ABORS AND GALONGS. 47 



peaceful nature of the race. The tribes between the Borheli and the I,ohit, all that 

 has been said to the contrary notwithstanding, are not amongst those that delight in 

 war. Being a primitive hunting race all the male element of the population goes about 

 armed with bow, arrows, spear and perhaps along sword, in addition to the short knife 

 and ordinary dao, which is an absolute necessity of life to the dweller in the jungle ; 

 and all boys from an early age are taught to shoot, as were boys of an earlier and cer- 

 tainly not less virile England. But the bow of the tribesman on this frontier is used 

 chiefly in hunting, and hardly ever against a neighbouring village or tribe. There is 

 small fear of a raid or foray, consequently the villages are in many cases not fortified 

 at all, or at the most are protected by bamboo stockades (generally of no great length) 

 and panjis in the direction from which members of some other clan may be expected 

 to approach. As a rule, however, villages are built on sites that are naturally strong 

 in themselves and require but slight artificial improvement. No village that has been 

 visited was found to possess an all-round defensive perimeter. The most strongly 

 fortified villages that have been visited are Simong in the Abor country and the Mishmi 

 villages on the Sisseri that face the Padam border. 1 These villages are defended by 

 extensive bamboo stockades, chevaux de /rise and long panjis, and are provided with 

 footified gateways and portcullis. 



The chief weapon of the tribesman is the bamboo long-bow shod with iron, with 

 a cane ' ' string ' ' and supplied with bamboo shafted arrows. This weapon is effective 



up to about 180 yards, but has been known to carry 



Weapons. x ' 



about 70 yards further. Cross bows have not been seen. 

 The arrows are of two kinds. The arrow in common use is a slip of bamboo 

 (sometimes a poisonous variety of bamboo is employed), the point of which is 

 hardened in the fire. Cane leaf is invariably used to fletch the arrow. Arrows 

 are not feathered spirally, nor are the heads twisted to give spin, The better 

 type of arrow is tipped almost always with an iron head, although beauti- 

 fully-made bone heads have been found, chiefly in the Dana hills. I have 

 seen no stone arrow-heads, nor have jade or jasper heads, for spears, axes 

 or arrows been discovered, either in use or as the relics of an earlier race. Flints 

 are not found in the country. The iron-headed arrows are fastened to the shaft with 

 fine cane splicing, and the shaft is deeply notched near the head so that the arrow may 

 break off short in the wound. In the body of one of Mr. Williamson's coolies found 

 in the Dihang river after the massacre at Komsing in 1911, I noticed the cane fastening 

 of an arrow head, the shaft of which the cooly had broken off in his attempts to pull 

 out the arrow. These arrows are poisoned. 3 The most common poison in the southern 

 Dana and Galong hills is Croton tiglium. Aconitum ferox is not nearly so common as it 

 has to be imported from the north, or from the Mishmis to the east. I have some corro- 

 boration for the statement that the Abors (who get the bulk of their croton poison 



1 Karko was found to have three lines of wall and ditch defences on the south side. 



a The Balek Abors called the croton berries moru and the aconite ammo. Tha toxic properties of croton are said to 

 disappear rapidly when used by itself: it must be fresh, hence presumably the mixture. 



