The Lamets, the Lamungs and more
hilltribe villages
We reach the Namta at Ban Hat Nam. It is here a deep, clear
stream, and on it there are numbers of bamboo rafts belonging
to Lamets laden with rice on their way to Luang Phrabang where
they will dispose of both riceand bamboos. As it is possible the
carriers may run away, wemake the most of the day and push on
till sunset. The camp is pitched in a very pretty place on the
banks of Nam Sawng,a beautiful clear stream of very cold water.
The Lamets, as usual are very noisy, but they are a melancholy
people and one seldom sees them laugh. They are heavily built
and scantily clad, the cloth they wear is scarcely large enough
for its purpose. They carry loads on their backs attached to a
plaited cane band round their heads, and when ascending a hill
each respiration is a low whistle. When they are dragging their
weary way along the hill-slope, the sounds remined one of the
song of the green dove, so low and melancholy are they. In the
lobes of their ears they have large disks of wood, some of these
are an inch and a quarter in diameter. The test of greatest beauty
is the extent to which the lobe of the ear can be expanded; it
is sometimes split in the process, but I did not ascertain if
the splitting of the ear was considered a social disqualification
or not. The Lamets seem veruy stupid, and there was great difficulty
in ascertaining their names, so as to make sure that the right
man would get payment.
Interspersed with the Lamets is another tribe, called Lamungs,
but there is little difference, if any, between the various tribes
of Khas. The term Kha would mean slave. They are usually called
Kha Ches, and their homes are the slopes of the mountains all
over the Luang Phrabang division. They live in communities, and
the boundaries of village-lands are religiously gaurded, and always
marked where the paths cross. The clearings are carried on, from
year to year different places are brought under cultivation. If
a village has not sufficient land to allow of a seven years' rotation,
some of the community are compelled to seek other mountain slopes.
The tribes are usually Khamu, Khame, Pai, Lamett, Lamunng,
Bit, and Hok. The Khamu are the most numerous. All the tribes
can understand one another, the differences in the language being
very slight. At one time in their history they were associated
only with Luang Phrabang, but in the recent yaers, on account
of many troubles , they have spread far and near. The teak-trade
of Siam is carried on chiefly through their agency, as they are
sturdy and hard-working foresters, receiving a very small renumeration.
They are all spirit- worshippers. The spirit-worship consistsin
partaking of liberal feast in the spirit-house, which has a long
fire-place running down the middle. Over this great joints of
buffalo-meat are roasted, and these are washed down with copious
draughts of home-made spirit.They have no written language. The
legend relates that in days gone by the king of the Khas visited
Luang Phrabang, and found there houses made of brick and mortar.
On inquiring how the lime was produced, he was informed that it
was made from the rocks. Returning among his people, he suggested
that they should also try to make lime. The difficulty was how
to break the lime-rocks; the king told them to use their knives,
the only result of this being that all the knives were destroyed.
Thereupon the people became enraged and slew their King but they
immediatly repented, for he was the only one who knew the Kha
writing. That the knoeledge might not be lost they proposed cooking
and eating the King, in order in this way to have it diffused
among the people, but they found with the death of the King the
art of writing was lost for ever, so they had recourse to sending
despatches on notched sticks. The number of notches indicates
the dignity of the sender of the message, and if it is urgent
a chilli and feather are attached, meaning that the message must
be carried out hotly and swiftly. This is the method of writing
adopted at the present day.
The spirit of the King of the Khas resides at Luang Phrabang,
and until very recently the chef had daily sacrifice offered to
him. If a man falls ill, recourse is had to the use of sticks;
the sticks are broken, and the manner of breaking indicates whether
a pig, dog, or fowl should be sacrificed to propitiate the evil
spirit.
We have with us Khas under the administration of Nan and
of Luang Phrabang, and it is amusing to see the efforts made to
keep them apart. The Nan officials try to impress their men with
a superior dignity, and tell them they are Kha Kwens, to distinguish
them from the others who are called Kha Lao. The Khas of Nan
are chiefly those who some years ago sought refuge in Nan territory.
Continued
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