94 THE LUSHEI CLANS CHAP.

repeopled by men and women issuing from a hole in the earth
called the " Chhinglung/' which appeared to me to be a disused
" cache " in which some long forgotten chief used to hide his
valuables on the approach of danger. Mithan reappeared from
gourd seeds, as is shown by their bellow " um mu "—i.e., gourd
seed. Pigs issued from the Rih-lake, wherefore they come to
their food when called " rih rih." Fowls were re-created from
the mud, so to this day they answer to the call " chirih chirih,"
i.e., <e chir mud."

It is not quite clear how, if representatives of the different
clans were changed into various animals, these same clans again
issued from the Chhinglung, but our own legends are not always
quite easy to follow.

The following is a translation of a Lushai account of the
repeopling of the world and of a feast which is said to have
taken place soon after:—

" The place whence all people sprang is called Chhinglung.
All the clans came out of that place. Then two Ralte came
out together, and began at once chattering, and this made
Pathian think there were too many men, and so he shut down
the, stone. After a short time Thlandropa was going to hold a
Khuangchoi, and told them to call together all the people of
the world, and when this had been done he held his Khuangchoi.
They said to the sun, 'Do not shine, because we want our
leader the Sa-huai (Loris) to lead us in the dance/ and the
sun said, ' All right.3 At that time the Sa-huai and all the
animals could talk, and the bamboo rat was beating the drum,
and they all danced, and in the . middle of their fun the sun
said, ' Oh, how I do want to look/ and shone out, and all the
animals got hot, and could not dance any more, so the Sa-huai
got angry and quarrelled with the sun, and won't even look at
it nowadays. There was a great feast of flesh, but the owl got
no meat, so he got angry, and went and sat on the bough of a
tree, and Zuhrei, the big rat, chaffed him and said, c Buka has
eaten his fill.' Then the owl being still hungry, got angry
and bit -Zuhrei. Since that day they have been at war, and if
the owl sees Zuhrei he assuredly bites him." The point of the
allusion to the Ralte is that this clan is famed throughout the
Hills for the loquacity of its members.