world. They cannot however conceive how omnipresence, omniscience or omnipotence can belong to him; they suppose that the minute affairs of individuals, and even the greater and more important matters of nations, are under the superintendence of divine agents or spirits who are likewise gods. These gods or spirits take up their residence in the caves and jungles, or in the neighbourhood of steep mountains and rocks. To these localities they never approach, lest sickness or death should prove the consequence of disturbing the earthly residence of their Deities. These spirits delight in sacrifices, and all affliction is attributed to their wrath; they can however be pacified by the sacrifice of a fowl or other animal. Their character is wicked. They are all evil spirits and are engaged in doing nothing but exerting an evil influence over all who do not pay them the attention they deserve. The Jynteah deity has gained to himself most fame by his severe visitations, and in cases of disease or death he is said to be the author, and is propitiated in the usual way.

In sickness, the first step taken for the relief of the sufferer is to discover, by the breaking of eggs, the nature of the disease; i. e. whether it is one likely to be removed or to prove fatal. This operation is performed with an egg on a board about a foot long and eight inches broad. A few grains of rice strewed about the board and the egg coloured with spittle (which is always red from the chewing of pawn) to distinguish the outside from the inner of the shell, An incantation is then pronounced, or rather an address to the egg that it would discover to them the cause and nature of the sickness: this done the man dashes the egg on the board. Of the pieces of shell which fall on the board, the largest is considered as the leading mark; by it they judge of the omens whether they be good or bad; the smaller bits happening to fall higher towards one side of the large piece are considered favorable, those falling on the other side and lower are the reverse. They next attempt to find out the cause of the diseases by certain marks in the entrails of a fowl, which they declare the evil spirit has himself deposited or at least caused to appear, and are indicative of the causes of sickness, &c. This done they sacrifice a fowl or any other animal. But these sacrifices and rites are only the means by which diseases and temporal calamities may be warded off. For the sin of the soul alas! they have no atonement, nor any religious rites that bear on the condition of the soul in a future state. Of such a state they have no knowledge and their actions. are all performed with reference to their temporal benefit alone. They have no sense of the duty they owe as creatures to the Creator, they have no form or place of public worship, nor do

they seem sensible that God requires this worship of his creatures. They are literally "led captive by Satan at his will," "without God and without hope in the world."

It is remarkable that notwithstanding the intimacy which exists between the Khasees and the people of the plains there are not any among them who have imbibed Hindu or Mahommedan principles, with the exception of those Jynteahs who reside in the plains. These have intermixed a good deal with the Bengalis with whom they are fellow ryuts of the rájá of Jynteah, and have become in many respects one with them. Like the Hindus they abstain from beef and pay certain forms of worship to the goddess Kali.

gross

Superstition-as one might suppose prevails to a very great extent. "Darkness covers the land and darkness the people;" their minds are so prepossessed with fear of the evil spirits, that they dare not embrace the wholesome truths of the gospel. Nothing therefore but the influence of education accompanied by divine grace can effect a change in them and bring them to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus.

Marriage and Funeral Ceremonies.-Occasions so important as marriage and death, have amongst all savages been attended with numerous ceremonies. The Khasees have enough of them, and some of their peculiarities may be worth a slight notice.

They are not in the habit of marrying so young as the lowlanders, but wait till they have arrived at a mature age. The proposal of marriage comes from the man. He deputes a friend to the parents of the young lady to request their consent as well as her own to marry. The nature of the reply regulates his conduct. If he is successful he is allowed to visit the house, pay his addresses to her, and they mutually appoint a day on which the union is to be solemnized. On that day the bridegroom, attended by a number of his friends, proceeds to the house of the bride where her friends are assembled. A mutual conference takes place, in which the consent of the parents is formally asked by the friends of the bridegroom; the bride and bridegroom are then asked if they are willing to have each other. If replies be given in the affirmative, the parties are pronounced man and wife. A feast follows, after which the friends retire, but the bridegroom remains in the house of the bride, and becomes an inmate, if the bride happen to be the youngest or only daughter; if otherwise, the husband has to build for himself and remove her to his own house, which becomes the property of the wife. Cases of separation are frequent, and both husband and wife may marry again if they have parted from each other with mutual consent. When they have thus mutually agreed to part from each other, their friends

are told of it, and some of them requested to effect the separation by a formal ceremony, which consists in taking five cowries from each party and throwing them out of the house.

When a death occurs there is always a great deal of grief manifested. The corpse is kept in the house four or five days; in some cases more. A rájá who died last year was kept three months. The body had been put into the hollow trunk of a tree and fumigated. They do not bury but burn their dead, like the Hindus, though in a more decent manner. The friends of the deceased go out a day or two previously to the funeral, to cut wood for fuel and the coffin; this service they perform gratuitously, expecting that the relatives of the deceased will return the kindness in case of their own decease. The body is carried on a bed of mats, tied to two poles, the ends of which are borne on the shoulders of four men. During the procession a funeral dirge is played on bambu flutes, which adds much to the solemnity of the scene, accompanied as it is by the groans and shrieks of the bereaved friends. Arrived at the spot, the body is taken off the bed and put into a wooden box which stands on four legs, under which the fuel is placed. While in the act of removing the body from the bed to the box, it is carefully concealed from the view of bystanders; four or five individuals surround the box and cover it over with their garments, while the body is let down. Sometimes the body is carried from the house in the box in which it is to be burnt. While the body is being burnt, sacrifices are offered, and offerings of betel leaf, areca-nut, fruit, &c. made to the spirit of the deceased. Sometimes arrows are discharged towards the four points of the compass. When the body is burnt the ashes are carefully collected, put into an earthen vessel, carried home and kept until by the help of their oracles the day is fixed for the removal to the family vault, which is composed simply of a tabular stone. Within this the ashes are placed, and on occasion of their removal from the house, those who can afford the expense, have dancing and feasting, which are kept up for three or four days. The relatives do not engage in either, except to defray the expense and superintend the whole. The dancers are both men and women; of the latter only such as are unmarried, or widows. These dance, or rather hop, in an inner, while the men form an outer, circle and display all sorts of gesticulation, but keeping good time with the music. Sword exercise is also common on such occasions, and is the most interesting part of the proceedings. A party of 30 or 40 men after having exhibited a little sham fight, proceed with naked swords in one hand, and a chowry gracefully waved in the other, to the vault, following the relatives of the deceased, dancing to vocal music. In returning they dance in like manner; both going and returning, muskets

are fired at intervals of one or two minutes. The ashes of one tribe are deposited together under one vault, and never separated except when the individual has come by his death dishonourably. The remains of a man and his wife are never deposited together, because they are always of different tribes. A husband is therefore separated from his wife and his children, as they belong to the tribe of the mother, and have their ashes deposited with hers.

Language. The language of the Khasees is not a written language, and is quite unlike any spoken in the vicinity. is simple in its construction and idioms; monosyllabic in its roots and has no intonations. Its verbs and nouns suffer no inflexion by the change of tense, number, person or case. The distinctions where there are any, are known by prefixes and affixes. A specimen of a verb in all its tenses and of a few common-place words may not be uninteresting.

wan He shall, &c.

3 Kin

wan

They shall, &c.

Air

Ant

Kaler.
Udkhú.

2 Phin wan Thou shall, &c.

The future of verbs is differently formed from the other tenses, by the nasal n being affixed to the pronoun as above.

The prefixes ú and ka in the following list of nouns indicate the sexes ú being masculine and ka feminine.

Ublay.
Kablang.
Kaing.

God

Goat

House

Kakhlee.

IV. Remarks on the Shan and Siamese languages.

From a Correspondent in the Straits.

There is a very marked similarity between the Shan and the Siamese languages. I have no doubt they had one common origin.

The Siamese call themselves the Thi people or free people, and their language the Thi. They also distinguish between the Thi Yai, and Thi Noi, though they sometimes are unwilling to admit that they are of the last class: Noi literally meaning the less, and Yai the greater. But these terms are not unfrequently used for elder and younger. Thus pe Yai means elder brother and pe Noi younger brother.

This is no doubt the true meaning of Thi Yai, the elder or ancient Siamese; and Thi Noi, the modern Siamese or Thi.

The Siamese also speak of the country on the north as the ancient Thi country, and theirs as the new country.

The present kingdom of Siam is comparatively of recent origin, and is rapidly rising in importance. Considerable improvements have recently been made especially in ship building and commerce. Four or five vessels, after the European model, were built the last year, and others of a large size are now building. Their clumsy junks, it is to be hoped, will soon cease to be used.

With regard to the literature of the Siamese, it is quite extensive. They are a reading people, and have a large number of works on medicine, law, &c. but the greater part of their books are works of poetry and romance. Their sacred books are written in the Pálí, and are wholly unintelligible to the people, and even to the priests themselves. An ability to read the character is considered a great attainment. The Siamese are generally fond of reading, and it is considered a disgrace not to be able to read, especially for males. Almost all the young men are sent to the wats or temples for a time, where they are instructed to read and write. In other words they all enter the priesthood for an education, where they remain a longer or shorter time, according to their inclinations.

The Siamese language is tolerably copious, and every sound and intonation are accurately marked. Their intonations are very difficult for a fo reigner to attain, and require a delicate ear.

With regard to introducing the Roman character for the Siamese, I would remark, that as far as the prejudices of the people are concerned, they are very favourable; they are exceedingly fond of any thing English, and some now read the English language with fluency.

With regard to the willingness of the people, I see nothing in the way of introducing the Roman character.

No sysThe in

The principal difficulty at present seems to be the want of a system sufficiently simple, to express accurately all the various intonations. tem has yet appeared which exactly represents all these sounds. tonations are even more difficult to express than the Chinese. doubt not a system may be devised which will meet every case.

Yet I