198 THE NON-LUSHEI CLANS CHAP.

forcing them to the surface, when it is thrown into the water.
The Kookis also spear fish, but have not much idea of catching
them by the hook or net."—Stewart's ei Notes on Northern
Cachar," pp. 62, 63.

When the track of a tiger is found the " thempu " lifts the
earth on which the footprint is and lays it on a leaf of the " ai"
plant. He pours some zu on it and then, muttering charms, he
wraps it up in the leaf and drops it into a pot, which he places
to his ear and professes to be able to hear whether the pursuit
of the animal will be crowned with success. The customs as
regards "boi" approximate to those of the Lushais,and where they
differ it is always to the disadvantage of the boi; thus a
criminal seeking refuge in the chiefs house has to pay a mithan
before he can be accepted. On a chiefs death each boi has to
kill a pig at his funeral. Slavery by purchase is recognised
and is not restricted to the chiefs—another point of resemblance
between the Thados and the Chins.

The village organisation is much the same as among the
Lushais, but the minor chiefs, while collecting all dues from the
people of their villages, pay certain dues to the head of their
family. The crier is known as " tlangsam," but he receives no
remuneration. The " thirdeng," or blacksmith, is known as
" thirshu," and receives a day's labour from every householder in
the village as his pay.

The thempu only receives zu, and this only from those he
cures—a system tending to increase the skill of the practitioners.

As regards marriage the rules are not very clearly defined,
but young men of the families which sacrifice a sow to their
Sakhua will not generally take girls from the families which
sacrifice a mithan. Strange to say, the sow-sacrificers have no
objection to providing brides for the mithan-slayers, the cause
probably being that in certain cases the wife's Sakhua has to be
propitiated and the cautious sons of sow-killing families object
to the extra expense involved by marrying a wife whose Sakhua
demands a mithan. Lieutenant Stewart states that strict rules
existed prohibiting the intermarriage of cousins, however
remote, but my enquiries tend to show that at present the
prohibition only extends to paternal cousins to the third
generation,