Note 37 — D.

Social customs. 15. The women tattoo themselves only on the arms. In this they differ from the Orâons, who are tattooed in childhood with the three marks on the brow and two on each temple that distinguish the majority of the Munda women.37 There is no special pattern and nothing resembling a tribal tattoo. The women wear bracelets (mathiya), pewter anklets (pairi), necklets (hansli), ear ornaments (utarna), bead necklaces (guriya). They eat beef and pork, and almost any meat except that of the lizard, jackal, alligator, and monkey. They use liquor and smoking and chewing tobacco. The use of liquor they believe keeps off malaria. They will not touch or name the wife of the elder brother. They treat their women fairly well, consult them in family affairs, and follow their advice. Their business is generally to work as ploughmen. Their wages are four sers of grain for each working day, a rupee and-a-half at the end of the agricultural year, one blanket and half a bîgha of rent-free land. They also get food on the Panchaiyân, Khichari, and Phagua festivals. They have no regular communal organization, but they are very clannish and afraid of strangers. In Mirzapur they are little better than a miserable, depressed tribe of field serfs.