particularly for a nursing woman. Sharks' fins find a ready sale, and are exported to China by way of Bombay. The maws or sounds of kora and cat-fishes are dried, and shipped to China and Europe for the preparation of isinglass." [65] It will be interesting to watch the effect of the recently instituted Fishery Bureau in developing the fishing industry and system of fish-curing in Southern India. Mukkuvans work side by side with Mappillas both at the fishing grounds and in the curing yards, and the two classes will eat together. It is said that, in former times, Mappillas were allowed to contract alliances with Mukkuva women, and that male children born as a result thereof on Friday were handed over to the Mappilla community. It is recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1891, that "conversion to Islam is common among this caste. The converts are called Puislam or Putiya Islam [66] (new Islam). All Puislams follow the occupation of fishing. In the northernmost taluks there is a rule that Mukkuva females during their periods cannot remain in the house, but must occupy the house of a Mappilla, which shows that the two castes live on very close terms." The fishermen at Tanur are for the most part Puislamites, and will not go out fishing on Fridays. From a recent note (1908), I gather that the Mukkuvas and Puislams of Tanur have been prospering of late years and would appear to be going in for a display of their prosperity by moving about arrayed in showy shirts, watch-chains, shoes of the kind known as Arabi cherippu, etc. This sort of ostentation has evidently not been appreciated by the Moplahs, who, it is said sent round the Mukkuva village, known as Mukkadi some Cherumas, numbering over sixty, to notify by beat of kerosene tins that any Mukkuva or Puislam who went into the Moplah bazaar wearing a shirt or coat or shoes would go in peril of his life. Some days after this alleged notification, two Mukkuvas and a Mukkuva woman complained to the Tirur Sub-Magistrate that they had been waylaid by several Moplahs on the public road in the Tanur bazaar, and had been severely beaten, the accused also robbing the woman of some gold ornaments which were on her person. I am informed that Tanur is the only place where this feeling exists. Puislams and Mappillas settle down together peacefully enough elsewhere. There are two titles in vogue among the Mukkuvans, viz., Arayan and Marakkan. Of these, the former is the title of the headmen and members of their families, and the latter a title of ordinary members of the community. The caste deity is said to be Bhadrakali, and the Mukkuvans have temples of their own, whereat worship is performed by Yogi Gurukkals, or, it is said, by the Karanavans of certain families who have been initiated by a Yogi Gurukkal.