The jungle Kurumba of the Nilgiris appear to be remnants of a great and widely spread people who erected dolmens. They have slightly broader heads (index 77) than allied tribes, but resemble them in their broad nose, dark skin and low stature (1.575 m. 5 ft. 2 in.). They cultivate the ground a little, but are essentially woodcutters, hunters, and collectors of jungle produce. There is said to be no marriage rite, and several brothers share a wife. Some bury their dead. After a death a long waterworn stone is usually placed in one of the old dolmens which are scattered over the Nilgiri plateau, but occasionally a small dolmen is raised to mark the burial. They have a great reputation for magical powers. Some worship Siva, others worship Kuribattraya (Lord of many sheep), and the wife of Siva. They also worship a rough stone, setting it up in a cave or in a circle of stones to which they make puja and offer cooked rice at the sowing time. The Kadu Kurumba of Mysore bury children but cremate adults; there is a separate house in each village for unmarried girls and another at the end of the village for unmarried males.
The Vedda.
The Vedda of Ceylon have long black coarse wavy or slightly curly hair. The cephalic index is 70.5, the nose is depressed at the root, almost platyrrhine; the broad face is remarkably orthognathous and the forehead is slightly retreating with prominent brow arches; the lips are thin, and the skin is dark brown. The stature is extremely low, only 1.533 m. (5 ft. 0½ in.). The Coast and less pure Vedda average 43 mm. (1¾ in.) taller and have broader heads. The true Vedda are a grave but happy people, quiet, upright, hospitable with a strong love of liberty. Lying and theft are unknown. They are timid and have a great fear of strangers. The bow and arrow are their only weapons and the arrow tipped with iron obtained from the Sinhalese forms a universal tool. They speak a modified Sinhali, but employ only one numeral and count with sticks. They live under rock shelters or in simple huts made of boughs. They are strictly monogamous and live in isolated families with no chiefs and have no regular clan meetings. Each section of the Vedda had in earlier days its own hunting grounds where fish, game, honey, and yams constituted their sole food. The wild Vedda simply leave their dead in a cave, which is then deserted. The three things that loom largest in the native mind are hunting, honey, and the cult of the dead. The last constitutes almost the whole of the religious life and magical practices of the people; it is the motif of almost every dance and may have been the source of all. After a death they perform certain dances and rites through a shaman in connection with the recently departed ghost, yaka. They also propitiate powerful yaku, male and female, by sacrifices and ceremonial dances[962].
The Sakai.
The Sakai or Senoi are jungle folk, some of whom have mixed with Semang and other peoples. Their skin is of a medium brown colour. Their hair is long, mainly wavy or loosely curly, and black with a reddish tinge. The average stature may be taken to be from 1.5 m. to 1.55 m. (59 to 61 inches), the head index varies from about 77 to 81. The face is fairly broad, with prominent cheek-bones and brow ridges; the low broad nose has spreading alae and short concave ridge; the lips are thick but not everted. They are largely nomadic, and their agriculture is of the most primitive description, their usual implement being the digging stick. Their houses are built on the ground and as a rule are rectangular in plan though occasionally conical, and huts are sometimes built in trees as refuges from wild beasts. A scanty garment of bark cloth was formerly worn, and, like the Semang, they make fringed girdles from a black thread-like fungus. Their distinctive weapon is the blow-pipe which they have brought to great perfection, and their food consists in jungle produce, including many poisonous roots and tubers which they have learnt how to treat, so as to render them innocuous. They do not make canoes and rarely use rafts. In the marriage ceremony the man has to chase the girl round a mound of earth and catch her before she has encircled it a third time. The marriage tie is strictly observed. Each village has a petty chief, whose influence is purely personal. Individual property does not exist, only family property. Cultivation is also communal. The inhabitants of the upper heaven consist of Tuhan or Peng, the "god" of the Sakai and a giantess named "Granny Long-breasts" who washes sin-blackened human souls in hot water; the good souls ultimately go to a cloud-land. There are numerous demons and whenever the Sakai have done wrong Tuhan gives the demons leave to attack them, and there is no contending against his decree. He is not prayed to, as his will is unalterable[963].
The Toala.
The Toala of the south-west peninsula of the Celebes are at base, according to the Sarasins[964], a Pre-Dravidian people, though some mixture with other races has taken place. The hair is very wavy and even curly, the skin darkish brown, the head low brachycephalic (index 82) and the stature 1.575 m. (5 ft. 2 in.). The face is somewhat short with very broad nose and thick lips. Possibly the Ulu Ayar of west Borneo who are related to the Land Dayaks may be partly of Pre-Dravidian origin and other traces of this race will probably be found in the East India Archipelago[965].
Australia: Physical Conditions.
Australia resembles South Africa in the arid conditions characterising the interior, the eastern range of mountains precipitating the warm moisture-laden winds from the Pacific. As a result of the restricted rainfall there is no river system of importance except that of the Murray and its tributary the Darling. In the north and north-east, owing to heavier rainfall, there are numerous water-courses, but they do not open up the interior of the country. The lack of uniformity in the water supply has a far-reaching effect on all living beings. The arid conditions, the irregularity and short duration of the rainfall oblige the natives to be continually migrating, and prevent these unsettled bands from ever attaining any size, indeed they are sometimes hard pressed to obtain enough food to keep alive.
It may be assumed that the backwardness of the culture of the Australians is due partly to the low state of culture of their ancestors when they arrived in the country, and partly to the peculiar character of the country as well as of its flora and fauna, since Australia has never been stocked with wild animals dangerous to human life, or with any suitable for domestication. The relative isolation from other peoples has had a retarding effect and the Australian has developed largely along his own lines without the impetus given by competition with other peoples. Records of simple migration are rare. There have been no waves of aggression, and intertribal feuds are not very serious affairs. The Australians have never influenced any other peoples and they are doomed gradually to disappear.