• Wii . ^ . ;■ , . ' ^ NOTICE OF THE 



Only one trace still exists of supreme aiitliority, and this is in the person 

 of the Passine, or head of their rude religion. . This personage resided near 



. the source of the Moh river, on a mountain, called the Poyon, and by his de- 

 scendants, in the male and female line, the office of prophet or soothsayer is 

 filled. Writing being unknown, their mandates are delivered verbally, and im- 

 plicitly obeyed : to them, every dispute of importance is referred for arbitrationj 

 and in cases of sickness or marriage they are always consulted. The tenets of 

 the Khyen faith are most simple. They have no idea of the Supreme Being, 

 nor have they any tradition respecting the creation : they are the children 

 of the mountauis, and nature alone has any claim on their feelings. In con- 

 sonance with this idea, they consider, that every thing which is useful to them, 

 or conduces to the luxuries of life, ought to be held in the highest veneration, 



-- The principal object of their adoration is a thick bushy tree, bearing a small 

 berry, and called by them Subri, and under the shade of its branches they, at cer- 

 tain seasons of the year, assemble with all the members of the family, and offer 

 sacrifices of oxen and pigs, on which they afterwards feast : their cattle accom- 

 pany them during these excursions, and participate in the respect paid to the 

 tree, as being the most useful of those blessings which have been so sparingly 

 bestowed upon them. Another object of adoration is the thunder bolt, or ra- 

 ther, perhaps, the meteoric stone : whenever a thunder storm occurs, the Khyens 

 watch, with the utmost anxiety, the spot where the lightning strikes, and when 

 the weather is again calm, they proceed to the place they had marked, and exa- 

 mine all the trees, to observe whether any has been scathed by lightning: 

 should they be so fortunate as to find one, they immediately dig the ground 

 under the injured bough, and commence searching for the sacred stone, 

 Vv^hich is generally of the size of the hand, and is, by them, imagined to fall from 

 heaven. This stone is supposed to possess the most supernatural qualities, 

 and its appearance is hailed by the sacrifice of a hog and a bullock, after 

 which it is delivered over to the care of the Passine, who keeps it as an 

 infallible talisman against every sort of disease.. 



