Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/531

Rh thered in, than another of some different grain or pulse is sown, to be reaped in December or January. The fact that the Neilgherries receive the rains of two monsoons,–one from the south-west, and one from the north-east,–enables the Burghers thus to make two crops in every year without any very great effort. One of their grains very much resembles timothy-grass; another is ragee, a small seed from which a coarse black bread is made. This ragee is a staple article of food in the Mysore territory, and is greatly praised by the Mysoreans as a substantial diet. One of them, comparing it with rice, remarked that the Madras man eat his rice, and an hour after it was all gone; but he eat his ragee in the morning, and he had something to go upon, for “here it lies,” said he, patting his stomach, “like a cannon-ball all day.” It is not commonly known that, cheap as rice is in India, millions of Hindus cannot afford to buy it, but live on inferior seeds and grains. The habits of eating among the Badagas are very simple: the grain is parched, pounded, and then eaten, mixed with water and a little salt. As you cross a rivulet, you will see a company of them squatting beside it, unloosening a little store of flour tied