ASAM AND THE NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES. 383 



is melted and poured out in the hollow of a bit of bamboo, then beaten, 



with great patience and perseverance, and repeated heating, into plates 



almost as thin as paper : by management of the hammer, they make it 



spread in the required direction till long enough to bend into a cylinder, the 



edges are then cut even with a sort of scissors, and the parts to be soldered 



are notched in a castellated form, the alternate projections inserted, and 



a little borax, with a very thin bit of plate laid over the joint, which the 



application of a little heat readily unites ; a curve is then given to the sides 



of the cylinder, when the top is only required to finish it. The top is, of course, 



a circle, and when beat thin enough it is laid on a bed oflac softened by 



heat, and with blunt punches, an embossed pattern is then given, both the 



silver and the lac being repeatedly heated, to prevent the former from 



becoming brittle, and to soften the latter sufficiently to cause it to assume 



readily the indentations of the punch : in this way, with the aid of sharper 



punches, and some of small size, a very pretty pattern is given, but it is not 



pierced. All the Mishmis Chiefs have a forge, at which they make their 



own spear heads, and mend the implements used in tilling. 



I was very anxious to proceed the next morning, butwas foiled again 

 by the lazy Mishmis ; they wished to wait for the return of our emissaries, 

 or at least to allow them one whole day for a parley with the Chiefs : 

 with rice to eat and a house to sleep in, they could not conceive that any 

 motive need occasion haste. 



In the course of the day we learned that we are threatened by one 

 Chief, who declares that if we come near his passes, he will roll down stones 

 on us. I begged that he might be invited to see me, but they seemed too 

 certain of his hostility to make the attempt. 



Rtf ding began to talk of his present, and to hint that when he under- 

 took to conduct us, he expected to be well paid, and he wished to know 



