104	THE  LUSHEI   CLANS	CHAP.
fact the chiefs wear plumes of the king crow's feathers, and
hornbills' beaks decorate many a chiefs verandah.
When building his house the Lushai must be careful that
he does not put his hearth on the side of the house next to
that on which his neighbour has his. To do so is " thianglo "
and illness will follow. It is not difficult to guess how this idea
has arisen. Lushai houses are generally built in lines one
above the other on the sides of a hill, and therefore it is more
convenient to place the heavy earthen hearth on the upper side
where the posts are shorter. This causes the hearths of all
the houses in one row to be on the same side, and, the custom
once formed, any deviation from it is considered unlucky. To
dream of the auction of a " hlang "—i.e., the bamboo frame to
which the corpse is strapped during the funeral feast—is unlucky,
and the person seen by the dreamer to purchase it will
certainly die.
The following translation of a Lushai account of " tualsumsu "
is interesting:—
"There are 'tualsumsu' in dreams and also while people
are in a trance; the latter are the worst. If two friends are
sleeping and in their dreams one says to the other, "Go as
" tualsumsu "'—i.e., £ beating your head on the ground'—nothing
will happen to the one who goes, but the man who sends him
will die. If anyone goes without being told to go, and likes it,
he will die, but if he says, c Oh, how it hurts my head !' he will
not die. Sometimes a person will go beating his head on the
ground and when roused from the trance know nothing
of it."
The following is another curious belief:—
" If a man dreams that with his friend they are going to fly
like * Chawifa/ and they, both carrying burning maize
cobs wrapped in old cloths in baskets, intend flying from inside
the house, and having come outside, his friend flies away, while
he himself stands on the end of the roof and cannot fly, his
friend who flew away will die quickly, while he who could not
fly will live. And he that flew away knew nothing of it, and
the corn cobs wrapped in old cloth were thrown up, and the
people saw them blazing like fire. This is extremely
' thianglo/ "