224 



ANUAL Di THE NILAGIRI DISTRICT. 



CHAP. IX, 

 PART V. 



Ethnology. 



Character. 



Made it with coir and churn of Pangni, 

 Allamadda ^ was the framework ? 



" Therefore B^la-Mada's weary, 



Tho' his hands have still their cunning : 



Widows' sons are three times gifted. 



"But had skilful Bala Sevana 



To the brim milked eighteen pailsful, 



" He forsooth had been too weary, 



He had never caught the hillus ; 



Poorly fed is Bala Sevana, 



Drinking washings of the milk-pail. 



Art thou rich like Bela-Mada ? " 



Thus spake mocking Yerade-blui. 



Prone fell B61a 'mid the I'ushes. 



Bala Sevana too, exhausted, 



Fell among the Hubbe bushes. 



See his face is dull and faded, 



Which anon shone like a platter, — 



Fatal word of Yerade-blui, 



Word of dark and evil omen. 



So the some time loving brothers, — 



Like were they to one another 



E'en as the spreading horns of a buffalo, — 



Part for aye from that same moment. 



oees-Jl 



The ballad, which is very lengthy, goes on to relao the, 

 adventures of Bala Sevana, how he labored twelve years fo 

 his wife, became very rich, performed heroic deeds, and eventually 

 was appoinrted the chief Monegar of the Hills, receiving the 

 seal of office from the cutcherry at Satiamangalam. 



The morality of the Badagas is neither better nor worse than 

 might be expected from a naturally gentle and industrious but 

 timid and ignorant people. Their regard for truth is of the 

 slightest, and a clever piece of cheating is sure to excite their 

 warmest admiration. In the funeral song which has been translated 

 by Mr. Gover, one of the crimes enumerated for which a e- 

 ment must be made, is that of " preferring a complaint to the 

 Sircar,'^ and one of their numerous proverbs embodies the aame 

 idea : ''If you prefer a complaint to a magistrate, it is as ii you 

 had put poison into your adversary's food." 



Either the terrors of the Sircar are not what they were, or this 

 precept is much disregai'ded, for the Court-house at Ootacamand 

 is constantly thronged with Badagas, and they are now very 

 much given to litigation. 



' Wnod of a jungle tree. 



i 



