object of his former choice, then the people of their tribe are assembled; she is conducted back to her mother's house; sheep, oxen, eating-plate, with brass cup, jewels, ornaments, and whatever else she may have brought with her from her mother's house, are returned; and the tali, which was put on, is broken off and taken away. If the wife dislikes the husband, then the money he paid, the expenses which he incurred in the wedding, the tali which he caused to be bound on her, are restored to him, and the woman, taking whatsoever she brought with her, returns to her mother's house, and marries again at her pleasure." It is recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1891, that "a special custom obtaining among the Marava zemindars of Tinnevelly is mentioned by the Registrar of that district. It is the celebration of marriage by means of a proxy for the bridegroom in the shape of a stick, which is sent by the bridegroom, and is set up in the marriage booth in his place. The tali is tied by some one representative of the bridegroom, and the marriage ceremony then becomes complete.... Widow re-marriage is freely allowed and practiced, except in the Sembunattu sub-division." "A widow," Mr. Fawcett writes, "may marry her deceased husband's elder brother, but not a younger brother. If she does not like him, she may marry some one else." When a girl reaches puberty, news of the event is conveyed by a washerman. On the sixteenth day she comes out of seclusion, bathes, and returns home. At the threshold, her future husband's sister is standing, and averts the evil eye by waving betel leaves, plantains, cocoanuts, cooked flour paste (puttu), a vessel filled with water, and an iron measure containing rice with a style (ambu) stuck in it. The style is removed by the girl's prospective sister-in-law, who beats her with it as she enters the house. A feast is held at the expense of the girl's maternal uncle, who brings a goat, and ties it to a pole at her house.