Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 4.djvu/112

KUDUBI and fifth days, the same items are gone through at the bride's house. In the case of the remarriage of a widow, the bride and bridegroom take their seats, and rice is thrown over them. The dhāre water is not poured over their hands. Sometimes, the marriage consists merely in the holding of a feast. The dead are buried in a sitting posture, with the legs crossed tailor-wise. Before the grave is filled in, a small quantity of cooked rice is put in the mouth of the corpse. On the third day, a small mound is made over the grave, and food offered to it. The final death ceremonies take place on the eleventh day, and consist in the sprinkling of holy water, and giving presents to Brāhmans. By the prosperous members of the community, a caste feast is given on the twelfth day. The main occupation of the Kudubis is shifting (kumāri) cultivation. Some, however, are employed in the preparation of cutch (catechu) from the wood of Acacia Catechu, of which the following account is given by Mr. H. A. Latham* of the Forest Department. " In South Canara, one of our most profitable sources of revenue is the extract obtained by boiling the wood of the catechu tree. The tree is confined to the laterite plateaux in the Coondapur tāluk, situated as a rule within 15 miles of the sea, and gradually dies out as we proceed southwards, until near Coondapur itself the tree will hardly grow. It appears again to a small extent in the Kasaragod tāluk 80 miles further south, but no extraction is done there now. The extract is astringent, and, besides the other uses it is put to, it appears