ceremony of eating the first-fruits (Mshe etak) is performed, by the
Puthi first, and after him by the other households in the village. From
the day on which the Puthi announces that he is preparing his “madhu”
to that on which the last man does the ceremony, no stranger may enter
the Puthi’s house, and selling and killing of fowls and animals and the
bringing of meat into the village are prohibited as they are before the
Lanvung ceremony. On the day of the ceremony the Puthi kills a little
boar outside his house. He does not eat this meat but distributes it to
all the houses in the village in which there has been a death during
the year. These portions are offered to the dead in the Etchhienya
ceremony. After killing the pig he goes into his house accompanied by
his Yenga and the second Puthi if there be one, and in the presence of
his family strangles a hen, with a prayer to the Rangsi that there may
be good crops, no accidents, no raids by enemies, and no prowling
tigers. He then takes the omens from the excreta and entrails in the
ordinary way. The Puthi’s wife, [81] or the Puthi himself if he be a
widower, now goes and cuts the rice sown in the garden plot at the
Thruven ceremony, no matter how unripe it may be. This the Puthi husks
in silence. He may be helped by the assistant Puthi but by no one else.
He puts a little of the grain on the sickle, on both his feet, against
his forehead and finally on the hearth-stones. What is left he wraps up
in a leaf and half boils. This he pretends, to eat, praying that
squirrels, rats and birds may find the rice of the village crops
bitter. It is then thrown away, but the hen is eaten. During the next
day or two everyone goes down to his fields and brings up a little
rice, with which he performs the same ceremony, except that no hen or
pig is killed. A little of this rice is preserved and kept wrapped in a
leaf at the bottom of the “chunga” or other receptacle in which the
day’s supply of grain is put every morning. Such is the custom among
the Northern Lhotas. Among the Southern Lhotas no rice is put on the
sickle, feet, hearth, etc., but the rice is eaten by the whole family
with crabs as a relish.
[Reaping ceremonies.] The crops ripen about August, those in the old
fields being ready first, and as soon as Mshe etak is over everyone may
cut his rice as soon as it is ready. On the day when he first goes down
to cut his crop each man performs at his field-house a ceremony called
Liritang in honour of the Rangsi. [82] He takes down with him “Rangsi’s
load” (Rangsi’ha) containing a cooked pig’s head, a gourd of “madhu,”
an egg, a little salt, some cooked rice and the leaves of sangsu (a
long thin leaf), lhetyak (a hairy leaf), and orungu (a small leaf,
white on the underside). Having arrived at his field-house and seen
that all who are to help him that day have come, for no one may come
once he has begun the ceremony—he lights a fire with a fire-stick,
takes four blades of thatching grass from the roof and bends them
double, and places six grains of rice on the threshold (likingko) of
the field-house. He then cracks the egg over the six grains of rice and
pours the contents into the leaf in which he wrapped it when he left
his house. This leaf he ties to the post of the field-house, taking it
home when he goes in the evening and either giving the contents to his
children or eating them himself. He then lights the thatching grass at
the fire, and holding the orungu, sangsu and lhetyak leaves with the
thatching grass in his right hand, goes outside the house and waves
them with a sweeping motion from left to right, the smoke from the
thatching grass thus driving evil spirits away. He then says the
following [83] traditional words:—
Orung-na ranga ranga phang (orungu, asking, asking remain). Lhetyak-na
tyaka tyaka phang (lhetyak, sweeping, sweeping remain). Sangsu-na
sangsu lithana, sangsu lithana oro tamtam chudechia (sangsu, sangsu,
changing, changing with sangsu, coming in a stream pour out).
This is said to mean—for the words are not clearly understood by the
Lhotas themselves: “Orungu leaves pray the Rangsi continually to give
me a good crop; lhetyak leaves sweep the grain into my field-house, and
sangsu leaves come one after the other and pour rice in a stream from
your loads into my field-house.” The man then re-enters the house and
sprinkles the floor with “madhu” from his gourd while he repeats the
following words:—
“Satung rampeng Rangsi tchhüchi rhempi Rangsi, lipphu
“Fish-trap hunter’s deity, water-side wanderer’s deity, hillside
liteng Rangsi, tsatso rüku mpito Rangsi
company’s deity, hurt wounded men’s all deities
rencheli”
come out of hiding.”
In other words he prays to all Rangsis belonging to men who are busy
fishing or snaring birds by the pools or are hurt (i.e. all men who do
no cultivation and so have no need of Rangsis), together will all the
Rangsis of the hillside to come and help him. The “madhu” is then
sprinkled along the threshold from end to end and the ceremony is at an
end and reaping begins. At midday the owner and his helpers come back
to the field house for a meal. The owner first undoes the pig’s head
and puts salt on it. This can be eaten only by him and old people. If
he happens to have an oha (luck-stone) in his house, no one but he can
eat the pig’s head, or they will have a bad cough.
The crop is reaped with a small iron sickle (vekhuo) with a saw edge.
Several stalks are grasped together with the left hand and cut a few
inches below the ears. The unthreshed rice is stored in the field-house
till everyone in the village has reaped his crop. Each man on the day
when he first goes down to thresh again performs the Liritang ceremony
as before, except that a fowl—either cock or hen—takes the place of the
pig’s head. To thresh the grain the ears are heaped on mats outside the
field-house, and after being well trampled are flicked against the
right shin. [84] To winnow the grain one man pours it slowly from a
basket held with both hands above his head while another fans it
vigorously with a winnowing fan (saveng)—a bamboo mat with the two
corners of one end drawn together, resulting in a thing rather like a
sugar scoop in shape.
All that remains now is to carry up the grain as fast as possible. If
the fields are a long way from the village, small temporary granaries
(echengrangki) are built half-way in which the crop can be stored till
the field-house, where wild pig and elephants are likely to do most
damage, has been emptied. The grain is carried up in baskets (otyak),
and every man, woman and child in the village helps, going down to the
fields with torches in their hands long before dawn and coming up with
the last load long after sunset. When the harvest is safely in each man
goes down and rolls up the mats in his field-house, and takes them
home, uttering as he does so a prayer to Phuri Rangsi (Mister Rangsi)
to be favourable to him next year. Ahead of him lie a few weeks of
well-earned rest till the time comes to cut the jungle for the next
year’s crop.
[Varieties of rice.] Many varieties of rice, both white and
red-grained, are sown by the Lhotas. For example, the principal kinds
in Okotso are as follows:—White, amorü (very coarse), otsi emhuho
(coarse), laza (medium), motiro (fine), wochio (with black husk),
tambaktsok (with red husk): Red, oriepyo (coarse), kamtiya (fine),
santungo (fine), moyo (fine), changkiu (fine), and mhumyandhro (very
fine). No variety is used exclusively either for eating or for “madhu,”
but the best kinds for “madhu” are santungo, otsi emhuho, oriepyo,
kamtiya and moyo.
[Other crops.] Besides rice there are a number of subsidiary crops,
generally sown along the edges of the fields or in patches among the
rice. Maize (tsunghundhro) is sown along the boundaries of the fields,
or among the chilies, never in large patches, which would only attract
bears. Millet (Setaria italica, Lhota teni) is not an important crop as
it is among the Semas and Changs, though a good deal is grown by some
of the villages high up on the slopes of Wokha Hill. It is sown about
February and cut about July. Giant millet (Sorghum vulgare, Lhota
lichophuk) is sown mostly along the boundaries of fields, the time
being about the same as that of millet. Job’s tears (omung) is also
sown along the edges of fields at the same time as the rice and ripens
about ten days or a fortnight later. Of taro (Colocasia antiquorum,
Lhota mani) there are several varieties, the principal being tsampang
(large, reddish root), vakhundro (small root) and loro (a very large
root). This is generally planted along the little soil-barriers
(oliecho) and scattered among the rice, but sometimes a patch of ground
is devoted exclusively to it. Chilies (machi) are sown both in the
garden patches and on low rich land at the bottom of the fields. The
sowing takes place in March, and the plants begin to bear in July. It
is a biennial, and in the second year begins to produce pods in May. If
left for a third year there will be a few pods, but they are small and
shrivelled. Cotton (khungko), after rice, is the most important Lhota
crop. Sufficient is grown for home consumption and for a considerable
export trade. It is sown in March on sunny slopes from which light
jungle has been cleared, preferably with a rather gritty soil, and is
ready for plucking in October. Whole fields are devoted exclusively to
it, but it is an annual and is never sown twice running on the same
ground. Several varieties of lentil (orho) are grown, all climbers. It
is sown in March at the base of the trees left standing about the
fields and plucked in October. “Stinking dal” (limcham or
nyingtyingsing) only grows to the height of French beans. Whole fields
are often given up to it, and it is often sown in rotation after cotton
in February or March, and is ready about November. When the rice is
sown, lufas (longchungo) are sown at the foot of trees in the field.
The green gourd-like fruit is eaten in October, and in January the dry
fruit is plucked, the stiff fibrous interior being used to clean pots,
etc. Big and small gourds (shammo and zükhe) are grown for their hard
shells, which are used as bottles. They are sown along the edges of
fields in March and are ripe in October. A very insipid variety of
water-melon (hmeliti) is sown scattered about among the rice and is
ready from July on. Several varieties of thick, short cucumber
(lishakti) are sown at the same time as the rice and ripen from July to
November. Black sesame (Sesamum indicum, Lhota penching) and white oil
seed (Perilla ocimoides, Lhota pentsü) are sown in March along the
boundaries of the fields, the crop being ready in October or November.
In cold villages whole fields of pentsü are grown. Tobacco (mukuyo) is
extensively grown both in garden plots and in corners of fields set
apart for it, as well as along the boundaries and scattered about among
the rice. It is sown in March, and gives a continual crop of leaves
from August on. Indigo (Strobilanthes flaccidifolius, Lhota tchemo) is
grown to a certain extent in garden plots, but chiefly in damp, shady
places in the jungle. Cuttings are put in in May and June, and are full
grown by August of the next year. It is forbidden for men to touch this
plant. The only garden vegetable grown is mustard (hangi), the leaves
of which are eaten. A kind of giant taro (taktsü) is grown in gardens
occasionally for its leaves, which are used to line the baskets in
which “madhu” rice is set to stand. No part of the plant is ever eaten.
[Flowers.] The Lhota likes to have flowers handy to put in his ears,
and grows a few varieties in his little garden. The chief kinds are
wild canna (lentala), wild cock’s-comb (thropentera), marigold
(yantantera), a small purple flower (kambentera), a pale yellow flower
(narisen), and a red flower (echamtera).
[Fruit, etc.] A large number of oranges [85] (tsampen or khongkeng) and
bitter oranges (tsampenyimo—“foolish orange”) are grown in the hot
villages, a considerable trade in the former being carried on with the
plains. The trees are grown from pips and are never manured or pruned
or looked after in any way. Other fruit trees are the pomegranate
(tsaramtiven), which is propagated by cuttings, and a huge plantain
(echamyuti), which is horribly wooden and astringent and has to be
cooked before it can be eaten even by a Lhota. The Christians of Okotso
now grow a few tea bushes (cha). A very small number of betel nut palms
(mma) are to be found in villages on the range nearest the plains.
These villages do a big trade in “pan” leaves (lamo) with the plains,
where hill “pan” fetches a good price. The “pan” vines are grown up
trees in the jungle wherever the soil is suitable. They are not
cultivated in any way, but every vine belongs to some individual though
it is growing in unreclaimed jungle. The vines are propagated by means
of cuttings.
Live-stock.
Mithan (Bos frontalis, Lhota tsiro) are regarded as a sign of wealth,
but are no longer kept in large numbers by the Lhotas. They do a lot of
damage to the crops, and as an investment are too risky to suit the
taste of the careful Lhota, being very liable to rinderpest, an
outbreak of which may kill off a whole herd. Further, they are
practically only used for sacrificial purposes, for which cattle will
do almost as well. Bulls which are marked in such a way that it would
be unlucky to sacrifice them are sometimes killed for food, but cows
are only eaten when they die of old age or disease. A pure-bred mithan
is black, with white stockings and grey forehead, but many individuals
are found marked with white or brown on the body. This appears to be
due to the fact that the strain of mithan in the Naga Hills has become
hopelessly contaminated by allowing them to interbreed with cattle.
[86] An ordinary cow mated with a mithan bull produces a hybrid, which
in turn is fertile when mated with a mithan. The result of this cross
when again mated with a mithan produces an animal which in size and
shape resembles a mithan, but which often shows its humble origin in
its colouring. Animals of this unpure strain have contaminated the
whole breed and any pair of mithan is liable to produce a throw-back.
Though mithan calves are sometimes tied up outside the owner’s house
till their legs get strong, the animals are generally allowed to run
more or less wild in the jungle, the owner merely calling them and
giving them salt occasionally. Beasts are occasionally marked by having
their ears split. No bells are worn and no herdsman is kept to look
after mithan or any kind of cattle. When a mithan calf is born the
owner observes six days’ “genna” if it is a bull and five days’ if it
is a cow. During those days no stranger from another village can enter
his house and he must not eat meat from a tiger’s kill. This “genna” is
observed for the calves of all cattle. In the case of mithan a necklace
of six seeds of the sword-bean (khuro) is put on the neck of a bull
calf, and one of five seeds on the neck of a cow calf, and after being
worn for a few hours is taken off and hung up in the owner’s house.
[87] A curious custom which appears to be common to all Nagas and
applies to cattle of all kinds and often to pigs, is that by which a
man will own half or one leg of an animal. Often a man prefers to
distribute his risk by investing in a share in a number of mithan
rather than own the whole of two or three beasts. The hybrid (tyangtso)
of a mithan bull and ordinary cow is a black or very dark brown animal
midway between its parents in size. They are allowed to run wild, but
generally come and sleep in the village. Large numbers of ordinary
cattle (mangsü) are bought in the plains. They are of the common
Assamese breed, and miserable creatures as a rule. Some are kept for
food and breeding, but usually they are taken straight through into the
Ao and Sema country and sold. The Lhota never milks his cattle, simply
because it is not the custom to do so, but he will drink milk if it is
offered to him. There is a black and black-and-white breed of cattle
known as süpi which the Lhotas regard as indigenous to their country.
These carry a good deal more meat than the Assamese cattle. All cattle
are allowed to run loose in the jungle, the owner only going to have a
look at them every two or three days. Buffalo (juzü) which are past
work are sometimes bought in the plains and brought up for food, but
they are never bred by Lhotas and are useless for sacrificial purpose,
as they are regarded as “stupid” beasts. Pigs (woko) swarm in Lhota
villages and a man must be very poor indeed not to keep one or two.
They are closely akin to the wild pig, with which they occasionally
interbreed. When a sow farrows the owner observes five days’ “genna.”
Every boar is castrated when it is only about two months old. This
operation is generally performed with a sharp piece of bamboo by a man
who is known to be skilled at it. Ashes having been put on the wound it
is sewn up, and the little pig runs off apparently none the worse. The
ears of all boars are clipped at the time when they are castrated.
Little pigs are generally shut up in the mpongki at night, but when
they get big they are allowed to roam about the village at will, only
coming home for a meal of rice husks, “madhu” waste and taro once a
day. A pig which is a bad wanderer and does not come home as it should
is punished by having its ears pierced and a piece of string run
through them and tied to the wall of the house. [88] Ordinarily dogs
are the only animals to which names are given, but in some villages
pigs are called after the person from whom they are bought, a custom
which is generally viewed with no great favour by the seller if he gets
to hear of it. Sometimes little pigs become household pets. I knew one
in Seleku which spent most of its time playing with the children. It
had its own special cloth spread for it by the fire and would sleep
nowhere else. It was sold by its callous owner when it began to get
big, and no doubt became pork shortly afterwards. Goats (nyanya) are
kept in large numbers, white goats with long hair being particularly
valuable. This hair is sold to be dyed red and used for all kinds of
ornaments. The wretched animals used to be plucked alive, one goat
giving several crops. But this has now been stopped and the hair is cut
off. Goats being particularly attractive to leopards, they are kept at
night in little houses (nyanyarangki) placed high up on poles in the
village, a couple of notched posts forming a ladder up which they can
scramble.
Except in the villages near the plains, where they are supplanted by
Assamese curs, Lhota dogs are of the ordinary Naga type, black, with
white chest and often one or more white paws. There are often brown and
white markings on the body, and one type is entirely white with long
hair. [89] The latter used to be plucked alive as white goats were and
their hair used for ornaments. All dogs have names. Examples are Keri
(“white paws,” lit. gauntlets), Pangri (“piebald”), Humthe
(“soft-haired”), Phunyung (“red dog”), Taphuno (“stay-at-home,” lit.
“hearth dog”), Mhakuk (“ditch-on-face,” i.e. with a depression over the
nose), Kimung (“stay-in-the-house”), Yimo (“fool”), Okharo (“little
one,” a pet name for the last-born child). The tails of all dogs are
cut short, and the ears of male dogs are also clipped. The severed bits
of tail are put in a cleft stick and stuck up in the house out of the
way of rats, for were a rat to eat a tail the puppy to which it lately
belonged would die. A Lhota feeds and treats all his dogs well, but is
especially careful of his hunting dogs. They are never punished as
other dogs are, the result being that they are hopelessly disobedient.
It is quite common for the dogs to spoil a whole day’s hunting by going
off on the wrong line and remaining deaf to their masters’ shouts.
Hunting dogs are never eaten, and when one dies it is wrapped in a
cloth and given decent burial outside the village. A Lhota strokes but
never pats his dog. When he wants to make much of it he holds its head
between his hands and allows it to lick his face, returning the
compliment by dribbling onto its nose. When a bitch has puppies her
owner observes five days’ “genna,” with the same restrictions as in the
case of cattle and pigs. Cats (onyiro) are never kept, though they are
occasionally bought in the plains and eaten.
The Lhota fowl (hono) much resembles the red jungle fowl (Gallus
ferrugineus), with which it often interbreeds. Crosses with the kalij
pheasant (Gennæus horsfieldi) too are by no means unknown. Fowls live
on what they can pick up, but never seem to wander far from home. Old
baskets are put up on shelves in the mpongki for hens to lay in and
hatch their chickens out of the reach of rats. The owner must take the
chickens down from the basket either after sunset or before sunrise.
Before doing so he puts a piece of burnt wood (or in some villages five
pieces of burnt wood) into the basket and says: “When you wander may
you not be lost or fall a prey to wild cat or hawk.” The egg-shells are
strung on a bit of bamboo and hung up in the house, it is said in order
to keep a reckoning of the number of eggs hatched in the year. [90]
Nowadays pigeons (vephu) are kept by a few people. Ducks are never
kept, though large numbers are brought up from the plains for food.
Hunting.
Guns being comparatively scarce, the Lhota still hunts deer with dogs
and spear as his forefathers did before him. Sambhur (sepu) are chiefly
found in the flat river valleys, and when hunted invariably make for
the water, which they cross and recross repeatedly. Tracks having shown
that a sambhur is in a certain piece of jungle, the dogs are worked
through it by their owner, who encourages them with a shout like a loud
laugh. With him goes a thin line of spearmen to guard against a break
back, while other spears wait at places where the quarry is likely to
cross the stream. The dogs give tongue lustily enough as soon as they
pick up the scent, so that the waiting spearmen can change their
position according to the line which the deer seems to be taking. This
goes on till the deer is either killed or gets clean away. The method
of hunting serow (tsiyo) and barking deer (sanu) is the same, except
that these animals are found in the little valleys running down the
hills and are ambushed at the points where they try to get through into
the next valley. The Lhota is a wonderful judge of the line a deer is
going to take and can generally be relied upon to get his spear into a
running target at twenty yards, so that these hunts are more often
successful than unsuccessful. No hunting takes place on the day on
which anyone has died in the village, not apparently from any idea of
showing respect to the dead, but because it is regarded as a foregone
conclusion that luck will be bad that day. If an animal killed is found
to have died with its tongue hanging out of the left side of its mouth,
hunting is probably stopped for the day, as it is believed that no more
game will be killed; but to find the tongue hanging out of the right
side of the mouth means that if the hunters go on they will rouse and
kill another deer. Sityingo [91] is the jungle deity who owns all wild
animals as a man owns domestic animals. If a hunting party kills a deer
with a torn ear they will hunt no more that day, for have they not
killed a deer whose ear Sityingo has snicked as a sign of ownership.
The deer, however, can be eaten. Furthermore, the dogs must be purified
before they can hunt again. Their owner orders his wife to prepare a
little “madhu.” This she must do in silence. Next day no stranger from
another village may enter his house, nor anyone who is doing a “genna”
of any kind. The following day water is added to the “madhu” and the
“madhu” rice given to the dogs to eat. The owner, taking them with him,
goes with an old man to a spot outside the village, where the latter
makes a fire with a fire-stick, and lifting the dogs in his hands
passes them through the smoke, uttering as he does so the following
prayer to Sityingo: “We have made new ‘madhu’ and new fire, and have
purified the dogs. May all the deer wherever they be come to our
village and be hunted by these dogs.” He then watches to see what
insects come near the fire. If big insects come the dogs will get
sambhur. If small insects come they will get barking deer.
Much though he enjoys the sport, the Lhota hunts primarily to get meat.
The division of the spoil is therefore carefully regulated by custom,
which is strictly adhered to. In the case of deer the first spear gets
a hind-leg, second spear a fore-leg, and the owner of the dogs a
hind-leg, the head, liver and heart, [92] the remaining fore-leg going
to the oldest man of the hunting party. The rest of the meat is divided
among the remaining spearmen, the older men getting slightly bigger
shares than the younger. A spear which only hits the animal in the face
or on the hock does not count. Were the thrower to claim a share of the
meat on the strength of such a hit it is believed that either he or one
of his family would die. From every deer killed Sityingo is given his
share. This consists of six little bits of liver wrapped in one leaf
and five little bits in another. These are eaten by the oldest man in
the village of the clan of the owner of the dogs. Wild pig (oni or
lipung) are occasionally hunted with dogs, but generally are only
speared if a man happens to meet one. The same applies to bears
(sivan). A wounded bear is not generally followed up till next day. It
is then relentlessly tracked, alike over soft ground where every
footprint is plain and over rocky slopes where nothing but a few bent
leaves show which way it has gone, for a Lhota will pick up what, to
European eyes, is a hardly perceptible trail as easily and quickly as
he will follow an ordinary path. In the case of animals such as pig and
bear killed without the aid of dogs, the first spear gets the head,
hind-leg, fore-leg, liver and heart, and the second spear the other
fore-leg and hind-leg. Remaining members of the party take the rest of
the meat. There are no chiefs as there are among the Semas and Changs
to get a share of the meat whether they join in the hunt or not. Dogs
are also used to hunt porcupines (liso), an animal much sought after
for its flesh, the skin of the back being especially esteemed. For a
tiger (mharr) or leopard (mharrtero) hunt the whole male population of
the village turns out with daos and shields and spears, and, in Moilang
and its neighbours, wearing cane helmets. A rough circle is cleared
round the piece of jungle in which the beast has been marked down, and
a V-shaped palisade is built at the bottom. Outside this the old men
wait with their spears ready poised, while the young men drive the
animal downhill, cutting the jungle as they go. Any man who is charged
falls with his shield over him, while a shower of spears distracts the
tiger’s attention. Eventually if all goes well the tiger is driven into
the palisading and speared by the old men waiting there. If a tiger
happens to break a spear the shaft must either be left in the jungle or
stuck in the ground under the head of the quarry when it is hung up
after a successful hunt. If this is not done the owner will some day be
killed by a tiger. The tiger’s head is cut off by a man who has done
all social “gennas” and is a warrior of repute, and the paws by a man
who belongs to a family a member of which has been killed by a tiger.
This in a sense removes the curse from the family. [93] The head and
paws are hung on a tree by the side of the path up to the village, and
tsombhondhro leaves are stuffed in its mouth, some say to prevent it
eating people in the Land of the Dead, and some say so that it may not
be able to tell the dead what clan killed it. Under the head the
hunters jab the ground with their spear butts till it is thickly
covered with little marks. If the spirit (omon) of the tiger comes
wandering round it will see these marks and refrain from troubling a
village which possesses such a mighty army of warriors. The man who cut
off the tiger’s head must not eat beef, pork, goat’s flesh, jungle
birds, taro or any boiled relish, or have intercourse with his wife for
twelve days. A similar prohibition for one day applies to the other men
of the village.
Monkeys such as Pithecus brahma (otham) and Macacus assamensis
(kirango) are shot with the crossbow (olo) and arrows, but a tailless
ground-monkey (Macacus arctoides, Lhota mitham) is driven with great
success, the day’s bag sometimes totalling thirty or forty. A troop
which takes up its abode in a jungly gully flanked by cultivated fields
is doomed. All the men of the village surround the jungle, and a tunnel
(vaksap) is built of interlaced jungle and brushwood at the lower end,
like a duck-decoy tunnel on a small scale. The monkeys are driven from
the upper end, and keeping to the ground enter the tunnel. Finding no
exit at the lower end they completely lose their heads and cling to one
another and whimper till they are killed.
Before the making of pitfalls (soku) was forbidden by Government large
numbers of elephants, deer and wild pig were killed by means of them.
Elephant-pits were huge affairs, but the ordinary pitfall was about ten
feet deep, with the bottom covered with big jagged rocks and “panjis,”
so that any animal which fell in was likely both to have its legs
broken and to be impaled. Many kinds of snares are used, mostly for
small animals and birds, though a running noose (putha or ozo) used to
be used by the Southern Lhotas for deer. The commonest trap is the
triangular trap (tsiri), which is also used by Aos, Changs, Semas and
Angamis. It is set in runs or at holes in fences and is most effective.
It consists of a triangle of bamboo, the base of which is extended to
form a bow. The side nearest the bow is double. Through this is passed
a noose which is set in such a way that any animal or bird trying to
get through the triangle releases the bow and is caught by the noose
against the double side. Birds and small animals are also caught by
running nooses (khükcha), platforms which release nooses when trodden
on (chambo), and fall-traps (otyo). Are Yanthamo appears to be the only
village which possesses a box-trap for leopards, though these
contrivances are common among the Aos, from whom Are Yanthamo probably
copied the one in question. It consists of a small low shed made of
stout saplings securely tied in place and is divided into two
compartments, in the hinder of which is put the bait, a live goat. The
leopard enters, and in making for the goat treads on a little platform
which releases a catch and drops a heavy wooden door behind it. Only
once did a leopard enter the Are Yanthamo trap, and then it raged and
roared in such an alarming way that the local Nimrods sat in the
village and quaked, till it eventually managed to break its way out. A
monkey is not an easy beast to snare, but a genius in Changbang
invented a booby trap for monkeys which is said to have been very
successful. He watched the line which monkeys took when chased off his
fields. In their path he dug a pitfall, and over it at some height
arranged a dry branch in such a way that monkeys would be sure to run
along it in their flight. He cut this branch nearly through, so that
the first monkey which used it snapped it off and came to an untimely
end in the pitfall. Kabuis use a similar trap for monkeys. [94]
Bird-lime (onyi) made of a mixture of the sap of the rubber tree
(nitsütung) and Ficus religiosa (nitsotung) is extensively used. The
two kinds of sap are boiled down in separate “chungas,” which are then
split and the resulting rubber-like cakes extracted and cut into small
pieces. The bits of thickened nitso sap are chewed to soften them and
put in a broken potsherd. Then the pieces of nitsü juice are toasted
over the fire on the end of an old umbrella stay and mixed with the
nitso sap in the potsherd while they are hot. The resulting bird-lime
is sometimes put on twigs stuck up by the side of pools at which birds
come to drink, and sometimes put on twigs fixed on bushes and baited
with a live cockroach impaled on a thorn. The use of decoy birds is
unknown. An accurate knowledge of its habits enables a snarer to catch
even the Great Indian Hornbill (rücheng) with bird-lime. This bird
never flies straight to the berries on which it is going to feed, but
always first perches on the thick part of the branch and then hops out
towards the end, raising its wings slightly at each hop. Limed twigs
are therefore put along the side of the branch at such an angle that
they will touch the bird’s body as it raises its wings. At such a touch
it shuts its wing down on the limed twig and is helpless.
A word on the taking of bees’ and hornets’ nests may find a place under
this section. There are men who for some curious reason appear to be
immune from stings, but the ordinary Lhota either smokes out the nest
he wishes to take, or else kills all the occupants by taking a handful
of the pounded skin of the chalmăgra fruit (hmhmti) and blowing the
fumes into the hole. [95] Honey or the juice of the pounded leaves and
bark of a certain tree (tsungnung) is often rubbed on the body as a
protection against bee stings. A man who intends to take a bees’ or
hornets’ nest must remain chaste the night before. Both the honey and
grubs are eaten, and a species of large bee (tsakmen) which builds
under overhanging rocks and branches makes good wax. The other
principal species are a medium-sized bee (takrhi), a small bee with a
negligible sting (ndhrontso) and a very small bee with a severe sting
(lungtsak). Hornets’ nests, which are sought for for the fat, juicy
grubs they contain, are not so easily taken. The nest of one species
(tsaktsü) is underground and the tiny hole by which it is entered is
hard to find. Anyone, therefore, who has a craving for tsaktsü grubs
puts out a bit of bad meat as a bait and catches the first hornet which
settles on it. He carefully extracts its sting and ties a bit of
cotton-wool or a white feather to its legs and lets it go. Hampered by
the feather, which can be seen from a good distance, it flies slowly
towards home and can generally be followed if the jungle is not too
thick. The nest once found a big fire is lighted over it at night when
all the hornets have gone in and it is dug out. Another kind of hornet
(chengkuku) with a red head and a fearful sting builds huge nests in
the branches of trees. At night a fire is lighted underneath and
burning straw held to the nest at the end of a bamboo. Any hornets
which escape the burning straw drop into the fire and the nest can be
safely taken.
Though Lhotas possess a wonderful sense of direction, it sometimes
happens that a man out hunting loses his way in the jungle. Should this
happen he cuts a stick and makes a few cuts in the bark to represent
the pattern on a python’s skin. This stick he leaves on the ground and
is then sure to be able to find his way without difficulty. The custom
is connected with the belief that the python has a habit of leaving its
saliva on leaves, and that anyone who touches one of these leaves by
accident will go mad and lose his way. [96]
Fishing.
Lhotas are keen fishermen and expert swimmers. Fishing rights over any
particular stretch of water are governed by custom, being held by the
village or villages who exercised them in the past. The rights to
“poison” in any particular pool are generally held jointly by two or
more villages, while each village has the right to erect weirs in
particular stretches of water. “Poisoning” is by far the most important
method of fishing. Formerly the root of a small plant called notsü was
much used. The juice of this kills every fish with which it comes in
contact and its use has been prohibited by Government. The other
so-called “poisons” only stupefy the fish. The commonest is the juice
of a creeper (niro), which for some reason affects cat-fish (zyümo)
even when it is too weak to stupefy other fish. On one occasion when
the writer watched the fishing of a pool insufficient poison was used.
Yet thirty-six huge cat-fish were caught, while the rest of the bag
consisted of only about a dozen small fish. [97] Other “poisons” used
are cheti (the berries of a tree with leaves rather like mahogany
leaves: this poison is much used by the Aos, who call it arr), pitsü (a
creeper with small leaves), opyak and achak (the bark of two species of
trees), mwemti (little berries, chiefly used in small streams), and
mozi (a creeper, weak and not much used). All the villages who have the
right to “poison” in a certain pool agree to combine to do so on a
certain day. On the night before the fishing is to take place sexual
intercourse is forbidden, nor may anything be killed in the morning
before going down to the water. The presence of women is absolutely
forbidden when fishing is going on. Every man brings with him a bundle
of creeper (assuming niro is being used). This is first thoroughly
pounded on the bank to ensure that all the cells are broken. Trees are
felled and placed on rough stone supports across the stream to serve as
pounding benches for the final pounding, each village making its own
line or lines of benches one above the other. As each bench is finished
the men lay their half-pounded bundles of creeper on it. The braves
then line up on the shore facing up stream, and all ho-ho together and
brandish their daos. Then a rush is made for the benches and everyone
pounds his bunch of creeper, dipping it in the water at intervals. All
chant as they work, and the men on each line of benches pound more or
less in time. Meanwhile old men are watching the pool below and a shout
goes up when the first fish is seen to come floundering to the top.
This is the signal for all to throw their bundles of creeper into the
water and rush down to the pool. Some wait round the edge with
long-handled landing nets, while others put a heavy stone into their
“lengta” band and chase the fish at the bottom of the pool, slipping
the stone out when they want to come to the top. The young bucks are
like otters, and it is a common sight to see a man come up with a fish
in his teeth and one in each hand. Cat-fish are great prizes. They are
often heavier than a man and require all a man’s strength to drag to
the top. Indeed it is by no means uncommon for a Lhota to struggle with
one of these enormous fish at the bottom till he is exhausted and
drowned. When anyone has landed a cat-fish he cuts it with his dao in
such a way that he will be able to recognize it and claim his share
when the catch is divided up. Small fish he strings on a slip of bamboo
at his waist. Every man who lands a cat-fish gets a specially big cut
from it, but the fish found in their stomachs are only eaten by old
people. Otherwise the whole catch of a village is divided up among the
members who came down to fish according to their age and importance.
Whether they came down or not a share is given to the Puthi and anyone
whose house has ever been “apotia.” [98]
Fish-traps are of various kinds. The most elaborate is that called osa,
which is used on the Doyang and consists of a V-shaped bamboo weir
pointing down-stream, with a long spout-like outlet, closed with stakes
set closely together, and roofed at the end so that fish cannot jump
out. The floor of the outlet is covered with bamboos laid lengthways,
so that a fish once caught in the rush of water can get no grip to work
up-stream, but is held by the current against the stakes at the bottom.
Another type, also called osa, is used on smaller streams and consists
of a semicircular weir of bamboo or piled-up stones, with gaps at
intervals, each gap being blocked with a strong bamboo basket from
which, if a fish is once swept in, it cannot escape against the stream.
This kind of trap is particularly successful if otters fishing in the
pool above drive the fish down, a curious parallel to the way in which
Biscayan sardine fishers used to depend on porpoises to drive the
shoals of sardines into their nets. A third type used on moderate-sized
streams is called eyinga. This consists of a bamboo weir right across
the river and another weir with a big opening in the middle about
twenty yards lower down. Fish feeding their way up-stream in the
evening pass through the gap, which is closed at night, shutting the
fish in. A rough inner fence of bamboo is built along the lower weir,
and the fish trying to jump over on their return down-stream are caught
between the two fences. Fish weirs are in operation throughout the cold
weather, till they are swept away by the first big flood. The task of
building a weir is not one which can be entered upon without due
precautions. For three days beforehand the builder must not speak to
strangers and must refrain from sexual intercourse. On the last morning
neither he nor any of the men who are to help him may kill anything,
and the working party while engaged on their task may speak to each
other but to no one else at all, whether of their own village or not. A
man begins by helping his father, or one of his father’s friends, when
he is a boy, and gradually grows up to be the owner or joint owner of a
weir himself. Were a man who had never done so before to take it into
his head to go down and build a fish-trap he would surely die. When he
was sleeping near his trap at night the deity of the stream, the Water
Master (Tchhüpfuo), would come along and look at the soles of his feet
and see that they were not white like the soles of men who spend much
time in the water. Then he would cause illness to come upon him so that
he would die. In a few villages a small hand-trap (naching) is set in
swampy pools for mud-fish. It consists of a small bamboo basket entered
by an inverted funnel, so that a fish once in cannot find the way out.
When the rivers are high fishing-rods (ngoko) made of bamboo are used,
with a line made of twisted chütsung bark, the bark used for
bow-strings. Hooks (mukhu) are either bought at a shop or made out of
umbrella wire. It is unlucky to catch a kind of fish called süwo with
the rod and line. Anyone who does so splits the fish in half lengthways
and lays the two halves on the ground. He then goes home by a road
other than the road by which he came. Were he to go home by the road he
came he would meet and be killed by a tiger or leopard. This fish can
be eaten without any precautions if it is caught in any other way.
Where a stream is divided into two channels with an island in the
middle, one channel is often blocked with a temporary weir and all the
water diverted down the other. The fish in the blocked channel can then
be caught by hand. When a stream is both cold and highly coloured the
fish appear to lose their vitality and large numbers are caught by hand
in holes and cracks. [99]
Food.
Rice is the staple food, but some relish, even if it be only jungle
leaves boiled with chilies and salt, is always eaten with it. Meat is
preferred if obtainable, but the Lhota will eat most things at a pinch.
His diet includes the meat of all domestic animals and most wild
animals and birds, fish, both fresh and dried, bee and hornet grubs,
large spiders, a kind of beetle, white ants, cultivated plants and
innumerable jungle leaves and berries. Certain things are forbidden,
but villages near the plains are much less particular in this respect
than those on the inner ranges. The general reason why certain animals
and birds are not eaten is either that they are obviously unclean or
because they are thought likely to impart their properties to the eater
or to his children. Generally speaking old people can eat things which
young people cannot, because it does not much matter what happens to
them and in any case they will have no more children. Tigers and
leopards are absolutely forbidden to all because they eat men. Leopard
cats can be eaten by old people who no longer cultivate. Were a young
man to eat it he would get poor crops. Wild dog if eaten causes a
raging thirst. Phiyosao of Akuk ate only a little of the skin of one,
but he had to leave the village school because he could never sit
through a lesson without going out for a drink. Whoever eats or even
kills an otter will never be able to get his fields to burn properly.
[100] None but very old people may touch, much less eat, either the big
or little flying squirrel (Petaurista yunnanensis and Pteromys
aboniger). Anyone who does so will frequently be guilty of indecent
behaviour with the opposite sex of his own clan. Several kinds of birds
are forbidden. The Large Streaked Spiderhunter (Arachnothera magna) is
only eaten by very old people “because it is such a very funny-looking
bird, and has such a very long beak.” The local species of minivet
(Pericrocotus brevirostris) is forbidden to all because the cocks are
supposed to have got their scarlet markings from being splashed with
human blood. The Velvet-fronted Blue Nuthatch (Sitta frontalis) goes
about in little flocks and is such a confiding little bird that if one
is killed the rest of the flock will wait near till they are killed
too. Therefore if a man were to eat one, one death in his household
would be followed by a series of deaths. A solitary old man or woman
can, of course, eat this bird with impunity. The Whitecapped Redstart
(Chimarrhornis leucocephalus) and Whiteheaded Babbler (Gampsorhynchus
rufulus) are not eaten because they would cause the eater to become
grey-headed. Parrots and crow-tits (Parodoxornis) are not eaten because
of the shape of their beaks. The eater’s children would be
everlastingly pinching their friends. Scimitar babblers (Pomatorhinus)
if eaten would make the eater unable to remember his dreams and so
deprive him of an important guide in life. The clan of anyone who ate a
sun-bird (Æthopyga) would dwindle in numbers, for sun-birds used to be
as big as fowls, but are now the smallest of all birds. Swiftlets and
swallows are never still. The children of anyone who ate the flesh of
these birds would be idle and always wanting to run about and play. The
flesh of the Tree or House Sparrow is said to cause the itch. The
Red-headed Trogon (Harpactes erythrocephalus) is not eaten because it
is supposed to have got its brilliant colouring from human blood.
Owlets (Scops) are not eaten owing to the extraordinary belief that
they hatch their eggs by lying on their backs on them. The nightjar
when disturbed only flies a short way and then settles on the ground
again as if inviting one to follow. In this way it used to lead men on
and on like a will-o’-the-wisp till they found themselves in an ambush
and were killed. Therefore nightjars are not eaten. The Green Magpie
(Cissa chinensis) is not eaten owing to a supposed habit of sitting on
the bamboo erections built over graves. The loud laughing cry of the
Himalayan White-crested Laughing Thrush (Garrulax leucolophas) is
particularly sudden and startling. Were a man to eat its flesh he would
become nervous in the jungle and would jump whenever a twig or a leaf
dropped near him. The cry of the Long-tailed Broadbill (Psarisomus
dalhousiæ) is a sign of rain, and whoever eats its flesh will always
have bad weather when he goes to work in his fields. The hoopoe is such
a curious bird that to eat it might mean disaster to the clan. Hawks
are continually dropping excreta. Whoever ate one would spit
continually. [101] The Rufous-bellied Hawk Eagle (Lophotriorchis
kieneri) is forbidden to all but old people who expect to have no more
children, for sores appear on the heads of the eater’s children. The
two species of Racket-tailed Drongo (Dissemurus paradiseus and Bhringa
remifer) are only eaten by old people, for as they have two very long
conspicuous tail-feathers, so whoever ate their flesh would only have
two children. The Indian Roller, commonly called the Blue Jay, is only
eaten by old people, for the children of the eater would be as noisy as
the bird itself. Ashy Swallow-Shrikes (Artamus fuscus) have a habit of
sitting on branches in rows, each bird touching its neighbour. It is
therefore eaten by none but very old people, for were any young man or
woman to eat it he or she would never be able to sit alone, but would
always want to go and sit cuddled up against one of the other sex, a
habit full of possibilities of trouble. The flesh of the Great Indian
Hornbill (Dichoceros bicornis) is absolutely forbidden to members of
the Tompyaktserre phratry, and is very rarely eaten by members of other
phratries. The bird has a croaking note, and were a man to whom its
flesh is forbidden to eat it he would die of violent hiccoughs. Of
reptiles the python is eaten by all in the villages near the plains,
but elsewhere it is only eaten by old people. (Even villages near the
plains never speak of it as “python” (ongam) when talking of it as an
article of diet, but always call it by the politer name of sosiyo,
“long meat.”) It is believed that black marks are liable to appear on
the back of the eater, who will be semi-paralysed and only able to move
his body slowly like a python. A Rephyim man called Lobenthang is
supposed to have been affected in this way. Snakes other than the
python are forbidden to all. Old women may eat the same things as old
men, but there are a few kinds of meat which men may eat, but young and
middle-aged women may not. These include serow, wild mithan, buffalo,
bear, elephant, monkey, white-browed gibbon (“huluk”) and pangolin.
Most of these are forbidden for no reason which is known now, [102] but
gibbon is prohibited because these animals are supposed to have no more
than a single young one once in nine years, and this peculiarity would
assuredly pass to the eater. In some villages these prohibitions are
only observed at the time of pregnancy.
Rice is invariably cooked separately from the meat or whatever is to be
eaten with it. Meat and vegetables are boiled together with a lavish
allowance of chilies and salt. Practically all food is boiled, though
maize is roasted and eaten cold and plantains are roasted in their
skins. A very favourite relish is bamboo pickle (dhrüchong) made of the
hearts of young bamboo shoots pounded up with water and then dried, and
boiled again when required. Though the Lhota prefers his food fresh he
will eat both meat and fish which is pretty far gone. The flesh,
entrails, blood and skin of an animal are eaten—in fact, practically
everything except the hair. The men who went to France with the Naga
Labour Corps thought our method of cleaning an animal and throwing away
the offal most wasteful. Meat is stored by cutting it into small pieces
and smoking it over the fire. In this way it will keep for a year.
Drink.
To deprive a Lhota of his “madhu” (soko) would be like depriving a
British workman of both his beer and tea. The Lhota only drinks water
if he can get nothing else. He drinks “madhu” both at meals and between
meals. It is made as follows. Rice is boiled in the ordinary way and
spread on a mat to cool. A cake of yeast (vamhe) is then broken up and
well mixed with it, and the rice put to ferment in a basket lined with
leaves. Next day the liquor begins to run off and is collected in a
bamboo “chunga.” This is zutsü (Assamese “rohi”), the most potent form
of “madhu.” When new it is the colour of rather greenish water. If kept
it will remain good for five or six months, gradually increasing in
strength and turning a pale sherry colour. It is this form of “madhu”
which is always offered to guests of importance. In some villages of
the Northern Lhotas the rice is not put into a basket to ferment, but
into a vat, a hollow section of bamboo being placed upright in it to
collect the zutsü, which is allowed to drain off for three days. The
fermented rice from which the zutsü has been drained off is put into a
“madhu-sieve” (cham) and hot or sometimes cold water is poured on to
it. It is well kneaded, and the resulting brew is chemcho (Assamese
“saka madhu”), the usual Lhota drink, and is of about the potency of
light beer. Sometimes, especially among the Southern Lhotas, millet,
giant millet or Job’s tears, or a mixture of maize and rice, is used
instead of rice for making “madhu.” The yeast is made as follows. Rice
is ground into flour and wetted and kneaded into dough. To this a
little old yeast is added, and either the water from crushed phyushako
bark, or from the crushed leaves of yimerhe or shingwo. The dough with
this added is again well kneaded and divided into cakes about the size
of penny buns. These dry of themselves and remain good for six or seven
months.
The mild form of rice beer called in Assamese “pita madhu,” which is so
popular among the Angamis, is hardly made by the Lhotas except at
harvest. A little unhusked rice is kept damp until it sprouts, and is
then dried. Husked rice is ground into flour and put into a vat with
hot water. Next day when it has become cold the dried sprouted rice is
ground up and mixed with a little yeast and added to the water. This
ferments and is ready for drinking next day. It is drunk diluted with
water and is called etha soko.
Medicine.
Illness is generally ascribed to evil spirits (tsandhramo) or the
wandering of the patient’s soul (omon), who accordingly calls in a
medicine man (ratsen) to extract from his body the bit of earth or wood
or hair which the evil spirit put there, or causes a ceremony to be
performed to call back his soul. A few medicines are, however, known.
Fat pork is eaten as an aperient. For an emetic, chicken dung and rat
dung are whipped up with water and the mixture is drunk—probably as
effective an emetic as any known to science. For diarrhœa the remedies
are roasted goat’s hoof or the gall of either cow or pig. For
stomach-ache and intestinal worms an infusion of the bark of nshitong
(Stereospernum chelonoides) is drunk. For indigestion and stomach
troubles in general a little of the dried upper stomach of the
porcupine is ground up and taken mixed with water, or a poultice of
wild lemon leaves (tsoshü) or the crushed leaves of Maesa indica
(tsandhrammozü, lit. “devil’s medicine”) is put over the affected part.
For a cough the green pentagonal-shaped berries of the yenkuti tree are
chewed, or a berry called riko is ground up and taken with “rohi
madhu.” The yenkuti berry is also used as a tonic for weak children.
Bat’s flesh is another tonic for children whose mothers cannot suckle
them properly. For headache the leaf of the kizu tree (Bischoffia
javanica) is laid on the forehead. For wounds the commonest remedy is a
poultice of the ground-up bark of young shoots of the nungnung tree
(Callicarpa arborea roxb., fam. Verbenaceæ). This has the effect of
stopping bleeding. The mashed-up leaves of the pontengcho tree have the
same effect. A bush called temphak (Rhus semialata) provides two
medicines. The juice of the berries is a cure for stomach-ache, and a
cooling lotion for use in cases of chicken pox and smallpox is prepared
from the pounded leaves. The gall of the python is said to cure fever
and intestinal troubles. A lotion made from Taraktogenos kurzii
(hmhmti) bark is used to disinfect wounds. If maggots get into a wound
in an animal a mash of pounded giant woodlouse (sharhi) is applied.
Soot (live) is applied for skin diseases. For burns the ash of the
leaves of the woropentung tree is applied. For dog-bite a whisker of
the dog which bit the man is singed and put on the wound. Another
example of the “hair of the dog” is the practice of drinking very hot
“rohi madhu” as a remedy for drunkenness. To bring a boil to a head a
little yeast (vamhe) is damped and rubbed over it. When ready it is
lanced with a sharp splinter of bamboo. To get rid of warts a
black-and-yellow beetle called potso tsiro (“god’s mithan”) is crushed
on them. This causes them to fester and disappear. Goître is not common
except in Are. When it occurs it is regarded as being due to drinking
water from a spring near which plants with bulbous roots grow. The only
known remedy is to run a red-hot umbrella wire through the goître, but
this heroic measure is rarely employed. Most sufferers prefer the
disease to the cure. For soreness of the eyes the leaves of the
mongsentung are crushed up and held to the face so that the fumes reach
the eye. For a sprain of any kind the great remedy is to draw blood. In
the case of slight sprains the affected place is scratched and made to
bleed and a leech put on to suck. For more serious sprains or
contusions the swelling is cupped. The instrument used is a serow horn.
The base is smoothed down so that it will lie closely against the skin,
and a small hole is bored near the tip of the horn, round which a thin,
slightly withered leaf is wrapped. The skin is pricked with a splinter
of bamboo and the horn being placed in position the blood is sucked up
into it by the hole near the top. The thin leaf allows the air to be
sucked from the interior of the horn, but acts as an efficient valve
when the operator stops to take breath. This method of cupping is used
for sprains, bruises and dropsy, in fact in any case where it is
desired to reduce a swelling. In cases of snake-bite the limb affected
is first tightly bound above the bite. An infusion of the bark of a
tree called nungatsung is rubbed on the legs as a protection against
leech-bites.
Drugs.
Home-grown tobacco is cured by drying the leaves in the sun for three
or four days. They are then stamped and rolled with the feet and again
dried. The result is a coarse-smoking tobacco, very hot to the tongue
and difficult to keep alight. Hence the popularity of cheap cigarettes
among boys nowadays. The short pipe (tsintsanmukukhu) is simply a short
section of bamboo with a small bamboo tube stuck in the side of it, a
few lines being sometimes scratched on the bowl by way of
ornamentation. The big pipe (murimukukhu) is a more elaborate affair,
with a bowl cut out of soft black stone and set in a wooden base
forming one piece with the stem, which is bored with a hot iron and
ends in a small bamboo mouth-piece. From the bowl a small bamboo tube
some four inches long runs down through the wooden base into a section
of bamboo about five inches long. This is detachable and is kept full
of water when the pipe is in action. All the smoke is drawn through the
water, which becomes nothing but very dirty diluted nicotine. This foul
liquid is carefully kept and sipped now and again as a pick-me-up. If
he does not take his big pipe with him when he goes down to his fields
a man will often take a little gourd of this stuff. Though they are in
such close touch with the plains, opium eating is unknown in Lhota
villages, a great contrast with the Aos and Konyaks. Betel nut is
chewed with “pan” and lime in the villages near the plains. Lime used
to be made locally from the ground-up shells of freshwater snails, but
is now bought in the plains.
A remarkable number of suicides by poisoning take place among the
Lhotas. For this the root of a common flowering plant called rhisa is
used. This poison has a very strong taste and cannot be given to
another man without his knowledge. Mixed with boiled rice it is used as
rat poison. Tradition has it that men of standing used to be poisoned
by their enemies through the agency of old women and children, and a
man once told the writer that he was nearly poisoned in that way. But
no authentic case of murder by poisoning appears ever to have been
known. [103]
Games.
Wrestling and running are not much indulged in, but both high jump
(untsongeyen) and long jump (eyenda) are popular. For the former the
competitors run straight at the jump and clear it with their feet
together, the “scissor” style of jumping being unknown. A good jumper
can clear a reed the height of his own chin. For the long jump a flat
stone is put in position to take off from, and the mark which counts is
that made by the jumper’s feet in landing, whether he falls backwards
or not. For the “jump-and-kick” (nshü) the jumper makes a standing jump
and while in the air kicks with both feet together at some mark such as
a leaf stuck on the end of an upright spear. It is quite common for a
man to be able to kick a mark as high above his head as he can reach
with his hand. A variety of this (choanshü) is one in which the jumper
takes a standing jump from one leg and kicks the mark with the foot
from which he jumped—a most difficult feat. Putting the weight
(olungeyen) is done either with one hand in the English manner or with
both hands from above the head.
A game called khurocho in which sides are taken is played with seeds
like big flat chestnuts obtained from the large bean-like pods of the
sword bean (khuro). These seeds are also the Lhota substitute for soap.
The game is played at sowing time on coming back to the village in the
evening. There are generally three or four players a side, though there
may be as many as seven or eight. A number of seeds equal to the number
of players on each side are set up on edge in a row with their edges
touching. About three yards from them and parallel to them a line
called epfu [104] is scratched on the ground. A yard behind epfu
another line called esi is marked, and behind that at intervals of a
yard two more lines called sichemo and sikao. Each side has an innings
in turn, while the other side puts back the seeds which are knocked out
of place. Each member of the side which is in throws at the line in
turn with another seed and tries to knock away every seed in the line.
The first throws from epfu, and if some member succeeds in knocking
away all the seeds in the line, the side moves back to esi and throws
from there, and so on to sikao, from which it works back to sichemo,
esi and epfu and begins again, till it happens that no one in the side
succeeds in knocking away all the seeds, when the side is out and the
other side comes in. A seed is not counted as knocked out unless it is
knocked at least a cubit from the line of seeds. The thrower may stride
forward as far as he likes provided his back foot is on the line from
which his side is throwing. This game appears to resemble that known
among the Manipuris as kang. [105]
A game also called khurocho, but entirely different though the same
seeds are used, is played in Yimpang and seems to be peculiar to that
village. [106] The players are usually two a side. The seeds are laid
in pairs one on the top of another in two converging lines meeting in
an apex about two yards from the mark at which the spinner squats. The
player holds a seed in the palm of his left hand and with a flick of
his right forefinger spins it at the lines of seeds. The object is to
knock as many of the top seeds off as possible. If a bottom seed of a
pair is knocked out of place it counts as a miss. One side uses one
line and the other the other for scoring their points, which is done
with a bit of wood laid between the pairs to mark the number of top
seeds knocked off by that side. It does not matter from which line they
are knocked off, though the spinner must hit one or both of the two
pairs nearest him, and not break the line in the middle. Whichever side
is able to move its mark up from the bottom to the top of a line first
wins.
Tops (phiro) shaped like double cones are made of hard wood. The string
is wound round one cone and the end held in the fingers. The top is
then thrown either underhand or overhand and the string jerked back
while it is still in the air. The object is to knock over someone
else’s top which is already spinning. Tops are spun at and just after
sowing time. The Changs attach some special significance to
top-spinning. All indulge in the sport at and just after sowing, but a
man who spins a top at any other time is fined by his fellow-villagers.
Lhotas inflict no fine, but the custom is that tops should be spun only
at the time mentioned. Another game, if game it can be called, is a
competition to see who can eat most fat pork and salt. Toys are
unknown, though little boys carry miniature bamboo spears in imitation
of their fathers, and little girls carry sticks or stones wrapped in a
cloth on their backs as mother carries the baby. Notches are often cut
on the edges of the beds in the champo, and little boys play a game
(ekhirandhapen) in which they say, “bom, bom,” as they touch each
notch, beginning at the end of the line, the object being to see how
far you can get without taking a fresh breath.
Music.
Besides songs, of which some account has been given in the section on
language, the operations of reaping, threshing and carrying up the crop
are accompanied by simple wordless chants. Only the proper chant which
tradition sanctions may be sung. Were a man to use the wrong one, the
reaping chant while threshing, for instance, the listening spirits of
the fields (Rangsi) would be displeased and refuse him their blessings.
Three varieties of musical instrument are used. Of these the simplest
is the trumpet (phupphu), consisting merely of a bamboo tube about
sixteen inches long, from which a bellowing noise can be produced. A
more elaborate type of phupphu has a tube about four and a half feet
long of light wood from which the pith has been removed, terminating in
a trumpet-shaped piece of gourd. The Lhota has an accurate ear for
music, and with this he can give wonderful imitations of bugle calls.
But the instrument upon which he is most expert is the flute (philili
or phiphili). This consists of a thin bamboo tube about forty inches
long, open at both ends, with a small square mouthpiece cut about two
inches from the thick end. [107] The player either sits down or lies on
his back, with his right wrist resting on the ground. With the palm or
one of the fingers of his left hand he stops up the broad end, and
using the mouthpiece like that of a flute, produces a rather pleasing
tootling tune by opening or closing the small end with the middle
finger of his right hand. This instrument is a favourite one with young
bucks, who lie on their backs in the “morung” and tootle the names of
their lady-loves in simple tunes. In every village a particular
combination of notes represents the name of each fair one, and strange
though it may seem, no one listening ever seems to have any doubt as to
what lady’s fame is being celebrated.
Daily Life.
The family get up before dawn, the wife being the first to blow up the
fire, set the pot on to boil and open the door. After a meal all go
down to the fields, taking with them “madhu,” cold rice and some cooked
meat or vegetables. This the family eat while they take a short rest in
the middle of the day in the field-house. The evening meal is eaten
when they come back from the fields. After that it is soon time for
bed. When the harvest is in there is less work, and men go away on
short trading tours, or make up hunting parties, while the women stay
at home and weave and gossip.