Ootacamund and Anglo-Indian Life 333 



it is much in the hands of the planters, who always 

 get the khubr before any one else, and the ordinary 

 visitor must go farther afield, in the Kundah. The 

 tea and coffee planters are a great set in Ooty ; 

 two hundred coffee estates are open now, valued at 

 something like a million sterling, and employing 

 thirteen thousand labourers. The life is one of ups 

 and downs, but pays under careful management. 



Coupled with the name of the Nilgiri Hills is 

 the far-famed race of Todas the aborigines. Whence 

 they came or whither wending no man can tell ; 

 but they are totally dissimilar in all respects, physical 

 and moral, to the rest of the races of India. Their 

 origin is said to be Jewish, also Greek, also Arabic, 

 also Italian opinions differ ; but there they are to 

 this day, herdsmen, still considering themselves 

 lords of the manor on the Blue Mountains, and 

 their claims upheld by British rule. 



They are a striking race, tall and athletic, with 

 fair, pale complexions and masses of black hair, 

 in men and women alike hanging down upon their 

 shoulders. Their dress is quite peculiar, and consists 

 for one and all of a single woollen mantle wrapped 

 round them, once white ; as, like its owners, it is 

 never washed, it assumes a dun-coloured hue. I 

 walked out from Ootacamund one afternoon on 

 purpose to see this interesting race. 



A few miles brought us to a sheltered spot among 

 the downs, backed by a shola, which held a mand 

 or Toda settlement. Down upon the grass were 



