herds of fine buffaloes; they live on milk, and on the grain which they collect as a due or _goodoo_ from the other hill tribes, and pass the greater part of their time in idleness; lolling about and gossiping in their munds, or strolling over the hills. We passed through one of these munds, about a quarter of a mile from our hotel, almost daily, but I never remember having seen a Todar engaged in any occupation whatever. The women become the wives of all the brothers into whose families they marry, the children being apportioned to husbands according to seniority. This pernicious custom is also common among the Coorg, and the Tiars of Malabar. The Todars, formerly, only allowed one female child to live in each family, the rest being strangled; but the authorities have lately interfered to put a stop to this custom. When a Todar bride is given away, she is brought to the dwelling of her husbands, who each put their feet upon her head; she is then sent to fetch water for cooking, and the ceremony is considered to be complete. The German missionaries, who have had a good deal of intercourse with these people, say that they worship the "sacred buffalo bell," as a representation of _Hiridea_, or the chief God, before which they pour libations of milk; and when there is a dispute about wives or buffaloes it is decided by the priest, who becomes possessed by the _Bell God_, rushes frantically about, and pronounces in favour of the richest. Formerly there were seven holy _munds_, each inhabited by a recluse called _palaul_ (milkman), attended upon by a _kavilaul_ (herdsman); but three of these are now deserted, and the fourth is rarely frequented. The rest have a herd of holy buffaloes attached to them for the use of the sanctified occupants, and no women may approach them. The only religious festival of any kind celebrated by the Todars, and that scarcely deserves the name, takes place on the occasion of a funeral, when there is much dancing and music. The body is burnt, and buffaloes are slaughtered to go with the spirit, and supply it with milk. This is called the green funeral. A year afterwards there is another ceremony called the dry funeral, when forty or fifty buffaloes were hunted down, and beaten to death with clubs; but the Government has recently prohibited the immolation of more than two beasts for a rich, and one for a poor Todar. The burial-places are like gigantic extinguishers, twelve feet high, and thatched with grass. The bodies are burnt, and the ashes collected and put into chatties, which are deposited in the extinguisher. The Todars have no other ceremonies, care for nothing but their buffaloes, and leave prayers to the _palaul_ in his lonely retreat, or to the _palikarpal_ or dairyman of each mund, who covers his nose with his thumb when he enters the sacred dairy, and says "May all be well!"[404]