ABORS AND GALONGS. 51 



None of the tribes whose customs are dealt with in this Memoir are acquainted with 

 the art of writing, and theRevd. L. W. Jackmanof Sadiya tells me that a most curious 

 legend accounting for this is current amongst the Padam. Long ago, the story runs, 

 the Supreme Being gave his precepts to man. To the dwellers in the plain he gave 

 tables of stone, to the people of the hills he gave a sheetof parchment. But, with charac- 

 teristic improvidence, the hill-man. to whom the precious skin was entrusted, being 

 sorely pressed by hunger, ate it. And the possibly not unmixed evil of illiteracy has 

 been theirs ever since. 



To supply the lack of writing, messages of great importance between villages 

 (they appear to be confined to protestations of friendship or cartels of defiance) are 

 sent in the form of stones, rice, chillies and charcoal tied up in small baskets. This 

 is the equivalent to the message sticks of the Australian aborigines and have been 

 handed down for generations. The origin of these signs is lost. Broken weapons, a 

 bent spear head, or a sword turned as nearly as possible into a sickle, are 

 also used to proclaim peaceful intentions. I was told in Rotung that a bent 

 sword blade originally meant war, but has now reversed its meaning. The signs may 

 either be sent or tied to a stick run into the ground in the middle of the path, 

 where they will be seen by those for whom they are intended. The following ' basket 

 messages ' with their meanings were gathered amongst the Minyongs of the Dihang 

 valley. One or two of the messages have received corroboration from the Panggi 

 side of the river. A stone by itself is a good sign (my heart is like this stone). The 

 strongest message of friendship appears to be a stone with rice, or salt. (Rice denotes 

 " a clear and innocent mind "). Chillies and charcoal, or a stone and chillies, or a 

 stone, chillies and charcoal mean absolute defiance ("my mind has been burnt like 

 charcoal, my thoughts are like these chillies " ). The late Captain A. M. Hutchins gave 

 me a most interesting and graphic account of the embassy sent by a hill community 

 to proclaim its peaceful proclivities. The spokesman produced a bag and drew from 

 it a sword-blade bent double. ' This," he said, ( ' is the sentiment of the Gam towards 

 Government, and this (producing a spear-head with a broken point) is the senti- 

 ment of his kinsman and co-Gam." ' ' This (producing a round pebble in a cane-work 

 basket) is the heart of these two, which they send clean of reproach." " This (pro- 

 ducing an old metal charm) being made from an element of the earth bears witness to 

 the straightness and truth of the mind and words of the Gam, and ' ' this (produ- 

 cing another slightly different) will do the same for his kinsman." 



As a warning to cattle thieves ' ' signboards ' ' are erected on the path from the 

 offender's village. These signs consist of cane and bamboo ; a stick represents the 

 thief, who is exhibited in a miniature stock, such as are used for cattle rievers when 

 they are caught. The signboard is studded with a number of slips of bamboo repre- 

 senting arrows ; all of which indicates the feelings and intentions of the aggrieved 

 owner of the stolen animal. This symbol has been observed in both Abor and Galong 

 country. Sign language not at all unlike the Romany signs in intention, though of 

 course differing in form, is freely used ; the symbols are made of leaves and slips of 

 bamboo. Distances are measured either as "a day's journey" or by pointing to the 



