The Khami also known as Khwemyee , Khami ,kwemi, kumi.

                                                 (Khami image taken from Online)

KHAMI (a) The word is written in so many and so various ways by different authors that it is doubtful whether they form one or several ethnic groups. Mr. Shafer considers62 there are Khami and Khimi. Lewin6 writes Kumi and Kweymmee, Hutchinson64 Kumi or Khami, Embree and Thomas6s have noted Kami, Kwemi, Khami, Kumi, Kwey mee, St. John6 writes hka mies (Hkway-mies) etc... According to St. John, the word he has noted down is the very one used by the people when speaking about themselves, this word meaning « man ». Lewin's opinion is different -and perhaps less simple than St. John's one- :« Kwey or Khwee in Arakanese, means « a dog », and mee is an affix conveying the idea of men; kwey mee therefore means « dog men ». Now the Kumi wear a very scanty breech cloth, which is so adjusted, that a long end hangs down behind them in the manner of a tail; add to this that the dog is a favourite article of food among them, and the derivation of the name seems pretty clear. »67, (b) As for the number of Khami living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts Lewin said : « 2.000 », Hutchinson does not say anything; in the Census of 1901, Khami and Kuki were counted together (which is completely erroneous) and it was found there were 1.468 Kuki and Kumi in the Bohmong Circle, one only in the Chakma Circle and none in the Mong Circle. How many are they now ? There is no exact information to be relied upon, we might only suppose they are no more than 2.000 souls. (c) The Khami are living exclusively in the Bohmong Circle, on the top of the hills in the Southern Sangu and Matamuri rivers area. Some are to be found, more or less scattered, down to the Burmese border; they are more numerous in Arakan.

References.

 62. Shafer, Classification... p.103. 63.

 Lewin, Hill Tracts.., 1869, p. 88. 64. 

Hutchinson, Accouni.., 1906, p.168. 65.

 Embree and Thomas, op. cu. p. 17. 66. 

R.F. St-Andrew St-John, A short Account of Hill Tribes of North Aracan », 

J. of the Anthropological Institute, II, 1873, p.233-246, 236. 67. Lewin, Hill Tracts... 186, p. 88.

                                                                                                     Edited By Elisha Mro.