Note 177 — K (continued 5)
Reading edition
The Kondhs are said177 to prevent the approach of the goddess of small-pox by barricading the paths with thorns and ditches, and boiling caldrons of stinking oil. The leopard is looked upon in some way as a sacred beast by the Kondhs of the northern Māliahs. They object to a dead leopard being carried through their villages, and oaths are taken on a leopard’s skin.