262 NOTICE OF THE 



: white cloth, and with a spear, or cross-bow, and a quiver full of arrows, a 

 Dahf and a pouch to contain tobacco and betel, their dress is complete. The 

 women merely wear a black petticoat, reaching to the knees, and adorn their 

 necks, and the hem of their garments, with couries and glass beads : all the 

 menial offices of the house devolve upon them : — they procure water for 

 daily consumption, pound paddy, and dress the food of the men, who are ge- 

 nerally employed in fishing and tilling the land. The young Khyen girls are 

 rather pretty, than otherwise, but a custom, which has been handed to them 

 by their ancestors, stamps many of them with the brand of ugliness, and ren- 

 ders them most hideous objects. This consists in tattooing the whole face in 

 segments of circles, with a blue mixture, leaving the neck of its natural colour, 

 and thus giving them the appearance of wearing masks, were it not that the 

 deadly aspect of the white space round the eyes, and the livid color of the lips, 

 indicated the transformation to be indelible. The Khyens nearest the plains are 

 a quiet inoffensive set, and must be distinguished from the Khyens of the further 



:~ mountains, inasmuch as they have placed themselves under the Burman govern- 

 ment, and are liable to be called upon for their quota of men in case of war, and 

 -pay taxes; whereas, the others are quite independant, residing in the most re- 

 mote and unfrequented recesses of the mountains. Those Khyens hold them- 

 selves aloof from, and are entirely independant of the rest of mankind, whom 

 they consider their enemies and lawful prey, and acknowledge no sovereign ; 

 they herd together in small parties of thirty and forty, and select some 

 fertile spot in the neighbourhood of a mountain stream, sufficiently large to 

 cultivate grain for their consumption. There they erect their miserable 

 dwellings, and, with the produce of the land, consisting of rice and turmeric^ 

 contrive to support themselves : the rivers furnish them with abundance of 

 fish, and they will eat any animal, however disgusting it may be. 



The origin of the Khyens is lost in fiction, and of the details of their early 

 history, the present race know little, except from vague traditions, verbally 



