Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/364

SAVARA by the women. Brass necklets and many other ornaments are made in Saora hills by the Gangsis, a low tribe of workers in brass. The Saora's weapons are the bow, sometimes ornamented with peacock's feathers, sword, dagger, and tangi. The bow used by the Saoras is much smaller than the bow used by any of the other hill people. It is generally about 3½ feet long, and the arrows from 18 to 21 inches. The bow is always made of bamboo, and so is the string. The arrows are reeds tipped with iron, and leathered on two sides only. A blunt-headed arrow is used for shooting birds. Every Saora can use the bow from boyhood, and can shoot straight up to 25 or 30 yards."

As regards the marriage customs of the Savaras, Mr. Fawcett writes that "a Saora may marry a woman of his own or of any other village. A man may have as many as three wives, or, if he is a man of importance, such as Gōmango of a large village, he may have four. Not that there is any law in the matter, but it is considered that three, or at most four, are as many as a man can manage. For his first marriage, a man chooses a young woman he fancies; his other wives are perhaps her sisters, or other women who have come to him. A woman may leave her husband whenever she pleases. Her husband cannot prevent her. When a woman leaves her husband to join herself to another, the other pays the husband she has left a buffalo and a pig. Formerly, it is said, if he did not pay up, the man she left would kill the man to whom she went. Now arbitration comes into play. I believe a man usually takes a second wife after his first has had a child; if he did so before, the first wife would say he was impotent. As the getting of the first wife is more troublesome and expensive than getting the others, she is treated the