KOTAGHERRY.—ADIEU TO THE BLUE MOUNTAINS.
What a detestable place this Ootacamund is during the rains!
From morning to night, and from night to morning, gigantic piles of
heavy wet clouds, which look as if the aerial sprites were amusing
themselves by heaping misty black Pelions upon thundering purple Ossas,
rise up slowly from the direction of the much-vexed Koondahs; each, as it
impinges against the west flank of the giant Dodatetta, drenching us with
one of those outpourings that resemble nothing but a vast aggregation
of the biggest and highest Douche baths. In the interim, a gentle
drizzle, now deepening into a shower, now driven into sleet, descends
with vexatious perseverance. When there is no drizzle there is a Scotch
mist: when the mist clears away, it is succeeded by a London fog. The
sun, “shorn of his rays,” spitefully diffuses throughout the atmosphere
a muggy warmth, the very reverse of genial. Conceive the effects of such
weather upon the land in general, and the mind of man in particular! The
surface of the mountains, for the most part, is a rich and reddish mould,
easily and yet permanently affected by the least possible quantity of
water. Thus the country becomes impassable, the cantonment dirty, every
place wretched, every one miserable.
All the visitors have returned to the plains, all the invalids that can
afford themselves the luxury, have escaped to Coonoor or Kotagherry. You
feel that if you remain at Ootacamund—the affectionate “Ooty” somehow or
other now sticks in your throat—you must be contented to sit between the
horns of a fierce dilemma. If you stay at home you lose all the pleasure
of life: if you do not, still you lose all the pleasure of life. In the
former case your eyes[202] will suffer, your digestion become impaired,
your imagination fall into a hypochondriacal state, and thus you expose
yourself to that earthly pandemonium, the Anglo-Indian sick bed. But
should you, on the contrary, quit the house, what is the result? The
roads and paths not being covered with gravel, are as slippery as a
_mât de cocagne_ at a French fair; at every one hundred yards your nag
kneels down, or diverts himself by reclining upon his side, with your
leg between him and the mud. If you walk you are equally miserable. When
you cannot find a companion you sigh for one; when you can, you probably
discover that he is haunted by a legion of blue devils even more furious
than those that have assailed you.
It is impossible! Let us make up a party—a bachelor party—and hire a
bungalow for a month or two at Kotagherry. We do not belong to the tribe
of “delicate invalids,” nor are our “complaints liable to be aggravated
by internal congestions;” therefore we will go there as visitors, not
valetudinarians.
* * * * *
Kotagherry, or more correctly, Kothurgherry,[203] stands about six
thousand six hundred feet above the level of the sea, on the top of
the Sreemoorga Pass, upon a range of hills which may be called the
commencement of the Neilgherries. The station contains twelve houses,
most of them occupied by the proprietors: at this season of the year
lodgings cannot always be found.
The air of Kotagherry is moister than that of Ootacamund, and the nights
and mornings are not so cool. We see it to great advantage during the
prevalence of the south-west monsoon. The atmosphere feels soft and
balmy, teeming with a pleasant warmth, which reminds you of a Neapolitan
spring, or an autumn at amene Sorrento. The roads are clean, the country
is comparatively dry, and the people look comfortable. For the first few
days you enjoy yourself much: now watching the heavy rain-clouds that
veil the summit of Dodabetta, and thinking with pleasure of what is going
on behind the mountain: now sitting in the cool verandah, with spy-glass
directed towards Coimbatore, and thanking your good star that you are not
one of the little body of unhappy perspirers, its inhabitants.
But is not man born with a love of change—an Englishman to be
discontented—an Anglo-Indian to grumble? After a week spent at
Kotagherry, you find out that it has literally nothing but climate to
recommend it. The bazaar is small and bad, provisions of all kinds,
except beef and mutton, must come from Ootacamund. Rich, you complain
that you cannot spend your money; poor, you declaim against the ruinous
rate of house-rent and living. You observe that, excepting about half a
mile of level road, there is no table-land whatever in the place, and
that the hill-paths are cruelly precipitous. The houses are built at
considerable distances from one another—a circumstance which you testily
remark, is anything but conducive to general sociability. You have
neglected to call upon old Mrs. A⸺, who supplies the station with milk
and butter from her own dairy, consequently that milk and butter are cut
off, and therefore the Kotagherryites conclude and pronounce that you are
a very bad young man. Finally, you are _sans_ books, _sans_ club, _sans_
balls, _sans_ everything,—except the will and the way, of getting away
from Kotagherry, which you do without delay.
The determined economist, nothing daunted by the miseries of solitude and
fleas, finds Dimhutty[204] afford him ample opportunities for exercising
his craft. The little cluster of huts, from which the place derives its
name, lies in a deep hollow about a mile north of Kotagherry; it is
sheltered from the cold southerly winds by a steep hill, and consequently
the climate is at least three degrees warmer than that of its neighbour.
Originally it was a small station, consisting of five or six thatched
cottages belonging to a missionary society: they were afterwards bought
by Mr. Lushington, then Governor of Madras. That gentleman also built
a large substantial house, with an upper floor, and spared no expense
to make it comfortable, as the rafters which once belonged to Tippoo
Sultan’s palace testify. When he left the hills, he generously placed all
these tenements at the disposal of government, for the use of “persons
who really stand in need of lodging on their first arrival.” The climate
of Dimhutty has been pronounced highly beneficial to hepatic patients,
and those who suffer from mercurial rheumatism. Dr. Baikie, a great
authority, recommends it for the purpose of a “Subordinate Sanitarium
for European soldiers.” The unhappy cottages, however, after having been
made the subject of many a lengthy Rule and Regulation, have at last been
suffered to sink into artistic masses of broken wall and torn thatch,
and the large bungalow now belongs to some Parsee firm established at
Ootacamund.
Three miles beyond and below Dimhutty stretches a long wide ravine,
called the Orange Valley, from the wild trees which formerly flourished
there. The climate is a mixture between the cold of the hills and the
heat of the plains: and the staple produce of the place appears to be
white ants.
St. Katherine’s Falls, the market village of Jackanary, Kodanad or the
Seven Mile Tope,[205] and beyond it the sacred Neilgherry Hill are the
only spots near Kotagherry, with whose nomenclature Fame is at all
acquainted. But as one and all of them are equally uninteresting, we are
disposed to be merciful and to waive description.
* * * * *
The present appears as good as any other time and place for a few remarks
upon the climate of the Neilgherries, and a list of the travellers whose
footsteps and pens preceded ours.
The mean annual temperature of Ootacamund is 58° 68´, about 30° lower
than that of the low country on the Coimbatore and Mysore sides.
The average fall of water is forty-five inches in the year; there
are nineteen days of heavy rain; of showers with fair intervals,
eighty-seven; cloudy, twenty-one; and two hundred and thirty-eight
perfectly fair and bright.[206] Frost generally appears about the
beginning of November, and ends with February; in the higher ranges of
the hills ice an inch and a-half thick is commonly seen.
The first and most obvious effect of the Neilgherry climate on invalids
is to repel the blood from the surface, and to throw it on the internal
organs, by constricting the vessels of the skin and decidedly checking
perspiration and transpiration. The liver, viscera, head and lungs are
affected by this unequal distribution of the circulation, the effect
being increased in the case of the respiratory organs by the rarefaction
of the mountain air. The digestive powers seldom keep pace with the
increase of appetite which generally manifests itself, and unless the
laws of diet are obeyed to the very letter, dyspepsia, colic, and other
more obstinate complaints, will be the retributive punishment for the
infraction. Strangers frequently suffer from sleeplessness, cold feet,
and violent headaches.
When no actual organic disease exists, and when the constitutional
powers are not permanently debilitated, Nature soon restores the balance
by means of slight reaction. Invalids are strongly advised on first
arrival to be particularly cautious about their hours, their diet, their
clothing, and their exercise. They should avoid exposure to the night
air, and never, indeed, be out after sunset: the reduction of temperature
which follows the disappearance of the sun must be felt to be understood,
and no one residing here for the sake of health would expose himself to
the risk of catching an obstinate cold by quitting a crowded room to
return home through the nocturnal chills. Medical men advise the very
delicate to wait till the sun has driven away the cold and moisture of
the dawn before they venture out, and to return from their morning walks
or drives in time to avoid the effects of the direct rays, which are
most powerful about 9 A.M. But in regulating hours regard must of course
be had to previous modes of life, and the obstinate early riser of the
plains should gradually, not suddenly, alter his Indian for English
habits. The diet of valetudinarians on the first ascent ought in a great
degree to be regulated by circumstances depending on the nature of each
individual’s complaint. In general, they are told to prefer light animal
and farinaceous food, eschewing pastry, vegetables, and cheese, and to
diminish the quantity of such stimulants as wine, spirits, and beer,
till the constitution has become acclimatized. In all cases, of whatever
description they may be, warm clothing is a _sine quâ non_: every
valetudinarian should, as he values his life, be provided with a stock
of good flannels, worsted socks, stout shoes, and thick, solid boots.
Exercise is another essential part of regimen at the Sanitarium. Riding
is considered more wholesome than walking, especially on first arrival,
as less liable to accelerate the circulation, to produce a feeling of
constriction in the chest, and to expose the body to chills. The quantum
of exercise should be increased by slow degrees, and when convalescence
has fairly set in, the invalid is advised to pass as much of his time in
the open air, during daylight, as his strength will permit him to do.
To conclude the subject of climate. It cannot be too strongly impressed
upon the minds of our fellow-countrymen in Southern and Western India,
that in cases of actual organic disease, or when the debility of the
constitution is very great, serious and permanent mischief is to be
dreaded from the climate of these mountains. Many an officer has lost
his life by preferring the half measure of a medical certificate to
the Neilgherries to a home furlough on sick leave. The true use of the
Sanitarium is to recruit a constitution that has been weakened to some
extent by a long residence in the plains, or to afford a change of
air and scene when the mind, as frequently happens in morbific India,
requires some stimulus to restore its normal vigour.
* * * * *
The Rev. Mr. Hough was, as we said before, the first pen that called
the serious attention of the Anglo-Indian community to the value of the
Neilgherry Hills. His letters to the Hurkaru newspaper were published
in a collected form in 1829. Five years afterwards Captain Mignan, of
the Bombay army, sent forth a little volume, entitled “Notes extracted
from a Private Journal written during a Tour through a part of Malabar
and among the Neilgherries.” The style appears to be slightly tinged
with bile, as if the perusal of Mr. Hough’s flowery descriptions of the
mountain scenery had formed splendid anticipations which were by no
means realised. The _brochure_ is now quite out of date: the bazaar,
rates, roads, postage, rent, and number of houses—all are changed,
only remain the wretched state of the police therein chronicled, and
the “fatal facility” of finding bad servants. In the same year (1834)
Dr. Baikie’s well known book,[207] entitled “Observations on the
Neilgherries, including an Account of their Topography, Climate, Soil,
and Productions,” issued from the Calcutta press. The original edition
consisted, we believe, of only five hundred copies, and we cannot but
wonder that the book has not yet enjoyed the honour of a reprint. Lieut.
H. Jervis, of H. M. 62nd regiment, published by subscription, also in
1834, and dedicated to Mr. Lushington, the governor, a “Narrative of
a Journey to the Falls of Cavery, with an Historical and Descriptive
Account of the Neilgherry Hills.”[208] The book contains a curious
letter from Mr. Bannister, who states that, after a careful analysis
of the Neilgherry water, he was surprised to find no trace whatever of
saline, earthy, or metallic substance in it.
In 1844-5, Captain H. Congreve, an officer in the Madras Artillery,
wrote in the “Madras Spectator,” the Letters upon the subject of the
Hills and their inhabitants, to which we alluded in our last chapter.
His pages are, in our humble opinion, disfigured by a richness of theory
which palls upon the practical palate, but the amount of observation and
curious lore which they contain makes us regret that the talented author
has left his labours to lie _perdus_ in the columns of a newspaper. Also,
in 1844, a valuable Report on the Medical Topography and Statistics of
the Neilgherry Hills, with notices of the geology, botany, climate and
population, tables of diseases amongst officers, ladies, children, native
convicts, etc., and maps of the country compiled from the records of the
Medical Board Office, were published, by order of Government, at Madras.
In 1847, when we left the Hills, a Mr. Lowry, who had charge of the
Ootacamund English Free School, was preparing to print a “Guide to, and
Handbook of, the Neilgherries, containing brief and succinct accounts of
the same, with statements of the accommodations there to be found, rents
of houses, expense of living, and other particulars useful to visitors
and residents.” We were favoured with a sight of the MS., and found that
it did what it professed to do—no small feat for a Handbook, by the bye.
There is a great variety of papers and reports upon particular topics
connected with the Neilgherries, published in the different literary
journals and transactions of learned societies. The principal works
which elucidate minor details, are those of the Rev. Mr. Schmidt, upon
the Botany of the Hills, and the language of its inhabitants; the
“Description[209] of a singular aboriginal race, inhabiting the summit
of the Neilgherries, or the Blue Mountains of Coimbatore,” by Captain
Henry Harkness, of the Madras Army; and Notices upon the Ornithology of
this interesting region, by T. C. Jerdon, Esq., of the Madras medical
establishment.
* * * * *
And now for our valediction.
We found little difficulty in persuading the officer to whose care and
skill the charge of our precious health was committed, to report that we
were fit for duty long before the expiration of the term of leave granted
at Bombay; so we prepared at once for a return-trip per steamer—it would
require _æs triplex_ indeed about the cardiac region to dare the dangers
and endure the discomforts of a coasting voyage, in a sailing vessel,
northwards, in the month of September—“over the water to Charley,” as the
hero of Scinde was familiarly designated by those serving under him.
We started our luggage yesterday on bullock and coolie back. The morning
is muggy, damp, and showery: as we put our foot in stirrup, a huge wet
cloud obscures the light of day, and hastens to oblige us with a farewell
deluging. Irritated by the pertinacious viciousness of Pluvian Jove, we
ride slowly along the slippery road which bounds the east confines of
the lake, and strike off to the right hand, just in time to meet, face
to face, the drift of rain which sails on the wings of the wind along
the skirt of that—Dodabetta. Gradually we lose sight of the bazaar, the
church, the Windermere, the mass of bungalows. Turning round upon the
saddle, we cast one last scowl upon Ootacamund, not, however, without a
grim smile of joy at the prospect of escaping from it.
Adieu ...! Farewell ... land of ...! May every ...! May ...! And when
..., so may ... as thou hast ... ourselves!
To the industry of an imaginative reader we leave the doubtlessly
agreeable task of filling up the hiatus in whatever manner the perusal of
our modest pages may suggest to his acuteness and discernment. As some
clue to the mazy wanderings of our own ideas, we may mention that we
were, during the solemn moment of valediction, exposed to such weather as
has rarely been the fate of man with the exception of Deucalion and other
diluvian celebrities, to experience in this stormy world.
FOOTNOTES
[1] “Ducks” are the Bombayites in general: “Dingies” is the name
popularly given to the smaller specimens of native craft. The Dun and the
Drab are probably familiar to the reader’s ears.
[2] Bombahia, the Portuguese P. N. of the town: it was probably suggested
by “Momba-devi,” as the place was called by the Hindoos after the patron
goddess of the spot.
[3] The Nabob is the European, the Nawwáb the Asiatic, grandee.
[4] Note for readers geographically disposed.
This region, the Ariake of the Greeks, Kemkem of the Arabs, Kukan of the
Hindoos, Concan of the present possessors, and, as Vincent says, “the
pirate coast of all,” is well adapted for its ancient occupation by a
multitude of small ports, uninterrupted view along the coast, high ground
favourable to distant vision, and the alternate land and sea breezes
that oblige vessels to hug the shore. Moreover, the ports, besides being
shallow, are defended against large ships by bars; a defect from which
even Goa is not exempt, although Tavernier calls it “one of the finest
harbours in the world, rivalling those of Toulon and Constantinople.” The
pirates were protected by the strength of the inland country, and, like
the Greeks, had only to lie secure in port until they discovered their
prey. During the Monsoon they cultivated the ground, or lived peaceably
at home: when the fine weather set in, they launched their boats, and set
out in quest of adventure. Pliny notices the depredations they committed
on the Roman East India trade, and our early travellers are full of
horrible tales about them.
It is curious to observe that the whole line of coast between the mouth
of the Euphrates and Cape Comorin, has been infamous for the piratical
propensities of the many and various tribes that inhabit it. The Persian
Gulf still requires the presence of our armed cruisers; the ancient
annals of Scinde enlarge upon its celebrity for robbery; the Coolies
of Kutch and Guzerat were known as pirates from Marco Polo’s time till
A.D. 1800; the Angria territory was a nest of thieves till we destroyed
their fleet; and Tavernier testifies that the natives of Malabar were not
inferior in enterprise to their northern brethren.
[5] They lie in lat. 15° 52´ 30´´, about thirty-five miles from Goa, and
seven off the shore, from which they are separated by a deep channel.
The group consists of more than twenty small rocks, amongst which are
six or seven about as large as the Sirens Isles in the Gulf of Salerno.
The Greeks called them Σησεκρειεναι, which Mr. Hamilton understands
to signify “black rabbits;” and Vincent supposes them to have been so
termed, because in form they may be fancied to resemble those animals
crouching.
[6] Porters and labourers.
[7] The Portuguese tongue.
[8] Their other great clerical establishment being the Seminary at
Rachol, a town which, when the Portuguese first came to India, was the
capital of the province of Salsette. In Tavernier’s time the Jesuits had
no less than five religious houses at Goa.
[9] He raised the standard of revolt against the Indian government
spiritedly but unsuccessfully.
[10] “All thieves at Parga.”
[11] The name given to that breed of ponies on account of their
extraordinary viciousness.
[12] At that time, however, this horrible instrument of religious tyranny
seems to have lost much of its original activity. When the dungeons were
thrown open there was not a single prisoner within the walls, and Mons.
de Kleguen asserts that no one then living remembered having seen an Auto
da Fé.
[13] About the end of the sixteenth century the Dutch sent ships round
the Cape, and soon managed to secure the best part of the Eastern trade,
formerly monopolized by the Portuguese.
[14] The Grand Inquisitor.
[15] The Holy Office had power over all but the Viceroy and Archbishop,
and they did not dare openly to interpose in behalf of any prisoner,
under pain of being reported to the Inquisitor and his Council in
Portugal, and being recalled. Even the Papal threats were disregarded by
that dread tribunal.
[16] No description of the building and its accommodations is given.
Captain Marryat’s graphic account of it in the “Phantom Ship,” must be
fresh in the memory of all readers. The novelist seems to have borrowed
his account from the pages of Dellon.
[17] An Arab chieftain sent a civil request to the governor, desiring
liberty to buy provisions. The answer was a bit of pork wrapped up in
paper, and a message, that such was the only food likely to be furnished.
The chieftain’s wife, who was a Sayyideh, a woman of the Prophet’s
tribe, and a lady of proper spirit, felt the insult so keenly, that she
persuaded her husband and his tribe to attack Muscat and massacre all its
defenders. This event took place in 1650.
[18] He calls it the “Aljouvar.” It is probably a corrupted Arabic word
الجبر Al-jabr, “the prison.”
[19] The Straight Street, so called because almost all the streets of Goa
were laid out in curvilinear form.
[20] St. Catherine was appointed patron saint of Goa, because the city
was taken by the Portuguese on her day.
[21] Calling upon the name of the Almighty.
[22] A particular class of Hindoo devotee and beggar.
[23] Yellow is the colour usually chosen by the Hindoo when about to “do
some desperate deed.”
[24] A “forester,” and generally a regular sylvan or savage man.
[25] This is said particularly of the Eastern Christian, whose terror of
the tomb is most remarkable.
[26] For a detailed list and description of the buildings, we must refer
readers to the work of Monsieur de Kleguen, alluded to in the third
chapter.
[27] The large flowered jessamine.
[28] The _Datura stramonium_, a powerful narcotic.
[29] The European Portuguese can fight bravely enough, as many a bloody
field in the Peninsular war has testified. Their Indian descendants,
however, have never distinguished themselves for that quality.
[30] Formerly, only the Reinols, as the Portuguese who came directly from
Europe were called, could be viceroys, governors of Ceylon, archbishops,
or grand inquisitors of Goa. Tavernier tells us that all the adventurers
who passed the Cape of Good Hope forthwith became fidalgos, or gentlemen,
and consequently assumed the title of Don.
[31] As that “greatest hero of Portuguese Asia” governed for the short
space of six years a country of which he and all around him were utterly
ignorant, his fatal measure must have been suggested entirely by theory.
[32] If our rulers only knew what the natives of Central Asia generally
think of a “clean shaved” face, the growth of the mustachio would soon be
the subject of a general order. We doubt much if any shaven race could
possibly hold Affghanistan. In Western Arabia the Turks were more hated
for shaving the beard than for all their flogging and impaling.
[33] Compared with those of British India. Probably there are not three
fortunes of 500_l._ per annum amongst the half million of souls that own
the rule of the successor of the viceroys. A large family can live most
comfortably upon one-fifth of that sum.
[34] Red and white wine: the latter is the favourite.
[35] The Hindostanee name for the cannudo.
[36] Goez, who travelled in India about 1650, says that he was surprised
to see the image of a black saint on the altars, and to hear that a black
native was not thought worthy to be a “religious” in this life, though
liable to be canonized when he departs it.
[37] Bernier, the traveller, in 1655 remarks, that “Bengala is the place
for good comfits, especially in those places where the Portuguese are,
who are dexterous in making them, and drive a great trade with them.” In
this one point their descendants have not degenerated.
[38] Many tribes, however, are found among them. Some have African
features.
[39] Without the cholee or bodice worn by Hindoo and Moslem women in
India.
[40] Leavened bread is much better made here than in any other part of
Western India; moreover, it is eaten by all those who can afford it.
[41] Anciently, neither Moslem nor Jew could, under pain of death,
publicly perform the rites of his religion in any Indo-Portuguese
settlement.
[42] At the same time we were not allowed to pass the threshold of the
little pagoda to the southward of the town.
[43] Tavernier says of them, “the natives of the country called Canarins
are not permitted to bear any office but only in reference to the law,
_i.e._, as solicitors, advocates, and scriveners. If a Canarin happened
to strike a European, his hand was amputated.”
[44] A carpenter, one of the lowest castes amongst Hindoos.
[45] The Hindoo goddess of plenty and prosperity.
[46] Opposite to the Desha, the pure dialect of Maharatta. They are about
as different as English spoken in the south of England and Lowland Scotch.
[47] A celebrated Arabic author on the interpretation of dreams.
[48] Magical formula and works on “Gramarye,” generally in the Sanscrit,
sometimes in the Pracrit, tongue.
[49] As, however, the Maharatta is the mother tongue of the Goanese,
it communicates its peculiar twang to every other language they speak.
The difference of their Portuguese from the pure Lusitanian, is at once
perceptible to a practised ear.
[50] And yet as late as 1840, the Government of Goa was obliged to issue
an order confiscating the property of all priests who should submit to
the Vicar-apostolic appointed by the Pope.
[51] Francklin, who visited Goa in 1786, says that the army was about
five thousand men, two regiments of which were Europeans. Even in his day
the Home Government was obliged to send large sums of money annually to
defray the expenses of their Indian possessions.
[52] A colonel receiving about 15_l._, an ensign, 3_l._ _per mensem_.
[53] The translator of Ibn Batuta’s Travels.
[54] Ferdinand, the second Duke of Tuscany, was the munificent patron of
the father of Western Orientalism.
[55] When Vasco de Gama returned to India, part of his freight was “eight
Franciscan friars, eight chaplains, and one chaplain major, who were
instructed to begin by preaching, and, if that failed, to proceed to the
decision of the sword.”
[56] The curious reader will find the subject of Jesuitical conversion in
India most ably treated in Sir J. E. Tennent’s late work on “Christianity
in Ceylon.”
[57] A common term of insult.
[58] The mountains distinctly visible from the sea off Calicut, in clear
weather, are the Koondah range of the Neilgherries, or Blue Hills.
[59] “Noble and wealthy city.”
[60] The later is A.D. 907.
[61] In 1788, Tippoo was induced by ill-timed zeal or mistaken policy
to order the circumcision and conversion of the Malabar Hindoos, and
compelled the Brahmans to eat beef, as an example to the other inferior
castes. A general insurrection of the oppressed was the natural
consequence of the oppressive measure.
Tradition asserts that there was a forcible but partial circumcision of
the natives of Malabar by the people of Arabia long before Hyder’s time.
So the grievance was by no means a new one.
[62] Who, it may be observed, are the navigators and traders _par
excellence_ of the Eastern world. The Jews and Phœnicians generally
confined themselves to the Mediterranean and the parts about the Red Sea.
The Turks were an inland nation; the Hindoos have ever been averse to any
but coasting voyages, and the religion of Zoroaster forbade its followers
to cross the seas. But the Arab is still what he was—the _facile
princeps_ of Oriental sailors.
As a proof of how strong the followers of Mohammed mustered on the
Malabar coast, we may quote Barthema, who asserts, that when the
Portuguese landed at Calicut, they found not less than fifteen thousand
of them settled there. Camoens also tells us how the friendly and
disinterested plans of his hero were obstructed and thwarted by the power
and influence of these infidel Moors.
[63] Between September 1846 and May 1847, no less than eighty ships,
besides an immense number of pattimars and native craft touched at
Calicut.
[64] Arab and other valuable horses cannot stand the climate,—a Pegu pony
is the general _monture_. The sheep intended for consumption are brought
down from Mysore.
[65] Subterraneous streams are still as common in India as they were in
heathen Greece and Italy.
[66] The dynastical name of the Samiry.
[67] Captain Hamilton mentions his ship striking in six fathoms at
the mainmast on some of the ruins of “_the sunken town built by the
Portuguese in former times_.” But he hesitates to determine whether the
place was “swallowed up by an earthquake, as some affirm, or undermined
by the sea.”
[68] A further account of Cherooman will be found in the twelfth chapter.
Ferishteh, the celebrated Moslem annalist, informs us that the Rajah
became a Mussulman in consequence of the pious exhortations of some Arab
sailors who were driven into the port of Craganore. Captain Hamilton
remarks that, “when the Portuguese first came to India, the Samorin of
Calicut, who was lord paramount of Malabar, turned Moslem in his dotage,
and to show his zeal, went to Mecca on a pilgrimage, and died on the
voyage.” The tradition handed down amongst the Moslems is, that the
Malabar Rajah became a convert to Islam in consequence of seeing the
Shakk el-Kamar, or miraculous splitting of the moon by Mohammed, and
that, warned by a dream, he passed over to Arabia.
[69] See Chapter XII.
[70] _Surya_, the Hindoo Phœbus.
[71] _Go-karna_, the “Cow’s-ear,” a celebrated place of pilgrimage in the
Canara district.
[72] _Cherun_ or _Chairun_ was one of the three kingdoms contained in
South India; the other two were Sholum (Tanjore) and Pundium (Madura).
[73] We know not which to admire or to pity the more: this wonderful old
traveller’s accuracy and truthfulness, or the hard fate which gave him
the nickname of Messer Marco Milioni. Tardy justice, however, has been
done to his memory, and a learned Italian Orientalist, M. Romagnosi,
now asserts, that from his adventurous wanderings “scaturirono tutte le
speculazioni e teorie che condussero finalmente alla scoperta del Nuovo
Mondo.”
[74] Paolino observes, that the term Malabar ought _not_ to be deduced
from the Arabic _mala_, a mountain, and _bahr_, a coast. And Paolino
is right; neither of those vocables are Arabic at all. The word is of
Sanscrit origin, derived from _malya_ (मल्य a mountain generally, but
particularly the ranges called by us the Western Ghauts), and _var_
(वार, a multitude). The Persian word بار (_bar_), used in compounds, as
Zang-bar, the region of blacks, or Zanguebar, is palpably a corruption
of the said _var_. Thus the original Sanscrit term _malaya-desha_, the
mountain land, became in Persian and Arabic _Malbar_, or _Malibar_, and
hence our Malabar. A late editor of Marco Polo’s travels might have been
more cautious than to assert that “the very term is Arabic.”
[75] Anciently described to be pepper, ivory, timber, and pearls. The
three former articles are still produced in great abundance.
We may here notice that Vincent translates ξυλα σαγαλινα, “sandalwood,”
and supposes the word to have been originally written σανδαλινα. He is
wrong: the _tectona grandis_, or teak, called throughout Western India
_sag_ (σαγ), or _sagwan_, is alluded to. So also φαλαγγες σησαμηναι is
rendered “ebony in large sticks,” and in a note we are informed that it
is a corrupt reading, that wood of some sort is meant, but that _sesamum_
is a herb. The σησαμ of the Greeks is manifestly the Indian _sisam_, or
black tree.
[76] It is variously and incorrectly written Dely, Delly, D’illi,
and Dilla. The mountain derives its present name from a celebrated
Moslem fakir, Mahommed of Delhi, who died there, and is invoked by the
sea-faring people of the coast. Its Hindoo appellation is _Yeymullay_. No
stress therefore should be laid upon the resemblance between Mount Delhi
and the _Ela_ Barake of the Periplus. The identity of the two places
rests, however, on good local evidence.
[77] Varying from eighty to one hundred and thirty-five inches per annum.
[78] Unhappily the banyan has been selected, a tree which, though
sufficiently shady when its root-like branches are allowed to reach the
ground, is comparatively valueless as a protection against the sun, when
planted by a roadside. Also, it is easily overthrown by high winds, for,
after a time, the long and tenacious roots that uphold it rot off, and
the thin branches of young shoots that cling round the parent stem have
not the power to support its weight. A third disadvantage in the banyan
is, that in many places the boughs grow low, and a horseman’s head is in
perpetual danger.
[79] The usual ferry-boat is a platform of planks lashed to two canoes,
and generally railed round. We know not a more disagreeable predicament
than half an hour’s trip upon one of these vessels, with a couple of
biting and kicking nags on board.
[80] The botanical name of this tree is derived from the Malayalim
_adeka_, a betel nut. The English “jackfruit” is the Portuguese “jacka,”
a corruption of the native name _chukka_.
[81] Of the Malayalim æra. It is called Kolum, from a village of that
name, and dates its beginning in A.D. 824, the time when a rich Nair
merchant adorned the place with a splendid palace and tank. Previous to
its establishment, the natives used a cycle of twelve years, each called
after some zodiacal sign. The months were also denoted by the same terms,
so that the name of the year and the month were periodically identical.
[82] Equal to Cos. Rs. 250, about 25_l._
[83] See Chapter XII.
[84] Tumbooran, in Malayalim, means a lord or prince. If a minor he is
termed Tumban.
[85] Most of the matter contained in this chapter has been taken from
old and valuable papers preserved in the Nuzoor Cutcherry at Calicut. By
the kindness of the collector we were permitted to inspect and make any
extracts from them we pleased.
[86] The reader must bear in mind that in Malabar, as in all other native
states, contributions carefully proportioned to the circumstances of the
parties so mulcted, were called for on every occasion of emergency.
[87] In three vols. Printed at the _Courier_ press, Bombay.
[88] Tradition obscurely alludes to a Rajah called Kerulam (probably from
his kingdom), who reigned sixty-three years after Parasu Rama.
[89] In Sanscrit the word means a continent, country, or region: it is
used hereabouts in a limited sense, generally signifying a village.
[90] The Hindoo law lays down five per cent. as the amount to be levied
from the plaintiff, ten from the defendant if cast in a suit, otherwise
he is exempt from any tax. Some of the Rajahs were by no means content
with such a moderate perquisite; the ruler of Cochin, for instance, never
took less than double the sum above specified.
[91] Sometimes called Prumani and Mookoodee, “principal inhabitants.”
[92] “Ruler of the land of Cherun.” See Chapter XI.
[93] The current æra of the Hindoos.
[94] See Chapter X.
[95] In the present talook of Temelpooram.
[96] Captain Hamilton—no great authority by the bye in such
matters—relates that the Samiry divided his territories between his four
nephews, and says that the partition led to long and bloody wars between
the brothers. He probably confounded a Moslem with the Hindoo tradition.
[97] Tumbooratee, in Malayalim, a lady or princess; if a minor she is
termed Tumbatee.
[98] The above four are the only recognised palaces.
[99] Some of the present chieftains of Malabar style themselves
Kshatriyas, but by far the greater number derive their pedigree from the
intercourse of Brahmans with the royal ladies, who principally belong to
the Nair caste of Hindoos.
[100] This gives upwards of two hundred souls per mile, estimating the
extent of Malabar at about six thousand square miles.
[101] It ordained, for instance, that corpses shall be burned within
private premises, instead of being carried out for that purpose into the
woods, &c.
[102] There is an abridged form of this salutation, which consists of
joining the hands and then parting them, at the same time bending the
fingers at the second joint.
[103] This word generally follows the name of the individual, and seems
to be the titular appellation of the class. It is probably derived from
the Sanscrit Nayaka (a chief), like the Teloogoo Naidoo, the Canarese and
Tamul Naikum, and the Hindoo Naik.
[104] Captain Hamilton makes the number of fighting men throughout the
province, of course including all castes, amount to one million two
hundred and sixty-two thousand.
[105] Opposed to muka-tayum, the succession of sons.
[106] The head of the house.
[107] The masculine singular of this word is Tian (fem. Tiatti), in the
plural Tiyar.
[108] The Moplahs, as strangers, and the merchants, tradespeople, and
professional men who had no fixed places of residence, did not engage in
this feudal relationship.
[109] See Chapter XI.
[110] The word Udian, in Malayalim and Tamul, literally signifies a
slave. Here it is used in its limited signification of vassal or client,
as opposed to the Tumbooran or patron. The word, however, would be
considered degrading to a Nair, and is therefore never applied to him.
[111] “Sons of the soil,” from cher, earth, and mukkul, children. In the
masculine singular the word is chermun (fem. chermee), plural, chermur.
[112] The price of a slave varied from 3_l._ to 8_l._
[113] In the Calicut district, half the children belonged to the mother,
or rather to her proprietor, and the other half to the father’s master;
the odd number was the property of the former. When both parents belonged
to one owner, he of course claimed all the offspring.
[114] Generally speaking, the slaves in the maritime districts were in
better condition, and far superior in bodily and mental development to
their brethren in the interior.
[115] There are three different derivations of this word. Some deduce it
from the pure Hindostani and corrupted Sanscrit word ma (a mother), and
the Tamul pilla (a son), “sons of their mothers,” the male progenitor
being unknown. Others suppose it to be a compound of mukkul (a daughter)
and pilla (a son), “a daughter’s son,” also an allusion to their origin.
The third is a rather fanciful derivation from Mokhai-pilla “sons of, or
emigrants from, Mocha,” in Arabia.
[116] This description applies exclusively to the higher orders; the
labouring classes are dark and ill-favoured.
[117] The genuine Arab, especially in Yemen and Tehamah, is, generally
speaking, a Kusaj, or scant-bearded man; and his envy when regarding
the flowing honours of a Persian chin, is only equalled by the lasting
regret with which he laments his own deficiency in that semi-religious
appurtenance to the human face.
[118] The practice of the Prophet, whom every good Moslem is bound to
imitate, even in the most trivial and every-day occasions.
[119] The _Æschynomene paludosa_, a wood of porous texture, which swells
when water is poured upon it. Lead is sometimes used to distend the flap
of the ear by its weight.
[120] A name, by no means complimentary, applied to all who are not
Moslems.
[121] The descendants of the Wild Man have at all times been celebrated
for obstinate individual valour, and enduring an amount of “punishment”
which seems quite incredible.
[122] Manned in those days by Hindoos. Marco Polo tells us that the
people of Malabar are idolaters, and subject to no foreigner.
[123] Who retorted by hanging them upon the spot, or throwing them
overboard. This style of warfare was productive of great barbarities.
There is a pile of stone rising above the sea, about seven leagues
north-west of Calicut, called the Sacrifice Rock, from the slaughter
of the crew of a Portuguese vessel which was captured by the Cottica
cruisers shortly after the settlement of the Christians in India.
[124] The sum usually paid was from eight to ten shillings, a portion of
which went to the Rajah, part to the women who had lost their husbands in
these predatory encounters, and the remainder was “prize-money.”
[125] Few would be disposed to consider the salt-duty a practical proof
of the enlightened nature of our rule in the East, and there is no one,
we believe, except a “crack collector,” who would not rejoice to see it
done away with, or at least much reduced.
[126] The rajah was expected to grant lands to the families of those who
heroically bound themselves by solemn vow to fight till death against the
enemy. If the self-devoted escaped destruction, he became an outcaste,
and was compelled to leave the country.
[127] This is the universal belief and practice of the more bigoted parts
of the Moslem world, and so deep-rooted is the feeling, that it acquires
a degree of power and influence truly formidable, and difficult to deal
with.
[128] The natives of India generally belong to the Hanafi: the Arabs are
the principal followers of the Shafei sect. Both are Sunnis, or orthodox
Moslems, and there is little difference between them, except in such
trifling points as the eating or rejecting fish without scales, &c.
[129] Except that a Moslem father may always allot a portion of property
during his lifetime to his children.
[130] Usually they prefer the occupation of carrying the palanquin to any
other bodily labour.
[131] Intermarriage, however, is not permitted.
[132] The races above described are those settled in the country. The
fluctuating portion of the community is composed of the Europeans, the
soldiery and camp followers, Arabs and foreign Mussulmans, Banyans from
Guzerat, a few Parsees, and some boat loads of the half-starved wretches
that leave the Maldives and Laccadives in search of employment during the
cold season.
[133] The Koondah road is about seventy, that _viâ_ Poonanee, one hundred
and sixty miles in length.
[134] The pages of the Madras directories and road-books give ample
accounts of all the chief routes in the presidency.
[135] Judging from the name, a stranger would suppose that the place
was called after some neighbouring Ghaut, or pass, in the hills. The
uncorrupted native appellation, however, is Palakad, from Kadu, a jungle,
and Pala, a tree used in dyeing.
[136] For a detailed description of the sieges and captures of Paulghaut,
we beg to refer to a work entitled, “Historical Record of the H. E. I.
Company’s First European Regiment; Madras. By a Staff Officer.”
[137] Anciently an excellent forest. The trees were felled, hewn into
rough planks, and floated down the Poonanee river at very little expense.
This valuable article has, however, been sadly mismanaged by us in more
ways than one. All the timber growing near the streams has been cleared
away, and as the local government will not lay out a few lacs of rupees
in cutting roads through the forests, its expense has been raised almost
beyond its value. Considerable losses in the dockyards have been incurred
in consequence of the old erroneous belief that “teak is the only wood in
India which the white ants will not touch.” The timber should be stacked
for at least eight years, three of which would enable it to dry, and the
remaining five to become properly seasoned.
[138] The common country carts, called garees in other parts of India.
Here they are covered with matting, for the same reason that compels the
people to thatch their heads.
[139] In Malabar the horse is perhaps as great an object of horror as the
rider, the natives are so little accustomed to see such quadrupeds.
[140] The pet name for the Madras Presidency.
[141] It is curious to see the different way in which the kotwals,
peons, and other such official characters behave towards the Bombay and
the Madras traveller. The latter escapes their importunity, whereas the
former, by keeping up his presidency’s bad practice of feeing government
servants, teaches them incivility to all who either refuse or neglect to
pay this kind of “black mail.”
[142] Etymologists write the word “Hullicul,” deriving it from cul, a
rock, and hulli, a tiger, as formerly a stone figure of one of those
animals that had been slain by a chief single-handed, stood thereabouts.
There are several forts in other parts of the hills similar to Oolacul
Droog: some suppose them to have been built by Hyder Ali, others assign
an earlier date to them.
[143] See Chapter XIX. for a further account of the work.
[144] The “blue hill:” it lies near the Danaynkeucottah Pass, one of the
first ascended by Europeans. The visitors would naturally ask the natives
what name they gave to the spot, and when answered Nilagiri, would
apply the word to the whole range. The sacred mount is still a place of
pilgrimage, although its pagoda has long been in ruins.
[145] The Eastern Ghauts begin south of the Cavery river, and extend
almost in a straight line to the banks of the Krishna. The western range
commences near Cape Comorin, and after running along the western coast as
far north as Surat, diverges towards the north-east, and is lost in the
valley of the Tapti.
[146] The Pykarry becomes the Moyar river, and under that name flows
round the north and north-west base of the hills; it falls into the
Bhawany, which bounds the south and east slopes, and acts as the common
drain of every little brook and torrent in the Neilgherries.
[147] Its extent is about twenty miles from east to west, and seven from
north to south.
[148] The Seegoor Ghaut, which was almost impassable in Captain Harkness
and Dr. Baikie’s time, is now one of the easiest and best ascents.
[149] See Chapter XVIII.
[150] Dodabetta, or the “Great Mountain,” called by the Todas, Pet-,
or Het-marz. The summit is eight thousand seven hundred and sixty
feet above the level of the sea, and forms the apex of the Neilgherry
range. The vicinity of the giant has its advantages and disadvantages.
It is certainly a beautiful place for pic-nics, and the view from the
observatory on the top is grand and extensive. But as a counterpoise, the
lofty peak attracting and detaining every cloud that rolls up from the
coast during the rainy season, makes one wish most fervently that the
Great Mountain were anywhere but in its present position.
[151] Ootacamund, Wootaycamund, or Wotay. “Mund” means a village in the
language of the hill people. Ootac is a corruption of the Toda vocable
Hootkh, a word unpronounceable to the Indians of the plain. The original
hamlet still nestles against the towering side of Dodabetta, but its
pristine inhabitants, the Todas, have given it up to another race, and
migrated to the wood which lies behind the public gardens.
[152] It was established at Ootacamund under a warrant of constitution
from the Provincial Grand Lodge on the coast of Coromandel.
[153] The Bombayites had, moreover, their own medical attendant, with a
hospital and the usual number of subalterns attached to it. There are
now but three surgeons on the hills, attending on one hundred and four
invalids, who are scattered over many miles of country.
[154] The measure was advocated by Mr. Sullivan as early as 1828, but
financial, not common-sensical or medical, considerations have long
delayed its being carried into execution.
[155] The principal schools now (1847) to be found at Ootacamund are four
in number, viz.:—
1. The Ooty free school, established for the purpose of giving education
gratis to the children of the poor: it is supported by voluntary
contributions, and superintended by the chaplain of the station. The
number of scholars on the rolls is generally about thirty.
2. Fern Hill, the Rev. Mr. Rigg’s boarding-school for young gentlemen.
It contains twenty-six pupils, varying in age from five to fifteen. Of
these, fourteen are the sons of officers in the service, and the rest are
youths of respectable families. Terms for boarders, 4_l._ _per mensem_,
the usual charges on the Neilgherries.
3. An establishment for young ladies, conducted by Miss Hale and Miss
Millard.
4. Ditto for young ladies and young gentlemen under ten years of age,
conducted by Mrs. James and Miss Ottley.
Besides those above mentioned, several ladies receive a limited number of
pupils.
The schools for natives at Ootacamund are—
1. The Hindostani school } Conducted by the Rev. Bernard Schmidt, D.D.
2. The Tamul school }
There are many other similar establishments for native children in
different parts of the hills.
So that the pedagogue has not neglected to visit this remote corner of
his wide domains.
[156] The Union and the Victoria. For bed and board the prices usually
charged are—
For a lady or gentleman, 22_l._ _per mens._
Ditto for any broken period in a month, 16_s._ _per diem_.
For children under ten years of age and European servants, 2_s._ _per
diem_.
Native ayah or nurse, 1_s._ _per diem_.
The expense of housekeeping is not great at Ootacamund. A single man may
manage to live for 20_l._ _per mensem_, comfortably for 30_l._ It is
common for two or more bachelors to take a house together, and the plan
suits the nature of the place well.
Only be careful who your monsoon “chum” is!
[157] The most stringent measures have been found necessary to prevent
gentlemen from committing suicide by means of elephant shooting in the
pestilential jungles below the hills. Besides, there is some little duty
to be done by the Madrassees on the Neilgherries: a convalescent list is
daily forwarded to the Commanding officer, reporting those who are equal
to such labours as committees and courts of inquest.
[158] Large fans, suspended from the ceiling.
[159] As the Madrassees are familiarly called. The cunning in language
derive the term from mulligatawny soup, the quantity of which imbibed in
South India strikes the stranger with a painful sense of novelty.
[160] See Chapter XIX.
[161] The region of eternal punishment.
[162] “The ethics of India;” the Cornelius Nepos of Hindostani.
[163] No inscriptions have as yet been discovered. The only coin we have
heard of was a Roman aureus, whereas in the cairns that stud the plains,
medals, of the Lower Empire especially, are commonly met with.
[164] Consecrated stones.
[165] The kistvaens, or closed cromlechs of the Neilgherries, are tumuli
about five feet high. The internal chamber is composed of four walls,
each consisting of an entire stone seven feet long and five broad,
floored and roofed with similar slabs. In the monolithe, constituting the
eastern wall, is a circular aperture large enough to admit the body of a
child.
[166] The colonists have followed the example of the aborigines. Little,
however, can be said in favour of our nomenclature. There is a Snowdon,
without snow; a Saddle-back Hill, whose _dorsum_ resembles anything as
much as a saddle; an Avalanche Hill, without avalanches, and so on.
[167] Dr. Baikie (in 1834) mentions that one of these animals had held
possession of a thick wood close to the cantonment for some years. The
same spot is still tenanted, it is said, by a cheeta, but whether it be
the original occupant, his ghost, or one of his descendants, men know not.
[168] Not Buffon’s elk. It is the _Cervus Aristotelis_, or black rusa of
Cuvier; the “Shambara” of classical India; the Gavazn of Persia; and the
Gav i Gavazn of Affghanistan and Central Asia.
[169] Upon this part Nature has provided the animal with a bony mass,
impenetrable to anything lighter than a grapeshot, occupying the whole
space between the horns, and useful, we should suppose, in forcing a way
through dense and thorny jungle.
[170] This “jungle sheep” is the _Cervus porcinus_, the hog-deer or
barking-deer of Upper India, which abounds in every shikargah of
delectable Scinde. In Sanscrit it is called the Preushat (“sprinkling,”
in allusion to its spotted hide); in Hindostani, Parha; and in Persian,
the Kotah-pacheh, or “short hoof.”
[171] A shola is a thick mass of low wood, which may be measured by yards
or miles, clothing the sides, the bottoms, and the ravines of the hills
and mountains.
[172] _I.e._ ten or twenty dogs and curs, young and old, of high and low
degree, terriers, pointers, spaniels, setters, pariahs, and mongrels,
headed by a staunch old hound or two.
[173] There is a large kind of solitary jackal whose cry is never
answered by the other animals of the same species: the sound somewhat
resembles the hyæna’s laugh, and has been mistaken for it by many.
[174] Gardener.
[175] A species of squirrel.
[176] We have heard much about the difficulty of taming these birds. Some
go so far as to assert that they pine away and die when deprived of their
liberty. The Affghans seem to find nothing hard in the operation, as they
use the birds for fighting. They show excellent pluck, and never fail to
fight till death, although steel and silver are things unknown.
[177] Seven pounds for a full grown, 5_l._ for a young animal. When the
reward is claimed the tusks must be given up. Tuskers, however, are not
often met with in these days.
[178] Every swamp on and about the hills is full of small leeches,—the
lake also abounds in them,—which assail your legs, and swarming up the
trees, drop down your shirt collar to your extreme annoyance. They are
quite useless for medical purposes, as the bite is highly inflammatory.
[179] The Maroo Bungla, or log-house, as the natives call the Avalanche
bungalow.
[180] The first name is a corruption of the second, which is derived from
Vadacu, “the north,” these people having migrated from that direction.
[181] The worship of the terrible and destructive incarnation of the
Deity.
[182] Signifying the “unenlightened or barbarous,” from the Tamul word
Erul, darkness.
[183] “Cooroombar,” or “Curumbar,” literally means “wilful, or
self-willed.” Sometimes the word mulu, a “thorn,” is prefixed to the
genuine name by way of epithet, alluding to the nature of the race.
[184] So Captain Harkness writes the word, remarking, that “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 ‘Gohatars,’ from go, a cow,
and hata, slaying.” “Cuv,” in the Toda dialect, means a “mechanic.”
[185] Many of the words have been corrupted, and the pronunciation has
become nasal, not guttural, like that of the Todas. The Kothurs can,
however, express themselves imperfectly in Canarese.
[186] All that we can gather from their songs and tales is, that
anciently they were the zemindars, or landed proprietors of the hills.
[187] Todawars, Tudas, or Toders. Captain Harkness derives the word from
the Tamul, Torawar, a herdsman, and this is probably the true name of the
race.
[188] The north-west parts of the Persian Gulf.
[189] _E. g._ The peaks of the Todas are venerated by the Todas, as they
were by the Celto-Scythians. The single stone in the sacred lactarium of
the former, was the most conspicuous instrument of superstition in the
Druidical or Scythic religion. Captain Congreve asserts that the Toda
faith is Scythicism, _because_ they sacrifice female children, bulls,
calves, and buffaloes, as the Scythians did horses; that they adore the
sun (what old barbarians did not?), revere fire, respect certain trees
and bunches of leaves, worship the Deity in groves of the profoundest
gloom, and have some knowledge of a future state. He proves that the
hills are covered with vestiges of Scythicism, as cairns, barrows, and
monolithic altars, and believes them to have belonged to the early Todas,
inasmuch as “the religion of the Todas is Scythicism, and these are
monuments of Scythicism.” He concludes the exposition of his theory with
the following recapitulation of his reasons for considering the Todas of
Scythian descent:—1. Identity of religion (not proved). 2. Physiological
position of the Todas in the great family race (we are not told how it
resembles that of the Scythians). 3. The pastoral mode of life among the
Todas. 4. The food of the Todas, which consisted originally of milk and
butter (we “doubt the fact”). 5. Their architecture, religious, military,
and domestic, the yards of the Toda houses, their temples, their sacred
enclosures, their kraals for cattle, are circular, as were those of the
Celts, and, indeed, of most ancient people whose divinity was Sun, Light,
Fire, Apollo, Mithra, &c. 6. Their marriage customs and funeral rites are
nearly identical (an assertion). 7. Their ornaments and dress closely
approximate (ditto). 8. Their customs are generally similar (ditto). 9.
The authority of Sir W. Jones that the ancient Scythians did people a
mountainous district of India (_quasi_ irrelevant). 10. History mentions
that India has been invaded by Scythian hordes from the remotest times
(ditto). 11. Their utter separation in every respect from the races
around them.
[190] Such as want of weapons, difference of colour, dissimilarity of
language. With respect to the latter point Captain Congreve remarks,
that “a comparison with the Gothic, Celtic, and other ancient dialects
of Europe is a great desideratum; but should no affinity be found to
prevail, I should not consider the absence detrimental to my views, for
this reason, that the people of Celto-Scythic origin having various
languages, have been widely dispersed.” After this, _Quid facias illi?_
[191] In many parts of the Neilgherries there is a large species of
solitary bee which the Todas declared incurred the displeasure of the
Great Spirit by stinging him, and was therefore condemned to eternal
separation from its kind. But as huge combs and excellent honey abound on
these hills, their savage inhabitants of course superstitionize upon the
subject of the bee. The Creator, they say, desirous of knowing how honey
is made, caught the animal, and she proving obstinate and refractory,
confined her by means of a string tied round the middle; hence her
peculiar shape! Is not this clearly a psychological allusion to the
powerful volition for which the fair sex is proverbially famous?
[192] Not, however, by the victory of Brahmanism over Buddhism, as
some have supposed. The leading tenet of Buddha’s faith was the sin of
shedding blood, whereas the Todas practise infanticide and eat meat.
Moreover, there is a bond of union between them and those Anti-Buddhists
the Lingaits, who adhere to the religion of Shiva pure and undefiled.
This Buddhistic theory rests upon the slender foundation that the Todas
call Wednesday, Buddhi-aum (Buddh’s day). But the celebrated Eastern
reformer’s name has extended as far as the good old island in the West.
It became Fo-e and Xa-ca (Shakya) in China; But in Cochin-China, Pout in
Siam; Pott or Poti, in Thibet; perhaps the Wadd of Pagan Arabia; Toth in
Egypt; Woden in Scandinavia; and thus reaching our remote shores, left
its traces in “Wednesday.” So say the etymologists.
[193] By the Rev. Mr. Schmidt’s vocabulary of the Toda tongue.
[194] Captain Harkness is egregiously mistaken when he asserts that
the dialect of his aborigines “has not the least affinity in roots,
construction, or sound, with the Sanscrit.”
[195] In some points. Thus we find the Ain, Ghain, Fa and _Kh_a of the
Arabs, together with the Zha of the Persians. But the step from the
Indian अ to the Arabic ع, from घ (g’h) to غ, and from फ (p’h) to ﻑ, is
easily made; and the kha and zha belong to some Indian dialects as well
as to Arabic and Persian.
It is supposed that the Toda language is still divided, like the Tamul,
into two distinct dialects, one the popular, the other the sacred; the
former admitting foreign words, derived from the Canarese, the latter a
pure form generally used by the priesthood.
Most Todas can speak a few words of corrupted Canarese.
[196] A share of the land-produce varying from one-third to one-sixth of
the whole, settled by the eye, and generally paid in kind. The Toda has
made himself necessary to the Berger; he must sow the first handful of
grain, and reap the first fruits of the harvest, otherwise the land would
be allowed to lie fallow, and the crop to rot upon the ground.
[197] The polyandry practised of yore seems at present on the decline.
Infanticide, though said to have been abolished, probably holds its
ground in the remote parts of the hills. Near the stations the lives
of female children are spared with the view of making money by their
immorality. Old women are still by no means common.
[198] For a more detailed account of them, we refer the reader to the
amusing pages of Captain Harkness.
[199] A brother mason informs us, that “the Todas use a sign of
recognition similar to ours, and they have discovered that Europeans have
an institution corresponding with their own.” Hence, he remarks, “a Toda
initiated will bow to a gentleman, never to a lady.”
But in our humble opinion, next to the Antiquary in simplicity of mind,
capacity of belief, and capability of assertion, ranks the Freemason.
[200] What follows alludes particularly to the Todas living in the
vicinity of Ooty, Coonoor, and Kotagherry.
[201] The habit of intoxication is now so fatally common amongst the
rising generation, that their fathers will not, it is said, initiate them
into their mysteries, for fear that the secret should be divulged over
the cup.
[202] The faculty unanimously assert that the air of the hills is not
prejudicial to those suffering from ophthalmic disease. We observed,
however, that a large proportion of invalids complained of sore eyes and
weakness of sight, produced, probably, by the glare of the fine season
and the piercing winds of the monsoon.
[203] The “hill of the Kothurs.”
[204] The termination “hutty,” so common in the names of the hill
villages, is used to denote a Berger settlement, as “mund” means a Toda
hamlet.
[205] Or tuft: it is so called from a clump of trees which crowns the
ridge of a high hill.
[206] The Neilgherries are exposed to the violence of both monsoons, the
south-west and the north-east. The fall of rain during the latter is,
however, comparatively trifling.
[207] It commences with a _résumé_, of the peculiarities of the hills,
and accounts of the three great stations; proceeds to a description of
the geography and geology, soil and productions, botany, zoology, and the
inhabitants of the Neilgherries, and discusses at some length the effects
of the climate upon the European constitution, sound as well as impaired.
The Appendix presents a mass of information valuable enough when the
work was published, but now, with the exception of the meteorological
and other tables, too old to be useful. Thirteen or fourteen years work
mighty changes, moral and physical, in an Anglo-India settlement.
[208] The book contains one hundred and forty-four pages, enlivened with
a dozen lithographed sketches, and NOT enlivened by descriptions of
Poonamalee, Vellore, Laulpett, Bangalore, and Closepett.
[209] A little volume of one hundred and seventy-five pages, containing
graphic sketches of the scenery, excellent accounts of the different
tribes of hill people, a weather-table from July to December, 1829, the
height of the principal mountains, and a short and meagre vocabulary of
the Toda language.
THE END.
LONDON: Printed by SAMUEL BENTLEY and Co., Bangor House, Shoe Lane.