country had been inhabited previously by a wild race, who
dwelt in the forests, carried bows and arrows and ate
serpents. The were divided into four tribes, 1, the Chenju-
Vandlu ; 2, Yariadulu ; 3, Coya-Vandlu; 4, Irala-Vandlu.
The Coya people live to the westward in wilds, at Gooty
and Athavani.
Another paper in the Mackenzie collection gives a similar
account of the introduction of a Hindu colony into Tonda-
mandalam, a country described as circumjacent to Madras ;
the earlier inhabitants were tribes , termed Yedars and Cu-
rambars. The history states, that Tondamandalam was depopulated
by a deluge. Afterwards it was covered by
forests and inhabited by barbarians. The Curambars from
the Karnataka country spread into it. These .people were
Jains. At length Adondai, the Saiva king of Tanjbfe,
conquered the country and introduced the Brahmans and
Veloxhas from Tulava. Mr. Taylbr observes, that' ihe
Vcloxhas, who are the inhabitantsmf the country,.hold the
traditionary belief that their ancestors came from Tulava,
and that the Tulava language and the Madras Tamil are
nearly the same speech. He adds, we have here a clear
unvarnished account of the introduction dfeg the-Hindoos
into the country round Madras. The Hindoos had colonised
the region southward of the Coleroon at a much earlier
period. He supposes the Goya to be the same people as the*’
Khoi-jati, and as the Khonds of the Goomsoor Mountains.*
* The preceeding notices are taken from a paper in the sixteenth nW&ef
(for July, 1837), of the Madras Journal of Literature aad Science, volume 2,'
on the language, manners, and rites, of the Khonds of Khoi-jati of the Goomsoor
Mountains, from documents furnished by J. A. Stevenson,'Esip, commissioner
in Goomsoor, and W. G. Maxwell, Esq., M.D., with observations by
Rev. W. Taylor; also from “ Some Additional Notes.on the Eill-inhabitahts o f
the Goomsoor Mountains,” by Rev. W. Taylor, in the eighteenth number of the
same Journal, March, 1818; also from a paper in the seventy-fifth number of
the Journal tof the Asiatic Society of Bengal, containing a part of .the
“ Analysis of the Mackenzie Manuscripts,” by Rev. W. Taylor, andfrom another
paper in the same number, containing further extracts from the Mackenzie
Manuscripts, and the ancient history of Tondamandalam and its early inhabitants;
Paragraph 3. — Mountaineers of the Southern Parts of
the Dekhan.;—Races inhabiting the Nilagiri Hills.
The Nilagiri HillS or Blue Mountains form an elevated
tract in southern India) lying north-north-west from the
city of Coimbatore towards the Wyhóad, which is situated
between 11° and 12° north latitude, and 76° and 77° east
longitude. They extend about thirty-six miles from east to
tybsf, and from fifteen 'twenty milesÀ in breadth. By
Mr. WïBcot they ’ are^n’önsidëred as a part of the great-
Chain of the Ghauts,'wMch' fun along the western sidéèf
the Peninsula : thWjrform EÈ'crê&t from thâfchain. They constitute
a single mountain of ridge'which, from the numerous
peaks or eminences that stud it, is;!more commonly
termlSNhe NihtgM Hills. Th^e'tfnK’^re -surrounded by
a belt qf flat land, through which various streams take
thëîr course. The mountainous tract itself consists of
rrngê#o f different elevation,' running*' parallel with each
other ’ and in tl^middié a loffeMr^ntrM^chBSn in which
are* Conspicuous emineMbs^ the highest of thehe is Do-
dabitta, which,; according to Mr. Hou^h^ fe the apex of this
mass of mountains, and riSes to the elevatibh bf : eight
thousand Seven hundred feet above th^'fevief ‘-of thc'^sea.
It is 'ascertai ne#'that the temperature of the Nilagiris in
on an average 30° lower than that of the co&st, which would
giVe an’ 'elevation of nine-thousand feet, one* degree being
usually reckoned for threfe hundred feet: The sanitary
dej§Éf at Ottakenëd is * seven thousand one hundred and!
ninety-seven feet above thé se’a? Though the Nilagiris are
exposed to the monsoons it appears that less rain falls there
than on the coast : the air is remarkably pure, dry, and
elastic, and healthy, owingto the absence of jurigïh/ which
is the source of pestilence in India. Mr. Leschenault de la
Tour has found in these mountains many European plants.
These mountains, according to Gaptain Harkness, form the
nucleus of the Eastern and Western Ghauts.
The inhabitants of the Nilagiri Hills are divided by Mr.
Hfltgh into four distinct classes, termed Thodaura, Baud