1849.] 



Circar of WanmguL 



2o5 



and blows his conch. Their marriage ceremonies consist in a 

 head-man whom they elect for the occasion and place on a throne 

 of turf, putting rice on the heads of the young couple and uttering 

 some mystic words ; a pig is then killed, the flesh is cooked and 

 eaten, and ample as their experience must be of the qualities of 

 every kind of flesh, they are unanimous in declaring that pork ia 

 superior to all. They then jump about, beat their bellmetal vessels, 

 and the whole concludes by the whole party male and female get- 

 ting drunk. One of their customs is very peculiar. On the oc- 

 casion of a birth the husband is looked on as the object of com- 

 passion, and is carefully tended by the neighbours as if he and not 

 the wife had been the sufferer. Like all vagabonds they are re- 

 garded with suspicion, and with some reason, as they affect to pos- 

 sess a divining rod in the shape of the frond of the wild date, by 

 which they may discover on the outside of a house where property 

 is placed within. Instructed by this, and perhaps by some more 

 certain information, they have been known to dig under the wall of 

 a hut with their long curved knives, and abstract what they found 

 inside. Although despised as a low carrion eating caste, the 

 ryots do not hesitate in cases of sickness to consult them. Then 

 the divining rod is produced, a Terkullwar woman holding one end 

 while the other is given to the person seeking advice, a long 

 string of words is rattled over, the result of the disease foretold, 

 and the particular shrine is indicated where an offering is to be 

 placed, or the offended Saliti named, whose wrath is to be ap- 

 peased by sacrifice, their peripatetic life giving them an extensive 

 local knowledge of temples and holy places. The}^ pretend too to 

 a knowledge of medicine, and a composition of the bark of some 

 tree, the name of which they will not reveal, powdered and form- 

 ed into cakes, is in the pouch of every Yerkullwar as a remedy 

 against snake bites. They speak a corrupt Tamool. 



Woodeeawars. — They diff'er little in their customs from the Ter- 

 kullwars, and live in the same kind of dwelling, but they wander 

 less, and sometimes acquire some little property in cows and 

 buflfaloes. They are employed in carting stones, making mats, 

 digging wells, and clearing out tanks along with Beldars ; they 

 receive for clearing out sixty kolas of length and one kola of 

 height and breadth of mud, about 120 cubic yards, two kun- 

 dees of rice and two rupees, but a portion of the grain is claim- 



