1848.] 



The Neilgherrij Mountams. 



49 



they pass. The houses are built with mud, or mud and stone, and 

 covered with a good roof of thatch, grass for which is abundant in 

 all parts of the Hills. There are altogether 227 Burgher villages 

 on the Neilgherries, viz. 



67 in Todanaad. 

 86 in Meykenaad. 

 and 74 in Parungenaad. 



.,, The villages of the Kothers, from the fact of 



ivother villages. ' 



their low caste obliging them to consort together 

 in large communities, present the most thriving appearance, and boast 

 the largest number of houses, in general, of any of the Hill hamlets. 

 But owing to their dirty habits, and the want of order in the arrange- 

 ment of their dwellings, their villages have by no means the neat 

 appearance presented by those of the Burghers. Mud and thatch are 

 the principal materials with which their huts are built, but they form 

 with them very substantial and weather proof buildings. There are 

 six Kother villages on the plateau of the Neilgherries, and one near the 

 foot of the Neddiwuttum pass, situated on a low spur projecting 

 from the foot of Goodlur Mullay," but as the survey does not in, 

 elude the site, it has been omitted in the return. 



^ , ... The villages of the Erulars are more numer» 



Erular villages. ^ 



ous, there being 22, all situated in the eastern 

 part of the Hills. With a few exceptions they are very small, com- 

 prising only 5 or 6 houses and a couple of cattle pens. Their sites 

 are selected in low spots, near the patches of plantain and other fruits 

 which these people cultivate. The houses are of much the same 

 description as those of the other tribes already described, and are 

 generally very dirty. There are more Erulars to the south, but 

 they are situated far below the plateau to which the survey has been 

 restricted, and no account has, in consequence, been taken of them. 

 The same is to be said of the Ooorumbur villages, if indeed that 

 term can be applied to the collections of scattered sheds, in which this 

 wandering race are occasionally come upon in the jungles below the 

 crests of the Hills. From their mode of life it is found impossible 

 to obtain any return of their number. 



, ^. Appended to this memoir Vv^ill be found ta- 



Topulation. ... 



bles furnishing all particulars of the several 



tribes, constituting the body of aboriginal settlers on these Hills, and 



VOL. XV, N0= XXXIV. G 



