Himalayan Journals, vol 2, J. D. Hooker [small books to read txt] 📗

with the usual prevalence of parasites, mistleto, epiphytical Orchideae, AEshynanthus, ferns, mosses, and Lycopodia; and on the ground were Rubiaceae, Scitamineae, ferns, Acanthaceae, beautiful balsams, and herbaceous and shrubby nettles.

Bamboos* [The natives enumerate about fourteen different kinds of

bamboo, of which we found five in flower, belonging to three very

distinct genera. Uspar, Uspet, Uspit, Usken, Uskong, Uktang, Usto,

Silee, Namlang, Tirra, and Battooba are some of the names of Bamboos vouched for by Mr. Inglis as correctly spelt. Of other Khasia names of plants, Wild Plantains are called Kairem, and the cultivated

Kakesh; the latter are considered so nourishing that they are given to newborn infants. Senteo is a flower in Khas, So a fruit, Ading a tree, and Te a leaf. Pandanus is Kashelan. Plectocomia, Usmole.

Licuala, Kuslow. Caryota, Kalai-katang. Wallichia, Kalai-nili.

Areca, Waisola. Various Calami are Rhimet, Uriphin, Ureek hilla, Tindrio, etc. This list will serve as a specimen; I might increase it materially, but as I have elsewhere observed, the value attached to the supposed definite application of native names to natural objects is greatly over-rated, and too much reliance on them has introduced a prodigious amount of confusion into scientific works and philological inquiries.] of many kinds are very abundant, and these hills further differ remarkably from those of Sikkim in the great number of species of grasses.

The ascent was at first gradual, along the sides of a sandstone spur.

At 2000 feet the slope suddenly became steep and rocky, at 3000 feet tree vegetation disappeared, and we opened a magnificent prospect of the upper scarped flank of the valley of Moosmai, which we were

ascending, with four or five beautiful cascades rolling over the

table top of the hills, broken into silvery foam as they leapt from ledge to ledge of the horizontally stratified precipice, and throwing a veil of silver gauze over the gulf of emerald green vegetation,

2000 feet below. The views of the many cataracts of the first class that are thus precipitated over the bare table-land on which Churra stands, into the valleys on either side, surpass anything of the kind that I have elsewhere seen, though in many respects vividly recalling the scenery around Rio de Janeiro: nor do I know any spot in the

world more calculated to fascinate the naturalist who, while

appreciating the elements of which a landscape is composed, is also keenly alive to the beauty and grandeur of tropical scenery.

Illustration--"LIVING BRIDGE" FORMED BY THE AERIAL ROOTS OF THE

INDIA-RUBBER AND OTHER KINDS OF FIGS.

At the point where this view opens, a bleak stony region commences, bearing numberless plants of a temperate flora and of European

genera, at a comparatively low elevation; features which continue to the top of the flat on which the station is built, 4000 feet above

the sea.

Illustration--DEWAN'S EAR-RING.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Churra, English station of -- Khasia people -- Garrow people --

Houses -- Habits -- Dress -- Arms -- Dialects -- Marriages -- Food --

Funerals -- Superstitions -- Flat of Churra -- Scenery -- Lime and

coal -- Mamloo -- Cliffs -- Cascades -- Chamaerops palm --

Jasper-rocks -- Flora of Churra -- Orchids -- Rhododendrons -- Pine -- Climate -- Extraordinary rain-fall -- Its effects -- Gardens of

Lieuts. Raban and Cave -- Leave Churra to cross the mountain range --

Coal, shale, and underclay -- Kala-panee river -- Lailangkot --

Luculia Pinceana -- Conglomerate Surureem wood -- Boga-panee river -- View of Himalaya -- Green-stone -- Age of Pine-cones -- Moflong

plants -- Coix -- Chillong mountain -- Extensive view -- Road to

Syong -- Broad valleys -- Geology -- Plants -- Myrung -- Granite

blocks -- Kollong rock -- Pine-woods -- Features of country --

Orchids -- Iron forges.

Churra Poonji is said to be so called from the number of streams in the neighbourhood, and poonji, "a village" (Khas.): it was selected for a European station, partly from the elevation and consequent

healthiness of the spot, and partly from its being on the high road from Silhet to Gowahatty, on the Burrampooter, the capital of Assam, which is otherwise only accessible by ascending that river, against both its current and the perennial east wind. A rapid postal

communication is hereby secured: but the extreme unhealthiness of the northern foot of the mountains effectually precludes all other

intercourse for nine months in the year.

On the first opening up of the country, the Europeans were brought

into sanguinary collision with the Khasias, who fought bravely with bows and arrows, displaying a most blood-thirsty and cruel

disposition. This is indeed natural to them; and murders continued

very frequent as preludes to the most trifling robberies, until the extreme penalty of our law was put in force. Even now, some of the

tributary Rajahs are far from quiet under our rule, and various parts of the country are not safe to travel in. The Garrows, who occupy the western extremity of this range, at the bend of the Burrampooter, are still in a savage state. Human sacrifices and polyandry are said to be frequent amongst them, and their orgies are detestable. Happily we are hardly ever brought into collision with them, except by their

occasional depredations on the Assam and Khasia frontier: their

country is very unhealthy, and is said to contain abundance of coal, iron, and lime.

We seldom employed fewer than twelve or fourteen of the natives as

collectors, and when travelling, from thirty to forty as coolies,

etc. They are averse to rising early, and are intolerably filthy in their persons, though not so in their cottages, which are very poor, with broad grass roofs reaching nearly to the ground, and usually

encircled by bamboo fences; the latter custom is not common in savage communities, and perhaps indicates a dread of treachery. The beams

are of hewn wood (they do not use saws), often neatly carved, and the doors turn on good wooden pivots. They have no windows, and the fire is made on the floor: the utensils, etc. are placed on hanging

shelves and in baskets.

The Khasia people are of the Indo-Chinese race; they are short, very stout, and muscular, with enormous calves and knees, rather narrow

eyes and little beard, broad, high cheekbones, flat noses, and open nostrils. I believe that a few are tattooed. The hair is gathered

into a top-knot, and sometimes shaved off the forehead and temples.

A loose cotton shirt, often striped blue and red, without sleeves and bordered with long thread fringes, is their principal garment; it is gathered into a girdle of silver chains by people of rank. A cotton robe is sometimes added, with a large cotton turban or small

skull-cap. The women wear a long cloth tied in a knot across the

breast. During festivals both men and women load themselves with silk robes, fans, peacock's feathers, and gold and silver ornaments of

great value, procured from Assam, many of which are said to be

extremely curious, but I regret to say that I never saw any of them.

On these occasions spirits are drunk, and dancing kept up all night: the dance is described as a slow ungraceful motion, the women being tightly swathed in cloths.

All their materials are brought from Assam; the only articles in

constant use, of their own manufacture, being a rude sword or knife with a wooden handle and a long, narrow, straight blade of iron, and the baskets with head-straps, like those used by the Lepchas, but

much neater; also a netted bag of pine-apple fibre (said to come from Silhet) which holds a clasp-knife, comb, flint, steel, and betel-nut box. They are much addicted to chewing pawn (betel-nut, pepper

leaves, and lime) all day long, and their red saliva looks like blood on the paths. Besides the sword I have described, they carry bows and arrows, and rarely a lance, and a bamboo wicker-work shield.

We found the Khasias to be sulky intractable fellows, contrasting

unpleasantly with the Lepchas; wanting in quickness, frankness, and desire to please, and obtrusively independent in manner; nevertheless we had a head man who was very much the reverse of this, and whom we had never any cause to blame. Their language is, I believe,

Indo-Chinese and monosyllabic: it is disagreeably nasal and guttural, and there are several dialects and accents in contiguous villages.

All inflections are made by prefixing syllables, and when using the Hindoo language, the future is invariably substituted for the past

tense. They count up to a hundred, and estimate distances by the

number of mouthfuls of pawn they eat on the road.

Education has been attempted by missionaries with partial success,

and the natives are said to have shown themselves apt scholars.

Marriage is a very loose tie amongst them, and hardly any ceremony

attends it. We were informed that the husband does not take his wife home, but enters her father's household, and is entertained there.

Divorce and an exchange of wives is common, and attended with no

disgrace: thus the son often forgets his father's name and person

before he grows up, but becomes strongly attached to his mother.

The sister's son inherits both property and rank, and the

proprietors' or Rajahs' offspring are consequently often reared in

poverty and neglect. The usual toy of the children is the bow and

arrow, with which they are seldom expert; they are said also to spin pegtops like the English, climb a greased pole, and run round with a beam turning horizontally on an upright, to which it is attached by a pivot.

The Khasias eat fowls, and all meat, especially pork, potatos and

vegetables, dried and half putrid fish in abundance, but they have an aversion to milk, which is very remarkable, as a great proportion of their country is admirably adapted for pasturage. In this respect,

however, they assimilate to the Chinese, and many Indo-Chinese

nations who are indifferent to milk, as are the Sikkim people.

The Bengalees, Hindoos, and Tibetans, on the other hand, consume

immense quantities of milk. They have no sheep, and few goats or

cattle, the latter of which are kept for slaughter; they have,

however, plenty of pigs and fowls. Eggs are most abundant, but used for omens only, and it is a common, but disgusting occurrence, to see large groups employed for hours in breaking them upon stones,

shouting and quarrelling, surrounded by the mixture of yellow yolks and their red pawn saliva.

The funeral ceremonies are the only ones of any importance, and are often conducted with barbaric pomp and expense; and rude stones of

gigantic proportions are erected as monuments, singly or in rows,

circles, or supporting one another, like those of Stonehenge, which they rival in dimensions and appearance. The body is burned, though seldom during the rains, from the difficulty of obtaining a fire; it is therefore preserved in honey (which is abundant and good) till the dry season: a practice I have read of as prevailing among some tribes in the Malay peninsula. Spirits are drunk on these occasions; but the hill Khasia is not addicted to drunkenness, though some of the

natives of the low valleys are very much so. These ascend the rocky faces of the mountains by ladders, to the Churra markets, and return loaded at night, apparently all but too drunk to stand; yet they

never miss their footing in places which are most dangerous to

persons unaccustomed to such situations.

Illustration--THE TABLE-LAND AND STATION OF CHURRA, WITH THE JHEELS, COURSE OF THE SOORMAH RIVER, AND TIPPERAH HILLS IN THE EXTREME

DISTANCE, LOOKING SOUTH.

The Khasias are superstitious, but have no religion; like the

Lepchas, they believe in a supreme being, and in deities of the

grove, cave, and stream. Altercations are often decided by holding

the disputants' heads under water, when the longest winded carries

his point. Fining