20 
[No. 1, 
S. E. Peal — Visit to the Ndgd Hills. 
As long as social position depends on tattooing as here, and can only he got 
by bringing hi the head of an enemy, so long shall we have these wars 
and consequent isolation of clans. The man who brings in a head is no 
longer called a boy or woman, and can assist in councils of state, so call- 
ed. And he seldom goes out on a raid again, I hear. The head he brings, 
is handed to the Rajah, who confers the ‘ ak,’ or right of decoration by 
tattoo, at which there is great feasting, and pigs, cows, or even buffaloes are 
killed, and no end of ‘ moad,’ or fermented rice water, is drunk. Those who 
are not tattooed, when old enough, make a party and lie in wait for stragglers* 
men, women, or children, anybody in fact with a head on him ; and as cover is 
plentiful, they can get on the enemy’s land and lie in ambush along side his 
paths ; never breaking cover unless certain of success and getting clear off 
All those who get heads, get the ak on the face ; those who get hands and 
feet, get marks accordingly ; for the former on the arms, for the latter on the 
legs. No two tribes, however, have the marks alike, and some even do not 
tattoo the face. 
The worst of this kind of warfare is that women and children are as 
often killed as men, and without any compunction. I had a smart little fellow 
here at work for a long time, named 1 Allee,’ (four) and once asked him how 
he got his ak. He said he went out and lay in wait a long tune near a 
spring, and at last a woman came for water, and he crept up behind her, and 
chopped her on the head, and then cut it off, and got off himself as quickly 
and quietly as he could. It was utterly incomprehensible to him how such 
a thing could be unmanly, I found it waste of time and breath trying to 
convince him. 
Besides the skulls, the Morrang also contains the big drum which is 
nothing more than a “ dug-out.” It is beaten by short heavy sticks, and can 
be heard a groat distance. The drum from the Muton Chang can be heard 
here, at least six or seven miles in a direct line. Some are made of a hollow 
tree with the inside gradually burned out , and open at the ends, some 20 feet 
long by 3 to 4 in diameter. 
From here we went back to the Rajah’s house, and heard an alarm of 
fire, which, from the general excitement, seems to be rather dreaded. On the 
chang we had a good wash, water being poured out of bamboos. It is here 
also rather scarce, and I dare say they considered it woeful waste to use it 
for such a purpose. 
Our dinner was now ready, and as it was getting dusk, we went into our 
apartment, not, however to dine in private, as we had hoped. Our mat wall 
contained too many loopholes, to be resisted by feminine curiosity, and an 
audience of thirty or forty had to be submitted to, whose exclamations at every 
new phase in our proceedings-gave us proof of our being among many people 
who had never before seen a white face. I have no doubt that the modus 
