egetables is made of iron. Another utensil is made of earthenware;
this is the ordinary cooking pot used in the houses of the poor. Brass
spoons of different sizes are used for stirring the contents of the
different cooking utensils, also a wooden spoon.

In the sleeping-rooms of the well-to-do there are wooden beds
with mattresses and sheets and pillows, clothes being hung upon
clothes-racks, which in one house visited were of the same pattern
as the English "towel horse." The ordinary cultivator and his wife
sleep on mats made of plaited bamboo, which are spread on the bare
boards of the house. There are various kinds of mats to be met with
in the Khasi houses made of plaited cane, of a kind of reed, and of
plaited bamboo. The best kind of mat is prepared from cane. In all
Khasi houses are to be seen _ki knup_, or rain shields, of different
sizes and sometimes of somewhat different shapes. The large shield of
Cherrapunji is used as a protection from rain. Those of Maharam and
Mawiang are each of a peculiar pattern. Smaller shields are used as
protections from the sun or merely for show, and there are specially
small sizes for children. Then there are the different kinds of baskets
(_ki khoh_) which are carried on the back, slung across the forehead
by a cane head-strap. These, again, are of different sizes. They
are, however, always of the same conical shape, being round and
broad-mouthed at the top and gradually tapering to a point at the
bottom. A bamboo cover is used to protect the contents of the basket
from rain. There is a special kind of basket made of cane or bamboo
with a cover, which is used for carrying articles on a journey. These
baskets, again, are of different sizes, the largest and best that the
writer has seen being manufactured at Rambrai, in the south-western
portion of the hills. Paddy is husked in a wooden mortar by means of
a heavy wooden pestle. These are to be seen all over the hills. The
work of husking paddy is performed by the women. A bamboo sieve is
sometimes used for sifting the husked rise, a winnowing fan being
applied to separate the husk. The cleaned rice is exposed to the
sun in a bamboo tray. Paddy is stored in a separate store-house in
large circular bamboo receptacles. These hold sometimes as much as
30 maunds [15] of grain. Large baskets are also used for keeping
paddy in. In every Khasi house is to be found the net bag which is
made out of pineapple fibre, or of _u stein_, the A