Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1893-01-12
ODD PEOPLE OF ASIA.
PECULIAR RACE OF DWARF SAVAGES
IN THE NlLGlRlS.

A Remarkable Country with many ISe-
markabIe Creatures - An Interesting
Story of the Creation and the First HUI
man Beings-A Weird Burial.
With queer insistency the English resi-
dents in India call the Himalayan ranges
"hills"-not only these immense noun
tains, but also the tremendous chain
which runs parallel to the Indian ocean
and sends its feelers, as it were, into the
center of south India. "Hills" indeed
is the generic term for those stations in
which the weary civilian and his wife,
the soldier and his family betake them
selves to rest during the woeful heats of
summer.
Simla is naturally the grandest of these
summer capitals, TOT it houses the i'm
perial government; Naini Tai shelters
that Of the northwest provinces; Bengal
retreats to Darjilling and Madras to that
most delightful of all stations-Utaca-
mund, in the Nilgiri hills
The Nilgiris are perhaps the most
beautiful Of the many beautiful noun
tain ranges in India. They do not show
an amazing growth Of forestine giants,
but they are most verdurous. Their sides
are covered with vast beds Of rhododen-
drons, whose dark leaves and enormous
scarlet flowers often make them look as
if on fire. Wild roses flourish with un-
wonted luxuriance, which, clanbering
over woods of lick and eugenia, make
impenetrable floral thickets.
Nor is the country alone remarkable
for its lovely landscapes or interesting
for its agricultural possibilities, as enter
prising coffee planters have set out i'm
mense orchards of this cherrylike tree,
but chiefly so for the queer races which
find shelter in their wooded and we'll
watered canyons.
Some years ago the writer was in the
Nilgiris in connection with government
work, and had there the opportunity Of
seeing the small savages who live in the
most impenetrable parts of this noun
famous country. These are dwarfs and
have never been tempted to partake of
the benefits of civilization. They still
live in holes in the ground or in hollow
trunks, are absolutely naked and quar-
rel with the monkey over wild fruits
Now and again they venture to the lower
levels and barter honey for glass beads
and other worthless gewgaws. They
hunt with bows and arrows and are re-
markably skillful in the use of these
primitive weapons.
Another tribe equally as interesting
are the Todas, who since 1900 have at
tracted the attention of Europeans.
The Portuguese thought they were
Christians and sent to their moral assist
ance Jesuit father, who, however, soon
discovered that they were the most ig-
norant heathens. Much argument has
been wasted upon the origin Of these
people, some asserting they were alb
original to southern India, others insist
ing they were of the lost tribes of Israel
and Others that they were Manicheans.
However, only 600 or 700 remain, and
the little settlements are scattered over
the most picturesque portions of the
Nilgiris. Their only worship is the buf-
falo, of which they have large herds,
and whose care and the gathering of
wild honey constitute the sum of their
daily toll.
Their story Of the creation bears some
resemblance to the belief of the ortho-
dox Christian, for they tell how man
created fellow man out of the earth
and finished the good work by making a
woman, not out of his own ribs, but the
other mans ribs. They have a trinity,
consisting of father, son and kite.
The last was born of a pumpkin, the
offspring of the first woman.
They, too, indulge in heaven and a
hell, and as the mountain streams are in
tested with leeches which make their
passage uncomfortable, the Todas say
hell is a river inhabited by these awful
creatures, spanned by single thread,
over which the righteous can pass safely,
but too frail for the traffic of the guilty.
The Toda's dead body is swathed in a
new cloth, his toes are tied together with
red thread, earth is thrown over his
corpse. and two of his buffaloes are sacri-
feed. They impose the dead mans
hands upon the animals horns and Ia
ment with bitter cries his passage to the
unknown world. After removing the
skull and finger nails the body is burned,
and the ashes are scattered to the -four
winds of heaven.
The relics Of the departed are taken tc
the mourning house and stored with
those of others who during the year have
passed the great divide. Around this
house are hung the utensils which were
used by the deceased ami those articles
which he most valued during life. Won
en- are jealously excluded from the in
terror of this house Of woe, but are per
mitted to peep through the crevices q
the assembled rnourners, which veal
later perform the last rites. They lie OF
the floor, giving vent to the most hideou
howls, beating their breasts and excitin;
each other to the flow of tears
On tha tr-f outside the house othe
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