1845] Report of a n Exp editio n i n i.o the Mishm ee Hi/ Is 483 



between the mountains, small hill streams, of beautifully clear water, flow 



along the hollows until lost in the large rivers that intersect the country. 



By sunset we reached a Mishmee house, and were glad to avail ourselves 



of the shelter offered. 



Dec. 7 th. — As rain had continued falling during the night and the 



greater part of the day, I was unable to proceed further than a few miles ; 



but contrived to reach the house of a chief, named Heasong, to whose 



residence most of my baggage had been taken on by mistake the 



previous day. 



Dec. 8th. — On leaving this place, and passing through much low 

 jungle where formerly cultivation had been very extensive, we reach- 

 ed the Loolooah rivulet, and crossing which the road lay skirting the 

 banks of the Burhampooter, to the bed of which we occasionally 

 descended ; for the most part the road for these hill tracks was tolerably 

 good, except one place that ran along the side of a low rocky mountain 

 where the footing was unsafe and precarious, from which had any one 

 fallen, he would have been precipitated some thousand feet into the 

 boiling stream of the Burhampooter, the noise of whose waters was just 

 audible from the height we were passing. During this day's march we 

 passed by an elevated lake of small extent, as well as many streams of 

 minor size, and by 4 p.m. arrived at the house of Rumling, who is the 

 head chief of the Taen tribe of Mishmees, and has established himself 

 near the Pass leading from the country to the south of the Burhampooter, 

 which being inhabited by the Myjoo Mishmees, with whom the tribes to 

 the north of the river are at war, affords thereby a protection against the 

 inroads of these people. As a large pig had been slain by this chief in 

 honor of our coming, a part of which is usually reserved for the inmates 

 of the house, I was much amused to see the manner in which 

 these people cook and feed themselves. The animal being killed the 

 blood is all carefully collected, and with the grain babosa is made 

 into a kind of black pudding ; the meat is boiled in a large chaldron, 

 and being cut up into pieces is distributed in leaves amongst those in 

 the house ; these pieces being taken up in the hand are forced as far 

 as possible into the mouth, and the remainder cut off close to the 

 lips : when this is disposed of, the mixture of babosa and blood is 

 stuffed down their throats as fast as they are able to swallow it. In 

 this manner their meals are completed in a few minutes, when they 



