1848.] The KJeilyherry Mountains. 57 



right over the land which they till, and which it appears the Todars, 

 in spite of their own purity, and the uncleanness and low caste of the 

 Kothers, do not hesitate to receive and eat, though no Burgher would 

 touch grain so polluted. The Kothers are not extensive cultivators, 

 bringing only land enough under the plough to yield the quantity of 

 grain required for the use of the village, with a small surplus, which 

 they barter with the low country traders for iron to carry on their 

 forges. 



Hence by fur the greater part of the land to which they lay claim 

 in the vicinity of their villages remains waste, and is likely to do so, 

 as long as the present proprietary system continues in force. In 

 some parts of the Hills this land is of a very fine description, which, 

 according to their explanation, is to be ascribed to their having come 

 to these Hills the first of all the agricultural tribes, and thus enjoyed 

 the privilege of selecting the best land. 



Their religion is of course idolatrous : their marriage customs and 

 ceremonies are not very dissimilar to those observed amongst the 

 people of the Pariah caste in the plains, and they have no plurality 

 of wives, or of husbands. They are impure and dirty in their habits, 

 eating the flesh of cattle which die by the roadside of disease or in 

 the jungle : hence their neighbours the Burghers, though living os- 

 tensibly on amicable terms with them, account it pollution to eat 

 with them, or associate with them in their households. 



They breed small cows and bullocks, but no buffaloes, and they 

 have a singular and wasteful practice of never drawing the milk from 

 the cow, and allowing the whole to go to the calf which they kill 

 and eat on feast days. 



The total number of Kothers on the Neilgherries up to 31st De- 

 cember, 1847, was found to be. . . .Males, 157 ^^^^i 307 gouls 



Females, 150) ^ ^ ^' 



including children of both sexes. 



The Burghers or " Vuddaghurs," signifying 

 The Burghers. literally people of the North," are supposed 



to have emigrated to the Neilgherries from the northern part of 

 Mysore or Canara, during a season either of famine or political per- 

 secution, and finding their soil and climate good, and their pre-occu- 

 piers peaceable and disinclined to molest them, they settled on them ; 

 and, meeting with success in their early agricultural operations, they 

 soon induced others of their countrymen to follow them, and thus 



VOL. XV. NO. XXXIY. H 



