The Khasis | Page 6

only one is used (phi, ki), and
this is the plural form of the feminine singular.
It may perhaps be ascribed to the pre-eminence accorded by the Khasis
to the female sex that successive censuses have shown that the women
of this race considerably exceed the men in number. According to the
census of 1901, there are 1,118 females to every 1,000 male Khasis.
This excess, however, is surpassed by that of the Lushais, 1,191 to
1,000, and it may possibly be due to the greater risks to life
encountered by the men, who venture far into the plains as traders and
porters, while the women stay at home. Habits of intemperance, which
are confined to the male sex, may also explain a greater mortality
among them.
It would be interesting to investigate the effect on reproduction of the
system of matriarchy which governs Khasi family life. The increase of
the race is very slow. In the census of 1891 there were enumerated only
117 children under 5 to every hundred married women between 15 and
40, and in 1901 this number fell to 108. It has been suggested that the
independence of the wife, and the facilities which exist for divorce,
lead to restrictions upon child-bearing, and thus keep the population
stationary. The question might with advantage be examined at the
census of 1911.
The next characteristic of the Khasis which marks them out for special
notice is their method of divination for ascertaining the causes of
misfortune and the remedies to be applied. All forms of animistic
religion make it their chief business to avert the wrath of the gods, to
which calamities of all kinds--sickness, storm, murrain, loss of
harvest--are ascribed, by some kind of propitiation; and in this the
Khasis are not singular. But it is somewhat surprising to find among

them the identical method of extispicium which was in use among the
Romans, as well as an analogous development in the shape of
egg-breaking, fully described by Major Gurdon (p. 221), which seems
to have been known to diviners in ancient Hellas. [10] This method has
(with much else in Khasi practice) been adopted by the former subjects
of the Khasis, the Mikirs; but it does not appear to be prevalent among
any other of the animistic tribes within the boundaries of India.
The third remarkable feature of Khasi usage is the custom, which
prevails to this day, of setting up great memorials of rough stone, of the
same style and character as the menhirs and cromlechs which are found
in Western Europe, Northern Africa, and Western Asia. It is very
surprising to a visitor, unprepared for the sight by previous information,
to find himself on arrival at the plateau in the midst of great groups of
standing and table stones exactly like those he may have seen in
Brittany, the Channel Islands, the south of England, or the Western
Isles. Unfortunately the great earthquake of June 1897 overthrew many
of the finest of these megalithic monuments; but several still remain,
and of these Major Gurdon has given an excellent description (pp. 144
sqq.), with an explanation of the different forms which they assume and
the objects with which they are erected. Other races in India besides the
Khasis set up stone memorials; but none, perhaps, to the same extent or
with the same systematic purpose and arrangement.
In conclusion, I have only to commend this work to the consideration
of all interested in the accurate and detailed description of primitive
custom. I lived myself for many years among the Khasis, and
endeavoured to find out what I could about them; but much of what
Major Gurdon records is new to me, though the book generally agrees
with what I was able to gather of their institutions and characteristics. It
is, I think, an excellent example of research, and well fitted to stand at
the head of a series which may be expected to make an important
contribution to the data of anthropology.
C. J. Lyall.
November, 1906.

THE KHASIS
CHAPTER I
General
Habitat.
The Khasis reside in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills district of Assam. They
number 176,614 souls, which total is made up of:--
Khasis 107,515 Syntengs 47,883 Christian Khasis 17,125 Khasis
inhabiting other districts 4,091
176,614
The Khasi and Jaintia Hills district is situated between 25° 1' and 26° 5'
North Latitude, and between 90° 47' and 92° 52' East Longitude. It
contains an area of 6,157 square miles, with a total population at the
Census of 1901 of 202,250 souls. In addition to the Khasis there are
some members of Bodo tribes inhabiting parts of the district.
The Lynngam tribe appears to have been reckoned in 1901 as Khasi,
there being no separate record at the last Census of these people.
The district