d; _katasa_,
a small circular drum. Khasi drums are nearly always made of wood,
not of metal, like the drums to be seen in the monasteries of Upper
Assam, or of earthenware, as in Lower Assam.

_Ka duitara_ is a guitar with _muga_ silk strings, which is played
with a little wooden key held in the hand. _Ka maryngod_ is an
instrument much the same as the last, but is played with a bow like
a violin. _Ka marynthing_ is a kind of guitar with one string, played
with the finger.

_Ka tangmuri_ is a wooden pipe, which is played like a flageolet. _Ka
kynshaw_, or _shakuriaw_, are cymbals made of bell metal; _ka sharati_,
or _ka shingwiang_, is a kind of flute made of bamboo. This instrument
is played at cremation ceremonies, and when the bones and ashes of a
clan are collected and placed in the family tomb, or _mawbah_. This
flute is not played on ordinary occasions. In the folk-lore portion
of the Monograph will be found a tale regarding it. There are other
kinds of flutes which are played on ordinary occasions. The Wars of
the twenty-five villages in the Khyrim State make a sort of harp out
of reed, which is called _ka 'sing ding phong_. The Khasis also play
a Jews' Harp (_ka mieng_), which is made of bamboo.

Agriculture.

The Khasis are industrious cultivators, although they are behindhand
in some of their methods of cultivation, (e.g. their failure to adopt
the use of the plough in the greater portion of the district); they
are thoroughly aware of the uses of manures. Their system of turning
the sods, allowing them to dry, then burning them, and raking the
ashes over the soil, is much in advance of any system of natural
manuring to be seen elsewhere in the Province. The Khasis use the
following agricultural implements:--A large hoe (_mokhiw heh_),
an axe for felling trees (_u sdie_), a large _da_ for felling trees
(_ka wait lynngam_), two kinds of bill-hooks (_ka wait prat_ and _ka
wait khmut_), a sickle (_ka rashi_), a plough in parts of the Jaintia
Hills (_ka lyngkor_), also a harrow (_ka iuh moi_). In dealing with
agriculture, the lands of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills may be divided
into the following classes:--(_a_) Forest land, (_b_) wet paddy land
called _hali_ or _pynthor_, (_c_) high grass land or _ka ri lum_ or
_ka ri phlang_, (d) homestead land (_ka 'dew kyper_). Forest lands
are cleared by the process known as _jhuming_, the trees being felled
early in the winter and allowed to lie till January or Februar