Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/516

Rh but turning upon my side I effected an entrance. It was totally dark, except as the rays of light traversed the two doorways; but my eyes became accustomed to the darkness, and for further assurance I passed my hands around the wall. I found, however, no object of worship. In one corner was a stone on which was laid a pile of buffalo-butter, doubtless with some vague notion of worship; it is said that libations of milk are offered to a lighted lamp upon this stone. But of Hinduism, it may be asserted, they are quite ignorant; it must have entered Southern India since this ancient tribe took up their abode—perhaps driven hither by invasion from the north—upon these mountains. Early travellers, charmed with the simple character and patriarchal mode of life of these mountain herdsmen, isolated for centuries in their highland homes while revolutions raged below, gave so glowing a description of their habits and morals, that a distinguished modern historian in Germany expresses the hope that missionaries will not be permitted to enter this Eden and disturb its happy state of tranquil virtue and contentment. But alas! the Todars are not exceptions to the universal stain of human depravity. Here, as elsewhere, man is found