﻿KOOKIKS OR LUNCTAS. 185 



sheet of cloth over thch' bodies, to defend them from 

 the cold. 



This tradition of their origin receives much sup- 

 port from the great similarity of ti)e Ivliig and Kookic 

 languages, many words of which are exactly the 

 same, and their general resemblance is such that a 

 Mug and Kaokie can make themselves understood to 

 each other. 



The Kookies are all hunters and warriors, and are 

 divided into a number of distinct tribes, totally in- 

 dependent of each other, though all of them acknow- 

 ledge, more or less, the authority of tiu'ee difrerent 

 Rajahs, named Tu'andon, JMankene, and Ha l- 

 CHA, to whom the various tribes are attached, but 

 whose power over them is very limited, except in that 

 tribe with which the Rajah lives, where he is abso- 

 lute. The rajahships are hereditary, and the AV/- 

 jahs, by way of distinction, wear a small slip of black 

 cloth round their loins ; and, as a fiirthcr mark of su- 

 perior rank, they have their hair brought forward, 

 and tied in a bunch, so as to ovcishade the forehead, 

 "while the rest of the Kockies have theirs hanging loose 

 over the shoulders. The females also of the Rajah's 

 family wear an apron of black cloth, A\ith a red bor- 

 der, which falls down to the knee, — a colour and fa- 

 shion prohibited to the rest of the sex, black being 

 the royal colour. 



7^HE Rajahs receive a tribute in kind from tlic 

 tribes, to support their dignity ; and in cases of ge- 

 neral danoer, thev can summon all the warriors to 

 arms ; but each tribe is under the imuiediate com- 

 mand of its own particidar chief, whose word is a 

 law in peace and war, and who has the power of life 

 and death in his tribe. 'J he chieftainship is not he- 

 reditary like the rajahship, i)ut elective, though in 

 general the nearest relation of the last chief succeeds 

 him, if deemed by the. tribe a proper person for the 

 trust, and the R(jah cannot remove a chief once 

 elected, should he disapprove of him. 



The 



