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THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



asking whether any given assemblage of people are 

 keeping a feast, a burial, or a sacrifice. 



In the south of the Chin Hills they believe 

 that a man can take to the next world anything 

 that is buried with him; hence many things are 

 put in graves, such as guns, gongs, and even 

 cooking-pots. These interesting customs throsv 

 light on the well-known fact that in the 

 prehistoric burial-mounds, dolmens, etc., of Europe 

 and Asia weapons and utensils are found buried 

 with the skeleton or the ashes, as the case may 

 be (the present writer has dealt with this subject 

 in his work on "Prehistoric Man and Beast"). 

 These superstitious people believe that evil spirits 

 may seize them, maltreat them, or inflict diseases 

 and death upon them. AVhen an epidemic of 

 cholera broke out among some Chins who went 

 on a visit to. Eangoon, they carried drawn swords 

 whenever they moved about, in order to scare 

 away the evil spirit, and spent the whole day 

 hiding under bushes, so that he should not be 

 able to find them. The Southern Chins even 

 begged that they might be allowed to sacrifice a 

 slave boy to the foreign spirit to whose influence 

 the outbreak was attributed; but humaner counsels 

 at last prevailed, and they were allowed to sacrifice 

 pariah dogs instead. Messrs. Carey and Tuck relate 

 how, owing to the belief that spirits wander about 

 at night, a small Burmese slave once escaped. The 

 boy was creeping silently towards their post at 

 night, when he Avas detected by one of their sentries, 

 who at once cocked his gun. The small boy 

 quietly sat down in the long grass, while another 

 sentry seized the man's gun and cried out, " Do 

 not shoot; it is a spirit, and misfortune will fall 

 on us." Meanwhile, the boy quietly glided off, and reached the post in safety. 



The chiefs have a sacred grove within which is a rock used as an altar, on which are 

 laid food and various odds and ends. "In dealing with a Chin, it is right to remember that 

 his spirit is of supreme importance in his eyes, and that his grove or his rock is as much 

 feared by him as the pagoda is revered by the Buddhist. Therefore, if it is possible, the 

 felling of trees in a sacred grove should be avoided. But care must be taken that the 

 cupidity of the Chin is not pandered to, as it is no sin for him to lie, and he will claim any 

 tree in the forest as dedicated to or inhabited by a spirit, if he wants it for his own use" 

 (Carey and Tuck). From time to time a man sacrifices to his own private household spirit; 

 and when he does so he closes his gate, setting on it a green branch to let every one know 

 that they must leave him alone. Sometimes a whole village will sacrifice to the village spirit, 

 and then the traveller must seek hospitality elsewhere. 



On the original site of the Chassad Kukis, or Taksatte, as the Chins call them, are some 

 tall stone pillars still standing. The natives, when questioned about these monuments, were 

 silent; some said they did not know anything about them. But some time afterwards a 

 friendly Chin came up and quietly whispered, "Those stones at Taksatte were set up by the 

 spirits; but do not tell any one that I have told you so, as the spirits would be avenged on 



Photo by 



JHAN BEAUT 



