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The Siem manages the State business through his mantris, although it is true that in some States the members of the Siem family have been allowed a considerable share of the State management. This latter arrangement is, however, a departure from the ordinary rule in the Siemships, and is regarded as unconstitutional.
She passed her hands over it, and it grew in size, till at last it became a huge cobra, with hood erected. The husband, terrified, begged his wife to lay the spirit. She passed her hands down its body, and it gradually shrank within its box. It may be stated that the greater number of the Khasis, especially in certain Siemships, viz.
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.
The duties of lyngdohs, their methods of sacrificing, and the gods to whom they sacrifice, vary in the different Siemships, but there is one point in which we find agreement everywhere, i.e. that the lyngdoh must be assisted at the time of performing sacrifices by a female priestess, called ka soh-blei, ka soh-sla, or simply ka lyngdoh.
An interesting feature of the ancient combats between the people of different Siemships was the challenge. When the respective armies had arrived at a little distance from one another, they used to stop to hear each other shout the 'tien-Blei, or challenge, to the other side. This custom was called pyrta 'tien-Blei, or shouting out the challenge.
In some Siemships, as in Mawiang Siemship, paddy is grown on these lands from which rice is obtained for the State pujas. Ri shnong, or village lands. These lands are set apart to provide a supply of firewood, thatching grass, &c., and are the property of the village. The inhabitants of other villages are not allowed to enjoy the produce of such lands.
The above sections may be sub-divided as follows: The Khasis into the inhabitants of the central high plateau, Cherra and Nongstoin, Maharam, Mario, Nongkhlaw, and the neighbouring Siemships. The Syntengs or Pnars may be divided as follows: Into Syntengs proper, Nongtungs and Kharwangs; the Wárs into Wár proper, and Wár Pnar; the Bhois into Jinthongs, Mynris, Ryngkhongs, and the Khasi-Bhois, i.e.
In the country of the Lynngams the crop belongs to the person who cultivates it, but the land belongs to the kur or family. The Lynngam villages; like those in the Khasi Siemships, do not pay any rent to the Siem.
In cases of succession to realty, however, the inheritance goes to the youngest daughter of the deceased's mother, and after her to her youngest daughter. In successions to the Siemships, in the absence of male heirs from the eldest sister, the succession passes, by what has been aptly described as the "knight's move," to the male children of the next eldest sister.
In quite recent years there have been instances of Siems having been summoned, like the Roman Cincinnatus, from quite humble positions, to undertake the duties of chief. We will now turn to an examination of the systems in the different Siemships.
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