others, I cannot recal, undergo a shorter and less severe period of initiation. Both are often dairymen, an office of great honour and importance; but a Khoota is equally eligible, provided he goes through certain preparatory rites in order to purify himself for it. The especial duties of the priests are to tend the sacred herds just mentioned; to conduct the periodical sacrifice of a calf to invoke fruitfulness among their herds; to present the daily offering of milk at their temples; and to superintend the funeral rites. Of actual or of assembled worship, they have none, so far as I could discover, though, individually, they offer up occasional prayers to an Invisible Being for recovery or preservation from sickness.

Their temples differ but little in appearance from the ordinary huts. One of them, standing in a pretty little glen, near the road between Jakatalla and Coonoor, I made an examination of at a time when the mund, about half a mile off, to which it belonged was deserted by its inhabitants. Creeping in on all fours, I discovered, as well as the darkness permitted, that it contained nothing whatever but a square metal bell and a shapeless black stone, about twice the size of a man's head, the latter placed alone on the floor at the end furthest from the entrance. Being unwilling to bring this out to the light, I could not ascertain whether its colour was natural or artificial. The size precluded the notion of its being an aerolite, although it is well known that meteoric stones have been, in the early history of many countries, regarded with religious awe. To this temple, I had often previously seen the priest from the neighbouring mund bring, in the early morning, a vessel of new milk; but whether the offering was poured out, as some say it is, as a libation, or merely presented and taken away again, I had no means of ascertaining without the risk of giving annoyance.

It will be borne in mind that black stones have, from the earliest times, been objects of reverence or actual adoration from east to west; as, for instance, in Mecca, also among the ancient Romans, and even in the western islands of Scotland, where, moreover, milk was offered to them. Bells, too, have been, in past ages, regarded with veneration, and as having mysterious powers over demons and evil spirits, not only by various Eastern races and castes, but in ancient Britain.

The Todas believe in the existence of an invisible and

supreme Spirit, and in a future state, though this they seem to regard as one of a somewhat mundane character, inasmuch as buffaloes and abundance of milk are to be the portion of the faithful. They also pay reverence to, though they do not worship, inferior objects, such as hills and forests and the rising sun, precisely as did the ancient Celts. In connection with the adoration of light, they also make an obeisance to their evening lamps on lighting them. The observance of this custom in Europe is mentioned by Edward Spencer, who, writing in 1596, states that," at the kindling of fire and lighting of candles, the Scots and Irish use superstitious rites."*

The presence in their temples of large stones, which have, by superficial observers, been regarded as gods, has led to the belief that these people are idolaters; but this is certainly not the case. There is no doubt that the shapeless symbols are merely representatives of an unseen power, and not in themselves actual objects of worship; though with other races, preserving less strictly their primitive character, this original use has degenerated into idolatry. The fact, therefore, that this tribe has so preserved to the present day, in the midst of a heathen country, the primary object and intention of such symbols, is one worthy of notice; and leads to the supposition that the Todas may be equally unchanged in all other respects since the earliest days of their corporate existence as a people.

It would be a most interesting point to determine satisfactorily whether or not the early progenitors of the Todas were the erectors of the numerous Druidical circles and remains found on their hills, and which crown the summit of almost every peak throughout the Nilgiri range. Several of the cromlechs have, rather against the wishes of the hill-tribes, been examined at different times, and found to contain urns of clay filled with black earth, charred fragments of human bones, and roughly made clay figures of buffaloes, and in some instances bells; the whole lying under large flat stones within the circle. It is to be noted, too, that these urns, as well as the bells, very closely resemble those that have been found in Great Britain.

Within the last few months, "a set of iron implements" has been found in a cromlech on the southern side of the Nilgiri

* Early Races of Scotland.

range. The description given of them is as yet so vague that it is impossible to judge of their exact character; but I believe that they resemble the bill-hook and sword or dagger form.

I found cairns and other remains in the straths running up between the higher summits-on which, as before stated, they are more usually found-as stone altars, surrounded by a ring of smaller stones, and mounds of earth enclosed by circular walls.

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 afterwards bury them there, as will be hereafter described; while the presence of the buffalo images, and the similarity in make and texture of the ancient urns to the modern pottery of their workpeople, the Khotas, seem to indicate some connection between the Todas of past days and the remains in question.

The Todas are especially remarkable for the practice of polyandry, a custom which exists among but few tribes, as, for instance, in parts of Thibet and of the Himalayas, among the Nayrs of Malabar, and one or two other races only. A Toda woman often has three or four husbands, who are all brothers, and with each of whom she cohabits a month at a time. What is more singular, such young men as, by the paucity of women among the tribe, are prevented from obtaining a share in a wife, are allowed, with the permission of the fraternal husbands, to become temporary partners with them.

Notwithstanding these singular family arrangements, the greatest harmony appears to prevail among all parties-husbands, wives, and lovers. The children live happily with their putative parents, equally well treated on every side, and as common to all alike, though, I believe, if any special reason demands it, the senior husband can claim the elder children.

The betrothal to the first husband commences at a very early age; and all subsequent brothers of the bridegroom-elect become from their birth bound to the common prospective wife. The compact, as regards the first pair, is conducted by their respective male parents; the father of the bridegroom in esse presenting a buffalo and a new robe to the other, the acceptance