24G MANUAL OF THE XlLAGlEI DISTRICT. 



CHAP. X. Generally, tbe tnmuli are not much raised above the surface of the 

 AxTior" IE ^^^^ ' ^^^^S ^he Mojar many of them are raised eight or nine feet and 

 each tumulus is surrounded by a stone circle. 



10. In some places there is one tumuli much larger than the rest, 

 and surrounded by a larger circle of larger stones, fiat, placed on edge, 

 and standing about three feet above the ground. 



11. In every instance there is a large flat stone upon the top of the 

 tumulus ; in a very few cases I have seen two within one circle ; and 

 I presume each covered a kistvaen, as was the case in all (perhaps 

 100) that I have seen open. 



Some of the covering stones contained 150 to 200 cubic feet. 



12. The kistvaens in these tumuli are precisely similar to those 

 found in Europe : from four to five feet in length and two to three in 

 width ; thus evidently intended for the reception either of cinerary 

 remains, or of bodies in a sitting posture : a mode of burial still observed 

 by Lingadharis and others. The dimensions given above are those 

 that generally prevail ; but I have seen some much larger : there is a 

 very large one in a rice field near Coimbatore close to the new road 

 to the Railway Station : they are all, so far as I have seen, placed east 

 and west. 



13. I opened one of the tumuli in the valley of the Moydr, it 

 contained the usual cinerary urns of baked clay, with portions of 

 calcined and uncalcined human bones — I have been told that pieces of 

 metal have been found in some but I never saw any. 



14. Very many cinerary urns have been collected by the Railway 

 Engineers, as their works laid open hundreds of tumuli. The Collector 

 of this district, too, had and still has a considerable number. 



They ai-e of various shapes, and in size they vary from two or three 

 feet to four or five inches in diameter : some are rudely ornamented, 

 usually by wavy parallel lines ; but none that I have seen are in this 

 respect equal to those in European collections : I once thought I had 

 discovered a black glazed one, but, on closer inspection, I found that 

 the polished surface had been produced by friction. 



15. Of the origin of these tumuli the same tradition is found iu 

 every part of the district. That they are the houses of a race of 

 Pigmies called Pandura, who, having angered the gods, were punished 

 by fire i-ained upon them from heaven : that they sought protection in 

 their houses and pulled these huge stones over them. 



16. The people have no veneration for these remains, not even the 

 Erulars and Kurambers, who inhabit the jungles around the hills and 

 who are so like the descendants of aborigines. The only feeling they 

 have about them is fear, that the spirits of the Pandiiras might visit 

 them if they interfered with their graves. 



Pillar Stones. 



17. In a country where boundaries are still marked with pillar 

 stones, it may naturally be expected that this class of memorial would 



