Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/510

446 tribes, the most ancient and interesting are the Todars. Their number is small, not exceeding seven hundred; but their entire distinctness in many respects from the Hindus of the plains, makes them worthy of special notice. In appearance they are very striking, being tall and athletic, and of a bold, independent bearing. They wear no head-dress but their jet-black hair, which is parted in front, and curled in a bushy mass all over their heads, and meets in heavy black whiskers and beard beneath the chin. Their eyes are black, and the nose aquiline. Their clothing consists of a short under-garment fastened about the middle, and an upper mantle wrapped about the body and thrown over the left shoulder. The right arm is exposed, and usually grasps a staff. The feet are always bare. They carry no weapons, and, in fact, have no weapons whatever, beyond a staff. Of war they know nothing.

The women wear their hair curled in long tresses on each side of the face, and have a self-possession with strangers quite unknown among the Hindus of the plains. They are ready to chat with the stranger, and have smiles almost constantly on their faces.

The houses of the Todars are called munds,