NAGA HILLS 151 sion in boiling water, etc. The Kukís are very fond of the clase, and are expert huntsmen, destroying more wild beasts than any other tribe in the District. Wild elephants are killed for the sake of the tusks, which find a ready sale in the markets, Bows and arrows, spears, and dáos form their weapons. They are very fond of war, not apparently for the mere sake of plunder, but to gratify a spirit of revenge, or to procure heads for religious ceremonies on the death of a chief. Like all other wild tribes, their knowledge of war consists simply in surprising their enemies. They surround the place to be attacked in the night-time, and at break of day rush in 1 the night-time, and at break of day rush in from every quarter and massacre indiscriminately all they come across. The small clan residing within the Nágá Hills are said to have lived peaceably for several years past, and there is every probability of their continuing to do so in future. One of their customs is, on the death of a chief or head-man, to smoke-dry the body and keep it for two months, after which it is interred with grand honours, and a great feast is given to the whole clan. Rice and cotton are the chief products, which are cultivated on the jum system, but in a manner different to that followed by the Cacharís and Nágás, who take three or four successive crops from the same land; the Kukis, however, take only one crop and clear fresh ground every year. Men, women, and children are inveterate smokers. The women bear the heaviest burdens of life. When not employed in household duties, or in the cultivation of their fields, they work at their looms, weaving cloths for the family, while the men set about basking in the sun. The Mikirs are the most peaceful and industrious of the hill tribes, and labour under the imputation of cowardice because they are less warlike and vindictive than their neighbours. They inhabit the lower hills, usually within a day's journey from the plains; and since our annexation of Assam, they have been recognised from the first as British subjects, and rendered liable to pay a house-tax. Within the limits of the Nága Hills District, the Míkirs are estimated to number 8800. In the neighbouring District of Nowgong they numbered 47,497 persons in 1881, dwelling in the border tract specially known as the Míkir Hills. They live, not in organized communities, but in solitary huts or small hamlets, as many as thirty individuals sometimes occupying the same house. They carry on a brisk traffic with Bengalí traders, bartering their cotton, eriá silk, and various jungle products for salt and piecegoods. As is also the case with the Cacharís, they have recently fallen under the influence of Hinduism; and gosáins or religious instructors of the Vishnuite sect are now very busy among them. Next to the civil and military administrative head-quarters at Kohima, the following places are estimated to contain over two thousand inhabitants :-Kohima (the Angámí village), Viswema, Chanduma, and
