109 
1894.] E. A. Grait —Contents of one of the Ahom Tuthis. 
Sdel bark, 1 which are written over on both sides, and are protected 
at the ends by somewhat thicker strips of the same material. They 
are very carefully preserved, wrapped up in pieces of cloth, and every 
family of the two sections mentioned above, is in possession of a certain 
number, which are handed down from father to son. The labour of 
preparing the bark and of inscribing the writing is considerable, and 
apart from this, much greater value is attached to an old puthi than to 
a new copy of it. New copies were therefore very seldom made, and in 
any case, it is very many years since the copies in possession of the 
modern representatives of the old priests and astrologers were prepared. 
I saw a number of these putliis recently when in Sibsagar ; some of 
them were black with age, and the characters had in places almost dis¬ 
appeared. The owners set great store by them, and my efforts to 
become the purchaser of one of them were altogether fruitless. But 
although they will not sell them, they are quite ready to communicate 
their contents. My time was limited, and I was only able to make a 
few rough notes of two. The first described Cukapha’s invasion of 
Assam, about 1228 A.D., and agreed in the main with the account given 
in KaqinatlTs buranji; the second dealt with the creation, and a short 
notice of the order of events, as there narrated, is reproduced below. 
1 The Sad tree is the same as that known in Bengal as Agar (Aquilaria 
Agallocha), the Aloes wood of the Bible, from which are obtained the perfumed 
chips which are so largely exported from Sylhet for use as incense in temples, 
&c. Although its bark was widely used as a writing material throughout Assam, 
prior to the introduction of paper, its employment as such seems to have escaped 
notice. The following description of the manner of preparing the bark for this 
purpose, for which I am indebted to Babu Phani Dhar Chaliha, of Sibsagar, may 
therefore be found interesting. A tree is selected of about 15 or 16 years’ growth 
and 30 to 35 inches in girth, measured about 4 feet from the ground. From this 
the bark is removed in strips, from 6 to 18 feet long, and from 3 to 27 inches in 
breadth. These strips are rolled up separately with the inner or white part of 
the bark outwards, and the outer or green part inside, and are dried in the sun for 
several days. They are then rubbed by hand on a board, or some other hard 
substance, so as to facilitate the removal of the outer or scaly portion of the barb. 
After this, they are exposed to the dew for one night, and next morning the outer 
layer of the bark (f;r*f?r) is carefully removed, and the bark proper is cut into 
pieces of a convenient size, 9 to 27 inches long and 3 to 18 inches broad. These are 
put into cold water for about an hour and the alkali is extracted, after which the 
surface is scraped smooth with a knife. They are then dried in the sun for half 
an hour, and when perfectly dry are rubbed with a piece of burnt brick. A 
paste prepared from matimah (Phaseolus aconitifolius) is next rubbed in, and the 
bark is dyed yellow by means of yellow arsenic. This is followed again by sun¬ 
drying, after which the strips are rubbed as smooth as marble. The process is 
now complete, and the strips are ready for use. 
