that there has been so much confusion about Lynngams
previously; e.g. at one census they were named _Lynngam_, at another
they received the appellation of Garo, and at a third enumeration
they were called Khasis. In Section I. the habitat of the Lynngams has
been roughly defined. It is impossible to define the Lynngam country
exactly, because these people are continually shifting their village
sites owing to the exigencies of _jhum_ cultivation, which has been
described in Section II. Some of the Lynngams preserve a tradition that
they originally came from the Kamrup plains. It is interesting that a
people, like the Garos in so many respects, should have the same idea
as the Garos as to the hills on the south bank of the Brahmaputra not
always having been their abode. The Garo legend is that they dwelt
for some years in the Goalpara and Kamrup plains after they descended
from Thibet, and before they moved to the Garo Hills; and there is
unmistakable evidence of their occupation of both districts in the
shape of certain Garo villages on both banks of the Brahmaputra for
some little distance up the river. If, as I suspect, the Lynngams are
an offshoot of the Garos, it is, perhaps, possible that they entered
the Khasi Hills much in the same way as the Garos entered the hill
district to which they have given their name. The Lynngams are much
darker than the Khasis, and possess the Thibeto-Burman type of feature
often to a marked degree. It is not extraordinary that they should
have adopted some of the Khasi customs; for the Khasis, being the
stronger people, would in course of time be bound to influence them
in this respect. That the Lynngams observe the matriarchate and erect
(some clans) memorial stones is not peculiar, because the Garos, like
the Khasis, are also a matriarchal people (to a limited degree), and
the custom of erecting memorial stones is not confined to the Khasis,
for other hill tribes in Assam observe the practice, e.g. certain
Naga tribes and the Mikirs; and the Garos themselves put up carved
posts, called _kima_, in honour of the departed. Although there is
not much intermarriage between the Khasis and the Lynngams nowadays,
perhaps in days gone by there was a mixture of blood, the result
being the hybrid race we are now considering. Some of the leading
characteristics of the Lynngams will now be detailed. The Lynngams
are by complexion swarthy, with features of Mongolian type. The men
are of middle heig