In a note [173] on the Pariah caste in Travancore, the Rev. S. Mateer narrates a legend that the Shanans are descended from Adi, the daughter of a Pariah woman at Karuvur, who taught them to climb the palm tree, and prepared a medicine which would protect them from falling from the high trees. The squirrels also ate some of it, and enjoy a similar immunity. It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Madura district, that Shanan toddy-drawers "employ Pallans, Paraiyans, and other low castes to help them transport the liquor, but Musalmans and Brahmans have, in several cases, sufficiently set aside the scruples enjoined by their respective faiths against dealings in potent liquor to own retail shops, and (in the case of some Musalmans at least) to serve their customers with their own hands." In a recent note, [174] it has been stated that "L.M.S. Shanar Christians have, in many cases, given up tapping the palmyra palm for jaggery and toddy as a profession beneath them; and their example is spreading, so that a real economic impasse is manifesting itself. The writer knows of one village at least, which had to send across the border (of Travancore) into Tinnevelly to procure professional tree-tappers. Consequent on this want of professional men, the palm trees are being cut down, and this, if done to any large extent, will impoverish the country." In the palmyra forests of Attitondu, in Tinnevelly, I came across a troop of stalwart Shanan men and boys, marching out towards sunset, to guard the ripening cholum crop through the night, each with a trained dog, with leash made of fibre passed through a ring on the neck-collar. The leash would be slipped directly the dog scented a wild pig, or other nocturnal marauder. Several of the dogs bore the marks of encounters with pigs. One of the party carried a musical instrument made of a 'bison' horn picked up in the neighbouring jungle. The Shanans have a great objection to being called either Shanan or Marameri (tree-climber), and much prefer Nadan. By the Shanans of Tinnevelly, whom I visited, the following five sub-divisions were returned:-- 1. Karukku-pattayar (those of the sharp sword), which is considered to be superior to the rest. In the Census Report, 1891, the division Karukku-mattai (petiole of the palmyra leaf with serrated edges) was returned. Some Shanans are said to have assumed the name of Karukku-mattai Vellalas. 2. Kalla. Said to be the original servants of the Karukku-pattayar, doing menial work in their houses, and serving as palanquin-bearers. 3. Nattati. Settled at the village of Nattati near Sawyerpuram. 4. Kodikkal. Derived from kodi, a flag. Standard-bearers of the fighting men. According to another version, the word means a betel garden, in reference to those who were betel cultivators. 5. Mel-natar (mel, west). Those who live in the western part of Tinnevelly and in Travancore.