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JULY, 1892.)
MISCELLANEA.
228
Proper Names.-Most Chin villages have Burmese names. Many have two names, one a Chin and the other a Burman name, which causes great confusion. Among themselves they usually talk of a village as So-and-so's village, naming the Djút (headman). Thus, a village of which the headman's name was Nga Tin would be called Nga Tinywê (Nga Tin's Village). The names of men resemble Burman names, but they invariably prefix Nga instead of Maung.
The women's names are curious; they prefix Mi and Ba. The following are examples of names :Men
Women. Nga Kwar.
Mi Ba Do. Nga Shain.
Mi Ba Laung. Nga Cha.
Mi Ba Sôk. Nga Tin. Sanitation.-The villages are kept cleaner than Burman villages, otherwise their sanitary arrangements are similar.
Carrying Loads.-Everything is carried slung across the forehead by a strap, usually in cane baskets about the size of a Burmese paek-bullock's basket. Sometimes there is a second strap, which pasbes across the chest. Even water is carried in this manner, gourds being filled and placed in the basket, or, if gharás are used, the ghara is placed in the basket. A Chin makes nothing of a sixty-pound bag of dra (flour) going over the worst possible tracks.
Music and Dancing.-Musical instruments consist of gongs, cymbals, drums, and bells. There is also & curious kind of banjo made out
ne piece of bamboo & little thicker than & man's wrist and about eighteen inches long. The bamboo used is hollow and cut off at both ends just beyond the joint. Narrow strips of the bamboo are then slit and raised on small pegs without severing the ends; four or five strings are thus formed, which are manipulated with the fingers. The music produced is rather pleasant.
There is no tune, but time is kept on the drums. Dancing, in which both men and women take part, is generally commenced when they are all primed with liquor.
The men brandish spears and dds and shout, or rather yell. By firelight the sight is a curious and pretty one.
Oaths.-Oaths are of several kinds and are supposed to be binding. The one most feared is drinking water that has been poured over the skull of a tiger.
Another oath is partly Burmese, [P ChineseED.) in origin. The terms of the oath are written on paper and burnt, while the swearing parties place the butts of their arms, spears, dds, guns, bows, arrows, &c., in a basin of water. The ashes of the paper are then mixed with the water and drunk by the parties concerned.
Another oath is drinking blood. In all oaths much liquor is drunk. It is doubtful whether oaths are of any value.
Births, Marriages, Deaths.-All these are great oceasions and necessitate sacrifices to the nats, feasting, and much drinking, accompanied by music and dancing.
When a child is born the nats are consulted to ascertain if it will live or die.
Marriage among the Chinbôks is a lore affair, and takes place at about twenty years of age. The young man proposes and, if accepted, the consent of the girl's parents is asked. They, it they approve of the suitor, consult the nate to see if the marriage will be a lucky one.
If the omens are favourable, one maiban at least must be given to the bride's parents. If the bridegroom has not got the value of a maiban, he promises to pay by instalments and takes possession of the bride at once. If the girl has many necklaces, several maiban must be given. A big drink and feast follows, and sacrifices to the nats.
If, however, the omens prove unfavourable and the young couple are nevertheless anxious to be married, the nats are periodically consulted until they are favourable. This always must happen in time, if the nats are only consulted frequently
The Yindu marriage customs are different. Among them the love is one-sided. The would be bridegroom selects the lady of his fancy and goes to her father's house with ten pairs of earrings, or their value, and demands the girl, giving the father the earrings. The girl is immediately handed over to him, whether willing or not, and whether the parents approve of the match or not. The usual drinks and ceremonies follow.
4This oonfusion is universal in the East, e.g., an average Pathan village has six names; an average Sikkim village has five; & Kasmir village has four, and may. have nine ; in the Amherst Distriot a village or place will have ordinarily a Burmese, Talning, ShAn and Tsung 80 name, to which may be superadded - Pali name
also. See my papers on the Tal-Chotiali Route, J. R. G. 3., Vol. L., and J. 4. 8. B., Part II. for 1882, and my Edition of Sir E. Temple's Journals kept in Hyderabad, Kashmir, Sikkim, and Nepal, 1887, preface, pp. xviiixxi-ED.]
(Bee anto, Vol. XX. p. 4234: ED]
