204 Major Macgregor — Notes on the Ahas. [Dec, 



of bamboos and held in position by single canes, which can be severed at 

 a blow, are, owing to the precipitous nature of the hills, most formida- 

 ble obstacles. These obstacles, commonly called " booby traps, ' are 

 usually placed so as to command a path ascending a steep hill side ; 

 and as the path generally zigzags, the rocks, when liberated from the 

 cage, strike it in several places before finding a resting-place at the 

 bottom. 



The stockades of the Akas are strong and well-built ; they are 

 constructed of double rows of bamboos placed upright in the ground. 

 In the middle earth and stones are placed to a height of about 4 feet ; the 

 stockades being 10 or 12 feet high, a perfect chevaux cle /rise of pointed 

 bamboos are firmly secured in the stockades (so firmly are the pointed 

 bamboos secured that it takes one a considerable time to cut a way 

 through). These stockades are constructed near the summit of a hill 

 and in such a position that it is almost impossible for a two-legged 

 animal to " turn " them. The Akas keep a good supply of large stones 

 behind the stockades, to hurl at an advancing foe. 



In my opinion the Aka does not take kindly to the war path. A 

 thieving expedition, where there is a minimum of danger and a maxi- 

 mum of loot, is more in his line. In the late expedition, the Akas relied 

 to a great extent on the (supposed) inaccessibility of their country, and 

 this, combined with their ignorance of the nature of the troops they 

 were to meet, gave them a certain amount of confidence. At the action 

 at the Tenga River on the 8th January, they blew horns and kept up 

 a peculiar kind of war chant ; this was done probably with the object of 

 encouraging each other and of striking terror into the hearts of their 

 foes. This method of fighting is quite opposed to their usual one, which 

 is essentially a system of ambuscades and surprises, and in this system 

 they excel. Small bodies of men will crouch quietly for hours in the 

 jungle, hiding themselves with the aid of leaves and bushes, which they 

 plant in front of them, and wait for the arrival of a convoy, into which 

 they will fire a volley of poisoned arrows and decamp down the hill side. 

 The Akas do not, so far as I am aware, mutilate the slain, nor do 

 they torture a prisoner. 



When the Aka is on the war path he must, of course, have his pro- 

 visions with him ; these are generally carried by one of the slaves, and 

 consist of rice (cooked), rice wine, Indian corn, &c. The cooked rice is 

 carried in long bamboo tubes ; several of these are placed in a basket and 

 carried on the slave's back ; thus one slave can carry the provisions for 

 three men for about a week. Nearly all the inhabitants of Ramdagaon, 

 on the south (right) bank of the Tenga River, are slaves to the Akas. 

 Whenever Mehdi, Chundi and Co. wish to make a raid, the Ramdagaon 

 men are ordered to send a contingent to act as coolies and fighting men. 



