Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 116

JUNGLE TRIBES 76 numerous in many places in the Malabar hills, or Western Ghauts, where they are known by the generic name of Kadu-Kurumbars. These savages live in the forests, but have no fixed abode. After staying a year or two in one Having selected the spot place they move on to another. for their temporary sojourn, they surround it with a kind of hedge, and each family chooses a little patch of ground, which is dug up with a sharp piece of wood hardened in There they sow small seeds, and a great many the fire. pumpkins, cucumbers, and other vegetables and on these they live for two or three months in the year. They have little or no intercourse with the more civilized inhabitants The latter indeed prefer to keep of the neighbourhood. them at a distance from their houses, as they stand in con- siderable dread of them, looking upon them as sorcerers or mischievous people, whom it is unlucky even to meet. If they suspect a Kadu-Kurumbar of having brought about illness or any other mishap by his spells, they punish him severely, sometimes even putting him to death. During the rains these savages take shelter in miserable ; huts. Some find refuge in caves, or holes in the rocks, or In fine weather they in the hollow trunks of old trees. camp out in the open. At night each clan assembles at a given spot, and enormous fires are lit to keep off the cold and to scare away wild beasts. Men, women, and children The poor wretches all sleep huddled together anyhow. wear no clothes, a woman's only covering being a few sewn together and tied round the waist. Knowing only of the simple necessities of existence, they find enough Roots and other to satisfy their wants in the forest. natural products of the earth, snakes and animals that they can snare or catch, honey that they find on the rugged rocks or in the tops of trees, which they climb with the agility of monkeys; all these furnish them with the means of satisfying the cravings of hunger. Less intelligent even than the natives of Africa, these savages of India do not possess bows and arrows, which they do not know how to use. It is to them that the dwellers in the plains apply when they require wood with which to build their houses. The leaves jungle tribes supply them with all materials of this kind, in exchange for a few valueless objects, such as copper