Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 3.djvu/11

Rh and I was deposited, heels up, on my back in the straw! . . . . We were rowed for about two miles down the stream. The current was very swift, and there were rapids at frequent intervals. Darkness overtook us,and it was not altogether a pleasant sensation being whirled swiftly over the rapids in our frail-looking boat, with ugly rocks jutting out of the stream on either side.But the boatmen seemed to know the river perfectly,and were extraordinarily expert in steering the coracle with their paddles." The arrival in 1847 of the American Missionary, John Eddy Chandler at Madura, when the Vaigai river was in flood, has been described as follows.* "Coolies swimming the river brought bread and notes from the brethren and sisters in the city. At last, after three days of waiting, the new Missionaries safely reached the mission premises in Madura. Messrs. Rendall and Cherry managed to cross to them, and they all recrossed into the city by a large basket boat, eight or ten feet in diameter, with a bamboo pole tied across the top for them to hold on to. The outside was covered with leather. Ropes attached to all sides were held by a dozen coolies as they dragged it across, walking and swimming." In recent years, a coracle has been kept at the traveller's bungalow at Paikāra on the Nilgiris for the use of anglers in the Paikāra river. "The Kabbēras," Mr. Francis continues, "are at present engaged in a number of callings, and, perhaps in consequence, several occupational sub-divisions have arisen, the members of which are more often known by their occupational title than as either Gangimakkalu or Kabbēras. The Bārikes, for example, are a class of village servants who keep the village chāvadi (caste