20 THE LUSHEI CLANS CHAP.

by the time a pot of rice takes to cook—i.e., about an hour—
or by the time he can hold a sip of nicotine in his mouth; he
has terms for each period of the day, denoting the usual
occupation; he also divides the year according to the
agricultural occupation proper to it, Terms expressing
measures of length are very numerous. Short lengths are
expressed by reference to the human body, as we speak
of a span; but the Lushai has sixteen or seventeen of these,
extending from " chang-khat"—i.e., from the tip to the first joint
of the first finger—to " hlam," which is the distance a man
can stretch with both arms extended. Longer distances he
expresses by terms such as the distance of the nearest jhum,
the distance of the furthest jhum, the distance a mithan will
wander during the day, the distance a man can travel before
his mid-day meal, &c.—terms which, though well understood by
the people, are a little perplexing to strangers. Measures
of weight are scanty; a curious one is " chuai "—i.e., as much as
can be supported if suspended from the tip of the first finger
palm downwards. Many of the stars and constellations
have received names; most of them have some story attached to
them. The months are lunar months, and some have names,
but these are but little known or used.

3. The Lushai likes to perch his village on the top of a ridge or

Villages. gpnrj partly because, hillsides being steep, it is difficult to find
sites elsewhere, partly for the sake of the climate, but chiefly, I
think, in order to get a good defensive position. His migratory
habits disinclining him to make the elaborate defences over
which the Chins, Nagas, and other dwellers in permanent
villages took so much pains, he therefore sought for a
site which was difficult of approach. When we first occupied
the country, every village was surrounded by one or more lines
of stockade made of timber, with several rows of bamboo spikes
outside it. At each gateway was a block house, and others
were built at suitable places on the roads along which enemies
were expected to come, and were occupied whenever ati attack
was apprehended. Tradition speaks of villages of 3,000 houses,
aa|d, though this is probably an exaggeration, still from an
lamination of the sites it is evident that they must have
r large, and even when we occupied the country