198 ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 



By closing the mouth of his singular instrument with his 

 own, and breathing into it, or by laying his cheek flat against 

 it, leaving a partial opening, or none, the volume of sound 

 was regulated at the musician's will. By drumming on the 

 sides, inside and out, with finger-tips, knuckles, and elbow, 

 the most wonderful variations were introduced on these 

 magic pots, big and little, ad libitum, as it seemed ; for there 

 was no written score, such as we require, spoiling half the 

 effect. It was a perfect feast of harmony ; softly, exquis- 

 itely, throbbing and swelling on and on, till it reached a 

 climax of barbaric clash and clang like nothing I ever heard 

 before, nor ever could again, except in the land where such 

 inspirations are born. 



We heard a burst of very different kind of music on the 

 occasion of a visit paid to the Todas, an aboriginal hill- 

 tribe of the Nilgiri Hills, of whom only a few hundred remain. 

 It was played on horns, whence issued the wildest and, to 

 our ears, most discordant sounds, yet with something in 

 them that was not all discord. Knowing what it portended, 

 namely, a sacrificial ceremony, we left directly it began. 



The Todas are a grand-looking race of men and women, 

 but I should think there could not be a dirtier nor a 

 more ' stand-offish ' one, for they hold no ' truck - whatso- 

 ever with their neighbours. Possessed of vast herds of 

 buffaloes, grazing at will over the sparse upland pastures, 

 they will neither give nor sell any of the produce derived 

 from them ; not a drop of milk nor a leaf-ful of butter ; 

 the reason being that Toda buffaloes are sacred. However, 

 it ill befits me to speak thus, for we were treated with hos- 

 pitality both spontaneous and unstinted. 



Few Europeans care to visit a Todsb-mund or village in 

 the intimate way we did ; nor should we have been allowed 

 to enter it but for a word or two spoken in our host's 

 language — that ' Open Sesame ' to all hearts the world 

 over. They brought us plantains, wild peaches, bread, and a 



