158 



characteristic of the coloration of the Stroinbus employed, 

 is clearly recoonizable. Many are sold in the bazaars 

 or by peddlers throughout the Tamil and Malayalam dis- 

 tricts, usually as amulets against the evil eye and against 

 such minor ailments as pimples on the face and various 

 skin troubles. So far as I can ascertain, the only people 

 who use these rings in personal adornment are two tribes 

 of low civilization living in the Malayalam country — the 

 Hill \^edans of Travancore and certain sections of 

 the Cheruman tribe in Cochin and Malabar. The former 

 I have not seen. They are described by Thurston 

 (VI, p. 2)ZZ) ^s living in wretched huts and employed 

 chiefly as rice-field watchmen. He states that both the 

 men and women of this tribe wear nimierous bead neck- 

 laces interstrung or otherwise associated with a {^\\ of 

 these rings. In a photograph given by the same authority 

 (Vol. Ill, p. 177), a man is shown wearing numerous 

 strings of glass beads passed thi'oii^h eight Strombus 

 rinos. In the case of the women these necklaces hanof 

 down as far as the abdomen. 



The Cherumans were formerly the agrestic serfs of 

 Malabar, Cochin and Travancore- -the Malayalam 

 country or Kerala. To-day they still remain largely in 

 a servile condition, carrying on for their masters the 

 heavy labour of the fields ; they receive their pay almost 

 always in kind. They are divided into a considerable 

 number of endogamous sections differing in appellation 

 in different districts — a sia;n of lono^-continued residence 

 in a country of difficult intercommunication. 



All Cheruman women are greatly addicted to the use 

 of necklaces, particularly of the showy strings of beads 

 now put within the reach of the poorest by the enterprise 

 of Austrian and Italian manufacturers. Of other clothing 

 they wear the scantiest — a very dirty, once white 

 cloth, pendant from the waist, being their usual garb. 

 Certain sections wear as a distinctive badge, in addition 

 to numerous bead necklaces, a lono- cord whereon are 

 strung large numbers of Strombus rings {chankjt rnodi- 

 77?^) — they believe them to be of chank-shell. The 

 bead necklaces are usually wound many times round the 

 neck itself, roughly forming a collar often reaching as 

 high as the chin. The chank necklace is worn at a 

 lower level, and lies on the shoulders and on the upper 



