"THE COAST OF MALABAR. jg 



f< are men of ftudy and piety.* However, among 

 H tl^e Brahmens, goldfmiths, carpenters, and iron- 

 < c fmiths, and TV^rj, or lower orders of hufbandmen, 

 cc and fifhermen, &c. the fon does fucceed to the rights 

 " and property of the father -, and marriage is prac- 

 C( tifed among thefe cafts. 



5 th. " But the Nayrs practife not marriage, except 

 M as far as may be implied from their tying a thread 

 <f round the neck of the woman at the firft occafion ; 

 " wherefore the acts and practical maxims of this feci: 

 " are fuited to their condition, and they look upon the 

 " exigence or non-exiftence of the matrimonial con- 

 " tract as equally indifferent. 



6th. " Among the Brahmens, where there are more 

 brothers than one, only their elder, or the oldeft of 

 all of them, will marry, provided he have had, 

 or be likely to have, male iiTue; but thefe brothers 

 who thus maintain celibacy, do neverthelefs cohabit 

 with Nayr women, without marriage, in the way 

 of the Nayrs ; and if, through fuch intercourfe, a 

 fon fhould be born, they will not make fuch child 

 their heir. But when it becomes known that the 

 elder married brother (in a family of Brahmens) will 

 " not have a fon, then another of the brothers enters 

 " into the ftate of matrimony. 



7th. " Among the Nayrs it is the cuftom for one 

 " Nayr woman to have attached to her two males, 

 <f or four, or perhaps morejf an d among thefe a 



" diitributioa 



* I have, however, reafon to believe, that this rule and cuftom 

 is now wearing out among the Mapillas, or Malabar Mahomrae- 

 clans ; continuing, however, to be ftill more particularly ob- 

 (erved at Cannanore and Tellicherry : but, even in this lad men- 

 tioned place, I was informed by Kariat Moosa, a principal 

 merchant of this feci;, that it is evaded by fathers dividing among 

 their fons much of their property during their life-time. 



t This defcription ought, I believe, to be underftood of the 

 Nayrs inhabiting the more fouthern parts of Malabar, from the 

 Toorecherie, or Cotta river, to Cape Comorin ; for to the north 

 ward of the faid river the Nayr women are faidto be prohibited 



from 



