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in consequence of these marriages, it is an established custom, 
both in the royal house of Travencore, and the whole tribe of Nairs, 
that the son does not inherit his father’s estate; which, if permit- 
ted by a despotic prince, devolves at his death to his sister’s chil- 
dren; where there can be no doubt of the consanguinity. The same 
law exists among the Hurons in America; on the demise of a chief 
in that tribe, he is not succeeded by his own child, but by the son 
of his sister; and in default of such an heir, by the nearest relation 
in the female line. A similar custom prevailed among the princes 
of Ethiopia. Montesquieu assigns the following reason for the 
polyandrian system of the Nair ladies. “ In this tribe the men 
can have only one wife; while a woman, on the contrary, is al- 
lowed many husbands: the origin of this custom is not difficult to 
discover. The Nairs are the tribe of nobles, who are the soldiers 
of the nation: in Europe soldiers are not encouraged to marry; in 
Malabar, where the climate requires greater indulgence, they are 
satisfied with rendering marriage as little burthensome as possible: 
they give one wife amongst many men ; which consequently dimi- 
nishes the attachment to a family, and the cares of housekeeping; 
and leaves them in the free possession of a military spirit.” 
The Nairs, and other high castes of Malabars, burn their dead, 
intermingling the fuel with sandal-wood, cinnamon, and cassia: 
the lower classes are contented with a pyre of common wood; and 
sometimes bury the deceased in their own plantations. 
As a further illustration of these extraordinary people, I sub- 
join the following particulars from Dr. Francis Buchanan’s obser- 
vations in Malabar; travelling by authority in the provinces then 
