Harkness, Henry: A description of a singular aboriginal race inhabiting the summit of the Neilgherry Hills, or Blue Mountains of Coimbatoor, in the Southern Peninsula of India (London, 1832)

10 THE WIDOW AND ORPHAN.

expression of Nuskyobe's countenance, in which admira-
tion and contempt were by turns pourtrayed ;—admiration
at the liveliness and humour of her son, pity and contempt
for that which he mimicked. I put several questions to her
respecting her husband, all of which she evaded, by laugh-
ing at the foolery of the boy, and endeavouring to draw
my attention to it. The little creature, however, hearing
me repeat the same question, cried out, in the middle of
his gambols, " My father is dead!"—Never have I seen
so quick a transition from mirth to grief. The widow in
a flood of tears, the overflowing of that feeling which for
a long time she had endeavoured to suppress; the boy
motionless, his eyes fixed on her, apparently conscious of
having done wrong, and afraid to move. At length, the
mother caught him in her arms, and with a passionate
exclamation told us to look at her hair—that not two
months since it reached to her waist, now, it barely
touched her shoulders.

I was not aware that it was the custom to cut off the
hair on such occasions, and had not observed, from the
close way in which she wore her wrapper, that her's in
any way differed from that of the other women of the
tribe. I had unwittingly given pain where I had no
intention, and, as a forfeit, presented her with a comb
and small looking-glass. The trifle, or perhaps the ac-
knowledgment it conveyed, restored good humour; and
I afterwards witnessed many instances of the happy power