freely permitted. Conjugal morality is somewhat lax, and
Mr. Crooke quotes a report from Pertabgarh to the effect that if a
woman of a tribe become pregnant by a stranger and the child be born
in the house of her father or husband, it will be accepted as a Pasi
of pure blood and admitted to all tribal privileges. The bodies of
adults may be buried or burnt as convenient, but those of children
or of persons dying from smallpox, cholera or snake-bite are always
buried. Mourning is observed during ten days for a man and nine days
for a woman, while children who die unmarried are not mourned at all.

5. Religion, superstitions and social customs

The Pasis worship all the ordinary Hindu deities. All classes of
Brahmans will officiate at their marriages and other ceremonies,
and do anything for them which does not involve touching them or
any article in their houses. In Bengal, Sir H. Risley writes, the
employment of Brahmans for the performance of ceremonies appears to
be a very recent reform for, as a rule, in sacrifices and funeral
ceremonies, the worshipper's sister's son performs the functions of a
priest. "Among the Pasis of Monghyr this ancient custom, which admits
of being plausibly interpreted as a survival of female kinship, still
prevails generally." The social status of the Pasis is low, but they
are not regarded as impure. At their marriage festivals, Mr. Gayer
notes, boys are dressed up as girls and made to dance in public, but
they do not use drums or other musical instruments. They breed pigs and
cure the bacon obtained from them. Marriage questions are decided by
the tribal council, which is presided over by a chairman (_Chaudhri_)
selected at each meeting from among the most influential adult males
present. The council deals especially with cases of immorality and
pollution caused by journeys across the black water (_kala pani_)
which the criminal pursuits of the tribe occasionally necessitate.

6. Occupation

The traditional occupation of the Pasis, as already stated, is the
extraction of the sap of palm trees. But some of them are hunters
and fowlers like the Pardhis, and like them also they make and mend
grindstones, while others are agriculturists; and the caste has also
strong criminal propensities, and includes a number of professional
thieves. Some are employed in the Nagpur mills and others have taken
small building contracts. Pasis are generally illiterate and in poor
circumstances