88 



The Atitiqtdiies of^he 



[No. 32, 



The woman is also obliged to receive as her husbands all the bro- 

 thers of the family into which she marries, a custom similar to that 

 described by Csesar as prevailing amongst the ancient Britons (Celtic 

 Scythians). In book the fifth of his Wars in Gaul he says, " Ten 

 or twelve of them live together having their wives in common, 

 especially brothers, or parents and children amongst themselves ; 

 but the issue is always ascribed to him who first espoused the mother. 



The Celtic Scythians occasionally destroyed their children, a cus- 

 tom which I have already observed once obtained amongst the Thau- 

 tawars. The dress of the Thautawars consists amongst the men of 

 a cloth wound round the body as low as the knees, passed under the 

 right arm and the end thrown over the left shoulder ; a garment that 

 reminds us of the " longe clothes with outen Furroures" described 

 by Sir John Maundeville as worn by a Scythian nation. 



The Thautawar women envelope themselves in cloths and deco- 

 rate their persons with rings and bangles and environ their waists 

 with a brass chain. The women of the Scythians wore rings, brace- 

 lets and chains. The opinion of the Thautawars regarding a future 

 state is that after death they are transported to another world, a be- 

 lief similar to that of the Scythians. The Thautawar women in the 

 manner of the Scythians stain the legs, hands, and neck with a black 

 dye. 



For the present I defer making any more comparisons on purpose 

 to give an account of the opening of a cairn about six miles to the 

 northward of Coonoor. 



It consisted of a circular wall of stones about four feet high, and 

 twelve feet in diameter. 



After clearing away the trees and brushwood that overgrew the in- 

 terior I excavated the soil in the middle of the cairn to a depth of two 

 feet and alighted upon two large stones ; these being removed I found 

 two circular urns and some articles in brass and iron, described be- 

 low, in holes about 3 feet below the stones. The urns contained 

 charcoal and bones. Surrounding the interior of the cairn numerous 

 urns of the description figured hereafter appeared a few inches be- 

 low the surface, some standing upright with lids on, others thrown 

 upon their side with the Hds beside them, many broken "into pieces 

 and some of their fragments contained in entire urns : this arrange 

 ment of the vessels manifested that they had been disturbed »at dif- 

 ferent periods in order to make room for the burial of other urns. 



