The typical Bhil is small, dark, broad-nosed and ugly, but well built
and active. The average height of 128 men measured by Major Hendley
was 5 feet 6.4 inches. The hands are somewhat small and the legs
fairly developed, those of the women being the best. "The Bhil is an
excellent woodsman, knows the shortest cuts over the hills, can walk
the roughest paths and climb the steepest crags without slipping or
feeling distressed. He is often called in old Sanskrit works Venaputra,
'child of the forest,' or Pal Indra, 'lord of the pass.' These
names well describe his character. His country is approached through
narrow defiles (_pal_), and through these none could pass without his
permission. In former days he always levied _rakhwali_ or blackmail,
and even now native travellers find him quite ready to assert what he
deems his just rights. The Bhil is a capital huntsman, tracking and
marking down tigers, panthers and bears, knowing all their haunts, the
best places to shoot them, the paths they take and all those points so
essential to success in big-game shooting; they will remember for years
the spots where tigers have been disposed of, and all the circumstances
connected with their deaths. The Bhil will himself attack a leopard,
and with his sword, aided by his friends, cut him to pieces." [344]
Their agility impressed the Hindus, and an old writer says: "Some
Bhil chieftains who attended the camp of Sidhraj, king of Gujarat,
astonished him with their feats of activity; in his army they seemed
as the followers of Hanuman in attendance upon Ram." [345]