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  | author =Baikie, R.  
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  | source title =Spiritualist, The
  | source title = London Spiritualist
  | source details =March 22, 1878
  | source details = No. 291, March 22, 1878, p. 136
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  | publication date = 1878-03-22
  | original date =1878-03-22
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<center>''To the Editor of ''“''The Spiritualist.” ''</center>
 
{{Style S-Small capitals|Sir}},—Having resided on the Neilgherries for more than seven years, during four of which, from 1830 to 1835, I held the appointment of principal medical officer, which brought me into constant contact and communication with the Todas (or Todaows), I consider myself bound, in the cause of truth, to testify to the accuracy of the strictures on Madame Blavatsky’s statements regarding them contained in the letters of “H. M.,” and “Late Madras C. S.,” in your last and preceding numbers. Hot having seen Madame Blavatsky’s book, I can only refer to the passages quoted in a H. M.’s” letter, every one of which is wholly inaccurate, The Todas were in the habit of coming almost daily to me to consult me as to their own health or that of their children, whom I saw frequently, and many of whom I vaccinated with my own hands. I have, on many occasions, especially at their funeral ceremonies, which take place once a year, seen from fifty to eighty adult men present at one time. I may add that I generally received special invitations to be present on these occasions; that I have been often inside their huts, and that I discovered one of their temples in a remote corner of the hills, and carefully examined it, but saw nothing of the splendour alleged by Madame Blavatsky, it being little more than a small hut, with a high, conical roof. In fact, I can fully confirm all “H. M.’s” counterstatements. I am well acquainted with Colonel Marshall’s book, which is in general very accurate, though neither it nor any of the publications referred to by Dr. Carter Blake add much to the knowledge of this remarkable tribe, conveyed by Captain Harkness’s book, published in 1832.
 
Such being the case, I am utterly at a loss to understand how Dr. C. Blake can quote Colonel Marshall’s book as supporting Madame Blavatsky’s statements: to me it conveys exactly the opposite impression. I can only account for the singular misapprehensions in Madame Blavatsky’s book by supposing that they rest on hearsay, and not on her own observation. A good deal of what she says applies to the Peiki-Tarali—a kind of priest, who is seldom seen or heard of, except at the funeral ceremonies before alluded to, but of whom I was told there were only one or two for the whole tribe, and who hold their office for a term of years. Any further discussion on this subject would be fitter for the columns of an anthropological journal than for yours.
 
{{Style P-Signature in capitals|R. Baikie, M.D., late H.E.I.C.S.}}
 
Edinburgh.




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  | source title =Spiritualist, The
  | source title = London Spiritualist
  | source details =March 22, 1878
  | source details = No. 291, March 22, 1878, p. 136
  | publication date =1878-03-22
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<center>''To the Editor of ''“''The Spiritualist”''</center>
 
{{Style P-Signature in capitals|Sir}},—Captain Burton’s work entitled ''Goa; and the Blue Mountains ''has been referred to in your last issue by an'' ''anonymous writer. I, as one of Captain Burton’s old'' ''European friends and colleagues, deeply regret that his'' ''name should have been imported into the controversy. As'' ''he is now in the desert of Midian, and unable to reply for'' ''himself, I shall not comment on the method which enables'' ''veiled writers to suggest the authority in their favour of a man who is in Arabia against the good faith of a woman'' ''who is in America. As regards the statement that ''Goa; and the Blue Mountains ''was “published more than thirty'' ''years since,” I may say that there was only one edition'' ''published, and that the copy in my hands, published by Mr.'' ''Richard Bentley, of which the press mark in the British'' ''Museum is 10055 c bears date 1851. We thus see that'' ''“rough unveiling” may not require the presence of a Burton'' ''or a Blavatsky.
 
{{Style P-Signature in capitals|C. Carter Blake}}
 
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We think that those who have taken part anonymously in this controversy, in an attack upon a known writer, ought to have given the public their names and addresses. The writers are known to us, therefore their testimony has been published.




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  | source title =Spiritualist, The
  | source title = London Spiritualist
  | source details =March 22, 1878
  | source details = No. 291, March 22, 1878, p. 136
  | publication date =1878-03-22
  | publication date = 1878-03-22
  | original date = 1878-03-15
  | original date = 1878-03-15
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<center>''To the Editor of “The Spiritualist.”''</center>
 
{{Style S-Small capitals|Sir}},—Allow me to say a few more words on the above subject, after which I shall trouble you no further about the matter.  
 
Madame Blavatsky asserts:—


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1st. That the children seen with the Todas, and mistaken for Toda children, are those of the Badegas.
 
2ndly. That the Todas are white as Europeans, and differ entirely in colour from the Badegas.
 
I have merely to remark that it would be hardly possible for any one to mistake brown, copper-coloured children for the children of a race white as Europeans.
 
Dr. Carter Blake is mistaken in supposing that I intend to assert absolutely that there are no poisonous snakes on the hills. I merely gave my own experience to show that any immunity from snake-bites, on the ''highest ''parts of the hills, might be accounted for without the supposition of occult powers possessed by the Todas. As you descend lower and lower down, no doubt poisonous snakes gradually {{Style S-HPB SB. Continues on|7-25}}




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<gallery widths=300px heights=300px>
london_spiritualist_n.291_1878-03-22.pdf|page=6|London Spiritualist, No. 291, March 22, 1878, p. 136
</gallery>