1848.] The Neilghernj Mountains. 53 



been able to arrive at a right understanding of the question, the 

 " goodoo" appears at present to rest. The Burghers profess not to 

 desire to be relieved from it as a tax, because to give it as a dona- 

 tion to the Todars has become with them a time honored custom, 

 which their prejudices forbid them to break through ; but it seems 

 to me evident that they are not disposed to admit the absolute right 

 of the Todars to demand it, and hence their allotment of the quantity 

 of the produce which they are to bestow under the name of " goo- 

 doo," according to their means, their own wants, or fancy. Any thing 

 Unprofitable and idle "loi's Utterly useless, or unproductive in the 



me led by the Todars. g^^-^^ g^^j^^ ^j^^^ ^y^^ j-f^ Todars, it 



is impossible to conceive. Endowed with great physical strength 

 and capacity to endure fatigue and vicissitudes of weather, and hence 

 eminently fitted for a life of agricultural industry or other active em- 

 ployment, this fine race, instead of legitimately developing the powers 

 which have been given to them, devote their lives to the unprofitable 

 end of herding a number of buffaloes, the only use of which is to 

 produce the small quantity of milk required for the use of the few 

 families which congregate together in each mund, and to furnish 

 sacrifices to the manes of any one of their male proprietors who dies. 



Their herds are a nuisance and a pest to the district, for being 

 exceedingly wild and ferocious, especially to Europeans, they fre- 

 quently attack persons travelling on the high roads when not attend- 

 ed (as is generally the case) by a herdsman, and serious accidents 

 occasionally result. Whatever may have been the attributes of the 

 Todars when Europeans first became acquainted with them, they ap- 

 pear at the present time to be decidedly as indolent, mercenary, and 

 sensual as any of the worst tribes in the plains ; and but for the mere- 

 tricious interest which attaches to them through their singular mien, 

 costume and habits of life, and the mystery in which their history is 

 enveloped, they would be deemed a perfect cumbrance to the soil. 



Reiision, pasau. religion is of course pagan, and engen- 



ders the usual superstitions and prejudices. 

 They have no distinct " samee" houses, or places of idol worship, 

 but devote to this purpose the dairy or hut in which they keep their 

 milk, ghee, Sec, and in which they off"er, by libation, to their deity, 

 such milk as is not consumed in the daily use of the tribe. Their 

 domestic rites are as strange and barbarous, as is all connected with 

 this singular people. The wife of one amongst several brothers is 

 common to the whole circle ; and every woman besides her husband 



