04-01-299

TAMIL.

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the north-western corner of Salem, where Tamil meets with Kanarese, to the Nilgiri and the Western Ghats, and thence southwards, leaving Malabar, Cochin, and the greatest part of Travancore to Malayam. Tamil is spoken in the last mentioned state on the western side of the Ghats, from Cape Comorin to the neighbourhood of Trivandrum.

　Tamil is bounded to the north by Telugu, to the west by Kanarese and Malayam, and to the south and east by the sea.

　Tamil settlers have, in early times, brought the language to Ceylon; they are found everywhere in the Dekhan, and form the majority of the so-called Klings in Further India and the Malay Archipelago. We find them as coolies in Mauritius and the West Indies, and so on. 'In short,' says Bishop Caldwell, 'wherever money is to be made, wherever a more apathetic or a more aristocratic people is waiting to be pushed aside, thither swarm the Tamilians, the Greek or Scoteh of the East, the least superstitious and the most enterprising and persevering race of Hinds.

　Malayam was in old times considered as a form of Tamil. It is, however, now universally admitted to be a distinct language, and it will, therefore, be separately dealt with. Tamil itself is, by no means, uniform over the whole area where it is spoken as a vernacular. We are here only concerned with the colloquial language, the so-called Koun-Dami and can therefore only mention the fact that the classical language of Tamil literature, the so-called en- Dami, differs widely from the modern form of speech.

　There are many distinct provincial dialects of Tamil. We do not, however, know much about them. Three dialects only were distinguished at the Census of 1891, Yeru- kala or Korava, spoken by a wandering tribe; Irula, a caste dialect in the Nilgiris and adjoining districts; and Kasuva, the dialect of a jungle tribe between the base of the Nilgiris and the Moyar River. Yerukala or Korava is also spoken in the Bombay Presi- dency, and a short account of that dialect will therefore be found below on pp. 318 and ff. Two other dialects spoken by vagrant Gipsy tribes, the so-called Kaik, and Burga will be added.

　According to the returns of the Censuses of 1891 and 1901, the number of speakers of Tamil in those districts where it is spoken as a vernacular were as follows:-

　 Madras Presidency-

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