56 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



TAMIL, COOLIE WOMAN ON A TEA ESTATE : CEYLON 



(See page 61.) Photo from "Women of All Nations," Cassell & 

 Co., New York, by Skeen & Co. 



a widow or elderly female. In other 

 villages the girls sleep together by threes 

 or fours. Each hut has a platform jut- 

 ting out over the hillside and command- 

 ing a view of the surrounding country. 

 This was necessary in former days, when 

 the villages were so constantly raided by 

 warlike neighbors. The young women 

 spend the day on this platform preparing 

 the cotton yarn for weaving ; the primi- 

 tive hand-looms are tied to the house- 

 posts • the girls sit on the ground and 

 swiftly throw the shuttle backwards and 

 forwards. 



The villages are divided into wards, 

 called khels. Each khel is a distinctive 

 unit, and is ruled by a headman. Should 



one khel be attacked by 

 another khel, the mem- 

 bers of adjoining khels 

 will calmly look on and 

 never attempt to inter- 

 fere, or even to defend 

 the women and children. 

 In one of the govern- 

 ment reports a Naga, 

 giving an. account of a 

 village fight, stated that 

 one man, five women, 

 and 20 children were 

 killed. He described the 

 killing of the children as 

 rare sport, like the kill- 

 ing of chickens. 



The women of some 

 of the tribes living in 

 the more remote hills 

 wear circles of cane 

 round their waist and 

 strips of cane wound 

 round their legs below 

 the knees. The illustra- 

 tion on page 50 is from 

 a photograph taken by 

 the late R. A. Way, Esq., 

 chief engineer in charge 

 of a survey expedition in 

 the Patkoi Hills. These 

 women were employed 

 in carrying rations. It 

 was with great difficulty 

 that they were persuaded 

 to allow themselves to be 

 photographed. 

 The Naga girls wear their hair cut 

 short, but after marriage it is allowed 

 to grow long. The girls wear necklaces 

 of beads and shells ; bracelets and anklets 

 of brass, sometimes of silver. On mar- 

 riage these are discarded. A married 

 woman no longer joins in the dances; 

 for her the serious business of life has 

 begun, such as helping her husband in 

 the village "jhoom," gathering firewood, 

 and carrying water. The latter task is 

 no light one, for the water supply is 

 frequently 300 to 500 feet down the hill- 

 side, and the water is carried up a steep 

 path in sections of thick bamboos. One 

 wonders why, with so little inducement 

 to marry, the Naga girls give up the 



