\ 

 1881.] Nongyang Lake, on the Burmese Frontier. 23 



We pitched our tents in a row, on a clean piece of ground offered us 

 among the houses, and after dinner a most motley crowd of people came 

 round our fire, to whom I had more or less to show myself, my clothes, 

 guns, lamps, &c. 



The imperceptible effect of custom was curiously seen in many very 

 trivial things here, as elsewhere : for instance, though more or less all 

 prepared for wonderful guns, I found that whenever I opened the D.-B. 

 B -L. suddenly and the barrels dropped, there was an instantaneous " Awa ! 

 he's broken it," the idea of a joint at the breech being the last to occur 

 naturally. At last we got to sleep, after telling them all I would remain 

 over the next day, perhaps two, and there was plenty of time to see every- 

 thing. 



Early next morning I was up, but the range of Patkai all along was 

 invisible. In the dark, however, I must mention the Nagas were up and 

 the women and girls at work and going for water. The muffled tread of 

 many feet and tinkling of the many shin-rings awoke me, and they came 

 back in the dark ; meantime, the dull " bump, bump" of the rice husking 

 went on in every house till dawn. 



I took a turn to the upper few houses of the village, some 300 yards 

 east, while my man was getting chota liazri (little breakfast) for me, and 

 on my return in half an hour, failing to make a sketch east on account of the 

 mist I found a lot of the women and girls squatted about weaving, and " got 

 up regardless," in beads, red hair, red cane, and such like in lieu of costume, 

 the tout ensemble when some of them stood up was certainly most remark- 

 able. The long and in some cases profuse straight black hair was secured 

 on the poll of the head by two large (engraved) bone hair-pins, from 

 the projecting ends of which, behind, beads depended, round the head or 

 over the hair some twenty rings of scarlet cane were fastened, and over the 

 forehead a bead coronet. A large brass ring hung from the upper edge of 

 each ear, a bright green bird's skin dangling below to the shoulder ; the pe- 

 culiar nose-studs, or nostril-plugs, completed the head. " A profusion of large 

 small bead necklaces hung from the neck, some close, others long and 

 reaching to the waist. Pewter armlets, bright and dull, on the arms, and 

 wristlets of brass of various sorts, from plain wire to a curious piece of 

 casting, were on the arms, now and then red goat's hair being attached in a 

 fringe or bunch. Round the waist was the curious series of cane rings, some 

 fifty or sixty, more or less attached to each other, or long strip coiled round 

 and round, but generally worn as a little crinoline, very much too short, and 

 which was helped out by a strip of native-wove cloth, going all round, but 

 ends not joined, — the whole contrivance barely decent. Red cane bands 

 were often worn round the leg below the knee, as is the custom with the 

 men, and then the remarkable pewter shin-rings, four or five on each leg 



