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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.
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.
The swords are usually of wrought iron, occasionally of steel, and are forged in the local smithies. The Khasi sword is of considerable length, and possesses the peculiarity of not having a handle of different material from that which is used for the blade.
The skull may be said to be almost brachy-cephalic, the average cephalic index of 77 Khasi subjects, measured by Col. Waddell and Major Hare, I.M.S., being as high as 77.3 and 77.9, respectively.
The Larnai potters also make flower-pots which are sold in Shillong at from 2 annas to 4 annas each, the price of the ordinary pot or khiew ranei varying from 2 pice to 4 annas each. Laws and Customs Tribal Organization. The inhabitants of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills may be said to be divided into the following sections: Khasi, Synteng or Pnar, Wár, Bhoi, and Lynngam.
In the Lynngam village is to be seen a high bamboo platform some 20 to 30 ft. from the ground, built in the midst of the village, where the elders sit and gossip in the evening. All the villages, Khasi, Wár, Lynngam and Bhoi, swarm with pigs, which run about the villages unchecked.
In the Khasi Hills proper a very large proportion, certainly of the high lands, is the property of the clan; for instance, the high lands at Laitkor; which are the property of the Khar kungor and Kur kulang clans, whose ancestors the large memorial stones close to the Laitkor road commemorate, also the lands of the Thang khiew clan, and many others.
Fergusson on page 447 of his "Rude Stone Monuments" apparently refers to these stones, which are near Belgaum in the Bombay Presidency, and he is of opinion that "they were dedicated or vowed to the spirits of deceased ancestors"; further it is stated that these stones are always in uneven numbers, a striking point of similarity to the Khasi stones.
In the different Khasi States there is, as a rule, more than one lyngdoh; sometimes there is quite a number of such priests, as in Nongkrem where there is a lyngdoh for each raj or division of the state. There are a few Khasi States where the priest altogether takes the place of the Siem, and rules the community with the help of his elders in addition to performing the usual spiritual offices.
In these houses offerings to the spirits of departed family ancestors are placed at intervals, this practice being very similar to the more ancient form of Shintoism. In some Wár villages there are also separate bachelors' quarters. This custom is in accordance with that of the Naga tribes. There is no such custom amongst the Khasi Uplanders.
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