their old
gods resides. Though they are regarded with fear and hatred as sorcerers
by the agricultural B[)a]d[)a]gas of the table-land, one of them must,
nevertheless, at sowing-time be called to guide the first plough for two
or three yards, and go through a mystic pantomime of propitiation to the
earth deity, without which the crop would certainly fail. When so
summoned, the Kurumba must pass the night by the dolmens alone, and I have
seen one who had been called from his present dwelling for the morning
ceremony, sitting after dark on the capstone of a dolmen, with heels and
hams drawn together and chin on knees, looking like some huge ghostly fowl
perched on the mysterious stone." Mr. Gomme has drawn attention to this
and other similar customs in the interesting remarks which he makes upon
the influence of conquered non-Aryan races upon their Aryan subduers.[B]

[Footnote A: _Jour. Anthrop. Inst._, vii. 21.]

[Footnote B: Ethnology and Folk-Lore, p. 46; The Village Community, p.
105.]

Farther south, in Ceylon, the Veddahs live, whom Bailey[A] considers to be
identical with the hill-tribes of the mainland, though, if this be true,
some at least must have undergone a large amount of crossing, judging from
the wavy nature of their hair. The author just quoted says, "The tallest
Veddah I ever saw, a man so towering above his fellows that, till I
measured him, I believed him to be not merely comparatively a tall man,
was only five feet three inches in height. The shortest man I have
measured was four feet one inch. I should say that of males the ordinary
height is from four feet six inches to five feet one inch, and of females
from four feet four inches to four feet eight inches."

[Footnote A: _Trans. Ethn. Soc._, ii. 278.]

In the east the Santals inhabit the basin of the Ganges, and in the west
the Jats belong to the Punjab, and especially to the district of the
Indus. The Kols inhabit the delta of the Indus and the neighbourhood of
Gujerat, and stretch almost across Central India into Behar and the
eastern extremities of the Vindhya Mountains. Other Dravidian tribes are
the Oraons, Jouangs, Buihers, and Gounds. All these races have a stature
of about five feet, and, though much crossed, present more or less marked
Negrito characteristics. Passing farther west, the Brahouis of
Beluchistan, a Dravidian race, who regard themselves as the aboriginal
inhabitants, live side by side with the Belutchis. Finally, in thi