MxBCH 1, 1900.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



r.7 



SEAL IN SUFFOLK. 



TO THE EDITO;;* OV KNOWLEDGE. 



Sirs, — I had a seal (Phc^a vituliiai given mc to-day 

 tliat was shot bv a coastguard yesterday at Dunwicli. 



Ii was uudor a boat on tat beach, 

 and weighed 76 lbs. 



Benacre Hall, \Vi-eutham. 

 Febi-uaiy 9th, 1900. 



It was 4 feet long, 

 Jos. F. Green. 



SOME WILD INDIAN TRIBES. 



By R. Lydekker. 

 To the great majority of Englishmen (not even ex- 

 cluding a large proportion of those who have made the 

 East their temporary home) the native inhabitants of 

 India and Ceylon are typified by civilised and more or 

 less cultured races, such as the sleek Parsi of Bombay, 

 the studious Bengali Babu, the large-turbaned Madrassi, 

 the haughty Rajput, or the warlike Sikh. And compara- 

 tively few are aware of the existence in vai'ious districts 

 of both the peninsula and the island of a number of wild 

 tribes, some of whom are little, if at all, better than 

 savages, while others have acquired certain of the arts 

 and practices of civilization. Of all these jungle peoples 

 perhaps the most generally known are the Gonds, who 

 give their name to the great Gondwana countn' of 

 Central India, and who are some of the best hunters 

 and trackers in the world. 



But it is not to them that the attention of the reader is 

 invited in the present article, the greater portion of which 

 is devoted to the wild tribes inhabiting the Nilgiri and 

 Anamalai ranges on the western side of the Madras penin- 

 sula, between Travancore on the south and Mysore to the 

 north. In the " Blue Mountains,' which is the English 

 equivalent of the name first mentioned, roam the tiger, 

 the sambar deer, and the great Indian wild ox, or gaur, 

 while they are also the home of the now rare Nilgiri wild 

 goat. On the clearances amid the dense and luxuriant 

 primeval forest, or on the open grass-lands of the hill-tops, 

 dwell a number of interesting aboriginal wild tribes, 

 among whom the Todas and the Kotas ai'e perhaps those 

 whose names are the least unfamiliar to European ear3. 

 Indeed it is possible that some of my readers, other than 

 Anglo-Indians, may have actually seen a live Toda, since 

 a member of that tribe was formerly with Barnum and 

 Bailey's show, during the life time of ' Jumbo " ; this 

 individual, after his return to his native jungle, posing 

 as an authority among his fellows on all foreign mat- 

 ters. Recently the various wild tribes of the Madras 

 hills were the subject of a special study by my friend 

 Dr. Edgar Thurston, Director of the Madras Museum , 

 the results of his investigations being published in a 

 series of interesting and well illustrated memoirs issued 

 by the Museum. It is from these memoirs that the 

 following information regarding the characteristics of 

 these people is chiefly culled. 



With regard to the affinities of the Todas and their 

 kindred, it seems quite evident that they have nothing 

 to do with either Negroes or Australians ; while, 

 although some have thought that they may retain cer- 

 tain traces of a Mongol strain, it is pei-fectly clear that 

 thev cannot be classed among that great section of the 

 human race. On the other hand, they evidently appear 

 to belong to a low type of the noble Caucasian stock, 

 a-id may be affiliated' to the gi-eat group of Dravidian- 

 speaking peoples, who probably populated a great por- 

 tion of India previous to the incursion of the higher 

 Arvan hosts from the northward. 



Physically the Todas are decidedly a fine race, the men 

 standing rather above the medium height, and the mem- 



bers of this sex differing markedly from all the neigh- 

 bouinng hill tribes by their regular, handsome, and 

 almost classic features, which have, indeed, been com- 

 pared to the Ancient Roman type, altliough in certain 

 instances they display a somewhat Jewish cast. But 

 the most characteristic feature of these people is the 

 luxuriance of raven-black hair on the scalp and face ; 

 although this great hirsute development is less marked 

 than ill the Ainus of the Island of Yezo, Japan, who 

 likewise appear to belong to the Caucjusian stock. As 

 is excellently shown in the accompanying illustration, 

 the men wear the hair parted in the middle, and 

 hanging down almost or quite to the shoulders. In the 

 men, the colour of the skin is a dirty copper-brown, 

 much darker than that of the women, which h;is boon 

 described as of a cafe-au-lait tint on the chest and 

 limbs. When young some of the women, who dress 

 their hair in glossy ringlets, are decidedly good- 

 looking ; their glistening eyes and white teeth forming 

 crood points although the rest of the face is spoiled by 

 the rather large mouth and thick lips. But even such 

 claims to beauty as a Toda maiden possesses are but 

 transient, and the girl soon degenerates into a hideous 

 hag One other noteworthy feature of the Toda men 

 is the great development of the brow-ridges, which com- 

 municates a somewhat scowling expression to the fore- 

 head, likewise well exhibited in the photograph. 



The latter also displays the dress of the men, whun 

 consists of a garment of thick cotton cloth, with inter- 

 woven stripes of red and blue, hanging in gracetul folds 

 from the shoulders to the knees, and having one end 

 thrown over the left shoulder. The women's outer 

 garment is of the same simple typo, but is thrown over 

 both shoulders, and grasped in front by the hand. Every 

 native race, it is said, has a distinctive and recognisable 

 odour of its own, and this is certainly verified in the case 

 of the Todas, in which this odour is by no means grate- 

 ful to European nostrils. It is said to be mainly due to 

 the rancid butter, or ghi, which they arc in the habit o. 

 applying to their clothes for the purpose of preserving 



them. , , 



Being thus well clothed, the Todas can scarcely be 

 reckoned as savages ; and under missionary instruction 

 they learn to read and write without much difficulty. 

 They never carry, and indeed apparently do not possess, 

 ai-ms of any kind, being an essentially pastoral people, 

 living chiefly on the milk and butter derived from the 

 herds of buffaloes they keep. They have many more or 

 less noteworthy customs, some of which arc declining 

 and tending to die out under the civilizing influences ot 

 the British Government. Formeriy, female infanticide 

 was extensively practised, with the natural result that 

 the numbers of the women were greatly inferior to those 

 of the opposite sex. Consequently, polyandry was the 

 general custom ; and although there is now, owing to 

 the abolition of infanticide, no need for this peculiar 

 practice, yet it is still retained among some of the poorer 

 members of the tribe, who are, however, extremely loth 

 to acknowledge its existence. 



In view of the fact that so many aboriginal tribes tend 

 to dwindle in numbers, if not to disappear altogether 

 when brought into contact with civil.zmg influences it 

 is interesting to learn that this is not the case with the 

 Todas, wlo during the last thirty years have shown a 

 tendency to increase; their ^.^"^^^rs being six bunded 

 ' and ninety-three in 1871, six hundred and seventy-three 

 in 1881, and seven hundred and thirty-s.x ten years later. 

 Previous to marriage, which is regarded as binding, the 

 morality of these people cannot by any means be de- 



