use of betel, which is enjoined by the missionaries, and secondly the taking of omens by means of breaking eggs, a practice which is carried to such an extent among the unconverted Khasias as to entail heavy expenditure. The extent to which the habit of chewing betel is carried by these people is extraordinary. No man, woman or child ever stirs without a bag containing the materials, betel-nut, lime, fresh pepper leaves and tobacco. The roads are covered with the husks of the nut and stained with the red saliva which it produces, and even children are said to chew to such an extent that it costs from one to two rupees a month. Though my acquaintance with the Khasias was but limited, I cannot say I ever liked them. They are, no doubt, much improved since Sir J. Hooker’s time, but they have not the nice quiet manners and desire to please shown by the Lepchas of Sikkim. There are a few among them who make good and faithful servants, but they incline to be independent and sometimes insolent.
On September 13th we left Myrung about nine and went on quickly to Nurmai, about six miles, over a country much like that of the previous day. Shortly before reaching the village there was another church and a small wood in which I found some fine orchids and that curious root parasite, Balanophora, which grows like a round, pinkish hard fungus in little clusters under the dense shade, and has neither leaves, stem, nor flowers which could be recognised as such except by a botanist, A large plant of Dendrobium chrysanthum was in flower, and a Hedychium with green and white flowers which I had found in Bhutan (H. albovirens C.B. Clarke). In this wood was a large horned owl which was persistently mobbed by bulbuls and other small birds; I also saw a small tailless wren-like bird, probably Pnœpyga pusilla, creeping amongst the roots. Beyond Nurmai the road gradually descends, and the character of the country changes, rice fields become more numerous, but the cultivation is confined to the narrow swampy valleys between the hills. I also saw a small patch or two of Caladium escalentum, which is grown for the food afforded by its large fleshy roots. In the same swamps Arundina bambusifolia and Hedychium coronarium were abundant at 4,000 to 5,000 feet. On the road we passed a collection of three or four hundred natives who were holding a market on a bare knoll away from any village, but the products for sale were few and of inferior quality, consisting principally of betel, salt, stinking dry fish from the plains, coarse plantains, potatoes too small for export, maize and caladium roots. The majority of the people were dirty and ill-dressed and the women extremely plain. There seemed to be some considerable variation in their type of countenance, for which I did not know them well enough to account, as it takes some time to appreciate the distinctive facial characteristics of a new race; for this reason travellers should never select individuals for photographing or drawing until they know them pretty well. Three or four miles further on we came to the bungalow at Nunklow, which like others on that road was but little used, and much out of repair. It was infested with fleas and mosquitoes, which we had not found elsewhere. The water in the tank close by was very bad and unwholesome, and many people had been ill from drinking it, so it was necessary to send a mile away to get good
