A CURIOUS TRIBE. (Home Paper.)

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1853, 22 May 1884, Page 3

A CURIOUS TRIBE. (Home Paper .)

The Todas> constitute one of the oiiginal tribes of the Neilglierry Hills of My-ore. and when originally discovered were said to have been chid only in leaves. They aie also called Todowas, ov Taiawwis, tlie woid for heidsmcn in the Tarnnl language. At one time they weie held in consideiablu respect, owing to their being lepauled as the first invaders of the Neilgheny, and on thn account the other tiibes, who now s>haie the lull country with tlieisi, used to pay them tribute. They aie tall and well proportioned, and aw, especially the women, rather goodlooking, with lobufat, though not classie.il, figures. Their limited dress need not be desctibed. In habits and person they ate wofully filthy. All of them have an antipathy to bathing, and as they anoint their bodies with ghee, winch soon becomes lancid, the odouriferous nature of the Tola's pei son may be imagined. The women are loud of ornaments. In their habits the Todas are \ cry simple. They carry no weapons except a staff and a small axe, from which it may be infeired that they lead peaceable lives, and, indeed, chiefly occupy themselves in feeding c,\ltle. Tobacco smoking and the use of opium and anacK ate getting \eiy common among them ; and their constitutions liavc been injuied by diseise and vices which have followed in the ti am of paiti.il civilisation. Hut of all the customs which prevail among the Todas the most remaikable is that of polyandry, which means hteially " many lnu-bands," all the In others ot a family having one wife in common. We have indicated the existence or the custom among the. vaiiou& nations, but it may be said to have its centie among the tribes of which we are speaking. 'I he morality of the Toda women is deploiable. Chastity is almost unknown, and the mainage tic is merely nominal. Any other lesult from this revolting and demoralising system could scucely be expected. When the fiist child is born it is fathered upon the elder In-other, the next born on the second, and so on throughout the series. Yet, notwithstanding this, a Toda father is fonder of the childien of the family than might be supposed, and the mother has great affection for her childien. Infanticide was at one time veiy common, but under the English influence it has now become almost extinct. The children used to be smothered m a bowl of buffalo milK. The .Todas, o\vin» to the scarcity of women in their own tiibe, were at one time in the haiiifc of abducting females of other tubes, and even of Hindoo biith ; but this custom has Leen discontinued. Evciy man must raise up childien to the biother. Their government is patriarchal, and their only occupation is cattletending, and their language the Tainul, When a native of the loda tribe dies, the body is gaily decked with ornaments, and w ranped in new clothes, and afterwaids exposed on a bier, decoiated with green boughs and heibs, for several days. It is then, amid waitings borne by the lelatives to the funeral pile. One of the relatives then cuts off a lock of the deceased's hair, after which the body, with all its ornaments, is burned amid the wailing of the kinsfolk, who pile on fresh faggots. After the corpse is almost completely consumed, the fire is quenched by water thrown on it. In fanner times, on the death of a Toda, his entire herd was saciificed. Men leaped into the pen with their clubs, and the animals were beaten to death at much personal lisk, for the Toda baffaloes are strong and fierce, even attacking strangcis in their walks if they incautiously approach too near to them. The British Government put a stop to this cruel practice of wholesale slaughter, and at the present time no more than one or two animals are sacrificed at the annual cetemony for the propitiation of the deity and the peace of the souls of the dead. They have many deities, one of the chief of these being the " bell god," which is hung round the. neck of the best buffalo in the herd, and to it they offer prayers and libations of milk. The " hunting god" follows next in rank ; to him they piay for success in the chase. The sun is also worshipped as a deity. On religious matters they have no very explicit ideas. The transmigration of souls they believe in ; but how the soul transmigrates they cannot exactly say. Perhaps the stiangest feature of religious life among the Todas are the sacred groves, few of which now exist. In each the presiding genii are a kind of monks, who are attended by kavilalf, or " watchmen." These watchmen le d the sacred herd, which is kept in the grove for the use of the holy men. The bell-bearing buffalo of this herd is not allowed to be milked ; the calf cons urn s its milk only. Some of these monks, or " palals," are married men, to whom even the limited share of married life which falls to the lot of the Toda benedict has become distasteful. After his choice of a monkish life has been made, the candidate throws off his garments in token of having for ever renounce I tic woild and its joys and snares. After this he resorts to a sacred place and undergoes a certain amount of bathing and other such austerities, in Toda eyes, until he becomes fitted for taking tl o place in the reiigious woild to which his assumed piety entitles him. These sacred places ar«3 looked upon with great awe ; no female is allowed to approach them, nor can even any male member of the tribe hold any converse with the monk 9? his " watching " until special

permission has been first obtained. The Toda- women bear as many as from four to twelve child fen, and the scarcity of children is owing to the hill climate being inimical to infantile life. It' is said that (polyandry and vice notwithstanding) the tribe is rather on the increase. They number less than 800.

The season that a heifer drops a bull calf will be as Rood as any in her milk yield, no matter what her age. The most curious attempt at suicide on recoid is that ot a joung man named Dennis Labaissc, in Paris. He was employed in a small restaurant in the Rue de Richelieu, and was considered quite sane, until one evening he was found voraciously dovoui ing a long and heavy rope. One more coil and he would have suffocated It was pulled out of him, and the poor fellow sent to an insane asylum.