ABOUT THE STIÊNS.
Like the Annamites, the Stiêns wear the hair long, but twisted up, and fastened by a bamboo comb, with a pheasant’s crest on the top of a piece of brass wire by way of ornament. They are mostly of tall stature, strong, and well-limbed; with regular features, thick eyebrows, and a good forehead. Their hospitality is abundant, and a stranger, on his arrival, is immediately entertained with rice-wine, a pipe of peace, and a fatted pig or fowl. Their dress is simplicity itself,—a long scarf about two inches wide; and even with this they dispense when “at home” in their cabins. They have neither priests nor temples; and their religion appears to consist of a belief in a supreme being called Brâ; to whom, on occasions of calamity and suffering, they sacrifice a pig or an ox, and sometimes a human victim.
THEIR RESPECT FOR THE DEAD.
They are very careful in burying their dead; and a member of the family of the deceased invariably visits the grave daily, to sow a few grains of rice for his sustenance. Prior to any meal, they spill a little rice for the same purpose; and similar offerings are made in the fields and places which the dead were accustomed to visit. Plumes of reed are attached to the top of a long bamboo, and lower down the stem are fastened smaller bamboos containing a few drops of wine or water; and, finally, on “a slight trellis-work raised above the ground” some earth is laid, with an arrow planted in it, and a few grains of cooked rice, a leaf, a little tobacco, and a bone spread about.
The Stiêns believe that animals have souls; that these wander about after death; and that, therefore, it is necessary to propitiate them, lest they should be troublesome and vexatious. Sacrifices are accordingly offered, in proportion to the size and strength of the animal; and the reader will conceive that in the case of an elephant they are on a very grand scale. The North American Indian, it may be remarked, cherishes a similar superstition in respect to the bear and the buffalo.
THEIR HUNTING WEAPONS.
According to M. Mouhot, a Stiên is seldom seen without his cross-bow in his hand, his knife slung over his shoulder, and a basket—for his arrows, and the game they bring down—on his back. In the chase he displays the most untiring energy, gliding through the woods “with the speed of a deer.” In the use of the cross-bow practice brings perfection. For the larger animals the arrows are steeped in a poison which is described as being peculiarly rapid and fatal in its effects.
The Stiêns, let it be said in conclusion, are, like most savage races, exceedingly partial to ornaments, and particularly to bracelets made of bright-coloured beads. The men usually wear one above the elbow, and one at the wrist; but the women load both arms and legs. Brass wire and glass ornaments form their currency; a buffalo or an ox being valued at six armfuls of thick brass wire, which is also about the price of a pig. A pheasant, however, or a hundred ears of maize, may be procured for a small piece of fine wire or a bead necklace.
Both men and women perforate their ears, widening the hole annually by the insertion of plugs of bone or ivory fully three inches in length. A plurality of wives is allowed to the chiefs and richer men of the tribe; the poor are content with one wife, simply because they cannot afford to maintain a harem.