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dispersed as those of the brahmins and Nairs. They obeyed their 
Archbishop, both in ecclesiastical and civil matters, paying a very 
moderate tribute to the different rajahs in whose territory they 
lived, who very little interfered in their concerns. When any com- 
plaints in civil affairs were preferred to the Archbishop, he used to 
appoint arbitrators or judges, whose sentence was final; they never 
condemned any person to death, and most crimes were expiated 
with pecuniary fines. They paid no tithes to their clergy, but at 
weddings they offered the tenth of the marriage gifts to their 
churches. On these occasions they were very profuse and osten- 
tatious, and celebrated their nuptials with great pomp; it was then 
principally that they made a shew of the privileges granted to 
them by one of the Perumals; as of the bride and bridegroom 
riding upon elephants, of having the hair ornamented with flow ers 
of gold, of musical instruments, also of flags of different colours 
carried before them. They all wore swords and targets, and some 
of them had firelocks; they were great marksmen, and from their 
eighth year frequented the firing schools: husbandry and trade 
were their principal occupations, and, next to the brahmins, the St. 
Thome Christians furnished the greatest quantity of pepper to the 
Portugueze. 
“ As to their religious tenets, they followed generally the doc- 
trine of Nestor i us. They admitted no images of saints in their 
churches, where the Holy Cross alone w r as to be seen. They had 
only three sacraments, baptism, eucharist, and the orders; and 
would not admit transubstantiation in the manner the Roman ca- 
tholics do. They knew nothing of purgatory; and the saints they 
said were not admitted to the presence of God, but were kept in 
