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the treatment of the poor Pooleahs, and the cruel difference made 
by human laws between them and the pampered brahmins: ba- 
nished from society, they have neither houses nor lands, but re- 
tire to solitary places, hide themselves in ditches, and climb into 
umbrageous trees for shelter: they are not permitted to breathe 
the same air with the other castes, nor to travel on a public road; 
if by accident they should be there, and perceive a brahmin or 
Nair at a distance, they must instantly make a loud howling, to 
warn him from approaching until they have retired, or climbed 
up the nearest tree. If a Nair accidentally meets a Pooleah on 
the highway, he cuts him down with as little ceremony as others 
destroy a noxious animal: even the lowest of other castes will have 
no communication with a Pooleah. Hunger sometimes compels 
them to approach the villages, to exchange baskets, fruit, or such 
commodities as they may have, for a little grain: having called 
aloud to the peasants, they tell their want, leave the barter on the 
ground, and retiring to a distance, trust to the honesty of the vil- 
lagers to place a measure of corn equal in value to the barter; 
which the Pooleahs afterwards take away. Constant poverty and 
accumulated misery, have entirely debased the human form, and 
given a squalid and savage appearance to these unhappy beings. 
Yet, debased and oppressed as the Pooleahs are, there exists 
throughout India, a caste called Pariars, still more abject and 
wretched. If a Pooleah, by any accident, touches a Panar, he 
must perform a variety of ceremonies, and go through many ab- 
lutions, before he can be cleansed from the impurity. With such 
ideas of defilement, no marriages are contracted between the Poo- 
leahs and Pariars; nor do they eat together; although the only 
