POPULATION OF ASAM. 343 



The reason assigned by them for this custom is, to avoid the danger of 

 drawing down on them feuds with the more remote branches of the family, 

 spread in different directions, who would consider it a deadly insult, were the 

 corpse to be interred without due intimation being given, and they thus delay 

 performing the final rites until replies shall have been received from every 

 member entitled to that compliment. At the proper time, the corpse is in- 

 terred, and a monument of earth, confined by bamboo matting, of a peculiar 

 form, erected over it. 



If the deceased met his fate by any violent means, they also sacrifice a 

 buffaloe, the*' head of which they fasten as a memorial in the centre of a large 

 cross of wood of the Saint Andrew's form — but, if on the contrary, the case 

 is one of natural death, they omit this ceremony, saying, that the gods have vo- 

 luntarily taken him to themselves. 



The native arms of the Sinh-phos are the Dhao, a short square-ended 

 sword, an ablong wooden shield, the spear and bow, but they are partial 

 to musquets of which they have a few, but are unable to preserve in an effici- 

 ent state. , The soil of the Asamese lowlands, occupied by the Sinh-phos^ 

 is extremely fertile, consisting almost entirely of a surface of rich alluvial earth, 

 on a gravelly basis. It yields two crops annually, and is adapted in an admir- 

 able degree to rice cultivation, being well watered by numerous streams. 

 The sugar-cane, indian-corn, &c. &c. would also thrive. The depopulation 

 of the district, and the predatory habits of its present occupants, however, 

 have materially diminished cultivation, and the greater part of the country is 

 now overrun with the rankest jungle — nor is this evil likely to be remedied 

 under a considerable lapse of time, the assumption of their Asamese slaves 

 having reduced the Sinh-phos to the necessity of their own exertions, either 

 in the raising or purchase of grain. To the former, though attended with 

 little comparative labor from the natural fertility of the soil, the present 



3 p 



