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THE HISTORY OF THE SlYtN TR1RE. 12?CHAPTER XL

THE HISTORY OF THE Sivm TRIBE.Origin and distribution of the Sty ins.

TH E origin of the progenitors of the Siyin tribe is, according to the. . . . natives, shrouded in mystery. Tradition states that aSiytasf * S u r d f e "f r o m the heavens and, bursting with the fall,emitted a man and woman ; these became the Chin Adaraand Eve, and their garden of Eden was Chin Nwe,1 a village alreadymentioned. This story is not peculiar to the Siyins, but is believed byall the tribes in the NorthernChinHills.As the Sokte forefathers left thefirstvillage and moved south, thus earning the name of "Sok" T e,a so the Siyins moved cast and settled nearsome alkali springs, after which the sept was given the general name of"Shc'' alkali and " Van" = side. The "Shcyantc"8 has been corrupted

into "Siyin" by the Burmans and we have accepted their pronunciationfor general use. The Siyins arc called " Tautcor c l Tauktc" by theLushais and Southern Chins, "Tau" meaning "stout'*or * sturdy and" te " is the plural affix implying " people."Ncyan of Chin Nwe is the father of the Siyin tribe; he lived 13 genera*tions ago and be had three sons,. Ne Nu, Vamlok, and e firei Chiefs Daitong; these three together left the nursery of thess. Northern Chins, migrated some 13 miles to the east, andfounded the two villages of Limkai' and Twantak.5Vamlok is the progenitor of the three communities which we classify asthe Limkai, TokIatngT and B weman clans, and Ne Nu is the progenitor01 the

clan we designate as the Siyin clan of the Siyin tribe, though it would bemore correctly named if we called this family the Twantak clan.Vamlok had threesons, Hansook, Toklaing, and Limkai. Hansook founded Tavak village, Toklaing founded Vumyang village, whilst Limkai remained in the original village of that name.0Ne Nu had one sou named Lamtarn, who lived in Twantak, the villagefoundedby his father Ne Nu and his uncle Dattong.T Lamtam's youngestson Neyal moved from Twantak and founded Kosct8 village, which nine' Nine miles from Tfddim.* Meaning the people who went down or below.*Tc=people.' Limkai was founded byVamlok. The present village of Limkai Iks south of theNation stream ; Vamlok's village waanear Koscl.4 Twantak was foundedby Ne Nu andDaitong.The Twantaks and Tokfaints, including' the Bwemans, never moved off llie banksof tho Luipi stTcam before 1880, when they were driven into scattered settlements; and.although they claim to hove lived nl different times in Vumyang,Mwiton, TwanlaJc,Lcto,Lope, Lopehwtn, Kosct, and Tavnk, the sites of all these villagesare still found andarc within a few hundred yards of each other; of all these villages, with the exception ofold Limkai, only Vumyang, Kosct, and MwtOn figure prominently in the history of thetribe.1Daitong's descendants arc still found; they are, however, of no importance intnetribe and it is not necessary to follow their antecedents."Kosct, 1.*, * Kwa" = village, " sat "= east \ therefore the eastern village of thetribe.

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THE CHIN HILLS.

the question and the entire imputation with the exception of 14 personswas captured or killed. These captives were taken to Falamand wore distributed amongst the surroundingvillages as slaves. Lua Twam himself waitone of the 14 who escaped. He succeeded in ransoming his wife, and sheis the only one who is reported to havereturned from captivity. The result ofthis raid was that l.ope was destroyed and the few remaining people settledin Kosct, and now for the first time the Siyin tribe paid tribute to Falam.The next war was the result of cattle-stealing in the Kale valley, for the. Burmans, as a reprisal, enticed some Styins to the plainsWar with Tasn- a n ( j k j u ^ them." In revenge the Siyins raided a Nornons and ournians. ~, . .,. . . D , , : . , ,Chin village in the Kale valley and carried off threecaptives, and as they were Norns and tributary to Falam, the Tashons demanded their release, which the Siyins refused. The Sawbwa and the Tashons then arranged to attack Kosct. The 'lashon force included Yahows,Kwanlis, and Whenohs, and at night quietly surroundedthe village. At thefirst sign of dawn they swooped down on to the village and, having forcedan entrance, they killed and'captured 150 Siyins. The Tashons carried oft*their captives and burnt the houses. Three days later the Bur man forcearrived at Koset andfindingthe place already burnt, they contented themselves with destroying planks and odds and ends which had escaped theTashons, and then returned to the plains.After the destruction of Koset the Twantaks moved to Mwit6n andset-tled down with the Toklaings. They formed a large vil-c o . n l r ! l s lage and having well fortified it they considered themselveswith the Tashons. . o . / . .able to resist any armywhich might be sent against them.They therefore refused to pay tribute to Falam and furthermore attack*ed and destroyed the outlying Tashon villages of Kowtan, Paiyal, Lonhaw,and Shimyaul, carrying off many captives ; they also attacked Bwelkwa andShinshi, but were driven off, though these villages afterwards surrenderedand paid them tribute. The Tashons were naturally annoyed at the conductof the Siyins and decided to stop their conquests in the south, and to reduce them to a proper state of subordination, and with this object theyraised a large army, recruited largely in the Yahmv and Whenoh country,,and a^van l against Mwitdn. The Siyins, however, were prepared forthe attack and went out to meet the Tashons, whom they ambushed, killingLyin Boi, the uncle of Sonpek, one of the leading Chiefs of Falam. TheTashons were unable to gain the village and eventually retreated afterdestroying some standing crops.The Tashons returned to their villages and the Falam Chiefs addressedthe Sawbwa with a view of reducing the Siyins to siib-SifiSfeth?Tain! i

c c t i o n