SINGULAR CUSTOM. 
77 
people might not have easily executed. They cannot 
certainly be referred to the Greek invasion, nor are 
they mentioned by any of the historians of Alexan- 
der’s expedition. I find in the history of Timourlane 
that both the idols and excavations of Bameean are 
described by Sherif-o-deen, his historian. The idols 
are there stated to be so high, that none of the archers 
could strike the head. They are called Lat and Mu- 
nat, two celebrated idols which are mentioned in the 
Koran. The writer also alludes to the road which 
led up to their summit from the interior of the hill. 
There are no inscriptions at Bameean to guide us in 
their history; and the whole of the later traditions 
are so mixed up with Ali, the son-in-law of Mahommed, 
who we well know never came into this part of Asia, 
that they are most unsatisfactory.” 
Not far from Sravana Belgula is a neighbourhood 
remarkable for a tribe among whom there exists a cus- 
tom as singular as it is absurd. When a mother be- 
troths her eldest daughter, she pierces her ears as an 
initiatory ceremony, by which the girl becomes plight- 
ed to her future husband. Before, however, the pa- 
rent can accomplish this mystical perforation of the 
daughter’s ears, she is herself obliged to undergo the 
amputation of the first joints of the third and fourth 
fingers of her right hand, and with the mangled limb 
performs upon her child this singular ceremony of 
matrimonial inauguration. 
The amputation of the mother’s finger-joints is ac- 
complished by a very summary process. The operator 
is generally the blacksmith of the village, who simply 
lays her finger upon his anvil, places the edge of a 
