346 THE MOPLAHS. Chap. XXL 



by just and equal laws. The Tiars form the mass of the 

 field labourers; but the proper duty of theii- caste is to 

 extract juice from the palm-tree, and either boil it into 

 jaggery (unrefined sugar), or distil it. Their women are 

 exceedingly pretty, with masses of long hair ; but there is a 

 prevalent custom for all the brothers of a family to have but 

 one wife amongst them to save exj^ense, which leads to most 

 disastrous consequences. Below the Tiars there are several 

 outcast tribes ; among them the ChurmcLs or slaves, a miserable 

 and down-trodden race, possibly the remnant of the aboriginal 

 inhabitants. Even now they are slow to understand that they 

 are not slaves, and land on which there are most Churmas 

 still sells at the highest price. 



The Moplahs, or JMohammedans of Malabar, are descended 

 from Arab mariners and traders by native women, and hence 

 their name, from Mah-pilla " son of the mother." They have 

 certainly been established in Malabar for a thousand years, if 

 not more, as it is on record that the Viceroy Cheruman Permal, 

 who then divided the country amongst his chiefs, was con- 

 verted by a Moplah, and sailed for Mecca. All the sympathies 

 of the Moplahs are with Ai*abia and the Bed Sea, and they 

 frequently undertake pilgrimages to Mecca. Respecting 

 their creed they are fanatical, and are easily roused to fury 

 by an insult, or an attempt on the part of the Nairs to treat 

 them as a lower caste. On these occasions they run mucks ; 

 but in ordinary times they are hard-working, intelligent, 

 abstemious, excellent boatmen, and capital backwoodsmen. 

 Many of the Moplahs are very wealthy. Their mosques, 

 how^ever, are poor edifices, not to be distinguished from 

 ordinary dwelling-houses, and the temples of the Hindus are 

 no better. There is no attempt at ornamental architecture in 

 the religious buildings of Malabar. 



One-fifth of the collectorate of Malabar is taken up M'ith rice 

 and garden cultivation, the remaining four-fifths being covered 



