334 A Sportswoman in India 



built three or four oval-shaped huts, without stick or 

 garden round them ; a Toda or two sat on the turf 

 on their haunches and on a big rock close by. The 

 huts were innocent of windows or of proper doors, 

 and the only way in or out was by a square hole, 

 not quite a yard high, cut in the front of each hut 

 and closed from the inside by a solid, sliding block 

 of wood. It was a hands-and-knees business to 

 get in. 



The pale faces, blue eyes, and black, waving hair 

 rather suggested Greeks ; then again the hooked noses 

 and retreating foreheads looked more like a degraded 

 Jewish type. We could not get much out of them, 

 though they took small coin with avidity. One hut, 

 looking empty, I boldly ventured inside, crawling 

 gingerly through the doorway. Standing up and 

 seeing as best one could by the feeble light, there 

 seemed to be nothing at all except a raised platform 

 or sleeping-place, covered with buffalo skins and a 

 coarse mat or two ; it looked filthily dirty. There 

 was a fireplace with a stone slab upon which to cook, 

 but no chimney ; the reed and rattan roof arched over 

 our heads. I looked round for pots or pans of any 

 sort, and other interesting relics, but nothing of the 

 kind was forthcoming. 



Todas are evidently dirty and indolent ; cattle-herding 

 and dairy work their only occupation. We came across 

 large herds of buffaloes under the perfect control of 

 one boy. Each cluster of huts has its own dairy, 

 which was evidently looked upon as the temple of the 



