s or the Assamese of the plains,
who do not indulge in it. As the British had only recently established
themselves in the hills when Yule wrote, they would scarcely have had
time or opportunity to introduce an English children's game. Khasi
children also play a kind of "hop Scotch" (_khyndat mala shito_ and
_ia tiet hile_), and Yule writes, "Another of their recreations is
an old acquaintance also, which we are surprised to meet with in the
Far East. A very tall thick bamboo is planted in the ground, and well
oiled. A silver ornament, or a few rupees placed at the top, reward
the successful climber." A leg of mutton, or a piece of pork fixed
at the top of this pole would render the pastime identical with the
"greasy-pole" climbing of English villages. The following are some
other Khasi games:--

Wrestling; two persons grasping each other's hands with the fingers
interlocked, and then trying to push one another down; tug-of-war with
a piece of stick, the two combatants placing their feet one against
the other; butting at one another like bulls, and trying to upset
each other (_ia tur masi_); long jump; high jump; blind-man's buff;
flying kites; pitching cowries into a hole in the ground; a game like
marbles, only played with round pebbles, and others.

Manufactures.

The manufactures of the Khasis are few in number, and do not seem
to show any tendency to increase. On the contrary, two of the most
important industries, the smelting of iron ore and the forging of
iron implements therefrom, and the cotton-spinning industries at
Mynso and Suhtnga, show signs of dying out. Ploughshares and hoes
and bill-hooks can now be obtained more cheaply from the plains than
from the forges in the hills, and Manchester piece goods are largely
taking the place of cloths of local manufacture. The iron industry
in former days was an important one, and there is abundant evidence
that the workings were on a considerable scale, e.g. at Nongkrem
and Laitlyngkot, in the shape of large granite boulders which have
fallen to the ground from the sides of the hills owing to the softer
rock which filled the interstices between the boulders having been
worked out by the ironworkers, their process being to dig out the
softer ferruginous rock, and then extract the iron ore from it by
means of washing. The softer rock having been removed, the heavier
portions fell by their own weight, and rolled down to the bottom of
the slopes, the result being the