Leopard-Men in the Naga Hills. Author(s): J. H. Hutton Source: The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 50 (Jan. - Jun., 1920), pp. 41-51 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2843373 Accessed: 10-11-2015 07:54 UTC

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This content downloaded from 142.66.3.42 on Tue, 10 Nov 2015 07:54:08 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 41

LEOPARD-MEN IN THE NAGA HILLS.

By J. H. HUTTON,I.C.S.

IN speakingof leopard-menI should like firstof all to makeit clearthat I have takenthe wordleopard as thetranslation of the Naga words,because it is usually the leopardthat is associatedwith Naga lycanthropists.The tiger,however, is also so associated,as wellas one or perhapsmore of the smallercats. For all of theseanimals there is a genericterm iD mostNaga languages, and when a SemaNaga, forinstance, speaks of angshuhe may meanra- leopardor a tiger,between which he makes no clear distinction,or eveD a smalleranimal such as a clouded leopard, a caraca], or the goldencat. The same applies to the AngamiNaga word tekhu. On the otherhand the ChangNagas havedistinct words, and speakof a tigeras saonyu,regarding the leopard,kh6nkhii, as littleless inconsiderablethan a civetcat, khii. All Naga tribesseem to regardthe ultimate ancestry of manand thetiger (or leopard)as veryintimately associated. The Angamisrelate that in the beginning the firstspirit, the firsttiger, and thefirst man, were three sons of onemother, but whereasthe man and the spirit looked after their mother with the greatest tenderness, thetiger was alwayssnarling about the house giving trouble. Moreover,he ate his foodraw, while the man ate his cooked,and the spirithis smoke-dried. At last the mothergot tired of familysquabbles, so put up a markin thejungle and toldthe manar,d the tiger to runto it, the one thattouched it firstbeing destined to live in villages,and theother to livein theforest ai,d jungle. By arrangementbetween the spiritand the man,the formershot an arrowat the markwhile the othertwo wereracing, and theman cried out that he had touchedit. Thetiger arrived while it stilltrembled from the blow, and beingdeceived went away angry to livein the jungle. Afterthis the man sent the cat to ask thetiger, when he killeda deer,to leave hima legon the village wall, in virtueof their brotherhood. The cat gotthe message wrongand told the tigerto leave all the deerhe killed,which started fiostility betweenthe man and thetiger. Thisstory is foundin a moreor lessidentical form amongthe Angami, Sema, Lhota, and RengmaNaga tribes,the Sema makingthe tigersearch for the corpse of his dead motherto eat it. Mantand the tigerare, however,still regarded as brothers,and if an Augami killsa tigerhe says" thegods have killed a tigerin thejungle " and never" I have killeda tiger,"while the priestof the villageproclaims a day of abstentionfrom work" on accountof the death of an elderbrother."

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Afterkilling a tigeror leopardthe Angamiwedges the mouthopen witha stick and puts the head into runningwater, so that if the animal triesto tell the spirits the inameof the man who killedhim, all that can be heard is aD inarticulategurgling in the water. The Sema puts a stone,as well as a wedge,into the mouthto prevent the tigerlyin,g in wait forhim afterdeath and devouringhim on theirway to the abode of the dead, whilehe also becomesen.titled to wear a collar of boar's tusks, the iiksigniaof a successfulwarrior, as thoughhe had killed a man. In some tribes whole clans are associated with the tiger; thus among the Clhangsthe whole Hagiyang Sept of the Chongpu clan is in some vague way inatimatelyconnected with tigers(not iinthis case with leopards) and is apparently of lycanthropictendencies. At the same timeit is taboo for-all trueChangs to touch tigersat all, farmore to combine,as men of othertribes do, to huntthem. If a Chang meet a tigerin the jungle he will warn it to get out of the way beforethrowing a spear or shootingat it. Should he kill one he is undera taboo forthirty days, and treatsthe head in the same way as an Angami,putting it with its mouth wedged open underfalling water. The Changwill eat leopardflesh, but not of coursethat of the tiger. The Sema will eat neither,the Angamiboth-but it must be cooked outsidethe house. When it comes to the practiceof lycanthropywe findthat tlweAngami Nagas, thoughbelieving that the practiceexists and can be acquired. do not indulgein it themselves. Like other tribes they believe in a village far to the east peopled solelyby lycanthropists,a beliefwhich is perhapsbased on the claims of some clan like the Choingpu-Hagiyangof the Changs,in whichall membersof the community are believedto possessthis facultyof takingtiger or otherforms in a greateror less degree. But the Angamialso believein the existenceof a spiing,by some said to be, of blood, or of reddish-colouredwater, from which whoso drinksbecomes a lycan- thropist. They believe that the people of the neighbourhoodknow and shun this sprin,g,but that the dangerto strangersis great. Moreover,when the childrenof that neighbourhoodare peevish,it is customary,they say, to dip a blade ofthatching- grass into the springand give it to the child to suck. It stopshis wailings,but he growsup a were-tiger.The Angami,however, does not practiselycanthropy himself, and the only Angami villages in which personswho do practiseit are found,are those on the bordersof the Sema country,where a large part of the populationis Sema by origin. The Sema is an inveteratelycanthropist, and it is in that tribe that specificexamples are the easiest to come by. Both theAn,gami and Sema agreein holdingthat there is no actual transformation of the body of the lycanthropistinto a leopard. What he seemsto do is to project his soul into a particularanimal with which his human body also thus becomes very intimatelyassociated. A leopard which is thus the recipient(from time to time) of a human soul may be recogaizedby having fiveclaws on each foot,and is called by the A.ngainimavi (which mightmean " real man ") and by the Semas

This content downloaded from 142.66.3.42 on Tue, 10 Nov 2015 07:54:08 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions J. H. HuTTON.-leopard-Mlenin theNagja Hills. 43 angshu amiki, an expressionato which I will referagaia. I have myselfseen a leopard with dew-claws(making five instead of the usual four)killed in a Rengma village and at once assertedto be the recipientof a lycanthropist'sprojected soul. IncidentallyI have seen,and followedin the softbed of the Dayang Riverthe tracks of a freaktiger which had apparentlyfive toes on its fore-feet. The lycanthropicspring in whichthe A-,gamibelieve is sometimessaid to be situatedin the Sema country,but the Semas give an entirelydifferent account of the way in whichthey acquire the lyeanthropichabit. The theoryand symptomsare clear and recognizable,and differperhaps from most lycanthropistsin otherparts of the world. lTheSema undergoesno physicai transformationwhatever. The " possession,"if we may termit so, is not ordinarily inducedby any externalaid, but comes on at the biddingof spiritswhich may not be gairasaid,and unaderwhose influencethe man possessed entirelyloses his own volitionin the matter. The facultycan, however,be acquired by very close and intimateassociation with some lycarathropist,sleeping in the same bed with him, eatingfrom the same dish with him, and neverleaving his side for a considerable period-two monthsis said to be the shorftesttime in which the facultycan be acquiredin this way. It can also be acquired,according to some,by beingfed by a lycanthropistwith chicken-fleshand ginger,which is given in successivecollections of six, five,and three pieces of each togetheron crossed pieces of plantain leaf. It is dangerous,too, to eat food or drinkthat a lycanthropisthas leftunfinished, as the habit may thus be unwittinglyacquired. The animal whose body the lycan- thropistmakes use of, though sometimesthe tiger proper (abolangshu),is usually a leopard and is knownas angshuamiki, a word whichis said to be derivedfrom the verb kemiki,meaning to wanderalone inathe jungle fordays together,since men who do this are most liable to the possession. It may be observed,however, that the root miki-also means " to bite."' Cowardlyand worthlessmena, if theyacquire thehabit, make use ofthe body ofa redcat (angshuakinu, probably = Felis aurata, the goldencat). The habit is veryfar from desired. No one wantsto be possessed by the habit, and it is, on the contrary,feared as a source of danger and a great wearinessto the flesh. The soul usuallyenters into the leopard duringsleep and returnsto thebhuman body with daylight,but it may remainin the leopard for several days at a time, in whichcase the human body, thoughconscious, is lethargic. It (i.e., the human body) goes to the fieldsand followsthe usual routineof life,but is not able to com- municate intelligibly,or at any rate intelligenatly,with other persons until the possessionexpires for the time being. The soul, however,is more or less conscious of its experiencesin leopardform and can to some extentremember and relatethem whenait has returnedto its humanconsciousness. Duringsleep the soul is the leopard

1 Incidentally,it also means " to tell lies."

This content downloaded from 142.66.3.42 on Tue, 10 Nov 2015 07:54:08 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 44 J. H. HUTTON.-Leopard-Menin theNaga Hills. withits full faculties,but when the human body is wide awake the soul is only semi-consciously,if at all, aware of its doings as a leopard, unless under the influenceof some violentemotion experienced by the leopard. The possessionis accompaniedby verysevere pains and swellingsin the knees, elbows and small of the back in the human body, both duringand consequenton the possession. These pains are said to be sucb as would result fromfar and cor,tinuousmarching or fromremaining long periodsin an unaccustomedposition. Duringsleep at the time of possessionthe limbs move convulsively,as the legs of a dog move when,it is dreaming. A were-leopardof the Tizu Valley, in a paroxysm at such a time,bit one of his wife'sbreasts off. When the leopardis beinghunted by men, the human body behaves like a lunatic,leaping and throwingitself about in its effortsto escape. Underthese circumstancesthe relativesof the were-leopard feed bim up with gingeras fast as possible in orderto make him more active, so that the leopard-body,on whichhis life depends,may have the agilityto escape its pursuers. Were-leopardsare particularlyliable to possessionbetween the expiry of the old and the risingof the new moon. Those possessedare liable to a special sort of disease whichis believedto attacktigers and leopardsgenerally, but no humanbeings except were-leopards. When the leopard is wounded,corresponding wounds appear upon the human body of the were-leopard,usually in the formof boils, and when the leopard is killedthe human body dies also. It is, however,possible apparently forthe soul to throwoff the possessionpermanently as old age is approached. The fatherof Inato, Chiefof Lumitsami,got rid of the habit by touchingthe fleshof a leopard. The village had killed one and he carriedhome the head. Afterthat, he explained,he could no longerassociate withthe leopard kind. It is generallyheld, and doubtlessnot without some substratumof truth,that a man underthe influence of the possessioncan be quieted by feedinghim withchicken dung. Probablythis producesnausea. Possessionis not confinedto men. Women,also becomewere-leopards and are far more destructiveas such than men are. Of men, those wbo have taken heads are most dangerous,and are believed to kill as many men as leopardsor tigersas theyhave done as warriors. The actions of the leopard's body and of the human body of tbe were-leopard are closely associated. As has been noticed,if the human limbs are conafinedthe leopard's freedomof action is restricted,and troublesomewere-leopards are said to be sometimesdestroyed in this way. On one occasionthe eldersof a large Ao village (Ungma) came to me forper- missionto tie up a certainmana in the village, while they bunted a leopard which had been givinga greatdeal of trouble. The man in,question, who was, by.theway, a Christianconvert, also appeared to protestagainst the action of the village elders. He said that he was verysorry that he was a were-leopard;be did not want to be

This content downloaded from 142.66.3.42 on Tue, 10 Nov 2015 07:54:08 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions J. H. HUTTON.-Leopard-Menin theNaga Hills. 45 one,anad it was not his fault,but seeingthat he was one,he supposedthat his leopard body must kill to eat, and if it did not, both the leopard and himselfwould die. He said that if he weretied up the leopard would certainlybe killedand he would die. To tie him up and bunt the leopard was, he said, sheermurder. In the end I gave leave to the eldersto tie the man up and hunt the leopard,but told them that if the man died as a result of their killingthe leopard,whoever had speared the leopardwould of -course be tried,and no doubthanged, for murder, and the elders committedfor abetmentof the same. On this the elders unanimouslyrefused to take advantage of my permissionto tie up the man. I was sorryfor this, though I had foreseenit, as it would have been an interestingexperiment. My informationas to were-leopardswas obtained directlyeither from were- leopards themselvesor their relatives,friends, and chiefs. UnfortunatelyI have not so far succeededin seeinga man actually at the momentof possession. I have had the marksof woundsshown me by men who claim that theywere the resultof woundsinflicted on theirleopard bodies. Kiyezu of Nikoto,now Chiefof Kiyezu- Nagami, who used to be a were-leopardin his youth,can show the markson the frontand the back of his leg above the knee wherehe had been shot, as a leopard, long ago by a sepoy of the MilitaryPolice outpost at Wokha with a Martinirifle. The marks,in correspondingpositions on the frontand back of the thigh,looked like markscaused by bad boils. Zukiya of Kolhopu village showedme fairlyfresh marksabout his waist whichhe said weretwo monthsold, and caused by shot which had hit his leopard body, and the markslooked as thoughthey mighthave been caused by shot. Ghokwi,the Chiefof Zukiya's village, said that Zukiya was in the habit of pointingout the remainsof pigs and dogs killed by him in leopard form, so that theirowners might gather up what remained. He said that he had a quarrel with his own brother,one of whose pigs he had killed and eaten by accident. Ghokwimentioned the names of various people whose animals Zukiya had killed and eaten.' Sakhuto, Chiefof K-huivi,showed a wound in his back which was quite new on March 1st, 1913, which he said was the result of some one having shot at him when he was in leopard forma few days before. The wound in the human body does not, under such circumstances,appear at once. It affectsthe same place in the human body as the originalwound did the leopard, but takes severaldays to appear. In March,1919, an Angamiinterpreter, Resopu of Cheswezuma,at that time workingwith me in camp, woundeda large tigernear Melomi. Three or fourdays later the Head Interpreterof the Deputy-Commissioner'sstaff, a verywell-known, highlyintelligent and reliableman, Nihu of , happenedto meeta sick Sema road muharrir,Saiyi of Zumethi,being carried home. The man, who was employed near Melomi,complained of having had an accident,but on being pressed several 1 Accordingto some a were-leopardwho kills cattlemay be foundin the morningto have bits of theirflesh sticking to his teeth.

This content downloaded from 142.66.3.42 on Tue, 10 Nov 2015 07:54:08 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 46 J. H. HUTTON.-Leopard-Menin theNaga Hills. timesfor details, admittedthat he had no externalinjury that could be seen, but was sufferingfrom the effectsof the woundsinflicted by Resopu on his tigerform, havingvery severe pains in his neck or shoulderand abdomen and being haunted by the horridsmell of rottingflesh. I have knownpersonally a large numberof Semas who are, or claimto be, were- leopards or were-tigers. The Headman of Chipoketamiis one; Chekiye,Chief of Aichi-Sagami,is another; Inaho, Chiefof Melahomi,a man of greatphysical strength and endurance,is perhaps the most notorious. Gwovisheof Tsukohomiand his daughterSukheli were only known to me by repute, Gwovishe's son Chekiyeof Lukammimore intimately. Kusheli of Litsammi,a secondwoman were-leopard, has her homeinside the frontier,and has a most unenviablereputation. The Sakhuto above mentioneddied on July 19th, 1916, as a result of the leopard which was occupied by his projected soul' having been shot by Sakhalu of Sakhalu on June30th of that year. It was reportedto the writeron July4th that Sakhalu had shot a were-leopard,but it was then believedto be identicalwitb one Khozhumoof Kukishe,and it was expected that he would die when the news reached him, as the death of the man concerneddoes not actually take place till he hears that his leopard body has been killed. It was, however,Sakhuto who claimed the leopard and whohad the honourof dying to provehis claim. The son of Yemithiof Lizotomi, whoseleopard-cat body was killed at Sagami,heard the news as he was returningto his village and expiredon the spot for no other reason-a curious example of the powerof the Sema mindover the Sema body. Both Inato of Lumitsamiand Inaho of Melahomirelated to me independently how,when they were goingup togetherfrom Pusumni to Lotesami,Inato managedto persuade Inaho to show his tigerform. The latterlingered for a mromentbehind, and suddenlya hugetiger jumped out on the path in frontof Inato witha roar and an angrywaving of his tail. In a flashInato had raised his gun,but the tiger-Inaho jumped in time to avoid the shot, and disappeared. Since this Inaho has had an excellentexcuse for tefusing to show his tigerform to anyoneat all. It is also told of Kusheli of Litsammi that she cured her husband of making scepticaland impertinentreferences to herlycanthropic peregrinations by appearirng beforehim in leopard form. His name is Yemunga and he was returningfrom a businessdeal in Chatongbungwhen suddenlyhe saw a leopard blockingthe path. Guessingit was his wifehe laughed at it and told it to go away. It went on and blockedthe path a littlefurther ahead. Thistime he threatenedto spearit, and it slid ofTinto the jungle,only to reappearbehind him unexpectedlywith a suddengrowl. Thisfrightened him, and he ranhome as fastas he could,the leopard pursuingtill near thevillage, where it disappeared. Whenhe enteredhis house his wifeat once started to mockhim, asking why he was perspiringso and whethe?rhe had seen a leopard. 1 TheSema word is aghongu,which primarily = "shadow,"but is usednormally in Sema eschatologyfor the soul of a deadperson.

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The Sema were-tiger,or reputedwere-tiger, with whom I was best acquainted was Chekiye,Chief of Lukammi and a.son ofthe famous Chief Gwovishe of Tsiikoh6mi. He would never admit to me that he was a lyeanthropist,but none of his Sema acquaintancesever doubted but that his reputationwas well deserved.' He came nearestto admittingto me that he was a were-tigeron the occasion of a tigerhunt in whichI took part at Mokokchungon March 29th, 1916. Ungma village ringed some tigers-therewere certainlytwo full-grownanimals and two three-quarter- growncubs present. The old tigerhimself broke out early in the beat, maulinga man on his way; shortlyafter which Chekiyeturned up, armed with a spear, but no shield. The tigressbroke near him and came withina fewfeet of him,bit and mauled his next-doorneighbour and went in again. Chekiye,when remonstrated with for havingstood quietlyby and not havingspeared the animal,said: " I did not like to spear her as I thoughtshe was probably a friendof mine." Afterthe beat he stated that the tigresskilled was a woman of Murromi,a transfrontier village in unexploredcountry where all the population are said to be were-tigers. He also explainedthat the tigerin a beat was reallyfar morefrightened than even the huntersthemselves, which is probably true enough, and shrewdlyobserved that the use of the tail, whichis stiflenedup and out behindand swayedat the end fromside to side, is to make the grass wave behindthe movingtiger, so that the position of the tiger's body is mistaken and the aim disturbedaccordingly, an observationwhich seems to be at least true of the resultof the wavingtail. It was reportedthat he claimedin privateto be identicalwith the tigerthat firstescaped, but he would not admit this to me, and therewas indeed anotherand morelikely candidate to this ratherdoubtful honour. This was an Ao named Imtong-lippaof Changki. While this beat was going on threemiles away, he was behavinglike a lunatic in the house of one of the hospital servants at Mokochung. During his possessionhe identifiedhimself with one of the tigersbeing hunted and stated that one of them was woundedand speared; that he himselfwas hit with a stick (the Ao methodof beatingentailed the throwingof sticksand stonesand abuse incessantly to make the tigercome out). He laid a rolled mat to representa fenceand six times leapt across it. He ate gingerand drank a whole bamboo " chunga" (about a bucketful)of water,after which he said that he had escaped with two othertigers after crossinga stream,and was hidingin a hole, but that one tigress,a trans- frontierwoman, had been spearedin the side (in point of fact she was spearedin the neck) and had been leftbehind and would die. (We shot the tigressin the end.) He said therewere fourtigers surrounded. Chekiyesaid six. Four actually were seen, however,two grownand two half-or three-quartersgrown. Theremay have been others,but it is not very likely. Some sixteen cattle had been killed in two days. This account I took down afterreturning from the beat, on the same day, He was, however,once caught out in a pureand demonstrableromance by one ofmy Sema interpreters.

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froman eye-witnessof Imtong-lippa'sexhibition, which was seen and watched by a large numberof men both reliable and otherwisein theiraccounts of it. I have giventhese details as theyshow clearlythe Naga beliefson the subject. Of courseamong the Semas the idea of what one mightdescribe as the projectability of the soul is verypronounced. It is a commonthing for a sick personto ascribehis sicknessto the absence of his soul from his body, and under such circumstances he takes food and drinkand goes to the fieldor any other places wherehe thinks his soul has got leftbehind and summonsit, calling it, of course,by his own name. When it has arrivedhe comes slowlyhome, bringing bis soul behindhim. A case once came up beforeme for adjudicationin whichan old man named Nikiye,who had been ill for some time,went to the fieldsto call his soul. It came,and he was climbingslowly back to the villageoccasionally calling " Nikiye,Nikiye! " overhis shoulderto make surethat the truantsoul was following. Unfortunatelya personal enemyhad observedhim, and lay in wait in the bush by the path witha thickstick. As the old man totteredby he sprangfrom his ambushwith a yell,and broughtdown his stickwith a thudon the path immediatelybehind Nikiye's heels. The frightened soul fledincontinently, and the old fellowhimself died of the loss of it two days later. To avoid losing the soul a Sema, who makes a temporaryshelter away fromhome, always burnsit on leavingit, lest his soul, havingtaken a fancyto it, shouldstray back thereby itself. To returnto lycanthropyin particular,the practicedescribed, as distinctfrom the belief,seems particularlyassociated in with the immigrationfrom the North-West-thatis, fromthe directionof Nepal and Thibet. The Changsprobably have an admixtureof Singpho blood, and the Singphosare know-nto have come fromthat direction; so, too, the Kacharis who,like the Changs,have a clan of tiger men,and call it the Mosa-aroi,and the Mecheswho have a correspondingclan called Masha-aroi,which also goes into mourningfor the death of a tiger-both came from the northof the Brahmaputra. Amongthe Garos also the practiceis found, and theytoo came fromthe same direction. On the otherhand the Khasis, who seem to belongto a differentstock-perhaps to theKol-Mon-Annam race, and to have come fromthe east-say they believe in the existenceof tigermen, but appear to have absorbed the idea from the Garos, who are their neighbours,and not to have possessedit as an indigenousidea, nor to indulgein, or believe that theyindulge in, the practicethemselves. The Angami,who also does not practiselycanthropy, again seem to have immigratedinto the Naga Hills fromthe south-east and to be intimately connectedwith the Bontoc and Igorot of Luzon in the Philippines. In other ways, however,particularly in language,the Sema is connectedwith the Angami,though on the otherhand there are points of culturewhich keep suggestinga connection betweenthe Sema and the Garo. One of them is the use of Y-shaped posts to celebratefeasts given to the village, similarwooden posts beingused by the Garo, thoughhe is at present entirelyisolated fromthe Sema, while the Kachari ruins

This content downloaded from 142.66.3.42 on Tue, 10 Nov 2015 07:54:08 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions J. H. HUTTON.-Leopard-Menin the Naga Hills. 49 at Dimapux contain the same bifurcatedmonuments in stone. Perhaps the ex- planationis that the presentSema tribeis the resultof the amalgamationof a small Angamielement which has imposeditself upon anotherstock, a processwhich the Sema tribe itself is still carryingon with regard to its neighboursto the east at a veryrapid rate, a Sema chiefor adventurergrafting himself and a fewfollowers on to a Sangtam or Yachungr-illage; thisin a generationor less becomesentirely Sema in language and polity, though no doubt retaining its formerbeliefs and certainlyretaining much of its formerceremonial. The theorythat this form of lycanthropycomes from a l,orthernsource is perhaps supportedby the fact that theform which the belieftakes in Burma and Malay, as well as in the plainsof , seems to turnon an actual metamorphosisof the body. Mr. Grant-Brown,writing in the Institute'sJournal in 1911 aboutthe TamaiRs,a tribe of Chineseorigin in the Upper ChindwinValley, notes that theytransform themselves intotigers by makingwater and thenrolling naked on the earththey have wetted. A nearerapproach to the Naga beliefappears to exist in Malay,but here again actual metamorphosisseems to be essenatialto that formof lycanthropy. Mr. O'May, writingin Folklorein 1910 (Vol. XXI, p. 371) says that in Burma and Sumatraa quite ordinaryman may turninto a tigerin the evenaingwithout anty fuss, and he goes on to describea Malay game of turninginto a civet cat, inrwhich a boy is actually hypnotizedand caused to behave like a civet cat, becoming(as the Naga were- leopard does) much exhausted when the trance is over. So, too, Skeat mentions the case of one Haji 'Abda]lah caught naked in a tiger trap in Korinchi State in Sumatra (Malay Magic, p. 160-163), whileMessrs. Skeat and Blagden note that the were-tigersof the Malay Peninsula (mosturlike the Nagas, here) cannot be shot in their metamorphosedcondition (Pagan Races ofthe Malay Peninsula,p. 227). Skeat also recordsthe inverse of the Naga case, in the process by which a possessionof the human body by a tiger spiritis invokedto cast out anotherand less powerfulpossessing spirit (Malay Magic, p. 436), and similarly(p. 455) the inductionof a monkeyspirit inlto a girlwho, whilethus possessed,is capable of the most remarkableclimbing feats. In all these cases, however,the practicediffers from that of the Nagas in that eithermetamorphosis takes place, orit is the animalspirit which possesses the human body, not the otherway round. For withthe Naga were-leopardthe soul is merely projectedinto the body of the animal, while rnometamorphosis of the human,body takes place nor is any sort of hypnotismemployed-unless, indeed, it be self- hypnotism,and involuntaryat that. Sir JamesFrazer (G.B., Vol. XI, p. 196) givesinstances from Asia ofthe location ofthe externalsoul in animalsfor the purposesof ensuxingits safetyor forenhancing -thepower of the magician. Neitherof these two motivesappears to influencethe Naga were-wolfin any way. It is recogu,izedon all hands that the practiceis a ,dangerousone, and it is said to be rapidlydecreasing owing to the increasednumber VOL. L. E

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of gunsin the district,which make it stillmore dangerous thana it was. Lycanthropy is not practisedby wizards,as were-tigersare, as far as I know,invariably ordinary men wbo do not claim to supernaturalpowers of any sort. The nearestparallels seem to come from Africa,and Sir James Frazer mentionsseveral beliefs from Nigeriawhich resemble the Naga beliefpretty closely. One otherpoint may be added. In some cases lycailthropyamong Nagas seems to be hereditary,or perhapsrather one should say that a tendeicy towardsit may be inherited,as inathe case of many diseases; and indeedMr. Baring-Gould' described lycan,thropy as a disease,associating it in thisrespect with the maniafor cattle-maiming and witha morbiddesire to devour humancorpses. Cases of both of theseI have met withina the Naga Hills, the latter, however, being regarded by the Nagas themselvesas symptomaticof extreme insanity; whereasthe formeris, like lyc.anthropy,merely a vice whichis liable to be verytroublesome to the neighboursof thosethat practiseit.2 Note on beliefas to a certainform of relationshipbetween men and leopards.-One Longrizibbaof Yongimsenvillage was haunted by a leopard which veryfrequently came at nightand slept outsidehis house close to that place by the wall nearestwhich Longrizibba himself was sleepinginside. Wlheneverthe leopard came, Longrizibbafell into a deep sleep and could not be aroused by his wife,even though he had previouslysharpened his spear with a view to killingthe animal. Then he took to sleepingon the platformat the back of his house,when the leopard took to sleepingunderneath. On one occasion water was poured on to it, but withoutdiscouraging it. Afterthis and otherefforts to get rid of it, Longrizibbainduced the leopard to leave him alone by the sacrificeof a dog. This took place in 1919 when I was on leave, and my attentionwas drawnto the case by Mr. Mills,Subdivisional Officer of Mokokchung,one of whoseinterpreters saw the leopardoutside the house at night. Apparentlysuch associationsof men with leopards are, accordingto the Ao tribe,fairly frequent. The relationsbetween the man and the leopard are normally quite friendlyand mutuallyharmless until on an appointedday theyare broughtto an end by the leopardsdevouring the man. If the hauntingis caused by some ceremonialfault on the man's part, it can be ended by a ceremonywhich includes the surrenderof a cloth,a dao slingand a piece of the man's own hair. If, however,the relationshipdates froma man's infancy and has no cause that can be specified,he is unable to break offthe relationship. A mountainwith twin-peaksis pointedout by Ao as a meetingplace of tiger- men.

1 Book of Were-Wolvei. 2 ProfessorElliot Smith tells me that Egyptianboys practiselycanthropy in association withthe formsof the commoncat. A bibliographyon the subjectof lyeanthropywill be found at theend of Mr. McLennan'sarticle in the ninthedition of the EncycloicediaBritannica, but it relatesalmost entirely to the Europeanraces.

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The practiceof surrenderingto the leopard a piece of the hauntedman's hair is paralleledin the Changtribe by the practice,when a man loses himselfin the forest, of cuttingoff a little hair and puttingit in the forkof a tree forthe rock python which is believed to have caused him to lose himself. Afterthis the lost man is able to findhis way home. Semas undersimilar conditions cut a piece offthe fringe of theircloth instead of theirhair.

Colonel SHAKESPEAR, C.M.G., D.S.O., who was unaableto be presen,tat the readingof this paper, sends the followingobservations: AlthoughI have a fairlyextensive knowledge of the tribesliving in the hills of Mariipur,which adjoin those dealt withby the author,and a betterknowledge of the Lushais livingfurther to the south,I have never come across the type of lycan- thropydescribed by Mr. Hutton. I have nevermet anyonewho admittedbeing, or was knownto be, a man tiger. In all the tales I have heard fromnatives of those hills and also fromGurkhas, it has always been a case of metamorphosis.The idea of soul projectionis, however,found among the Lushais, I have describedit in The Lushei Kuki Clans, pp. 111, 112. There the spiritpor Khawhringis an unlsought ar,dgenerally ur,welcome guest in a woman'sbody, whence it issues forthar,d takes possessionof otherwomen and the possessionis infectiousand hereditary; in these particularsthere is a resemblanceto the Sema formof lycanthropy. The idea that the soul and body can be separatedwithout death ensuingat onceis commonto many tribesin thesehills. Airongthe Aimol,the priest,after a child'sbirth, summons the soul to take possessionof its new dwelling,the child'sbody. Amongthe Lushais the fatherand motherkeep quiet forseven days aftera child'sbirth, for fear of injuring the littleone's soul, whichis thoughtto hoverand perchlike a bird on theirbodies and clothes. The Lushai also have thebelief that a man maytemporarily lose his soul, and thatthe wanderer may be called back by theperformance of the proper ceremony. The mentionaof the Y-shaped posts erected to commemoratefeasts given to ths villagersreminds me of the posts seen in Khawtlanngvillages, as shownopposite page 65, Lushei Kuki Clans, whichare put up forthe same purpose.

E,-2

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