Indian Antiquary Vol 26

SR No.: 032518
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 360
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 15 MB

Page 127

MI AY, 1897.]
SELUNGS OF THE MERGUI ARCHIPELAGO.
123
from small-pox about 40. Non-adults were most obnoxious to the latter disease. These figures s'ofer to the Doung population, which would probably snffer.most, as most exposed to the risk of infection or contagion from their greater intercourse with, and proximity to, our coast villages or Mergui itself, where the diseases have had, so to speak, their head-quarters during the past year.
I questioned Oo Pay closely as to the treatment pursued with sofferers from sickness. The Salones depend for recovery solely on supernatural aid. Three men in the tribe are supposed at present to have the power of invoking the aid of the evil spirit. They perform a sort of "devil dance” round the sufferer; the spirit, if they are successful, is understood to draw out the disease through the aim of the patient; and 0. Pay knows old people who have witnessed the appearence of the evil one embodied in the shape of a bit of broken glass, bat has not himself been so fortunate as ever to have had an interview. Possessed of the disease from which the patient has by him been relieved, the devil in his turn possesses himself of the person of the individual who was successful in obtaining the happy result. He is invariably a thirsty devil, and Oo Pay has seen a whole jar of shanshoo drank off by the possessed man. He took the trouble to explain that though the man actually drank aqua vitae, it was not for his own, but for the enjoyment of the spirit in him. It is to be supposed that the evilspirit vanishes with the fames of the imbibed liquor, but Oo Pay was not clear on this point, and was evidently disinclined to go deeply into the subject. When the sick man recovers, the "medicine-man” receives remuneration: shoald his intervention be unsuccessful, none.
I learnt from the Salones I came across on Paway Island that both sick and dead were customarily deserted, the dead being placed on a small and covered raised pandal, when they were left to decay, the spot of, so to call it, interment being left un visited till sufficient time had elapsed to ensure the disappearance of the remains. As regards the mortally sick, I was told they were made as comfortable as possible, and left to Nature, being supplied with food and a boat ; that sometimes they recovered, and the boat enabled them to rejoin their friends. Oo Pay states that this latter practice is not universal. I rather from his manner, and the positive statements of the Paway people, doubt him; he admitted that though his own Doung people did not subscribe the custom, yet the Sampee people did.
Questioned regarding the domestic relations existing among the Salones, Oo Pay assured me that polygamy did not exist. The marriage ceremony, as described by him, is simple. The man, in the presence of the elders, presents a piece of white cloth to the parents of the bride, and to herself some tobacco, pán leaves, and other such trifles; an admiring circle sit round and "talk and laugh," and the couple are henceforth man and wife. If the bridegroor is not a sufficiently wealthy man to possess a boat of his own, the couple, till in a position to maintain a separate establishment, reside with the parents of the bride. It is not usual or necessary for the parents of the bridegroom to make any presents to anybody on the marriage.
Oo Pay displayed considerable astuteness, combating my efforts to elicit from him the mode in which the offenders were punished, telling me that any one who stole or did other wrong would in due conrse be brought before me by him. He, however, said that before the Salones came under British sway, in cases of homicide, the life of the man-slayer was held forfeited, and taken by the friends of the slain. I rather opine that in this respect what was, still is. I know of no case on record in which Oo Pay has summoned offenders in any way to Mergai.
Money appears to be easily earned by the Salones, but to be invariably spent on comestibles or converted into a supply of the articles they age but cannot manufacture at the place and time of receipt. Mats are the circulating mediam among themselves. A boat can be purchased for 60 mats, a fishing spear for four, and so on. The mats in question are neat, and such as may occasionally be seen in hot Indian stations, used as a covering for couches or