General Habitat. The Khasis reside in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills district of Assam. They number 176,614 souls, which total is made up of:—         Khasis 107,515         Syntengs 47,883         Christian Khasis 17,125         Khasis inhabiting other districts 4,091 176,614 The Khasi and Jaintia Hills district is situated between 25° 1' and 26° 5' North Latitude, and between 90° 47' and 92° 52' East Longitude. It contains an area of 6,157 square miles, with a total population at the Census of 19

Domestic Life Occupation. The greater proportion of the population subsists by cultivation. Cultivation of rice may be divided under two headings, high land or dry cultivation and low land or wet cultivation. The total number of persons who subsist by agriculture generally in the hills, is given is the last Census Report as 154,907, but the term agriculture includes the cultivation of the potato, the orange, betel-nut and pán . A full description of the different forms of agriculture will be giv

Laws and Customs Tribal Organization. The inhabitants of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills may be said to be divided into the following sections:—Khasi, Synteng or Pnar, Wár, Bhoi, and Lynngam. These divisions represent collections of people inhabiting several tracts of country and speaking dialects which, although often deriving their origin from the Khasi roots, are frequently so dissimilar to the standard language as to be almost unrecognizable. The above sections may be sub-divided as follows:—The

Folk-Tales, Traditions and Superstitions Folk-Tales. The Khasis possess a considerable amount of folk-lore. The tales which will be found reproduced in the original Khasi have been obtained from a collection which was in the possession of the Rev. Dr. Roberts, of Cherrapunji, who very kindly placed it at my disposal. The translations are by U Nissor Singh, Sub-Inspector of Schools, and the author of a Khasi English Dictionary as well as certain other educational works in that language. Dr. Rober

Miscellaneous Teknonomy. The Khasis, like the Alfoors of Poso in Celebes, seem to be somewhat reluctant to utter the names of their own immediate relations, and of other people's also. Parents are very frequently called the mother of so and so (the child's name being mentioned), or the father of so and so, cf. Ka kmi ka Weri, U kpa u Philip . The actual names of the parents, after falling into desuetude, are often entirely forgotten. The origin of the practice may be that the Khasis, like the Al

Language Before commencing to describe the more salient features of the Khasi language, its grammar, and syntax, it seems to be of importance to show how intimately connected Khasi is with some of the languages of Further India. In the middle of the last century Logan pointed out affinity between Khasi and these languages, but it has been left to Professor Kuhn to prove this connection to demonstration. The examples of comparative vocabularies which follow are taken from Kuhn's " Beiträge zur Sp

Exogamous Clans in the Cherra State 1. Basa-iew-moit Intermarriage with Majaw and Hynniewta clans prohibited. 2. Diengdoh Intermarriage with Lalu, Diengdohbah and Diengdohkylla clans prohibited. 3. 'Dkhar 4. Dohling 5. Dulai 6. Dunai 7. Hura 8. Hynniewta 9. Jala 10. Jyrwa 11. Khar Jarain 12. ,, Khlem 13. ,, Khrang 14. ,, Kongor 15. ,, Kyni 16. ,, Lukhi 17. ,, Maw 18. ,, Mawphlang 19. ,, Mu 20. ,, Muid 21. ,, Muti 22. ,, Mylliem 23. ,, Naior 24. ,, Shi-ieng 25. ,, Synteng 26. — — 27. Khong-bri 28

Exogamous Clans in the Khyrim State 1. Awri 2. Bariang 3. Basa-iew-moit 4. Bhoi 5. Bithai 6. Diengdoh (2) Intermarriage with Masar clan prohibited. 7. 'Dkhar 8. Dumpep 9. Hadem 10. Jasia 11. Khang-shei 12. Khar baino 13. ,, baki 14. ,, bangar Intermarriage with Nong-lwai clan prohibited. 15. Khar bih-khiew Intermarriage prohibited with Khar-umnuid clan 16. Khar bonniud 17. ,, bud 18. ,, buli 19. ,, dint 20. ,, dohling 21. ,, dumpep 22. ,, hi-dint 23. ,, iap 24. ,, Kamni 25. ,, Kongor 26. ,, Kset

Divination by Egg-Breaking The dieng shat pylleng , or egg-breaking board, is shaped as indicated in the diagram. Having placed a little heap of red earth on the board at point p , the egg-breaker sits facing the board in the position shown in the diagram. He first of all makes a little heap of rice in the middle of the board sufficient to support the egg. He places the egg there. He then takes it up and smears it with red earth, muttering incantations the while. Having finished the invocation t

[1] The previous history of the Khasi state of Jaintia, so far as it can be traced will be found related in Mr. E. A. Gait's History of Assam (1906), pp. 253-262. [3] Vol. iii., p. 168, 177, &c. [4] These cloths, which Lindsay calls " moongadutties ," were really the produce of Assam, and were dhutis or waist-cloths of muga silk. [5] Pp. 218-220., It appears from p. 219 that Mr. Scott's report is responsible for the erroneous statement (often repeated) that the mountaineers "called by us