I.

_SERIFORM STOCK._

_Physical conformation._--Mongol.

_Languages._--Either wholly aptotic, or with only the rudiments of an inflection.

_Area._--China, Tibet, and the Indo-Chinese, or Transgangetic, Peninsula, as far as Malaya; the Himalayan, and parts of the sub-Himalayan, range of mountains.

_Chief Divisions._--1. The Chinese. 2. The Tibetans. 3. The Anamese. 4. The Siamese. 5. The Kambojians. 6. The Burmese. 7. The Môn. 8. Numerous unplaced tribes.

I have begun with the nations and tribes represented by the Chinese, Tibetans, and Indo-Chinese, on the strength of the primitive condition of their languages. This represents the earliest known stage of human speech; by which I mean, not that it was spoken earlier than the other tongues of the world, but only that it has changed, or grown, more slowly. I should also add, that over and above the fact of these languages being destitute of true inflection, the separate words generally consist of only a single syllable. Hence the class has been called _monosyllabic_. This latter character, however, has no _essential_ connection with the aptotic form. A language of dissyllables or trisyllables may, for any thing known to the contrary, be as destitute of inflections as a monosyllabic one. Still, it must be admitted that no such tongue has yet been discovered.

THE CHINESE.

_Locality._--China; bounded by the countries of the Koreans, Mantshu, Mongolians, Tibetans, and the hill tribes of the Transgangetic Peninsula and Assam.

_Religion._--Modified Buddhism, or the religion of Fo.

_Mode of Writing._--Rhæmatographic, _i.e._ the written signs represent whole _words_;[9] not merely the parts of words, single articulate sounds or syllables.

_Physical Conformation._--Mongoliform. According to Prichard the maxillary profile projects. According to Retzius, the maxillary profile projects, and the cranial development is elongated, or occipito-frontal. That the jaw, in some degree, projects, and that the forehead also retires, is shown by a remark of Tradescant Lay's,--_e.g._: that the Chinese profile slopes upwards from the chin to the beginning of the hairy scalp.

No country in the world of equal magnitude with China has so homogeneous or so dense a population. From the ocean to Tibet, from Korea to Cochin-China, the language is one, and the physiognomy is one; and it is only when we reach the mountain-ridges of the west and south, that we find, in the ruder and more imperfectly civilized tribes that inhabit them, any material variation from the general uniformity of the most populous empire in the world. This is the case whatever be the test that is applied. The language varies from the refined speech of the Mandarins to the comparative rudeness of certain provincial dialects; the complexion and contour of the face vary also; and the civilization is less characteristic in some districts than in others; but all these deviations lie within narrow limits.

In China, the steppe-land of High Asia slopes downwards to the North Pacific. Hence we have a sea-board of average proportion as compared with the inland area. It faces, however, one ocean only; and that the Pacific. Of this no island larger than Hainan is inhabited by a Chinese population; Formosa _not_ being Chinese. No mountain-ranges are of sufficient magnitude to be compared with the systems of Tibet or those of the Transgangetic Peninsula. Still, there are three well-marked watersheds--that of the Hoang-ho on the north, that of the Canton River on the south, and that of Kiang-Ku between them: and there are the fertile alluvial valleys corresponding.

Upon the whole the physical geography of China is that of an agricultural and industrial population. This the Chinese are to a preeminent degree: and when we come to the Malay Archipelago we shall find that they are also traders. I am much more inclined to measure their civilization by this test, than by their pretensions to an indigenous literature of an almost unfathomable antiquity; a point which will be noticed in the sequel.

In physical conformation the Chinese have a yellow-brown complexion, a broad face, and a scanty beard, lank black hair, dark irides, and a stature below that of the European. This is what we expect, as part and parcel of the common Mongol characteristics. Harshness of feature they have in a less degree than the true Mongolians; a tendency to obesity in a greater. In this respect, they have been called _Mongols softened down_. This is what they really are. One point of physiognomy, however, is more peculiarly Chinese than aught else,--viz. the linear character, and oblique direction of the opening of the eyes. This is _narrow_, so that little of the eye is seen. It is also drawn upwards at its outer angle, and so becomes oblique in its position. Sometimes in addition to this the upper eyelid hangs heavy and tumid over the eyeball; and sometimes the skin forms a crescentic fold between the inner angle of the eye and the nose; as may be seen in individuals out of China, and which is not uncommon in England.

Now the peculiarity that I have just attempted to describe, is one of the minute points of difference between the Chinese and several other Mongol nations. The _oblique eye_ will often be noticed in the following pages; sometimes from the fact of its presence, sometimes from that of its absence. It is not exclusively Chinese: but it is found in its most marked form in China.

THE TIBETANS.

_Localities._--Tibet, Bután, Ladakh, Bultistan, or Little Tibet.

_Political relations._--Tibet, subject to China, Ladakh a part of the Sikh empire, Bultistan and Bután, independent.

_Divisions._--1. The Bhot of Tibet. 2. The Bhután Tibetans. 3. The Ladakh Tibetans. 4. The Bulti.

_Conterminous._--Taking the family altogether, with the Chinese, Mongolians, Turks, Northern tribes and nations of Hindostan, North-Western tribes of the Burmese empire, and certain tribes akin to the Persians.

_Religion._--Chiefly Buddhism. Brahminism on the Indian frontier. Shia Mahometanism in Little Tibet.

_Language._--Dialects, in some cases, perhaps, independent languages, of the Tibetan.

_Alphabet._--Derived from the Pali of India.

_Physical appearance._--Mongol.

1.--_The Bhot._--These are the inhabitants of Tibet Proper, and Tangut. They are all Buddhists in the more exaggerated form; and it is in the Tibetan monasteries where the greatest abundance of Buddhist literature is to be found. This is almost wholly religious, and in a great measure a translation from either the Sanskrit or the Pali. The first century after Christ is generally considered as the epoch at which the religion was introduced into Tibet: and this epoch is a likely one.

2.--_The Tibetans of Bután._--Although Buddhists, the Tibetans of Bután have been modified by Hindu influences. Their government is that of a Rajah, and many of their outlying tribes are extended to the south of the Himalayan range.

3.--_Ladakh Tibetans._--With the exception of the southern frontier of Bután, Ladakh is the portion of the Tibetan area which is best known, and where the proper Tibetan type is most subjected to foreign influences. Although the religion be the religion of Buddha, there was a short interval of Mahometanism. Originally dependent upon the Guru Lama of Hlassa, Ladakh subsequently became one of the extreme points of the Chinese empire, retaining its own princes. In the reign, however, of Aurungzeb, it was overrun by the Turks. These, however, Aurungzeb expelled at the request of the fugitive Rajah, who promised to become Mahometan in return; and kept his promise. It was broken, however, by his successor, so that the religion of Mahomet was professed for a time only. It was, however, tolerated afterwards. The last conquest of Ladakh was by the Sikhs under Runjeet Singh; and it now follows the fortunes of the Sikh dynasty. This has opened a door to the Indians of the Punjâb. To these elements of intermixture may be added, the presence of numerous settlers from Cashmir. Lastly, there is a settlement of Shia Mahometans from Little Tibet.

4.--_The Bulti of Bultistan, or Little Tibet._--The most differential characteristic of the Bulti Tibetans, is that they are no Buddhists, but Mahometans, of the Shia persuasion, their conversion having come from Persia. It has been already stated that the Bulti enjoy a political independence.

_Kunawer._(?) I have not examined how far the Kunawer tribes, located where the Sutlege breaks through the Himalayas, deserve to be classed as a separate division. At all events their language is monosyllabic (probably closely allied to the Ladakh), as may be seen in the Theburskud, Milchan, and Súmchú vocabularies of Gerard.[10]

_The Polyandria of Tibet._--The current doctrine respecting the so-called Polyandria of Tibet, is that it is the common polygamy of the east reversed; _i.e._, that one woman marries several husbands, who may all be alive _at the same time_.

What is most certain upon this obscure point is that the surviving brother inherits the wife of the one that died.

It is not so certain, although highly probably, that the wife is the property of two or more brothers _at the same time_.

At any rate the marriage, if so it may be called, is confined to the circle of the brothers-in-law. Perhaps the truth is that every brother-in-law is a husband.

THE ANAMESE.

_Locality._--Tunkín and Cochin-China.

_Conterminous_ with the Chinese; and, except so far as they are

## partially separated by mountain-tribes, with the Kambojians and

Siamese.

_Religion._--Buddhism.

_Language._--Different from, but allied to, the Chinese.

_Physical Appearance._--Like that of the Chinese, except that the average height is somewhat less. Upper extremities long, lower, short and stout. Form of the skull more globular than square. Eyelids less turned than that of the Chinese. Mouth large; lips prominent, but not thick; moustache more abundant than beard; beard scanty, though encouraged. Colour more yellow than either brown or blackish. Clothing abundant.--_Finlayson from Prichard._

THE SIAMESE.

_Locality._--From the Gulf of Siam and the neck of the Malayan Peninsula to the frontiers of China. Part of Assam. Conterminous on the east, except so far as they are separated by mountain tribes, with the Anamese, and Kambojians; on the west, subject to the same limitation, with the Môn of Pegu, and the tribes of the Burmese empire. On the south with the Malays of the Malayan Peninsula.

_Synonym._--T'hay, the native name.

_Religion._--Buddhist.

_Alphabets._--Of Indian origin, rounded forms of the Pali. _Chief Divisions._--Laos, Shyán, (Ahom?) Khamti.

_Physical Appearance._--Average height of twenty men, taken indiscriminately, five feet three inches, the tallest being five feet eight inches, the shortest, five feet two inches. Limbs and trunk robust. Complexion, light brown, lighter than the Malay, darker than the Chinese. Hair, black, lank, coarse and abundant. Hairy scalp descends low. Nose small, but not flattened; nostrils divergent. Sclerotica yellowish. Outer angles of the eye turned upwards. Cheek-bones broad and high. Lower jaw square, so as to look as if the parotid gland were swollen.--_Crawford and Finlayson from Prichard._

In the history of the Siamese Tribes, the conquest of Assam is, perhaps, the most important event; and this is connected with their wide distribution.

In the lower part of the valley of Assam the language is Bengali, or nearly so; but only in the lower part. The upper half is peopled by different small mountain tribes, one of which is the Khamti.

_The Khamti._--In the North Eastern corner of Assam, the Khamti are conterminous with the Singpho, Mishimi, and Miri, and are traditionally reported to have emigrated from the head-waters of the Irawaddi. In physical appearance they are middle-sized, more resembling the Chinese than any tribe on the frontier. Perhaps, a shade darker in complexion. Their alphabet is Siamese; and their language, far north as it is spoken, when compared with the Siamese of Bankok, closely resembles that dialect. In Brown's[11] Vocabularies the proportion of words, similar or identical, in Khamti and Siamese, is 92 _per cent._

Still it is by no means certain that the Khamti represent the original conquerors. These were Ahoms; their alphabet was _Ahom_, and the language _Ahom_. The Ahom, however, was Siamese; and probably the Khamti was a dialect of it.

The Ahom literature, preserved in the books of the Assam priesthood, is said to be remarkable for the negative fact of there being in it no traces of the Hindu religion--either Buddhist or Brahminical. This speaks much either in favour of the antiquity of the conquest, or for the recent date of the Hindu influence.

In A.D. 1695, the Brahminical religion was established in Assam: how much earlier is uncertain.

THE KAMBOJIANS.

_Locality._--Lower course of the Mekhong river. East of the Siamese, west of the Anamese, except so for as they may be separated by isolated mountain tribes, conterminous with these nations.

Our knowledge respecting the Kambojians is not sufficiently definite to enable us to say how far they differ, or how far they agree with certain tribes of the interior, which have been described separately. In Prichard I find that they were supposed by the Portuguese to have been derived from a warlike nation of the interior, called _Kho_, or _Gueo_; who are still represented as painting and tattooing their bodies.

Now these Kho, or Gueo, are probably the _Ka_ described along with the _Chong_, as a separate people. If so we are enabled to dispose of three unplaced tribes; since, by Crawfurd's Ka and Chong vocabularies we can connect, perhaps identify, them with the Kambojians.

ENGLISH. KA. CHONG. KAMBOJIAN.

_Sun_ tangi tańgi tangai. _Moon_ kot kang ke. _Stone_ tamoe tamok tamo. _Water_ dak tak tak. _River_ dak-tani talle tanle. _Fire_ un pleu plung. _Fish_ tre mel trai. _One_ moe moe moe. _Two_ bar bar pir. _Three_ peh peh bai. _Four_ puan pon buan. _Five_ chang pram pram.

Most of the Ka, and Chong words which are not Kambojian are either Anamitic or Môn.

Furthermore, in Crawfurd's Embassy to Siam, a vocabulary representing a fourth Kambojian dialect is given; the Khomen.

THE BURMESE.

_Locality._--Valley of the Irawaddi. Conterminous, save so far as interrupted by mountain-tribes, with Assam, China, Siam, and Pegu.

_Divisions._--1. The Myamma, or Burmese of Ava. 2. The Rhukheng, or people of Arakan.

_Religion._--Buddhist.

_Alphabet._--Of Indian origin, a rounded form of the Pali.

_Physical appearance._--More beard, more prominent features, and darker complexions than the Siamese, Anamese, and Chinese. Beard also more abundant. The darkness of complexion increasing towards the confines of Bengal.

THE MÔN.

_Locality._--The Delta of the Irawaddi; Pegu.

_Alphabet._--Burmese.

The notices hitherto given have applied only to the great _political_ divisions of the variety speaking monosyllabic languages; and have referred to nations of a known and similar degree of civilization. It would be an error, however, to suppose that they supply a complete enumeration. Hardly an empire mentioned will not exhibit some instance of a new series of phenomena standing over for investigation. The Chinese, the Burmese, and the Siamese, represent merely the dominant tribes of their several areas; those whereof the civilization and territorial power have given their possessors a certain degree of prominence in the history of the world. The intermixed tribes, sometimes imperfectly subdued, always imperfectly civilized, inhabiting barren tracts or mountain fastnesses, have a value in ethnology which they cannot command in history. In these we see the original substratum of the different national characters, as it may be supposed to have shown itself, before it was modified by foreign influences. In a more advanced stage of our knowledge, these tribes will probably be brought under one of the sub-divisions already noticed. At present, even when in some cases they may be so placed, it is best to take them in detail; premising that, the list does not pretend to be exhaustive, that, from the fluctuations of the geographical nomenclature, the same tribe may be mentioned twice over, and, lastly, that partly from imperfect knowledge, and partly from changes of locality, arising from migrations of the tribes themselves, the geographical position is, in many cases, difficult to fix.

The notice, however, of the minor representatives, real or supposed, of the great division of the human race speaking monosyllabic languages now commences.

THE SI-FAN.

The word[12] _Si_ means _west_, whilst _Fan_ means _stranger_; so that _Si-fan_ means _western strangers_. The term means one or more of the wilder tribes on the Tibetan or Mongolian frontier.

Nothing is less likely than that the _Si-fan_ should differ in _kind_ from the Chinese--unless it be that they are Turk, Mongol, or Tibetan.

THE MIAOU-TSE.

These are the so-called _aborigines_ of China. It were, perhaps, more accurate to call them the Chinese in their most aboriginal form. The term means _children of the soil_. Their localities are the mountains of Southern and Central China. They seem to consist of a number of tribes rather than to constitute any particular people; so that it is possible that many varieties of the primitive Chinese may be comprised under the general appellation. Those of _Ping-sha-hwang_ are divided into the _white_ and _black_ Miaou-tse; from the difference of their complexion. Both the Abbé Gosier and Tradescant Lay[13] speak to their indomitable courage, and to their spirit of independence, their subjection being still imperfect. Their weapons are the bow and cross-bow. Their employment agriculture. The following is an account of their religious rites from the author last named.

"_Religious Rites._--When a man among the _Miaou-tse_ who inhabit the _Ping-sha-shih_ hills, marries, he sticks five small flags into a bundle of grass fastened together by about seven different bands. Before this strange pageant he kneels, while the rest of his friends fold their arms and bow; after this they make merry with music and dancing. At the death of father or mother, the eldest son remains at home for forty-nine days without washing his face; when this period has been completed, he sacrifices to a divinity which is called _Fang-kwei_, and seems to correspond in office with Mercury, who, according to the views of ancient mythology, conducted the spirits of the dead to the abodes of happiness. If the eldest son be poor, and cannot afford to lose the labour of so long a time, the grandson or some other descendant performs this duty in his stead. Among the mountaineers styled the _Hea-king_, when a man is sick, his friends offer the head of a tiger to the prince of divinities. The head is placed upon a charger, with a sword; three incense-sticks and two candles behind it, and three cups of wine in front. Before this curious oblation the worshippers fold their hands, or cross their arms and bow themselves. Another tribe, when they would propitiate the good-will of the powers which influence the weather, appoint ten companies of young men and women, who, after dressing themselves in robes made of felt, and binding their loins with an embroidered girdle, dance and play the organ with every suitable demonstration of joy and festivity. This gay ceremony is kept up for three days and three nights, at the end of which they sacrifice an ox, to obtain, says the Chinese writer, a plentiful year. A father among the same people, when his son is ten months old, offers a white tiger, and accompanies the oblation with such rites of merriment as his circumstances can afford. At this time a name is given to the child. This reminds us of a modern christening, when the solemnities of religion are straightway followed by the mirth, good cheer, and gaieties of a festival. When a tribe called the _Chung-king_ mourn for their dead, they kill an ox, and place the head and feet upon an altar, with basins filled with food, lighted candles, and cups of wine by way of drink-offering. The altar resembles a table, and explains a phrase used in Isaiah, "Ye have prepared a table for that number." The bridal ceremonies with another tribe are attended by the sacrifice of a dog, at which the relatives of husband and wife are present.

"A people called the _Western Miaou-tse_, in the middle of autumn offer a sacrifice to the great ancestor or founder of their race. For this purpose, they select a male ox or buffalo which is well covered with hair, and has its horns quite perfect; that is, in other words, an animal without blemish. To put it in good condition, they feed it with grass and water till the rice or corn is ripe, when the animal is fat. They then distil a certain quantity of spirit from the grain, and slay the ox. Being thus provided for a feast, they invite all their relatives, who come and carouse with them amidst plays, singing, and the loud challenges of jolly companions. In the first-fruits which the Chinese present at the close of harvest, we have a representative of Cain's offering; but in the ceremony just described, there are some traces of that which Abel brought to the altar. The aboriginal Chinese retain the rite, but the object worshipped is disguised under an equivocal name,--equivocal, because the Creator has a claim to the title of original ancestor by way of eminence, as well as the common parent of mankind. When the mind of man was darkened, he confounded Adam with his Maker, and worshipped the creature instead of the Creator, who is blessed for ever.

"With the _White Miaou-tse_, a rite is observed somewhat in character like the last, but for a different purpose. These select an ox well-proportioned and carrying a perfect pair of horns. This animal they feed carefully to prepare it for sacrifice. Each cantonment keeps an ox in this way in readiness to be offered to the great ancestor, whenever, in any of their contests, victory shall declare in their favour. After the sacrifice has been performed by the master of the sacrifice, or priest, the relatives of the sacrificer join in a regular festivity of singing and drinking. A tribe commended for the purity of their disposition and their obedience to the magistrate, at the death of a person collect a large quantity of fuel together, and, I suppose, make a great burning for him. When a man is about to marry among a particular race of mountaineers, he allows two of his teeth to be knocked out with a hammer and hard chisel, to avert the mischiefs of matrimony. These, too, cut off the forelocks and spread the hair behind; they also, like the Chinese, bestow some attention upon the beauty of their eyebrows."

THE LOLOS.

Probably these belong more to Siam[14] than to China. _Mutatis mutandis_, they are on the southern frontier what the Si-fan are on the west.

They are so far civilized as to have taken their religion (Buddhism), and an alphabet from Ava or Pegu.

THE QUANTO.

The Quanto inhabit[14] the range of mountains between Anam and China. They represent the original civilization, or want of civilization, of Cochin-China and Tonkin,--_i.e._ of Cochin-China and Tonkin before the influence of China.

They are in possession of an alphabet.

THE TSHAMPA.

Inhabitants of the southernmost[14] coast of Cochin-China. Their language, of which I have not seen a specimen, is said to differ from both the Chinese and the Kambojian. They are a civilized people, and were so in the time of Marco Polo. According to Crawfurd, their civilization was, to a certain extent, due to Indian influences. At present there is a Malay settlement on their coast.

THE MOY.

The southern part of the mountains which form the watershed between Cochin-China and Kambojia is the residence of the Moy. According to Chapman, they are eminently dark-complexioned; an observation which will be found in the sequel to apply to several other of the minor tribes of the division in question.[14]

_Sub-divisions of the Laos branch of the Siamese._--As laid down in the maps, the Laos fill up the whole area between China on the north, Siam on the south, Cochin-China and Kambojia on the east, and Ava on the west; of this area, however, little is known in detail.

One of the divisions of the Laos is called _Lau[14]-pang-dun_, or the _Black_ Laos, from the darkness of their complexion.

Tribes, too, called _Pa-y_ and _Pa-pe_,[15] are said to be Laos.

Lastly, the relations between the true Laos, and the Ahom, Khamti, and Shyán, have yet to be made out in a satisfactory manner.

KARIEN.

_Distribution._--Irregular; from the eleventh to the twenty-third degree of north latitude; from the Mergui Province in Tenasserim to the borders of China, between the Burmese on the west and the Siamese on the east. On the river Salwin, are the so-called _Red Karien_.

_Name._--Burmese. Called _Kadun_ in Pegu.

The Kariens, unless they are Siamese, have next to that nation the greatest extension, north and south. Ground down by the oppression of the Burmese, they are, with the exception of the _red_ Kariens, who still preserve an imperfect independence, a decreasing race. Of their language we have specimens[16] in more than one dialect, viz., the Passuko, Maplu, and Play. They are agricultural tribes, clearing the land for the cultivation of rice, and then leaving it to migrate elsewhere.--_Arva in annos mutant, et superest ager._

SILONG.

_Locality._--Islands of the Mergui Archipelago.

_Numbers._--Said to be about one thousand.

_Language_.--Said to be peculiar.

_Authority._--Dr. Helfer's Third Report on the Tenasserim Provinces.--_Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal_, vol. viii.

The details now forthcoming apply to the districts lying north of a line drawn from the southernmost point of Arakan to the Irawaddi; and they comprise the eastern extensions of the Arakan tribes, the parts about Manipur, and the complex, but important line of frontier between the Indo-Chinese kingdoms, and the Indian portions of Bengal and Assam.

The first tribes that will be noticed are those which are most closely related to the inhabitants of Arakan.

NAGAS.

_Locality._--South-east Assam, in the north-eastern portion of the mountain range between Assam and the Burmese empire. Conterminous with the Singpho on the north-east.

KUKI.

_Locality._--Mountains of Tipperah, Sylhet and Chittagong. A south-western prolongation of the Nagas.

_Synonyms._--Lunctas, Koung-thias.(?)

KHUMIA (CHOOMEEAS).

_Locality._--The same mountains as the Kuki, only on a lower level. The word means _villagers_, _Khúm_=_village_.

The Naga, Kuki, and Khumia, are tribes of one family. Their ethnographical position is certain. They have long been known to be part of Rhukheng division of the Burmese tribes, speaking the same language with the inhabitants of Arakan, and connecting themselves with that people in their traditions respecting their own origin.

I may also add that the similarity of manners between them and the Garo is very manifest.

KHYEN.

_Locality._--The Yuma mountains between Ava and Arakan. Independent Pagans.

_Name._--Burmese. Native name Koloun. Buchanan, in _Asiatic Researches_, vol. v.

_Authority._--Lieutenant Trant in Asiatic Researches, vol. xvi.

The faces of the Khyen women are tattooed. That the following reason, however, for the practice is valid, is more than I will venture to vouch.

One of the forms of tribute to one of the conquerors of the Khyens, was the payment of a certain number of the most beautiful women of the country. In order to do away with the danger to which their unmutilated charms exposed them, the whole generation tattooed themselves; and their descendants have done so since.

MANIPUR.

_Synonyms._--Kathi or Kassay, Moitay.

_Locality._--Bounded on the east by the right branch of the Irawaddi, on the north and west by the Naga and Kachari countries, on the south by the Khyen.

An idea of the extent to which the language, for these parts varies within a small geographical area, may be collected from Captain Gordon's notices of the dialects spoken in the neighbourhood of Manipur.

Besides the Manipur proper, the following eleven dialects are illustrated by his vocabularies,[17] and are said to be spoken within the limits of a very inconsiderable circle, of which Manipur is the centre.

1. The Songpú. The most western. Per-centage of Manipur words, 21. _Brown._

2. The Kapwi. A very small tribe. _Ditto_, 41. _Brown._

3. The Koreng. _Ditto_, 18. _Brown._

4. The Maram. _Ditto_, 25. _Brown._

5. The Champhung. Thirty or forty families. _Ditto_, 28. _Brown._

6. The Luhuppa. _Ditto_, 31. _Brown._

7. The North Tankhul. _Ditto_, 28. _Brown._ } } Said to be 8. The Central Tankhul. _Ditto_, 35. _Brown._ } mutually } unintelligible. 9. The South Tankhul. _Ditto_, 33. _Brown._ }

10. The Khoibú. Per-centage of Manipur words, 40. _Brown._

11. The Maring. _Ditto_, 50. _Brown._

KYO.

_Locality._--Arakan, banks of the river Koladyng. A single village.

_Religion._--Worship of Nats (_Spirits_).

_Physical Appearance._--Contrasted with that of their neighbours, being so dark as to suggest the idea that they are of Bengal origin. No traditions, however, to that effect.

_Language._--Monosyllabic, as ascertained by two vocabularies.--Lieut. Phayre's _Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and_ Lieut. Latter, _ditto_.

KACHARI.

_Locality._--Between the Kasia county, with which it is conterminous on the east, and Manipur.

KASIA.

_Locality._--Southern border of Lower Assam. Conterminous with the Kachari on the east and the Garo on the west.

A better knowledge of the wild tribes in these parts than we possess, will, probably, enable us to ascertain the nature of the most primitive Indo-Chinese religion. It seems in these parts to be the worship of _Nats_ or spirits.

In the Kasia country the occurrence of erect pillars, evidently objects of mysterious respect, if not of adoration, is frequent. These are explained by similar ones in the Khyen district. They are depicted by Lieutenant Latter--_accurate magis quam verecunde_--and are lingams.

Stout legs, thick lips, and angular eyes, are marked characters in the Kasia conformation. They burn their dead. Their ceremonies are few or none. Like the Garo, they drink no milk. Like the Garo, also, they are said to have no beast of burden. Like many of the tribes around them they chew pawn; and like many of the tribes around them they obtain, for drink, a liquor fermented from millet. Millet or rice are the usual sources for the stimulant beverages of this section of the Seriform tribes; and, it may be added, that the art of distillation as well as of simple fermentation is widely spread. I am not aware that the former is practised by the present tribe; it is common, however, in the Sub-Himalayan range.--Lieutenant Yule, _Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal_, xiii. 3.

SINGPHO.

_Locality._--A tract of about one thousand four hundred square miles in the north-eastern corner of Assam. Conterminous with the Khamtis and Mishimis on the north. Bounded on the south and east by the Patkoe range; which divides Assam from the Burmese empire.

_Population._--Calculated in 1838 at six thousand.

_Government._--Clans under chiefs called Gaums.

_Religion._--Imperfect Buddhism. Worship of dead chieftains.

_Alphabet._--Shyán or Ahom.

_Physical Appearance._--Body long, legs short, complexion tawny.

JILI.

_Locality._--The Burmese side of the Patkoe range. Conterminous with the Singpho, by whom they have been nearly extinguished.

_Language._--Seven-tenths of the Jili vocabulary is Singpho.

MISHIMI.

_Locality._--North-east extremity of Assam. Conterminous with the Khamti on the south, and the Abors on the west. Mountaineers. Tibet on the north.

_Mishimi Tribes._--The Chool Kutta=crop-haired, the Meahu, the Tairi, or Digaru. According to Brown, the Maí Mishimi, the Taron Mishimi, and the Maiye or Meme Mishimi.

_Probable Population._--Four hundred and sixty.

_Physical Appearance._--Stature short. Limbs small, but active, and well-knit.

The Mishimi country produces, and the Mishimi collect, a poison called the Bikh Mishimi. This is used both for the purposes of hunting and of war. So poisonous is it that a single wound is said to kill an elephant. The flesh, however, of the animal so killed is eaten with impunity.

BOR ABORS.

_Locality._--The loftiest portion of the mountains to the north of Assam.

ABORS.

_Locality._--The lower range of the mountains inhabited by the Bor Abors.

MIRI.

_Locality._--The foot of the Abor and Bor Abor range. Speaking generally, the Bor Abors, Abors, and Miri are conterminous with the Khamti, and Mishimi on the north-east.

DUFLA.

_Locality._--South-west of the Abors, on the same mountain range. No less than one hundred and eighty petty chiefs are said to rule over the numerous disunited Dufla tribes of the Char Dwán; and this is only one of their localities.

AKA.

_Locality._--The south-western prolongation of the range inhabited by the Abors and Dufla. Conterminous with the latter.

_Language._--Half the words in an Aka and Abor vocabulary are alike.

MUTTUCK.

_Locality._--North-east Assam, south of the Burramputer. Conterminous with the Singhu, Khamti, and Miri.

_Synonym._--Muamaria, or Moa Mareya.

_Religion._--Imperfect Brahmanism.

The Muttuck persecution is one of the most important facts in the history of Assam. Prior to the Ahom invasion, said to have taken place 1224, A. D., the Muttucks had been converted to Hinduism; but to a form of it which denied the divinity of Durga, and would not admit the worship of her image. A violent persecution on this account, between A.D. 1714 and 1744, brought about a resistance which did much to weaken and disorganise the Assam empire.

GARO.

_Locality._--The Garo hills, at the south-western entrance of the valley of Assam.

No tribe hitherto mentioned is of the ethnographical importance of the Garo.

If we call them _Indian_, they are the most northern tribe that has been described as having _Negro_ elements in their physiognomy.

If we call them Tibetan, or Burmese, they are equally remarkable for this peculiarity.

Taking their physical appearance as a test, it is the Garo that seem the likeliest to exhibit a transition between the type already illustrated, and the type of the aborigines of Hindostan, _supposing such a transition to exist_.

Taking their language into consideration, something of the same intermediate character is, perhaps, to be found. It has been referred to each class; by some to the monosyllabic tongues of Tibet, or the Burmese empire; by others to the Indian group of dialects and languages.

The first description of the Garo is to be found in the Asiatic Researches. Here it is where they are described as approaching the Negro type. Endued with great physical strength, at least as compared with the Bengali, they are pagans and savages: their manners, as stated above, agreeing in many points with those of the Kukis.

It is, however, by their language that their ethnographical position will best be determined.

The present writer, who had not then seen Mr. Brown's Vocabularies, placed this, in 1844, in the Tibetan division; being satisfied of its monosyllabic character.

Mr. Brown's Vocabularies confirm this view (so far as it goes) of the monosyllabic character of the Garo; and I think that the following table--Mr. Brown's also--shewing the per-centage of words in any two languages, does the same.

+-----------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ | |K |S |A'|A'|M |B |K |S |J |G |M |S | | |h |i |k |b |i |u |a |i |i |á |a |o | | |a |a |á |o |s |r |r |n |l |r |n |n | | |m |m | |r |h |m |e |g |í |o |i |g | | |t |e | | |i |e |n |p | | |p |p | | |í |s | | |m |s | |h | | |u |ú | | | |e | | |í |e | |o | | |r | | | | | | | | | | | | | |í | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +-----------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ |Khamti | |92| 1| 1| 5| 8| 8| 3|10| 3| 3| 1| |Siamese |92| | 0| 0| 3| 6| 8| 3|10| 1| 3| 1| |A'bor | 1| 0| |47|20|17|12|15|15| 5|11| 3| |A'ká | 1| 0|47| |20|11|10|18|11| 6|15| 6| |Mishimi | 5| 3|20|20| |10|10|10|13|10|11| 0| |Burmese | 8| 6|17|11|10| |23|23|26|12|16| 8| |Karien | 8| 8|12|10|10|23| |17|21| 8|15|10| |Singpho | 3| 3|15|18|10|23|17| |70|16|25|10| |Jili |10|10|15|11|13|26|21|70| |22|16|10| |Garo | 3| 1| 5| 6|10|12| 8|16|22| |10| 5| |Manipurí | 3| 3|11|15|11|16|15|25|16|10| |21| |Songpú | 1| 1| 3| 6| 0| 8|10|10|10| 5|21| | |Kapwi | 0| 0|10|11|11|20|15|18|21| 6|41|35| |Koreng | 1| 1| 3| 5| 0| 6| 8|11|13| 5|18|50| |Maram | 0| 0| 8| 8| 3|11|12|11|11| 8|25|53| |Champhung | 0| 0| 8| 6| 5|11| 4|13|11| 5|28|20| |Luhuppa | 0| 0| 8| 8| 6|11|12|15|18| 8|31|23| |N. Tángkhul| 0| 0| 5| 8| 8|10| 8|13|20|13|28|15| |C. Tángkhul| 0| 0| 6| 8| 6|13|12|25|20|11|35|15| |S. Tángkhul| 0| 0|10|10|13|13|12|13|13| 5|33|13| |Khoibú | 0| 0| 8|10|10|16|10|20|20| 5|40| 8| |Maring | 0| 0|10|18| 8|16|15|18|20| 5|50|15| |Anamese | 5| 5| 0| 0| 1| 1| 2| 5| 3| 3| 6| 6| +-----------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ +-----------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ | |K |K |M |C |L |N.|C.|S.|K |M |A | | |a |o |a |h |u | | | |h |a |n | | |p |r |r |a |h |T |T |T |o |r |a | | |w |e |á |m |u |á |á |á |i |i |m | | |í |n |m |p |p |n |n |n |b |n |e | | | |g | |h |p |g |g |g |ú |g |s | | | | | |u |a |k |k |k | | |e | | | | | |n | |h |h |h | | | | | | | | |g | |u |u |u | | | | | | | | | | |l |l |l | | | | +-----------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ |Khamti | 0| 1| 0| 0| 0| 0| 0| 0| 0| 0| 5| |Siamese | 0| 1| 0| 0| 0| 0| 0| 0| 0| 0| 5| |A'bor |10| 3| 8| 8| 8| 5| 6|10| 8|10| 0| |A'ká |11| 5| 8| 6| 8| 8| 8|10|10|18| 0| |Mishimi |11| 0| 3| 5| 6| 8| 6|13|10| 8| 1| |Burmese |20| 6|11|11|11|10|13|13|16|16| 1| |Karien |15| 8|12| 4|12| 8|12|12|10|15| 2| |Singpho |18|11|11|13|15|13|25|13|20|18| 5| |Jili |21|13|11|11|18|20|20|13|20|20| 3| |Garo | 6| 5| 8| 5| 8|13|11| 5| 5| 5| 3| |Manipurí |41|18|25|28|31|28|35|33|40|50| 6| |Songpú |35|50|53|20|23|15|15|13| 8|15| 6| |Kapwi | |30|33|20|35|30|40|45|38|40| 5| |Koreng |30| |41|18|21|20|20|--|10|15| 3| |Maram |33|41| |21|28|25|20|16|23|26| 3| |Champhung |20|18|21| |40|20|20|16|15|25| 3| |Luhuppa |35|21|28|40| |63|55|36|33|40| 5| |N. Tángkhul|30|20|25|20|63| |85|30|31|31| 3| |C. Tángkhul|40|20|20|20|55|85| |41|45|41| 1| |S. Tángkhul|45|11|16|16|36|30|41| |43|43| 5| |Khoibú |38|10|23|15|33|31|45|43| |78| 3| |Maring |40|15|26|25|40|31|41|43|78| | 3| |Anamese | 5| 3| 3| 3| 5| 3| 1| 5| 3| 3| | +-----------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+

In the face of this, however, the author writes that it "would be difficult to decide from the specimens before us, whether it is to be ranked with the monosyllabic or polysyllabic languages. It probably belongs to the latter."

Again--Mr. Hodgson connects the Garos with the _Bodo_, not, indeed, as a sub-division of that group, but as a class with a common origin; adding, that fifteen out of sixty words in Brown's Vocabulary are the same in Garo and Bodo.

This involves the position of the Garo with that of the Bodo; whilst, in respect to the Bodo, it is convenient to consider them along with the _Dhimál_.

We are now in that part of the Indian side of the Himalayan range, which lies between Assam on the east, and Sikkim on the west, and which is bounded on the north by Bhután. This is the area where the aboriginal Indian and the Tibetan most intermix.

DHIMÁL.

_Locality._--Mixed with the Bodo, in their most westerly locality, _i.e._ between the Konki and Dhorla.

_Numbers._--According to Mr. Hodgson, about 15,000.

_Authority._---Hodgson's _Dissertation on the Kocch, Bodo, and Dhimál._

BODO.

_Locality._--The forest belt (not the mountains) in a circle round the Valley of Assam, from Tipperah S. E. to Morung, N.W. Mixed, in their most westerly localities with the Dhimál.

_Synonym._--Mécch.

_Name._--Native; the Mécch call themselves Bodo, and so do the Kachari.

_Authority._--Same as for the Dhimál.

The Bodo are the rudest division of the present group whereof we possess anything like a sufficient amount of detailed information; Mr. Hodgson's Dissertation being, perhaps, the best ethnological monograph existing. Hence, it is in the Bodo nation that, in the present state of our knowledge, we must study the general phenomena of the wilder Seriform tribes.

In respect to their social development the Bodo are good examples of a very peculiar form. They are tillers of the soil, and (as such) agriculturists rather than hunters, fishers, or feeders of flocks and herds. But their agriculture is imperfect, and quasi-nomadic; since they are not fixed but erratic or migratory cultivators. They have no name for a village, no sheep, no oxen, no _fixed_ property in the soil. Like the ancient Germans, _arva in annos mutant, et superest ager_. They clear a jungle, crop it as long as it will yield an average produce, and then remove themselves elsewhere.

"They never cultivate the same field beyond the second year, or remain in the same village beyond the fourth to sixth year. After the lapse of four or five years, they frequently return to their old fields, and resume their cultivation, if in the interim the jungle has grown well, and they have not been anticipated by others, for there is no pretence of appropriation other than possessory, and if, therefore, another party have preceded them, or, if the slow growth of the jungle give no sufficient promise of a good stratum of ashes for the land when cleared by fire, they move on to another site new or old. If old, they resume the identical fields they tilled before, but never the old houses or site of the old village, that being deemed unlucky. In general, however, they prefer new land to old, and having still abundance of unbroken forest around them, they are in constant movement, more especially as, should they find a new spot prove unfertile, they decamp after the first harvest is got in."[18]

It is a fact of some importance that erratic agriculture, a rare and exceptional form of industrial development, is probably more general among the Seriform tribes than elsewhere. It has already been stated to be the habit of the Karien, and there is little doubt as to its being far more general than it has hitherto been described to be. Contrast with this imperfect form of agricultural industry the cultivation of the soil in China. The Bodo villages are small communities of from ten to forty huts. The head of these communities is called the Grá. It is the Grá who is responsible to the foreign government (British, Tibetan, or Nepalese), for the order of the community, and for the payment of its tribute. In cases of perplexity the Grás of three or four neighbouring communities meet in deliberation. Offenders against the customs of the community may be admonished, fined, or excommunicated.

This last term suggests a new series of ideas. The Bodo religious ordinances are apparently very simple; so that they form a remarkable contrast with the numerous details of Hinduism. The birth, the weaning, and the naming of children are all unattended with ceremonies requiring the presence of a priest. At funerals and marriages, however, the priest presides. This he does, not so much as a minister to the essential ceremony, as for the sake of the feast that accompanies it. No Bodo or Dhimál will touch flesh which has not been offered to the gods: and this offering a priest must make. Such being the case, notwithstanding the statement of Mr. Hodgson, who describes in somewhat flattering terms the negative merits of the simple Bodo creed, and who especially affirms that the priesthood is no hereditary office, I cannot but suspect that the influence of the spiritual power is greater than he admits. If not, the Bodo must have but few meals of meat.

Marriage is a contract rather than a rite. Polygamy or concubinage is rare: the adoption of children common. All the sons inherit equally; daughters not at all. A Bodo can only marry to one of his own people. Divorce, though practicable and easy, is rare; the wife and daughter have their due influence. No infanticide, no suttí. Children are named as soon as the mother comes abroad, which is generally four or five days after her confinement. The idea that the delivery involves a temporal impurity is recognised; so that all births (and deaths also) necessitate a temporary segregation and certain purificatory forms. The one, however, is short, and the other simple. The infant "is named immediately after birth, or as soon as the mother comes abroad, which is always four or five days after delivery. There are no family names, or names derived from the gods. Most Bodo and Dhimáls bear meaningless designations, or any passing event of the moment may suggest a significant term: thus a Bhótia chief arrives at the village, and the child is called Jinkhap; or a hill peasant arrives, and it is named Góngar, after the titular or general designation of the Bhótias. Children are not weaned so long as their mother can suckle them, which is always from two to three years--sometimes more--and two children, the last and penultimate, are occasionally seen at the breast together. The delayed period of weaning will account in part for the limited fecundity of the women. When a Bodo or Dhimál comes of age, the event is not solemnized by any rite or social usage whatever. Marriage takes place at maturity, the male being usually from twenty to twenty-five years of age, and the female, from fifteen to twenty. Courtship is not sanctioned: the parents or friends negotiate the wedlock."

In this the commercial element is predominant. A price--_Jan_--must be paid by the bridegroom elect for the intended bride. If the former have "no means of discharging this sum, he must go to the house of his father-in-law elect and there literally earn his wife by the sweat of his brow, labouring, _more Judaico_, upon mere diet for a term of years, varying from two as an average to five and even seven as the extreme period. This custom is named Gabóï by the Bodo--Ghárjyá by the Dhimáls."

When the preliminaries have been arranged, the bridegroom proceeds to the house of the bride, in procession with his friends. Two females attend him. The business of these is "to put red lead or oil on the bride elect's head, when the procession has reached her home. There a refection is prepared, after partaking of which, the procession returns, conducting the bride elect to the house of the groom's parents. So far the same rite is common to the Bodo and Dhimál--the rest is peculiar to each. Among the Dhimáls, the Déóshi now proceeds to propitiate the gods by offerings. Dáta and Bídata who preside over wedlock are invoked, and betel-leaf and red lead are presented to them. The bride and groom elect are next placed side by side, and each furnished with five pauns, with which they are required to feed each other, while the parents of the groom cover them with a sheet, upon which the Déóshi, by sprinkling holy water sanctifies and completes the nuptials. Among the Bodo the bride elect is anointed at her own home with oil; the elders _or_ the Déóshi perform the sacred part of the ceremony, which consists in the sacrifice of a cock and a hen, in the respective names of the groom and bride, to the sun: and next, the groom, rising, makes salutation to the bride's parents, and the bride, similarly, attests her future duty of reverence and obedience towards her husband's parents; when the nuptials are complete. A feast follows both with Bodo and Dhimáls, but is less costly among the former than among the latter--as is said, because the higher price paid for his wife by the Bodo incapacitates him for giving so costly an entertainment. The marriage feast of the Dhimáls is alleged to cost thirty or forty rupees sometimes, the festivities being prolonged through two and even three days; whereas four to six--rarely ten rupees suffice for the nuptial banquet of a Bodo.

"The Bodo and Dhimáls both alike bury the dead, immediately after decease, with simple but decent reverence, though no fixed burial ground nor artificial tomb is in use to mark the last resting place of those most dear in life, because the migratory habits of the people would render such usages nugatory. The family and friends form a funeral procession, which bears the dead in silence to the grave. The body being interred, a few stones are piled loosely upon the grave to prevent disturbance by jackals and ratels, rather than to mark the spot, and some food and drink are laid upon the grave; when the ceremony is suspended, and the party disperses. Friends are purified by mere ablution in the next stream and at once resume their usual cares. The family are unclean for three days, after which, besides bathing and shaving, they need to be sprinkled with holy water by their elders or priest. They are then restored to purity and forthwith proceed to make preparations for a funeral banquet, by the sacrifice of a hog to Mainou or Timáng, of a cock to Báthó or Pochima, according to the nation. When the feast has been got ready and the friends are assembled, before sitting down they all repair, once again, to the grave, when the nearest of kin to the deceased, taking an individual's usual portion of food and drink, solemnly presents them to the dead with these words, 'Take and eat: heretofore you have eaten and drunk with us; you can do so no more; you were one of us; you can be so no longer: we come no more to you: come you not to us.' And thereupon the whole party break and cast on the grave a bracelet of thread priorly attached, to this end, to the wrist of each of them. Next the party proceed to the river and bathe, and having thus lustrated themselves, they repair to the banquet, and eat, drink, and make merry as though they were never to die! A funeral costs the Dhimáls from four to eight rupees--something more to the Bodo, who practise more formality on the occasion, and to whom is peculiar the singular leave-taking of the dead just described."

The details relating to the priesthood, and to the festivals of the Bodo tribes, will best indicate the nature of their religion. The list of the Bodo gods is very nearly the list of the Bodo _rivers_. Báthó, however, the chief god, is no river but a _plant_; one of the Euphorbeace. Mainon is Báthó's wife. All diseases are referred to preternatural influence. Oaths and ordeals are very general.

_Rites and ceremonies._--The rites of the Bodo and Dhimál religions are entirely similar and "consist of offerings, sacrifices, and prayers. The prayers are few and simple, when stript of their mummery; and necessarily so, being committed solely to the memories of a non-hereditary and very trivially instructed and mutable priesthood. They consist of invocations of protection for the people and their crops and domestic animals; of deprecations of wrath when sickness, murrain, drought, blight, or the ravages of wild animals, prevail; and thanksgivings when the crops are safely housed, or recent troubles are passed. The offerings consist of milk, honey, parched rice, eggs, flowers, fruits, and red lead or cochineal: the sacrifices of hogs, goats, fowls, ducks, and pigeons--most commonly hogs and fowls. Sacrifices are deemed more worthy than offerings, so that all the higher deities, without reference to their supposed benevolence or malevolence of nature, receive sacrifices--all the lesser deities, offerings only. Libations of fermented liquor always accompany sacrifice--_because_, to confess the whole truth, sacrifice and feast are commutable words, and feasts need to be crowned by copious potations! Malevolence appears to be attributed to very few of the gods, though of course all will resent neglect; but, in general, their natures are deemed benevolent; and hence the absence of all savage or cruel rites. All diseases, however, are ascribed to supernatural agency. The sick man is supposed to be possessed by one of the deities, who racks him with pains, as a punishment for impiety or neglect of the god in question. Hence, not the mediciner, but the exorcist is summoned to the sick man's aid. The exorcist is called, both by the Bodo and Dhimáls, Ojhá, and he operates as follows. Thirteen leaves, each with a few grains of rice upon it, are placed by the exorcist in a segment of a circle before him to represent the deities. The Ojhá, squatting on his hams before the leaves causes a pendulum attached to his thumb by a string to vibrate before them, repeating invocations the while. The god who has possessed the sick man, is indicated by the exclusive vibration of the pendulum towards his representative leaf, which is then taken apart, and the god in question is asked, what sacrifice he requires? a buffalo, a hog, a fowl, or a duck to spare the sufferer. He answers (the Ojhá best knows how!) a hog; and it is forthwith vowed by the sick man and promised by the exorcist, but only paid when the former has recovered. On recovery the animal is sacrificed, and its blood offered to the offended deity. I witnessed the ceremony myself among the Dhimáls, on which occasion the thirteen deities invoked were Pochima or Waráng, Timai or Béráng, Lákhim, Konoksiri, Ménchi, Chímá, Danto, Chádúng, Aphóï, Biphóï, Andhéman (Aphún), Tátopátia (Báphún), and Shúti. A Bodo exorcist would proceed precisely in the same manner, the only difference in the ceremony being the invocation of the Bodo gods instead of the Dhimál ones.

"The _great festivals_ of the year are three or four. The first is held in December-January, when the cotton crop is ready. It is called Shúrkhar by the Bodo, Haréjata by the Dhimáls. The second is held in February-March. It is named Wágalénó by the Bodo, who alone observe it. The Bodo name for the third, which is celebrated in July-August, when the rice comes into ear, is Phúlthépno. The Dhimáls call it Gávi púja. The fourth great festival is held in October, and is named Ai húnó by the Bodo--Pochima páká by the Dhimáls. The first three of these festivals are consecrated to the elemental gods and to the interests of agriculture. They are celebrated abroad, not at home (generally on the banks of a river), whence attendance on them is called Hagrou húdong or madai húdong, "going forth to worship" in contradistinction to the style of the fourth great festival, which is devoted to the household gods and is celebrated at home. The Wágalénó, or bamboo festival of the Bodo, I witnessed in the spring of this year, and will describe it as a sample of the whole. Proceeding from Siligori to Pankhabárí with Dr. Campbell, we came upon a party of Bodo in the bed of the river, within the Saul forest, or rather, were drawn off the road by the noise they made. It was a sort of chorus of a few syllables, solemnly and musically incanted, which, on reaching the spot was found to be uttered by thirteen Bodo men, who were drawn up in a circle facing inwards, and each carrying a lofty bamboo pole decked with several tiers of wearing apparel and crowned with a Chour or yak's tail. Within the circle were three men, one of whom with an instrument like this [Illustration: ( | | )] in his hands danced to the music, waving his weapon downwards on one side and so over the head, and then downwards on the other side and again over the head. He moved round the margin of the circle in the centre of which stood two others, one a Déóshi or priest, and the other an attendant or servitor called Phantwál. The priest, clothed in red cotton but not tonsured or otherwise distinguished from the rest of the party, muttered an invocation, whereof the burden or chorus was taken up by the thirteen forming the ring above noticed. The servitor had a water-pot in one hand and a brush in the other, and from time to time, as the rite proceeded, this person moved out of the circle to sprinkle with the holy water another actor in this strange ceremony and a principal one too. This is the Déódá, or the possessed, who when filled with the god answers by inspiration to the questions of the priests as to the prospects of the coming season. When we first discerned him, he was sitting on the ground panting, and rolling his eyes so significantly that I at once conjectured his function. Shortly afterwards, the rite still proceeding, the Déódá got up, entered the circle and commenced dancing with the rest, but more wildly. He held a short staff in his hand, with which, from time to time, he struck the bedizened poles, one by one, and lowering it as he struck. The chief dancer with the odd-shaped instrument waxed more and more vehement in his dance; the inspired grew more and more maniacal; the music more and more rapid; the incantation more and more solemn and earnest; till at last, amid a general lowering of the heads of the decked bamboo poles, so that they met and formed a canopy over him, the Déódá went off in an affected fit, and the ceremony closed without any revelation--a circumstance which must be ascribed to the presence of the sceptical strangers; for it is faith alone that worketh miracles and only among and for the faithful. This ceremony is performed annually by the Rajah of Sikim's orders, or rather with his sanction of the usages of his subjects; is addressed to the sun, the moon, the elemental gods, and, above all, to the rivers; and is designed to ensure health and plenty in the coming year, as well as to ascertain, beforehand, its promise or prospect through the revelations of the Déódá. With regard to the festival sacred to the national or homebred (noöni) gods, called Aihuno[19] by the Bodo, and Pochima páká by the Dhimáls, it is to be observed that the rite, like the separate class of deities adored thereby, is more distinctively Bodo than Dhimál. With both people the pre-eminence of water among the elements is conspicuous; but whereas the river gods of the Dhimáls have nearly absorbed all the rest, elementary or other, the household gods of the Bodo stand conspicuously distinguished from the fluviatile deities. The Pochima and Timáng of the Dhimáls are one or both rivers: the Bátho and Mainang of the Bodo are neither of them rivers, and their interparietal rites are as clearly distinguished from the rites performed abroad to the fluviatile and other elemental gods. However, the rites of Báthó and Mainou are _participated_ by deities of elementary and watery nature, and, on the other hand, the Dhimáls assert that Pochima and Timai have a twofold character, one of river gods (Dhorla and Tishta), and one of supreme gods; and they that are adored, separately, in these two characters, the Pochima páká, or home-rite of October, being appropriated to them in the latter capacity of that of supreme gods. I have not witnessed the Pochima páká, and therefore speak with hesitation. The Ai húnó is performed as follows. The friends and family being assembled, including as many persons as the master of the house can afford to feast, the Déóshi or priest enters the enclosure or yard of the house, in the centre of which is invariably planted a Sij or Euphorbia, as the representative of Bátho who is the family as well as national god of the Bodo. The Báthó, thus represented, the Déóshi offers prayers, and sacrifices a cock. He then proceeds into the house, adores Mainou, and sacrifices to her a hog. Next, the priest, the family, and all the friends proceed to some convenient and pleasant spot in the vicinity, previously selected, and at which a little temporary shed has been erected as an altar, and there, with due ceremonies, another hog is sacrificed to Agráng, a he-goat to Manásho and to Búli, and a fowl, duck, or pigeon (black, red, or white, according to the special and well known taste of each god) to each of the remaining nine of the Noöni madai. The blood of the sacrifice belongs to the gods--the flesh to his worshippers, and these now hold a high feast, at which beer and tobacco are freely used to animate the joyous conclave, but not spirits, nor opium, nor hemp. The goddess Mainou is represented in the interior of each house, by a bamboo post, about three feet high, fixed in the ground, and surmounted by a small earthen cup filled with rice. Before this symbol is the great annual sacrifice of the hog above noted, performed; and before this, the females of the family _once a month_, make offerings of eggs. For the males, due attention to the four annual festivals is deemed sufficient in prosperous and healthful seasons. But sickness or scarcity always begets special rites and ceremonies, suited to the circumstances of the calamity, and addressed more particularly to the elemental gods, if the calamity be drought, or blight, or devastations of wild animals--to the household gods, if it be sickness. Hunters, likewise, and fishers, when they go forth to the chase, sacrifice a fowl to the Sylvan gods, to promote their success; and lastly, those who have a petition to prefer to their superiors, conceive that a similar propitiation of Jishim and Mishim, or of the Chiris, will tend to the fulfilment of their requests. And this, I think, is nearly the whole amount of rites and ceremonies, which their religion prescribes to the Bodo and Dhimáls. And anxious as I am fully to illustrate the topic, I will not try the patience of my readers by describing all that variety of black victims and white, of red victims and blue, which each particular deity is alleged to prefer; first, because the subject is intrinsically trifling; and second because the diverse statements of my informants lead me to suspect, that the matter is optional or discretionary with each individual priest prescribing these minutiæ. I have mentioned the rude symbols proper to Báthó and Mainou. None of the other gods seem to have any at all, though a low line of kneaded clay attached to the Thalí that surrounds the sacred Euphorbia in the yards of the Bodo is said to stand for the rest of the divinities who, as I have already said, are wont to be worshipped collectively rather than individually; and thus the sun, the moon, and the earth, though adored by Bodo and by Dhimál, have no separate rites, but are included in those appropriated to the elemental gods. Witchcraft is universally dreaded by both Bodo and Dhimál. The names of the craft and of its professors, male and female, will be found in the vocabulary. Witches (Dain and Mháï) are supposed to owe their noxious power to their own wicked studies, _or_ to the aid of preternatural beings. When any person is afflicted, the elders assemble and summon three Ojhás or exorcists, with whose aid and that of a cane freely used, the elders endeavour to extort from the witch a confession of the fact and the motives. By dint of questioning and of beating, the witch is generally brought to confession, when he or she is asked to remove the spell, and to heal the sufferer, means of propitiating preternatural allies (if their agency be alleged) being at the same time tendered to the witch, who is, however, forthwith expelled the district, and put across the next river, with the concurrence of the local authorities. No other sorcery or black art save that of witches is known; nor palmistry, augury, astrology, nor, in a word, any other supposed command of the future than that described in the 'Wa galéno' as the attribute (for the nonce) of the Déódá or vates. The evil eye causes some alarm to Bodo and to Dhimál who call it mogon nángo and mí nójó respectively, and who cautiously avoid the evil-eyed person, but cannot eject him from the community. The influence of the evil eye is sought to be neutralised by offerings of parched millet and eggs to Khoja Kajah and Mansha Rajah--Dii minores who find no place in my catalogue, ample as it is. Moïsh madai, I am told, likewise claims a place in the Bodo Pantheon, and a distinguished place, too, as the protector of this forest-dwelling people from beasts of prey, and especially the tiger.

"_Priesthood._--The priesthood of the Bodo and Dhimáls is entirely the same, even to the nomenclature, which with both people expresses the three sorts of clergy by the terms Déóshi, Dhámi and Ojhá. The Dhámi (seniores priores!) is the district priest. The Déóshi the village priest; and the Ojhá the village exorcist. The Déóshi has under him one servitor called Phantwál. There is a Déóshi in nearly every village. Over a small circle of villages one Dhámi presides and possesses a vaguely defined but universally recognised control over the Déóshis of his district. The general constitutions and functions of the clerical body have already been fully explained. Priests are subject to no peculiar restraints, nor marked by any external sign of diverse dress or other. The connexion between pastor and flock is full of liberty for the latter, who collectively can eject their priest if they disapprove him, or individually can desert him for another if they please. He marries and cultivates like his flock, and all that he can claim from them for his services is, first, a share of every animal sacrificed by him, and second, three days' help from each of his flock (the grown males) per annum, towards the clearing and cultivation of the land, he holds on the same terms with them, and which have already been explained. Whoever thinks fit to learn the forms of offering, sacrifice, and accompanying invocation, can be a priest; and if he get tired of the profession, he can throw it up when he will. Ojhás stand not on the same footing with Dhámis and Déóshis: they are remunerated solely by fees; but into either office--priests or exorcists--the form of induction is similar, consisting merely of an introduction by the priests or exorcists of the neophyte to the gods, the first time he officiates. One Dhámi and two Déóshis usually induct a Déóshi--three Ojhás, an Ojhá; and the formula is literally that of an introduction--'this is so and so, who proposes, O ye gods! to dedicate himself to your service: mark how he performs the rites, and, if correctly, accept them at his hands.'"

These remarks will conclude with the notice of an ethnological question of primary importance, but not yet laid before the reader, viz.: the extent to which certain varieties of the human species can live and thrive in localities which are either deleterious or deadly to others. Some rough facts of the kind in question are generally known; such, for instance, as the tolerance on the part of the Negro of the heat and malaria of the tropical climates. A similar tolerance of climatologic influences otherwise deleterious is shewn by the Bodo, and its allied tribes. According to Mr. Hodgson, none but themselves can live in their own localities; since "the Saul forest everywhere, but especially to the east of the Kósi, is malarious to an extent which no human beings can endure, save the remarkable races, which for ages have made it their dwelling-place. To all others, European or native, it is deadly from April to November. Yet the Dhimál, the Bodo, the Kíchak, the Tharú, the Dénwár, not only live but thrive in it, exhibiting no symptoms whatever of that dreadful stricken aspect of countenance and form which marks the victim of malaria."

The converse of this position, or the incapacity of the Bodo, &c., for living elsewhere, is also mentioned by Mr. Hodgson, but with an expression of doubt as to its accuracy. "The Bodo and Dhimáls, whom I communicated with, alleged that they cannot endure the climate of the open plains, where the heat gives them fevers. This is a mere excuse for their known aversion to quit the forest; for their eastern brethren dwell and till like natives in the open plains of Assam, just as the Kóls of south Bihár (Dhángars) do now in every part of the plains of Bihár and Bengal, in various sites abroad, and lastly in the lofty sub-Himálayas."

The Bodo tribes will again be brought prominently forward when the ethnology of the peninsula of India is discussed.

THE TRIBES OF SIKKIM AND NEPAL SPEAKING MONOSYLLABIC LANGUAGES.

Each of these countries, although south of the Himalayas, and although to a great extent Hindu in religion, government, and language, must be looked upon as countries of which the aboriginal population is an extension of that of Tibet. The tribes of Sikkim and Nepal are Cis-Himalayan Tibetans; the word Tibetan being used in its general sense.

1. _The Magars._--Imperfectly Braminical in their religion, with a separate monosyllabic language, and remains of their old Paganism. Their priests were called _Damis_.[20]

2. _The Gurungs._--Adherents to Buddhism. Inhabitants of the same localities with the Magars; only higher in the mountains.

3. _The Jariyas._--Indianized.

4. _The Newars._--Probably the oldest inhabitants of Nepal. Adherents to Buddhism; alphabet derived from the Devanagari.

5. _The Murmis._--Buddhist. Language like, but different from, that of the Newars.

6. _The Kirata._--Eastern Nepal; Buddhist.

7. _Limbu._--Same localities as the Kirata: differing in language.

8. _The Lepchas._--Inhabitants of Sikkim. Have a tradition that they lately migrated from Tibet, crossing the mountains; also that they then had a native alphabet, since lost.

CHÉPÁNG.

_Locality._--Forests of Nepaul, _west_ of the Great Valley.

_Tribes._--Chépáng, Kusunda, and Haiyu.

_Vocabularies._--One only known, _i.e._ that of the Chépáng.

_Authority._--B. H. Hodgson, _Journal of the Asiatic Society_, Dec. 1848, No. CXCVIII.

Respecting the, ethnology of these tribes (or rather of the Chépáng, the one best known), Mr. Hodgson's observations are as follows:--

1. That their form and colour is the form and colour of the aborigines of India.

2. That their language is closely allied to the language of Bhután.

The Garo, the Bodo, the Dhimál, and Chépáng, will come under consideration again; these being the tribes which will supply the chief facts connected with the question as to the affinity or non-affinity between the great Tibetan and Indian families. At present it is sufficient to draw attention to the state of opinion upon this point. With few exceptions amongst the English (Dr. Bird and Mr. Hodgson being the most decided), both philologists and physiologists consider the line of demarcation to be an exceedingly broad one.

_Tribes supposed to be essentially monosyllabic, although speaking a language admitted to be Indian._--These are the Assamese of the _Lower_ part of the valley, and the Raibansi Kooch.

1. _Assam._--That the languages of _Upper_ Assam are those of a variety of rude tribes, speaking a monosyllabic tongue, has already been seen. The Lower Assam language is Bengali. Were the Bengali the aborigines of Lower Assam? I believe that no one holds this doctrine. Is the present language that of Bengalis, who have displaced an aboriginal monosyllabic population? Perhaps. Or has an original monosyllabic population adopted the Bengali? No person is better capable of forming an opinion on this point than Mr. Hodgson; and his opinion is for the last of these views.

2. _The converted Kooch._--Residents, in contact with the Bodo and Dhimál, of the Sub-Himalayan range, between the north-west corner of Assam and Sikkim. The higher class of the converted Kooch are Brahminists: the lower Mahometans. Both call themselves _Raibansi_. The notice of the Kooch kingdom of Hájo, explains this term.

Towards the close of the fifteenth century, Hájo founded a Kooch empire, which extended beyond the limits of the Assam valley, into Morung and Bengal. His daughter, for he left no sons, was married to a Bodo chief, the Bodos being Pagans. These two divisions of the aborigines held their own against the Moslem and Hindus equally; but only for a while. Visva Sinh, the conqueror's grandson, became a convert to Hinduism, the majority of his subjects to the religion of Mahomet; renouncing, at the same time, their original name. A portion, however, remained unconverted, and remain so; and these agree with the Bodo in appearance, manners, and customs, and are said to do so in language also.

If so, and if the Raibansi Kooch be so closely allied to them as they are described to be, they must, although speaking a dialect closely allied to the Assam Bengali, be monosyllabic in origin.

The whole details, however, of the Kooch may be found in Mr. Hodgson's Dissertation.

* * * * *

The Chinese civilization must be taken as the measure of the moral development of the monosyllabic nations; a form to which the _non_-culture of the tribes represented by the Bodo and Garo, stands in prominent contrast. I do not think it necessary to tell the reader what Chinese civilization _is_. It is sufficiently known in itself; its affinity with that of the Indo-Chinese nations is known also; and equally well-known is its distinct character, as compared with the other civilizations of the world--Asiatic as well as European.

A point of more ethnographical importance, is the question as to its antiquity; since this involves the higher question still--as to the extent to which it is a self-developed phenomenon, or one effected by influences from without. I am prepared to admit without much criticism, the statements of travellers as to the possession, on the part of the Chinese, of several of the most important arts and discoveries belonging to the civilization of Europe--of the art of printing, of paper-money, of a certain amount of astronomical knowledge, of the mariner's compass, and even of gunpowder. There is no reason why the Chinese, _when once civilized_, should not have worked out an average amount of discovery in the way of detail. The point upon which I doubt is the _antiquity_ of that civilization, and still more the self-evolution of it; a necessary consequence of such antiquity.

Within the historical period, three civilizing influences have, at different times, been introduced into China, and each has had time to do its work in.

I begin with the latest, the European.

1. _The Portuguese, Dutch, English, and American._--This may be disposed of briefly. It has not changed the Chinese cultivation in anything essential.

2. _The Nestorian Christians._--Date between 600 and 1200 A.D. The _extent_ of the influence of these early missionaries will be examined in the section upon the Syrians. It is the second of the great external civilizing influences that have acted upon China. Without carrying my scepticism so far as to limit the antiquity of the Chinese history to the epoch of the Nestorians, I cannot but put a high importance on the introduction of Syrian literature, Syrian theology, and Syrian science.

3. _The Buddhism of India._--This is generally believed to have been introduced into China in the first century after Christ. I have not seen the translation of the Annals of the Han Dynasty by the Archimandrite Hyacinth; so that I cannot say at what period they profess to represent cotemporary events. Whatever, however, that period may be, it is the extreme date of Chinese history: now this cannot be earlier than B.C. 200; that being the epoch when the Han dynasty began to reign.

Viewed in respect to our reasons for concluding that such or such a fact took place, there are five grounds of belief:--

1. _Historical grounds._--Here the facts are believed on _testimony_; the testimony of men who had means of knowing them. That such witnesses should have lived at the time when the facts in question took place, is the great and essential condition of their credibility.

2. _The belief ex necessitate._--A fact which, at the time of its first announcement could only have been known from having been witnessed by a cotemporary, but which at some later period is shown from other facts to have been real, is to be admitted unreservedly; the evidence in its favour being of the highest kind. Of this sort are such astronomical facts as, in the present state of our knowledge, can be ascertained independently of experience, but which, when first notified, could only have been ascertained _by_ experience.

3. _Traditional Grounds._--Here the _immediate_ authority to the person who is informed of a real or supposed fact, is some one who had not the possibility of knowing the facts in question from being contemporary with them; but who heard it from some one who was so contemporary--or else heard it from some one who heard it from some one, &c., _ad infinitum_. Here the statements are possible or impossible, probable or improbable. If possible, they _may_ be true; if probable, they are likely to be so. In neither case, however, are they historical facts; that is, there is no _testimony_ founded upon a knowledge of the event.

4. _The true elements in unreasonable traditions._--A series of necessary and connected antecedents to a given effect, inductively obtained is an ethnological ground of belief, or an ethnological fact; and it is based on inductive reasoning. A series of unnecessary and unconnected antecedents, derived from the _imagination_, is a false ground of belief, and in most cases this takes the form of mythological tradition. It does not, however, necessarily follow, that, because a body of tradition may, on the whole, be unreasonable, or even impossible, it is therefore wholly deficient in grounds of belief. The doctrine _ex nihilo nihil_ may here apply. It may fairly be argued, that, absolute invention is so difficult, that in all error there is some truth. Granted. It may, then, be argued, that a criticism analytical enough to evolve the residuum is a scientific (or literary) possibility. Granted. But who is the critic? I fear that his appearance is _optandum magis quam sperandum_.

5. _The inductive method consists in the assumption of certain causes as the necessary antecedents of a known event_; and they are good or bad according to their scientific or unscientific character. To take as the first fact in the history of Greece, the existence of a poem like the Iliad in the ninth century B.C., to ascertain the state of society that it implies, and to appreciate the civilization involved therein, is an ethnological argument; whilst, to assume a certain amount of time for such to have grown up in, is an argument from effect to cause, and is good or bad, according as it assumes no more than is absolutely necessary.

Now, if we ask upon which of these five principles we believe in the antiquity of the Chinese civilization, it will certainly not be the first.

I am not prepared to wholly exclude the second; indeed, I have not the means of forming an independent one on the subject. At the same time I know that, in respect to the Chinese astronomical calculations many good judges are incredulous, and many of those who are not so are at variance in their opinions.

The third is essentially admissible for a limited period only.

The fifth remains open for consideration.

In the application of what may be called the _doctrine of necessary antecedents_, I believe, for my own part, that we must take the China as described by Marco Polo in the fifteenth century; and if we put the development there exhibited on a level with that of the China of the present century, we are giving to the advocate of antiquity full as much, perhaps more, than he can fairly demand. I submit that the time necessary for the growth of such a phenomenon need not exceed a few centuries.

The residuum, then, of truth that is capable of being evolved out of unreasonable tradition, is all that the present writer can leave to the advocates of a Chinese antiquity. He would willingly, however, find that their astronomy and history will bear a more severe criticism than he imagines they are likely to do.

At present, he believes that whatever is older than their religion, is _reasonable_ tradition for a limited period (say a century), and unreasonable tradition beyond it.

In confining the growth of Chinese civilization to the last eighteen hundred years, and in expressing my dissent from the doctrine that it was an indigenous, self-developed phenomenon, I by no means underrate the import of certain undoubted facts. The archæology of their alphabet is too little known to enable us to connect it with any foreign one; as well as too scanty to exhibit its evolution as a home growth. Still it is a remarkable phenomenon. Still more so is the phenomenon of their government and political organization. To deny to China a great influence upon the history of the world, simply because its civilization has been confined to its own immediate sphere, and its movements have been limited to the pale of its own dominions, is erroneous. China alone is a great section of the world. Hence the circle, though limited, is large; and the simple, single fact of so much sameness over so large a country, is a great one. How is this to be accounted for? Was the original area occupied by the first possessors of China so great, whilst the changes that have set in since the time of possession have been so small? or has the uniformity been purchased by the assimilation of a multiplicity of small and distinct tribes? Or has it been by their annihilation?

Whatever may be the answer to these questions supplied by future researches, the Chinese are one of the great historical influences, and, if we contrast the peaceful habits of an agricultural population with the unsettled condition of a nation of nomads, and the security of a large consolidated government with the slave-dealing warfares that exist between thickly congregated petty tribes, we must allow that influence to have been a beneficial one.