Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 4.djvu/230

LABBAI usually known as Sōnagan, i.e., a native of Sōnagam (Arabia), and this name is common at the present day. Most of the Labbais are traders; some are engaged in weaving cōrah (sedge) mats; and others in diving at the pearl and chank fisheries of the Gulf of Manaar. Tamil is their home-speech, and they have furnished some fair Tamil poets. In religion they are orthodox Musalmans. Their marriage ceremony, however, closely resembles that of the lower Hindu castes, the only difference being that the former cite passages from the Korān, and their females do not appear in public even during marriages. Girls are not married before puberty. Their titles are Marakkāyan (Marakalar, boatmen), and Rāvuttan (a horse soldier). Their first colony appears to have been Kāyalpatnam in the Tinnevelly district." In the Manual of the Madura district, the Labbais are described as "a fine, strong, active race, who generally contrive to keep themselves in easy circumstances. Many of them live by traffic. Many are smiths, and do excellent work as such. Others are fishermen, boatmen, and the like. They are to be found in great numbers in the Zamindaris, particularly near the sea-coast." Concerning the use of a Malay blow-gun (glorified pea-shooter) by the Labbais of the Madura district. Dr. N. Annandale writes as follows.* " While visiting the sub-division of Rāmnād in the coast of the Madura district in 1905, I heard that there were, among the Muhammadan people known locally as Lubbais or Labbis, certain men who made a livelihood by shooting pigeons with blow-guns. At Kilakarai, a port on the Gulf of Manaar, I was able to obtain a specimen, as well as particulars. According to my Labbi informants,