THE HISTORY OF KATHIAWAD Tungabhadra. Even at a later period the history of the Mahomedan kings of Delhi differed widely from that of the Musalman rulers in the Deccan, and perhaps there can be no greater contrast than that between the histories of the Delhi Empire and that of the events in Southern and Western India after Vasco da Gama had seized Goa for the King of Portugal. Consequently in a history of Kathiawad a great deal of detail must be omitted. For the story of each ruling dynasty was recorded by its own bards, and even chronological connexion is often quite impossible. Of the earliest settlers in Saurashtra, whether indi- genous or otherwise, we know a considerable amount, and some account of them is necessary before it is possible to follow the happenings in the province after the fall of Walabhi. At the end of the seventh century the principal tribes, or racial classes, inhabiting the peninsula were Jethwas, Chaoras, Walas, Ahers, Rabaris, Mers, Bhils, and Kolis, and of these the two last named formed the aboriginal people. The influx of foreigners caused them to move from their jungle and hill fortresses, and they gradually disappeared almost entirely from Kathia- wadL Nothing much is known about them, and references to them by the bards of invading peoples are chiefly contemptuous. It is likely their skins were very much darker than those of the peoples who usurped their lands, and their meat-eating propensities doubtless found little favour in the eyes of their conquerors. They are, indeed, generally referred to as devils, and the Kolis of Okha, and Piram and Shiyal Islands were much feared on the sea. After the fall of Walabhi the most important of all the inhabitants of Saurashtra were undoubtedly the Rajputs, as represented by the Jethwas, Chaoras, and Walas. These Rajputs have an interesting history. Before the third century A.D. the power of Buddhism 48