198 AT MINNIKOY 



tant. And of the people in general, it must be said 

 that they have frank and friendly manners, and look 

 wonderfully healthy and happy, and that altogether 

 they are a credit to their clean little island. The men 

 are thick-set, broad-chested, and muscular, and have 

 arms that are long and strong, as if specially developed 

 for the purpose of climbing the smooth and intract- 

 able trunks of coconut palms and for hauling on ropes. 

 Their faces are large and round, and expressive of 

 much tranquility and good-humour, and their eyes 

 are half hidden under massive brows, as if to seek 

 protection from the glare of the sun upon the sea 

 and upon the dazzling coral sand. From the waist 

 downward they are clad in the same loose, gay-coloured 

 cloth as is worn by the natives of Malabar, and for 

 head-covering they wear either handkerchiefs of bright 

 colour or strawberry-basket hats. They talk a lan- 

 guage of their own, but many of them can ''sling 

 the bat " — for a terrible lascar jargon it is — in Hindu- 

 stani. 



Of the women we must speak, not only with the 

 reticence due to their sex, but also with the deference 

 due to their pre-eminent social position. Their dress 

 is of almost quaker-like simplicity, and consists of a 

 dull-red robe falling over a dingy white skirt ; but 

 they wear ear-rings of beaten gold, and do not despise 

 other adornments. Their most conspicuous ornament, 

 however, is their hair, which is worked up into a 



