1872.] 
21 
S. E. Peal — Visit to the Naga Hills. 
operancli was to them mysterious in the extreme ; our candles, tumblers, 
knives, forks, and spoons, were as good as news in a foreign tongue. 
It being now dark, we made preparations to let off a couple of rockets, 
which I had brought, as a final exhibition. A good site was selected where 
they could fly over an uninhabited, precipice, and yet he seen by the whole 
village. A bamboo tube guide was soon placed and the fuse lit, after placing 
the Elijah’s party where it could be well seen. The fuse, however, went out and 
had to be re-lit, when the rocket flew off beautifully, just in the direction I had 
wished. A gun had been fired to warn the pykes to be on the look out, and 
we heard a hum of exclamations at once. After about five minutes, I fired the 
other and it flew, if anything, higher than the first, and burst well, the stars 
coming out well too, a piece of the case kept burning just long enough to let 
them see their value. It was evident, they were in mortal dread, as they 
told us that they were all very sleepy. I afterwards heard that the rockets 
were looked on as two devils, which I do not wonder at. As a “ peace- 
offering” they were very valuable, I have no doubt. Our audience had to be 
turned away at last, as they shewed signs of staying by us all night, and we 
went to sleep. We were disturbed about two or three hours after, by a torch 
being thrust in, and found we were being ‘ interviewed’ by some fresh arrivals 
from another chang. To this we responded in Anglo-Saxon and Asamese 
adjectives, and had them bundled out, and got peace at last. 
On the 1st June, we were awoke by the old Sowdong calling out to us that 
if we slept after the sun was up, we should be ill, which must bo a Naga 
proverb. The view to the east, as the sun rose behind Deoparbat, was magni- 
ficent. Tbo bottom of the valleys filled with white mist, the mountain 
shadows crossing in great blue bars, an isolated peak rising here and there clear 
like an island wooded to the top. We were ready to start, and were advised 
to start soon, as the sun would be hot. We bade adieu to the Eajah in 
pantomime fashion, to which he responded, and then went away, each provided 
with a staff that saved us many a slip. 
The walk did us good, and we got to the Sissa at 8 o’clock, a distance 
of about five or six miles, and sat down for a short time, to see if our men 
would come up. I went a little way up stream to a picturesque bend where 
the water rushed on each side over large boulders in the bed, making a great 
noise. The cliff on the other side was a sheer precipice of sandstone strongly 
laminated, dip to south 85° to 90°. Here we watched some girls gathering 
stones about the size of oranges used in preparing rice. 
Finding our men did not soon come up, we started on through the Erra 
back towards the Longhong path, the sun being fearfully hot, and several 
times we had to rest, there being no shelter. On gaining the Longhong road, 
we sat down and found the Naganis close at our heels though carrying heavy 
loads. We here remarked for the first time the peculiar noise like a whistle or 
