868 HILL TRIBES. Chap. XXII. 



Another hill tribe is that of the Koters, who occupy seven 

 large villages called Kotergherry (cowkiller's hill). They 

 are of very low caste, and work as carpenters, smiths, rope- 

 makers, and potters, besides cultivating the ground. The 

 Koters also dress and prepare buffalo-hides, and they are 

 a squalid dirty race, living on the carrion they pick up on 

 the road-sides. They number about five hundred souls, and 

 are the artizans of the hills, repairing the ploughs, hoes, and 

 bill-hooks for the Badagas. 



The Kur umbers, another tribe, live on the slopes of the 

 hills, in the most feverish places. They are a short miserable- 

 looking race, and those called Mooloo or jungle Kurumbers 

 are regular wild men of the woods, in no respect raised 

 above the beasts of the forest. The others act as musicians 

 and sorcerers to the Todars and Badagas. 



Lastly, the Irulas live low down the slopes of the hills, 

 perform the office of priests in the Badagas' temple on the 

 Kungaswamy peak, and occasionally act plays from the life 

 of Krishna at Badaga festivals. 



These five tribes of Todars, Badagas, Koters, Kurumbers, 

 and Irulas, appear for centuries to have had the exclusive 

 enjoyment of the Neilgherry hills ; though Tippoo Sultan of 

 Mysore erected a fort at Kalhutty, half-way up the Seegoor 

 ghaut, and another on the Hoolicul-droog, overhanging the 

 Coonoor ghaut, which leads up from the Coimbatore plains. 

 He is said to have used these strongholds for the detention of 

 prisoners, and to enable his officers to extort tribute from the 

 hill tribes. The Neilgherry hills were first discovered by two 

 English civilians who made their way up to the plateau in 

 chasing some Moplah smugglers.^ 



In 1820 Mr. John Sullivan, then Collector of Coimbatore, 



' In 1S07 Buclianaii mentioned the 1 eis of honey and wax in tlie hills south 

 Badiigas of the Neilgherries, as gather- | of Wynaad. — ii. p. 24(! and p. 273. 



