Note 36 — J

The elders of the White Jews of Cochin have in their possession a charter on two copper plates in Vatteluttu character, “the original character which once prevailed over nearly all the Tamil country and south-west coast, but which has long ceased to be used in the former place, and, in the latter, is now only known in a later form, used for drawing up documents by Hindu Rājas.”36 Concerning this copper-plate charter, Mr. Adler writes that “the white Jews say that they have always held it; the black Jews contend that it was originally theirs. The title-deed is quaint in many ways. It consists of three strips of copper, one of which is blank, one etched on both sides, and the third on one side only. The characters are made legible by being rubbed with whitening. The copper plates have a round hole in the corner, through which a string was passed to tie them together under seal, but the seal is lost. They are now kept together by a thin and narrow copper band, which just fits.”