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The men are large in frame, tall and remarkably well-proportioned, with muscular, massive, and very hairy limbs and broad chests; a physique totally opposite in every respect to that of the dwellers in the plains. Their countenances are manly, open, and handsome, the features being unusually regular. They have luxuriant black beards, and, wearing no turban or covering on the head, display to full advantage their clustering bushy hair, the European look of which is increased by their practice of wearing it parted down the centre. In colour they are nearer brown than black; their lips are full rather than large, and their cheek-bones marked but not high. The eyes are large and intelligent, and the nose is elevated and arched. It is doubtless this combination of the distinguishing features of the white race, with an almost black complexion that gives them in part their peculiar aspect. Many of them have a very Jewish expression, but the general contour of the head and cast of countenance are rather such as we are accustomed to associate with the ancient Romans. This similitude is also enhanced by their stately carriage and flowing robe, the loose folds of which give them an appearance best described by the term classic. This garment, in which the Toda envelopes himself, is of a thick coarse cotton cloth of native manufacture, white when clean, and having a red ripe or border. It is hung over the left shoulder, brought across the back and forward under the right arm, the point being flung backwards over the left shoulder again, leaving the right arm at liberty, and allowing the folds to fall gracefully about the lower part of the person down to the knees. When herding their buffaloes, the men carry a thin straight rod or wand, about six feet in length, and this is the only approach to implement or weapon that they

ever use.

The women are much lighter in hue than the men, the body being of a café-au-lait tint, and the face a shade darker. They are as a rule very pleasing in expression, and the young women, from fifteen to twenty, generally exceedingly good-looking They are above the middle height, large in frame and well develop ve. though the hands and feet are very small. Their features regular, the mouth not large, lips often thin, and the teeth even debeautifully white; the nose is straight, whilst the eyes are the and expressive. The most striking peculiarity about them is rly arrangement of their fine glossy black hair, which is dressed

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ringlets precisely such as ladies in this country wore about twenty or five-and-twenty years ago. On the top of the head the hair is smoothed and parted with the greatest care, and the long ringlets hang on either side of the oval face with a neatness and regularity strangely at variance with their apparently rough mode of life; the hair in both sexes is anointed with ghee, as is also the skin. The female dress on ordinary occasions consists simply of a single robe similar to that of the men, though it is worn differently, being merely thrown over both shoulders and clasped in front by the hand. This, as one very soon learns, generally constitutes the sole garment of the wearer, for the Toda women have a habit, even in the presence of strangers, of throwing open the mantle to the full extent of both arms for the purpose of readjusting it on the shoulders. Some of them indeed hardly take the trouble to hold it together in front at all, and this was especially the case at a mund, near Coonoor, which, as I was quartered in the immediate vicinity, I had frequently to pass. I used to notice that the men watching their herds on the opposite heights, separated by a wide glen from where I was, would announce my coming by shouting across to the women at home, who were accordingly always on the qui vive at the roadside prepared to greet me with their usual begging cry Enam Kurroo, "give me a present." The way that these men carry on conversations with one another across wide intervening valleys, and apparently without effort, reminded me of the Kaffir herdsmen, every word of whose voices I have heard from hill-tops at distances that seemed incredible.

I have on occasions of ceremony seen the women with underclothing fastened round the middle in addition to the above. everyday costume. I may observe that they often embroider the corners of these robes with blue thread, and shew very considerable taste in the devices.

Neither slippers nor sandals are ever seen among them, men, women, and children alike, going barefooted. The young children are generally pleasing in their appearance. I noticed that the boys up to eight or ten years old are of the same light colour as the girls, the dark hue of later life being gradually developed with each year's exposure to the sun and mountain air until the age of manhood. It is to be noted, however, of the females that, though equally exposed to climatic influences, their complexions remain nearly the same all through life.

The lineaments and characteristics of the Telingan race, as described by Pickering, seem to apply to this people in all points save one, but that a very important one, namely, the nature of the hair. According to the above author, the Telingans have "straight fine hair", but, as the hair of the Toda men is clustering, partially curled, and rather inclined to coarseness, the classification of this tribe under that head seems out of the question.

The most noticeable of the ornaments, generally valuable and always pleasing to the eye, worn by the Toda women, are their massive and very handsome necklaces of solid gold and silver, which, though of course varying in size and detail of design, are all of the same typical character, resembling some of the ancient necklaces found in our own country. These ornaments they value very highly, and regard as heirlooms not to be parted with on any consideration, so that to procure a specimen was a matter of extreme difficulty. The one now exhibited I managed after much trouble to obtain through the medium of a friendly Moravian missionary, from a female whose interest in dress and ornament was, like herself, somewhat on the wane. Mr. Metz, the missionary in question, in the course of a residence of many years among these people, had gained their trust and confidence to an almost unlimited extent; nevertheless, it required, in addition to his oral arguments, several successive handfuls of small silver coin, finally amounting to thirty-five rupees to induce her to sell it. Even this sum (which was about equivalent to £3:10: 0, in shillings and sixpences) the owner consented to accept only on condition that nothing should be said to any of her tribe regarding the transaction. This ornament is the work of the Khotas, one of the tribes that will be presently described, and its weight is nearly eight ounces of the purest silver. Nearly all the adult women have similar necklaces, many of them being much larger and more massive than the present specimen, and mostly having bunches and rosettes of cowrie shells on blue cords affixed, which hang down the back of the neck.

Their other ornaments are silver ear-rings and bracelets; gold, silver, and brass rings on the fingers, a couple of very large brass armlets above the elbows, and a brass or sometimes silver belt worn round the middle, and next to the skin. The use of the latter I fancy may be the suspension of the underclothing when

worn.

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