708 PROFESSOR SIR W. TURNER ON 



or naked, from their scanty clothing.* This name is said by Woodthorpe to be foreign, 

 and not recognised by the natives themselves. The Nagds are divided into two groups, 

 the kilted Ndgas or Angamis, and the non-kilted or Kutcha Nilgils. General Johnstone 

 states that Cacharees — people resembling those settled in Cachar — and K tikis are also 

 found in the Niio;a Hills. The Kukis came from the south, and are doubtless the same 

 as the Lushais already referred to in the earlier part of this chapter. Johnstone states 

 that they are readily distinguished from the Nagds. The Kuki men are mostly copper- 

 coloured, often with good features ; the women are frequently fair, and wear the hair 

 in a long, thick plait down the back. 



Woodthorpe describes the Lhota tribe of the non-kilted Nag&s as of square build ; 

 eyes small, oblique ; face flat; cheek-bones high; complexion dirty sallow; countenance 

 sullen. The hair is cut short or shaved, except a large basin-shaped patch on the crown, 

 where it is two or three inches long and combed down. The tribes living in the hills 

 bordering the Sibsagor district are fair as to colour ; the men shave the head except a 

 long tuft from crown to forehead. The tribes in the Jaipur district show every shade 

 of brown in the complexion ; the hair is shaved just above the ears, the remainder being 

 drawn back from the forehead and tied behind in a knot, through which strips of horn 

 are passed ; some have a small moustache, but few a beard. The Kengmahs wear a 

 wooden tail, 1^ foot long, attached to the small of the back. The non-kilted Ndgds go 

 either quite naked, or the men wear a waist- cloth drawn tightly between the legs, and 

 the women a waist-cloth or short petticoat ; some tribes also wear a long bright blue 

 cloth. Tattooing is commonly practised. 



The Angamis, or kilted Ndgas, are taller than the non-kilted tribes, their average 

 height is from 5 ft. 8 in. to 6 ft. They are also more muscular and more courageous. 

 They have small features ; in some cases aquiline, in others flat noses ; high cheek-bones ; 

 colour in different shades of brown, seldom very dark, and the eastern tribes are fairer 

 than the west ; eyes set slightly obliquely. Hair is generally straight, but never frizzly. 

 In youth it is cut short or shaven, except one long tuft from the crown ; in adolescence 

 it is about three inches long, brushed down all round, but with the long lock at the back 

 usually worn in a knot bound round with cotton. The lobes of the ears are pierced 

 and decorated. The men wear kilts of cotton cloth, decorated with cowries when 

 on the warpath, and long blue and yellow cloths across the breast and shoulders. 

 General Johnstone says that they wear tails of wood, decorated with goats' Lair 

 dyed red. The women are tall for the sex, comparatively fair, with a ruddy glow in 

 the cheeks, well-made, and active. They wear a petticoat, and a cloth, around the 

 shoulders. 



Mr A. W. Davis, Deputy Commissioner of the Ndga Hills district, has also given an 

 account of the Angami and some of the other tribes of Ndg&s in the Eeport on the 



* These people are not to be confounded with a sect of religious mendicants also called Nagiis ; or with toteminlic 

 sections of several castes in Bengal named after Nag, snake. See Mr H. H. Risley's The Tribes and Castes of Bengal, 

 Ethnographic Glossary, vol. ii. p. 120, Calcutta, 1891. 



