Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-11-10
/ liz SLOTHFUL TODAS
THEY ARE THE LATEST PEOPLE IN
THE WORLD.
"A Eth Tribe Of Indin Whose Men
VIII Neither Hunt Nor Work and
who Are Proud OF Their Rcputa-
ton For Downright Iudolence.

l.
who Are Troud OF Their Rcputa-
ton For Downright lndolence.
In these days of push and energy 1t
sounds strange to talk Of people as be-
Ing lazy, and still the Todas, n hill
tribe of India, are the LATEST people In
/, the world.
The Toaas are not ashamed of their
reputation and are free to confess that
they know OF nothing so foolish and
stupid as work. Their one and only
pursuit is the raising OF buftaloes. They
are far too INDECENT to follow the chase.
An AK is their only weapon, although
they know how to make others. They
use this for waging war and for fell
Ing trees. They will not TIL the land,
considering this unnecessary labor. To
make housekeeping custer all their nat
ural products are held in common. The
idea OF. property is only restricted to
the hut, It's contents and live stock.
The buffaloes, which they own In
large quantities, furnish them with
skins FOR clothing and the hut, and the
meat is used as food. But milk Is
their principal diet. They do not even
relish the idea of milking their cattle.
The head mixers are the only ones
that are to be persuaded to do this Ia
Dor. These men are chosen from the
class Of "peikl," or .sons of God"
They are the priests and practice celib-
acy Although the priests tend to the
cattle, each householder owns his cat
tie.
Much as these men dislike the caring
for their cattle, they find farming a
less dignitied calling. Some years age
they went to war with their neighbors,
the I,adaga and Kotas, as they nigh.
be able to levy tax Of one-eighth OF,
their grain products. When their grain
grows scarce they live on roots anti
berries. They will sell their land or
give 1t away. but they will not cult
vate It ut any price.
The building of bamboo huts does not
interest them any more than the cult
waiting of the soil, and they make this
task easy by making the boys cut tie
bamboo and their wives build the huts.
It is not unusual for three families 20
share one abode. The men are often
SO lazy that they cannot afford one wife
alone, but even this does not worry
them. Two or three brothers manage
to support one wife. Indolent and
slothful, they sit listless for hours, UNI
concerned about all things. What they
know they know well. They are intel
ligent within certain narrow limits, hut
they are too lazy to increase their store
Of knowledge. Whatever has to be
done must be cared for by the women
and children.
Strangely, their appearance does not
disclose this most marked characte.is-
tic. They are tall and well proportions
ed. They look like Roman senators as
they walk wrapped in skins resembling
the ancient toga. Their appearances is
not only prepossessing, but bold end
self reliant.
Many an amusing story Is told of this
small hill tribe, numbering about 400
men. An American missionary was
working among them when one day he
saw some women and boys building
hut of bamboo. He inquired why the
men were not performing this labor,
ard one woman explained, Husband
mine don't work; me and boys build
house"
The missionary made no further COM
ment, but when the hut was built he
told the husband that he must build
another hut, Us he could not live In
home made by women and children
But the surprised Toda answered: mo,
no. Me no work. Man has boys and
wife to work.
The Toda meant what he said. AL
though the missionary argued and ,inal-
4 " horsewhipped the native, he could
not get him to build hut.
An equally amusing story is told BY
an English officer. He was so taken