160 



ON DRU1DICAL AND 



upon other rocks, which raise it between 30 and 40 feet 

 above the surface, a height equal to that of the houses in the 

 street I live in, and equal to it in width. This would seem 

 to be the culminating exploit of the Celto-Scythic cromlech 

 builders. 



One of the migratory bands instead of pursuing the route 

 along the coast of Africa, deviated from it, crossed Persia and 

 Beluchistan,§ and eventually found its way to South India, 

 generally called Dravida-Desa. The principal language of 

 South India which was investigated early by Missionaries, 

 Tamil, is related with the Scythian languages. In the south 

 of India these bands settled and built cromlechs both in the 

 plains and on the mountains. In the latter the ancestors of 

 the Todas and other hill tribes built these structures on the 

 Nilgiri and the Anamalai Hills. 



The following extract from Colonel Eoss King's work on 

 the " Aboriginal Tribes of the Nilgiri Hills " is pertinent to 

 the subject, and serves to dispel the idea that the Kurumbas 

 of the hills were the builders of the cromlechs and cairns 

 there existing : — 



" This tribe is of another race from the shepherd Kurumbas, 

 described by Sir Walter Elliot as having a distinct priesthood, 

 and worshipping the god Bhyra. The Nilgiri tribe have neither 

 cattle nor sheep, and, in language, dress, and customs, have no 



affinity whatever with their namesakes The circles are 



evidently regarded with veneration by the Todas, as well as by 

 the Vadacas ; but it is difficult to elicit information concerning 

 them. Though the former tribe neither use sepulchral urns 

 nor erect monuments at the present day, they invariably burn 

 the remains of their dead within a circle of stones, and after- 

 wards bury them there, as will be hereafter described ; while 



§ The Scythian Jits in the east of Beluchistan, very probably descendants 

 of the Getae or Massagetae may have been associated with this band, so far 

 as the right bank of the Indus, where they separated from it and settled. 



