22

THE LUSHEI CLANS CHAP.

may allow ample room for the animals under the raised floor
and ensure good drainage. It is built, as are all other build-
ings in the village, of timber and bamboos, tied together with
cane and thatched with either cane leaves or grass—if the
former, then the ridge of the roof is straight and gable-ended;
if the latter, it is far higher in the centre, whence it curves
down somewhat abruptly to each gable. Access to the building
is obtained by a platform of rough logs at the uphill end, where
the front wall commences some 3J feet above the platform.
Having stooped under this wall you are confronted by a low
matting partition, surmounted by a huge log, the whole some
3 feet high, over which you scramble and find yourself in a
large bare room varying from 15 to 50 feet long and
15 to 30 feet wide, according to the size of the village,
with a square earthen hearth in the centre on which a few
logs are always smouldering, and at the far end is a raised
sleeping platform extending the whole width of the building.
The young boys of the village have to keep up the supply of
firewood for the zawlbuk, this duty continuing till they reach
the age of puberty, when they cease sleeping in their parents'
houses and join the young men in the zawlbuk. Until that
time they are under the orders of the eldest or most influential
boy, who is their " hotu," or superintendent. The zawlbuk
is the particular property of the unmarried men of the village,
who gather there in the evening to sing songs, tell stories, and
make jokes till it is time to visit their sweethearts, after which
they return there for the rest of the night. Travellers not
having any friends in the village use the zawlbuk as a rest-
house, but eating and drinking are seldom, if ever, carried on
there. The zawlbuk is an institution common to many tribes,
but among the clans I am dealing with it is confined to the
Lushei and the clans most nearly allied to them. Its appear-
ance among the Chiru and Vaiphei emphasises the close con-
nection between these clans and the Lusheis.

The houses all abut on the street, but small gardens are often
found at the back, in which sugar cane, beans, cucumbers, &c.,
are grown. The houses of the chiefs advisers and wealthy
men are generally grouped near his, but should the chief have
more than one wife, or should he have some less fortunate