loo 
'I'he Pearl Fishery i. 
are in order to regain their cast, Arhen they have lost it eitlier 
by eating things forbidden by the rules of their sect, or by having, 
such connection with people of a different description as is sup- 
posed to defile them. In this slate they are held in abliorreoce 
by persons of their own sect, debarred from all intercourse 
with them, and prohibited even to touch them. From such a 
dreadful state of defilement they can be purified only by pay- 
ing a large sum of money, or by undergoing tlie most incre- 
dible penances. Among those which I observed I shall mention 
a few of tlie most remarkable. One of them will vow to hold 
his arm elevated over liis head for a certain number of years, 
without once letting it down; and this he Avill actually continue 
to do, till the arm can never aftenvards be recovered to its 
natural position. Another will keep his hand shut till the nails 
on his fingers absolutely grow into the flesh, and appear quite 
through at the back of his hand. Many never suffer their hair 
to be combed, or their beards to be shaved : in this state the 
hair df their heads, which is of a brown or burnt colour, be- 
comes matted, and appears not unlike the mops we use in 
Europe ; or hangs down in long deshevelled strings, similar ' 
to that which grows on a species of French lap-dogs. Some 
will vow never to lie down ; while, at the same time, they 
wear round their necks a large iron instrument not unlike a 
gird-iron without a handle. 
But one of the most extraordinary of these ceremonies wdiicli 
I have Avitnessed is sAvinging for their cast, as it is termed. A 
very high and strong post, or cocoa-tree, is planted firmly in 
the ground, crosswise ; on its top, another beam is placed in 
such a manner as to turn round on a piAmt, and made fast to 
the upright post by ropes reeved through both, like the yards 
