The Blue Mountains of Goa
Footnotes:
This region, the Ariake of the Greeks, Kemkem of the Arabs, Kukan of the Hindoos, Concan of the present possessors, and, as Vincent says, "the pirate coast of all," is well adapted for its ancient occupation by a multitude of small ports, uninterrupted view along the coast, high ground favourable to distant vision, and the alternate land and sea breezes that oblige vessels to hug the shore. Moreover, the ports, besides being shallow, are defended against large ships by bars; a defect from which even Goa is not exempt, although Tavernier calls it "one of the finest harbours in the world, rivalling those of Toulon and Constantinople." The pirates were protected by the strength of the inland country, and, like the Greeks, had only to lie secure in port until they discovered their prey. During the Monsoon they cultivated the ground, or lived peaceably at home: when the fine weather set in, they launched their boats, and set out in quest of adventure. Pliny notices the depredations they committed on the Roman East India trade, and our early travellers are full of horrible tales about them.
It is curious to observe that the whole line of coast between the mouth of the Euphrates and Cape
Comorin, has been infamous for the piratical propensities of the many and various tribes that
inhabit it. The Persian Gulf still requires the presence of our armed cruisers; the ancient annals of
Scinde enlarge upon its celebrity for robbery; the Coolies of Kutch and Guzerat were known as
pirates from Marco Polo's time till A.D. 1800; the Angria territory was a nest of thieves till we
destroyed their fleet; and Tavernier testifies that the natives of Malabar were not inferior in
enterprise to their northern brethren.
5. They lie in lat. 15° 52' 30", about thirty-five miles from Goa, and seven off the shore,
from which they are separated by a deep channel. The group consists of more than twenty small
rocks, amongst which are six or seven about as large as the Sirens Isles in the Gulf of Salerno.
The Greeks called them which Mr. Hamilton understands to signify "black
rabbis;" and Vincent supposes them to have been so termed, because in form they may be
fancied to resemble those animals crouching.
6. Porters and labourers.
7. The Portuguese tongue.
8. Their other great clerical establishment being the Seminary at Rachol, a town which,
when the Portuguese first came to India, was the capital of the province of Salsette. In
Tavernier's time the Jesuits had no less than five religious houses at Goa.
9. He raised the standard of revolt against the Indian government spiritedly but
unsuccessfully.
10. "All thieves at Parga."
11. The name given to that breed of ponies on account of their extraordinary viciousness.
12. At that time, however, this horrible instrument of religious tyranny seems to have lost
much of its original activity. When the dungeons were thrown open there was not a single
prisoner within the walls, and Mons. de Kleguen asserts that no one then living remembered
having seen an Auto da Fe.
13. About the end of the sixteenth century the Dutch sent ships round the Cape, and soon
managed to secure the best part of the Eastern trade, formerly monopolized by the Portuguese.
14. The Grand Inquisitor.
15. The Holy Office had power over all but the Viceroy and Archbishop, and they did not
dare openly to interpose in behalf of any prisoner, under pain of being reported to the inquisitor
and his Council in Portugal, and being recalled. Even the Papal threats were disregarded by that
dread tribunal.
16. No description of the building and its accommodations is given. Captain Marryat's
graphic account of it in the "Phantom Ship," must be fresh in the memory of all readers. The
novelist seems to have borrowed his account from the pages of Dellon.
17. An Arab chieftain sent a civil request to the governor, desiring liberty to buy provisions.
The answer was a bit of pork wrapped up in paper, and a message, that such was the only food
likely to be furnished. The chieftain's wife, who was a Sayyideh, a woman of the Prophet's tribe,
and a lady of proper spirit, felt the insult so keenly, that she persuaded her husband and his tribe
to attack Muscat and massacre all its defenders. This event took place in 1650.
18. He calls it the "Aljouvar." It is probably a corrupted Arabic word <Arabic> Al-jabr, "the
prison."
19. The Straight Street, so called because almost all the streets of Goa were laid out in
curvilinear form.
20. St. Catherine was appointed patron saint of Goa, because the city was taken by the
Portuguese on her day.
21. Calling upon the name of the Almighty.
22. A particular class Hindoo devotee and beggar.
23. Yellow is the colour usually chosen by the Hindoo when about to "do some desperate
deed."
24. A "forester," and generally a regular sylvan or savage man.
25. This is said particularly of the Eastern Christian, whose terror of the tomb is most
remarkable.
26. For a detailed list and description of the buildings, we must refer readers to the work of
Monsieur de Kleguen, alluded to in the third chapter.
27. The large flowered jessamine.
28. The Datura stramonium, a powerful narcotic.
29. The European Portuguese can fight bravely enough, as many a bloody field in the
Peninsular war has testified. Their Indian descendants, however, have never distinguished
themselves for that quality.
30. Formerly, only the Reinols, as the Portuguese who came directly from Europe were
called, could be viceroys, governors of Ceylon, archbishops, or grand inquisitors of Goa.
Tavernier tells us that all the adventurers who passed the Cape of Good Hope forthwith became
fidalgos, or gentlemen, and consequently assumed the title of Don.
31. As that "greatest hero of Portuguese Asia" governed for the short space of six years a
country of which he and all around him were utterly ignorant, his fatal measure must have been
suggested entirely by theory.
32. If our rulers only knew what the natives of Central Asia generally think of a "clean
shaved" face, the growth of the mustachio would soon be the subject of a general order. We
doubt much if any shaven race could possibly hold Afghanistan. In Western Arabia the Turks
were more hated for shaving the beard than for all their flogging and impaling.
33. Compared with those of British India, probably there are not three fortunes of 500l. per
annum amongst the half million of souls that own the rule of the successor of the viceroys. A
large family can live most comfortably upon one-fifth of that sum.
34. Red and white wine: the latter is the favourite.
35. The Hindostanee name for the cannudo.
36. Goez, who travelled in India about 1650, says that he was surprised to see the image of a
black saint on the altars, and to hear that a black native was not thought worthy to be a
"religious" in this life, though liable to be canonized when he departs it.
37. Bernier, the traveller, in 1655 remarks, that "Bengala is the place for good comfits,
especially in those places where the Portuguese are, who are dexterous in making them, and
drive a great trade with them." In this one point their descendants have not degenerated.
38. Many tribes, however, are found among them. Some have African features.
39. Without the cholee or bodice worn by Hindoo and Moslem women in India.
40. Leavened bread is much better made here than in any other part of Western India;
moreover, it is eaten by all those who can afford it.
41. Anciently, neither Moslem nor Jew could, under pain of death, publicly perform the rites
of his religion in any Indo-Portuguese settlement.
42. At the same tie we were not allowed to pass the threshold of the little pagoda to the
southward of the town.
43. Tavernier says of them, "the natives of the country called Canarins are not permitted to
bear any office but only reference to the law, i.e., as solicitors, advocates, and scriveners. If a
Canarin happened to strike a European, his hand was amputated."
44. A carpenter, one of the lowest castes amongst Hindoos.
45. The Hindoo goddess of plenty and prosperity.
46. Opposite to the Desha, the pure dialect of Maharatta. They are about as different as
English spoken in the south of England and Lowland Scotch.
47. A celebrated Arabic author on the interpretation of dreams.
48. Magical formula and works on "Gramarye," generally in the Sanscrit, sometimes in the
Pracrit, tongue.
49. As, however, the Maharatta is the mother tongue of the Goanese, it communicates its
peculiar twang to every other language they speak. The difference of their Portuguese from the
pure Lusitanian, is at once perceptible to a practised ear.
50. And yet as late as 1840, the Government of Goa was obliged to issue an order
confiscating the property of all priests who should submit to the Vicar-apostolic appointed by the
Pope.
51. Francklin, who visited Goa in 1786, says that the army was about five thousand men, two
regiments of which were Europeans. Even in his day the Home Government was obliged to send
large sums of money annually to defray the expenses of their Indian possessions.
52. A colonel receiving about 15l., an ensign, 3l. per mensem.
53. The translator of Ibn Batuta's Travels.
54. Ferdinand, the second Duke of Tuscany, was the munificent patron of the father of
Western Orientalism.
55. When Vasco de Gama returned to India, part of his freight was "eight Franciscan friars,
eight chaplains, and one chaplain major, who were instructed to begin by preaching, and, if that
failed, to proceed to the decision of the sword."
56. The curious reader will find the subject of Jesuitical conversion in India most ably treated
in Sir J. E. Tennent's late work on "Christianity in Ceylon."
57. A common term of insult.
58. The mountains distinctly visible from the sea off Calicut, in clear weather, are the
Koondah range of the Neilgherries, or Blue Hills.
59. "Noble and wealthy city."
60. The later is A.D. 907.
61. In 1788, Tipoo was induced by ill-timed zeal or mistaken policy to order the
circumcision and conversion of the Malabar Hindoos, and compelled the Brahmans to eat beef,
as an example to the other inferior castes. A general insurrection of the oppressed was the
natural consequence of the oppressive measure.
Tradition asserts that there was a forcible but partial circumcision of the natives of Malabar by
the people of Arabia long before Hyder's time. So the grievance was by no means a new one.
62. Who, it may be observed, are the navigators and traders par excellence of the Eastern
world. The Jews and Phoenicians generally contined themselves to the Mediterranean and the
parts about the Red Sea. The Turks were an inland nation; the Hindoos have ever been averse to
any but coasting voyages, and the religion of Zoroaster forbade its followers to cross the seas.
But the "Arab is still what he was--the facile princips of Oriental sailors.
As a proof of how strong the followers of Mohammed mustered on the Malabar coast, we may
quote Barthema, who asserts, that when the Portuguese landed at Calicut, they found not less
than fifteen thousand of them settled there. Camoens also tells us how the friendly and
disinterested plans of his hero were obstructed and thwarted by the power and influence of these
infidel Moors.
63. Between September 1846 and May 1847, no less than eighty ships, besides an immense
number of pattimars and native craft touched at Calicut.
64. Arab and other valuable horses cannot stand the climate,--a Pegu pony is the general
monture. The sheep intended for consumption are brought down from Msore.
65. Subterraneous streams are still as common in India as they were in heathen Greece and
Italy.
66. The dynastical name of the Samiry.
67. Captain Hamilton mentions his ship striking in six fathoms at the mainmast on some of
the ruins of "the sunken town built by the Portuguese in former times." But he hesitates to
determine whether the place was "swallowed up by an earthquake, as some affirm, or
undermined by the sea."
68. A further account of Cherooman will be found in the twelfth chapter. Ferishteh, the
celebrated Moslem annalist, informs us that the Rajah became a Mussulman in consequence of
the pious exhortations of some Arab sailors who were driven into the port of Craganore. Captain
Hamilton remarks that, "when the Portuguese first came to India, the Samorin of Calicut, who
was lord paramount of Malabar, turned Moslem in his dotage, and to show his zeal, went to
Mecca on a pilgrimage, and died on the voyage." The tradition handed down amongst the
Moslems is, that the Malabar Rajah became a convert to Islam in consequence of seeing the
Shakk el-Kamar, or miraculous splitting of the moon by Mohammed, and that, warned by a
dream, he passed over to Arabia.
69. See Chapter XII.
70. Surya, the Hindoo Phoebus.
71. Go-karna, the "Cow's-ear," a celebrated place of pilgrimage in the Canara district.
72. Cherun or Chairun was one of the three kingdoms contained in South India; the other
two were Sholum (Tanjore) and Pundium (Madura).
73. We know not which to admire or to pity the more: this wonderful old traveller's accuracy
and truthfulness, or the hard fate which gave him the nickname of Meaaer Marco Milieni. Tardy
justice, however, has been done to his memory, and a learned Italian Orientalist, M. Romagnosi,
now asserts, that from his adventurous wanderings "seaturirono tutte le speculazioni e teorie che
condussero finalmente alla scoperta del Nuovo Mondo."
74. Paolino observes, that the term Malabar ought not to be deduced from the Arabic mala, a
mountain, and bahr, a coast. And Paolino is right; neither of those vocables are Arabic at all.
The word is of Sanscrit origin, derived from malya (<Sanskrit>mLy a mountain generally, but
particularly the ranges called by us the Western Ghauts), and var (<Sanskrit>var, a multitude).
The Persian word <Persian> (bar), used in compounds, as Zang-bar, the region of blacks, or
Zanguebar, is palpably a corruption of the said var. Thus the original Sanscrit term malya-desha, the mountain land, became in Persian and Arabic Malbar, or Malibar, and hence our
Malabar. A late editor of Marco Polo's travels might have been more cautious than to assert that
"the very term is Arabic."
75. Anciently described to be pepper, ivory, timber, and pearls. The three former articles are
still produced in great abundance.
We may here notice that Vincent translates <Greek> , "sandalwood," and
supposes the word to have been originally written <Greek>. He is wrong: the tectona
grandis, or teak, called throughout Western India sag (<Greek>), or sagcan, is alluded to.
So also <Greek> is rendered "ebony in large sticks," and in a note we are
informed that it is a corrupt reading, that wood of some sort is meant, but that sesamum is a herb.
The <Greek> of the Greeks is manifestly the Indian sisam, or black tree.
76. It is variously and incorrectly written Dely, Delly, D'illi, and Dilla. The mountain
derives its present name from a celebrated Moslem fakir, Mohommed of Delhi, who died there,
and is invoked by the sea-faring people of the coast. Its Hindo appellation is Yeymullay. No
stress therefore should be laid upon the resemblance between Mount Delhi and the Ela Barake of
the Periplus. The identity of the two places rests, however, on good local evidence.
77. Varying from eighty to one hundred and thirty-five inches per annum.
78. Unhappily the banyan has been selected, a tree which, though sufficiently shady when its
root-like branches are allowed to reach the ground, is comparatively valueless as a protection
against the sun, when planted by a roadside. Also, it is easily overthrown by high winds, for,
after a time, the long and tenacious roots that uphold it rot off, and the thin branches of young
shoots that cling round the parent stem have not the power to support its weight. A third
disadvantage in the banyan is, that in many places the boughs grow low, and a horseman's head
is in perpetual danger.
79. The usual ferry-boat is a platform of planks lashed to two canoes, and generally railed
round. We know not a more disagreeable predicament than half an hour's trip upon one of these
vessels, with a couple of biting and kicking nags on board.
80. The botanical name of this tree is derived from the Malayalim adeka, a betel nut. The
English "jackfruit" is the Portuguese "jacka," a corruption of the native name chukka.
81. Of the Malayalim aera. It is called Kolum, from a village of that name, and dates its
beginning in A.D. 824, the time when a rich Nair merchant adorned the place with a splendid
palace and tank. Previous to its establishment, the natives used a cycle of twelve years, each
called after some zodiacal sign. The months were also denoted by the same terms, so that the
name of the year and the month were periodically identical.
82. Equal to Cos. Rs. 250, about 25l.
83. See Chapter XII.
84. Tumbooran, in Malayalim, means a lord or prince. If a minor he is termed Tumban.
85. Most of the matter contained in this chapter has been taken from old and valuable papers
preserved in the Nuzoor Cutcherry at Calicut. By the kindness of the collector we were
permitted to inspect and make any extracts from them we pleased.
86. The reader must bear in mind that in Malabar, as in all other native states, contributions
carefully proportioned to the circumstances of the parties so mulcted, were called for on every
occasion of emergency.
87. In three vols. Printed at the Courier press, Bombay.
88. Tradition obscurely alludes to a Rajah called Kerulam (probably from his kingdom), who
reigned sixty-three years after Parasu Rama.
89. In Sanscrit the word means a continent, country, or region: it is used hereabouts in a
limited sense, generally signifying a village.
90. The Hindoo law lays down five per cent. as the amount to be levied from the plaintiff, ten
from the defendant if cast in a suit, otherwise he is exempt from any tax. Some of the Rajahs
were by no means content with such a moderate perquisite; the ruler of Cochin, for instance,
never took less than double the sum above specified.
91. Sometimes called Prumani and Mookoodee, "principal inhabitants."
92. "Ruler of the land of Cherun." See Chapter XI.
93. The current aera of the Hindoos.
94. See Chapter X.
95. In the present talook of Temelpooram.
96. Captain Hamilton--no great authority by the bye in such matters--relates that the Samiry
divided his territories between his four nephews, and says that the partition led to long and
bloody wars between the brothers. He probably confounded a Moslem with the Hindoo
tradition.
97. Tumbooratee, in Malayalim, a lady or princess; if a minor she is termed Tumbatee.
98. The above four are the only recognised palaces.
99. Some of the present chieftains of Malabar style themselves Kshatriyas, but by far the
greater number derive their pedigree from the intercourse of Brahmans with the royal ladies,
who principally belong to the Nair cast of Hindoos.
100. This gives upwards of two hundred souls per mile, estimating the extend of Malabar at
about six thousand square miles.
101. It ordained, for instance, that corpses shall be burned within private premises, instead of
being carried out for that purpose into the woods, &c.
102. There is an abridged form of this salutation, which consists of joining the hands and then
parting them, at the same time bending the fingers at the second joint.
103. This word generally follows the name of the individual, and seems to be the titular
appellation of the class. It is probably derived from the Sanscrit Nayaka (a chief), like the
Teloogoo Naidoo, the Canarese and Tamul Naikum, and the Hindoo Naik.
104. Captain Hamilton makes the number of fighting men throughout the province, of course
including all castes, amount to one million two hundred and sixty-two thousand.
105. Opposed to muka-tayum, the succession of sons.
106. The head of the house.
107. The masculine singular of this word is Tian (fem. Tiatti), in the plural Tiyar.
108. The Moplahs, as strangers, and the merchants, trades-people, and professional men who
had no fixed places of residence, did not engage in this feudal relationship.
109. See Chapter XI.
110. The word Udian, in Malayalim and Tamul, literally signifies a slave. Here it is used in
its limited signification of vassal or client, as opposed to the Tumbooran or patron. The word,
however, would be considered degrading to a Nair, and is therefore never applied to him.
111. "Sons of the soil," from cher, earth, and mukkul, children. In the masculine singular the
word is chermun (fem. chermee), plural, chermur.
112. The price of a slave varied from 3l to 8l.
113. In the Calicut district, half the children belonged to the mother, or rather to her
proprietor, and the other half to the father's master; the odd number was the property of the
former. When both parents belonged to one owner, he of course claimed all the offspring.
114. Generally speaking, the slaves in the maritime districts were in better condition, and far
superior in bodily and mental development to their brethren in the interior.
115. There are three different derivations of this word. Some deduce it from the pure
Hindostani and corrupted Sanscrit word ma (a mother), and the Tamul pilla (a son), "sons of
their mothers," the male progenitor being unknown. Others suppose it to be a compound of
mukkul (a daughter) and pilla (a son), "a daughter's son," also an allusion to their origin. The
third is a rather fanciful derivation from Mokhai-pilla "sons of, or emigrants from, Mocha," in
Arabia.
116. This description applies exclusively to the higher orders; the labouring classes are dark
and ill-favoured.
117. The genuine Arab, especially in Yemen and Tehamah, is, generally speaking, a Kusaj, or
scant-bearded man; and his envy regarding the flowing honours of a Persian chin, is only
equalled by the lasting regret with which he laments his own deficiency in that semi-religious
appurtenance to the human face.
118. The practice of the Prophet, whom every good Moslem is bound to imitate, even in the
most trivial and every-day occasions.
119. The Æschynomene paludosa, a wood of porous texture, which swells when water is
poured upon it. Lead is sometimes used to distend the flap of the ear by its weight.
120. A name, by no means complimentary, applied to all who are not Moslems.
121. The descendants of the Wild Man have at all times been celebrated for obstinate
individual valour, and enduring an amount of "punishment" which seems quite incredible.
122. Manned in those days by Hindoos. Marco Polo tells us that the people of Malabar are
idolaters, and subject to no foreigner.
123. Who retorted by hanging them upon the spot, or throwing them overboard. This style of
warfare was productive of great barbarities. There is a pile of stone rising above the sea, about
seven leagues north-west of Calicut, called the Sacrifice Rock, from the slaughter of the crew of
a Portuguese vessel which was captured by the "Cottica cruisers shortly after the settlement of
the Christians in India.
124. The sum usually paid was from eight to ten shillings, a portion of which went to the
Rajah, part to the women who had lost their husbands in these predatory encounters, and the
remainder was "prize-money."
125. Few would be disposed to consider the salt-duty a practical proof of the enlightened
nature of our rule in the East, and there is no one, we believe, except a "crack collector," who
would not rejoice to see it done away with, or at least much reduced.
126. The rajah was expected to grant lands to the families of those who heroically bound
themselves by solemn vow to fight till death against the enemy. If the self-devoted escaped
destruction, he became an outcaste, ans was compelled to leave the country.
127. This is the universal belief and practice of the more bigoted parts of the Moslem world,
and so deep-rooted is the feeling, that it acquires a degree of power and influence truly
formidable, and difficult to deal with.
128. The natives of India generally belong to the Hanafi: the Arabs are the principal followers
of the Shafei sect. Both are Sunnis, or orthodox Moslems, and there is little difference between
them, except in such trifling points as the eating or rejecting fish without scales, &c.
129. Except that a Moslem father may always allot a portion of property during his lifetime to
his children.
130. Usually they prefer the occupation of carrying the palanquin to any other bodily labour.
131. Intermarriage, however, is not permitted.
132. The races above described are those settled in the country. The fluctuating portion of the
community is composed of the Europeans, the soldiery and camp followers, Arabs and foreign
Mussulmans, Banyans from Guzerat, a few Parsees, and some boat loads of the half-starved
wretches that leave the Maldives and Laccadives in search of employment during the cold
season.
133. The Koondah road is about seventy, that viâ Poonanee, one hundred and sixty miles in
length.
134. The pages of the Madras directories and road-books give ample accounts of all the chief
routes in the presidency.
135. Judging from the name, a stranger would suppose that the place was called after some
neighbouring Ghaut, or pass, in the hills. The uncorrupted native appellation, however, is
Palakad, from Kadu, a jungle, and Pala, a tree used in dyeing.
136. For a detailed description of the sieges and captures of Paulghaut, we beg to refer to a
work entitled, "Historical Record of the H. E. I. Company's First European Regiment; Madras.
By a Staff Officer."
137. Anciently an excellent forest. The trees were felled, hewn into rough planks, and floated
down the Poonanee river at very little expense. This valuable article has, however, been sadly
mismanaged by us in more ways than one. All the timber growing near the streams has been
cleared away, and as the local government will not lay out a few lacs of rupees in cutting roads
through the forests, its expense has been raised almost beyond its value. Considerable losses in
the dockyards have been incurred in consequence of the old erroneous belief that "teak is the
only wood in India which the white ants will not touch." The timber should be stacked for at
least eight years, three of which would enable it to dry, and the remaining five to become
properly seasoned.
138. The common country carts, called garees in other parts of India. Here they are covered
with matting, for the same reason that compels the people to thatch their heads.
139. In Malabar the horse is perhaps as great an object of horror as the rider, the natives are so
little accustomed to see such quadrupeds.
140. The pet name for the Madras Presidency.
141. It is curious to see the different way in which the kotwals, peons, and other such official
characters behave towards the Bombay and Madras traveller. The latter escapes their
importunity, whereas the former, by keeping up his presidency's bad practice of feeing
government servants, teaches them incivility to all who either refuse or neglect to pay this kind
of "black mail."
142. Etymologists write the word "Hullicul," deriving it from cul, a rock, and hulli, a tiger, as
formerly a stone figure of one of those animals that had been slain by a chief single-handed,
stood thereabouts. There are several forts in other parts of the hills similar to Oolacul Droog;
some suppose them to have been built by Hyder Ali, others assign an earlier date to them.
143. See Chapter XIX. for a further account of the work.
144. The "blue hill;" it lies near the Danaynkeuchottah Pass, one of the first ascended by
Europeans. The visitors would naturally ask the natives what name they gave to the spot, and
when answered nilagiri, would apply the word to the whole range. The sacred mount is still a
place of pilgrimage, although its pagoda has long been in ruins.
145. The Eastern Ghauts begin south of the Cavery river, and extend almost in a straightline to
the banks of the Krishna. The western range commences near Cape Comorin, and after running
along the western coast as far north as Surat, diverges towards the north-east, and is lost in the
valley of the Tapti.
146. The Pykarry becomes the Moyar river, and under that name flows round the north and
north-west base of the hills; it falls into the Bhawany, which bounds the south and east slopes,
and acts as the common drain of every little brook and torrent in the Neilgherries.
147. Its extent is about twenty miles from east to west, and seven from north to south.
148. The Seegoor Ghaut, which was almost impassable in Captain Harknes and Dr. Baikie's
time, is not one of the easiest and best ascents.
149. See Chapter XVIII.
150. Dodabetta, or the "Great Mountain," called by the Todas, Pet-, or Het-marz. The summit
is eight thousand seven hundred and sixty feet above the level of the sea, and forms the apex of
the Neilgherry range. The vicinity of the giant has its advantages and disadvantages. It is
certainly a beautiful place for pic-nics, and the view from the observatory on the top is grand and
extensive. But as a counterpoise, the lofty peak attracting and detaining every cloud that rolls up
from the coast during the rainy season, makes one wish most fervently that the Great Mountain
were anywhere but in its present position.
151. Ootacamund, Wootaycamund, or Wotay. "Mund" means a village in the language of the
hill people. ootac is a corruption of the Toda vocable Hootkh, a word unpronounceable to the
Indians of the plain. The original hamlet still nestles against the towering side of Dadabetta, but
its pristine inhabitants, the Todas, have given it up to another race, and migrated to the wood
which lies behind the public gardens.
152. It was established at Ootacamund under a warrant of constitution from the Provincial
Grand Lodge on the coast of Coromandel.
153. The Bombayites had, moreover, their own medical attendant, with a hospital and the
usual number of subalterns attached to it. There are now but three surgeons on the hills,
attending on one hundred and four invalids, who are scattered over many miles of country.
154. The measure was advocated by Mr. Sullivan as early as 1828, but financial, not common-sensical or medical, considerations have long delayed its being carried into execution.
155. The principal schools now (1847) to be found at Ootacanmund are four in number, viz.:--
1. The Ooty free school, established for the purpose of giving education gratis to children of the poor; it is supported by voluntary contributions, and superintended by the chaplain of the station. The number of scholars on the rolls is generally about thirty.
2. Fern Hill, the Rev. Mr. Rigg's boarding-school for young gentlemen. It contains twenty-six pupils, varying in age from five to fifteen. Of these, fourteen are the sons of officiers in the service, and the rest are youths of sespectable families. Terms for boarders, 4l per munsem, the usual charges on the neilgherries.
3. An establishment for young ladies, conducted by Miss Hale and Miss Millard.
4. Ditto for young ladies and young gentlemen under ten years of age, conducted by Mrs. James and Miss. Ottley.
Besides those above mentioned, several ladies receive a limited number of pupils.
The schools for natives at Ootacmund are-
1. The Hindostani school - Conducted by the Rev. Bernard Schmidt, D.D.
2. The Tamul school - Conducted by the Rev. Bernard Schmidt, D.D.
There are many other similar establishments for native children in different parts of the hills.
So that the pedagogue has not neglected to visit this remote corner of his wide domains.
156. The Union and the Victoria. For bed and board the prices usually charged are-
For a lady or gentleman, 22l. per mens.
Ditto for any broken period in a month, 16s. per diem.
For children under ten years of age and European servants, 2s. per diem.
Native ayah or nurse, 1s. per diem.
The expense of housekeeping is not great at Ootacamund. A single man may manage to live for 20l. per mensem, comfortably for 30l. It is common for two or more bachelors to take a house together, and the plan suits the nature of the place well.
Only be careful who your monsoon "chum" is!
157. The most stringent measures have been found necessary to prevent gentlemen from
committing suicide by means of elephant shooting in the pestilential jungles below the hills.
Besides, there is some little duty to be done by the Madrassees on the Neilgherries: a
convalescent list is daily forwarded to the Commanding officer, reporting those who are equal to
such labours as committees and courts of inquest.
158. Large fans, suspended from the ceiling.
159. As the Madrassees are familiarly called. The cunning in language derive the term from
mulligatawny soup, the quantity of which imbibed in South India strikes the stranger with a
painful sense of novelty.
160. See Chapter XLX.
161. The region of eternal punishment.
162. "The ethics of India;" the Cornelius Nepos of Hindostani.
163. No inscriptions have as yet been discovered. The only coin we have heard of was a
Roman aurens, whereas in the cairns that stud the plains, medals, of the Lower Empire
especially, are commonly met with.
164. Consecrated stones.
165. The kistvaens, or closed cromlechs of the Neilgherries, are tumuli about five feet high.
The internal chamber is composed of four walls, each consisting of an entire stone seven feet
long and five broad, floored and roofed with similar slabs. In the monolithe, constituting the
eastern wall, is a circular aperture large enough to admit the body of a child.
166. The colonists have followed the example of the aborigines. Little, however, can be said
in favour of our nomenclature. There is a Snowdon, without snow; a Sabble-back Hill, whose
dorsum resembles anything as much as a saddle; an Avalanche Hill, without avalanches, and so
on.
167. Dr. Baikie (in 1834) mentions that one of these animals had held possession of a thick
wood close to the cantonment for some years. The same spot is still tenanted, it is said, by a
cheeta, but whether it be the original occupant, his ghost or one of his descendants, men know
not.
168. Not Buffon's elk. It is the Cerrus Aristotelis, or black rusa of Cuvier; the "Shambara" of
classical India; the Gavazn of Persia; and the Gav i Gavazn of Affghanistan and Central Asia.
169. Upon this part Nature has provided the animal with a bony mass, impenetrable to
anything lighter than a grapeshot, occupying the whole space between the horns, and useful, we
should suppose, in forcing a way through dense and thorny jungle.
170. This "jungle sheep" is the Cervus porcinus, the hog-deer or barking-deer of Upper India,
which abounds in every shikargah of delectable Scinde. In Sanscrit it is called the Preushat
("sprinkling," in allusion to its spotted hide); in Hindostani, Parha; and in Persian, the Kotah-pacheh, or "short hoof."
171. A shola is a thick mass of low wood, which may be measured by yards or miles, clothing
the sides, the bottoms, and the ravines of the hills and mountains.
172. I.e. ten or twenty dogs and curs, young and old, of high and low degree, terriers, pointers,
spaniels, setters, pariahs, and mongrels, headed by a staunch old hound or two.
173. There is a large kind of solitary jackal whose cry is never answered by the other animals
of the same species: the sound somewhat resembles the hyæna's laugh, and has been mistaken
for it by many.
174. Gardener.
175. A species of squirrel.
176. We have heard much about the difficulty of taming these birds. Some go so far as to
assert that they pine away and die when deprived of their liberty. The Affghans seem to find
nothing hard in the operation, as they use the birds for fighting. They show excellent pluck, and
never fail to fight till death, although steel and silver are things unknown.
177. Seven poinds for a full grown, 5l for a young animal. When the reward is claimed the
tusks must be given up. Tuskers, however, are not often met with in these days.
178. Every swamp on and about the hills is full of small leeches,--the lake also abounds in
them,--which assail your legs, and swarming up the trees, drop down your shirt collar to your
extreme annoyance. They are quite useless for medical purposes, as the bite is highly
inflammatory.
179. The Maroo Bungla, or log-house, as the natives call the Avalanche bungalow.
180. The first name is a corruption of the second, which is derived from Vadacu, "the north,"
these people having migrated from that direction.
181. The worship of the terrible and destructive incarnation of the Deity.
182. Signifying the "unenlightened or barbarous," from the Tamul word Erul, darkness.
183. "Cooroombar," or "Curumbar," literally means "wilfull, or self-willed." Sometimes the
word mulu, a "thorn," is prefixed to the genuine name by way of epithet, alluding to the nature
of the race.
184. So Captain Harkness writes the word, remarking, that "as this tribe kill and eat a great
deal of beef, it was no doubt intended by their Hindu neighbours that they should be called
'Gohatars,' from go, a cow, and hata, slaying." "Cuv," in the Toda dialect, means a "mechanic."
185. Many of the words have been corrupted, and the pronunciation has become nasal, not
guttural, like that of the Todas. The Kothurs can, however, express themselves imperfectly in
Canarese.
186. All that we can gather from their songs and tales is, that anciently they were the
zemindars, or landed proprietors of the hills.
187. Todawars, Tudas, or Toders. Captain Harkness derives the word from the Tamul,
Torawar, a herdsman, and this is probably the true name of the race.
188. The north-west parts of the Persian Gulf.
189. E.g. The peaks of the Todas are venerated by the Todas, as they were by the Celto-Scythians. The single stone in the sacred lactarium of the former, was the most conspicuous
instrument of superstition in the Druidical or "Scythic religion. Captain Congreve asserts that
the Toda faith is Scythicism, because they sacrifice female children, bulls, calves, and buffaloes,
as the Scythians did horses; that they adore the sun (what old barbarians did not?), revere fire,
respect certain trees and bunches of leaves, worship the Deity in groves of the profoundest
gloom, and have some knowledge of a future state. He proves that the hills are covered with
vestiges of Scythicism, as cairns, barrows, and monolithic altars, and believes them to have
belonged to the early Todas, inasmuch as "the religion of the Todas is Scythicism, and these are
monuments of Scythicism." He concludes the exposition of his theory with the following
recapitulation of his reasons for considering the Todas of Scythian descent:--1. Identity of
religion (not proved). 2. Physiological position of the Todas in the great family race (we are not
told how it resembles that of the Scythians). 3. The pastoral mode of life among the Todas. 4.
The food of the Todas, which consisted originally of milk and butter (we "doubt the fact"). 5.
Their architecture, religious, military, and domestic, the yards of the Toda houses, their temples,
their sacred enclosures, their kraals for cattle, are circular, as were those of the Celts, and,
indeed, of most ancient people whose divinity was Sun, Light, Fire, Apollo, Mithra, &c. 6.
Their marriage customs and funeral rites are nearly identical (an assertion). 7. Their ornaments
and dress closely approximate (ditto). 8. Their customs are generally similar (ditto). 9. The
authority of Sir W. Jones that the ancient Scythians did people a mountainous district of India
(quasi irrelevant). 10. History mentions that India has been invaded by "Scythian hordes from
the remotest times (ditto). 11. Their utter separation in every respect from the races around
them.
190. Such as want of weapons, difference of colour, dissimilarity of language. With respect to
the latter point Captain Congreve remarks, that "a comparison with the Gothic, Celtic, and other
ancient dialects of Europe is a great desideratum; but should no affinity be found to prevail, I
should not consider the absence detrimental to my views, for this reason, that the people of
Celto-Scythic orgion having various languages, have been widely dispersed."
191. In many parts of the Neilgherries there is a large species of solitary bee which the Todas
declared incurred the displeasure of the Great Spirit by stinging him, and was therefore
condemned to eternal separation from his kind. But as huge combs and excellent honey abound
on these hills, their savage inhabitants of course superstitionize upon the subject of the bee. The
Creator, they say, desirous of knowing how honey is made, caught the animal, and she proving
obstinate and refractory, confined her by means of a string tied round the middle; hence her
peculiar shape! Is not this clearly a psychological allusion to the power colition for which the
fair sex is proverbially famous?
192. Not, however, by the victory of Brahmanism over Buddhism, as some have supposed.
The leading tenet of Buddha's faith was the sin of shedding blood, whereas the Todas practise
infanticide and eat meat. Moreover, there is a bond of union between them and those Anti-Buddhists the Lingaits, who adhere to the religion of Shiva pure and undefiled.
This Buddhistic theory rests upon the slender foundation that the Todas call Wednesday,
Buddhi-aum (Buddh's day). But the celebrated Eastern reformer's name has extended as far as
the good old island in the West. It became Fo-e and Xa-ca (Shakya) in China; But in Coehin-China, Pout in Siam; Pott or Poti, in Thibet; perhaps the Wadd of Pagan Arabia; Toth in Egypt;
Woden in Scandinavia; and thus reaching our remote shores, left its traces in "Wednesday." So
say the etymologists.
193. By the Rev. Mr. Schmidt's vocabulary of the Toda tongue.
194. Captain Harkness is egregiously mistaken when he asserts that the dialect of his
aborigines "has not the least affinity in roots, construction, or sound, with the Sanscrit."
195. In some points. Thus we find the Ain, Ghain, Fa and Kha of the Arabs, together with the
Zha of the Persians. But the step from the Indian <Sanskrit letter > Ü to the Arabic <Arabic
letter> , from <Sanskrit letter gh> 3 (g'h) to <Arabic letter> and from from <Sanskrit letter
ph> f (p'h) to <Arabic letter> , is easily made; and the kha and zha belong to some Indian
dialects as well as to Arabic and Persian.
It is supposed that the Toda language is still divided, like the Tamul, into two distinct dialects, one the popular, the other the sacred; the former admitting foreign words, derived from the Canarese, the latter a pure form generally used by the priesthood.
Most Todas can speak a few words of Corrupted Canarese.
196. A share of the land-produce varying from one-third to one-sixth of the whole, settled by
the eye, and generally paid in kind. The Toda has made himself necessary to the Berger; he must
sow the first handful of grain, and reap the first fruits of the harvest, otherwise the land would be
allowed to lie fallow, and the crop to rot upon the ground.
197. The polyandry practised of yore seems at present on the decline. Infanticide, though said
to have been abolished, probably holds its ground in the remote parts of the hills. Near the
stations the lives of female children are spared with the view of making money by their
immorality. Old women are still by no means common.
198. For a more detailed account of them, we refer the reader to the amusing pages of Captain
Harkness.
199. A brother mason informs us, that "the Todas use a sign of recognition similar to ours, and
they have discovered that Europeans have an institution corresponding with their own." Hence,
he remarks, "a Toda initiated will bow to a gentleman, never to a lady."
But in our humble opinion, next to the Antiquary in simplicity of mind, capacity of belief, and
capability of assertion, ranks the Freemason.
200. What follows alludes particularly to the Todas living in the vicinity of Ooty, Coonoor,
and Kotagherry.
201. The habit of intoxication is now so fatally common amongst the rising generation, that
their fathers will not, it is said, initiate them into their mysteries, for fear that the secret should be
divulged over the cup.
202. The faculty unanimously assert that the air of the hills is not prejudicial to those suffering
from ophthalmic disease. We observed, however, that a large proportion of invalids complained
of sore eyes and weakness of sight, produced, probably, by the glare of the fine season and the
piercing winds of the monsoon.
203. The "hill of the Kothrus."
204. The termination "hutty," so common in the names of the hill villages, is used to denote a
Berger settlement, as "mund" means a Toda hamlet.
205. Or tuft: it is so called from a clump of trees which crowns the ridge of a high hill.
206. The Neilgherries are exposed to the violence of both monsoons, the south-west and the
north-east. The fall of rain during the latter is, however, comparatively trifling.
207. It commences with a résumé of the peculiarities of the hills, and accounts of the three
great stations; proceeds to a description of the geography and geology, soil and productions,
botany, zoology, and the inhabitants of the Neilgherries, and discusses at some length the effects
of the climate upon the European constitution, sound as well as impaired. The Appendix
presents a mass of information valuable enough when the work was published, but now, with the
exception of the meteorological and other tables, too old to be useful. thirteen or fourteen years
work mighty changes, moral and physical, in an Anglo-Indian settlement.
208. The book contains one hundred and forty-four pages, enlivened with a dozen
lithographed sketches, and not enlivened by descriptions of Poonamalee, Vellore, Laulpett,
Bangalore, and Closepett.
209. A little volume of one hundred and seventy-five pages, containing graphic sketches of the
scenery, excellent accounts of the different tribes of hill people, a weather-table from July to
December, 1829, the height of the principal mountains, and a short and meagre vocabulary of the
Toda language.