1849.] valley of Asam arid its mountain confines, 215 



songopa athang gamkho aimang sangche lachi ianga ; 



younger son his own wealth taking to a far country went ; 



wo sango athang nam jaimang athang gamkho gomaita. 



in that country he in doing wickedly his wealth spent. 



Nkhemo uni gam gamma tho kete ua sango akal ongaa, 



Afterwards his wealth having spent in that country a dearth was, 



ua ban bara dukh ongaa. Unkhoa unisangoni mande shaksa 



his great distress was. Then of that country one man 



chanadonga ungkhemang uni nok shephangona ianga. Ua mande 

 being rich there to his house he went. That man 



uakho wak nerikna anna, wakna chana onako ua 



him pigs to keep gave, to the pigs the food (that was) given he 



chana dakka, una darangba, chana onja. Nkhemung athang 

 wished to eat, to him no one gave to eat. After shut his own 



gishkho raimang agana, hai ! hai ! ang phagopani noko 



mind being distressed he said, alas! in my father's house 



sakar mande manna donga, unode angaba chana mankhechim. 

 servants are many, there I also to eat might have. 



Anga ioni iangkheng aphani nokona. 



/ hence will go to my fathers house. 



The Kachari. 



The Kacharis, or (as they term themselves) Borros, are a numerous 

 race, found in almost all parts of the valley of Asam, but principally 

 along its northern and southern boundaries. Chatgari, a frontier dis- 

 trict, situated between Desh Burning and the Bhotan hills, seems to be 

 their principal local ; and here their numbers are said to amount to 

 about 30,000, which is about half the Kachari population in the valley. 



Destitute of any written characters, they have no historical records of 

 any kind from which to deduce proofs of their origin ; and their tradi- 

 tionary legends throw but a faint light on the subject. An examination 

 into their language however furnishes abundant proof of their intimate 

 connection with the tribes of the Cis-Himalayas. A large proportion 

 of their vocables are identical with those of the Garos, and almost all 

 the rest may be traced to some dialect of the Thibetan, while the idiom 



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