1868.] The Hlll-trlhcs oflthe Norfhern Frontier of Assam. 197 



into hostile collision with the present government of Assam, occurred 

 some twenty-five years ago when their daring raids led to the capture 

 of the young Tagi Raja and, after his liberation, to the massacre of 

 the garrison of a stockade close to the pass which leads into their hills. 



All attempts to punish this bold and blackguardly act remained 

 unsuccessful, at last the little war seems not to have been carried on 

 with much spirit, and matters between the Hrusso and the British 

 Government were left in statu quo. 



Since that revengeful and treacherous act, however, the Akas have 

 been content to levy their silk and cotton pieces, and to accept lis. 

 860 of black mail per annum, without any further deeds of robbery 

 and murder. 



They now pay their annual visit to Assam in the months of Feb- 

 ruary and March ; take their due ; make their purchases in iron, steel 

 and brass vessels, in beads and other articles of luxury, and, after the 

 above mentioned levying of cloth, return the way they came. 



The Aka, though uncivilized, is not devoid of religious ideas. 

 He has no written castras or religious books of any kind, it is true ; 

 he has no system of religion and knows nothing of caste. But the 

 Aka fears the high mountains which tower aloft over his dwelling, 

 and from the snow-clad sides of which leaps the thundering avalanche j 

 he fears the roaring torrents of the deep glen which interposes be- 

 tween him and his friends beyond ; and he fears the dark and dense 



jungles in which his cattle lose their way. 



These dark and threatening powers of nature, he invests witli 



supernatural attributes. They are his gods. Thus there is Fuxu, 



the god of jungle and water ; Flran and Siman, the gods of war, and 



Satu, the god of house and field. 



Over all these gods the modern Aka places Hori Deo, a Hindu deity. 



This is an innovation, introduced by Tagi Raja after his imprisonment. 



For whilst a captive, he became a disciple, as it were, of a Hindu 



guru, who in his turn obliged Tagi, by giving security for his new 



convert's future good behaviour. 



All these gods have their little temples or rather puja-huts, which 



contain representations of them, some are said to be of silver and gold. 



These latter most probably would turn out to be Buddist images, 



obtained from the Butias. 



27 



