210 KURRABAS. 



that single male elephants refuse to be driven from these clearings by the 

 firebrands and other methods adopted for frightening them. In such cases 

 very little grain is left for the unfortunate proprietor. Of more importance 

 to the Kurrabas than their grain-crop are several descriptions of edible 

 roots and wild honey. Of the former they have eight kinds ; two of these 

 are very good, being not unlike sweet potatoes. 



The men are usually of poor physique, the women squalid and ugly to 

 an astonishing degree, and the children frequently sickly, and subject to 

 great mortality. It is pitiful to see many of the latter, with thin legs, 

 glazed skins, and distended stomachs, the outward signs of diseased spleens 

 — the result of malarial fevers and bad water. 



I believe the one fact of the dwellings of jungle-people in Southern 

 India — at least the Kurrabas and Sholagas in Mysore — being built on the 

 ground, is sufficient to account for their miserable condition. The miasma 

 which causes jungle-fevers is said to be heavy and to hang close above the 

 surface, for which reason it is unsafe to sleep on, or close to, the ground in 

 malarious localities. The Kurrabas and Sholagas do not understand this ; 

 and their children, from their short stature, live more in the unhealthy 

 stratum of air than adults. This may partly account for the greater pro- 

 portion of sickness among them. In the G arrow and Chittagong hills in 

 the north-east and east of Bengal the jungle-tribes live in large and well- 

 constructed houses raised eight or ten feet from the ground on bamboo sup- 

 ports. In front of each is a verandah or platform for the children to play 

 on, and in which their parents sit when idle ; the whole is reached by a 

 ladder, and is of such simple construction that any jungle-man can build 

 himself a house in two or three days, with no other tool but his axe. Thus 

 the people sleep well above the reach of malaria, and are kept dry and com- 

 fortable in all weathers, instead of grovelling on the damp ground, as do the 

 Kurrabas and Sholagas. 



A probable reason of the Kurrabas and Sholagas living in such plight 

 as they do may be that in former times they were liable to disturbance by 

 every one who entered the forests, and not being numerous or warlike, they 

 avoided annoyance by flight. Consequently the custom of such light 

 structures, which might have to be abandoned at a moment's notice, has 

 become established, and that being the case, none of them now think of 

 making any change. The Kurrabas have no weapons for killing wild ani- 

 mals, but they take a few deer in pitfalls dug near their plots of cultiva- 

 tion. They are skilful at catching the lungoor monkey (Presbytia priamus), 

 the flying-squirrel (Pteromys pctaurista), and the Malabar squirrel (Sciurus 

 mulabaricus). They use a net for the purpose, of stout twine made from 



