10 GEORGE D-S-DUNBAR ON 



me that there is a sept descended from the Frog Spirit Tatig Uyu and that although 

 they are exogamous the edible frog eaten by other Abors is taboo to them. He said 

 that they are distinguished by the prefix "tig " to their names, both men and 

 women. 1 Other statements made by this informant, Joter of Rotung, have 

 proved to be correct and, if this statement were reliable, it would be of exceptional 

 interest as it attributes a definite totemic origin (hitherto undiscovered) to a group 

 distributed among Minyongs, Panggis and Pasis. The tradition given me relates that 

 long ago a frog ' l married a woman and from this union the ' ' Tig ' ' people are descended. 

 I was given several pedigrees in support of this. One of these gave Tigshor the 

 father of Tigior, the father of Tigjir. Tigior being known to me as a Riu man, I asked 

 Madu Gam of Riu about him. The pedigree is to some extent corroborated, but 

 the evidence above given to support totemism in the Abor country is sadly dis- 

 counted by the Gams statement that Tigior is a Pasi of the Payang sept, and that 

 Madu knows no restrictions as to his marriage nor, still more regrettable, does he know 

 anything about the frog people. I regard Madu as exceptionally trustworthy. The 

 statement supporting totemic origin is nevertheless sufficiently interesting to be given 

 — for what it is worth. Corroboration has, however, been obtained for the sacrificial 

 rites offered to the frog spirit by Abors in general. A fowl is decapitated about the 

 time of the ripening of the jack fruit, and the head is tied to a stick put in the ground, 

 as a rule near running water. 



Since anthropometrical research, resting secure in far more capable hands than 

 mine was beyond the scope of this paper, language became the one source that 

 remained from which deductions could be drawn. The interesting Milang people, 



speak a dialect of their own, 3 but amongst the clans that 



Language. ^ ' ° 



are in touch with Assam, there are two distinct groups 

 of dialects. To the east, in the Dihang valley, is the Pasi, Padam, Panggi and Min- 

 yong group, and to the west that of the Dobang, Memong and allied septs that are 

 all included in the term Galong. Although the language changes to some extent in 

 each successive zone of the valley, the dialects spoken by Kebang and Tuting are 

 surprisingly similar. " H " for ' ' s," or " r " for " h " in fact pronunciation generally, 

 and the common use of idioms rarely heard nearer the plains make it difficult, but 

 not impossible, for a traveller acquainted with the language as spoken in Kebang to 

 converse with the more northern villagers. There is a closer resemblance between the 

 Dafla and Galong languages than there is between Galong and Abor. None of these 

 are written languages. Out of the considerable number of Abor and Tibetan words 

 that were compared the following, only, were similar. The resemblance, such as it is, 

 is interesting, but is far too weak to form an argument in favour of a common origin. 



1 This latter statement is remarkable for, although the Minyong custom is to preserve the same prefix from father 

 to son [e.g. .Madu son of Malut and Dutem son of Dugong], Minyong women are given names beginning with Ya. 

 It may be noted that all Abors have two names, one their birth name the other that by which they are generally called, 

 such as Dakot — Takot, Taring — Bering (father's name Derang). The same rule applies to women. 



* Tatig in Minyong Abor. 



3 The following short list of words of the Milang language, given by a Dambuk (Padam) Abor whose relations live 

 in Milang, is offered in the spirit that provided the late Professor Owen with single bones from which he reconstructed 



