The dead are buried with the body lying on its left side, and the head to the south. On their return home from a funeral, those who have been present thereat salute a lighted lamp. On the spot where the dead person breathed his last, a little ragi (Eleusine Coracana) paste and water are placed, and here, on the fourth day, a goat is sacrificed, and offered up to the soul of the departed. After this the son proceeds to the burial ground, carrying a stone, and followed by men selected from each of the exogamous septs. Arrived near the grave, they sit down, while the son places the stone on the ground, and they then lift it in succession. The last man to do so is said to fall into a trance. On his recovery, leaves (plantain, teak, etc.) corresponding in number to the exogamous septs, are arranged round the stone, and, on each leaf, different kinds of food are placed. The men partake of the food, each from the leaf allotted to his sept. The meal concluded, the son holds the stone in his hands, while his companions pour ragi and water over it, and then carries it away to the gopamane (burial-ground) of his sept, and sets it up there. On the occasion of a death in a Mala Vellala village, the Sholagas come in crowds, with clarionets and drums, and bells on their legs, and dance in front of the house. And the corpse is borne, in musical procession, to the burning-ground. The staple food of the Sholagas is ragi paste and yams (Dioscorea), which, like the Uralis, they supplement by sundry jungle animals and birds. Paroquets they will not eat, as they regard them as their children. Their main occupation is to collect minor forest produce, myrabolams, vembadam bark (Ventilago madraspatana), avaram bark (Cassia auriculata), deers' horns, tamarinds, gum, honey, soap-nuts, sheekoy (Acacia Concinna),etc. The forests have been divided into blocks, and a certain place within each block has been selected for the forest depôt. To this place the collecting agents, mostly Sholagas and Uralis, bring the produce, and there it is sorted and paid for by special supervisors appointed for the work. In the Coimbatore district the Sholagas are said to collect honey from rocky crevices. The combs are much larger than those found on trees, and are supposed to contain twice as much wax in proportion to the honey. On the Nilgiri hills honey-combs are collected by Jen Kurumbas and Sholagas. The supply of honey varies according to the nature of the season, and is especially plentiful and of good quality when Strobilanthes Wightianus, S. Kunthiana, and other species are in flower. It has been said that even wild beasts will scent a Sholaga, and flee before the aroma.