As far as can be ascertained, the tribes have no literature, their legends being handed down orally and probably more or less corrupted. The Chongkia claim to have had written records, now lost. The la language is syllabic, and some of their songs are written in Chinese characters, used to express the words as nearly as possible in sound and tone. Both races have traditions in verse of the creation, the invention of agricultural implements, silver, iron and copper work, the Mino also of the Deluge. Mr. Betts has taken down a number of Chongkia songs, but has found it possible to translate only a few of them. His teacher stated that some words used were obsolete and understood by very few. He gave an extract from the song of the creation, which, he said, would take several hours to recite from beginning to end.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.