the movements of the Khamtis and, again, the Singphos, from the
country to the east of the Hukong Valley. Whether the first cousins
of the Khasis, the Mons, moved to their present abode from China,
whether they are the aborigines of the portion of Burma they at
present occupy, or were one of the races "of Turanian origin" who,
as Forbes thinks, originally occupied the valley of the Ganges before
the Aryan invasion, must be left to others more qualified than myself
to determine. Further, it is difficult to clear up the mystery of
the survival, in an isolated position, of people like the Ho-Mundas,
whose language and certain customs exhibit points of similarity with
those of the Khasis, in close proximity to the Dravidian tribes and
at a great distance from the Khasis, there being no people who exhibit
similar characteristics inhabiting countries situated in between; but
we can, I think, reasonably suppose that the Khasis are an offshoot
of the Mon people of Further India in the light of the historical
fact I have quoted, i.e. that the movements of races into Assam
have usually, although not invariably, taken place from the east,
and not from the west. The tendency for outside people to move into
Assam from the east still continues.


Affinities.

The late Mr. S. E. Peal, F.R.G.S., in an interesting and suggestive
paper published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal
in 1896, drew attention to certain illustrations of "singular
shoulder-headed celts," found only in the Malay Peninsula till
the year 1875, when they were also discovered in Chota Nagpur, and
figured in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal for June of
that year. These "celts" are, as the name implies, ancient stone