8 S. E. Peal — Report on a visit to the [No. 1, 



ment purchasing too indiscriminately. At Bor Phakial, ere I left, some 

 twelve Singphus from Hukong came in en route home from Assam, having 

 sold all their amber. Happening to ask if they knew certain villages, 

 Mbon and Nmphin, I found they were from the first one I named, and 

 I at once had pressing invitations to go and see them ere my return, they 

 offering to guarantee my safety. The advantages of our rule to Assam 

 was here, as on some other occasions, dilated upon ; security to life and 

 property here contrasting favourably with the insecurity there, where there 

 was no paramount authority. 



After breakfast the whole village lined the bank to see me off in the 

 Boh Boy, winch seemed to amuse old and young, boys and girls alike. 



Passing Bhaigirot, we were joined by a Singphii and his wife and 

 family in a small dug-out, the woman and an infant in the centre under 

 a little bit of curved roof, the man paddling as he steered, while a boy of 

 10, and a girl of 12 poled at the bows, keeping pace with us easily and 

 crossing shallows we dared not venture near. By 4 o'clock we reached 

 the Tirapmuk, whereat is situated the village and residence of Kherim 

 Gam, the young chief of the nearest Singphus, whom I knew well, but who 

 was now up at the Namtsik elephant stockade. 



The Tirap river falls in on the left bank of the Dihing, after a long 

 course, draining a huge valley along the northern flank of the Patkai, 

 which is densely populated by the Nagas. 



A route from this point enters the hills, passing Wadoi, Hongtam, 

 Rangnem, and Yungbhi, crossing the Patkai at 5,000 feet elevation, and 

 afterwards other ridges of similar height, including the Gedak Bum, to 

 emerge at Namyung village in Upper Hukong. It is a long and tedious 

 route, crossing great elevations, and was taken by Griffiths in 1837, there 

 being no carriage via Nongyang, From the Tirap to Namyang takes 

 twelve days generally. In the morning I visited the Gam's houses, a col- 

 lection of dilapidated sheds, having raised floors, beneath which the pigs 

 luxuriated in unlimited mud. The Gam's mother complained to me, 

 through an interpreter, that the JVats, or evil spirits, tormented her with 

 pains, so I gave her a small present of opium and departed. 



As a race, the Singphus are more rude and headstrong than the 

 Khamptis, and would make remarkably good soldiers, like most of these 

 hillmen ; the pity is they are not utilized. 



Kherim Gam's brother paid me a visit ere I left in the morning, and 

 said he knew the Gam would be sorry that he had missed me. 



En route we had some fine views of the hills to the south and of snowy 

 peaks to the eastward, the river bed was still very wide, shallow, and full 

 of snags above Tirap ; bow some of the little canoes that shot past down- 

 stream filled with Singphus escaped a capsize was a wonder. 



