BURMA 



117 



me if they heard that I have done so." Near Haka there is a grove which no one must 

 injure. A slave girl once fell ill, and then confessed that she had cut wood in this grove 

 for sale to the troops; and although sacrifices were freely offered up she died, and the comment 

 of the neighbours was that "it served her right." 



Omens are consulted before undertaking a journey, a feast, a raid, or a sacrifice; and 

 the most trivial things that may happen are looked upon as omens, either good or bad. 

 They generally kill an animal and examine its liver. If the liver is congested, or in any 

 way different from what it ought to be, they take the fact as an omen that the time is 

 unpropitious, and the enterprise is often abandoned. But this depends on the nature of the 

 undertaking. If a raid or a marriage be the object in view, or, in fact, anything which they 

 may be unwilling to postpone, a second animal is killed, and its liver examined; it seldom 

 happens that both livers give the same result. The call of a certain bird is regarded as a 

 most favourable omen, and he who starts on a journey proceeds boldly if he hears it. 



The Chins have a great belief in witchcraft and the evil eye. The tribe known as Hakas 

 consider that the Siyins, Yahows, and many of the Lushais (other tribes) are wizards, whose 

 single glance is quite enough to bewitch them. To them such playful tricks are attributed 

 as causing lizards to enter 

 the body or balls of string 

 to form in the stomach. In 

 1893, when a Lushai officer 

 came to Haka to take over 

 mules, he was accompanied 

 by Lushai coolies, who strolled 

 down to the village to chat; 

 their approach was marked 

 by a stampede of the women, 

 who fled to the fields or hid 

 in the houses. They after- 

 wards explained that the 

 mere sight of one of these 

 Lushais was sufficient to cause 

 sickness and distress. Messrs. 

 Carey and Tuck say: "Chins 

 have begged permission from 

 us to shoot individuals who 

 have the misfortune to be 

 pronounced wizards. When 

 told that our customs do not 

 admit of the spilling of blood 

 except when blood has been 

 intentionally spilled, they 

 reply that our customs are 

 most unjust and protect the 

 wizard, who is allowed to 

 practise his uncanny occupa- 

 tion in peace, and who kills 

 people right and left, but, 

 because he spills no blood, 

 we take no notice." 



Virtue in women is looked 



upon rather as a "counsel photo blj ilesal , s WaUs A gfcw(J 

 Of perfection." An outraged A SHAN-TALOK WOMAN. 



[Rangoon. 



