xhibit points of similarity with
those of the Khasis, in close proximity to the Dravidian tribes and
at a great distance from the Khasis, there being no people who exhibit
similar characteristics inhabiting countries situated in between; but
we can, I think, reasonably suppose that the Khasis are an offshoot
of the Mon people of Further India in the light of the historical
fact I have quoted, i.e. that the movements of races into Assam
have usually, although not invariably, taken place from the east,
and not from the west. The tendency for outside people to move into
Assam from the east still continues.

Affinities.

The late Mr. S. E. Peal, F.R.G.S., in an interesting and suggestive
paper published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal
in 1896, drew attention to certain illustrations of "singular
shoulder-headed celts," found only in the Malay Peninsula till
the year 1875, when they were also discovered in Chota Nagpur, and
figured in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal for June of
that year. These "celts" are, as the name implies, ancient stone
implements. Mr. Peal goes on to state the interesting fact that
when he was at Ledo and Tikak, Naga villages, east of Makum, on the
south-east frontier of the Lakhimpur district of Assam, in 1895,
he found iron implements, miniature hoes, used by the Nagas, of a
similar shape to the "shoulder-headed celts" which had been found in
the Malay Peninsula and Chota Nagpur. Now the peculiarly shaped Khasi
hoe or _mo-khiw_, a sketch of which is given, with its far projecting
shoulders, is merely an enlarged edition of the Naga hoe described
by Peal, and may therefore be regarded as a modern representative
in iron, although on an enlarged scale, of the "shoulder-headed
celts." Another interesting point is that, according to Forbes, the
Burmese name for these stone celts is _mo-gyo_. Now the Khasi name
for the hoe is _mo-khiw_. The similarity between the two words seems
very strong. Forbes says the name _mo-gyo_ in Burmese means "cloud
or sky chain," which he interprets "thunderbolt," the popular belief
there, as in other countries, being that these palaeolithic implements
fell from heaven. Although the Khasi name _mo-khiw_ has no connection
whatsoever with aerolites, it is a singular coincidence that the name
for the Khasi hoe of the present day should almost exactly correspond
with the Burmese name for the palaeolithic implement found in Burma and
the Malay Peni