Chap. XXT. THE TIARS. 345 



receive visits from male acquaintances, and the brothers go 

 out to other houses, to their lady-loves, but live with their 

 sisters. If a younger brother settles in a new house, he takes 

 liis favourite sister with him, and not the woman who, 

 according to the custom in all other countries, should keep 

 liouse for him. The man's mother manages the house, and 

 after her death his eldest sister takes her place ; but no man 

 has any idea who his father is, and the children of his sisters 

 are his heirs. Moveable property is divided amongst the 

 children of the sisters of the deceased equally, and the land 

 is managed by the eldest male of the family, but each 

 individual has a right to a share in the income. 



This strange custom gives the women an important posi- 

 tion; and as they are pretty, and take pains wdth their 

 personal ajipearance, their influence is very great. The 

 Nairs are addicted to di-iuk, and may eat venison, fowls, and 

 iish ; and the families are fond of gaiety, and of visiting among 

 people of their own rank, when there is much talking and 

 singing. Most of the men, as well as the women, read and 

 write in their own character, and there is a Government 

 Gazette printed in the Malayalim language. The Collector 

 was anxious, also, to establish a paper in Malayalim, contain- 

 ing general information, which would no doubt have an 

 excellent effect, but the difficulty is to find a good native 

 editor. 



Next in rank to the Nairs come the Tiars or Shanars, a 

 stout, good-looking, hard-working race, who do not pretend to 

 Sudra origin. Formerly the Nairs exacted deference from 

 the Tiars with extreme cruelty and arrogance, treating them 

 more like brutes than men ; and if a Tiar defiled a Nair by 

 touching him, he was instantly cut down. But British rule 

 is gradually uprooting these caste barbarisms, and the position 

 of the Tiars is improving. Some of them hold appointments 

 as clerks in Government oi'liees. and they are protected 



