COORG AND ITS RAJAHS

MIDWAY on the Malabar coast of Cis-Gangetic India, between Mangalore and Cannanore, is the port of Bakull. If a straight line be drawn therefrom into the interior, it will touch Serin- gapatam, and the hill country which intersects it is Coorg. This Raj is bounded on the north by Mysore; on the south, by the Collectorate of Malabar; on the east, by Mysore; and on the west, by Malabar and Canara: but before its subjuga¬tion by the British, in 1834, it was more extensive. Coorg lies between N. lat. 11°. 56' and 12°. 45', and E. long. 75°. 25' and 76°. 13'; its area, consequently, being about 1420 square miles. The longest line that can be drawn through it from north to south, measures 60 miles; and from east to west, 35 miles. The lowest parts of Coorg are not less than 3000 feet above the sea; its highest peaks, which rise to a height of 5682 and 5781 feet, have a full view of the Indian Ocean, though at a distance of 40 or 50 miles.
The principal river is the Kaveri, which rises in the astern side of the Western Ghauts. Many streams and torrents flow into it during its course eastward into Mysore, of which the principal are the Soornavaty or Haringhee, and the Lechman Teert. During the dry season, the Kaveri is reduced to very insignificant dimensions, having scarcely either breadth or depth. The minor streams intersecting Coorg vary only in size, which depends upon the length of their course. They swell in the early part of June, and flow with a violent and boisterous rapidity till October, when they gradually diminish and become placid. During the western monsoon, every rivulet roughens into a wild torrent.
The temperature in Coorg is low: a circumstance easily ac¬counted for, not only by the great elevation of the country, but also by the proximity of the ocean to the south-west and west, and the prevalence of the winds from those points. Owing to these causes, the thermometer seldom rises higher than 74°, or sinks below 60°, in the open air. During the dry season, the range is a little higher, the daily extremes being from 62° or 63° to 68° or 70°. The hottest months are those of April and May, but even then the nights are cool. The monsoon, which commences in June, continues during July, August, and September. This is the rainy season, and the air is in these three months so loaded with vapour that the sun is rarely visible; yet, notwithstanding this humidity, the equality of temperature renders rheumatic affections, coughs, colds, &c. extremely rare. Not so with asthmatic affections, chronic diseases of the liver, and dysenteric com¬plaints, which are, of course, exacerbated by the rarified and often cold and damp air.
The country presents a succession of hills and valleys, placed at a medium elevation between the sultry plains and the tem¬pestuous tops of mountains. Ravines and chasms, into whose abysses the solar ray seldom penetrates, tell the tale of violent and wide-spread disruptions, and awaken in the mind of the traveller mingled emotions of awe and admiration. The pre¬vailing geological formations are primitive. Large masses of felspar, of a cream colour, partially decomposed, and in the state of what is called porcelain clay, are also of frequent occurrence.
The whole of the eastern boundary—that is, in the direction of Mysore—exhibits an almost uninterrupted and impervious forest. Here the underwood becomes very thick, and the bamboo frequently rises to the height of 60 feet. In the jungle roam elephants, tigers, chitas or hunting leopards, tiger- cats, a few bears, wild dogs, bisons, elks, several species of deer, wild boars, hares, and monkeys. Of the feathered tribes, eagles, hawks, parrots, woodcocks, snipes, pigeons, and the rhinoceros bird, or buceros, are the most common. Reptiles are but few, among which may be mentioned the deadly cobra di capello, several varieties of snakes, and a few alligators.
Coorg possesses many antiquities, but the most interesting ones are certain earth fortifications or redoubts, called by the natives kunnidegs. These are generally from 15 to 25 feet high, with a ditch in front of 10 feet deep by 8 or 10 wide; and being in many places double, triple, or quadruple, their linear extent camot be less than between 500 and 600 miles. The tradition respecting these works is, that in times of which there exist no historical records, the people lived in a state of general warfare, chief fighting against chief, and nada (dis¬trict) against nada. Whatever, however, may be the credit due to this explanation, certain it is that the antiquity of these works is evidently very great, as enormous trees, which must have been the growth of centuries, are still found on many parts of the walls.
The country has, for ages, been inhabited by a dozen tribes, of which the highest in rank is that of the Kaveri Brahmin, and the lowest that of slaves: the intermediate ones being those who exercise trades or follow agricultural pursuits.
The inhabitants of Coorg are Nairs, and, consequently, Brahminists of the Sudra caste. They are a bold and active race of mountaineers, and, though once of lawless and pre-datory habits, are much attached to their chiefs. " The men of Coorg/' says Thornton, " are a handsome, athletic race, usually above the middle size, and, with scarcely any excep- tions, well limbed. The women are not so tall in proportion, but are well made and well looking, though rather coarse, but fair in comparison with the men. Both sexes are laborious, and industrious in the practice of agriculture, their main and almost exclusive employment; except that the men shoot and hunt, partly to destroy animals injurious to their crops, and partly for the produce of the sport. They are well clad, the men wearing a turban, and a gown reaching to the feet, and being girt round the waist with a shawl or handkerchief, to which they attach the formidable Nair knife. The women wear a loose cotton wrapper, reaching from the shoulders to the knees, and a small white cloth tied round the head. Both sexes daily, after labour, wash the whole body in warm water."
A principal cause of the strong and vigorous constitution of the Coorgs, which has been greatly aided by the excellent climate and open-air life of the people, is their custom of late marriages. In former times, the Coorg men used to marry when they had attained the age of thirty; and even now they do so at a comparatively ripe age. But they have a strange and, to us, disgusting custom, a kind of marriage communism within the family. The wives of the brothers of one house are considered as common property; and, as the juniors succes¬sively marry their wives in turn, these are common also to all the brothers. The children, consequently, are rather children of the family, or of the mother, than of the acknowledged father.
It is not very difficult to conjecture how such a custom may have taken root among this people. In warlike races, espe¬cially when under the influence of pantheistic ideas, the clan¬nish feeling and the family spirit often predominate over and almost absorb individual consciousness and personal rights. Among the Coorgs, the family property descends, accordingly, not so much from father to son, as from generation to gene¬ration, the oldest member acting as head of the house. The general state of warfare, which we have described above as
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existing in ancient times, very probably had also some share in originating this custom, for the people must soon have been exterminated under such a state of things, had not a remedy been found for the evil by the surviving brothers of a family becoming the rightful husbands of the widows; and thus a second and undiminished generation might rise, in time, to supply the place of the fallen.
The festivals of the Coorgs are few in number. The Kaveri Habba (festival), and the Huttari or Huddari Habba, are the two principal festive seasons. The former has reference to the river, the most ancient object, no doubt, of Coorg worship; the latter to the earth, which, by its rich harvests, gives food and plenty to the chosen race. A Baghavati festival is observed all over Coorg, in the months preceding the monsoon. After the sowing season, generally, at the first break of the mon¬soon, the Kailmutter, the festival of arms, is celebrated by the youths and men of Coorg.
The Coorgs are represented by the people of the plains as a fierce, irascible, and revengeful race, not easily to be managed. They have always been an unlettered nation. To the present day, they are very ignorant, and, consequently, superstitious. The prevailing worship is that of demons and departed spirits. Charms and sorceries abound all over the country. Disease among men and cattle is readily ascribed to the maledictions and witchcraft of enemies. The dead annoy the living, and demand sacrifices and other atonements.
As to the population of Coorg, the last official census was made in 1839-40, when it was stated that there were in Coorg 17,096 Coorgs, and 64,341 people of other castes. The Coorgs are the principal landholders of the country lying to the south and west of Mercara. They have, from ancient times, been lords of the soil, and still enjoy great privileges. They pay only five per cent, of the produce of their land, while other lands are assessed at ten, fifteen, and twenty per cent.