a Nayar, versed in songs, performs the office. The boy and girl are then carried by enangans to a decorated apartment in the inner part of the house, where they are required to remain under a sort of pollution for three days. On the fourth day they bathe in some neighbouring tank (pond) or river, holding each other's hands. After changing their clothes they come home, preceded by a procession. Tom-toms (native drums) and elephants usually form part of the procession, and turmeric water is sprinkled. When they come home, all doors of the house are shut, and the Manavalan is required to force them open. He then enters the house, and takes his seat in the northern wing thereof. The aunt and female friends of the girl then approach, and give sweetmeats to the couple. The girl then serves food to the boy, and, after taking their meal together from the same leaf, they proceed to the booth, where a cloth is severed into two parts, and each part given to the Manavalan and girl separately in the presence of enangans and friends. The severing of the cloth is supposed to constitute a divorce." "The tearing of the cloth," Mr. Fawcett writes, "is confined to South Malabar. These are the essentials of the ceremony, an adjunct to which is that, in spite of the divorce, the girl observes death pollution when her Manavalan dies. The same Manavalan may tie the tali on any number of girls, during the same ceremony or at any other time, and he may be old or young. He is often an elderly holy Brahman, who receives a small present for his services. The girl may remove the tali, if she likes, after the fourth day. In some parts of Malabar there is no doubt that the man who performs the rôle of Manavalan is considered to have some right to the girl, but in such case it has been already considered that he is a proper man to enter into sambandham with her."