276 KHASIA MOUNTAINS. Chap. XXIX. 



of pigs and fowls. Eggs are most abundant, but used 

 for omens only, and it is a common, but disgusting 

 occurrence, to see large groups employed for hours in 

 breaking them upon stones, shouting and quarrelling, 

 surrounded by the mixture of yellow yolks and their red 

 pawn saliva. 



The funeral ceremonies are the only ones of any impor- 

 tance, and are often conducted with barbaric pomp and 

 expense ; and rude stones of gigantic proportions are erected 

 as monuments, singly or in rows, circles, or supporting one 

 another, like those of Stonehenge, which they rival in 

 dimensions and appearance. The body is burned, though 

 seldom during the rains, from the difficulty of obtaining 

 a fire ; it is therefore preserved in honey (which is abun- 

 dant and good) till the dry season : a practice I have read of 

 as prevailing among some tribes in the Malay peninsula. 

 Spirits are drunk on these occasions ; but the hill Khasia is 

 not addicted to drunkenness, though some of the natives of 

 the low valleys are very much so. These ascend the rocky 

 faces of the mountains by ladders, to the Churra markets, 

 and return loaded at night, apparently all but too drunk 

 to stand ; yet they never miss their footing in places 

 which are most dangerous to persons unaccustomed to 

 such situations. 



The Khasias are superstitious, but have no religion; like 

 the Lepchas, they believe in a supreme being, and in deities 

 of the grove, cave, and stream. Altercations are often 

 decided by holding the disputants' heads under water, 

 when the longest winded carries his point. Fining is a 

 common punishment, and death for grave offences. The 

 changes of the moon are accounted for by the theory 

 that this orb, who is a man, monthly falls in love 

 with his wife's mother, who throws ashes in his face. 



