1855.] Notes on Northern Cachar. 609 



frequently the influence of wealth, and his position as spokesman 

 or " Graon Bura" gives him a certain degree of authority ; but this 

 is very moderate indeed, and may at any time be resisted and defied 

 with impunity, the tribe utterly abjuring the idea of subjection to 

 any one from among themselves. The place of Gaon Bura is not 

 hereditary, nor, in every case, is it held for life. Petty disputes 

 and disagreements about property, are settled by a council of elders, 

 the litigants voluntarily submitting to their arbitration. But cor- 

 rectly speaking, there is not the shadow of a constituted authority 

 in the Naga community, and, wonderful as it may seem, this want 

 of government does not lead to any marked degree of anarchy and 

 confusion ; on the contrary, in his village, the Naga is peaceful and 

 hospitable, good-natured and honest ; for months that I have lived 

 with him, I never heard him use an angry word or inflict a blow, 

 however slight, on any one. Such a state of things must most 

 assuredly arise from some peculiar cause, which cannot elsewhere 

 be adopted, otherwise what an advantage it would be to us to throw 

 off the whole of that ponderous and expensive system which is 

 concentred in Westminster, and branches forth to every colony, 

 country and village throughout our possessions, and, taking a lesson 

 from the JNagas, learn to live peaceably and honestly without law. 

 But our civilization and Christianity deprives us of the mainspring 

 which acts so apparently well on the savage of the hills, and Q-od 

 forbid, that it should not. The Naga's religion, the Naga's prin- 

 ciple and sense of honor, is comprised in one word, and that word 

 is revenge — deep deadly revenge, and the prosecution of it to the 

 extremest lengths, for the most trifling offences. This feeling is 

 not confined to individuals, but taken up between communities, and 

 often by parties in one and the same community. Is there a quarrel 

 between two Nagas of different villages, the dispute inevitably 

 causes bloodshed, and a feud is established between the villages of 

 the two disputants, which nothing will assuage, and which, in time 

 as advantage offers, will find issue in some dreadful massacre. The 

 Nagas are exceedingly treacherous in enmity, and brook no insult. 

 An insult given, it is a point of honor to have blood — and blood 

 shed by the one party calls for a like stream on the part of the other. 



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