482 Report of an Expedition into the Mishmee Hills. C^o. 163. 



it is the custom of these people to build separately on the land they culti- 

 vate, a village is spread over a large space, although confined to a few 

 habitations. On reaching the house of the Gam Abasong, I found that 

 the whole of his people were employed in making preparations for 

 the reception of myself and party, and doing all they could to make us 

 welcome. 



By 10 a.m. of the 6th we left this village, and there being a scarcity 

 of people to carry the baggage, I here deposited every thing that it was 

 possible to dispense with : after passing some cultivation the road led 

 down by a steep descent to the banks of the Tiding river ; some dis- 

 tance up this stream a large number of Mishmees, principally of the 

 Malo and Moree clans, are located, who cannot be reckoned at less 

 than a thousand persons. As the river was low, we crossed over by 

 means of the fishing weirs, which extend across the stream ; but the 

 usual method adopted by the Mishmees themselves, is by fixing a hoop 

 of cane round the waist, which, passing over a single rope of the same 

 material stretched from bank to bank, enables them to propel themselves 

 forward with their hands and feet, and whatever articles they may have 

 with them are suspended to the bottom of the hoop : in a similar manner 

 both cows and buffaloes are conveyed from bank to bank, being dragged 

 over by other ropes attached to the hoops in which they are carried. 



In the bed of this river are to be found a great variety of the different 

 primitive rocks : lime is here met with in immense blocks, and granite, 

 serpentine, &c. with numerous metalliferous stones, are mixed together in 

 the greatest profusion. On leaving the bed of the Tiding, the road leads 

 over the spurs of the mountains that continue down to the banks of the 

 Burhampooter, and for some distance passes under the perpendicular 

 cliffs of primitive limestone, from which are visible the pendulous stalac- 

 tites that are peculiar to this formation ; after passing the limits occupied 

 by this rock the soil becomes micacious, and in a few places I observed 

 mica slate to cross out from the surface. Arriving on the banks of the 

 Burhampooter, the only path was from block to block, which being of 

 great size and worn to a smooth surface from the action of the water, 

 the passage over them was thereby rendered both arduous and difficult. 

 The mountains in this neighbourhood are mostly covered with dense 

 tree jungle, of great magnitude, for about two-thirds of their height, 

 above which is grass, and near the summits bare rock ; and in the dells 



