236 CUSTOMS CQMMON TO THE HILL TRIBES &C. 
held sacred; no one would dare to touch a single thing thus conse¬ 
crated. after this ceremony is concluded, the whole of the party 
disperse to their respective homes. 
“ On the death of the Namsungea Khonbao, who, it is said, was 
one hundred and twenty years of age, his corpse was removed in 
December 1843, and according to an ancient custom, a tusk ele¬ 
phant was purchased from the Muttuck Bur Goham, and killed with 
three hundred buffaloes and pigs; when the Nagas enjoyed a mag¬ 
nificent feast. The usual practice of reviling the deity, while sing¬ 
ing and dancing, was kept up with uncommon fervor, and the bac¬ 
chanalian scene has perhaps seldom been exceeded. The heads of 
the slaughtered animals were suspended round the platform within 
a large enclosure, and the corpse was strewed over with an abun¬ 
dant supply of all kinds of forest flowers.” 
Food .—The Nagas eat cows, dogs, cats, vermin and even reptiles, 
and are very fond of intoxicating liquors. 
Crimes .—Theft is held in great abhorrence by the Nagas. 
Among minor habits resembling those of the Archipelagic tribes 
are that of the large perforations of the ear, one inch in diameter 
amongst the Mishmees and Abors (p. Ill, 116), the brass rings 
from the wrist to the elbow, the cane rings on the calf of the leg to 
the ankle of the Abors (p. Ill), the practice of pulling out the hair 
of the beard common to all the hill tribes of Assam (p. Ill), the 
addiction of the chiefs of the Khamtees, like those of some Dayak 
tribes, to ingenious mechanical arts (p, 58) and the abandonment by 
the Abors of forest ground that has been cleared, after cropping it 
for three years. 
