Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/217

Rh then stood before a heap, and called for a wife, who was created therefrom. According to another story, some five thousand years ago, during the age of the lunar race, there was one Dasa Rāja, who was ruling near Hastināpura, and was childless. To secure offspring, he prayed to god, and did severe penance. In answer to his prayer, God pointed out a tank full of lotus flowers, and told the king to go thither, and call for children. Thereon, five thousand children issued forth from the flowers, to the eldest of whom the king bequeathed his kingdom, and to the others money in abundance. Those who received the money travelled southward in ships, which were wrecked, and they were cast ashore. This compelled them to make friends of local sea fishermen, whose profession they adopted. At the present day, the majority of Pattanavans are sea-fishermen, and catch fish with nets from catamarans."Fancy," it has been written,* "a raft of only three logs of wood, tied together at each end when they go out to sea, and untied and left to dry on the beach when they come in again. Each catamaran has one, two or three men to manage it; they sit crouched on it upon their heels, throwing their paddles' about very dexterously, but remarkably unlike rowing. In one of the early Indian voyager's log-books there is an entry concerning a catamaran: 'This morning, 6 A.M., saw distinctly two black devils playing at single stick. We watched these infernal imps about an hour, when they were lost in the distance. Surely this doth portend some great tempest.' It is very curious to watch these catamarans putting out to sea. They get through the fiercest surf, sometimes dancing at their ease on the top of the waters, sometimes hidden under