prepared, with three pieces of stone installed in it, symbolising the god Siva. Flowers, fruits, cocoanuts, incense, etc., are then offered, varied occasionally by an additional sheep or pig. A wooden seat is placed before the image, and the sacrificing woman places upon it her right hand with the fingers spread out. A man holds her hand firmly, and the village carpenter, placing his chisel on the first joints of her ring and little fingers, chops them off with a single stroke. The pieces lopped off are thrown into an ant-hill, and the tips of the mutilated fingers, round which rags are bound, are dipped into a vessel containing boiling gingily (Sesamum indicum) oil. A good skin eventually forms over the stump, which looks like a congenital malformation. The fee of the carpenter is one kanthiraya fanam (four annas eight pies) for each maimed finger, besides presents in kind. The woman undergoes the barbarous and painful ceremony without a murmur, and it is an article of the popular belief that, were it neglected, or if nails grow on the stump, dire ruin and misfortune will overtake the recusant family. Staid matrons, who have had their fingers maimed for life in the above manner, exhibit their stumps with a pride worthy of a better cause. At the termination of the sacrifice, the woman is presented with cloths, flowers, etc., by her friends and relations, to whom a feast is given, Her children are placed on an adorned seat, and, after receiving presents of flowers, fruits, etc., their ears are pierced in the usual way. It is said that to do so before would be sacrilege." In a very full account of deformation of the hand by the Berulu Kodo sub-sect of the Vakaliga or ryat caste in Mysore, Mr. F. Fawcett says that it was regularly practiced until the Commissioner of Mysore put a stop to it about twenty years ago. "At present some take gold or silver pieces, stick them on to the finger's ends with flour paste, and either cut or pull them off. Others simply substitute an offering of small pieces of gold or silver for the amputation. Others, again, tie flowers round the fingers that used to be cut, and go through a pantomime of cutting by putting the chisel on the joint and taking it away again. All the rest of the ceremony is just as it used to be." The introduction of the decorated cart, which has been referred to, is connected by Mr. Fawcett with a legend concerning a zemindar, who sought the daughters of seven brothers in marriage with three youths of his family. As carts were used in the flight from the zemindar, the ceremony is, to commemorate the event, called Bandi Devuru, or god of cars. As by throwing ear-rings into a river the fugitives passed through it, while the zemindar was drowned, the caste people insist on their women's ears being bored for ear-rings. And, in honour of the girls who cared more for the honour of their caste than for the distinction of marriage into a great