When the north-east monsoon sets in, the sea is very rough on the east coast, and many people become seriously ill, the result being that there are always a greater number of deaths than usual in that part of the island. All the villages there situated accordingly take in hand the process of _Tanangla_, which signifies "support" or "prevention." In this, they fence _Elpanam_ with palm leaves, and festoon the houses and pathways with various kinds of shrubs and grasses. They also prepare huge images in human form, by twisting palm leaves round logs of wood, and place these about their houses. An old man lost his teeth, and to celebrate the fact, gave a great feast to a large body of people who came to it from other villages. The giver was adorned with silver wire from head to foot, and made to sit in a _kantéra_ (_mafai's_ chair) in honour of his departed grinders. A man was bitten by a snake, with serious consequences. When he recovered, he invited his friends to a feast, and performed the ceremony of _Ke luing alaa_, which consisted in waving a lighted palm-leaf torch round his head. * * * * * The natives apparently possess the right to assume various social distinctions at will. There is a class of men termed _Sanokuv_ which numbers many individuals in its ranks. _Sanokuv_ seems to mean a bashful or delicate person. These men will not eat any food cooked by others, neither will they use well-water, nor partake of pigs and chickens reared in the village, as they consider these unclean. The water they require they obtain either from a jungle stream, or by collecting rain. They will not drink toddy made from trees near the village, but draw it from distant palms. Everything is partaken of from special vessels; toddy is sucked from a bamboo through a reed, of which the mouth-end is capped with a larger as soon as the drink is finished. They are, however, willing to accept bread, biscuits, and rum from others, but the latter is drunk from a new coconut shell, and never from a glass. The whole proceeding seems to be a variant of the Hindu institution of _caste_. The _Mafai_ is another peculiarity of the Nicobar social organisation. The Kar Nicobarese take great interest in the creation of _mafais_, and in conducting _mafai_ performances. They give much of their property, time, and labour to a _mafai_, and look on him as somewhat sacred. He is a man who, recovering from a serious illness, decides to do no work for some time to come; in fact, he continues to be an invalid, and henceforth neither obtains nor cooks food, but is supported by the community. The word _mah_ means "sir," and is used to indicate one who is a superior, and is employed as a term of respect towards men and women of some age: the chief of a village, the head of a family, or parents, are styled _mah_. _Fai_ means "inspired." _Mafai_ therefore means "an inspired man," _i.e._, a seer.