CASTES. 
161 
the chance of defilement by the shadow of a slave 
darkening the ground over which he was to tread. 
The Nairs marry before they are ten years of age ; 
and from the moment of their marriage, the wives are 
allowed by their husbands an unlimited licence: 
there consequently prevails among them the most re- 
volting licentiousness. They submit to no moral re- 
straints, but violate the restrictions of caste whenever 
any appetite is to be gratified, being profligate and 
drunken to the last degree. 
The Tiars, who form a considerable portion of the 
population of this province, are, on the contrary, an 
extremely industrious and well-organised body, their 
habits being very superior to those generally observed 
among the lower orders of Hindoos. They wear little 
clothing, but are so cleanly in their persons, that cuta- 
neous eruptions are extremely rare among them ; the 
leprosy being almost unknown except among the 
wretched Poliars, who live principally upon garbage, 
and often share with the alligator, the vulture, and 
the jackal, that carrion which no other animal will 
devour. The Tiar women are exceedingly beautiful : 
I am satisfied that, as a race, they are scarcely ap- 
proached, certainly not surpassed, in beauty of feature 
and symmetry of form by any class of women on 
the face of the earth. They are moreover quite 
different in their general habits from the Nairs, being 
almost universally strict in performing their domestic 
obligations, and manifesting a high appreciation of 
social enjoyment. 
The Malears are upon the whole a despicable peo- 
ple, being all vagrants, either travelling musicians or 
p 3 
