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KLM, NAIK, ETC.

　Kui and G gradually merge into Telugu. Before dealing with that form of speech it will be necessary to give a short account of some minor dialects of Berar and the Central Provinces which occupy a position like that of G between Kanarese- Tamil and Telugu. The dialects in question are the so-called Klm, the Bhl spoken in the Pusad Taluqa of Basim, and the so-called Naik of Chanda. They all agree in so many particulars that they can almost be considered as one and the same dialect. They are closely related to G. The points in which they differ from that language are, however, of sufficient importance to make it necessary to separate them from that form of speech.

KLM.

　The Klms are an aboriginal tribe in East Berar and the Wardha district of the Central Provinces. The Rev. Stephen Hislop found them 'along the Kandi-Konda Hills on the south of the Wardha River, and along the tableland stretching east and north of Manikgad, and thence south to Dantanpalli running parallel to the western bank of the Pranhita.' They are now much reduced in number, and most of them are found in the Wardha district. Local estimates give 17,000 as the number of speakers in Wun. At the last Census of 1901, however, Klm was not returned from the district, and the number of Klms was only 264. The estimates are therefore certainly above the mark. The number of speakers has been estimated for the purposes of his Survey as follows:-

　A few speakers are probably also found in Pusad, in the Basim district. The so- called Bhl of that district is, at all events, almost identical with Klm. See below. In the last Census of 1901 Klm was only returned from Wardha with a total of 1,505 speakers.

　The Klms are usually classed as a G tribe. According to Captain Haig, however, they 'differ considerably from Gs in appearance, and the Gs, in Berar, at any rate, do not admit that they are a G tribe, while the Klms on the other hand shew no anxiety to be considered so, but are rather inclined to repudiate the connection.'

　The Klm dialect differs widely from the language of the neighbouring Gs. In some points it agrees with Telugu, in other characteristics with Kanarese and con- nected forms of speech. There are also some interesting points of analogy with the Toda dialect of the Nilgiris, and the Klms must, from a philological point of view, be considered as the remnants of an old Dravidian tribe who have not been involved in the development of the principal Dravidian languages, or of a tribe who have not originally spoken a Dravidian form of speech.

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