In the Mysore Census Report, 1891, it is stated that "the Hasalaru and Maleru are confined to the wild regions of the Western Malnad. In the caste generation, they are said to rank above the Halepaikas, but above the Holeyas and Madigas. They are a diminutive but muscular race, with curly hair and dolichocephalous head. Their mother-tongue is Tulu. Their numbers are so insignificantly small as not to be separately defined. They are immigrants from South Canara, and lead a life little elevated above that of primordial barbarism. They live in small isolated huts, which are, however, in the case of the Hasalas, provided not only with the usual principal entrance, through which one has to crawl in, but also with a half-concealed hole in the rear, a kind of postern, through which the shy inmates steal out into the jungle at the merest suspicion of danger, or the approach of a stranger. They collect the wild jungle produce, such as cardamoms, etc., for their customary employers, whose agrestic slaves they have virtually become. Their huts are annually or periodically shifted from place to place, usually the most inaccessible and thickest parts of the wilderness. They are said to be very partial to toddy and arrack (alcoholic liquor). It is expected that these savages smuggle across the frontier large quantities of wild pepper and cardamoms from the ghat forests of the province. Their marriage customs are characterised by the utmost simplicity, and the part played therein by the astrologer is not very edifying. Their religion does not seem to transcend devil worship. They bury the dead. A very curious obsequial custom prevails among the Hasalas. When any one among them dies, somebody's devil is credited with the mishap, and the astrologer is consulted to ascertain its identity. The latter throws cowries (shells of Cyproea moneta) for divination, and mentions some neighbour as the owner of the devil thief. Thereupon, the spirit of the dead is redeemed by the heir or relative by means of a pig, fowl, or other guerdon. The spirit is then considered released, and is thence forward domiciled in a pot, which is supplied periodically with water and nourishment. This may be looked upon as the elementary germ of the posthumous care-taking, which finds articulation under the name of sradh in multifarious forms, accompanied more or less with much display in the more civilised sections of the Hindu community. The Hasalaru are confined to Tirthahalli and Mudigere."