1845.] Visit to the Hills near the Soobanshiri River. 263 



marriage unless she can find the means of defraying all that was origi- 

 nally paid for her ; if she can do this and furnish a feast on the occasion, 

 there seems no objection to her making a second alliance. The costume 

 of the women is peculiar : a short petticoat extending from the loins 

 to the knees is secured to a broad belt of leather which is ornamented 

 with brass bosses, besides this they wear round their middles an infinite 

 number of rings made of filaments of bamboo embroidered with the 

 fibres of another plant. A band of similar material, from which a bit of 

 cloth is suspended in front, is bound tightly round the breast under the 

 arms. This is their travelling and working dress ; but at other times 

 they wrap themselves in a large cloth doubled, brought over the shoul- 

 ders, and pinned in front like a shawl. They wear round their necks an 

 enormous quantity of beads, mostly of blue, like turquoise, but also of 

 agate, cornelians and onyx, and glass beads of all colors. They have 

 bracelets of silver or copper, and anklets of finely plaited cane or bam- 

 boo. Their hair is adjusted with neatness, parted in the centre and 

 hanging down their backs in two carefully plaited tails. In their ears 

 they wear most fantastic ornaments of silver, which it would be difficult 

 to describe ; a simple spiral screw of this metal winding snakelike 

 round the extended lobe of the ear is not uncommon amongst unmar- 

 ried girls ; but the ear ornaments of the matrons are much more com- 

 plex. They generally have very sweet countenances, though few could 

 be called handsome. The almond-shaped eye is common, but not uni- 

 versal ; mouths generally well formed ; and teeth, notwithstanding the free 

 use of tobacco, very fine and white ; their complexion what the natives of 

 India would call fair, but they have rosy cheeks and ruddy lips, which 

 is a decided improvement on the Assamese complexion ; they are very 

 stoutly built, generally short of stature, but to this there are remarkable 

 exceptions. The men have fine muscular figures ; many of them tall and 

 with good features, but the countenances of some are repulsive. The 

 variety of feature denotes an admixture of races, and no doubt many of 

 them have Assamese blood in their veins, but usually there is the high 

 cheek-bone and almond-shaped eye, lips rather thin, and face devoid of 

 hair except a few over each extremity of the mouth forming an apology 

 for a moustache. They gather the hair to the front, where it pro- 

 trudes out from the forehead in a large knob secured by a bodkin ; 



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