II CLANS INFLUENCED BY LUSHEIS 143

big eggs in a hollow tree and had tasted one and had found it
very bitter. The second she had placed in the paddy, where it
had been hatched by the sun's rays. Hence the child was
called Gwite, from " ni-gwi," the Thado for a ray of sunshine.
The Vuite, of course, do not admit this tale to be true, but my
informant tells me that in his father's time, when the Dongel
and Vuite lived near to each other, the former paid "sathing"—
i.e., a portion of each animal killed—to the latter, in recognition
that the Vuite were descended from the elder sister of their
ancestor. The Vuite, however, always tried to avoid accepting
such presents, and when the Dongel moved away the custom
died out. The first Vuite village is said to have been at
Chimnuai, near to Tiddim. The name of this site comes first in
the Vuite Sakhua chant which I obtained in the Lushai Hills.
Being attacked by the Sokte and Falam clans, they joined the
Thangur chiefs, but were ill-treated and fled to the neighbour-
hood in which they now live, and waged war with their
oppressors till the establishment of our rule. They at one
time approached the Manipur plain and in 18*70, under Sumkam,
they raided a Manipuri village, to avenge a charge of being
wizards. They appear to be closely connected with the Malun>
Sokte, and Kamhau clans of the adjoining Chin Hills, and
Dr. Grierson places them linguistically in the same group as
these clans and the Thado. In their dress and habitations they
resemble the Lushais, but the place of the zawlbuk is taken by
the front verandah of the houses of certain persons of
importance, in which are long sleeping bunks in which half a
dozen or more young men pass the night. The young fellows
help their host in his house-building and cultivation, and once
a year he gives them a feast of a pig. This custom prevails in
most of the non-Lushei clans, and also among the Kabul Nagas
in the Manipur Hills.

The women do not wear the huge ivory earrings of the Lushai
but cornelians or short lead bars.

The general constitution of the clan and the village is very
similar to that of the Lushais. As regards marriage they are
monogamists, in this particular forming a very remarkable
exception to all their cognates. The marriages of paternal first
cousins are allowed—in fact, among chiefs they are the rule.