1847.] 



Neilgherry Hills, S^^c. 



85 



in search of treasure being compelled to desist in llieir enterprlze by 

 the Thautawars of an adjoining village. 



I think it but fair to' mention that I do not stand alone in deriving 

 a race of Indian mountaineers from the ancient Scythians; Sir William 

 Jones considered the Massagetce to have been the ancestors of a race 

 of men inhabiting some mountains in the North of India. 



Some persons in Ootacamund have hazarded a conjecture that the 

 cairns are the sepulchres of the Hindoo soldiers of Tippoo's army 

 which passed across these mountains on route from Mysore to Coim- 

 batore. I shall not take the trouble to dispute whether an army be- 

 longing to the Sultan did actually cross the Neilgherries although I 

 very much doubt it. And the new theory respecting the cairns is so 

 preposterous and utterly devoid of foundation I should regard it whol- 

 ly unworthy of notice, were I not anxious that all who take an interest 

 in the antiquities of these hills should be undeceived when fallen 

 into error. I apprehend that the following r.easons will at once in- 

 duce tjie dismissal of the new theory. 



1. The cairns are found not only spread over the surface of the 

 Neilgherries in sequestered woods and on the highest, most distant 

 and almost inaccessible peaks, but they are found as well along the 

 western ghauts nearly as far as Cape Comorin ; Mr. Hough says 

 *' Tumuli or cairns similar to that just described are scattered through- 

 out the southern ghauts." 



I have myself seen the cairns at the extreme eastern limit of the 

 Hills and on their western confines. Nearly every hill in this space 

 which measures 30 miles across has a cairn on its summit. The 

 cairns exist in thousands ; in the neighbourhood of Ootacamund alone^ 

 hundreds may be found, and they are as thickly spread every where 

 else. On an average each cairn contains 20 sepulchral urns, many 

 have 30 or 40 in them. Now if we find a hundred cairns or 2,000 

 urns in a square of 5 miles we may fairly expect to discover 350,000 

 urns on the area of the mountains between Ootacamund and the lati- 

 tude at which the cairns are no longer found. After this statement if 

 the supporters of the new theory persist in upholding it, they must be 

 prepared to show that Tippoo's army lost 350,000 souls by mere ca- 

 sualties in traversing the Neilgherries ; moreover, that the Sultan's 

 geographical ignorance caused him to march over and along the 

 peaks and irregularities of the western ghauts from Ootacamund 

 nearly as far as Cape Comorin and back again on his route from My- 



