1 It may be noticed that while the Lhota word for “morung,” champo, seems allied to the vocabulary of the north-east (e.g. in Chang chăm = house, and some Konyaks use the same word), the word for “house,” oki, is that of the western Naga vocabulary (Sema aki, Angami ki).
The Bachelors’ House is an institution common to most of the tribes in Assam, and is also found among the Oraons of Chota Nagpur, a Kolarian (or Mon-Khmêr) tribe. Cf. S. C. Roy, The Oraons of Nagpur (Ranchi, 1915), p. 211.—J. H. H. ↑
2 Konyaks, after rebuilding a “morung,” immediately go into the jungle and try to kill a monkey, the hand of which is tied to the main post. Failing a monkey, anything, even a little bird, will do, but something must be killed, and the hunting party returns home singing as if they had taken a head. ↑
3 The word emung, which corresponds exactly to the Ao term amung, means literally “gathered together.” On an emung day no one may go down to the fields to work, or go farther from the village than is necessary to get water and firewood. ↑
4 In some villages the head and trunk of the dog are tied up on the main post (humtse tachungo) of the “morung” and left there to rot. ↑
5 Lt.-Col. R. G. Woodthorpe’s sketch on Pl. XVIII., Vol. xi., of the Journal of the Anthropological Institute, 1888, shows what the mingetung of Phiro looked like in the old days. ↑
6 The spot where this was done is called Rāmākātī or mān yōnchopfĕ́ the latter meaning the “Burmese iron-foundry.” It is a small outcrop of very shaly coal. Possibly the ancestor of the Thangwe Eni clan caught in the jungle by the Eni who adopted him was a Burman, like the ancestor of the Tephri-Methama sept of the Methama clan in the Angami village of Chichama.—J. H. H. ↑
7 It is with the same idea, perhaps, that an Angami selling an ancestral field retains as his own a sod or two which remain nominally his.—J. H. H. ↑
8 The process described below is that employed in the case of ordinary land. On the very poor soil the jungle is often cut in July and burnt at the beginning of December. The soil then gets a longer exposure to the air. ↑
9 The Kayans of Borneo, who have several cultural affinities with Nagas, follow the same practice. They give as their reason the necessity of providing abiding places for the spirits (toh) of the locality. (Hose and McDougall, The Pagan Tribes of Borneo, II. 23, quoted Sir J. G. Frazer, Folk-lore in the Old Testament, III. 70.) The value of the practice is obvious, as it gives the trees a chance of seeding and so of restocking the cleared ground and making it fit for jhuming again.—J. H. H. ↑
13 Most Naga tribes erect some white sign by a path when clearing it. Aos, for instance, set up rows of saplings cut obliquely at the top to show the white heart. Some tribes put up peeled stakes, or stakes split down the middle.—J. H. H. ↑
16 The charms recorded for this ceremony are those used in Akuk. The formulæ used in ceremonies vary considerably in different villages. ↑
18 The wild orange is found in the forests along the foot of the Naga Hills on the Assam side, while the culture of limes and pomelos, though apparently not of oranges themselves, was brought up from the Chindwin valley by the Southern Sangtams, who carried the seeds with them on their wanderings. Cf. also Gurdon, The Khasis, p. 41.—J. H. H. ↑
19 I have heard of one case of a mithan interbreeding with a gaur (Bos gaurus), a few of which are still to be found in the foot-hills of the Lhota country. The calf died, however. Such crosses are said to be not uncommon in the North Cachar Hills. ↑
20 The Semas have a similar custom. The intention apparently is to keep a certain amount of control over this semi-feral animal by retaining something which has been in close contact with it.—J. H. H. ↑
21 Lhotas give to newly acquired pigs the bulbous root of a small ground orchid which they call wokoloha (pigs’ luck-stone). This is believed to have the effect of inducing them to take to their new surroundings without running away (as we put butter on a cat’s paws) and prevents their fighting with the other pigs in the house. It also seems to promote the prosperity of the pig generally.—J. H. H. ↑
22 There are two distinct types of Naga dog—one with a short and hard coat, sometimes red, but usually black with white chest and often with white paws and collar or a white splash on the back of the neck; the other long-haired and either black or red, though sometimes all white or white with a few black blotches. The long-haired type, like the other, has a good nose, but its coat is too thick for it to be able to hunt game for long.—J. H. H. ↑
23 It is probably also thought that the preservation of the shell aids the preservation of the chicken during its infancy.—J. H. H. ↑
25 By the Semas, at any rate, something, if only a scrap, must be given by the owner of the dogs to the dogs themselves. Cf. S. C. Roy, The Oraons of Nagpur, p. 157.—J. H. H. ↑
26 In some villages of the Northern Lhotas the curse is removed by cutting off the head, not the paws. ↑
28 This fruit, thrice cooked, is used as food by the Konyaks and pronounced very good—“like ghi.” Cooked once only, it is used by them as a rat poison.—J. H. H. ↑
29 A Chang who loses his way cuts off a bit of his hair and sticks it in a cleft stick or the fork of a tree, no doubt as a substitute for his own person. After which the python lets him go and he finds his way home. A Sema under similar circumstances offers a bit of the fringe of his cloth.—J. H. H. ↑
30 My experience of fish “poisoning” by Lhotas is that the discipline of the leaders over the younger men beating the “poison” into the river is so poor that the invariable result is that almost the only fish taken are a few labeo, a bottom-feeding fish more susceptible to poison than mahseer, and any cat-fish (Bagarius yarrellii or Silundia gangetica or some similar Siluroid) that there may be in the river. Ultimately I came to the conclusion that, as far as game-fish at any rate were concerned, poisoning by niro did more good than harm, as it cleared out the predatory fish while scarcely affecting the mahseer and its kin. I found later that Mr. Soppitt’s experiences among the Kacharis in the North Cachar Hills had led him to precisely the same conclusion (see C. A. Soppitt, Historical and Descriptive Account of the Kachari Tribes in the North Cachar Hills, Shillong, 1885. Reprinted with an introduction by E. C. Stuart Baker, 1901, pp. 51, 52).—J. H. H. ↑
32 I have known Lhotas diving in the Doyang in the rains, when that river was muddy and in spate, catch fish by hand without any sort of aid, apparently picking them up stupid from the river bed.—J. H. H. ↑
33 On the other hand, the Aos and Changs place a high value on otter flesh. They believe that fish-bones will never stick in the throat of anyone who has eaten it. If a particularly large fish-bone does by any chance stick in the throat of a Chang who has ever eaten otter meat he has only to murmur “I am an otter,” and down it goes. ↑
35 Probably the reason, in some cases at any rate, is the fear that the propensity of the animal for destroying and wasting paddy will pass to the woman, who is responsible for regulating the household consumption, and thereby cause the household store of grain to be unduly depleted. This is almost certainly the reason in the case of the monkey and might apply equally to the wild mithan and buffalo, to the bear and to the elephant. It could hardly be applied to the serow or to the pangolin. The former of these two is a roaming animal and rarely sleeps long in the same spot, which offers an obvious reason for the prohibition. The pangolin is such a curious beast that anyone might shy at eating him. The Sema forbids gibbon meat lest the children inherit the cry.—J. H. H. ↑
36 A Lhota woman was accused in my court of having poisoned her husband under circumstances which left little doubt as to her guilt in my mind, though the charge could not be proved in court. It is generally believed that women have knowledge of poisons which are unknown to men, and I am inclined to think that the belief is not without foundation.—J. H. H. ↑
37 The names of the lines given here are those current in Akuk. The names vary considerably in different villages. ↑
38 Cf. T. C. Hodson, Naga Tribes of Manipur, p. 62. Cf. also Lt.-Col. J. Shakespear, Kuki-Lushei Clans, for its prevalence throughout the hills. ↑