"The marriage customs of the Valluva Pulayas in the southern parts of the State, especially in the Cochin and Kanayannur taluks, are more formal. The average age of a young man for marriage is between fifteen and twenty, while that of a girl is between ten and twelve. Before a young Pulayan thinks of marriage, he has to contract a formal and voluntary friendship with another young Pulayan of the same age and locality. If he is not sociably inclined, his father selects one for him from a Pulaya of the same or higher status, but not of the same illam (family group). If the two parents agree among themselves, they meet in the hut of either of them to solemnise it. They fix a day for the ceremony, and invite their Vallon and the castemen of the village. The guests are treated to a feast in the usual Pulaya fashion. The chief guest and the host eat together from the same dish. After the feast, the father of the boy, who has to obtain a friend for his son, enquires of the Vallon and those assembled whether he may be permitted to buy friendship by the payment of money. They give their permission, and the boy's father gives the money to the father of the selected friend. The two boys then clasp hands, and they are never to quarrel. The new friend becomes from that time a member of the boy's family. He comes in, and goes out of their hut as he likes. There is no ceremony performed at it, or anything done without consulting him. He is thus an inseparable factor in all ceremonies, especially in marriages. I suspect that the friend has some claims on a man's wife. The first observance in marriage consists in seeing the girl. The bridegroom-elect, his friend, father and maternal uncle, go to the bride's hut, to be satisfied with the girl. If the wedding is not to take place at an early date, the bridegroom's parents have to keep up the claim on the bride-elect by sending presents to her guardians. The presents, which are generally sweetmeats, are taken to her hut by the bridegroom and his friends, who are well fed by the mother of the girl, and are given a few necessaries when they take leave of her the next morning. The next observance is the marriage negociation, which consists in giving the bride's price, and choosing an auspicious day in consultation with the local astrologer (Kaniyan). On the evening previous to the wedding, the friends and relations of the bridegroom are treated to a feast in his hut. Next day at dawn, the bridegroom and his friend, purified by a bath, and neatly dressed in a white cloth with a handkerchief tied over it, and with a knife stuck in their girdles, go to the hut of the bride-elect accompanied by his party, and are all well received, and seated on mats spread on the floor. Over a mat specially made by the bride's mother are placed three measures of rice, some particles of gold, a brass plate, and a plank with a white and red cover on it. The bridegroom, after going seven times round