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



mitre, split bamboos also at the corners to hold offerings, and a long rich 

 red silk Burmese cloth hung on a bamboo some way off:, strips of red and 

 white cloth hung all about on sticks, and waved with a curious effect, 

 the jungle forming a background. 



On reaching the canoe I gave Chauing a dozen rounds of Snider 

 ammunition to shoot a tiger which was killing their cattle, and started on 

 up the Namrup, finding that the rapids at once became more frequent and 

 difficult. At places we had to clear out a track or passage by rolling the 

 boulders aside ere we could drag the canoe up. a work that we became pretty 

 expert at, and these same passages were again very useful on our return. 



At the Singphu village of Sambiang, or Gogo, we landed and secured 

 a guide named Lah, who was known to Mdng, our boatman, and was re- 

 puted to have influence among the Tkak Nagas. He owned a gun that he 

 desired to fire off " for luck" ere starting, so sitting on shingle he pulled 

 the trigger several times in vain, as the hammer stuck at half-cock. I ad- 

 vised a hard jerk and turned to go to the canoe. Hearing a fearful bang, 

 I returned and saw the guide's feet and gun pointing skywards through 

 the smoke. He assured me, though in a nervous way, that it was all right, 

 and usually did that when he put in six fingers of powder and two balls ! 



From hence to Tkak we had three other Singphus travelling with us, 

 and at starting most of us walked over the shingle, gravel, and sand near 

 the river to lighten the boat. I noticed these three men at one place busy 

 catching some insects, and found that they were bugs an inch long which 

 lay under the stones, and which had an unmistakable odour. On enquiry, 

 one of them said they were going to eat them as they were a capital 

 substitute for chillies ! and asked me to give them a fair trial ! 



By 4 o'clock we found a good camping-ground near the Nmbai Muk, 

 on the wide dry sands of an " era hute" open on each side and with high 

 forest behind and in front. Fires were soon blazing, every one felt com- 

 fortable, and dinner was over by sunset. Gradually the moon rose over the 

 tree-tops and lit up the entire scene. While I enjoyed a cigar, the Bengalis 

 did justice to their tamaku, Mung and the Singphus lit up their little brass 

 bowl pipes, and we enjoyed the long evening. There seemed few birds or 

 beasts about, the ripple of the rapid not far off yielded the only sound. 

 Then we discussed Nongyang and the routes : none except Lah had been 

 there. Queer stories abounded, such as that the island in the lake floated 

 about and shifted its position with a change of wind. I heard also that 

 the valley had once been densely peopled with Khamongs or Kamjangs, 

 Aitonias, and Turong Turai, who had all left in consequence of raids by the 

 Singphus. 



Some of these same Aitonias being now near Golaghat, and the Kam- 

 jangs gone to the east, the valley is now-a-days utterly destitute of 



