1855.] Notes on Northern Cachar. 647 



most of them being heir-looms, and handed down from father to 

 son for many generations. Thus, although their most valuable orna- 

 ments are mere cornelian beads, they will not accept those of Euro- 

 pean cutting, at any thing like the same value which they attach to 

 those of their own, which are rude and badly polished. They attach 

 to some of these and to a stone called " Toinoo," about the size of a 

 pigeon's egg, which I have never seen, and which is very rare, a most 

 exorbitant price, valuing the latter at hundred methins, or about 

 three thousand rupees. Family ornaments are therefore seldom in 

 the market, and only change hands on the occasion of marriages 

 between wealthy people and royal families. 



Dancing does not appear to be a favourite amusement among the 

 Kookies, and their dances are by no means interesting ; the women 

 dance less than the men, and their performances consist of a number 

 of awkward steps and hops made with the knee-joint very much 

 bent. The men have also a war-dance in which they nourish their 

 dhaos, &c. But the acting is by no means so real as that of the 

 Nagas. They have, however, a far better notion of music than any 

 of the other tribes, and there is something solemn and plaintive, 

 though monotonous, in many of their tunes. One in particular 

 which is sung by large parties, has all the solemnity of sacred music, 

 and might easily be so adapted. Their songs are mostly in a lan- 

 guage which the people themselves do not understand, although it 

 is undoubtedly a dialect of their own. Most probably the old form 

 of speech in which they were originally composed has become obso- 

 lete, and the words have been handed down merely to preserve the 

 tune. The only fragment, to which, after some research, I have 

 been able to attach any meaning, is the following, which is not 

 entirely wanting in poetical merit : 



**■ Jdlkhenga" chengying ding yong kadaime 

 " Chaltuitanga" " Kimlenem" tonga gn&ye, 

 Chah pang wikai chabunge kaneme. 



which, being interpreted, is — 



I also wish to go to Jolkheng — sighing 



On the mountain of " Chaltui" I hear Kimlenem, 



And I have become like a bent bamboo 



4 Q 



