174 
ON THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS 
from one place to another, gaining a precarious livelihood 
by making and selling wicker baskets of bamboo and reed 
grass, or mats and other household utensils of bamboo. 
Some of them also know how to prepare metal wires of steel, 
copper, and iron. They are famous bird-catchers, clever 
snake- jugglers, and very experienced hunters. If nothing 
else offers, they pierce the ears of children to insert ornaments, 
or tattoo the limbs of persons who desire this embellishment 
of their body. Most of their women are fortune tellers, 
while the men profess often to be conjurors. 
They live, in general, in small camps of moveable huts, which are sometimea 
stationary near large towns ; but they are often in a state of daily motion, 
while the people are following the mercantile concerns. The Coramas con- 
sist of four families, Maydraguta, Cavadiru, Maynapatru, and Satipatru. 
These are analogous to the Gotrams of the Brahmans ; for a man and woman 
of the same family never intermarry, being considered as too nearly allied 
ly kindred. The men are allowed a plurality of wives, and purchase them 
from their parents. The agreement is made for a certain number otfanams, 
■which are to be paid by instalments, as they can be procured by the young 
woman's industry ; for the women of this caste are very diligent in spinning 
and carrying on petty traffic. When the bargain has been made, the bride- 
groom provides four sheep, and some country rum, and gives a feast to 
the caste, concluding the ceremony by wrapping a piece of new cloth round 
his bride. Should a man's wife prove unfaithful, he generally contents 
Mmself with giving her a beating, as she is too valuable to be parted with 
<on slight grounds ; but, if he chooses, she may be divorced. In this case, he 
must assemble the caste to a feast, where he publicly declares his resolu- 
tion ^ and the woman is then at liberty to marry any person that she chooses, 
■who is willing to take her. The Coramas do not foUow nor employ the 
Brahmans ; nor have they any priests, or sacred order. WTien in distress, 
they chiefly invoke Vencaty Rdmana, the Tripathi Tlslniii, and vow small 
offerings of money to his temple, should they escape. They frequently go 
into the woods and sacrifice fowls, pigs, goats, and sheep, to JTiini, who is a 
male deity, and is said by the Brahmans to be a servant of Iswara ; but of 
this circumstance the Coramas profess ignorance. They, as usual, eat tho 
sacrifice. They have no images, nor do they worship any. Once in two or 
three years the Coramas of a village make a collection among themselves, 
and purchase a brass pot, in which they put five branches of the Mtiia a::adi- 
rachta and a coco-nut. This is covered with flowers, and sprinkled with 
sandal-wood water. It is kept in a small temporary shed for tliree days, 
during which time tho people feast and drink, .sicrificing lambs and fowls to 
Marima, the daughter of Su a. At the end of the thi-ec days they tiirow 
tho pot into the water." 
Road also Ahhe J. A. Dubois" Drsrr^ptioii of thf CharacUr, Jfunncrs and 
CitstomsoJ'iJu- Ptop'.c of India, third edition, Madras, 1879, pp. 335-338 ; "The 
