42 S. E. Peal — Notes of a trip up the Biking, [No. 1, 



" treed," and the others shouting me to shoot, to frighten away a deer, it 

 lasted as a joke some time. Next morning my fellows sure enough found 

 it was a " hor pohu," samber. At the same time there could be no mis- 

 take that immense numbers of elephants must pretty frequently be all 

 over the place ; it was, as one Singphu said, all *' hati gaon." About 10 

 A. M. we started to find the return path that led over the west plateau and 

 the saddle between Nchong Bum and Joitho, we were hours at it, and came 

 again and again out at the same place ; at last going up the spurs towards 

 the Mishmi jums, where after about two hours, we emerged, and found 

 them all clearing the jungle. 



These Mishmis do not cut and slash so vigorously as the Nagas when 

 clearing, but go to work quietly with their small knife daos, and get 

 through a great deal quickly, I noticed that they left a great deal, such as 

 bamboo clump stems standing, that Nagas would have cut, but they pile 

 small stuff about them, and when dry the fire does the rest of the work for 

 them. Looking at their work from a prehistoric point of view, I could 

 well imagine that a very small cutting implement aided by fire, could really 

 make extensive clearings, for if the fires are made around the larger tree 

 stems, it soon kills them, and in about three to four days the whole of the 

 foliage is dead, and in a week is ankle deep all around underneath, and the 

 shade has disappeared. 



The study of the dao is worth pursuing, and might be expected to 

 yield some results (so far unknown to us) regarding the stone age here, 

 there are many forms more or less serial, and related to the Asamese 

 " Pat kutar" (lit. leaf -axe) and the Andaman p. axe. Both are forms that 

 could be closely imitated in stone. Illustrations of a few are given hereafter. 

 Celts also are found all over the hills during juming, but regarded with 

 superstitious awe. At several places as we came along we found large 

 clumps of the planted Ura bamboo, indicating old Singphu village sites, 

 and at one place in particular where Wilcox places Koom kur near the 

 upper edge of the western plateau, saw as many as five or six large mounds, 

 say forty feet across and six high, around which large ditches were dug 

 leaving as usual at four opposite places, little causeways to cross by, most 

 of these mounds had bamboo clumps on them. 



It was now past midday and we had only just found the entrance to 

 the path on the plateau above, I had upbraided the Singphus and " Uren 

 nong" especially whom the Bishi Gam had given me as guide and a safe 

 man. It now turned out that it was about ten or twelve years since he 

 had been by this path, and the country was so trampled about everywhere 

 by wild elephants that he continually lost the track. Every now and then 

 we had all to sit down while he and his men scouted around to find it, and 

 from the edge of the plateau on the west overlooking the Dapha valley I 



