The Ethnography of the Nagas of Eastern Assam Author(S): W

The Ethnography of the Nagas of Eastern Assam Author(s): W. H. Furness Source: The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 32 (Jul. - Dec., 1902), pp. 445-466 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2842832 . Accessed: 15/06/2014 10:11

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THE ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE NAGAS OF EASTERN ASSAM.

By W. H. FUIRNESS,M.A., M.D., PHIJLADELPHIA.

[PRESENTED OCTOBER 28TH, 1902. WITH PLATES XLIV-XLVI.]

WERE not the gigantic Himalayas so near and ever-present,the Naga Hills of Eastern Assam,even though not snow-clad,would be worthyof the dignityof being termedmountains. This chain of so-called hills stretchesfromr the south- eastern borders of Tibet, between Lat. 200 and 26?, almost due south to the sea, forminga dividing wall between Assam and Burmna. The peaks range in heightfrom 4,000 to 10,000 or 12,000 feet, and in general are wooded to their very summits. The dwellerson this chain of semi-tropicaljungle-clad mountains are, without distinction,all knownto the inhabitantsof the plains of Assam as Nagas, but to the mountaineersthemselves this is but a courtesytitle to be used only when speakingof themselves,adding " Naga " to theirown peculiar tribalname. The originof thus collectivelynaming these wild tribes Nagas can only be conjectured; possibly they were confused with the mythical demi-gods called Nagas, with whom the gods of the early Aryans had to conltend,or possiblythey were called Nagas owing to the serpent worship introducedafter the Mongol invasionof the north-eastof India. There seems to be no trace,however, of this serpentworship now remainingamnong these tribes. Or, it has been suggestedthat Naga is a corruptionof the word ncanga,meaning naked. The N agas of the hills, reachingfrom the Tibetan b-orderin the north as far as the districtof Manipur in the south,may be, roughlyspeaking, included in the same generalclass as are their languages, viz., as Tibeto-Burman. In the facial contour,however, they have little morethan a trace of theirMonigolian or Tibetan ancestry; the drawing down of the innerangle of the eye,so emphaticallymarked in all Mongolianraces, is but slightlynoticeable among the Nagas, and the high cheek-bonesseem to have been softened down by amalgamation with the flat-facedBurman. They are shortin stature,yet lightlybuilt, unlike the mountain people of the Himalayas. In fact,the Nagas resemblemore closely the natives of the Malayan Archipelago than any of the otherraces inhabiting the hills or plains of India and Assam. Althoughtheir languages have been classed, in the Census Report of Assam for 1891, as belonging to the Tibeto-Burmanfamily, so little is knownabout these numerousdialects, beyond certain vocabularies of the more importanttribes, this classificationis, at best, tentative,

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Aniexhaustive grammatical study of the Naga language would be an almost lhopelesstask; possiblythere is no portionof the world of an equal area where so many dialects are spokenl. Not oilly has each tribe a distinietform of speech, always liable to rapid changes,but also, in several instances,the clans, notably the Monigsemland Chungli clans of the Ao tribe,living in the same villages and working in the same field, speak almost totally differentdialects; each uilderstandingthe other,to be sure,but the memiiberof one clan speakinghis own1 clan language, unitil,ini the case of marriage,the woman adopts the speech of her husband's household. The similarityof certain words and of grammatical construction,in the dialects of the Naga Hills, is admirably shown by Mr. A. W. Davis in the Census Report of Assam for 1891, in the chapter on languages,pp. 163-183. The Nagas are farmersrather than hunters, and now that the Indian Governmenthas assumed controlover the larger part of the hills south of the Dilku river,and has throwna depressingdamper on the distractingand highly- dlivertingpastimne of human head-huntingin raids on the hills and even in the tea-gardensof the plains, the Nagas are able to farnmtheir hillside fields in comparativepeace,' and have become almost self-supportingin the way of food supply; but neverthelessit costs the Governmentmany thousandsof rupeesevery year to maintainthis blissfulstate. In travellingfrom Tamlu, at that tiinethe bordervillage of Britishcontrol in the niorth,to Manipur in the south,and theiee in a south-easterlydirection to Mandalay in Burmah,I had the opportunityof observing the followingtribes of Na,gas in the order named:-The Miris, the Aos, the Semas, the Lhotas, the Itengmas,the Angamis,the Kajabmas and Merhainas(the two latter closelyakin to Angamis),the Tunkhuls,the Manpuris,and beyond Manipur towards Burma the Aimons. The differenttribes scene to have settled in certain definitelocalities and thereestablished their villages on the verycrests of the hills,whence anl extended view of the countryround about may be obtained,and where sudden attacks are almost impossible owing to the acclivity of the approaches. The villages are furthermioreprotected by havinigthe paths leading to them sulnken,so that the attacking party when trapped in onie of these ditches is at the mercy of the villagers above. The segregation of the tribes and the hilltop villages is undoubtedlyfor protection to the whole tribe and to the villages themselves,but theredoes not appear to be a markedtribal unity; thereis no one man whomany single tribe regards as a chief or leader. They have their definitecustoms, their tribal peculiarities,and their language by which they recognize each other, and although the villages seem to be the units of the tribal life, there are yet smaller divisions within the villages themselves which, to borrow a term from chemistry,appear to be the molecules of which the tribe is composed; these are the klhelsor wards into which the village is divided. Some villages are made up of but two khels,others have fouror five,some as many as

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eight, and each khel has its head-mianor chief, and apparently is united in a zealous obedience and loyalty to its leader. To any one but a dweller in the village the boundaries of these khels are unknown; there is no wall or fence between them and no stone or stake to rnark where one khel begins and another ends. There is of course free communicationbetween the different khelsin a village; the members intermarry,they assist one another in the cultivatiolnof the fields,they help to build houses for each other,and together they clear pathways throughthe jungle to the rice fields and between villages; yet thereare oftenbitter inter-khel feuds and consequent bloodycontests between the inhabitants of the same village, onie khel against the other, albeit bound together by ties of marriage alnd kinship. To show to what extent this independence of the differentkhels exists an incident is given in the Assam Census Reportfor 1891, wherea Naga gave a jocular descriptionof an attack on his village,in the course of whichone man, fivewomen and twentychildren were slaughteredin one of the khels,while those of an adjoining khel stood by and neverlent a hand to their neighbours. The narratordeclared that he neversaw such rare sport as the liilling of the children; it was, he added,just like killing chickens. Over each khel,as I have mentioned,presides a head-manwho, as far as I could ascertain,is self-appoinited;that is, when a mlanhas a sufficientfollowing of friendsor relativeswho are willingto split offfrom their native village and either move to an unoccupied hilltop or establish themselvesin another village or in a differentlocation in theirown village as a separate khel,they follow their leader and as a co-operativebody build houses and clear new fields. Why certain men should have a followingand exactly in what miannerthe followersremunerate theirhead-man I was unable to learn. The head-manof the khel lives always in the best built and largesthouse, and in frontof his door there are usually to be seen several large forkedstakes, symbolizing the heads of sacrificedwild bulls,or near by are several large boulders which have been dragged up fromthe valley and placed in the village as mementoesof lavishfeasts given to the khelsby this or that head-man. Such feastsinvolve no little cost in rupees,large distributionof storesof rice,and the slaughter of manypigs and fowls,but how this wealth is accumulated,whether by the industryof the head-man'sfamily, or whetherit is hoardedtribute, I could not findout. The head-man acts as arbiter in points of disputeover land or otherproperty and imposesfines for violation of custom. I have likened the village khels to the moleculesof a tribe; let me borrow still furtherfrom the molecular theory and designate as atoms, of which the tribalmolecules are composed,the jhats or clans which enterinto the constitution of a khel. The jhats' are apparently family groups claiming descent from differentancestors or founders; possibly-I only tremblinglystuggest-they may

I The wordskhel and jhat are used by the Assameseto indicatethe divisionsof a town, and familygroups; I have borrowedthem merelyfor the sake of uniformity,each tribe of Nagas uses a differentword.

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be relics of a forgottentoteinism; at any rate,in theirlaws of exoganmythey bear a resemblanceto totemisticclans, but I was not sufficientlyfamiliar with their languages to trace in the jhat names any sacrednessof plant or animal,nor were the jhats differentiatedby the worship of any animal,plant, or stone. I merely offerthis as a suggestionfor furtherresearch. Each kchelin a village may be miadeup of one or several jhats living amicablytogether and intermarryingonle with the other but never marryingwithin the jklat. I had been led to understandin conversationwith Mr. A. W. Davis, then Commissionerof Police forthe Naoa Hills, and also by an articlepublished some time ago in the Journal of the AnthropologicalInstitute,1 that marriage within the khel was against all Naga law, and wives or husbands invariably must be sought outside; on questioning the people of several villages on this subject I received such contradictoryanswers that at last I found that each one was answeringfor his or her own particularcase; that those who lived in khelscomnposed of but one jhat declared that marriagewithin their own khel was prohibited,while those livingin khelscomposed of several jhats declared emphaticallythat they did not have to go outsideof their khel to seek a husband or wife. Children belong to theirfather's jhat, but there is nothingeither in name, dress,custom, or place of habitation to indicate to what jhat they belong-it is only tradition. As the membersof onejhat may be scattered throughseveral villages many miles apart, it is more than likely that these jhats often do get an admixtureof new blood. This interdictionof marriage in the jhtatwas undoubtedlydesigned to prevent inbreeding,but, since the mother'sjhat is ignored,it is but a half measure,and the marriageof firstcousins on the mother'sside of the familyaild also of uncle and niece are unrestricted. In the IRenginavillage of Kotsoma there are four khels but only-two jhats; threeof the kahelsare made up entirelyof one jhat, so that the men of these three khels must look to the fourthfor their wives. They told me at this village that in formertimes men of the Lhoto and Sema tribes used to marry Rengma women, but that the Rengma men never married out of their tribe. In this small village there were eight feeble- minded children and one deaf mute, in all probabilitythe result of too close intermarriage. How the jhat obtains its name I was unable to ascertain,its origin is lost in the dim past of three or four generations,but some Nagas maintained that it was the familiar name of the founderof the clan. The khels were usually named for some natural featureor fromthe position of the khel in the village,namely, the " upper,"the " middle,"or the " lowerkhel," or the "ikhelof the large morang" or watch house,or the " pond khel"; sometimeswhen composedof only one jhat it took its name from this jhat; but there is never anythingin an individual's name to indicate to what khel or to what jhat he belongs.

I GertrudeM. Goddeii, "The Nhghs and otherFrontier Tribes of North East India," Journ.Anthrop. Inst., xxvi, p. 167.

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The positionof the villageson the crestsof hills makes the construction of the housesmiiechanically difficult owing to the differentlevels on whichthey are built. Usuallythere is a main streetor passageway along the ridgeof the bill and the housesface each otherwith theirfront entrance on the level of the groundand theirrear portionbuilt on high piles and overhangingthe slope of the hillside. Belowthe ridge-rows, on anotherlevel downthe hillside, mnaybe anotherline of housesscattered all roundthe knob of the hill or on littlevalleys and ridgesbetween the crests. Thereis no attemptat levellingoff tneirregularities orremoving large rocks from the passages between the houses A heavythatching of palm leaves and grassesserves as roofand theridge-pole extends

FTG. l.-THE VILLAGE OF NAOGONG. farbeyond the end of the house, forming a sort of verandah; or else it stretchesout overthe streetto makea narrowand long gable-endwhich dovetails in witha similarextension on the roofof the house opposite,thereby almost completely roofingover the street between the fronts of the houses. Naga dwellingsare not usuallysupplied with the luxury of a frontdoor, but are quitewell appointedif furnishedwith a screenof matting, whiclh can be fastenedup and heldin placeby twoloilg poles crossed over it and tied to thedoor posts on eitherside. The side walls are about4 feethigh and are overhungby theeaves, so that thereis small chanceof thewind and rain beatingthrough the strips of bambooof whichthese wallsare woven. The groundplan of the Naga housesis, in its main features, uniformin theseveral tribes that I visited;in somevillages, where the hilltopor VOL. XXXII. 2 G

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ridgewas broad,the houses were all on the flat grounidand had no rear portion raised on piles. Beneath the overhangingfront gable, separatedfromi the rest of the house,there is quite oftena small room closed in with uprightpoles whereto screensof bambooare tied; this roomis occupied by the old grandfatherof the family,or else it is reservedfor widows and old people who have no one to look afterthem. The frontentrance to a house is usually barred,ineffectually it must be added,against straypigs and dogsby a fenceof broad posts about 2 feethigh, with a slip-stakein the centrewhich can be removed or replaced when the pigs belongingto the householdare to be drivenin and confiniedfor the night. When one steps over this barrier,and by good luck avoids stepping on a pig, a dog,a hen,-ora baby,one entersthe rice-poundingroom; the flooris covered deep with the chaffof rice-husks,wherein fowls scratch and pigs burrowfor stray grains of rice. On one side stands the trough-likerice-mortar, and on the otherside is a rack whereon are hung rows of skulls of sacrificedcows, wild bulls, pigs, and not infrequentlyhuman skulls taken in head-lhuntingraids. Tucked in the loops of rattanand split bamboo,wherewith the house posts,partition walls and thatch are tied together,are all sortsof native-madefarming implements, such as small hoes, short axes called dhaus, spear heads, snares for birds and small animals, sharp stakes of hard wood used forstabbing to death pigs and dogs at ceremonial feastings; water bottles made fromgourds, etc., all rusty,dusty, dirty and soot- begrimed. From the rice-poundingroom one enters,through a narrow doorway,also providedwith a barrierof wobblystakes, the inain large roomof the house, In houses directlyon the hillside,the floorof this room is slightlyexcavated, so as to make it level for at least two-thirdsof its length. It is always-exceedingly dark. Its only illuminationsifts in under the eaves and through the narrow doorway at either end, and to add to the darkness, the smoke from the smouilderingembers upon the hearth in the centre of the room obscures everything. The furnitureconsists of a few boards and very low benches (four inches high perhaps) which are placed round the central fireplace,where the housewivescook the food by day, and wherethe familyand friendsgather to gossip and smoke by night. At the far end of the roomis a raised platformof boards or of coarse and heavtybamboo matting, whereon the fatherof the family, his wife, his daughters,and very young sons sleep, merely wrapped in their cotton blankets,without pillow or head rest. The young men of the household sleep at the " bachelorhouse " or morang,with whicheach khelis provided-except in the villages of the Sema and Angami tribes-thereforethere is no need of separaterooms in the houses. In the Sema and Angami villages,where there are no moorangs,there are separate alcoves in the main division of the houses,some of which are allotted to young girls,some to men. Beyond the main room,and correspondingto the rice-poundingroom in the front,is a small room devoted to the -storageof the tuibswherein the rice-beer(food and drink to everyNaga) is made,and hereinare stacked all the appliances needed in the brewing,wickerwork

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.49 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 10:11:33 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions W. H. FURNESS.-TheEthnography of theNagas of EasterntAssarn. 451 sieves,funnel-shaped strainers of split bamboo,paddles forstirring the fermenting mash of rice,and pervading everywherea nauseous sour smell, so heavy that it can barelyescape through the doorwayor the chinks in the wall. Beyond this breweryextends a slatted platformof bamboo projectingover the hillside and supported on high poles. So flimsywere these platformsin appearance;that I never dared trust my weighton them,but it is not unusual for the women to make workroomsof them in the daytinme,and there set up their primitiveand simple looms,and weave-orcard the native grown and home-spuncotton. They are chieflyused, however,for drying the rice beforehusking, and forspreading out the freshlydyed cottonthread. Through the uneven thoroughfaresand bywaysbetween the houses lean and lanky pigs, hungry dogs, and ruffle-featheredchickens forage for stray food; children clad in nothingbut a small patch of hair on the crown of their head play games without toys other than pebbles or bits of wood; and old women stagger to their houses heavily laden with baskets on their backs filledwith dry firewood,or they carry earthenjars or lolngjoints of bamboo filled with water fromthe springdown the hillside. In frontof many of the houses,the younger marriedwomen sit spinning cottonithread by feeding the fibreon a weighted bobbin, which they spin with their fingersand then hold suspended while it twiststhe strands; others tie their looms to the house-posts,and, seated on the ground,silently and industriouslyshift the long shuttle back and forth,weaving stripsof cloth about 2 feetwide, whichthey sew togetherto make square blankets forthemselves, their sons, and theirhusbands. The men rarelystay in the village duringthe day. They cultivatethe rice-fields,collect fuel in the jungle, and keep clear the jungle paths betweenthe villages of their tribewith whom theyhave trade in rice,cloth, tobacco, etc. Those who do stay at home employtheir time in weaving bamboo matting,wherewith to repair their houses,and in polishing and cuttinglong beads and pendantsfor necklaces, from conch shells bought in the Assamese villages in the plains. They are, forthe greater part,industrious, and seldomsit roundthe houses absolutelyidle. The mountainair is invigorating and cool. The long nightssupply good opportunityfor sleep. In every kchel(except, as I have said, in the villages of the Semas and Angamis),usually on the highest ground,is a large well built house more open in front than the ordinary houses, and decorated with carving on the posts supportingthe roof; this is the morang or "bachelors' house." Here is the assemblyroom for councilsand dances,and the sleeping quarters for the young men of the khtel. The morang, in the wild days beforethe hills were tamed,was the watch-housewhence alarms were sounded,and where a close scrutinyof the gates in the stockade roundthe village or of the narrowsunken pathwaysleadi4g thereto,was at all times maintained. When enemies attacked,the whole village was aroused by a loud beating on a long hollowed log, kept either in- the verandahof the morangor in a thatchedshed close by. These alarm gongscame to be regardedwith almost sacred awe, because at the sound of theirvoice all 2 G 2

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work ceased, sleep was forgotten,and the whole village was stirredto a fermentof activity. In some villages,I was told that the powerfulgod Ching Lum actually resided in the gong which theycall " Tungkung." Young boys are forbiddento beat it, and womenmay not even touch it. On one end of the gong is almost always carved the head of the mostpowerful beast, the wild mountain bull, which the Nagas hunt, and although theysacrifice the animal to Ching Lum, they reverenceit almostas a god. Its head is always to be found among the carved decorationsof the two mainfront posts of the morcang,although so conventionalized, that its identityis almostlost to the Nagas themselves,who were oftenunable to explain it to me. The two frontposts of the morang,one behind the other,are known as the male and femaleposts, and to thema certainsacredness attaches. When a morany is to be built these two posts are roughlyhewn out and carved in the jungle,and, when ready fortransportation, all the men fromthe khelassemble, and with much ceremonydrag thenmto theirfinal position and set theinin place. Ropes of vine are fastenedto them,and, shoutingin unison,the villagersslowly drag the mighty logs home to the village. On one occasion I was so fortunateas to see the ceremonyof bringingthese posts to a village where a new morang was to bo built; theiracquisition seerned to cause as much excitementas the return of a successfulhead-hunting party. It was after dark by the time that these new morang-postshad reachedthe footof the steep ascent leading to the village,and a large bonfirewas kindled on the emiinencewhere the morangwas to stand. With wild yells and savage bellowings,the male and female posts were hauled up the hill, over all obstructions,by the excited youths and meln,decked out in their gayest ornamentsand trappingsof war. In the darkness,as I looked down onl themfrom above, theyappeared like a confused swarm of ants dragginga body many times larger than themselvesover the ruts and stones of a countryroad, Some constantlylet go theirhold onithe ropes of twistedvines, and ran aimlessly to lend a hand somewhereelse where they were equally useless; others busied themselvesin throwing logs for rollers under the posts; still others helped them over stones and gullies with levers, and all gruinted,groaned and shouted,occasionally keeping time with the rhythmicalblows which one of their numbergave with the butt of his axe handle on the posts; but oftenthe shouting was no morethan a wild incoherenttumult. When theyarrived at the site of the mnorang,pantinig with excitementand exertion,they dropped the ropes, and all togethergave one long shout that died away slowly,alnd then was echoed fromthe surroundinghills throughthe darkness. In a twinklinginnumerable joints of bamboofilled with rice-beer emerged from somiewhere, and passed fromlip to lip; the very air seemed suddenly to become fermented. After a few pas seuls by excited youths, who capered and posed with axe and spear glitteringin the firelightfor the approval of the circle of women that stood aloof in the outer darkness,the ceremoniesceased for the night. Next day a pig was killed by the soothsayer,anid the omensrevealed by the appearance of its pancreas were all tlhat

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.49 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 10:11:33 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions W. H. FURNESS.-The Ethnographyof theNagas of EasternAssam,. 453 could be desired; whereuponseveral other pigs were less ceremoniouslyput to death,and forthwithcut up and cooked in bamboo joints,and servedwith liberal potationsof rice-beer. Still greater revelrywas to take place when the house posts were to be finallyput in position,and firestarted for the firsttime in the new morang; but these ceremoniesI was unable to witness. In the village of the Miri Nagas (of all the tribesperhaps the least influenced by Britishcontrol) the morangswere much nmoreelaborate and seemed to be more used than elsewhere. The flooringof the morang is usually raised a couple of feet above theground, and supportingthe overhanginggable in front,stand, prominently, the carved male and femalepillars. The carvings on the male pillar consist of fouror five rows of squares, made by cutting deep grooves perpendicularlyand horizontallyacross the flattenedsurface at the upper end, below the notchwherein the ridgepole rests. These squares are meaninglessto the occupants of many of the morangs,who merelyfollow the time-honouredforms of decoration,but I am stronglyinclined to believe fromobserving several carefullyfinished morang posts, that these squares are meant to representhuman heads hanging on the posts; I was told that,in formerdays, when head-huntingwas more generallypractised than it is now, the heads of the enemies were placed on the posts. In the rmorangof the Rengmavillage of Kotsoma,each of these squares had eyes,nose and mouthcarved upon it. Below these squares is the neck and head of the wild bull withhorns carved in high relief recurvingand encirclingthe post. In some fewinstances the bull's head is replacedby a tiger (which looked more like an obese lizard),sometimes two hornbill heads, meeting beak to beak, are carvedin place of the bull's neck; and the backward curving horns, and a triangular representationof the head of the bull, are all that remains of the sacred animal. On the femalepost the topmostspace, instead of being covered with the squares which I have assumed to be conventionalizedhuman heads, exhibits carved conical projections,which were said to representthe breasts of women. Why womenshould thus be presentin effigy,in a precinctfrom which theyare utterly excluded,was not explained,beyond the assertion that it was merely a time- honouredcustom. Below these breasts,a roundconcave depressionbetokened the conch shell ornamentwhich Naga women wear on their chest. Below this the femaleposts are the same as the male. Usually, extendingacross the doorwayof the morangis a mound of split bamboo matting,very springyand returningloud creaks and groanswhen stepped upon; possiblythus made on purposeto awaken the inmates in case of an unauthorizedintrusion. In the Tamlu morangsthe whole floorof the large room is covered with wide hewn planks which act as excellent sounding boards for the rhythmicalbeat of dancers' feet,and also to impart emphasisto italicized haranguesat councilsof war. Along both sides of this roomare stalls about six feetsquare whereinthe young men sleep. In each stall a space is leftbare of boards whereonfires may be built,and alongside of this-space runs a narrowbench, a few inicheshigh, of roughpoles and boardswhich serves as a couch. In the smaller raorangs the flooris not planked,but is the

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.49 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 10:11:33 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 454 W. H. FURNESS.-The Ilthnogrcaphyof the Nagas of EasternAssarn. bare ground,whereon firesare bulilton cold or stormynights.- When there is no dancingfloor or council chamberin the morang,a raised platformis constructed outsideand near by, whereoncouncils and dances are held, and wherethe men sit and gossip. Women are excluded even fromthese platforms. These bachelors' buildinlgsare always the veritable home of the youthsfrom early boyhood,until theymarry and establisha household of their own. I could not find that there was any initiationwhen boys firstleft their parents' homes and slept at the imorang;it seemedto be a civil ratherthan a social institution. It is not alone in the 'morangthat the main posts supportingthe roof are regardedas sacred; or perhaps as the abode of household gods; in the private houses leaves are tied to these postswhen the house is built,and over thenmat each harvesttime or when freshrice beer is brewed,a libationis poured; to them also are tied the feetor skulls of animals killed in the chase, and an egg shell fromeach hatchingof a broodof chicks. Among all the Nagas the Miris and Semas are decidedly the lowest in civilization; the Miris are oftenspoken of as " the naked Nagas "; in truth,when workingin theirfields and villages,the men wear absolutelynothing but necklaces and collaretsof beads. In the cool of the mornlingand evening theywrap theni- selves in cotton blankets,but wear no loin cloth. The Aos, the next adjoining tribe,despise the Miris for their nakedness,declaring them to be no better than dogs or pigs. The Miri womenalso, althoughprobably covered while in the village with a shortskirt half way to the knee,are said to doffall garmentswhile at work in the fields. The Aos wear not only a loin cloth,but also on ceremonialoccasions an apron about a footsquare, coveredclosely with rows of little white oblongseeds. The Ao womenwear skirtsalmost to theirknees and are almostalways wrappedin a blanket,which is 'thrownover the shoulder somewhatlike a toga,and hangs to the ankles (P1. XLIV, 2). This is forprotection more than mnodesty;when at work, theyare strippedto the waist. The Rengmamen and womendress like the Aos: the Semas wear no loin cloth buttmerely a narrowbelt or roll of cloth roundthe waist with one end depending like a narrowapron about 4 inches wide. The clothing ofan Angami mianconsists of a broad band of cotton cloth,dark blue or black, ornamentedwith three longitudinalrows of cowrie shells, and wrappedabout the bodyat the waist,so that it hangs almostto the knee. Women wear plain skirts,a littlelonger than do the men,but fastenedabout theirwaists in a similarmanner; theyare furthermorecovered with a blanket wrapped around their chests and hangingloosely down to theirankles. The ornamentsworn by the differenttribes do not varymuch; theyall wear largerings, either hoops of brass or whitemetal, in the lobes of their ears, and the men of all the tribes have lholescut throughthe conch of the ear, whereinthey insert large tuftsof whitecotton, bright feathers, or even the skiniof a small bird of gay plumage. The well dressed 'men of the Ao tribewear in the lobes of the ear several pieces of finebrass chain,not native made with little weightson the ends (P1. XLIV, 1). The womenalso have holes bothin the conchand in the lobes of theirears. In the upper hole,which is usuallysmall,

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theyinsert a porcupinequill dyed red,or a-small tuftof cotton; amongwomen of the Ao tribethis apertureis large and closeto the borderof theear; throughit they wear ringsof heavy brass wire in threecoils, which theykeep tied uprightand flat against the head with a loop of stringpassing fromone ringover the crown of the head throughthe ringin the otherear and then back of the head. In the hole-in the lobe theywear eithera single large brass ringor a pendantof crystal(or more commonly,now-a-days, of glass) about an inch and a half squareand a quarterof an inch thick,with a narrowcleft running to a hole in the centrewherein the lobe of the ear may be caught(P1. XLIV, 2). This seemed to be the one ornamentfor the ears peculiarto the Ao Nagas: I did not observe it in any of the other tribes; whereasbrass rings and tufts of cotton seemed to be universal. Necklaces and collars of many colouredbeads, made in Germany,and of long tubular beads of native manufacture,cut out of carnelian,or out of conchshell, are decorations wornby all tribes. The successfulhead-hunters of the Ao tribe wear, as badges of their prowess,collars composed of pairs of boar's tusks, which are tied point to point and base to base, so that they encircle the neck (P1. XLIV, 1). Each pair of tusks so worn indicates an enemy's head taken in battle. None of the Nagas wear nose rings or mutilate the nose in any way. Only three of the tribes practise tattooing; both the men and the women of the Miri and of the Sema tribesto the northwardof the Dikku river; and only the womenof the Ao tribe. Theygave as reasonfor the practice,that, were theynot tattooed,they might be mistakenfor slaves. The operationis regardedas a sacred function,and while it is being performedthe house is tabooed to all strangers; and while women are being tattooednot even,the men or boys of theirown familyare sufferedto be in the house. There is always a preliminarysacrifice to the gods of a pig or a fowl. The ink is made of soot mixed with strained rice-beer,and the needles are sharp spiny thornsbound to a handle like a broad flat paint brush,which in turnis bound in a short,cleft stick at right angles. The needles are dabbed in the thick ink, and driveninto the skin by using the instrumentin the same manner as a chopperor a hatchet. The Sema men north of the Dikku river have their faces almostcompletely covered with narrowlines and rows of dots startingon the nose and followingthe curves of the eyebrowson the foreheadand encirclingthe eye below on the ridgeof the cheek bones; four parallel lines followthe curve of the lowerjaw bone to the chin,and above and below the mouthseveral lines and rows of dots completethe facial decorations. Across the chest are four parallel lines, making four deep waves fromshoulder to shoulder. Among the men of the Miri tribeat Tamlu,the middleaged seemedto be the only ones tattooed; the customis probablydying out with head-hunting;it is the privilegeof those only who have taken heads,to tattooover the cheek bones and on the chestsa patternrepresenting little triangularbodied men,just such as our schoolboysdraw on theirslates. From shoulderto shoulder across the chest theyhave also fourparallel lines enclosedin a row of dots which dip down fromthe pointsof the shouldersto about the middle of the sternum. The patternof the tattooingon the womenI coulldnot mnakeout

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clearly,owina partlyto the finenessand dimnessof the lines,and partlyto a certain conditionof the skin,shared in commonby all theirfellow Nagas, arisingfrom the scarcityof soap. As well as I could discern,the marks consistedof an interlacing of finelines as farup as the knee,resembling the lacingsof sandals; above the knee, extendinghalf way up the thigh,there appeared to be a series of narrow,perpen- dicuilarloops. I triedto persuade the old tattooerof the village to accept somefine needles as substitutesfor the thorns she used, but she maintained that although theymight be all rightfor white people, theiruse would surelymake NTagassick. Very probablyshe was right and spoke fromexperience; withoutproper care rust would soon collect on them,and then blood poisoningwould inevitablyfollow. In the Ao tribe the women alone are tattooed,the men never. They have a cross lacing of broad bands fromthe ankle to the calf,above this a band of slimtriangles with their apices endingin the pointsof a horizonitallyzigzag line below the knee above the knee a band of arrow-shapedmarks, the barbedheads downwardand the shaftsextending about half way up the thigh. On the middleline of the chest and neck is a chain of fourlozenge shaped figures,the upper and lower angles meeting, and the chain endi-ngin a trianglebetween the breasts. In the Mongsemjhat,from the uppermostof the lozenge-figures,four lines extend upward on the neck to a square on the point of the chin; in the Chunglijhat theycontinue up to the lower lip. Above the breasts are three herring-bolnedesigns one above the other. On the back of the forearmsabove the wrist is a St. Andrew's cross,with a perpen- dicularline runningthrough its centre,and with two dots to the other side. On the inner side above the wristare threesmall similarcrosses one above the other, with shortwide-spreading arms. The Mongsem and Chunglijhats were the olnly ipstances,that I observed,of one jhat being differentiatedfrom anotlher by any mark. The pain and swelling entailed by the operation is very considerable; I saw many freshlytattooed women,who, unfit for any work, sat dejectedly on the platformsat the back of their houses and mournfullycontemplated their inflamed and swollenlegs, or else leaned back against the wall of the house,stretching the stiffpainful scars on theirnecks. The whole of the patternis not tattooedat onle time,but the operationis extended over a period of fiveyears. The firstcross markson the legs are tattooedwhen a girl is about ten or twelve years old, next on the chest,neck and chin,then on the arms; in the fourthyear the legs are finished,and in the fifththe knees and thighs. The operationis best performed duringthe wintermonths, while the weatheris cool and the workin the fieldsless arduous. Men, womenand childreni,the last even when theyare hardlyable to toddle are thorough-pacedtobaccor smokers; except the Angamis,with whomthe drinking of zu (rice-beer)supplies a substitute. Pipe smokingis almostthe universalcustom, althoughcigarettes are occasionallyused. I have seen an Ao mother quiet her crying baby,probably a year and a half old, slung to her back in a blanket,by giving it two or three puffsat her pipe. The pipes are somewhat akin to the

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Chinese water-pipe,with a receptacle of bamboo below the bowl wherein the nicotineand otherjuices collect. The nativesclaim that thesejuices have wonderful medicinal powers and are most efficaciouLsagainst toothache. The tobacco is native grownand cured,and has the mostrepulsive of odours,which I can liken to nothingbut the combinedcombustion of horses'hoofs, india-rubber and hair; but to the Nagas the odour is delightful. It is to be feared they are very far removed from godliness,so totally unacquaintedare theywith cleanliness either of personor linen. In the firstplace, wateris scarce and must be carried up the weary,steep hillsides; furthermorethe morninigsand the eveningsare cool, and freshbreezes blow; furthermoreit is not fashionableto be clean. On quLestioningquite a number of themI found that a miionthwas no unusual periodto elapse witlhoutchanging or washing the skirt or blanket, and the body got attentionno oftener. One middle-agedman asserted absolutelywithout embarrassment that he could not remnemberever havilngwashed his face or hands-indeed the mostcasual glance confirmedhis veracity. To the north and east of the Nagas are Lamaism and Confucianism,to the westwardare Hinduism and Mohanmmedanism,to the southward a mixture of Brahmanismand Buddhism,and to the eastwardpure BurmeseBuddhism, and for manyyears Christianmissionaries have been workingamonlg them. Thus encom- passed, and thus influenced,they have not had much chance to evolve an original theology. Hamperedby the necessityof an interpreterI cannot pretend to give more thainan outline of their religion and folk-lore;and even this may be imperfect throughmisinterpretation. Throughoutthe differenttribes I was able to trace a belief in one powerful god,and severallesser gods of the harvest,and manyrevengeful demons. The chief god appears to be the protectorof mankind,and to him sacrificesand offeringsof grain and fruitmust be made that he may avert or alleviate the malignityof lesser gods who have been offended,and who seek revenge by afflictingman with poor crops,sicknesses, sudden blindnessand deafness. In one or two of the tribesthere is a belief in a god, sometimesa goddess,of the harvest,to whompigs and fowls must be sacrificedwhen the grain is planted. The chief god, said some,dwells in the large sacred rubber-treeswhich are always growingnear the morangsin every village; others declare that he lives in the great wooden gong outside of the morang; othersagaini maintain that he is undergroundat the foot of the sacred tree. In Tamlu, a Miri village, I was told that a large columnarstone, standing uprightin one of the streets,was Iagong, the chief god. The stone had been fencedin, and on the fencewere hung the bodies of sacrificedfowls and the skulls of pigs. The Miri descriptionof Kagong is that he has but one leg, is emaciated, and usually hangs, doubled up, with his arms hanging downward,over a lonig rope-likevine stretchingbetween two trees in the depths of the jungle. If he looks at anyone,that personimmediately falls desperatelyill. The Lhotas believe

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that in the jungle lives a goddeisswhom mortals cannot see, but they hear her laughing,and slhouldshe breatheon. them theygo crazy; -theylikewise maintain, however,that the chiefgod lives in the ficus-tree. Belneathalmost all of these sacred treesthere are several round stones,six or seven inches in diamneter,which are also sacred,and which,they assert, are the abodes of the lesser gods. These stonesare said to have come of theirown accord,and no one dares to touch them unless he desiresto take an oath as to honestyin word or deed. The gods that live in these stonesmake it theirduty to see that none of the prescribedrules of Nag,asocial life are disregarded;and to them,once a year,two old men,appointed by the villagers,sacrifice a pig and a fowl; and on this occasion the sacred stones are reartangedneatly aroundthe footof the tree. The bodies of the animals thus sacrificedmay not be eaten. If the gods dwelling in these stones become displeased,one or two of themdisappear; then followssome awful calamityto the village. The existenceof the stones beneath the sacred trees was almost always denied by the villagers; only by personal investigationwas their presence discovered,and only by persistentquestioning was their sacred characterrevealed. On one occasion,in a village where the original sacred tree had died and there remainedonly a remnantof the decaying trunk,a new tree had sprung up in its place, but the sacred stones were nowhere visible. The villagerssaid therewas a legend that long ago, even beyondthe memoryof the oldest man in the-village, thereused to be many round stones beneath the ancient tree,wherein the gods lived,and that even now theybelieved the stone habitations of the gods were there,covered by the fallen tree trunkand the tangle of roots and vines. They furthermoresaid that in olden days the heads of enemieswere huingon the tree, and even then,as now, womenwere forbiddento approach it nearer than twenty or thirtyfeet. In .theAngami village of Nerhama,the natives declaredthat there was no sacred tree shelteringthe stone abodes of the gods,but investigationof the largest tree on the outskirtsof the village broughtto light at its roots one long stone, rounded offand smoothedby mountain torrents,and half buried in the ground. This, they finallyadmitted, was the god Kipu, and no native dared approachnearer than ten paces to his sacred abode,now somewhatneglected. The storyof Kipu is that two men long long ago while hunltingin the jungle were most fortunatein killing deer on many successive days, and each time that they ran down theirgame theyfound themselves near this peculiar long greystone. It was thereforeundoubtedly a god of good fortune,and with great care theylifted it and carriedit manymiles to theirvillage, and placed it beneath the large tree that stood near one of the gates of the stockade. For years it was worshippedas the abode of the god of war and of the chase, and to it pigs and fo6wlswere sacrificed. If ever the enemycame near that stoiie their doom was sealed; they could not escape; forKipu protectedthe village. Since battles have ceased in the hills,Kipu's occupationis gone and no offeringsof pigs or fowlsfall to his lot. On a ridge near the Sema village of Champimi,surrounded by a circle of trees,is a large oblong stone about nine feet long by about two feet wide; one

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.49 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 10:11:33 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions W. HI. FURNESs.-The Ethnographyof theNAagas of EasternAssatm. 459 end is split offand lies close by. There are no other stones of any size in the neighbourhood,and this perhaps accountsfor the reverencewith which this large piece of sandstoneis regarded. I was told by men fromthe village that this stone was the god Puzzi; thatlong ago, beforethe English came to the hills,it was not brokenbut stood upright,and was so bright and glisteningthat no one could approachnearer than manypaces to it. Now, however,Puzzi was dead; Tukko the Angamigod, came fromanother hill, and there was a fiercefight, in which Puzzi was cut down and his head chopped off. One of his ears,severed from his head, lies in the valley below,and one of the natives ran down the hillside and pointed it out to me. The cause of the fightnone could say; the Angami have always been friendlyto the Semas and have neverattacked their,villages. Despite the factthat Puzzi is dead, the spot where his body lies is hallowedground and is kept free of weeds and undergrowth. When theymake their clearingsfor rice fieldsin frontof the body of Puzzi, theysacrifice a fowl,and fromits entrailsmay be read the omiensgood or bad fortheir harvest. The bodyof the fowlmust not be eaten,but mustbe hung on one of the trees near by,and sonmeof its feathers tied to stakes near Puzzi's head. In manyplaces the stone is smoothedoff where the people of Champimi have used it as a whetstonefor their knives and axes. There is no attempt at carving on the stone,nior is there any especial time when axes or knives are sharpenedupon it. The Naga legends concerningthe creation of the world were vague. The Miris said that two gods made the hills and valleys; Chelok,by strikingthe earth withhis enormousstaff; raised it into welts,and Nagman,sweeping his staffalong the ground,made the level plains. Nagman lives in the sky,and when he dances we hear the thunderof his feetand the perspirationdropping from his body comes to us as rain. The world was populated by the offspringof one mother,who emergedfrom the ground and at one time gave birthto a man, a bear,a deer,a tiger,an elephant,a rat,and a mouse. These multipliedand filledthe world. The motherof all is still alive, alndfollows the herds of wild hogs in the jungle; she is never seen by man except under penalty of instant death; but sometimesthey hear her rustlingamong the leaves and theysee her footprints. The Lhota legend is that in the beginningall people lived underthe earth in a place called Lichun; one day while a party of meinwere out hunting,a man named Limhacha and a half-wittedcompanion suddenlycame forthto the surface of the earth througha narrow cleft. They ate the fruitsthat theyfound and tasted cool clear water which was new to them. Finding that theyhad discovered a much pleasanterplace than Lichun, theyreturned and showedthe path to their friends. The last man to come up was named llankantan and he closed the gap, so that the newlydiscovered country should not be overcrowded. From these first people above ground originatedthe twenty-twoclans of the Lhotas. When Lhotas die theygo again to Lichun. The sacrificesto the gods and the propitiationof the evil spiritsare usually occasionsof generalfeasting in the village,and all share~in the benefitswhich may

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.49 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 10:11:33 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 460 W. H. FURNESS.-The BEthnographyof tae Nagas of EasternAssamn. result. When a man is ill and tossing in feveron his hard couch,he pronlisesto the gods that,should he recover,he will sacrificea cow or a wild btulland observe certainabstinences, such as fromsmoking or fromdrinkino rice-beer, until the days devotedto the sacrificeand the feastingare over. It may,however, be nmanydays, weeks,or even monthsafter his recovery,before he is able to affordthe cost of the sacrifice. On the appointedday, however,true to his promise,the cow or the bull is tied by the horilsto a large forkedstake near his house,and with due ceremony is slaughtered. It is customaryon these occasions to make the aniimalsuffer as much as possible,and its neck is firsthacked by the sacrificerwith a dull and very crude iron axe, kept in the village forthis purpose; theinall hands fall to and club anid stab the poor animal to death. Its body is cut up in small pieces and distributed throughoutthe khel or the whole village, together with bountiful supplies of boiled rice,rice-beer, and packages of salt and ginger-root. The giver of the feast keeps the skull, and is allowed to place the forkedstake in frontof his house,as a sign to all men that he has fulfilledhis vow to the gods. The skuLllof the sacrificedanimal is hung in his house, and small portionsof the fleshare wrappedin leaves and tied to the cenitralhouse-post or to the forkedstake outside. This is the custom among the Miris,the Aos, and the Semas; the Rengmas,the Lhotas,the Angamis,and the tribesclosely akin to themcombine the propitiation of the gods withhonouring their parents, and when in dreams the spiritsof their forefatherscome to them saying that theyhave not been sufficientlyhonoured, that they are wandering and unhappy in the other world, and desire a stone whereonto rest,it is then the duty of the sons to drag up fromthe valley or the mountainside a huge boulderwhich shall be set up near,or in, the village as a lastingrecord of theiraffection. When a boulderof propersize has been selected, a red cock is carriedto the stone,and aftercarefully washing its feet theyplace it upon the boulder; should it crow and not tryto flyaway, the omen is good,and the stone is pleasilngto the gods and the spiritsof the ancestors. The stoneis then disembeddedand placed upon a large wooden sled with long ropes of vinies attached,and it is draggedto its niewposition in the village. At Mao, or Sepfume,as the Angamis call it, I saw this ceremonyof dragging a stone to the village. The huge boulderof sandstone,about fivefeet in diameter, had been dug out of the hillside,and placed upon the sled about an eighthof a mile fromthe village; a long processionof boys and youngmen went slowlydown the trail from the village, led by two older men carryingspears and wrapped in snow-whiteblankets. The boys and youths hummed in harmony,accenting the hummingin time with their slow and dignifiedsteps. In their dances and in such processionsas this,they walk with a measured tread, placing the ball of the foot upon the ground first,and balancing their weight fora second on this foot before they take another step; this gives a stately,dignified pace, which does not in the least suggest creeping or sneaking. When the two old men,one a fortune-teller,the otherthe giver of the feast,took theirstand in the excavation close by, from which the stone had been taken, every boy and youth of the

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conmpanlyat once provided himself with a stick or a small stone. The fortune- teller,-or perhapshe might be called the chief priest,-producedfromn under his blanketa leaf cornucopia of rice-beerwhich, while mutteringinvocations to the gods, he poured over some green leaves tied to the sled, and then again from under his blanket he produced a white chicken bound tightlyin a networkof split bamboo. Freeing it from its bonds he waved it above and around the stone, holding it by the legs and at the same time murmuringprayers to the gods to be propitiousanid send bountifulharvests and good fortuneto the village. As soon as his prayerswere finishedthe fowlwas flungon the ground in front of the expectant group of men and boys; instantlyfromi all directionsstones were thrown,and sticks beat at it, and its life was instantlycrushed out as a sacrificeto Orameh,the chief god of the village. Two young men,stripped of all clothesbut theirloin clothsand necklaces of beads,jumped on the top of the stone,and standingthere in statuesque pose, gave the signal forthe sled and its burdento start up the roughlycleared path throughthe jungle. The mnengave deep bass shouts and the boys alternated with piping trebles,and so, keeping time as they tugged at the ropes, they started the monumenton its journey When they arrived at the outskirtsof the village near to where the stone was to rest,they dropped their holds and all ran helter skelter with loud shouts to the house of the giver of the feast,where each was refreshedby a drink of rice- beer. In a few minutes all assembled again in a broad open space on the edge of the village,forming a large circle, and, apparentlyas the spirit moved them, the youths one by one dashed out to the centre of the admiring,group and performiedenergetic and agile dances, springinghigh offthe ground,sawing the air withtheir legs and arms,and giving forththe war-cryof the Angamis,which sounds like the shrill crow of a cock. When twenty or more had displayed theirproficiency, there prancedinto the circle an elderlyman dressed in all the equipments of Naga war-dances; on his head he wore a cap of split bamboo decoratedin frontwith a pair of flat,wooden horns; on his body were numerous scarfs and breast-platestrimmed with red dyed goat's hair,and tied to his back like a tail was a quiver, also adorned with red goat's hair, whereinwarriors carrysharp bamboo stakes,which, placed in paths,impede and injure the feet of pursuing enemies. In his righthand he brandisheda spear,and in his left he carried,by a fingerentwined in the hair,a small flat wooden figure of a man. He seemedto be the public jester; his capers and rapid sidelong sallies at the bystanderselicited loud laughter fromthe boys and men, who dodged and ran as he shook his spear or waved the little wooden figurein their faces. This littleeffigy was possiblya reminderof the days of head-hunting,when an enemy's head was taken on such occasions to pay homageto the memoryof the ancestors for whom the monumentalstone was placed in the village. When the jester retired,the company adjourned to the house of the feast-giverand there were regaled withunstinted measures of thick unstrainedrice-beer, which theydrank out of leaf cups; to each was also given a small packet of ginger-rootand salt

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.49 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 10:11:33 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 462 W. H. FURNESS.-The Ethnographyof theAVagas of EasternAssam. wrapped in a banana leaf; young girls and boys passing in and out amongthe guests seated on stones, on upturnedrice mortars,and on the bare ground, replenished the cups, and distributedpackets of the condimentsto engender thirst. When the host has had time-a month or more perhaps-to preparea new supply of beer and otherfood, a second feastis given,and the monumentis settled in its final restingplace. This is the occasion forthe sacrificeof cows and wild bulls and unlimitedfeastilig on meat-a great luxury. Afterthat the sacrificeris entitled to have bulls' horns carved or painted on the fronthoards of his house and to put overthe gable large cross pieces representinghorns, and he is recognized by all as a man who has fullyhonoured the souls of his ancestors. The Miri and Ao tribes burytheir dead in coffinssupported on stakes about fivefeet high and surroundedby a fence of interlacingstrips of bamboo. The coffinsare made to represent the hornbill bird, and at either end are rough carvingsof the head and of the tail feathers. The renown of an individual is indicatedby the numberof these heads or tails-three such meaning a personof great importance. On the coffinsand on stakes near by are hulngthe blankets, the pipe, the ornaments,the weapons and some of the otherutensils used by the defunct,and also a bamboo-jointfilled with rice-beer,some food and some tobacco to keep the soul equipped and supplied until it reaches the abode of the dead, whichlies indefinitelyto the south-westward. In frontof the coffina fireis kept burningfor several days to frightenaway wild animals. After several months, when the body has dried up, the family of the deceased open the grave and separate the skull fromthe body, and place it in an earthenjar, whichis staked down to the ground and covered with a cone-shaped thatch of palm leaves. When the corpse has been placed in the buryingground it is the duty of the eldest brotheror the nearestrelative to remain near by and repeatedlyshout the name of the deceased; when he is exhausted,the nextnearest relative takes up the task. The reason forthis I could not ascertain,but it was not,so said the Miris, to announceto those who had gone beforethe advent of a new comer. The widow or the widower on returningfrom the burial makes new firein the house,brings freshwater fromthe spring,and forone year,-or probablyuntil after the next harvest,forbears wearing ornaments,changing the clothes, or cutting the hair. The ornaments and implements hung on the graves are consecrated,and anyone stealing thenmwould surelydie a speedyand miserable death. With the exceptionof these two tribesall the others burytheir dead in the ground eitherclose by the village or in the village streetsin frolntof the houses, or,when a child or a young girl dies, in the earthen floorof the houses themselves. I was told by a Sema Naga, who pointed out to me on the floorof his house the newly made grave of his little girl, that he had buried her there because she would be so frightenedto be left out in frontof the house with nothingbut the sky above her at iiight.

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Over the graves in the village are built circularcairins about 2 feet high, walled up at the sides and coveredwith small flatstones on top. In addition,over the graves of men of importanceare set up posts whereto are fastened the heads of sacrificedcattle, and sometimeseffigies ornamented with some of theweapons or war costume of the d6ceased. The Angamis sometimesbury more than one personin one grave,and when the large flatcairns occupy a commandingposition in the village they make excellent look-outs and loungingplaces. On many of themI observedgourds of rice-beerburied up to the neck so that the spiritof the departedshould not get thirstyduring the long sleep. The men I questionedwere in general a little doubtful as to whether the spiritsof the dead remained in the corpse or near the grave,or went to a far off country; some thoughtthat the spiritsof dead people dwelt on a high hill to the southwardor towardthe settingsun; othersmaintained that the spirits of their people remainednear the village and rested on the stone monumentsput up in theirhonour; while others-the Lhotas and MiaothanaAngamis-gave a definite descriptionof the abode of departedsouls. When a person dies, theybelieve that the spiritgoes to a heaven under the groundwhere everything is exactly the same as in this life; parents are re-unitedwith their children,and husband and wife live over again the happy days spent in the upper air. The land is rich in trees flowersand animals of all sorts; the sun shines by day and the moon by nlight. When theydie a second time,the souls pass to another heaven below the first, unlit by sun, moon or stars,where the souls live and die again ; but when they die fora thirdtime the souls come back to this earth as butterfliesor small house flies, anid in this shape perish for ever. Wheni these small flies light on their winecups, they will lnotkill themfor fear of destroyingsomeone of theirancestors. They have no traditionof a mortal having visited the land of the dead and returned; all their knowledge of the nether world com-esto them fromthe fortune-tellerswho have visited" Etzuli " in dreamiis.The spiritsof the dead are not visibleto humaneyes; but dogs can see them,and if a dog howls or barks when no strangeris near,they believe that the souls of the dead are hoveringabout. They all seem perfectlyassured that afterdeath theywill see again all the relatives and friendswho have died beforethem. In each village,there are certainold men,to whomis given the power to read the omensportrayed in the palicreas of pigs, and in the intestines of chickens; these old men are the only ones who are allowed to touch the round stones under the sacred tree,and theymust plant the firstrice in the fields after the jungle clearingis finished. They are in fact the high priests,but on ordinaryoccasions, they dress and conduct themselvesas ordinarymen; on state occasions,such as the dedication of a morang, or when the sacred stones are arrangedat the footof the ficus-tree,they wear blanketsof distinguishingcolours. In elicitingthe omensfrom the pancreas of a pig, great care mnustbe taken,in killingthe animal,-thatno blood is lost; to this end the poor beast'ssnout is bound tightwith thongs of leather,or a rope of rattans,and then a sharpenedbamboo

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.49 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 10:11:33 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 464 W. H. FURNESS.-The Ethnograpphyof theNagas of EasternAssam. stake is driventhrough its side, piercing the heart,and it is then beaten on the neck with a club. When the pancreas is cut out,the surface of the organ must not be scratchednor tornin the slightest degree,and to foretellgood fortuneit must be of a clear red colour,clean and smooth. It must be flat,and not crinkled or turnedup at the edges. If black, or discoloured,or in any way irregularin shape, it foretellsmisfortune. The fleshof the pig, except when it is sacrificedto the sacred stones,is eaten by the people,but the pancreasis the share of the priest. Auguries are obtained from fowls by the examination of two glandular appendages,which are partiallyconnected with the lower end of the intestines; if these appendagesare full and round,and of an even length,the omenis favourable. When the auguriesare consultedin relation to marriage,if these appendagesare of uneven length,and their rounded free ends do not poinitforward, it is most unfavourable. Neitherthe husbandnor the wife will be happy,and the woman will probablydie verysoon aftermarriage. If the little outgrowthsof fattytissue whichhang all along the intestinespoint upward,it foretellsthat a girl will be born firstto the newly niarriedcouple; if the particle of fat hang downward,it will be a boy. Beforethe chickenis killed for auguries,its neck is plucked bare of feathers,so that no blood will cling to it, and after the omen has beetntaken, the bodyis hung up on the sacred ficus-tree,or on the forkedstump in frontof the house. At the time of propitiatingthe demonswho look after the welfareof the village and live in the sacred stones,the fowl,which is used for omens,is thrown into the jungle, and no one may eat its flesh. Simple fortune-tellingin cases of sickness seems not to be the officeof only a few old men or womenin a village,but for such purposes anyoniemay consult the gods. When a man falls ill, the firstthing, to be done is to deterimiinewhich god it is that is responsiblefor the illness. In orderto do this,the interpreter betweengods a-ndmen cuts two small discs of ginger-root,which are smoothedoff on one side, and then placed upon the blade of a knife,which he holds in his lefthand; with the blade betweenthe index and middlefinger of his righthand, he snaps these two small discs offto the ground, after having murmuredan injunctionto them to tell the truth. Accordingto the manner in whichthese discs fall,whether they turn over or not,he interpretsthe god who is at fault, and after repeating the operationseveral times, announces to the friends and relatives,to which of the gods a sacrificeshould be made. The Nagas take oath in several ways, the commonestof which is to bite a tiger'stooth kept forthe purpose,and then to eat some of the earthfrom a grave, sayingat the same time," The gods will see me, and if I amilying, they will send a tigerto eat me, or theywill turn my head to earth like this grave." The most bindingoath is fora man to put a small bit of his cloth,a hair fromhis head and a pinch of earth,on the blade of a dhau, or axe; then,taking the back of the dhau blade between his teeth,he calls the sun and the moon to witness that he is tellingthe truth. If he is not,may he never have good harvest again, and may he die a miserable deatbt Women may take oath in the same way as men, but

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.49 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 10:11:33 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions W. H. FURNTESS.-TfteEthora.ph y of theXNagas of BEastetrnAssacz. 465

they usuallymerely bite the tip of their forefinger,when theywish to impress the fact that theyare truthful. If a man is suspected of theft,andc wishes to prove his ininocence,he will put his hands upoIn the sacred stoniesbenleath the ficus-tree,anid swear by the gods inhabitinigthem that he is lnotguilty. A form of oath used by the Angamnisis, "May I be eatell by a tiger,anld mnay my harvests be nothincgbut stalks; may my rice growvup and then may the bcards of grain growdown into the earth again,if I aminot speakinigthe truth." They seem to have absolute confidencein a man's statement,after taking oath in this manner. I once questionedthe trustworthinessof such an oath,and anlAngami Naga said: "Possibly a white man might live after breaking his oath, but a Naga would surelydie." Their death rate must be large; the Angamis,above all others,are treacherousliars. Their dread of tigers is born of bitter experience,for the jungles in the valleys are infestedwith them,and to the Nagas they are demons incarnate. If a man is killed by a tiger,his house and all his belongingsare burned,and his whole familymust go throughelaborate purificationl,as if to exorcise an evil spirit. If a man's or wonlan'smangled body be foundin the juinglewithin two or threemiles of the village,his whole familydivest thienmselvesof everythread of clothingand go to the body,and simplywrapping it in a bamboo mat,leave it where it was found; returiningto theirvillage, they burn down their old house and build an entirelynew one; new fireis startedon the hearthby means of the fire-saw,and theywash themselves carefully,cutting their hair anidparing theirnails; not a single possessionof the one who has been killed may be used again. The horrorof the nocturnalstealthiness of the tigeris so impressedupon the Naga that theyhave endowedthis beast with the same supernaturalqualities that are foundconnected with the wolf in the folkloreof Europe, as far back, at least as the second centuLry.Among the Nagas the tiger-man11takes the place of the were-wolf,and in almost everyvillacre there will be some Whomnaintain that they knowtiger-men, but apparentlythey always live in out-of-the-wayvillages. These tiger-men,who are in league with the demons,are also fortune-tellers,andl are much feared. They have the power of changinigthenmselves into tigers,and ill this imiannerrevenge themselvesupon an enemyby killing him and his pigs and his cows. When theywish to change back into nmen,the tiger-man'swife must throw her clothesover the tiaer'shead, and at once he will changeback into his hulian form, If anyonlekills him while he is in the shape of a tiger,he is dead, and cannot regain his humaniform. The accoulntsof these tiger-men,which I got entirelywithout suggestion from many Nagas, bear a striking,resemblalnce to the well-knownlegends of were-wolves,wherein it always seenmedto be necessary,in orderthat the man should change back into liuman form.again, for the nwifeor some near friendto throwan article of clothinigover the head of the animal,be it wolfor tiger. The customof taboo is carried out to a marvellousdeg,ree among the Nagas, and fromthe numberof occutrrelicesand actions whichcan put a householdunder VOL.XXXII. 2 H

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.49 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 10:11:33 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 466 W. H. FURNESS.-The Ethnographyof theNagas of EasternAssam. this ban, it would seem that social life in the villages would be exceedingly hampered. The indication that a house is tabooed consists of placing on the door-postbunches of leaves, and tyingacross the doorwayone of the long pestles used forpounding the husks fromoff the rice. Amongthose tribes where tattooing is practised,the house is under a strict taboo,during the operation,against men, even of the same village,and whenevera man or womanis sick in a house,and the fortune-telleris called in, the prohibitoryleaves are put up on the door-posts. It is also the customwhen any of the domesticanimals are giving birthto youngor when a brood of chickens is being hatched,for the house to be undera taboo for periodsvarying from two to ten days; and when a woman gives birthto a child, the house is tabooed against everyone, even membersof her own family,with the exceptionof her husbandand her mother. A customwhich I have foundconstant throughout Borneo and the Naga hills, is that of making new-fireby means of the fire-sawon all ceremoniouisoccasions, when fireis necessary. When a new house is built,it is by this methodalone that the firemay be started,and when a familygoes out of mourningfor a dead relative the firstfood cooked must be prepared over a fire started by this method. It is probablythe mostprimitive process for obtaining fire, and on this account looked upon as the inventionof the deniigodswho were ancestorsof all mankind,and thereforesacred. It is a striking instance of the tendencyto return to the primevalin all ceremonials.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.49 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 10:11:33 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 1.TheHeadmani of Nunkum: Ao Nag"~ 2. Ao womani. THE ETHNOGRAPHYOF THE,NAGAS.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.49 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 10:11:33 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions HeaHeadmanof Naooong, War Costume, Ao Naga. 4. Unmarried Girls of Ningtang:Sema. Nagas. THE ETHNOGRAPHYOF THE NAGAS.

This content downloaded from 185.2.32.49 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 10:11:33 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions at 5. Beads madeof gouLrdsanid of woodto recorda head-huntingraid. 6. Head-hunter's trophies haingingbeneath the eaves of a house Tamlu. MiriNa-gas.

THE ETHNOGIRAPHY OF THE NAGAS.

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