Harkness, Henry: A description of a singular aboriginal race inhabiting the summit of the Neilgherry Hills, or Blue Mountains of Coimbatoor, in the Southern Peninsula of India (London, 1832)

76 MECHANICAL ARTS.

tions to others of the priestly caste, who prepare and dress
them for food. The whole is now again offered in front of
the temple, when the officiator makes a short prayer, for
prosperity to the community during the ensuing year ;
and a large pit being dug, it is lined with leaves, the
dressed food put into it, mixed up together, and distri-
buted in portions to the whole of the village, or to any
other persons who are present and who like to partake of
it with them. Of the latter occurrence, however, there
is little chance, for none will eat with them but Cohatars,
and as the same festival is going on in each village at the
same time, they are not likely to have any visitors. In
the evening a large bonfire is made, around which the
whole join in a dance, and which generally lasts till
towards midnight.

The same scene takes place on the next and the follow-
ing days, until the moon is at her full, and during the
whole of this period all labour is suspended. On the day of
the full moon, after the whole have partaken of the feast,
the blacksmith and the gold and silversmith, constructing
separately a forge and furnace within the temple, each
makes something in the way of his avocation,—the black-
smith a chopper or axe, the silversmith a ring or other
kind of ornament.

All the pottery that these people use, and a great deal
also of that which is used by the other tribes, is made by
the Cohatar women ; this being considered quite a female