Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 3.djvu/189

Rh are frequently met with, while elephants and tigers are so numerous that the Kānikars are in some parts compelled to build their houses high up in trees. These primitive houses are quickly and easily constructed. The walls are made of bamboo, and the roof is thatched with jungle leaves. They are generally built about fifty feet above the ground, and are securely fastened to the branches of a substantial tree, and a crude ladder of bamboo connects them with the ground. When all the inmates are safely housed for the night, the ladder is removed aloft out of the reach of elephants, who, mischievously inclined, might remove the obstruction, and leave the Kānikars to regain terra firma the best way they could." Sometimes a single bamboo, with the shoots on the sides cut short, does duty for a ladder. It has been said that, when the crops are ripening, the Kānikar watchmen are always at home in their arboreal houses, with their bows and arrows, and chanting their wild songs. Sometimes the blunt end of an arrow is used as a twirling stick in making fire by friction, for which purpose sticks made of Grewia tiliœfolia, etc., are also used. In making fire, the Kānikars "procure two pieces of wood, one of which is soft, and contains a small hole or hollow about half an inch deep to receive the end of the other, which is a hard round stick about eighteen inches long, and as thick as an ordinary ruler. The Kānikar takes this stick between the palms of his hands, keeping, it in a vertical position, with the end of it in the hollow referred to, and produces a quick rotary and reverse motion, and with slight pressure causes the friction necessary to produce a quantity of fluff, which soon ignites."

The Kānikars are employed by the Government to collect honey, wax, ginger, cardamoms, dammar, and