Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India.djvu/50

xlvi dynasty,* some Andhra Brahmans were brought into South Canara. As a sufficient number of Brahmans were not available for the purpose of yagams (sacrifices), these Andhra Brahmans selected a number of families from the non- Brahman caste, made them Brahmans, and chose exogamous sept names for them. Of these names, Manoli (Cephalandra Indica), Perala {Psidium Guyava), Kudire (horse), and Ane (elephant) are examples.

A character, with which I am very familiar, when measuring the heads of all sorts and conditions of natives of Southern India, is the absence of convexity of the segment formed by the posterior portion of the united parietal bones. The result of this absence of convexity is that the back of the head, instead of forming a curve gradually increasing from the top of the head towards the occipital region, as in the European skull figured in plate Ilia, forms a flattened area of considerable length almost at right angles to the base of the skull as in the " Hindu " skull represented in plate b. This character is shown in a marked degree in plate IV, which represents a prosperous Linga Banajiga in the Canarese country.

In discussing racial admixture, Quatrefages writes as follows.† "Parfois on trouve encore quelques tribus qui ont conserve plus on moins intacts tous les caracteres de leur race. Les Coorumbas du Malwar [Malabar] et du Coorg paraissent former un noyau plus considerable encore, et avoir conserv6 dans les jungles de Wynaad une independence a peu pres complete, et tous leurs