33 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



latter case, the Kaclieen believe that the dead are changed into evil 

 spirits, and for that reason young women have an indescribable horror 

 of such a death. 



It is evident from these facts that the religion of the Kacheen has 

 nothing in common with Buddhism. Their religion includes the belief 

 in a Supreme Being who has created everything, in a heaven and a 

 hell, and a future state of rewards and punishments ; but the views of 

 individuals do not give the slightest clew to a clear definition of their 

 faith. The mountaineers, however, all agree in a caltus, which con- 

 sists in giving honors to the so-called Nats, or tutelary genii. They 

 also believe that the spirits of murdered persons, under the name of 

 Munda, make the mountains unsafe, and that they take possession of 

 those persons over whom a similar fate is pending. The Kacheen have 

 an unwritten language, and a very primitive method of computing 

 time. Their year begins on the day when they begin to eat the newly 

 harvested rice, and ends on the day that a dish of fresh rice is again 

 gathered. 



Slavery has existed among them from a considerable antiquity. 

 Boys and girls are stolen in Assam and sold to wealthy Kacheenese. 

 A young slave is worth about twenty dollars, a full-grown man only 

 about ten dollars. The lot of the slaves is not very hard, and their 

 children are regarded as more or less members of the family. 



The food of the people consists of rice, beans, pork, and dried fish 

 imported from Burmah. The men eat separately from the women. 



Their towns are composed of from three to ten houses, each of which 

 is surrounded by a stone-wall about six feet high. We were always 

 required to dismount before passing the wall, for the mountaineers have 

 religious scruples against allowing persons to ride on horseback into 

 their courts. The houses are light bamboo structures, without iron or 

 stone work. A north-and-south passage leads into the interior, which 

 strangers are allowed to enter only from the south. First we passed a 

 stable, whose fence was adorned with the horned skulls of buffaloes, and 

 the marshy floor of which yielded at every step. A few steps led to 

 the dwelling-house proper, which appeared to be divided into a western 

 and an eastern half. The western part consisted of a series of closed 

 rooms, the eastern half of three apartments open toward the long pas- 

 sage, in the middle and largest of which was built the hearth, where 

 a fire was "constantly kept up. 



The head of the house and his family live in the inclosed rooms, the 

 domestics and slaves in the opposite rooms. The floors are of plank, 

 and kept clean, and the ceiling is identical with the smoke-blackened 

 roof. The whole house is built on piles. The few other domestic 

 buildings are grouped around the inclosure-walls, and are commonly 

 situated on the edge of the thick and gloomy forest. 



The Kacheen call all their chiefs, who rule each over a small terri- 

 tory, Tsobwa. The Tsobwa receives yearly from his subjects as tithes 



