“The outward distinguishing marks of the Purrah are two parallel tattooed lines round the middle of the body, inclining upwards in front, towards the breast, and meeting in the pit of the stomach. There are various gradations of rank among them, but I could never ascertain their respective offices; persons said to be men of rank amongst them have been pointed out to me with great caution, as the Timannees, generally, do not like to speak of them; but I could learn nothing further. Purrah-men sometimes quit their retirement, and associate with the townspeople, following employments of various kinds, but no chief or headman dare bring a palaver against a Purrah-man, for fear of a retributive visit from the whole body. At stated periods they hold conventions or assemblies, and on those occasions the country is in the greatest state of confusion and alarm; no proclamation is publicly made, but a notice from the chief or headman of the Purrah, communicated by signs hung up at different places, with the meaning of which they are acquainted, is a summons to them to meet on an appointed day, at a certain rendezvous. Palavers of great weight, such as disputes between rival towns, or offences of such magnitude as to call for capital punishments, are always settled by the Purrah—the headmen of towns not having at the present day (whatever power they may have possessed formerly) the lives or their subjects or dependents in keeping. The Purrah may be therefore said to possess the general government of the country, and from the nature of their power, and the purposes to which it is applied, they will probably be found a most serious obstacle to its civilization.”[9] [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO A “PORO BUSH.”]