ASAM AND THE NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES. 337 



were no great distance. Foot tracks of men and animals were seen, and 

 smoke observed amongst the forests, but hitherto no human dwelling had 

 been seen, and none but a few stragglers occasionally encountered. On 

 the 14th, the width of the river was reduced to between twenty and thirty 

 yards, and as it was not above knee deep, it appeared not unlikely to be 

 near the head of this branch, but an advance, for the purpose of ascer- 

 taining the fact, was disappointed by the appearanee of the Meeshmees, 

 who showing themselves unfriendly to the farther prosecution of the 

 Survey, Captain Bedford thought it expedient to return. There are five 

 villages of these people under the first range of hills, extending nearly 

 south-west towards Pasted on the Dihong-. Zillee and Anundeea con- 

 taining from thirty to forty families, Maboom containing ten, Alonga 

 twenty, and Chunda twelve, making a total of eighty families, or about 

 five hundred persons of all ages. They are at variance with the Abors on 

 the Dihong, and also with the Meeshmees on the left bank of the Dibong. 

 A party of these people made their apperance on the evening of the 14th, 

 occupying the high bank which commanded the passage of the river, and 

 upon opening a communication with them, it appeared that they were the 

 precursors of the Gaum, or head man of Zillee, for whose arrival, as well 

 as that of other Chiefs, it was found necessary to halt. The people 

 evinced more apprehension than hostility, and suffered the land operations 

 of the Survey to proceed without interruption. 



The people collected on this occasion were variously attired ; some 

 of them, like the Abors, were dressed in skins, but the most common 

 dress was a coarse cotton cloth ; no woollen garments were seen ; many 

 wore rings below the knee. Their ears were pierced with pieces of metal 

 or wood, and some of them wore semi-circular caps, ribbed with cane. 

 They were armed with dhaos, and bows and arrows, the latter are poisoned 

 with the extract of some root. The Meeslimecs and Abors eat together, and 

 acknowledge a common origin. They profess to worship at a different 



p 2 



