June 19, 1884] 



NA TURE 



it<) 



survival of a purposeful habit of building over water, by Mr. 

 Tylor. 



A considerable experience among Nogas, Miris, Singphus, 

 Kamtis, Deodhains, and Duonias, who all build pile-houses a 

 little varied in kind, convinces me that the above reasons are not 

 strictly correct. 



Possibly the Swiss lake-dwellers descended from Eastern 

 races who built over water, and inherited a custom that perhaps 

 subsequently proved to be beneficial to them when and where 

 large Carnivora were common. As regards India, it seems to 

 me there are good reasons for believing these pile-builders are 

 the direct descendants of the pre-Aryan aboriginals, and if they 

 brought the custom with them from the south, it must be of ex- 

 treme antiquity, and have developed adaptations to local needs, 

 as it is not here used over water. 



It seems hardly due to moisture and tropical rains, as the 

 Kasias, Augamis, and Garos, who live in the wettest climate of 

 all, build on the ground. Again, among those who build on 

 piles many live and sleep on the ground, using the piled part of 

 the house for other purposes. The platforms also are generally 

 too low to afford safety from tigers, and if so needful for health, 

 why is the custom not more general ? 



Among the Miris, Singphus, Kamtis, Nogas, Mismis, and 

 Deodhains that I have questioned as to the origin of the custom 

 of building on piles, the answer is invariably that they do not 

 know, that it is their tribal custom, &c. Pressed as to the 

 advantages of it, or why they could not build on the ground like 

 Hindus, they generally end by urging the absolute necessity of 

 keeping things out of reach of the ever-present pig. 



Section through Noga house, say 60 feet (1 to 4), E.S.E. Sibsagar. 



1 to 2, Rice husking ; 2 to 3, Sleeping, cooking ; 3 to 4, Audience, &c. ; 

 S, "Chang" outside ; s, Steps up ; a bc d, Sleeping-rooms. 



Among many of these tribes, where stone for walls is not 

 easily procurable, the jums even have to be at some distance 

 for the same reason. 



As an illustration of how this animal practically affects the 

 question of house-building, I append a section of a typical 

 average Noga house, as built by the tribes south-east of Sibsagar 

 to the Upper Dihing. One end generally rests on the ground, 

 while the other overhangs a slope for which there often seems to 

 be no occasion, as plenty of level land is about. In all houses 

 of this type the end devoted to husking rice rests on the ground, 

 and the door at that end has a slab that can be raised to admit 

 pigs to eat the husks. This compartment (one-third of the 

 house) is divided from the living and sleeping part by a wall and 

 a door with a stile to keep out pigs. There are generally from 

 two to six, or more, sleeping-rooms on the ground, and beyond 

 them again is an open room used for visitors, or to sit and work 

 in during wet weather. It is hung round with horns and tro- 

 phies, contains hunting and fishing gear, arms and utensils, and 

 small stores. It is the recognised audience-hall, and built on 

 piles ; the floor of it is generally carried out beyond the eaves of 

 the roof, often supported on long bamboos (where the slope is 

 steep), and this outer part or raised floor is seen in some shape 

 or other in all these houses. It is used to sit out on in fine 

 weather, to work on ; rice, yams, sliced vegetables, fruit, fish, 

 flesh, &c, are put there to dry ; pottery is made, and things laid 

 while they are gone to the jums, safe from the prowling pig. 

 From one end of the house to the other, indeed, these prolific 

 scavengers are apparent as an institution. 



As a rule these pile-houses run from thirty to two hundred feet 



long, and are wholly on piles if in the level plains, but the seve- 

 ral tribes have slight modifications. They are still built by the 

 Deodhains, a remnant of the Shans who came into Assam in 1228, 

 and gave it their name (from Ahom) ; about five hundred of 

 these people still remain in some six or eight villages not far off, 

 though dying out. Their language and written character possibly 

 is a unique case of a written language not yet secured. While 

 they remain Ahoms they keep and eat the pig and build on piles, 

 but when converted to Hinduism the pig and piles are given up 

 together. 



I am aware that pigs are kept by Kasias and Garos, &c, who 

 yet do not build on piles, but stone for walls and slabs of gneiss 

 are there alone common, and are effectually used as inclosures or 

 as barriers. There is practically no building-stone where we see 

 the piles in use ; and also bamboo is there common. 



But there are many other things besides pile-dwellings 

 that prove these now distinct tribes to have descended from a 

 common stock. The "morongs," or houses in which the lads 

 and single men sleep at night, away from their parents' houses, 

 are seen under various names all through these hills, north, 

 south, and east of Assam, a custom that has survived the differ- 

 entiation of the languages. There are also " morongs " for the 

 girls and single young women, and there are special and peculiar 

 laws relating (o morongs. 



Liberty of the sexes before marriage is indeed practically so 

 complete among all these tribes that really morals begin with 

 marriage. After marriage they are better, I think, than civilised 

 nations. 



These customs and pile-buildings, &c, indicate a common 

 origin, but there are also means by which we can ascertain 

 the common home more or less accurately, and which show 

 that these pile-builders are descended from the pre-Aryans of 

 the plains, from Assam to the Indus, who named so many of the 

 rivers. In and around Assam we find these names often begin 

 and end with Di and Ti — as Dihing, Dihong, Dibong, Dibru, 

 Dima, Dipha ; Timu, Tiok, Tisa, Tiru, Tiwa, Tista, or Aiti, 

 Galti, Seti, Tapti, Rapti, Kamti, Gulmthi, Ningthi, Lathi, &c. 

 This Di, Ti, means in all cases "water," — as Ti, water ; Sa, 

 the little, young = Tisa, the "young river"; and there are 

 other forms — as Lushai Tui, Kachari Doi, Noga Ti, Tsi, Tzu ; 

 Chu is also Thibetan, Bhotan, and Chinee ; Mongolian being 

 Su, Ussu. 



But the Himalaya has acted as a conspicuous speech-parting. 

 South of it we have the pile-builders' form — Di, Ti, Doi, Da, 

 Dzu ; and north of it, from the east of China, all across Central 

 Asia, Persia, and Asia Minor, to the Gulf of Salonica even, we 

 have the northern Chu and Su in some form. Of Kara Su = 

 black water, and Ak Su = white water (our Oxus) there are 

 scores of instances ; even the " Ind-us " and Eu-phrat-es, and 

 many others, fall into the group. 1 



I drew up lists of these river-names some years ago in the 

 Journal A. S. Bengal, vol. xlviii. part I, 1879, pp. 258-70. 



Thus it would seem as though the races who now build these 

 pile-houses, often on hill-tops, are the descendants of those who 

 named so many of the Indian rivers south of the Himalaya, i.e. 

 the pre-Aryan inhabitants. 



Whether these races originally came from the south or not we 

 cannot yet be certain. But there are several customs, such as 

 "head-hunting" and "pile-dwelling," held in common with 

 races of the Archipelago ; and among the most eastern Nogas the 

 dress is as nearly as possible identical with that of the Dyaks, as 

 illustrated in Dr. E. B. Tylor's "Anthropology," so that 

 eventually it may be possible to say. 



In conclusion, I might mention that the word "Naga," as 

 applied to the tribes south and south-east of Assam, is an Anglo- 

 Bengali-ism, and misleading. It should be Noga, which is the 

 name by which these tribes are known in Assam. It is not a 

 racial name in the hills at all, and has originated from the Noga 

 word " Nok " for folk. 



Thus, Who are you ? is " tern nok ? " or " o nok e ? " N and 

 L are interchangeable letters, and thus Dr. Rajendralala, 

 Mitr, pointed out to me that the Noga Nok and the Sanskrit 

 Lok = man, seem the same word. We use the word Log = 

 folk (logue) almost hourly in Assamese, Bengali, and Hindi, 

 and philologists may perhaps be able to say if we get our word 

 folk from this same root, and for which it is the exact equiva- 

 lent. But the word for these hill-men is " Noga," and they do 

 not worship snakes. The real Nagas are in another part of 



1 The Assyrian hu, Greek 

 " Anct. Geo.," p. 37). 



Scythian ku = water (A. Cunninghn 



