In other respects also the Berias of Bengal appear to be more
respectable than the remainder of the caste, obtaining their livelihood
by means which, if disreputable, are not actually dishonest; while
in Central India the women Berias are prostitutes and the men
house-breakers and thieves. These latter are so closely connected
with the Sansias that the account of that caste is also applicable
to the Berias. In Jubbulpore, Mr. Gayer states, the caste are expert
house-breakers, bold and daring, and sometimes armed with swords and
matchlocks. They sew up stolen property in their bed-quilts and secrete
it in the hollow legs of their sleeping-cots, and the women habitually
conceal jewels and even coins in the natural passages of the body, in
which they make special _saos_ or receptacles by practice. The Beria
women go about begging, and often break open the doors of unoccupied
houses in the daytime and steal anything they can find. [260] Both
Sansia and Beria women wear a _laong_ or clove in the left nostril.