Ixiv APPENDIX, 



sovereignty of the Todars over the land forming the plateau of the 

 Neilgherries, as, conceding the privilege sought for by the new comers, 

 they stipulated that a certain proportion of all the grains which tliey 

 might produce from the soil, should be annually presented to them as 

 " goodoo" or tribute, in acknowledgment of their feudal right over 

 the territory. Not long after this, and according to their traditions, 

 3 or 4 centuries ago, a party of " Burghers," or " Buddughurs" 

 emigrated from the " North country," (probably the Northern part of 

 Mysore and Canara,) and came to the Neilgherries ; and being good 

 cultivators, at once perceived the advantages offered to them in the 

 virgin and rich soil which they saw on all sides. They accordingly ap- 

 pear to have obtained permission to settle and cultivate land, upon the 

 same terms as those granted to the Kothers, and inviting more of their 

 brethren to join them, they soon swelled into a numerous tribe and 

 spread over the Hills, constructing their villages, and enclosing their 

 fields (and doubtless clearing away much forest) in all directions. I 

 can find no evidence of any sovereign ruler having been acknowledged 

 amongst the Hill people, until about a century before the reign of 

 Hydar Ally in Mysore, when, according to the tales of the Kothers and 

 Burghers, there were 3 princes or chiefs who had sway over them, one 

 in Todanaad, who resided in a fortress called Mullaycotta, the walls 

 and ditch of wliich still exist on a Hill to the eastward of the village of 

 " Shoolooroo," and westward of Mootenaad and the Seegoor pass, one 

 in Meykenaad, in the fortress, the ruins of which are now called 

 " Hoolicul Droog" situated on a lofty ridge overlooking the Coonoor 

 pass, and a third in Parungenaad, in a fort the site of which is still 

 pointed out near Kotergherry, and called " Konagerry," though no ves- 

 tige of a fort remains now recognizable. Their traditions state, that at 

 this time, in consequence of disputes between the Burghers and Ko- 

 thers regarding their respective boundaries, a general settlement of 

 their lands took place, under the auspices of the three chiefs, when the 

 lines of demarcation were definitively fixed ; and though only by oral 

 indication, in consequence of the ignorance of reading and writing 

 which then, as now, prevailed, the limits of the territory of each tribe 

 were so distinctly identified, that ever since, up to the present time, no 

 disputes about them have ever been known to occur. 



