THLEN. In the neighbourhood of Cherra punji, in Assam, the people believe in Thlens. The original Thlen was a gigantic snake, a I monstrous worm, which lived in a cave near Cherrapunji, and ate men and animals. One day, however, a local hero addressed himself to the task of overcoming the Thlen by guile. He drove a herd of goats to the mouth of the cave, and offered them one by one to be eaten. By degrees the monster became friendly, and learned to open his mouth at a word from the man, to receive a lump of flesh, which was then thrown in. These relations being established, the dragon slayer heated a lump of iron red-hot, and heaved it into the Thlen's open mouth. This killed the Thlen, whose body the man then cut up, and sent the pieces to different people in various directions, with orders that each piece was to be carefully eaten. Wherever this was done, the people were troubled with no more Thlens ; but one small piece, which nobody would eat, was left, and from this spmng a brood of serpents which still infest Cherrapunji. Now, when a Thlen takes up his abode in a house, there is no turning lain out; lie only leaves when he pleases, which is mostly when any of the property of the family is sold or given away. The Thlen brings wealth to a family,
but on the understanding that he is supplied with blood. The people know when the Thiel' is thirsty, by the appearance of some sickness or misfortune in the house. To satisfy his craving, a human being must be murdered. The victim's hair nnd fingers, and a quantity of his blood, are put in a bamboo tube, and it is believed that the Thlen appears in the form of a snake, and devours .the body of the murdered person, which is materialized from the portions thus offered. After this .the affairs of the household prosper. Many families in the hills are suspected to be Ri thien, or keepers of a Thlen. In 1881 it is believed that three murders were committed with the object of appeasing a Thlen. Ono of the victinis was an old woman, another a boy. In each case one or two persons were convicted ; one man was hanged, and the rest were sentenced to impriaontnent for life, or a term of years.