112 POPULATION. 



the world by Captain Harkness,* it would be presumptuous 

 to offer any remarks on this subject ; and to his valuable 

 work, therefore, we beg to refer our readers, for full informa- 

 tion with regard to the different tribes, particularly that 

 most singular, and once interesting people, the Todars, who are 

 undoubtedly the aborigines of the soil, and in every point of 

 view, one of the most extraordinary races to be met with in 

 India. But, of late years, their original simplicity of charac- 

 ter has sadly deteriorated, and they are now only like the 

 generality of the native inhabitants. He enumerates four 

 other classes, the Boodigahs or cultivators, the Kothurs, who 

 are the artisans of the hills, and the Erulars and Coorumbars, 

 who inhabit the jungles on the slopes of the bills, and are lit- 

 tle better than savages, in the very lowest stage of humanity. 



* " Description of a singular aboriginal race, inhabiting the summits of 

 the Neilgherry Hills," by Captain H. Harkness, Madras Army ; noticed 

 in the Hst of Publications given in the appendix, and from which an 

 Extract is also introduced. See also a very interesting account of this 

 tribe in the Madras Christian Herald of July 30, 1856, and following 

 Numbers ; also noticed in the list of publications. — Ed. 



