composed indiscriminately of men belonging to each clan family; but each gang has its own leader and the office is hereditary in the leader’s family. An outsider is never selected unless the family stock has failed.” At the same time it may be urged that this form of sectional exogamy is probably much more primitive than Mr. Kennedy is disposed to believe. It is, of course, possible that the names of the exogamous sections may have been changed under Hindu or Muhammadan influence, but it seems also certain that this form of exogamy is one of the primitive institutions of the caste. 9. The Magahiya Doms take their name from the ancient kingdom of Magadha or South Bihâr. Curiously enough the Mirzapur Magahiyas have lost all traditions of any connection with Magadha, and say that their name means “vagrant” from the Hindi mag, Sanskrit marga, “a road.” They have been identified with the Maccocalingae of Pliny, [346] and they are found as far south as Madras. [347] In their original state the Magahiyas are vagrants pure and simple, who have not even mats or tents to cover themselves in rainy or cold weather. In this respect they are in a lower grade than nomads like the Sânsyas or Hâbûras. They frequent the jungles, but seem to have no aptitude for hunting or fishing. They live by burglary and theft, while the women prostitute themselves. In dry weather they sleep under trees, and in the rains or chill of winter they slink into outhouses or crouch under a thatch or any other shelter they can find. In their depredations they never use the sabari or “jemmy” used by the ordinary Indian burglar. Their characteristic weapon is the curved knife (bânka), with which they are supposed to split the bamboo for making baskets, which with begging are their ostensible occupations. But this knife is generally used for making holes beside doorposts (baghli). In cold weather they carry about at night an earthen pot full of hot coals, over which they crouch and warm themselves; and this, when closely beset, they fling with great accuracy at their assailants, often causing severe wounds. 10. Various attempts have been made to reform this branch of the tribe. To quote a note by Mr. D. T. Roberts, prepared for the last Police Commission:—“In Gorakhpur almost every scheme possible to think of has been considered over and over again and rejected as hopeless, the prevailing opinion being that nothing short of confinement between four walls would do any good. In 1873, and again in 1880, the question of bringing them under the Criminal Tribes Act was considered, and the conclusion come to in 1880 was that no special measures for the reclamation of this tribe seem likely to be successful, and there was no use proclaiming them under the Act, because they have no means of earning their livelihood honestly, and the only thing to be done was to keep them under unceasing surveillance, and to punish with severity on commission of crime.