60 



A Note on some Hill Tribes on the Kuladyne River ; — Arracan. By Lieut. 



T. Latti:r (67th N. I), of the Arracan Local Battalion. 



<J>oira yap vnep aypiav v$av, ava ravrpa /cat TTtrpac. 



There are few facts more remarkable in India, than the vast number 

 of tribes which occupy its mountain fastnesses, and which roam through 

 its interminable forests ; all speaking distinct dialects. In many in- 

 stances such tribes are, as far as distance is concerned, near neighbours - y 

 though in reality almost perfect strangers ; a state of alienation, in a great 

 measure arising from the dense and impervious vegetation, always occu- 

 pying the lower mountainous ranges of this country. And in no part 

 perhaps is this peculiarity more strikingly exemplified than in the 

 Yooma range of hills, which separate the province of Arracan from the 

 Empire of Burmah. On the banks of the Kuladyne river, which runs 

 down the 93° parallel of longitude, and within a space over which a 

 bird might speed in a summer's day, may be found the following clans — 

 the Khumis, the Mrus (of which there are two tribes, speaking distinct 

 dialects), the Anoos, the Kyaus, the Kh6ns, the Shentoos, and finally 

 the Khyoungthas. Although the languages of all these may have 

 originated from the same stock, yet there is quite as much difference 

 between them as between French and English. The most powerful 

 among them are the Shentoos, who being beyond our frontier, are known 

 to us only by their devastations on those tribes which pay us tribute ; 

 the suddenness, secrecy, and never-failing nature of these attacks, cause 

 them to be held, by the rest, in a dread of which it would be impossible 

 to give an idea. The Khdns, who are likewise beyond our frontier, are 

 employed by the Shentoos as guides and spies, and are on that account 

 obnoxious to the vengeance of those clans, who may owe a blood feud 

 to the Shentoos. They reside during the night in huts built on high 

 trees, and return with the day to their regular habitations below. The 

 remaining tribes are all more or less under our rule, and have conse- 

 quently given up their feuds. With the exception of the Khyoungthas 

 or " Sons of the Stream," all the rest of the tribes, above enumerated, 

 go under the general term of Toungthas, or " Sons of the Hill." I shall 

 proceed to give a slight sketch in the following order of the Khyoung- 

 thas, the Khumis, and the Kyaus, which three clans fell under my 

 observation during a short trip up the Kuladyne. 



