626 Notes on the Kasia Hills, and People. [No. 152. 



demurely cast to the earth, or on their own finery, and never raised for 

 a moment. They too are loaded with silver chains, tassels, and armlets, 

 and all wear on the head a peculiar circlet of silver, having a tall spear 

 head ornament rising behind. They are swaddled in a long petticoat, 

 as tight as the clothing of a mummy, with an upper garment like a 

 handkerchief passing tight under the right arm, and tied in a knot on 

 the left shoulder. Waist they exhibit none, the figure being a perfect 

 parallelogram. In the sword dance, the men accompanied by music 

 and musquetry, dance and bound, clashing sword and shield, and utter- 

 ing in chorus a chaunt, at first seemingly distant and sepulchral, but 

 gradually becoming louder and louder, till it bursts into a tremendous 

 unearthly howl ; then sinking to a doleful chaunt, again and again 

 rising to wake the echoes. The sword, a strange weapon, is composed 

 of one piece of the coarsest iron, about four feet long, of which one 

 third is handle, the rest blade. The latter has its edge slightly convex, 

 and the back drawn to a peak like the old Turkish scymitar. The 

 handle has two guards, and is grasped at the lower, the hilt passing 

 between the two middle fingers. Yet with this uncouth weapon, so 

 uncouthly held, I have seen a goat in sacrifice cleanly beheaded at 

 a blow. 



The village children have a curious gymnastic amusement. The 

 trunk of a young tree, by a cut in the centre is fixed on a pivot at the 

 top of a post about four feet high. Two urchins seizing opposite ends 

 of the pole, run round in the same direction till they have got a proper 

 impetus, and then whirl rapidly, in turn leaping and descending in a 

 very light and graceful manner. The children also spin a regular peg- 

 top, and it is indigenous, not an importation. Another of their recrea- 

 tions is an old acquaintance also, which we are surprised to meet with 

 in the far East. A very tall thick bamboo is planted in the ground 

 and well oiled. A silver ornament, or a few rupees, placed at the top, 

 reward the successful climber. 



But their favourite amusement in the cold weather is archery. In 

 the trial of skill each village has from time immemorial its established 

 competitor, and with this alone is the contest carried on. The Toxo- 

 philite meeting is held at each village on alternate market days. The 

 target is pitched at about sixty yards. It is made of an oblong piece of 

 bark, about three feet and a half high by one broad. Four or five 



