Our slumbers were, however, disturbed by loud shouts, repeated from height to height, which seemed to be the “All’s well!” of native guards, posted round the village to watch over our safety.
In the morning a large capon and a supply of beer arrived, as a present from the chieftainess, and later on she herself with her daughters and retinue came in state. She was a short matronly-looking woman, with an intelligent expression of countenance and good features, but for her high cheek-bones and slightly Chinese eyes. Her costume was of course the perfection of highland full dress, and, though singular, by no means unbecoming. The head-dress was the most striking part of it, consisting of blue cloth, wound round and round in a sort of turban, so as to form an inverted cone, towering at least eighteen inches above her head. Her upper garment was a sleeveless black velvet jacket, ornamented with a row of large embossed silver buttons running round the neck and continued down the front; besides these, circular plates of chased and enamelled silver, three inches in diameter, arranged in rows down the front and back seams and around the skirt, made the garment almost resemble a cuirass. The dress was completed by a single kilt-like petticoat, composed of a dark blue cotton cloth, with a broad red woollen border, wound round the hips, and reaching a little below the knee. One end was tastefully worked with deep silken embroidery, and carefully disposed, so as to hang gracefully on one side. A profusion of fine ratan girdles round the waist supported the kilt and filled up the void between it and the jacket; and, by way of stockings, a close-fitting series of black ratan rings encircled her legs below the knee. Her rank was marked by two large silver hoops round her neck, and a necklace of short cylinders of some red clayey material, intermixed with amber and ivory beads. These cumbrous ornaments are permitted only to the wives and daughters of tsawbwas and pawmines. Two silver bracelets on each arm, and long silver tubes worn in the lobes of the ears, completed her splendour. Her little daughters, besides the distinctive girdles of black beads, and silver bells, each containing a small free pellet, which tinkled pleasantly to every motion of the wearer, wore broad waist-belts ornamented with several rows of cowrie shells. Our visitor brought us goose eggs and sheroo, and apologised for not having more to offer, but promised to send us every day something to eat. Her goodwill was rewarded by presents of silk handkerchiefs and red cloth, and a gorgeous table-cloth, the splendour of which and her joy, when Sladen presented it to her, left her perfectly speechless.
KAKHYEN WOMEN.
During the day the missing mules and baggage began to arrive, the drivers having camped for the night at various places in the neighbourhood, and early in the afternoon the guard marched in, but without the cash-chest. The jemadar reported that he had remained in charge of it at Talone, where he had been obliged to leave it, together with the missing eight mules and their loads. The tsawbwa, who with his people and the Chinese interpreter, Moung Shuay Yah, had spent the night in drinking, refused to let either cash-chest or baggage proceed. The guard had been unable to obtain any food till before starting this morning, and one of the sepoys who had rashly indulged in excessive draughts of water had been seized with sickness, and died in two hours.
On the receipt of this news of the unaccountable conduct of the Talone chief and Moung Shuay Yah, Sala despatched his own son with positive orders for the instant release of the porters and drivers, and pending their arrival, we sallied forth to view the village and its surroundings. The houses were situated at short distances from each other in a deep hollow, thickly wooded with magnificent oaks and a few palms (Corypha), and very fine screw-pines, or pandani, one fallen stem of the former being fully sixty feet in length. Immediately over the village towered a bold rounded summit of the main range two thousand feet above us, halfway up the side of which a large conical Khakyen grave formed a prominent object; in shape it so strongly resembled a Burmese pagoda as to suggest an imitation. In the village very fine plantains were cultivated, and the sides of the spurs below were extensively cleared for rice and other crops. From the ground behind the tsawbwa’s house, we obtained a splendid view of the lofty hills on the southern side of the Tapeng valley, many of which appeared to rise to a height of six thousand feet above the river, cultivated and dotted with villages almost to the very summits.
In the course of our ramble we were attracted to one house by the sound of drumming; outside the portico, some men were sitting cooking chickens, which had been merely stripped of their feathers, but not otherwise cleaned. Having asked and obtained permission, we entered the common hall, round which men, women, and children were dancing, each carrying a small stick, with which they beat time, as they circled round with measured steps, curiously combining a prance and a side shuffle. The instrumentalists were a man and a girl, who vigorously beat a pair of drums, while ever and anon the dancers burst out into loud yells, and quickened the speed of their evolutions. We at first sat gravely on the logs, brought by a smiling girl, but were presently invited by signs to take our places in the dance; accordingly we stood up and went round, but had scarcely taken two turns when the whole party rushed, yelling loudly, out of the house, the leader flourishing his stick wildly, as though clearing the way. Much puzzled, we returned into the house, and found the corpse of a child, laid in a corner carefully screened off, and the poor mother wailing bitterly by its side. The festivity turned out to be the death dance, to drive away the departed spirit from hovering near its late tenement, and our exertions were believed to have mainly contributed to the speedy and happy result; so at least we were made to understand by our hosts, who hastened to refresh us with sheroo, served in cups ingeniously improvised out of plantain leaves. We paid our footing in silver, and departed with a feeling that even the entente cordiale we desired to establish with the Kakhyens hardly demanded an active participation in death-dances.
The next day Sala’s son arrived with the cash-chest and the missing mules from Talone; but the boxes had been opened, Sladen and Bowers had each lost a canteen, well stocked with knives and forks, and the mule-men had further helped themselves to all eatables. They had, however, shown a laudable consideration, for in one of Stewart’s cases was a bottle of port wine, which they had opened by pushing in the cork; not relishing the contents, they had carefully cut and fixed in a wooden stopper to prevent waste!
Sladen assembled Sala and the other chiefs, and distributed salt, cloth, and some yellow silk handkerchiefs, which were highly prized. Sala delivered a public exhortation, enjoining fidelity on all; in private he communicated the necessity of propitiating the nats, and requested our attendance at a ceremony which was to take place that night, for the purpose of ascertaining the will of the demons, by the medium of a meetway, or diviner.
Accordingly after dinner we all adjourned to the hall of the tsawbwa’s new house, and, reclining on mats brought by his wife, chatted for some time with the chiefs and headmen assembled round the fire.