MANUAL OF THE NILAQirj DISTRICT. 333 



was mainly due to a lengthened minute on the subject recorded CHAP, xili, 

 on the 5th September 1 835. PART l. 



His views border on the romantic. He admitted that the Revenue 

 Todas were not the first inhabitants of the Hills^ grounding this History. 

 assertion on the fact that they laid no claim to the cromlechs and Mr. Sullivan's 

 tumuli^ but as boldly asserted that^ being in possession when the ^'®"'^- 

 Badagas arrived, the latter were only " permitted to break up 

 the soil of the Nilagiris upon an express compact with the 

 Todawars that a portion of the produce of each cultivated plot 

 should be rendered to them as the original occupants." '' This 

 compact/^ he contiuueSj "is still religiously observed, and its 

 origin is freely admitted by the Burghers themselves. The 

 portion of the produce so rendered varies from a tenth to an 

 eighth. It is called ''goodoo/ and bears an exact resemblance 

 to that species of property in land in Arcot which is called 

 ' Marah/ '' 



This position however he subsequently partially modifies, for, 

 after remarking that the Badagas had spread over the Peranganad, 

 Mekanad and the Todanad, the Todas having the exclusive 

 occupation of the upland portion only of the last-named on the 

 arrival of Europeans, he goes on to say, " The property of the 

 land in the other divisions of the Hills vests in the Burghers, who 

 hold it upon the prevailing tenure of Coimbatore, viz., the punctual 

 payment of the Government assessment, but the Todawars have 

 an inalienable claim to their ' goodoo.' The Malnaud, which 

 extends from the boundary of the Todawarnaud to Nadoobett, is 

 the property of the Todawars in the same sense as the lands of 

 Malabar vest in Jemnikars, the Government in both cases retain- 

 ing, of course, their full rights of revenue over the lands. The 

 origin of the property is not to be traced in either instance : 

 both have been in possession from a remote antiquity, and both 

 have enjoyed their property under a light tax. No division has 

 ever been made of the land amongst the Todawars. They enjoy 

 the property in common, and when in 1822 I first became 

 acquainted with their proprietary rights, the money which I 

 then paid for the purchase of those rights over the lands 

 I then occupied, and over other lands which I afterwards occu- 

 pied, was divided amongst the Todawars resident on the 

 Malnaud, but the few families who still remain in the other 

 nau4s were not considered entitled to a share. * * * 2^o 

 compensation has ever been made for the land included in the 

 cantonment, which embraces a circle of several miles, and those 

 of their favourite mands from which they have been entirely 

 ousted ; neither do they receive anything for the numerous herds 

 which now graze upon their lands within the cantonment." 



