The rainfall is on the average 120 inches. The rainfall in June, July, and August averages 80 inches, or two-thirds of the total fall for the year. Cattle suffer from murrain and foot-and-mouth disease, but no epidemic rinderpest has been recorded. Gold is washed for in all the rivers of Malabar ; but in 1877 to 1881 it was not found in sufficient quantity to repay the expenditure for European machinery and labour.
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A great Brahman colony, known as the Namburi, are large landed proprietors ; there are small tribes of Jews, and Taml1-speaking Hindus have come in considerable numbers into this region. Other languages spoken are Malealam and Tule; with some Canarese; and in the northern part of the coast, the " Juan Ribeyro•mentions that in his time, 1656, there'were fifteen kings ruling in the low tract of country between the sea and the ghats, in the short between the Salt River and Cape Comorin ; and that to this minute' division of • the country was due the facility 'with- which the in vaders overran it.
After the pacification of the country in the early years 'of the 19th century, the sub-collector, Mr. 111Baber, turned his attention to coffee-planting in Wynad ; and by 1840 this important industry was fairly established. Since 1850 it increased greatly.
Malabar has many Muhammadan Moplahs, active, intelligent men, engaged in commerce. They have several times in the 19th century risen in rebellion; feeling aggrieved by the laws which regulate Hindu property, and they have displayed on'these occasions much fanatical bravery.
' The Chorumar race are predial slaves, whose nanie'Wilson:deriveS from Chera,.Malealam for the !soil ;- they follow the'rnle of Alya Santana. 'They are very diminutive, with a very black com plexion, and not unfrequently woolly hair. The is a fisherman caste, also called •akwa, and their women Makate. - The toddy-drawer is tilled Katti Karen. The Ashary is the carpenter 'caste. In common with the brassfounder, gold and- iron smiths; 'they continue the practice of .'polyandry, but in civil inheritance follow from lather to son, and not the practice of maternal 'descent, `descensusTali'"Utero. The 'elder brother marries, and the wife is common to all the brothers. If a junior wish to marry, he must live apart and set: up .14isiness apart ; but if any of his younger .brothers reside with him, his wife is common to them. The Panni Malayan are a servile caste. -The Adiyan slave, serf, or vassal, who lives under the protection of a raja or religious establish .The Malealam Sudras, of whom the better class- are called Nairs (or lords), are bulk of the respectable population,—the. landholders, farmers, soldiers, officials, and rulers of the country. The Nair are the race of Malabar. .They were formerly accustomed to 'duelling. The 'practice 'was' called Ankara, and hired champions Were often Substituted. "The Pulichi is a .forest tribe, who are deemed so unclean that they are not allowed to approach other castes. The 'Uradi or Urali are a servile race: The Tiyar rice are toddy-draWeis and agriculturists. The Pulayan or - Pulian is servile caste, often slaves; this is doubtless the:Puller.' In ,SontlrIMOlabar, descent to ions is the law, but in North Malabar, the Nair, the.'artisans, carpenter:, brass-'smith, blacksmith, goldsmith, the Tiyar, who are toddy-drawers, and the MakWa, who are 'fishermen, are all polyandrists, and de scent of rproperfy goes in the. In North Malabar this law of descent is called \Maru makkatayain, and the Muhamnaada;fisMoidah. has
conformed :to this usage, In Os.nara, a similar law; Santana; or nephew inheritance, prevails, and is in practice.more strictly carried out than iu North Malabar. In North Malabar, the adherents to Marumakkatayam form united family communities, termed: Tarwaad, the senior member of whatsoever branch is the head of the family, and is termed Karnaven ; the other mem bers are styled Anandraven. The remotest member is acknowledged as one of the family, and entitled to maintenance if living under subordin ation to the head of the family, and taking part in their religious observances ; for the women there is nothing analogous to the state of widowhood as existing elsewhere,—whether in alliance with men or not, they reside in their own families. The Nair marries before he is ten years of age, but though be supports, he never associates with his wife, who receives at her pleasure any men, provided they be not of lower birth. Consequent on this form of descent, a Nair does not know who his father is. In law, property is held to vest in the females only ; practically the males are co-sharers with the females. In of males, females succeed to the management of the family property. In some families, the manage ment devolves on them preferably to the males, and' the senior female takes it. There is, however, a growing tendency to convey property from father to son, arising .from the gradual abandon ment of • polyandrism. • The connubial connection in question is called in Malabar Goona-dosham' (Goona, good, Dosham, evil—for better for worse). In Travancore it is styled Mundu-vang,a,' viz. Mundu, cloth, Vanga, receiving, where the girl taken is 'of ripe age, and her consent must be obtained. Personal• acquaintance thus precedes the union. The hour selected is 8 r.ir. ; there is an assemblage of friends ; the man presents the woman with a Mundu, or white muslin cloth, in a corner of which, in North Malabar, a small sum of money is tied. The girl either goes to the man's house, or remains in her own and is visited by him there. Each party is unrestricted as to the number of such connections that may be formed, but these ordinarily do not exceed two 'or three. The descent being in the female line, the parentage of the father is immaterial. The Marumakkatayam law is not followed in North Malabar by the Aka Podwal, a class of ' pagoda servants, nor by the Brahmans of North Malabar or of. Canara ;' but in Travancore law, only the eldest brother of a Brahman's • family is allowed to marry with his equal, and the other brothers form other con nections. In the Tuluva country, the Brahman widow can devote herself to the. temple, and reside outside or inside its walls. If within the walls, she is a servant of the idol, and receives the visits of men of her own caste only ; the offspring of such, if boys, are called Moylar, and the girls are married to them. But if she, elect to reside outside the walls, she must pay a monthly sum to the pagoda, and may cohabit any man of pure descent. This, however, is disputed.
Malabar is term applied'erroneously to the Tamil language. Malabar black-wood is Dalbergia. latifolia. Malabar civet cat, Viverra civettina, Blyth; Malabar creeper, Ipoincea tuberosa ; Malabar henip, Crotalaria luncea ; Malabar nightshade, Basella rubra ; Malabar • nut, fruit of Adhatoda visica ; and .Malabar sago palin'iS Caryota urens.