sudden conflagration, some of the Kammalans lost their lives. Others reached the ships, and escaped by sea, or were captured and put to death. In consequence of this, artificers ceased to exist in the country. One pregnant Kammalan woman, however, took refuge in the house of a Beri Chetti, and escaped decapitation by being passed off as his daughter. The country was sorely troubled owing to the want of artificers, and agriculture, manufactures, and weaving suffered a great deal. One of the kings wanted to know if any Kammalan escaped the general destruction, and sent round his kingdom a piece of coral possessing a tortuous aperture running through it, and a piece of thread. A big reward was promised to anyone who should succeed in passing the thread through the coral. At last, the boy born of the Kammalan woman in the Chetti's house undertook to do it. He placed the coral over the mouth of an ant-hole, and, having steeped the thread in sugar, laid it down at some distance from the hole. The ants took the thread, and drew it through the coral. The king, being pleased with the boy, sent him presents, and gave him more work to do. This he performed with the assistance of his mother, and satisfied the king. The king, however, grew suspicious, and, having sent for the Chetti, enquired concerning the boy's parentage. The Chetti thereon detailed the story of his birth. The king provided him with the means for making ploughshares on a large scale, and got him married to the daughter of a Chetti, and made gifts of land for the maintenance of the couple. The Chetti woman bore him five sons, who followed the five branches of work now carried out by the Kammalan caste. The king gave them the title of Panchayudhattar, or those of the five kinds of weapons. They now intermarry with each other, and, as children of the Chetti caste, wear the sacred thread. The members of the caste who fled by sea are said to have gone to China, or, according to another version, to Chingaladvipam, or Ceylon, where Kammalans are found at the present day. In connection with the above story, it may be noted that, though ordinarily two different castes do not live in the same house, yet Beri Chettis and Kammalans so live together. There is a close connection between the Kammalans and Acharapakam Chettis, who are a section of the Beri Chetti caste. Kammalans and Acharapakam Chettis interdine; both bury their dead in a sitting posture; and the tali (marriage badge) used by both is alike in size and make, and unlike that used by the generality of the Beri Chetti caste. The Acharapakam Chettis are known as Malighe Chettis, and are considered to be the descendants of those Beri Chettis who brought up the Kammalan children, and intermarried with them. Even now, in the city of Madras, when the Beri Chettis assemble for the transaction of caste business, the notice summoning the meeting excludes the Malighe Chettis, who can neither vote nor receive votes at elections, meetings, etc.,