' time, if the progressive rate of conversions of Khasis to
Christianity continues, probably the greater number of the Khasi social
customs will have disappeared and others will have taken their place,
so that it cannot be argued that because no manifest social customs
can now be found common to the Khasis and the Palaungs, there is no
connection between these two tribes. The strong linguistic affinity
between these two peoples and the wild _Was_ of Burma points to an
intimate connection between all three in the past. As knowledge of
the habits of the wild _Was_ improves, it is quite possible that
social customs of this tribe may be found to be held in common with
the Khasis. With regard to social affinities it will be interesting
to note the Palaung folk-tale of the origin of their Sawbwa, which is
reproduced in Sir George Scott's Upper Burma Gazetteer. The Sawbwa,
it is related, is descended from the Naga Princess Thusandi who
lived in the _Nat_ tank on the Mongok hills and who laid three eggs,
from one of which was born the ancestor of the Palaung Sawbwa. Here
we see how the Palaung regards the egg, and it is noteworthy that
the Khasis lay great stress on its potency in divination for the
purposes of religious sacrifices, and that at death it is placed on
the stomach of the deceased and is afterwards broken at the funeral
pyre. Amongst some of the tribes of the Malay Archipelago also the
_Gaji-Guru_ or medicine-man "can see from the yolk of an egg, broken
whilst sacramentally counting from one to seven, from what illness
a man is suffering and what has caused it." Here we have an almost
exactly parallel case to the Khasi custom of egg-breaking.

In the Palaung folk-tale above referred to the importance of the egg
in the eyes of Palaung is demonstrated, and we know how the Khasi
regards it. But the folk-tale is also important as suggesting that
the ancient people of Pagan were originally serpent-worshippers,
i.e. Nagas, and it is interesting to note that the Rumai or Palaung
women of the present day "wear a dress which is like the skin of
the Naga (snake)." Is it possible that the Khasi superstition of the
_thlen_, or serpent demon, and its worship, an account of which will
be found under the heading of "Human Sacrifices" in the Monograph,
has anything to do with the ancient snake-worship of the people of
Pagan, and also of the ancient inhabitants of Naga-Dwipa, and that
amongst the wild _Was_ the custom of head-hunti