202 Account of the Mountain Tribes [April, 



After that it is deposited in a coffin, and conveyed to the house of the 

 deceased chief, where it lies in state, surrounded with all the insignia 

 the illustrious individual enjoyed when alive. When all the relatives 

 have assembled, or communicated their not being able to attend, the 

 coffin is committed to the earth, and a mound of clay, surrounded with 

 a curious trellis- work of bambus, is raised to his memory. If the 

 person has died a violent death, a buffalo is sacrificed as a propitia- 

 tion to their deities, and the head is fixed to a cross, and placed near 

 the grave ; but if he has died in the course of nature, no sacrifice is 

 considered necessary. 



According to the law of inheritance, the patrimony is divided between 

 the eldest and the youngest son ; while any children that may inter- 

 vene are left to push their own fortunes as they best can. The eldest 

 son succeeds to the title and the estate, while the younger, carrying 

 away all the personal and movable property, goes in quest of a set- 

 tlement for himself. 



Tea. — The tea tree grows wild all over the Singpho country, as 

 also upon all the hills in that part of the country, and is in gene- 

 ral use by the natives as a wholesome beverage. The tea tree, 

 according to Mr. Bruce, was known to be indigenous to these climates 

 about ten years ago ; and during the Burmese war, large quantities of 

 it were sent into Saddia by the Busa Gaum. How long the subject 

 might have lain dormant is doubtful, had not the affair been again 

 brought to the serious notice of Government, at a time the most favour- 

 able for doing so, by the scientific investigations of Capt. Jenkins 

 and Lieut. Charleton of the Assam Infantry, to whom we must 

 acknowledge ourselves indebted for a revival of its existence, and for 

 the boon it must necessarily confer upon our country*. 



Mr. Bruce has lately been on a tour to the Singphos, and mixed 

 in social intercourse with them. He saw many thousands of the trees 

 growing in their native soils, and brought away some plants and 

 specimens of the leaves and seeds. The trees were of a very consi- 

 derable size, so as to merit a higher rate of classification than a plant 

 or a shrub : he measured one of the largest, and found it 29 cubits 

 long, and about four spans in circumference at the base. 



Mr. Bruce mentions the following as the native process of making 

 tea, though he does not seem to have witnessed it. First, the leaves 

 are collected from the tree, and put into large boilers containing 

 water. As soon as the water boils, the decoction is drawn off, and 



* This paper was written before the appointment of the scientific deputation 

 to the tea districts, whose report may be now shortly expected. — Ed. 



