ey are fond of all kinds of meat, especially pork and beef,
although some of the Syntengs, owing to Hindu influence, abstain from
eating the latter. Unlike the neighbouring Naga, Garo and Kuki tribes,
the Khasis abstain from the flesh of the dog. Both Bivar and Shadwell
say the reason why the Khasis do not eat the flesh of the dog is
because he is in a certain sense a sacred animal amongst them. There
is a Khasi folk-tale relating how the dog came to be regarded as
the friend of man. It is, however, quite possible that the Khasis
may never have eaten the flesh of the dog from remote times, and it
is nothing extraordinary that the Khasis should differ in a detail
of diet from the neighbouring Thibeto-Burman tribes which are so
dissimilar to them in many respects. The Khasis, except some of the
Christian community and some of the people of the Mawkhar, do not use
milk, butter, or ghee as articles of food. In this respect they do
not differ from the Kacharis and Rabhas of the plains or the Garos
of the hills. The Mongolian race in its millions as a rule does not
use milk for food, although the Tibetans and some of the Turcoman
tribes are exceptions. Before fowls or animals are killed for food,
prayers must be said, and rice sprinkled on the body of the animal. The
staple food of the Khasis is rice and dried fish. When rice cannot
be obtained or is scarce, millet or Job's tears are used instead. The
latter are boiled, and a sort of porridge is obtained, which is eaten
either hot or cold according to fancy. Khasis eat the flesh of nearly
all wild animals, they also eat field rats and one kind of monkey
(_u shrih_). The Syntengs and Lynngams are fond of tadpoles, and the
Khasis consider a curry made from a kind of green frog, called _ka
japieh_, a _bonne bouche_. They, however, do not eat ordinary frogs
(_jakoid_). The Khasis of Mariao, Maharam, Nongstoin and some other
Siemships eat the hairy caterpillar, _u'niang phlang_.

A staple food which must not be forgotten is the inner portion of
the bark of the sago palm tree, _ka tlai_, which grows wild in the
forest and attains a large size. The tree is felled and the outer bark
removed, the soft inner part is cut into slices, dried in the sun,
pounded in a mortar and then passed through a fine bamboo sieve. A
reddish flour is obtained, of sweet taste, which is boiled with
rice. This flour is said to make good cakes and puddings.

Although the Khasis are such varied feeders, the