812 REPORT— 1903. 



Of these dairies there are three chief grades. The highest kind is found in secluded 

 spots far from any place where ordinary people live. These dairies belong to one of 

 the two chief divisions of the Todas, the Tdrthdrol, but are tended by men 

 belonging to the other division, the Teivaliol. The lowest grade of dairy is foJind 

 at the villages where the people live, and these dairies are tended by men of the 

 same division as that to which the dairy belongs. The dairies of intermediate 

 sanctity are found only at the villages of the Tdrthdrol, but are tended by 

 members either of the Teivaliol or of one special clan of the Tdrthdrol. 



It is only the milk of the different kinds of sacred bufi'alo which is churned 

 la the dairy-temple. There are buffaloes which are not sacred, and their milk is 

 churned in the front part of the huts in which the people live. 



The more sacred the dairy, the more elaborate is its ritual. In every case 

 the dairy vessels are divided into two groups. The more sacred vessels are those 

 which come into contact with the buffaloes or the milk. The less sacred are 

 those which receive the products of the churning. In the highest kind of dairy 

 the products of the churning do not pass directly from the more sacred to the less 

 sacred vessels, but have to pass from one to the other by the help of an inter- 

 mediate vessel. The dairy ritual is accompanied by definite prayer; and the 

 more sacred the dairy, prayer becomes a more prominent feature of the ritual. 



In most of the more sacred dairies there is a bell which is an object ol 

 reverence, and usually milk is put on this bell during the dairy operations. 



The more sacred the dairy, the more is the life of the dairyman hedged 

 about with restrictions. There are definite ordination ceremonies for each grade 

 of office. In the lowest grade they may be completed in less than an hour ; in the 

 highest they are prolonged over more than a week. 



In addition to the three chief grades of dairy, there are certain dairies in 

 which the ritual has developed in some special direction, and there are often con- 

 siderable differences in the ritual of different dairies of the same kind, especially 

 of the highest grade. Each clan has a special prayer for use in the dairies 

 belonging to that clan, and each of the highest kinds of dairy has also its own 

 special prayer. 



Various features of the lives of the buffaloes are made the occasion of cere- 

 monies, often elaborate and prolonged. Whenever the buffaloes go from one 

 dairy to another to obtain fresh pasturage, the journey becomes an elaborate cere- 

 mony which may be prolonged over two or three days. Giving salt to the 

 buffaloes is similarly accompanied by complicated ceremonies, and ceremonies are 

 held fifteen days after the birth of a female calf. 



One of the most interesting of the ceremonies of the dairy is connected with 

 the custom of adding buttermilk from a previous churning to the newly drawn 

 milk. By means of the addition of buttermilk, which is called pep, a kind of con- 

 tinuity is kept up in the dairy operations ; but under certain conditions this 

 continuity is broken, and it becomes necessary to make uevf pep, and this may be 

 the occasion of prolonged and elaborate ceremonies. 



4r. llie Ancient Monuments of Northern Honduras and the adjacent parts of 

 Yucatan and Guatemala, with some Account of the Former Civilisation 

 of these Regions and the Characteristics of the Haces now inhabiting 

 ihem.^ By Dr. T. W. Gann. 



The author describes 



(1) The Ancient Monuments of Honduras, namely — 



fa) Temples : their number at present known and their situation. A typical 

 specimen is described and resemblances are noted to similar structures elsewhere. 



(b) Buildings within mounds, with stucco-ornamented walls and burial cysts 

 or large burial chambers ; some mounds contain more than one chamber. 



' To be published in full in Journ. Anthr, Inst. 



