1848.] 



The Neilgherry Moimiains. 



T9 



gistrate's court, are paid into the talook treasury. The receipts of 

 the post ofRce, after deducting the amount of the monthly abstract for 

 the pay of the office establishment, are paid into the talook treasury. 



The district postage is received from parties sending letters to 

 Seegoor and other places in the talook, to which no regular mail is 

 sent from the post office. 



The Principal Collector visits the district once a year on " Jumraa- 

 bundy," when the revenue accounts are settled for the past year, and 

 all complaints of over assessment examined into and adjudicated. 

 NumberinSebundyor The total number of pcons employed in the 



other Corps engaged n • «. i r, « 



ill collecting Keve- Collection of the revenue is 43, with 3 dufFadars 

 iiue. 



and 3 ghomastahs ; the peons and duffadars are 

 also available for general police duties under the orders of the tah- 

 sildar, who, next to the Joint Magistrate, is the head police officer 

 of the Hill district. 



iiiatory: and Anti- The utmost obscurity hangs over the early 

 history of the Neilgherry Hills, for beyond the 

 period of the immigration of the " Todars" or " Todawars," tradition 

 amongst the present inhabitants, aiFords no clue whatever to trace it. 

 That they have been in former ages inhabited, and that by a very 

 peculiar race, evidence sufficient to show is furnished by the existence 

 of the numerous " cairns," or rude tombs found upon the summits of 

 almost all the loftier mountains in every part of the Hills, the origin 

 of which is so remote, that the Todars, recognized as the most ancient 

 inhabitants, have no tradition amongst themselves bequeathed by 

 their ancestors, which even guides us to a surmise, as to the race of 

 people by whom they were constructed. As alFording thus almost 

 the only land marks, by which speculation as to the ancient state of 

 this remarkable region can be guided, these " cairns" seem to merit 

 a brief description. They are invariably situated, as has been alrea- 

 dy mentioned, on the highest summits of the Hills, sometimes single, 

 but more frequently in groups or rows of from 3 to 6. They are 

 circular in form, raised with large unhewn blocks of stone 4 feet or 

 more above the level of the ground, and varying in diameter from 

 12 or 15 feet to 25 or 30. The interior is hollowed out to some 

 depth below the original surface, usually until the 



Cairns. i . i , • , , i , 



solid rock is reached, and the space thus cleared 

 filled with earthen pots, with the covers strongly luted on, pieces of 

 bone, charcoal, and fragments of pottery, all tightly packed in a soil 

 so black and finely pulverized, as to give cause to suppose it to be de- 



