Mizoram, 1872: Lushai Villages
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Lushai Villages
A Lushai village is generally situated on or near the top of some high hill or ridge. Those we saw were seldom built on the highest part, but a little way down the slope, apparently for protection against high winds. The houses are constructed on one uniform plan ; they are all gable-ended and raised some three or four feet fix)m the ground. The framework is of timber, very strong, the walls and floor being of bamboo matting, and the roof thatched with grass, or with a palmated leaf common in the hills.
The houses are usually about eighteen feet long by twelve wide, and in front is a large verandah, fitted with hollow basins scooped out of tree trunks, in which rice is husked with long wooden pestles.
At the back of the house is another small en- closed verandah, which serves as a sort of store- room. The interior of the house is fitted with a large hearth of mud or flat stones, over which is suspended a large square wooden framework, on which are trays of grain, herbs, &c., all dried, bacon cured, &c.
On one side of the fire-place is a small raised sleeping place.
The doors are blocked up at the bottom with small logs, for a height of about two feet. This, I was told, was with a view to keep the small children in, and the pigs out. A small circular hole affords entrance to the domestic fowls ; and small cages constructed just under the eaves are the abode of fowls and pigeons at night. The door itself is a close bamboo hurdle, sliding backwards and forwards inside on a couple of bamboos, which act as guides.
Some houses have windows, which are closed externally by shutters of a similar construction to the doors. The front of the house is covered with skulls of antlered deer, metua, bears, leopards, &c., all smoked to a dark brown colour. Feathers of various birds are also stuck into the interstices of the wall.
A Chief’s House
The chiefs house is of similar construction, but much larger, being about forty yards long, by ten wide, and is divided within into one large hall, and two or three sleeping rooms opening on to a passage running the whole length of the building. It has, generally, in front a large level open space, and from this the streets radiate in all directions, following the spurs or slopes of the hill. The whole is inclosed in a stiff timber stockade, excellently constructed on the most approved principle, with a ditch and banquettes in rear and loopholed. The entrance is through a passage of strong timbers, and defended by a thick door or gates.
Small, well-protected look-outs are erected at the angles of the stockade, commanding the ap- proaches to the village. Outside the fencing, timber platforms surrounded by posts, each crowned with the skull of some animal, mark the spot " where the rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep." Inside also, these resting places are marked by a small raised mound of earth, or a pile of stones and a few skulls, usually dose to the house of the deceased.
Outside every house is a small raised platform, on which, and on the stones covering the graves of their deceased friends, the Lushais assemble in groups in the mornings and evenings to smoke and converse.
In all the villages, moreover, there is a large barn -like building, raised similarly to the houses, but partially open at the sides, and with a square sunk fireplace in the middle. This is the house of assembly, where the affairs of the village and the arrangements for raiding expeditions, &c., are discussed.
The Lushais. manufacture a kind of wine from fermented rice and water; something else is added, a fruit, found in the jungle, I believe, but what it was, I could not find out. These ingre- dients are placed in a large clay jar, and pressed down for several days, when the wine is fit to drink. In one of the northern villages we saw them sucking the wine out of the jar, by means of a long reed, which was passed from mouth to mouth ; but further south we found in the houses a kind of syphon^ made by joining a couple of reeds together at an angle of forty-five degrees, by means of a piece of India-rubber. This is used for drawing off the wine from the rice, &c., in the jar. The wine is thin, and in flavour somewhat resembles cranberry wine.
Domestic Animals
The Lushais are very clever at basket-work, making baskets of all sorts, of cane or bamboo, from little really tasteful ones for holding small articles in-doors, up to large deep baskets with conical lids, and little feet, in which they carry loads of all sorts. The latter are carried on the back, a small cane-band passing round them, and through the ends of a little wooden yoke on the shoulders, and so over the forehead.
The domestic animals found in a Lushai village are the metua, a very handsome animal of the bovine race, with fine horns ; the goat, remark- able for his very long white hair ; pigs, which are fattened up to a great size, and fowls. We saw a few dogs in some of the villages we occupied.
Near the villages we found various kinds of traps, some formed by bending down a strong sapling or bamboo as a spring, which jerks the animal high into the air, holding it sus- pended by one foot. A sepoy with the right column was caught in one of these, and carried suddenly aloft by the foot, to the astonishment of his comrades.
Another trap, for tigers, &c., is a rough cage of logs, open at both ends, the top of which is composed of several large trunks of trees so arranged as to fall on and crush any animal passing through the cage. They are also very skilful in making small rat-traps and snares for birds.
A Lushai field, or joom, as it is called, is merely a piece of ground on the hill-side, cleared of jungle in the following manner. A convenient piece of ground having been fixed upon, the undergrowth of shrubs and creepers is cut, and all except the largest trees felled ; the fallen jungle is then left to dry in the sun, so that it may be fired when the proper season arrives.
Great caution is exercised in firing the jooms, to prevent the flames spreading, as at this season of the year the surrounding jungle is
very dry. When the joom is fired, all the felled jungle, with the exception of the larger trees, is reduced to ashes; the unburnt trees are left lying on the ground, and help to keep the soil from being washed down by rain. The soil also is thoroughly burnt for an inch or two, and this soil, being mixed with the ashes, becomes fit for the reception of the seed.
Agriculture
Baskets of mixed seeds of cotton, rice, melons, pumpkins, yams, &c., are carried by the sowers, and a handful thrown into little narrow holes made with the broad end of a dao.
The sowing takes place just before the rains, during which the villagers assist each other in weeding the crops.
The first thing to ripen is Indian com, in the end of July; afterwards, in order, melons and vegetables ; lastly rice and other grain in Sep- tember. Small houses, six or eight feet from the ground, are erected in the jooms, and are occupied, during the ripening of the crops, by men whose business it is to keep off monkeys, jungle- fowl, &c., who would do mischief in the jooms.
The rice, having been cut and beaten out. is stored in granaries fenced about with strong logs. Lake the people of ‘Hammelin town," the Lushais are frequently visited by immense numbers of rats which overrun everything, filling the granaries, and leaving ruin and devastation behind then. ‘Neither fire nor water stops the progress of the innumerable host, which disappear as suddenly and mysteriously as they arrive."
Besides the crops grown in the fields, small gardens are frequent in the villages, in which are cultivated yams, tobacco, pepper, beans of various sorts, and herbs. In carrying loads or catting jungle, the Lushais work to the cry of a continuous ‘haw-haw " uttered in measured time by all.
Their musical instruments are few and simple; a drum of stretched deer-skin, a curious instru- ment formed from a gourd, the neck of which is furnished with a reed mouth-piece. Into the gourd, seven reed-pipes of various lengths, each having one hole stop, are inserted ; the junc- tions of the reeds with the gourd being ren- dered air-tight by a stopping of India-rubber: The simple music produced is that of a few notes of a harmonium played low and softly. Another instrument is a single reed-pipe, and they have gongs of various sizes.
Ingenious Forge
The men and boys whistle through their fingers with great power. The songs of the Lushais are low monotonous chants, accom- panied by the gourd instrument or drum.
As a rule, a Lushai village is a long distance from any great supply of water ; in consequence the Lushais bathe but seldom, and .they are unable to manage a boat, or swim. They seem to have few diseases, and only one man did we see marked with small-pox.
Besides manufacturing cotton cloth, making baskets, &c., they work a little in iron. A rough but ingenious forge is found in all their villages. It is similar to one in use all over Lower Bengal, and they have probably learned its construction and use from the Bengali captives.
The forge consists of a couple of wooden cylinders about two feet high, and eight or nine inches in diameter, each furnished with wooden pistons, feathers being fastened to the circumfer- ence of the latter as a stuffing to prevent the escape of air. The cylinders are placed upright in the ground, being buried to a certain depth.
A small fire-place of stones is constructed in front, and two thin bamboos communicate under-ground between this and the cylinders. The forge is .worked by a man holding the pis- tons, one in each hand, and moving them alter- nately, thus keeping up a constant supply of air. The fuel used is charcoal.
A very useful spoon, which serves a variety of purposes, is made from bamboo. A portion about a foot long is cut off above a joint, and the bamboo afterwards cut, as in making a quill pen; a scoop with a long handle is made in two minutes.
The bamboo has rightly been called the Hill- man's friend, because it supplies him "with every- thing from a house down to a small drinking-cup. I have referred in the course of this chapter to many of the various uses to which it is put, but there is one which I have not mentioned, its use as a vessel in which to carry water from the stream. The women perform this operation. each carryiDg about half-a-dozen long and large bamboos on her back, supported in the manner already described.
Character of The Natives
Our march through the country not being a peaceful one, we had no opportunity of witness- iug any of their religious, marriage, or funeral cere- monies, and as in several particulars I find that the Lushais on our side differ from those de- scribed by Captain Lewin as dwelling • on the Chittagong side, approaching more nearly the descriptions given by Major McCulloch of the Kookies dwelling in the South of Munipur, any quotations made from these authorities might be liable to the charge of inaccuracy, when applied to the tribes with whom we were brought in contact.
With a few exceptions the Lushais impressed us very favourably. Intelligent, merry, and with few wants, they were very far removed from the utterly irreclaimable savages which, prior to the Expedition, our fancy had painted.
