2. Do. do. do. 3. Do. do. do. 4. Do. do. do. 5.— Do. do. do. 6. Do. 1.-Proceedings of the Managing Committee of the Madras Lite rary Society, April 8th, 1858. 149 May 13th, 1858. 153 July 8th, 1858. 157 Aug. 12th, 1858, 158 Sept. 9th, 1858. 158 Oct. 14th, 1858. 359 Nov. 11th, 1858. 360 Dec. 9th, 1858. 361 Jan. 13th, 1859. 362 Feb. 10th, 1859. 364 March 17th, 1859. 365 12.-Proceedings of the Agri-Horticultural Society, March 3d, 1858. 159 do. do. do. do. do. do. do. do. do, do. do. 14. Do. do. do. do. June 9th, 1858. 160 July 21st, 1858. 162 Oct. 27th, 1858. 366 Extract from Meteorological Observations kept at the Madras Observatory, from April to Sept. 1858. .177,178 do. do. MADRAS JOURNAL OF LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. NO. 7. NEW SERIES. April-Sept. 1858. I. Vocabulary of the Dialect spoken by the KOTAS on the NILAGIRI Hills by the Rev. F. METZ. I am not aware that any thing has been written about the language of the Kotas who occupy the seven villages on the Hills, called Kotagherry, and must have settled on these mountains at the same period or not long after the time, when the Todas, the so called Aborigines of the Hills, chose them as a pasture for their large herds of Buffalos. It is very probable that the Kotas lived among the Todas or in the neighbourhood of them before their immigration to the Hills, and that they supplied the latter with grain and jewels, in return for which they got all the Buffalos which died, at the time when both tribes inhabited some mountains to the North East of the Hills, and that the Kotas followed their acknowledged masters the Todas, on account of the rich harvest of Buffalo carcases by which they were sure to find always a good subsistence. The dialects of the Todas and Kotas are so near to each other that both parties can converse with each other in their own language, but when the Badagas came up, they found it necessary to acquire the language of the new settlers, because they were superior both in numbers and civilization. VOL. XX. O. s. VOL. IV. N. S. What I said formerly of the Toda language, that their singular pronounciation cannot be learned except by living amongst the people, is also true of the Kota dialect. The language of the former with its pectoral low notes, may very often appear to the unaccustomed ear of an European, as if a number of words were only imitations of the lowing of their Buffalos, and the dialect of the latter with its dental pronounciation appears in many instances as if the barking of their numerous half wild dogs had had an influence in forming it. I find it not difficult to speak about religion in the deep, often solemn tone of the Todas, but it seems to me like mockery to imitate the Kota pronounciation of the same words. Though none of the Hill tribes are very exact in cleanliness, still the name of Kota is used as a name of abuse, in the sense of filthy, by the Badagas and Todas notwithstanding the great dependence the latter acknowledge towards them; they are their scavengers, their musicians, their gold and blacksmiths, their potters, their basket makers, &c. Industry in these several branches makes them thriving and independent, and they can force their masters to many things, which they are very unwilling to perform, by refusing to make ploughs and pots &c. for them. If christianity should take root in the other tribes, so that they would no more condescend to pay honour to the Idols made by the Kotas, it will be a great trial for them. At different occasions the Kotas, who never were very favourably inclined towards our preaching, showed their power very plainly and forced some head men of the other tribes, who were friendly towards the missionaries, to compromise with their own better persuasion. The Kotas honour Siva as the supreme god whom they call Kamataraya and in each of their seven villages there is a temple for him as well as for his wife Parvati. There is a tradition that they emigrated from some mountans situated in the present Mysore, which their ancestors knew by the name of Kollimale, on which account the first village they built on the Hills, goes by the same name. In comparing the Toda vocabulary with the Kota words given below, philologists will not find it difficult to discover the same root in most of their words, but if they had an opportunity to listen to their village quarrels, they would be surprized to find the same words so very differently pronounced by a Kota, from what they are by the mouth of a Toda, in his lonely Mandu. I have endeavoured to select the most common words corresponding to the same words of the Todas which formerly appeared in this journal. *I was not quite sure whether I should not substitute instead of because the Kota pronounciation is so very indistinct and in many verbs different people pronounce it something like 3. |