New Britain herald., 1922-09-07
LAHUS OF YUNNAN
 HAVE QUEER NAMES
Young Woman May Be Miss Second Pig, or Miss First Rat"

Rangoon, Sept. 7.-The Lahus are one of the hitherto little known tribes described by Ralph HenIrson, an American wayfarer, whose travel pic lures have been appearing in the Rangoon Gazette. These sturdy, yet sociable, people live mostly in the Chinese province of Yunnan, a wild country bordering on the northeast frontier of Burma. Referring to their life and customs, Mir. Hender- son writes:
 We met more Lahus than any other tribesmen. think. Lahus is the tribes name for itself. and means the tiger r-born' race The tribe is a big one and spills across into Yunnan, or rather, spills from Yunnan into Burma, since they originally came from China. The Lahus live by agri- culture, the men doing little hunt ing on the side when they can get hold of gun that shoots forward,
 
 tions at once. Every hill man who considers himself of any importance at all must have his gun. There Is a . factory in Kengtung where muzzle- loading guns are manufactured A few carpenters and blacksmiths sit beneath a big banyan tree and make them. When a gun is made, some bold workman fires it to see if 1t will go of. If it does, it is sold at once. But not all hill men are so fort unate as to be able to secure one of these 'Hsamtum guns. Many of them, therefore, make their own. Then they make their own powder and shot, and, when all is finished. have the self-contidence or temerity 10 go hunting with their creation. carried a repeating shotgun up there. and 1t is not surprising that they re- garded 1t with an awe that amounted almost to reverence. A friend of mine carried an old revolver. He had paid three dollars for 1t in Amer ica and, since that time, the handle had become broken. He was offer ed the equivalent of $65 for 1t brok- en handle and all, by friendly rob- Der chief.
 The Lahus have formal and inn personal way of making love. The young men build fire, and the maid dens another, these fires within stones toss of each other. Then each group sits about its own fire, and the courting begins. The groups sing long songs to each other in turn. This may continue for hours. Then at last comes a song saying the time has come for parting, and with that the two groups rise from about their fires and come together for a mo- ment In this moment a youth may exchange turbans with the lady of bis heart. These exchanged turbans are worn for several days and the whole proceeding serves the same purpose as our engagement and engagement ring. If either party regrets the com pact. he or she may demand a return of turbans. and there's an end to ev- erything. Otherwise, marriage fol- lows.
 'Lahus commonly have large fami- | lies, and, to save a great deal of men tai effort on the part of the parents | in devising names for their progeny, l they employ an ingenious scheme a kind of calendar of names. They have a cycle of 12 days in their week: dog day, pig day, rat day COW day, tiger day, ass day, death day, croco- dile day, sheep day, pony day, chick en day and louse day. A child born on dog day is called Master or Miss Dog; on rat day, Master or Miss Rat; on sheep day, Master or Miss Sheep
 Tt might be supposed that child born at midnight ( a rather vague and inclusive term in land without timepieces) would catch the baptis- nal wheel on dead center, and would be in fair way to get two names or none Not so. The child is merely Master or Miss Midnight. What more simple! To introduce a comfortable amount of variety the first born is usually called Master or Miss First. Commonly the name derived from the day is also added, and the result is such a name as Master First Ass, or Miss Second Pig.
 'The child whom its parents ex pect to be the last may likewise be called Master or Miss Last It must be annoying to the inventors of the system that there is at least modi- cum of uncertainty in bestowing the name of Master or Miss Last on a child. The future cannot be surely foretold, and consequently it is not uncommon to find in a family two, or even three children bearing the name Last"