aving been
prevalent apparently amongst the primitive races of Cambodia, and
notes that the ancient Chinese writers spoke of Queens in Fou-nan
(Cambodia). If the Khmers were the ancient people of Cambodia,
here we have an important landmark in common between them and the
Khasis. M. Aymonier goes on to speak of priestesses, and the Cambodian
taboo, _tam_ or _trenam_, which Mr. Lowis, the Superintendent of
Ethnography in Burma, suggests may be akin to the Khasi _sang_.

Dress.

Dress may be divided into two divisions, ancient and modern. It will
be convenient to take the former division first. The Khasi males
of the interior wear the sleeveless coat or _jymphong_, which is a
garment leaving the neck and arms bare, with a fringe at the bottom,
and with a row of tassels across the chest; it is fastened by frogs
in front. This coat, however, may be said to be going out of fashion
in the Khasi Hills, its place being taken by coats of European pattern
in the more civilized centres and by all sorts of nondescript garments
in the interior. The sleeveless coat, however, is still worn by many
Syntengs in the interior and by the Bhois and Lynngams. The men in the
Khasi Hills wear a cap with ear-flaps. The elderly men, or other men
when smartness is desired, wear a white turban, which is fairly large
and is well tied on the head. Males in the Siemship of Nongstoin and
in the North-Western corner of the district wear knitted worsted caps
which are often of a red colour. These are sold at Nongstoin market
at about 8 or 9 annas each. They are brought to Nongstoin by traders
from the Synteng country, and from Shillong, where they are knitted
generally by Synteng women. A small cloth is worn round the waist
and between the legs, one end of which hangs down in front like a
small apron. The Syntengs wear a somewhat differently shaped cap,
having no ear-flaps and with a high-peaked crown. Both Khasi and
Synteng caps are generally of black cloth, having, as often as not,
a thick coating of grease. The old-fashioned Khasi female's dress,
which is that worn by people of the cultivator class of the present
day, is the following:--Next to the skin is worn a garment called _ka
jympien_, which is a piece of cloth wound round the body and fastened
at the loins with a kind of cloth belt, and which hangs down from
the waist to the knee or a little above it. Over this is worn a long
piece of cloth, sometimes of muga silk, called _ka jainsem_. This