264 Visit to the Hills near the Soobanshiri River. QNo. 160. 



round the head a band of small brass or copper knobs linked together 

 as tightly bound. In their ears they as well as the women wear a 

 variety of ornaments, but of a distinct kind. The lobe is distended so 

 as to hold a knob an inch in diameter. It is gradually enlarged by 

 the insertion of a roll of the leaf of the pine-apple tree. The chiefs wear 

 ornaments of silver, shaped like a wine-glass or egg cup ; young men do 

 not venture to attach so heavy a weight to the slight ligament, and 

 insert a hollow plug of silver instead. The males also wear a profu- 

 sion of the blue beads before mentioned, and others, all very large. 

 Their costume is simple enough — a band round their hips composed 

 of rings of bamboos, the same as worn by the women but not so numer- 

 ous ; an apron attached thereto before and behind, and a cloth wrap- 

 ped round their body and pinned so as to resemble a shirt without 

 sleeves ; a cap of cane or bamboo work with turned-up peak, which how- 

 ever is worn behind, and over their shoulders as a cloak, which 

 also serves as a pouch or knapsack, they throw a covering made of the 

 black hairy fibres of a plant, which at a little distance resembles a 

 bear-skin. Their costume is not complete without placing on their heads 

 and over their caps a piece cut out of tiger or leopard-skin, the tail of 

 which hanging down their backs has a droll appearance ! They are all 

 very filthy in their persons, many of them appear never to have had their 

 faces washed since their birth. As this was not their cultivating 

 season, and the crops had been reaped, it was chiefly from information 

 that I could note any thing on the subject. Each village has a certain 

 extent of ground, comprising hills, sides of hills and valleys, which they 

 have been in the habit of cultivating from time immemorial ; but not more 

 than a fifth of this ground is under cultivation each season. They cul- 

 tivate each patch two successive years, and then suffer it to be fal- 

 low for four or five, taking up again the ground that has been longest 

 fallow in lieu. They have a superstition, which deters them from break- 

 ing up fresh grounds so long as their " Gra" (fallow) is sufficient — a 

 dread of offending the spirits of the woods and forest by unnecessarily 

 cutting down the trees. In Tema's village the chief crops are " Bobesa" 

 or bobsa dhan, the grain of which is large, pear-shaped ; and goom 

 dhan, or maize. Many of the villages have aoosa and hali, resem- 

 bling that which is grown by the Assamese ; but the cultivated 



