ii	DOMESTIC  LIFE	35
a victim to a volley from all the guns present, but before he
dies he has often severely mauled several of his tormentors.
Large hunting parties make lengthy expeditions into the
uninhabited parts in search of elephants and wild mithan. To
kill an elephant with their flintlocks is not an easy task. A
volley is fired at the selected animal, which is then followed for
days, being fired at when an opportunity occurs, till it falls from
sheer exhaustion. The following graphic account of an
unsuccessful hunt was written for me by a Lushai. The Kong-
puishiam and funeral ceremonies will be described in the proper
place further on.
"When Hmongphunga's village was at Kanghmun, they
intended to go out shooting. They performed the Kongpuishiam
ceremony; they placed the ashes in the middle of the road.
Early next day they went and looked at them, and in the ashes
they saw the footmarks of a tiger, an elephant, and a man.
They started on the hunting expedition, carrying plenty of rice
with them. They certainly found the elephants and fired a volley
at one of them. One of the party was called Hrangkunga.
The elephant ran away. They found it in a narrow ravine.
Hrangkunga was about to shoot at it from above when the
earth gave way and he rolled down close to the elephant, which
picked him up and carried him to a level place close by, and
threw him down and trampled on him and broke up his gun
and powder horn. His friends fired at the animal, and it went
off; they could not kill it. When the elephant had gone they
took up Hrankunga and buried him close by in the jungle, and
set out for their village, near which they shot a tiger. When
the people in the village heard of their approach they came out
to meet them with' zu.' The hunters wrapped up grass and leaves
in a cloth to represent the corpse of their friend. Outside the
village they fired guns and put down the effigy, which was
buried by the elders of the village. Shortly after this they
went out shooting again, and after going some way they saw
ISrangkunga's ghost on the branch of a tree and were very
frightened, and went home."
Fishing is carried on with the ordinary casting net, and fish
are sometimes killed with spears or daos by torchlight, but
most reliance is placed on the " ngoi" This is a weir built of
D2