Pdewan: Created page with "{| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"|
This article is an extract from
'''THE LUSHAI EXPEDITION '''
1871-1872
BY
R.G. WOOD..."

2017-03-30T16:45:15Z

Created page with "{| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%"> This article is an extract from '''THE LUSHAI EXPEDITION ''' 1871-1872 BY R.G. WOOD..."

New page

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%">
This article is an extract from 

'''THE LUSHAI EXPEDITION ''' 
1871-1872 

BY 
R.G. WOODTHORPE. 
LIEUT. ROYAL ENGINEERS. 

LONDON: 
HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, 
13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 

1873. 
***** 
''Indpaedia is an archive. It neither agrees nor disagrees '' 
''with the contents of this article.'' 
''Secondly, this has been scanned frcm a bcck. You can hclp by '' 
''send!ng the correcled vcrsion/ additional information to '' 
the Facebook community, [http://www.facebook.com/Indpaedia Indpaedia.com]. ''All information used will be duly acknowledged.''

</div>
|}
[[Category:India|M ]]
[[Category:Places|M ]]
=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.

Mizoram, 1872: Lushai Villages - Revision history

Pdewan: Created page with "{| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"| This article is an extract from '''THE LUSHAI EXPEDITION ''' 1871-1872 BY R.G. WOOD..."

Pdewan: Created page with "{| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"|
This article is an extract from
'''THE LUSHAI EXPEDITION '''
1871-1872
BY
R.G. WOOD..."