HEGADES.
(428)
MEDER and his wife belong to a small cultivating class in Coorg, who reside at Jeddenal Kun Naad, in the south of Coorg, a place to which they emigrated from Malyaliin some centuries ago. They are not more than fifty families in number, and are cultivators of the soil only. In dress, mode of life, and worship, they conform to the Coorgs, but are not acknowledged as equals by the latter, who will not eat or intermarry with them. In company with the Coorgs, the Hegades must sit on the ground, while the Coorgs occupy chairs. In appearance and complexion they resemble Coorgs, and their habits are the same. Meder is five feet three inches in height, and his wife is five feet.—Report.
