Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 28, 1917.djvu/149

Rh treat their wives and other women with respect, and are affectionate to their children; among them adultery is regarded as a grave offence; and immorality between the unmarried is visited with severe punishment. If both offenders are not put to death, they are banished from their village. Among neighbouring tribes, whereas the culture is otherwise superior, the standard of sexual morality declines. They have a strong sense of shame, and often commit suicide, when, as the Chinese say, a man "loses his face." Their curved knife is not suitable for committing Harakiri, and the usual method is either by hanging or by poisoning themselves with the juice of a plant. A woman also commits suicide when her husband is killed in war. Their worst crime is head-hunting, which is based on religion and custom. They are also apt to lose control, under the influence of liquor, at their feasts, and a stranger visiting them at such times runs serious risk of losing his life. They used in former days to drink an intoxicant prepared by women, who chewed rice or millet. Now yeast is obtained from the Chinese by means of which a sort of beer is prepared in the following way. When the rice or millet has been cooked by steaming, and allowed to cool, it is mixed with yeast and placed in a jar on a shelf just above the fire-place. Fermentation occurs after three or four days, and, when water has been added, the beverage is ready, about a day later. Or, if yeast be not procurable, the steamed grain is wrapped in a banana leaf, which again is wrapped in a cloth, and, when mildew appears in about a week's time, the preparation is complete. The head of the family sips the first sample of the brew from a bamboo cup (Keiji), the rest of the family following him. The lees are filtered through a bamboo sieve (Bushii), and used to feed pigs or dogs.

Among the Taiyal the following folk-tale is current to