is _sang_, or taboo, to
the Khasis to build a house on the last eminence of a range of hills,
this custom having perhaps arisen owing to the necessity of locating
villages with reference to their defence against an enemy. Khasis
build their houses fairly close together, but not as close as houses
in the Bhoi and Lynngam villages. Khasis seldom change the sites of
their villages, to which they are very much attached, where, as a
rule, the family tombs are standing and the _mawbynna_ or memorial
stones. In many villages stone cromlechs and memorial stones are
to be seen which from their appearance show that the villages have
been there for many generations. During the Jaintia rebellion the
village of Jowai was almost entirely destroyed, but as soon as the
rebellion was over the people returned to the old site and rebuilt
their village. Similarly, after the earthquake, the ancient village
sites were not abandoned in many cases, but the people rebuilt their
houses in their former positions, although in Shillong and Cherrapunji
they rebuilt the walls of the houses of wooden materials instead of
stone. There is no such thing as a specially reserved area in the
village for the Siem and the nobility, all the people, rich or poor,
living together in one village, their houses being scattered about
indiscriminately. To the democratic Khasi the ides of the Siem living
apart from his people would be repugnant. In the vicinity of the Khasi
village, often just below the brow of the hill to the leeward side,
are to be seen dark woods of oak and other trees. These are the sacred
groves. Here the villagers worship _U ryngkew U basa_, the tutelary
deity of the village. These groves are taboo, and it is an offence to
cut trees therein for any purpose other than for performing funeral
obsequies. The groves are generally not more than a few hundred yards
away from the villages. The villages of the Syntengs are similar in
character to those of the Khasis. The War villages nestle on the
hill-sides of the southern border, and are to be seen peeping out
from the green foliage with which the southern slopes are clad. In the
vicinity of, and actually up to the houses, in the War villages, are
to be observed large groves of areca-nut, often twined with the _pan_
creeper, and of plantain trees, which much enhance the beauty of the
scene. Looking at a War village from a distance, a darker shade of
green is seen; this denotes the limits of the extensiv