622 Notes on Northern Cachar. [No. 7. 



In the Beteh clan on the day after cremation a pointed stick is 

 stuck into the ground opposite the house of the dead man, and 

 remains there until every one of the villagers has, in pursuit of his 

 common avocations, passed by and spat upon it, after which it is 

 removed. 



A warrior in the Beteh clan is generally buried, and not burned ; 

 he is dressed in new clothes, and descends to the grave in company 

 with his spear and hatchet, and a supply of eatables and grog, it 

 being supposed that his enemies will not leave him alone, even in 

 the world to come. 



The original country of the new Kookies was the jungles to the 

 south of Cachar Proper, and the ranges of hills lying between that 

 province and Chittagong. Here they had lived time out of mind, 

 waging war frequently among themselves, and being known as the 

 terror of our Southern Frontier, having committed frequent depre- 

 dations in our territories, evidently for no other purpose than that 

 of securing human heads as trophies. 



A war, however, sprang up between the whole of the clans, and 

 another large tribe called the Looshais, who inhabited the same 

 country though removed further south ; this tribe having the advan- 

 tage of propinquity to a coast-trade had supplied themselves plenti- 

 fully with fire-arms and consequently the Kookies, who had hereto- 

 fore considered themselves more powerful, were defeated, and in 

 1848-49 four large clans of them called the Thadon, Shingshon, 

 Chungsen and Lumgiim, together with other petty though distinct 

 families, poured themselves into Cachar, flying before their enemies 

 the Looshais, who had driven them from their native hills into the 

 plains. The Looshais having followed up the pursuit into our 

 territories and ravaged some villages on our grounds, it was deter- 

 mined that an expedition should be made against them on the part 

 of our Government. Col. Lister with three hundred men of the 

 Sylhet Light Infantry Battalion, accompanied by a rabble of the 

 Thadon and Shingson clans, penetrated some seven days' march into 

 their country in the cold weather of 1849-50, and succeeded in 

 setting fire to a large village consisting of a thousand houses. The 

 village was taken by surprise, and the warriors all escaped, most of 

 them being absent at the time, but nothing could prevent our wild 



