ed with them, and thus have originated the
various Dravidian tribes. These tribes, therefore, afford us a valuable
clue as to the position occupied in former days by their ancestors, the
Negritos.

In some of the early Indian legends, De Quatrefages thinks that he finds
traces of these prehistoric connections between the indigenous Negrito
tribes and their invaders. The account of the services rendered to Rama by
Hanuman and his monkey-people may, he thinks, easily be explained by
supposing the latter to be a Negrito tribe. Another tale points to unions
of a closer nature between the alien races. Bhimasena, after having
conquered and slain Hidimba, at first resisted the solicitations of the
sister of this monster, who, having become enamoured of him, presented
herself under the guise of a lovely woman. But at the wish of his elder
brother, Youdhichshira, the king of justice, and with the consent of his
mother, he yielded, and passed some time in the dwelling of this Negrito
or Dravidian Armida.

It will now be necessary to consider some of these races more or less
crossed with alien blood.

In the centre of India, amongst the Vindyah Mountains, live the Djangals
or Bandra-Lokhs, the latter name signifying man-monkey, and thus
associating itself with the tale of Rama, above alluded to. Like most of
the Dravidian tribes, they live in great misery, and show every sign of
their condition in their attenuated figures. One of this tribe measured by
Rousselet was five feet in height. It may here be remarked that the
stature of the Dravidian races exceeds that of the purer Negritos, a fact
due, no doubt, to the influence of crossing. Farther south, in the
Nilgherry Hills, and in the neighbourhood of the Todas and Badagas, dwell
the Kurumbas. and Irulas (children of darkness). Both are weak and
dwarfish, the latter especially so. They inhabit, says Walhouse,[A] the
most secluded, densely wooded fastnesses of the mountain slopes. They are
by popular tradition connected with the aboriginal builders of the rude
stone monuments of the district, though, according to the above-mentioned
authority, without any claim to such distinction. They, however, worship
at these cromlechs from time to time, and are associated with them in
another interesting manner. "The Kurumbas of Nulli," says Walhouse, "one
of the wildest Nilgherry declivities, come up annually to worship at one
of the dolmens on the table-land above, in which they say one of