THE COAST OF MALABAR. I£ 



u among their kings and lords, none of them think of 

 <c fhrouding their women from the fight of all man- 

 cc kind ; though among the Brdhmens this modefty 

 " and decorum are attended to. 



10th. " Among the Nayrs> they drefs out and 

 w adorn their women with jewels and line apparel, 

 " and bring them out into large companies, to have 

 " them feen and admired by all the world. 



I ith. " Among the Malabar /, priority in age 

 cc {tamps fuperiority and rule, were the difference only 

 <c of a moment; and, notwithstanding that fuch party 

 ,c may be a fool, or blind, or aged, or otherwife, the 

 n rulerfhip devolves to the lifter's children ; nor has 

 cc it ever been heard that any one put to death his 

 " elder with a view of fooner attaining to dominion.* 



1 2th. " In cafe the line of defcent and fucceflion 

 cc become extinct among them, or be in danger of be- 

 u coming fo, they do then bring an alien, (whether an 

 <c adult or minor,) and him they conftitute the inhe- 

 * ritor, as the fubltitute for a fon, or for a brother, or for 

 •* a fitter's fon ; nor will any future difference be made 

 between fuch adopted and a real heir ; which cuftom 

 is current and obferved among all the infidels of 

 Malabar, whether Rajahs or Shopkeepers, from the 

 <c higheft to the loweft ; fo that the line of defcent 

 C{ becomes not extinct, f 



13th, 



* Thus in the Zamorins' families, and in that of the Rajahs of 

 Paulghaut, there are from fifty to an hundred or more males of 

 the fame blood, i. e. defcended from females of the Rajah's fa- 

 mily, who are all entitled to, and do accordingly rife to, the 

 chief rule, agreeably to their feniority in point of birth, without 

 any other right or title of precedence. 



+ This is in general true : but there lately occurred an in fiance 

 to the contrary, whereby the Rauje or Lordfhipof Vittulnaad has 

 efcheated to the Company. With refpecf. to the provision occa- 

 fionally made againftfuch extinctions of families, it is very true 

 that the Rajahs make it a practice, in cafe of any impending dan- 

 ger of this kind, to procure fome males and females (though oi 

 the latter more than of the former) to keep up the regal line. 



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