to information collected for the purposes of this Survey, a dialect called Brh was spoken in Hazaribagh, Ranchi, and Singbhum. Two hundred speakers were also returned from Palamau, but they have since left the district. No estimates of the number of speakers were forwarded from Hazaribagh and Singbhum, and the Census figures for the tribe have, therefore, been taken instead. It was also stated that the dialect was spoken by 500 individuals in the Jashpur State. The specimen forwarded from that State has, however, turned out to be written in Khai, and the Brh dialect of Jashpur will therefore be dealt with in connexion with that form of speech. At the last Census of 1901, some speakers of Brh were also returned from Manbhum. The numbers are everywhere small. The revised figures are as follows:-

　 The corresponding figures at the Census of 1901 were as follows:-

　Some few Brhs are also found in other districts, such as the Sonthal Parganas, but no estimates are available, and their number is unimportant.

AUTHORITY-

　DRIVER, W.H.P.,-Notes on some Kolarian Tribes. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. lvii Part i, 1889, pp. 12 and ff.

　 I am indebted to the Rev. W. Kiefel, German Evangelical Lutheran Missionary in Ranchi, for a version of the Parable of the Prodigal Son, and the Rev. P. O. Bodding of Mohulpahari has been good enough to send me a list of Standard Words and Phrases taken down in the Sonthal Parganas.

　The dialect of the Brhs is not the same in all places. In Ranchi it does not differ much from Mur; in the Sonthal Parganas it has come under the influence of Santl and its sub-dialects. On the whole, however, Brh is more closely connected with Mur than with Santl. The tribe has probably been more numerous in former days than it is now, and it is probably only a question of time when the Brh dialect will cease to exist.

　Pronunciation.-Mr. Kiefel does not distinguish between and o, or and e, respectively. Mr. Bodding's list, however, shows that at least the Brh of the Sonthal Parganas in this respect agrees with other neighbouring forms of speech.