Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 119

THE YERUVARUS
living,
tion.
7!)
and make themselves useful to the rest of the popula-
They leave their homes to get food from the more
civilized inhabitants of the neighbourhood, who, in return
for a small quantity of rice given as wages, make them
work hard at agricultural pursuits. The indolence of these
savages is such, however, that as long as there is a handful
of rice in their huts they absolutely refuse to work, and
will only return to it when their supply of grain is entirely
exhausted. Nevertheless, the other inhabitants are obliged
to keep on good terms with them, because they perform
all the hardest manual labour, and because if one of them
was affronted or thought himself ill-treated, all the rest of
the clan would take his part, and leave their usual abode
and hide in the forest. The civilized inhabitants, to whom
they are thus indispensable, would not be able to persuade
them to resume their work until they had made friendly
overtures and agreed to pay damages. These wild yet
simple-minded people find it so difficult to procure the bare
necessaries of life that they never even think of small
luxuries which most other Hindus are so fond of, such as
They do not
betel, tobacco, oil to anoint their heads, &c.
even appear to envy those who enjoy them, and are satisfied
if they can get a little salt and pepper to flavour the taste-
less vegetables and roots which form the principal part of
their food.
All these wild tribes are gentle
and peaceable by nature.
They do not understand the use of weapons of any sort,
and the sight of a stranger is sometimes sufficient to put
to flight a whole
which they
community. No doubt the climate in
a great measure responsible for their
live is in
They are very unlike
people the vast forests of America or
Africa, inasmuch as they do not know what war means,
and appear to be quite incapable of returning evil for
For, of course, no sane person believes the accusa-
evil.
tion brought against them that they can injure their
neighbours by means of spells and enchantments. Hidden
in thick forests, or in dens and caves in the rocks, they fear
nothing in the world so much as the approach of a civilized
being, and far from envying the happiness which the latter
boasts of having found in the society of his fellow- men,
timid, lazy,
the savages
and indolent character.
who