Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 18, 1907.djvu/276

240 the Hare backs out of his share in the agreement. In a Bemba story the protagonists are the Hare and the Lion; in a Lusiba one, the Hare and the Leopard; and the Wakinga (North-East Nyasa) tell the tale of two men. Perhaps the story in "Cunnie Rabbit," where Spider and Leopard agree to eat their children, but the former cheats, might also be reckoned as a variant. I hope, some day, to find leisure for a comparative study of this tale in its various African versions.

This is the first of a series of monographs on the wilder tribes of Assam which was projected by Sir B. Fuller, the late Lieutenant-Governor of the province. The author, who is superintendent of ethnography and editor of the series, is thoroughly familiar with this interesting people, understands their language, and as district officer has visited every part of the beautiful country which they occupy. The Khasis, or, as they used to be called, the Cossyahs, to the number of 176,000, inhabit what is known as the Khasi and Jaintia Hill district in Assam. As regards their ethnical position, Major Gurdon rightly connects them with the Mon-Anam race, which is supposed to have occupied the Malay Peninsula and a considerable part of Eastern India in prehistoric times. In support of this he refers to three points of resemblance: a peculiarly shaped hoe found among the Khasis, the Nagas, and the aborigines of the Malay region and Chota Nagpur; the sleeveless coat worn by Khasis, some Nagas, and by Mikirs; and the habit of erecting memorial stones, common to Khasis, Mikirs, Magas, and the Ho-Mundas of Chota Nagpur. These alone do not prove the common origin of these tribes, but they agree with the linguistic evidence.