process of removing their heads, on various head-hunting expeditions, he had sent on ahead of him to the Underworld to await his coming, is, of course, purely conjectural. Underneath these are two spear-heads, and beneath these five goats' horns, which, venturing once more into the realm of conjecture, we took to mean that the deceased was a mighty warrior and a wealthy chief.
Notes.[1]
BY T. C. HODSON, EAST LONDON COLLEGE.
The following notes refer to only a few of the interesting points in the above paper. The tale of the origin of the Lushais from a hole or cave in the ground is also found among the Naga tribes north. At Maikel, to bear witness to the truth of the tale, is the stone which stood over the mouth of the cave. Dr. Brown in his Account of Munnipore, written in 1868, (p. 113), says that the Angamis had among them a legend of much the same purport, and I have collected a similar tale among the Kabuis, a tribe in contact with the Kukis. I have heard that the Angamis now relate a tale of their origin which seems to indicate that they have forgotten, and have abandoned, their former legend. As regards the eclipse stories, which are widely diffused, I venture to think that they have been multiplied by an error in transmission, which is interesting if only because it illustrates the difficulty experienced in this area where dialectical differentiation has been so marked. The Koms say that the Sun God stole the magic which cured all the ills of mankind, and the Kabuis have much the same tale. The Hiroi Lamgang say that the tobacco was carried off, while the Anals say that the virtue of the holy man was looted by the Sun. In Kuki, (v. my Thādo grammar), the word for magic is doi, and for medicine is lo, and for tobacco, dūm or damūm. In Lushai, the corresponding words are doi,
- ↑ Report of remarks made in course of discussion at Meeting.
