Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 4.djvu/233

Rh the Gulf of Manaar appeared to be ignorant of this usage, but told me that a 'doctor' once went out with them to collect the tears of a Dugong, should they capture one. Though they do not call the animal a fish, they are less particular about eating its flesh than are the Patani Malays and the Trang Samsams, who will not do so unless the 'fish's' throat has been cut in the manner orthodox for warm-blooded animals. The common Tamil name for the Dugong is kadalpūdru ('sea-pig'); but the fishermen at Kilakarai (Lubbais) call it āvillīah."

Concerning the Labbais of the South Arcot district, Mr. W. Francis writes as follows.* "The Labbais are often growers of betel, especially round about Nellikuppam, and they also conduct the skin trade of the district, are petty shop-keepers, and engage in commerce at the ports. Their women are clever at weaving mats from the screw-pine (Pandanus fascicularis), which grows so abundantly along the sandy shore of the Bay of Bengal. The Labbais very generally wear a high hat of plaited coloured grass, and a tartan (kambāyam) waist-cloth, and so are not always readily distinguishable in appearance from the Marakkāyars, but some of them use the Hindu turban and waist-cloth, and let their womankind dress almost exactly like Hindu women. In the same way, some Labbais insist on the use of Hindustāni in their houses, while others speak Tamil. There seems to be a growing dislike to the introduction of Hindu rites into domestic ceremonies, and the processions and music, which were once common at marriages, are slowly giving place to a simpler ritual more in resemblance with the nikka ceremony of the Musalman faith."