Beni-Israels.

Beni Isra'els are returned as numbering 2139 and as found over the whole district. Besides as Yahudis, the Beni-Israels are known, from their commonest occupation, as Telis that is oilmen, or, because they keep Saturday as a day of rest, as Shanvar Telis or Saturday oilmen. They belong to two classes, the white or gore and the black or kale. The white, according to their story, are the descendants of the original immigrants, and the black of converts,, or of the women of the country. White and black Beni-Israels, though the same in religion and customs, neither eat, drink, nor marry together. The men are fairer than the middle class Hindus of Kolaba, and are generally above the middle height and strongly made. Except two tufts, one over each ear, they shave the head and wear moustaches and short beards. The women are generally good-looking and fair. Like Hindu women they wear the hair tied behind the head in a knot, ambada. Though somewhat quarrelsome and revengeful, the Beni-Israels are one of the best-behaved classes in the district, hardworking, fairly sober, and well-to-do. They are chiefly husbandmen, oil-pressers, and soldiers, and some of them schoolmasters, hospital assistants, shopkeepers, and cart-drivers. As landholders, some till their lands themselves and others let it to tenants. The wives of husbandmen and oil-pressers help their husbands, working in the fields and at the oil-mill. Their home tongue is Marathi. Like middle class Hindus their houses are generally of one storey with brick or wattle and daub walls, and thatch or the roofs. Oil-Pressers and others who have cattle, generally keep them in a shed separate from their house. They have clay and copper vessels, wooden stools, and stone hand-mills. The only special article is a box fixed to the upper part of the right door-post. This contains a piece of parchment with a verse from the Old Testament, so placed that, from the outside, the word Almighty can be read through a hole. In going out and in coming in, the members of the household touch this box with their first two right-hand fingers and then kiss them. They eat rice, millet, pulse, vegetables and, with certain restrictions flesh, and drink liquor. They have two meals a day, between., nine and ten in the morning, and between seven and nine in the evening. Men and women eat separate, the men first. Children sometimes eat with their fathers and sometimes with their mothers. Their dress is partly Musalman and partly Hindu, a Maratha, a Musalman turban or a cap, a Hindu or Musalman coat, trousers or a waistcloth, and Hindu shoes. The women dress like Marathas in a robe and bodice. Beni-Israels worship one God and use no images. In their synagogues they have manuscript copies of the Old Testament and consider it to be of divine authority. They preach their religion only to people of their own tribe. They have synagogues in the Kolaba district at Alibag, Ambepur, Barlai, Pen, and Revdanda. The synagogue, the meeting place of the congregation, is known to the Beni-Israels as the masjid or mosque. From the outside the building looks like a mosque and is surrounded with an enclosure. It has an outer open terrace where the men keep their shoes, no one being allowed to enter with his shoes on. To the door is fastened a wooden box, which the worshippers kiss as they enter. Inside is a square room with windows to the right and left, and in front, in the west wall, is a cupboard-like frame with glass doors, called the ark. In this ark are kept the manuscripts of the laws of Moses written on pieces of parchment. The minister stands facing the ark in the centre of the synagogue repeating verses, and the congregation listen, seated on benches and chairs. Prayers and singing of songs also form a part of the worship. In each village caste questions are settled by a headman at a meeting of the adult male members of the caste. The Beni-Israels on the whole are well-to-do. They are too fond of drinking, and their costly ceremonies and feasts force them into debt. Still they are vigorous and hardworking and many of them own rich lands. There are no professional beggars among them. All their destitute are relieved by private charity or from the synagogue funds.

Christians.

Christians are returned as numbering 208 (males 124, females 81). They are found in Korlai in the south of the Alibag subdivision, on the left bank of the mouth of the Roha creek. In appearance they resemble their Hindu neighbours. They are hardworking and well-behaved. Their houses are much better than those of their Maratha neighbours, built of brick and mortar, roomy, and evidently very old. The men dress in a loincloth of coarse blue cotton, a thin sleeveless white jacket fastened down the front, and a coloured or white woollen or cotton night-cap. On great occasions these clothes are changed for a jacket and pantaloons, a coloured handkerchief is twisted round the head, and sandals or payatans, are worn. The women, unlike their Hindu neighbours, wear a white robe and a white jacket, like that worn by the men, but with sleeves reaching to the wrists. On great occasions they throw a white sheet or chadar over their head and shoulders. Like the Hindus they tie their hair in a knot behind the head, and wear head and ear ornaments, but no nose or toe-rings. In manners, customs, and religion, they resemble the Thana Christians. They are almost all fishers and husbandmen, and are fairly off.

Parsis.

Pa'rsis, numbering 59 (males 54, females 5), are generally liquor-sellers.