Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/528

462 now confess the folly of idolatry, and say that they wait for some to set them the example of embracing Christianity, so that they may not stand alone among their brethren and encounter the persecution of the nation.

In company with one of the German brethren, I had the pleasure of making an excursion among the villages of the Badagas lying to the south of Ootacamund. My companion was a true German, with his broad-skirted blue coat, and eyes as blue, honest, open face, and squarebuilt person, he looked the man he was, simplehearted, mild, persevering, and hardy. In his hand he carried a stout staff with a heavy brass head, for the purpose of defence from the buffaloes while journeying on foot from village to village over the hills.

Our road, or rather our way—for road there was none—lay over and among the mountain-ridges. Some of the hill-sides were clothed with dense woods. These woods abound with flowers: jessamines hang in fragrant festoons from the boughs of tall trees, with parasites, air-plants, and orchids of various hues, while the prickly branches of the blackberry and raspberry, with other shrubs, often make the forest almost impenetrable. Within the dark