NOTES
[1] The previous history of the Khasi state of Jaintia, so far as it can be traced will be found related in Mr. E. A. Gait's History of Assam (1906), pp. 253-262.
[2] P. 211.
[3] Vol. iii., p. 168, 177, &c.
[4] These cloths, which Lindsay calls "moongadutties," were really the produce of Assam, and were dhutis or waist-cloths of muga silk.
[5] Pp. 218-220., It appears from p. 219 that Mr. Scott's report is responsible for the erroneous statement (often repeated) that the mountaineers "called by us Cossyahs, denominate themselves Khyee." This second name is in fact the pronunciation current in Sylhet of the word Khasi, h being substituted for s, and should be written as Khahi.
[6] In Mr. Scott's time it was usual to speak of such a place as a "Sanatary."
[7] Vol. ix, pp. 833 sqq.
[8] Vol. xiii., pp. 612 sqq.
[9] Pp. 272 sqq.
[10] Called >w|oskop'ia: one of the lost books of the Orphic cycle was entitled t`a >w|oskopik'a.
[11] The figures for Khasi population in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills district will be found under "Habitat."
[12] The average rainfall at the Cherrapunji Police Station during the last twenty years, from figures obtained from the office of the Director of Land Records and Agriculture, has been 118 inches. The greatest rainfall registered in any one year during the period was in 1899, when it amounted to 641 inches.
[13] It is interesting to compare the remarks of M. Aymonier in his volume iii of "Le Cambodge." He writes as follows:—"Mais en Indo-Chine on trouve, partout disseminé, ce que les indigènes, au Cambodge du moins, appellant, comme les peuples les plus éloignés du globe les traits de foudre.' Ce sont ici des haches de l'âge néolithique ou de la pierre polie, dont la plupart appartiennent au type repandu en toute la terre. D'autres de ces celtes, dits épaulés, parcequ'ils possèdent un talon d'une forme particulière, paraissent appartenir en propre à l'Indo-Chine et à la presqu'ile dekkhanique. Its fourniraient donc un premier indice, non négligeable, d'une communauté d'origine des populations primitives des deux péninsules, cis et trans gangétiques."
[14] Mawkhar is a suburb of Shillong, the headquarters station.
[15] The maund is 82 lbs.
[16] See Bulletin No. 5 of the Agricultural Department of Assam, 1898, pp. 4 and 5.
[17] Khasi u sak-riew.
[18] Colocasia osculenta, Beng. Kachu.
[19] About threepence.
[20] For the story in detail see the Folk-lore section of the monograph.
[21] Simsong is the Garo name for the river Someshwari.
[22] Officer.
[23] See page 13, "Ka Niam Khasi" (U Jeebon Roy.)
[24] What follows is a literal translation of the Khasi.
[25] This cave is at Pomdalai, some five miles west of Cherrapunji, close to a great waterfall called Noh Ka Likai, i.e. the place where Ka Likai jumped down the precipice (for a full account of this story see Section V. of the monograph), where there is a large block of stone, with some cuts over it, known as Dain Thlen, i.e. the snake cutting (place).
[26] In another account it is said to have been U Suid-noh himself who did this.
[27] Sir Charles Lyall has pointed out that the Mikirs possess this custom; it is probably borrowed from the Khasis.
[28] Karl Pearson's essay on "mother age civilization."
[29] Lit.: Cut by magic.
[30] In Ahom kái = fowl, chán = beautiful, mung = country. Therefore Kái-chán-mung = fowl of a beautiful country (heaven).
[31] A spirit which is supposed to have the power of causing a disease of the navel of a child.
[32] Iapduh is the regular word used for a clan, and in this case a species dying out.
[33] The Shillong Peak is thought to be the seat of a powerful blei or god who has his abode in the wood close to the top of the "Peak." Another folk-tale will be found concerning this god.
[34] another version is that it was U Kyrphei, another hill in Nongspung territory, who fought with U Symper.
[35] For further details regarding the Khasi superstition of the "thlen," the reader is referred to the portion of the monograph dealing with human sacrifices. It may be mentioned that the "thlen's" cave is at a place called Pom Doloi in the territory of the Siem of Cherra, where there is also a rock called "Dain Thlen" (the cutting of the "thlen"). Another version of the story explaining why there are still "thlens" in the Khasi Hills is that there was an old woman who lived at a placed called Mawphu, a village in a valley to the west of Cherrapunji. This old woman forgot to eat her share of the "thlen's" flesh, the result being that the species became repropagated.
[36] Both rivers, Umngot and Umiew, or Umiam, have their sources in or close to the Shillong Peak. The word "Rupatylli" signifies in Khasi a solid silver necklace of a peculiar shape. In order to appreciate this pretty tale thoroughly, the reader ought to view the river "Rupatylli" from the heights of the Laitkynsew, or Mahadeo, whence it is to be seen glistening in the sun like a veritable rupatylli or silver necklace.
[37] Those mountains are the high hills which lie to the east of the Jowai Sub-Division, and which form part of the boundary line between the Khasi and Jaintia Hills District and North Cachar.
[38] The word Hadem is possibly a corruption of "Hidimba," the old name for North Cachar.
[39] A Kongngor is one who has married a Khasi princess.
[40] This stone bridge, situated on the Theria road about a mile below Cherra, existed up to the Earthquake of 1897, which demolished it. The large slab of stone which formed the roadway of the bridge, is however, still to be seen lying in the bed of the stream.
[41] The above story is said to have been taken down word for word from the mouth of an old woman of the Malyniang clan who lived at Mawlong.—P.R.G.
[42] Kuhn's "Beiträge zur Sprachenkunde Hinterindiens."
[43] Khasi ktin kynnoh.
[44] Assamese loan word, a corruption of "julungá."
[45] The word khong has probably connection with the Synteng word jong meaning a clan.