( 117 ) 



198. At last, the Tswabwa made his appearance from the private 



apartment, followed by a crowd of 

 Interview with the Tswabwa, meu womeu ail( j children ; we ex- 



and description oi him. i i i i 1 ■ i 



changed looks, but not words ; nor 

 was a syllable spoken for about five minutes after he was seated. 

 He was a middle-aged man of about five feet eight inches, thin but 

 wiry, rather narrow in the chest, and small arms and wrists, with 

 notably large hands and feet. The face was narrow, and flat- 

 nosed — small, deep, but not obliquely set eyes, no beard, and but 

 very little moustache. The hair was cut short and squared over 

 the forehead. His organs of observation and destructiveness were 

 large, and cerebellum small ; his general expression was cadaver- 

 ous and unpleasant. He wore a blue cloth round his loins, which 

 extended to the knees, the upper and lower borders being wove in 

 red and coloured wool. A white quilted jacket, and white muslin 

 gong-bong or head-dress completed his costume. His ears were 

 pierced, and a bimch of Celosia and Tagetes erecta made to serve as 

 ornaments ; below the knees were a number of the thin cane ring 

 described at page 68. Tatooing is not practised by the Kakhyens 

 until we get much further north, and then the women are tatooed 

 in bands below the knees to the ankle, which is exactly the reverse 

 of the Burman custom. 



Silence was now broken by my Kakhyen mouth-piece entering 

 into an explanation as to the origin of my visit, he having previ- 

 ously been told exactly what to say. The Tswabwa was remark- 

 ably taciturn, merely signh^ying approval by a grunt and a nod, 

 leaving all the talking to his Pomine, who was loquacious in the 

 extreme, and rattled away with questions at a great pace ; the 

 womenfolk also joined in the conversation, and of course were still 

 more inquisitive than the men, wanting particularly to know all 

 about our women, over the customs, in respect to marriages, how many 

 wives we had, and various other questions, some of which verged 

 on the naughty, I am afraid. I was recommended not to take notes 

 in the presence of these people, neither to be too prying nor press- 

 ing in my enquiries, so I could gain but little information regard- 

 ing many subjects on which I should have liked to hear their views 

 Their religion is demonology, and naturally they are extremely 

 superstitious, always consulting omens, and the most trifling cir- 

 cumstance will determine the fate of a dozen or more lives, or some 

 equally important event. They speak of once having had a Bible 

 and a written tongue of their own, but are strong in the belief that 

 the former was written on leather, and eaten by a hungry Kakhyen 

 or Thainbore as they call themselves ; and with its disappearance 

 the alphabet was lost. 



