YALE
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

iT-Sagu,.

A TUDA FAMILY,
ofthe PlEEtL^MElRmtlKiniLILa or E!LI!!lER(fl®iy)PIITAaP3S of ©®Q RSQtB&TTOOia ,
IiOmiUm.PublLsh©d V-SmnnL&JSller fc,C?.63Xooilnll, 1831

DESCRIPTION

A SINGULAR ABORIGINAL RACE '

INHABITING THE SUMMIT OF

THE NEILGHERRY HILLS,

Mm JWountamss of Cotmhatoor,

THE SOUTHERN PENINSULA OF INDIA.

BY CAPTAIN HENRY HARKNESS,
OF THJi MADIIAS AttMY.

" I marvel, what kin thou and thy daughters are ! "
SHAKESPEARE.

LONDON:
SMITH, ELDER, AND CO., 65, CORNHILL.
1832.

Ecf, 831 H

LONDON :
BRADBURY AND EVANS, PIirNTERS,
FLEET STREET.

THE RIGHT HONORABLE
STEPHEN RUMBOLD LUSHINGTON,
ffiobewor anir $rmlisnt in Council,
Sfc. Sfc.
MADRAS.
Right Honorable Sir,
If any part of these pages shall contribute to the
prosperity of the settlement on the Neilgherries, this will, I am
satisfied, be the best justification of the patronage you have kindly
extended to them. With the ardent hope that they may tend to
the advancement of that object, which you have so deeply at heart,
I beg to subscribe myself,
Right Honorable Sir,
Your most obedient and humble Servant,
H. HARKNESS.

PREFACE.

It was once the intention of the writer of the follow
ing pages, to prefix to his work a short dissertation on the
origin and languages of the different tribes mentioned
therein. Diffident, however, as to whether his opinions
and speculations upon those points would possess much
interest with the public, he has, at least for the present,
suppressed that portion of his labours.
During a course of years, it has formed his constant
study and amusement, to obtain a competent knowledge
of the different customs, manners, systems of religion,
and languages of the numerous tribes of Hindus with
whom he has been brought acquainted ; and he has felt
peculiarly incited to this study, as regards that singular
race of people, the Tudas, to a description of whom so
prominent a place is assigned in the ensuing narrative.
It is to this pursuit that the author is indebted, for

VI PREFACE.
the power of discriminating with certainty between the
various tribes and classes of which the native population
of India is composed.
Leaving it, therefore, to those persons, who have en-
joyed better opportunities for acquiring literary qualifica
tions, than have been afforded by a life of active exertion,
to express their judgment as to the style and manner in
which his descriptions are conveyed, the writer yet feels,
that he may justly bespeak the credence of his readers for
the faithful detail of circumstances, such as it has not
fallen to the lot of many Europeans to witness. It will
gratify him extremely to learn, that his narrative is
received by the British public with some portion of
the interest which was powerfully created within his
own mind, while witnessing the actual occurrences which
he has thus attempted to describe.
Madras, May, 1831.

LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS.

A Tuda Family of the Neilgherry Hills

Lake at Oatacamund

Frontispiece.

Antiquities found in the Cairns of Caroni

The Missionary House at Dimhutty

35
69

THE NEILGHERRY HILLS.

' Hail usages of pristine mould,
And ye that guard them, mountains old."

CHAPTER I.
These mountains, now commonly known by the name
of the Neilgherry* Hills, are said, and not improperly,
to form the nucleus of the Eastern and Western Ghauts ;
a locality to which may perhaps be justly attributed,
many of the phenomena for which they have become
so famed.
Lying between the parallels of 11° and 12° North
Latitude, and 760 and 77° East Longitude ; bounded by

* Properly Nilagiri, Nila, Blue ; and Giri, a hill or mountain. From
the usual atmospheric effect of investing distant objects with a blue
tint, and, as there are no other mountains in the Peninsula of equal
height, this effect is the more apparent, and they are in consequence
called The Nilagiri.
W B

THE MOUNTAINS.

the Table Land of Mysore, the Carnatic, the provinces
stretching towards the western sea, whence the distance
is only about fifty miles, they partake of the monsoons of
both coasts,— a circumstance which gives them an equa
bility of temperature which can but rarely be enjoyed
in any other part of the globe.
Their base, which is supposed to cover a surface of
nearly two hundred miles, is surrounded by a zone of
thick jungle, extending more or less into the plains ; and,
excepting to the west, is encircled by two rivers, the
Moyar, and Siru (or little) Bhavani, which, in some parts
sweeping close under them, in others running out to
a considerable distance, eventually meet a little to the
north-east, and thence flow in one united stream under
the general name of Bhavani.
The greatest length of these mountains, at an ele
vation of about five thousand feet, is forty-two miles
from north-east to south-west, and their medium breadth,
at the same elevation, is fourteen miles. In figure,
they appear to form a trapezium, for though quadri
lateral, none of their sides are parallel, or equal to each
other. Their general surface is mountainous, composed
of ridges stretching out in almost every direction, which
are commonly made up of lesser hills and knolls, that
admit of easy cultivation. Among these knolls are many
delightful vallies, and where the mountain ridges run

NAMES. 3
close to one another, is sometimes found the deep ravine
or the morass.*
On some of the loftier ridges are several very promi
nent peaks, the highest of which has been ascertained,
by barometrical calculation, to be eight thousand seven
hundred feet above the level of the sea.
The present division of the hills is into four naadst
or districts. To the east, Parunganaad ; to the south,
Meykanaad ; to the south-west and west, Koondanaad ;
to the north and north-west, and including nearly the
whole of the crest of the mountains, Tudanaad.
By some accident that part of the hills which has
now become the principal European settlement, is called
Oatacamund,t or Wotaycamund. It is a beautiful and

* These morasses absorb, and gradually give out, the moisture of
the adjacent mountains. Their superficies appear to consist of alluvial
deposits, intermixed with a considerable portion of vegetable matter,
and of the black loam which forms their substratum, and which in
many parts descends to an extreme depth. They are covered with
a very rich herbage, and by draining and burning might be turned to
many useful purposes.
t By the Naads, the original inhabitants, called Tudas, and also four
in number ; but the boundaries they give to them differ considerably
from those given them by the other tribes. Speaking of them among
themselves, the Tudas call Parunganaad, Pirrkorr ; Meykanaad, Khor-
rorr ; Koondanaad, Mheur-norr ; and Tudanaad, Muzzorr. Norr or
Orr, means also a country, as well as a district.
X It is needless to search for the derivation of this word, which has
evidently gone through many stages of corruption. The Tuda name
for the hill on which the first European residence was erected, and
which had been one of their places of location, is Pathk Morrt.
B 2

SCENERY.

extensive range, occupying nearly the centre ofthe crest,
and partaking of almost every description of site, of an
alternate succession of hill and dale, mountain and val
ley, with little of what may be correctly called Table
Land. To the east, and north-east, it is bounded by
mountains, rising high above its level ; and above these
again is seen towering the still more lofty and majestic
Petmarz, or, as it is more generally called, Dodabetta,*
the highest point of the hills. In other directions,
the settlement is bounded by heights of less elevation,
by which its limits are seemingly prescribed.
On entering Oatacamund from -the north-west, or by
the main road leading from the Mysore country, the
opposite mountains, alluded to above, are in the highest
degree beautiful and picturesque, forming a majestic and
extended amphitheatre.
At their base, and on the lesser hills and knolls in
their vicinity, a number of pretty white buildings give
relief to the rich verdure ; above these, and in the clefts
which partially separate mountain from mountain, shoot
up lofty and umbrageous trees, appearing at this dis
tance to form little impervious forests ; and beyond these,
* The peak before alluded to, from doda great, and betta, a bill or
mountain, in the Carnataca language ; and therefore so called by the
Burghers, another tribe of the inhabitants ofthe hills, who speak this
language, and from whom we have taken it up. Pet, or Hetmarz is the
name by which the Tudas call this mountain.

OiLStoneiyL TLigt

MOUNTAIN STREAMS. 5
in succession, rise the several tops, covered to the very
summit with the richest pasture.
Nor is the scene less beautiful on a nearer approach ;
for you then find the green bespangled with a variety of
the most beautiful wild flowers, of every diversity of co
lour ; the trees, among which appear the crimson rodo-
dendron and the white camelia, varying in shade and
richness of foliage ; and some covered with moss, assum
ing all the hoary appearance of winter ; while the banks
of the rills and streamlets that meander at their base,
are lined with the dog-rose and jessamine ; and all
around are seen the strawberry, and numerous other
wild fruits, flourishing in spontaneous luxuriance.
Several of the little streams here mentioned, meeting
at one point, fall into a natural basin, which confined at
its south-western extremity by a strong mound of earth,
forms an expansive and delightful lake, of five or six
miles circuit. This beautiful piece of water, which, in
some parts, spreads out to a considerable width, and
in others winds in a serpentine course among hills,
gently rising from its banks, and clothed with the soft
est verdure, has now a public carriage road surrounding
it, affording one of the most scenic, healthful, and agree
able drives of which India, or perhaps any part of the
world, can boast.
In the perspective, south-west from Oatacamund,
appears the range of mountains called the Kopndaho,

D INHABITANTS.
more generally known among the original inhabitants
by the name of Mheur, or rainy; and whose peaks, mostly
hidden in clouds, seem, when they do appear, to be of
height superior to that of Dodabetta.*
This range, and indeed the whole of the surface of
the hills, is intersected by many streams of the purest
water, some falling into the Pykari, while another
rivulet falls on the opposite side into the Moyar, of
which it forms the principal source. Many of these
streams also, are lost in the unknown depths of the
morasses ; while others, following a devious and eccentric
course, often form very grand falls, and find their way
into either of the rivers before mentioned, that sweep
round the base of the mountains.
The appearance of the Tudas, who may be considered
the original inhabitants of the hills, is certainly very
prepossessing. Generally above the common height,
athletic, and well made, their bold bearing, and open and
expressive countenances, lead immediately to the conclu
sion that they must be of a different race to their neigh-
* The superficies of this, and generally of the other mountains, con
sists of a rich mould, from a foot and a half or two feet, to eight or
ten in depth, even to their summits. Next to this is a substratum of red
argillacious sand-stone, varying in depth very considerably, and below,
the granite rock.
In some parts the rock is not to be met with, till after proceeding
to a very great depth ; in others, and in particular as you descend
towards the plain, it shews itself nearer the surface, and in some
instances above it.

COSTUME. 7
bours of the same hue, and the question naturally arises,
who can they be ?
They never wear any covering to the head, whatever
the weather may be, but allow the hair to grow to an
equal length, of about six or seven inches ; parted from
the centre or crown, it forms into natural bushy circlets
all round, and at a short distance more resembles some
artificial decoration, than the simple adornment of
nature. The hair of the face also is allowed a similar
freedom of growth, and in every instance, except from
the effect of age, it is of a jet black, and of the same
degree of softness, as that of the natives of the low
country. A large, full, and speaking eye, Roman nose, fine
teeth, and pleasing contour ; having occasionally the
appearance of great gravity, but seemingly ever ready
to fall into the expression of cheerfulness and good
humour, are natural marks, prominently distinguishing
them from all other natives of India.
They usually wear small gold earrings, some of them
a studded chain of silver round the neck, and rings of
the same description on the hand.
Their dress consists of a short under garment, folded
round the waist, and fastened by a girdle ; and of an
upper one or mantle, which covers every part except
the head, legs, and occasionally the right arm. These
are left bare, the folds of the mantle terminating with

8 FEMALES.
the left shoulder, over which the bordered end is allowed
to hang loosely.
When in a recumbent or sitting position, this mantle
envelopes them entirely, and for the night, as well as
for the day, it is their only clothing. They wear no
sandals, nor any kind of protection to the feet or legs;
carry no weapon of defence, of the use of which, indeed,
they seem to have no notion ; but in the right hand, a
small rod or wand, which they use, not so much to assist
them in walking, as in the management of their herds, &c.
The women are of a stature proportionate to that of
the men, but of complexion generally some shades lighter,
the consequence perhaps of less exposure to the weather.
With a strongly feminine cast of the same expressive
features as the men, most of them, and particularly the
younger, have beautiful long black tresses, which flow in
unrestrained luxuriance over the neck and shoulders.
With a modest and retiring demeanour, they are per
fectly free from the ungracious and menial-like timidity
of the generality of the sex of the low country ; and
enter into conversation with a stranger, with a confidence
and self possession becoming in the eyes of Europeans,
and strongly characteristic of a system of manners and
customs, widely differing from those of their neighbours.
They wear necklaces of twisted hair or black thread,
with silver clasps, and here and there a bead, and sus
pended to them bunches of cowry shells, which hang

DRESS — FEMALE ORNAMENTS. 9
down from the back of the neck between the shoulders.
On the arms, immediately above the elbow, they wear
a pair of armlets of brass, those of the right arm being
much larger than those of the left ; silver bracelets are on
the wrists ; and on the fingers and thumbs of each hand,
a number of rings of various descriptions. They also
wear a zone round the waist composed of a sort of chain
work, of either silver or a mixed metal resembling brass.
Their upper garment, or mantle, resembles that of the
men ; but it is worn differently, and, reaching to the feet,
envelopes the whole frame.
This attire is by no means graceful ; it gives them
an unfeminine and mummy-like appearance ; and neither
they nor the men having any pretensions to cleanliness,
this wrapper is, from that circumstance, often rendered
still more unseemly.
They are, however, a lively, laughter-loving race, and
in the sudden transition and free expression of their
sentiments, shew a strength of feeling, and correctness
of thought, little to be expected under such a garb.
One of them, Nuskyobe, whose name had attracted
my attention, came into my room one day, and seating
herself on the edge of the carpet, was looking at her son,
a fine boy of six or seven years of age, who, to the amuse
ment of himself and several lookers on, was imitating the
antics and grimace ofthe dancing girls of the low country.
On turning towards them, I was amused to observe the

10 THE WIDOW AND ORPHAN.
expression of Nuskyobe's countenance, in which admira
tion and contempt were by turns pourtrayed ; — admiration
at the liveliness and humour of her son, pity and contempt
for that which he mimicked. I put several questions to her
respecting her husband, all of which she evaded, by laugh
ing at the foolery of the boy, and endeavouring to draw
my attention to it. The little creature, however, hearing
me repeat the same question, cried out, in the middle of
his gambols, " My father is dead !" — Never have I seen
so quick a transition from mirth to grief. The widow in
a flood of tears, the overflowing of that feeling which for
a long time she had endeavoured to suppress ; the boy
motionless, his eyes fixed on her, apparently conscious of
having done wrong, and afraid to move. At length, the
mother caught him in her arms, and with a passionate
exclamation told us to look at her hair — that not two
months since it reached to her waist, now, it barely
touched her shoulders.
I was not aware that it was the custom to cut off the
hair on such occasions, and had not observed, from the
close way in which she wore her wrapper, that her's in
any way differed from that of the other women of the
tribe. I had unwittingly given pain where I had no
intention, and, as a forfeit, presented her with a comb
and small looking-glass. The trifle, or perhaps the ac
knowledgment it conveyed, restored good humour • and
I afterwards witnessed many instances of the happy power

PASTORAL HABITS. 11
of reflection ; for the men were fully as much amused
with looking at themselves as the women ; and, from the
curiosity they expressed, it was evident that till very lately
the brook or streamlet had been the only mirror with
which they were acquainted.
Hitherto I had only seen the Tudas as they appeared
on their visits to me. But my health had now greatly
improved ; and as I knew that there were several of their
places of residence in the vicinity of Oatacamund, I com
menced my visits to them.
Their life being in every respect a pastoral one, they
do not congregate in towns or villages, but every family,
or the principal branches of each family, live separately;
and these places of their residence are called morrts.*
There are three of these morrts in the vicinity of Oata
camund, one called Kattaul, the other Katturi, and the
third Kishkeijar. They do not each consist of more than
five or six habitations, and the first is of only four ; but
that belongs to a couple who have been lately married,
and a relation of the wife, the widow Nuskyobe, who,
with her three children, dwells with them.
In each of these morrts is a building, in size, construc
tion, and appearance, superior to the others, a short dis
tance apart from them, and surrounded by a wall. In
this is carried on all the processes of the dairy, such as
* Corresponding to our word home.

12 DWELLINGS.
making butter, clarifying, and converting it into ghee, &c.
They also attach to this building a sacred feeling, and
would not at first allow me to go near it, declaring taat
there was a deity within, whose malevolence would be
provoked by my near approach.
The huts in which they dwell, and which are gene
rally clustered together, very much resemble in appear
ance the tilt of a waggon. The roof, which is formed of
thatch very neatly put on, is supported on posts, and
thick, rude planks of wood, which, excepting at the ends,
are little more than three feet in height. The whole
building is about twelve "feet in length, eight in breadth,
and seven in height, from the ground to the ridge of the
roof. At one end is a little door, two feet and a half in
height, by two feet broad, and this completes the whole
external appearance of each dwelling. At a short dis
tance is an area, of about forty or fifty yards diameter,
enclosed with a wall of rude stones, piled one upon
another, without cement, and in which the herd is
secured during the night.
The three morrts are similar, each having the enclosed
area, and the sacred dairy, and differing only as to the
number of habitations.
Each is "prettily situated on a gentle slope, occupying
a beautiful green on the borders of a wood, and with
which, in most instances, they are partially surrounded.
But migrating from one morrt to another, or from one

RURAL OCCUPATIONS. 13
mountain side to that of another, as the seasons change,
or as the pastures in their immediate vicinity begin to
fail, and cultivating no grain or vegetables of any de
scription, their morrts have none of those appearances
which denote the long established and settled residence ;
or which bespeak, on the part of the settlor, peculiar
attachment for the spot on which he lives.
They do not breed poultry, pigs, sheep, goats, or
animals of any description, except the buffaloe ; nor is
the cow, or ox, (the creature so highly valued, and
even venerated by the people of the low country,) held
in any estimation, or considered worth keeping. The
dog even is not a favorite with them, and I do not recol
lect having seen one in any of their morrts, that did
not belong to some visitant from a neighbouring tribe.
They have a breed of cats of a small species, and as
rats are numerous and troublesome, the utility of these
little animals recommends them to some care ; with these
exceptions, the Tudas and their herds alone inhabit these
sequestered glades.
Their buffaloes are of a much better description than
those of the low country ; and the milk they yield is
of a flavour and richness, superior to any of the kind I
have ever met with.
To breed the oxen or the sheep of the low country,
requires more care than the Tuda is disposed to bestow
on them, and the buffaloe is an animal to which this

14 CATTLE.
climate seems better adapted than that of the plains.
They are not tormented by the innumerable flies and in
sects that in the latter force them to plunge into water,
or, as the case may be, into some muddy pool, remaining
therein for the greater part of the day with their snouts
above the surface ; but here, they quietly range over only
the downs, in herds often from a hundred to a hundred
and fifty, or two hundred, unmolested and unannoyed,
feeding on a rich and luxuriant herbage, more adapted
to their taste than the finer kinds of grass.
The only articles which the Tudas produce, are butter
and ghee ; such of the latter as they do not require for
their own consumption, they dispose of to some of the
neighbouring tribes, who transport it to the low country.
Early in the morning, or rather as soon as the sun has
risen, the herd is liberated from the Tu-el,* and the
calves, which during the night have been confined in a
separate pen, are allowed to join them. The milking is
now commenced by one, two, or more of the males of
the family or community, who have gone through certain
purifications (to be mentioned hereafter), in order to
qualify themselves to perform this duty. After this the
herd is allowed to graze about, in the vicinity of the
morrt, and these dairymen now convert the milk which
had been drawn off the preceding evening, into but-

* The Tuda name for the area before mentioned.

HOUSEHOLD DUTIES. 15
ter, &c, set aside so much of the milk now drawn, as is
intended for this purpose also, and with the remainder
and a little of the butter-milk of the preceding evening,
mix up a beverage, of which they and the whole family
partake. Of this there is generally a superfluity, which is
carefully set aside for the use of the family during the
day, or for that of any stranger or visitant who may come
to the morrt.
Some individuals of the family, usually of the male sex,
but who, if the day is fine, are not unfrequently accom
panied by one, two, or more of the females, now drive the
herd to a greater distance to graze. The remainder of
the females engage themselves in their household duties ;
if young mothers, in nursing and taking care of their chil
dren ; if unmarried, or widows, in arranging their little
dwellings, in cleaning the grain of the husk, reducing it
to meal, or parching it in an unbroken state, while others
are employed in working the borders of their mantles.
Any of the men or boys who have not followed the
herd, now fetch the water required for domestic purposes,
or proceed to the neighbouring forest for firewood ; or,
if it be required, to some one of the Burgher or other
villages, for a further supply of that portion of the
produce which falls to their share.*
About noon the herd is again brought within the
* This subject will be fully entered on in another place.

16 EVENING REPAST.
vicinity of the morrt, all those who followed it return-
ing home, excepting the one or two whose duty it is to
attend it during the day.
A little butter-milk having been added to the morn
ing's milk when it was set aside, it will now have become
sufficiently curded, and the dairymen proceed to churn
and make butter of it, or to clarify the butter previously
made, and convert it into ghee.
Towards evening the herd draw together around the
morrt, and as they approach the Tu-el, the whole of the
family, male and female, make them a kind of obeisance,
by bringing up the right hand to the head, the thumb
lying along the nose, the hand open, and fingers ex
panded. The evening repast, consisting of different preparations
of milk, meal, parched grain,* and butter, has now been
prepared ; and this over, the lamp is lighted, the same
obeisance paid to it as to the herd, and the family retire
to rest.
Evidently of a peaceful character, having no weapon
of defence, no fastening to their dwellings further than
the little door previously mentioned, (for, situated as
their morrts are, they cannot be said to have sought it
either from the forest or morass ;) no protection against

* Rice, though not grown on the hills, is now become an article of
considerable consumption among them, and is considered a delicacy.

PRIMITIVE FORM OF SOCIETY. 17
the wild beasts of the field, not even the nightly guardian
or common watch dog ; living rather in families than in
societies, without any of those bonds of union which man
in general is induced to form, from a sense of common
danger, or to guard against the oppression of his neigh
bours ; and, as previously mentioned, migrating from one
part of the hills to another, the Tudas pass their days
in a manner quite peculiar to themselves, and apparently
in all the silence, quiet, and rural simplicity, characteristic
of a patriarchal government and a pastoral life.
We must not, however, picture to ourselves a scene of
Utopian felicity, or suppose them altogether strangers to
the passions and vices incident to human nature. They
are indolent and slothful, except when acting from some
peculiarly exciting cause, on which occasions they shew
much energy, and undergo great fatigue ; totally unac
quainted, till of late, with any of the luxuries of life, not
even knowing the use of salt, and having no wants except
what nature in almost her simplest state requires ; these
passions certainly do not shew themselves in their
demeanour towards strangers, nor in their conduct
towards their neighbours; for by the former they have
always been much admired, and by the latter they are
highly respected and esteemed.
I never saw a people, civilized or uncivilized, who
seemed to have a more religious respect for the rights
of meum et tuum. This feeling is taught to their chil-

18 TRUTH AND HONESTY.
dren from the tenderest age. The curiosity of the men,
as well as of the women, was strongly excited by the num
berless things they saw about our persons, or in our dwell
ings, all being new and wonderful to them ; and they
have frequently been in my rooms, during the absence of
myself and my servants, without my ever missing the
smallest article.
Like the natives of the low country, they call false
hood one of the worst of vices, and they have a temple
dedicated to Truth ; but I fear that both the temple and
its object are but too often forgotten.
Report also speaks of their following some barbarous
customs, particularly that of infanticide.
Few in number, those arrived at the age of puberty not
exceeding six hundred, and apparently a remnant of some
tribe driven by religious persecution to seek safety in
these mountains, they may have been taught by ex
perience that it is wiser for them to live in fellow
ship, or quiescent submission, than to provoke hatred
or hostility.
They, however, assert a claim to the soil, and declare
that it was only by their sufferance that the other tribes
came to reside on it; that they receive from them a
payment in kind, not, however, for so many kaunies or
acres, but for such or such a spot, measuring it with the
eye : an indefinite sort of demarkation, which, where land
is so plentiful, and the inhabitants so few, is not attended
with any inconvenience.

RELIGION. 19
Of the tribes here alluded to, one whom they call the
Marves,* a race of Hindus, who, but a few generations
ago, emigrated hither, to escape the oppression and
tyranny of their masters, and who are ten times more
numerous than the Tudas themselves, speak of the
latter, and treat them with a respect and observance
denoting that they either consider them superior in
natural qualities, or that this deference is due to them
by prescriptive right.
Some of the latter have also a dread of them, believing
that they possess preternatural powers. The Marves,
however, are a timid race, deeply imbued with super
stition ; the Tudas a hardy and fearless one, superior in
stature, distinct in religion, language, customs, and mode
of living ; with a carriage and demeanour bespeaking a
boldness and freedom unknown to the others, their ap
parent consciousness of superiority alone, would readily
command a corresponding acknowledgment of it from
the former.
Whatever their religion may be, it is evident that it is
generally misunderstood ; and perhaps the true nature of
it is altogether unknown. Of itself it forms a subject of
curious inquiry ; and one of which a correct understand
ing will perhaps go further than any other, to develope
the history of this extraordinary people.
* More generally known by the name of Burghers, Buddacars, or
Vaddacars.
C 2

20 RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS.
At first, they were shy and mysterious on this subject,
and affected image worship. One of the Kattaul family
told me, that the sacred dairy before mentioned was the
tabernacle of their God ; that it was divided into two
apartments, in one of which were performed the offices
of the dairy, and that the other was appropriated solely
to the idol ; that each morrt or family had a different
idol, . and that the name of that of Kattaul was What-
kuraz. However, it happened shortly after, one rainy day,
that this Tuda, his wife and child, had seated themselves
by my fireside, and the woman, turning to her husband,
complained of a severe cold. He told her to pray to
 ; I lost the name, but it was not that of their house
hold God, nor could I gather from them what being was
intended. The woman mumbled a sort of prayer for the
space of four or five minutes, and then, with much ap
parent confidence, said she would soon be well.
This circumstance led me to suspect the truth of what
had formerly been told me regarding idol worship ; and
seeing little chance of eliciting the truth, till after much
tedious investigation, I took a suitable opportunity of
gaining admission into one of these temples.
This was at a morrt, where the temple being removed
some hundred yards from the inhabited dwellings, and
the surrounding wood running in between the two, so
as partially to screen the one from the other, admitted

TEMPLES. 21
of my making the attempt with little chance of inter
ruption. After some trouble, I managed to open the door, by
rolling it over on its side into a groove or niche made on
purpose to receive it. It consisted of one piece of a heavy
kind of wood, six inches in thickness, but, as may be sup
posed from what has been mentioned of the door-way,
small in its dimensions as to height and width.
On looking into the interior of the temple, I observed
the partition-wall, as described to me, dividing the space
within into two apartments ; and in the centre of it, and
exactly in a line with the first door-way, another opening,
but of smaller dimensions, and without any door. Within
the inner apartment, and opposite to the two door-ways,
I thought I saw a shining object, much resembling the
small idols commonly seen similarly placed in Hindu
temples. With some difficulty I passed through the outer portal,
and entered the first apartment, which I found to be about
ten feet by eight, but in the centre only of height suffi
cient to stand upright. On two sides were raised places,
a foot and a half from the ground, intended to recline or
sleep on ; and in the middle a large hearth or fire-place,
surrounded by a number of earthen pots, and other dif
ferent utensils of the dairy.
The door-way in the partition-wall being much smaller
than the outer one, I made several attempts before I sue-

Sza TEMPLES.
ceeded in getting through it, but this I at last effected
by lying on my side, and in that position twisting myself
through. This apartment, excepting in height, was of smaller
dimensions than the other, but surrounded on three sides
by similar raised places ; and on each side of the door-way
were little niches, apparently intended for lamps.
Within this apartment was almost total darkness, and
to my surprise the shining object which I had observed
from without was no longer visible.
After carefully searching every part, I was about to
return, fully convinced that there was no idol, and from
what I had seen of Hindu temples, that this had never
been intended for the reception of one, when I thought I
observed the shining object ; but it again disappeared, and
left me in darkness as before. However, after a minute
or two it returned, and then remained fixed.
I now discovered that this object was nothing more
than a shapeless piece of rude stone, having no symbolic
form ; and that it was evident it had at one time consti
tuted a part of the raised seat ; that the cause of my not
seeing it for some time after I had been in this apartment,
as well as the reason of the extreme darkness, and of the
coming and going of the light, was my servant standing
before the outer doorway, and obstructing the rays of the
sun, which, darting through these two entrances, caused
the comparative and transient brilliancy.

TEMPLES. 23
I afterwards mentioned these circumstances to some
of the Tudas, who laughed at my curiosity. As I became
more generally and better acquainted with them, they
dropped all affectation and mystery, and shewed the same
openness and candour on this, as they had hitherto done
on other subjects.
This affectation of a worship resembling that of their
neighbours, of danger in approaching the sacred lacta-
rium, and of the malevolence and power of the residing
deity, is not, however, without an object. All the other
tribes, and the natives from the low country, believe the
pretended fact to be real. This keeps them on better
terms than they would otherwise be ; and the only wonder
is, that after so many ages as they must have been on
these hills, they should not, in reality, have fallen into
the religion of the nations surrounding them.
But of the Hindu Triad, or of their progeny in any
of the numerous ramifications, they have no notion ; and,
independently of the absence of idols, their disbelief in
transmigration plainly shews, that whatever their religion
may be, it is not a branch of the Brahmanical faith.
On one occasion that I visited one of their morrts, a
Brahman was with me. He had not before seen any of
their habitations ; and on my pointing out to him the
sacred building, he immediately proceeded towards it,
and, confiding in the sanctity and privilege of his caste,
endeavoured to enter. His astonishment, however, was

24 TEMPLES.
very great ; for he was not only refused admittance, but
actually driven away by some boys, who rushed out of it
on hearing his approach.
Their women are not allowed to enter this temple, nor
are the men at all times ; but only when they are in that
state which is considered to be pure.* The boys of the
family, however, have free ingress and egress, and much
of the business of the dairy is performed by them.
Nor has their religion, as far as I am able to judge,
any resemblance to that of the Budist, the Moslem, or
of any other people of the present day. They salute the
sun on its rising, and believe that after death the soul
goes to Huma-norr, or Om-norr,t a country respecting
which they seemed rather to look to me for information,
than to attempt to give any account of it themselves.
It is quite amusing to see the mutual contempt of the
Brahman and the Tuda; and I am persuaded there is
a jealousy and fear on the part of these people, towards
the Hindu nations who surround them ; to which feeling
I attribute, in some measure, their unwillingness at first
to give any correct information respecting their religion
and particular customs.
They have some traditions bearing reference to a
period about the time of Rama; when, they say, they

* How this state is attained will appear hereafter.
f Literally the great country.

LANGUAGE. 25
inhabited the low country. One among these is,
that their forefathers were the subjects of Raven, and
that being afterwards unable to bear the severities im
posed on them by the successful Rama,* they fled to
these mountains as a place of refuge, driving their herds
before them, carrying their females and children on their
shoulders, and vowing to wear no covering to their heads
till they had wreaked their vengeance on their oppressors.
But I doubt the genuineness of all these stories, and
imagine they have gathered them from some of their
Hindu neighbours.
Their language, the pronunciation of which is deeply
pectoral, appears to be quite distinct from the languages
of the surrounding countries. With the Sanscrit it has
not the least affinity, in roots, construction, or sound ;
and, if I may venture to say so, as little with any other
Asiatic language of the present day.
It may, perhaps, be said to have some resemblance to
the vernacular Hindu languages of the Peninsula, but
only in so far as these languages still possess simple
words, not of Sanscrit origin ; arid the Tamil possessing
by far the greatest number of such words, the resem
blance to it is consequently greatest. There are also two
sounds, the Zha and the Ukh,t which are of constant

* Vide Ramayana Valmica, Yudda Canda.
-j- At the present day, however, these two sounds are very imper-

Q6 LANGUAGE.
occurrence in the Tuda, and which, in respect to the
vernacular languages of the plain, are peculiar to the
Tamil, and its sister dialect, the Malayal'ma. Besides
these, the pronouns, the plural, the honorary termina
tion of verbs, and the negative verb, come nearer to the
Tamil than to any of the other dialects. *
With these exceptions, however, it differs widely, and
bears so little affinity in genius, either to it or to any
of the dialects of the present day, that although these
hills have now been the seat of the principal collector's
cutcherry for the last ten years, there is no instance of
its having been acquired by any one of the native ser
vants, sufficiently for them to understand the expression
ofthe simplest occurrence.
The other tribes also who inhabit these hills, a cir
cumstance still more surprising, have not become con
versant with it. However, the Tudas generally have
acquired a sufficient knowledge of the Carnataca and
the Tamil, to make themselves partially understood.
The paucity of subjects of communication between
them, or between the latter and any of the public
servants of the cutcherry, has hitherto prevented both
the neighbouring tribes, and the public native servants,
from troubling themselves to acquire a language, which

fectly expressed in either the Tamil, or the Malayal'ma, and it is not
uncommon for other sounds to be substituted for them.

LANGUAGE. 27
they do not hesitate to assign, not to the eastern, but to
the western hemisphere.
They have no written character, nor any visible symbol
by which to communicate their thoughts ; and the lan
guage being merely oral, it is of course the more difficult
to acquire.
Whether this language has always been oral, or whether
it may not at one time have had an alphabet, is, I think,
doubtful. They express surprise at the process of writing,
either with the pen or stylus ; and the loose manner in
which individuals pronounce the same words, would seem
to prove that, if they ever had a character, or any kind
of standard to their language, it has been long lost to
them. In order to come to any definite or satisfactory con
clusion respecting the Tudas, or their language, it is
necessary, however, to know the prominent features, and
history of the other tribes who dwell on these mountains,
to institute a comparison between the two, to see what
customs are original to each, and in what particulars they
bear resemblance to each other.

28 VARIOUS TRIBES.

CHAPTER II.

At the foot of these mountains, and for a short dis
tance within the forests extending from their base into
the plains, live a race of people, commonly known by the
name of Erulars.* They are divided into two classes,
one called Urali,t the other Curutalei.t
Above these, at a height varying from one to two
thousand feet, in the clefts of the mountains and little
openings in the woods, with which at this elevation they
are girt, live another race, calling themselves Curum-
bars. § This race are all of one class.
People answering to the general description of both

* The unenlightened or barbarous, from the Tamil word Erul,
darkness. It is to be observed that this is a term applied to them by
their neighbours. From the wild kind of life which they lead it is
difficult to ascertain their number, but I should suppose it to be less
than a thousand.
¦f Signifying the rulers of the people.
^ The common people.
§ The wilful or self-willed. Their neighbours, when speaking of
them, usually prefix to their name the term Mullu, a thorn. They are
computed to be about a thousand in number, of all ages.

ERULAR TRIBE. 29
these tribes, are to be met with in many of the moun
tainous parts of the Peninsula, but the Erulars of this
vicinity differ from them in many particulars ; and the
Curumbars, from their connexion with the tribes who
inhabit the more elevated parts of the mountains, and
particularly with the Tudas, are now quite distinct from
the people bearing this name in other parts of the
country. Neither of these tribes know the use of the plough, or,
at least, they do not use it to till any part of the lands
which they occupy ; and being quite unskilled in all the
arts of life, their state of being is but little removed from
that of utter uncivilization.
Their languages are jargons formed from a mixture of
those of the nations nearest to them, such as the Tamil,
the Carnataca, or the Malayal'ma ; that of the Curumbar
having a considerable intermixture of the Tuda. They
may be classed as Hindus ; and to the introduction
among them of some of the Hindu observances, they
seem to owe the little civilization to which they can be
said to have claim.
The Tudas do not consider the Erulars as forming a
part of the inhabitants of the hills, but they allow this
designation to the Curumbars, whom they call Curbs,*
and from whom they receive certain services.
* Their term for a cleft or glen.

30 COHATAR TRIBE.
The next are the Cohatars.* They occupy many of
the elevated parts of the mountains.
They are a strange race, have no distinction of caste,
and differ as much from the other tribes of the moun
tains as they do from all other natives of India. They
cultivate a considerable quantity of the different kinds of
millet and of the poppy, and sometimes a little barley.
They are the only artisans of the hills, being goldsmiths,
silversmiths, potters, chaccileis, &c. &c. They are not
Hindus, but worship ideal gods of their own, which, how
ever, they do not represent by any image. Their villages
are, many of them, very prettily situated, and generally
on a hill ; and every hill thus occupied is called Cohata-
giri, or, as more commonly pronounced, Cotagiri. These
people the Tudas call Cuvs, — their term for a mechanic.
We now come to the most numerous, the most wealthy,
and what must be considered the most civilized class of
the inhabitants. These are the Burghers.
By this general term is understood the whole of the
people who, since a certain period, have migrated to
these mountains. They divide themselves into no less
than eight different classes, but are all Hindus of the
Siva sect, and the dissimilitude among most of these

* As this tribe kill and eat a great deal of beef, it was no doubt
intended by their Hindu neighbours that they should be called Goha-
tars, from the Sanscrit Go, a cow, and Hata, slaying, &c. They are in
number about 2000.

BURGHER TRIBE. 31
classes is too trifling to be worthy of remark. The
least respected among them are a class who, as well
as being cultivators of the earth, also manufacture a
coarse kind of sackcloth ; other two of the classes are of
the caste who wear the lingam, one being superior, and
qualified to officiate as priests to the whole of the others ;
and another of the classes are repudiated Brahmans.
These, however, still wear the sacerdotal string, and re
tain some privileges in the performance of their worship,
but they are classed with the other people, and are with
out any pretensions to superiority over them.
These several classes compose the tribe which by us
is known by the general term Burgher.* They are the
principal cultivators, and as their chief dependence is on
husbandry, they may fairly be designated the farmers of
the hills. Their language is principally the Carnataca,
having but a small intermixture ofthe Tuda. The Tudas,
who also know as little as we do, in general, of the exist
ence of any difference of caste among themselves, call
them all Marvs, — their term for a labourer.
But to return to that tribe which is the least in number
of all the inhabitants of the hills, the Tudas, or, as they are
more commonly called, the Toruwars,+ a name given to

* Called by the natives generally, and more correctly, Badacars, or
Vadacars, from Badacu, or Vadacu, north, these people having come
to the hills from that quarter. I compute the number of this race to
be about 10,000, of both sexes and all ages. «^J L "*> n
f A Tamil term for herdsmen. This remnant of a race, perhaps the

32 TUDA TRIBE.
them by the other tribes, or rather by the natives of the
plain, and which is not in use among themselves. They
call themselves (par excellence) Men ; and the question,
" is that a Burgher, or a Tuda ? " would with them be
literally, — is that a labourer, or a man ?
They are divided into two branches, or what may be
considered two grand families. One called Peikis, or
Terallis, and who are competent to hold all sacred offices ;
the other Kutas, or Tardas, who are competent only to
hold minor ones within their own particular families, and
who may be considered as the lay class.
Till within the last few generations, these two branches
kept themselves quite distinct, and never intermarried;
but since that period, intermarriages have taken place, and
the progeny of these are called Mookhs, — a general term
for children or descendants.

It was now the month of March ; the frost and ex
treme cold had been succeeded by a milder degree of
temperature, and we proposed to pass a few days in our
tents, proceeding in the first instance to Cardni, a hill t
about three or four miles south of Oatacamund.

most extraordinary of any known, does not exceed in number, including
both sexes and of all ages, six hundred.
f With the Tudas, every hill or eminence has a particular name. If
a large hill or mountain, Marz is affixed to it, — as Petmarz, Curugmarz
&c. &c. &c.

CAIRNS. 33
On this hill were some stone circles, which the Tudas
call P'hins,* and it was the examination of these circles
that was the object of our first sojourn on the spot.
They were four in number, situated on the summit of
the hill, in a line with one another, and having a distance
between them of five or six feet. Each consisted of a
wall, four or five feet in height, by three feet in thick
ness, formed of unhewn stones, some of a large size,
and such as are occasionally seen scattered about on the
surface of the hills. These were piled one upon the
other without cement, and formed a circle about eight
feet in diameter.
We opened a central circle, and on clearing away the
interior surface, which had been completely overgrown
with bushes and a rank sort of vegetation, came to a
pavement, consisting of large flags, which being removed,
we found another pavement of smaller stones, but of
the same rude description. Below these was a layer of
brownish black mould, about two feet in depth, inter
mixed with pieces of broken earthen pots, bits of char
coal, broken fragments of earthen images of the buffaloe,
and with other soil of a blacker and finer kind than that
which formed the principal component of the whole.
Immediately below the black mould, about three feet

* Also a common term for a pot, urn, or any vessel of such like
description. D

34 CAIRNS.
from the natural surface, we came to a stratum of strong
argillacious soil, corresponding with what is usually found
at the same depth in most parts of the hills ; and on
examining several circumjacent spots, at the distance of
fifty or sixty yards, we found them to agree in every
respect with what we observed of the soils within the
circle, except that there was no admixture of the finer
black mould.
On the summit of a hill, a short distance from that on
which we had passed the day, were three other P'hins,
resembling in appearance the one we had opened. They
were similarly situated, in a line with one another, and
having equal distances between them ; indeed, on every
eminence, in any way peculiar for its height, isolation,
or great extent of table land, one, two, or more of these
P'hins are to be seen.
Rude as they are, both in material and construction,
they must have been the result of much labour, for most
of the stones could only have been collected at a consider
able distance from the spot where they were required.
They are evidently the work of former days, and have
still such an appearance of durability, that, if only
assailed by time, they may yet remain as monuments
for future ages.
Not quite satisfied with our first experiment, we re
moved with our little working party to a much higher
hill, at some distance, on the top of which was a single

¦

aa&^j!

...  ?

AntLo£uati_es ,
OTB IK THE CMBJSIS OT (M£<0OTo
on. tke Neilgkexry lomkms

ANTIQUITIES. 35
P'hin, conspicuous for its elevation, and for having grow
ing from its centre, the only lofty tree to be seen on
the hill.
We found this circle in every respect the same with
regard to its construction, and to the nature and depth
of the soils, as the one we had opened the day pre
ceding ; but immediately below the flags, and embedded
in the alluvial soil, we discovered numerous urns, from
one of which the accompanying sketch is made. Some
of these relics were nearly entire, in a perpendicular
position, with their lids on, as when first deposited ; but
the greater number were pressed out of all form, and
intermixed with the surrounding soil, forming a mass
corresponding to that which we had turned up in our
examination of the former P'hin.
Here also we found figures of the buffaloe, the tiger,
the peacock, the antelope, &c, and on putting together
the different parts of the broken urns, and comparing
them with those we had taken up in a nearly entire state,
it appeared to us that the figures might have formed
ornaments to the tops of the urns, and that these were as
likely to have been produced according to the mere fancy
of the potter, as that they were (what we had before con
ceived them to be) objects of worship. The urns that
were entire, or nearly so, were filled with the black kind
of earth before mentioned, together with small pieces
of charcoal.
d 2

36 EXCURSION.
Having passed a pleasant day, and our researches
having been in some degree satisfactory to us, we pro
ceeded on the following morning to Nanjanaad, a Burgher
village about eight miles distant from Oatacamund, on
the road to the Mheur mountains, the features of which
now became distinctly visible.
Nanjanaad is a small village, situated on the gentle slope
of a hill which shelters it from the severer blasts. It con
sists of two streets, or rather rows of houses, with low
verandahs projecting from their fronts, and looking to
wards the foot of the hill, the eaves of the thatch at the
back nearly touching the acclivity.
The roofs of these dwellings are supported on posts,
and the intermediate spaces filled up with a strong wattle
work, which, overlaid with several coats of plaster, and
well covered in, answers every purpose of a more sub
stantial wall.
Exclusive of the verandah, each dwelling is divided
into two apartments, the one first entered is sometimes
the more spacious room of the two, while the inner one
is separated from the former by a cross wall, with a
small door in the centre.
Like the habitations of most of the lower classes in
India, these houses are only lighted by the small door
way which opens into the verandah. In the inner
apartment is the hearth or fire place, where a fire is

EXCURSION. 37
kept constantly burning, serving as well to cook their
food, as to warm both the inmates and the dwelling.
The latter, however, it affects in a manner extremely
unpleasant to those who are not accustomed to such
a process, for there being no chimney, the smbke has
to find a passage for itself by the only door-way, or
through some crevice in the walls or roof.
In front of each row is an area, about twenty or thirty
yards in breadth, bounded by a low stone wall : the inter
mediate space is well beaten, hard, and dry. This serves
as a thrashing floor for such grain as they thrash
out with the hand, and as a place to winnow and expose
it thoroughly to dry before it is stored in the garners,
which also occupy a part of this area, or sometimes of the
verandah of each dwelling.
At one end of the village is the well-hardened circle,
on which the oxen tread out the larger kind of grain,
such as wheat or barley ; and at the other end is what
may be called their farm yard, in which were several well
secured enclosures for their cattle, one or two small
stacks of straw, the remainder of the fodder which had
been provided for their cattle during the winter months
of December, January, and February, the plough and
other implements of husbandry, broods of domestic
poultry, calves, &c. &c.
A good deal of cultivation was evidently carried on in
the vicinity of this village, and even at this early period
they had commenced ploughing.

38 DAIRY.
It has before been mentioned that the Burghers keep
cows and oxen as well as buffaloes. On this occasion,
we observed a large herd of the former grazing on the
downs at a short distance, and in the evening, as they
drew towards the village, we took the opportunity of
making a few inquiries respecting them. They are of a
very small breed, but as the only purposes for which the
Burgher requires the ox, are to draw a light plough,
or to tread out his corn, they are fully equal to their
work. The milk of these cows, though rich and of a fine
flavor, is commonly not more in quantity than a fortieth
part of what English cows, brought to these mountains,
are known to yield. This deficiency, however, is made up
by the large quantity which the buffalo yields ; and the
whole being mixed together, is converted into butter or
ghee, in which state it is generally used.
The Burgher is less in stature than the Tuda, of a
more slender form, and though straight and well made,
under-sized in limb. In complexion, both male and
female are some shades lighter than the Tuda ; but
their features are quite of another cast, and those of
their females, though by no means bad, are devoid of
that lively transition in expression, which, in the Tuda
women, seems to pourtray a perfect freedom of thought,
while their men are without that fine manly bearing,
so remarkably characteristic of the Tuda tribe. Their

DRESS OF THE BURGHER TRIBE. 39
dress much resembles that of the Tuda, consisting of
an upper and under garment ; but all the men wear
a turban or some kind of cloth wrapped round the head ;
the dress of the women is very different, consisting
of a sort of petticoat, tied close under the arms, (which,
with a part of the neck, are left bare,) and drawn toge
ther again a little above the ancles. These are the only
instances of dissimilitude in dress between them and
the Tudas. They both puncture the skin about the
neck and arms, and males and females wear much the
same kind of ornaments, such as rings for the ears and
fingers, necklaces, armlets, and girdles. The difference
is still so great, however, as immediately to strike the
eye, even of a stranger. The Burgher possesses much
of the manner and appearance of the Hindu cultivator
of Mysore, and his wife, who seldom or never stirs from
home, seems rather a domestic slave than the mistress
of a family,
A very good understanding exists between these two
tribes, the Tuda assuming to himself a superiority which
the Burgher has no inclination to dispute ; and the
former, content with this privilege, willingly yields to
the latter the palm of superior civilization and domestic
economy ; which he would think dearly bought, if at
the expense of any portion of his natural liberty, or of
his freedom to range, when and where he pleases, over
his native mountains.

40 SALUTATION.
This indifference on the part of the latter, and the
more domestic character of the former, have led to the
Burghers being vested with an intermediate authority
between the Tuda and the governing party, whoever they
may be ; and the name of this or that Burgher is still
mentioned, who in his day, exercised an authority over
them almost paramount.
As the night was drawing in, not without some in
dications of an approaching storm, the Burghers took
their leave, and proceeded towards the village, accompa
nied by our Tuda guide. The latter had been promised
food and lodging in the house of the principal Burgher ;
for although his host would not eat with him, the Tuda
felt no delicacy of this kind, or any hesitation to partake
of what the family of the former might prepare for him.
On their way towards the village, I observed two young
men of the Tuda tribe, who appeared to have come from
some distance, go up to the Burgher, and bow their heads
to him, with an inclination of the body, far from ungrace
ful. The Burgher having laid his hands upon them, they
resumed their erect position and proceeded on their
journey. We now retired to our tents, in the immediate front of
which we found a large wood fire, which was by no means
uncomfortable. We had arranged for the next day to make a circuit
over the mountains in this vicinity, that we might visit

FAMILY DISPUTE. 41
one or two of the morrts. However, as we were about to
start, we received a message from some of the inhabitants
of the village, begging we would see them righted in an
affair, in which one of our followers was concerned.
On enquiry it appeared that the man against whom this
accusation was made, was a shrewd, active young Burgher,
who had come with us from Oatacamund, and who ven
tured to shew himself in this village, presuming on the
immunity which he supposed the villagers would grant
him, in consequence of his being with us. They had
done so for the first day or two, but gaining confidence
by our frequent communications, they now determined to
solicit our arbitration on the subject in question.
The Burghers do not betroth their children at the early
age that is common with the Hindus of the plain, though
it is usual for parents to enter into engagements for the
marriage of their sons and daughters, previous to the young
people becoming acquainted with one another. However,
it frequently happens that these engagements are not
made, or if made, that they are broken ; and that the youth
seeks a wife, guided only by his own inclinations. In
this case, he expresses his wishes to the parents ofthe girl,
and if they approve, he is invited to their house, feasted,
and made to pass the night there. In the morning the
daughter expresses her sentiments to her parents : if they
are unfavorable, it is intimated to the youth that his
absence is desired ; if favourable, he is invited to remain :

42 MATRIMONIAL ENGAGEMENTS.
information of the occurrence is sent to his relations, the
Parriyam,* or price of the daughter demanded, and if
paid, or promised to be paid, the young man receives the
Sitanam,t or his bride's portion, takes her to his home,
consults the astrologer as to a fortunate day, invites the
whole of the relations of both parties, and within what
is considered a proper period, the marriage ceremony is
performed. The same freedom, however, that on the following
morning is allowed to the female, is also allowed to the
youth ; and should any change have taken place in his
inclinations, he walks away without further ceremony. —
This, according to the young man's statement, was now
the point at issue. He insisted on having done nothing
more than what was warranted by ancient custom : — the
opposite party urged, that it was not the first instance of
similar conduct on his part, in the same village ; that
there was much proof to be adduced of the insincerity of
his intentions ; and that, in other villages, he had an
equal reputation for gallantry.
It was not our province to arbitrate between them,
and we therefore proceeded on our visit to the morrts.
* On an average between twenty and twenty-five rupees.
f This, in value, is generally about one half of what has been paid
to the bride's relations, but consists of a milch cow or buffalo, female
ornaments, and a brazen dish or salver. But the value of the Sitanam,
or the amount of the Parriyam, varies of course according to the cir
cumstances of the parties.

HOSPITABLE RECEPTION. 43
Arriving at the first, we were kindly welcomed, the whole
of the inmates coming out to receive us, but these at this
moment comprehended only the females, boys and girls
of the family, the men having gone out on some business,
or to follow the herd, which at this season they are often
obliged to drive to a great distance for pasture.
The matron of the party enquired after our health,
whether we had taken food, whether we would partake
of some milk and millet-meal, directed two of the. boys
to run to the eastern side of the mountain, to see if any
of the wild strawberries, or raspberries, or of the hill-
gooseberry were yet fit to gather ; and concluded her
address with the expression of many similar kind thoughts
and proffers of hospitable attention.
At first their surprise was so great, that they seemed
almost to disbelieve their senses ; and as this subsided,
they still shewed the greatest eagerness to know who or
what we were, how or whence we came, but more than
all, by what possible means their language had /become
familiar to us.
We had brought with us a small tent, servants, and a
few supplies, intending to make our mid-day repast some
where in this neighbourhood ; and as we here found our
selves such welcome visitors, we thought we could not do
better than pass the noon in the society of these good-
natured and kind-hearted people.
Our tent had but just been pitched, and we were still

44 FILIAL RESPECT.
on the same spot where we had first halted, when a pretty
young woman, one of the group sitting around us,
and a boy, apparently her brother, jumped up and ran
off to meet an old man, whom we had before observed
approaching the morrt, carrying a small sack on his
shoulder. They assisted to relieve him of his burthen,
then crouched down and bowed their heads, so as to bring
them in contact with his right foot, which, for this pur
pose, he projected towards them. They then resumed
their former position, and, while in the act of doing so,
he laid his hands upon their heads, and gave them his
blessing. It was their father : — he had been to a distant Burgher
village, to procure a supply of meal, with which he was
now returning hpme.
Having finished our repast, we took our leave, followed
by the good wishes of the whole party, and with repeated
solicitations to return at some future period.
At the other morrt we were greeted in the same way ;
but evening was fast approaching, and we were many
miles from Nanjanaad, whither we were obliged to return
to pass the night.
Neither of these morrts differed, in any particular,
from those which have been already described ; three or
four dwelling huts, the sacred dairy, and the mural
inclosure for the herd, were the only structures of which
they could boast.

BEAUTIFUL SCENERY. 45
We had been highly delighted with the country through
which we passed, though not a little surprised at the total
absence of cultivation ; and now learned, for the first
time, that we had been wandering, for the greater part of
the day, within the limits of Mheur, and that Nanjanaad
was the last, or nearly so, of the Burgher villages, or
cultivated spots in this direction.
Our path had led us through a variety of scenery, some
times over mountains, from which we had commanding
views of the surrounding country ; of Oatacamund and
its many white buildings, forming a lively contrast to the
general features of the scene ; and now and then, as we
gained some more than common height, we obtained a
sight of the distant plains below.
Occasionally we passed through groves of lofty trees,
linked together with a gigantic sort of jessamine, which
swung in tasteful festoons between them, adding to the
romantic beauty of the scenery, and giving much of the
appearance of artificial decoration.
We traversed several valleys, intersected with many a
fertilizing stream, offering every inducement to cultiva
tion ; and passed frequently over large tracts of marshy
ground, covered with the finest pasturage.
No barren rocks or sandy unprofitable plains are here ;
all is one universal scene of verdure, in its most beauteous
and healthful form ; which, combined with the advantages
of a highly salubrious climate, seems almost to solicit the
habitation and industry of man.

46 SINGULAR CASE.
But to the greater part of these advantages the Tuda is
quite insensible. He feeds his herd, thankfully takes that
which nature freely gives, and thinks, or seems to think, it
would be sacrilege to urge her to give more.
Some ofthe inhabitants from each ofthe morrts which
we had visited, came to see us the following day. The
accounts they had received from their families, on their
return home in the evening, having suggested to them
one advantage to which our knowledge of their language
might be applied, and which was, to translate into that of
their present masters the subjects of some disputes then
existing among them. The opportunity was one of much
promise, with regard to our desire of becoming better
acquainted with their character ; and the remainder of this
day was passed in listening to their various statements,
and in drawing up the following petitions.
They are given here, instead of being thrown into an
Appendix, as they seem to unfold many of the peculi
arities of these people.
The Petition of Kerswan, Kutan of Mukzork.

I gave my daughter Pilluvani to wife to Phori* Pinpurz,
Kutan of Kororr, about fifteen years ago. She was then seven
years of age ; and I gave with her a portion of four buffalo kine,
two of which were of a superior kind, and their milk drawn only

* Names of the mountains on which they were born.

PETITION. 47
for sacred purposes. Some seven or eight years subsequent to
the above period, Pinpurz and Swalt* Khakhood, Kutan of
Pirkorr, came to me, and asked my sanction for Pilluvani to be
wife to the latter, as well as to the former. To this I agreed,
and, as is customary, Khakhood presented me a buffalo. About
a year subsequent to the latter period, Pinpurz, Khakhood, and
Phori Tumbut, Kutan of Kororr, came to me, and begged I would
sanction Pilluvani' s being wife to Tumbut also. This I agreed
to, and Tumbut presented me a buffalo. After my daughter Pil
luvani had also become the wife of Tumbut, Pinpurz borrowed
from him, at different periods, the sum of one hundred and twenty
rupees. It is now about a year ago that Pinpurz refused to allow
Pilluvani to be wife either to Khakhood or to Tumbut, and at the
same time refused to give them the customary equivalent. These
two therefore complained to Mr.  , who directed that the
business should be investigated by a Panchayet, f composed of
individuals from the several Norrs. This Panchayet awarded that
Pilluvani was to be wife to Pinpurz Kutan only, but that he was
to pay to Tumbut ninety rupees, in adjustment of all demands;
and to present to Khakhood eight buffalo kine. To this award,
Pinpurz has hitherto refused compliance, although he will not
allow Pilluvani to be wife to any one but himself; and he has now
complained to the  . The conduct of this Pinpurz is so
infamous, that I will not allow my daughter Pilluvani to be wife
to him any longer. I stated this my determination to the Pan
chayet, but was then overruled by them. I now reclaim my
daughter, and petition that she may be returned to me.
I have witnesses to prove the truth of the whole of the above
statements.

* Names of the mountains on which they were born.
f Punchayet, a committee of five arbitrators.

48 counter statement.
The Petition of Phairm Phonkorr, Kutan of Pirkorr.

My mother had three husbands, Tedidi, Terdevan, and Kirjiav.
To these three husbands she bore two children, myself and my
sister, and died. One of her husbands, Tedidi, also died. The
other two husbands, Terdevan and Kirjiav, took to themselves
other wives ; and I then claimed, on my own part, and on the
part of my sister, our one-third of the whole property of our
mother and of her first husband, and which one-third was to be
equally divided between my sister and myself, This my claim is
according to laws well known among us, regarding the division of
property ; and Terdevan is willing to grant it, but Kirjiav, con
trary to all precedent in such cases, refuses to do so. I there
fore, &c. &c. &c.
This plurality of husbands will be the subject of farther
remarks in another part of this paper. At present it
may suffice to say, that it is lawful for a woman to have
not only two or three husbands, but also as many ce-
cisbeos. On our return to Oatacamund, we made a slight de
tour, in order to visit the cemetery and place of funeral
sacrifice of one of the families of the Tudas.
It was a pretty green spot, partially enclosed with a
low stone wall, situated on the confines of a thick and
extensive wood, which sheltered it on one side, while on
the others it was secluded from general view by con
tiguous and lofty ranges of hills.
It may have been owing to the peculiar train of ideas,
to which a visit to such a place will sometimes give rise,

FUNERAL SACRIFICE. 49
aid our imperfect knowledge of the rites that were here
performed, that a more than common gloom hung over
us, heightened no doubt by the silence, almost breathless,
that pervaded this sequestered vale.
At one extremity of the green was a single hut, and
near to it, a strongly walled area sufficiently spacious
to contain a large herd. At the opposite extremity
were seven posts, in a line one with another, with a
space between them of about ten or eleven feet, and
all around were strewed the bones and horns of buffaloes ;
the bones were principally those of the head, having
the horns still adhering to them.
From the green, our guide conducted us by an almost
impervious path, to a recess in the adjoining wood, the
place appropriated for raising the funeral pile. At a
short distance lay a decayed bier, and from among the
ashes and charcoal which formed a little heap in the
centre, we picked up several human bones which had
passed through the fire.
It was noon day, but the number, and the ample
foliage of the trees, almost entirely excluded the light, so
that we had but an imperfect view of objects, and while
we were still contemplating the black and deadened ap
pearance of those nearest to us, a chorus of voices, so
lemn and mournful, and then a rush, as of a multitude
forcing their way through the wood, engrossed our whole
attention.

50 FUNERAL SACRIFICE.
Nothing that could explain this noise presented itself
to our view, and on turning to our guide for informa
tion, we found, to our surprise, that he had left us.
He had run back to the green on the first sound of the
voices, and, as we returned thither, came to meet us,
protesting that he had not been aware of what was about
to take place ; that the cemetery was that of a family
who resided in another part of the hills ; and that he had
understood but yesterday that the funeral was to be post
poned till the next day. We had no reason to regret
his misunderstanding.
A large concourse of Tudas, both male and female,
had assembled. They were still in procession, moving
towards the centre of the green, and on a bier formed of
green herbs* and the boughs of trees, lay the deceased,
dressed in a new garment and mantle, and having on
the ornaments he had worn in life. Immediately fol
lowing came the mourners, male and female, chanting the
lament, and after these a throng of people, carrying bun
dles of wood,t small sacks of grain, newly-made butter
in cups formed of leaves, or pots of milk, in different
states of preparation, and such few utensils as are.required
by so simple a people in the cookery of a meal, even for

* For several days the body is covered with herbs, which tend to
preserve it from decomposition.
-j- A kind called Kiyars, of which only the funeral pile may be
constructed.

FUNERAL SACRIFICE. 51
a large multitude. At one corner of the green, we ob
served, issuing from the adjoining wood, and goaded on
by ten or twelve athletic Tudas, a herd of buffaloes, the
intended victims of sacrifice, which were driven to the
Tu-el,* and there for the present confined.
The bier was now placed on a rising ground in the
centre of the green, when the friends and relations taking
up a little earth, sprinkled it on the body with much cere
mony, and seating themselves around it, continued their
lamentations. The rest of the assembly dispersed, some
to rear the pile, others to prepare the subsequent repast,
while the remainder collecting in groups, entered into
converse, seemingly unconnected with the passing scene.
At a short distance, crowning the summit of a moun
tain which overlooked this vale of sorrow, sat some twelve
or fifteen Cohatars, with attenuated forms, unseemly garb,
and hair loose flowing in the wind, looking like harpies
waiting the moment whereon to gorge themselves with
their destined prey, rather than any thing allied to
humanity. Three or four other Tudas arrived about this time,
and going up to the corpse, sprinkled a little earth upon
it, bent forward, and making the salutation before de
scribed, threw themselves upon it.
The sacrifice now commenced, but as almost the same
* The area or Byre before mentioned.
E 2

52 BURNING THE DEAD.
ceremony will be described when we come to speak of the
performance of the obsequies, it may suffice at present to
observe, that the animals were forced into a circle around
the body, and there slain ; and as each of the victims
fell, the deceased was addressed by the party sacrificing,
who, mentioning the name of the animal, said they had
sent her* to accompany him.
After the sacrifice, a middle-aged man, the brother of
the deceased, cut off two or three locks of hair from
about the temples ; when the body was conveyed to the
recess in the wood, taken from off the bier and placed
on the pile, the feet to the east, the face downwards, and
without any of the dress or ornaments being removed.
The relations and friends now threw over it handfuls of
parched grain of various descriptions, and of coarse sugar ;
other logs of wood being then heaped over the whole, the
pile was ignited, in the first instance, by the person who
had cut off the locks of hair, and then by the other at
tendants, who afterwards surrounding the pile, continued
their exertions to accomplish the speedy consumption of
the body.
This did not occupy much time. The wood quickly
blazed up, and sent forth a column of smoke that, from
the thickness ofthe foliage and density of the atmosphere,
could not find an easy vent, but spread itself in a cloud

* These were all milch buffaloes, which is generally the case.

BURNING THE DEAD. 53
immediately above us, and quite shut out all light except
that which proceeded from the pile. It was a gloomy spec
tacle. The almost naked forms of the funeral assistants,
for they had previously thrown off their mantles — their
anxiety, and their energy, in encouraging the flame—
their now darkling and savage countenances — the sicken
ing odour from the pile — the yells and cries of the
Cohatars, dragging away the offerings * of the sacrifice —
and the distant moan of the females— gave to the whole
an appearance quite unearthly.
During the continuance of this ceremony, and that
which took place on the green, the relations of the
deceased kept their heads covered, by drawing their man
tles over them ; a variation of costume, with them,
expressive of sorrow and mourning.
Some water was now thrown on the pile, and the rela
tions carefully examining the ashes, selected from them
two or three pieces of the scull bone, and such of the
gold and silver ornaments as they could find, and tying
them up with the locks of hair, in the remnant of an old
mantle, the whole of the party returned to the green.

* The Cohatars allow from a quarter to half a rupee for each buffaloe.

54 TOUR TO THE NORTH-WEST.

CHAPTER III.

The month of April was drawing to a close, the south
west had begun to indicate the approach of the monsoon,
and dense dark clouds collecting about the peaks of
Mheur, emitted occasionally, as they passed over us,
copious and heavy showers.
We had arranged, however, for another tour previous
to the period at which the heavy rains usually set in, and
proceeding in the first instance towards the ruins of a
fortress, lying north-west of Oatacamund, we soon came
in view of the morrt of Meyni,* the scenery of which is
beautiful and picturesque in the extreme. It is situated
on a gentle slope, near the foot of a range of hills, and
just below a graceful opening, through which dark grey
mountains appear in the distance, rising up, as it would
seem, from the very centre of the earth. At the mo
ment of our approach, the mild rays of a morning sun
were fast dispelling the silvery clouds that had collected
about the summits of the mountains, gradually opening
* Commonly called Mahneymund.

VILLAGES. 55
them to view, in all the splendid variety of tint, and
shadowy magnificence.
The morrt was uninhabited, and fast falling into
decay. It is the property of one of the principal men
among the Tudas, who, in addition to this, has two
others, in different parts of the Naad, at either of which
he and his family occasionally reside ; but this he has
quite forsaken, on account of a public road now running
close under it.
As we should have to spend some time in viewing the
beauties of this delightful spot, we determined to take
our breakfast here, and the morning being cold and the
south-west wind very bleak, we gladly availed ourselves
of the shelter from the wind which a little wood afforded,
while at the same time we were fully exposed to the
rising sun.
Winding round the eastern extremity of this range of
hills, we proceeded along their base in a direction north
west, passing on our left another morrt, around which
were straying a numerous herd of buffaloes, that had
just been turned out to graze ; thence we proceeded
through Tuduguli, and one or two other villages
inhabited by Burghers.
These villages were small, consisting of one or two rows
of ten or twelve houses each, but from the number both
of women and healthy looking children, they had every
appearance of possessing a dense population. The men

56 AGRICULTURAL CUSTOMS.
were all in the fields, as the plough was now everywhere
at work, and we here observed a custom which seemed, I
thought, to throw some light on the subject of proprietory
right in the soiL
A family of the Burghers had assembled, the head of
which was about to commence ploughing. With them
were two or three Curumbars, one of whom had set up
a stone in the centre of the spot on which they were
standing, and decorating it with wild flowers, prostrated
himself to it, offered incense, and sacrificed a goat, which
had been brought there for this purpose by the Burghers.
He then took the guidance of the plough, and having
ploughed some ten or twelve paces, gave it over, pos
sessed himself of the head of the sacrificed animal, and
left the Burgher to prosecute his labours.
We were informed that something similar to this cere
mony also takes place when they are going to sow, and
likewise when they are going to reap ; the Curumbar
sowing the first handful, leaves the Burgher to go on with
the remainder, and reaping the first sheaf, delivers it with
the sickle to him, to accomplish the remainder of the task.
On the latter occasion, the Curumbar is allowed to
take as much of the new crop as he likes to carry away,
but the grain contained in the sheaf which he reaped, is
that day reduced to meal, made into cakes, and being
offered as a first-fruit oblation, is, together with the
remainder of the sacrificed animal, partaken of by the

ANCIENT FORT. 57
Burgher and the whole of his family, as the meat of
a federal offering and sacrifice.
At harvest home, or when the whole of the grain has
been gathered in, the Curumbar receives his dues, or his
proportion of the produce, consisting, on an average, of
about one sixtieth part of the whole.
It was two o'clock before we arrived at Mullaycota, the
ruined fortress before mentioned, for though the distance
we had come was not great, the road was very rugged,
and in some parts presented considerable difficulties.
This fort occupies the north-east extremity of a ridge of
hills ; its figure is that of an irregular square, the diameter
of which does not exceed three hundred yards. The walls
are built of rude stone, and of a reddish sort of earth,
which seems to have formed a very good cement. In
cluding the parapet, they rise to between twelve and
fifteen feet above the surrounding level, and in several
parts, project out in the shape of semi towers ; but the
whole is now so completely overgrown with brambles
and other brushwood, that, without much labour, it is
difficult to form a correct notion of its original shape.
It is, however, surrounded by a dry ditch, fearfully deep
in some parts, and generally not less than sixty feet, with
a breadth at the surface of about thirty, but gradually
decreasing towards the bottom. It has never had more
than one entrance, of dimensions sufficient to admit a
horseman, and that by a passage leading through one

58 ANCIENT TEMPLE.
of the semi towers, approached by a causeway little more
than two feet wide, and in one of the deepest parts of
the ditch. In its day, it must have been a place of some
strength, for the extremity of the ridge on which it stands
forms on three sides precipitous descents into the valley,
so that it can only be approached from the summit of the
ridge, in which direction much pains have been taken
to cut off the communication, and to make the ditch as
formidable a barrier as possible.
To the south-east of the fort are hills of much greater
elevation, on which are the ruins of two watch towers,
commanding, in fine weather, most extensive views, but
they are very generally enveloped in mist and clouds.
To the left, as we approached the causeway, is a dila
pidated temple, dedicated to Buswa.* It is divided into
two apartments, one open in front, the other enclosed,
having in the centre of the cross wall a doorway that leads
into the sanctuary of Buswa and his companions, three
Ganesas t and a Hanumah. t This community, though
but poorly housed, command from their silent retreat
the respect and obedience of most of the Burgher tribe,
and an itinerant official was awaiting our departure, to
anoint them, and replace with others their already faded
garlands and chaplets of the wild flowers, sacred to each
of these worthies. We had often seen the same mute

* The Bull, the vehicle of Siva. f Hindu deities.

VALLEYS. 59
personages, or their antitypes, occupying very conspicuous
seats under lofty houses, the recollection of which, and
the desolate appearance of their present humble dwelling,
naturally gave rise to a number of serious reflections.
This fortress was latterly possessed by Tippoo Sultan,
by whom, it is said, the two Speculii were constructed,
having in each a small piece of ordnance, for the purpose
of giving the alarm in case of the approach of any hostile
force from the Nellialam country. At this period the
fort was called Hussain Abad, had a small garrison of
sixty or seventy sepoys, and was commanded by Killidah,
named Syyud Budan. It appears that it was considered
only as an outpost, and was relieved every two months
from Danaikenkota, a fortified town, which is situated at
the eastern base of the mountains on the Mysore side,
which was then called Sharoff Abad.
We proceeded to Sholoor, a large Burgher village,
about two miles to the north-west of Mullaycota, and
thence, through many pretty valleys, to the Hutty or
hamlet of Pentkal, or, as it is commonly called, Bellikull,
where we intended to pass the night.
This hamlet is little more than eight miles from Oata-
camund. The road which leads to it is afterwards carried
down to a village, (or rather to what may once have been
one,) called Shegoor, at the base of the mountains, and
thence for two-and-twenty miles through a deep forest,

60 MAGNIFICENT SCENERY.
extremely insalubrious, and infested with almost every
species of wild animal, but particularly the wild elephant.
This, indeed, is the character, at particular seasons, of
all the passes that lead to this seat of health ; but this of
Shegoor is the worst, and several instances have proved
that to sleep in this pass but for a night is death.
Bellikull is of less elevation, by some thousand feet,
than Oatacamund. Its temperature is milder, and at no
season is it visited by the sharp frosts which, in the higher
lands, nip the more tender plants and vegetables. A
resident at Oatacamund has a garden here, in which,
though it is but poorly attended to, vegetables and fruits
of almost every kind flourish in great luxuriance.
You have hence on one side a fine view of the Mysore
country, and on the other, ofthe rising mountains, where
as the eye rests on them, you gradually discover the
numerous patches of varied cultivation, which surround
the hamlets and cottages of the Burghers.
Our path now lay across the several chains of moun
tains which skirt the higher lands of the Neilgherries to
the north, and from these mountains you have not only
extensive and interesting views of the Mysore, but pros
pects that are ever varying.
At first all below appears a sea of soft and feathery
down ; the first beams of the rising sun quickly change
the scene — cloud rolls over cloud, and each flying off to
the mountain top soon become invisible; valleys and

SCENE AT NIGHT. 6l
plains are partially opened to view, and, as the sun
attains its meridian height, a whole expanse of rivers,
forests, villages, and fertile fields, lays wide before you.
After traversing this uneven path for nearly the whole
of the day, sometimes through valleys, or in the deep
ravine, and at other times over the mountain's summit,
we arrived at Con-oge, a Ter-ir-i, or sacred place of the
Tudas, near to which are also three of their morrts.
After having taken some refreshment, we walked to one
of the morrts, which was beautifully situated in the bosom
of a wood. Here we observed several broods of the wild
cock and hen, and several of the no less beautiful squirrel
of Malabar, skipping from branch to branch with all
the ease and airiness of the feathered tribe. Evidently
unmolested, and familiarized to the sight of man, these
sylvan habitants were in no way alarmed at our approach,
though some other inhabitants of this seclusion did not
seem to think us such welcome visitors. These were a
number of large black apes, which kept up a continual
rustling among the trees, and every now and then pro
jecting, from below the foliage, their grey-bearded visages,
chattered, apparently surprised at our intrusion.
What in particular, however, drew our attention, was
a woman of a remarkably fine figure, with an infant at
her breast, which, as we were informed, was a female.
It was so enveloped in her mantle, as not to be in the
least visible, and aware of their prejudice, in not wish-

62 SACRED GROVES.
ing any one to behold their infants till of a certain age,
we expressed no desire to see it.
After night-fall, the scenery around us was grand
beyond description. Much of the grass, fern, and heather,
being frost bitten and withered, the Tudas had taken this
opportunity, before the setting-in of the rains, to fire it ;
and many of the ridges of mountains now presented an
undulating and apparently endless line of flame.
We were much disappointed the next morning, to learn
that the Teriri was unoccupied, although its being so,
afforded us, perhaps, a better opportunity of examin
ing it.
They have no fewer than five of these sacred groves in
different parts of the hills ; each of them belongs to and
is supported by particular families of the lay class.
A priest and his attendant are nominated to each from
among the Terallis or Paikeis, they only, as before men
tioned, being competent to hold these offices. The former
is called a Pol-aul, the latter a Capil-aul, and the accept
ance of the office of either must be, on their parts, entirely
voluntary. A Paiki having consented to accept the office of Pol-
aul, and the suffrages being obtained of the whole of that
class, resident within the limits to which the Teriri more
immediately belongs, he throws off all his garments, as
though, by thus denuding himself, he at the same time
threw off all his worldly affections, and proceeding to some

PRIESTHOOD. 63
forest, which has before been named as the place for the
performance of his austerities, dives into its darkest parts,
and seeks out a spot, untrodden by human feet, in the
vicinity of a pure stream, unpolluted by human touch.
He then peels off some ofthe bark ofthe sacred Tiurr, and
soaking it in water, compresses a liquid from it, of which
he swallows a portion, and daubing himself over with the
remainder, bathes in the stream. This rite he performs
three or four times each day. In the evening he partakes
of a little of the parched grain, or such like hard fare as
he has brought with him, and in a state of nudity lies
down to rest, exposed to every inclemency ofthe weather.
On the eighth day of his purification, a black garment
is brought to him, in texture like the coarsest sackcloth,
four cubits in length and about one and a half in breadth,
and this he fastens round his waist. He is now no longer
addressed by his former name, but by that of Pol-aul, and
the whole of the Tudas of the district assembling, escort
him to the Teriri.
He is bound to lead a life of celibacy, and though one
in the married state may accept this office, he must not,
after his purification, see or converse with any of his
family; but entirely divesting himself of all worldly
thoughts, dedicate the whole of his time to the contem
plation of the Deity. No other Tuda will now presume
to touch, or even to approach within ten or twelve paces
of him ; and should they see him, on any occasion of his

64 ELECTION OF A PRIEST.
leaving the precincts of the Teriri, they flee from him,
or abasing their eyes, endeavour to pass without seeming
to observe him. Should he on such occasions call to
them, they immediately obey, approaching with every
respect, and saluting him, by bringing up the hand, and
bending the body forwards, in the manner before de
scribed. The appointment of a Capil-aul,* or the Pol-aul'st
assistant, is conducted in much the same manner, but
his purification lasts only two days, and he is afterwards,
in addition to the black garment, which he also puts on,
allowed to wear the mantle or the same kind of clothing
as previous to his induction.
He may also, if his state of purification is in no way
impugned, pass from this office to that of a dairyman to
a Kiita, or lay family, which, as is often the case, may
have among its herd many that are dedicated to sacred
purposes, and which therefore must not be milked by
one of the Tuda class. This dairyman is called the
Ur-a-li, and lives quite separate from the others of the
morrt. The purification of a Kiita dairyman is much
lighter than that of a Capil-aul or Ur-a-li, and consists
in his bathing and rubbing himself seven different times
with the juice expressed from the leaves of seven different
* This word is pronounced either Capel, or Cavel, i. e. to guard ; and
Aul, a man ; the guardian or warder of the fane, its herd, &c. &c.
• f From Pol, milk ; and Aul, a man ; both are terms of Tamil origin.

RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES. 65
trees, at the same time swallowing a little of each, and
putting on a fillet or girdle, made of shreds from the
cast-off garment of a Pol-aul.
A bell, which is generally deposited in some niche
within the temple, is the only object to which they pay
any reverence. To this, they pour out libations of milk,
but merely as to a sacred implement. They do not sacri
fice, or offer incense, or make any oblations to it, signifi
cant of its having, in their estimation, any latent or mystic
properties. To each Teriri is attached a herd of milch buffaloes,
part of which are sacred, and from which the milk is never
drawn, the whole being allowed to go to the calves. One
among these sacred animals is the chief. Should it die,
its calf, if a female one, succeeds to its office. Should it
have no female calf, the bell before mentioned is attached
to the neck of one of the other sacred ones, and being
allowed to remain so during that day, a legal succession
is considered to be effected.
In the morning the Pdl-aul milks one portion of
the herd, carries the milk into the temple, laves the
bell with a small portion of it, and of such of it as he
or his attendant may not require, he makes butter and
ghee. The Capil-aul takes the herd out to graze, brings in
water and fire-wood for the use of the Pol-aul, and per
forms any other such menial offices. They each occupy

66 SACRED OFFICE.
separate huts, nor is the former allowed to eat with the
Pol-aul, or in any way to associate with him ; his business
being, in every respect, that of an attendant or menial to
the latter. Neither of them are bound to remain in these
offices for any specified period, but may quit whenever
they choose. They cannot resume them, however, with
out going through the same austerities.
Nor is the Pol-aul, while in this office, allowed to
accumulate wealth, or to benefit by it in a pecuniary way,
either himself or his family. It would be thought sacri
lege to do so ; and whatever he may receive or accumulate
beyond what is necessary for the supply of his own and
his attendant's immediate wants, must be appropriated
to the benefit of the Teriri, by the purchase of other
buffaloes, to increase the number of the herd.
The Tudas themselves can give no account of the
institution of these Teriries, or of the office of Pol-
aul, &c. &c. They say that they believe them to be of
divine origin, and that they think this enough for them
to know.
We had now approached the confines of the wood in
which was the Teriri. Most of the Tudas had lagged
behind, two men and a boy only having accompanied us.
Some of the women and female children had also followed
at our first starting, but they were sent back, and not
allowed to approach so near even as to the borders of the
wood. After proceeding for some distance under cover

TEMPLE. 67
of the trees, we came to a hut, which we understood to
be the usual residence of the Capil-aul, near to which
were the remains of one or two other dilapidated build
ings, and the common inclosure for the herd ; and a little
further on, after passing through a sort of labyrinth, we
came to the temple. This is the one before alluded to,
as being dedicated to Truth. There is not however any
representation or idol, but the temple, or the place, being
considered most sacred, the Tudas affirm that they would
not for a moment hesitate to believe whatever declaration
was seriously made there by any of their tribe.
This temple is of a conical form, the thatch very neatly
put on, and surmounted at the top with a stone about a
foot in diameter. The walls, door-way, interior, &c,
are much the same as those of one of their sacred dairies,
but the space within is considerably less. There are three
or four bells in this temple, to which libations of milk are
occasionally made ; but excepting these, there is nothing
else, either sacred or profane ; and neither here, in their
sacred dairies, nor in any other place appropriated to
sacred purposes, is there the semblance even of an altar.
On leaving it, I remarked that the Tudas remained
behind, and on looking towards them from among the
trees, observed that the two old men were in prayer,
standing in front of the temple, with the right hand up to
the face, in the manner before described ; but what par
ticularly attracted my attention was, that they were not
f 2

68 INFANTICIDE DISCONTINUED.
addressing themselves to the temple, but to the heavens.
They soon after rejoined us, and by the time we had
regained our tents, nearly the whole of the inhabitants
of the three morrts had assembled around us. Among
them was the mother with her female infant, arid some of
the Tudas remarking on the notice we paid her on this as
well as on the former occasion, we thought it a good
opportunity to mention what we had heard respecting
infanticide among them. Taking three or four of the
seniors aside, we told them that the apparent fondness of
the mother to her infant had drawn our attention, and
that it seemed very much at variance with what we had
heard respecting their regard for their female children.
They told us that infanticide certainly had existed among
them, but that it was now discontinued.
Having spent some hours in conversation with them,
and the other Tudas, we proceeded to Warchi or U-Yal
Hutty, and thence to Kiikal, a Burgher village, where we
were to pass the night.
U-Yal Hutty, or the Hamlet of the Cataract, is situ
ated near a fall of water, which we conjectured to
be between sixty and seventy feet from the part whence
it is first projected to the bottom, where it forms a
basin. Our road to it led through a valley which sepa
rates it and Kukal from the range of mountains on which
Con-oge stands, and which is so deep and of so much
milder a temperature, that many fruits which will not

THUNDER STORM. 69
thrive on the adjacent mountains, such as the citron,
lime, orange, &c. &c, here grow spontaneously : from the
.abundance of the latter, the English call this the Orange
valley. As we reached Kiikal, a thunder-storm came on, and
we were glad to shelter ourselves for a time in one of the
little verandahs, such as those of the village of Nanjanaad.
This one, however, happened to belong to a house occu
pied by a Brahman from the low country, who was em
ployed by the collector to teach the Burgher boys of the
village the Carnataca and Tamil languages ; and the place
of our refuge, though not of space sufficient to contain
a dozen boys, was his school-room. Luckily for us it was
a holiday, and we were therefore made welcome to the
whole of the room.
The good effects of this little institution were very
manifest. Many of the boys could not only read and
write the Tamil and Carnataca languages, but they dis
played a capacity and aptness very superior to that of
their less learned fellows ; and already they seemed to
think that manual labour might not perhaps be the only
work they should through life be called upon to perform.
In our conversation with the Tudas about Con-oge, I
had started this subject of education ; and though, from
their state of extreme ignorance, it was at first difficult to
make them comprehend of what use it could be to their
children, either male or female, they eventually thought
otherwise, and promised, if I would procure them a school-

70 THE DISTRESSED HUSBAND.
master, they would erect a dwelling for him, and that
he should teach, not only their children, but themselves
and their wives also.
We had not returned to Oatacamund many days,
when we were visited by Pinpurz Kiitan, the defendant in
the first of the suits before mentioned. It appeared that,
although our interpretations of their statement had in no
way benefitted the complainants, from the circumstance
of the officer to whom they were to be given being absent
on duty in the plains, they had not thought it necessary
any longer to defer to the decision of the civil authorities,
but commenced to act, according to what, in their minds,
that decision must be.
A large party of them had gone to the morrt in wliich
Pinpurz was then residing, and having ascertained that he
was from home, drove off his herd, and forcibly took away
his wife, leaving an infant son, their only surviving child,
and two or three old kine, to indicate who had been the
spoilers. The unfortunate Pinpurz, on his return home, soon
recognized who had visited the morrt, and with the child
in his arms, proceeded immediately to the morrt of his
father-in-law, in the hope of being able to induce some
kindly consideration, if not on his own account, yet on that
of the infant. He was, however, unsuccessful, and when
he came to us, grief at what had already occurred, and
the drooping state of the infant, from the want of its pro
per nourishment, had so affected him, that he was almost

DISTRESS OF THE WIFE. 71
wild. Such a moment was a perilous one among a people
so uncivilized, and possessed of strong feelings. " I will
flee the mountains," he exclaimed, "and seek refuge
among those of my race who have absconded to the plains,
—but the boy! — he is dying!" — and again he would re
lapse into gloomy despondency. It was perhaps lucky
that it was a boy, for in the alternate gloom, and sudden
flashes of passion, depictured in the countenance of the
father, the demon of infanticide seemed to urge her
horrid rite, and had the infant been of the other sex,
might have worked her will long before any of the cir
cumstances came to our knowledge.
This act of violence on the part of the complainants,
was too gross to require minute investigation at the
moment ; facts spoke out, and authority was soon obtained,
to enforce restitution, first of the wife, and then of the
herd. We were present when the wife returned, and
received again her child from the arms of its father. She
told us that her father and seven or eight others came to
the morrt while Pinpurz was absent, and while some of
them drove away the herd, which was grazing at a short
distance, others, among whom was her father, desired her
to leave the infant on the ground, and to follow them.
She refused for a long time to do so, when her father
stepped out, and threatened to carry her. To avoid being
touched by her father,* she was obliged to obey, and in
* The nature of the relationship will afterwards appear. He was
one of the husbands of her mother.

72 HAPPY RE-UNION.
the centre of a small circle which they formed around
her, she was escorted to her father's morrt.
Near relations of different sexes consider it pollution
if even their garments should touch, and the horror which
this young woman expressed, for she was still young and
pretty, at the recollection of her father's attempting to
seize her, and several other circumstances connected with
her return to her husband, gave to the pair a considerable
degree of interest, and left on our minds an impression in
their favour, very different to that which the statements
of the opposite party had made.
The herd, however, was still to be recovered, for with
out it they were deprived of their principal means of
sustenance. The abundance and richness of their buffaloe
milk would have enabled them to make cheese, and there
fore to supply themselves with a store of one kind of food
in cases of experiencing any such calamity as the present ;
but this none of them seem to have ever thought of
having recourse to ; and as the grain which they receive
from the other tribes, as well as the wild roots and
fruits which they collect, form only supplemental parts of
their diet, when deprived of their kine, they are deprived
of their staple article of sustenance. The herd, however,
as before mentioned, was eventually recovered, and the
gratitude of this now happy pair shewed itself on several
occasions. On one of these, Pinpurz gave us the whole of
his history, a summary of which will be found in the
sequel.

73

CHAPTER IV.

The heavy rains had now set in, and to escape some
of the unpleasantness of the wet season, we left Oataca
mund, and fixed our head quarters at Cotagherry, or
rather at Dimhutty.
It has been before mentioned, that every hill or moun
tain's side occupied by Cohatars is called Cotagherry. At
a short distance from this Cotagherry is a lower hill,
on which there is a Burgher hutty or hamlet, named
Dimhutty. In the neighbourhood of these two villages
Europeans first fixed their residence, before the superior
advantages of the more elevated parts of the mountains
had been fully ascertained.
The lofty range, of which Dodabetta forms the apex,
shelters this portion of the hills from the extreme violence
of the south-western monsoon, and the dense and heavy
clouds which at this season constantly hover around it,
break into smaller masses ere they advance farther to the
east, and the rain they bring, though heavy, is seldom of
long duration. The temperature also is milder here than

74 C0HATAR villages.
at Oatacamund, and the scenery, though less grand, pos
sesses still many beauties. Graceful curvatures unite the
swelling knolls, crowning the summits of which are seen
the Burgher's simple dwellings ; while to their very
eaves, stretching up the acclivity, are varied fields of
barley, wheat, or mustard seed, or of the beautiful kirie,
waving its purple and golden tops to and fro with every
breeze. The season changes ; instead of the wheat and
barley, appear the deep-green koralee, the drooping sha-
mie, or the gorgeous poppy, sometimes separate, some
times intermixed, and growing together.
Almost every part in this vicinity admitting of easy
cultivation, the different classes of the Burghers and the
Cohatars have pretty generally availed themselves of it,
and contrasted with the grandeur ofthe surrounding per
spective, Cotagherry and its neighbourhood presents, on
the whole, a lively and interesting scene.
The Cohatar villages or houses differ but little from
those of the Burgher, except that they are not generally
so neat nor so clean. In every one of the former there
are two buildings, which are appropriated to sacred pur
poses. They are of rude construction, being little more
than pent-roof sheds, thatched with grass, open at one
end, and surrounded with a low wall of stone. One of
these buildings is dedicated to a god, whom they call
Camataraya; the other to the Sacti, or goddess. In
neither, however, is there any image or symbol. On one

C0HATAR CUSTOMS. 75
of the posts supporting the roof are nailed two plates of
silver, about four fingers in breadth, which seem to be a
sort of palladium ; and are, I have no doubt, considered
to mark the dwelling-place of the Deus-loci, or village
god. This opinion is strongly corroborated by the cir
cumstance, that this pillar in particular can only be made
of a sacred kind of wood, but we could not elicit from
the Cohatars that, in their estimation, it possessed any
peculiar sanctity, and all that they would allow was, that
they considered the silver plates a necessary appendage
to the temple.
Vows and offerings are made in these temples, and
about the month of March a general festival is held, which
lasts from the new moon to the full,, and when all the
offerings that had been vowed are collected.
Among these people also, the distinction exists of some
families only being competent to perform the priestly
office ; on the occasion of this festival, the man who has
been nominated to it collects the whole of the vowed
offerings, which at present generally consist in money;
each family of the village contributes a quarter of a rupee,
or as much as their means will allow them to give.
With this money he procures, generally from the low
country, different kinds of grain, sugar, and two or three
other articles, and exhibiting the whole in front of the
temple, prostrates himself towards it. This rite performed,
the different articles are delivered over in various propor-

76 MECHANICAL ARTS.
tions to others of the priestly caste, who prepare and dress
them for food. The whole is now again offered in front of
the temple, when the officiator makes a short prayer, for
prosperity to the community during the ensuing year ;
and a large pit being dug, it is lined with leaves, the
dressed food put into it, mixed up together, and distri
buted in portions to the whole of the village, or to any
other persons who are present and who like to partake of
it with them. Of the latter occurrence, however, there
is little chance, for none will eat with them but Cohatars,
and as the same festival is going on in each village at the
same time, they are not likely to have any visitors. In
the evening a large bonfire is made, around which the
whole join in a dance, and which generally lasts till
towards midnight.
The same scene takes place on the next and the follow
ing days, until the moon is at her full, and during the
whole of this period all labour is suspended. On the day of
the full moon, after the whole have partaken of the feast,
the blacksmith and the gold and silversmith, constructing
separately a forge and furnace within the temple, each
makes something in the way of his avocation, — the black
smith a chopper or axe, the silversmith a ring or other
kind of ornament.
All the pottery that these people use, and a great deal
also of that which is used by the other tribes, is made by
the Cohatar women ; this being considered quite a female

MECHANICAL ARTS. 77
avocation. Many of the men have some notion of car-
pentery, and both men and women employ themselves in
basket-making. There are also in each village two or
three families of musicians ; indeed, the little of the
several arts known among them seems to belong to par
ticular families, and it is the women of some of the fami
lies only who are potters.
The two smiths, however, are considered their prin
cipal artisans, and rank high among them, according to
their several degrees of cunning and ability in their art ;
and this practice of each one exhibiting his art in the
temple of their god, was, they informed us, to pro
pitiate his kindly influence for the ensuing year. In
the evening the dance and gambols round the fire
recommence, and on this occasion generally continue till
day-break. The men sometimes tie their hair in a knot at the back
of the head, like the common people of Malabar, but it
is more frequently, like that of their females, allowed to
hang loose, and to become matted and discoloured.
They are not, like the Hindus, in any way subject to
defilements from attending a funeral, touching a dead
body, birth, &c. &c. They perform a marriage ceremony,
but it is subsequent to the union, and an observance of
the rules which have already been mentioned, as prevail
ing among the Burghers, is considered by them as the
acme of ceremonial decency. They seem, indeed, to have

78 HUSBANDRY.
taken up many customs from the Burghers, The dress
and ornaments, both of the men and women, are the
same, except that the former wear no turban or cover
ing to the head, and that every thing about them is much
less cleanly.
Although they keep many cows and female buffaloes,
they never milk them, nor does milk form any part of
their diet. When they use butter or ghee, and which is
only on particular occasions, they purchase it from some
of their neighbours. Their principal avocation is hus
bandry, in which they are greatly assisted by their wo
men, but in this also they closely copy the Burghers,
taking from them the times for ploughing, sowing, &c.
Every Cohatar village has belonging to it a circle of
Burgher hamlets or villages, from which they claim at
periodical seasons the payment in kind of certain fees or
dues ; and for which they in return furnish the Burghers
with, or rather make for them (the latter supplying the
material) their implements of woodcraft and husbandry,
the principal part of their pottery, and such basket work
as they require ; assist them occasionally in gathering in
their harvest, and attend with their pipe and tabor on
their funerals, marriages, &c. &c. These fees are ge
nerally paid in a certain quantity of whatever grain the
Burgher has cultivated, for each plough of land, besides
incidental dues on marriages, &c. &c. From the Tuda
and other tribes, they also receive assistance, either in

DIVISION OF CLASSES. 79
money or in kind, but this is in direct return for any
services which they may perform.
As just now mentioned, they are divided into two
classes, and the man who is nominated as the officiator at
the festival, which, excepting the general charge of the
temples, seems to be the only office he has to perform, is,
among themselves, considered not only as their priest, but
as their chief or head, and is exempt from all calls for the
performance of manual labour. He also receives from
each family, when they gather in the grain, two measures,
or about a quarter of a bushel, of whatever kinds they
may have cultivated. This however is the only distinction
among them, all the others of both classes labour alike.
Barley and one or two other kinds of meal, mixed up
with water, the grain being parched before it is ground,
form the common food of these people ; but they are
particularly fond of flesh of almost every description, nor
do they care in what manner life has become extinct in
the animal. What the tiger or wild dog has left of his
prey, is, to them, an acceptable repast. They are known,
like vultures, to follow a drove of bullocks bringing up
supplies from the low country, calculating to a nicety
that such as they have marked will die before they have
proceeded many miles further up the mountains. The
dead animal is of no value to the merchant or drover, and
the Cohatars are therefore allowed to take possession of it.
On one occasion, when many miles from any of the

80 COHATARS.
Cohatar villages, we observed, within a copse at a short
distance, a group of Cohatars, men, women, and children,
sitting round a fire, from which the little smoke that was
still rising first attracted our attention. They had taken
possession of a dead bullock, made their repast on it, cut
up and soddened the remainder, which was suspended to
each end of little poles, and with some of which one or
two of the party were already preparing to depart. At
a short distance lay the hide, carefully rolled up, and
around them the horns, bones, feet, and such parts as they
thought not worth the carriage. On enquiry we ascer
tained that some merchants, who were taking up supplies
to Oatacamund, had halted on this spot the preceding
evening, when one of the bullocks had died ; and on their
leaving the ground that morning, it had been taken pos
session of by the Cohatars of a village near which the
merchants had encamped the night before.
The Cohatars always attend the funerals and obsequies
of the Tudas, &c, receive from them the carcases of the
buffaloes that are offered in sacrifice, allowing from a half
to a quarter of a rupee for some ; and others they receive
in return for the assistance they afford on these occasions,
or for services which they may have performed for the
family of the deceased.
If they cannot supply themselves with flesh by any of
these means, they kill some of their own herd, or purchase
for that purpose from the other tribes. The hides of these

FUNERAL RITES. 81
animals, which they carefully prepare, are the source
of much profit to them. Those of the buffalo being con
sidered superior to the hides of the low country, they are
eagerly sought after by the dealers in this, article. From
these profits, and the sale of their mustard seed, they pay
the trifling claims upon them by the Sircar, keeping all
their other grain, except the little with which they supply
the Tudas, for their own consumption.
These people burn their dead, collect the bones on the
following day, and, burying them in a hole, mark the spot
where they have done so. This they do in order to the
performance of the obsequies. These are however some
times neglected, and they are generally delayed for a con
siderable time, or till some person of a little wealth dies,
or till the number of the deceased so increase, that the
survivors, by putting their shares together, are able to
defray the expence attending their performance. This
delay may be for a period of twelve or fifteen years. On
the night of the first Monday after the first new moon
in the month of March, all the friends of the deceased
assemble, and, preceded by music, go to the place of
burning. Each takes up the bones of his own family,
wraps them in a piece of new cloth, and placing them on
a bier, thence proceeds to the cemetery.* Here separate
piles are made, and the bones consumed to ashes. The

* Every Giri has a separate burning place and cemetery of its own.
G

82 EASTERN MOUNTAINS.
next morning the manes of the deceased are honored with
a sacrifice of buffaloes, the flesh of which is afterwards
dressed with different kinds of grain, ghee, &c, on
which the whole of the village regale themselves, and
in the evening return to their homes.
We had now an excellent opportunity for visiting the
whole of the eastern range of the mountains, or that
division of them denominated by the Tudas, Pirkorr. We
therefore set out, intending, after we had inspected the
ruins of a fortress, which we understood to be in our
projected route, to descend to the parts inhabited by the
Curumbars ; and thence, making a circuit north-east,
to examine a grove of trees crowning the summit of a
mountain, which, from its height and insular situation, is
to be seen from a great distance ; and also a very conspi
cuous hill of a conical form, dedicated to the god Runga.
After descending about a thousand feet, we came to
a village called Bellike, and as we approached it passed
over a low hill, on which were several monuments, not
very dissimilar to the cairns that have been mentioned.
Some of these monuments had evidently been, erected
many years, but some were still unfinished, and a new
grave had as yet only a few single stones encircling it.
This hill was the burial place of the greater part of the
inhabitants of the village, who were Wodiars, and who,
contrary to the general custom of the Hindus, bury their
dead. Although these monuments, in many respects,

SUPERSTITION. 83
bore a slight resemblance to the cairns, they did not
seem to offer any clue to the origin of the latter, and
the positive contrariety existed, of one being the depo
sitory of the body of the dead, the other of their ashes
only. As we entered the village, our attention was drawn to
a female of a very matronly but sorrowful appearance,
sitting in the shade of a gourd, with three or four fine-
looking children playing around her. She informed us
that her grief was on account of the loss of her son-in-law,
(the occupant of the new grave,) who had died about a
fortnight before, and whose disease and death were, she
said, to be alone attributed to the Mulcurumbars.
The violent antipathy existing between the Burghers
of all descriptions, and the Curumbars, and the dread and
horror which the former entertain of the preternatural
powers of the latter, are, perhaps, not easily to be ac
counted for ; but neither sickness, death, nor misfortune
of any kind, ever visit the former, without the latter
having the credit of producing it. The old lady did not
hesitate to tell us, that the English system of rule not
being adapted to cope with this more than human influ
ence, they had, ever since its commencement, been subject
to afflictions which, under native authority, they always
found means to counteract.
It is necessary to mention that, a few years before, a
Burgher had been hanged by the sentence of the pro-
g 2

84 SUPERSTITION
vincial court, for the murder of a Curumbar. The act
of the former, it would appear, was not without what was
considered great provocation. Disease had attacked the
inhabitants of the hamlet ; a murrain their cattle. The
former had carried off a great part of the family of the
murderer, and he himself had but narrowly escaped its
effects. No one in the neighbourhood doubted that the
Curumbar in question had, by his necromancy, caused
all this misfortune, and, after several fruitless attempts, a
party of them succeeded in surrounding him in open day,
and effecting their purpose. Such an act of violence
had never before been heard of. Recourse to the Tuda,
or other Curumbars, to remove the witchery, the supposed
cause of their misfortune, was the universal mode of pro
cedure ; but these villagers, stimulated by the vexations
and misery under which they had been suffering, made
the bold attempt to burst the chains of their thraldom,
and at the same time to revenge themselves on their
imaginary oppressors. By the whole of the Burghers,
this was looked upon as an act, fearful indeed, but as one
deserving of praise rather than punishment. British ju
risprudence, however, could not look on it in this light,
and therefore, according to the Burgher account, its sen
tence gave much encouragement to demonology, and
tended greatly to increase the insecurity both of them
selves and of their cattle.
Perhaps it may not be uninteresting to observe the

OF THE CURUMBARS. 85
result of the necessary intercourse of people, so very dis
similar as are the Burghers and the Curumbars. Had the
former the power, or the courage to do so, there can be
no doubt they would dispossess all the other inhabitants
of the hills, of every share in such parts of them as they
thought worth possessing. But they are a people op
pressed with superstitious fears, to a degree not common
even among the Hindus. The Curumbars and all the
classes occupying the lower regions of the mountains, are
many stages behind the Burghers in civilization, but pos
sessing all the cunning natural to this unenlightened
state ; they know where their strength lies with regard to
the latter, and many of their Hindu neighbours ; and of
this knowledge, they never fail to avail themselves, when
ever they can do so with the prospect of success.
To a Tuda, however, they would no more think of
making an exhibition of this power, than they would of
doing so to an European ; not that it is the hostility of
the former which they dread, but they know him to be
inaccessible to such influence. With this knowledge
comes respect, which, with their general superiority of
character, induces for them a feeling almost reverential.
This feeling may in part arise from other causes, but
however that may be, it gives to the Tuda a controlling
power, which the Burgher also willingly acknowledges,
for to it he looks for protection against the supposed
preternatural influence of the tribes ofthe lower regions;

86 RUINS OF ATRA.
at the same time not in the least doubting that this power
also is superhuman. The same state of things, though
silently, still exists; and on the just exercise of this
power, now depends much of the welfare of the Tudas.
It is not the power of a priest, it is not that of a sovereign,
nor is it, as the poor Burgher supposes, that of a demon ;
but it is that of a kindly being, who has sense enough not
to abuse it ; who, quietly feeding his herd, dispenses all
the good he is able, and in return, cheerfully accepts
the gifts which proceed from gratitude for acknowledged
benefits. As we had been told, we found the village inhabited
principally by Wodiars. Still descending, we came after
some time to the ruins of Atra, situated in the centre
of a valley or rather glen, with here and there an opening
between the mountains, admitting of partial views of the
low country.
The little fortress was in a complete state of ruin ;
the area within, about five hundred square feet, being
ploughed up, and now covered with a fine crop of shamie ;
and the walls, in most parts, covered with brushwood
and sedge grass. The walls had originally been of
some strength, though never intended to stand against
or to support the use of cannon. They were surrounded
by a ditch, now in many parts choked up and dry; but
beyond this was a deep morass, encircling the whole, and
extending, in some parts, to nearly two hundred paces.

LOCAL INSALUBRITY. 87
This must formerly have been a grand protection to the
fort, and have made any hostile approach to the walls,
an attempt of considerable difficulty.
We found the heat here very oppressive, and about
noon the thermometer rose to 80°. It may be supposed,
that in this degree of temperature the productions differ
much from those of Oatacamund. Littles and oranges,
of spontaneous growth, were in abundance ; and that
which on two sides had been the ditch of the fortress,?
was now a very flourishing plantain garden.
There is a Burgher hamlet at a short distance, but with
few inhabitants. They told us that this part of the hills
was healthy, but I should doubt its being so, especially
to strangers, and at particular seaisons of the year ; and
whatever sickness the Burgher might be afflicted with, he
would, it is more than probable, attribute to the necro
mancy of the Curumbars, and not to any bad effects
of climate.
Taking some refreshment on the well-shaded bank of
a rivulet which meanders throngh the valley, and exhausts
itself eventually in the morass before-mentioned, we still
descended, and, to our great annoyance, when we had
arrived at the spot where we expected to meet with the
Curumbars, we found it deserted. Proceeding on with
the vague hope that we might come upon some other place
of their location, we observed, on clearing a little wood\
a cluster of huts at s short distance in front of us, and

88 ERULAR DANCE.
near to them a group of all but naked men, women, and
children, dancing, jumping, and amusing themselves with
all manner of gambols.
On a nearer approach to the group just now mentioned,
we learned that, instead of Curumbars, we had fallen
upon a village of Erulars.
The hair of the men, as well as of the women and
children, was bound up in a fantastic manner with wreaths
of plaited straw; their necks, ears, wrists, and ancles,
decorated with ornaments formed of the same material,
and carrying little dried gourds, in which nuts or small
stones had been inserted; they rattled them as they
moved, and with the rustling of their rural ornaments,
gave a sort of rhythm to their motion.
Our unexpected visit disconcerted them at first, but
this was soon got over, and the dance again resumed, in
front of a little thatched shed, which we learned was
their temple. When it was concluded, they commenced
a sacrifice to their deity, or rather deities, of a he-goat
and three cocks. This was done by cutting the throats
of the victims, and throwing them down at the feet of the
idol, the whole assembly at the same time prostrating
themselves. Within the temple there was a winnow or
fan, which they call Mahri,— evidently the emblem of
Ceres ; and at a short distance, in front of the former, and
some paces in advance one of the other, were two rude
stones, which they call, the one Moshani, the other Konadi

SEPULCHRAL MOUNDS. 89
Mari, but which are subordinate to the Mahri or fan,
occupying the interior of the temple.
We had not much time to spare, therefore bribing two
of the men to forego their festivity and accompany us, we
quitted the rural scene, and at no great distance passed
their places of sepulture, there being one for the Uralis
and another for the Kurutalies. These sepulchres are
pits, about thirty or forty feet square, and of considerable
depth, over which are placed large planks ; above is erected
a shed, covering in the whole, and protecting it from
the weather. In the centre of the planks is an opening
about a cubit square, over which are placed other pieces
of wood, and on these is raised a small mound of earth
in the form of an altar, the surface being decorated with
pebbles, placed there both as memorials of the departed,
and as objects of future worship. When a casualty occurs,
and another burial becomes necessary, the mound of earth
is removed, and the body thrown in. Some ten or twelve
days after, a mound of fresh earth is raised, in room of
the one which had been removed; the pebbles, which in
the first instance had been carefully put aside, are again
replaced, and another one added to them in memory
of the deceased. All this is done with much ceremony,
the pebbles being anointed with oil, perfumed with
frankincense, and decorated with flowers. Food is also
distributed to the assembly, according to the ability
of the relatives of the deceased.

90 BURIAL PLACES.
Should one of this tribe die in an Erular village, to
which he does not belong, these villagers will not bury
him with their dead, but digging a fresh grave, place the
body in it ; and when his relations hear of his death, they
come and disinter the body, or whatever may remain
of it, in order to deposit it in their own place of sepul
ture, when they go through the same observances as
though the deceased had died among themselves. With
a tribe so miserable and poor, it is not however to be
supposed that this superstition, powerful as it appears to
be, is always attended to.
The village we had fallen upon, which occupied a glen
near the eastern base of the mountains, was said to be one
of a superior kind, and that its inhabitants were in more
fortunate circumstances than the generality of this tribe.
We observed several patches of different sorts of grain,
such as kuralie, raghie, shamie, and one or two of peas j
but all had the appearance of owing but little to the care
of the husbandman. We also observed several kinds of
trees, such as the plaintain, lime, orange, jack, and one
or two others, common to the plains ; but they seem to
grow here almost without the least care.
The native opinion is, that it is fatal to any one but
these Erulars, and the Curumbars, to sleep in the parts
of the hills which either of these tribes occupy; and that
the diseases thereby contracted, can only be cured by the
incantations of the latter. This spot certainly had no

CHANGES OF CLIMATE. 91
appearance of being peculiarly salubrious ; but as it was
not our intention to make trial of the truth of this opinion,
and as our tents had been ordered to the clump of trees
before mentioned, we gladly availed ourselves of an offer
from our Erular guides, to shew us a nearer path to
the upper territories, than the one by which we had
descended. We had been much oppressed by the heat during the
day, but a little while before we got into a cooler temper
ature, a heavy shower of rain from a stray cloud, drenched
us completely to the skin. Its cooling qualities were not
at first unpleasant, but in the climate to which we were
now advancing, wet clothes were less agreeable than in
the one we were leaving. We had still also a long way
to traverse over rugged and precipitous mountains, which
to all but our guides were trackless, and the idea of being
obliged to pass the night in our wet habiliments, was not
the most cheering. Thoroughly fatigued, and with the
loss of all our horses' shoes, we were right glad to reach
our tents a little after nightfall.

On a commanding eminence, whence we had in view
Dimhutty, and a wide range of the hills, the Mysore
country, the Ghauts leading up to it, and the junction of
the Siru Bhavani and Moyar rivers, we resolved to halt
for a day or two, and to examine the Rangasami temple,

92 MARRIAGE CEREMONIES.
and adjacent country, more at our leisure than we had
at first intended.*
The two Erulars we brought with us from below, proved
of greater use than we anticipated, as they were well
acquainted with this part of the hills. They both pos
sessed much intelligence, and the veracity of their state
ments was afterwards proved by the testimony of a very
respectable native of the plains, who for many years had
the farming of the revenues of the hills.
They informed us that the Erulars have no marriage
contract, the sexes cohabiting almost indiscriminately ;
the option of remaining in union, or of separating, resting
principally with the female. Some among them, the
favorites of fortune, who can afford deliberately to expend
the sum of four or five rupees on festivities, will celebrate
their union, by giving a feast to all their friends and
neighbours ; and, inviting the Curumbars to attend with
their pipe and tabor, spend the night in dance and mer
riment. This, however, is a rare occurrence. Few of
them possess any of the implements of husbandry, except
* The heat we had experienced on the preceding day, during our
nether wanderings, drew from us many acknowledgments in favour of
the more elevated parts of the mountains ; and a letter that reached us
this morning from a friend at Arcot,+ stating the thermometer there to
be at 98° (month of June), while with us it was ranging between 58
and 61°, made us still more admire the temperature, and the healthful
breezes that we now enjoyed.
f A cavalry station about 300 miles distant from the hills.

OCCUPATION. 93
the Indian hoe ; one, or sometimes two, in a village, will
have a plough, and a pair or two of oxen or buffaloes to
draw it, and some few who have small herds of buffaloes,
even manufacture ghee, and by the sale of it make a
livelihood ; but these are very uncommon cases, — the gene
rality of this tribe are poor, indolent, and miserable.
By the sale of the produce of the forests, such as wood,
honey, and bees' wax, or of the fruits of their gardens, by
those who take a little pains to cultivate them, they are
enabled to buy grain for their immediate sustenance, and
for seed ; but as they never pay any attention to the land
after it is sown, or indeed to its preparation further than
partially clearing it of the jungle, and turning it up with
the hoe ; or what is more common, scratching it into
furrows with a stick, and scattering the grain indiscri
minately ; their crops are of course stinted and meagre.
When the corn is ripe, if at any distance from the village,
the family to whom the patch or field belongs, will remove
to it, and constructing temporary dwellings, remain there
so long as the grain lasts. Each morning they pluck as
much as they think they may require for the use of that day,
kindle a fire upon the nearest large stone or fragment of
rock, and when it is well heated, brush away the embers,
and scatter the grain upon it, which soon becoming parched
and dry, is thence readily reduced to meal. This part of
the process over, or as soon as the rock has cooled, the
parched grain, which in the mean time has been partially

94 COOKERY.
cleansed of the husk, is, with the assistance of a smaller
stone, rubbed into meal, mixed up with water, and made
into cakes. The stone is now heated a second time, and the
cakes are put on it to bake ; or where they have met with
a stone which has a little concavity, they will, after heating
it the second time, fill the hollow with water, and with
this, when warmed, they mix up the meal, and form a sort
of porridge. In this way, the whole of the family, their
friends and neighbours, will live, till all the grain has
been consumed; and it seems to be considered among
them as superlative meanness to reserve any, either for
seed or future nourishment. The whole of this period is
a merry-making time ; they celebrate Mahrie, and invite
all who may be passing by, to partake of the produce of
the field, and to join in their festivities. These families will
now be invited, in return, to live on the fields of their neigh
bours ; and when the whole of the grain of the village has
thus been consumed, and this, at best, is generally but
a very small quantity, they have again to trust to the pre
carious subsistence which the produce of the forests or
their gardens yield. Many of them live, for the remainder
of the year, on a sort of yam, which here grows wild,
and which, after the name of these people, is called the
Erular root. To the use of this root they accustom their
children from infancy, and when it fails them, which is
sometimes the case, they have then hardly any resource from
starvation. As it becomes scarce in the vicinity of their

INFANTICIDE. 95
village, they wander through the forests in search of it.
If they find it, or if they are successful in the chase, or
in the ensnaring of wild animals, they are enabled to sup
port themselves till the change of season again brings forth
those natural productions, by the sale of which they are
able to purchase a little grain ; or as labourers are now
required by the cultivators of the plain, they readily
engage themselves at a reduced rate of wages. It is during
this winter of their year, or while they are wandering
about the forests in search of food, that, driven by hun
ger, the families or parties separate one from another,
each eager only to satisfy his own cravings. On these
occasions, the women and young children are often left
alone, and the mother, having no longer any nourishment
for her infant, anticipates its final misery by burying
it alive. Freed of her burthen, she again exerts herself,
and endeavours to flee that death, the dread of which has
tempted her to this deed of horror. Many were the
enquiries we made, from different sources, on this subject,
but the account here given was in every instance corrobo
rated, and in such a manner as not to leave a doubt on
our minds, of its correctness.
Viewing this elevated grove from different parts of the
hills, I had expected to find in it a temple, or other sign
of dedication to some divinity. This was not, however,
the case, and, like many of the other groves and hanging
woods, it seems to owe its existence merely to the greater

96 DEATH SCENE.
depth of alluvial soil, which, from the shelter of the trees,
and the combination and entanglement of their roots, is
retained on this spot ; while others that are exposed to
the full effects of each successive rain, gradually lose some
portion of the quantity of soil which has been at first
deposited. At a short distance from us in one direction, was a
morrt, and in another a Tir-ir-i. Some of the inhabitants
of the former came to visit us in the morning, and among
them were two very handsome young men, who were in
sorrow, their father being dangerously ill ; indeed, he died
that afternoon. We went to see him, accompanied by the
two young men. He was lying on a mat quite sensible,
but with every appearance of approaching dissolution, and
of this he expressed himself fully aware. His sons and
the other members of the family, also seemed to expect
this event. They had at first indulged a hope from our
visit, but this they now no longer entertained : while we
were there, they asked the dying man what were his last
wishes ; one among which was, that, calling the buffaloes
by their names, they should be sent to accompany him.
The three days that we remained on this spot, gave us
the opportunity of ascertaining many of the particulars
connected with this event ; and meeting the herd as we
returned to our tents, two of the number were pointed out
to us as those which had been named by the dying man,
to be sacrificed at his funeral.

FUNEREAL FAST. 97
They keep the body for three or four days before they
remove it to the Kert Morrt,* to allow time for the neces
sary preparations, and for those relations and friends to
assemble, who may reside in distant parts of the hills.
At first it occurred to me, that they might have a similar
superstition to that which exists among some of the
Hindus, — that till putrefaction is apparent, there are
chances that the body may become reanimated. But of
this, none of them seem to have any notion, and the
funeral is delayed, simply for the purpose of convenience
to the survivors.
The relatives of the deceased fast during the first day,
that is, if, as in this instance, the death occur after the
morning meal, they refrain from the evening one, and eat
nothing till the next morning. If it occur during the
night, or before the morning meal, they refrain from all
food till the evening. Similar fasting is observed on every
return of the same day of the week, till the obsequies
take place. As a mark of mourning, all the family cut
their hair, more or less, according to the sex or degree of
the deceased; and when we saw our two young friends
the next day, they were shorn of their beards and hemi
spherical crownlets. If the deceased was a female, or a
junior member of the family, none of the seniors observe
this custom ; and the females only sacrifice more or less of
their hair, according to the rank and degree of their rela-

* Literally, place of death — cemetery.
H

98 MOURNING CEREMONIES.
tionship. Among the Terallis, the males never observe
this custom ; with them it exists only among the females,
who, as well as those of the other class, put off their
jewels, and all sorts of ornaments, until the performance
of the obsequies. Every morning and evening pre
vious to the day of the funeral, or the burning of the
body, the family sing the lament ; relations and friends
come to pay their visit of condolence, prostrating or
throwing themselves on the body, as they arrive, and
usually waiting to join in one of the morning or evening
songs of sorrow. After the funeral, the relics which, as
before mentioned, consist of three or four pieces, — gene
rally of the skull bone, locks of hair, &c, — are carefully
wrapped up in the remnant of a mantle which has long
been worn in the family ; and the females assembling, as
just now mentioned, every morning and evening, moan
over them, till the day arrives for the performance of
the obsequies.
The death of one the Tarda class is an event in which
many are interested, beside the family and connections of
the deceased. This arises from the singular circumstance,
that whatever children (males) may have been born,
whether of the Teralli, Mukh, or Tarda classes, subse
quent to the demise of the last Tarda, have now a name
given to them ; but should years elapse between the
birth of a child and the death of a Tarda, no name may
be given to it till this event occurs. The death of a
Teralli or a Mukh, is not marked by this observance.

THEIR IDOL. 99
For the first three months after the birth of a child,
whether male or female, it is concealed from the view of
all but its parents; the relations and friends are then
invited to a feast, at which the child is exhibited to them,
and if within this period a Tarda should have died, the
ceremony of giving it a name is also performed on this
occasion. As before intimated, we found our two Erulars of more
service than we expected. They were the officiating
priests of the idol Rangasami, and, in escorting us to his
presence, gave us much more information than we might
otherwise have been able to obtain. It is their duty to
provide water, at the foot of the hill, for the use of the
votaries, to keep the temple in repair, and to clear away
the grass and weeds from around the idol.
The conspicuous appearance of this hill, its isolated
situation, conical form, and difficulty of access, make it
an object likely to attract the imagination of a Hindu ;
and the circumstance of there being a solitary stone on
the top of it, however it may have come there, was quite
enough to attach to it the consequence connected with
supernatural agency. What is called the temple, is a little
shed ; the idol, a rude stone. A short distance in front
of the former, are two stone basins, which, during the
festival, are made to answer as lamps, and being fed with
large quantities of ghee, they throw up a light that is seen
h 2

100 FESTIVAL ON THE MOUNTAIN.
for many miles beyond the Neilgherries or their neigh
bourhood, and which continues for two or three days
and nights.
This festival occupies every Saturday during the month
of Badra.* On these occasions, crowds of votaries come
here, principally from the plains, bringing their offerings
of fruits, flowers, beetle, small pieces of money, and of
ghee. These the Erulars receive, and lay before the idol ;
returning a little of the beetle leaf and nut to the votary,
they replenish the lamps with the ghee, and such of it as
is not required for this purpose, together with the re
mainder of the offering, they either appropriate to them
selves, or distribute to the by-standers. There is also
a great assembly of all classes of religious beggars from
the plains, as well as of Erulars and Curumbars. These,
however, come not to make offerings, but to receive
a share of them.t
How the Erulars, or particular families of them, ob
tained this right of office, I was not able to ascertain. It
appeared to have formerly belonged to the Curumbars,
and that they either lost it, or gave it up to the former ;
the natives of the plain have never pretended to any claim

* August — September.
t Many foolish stories are told (and believed too) of the efficacy of
a share ofthe offering, received from the hands of these holy beggars, &c.
particularly as to its efficiency on female votaries.

BEAUTIFUL SCENERY. 101
to it, or what is more probable, have never been able to
establish one.
What we saw, certainly did not pay us for the trouble
of getting up the hill, and we were glad to turn away
to the other part of our day's excursion, — a visit to the
Tir-ir-i. The scenery here was beautiful ; a succession of hill
and dale, glebe and forest, with streamlets winding in
almost every direction, whose banks were lined with the
strawberry and other wild fruits. The Tir-ir-i, like most
of their morrts, was prettily situated at the foot of a hill,
overshadowed with some noble trees, and though in the
vicinity, not surrounded by the adjoining wood. A little
above it, on the face of the hill, sat the two P5l-auls,
and at a short distance from them, two other Auls and
a Marv. They did not express any dislike, or appear to
be in any way disconcerted at our approach, but merely
bringing forward, out of respect to us, the end of the black
sackcloth, remained in the same sitting posture as when
we first saw them. The two other Auls and the Marv
arose. The Pol-auls were two brothers, resembling one
another very much in feature, one appearing to be between
seventy and eighty, the other between forty and fifty.
They were both very much covered with hair, the one
black, the other grey and silvered. Their appearance was
altogether the most strange I had ever seen ; their bushy
heads, long sweeping beards, and all but naked bodies ;

102 ANCIENT PRIESTS.
seated on their hams, their limbs drawn together, and
chins resting on their knees, we could think of nothing
so like them, as the imaginary representations of an
incubus. We had a good deal of conversation with them, and,
somewhat to our surprise, instead of meeting with that
dreamy tranquillity which we had expected, found them
both, and particularly the younger of the two, to be
shrewd and intelligent men. With respect to the Cairns,
they declared that they knew nothing about them, or when
they were constructed, and that they all supposed them
to be the work of a people who had inhabited the hills
in former times. On my mentioning that I had opened
several, they expressed great curiosity to know what opi
nion I had formed of them. They spoke of the four
ancient divisions of the hills, — or Meyhrnorr, Pirkhorr,
Muzzorr, and Mheur, — as including the whole, from the
base to the top of Petmarz ; and made some observations
on the folly of the arguments then agitated among them,
as to their right in the soil. The two Auls kept at
a respectful distance, and would on no account come
within a certain number of paces of the Pol-auls; but
the Marv was less observant. He was the headman of
a neighbouring Burgher hamlet, who had brought an
offering to the Tir-ir-i, and he lost no opportunity of
endeavouring to act the middle-man. This assumption,
arising from an idea of superior civilization, I had often

DISINTERESTED PRIESTS. 103
remarked on other occasions, and I felt gratified now, in
observing the slight with which the Pol-auls treated him.
We offered them some small present, but this we could
not prevail upon them to accept, till after the other Tudas
had observed that we were foreigners, and that probably
we would require from them some ghee, or butter. The
receipt of this we evaded, by promising to return for it
another day ; — with this promise they seemed satisfied,
and invited us to come early in the morning, so that we
might see them milking the herd, &c. &c. Two Capil-
auls are also attached to this Tir-ir-ij but they had gone
out with the herd. The intelligence, good humour, and
loquacity of these two men, were strongly in contrast with
their appearance and situation, and seemed but little
suited to either the one or the other.
On our return to Dimhutty, we passed through the
cemetery belonging to the Tuda family before mentioned*
but saw no preparation for the funeral.
The only offerings made, and these seem generally to
be thank-offerings, are, to the Pol-aul, a piece of the
black sackcloth, such as he is allowed to wear, and to the
Tir-ir-i, heifers, or mileh buffaloes.

104 VARIOUS TRIBES.

CHAPTER V.

AUGUST.
We had returned to Oatacamund. The weather was
beginning to clear up, and again taking to our tents, we
proceeded to Gaganachiki,* a mountain fortress, in a
south-eastern direction ; intending also to make another
attempt to see the Curumbars, and as the time of harvest
was now drawing nigh, to revisit Dimhutty, and some
other Burgher villages in that vicinity. Our chief
object, however, was to look more narrowly into the cha
racter of the burgher classes, and we had therefore laid
down a route which led through villages, in each of which
some one of the several sects of this tribe predominated.
This route was by no means a direct one, and the track
being unbeaten, we had not proceeded far before most of
our baggage and servants missed us, some taking one
road and some another.
A little experience of this kind, however, had taught
us never to move without some followers, and at the
* From Gagana, Heaven ; and Chiki, attained, &c.

RURAL BIVOUAC. 105
head of these was generally to be seen the " Maitre de
Cuisine," with spit in hand, commonly answering the
purpose of a walking staff, leading on three or four other
servants, each lightly laden with the apparatus and neces
saries for a breakfast or tiffin. Arriving at Kammand, a
Burgher hamlet on the eastern face of one of the moun
tains forming the valley of Kaytee,* we found the sun's
rays more than usually powerful, and were glad to have
our carpets spread in the shade of a beautiful purshk, or
rhododendron. The inhabitants here were principally
Burghers, according to the limited meaning of the term,
but there were also one or two families of Arrwars, or
repudiated Brahmans, and this morning the village was
visited by a Lingavant, who came to officiate at a festival
in celebration of the first fruit offerings ; harvest having
already partially commenced.
The consequence to the Brahmans of their fall, was
here very evident. They were glad to be permitted to eat
with the Lingavant, to assist him in the performance of
his priestly office, and to share in his superiority over
the common Burgher. The latter is in every respect the
Sudra cultivator of Mysore, and, as before mentioned,
migrated to these hills, together with the other classes of
this tribe, about six generations ago, during the anarchy
which succeeded upon the downfall of the Vijayanagara

* This valley is a little to the south east of Oatacamund, and is
perhaps the most beautiful one on the hills.

106 ANNUAL OFFERINGS.
empire. Flying hither as to a place of refuge from the
tyranny of a master, a man of the lowest caste, who was
set over them, and who wished forcibly to espouse one of
the most beautiful of their daughters, they were on their
first arrival in a state of destitution, which left them
quite at the mercy of those tribes whom they found
already located in the different parts of Goshen. Space,
however, was not wanting, and though they brought
little else, they brought with them the knowledge and
improvements resulting from a superior state of civiliza
tion ; and these, with their careful industry, very soon
became the means of rendering them welcome visitors.
A sort of conventional arrangement was therefore entered
into between them and the other tribes, which was sanc
tified by sacrifice and offering to their several deities.
Annual offerings, sacrifices to the great architect, were
made at the temples of the Cohatars* and appropriate
offerings were made to Ceres, as the peculiar Divinity
of the Curumbars. Excepting the Tudas, who could not
have understood these obscure refinements, or who must,
if they felt as they now seem to feel on this subject, have
despised them, corresponding offerings were made to the
Gods whom the Burghers had brought with them from
the plains. The principal of these were Hetty* and

* Hetty is the personification of the manes of women who have
sacrificed themselves on the funeral pile of their husbands ; the symbol
is the clothes which the wife casts off, on putting on those in which
she was to ascend the pile, and a part of the turban that had been

DEITIES. 107
Heriah.* Rangasami, also, the Divinity of the Conical
Hill, as before mentioned, must have had considerable
influence in bringing about a good understanding be
tween the Burghers and the tribes of the lower parts
of the hills; he seems to have been in repute with the
former before this emigration took place, and was doubt
less the light that guided them hither.
At this period also, it would appear that Gaganachiki
was a fortified mountain, but by whom possessed we could
not ascertain. It was, however, subsequent to this period
that the other two fortresses, Mullie Cota and Atra Cota,
were erected ; and by the governors of these, the other
classes of this tribe, and particularly the Wodiars and
Lingavants, were invited to the hills.
To return to the first settling of the Burghers, it is

worn by the husband. These are carefully placed in a box, and kept
in a Uttle temple erected for the purpose. There are no less than
eleven of these temples throughout the different Burgher villages. But
they are not likely to increase, as this practice of burning with their
husbands has now, for some generations, been discontinued. Sacred
festivals, in honour of these manes, are held once a year, during the
months either of February or December, when offerings are made to
them, the viands of which afterwards serve to regale the votaries. On
these occasions, should time have worked its usual effects, and the old
clothes have began to change their form, they are replaced by new
ones. * Heriah is an imaginary representation of any one of the Gods of
the Siva sect, according to the fancy of each family or community.
Both Hetty and Heriah are ministered to by the Burghers themselves,
without the intervention of a priest.

108

BURGHERS.

here necessary to mention that the portion of the four
naads or divisions of the hills, which forms the plateau of
the mountains, was all that was considered immediately
to belong to the Tudas, for it was all that they con
sidered of any worth ; and this again presenting a sur
face of much greater extent than was required by them
to feed their herds, its value in their estimation was
proportionably small.
To the new comers, every acre promised to be of great
worth ; and each taking from the Tuda family, on certain
conditions, this hill or that mountain side, or perhaps as
far as the eye could reach, sat himself down with his
family, and commenced to force from the soil fruits which
it had not till then been called upon to produce.
At present, each burgher, hamlet, or village, pays to the
family of the Tuda in whose district it is, besides their
annual and occasional offerings to the Tir-ir-is, eight
measures * of whatever grain they grow on each field or
plat of land. Indians in general, and Hindu husband
men in particular, are however very ill adapted for migra
tion, unless it is by whole communities; for each indi
vidual being accustomed to have performed for him by
other members of the community, many of the commonest
offices of life, there is so strong a reciprocation of de
pendence among them, that the absence of one member
* About two quarts each.

FUGITIVE TRIBES. 109
even often becomes a serious inconvenience to the whole.
In this state were the Burghers on their first arrival.
They had left behind them all their mechanics, barbers,
washermen, &c. &c. ; and to remedy this inconvenience,
and at the same time to insure the good neighbourhood
of the Cohatars and the Curumbars, they were glad to
enter into a compact with each for the performance of
these services ; agreeing to pay them certain dues or fees,
and for their holding certain offices, in right of which
also were to accrue to them other specified advantages *.
The intelligence that the first of the fugitives had
found a comfortable house on the mountains, brought
many in a short time from the same part of the country.
The Toriahs, a lower class of people who had principally
gained their livelihood by weaving a kind of sackcloth ;
the Kanakars, and the Arrvas, or repudiated Brahmans ;
the Wodiars and the Lingavants, all of whom were of
superior classes to the first settlers, — gradually left the
plains, and established themselves in their new country.

* Each Burgher community now pays to the Cohatars of its circle,
at the rate of eighty measures for each plough of land ; to the Curumbar
family with which it is connected, eight measures of barley, besides the
incidental fees on a death, funeral, &c. In return for this payment, the
several services before mentioned are performed by the Cohatars and
the Curumbars. The Curumbars are also residuary legatees to the
Burghers; and should one ofthe latter die without an heir, the whole
of whatever personal property he may have, the expenses of his funeral
being first paid, goes to the Curumbars.

110 RELIGION OF THE BURGHERS.
The two latter, as just now mentioned, were much en
couraged, first by the ruling power in Mullie-Cota, and
afterwards by that in Atra, for both these were themselves
of the Siva sect. This religion, therefore, became in a short
time the prevalent one among all classes of the Burghers,
and though not adopted by their neighbours, the Coha
tars and the Curumbars, the latter, or the Curumbars,
affected greater respect for it than they had hitherto shown.
The consequence of this change was, that Hetty and
Heriah sunk to the rank of household gods, and Mahad-
wesar, Mahalinga, Gungamah, and Gouramah*, were
in the ascendant. Their declension commenced with the
establishment of the Mussulman government through
out Mysore.
Antecedent to this last mentioned period, the Burghers,
generally, had begun to find themselves so firmly esta
blished under the authority of a people of their own
religion, to whom all the Tudas were obliged to be sub
servient, that what they had hitherto paid to the latter
was now given them rather as a free gift, than as tribute ;
and but for the dread which they entertained of the

* Different Hindu gods and goddesses, now generally worshipped by
all the Burgher classes. Mahadwesaran, however, appears originally to
have been an inhabitant of a village in Mysore, a Lingavant, and a
Siddha, or inspired or prophetic person. He withdrew from this life,
and on the spot where he did so, a Lingam arose. Pilgrimages to it are
often made by the Burghers ; and its antitypes are so multiplied, as to
occupy a space in almost every Burgher village.

HISTORY OF THE BURGHERS. Ill
magical powers of the Curumbars, the payment would
probably have been altogether withheld. The subversion
of the Hindu governments, however, brought about ano
ther change, and from that period up to the present, the
different tribes have continued much on their original
footing one with another ; the Burghers having multiplied
to a great extent, and spread themselves over almost every
part of the hills ; and looking back with regret to the
time when they hoped to establish themselves not merely
independent of their neighbours, but superior to them.
Devoid, however, of all means of mental improvement,
and having priests no less ignorant and superstitious than
themselves, their dread of the power of evil spirits, while
it acted as a check to their cupidity, was at the same time
an obstacle to the attainment of the many benefits which
must otherwise have resulted to them from their superior
industry. The poorer Burghers form the only class of
labourers now to be procured on the hills ; and at mid
day, or towards evening, parties of them are often to be
seen seated on the bank of some brook or rill, partaking
of their simple fare, which generally consists of barley or
©ther meal, * mixed up with some of the pure element
that is gurgling past them, a little salt, and a little chilly.
Proceeding on our route, we came to the village of
Kaultray, situated among fields of ripening grain of

* The grain is parched before it is reduced to meal.

112 DOMESTIC HABITS.
almost every description. On the road we had been over
taken by a storm, which still continuing, and our tents
not having come up, we were obliged to pass the night
here, and to accommodate ourselves in the best way we
could, in a Burgher verandah, of the kind before men
tioned. The inhabitants of this, and of two or three other little
villages at a short distance, consisted of some three or four
families of Lingavants, about the same number of Arrvars,
Kanacars, Adikaris, and common Burghers, and also a few
families of Toriahs. The surrounding scene shewed them
to be an industrious people ; and as far as their no
tions of it could be made applicable to us, we found them
hospitable. Small as the place was which we had for our
evening accommodation, we were obliged to allow of the
claims of the quern, the winnow, and the garner, to a
share of it ; and had we put up in the Toriah village, the
distaff and the wheel, which for the first time on the hills,
we there saw, would have enjoyed an equal right.
Excepting the little superiority enjoyed by the Linga
vants and Arrvars, in matters connected with their re
ligion, the whole of the Burgher sects are much on the
same footing. The Toriahs, however, are generally the
poorest, and it is not common to see either the Linga
vants, or Wodiars, working as daily labourers.
On leaving his house in the morning, the Burgher
pays his adorations to the God of day, proceeds to the

-MORNING ORISONS. 118
Tu-el or yard, in which the cattle have been confined,
and again addressing the sun as the emblem of Siva,
asks his blessing, and liberates the herd. He allows the
cattle to stray about in the neighbourhood of the village,
or at a short distance from it, on apiece of ground which
is always kept waste for this purpose, and having per
formed his morning ablutions,* commences the milking.
This is also preceded by further salutations and praises
to the sun.
The places in which the cattle are confined during
the night, are common to the whole community of the
village, and, according to the size of the latter, are either
one, two, or more. They are better secured against wild
animals than the Tu-els of the Tudas ; for their herds
principally consisting of cows and oxen, and the few
buffaloes which they have being of an inferior kind to
those of the Tudas, it is supposed that the tiger marks
the difference ; and although we could not learn that he
had ever attacked them while thus secured, it is evident
that the Burghers dread him, and that the Tudas do not.
The calves being allowed to accompany the herd, the
milking scene on the green is both a busy and lively
one, and often leaves it matter of doubt whether the
milkman or the calf is the better milker.

* The cleaning of the teeth forms a particular part of these ablu
tions, for with all Hindus it is a prominent mark of civilization.

114 DOMESTIC OCCUPATIONS.
During this period, the females of the family have
prepared breakfast, which usually consists of barley and
other meal, roasted and otherwise prepared millet, and
such like grains, butter, ghee, buttermilk, &c. The
herd is then taken out to graze for the day, by some boys
or old men of the village, who are employed for this
purpose, and the Burgher commences his agricultural
labours. If these, or any other out-of-door business, do
not require his attention, he assists the females in the
performance of what is strictly considered their share of
the duties of the day, or it is not uncommon for him to
pass the remainder of it in idleness. On entering the
house in the evening, the Burgher addresses the lamp,
now the only light, or visible emblem of his Deity —
" Thou creator of this and of all worlds, the Greatest
of the Great, who art with us, as well in the mountain as
in the wilderness, who keepeth the wreaths that adorn
the head from fading, who guardeth the foot from the
thorn, God among a hundred, may we be prosperous."
In gathering in the harvest, in manuring and weeding,
all the family assist, females as well as males, and ex
cepting the little that is trodden out by the ox, the whole
preparation of the different kinds of grain falls to the
share of the females of the family. With the milking,
however, they are not allowed to interfere. It must be
performed by the men, for, like the Tudas, they attach to
this office a degree of sanctity, Mondays and Tuesdays

MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 115
also are kept as sacred to the herd, on which days neither
are the cows milked, nor the oxen worked.
The general avocations of the day, both of males and
females, will of course be regulated, in a great measure,
by the circumstances of their several families. Some will
be obliged to gain their livelihood by daily labour, or
in servitude ; while others, from their better fortune, are
exempt from this lot, and are enabled to employ servants.
These servants are clothed and fed by their employers,
and paid, some two, some three rupees a year. It is also
common for one who is in want of labourers, to promise
his daughter in marriage to the son, or other relative of
a neighbour, not in circumstances so flourishing as him
self; and these engagements being entered into, the in
tended bridegroom serves the father of his betrothed, as
one of his own family, till the girl comes of age, when
the marriage is consummated, and he becomes a partner
in the general property of the family of his father-in-law.
A marriage of this kind was about to be celebrated in the
village in which we were, and had our tents come up, we
would fain have stopped to witness it ; but not having
this accommodation, our room was more wished than our
presence. The incident, however, led to inquiry.
In general, when a marriage is to be celebrated, the
relatives and friends of the party assemble, each bringing
gifts in money, food, or raiment, and laying them at the
feet of the bride or bridegroom, partake of refreshment.
i 2

116 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS.
This over, and the object of the assembly being formally
announced, the bridegroom first presents the Talie to the
officiating Singavant or Arrwar, and begs of him to call
down blessings on it. He then presents it to the re
mainder of the assembly, asking their concurrence, and
attaches it to the neck of the bride. Having done so,
the ritual of the ceremony is performed, and tobacco, or
some such luxury, is then distributed to all around, to
the females as well as to the males. In the evening a
repast is laid out, when the whole party present a dish of
boiled rice or shamie flour, dressed with milk and ghee,
to the new couple, and usher them to bed. The contract
would now seem to have been completed, and to be
mutually binding ; but this is not the case, and till after
a second ceremony, it is not uncommon for the pair to
separate. When it is apparent that they are likely to
have a family, this second ceremony ensues. In most
respects, this corresponds with the preceding one; the
relations and friends assembling, presenting gifts, and
partaking of refreshment, and in their presence the
husband ties another Talie, a yellow one, round the neck
of his bride. It is seldom that disunion takes place
after this.
Where the husband does not obtain his wife by a period
of servitude, he, or his relations, pay a certain price for
her, to her parents, and, in return, she brings with her
a dower, consisting of cattle, household utensils, or other

MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 117
chattels, generally greater in value than the sum which
has been paid for her. Should a separation take place
after the second ceremony, and it be the husband who
wishes to separate, he merely forfeits the price which had
been paid for his wife, retaining all she had brought him,
and whatever children they may have had. If it be the
wife who wishes to separate, she is obliged to return to
the husband the price that was paid for her, forfeiting at
the same time whatever property she may have brought,
and all right to her children. In either case the woman
may marry again. They have but one wife at the same
time, and their progeny is often very numerous, even to
the number of fourteen or fifteen. Fidelity, however,
appears to be a virtue of but little estimation among them.
Although the Burghers, generally, may be considered
much more cleanly, both in their houses and persons, than
any of the other tribes, they are still, in this respect, far
behind the natives of the plains. They are a healthy race,
and among their children cutaneous diseases are much less
common than in the low country. They say themselves
that they have no sicknesses ; but in this account they
omit both fever and the small pox, — the first being, in
almost every case, attributed to the necromancy of the
Curumbars ; the latter, to the presence of the goddess who
presides over this disease.* Neither of these diseases,
* Hindu superstition is so powerful on this point, that when the
malady attacks them, many refuse to take any remedies themselves, or

118 CATARACT.
however, are common, and the former is by no means of
a malignant nature, although, under their treatment, it
often proves fatal. The ravages of the latter, when it
does attack them, are sometimes terrible, sweeping off
whole villages ; and it is not uncommon, immediately on
its appearance, for the villagers, excepting those who are
attacked, to forsake their homes, and flee to a distant part
of the hills. On the whole, if we except their super
stitious fears, they seem to enjoy great content, and
their villages exhibit much of what, to them, must be
considered domestic comfort.
In the morning we proceeded on our journey, and,
a few miles north-east of Kauttray, passed a beautiful
cataract, the stream of which first forms a vast perpen
dicular column of about a hundred feet, and then dividing
into several minor columns, finds its level three or four
hundred feet lower down. We were soon after very
agreeably surprised to see our tents, and the remainder
of our baggage, on the summits of one of the mountains
over which we had to pass. They had arrived there the
night before ; but the servants thinking it advisable not
to proceed any further, had bivouacked for the night, and
some kindly Tudas of a neighbouring morrt, who had

to allow any to be administered to their relations, and thence arises
their antipathy to vaccination. The supposition is not as to the nature
or inefficiency of the means, but it is the fear of offending the goddess
Marimah, of whose visitation this disease is the sign.

DESERTED VILLAGE; 119
undertaken to ascertain where we were, now pointed out
to us the objects of our anxiety.
The hill and dale over which our road now lay, pre
sented a very different prospect to that which we had
left. The land had evidently been cultivated at no very
remote period, but it was now lying dormant, and seem
ingly unclaimed and deserted.
Marks of where the Burgher villages and hamlets had
stood, were to be seen ; and our Tuda guide, pointing to
them, observed, " In the time of my father, every variety
of grain encircled those spots, and our share of the pro
duce was a fortune to us." He called our attention to
almost every hill, grove, or woodland side within our view,
alluding to them with the melancholy fondness of one who
had been driven from his home ; and as we drew near to
the village of Hoolikul, we passed through a deserted
morrt, the place of his birth. It was a sweet pretty spot,
part ofthe brow of an immense mountain, the vicinity of
which was beautifully wooded, the regularity of the trees,
and the vistas they afforded, giving to it all the appearance
of the most studied elegance ; while the empty byre, neg
lected temple, and unoccupied dwellings, cast over it a
gloom, quite in unison with the sorrow and lamentations
of our guide.
The hamlet or village of Hoolikul was one ofthe poorest
we had yet visited, consisting of three or four houses only.
It takes the first part of its name, Hooli, a tiger, from the

120 ALARM OF A SOLAR ECLIPSE.
circumstance of one of the three kings or chiefs of the
mountains having, on some occasion, overcome and slain a
tiger on this spot. To commemorate the victory, a rude
representation was raised in stone, and hence the termina
tion Kul, a rock or stone.
It was about ten o'clock when we arrived. The morning
was cloudy and overcast, and, either from the false informa
tion of an itinerant astrologer, or from some of the old
people having dreamt it, a belief had spread throughout
the village, that there was to be a solar eclipse. The long
obscured state of the luminary confirmed them in this
opinion ; and the whole of the inhabitants, men, women,
and children, had in consequence assembled, and taken
post at the foot of the mountain which we were now
about to descend, yelling and hooting, beating brass pots
and basins, and all other sounding vessels that could be
found in the village ; and by every means in their power,
raising a combination of discordant sounds, the most
hideous imaginable.
We soon relieved them from their apprehensions on
account of the god of day; and as our servants required
a night's rest after their wanderings, we determined to
remain here till the following morning. Seating our two
Tudas on the carpet, — for though Pinpurz was a Tarda or
Kiitan ; and Kulevan, the other who accompanied us on
this tour, a Paike or Teralla, they, in all matters not
concerning their religion, look upon themselves as equals, —

NARRATIVE OF PINPURZ KUTAN. 121
we called on the former to relate to us the history of his
marriage, as he had formerly promised he would.
THE HISTORY OF PINPURZ KUTAN.

I was not seven years old, when my father, taking a child's gar
ment, in value about a quarter of a rupee, and selecting one of
the best of our herd, desired me to accompany him to the morrt
of Kinori. This Kinori had, a month or two before, a daughter
born to him. Soon after we had arrived at the morrt, it being
understood that Kinori gladly consented to the propositions which
had been made by my father, I was directed to bow myself down,
and in the presence of the whole family to ask his foot. This I
did ; and touching it with my forehead, the buffaloe and the gar
ment were presented him, and I was considered to be affianced to
his daughter. We remained there for some days, during which
period it was agreed upon, what number of kine I was to receive in
dower, on my intended spouse coming of age, and we again set out
to return to our own morrt. I had no brothers, or they also would
have been affianced to my intended, as this was part of the agree
ment, in case of my father having any more sons born to him. In
this case Kinori's daughter would have been wife to us in succes
sion as we arrived at manhood, and we should have formed one
united family, — the supreme authority, however, still resting with
me. The next year, my father presented to my intended bride,
a garment, double in value to the first, which he had presented,
and in each succeeding year, one proportionately increasing in
value. We also sacrificed a buffaloe, and presented a kutch* on

* A part of their raiment, generally; at present, a piece of dyed or
printed cotton.

122 NARRATIVE OF PINPURZ KUTAN.
every occasion of a death among any of the relations of my in
tended's family, and one also at their obsequies. In case of any
accident of the kind in our family, we expected the same to be
observed towards us, except the presenting of the kutch, from
which my bride's father was exempted on account of the dower
he had to give with her, which would greatly exceed in amount
any expense which I could be to my father. My father died, and
when I had attained man's estate, I was not pleased with my be
trothed ; and presenting her father with three kine, the contract
was by mutual consent dissolved. Had the reverse been the case,
and the bride or her father had declined to allow of consumma
tion, I could have claimed of the latter a fine equal to fifty kine ;
and till this fine was paid, the former could not marry any other.
Freed from my contract with my first bride, I sought to affiance
myself in a manner more to my own inclinations, and wishing to
be connected with the family of my present wife, Pilluvani, who
was then only six years of age, I spoke to her father, and obtaining
his consent, presented her a garment in value, according to her
age, of about a rupee and a half, * and a milch buffaloe. I con
tinued to present her with a garment every succeeding year; and
on the occurrence of a death among any of the relations of her
family, and at the obsequies, I always sacrificed a buffaloe, and
presented the kutch. Pilluvani was afterwards betrothed to two
others, Khakhood, and Tumbut. When she had arrived at a cer
tain age, and had for eight days been living with one of her female
friends in a dwelling separate from those of the family, intimation
was sent to me, and I went to her father's morrt, that is, Kerj-
wan's, her second father, the first one being dead. I was feasted
and bedded; and after a few days, Kerjwan laying on his hands,
gave us his blessing, and I returned with my wife to my own morrt,

* The value of these federal presents, vary according to the circum
stances of the parties.

NARRATIVE OF PINPURZ KUTAN. 123
receiving with her in dower, four buffaloe kine : her father also
presented to her on this occasion, a pair of ear-rings, a pair of
armlets, a necklace, a brazen salver, and five rupees.
Now, according to our customs, Pilluvani was to pass the first
month with me, the second with Khakhood, and the third with
Tumbut ; and the two latter, waiting in succession on the father-
in-law, were to ask his blessing, and claim their privilege in
right. I was to give her raiment the first year, Khakhood the
second, and Tumbut the third. I had the option of claiming the
three first children, Khakhood the second three, and Tumbut the
third three ; when the option again revolved to me. It was my
place to go to her father two or three months prior to the birth
of a child, and delivering to him a small piece of wood, which we
call a billu, to claim the forthcoming infant, whether male or
female, and acknowledge before him and his relations that I
would protect and nourish it ; and that, whatever might happen,
I allowed this to be in satisfaction of one of my claims. On this
occasion also, I was to present him either five or ten rupees, and
in return he was to allow me to select, if I presented him five
rupees, three ; if ten rupees, six, of the best kine of his herd. If
the child proved a boy, he would have to present me with a
heifer, and another one also on the birth of each son, but not on
the birth of a daughter, as it is supposed that she will soon be
betrothed, and that a fortune will accrue to her in that way.
After the third birth, the same observance and privilege would
have fallen to Khakhood and Tumbut successively, or if I chose
to give up any of my rights, the two latter would successively
have had choice of adoption, &c. &c. We all three should have
been equally bound to protect the whole of the children, to marry,
and to give them in marriage; but the superior authority would
always have rested with me.
The case of Pilluvani and myself, however, was at variance
with this custom. We were very fond of one another, and deter
mined not to separate. I offered to pay the usual fines, but the

124 NARRATIVE OF PINPURZ KUTAN.
other party would not accept of them. I had been unfortunate.
A murrain had attacked my herd ; the greater part of Korrorr,
and which belonged to my fathers, had been forsaken by the
Marvs and Ciivs, from the oppression of some of their rulers,
and from being a leading man among my own people, I was now
reduced, but principally by the oppressions of my wife's relations,
to comparative poverty.

The above detail led to some questions from us, and
we learnt that a woman, besides this plurality of hus
bands, may also have as many cicisbeos, but with this
proviso, that it must be with the consent of those to
whom she is already contracted, — a consent which is not
very generally refused ; but that a man can only be con
tracted to one woman. He may, however, be the cicis-
beo of many.
At an early hour we proceeded on our route to Karrt-
kawady, another Burgher village, situate at the foot of
the mountain Gaganachiki. This mountain is partially
detached from the general mass, and stands at the ex
tremity of one of the ribs which, like mighty buttresses
thrown up to support the central and more elevated
parts, surround the hills in every direction. From its
base, to the walls of the fortress on the summit, it is
covered with a dense forest, which to a certain height in
no way differs from the jungles of the plain ; but above
that, assumes more the character of the woods of the

FOREST ROUTE. 125
hills, the trees being lofty, with large out-spreading
branches, and there being little or no underwood.
The villagers professed to be quite unacquainted with
the track through the woods leading up to the fort, but
some families of Curumbars had engaged to meet us here,
and to act as our guides, and a part of them kept their
promise. After breakfast the next morning, we all
started on foot, the greater part of the villagers accom
panying us, and after the first half mile entered the
woods. , For some distance we continued to ascend and
descend precipitous ridges, thickly studded with lofty
trees,* the ample foliage of which so completely shut out
the sun's rays, as to leave us in a sort of twilight. While
thus advancing, we were not a little amused to observe
that our guides notched the trees with their bill hooks
every ten or fifteen paces, to mark out to any of our
party who might fall to the rear, the path we had taken,
and, at the same time, to prevent missing it ourselves on
our return. At length, about noon, we emerged from
the woods, and found ourselves close under the walls of
the fortress, which we entered by a narrow gateway, after
walking for a considerable distance along the edge of a
rock, admitting of only one abreast, and then requiring
the greatest care to avoid slipping over the precipice.

* Many of them of a very different kind to those about Oataca
mund.

126 DILAPIDATED FORTRESS.
The area within the fort is extensive, but irregular,
occupying the whole of the crest of the mountain, on the
edges of which the walls are raised. These are insig
nificant, and, like those of many ancient droogs, have
the appearance of being intended rather to mark the
boundary, than as an addition to the natural strength of
the place. The principal gateway was on the opposite
side to that on which we entered. It leads directly down
the precipice into the plain, but it was now completely
choked up by the growth of the trees.
In the time of Tippoo, the Sultan of Seringapatam,
this fortress was called Syyudabad, had a garrison of a
hundred men, and was intrusted to a Kiladar, named
Ali Khan.
The walls of some large native houses are still standing,
but most of the area within is overgrown with wood, of
the same description as that growing in the surrounding
forests. The trees, however, are still young, and in the
absence of all other data, form a means of judging of the
period when#this fort was last forsaken. We could not
find, on any part ofthe summit ofthe mountain, that there
had been a command of water, which deficiency must
have made this otherwise strong hold often untenable.
From the more elevated parts we had extensive views
of the plains, and our attention being directed to the
spot, we were able to discern in the glens, some thousand
feet below us, the little villages of the Curumbars. We

THE CURUMBARS. 127
were also much amused by observing the process of ex
halation. The atmosphere was generally clear, the sun
in his full meridian splendour ; and though at this height
we felt no inconvenience from his rays, the arid and
droughty appearance of the plains indicated there a very
different effect. For a few minutes, not the smallest
speck could be distinguished between us and objects
below ; presently, a smoke would arise, as though from
vacuity, pervade the whole atmosphere, ascend, and gra
dually contracting its bulk, assume the form of cloud and
vapour, but tepid as steam, and enveloping us for a few
seconds, fly off in the direction of Petmarz, and the
higher mountain ranges. We returned to Karrtkawady
by the same route ; and neither in our going or return
ing, met with a single wild animal of any description.
We spent the greater part of the next day in making
further enquiries respecting this fortress, and in the
evening returned to Hoolikull, intending the following
morning to proceed on a visit to some one of the Cu
rumbar villages, and to which we were now invited.
The deference paid by the Curumbars to our two Tudas
was very striking. It was quite that of a serf to his
feudal lord ; and on my asking one of the more intelli
gent among them who the Tudas were, he declined at first
answering, but afterwards said, — this is a Kutan, that a
Paike. He would not mention either of their names,
although, as he afterwards informed me, he was well

128 THE CURUMBARS.
acquainted with both, but addressed them by the appella
tions of Kutan and Paike, — terms or titles significant of
their rank, and corresponding with lord, or chief, and
priest. The Kutan looked sorrowful. It brought to his
recollection the deserted morrt, the forsaken hills, and
silent valleys.
Dismounting from our horses, we descended into one
of the glens, led on by the Curumbars, who now feeling
themselves more at home than during the first or second
day of their visit, gave us some specimens of their ability
in projecting themselves down declivities, which required
from us every precaution as we traversed them.
The village, if a few miserable hovels constructed of
the boughs and leaves of trees and loosely covered with
dried grass, can be called such, was still more miserable
than the Erular one we had visited. It was not however
with these villagers a time of merry-making ; and this
glen, as we were told, was not one of the most flourish
ing. There was no temple, but their religion seems to
be the same as that of the Erulars, except that they
are not particular as to the mode of disposing of their
dead ; either burning or burying, whichever may be most
convenient. Swarthy and unwholesome in countenance, small of
stature, the head but thinly covered with sickly-looking
hair, the only covering it has, — little or no eyelash, small
eyes, always blood-shot and apparently much inflamed,

SINGULAR MARRIAGE CEREMONY. 129
pot-bellied, and with water running from their mouths,
they have in most respects more the semblance of savage,
than of civilized man. Their women and children have
much the same squalid appearance, though on their necks
and wrists they wear ornaments made of the different
kinds of wild seeds and of berries. Many of the men also
wear ornaments in their ears, of yellow straw, plaited with
some degree of ingenuity ; but, in their general appearance,
they are much like the Erulars, pictures of wretchedness
and misery. They gave us an abundant supply of honey,
plantains, and such fruits as, on the higher parts of the
mountains, or in the vicinity of Oatacamund, are consi
dered delicacies.
They have no marriage ceremony; but occasionally,
when two have been living together for some time, they
will enter into an agreement, in the presence of friends,
to remain united for life ; and in a family where a suc
cession of such unions has taken place, they will, once in
two or three generations, perform a ceremony, and hold a
festival in celebration of them.
This is done by pouring pots of water over one ano
ther, the pairs seating themselves together for this pur
pose ; the ablution, probably the first voluntary one they
have had in their lives, commencing with the seniors.
They then put on new clothes, and end the day in feasting
and merriment.
Like the Erulars, they cultivate, in patches, a little

130 ECONOMY OF THE MOUNTAIN STREAMS.
millet and other small grain, the plantain, the chilly, and
several esculent roots. They also procure the sambarany
or frankincense,* and the auris and other roots, and give
them in exchange for food or raiment ; but their extreme
improvidence in the season of plenty, like that of the
Erulars, would expose them to perish of hunger for
several months of the year, were it not for the position
they hold with respect to the other tribes.
This race also inhabit those parts of the mountains,
where the minor streams falling from them, can with ease
be made to flow, more or less, in any direction required.
This gives to the Curumbars much consequence among
many of the cultivators below, and in particular among
those immediately at the base ofthe mountains, where the
Moyar and Siru Bhavani, making deep indentures in the
plain, leave a large space of level and valuable land be
tween them and the mountains ; and the good will of the
Curumbars towards these several cultivators, is a con-
• sideration well deserving any little assistance, which, in
time of need, they may require. Many of the natives of
the plains of this vicinity, have also a dread of the magical
powers of this race, — an impression which may have origi
nated from their living in places where it would be almost
death to any of the former to pass a night, and where
* By drawing off the milk or sap of a tree, commonly called the
diipa.

BELIEF IN THE MAGIC POWERS OF THE CURUMBARS. 131
wild beasts of every description are supposed to inhabit,
joined to their wild and uncouth appearance ; but however
that may be, like the Burgher, they do not hesitate to
apply to the Curumbars, when they or any of their family
believe themselves enchanted or bewitched ; and very many
of them are always too ready to consider themselves so,
when attacked by the most common disorders.
The fact appears to be, that the Curumbars have a
knowledge of herbs and medicinal roots, which the others
have not ; and that the effects of these, when they have
been judiciously applied, added to their great singularity
of character, make up the whole and true cause of the
wonderment and dread which they inspire. The Bur
ghers say they have a knowledge of vegetable medicines,
but they limit it to those which are noxious only, and
believe that, with the assistance of their magic, they are
able to convey them into the stomachs of those to whom
they have any dislike.
On our road from Karrkawady, we stopped a day at a ,
considerable Burgher village, for the purpose of witness
ing one of their funerals. The deceased had been a
man of some consequence among them. The body was
brought out on a bier, ornamented with drapery of divers
colours, and placed in front of his house.*

* Immediately after life has ceased, a piece of money, generally a
quarter or half a rupee, 01 some other small silver coin, is put in the
mouth of the defunct.

K 2

132 BURGHER FUNERAL,
The greater part of the village had assembled, and
many others, relatives and friends from distant villages.
The musicians, five in number, who were Cohatars of the
circle to which this village belonged, now commenced the
wail, and to this the whole party kept time, as, with a
measured step, they moved round the body, mourning
and lamenting. A milch buffaloe was then forced round
the bier in this circle, a little milk drawn from it, and
poured into the mouth of the deceased. This buffaloe
was then liberated, and another one brought up* the same
ceremony observed with it, and with others to the number
of ten or twelve. Parched barley, and various kinds of
millet, were then put into the mouth of the deceased,
and some of the party taking up the bier, the procession
moved towards the place of burning, the musicians pro
ceeding at some distance in advance, the female relatives
fanning the body, and the males running a short way in
front, turning round, and prostrating themselves before it.
Arriving near the spot where the pile was constructed, the
bier was set down, and the son or representative of the
deceased, carrying in his left hand a small bar of iron,*
went up to the deceased, and again dropped a little grain
into his mouth ; the remainder of the relatives then
approached, and observed the same ceremony. After

"¦ They think that iron has a repulsive power over the spirits that
hover about the dead.

BURGHER FUNERAL. 133
this, the representative seized a calf which had been
brought here for the purpose, and addressing it, besought
it to mediate for the departed, that the gates of heaven •
might be opened to him, and that his sins, and the sins
of his generation, might be forgiven.
The calf was then let loose, and, glad enough to get
away, ran off with all the speed it could attain ; the repre
sentative, and the whole of the party, shouting out to it
at the same time, — " away, away, away ! "
The idea of this ceremony is, that the sins of the
deceased enter the calf, or that the task of his absolution
is laid on it. They say that the calf very soon disappears,
and that it is never after heard of. In this case, it did
not run off a great way before it stopped, and as it is
always one which has been purchased for the purpose,
generally from the Cohatars, they do not of course allow
it to wander far in want of an owner. The bier was now
divested of all its ornaments, and the cloth or pall* with
which the body had hitherto been covered, taken off;
a cubit of it given to each of the Cohatars, and to
the Toriahs,t and the remnant again thrown over the
body, which was now placed on the pile, the face down-

* Generally of the value of two or three rupees.
f This class are obliged to perform certain menial offices to the
other classes of Burghers, such as that of tonsor, &c, and to attend at
their funerals, &c, on account of which services they are entitled to
certain fees.

134 PURIFICATION AFTER THE FUNERAL.
wards, the head to the north, and a sort of pent roof
raised over it composed of logs of wood. On these a
large quantity of ghee was poured, and the whole being
encircled with little heaps of different kinds of grain, fire
was applied to it by the representative of the deceased,
and then by others of the party.
All the females who had attended the funeral remained
on the spot where the bier had been first set down, ex
cepting the widow of the deceased, who, endeavouring to
approach nearer to the pile, or rather making a show of
doing so, was surrounded by the other relatives, and made
to divest herself of her upper garment and a part of her
jewels. These were thrown on the pile, and a new gar
ment being given to her, she was escorted back to her
home. After they had remained for some time, and
until the body was nearly consumed, the whole party
returned to the village, and mixing up a little orpi*
and water, sprinkled themselves with it, as a means of
purification. We understood that the party would return to the
burning place the next morning, for the purpose of
sprinkling a little water on the pile, collecting the bones
of the deceased, and such portion of the metal which had
composed the ornaments as they could find, and putting
the former into an earthen pot, that they would bury it
* The ordure of the cow.

BARLEY HARVEST. 135
some three or four feet deep, marking the spot with a
circle of stones. If, as in this instance, the deceased was a
male, the metal collected from the pile would be given to
the nearest male relative ; if a female, to the nearest female
relative, for the purpose of being again worked up into
ornaments. We also understood that the funeral of a
female is conducted in much the same manner as that
which we had now witnessed, excepting that the winnow,
the pestle, and such like articles, over which she has
had control when living, are put on the pile and burnt
with her.
The barley harvest in the vicinity of Dimhutty had
already commenced. It is the principal grain, and many
individuals of the other tribes, who are always desirous
of receiving their dues in it, had assembled here for this
purpose. Restricting our enquiries, in regard to this grain, to the
particular produce of one field, or rather to one hill side,
we estimated that produce to be about fifteen-fold that
of the seed employed. Almost every one in the village,
men, women, and children, were busily engaged in reap
ing, and carrying it to the thrashing, or rather treading,
floor, of the village, where oxen were already at work,
treading out the portions to be given to the Tir-ir-i* of
* To the Tir-ir-i about half a bushel; to the Tudas the same; to the
Curumbars the same; to the Cohatars about five bushels.

136 HARVEST OF WHEAT AND OTHER GRAINS.
the circle, the particular families of the Tudas, Cohatars,
and Curumbars.
Questioning some of the Burghers on the inconsistency
of their thus paying tithe to the Tir-ir-i, they said it was
in return for the prayers of the Pol-aul ; that they could
not believe that their crops or their cattle, themselves or
their children, would prosper without his blessing, and
that they generally desisted from cultivating their fields,
whenever the Tir-ir-i was left without a Pol-aul. They
willingly acknowledged the justice of the Cohatar's claims.
What they gave to the Tuda families was, they said,
given of their own good will ; while their gift to the
Curumbars was evidently made, because, from motives
of prudence, they did not like to refuse.
This was also about the time of wheat harvest, and, in
fact, of the shamie, tennie, varaku, rhahi, kirie, — kinds of
smaller grain, or millet ; and also the mustard seed, which,
together with the barley and garlic and onions, are all sown
in May, and come to perfection during this and the suc
ceeding month of September. The crops are no sooner off
the ground, than it is again prepared to receive the seed
of the vatta kadolie, and shanaugge (different kinds of
pulse) ; of the vendey, a sort of condiment, and of the
poppy, which come to perfection in four or five months,
or about December and January. This, however, is a
quick succession, which depends in a great measure on
the industry of the farmer in preparing the necessary

SUCCESSION OF CROPS. 137
manure, and keeping up the quality and strength of the
soil ; otherwise the ground is allowed to lie waste until
the succeeding month of May. This, their usual process
of cultivation on the best lands, is perhaps accomplished
with as little trouble as accompanies similar operations
in any part of the world; for the early and the latter
rains, that is, the south-west and the north-east monsoons,
not only mark the seasons and the periods for reaping
and sowing, but acting upon a soil naturally fertile, leave
the husbandmen but little to do. In March or April,
they put in the seeds of the pumpkin, the gourd, and the
mochhie,* gathering the produce as it becomes progres
sively ripe ; and should the two former have been sown
in a moist soil, they continue to produce for the following
two or three years. In these months, also, they sow the
koralie, another sort of millet, very productive, and very
hardy, growing on their poorest kind of grounds, but not
coming to perfection for nearly nine months, or until
the following November or December.
At Nunjana Gudal, a village at the foot of the hills in
the Mysore country, a chariot festival is held, in celebra
tion of the vernal equinox. Of this festival', the Bur
ghers are correctly informed by itinerant Gurns, of the
Lingavant sect, and they thus learn when to commence
their first sowing.

* A kind of beans, which also grow on a creeper.

138 COHATAR CULTIVATION.
The kirie, or princes-feather, of which mention has
before been made, is often mixed together and sown
with barley, rahie, or mustard seed ; and a. crop thus min
gled, when about to be cut, partakes as much of the
beauty of the flower garden, as of the luxuriance of a
field of ripened grain.
The cultivation of the Cohatars is, with the exception
of the poppy and three or four of the smaller grains, the
same as that of the Burghers, whose practice, as before
mentioned, they follow as closely as they can, in every
thing that relates to husbandry. The product of the
different crops, besides that of the barley, is, on an
average, of wheat* twenty-fold; of mustard and the
other smaller grains, between thirty and forty-fold.
Mustard seed, vendey, garlic, the juice and seed of the
poppy, and ghee, are the only articles of which they
export any portion. The remainder of their grain they
keep for home consumption.
We had engaged, on our return to Oatacamund, to
wait during a few hours on the road, in order to witness

* The Burghers informed me that English wheat had been tried with
much success ; that the seed was much more productive than that of
the hills ; and that the meal, when well cleansed from the husk, was
superior ; but that their implements could seldom effect this, and that
in consequence they considered it not so wholesome. They also said
that it gave them much trouble to keep the wild hog from it, whereas
that animal seldom or never entered a field of hill wheat.

SACRIFICE OF A CALF. 139
the yerr-gompts, or sacrifice of a calf, by a family of
the Tudas.
In the recess of a wood, whence a view of every thing,
but the sky and the surrounding mountains, was ex
cluded, a number of Tudas had assembled, some of whom
were busied in collecting dried bark and. leaves of trees ;
others in lopping the branches and preparing fuel of a
larger kind ; others, again, in the act of producing fire
by the friction of two pieces of wood ; and some standing,
in melancholy mood, musing over a calf, a most beautiful
animal of the kind, the intended victim of the sacrifice.
The fire was applied to the dried leaves and bark, and
quickly fanned into a flame ; more wood was then added,
and as the smoke began to curl up from among the trees,
and fly off towards the mountains, the calf was brought
near the pyre, the whole of the party collecting together
round it, the officiator being provided with a small club,
which he had just fashioned, in one hand, and a bunch of
leaves of the holy Tiurr in the other. The officiator now
received from the party who made the offering a small
piece of money ; arid after making repeated salutations to
the East, and waving the bunch of leaves around the
calf,* struck it with his club on the back of the head,

* The victim must be a male of a certain age, and without blemish.
On this occasion, two calves had been purchased, the first one having
been rejected.

140 SACRIFICE OF A CALF.
and instantly deprived it of life. While its limbs were
still quivering, the whole party, throwing up their hands
and eyes towards heaven, repeatedly exclaimed, May it be
as an offering from — naming first one, and then the
others, of their several high places.
The waving of the leaves was then again renewed,
and the sacrificer taking off the skin, spread it out on a
layer of branches, and placing upon it all the several
pieces into which he had cut up the animal, except the
head, feet, and entrails, sprinkled them with the blood.
Others of the party had in the mean time prepared a
number of double-pointed skewers, on the one end of
which were now stuck the several pieces, while the other
was forced into the ground, and the whole were arranged
in a circle around the fire. When the flesh had become
well singed, small pieces of it were torn off, and, to
gether with the head, thrown into the flame. A skewer
was then given to each of the party, together with a
quantity of newly-made butter, and each making his
salutation to the East, picked off a little of the meat,
rolled it up in the butter, and eat it. However, with the
exception of one old man, who seemed to relish the flesh,
and to be loath to rise so soon as the others, the eating
of the meat was evidently less to gratify the appetite,
than to comply with a needful part of the ceremony.
What remained of the offering was equally divided, for
the purpose of being sent to the different families of the

THE PRESENCE OF FEMALES NOT PERMITTED. 141
Tudas, throughout the hills. Both Tardas and Terallies
joined in this ceremony, and the sacrificer also was a
Tarda. A little boy and girl, the children of the sacri
ficer, had accompanied the party. The boy was allowed
to remain, and to partake of the offering, but the girl
was sent away to a distance, till all was over, when a
little of the meat was also given to her ; but females are
never allowed to join in this sacrifice.

142 TOUR TO THE NORTH-WEST.

CHAPTER VII.

The month of October, the period of our intended
departure from this most delightful of climates, was now
drawing near, and as we still had not visited the Norr of
Mheur, or the Khoudah division of the hills, we started
on this our last tour, and crossing the Kehtwah,* en
camped, late on the evening of the following day, on an
eminence between the morrts of Teruz t and Perk. This
division of the hills is again divided into the upper and
lower ranges. The latter is about the elevation of the
immediate vicinity of Oatacamund, the former consider
ably more elevated, though none of the peaks are equal in
height to Dodabetta. For several days, the sky had been
clear, and the most lofty of the mountains uncapped and
cloudless ; so fine an opportunity of viewing from them
the low countries to the west, was not, at this season ofthe
year, to be lost, so we determined immediately to ascend
the higher range, and to proceed to Ungindah and Mooka

* This beautiful stream of water has been before mentioned.
¦j- This was now deserted.

LOFTY MOUNTAIN OF GULI-KUL. 143
Mullie, two extreme peaks in this direction. The ac
complishment of this, however, was not so easy a matter as
we had calculated, for none of our people were acquainted
with the different tracks leading over these mountainous
wilds ; and the Tudas of Perk, being few in number, and
fully occupied in the care of their numerous herd, refused
to accompany us. We at last procured a guide : and the
following morning crossed the Pavhk-Phur, a fine limpid
stream ; then passed along the summit of the mountain
known by the name of the Avalanche ; and, proceeding
nearly due south, arrived at what may be considered the
general level of the higher range of the Khoondas. It
took us till the next day to reach the neighbourhood of a
mountain called Guli-Kul,t from the pinnacle of which
you can, in clear weather, see the western sea, the distance
being something less than fifty miles. But the opportu
nity, of which we hoped to take advantage, had passed ;
and after waiting upwards of two hours, wishing, rather
than expecting, that the clouds and mist would clear
away, and admit of our having a view of the ocean, we
were obliged to return to our tents, with the faint hope
only that we might be more fortunate on the following
day. Taking an early breakfast, we started for Ungindah
and Mooka Mullie, which now lay some miles to the
south of us. We were on foot, for to take horses would

f It is 8585 feet above the level of the sea.

144 HAZARDOUS MOUNTAIN EXCURSIONS.
have caused much delay, and indeed I doubt whether
some parts of our road would have been passable in that
manner. After a sharp walk of three hours and a half we
arrived at the peaks ; though still unfortunate with res
pect to the weather, for with the exception of an occa
sional glimpse of a lower table land, that stretches out
beyond the mountains towards Paulghant, we were con
stantly enveloped in mist and cloud, and were unable to
see beyond the immediate spot on which we stood. The
path by which we had come, or, indeed, any part of these
mountains, was familiarly known to only one of our party,
the guide who had come with us from Perk ; and by the
time we had taken our tiffin, for which the long walk and
the bracing air had given us every inclination, dark heavy
clouds had collected in our vicinity, threatening not only
a deluge of rain, but, what was much more to be appre
hended, to darken the atmosphere to such a degree, as
would leave it quite problematical whether we should be
able to find our way back. Our guide had more than
once remarked on the appearance of the weather, and at
last hinted at the probability now mentioned, stating at
the same time, that some of the morasses which we had to
recross, were full of tuyulties, — a kind of quagmire, not
unknown, I believe, by the name of devil's hole, or pur
gatory swamp.
A pedestrian on these mountains, however, has no

TOTAL ABSENCE OF THE MUSQUITO AND WHITE ANT. 145
cause to apprehend mischief from any animal of the rep
tile kind. Of serpents there are only three species, and
those are innoxious ; the meeting with one of them is
spoken of by the natives as a circumstance of very un
common occurrence. As you descend, they become more
numerous and of greater variety; and when you arrive
within a few thousand feet ofthe plains, serpents are met
with of" the same description as in other parts of India.
It is also worthy of remark, that the musquito and the
white ant, two very great pests in most parts of India,
seem, as by a law of nature, to be forbidden to approach
the crest of these mountains.
At one part of the road, about half way between
Ungindah and our encampment, near Guli-kul, we had ob
served that the foot-path broke off to the westward, and
that to this point, though precipitous and rugged, it was
a well-beaten track ; but that between this and the peaks,
not a single trace of human footsteps was to be seen.
Drenched with rain, and almost exhausted with the
fatigue of climbing up and descending mountains, of
which the rains had rendered the footing so insecure
that we were often as much indebted to our hands as our
feet, it was with considerable satisfaction that we regained
the point above alluded to; arid we now learned that
this footpath was one which, in former times, had been
much frequented by smugglers, in conveying tobacco
and other highly assessed articles, between the Mysore

146 GULI-KUL.
and western countries, while even at the present day it
was not altogether unfrequented.
The face of the country, in this part of MheUr, pre
sents by no means so favorable an aspect as its less
elevated parts, or as the district of Muzzorr ; and though
generally clothed with a fine rich herbage, and intersected
by numerous streams of pure and transparent water,
which in their eccentric course often wind many miles
before they turn towards their general receptacle, the
Manar, yet there are several parts where it is very stony,
and where the granite, protruding its bluff visage, looks
seemingly malignant on the surrounding vegetation.
This perhaps may in part be accounted for by the pre
cipitous formation of the mountains, and the long con
tinuance of heavy rains,* to which this part of the district
in particular is subjected.
We saw very few wild animals, but from the marks of
the bear, tiger, and elephant, they would seem occasionally
to frequent the district. No morrts, no hutties, no signs
of human habitation, are here to be seen ; the whole is
a wilderness, beautiful in the fine season, but drear and
gloomy for more than two thirds of the year. It is
during the former period that the Tudas drive their
herds to this part, leaving it again as the heavy rains
commence. We descended from the more elevated parts
* Nearly nine months of the year.

THE AVALANCHE. 147
of the Norr, and returned again to the neighbourhood
of Perk and Teruz. These morrts are each situated on
the sides of mountains, and connected by a curvature
that sweeps between them at a height considerably above
the general level. It is a pretty spot, sheltered from the
extreme violence of winds, and commanding, at the same
time, extensive and interesting views. The two moun
tains, near which the morrts are situate, form as it were
the two horns of a crescent of mountains, still more
elevated, that stretich out from them on each side, towards
the west ; and inclose a basin or valley, in which the com
paratively small green hills rise and fall in gentle undu
lations, and along the centre of which the Pavhk, which
here has its rise, winds in crystal beauty. The sides of
the surrounding mountains are partially covered with
hanging woods ; and the tremendous gash in the side of
one of them, now called the Avalanche, forms a striking
contrast to the milder features of a landscape, which at
all times must have been extremely interesting. The
people of the neighbourhood say, that about four or five
years ago,* there was a constant fall of rain for eight
days, with heavy rolling thunder; during all which time
the winds were so tempestuous, and the country so
enveloped in darkness, that none dared stir from their
homes. When at length the weather cleared up, they

* In 1824—5.
L 2

148 RAVAGES OF THE PAVHK.
discovered the tremendous havock that had been made ;
and that the Pavhk, overflowing its banks in every direc
tion, was surcharged with the wrecks and fragments of
the mountain's side. We had crossed this stream on our
way here, at a spot some miles lower down, and there
observed, though without at the time knowing the cause,
large quantities of shattered timber, thrown up far beyond
its usual confines.
In its serpentine course through the valley, this stream*
runs at a short distance from the base of the Avalanche ;
and crossing it at this part, we proceeded up the bed of
the latter, to the point where the mountain is first
denuded of its covering.
The peak of this mountain lies north-east and south
west ; it is the highest of this vicinity, and therefore
likely to attract any passing cloud surcharged with rain :
at a few hundred feet from its summit, but somewhat to
the west, is the source of a little brook, which to all
appearance must have long existed, though formerly it
would not perhaps so readily find its way into the Pavhk,
as it now does, along the bed of the Avalanche. At
such a season, and at such a period as is here alluded to,
the master-storm would hang over the higher range, and
serve, within its verge, as a general base to the clouds

* It eventually falls, not into the Manar, the general receptacle of
all the minor streams of this quarter, but into the Pykari.

A MOUNTAIN TORRENT. 149
from the south-west. It may therefore have been the
concussion with this, of some minor storm, that in the
first instance had been driven past this range, that caused
the phenomenon. Such a concussion would naturally
tend to make the latter exhaust itself; and pouring out
its waters in one mighty column, they would cut through
the earth until they reached the solid granite, carrying
with them the whole of the superficies, and falling to a
point near the source of the little stream before men
tioned, where a part of the mountain traverses at right
angles. There meeting with temporary obstruction, the
waters have thence rushed down the declivity with a
violence against which neither woods nor rocks could
make successful resistance. These, uprooted and dis
lodged, have together rolled down in one chaotic mass,
and falling into the Pavhk, have been carried on with
its collective waters, scattering far and wide the signs
and trophies of the devastating influence.
We could not discover, after the most minute examin
ation, any appearance of the lightning's blast, or of vol
canic eruption ; but every thing indicated the forceful
effects of a weight of waters, and of tempestuous and
infuriate winds. From the banks of the Pavhk to the
point in the side of the mountain, at which these effects
first became visible, we estimated to be little short of a
mile. Within this distance several springs have been
laid bare, which before could have only had a latent

150 PROBABLE CAUSE OF THE AVALANCHE.
existence ; and among these are two or three of very
superior chalybeate properties. On one or two of the
little hills within the basin, we observed similar signs,
though in a very minor degree, of storms or clouds
having exhausted themselves, and of large portions of
the superficies having been carried away.
From what has been said, it will not perhaps be
thought difficult to account for the phenomena which,
at first view, the Avalanche seemingly presents. In the
neighbourhood of springs issuing from the solid rock, the
superficies of this part of the mountain must have been
partially deprived of its power of adhesion to the rock, by
the gradual oozing of the water ; and being completely
saturated from without, by the constant heavy rains that
had already fallen, they would not be able, for a moment,
to resist the sudden deluge poured upon them from the
bursting cloud, but rushing downwards, would give by
their momentum, adventitious aid to the torrent and
the storm.
We remained here two or three days, and then de
scending to the banks of the Pavhk, followed its windings
and sinuosities till we came to its confluence with the
Pykari ; whence we directed our steps towards the source
of the latter stream, which has its rise near a very re
markable mountain, called Teygunnum, or more com
monly, Moorkoorty, the peak of which is upwards of
eight thousand five hundred feet high.

TREMENDOUS CLIFF. 151
After an easy ascent, although of nearly a mile and a
half in length, we arrived at its summit, and, as at other
places, found ourselves enveloped in mist and clouds.
Fortunately, however, we had not waited long before the
sky cleared sufficiently to allow us a partial view of the
low country, and of the outer side of the mountain. It
is this outer side which renders Teygunnum so remark
able. Down to the apparent base, a distance of many
thousand feet, it is perfectly perpendicular, which gives to
the mountain the appearance of having been cut through
the centre one, half being so completely removed as not to
leave the slightest shelving or ledge between the pinnacle
on which you stand, and the level of the plains below.
Immediately beyond is a hilly surface covered with
jungle ; but when looking down upon it from so great a
height, and catching only, as the intervening clouds admit,
a momentary glimpse, the forest trees appear like moss
and herbage ; and the variety of forms which they pre
sent, occasioned by the undulatory surface at their base,
offers to the eye a very fanciful and even romantic
appearance. The brink on which you stand while
viewing this extraordinary scene, and which, the longer
the eye rests upon it, becomes still more and more
romantic, is, however, a tottering precipice, the ground
of which is so unstable, that with a touch large masses
are precipitated down the vast height ; and fascinating as
are the forms which each cloud, as it shifts or rolls away,

152 THE M00RT OF NOSHK.
discloses to the view, the result of one incautious step is
so evident to the senses, that the pleasure which would
otherwise attend the survey is considerably abated.
The face of the country in this vicinity is much the
same as that ofthe higher range of the Khoondas, perhaps
a little more favourable, from the circumstance of the
Pykari having its rise here, and receiving at almost every
inflection of its course, some minor stream ; so that its
breadth becomes considerably enlarged even before it
arrives at the embouchure of its more respectable tri
butary, the Pavhk.
We now proceeded to the morrts of Noshk and
Tornorr, or, as the latter is commonly called, Pykri,
whence the name of the river, and soon got into a much
finer part of the country than the one we had left.
About Moorkoorty we had seen numbers of the wild
goat, and this day we saw many bears, hogs, sheep, an
telopes, and a variety of game.
Noshk is situated far up the side of a mountain on
the Mysore boundary. It consists of only two or three
dwelling-houses, huddled together, and when viewed in
some directions, has more the appearance of an eagle's
eyrie than ofthe habitation of man. The site, however, is
altogether a very pretty one. At a short distance is a little
wood, within which lie partially concealed the temple
and the byre. The undulatory surface immediately around
the adjacent mountains, covered with blooming heather,

ATMOSPHERIC EFFECT UPON SOUND. 153
and the hanging woods and rugged cliffs which line the
mountains outside, and lead the eye to the plains below,
afford views which fully compensate for the labour
of ascending this promontory. We here in particular
remarked the power of the atmosphere in conveying
sound. On the summit of one of the adjacent mountains
a Tuda was grazing his herd, and as our arrival had
created a little bustle in Noshk, he was desirous of
learning its cause. From where he lay reclining, to
the spot on which we stood, was, in a direct line, a
considerable distance ; and to have proceeded from one
place to the other, by descending and passing through
the intervening valley, must have taken up at least many
minutes. Our people, however, carried on their conver
sation with this herdsman, without the least apparent
exertion ; so that a stranger might at first suppose that he
heard a sort of aerial sound floating around him, and
would be for some time at a loss to conclude whence
it proceeded. Tornorr is perhaps the largest morrt on
the hills, and the proprietor, Teydi, of whom the figure
in the frontispiece is a very good likeness, is perhaps the
richest among the Tudas, possessing a herd of between
two and three hundred buffaloes. There are one or two
other morrts in this vicinity, and a Tir-ir-i, all of which
we visited; and after some converse with the Pol-aul
of the latter, the day was so far spent that we returned
to Tornorr to pass the night. On the following morn-

154 FUNERAL OBSEQUIES
ing we proceeded, as had been our intention the day
before, to attend the obsequies of a Tuda, not the one
whose funeral we had some months before so unex
pectedly witnessed, but of one of the most aged of this
tribe, named Kenbali, and who had died while we were
absent in another part of the hills.
It was still early when we arrived at the Kert Morrt,*
or cemetery, situated at the foot of an extensive valley,
enshrouded by lofty mountains, and shut out from the
view of all surrounding objects, except the more distant
peaks and elevated ranges to the south-west. In many re
spects the spot resembled the one which has already been
described ; but it was more extensive, and as it belonged
to one of the principal families of the Piekis, it was
evidently kept in better order. At one corner was the
Tu-el,t close to it a Pholti, or temple, and at short inter
vals had now been erected several temporary buildings,
formed of the branches and leaves of trees, and covered
with a light thatch.
We had not been here many minutes, when a group
of females arrived, attended by two or three of their male
relatives, carrying, folded up in a new mantle, the relics
of the deceased. As the party slowly advanced, they
each responsively chanted a solemn dirge ; and entering
the temple, carefully spread the mantle within the inner
* Literally, the place of death. -j- The inclosure for the herd.

OF AN AGED TUDA CHIEF. 155
apartment, and seated themselves around it. Other
groups of females soon afterwards arrived, and the whole
joining in the lament, its swell now echoed through the
valley, and seemingly told a tale of sorrow.
Strolling up a path which led over one of the moun
tains, we were met, as we gained the summit, by
the whole of the Kerzwan family and their connec
tions, — men, women, and children, between sixty and
seventy in number ; all the former, excepting the aged,
carrying huge clubs. The advance of the party was com
posed of twelve or fourteen athletic and handsome youths,
shouting, as they came on, in sonorous and manly voices,
the hauh, hauh, or cry of exultation, to which responses
were given by the following groups. We were well
known to this family ; and after the usual salutations and
enquiries, the section of youths composing the advance,
insisted on escorting us down the mountain's side, in the
manner they had ascended it in the opposite direction.
We had, however, proceeded but a short way, when the
notes of the lament caught the ear of some one of the
party, and gaining at the same time a view of the temple,
the cry of exultation was quickly changed into a general
response to the wailing and mourning below. As they
approached the temple, the clubs were grounded, and
as many entered as conveniently could at one time, bow
ing themselves to the relics ; and after these had joined
in grief for a brief space with the females and relatives

156 DEATH-SONG.
within, they retired to make room for others. Some
additional families, or companies of men and women,
were now seen advancing to the spot, by the different
winding paths along the sides of the mountains ; and their
deep responses, as each party topped some eminence,
bringing them in view of the temple, or as they caught
the notes of the death-song wafted on the breeze, gave
a solemnity and seriousness to the scene, which rendered
it extremely interesting. All these parties, as they
approached the temple, went through the same cere
mony as the first ; and, in a short time, several hundreds
of both sexes had assembled.*
It was of course a portion only of this multitude who
could be supposed to exhibit unfeigned grief; but the
deceased had been highly respected among them, was
numerously connected, of great age, nearly a hundred
years, and had for a very long period been one to whom
they looked up for advice, and by whose decision most
of the families had always been willing to be guided.
A misunderstanding which had existed for some time
between two families, seemed now to engross the atten
tion of many of the men ; and the greater part, or about
two hundred of them, adjourned to the side of a mountain
at a little distance, where, seating themselves on the

* Upwards of three hundred men, nearly half that number of
women, and about as many boys and girls.

SOLEMN DANCE. 157
grass, they fell into conversation, and occasionally into
violent discussion.
While in this situation, their appearance was highly
picturesque, and particularly so, as connected with the
scene which was passing below. The greater number
were giving the whole of their attention to one or two,
who every now and then rose up, and baring the right
arm, by allowing the folds of the mantle to flow over
the left shoulder, and throwing themselves into command
ing attitudes, seemed to be each defending his respec
tive cause, or haranguing the assembly, to gain their
suffrages. Other small groups had also been formed in different
parts of the valley, but all now returned to the green ;
and some forty or fifty of the clubmen, joining hand in
hand, and circling round in measured time, performed
a sort of dance, to the music of a pipe and tabor. This
over, nearly the whole of the men proceeded a short
distance up the valley, to the side of a mountain, on
which were grazing a large herd of buffaloes, and selecting
fifteen or sixteen of these, drove them with an air of
triumph into the inclosed area ; some of the men throw
ing off their mantles and entering it with them, and
others leaping the walls, while the whole, at the same
time, sent forth a shout of joyous exultation.
Some of these animals, the intended victims of sacrifice,
were the offerings of the family of the deceased, and

158 SINGULAR SACRIFICE.
some, those of his connections and friends. The same wild
sort of dance, as before mentioned, now took place within
the area, and among the buffaloes ; and when the alarm
and fury of the latter had been strongly excited, a signal
was given to commence an attack upon them, and to
attach a bell to the neck of each. Those which were
provided by the family of the deceased were first selected.
They were fine large animals, monsters in comparison to
the breed of the low country, and in this infuriated state
proved no informidable adversaries. No stratagem was
had recourse to, but two of the young men throwing
themselves upon the neck of the animal, seized it by the
horns, and twisting their bodies behind the beast, sup
ported themselves with one hand, while with the fore
finger and thumb of the other they seized the cartilage of
the nostrils. Others ran on to their assistance, when
they let go the hold on the cartilage, and eight or nine
of these powerful men were now seen hanging on the
neck of one animal, while others were striking it with
their clubs, and with hideous yells and gestures were
endeavouring still to increase its rage, and to heighten
the jeopardy of the party. During this time, the animal
was not passive, but every now and then rushing as by
a sudden impulse, sometimes among the other buffaloes,
sometimes against the wall of the inclosure, appeared
often about to gain the victory over its numerous and
powerful opponents.

FUNERAL FEAST. 159
Three or four animals were thus attacked and over
powered at the same time, and the bell being attached
to the neck of each, they were again liberated, the
successful combatants giving a shout of victory; when,
shouldering their clubs, and joining hand in hand, they
recommenced the dance.
The remainder of the assemblage had in the mean
while lined the walls of the area ; of these, some were
still weeping, some joining in the exultation of the
successful combatants, and others, as the jeopardy of a
husband or a lover became imminent, sent forth shrieks
of horror. The latter were not infrequent ; and some
grey-headed old men, who were looking on from the top
of the wall, and in part directing the ceremonies, having
remarked that, in the days of their youth, two or three
of them would overpower the largest and most furious
of their animals, the combatants were excited to still
further exertion, and several of them, in consequence,
were severely wounded.
The whole party then again returned to the green,
and arranging themselves in several rows, a repast was
served out, consisting of boiled rice and ghee ; and the
remainder of the day passed, on the part of the relatives
and connections, in a continuance of the mourning ; and
on that of the others, in conversation, or in the dance.
Great numbers of Burghers, Cohatars, and Curumbars
also attended this ceremony ; and among the latter were

160 STRIKING APPEARANCE OF THE ASSEMBLAGE.
the musicians, whose pipes, though it was difficult for
our unpractised ears to catch the variations, gave forth
the plaintive, the joyous, or the solemn, as on each
occasion was judged suitable.
Some among the former also offered victims of sacri
fice ; and as the example was too neighbourly not to be
deserving of imitation, my friend and I each gave our
victims also.
During the repast, we had a good opportunity of
ascertaining the number of the Tudas present, and found
them to exceed what has been mentioned. All were
dressed in their best attire ; the hair of the women
hanging over their shoulders, very tastefully curled, and
their necks and wrists exhibiting a profusion of gold,
silver, and coral ornaments, such as they are seldom or
never seen to wear on common occasions.
The superior bearing and masculine appearance of
the men, the modest and graceful demeanour of the
women, their fine expressive countenances, and, indeed,
the character of every thing connected with the scene pass
ing before us, was so totally different from any thing else
of the present day, either in this, or perhaps in any other
part of the world, that it required no great force of
imagination to suppose, that what we were witnessing,
were relics of forms and ceremonies handed down tra
ditionally through countless generations, of a people who,
except this poor remnant, have long since passed away.

CEREMONIALS. l6l
We were awakened the following morning by a lively
air from the pipe and tabor. The night had been rainy,
and as shelter had only been provided for a few, many
were obliged to seek it in the woods, where they had
made large fires, the smoke of which was still curling up
from among the trees, while those who had bivouacked
around them, were now returning to the green.
After a very plentiful repast had been served out,
the dance recommenced, both on the green, and within
the Tu-el ; and as other victims, the voluntary offerings
of friends, were occasionally brought in, they were in
the same way attacked, and a bell tied to the neck of
each. The folded mantle containing the relics was now
brought from within the temple, and placed in a line
east and west on the ground in front of the barricadoed
entrance to the Tu-el. Immediately around it assembled
the male relatives, the senior of whom, a grey-headed
old man, crouched down, and covering his head with his
mantle, bowed it to the ground so as to touch the earth
with his forehead, in the little space left between the
Tu-el and the cloth containing the relics. He then
rooted up some of the earth with a stick — the wand of
the deceased, — around which was now tied a shred from
the cast off garment of a Pol-aul ; lifting then a little of
this earth in the palm of his hand, and asking the consent
of the by-standers, he threw some three, times to the
M

162 MOURNING OVER THE DEAD.
west, and three times to the east, — the former falling
within the area, the latter on the relics. Recovering
afterwards his erect position, he gave the stick to another,
when the same ceremony was gone through by him, and
in succession by all the other relations of the deceased,
including two little boys, his great grandsons. The
whole of the individuals, standing in front of the entrance
to the area, now addressed the buffaloes as " Dii Ani-
males," beseeching them to use their intercession for
blessings to be bestowed on them, their wives, their
children, and their herds; that they may enjoy health,
and freedom from misfortune, that their feet may escape
the thorn, their heads the falling rock.
A young heifer was now led up and tied to one of
four posts that were placed at a short distance, similarly
situated to those in the cemetery before mentioned, when
the sacrificer, first laying his hands on the head of the
animal, slew it. The mantle containing the relics, had
in the mean time also been brought here, and when
sprinkled with the blood which had trickled from the
nostrils of the victim, it was removed to the centre of
the green, and the female relatives and their friends
seated themselves around it, repeating the lament, and
shedding a profusion of tears. Among the relatives were
two very old women, with perfectly silvered locks, one
the wife, the other the sister of the deceased. Age
had rendered them too infirm to walk, and they were

GENERAL SACRIFICE. 163
carried to the spot, in the same way as they had been
brought from their homes, on the shoulders of their
sons. The general sacrifice now commenced. Some seven
or eight of the victims were seized in the same manner
as on the preceding day, and forced up to the relics, so
near as to allow the dying breath of each to waft them
as it passed ; when two Terallies, or men of the same
class as the deceased, commenced the slaying of the
animals. This operation was performed by striking the
victim behind the horns, with a wood-cutter's axe, a small
instrument, but the first blow of which generally sufficed.
The infuriated animal fell to the ground ; its eyes, which
but the moment before were rolling and glaring with
rage, became on the instant glazed and motionless. It
was then dragged still closer to the mantle, so that the
mouth and nostrils might rest on it.
Some ofthe larger animals, however, did not so quietly
submit to their fate, but whirling about the green, and
driving in among the multitude, seemed at times to
threaten destruction to their adversaries. Honour forbade
that others should go to the assistance of the little band
who had undertaken to master each animal, and thus,
apparently, some chance was given to it ; but it had to
contend with the strong, whose energy and courage
were not to be overcome.
The sacrifice was continued till the whole of the
m 2

164 MOURNING AND LAMENTATION.
victims were slain, and these, not including the heifer
sacrificed at the posts, amounted to nineteen. They were
all females, and one of the number had following it one
of the beautiful calves already mentioned. It frisked
after its mother, in all her evolutions, and when she was
still, ran to her with apparent amazement. When she had
fallen it would not approach, but looking around, seemed
to implore assistance of the by-standers. This was not
long required. A slight blow deprived it of life, and its
mouth was then placed where, in life, it was fond to be,
among the teats of its mother.
The whole scene now presented an extremely interest
ing spectacle. The wild dance, which, at a short distance,
was still being performed by some of the party ; the exul
tations of the clubmen, as they brought up another victim
to the death ; in the centre lay the relics, on each side
of which sat weeping, in silence, the two silver-headed
matrons ; round these lay the slaughtered animals, and
among them the crowd of mourners, males and females,
young and old, sitting in pairs, face to face, " with droop
ing foreheads meeting ;" the whole uniting in one univer
sal moan, with which, as it rose and fell, was heard
the wailing pipe, breathing in unison the solemn notes
of grief and sorrow.
Others of the assembly joined the mourners, or two
who had previously associated their griefs, would part,
and unite with others in the same expression. On these

SINGULAR CEREMONIAL. 165
occasions, the ceremony of giving the foot was particu
larly remarkable. To a female sitting alone weeping, a
man would go up, repeating the " Hey hey ze zha!" or
cry of sorrow, and projecting first one foot then the
other, the female would bow down, so as to touch them
with her forehead. If a female was the approaching party,
she crouched down, and the man rising up, the same
ceremony was observed. They then seated themselves
opposite to one another, their foreheads touching, and
sometimes their arms resting on each other's shoulders.
This continued during about two hours, when the
mourners gradually drew off, leaving only the few who
were immediately about the relics.
A little painted bow, three feathered arrows, with
bladed iron heads, and the wand of the deceased, were
now laid on the mantle, a few handfuls of parched grain
and coarse sugar deposited between the folds of it, and
the whole, after several prostrations, were again removed
to the temple.
A repast was then served out to the assembly, and
a crowd of Cohatars, who till this period had kept at
a respectful distance, crept in among the slaughtered
animals, and busily engaged themselves in examining the
state of their flesh, and the quality of their hides, seating
themselves on those of which they intended to become
the purchasers.
At some distance, on the brow of a mountain, sat some

166 UNEXPECTED RECOGNITION.
half dozen men, sadly clad, calm spectators of what was
passing below. These were dairymen, whose state of
purity did not admit of their joining in the ceremonies.
To my great surprise I this day recognized, among
the principal mourners, an old acquaintance, the Pdl-aul
of one of the Tir-ir-ies I had visited, and whose intelli
gence and willingness to impart whatever information he
possessed, had led us into long converse, and seeming
reciprocal confidence. He was now clothed as the other
Tudas, and which made so great a difference in his
appearance, that he had, it seemed, on the preceding
day, once or twice addressed himself to me, without my
recollecting him.
On this occasion, I was dressing the wounds of those
who had met with accidents in the games, and as he was
supporting the head of one of them, his strongly marked
Jewish countenance brought back to my memory his
strange and inhuman-like appearance in the garb of a
Pol-aul. The sudden recognition on my part, was the
subject of much mirth among them ; and I now under
stood that he had thrown up his sacred office for the pur
pose of attending the funeral obsequies of the deceased.
An exhibition commenced about this tune, in which
two Tudas from Nelalam* were the principal performers.

* It appears that a number of Tudas were induced to follow the
Nelalam Rajah, when he was driven from Mullay Kotah by the

INSPIRED ORACLE. I67
They pretended to be seized with a sudden frenzy, cast
off their garments, threw themselves about with a great
deal of wiidness of gesture, attempted as though to pull
down the temple, to possess themselves of the various
coins which in ornament had been stuck up on the front
of it, and catching hold ofthe clothes ofthe by-standers,
endeavoured to drag them to assist in the work of de
spoliation. They then seized two bells that were hanging
near the doors ofthe temple, and two large knives, which
to us appeared to have been put there for the purpose,
and leaving the enclosure, proceeded to the green.
Here they performed a sort of dance, and continuing
the uncouth and satyr-like gesticulation, feigned to cut
and lacerate themselves. After considerable exertion,
and much semblance of coming inspiration, they each
spoke, in broken sentences and words half inarticulate,
what was made to appear the wisdom of the Divinities of
their adopted country, and truths oracular regarding that
of their fathers. Thus it ran : " Degenerate race ! how
long will you abuse the bounties of heaven ? These herds
were entrusted to your care, that you might thence derive

Mussulmans, and they and their families have ever since remained with
him. Some of them are still allowed to intermarry with those on the
hills, and, as on this occasion, to attend their principal ceremonies.
Many of them, however, are those who have been driven from the
society of their own people, and it was thither that Pinpurz thought of
fleeing, as mentioned in page 71.

168 TERMINATION OF
the necessaries and comforts of life. They gave you
food, they gave you drink, and in the abundance of these
blessings, the woven mantle and needful raiment. Con
tented, your homes were then the home of the stranger ;
even when poverty and the arm of the strong* oppressed
you, the chance sojourner still found waiting him the
grateful draught, or humble fare. But, — beware the
hand of fate ! the allurements of riches have made you
mercenary, the grateful beverage and gratuitous meal,
the bounteous gifts of heaven, you now part with only in
exchange for the wealth of the stranger. A murrain t
has fallen on your herds. Black destiny hangs over the
land of our fathers."
The night was fast closing in, and calm and silence
succeeded to the general tumult of the day. The pipes
no longer spoke the plaints of the survivors, the song of
joy, or the pride of triumph. The occasional and not
infrequent bursts of individual grief, and the shrill and
discordant voices of the Cohatars, wrangling among them
selves about the division of the spoil, or on the means of
guarding it from the wild dog and the jackall, alone in
terrupted the universal quiet. The mountains of Mheiir

* They have a faint tradition among them of having been at one
period much oppressed by some native prince, but who this prince
was they can give no account. f This was fact.

THE FUNERAL RITES. 169
had long been obscured by mist and vapour, and every
surrounding eminence, catching each some wandering
cloud, seemed to portend a night of storm and deluge.
Having notice of the period when the ceremonies were
to close, we retired at an early hour, and as we had been
fully engaged during the day, enjoyed a sound repose till
some time after midnight, when we were aroused by the
wailing pipe and mourning throng in preparation for the
final rite.
The mists and clouds had now descended to the valley,
and forming a dense and vapoury atmosphere, enshrouded
the whole party as we slowly wound up an adjacent moun
tain's side, near the brow of which the flickering of the
remaining embers of a fire which had been previously
lighted for the purpose, marked the spot where the last
funeral pile was to be constructed.
Shut out from all other objects, the ambient space in
which we moved, seemed to be invested with a death
like stillness ; not a sound was heard but the deep and
sonorous voices of the men, the soft and modulated notes
of the women, as each alternately sang the dirge, or
mourned the wanderings of the departed * spirit.
Arriving at the spot where the shelving of the moun
tain had been partially levelled, we observed a circle of
* The expressions were literally, oh I Kenbali, whither art thou
gone ? Alas ! alas ! our father, Kenbali !

170 FUNERAL PILE,
stones, enclosing a space about four and a half feet in
diameter, which it was evident had been the site of former
piles ; close to this was a deep hole, in which lay loosely
thrown three or four rude stones. The relics were now
laid within the circle, and the officiators taking brands
from the fire just mentioned, waved them round the
mantle three several times, then placing them at each
end of it, fresh billets were added, and a little camphor
being sprinkled over them, the whole quickly became
ignited. The pile was now closely encircled with little baskets,
bamboo cups, and variously shaped gourds, some bound
with silver, others ornamented with thread and tape of
divers colours, and the whole filled with grain, the pro
duce of the hills. The bow and three arrows were then
placed on it, after these the rod or wand, and then the
axe and wood-craft of the deceased; last of all his
standard* staff. Fresh billets being added, the whole
was shortly in one general blaze, and when the morning
dawned all within the circle was reduced to a heap of
charcoal and smouldering ashes.
During the whole of this period, the lament was
continued by the relatives and friends, accompanied by
every indication of sincere grief. It was an impressive
* The head of each family has a staff of this description. It is
a pole between twenty and thirty feet long, at the end of which, instead
of a flag, is tied a bunch of small shells.

AND CONCLUDING SCENE. 171
spectacle. The universal moan,6 — the addresses to the
departed spirit, — the sudden ebullitions of grief, —
and the pile occasionally throwing up a flame that
illumined the whole group, shewing the strong athletic
forms of the men, the slender figures and loose flowing
tresses of the women,, as each joined tear to tear, and
seemed to seek relief in unity of sorrow.
The charcoal and ashes were then minutely examined,
and after selecting from the heap the iron or such pieces
of metal as had passed through the fire, the remainder
was swept into the hole before mentioned. The loose
stones, which had previously been removed, were now
replaced, and the whole throng passing over them in
succession, bowed their heads to the ground, exclaiming,
" Health be to us," and took each his way to his own
home, leaving us to wonder, and exclaim, —
"WHO CAN THEY BE?"

A WEATHER TABLE,
FROM JULY TO DECEMBER, 1829.

1829.
Highest Rise of the")

July.

August.

Sept.

Oct.

Nov.

Dec.

Thermometer at 2/
68
66
65
65
62
65
p. m. y
Lowest fall at sunrise
46
48
49
47
40
31
Mean temperature aft
ditto /
52.7
52. 6
52. 8
52
46. 9
47. 6
Ditto at 2 p. m.
60. 7
60.3
62. 7
60. 3
58.5
60.4
Mean daily variation
8
7.7
9.9
8.3
11.6
12.8
Mean Temperature for ^
the Month J
56.7
56.4
57
56.1
52.7
54
Quantity of Rain
5.34
6. 11
4. 21
10.77
1. 64
4.73
Prevailing Winds J
s. w.
s. w.
w.s. w.
w.s. w.
N. N.E.
E.N.E.N.
i. S. S.W.
w.s. w.
N. E. £.
E.
N. W.
HEIGHT OF THE PRINCIPAL MOUNTAINS.
Feet.
Height of Rungasawmy Peak, near the Ghizzelhutty Pass * - 5948
 Koondamogay above the level of the sea - - 7817
 Dodabetta near Oatacamund f - - 8760
 Moorkoorty, about fifteen W. of the Piakarra
Bungalow - - - - - - 8418
 Koonda Davar ") f 8329
 Hungindar f 1° tne Malabar side of the Koondahs. < 7837
 Goolikull J \. 8066
 Piriakunjee, towards Palghantcherry, and S. W. of
the Conoor Pass. - - - - . 6627
* Koondamogay is about nine miles N. E. of the summit ofthe Conoor Pass.
t Dodabetta is about 1300 feet above Oatacamund.
APPENDIX.

Polzh-ti  .A Temple.
Ezhu .  Morning.
Kukh  .A Daughter.
Mukh  A Son.
Pur  .A River.
Pert .^  Cold.
Mittiiv  . The Nose.
Hushk  Paddy.
Pizhakaza  . To-morrow.
Ponzh  The Sky.
Modj  -A Cloud.
Pirhz  The Sun.
Tiggal W tfu . <3<T  The Moon.
Oldor  A Road.
Pom  A Fruit.
Est .... A Bullock.
Elph  Bones-
Dirgattaz  Tlie Afternoon.

174 APPENDIX.
Tuvi . Wv .... -A Feather.
Ipi  A Fly.
Turuni  -A Monkey.
Ishk  People.
Morrt  • Home or Grrange.
Cubbon  Iron.
Tilum  • Pleasure.
Ter  Deity.
Uhk  Fie.
Urkorn •  A Servant.
Konmun  . The Face.
Phultan  A Flea.
Kust  . An.Ass.
Ez-pom  Raspberry.
Miirp-pom  . Strawberry.
Hum-a-Norr, or Om Norr . ... The other World.
Ath  That.
Adherz ....... Afterwards.
Ewas  . Whether.
Kursviir  Some.
Ettud ...... . Large.
Kin  Small.
Yah  . And so.
Athvud  Therefore.
Dvijan  . A Wife.
Put  A Fool.
Err  A Buffaloe.
Arse  A House.
Uschus . .... . Mid-day.

APPENDIX. 175
VrUtoshpani .... We are well.
, ,_, . , ( Please to look where the Child
Mukh yet vadu nutam . . J\ (Son) is.
Ishkema Vukema . . Shall we go or stay.
I ni at vugen pizhakazha it"! I will go there now, and come
vosken . . . .{ here to-morrow.
Yekalner at vu-i ezh pizhakazha 1 Go there in the morning, and
it va  \ come here to-morrow morning.
Tiri it voshk em tezimuschiis a") Having come back, shall we all go
Marz-ut vukem-uz . .1 to that Mountain at Mid-day.
Peki ursyoti, ne-ust urst . Speak truth, not falsehood.
Uhk, on Peki engen-uz . Fie, shall I tell a falsehood ?
Ed vollo vishka . . . Why is it not good ?
At-gad-iguz kultch kurtchcha . Be off, do you teach thus ?
Nosnorr oppom poththi udi . N5snorr is far off.
Petmarz kekkuri udi . . Petmarz is near.
Athvud, ini at-vugeni . . Therefore I cannot go there now.
TT ., ( Very well, shall we go there the
Vrilt, perner at vukem-uz . )
i day after to-morrow.

N. B. The pronunciation of the vowels, is according to the system
of Sir William Jones.

BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS,
BOUVERlfi STRKET,