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The elderly men, or other men when smartness is desired, wear a white turban, which is fairly large and is well tied on the head. Males in the Siemship of Nongstoin and in the North-Western corner of the district wear knitted worsted caps which are often of a red colour. These are sold at Nongstoin market at about 8 or 9 annas each.
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.
An elector can be dismissed by the Siem, but only for good cause and with the consent of his durbar. In the Nongstoin State there is a tradition that the first Siem originally came from Simsong Durgapur. The name, Sushong Durgapur, of the place at the foot of the Garo Hills in the Mymensing district, may be a corruption of the former.
In Nongstoin, Mawlih, and Mariaw villages, the inhabitants of which profess to be Khasis, the bones and ashes of the deceased are not collected and placed in repositories, as at Cherrapunji. At Mariaw and Nongstoin a large wooden coffin is used, painted white, with ornamentations on the outside, and standing on four legs. This coffin is not burnt on the funeral pyre.
They are brought to Nongstoin by traders from the Synteng country, and from Shillong, where they are knitted generally by Synteng women. A small cloth is worn round the waist and between the legs, one end of which hangs down in front like a small apron. The Syntengs wear a somewhat differently shaped cap, having no ear-flaps and with a high-peaked crown.
A line drawn north and south through the village of Nongstoin may be said to form their eastern boundary, and the Kamrup and Sylhet districts their northern and southern boundaries, respectively.
In some States there are village headmen, styled Sirdars, who settle cases, collect labour, and assess and receive for the chief the pynsuk, which may be literally translated as "gratification." In Nongstoin there is an official styled lyngskor, who is the superior of a number of village sirdars, and who acts as the Siem's deputy-governor.
The Syntengs and Lynngams are fond of tadpoles, and the Khasis consider a curry made from a kind of green frog, called ka japieh, a bonne bouche. The Khasis of Mariao, Maharam, Nongstoin and some other Siemships eat the hairy caterpillar, u'ñiang phlang.
If the disputes cannot be settled by these officials to the satisfaction of the parties, the latter are taken by the Lyngskors and Sirdars to the Siem of Nongstoin, who tries the case with the aid of the State mantris. Laws Regarding Other Property. There is no separate law applying to personal property, as opposed to real property, amongst the Khasis. Decisions of Disputes.
This, again, is frequently of some bright colour, but is often white. There is a fold in the jainsem which serves as a pocket for keeping odds and ends. Khasi women in cold weather wear gaiters which are often long stockings without feet, or, in the case of the poor, pieces of cloth wound round the legs like putties, or cloth gaiters. I have seen women at Nongstoin wearing gaiters of leaves.
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