ABORS AND GALONGS. 75 



this particular dance is performed for amusement as well as in carrying out religious 

 exercises. 



When a death occurs the nearest relative (and heir), according to the Minyong 

 „ L „ . .„•.., custom, gives a feast to those who help to dig the grave 



Death Ceremonies and Burial. ' ° r ° ° 



and attend the funeral. A maximum of three days elapses 

 between death and burial. Persons dying of an infectious disease are buried at once 

 and without ceremony or funeral rites. A ten days' " genua" is observed by the 

 household, during which shikar-meat, wild potatoes and pumpkins are taboo. 

 Whoever actually carries the corpse to the grave does not enter the house for 6 or 7 

 days after the funeral, according to Pasi custom. Inside the grave, which is lined 

 with leaves and branches , there is placed a platform and on this the body is laid the 

 general custom being a lying position, knees to chin, with the hands under the head. 

 The body is buried lying on its right side, the head towards the west. Above the 

 body is a pent roof of planks over which the earth is thrown. The body is 

 provided with a grave cloth, and it is given a porcelain bead necklace and a 

 brass plate or pot. A little hut is built over the grave; apong and rice in small 

 chungas are provided fresh daily for five or six days, but rice is left at the grave for 

 a whole year. A fire is lit that is kept burning for a time varying from one year 

 and twenty days down to three months. One year and twenty days is believed to be 

 the correct time for people of importance, a year for an ordinary man or a woman, 

 and three months for a child, but the period does not seem to be rigidly governed by 

 rule. As long as the fire is burning the hut is kept in repair. A man's helmet, 

 weapons, and perhaps some trophies of the chase, are hung by the grave and left there 

 till they rot. 1 On the death of a parent the heir takes a merang out from the family 

 collection hidden in the ground and makes imitation ones of bamboo to represent 

 those left in the jungle. After exhibition the merang is again buried. The obse- 

 quies are performed by the heir; they simply consist in a feast to the mourners, 

 at which a mithan is killed in honour of an old or prominent man, or under 

 ordinary circumstances a full-grown pig is given. The mithan is hanged on a tree 

 close to the grave ; the pig is killed at home. Very poor people sacrifice fowls. 

 At the sacrifice the spirit of the victim is told to go with the dead man. The reason 

 for the sacrifice, as it was explained to me, is that if some animal belonging to the 

 deceased is not sacrificed, his spirit will become displeased, for it requires the spirit of 

 some stock that belonged to it in life to accompany it. The soul of the dead cannot eat 

 the actual flesh ; but if the life of an animal is taken, the spirit of the beast together 

 with the portion of meat definitely set apart for him, satisfy his requirements. I have 

 not had corroboration, but the Pasi custom appears to be to sacrifice a pig near 



1 On the magnificent memorial close to the grave-hut of a dead Janbo Gam, where a screen 8 foot high and 18 foot 

 long displayed the skulls of wild boar and monkeys, the heads of mithan and takin and a large armoury of weapons and 

 battle harness, two trophies of exceptional interest were seen. These were two gourds with three holes cut in 

 them so as to represent quite unmistakably two heads. Enquiry elicited the information that they represented two men 

 of Simong killed by the dead chief. This is the nearest approach to head-hunting that has been found in these hills. 

 I am told that the Padam have a similar custom. 



