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honour on their family by this sacrifice to glory. The principal 
brahmin and Nair ladies are always present on these occasions, 
covered with ornaments, if not with drapery. 
The throne of Travencore does not descend from hither to son, 
but invariably devolves to the eldest son of the eldest sister, that 
the blood-royal may be clearly and indisputably preserved. The 
king on particular occasions is splendidly apparelled, and adorned 
with the royal jewels; but in general dresses, like the other brah- 
mins, in a muslin turban, with a piece of white cotton cloth round 
the waist, reaching to the knees: this is the usual dress of the Ma- 
labars. The hereditary prince has no outward distinction from the 
other nobles; and the king’s sons, whether by his wives or concu- 
bines, have no privileges annexed to their royal descent, neither 
are they by birth entitled to any importance in the government. 
I always found more suspicion and jealousy in conversing with 
the Malabars, than among any other people in India: they were 
very cautious of giving information, and deemed the most common 
questions intrusive; it was therefore impossible from such a people 
to obtain much knowledge either of a religious or political nature. 
Whether the Malabars, like the northern Hindoos, adore the triad- 
deity, with the subordinate divinities in their endless mythology; 
or whether their idolatrous system comprizes a different set of gods 
and goddesses, especially of the dii lares, I could not determine; 
neither could I ascertain the jurisprudence of Travencore, or other 
Malabar rajah-ships: in those dominions, it is perhaps altogether 
a nominal science: for in Travencore, as in most despotic states, 
the subjects are seldom governed by written law^s, but implicitly 
obey the will of an arbitrary despot. The king is considered as 
