78 GEORGE D-S-DUNBAR ON 



into the presence of the beneficent and omnipotent deity who rules over all the demons 

 of Nature could not be gathered. It is quite evident, however, that the doctrine of 

 re-incarnation is unknown. 



Rukang Gam of Mishing gave me the following interesting account of the rites 



that are observed by the Minyongs when the fields are 

 sown. An animal, if possible a mithan, which is provided 

 by the joint subscription of the community, is sacrificed and eaten. The blood after 

 being mixed with powdered rice and baked, is poured into a small hole dug in the fields, 

 as a sacrifice to earth, the mother. A fowl and an egg are also offered. The fowl is 

 eaten, but the skin is put on a pole head upwards and the egg is placed in a basket 

 underneath it. Another Abor custom at seed time that I learnt from an equally 

 reliable source, is as follows : — A small circle of bamboos about a foot high is erected 

 in the village. At one place a wicket-gate is made ; the posts on either side are about 

 2 foot 6 inches in height and on each of these two leaves ' are fixed. A pig is strangled, 

 roasted and eaten, whilst some of the blood is sprinkled about the altar. There 

 is also a custom amongst the Abors for the village to worship the spirits of earth 

 and sky when all the sowing is finished. The ceremony takes place somewhere 

 between the fields and the village. A mithan, a white fowl and three eggs are offered 

 in sacrifice; the mithan and the fowl are killed and the blood sprinkled on the 

 earth. A long bamboo is set up and the heads of the mithan and the fowl are 

 fastened on sticks and bound close together to the long pole, whilst the eggs are fastened 

 underneath in a basket. The carcasses, at the close of the ceremony, are taken 

 home and eaten. 



These rites illustrate what Clodd has described as l ' a vital connexion between 

 ' ' man and earth the mother. Hunger as the primal imperative need brought his wits 

 ' ' into play ; and hence a body of magical rites as one among other devices to 

 " obtain the meat which perisheth, rites which lie at the core of barbaric and pagan 

 ' ' religions." 2 



The Minyongs of the Dihang valley say that when the rice crop is about a foot 

 high, that is to say some little time before harvest, it is a custom (not by any means 

 invariably observed) to perform harvest rites to Ali Ango U-yu.' 6 Six wands in two 

 rows of three are put up. The wands are peeled (see figure A) and over this powdered 

 rice is scattered. A red cock is killed and the blood is sprinkled over the powder and 

 wands. The body of the cock together with raw ginger (kekir) is offered in sacrifice. 



If the weather is so bad as to threaten the crops, the Galongs believe that the 

 adverse climatic conditions may be due to the evil influences or conduct of some member 

 of another community. Accordingly, so I was told, a platform is erected on four big 

 bamboos. On this the mini sits for five or six days making incantation to improve the 

 weather or, when these conditions are attributed to malign human influence, calling 

 the name of the evilly-disposed person and invoking the spirits, '.' So and so is pointed 



1 The Abor name for this is tan and the Galong ainchi. Lorraine defines tang as "the name of a tree." 



* Quarterly Review, No. 428, July 191 1, Art 5, Prinrtive man on his own origin. 



Lorraine gives ali a-vgo as an alternative to apin (or ap im) am for " crops." Ali means rice grain. 



