Like  the  Thiames  the  Stiens  are  exclusive,  although  hospitable,  and
their  personal  appearance,  their  customs  and  superstitions  point  to  them
as  a  people  of  Indian  or  Malayan  blood  which  has  been  diluted  by
slight  contact  with  the  Chinese.  They  pierce  their  ears,  which  they
ornament  with  pieces  of  ivory;  they  go  into  ecstacies  over  bright  glass
beads;  the  men  wear  bracelets  above  the  elbow  and  at  the  wrist,  and  the
women  wear  them  on  leg  and  arm.  Every  Stien  of  any  substance  owns
several  slaves  and  a  field,  some  distance  from  the  village,  in  which  are
raised  rice,  maize,  tobacco,  vegetables,  bananas  and  oranges.  The  slaves
are  usually  those  who  have  been  taken  in  crime  and  fined  by  the  village.
Being  unable  to  pay,  the  fine  constantl\-  increases  until  the  offender  is
finally  sold.  If  he  pays  his  fine  of  a  pig,  an  ox  or  several  jars  of  wine,
the  whole  village  partake.
The  Stien  hunts  with  across  bow  and  poisoned  arrows.  His  chief
amusement  is  to  send  up  a  kite,  to  which  is  attached  an  /Eolian  harp  in
the  shape  of  a  bow.  He  is  naturally  peaceable,  and  rather  than  fight
retires  into  the  forest,  and  places  in  the  paths  sharp- pointed  stakes  of
bamboo.  The  villages  sometimes  quarrel  among  themselves,  but  their
conflicts  seldom  come  to  pitched  battles  ,  rather,  the  natives  lay  in  wait
for  each  other  in  the  fields  and  pathways  of  the  forest  and  the  captor  is
sold  as  a  slave  to  the  Laotians  or  Cambodians.
