month a pig or a fowl
is sacrificed, the ceremony being called "_ai bam lait bnai_." It will
be observed that three seems to be the lucky number throughout these
funeral ceremonies. The number seems to bear a similar significance
in other matters of Khasi ritual, e.g. the pouring out of libations,
which is always done three times.

It is _sang_ or taboo for a Khasi widow to re-marry within one year
from the death of her husband, there is a similar prohibition for a
husband re-marrying; but such _sang_ can be got over by the payment of
a fine to the clan of the deceased. After the expiration of one year
the fine is reduced in amount. Khasi widows do not as a rule re-marry,
according to U Jeebon Roy, unless they have no female children,
in which case the clan urges them to re-marry, so that the chain of
inheritance may not be broken, inheritance amongst the Khasis always
passing in the female line.

Customs in Connection with Deaths by Violence or Accident.

These customs are interesting enough to deserve a separate description;
they are as follows:--

If a man dies by the sword, before his body can be burnt, a sacrifice
of a black hen must be offered to _Ka Tyrut_, the goddess of death. The
bones are then placed in a stone cairn. Again they are removed, and,
after eggs have been broken, are taken to a river bank and there
washed. If there is no river at hand, a tank is dug for the purpose,
which is called _umkoi_. There are various such _umkois_ in different
parts of the district, e.g. near Raliang and Nartiang. A sacrifice
of a goat is offered to the god _U Syngkai Bamon_, and a sow to _Ka
Ramshandi_, both of whom are evil deities. Another sow is sacrificed
to _Ka Tyrut_. After this the bones are placed in another newly-built
cairn. The ceremony of placing the bones in one and then removing
them to another cairn is usually performed three times; but unless
the auspices, as deduced from the eggs, are favourable, the relatives
must go on sacrificing and removing the bones until they are so. These
ceremonies having been completed, they erect a flat table-stone, or
_mawkynthei_, for the ghost of the departed to sit upon, and return
home, where they propitiate their ancestors with offerings of food. In
the case of the murdered victims of the _thlen_ superstition the same
ceremonies are observed. For people who have died by drowning, or been
killed by wild animals, and for women who have died in childbirth,
similar puj