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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[MAY, 1897.
You are aware that one of the Salones is in the pay of Government, receiving monthly Rs. 10. I presume that this individual receives this pay more with the view of indirectly bringing him into communication with the authorities here, than as a remuneration for the performance of any specific duties : certain it is at all events that he has hitherto done nothing to entitle him to remuneration.
You will have remked that the information yearly supplied to your Office having reference to the Salones may be said to be stereotyped, as the returns do not Fary.
Enqniring into the causes of this, I ascertained that the practice bad been to draw the Salone Thoogsee's pay unutIrly, and to hand it over to the jemnadar of the general guard, who tas supposed to pay it to that individual wirenerer bre presented himself at Mergui to receive it. As this practice evidently failed to meet the requirements of the case, I immediately directed its discontinuance, and forbade the issue of any pay to the Salone Thoogyee, unless he presented himself at my office to receive the money.
Consequent on this order the Salone Thoogyee presented himself before me yesterday, ard I took the opportunity afforded by his presence to elicit from him as much information is I could regarding the peculiar l'ace of beings over whom he is supposed by his position to exercise control.
So far as I can learn from office records but little is known regarding thre Salones, and as it is highly improbable that I shall have the opportunity of otherwise placing on record the information I have become possessed of, which may at some time prove useful, I have thought it best to embody the result of my enquiries in the shape of a letter to you.
The Salone Thoogyee informs me tlnt his people are nt present located on four islands of the Mergai Archipelago, named by him Zadet, Sampee, Buttưy, and Doung. The first corresponds with St. Mathew's Island; the third with Peak or Sir B. Owen's; the fourth (I think), Lord W. Bentinck's; and the second, Sallivan's or Sumpee Island of our charts.
He estimates the number inhabiting these islands as follows:-On Zadet Island about 40, on Sumpee about 55, on Buttuy about 59, and on Doung Island about 46 families, giving about six souls as composing a family. This last estimate is evidently too high, but, remembering the number of children I saw with the families located in Paway Island, in March last, I think we shall be justified in assuming five as a fair average number of young and old in a family. The Thoogyee himself has six children, hence perhaps his fixing a bigh average.
The Thoogsee's estimate would, if adopted, give a total of 1,200 souls, and, subject to my correction, 1,000 souls, - a far higher number than you will find entered in the returns.
The Thooggee, 00 Pay by name, was, I learn, first invested with such official authority as his office may be supposed to result in, by Major Birdmore, and he appeared before me looking very unhappy under the penance of continually adjusting a peon's belt with a brass-plate which was placed across his shoulders by that officer,
Oo Pay possesses such acquaintance with the Malay and Burmese languages as enables him to converse with difficulty in both,
It appears that each island colony has its headman. Their names are - in Sumpee, Pit Kam; in Battuy, Lo Wuy ; in Zadet, Chee Doot. Of Lo Wuy my informant gave me the worst possible character: perbaps jealonsy may have occasioned this, as the number of families nnder the jurisdiction of Lo Wuy on Sumpee exceeds that on Doung, Oo Pay's partienlar clage. Lo Wuy is, Oo Pay informed me, mach addicted to intemperance; he descrilled him. exbibiting the most expressive countenance at the time, as a perfect devil."
I was under the impression that the Salones were decrensing in number yearly, but 0 Pay contradicted this. From his statements it would appear that both cholera and small-pox have this year prevailed among the tribe. He estimated the deaths from cholera at 14, and
