This savage tribe of plunderers are supposed to have been the aborigines of Gujerat and the adjacent quarters of Hindostan, in common with the Coolies, and to have been driven to their present fastnesses and their miserable way of life by the invasion of those tribes, from whatever quarter they may have come, who profess the religion of Brahma; and though they were unquestionably thieves and savages, many British officers who are acquainted with them esteem them a better race than their conquerors. They are of a franker and livelier character; they treat their women better; and though they have little scruple at shedding blood in a fray or in any of their deadly quarrels, they are not inhospitable nor vindictive under other circumstances; and many British officers have gone into their country with perfect safety on hunting or fishing expeditions. Sir John Malcolm, always guided in his administration of India by the most enlightened policy, raised a corps of these Bheels, and subjected them to such discipline as their wild nature would bear. He also gave them lands, and to encourage them in industrious habits, freed them for a time from all taxes. By this mild and statesman-like policy he improved their character, and laid the foundation of their future civilization. In the north of India they have been treated under the British administration with unminglel severity; and they complain that they are punished for robbery, while no other means are afforded them of making a livelihood. They are now scattered over Hindostan Proper and the north of the Deccan, particularly along the course of the Nerbuddah river, where they live on what they can procure by hunting or thieving.