CHAPTER CLXXI.
CENTRAL ASIA.
THE KAKHYENS.
HIGHLANDERS OF WESTERN CHINA — PATRIARCHAL GOVERNMENT — TRIBUTE PAID TO THE CHIEF — ARCHITECTURE OF THE KAKHYENS — PERSONAL APPEARANCE — THEIR PRINCIPAL WEAPON — SERVILE LOT OF WOMEN — THE MEETWAY OR DIVINER — EXTRAORDINARY MANIFESTATIONS — FAVORABLE PREDICTIONS — SEVERE ORDEAL OF THE ASPIRANT TO THE POSITION OF MEETWAY — MARRIAGE CEREMONIES — COST OF A WIFE — PUNISHMENT FOR INFIDELITY — RITES ATTENDING BIRTH OF A CHILD — BURIAL RITES — SERVICES OF THE TOOMSA — THE DEATH-DANCE — A CRUEL CUSTOM — RELIGION OF THE KAKHYENS — THE VARIOUS NATS OR DEITIES — MORAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE KAKHYENS — THEIR KIDNAPPING — CHARITABLE EXPLANATION.
For many years the attention of the British Government has been directed to the consideration of an overland route to Western China. To avoid the long and perilous voyage by the Straits and the Indian Ocean seemed to be an object fraught with so many commercial advantages as to repay almost any endeavor to accomplish it. Accordingly in January, 1868, the government of India sent an expedition, under the command of Col. Edward B. Sladen, from the royal city of Mandalay, on the Irrawaddy, to explore the unknown country beyond. The narrative of the expedition, written by Dr. John Anderson, its medical officer and naturalist, has recently been given to the public. The only use our limits permit us to make of it, interesting though it is, is to introduce to our readers the Kakhyens, or the wild Highlanders of that distant and little known region of Western China.
The Kakhyens are a race of mountaineers inhabiting the hills that bound the Irrawaddy basin. They are probably cognate with the hill tribes of the Mishmees and Nagas. They call themselves Chingpaw, or “men,” and Kakhyens is their Burmese appellation.
Among this people the patriarchal government has universally prevailed. Each clan has its hereditary chief, assisted by pawmines, or lieutenants, who determine all questions about which the people are at variance. The youngest son is entitled to the office of chieftain; and if there be no sons, it descends to the youngest brother. The eldest sons inherit the rank of pawmine.
The chief of a clan exacts toll of all travellers through his territory, and its payment secures his friendship and protection, and accordingly that of his people. The slaves who were stolen as children or kidnapped as adults belong to the tsawbwa, or head man of the clan. The females are concubines, and the men, if obedient and industrious, are kindly treated, their children being regarded as members of the chieftain’s family. A basket of rice is the annual tribute due the chief from every family, and if a buffalo be killed, a quarter must be presented to him.
With singular good taste the Kakhyens build their villages near a mountain stream in a sheltered glen, or a row of houses climbs some gentle slope.
These are constructed of bamboo in an oblong form, with closely matted sides, and raised on piles several feet from the ground. The roof is thatched with grass and slopes nearly to the earth; the eaves being propped by bamboo posts form a portico which is used at night as a stable for pigs, ponies, and fowls, and as a lounging place for the men during the day. These houses are generally built so as to face eastward, and in size are about one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet in length by forty to fifty feet in breadth. The front room is devoted to hospitality and reserved for guests. Those in the rear are occupied by different families more or less connected by blood or marriage.
Owing to the admixture of Shan and Burmese blood, there are two styles of face among these people, but the most common, that of the true Chingpaw, has these characteristics. The face is round and short, with a low forehead and prominent molars. The slightly oblique eyes, with a wide space between, the broad nose and thick, protruding lips, give a look of ugliness to their faces; but this is relieved considerably by an expression of good-nature and kindness. There is a disproportionate shortness of the legs, though they are slight, and otherwise well formed. The Kakhyen possess remarkable agility. The young girls bound along the hill paths with great fleetness, and bring down from the mountains loads of wood and lumber that would task the strength of full-grown Englishmen. With many attractions in personal appearance, yet it is the universal custom never to change a garment till it be worn out. Their clothes and persons are never washed, and they, both women and men, leave their hair uncombed, so that it becomes a thick, matted mass upon the head. A piece of bamboo or of embroidered red cloth is inserted in the lobe of the ear; sometimes a piece of paper is used, and old newspapers are in great demand. Around the leg, below the knee, they wear a number of rattan rings.
The dah, or knife, is the invariable companion of these Highlanders. “Half sheathed in wood and suspended to a rattan hoop covered with embroidered cloth and adorned by a leopard’s tooth, it is slung over the right shoulder so as to bring the hilt in front ready to the grasp of the right hand.” The most common style of knife is short and broad, widening from the hilt to the tip. This is called by the Burmese “the Kakhyen’s chief,” because of the dexterity with which it is handled by these mountaineers. It is the instrument for carving and tracing ornaments on pipes and other articles, as well as the weapon which is relied upon for attack or defence. With it the Kakhyen settles his dispute, and employs it with marvellous readiness against his visible enemies or the invisible nats or deities. They have other arms, such as the matchlock and a cross-bow, with poisoned arrows.
Though some of the more industrious of the men aid the women in their agricultural labor, yet it is characteristic of these hill men that they dislike work, and all the toil and drudgery are the lot of the women. The custom of the men is to wander from house to house and from village to village, to gossip and drink and smoke. Having no inventive talent, they do not work in metal, their dahs even, though they are the indispensable attendants of the Kakhyens, being made by the Shans of the Hotha Valley. Their artistic work does not exceed the simplest designs of tracery in straight lines and the rude figures of bird and animal.
The Kakhyens never undertake any enterprise or begin a journey without seeking to learn the will of the nats, through a meetway or diviner. Sala, a Ponline chief, whose co-operation Col. Sladen desired, privately intimated that the nats must be propitiated before any advance into his country was begun. He and his party were accordingly invited to the ceremony for ascertaining through a meetway, the will of the demons in regard to their expedition. Dr. Anderson thus describes it:—
“Accordingly after dinner we all adjourned to the hall of the tsawbwa’s new house, and reclining on mats brought by his wife, chatted for some time with the chiefs and headmen assembled round the fire. The meetway now entered and seated himself on a small stool, in one corner, which had been through sprinkled with water; he then blew through a small tube, and throwing it from him, with a deep groan, fell into an extraordinary state of tremor; every limb quivered, and his feet beat a literal ‘devil’s tattoo’ on the bamboo flooring. He groaned as if in pain, tore his hair, passed his hand with maniacal gestures over his head and face, then broke into a short, wild chant, interrupted with sighs and groans, his features appearing distorted with madness or rage, while the tones of his voice changed to an expression of anger or fury. During this extraordinary scene, which realized all one had read of demoniacal possession, the tsawbwa and his pawmines occasionally addressed him in low tones, as if soothing or deprecating the anger of the dominant spirit, and at last the tsawbwa informed Sladen that the nats must be propitiated with an offering. Fifteen rupees and some cloth were produced. The silver on a bamboo, sprinkled with water, and the cloth on a platter of plantain leaves were humbly laid at the diviner’s feet; but with one convulsive jerk of the legs rupees and cloth were instantly kicked away, and the medium, by increased convulsions and groans, intimated the dissatisfaction of the nats with the offering. The tsawbwa in vain supplicated for its acceptance, and then signified to Sladen that more rupees were required, and that the nats mentioned sixty as the propitiatory sum. Sladen tendered five more, with an assurance that no more would be given. The amended offering was again, but more gently, pushed away, of which no notice was taken. After another quarter of an hour, during which the convulsions and groans gradually grew less violent, a dried leaf, rolled into a cone and filled with rice, was handed to the meetway. He raised it to his forehead several times, and then threw it on the floor; a dah, which had been carefully washed, was next handed to him, and treated the same way, and after a few gentle sighs he rose from his seat and, laughing, signed us to look at his legs and arms, which were very tired. The oracle was in our favor, and predictions of all manner of success were interpreted to us as the utterances of the inspired diviner.”
The ordeal which a young man, who shows some signs of the diviner’s gift, has to undergo before becoming an accredited meetway is an extremely difficult one. “A ladder is prepared, the steps of which consist of sword-blades with the sharp edges turned upward, and this is reared against a platform thickly set with sharp spikes. The barefooted novice ascends the perilous path to fame, and seats himself on the spikes without any apparent inconvenience; he then descends by the same ladder, and if, after having been carefully examined, he is pronounced free from any trace of injury he is thenceforward accepted as a true diviner.”
Purchase and abduction, which constitute so prominent a part of the nuptial rites of many races, also enter very largely into the marriage ceremonies of the Kakhyens. A rich Kakhyen pays for his wife, a female slave, ten pieces of silver, ten spears, ten buffaloes, ten dahs, a gong, two suits of clothes, a matchlock, and an iron cooking-pot. Clothes and presents of silver are given by him to the bridesmaids, and he must pay all the expenses of the marriage feast.
Preliminary to a marriage the diviner or toomsa is consulted in regard to the fortune of the intended bride; some portion of her dress or some ornament is obtained and given to the seer, who then predicts her destiny. If his report be favorable, messengers are sent with presents to the girl’s parents to make proposals and learn from them the amount of the dowry required; if these terms be accepted, the bridegroom sends two messengers to inform the bride’s parents that such a day is selected for the marriage. These are feasted, and then attended on their return by two of her kindred, who agree to be prepared for the marriage. “When the day comes five young men set out from the bridegroom’s village to that of the bride, where they wait till nightfall in a neighboring house. At dusk the bride is brought thither by one of the stranger girls, as it were, without the knowledge of her parents, and told that these men have come to claim her. They all set out for the bridegroom’s village. In the morning, the bride is placed under a closed canopy outside the bridegroom’s house. Presently there arrives a party of young men from her village to search, as they say, for one of their girls who has been stolen. They are invited to look under the canopy, and bidden, if they will, to take the girl away, but they reply, ‘It is well, let her remain where she is.’ While a buffalo, etc., are being killed as a sacrifice, the bridegroom hands over the dowry, and shows the trousseau prepared for his bride. Meanwhile, the toomsa, or officiating priest has arranged bunches of fresh grass, pressed down with bamboos at regular intervals, so as to form a carpet between the canopy and the bridegroom’s house.”
At every marriage there is an invocation to the household nats, and a libation of sheroo and water. The grass-path over which the bride passes from the canopy is sprinkled with the blood of fowls. Boiled eggs, ginger, and dried fish are offered to the household deities. This ends the ceremony. The bridegroom is merely a spectator of all these rites. Then a grand feast follows. In addition to the usual fare, such as plantains, rice, fish, and pork, the flesh of the buffalo, offered in sacrifice, and that of the barking deer are provided for the guests. These viands, together with liberal supplies of sheroo and the Chinese samshu, are the preparations for the dance. Various musical instruments are employed to contribute to the entertainment of the occasion; and the marriage feast ends at length, like all their festal gatherings, in drunkenness and often in a brutal quarrel.
Female infidelity after marriage the Kakhyens regard as a crime punishable by death, which the aggrieved husband may inflict at any time upon both the offenders. If a wife elope the husband is entitled to damages double the amount of the marriage dowry, and this the kinsmen of the wife’s seducer must make good or incur the penalty of a feud.
The household nats are propitiated the day after the birth of a child by the sacrifice of a hog and offerings of sheroo. The toomsa, the slayer and the cook, and the head of the household only share in the flesh; but the entrails, with eggs, fish, and ginger, are put upon the altars so that the villagers may partake. All are invited, and sheroo is offered in the order of seniority. When the feast is over the oldest man among the guests rises, and pointing to the child announces its name.
The peculiarities of their burial rites can best be given in the language of Dr. Anderson: “When a Kakhyen dies the news is announced by a discharge of matchlocks. This is a signal for all to repair to the house of death. Some cut bamboos and timber for the coffin, others prepare for the funeral rites. A circle of bamboos is driven into the ground slanting outward, so that the upper circle is much wider than the base. To each a small flag is fastened, grass is placed between this circle and the house, and the toomsa scatters grass over the bamboos and pours a libation of sheroo. A hog is then slaughtered, and the flesh cooked and distributed, the skull being fixed on one of the bamboos. The coffin is made of the hollowed trunk of a large tree, which the men fell with their dahs. Just before its fall a fowl is killed by being dashed against the tottering stem. The place where the head is to rest is blackened with charcoal and a lid constructed. The body is washed and dressed in new clothes. Some of the pork, boiled rice, and sheroo are placed before it, and a piece of silver is inserted in the mouth to pay ferry dues over the streams the spirit may have to cross. It is then coffined and carried to the grave, amidst the discharge of firearms. The old clothes of the deceased are laid on the mound, and sheroo is poured out, the best being drunk by the friends around it. In returning the mourners strew ground-rice along the path, and when near the village they cleanse their legs and arms with fresh leaves. Before re-entering the house all are lustrated with water by the toomsa with an asperge of grass, pass over a bundle of grass sprinkled with the blood of a fowl, sacrificed during their absence to the spirit of the dead. Eating and drinking wind up the day. Next morning an offering of a hog and sheroo is made to the spirit of the dead man, and a feast and dance are held till late at night and resumed in the morning. A final sacrifice of a buffalo in honor of the household nats then takes place, and the toomsa breaks down the bamboo fence, after which the final death-dance successfully drives forth the spirit, which is believed to have been still lingering round its former dwelling.”
In the death-dance all classes and ages participate,—men, women, and children,—each carrying a small stick with which they beat time as they move round the hall with measured step, which is a sort of prance and side-shuffle. The drummers vigorously beat their instruments, and ever and anon the dancers burst into loud yells and increase the speed and violence of their movements.
No funeral rites are granted to those who are killed by shot or steel. Such are buried in jungles, their bodies being merely wrapped in mats. A small, open hut is constructed over the grave for the occupancy of the spirits, and a dah, bag, and basket are deposited there for them. So, too, those dying of small-pox and women dying in child-birth are refused the usual rites of burial. A strange superstition possesses the people respecting the mother and her unborn child,—they are supposed to become a terrible compound vampire. All the young people hurry from the house in terror, and the diviner is summoned to discover what animal the evil spirit will devour, and with what other it will transmigrate. The first animal is sacrificed and a part of the flesh put before the corpse. The other animal indicated by the toomsa is hung, and a grave is dug in the direction to which the head of the animal pointed when dead. The clothes and ornaments of the deceased are deposited in the grave and the other property is burned upon it, and a small hut is built over it.
These singular rites indicate in some degree the prominent idea in the religion of this wild race. There is a universal and irresistible belief in good and evil spirits, and the ancient forms of worshipping them are retained. All missionary endeavors to produce any change in their religious thought and customs have been fruitless. There is a belief in a future existence and a vague conception of a Supreme Author of all things.
“The objects of worship are the nats, benign or malignant,—the first such as Sinlah, the sky spirit, who gives rain and good crops; Chan and Shitah, who cause the sun and moon to rise. These they worship because their fathers did so and told their children that they were good. Cringwan is the beneficent patron of agriculture; but the malignant nats must be bribed not to ruin the crops. When the ground is cleared for sowing, Masoo is appeased with pork and fowls burned at the foot of the village altars; when the paddy is eared, buffaloes and pigs are sacrificed to Cajat. A man about to travel is placed under the care of Muron, the toomsa, after due sacrifices, requesting him to tell the other nats not to harm that man. Neglect of Mowlain will result in the want of compraw, or silver, the great object of a Kakhyen’s desire; and if hunters forbear offerings to Chilong some one will be killed by stag or tiger. Chilong and Muron are two of ten brothers who have an especial interest in Kakhyen affairs, and another, named Phee, is the guardian of the night. Every hill, forest, and stream has its own nat of greater or less power; every accident or illness is the work of some malignant or vindictive one of ‘these viewless ministers.’
The character of this race of mountaineers is not attractive. They are not brave as warriors, but are quarrelsome and revengeful, and if atonement for a wrong be not made they perpetuate a feud implacably. They do not seek an open, fair fight, but lie in wait and attack stealthily, springing like the tiger upon their foes. Anderson touches their portrait with these dark lines,—“lazy, thievish, and untrustworthy.”
Their thieving propensity extends to man-stealing. They are the kidnappers of the country.
Dr. Anderson, however, charitably intimates that perhaps the moral deterioration of these fierce, cruel highlanders may be the result of “the knavish injustice of the Chinese traders, or the high-handed extortion and wrong on the part of the Burmese.” The readers of this work will remember many and sad proofs in these sketches of the uncivilized races, that tribes, possessing naturally many excellent traits, have been transformed and degraded into most selfish, brutal, and cruel people by the pillage and piracy of their neighbors, and sometimes by the rapacity and fraud of those that are called civilized and Christian nations.