sin a Khasi can commit. This would explain the strict
reckoning of descent through the mothers.

The Khasi clan grew from the family. There is a saying common among
the people, _Long jaid ne ka kynthei_, "From the woman sprang the
tribe." All the clans trace their descent from ancestresses
(grandmothers) who are called _Ki Iwabei Tynrai_, literally,
_grandmothers of the root_, i. e. _the root of the tree of the clan_.
In some clans the name of the ancestress survives, as, for instance,
_Kyngas houning_, "the sweet one." _Ka Iaw shubde_ is the ancestress
of the Synteng tribe, and it is curious to note that she is credited
with having first introduced the art of smelting iron. She is also
said to have founded a market in which she successfully traded in
cattle.[74]

[74] _The Khasis_, pp. 62, 64, 82. All the facts I have given
of the Khasis are taken from Mr. Gurdon's work, unless
otherwise stated.

It is hardly possible to exaggerate the esteem in which the tribal
ancestress is held; she is so greatly reverenced that she may truly be
said to be deified. In such worship rests the foundation of the deep
tribal piety. _Ka Iawbei_, "the first mother," has the foremost place
of honour by her side, and acting as her agent is _U Suid Nia_, her
brother. There is another fact to show the honour in which the female
ideal is held. The flat memorial stones set up to perpetuate the
memory of the dead are called after the mothers of the clan, while the
standing stones ranged behind them are dedicated to the male kinsmen
on the female side. These table stones are exceedingly interesting.
They are exactly like the long stones and dolmens which are found in
Brittany, in Ireland, in Galicia in Spain, and other parts of Europe.
Is it possible that some of these memorials, whose history has been
lost, were also set up to commemorate the mothers of tribes? But be
this as it may, among the Khasis, where ancient custom and tradition
have been preserved, goddesses are more important than gods. Almost
all the other deities to whom propitiation is offered are female. Male
personages also figure, and among them _Thaulang_, the husband, is
revered.[75] Still the chief divinity rests in the goddesses; the gods
are represented only in their relation to them. The powers of sickness
and death are all female, and these are most frequently worshipped.
Again, the protectors of the household are goddesses. I wish that I
had space to write