II DOMESTIC LIFE 27

persons who have given certain feasts. A similar prohibition
exists regarding windows, which are one of the prerogatives of
the " Thangchhuah," as will be described in Chapter IV, para 1.
Openings in the side of the house are viewed with suspicion, as
likely to bring misfortune, and a most progressive chief told me
he had refrained from making any but the authorised ones, in
deference to the strong public feeling that the whole village
would suffer for such an innovation.

The materials of which all the buildings are constructed are
the same—viz., timber for uprights and crossbeams, bamboos for
the framework of the floor, walls, and roof, split bamboos for the
floor, walls, and if cane leaves are used to cover the thatch; the
whole being tied together with cane. The uprights consist of
sections of hard wood trees, which are split longitudinally and
left to season for as long as possible. The cross beams which rest
on the wall plates appear to us unduly heavy, while the wall plates
seem very weak. The Lushais claim that the weight of the cross
beams gives the house stability in high winds. The broad bands
of split bamboo laid on top of the cane leaf thatch from eave to
eave, secured at intervals by longitudinal bamboos tied down with
cane, give the roof a semi-circular appearance from the outside.
When cane leaves cannot be obtained, thatching grass is used,
but its extreme inflammability makes it unpopular. When
•cane leaves are used, holes for the passage of cane ties cannot
be avoided, and beneath each of these a bamboo split in half is
secured as a drain pipe to convey the drippings beyond the
walls.

Owing to their nomadic habits the Lushais have not much & Fur-
furniture. Even in the houses of powerful chiefs but little
will be found but a few rough and low wooden stools, some
wooden platters, some earthenware beer pots, strengthened
by plaited cane coverings, some brass pots, and many baskets in
which valuable or perishable articles are preserved. Property
which can be safely buried is often concealed in this way, a
custom which is fast dying out now that raids are things of the
past.

AgricultwaL—The Lushai's cultivation being confined to 6. Imple-
cutting down the jungle, burning it, and dibbling in the seed ments-
among the ashes, he does not require many or elaborate imple-