March 30, 1876] 



NATURE 



423 



The Kakhyens especially are a very interesting race. 

 They inhabit the mountains on the border-country be- 

 tween Burmah and China, and Dr. Anderson considers 

 them as cognate with the hill tribes of the Mishmees and 

 Nagas. The name Kakhyen is a Burmese appellation? 

 and the people are widely spread under other names, 

 as Singphos, Kakoos, &c. They do not seem, however, 

 to be a genuine aboriginal population in Burmah and 

 China as so many hill-tribes are elsewhere. 



" By their own account the hills to the north of the 

 Tapeng, for a month's journey, are occupied by kindred 

 tribes. South of the Tapeng, they occupy the hills as far 

 as the latitude of Tagoung, and, as mentioned, were met 

 with on our voyage near the second defile. To the east, 

 they are found occupying the hills, and, intermixed with 

 the Shans and Chinese, almost to jMomien. Here they, 

 as it were, run into the Leesaws, who may be a cognate, 



Kakhyen Men. 



but are not an identical, race. The two chief tribes in the 

 hills of the Tapeng valley are the Lakone and Kowrie or 

 Kowlie, but numerous subdivisions of clans occur. All 

 are said to have originally come from the Kakoos' country, 

 north-east of Mogoung ; and Shans informed us that two 

 hundred years ago Kakhyens were unknown in Sanda and 

 Hotha valleys. To give one instance of their migrations. 

 The Lakone tribe have at a very recent period driven the 

 Kowlies from the northern to the southern banks of the 

 Tapeng. A Lakone chief, having married the daughter 

 of a Kowlie, asked permission to cultivate land belonging 

 to his father-in-law ; receiving a refusal, he took forcible 

 possession, and drove the Kowlies across the river to the 

 hiUs where they now dwell." 



The Kakhyens are divided into numerous tribes or 

 clans, between which there does not appear to be any 

 strong common bond of imion. Indeed, in very many 

 respects, the system of government, if it may be so called, 



which exists among these half wild tribes, reminds us 

 strongly of that which prevailed in the Scottish High- 

 lands in the so-called " good old times," before the aboli- 

 tion of the hereditary jurisdictions. They have many 

 curious superstitions and customs, which Dr. Anderson 

 describes with great minuteness. Everything in " the 

 heavens above, the earth beneath, and the waters under 

 the earth " seems to have its particular " nat " or spirit ; 

 " every accident or illness is the work of some malignant 

 or vindictive one of ' these viewless ministers.' " The 

 will of these " nats " is consulted by means of a medium, 

 who works himself up into a state of great agitation, so as 

 to become " possessed." The Kakhyens are not very bold 

 warriors, though they are great braggarts, and very 

 troublesome to deal with. They are altogether a very 

 interesting people. 



With regard to the wide-spread Shan race, also, many 

 details will be found in the volume, the result both of Dr. 



Kakhyen Matrons. 



Anderson's own observation and of the observations ot 

 previous explorers. The Shans of Yunnan belong to the 

 Tay-Shan or Great Shans of the Tai-race,'the branches 

 of which, under different names, are found extending to 

 the eleventh parallel, their various states being tributary 

 to Siam, Burmah, and China. The Shans of Burmah 

 have become closely assimilated to the Burmese in all 

 respects ; the Yunnan Shans are the remnants of the 

 Shan Kingdom of Pong, conquered by the Chinese 

 in the fourteenth centurj-, and which included part of 

 Burmah. 



" The Shans proper of these valleys are a fair race, 

 somewhat sallow like the Chinese, but of a very faintly 

 darker hue than Europeans, the peasantry, as a rule, 

 being much browned by exposure ; they have red 

 cheeks, dark brown eyes, and black hair. In young 

 people and children, the waxen appearance of the Chinese 



