MANUAL OF THE NILAOIKl DISTKI'T. 311 



CHAPTER XII I. 

 REVENUE HISTORY. 



INTRODUCTION. 



PART I.-(«) THE CULTIVATING TRIBES ; (6) THE GRAZIERS. 



I'ART II. -EUROPEAN AND OTHER IMMIGRANTS. 



PART III.— REVENUE SURVEYS. 



Introduction. 



Subject divided. — Revenue system of North Coimbatore prevails. — Major 

 McLeod's settlement. 



The history of the Land Revenue administration of the Nilagiris CHAP. XIII. 



may be treated conveniently under three heads : firstly, that of 



the hill-tribes ; secondly, that of the settlement of Eui-opeans ; History. 

 thirdly, that of the revenue survey. The first head may be 



subdivided into that relating to (1) the cultivators, viz., the divided. 

 Badagas, the Kotas, the Irulas, and Kurumbas ; (2) the graziers, 

 the Todas. The land revenue economy of the Nilagiris, as far as 

 the permanent cultivators — i.e., the Badagas and the Kotas — are 

 concerned, was and is practically that of the Coimbatore District, 

 to which the tracts which had been partially brought under the 

 plough at the time of the cession of the country to the British 

 mostly belonged ; whilst the position of the wandering or inter- 

 mittent cultivators, the Irulas and the Kurumbas, does not 

 essentially differ from that of similar ti'ibes or cultivators occupy- 

 ing the slopes of hill-ranges in Southern India ; on the other hand 

 the position of the grazing tribe, the Todas, is perhaps unique. 



At the date of the cession of the Devanaikenkota Taluk to the Revenue 

 English, the Hills, which formed a portion of it, appear to have No^i^tTcdm- 

 been under the same revenue system as the rest of North Coim- batore pre- 

 batore, although the village areas were still loosely defined and ^^^^^' 

 the use of land practically unrestricted. It may be mentioned in 

 passing however that there was no renter ^ of the monopoly of 

 the produce of the forests, such as honey, wax, and resin. This 



Vide Buchanan, Chap. IX. 



