706 Account of Arakan. [No. 1 1 7. 



alkali, which they have the ingenuity to obtain by the combustion of 

 bamboo. Powerful outside clans frequently force supplies of salt and 

 gunpowder from their inner and weaker neighbours. 



The great art of war among the Arakan hill tribes is, to fall on the 

 enemy by surprise. If they are discovered before reaching a village of 

 attack, they eifect a retreat. An open advance in day-light is utterly 

 inconsistent with their ideas of warfare. Before starting on an expe- 

 dition, they send trusty spies to ascertain the best mode of approach ; 

 numerous are the feasts and ceremonies practiced to propitiate the 

 spirits of the mountain ; then they march, four, five, or six days' journe}', 

 and burst upon the devoted village an hour or two before dawn. 

 These attacks are sometimes made through revenge, the consequence 

 of feuds existing for many years ; but generally the great object is to 

 take prisoners who may be made slaves, women, and children therefore 

 are captured ; the men are generally slaughtered without mercy ; they 

 would be too troublesome to keep. The prisoners are sold from 

 tribe to tribe. I have sometimes been fortunate enough to recover 

 Kliyeng women and children, poor creatures who had been carried from 

 their original homes amidst the Yu-ma mountains, about two hundred 

 miles. This appeared a very world of distance to them, in a moun- 

 tainous country, where communication is so difficult. The Khyeng wo- 

 men have their faces tattooed in a remarkable manner, and being the 

 only tribe who follow this custom, they are easily recognized amidst 

 other people. 



I need scarcely remark, that none of the hill tribes are acquainted 

 with the use of letters. A few words of their languages will be found 

 in Appendix D. They are the same as those published in the *' Compa- 

 rison of Indo-Chinese languages," by the Rev. N. Brown of Sudya, in 

 the Journal of the Asiatic Society for December 1837. Separate clans 

 of Ku-mis and Khyengs differ from each other in their words for some 

 objects. 



On the tribe called " Lung-khe.'^ 



On the upper course of the river Kola-dan, and generally located 

 to the west of that river, beyond the British frontier, there exists a | 

 tribe called by the Ku-mis and Ra-khoing-thas, Lung-khe. They 



