Note 69 — V (continued 2)

There is a class of people in Malabar called Vettan or Vettuvan, which must not be confused with the jungle Vēttuvan. These people were, it is said,69 “once salt-makers, and are now masons, earth-workers, and quarrymen. They are said to be divided into two classes, the marumakkattāyam (with inheritance in the female line) regarded as indigenous to Malabar, and the makkattāyam (with inheritance from father to son), said to be immigrants from the south.”