ABORS AND GALONGS. 31 



Although as a general rule skirts are worn from early childhood, girls of about 

 14 may occasionally be seen with no other covering save the bey op and a cloth about 

 the shoulders (generally supporting a younger brother or sister), but the number of 

 discs on the Minyong girdle give it enough weight to fall in a graceful curve that 

 entirely fulfils its purpose. The number of discs varies in the different tribes 

 Minyong Abors wear 7, 8, or even 9 discs on the girdle, and Galong girls 3 or 

 4. To the North the Janbos are satisfied, it is believed, with two discs, and the still 

 less chary maids of the Boris are said to be content with one. 1 The bey op discs are 

 not worn during the period of menstruation. The mythical origin of the bey op is that 

 a spirit Gingor-Shingor fell in love with a woman, and whenever he had intercourse 

 with her he gave her a bey op disc. When a child was born she took off the girdle. 

 of discs; and that is how they first were worn, and why they are discarded on the 

 birth of a woman's first born. 



Both skirt and breast cloth are wound tightly round the body, the skirt being 

 held in its place by cane rings. 2 The wearing of the breast cloth is not habitual, for 

 a hill woman does not consider the exposure of the upper part of her person to be 

 immodest. 



Married women, whether Dafla, Galong or Abor, frequently wear waist bands 

 studded with metal bosses. These are very much smaller than the average bey op discs 

 and are generally made of brass. Girls and women wear rings of cane round their 

 waists whether they wear metal-studded bands or not ; and they weave for them- 

 selves very fine belts of cane in white, relieved by patterns of black interwoven 

 through the material. The women wear, sometimes in great profusion, necklaces 

 similar to those worn by the men. Their brass bracelets are of a lighter stamp than 

 those of the men. 



The following short description of the costume of the Daflas will give some idea 

 of such differences that exist on either bank of the Subansiri river. In headgear 

 the Abors and Galongs offer a marked contrast to Jtheir neighbours. The less imposing 

 Dafla headdress is a skull cap with a projection about z\ inches long at the back that 

 gives it the appearance of a quaich with one handle. The cane work is infinitely finer 

 and is still more closely woven in this hat than in the Abor and Galong helmet. The 

 front of the Dafla hat is frequently ornamented with a serow horn, and a bunch of very 

 thin stalks of cane bound together is thrust through a hole at the top of the crown. 

 This additional ornament hangs over the back of the cap. A loop of string attached 

 to the front of the hat, together with a skewer of brass or bamboo, holds the tuft of 

 bearskin, or black feathers that form a peak to the headdress. This is a distinctive 

 Dafla fashion. The Subansiri hillmen do not bunch their hair above their 

 foreheads according to the fashion of the more Western Daflas ; the women 

 follow the usual Dafla custom which is a similar coiffure to that of the Memongs to 



1 The Angong girls wear, as a rule, 3 discs. 



2 In the Karko country especially, where " dam-dims" are particularly bad during the rains, the women have an 

 ingenious way of protecting themselves from the poisonous bites of these pests. A small basket filled with smouldering 

 dhan husk is suspended from the waist under the skirt. 



