( 90 ) 



consistency of treacle, and spread on plantain leaves, which were 

 finely cut up and smoked in bamboo pipes. 



167. The men were middle-sized, well set-up, and muscular, 



with small waists, broad chests, and 



Description of the Kakhyens with ^g lower ij^g p 0Wer rully developed, 

 their dress and ornaments. , „,,. . * , .•' m, 



befitting genuine mountaineers. Iney 

 had no beards or whiskers, and the few hairs that served as an 

 apology for a moustache were well waxed and brought to a 

 straight point. They are more hairy however about the body, than 

 either the Shan or Burman, who, as a rule, are remarkably 

 smooth-skinned. The women were good-humoured and ami- 

 able-looking, with large mouths, moderately thick lips, high 

 cheek-bones, narrow eyes, small, straight noses, and low fore- 

 heads. The very young girls are even pretty, with rosy cheeks 

 and dark olive complexions, but hard work, exposure, priva- 

 tions, drink, and early marriage, soon deprive them of whatever 

 beauty or grace they may have been possessed. The old women 

 are thorough hags. The costume of both sexes, the fashion of 

 dressing the hair, and the weapons of the males correspond with 

 those described at page 68. They were a dirty lot, begrimed 

 with filth and smoke. Unlike most other wild tribes, the male 

 Kakhyens are content to decorate themselves with a cock's feather 

 stuck in their hair, or a tiger's tooth with part of the jaw 

 attached, fastened to their sword-belts ; leaving all other ornaments 

 for their women, who, apparently, they are fond of seeing gaily 

 decorated. The female ornaments, though simple, inexpensive, 

 and peculiar in design, become these wild people, and add con- 

 siderably to the picturesqueness of their tout ensemble. The orna- 

 ments generally consist in cowries, sown about the jacket or 

 arranged as girdles, necklets, or ear-pendants ; beads and bugles 

 are also much in favour, and a good deal of taste is often dis- 

 played in their arrangement for the article required. The more 

 wealthy families — which signifies those who have committed the 

 greatest depredations — also wear silver jewellery in the form of 

 large hoops round the neck, cylinder-shaped ear-tubes, five inches 

 long, with a bunch of hair, dyed red, protruding from one end, 

 and bangles round the wrists; some also wear flat pieces of 

 silver sown on to a piece of red cloth by which it is suspended 

 from the ear. The unmarried girls were remarkably shy and 

 timid, quite the reverse of what they are in their mountain homes, 

 and, strange to say, immediately Mrs. Mason approached, they made 

 for the nearest jungle with the fleetness of a deer, and could not be 

 prevailed on to return till she had left their camp. Inquisitiveness 



