THE SA WUNTWARI INSURRECTION. 33 



pure African descent, called Sidhis. 

 These men were descendants of fugitive 

 slaves from the Portuguese settlement, 

 who had found a secure and congenial 

 home in the great Soopah forests, where 

 they formed hamlets and villages, ob- 

 tained and cultivated lands, and throve 

 and multiplied. In appearance the 

 Sidhis retained their ancestral type 

 absolutely unchanged, and were the 

 same ebony coloured, large limbed men 

 as are still to be found on the African 

 coast, with broad, good-humoured, grin- 

 ning faces. At one time they were 

 great smugglers, but when I knew 

 Canara they had become loyal subjects 

 and gave no trouble. The African race 

 seem to enjoy an immunity from 

 fevers in regions where other races 



D 



