The Khasis are in the habit of regularly drinking considerable quantities either of a spirit distilled from rice or millet (ka'iad pudka), or of rice-beer, which is of two kinds (1) ka'iad hiar, (2) ka'iad um. Both of these are made from rice and, in some places, from millet, and the root of a plant called u khawiang. Ka'iad hiar is made by boiling the rice or millet. It is then taken out and spread over a mat, and, when it cools, fragments of the yeast (u khawiang) are sprinkled over it. After this it is placed in a basket, which is put in a wooden bowl. The basket is covered tightly with a cloth so as to be air-tight, and it is allowed to remain in this condition for a couple of days, during which time the liquor has oozed out into the bowl. To make ka'iad um the material, the rice or millet from which the ka'iad hiar was brewed, is made use of. It is placed in a large earthen pot and allowed to remain there for about five days to ferment, after which the liquor is strained off. Ka'iad hiar is said to be stronger than ka'iad um. The former is used frequently by distillers of country spirit for mixing with the wort so as to set up fermentation. The people of the high plateaux generally prefer rice spirit, and the Wárs of the southern slopes of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills customarily partake of it also. The Khasis of the western hills, e.g. of the Nongstoin Siemship, and the Lynngams, Bhois, Lalungs, and Hadems almost invariably drink rice-beer, but the Syntengs, like the Khasi uplanders, drink rice-spirit. Rice-beer (ka'iad um) is a necessary article for practically all Khasi and Synteng religious ceremonies of importance, it being the custom for the officiating priest to pour out libations of liquor from a hollow gourd (u klong) to the gods on these occasions. As there is no Excise in the district, except within a five-mile radius of Shillong, liquor of both the above descriptions can be possessed and sold without restriction.
According to some Khasi traditions the Khasis in ancient times used not to drink spirits, but confined themselves to rice-beer. It is only in the last couple of generations that the habit of drinking spirits has crept in, according to them. From Khasi accounts, the use of spirits is on the increase, but there is no means of testing these statements. There can be no doubt, however, that at the present time a very large amount of spirit is manufactured and consumed in the district. The spirit is distilled both for home consumption and for purposes of sale; in some villages, e.g. Mawlai and Marbisu, near Shillong, where there are fifty-nine and forty-nine stills respectively, there being a still almost in every house. Mawlai village supplies a great deal of the spirit which is drunk in Shillong, and from Marbisu spirit is carried for sale to various parts of the hills. Other large distilling centres are Cherrapunji, with forty-seven stills; Jowai, with thirty-one stills; Laitkynsew, with fifty-four stills; Nongwar, thirty-one stills; and Rangthang, thirty-seven stills.
From what has been stated above some idea may be gathered how very large the number of stills in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills is. I am not in a position to state with any degree of accuracy what is the amount of spirit manufactured or consumed in the year, but it is very considerable. The out-turn of a Khasi still has been reckoned at from four to eight bottles per day. From this estimate, and the fact that there are 1,530 stills in the district, it may be roughly calculated what is the consumption annually. Practically the whole of the spirit is consumed within the district. The liquor which is manufactured is far stronger than the spirit distilled in the ordinary out-stills in the plains. It has been stated by an expert analyst that the Khasi spirit contains 60 to 80 per cent. of proof spirit, and that it possesses "an exceptionally nice flavour and taste." The usual price at which it is sold is 4 to 6 annas a quart bottle, a second quality being sometimes sold for 3 annas. It will be seen that the liquor is exceedingly cheap. A Khasi in the villages of the interior can get drunk for 2 annas, [19] or a quarter of an ordinary coolie's daily wage. Drunkenness prevails on every market day at Cherrapunji, Jowai, and other large háts, and on occasions when there are gatherings of the people for various purposes. This cheap but strong spirit is demoralizing the people, and some restriction of its use would be welcomed by many. In the Khasi Welsh Methodist Church abstention from liquor is made a condition of Church membership, but the vast number of stills and the facilities with which liquor can be obtained are a constant source of temptation to the Christian community, and cause many defections.
Games.
The Khasis have many games, but their principal game is archery, this may be said to be the national game, and is a very popular form of recreation amongst them, the sport being indulged in from about the beginning of January to the end of May each year. The following is a description of a Khasi archery meeting, for the details of which I am largely indebted to U Job Solomon. By way of introduction it should be stated that the Khasis opine that arrow-shooting originated at the beginning of creation. The Khasi Eve (Ka-mei-ka-nong-hukum) had two sons to whom she taught the toxophilite art, at the same time she warned them never to lose their tempers over the game. At the present day villages have regular archery meetings, the men of one village challenging those of another. There are men on both sides called nong khan khnam (lit., he who stops the arrow). This man, by uttering spells, and reciting the shortcomings of the opposite side, is supposed to possess the power of preventing the arrows of the opposing party hitting the mark. These men also, to some extent, may be said to perform the duties of umpires. They may be styled umpires for the sake of convenience in this account. Before the match commences conditions are laid down by the umpires of both sides, such as (a) the day on which the contest is to take place; (b) the place of the meeting; (c) the number of arrows to be shot by each archer; (d) the distinguishing marks to be given to the arrows of either side; (e) the amounts of the stakes on each side; (f) the number of times the competitors are to shoot on the day of the archery meeting, and many other conditions too numerous to mention here. The targets are generally small bundles of grass called "u skum," about 1 ft. long by 4 in. in diameter, fastened on a small pole. Sometimes targets are made from the root of a plant called ka soh pdung. The distances from the point where the marksmen stand to the targets are some 40 to 50 yards. Each side has its own target, the different targets being placed in a line, and the competitors taking up their positions in a straight line at right angles to the line of fire, and facing the targets; each side in turn then shoots at its own target. Early in the morning of the day fixed for the contest the umpire of each side sits in front of his target with a hollow bamboo full of water in his hand, the bows and arrows being laid on the ground alongside the targets. The umpire then repeats all the conditions of the contest, invokes the aid of the primeval woman (ka mei ka nong hukum) aforesaid, goes through certain incantations freely referring to the many faults of the opposite side, and pours water at intervals from the bamboo in front of the target. This business lasts about two hours. Then they exhort the competitors of their respective sides, and the match commences amidst loud shouts. Every time there is a hit there are loud cheers, the competitors leaping high into the air, the umpires muttering their incantations all the while. At the end of each turn the number of hits are counted by representatives of both sides. At the close of the day the side with the greatest number of hits wins the match, the successful party returning home, dancing and shouting. The young women admirers of both sides assemble, and dispense refreshments to the competitors, taking a keen interest in the proceedings withal. Frequently large wagers are made on either side. In the Khadar Blang portion of the Nongkrem State as much as Rs. 500 are occasionally wagered on either side. In Jowai the practice is also to bet a lump sum, the amount being raised by subscription from amongst the competitors. More usual bets are, however, about one anna a head. The nong khang khnam and the men who prepare the targets receive presents from their respective sides. The Khasi bow carries a considerable distance, an arrow shot over 180 yards being within the personal knowledge of the writer. It is believed that Khasi bows wielded by experts carry up to 200 yards. The average range may be said, however, to be 150 to 180 yards.
Yule mentions peg-top spinning amongst Khasi children as being indigenous and not an importation, but Bivar thinks that the game is of foreign introduction. I am, however, inclined to agree with Yule that peg-top spinning is indigenous, inasmuch as this game could not have been copied from the Sylhetis or the Assamese of the plains, who do not indulge in it. As the British had only recently established themselves in the hills when Yule wrote, they would scarcely have had time or opportunity to introduce an English children's game. Khasi children also play a kind of "hop Scotch" (khyndat mala shito and ia tiet hile), and Yule writes, "Another of their recreations is an old acquaintance also, which we are surprised to meet with in the Far East. A very tall thick bamboo is planted in the ground, and well oiled. A silver ornament, or a few rupees placed at the top, reward the successful climber." A leg of mutton, or a piece of pork fixed at the top of this pole would render the pastime identical with the "greasy-pole" climbing of English villages. The following are some other Khasi games:—
Wrestling; two persons grasping each other's hands with the fingers interlocked, and then trying to push one another down; tug-of-war with a piece of stick, the two combatants placing their feet one against the other; butting at one another like bulls, and trying to upset each other (ia tur masi); long jump; high jump; blind-man's buff; flying kites; pitching cowries into a hole in the ground; a game like marbles, only played with round pebbles, and others.
Manufactures.
The manufactures of the Khasis are few in number, and do not seem to show any tendency to increase. On the contrary, two of the most important industries, the smelting of iron ore and the forging of iron implements therefrom, and the cotton-spinning industries at Mynso and Suhtnga, show signs of dying out. Ploughshares and hoes and bill-hooks can now be obtained more cheaply from the plains than from the forges in the hills, and Manchester piece goods are largely taking the place of cloths of local manufacture. The iron industry in former days was an important one, and there is abundant evidence that the workings were on a considerable scale, e.g. at Nongkrem and Laitlyngkot, in the shape of large granite boulders which have fallen to the ground from the sides of the hills owing to the softer rock which filled the interstices between the boulders having been worked out by the ironworkers, their process being to dig out the softer ferruginous rock, and then extract the iron ore from it by means of washing. The softer rock having been removed, the heavier portions fell by their own weight, and rolled down to the bottom of the slopes, the result being the great number of boulders to be seen near the sites of these workings.
Colonel Lister, writing in 1853, estimated that 20,000 maunds of iron were exported from the hills in the shape of hoes to the Assam Valley, and in lumps of pig iron to the Surma Valley, where it was used by boat-builders for clamps. Nowadays the smelting of iron is carried on in very few places. There are still smelting-houses at Nongkrem and Nongsprung, but these are practically the only places left where smelting of iron ore goes on: there are many forges where rough iron brought from the plains is melted down and forged into billhooks and hoes. Messrs. Yule and Cracroft have described the native process of smelting iron, and it is only necessary to refer to their papers if information is required on the subject. Yule's account is a very full one, and is to be found at page 853, vol. xi. part ii. of the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. The system pursued, both in the extraction and in the subsequent smelting of the ore, is the same at the present day as that described by Yule. Dr. Oldham, writing in 1863, says, "The quality of this Khasi iron is excellent for all such purposes as Swedish iron is now used for. The impurity of the blooms (or masses of the metal in a molten state), however, as they are sent to market, is a great objection to its use, and the waste consequent thereon renders it expensive. It would also form steel or wootz (Indian steel) of excellent quality. I have no doubt that the manufacture could be greatly improved and possibly extended." Dr. Oldham, however, goes on to remark that the manufacture of iron could not be very much extended, owing to the scanty dissemination of the ore in the rocks, and the consequent high cost of obtaining it. At present the want of any permanent supply of water prevents the natives from working for more than a few days during the year, whilst the rains are heavy, and they can readily obtain sufficient force of water for the washing of the ore from its matrix. The export of iron in any form from the district has now almost died out, only a few hoes being brought down by the Khasis from Laitdom, in Khadsawphra, to the Burdwar and Palasbari markets in the Kamrup District of the Assam Valley. Iron of English manufacture has, of course, much cheapened the market, but probably the fact that the parts of the country in the neighbourhood of the rocks which contain the metal have been denuded completely of timber, charcoal being necessary for smelting, has affected the production almost as much as the presence of cheap iron in the market.