The Todars, as has been said, are the "lords of the hills," and not only all the other hill tribes pay them tribute, but the English Government also pays rent to them for the land on which the stations are situated.[407] But the agricultural tribe of Burghers or Badagas, who came to the hills several centuries after the Todars, and are subject to them, are by far the most numerous, numbering 15,000 souls, and occupying 300 villages. They are divided into eighteen classes or castes, the members of one of which, called the Wodearu Badagas, wear the Brahminical string, are proud and lazy, and inhabit five villages apart from the rest. The villages of the Badagas are scattered all over the plateau of the hills, and their land occupies two-thirds of its area. They are much darker, and not nearly such fine men as the Todars, wear cotton-cloth turbans and clothing much like other natives of India, and are very superstitious and timid; but they are industrious, though not so much so as the labourers who come up from the plains, and kind and affectionate to their women and children. The Badagas, though they possess herds of buffaloes, are chiefly employed in cultivation. Their crops consist of _raggee_ (_Eleusine corocana_), the most prolific of cultivated grasses,[408] which is made into dark brown cakes and porridge; _samee_ or Italian millet, barley, an amaranth called _keeray_, some pulses, mustard, onions, and potatoes. We often passed through the Badaga villages. The houses are built in a single row, with one thatched roof extending over so as to form a verandah, supported on poles. In front there is a hard mud floor, where the piles of grain are heaped up; and there is generally a _Swami_-house or temple, with a verandah in front supported by numerous poles, the walls and poles being painted in red and white stripes, the Hindu holy colour. Round the villages there are cultivated patches of _raggee_ and _samee_, which they were reaping in December. In the centre of the fields there is a small threshing-floor, where we often saw the Badagas sifting the grain from the chaff by shaking it through sieves, and letting the wind blow the chaff away. A Todar was generally squatting near, like an old vulture, waiting for his _goodoo_. The Badagas belong to the Siva sect, their principal deity being Rungaswamy, whose temple is on the summit of the easternmost peak of the Neilgherries; but they also worship 338 other idols or _Swamis_, such as trees, streams, stone pillars, and even old knives.