1808.] The Hill-tribes of the Northern Frontier of Assam. 199 



The Akas are polygamists : they can many as many wives as their 

 means allow. A marriage among them is contracted in this wise : 

 The parents or relatives select the future wife from among the female 

 friends of the family, those friends may be either Aka or Miji, for 

 Mijis and Hrusso intermarry. On the day appointed for the wed- 

 ding, the services of the Deori are again called into requisition ; partly 

 with a view to obtain the favour of the gods, but chiefly, I guess, 

 in order to provide an abundance of meat for the hundreds of 

 guests who are to partake of the marriage- feast, and for whom great 

 numbers of mithuns, cows, goats and fowls have to be killed. The 

 festivity, *. e. the eating and drinking— for the Akas, like all hill- 

 people indulge in ardent spirits— are to last at least five days and 

 nights uninterruptedly. 



The nuptials having thus been duly initiated, the bride and bride- 

 groom are placed by the Deori beneath the canopy, formed of a piece 

 of cloth spread out over them, he then winds another piece of cloth 

 round both, thereby indicating their union, and this ceremony over, 

 they are declared to be man and wile. 



At the birth of a child, again sacrifices are brought, but no distinc- 

 tion is made between the sexes : a girl is considered as much a bless- 

 ing as a boy ; the murder of female infants, therefore, is fortunately 

 not known amongst them, although they welcome the birth of a 

 son with the same degree of joy, with which such an event is hailed 

 among far more civilized nations. 



In like manner are the gods to be propitiated when the ground 

 is hoed and the seed sown, and also at harvest-time. 



Seasons of sickness too require the services of the Deori, for the 

 Aka is not in the habit of resorting to medicines of any kind to effect 

 a cure. If a Hrusso falls ill, fowls &c. are offered to Fuxit, and the 

 patient is mesmerised ; but should this prove unavailing, matters are 

 left to the good pleasure of Fuxu alone. 



The dead among the Akas are not burnt, but buried. A grave is 



dug four to five feet deep and the body reverently deposited therein. 



' Then a share of all his valuables is placed by the side of the dead, 



I including his spear, bow and arrows. Next a platform is raised over 



| the body to keep the earth from falling upon it, and finally the grave 



is filled in and over it a small stockade of bamboos and sticks erected. 



