The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-04-25

Nstck gaRese eopls chg fsll fnS
in her wandefings: WsR&
The original owners ofshe Neilgherry
Hills are o native tribe called "Todahs,"
VII. s$fff i've On tho oatSKifts she
European settlements; but as their his
tory has already been published, could
say nothing of it here but what / had
asiahaAsfssmaAkhAasrzS assiaAsAAfsths
yspb ahsnAelfYsAsysfss I have had
several Opportunities Of witnessing, as
theS often f64s round to dhe various
hog YES tPtAtSHfy qH ba9alYs MIX
their CHEF resources proceeding from
the .possession Of large herds Of buffa-
loss, which form almost all their wealth
rspd substance. I believe the, Govern'
'ment pays them something annually IN
exchange for the ~forcible possession OF
fheir birthriaht; aud ;ftsuch is really
the case it deserves to be universally
recorded as one Of the rare Instances OF
the English GovernmsRtssixias away.
anything that twas not absolutely
obliged to- do, The Todahs are are
markedly fine looking race, particular
" for that end of the werhig Both men
nd women are tall and strong, with
handsome features; the crisply-curied
boards of the former, and the long
hair, hanging. in eurls to the
~ sist, Off the latter, veomhides with
tht lgafaMne l4oses oIof q both
sexes, reminding one fOrcibly ofthepiNa-
lures still extaat of the Assyriane. The
Todah religion II suppose they have
soue sort Of reIgion) would appear To
encourage the doctrine ofno mercy, to
the female sex ,,as il psrnits,as plurah,
ty of husbahils, and some of the nnfor'
tunate women have any namber, OF
lords OVER them, varying from twelve
to twenty. When it is taken into con,
siderationf that Che huts that they live
| ii ate Simply matched rhoands Of earth
with holes so small for entrance ttiat
they, have to crawl in and out on an
fburs, and that being a wife in India
means, added to all other. duties, cook
ing mans dinner for him, the generous
nature Of saell Q. law may be family
Imagined. The .Todahtiis, hpts are SO full
ISf *ermin! tia, when lits Husbands
shooting party has been caught in one
Esf thshilf Storms, hs has found that the
native coolies 1(not over particular
themsslves) have preferred lying ont 10
the soaking rain to accepting the shell
ter they might afford them; fancy, then,
any UnfSrtunats woman trying to cook
eighteen or twenty dinners to suit
eighteen OF twenty different tastes and
tempers (not improved perhaps by VEN
tilationl in. such an atmosphere, moral
and physical, as a Todah hut may pre-
sent nnder the circumstance. 1t is q
type, however, of the degrading state
into which aneultivated minds must
sink, that the number, of hus-
bands which she has does not de-
pend on a Todah woman, but on
the men e themselves. When she
rs u,,ea married, the next offer is made
to the husband, ana If No. 3 has suffic,
lent buffaloes to make his proposal de,
sirable, he is accepted. Lover No. j. II
then chosen by ballot, and so on to No,
90. If all the old husbands are not
agreed as to the admittsnee of q new
one to the honor. Of their lady's smiles,
the connection is not feasible. Mar,
risge, therefore, ,degenerates with them
into species of partnership, and they
share their possessions in every sense OF
the word. / cannot imagine how they
agree about the babies, or when they
are born which of the twenty gentle
men acts the proud father : but as the
issue of these marriages are very. few
and far between, they have not many
occasions for lighting about it,. Indeed,
o baby is so rare an article now amongst
the Todahs, that they consider it quite
a curiosity : and when we were on the
hills they actually brought one round
the cantonment as show, and expected
money from those who looked at it. 1t
was 4 jolly, fat, little, black-eyed girl,
but really not very wonderful as sight
for European eyes. Fancy an English
Fyopan coming to- that pass that She
considered a baby y curiosity! l am
afraid that some few of them, poor
creatures! would be very thankful if
they saw the sight less often than they
IA, t.gss Isafr .fyrt's .tai
syeaNs
The ssAa Water Campaign
Of 1867 is now fully inaugurated.