190 



MANUAL OF THE NtLAGIKI DISTRICT. 



CHAP. IX, 

 PART I. 



Ethnology. 



nature restores the injury done to her with a lavish hand, and 

 throws a mantle of rich green drapery over the wound. The 

 woods are, however, too valuable as a shelter from rain and cold 

 to be ruthlessly injured by the Todas. They show great judg- 

 ment in the selection of sites for their mands, shifting from one 

 to another as the seasons change, and showing an intimate acquaint- 

 ance with all the changeful moods of the Nilagiri climate. One 

 peculiarity, the result of a great altitude within the Torrid Zone, 

 has hardly been sufficiently dwelt on in a former chapter, although 

 it sometimes has a prejudicial effect on the health of both Natives 

 and Europeans, — I allude to the strange combat between summer 

 and winter, between the chill frosty air of night and the 

 burning tropical sun of mid-day, — all the fiercer for the tmns- 

 parent medium through which it shines, — which characterizes a 

 winter in the hills. Its efi'ect on vegetation, especially on flowers 

 and fruit, is very marked, and some gardens and even portions of 

 the sholas look as if Oberon and Titania had been quarrelling 

 there, so well does her lament apply to them- 



The seasons alter : hoary-headed frosts 



Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose ; 



And on old Hyems' thin and icy crown, 



An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds 



Is, as in mockery, set. The spring, the summer, 



The childing autumn, angry winter, change 



Their wonted liveries ; and the 'maz'd world, 



By their increase, now knows not which is which. 



And this same progeny of evil comes 



From our debate, from our dissension : 



We are their parents and original." 



Midsummer Nighfs Bream, Act II. Sc. L 



Family 

 relations and 

 inheritance. 



To return to prose. It is said that the inhabitants of a mand 

 are generally related to one another, and that, although each 

 household has its head, the whole together forms but one family. 

 The practice of polyandry, however, which still exists, tends to 

 make their relationships most confusing ; but, strange to tell, it 

 does not appear to interfere with the domestic affections. This is 

 probably in part due to the form of polyandry being that of 

 several brothers or near kinsmen having one wife, a less gross 

 institution than that existing among other polyandrists in South 

 India. Polyandry is on the decline, and those men who can afford 

 it have each their own wife. Often an elder brother indulges in 

 this extravagance, whilst the younger are satisfied by a marital 

 co-partnery. Female infanticide, which undoubtedly existed as a 

 practice among them, but which has now entirely ceased, rendered 

 polyandry a necessary institution. The position of the children in 



