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)

44 FILIAL RESPECT.

on the same spot where we had first halted, when a pretty
young woman, one of the group sitting around us,
and a boy, apparently her brother, jumped up and ran
off to meet an old man, whom we had before observed
approaching the morrt, carrying a small sack on his
shoulder. They assisted to relieve him of his burthen,
then crouched down and bowed their heads, so as to bring
them in contact with his right foot, which, for this pur-
pose, he projected towards them. They then resumed
their former position, and, while in the act of doing so,
he laid his hands upon their heads, and gave them his
blessing.

It was their father :—he had been to a distant Burgher
village, to procure a supply of meal, with which he was
now returning home.

Having finished our repast, we took our leave, followed
by the good wishes of the whole party, and with repeated
solicitations to return at some future period.

At the other morrt we were greeted in the same way ;
but evening was fast approaching, and we were many
miles from Nanjanaad, whither we were obliged to return
to pass the night.

Neither of these morrts differed, in any particular,
from those which have been already described; three or
four dwelling huts, the sacred dairy, and the mural
inclosure for the herd, were the only structures of which
they could boast.