152 NAGA HILLS. Sephima. Dimápur, on the Dhaneswari river, about 15 miles distant from the civil station, which has recently been created a police outpost, has become the home of a few Marwari and Muhammadan traders. Up to 1876, five villages occupied by Angámí Nágás, and one village of Kachha Nágás, had been subjected to the payment of a house-tax. By 1882, 69 Angámí, 22 Kachha, 8 Semá, 9 Rengmá, and 54 Lhotá villages were assessed for house-tax at a rate of Rs. 2 per house. Agriculture, etc.—The staple crop grown throughout the hills is rice, which yields two harvests. The kezí crop, corresponding to the áus of the plains, is sown broadcast about April, and reaped in July. It can be cultivated on any description of forest land, and yields a coarse grain, which is consumed locally. The thedi or chedi crop corresponds to the sáli of Assam and the aman of Bengal. It requires good soil and careful irrigation. It is sown about June, transplanted in the following month, and harvested in November. Of recent years, a considerable extension of rice cultivation has taken place, especially in the neighbourhood of Sámaguting; but at least three-fourths of the District area is still uncultivated waste. The other food crops comprise Indian corn, two small species of grain called suthe and kesithe, and various vegetables. Potatoes were introduced by the Deputy Commissioner in 1869. Cotton cultivation is restricted to the lower ranges lying north of the Barel and Rengmá Hills, which are chiefly occupied by Rengmá Nágás and Míkírs. The tea plant is indigenous to the country, but the general state of insecurity, combined with other causes, has hitherto kept European capital at a distance. The only agricultural implements used are the dáo or hill-knife and a rude kodáli or hoe. No animals are required for the primitive methods of tillage; but oxen of several breeds, pigs, goats, and even dogs, are bred for food or barter. Irrigation is extensively practised, both from natural watercourses and artificial channels. In only two villages is the Government revenue raised by means of a rent assessed upon the cultivated land; and in these cases the rates are as follows:--For basti or homestead land, on which vegetables, etc. are raised, is. 8d. per acre; rupit or lowland, suited for the valuable crop of thedi rice, 2s. id. per acre; faringhátí or high land, suited for kezí rice and a second crop of mustard seed or pulses, is, 8d. per acre. The natural calamities of flood and drought are practically unknown in the District; but the rice crops occasionally suffer from the ravages of insects, rats, and mice. There are no regular rates of wages or of prices in the District. Prior to the formation of Samaguting into a civil station, the Nágás were entirely ignorant of the value of money, and all trade was conducted by barter. Even at the present day, copper coins are looked upon with suspicion in the remote villages. The Nágás had no native standards of weight or measurement, but the maund and ser of the plains have
