1848.] 



The NeilgJierry Mountains. 



51 



the remarkable " cairns," discovered in such numbers all over the 

 Hills, belonged to the ancestors of the Todars. 



That these are not relics of the founders of their race is proved by 

 the present people denying all knowledge of the history of the 

 cairns, even by tradition ; and by their looking on at their desecra- 

 tion with as much curiosity and indifference to the sacrilege, as is 

 displayed by the antiquarian explorer, whom they have perhaps guid- 

 ed to the spot. In form and countenance the appearance of the To- 

 rersonai appearance ^^^s is remarkably striking. Tall, well propor- 

 very striking. tioned and athletic, their bold independent car- 



riage, and finely moulded and sinewy limbs attest that they can 

 be sprung from no effeminate eastern race, while their aquiline 

 nose, receding forehead, and rounded profile, combined with their 

 black bushy beards and eyebrows, give them so decidedly Jewish an 

 aspect, that no beholder can fail to be impressed with the idea that 

 they must, in some way, however remote, be connected with one of 

 the lost and wandering tribes of the ancient Israelites. Their dress 

 Dress peculiar: the peculiar as their habits and appearance, 



toga Avora. Consisting of one single cloth, a ^ort of toga, 



which they wear after a fashion well calculated to set off to advantage 

 their fine muscular form, being disposed about their person like the 

 plaid of a Scottish Highlander. They have no covering for the head 

 of any kind, but never allowing knife or scissors to approach their 

 hair, they suffer it to grow into a mass so thick and bushy, as to form 

 a most effectual protection from the inclemency of the weather. The 

 women are rather fair in complexion, the hue being a dull copper 

 colour in both sexes, and are generally handsome in feature as well 

 as in person, which is tall and well shaped like that of the men, their 

 attire being equally simple and peculiar. The little occupation which 

 the Todars permit themselves to engage in, is solely of a pastoral 

 kind. Considerable herds of buffaloes are attached to each mund, 

 and to milk these, convert their milk into ghee, drive them out to 

 pasture in the morning and home at night, and to keep their huts 

 and the walls of their cattle pens in repair, constitute the sum of their 

 employment, from year to year of their useless existence. Their 

 food consists of curds, milk and ghee mixed with whatever grains 

 they can obtain from the agricultural tribes in the shape of " Goo- 

 doo" or tribute for the lands which the latter cultivate, and over 

 which the Todars assert an imaginary proprietary right. I observe 

 that the Honorable Court in their dispatch express a hope " that in 



