THE KAKHYENS.
The Kakhyens or Kakoos--The clans--Their chiefs--Mountain
villages--Cultivation and crops--Personal appearance--Costume--Arms
and implements--Female dress and ornaments--Women’s work--Sheroo--
Morals--Marriage--Music--Births--Funerals--Religion--Language--
Character--How to deal with them--Our party.
From the summit of the lofty hill, fully two thousand feet above our
camp, called Shitee-doung, which it became possible to ascend during
the latter part of our stay, an extensive view was obtained. From it to
the north a sea of hills extended as far as the eye could reach; to the
south stretched ranges of hills covered with forest, save where little
clearings showed the presence of villages; to the north-east lofty
parallel ranges closed in a narrow valley with a river winding down
it. These hills are the country of the Kakhyens. These mountaineers
belong to the widely spread race that under the name of Singphos,
Kakoos, &c. occupy the hills defining the Irawady basin, up to the wall
of the Khamti plain, and are probably cognate with the hill tribes of
the Mishmees and Nagas. The name Kakhyen is a Burmese appellation;
they invariably designating themselves as Chingpaw, or “men.”[23] By
their own account the hills to the north of the Tapeng, for a month’s
journey, are occupied by kindred tribes. South of the Tapeng, they
occupy the hills as far as the latitude of Tagoung, and, as mentioned,
were met with on our voyage near the second defile. To the east, they
are found occupying the hills, and, intermixed with the Shans and
Chinese, almost to Momien. Here they, as it were, run into the Leesaws,
who may be a cognate, but are not an identical, race. The two chief
tribes in the hills of the Tapeng valley are the Lakone and Kowrie or
Kowlie, but numerous subdivisions of clans occur. All are said to have
originally come from the Kakoos’ country, north-east of Mogoung; and
Shans informed us that two hundred years ago Kakhyens were unknown in
Sanda and Hotha valleys. To give one instance of their migrations. The
Lakone tribe have at a very recent period driven the Kowlies from the
northern to the southern banks of the Tapeng. A Lakone chief, having
married the daughter of a Kowlie, asked permission to cultivate land
belonging to his father-in-law; receiving a refusal, he took forcible
possession, and drove the Kowlies across the river to the hills where
they now dwell.
Among these hill tribes the patriarchal system of government has
hitherto universally prevailed, although a certain, or rather
uncertain, obedience is nominally due to Burmese or Chinese
authorities. Thus the Ponsee and Ponline chiefs had each received a
gold umbrella and the title of papada raza from the king of Burma.
Each clan is ruled by an hereditary chief or tsawbwa, assisted by
lieutenants or pawmines, who adjudicate all disputes among the
villagers. Their office is also hereditary, and properly limited to the
eldest son, whereas the chieftainship descends to the youngest son, or,
failing sons, to the youngest surviving brother. The land also follows
this law of inheritance, the younger sons in all cases inheriting,
while the elder go forth and clear wild land for themselves. Between
Tsitkaw and Manwyne seven clans under separate chiefs are met with,
each chief considering himself entitled to exact a toll of four annas
per mule-load from travellers through his district. The chieftain’s
goodwill being secured by payment of his toll or blackmail, that of
the people follows as a matter of course. When the traveller quits the
lands of one chief, he is handed over by his guide to the next headman,
and is as safe with him as with the former. The tsawbwa is the nominal
owner of the land, but a suggestion to a villager that the chief might
evict him from his holding was replied to by a significant sawing
motion of the hand across the throat. As a general rule, the chief
owns the slaves found everywhere among these people. Most have been
stolen as children, but adults are also kidnapped. The women become
concubines, the men are well treated if industrious and willing. The
children of slaves belong to the owner, but really are as well treated
as the members of his family. When a tsawbwa marries, he is expected to
present a slave to his father-in-law, among the other gifts. The market
value of a boy or girl is about forty rupees, but that of a man not
more than twenty to thirty rupees, or a buffalo.
Every house pays the chief an annual tribute of a basket of rice.
Whenever a buffalo is killed, a quarter is presented to him. He is
usually a trader, and, besides the receipt of tolls, derives a profit
from the hire of mules or coolies for transport. Save in this respect,
it was impossible to help being reminded of Scottish highland clans of
the olden time, so many were the points of resemblance that occurred
in the customs and indeed character of these mountaineers, though, to
avert all possible indignation, I hasten to add that no parallel is
intended to be drawn, especially as regards their morals or social life.
The Kakhyen villages are always situated near a perennial mountain
stream, generally in a sheltered glen, or straggling with their
enclosures up a gentle slope, covering a mile of ground. The houses,
which usually face eastwards, are all built on the same plan as that
tenanted by us at Ponline. The most usual dimensions are about one
hundred and fifty to two hundred feet in length, and forty to fifty
feet in breadth. These large bamboo structures are veritable barracks.
The first room is hospitably reserved for strangers; the others form
the apartments of several families, connected by blood or marriage,
which compose the household community. The back entrance is reserved
for the use of the members of these families. A serious demand for
compensation arose out of the inadvertence of one of our servants who
entered by the family door, and thus provoked the domestic nat. The
projecting eaves, supported by posts which are adorned with the skulls
of buffaloes and pigs, form a portico, where men and women lounge or
work by day, and at night the live stock--buffaloes, mules, ponies,
pigs, and poultry--are housed, while a bamboo fence guards them from
possible thief or leopard.
Near the houses are small enclosures, where white-flowered poppies,
plantains, and indigo are cultivated; paddy and maize are grown
together on the adjacent slopes and knolls, which are carefully scarped
in terraces, presenting often the appearance of an amphitheatre. The
stream is dammed near the highest point, and directed so as to overflow
the terraces and rejoin the channel at the base. Bamboo conduits are
sometimes used to convey the water to paddy fields or distant houses.
Fresh clearings are also made every year by felling and burning the
forest on the hillsides. Near every village disused paths may be seen,
which have been cut to former clearings, and along which a little canal
has been carried. The cleared ground is broken up with a rude hoe, but
in the cultivated terraces wooden ploughs are used. Excessive rain,
which makes the paddy weak and the yield scanty, is most dreaded.
Generally, the natural fertility of the soil more than repays the rude
husbandry with beautiful crops of rice, maize, cotton, and tobacco, of
excellent quality. Near the villages, peaches, pomegranates, and guavas
are grown; and the forests abound with chestnuts, plums, cherries, and
various wild brambleberries. On the higher slopes, oaks and birches
grow in abundance, and large areas are covered with _Cinnamomum
caudatum_ and _C. cassia_, the oil of which is commonly sold as oil
of cinnamon. Thousands of these trees are annually felled to clear
new ground for cultivation and burned where they lie. Another natural
production is the tea plant (_Camellia thea_), which grows freely on
the eastern side of the hills, and suggested dreams of future tea
plantations, cultivated by improved Kakhyens or imported Shans and
Paloungs.
Among the inhabitants of the villages, both those who visited our camp
and the southern hillmen seen on the homeward route, the variety of
faces is striking. This may be probably owing to admixture of Shan
and Burmese blood, but two types may be said to predominate; the one
with a fine outline of features, which recalled the womanly faces of
the Cacharies and Lepchas of Sikkim. In it the oblique eye is very
strongly marked, and the face is a longish, rather compressed oval,
with pointed chin, aquiline nose, and prominent malars. One Kakhyen
belle met with at Bhamô, with large lustrous eyes and fair skin, might
almost have passed for a European. The other and by far the most
prevalent type is probably the true Chingpaw, presenting a short, round
face, with low forehead and very prominent malars. The ugliness of
the slightly oblique eyes, separated by a wide space, the broad nose,
thick protruding lips, and broad square chin, is only redeemed by the
good-humoured expression. The hair and eyes are usually a dark shade
of brown, and the complexion is a dirty buff. The average height for
men is from five feet to five feet six inches, and four feet six inches
to five feet for women. The limbs are slight, though well formed, one
peculiarity being the disproportionate shortness of the legs. This is
also observable among the Karens, to whom the Kakhyens bear a general
resemblance, suggesting a common origin, which is further indicated
by their language. Though not muscular, they are very agile, and the
young girls bound like deer along the hill-paths, their loose dark
locks streaming behind them. They bring down from the hills loads of
firewood and deal planks which we found as much as we could lift.
However interesting and picturesque their appearance may be, closer
inspection dissolves the enchantment lent by distance. Both persons
and clothes appear never to have been washed, and the dress, once put
on, is never changed till it is worn to pieces. Neither men nor women
use combs, and the state of the thick matted felt of hair can better
be imagined than described. Although they never seemed to wash except
faces, hands, and feet, some of the men were good swimmers and divers,
and proudly exhibited their skill, disclosing thereby the fact that
their bodies were tattooed with blue dots, chiefly on the chest and
back. The dress of the men usually consists of a Shan jacket and short
breeches of blue cotton cloth, supported by a cotton girdle. The hair
is coiled in a blue or sometimes a red turban; the moustache and beard
are very scanty, but their custom of eradicating the natural growth
renders it hard to judge. They insert in the lobe of the ear a piece
of bamboo, or a lappet of embroidered red cloth, a leaf or flower, or
a piece of paper, our old newspapers being in great request; and a
number of fine ratan rings encircle the leg below the knee. It seemed
to us that the Kakhyen men were ready to adopt any dress; some even
wore their hair in the Chinese pigtail. The “Red Pawmine,” on grand
occasions, turned out in a bright red turban, rose-checked breeches,
and a red blanket over his shoulders. The chiefs usually wear Chinese
padded jackets, leggings made of rolls of blue cloth, and Shan shoes.
They are distinguished, especially in the case of those who rigidly
adhere to the ancient Kakhyen costume, by neck-hoops of silver,
resembling Celtic torques, and the necklace of beads or cylinders of
an ochreous earth. These are found in the Mogoung district, and are
highly valued, being reputed to be the authentic handiwork of the
earth nats. Some Kakoos met with at Sanda wore a broad piece of blue
cotton cloth, with a red embroidered border of woollen stuff, like a
kilt, reaching to the knee. This seems to be the true Kakhyen dress;
and they also wore their hair uncovered, and cut straight across the
forehead, like the Kakhyen maidens. No hillman is ever seen without
his _dah_, or knife; it is half sheathed in wood, and suspended to a
ratan hoop covered with embroidered cloth and adorned by a leopard’s
tooth. This is slung over the right shoulder, so as to bring the hilt
in front ready to the grasp of the right hand. Two sorts of dahs are in
use: one the long sword, such as the Thibetans use, two feet and a half
in length, with a long cylindrical wooden hilt, bound with cord and
finished with a red tassel. The other is shorter and broader, widening
from the hilt to the truncated tip. This knife the Burmese call “the
Kakhyen’s chief”; it is wielded with great dexterity either to cut
down trees or men, or to execute the fine lineal tracery with which
their bamboo opium pipes and fan cases are decorated. It is appealed to
in every argument, and drawn on visible foes and invisible nats with
equal readiness. On one occasion we espied a woman on the hillside
writhing on the ground in evident pain. A passing villager came to her
assistance, and at once out flashed his dah, with which he executed
several cuts in the air over the prostrate woman. This was to drive
away the nat who had taken possession; he then threw earth over her
head, and ran off to the village to procure help to carry her home.
During the latter part of our stay, one of the police escort, during a
chaffing argument with a Kakhyen visitor, was without warning felled
by a blow of the dah. The savage decamped to the jungle, leaving the
sepoy bleeding from a gash on his head, and another on the arm, with
which he had warded off the blow and so saved his skull from being
split. These dahs are made by the Shans of the Hotha valley, who are
the itinerant smiths of the country. Other arms are a long matchlock,
and a cross-bow, with arrows poisoned with the juice of an aconitum.
They are much used in hunting; the flesh round the wound being cut out,
the rest of the animal is eaten without danger. An invariable article
of equipment is an embroidered bag worn over the right shoulder,
containing pipe, tobacco, lime and betel box, money, and a bamboo flask
of sheroo. A most ingenious apparatus supplies a light for the constant
pipe. It resembles a child’s popgun, and consists of a small cylinder
four inches long, open at one end, into which is very tightly fitted
a piston, with a cup-shaped cavity at the lower end. In it, a small
pellet of tinder is placed, the piston is driven down smartly, and as
quickly withdrawn, when the tinder is found to be ignited.
[Illustration: KAKHYEN AND SHAN PIPES, MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, ETC.
Fig. 1. Kakhyen ladle for preparing opium.
2. Kakhyen opium forceps.
3. 4. Kakhyen cylinder and piston for striking fire.
5. Shan flute with gourd mouthpiece.
6. Kakhyen double flute.
7. Kakhyen opium hookah (bamboo).
8. Kakhyen opium pipe.
9. Kakhyen opium hookah, the mouthpiece made of the underground stem
and the water receptacle of the segment of a remarkable bamboo with
swollen internodes.
10. Chinese bamboo lamp.
11. Shan powder flask.
12. Shan violin.
13. Bow for ditto.
14. Shan guitar.]
It is worth recording that the men invariably smoke opium, but not
to excess; rarely, if ever, did we see them use tobacco for smoking,
though they were addicted to chewing it. The juice of the poppy,
exuding from incisions made in the green capsules, is collected on
plantain leaves, which are dried, and in this form the opium is smoked
either in hookahs made of the segment of a peculiarly shaped bamboo
or in brass pipes of Chinese manufacture. Whether the cultivation and
use of opium have spread from Assam or from Yunnan is uncertain, but
we found it universal from the Burmese plain to Momien, although the
method of smoking it among the Kakhyens differs altogether from that
of the Chinese. Dr. Bayfield, in 1837, observed of the Singphos, on
the western side of the Irawady valley, that, “from whatever source
derived, the cultivation of the poppy is now universal;” and he
describes the methods of collection and use as the same, save that
coarse cloth was used instead of leaves.
The men rarely employ themselves in manual labour; a few of the more
industrious assist the women to fell the jungle and set it on fire,
but most of this labour is left to the women. In general, the men till
the land; but between the seasons, they wander from house to house,
and village to village, gossiping, drinking, or smoking. Journeys to
dispose of produce, or carry goods, hunting excursions, and occasional
fights or forays, are not reckoned labour. They do not work in metals,
but are very skilful in adorning bamboos or wooden implements with
carving. The designs of their tracery are the simplest combinations of
straight lines, and rude figures of birds and animals, characteristic
of the most primitive art.
The Kakhyen women have adopted the short loose Shan jacket of blue
cotton, slashed with red cloth, variously ornamented, according to the
means of the wearer, with cowries and silver. This covers the arms and
breast, but leaves the waist exposed, save for a profusion of ratan
girdles, adorned with lines of white seeds. These also support the
kirtle or kilt, which reaches from the hips to the knee, the border
of the skirt being chequered in red, blue, and yellow. Cowries form a
favourite ornamentation of every part of the dress, and the daughters
of chiefs wear broad belts of these shells. Besides the distinctive
bell-girdle, fine ratan rings encircle the leg below the knee, but no
shoes are worn. Most of the matrons coil their hair in the folds of
the Shan turban, but the original Chingpaw head-dress is a puggery
of embroidered cloth, twisted round the head, while the end, fringed
with beads, falls gracefully on the shoulder. Unmarried women wear no
head-dress, and cut their hair square across the forehead in a fashion
not unknown in England, while their back hair, unrestrained by any
fastening, streams down behind. The ears are pierced both through the
lobes and upper cartilage. In the latter orifice is inserted a lappet
of embroidered cloth tasselled with small green and black beads;
silver tubes, reaching to the shoulder, are also worn by the wealthier
_belles_, while the poorer display fresh flowers or leaves. Anything
seems convertible into an ear-ring: thus a cheroot, or, as seen by
us, a freshly plucked leek, is stuck into the ear. All who can, wear
necklaces of beads, but silver hoops called _gerees_, and the komoung
of red ochreous beads, are peculiar to the necks of high-born damsels.
It has been remarked that the men are averse to labour, but the lot of
all women irrespective of rank is one of drudgery. They are not allowed
to eat with the men, and are looked on as mere beasts of burden, valued
only for their usefulness; but they seem contented with their lot, and
are always cheerful and light-hearted. Their brisk activity forms a
pleasing contrast to the lounging idleness of their lords. Much, if not
most, of the field-work falls to their share, and their daily routine
is one of incessant and hard labour. Their first duty in the morning
is to clean and crush the rice for the daily consumption, and late at
night the dull thud of the heavy pestle, with the accompaniments of
their regular wild cry and the jingling of the bell-girdles, was to be
heard. They fetch water from the stream, and firewood from the jungle.
This latter is a most laborious task, as the girls have to search for
dry wood, cut it into faggots, and bring it home on their backs. Their
bare legs are often lacerated in the jungle, and the wounds, aggravated
by dirt and neglect, form intractable ulcers. Many such cases were
brought to our camp for treatment. Another effect of the hard work and
exposure is to be observed in the frequency of grey hair among the
young women, the matted locks of even girls of ten and twelve years
being abundantly silvered as if by premature old age.
Their ordinary house labours include the preparation of _sheroo_,
or Kakhyen beer, a beverage always in demand. This is regarded as a
serious, almost sacred task, the women, while engaged in it, having to
live in almost vestal seclusion. Certain herbs and roots dried in the
sun are mixed with chillies and ginger, to avert the interference of
malignant nats; the mixture is pulverised with some rice in a mortar,
and reduced to a paste which is carefully preserved in the form of
cakes, wrapped in mats. Crushed rice mixed with fresh plantains is
steeped for half a day, and allowed to dry. It is next boiled, or
“mashed,” with a due proportion of the “medicine” or powdered cake in
a _paungyaung_, or wooden tub, placed within a copper caldron, from
which it is, after cooling and fermenting for a week in a leaf-covered
basket, transferred to a closely covered earthen jar. After twenty days
the sheroo is fit to drink, but is better if left for six months. This
forms the stock, to which water is added, and the beverage is offered
in a bamboo, closed with a fresh plantain leaf. This liquor resembles
very small beer, but is pleasant and refreshing. A similar beverage is
found among the Lepchas of Darjeeling, who imbibe it through a reed,
the Looshais and Nagas. The Khyens and Karens also prepare a rice-beer
like the _congee_ of the Burmese; the Nagas also prepare “moad” from
rice, and the Khamtis and Singphos of the Hoo-kong valley distil a
spirit which the latter call _sahoo_; but the Kakhyens procure all
their supplies of _samshu_, or rice-spirit, from the Shan-Chinese.
It is naturally the business of the women to spin, dye, and weave the
home-grown cotton. Their loom is of a primitive form, the same as
that used among the Khyens, the Munipoories, and other tribes on the
north-east of Assam. One end of the warp is held in position by pegs
driven into the ground, and the other is kept on the stretch by a
broad leather strap fastened round the back of the woman as she sits
on the ground with her legs straight before her. A long piece of wood
keeps the threads of the warp open, so that the shuttle, which is
thirty inches long, and worked by both hands, can pass easily. With
this they produce a strong thick cloth, and weave fanciful patterns
of red, green, and yellow. They are also adepts at embroidery in silk
and cotton, which is only applied to the decoration of the bags or
havresacks worn by the men.
The code of morality of the Kakhyens has been variously represented.
Unchastity before marriage is certainly not regarded as a disgrace. If
possible, the parents of the girl endeavour to get the lovers married,
but it is not an imperative duty. Should, however, an unmarried
girl die _enceinte_, the father of the child is bound to compensate
her parents by the present of a slave, a buffalo, a dah, and other
articles, and to give a feast to the inmates of the house. Failing
this, he is liable to be sold as a slave. This arises from the value
set upon a marriageable daughter, both as regards her present working
power and her future price as a wife, which is not lessened by an
indiscretion.
Infidelity after marriage is a crime which the husband may punish on
the spot by the death of both the offenders. In case of elopement of
a wife, the husband is entitled to recover damages, fixed at double
the amount expended by him at his marriage. For this the relatives and
clansmen of the lover are held liable on pain of a feud.
The ceremony of marriage, besides the religious rites, combines the
idea of purchase from the parents with that of abduction, so frequently
found to underlie the nuptial rites of widely separated races. An
essential preliminary is to get the diviner to predict the general
fortune of the intended bride. Some article of her dress or ornaments
is procured, and handed to the seer, who, we may suppose, being thereby
brought _en rapport_ with her, proceeds to consult omens and predict
her _bedeen_ or destiny. If auspicious, messengers bearing presents
are sent to make proposals to the girl’s parents, who specify the
dowry required and agreed to by the envoys. All being adjusted, two
messengers are sent from the bridegroom to inform the bride’s friends
that such a day is appointed for the marriage. They are liberally
feasted, and escorted home by two of her relatives, who promise to be
duly prepared. When the day comes, five young men and girls set out
from the bridegroom’s village to that of the bride, where they wait
till nightfall in a neighbouring house. At dusk the bride is brought
thither by one of the stranger girls, as it were, without the knowledge
of her parents, and told that these men have come to claim her. They
all set out at once for the bridegroom’s village. In the morning the
bride is placed under a closed canopy, outside the bridegroom’s house.
Presently there arrives a party of young men from her village, to
search, as they say, for one of their girls who has been stolen. They
are invited to look under the canopy, and bidden, if they will, to take
the girl away; but they reply, “It is well; let her remain where she
is.”
While a buffalo, &c. are being killed as a sacrifice, the bridegroom
hands over the dowry, and exhibits the trousseau provided for his
bride. A wealthy Kakhyen pays for his wife a female slave, ten
buffaloes, ten spears, ten dahs, ten pieces of silver, a gong, two
suits of clothes, a matchlock, and an iron cooking pot. He also
presents clothes and silver to the bridesmaids, and defrays the
expense of the feast. Meanwhile the _toomsa_, or officiating priest,
has arranged bunches of fresh grass, pressed down with bamboos at
regular intervals, so as to form a carpet between the canopy and the
bridegroom’s house. The household nats are then invoked, and a libation
of sheroo and water poured out. Fowls, &c. are then killed, and
their blood is sprinkled on the grass path, over which the bride and
her attendants pass to the house, and offer boiled eggs, ginger, and
dried fish to the household deities. This concludes the ceremony, in
which the bridegroom takes no part. A grand feast follows. Besides the
ordinary fare of rice, plantains, and dried fish and pork, the beef of
the sacrificed buffalo and the venison of the barking deer, all cooked
in large iron pots, imported from Yunnan, are the viands. Abundant
supplies of sheroo and Chinese samshu prepare the guests for the dance.
The orchestra consists of a drum formed of a hollowed tree stem,
covered at both ends with the skin of the barking deer, a sort of
jews-harp of bamboo, which gives a very clear, almost metallic, tone,
and a single or double flute, with a piece of metal inside a long
slit, which the performer covers with his mouth. He also accompanies
the strain with a peculiar whirring noise, produced in his throat. The
marriage feast ends, like all their festivities, in great drunkenness,
disorder, and often in a fight.
Breach of promise is made a cause of feud, the friends of the aggrieved
fair one making it a point of honour to attack the village of the
offender. The curious custom obtains that a widow becomes the wife of
the senior brother-in-law, even though he be already married. The day
after the birth of a child, the household’s nats are propitiated by
offerings of sheroo and the sacrifice of a hog. The flesh is divided
into three portions, one for the toomsa, another for the slayer and
cook, and the third for the head of the household. The entrails, with
eggs, fish, and ginger, are placed on the altars, all the villagers are
bidden to a feast, and sheroo is handed round in order of seniority.
After all have drunk, the oldest man rises and, pointing to the infant,
says, “That boy, or girl, is named so and so.” When a Kakhyen dies, the
news is announced by the discharge of matchlocks. This is a signal for
all to repair to the house of death. Some cut bamboos and timber for
the coffin, others prepare for the funeral rites. A circle of bamboos
is driven into the ground, slanting outwards, so that the upper circle
is much wider than the base. To each a small flag is fastened, grass
is placed between this circle and the house, and the toomsa scatters
grass over the bamboos, and pours a libation of sheroo. A hog is then
slaughtered, and the flesh cooked and distributed, the skull being
fixed on one of the bamboos. The coffin is made of the hollowed trunk
of a large tree, which the men fell with their dahs. Just before it
falls, a fowl is killed by being dashed against the tottering stem.
The place where the head is to rest is blackened with charcoal, and a
lid constructed. The body is washed by men or matrons, according to
sex, and dressed in new clothes. Some of the pork, boiled rice, and
sheroo, are placed before it, and a piece of silver is inserted in the
mouth to pay ferry dues over the streams the spirit may have to cross.
It is then coffined and borne to the grave amidst the discharge of
fire-arms. The grave is about three feet deep, and three pieces of
wood are laid to support the coffin, which is covered with branches of
trees before the earth is filled in. The old clothes of the deceased
are laid on the mound, and sheroo is poured on it, the rest being drunk
by the friends around it. In returning, the mourners strew ground rice
along the path, and when near the village, they cleanse their legs
and arms with fresh leaves. Before re-entering the house, all are
lustrated with water by the toomsa with an asperge of grass, and pass
over a bundle of grass sprinkled with the blood of a fowl sacrificed
during their absence to the spirit of the dead. Eating and drinking
wind up the day. Next morning an offering of a hog and sheroo is made
to the spirit of the dead man, and a feast and dance are held till late
at night, and resumed in the morning. A final sacrifice of a buffalo
in honour of the household nats then takes place, and the toomsa
breaks down the bamboo fence, after which the final death dance[24]
successfully drives forth the spirit, which is believed to have been
still lingering round its former dwelling. In the afternoon a trench
is dug round the grave, and the conical cover already described is
erected, the skulls of the hog and buffalo being affixed to the posts.
The bodies of those who have been killed by shot or steel are wrapped
in a mat and buried in the jungle without any rites. A small open hut
is erected over the spot for the use of the spirits, for whom also a
dah, bag, and basket are placed. These spirits are believed to haunt
the forests as _munla_, like the Burman _tuhsais_, or ghosts, and to
have the power of entering into men and imparting a second sight of
deeds of violence. Funeral rites are also denied to those who die of
small-pox and to women dying in child-birth. In the latter case, the
mother and her unborn child are believed to become a fearful compound
vampyre. All the young people fly in terror from the house, and
divination is resorted to, to discover what animal the evil spirit
will devour, and another with which it will transmigrate. The first is
sacrificed, and some of the flesh placed before the corpse; the second
is hanged, and a grave dug in the direction to which the animal’s head
pointed when dead. Here the corpse is buried with all the clothes and
ornaments worn in life, and a wisp of straw is burned on its face,
before the leaves and earth are filled in. All property of the deceased
is burned on the grave, and a hut erected over it. The death dance
takes place, to drive the spirit from the house, in all cases. The
former custom appears to have been to burn the body itself, with the
house and all the clothes and ornaments used by the deceased. This also
took place if the mother died during the month succeeding child-birth,
and, according to one native statement, the infant also was thrown into
the fire, with the address, “Take away your child;” but if previously
any one claimed the child, saying, “Give me your child,” it was
spared, and belonged to the adopting parent, the real father being
unable at any time to reclaim it.
These ceremonies show the character of the religion of the people.
Hemmed in as they are by Buddhist populations, they adhere to
the ancient form of worship of good and evil spirits. The French
missionaries have been unable to produce any effect upon them. A vague
idea of a Supreme Being exists among them, as they speak of a nat in
the form of a man named Shingrawah, who created everything. They do
not worship, but reverence him, “because he is very big.” As their
funeral rites show, they believe in a future existence. Tsojah is the
abode of good men; and those who die violent deaths, and bad characters
generally, go to Marai. To questions as to the place and conditions of
these, an intelligent Kakhyen answered, “How can I tell? no one knows
anything.”
The objects of worship are the nats benign or malignant; the first
such as Sinlah, the sky spirit, who gives rain and good crops; Chan
and Shitah, who cause the sun and moon to rise. These they worship,
“because their fathers did so, and told their children that they were
good.” Cringwan is the beneficent patron of agriculture, but the
malignant nats must be bribed not to ruin the crops. When the ground is
cleared for sowing, Masoo is appeased with pork and fowls, buried at
the foot of the village altars; when the paddy is eared, buffaloes and
pigs are sacrificed to Cajat. A man about to travel is placed under
the care of Muron, the toomsa, after due sacrifices, requesting him to
“tell the other nats not to harm that man.”
Neglect of Mowlain will result in the want of _compraw_, or silver, the
great object of a Kakhyen’s desire, and if hunters forbear offerings
to Chitong, some one will be killed by stag or tiger. Chitong and
Muron are two of ten brothers, who have an especial interest in
Kakhyen affairs, and another named Phee is the guardian of the night.
Every hill, forest, and stream, has its own nat of greater or less
power; every accident or illness is the work of some malignant or
vindictive one of “these viewless ministers.” To discover who may be
the particular nat, or how he is to be appeased, is the business of
the toomsa. He prescribes and assists in all sacrifices, and calls the
nats to receive their share, which with economical piety generally
consists of the offal. The extraordinary method of consulting the will
of the nats by a possessed medium has been already described. The
meetway is distinct from a toomsa, or regular priest, but there is no
sacerdotal caste, the succession being kept up by a natural selection
and apprenticeship. The village toomsa practises augury from fowl
bones, omens, and the fracture of burned nul grass, besides holding
communication with the spirit world. Besides the occasional sacrifices,
at seed-time a solemn sacrifice is offered to Ngka, the earth spirit.
In this the whole community participates, and the next four days are
observed as a strict sabbath, no work or journey being undertaken.
At harvest-time Sharoowa and his wife are worshipped in a similar
manner by the chief and villagers. All animals sacrificed must be
males, but a woman’s dress and ornaments are offered to the female
nat. The _namsyang_, or tutelary nats of the village, are also husband
and wife; he ruling the western and she the eastern portion; they are
venerated twice a year with other nats by the tsawbwa. All the people
repair to the head village, and the chief offers buffaloes, &c., and a
grand feast is held. The skulls of the animals offered and eaten are
affixed to the tsawbwa’s house, where they remain as memorials of his
piety and hospitality.
These recurring seasons of seed-time in May and June and harvest-time
in December seemed to us to be the only divisions of time known
to these mountaineers, but they were said to have a succession of
months.[25]
The language of the Kakhyens is monosyllabic, and is spoken in an
ascending tone, every sentence ending in a long-drawn “ee,” in a
higher key, thus--“Chingpaw poong-doon tan-key-ing _eee_?” “Do the
Kakhyens dance?” Monsig. Bigandet says: “It is the same as used by
all the Singpho tribes, and bears a great resemblance to that of the
Abors and Mishmees, and other tribes of the south-western spurs of the
Himalayas. The pronunciation is soft and easy, and the construction of
sentences simple and direct as in English. It is totally different from
the Burmese, and belongs to a completely different group.” We found
very few that could speak Burmese, except the Ponline and other chiefs
bordering the plain; but almost all the chiefs both north and south of
the Tapeng, and many of their clansmen, could speak Chinese, and a few,
such as the chiefs of Mattin, Seray, &c., could write Chinese; but the
Kakhyens possess no written characters of their own.
As warriors the Kakhyens cannot be ranked high. Quarrelsome and
revengeful as they are, prone to exact atonement for a wrong or feud
to the last, their attacks are always made stealthily, and generally
at night--they may be said to crouch and spring like the tiger. As
hunters, so far as we could learn, they are not very daring, but our
opportunities of observation were limited, and the hills about Ponsee
did not seem to contain much animal life. Their chief quarry is the
barking deer, but leopards and porcupines are said to be sometimes
found, and wild elephants were reported as occasional visitors. The
fierce and pugnacious bamboo rat is esteemed a dainty and valuable
prize. The young lads set ingenious traps for jungle fowl and
pheasants. A miniature fence of the stems of tall jungle grass is
constructed down the hillside for two hundred feet, through which
little runs are opened. At each a pliable bamboo is firmly fixed at
one end, while the other is lightly fastened to the ground. A noose
fixed to this end snares the birds, which are hoisted in the air like
moles in the familiar trap. We also observed boys liming small birds
in an ingenious manner, with a bird-lime obtained from the root of
some plant. This was smeared on the prongs of a wooden trident fixed
in a bamboo handle, which was hidden in the jungle bordering a path.
On a cord across the trident, a number of ants were so fixed that they
could move their wings; the constant flutter allured the birds to perch
on the trident and be caught. The small boys were stimulated in the
pursuit of “small deer” and all sorts of birds by the rewards given for
any specimens. The collection and preservation of all manner of living
things was a constant source of wonder to the Kakhyens, as well as of
gain. Even the young tsawbwa caught the infection, and, moved either by
greed or gratitude for medical help, brought in a young example of a
red-faced monkey, closely allied to _Macacus tibetanus_ (Milne-Edwards).
It will be evident that they are a perfectly wild race of mountaineers,
supplying themselves with most of the necessaries of life by rude
cultivation. They are altogether dependent on their neighbours for
salt and dried fish; and as their own scanty crops furnish little
superfluity, their great object is to obtain _compraw_, wherewith
to purchase what they need. They rear no animals but pigs; and the
buffaloes they own have been stolen from the plains. This habit of
“cattle-lifting” causes them to be regarded as natural outlaws by the
Burmese; hence the constant state of hostility and reprisals on both
sides. Since the time of our visit the mountaineers have been better
treated at Bhamô, and a zayat has been erected for their use outside
the stockade, besides one built for them near the British Residency;
but no Kakhyen can enter or leave the town without a pass, for which he
has to pay toll, this licence-duty being farmed by residents in Bhamô.
It must be owned that, whether their character has been deteriorated
by knavish injustice on the part of Chinese traders, or high-handed
extortion and wrong on the part of Burmese, they are at the present
time lazy, thievish, and untrustworthy. Their savage curiosity leads
them to pry into every package entrusted to them. During the return
journey all the collecting-boxes were opened, and every specimen
unrolled and examined, with what results of utter confusion may be
imagined. They consider themselves entitled to levy blackmail on
all passing through their districts, and each petty chief tries to
represent himself as an independent tsawbwa, with a full control of the
portion of route near his village.
As any mission or trade-convoy must, however, pass through their
hills, and strong and impartial justice should characterise all our
relations with them, it will not be thought presumption to suggest
what appears to be the best and fairest method of dealing with them.
It is thoroughly well established that the Kakhyens themselves
possess no mules, or at least so few as to be insufficient for the
carriage of any large amount of baggage or goods. When the chiefs
have been employed to procure mules, they hire them from the Shans,
acting thus as middle-men, and in our case making an exorbitant
profit. Their incurable habits of pilfering and meddling curiosity
render them unfit to be employed as porters. All beasts of burden,
and coolies, if required, should be procured either in Burma or by
direct agents, hiring them in the Shan districts subject to China;
in the latter case no payments in advance should be made. The chiefs
of the Kakhyens occupying the portion of the route lying within the
Burmese frontier line should be summoned to Bhamô by the Burmese
authorities at the instance of the British Resident, and, a proper
sum, in recognition of their territorial dues, being fixed, should be
informed that this will be paid at the Residency on the safe passage
through their territory being accomplished and certified. A similar
course can be pursued by communication with the Chinese authorities
with regard to those who live within the Chinese frontier. The duties
to be performed by the chiefs should be limited to guaranteeing an
undisturbed passage, and providing such accommodation or supplies as
may be required. With regard to provision for an open trade route, a
fair tariff should be fixed upon: this has been done by the Chinese,
and could be accomplished by the Burmese also. The mountain chiefs may
then be required to keep the roads open and in repair, and to suppress
any attempt at brigandage, on pain of being fined, and otherwise
punished. It must be remarked, however, with all deference to the
political branch of our service, that one cannot help thinking that
it will be needful in all cases that our Residents should not issue
independent summonses and orders to the hill chiefs. The ill-feeling
of the Burmese has not unnaturally been excited by British officers
dealing, independently of the Woon, with the chiefs, nominally at
least, subordinate to him as the officer of the king of Burma. It is
surely incumbent on the British Resident in the town of an independent
foreign power to co-operate with and recognise the local authorities,
and cultivate an _entente cordiale_ with them. If this policy be
systematically observed, the Burmese will be most fairly and properly
held responsible for the conduct of the chiefs whom they claim to be
dependent on their authority, and who have accepted titles and insignia
from the king of Burma. It may seem fanciful to suggest ways and means
of removing the difficulties of the route for a future trade; but
the passage of a mission, or of future explorers of the interesting
country beyond the Kakhyen hills, will be only thus made possible.
The arrangements must be made with the Burmese and the Chinese; the
Kakhyens, being only regarded as outlying people, paid their dues, not
from fear, but from generous justice; while they are sternly repressed,
and taught their own insignificance and almost inutility. These remarks
may seem an example of shutting the door after the steed is stolen;
but if the plan proposed widely differs from that pursued by our
expedition, let it be remembered that we were pioneers in an unknown
country, feeling our way through tribes and populations, the political
relations of which were at that time as little known as were the
physical difficulties of the route we had been commissioned to explore
through their midst.
These observations are the result of the experience gained in the
course of this first attempt, and the opinions then formed have been
confirmed on a more recent occasion, when it was not in my power to
make any practical application of the knowledge of the ways and habits
of the mountaineers which had been formerly gained.
If the reader is somewhat tired of the Kakhyens, he can better
understand the wearisome and anxious time passed by us at Ponsee, as
all through April we alternately hoped and despaired of escaping from
our open-air prison. At the end of that time our party was reduced in
numbers by the departure of Williams and Stewart, who acted upon the
circular already mentioned as issued by the leader of the mission. They
started, under the guidance of Moung Mo, on April 29th, and reached
Bhamô without delay or difficulty.
[23] “En langue Mou-tse et Kong un homme se dit _Ho-ka_, en langue Kho
il se dit _Ka-sya_.”--‘Voyage d’Exploration,’ tome i. p. 378.
[24] See _supra_, page 77.
[25] At a later visit the tsawbwa of Mattin declared the year 1874 to
be the Kakhyen year 1320; and the following list of months was given to
Père Lecomte:--(February) Ra, Wot, Shila, Cheetung, Shenan, Shimerray,
Kopes-hay, Kopetang, Kala, Majea, Mahah, Hro (January).