On the day of Kiala the men are out all day, with hook and line, fishing. When they return in the evening with their catch, each immediately offers as a sacrifice to the canoe a mixture of chopped fish and other materials, which are made into a paste and applied to the vessel. The fish they have caught are skewered on bamboo and roasted. Those unable to go during the day set out at night with torches prepared for the occasion.
Next day is Anoi-ila, a holiday, and in the morning all assemble in the houses at Elpanam and partake collectively of the roasted fish with other things. Then they sleep till evening, and do no work.
A day following closely is called Enwan-n'gi (fishing again for the children). As a rule, the fish caught on the first expedition is all consumed at the general banquet, but this is taken to the houses and eaten there. A holiday again follows.
To attract fish to their shores it is customary for the villages to erect on the beach at Elpanam, when the sea is calm, a number of long bamboos decorated with leaves, etc. This practice is called Ma-ya-kuv-ka-ma-ka—Papa is going this way to fetch fish. The poles remain for four days, and after they are removed, the large canoes obtained at Chaura are fed (Ngya áp), and fowls are offered to them in sacrifice.
Sacrifice is generally offered to these canoes thrice in each month—on seeing the new moon, at full moon, and on the waning of the moon.
A ceremony called Ramal is held in honour of the safe return of the canoes that periodically make the customary voyages to Chaura for pottery. It consists of feasting, dancing, and singing, as do most of the Nicobarese observances. These songs and dances are composed some time before the events and carefully practised during the interval.
The ceremony of Gnunota is held on behalf of those drowned during this annual voyage to Chaura, and is practised, instead of burial and the ceremony of Kana Awn, on occasions when the bodies are not available.
The death of a Nicobarese when absent is regarded with much greater concern than when such an event takes place at home. This is quite in accordance with European feeling.
A belief that the Chaura men are great exponents of wizardry is deeply rooted throughout the group. One of the Mūs canoes having been lost on the return from that island, the tamiluanas told the people that the Chaura men had a grudge against the people of Mūs, which, however, they did not like to satisfy in the island, but caused the visitors to be destroyed while at sea, by means of the black art, through which a tempest was raised during their return voyage.
The tamiluanas possess the power of conversing with the spirits of the dead, and they informed the village that they had seen this deceased party, who stated that they had perished from hunger, and now wanted meals.