Writing in the eighteenth century, Hamilton observes [89] that "the Nambouries are the first in both capacities of Church and State, and some of them are Popes, being Sovereign Princes in both." Unlike the Brahmans of the remainder of the Madras Presidency, who so largely absorb all appointments worth having under Government, who engage in trade, in, one may say, every profitable profession and business, the Nambutiris hold almost entirely aloof from what the poet Gray calls "the busy world's ignoble strife," and, more than any class of Brahmans, retain their sacerdotal position, which is of course the highest. They are for the most part landholders. A very large portion of Malabar is owned by Nambutiris, especially in Walluvanad, most of which taluk is the property of Nambutiris. They are the aristocracy of the land, marked most impressively by two characteristics, exclusiveness and simplicity. Now and then a Nambutiri journeys to Benares, but, as a rule, he stays at home. Their simplicity is really proverbial, [90] and they have not been influenced by contact with the English. This contact, which has influenced every other caste or race, has left the Nambutiri just where he was before the English knew India. He is perhaps, as his measurements seem to prove, the truest Aryan in Southern India, and not only physically, but in his customs, habits, and ceremonies, which are so welded into him that forsake them he cannot if he would. It is noted, in the Gazetteer of Malabar, that "as a class, the Nambudiris may be described as less affected than any other caste, except the very lowest, by western influences of whatever nature. One Nambudiri is known to have accepted a clerical post in Government service; a good many are Adhigaris (village headmen), and one member of the caste possesses a Tile-works and is partner in a Cotton-mill. The bicycle now claims several votaries among the caste, and photography at least one other. But these are exceptions, and exceptions which, unimportant as they may seem to any one unacquainted with the remarkable conservatism of the caste, would certainly have caused considerable surprise to the author of the first Malabar Manual."