Another hill tribe is that of the Koters, who occupy seven large villages called _Kotergherry_ (cowkiller's hill). They are of very low caste, and work as carpenters, smiths, rope-makers, and potters, besides cultivating the ground. The Koters also dress and prepare buffalo-hides, and they are a squalid dirty race, living on the carrion they pick up on the road-sides. They number about five hundred souls, and are the artizans of the hills, repairing the ploughs, hoes, and bill-hooks for the Badagas. The Kurumbers, another tribe, live on the slopes of the hills, in the most feverish places. They are a short miserable-looking race, and those called _Mooloo_ or jungle Kurumbers are regular wild men of the woods, in no respect raised above the beasts of the forest. The others act as musicians and sorcerers to the Todars and Badagas. Lastly, the Irulas live low down the slopes of the hills, perform the office of priests in the Badagas' temple on the Rungaswamy peak, and occasionally act plays from the life of Krishna at Badaga festivals. These five tribes of Todars, Badagas, Koters, Kurumbers, and Irulas, appear for centuries to have had the exclusive enjoyment of the Neilgherry hills; though Tippoo Sultan of Mysore erected a fort at Kalhutty, half-way up the Seegoor ghaut, and another on the Hoolicul-droog, overhanging the Coonoor ghaut, which leads up from the Coimbatore plains. He is said to have used these strongholds for the detention of prisoners, and to enable his officers to extort tribute from the hill tribes. The Neilgherry hills were first discovered by two English civilians who made their way up to the plateau in chasing some Moplah smugglers.[409]