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furlongs from the main road and is easily accessible. Owing to 

 the erosion by the sea a portion of the village site is already under 

 water and more of it is being carried away. These people are well 

 off and a number of them have some property. Their houses are 

 more commodious, better built, and kept cleaner than those of 

 other villages on the coast. They have a caste headman called 

 Kula Pedda whose office is hereditary and who with the help of 

 the elders of the caste forms the panchayat to settle all matters 

 under dispute. He is paid a fee on occasions of ceremonies. The 

 women folk are better clad and wear gold and silver ornaments of 

 some value. The people look healthy and well fed. They are 

 illiterate but, comparatively speaking, not very much addicted to 

 drink. In addition to fishing and curing both males and females 

 are engaged in other kinds of cooly work and a number of the 

 able-bodied men also emigrate to Rangoon where they serve as 

 lascars in boats. The ticket-holders who are 72 in number are all 

 females of the Vada caste. Some of them advance money to the 

 owners of boats and nets to secure their catches but it is not 

 obligatory on their part to buy all the fish brought by the fisher- 

 men. The fish is brought to the beach in net bags and the ticket- 

 holders offer what they think is the proper price, but under a 

 system called " Manu " the fishermen are paid only 75 per cent of 

 the price so offered and accepted. Curing is carried on by females 

 and no hired labour is employed. They themselves carry the 

 cured fish for sale to distant places such as Dhowleshwaram, etc., 

 and are well acquainted with the details of despatching goods by 

 train and other matters relating to their business. The sea fishing 

 is conducted by means of various kinds of nets but the Alivi net is 

 peculiar to this and a few other villages in the neighbourhood. It 

 is a shore seine net about 200 fathoms long and of varying depths, 

 like the Rampani of the South Canara coast, but smaller in size 

 and less expensive, costing about Rs. 1,500. It is made up of a 

 number of pieces of wall net laced together and requires one boat 

 and 50 to 60 men to operate it. There are about 12 Alivi nets in 

 this village alone. Each net is owned jointly by a group of 

 fishermen ; the headman of the group contributes the three central 

 pieces of the net which are costly being much larger and stronger 

 made than the other pieces, as well as the boat, rope, and other 

 tackle ; each of the other men contributes the side pieces of equal 

 value. The sale proceeds are divided and the headman gets ten 

 times the share of each of the other individuals. In addition to the 

 men who own the net a number of coolies are also engaged to 

 operate the net and they are paid wages from 2 to 6 annas varying 

 according to the value of fish caught and the owners divide only 

 what remains after these coolies are paid. The coolies are paid 

 daily but the owners divide their share only at the end of the fish- 

 ing season, ami in the meantime their account of the daily catches 

 and expenses is maintained by a Kometi of the place, they being 

 illiterate. The boat used for operating the Alivi net and tackle is 

 built up like the Masula boats with no ribs, is about 37 feet long, 

 7H feet wide and 3 feet deep, and is provided with heavy wooden 

 oars each requiring four or five men to work it. The money 

 required for making an Alivi net and tackle is sometimes raised 

 by loans from sowcars on the security of jewels and other property 



