34

THE LUSHEI CLANS CHAP.

wild cats, &c., are caught in snares, a noose being arranged so
that on the animal's stepping in it a sapling to which the noose
is attached, and which is held down in a bent position, is
released, thus hoisting the animal up into the air. The method
of releasing the bent sapling or causing the platform to fall is
in all cases the same. Two uprights are driven into the ground
and a bar securely tied across near their tops. The string or
rope which supports the platform or keeps the sapling in a
bent position has a wooden toggle tied to it. The string is
drawn between the uprights and one end of the • toggle is
hitched under the bar and the other end drawn down between
the uprights until it is perpendicular, in which position it is
held by a movable piece of wood being slipped across the
uprights, just behind its lower end. In this position the pull
of the string is on the upper cross bar, and a very slight touch
will remove the lower one and set the toggle free; then up
goes the string and down comes the platform or the noose is
tightened. The removal of the lower bar is achieved in several
ways. The bait or one end of a string stretched across the run
may be tied to it, or it may be made to support one end of a
tiny platform, on which the unwary quarry treads as it passes.

Pitfalls constructed in former times for the capture of
elephants are found all over the hills, generally on a narrow
ridge between precipices. To catch monkeys some rice is placed
on a small platform at the end of a partially severed bamboo
standing at a right angle to the hillside. The monkey,
attracted by the rice, springs on to the platform and is pre-
cipitated on to a number of bamboo spikes which have been
stuck in the ground beneath it. The same device with suitable
alterations is sometimes employed to destroy tigers and bears,

The Lushai is also very fond of shooting, and with his old flint-
lock accounts each year for a good number of bears and tigers. If a
village is much troubled by a tiger systematically waylaying its
livestock, a general hunt is ordered, guns are borrowed from
the neighbours, and the tiger, having been tracked into a piece
of jungle, is approached by a shouting mob, from which he flies.
Every effort of his to turn from the path selected for him is
defeated by well posted crowds, who turn him back with shouts
and beating of drums, till, wearied out, he comes to bay and falls