s _'rap iing_ (an
abbreviation for _ia rap iing_, literally, to help the house). This is
practically adoption. If in a family the female members have died out,
the male members of the family are allowed by custom to call (_khot_)
a girl from some other family, to act as _ka'rap iing_, and to perform
the family religious ceremonies, and therefore to inherit the family
ancestral property. The female so introduced into the family then takes
her place as _ka khun khadduh_, or youngest daughter, and becomes the
head of the house (_ka trai iing_). The adoption of a female obviates
the family dying out (_iap duh_), which to the Khasi is a very serious
matter, inasmuch as there will then be no one qualified to place
the bones of its members within the family tomb (_ka ba thep shieng
mawbah_), and to perform the requisite funeral ceremonies. Amongst
the Khasis no particular ceremonies are performed at the time of
adoption; but some of the Syntengs observe a religious ceremony which
consists largely of a feast to the clans-folk, at which liquor, rice,
dried fish, and ginger are partaken of. Before the feast commences,
each clansman is provided with a small gourd (_u klong_) filled with
liquor, a little of the latter is then thrown on the ground from the
gourd, and the following words are uttered:--"Oh, God! oh, Lord! oh,
ruling king Biskurom, now the _pynrap iing_ ceremony is about to be
performed, let the ceremony be propitious, and let males and females
(of the clan) increase in numbers, so that the clan may become great,
and respected, and that intelligent male members may spring up." No
such ceremony is, however, observed, it is understood, in the Nartiang
and Raliang doloiships.

In the case of a family being _iap duh_ (extinct), the family property,
according to Khasi custom, passes to the Siem. Therefore it is to
the interest of the members of families to adopt a female, when
such necessity arises. As there is no religious ceremony which is
compulsory to the Khasis on the occasion of an adoption, perhaps we
are almost justified in concluding that in former times the adoption
custom did not exist, more especially as the Khasis possess a special
word, _iap duh_, for describing a family the females of which have
all died out; and it is admittedly the custom for the Siem to succeed
to the property of such a family. The Synteng custom of _'rap iing_
may have been borrowed from the Hindus, when the Rajas of Jaintia
became conve