him whether he has taken charge of the house. He replies evasively "Have the carpenters and workmen received all their wages? If they have, I take charge of the house." The carpenter does not answer the question, for, if he did so, the mischief would be transferred to him through the house-owner. So he says "I did not ask you about my wages. Have you taken charge of the house?" The man inside answers as before, adding "otherwise not." The carpenter again says "I did not ask you about my wages. Answer me straight. Have you, or have you not taken charge of the house?" The man inside replies "I have taken charge of the house," and opens the door. Taking in his hands the plantain leaves on which he stood, he runs away as fast as he can without looking back. This he must not do on any account. The people pelt him with plantains, and hoot at him as he runs, and water mingled with cow-dung is sprinkled in his path. After all this, cow's milk is boiled with a little rice in the house, of which every one partakes, and the owner assumes charge of his house. In the pre-British days, a few of the well-to-do families of Tiyans lived in houses of the kind called nalapura (four houses), having an open quadrangle in the centre. But, for the most part, the Tiyans--slaves of the Nayars and Nambutiris--lived in a one-roomed thatched hut. Nowadays, the kala pura usually consists of two rooms, east and west. Toddy-drawing, and every thing connected with the manufacture and sale of arrack (country liquor) and unrefined sugar, form the orthodox occupation of the Tiyan. But members of the community are to be found in all classes of society, and in practically all professions and walks of life. It is interesting to find that the head of a Tiyan family in North Malabar bears the title Cherayi Panikar, conferred on the family in the old days by a former Zamorin. A title of this kind was given only to one specially proficient in arms. Even in those days there were Tiyan physicians, bone-setters, astrologers, diviners, and sorcerers.