96 



The Antiqidlies of the 



[No. 32, 



to the ancestors of the Thautawars, I quote the subjoined passage 

 from Haikness' " Description of a Singular Aboriginal Kace inhabit- 

 ing the summits of the Neilgherry Hills*' (i. e. the Thautawars). 



" A bell, which is generally deposited in some niche within the 

 " temple, is the only object to which they pay any reverence. To 



this they pour out libations of milk, but merely as to a sacred im- 

 " plement. They do not sacrifice or offer incense, or make any 

 " oblations to it significant of its having in their estimation any 

 " latent or mystic properties, 



" To each Teriri is attached a herd of milch bufTaloes, part of 

 " which are sacred and from which the milk is never drawn, the 

 " whole being allowed to go to the calves. One among these sa- 

 " cred animals is the chief. Should it die, its calf, if a female one, 

 " succeeds to its office. Should it have no female calf, the bell before 

 " mentioned is attached to the neck of one of the other sacred ones, 

 *' and being allowed to remain so during that day, a legal succession 

 " is considered to be effected. 



In the morning the Pol-aul milks one portion of the herd, carries 

 *' the milk into the temple, laves the bell with a small portion of it, 

 " and of such of it as he or his attendant may not require he makes 

 " butter and ghee." 



The method of obeisance practised by the Thautawars when ad- 

 dressing a superior, is precisely similar to that observed by the early 

 inhabitants of Britain, as preserved in a set of figures on the ^ayeaitx 

 tapestry. In both cases the inferior, his body bent forward, has his 

 expanded hand placed to his forehead, the thumb resting upon it. 



A Thautawar woman when she meets her father or brother, after 

 some period of absence, kneels in front of him, and puts her head under 

 his foot. The w^omen of the Scythians wore a gold ornament in the 

 shape of the human foot on the head indicative of their submission to 

 the other sex. 



Cha^pteh 4tii. 



I now proceed to give an account of some antiquities I have lately 

 examined at a place called Fair-Lawn, situated three miles from Oo- 

 tacamund on the road to the Avalanche bungalow. Fair-Lawn is an 

 open spot in the second wood reached after quitting the Cantonment, 

 and commands the western aspect of the *' One Cairn Hill.'' The an- 

 tiquities are found to the right and left of the road, on the top of a 



