1837.3 



On the Language, Manners, fyc. 



'.7 



II. — On the Language, Manners, and Rites, of the Khoonds, or Khox 

 Jati, of the Goomsoor Mountains ; from documents furnished by 

 J. A. R. Stevenson, Esq. Commissioner in Goomsoor, andW. G» 

 Maxwell, Esq., m. d.; with Illustrative and connecting Observa~ 

 tions. By Reverend W. Taylor, Member of the Madras Literary 

 Society, 



Previous to any other observations it may be desirable to settle the 

 true name of the people who have been designated Kboonds. In the 

 title to Mr. Stevenson's paper on their customs they are styled V&>sx> 

 Codulu, and in Dr. Maxwell's list Khoi-jati. If the orthography of the 

 first written term be correct, as I presume it may be so considered, it 

 must be a mistake to write the word Khoonds, intimating a transition 

 through the Hindustani. The Telugu alphabet has a letter corres- 

 ponding with k'h ; but as it is not used in Mr. Stevenson's paper, the 

 proper representative according to Sir W. Jones's orthographical system 

 is c. ; and as Dr. Maxwell only intends to give the sound, and probably 

 made use of Hindustani as a medium of intercourse, his spelling does 

 not necessarily militate against the same conclusion. The people I 

 presume to be the same with those who have been otherwise termed 

 Goands, usually classed as similar with the B'heels. There is besides 

 a resemblance to the native term for the Coorg mountaineers, which is 

 Codugu ; and T am inclined to think, that any one who fully under° 

 stood the Coorg dialect, could hold intercourse with the Khoonds. The 

 insertion of the obscure nasal sound of n I may observe is no objections 

 it may be inserted or left out, in many Telugu words, and in some Ta- 

 mil ones. Codulu is plural in Telugu, and Codur, would be the same 

 in Tamil. If from deference to the usage, which has obtained, I use 

 the term KhoondSj it is still improperly, and from a regard only to 

 perspicuity. 



The papers by Mr. Stevenson and Dr. Maxwell, in a loose and unar- 

 ranged form, may, for order's sake* be classed under two heads, as relat- 

 ing to the language, and to the manners and rites, of this singular 

 people. 



On the language the vocabulary transmitted by Mr. Stevenson may 

 be first inserted ; because of the precision conveyed by the use of Telugu 

 letters. The orthography by which they are represented is not sys^ 

 tematic ; but it may suffice. I am guided by the Telugu writing. 



VOCABULARY. 



Khoond pronunciation in 

 Teloogoo character. 



God ^r 0 Mahaprabhoe 



goddess ^otfr*^ pennoo 



earth 



taunah 



