Ixxii 



APPKNDIX TO THE MANUAL 



Funerals. Their funeral rites are performed in the following manner : —The 



corpse is laid on a cot opposite to the house under a canopy four feet 

 high ; from the centre rises a pole of ten feet with cross yards decorated 

 with pendants of white cloth ; beneath it is exposed in wicker baskets 

 boiled victuals, grain, &c., as offerings to the defunct. The relations and 

 neighbours for a considerable time keep singing and dancing round 

 the canopy. The ceremony concludes by knotting in a corner of the 

 shroud the roll of a palm leaf worn by the wife of the deceased 

 on her ears, and the contrary if a woman dies, a piece of light wood 

 worn by the husband ; the corpse is then removed to the pile accom- 

 panied by music, and consigned to it with the oblation. The male 

 children of the deceased shave their heads and face. The sect of 

 Shevacaras bury their dead. 



Worship. Besides Rungasawmy, the dieties worshipped in the interior are 



Hereadeo, and the goddess Hethadeo, also a subordinate deity called 

 Kunkolu K'ai'odia, or the eye-giving power ; the latter is their tutular 

 goddess ; the Harruvars and Shevacaras have their Mahalinga. 



Drc33, &c. The coarse clothing of the mountaineers, stiffened with starch, 



intended as a defence against the gelidity of the climate, gives to men 

 and more especially to the women a most uncouth appearance ; the 

 men wrap round them a large sheet with colored borders, and a 

 handkerchief about the head ; those individuals who can afford it have 

 rings of gold to their ears, and of silver on their fingers. The dress 

 of the women consists of a coarse cloth, four or five cubits in length, 

 hemmed in at the upper and lower extremities by triple lines of cotton 

 twist, and drawn up in a fringe, giving it the shape of a petticoat, 

 fastened with ligatures below the arm and midriff ; yet in spite 

 of thick starch and bandages exposes a great part of the legs ; their 

 jewelry consists of heavy brass bangles, worn above the elbow of the 

 right arm, and those that can afford it a silver bracelet graces the left 

 wrist, rings of gold and brass to their ears, fingers and toes, with a 

 pendant jewel affixed to the membrane of the left nostril. Very few, 

 if any, of the women in years can be termed beauties ; the fine features 

 of some of the young girls occasionally seen are eclipsed by their 

 awkward dress and propensity to dirty apparel. A few of the males 

 in circumstances are robust and well made, but the generality are 

 meagre and of a phlegmatic temperament, occasioned by the poor 

 diet they subsist on and the pernicious use of I'aw opium ; in their 

 disposition, with but a few exceptions, it may with propriety be said 

 they are cunning, suspicious, and incommunicative in their dealings 

 with strangers, display a covetous desire for lucre, which stimulates 

 them to duplicity and falsehood ; among themselves are tolerably 

 social ; jealousy is perhaps a negative passion, as fornication appears 

 to be the prerogative of both sexes. 



Diet. They subsist genei-ally on koralay and shamay (two species of 



millet), gunja or barley, and the flour of the keeray or Garden greens 

 seed. Condiments are not in general use, but garlic gives a zest to all 

 their meals; they are not averse to animal food (bejf excepted), but 



