Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 1.djvu/121

 KANYANGS.

(31)

HE Kanyang tribe or clan of the Shans, now in Assam, were settled in the days of Moongkong and Ahom independence at Nonyang, a point in the Loe-pet-Kae mountains, which marks the ancient boundary between Assam and Moongkong, and from whence the waters of the Nonyang rise, and pass to the east into Hookong, and those of the Namroop, to the north, into Assam. The tribe, originally consisting of two villages (about 100 houses), appear to have had charge of the dooar or pass over the Petkae, and in the language of the Shans were called Mon Nam and Mon Noe respectively, in allusion to those who dwelt on the river Nonvang, and those who dwelt higher up on the mountain.

The Kanvangs left their settlements on the Petkae about the beginning of the present century, in consequence of the inroads of the Singphos, and settled in the Jorhath district, where, along with the Phake and Itongs, they were known as the Nora of Buchanan's time, which designation was given by the people of Assam apparently to the Shans of Moonkong. The Kanvangs, in consequence of their original designation of Mon Nam and Mon Xoe, are called by the Assamese Panee Nora and Baum Nora.

The greater portion of this branch of the Slums are to this day settled in the vicinity of Jorhath, but a village of some size also existed at Suddyah previous to the outbreak of the Khampties in 1839. As a Shan people they have mixed much with the Assamese, and all know the language of the country; but they still retain the characteristics of their own nation in regard to religion, language, and social habits.

In their productive industry as an agricultural people they are superior to any of the frontier inhabitants. They do not. however, excel in the art of weaving or dyeing, and manufacture but little beyond the clothes in use amongst themselves. Coarse white cotton garments are more common with them than the coloured habiliments of the other Shans. The Kanyangs' village of the Snddyah district