Critically examine the travels and surveys …

(i). Francis Bhuchanan was a British physician who served in the medical services of the East India company.For a few years he was surgeon to the Governor-General of India, Lord Wellesley. (ii). In the early 19th century he travelled to the hills of Raj Mahal and recorded his experience of the area and the people. According to his description, the hills appeared impenetrable and dangerous. He found the people were hostile and apprehensive of outsiders. (iii). If we look at late 18th century revenue records, we learn that these help people were known as Paharias. They lived around the Rajmahal Hills, subsisting on forest produce and practicing shifting cultivation. They cleared the patches of forests by cutting bushes and burning the undergrowth. (iv). On these patches, enriched by the Potash from the ash, the Paharias grew a variety of pulses and millets for consumption. (v). They loosened the ground lightly with hoes, cultivated the cleared land for a few years, then left it fallow so that it could recover its fertility, and moved to a new area. (vi). From the forests they collected mahua (a flower) for food, silk cocoons and resin for sale, and wood for charcoal production. (vii).The undergrowth that spread like a mat below the trees and the patches of grass that covered the lands left fallow prpvided pasture for cattle. (viii). The record of Bhuchanan was written as a diary. It talked about a moment of time in his life. Hence, we need to look to other sources of history to fully understand the hill people.