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THE SEMA NAGAS

'vV

MACMILLAN AND CO.. Limited

LONDON . BOMBAY . CALCUTTA . MADRAS
MELBOURNK

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

NEW YORK . BOSTON . CHICAGO
DALLAS . SAN FKANCtSCO

THK MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Lid.

TORONTO

« ViKHEPU

Chief of the Ayemi Clan in Seromi

THE

SEMA NAGAS

^^ ,( BY

J H. HUTTON,

CLE., M.A.
(Indian Civil Service)

WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

AND A

FOREWORD

HENRY BALFOUR,

M.A., F.S.A., F.R.G.S., F.R.A.I.

Published by direction of the Assam Government

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED

ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON

1921

PRINTED IN CKEAT BRITAIN

SIMI . KUCHOPU
FRAKS-NT . TIUVEKEMI

PANON . ZHE-NU
KAKU . HIPA . HETSUKE

PREFACE

The Sema tribe with which this monograph deals is one
of the many Naga tribes inhabiting the hills between Assam
and Burma. This area has been subjected to emigration
from at least three directions — from the north-east, whence
came the Tai races ; from the north-west, whence came the
Singphos, Kacharis, and Garos, among others, and from
the south, as the Angami Nagas at any rate came to their
present country from that direction, while a migration from
the south northwards on the part of the Thado Kukis and
Lusheis has barely ceased even now. The Semas, hke other
Naga tribes, probably contain elements from all these migra-
tions. The account of the Semas given in this book has
been compiled at Mokokchung and at Kohima in the Naga
Hills, during an eight years' acquaintance with them, during
which I have learnt to speak the language fairly fluently
and have been brought into contact with the hfe of the
individual, the family, and the community more or less
continuously and from many angles. For there is hardly
any point of tribal custom which is not sooner or later
somehow drawn into one of the innumerable disputes which
the local officer in the Naga Hills is called upon to settle,
and it is my experiences in this way which constitute my
credentials in writing this volume.

There is no previous Uterature to speak of deahng with
the Sema tribe, or even with its language, which was not
reduced to writing when I started to learn it. All my
sources therefore are original, and all my information is
derived directly from members of the tribe either in their
own language or in that corrupt lingua franm of the hills
which bears much the same relation to real Assamese as
beche de mer Enghsh does to the King's.

viii PREFACE

I have to thank a number of my friends for the assistance
they have given me ; in particular Dr. Carter, Economic
Botanist to the Grovernment of India, for identifying by
their scientific names many plants mentioned in Part II ; Mr.
J. P. Mills, now Assistant Commissioner at Mokokchung, for
the scientific names of many birds referred to in Parts II
and VI, as well as directing my attention to other points of
interest ; ]VIr. H. C. Barnes, C.I.E., Commissioner of
the Surma Valley and Hill Districts, .also for directing my
attention to several points of Sema custom. Of the illustra-
tions, I am indebted for three photographs to j\Ir. Butler,
of the P.W.D., and for one to Captain Kingdon-Ward, while
I have to thank Miss A. M. Grace, of Hove, for the original
of the coloured plate. The rest of the illustrations are my
own. Last, but far from least, I have to mention my Sema
friends who have been the real means of my making what
record I could of tribal customs — ^Vikhepu, Chief of the
Ayemi Clan in Seromi, Inato, Chief of Lumitsami, KJiupu
of Lazemi, Nikiye of Nikiye-nagami, Hezekhu of Sheyepu,
Mithihe of Vekohomi, Hoito of Sakhalu, Ivikhu of Lizmi,
Inzhevi of Yepthomi, Hoito of Kiyeshe, a^nd many others,
but the first five or six in particular. The first four
mentioned, as weU as Hoito of Sakhalu, are, alas ! dead ^
after years of the most loyal service to the Government —
the others I hope have long to live, but my indebtedness
for information to Vikhepu, four years my personal Sema
interpreter at Mokokchung, was particularly great, and his
death in the influenza epidemic of 1918 was a grave loss
to the district.

I might perhaps here mention that in 1917, when a Labour
Corps was raised in the Naga HilLs for service in Europe,
half of the two thousand Nagas enrolled were Semas, from
inside or across the frontier, and not a few of them died in
France.

J. H. HUTTON.

* Nikiye was most treacherously murdered by a Kalyo-kengj'u village
across the frontier as this waa going to press. Ivikhu has also died since
this was written.

CONTENTS

;

Foreword xv

PART I

GEKERAL

Habitat and affinities — Origin and migrations — Appear-
ance, dress, weapons and character 1

PART II

DOilESTIC LIFE

The Sema village, site, name, approaches and general
features — -The home : construction, contents — Art ;
manufacture ; currency — Agriculture ; livestock —
Hiinting and fishing — Food, drink and medicine —
Games — Daily life 31

PART III

SOCIAL LIFE

Organisation of society, laws and customs — Exogamy —
The " manor " — The village — Property, adoption —
Settlement of disputes, war — Women . . . .119

PART IV

RELIGION AND CEREMONIES

Religion : general character of popular beliefs ; spirits and
deities ; the soul and eschatology ; religion and magic ;
hierarchy ; ceremonies of the agricultural year ; of
social status, sickness, etc. ; ceremonies of birth,
marriage, death, etc. ; miscellaneous beliefs, forces
of Nature, etc. ; calendar 189

CONTENTS

PART V

PAQK

LANGUAGE 263

PART VI

FOLK-LORE 301

APPENDICES

1. Bibliography. II. Sema Migrations and Affinities.

III. Reciprocal Table of the Names of Relations.

IV. Extract from a Letter on the Subject of thei
Relations between a Sema Chief and his Dependants.,

V. The Semas and Mr. Perry's " Megalithic-Culture
of Indonesia." VI. Sema Vocabularies. VII.
Glossary 371

Index 447

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

ViKHEPU, Chief of the Ayemi Clan in Seeomi

Coloured Frontispiece

Facing page

The Sema Country from Kilomi Village ... 4
Mt. Tukahu (Japvo) ajntd the Barael Range as seen

FROM Sema Country -4

Man of Laevh, Asimi Clan. Dayang Valley ... 8

Yezetha of Aochagaltmi 8

Woman of Mishilimi Village, Asimi Clan, Dayang

Valley 8

Sema Ornaments 12

The Aghaopucho 14

Sema Cloths 14

The Son of the Chief of Ghukwi of Ghukwi-nagami

^VEARING Cotton Wool Ear Ornaments . . 16

Viyekhe of Kiyeshe-nagami 16

Wife and Child of the Chief of Litami. ... 17
Daughter of the Chief of Phtlimi wearing Fillet

DENOTING Betrothal 17

Sema Cloths showing Cowries, etc., sewn on . . 18

Spear-heads 20

Sema and other Naga Daos used by them ... 22

Arrows and Crossbows 24

RoToan Village 34

Kilomi Village showing Granaries to Left . . 34
Wooden Sitting Platform in Front of Chief's House

— Sakhalu 37

Genna Posts (Sakhalu) showing Carved Mithan

Heads and AghU-hu 37

Miniature " Morung " built at the founding of the

Village of Vedami 38

' Morung '" in Philimi built on account of the Bad

Harvest 191G 38

xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Facing p<ve

Sema Houses showing House-hokns of Wood and
OF Baxboo with Rattles of Gourds and

Bazsiboos 40

Sema Making Fire 42

Amiphoki 48

Chief's House in Vekohomi Showing King-post . . 48

Sema Wo3ian Spinning (PniLmi Village) ... 50

Sema Woman Weaving (SmTZEvn Village) ... 50

Automatic Kohkohpfo fob Scahing Bieds, etc., from

Crops 52

Rough Sketches of Mechanism of Sema Bellows . 52

Making Pots for Food 54

Sema Interior (AbisMkhoh) showing Aboshu ... 56

Sema Baskets 56

Wooden Liquor Vat 56

Aghaghubo at alapfumi 64

A Typical Sema . . . ' 64

Harvesting 64

Carrying Home the Millet Harvest .... 64

Implements and Utensils 66

Mithan Bull with Cane for Leading it tied round

Horns 69

Sema ;Mithan {Avi) 69

Sema Pipes 100

Asii-jpusuke 100

Awoli-sheshe 108

Boy with Apipi-zhto and " Ekra " Spear . . . 108

Kitike 110

Sema Dances 110

House of Inato, Chief, of Lumitsami, with Y-shaped
Genna Posts and the Chief's Widow Keening

HER DEAD HuSBAND 116

Woman Washing at the Village Spring. Bajviboo

" Chungas " FOR Carrying Water . . .116

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii

Facing page

Aghii-kutsii-kogho-bo AT KuKiSHE CONTAINING the Head

OF A IVIan 176

Aghilza IN PniLiMi Village 176

Killing " Mithan " at a Kupulhukileke given by Inato,

Chief of LinvnTSAJvn 229

A Thumomi OF Alapfumi 232

A Thumomi of Tsivikaputomi 232

Graves in Front of a House at Emelomi .... 245

Atheghwo at PHnjnvn Village 245

Waheioe-'s Grave at SATAJvn 246

Grave and Statue (in the Angami Style) of Phuishe

OF VEKOHOivn 246

Celts found at or near Seromi Village . . 254

Anagha sho\m:ng Scars iviade by the Teeth of the Mice
OR Rats with wihch it has fought to protect

THE Paddy 254

Iron Blades at present in use and Celts found in

Sema Country 254

MAPS, etc.

Map of Sema Country 3

Chart of Sema Migrations 376

Pedigrees following 144

FOREWORD

The rapid changes which the culture of the ' unrisen '
races is undergoing renders urgent the work of the field
anthropologist. It is of the utmost importance not only
to the Science of Man, but also to responsible officialdom,
since a just and enlightened administration of native
affairs cannot be established and pursued without an
intimate knowledge of and sympathetic interest in the
natives themselves, their customs and their point of view.
Lack of ethnographic knowledge has been responsible for
many of the misunderstandings and fatal errors which have
tarnished our well-meant endeavours to control wisely and
equitably the affairs of those whose culture has been evolved
under environments which differ widely from those of
civilised peoples.

Hence, we may extend a cordial welcome to a monograph
such as is contained in this volume. It follows a number of
similar monographs which form a valuable series dealing
with various tribes controlled by the Government of
Assam, under whose auspices these volumes have been
issued. This enlightened policy on the Government's
part deserves all praise, and should bring well deserved
kudos. Apart from their value to ethnologists, these
volumes should undoubtedly prove of great service to those
whose official duties bring them into contact with the native
tribes, and should do much to promote a better understanding
and greater trust between the natives and those who are
called upon to administer and control theii- affairs. En-
couragement of ethnographical and ethnological research is
one of our most crying needs. The material is abundant,
since we are responsible for the welfare and progress of

xvi FOREWORD

peoples whose very varied culture-status ranges from that
of the Stone-age savage to the highest civilisation.

]Mr. Hutton's present monograph is the outcome of
devoted and intensive study of a primitive people among
whom he has lived for several years, and whose difficult
language he has been the first to master. His sympathy
with the natives has won for him their confidence to an
unusual extent, and his success in overcoming their prejudices
and suspicion has been invaluable to him in his study of
their habits and their thoughts. The book in which he
sums up his researches will have a permanent value as a
record of a tribe of Nagas having a special interest, inasmuch
as they exhibit in many respects a more rudimentary culture
than do the neighbouring Angamis, Aos and Lhotas. That
their cultiu'e will undergo rapid changes for better or worse
goes without saying, since contact with civilisation is
already showing its effect. Some of the Semas have recently
travelled far afield to ' do their bit ' in the labour-corps of
our Army. In September, 1917, in Eastern France, I came
across a gang of Nagas, many of them, no doubt, Mr.
Hutton's own proteges, engaged in road-repairing in the
war-zone, within sound of the guns. They appeared to be
quite at home and unperturbed. Earlier in that year I
just missed seeing them in Bizerta, but the French authori-
ties there described to me their self-possession and absence
of fear when they were landed after experiencing ship-
wreck in the Mediterranean — a truly novel experience for
these primitive inland hill-dwellers !

One wonders what impressions remain with them from
their sudden contact with higher civilisations at war.
Possibly, they are reflecting that, after what they have
seen, the "White Man's condemnation of the relatively
innocuous head-hunting of the Nagas savours of hypocrisy.
Or does their sang-froid save them from being critical and
endeavouring to analyse the seemingly inconsequent habits
of the leading peoples of culturedom ? Now that they are
back in their own hills, will they settle down to the in-
digenous simple life and revert to the primitive conditions
which were temporarily disturbed ? Will they be content

FOREWORD x\di

to return to the innumerable genua prohibitions and re-
strictions, which for centuries have militated against
industrial progress ?

Interesting though it will be to follow the effects of
culture-contact with the more advanced European peoples,
it is the indigenous culture of the Nagas which is best worth
investigating, and it should be studied intensively and
without delay, before the inevitable changes have wrought
complete havoc with the material for research.

The general status of and the distinctive features
observable in the culture of each Naga tribe and community
have an intrinsic interest for the ethnographer ; but the
descriptive material, when collated, affords scope for a wider
comparative study of the affinities and divergences to be
noted in the habits, beliefs, arts and industries of the several
groups of Nagas, enabling the regional ethnologist to investi-
gate the inter-tribal relationships and communications, and
to trace the local migrations of the various ethnic sections
and sub-sections together with their cultures. And, further,
the details recorded of particular tribes furnish data for the
elucidation of the still wider problem of the position which
the hill-tribes of Assam occupy in the great Indo-Chinese
race, their relationship to the Indonesians and even to some
of the natives of the South Pacific area. This important
line of research, ranging as it does far afield, comes within
the province of the general comparative ethnologist, who is
expected to place the Nagas and their culture in true ethno-
logical perspective.

1 must not dwell upon this point in detail. I merely wish
to point out that to the ethnologist, as well as to the adminis-
trator of native aft'airs, ]\Ir. Hutton's careful and first-hand
description of the Semas, as also his monograph upon the
Angamis, will prove of great value. Such work is a worthy
sequel to the earUer researches of Colonel R. G. Woodthorpe,
Dr. Grierson, ]Mr. S. E. Peal, and other pioneers in the study
of the ethnography of the Naga Hills.

During his eight years of official contact with the hUl-
tribes Mr. Hutton made a very fine and valuable ethno-
graphical collection, the greater part of which he has most

xviii FOREWORD

generously presented to the Pitt Rivers Museum at
Oxford ; a very important gift to his old University. It is
regrettable that the high cost of publication has imposed
a limit upon the number of illustrations in his book, the
value of which would have been greatly enhanced by a
full series of figures of the objects described, most of which
are represented in Mr. Hutton's collection.

One may congratulate the author upon the keen
enthusiasm which has prompted him to make full use
of his opportunities and to occupy the scanty leisure
moments afforded by a busy official life in the scientific
study of his human environment. The results of his
researches form a record which will have a permanent
value.

Personally, I have much to thank Mr. Hutton for, and,
inter alia, I thank him for having invited me to act as
godfather to a book which will, I feel sure, command the
appreciation and respect of ethnologists and very many
others,

HENRY BALFOUR.

Oxford, 1921.

PART I

GENERAL

HABITAT AND AFFINITIES — ORIGIN AND MIGRATIONS-
APPEARANCE, DRESS, WEAPONS, AND CHARACTER

THE SEMA NAGAS

PART I

GENERAL

HABITAT AND AFFINITIES — ORIGIN AND MIGRATIONS —
APPEARANCE, DRESS, WEAPONS, AND CHARACTER

In the former treatise made of the excellent Angamis, a Habitat,
division of the Naga tribes was suggested which grouped the
Sema tribe with the Angamis, Rengmas, and Lhotas as
Western Nagas. The Semas are located to the north-east
of the Angami country and at present inhabit the valleys
of three large rivers together with the mountain ranges
and plateaus that separate their waters. The westernmost
of these three rivers is the Dayang, which rises on Japvo
in the Angami country, flows north to the Semas, who call
it Tapu, and eventually, turning west and south, emerges
from the hills through to Lhota country, after which it
joins the Dhansiri, its waters eventually flowing into the
Brahmaputra and so to the Ganges. The other two rivers,
rising to the north or north-east of the Sema country, flow
southward, mingle their waters in the Lania, and reach the
sea by way of the Ti-Ho, the Chindwin, and the Irawadi.
The Semas thus occupy part of the watershed that divides
Assam from Burma. Of the two latter rivers the western
one, the Tuzii, generally spoken of as the Tizu, is the
boundary of British territory, a gulf fixed between the
Semas who Hve in enforced peace, and their perhaps more
fortunate brothers, whose independence enables them to
extend gradually eastward as the tribe increases, instead
of Uving in an almost perpetual scarcity owing to the

3 B 2

4 THE SEMA NAGAS part

population being far too large for the land which it occupies.
The Tita, called by the Semas Tiitsa, has been given as
their eastern boundary, but as in the case of Dayang there
are a few villages on the far side, and these are steadily
pushing east towards the Ti-Ho, so that there will no doubt
in time be a large number of Trans-Tita Semas.

The terms Glidbomi ^ (Hot-place -men) and Azhomi (Cold-
place-men) are sometimes used for the inhabitants of the
western low and hot villages, and for those of the more
eastern and colder villages respectively.

The Semas are bordered by the Angamis on the south,
Rengmas and Lhotas on the west, Aos and Lophomi
Sangtams on the north, Yachumis and Tukomi Sangtams
on the east, while in the north-east corner they touch the
Changs and in the south-east the Naked Rengmas.

Of all these tribes, excepting possibly the last, the Sema
, seems to be in many ways the most primitive. The majority
of Semas still do not know how to weave, while the making
of iron weapons is apparently of quite recent introduction.
This is curious, as the nearest relatives of the Semas, if
one can judge at all from the formation of their language,
are the Angamis and in particular the Kezami division of
that tribe, and the Angamis excel in making cloths, weapons,
and utensils. But then, of course, so does the Sema when
he has once learnt. Some of the best spears and daos
made in the Naga Hills district used to be made by a self-
taught Sema smith in Litsami.
Affinities. While the Sema language is most closely related to that
"^ of the Kezami Angamis, ^ there is a close superficial relation
between the Semas and Chekrama^ Angamis, as a number of
villages now reckoned Chekrama are largely of Sema origin,

1 For the pronunciation of Sema words see Part V. The accent is
usually evenly distributed, stress where it occurs being shown thus '.
The length of vowels is often doubtful, and is only shown here when the
vowel in question is very definitely long or short. An English reader will
generally obtain some approach to the Sema word by giving the vowels
their Continental values and very slightly accenting the odd syllables —
first, third, fifth, etc., starting afresh after a hyphen.

* See Appendix II on Sema Migrations and Connection with Khoirao
Tribe.

^ Or "Chakrima."

The Sema Country from Kilomi Village.

Mt. Tl'kahu (Japvo) and the Barail Range as seen from Sema Country.

[To face p. i.

I GENERAL 5

the customs, dress, and language of the Chekrama Angamis
having been adopted as a result of contact with and domina-
tion by that tribe. These villages are bilingual and speak ^
Sema or Chekrama Angami indifferently. The Semas of
Lazemi, on the other hand, and some other villages in the
Dayang Valley, seem to have a fairly strong mixture of
Tengima Angami and, in some cases, of Rengma blood, which
has influenced their language and customs so much as to
make them noticeably different from the genuine Sema.
There is a decided admixture of Sangtam and even of Ao
blood in the northern Semas, and a very considerable mixture
of Tukomi Sangtam to the east, while in the north-east
corner a little Chang and Yachumi blood has been intro-
duced. The result of contact with these tribes may also
be seen to a certain extent in the customs observed by the
Semas and in their songs and dances. Generally speaking,
however, the Sema is predominant in mixed villages, and
though in some ways very receptive, it is his language and
polity which usually prevail. It is only in the case of
one or two villages on the Chekrama border that he has
fallen under the influence of another tribe so far as to adopt
its customs and language in place of his own.

Like the other Western Naga tribes, the Semas point to Origin,
the south as the direction from which they came. They
relate the story of the Kezakenoma stone as well as many
other folk-tales common to the Angami and Lhota, particu-
larly the latter. They do not, however, trace their origin
south of Mao, but point to Tukahu (Japvo) as the place
from which they sprang. The ancestors of the Semas came
from that mountain, and the Sema villages spread, according
to one account, from Swema or Semi, a village near Keza-
bama, which is to this day a Sema community retaining
Sema as its domestic language, though it has adopted the
Angami dress and is surrounded by Angami villages on all
sides. Other versions, ignoring the Swema story, trace the
wanderings of the Semas through different villages, some
clans having come north through Hebuhmi, Cheshahmi,
and Chishilimi, others through Mshihmi (" Terufima ")
and Awohomi. The Semas of Lazemi tell of a great battle

6 THE SEMA NAGAS part

with the Angamis near Swema in which the Somas were
defeated and retreated westwards until they reached the
Zubza river ; afterwards they turned northward to settle
finally at Lazemi, IVIishilimi, and Natsimi (" Cherama ")
in the Dayang Valley, The obvious generahsation is
that the Sema tribe originally occupied the country
' now occupied by the Tengima, Chekrama, and Kezama
Angamis and migrated north under the pressure of
Angamis coming from the southern side of the Barail
range. The connection with the Kezamas is particularly
noticeable, as it is to the language of that tribe that
the Sema tongue is most nearly related, but it is likely that
the immediate sources of the tribe are to be found in the
Khoiraos in Manipur.^ It is also worthy of note that all
traditions agree in tracing the northward movement of the
Semas up through the low hills of the Dayang Valley. A
sojourn in that very hot and unhealthy locaUty may well
account for the comparative darkness of the average Sema
complexion when compared with that of the Angami, as well
as his somewhat inferior stature, though in high and cold
villages like Seromi fair Semas are far from infrequent, while
some of the more easterly Sema villages produce men tall
enough and of splendid physique.
Migra- Whatever the origin of the Semas was, it is quite clear

tions. ^ ^^^^ ^j^g Dayang Valley was the route by which they first
entered the present Sema country. Spreading out fanwise,
they seem to have been checked on the west by the Rengmas
and Lhotas, who were on their part trying to spread east,
if the Pangti and Okotso traditions may be trusted. The
Dayang river, however, not unnaturally became the barrier
between the two, as for a considerable time of the year it
is not fordable, and a small colony from either tribe across
the river would be cut off from all help. The Semas, how-
ever, who came into contact with the less warUke Rengmas
can have had httle difficulty in estabUshing themselves on

^ See Appendix II. The Khoiraos, or part of them, claim a western
origin, and I have myself no longer the leeist doubt but that the Semas
are intimately connected with the Bodo race and can claim £ts kinsmen
the Garos and Kacharis.

I GENERAL 7

the west bank of the river, and it appears that the Rengmas
occupied a strip of country running as far east as the Tizu,
from which they were ejected by the Semas,^ who were thus
responsible for the separation of the Naked Rengmas from
the others, just as they have in quite recent times separated
the Sangtam tribe into two parts by pushing a wedge out
eastwards to meet the Yachumi. As far south as the
Kileki stream the country was occupied by Aos, who were
easily driven out by the invading Semas, and the process
of expeUing Ao villages went on right down to the annexa-
tion of the country by Government, which alone saved the
Ao from being driven north and west of Mokokchung.
Nankam was found too hard a nut to crack by the Semas,
owing to its great size combined with its strategical position ;
but Longsa, which is very nearly if not quite as large, and
was composed of refugees from Ao villages from the south who
had been driven out by Semas, had actually driven in their
cattle, packed up their property, and cleared a site for a new
village away to the north, because they could no longer
stand the perpetual raiding of Seromi Semas. Ungma,
the biggest and oldest of all Ao villages, had already given
up cultivation on the Sema side of the village, and Mokok-
chung must have followed when Longsa had gone, but,
unfortunately, on the eve of Longsa 's departure the first
Military Police outpost arrived at Wokha, and the Aos,
concluding that an end would be put to war, made up their
minds to stay. The result of this has been that while most
of the Ao villages, in which the population is stationary or
decreasing, have more land than they can cultivate, the
Sema villages with increasing populations Uve in a perpetual
scarcity, which will, if the introduction of terraced cultiva-
tion is not strenuously pressed, give rise in the next genera-
tion to a very serious problem.

The outlet to the north and west being entirely closed,
the Semas had to turn to the east, and in the east the Sema

* Kivikhu and one or two other Sema villages near it were compara-
tively recently known to Angamis as " Mezhamibagwe," i.e., "formerly
Rengma," and are marked as such on older maps, though the name has
now disappeared.

ance.

8 THE SEMA NAGAS part

migration still continues steadily. In the north-east it
has been at the expense of the Sangtam and Yachumi
tribes, while a httle further south many Tukomi Sangtam
villages are being absorbed or driven east by Sema colonies.
Nor does there seem to be any particular UkeUhood of this
eastern migration ceasing until the Semas come into contact
with some tribe more warhke than themselves. The Sema
poUty is particularly suited to colonization, for it is customary
for the eldest son of a Sema chief to take, when he is old
enough to manage it, a colony from his father's village and
found a new village at a convenient distance in which his
authority is permanent. If the parent village is large
enough, other sons will take other colonies in other direc-
tions, leaving a younger brother to succeed their father in
the original village.
Appear- In appearance the average Sema is certainly inferior to
the Angami. On the whole of shorter stature and darker
complexion, he has a flatter nose, wider mouth, and his
eyes more often have the Mongoloid slope. His lips are
thick and his ears, naturally rather prominent, are usually
distended with wads of cotton. In the low-ljdng villages
near the Dayang goitre is common and physique generally
poor, but in the higher villages on each side of the Tizu the
men are comparatively tall and often of very fine physique,
particularly among the chiefs and their famihes. Many
have quite fair skins, ^ and among the men good features
are often to be met with, sometimes even handsome ones.
Among the women, however, ugliness is the rule. A pretty
Sema girl is hardly to be found, though the exceeding plain-
ness of the majority of the sex makes the few who are less
ill-favoured sometimes seem almost pretty by comparison.
The women generally are very short, squat, and horny-
handed.

Except in the southern Dayang Valley villages grouped
round Lazemi, where the hair is cut lower at the back, thus

^ Complexion undoubtedly varies with altitude, and Somas from high
villages like Aichisagami, who are fair-skinned, turn quite dark when settled
near the plains, though I am aware that this fact assorts ill with the
learned and elevating disquisition of Hakluyt's ingenious Master George
Best on the origin of the colour of the Ethiopian's skin.

Max of Lazmi, Asimi Clan,
Dayang Valley.

Yezetha of Aochaualiml
A notorious crook (Achumi clan

f^'

K:'^ .

H'"^

^P^jJ

Woman of Mishilimi Village, Aslmi Clax. Dayaxg Valley.

\To face p.

I GENERAL 9

brealdng the circle, all Semas cut their hair in a clean line
round the head about an inch or two above the car, shaving
below this Une and letting the hair grow long from the
centre of the cranium as far as this line. The upper lip
is worn clean, the few hairs that grow being cut or torn out
by hand, but it is tabu to cut or pull out the hair of the
chin, Howbeit, it is very rarely indeed that a Sema succeeds
in growing anything approacliing a beard. The writer
remembers to have met with one Sema, Hozeshe son of
Gwovishe, who had a very scanty beard, and to have heard
of two other bearded ones. In fact beards among men are
about as rare as beauty is among women. The hair of the
head is, generally speaking, straight, sometimes wavy, and,
though usually black, is very often tinged reddish-brown
in children, a colour which occasionally lasts till later in
hfe,i and which, like waviness, is considered ugly. The
Sema dandies who frequent Kohima and Mokokchung some-
times part their hair in the middle just in front, brushing it
to make it stand up straight over the forehead ; a rather
good-looking Sema boy who worked for the writer was found
tying it back in a cloth at night and was much " ragged "
by his companions in consequence. The hair of the other
sex, never luxuriant, is shaved tiU they are about twelve
or fourteen years old, when they are considered to approach
marriageable age. The reason of this shaving of the head
is not known, but it is possible that it is practised to distin-
guish between the young girl, before whom conversation
and speech as between men may be carried on without
reserve, and the girl of marriageable age, before whom
males of her own clan must refrain from mentioning im-
proper subjects or making indecent remarks. It may,
however, have the purely utiHtarian object of preventing
the accumulation of vermin. In a bride the hair is fastened
back from the forehead by a circlet of orchid-stalk, a briUiant
yellow when dried, or of this yellow orchid-stalk and red

^ Mr. Noel Williamson recorded a case, which he met with in Ourangkong
of the Phoms, of a quite white child with red hair and brown eyes bom
under circumstances which precluded the possibility of European
parentage.

10 THE SEMA NAGAS

PART

cane work combined. After marriage it is tied up in a knot
at the back of the neck, but unmarried girls also tie their
hair behind their neck when long enough to do so, to keep
it out of the way when at work. Baldness among Semas
is rare, but occurs, though even the very old (and Semas
sometimes live to a great age) may be seen with their hair
merely grizzled, though really white hair also occurs in
old men. Wigs are worn by bald or white-haired men.
These are sometimes made from the skin of the hump of a
black bull which fits naturally to the head, but are more
often made of human hair bound on to a cane frame-work
for which the head is measured and which imitates exactly
the natm-al coiffure of the Sema, so much so that if well
fitted the difference between it and a natural growth is diffi-
cult to detect. Such wigs serve as a protection from the sun
and from cold, as weU as to disguise the wearer's baldness.
As in the rest of the Western group of Nagas, neither sex
is tattooed.
Oma*-^^^ As far as dress goes, the Sema, " bare-doupit Hielan'man "
ments. that he is, is still (and he should thank God for it)

" In the decent old days
Before stockings and stays,
Or breeches, top-boots and top -hats."

Although using a rain-shield of bamboo leaves and cane
work in the fields in wet weather, he does not otherwise
affect any sort of hat. In their ears the men wear wads
of cotton- wool (dkinsuphd), which in some villages, particu-
larly southern villages inhabited by the Ziimomi clan,
reach enormous dimensions. The chiefs of such villages
as Sakhai and Lhoshepu may be seen wearing in their ears
huge fans of cotton- wool, stiffened with shps of bamboo,
which obscure the whole profile. This cotton- wool fashion
in ear ornaments is elegant enough after its kind, as long
as the cotton-wool is fresh and clean, but it is a filthy
practice when old age and indifference to appearance lead
the wearer to change his ear-wads only after weeks and even
months of wear. The ear-wads cannot be discontinued, as
the wind whistles in the empty aperture and interferes with

I GENERAL ii

warmth and hearing. As with the Lhotas, the inner part
of the ear is bored in the case of males, not the outer edge
like the Tengima Angamis. In the lobe of the ear, which
is bored in both sexes, a small brass ring is sometimes worn,
and in some of the eastern villages men sometimes wear the
long brass hairpin-Hke earrings of the Tukomi Sangtams.
The lobe of the ear is bored in infancy, but the inner part
at about twelve years old ; it cannot be bored after
marriage at all, unless on the occasion of the possessor's
doing a genna for the taking of a head.

Two sorts of necklets are worn by men. Those who
have taken a head or killed a leopard may wear a collar of
wild boar's tushes (amlnlhu), either a pair or two pairs,
the ends of the tushes being bound with cane and fastened
together under a sort of huge button of conch shell with a
red cornelian bead for its centre, while the points are joined
by a loop from one side which catches a similar conch shell
and cornelian button fastened to the tush on the other side
by a string. In addition to this, a long necklace is worn of
three or four strings of white conch shell or imitation beads
faUing low down over the chest. This necklace {ashoghila)
is almost universally worn by Sema men. The genuine
beads are made from the polished centres of conch sheUs
bored lengthways and two or three inches long, while the
imitation beads are simply opaque white tubular beads,
which are sometimes preferred to the genuine article because
they are a purer white in colour. The strings are crossed at
intervals by bone spreaders, through holes in which the
string passes, in order to keep the necklace neat and flat,
and the point at the back where the strings are joined up
is usually covered with a plain conch shell button, round or
square. Before putting on a new bead necklace or collar
of tushes the Sema first puts them on a dog, so that if there
be any evil in the ornament it may affect the dog and not
the wearer of the beads. If a man kill a boar with tushes
he may not wear that particular pair, although entitled
to do so.

On his arms above his elbows the Sema wears slices of
elephant tusk {ahalmgh/l) if he is rich enough, and, unUke

12 THE SEMA NAGAS part

the Angami, who rarely wears them unless he wears a pair,
the Sema is content to wear an ivory armlet on one arm
only. On his wrists he wears brass bracelets (dsdpu),
rarely more than one on each wrist, and, if he has drawn
blood, cowrie gauntlets (aouka-as'uka). These gauntlets
are made of seven or eight rows of cowries, the sides of
which have been filed fiat on a stone, sewn as closely as
possible on to a cloth support having bamboo slips run
through each side, and fastened on to the wrist by a string,
which starts from the middle of one side, passes through the
other, and is wound round the ends of the shps. The front
row of cowTies is set the opposite way to the rest, and the
whole is backed by a fringe of red hair {samogho), sometimes
long but more often stifE and short Uke the bristles of a tooth-
brush.

Round the waist either a plain belt {asiichUcheki) is worn
to support the wooden sUng in which the dao is carried just
below the small of the back, or more often a belt {akiasa-
kikheki) ornamented either with co"«Ties in trefoils or with
fringes of crimson goat's hair cut short and bound at the
root with the dried stalk of an orchid which is bright canary
j'^ellow in colour. On the left side a number of cords hang
down knotted at the end and ringed with brass just above
the knot so that the ends jingle as the wearer moves. Small
bells are nowadays sometimes substituted for the brass
rings. This belt used also to be restricted to men who had
drawn blood, Uke the gauntlets and the lapuchoh apron,
but is now worn by anyone. Another belt (ghdkdbd),
of tubular make, is also sometimes worn for carrying
coin. The " undress " Sema loin-cloth or apron (aminl)
takes three forms, all very decidedly " undress." That
usually regarded as the genuine and principal Sema garment
{akecheka-'mini) consists of a double strip of cloth about
three inches wide. This is rolled up tight to go round the
waist, being bound with brass wire and furnished at one
end with a conch shell or wooden button. The other end,
having been attached to this button in front, is so manipu-
lated that the unrolled end hangs straight down in a double
flap about eight or nine inches long over the private parts,

I 2

^,„,.^^^ '' '' '' ''■ '^17 "Jr.

1. Tukonii earring.

2. Lapuchoh.

3. Sema coiffure.

4. Bead necklace, ashoghila.
o. Gauntlet, aoukah asukah.

6. Af/hilhii.

7. Wooden sling for dao, Asiiki.

8. Asaphu.

9. Avikisaphu.

Sema Ornaments.

(To /af<? />. 12.

I GENERAL 13

in the case of warriors being ornamented with a few cowries
here and there in trefoils or pairs. This garment is, of
course, a covering in name only, but entirely satisfies the
notions of decency entertained by most Semas, and indeed
Sema opinion on this matter shows how entirely standards
of decency rest upon conventions pure and simple. The
Semas who went on the Chinglong expedition in 1913 then
saw naked tribes for the first time ; the coolies, catching
sight of a string of naked Konyaks coming towards them,
put down their loads and burst into fits of uncontrollable
laughter at this sight of men who, though hardly less naked
than they were, wore no three-inch flap. Again at the
Sema game of kick-fighting, in which you hop on one leg
and use the other to defend yourself and attack your
opponent, the women put a stop to each round as soon as
decency is offended by the apron of either of the fighters
getting shifted round to one side. As from the moment
the contest starts the garment in question is flapping up
in the air, it is difficult to see what difference it makes
whether its point of attachment to the belt is precisely
central or slightly lop-sided. The second form of apron
(lapuchoh) consists of a strip of cloth about eighteen inches
long doubled. It is supported at the top by a narrow waist-
band over which the front half of the garment falls in a
flap. This front is worked with scarlet dog's hair and
ornamented with a circle of cowries from which a double
line of cowries radiates to each corner. The back half of
the lapuchoh is of plain blue cloth, the two bottom corners
of which are fastened together and the edge between sewn
up so as to make a sort of bag, from the corner of which
there is usually, but not always, a string running between
the legs and fastening on to the back of the waistband.
The lapuchoh seems to have been borrowed from the Tukomi
Sangtams, across the Tizu, and is worn very largely by
Semas in the Tizu Valley and across it, but its use is
restricted to persons who have drawn blood — spearing a
corpse will do. In the villages near the Ao and Lhota
country another type has come into fashion and is rapidly
superseding the akecheka. This is an adaptation of the

14 THE SEMA NAGAS part

" lengta " worn by the Lhotas and Aos. It is not so large,
being usually about eight inches long by six inches wide,
but, like it, passes between the legs from behind, coming up
in front under the girdle, and faUs down over it in a flap.
This variety is caUed ashola and is a recent concession to
the prudery of Aos and Assamese, both of whom, though
the former at any rate are far less moral than the Sema,
consider themselves offended by the akecheka and will not
do business with the wearers thereof.

The Sema under ordinary circumstances wear no leg
ornaments at all.

The cloths worn by the western and central Semas are
usually of Lhota patterns. Weaving is only practised in
a few villages, and even here the patterns worn seem to be
of Lhota origin, as the prevailing Sema cloth, which may
be seen in aU the Sema villages from Lazemi to Litsammi,
is the black cloth with three red stripes down each side
used by the Ndreng Lhotas and called by them sinyeku.
Of course it is possible that the Lhotas have adopted this
pattern from the Semas, but in view of the fact that weaving
seems a newly-acquired art in the Sema country, the reverse
is more likely. This black and red cloth is called by the
Semas akhome, and is embroidered by warriors, of great
renown only, with cowries forming circles and sometimes
the outhne of the human figure, indicating the warUke
achievements of the wearer. Thus embroidered the cloth
is called asukeda-jpi?- The cloth called mii-pi is black or
dark blue, with a white stripe down the centre like the Lhota
pangrop. To this stripe patterns in black are added by
head-takers (as in the Lhota rokessii), when the cloth is
called ata-kivi-pi. The cloth called sitam by the Lhotas
is also used — dark blue and white stripes, and called dubopi,
as well as a dark blue cloth with a Hght blue stripe called
abopi and resembUng the Lhota pangchang or shipang.
Warriors of renown who have also completed all tlieir
social gennas may wear a blue cloth of mixed thread called
chini-pi (" genua cloth "), but as very few women know how
to weave this cloth, it is rarely seen. In Lazemi and

1 Api = " cloth."

'';,' ' .' :.'<..'i"-.iv-.*. v'

The AciiAorccno.

t 1

(^W ^w^^^p

-l/.z-/-

Sr.MA L'l.uTH.S.

A' />

"-i-'

[To face p. 14.

I GENERAL 15

Mishilimi and other of the Dayang Valley villages a very
handsome cloth of broad black and white stripes called
nisupi is worn. The eastern Semas commonly use Sangtam
(Tukomi) and Yachungr (Yachiimi) cloths.

The Sema men put on their cloths by drawing the

corner of one end over the left shoulder from back to front

and then throwing the cloth round the body so that the

opposite corner on the same side of the cloth at the other

end falls again over the left shoulder from front to back.

The cloth goes either under the right arm, or over it round

the neck, as circumstances may dictate. The corner that

covers the left shoulder from front to back is usually marked

with a tassel of some sort, which hangs down the back of

the wearer and often takes the form of a fringe of scarlet

goat's hair about 4 inches broad by 6 inches or 8 inches

long. The more eastern Semas have also an ingenious

method of tying on their cloths as a coat, which they affect

when on the march or the war-path. The top corner of

one end is again drawn from behind over the left shoulder

and the bottom corner of the same end brought under the

right arm, and these two corners knotted on the chest.

The falling end of the cloth is doubled back again towards

the tied ends and the two corners are tied round the waist,

the corner opposite the one under the right arm coming

round the left side, and the corner opposite the one which

goes over the left shoulder coming round the right side of

the waist. This covers most of the upper part of the body

except the right shoulder and the left side towards the

front. Behind, the cloth, besides covering the back, comes

down over the buttocks into a point. The belt carrjdng

the dao-shng is worn over the cloth, keeping it in its place.

This method of wearing the cloth is called aghaopucho

(="the bird garb," said to be so called because used

when going into the jungle to snare birds). The European

waistcoat, though of course of extraneous origin, has

achieved so immediate and universal a popularity among

Semas as to be in a fair way towards becoming an integral

part of Sema costume.

On ceremonial occasions the dress described above is

i6 THE SEMA NAGAS part

supplemented by several striking and picturesque additions.
On the head is worn a sort of circlet {dvdhd) made of the
long hair from a bear's neck and shoulders plucked out
by the roots and bound on to a cane so as to bristle out
thickly in aU directions except where the circlet fits on to
the head. At the back the two ends of the cane are joined
with string and the whole junction lapped with cotton wool.
Springing up from the cane base of this circlet are three
cane shps, one in front and one to each side, on which the
warrior wears hornbill feathers. Hanging across the
shoulders, either in front or behind, an ornament called
aghuhu^ is sometimes worn, though now out of fashion.
It is made of a narrow strip of cane- work and cowries from
which a broad red hair fringe depends. Across the breast
is worn a beautiful baldric (amlakJia) consisting of a strip
of cloth from 3 to 3| inches wide, the entire surface of which
is worked with scarlet wool or dog's hair and from which
depends a fringe some 8 or 9 inches in length of scarlet
goat's hair with three vertical fines of white, aU bound at
the root with the bright yellow and glossy orchid stalk.
Over the top of the " lengta " a big square of cloth covered
with cowries is worn. This is caUed amini-keddh. It is
about 18 inches long by 12 inches broad. The top 5 inches
or so is taken up with cowries arranged on the black ground
of the cloth in more or less geometrical figures, while the
rest is covered with cowries laid as closely as they will go
after having had the sides rubbed flat, a very narrow fine
being left vacant in the middle to facifitate folding. From
the smaU of the back, where it is suspended and kept in
place by the tied ends of the sash or sashes (for one is some-
times worn across each shoulder), is the " panji " basket
ending in a tail. This tail sometimes merely consists of
long human hair, originally that of female heads taken in
war, fastened on to the basket itself and hanging straight
down behind with a fringe of red hair over it at the top ;
if so the ornament is called asaphu. Sometimes the basket
ends in a cane projection which sticks out at right angles

* Aghiihu = ' enemies' teeth." This ornament may only be worn by
warriors of tried prowess

\To face p. 16.

o g £;

- b

[To face p. i:

GENERAL 17

to the body and from which the locks of hair hang down,
varied occasionally by a little scarlet or white goat's hair,
the back of the projection being ornamented with coloured
cane -work and Uttle hair buttons. This variety is called
avikesaphu, meaning " mithan-horn tail," originally no
doubt having been made of mithan's horns. East of the
Dikhu " panjis " in war-time are still carried in buffalo -
horns slung from the small of the back. On his legs the
Sema in ceremonial dress wears, if he can get them,
the red and yellow cane leggings of the Angamis or of the
" Tukhemmi " or Kalyo-Kengyu tribe away to the east.
If not he either wraps his legs in white and scarlet cloths or
wears them unadorned.

The dress of the Sema woman consists principally of a
short petticoat, which does not reach to the knees, wrapped
round the waist and kept in place by a bead girdle. There
are more than half a dozen patterns, differing in colour —
the tsoga-mini, which has a white band at the top, the kati-'ni,
black and white stripes, puraso-mini, white with black edges,
tuko-li-mini (= Tukomi girl's petticoat), with a blue band
at the top, choe-li-mini (Lhota girl's petticoat), with a blue
band in the middle, the lahupichika, which is black and red
and worn only by chiefs' daughters, etc. The wives of
chiefs and others who have performed a full series of social
gennas sometimes adorn their petticoats with cowries sewn
on here and there in patterns. Over the top of the petticoat
is worn a string of cowTies as a belt, and under it a broad
girdle of yellow beads extending well below the hips, so
broad as to suggest that this was originally the piece-de-
resistance of the costume and that the petticoat underneath
it is a more recent addition, particularly as weaving seems
only to be a recently introduced art among Semas, and the
beads alone without any petticoat are worn by little girls.
In their ears the unmarried girls wear a cowrie or often a
white bead, and Httle tufts of red hair are worn both by
married and unmarried women in some villages, but very
often married women wear no ear ornament at aU. Necklaces
are worn of many strings of beads in which comeHans take
the principal and central position. These necldaces are

i8 THE SEMA NAGAS part

very like those worn by Chekrama Angami men, but the
cornelians are oval instead of oblong. On their arms
the Sema women wear heavy pewter-Hke armlets above the
elbow, sometimes two on each arm, and as many plain brass
bangles and bracelets on the wrist and forearms as the
wearer can obtain and can conveniently wear. To snatch a
person's beads from his or her neck is a serious offence,
and necessitates the sacrifice of a chicken, which must
be provided by the culprit. It is strictly genua for
men to put on or in any way use a woman's petticoat
that has once been worn. To do so would destroy all
chance of success in war or hunting. It is equally genua
to beat a house with a petticoat, which has the same result
on its inmates. One case the writer knew of in which a
chief had a somewhat serious family quarrel because his
wife in a passion took her petticoat and beat his gun with
it, and exposed her nakedness to the gun. He has never
been able to hit anything with that gun since — a fact.
Cloths other than the petticoat are not much worn by Sema
women in general, though in some of the villages, Uke
Seromi at the edge of the Ao country, the women less seldom
wear cloths. It is believed, however, by Semas that the
wearing of too many clothes reduces fertility and causes
small famihes. In MishiHmi and one or two other villages
of the Dayang vaUey the wives of chiefs or persons who
have done a fuU series of gennas may wear a cloth (akhome)
which is sewn with cowries Hke the asiikeda-pi, and some of
the Tizu vaUey Semas allow cowries on the petticoats of a
chief's daughter, but generally speaking Sema women may
not wear cloths sewn with cowries hke those of warriors.
Probably the custom of MishiUmi is borrowed from the
neighbouring Rengmas, whose women regularly wear
cowrie cloths.
Weapons. As in the other western Naga tribes, the principal offensive
weapons of the Sema are the spear and the dao ; the cross-
bow, originally perhaps borrowed from tribes further east,
is also used. The only defensive weapon is the shield,
unless we may include " panjis." No defensive armour is
used by the Semas, not even a cane helmet.

Cloth worn by wife of man who has acquired status in the Dayang Valley.

Two asilkeda-pi of different patterns.
Sema Cloths showing Cowries, etc., sewn on.

[To face p. 18.

I GENERAL 19

The Sema spear is made in three pieces, the shaft being
made in one piece either of the rind of the sago palm, or
of the core of some other tree, a tree resembhng ash being
frequently used. The head has a socket into which the
shaft fits, the wood being merely pointed and rammed into
the iron, though sometimes gum or a binding of twine is
put on to the wood in case of an ill-fitting head. At the
lower end of the shaft a spiked butt is fixed in the same
way. The head is usually of one of two types, the Ao type,
in which the shank spreads into a more or less lozenge-shaped
blade with a shallow mid-rib, and a more common flat
leaf -shaped type, apparently taken from the spears made
by the Kalyo-Kengyu (called by the Semas Tukhemmi) or
by some other tribe between Assam and Burma. The Ao
type is plain, but the other is worked with zig-zags, crosses,
V's,and dashes made by hammering the soft iron with some
implement, leaving a little wedge-shaped mark. This
head has two projections from each side hke those on the
Angami spear, only at the bottom of the blade itself instead
of on the shank, ^ and it is usually a good deal smaller and
more useful than the Angami spear-head. The butt is
usually plain, though Shehoshe of Litsami, the best of Sema
smiths, used to embeUish the butt too. It is used for sticking
the spear into the ground when out of use (a spear is never
leant against the wall, which impairs its straightness), or
in hill-chmbing, when the spear is used as an alpenstock, or
in throwing at a mark, when the butt end is thrown forward
so as not to damage the blade. Angami and Rengma spears
are also common enough in the villages in touch with those
tribes. Chiefs and persons of importance have the shafts
of their spears ornamented with scarlet hair bound on and

^ These two projections perhaps serve the purpose of keeping the
hand from slipping up on to the blade when the spear is used for chmbing
hills. Their origin, however, might date to a time when the spear-head
was fastened to the shaft by a tang and some projection was needed to
keep the blade of the spear from being driven back into its haft and cane
binding by the impact of its blow on the target. This explanation wets
suggested to me by the shape of a Kayan spear with a tang instead of a
socket in the Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford, but Mr. Balfour considers
the projection to be derived from the points at the side of a lozenge-
shaped blade which has since become leaf -shaped.

o 2

20 THE SEMA NAGAS part

cut short so as to stand out in stiff bristles like a brush,
leaving a bare gap in the centre for the grip and having a
fringe of long hair at the bottom. Sometimes, as in Ac
spears, there is merely a foot or so of red bristles at the top
of the shaft.

Shehoshe, the smith mentioned above, made a few spears
with a double or triple head in imitation of a Konyak tjrpe
brought back from the Dibrugarh side by some Semas who
went on one of the Abor or IVIishmi expeditions, but this
type is new to the Sema country, and the imitations are of
much finer workmanship than the original.

The Sema spear, though used also for thrusting, is
primarily a throwing spear, with an effective range of
16 to 20 paces. The length of the average spear is a httle
over 6 feet, of which the head and butt occupy 2 feet.

The Sema dao, hke the Chekrama and Kezami dao, has
a longish handle and is carried slung in a wooden carrier
on the right buttock or at the small of the back, with the
edge inwards. It is drawn with the right hand from the
right side, not over the shoulder hke a Chang dao. Several
varieties of the dao may be found in the Sema country, but
the prevaiUng type has a straight back and straight top at
right angles to it about 3| inches wide, from which the blade
gradually narrows to the handle, usually of male bamboo,
into which it is fastened by a tang, the end of the handle
being bound with cane, iron, or wire to keep it from sphtting.
The whole weapon is over 2 feet long and is often ornamented,
the blade being roughly etched round the edge of the back
and top and the handle being made bright with brass wire,
or red and yeUow cane,^ and with a few tufts of long red
hair let into the haft at the top. The Lhota type of dao,
which has a curved back, and the Ao type, with a very
broad blade, are common enough, and the iron-handled daos
made by Changs and Tukhemmi are popular when obtain-
able. These daos are of quite a different make, the handle
in both cases being made of iron to lap round a wooden peg
and merging into the blade, which in the case of the Chang
variety is very long and narrow, the metal being sloped off

^ By yellow cane, yellow orchid stalk is meant, and so passim.

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[To /ace p. 20.

I GENERAL 21

towards the back edge, and with a more or less curved end,
while the Tukhemmi dao is hatchet-shaped with a deep
indenture at the top. The Semas who acquire these daos
let the inevitable tuft of red hair into the wooden peg
which forms the end of the haft. Double-bladed daos are
also occasionally to be seen in the Sema country. They
seem to be copies of a Tangkhul type, which may have been
inspired by the shape of the imported iron hoes from which
daos are made, and which usually have a pronounced
mid-rib.

The Sema daos can be wielded either in one hand or both,
and are used for every sort of purpose as well as for fighting,
even for most delicate work, in spite of their apparent
clumsiness. The blunt corner of the back of the dao is
much used in cultivation for hoeing out stones and roots
from the jhum fields, and is sometimes worn away almost
as much as the cutting edge, and it is possibly this use of
the dao which accounts for some of the curious shapes in
vogue in different parts of the Naga Hills, the almost fish-
tailed top of the Chekrama and Kezama dao, for instance,
while the advantages of the Lhota dao for this purpose are
obvious.

The crossbow is made in many Sema villages, though the
use of it has probably been derived from the tribes further
to the east, as the Sema crossbow has superseded a simple
bow of more primitive type, and is somewhat inferior in
ingenuity to that of their eastern neighbours. The stock is
made of a wood called alipa-sii and has a groove (aliwoki-
bepfu) to carry the arrow, a hole in the fore end to take
the stave, and a lock at the butt end for releasing the string.
Bows imported from the Chang or Yachumi tribes have
also a rectangular hole in the stock to take the fingers of the
left hand when taking aim. The lock, which is made of
bone or of sambhar horn, — the latter is preferred — is let
into the wood of the stock to take the notch for the bow-
string, as a mere wooden notch would be worn out almost
at once. In the case of the Sema-made bow, the lock is
merely let in to a square opening in the stock cut to fit it,
and fastened by cane bindings to the w^ood of the stock

22 THE SEMA NAGAS part

through holes bored for the purpose. In crossbows imported
from further east the lock is dovetailed into the wood and
binding dispensed with. The trigger action for releasing
the string also differs in Sema-made bows from that of the
imported bows. In Sema bows the top of the trigger
comes flush with the upper surface of the stock and in front
of the string, towards which it is sloped away. It raises
the string out of the notch Uke a lever ; the trigger used by
the eastern tribes falls directly under the string and pushes
it up from underneath. In both cases the trigger turns on
a pin running through the lock from side to side.

The stave, alika-shuhi, is made of a single piece of wood
of the tree called tapusil, though the imported bows are
of a different wood. Bamboo is also sometimes used.
This stave is single, not composite, and the horns are merely
notched to receive the bowstring. When unstrung it is
not quite straight, as, if the bow went completely straight
when unstrung, it would always send the bolt above the
object aimed at. The wood from which it is made is
accordingly kept tied bent for a week or so before being
finally shaped and trimmed. The string is made from the
fibre of the shoots of the tree called 'lika keghi or lilubo, or of
kecJbokeghi, nettle fibre, which is twisted into a stout cord.
It is not knotted to the stave, but having been put over the
notch the short end of the loop is frayed out and twisted
up again with the cord for three or four inches, the loop
and top of the twist being strengthened with a twist of
cane. Three inches or so in the centre of the cord, where
it comes into contact with the lock and the arrow, are also
bound with cane. The bowstring is made waterproof by
being greased with the leaves of a plant called musiliniyeh,
which are rubbed down the string just as they come from
the tree, leaving a slimy deposit on the cord. The plant
called " Old Woman's Cry " {thopfughdbo) is also used
occasionally for this purpose, but this is possibly merely
to impart to the string the toughness of the plant.

The length of the stave is about 5 feet, of the stock
about 2 feet, and of the string, when the bow is strung but
not bent, about 4 inches less than the length of the stave.

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I GENERAL 23

The arrow is generally an inch or two over a foot long and
should fit the groove on the stock with only the point pro-
truding, but is sometimes shorter. The Yachumi have an
ingenious way of fixing the arrow in position, a sharp pin
being put at the head of the groove on to which the butt end
of the arrow is pushed, the arrow being thus kept in place,
but not so tightly fixed as to interfere with its propulsion.
The Sema arrow is of plain wood cut to a sharp point and
feathered at the butt end with a square piece of dried leaf
let in lozenge-wise to a sUt in the shaft, which is bound
behind, and sometimes also in front of, the " feather."
The leaf used for this " feather " is made from the flat,
rather fleshy leaf of a small palm-Hke tree which also provides
the Semas, Hke other Nagas, with their hair-brushes, the
latter being made from the fruit. The arrows imported
from trans-frontier tribes, are pointed wdth short broad
barbed iron heads fastened to the shaft by lapping part of
the iron from which the head is cut round the wooden
point. The tribes who make these arrows use poison on
them, but poisoned arrows are not used by the Semas. The
wood used for the arrow is usually bamboo, but trans-
frontier arrows are also made of sago -palm.

The bow is ordinarily kept unstrung, that is to say, with
the loop of one end of the string round the horn of the bow
just on the inner side of the notch, the loop being too small
to allow the string to shp down for more than an inch or
two. In stringing the bow, one end is placed on the ground
and one foot is placed against the belly of the bow low down :
the opposite horn is held in the left hand and the right wrist
placed on the point of the horn. The loop is then worked
up into the notch from the back of the bow with the tips
of the fingers of the right hand, the bow being bent by the
pressure of the foot and left hand. In bending the bow the
stave is held down with one foot, the operator standing on
the other. The butt is held in the left hand and the string
puUed up to the notch with the right. If it cannot be drawn
with one hand, both hands catch hold of the string on each
side of the stock, leaving go of the butt entirely. Then
the arrow is fitted to the groove. In taking aim, the left

24 THE SEMA NAGAS part

hand grasps the stock a Httle short of the stave, while the
right hand holds the butt close up to the right eye so that
the eye glances along the arrow to the object aimed at.
Both eyes remain open, though only the right eye is used.
The bow is released in this position by drawing the trigger
with the right forefinger. The Sema bow with the simple
wooden arrow, when made of green and therefore heavy
wood, has a very effective and accurate range of 60 yards
or more and a carry of over 200, though no accurate aim
is possible at such a distance. There is at present an Ao
of Longsa with only one eye, the other having been put out
by a Seromi arrow in an attack on the village. An iron-
headed arrow would probably have killed him.

The simple bow, which has now gone out of use, was
practically a hghter form of the stave of the crossbow
without the stock, and though sometimes held vertical or
oblique, is believed to have usually been discharged in a
horizontal position. Toy bows are still used by children to
play with.

The defensive arms of the Sema amount to the shield
and panjis, though the cane helmet used by the Yachumi
and Sangtam tribes is sometimes used where it can be
obtained. Panjis (ashu) are made of pieces of bamboo
sharpened at the ends and varying in length from 8 inches
to 3 or 4 feet, long ones being used for more or less permanent
defensive works and for putting at the bottom of pitfalls.
Short panjis are carried in a little basket, or in the receptacle
at the top of the tail, when on the war-path, and are stuck
into the path behind him by a retreating warrior to hinder
pursuit. Well-seasoned panjis are exceedingly sharp and
hard. The best of all are those made from the heart of a
tree-fern which has rotted for two or three years, leaving a
core of exceedingly hard wood. Panjis made of this break
off in the flesh and cannot be extracted.

The shield (azhto) is normally of basket-work, being made
of interlaced bamboo slats and bound with cane, and with
a horizontal cane handle on the inside, which is concave.
One end is square and the other round, the square end being
broader as a rule, and the whole is sometimes covered with

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I GENERAL 25

the skin of mithan, bear, or cow, sometimes merely painted
with patterns in black, principally circles and wavy lines,
the latter being a favourite pattern for ornamentation of
all sorts. On the war-path the round end is carried upper-
most ; in ceremonial use the square end is carried upper-
most and garnished with a long and thick plume of red
goats' hair bound to a cane and topped with white. Some-
times three such plumes will be worn on one shield. A hide
shield is also used, but this is imported from the Sangtams,
Changs, and Yachumis. It is made of raw and poHshed
buffalo-hide, like the basket shield about 2 feet wide or
less, but forming two sides sloping to a vertical ridge ; it
has a vertical handle inside. The shield is only about
3 feet in height against the 4 or so feet of the basket shield,
and is more easily manipulated than is the latter when it
is covered with skin, though possibly the uncovered basket
shield is hghter. For men fighting in parties, the leather
shield, apart from its smaller protective area, has the dis-
advantage of tiu-ning a spear so that it glances off to the
right or left, when it may wound a neighbour. With the
basket shield the spear pierces the bamboo work and sticks
in it, when, if the point has not been turned, it may be
pulled out and thrown back at the enemy. The hide shield
is occasionally found lacquered, but the process is not known
to the Semas.

The character of the Sema has been sketched by Mr. Character
Davis with some severity. He says of the Semas (Census
of Assam, 1891, Part II, p. 247) that "in treachery and
lying they were and are quite unsurpassed, even among
Nagas," and that " a Sema oath is worth less than the oath
of any other Naga tribe." It is true that the Sema does
regard all fair in war, and cases of great treachery occur
outside war as well. In 1912 Vikoto and Zalepu of Kumishe
invited in some Sangtam warriors to cut up Pakavi, the
Chief of Kumishe, and his relations in the night, merely
because they had a quarrel with him, while cases of treachery
to guests invited with treachery in view must have been
fairly common. A few years ago Mkashe, Chief of
Aichikuchumi, invited a Yachumi cliief to come with him

26 THE SEMA NAGAS part

to Mokokchung to ask for a red cloth. On the way he fell
on his companion and smote him that he died. Howbeit
similar acts of treachery could be shown from any Naga
tribe, and the Sema is probably no worse in that respect
than, at any rate, the majority of his neighbom's. Even if
he regards all as fair in war, he has a very clear sense of
fair play outside it, and definite moral standards of right and
wrong, which he recognises even while transgressing them.
As far as his untruthfulness is concerned, it must be
admitted that the Sema readily takes a false oath. The
oath on a tiger's tooth is lightly regarded, more particularly
so since the clearing of the country has made tigers scarce
and death at their hands almost unknown of recent years.
Moreover, it is not easy to find an oath that will bind an
ordinary Sema when he is in difficulties, though oaths of
some weight do exist. The oath of a chief, however, is of
more value, at any rate if the chief is a man of standing
and reputation, for the Sema chief is usually particular as
to his good name. The charge of thievishness that is
frequently brought against the Sema is Hkewise well founded.
The common Sema (the Sema chief, though he may rob on
occasions, does not steal) finds it difficult to keep his hands
from picking and steaHng when a good opportunity presents
itself. It is doubtful, however, if he is as bad as the Ao,
who is at least as big a thief and a bigger bar. The Sema
is more of a " picker up of unconsidered trifles " than
a persistent thief, as the Ao so often is.^

So much for the Sema's bad characteristics. In his good
characteristics he is to some extent the Irishman of the
Naga tribes, generous, hospitable, and frequently im-
provident (in which he differs markedly from the canny
Lhota). He is very impulsive and very cheery, and if easily
depressed, it is never for long. In most unpleasant condi-
tions he is easily moved to laughter and merriment. And
under all is a very strong vein of fatalism.

^ Tliis was written in 1915. Recent experiences with Semas of the
best families have led me to modify my opinion in the direction of Mr.
Davis's. The Sema tribe comes near to equalling the Ao and Tangkhul
as an abiding justification for the words of King David in his wrath.

GENERAL / 27

Tribal as opposed to merely village sentiment is perhaps
stronger among Semas than among most Naga tribes, while
customary obedience to his chief makes the average Sema
more ready to accept discipline and orders generally than
Nagas usually are. He is perhaps a shade less litigious than
most of his neighbours, and usually quite ready to accept
a compromise in his disputes. He is sensitive, particularly
to ridicule, and is easily influenced physically by notions
that may be quite erroneous. Most Nagas are Uke this ;
they get an idea into their head that they have been perma-
nently injured by some accident or illness, often most trivial,
but are affected as though it had really been a serious one.
On the other hand, they respond very easily indeed to
medical treatment, partly perhaps because of their belief
in the efficacy of medicine given them by a European, and
partly because of their extraordinary vitaUty. They seem
able to recover from appalling wounds, with no treatment
except bandaging with a filthy cloth and the apphcation of
chewed tobacco or crushed leaves, not without dirt, to the
wound.

The Sema's powers of physical endurance are great. He
can carry heavy loads long distances, carrying them, like
most Nagas, on a forehead band, and can march over the
roughest country for long distances, 25 miles being regarded
as a reasonable day's march, and double that being covered
in case of urgency ; this, too, over Naga paths which make
no account of gradients. The writer has known Inaho of
Melahomi leave his village at dawn, reach Mokokchung (a
good thirty-five miles with some very stiff climbing) by
midday, and get back to his own village by dusk that night,
and that on a matter of no very particular urgency or
importance. The Sema, moreover, if thin-skinned meta-
phorically, is very thick-skinned otherwise, and inured to
cold and exposure. Though unused to and unable to bear
snow and severe frost, Semas seem able to bear a great deal
of cold with equanimity and to lie down and sleep anywhere
with no covering but the universal cotton cloth.

In warfare and hunting the Sema is plucky and daring,
at any rate by Naga standards, though as regards warfare

28 THE SEMA NAGAS part

these are not high, prudence being prominent in all plans,
and risks rarely being undertaken except with the prospect
of a large return in heads. It is hardly necessary to observe
that the Sema is very savage when killing is to hand, and
he is also addicted to lycanthropy, another savage trait.
At the same time he often displays a horror almost amounting
to fear of frogs, snakes, worms, and various sorts of creepy-
crawly animals. The writer has seen several grown warriors
go out of their way to avoid a large death's-head moth
caterpillar, though knowing perfectly well that it was abso-
lutely harmless, and uninfluenced by any special reason,
while an old and tried Sema interpreter ^ at Kohima nearly
has a fit if confronted with a snake, and has an almost equal
aversion for frogs, though these form a common article of
food in the Sema country.

The Sema women, though usually stumpy and plain to
ugliness, have a cheerful disposition and make their menfolk
faithful wives and dutiful daughters. They are generally
chaste and are good mothers and good housewives, the
management of their husband's house being left to his head
wife and rarely interfered with, and although polygamy is
common, the wives usually get on with one another with very
little of the bickering and quarrelling so common in Lhota
households. The relation between the sexes among the
Semas is less sentimental than among the Angamis and
Acs. Marriages are usually arranged on a basis of con-
venience, and though a girl is never married to a man
against her will, most of the arranging is done for her by
her parents, and a wife is chosen primarily for what she can
do rather than for her looks. In her husband's household
the wife takes a high place. Children are kindly treated,
but are more often chastised, when naughty, than among the
Angamis, and probably a great deal more often than they
are by the people of the plains of Assam. One way of
chastising naughty boys is with nettles, though, as far as
could be ascertained, this is rather because it gives pain
without doing permanent injury than from any other
motive (see " Golden Bough," vol. IX, p. 263). Step-

1 Khupu, since dead.

I GENERAL 29

mothers have a proverbially bad reputation and sometimes
certainly deserve it, but with equal certainty by no means
always or even as a rule.

Family affections generally are strong, though not strong
enough to prevent incessant quarrels between two brothers
who succeed their father jointly in their father's village.
For romance, however, the Sema has little time to spare.
His life is one perpetual struggle for an existence in which
one year's crop is rarely enough to last him in even com-
parative comfort till the next harvest. Before he has
reaped the whole of that harvest he is already at work
clearing the new jhums for the following year. If he leaves
his fields alone at all it is only to raid, to hunt, to observe
a genna, or to go away to work for just long enough to earn
the two rupees which he must pay to Government as house -
tax. The women help in the cultivation like the men, and
do the housework as well. Romance and sentiment in a
life of this sort find little room to grow and flourish, though
that is not to say that they do not exist, Shoghopu,
Chief of Litami, and Inato, Chief of Lumitsami, were
intimate friends and agreed to die at the same time. Inato
died in 1915 still a young man. This preyed on Shoghopu's
mind, and though himself also young and healthy he
managed to die in 1919 dwelling on the fact that he did
so because Inato was waiting for him. The writer once
saw an old and, one would have thought, very hardened
Sema interpreter — Khupu of Lazemi — burst into genuine
tears on hearing a phonograph reproduce a song about his
deceased friend Inato ; the Sema is not at all the stony-
hearted savage that one might suppose him to be.

-f

PART II

DOMESTIC LIFE

THE SEMA VILLAGE, SITE, NAME, APPROACHES AND GENERAL
FEATURES — THE HOME : CONSTRUCTION, CONTENTS —
ART ; MANUFACTURE ; CURRENCY — AGRICULTURE ; LIVE-
STOCK— HUNTING AND FISHING FOOD, DRINK AND

MEDICINE — GAMES — DAILY LIFE

-<^

PART II

DOMESTIC LIFE

THE SEMA VILLAGE, SITE, NAME, APPROACHES AND GENERAL
FEATURES — THE HOME : CONSTRUCTION, CONTENTS —
ART ; MANUFACTURE ; CURRENCY — AGRICULTURE ; LIVE-
STOCK—HUNTING AND FISHING — FOOD, DRINK AND
MEDICINE — GAMES — DAILY LIFE.

The Sema village is usually built either on the summit Sema
' of a hill or on the shoulder of a spur. Down near the valley ^^'^8^'
of the Dayang, where the chmate is hot, a summit is usaaUy
chosen, but in the higher and colder regions a shoulder
below the ridge of a range of hiUs is a commoner site for a
village. In naming the village, the practice which is most
, prevalent is to call it after the name of the chief. Thus we
have Sakhalu-nagami, " Sakhalu's village men," or Sakhai-
nagami, '"' Sakhai's village men," and though the name of a
village often changes when the old chief is followed by his
son, it quite as often becomes fixed, retaining the name of
its founder, even among the independent villages where
there has been no administration to perpetuate the original
names. In other cases, however, local features have given
' their names to the viUage, as in the case of Seromi, called,
from the susurrus of the local rivulet, " the Men of the
Whispering," or Alapfumi, " the Separated Village Men,"
so called because of an eminence separating them from
Lumitsami, their parent viUage, or Aichi-Sagami, Sagami of
the aiclii bamboos, known in jest as Aousa Sagami — " Light-
fingered " Sagami. A colony which came across the Tizu
from Satami in 1916 and settled on the steep slope opposite
was nicknamed Vedami, suggesting dung thrown against

33 J)

34 THE SEMA NAGAS part

a wall, so as to stick, which the name has done also. A third
form of nomenclature is that adopted from conquered or
expelled enemies whose villages the Semas occupy. Thus
Litami is the Sema version of Lungtang, the Lhota name of
the original village the inhabitants of which the Semas
drove out. Sometimes also a village is named from some
historical connection, as Phuyemi, '• the old village," from
which many colonies went out and to which some returned
after many days. Most Naga tribes seem to have their
" old village," Another village takes its name from the
result of an epidemic which killed off all the pigs, so that
porcine sanitary operations round about the village were
temporarily suspended. Hence its name of Abakughomhomi
(better known in the abbreviated form Bohomhomi or
Baimho), the men of Mouldy-Dung.^

The defences of a Sema village can show httle to compare

" with the elaborate precautions of Angami communities.
For one thing, Sema villages being as a rule very much
smaller, — a village of 100 houses is quite large for a Sema
village 2 — the cultivated lands are nearer to the village and

' the fighting men more easily assembled in case of a raid.
At the most, the defences of a Sema village consist of a
double fence with a ditch between crossed by a single plank,
both the ditch and the outer sides of the fences being panjied.
Many villages, Seromi, for instance, relied or rely for security
from hostile raids solely on the vigilance of their watchmen
and their reputation for valour. In cases, however, where
the village used to be defended by a ditch and fence and

* Another explanation, which I believe is quite recent and entirely-
fictitious, gives a derivation from one Naimho, which is not a Sema name,
but has been since ingeniously elaborated into a derivation from
anakughomhomi or " mouldy-rice-men," which for the last two years the
men of Baimho have insisted is the real derivation when laughed at
because of the name of their village. This derivation was not known in
1915, and has been thought of since then.

* Angami villages frequently run to 400 houses or more, Kohima
village heading the list with more than 700. It is recorded to have had
900 houses formerly. Ao villages also run to large numbers. Ungma
has more than 700, Longsa and Nankam about 650 or more apiece.
Seromi, probably the biggest Sema village, except Lazerai, contains fewer
than 300 houses.

-^-^r-^r.^

KoTOMi Village.

KiLo.Mi Village Showing Graxaries to Left.

[To feci p. 34.

11^' DOMESTIC LIFE

these defences have been allowed to disappear under the
peaceable conditions of the British Administration, the
village from time to time, say once in three to five years,
does a genna for fear that the wrath of some spirit might
afflict them by reason of their having given up a former
custom. They therefore turn up a Httle earth by way of
digging a ditch, just scratching up the mould in two or
three places, and put in a few harmless panjis of roughly-
pointed bamboo and a few sticks to represent the fence. A
pig is slaughtered and divided, and a share given to every
male in the village. The first panjis are put in by a warrior
who has taken a head, and the first earth turned by a man
without blemish on his body. The writer saw this done at
Litami in 1917.

The approach to a Sema viUage is always over land con-
sisting largely of open jhum, and in part of very thick low
jungle, in which the movement of an enemy would be most
difficult. The precipitous approaches and the narrow lanes
leading to Angami villages do not seem to be sought after,
and though Angami influences may be clearly seen in some
of the southern villages, notably Lazemi, these are excep-
tions to the general rule.

The paths and communications between Sema viUages,
while generally much more open than those in the Angami ^
country, are far less elaborate. The broad graded paths
of the Angamis to their fields do not exist, for the Sema
has no permanent cultivation like the Angami terraces,
and his field-paths vary yearly with his jhums. Bridges, y
too, are far less elaborate ; a simple log or two, perhaps
squared on the top, with sometimes a bamboo hand-rail,
usually serves his purpose, or, in case of a river too broad
for a bridge of that sort, the usual Naga type of cane
suspension bridge consisting of a bamboo foot-way slung in
a V-shaped cradle on long cane ropes attached to trees on
either bank. In the case of absence of trees, forked poles
are put up, and the cane ropes suspending the bridges are
run over these and pegged into the ground behind to get the
necessary leverage.

When building a bridge it is " genna " to eat rice inside

D 2

36 THE SEMA NAGAS part

the village on the morning of the day when the bridge is
to be put up.

The writer saw a bridge put up over the Tizu when in
flood. The river was unfordable and the erection was
delayed for a day for want of someone to swim across. When
such a man was found, however, he took across a light cord
and pulled over a cane rope, making it fast to a tree. On
this rope men hauled themselves across hand over hand,
their bodies straightened out by the current, and materials,
tied to the slack of the rope, which was pulled backwards
and forwards, were sent across, and six cane ropes slung
up to trees on either bank, two for the foot-way and two
on each side as hand-rails. On this tight-rope affair men
went with looped slivers of pliant bamboo, and, monkey-
Uke, passed them under the foot-way with their toes, and so
tied the hand-rails to the foot-way all the way along. Here
and there bamboo joints with a V-shaped ending were lashed
from hand-rail to foot-waj'^ to stiffen the whole, and then
spUt bamboos were interlaced all along the sides, giving a
very fair stabUity. Finally, two or three bamboos were put
down whole to make a foot-way.

The arrangement of the houses in a Sema village is looser
and more open than in an Angami village, and the scattering
of the houses is conducive to greater cleanliness and de-
creased danger from fire. There are several noticeable
features of the Sema village not found in Angami villages.^
One is the separate collection of granaries, little huts in
rows raised from the ground and usually placed at a short
distance from the inhabited houses to secure them against
fire. Another is the bamboo plantations which surround
the village with clumps of a great bamboo, the long feathery
heads of which, suggestive of the ostrich feathers of the
Prince of Wales, are most picturesque at a distance. In
place of the stone monoHths of the Angami village the Sema
villagers erect trees and tall bamboos covered with leaves

* Swemi and one or two villages on the Chakrima Angami side have
been so thoroughly Angamicized that no account can be taken of them in
dealing with Sema villages in general. They must be ranked aa virtually
Angami, not Sema.

Wooden Sitting Platform in Front of Chief's House — Sakhalu.

II DOMESTIC LIFE 37

to celebrate their gennas, while the houses of chiefs and rich
men are surrounded with massive carved forked posts to
which mithan have been tied when slaughtered at festivals.
The sitting places of a Sema village consist of simple plat-
forms, generally of bamboo, and in front of the houses of
important persons.

The graves of the dead may often be seen in front of
the houses they inhabited during life, a slight mound
surrounded, in the case of men, but not of women,
by a low fence with a Uttle thatched roof above it, and the
deceased's ornaments hung up on it with the heads of cattle
slaughtered at his funeral. Little fenced-in patches of
garden, where vegetables are grown, are scattered here and
there among the houses.

The " morung," or young men's house, is practically non- ^ —
existent among the Semas. It is occasionally found in a
miniature form not unlike a model of a Lhota morung Avith
a carved pole in front and a projecting piece of roof above.
Such a model is often built in times of scarcity, the under-
lying idea apparently being that the scarcity may be due
to the village having neglected to conform to a custom which
has. been abandoned. Apitomi, in 1916, built quite a large
one,i but the usual pattern is so small that a man on his
hands and knees might enter if he wished, but the morung
could not in any sense be called an inhabitable house. A
miniature morung of this sort is always built when a new
village is made. As a general rule, the chief's house serves
all. the purposes of a morung, ^ both as a centre for gennas .
and as a bachelor's sleeping-place, the young men of his
village sleeping in his outer room on the dhan-pounding
tables.

A Sema village is on the whole much cleaner than an
Angami village, partly because there is much more room,
but largely because the Sema has not the filthy Angami

^ It was made somewhat on the Ao model and elicited a good many
scathing remarks from men of other villages about the adoption of new
customs and imitation of the Aos. In almost all Naga tribes the morung
or Bachelors' Hall is a principal feature and plays a great part in village
life, but the Sema tribe is an exception to the general rule.

■ Cf. Stack, The Mikirs, p. 11.

38 THE SEMA NAGAS part

^ habit of keeping his cattle in his house. Cattle are kept
outside the village, which remains comparatively clean.

Water is obtained from a spring or springs in the side of
the hill on which the village is built, and care is usually
taken to prevent the fouUng of the water by animals.
The Xhe house of a Sema is on the average smaller than an

• Angami house and much less substantial in construction.
Where the Angami uses wooden planks the Sema employs
bamboos, so that his house never has the soUdity typical
of an Angami house. The house of the ordinary Sema
villager is about 12 to 15 paces long by 5 to 6 vnde, but the
houses of chiefs are considerably larger and sometimes very
large indeed. The posts supporting the house are set in
hnes of three, a small house needing three such Unes, a
large house four, and a very large house still more. The
eaves are brought down to within 3 or 4 feet of the ground,
and an apse-Uke addition is often made to the front or back
of the house, or both, the roof of it being low and semicircular.
The two bamboos forming the front of the gable are pro-
longed beyond the roof to form horns, called tenhaku-ki
(i.e., " snail-horns "), sometimes embellished with imitation
birds of wood fastened on to them, and with ornaments of
gourds and bamboo tassels hung to the ends to rattle in
the wind. Occasionally barge-boards, pierced at the ends
in imitation of the Angami house-horns, may be seen
replacing the ordinary bamboo tenhaku-ki, but these are
rare. In any case, horns may only be added to the front
gable by persons who have performed the requisite social
gennas. Thatch is the only sort of roofing employed by
Semas. In building a house, or any building, it is genna to
plant a post with the upper end downwards, as this would
cause suffering to the tree. On the other hand, should a
post once planted take root and sprout, it must be cut down ;
otherwise, having overcome the man who cut it, it will
" look upon his death."

The interior of the Sema house is ordinarily divided into
"four rooms: the akishekhoh, or front room, in which the
great paddy-pounding tables (aboshu) are kept ^ ; the abidela,
1 See illustration p. 56.

mlxiaillik ■■ moruxg " built at the fouxdixg of the vxllage oe
Vedami. The Man is Chekiye, Sox of Gwovishe, and a were-tiger.

MORUNG " IX PhILIMI BUILT OX ACCOUX'T OF THK BaD HaI;^ I:<T i U 1 G.

[ To face p. 38.

II DOMESTIC LIFE 39

a narrow room, in which the unmarried girls of the household
sleep, between the abishekhoh and the amipJioklboh ( =" hearth
room"), the main room, in which the hearth is, and where the
owner of the house sleeps ; and the azhiboh, the " Uquor
room," a narrow room at the back of the main room, where
the Hquor vats are kept.^ The hearth^ consists of three
stones on which a pot can be placed, the fire being put
between the stones. Extra stones are often added in big
houses, so that two or three pots can be kept on the fire
together. At the four corners of the square, of which the
hearth forms the centre, are posts supporting a bamboo
shelf, which serves the double purpose of preventing sparks
flying up to the roof and of affording an excellent place for
drying meat or keeping cooking utensils, Beds are made
from single slabs of wood hewTi out of the tree and raised
2 feet or so from the ground, either on wooden props or on
legs hewn out of the wood in the same piece as the slab
itself, > The great bed of a Sema chief is often an enormous
table about 6 inches thick, with great legs at each corner,
2 feet or more long, hewn out of the tree all in one piece,
and is perhaps more than 5 feet long by about 4 feet wide.
It is usually higher at the head than at the foot, and some-
times has a ledge at the bottom, against which the feet may
rest, and a wooden pillow for the head raised sKghtly from
the level of the rest of the bed. There is always a door at
the side near the hearth, and in large houses usually a door
at the back as well as at the front.

There is very little decoration about the Sema house. The.
centre post of the front gable is often carved with mithan
heads, and the outside wall of the front gable and the wall
of the front room facing the front door are hung with the
heads of game killed and mithan slaughtered by the owner
of the house. The bamboos of the front wall are also adorned
with fines in parallel waves ; the dummy birds and other
decorations added to the " snail-horns " have been already
mentioned.

Though there is no lack of fleas and kindred vermin in
the Sema house, it is far cleaner than that of the Angami.

* Other terms for the various rooms are also used. - Illustrated p. 48,

THE SEMA NACxAS

PART

Pigs, dogs, and chickens are kept there, but they have not
the freedom of the house, being more or less confined to the
front room, while the house is frequently swept out, an
event that never seems to happen to an Angami house at all.
Plans of the houses of two Sema chiefs follow. They are
a good deal bigger than the average Sema house, though
not than those ordinarily built by chiefs of position. The
first was measured by the writer in paces, the second by a
Naga sub-overseer with a tape.

-1 1 <p^^

ip II pA ^ p

^ r~p Crn p

d I

HE]
p CD p}

Rough Plan of the House of Sakh^vlu, Chief or
Sakhaiu-nagami.

Length, 26 paces ; breadth, 12 paces.

Akishekhoh I. Ahidela II. Amiphokibo III. Azhiho IV.

Beds of the Cliief and his wives — B.

Beds of iinmarried girls of the household — b.

Hearth, with bamboos at each corner to support the screen over
the fire — H.

Shelves — S.

Pounding tables — T.

Liquor vats — v.

Carved posts — P (the one to the side being the old centre post of a
former house).

Plain posts — p.

Doors external — D.

Doors internal — d.

N.B. — The front is to the right.

The utensils and general properties to be found in a
Sema house differ little on the whole from those in an
Angami one, though paddy and rice are not kept in the
house, but in granaries outside the village. The cooking
pots, baskets, strainers, and wooden vats for liquor are
all of similar type to those used by an Angami, as also are
the long dhan-pounding tables. Spoons are less elaborate than

i 5 7 ^

tl !■

%^-o

i CO

-3

[To face p. 40.

DOMESTIC LIFE

►

Plan of hiato's house at Lumitsaini. Drawn i-ough'.y to scale

Scale of l^ect
o , , , ; ip '5 o

QtoV =72' VJ toZ =So'

X toY =23' Zto\ =63'

Exterior and Interior walls shewn by double lines

D = Doorway that can be closed by door

h = Subsidiary hearth

Other lettering as in plan of Sakhalu'a house
Rooms

_^___... l — Akishekhoh 'll = Apas'ubo 111 = Abidelabo

_, ,, , , ... lV=AI<iizU-a-bo V=Azhi-bo

Blevation of front end (from s:oe) Elevation of back end (from side)

A to B = 76 feet A to B = 12'/z feet

C to D = 3 feet f'-B. The front of the house is to the left

those of the Angami, as " modhu " spoons are not used.
A large flat ladle shaped like an oar is used for mixing liquor.
Numbers of forked sticks depend from the roof to serve as
hooks for hanging things up, and water is invariably carried
in great sections of the giant bamboo with the joints pierced.
Sema cups are made of the same bamboo shaved down thin
at the rim, pared away to match at the bottom, and furnished
with a cane-work handle. Dishes are made of wood in '
various sizes, but almost all of the same pattern, roughly
circular at the top, hoUowed out to a flat bottom, the depth
being about a third of the diameter and the sides sloped
outwards from the bottom, the whole standing on a pedestal
somewhat higher than the depth of the dish itself and
widening from a narrow top to a circular stand about half
the diameter of the dish. This stand is hollowed and the
sides are pierced with four triangular spaces. The dish and
its pedestal are made in a single piece, usually from the
" simul " tree ^ or some similarlv soft wood.

* Bombyx nialabaricuvi.

42 THE SEMA NAGAS part

Fire. Another utensil invariably found in Sema houses, although

J matches are gradually coming into common use, is the fire-
stick. The fire on the hearth may not be lighted with
matches, and if it should go out in the night is sometimes lit
with a fire-stick. At other times a brand is fetched from a
neighbouring house. The fire-stick is thus less often used
^ for fighting fires (for the fire on the hearth is not ordinarily
allowed to go out) than for taking omens, and most houses
have an old stick that has long been used for this purpose
and is covered everywhere with the notches burnt by the
thong. Not that this particular stick has any virtue as
distinct from that of any random fire-stick, but that
occasions needing new fire, as at sowing time, or the taking
of omens, occur mostly before one leaves one's house or
village, so that the natural thing to do is to take out the
old fire-stick that is handy in the thatch and take the omens
before one goes about one's business. For fires made or
omens taken away from home any dry stick that can be
found is spfit and made into a fire-stick, which merely
consists of a spUt stick with a bit of stone wedged in the
fork to keep it open and a notch or two cut in the under
side to keep the thong running in one place. The thong
consists of a 2-foot sliver of phant bamboo peeled and
shaved, the shavings being used as tinder. The modus
operandi is to squat on one heel, with the other foot on the
butt end of the fire-stick ; the tinder is placed under the
fork, and sometimes also in the fork as well, and the thong
run under the fork and over the tinder and pulled sharply
backwards and forwards by the stooping operator until
the thong breaks or the tinder smoulders, when it is blown
into flame. Omens, however, are not usually taken from
the spark, but from the manner in which broken strands of
fibre project from the break in the burnt thong. ^

For carrying fire when going to the fields, etc., a sort of
torch {amisii) is used which is made from the heads of millet
from which the seeds have been threshed out ; these are
boimd tightly round into a solid mass with strips of pliant

* See H. Balfour, "Frictional Fire-making with a Flexible Thong,"
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, vol. xliv. (1914).

1. TlXDKR.

2. Thongs.

3. " Hearths."

Sema Making Fire.
A. First Position. B. Second Position.

[To face p. 42.

II DOMESTIC LIFE 43

bamboo. The whole forms a sort of elongated cone, the
broad end of which, when once lighted, will continue
smouldering without bursting into flame. A torch of this
sort about 18 inches long will go on burning for days. A
fire-stick is almost always kept in the field-house, but an
amisii is very useful for lighting one's pipe, and may be
worn in a bamboo cage, or with the thin end just tucked
under the belt, while at work, to keep away midges and other
biting insects.

The Semas have a tradition of a time when fire was not
known, and beUeve that at that date men had long hair hke
apes to keep out the cold, but the writer has never yet met
one who could say how fire was discovered. The Changs
attribute the discovery to two women Avho noticed a tiger ^
making it by pulling a thong under his claw. Until then men
had been dependent for their fire on the tiger's benevolence.

It is genua to put out another man's fire deHberately. :
Such an act is beheved to result in death in the household,
in the owner's becoming poor, or djang, or even in the
ultimate extinction of the entire family. If a man's fire is
thus put out deHberately in the owner's absence, he cannot
re-enter his house until he has sacrificed a fowl, or a pig and a
fowl, which is eaten by himself and his family and the awou
or other village elder {Chochomi) who has been called in to
make new fire, which is done with a fire-stick. The offence,
however, is not necessarily very seriously regarded, as in
March, 1917, Kukihe and Kumtsa of Emilomi compromised
with their chief, Vikihe, who had put out their fires, at
Rs. 2/- each.

Fire is occasionally almost personified. The village of
Seromi was at one time repeatedly burnt down. At last
an old man got burnt. It was at once said that now that
a victim had been obtained the village would not be burnt
for a very long time. This was many jeais ago, but no
serious conflagration has taken place since.

Sticks which are curiously twisted, knotted, swelled, or
otherwise deformed are not used for fuel, as their use is

^ One tribe, I think the Angamis, attribute the discovery to a monkey
which a woman detected in the act.

44 THE SEMA NAGAS part

believed to cause a swelling of the throat. (The Changs
attribute deformed joints to this cause.)

On the building of a new house or the renewing of an old
one certain prohibitions and formahties are observed. The
extent of these varies according to whether the house built
is part of an entirely new village, is a new house in an old
village, or is merely an old house being renewed. It also
depends, in the latter case, on whether the house is that of
a chief or of an ordinary villager.

In building a house for the first time in an absolutely
new village, in which case the house is never more than a
very temporary affair to serve until the new village is
properly estabhshed and a more permanent house is built,
there is no particular ceremonial. There is, of course, a
ceremonial for the inauguration of the new village as a
whole, but all that has to be done by the builder of a separate
house is to prevent any person from any other village from
crossing or passing close to the thatch, posts, and materials
generally which have been collected for the building of his
house.

In ordinary cases of building a new house, genna is
observed by the builder for three days, during which he may
not speak to or feed any person at all who comes into the
village (after having slept outside it) during that period.
On entering into occupation of a new house built for a newly-
married couple, the bridegroom, in some Sema villages,
kiUs a chicken and hangs it to the roof.

In renewing or repairing the house, a three days' genna
is observed by the renewer as in the case of building, but
in the case of the renewal of the house of a chief there are
particular rites to be observed. When the hole for the
erection of the carved centre front post is dug, a chicken is
killed in the hole and the post is erected on its body. If the
hearth is moved from its old site even a little, a chicken
must be kiUed and cooked on the new hearth and eaten by
the owner and his family. In the evening of the first day
of building, on which the centre front post has been stepped,
any two old men, called for the occasion aumpishekucMi,
pick out the best red cock obtainable and kill it by knocking

II DOMESTIC LIFE 45

its head on the post with the words " Alclmpushu, Alho-
pushu ; atsil alashi ; awo alapeghe ; amishi alapeghe ;
timikokhu alapeghe ; akini alashi ; sil chini, ni chini,"
which is to say, " May you {i.e., the post) have a long life ;
let dogs increase ; let pigs be multiphed ; let cattle be
multipUed ; let the seed of man be multiplied ; let riches
increase ; let illness and decline be forbidden/'

On this first day of building a pig is killed and pieces
given to all who take part. The laying of the thatch is
started first of all in the front of the roof by the most noted
warrior in the village. He gets the off hind -leg of the pig.
He is followed in laying thatch by another warrior, who gets
part of the near hind-leg. A third warrior then starts to
lay thatch further down the roof and gets a forequarter
of the pig. The rest share ahke. On this and the next two
days the genua as regards persons entering the village must
be observed as alreadj^ described.

It may be noticed that almost precisely similar rites are
observed by the Lhotas when building or rebuilding a
morung.

The building of houses must be done either between the
harvest and the sowing, or, again, between the sowing and
the Anyi or Ann genna performed at the third cleaning of
the fields.

When leaving a house to migrate to a new village, a hole
is made in the thatch to allow the spirit of the house-
{akiaglmu) to escape. Somewhat similarly, Semas building
temporary shelters in the jungle or elsewhere usually bum
or other\^'ise destroy them when leaving, for fear their souls
(aghongu) should forsake them to go back and dwell in these
temporary abodes.

The household inhabiting the house of a poor man would The
consist normally of the man and his wife and two or three j^oid.
younger cliildren, to whom may be added unmarried sons "
who would eat wdth the family but sleep in the akishekJioh
of the chief's house. The Sema as a general rule has
decidedly a larger number of children than the average '
member of any of the neighbouring tribes. In the case of
a chief or rich man there would be from three to five, or

46 THE SEMA NAGAS part

even occasionally seven wives, and often large families of
a dozen or so children, a number, however, which would
include the married sons and daughters not Uving in the
house. At the same time, in the western villages, families
, are not nearly so large, one of the reasons for which is
beheved to be that more clothes are worn by the women.
The large families are mostly found on each side of the Tizu
and further east, where happy is the man who has his quiver
full of them, in particular when he meets with his enemies
at his gate. Indeed a large number of children is a great
source of strength to a trans-Tizu chief. His daughters
bring him profit in marriage prices as well as aUiances, and
many sons are even as " the arrows in the hand of the giant,"
for they go out from his village founding buffer colonies in
all directions and facihtating the taking of revenue from
weaker neighbours, securing the parent village and one
another from attack, and often creating a small league of
villages, something after the manner of an ancient Greek
city state and her colonies. In the case of a chief, if he had
few or no unmarried daughters, he would be sure to have in
his house daughters of his dependants doing house -work
and field-work for him and sleeping in the abidela. These
would ordinarily be daughters of men for whom he had
provided wives and in whose marriage price he would have
an interest. By living in his house, well looked after by
his wives, such girls are less Hkely to go straying after strange
yoimg men and damaging their value in the marriage market.
An odd boy or two, Ukewise hving under the chief's protec-
tion, would probably be found in the households of most
chiefs, frequently an orphan whom the chief intended to
provide with a wife and make into a recognised dependant
cultivating his land and repaying him by work. A boy
dependant of this sort would, with the chief's unmarried
sons, sleep in the akishekhoh.

Besides the family, pigs, dogs, and fowls after their kind,

and creeping things innumerable after theirs, also inhabit the

house, but the former are usually confined to the akishekhoh.

Art. Art, in the sense of decorative art, is almost hmited

t among Semas to the decoration of their dress, their weapon-,

II DOMESTIC LIFE 47

and their genna posts. To these we may perhaps add
bamboos employed in building houses or for carrying water,
which are decorated with wavy hnes roughly parallel scraped
on the outside, and basketry into which patterns are intro-
duced in the weaving. In the case of dress, the decoration
is effected by weaving lines of colour into the cloth when
making it, by embroidering in coloured thread on the cloth,
or by ornamenting it with patterns of cowries. In the first
instance, that of decoration achieved in the process of
weaving, the broad straight line of a colour different to
the groundwork of the cloth is the commonest design, but
designs of narrow lines, crosses, lozenges, and herring-bone
pattern are to be found in dao belts and sometimes in loin-
cloths. Designs embroidered on the cloth are usually
executed in red cotton or wool (red, as among all Nagas,
seems to be the most universally admired colour), and take
the form of squares or rectangles composed of straight lines,
lozenges, or crosses. They are usually of small size and
applied very sparsely to the groundwork. Cowries sewn
to the cloth usually take the form of straight or zigzag fines,
and circles or semicircles, and trefoils, qua trefoils, or crosses
of three and four co^vi'ies each. The human figure may
occasionally be seen rudely appfied in cowries to a cliief's
cloth ; when found, it is of the crudest description and
consists mostly of straight fines and angles.

Weapons are more often bought than made by Semas,
but there are smiths here and there, and Shehoshe of
Litsami went further than the smiths of, at any rate,
any adjacent Naga tribe in the adornment of his spears
and daos. The usual engraving on a dao is a herring-
bone pattern round the margin of the blunt side and top
of the blade, on one side only, with sometimes a rude scroU
in the corner or centre of the top. The ornamentation on
spears is made by narrow wedge-shaped punch-marks, as
a rule in the form of hatching, or a series of fittle saltires or
chevrons on the spear-head from the socket up the shank to
the blade. Shehoshe was accustomed to ornament spear-
butts with two double rings of chevrons, but the writer has
never seen any other Naga spear-butts at all bearing any

48 THE SEMA NAGAS part

sort of decoration, except a few Ao or Konyak butts, in
wliich the iron is twisted spirally.

Grenna posts, whether the front centre post of the house
■' or the forked posts set up outside it, are carved both in high
reUef and with incisions, the latter taking the form of
horizontal lines, crosses, circles, or arcs, and used to fill
in space not devoted to the serious carving, which generally
consists of mithan heads more or less conventionalised, and
highly conventionaUsed representations of the article of
ceremonial di-ess known as " enemies' teeth " (aghiihu).
This article of dress used to be worn at the gennas involving
the erection of posts, but has gone out of fashion and is
rarely seen now. Its representation in carving could not
conceivably be recognised unless one was told what was
^ represented ; even then it requires a considerable exercise
of the imagination to see any resemblance. ^ The only
hving thing other than mithan which seems to be repre-
sented in Sema art is the bird, which is carved out of a
piece of wood and fixed to a crossbar between the " snail-
horns " of the house. This dummy represents the bird
called cheung,^ which is said to be chosen for representation
because long ago a pair of them came and nested in a hole
in a beam in the house of one Kumtsii, a forebear of the
Zumomi clan. The imitation cheung, however, are not
confined to this clan, and it is said that formerly this bird
was frequently domesticated by Semas, the father of
Khowakhu, one of the present chiefs of Shevekhe-nagami ,
being mentioned as one who kept tame cheung. Tame
cheung are still to be seen in some Chakrima Angami
villages, Zogazumi, for instance. The sun and moon are
^ also represented, usually as plain circles or concave discs,
also breasts, singly, not in pairs, significant of success in
love, and wooden dao sUngs.
Manu- What little the Semas manufacture is, as far as it goes,

Weavhie ^" ^^^ same Une as Angami manufacture. In spinning,
the process is just the same, the cotton being spun on to a

' The aghiihu as carved forcibly recalls the carving on the round Kachari
megalith.s at Dimapur, and I have seen forked posts, like the forked
stones, carved with the sun and moon.

2 The cheung is the Great Himalayan Barbet, Megalaema Marahallorum.

1^1

'- £ u
X j3 -^

[To face p. 48.

II DOMESTIC LIFE 49

spindle (azung) weighted by a flat stone spindle whorl
{azung-tiy and spun by rubbing against the thigh ; but the
Semas do not use the machine which the Angamis often
do for seeding cotton, as they follow the more primitive
method of a flat stone and a rolling pin. In weaving, the
simple tension loom and its appHances are of precisely the
same pattern as those of the Angamis. Like the Angamis,
the Semas, in weaving cloths, use woof of one colour only,
and introduce different colours into the cloth by laying
them out in lines in the warp. A woof of different colours,
however, is used in the weaving of the narrow loin-cloth,
and diagonal patterns are also introduced into loin-cloths
and girdles. Embroidered ornament is also used, usually
in narrow lines of crosses and lozenges, which is sometimes,
when fine Burmese thread from Manipur is used, worked
on to the finished cloth with a needle made of umbrella -
wire and a pick consisting of a porcupine's quill, but is
usually worked into the cloth in the process of weaving by
first putting in a stitch of embroidery and then beating up
the pick, as Naga thread is too coarse to allow of embroidery
after it is woven. Cotton is the only material used for
weaving. Fibres are not used by the Semas, although, of
their immediate neighbours, the Angami and Yachumi use
them, if not the rest. As the weaving of fibres, which need
no spinning, seems to have preceded that of cotton^ among
Nagas (some Konyak villages still weave in fibre only and
do not weave, spin, or grow cotton), it may perhaps be
fairly argued that weaving of any sort is, among the Semas,
a recent industry introduced since cotton supplanted fibres
for ordinary use among the neighbouring tribes from whom

^ Azung-ti = " spindle -fruit."

* Fibre cloth undoubtedly preceded cotton cloth, and among the Changs
too there are villages where cotton cloths are not known, while those
that have taken to cotton are eschewing fibre. They have a tradition
that a few generations ago even fibre cloths were unknown, and women
weeiring plantain leaves for petticoats carried their children in net bags
on their backs, having no other cloths for their children. This tradition
no doubt indicates the development of cloth from nets. The fibre used
by Changs for both nets and fibre clotlis is that of the nettle, called by them
86no.

THE SEMA NAGAS

PART

they have learnt the art, probably the Lhotas mostly, and
in some cases the Angamis and Aos.

The method of weaving is better illustrated by a diagram
than by lengthy explanations.

The shed ^

Shuttle with woof,
"Sword" for beating up the pick in form of a spool

Sema Loom {aghe)
a. Beam — alcupa-sil ( = "opposition stick").
66. Breast -rods— a7>/o/o-twp/«SM ( = "belly-borne sticks").

c. Lease-rod— agf/ief/ju { = " loom boundary "), alternate threads,
only, go round the lease-rod and under the shed-stick, the others
passing under the lease-rod and over the shed-stick.

d. Heddle — agheni ("loom exchanger"), carrying a continuovis
leash, the tops of wloich fall over each side of the heddle alternately
as above. ^

e. Shed-stick — aghepfu (" loom -bearer ").
/. Sword — agr/ieA-a (= "loom-striker ").

F. Sword in position, spreading the shed to facDitate throwing
of shuttle. It is then turned flat for beating up the pick and taken
out before counter-shedding.

g. Back strap (attached to forward hre&st-Tody-aghaphi
( = " loom regulator "). It passes under the rear breast-rod.

k. Shuttle (with wooi)—achepfu-8u or agheche-aii ("roll bearing
stick," " loom roll stick ").

The warp {aghe-keghi,= "loom-string") is wound continuously
between the beam and one of the breast-rods, and the second breast-
rod is used as a lever to increase the tension. As the fabric pro-
gresses the warp is shifted round.

The stick on which the beam rests is called aghewochu ( = " loom-
post ").

» I have seen in Shitzimi a loom in which there was a separate heddle-
leash for each thread of the warp, but this type is less common.

Sema Woman Spinmnu (Phili.mi Village). (The spindle
revolves in a basket covered with a bit of cloth.)

'>i;.MA Woman Weanini; (Shiiv.1-M1 \'illauk). She is about to shoot

THE \\OOF, THE WARP BEING HELD OPEN BY THE S >VORD. ThE HEDDLE
here used is OF THE Ao PATTERN, WHICH HAS A SEPARATE LEASH FOR EACH
THREAD OF THE WARP, A CONTINUOUS LEASH AS USED BY LhOTAS BEING

COMMON.

[To face p. 50.

II DOMESTIC LIFE 51

Weaving, which is done by women, and that only in a
few villages, is subject to the prohibition that no weaving ^
may be done while the weaver's husband has gone to fight,
hunt, or trade. If this prohibition is not observed, the
husband will get his legs caught in a tangle of creepers when
going through the jungle, and thus meet with an accident.^
Some Semas say that it is genua for their women-folk to
weave at all, but the truth appears to be that this statement
is only a way of getting out of the admission that they do
not know how to weave. ^ ^\'ives who can weave are often
sought after, but, when taken to a village where the other
women do not weave, usually abandon the practice them-
selves, despite their husbands. The villages in the Dayang
vaUey and west of the upper waters of the Kileki and Dikhu
rivers are the ones in which weaving is regularly practised.

Black or dark blue (from the plant Strobilmithes flaccidi- Dyeing.
folius) very like indigo, yellow, madder, and scarlet are all
Iviiown, but only black, blue, and scarlet are ordinarily used
by the Semas. The yellow and pale madder dyes used
alone by the Angamis are only used in conjunction by the
Semas. The method of dyeing is the same, the cloth or
hair being boiled in a pot together with the raw dyestuff.
The scarlet effect is produced by first dj^eing the material
with a yellow dye from a plant called luhuthoiye ^ and then
re-dyeing it with the madder dye {Rubia sikkimensis), the
result being a brilHant scarlet or crimson. There seems to
be something dangerous to males in the process of dyeing,
for should a man light his pipe at a fire on which a woman
is dj'eing thread, he becomes a weakling and turns black in
complexion.*

There are not many smiths in the Sema country, and Metal
Shehoshe died in 1916, but those there are follow almost^

^ Lhota women may not go themselves into the jmigle, or even leave
the immediate precincts of the village, before any cloth they have begun
to weave is completely finished, but they could not tell me the reason.

* It really is genna to weave in some South Sangtam villages such £«
Photsimi, and all their cloths are imported from neighbouring tribes.

' Perhaps an antidesma.

* Possibly the idea is that he loses strength, like the boiled dyestuff,
and acquires colour, like the material dyed.

E 2

52 THE SEMA NAGAS part

precisely the same methods as the Angamis. They are
fonder, however, of ornamenting their weapons with very
simple engraving and punch-marks. In tempering daos,
moreover, bamboo pickles are not used, as they are by
the Angamis, tempering being done in the same manner,
but with brine only. The brine used for this is made with
salt of Naga manufacture. In tempering spear-heads,
chilli, and even nettle juice, is used, as weU as salt, in order
that the wound caused may be the more severe, the smarting
and stinging propensities of these ingredients being doubt-
less acquired by the blade tempered, and the abstention
from the use of chillies and nettles in tempering daos is
said to be due to the great liability of a man to cut himself
with his own dao, which is used for every sort of agri-
cultural work. Daos are tempered at night, and the
following morning the temperer, before defecating (or the
dao will be brittle), goes and cuts with the newly-tempered
dao a leaf of the " ekra " (that the dao may be sharp as
this leaf, which often cuts like a razor) and bough of the
wild fruit tree called tlmmsii.^ Wild greenstuff may not
be eaten by him that day or the dao will be blunt. Black-
smiths' work would seem to date almost entirely from the
last generation among the Semas. The names used by them
for the various implements of the smithy are, however, not
adopted from their neighbours, though these are generally
Hke the Angami implements in form. The bellows, however,
though similarly consisting of a pair of vertical tubes, are
more often of bamboo than of wood, while the pump that
fits into them sometimes consists merely of a cane frame
covered with bits of old cloth kept in place by more cane-
work over the top of them, though it is more often made of
chicken feathers. As among the Angami, the charcoal fire is
laid against a flat stone back, to a hole in which bamboo air
tubes connect the bases of the hollow bamboos which serve
as bellows. The names used for the various implements
are : Anvil stone — athuwothu (? = " stone-go-stone ").
Hammer (of stone with wooden haft) — ayikehethu (= "iron
hammerer stone ").2 It is made of a heavy stone, rounded

1 It beans a sour berry. * Illustrated p. 66.

Automatic KoHKonpro for Soaring Birds, etc., from Crops.

a. pump handle.

6. bamboo bellows tube.

c. hole connecting by bamboo

with hearth.

d. pump of feathers to fit the

tube.

e. earth and clay piled round

connecting tubes and be-
tween bellows and fire-
back to prevent air
leakage.

Scale, TTfth nat. size (approx. ).

View of Sema smith's bellows from behind.

66. bellow tubes.

cc. connecting pipes carrying
air to fire.

ff. flat stone fireback made
of sandstone with hole g
to admit nozzles of con-
necting tubes.

The space between jj
and 66 is filled in with
clay. The fire is made
in front oi ff.

Distorted view of connection between bellows and fireplace.

Rough Sketches of Mechanism of Sema Bellows.

[To jace p. 52.

II DOMESTIC LIFE 53

by the action of water, in which a groove is made enabling
it to be bound with cane to the haft.^ Pincers (made of a
split bamboo) — ayiketsapfu {= " iron-bite-Ufter "). Bellows
(of two upright bamboos) — amikufupu or amifu {= "fire-
blower "). Spears, daos, laiives, and hoes are made of iron ,
usually obtained by re-working imported hoes. The only
other form of metal-work done by the Semas is the making
of brass bracelets and earrings, which are merely made of
brass bought in lengths and cut up and bent and sometimes
hammered, and of w'ire bindings for dao handles. The brass
used for bracelets is obtained in lengths the thickness of
one's finger, while earrings are made of brass wire. The
wire-work of brass or steel wire, wliich is done on the handles
of daos to keep the wood from spUtting round the tang of
the blade, sometimes consists of a mere wire binding and
is sometimes an intricate fabric woven on the wood and
fitting as tightly to the wood as binding, and woven on the
same principle as plaited cane-work.

The Sema pottery is coarse and rough, and is generally Pottery,
limited to the plain round cooking pot with a flattened
out-turned rim. It is made by hand alone, the clay being
dug usually in the bank of some stream, carried up to the
\dllage, and then allowed to dry and season for a year or so.
At the end of this time it is broken up and mixed in the
proportion of 2 to 1, or 3 to 2, with the remains of old pots
and shards which have been pounded to fine dust. This
mixture is moistened and kneaded into a very stiff dough,
which is ready for use when it shows no interior cavities
when broken across. This dough is then rolled into round
lumps about the size of a polo baU, or a Httle bigger or smaller
according to the size of the pot to be made. Such a lump
is then flattened out into a circular form on the piece of
planking which is used for all these operations, and which
is covered before this part of the process wdth a laj^er of
fine ash. The beating is done with a wooden slat bound
with string. Another lump is flattened out in oblong shape
and hfted from the board and appUed vertically to the first
piece of clay, the ends of this second piece being joined down

^ The same type is foiond in the Philippine Islands.

THE SEMA NAGAS part

one side. The clay is moistened with a sUp of water poured
in small quantities from a gourd ladle, and the whole
moulded by the hand into a more rounded form with a lip
round the top, the outside of the pot being beaten over with
the M'ooden slat already described, the other hand being
placed inside to offer the necessary resistance. The joins
are scraped over with a bit of broken gourd to render them
invisible, and a final beating is given ^\ith a hghter slat of
wood not bound with string but carefully smoothed and
cleaned, care being taken that no grit gets into the clay.
This slat is also used in moulding the Up. The pot is then
placed upon the upper of the two screen-shelves that inter-
vene between the hearth and the roof, and left there for
several days.

Up to this point the whole process is performed by women,

men not being allowed to touch the pots or even to approach

too closely during their preparation, as this would cause

them to break in the firing. The women of the household are

genua on the day of pot-making, speaking to no one outside

the household, and their own menfolk even may not be

spoken to by them, or come close to them, after once having

left the house in the morning, until the raw pots have been

placed on the shelf over the fire. Here the pots remain for

about a week, until a day has been fixed for firing them.

This is done by both sexes together as a rule, the household

being genua again to strangers. The raw pots have to be

carried into the jungle, where they are " burnt " on a wood

fire. The basis of this fire is made of fuel piled up to about

18 inches from the ground to form a sort of platform. On

this a layer of pots is placed, covered by a layer of sticks, on

which again are pots and sticks in alternate layers. The top

is covered with thatch, dry leaves, and similar fight fuel, and

the whole fired. On the day of firing, until this has taker

place it is genua for anyone participating to defecate, au(

if it is found necessary to do so the load of pots which sucl

a person is taking to the jungle for firing must be depositee

by the wav and not touched again by him, and he must g(

back homi and take no further part in the proceedings

The actual process of firing lasts about an hour, after whicl

(o), (6) Sema Woman Making Pots

S III ^Z^r^S^^'^^ -^^^'^ -^ IMP.KMKN.S USKO.

(f) Dot-Bi.E Pot FROM Tokikehimi for Cooking Ri
(./) Ceremonial Pot for use in Gennas.

CE AND Other Food.

[To face p. 34.

II DOMESTIC LIFE 55

the persons engaged return to their house and put one of the
pots on the shelf over the fire. This completed, the genna
is finished and the pot-makers can speak to whom they
please and do what they Uke. The pot which has been
placed over the fire is ordinarily a miniature pot made wath
the others on purpose ; two or three such are usually made,
but an ordinary pot will do. The pot thus set apart is not
ordinarily used, except for ceremonial purposes, but there
does not seem to be any definite prohibition against using
it for ordinary cooking. IMiniature pots are also made with^
handles, though ordinary cooking pots are never so made.
These Uttle pots with handles are exclusively used for.
ceremonial purposes. The handles are of the same material
as the rest of the pot and are put on when making the pot.
In Tokikehimi village a sort of double cooking pot is made
with a partition in the middle for cooking rice and meat at
the same time. Pots may only be made between the final A
reaping of the harvest and the sowing of miUet in the "
following spring.^

Basketrj'- is, of course, an important Sema industry, as it Busketry.
is employed for so many indispensable utensils, but there is ^
no particular difference between the basketry of the Semas
and that of the Angamis. Baskets and mats are woven
by men and are of various patterns, principally variations
of the twill pattern, and generally like the Angami baskets,
but on the whole simpler. A favourite basis for a basket
is a length of bamboo, say 4 feet long, ending in a joint at
the lower end. The piece of bamboo is spht down to this
joint into a number of fine slats, which are held together
by the joint at the bottom. In the simplest form, which is
that of a very rough basket for carrying bulky articles on a .
journey or for a short distance, and intended to be thrown
away when its work has been finished, these vertical slats
are splayed out by three or four horizontal hoops of bamboo
at considerable intervals and increasing in circumference

' It is possible that the object of this proliibition is to ensivre proper
attention being paid to agriculture, but there are other similar prohibi-
tions, which caruiot easily be so explained, and it is possible that pot-
making may, like flute-plajnng, have some effect on natural forces which
would be deleterious to the crops.

56 THE SEMA NAGAS part

towards the top. In more elaborate forms for permanent
use the upright slats are fewer in number and the intervals
are filled in with regular basket-work. The open-work
basket used for carrying firewood, called amuthu, has a
square instead of a pointed bottom.

The patterns of cane-work most commonly used are plain
' chequer, laioAvn even to women, and called tokhaiye (implying
that it quicldj^ wears out) ; the simple t-wdll, or mdaiye
(because it is known to everyone) ; a variation of vulaiye
called kiithuye because three strands are taken together
instead of two ; avishepuye (= " bison's forehead "), another
variation of the simple twill, extra strands being worked in
to give a diamond pattern ; veli and veliabu, simpUfied forms
of avishepuye ; chomsiye (" the crab's breast "), in which
the groundwork of kutlmye is variated by squares in
which eight or ten strands are taken together instead of
three, and interlaced so as to quarter the square ; and
yeghoki, a very fine and intricate pattern used for rice-
carrying baskets and also based on the simple twill. A
u wicker pattern is used in making doors of spht bamboo.
Cane-work is also used to make the fillets worn by brides,
which are woven of thin strips of cane dj^ed red, and of
yellow orchid-stems pressed and dried.

Ivory, bone, and shell are not much worked by the Semas,
who usually buy what they want ready-made. Round white
shell buttons, however, are made from fragments of shell
purchased from the Angamis and used as fastenings for
akecheka-'mini, " loin-cloth-belt," and for boar-tush collars.
Bone spreaders for shell necklaces are also made, and buttons
are made of segments of small bones cut and rubbed smooth
and tied in the middle. The holes in bone necklace spreaders
are usually made with rough drills of umbrella wire. Round
shiny white buttons of a small size obtained from the plains
are very popular, and used for the decoration of garments.
Musical The only genuine musical instruments used by the Semas
ments, ^^® *^® ^^^^ (fululu) and the Jew's harp (ahewo). These are
made and played in exactly the same way as those already
described as being made by the Angamis. The use of the
I flute is forbidden to women, for fear, it is said, that they

g «ft jpgJBga A Yi g»eg^gc3

5 ^ .

X — c >i

2 ^ -

r! C5 S

? >'-t

3 M

^.2

[To face p. 56.

II DOMESTIC LIFE 57

might by skilful playing seduce the young men and become
depraved. Anyone, however, may play the Jew's harp,-^.
and at any time, though even males may not play the fululu
between the sowing and the reaping of paddy and Job's
tears for fear of causing wind to damage the crop.

The flute consists of a simple length of bamboo, closed at
one end by the joint, open at the other. Two circular holes,
one near each end, are burnt in it. The player holds the
open end against the flat palm of his left hand and blows
into the hole near that end. The closed end is held in the
right hand between the thumb and the first and third fingers,
and the hole stopped with the second. Frequently the
player squats so that this end of the flute can be rested on
his knee or on the ground if the instrument is long enough.
The JcAv's harp is a flattish fragment of bamboo cut out so
as to leave a tongue in the middle which vibrates. There
is a notch at each end, to one of which a cord is fastened.
The whole is placed between the lips, held at one end by one
hand, and string jerked by the other to make it vibrate.
The string is attached to the notch at the root of the vibrating
tongue.

The wooden drum, s7ieA;M, made out of a huge tree hollowed,
and beaten for deaths, war, and various gennas, is not a
genuine Sema instrument, and is only found in villages of
the Chophimi clan, such as Yehimi and Kiyetha, and others
which, like Satami, contain an appreciable admixture of
Sangtam blood.

There are, besides the fululu and the ahewo, a bamboo
whistle which is blown as a key is blown and used for scaring
bears, pigs, and deer from crops, as well as other devices for
making a noise, wliich can scarcely be described as
" musical " instruments. AU these latter seem to be known
by the name of kohkohpfo, a term which is appUed to cow-
bells, clappers worked by hand to scare birds, and automatic ^
sounding instruments for the same purpose. Cow-beUs
are made of a shell which consists of a section of bamboo
used horizontally and having an opening cut along its whole
length, in which the clappers are hung. These are made from
bits of an old spear-shaft and are therefore very hard.

58 THE SEMA NAGAS part

They are hung round the necks of cattle, particularly of
mithan. The clappers are of the simplest description. A
piece of thick bamboo consisting of two joints is spUt from
the top to the bottom knot, which serves as a hinge. The
lower joint is then cut away so that one half may be held
in one hand and the other in the other, the two halves are
separated and smacked together, and the concussion of the
opposite edges on both sides of the top joint — which also
acts as its own sounding board — makes a very loud noise.
The automatic clapper is more elaborate. In this case three
joints of bamboo are taken, and the top and bottom joints
are each cut away to a single narrow strip at the back, while
a slot is cut in the front of the middle joint. The whole
affair is hung on a long string, which is tied tightly to the
bent and notched ends of the projecting strips, giving the
instrument the form of a bent bow. To the middle of what
may be called the bow-string a wooden clapper is tied by its
waist, and as the whole smngs in the wind, this clapper
strikes first on one side and then on another of the slotted
middle joint of the bamboo, and when there is any breeze
keeps up an incessant clattering.
Currency. Salt, never made by the Semas themselves apparently, ^
used to be obtained from theAo, Tukomi,Sangtam,and other
neighbouring tribes. The salt from the Tukomi country
was used, in small flat cakes, to serve the purpose of currency
to some extent, as it still does in the Yachumi country,
while the same purpose was also served by the narrow
blades of worn-out daos, one of which was reckoned to be
the value of a cock, i.e., about 8 annas. Strings of broken
conch shell beads and bits of bamboo, such as are still
used in Tukomi villages, are said to have been also current
in the Sema countr}^ ; where they are now current they
represent the value of about 4 annas. The " chabiU "
current in the Ao country were also known in the Sema
country, but it is not kno\vn what value they had. Among
the Aos one " chabih " represented a day's work, or 4 annas.
The Sema equivalent was a brass bead, and a string about a

' Probably the Semas, like the Changs, boiled their rice in brackish
water from salt-licks, when they could not get made salt.

ir DOMESTIC LIFE 59

foot long of such beads is still occasionally given. A great
part, perhaps the greater part, of the trade done by the
Senias is still carried on by barter.

Like other Nagas, the Sema is above all things dependent Agri
' on his fields for his existence, and it is perhaps owing to the
very primitive and therefore laborious nature of his agri-
culture that everything in his life almost is made sub-
ordinate to the agricultural year ; for although terraced
and irrigated cultivation has been adopted by a few Sema
villages on the edge of the Eastern Angami country, and
an attempt is being made with gradually increasing success
to introduce it among the other Sema villages further north,
it cannot yet be regarded as more than an occasional and
exotic form of cultivation, and the villages that have adopted
it from the Eastern Angamis have generally either taken to
Angami custom and dress entirely, Kke Swemi, or are in the
process of taking to them, like Hebulimi. Villages Uke
Chipoketami and Mesetsii were probably at one time purely
Sema villages, but are now usually reckoned Eastern
Angami, though the element of Angami origin is probably
small. The genuine Sema method of cultivation is jhuming
pure and simple. The land is cleared and cultivated for
,^ two successive seasons, after which it is allowed to go back
to jungle again for a cycle of years which varies according
to the amount of land available. When there is enough
land, seven years is usually reckoned the shortest time in
which the land can become fit for recultivation, and ten or
twelve years is usually regarded as the normal period for
it to he fallow, while fifteen to twent}' is regarded as the
most desirable time to leave it untouched, though land near
a village, being more convenient for cultivation, is rarely
if ever left so long as that. In the Tizu valley, however,
and in parts of Kileki valley where the population has much
outgrown the supply of suitable jhuming land, jhums may
often be found cleared after only five years' rest, and in
some villages even after three, while loads of earth have
to be sometimes actually carried and dumped down in the
rocky parts of the field to make sowing possible at all. Of
course, under these conditions, the crops are very poor,

6o THE SEMA NAGAS part

and the villages live in permanent scarcity. The general
introduction of irrigated terraces is a very pressing need,
and imless largely carried out in the present generation, it
is hard to see how the next can be saved from starvation.
The reason why j hum -land has to be left fallow so long is
no doubt partly due to the fact that it becomes exhausted
if deprived of the natural manure in the form of faUing and
rotting vegetation, and very largely to the fact that when
the larger trees and heavier growth of vegetation are cleared
away, weeds and low vegetation quickly spring up and
increase at such a rate that by the third year it becomes
almost impossible to keep the sown crop clean enough of
weeds to give a jdeld even remotely proportionate to the
labour expended. When the jungle is allowed to grow up
high so as to deprive the low growths of air and Ught, they
are temporarily exterminated and cannot reassert themselves
at once. The same result, of course, follows annual inunda-
tion in terraced fields, though these must be regularly
manured if they are to maintain their standard of crop.

In jhuming the Semas do not, as some tribes do, first burn
and then clear, but they clear the land, cutting down many
1/ of the trees, and then burn, afterwards cutting doAvn the
burnt trunks of the remaining trees, and then clearing up
the fields and digging the ashes into the soil. Neither do
they all imitate, at any rate to the same extent, the excellent
Lhota practice of stripping the trees of all their branches
and leaving a bunch of green leaf at the top so that the tree
does not die, but branches out again when the two years'
cultivation is finished. On the contrary, many of them cut
.the trees down and burn them entirely. The staple crops
^ I consist of rice. Job's tears, and millet, but a large number
of subsidiary crops are grown in among the first two in
small quantities, and Job's tears themselves are often treated
as just such a subsidiary crop to rice. The following list
includes practically all the crops grown by most Sema
villages. The names given are used in Seromi village : —

aghi, paddy (of various kinds).

akiti, Job's tears (Coix lachryma).

kolakiti, maize (kolakiti = " Foreigners' akiti ").

II DOMESTIC LIFE 6i

asiih, Italian millet {Setaria italica, L.).

am2(, a cereal similar to Italian millet, but with larger
grains and several heads to a stalk.

atsiindkhi, the Great Millet (" juar ") {Sorghum vulgare,
Pers.).

a'i, " kachu " {Colocasia Antiquoriim and other varieties).

atsiina, a kind of onion {Allium).

gwomishe, chilHes (which also go by a number of other
names).

ayiku, pulse.

akhekhi \

kuivuti ^varieties of chmbing bean.

ketsiiti J

atsii, black sesame {Sesamum indicum).

akini, a white oil seed {Perilla ocimoides, L.).

aghwo (or aghil), the seed of which is used for making the
yeast called aghilkhu, and also occasionally as a food
{Chenopodium murale). It is known in India as a form of
" Bethua sag."

aka-khu-ni, the leaf of which is used for making the yeast
called akakhu. A form of wild brinjal {Solanum indicum, L.).

ahengu, pumpkin.

akukha, cucumber.

apokhi, gourd.

aghani, mustard (" lai patta "), the leaf being eaten, not
the seed.

yekhiye,^ a plant with a yellow flower somewhat resembling
that of cotton ; the sepals and young leaves are eaten for
their acid taste.

Naghu-kuphu (cock's comb, Celosia plumosa) is often sown
among crops, not as an edible, but simply for show, though
when sown at the edge of cultivation it is beUeved to frighten
away the wild pig.

The agricultural year begins normally about November,
when the women begin to clean the previous year's new J
jhums for sowing again as old jhums and the men begin to •*
clear fresh land for the new jhums. About two months

^ Or yechuye. After abstaining from vegetables during genna, this
vegetable must be eaten before any other.

62 THE SEMA NAGAS part

later the fields are burnt, the old fields being burnt by
collecting and firing the stubble of the last crop, wliile
in the new fields the felled and cut jungle is burnt. The
fields are then cleaned and raked, the unbumt rubbish
being collected and burnt and again raked over, and finally
soAvn. The old fields are usually sown with millet alone
about February or March, and the new fields are ready and
sown with paddy about April, but of course the season
varies very much according to the locality, being more
advanced in low and hot places. The sowing ^ of paddy is
generally reckoned to begin when the constellation of Orion
(Phogwosiilesipfemi) is in the zenith or when the voice of
the Kdsupdpo is heard in the land. The Kasupapo is a
species of cuckoo, ^ which no doubt derives its name from its
call, and of which it is told that the father of a man named
Kasu, having died, appeared to his son in a dream and told
him not to sow until he should come and call to him. Every-
one else in the village sowed his seed and the seed sprouted
and still Kasu heard notliing from his father, and the blades
of corn grew up and still he heard nothing, and at last,
when the rest of the crops were grown quite high, Kasu
said, " My father has forgotten. If I do not sow now it
will be too late," so he got ready his seed and started for
his field. And as he went down the hill he heard on a
sudden his father calhng loud and clear " Kasu pa po !
Kasu pa po ! " ( = " Kasu, his father "), and then he knew
that the time had indeed come, and sowed his seed gladly.
And of all that village he was the only one that year who
reaped a harvest, for the paddy of the others died in the
ear, having been .sown too soon. From that time forth the
Semas have waited to sow paddy until they hear the Kasu-
papo. Chillies are sown first, then " kachu," maize, gourds,
pumpkins, and cucumbers, and finally grain — in the colder

^ Sowing is performed in the last quarter of the moon so as to get the
benefit of the rain that always falls " to wash the face of the new moon.''
There is at least as much in this as in the superstition of one of the ladies
of the local missionary society, who believed as firmly in sowing at the
new moon as she did in the observance of genna on Sunday, " because
seeds sown at other times don't grow so well." CJ. p. 220.

* The Indian cuckoo — C'uculus micropterua.

II DOMESTIC LIFE 63

places Job's tears alone and in the better land paddy with
lines of Job's tears amoi (^ it.

From now the cleaning of the old jhums goes on until the
millet has got high and the fields can safely be left. By this
time the new jhums have begun to claim attention, and
they must be cleaned regularly until early in July, when
the millet in the old jhums is reaped. Then the new jhums
arc cleaned again and again almost until the grain begins
to ripen in September, though some of those who have time
to spare from the new jhums start as early as August to
clear the land which is to furnish the new jhums of the
following year. The harvest is reaped in September or
October, or even November in cold places. Many of the
Eastern villages are unable to grow rice at all, and Job's
tears is their staple crop, as it will thrive in the most in-
hospitable locaUties.

The sowing is done, not by scattering the seed broadcast,
but by sprinkUng it carefully into little hollows made ,
usually by the men with a blow of the small digging hoe
(akupu) and scraped over by the women following with the
horseshoe-like scraping hoe of bamboo or bamboo and
iron (akuwo). The grain in reaping is stripped from the
stalk by hand straight into the pointed basket in which it
is carried to the field-house, a small shed which every man
builds in the field to keep implements, for a shelter from
the rain, and for a temporary store-house if necessary.
The process of stripping the grain by hand is painful and
causes much bleeding. Some say that this method of
stripping by hand is followed because long ago, when the
Semas reaped with daos, a man slashed open his stomach
and so died, but this story is only kno^^Tl in certain villages. ^
In stripping the grain by hand the heads of corn nearest

^ I was told this in Kiyeshe (Sakhai), but most villages deny all know-
ledge of tliis legend. A possible reason is that the Semas till recently
could neither make nor obtain reaping-hooks. The practice can scarcely
be caused by a fear of taking iron into the harvest field, as spears and daos
are taken there as a matter of course. The Changs used to follow the
same practice, but most of them do not grow rice at all, and Job's tears
are cut down stalk and all with a dao, and in the case of millet the whole
head is torn off by hand. The ilano and southern Bre (Karen tribes)

64 THE SEMA NAGAS part

the reaper's basket are gathered into a bunch and twisted
round as in wringing out a cloth. This makes the grain
fall from the stalk, and the bunch, before being released, is
given a bang against the side of the basket to knock out
any remaining grains. The process is quite effective and
obviates thresliing. The baskets of grain are taken as they
are filled and deposited on mats in front of the field-house,
where they are winnowed with a basket-work tray to remove
bits of stalk, grass, and other foreign matter. The winnowed
grain that cannot be carried away at once is piled up in the
field-house to await transportation to the village.
. ' About a stock of corn close to the field-house is left
unreaped, and tied together at the top so as to leave a
little shrine-Hke hollow underneath with some heads of
grain clearly hanging over above. Inside this hollow the
ground is cleared and eatables and a " lao " of " madhu "
are placed. These are taken away when the workers leave,
and the hquor, at any rate, is hable to consumption while
they remain ; but the ears of corn which form the head of
this shrine may not be touched until the whole crop has
been harvested, after which they are themselves garnered.
(This procedure is followed to attract the ancestral famihar
spirit {agJiau) which will secure the fertihty of the o\\Tier's
crops and his prosperity in general. The shrines are called
aghaghubo (ht. " wild paddy tree "),i and sometimes
several are made near the field-house, but eatables and
drink are not placed in more than one or two of them.

In the village, grain is stored in granaries which are
built hke miniature houses in rows, but raised from the
ground and fined with bamboo mats, usually far enough
from the village to give security from fire, but nowadays
sometimes closer to give security from theft, a compromise

follow the same practice as the Semas {Gazette of Upper Burma and
Shan States, Part I, vol. i, p. 535), and indeed the Man6 seem by their
vocabulary to have some linguistic connection — more, that is, than other
Karens. The Garos also reap in the same way (Playfair, The Garos,
p. 34) and the Lyrmgam and Bhois of the Khasia Hills (Gurdon, The
Khasis, p. 40), these Assam tribes having, as the Sema certainly has,
pronounced Bodo affinities (c/. Gurdon, op. cit., p. 198).

* So it was translated to me, but I fancy it is really the " aghau's rice
plant." Cf. p. 348 n.

AonAGIl'lBO AT AlAPFUMI, IN' THE FOREGROUND
PART OF THE MAT ON WHICH THE REAPED GRAIN
IS CLEANED.

A TvpiCAL Sema.

Harvesting

Carrying Home the Millet
Harvest.

[To face p. 64.

11 DOMESTIC LIFE 65

between these two being difficult, since theft is no longer
punishable by death, and the respect for property is not
what it used to be when the boys never went away to service
in Kohima, and the scarcity of land, and therefore of food,
was httle felt. It is, by the way, genna to take matches to
the field in harvest-time in those parts of the Sema country
where matches have come into use, the fire-stick only being
used. A few say that the reason is because matches are
made of tiger-flesh, and more, with greater probabiUty,
because when struck they are so quickly used up.^ The
Lhotas also have a prejudice against taking matches to
the harvest fields, though it is now waning. Many things
are forbidden to the Sema at harvest ; beef may not be
eaten because it smells and the spirit of harvest would flee
at the smell of it ; onion leaves are forbidden for the same
reason ; honey and the honeycomb, wild fowls, and the
abandoned kills of tiger or leopard may not even be touched,
nor, for that matter, any cattle, goats, or dogs. In fact
the only things that may be eaten during the reaping of the
crops are pork, fish, and crabs, and, by women, fowls, though
women who have eaten of them may not approach the place
before the field-house where the grain is piled up. Cattle,
both mithan and kine, and goats are not allowed to pass'
through the village during harvest, nor, above aU, any
fragment of a tiger or leopard or a human corpse. Nor may
men at harvest-time go to the river by night to catch frogs,
since, wading along with an " ekra " torch, their legs become
very clean in the water and change colour, and the frogs
jump and jump, which would make the grain harvested be
quickly consumed. Thread may not be dyed, and whosoever
is caught dyeing it, the man who sees her may take up the
boihng pot and break it on her head. Black thread may
not even be exposed to dry, because of the smell that there
is fiom it. The Asimi clan may not, eat in the house of a
man of another clan for about two months before the
harvest.

For the protection of crops, besides the wind-clappers
ah-eady mentioned (p. 58), sticks split so as to show the white

^ The Changs give the latter reason for the same practice.

66 THE SEMA NAGAS part

inside, split bamboos, and whitish leaves are used to scare
animals, and the erection of these is usually accompanied
by a genna, the cultivator refraining from speech to strangers
on the day of erection, and his whole household observing
the gcnna until the man himself has gone to his fields, while
no article may be removed from the house before then.
The half-hoops of spUt bamboo placed round fields to keep
off wild pig are beUeved to frighten the pig because of a
tradition that once upon a time one end of one of these
hoops, being released by a boar, and springing suddenly
out of the ground, carried away the boar's testicles. To
circumvent squirrels, which do considerable damage to
newly-sown Job's tears, and the " bloodsucker " Hzard
{atakheJh), which is credited with a similar destructiveness,
a genna is observed as above, and a number of bitter things,
leaves and seeds, etc., are sown in small quantities in each
hollow scraped to receive the grain. This, together with
the erection of white rods, etc., is beheved to protect the
crops. Possibly it does,
u' The implements used in agriculture are as follows : —

Amoghu, an axe consisting of a haft of bamboo root with
a long, narrow, flat, celt-hke blade wedged into a hole at
the top. This blade is about 1 foot long or less and from
2 to 3 inches broad at the cutting end, but much narrower
at the other. The amoghu is used in agriculture for clearing
virgin forest or other jungle where very large trees have to
be felled. The blade of the amoghu may also be used as an
adze (akaghii), for which purpose it is lashed to the wooden
handle of a hoe.

Azhta, the " dao," is used for all ordinary jungle clearing
as well as every other conceivable purpose. It is used
frequently as a hoe, the unsharpened corner being often
worn down almost as much as the blade.

Akwpu, the digging hoe with a crooked handle made from
a forked bough, is of two sizes — pushy ekupu, the larger,
used for digging up new land, and hangolcupu, the smaller,
used only for sowing. (An akupu must always be given
by the bridegroom to the mother of a girl when she
is first married.) A variety imported from the Yachumi

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[To /ace p. 66.

II DOMESTIC LIFE 67

country is called tajuchi. It has a broad blade with
shoulders.

Akuwo, the " horse-shoe " or " necktie " hoe, is made of
a sliver of peeled bamboo bent round in the shape of a
horseshoe with the ends prolonged to cross and afford a
hold for the hand. It is made of phant bamboo, tied
into shape, and hung up near the fire, where it is kept
for six months or a year or more. As many as seven or eight
are used by one worker in a day. Occasionally hoes of
similar pattern, but with a curved iron blade, to each end
of which the bamboo is fastened to complete the " neck-
tie," are imported from the Lhota or Ao country, where they
have generally superseded the bamboo form. The Semas,
however, prefer the bamboo one as hghter and handier,
enabling more work to be done in a given length of time
than the iron-bladed form, and as not injuring the shoots
of young corn when clearing the growing crop, which the
iron-bladed form is very liable to do.^
1 Akuwa or achaka, the rake, is made of a stick split up at
one end, with the spHt parts bent at right angles, dried and
hardened so as to make four or five fingers of more or less
equal length sticking out from the end of the stick, and tied
with cane to keep them at right angles to the handle.

Apeghe, or apoghu, the winnowing fan, is simply a sort of
handleless shovel-shaped tray of bamboo matting.

Akivoh, the grain basket, is a very finely woven bamboo or
cane basket pointed at the bottom and built up on the basis
of a split bamboo.

Akwozhe, a sieve, made of finely-spUt bamboo and used
for cleaning millet, etc.

Athehesii, a club of wood or bamboo root for breaking up
clods of earth.

Unhke the Angamis, the Semas, generally speaking, do Natural
not preserve firewood in plantations. Property in individual ^^°P^-
trees is, however, everywhere recognised, and in the im-
mediate vicinity of any village most Naga oak or alder trees
belong to some particular individual, who has marked the

* Cf. Man, July 1917, "Some Types of Native Hoes, Naga Hills"
(Balfour).

F 2

68 THE SEMA NAGAS part

tree as his owti when it was small, in just the same way as
a schoolboy establishes a prior claim to, say, the corner
seat in a railway carriage by some such expression as
" Bags I." In fact, the attitude of mind whicli governs
relations between the individuals and the commjinity of
any Naga village, the views as to wew??Land tuum, and what
must, may, and may not be done, together with the absence
of private Ufe,.is most vividly reminiscent of that which
obtains^ among English schoolboys and regulates their
unwritten codes, and which seems to be so quickly forgotten
by those who have grown and become masters, the schoolboy
code having been contaminated in them by a different
view of morals altogether. As a sign of property, by the
way, a stick or a growing sapling, cut oS at about 4 feet
from the ground, is used, the top being covered with a bunch
of greenstufE doubled over and tied round. This probably
represents a man, signifying that some man has taken
possession.

Besides Naga oak and alder trees, which are particularly
valued as firewood, other trees, such as " tez patta "^ for
curry, and timber trees for planks, are also reserved by
individuals, while thatching grass together with the land
on which it grows is the subject of private property, though
a person not requiring his thatch in any particular year
gives leave to a neighbour in need of thatch to cut it without
asking for any payment. It may not, however, be so cut
without leave. Bamboos, Uke trees, are private property,
*^ belonging, as a rule, to the man who planted them and to
his heirs, irrespective of the ownership of the land on which
they are planted. It is quite common for a man to plant
t/ bamboos on someone else's land, and, if near the village, the
owner of the land is not entitled to uproot even newly -planted
bamboos if he did not forbid the planting before it took
place, and must clear a fire Hne round them when jhuming
his land. If, however, bamboos are sown at a distance from
the viUage, the owner of the land on which someone else has
sown bamboos may uproot them and cast them out. Cane
is reserved, hke trees, where found, a sign being placed bj'

* Laurus cassia.

MiTHAx Bill with . ane luu llaluvl. it

TIKM linrXD H0RN>

SkMA MlTHAN (An).

[Tu face p. 69.

II DOMESTIC LIFE 69

it consisting of a post, the top of which is made into a very
conventional hkeness of a man's head by notching the post
to represent the neck. Further notches are often cut when
the place is visited as evidence of continued reservation.

The cattle {amishi) kept by Semas consists of the domestic Livp-
variety of gaur or " mi than " {Bos frontalis) called am, ^*'°^^'
black humped cattle (achuka), common cattle (kolaghu),
and the hybrids, aselhu, by mithan out of achuka, and avyega
(or kiveghu), by mithan out of kolaghu ^ These hybrids seem
to be fertile. They are kept for the sake of their flesh (mithan
beef is excellent) and are not milked, except in rare cases '
where they are kept by men who have been servants to
GurkhaU graziers near Kohima, though the milk of the
mithan is very rich and Semas have no objection to drinking
it when they can get it. Buffaloes (aeli) are not kept by
Semas, except by one or two men of Lazemi who have got
them from graziers. Goats (anye), pigs (awo), fowls {awu), ^/
dogs (atsii), and cats (akwossd) complete the number of
domestic animals, of which the latter only are not eaten,
for though hunting dogs are never eaten by their owners,
they may be sold for food when of no further use for hunting.
/ Domestic cats, as usual among Nagas, are the subject of
various superstitions, which have probably arisen owing to
the extreme value of the cat as an exterminator of mice and
rats, the depredations of which are very serious when corn
is scarce and granaries only made of thatch and bamboo.
Cats have been introduced only recently and are still
unknown in the remoter Sema villages. It is beUeved that
if a man asks the price of a cat, and refuses to give the price
named, his paddy rots after being sown and his voice
becomes husky like the purring of a cat. The purchaser of
a cat performs a ceremony with it inside his house to prevent
its running away to the jungle, which cats are apt to do.
Two plantain-leaf platters are laid out just inside the door-
way of the house, the left-hand one containing a Httle rice
and the right-hand one six scraps of fresh liver, and in
between them another bit of plantain-leaf bearing ashes from

* For snimals of varioiis markings and for other crosses between different
breeds there are a number of special names, e.g., tiisuba for a pied mithan.

70 THE SEMA NAGAS part

the hearth. The cat is then held with its face over the ashes
and is made to take oath that if it crosses its owner's
threshold it will be struck by hghtning, its face being dipped
three or four times to the ashes and its purchaser repeating
the oath for it as follows : —

" nono akikala vecheaye amsii-no o-chakkiipeni ;

" you threshold if cross lightning shall strike you ;

tighenguno tushokii-peke.''

for this reason oath is administered to you."

After this the unfortunate cat is held to the meat, which it
must eat, and then to the rice. Should it prove refractory,
a small portion, first of the liver, then of the rice, is forced
into its mouth. Hunting dogs {shi-ha-tsil),^ as has been
mentioned, are never eaten by their masters and are usually
treated with more kindness than the common cur which is
no use for hunting {atsilzii = " dog-water " [?]), If a good
hunting dog dies it is often buried with a bit of an old cloth
as a mark of respect for it as the companion of man ; in
its lifetime it is looked after and treated with affection.
The genuine Sema dog has a short close coat and the long-
haired woolly dogs (atuma-tsu) are importations from the
south or east. Black or black and white, the former pre-
dominating, is the usual colour of Sema dogs ; the aUen
woolly kind, however, are often red. Names for dogs are
various, and foreign names are often now given. Of the
genuine Sema names for dogs Hakiye, Havili, and Shiku
are the three principal ones. Hakiye means " ahead in
hunting " and is applied to dogs ; Havili, applied to
bitches, means " good at hunting," while Shiku is the
name of an old man in a story, bUnd in one eye, who was
set to watch drying paddy to scare away the chickens from
it. He neglected to do so, but the owner's dog kept rushing
out and scaring off the chickens, so the owner abused the

^ = " Meat-chase-dog." The intelHgence of the Sema dog may be
gauged from that of one which I had which succeeded in losing its collar.
After a time I provided it with a new and, I suppose, less comfortable
collar which it could not get rid of. At last it went away and came back
later in the day from the jungle with its old collar, which it carried round
until it found someone to take off the new collar and put back the old one.

II DOMESTIC LIFE 71

old man, telling him that he had not the heart of a dog, and
called his dog " Shiku " as being more fit for the name, since
when it has been appUed to dogs. The writer has known of
a case in which one chief, Hoishe of Yehimi, called his
dog Sakhalu after a neighbour of some renown, which was
taken as a serious insult and ended in court, while another
acquaintance, Hekshe of Seromi, named a pair of dogs after
the chief of a Yachumi village and his wife. A name used
for the woolly dogs is Tuma, taken from the name of the
breed. The Semas dock the tails only of bitches, and crop
the ears as well as dock the tails of dogs.
/ A favourite dog is usually killed when its owner dies.
It is killed just as its body is lowered into the grave that its
soul may accompany his. In the case of a man who has
killed a tiger, leopard, or bear, such action is necessary, and
if he possesses no dog at the time of his death, a dog is
bought for the purpose in order that its soul may go with
that of the dead man and guard him on his way to the village
of the dead from the attacks of the beasts he has killed and
whose souls are lying in wait for his. The flesh of a dog
killed in this way is eaten by the Burier (amushou), except
in the case of the Chophimi clan, who (perhaps following
some Ao custom) divide it among those present Uke the
flesh of the other animals killed at the funeral, and the
southern Zumomi, who divide it among guests who do not
belong to the dead man's clan.

In the case of pigs all males are castrated not later than
the age of three months, or earHer if they are forward in
growth. They must be able to propagate their species
before that time, for no boars are kept for breeding purposes.
At the time of castration both the pig's ears and tail are
cut and then bored, which is beheved to make them grow
large quickly. ^ Sows are not docked or ear-cropped. The
ears of cattle are cut or slit as a mark of ownership, but not
in the way that the ears of pigs and dogs are cut. The
reason given for docking the tails of dogs is to prevent

^ Semas do not eat castrated piglets till after the ligature has been
removed. If they ate them while the cotton ligature was still in the cut
they wovild catch their feet in creepers in the jungle and be tripped up
and entangled.

72 THE SEMA NAGAS part

their putting them between their legs in fear, the notion
being that it is this practice which makes them afraid, and
that if this action is prevented by docking the tail the dog
will always be courageous. The reason for docking the tails
and boring the ears of pigs is said to be to distinguish easily
the sex of the pig, and this is perhaps borne out by the
fact that when the pigs are quite small it is quite common to
cut a small piece of one ear to distinguish the sex, the opera-
tion being completed at the time of castration, the point
being that little pigs (or dogs) wanted for eating are chased
and killed with a stick. The cutting of the ear prevents
the accidental IdlUng of the females, which, owing to their
breeding value, are kept. The breed of chickens kept is a

/ smaU and poor one, in appearance closely related to the
wild jungle fowl {Gallus ferrugineus), with which it un-
doubtedly interbreeds at times, while a cross between the
domestic fowl and the " kalij " pheasant {Gennceus horsfieldi)
has been found in Kilomi. It is a curious point that the
Sema names of the wild fowl (laliu) and wild pig (amini)
should differ so entirely from the corresponding domesti-
cated species (awu and awo respectively) which they so
closely resemble. Perhaps, Uke the words " beef " and
"mutton" in English, it indicates a fusion of races or cultures.
Bees are not kept by Semas, though private property in
wild rock bees is recognised, the first finder acquiring
property in the nest which is taken yearly for the sake of
the honey and the grubs. If any of the persons who help
to take the nest die during the year, it is put down to the
bees, and the nest is not disturbed again, and sometimes
a failure of crops is ascribed to the same circumstances
and is followed by the same abstention by orders of the
chief. Chastity must be observed the night before taking

i a bees' nest, as, if not, the bees sting the taker, who is also
liable to be killed by enemies, and before the bee -takers
leave their houses early in the morning to secure the nest,
nothing whatever must be taken out of the house. Should

^ a domestic animal give birth to young, or a fowl hatch
chickens within three days of going to take bees, the owner
cannot go.

II DOMESTIC LIFE 73

Tliis prohibition, by the way, attaches to the birth of all
domestic animals. In the case of mithan, which are kept
in a semi-feral state, and visited from time to time, three
days' genna is observed from the probable date of birth,
so that if the calf appears more than three days old no
genna is observed ; the owner, though not allowed to go to
his own fields during such a genna, may go to other people's
to work. When a number of mithan cows have calved in
one year, each calf has three beans of the great sword bean
{alau) tied to its neck, and a httle pig^ is sacrificed to make
them still more fruitful. The Liver is cooked, and five
scraps are set apart for each cow and heifer calf and six
scraps for each bull calf. These scraps are rubbed on the
mouth of the animal to which they are allotted, and all are
then collected, tied up in a plantain-leaf, and thrust into
the thatch of the owner's house from the inside. If on this
occasion a kite should carry off a chicken or a piglet, all
those mithan become ketseshe (" apodia ") and will probably
fall into a hole or be taken by a tiger or meet some similar
death by mischance.

In the case of cows, as for mithan, three days' genna for a
birth is observed. The birth of a litter of pigs gives rise
to a three days' genna, during which no Naga beans
{akhekhi or akyekhii) may be eaten. ^ In the case of dogs
white oil seed (akini) is not eaten. There is no genna for
chickens, except on the day on which they are taken out
from the nest (usually hung up on the wall inside the house),
or on the following day if they are not taken out tiU night.
One who accidentally touches the basket containing the
chickens before they are taken out may not go to the fields
on that day. The shells of the hatched eggs are kept on a
string in the house tiU they fall to pieces of themselves, as
it is thought that this promotes the prosperity of the
chickens, for all the world as an Irish peasant places the
shells of his hatched eggs on the top of his hen-coop.

The observation of akipikehi (? = " don't address the

^ By some a chicken.

* Some abstain also from pork, wild vegetables, the beans called khuithi,
sesame, and oil seeds {akini) as well.

74 THE SEMA NAGAS part

house ! "), as this three days' genna is called, entails the
abstention from speech with strangers and from the eating
of crabs. The genna for the birth of dogs, though not
called akipikehi, is treated as though it w.ere.

It may here be noted that it is a common practice among
Semas to hold shares in a beast. Thus one man may own
half a mithan, the other two quarters of which (all spoken
of as " legs ") are held by two more men, all three belonging
to different villages. ^ This practice is also occasionally
extended to pigs, while a man who keeps any female
domestic animal for another man is usually entitled to
share the offspring. As regards injury committed by
animals, a Sema can claim that a dog that has bitten a man
shall be promptly killed, after which it would ordinarily
be cooked and eaten by its owner. Cattle that are dangerous
must be at once sold out of the village or else slaughtered,
while a beast that has injured a human being must be killed,
though even in this case, as also in that of a dog that has
bitten anyone, immediate sale away from the village would
probably be usually sufficient. Sema custom recognises no
damages for cattle trespass, but in the case of animals that
damage crops consistently, the owner must be fairly warned,
after which the man whose crops have been repeatedly
damaged may, if he finds it in his field, spear the offending
animal ; but it is his duty to notify the owner that he has
done so, so that the owner can remove the flesh. ^ In the
case of animals fighting and one being killed or injured, no
compensation can be claimed (except, of course, if one of
them was urged on), but a man with a pugnacious beast
may be warned to remove it, and a claim will stand against
him if he fails to do so.

A man keeping cattle owned, or partly owned, by another
has to notify this owner at once in case of loss or injury, or

^ The obvious disadvantages of this are balanced by the advantage of
distributing one's ownership in different places when the recurring epidemics
of cattle disease occur.

* The custom of claiming damages for cattle trespass is gradually being
extended in the Kohima sub-division as a result of orders in court based
on Angami VLsage. There are also indications in Mokokchung villages that
the payment of damage for cattle trespass will before long be insisted on.

II DOMESTIC LIFE 75

he becomes himself responsible for it. The usual terms on
which the care of pigs, dogs, goats, and chickens is under-
taken are equal division of offspring, but in the case of
cattle the owner pays the keeper yearly a cloth and one
rupee, or, if distant, five rupees.

Guns being scarce in the Sema country, hunting is still Hunting,
carried on regularly on the old plan. Parties of men go
out with hunting dogs, and while some follow up the game
in the jungle, cheering on the dogs, others wait with spears '
in the place where the game is expected to emerge into more
open ground, the course taken by it being indicated by the
persistent barking of the pursuing dogs. This method of
hunting has already been fully described in the Angami
monograph. Sometimes whole villages turn out to hunt
in this way ; but in the case of deer, serow, bear, and pig
the hunting is mostly done by small parties, the whole
village only turning out for the pursuit of tiger or leopard.

In dividing the game taken in hunting certain very clear
and definite rules are observed. To those who own or
work the dogs is given " the dogs' share," atsilsa, consisting
of the two hind-quarters, 1 the actual dogs getting each a '
small portion of the ear, of the tongue, of the Uver, and of
the stomach. The first spear gets the head and neck, the
liver and the heart ; the second the loin, giving shares to
any others that may have put spears into the animal before
its death. One fore-quarter is given to the chief of the
village, and the rest is divided among all who took part
in the hunt, the dogs again coming in for shares on this
ground. Should the animal be killed on the land of a
friendly village, something is given to the chief — often one
of the legs of the " dogs' share," if the proper recipients agree
to this, or a fore-quarter or part of the ribs.

Should game be killed, before pursuit by the original
pursuers has ceased, by a different hunting party or a
cultivating party in the fields of another village, as often
happens, the " dogs' share " must be given to the huntsmen
whose dogs put up the game to start with. This is a point
of etiquette most strictly enforced. It should be added that

* The head is regarded as the " dogs' share " by the Lhotas.

76 THE SEMA NAGAS part

in hunting dangerous game, such as pig or bear, the dogs'
share consists only of the lower half of one hind-quarter,
in view of the personal risk run by the men who compose the
hunting party, which is regarded as entitUng them to a
larger share of the meat. In the case of tiger or leopard,
dogs are not employed, and the division of the spoils is much
the same as in the case of the kiUing of a human enemy,
tiger and leopard being reckoned for many purposes as
practically equivalent to men.

There are a certain number of gennas regularly observed
in connection with hunting, some of which approximate very
closely to those observed in the case of war or head-taking.
At the opening meet of the season,^ if the expression be
permitted, until the owner or worker of hunting dogs has
left the village for the hunt nothing must be taken out of
his house. On all occasions of hunting a halt is made after
leaving the village and the omens taken by making fire with
the fire-stick, the smoking tinder being passed six times
round the best of the hunting dogs. The favourabihty
or otherwise of the omen is determined by the nature of
the break in the bamboo thong used for making fire. An
unfavourable omen does not entail the postponement of the
hunt. These omens are usually taken by one or more of
those who bring dogs to the hunt, but can be taken by
almost anyone, particularly by persons who have a reputa-
tion for obtaining correct prognostications ; but it is abso-
lutely necessary that the taker of the omens should have
remained chaste the preceding night, and should this
condition be unfulfilled in the case of anyone asked to take
omens, he refuses to take them and requests someone else
to do so. It is held that should the omens be taken by
one who has not been chaste the previous night the dogs
wlU turn stupid and perverse, over-run the scent, and
generally behave in an untoward way. One is tempted to
infer from all this that the form of taking the omens was
originally intended rather to control the action of the game

' The Sema observes no close seasons for game (except when made to
do so), but hunting with dogs on an extensive scale usually stops towards
the end of May, because it is apt after that to damage the young com.
Hxmting is in full swing again after the harvest is in.

H DOMESTIC LIFE 77

than to obtain foreknowledge of the result of the hunt.
Chastity is also regarded in the light of a measure of personal
precaution, and as such is frequently observed by persons
intending to hunt dangerous game on the following day.
Hunting parties usually go out on days when it is genna
to work in the field, so that plans for hunting are made at
j^any rate the day before, and are rarely the result of a sudden
impulse. The hunter who takes the head of the game killed
must remain chaste that night, in addition to which he may
eat no rice until the follo%ving day. Whoever kiUs a tiger
must remain chaste for six days. He may eat no rice the
first day, and for the whole six days may not eat any
vegetables except chiUies, nor any meat except pork, and he
must sleep away from home, or at least away from his
women-folk, on a bed of split bamboo to prevent sound
sleep, during which the soul of the slain beast might attack
and devour his ovm. This genna is said to have originally
been observed for thirty days (the Changs keep a very
strict thirty days' genna for the kiUing of a tiger), but
among the Zumomi clan, at any rate, the genna is beheved
to have been reduced to six days at Nunomi, whence the
custom spread to Sukomi, and so to all the villages of the
Zumomi clan. Finally, no huntsman may eat game which
he has killed himself. The Sema makes no compromise in
this matter Uke the Angami, who may eat game that he
has kiUed himself after he has kiUed 150 head in aU, and he
keeping his own score. The reason of this prohibition is
perhaps a feeUng that to eat the body of the game he has
himself killed is to afford a handle to the posthumous
influence of the animal killed, which will of necessity be
mahgnantly disposed towards him.

In hunting tiger and leopard the Semas do not, Uke the
Lhotas and Aos, build a paUsade, but merely surround the
animal with spears and shields. The dead body is treated
much as that of an enemy, at any rate in many parts of
the Sema country, the head being taken back to the viUage
and hung up outside it where the heads of enemies are hung.
The tail too is usually cut oS and taken away, the body
being left to rot. A fashion, however, of putting up the

78 THE SEMA NAGAS part

body on a platform by the nearest village path and leaving
it there for passers by to see (and to admire the prowess
of the slayers) seems to prevail in the Northern Sema
villages. Probably it is a recent imitation of the Ao custom
of exposing the body of the tiger or leopard killed on a
platform just outside the village. Boars' tushes, by the
way, may not be worn by the killer of the boar that grew
them, though he may wear the tushes of any boar which
he has not killed himself.

Of traps and snares the Semas use the pitfall (akhwo)
like the Angamis, digging a pit, putting long " panjis " at
the bottom, and covering the top with hght brushwood,
thin sticks of reeds, etc., sprinkled with earth and thickly
covered with dead leaves. They also place panjis, three or
five as a rule, but not four, as this would be unsuccessful
(" there is luck in odd numbers "), in a path used by deer,
where the deer has to jump over a fallen tree which hides
the panjis, on to which the deer jumps and is impaled. The
same method is used in the rice fields, a high fence being
built, with here and there a gap, where the fence is cut down
to half its height, the panjis being placed inside the gap to
impale the deer or pig jumping through it. The fall trap
(zheJca) is used in the fields for monkeys and baited •wdth a
cucumber. When the monkey pulls at this a bamboo
shelf loaded with stones falls down and flattens him.
Snares, akesii (the Angami kesheJi) and avafu, on the same
pattern as those depicted in the Angami monograph, are
used as well as three other varieties, a'itho, used for deer ;
ashepu, another of the same type ; and siigotsa, used for
snaring pheasant, partridge, and other birds.

The snare called a'itho is made by attaching a long rope
of the fibres of the sago palm (aithobo) to the end of a bent
bough. This rope ends in a running noose behind which
is a peg. A hooped stick is stuck down into the ground in
a hollowed place in a track used by deer and the top of the
peg caught up underneath it. The rope is taken over the
hoop and the noose spread. The peg is held in place by a
short stick resting horizontally across the hoop against two
vertical sticks. On the horizontal stick other sticks are

DOMESTIC LIFE

rested at right angles to it and passing under the noose and
raised from the earth at the other end by a bit of wood.
The whole is covered with dead leaves. If the deer steps

Diagram to show
how yl 'itho is set

in the circle formed by the noose he depresses the sticks
which rest on the horizontal stick which holds the peg in
place. This re-
leases the peg and
the bough springs
back into posi-
tion, suspending
the deer by the
noose, which has
run tight about

The ashepu is ^^ ^^^^ attached to spring (as in aitho) ; h, hoop

set on the same (as in altho) ; c, peg (as in altho) ; d, bait in

principle as the centre of bamboo loop in which the point of

ditho, but on a ^^e peg is caught ; e, stick by wloich the

verv much bamboo loop is kept in place ; /,/, spreaders

1, , , on which the noose rests.
smaller scale, and

with a bait which necessitates a shghtly different method
of release. The peg, instead of being caught on a

THE SEMA NAGAS

PART

horizontal stick, is caught in the end of a Httle bamboo
loop, the other end of which is caught on a stick stuck
into the ground. The bait is fixed in the middle of
the bamboo loop and the noose spread round it on twigs
stuck into the ground. The pheasant pecks at the
bait, for which a bright red and black seed is used,
and depressing the loop releases the peg, so that the noose
is snatched up, suspending the bird by its neck. For the
spring of a trap of this sort a bent stick ^vill serve.

The snare called siigotsa, again, is made on the same
principle as the a'itho, but the noose hangs vertically from
the bar, light sUvers being propped against the latter to

keep the noose spread,
and a miniature fence
made on each side of it
in the run in which it is
placed, so as to make the
bird enter the noose. The
hoop is made of a stick
bent twice so as to give
it a horizontal top and
vertical sides, against
which the horizontal stick,
which retains the peg, is
laid.

The bird in passing
through displaces the
horizontal stick and is caught up in the released noose.

Although hunting rights are Umited by the boundaries
of the village land, beyond which game already started may
be pursued, but outside which fresh game may not be hunted
or sought for, snaring rights are not so limited. It is well
recognised that snares may be set on the land of another
village, and where the respective villages are not at enmity
they will be allowed to remain. The ownership of the game
caught in snares is not always respected, and it is not
regarded as a punishable theft to take birds from another
man's snare, though it is looked on as a low thing to do.
In the case of deer snared it is absolutely genna to abstract

Siigotsa.

a, cord ; 6, h, hoop ; c, peg ; d, d, d,
horizontal to keep peg in place ;
/, /, /, spreaders for noose.

II DOMESTIC LIFE 8i

the meat from another man's snare, and such a theft is ,
believed to be inevitably followed by paralysis of the limbs
and spine of the thief. One Ikashe of Sheyepu stole a deer
from the a'itho of one Povilho, of the same village, still
alive at the time of writing, and, when met carrying the
animal, said he had speared it, which was in a sense true,
as the deer was aUve when he found it, and he had dispatched
it with a spear. Having fallen iU of rheumatic fever, or
something of the sort, he sent for Povilho and confessed his
misdeed and asked him to make peace with him in the
formal manner. This would have entailed Povilho 's bringing
a leaf of water to Ikashe, who would on his part have brought
a leaf of liquor in his right hand and a piece of meat in his
left. First of aU Ikashe would have burnt his piece of
meat in his fire. Then Povilho would have taken the leaf
of liquor, dipped his cliin in it and thrown it away, and
Ikashe would then have done the same with Povilho 's
water, and the offence would have been purged. Povilho,
however, refused. Ikashe had not even given him the head
of the deer, and had spoilt his snaring, so that he had never
been able to catch anything since. Accordingly Ikashe
became paralysed, and died in agony crying out ** a'itho,
a'itho." Fact.

Of taking fish the Semas have some seven methods, some
of which are practised in varying ways, and all of which
are not practised by all villages.

The names for these methods differ, and there are possibly Fishing.
other ways which are not recorded here. The methods
here given are, however, all in vogue in the Tizu valley in
one village or another, many of them practising all the
seven methods mentioned. There are (1) fishing by weirs
{akhu), in which the fish are caught in baskets facing -
upstream and inserted in holes in a weir built across the
river of stones, sticks, bamboos, and mud. This method is
probably practised by all Semas within reach of any large
river, though so far as is known to the writer they do not
ever put their basket traps facing downstream Hke the
Changs. (2) Fishing with the rod. This method is uni- ,
versal and consists in attaching a fine line of twisted fibre

82 THE SEjMA NAGAS part

to the tapering end of a light bamboo, and an iron hook
(usually of umbrella wire) to the end of the Hne. The bait
usually consists of a cricket, grasshopper, or worm, and is
flicked out on to the water in hkely places, allowed to rest
a moment or two, and withdrawn. The rod is called ashuli,
the Hne aJcheghi-kipeli, the hook aklia-kemusse-i, and the
bait ashi^ (3) Fishing with a fish-noose (aikeghi), which
consists of a running noose, attached to the end of a stick,
which is held in front of a fish swimming in the water and
jerked tight as it passes through. It can, of course, only
be used from a rock or bank from which it is possible to look
over and see the fish as they move in the water, which must
be fairly clear. It is only practised in some villages, notably
Yezami. (4) Fishing with a net. There are three sorts of
nets, the large drag-net {shithi), the small drag-net {alcliame),
and the landing-net (akhasho). The shithi needs a dozen
men to drag it, while akhame can be worked by four men.
The two are often used in conjunction, the fish being driven
up into the corner of a pool with the shithi and surrounded
and hauled out with the akhame, though if very big fish
are taken they have to be extracted with the shithi itself.
These nets are worked by being dragged by men wading in
the river or on the bank at each end of the net, which is in
both cases a long and heavy arrangement made of fibre,
and, in the case of shithi, with a large mesh which serves
more to frighten the fish than to entangle them. The net
is weighted with stones tied to the lower edge or with lumps
of some heavy gum or rubber wrapped round the cord that
forms the lower edge. The material used in making it is,
as usual, twisted fibre, of which there are many kinds known,
two of the principal being species of jute and of nettle,
the skin of which is used. The hand-net, akhasho, is used
generally in conjunction with some other method of
fishing, but in muddy water, when a flood is subsiding and
the fish are rising and feeding freely, it is sometimes used
by itself, being simply thrust under the rising fish, which

* The bait, whatever it is, must be spoken of as " ashi," or the fish will not
take it : ashi = flesh, meat. So, too, the Changs when baiting with a worm
must never call it a worm {khinkin), but kau-yang ("earth-insect") or
ydk-pit (" bead string "), aa if called a worm the fish will not touch it.

II DOMESTIC LIFE 83

is probably in a semi -stupid condition as a result of the
flood. The spear is also used occasionally to take fish in
the same circumstances, the speared fish (they do not stick
to the spear, since the ordinary unbarbed weapon is used)
being either retrieved by swimmers or picked up stranded
at the nearest shallows or weir. The drag-net is a method
that can only be used rarely and in a few places, as the
current and rocks of the hill rivers usually forbid its use.
(5) Fish are caught by hand in three ways at least. They
may be taken by simply holding a cloth or a basket at the
mouth of a small stream where it runs into the river, ^ and
keeping it there for fry and small fish to fall into, which at
the right time of year they sometimes do in large numbers,
together with spawn deposited by fish that have come up
the river in the rains and spawned in the little tributaries
temporarily swollen to an abnormal size. This method
is called aJcJmlho. Catching fish in shallow water by
hand is called apeli. Usually the water is diverted from
one side of the river-bed to the other side by means of
a low dam of stones and earth, and the fish taken out of
the puddles and hollows left in the bed of the stream. This
is a universal method of taking fish when the water in thC;
river is low, but fish are also sometimes taken by hand in
deep water {akJiakhu is the word used), when they are more
or less blinded by mud or numbed by cold. It is not a
method in extensive practice, because the majority of Semas
cannot swim, but is done sometimes even by those who
cannot swim, a long bamboo being thrust down to the bottom
of the river and held by men on the bank, while a man cHmbs
down the bamboo with a stone in his waist-belt, as a sinker,
and gropes in holes under the bank for any fish that may
be there. A fish caught is immediately grasped with the
teeth to prevent its wriggling away.

(6) One of the best-known ways of fishing is by " poison "
(a'ichi),^ a creeper being beaten into the water till the juice of

^ I have seen a casual passer-by use an umbrella for a similar purpose
to great effect, but in the plains, not in the Naga Hills.

* Acacia Intsia. Another creeper called suichi (probably a Milletia)
is also used. The alchi leaves are used for killing vermin on the hvunan
head.

Q 2

84 THE SEMA NAGAS part

, it intoxicates and stupefies the fish, which are then caught
with the hand-net, or killed with a dao and taken by hand.
They are also caught stranded in shallows and weirs and
sometimes taken in deep water on the bottom of the river by
divers who use a stone to sink with, and grope for fish in the
river bottom. Diving, however, is a rare accomphshment in
the Sema country. When all the inhabitants of a Sema
village, or, as occasionally, several villages, turn out to
" poison " (the misnomer " poison " is used because it is an
expression in common use for this ; the Sema word aichi does
not mean " poison," which is ihughu) for fish in a river of
some size Hke the Dayang or the Tizu, the take is sometimes a
large one. More often, however, it is totally out of proportion
to the labour entailed. At least a whole day is occupied,
before the fishing takes place, in searching for the roots and
stems of the creeper used, carrying them back to the village,
and giving them a preliminary pounding. On the actual
day of operations the village proceeds to the river, each
man carrying his bundle of creeper-fibre already frayed out
and partly crushed and slung on a cudgel over his shoulder.
If there is more than one village taking part they signal one
another's departure for the appointed spot by smoke signals,
and arrive at the chosen place at approximately the same
time. As the men of each village come down to the water,
they close up into an irregular column and move slowly
towards it with drawn daos and much " Ho-ho "-ing, this
being a sort of challenge to the river to do its worst against
them. A " poisoning " of this sort is always regarded as
in some sense an act of war upon the river and its denizens.
Arrived at the river, the men deposit their bundles and set
to work to fell large trees the trunks of which will stretch
across the shallows where the water is to be impregnated.
The place chosen for operation is always a shallow rapid
above a deep or comparatively deep pool, where there are
believed to be fish in some numbers. Dams, or rather
benches of tree -trunks and boulders, are made across the
stream, and each man lays his bundle on one of these and
stations himself before it with the cudgel in his hand. Long
rows are thus formed stretching across the stream of bundles

II DOMESTIC LIFE 85

of creepers on rough benches, as it were, each bench between
two rows of men facing one another, stout short sticks
in their hands. In the middle, perched on a boulder, is a
chief or the son of a chief, who controls operations. He too
has a stick, but not for beating creepers. The women and
children of the village have by this time arrived and are
crowded on the bank to look on. The Sema does not (like
the Lhota) tabu the presence of his women-folk on these
occasions.

When all is ready the beating of the creepers begins at a
signal from the chief in the middle. The beating is done by
the opposite rows alternately and in strict time, not
haphazard, as by the Lhotas and Aos. One line bring their
cudgels down while their vis-d-vis raise theirs over their
heads. After a few minutes of steady rhythmical beating
the directing chief gives the signal to stop, when the cudgels
are laid down, and the bundles of creeper dipped into the
water. The beating is then continued again for a few more
minutes, when the creepers are again dipped, and so on
until the juice has been entirely beaten out of the creepers
and is swirHng down the river in white suds and discoloured
eddies. When the chief gives the order to stop altogether,
the beaters throw down their cudgels and rush to the lower
end of the pool above which they have been working. Mean-
while the women and children and elder men have assembled
on the banks with baskets and landing nets and, with the
chiefs and other persons too important to take a hand in
the actual beating, are waiting to take their share in the
proceedings. No one is allowed to go downstream till the
beating is over, after which everyone does what he Ukes to
secure fish. These latter are apparently intoxicated by the
juice of the creeper and swim feebly about on the surface
of the river, displaying a strong tendency to come to the
edge. Some are fished out with nets, some killed by cutting
them with a dao, and some are taken by swimmers and divers,
for though the majority of the Semas cannot swim, in most
villages near rivers a few are to be found who can, and these
take a stone, sink to the bottom, and grope there for drunken
fish. The women and children pick up the smaller fish in

86 THE SEMA NAGAS part

the shallows. When the catch is a large one, the capture
of fish may go on till nightfall, and for half a mile or a mile
or more downstream, for though the effects of the aichi
rarely extend for more than 50 yards, the helpless fish
are washed down until they happen to get stranded,
where they stay till picked up, being usually too sick
to swim away. Of course many of the fish in the rivers
are only slightly affected, and the unavaihng struggles
of one or two swimmers to take or kill with a dao
a large and lively fish which is far enough gone to
keep coming to the surface, but still very far from
being helpless, are often quite amusing. The effect of
the juice of this creeper is very different on various species
of fish. A species of carp (Labeo) with an overhanging upper
lip, a bottom feeder which makes the broad lines on stones
so famiUar in these Naga Hills rivers, is very susceptible to
the " poison," which, if fresh and plentiful, often kills a
fair number. On the various varieties of mahseer, however,
the creeper juice has a very much milder effect, and generally
does nothing more than intoxicate the smaller ones, even a
very large quantity seeming to have but small effect on fish
of 6 or 7 lb. and upwards, while mahseer of as much as 10 lb.
are rarely if ever taken in this manner. To the destructive
fresh-water shark, on the other hand, the " guriya mah " of
the Assamese, probably Bagarius yarrellii, the intoxicant is
most deadly, and a very small dose of it kills. This fact,
taken in conjunction with the rarity with which " poison-
ing " operations are attended by a large destruction of fish,
gives some ground for supposing that the use of this creeper
as practised in the Sema country might be even perhaps more
beneficial to the river as a whole than otherwise ; for it is
the writer's experience, after seeing a number of " poison-
ings " on a large scale, that the bag of fish is usually small,
out of all proportion to the labour involved, and though a
number of fish is yearly killed in this manner, the kill is
probably not greater than the river can bear, while the
predatory fish are so effectually prevented from increasing
that they probably do not breed in the river at all, but
consist solely in the few individuals that find their way up

II DOMESTIC LIFE 87

from the plains in the rainy season.^ Apparently the
aichi juice sinks to the bottom of the river, so that the
mahseer and even minnows swimming nearer the top escape
from the full effect of it. It should be added that when
Nagas speak of fish " dying " as a result of operations such
as have been described, they are frequently only alluding to
the intoxication of the fish, from which it recovers as the
pure water comes down stream, which in the rapid hill
rivers it does very quickly. More harm is possibly done by
the small parties that go out from time to time to catch
fish in this manner in the smaller streams where the mahseer
spawn, but these operations are on a very small scale indeed.
It is only once or twice in the year that any village conducts
a fishing of this sort on a large scale, and when it does the
operation is usually a comparative failure. A very much
more deadly poison for fish is said to be still sometimes used
by the villages on the banks of the Dayang, though not
laiown further east. This is the poison known to the
Assamese as " deo-bih," and it is used in a different manner,
being sometimes, if not always, sunk in the river overnight,
but its use has recently been forbidden in British territory.
It causes the death of fish for a considerable distance down
the river, and persons drinking of impregnated water suffer
from a considerable swelHng of their whole bodies and a
good deal of pain. It is, however, decidedly untrustworthy,
and it seems not infrequently to fail entirely to have any
effect whatever, though sometimes exceedingly destructive.
The Aos use walnut leaves and a sort of fruit with a hard
kernel. The latter, at any rate, is much stronger than
aichi.

Another method of using aichi which the writer has seen
employed is to take a small quantity and stuff it into the
holes, under the banks of the river, in which there are known
to be fish. The presence of the fish is quickly recognised
when the aichi is applied, as it causes the fish to exude or
expectorate a small quantity of sHmy substance Hke saHva

j ^ After writing the above I discovered that Mr. Soppitt, writing in

1885 {Historical and Descriptive Account of Kachari Tribes in North Cachar
Hills — reprinted Shillong, 1901), came to the same conclusion (p. 52).

88 THE SEMA NAGAS part

(it is called akhamthi, " fish-spittle "), which is detected in
the water at the mouth of the hole. If this substance is
found the a'ichi is replaced until the fi^h are reduced to a
condition in which they can be taken by hand. In the
employment of a'ichi in this manner three or four men or so
go out together with long bamboos, which are thrust down
to the bed of the river in pairs and held there sHghtly apart.
A man with a stone in his belt then descends — he need not
be able to swim at aU — by the two bamboos and puts the
a'ichi into the holes where the fish are, and comes up again.
When the fish are to be taken out the fishermen descend
in turns, staying under until they have got hold of two or
three fish, which they bring up in their mouth and one
hand, usually holding on to one of the bamboos with the
other.

But of all the Sema methods of fishing that (7) called
akhaki ( = " fish house ") is perhaps most characteristic of
the Sema as opposed to other tribes. ^ In the cold waters
of the Tizu river a spot is selected near a deep pool known
to be frequented by fish, and a long tunnel about 20 to
30 feet in length is built of loose stones, leading away from
the pool in fairly shallow water. The end is Ukewise blocked
by stones. The fish in the cold weather congregate some-
times in numbers in this dark impasse and are removed by
hand some morning when they are numbed mth cold.

Gennas connected with fishing appear to be few. Should
a member of the village suffer a birth in his house, whether
of a human or a domestic animal, on the morning of a
" poisoning," he and his household are not allowed to attend,
and the bundle of " poison " prepared by him is taken from
the general pile and cast away. It may not be taken to the
river. When a man is going fishing ^^dth rod and line he
speaks to no one at all that day until he has finished angUng,
lest the fish should hear him — a very sound precaution this
when on the bank of the river, but it is perhaps carrying it
further than absolutely necessary to credit the fish in the

^ I have seen Hill Kacharis practise a very similar method, though in
their csae the " fish house " is surrounded by a net when the fish are to
be removed.

II DOMESTIC LIFE 89

river in the valley with being able to hear him speak in his
village on the top of the hill.

The food of the Semas consists primarily of a monotonous Food,
diet either of rice or, in those villages which are in such high
and exposed situations that rice will not grow, of Job's
tears — an uncompromising cereal which Nagas unused to
it are unable to digest and strongly resent being asked to
eat. Occasionally as a last resort millet is eaten as a
substitute for either of these, but it is normally used only
for brewing and is most unappetising boiled, and boiling
is the only method known to the Naga of cooking rice or
its substitutes. With the rice, however, something is
always eaten, meat, fish, vegetables, or, if nothing else at
all is to be had, chillies alone. The Sema, like other Nagas,
is a great eater of chillies, and can and does fill his mouth
with chiUies and nothing else and eat them as though they
were chocolates. He is, however, generally speaking a
great meat-eater, and except in cases of unusual poverty
or scarcity eats a quantity of some sort of meat or fish at ,
every meal, not very much, perhaps, but enough to make
deprivation of it a serious hardship. Like the Angami, he
takes three meals in the day, eating rice from one dish, and \^
meat and vegetables from another, while a dish is usually
shared between two or more persons. Boiling is the only
method of cooking practised except toasting, which is '
sometimes resorted to. As with the Angami, no part of an
animal's body is wasted. The skin is eaten after the hair
has been singed. So are the intestines. Like Sir John
MandeviUe's " Tartarians," the Semas " eat all the beasts
without and -wdtliin, without casting away of anything save
only the filth." Bones, horns, and hoofs are all that are
not eaten, while small birds, frogs, and similar soft-boned
creatures are eaten bones and all. Meat is regularly smoke-
dried over a fire until quite hard, in which condition it keeps
indefinitely. When required, pieces are cut off and boiled
till soft.

While not exactly discriminating in the matter of what
flesh he eats, the Sema is distinctly less omnivorous than
the Angami or the Chang. The flesh from which he abstains

90 THE SEMA NAGAS part

is avoided for reasons which, though no doubt overlapping,
divide it into two distinct classes, that of the animals the
flesh of which is not eaten because of some habit of the
animal which inspires disgust for its flesh, and those the
flesh of which is not eaten for fear of the consequences
entailed by eating it. The former class is barely discernible
among the food prohibitions of the other two tribes men-
tioned. In regard to the latter class of food gennas among
the Semas, it is to be noticed that the ill consequences
which are held to follow the use of certain animals and birds
as food more often attend the offspring of the eaters than
the eaters themselves, and these foods can therefore be
eaten by old or childless men, who have no prospect of
bringing more children into the world. ^ These will also
often eat food the consequences of which merely affect their
persons in some particular for which they have passed the
stage of caring, but they do not eat food that falls in the
former class. The lists that follow, though probably far
from complete, are fairly typical of the flesh gennas observed
by Semas in general. There are also special gennas observed
^t special times, by special persons, or by individual clans,
which are dealt with in their own places. The gennas in
the lists given are more or less universally observed by the
Sema tribe.

Of domestic animals (tikishi, = " house flesh ") the
. cat alone is not eaten. This has been already dealt
with.

Of wild animals {teghashi, = " s-pirit flesh" or "jungle
flesh ") the following are eschewed, (a) on account of natural
^ repugnance to the idea of eating them : —

The tiger, leopard, and larger cats. The tiger and
leopard are regarded as closely akin to man and to eat
them would be almost cannibahsm. The larger cats
are also usually classed generically as " tigers " (angshu)
and fall into the same category. The test is roughly
whether or not the cat in question is called angshu or

^ So, too, Seraaa whose wives are pregnant may not kill snakes, which
would cause the child to be born with a tongue quivering in and out like
a snake. So, too, the Tangldiuls (Census of Assam, 1911, I., p. 76).

II DOMESTIC LIFE 91

not. Thus the little leopard cat, anyengu (Felis bengalensis),
is eaten, while the cat called angshu-akinu (? Fells aiirata)
is not.

Rats and mice generally (azhi), except the bamboo-rat
called acheghi, a member of the Rhizomys family which lives
among the roots of " ekra." To this medicinal properties
are attributed and it is universally eaten. The water-rat,
azhukhu, is not ordinarily eaten, but is sometimes resorted
to as a cure for dysentery. A rat called azhuyeh (or azhichu,
" edible rat ") is eaten by many, and by all if they have
stomach-ache.

Bats (asMika). The reason given for abstention is that
they are like mice.

(6) Those abstained from because of the fear of the
acquisition of their quahties by consumption are : —

The flying squirrels {attolo,^ asiiki), because they are
" idiot," and the eaters would therefore be liable to beget
idiot children. They are probably regarded as idiot because
they sleep in the day and come out at night, just as the
Cheshire cat was mad because she did the opposite of the
dog which was admittedly not so.

The huluk ape ^ (akuhu) is abstained from by some
though not all Semas on the ground that its consump-
tion would render the eater liable to beget children
who kept crying " hualu, hualu, hualu," hke the ape.
It may, Uke the flying squirrels, always be eaten by
old men.

The otter, 3 acJiegeh, is eaten, but it is believed that
this causes the hair of the head to become hard and dry
and difficult to shave, because it dries as fast as it is
wetted.

The musk-rat (keghu) is not eaten, but its singed hair
is used sometimes as a remedy for a long illness, being mixed
with water in which the sick man washes in the forlorn hope

* Some Semas regard it as genna even to touch it. They say that it
turns into a cat of the species called angshu-yeghiili (? Felis macrocelis).
Attolo = Petaurista yunnanensis ; asiiki = Pteromys aboniger.

* Hylobates hooluck.

' Lutra leptonyx and probably nair also.

92 THE SEMA NAGAS part

that the sickness may be frightened from his body by the
horrible smell of the musk-rat.
^ The Ust of birds not eaten is a larger one.

(a) Not eaten for reason of natural repugnance : —
The crow {agJia) {Corvus macrorhynchus) is banned
because it eats human corpses. The bird called kutsiikheke
(? = " head-nester "), a very diminutive bird indeed, is
not eaten because it is popularly believed to build in the
empty eye-sockets of the skulls of enemies taken in war
and hung up outside the village. It is regarded as most
abusive to ask a man whether he cannot see because a
kutsiikheke has built a nest in his eye, or to express a wish
that the bird may do so. It is also believed that if this
bird wishes to be successful in producing any offspring it
must lay in a nest of human hair. Kutsiikheke probably
= " head-poker." This bird is also called anhyeti-nyeisii-
kheke = " eye-piercer." It is the Green-backed Tit — Parus
monticolor. The mynah (toeshi) {Sturnopastor contra^ is not
eaten because it is reputed to have once been a man, who
was turned into a bird by picking to pieces a black cloth
with yellow stripes. (This is the bird well known as a
mimic.)

(6) Not eaten because of the properties so acquired : —
The great hornbill (aghacJio) {Dichoceros bicornis), because
it has " sores " on its feet, and if a man eats its flesh he too
gets sores. When its feathers are worn, as in dancing, wild
vegetables are avoided, as, if eaten, this would give the
same result as the flesh of the bird.

The owl {aklmkoh) {Glaucidia cuculoides, radiata, and
brodiei), because it is " idiot," and the eater's offspring are
liable to be idiot likewise. The nightjar (akaku) (to prefer
the darkness to light is obviously sheer lunacy), and the
a'ilu, a pure white bird that drops to earth suddenly from
flight, are both avoided for the same reason. The a'ilu is
particularly shunned and by many is not even touched, but
both the akhakoh and akaku may be eaten by old men.
The same apphes to the *' brain-fever bird " (pipilhu)
{Hierococcyx sparverioides), which is not eaten for fear the

* And probably other varieties.

II DOMESTIC LIFE 93

eater should beget offspring with a similar incessantly
reiterated outcry, while the aouya, a small bird of excessively
restless habit, and the akacho, a night bird which chatters
incessantly (perhaps Cacomantis passerinus), are avoided by
aU, as these quahties of restlessness and loquacity affect
the eater as well as his children. The green parrot (achoki)
(Palaeornis fasciatiis and others) is not eaten, partly because
of its screaming habits, and partly on account of an alleged
malformation of its hinder parts. The titsuba {Hemicurus
guttatus and also Microcichla scouleri, both fork-tails), a
wader that defecates as it flies away when disturbed, is
avoided as inducing a timid and fearful disposition. The
tsuketi {Uroloncha acuticauda) and tuthu {Uroloncha punc-
tulata), two little munias that raid the millet fields, are
avoided because the sides of their beaks are always dirty
(with husks, etc.), and the eaters will Hkewise have dirty
mouths, and also because the birds' crops are not in the
centre, but at one side. Old men will eat these. The
avmtsa, a species of hornbiU {Aceros nepalensis, the rufous-
necked hombill), is not eaten by most Semas because it is
beUeved that the eater wiU die choking and coughing Uke
the bird, the cry of which is a hoarse, choke-Uke croak.
The abagha (Ut.= "dung-crow") is not eaten because it
is thought to make the hair turn white, as its feathers,
though black towards the tips, making the bird black to
look at, are white underneath. The crow-pheasant (toghoko)
{Centropus hengalensis) is not eaten because of a story that
when the birds were made the crow-pheasant was forgotten,
and nothing was left to make it of but Uttle scraps of meat
that were left embedded in cuts on the board on which the
meat that went to make the others had been chopped up.
Old men will eat the flesh of this bird nowadays, at any rate
in administered villages where there is no fear of hostiUties,
for the flesh is reputed tender and tasty, but men who do so
are hable to get cut up by their enemies, and young men
will not eat it. These last seven birds are, it may be noticed,
banned in the behef that their consumption entails effects
directly to the eater rather than to his children. It is genna
to eat the house-martin (akallu) or the swaUow {yemichekallu)

94 THE SEMA NAGAS part

or (as a general rule) the swift (niniti).'^ The first two are
beUeved to cause dysentery if eaten, but of the swift it is
sometimes said that a man who kills a hawk should eat
one, as the swift fights with the hawk, and when the ghost
of the hawk after the killer's death comes to peck out the
eyes of his soul, the swift's ghost will be there to fight with it.

Of fish two only seem to be avoided. One is the akhahi,
a fish Kke a large " miller's thumb," which is in most villages
eschewed by the younger men because of a story which
ascribes its origin to a part of the anatomy of a man which
he accidentally loiocked off with a stone after a successful
love affair. The other is the azho, a species of eel-Hke fish
with a serrated back, which is believed to cause, if eaten,
great difficulty in dying, for when cut up the sections of
this fish display muscular movement for some time. It is
said that women going to be married to a distant village
used sometimes to be given, unknown to themselves, a bit
of the flesh of this fish, that when in extremis they might not
die until their parents should get the news and come and see
them.

Of reptiles, snakes, lizards, and toads are not eaten, nor
is the nicJioiti, which is described as a small frog with a very
large stomach, so that this hmits edible reptiles in the Sema
country to the tortoises and various remaining species of
frog. Insects, Hkewise, are not generally reckoned edible,
but all kinds of grasshoppers and locusts and some crickets
are eaten, and the grubs with the comb and the honey of
aU sorts of bees and wasps (except a species of bumble-bee,
which is probably regarded as " idiot "), as well as an
odoriferous beetle-hke insect called mcheka found by rivers
and streams, and some large larvae and their pupae. One
variety of spider is also eaten, a large grey and yellow insect
which spins a thick and sticky web. It is, however, credited,
probably on account of the stickiness of its web, long strands
of which are apt to catch the face when going through jungle,
with causing dimness of eyesight in the eater.

^ This might be because of its inability to rise from the ground when
once it has alighted, but the bird is really the Grey Drongo, Dicrurua
cineraceus, and not a swift proper.

II DOMESTIC LIFE 95

In addition to the foods prohibited to men there are
further special prohibitions which limit the food that may
be eaten by women. The main feature of these prohibi-
tions is the fear that the housewife may become extravagant
with the paddy. This behef is a very strong one, and
apparently the majority of wild animals and birds are
regarded as hable to produce this unthrift in women, and
are therefore prohibited, though some of the prohibitions
are no doubt due to the fear of other consequences. In
general it is easier to enumerate the foods that women may
eat than those which they may not.

With regard to reptiles, fish, and insects, women seem to
observe the same prohibitions as men. With regard to birds,
the women are under the additional prohibition of abstaining
from the flesh of kites and hawks. Sometimes the reason
given is that it causes unthrift, sometimes that it makes
the woman who eats it too free with her nails, making her
unpleasantly addicted to biting and scratching. The flesh
of kites and hawks is also said to have been formerly, and
to be still sometimes, avoided by men, though others hold
that it is highly desirable as strengthening the eyes and
giving clear sight.

In the case of wild animals women seem to be generally
restricted to the meat of the serow,^ deer, pig, porcupine,
bear, and the bamboo-rat, while of domestic animals besides
the cat, women may not eat of the goat, for fear of becoming
libidinous, nor of chickens that lay here and there in different
places, lest they should become unfaithful and hght-o'-love.
They may not eat either of any animal that dies in giving
birth (no doubt for fear that they should do Ukewise), or of
the flesh of any animal killed by a wild beast.

Besides prohibited flesh, food ordinarily good may
become prohibited for some special reason. Thus if the
spoon breaks with which the cooked rice is being taken
from the pot, males may not eat of that rice (except the
very old and practically bed-ridden). If this prohibition
were not observed and the eater were at any time to run,
he would get a stitch of violent and appaUing severity, as

^ Capricornis (or Nemorhoedus) aumatrensis rubidus.

96 THE SEMA NAGAS part

though a piece of broken bamboo spoon were piercing his
vitals, while if he were so naughty as to lick a chilU pestle
he would be haunted on the march by a noise just behind
him, as of a pestle thumping on the mortar. Again he may
not eat of a chicken that impales itself on a spear when
flying down from its roost in the house, for this would
render him hable to slip and fall on his own spear, but his
women-folk, who carry no spears, can eat it with impunity.
Women, however, may not eat of the rice in a pot that
breaks while in use, for this would, as usual, make them
extravagant with their paddy.

Members of the vegetable world do not seem to have the
sinister effects upon human beings that some birds and
animals have, and though certain vegetables are forbidden
to certain clans and individuals at certain times (some
instances have already been given), there is no general index
expurgatorius of vegetables and plants. Of these, those
already enumerated as cultivated are eaten, as well as
multitudinous wild ones, fungoids, ferns, berries, and all
sorts of jungle plants. Perhaps the nearest approach to a
general genna on an otherwise commonly edible plant is the
prohibition that rests on any person who has killed a tiger
or a leopard from eating the plants called cMiye, ashebaghiye,
tsugJiuJcutsiye, or aghiye,^ though the only reason assigned
for this is their connection with the tiger the cub of which
was killed with thorns by one Khwonhyetsii, as told in the
story of " Woodpecker's Corner " (in Part VI of this
volume).

The Semas have no traditions of ever having been
cannibals themselves, but, like the other Naga tribes, have
stories of a village of cannibals, called by them Murromi,
and located somewhere further east than they themselves
are able to go to trade — somewhere, that is, to the east of
the Tukomi Sangtam or Yachumi tribes, a location also
ascribed to the village of Amazons. ^ The inhabitants of
this cannibal village, Murromi, are also beheved to be without

* Hydrococtyle javanica.

* Actual villages inhabited by women only have been recorded in
Burma and reported from the Himalayas (see The Anyami Nagas). Sang-
tamla, the extinct village on the former site of which the S.D.O.'s bungalow

II DOMESTIC LIFE 97

exception lycanthropists, and lycanthropy is a vice far from
unknown to Semas, if we may trust their own accounts of
themselves ; but of lycanthropy more hereafter.

The cooking pots and dishes used by the Sema for his
food are washed with cold water before use, not after, as »
a rule. Food and drink are ordinarily supphed to a guest
first, at any rate if he is a man of position, and in eating ,
from a common dish the head of the household, or the man
of highest position, or the oldest, starts to eat first, and it
is breach of etiquette to start to eat at a common meal before
another of higher position, or before the senior member of
the family, or the head of the household.

As among other Nagas, the staple drink, almost the only Drink.
drink, of Semas is rice-beer in one form or another, for tea ''
is rarely used, while no one dreams of drinking water except ,
in the last resort. Tea, when used, is made by boihng the
leaves in the water. The shrub itself is not cultivated by
Nagas, though varieties are found here and there.

Rice-beer is, generally speaking, one of three kinds, the
genuine fermented liquor, or " rohi," called by Semas
akiiputsii, the infused beer, or " saka modhu," called akezd,
and the very mildly fermented " pitha modhu," called
azhichoh, the latter being brewed in two different ways.
The most important of these is akwputsii, and it is brewed
on this wise. The cereal to be used is first dried, then husked
by pounding. Water is boiled and the cereal, or mixture
of cereals, put in and left until cooked. The water that
is not absorbed into the cooked cereal is then poured ofiF,
and the latter left to cool. When somewhat cooled down,
it is put out on a mat for half an hour or so further to cool
it. Then in hot weather when quite cold, in cold weather
when nearly so, the yeast is added, having been pounded
fine, being sprinkled over and mixed in with the wet mass.
The whole is then wrapped in plantain leaves and left for
three days in a basket, and afterwards put into an earthen-
ware jar or wooden vat which is tilted on one side, and the

at Mokokchung is bmlt, is said to have been a woman's village, and there
is still a woman elder (tdtar) at the neighbouring Ao village of Khabza^
though the fact is secreted. It is probably not so long since the Semas
themselves had a matrilineal system.

98 THE SEMA NAGAS part

fermented liquor allowed to drain o£F. This is akuputsii.
The sohd part from which the Hquor has been drained is
used for making infused beer, boihng water being poured
on to it, the whole mixed round and strained through a
pointed basket, the result being akezd. The sohd remnant
of this second brew is sometimes eaten, but perhaps more
often fed to the pigs.

For these two drinks rice, ItaUan millet, Job's tears,
the Great jVIillet (sorghum), or maize may be used, though
the last is rarely used alone. More often a mixture is made
of any two or more of the five, millet and Job's tears being
the principal ingredients.

Yeast is made by pounding rice into a fine flour, pounding
the leaf called akakhu-ni till fine, then mixing the two
together with water and pounding until a stiff dough results.
This is flattened out and left to dry hke a cake for a week
or so, when it can be used. The plant called akakhu^ is
a wild variety of egg-plant (brinjal) and bears small
berries, which turn red, and is of two varieties, one
with thorny leaves and stem, the other thomless. Yeast
may not properly be manufactured in a new village
until human flesh (from a slain enemy) has been brought
into it.

Azhichoh is usuaUy brewed as follows. The rice or other
cereal, after it has been well dried and husked, is pounded
into a fairly fine flour. It is then moistened and again
pounded into a paste. This is put into a mixing basket
of boihng water, and when well mixed poured off into an
earthenware jar or wooden vat, where it is well diluted with
cold water. The yeast called agJmkhu is then added and
the whole left to stand for some days according to the
temperature, fermentation being naturally much quicker in
hot weather. The yeast in this case is made by pounding
the seeds of the plant called aghii^ until they are husked,
moistening and again pounding them until the whole works
into a very stiff dough, which is put cold into the vat con-
taining the hquor. Azhichoh would seem to mean " real
hquor," in which case we may perhaps assume that this

^ Solarium, Indicum, L. * Chenopodium murale.

II DOMESTIC LIFE 99

form of brewing preceded the brewing of akuputsii and
akezd.^

Before drinking, a Sema always pours a few drops on the
ground or touches a drop to his forehead for the benefit
of agJiau or teglmmi, and usually he blows upon the surface
of his drink, to blow away the spirits, a custom also recorded
of the Russians in the sixteenth century by one of Hakluyt's
Voyagers. 2

The only narcotic or drug ordinarily taken by Semas is Narcotics.
tobacco. This they grow themselves and prepare as follows.
When brought in from the fields it is spread out to " wither "
as in preparing tea ; when the leaf has wilted and can be
crushed without breaking, it is " roUed " just like the leaf
of tea, except that the feet are employed instead of the
hands (the operator usually cleans his feet first). The
crushed leaf is then spread out to dry, and, if it is intended
for sale, nothing further is done to it as a rule, except to
pack it up in a basket. If, however, the grower intends it
for his own consumption, he moistens it and again " rolls "
it with his feet, reducing it to a much more compressed
condition. Then it is spread out to dry again, and when
dry is packed in a basket and is ready for use. The drying
is done in the sun if possible, but if this is not practicable,
it is done on the shelf over the hearth, though tobacco dried
in this way smokes very " hot." Some Semas mix the
leaf of the plant called Yachu-khwpi-bo (Yachumi-tobacco)
with their tobacco, partly for its aroma, partly to make the
tobacco go further, and when they are very short of tobacco
they sometimes use the leaves of the plants called pilshi or
apilipi ^ {Maoutia puya) and tsughu-kutsiye (the plantain

* Azhi = "liquor," kuchoh = " true," "genuine," >azhi-choh perhaps.
Compare the Angami expression Tengi-zu for the same beverage, meaning
" Angami hquor " par excelletice as opposed to the other sorts of liquor,
which, however, are likewise brewed by the Angewnis.

* Master Anthonie Jenkinson, in his " first voyage . . . toward the land
of Rvissia ... in the yeere 1557." The context, too, is by no means in-
applicable to the Semas — " They . . . delight in eating of grosse meates,
tmd stinking fishe. Before they drinke they use to blowe in the cup :
their greatest friendship is in drinking : they are great talkers and
lyers. . . . The women be there very obedient to their husbands. . . ."

* It is believed that elephants feeding on apilipi produce fine tusks.

H 2

100 THE SEMA NAGAS part

weed — Plantago major) instead of tobacco leaf, usually
mixing them with what tobacco they can procure. The
latter plant is also used by Semas as a vegetable, while it
is used by the opium-eating Konyak tribes to mix with
opium. A leaf called sat {ZeJmeria umbellata) is also used
for tobacco and as a vegetable.

The pipes {akhthu) in which the Semas smoke their tobacco
are of two kinds, the plain pipe with a straight stem made
of one or two pieces of bamboo and called tolupa, and the
tsunkiiba, in which there is a water-chamber below the
bowl, through which the smoke is drawn. In the case of
tolupa made of two pieces there is a string fastened taut
from the middle of the stem to the bottom of the bowl to
strengthen the combination. In the tsunkiiba the bowl is
usually made of pipe-stone shaped by hand and the water-
chamber is made from a narrow bamboo ; between these
two is a section of bamboo joint, the mouthpiece being made
from one of the young shoots from the joint, and a bamboo
tube passing through the middle to connect the bowl with
the water-chamber. The water in the chamber is reckoned
fit to use after 25 or 30 pipes have been smoked, and the
foul liquid then taken is put into a bamboo tube, in the cap
of which is a small hole to let the noisome brew out drop by
drop into the mouth of the user. This Uquid, however, is
not usually consumed. It is merely retained in the mouth
and spat out again. It is said that no one can use pipe
L- juice in this way until he has smoked a pipe for at least a
year. Ash is sometimes put into the water in the pipe
chamber, as this is believed to make the water become
more quickly ready for use.
Medicines. The Sema treatment of illness, magical and reUgious
proceedings apart, involves the use of many curious factors,
and while the use of some of these treatments, e.g., that for
wounds caused by " ekra," are based on an obviously
erroneous process of reasoning, the use of others is probably
beneficial (the berry given as an emetic in cases of poisoning
will serve as an instance), while some treatments, Uke that
for snake-bite, are undoubtedly sound in many respects.
In any case the herbs used generally by the Semas are

Sema Pipes. (?cale ?th nat. size.)
I. Tsunkiiba. 2. Tsunkiiba (tak:n down).

3. Tohipa.

AsL-PLSLK'

\To face p. 100.

II DOMESTIC LIFE loi

probably quite as beneficial as the melodiously named herbs
sung by the poet, that " eased the pain of our fathers of
old," and even if it is true that, like theirs, half of the Sema
remedies " cure you dead," the other half at least are plants
which are regularly used as vegetables and only specially
given in cases of certain illness. The Semas, however, do
not connect their herbs with the planets or stars.

Without professing to give the Avhole theory and science
of Sema medicine, the following list of treatments may be
taken as representative : —

For wounds a man's own hair is taken, together with
scrapings of the bark of the wild fig tree called chuchobo^
(this bark is used for making string and cord), and put in
the wound, which is bound up with bark or creeper bindings.
Another treatment is to take the refuse of rice from Avhich
liquor has been brewed, and steep it in hot water. The
water is squeezed out and the pulp applied still hot to the
wound.

For wounds inflicted by a bear the prickly pear (kiikhopi)
is regarded as a medicine.

For any small wound tobacco is chewed and applied.
Chickens' gall is also used.

For a dog-bite the world-wide remedy is used. One of
the dog's whiskers, some Semas insist on a black one, is
burnt and applied to the bite.

A snake-bite is treated by binding the bitten limb both
above and below the bite and then sucking out the blood
from the punctures, which are, if necessary, slightly cut to
enlarge them.^ The leaves of the plants yepuwi or yeshuye
{Polygonmn alatum) and ayeshu (another Polygonum) (the
latter is the most short-lived of plants, used for taking
oaths, and having a very pungent juice) are heated and
applied to the bite. Death from snake-bite is practically
unknown, but though there are many poisonous snakes in
the Sema country, there are probably very few the bite of
which could ordinarily be regarded as deadly.

* Perhaps Ficus prostrata.

• Another method is to hold the part over a smoke fire till blistered by
the heat. The poison exudes ^vith the humour from the blistered hand.

102 THE SEMA NAGAS part

A broken skull is treated by beating up the whites and
yolks of raw eggs and placing them in the abrasion and
covering the whole ^ith the skin of a freshly-killed chicken,
the inner side of the skin being applied to the split skull.
This appears to be an efficacious method, and is said to be
sometimes successful even when the brain can be seen
through the break in the bone. One Tukhepu of Sheyepu
village, who got his skull split open with a stone in a riot
with Sakhalu, was treated in this way and recovered.

To a wound caused by " ekra," the stumps of which are
often like pan j is, the plant called " Old Woman's Cry "
(thopfu-gha-bo) ^ is appHed. The reason for this is that, as
" Old Woman's Cry " and " ekra " never grow together,
they must be inimical, and the one will heal the hurt of the
other.

When a bit of poisoned stick has gone into the flesh and
cannot be extracted, crabs (achuwo) are eaten to accelerate
suppuration, when the foreign matter comes out. For
thorns that cannot be extracted a poultice is applied at
night composed of chickens' dung, goats' dung, the leaf of
a ground plant called asiikumsu-bo, and yeast. A hidden

^ This plant {Sida rhumbifolia, L.) is used for dressing bow-strings, being
rubbed up and down them till they are slimy as though waxed. The
plant is small, but is very tough and hard, and the object ia perhaps to
impart its toughness to the string. It gets its name from having figiired
in a story as the means of saving the life of an old woman who cried out
for help. An old woman w£is eating something or other and a second
came up and said, " What are you eating ? " The first old woman
replied, " Mishi-kive " (cow's intestine), and on being asked how she ob-
tained it said, " I wait till a cow lifts its tail to defecate and then I thrust
my arm in at its fundament and take it. In this way I get as much as I
want every day." The second old woman credulously went and did like-
wise, but could not withdraw her hand, and the cow galloped off, dragging
her by the arm. Just as she was about to be dragged over a precipice
she cried out and grabbed with her free arm a bit of thopfughabo, which
grows in rocky ground. The plant, being very tough, held, and she was
thus enabled to pull out her other arm and save her life. The Changs
have the same story, adding that it was part of the intestines of a deer
killed by a tiger that the first old woman weis really eating, and the second,
to protect her arm, borrowed all her relations' brass bracelets, which she
left perforce in the interior of the cow. They call the plant " Cousin
Hard One " (Anyang-aangkang), as the old woman called out " Cousin ! "
(anyang) a3 she grabbed hold of it, The I,hota8 also have the story.

II DOMESTIC LIFE 103

abscess, particularly in the foot, where they are very
common, is treated by Semas, as by Lhotas, by making a
small bee sting the surface of the skin, so that the resulting
inflammation draws the matter to the outside.

To burns, cold iron or steel is applied in the first instance,
later fresh cow dung.

For a swollen gland in the groin, fire is applied to the
big toe-nail of the foot on the same side as the swelling until
pain is caused by the burn. This relieves that caused by
the swollen gland. This remedy may not, however, be
resorted to during harvest, as the burning of a finger-nail
or toe-nail is believed to cause the reaping of a scanty crop.

For spleen a lime called khunnthi is cooked with chillies
and Naga salt, pounded to a pulp, and mixed with boiling
water, and eaten like soup.

For bad eyes there are several nostrums. Salt of Naga
manufacture mixed with water and applied in very small
quantities is one. Human milk is another. A third is to
hold under the eye a steaming decoction of onion leaves, or
a leaf of urine which is still warm, so that the eye gets the
benefit of its vapour. The latter remedy, be it noted, is
still utUized in parts of Ireland. A fourth is to feed the
patient on the heart of a plantain stump that contains in
large numbers brittle worms or larvae of a sort that feeds
on plantain, the plantain and the worms being cooked
together and given to the patient without his knowing what
he is eating, that he may not from disgust refuse to take it.

A rash of any sort is washed with the slime from fish, and
fresh plantain leaves are appHed, while for scabies soot is
employed.

By way of an emetic, resorted to in cases where poison
is believed to have been taken, the berry of a creeper (called
ashepukhwo-ti = " deer's crab-apple ") is given. The sour
lees of rice from which liquor has been brewed are also used
for this purpose, so is pigs' fat and almost any sort of dirt
calculated to nauseate the eater.

Headache {akutsu-sil) is treated by administering cooked
the plant pulakhu internally, and binding up the head with
creepers. Pulakhu {Mosla dianthera), which somewhat

104 THE SEMA NAGAS part

resembles mint, is also eaten in weakness arising from any
cause. For diarrhoea {tsizukuba) the shrub called " stomach-
ache leaf," tusiiye, is taken ; for dysentery (azhikuba), the
insect parasite of a plant called akhaine-kulho ; for a cough
or cold in the head (mukhugJia), the very bitter red flower
of the creeper called aghiinakha-ye ;^ for stomach-ache
(apvokusii), an evil-smeUing plant called " Yachumi-leaf "
{YacJm-ye), or else the roots of thatching grass (aghi) ;
for " heartache " {amlokusu — usually = cohc) ^ the flesh of
the black squirrel (attiki) ^ is eaten, while for deHrium, or for
any temporary mental derangement including lycanthropic
fits, ginger (aku'u) and salt are given.

For goitre a caterpillar or maggot called akuleko-nupfu-
lapu {" goitre-appUcation-worm ") is applied externally and
acts as a blister.

For fever an insect of the grasshopper variety called
aghakimiki-thuka { = " fever insect ") is toasted and eaten,
and tsiingosho, the pupa of some water insect, is eaten for
dysentery. As a tonic generally dogs' flesh is held in great
esteem. Some other medicines have already been men-
tioned when deahng with flesh used for food.

The only sort of disinfectant used by the Semas is fumiga-
tion, which is resorted to in case of bad epidemics.* A
collection of dung is made (any and all animal dung is used)
and burnt inside the house, though not on the regular hearth.
The smoke of such a fire is regarded as keeping away the
spirit of the sickness.

In common with other Nagas, the notion of isolation in
cases of epidemic diseases is familiar to the Semas. A
village in which an epidemic is raging is " put out of bounds,"
and a man visiting it is severely dealt with by his fellow
villagers. Similarly in cases of cattle disease the flesh of

^ A Crawjurdia, probably Campanulacea. The plant called " deer's
aghilnakha leaf," ashe-ghunakha-ye, is used, but is less efficacious. The
latter is Canscora andrographioides, both belonging to the Gentian
family.

* I have known a gastric ulcer also spoken of as amlokusu.

* Ratufa gigantea.

* Scented herbs like wormwood are, however, credited with the power
of keeping off the spirits of disease and used practically as disinfectants
sprays or leaves being carried on the person.

II DOMESTIC LIFE 105

animals that have died of the disease in one village may not
be brought to another, even if the owners live there, in
which there is no disease. It should be mentioned, perhaps,
that the flesh of cattle that die of disease is ordinarily eaten
by the owners. Venereal diseases are comparatively rare .
in the Sema country, and in the main restricted to the
villages bordering upon the Ao and Lhota tribes, and in
some villages, Seromi for instance, any person known to
be suffering from such an illness is isolated and neither spoken
to nor touched by anyone, and has to fetch and use separate
water and feed from separate dishes.

Making mud pies is probably the oldest game in the world. Games.
In any case it seems to be the first game that Sema children
learn to play. Earth is mixed with urine in some broken
pot or gourd, and imitation spoons are fashioned, and a
pretence of eating made, touching the spoonfuls to the chin,
and portentous are the squabbles that arise over each player's
share of the " food," which from becoming a bone of conten-
tion often ends by serving as a weapon of offence. One
curious custom is usually observed in playing at mud pies,
and that is that each player must personally contribute his
quota of the necessary liquid before he is allowed to join
in the game. Another game, which perhaps dates back to
the troglodite age, is that knowTi as " YemoU's House "
{Yemoli-ki), in which tunnels are dug from opposite sides
in any convenient bank of earth so as to meet in the middle,
from which branch tunnels are taken to make two more
openings.

Among toys, tops of various sorts are favourites. The
most rudimentary perhaps is that called azung, which
consists of a pointed stick which revolves in a hole in a
gourd, being spun by rubbing the stick smartlj'^ between the
pahns of the two hands moving in opposite directions. The
top called zilazungti is spun in the same way, but consists
of a stout stem of thatching grass, the lower end of which is
weighted with a kernel of the nut of a certain creeper, in
which a hole has been bored. The result is a top which
spins on the principle of the primitive spindle, but has a
shorter stem. The peg-top, aketsii, is spun by a string wound

lo6 THE SEMA NAGAS part

round it and having a loop at one end, through which a
finger is passed, when the top is thrown, and spins on the
ground, where it is made to " fight " with other tops. This
top is made of a block of hard wood in the shape of two
cones base to base, round the upper of which the string is
wound, and its use is not confined to children, but it is
popular with lads and young men as well.

There is a pecuharity attaching to the aketsii which
distinguishes it from the spinning of other tops, and (with
one or two exceptions) from the plajdng of other games.
This pecuharity is the same as that which attaches to the
use of the flute (fululu), and consists in a prohibition of its
use entirely except between the final reaping of the harvest
and the first sowing of the ensuing year. The reason given
for this prohibition in the case of the fululu is that playing
on it is liable to cause winds which will damage the crops,
and it is possible that this is the notion which causes peg-top
spinning to be prohibited, ^ but if so it is not clear why other
tops should be allowed, though the reason for this may
perhaps be found in their inferior spinning quaUties, It is
to be noticed that the Kayans of Borneo, a part of the world
which offers several instances of curiously close parallels to
Naga customs, also prohibit the spinning of tops except
during the sowing festival ("The Golden Bough," 3rd edition,
vol. vii, pp. 95, 97, and 187), while they have a masquerade
on very similar lines to that held by the Chang tribe of
Nagas at the festival which ushers in the cold weather, and
at which also tops are spun. Another Sema game which
is prohibited except between the harvest and the sowing is
that called alau, which is played mth the great reddish seeds
of the sword-bean. Three of these seeds are set up on the
ground in turn and other seeds thrown at them from a
distance of some paces. The first seed set up is called
Thumoli (" the Witch-Girl "),^ and whoever knocks it over
says " Thumoh is dead." The next is called Hohe (" the

^ Perhaps the spin of a peg-top is so like the moving swirls and eddies
of wind that accompany cyclonic disturbances that there is a danger of
its causing them.

* Or perhaps " the generation of witches." The meaning of the particle
U is discu-ssed in Part III, under " Exogamy,"

II DOMESTIC LIFE 107

Orator "), and when this is knocked over " Hohe is dead."
The third is Aina (" the Community "), and when this
whole community " is dead " the game is over. To the
real meaning and the origin of the game and to the reason
for its prohibition while the crops are in the ground the
writer has so far failed to find any clue. It may, moreover,
be noticed that Dalton (" Ethnology of Bengal "), quoting
McCulloch, mentions an " indoor " game of the Manipuris
called Kangsanaba, in which " young women and girls
with a sprinkling of men on both sides " throw " with an
ivory disc at the seed of a creeper called Kong stuck up in
the floor of the house." He does not, however, say any-
thing about the restriction of this game to any particular
season of the year, and the result of the writer's inquiries
points to its being played only during the rains when the
rice is growing, but they were very cursory.

Common toys made by Sema children are " Dead men's
Pestles " {Kitimi'boshu) and " Dead men's Liquor-strainers "
(Kitimi HsuTco), the first of which are made out of folded
grasses, two blades being folded up together so that when
the folded grass is puUed out again lengthwise it assumes
the form of a crinkled chainhke but flimsy rod. The second
is made by taking two strips of plantain leaf, doubUng them
and placing them together, and spUtting the doubled ends
alternately in such a manner as to make a funnel-shaped
vessel of interlaced strands which are not detached from the
leaf at either end. Both these are in the nature of puzzles,
and the second, though simple enough when demonstrated,
is ingeniously contrived and at first quite baffling. The
latter is made also by Changs, who give it a name with the
same meaning.

Toy bows, shekhe-lika, and arrows are naturally beloved
of Sema boys, but the bows are made on the pattern of the
simple bow, and not on that of the cross-bow, which has
entirely superseded the simple form for warfare. Sad to
relate, however, Sema parents nowadays rigorously repress
the attempts of their children to play with bows and arrows,
as they are dangerous toys, and although the traditional
compensation payable by a parent to someone hit by his

io8 THE SEMA NAGAS part

son's arrow in the eye or other tender place was a chicken
or a pig, there is a fear that they may be made to pay some-
what heavier compensation in the case of serious damage.
In any case the play of Sema children has been much cur-
tailed in the administered villages, for in the old days
children were never taken to the fields for fear of a raid,
so that they spent all day in mischief and monkey-tricks ;
nowadays they have to go with their parents from a very
tender age and give what help they can. They do, however,
still find time now and then to indulge in the mimic warfare
(Jculuke) which used to occupy most of their days. Armed
with imitation shields (apipi-ztho) quite ornately got up,
imitation daos of bamboo {asil-ztha), thro wing-spears of
" ekra " or of wormwood (ang-cholipa), and lumps of cow-
dung as missiles collected in large quantities beforehand,
two parties will fight with and sometimes damage one
another, while in the old days, when this was the principal
occupation of the younger boys and clan feeling ran higher
than it now does, opposing parties used to inflict very con-
siderable damage on each other, and in the unadministered
villages they probably still do so.

Another popular amusement is to take dry -chillies (stolen,
as likely as not) and pound them up fine. These are taken
to a house, where other young people, boys or girls, are
known to be sleeping, in the smallest hours of the early
morning. A smouldering fire is started outside the wall
with millet-husks and the pounded chillies are put on the
fire. The pungent smoke is then easily driven through the
wattle with fans and the interior of that part of the house
made temporarily uninhabitable. The inmates pretend not
to notice anything if they can, but usually end by emerging
red-eyed and wrathful just in time to hear someone escaping
round the corner.

On the border between the games and athletics is the
amusement known as " Hog's-rub," awoli-sheshe.^ One boy
goes down on all fours, and two others, of more or less equal
weight, lie on their backs, one on each side of him, and, putting
their legs over his back, catch hold of each other's feet with

* Also known sometimes as awoli-shomhi, " Hog's tail."

r. Q

v. Z

m^i\

\To face p. 108.

II DOMESTIC LIFE 109

their hands. The first boy raises himself and moves about
with bent back, and the other two hanging on across it like
paniers on a donkey. Kitike, another amusement, which
peiliaps may definitely be reckoned as athletics, is that of
what may perhaps be called kick-fighting. Two lads hopping
on the left legs strike with the right. It sounds clumsy
enough, but the dexterity, agility, and elasticity displaj'^ed
is extraordinary ; Ughtning kicks are given, received, and
eluded at a great speed without loss of balance, and it is
very rarely indeed that either of the opponents falls over.
Catching with the hands is regarded as a foul, but in the
heat of contest is sometimes resorted to. It seems quite
easy for a Sema to kick, and very hard at that, at right
angles to his body. The rounds are short, probably lasting
as a rule not more than about three or four minutes, being
usually stopped by the onlookers, who are very quick
to interfere if either of the kickers appears to be getting too
roughly handled or to be losing his temper. " Stick-
kicking " {asii-pusuke) is a form of exercise which consists
in putting a piece of wood on the point of a spear 5 feet or
more from the ground and jumping up and endeavouring
to kick it with both feet at once, an acrobatic feat requiring
considerable agihty.i The long jump (akukike) and the
high jump {asu-ilheche,= "stick jump") are practised by
the Semas just as by ourselves, though in the case of the
former a step back is not reckoned as detracting from the
jump, the jump being measured to the place where the feet
first landed. Both these sports are almost certainly
indigenous and not learnt from Europeans. This at least
is the Sema belief, and the high jump at any rate is practised
by Transfrontier tribes that have never come into contact
with European customs. Putting the weight {athu-peveke,
" stone-throw ") is also a Sema tribal sport, and is practised
in a way very similar to our own, except that large round
stones are used instead of shots. The standard attained
in these contests is poor compared with that of British
pubhc schools, but then there is no such thing as " training "
at sports, nor any organisation calculated to produce a high
* See illustration supra p. 100.

no THE SEMA NAGAS part

standard; 18 feet is a good long jump for a Naga, and a
high jump of 5 feet is probably but rarely attained. The
best Sema put the writer has seen was one by Sakhalu,
Chief of Sakhalu-nagami, of 32 feet with a 15-lb. shot, but
the ordinary weight is a stone about the size of a man's
head, and a put with such is difficult to compare with a
put with shot.

Competitors in Sema sports often put down cowries or
brass ring beads as a stake, the winner taking the whole.

Of sedentary games it may almost be said that the Sema
has none, but a game has been recently picked up in Kohima
by some of them and will probably become popular in time.
It is similar to the " Fighting-eating " game of the Angamis,
but as this particular variety has not yet been described
as a Naga game, it may be worth recording it here. The
board is made by drawing a square and joining up the
opposite corners diagonally. The sides are then bisected
and the middle points joined to the middle points first of
the opposite, then of the adjacent sides. In this way the
square has been cut up into four smaller squares, each
divided by intersecting diagonals. Through these points of
intersection four more Hnes are drawn, two vertical and two
horizontal, again bisecting the sides of the four inner squares.
This gives altogether 25 points of intersection, and the
game is played with 24 pieces, which are placed on these
points and move along the lines joining them to the adjacent
points. One player has four pieces (bits of stone, beans,
anything will do), known as " tigers," and these are placed
one at each corner of the board. His opponent has 20
similar pieces called " goats," and his object is to place them
on the board, and to move them when there, in such a manner
that the " tigers " are rounded up and prevented from moving
at all. The " goats " may only move in a direct line to the
next point of intersection, and the " tigers " are similarly
restricted unless there is a goat at an adjacent point and an
empty point beyond it in the same straight line, when the
" tiger " may " eat " the goat by jumping over it as in
draughts. The player of the " tigers " must move one of
his pieces for every " goat " placed on the board by his

[To face p. 110.

DOMESTIC LIFE

III

opponent, and when all the " goats " are out the parties
must make alternate moves.

In addition to the game of the tiger and the goats, a
second game known as the war game is played on the same
board, each side using eleven pieces which are represented
by bits of black or whitish stone or anything of that sort.
Each player places ten men on the two back Unes of his
side of the board, and the two eleventh men occupy the outside
places on the middle Hne. The moves are along the inter-
secting Hnes not further than one point at a time, unless an
opportunity occurs to jump over one of the opposing pieces
into a vacant place behind it, thus " eating " the opponents'
piece, which is removed from the board, as in draughts.
The side which eats up the greater number of its " enemies "
wins.

II.

The above diagrams show the board used in both games,
the tigers being first placed on the four outer corners of the
board shown in the first diagram, when the player of
the goats starts introducing his pieces along the outer
edges in such a manner as to avoid, as far as he can, giving
an opening to the tigers to eat any of the goats. The
game is a simple one, but affords considerable scope for the
exercise of skill and foresight in playing it.

In the war game the pieces are set out as shown in
the second diagram.

Dancing is an amusement which accompanies every genna Dancing,
involving a feast. There are a very large number of dances
with different steps, but a dance is always conducted on a -
fixed principle. It takes place in the open space in front

112 THE SEMA NAGAS part

of the house of the giver of the feast. In the centre of this
space a fire is built and the dancers dance round the fire.
The dance begins always with a procession called aghogho,
in which the dancers advance across the open space by
successive threes, carrying their spears and in all the
ceremonial dress that they can muster (for such an occasion
articles are freely borrowed even from distant villages), and
hopping slowly on each foot alternately. In the next figure
a grand chain is formed, the spears being set aside except
for a few which are stuck in the middle near the fire for the
use of soUtary dancers. The leader of the chain carries a
dao at the slope in his left hand. The man behind him has
his left hand in front clasping the leader's right, and his
right hand behind holding the left hand of the man behind
him, and so on to the end of the line, which first of all moves
slowly round the fire in a circle singing the akhile, the
" partridge-song " {akhi — the Aracan hill-partridge, Abori-
cola intermedia), and then proceeds to dance in earnest. To
describe aU, or even any, of the Sema dances in detail would
be a task for a dancing-master, for dances are legion, and
the differences in step between some of them are far from
obvious to an amateur. Probably the most generally known
and popular dances are the Yachumi keghile and the
Yetsimi-keghile, the first of which is a Yachumi dance and
the second a Sangtam dance, Yetsimi being the parent village
of the Tukomi (and ultimately indeed of almost all) Sangtams.
In these two dances the right foot is thrice struck rapidly on
the ground and a spring is made with the left foot ; then
the three beats with the right foot are repeated and another
spring is made. In the former dance the spring is accom-
panied by a swinging turn of the body first to the left andj
then forward again to the former position, so that the whole!
line of dancers keeps alternately advancing in single file and
swinging round so as to turn towards the inside of the
circle. In the Yetsimi-keghile the body is not turned, or
only very slightly, and the spring from the left foot is
followed by a pace with the right and then with the left
again, the pause of the left foot being accompanied by the
same three beats with the right. These paces are taken

II DOMESTIC LIFE 113

alternately forwards and backwards, but in the latter case
the paces are short. In either case the speed gets generally
faster as the dance proceeds up to the limit of speed at
which the steps can be executed. Of the multitudinous
other dances it is perhaps worth while mentioning the
Akahazie, which represents the elephant testing the boggy
ground at the edge of a salt-lick before he enters it. The
existence of such a dance is noticeable, since there are no
elephants at all in the country at present inhabited by the
Semas, and the vast majority of Semas have never even
seen the tracks of an elephant and know nothing whatever
of its habits. 1 There are also dances peculiar to different
villages. Sichemi do not join hands, but dance back to
back in twos, aU carrjdng daos. Probably this dance shows
Ao influence. Alapfumiare said to " sing hke chickens " as
they " leap from side to side." The Asimi clan are said to
jump about haphazardly and push one another about without
dignity, while only two men are allowed to sing.

In all the dances in which a chain is formed, aU motions
are directed by the leader of the chain, who gives loud and
emphatic " Yoicks " to mark the changes. As the dancers
get worked up, those who are, or consider themselves to be,
star performers come out in the middle of the circles near
the fire, take a spear and execute fearful and wonderful
leaps, of which an essential feature is to kick one or both
heels against the rump with a good resounding smack, the
whole being accompanied by yells and screeches and spear
spinning. The end of the dance is marked by everybody
breaking into a sort of very quick stamping or double
shufile called chita, like a clog dance without the clogs,
which the leader as usual initiates. The dancers then
break off and leave dancing for drinking.

The dancing is accompanied by singing, but these songs
have no words and consist of " ho-ho-ing " to different

* There is a tradition in Satami of eighteen elephants of monstrous size
killed by the first founder of that village, in support of which a tooth,
possibly of Elephas nainadicus, found in a stream-bed near the village waa
brought to me. I sent it to the Indian Museum at Calcutta. The legend
has it that these elephants were killed with weapons made of a sort of hard
cane.

114 THE SEMA NAGAS part

refrains. The Coryphseus aforementioned, who leads and
directs the dance (he is called at}ieghumi),is of less importance
in the singing than the two ou, one of whom dances about
halfway down the chain and the other at its latter end.
These two keep up a sort of falsetto accompaniment of
" ou-oU'du " to the " ho-ho-ing " of the rest, and are paid
very often from four annas to a rupee for their services,
while Coryphseus rarely gets more than two annas.
^ The Sema women sing and dance at the same time, the
dance, however, consisting merely of a semicircle of women
who have Hnked arms and clasped hands, each woman
taking with her right hand her neighbour's left after Unking
arms. The body is rocked on the right foot gently forward
and backw^ard, while the left foot is alternately advanced a
step forward and mthdrawn till the toe is behind the right
heel, the clasped hands beating time to the melody, which is
sung antiphonally by the two sides of the semicircle, the
contraltos being on one side and the sopranos on the other.
(The terms " contralto " and " soprano " as used here should
not be interpreted too nicely.) The songs sung by them
are usually in praise of visitors, and have more or less stereo-
typed fonnula.

1/ Of genuine songs the Semas have a large number with
various tunes, and it is essential to proper singing that
there should be a number of voices of various qualities
taking part. The subjects are usually connected with war
t, or history, and tell of persons, and even dogs, and their
deeds in taking heads or founding villages. A love interest

^ of some sort is almost always if not invariably introduced,
but it is often very slender and has not the prominence that
it has in the songs of the Angamis, where it is usually the
main interest. In singing when at work in the fields it is

^ common to allow only two men of a working gang to sing
the words of a song, the others joining in the refrain. This
may possibly be due to a fear of mistakes affecting the
cultivation, but is perhaps more probably because the
attention devoted to the singing would interfere with the
work. In singing a person's praises a set formula is em-

. ployed, to the effect that So-and-so took the head of a girl

II DOMESTIC LIFE 115

of Such-and-such a village, and So-and-so (his brother)
put her hair in his ears, and So-and-so (his wife) rejoiced
{vide Part VI). It is by no means essential that the exploit
should really have been performed, and the writer has even
heard such an one attributed to liimself. Apart from the
adaptations of this formula, new songs are not very often
composed, traditional songs being adhered to. A Sema
song when well sung is far from unmusical, and though the
melody has a monotonous effect and gives one the feehng
of listening to half the verse of a song repeated and repeated
without any proper finish to the tune, there is often some-
thing undoubtedly attractive and even haunting about the
cadence.

Sema songs are classified according to the occasion to
which the tune and time are suited or for which the song
was originall}' composed. The fact that a song belongs to
a certain classification does not debar it from being sung
on occasions which have no relation at all to its classifica-
tion. The principal classes of songs are : —

1. Lezhule — songs sung in the house. ?< ale — song,
zhu = trj^, ale — song.

2. Alukehule or alukumlale = songs sung at work in the
fields. < alu = field, ke-hii = that which goes (to the
fields), akumla — work.

3. Aokeshile or Atishekeshile or Tisole = songs sung
when husking paddy {ao = cereal, ati = seed or fruit,
sJii = do).

4. Yemusale = songs sung when returning from a suc-
cessful raid with an enemy's head. < yema = to string the
head by means of a hole.

5. Aphile = songs sung at the aghuzakiphe genua when the
poles called akedu are put up. (See Part IV, p. 227.)

6. Avikhole — sung when sacrificing mithan at gennas of
social status, etc. {avi = mithan).

7. Laghele — sung when clearing a path {ala = path).
The latter classes have no words to the songs. The time

of avikhole is probably adopted from Sangtams or Yachumi,
who sing them to actual words.

Some of the words sung by Sangtams seem to reappear

I 2

Life.

ii6 THE SEMA NAGAS part

in the Sema song, though the Semas do not know that they
have any meaning, having merely adopted the tmie.

Class 2 is subdivided into many sub -divisions, of which
the following may be taken as examples : —

(a) Pushele — sung when digging — slow time.

(6) Mozale — sung when hoeing out weeds from the young
blades — fast time.

{d) Lephile — sung when reaping.

(e) LupMle — sung when puUing out the stubble to prepare
for the sowing of the second crop.

Some examples of classes 1 and 2 are given in Part VI.
Daily The daily life of the Sema is usually a hard one. He

' rises up early and eats the bread of carefulness. The
women get up at daybreak and open the door of the house,
and, if the fire has gone out, fetch a brand from a neighbour's
house. They then blow up the fire, and women go to the
village spring for water or send their daughters and children.
There they wash, and on coming back start getting ready
the morning meal. Meanwhile " himself " has got up and
been busy with any odd job such as peeling strips of pUant
bamboo or making mats. After eating the morning meal a
start is made for the fields. If the children are not taken
■wdth them, they are given some rice to serve as their midday
meal and sent off to collect sticks or something of the sort.
Their parents and elder brothers and sisters, taking cold
rice and rice beer, go off to their fields, where they work in
gangs, every member of the village belonging to a specific
working gang (alnzM), usually composed of contemporaries.
Early in the afternoon one young man is told off by each
gang to cut firewood, and he takes with him the fuel basket
of every girl in his gang, which he fills. Towards evening,
/when the work in the fields stops, the girls go off to get their
baskets, and each gives the wood-cutter a piece of meat.
The others return direct to the village. Both girls and
young men wash themselves in any stream that crosses
their path on the way home, and if there is no such stream
they go without, as they do also when the work in the fields

p ^

House of Inato. Chisf of Lumitsami. with Y-shaped genna posts and

THE chief's widow KEENING HER DEAD HUSBAND IN THE FOREGROUND.

Woman washing at the Village Spring. B

-AMBOO ■■ CHUNGAS '" FOR

CARRYING WATER.

[To face p. 116.

II DOMESTIC LIFE 117

is exceptionally heavy, lasts late, and makes everyone dead
tired. Meanwhile the men and women who are too old for
work stay in the village and dry paddy in the sun on mats,
scaring off the pigs and fowls. If they have no paddy of
their own to dry they dry someone else's, getting by the
way of wages a little salt, rice, and chillies. In the evening
the girls husk paddy, the young men also sometimes, but
the evening meal is usually followed bj'' an early retirement
on the part of everyone, the young men collecting in the
akishekhoh of the house of the chief or of some other rich '
man, and the girls going off, in parties of three or four or so,
to the house of any friend whose parent's house has a
suitable abidela. The doors of aU houses are barred for the
night, and generally speaking not opened till daybreak.
Why the women should then be invariably the first to go
out is a little hard to understand, as it is often decidedly
dangerous in the unadministered villages, dawn being the ^
time of raids. The men do not ordinarily expose their ^
women-folk to danger, and always take the posts of danger in
the fields, yet they readily admit that women frequently lose
their heads (in a literal sense) as a result of being the first to
leave the house in the early morning. Possibly it is regarded
as a male's privilege to lie a little longer abed of a morning,
though a Sema's bed is hard enough in all conscience.

On some genna days there is no prohibition on leaving the
village, and on these days, as on the somewhat rare occasions
when there is little or no cultivation work to be done, the
men go off hunting, and the women go out to coUect green-
stuff and fungi from the jungle for food, or sit at home weav-
ing or pot -making in the villages where these arts are
practised. On the majority of genna days, however, no /
one may leave the village, even to fetch wood, nor is any
work done, and the day is spent by most of the villagers
in searching one another's heads for vermin, exactly
like their remote ancestors of the tree-dweUing, hairy.
Darwinian age. Songs round the fire finish off the day, and
on such days, too, the old men tell stories — many of them
of unprintable import — to any that care to listen. It is a
hard Ufe on the whole, and the sabbath is weU earned.

PART III

ORGANISATION OF SOCIETY, LAWS AND CUSTOMS — EXOGAMY
— THE " MANOR " — THE VILLAGE — PROPERTY, ADOPTION
SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES, WAR — WOMEN.

PART III

ORGANISATION OF SOCIETY, LAWS AND CUSTOMS — EXOGAMY
— THE " MANOR " — THE VILLAGE — PROPERTY, ADOPTION
— SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES, WAR — WOMEN.

The Semas can only be said to have a " tribal " organisa-
tion in so far as the villages which they inhabit are organised
on a pattern generally prevalent throughout the tribe, for
the tribe itself is not an organised community at all. Nor
is the unit of Sema society the exogamous clan [ay eh), a«
among the Angamis. Clan feeling exists, as does tribal
feeling, but it has no organs. The basis of Sema society
is the village {apfu, agana), or part of~a7"TiBage (asah),^
which is~under the control of a chief. 'That is not to say
that the clan is never important in the Sema polity. In
Lazemi (" Lozema "), where there are no chiefs and almost
certainly an Angami elemejit in the population, the clans
(or rather septs, for the village is almost entirely of the
Asimi clan) seem to be as important as in the Angami villages.
Other villages, again, are split into asah which follow chiefs
of different clans ; thus Lochomi contains a Zumomi asah
and an Achumi asah, Natami and Sishimi each contain a
Zumomi and Yepothomi asah, Seromi an Awomi asah
and an Ayemi asah. In the latter case there is an ancient
and abiding feud between the two. In speaking, however,
of a village or asah (" khel ") as of such and such a clan,

^ Such a part of a \yage is usually known in the Naga Hills as a
" khel." This Assame^ word originally denoted an exogamous group
of the Alioms and wa^applied to Nagas first of all, perhaps to signify
an exogamous group,/but came to be used regularly for the part of a
village inhabited in the Angami country by an exogamous group, and
hence for a division 6f any village, which m the Sema country is very
rarely conterminous with an exogamous group.

122 THE SEMA NAGAS part

it should be clearly understood that in most of such groups
there are to be found men of many, or at least of several,
different clans. The predominant position, however, of the
chief, and of his relatives on the male side, leads to the rough
' classification of the whole group as of their clan. The real
pivot of Sema society is the chief.
Exogamy This is not to suggest, however, that the clan is un-
* important. It pervades the Ufe of the ordinary Sema from
his birth upwards, determining, or at any rate influencing,
his choice of food, of wives, of friends, and sometimes of
enemies, for now and then clan feehng is strong enough to
cause war, as in the case of the old hostiUty between the
Yepothomi and Zumomi clans in the Tizu valley, where the
Zumomi villages prevented the Yepothomi from coming into
Kohima. This particular feud, however, is more or less
dormant, as the Yepothomi villages in that quarter have
quarrelled among themselves. The Sema clans are usually
reckoned at twenty -two, ^ viz. : —

Asimi Zumomi

CheshaUmi Kibalimi

Chishihmi Katenimi

Achumi Khuzhomi

Awomi Khakhomi {or Khakholimi)

Ayemi \ Tsiikomi

Chekemi r ^ Wokhami

YepothomiJ Wotzami

Xunomi Chunimi

Shohemi Chophimi

Kinimi Muromi.

Among these, some of them may be grouped by various tests.
For instance, when sacrificing a mithan in the Asimi and
the clans nearly connected with it, the giver of the feast
can eat the flesh of the mithan. In the Yepothomi and the
connected clans of the Ayemi, Chekemi, Nunomi, and
Awomi the giver of the feast may not eat of the meat.

^ T)iere i.s also a small and insignificant clan called Shochumi, and
probably others.

* Sometimes also spoken of collectively as "Tukomi" by villages near
the Dayang.

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 123

The ceremonial is also different in the two groups. Such
groupings, however, are not along clear lines. The Shohemi,
for instance, follow the practice of the Yepothomi in not
eating of sacrificial meat, but in ceremonial observances follow
the Asimi practice. The last two clans on the list are of Ao
and Sangtam origin respectively, and the Chophimi, at any
rate, are almost purely Ao in the matter of ceremonial, as
well as following other Ao customs, such as the maintenance
of village drums, huge trees hollowed, carved at the head
and tail, and kept in a house of their own and beaten upon
at various seasons. Even the Chophimi speech is still
tainted with Ao, as, though Sema has become their language,
they speak it like an Ao-speaking Sema, and the expression
Chophi-Choli-tsa (" Chophimi -Ao -speech ") is used by other
Semas for an incorrect use of the Sema language. The
Chophimi seem to have originated in some of the original
inhabitants of Lotesami village, who fled before the Semas
to Longsa and were allowed to return. They left some
relations in Longsa, who are now spoken of by the Aos as
of Sema origin, which they probably, almost certainly, are
not. The Muromi are few in number and found principally
east of the Tizu, and seem to be of Sangtam origin. They
are regarded as persons of ill omen, and if a man starting
out hunting or on the warpath meets one of them he gets
nothing at all. For this reason they are sometimes called
Murosipomi, the Muro whom it is unlucky to meet.^ Part
of the Awomi are also of Sangtam origin. The genuine
Sema Awomi amalgamated with some Sangtams from
Yetsimi who claimed to be of the same clan, but these men
did not eat the meat of dogs, whereat one Hoshomu of the
genuine Sema Awomi admonished them, saying that the
real Awomi eat dog, and if they considered themselves Awomi
they had better do the same. On this many of them were
persuaded, but some would not, and so the Awomi clan is
divided into Awomi proper and Awomi-atsilshi-kuchukumo
{i.e., " the Awomi who eat no dog meat," sometimes also
spoken of as " Awo-kinimi" since the Kinimi also abstain
from dog meat). Part of the Yepothomi and Aye mi clans,

^ CJ. the Cherechima of the Memi Angamis.

124 THE SEIVIA NAGAS part

notably those in Vekohomi, are also of Sangtam origin,
hailing from Yetsimi, though they claim nowadays to be
genuine Semas. These clans are called by Semas of the
western villages " Tukomi," though Tukomi is really the
Sema name for the more southern Sangtams.^ An almost
sure indication, however, of the non-Sema origin of the part
of the Yepothomi clan referred to is that they eat the flesh
of the bird called awutsa,^ like the Chophimi and most of
the Awomi. Apparently the genuine Semas all abstain, or
used to abstain, from eating this flesh. Most of the Sema
clans have their own food gennas of one sort or another,
except perhaps the Chunimi, who are said to " eat every-
thing " and to have acquired their name for this reason.
Even in this case, however, everything does not apparently
include the awutsa or the other foods that have already
been mentioned in Part II as genna to Semas in general.
The Asimi, Cheshalimi, Chishilimi, and probably some others,
abstain from the winged ants (alhu) that emerge in the
autumn from the ant-hills of white ants, and are considered
generally a great delicacy, and from a certain sort of edible
fungus that grows directly out of the earth. The reason
given is that as their first ancestors emerged from the earth,
so do the winged ants and the fungus, which should there-
fore not be eaten ; for the Semas, while regarding Tukahu
as the fount of their race, believe, like the Angamis and
other Naga tribes, that their original progenitors emerged
from the bowels of the earth. In the Kinimi clan the men
abstain from the flesh of dogs and goats, while the women
eat of the pig and fowl alone of domestic animals, and of
wild mammals only deer (barking deer and sambhar) and
porcupine. There is, however, a section of the Kinimi
which has disregarded, or which has never observed, these
restrictions, and which is called in consequence Kini -Chunimi,
because though Kinimi they resemble the Chunimi, " eaters \

* So also the Asimi of Lazemi, Mishilimi, etc., speak of all Semas to the
east of them as Tushomi, a term applied by Semas in general to the alien
tribes to the east of them. It suggests considerable expulsion and
absorption of foreign elements by the more easterly Sema villages, which
is indeed the case.

* The Kufou3-necked Hombill (Aceroa Nepalenaia). See Part II, p. 93.

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 125

of everything," in having no clan food restrictions. This
section is said to be of the same blood as the Kinimi, but
it has possibly an adoptive origin, like part of the Awomi
and Yepothomi clans, such amalgamation being very easy
and frequent enough.

The word for " clan," by the way, is ay eh or ay a, and the
same word serves for " custom," an indication, perhaps, of
an original differentiation between clans according to the
customs they followed.

Properly to appreciate the conditions of Sema society six
or seven generations ago, we must probably conceive of very
small village commimities living very isolated lives among
heavy forest land only cleared in small patches. These
communities must have had a very severe struggle for
existence, and no doubt dwindling villages would frequently
migrate and amalgamate both with others of their own kin
and with villages of different tribes.

As to the origin of the clans, accounts are very conflicting.
The Chishilimi have a Rabelaisan story that all the Semas
were originally divided into two divisions, the Chishilimi
and the Ashonumi, which comprised all the other clans,
including the Cheshalimi, and that everyone claimed to be
Chishihmi. To test this claim, it was decided that those
whose ordure was white should belong to that clan, and the
rest to the Ashonumi. The real Chishilimi then fed them-
selves on rice-meal, modhu, and light food, while the rest
ate beef. This caused the real Chishilimi to be confirmed
in their title. This story may conceivably contain some
memory of prehistoric dispute between a Patrician and a
Plebeian clan.^ Several Naga traditions in various tribes
suggest that the race may have had a mixed origin. In
any case it has no bearing on the present status of the
clans. The most consistent and explicit of many diverse
traditions is one which speaks of the first man as one
Nikhoga, who had six sons. These six founded six clans,

^ Chesha and Chishi perhaps represent two brothers who emerged from
the bowels of the earth in whom we may recognise the two brothers Thevo
and Thekro of the Angami legend. Extant accounts, however, give the
two brothers a human origin, as recorded below

126 THE SEMA NAGAS part

the Asimi, Awomi, Achumi, Ayemi, Tsunimi, and Aboimi.
The first four are still represented by clans bearing their
names, but, miless Tsunimi = Chunimi, the last two clans
have been split up into other clans and their names have
disappeared. One variant tradition gives the last five
sons only with a father named " Simi," though this is an
obviously collective noun. Another gives the six original
clans as the Asimi, Awomi, Chunimi, Ayemi, Achumi, and
Yepothomi, and relates that Nikhoga was only able to find
a wife for the eldest, and the others kept intriguing with her
and had to be ejected, so he made a feast, killed a pig, a
dog, and a goat, and called on his sons to choose their
shares. The founder of the Chunimi took the dog's head,
and his clan are called Chunimi because, like a dog, they
eat everything, chu = " eat." The ancestor of the Awomi
chose the pig's head and were called after it, for aivo = " pig."
That of the 'Ayemi made a great hullabaloo when carrying
wood to cook the feast, hence the name Ayemi from
yeye = "jabber." The fifth son started off eating first,
and his descendants are therefore called Achumi, from
ana = " rice " and chu = " eat." The sixth stood looking
on in silence and so earned for his family the name Yepo-
thomi, the silent clansmen, from aye = " clan " and
putJio — " night " and therefore silence. Derivation a
little strained. As regards the Yepothomi, however, the
split between them and the Ayemi is held by both clans to
have been comparatively recent, both being descended from
one ancestor, Kaka. Anyway, they have no signs now of
the silent character imputed to their ancestor. The tradi-
tion which gives the Tsunimi and the Aboimi as two of the
original clans is to be preferred, if one can have a preference
as regards such legends, as otherwise there is no reason why
their names should be remembered at all. As regards the
other clans, some are given a purely patronymic origin. The
Cheshalimi and Chishilimi are descended from Chesha and
Chishi, the two sons of one Khogamo ; the Kinimi from one
Kinishe (though Kinimi also means " rich men " and some
prefer this explanation), and the Khakomi, or Khakholimi,
from one Khakho. The Wotzami ascribe their name- to a

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 127

legend that their founder when catching a pig (awo) got his
hand {a'ou) bitten (tsa), while the Kj.baUmi clan are credited
with having developed a most uncleanly and insanitary
habit owing to their being afraid to leave their houses (ki)
in the early morning, and are named accordingly. Other
and even less likely explanations of other clan names will
be found in one of the stories in Part VI. There is no call
to recount them here. The Wotzami, it should be added,
abstain from killing or eating the " huluk " ape, with which
(hke the Chang Kudamji) they acknowledge a sort of vague
blood connection, though they do not always care to be
reminded of it. Some say that a Wotzami man turned into
a " huluk " and that all the Wotzami become apes after
death, others that a " huluk " became a man and founded
the Wotzami clan. This version, even apart from Darwin,
has on the face of it the more plausibility, as there have
been persons imkind enough to say that there is little need
of death to turn the Wotzami into apes.^

The origin of the Zumomi clan is a matter of much dispute.
The explanation of the word is generally believed to be
either from azhi, " blood," and mo, " not," because they
were of no one's blood, or, with less improbabiUty, from
zhu, " perceive," and mo, " not," because no one could
point to the husband of the mother of their first male
ancestor. The clan traces its human descent to an ances-
tress, one Putheli, a daughter, by some accounts, of Kho-
ghamo, father of Chesha and Chishi, and who was the father
of her son perhaps mattered little enough before the fashion
in genealogies became patrihneal. Now, however, the
birth of her son by an unknown father is a matter of such
shame to the powerful clan of her descendants that they will
invent any story to account for it, and the wTiter has heard
at least haK a dozen totally different accounts of the origin
of the Zumomi from members of that clan, though the other
clans seem unanimous enough on the matter, giving the one
version the Zumomi will not accept. One story derives
their origin from some red earth that looks like blood,

1 A Kachari storj' given by Soppitt {op. cit., p. 70) tells how the huluk
derives Jiis origin from the Kachari.

128 THE SEMA NAGAS part

another from a species of red plantain, and a third, by a
very far-fetched derivation, from a supposed occasion on
which the plantain leaf cups available failed to suffice for so
hard-di'inking a clan. The family of Ghukiya, a Zumomi
chief of great renown in his day and recently deceased, name
as the father of Putheli's son a spirit called Tiighaki, who
was in the habit of taking the form of a squirrel {Tiighaki
probably = " spirit Squirrel ") and who died before the
birth of the son. According to the powerful Sakhai branch,
however, Putheli's husband was a mortal man who was kiUed
by his enemies at Emilomi, when his widow and infant son
migrated to Sukomi and his name was forgotten. And there
are other versions. The number of stories to account for
the origin of the clan clearly shows that they are fantastic
inventions to evade the slur of bastardy, or at any rate to
evade admitting it, for the Zumomi are a new clan sprung
to eminence in three generations, and Putheli is almost
certainly an historic personage. It is just possible that an
injustice has been done to her reputation by a change since
her day in domestic etiquette, while the attempt to evade
tracing descent to a woman by the imputation of fatherhood
to inanimate or non-human sources suggests that totemism
in some parts of the world may have had an origin of this
sort.

Some of the food tabus may no doubt suggest the possi-
HHty of some form of totemism having obtained among the
Semas, but except for the Wotzami there is not a single clan
which genuinely traces its descent from an animal or plant,
and none has anything like a definite totem. The absten-
tion by almost aU Semas from eating or touching the hombill
called awuisa conceivably points again in the same direc-
tion, but seems to have a different origin. ^ If there is any
animal which one would expect the Sema to regard as a
totem should be regarded, it would be the tiger (angshu),
which he credits with an origin senior to his own, one mother
having had three children, a spirit, a tiger, and a man whose
respective descendants still people the world. The tiger,
however, though many superstitions surround him, is no

1 See Part II under Food tabus

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS

129

totem. The great hornbill {aglhacho) 1 and perhaps the
python {aitlm) fall to some extent in the same class as the
tiger, though not credited with any similar origin, but they
too are in no sense totems. The probable origin of food
tabus is in some beUef at some time that such foods have
proved detrimental to persons eating them. The question
of totemism among the Naga tribes generally has been gone
into at more length in the Angami monograph. Generally
speaking, it seems that one would be rather going out of
one's way to attempt uncalled-for ethnological gjonnastics
if one set about demonstrating the former existence of
totemism in Naga tribes. It may conceivably have existed
once, but if it did it has left singularly few traces behind.
The question is only introduced here because the connec-
tion between exogamy and totemism seems so frequent that
exogamy without totemism seems to call for some remark.
It is perhaps conceivable that totemism did indeed exist at
some former date in conjunction with a matrilineal system
of descent, and that when the patrilineal system supplanted
the former (as it might be expected to do when once the
father's share in the production of offspring was fully recog-
nised and understood) some odd remnants of the totemism
of the abandoned matrihneal clans survived the change in
society. If this were the case, it might account for some
of the rather confused and unreasonable food tabus of the
Sema clans.

The twenty-two clans have been given in the list as
exogamous, but although these twenty-two are still recog- ^
nised as the genuine Sema clans, many of them have long
ceased to be in any sense exogamous. The smaller ones,
Katenimi, Kibahmi, Khuzhomi, Tsukomi, Wokhami, Wot-
zami, and Chekemi, still appear to remain exogamous, at '
any rate as a general rule, as also the Ayemi, who even
avoid marriage with the Chekemi as being too nearly related.

The Muromi also are said to be still exogamous. Of the
others the Awomi have, as abeady noticed, split into two
divisions which without compunction intermarry with one
another as well as with outside clans. A further split in

^ Dichoceros hicornis.

130 THE SEMA NAGAS part

the Awomi was attempted in the last generation by Kiyelho
of Seromi, father of Kivilho, the present Awomi chief of
that village. He said that his ancestors, though incorporated
with the Awomi clan, came from Yetsimi and were not of the
same stock as the original Sema nucleus, and that in future
he and they would intermarry with the rest of the Awomi
at will and form a separate clan. Immediately after, how-
ever, he lost his head to a hostile village, and this was
regarded as a judgment on his impiety, and no more was
heard of his proposed split. The Chishilimi have long been
divided into the descendants of Chuoka and those of Kutathu,
which superseded the Chishilimi as exogamous groups and
are themselves ceasing to be exogamous. The CHophimi,
again, have ceased to be exogamous (if they ever were so),
being at present composed of two sub-divisions at least,
Molimi and Woremi,^ and most if not all of the other larger
clans have lost their exogamous nature, the exogamous rule
having been replaced by a working system under which
marriages between persons of the same clan are not for-
bidden, provided that the parties to the marriage have no
common ancestor in the direct paternal line for five genera-
tions. Sometimes four generations is given as the limit.
It is true that this rule is usually regarded as applying to
parties from different villages only. Very likely the average
villager only knows his parentage for about two or three
generations, and hence this safeguard insisting on different
villages, but it is probably a proviso not always too rigidly
insisted on, much depending on the number of eligible girls
locally available. Indeed the Ayemi and Yepothomi, who
are considered to be nearly related, have a tradition that
the prohibition of marriage between them was broken down
by the difficulty of obtaining women from other clans.
The purely patria_rchal^ature of Sema society as it exists
\j at present cannot be too emphatically stated. The female

line is of no account, and relationship through the female,
though recognised as existing, is barely recognised and
nothing more, A Sema may not marry his wife's mother,
but can marry practically any female relation of his own

* ? W ore-mi <Aorr, the name used by the Aos for themaelves.

u0 LAWS AND CUSTOMS 131

mother on her father's side. For although some Semas are
said, like the ancient Athenians, ^ to forbid marriage with a
mother's sister by the same mother, ^ even though the father
be different, the vast majority hold that a man may marry
his mother's sister by the same father and mother without
any suggestion of impropriety, whereas he would be guilty
of incest, and banished from the village, if he took to himself,
say, a third cousin in patrilineal descent. He may also
marry his father's sister's daughter, though such marriages
are regarded as unfertile. Whether the exogamous clan
was always patrilineal is a matter for considerable doubt.
There is much to suggest that a matrilineal system survived
till comparatively recently, and if this is the case the alleged
occasional prohibition of marriage with the mother's uterine
sister would (if it really exists) be a survival of it,^ and
it must be admitted that there is something suggestive
about the syllable li which appears in several of the clan
and sept names — Cheshalimi, Chishilimi, Khakholimi, Kiba-
limi ; in names of communities such as Mishilimi, Mukalimi,
Kichilimi, Sisilimi, all of them, be it noted, villages of
early foundation among the Semas ; and in a few other
words such as apelimi (= "brethren," used by women
only), angulimi (= " relations-in-law "). This suffix or
infix li strongly suggests a derivation from alimi, a girl
or woman ; it is found in almost all female names, e.g.,

' As also the Tartars, if Sir John Mandeville (ch. xxv), and Johannes de
Piano Carpini (ch. vi, Hakluj^t's " Navigations," etc.) from whom he
probably plagiarised, are to be trusted.

- One informant only told me this ; all others I have asked strenuously
deny the existence of any such prohibition. I have, moreover, some
reason to suppose that my informant, though a chief and skilled in obscure
points of custom and generally a most trustworthy authority, gave this
theory on the spur of the moment under the influence of some feeling of
shame, as a listener from another tribe expressed abhorrence at hearing
that he (my informant) had married his mother's paternal sister, whereon
my informant promptly remarked, " Oh, we allow it provided the mother
is different," a standpoint from which, however, he refused to withdraw,
and which he amplified by saying that marriage with a mother's uterine
sister by a different father was equally forbidden, though there was a
chorus of dissent from other Semas who stood by.

* It is possible that there may also be some significance in the fact that a
Sema in extremis or in any difficulty calls out " Mother ! ", iza, though
his mother may have been dead for vears.

K 2

T32 THE SEMA NAGAS part

Ivhetoli, Putheli, Ivili, and the like, and when attached
to the name of a village or people means a girl or yovmg
woman of that village or tribe, e.g., LiJkeli, a girl of Like
(Xankam) village ; Aborlimi, an Abor girl ; Kmigulimi,
girls of the Kungumi or sky spirits. The obvious inference
is that if the infix li in clan and community names is derived
from alimi, the clans and communities in question recognised
a matrilineal line of descent. Thus MishiUmi would mean
IVIishili's people, Khakholimi the descendants of Khakoli, and
so forth. jMishili and Khakhuli are still in use as women's
names, and possibly some of the others. On the other hand,
the particle li may have some totally different significance ;
it frequently, for instance, has a purely collective sense, in
which case it is added as a suffix to the noun of the individual
to make a collective noun ; thus asahu = a " thorn " or
" thorn-bush," > asahuli = a " thorn-brake," " a mass of
thorny bushes," so also we ha^YQ akkehli < akkeh = " cane."
It seems likely enough that the li in clan names is of the
same significance as this. In fact the writer has heard a
Sema head-man of carriers in a transport corps speak of his
" section-li-mi," meaning the men of his section. The
most probable explanation would seem to be that the merely
collective li has been applied by analogy from human
communities to plants and referred originally to a matri-
lineal community, but we do in one or two instances find li
as the termination of men's names as well as of women's,
e.g., Hocheli, Tsivili, though the latter perhaps is not a
genuine Sema name. The frequent use of the possessive
form i-liyni without any possessive sense is to be noted.
Apropos of Mr. Peale's theory, mentioned below, it is worth
noticing that alimi {ilimi) is used equally for unmarried
girls of the speaker's own community and for young married
women who may be drawn from another community.
y If otherwise suitable, marriage with the mother's
brother's daughter, or father's sister's son,^ is preferred.
The reason given is that such marriages conduce to
domestic concord owing to the relationship between the
parents of the couple, who see that their children behave
well to one another.

1 Cf. Playfair, " The Garoe," p. 68.

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 133

After marriage a man performing the Apisa ceremony
{v. injra) must give his wife's mother one hind leg of the y
mithan he kills and must give her half a leg or any small
portion of meat when he performs less important ceremonies.
The late Mr. S. E. Peale put forward a most ingenious
theory^ that within the community marriage, as implying
an exclusive right by any one man to any one woman,
did not exist ; and that the only wives who existed as
private property were those who had been captured from
some other community, and had thus become the property
of their captors ; thus giving rise to a system of exogamous
marriage, and whereby he also explains freedom of sexual
intercourse between the unmarried. The arguments, how-
ever, which support this theory do not hold good among
the Semas, and it is doubtful whether they do so among
any Naga tribes. Except perhaps in Lazemi, free inter-
course with bachelors is not allowed to unmarried girls
as in the Angami and Ao tribes, and in any case sexual
intercourse between persons of the same clan is regarded as
incest,^ whether it takes place before or after marriage, and
is punished by banishment. Even in Lazemi, as probably
also in one or two neighbouring villages, where sexual rela-
tions between the unmarried are pretty free, such relations
between persons of the same exogamous clan are contrary
to custom. That is not to say that they never take place.
Rules that are not broken have yet to be made. But sexual ^
intercourse between persons of the same exogamous group ^^
is not approved by the custom or sentiment of the Semas,
nor indeed by that of the neighbouring Naga tribes. Of
course this feeling may have grown up after the acknowledg-
ment of a private right in captured or purchased women,

m ^ See " Census of India," 1891, " Assam," vol. i, p. 122, note.

* The same view is held by all the Naga tribes with whose custom I am
acquainted, though I cannot answer for the Konyak tribes ; in Nankam
and Mongmethang, Ao villages, the custom of having free intercourse with
members of one's own exogamous group exists, but it is regarded with
aversion by other Aos and is looked on as a case of recent degeneration,
and actual marriage is punished by destruction of the house of the couple
and a fine, "in accordance with ancient ristom." No doubt breaches
of the custom exist everywhere, but th'y are punished when detected.
Mr. Davis, op. cit., vol. i, p. 250, seem j to have erred, though Angamis
regard such incest more leniently than other Naga tribes.

134

THE SEMA NAGAS

PART

but it may be noted that while Sema marriage is still
practically a matter of purchase, capture is not and would
seem never to have been a basis for marriage. The women
of a Sema's enemies are regarded as the possessors of heads

'^ to be taken and of long hair to be made into ornaments, not
as possible wives or slaves. Slavery is not practised even
by independent Semas, and the daughters of persons putting
themselves under the protection of someone else, whereby
they become bound to him, as described later, are barred
from marriage with him by becoming quasi-members of his
clan. Another argument used in support of ]Mr. Peale's
theory is that exogamy is not an effective bar to consan-
guineous marriage. That is true, but neither for that matter
is our owTi system, which allows unhmited first-cousin
marriages, frequently with disastrous results, while for-
bidding (till recently at any rate) marriage with a wife's
sister. That the Sema recognises the evils of consanguineous
marriage is clear enough, and he describes it as sterile or

^ as resulting in the idiocy or deformity of its offspring, and
it is also clear that he considers exogamy a sufficiently
effective bar.^

Before leaving the exogamous clan it should be mentioned

^ that a clan often identifies itself -wdth a clan belonging to a
neighbouring tribe. Such identifications, while sometimes
apparently not unreasonable, would frequently seem to be
entirely supposititious, and will not bear investigation. The
relationship is usually based on an alleged common genua ;
thus the Eanimi claim kinship with the Ao Lungkamrr clan
on the strength of a common avoidance by each of dog's
flesh, among other and differing tabus. The Yepothomi
and Ayemi claim kinship with certain Yachumi and Sangtam
clans on the ground of common traditions. Here, however,
we know that the Yepothomi at any rate has absorbed alien
communities from these tribes, so that such resemblances
might well be expected. On the other hand, an identifica-

'^ The Changs bar marriage between the malcB of any clan and the
descendants of females of the same patrilineal clan to the fourth genera-
tion, and although recently in some cases the bar has been reduced to
two generations by rebellious individuals, this is regarded as dangerous and
objectionable.

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 135

tion was attempted within the writer's knowledge between
the Wotzami and the Lhota clan of the Shitri for which no
clear ground could be established at all. The truth is that
it is exceedingly useful to persons of different tribes to
establish definitely an identity of clan. If a man's hosts in
an alien village regard him as of their clan, he is at any rate /^
safe from being cut up by them, even though others of their
village may feel no compunction in taking his head, and this
aspect of clan feeling has undoubtedly caused men to go out
of their way to claim reciprocally an identity of clan on the
slenderest pretexts. Once established, such a theory rapidly
gains ground, as traders of both the tribes affected by it are
only too glad to take advantage of it. It should be added
that this explanation of the identification of clans in different
tribes on fanciful grounds was given to the writer by Nagas
themselves, who readily admitted that they observed connec-
tions between clans of different tribes, which were confirmed
by no genuine identity at aU.

The Sema at present practises polygyny, but it is just ,y .
possible that some tradition of polyandry lingers in the story
of Nikhoga already related, who drove out his younger sons
because they would intrigue with the elder's wife, and in the
tradition that Tsakalu, an ancestor of the Ayemi, and
Arka, one of the Achumi founders of Yezami, had a wife in
common, having combined to purchase her. There is,
however, no trace of any such practice in present usage. ^
In point of practice it is usually only chiefs and other rich
men who keep more than one wife, the ordinary villager being y
unable to afford it, but even so the average Sema is ex-
ceedingly prolific and the tribe has increased at a most
remarkable rate. In 1891^ it was rapidly increasing, and
it is still doing so. Amongst the chiefs with their numerous
wives families are often very large indeed, though there
are signs of a change setting in, possibly due to the

* Among the Lhotas men often have access to the wives of their brothers
when the latter are away from home, and the adultery of a wife with one
of her husband's clan is almost always amicably settled, being viewed as a
far less serious affair than adulterj' with a man of another exogamous
group.

* " Census of India," 1891, "Assam," vol. i, p. 248.

136 THE SEMA NAGAS fart

rapidly increasing inability of the land to maintain the
population.

~7~~"A Sema may marry his father's wife, other, of course,

^ than his own mother, after his father's death, and indeed is
regarded as entitled to do so if he mshes, though the widow
is under no obligation to marry her step-son and no penalty
attaches to her refusal to do so. Should she refuse, she has
sooner or later to take her customary share of her late
husband's movables and her departure. Should she marry one
of his sons, however, the dead man's movable property is not

' divided until her death, for though the other widows of the
dead man would be given their shares and their conge, the
other sons must reserve division. Should several sons marry
widows this property would probably be temporarily divided
among these sons and re-divided later, but this is a con-
tingency which the writer has never knowTi to arise. It may
be that here again it is possible to see a survival of the
transference of property in the female line, particularly as
marriage with a deceased father's widow is commonest
among chiefs' families (see " The Golden Bough," 3rd
edition, vol. ii, pp. 285 et seq.). But it seems quite clear
that the reason why this form of marriage is most prevalent
in chiefs' famihes is that they alone are rich enough to have
several wives, of whom the most recent is normally yoimger
than the elder sons. The practice is also found among rich
men other than chiefs. It appears also likely that it may
have its origin in its obvious advantages. The widow
naturally wishes to retain the care of her children, but as
these pass into the guardianship and keeping of her husband's
heir, she can only do so by marrying him, a proceeding which
also ensures her retention of the ornaments that formed her
dowry. This arrangement, from the point of view of the
male, avoids the dangers of step-motherhood, the Sema

' having the traditional, and in their case at any rate not en-
tirely unjustified, belief in the step-mother's cruelty to her
step-children. On the other hand, the marriage with the
widow does not entitle her husband to any larger share in his
father's property eventually, and the temporary postpone-
ment of division seems to be one of courtesy to the dead

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 137

man's wife, a Sema's wife holding quite a dignified position
in his household and in the management of his affairs.
Indeed it is sometimes advisable to retain the widow in the
family for this reason alone, as she often has a better know-
ledge of the debts due from and to her husband than his
heirs have.

It should be added that where a man has died leaving
only young children, and his brother has taken over the
property, this property is often left intact till the latter's
death, when the nephews or other male heirs stand in the
same position to deceased's widows as his sons, as far as
the matter of marriage with them is concerned.

It has been remarked that in the marriage of the widow
by her son a trace of a former matrilineal system may perhaps
be detected. It is possible to detect a more definite trace
in the position of a mother's brother. Among the Semas,
as among other Naga tribes, the greatest respect is enjoined
on a man for his mother's brother. The latter is not,
however, necessarily or even usually addressed by the
respectful term i-pu (=:"my father"), i-ngu being the
correct designation, but it is a very serious matter to say
anything to him at all which might give offence, while he
must observe a reciprocal, though perhaps less rigid, for-
bearance towards his sister's son. There is no social penalty
attaching to the breach of this etiquette, as the breach is
believed to entail its own penalty of serious misfortune or
death. In the case of a girl's relations to her mother's
brother we find a definite obligation existing, which is
inherited from the mother's brother by his son if it has not
been discharged. When a man's sister's daughter is married,
or when, after his father's death, his father's sister's daughter
is married, he must give her a present, which may be any-
thing from a purely nominal gift of meat — half a pig's leg
or a little flesh — ^to a large share of a mithan. The girl's
husband must then make a return. A definite sum is
agreed upon, according to the means of the newly married
couple, to be paid at leisure. This sum may be anything
from a little paddy or salt up to Rs. 15/-or 20/-. It may be
paid at the couple's convenience, and is claimable from the

138 THE SEMA NAGAS part

husband's heirs if he die without paying. This custom, or
rather the payment entailed by it, is called aghasho.

On examining the Sema names for relations one is struck
at the outset by their paucity as compared with those used
in the plains of India, and by the fact that the terms used
are applied to males or females according to their relation
to the speaker ; a woman, for instance, calls her sister's
husband i-chi, and the term is used inversely by a man for
his elder brother's wife ; and other terms for relations
by marriage are little more precise than our expression
"-in-law." In connection with the apparent derivation of
the infix li < alimi referred to above, it is worth while
noting that the use of the expression angulimi seems to
have a stricter interpretation than the mere word angu,
which is used by both husband and wife for each other's
male relations. Failing any suggestion to the contrary,
angulimi used by a man would certainly be understood to
refer definitely to his mother's male relatives. On the other
hand, while there is a word for a son's wife (amukeshiu,
also appUed to a younger brother's or husband's younger
brother's wife ; anga, the word for.an infant in arms, is also
used), there is no word for a daughter's husband. With
regard to the words for husband and wife a rather curious
comparison with the Angami terms suggests itself. The
terms are apparently the same but inverted. In Sema
" husband " = akimi (i.e., " house man " or " house men "),
" wife "= anipfu. In Angami 'nupfo = " husband," while
'kima (with precisely the same significance as akimi)
= " wife." It may be added that -pfo is very like a
feminine termination in Angami, and 'nupfo might = " child-
bearer." Is it possible to see here an inversion of the terms
by the Angami, and the record therein of a change from a
household with a woman at its head to a patrilineal family ?
Or is it merely a trace of the couvade, or what is the meaning
of it ? 1 The women and men of the Chang tribe use the
expressions champa-pou and champa-nyu for husband and
wife, meaning the " male from the house " and the *' female

* In Kezami tho word for husband and for wife is the same, akami
being used for both.

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 139

from the house," respectively for their husbands and wives. ^
The use of aza for a female maternal cousin as well as for
" mother " is to be remarked, whereas the term used for a
mother's brother is only angu ; the expression apuza is also
to be noticed, and just conceivably suggests again a former
matrilineal system, as it apparently means " father's
mother," but is applied to all grandparents of either sex
except the father's father. It seems, however, more likely
that the termination -za here represents the Angami -tsa
which terminates the four Angami words for *' grandparent."
In the following table ^ of the names used by Semas for
relatives and connections the names are given in what may
be called their disjunctive form. In use the initial a- is
replaced by the possessive pronoun, thus apu = a father
> " my father " (or in address *' Father ") = i-pu, " your
father "= o-^w, "his isither " = pa-pu. Unless explicitly
specified as M. S. (= man speaking) or W. S. (= woman
speaking) the terms given are used by both sexes alike.

Asii = paternal grandfather or other ancestor (lit.
" tree," " stock ").
Apuza 3 = Grandparent, other than asii.
Apu = (1) Father.

(2) Father's brother.

N.B. — ^If it is necessary to specify further, a man
will say, for instance, i-pu pa'mu, " my father
his elder brother," but in addressing him he
would use i-pu simply. In speaking in Assamese
the Sema does not use the correct Assamese
terms, whatever those may be, but speaks of
his paternal uncles as his " big father " or
" little father," according to whether the uncle
is older or younger than his father himself.*

^ Lau and yak are the real Chang terms for husband and wife, and are
also used. 2 gge Appendix III.

' The apparent meaning is literally "father's mother," but it may be
connected with the Angami equivalent putsau in the case of the male
grandparent. Putsau probably<apu = "father" and tsa = "side."

* As such terms as " big " and " little father " do not exist in Sema, the
expressions used by him in "Assamese," Tf'^r^ ^?1, CWX^ "TtT| ™ay
possibly be borrowed from the Ao, who uses in his own language the
expressions " elder " and " yo\mger father " and so translates them.

140 THE SEMA NAGAS part

I-pu is also used as a term of general respect,
and is in this way often applied to other rela-
tions and connections of mature age in place
of the more explicit term.

Am = (1) Mother.

(2) Mother's sister.

(3) Mother's brother's daughter.

N.B. — Like i-jpu, i-za is used vaguely as a term
of respect to relations who are not strictly
entitled to be so addressed.

Amu = (1) Elder brother.

(2) Elder male cousin (on paternal side only).

Afu = (1) Elder sister.

(2) Father's brother's daughter older than

speaker.

(3) Wife's sister (though here the personal name

is used if she is young in comparison to
the speaker).

Atukuzu, M. S. =1 (1) Younger brother.

Apeu, W. S. =3 (2) Male cousin (younger than

speaker) on paternal side.
Achepfu, M. S. = ) (1) Younger sister. ^

Atsiinupfu, W. S.= J (2) Father's brother's daughter

younger than speaker.
Atikeshiu, M. S. = (1) Sister's children.

(2) Father's sister's children.

Anu = (1) Son, daughter.

(2) Grandchild.

(3) Younger brother's child (M. S. only). An
elder brother's child is addressed by name, and
spoken of to a third person as i-mu nu {= " my
elder brother's child ").

Anu also = " child " generally.

Akimi = Husband (but the term is not used in addressing
him by his wife, who does not even address
him by name, but speaks of him as " Himself,"
pa).

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 141

Anipfu = Wife (but in addressing her the husband uses
her personal name).

Ani = (1) Father's sister.

(2) Wife's mother.

(3) Husband's mother.

(4) Husband's elder sister.

(5) Elder brother's wife (W. S.).

(6) Husband's elder brother's wife ; also

husband's younger brother's wife if old
in relation to the speaker.

Angu^= (1) Mother's brother.

(2) Mother's brother's son.

(3) Wife's father.

(4) Husband's father.

(5) Wife's brother (but achi is used by the
eastern Semas).

(6) Husband's brother.

Achi = (1) Father's sister's husband.

(2) Wife's brother (but angu is used by the
western Semas).

(3) Elder sister's husband (M. S.).

(4) Elder brother's wife (M. S.).

(5) Sister's husband (W. S.).

Ama or Amakeshiu = Younger sister's husband (M. S.).

Amukeshlu = (1) Younger brother's wife.

(2) (in some villages) Husband's younger
brother's wife. (Personal name also used
for this.)

(3) Son's wife. (But anipa used for this
in some villages.)

N.B. — The literal meaning of amukeshiu
appears to be one who makes or is
made {Keshiu), an elder brother (amu).

^ Of the term angu the Ao eqmvalent is aniik or taniiker = a watcher
guard <.anuk = to look after, guard, or protect. It is to be noticed that
the root ngu-, meaning " to dwell, remain " in Sema, means " to see " in
the Angami language, which is closely allied to Sema.

142 THE SEMA NAGAS part

Anipa = (1) Wife's sister's husband.

(2) Husband's younger brother's wife (if young
compared to speaker. But amukeshiu is used
for this in Seromi).

(3) Son's wife. (But amukeshiu is used in some
villages.)

N.B. — Anga (= "infant") is often used in
addressing a son's wife. It seems to be used
as a term of endearment.

A father's brother's wife is called aza]

or achi
A mother's brother's wife is called aza

or afu
A mother's sister's husband is called

apu or amu

according to the
relative ages of
the person speak-
ing and the person
spoken to or of.

No specific term is used for the following relatives ; either
the personal name is employed, or some colourless expression
such as " friend " {ashou, etc.), " lad " (dpu), or the respectful
apu, amu, aza, afu, etc., according to circumstances : —

Daughter's husband.
Son's wife's parents.
Daughter's husband's parents.
Wife's brother's child.
Husband's brother's child.
W^ife's sister's child.
Husband's sister's child.
Mother's sister's child.
Sister's daughter's husband.

The following collective terms are used : —

Ataziimi, M. S.
Apelimi, W. S.

or
Apeliun

= Brethren.

Atilimi or atiliun = Grandchildren {ati = " seed,"
fruit ").

Ill ' LAWS AND CUSTOMS 143

Atikeshiu, M. S. = Persons related to the speaker through
their mother, who is a woman of his
family {atikeshiu = " come of (our,
etc.) seed ").

Angulimi = Male relations by marriage, in particular the
males of a man's mother's family ; but
also those of his wife's family or of a
woman's husband's family.

It should be added, perhaps, that the use of these terms
of relationship^ instead of the personal name of relation to
be designated does not imply any genna or tabu on the
utterance of that name, but is a matter of comrtesy. Where
it can be used without disrespect, as from a senior to a junior
or between contemporaries, the personal name is frequently
used ; nor does a man ordinarily hesitate to mention any .

name save perhaps his own and that of his wife, and vice
versa. Here he is restrained, or rather checked, by what is
apparently a feeUng of delicacy or shame at speaking on a
point of such personal intimacy. It is, however, a feeling
very easily and quickly overcome in the case of males at
any rate. If the coyness shown in this matter has any
origin other than that of modesty it would seem to have
been forgotten, and this coyness itself seems gradually
disappearing. 2

The accompanying pedigrees of Semas have been recorded Pedigrees,
principally from Semas in the more northern villages of the
tribe, and generally speaking from the famihes of chiefs, as
in such famihes only is it ordinarily possible to get any
pedigree for more than three or four generations. More-
over, owing to the prevalence of polygyny among chiefs,

^ For reciprocal table on Dr. Rivers' plan see Appendix III.

* The Angami has exactly the same delicacy about mentioning his or
her name and that of wife or husband as the case may be, though with
the Angami, too, the feeling is rapidly weakening. It is a curious fact
that the excuse given by the Angami for his reluctance to mention his
own name is that he would be like an owl which is always repeating its
own name {huthu). This notion is exactly paralleled by the same notion
found in the Philippine Islands, though there the bird the example of
which is shunned is a raven instead of an owl (" Golden Bough," 3rd
edition, vol. iii, p. 324).

144 THE SEMA NAGAS part

who usually marry the daughter of another chief for at least
one of their wives, it has been possible to obtain tables of
greater interest and detail than could possibly be done in the
case of theordinary villager, though the marriages of the latter
are governed by the same rules as are those of the former.

N.B. — The name of the person whose pedigree is recorded, and of his
village and of his clan, is given as a heading.

The names of the clans into which the paternal line marries are given
in italics against the name of the woman married, if it is known.

The names of the villages from which such wives come is given, if known,
against the first male of that line recorded. Similarly the village of any
male, if not noted, is the same as that recorded last in the paternal line.

Thvis to find the clan of any person outside the direct paternal line,
reference must be made to the female descendant who married into it.
To find the village of such a female reference must be made to the first
male ancestor recorded on her paternal side.

Names ending in -li are those of women, unless marked 6.

Names having any other ending are those of men, unless marked 9.

The names of the subsidiary wives of ancestors whose children do not
reappear in the pedigree are not as a rule entered. Generally speaking
they are not known.

Tho The term " manor " has been here used for what is really

the unit of Sema society, the organised community, that is,
with a chief at the head of it, but which is not necessarily
by any means conterminous with either the population or
land of a village. This " manor," if the term may be
permitted, has had its origin in the system of colonisation
'^ by the son of a chief accompanied by a number of his father's
dependants {mughemi), and also, perhaps, by any runaways,
thieves, or broken men generally that he can pick up. The
chief's son, when making a new village where the land
taken up is either newly acquired as a result of successful
^ hostiUties or has never before been cultivated, reserves for
himself all the land he fancies. Ordinarily he would leave
over a certain amount of land which might be taken up as
their own. by the more prominent of his companions, and
he might leave over land for acquisition even by mughemi
whose entire dependence upon himself was beyond question,
but in any case he would reserve the greater part of the land
taken up for himself, any land then remaining over belonging
normally to whoever first cleared it. The land he took up
as his own the new chief would parcel out yearly to his

Oenealoot op VIKESHE op the Kinim: Ci an. Ciuef of Lpmitsami.

Ac CM tor
a me ua known

I (killed In youth bv
ftumc wlldkniRul)

Rrghwo

wuth of KerumichomJ, where h<

(of the Kinlml oUq from somewherf
pouth of ""
setUed)

netheoa = Shohell
VekohomI, I Auemi

Moved w „.«-..-..^. »™. - .-««...„
thence to PhuyemI, Seroml, and
Anally l.iimit«arni, which be founded

TatMpKi^r Tftl«akkit« Ihf laUi-r ■
I paliuihljr \r
eelvkbl« thi
hy ftema >

f! "•

1.1t«pa
of Lumlt«am)
p. PediKree of

VIkhepu)

NlvUhe = LhotPU

N'lheshe = Haanli Hetlieoa :
I (of
Luniokami)

Khwohekhe = Sbevlll
(of Alaptuml) j ygpotAomi

Ilbovl
aiecheehe = Ut«U 9

Klyehe = r.htiUli
(founder of [ChopMmi
Japfumi

WovMhe = Bou<\i

(succeeded I Chi$hi-
his brother 1 limi
Klyehe a«

Lhoupii

VMhctha

Uke(n

I
Puinikhu

Kliiilll
(of
LItomI)

Elyeslil
Khulvl

Sahupii

I
Akaku

Huapu

I
Hfziikliu

Hrkfiho = YehMI
Wottnmi I

Koh»tu ShlchAkhd

Na«a reokonlnn 120

MllKhuUl 3lilku

Oluikjiniu :

Chief of
Lumiuami

: (1) Sliokall
= (2) Klinkhall
I = (31 Kakull

Ehukhnpu = WokuU

(of T.Timlttaml) I Khuzhomi

IJtopil s (II Mlllilll

NIvjabe V7okl<lio = PlvllI

Hek>he = NIkhull
(Chief of
Seroml}

Toklye = Kakuli

VIkhepu = Khetoli

•of the •
limi i

Hc.kupu = Kavlll

chief hy courtesy not

death but old enouKh
to have been chief)

Rakhu laakhe nhooaklm

Elyelu = Zhuvlll
Pwaed over for I CflopMmi
'hiefulnihip a>

Inmvl = Savlll
CUef of
1 okobomi
CfiitHUimi

Heke^he = Hoxhell

Sakhal NIhovl

NekMlia = LhOTtll

See ped-OTt' ol

Vxkhvrke ol
TtMtMpaifimi

: (II KakullCMi fathrr'i iriilowl
:< (21 YMUll C/kunlni
= (» Wokell (of PlinauiDl) Jnix
» (4) Khokhell (of I^kobomll CK,

Inaho = KttioU

nd diatant branch of the Kinuni cl«. take, place in two ca«« Owing to the death of ««'" "^°i"„^ 'Hj?^;,^'^.,"'^„\'y'oh'Zm .^^tT
ler of courtesy, being the survivor of the elder generation in08t nearly to the d.reet line of •"'"^'f"; .Xtwo of"u ^J|ov"k^"«., anS
es not r^^tum to the grand«.n Live,he. The marriage ..f Inato wtth hi. father .w,do», of „^^"'"' "'"^'""7 T,^ .■,"", „,v,. in
y be noted, also the marriage of Kiyelho w.th hi, wife's me«,. Khulh and Khevil. bemR, ^'"*''^\"^%'IJ^"^^-^^^^
•of his exceptionally long Ufe ; by moat of them he had no children The large "»"*»' "f">»XkL^ the fo{Zrnimrw,C.pv.n li.m by
re IS nothing whatever ^.o -nggest it in '--e -""-' ^rPH H ' "fr^riS^w^T'i^ .t:r,,irrtd p™.L°hT co'^T. TTt Sie. nameaVf

N.B. — Intonnarriago with another and distant branch of the Kininu clan takes pli
WM allowed to aucc^-d as chief as a matter of courtesy, being the survivor of the elder generat

'"J^n posMHl over as \mfit. the ripht does ' '' — *-" '^ '■ —

"' Hethona with his brother's widow may

which Kiyelho has indulged in tlio coun,

an aatnixture of Ao blood, though then* i.h noTtime wnoievt-r lo mukk<-p>' i^ ■•* '»•«- h--om«*«m»i. 'vr" • -,■■ ." , " „," — . "." — ~,..- _i .„,i „.„u^i.i..

''« (a.her. the latter by his fathers wives, and both have stuck. Th? desc nt of the Kinimi •" Ph-jT' '""; ^J''^^ ," '~*?°"''' "otC UUduToV K^iomVchiiilil.

Khwoahe'. immediate descendant, are not known. For the grandfather of Utapu son of Hethena the pedigree of Vikbepu (f. «^r<.) give, wiother LiUpu (of Keromicnomi),

have probably been generations omitted in this table between Hethena I and Kcghwo.

144 THE SEMA NAGAS part

e 1-1 -l-:_i!X__ -i 1 i. ^

Pedigree of VIKHEPU, the Chief of the Ayemi Clan in Sekomi Village.

MutsUtaii

I (of Tukunasaml)

SUepuniu Tsakalu

(founder of the (oi
Nunomi clan) Sukomi)

Tenyimo
(founder of the
Cliehemi clan)

Ishyepu

i (of Sichemi)

HeUifiua

I (see below, genealogy
of Vikheshe)

Litapu = Shosali
(of Phuyetoml) I (of Luniitsami)

Mutalivu

I (of Alapfuml)

Ratsamm = Jvili

(of ] (of Sichimi)

Phuyeni) Achumi

Tsakalu = Nitali
tof I Chisbi-
Seromi) lirni

Kiyelho =(UKhulli

(2) Khevili
Ayemi

N.B. — Tho Nunomi clan recorded here as splitting off from the Ayemi only four generations ago may and does inter-
marry with the Ayemi clan. The Chekemi clan, however, does not do so, though their ancestors are on precisely the same
footing as those of the Nunomi. The reason given is that while the elder of the tliree brothers remained behind, the
younger two maintained a close connection with one another, and their descendants are still regarded as one clan. Probably
some generations have been forgotten, as four generations in either of the female lines recorded carry back only to Phuyetomi
and Alapfumi, both of which were founded after Seromi. The Ayemi is much the most important of these three clans.

It is to be noticed that Hekshe marries his maternal grandmother's grand-niece, relationship on the female side being
no obstacle to marriage, and still more that while Kiyelho marries as a second wife the niece of his first (probably during
her lifetime), Vikhepu marries his mother's half-sister by the same father. Being outside the exogamous clan, the near
relationship to his mother is no obstacle, though Vikliepu, who gives this pedigree, stated that a uterine sister of his mother,
even by a difierent father, might not be married. iMost Semas, however, recognise no such restriction. Probably it does
not really exist, at any rate at the present day.

Pedioeee of HOITO, Brother of the Chief of Sakhalu of the Yepothomi Clan.

Ebuklya = (l) Vulholl {Zumomi) from II,
= (2) SbilhoU Urimi)

= (3) Chlshela ? {Awmii)
= (4) Hothali ^Muromil

EhDwhakhe = (I) Kheholl (.ZumovH)
I = (2) ZJezhml
I = (3) iftevUl

Vlyekhe = (1) Zhekmi

at least a dozen children

Hekhyeke = Zhekuli

Wokiya = Wothall
Zumomi I
(from ID

£uzliakhe = Luklieli

Three clifldreu

Three children

Hokehe = EUekuU

; (1) Zhetholi (Zumomi)
— (2) Nazuli (Yepothomi)
I = (3) Kusheli (TsUkotni)
— (4) Kezoli (Zumonii)

Seven children

from HI
r children

from III

Two children

HOITO = (1) WokeU KhUkJieli = Hezekhu

III

Ghokhwi =

(Chief of I

Lhoshyepu)

■■ (1) Hozheli

= (2) Yashevi 9

Wokiya = Wothali
(yepothomi

N.B. — In addition to the principal table I, three other tables (II. IIi> IV) are given to show the inter-relation of persons
iiiarried by some of those in I. In these three tables only the necessary persons have been recorded to show the relationships.

It is to be noticed that Sakhalu marries his mother's sister, wliile his brother Nikiye marries her uterine niece and
Ilia paternal half-sister Wothali her step-mother's brother. Cross marriages between the brothers and sisters of Khukiya'a
family and Ghokhwi's and Tsivili's families are frequent. In the case of Ghokhwi's family, one son marries a daughter of
Khukiya, two of whose sons and one grandson marry daughters of Ghokhwi, Hotoi marrying the sister of the wives of
liis uncles Nitoi and Hoito, who marries Hotoi's wife's younger sister. Hoito's marriage with Wokeli, however, never took
place, as the girl died between the betrothal and the marriage. It is shown here, as the marriage was arranged. One case of
twms occurs in the pedigree, which as a whole gives an excellent notion of the rate of mcrease among the richer men of the
L-astern Semas. All children who died in infancy have been omitted, yet Khukiya's grandchildren number at least 62, while

Vihepu'i
many m

great-grandchildren must number :
)re to come in the present generation.

than 200 and possibly twice that

obviously

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eg to CO

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1-5

Chishilimi.

AUkupa = Khnnala 9
Cnophimi j Cttophimi

Yepothipa = Tarela 9
Chophimi I Chophimi

Malyepa = Akhula ?
I Chophimi

t= Nsala 9 Shovokliu = Takhuli
' Chishilimi

Kohazu = Khesheli
Chishilimi

yilho = Lusheli
I I yepothom i

Mil

ekiivi = Woheli

ezbeli

TakhuJi

Shovokhu

Chophimi

from C

Yikuahe

Vukashe = Hothali
I Chishilimi
from A

Inakhu = ZeheU

I TsUkomi

Vukehe Heshevi ?

1^ ^■«^*'^^ = Thak^. Kumtsa Hekiihe Ik^he = Luvlu

Lumitsami)
- — , Kinimi

Kgubeshe

Hevukiio

Luziikhu

Lu>

^hS-'™ f"- ^^'Z ^^^''^^^ members of this clan given bear
^shLlim, are also at the stage of intermarn^mg in ^t he sixth
^ Ac form m -la and take the Sema form In % showlngUe

Pedigree of VIKHYEKE, Chief of Tsivikaputomi, Clan CrasHiUMi.

Nskhoga (or Obnka)

(oJ I
Nunoml)

Sattkik = Muloli

(of I
Sichlmi)

Kumtsa = Nyeshila ?

(of 1 Chophimi
Slchimi)

Viyilho = Megheli
I Acnumi

Khulu ==

Yethashe
Sbiku

Eaku

Tsopa = Zhevili Lhoveke = Nsala 9

founder of ChishUimi CMshilimi
Sapotimi
village

Wotashe = Klyelsala 9
I Cftophimi
from B

£ivuku = Yehali
I (of
Lizmi)
Ziimomi

Lhoveke = Nsala 9
Chophimi
from C

Nikuvi = Khuvlli
j Chophimi

Hevishe Mtakhu

Ehesheli
Chophimi
from D

Shiku = (1) Wokeli (Chophimi) from D
: (2) Shosali, da. of Ghokamu
(of Lumitsami) Kinimi
See pedigree ojf Vikeshe
of Lumitsami

YekUvi = Wohell

Kumtsa =

(of
Lotesaml)
Yepothomi

Shovokhu

Chophimi

from C

Wokiye = Lhohuli Yehake = Thakuli Kumtsa Heklshe Ikaahe = Luvlli
I ChishUimi TtOkomi (of

from A Lumitsami)

Einimi

N.B. — This pedigree is interesting as showing the large admixture of Ac blood represented by the members of the Chophimi clan. The earlier members of this clan given bear
names whicli are most obviously Ac and mterrnarry as they would naturally if of different Ao elans, though the ChishUimi are also at the stage of intermanying in the sixth
generation of the main table. Among the names of the women the Chophimi names lose in the later generation the Ao form in -la and take the Sema form in -H, showing the
way in which the Chophimi have gradually acquired the position of a recognised Sema clan.

Pedigree of NIZIKHU, a Chief of Vekohomi (Clan Ayemi).

Kogho (of **Koghomi,*' a deserted site near Lhoshyepu village)

Machiika (of "Machuka-naBami," a deserted site near Zumethi)

Kerriche (of " Apfuye," a deserted site near Ghukiya. Went to Sukomi, which he is said
I to have founded)

Ziliki (of Sukomi)

Klnimu

LoshoDiu (of Rotomi)

Shosholu (of Emilomi)

Atsammu = Malasachi
I 9C'hophimi

Hevishe Tsiiiishe = Khehali

(of (of I Chishilimi

Keromichomi) Emilomi)

Kupvukhe = Yesheli
I Chishilimi

Kukyekhe

Emilomi)

Hoshyevi (1) = NIZIKHU =~ (2) Wosheli

¥epothomi 9 | (of Vekohomi)
Ayemi

Yepothomi

Kekiye Tokiye

ZhetoH Sinyeho

Pfekiye

N.B. — This pedigree is one of a member of that element hi Vekohomi which regards itself as Sema, but relates
that it diverged from the original fount of the Semas at Tukahu Mountain and, after migrating north-east to the
jiuiction of the Tita and Tizu, turned north-west and rejoined the mam body, after migratmg through country only
occupied by Semas at a comparatively recent date. In spite, therefore, of its belonging to the Ayemi clan,
it may be probably assumed that this family is not of Sema but of Sangtam origin. This assumption is confirmed
by the names of the persons from the eighth generation upwards, which are apparently not Sema, and by
' the sites occupied by the first three generations, which were in country occupied by the Sangtam tribe lontil driven out
by the Sema villages which migrated west after their establishment at Sukomi, from which they drove out the Ao
occupants.

It may be noticed that Nizikhu's paternal grandmother was the great aunt of the mother of his wife Wosheli.
but tlio connection is twice over through the female Ime. Also that his wife Hoshyevi's maternal grandparents
were of the same clan.

Pedigree of KAKHU, Headman of Sapotimi (Clan Chisiiilimi).

Kliaku
I
KbUBhyepti = Shifc
I CliUI

Vikhepu

Euvike Punuthn

Mslupa
Cihonaka

Batsamm = IvUI
(of Phuyemi) i Achumi
\sfe ptdigree oj
Fik-hepii nj
Seromi \

Mithilho ^ Yeliali
I Awffmi

Nguvetha = Ebulhell
I yepothami

Kiyeho = AliinKia

a imman of lilt
Sangtam Tribe

g. Pedigree of NIVIKHU, Chief of Ghitkiya or Suko-phutbmi, of the Zumomi Clan.

B C

TUghakl = Puthelr

(a apirit wbicli tuok I

thtf lorni u! a squirrel I

and was kiUed U:fuie I

birth o( Putbell's I

SOD)

Tsiiabuil

I (of Nimoml)
Uosbyepu

Elyelu
I (CUsI of

SanakasamI)
I ^cAumi

Xnavl = Kbeholi
Zumomi
(see A)

XiTlkhii
Zumumi
(ue A)

Nihoto ■-
Zumomi
(SCO A)

^aJrAl = Shelcbelai ^
(of I C/urpMmi

Sulio-

ptiutemi)

KhuUiiya = Eukhala v
Au'omi

(da. uf KhUthepu
of 8uku-phuteiiii)

Nlkutu =

(of
Nlkuto-
nagami)

Chuklya
(several
wives)

NIVIKHU = KImhuh
(Chief of Acliitmi
(Jhukiya (see B)

Hukevi — Metali

Wokuhe = \iholi lloikiya = Hokhull
(o( Stttakha Yepolliomi

village)
Zttntomi

.Nlhoio = Kuviil
Animi

(see l)

HozheUi = /ukliiill

KiyazU = Zukeli
(Cidefof Zumomi
Kongazuiul) (o( Khukbyei>u
Tillage)

Hoveto = Zbetoli
(chief of Zttm&mi
Nlkuto) (ul Sbevekiie
village)

ohake

Khukiyu
Zumom\
(Chief of
llolshe)

Huzukhe
(cinlnis to clilef-
taiuship passed
ttver as he weul
bliuJ in bis
lallier's lifrtime)

= Kheiioli

(subsidiary chief Acliumi
In virtue of prow- (-see b)
ess of his Iitther
(ihukiyu)

Shebokhe Ubekiya Tokiyu Wukesha

SUkkevi = Keholi

Uolovi

Ziimtmii

(of

Khukliyepu

village)

=s Zbekel

• liy some accounts d-iughter of Ka^lia

ncestor of the CheslialiEni and cblnbilinii clan^i

X.li. — Tlie marriages iiiside the Zumomi claii are frequent, but in each case they are between jjerscns of different villugi k, ami in accurdaiicu
with the recognised custom (see page 130). Xivikhu and Inavi, who are first cousins, marry wives who are themselves also first cousins (see B).
'llie husband of Putheli is given as Tuijhaki (perhaps = "spirit-squirrel"). This is one of the innumtrable venjions givm to account for the
birth of Putheli's son by an unknown father. The Zumomi descent from Putheli is unimpeachable and in possibly a relic of the mathliiieal
system of reckoning descent. Nowadays, however, the clan is much concerned to find a paternal descent in that generation, and either
unblushingly ascribes a husband — human or superhuman — to PutheU or indulges in a fantastic account of the origin of the tribe from some
inanunatu object.

10.

Genealooy of KOHOTO, son of Hokiya, Subsidiary Chief of GmiKwi, of the ZuMom Clan.

QOlcoowD = pQtheU*

with his mother Puthell

I {ef. 9. Ped. of N ivikhul

(Intervening generations

t Hoshyepu)

KlyeBhe = Villi

{founder of Elyeshe
(Sakhai) village.
Came from Sukomj) I

Ohebepu = Thekhall

I (founder and chief of
Lboshyepu village )

Saiyi Pukashe Zukiishe I

Kewokhu - ZhehoU

Yetovl = (1) AsheU

: (S) Lhochevteho 9

(chief of (founder and

YakUhe = Viholi

Hovekhe = Shezell

Kevuku = Vikell

Nlho:

SoekeU (1) = Ghukwi

This branch had a quarrel over
land with the elder branch and

Kohil = (1) Lit3ut9uaho 9
(Chief of 8Bkhai,i Ayemi

died Id France i = (2) Mlchila 9

= (4) Shlthall

iKlvltu

I I I

- Nyegoli i Vlkihe I
I (grddr. of

Sakhai) I

Muromi I

»U I

Hoito

Ghohepu = (1) Shekall
(of I Aiimi

Ehuivl} = (2) LoecheahU 9

TakhiivL Nihoto Eakhlya

Hokapu =< Vikell

Yakuto SUkato

Hokiya = (l)Sazub

Hotol

Nlhoahe Vilto

I) Lhochetl Kibalimi

= (2) Vltzerhuahu 9 Avtmi

VlBheku = VutsUla 9

Visheru = (1) HokUli I

V'lhepu = Yehlvlslio '

Wokiya Klyato Wol

1) SoekeU \(firstcouslnB,of Satakha
: (2) WokeU / village) Zumomi

KOHOTO Hotol Pikuto LoUka

Klvltoh = Nyegoll

• Said to have been the daughter of Kagharao, ancestor of the ChcslmUmi and CldshiUmi clans.

X.B.— The famity of which this is a genealogy ia one of the rao3t important of the Zumomi familieg. It will be noticed that the ucoount of the parynLage of Piitlieli's child la
from that given by the Ohukiya faruily (Pedigree of Nivikhii) and less fantastic, barely glossing over the fact of Putholi'a having had no husband. It makes Kumtsa the son
' " tad of inserting two Kenerations in between, and is probably to be preferred to the other account, which inserts before Kumlsa two generations which, according to

after him. The moat interesting point in ralationship is marriage between Kevuku and his second cousin in the paternal line, Vikeli, which is a verj'
. for though the parties are of different villages, even that would not condone a marriage between second cousins by paternal descent. Kivitoh, son of
igh the mother and she is of a different clan. Ghukwi also marries his father's sister's daughter. The marriages between a man
), Visheru marries two, and Ghulcwi marries a pair of cousins. The arrougeraont has obvious
because it was thought that as they were of very tender age some harm might come to them

P PutheU

i genealogy, would

"lable breftcli of Seraa

fohii, marries a first coi

i of the same family are noticeable. Yetovi marries tlxree sisters (at
d«mtages. The names of the infant sons of Ghukwi and Vihepu were not given

but her descent i

PAy,

reason of my writmg down their names, possibly even by the mere mention of them. The intermarriages '\yith other branches of the' Zumomi clan are very frequent. The eJan is
and has many branches. The other marriages are largely with the Muromi clan and point to a very strong admixture of Sangtam blood. Even the clan given as
a Saiigtam one, to judge by the names " Litsutsusho *' and " Vitzerhushu," which are not Sema names. (See supra, pp. 124, 134.)

11.

.^^

Pedigree of KUPVUHE, now Headman of Shahapfumi,
formerly of lukobomi and originally of lotesami
(Clan Chishilimi).

Ahoki

I ("from Tukahu Mt.

Mutsiisii

I (of Hebulimi)

Yevisii

, (of Awohomi)

Kachana

I (of Tukunasami

Ina

(of Keromiehomi)

Hoishe

I (of Lotoaami)

Kiyeka

Shovishe

j (of Sot onii)

Kuchakhu

Lhozupu = Jfushuli
I Chophimi

Wopfuka

I (of Lotesami)
I ZAovishe

Nogupu = Khetaii I (of Lnkoboml)

Chishilimi I

Xogheshe

Keketha = Kulholi

j Chophimi

Khovishe

= MIthlll
Chophimi

Kuzuli (2) = KUPVUHE = (1) Khevili
Chophimi I Chishilimi

6 6 6 9
Died in Infancy.

Tokiye Xihokhu Zhetovi Piyoto

N.B. — Thi.s liedigree is a fair indication of the length of time during
which the Sema villages near the Dayang have been permanently occupied
by Semas. It is likety that some generations have been omitted between
Mutsusli of Hebulimi and Hoishe of Lotesami, but it is probably fairly
safe to assume that the latter was the first of his family to settle down in
the present Sema comitry for good. His descendant Kupvuhe himself
moved to Lukobomi and again quite recently to a new site near the plains
which was offered him by the local authorities. It may be noticed that
his first wife was of the same clan as himself, though coming from a
different village. The steady intermarriage between Chishilimi and
Chophimi is characteristic, probably, of the neighbourhood of Lotesami,
where the Chophimi seem to have been first heard of as a Sema clan and
where the two predominant clans are still these two. That Kupvuhe
should have again married into the Chophimi clan in his second wife is
probably the merest chance, as there happened to be Chophimi families
among the Sotoemi settlers who went to Kupvuhe's new village from
Sotoemi in the Tizu vall^v.

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 145

miighemi to cultivate, reserving each year whatever land
he wanted for the support of himself and his household.
This society, then, in its simplest form consists of a chief
and his miighemi (" churl " in its older sense is perhaps the
nearest English translation), bound by a tie of land tenure.
Reciprocal duties, however, exist apart from the mere
holding of land. Besides having to provide his churls with
land, the chief provides them with wives whenever they are
unable to buy them themselves. He is also expected to
feed them when they are unable to feed themselves, and to
I protect their interests generally, a duty which frequently
includes the payment of fines for misdemeanours committed
in or against other villages. In both these cases he has
some expectation, usually distant enough, of ultimate
repayment. The churl on his part does a sort of homage
to his chief, calling him " father, "^ and, if he receives a
wife from him,^ becomes a member or at any rate a quasi -
member of his clan, and, subject to the same gennas and
marriage restrictions, owes him a regular amount of work
on his fields, in return for his protection, and a leg from any
animal taken in the chase or slaughtered at ceremonial
feasts. The tie created between the chief and his " orphans "
is thus a sort of mixture of land tenure and adoption, and it
follows almost inevitably from its nature that the miighemi
is tied to his chief's village. The chief provides him with
land ^ on the understanding that he will do work in the
chief's fields and will help the chief in war. Under condi-
tions of society in which the existence of each village depends ■
on its ability to hold its own against head- (and land-)

^ A chief adopting a man as his miXghemi is said to make him an
antikeshiu ( = one who has become a son), while his miighemi is said on
his part to make the chief an apukeshiu ( = one who has become a father).
The real meaning of the word miighemi is " orphan," and it is used in that
sense literally as well as politically, and covers all villagers who are not
chiefs. The particular retainers who have done " homage " and become
anukeshia are called collectively anulikeshimi.

^ Sometimes a gift of paddy, a spear, and a dao serves instead of a
wife to create the recipient an adopted member of the chief's exogamous
clan. A man adopted into a chief's clan by provision with a wife is called
akadkhem,i (or akhekemi) <khe- — to provide with a wife.

' A chief is bound to provide any one of his miighemi with land as soon
as the said miighemi max-ries, but not before.

146 THE SEMA NAGAS part

hunting neighbours on perhaps three or even all four sides,
migrating from the village without the approval of the
chief assumes the seriousness of a miUtary desertion. Again,
if a chief has fed his churl in times of famine, he has a right
to expect that the man shall remain and repay him. If
the man once leaves for the protection of another chief,
recovery of anjrthing due from him becomes a matter of the
greatest difficulty. The acceptance, moreover, of any
chief as a protector, and the formal addressing him as
" father," creates, as has been stated, a quasi -blood-
relationship, in virtue of which the chief becomes heir to
his churi in preference to any heirs, however closely related,
who are not likewise his milghemi^ Thus, if of three childless
brothers called Kumtsa, Kakhu, and Shiku, Kumtsa and
Kakhu called a chief named Hekshe " father," while Shiku
did not, Kakhu would inherit Kumtsa 's property in preference
to Hekshe, but Hekshe would inherit in preference to Shiku.
Of course if Kumtsa had a son he would take precedence
of any other possible heirs, but he would, by birth, be
Hekshe 's miighemi, the relative positions of chief and churl
being both hereditary. It follows therefore that if the
chief's potential rights of inheritance (one is almost tempted
to use the word " escheat ") in respect of the property of
any miighemi are to be of any value, he must be in a position
to insist on the miighemi's remaining in the village, where he
can T^^thout difficulty exercise his rights. The result is a
generally recognised obHgation on the part of the Sema
miighemi to remain in the village of his chief, whether he
likes it or not. As, however, it is not possible under the
primitive condition of Sema life to so secure a man that he
cannot run away and take his family with him, the chief in
such cases confiscates all the property, both land and
movable, of any deserter, excepting always the weapons he
carries, the clothes he wears, and the utensils he can carry
with him. In the case of a man with literally no possessions,
the chief has to be content with his house (the materials of
which have at any rate a nominal value) and his dhan-

* The term miighemi is here used vaguely, as often by Semas, to cover
anulikeshimi, akadkhemi, and other specific varieties.

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 147

pounding trestle or mortar. This has become a recognised
custom, but it is obvious that these two possessions are the
minimum which a man running away by stealth must leave
behind him, as they are of the least portable description.
They fall to the chief by right in the case of any mughemi
leaving his village against the chief's will, whatever the
circumstances, although in the case of administered villages
the other rights of the chief are nowadays ordinarily com-
pounded for by the payment of a small sum of money
varying as a rule from five to fifteen rupees.

With regard to some of the reciprocal duties of the chief
and his churl some further explanation is perhaps necessary.
It has been said that when a chief provides his mughemi
with a wife or with food he expects to be paid back ultimately.
In the case of his providing a wife, the expectation of re-
payment is limited to his right to the guardianship of the
daughters of any mughemi who dies without male heirs
who are also mughemi of the same chief. Thus in the case
taken above of three brothers Kumtsa, Kakhu, and Shiku,
Hekshe would have no right of wardship over an only
daughter of Kumtsa if Kakhu were alive or had a son, but
he would have that right of wardship as against Shiku, who
s not his mughemi. The right of guardianship entails, of
3ourse, the right to " eat " the marriage price of the ward,
[n the case of food, when a chief has specifically lent an
' orphan " so many baskets of paddy, he is entitled to their
:'epa5mient with interest at the customary rates, but realisa-
:ion from persons who cannot pay has to be left to the next
generation, and is naturally, therefore, often evaded entirely
Dr satisfied only in part. The right of the chief to exact
.vork on his fields exists in varying grades from village to
nUage. Every grown male of the community over which
le is chief, including his own brothers, is expected to do a
certain amount, usually from four to sixteen days in the
rear, for one-half of which, in some villages, the chief must
^ve a nominal payment of a little salt or a small piece of
neat to each worker. In some villages where the chief has
rreat personal ascendancy the amount of work which has to
)e done by his villagers is very much more than sixteen days'.

L 2

148 THE SEMA NAGAS part

As might be expected, in the course of time all sorts of
complicated relations arise within the village, particularly
where the ability to throw off colonies has ceased. In this
case the death of a chief invariably entails squabbles between
his sons or brothers, or both. Besides the chief and his
brothers, there are other relations who have land and
miighemi of their own ; there are men who by trade or good
fortune have become rich and bought land and likewise
acquired miigliemi, and a common man may call one man
" father " by virtue of having been provided by him with a
wife, call another " father " because he was given land to
cultivate by him this year, call a third " father " because
he was given land to cultivate by him last year, and in
addition owe the regular two days a year in work to the
chief. The rights of a chief over his anulikeshimi and the
right to work from the miighemi in general are to a certain
extent split up at his death between his married sons, or
at any rate all sons who are capable of exercising them at
the time and of exerting their right to do so, for the un-
married sons may share, though they do not necessarily do
so. The eldest son may become chief if he has not already
made a village of his own, but more often the dead chief is
succeeded in that office by a younger brother, whose
secondary place is taken by the dead chief's son — assuming,
that is, that the dead chief was not himself the successor of
an elder brother. The new chief now gets the same amount
of free labour that was enjoyed by his elder brother, while
the late chief's son gets whatever share his father used to
allow to his uncle. On the death of the new chief he is
succeeded in the office by his nephew (the son of his elder
brother), and the secondary place now vacated by the latter
should probably, in strict custom, go to the latter's brother,
but in point of fact it seems now and then to go to his
uncle's son, or occasionally even to some more distant
cousin, so that one sometimes finds in this way a dual
chieftainship growing up. The generally accepted rule,
however, is that the eldest of the original chief's sons who
remains in the village ultimately succeeds his father and is
again ultimately succeeded by his own son, the interludes

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 149

of brothers and uncles being merely temporary, and not
affecting the general succession. ^ While, however, the
chief's labour dues are for the most part divided between
the chief and his brother or nephew, there is no very strict
rule governing their distribution, and a certain amount is
often found given to distant relatives, descendants of the
original chief's brothers, or of a subordinate leader who
assisted him in founding the village. The practice in this
respect varies somewhat from village to village, and persons
are often found with well-recognised rights to a few days'
labour in their fields who are no longer, or who never were,
recognised as having any claim on the chieftainship. One
source of this condition is to be found in the exclusion from
the chieftainship of a man whose hereditary claim is in-
contestable but whose personal unfitness disqualifies him.
Such a man, though passed over for the chieftainship, may
be given the free labour, or rather part of it, which he would
ordinarily have obtained, and transmits the rights to his
descendants, though the chieftainship is retained by another
branch of the family. If an elder brother settle in a village
founded by a younger brother, the latter, of course, is
chief to the entire exclusion of the former. Indeed a son
may take precedence of his father, as in the case of Khukiya,
who lived in Sakhalu subject to his own son.

In some villages the right to free labour from the village
at large has perhaps either never existed or has ceased to
exist. In Philimi and Rotomi the right to free labour
from the whole village did not exist, though of recent years
the chiefs of PhiHmi have insisted on four days' labour, and
in some of the other Dayang valley villages the labour on
the chief's fields is not done, either because he is not regarded
as entitled to it, or because he has not the strength of
character to enforce it. In Phusumi, for instance, the
present chief has the utmost difficulty in obtaining labour

^ In one small village, Azekakemi, the late chief Lohatha having died
without male heirs of his own family, the office has devoh^ed faute de
mieuz on one of his akaakhemi, but this is quite an exceptional case, and
the man is not recognised as a genuine chief. There is in point of fact a
son of Lohatha's, but he is an idiot, and the other relations have become
poor and mughemi of other men.

150 THE SEMA NAGAS part

to which he is admittedly entitled, and sometimes compounds
for it by accepting a purely nominal sum to save his face.
In this village, however, the family of the chief has
degenerated considerably below the usual standard, for in
most Sema villages the chieftain famiUes form an aristocracy
in the literal sense of the word, being (possibly owing to
better nourishment and the habit of command) physically,
morally, and intellectually the best of the community.

A chief's relations to his " orphans " are more or less of
a private or personal nature, but his duties as chief of a

^^ village or part of a village comprise public functions as
well. He has to direct the village in war, nominally at

^ any rate, and to decide, either by himself or in consultation
with his elders (cJwchomi), all questions of the relations
between his own and neighbouring villages. The extent to
which he would consult his elders would depend almost
entirely on the personal character of the chief himself. In
the settlement of disputes within the village, the elders come

^ into greater prominence, as the opinion of the old men is
often necessary to decide points both of fact and custom.
Another duty of the chief, naturally arising out of his position
as " lord of the manor," is to decide what land is to be culti-
vated in each successive year. In all Naga villages which
do not practise terraced cultivation, it is for many reasons
the practice of the village to cultivate together. Patches
of jhum surrounded by jungle are far more open to the
depredations of birds and wild animals, and reciprocal help
in cultivation is less easily given. In villages which are
liable to head -hunting raids, joint cultivation is the only
method which offers any safety to the individuals working
in the fields. It is the chief's business to turn out the village
in case of danger from fire or any other pressing need, to
entertain distinguished strangers, and to take the lead
generally in all social matters. It is also his business to
give warning of most gennas^ in the customary formula
and to issue the orders of the day on the morning of any day

^ The Sage genna is proclaimed by the awou. It has to be proclaimed
in special terms calculated to confuse the evil spirit as to the date on which
it is to be held.

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 151

on which the village is to act as a whole. A man who cannot
give warning of gennas in the proper manner never takes
the position of chief. In this particular duty the chief is
performing an office which in the Angami tribe is performed
by the Kemovo, who is a more or less hereditary priest,
but is not a secular chief. Among the Semas the duties
performed by the Angami Kemovo appear to be more or
less split between the chief (akekdo) and the priestly official
called awou, the chief assuming the general direction of the
ceremony, while the awou performs ceremonial acts that
may be necessary. That the secular chief has in this
direction tended to oust the priestly awou from what was
the latter 's domain is perhaps to be inferred from the fact
that, like the Kemovo's house in an Angami village, the
awou's house in a new Sema village is always built first,
the chief's being the second to be built. The awou, too,
is entitled to one day's free labour for his services in first
sowing and one day's free labour for his services in first
reaping. These two days' work are called atiakuzhu
and achushuzhu respectively, and are almost invariably
acquired by the chief from the awou for a small or nominal
pajTnent, and are sometimes given free to the chief by the
awou. The awou, however, is not hereditary, whereas the
Angami Kemovo is usually hereditary like the Sema chief.

Although the chief may be regarded as the most important The
element in the poUty of his village, there are others who ' *^®"
cannot be ignored. The chochomi have been already ^
mentioned. The word chochomi^ means in the first place
a man who is pre-eminent, and hence one of those whom
the chief employs to help him in managing public affairs .^^
He serves as a sort of herald, whom the chief sends on
errands to other villages, and as a deputy to manage the
affairs of his own when the chief is elsewhere or otherwise
employed. Inside the village, however, the chief normally
finds it convenient, to have a number of chochomi. It is to
his interest to keep the village contented, and as there are
normally persons belonging to a number of different clans •

* Chochomi <root cho- = "stick out" (vertically); cf. Chophimi — •
derivation ascribed to it (Pt. VI, p. 351).

152 THE SEMA NAGAS part

in a village who are not entirely without jealousy of one
another, the chief summons the most prominent member of
each clan to help in settling disputes, to eat a share of
animals given him as presents or tribute or by way of a
fine for a transgression of civil or reUgious custom, to learn
the opinion of the community on any particular point, and
generally to take a part in any matter which affects the
whole community. Of course the position and number of
chochomi of this sort are very variable indeed. In some
villages where the chief is very powerful they will
be negUgible or even non-existent. In other villages
they might be powerful enough to control the chief entirely,
though this is rare. They are nominated by the chief, but
unless he is a very strong man he cannot, of course, in
, practice ignore the men whose position qualifies them for
selection, and there are few Sema villages so large but that
there can be little doubt as to who ought to be selected.
G^eneraUy speaking, however, chochomi take only a very
secondary place in the poUty of the village. It would
perhaps be more correct to say a third place (and a poor
third at that), as there are also the kekdmi to be reckoned
with. These are the chief's relations, men of his family,
i cousins and so forth, who, though they have no very recog-
nised status, often have much influence and are usually
able (and often ready) to create and lead an opposition
party. Their principal occupation seems to be quarreUing
among themselves over questions of priority. The chief
himself is, of course, a kekami, the word being applied to
those who are of a chief's family, as opposed to mughemi,
noble as opposed to common, but the status of kekami is
easily lost by a man becoming poor and having to adopt a
protector, or by migration to another village, where the
relations of the kekami in question are of no importance. -^
On the other hand, it is not easy to acquire, and mere wealth
is not enough, though by founding a new village, as chief
thereof, a man, whatever he was before, becomes ipso facto
a kekami and the akekao of that village. Kekami probably =
one who binds <ka- = to bind, prevent.
Alxuhi. Another important factor in village life is that of the

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 153

" gangs," aluzhi (probably < alUy field, azhu, labourer).
These are composed of both sexes in the case of the unmarried
and are pretty well self -component. They nominate their own
commander (athou), who decides what fields are to be culti-
vated each day by his gang, and who is usually the biggest
bully in it. They consist, generally speaking, of persons
of about the same age, and though each gang can eject
a member at will, normally a person enters a gang as
soon as he is old enough to be left behind in the village
to his own devices when his mother goes to work, and
belongs to it or to some other gang for the rest of his life.
He ceases, however, to work with it in the fields as soon as,
but only for as long as, he has sons old enough to go to work
with their own gangs ; only when he is so old that he cannot
go to work in the fields does he practically cease to be a
member of his gang, for if he has no son or if his son dies he
goes back to gang work as a member of his old gang. The
same rule applies to women, who, however, leave their
original gangs on being married and go to gangs composed
of married women and widows only. Apart from this
provision, which entails the virtual separation of the sexes
after marriage, the composition of a gang depends almost
entirely on age, contemporary children, associated into
groups of playfellows, being their ordinary basis. Where
clan feeling runs high it may happen, of course, that the
gangs are composed largely of members of one clan, but
ordinarily they are quite indiscriminate in this respect.
They are also democratic, and the chief's son, like everyone
else, must do his work and obey the leader of his gang. The
latter maintains discipline by the ejection of the contu-
macious, but it frequently happens that quarrels break up
the gang entirely, when the component members join other
gangs. ^

In the independent villages where the children cannot be
taken to the fields the respective gangs spend much of their
time in fighting with one another, and where factions in the
village coincide with the composition of gangs, this fighting
is undoubtedly very rough, indeed it is probably that in
any case, and a most suitable education for the Naga warrior.

154 THE SEMA NAGAS part

In administered villages the children, less fortunate, usually
^ have to work instead of fight and play, and are taken to
the fields with their parents.^ Later on, when old enough,
they go to work in the gangs to which they have already
"- attached themselves, and it is really upon these gangs that
the whole cultivation of the village depends. Every member
of the village is entitled to have his fields cultivated by
them, and though, of course, they do not do the entire work
necessary, it would be practically impossible for a man to
cultivate more than a very small patch of ground without
their help. He does not, however, expect to get this help
'' absolutely gratis. When a gang goes to his fields he is
expected to give them liquor and rice. Not very much of
either is expected from poor men, but the rich are expected
to be liberal and often to give meat as well as rice, and plenty
of liquor. If they appear stingy, the gang indulges in very
free criticism. In the case of a man who is so poor that he
can really give the gang nothing, the commander tells off
a certain proportion of the gang, as much as he thinks
necessary or desirable, to go and do the work.

An almost essential feature of the aluzhi system is the
singing which accompanies it. The gangs work in a long
line, singing as they work, and each gang has, or at any rate
ought to have, three leaders of song who know the whole
art of singing and can teach and lead the rest. There are
songs particularly appropriate to each phase of cultiva-
tion, though that does not preclude their being sung at
other times as well, nor does it preclude the singing of songs
that have nothing whatever to do not only with the work
in hand but with agriculture at all. The singing is possibly
regarded as frightening away malignant spirits as well as
an aid to labour, and the same ideaTmay have given rise to
the practice of " Ho-ho-ing " when on the march and the
shouts and yelLs emitted as a village is approached or left.
Migration When a new village is to be made, the parent village
insists on the colonists' leaving the village by an indirect
path avoiding the main village path at the point where it

* There seems to be some probability of this circumstance considerably
affecting the character of the average Sema in the coming generation.

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 155

leaves the village. Beyond the precincts of the village, and
preferably after crossing water, the colonists sacrifice a
pig, while the inhabitants remaining in the village do the
same at the .village gate on the following day. The
colonists as they go sprinkle liquor along their path, while
those who remain do so along the regular village path.
The object of this is to detain in the village the spirit or
spirits which properly belong to it, while the colonists take
with them their own spirits to the village they are founding.
On reaching the. site selected they will again sacrifice a pig
before occupatioji, and into the well they must pour water
stolen from the well of some village which is rich and
prosperous. Young men of the old village may not eat in
the new village till some old man of the old village has
taken food in it.

The customs that govern the holding and transfer of Property,
property among the Semas have to some extent been dealt
with already, though indirectly, under the head of " The
Manor," but certain points have been left untouched.
Property as it exists among the Semas may roughly be
divided into land, movables, and debts..

First, as regards land. Land that is the common land of ^
a village, clan, or family cannot, of course, be sold by an
individual, nor can an individual sell his share in any land.
The land must first be so divided between the owners that
the actual land owned by the one who wishes to part with
his share can be specified, after which he is at liberty to
dispose of it as it seems good to him. There is, however, a
very strong prejudice against the sale of even privately owned -
land to members of another village, and this is recognised in
practice in the administered villages by an order forbidding
any sale of land from one village to another without previous
sanction. It may be added that land questions in the Sema
country are all very highly coloured by the extreme scarcity
of land and the rapidly increasing inability of the population
to support themselves on the land at their disposal, no
other suitable means of liveHhood existing. Land held in
common by the whole community, though it probably still
exists in one or two of the most eastern Sema villages, has

156 THE SEMA NAGAS part

long ceased to exist, at any rate in any appreciable quantity,
and probably entirely, in the administered part of the Sema
country. All land is now privately owned, ^ though, as a
man's land may not be divided by his sons, but must await
the second generation for division, much land is of necessity
owned jointly by brothers or even cousins, the eldest
allotting the land for yearly cultivation. It cannot pass
to women by inheritance or gift, and in the case of a woman
purchasing land with her own money it passes to her male
heirs, sons if she has them, or, if not, her brothers or her
father's male relations. Land is, however, often given as
part of the purchase money for a wife to the girl's father.
Land passing by inheritance ordinarily goes first of all to
the sons of the deceased, who enjoy it in common, land for
cultivation being regularly allotted by the eldest, who does
not fail to choose the best plot of each year's " jhum " for
himself. It is genua for a man's sons to divide his land.
In the following generation, however, his land may be, and
usually is, divided by the grandsons. The shares are
nominally equal between the famihes of the different sons,
but the eldest son's family (and within it his eldest son
again) takes the best share. As, however, the proposal for
division is regarded as liable to entail unpleasant conse-
quences on the proposer in the shape of an early death, the
grandson who first suggests division is entitled to take one
first-class field (one man's cultivation for one year) as the

* There is a dictum to which effect has been sometimes given
maintaining that private property in " jhum " land (as opposed to irrigated
land) is not recognised by Government, at any rate as against Government.
This dictum probably owes its origin to a theory that " jhum " land is
normally land held by the village community and not by individuals, and
is cultivated spasmodically and erratically, and is of small value to its
owners, as indicating intermittent and sporadic cultivation over a large
area of country. If this is so the theory is unfortunate, being quite ill-
founded as regards most Naga tribes, for almost all the land in the Naga
Hills District is now privately owned, and has long been subject of sales,
gifts, marriage settlements, and even mortgages of a sort, and has all the
properties of plots of irrigated land, the only difference bemg that " jhum "
land must lie fallow for a period of years if it is to be successfully cultivated.
A great deal of existing " jhum " land is incapable of irrigation, and, in
addition to its existing shortcomings, would be made the subject of a
further disability if this dictum were acted upon.

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 157

price of his proposal, and he must sacrifice a pig to avert the
consequences of his rash act.

Should there be no sons, real or adopted, a man's land
goes on his decease to his brothers, failing them to his first
cousins (male, on his father's side), failing them to second
cousins, and so forth. In the case of a man dying without
children and owning only a share of common land, the
division of the land in the next generation is not directly
affected, as the deceased's father's grandsons divide all the
common land that has come down to their generation
according to the number of sons who have left grandsons
in the usual way. Private land, however, that he had
bought himself would pass to his brothers, who could divide
it at once, there being no prohibition on this immediate
division of land inherited from a brother or cousin. The
matter is probably best illustrated by a genealogical
table : —

NiVISHK

J \ (

Kiyelho of Alapfumi Ghokaniu of Lumitsami Khukapu

Wokishe Hekheshe Inato Nyekeshe Kohazo

I i-^i I '■'■"■ I

Tokiye Vikeshe Inaho Hokishe Sakai

Here Nivishe's land cannot be divided among his three
sons. In his next generation it is divided equally (or
nominally so) between the three families descended from
him, so that one share goes to Wokishe, one to Kohazo,
while Ghokamu's sons divide the third between them.
Should division be postponed to the third generation,
Vikeshe, Inaho, and Hokishe will stiU only get a third share
between them. Nyekeshe, however, dies without children,
so his land, however acquired, will go to Hekheshe and Inato
in common, and may be equally divided either by them or
in the next generation by Vikeshe, Inaho, and Hokishe, as
Nyekeshe is regarded as equally the uncle of all three of
them and would be called apo, " father," by them. But
while these three take equal shares of land inherited from

158 THE SEMA NAGAS part

their uncle Nyekeshe, they do not share alike in land
inherited from Ghokamu, as half goes to Hekheshe's children
and half to Inato's. Hokishe cannot, of course, share with
his two first cousins in land bought by Hekheshe. Nor
can Hekheshe's sons claim any share, if Hokishe lives, to
land bought by Inato. Land once divided is treated as
private land, just as though it had been bought, but in a
case like this one taken as an example it is more likely
that family lands would not be divided even in the second
generation, as the descendants are few in number. In
point of fact, of the persons named in the table,^
Kiyelho is still alive, a reputed centenarian, though his
two brothers and his son are long dead, Kohazo only of the
second generation being still living, and the third generation
having wives and children of their own, the result of Kiyelho 's
unconscionable longevity having been to postpone up to
date the formal division of Nivishe's land, though in practice
the land is divided between the heirs, who cultivate different
areas and have boundary disputes like separate landowners.
"■"^ Movable property follows, as far as inheritance is con-
^ cemed, exactly the same law as land, subject to two excep-
tions. First of all it is divided on the owner's decease by
his sons, the eldest taking something extra, and need never
^ wait until the next. generation, though the division is post-
poned till the death of the widow if the latter marry one of
her late husband's heirs. In the second place, women are
allowed to share up'^o a certain point. Daughters are
allowed a share of grace only, and if given anything the
gift is usually hmited to ornp-ments. Widows can only share
in ornaments, fowls (wo other livestock), and paddy as a
general rule, but they are entitled to a one-third share of
the sum of these three sorts of property left by their late
husband. A single wife gets a third of the whole. If there
is more than one wife this third is divided between them.
The widow's share is, however, dependent on her good
behaviour between the death of her husband and the

* The table is not complete — Nivishe had a fourth son, Litapu, who had
a son Vikiye still alive. Kohazo has a brother Kuvulho. See genealogy
of Vikeshe. The family was perhaps the most distinguished in the Sema
country, largely on Inato's account.

in LAWS AND CUSTOMS 159

division of his movable property, a period which may last
for many months, though it is more often probably a matter
of weeks or even days. When Inato, the late chief of
Lumitsami, died, he gave orders on his death-bed that
unless his wives married his nephew Vikeshe or some other
of his heirs they should remain in his house and lament
his memory for three whole years, and he made their shares
in his property dependent on their doing so.^ The postpone-
ment of division of property for a share after a man's death
is probably dictated not only by sense of decency, but also
by a desire to let the dead man's spirit go peaceably away
first. The soul of the dead is believed to wait about in .
the house for some time after death. The writer was once
accommodated in a Sema village in a temporarily unoccupied
house ; the weather was warm, and in all innocence he
pulled apart the end wall to let in air. The owner, who was
staying with his relations in another house and had tempo-
rarily left the village, was much aggrieved, as it had caused
the soul of his wife, who had died a few days before, to
leave the house and frightened her away before her time.

In movables other than those mentioned women are said
to be unable, according to strict custom, to share. The
writer has known, however, of at least one case in which ^
cash was left by a dying man to his wives, and in which
the bequest was honoured, as well as another bequest of a
valuable armlet to a person totally unconnected with the
family. It is not, however, necessarily incumbent on a
man's heirs to honour his dying wishes, and if he gives
directions as to the disposal of his property which are
contraryto custom, the heirs can disregard them at pleasure,
even though there is no doubt as to the actual directions
having been given. But as a general rule a man, even on
his death-bed, does not give bequests which are contrary
to custom, and in any case asks his heirs to give of their
generosity whatever he wishes to bequeath to a person not
entitled to receive it. It is possible that a dying man,
however, may promise aU sorts of things to his wives or
others simply because of their importunity, but promises
of this sort are not made before the heirs and no attention

^ As far as I remember his directions were not too literally obeyed.

i6o THE SEMA NAGAS part

is paid to them at all by them, and indeed it is Ukely that
in such cases they were never intended to pay any.

With regard to the sale of movable property, there is a
point of Sema custom which is of some importance. A man
obtaining any article by purchase or barter is allowed three
days in which to discover any blemish. The article may be
returned to the original owner and the price of it recovered,
provided that the purchaser returns it within three days of
acquiring it. Sometimes a longer period is allowed, but
only by specific agreement when the article changes hands.
The following cases in point occur to the writer : that of a
dad with a concealed crack, a cracked spear-shaft, an entire
piglet (sold as castrated), a diseased chicken, an ill-tempered
dbg. In one of the latter cases the dog bit its new owner
so' badly that he let it go and it ran away, so that the owner
was" unable to return it, and claimed a return of the purchase
money in vain.
Debt. Debts, generally speaking, are treated like movable

property, but should a question of the transfer of a debt
arise, no transfer of debt or credit is recognised unless both
parties to the debt are present, as well as both parties to the
transfer-^an obviously necessary provision among a people
who do not possess the art of writing.^ For purposes of
inheritance, debts, whether due to or from the deceased,
are treated as cash. The male heirs get the benefit in the
former case and the disability in the latter, as it is absolutely
incumbent on a man's heirs to pay his debts. And though
an attempt to avoid the obligation of paying debts is some-
i times made by refusing to accept the benefits as weU as the
disabilities of heirship, a refusal of this sort is not regarded
as a vahd excuse for the next heir not paying the dead man's
creditors. Attempts of this sort are naturally made when
the dead man's liabilities exceed his assets. The law of
borrowing among the Semas would at first sight make them
appear a most usurious tribe. A loan of cash or of paddy —
loans are usually given in paddy — must be repaid in the

' A tally of loans is kept by stringing sword-beans (alau), one bean for
three ' kangs ' of paddy lent, i.e., five due next year, each such item being
ctilled £uh6.

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS i6i

following year plus 100 per cent, by way of interest. If the
principal is repaid then, the interest remains as it is and
does not increase, however much delayed payment may be,
biit if the principal is left unpaid or only paid in part, the
whole sum outstanding redoubles itself during the following
year and so goes on at 100 per cent, compound interest till
the whole of the principal is paid off, at which point the out-
standing sum becomes stationary. Under this system a
small debt rapidly assumes impossible proportions, and
while the Semas were independent large claims, consisting
mostly of interest, were probably compounded for, the
creditor gladly forgoing part of his rights in order to get
the remainder. When, however, administration came, the
owners of bad debts took them all to the courts and wanted
their full pound of customary flesh. The trouble that was
in this led to the institution of a new law of debt among the
northern Semas, for which Inato, chief of Lumitsami, and
Sema interpreter at Mokokchung, was mainly responsible.
This new custom forbade any increase by interest after the
second year, so that the principal is doubled the first, the
whole sum outstanding redoubles the next year (provided
the principal has not been repaid in full), and there it stops.
This system, which applies to both cash and grain, was
probably taken from the Lhota system, in which increase
likewise stops at the end of the second year. Inato might
perhaps have gone one better still and followed the custom
always in vogue in several of the Sema villages in the Dayang
vaUey, in which a debt doubles the first year and then
remains stationary, but perhaps it would have been too
much to ask of a man who was himself owed very considerable
sums of money. In any case, all Semas, whether of the
Tita, Tizu, or Dayang valleys, recognise a definite and
uniform custom of remission on debt paid off in full. This
remission is 10 per cent, of the whole payment due. Thus
a man borrowing 10 kangs of paddy in 1915 and repaying
none in 1916 has to pay 40 in 1917. If he pays this 40 in
full, 4 kangs are remitted and 36 only taken. If, how-
ever, he only pays half, 20 kangs that is, there is no remis-
sion, and he owes 20 still. Should he pay up the remaining

i62 THE SEMA NAGAS part

20 in full the following year he will be allowed a discount of
2 kangs and pay only 18.

No right to this remission is recognised on broken tens,
at any rate up to 6, though often given on broken tens of
more than 6. Thus from a man paying up a debt of
16 kangs not less than 15 would be accepted, one being
discounted on the first 10 only, but 15 kangs would also
probably be accepted in lieu of 17, 2 kangs being remitted.

Debts of animals are regulated by measurements. If a
man borrows a mithan, the lender measures the horns and
the girth behind the shoulder. In repaying, the debtor is
expected to produce an animal slightly longer in horn and
greater in girth, though from a really poor man one which
was of equal size would ordinarily be accepted. Other
animals are measured by girth only.

For purposes of inheritance, debts count as cash. The
male heirs take all the credit as well as the liabilities of
the dead man. The writer has, however, known one case
in which a dying man made over part of the sums due to
him to his wives.
Aii')i iion. The question of the inheritance of property cannot be
passed over without mention of adoption. The form of
adoption as it exists between a chief and his *' orphan " has
already been described. The adopted places himself under
the adopter's protection and calls him father, and the
adopter becomes heir to the assets (and HabiUties also) of
the adopted should the latter die without male heirs standing
in the same relation as he did to his adopter. This form of
adoption is called anu-shi, which means " son-making."
The actual relation, however, which it sets up between the
two parties approaches far less nearly to those of a father
and his real son than those created by the form of adoption
perversely called anguli-shishi, which literally means
" making relations -in-law " or perhaps " attempting to
make relations-in-law." Probably it is an abbreviated
phrase to express what it really is, which is making a man
an absolute member of the family of his relations-in-law.
This procedure can be done at the expense of the formal
, gift of one cow presented by a son-in-law to his father-in-law,

iir LAWS AND;:CUST0MS 163

provided, of course, that the father-in-law desires to make
the adoption, for the adopted son-in-law now becomes a
son and an absolute member of his adoptive parent's clan
and family and entitled to all the rights of a son, sharing
with other and genuine sons in their father's property at ^
his death on equal terms. A case in point is the adoption
of one Izhihe by the late chief of Aichikuchumi, Ghulhoshe
by name. Izhihe, of the Zumomi clan, married Hesheh,
the daughter of Ghulhoshe, a Yepothomi, and her elder
brother Mevekhe is now chief in his father's stead.
Ghulhoshe, however, having adopted (anguli-shishi) Izhihe,
the latter became a member of the Yepothomi clan, shared
in Ghulhoshe 's property on an equal footing with his blood
son Mevekhe, and calls the latter i-mu, " my elder brother,"
instead of i-chi, " my brother-in-law," which he used to do
before the adoption took place. No formality seems to
accompany this adoption except the casual present of a
cow, but the results of its taking place are permanent, and
involve an entire contradiction of the otherwise imperative
custom of exogamy. It seems to be resorted to but rarely.

It has already been shown that disputes within the village Settle -
are settled by the chiefs and their chochomi. If it is a ^ap^^tes.
dispute as to a private right the matter would probably be
settled by a compromise, the Sema being usually ready
enough to agree to any reasonable sort of compromise on
small matters such as whether or not the price of a pig has
been paid in full or in part, or whether a creditor is owed
20 baskets of paddy or 15 only. In a case of the breach of
custom which affects the whole community, such as breaking
a genna, the delinquent would be fined and the fine " eaten "
by the ©hief, who would, generally speaking, give a share to
the chochomi. Such a fine might be in kind or in cash, but
would usually be in the form of live pork. Should it be a
case of personal injury to another, a similar fine would be
exacted from the dehnquent and made over to the sufferer.
Oh points of custom the chief would be the ordinary
authority, though reference on difficult points would be .
made to any one of his elders who happened to have authori-
tative knowledge. On points of disputed fact the cliief and

M 2

i64 THE SEMA NAGAS part

his elders would also be usually in a position to know and
determine, for even if they had no personal knowledge of
the matter under dispute their general knowledge of the
circumstances or character of the disputants would probably
enable them to form a pretty shrewd notion of the real facts.
It might, however, be necessary to put the parties to the
oath.

The Sema oath has not the value of the Angami oath, and
as it is far less common among Semas for one party to be
quite willing to accept the oath of the other, the oath is
less resorted to by Semas than by many other Naga tribes.
What usually happens if an oath is suggested is that both
parties are prepared to take the oath, but neither will
abide by the oath of the other. Indeed it is difficult to
find an oath that the average Sema, or at any rate many
Semas, will not take recklessly and indiscriminately, except
oaths of such weight that guilty and innocent aUke hesitate
to take them. Such an oath is the oath on the water of
the Tapu (Dayang) river. No man who took a false oath
on that water could ever cross the river or even enter it
again, for it would certainly drown him, nor could he eat fish
from the river during his whole life or he would die of it
for sure. But then a man whose cause is really just will
usually shy at taking this oath, for it is not a thing to be
lightly undertaken, and the writer has knowTi men content to
lose their cause rather than take oath to its truth, even when
there could have been little or no doubt but that they had the
right on their side. The oath, too, on a village spring is
another serious matter. A false swearer will never drink
again of the water of that spring lest it kill him, causing
his bowels and hands to swell immoderately, and many go
80 far as to hold that a person who swears truly on the
village spring should never drink of it again. That renowned
chief Sakhalu and his brother Kohazu took an oath on
their village well, since when that well has been forsaken,
and it would not perhaps beseem the writer to suggest that
their oath was a false one, particularly as no ill befell them
of it.

Oaths regarding ownership of land are taken on the earth

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 165

in dispute, which is bitten and swallowed. So also is the
earth from a grave, while the oath on one's own flesh, though
sometimes merely entailing biting one's finger, sometimes
also, if great emphasis is desired, entails the swallowing of
one's own flesh. The writer has seen a man accused of
murder (and undoubtedly guilt}^) chop off the end of his
forefinger and swallow it to add force to his asseverations of
innocence. Oaths are also taken on a tiger's tooth. And
this form of oath is very popular with perjurers, as tigers
are becoming so scarce that no one is afraid of being carried
off if he bites the tooth on a false oath. Probably, when
the tribe was scattered thinly in heavy jungle and " jhums "
were few and small, the toll taken by tigers was large, as
all Naga tribes have an awe of the tiger, which is much more
than commensurate with the damage he does on his
nowadays rather rare appearances. Oaths on a tiger's
tooth are rather troublesome because they entail the
observance pini (see Part IV, p. 220) for from one to three
days by the village in which they are taken, at any rate
at any time of agricultural importance. This pini has
also to be kept by the village of any person who, having
been present at the swearing, re-enters his village the same
day. This often results in the prohibition of people con-
cerned in such an oath from returning to their villages at
once, and from entering any other village.

Of plants, the ayeshu (a polygonum), a very short-lived
plant springing up during the rains and dying down after
a couple of months or so, the gourd vine [apoTchu), probably
for the same reason, and michi-ni, the leaf of the michi-sii
(Schima wallichii), a tree that loses all its leaves in the
autumn and remains bare in the cold weather, as well as
some others, are used for taking oaths, as also is a bit of a
bamboo that has been used for hanging up outside the village
the heads of enemies taken in warfare. In the latter
instances the idea is obviously that the perjurer will meet
the fate of that which he bites upon and swears by. In the
case of the tiger's tooth it is the tiger who will punish the
taking of his name in vain, while the earth from a grave or
from the disputed land will choke him who swears by it

i66 THE SEMA NAGAS part

falsely. A rare but serious form of oath is that taken by
cutting iron, which if a man do falsely, members of his clan
die ofE without apparent cause, such is the power of the
metal when treated disrespectfully.^ The writer has known
a man come into court with a dao and a bit of umbrella
wire prepared to take this oath.

In all oaths it is essential that the swearing should take
place between sunrise and sunset, " that the sun may see
the oath." And it is sometimes arranged that if a man will
take a given oath the man who denies the truth of his
statement shall pay him compensation for having un-
necessarily pushed things so far as the taking of oaths, the
taking of the oath being regarded as proof of the swearer's
innocence. In such eases (which are not very common and
usually occur where one side is well known to be in the right
and the other merely obstinately and maliciously insisting
on an oath) a sum of Rs.5/- or so is usually enough to
compensate the swearer for the trouble and risk to which
he has been put.

The following form may be given as a fair sample of a
Sema oath : —

Ina Dovakhe ghaka pu-puJcdye nishi-ni-ye

I Dovakhe's rupees steal-steal-if I-and-my-clan
kuchdpu ghukave ; khuithu pa 'msu-moghii chini ;
whole must-perish ; ahve him equal is-tabu ;

apokhu ketsii-shi, ayeshu keghd-shi, chu'ini

gourd-vine rotten-do, " ayeshu " perished-do, " chuini "

keghd-shi ghdkave ; hipa 'mphe amte

perished-do, must perish ; this year's paddy

chumono tini.

not having eaten will die.
That is to say : —

If I did steal Dovakhe's money, I and my clan must
utterly perish ; (while) alive it is tabu to be equal to him ;
like unto a rotted gourd-vine, unto decayed ayeshu, unto

^ Inaho of Lumitsami had to desert his house and site and build a fresh
house in another pletce because he had cut a bit of iron in his house in a
fit of temper.

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 167

decayed chui leaf, so must we perish, and before that I can r,
eat of this year's rice let me die.^ "^^

Disputes between villages in the still unadministered War and
country, where there is no superior authority to settle them, hunting,
must, if an amicable agreement is not reached, be subject
to the ultimate arbitrament of war. The real causes of
war are probably not more than three in number in the
Sema country — first, shortage of land necessitating forcible ^
encroachment on that of neighbouring villages ; secondly,
the protection of trading interests, as an attempt on the y
part of one village to trade directly with another at some
distance has often caused war 'with an intervening village
through which the trade used to pass (much to the profit of
that intervening village) and which retaliates for its loss
by making war on the interlopers, cutting up their trading
parties, destroying the intercommunication between the
offending villages, and compelling their trade to return to
its old channel. Trade routes east of the administered area
are still jealously protected in this way, and each village
on a route makes its little profit on all articles passing
backwards and forwards — daos, salt, pigs, cloths, pots, and
the like. The third cause is found in the fits of restlessness
that from time to time afflict most Naga villages, the desire
of the young men as yet untried to prove their manhood and
gain the right of wearing the warrior's gauntlets and boar's
tush collar, all culminating in an overwhelming desire to
get somebody's head, which not infrequently outweighs
all riper considerations of policy and prudence. If this
cause is at work the most trifling incident may become an
occasion for a raid. Villages in this mood too will delibe-
rately provoke hostihties by refusing some act of customary
courtesy or right. And war has frequently been known to
be occasioned by the refusal to give the customary feast to a
person bound by formal ties of friendship, by a refusal to
pay up the price agreed upon for a wife or to give a girl in .
marriage when it has been arranged, by the divorce of a

^ Compare the Angami oath, " The Angami Nagas," p. 145. Another
form of Sema oath is also given in the same place. The form ghaka-ve
IB Btrictly a very complete perfect = *' has finished perishing."

i68 THE SEMA NAGAS part

chief's wife, the housing of a runaway and refusal to send
him back, by selling the flesh of animals that have died of
disease and so infecting another village, by the breach of a
genna, such as taking some prohibited thing into the fields
of another village at harvest time, or by a gratuitous insult,
" or any other reason why." All such matters as these could
be and often, probably usually, are settled amicably, but if
the villages are in the mood for it they will and often do
occasion war.

War is of many sorts, and no fine distinction is made in
the Sema mind between what is genuinely war and what we
should call merely head-hunting. The following various
tactics are distinguished by Semas : —

Alculuh — pitched battle. One village challenges another
either by a message sent through a third village or shouted
out on the occasion of a raid or called out from some safe spot
within earshot of the opponents, but out of their reach.
A time two or three days off is fixed for the two villages to
meet at a given place with all the aUies they can muster
and fight. Heads are normally very difficult to get in this
form of warfare, as the retreat of the weaker side is always
covered by panjis and picked warriors. Seromi, however, in
a pitched battle with the Aos of Longsa on the site where
Sapotimi village now is, once managed to get seven heads.
A challenge to a pitched battle sent through a third village
would normally be accompanied by some symbolic message,
generally a panji or part of one, but often accompanied by
something else, generally a chili, to signify the smarting in
store for the recipients. The writer was once sent a chili
impaled on a bit of panji together with a challenge to
personal combat, signifying not only war and the un-
pleasantness in store for him if he accepted, but that if he
failed to accept he was only fit for impalement like a
sacrificed puppy. The Survey party in the Sema country
in 1875 was several times met by the whole fighting strength
of a village got up in full dress and prepared to give battle,
though the only attacks actually made were apparently
attempts at surprise attacks. In event of a battle taking
place the women would probably support their menfolk

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 169

at a safe distance with petticoats full of stones for use as
missiles, which they would replenish from dumps previously
collected along the most probable line of retreat.

Ashepe is a raid on the fields of a hostile village, proved
warriors being placed as sentries on the flanks and as a
rear-guard to protect the raiding party from being cut off,
while the raiders clean up those of the enemy village who
have the misfortune to be surprised at their hoeing. Thus
before their annexation Asiikokhwomi took a woman's head
from Sheyepu by an attack in this method, while Seromi
took seven heads from Baiimho in a similar raid.

Ahusii (or inahusii) consists in laying an ambush for
people of a hostile village as they emerge from their village
in the morning when going to work on their fields. They
are, if possible, cut off from their village and surrounded.

Tivetsate is the laying of an ambush during the day to
catch the people of a hostile village returning from their '
fields in the evening.

Apfulie are raids on the village itself, and are divided
up according to the circumstances under which they are
made, thus :

Puchofile is a raid at midday on a village the menfolk of
which have gone to their fields to work. Thus in 1912 or
thereabouts Tsukohomi raided Shietz and got seven or
eight heads in this way, and in 1914 Shietz raided Lumtami
(Lumakami) and got the heads of one old man and two
children. The latter raid was entirely gratuitous and
unprovoked.

Tsuktofile is a raid at cock-crow — just before dawn. An ^
entry is made quietly into the hostile village and the raiders
post themselves at the doors of the houses and cut down the
inmates as they emerge at daybreak. So Churangchu, chief
of the Angangba khel of Chisang, led a raid on Pakavi of
Kumishe in 1914 which succeeded (owing to the treachery of
one faction in Kumishe) in destroying twelve or thirteen
households. Only two men escaped, and a woman and a
child, who hid behind a door till the raiders had gone through
the house and then ran out into the jungle. So too in 1917
the Sangtam village of " Chonomi " raided the newly -built

lyo THE SEMA NAGAS part

Sema village of Zivihe, which consisted of eleven houses.
" Chonomi " only got two heads, but frightened Zivihe into
removing his village from their land.

Kighishi consists in making an entry into a hostile village
by night and merely spearing a man through the wall or
i roof of his house or entering the house and taking his head.
In either case a departure is effected with all speed. Baimho
and Yezami were for a long time at war, during which some
men of Baimho killed Hovishe, chief of Yezami, by spearing
him through the thatch of his house at night, and Viheshe,
a man of Yezami, retaliated by kiUing Inache, a chief of
Baimho, in the same manner.

Tinshi is kiUing a cow of a hostile village, hiding in wait
^ for the first pursuer, and taking his head and one's own
departure as fast as possible. To provide an instance of
tinshi and kighishi combined, Nikhui's villages made a
joint raid on " Lakomi," a Tukomi Sangtam village, in
1914. They sent a warrior on ahead, who speared a man
in his house in the early morning. The village braves
hurriedly assembled for the pursuit and ran straightway
into the ambush laid for them. A little later, however,
Gwovishe's people thought they would try the same game
on Kitsa, but their bait, who had missed his man in the
hostile village, got wounded by the enemy, who suspected
a trick and refused to follow him into the trap.

Tushwonei [tushwonii = a stranger {i.e., a man of another
village) who is not an enemy and yi = to kill] means killing
and taking the head of a person who is met casually on the
path or even by arrangement. Nikashe, the present chief
of Aichi-kuchumi, practised tushwonei when he incited a
Yachumi chief to come with him to Mokokchung in 1912
and get a red cloth, and then while fording the Tizu river
fell upon him and smote him, and took his head.

The names given by the Semas to these tactics suggest
in several instances the perpetration of a grim jest. Asliepe
is the same word as that meaning work in the fields, and
only the faintest difference in accent is detectable. Kighishi
means " thatching," and, in view of the tactics it denotes,
the appHcation is obvious. Inahusii {<ina, an obsolete

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 171

form of inakhe = early, and hu = going to the fields) means
early rising to go to the fields. Tivetsate seems to mean
" letting go," with the intent, of course, to catch on
their way home, and tinshi, which means " desire to die,"
undoubtedly refers to the mentality of the silly ass who
rashly pursues the killer of his cattle.

With the exception of akuluh, all these tactics postulate
surprise, and if the raiders find their prospective victims
prepared, they come home rather ignominiously. This is
called aghiiphipusho.

The tactics described above should give a fair idea of
the Sema methods of warfare and head-hunting. Sudden
raids, surprises, ambushes, and hurried evasion constitute ,
most of it, and the pitched battle does not often occur.
The throwing spear, the crossbow (for the simple bow has
disappeared), the dao, and an occasional muzzle-loading
gun are their weapons of offence, the shield and panjis /
those of defence, for a Sema on the warpath carries a basket
of panjis, and sticks all the path with them, when retreating,
to hinder pursuit. Booby traps are also popular, but are
not developed to the extent that the Changs and Konyaks
use them further north and east, as they consist mainly .
in panji-pits. A favourite variety is the aghilkhoh or
*' war-pit." This is contrived by choosing a place where
the path goes along the side of a hill and excavating a deep
and long pit under the path perhaps as much as 6 feet long
by 8 feet deep, without disturbing the surface, which is
left intact for a considerable thickness.

The bottom of the pit is filled with double rows of panjis,
say 4 feet and 2 feet in length respectively, and the excava-
tion is concealed. The aghiikhoh may then just be left for
the enemy to walk into, or the enemy may be lured to rush
into it by a warrior on the far side, who apparently risks his
head to wait about and shout insulting challenges. In this
way, with good luck, sometimes even three of one's foes at
a fall may be caused to go down together well perforated
into the pit. The apukukhoh or " leg-pit " is usually
made by taking advantage of a depression in the ground,
and this depression, or a shallow pit made for the purpose,

172 THE SEMA NAGAS part

is planted with short panjis in the ordinary way and filled
up with bits of sticks, moss, grass, leaves, and earth, so
that it lames people before they reaHse that the ground is
panjied. The stone-chute {zhiika, " flattener ") is known
to the Semas, but apparently not put into practice by
them in warfare.

Stones and sticks and sharpened bamboos are also used.

' When two neighbouring villages are at war large numbers
of the former, and these including stones of all sizes, are
collected near the hostile border by men, women, and
children for days in advance of a projected battle or raid
on the enemy. They are then used to throw or roll down
at any who pursue the returning warriors of their own
village. Similar collections of stones are made in houses
built in large trees near the village overlooking any path
which an enemy is likely to use.^

The Semas have on many occasions shown themselves

■ superior as warriors to their neighbours on the north and
east, as indeed may be inferred from the way in which they
have dispossessed them of their lands. Thus the 30 houses
of Maghromi proved such a thorn in the flesh of the Ao
village of Nankam (700 houses) that the latter determined
on a serious effort to wipe out the village. Two hundred
Aos surrounded Maghromi before daylight, and, having
completed their preparations, sat down to wait till it was
Ughter. During the wait they laid down their weapons to
eat and, Ao-hke, started chattering. A Sema, up early
and coming into the jungle near the village, heard them and
sUpped back to warn the village, which collected what men
it could muster, who surprised and routed seven times their
number of Aos, taking heads and capturing several guns,

* Some tribes, the Phoms and Konyaks in particular, carefully train
the auckera of the Bor tree {Ficus Indica) so as to grow into a natural
scaffolding on which a large tree house may be built for this purpose. I
once found the suckers being trained in this way in a small Ao village that
had been administered for many years, and asked them why they did it.
All they could tell me was that it was the custom, and it was only later
that I foimd out the real reason, which the village itself had vmdoubtedly
forgotten. Mr. Mills tells me that the Ao village of Longjang also trains
these suckers with hollow bamboos " because it is the custom."

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS ' 173

which they broke up as they did not know how to use
them.

Maghromi also suppHed an instance of the Sema use of
craft. Both the Aos of Nankam and the Lhotas of Lungtang
claimed tribute from the chief, who was thus between two
fires. By promises to both he managed to induce the Aos
and Lhotas to fight about it, offering his tribute to the
victor and egging on both disputants. As Lungtang was
a small village and Nankam a large one, all the Lhota men
had to turn out to fight the Aos in the pitched battle that
took place by the stream selected by the Chief of Maghromi.
While the Lhotas were engaged in the fight they suddenly
spied a great column of smoke rising up from their village,
where Maghromi had cut up all who were left behind and
burnt the village. Having thus disposed for ever of one
enemy (the site of Lungtang was occupied by Semas from
Phusumi and is the present Litami), they were able success-
fully to resist the other.

Many Sema raids, however, have and still do end in
aghilphipusho, like a raid of Gwovishe's on Shipvomi ;
the raiding party found Shipvomi prepared, and when it
got there came back again, like the fleet that went to
Spain.

In the administered village, however, war is gradually
receding into the Umbo of the forgotten past, except in so
far as the desire to wear the warrior's pigs' tushes and cowrie -
gauntlets keeps the young men desirous of going as carriers
on expeditions on which they hope for a chance of " touching
meat " and thus acquiring the right to put on the coveted
ornaments. It is partly this desire, as well as loyalty, which
at the time of writing ^ has just taken 1,000 Semas to work
in France. In their own villages they have to confine
themselves to the more modest exploits of cutting off the
tail of a neighbour's cow, a deed of chastened daring which
is followed by the hanging up of the beast's tail and the
performance of a genua as though for the taking of a head.
Incidentally, the animal — it is usually a mithan — which is
thus treated loses aU its value for ceremonial purposes and

» April, 1917,

174 THE SEMA NAGAS par

becomes fit oiily for sale as meat, for the owner himsel
camaot even eat of it, much less kill it at a feast, so that th
animal loses at least 50 per cent, of its market value. A bi
of another person's hair, if abstracted by stealth or force
may be likewise treated as the subject of a genna, wit
the dire effect of causing the death, or at least the illness
of the original grower of the hair.^ The kiUing of an enemy'
cattle, or even dogs, cannot, however, be counted as " heads
by the kiUer unless he has actually taken part in the kilUn
of an enemy. If a man does so take part, and probably i
he succeeds at all in being "in at the death," he reckons a
heads all the enemy mithan he may have killed previously
provided always that he has not eaten the flesh of sucj
mithan. No cattle of which he has eaten the flesh can unde
any circumstances be counted.

The principal gennas connected with head-taking ar
the aghucho, which inaugurates hostilities, and the aghupfn
which celebrates their success. The former centres oi
certain stones, themselves called aghucho, which are usuall;
to be found lying about the village somewhere near th
chief's house. These stones should strictly be water-wou
black stones approximately spherical in shape and divide^
across the middle by a thin white stratum dividing eacl
into two parts. 2 The size of the stone is immaterial. 0
course, stones that really comply with this description ar
only occasionally met with, but anything that approache
the standard will serve, and very often any queer-shapec
stone is taken to the village and preserved as an aghucho
Some aghucho were shown to the writer in Philimi whicl
were just black stones worn into curious shapes by water
one or two faintly resembhng the shape of a human necl
and head. Like the charm stones kept in granaries t(
ensure the prosperity of the owner and as a guard agains
the depredations of mice, these aghucho breed and bege

* In 1915 Bome men of Aochagalimi cut a bit of hair off a boy o
Yeshulutomi. Though this was settled eis between the principals in th
dispute, Yeshulutomi village demanded a formal and public peace-makin,
with Aochagalimi village.

* I have seen just such a stone venerated as a " healing stone " in Cc
Donegal. See Folklore, Sept. 30, 1920.

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 175

young, in witness whereof there are numerous small stones
always to be seen lying around the place where the aghucho
are. These in time will grow up and become aghucho and
breed in their turn. In most Sema villages aghucho are
prized only as giving success in war, and, though in Philimi
the chief would not let the writer take away an aghucho
for fear it might hurt the crop, in most administered villages
the aghucho have been neglected and lost, as now that there
is no war they are of no further use.

The genna preceding a raid consists in kilhng a pig and
presenting six small scraps of the liver and of the flesh to
the aghucho stones. The village is genna that day and no
one may go to the fields. After this day is over anyone may
start raiding. When an aghucho is found and brought to
the village, this genna is observed whether it is intended to
follow it by raiding or not.

The aghupfu is celebrated by successful raiders, who
come back singing a yennale, on the day of their return from
the warpath. Till it is done they are unclean, genna, holy,
and a village that is sowing, etc., cannot entertain them.^
The whole village is circumambulated by the raiders,
carrying the heads obtained. Then a chicken is killed by
each man who has actually taken a head himself, and the
most pre-eminent warrior in the village, whose duty it is
to make holes in the crowns of enemy skulls — he is called
(for this purpose) akutsii-kegheheo, " the head-hanger " — ^is
given the head of the chicken in virtue of his office. Tiny
scraps of the fowl's flesh are set apart for the ghosts of the
dead enemy. Eleven minute scraps ^ in all, each placed
on two crossed leaves, six pieces in the name of the victor
and five in that of the victim, are laid out in a row before
the head and in the place where the skull is to hang. The
rest of the fowl is eaten on the spot by the returned warriors ;
before returning to the village the scraps are again counted,
and should one be found short the ghost of the dead has

^ Observed on operations against the Kukis in 1918, as also the custom
referred to of counting enemy mithan as " heads."

* Mr. Mills tells me that eleven scraps of meat are used by the Lhotas
in almost all ceremonies.

176 THE SEMA NAGAS part

eaten it, and it is a sure omen of another successful expedi-
tion, the idea probably being that the dead man, gratified
at his meal, will call his Hving friends to come and partake
similarly. Some of the eastern Semas, following a Yachumi
practice, skewer wads of meat to the mouth and eyes of
the dead head, that the ghost may eat and be filled and call
his friends to come and be kiUed, and that after all sorts
of indignities both in word and deed have been showered on
the trophy by the women and children of the village. It is
essential, in laying out the scraps of meat for the ghost of
the slain, that while six are brought in the name of the kiUer,
only five are brought in the name of the killed, otherwise
the former would not be victorious in the future. The
raiders are genna on this day, and may not eat inside the
village. They must observe chastity and may not even
sleep in the inner room where their wives are, but in the
akisheboJchoh. If they are to eat at aU they must be fed
outside the viUage and before they enter it after returning
from the raid. There is, however, no restriction on drinking.
On the following day the warriors are still genna, and a
pig is killed. The head is given to the akutsii-kegheheo, who
now makes a hole through the head from the top of the
forehead to the bottom of the skull at the back,i after which
the lapu^ strings it on a cane. A bamboo is cut and planted
in the ground at the village Golgotha {aghii-kutsu-kogho-bo,
" the place of enemy heads ") outside the fence. This
bamboo must be cut ofE high enough from the ground to
ensure its not surviving and taking root, as this would
entail the success of the enemy. The head is strung up by
the Idpu to the top of the bamboo, after which it is genna
to touch it. Those who do not bring back a head, but have
shared in getting one, hang up an earthen pot to represent
it. Gourds are also hung up for mithan, dogs, etc., and also
for human heads.

A Sema returning from the warpath with a head
sings " 0, Yemusdle, Yemdle," probably in allusion to

* Lazemi and probably other villages of the Dayang Valley bore the head
from ear to ear.

* For lapu see Part IV.

\.To face p. 176.

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 177

the piercing (yema)^ of the heads for their stringing up.
Ale = " sing."

For some reason or combination of reasons the heads of
women are as highly prized as those of men, perhaps more
so. That this is so is demonstrated by the stock formula
for songs in celebration of a warrior's exploits. This
formula runs as follows :

" Oh ! So-and-so killed-and-brought-back-the-head-of a
girl of Such-and-such (a village or tribe) ;

" Oh ! So-and-so (the warrior's brother or, if none, his
nearest male relative younger than himself) cut off the hair
and put it in his ears ;

" Oh ! cut off and put in his ears the hair of the girl of
Such-and-such ;

" Oh ! So-and-so (the warrior's wife) rejoiced " (or
" applauded ").

Thus a song celebrating the exploits of Sakhalu runs :

0, Sakhalu-no Aborlimi i-pfu-ghe

iho, iho, iho, i
0, Kohazu asa li-lcyeghe

iho, iho, iho, i
0, li-kyeghe, Aborlimi'sa li-kyeghe

iho, iho, iho, i
0, Ilheli allove

iho, iho, iho, i
0, Ilheli allove-o

iho, iho, iho, i,

which, being interpreted, tells how Sakhalu killed and
brought back the head of an Abor girl, how Kohazu (his
brother) cut off the hair and put it in his ears, and how IlheU
(Sakhalu's wife) rejoiced or applauded. Now Sakhalu was
employed as a Scout on the Abor Expedition of 1911-12
and took the heads of several male Abors, and, as far as is
known, of no women, yet in celebrating his exploits he is
described as taking the heads of women, and not of men.

* But this is not certain, and some Semas do not profess to know the
meaning. The Lhotas sing "' 0 Shdmashdri o smaiyali " under similar
circumstances, but do not know the meaning of the words.

17b THE SEMA NAGAS part

Similarly, the song in the same formula celebrating Inato's
exploits fictitiously attributes to him the taking of the head
of a girl of Nankam, although he had taken one or two
genuine heads from men in his time.^ The killing of idiots
and similarly deficient persons, such as hunchbacks and
deaf mutes, is " genna."

It is possible that the reason why women's heads are
held in greater estimation is that they are harder to get, as
a village in time of trouble sends the men to work where
there is danger, while the women work only near the village,
so that to get one of their heads entails venturing right up
to the hostile village at great risk of being cut off on the
return journey. It is also possible that the desire to cause
a permanent reduction of the enemy population may have
something to do with it. The killing of a man will not affect
the birth-rate much, but the killing of a woman probably
wiU.* It is also possible that the desire for the woman's
hair for ornaments may have contributed. Some men of
Lumitsami made a successful raid on Nankam, but several
of them were cut off on their way back owing to the delay
caused by their squabbles as to the possession of a woman's
head with long hair, which all of them wanted in order to
adorn the tails they wore at festivities.^
, The taking of a head or kiUing of an enemy entitles the
warrior to wear cowrie gauntlets {aouka asiika) and a collar

^ I have gone into this, as the greater value put on women's heads has
been asserted of other tribes and doubts have been raised as to the trutli
of such assertions. Sae Hodson, " Naga Tribes of Manipur," p. 114,
notes 2 and 5.

* Conversely, too, the acquisition of a female head plus a female ghost
might increase the fertility of the successful village.

' In 1919 I heard an accusation brought by the men of Iganumi,
headed by their chief, who accused a woman of that village named Shikuli,
and another, of bewitching and poisoning their fellow villagers with the
aid of human hair taken in war from dead enemies by the ancestors of
these women, who were alleged to put fragments of these heirlooms into
food offered to their neighbours. They produced a thumomi (see Part IV)
named Kamli, who to prove the truth of her statement produced from
Shikuli's hand a minute fragment of hair which she (Kamli) had hidden
under her thumb nail and which she pretended to extract from imder
yhikuli's finger-nail after stroking along her finger as though drawing out
the hair as by a magnet.

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 179

of pigs' tushes, though strictly only one pair of these should
be worn unless the wearer has taken more than one head.
Nowadays it is enough to " touch flesh " by spearing the
body of an enemy shot by troops, since the administered
Semas can no longer make war on their own account. A
man who has speared or " cut " a still living enemy whose
head is taken by another man— for the first spear gets
the whole head even if someone else cut it off— has an
earthen pot hung up in place of a head with precisely the
same ceremonial, while a man who has only " touched
meat " has a gourd hung up in the same way, the stringing
being done by the akutsii-kegheheo. Should the string on
which a head is hung break, it is regarded as an excellent
omen, forecasting an early repetition of the success.

The ceremony of peace-making between two villages that ^
have been at war is an elaborate one. A place is fixed upon
between the two villages at which the opposing hosts are
to meet and make a formal peace. Each side prepares food
and drink, and every man according to his abiUty gets ready
flesh, a chicken, or eggs at least, while several large pigs
are killed and plenty of rice-beer is brewed. All the flesh
is cooked, and on the appointed day is taken to the spot with
cooked rice and several gourds of Uquor per head by the
whole community of grown males. Women are not allowed
to be present, and must not even go to the fields on that ^
day by the path which the men are to use when they go to
the peace-making.

Meanwhile the lapu of each village has made ready a new
fire-stick, and a single sliver of phant bamboo made from
a plant most carefully sought and brought in from the
forest by a selected unmarried youth and kept until needed
in his house or, if the lapu has no wife, in the lapu's house.
When the two parties have met at the appointed spot, a
small party of the chief and leading men of both villages is
formed at a distance from the main body of villagers, and
in the presence of this select group the rival lapus proceed
to make fire, using their new fire-sticks and the single thong.
Each lapu when starting to make fire says to the other,
" Alhokesa kizhe a la wosala shipini," which, being inter-

N 2

i8o THE SEMA NAGAS part

preted, is *' All that there is of evil, shall it not be on thy
head ? "i

After that, should either of the lapu fail to get fire with
his single thong, then all the expiation to which either side
or both have rendered themselves liable will be borne by
the clan of those men, in the village of the lapu who has
failed, who have lost their heads, or lives, to the other
village, and some members of this clan will most certainly
go blind, or lose their teeth, or get a cancer (particularly of
the mouth or eye), or go lame or die of internal hsemorrhage.
The same happens to the rash man who eats the food, smokes
the pipe, or touches the dao of a man whose family has
killed one of the former's clan before any formal peace has
been made. It is also advisable always to sit on one's dao
when eating or drinking in the house of a man with whose
clan one's own clan used to be on head-taking terms, even
if peace has since been made and many years have elapsed.
Otherwise one's teeth decay and fall out and one's eyes
become sore and watery. The idea which imderlies the
sitting on a dao is said to be that iron breaks all gennas,
the evil effect of the forbidden act being neutraUsed by the
iron of the dao.

After the lapus have made (or failed to make) their fire,
both villages collect fuel and make a fire, which they fight
from the fire made by their lapu. Should the lapu have
failed to get fire, his fire-stick is chopped up and thrown away,
and fire is made by some lusty young man, for since it is
a serious matter if fire again fails, older men, like the now
very unpopular lapu, are not trusted to try. Matches may
not be used under these circumstances.* On this fire aghii
(see p. 98) is burnt, and each side expresses a wish that his
village may be in future as sharp as thatching grass or

* The use of the word " head " here is not an absolutely literal rendering
of the Sema, but probably conveys the sense of the expression as nearly
as is possible in English. The word woaala is obscure and possibly archaic ;
wo- probably = o — the possessive of the second person — aala is possibly
connected with asa = hair of the head.

* The Sangtams, who ordinarily possess flint and steel (or rather quartz
and iron), eschew these in the same way as Semas eschew matches when
they perform their peace-making ceremonies.

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS i8i

sword-grass. The reason for burning aghii, which gives a
very pungent odour when burnt, is probably to drive away
evil influences, as it is burnt in time of illness to drive away
evil spirits, and at most or all important gennas, presumably
with the same purpose. Next the two villages exchange
the food and drink they have brought and lay out their
daos upon the ground, and the men of each side, putting a
foot upon the dao of one of their late adversaries, start to
eat and drink standing there, but presently sit down and
eat as usual, still keeping a foot on the dao. While drinking,
each side expresses a silent wish that all the evil which may/
have resulted from their hostility may be upon the heads
of the other side. What or why exactly this evil is is not
clear, and the Sema himself has probably no precise notion
of what he means, but it is possible that the anger of the
dead killed in the war is roused at the making of peace by
their fellow villagers and clansmen with the enemy, and
that this anger is feared. It must be admitted, however,
that there is nothing in Sema eschatology to suggest this.
It is, however, clear that the performance of the peace-
making genua is not regarded as ensuring the peacemakers
absolute security against the toothlessness, cancers, lame-
ness, and other judgments that foUow reconciliation with
an hereditary enemy. In any case it is highly advisable
to express the wish in silence. When Sotoemi and the
Sangtam (Tukomi) village of Yetsimi were making peace in
the way described at the place where the village of Tokikehimi
now is, a Sotoemi man of the Chophimi clan, which had lost
eight heads to a man of Yetsimi, expressed aloud and with
emphasis the hope that the said man of Yetsimi should
suffer the horrors detailed above. He said this in Sema,
but one Yevetha, a runaway Sema who had acted as go-
between, translated it into Sangtam, whereupon a man of
Yetsimi clave the speaker's head in twain with a battle-axe
(ailaghi), whereto a Sema of Sotoemi responded by cutting
down Yevetha, and both sides incontinently fell a-fighting,
and as they were all mixed up there was much slaughter,
and Yetsimi got 50 heads off Sotoemi, and Sotoemi 75 off
Yetsimi ; but this is the Sema version.

i82 THE SEMA NAGAS part

When eating and drinking are finished the gourds are
given back to their owTier and the villagers return home,
usually abstracting many of each other's spears, as these
are stuck into ground here and there in every direction, and
the chiefs and elders cannot prevent looting, though they
hunt out the stolen weapons afterwards and secure their
return. Before reaching the village everyone has to wash
himself, his clothes, and his weapons, though the old men
sometimes restrict the washing of their clothes to one corner
only for fear of catching cold. If any victuals or drink are
left over from the ceremony, these must be partaken of by
the old men before entering the village, after which nothing
more may be eaten or drunk that day, while all must remain
chaste that night.

In the case of a man cutting ofE the tail of his neighbour's
mithan, when regarded as head-taking in a minor degree as
described above, he performs a peace ceremony of corre-
spondingly reduced dimensions, which in its simplest form
consists merely of the exchange, between the offender
and the owner of the tail-cut mithan, of sips first of water,
then of hquor from each other's plantain-leaf cups, and
lastly of the burning of aghil on a fire outside the house, new
fire not necessarily being made, though some insist on this.
Failure to do this ceremony might entail unpleasant conse-
quences. Recently one Khekuvi of Shevekhe cut off a bit
of the ear of one of Sakhalu's mithan. This was found out,
suitably atoned for, and the peace ceremony gone through
in its simphfied form by the offender and Sakhalu. Some
months later^ Hotoi, Sakhalu's son, was passing through
Shevekhe village, and anon blood gushed forth from his
nose and his mouth in a manner terrifying, at any rate, to
Hotoi. This was put down at once to his not having been
made a party to the peace ceremony, and a further ceremony
was insisted on between Khekuvi and Hotoi.

When fighting with nearly-related persons, as sometimes
happens in a land dispute, sticks and stones are used, or the
blunt backs of daos. And even if sharp weapons are used
heads are not taken.

» April, 1917.

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 183

A birth of any domestic animal prevents the owner going
to war, but that of a human being in his house does not ; "
on the contrary, it is rather lucky.

Sexual intercourse while on the warpath is strictly genna. -

The position of women in the Sema tribe, though they Position
are possibly more restricted in the matter of the possession women,
of property and in sexual licence than the women of the
Angami and Ao tribes, is probably higher socially, as it is ^
morally, than in either of them, at any rate as far as the
families of chiefs are concerned.

The Sema girl lives until marriage in the house of her
parents unless she is sent to the house of her chief, or some *
other protector, where she lives as one of the family and
pays for her keep by her services. In any case, though
gix^en plenty of freedom and going to the fields with her ov\ti
alu^hUi, v^hich consists till her marriage of contemporaries
of both sexes, she is carefully looked after and not allowed /
that freedom of sexual intercourse usual to unmarried girls
in most Naga tribes. Lazemi is perhaps an exception to
the general rule in this respect, and possibly one or two
other villages in the Dayang Valley in which the Angami
influence is pronounced. This is not to say that the un-
married Sema girl is invariably chaste, but she is a good/
deal more so than the girl of any neighbouring tribe. The
care which is taken of her is partly due to the desire not
to damage her value in the marriage market, as a girl who
is known to have had an intrigue commands a much lower
marriage price as a rule.^ Accordingly the fine for an
adultery with a girl of position is much higher than that
for a similar affair with the daughter of a man of none, since
the marriage price of the latter is in any case much lower
than that of, say, a chief's daughter.

A Sema girl's head is shaved until she is regarded as ^
approaching a marriageable age, when the hair is allowed to
grow. Marriage is of course always on exogamous principles,
and it is regarded as very shameful to say anything at all

* The Sema is in no ignorance of the causes of conception, but regards
it as normally, if not always, requiring intercourse on more than one
occasion.

i84 THE SEMA NAGAS part

improper before a woman of one's own clan and still more
so of one's own kindred. Shameless men, however, who do
this are not punished — at any rate by any human agency.
When she is betrothed she wears a plaited band of red cane
and yellow orchid-stem round her forehead, which she
leaves off shortly after her marriage. A girl's betrothal
in the case of the ordinary villagers does not usually last
long, but in that of chiefs' children marriages are some-
times arranged for a long time before they can take place.
/ This arrangement is made as a rule by the parents, who are
asked for their daughter by a go-between, acting usually
at the instance of a young man who wants her, or at that
of the parents of a young man who has not found a suitable
wife, but normally the prospective bridegroom himself is
the first to move in the matter. In any case the marriage

1/ is never made against the girl's will, though it may often
happen that she does no more than passively acquiesce in
the arrangements made by her parents or guardian. The
arbitrary breaking off of a match by either party renders
that party liable to a fiile (usually about Rs. 5/- or Rs. 10/-),
■ which, in the case of the engagement being broken off by
the girl or her people in order that she may marry someone
else, is paid by the party last mentioned.

The prices paid for wives vary very considerably indeed
according to their station in life, ranging in value from
Rs. 20/- or even less to as much as Rs. 400/- or Rs. 500/-,
but they are always paid largely in kind, and the girl in
her turn brings with her beads and ornaments which become
the property of her husband and which are to some extent
proportionate to the price paid for her, though they do not
by any means equal it in value. Besides the girl's birth,

i/ her capabilities are also taken into account, a girl who is
thrifty, can weave, or is a hard and good worker in the
fields commanding a higher price accordingly. Personal
appearance has little bearing on the marriage price. The
price of a widow who has gone back to her father's house is
very much less than that of a girl not previously married,
.while a woman divorced for misconduct, or who for some
other reason is generally undesirable, would command

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 185

merely a nominal sum. On the other hand, the prices asked
by important chiefs for their daughters are sometimes quite y
excessive. A daughter of Ghukiya is said to have fetched
50 head of cattle, a pair of ivory armlets worth Rs. 8O/-,
and Rs. lOO/- in cash, which might be in total value anything
from Rs. 300/- to Rs. 500/- or more, and she blear-eyed, but
the commoner who married her probably got beads worth
Rs. 200/- or so with her, as well as the distinction of an
aUiance ^\dth Ghukiya, which was as good as a life insurance
poUcyi and was probably what he wanted.

The Sema woman is usually a good wife and a good mother,
and though marriages are polyg3nious in the case of all who
can afford it, the various wives get on well enough together, '
particularly if there are more than two. Separate houses
are sometimes built for some of the waves, but not necessarily. '
The wife manages the house, entertains her husband's guests,
works in his fields, and generally shares his entire confidence
on matters of domestic economy. One of the wives is
usually regarded as the head wife, but she does not necessarily "^
take the lead in regulating her husband's household, and
her position as the principal wife does not seem to be very
definite. In the case of a chief's son or other kekami, she
would normally be the one first married, though as it is
not always easy to find a girl of suitable age and family,
such marriages are often arranged a long way ahead, and
thus it happens that sometimes the bridegroom takes one
wife to himself before the important marriage comes off,
but in such a case the wife married later would take
formal precedence of the one married first.

As regards property, a man's widows are entitled to ^
one-third of their husband's movable property, and if one
or more of the widows remain unmarried in the late husband's
house, she, or they, may get whatever free labour was due
to the dead man for a period not exceeding three years.
After that they may be given some free labour as a matter
of courtesy, but they are not entitled to it. If a widow
marries one of her husband's heirs, the latter enjoys the

* Because few woxild be rash enough to interfere too far with the man
who had married the daughter of so powerful a chief.

i86 THE SEMA NAGAS part

property without division for her Ufetime, and in some
cases widows are allowed to receive payments in cash on
the score of dues to their late husband. ^

Although women can possess movable property in absolute
o\^Tiership, thej' cannot, however, possess land unless they
have bought it, and even then they do not seem able to
bequeath it as they please, for the sons or other male heirs
will claim the land in virtue of the disabihty of women to
inherit or possess it.

As regards the guardianship of children, the children by
her original husband of a wife divorced or of a widow who
had married again could be claimed by the husband or his
heirs when weaned, but the woman would have the right
to keep un weaned children when she left her husband's
house until they were weaned, which is usually at abouti
three years old. If they were not claimed they might stay
with their mother, but they might, unless specifically given
up, be claimed at any time on payment of a sum to cover
the cost of their keep in the interval. In the case of a girl
who has been brought up by her mother independently of
the father and his relations, or partly so, it is usual to divide
the marriage price, the mother taking half and the father
or his representatives taking half, and even if the paternal
rights over a girl had been renounced, a payment of some
sort would probably be made to him on the girl's marriage
in recognition of the fact that he had begotten her.

Divorce is easy and fairly often occurs. In the case of
a wife committing adultery, she may be simply put away,
her husband keeping the ornaments he got with her and
claiming a penalty of one head of cattle from her father or
his heirs, together with repayment of the price which he
paid for her if within three years of the marriage. Other-
wise the husband may condone the offence, receiving a fine
from her paramour, which varies according to the woman's
position. This fine he could claim in any case, whether he

* In 1916, Inato, Chief of Lumitsami, bequeathed part of hia unrealised
debts to his widows, and in 1917 the sons of the widow of Khukiya of
Yemeshe allowed her to " eat " money paid in lieu of returning a runaway
dependant of her late husband's. In both these cases the payments were
made as of courtesy, not as of right.

Ill LAWS AND CUSTOMS 187

kept his wife or not, but if the offended husband was a
chief and the offender one of his own men, the latter would
certainh^ be ejected from his village and, if in unadministered
territory, would be in peril of his life if he did not anticipate
trouble by fleeing fast and far.

A man who puts away his wife for incompatibiUty of
temper or some minor fault may claim a repayment of the
marriage price provided the divorce takes place before three
years have expired from the date of the marriage.^ At any
time, however, he must give back the woman's ornaments /
in case of a divorce of this sort.

A woman who objects to her husband can leave him at
any time, but will not get her ornaments back if she does ^
so against her husband's consent, unless he has seriously
ill-treated her, in which case she could claim the return of
her ornaments as well as a fine for the ill-treatment. In
any case the marriage price would have to be repaid to
him. Divorce is, however, probably less frequent among /
the Semas than among neighbouring tribes, of whom the
Aos are particularly bad in this respect, almost making it
the rule rather than the exception to be divorced at least
once during their lives, and usually for infidelity. They are,
as Hakluyt's voyager would put it, " the most of them
naughtie packes."

The position of women among the Semas is on the whole
far from the degradation sometimes alleged of Nagas in ^
general (e.gr. Assam Census of 1891). The women have to
work very hard in the fields, but their husbands do the same,
and both as daughters, wives, and mothers they are treated
with real affection and respect by their parents, their
husbands, and their children. The wTiter remembers
going into the house of Ivihe, the old Cliief of Aochagalimi,
who was very miserable, and noticing a long tally of knotted
string. On asking what it meant he was told that each
knot represented one day that had passed since the death
of the old man's wife some months before.

^ This right to a repayment of the price if the divorce is within three
years of marriage seems not to be recognised by the southern villages.

PART IV

RELIGION : ^GEljrERAL CHARACTER OF POPTTLAR BELIEFS ;
SPIRITS AND DEITIES ; THE SOUL AND ESCHATOLOGY ;
RELIGION AND MAGIC ; HIERARCHY ; CEREMONIES OF
THE AGRICULTURAL YEAR ; OF SOCIAL STATUS, SICK-
NESS, ETC. ; CEREMONIES OF BIRTH, iMARRIAGE, DEATH,
ETC. ; MISCELLANEOUS BELIEFS, FORCES OF NATURE,
ETC. ; CALENDAR

PART IV

RELIGION : GENERAL CHARACTER OF POPULAR BELIEFS ;
SPIRITS AND DEITIES ; THE SOUL AND ESCHATOLOGY ;
RELIGION AND MAGIC ; HIERARCHY ; CEREMONIES OF
THE AGRICULTURAL YEAR ; OF SOCIAL STATUS, SICK-
NESS, ETC. ; CEREMONIES OF BIRTH, MARRIAGE, DEATH,
ETC. ; MISCELLANEOUS BELIEFS, FORCES OF NATURE,
ETC. ; CALENDAR

The religion of the Semas is convenientlv labelled Religious

Beliefs

" Animism " by the Census of India and official authority
generally, and Sir Edward Tylor, in his minimum definition
of rehgion, defined Animism as a " beUef in spiritual beings." c
So far as that goes, most of us are Animists, but Sir James
Frazer, somewhere in " The Golden Bough," lays down that
when definite deities with specific names and function are
recognised the Animist has become a Polytheist and the
term Animism is no longer strictly appUcable. If this be
so, the Sema is in the process of ceasing, if he has not already
ceased, to be an " Animist."

The spirits which the Sema reveres are divided into three Deities,
distinct classes. First of all there is Alhou (or Timilhou),
who seems to be regarded as a usually beneficent but some-
what remote Creator interfering Httle in the affairs of men,
though approaching more nearly than any other to our idea
of a Supreme God.^ In the second place, we have the
spirits of the sky, the Kungumi, dweUing up aloft but far '

^ Some locate Him in all the space that is between heaven and earth,

and I have heard a Sema attribute to Him the quality of omnipresence,

even if not of absolute infinity, though the Sema in question was not

educated or even semi-christianised.

191

192 THE SEMA NAGAS part

from aloof, so far so that, if ancient legends may be believed,
they have more than once formed unions with mortals,
taking wives from the daughters of men Hke the sons of
God in Hebrew tradition, or taking, Uke LiUth, a mortal
husband. In story they take very much the place that the
fair J' princes, princesses, and godmothers good and bad filled
in the fairy tales of our childhood, except that their abode is
definitely located in the sky, and Christianity has not yet
interfered to cast them out of heaven. The third class, the
Teghdmi, the spirits most in touch with man, are spirits of
earth, which they inhabit, the true earth-spirits of the
occultist, often deUberatelj'^ harmful, beneficent only when
propitiated, though there is perhaps a tendency for purely
maleficent spirits to take on, as a result of the habit of pro-
pitiation, the attributes of beneficent deities. Thus can man
make him good gods from bad. However, even at their
best the teglmmi seem still to consist in a rather malicious
sort of pixie, and pictish, indeed, the teglmmi possibly may
really be by origin, if teglmmi means, as it appears to do,
" Jungle -men." And there are several Naga traditions of
little wild men or spirits of the woods having been found and
caught and tamed, ^ and these are always spoken of by the
Sema as teglmmi, just as teghashi is, game jungle flesh (as
opposed to tikishi, house flesh or domestic animals) <agha =
jungle, wild. This derivation cannot, however, be un-
reservedly accepted, as the Angami equivalent of teghami
(which is terhom/i) does not appear to have any linguistic
connection at all with the Angami word for jungle (nha),
though clearly the same word as the Sema teghami (R in
Angami regularly becomes GH in Sema). In any case the
teghami include the spirits of the forest, who are often heard

^ Certain Angami and Lhota clans or kindreds claim descent from such
persons. A Phom clan is likewise descended from a woman of the same
sort who was found in a cave. In 1914 a Konyak village was reported
to have actually caught a jungle spirit in a snare and to have killed it and
thrown its body away.

For the comparative positions of men and spirits see also the story of
" The Dog's Share " in Part VI, where the teghami is made to admit that
man {timi) is greater than he. This would be quite natural if the teghami
were an aboriginal of inferior development, even though he were credited
with certain magical powers.

IV RELIGION 193

though not seen. Now and then someone claims to have
seen them ; little men they look hke, but usually they are
only heard calling to one another in the jungle just as men
call, and sometimes quite close, but on searching for the
caller there is no one to be found.

The teglmmi too, though generally spirits of the wild,
must probably be held to include the aghau. These are
spirits attached to individuals and houses, and perhaps ^
Villages, though it is difficult to obtain a precise description,
and probably no very definite conception of aghau as distinct
from teghami in general is formed at all. Generally speaking,
however, the aghau is a personal famiHar, the Angami equiva-
lent being ropfii. Whether all persons have aghau is a
point which the writer has not been able to determine, and
apparently opinions differ on the subject ; but perhaps it
may be said that all persons are potentially possessed of
aghau, though the existence of an agJiau is not always
apparent. The idea of fate or destiny is very often attached
to aghau, but one also hears of it as a Saificov or famihar
inclined to be mahgnant, and in some aspect it appears
almost as a soul. The aghau is also a house spirit, and as
such it is occasionally seen by men going suddenly into an
empty house, who get a ghmpse of a being not unhke a
monkey or an ape, which quickly disappears. It is related
that once a man went to the empty house of his friend and
dipped for drink in the hquor vat. His friend's aghau,
though invisible, caught the hand by the wrist and held the
marauder there till the owner of the house returned in the
evening and released him.^ When a man migrates he
scatters bits of meat on the groimd behind him to induce his
aghau to go with him, telling it that no one else wiU. cherish
it and feed it. A friend of the writer's has a dozen aghau,
though he rarely sees them. Six are like apes and six like
human beings. They belong to the family and attach them-
selves to the richest member of it. When paying a visit to
his house it is desirable to be very particular in blowing
off the froth from your rice-beer, as this blows away any

^ Mr. J. P. Mills told me of a Lhota who was caught by the ankle by a
spirit of this sort near his village (Rechyim) and died the same year.

194 THE SEMA NAGAS part

spirits that may be lingering on it.^ The same Sema,
Hezekhu of Sheyepu, attributes to his aghau an unpleasant
omen of death that is known by the discovery of wet patches
of blood on his cloth when he wakes in the morning. The
wiiter has seen them himself.

To return to Alhou and the Kungumi. Alhou (= "the
Creator ") is the name used to translate in the Assamese
" Ishwar," Grod the Supreme Deity and Creator,^ and Alhou
is certainly regarded as such by the Semas. Omniscience
and omnipotence and even omnipresence are vaguely
ascribed to Him, and though He is remote and inaccessible,
He seems to be all-good as well as almighty and aU-knowing.
His alternative name, Timilhou, would seem to be given
Him specifically as the Creator of men {timi). The
general attitude towards Him, however, may be gathered
from the following experience of the writer, who was
asked by a Sema villager to write a letter for him in
which he said " by the grace of the Kungumi I am well."
On being asked why the Kungumi were responsible for his
welfare and whether Alhou should not be substituted, he
repUed, " No, Alhou is different ; He would do me no harm
i- — it is by the favour of ^w?2^wmi I am weU." On the other
i hand, Alhou is the supreme dispenser of good and evil,
and it is He who makes men rich or poor. There is a story
of two men who died on the same day and were wending
their way to the land of the dead. One was rich and was
taking many mi than, and the other poor and with nothing
but a basket and dish. When the mithan saw the poor man
they ran aside on a different path. The rich man abused
the poor man, asking what such a miserable creature was
doing driving his mithan. The poor man rephed that he
could not help his condition as it was due to the will of
Alhou, whereon the rich man boasted that he had become so
by his own efforts. On this AUbOU drove them back to their
village, where they came to life again, but in their second

• See above, p. 99.

^ Alhou >root, Iho = "to create." The Sema Creator is almost
certainly to be identified with the Kachari Creator Alow (Soppitt, op. cit.,
p. 29).

IV RELIGION 195

sojourn on earth the poor man became rich and the rich
man very poor, wherefore the Semas hold that it is Alhou
who ordains man's worldly lot.

If it were at all in keeping with the Sema's mentahty
to form abstract ideas, one would almost put dowTi Alhou
as an abstraction, but the Kungumi are material and active
beings. Two stories given later on (in Part VI) indicate to
some extent the conception that is formed of them, and
though their bodies or their visible forms are regarded as
outwardly perfect, their activities might conceivably on
occasion prove injurious to men ; thus the rainbow {Milesii)
is called kungumi-'pukhu (= kungumi's leg), and the place
where it touches earth is always a spot where some sacrifice
has been made for the fields and crops ; but should it fall
inside a village, the death in war of one of the inhabitants
is imminent and certain.

When we come to the Teglmmi we find a tendency to
speciaKse certain named and definite spirits as having definite
functions, and while it is probable that from village to village
many varieties may be found of the spirits with speciahsed
functions, there are some teghami whose speciahsed functions
seem recognised by aU Semas. Litsaba, Shikyepu, and
Muzamuza are probably instances, as, even if not universally
recognised by Semas under these names, they are recognised
under them throughout by far the greater part of the tribe.

Kichimiya or Litsaba (or Latsapa), though regarded by
some {e.g., the Southern Zumomi) as of the Kungumi, is
more often held to be the most important of the Teghami,
as he is apparently the spirit of fruitfulness and gives the
crops. 1 He does not seem to be in any way identified with
the corn itself, ^ but is usually recognised as being responsible
for its increase, and must always be propitiated in order to
obtain good crops, though this may be because he is Hable

^ According to Dr. Clark, Lizctba, the principal Ao deity and the counter-
part of the Sema Kichimiya, is the chief deity on earth as opposed to
Lunkizingba in heaven and Mozing in the abodes of the dead. Lizaba
may mean " earth walker " or " earth-maker." See Dr. Clark's Ao-Naga
Dictionary under "Lizaba," Calcutta, Baptist Mission Press, 1911.

^ The last sheaf aghaghubo (see above, p. 64) does not seem to be particu-
larly associated with Litsaba.

o 2

196 . THE SEMA NAGAS part

to visit the earth in the form of a whirlwind and spoil them.
With him is in some way associated the toad — Thoghopu,
who is said to be his " friend." It is difficult to make out
exactly what this association is, but it appears in Angami
practice also, for they set apart a special day for giving the
toad his share, Thewuukuhiim, at one of the less important
harvest geimas and associate the toad with the mouse as
entitled to have a share of the crop ; but in other parts of
the world toads have been associated both with the obtaining
of rain^ and with the prevention of storms, ^ and it is far
from unhkely that the Sema association of the toad with
the spirit responsible for the harvest is the result of some
association of the toad with rain or storm, in which case it
is probable that the conception of Latsapa as a whirlwind
is the original one now being ousted by a conception of
Latsapa as a spirit of fertihty and beneficent rather than
maleficent. In this connection it may be mentioned that
the stone celts found by the Semas, and always regarded
as thunderbolts, are called Poghopu- (or Thoghopu-) moghii,
i.e., toad's axes. Other Naga tribes call them simply
" god-axes," and though it is just possible that Thoghopu-
moghii is simply a euphemism for teghami-moghu, a theory
which was attested by one inteUigent Sema of the writer's
acquaintance, the inference may not unfairly be drawn that
this word for what is beheved to be a thunderbolt is an
indication of the association in the Sema mind between the
toad and thunderstorms.*

Kichimiya is probably the genuine Sema name for this
spirit and Litsaha of non-Sema origin, and is probably adopted
from the Sangtams, from whom the Semas undoubtedly
took much of their ceremonial practice. The name is
virtually the same as that of the corresponding Sangtam,

1 " The Golden Bough " (3rd ed.), vol. i, p. 292.

» Ibid., p. 325.

' According to some the toad is associated with Alhou rather than with
Latsapa. The people of Kon-Memey in Cochin-China believe that the
soul of a former chief entered into a toad and in this form watches over
the rice-fields and ensures a good crop provided he is propitiated by
offerings of pigs, chickens, and millet-beer. See " The Golden Bough "
(3rd ed.), vol. viii, p. 291.

IV RELIGION 197

Ao,and Lhota spirit, but the use of it among Semas is perhaps
more common than that of Kichimiya.

Litsowo is a spirit who lies in wait to catch and devour
the souls of the dead on their way to their long home.^
This spirit, however, is also known as Kolavo, which is the
name given him by the southern Zumomi.

Shikyepu (? = " Game-allotter ") is the spirit who presides
over all wild animals, and it is by his favour only that men
are successful in hunting. Whatever game they take is given
by him.

Muzdmuzd, Echo, is no attractive nymph, but a malicious
spirit of the woods who leads men astray in the jungle. 2
Anyone who is lost in the forest is taken by Muzamuza,
who sometimes causes them to disappear entirely, and
sometimes drives them permanently or temporarily mad.
Either way it is the ruination of them, for even if they
recover from their madness they are not the same men again
that they were before. A man who merely loses his way in
the jungle cuts off a bit of the fringe of his cloth and sticks
it in a tree. This apparently satisfies the spirit, for after
this the lost man finds his way home. The Changs in
similar circumstances cut off a bit of hair and put it on a
fork of a tree for the rock python that has bedevilled them.
Muzamuza makes a man do all sorts of unpleasant things
— eat worms, for instance, make and wear a necklace of
huge worms, or put them in his ears. He makes a man
think the level ground the brink of a precipice and go
hesitating in fear and trembhng lest he fall over ; or again
a cHff appears level ground so that he runs up it — or falls
over it. The searcher for a man taken by Muzamuza
lets go a chicken into the jungle and sings " Muzamuza !
Show me where So-and-so is ! " and so goes on his search
singing thus.^ The finder of the lost man becomes rich in

* See p. 212. * Like the " Fodheen Mara " in Galway.

' There is a form of song in many villages which is always used and runs
thus :

Muzamuza-no Taloli sao ; awu pheni, Taloli phelo !

i.e., "Muzamuza took Taloli ; I am letting go a fowl, let Taloli go ! "
Taloli is said to have been a woman of Zhekiya village formerly lost
and recovered

igS . THE SEMA NAGAS part

worldly goods. Vutahe, of Sakhalu's village, was lost in
this way and found. Similarly, a man of the same village
named Kocheke was transported by Muzamuza to a distant
place — how, he cannot say, but he was eventually found.

Tegha-aghiizuimi is the dehrium spirit (a literal transla-
tion), who makes man delirious or mad.

Aphowo is a spirit propitiated in alternate years at
harvest. Possibly he is in some way connected with the
practice of cultivating a cleared field for two years in succes-
sion and then leaving it to go back to jungle, but this is a
purely speculative suggestion.

Tegha-kesa, " the bad spirit," is a spoiler of crops in
particular and a mischief-maker generally.

Kukwobolitomi ^ are spirits who destroy children in the
womb and cause miscarriage.

Loselonitomi ^ are maUcious spirits or famiUars who, like
Eris, breed strife between friends and quarrels in the house-
hold.

Kitimi, dead men, are the spirits of the dead, who are
regarded as coming to fetch the Uving when they die, and
sometimes therefore as responsible for death, a dead man
being said to have been taken by the Kitimi.

The disposition of teghami in general differs little from that
of the faeries in our own folk-tales. In spite of all their
supernatural quaUties they are very easily deceived, and
their malicious activities can be met by very simple guile,
as, for instance, when the Awou gives out the wrong day as
the date for the Sage genna in pubUc, though everyone knows
that it is the wrong day except the spirits whose malice is
feared.

The teghami need much propitiation, and are very apt
to be annoyed by the abandonment of ancient customs, which
is not perhaps entirely unnatural, as by the abandonment of
a custom they usually lose offerings of some sort. Thus
when the harvest has been bad a " Morung " is sometimes
built, as has already been mentioned, to fulfil no other
purpose than obedience to a custom the lapse of which has

1 My informant spoke of these two as individual spirits in the singular,
hut the form of the words is clearly collective.

IV RELIGION 199

conceivably angered the spirits. Again a village which
has for years lived under the protection of the Pax
Britannica continues to make an occasional pretence at
erecting defences and the accompanying ceremony, as
this is beheved to propitiate the spirits, who certainly
receive some sort of offering on that occasion. At
the same time they are a timid crew and may be
frightened from molesting men on the march by singing
and shouting, a notion which may have something to
do with the incessant " ho, ho "-ing kept up by a Sema
working or carrying a load. They are also easily kept at a
distance by a sprig of wormwood and are generally very
sensitive to strong or unpleasant odours. ^ The teghami
generally have the dispositions of the more unpleasant of
humans, and if they have many human instincts this is
not to be wondered at, for the teghami, the tiger, and the
man were the three sons of one mother originally. ^ The
kungumi are distinctly superior in all ways to the general
run of teglmmi. The agliau too, though often quite harmless
or even beneficent guardians of the individual with whom
they are associated, are in some cases most obnoxious, causing
a man to run amok and to commit various offences which
bring on his head the wrath of the community. At the
same time, it seems to be the aghau which give gifts of
prophecy and dreaming of future events, and of the power
of extracting foreign bodies from sick men and of witchcraft
generally.

The Sema word for " soul," aghongu, is the same as the The Soul.
word for " shadow " and the word for " reflection " and the
word for any likeness or image, and at times the soul is
probably still confused with the shadow cast by a man or
an animal or object, for it follows that if the shadow be the
soul the possession of a soul is not confined to human or
even animate beings. The more inteUigent, however,
though applying the word for shadow to the soul, probably -
do not reaUy confuse the two any more than they would
confuse with the soul the wooden image that might be made
of a man. Nor do most of them object to being photo-

\ E.g., garlic, ginger, lemon-grass. ^ See Part VI.

200 THE SEMA NAGAS part

graphed, though the daughter of the Chief of Philimi was
in much trepidation, and was with difficulty reassured that
the waiter had not deprived her of her soul when he took
the photograph reproduced in this volume. She was
only really satisfied when it was given back to her to
keep in the form of a print. Probably connected with the
association of soul and shadow is the fear that the soul may
be left behind or lost, or may go straying oS on its own
account. Thus if a Sema away from home build a temporary
shelter, he will always bum it when he leaves it, for fear it
should take the errant fancy of his soul, which might hnger
behind or leave him in his sleep to return to his temporary
habitation. It is the same conception of the soul which
prompts the Sema when migrating to make a hole in the
roof of his house just above his bed in order that his aghongu
may find its way out and accompany him to his new village.
In the same way a Sema who is sick goes to the fields to
call his soul, whose desertion of the body may be the cause
of the illness. The sick man takes a chicken or a dog, kills
it, and sets aside a share for his aghongu. He calls loudly
on his own name. He then returns very slowly home. His
soul follows, but may easily be frightened away again, and
the writer had to adjudicate upon a case in which a malicious
fellow laid in wait for an acquaintance who had gone to the
fields to call his soul. As he passed on his way home, the
one in ambush leapt out suddenly, beat the ground just
behind the passer, and shouted aloud. The frightened
soul which had been following its body fled again, and the
unfortunate body, deprived of its soul, died a few days
later.

The separative nature of the soul may also be inferred
from the danger which the soul of a man who has recently
killed a tiger is in if he sleep sound at night, though as long
as he keeps lightly and wakefuUy on an uncomfortable
bamboo bed the soul of the dead beast can do him no
harm.

Involved in this separable aspect of the soul is the theory
and practice of lycanthropy among the Semas, though the
animal identified with the practice is usually a leopard,

IV RELIGION 201

sometimes a tiger. The beast which is thus connected with
a human being, and the recipient, at any rate temporarily,!/
of his soul, may be recognised by having five toes instead
of four, and the dew-claw is often taken as evidence of a
dead animal's having been a were-leopard or tiger. A casual
power of a human who is a were-leopard is said to be the ^
ability to lift water in a basket with a large open mesh such
as chickens are carried in.

Many Semas are, or have been in their younger days,
confirmed lycanthropists. The theory and symptoms are
clear and recognisable, and, differing from lycanthropists in
most parts of the world, the Sema undergoes no physical v'
transformation whatever. The " possession," if we may
term it so, is not induced by any external aid, but ordinarily
comes on at the bidding of spirits which may not be gainsaid
and under whose influence the man possessed entirely loses
his own volition in the matter. The faculty can, however,
be acquired by very close and intimate association with
some lycanthropist, sleeping in the same bed with him,
eating from the same dish with him, and never leaving his
side for a considerable period — two months is said to be
the shortest time in which the faculty can be acquired in
this way. It can also be acquired, according to some, by
being fed by a lycanthropist with chicken flesh and ginger,
which is given in successive collections of six, five, and three
pieces of each together on crossed pieces of plantain leaf.
It is dangerous, too, to eat food or drink that a lycanthropist
has left unfinished, as the habit may thus be unwittingly
acquired. The animal of the body of which the lycanthropist
makes use, though sometimes the tiger proper (abolangshu), is
usually a leopard and is known as angshu amiki, a word
which is said to be derived from the verb kemiki — meaning
to wander alone in the jungle for days together, as men who
do this are most Liable to possession. It may be observed,
however, that the root miki also means "to bite. "^ Cowardly
and worthless men, if they acquire the habit, make use of
the body of a red cat {angshu-akinu, ? Felis aurata). The
habit is very far from desired. No one wants to be possessed

1 Incidentally it also means " to tell lies."

202 . THE SEMA NAGAS part

by the habit, and it is, on the contrary, feared as a source
of danger and a great weariness to the flesh.

The soul usually enters into the leopard during sleep and
returns to the human body with dayUght, but it may remain
in the leopard for several days at a time, in which case the
human body, though conscious, is lethargic. It {i.e. the
human body) goes to the fields and follows the usual routine
of Mfe, but is not able to communicate intelhgibly, or at
any rate intelligently, \vith other persons until the possession
expires for the time being. The soul, however, is more or
less conscious of its experiences in leopard form and can to
some extent remember and relate them when it has returned
to its human consciousness. During sleep the soul is the
leopard with its full faculties, but when the human body is
wide awake the soul is only semiconsciously, if at all,
aware of its doings as a leopard, unless under the influence
of some violent emotion, such as fear, experienced by the
leopard.

The possession is accompanied by very severe pains and
sweUings in the knees, elbows, and small of the back in the
human body, both during and consequent on the possession.
These pains are such as would result from far and continuous
marching or from remaining for long periods in an unaccus-
tomed position. During sleep at the time of possession the
Umbs move convulsively, as the legs of a dog move when it is
dreaming. A were-leopard of the Tizu valley in a paroxysm
at such a time bit one of his wife's breasts off. When the
leopard is being hunted by men, the human body behaves
Uke a lunatic, leaping and throwing itself about in its efforts
to escape. Under these circumstances the relatives of
the were-leopard feed him up with ginger as fast as possible
in order to make him more active, so that the leopard body,
on which his life depends, may have the agility to escape its
pursuers.

Were -leopards are particularly liable to possession between
the expiry of the old and the rising of the new moon. Those
possessed are liable to a special sort of disease which is
believed to attack tigers and leopards generally, but no
human beings except were-leopards. When the leopard is

IV RELIGION 203

wounded, corresponding wounds appear upon the human
body of the were-leopard, and when the leopard is killed
the human body dies also. It is, however, possible appa-
rently for the soul to throw off the possession permanently
as old age is approached. The father of Inato, Chief of
Lumitsami, got rid of the habit by touching the flesh of a
leopard. The village had killed one and he carried home
the head. After that he naturally could no longer associate
with the leopard kind. It is generally held, and doubtless
not without some substratum of truth, that a man under
the influence of the possession can be quieted by feeding
him with chicken dung. Probably this produces nausea.

Possession is not confined to men. Women also become
were-leopards and are far more destructive as such than
men are. Of men, those who have taken heads are most
dangerous, and are believed to kill as many men as leopards
or tigers as they have done as warriors.

The actions of the leopard's body and of the human
body of the were-leopard are closely associated. As has
been noticed, if the human limbs are confined the leopard's
freedom of action is constricted, and troublesome were-
leopards are said to be sometimes destroyed in this way.^

Almost all this information as to were-leopards was
obtained first hand from were-leopards themselves. Un-
fortunately, the writer has not so far succeeded in seeing a

^ On one occasion the elders of a large Ao village (Ungma) came to
me for permission to tie up a certain man in the village while they hunted
a leopard which had been giving a great deal of trouble. The man in
question, who was, by the way, a Christian convert, also appeared to
protest against the action of the village elders. He said that he was
very sorry that he was a were-leopard, he didn't want to be one, and it
was not his fault, but seeing that he was one he supposed that his leopard
body must kill to eat, and if it did not both the leopard and himself would
die. He said that if he were tied up the leopard would certainly be killed
and he would die. To tie him up and hunt the leopard was, he said,
sheer murder. In the end I gave leave to the elders to tie the man up
and hvmt the leopard, but told them that if the man died as a result of
killing the leopard, whoever had speared the leopard would of course be
tried and no doubt hanged for murder, and the elders committed for
abetment of the same. On this the elders unanimously refused to take
advantage of my permission to tie up the man. I was sorrj" for this,
though I had foreseen it, as it would have been an interesting experiment.

204 THE SEMA NAGAS part

man actually at the moment of possession. He has, however,
had the marks of wounds shown him by men who claimed
that they were the result of wounds inflicted on their leopard
bodies. Kiyezu of Nikoto, now chief of Kiyezu-nagami,
who used to be a were-leopard in his youth, can show the
marks on the front and the back of his leg above the knee
where he had been shot, as a leopard, long ago by a sepoy
of the ]\Iilitary PoUce outpost at Wokha with a Martini
rifle. Zukiya of Kulhopu village showed fairly fresh marks
about his waist which he said were two months old and
caused by shot which had hit his leopard body, and the
marks looked as though they might have been caused by
shot. Ghokwi, the chief of Zukiya 's village, said that
Zukiya was in the habit of pointing out the remains of pigs
and dogs killed by him in leopard form so that their owners
might gather up what remained.^ He said that he had had
a quarrel with his brother, one of whose pigs he had killed
and eaten by accident. Ghokwi mentioned the names of
various people whose animals Zukiya had killed and eaten. ^
Sakhuto, Chief of Khuivi, showed a wound in his back which
was quite new on March 1, 1913, which he said was the
result of someone's having shot at him when he was in
leopard form. The wound in the human body does not,
under such circumstances, appear at once. It affects the

^ WTiile correcting the proofs (February, 1921) the following case has
occurred : —

Zhetoi of Sheyepu has become a were-leopard and eaten a niimber of
animals of his own village and the neighbouring village of Sakhalu,
including two of Sakhalu's dogs. In one case in his own \'illage he told
the owner of a mithan calf that he would find the uneaten part of his
calf stuck high in the fork of a tree in a certain place, which proved
absolutely correct. Sakhalu village one day succeeded in rovmding up
the leopard that had been raiding the village stock, but an urgent messenger
came running from Sheyepu imploring Sakhalu to let the leopard they
had ringed go, as if they killed it Zhetoi would die. After this Sakhalu
late one evening shot at a leopard behind his granary in the dusk. Very
early next morning a message came from Sheyepu to say that Zhetoi
had been shot at the night before by Sakhalu and would he kindly forbear.
I had this account independently from two sovirces, one of which came
from Sheyepu, while the other was Sakhalu himself, who says that he will
certainly shoot the leopard if he can next time.

* According to some a were-leopard who kills cattle may be found in
the morning to have bits of their flesh sticking to his teeth.

IV RELIGION 205

place in the human body corresponding to the place
of the original wound on the leopard, but takes several
days to appear. In March, 1919, an Angami inter-
preter, Resopu of Cheswezuma, then working with the
writer, wounded a large tiger near Melomi. Three or
four days later the Head Interpreter of the Deputy
Commissioner's stafif, a well-known Angami, Nihu of
Kohima, happened to meet a sick Sema road muharrir,
Saiyi of Zumethi, being carried home. The man, who was
employed near Melomi, complained of having had an
accident, but on being pressed several times for details
admitted that he had no external injury that could be seen,
but was suffering from the effects of the wounds inflicted
by Resopu on his tiger form, having very severe pains in
his neck or shoulder and abdomen and being haunted by
the horrid smeU of rotten flesh. ^ The writer has known a
large number of Semas who are or claim to be were-leopards
or were-tigers. The headman of Chipoketami is one ;
Chekiye, Chief of Aichi-Sagami, is another ; Inaho, Chief
of Melahomi,^ is the most notorious perhaps. Gwovishe of
Tsukohomi and his daughter Sukheli are only known to
him by repute, Gwovishe's son, Chekiye of Lukammi, more
intimately. Kusheli of Litsammi, a second woman were-
leopard, has her home inside the frontier, and a most un-
enviable reputation. The Sakhuto above mentioned died
on July 19, 1916, as a result of the leopard which was
occupied by his aghongu having been shot by Sakhalu of
Sakhalu on June 30 of that year. It was reported to the
writer on July 4 that Sakhalu had shot a were -leopard,
but it was then beheved to be identical with Khozhumo
of Kukishe, and it was expected that he would die when
the news reached him, as the death of the man concerned
does not actually take place tiU he hears that his leopard
body has been killed. The son of Yemithi of Lizotomi,
whose leopard-cat body was kiUed at Sagami, heard the
news as he was returning to his village and expired on the

* Ultimately he died in Kohima owing, it is said, to the putrefaction of
his internal injuries.

* The same man referred to in Part I, p. 27.

2o6 . THE SEMA NAGAS part

spot for no other reason. A curious example of the power
of the Sema mind over the Sema body.

Both Inato of Lumitsami and Inaho of Melahomi related
to the wi'iter independently how, when they were going up
together from Phusumi to Lotesami, Inato managed to
persuade Inaho to show himself in his tiger body. The latter
lingered for a moment behind, and suddenly a huge tiger
jumped out on the path in front of Inato with a roar and
an angry waving of his tail. In a flash Inato had raised his
gun, but the tiger-Inaho jumped in time to avoid the shot
and disappeared. Since this Inaho has had an excellent
excuse for refusing to show himself in tiger form to anyone
at all.

It is also told of KusheH of Litsammi that she cured her
husband of making sceptical and impertinent references to
her lycanthropic peregrinations by appearing before him in
leopard form. His name is Yemunga, and he was returning
from a business deal in Chatongbong when suddenly he saw
a leopard blocking the path. Guessing it was his wife, he
laughed at it and told it to go away. It went on and
blocked the path a little further ahead. This time he
threatened to spear it and it shd off into the jungle only to
reappear behind him unexpectedly with a sudden growl.
This frightened him and he ran home as fast as he could,
the leopard pursuing tiU near the village, where it dis-
appeared. When he entered his house his wife at once
started to mock him, asking why he was perspiring so and
whether he had seen a leopard.

The Sema were-tiger, or reputed were-tiger, with whom
the writer was best acquainted was Chekiye, Chief of
Lukammi and a son of the famous Gwovishe of Tsukohomi.
He would never admit to the writer that he was a lycan-
thropist, but none of his Sema acquaintances ever doubted
but that his reputation was well deserved.^ He came
nearest to admitting to the writer that he was a were-tiger
on the occasion of a tiger hunt in which the writer took part
at Mokokchung on March 29, 1916. Ungma village ringed

* Except Vikhepu, who caught him out on one occasion in a pur©
and demonstrable romance.

IV RELIGION 207

some tiger — there were certainly two full-grown animals
and two three-quarter-grown cubs present. The old tiger
himself broke out early in the beat, mauUng a man on his
way, shortly after which Chekiye turned up, armed with a
spear, but no shield. The tigress broke near him and came
within a few feet of him, bit and mauled his next-door
neighbour, and went in again. Chekiye, when remonstrated
with for having stood quietly by and not having speared the
animal, said, " I did not like to spear her as I thought she
was probably a friend of mine." After she had been shot
he pronounced that she was a lady of Murromi, a trans-
frontier village somewhere (if it exists at all) to the east of
the Tukomi Sangtams, where all the population are believed
to be tiger-men. He also explained that the tiger in a
beat was really far more frightened than even the hunters
themselves, which is probably true enough, and shrewdly
observed that the use of the tail, which is stiffened up and
out behind and swayed at the end from side to side, is to
make the grass wave behind the moving tiger so that the
position of the tiger's body is mistaken and the aim disturbed
accordingly, an observation which seems to be at least true
of the result of the waving tail. It was reported that he
claimed in private to be identical with the tiger that first
escaped, but he would not admit this to the writer, and there
was indeed another and more likely candidate to this rather
doubtful honour.^

* This was an Ao named Imtong-lippa of Changki. While this beat
was going on three miles away, he was behaving like a lunatic in the house
of one of the hospital servants at Mokokchung. During his possession
he identified himself with one of the tigers being hunted and stated that
one of them was woimded and speared ; that he himself was hit with
a stick (the Ao method of beating entailed the throwing of sticks and
stones and abuse incessantly to make the tiger come out). He laid a rolled
mat to represent a fence and six times leapt across it. He ate ginger and
drank a whole bamboo " chunga " (about a small bucketful) of water,
after which he said that he had escaped with three other tigers after
crossing a stream, and was hiding in a hole, but that one tigress, a trans-
frontier woman, had been speared in the side (in point of fact she was
speared in the neck) and had been left behind and would die. (We shot
her in the end.) He said there were four tigers surrounded. Chekiye
said six. Four actually were seen, however, two grown and two half or
three-quarters grown. There may have been others, but it is not very

2o8 THE SEMA NAGAS . part

In connection with were-leopards and were-tigers it must
not be forgotten that a common origin is claimed for men
and tigers (which includes leopards) by all the Nagas of,
at any rate, the western group. The story of the man, the
spirit, and the tiger, three children of one mother, is given
below (Part VI), and it may be added that when an Angami
village kills a tiger or a leopard the Kemovo proclaims a
non- working day for the death of an " elder brother."
The flesh of tigers and leopards is often eaten by Angamis
(men only and under certain restrictions), that of leopards
(never of tiger) by the Changs, but the Sema would not
dream of eating either. It is absolutely genna to touch it,
and most Sema villages, if they kill a tiger or a leopard, leave
the body to rot where it Ues, though the head may be taken
and brought back to the village. The fear of tiger among
all Nagas is considerable, and they all regard them as
beings apart from the ordinary wild animals and very nearly
connected with the human race. Thus a man who is
descended from one who was killed by a tiger will not eat
meat from a tiger's kiU, as it would be equivalent to sharing
the dish of an hereditary enemy.

It has been shown that the soul may be conceived of as
a shadow, and that it is separable from the body, and may
occupy the body of a leopard or a tiger during life, in
addition to its habitation in the human body, leading, in
fact, a sort of dual existence. After death, however, it
may sometimes take the form of a particular hawk, probably
a kestrel, in which the soul flies away to the Hill of the
Dead at Wokha or to that called Naruto. To demonstrate
the truth of this beUef an account was given to the writer
in June, 1915, of an occurrence then a fortnight old at
Lumitsami. A man named Ikishe of that village had just
lost his son, a child ; and after the boy had died, a hawk of
the species mentioned flew down to the house where he
lived and, after ahghting on a mithan skull on the gable,
descended to rest on the bosom of the mother herself and

likely. Some sixteen cattle had been killed in two days. This account
I took down after returning from the beat, on the same day, from an eye-
witness of Imtong-lippa's exhibition.

IV RELIGION 2og

allowed itself to be fondled by her, and when handed to
others repeatedly returned to the mother's breasts. After
about an hour it took wing and flew off in the direction of
Wokha. After this one could not very well ask for more
convincing evidence in support of the theory in question.
The return of the soul in this way, however, instead of
going straight to the Wokha Hill, was regarded as most
unlucky, and the whole village observed a genna.

The appearance of the soul in the form of a hawk, however,
is only for the purpose of its journey to the Hill of the
Dead, and the soul of the dead is not permanently embodied .
in the kestrel form. This much is quite clear, though
otherwise the eschatology of the Sema is a httle mixed.
It is well known that death is caused by the soul's leaving
the body, more or less, it would seem, at the former's own
desire. Thus when a man is even unconscious from any
cause or when he is seen to be djdng, he is held up in a
sitting posture, and two persons, by preference those with
the strongest lungs, bawl into the dying man's ears, one
into one ear, the other into the other ear ; one yeUs the
name only of the dying man, the other " o-o-o-o " — ^in the
manner of a man calling from a distance to attract the
attention of another. Meanwhile a third takes a piece of
smouldering wood from the fire and applies it to a piece
of cotton wool held under the dying man's nose ; he then
blows the smoke from the cotton wool up the nostrils to
make the patient sneeze. The dying man is kept sitting
up and made to drink liquor or water unless he is obviously ,
dead, in which case he is allowed to fall back and covered
with a cloth. Meanwhile all present are crying and howling,
and as long as there is life in him are reasoning with the
dying man, telling him it is better to live, and asking why
he behaves in this untoward way. It seems clear from this
procedure that the soul can perhaps be induced to remain ,
in the body if convinced of its folly in leaving it. On one
occasion the writer saw the eyes of the corpse carefully
closed and the lips compressed and held together for a long
time, as though to prevent the dead man's soul from
escaping.

210 THE SEMA NAGAS part

When, however, the soul has left the body it does not
immediately depart from the neighbourhood. Warriors
who are returning from a raid with heads or any fragment
of flesh must throw aside a bit of food for the ghost when
they eat, otherwise they cannot eat without dropping food.
The same belief is shown in the fragments of meat put out
for the souls or ghosts of the dead enemies by the victor
when doing his genua (Part III, p. 176). It may be that
the soul (aghongu) transfers its habitation to the less material
ghost {kitimi, ? = dead man), but Sema thought on these
points is very vague. The ghost {kitimi) seems simply to
be a more or less concrete manifestation of the soul (aghongu).
The writer on one occasion, when visiting a Sema village,
was accommodated in an empty house the owner of which
was temporarily away. As it was very hot he had the
matting forming the waU at one end removed. The owner,
who returned that evening, was highly indignant, as the
opening of his house and the removal of part of the waUing
must certainly have caused the soul of his wife to depart.
She had been dead for several days, and usually, apparently,
the soul or ghost only stays for about three, ^ but in this
case the bereaved husband had shut up the house in the
hopes of delaying its departure. It is possible, too, that
this idea of the staying behind of the soul in the house that
the body inhabited underUes the prohibition, which a dying
husband sometimes makes, against the abandonment of the
house by his widows for a given time after his death. It
seems fairly common for dying men to direct their relicts

^ The ghost of a tiger seems to stay for six days if an inference may be
drawn from the period of the genna mentioned in Part II for killing one.
The Changs believe in a ghost, sou, which is quite distinct from the soul,
yimpuh. The latter goes straight to the next world, while the ghost stays
on for a few days or even a month, whimpering about its old haunts, and
then expires like the body. Some Semas also appear to have this belief,
which they may have picked up from the Yachungr, who have a good
deal of intercourse with both Semas and Changs, but I am doubtful as
to its being held generally by the Sema tribe, with most of whom the
" soul " and the " ghost " of the dead, if not regarded as identical, are
at any rate not separated by any clear discrimination of thought and
classification leading to the use of different names as in the case of the
Changs. The expression used by the Sema for the ghost of the newly-
killed, etc., ia simply kitimi, a dead man.

IV RELIGION 211

to cherish their memory for perhaps a year, living in their
original house and making them benefit in some way con-
ditionally on their observing such an injunction. Such a
condition, however, is rarely regarded as very serious,
Inato of Lumitsami directed that his wives should remain
in the house for three years after his death ; but they were
remarried in less than a year, and were not penalised by
Inato 's relations as he had directed. The insistence on a
three years' widowhood, during which they were to be of
exemplary behaviour, was much criticised as being quite
unreasonable.

The views of what happens to the soul when it does Eschat-
take its final departure from its former habitations are not ° °^'
very consistent. One account says vaguely that the good
souls go to the east towards the rising of the sun, while the
bad ones go westward to its setting ; ^ another that souls
go into butterflies or other insects, a common Naga belief ;
but the commonest and best-known theory, the holding of
which, however, does not apparently preclude belief in one
or both of the other, is that the souls go to the HiUs of the
Dead, and from there pass into another world, sometimes ^
conceived of as celestial, more often as subterranean, where
they continue to exist much as they did in their mortal
Uves. With them they take those of their worldly posses-
sions (or the " souls " of them) that have been buried with
them or placed on their graves, and aU the mithans they
have sacrificed or kiUed during life accompany them. The
writer has also known a chief nearing his end ask for a new
Government red cloth, which is issued as a badge of office,
in order that when he reached the world beyond the grave
he might be recognised at once as a servant of Government
and treated accordingly with becoming respect. As for
the mountain of the dead, there are at least two. The
Semas of the Tizu vaUey place it at the hill Naruto near
Sagami, while the majority identify it as the Wokha moun-
tain. Both from certain points of view are roughly sugges-

^ The Chang3, too, place much virtue in the rising sun, but regard the
setting sun as bad. Garo souls go to the hill Chikmang. Plaj'fair,
op. cit., p. 102.

P 2

212 THE SEMA NAGAS part

tive of a series of steps culminating in a peak, and the location
of Alhou and the kungumi in the sky (just as the Angami
place Upekenopfil there) suggests that the Sema conception
of the location of Heaven is not far removed from our own,
and the step-Uke slope of the Wokha mountain may be
connected witH the idea of the Angamis' attempt to get
up there by a tower containing a ladder, which all ended in
babel and a dispersion abroad. The Wokha mountain has
white strata visibly running along on the Sema side of the
cUff. This is known as " Dead man's Path," Kitila, and
it runs along the face of the cliff, but other accounts make
the route followed by the dead go along the ridge of the
mountain that rises as by steps from near Koio village to
the summit. The eastward face, which the Semas see from
all the villages between the Dayang and the top of the
range just west of the Tizu, is a precipice, and the summit
in the rains is usually capped with cloud.

When the dead man reaches the land of the dead,
wherever that is, he goes to his own village, of which there
/ is presumably a ghostly reproduction, and hves just as he
did in this life, after presenting the chief of the village with
a chicken which he takes with him for the purpose. Before,
however, he reaches that land he must pass by the house of
the spirit Litsowo or Kolavo, which is alongside the Road of
the Dead. This spirit seizes and devours the souls of the
unwary,! ^^d perhaps for this reason a man takes his spear
and shield to the grave, and a young boy is not buried without
a sharpened bamboo. A woman apparently is left to elude
him as best she can by cheating him, but it seems to
be only the weakly and fooUsh souls which he is able to
catch, as he is easily induced by a subterfuge to leave the
road open so that the soul may slip by.^

Once in that long home the Sema dead lives just as he
did in this world. He that is poor shall be poor still, and
he that has been rich shall remain so. But though this
behef holds but cold comfort for those who are poor and

^ Like the Angami " Metsimo," Lhota " Echlivanthano,^^ Chang
" Ujingkaklak," and Garo " Nawang," all of whom perform the same
function. 2 yide infra, under Death Ceremonies.

IV RELIGION 213

in misery, the Sema has it at least to his credit that he has
not, with the detestable self-sufficiency of the purblind
West, fatuously arrogated to man alone of animals the
possession of a soul and the power of reasoning. It prob-
ably remains for the Christian missionaries to teach him that.

Rehgious ceremonies as practised by the Semas at present Magic
are propitiatory rather than magical. It is not an un-
reasonable supposition that they were magical ceremonies
originally and intended to control the operations of Nature,
but they would seem now to have reached a stage at which
the magical intention has disappeared, and the ceremony is
performed partly in the behef that to omit it would be dis-
pleasing to the spirits and partly with the direct object of
pleasing them by offerings.

That is not to say that magic is not practised, but the
practice of it is a thing apart from the regular propitiation
of the spirits. Magical rites are occasionally practised by
the village, as in the case of the proceedings for the produc-
tion of rain, which are magic in its purest form, though it
is doubtful whether the actors any longer see it in
this light, and the majority of gennas in general no doubt
contain many elements of magic and are probably develop-
ments of magical ceremonies. But the really important
gennas, permanent ceremonies of the agricultural year,
seem no longer to be thought of in any sense other than
that of propitiation or precaution against causing dis-
pleasure. A rather different instance of the decay in the
belief in magic is perhaps to be found in the present behef
in the powers of many thumomi {i.e., seers, witches) to
extract foreign matter from the interior of sick persons. If
a man is ill or lame he will often go and consult a thumomi,
who will tell him that there is " dirt " in his body and will,
after rubbing the injured place or sundry and divers parts
of the patient's body, extract, either by mouth or by hand,
bits of stone, scraps of bones, teeth, chewed leaves, brown
juices, or any old thing from the patient's body, leaving no
mark where it came out. In the case of a man with a cough >

large masses of hair (it usually looks hke dog's hair) are
taken from his throat externally by the thumomi. In spite

214 THE SEMA NAGAS part

of the obvious nature of this imposture, the vast majority
of Semas firmly beUeve that the " dirt " is really drawn out
magically from the interior of their bodies. The writer had
pebbles taken out of his leg by a female thumomi who
solemnly informed him that when a child he had sat on a
heap of such stones and some had entered into him ; a
bystander remarked that he had not known that sahibs
had " dirt " in their bodies like Nagas. It has occurred
to the writer that these operations were originally mere
magic, and that the outward and visible extraction of the
stone was intended to produce an actual and spiritual
extraction of disease or other affliction. Indeed some of
these practitioners may still beheve that it does so, but
most of them are frauds and know it. In the rain-making
proceedings the rain-makers, the young men and boys, go
and dance and sing like children playing in the rain. In
order that rain may fall they make beUeve that it is doing
so. The whole genna is on this wise : — in case of an untimely
drought the lapu, who is the village burier and who ordinarily
conducts personal as opposed to public ceremonies, announces
in the morning that a genna for rain {tsitsogho-pini) will be
observed. No work of any sort may be done that day by
anyone in the village. The head of a huluk ape (Hylobates
Huluk) having been procured, either sex will do, at any rate
in some villages, the lapu removes the brain and substitutes
pounded aghil seed {Chenopodium murale, see Part II,
p. 98, and Part III, p. 180), and, carr3dng this, goes with
the old men to some deep pool in the nearest river which
never dries up and which is traditionally associated with
rain. There are many such pools, and to interfere with
them always causes rain •,^ often it is enough simply to drive
a stake into the pool, and at the time of waiting there are
two disputes pending settlement by the writer, one in which
a village wantonly fished such a pool and caused a fort-
night's untimely rain, and the other in which the same fort-

* The heavy rain in 1918 which ruined the millet crop was put down
in Shevekhe village to the irrigation channels dug by a pestilential
innovator who wanted to make terraced fields instead of jhuming like his
forebears. The wrathful villagers broke them up.

IV RELIGION 215

night's rainfall was caused by the tapping of a different pool
in a different river to flood a field, with the result that six
or seven villages had their millet crop spoilt. Arrived at
the pool the huluk's head is put into it and pegged down
by a stake driven through it. Meanwhile the young men
and boys with joined hands perambulate the village singing
(strophe) " Helo ! helo ! " (antistrophe) " Boboshi-tsiighulo ! "
which may be translated " Smite ! Smite ! " (probably
addressed to the rain or whoever sends it), " Come down
plop, plop ! " — " 6060 " being an admitted imitation of the
sound of heavily falling rain. After the rain which
invariably follows this ceremony has fallen for long enough,
usually seven or eight days, the lapu goes and removes the
huluk's head, whereon the rain ceases. Some Semas put
the head of the huluk ape in the water at a salt-lick. They
also drive a stake into the ground in the same place, saying
as they do so, " Tsuna tsuna li, tsuna tsuna li," which
are the words used when beating " poison " in a river
for fish, and when they have finished and are going
away they sing " Tsilga thoile, 'yegi thubo," i.e., " Rain
come down, reach the earth," which is the song sung
by naughty children playing in the rain. When enough
rain has fallen and they want it to stop they remove the
head and puU out the stake, otherwise the rain would fall
continuously.

The meaning of the huluk's head is not quite clear. Its
treatment is probably intended to cause the wTath of heaven,
as the huluk is frequently associated with rain. It does
not apparently descend to the earth to drink, except in times
of extreme drought, subsisting on the rainwater that it
can find in the hollows of trees or catch from dripping leaves,
but some Nagas insist on the head of the black male only,
the fawn-coloured female not being used for the ceremony.
However, the other part of the ceremony is purely
magical.

Direct magic of this sort seems to have more or less dis-
appeared from the regular ceremonies for the sake of the
crop, in which abstention is much more prominent than
action, but before going into these it wiU perhaps be better

2i6 THE SEMA NAGAS pakt

- to give some idea of the hierarchy which regulates these and
other gennas.
/• The regular officials of the village are five — Akekao, the

/chief, the Awdu the priest, the Amthao, the first reaper, the

j Ldpu or Amushou, the burier, the Ashiphu, the divider of
meat.

I The Akekao is really a secular official, but in virtue of his
position as chief of the village and leader in war he announces

' the gennas for the clearing of the village paths and for the

( purposes of war and peace.

The Awdu is the principal rehgious official. He is selected
by the Akekao and Chochomi, and is practically compelled
to take the office, which is unpopular, as his length of life
is apt to be injuriously affected by the Asiimtsazu (" tree-
spittle "), the frothy sap which exudes from newly-cut trees,
at the clearing of new jhums.^ It is the az^ow's business to
initiate the sowing and to announce all the gennas for
crops. 2 He is, from the point of view of rehgious ceremonial,
the most important- person in the village, and he has an
understudy called Mishilitha, who acts as his deputy in
case he is iU and unable to perform his duties. A poor
man is usually selected for the post of awou. On the day
on which his new jhums are cleared by the whole village,
aiid on the following day, the awou must abstain from all
flesh except pork and from all wild herbs. The awou gets
two days' free labour from the whole village — one when
his new jhums are cleared and one when they are sown.
His . deputy, the mishilitha, gets no free labour and has no
disabihties except having to take the awou's place when the
awou is unable to carry out his duties. On the awou's death
(normally, at any rate, all these officials hold office for fife)
his mishilitJia may or may not be, but more often is,
appointed awou in his place.

The AmtJmo is the First Reaper ; sometimes a male,

^ The idea may be that the trees combine to spit upon him, just as a
Sema village curses a man by calling out his name and spitting in unison .

• He thus combines the offices of the Angami Kemovo or Pitsu, and
Taakro — First Sower, though some of the functions of the Angami Kemovo,
are performed among the Semas by the Akekao, who may be likened to the
Greek apx-ny frits perhaps, c/. Sophocles, Oed Col. 58-63.

IV RELIGION 217

and sometimes, as the Angami equivalent (lidepfu) commonly
is, a woman. ^ It is the amthao's business to start the
cutting of each crop, and in the case of paddy and Job's
tears — not always, however, of the millet crop {Setaria
italica, L.) — the harvest is accompanied by strict prohibi-
tions, and on the day that the amthao initiates the cutting
of the paddy every house in the village gives him or her a
measure of paddy (about a seer), except those who are so
poor that they can only give beans. The office is unpopular,
as the unfortunate amthao is liable to die if he makes any
mistake in the conduct of a ceremony, in particular that of
the genua known as asiiJcuchu, which is only done occasionally
in a year when the harvest promises to be exceptionally
good, each asah or " khel " sacrificing a pig on the outskirts
of the village. The office sometimes runs in famihes, the
nearest suitable male relative being compelled to succeed
in place of a deceased amtlmo. A man or woman who is
fastidious about food {Shonumi) is selected, at any rate if
possible, and the food restrictions are often very onerous.

During the duration of the harvest (the millet harvest
excepted) the amthao may not eat the flesh of an animal
killed or wounded by any wild beast, nor that of the kalij
pheasant or " dorik " {aghu ; Gennceus horsefieldi), nor of
the Arakan Hill partridge or " duboy " (akhi ; Arboricola
intermedia), nor the grubs or honey of bees and
wasps, nor smell beans, nor bamboo rat's ^ nor dog's
flesh. The last two of these are in point of fact tabu to
the whole village during the harvest, but in some cases
they all, or some of them, are tabu to the amtlmo at
all times.

The Lapu (or Akumd-lceshu,Amoshu, Amushou, i.e., corpse-
burier) is the official burier of the dead. He is a poor man
and appointed by the Chief and Elders from the clan whose

^ Among the Asimi and Zumomi villages he is a male, among the
Ayemi and Yepothomi villages usually a female. One Ayemi vUlage
experimented by appointing a man for amthao, but the experiment was
a failure, as the harvest was very poor as a result, although the crops
appeared excellent before reaping started. The experiment was not tried
again.

* Achugi — a Ehizomys.

2i8 THE SEMA NAGAS part

members are fewest and of least importance in the village.
Thus he is a Eabalimi man in the Zumomi village of Sheyepu,
a Chophimi in the Yepothomi village of Sotoemi, a Tsiikomi
in Sakhalu. Besides digging the graves and interring the
bodies of the dead he performs the requisite ceremonies for
the recovery of the sick, such as that called avmkhu-pheve ^
{" egg-throwing "), in which he comes to the sick man's house
in the evening holding two eggs in his right hand, which he
waves six times (five only for a woman) widdershins
round the sick man's face, counting carefully " Jche, kini,
kuthu, bidi, pungu, tsogoh (up to pungu only for a woman),
after which the sick man spits on the eggs, when the lapu
takes them away and casts one towards the sunrise and
then the other towards the sunset, repeating as he does so
words to the effect that he is casting the disease out of the
sick man, who will get well. Meanwhile someone in the
house has taken a burning brand from the fire, thrown
it out at the doorway, and shut and barred the door, which
is not opened again till morning. The blazing brand is
probably to keep the spirit of sickness from returning.
Another such genua which the lapu does is the aumgha
(fowl's scream), which consists in taking an unfortunate cock
and plucking it slowly to make it squawk loud and repeatedly,
so that whatever spirit has stricken the sick man may hear
and accept the offering. ^

The lapu has some other more or less public duties as
well. He must make the first cut when cutting up the meat
of mithan or cattle sacrificed at the social ceremony called
apikesa ; he first digs out and cleans the water supply when
a new village is made, and he strings and hangs up the
heads of enemies taken in war after they have been bored
for hanging by the akutsil yekhipeu, who is the most renowned

* This genna, however, also called apikukho, is in some villages, perhaps
most, not done by the lapu, but by any relation or friend of the sick man
or indeed anyone willing to oblige. It certainly is not essential in all
villages that the lapu should perform it. Vide infra, p. 230.

* As the plucking of fowls alive has recently been forbidden in the
administered villages, the wretched bird is now slapped instead of plucked,
or the movements of plucking are gone through and the bird is well
squeezed with the left hand at each movement.

IV RELIGION 219

warrior in the village available for the purpose. The lapu
also announces the Teghakusd genna {vide infra).

No particular prohibitions in the matter of food, etc.,
attach to the office of lapu.

As for the Ashiphu, he is the least important of the official
hierarchy, at any rate in virtue of his office. Any elderly
man may be appointed ashiphu, and the akekao and
chochomi make the appointment. In the " Tukomi " clans
the ashiphu is often, if not normally, the akekao himself.

The ashiphu's duties are to make the first cut in the
flesh of beasts sacrificed in the ceremonies of social status
known as Shisho and Yiicho. He has no other duties, but
in the case of persons doing the Shisho genna, which follows
a man's marriage and begins the series of ceremonies that
he must perform if he is to attain high social position, he
has to live for thirty days in the house of the man who is
Shisho and eat only rice, pork, and the bean called akyekhe.
He may drink liquor provided it is not brewed from
atsiinakhi {Sorghum vulgare).

The duties of these officials have been set down as they
are observed in the Zumomi village of Sheyepu. They
probably vary in different places, and are sure to vary
with the three forms of Sema ceremonial. For three
divergent practices, alike in principle but differing in detail,
are well recognised. The words and the acts of the celebrant
and the gennas observed vary and the number of days during
which a tabu lasts also varies according to the practice
followed. These practices are known respectively as the
Silphuo, the Tukophuo, and the Gholiphuo. It is obvious
enough from their names that while the first may be regarded
as the genuine Sema practice {Sii is the root of Simi or
Siimi, and it is the practice which is normally followed by
the Asimi clan and its offshoots including the Zumomi), the
other two represent Sangtam {Tukomi) and Ao {Cholimi)
influences. Such influences we might certainly expect to
find, where so much that is now Sema territory belonged
to these tribes, for not only would they know best how to
propitiate local spirits, but both their members and their
culture were often adopted by their Sema conquerors. It

220 THE SEMA NAGAS part

is, moreover, in the areas taken from the Ao and the Sangtam
that the Choliphuo and Tukophuo practices predominate.
The form of gennas in the following list is, generally speaking,
given according to the Siiphuo practice as being the form
most genuinely Sema.

Before, however, giving details of these gennas it will be
as well to explain that the expression " genna " is loosely
used to cover both the Sema words chini and pini.
Chini = " is forbidden " and is used of any tabu. Thus
a man may say that he is chini, meaning that for the
time being he is unable to speak to strangers, or he might
be unable to speak to anyone at all or to be addressed by
anyone. Again some action may be chini or " forbidden,"
while the word is sometimes loosely used for an action that
ought not to be done. Thus the writer has heard men say
that it is chini to be imprisoned, meaning that they would
not dream of doing anything which would entail such a
consequence. G^enerally speaking, however, chini when used
of persons or communities means a condition in which com-
munication between them and others is forbidden. Pini,
on the other hand, refers only to the prohibition under which
it is forbidden to work in or even go down to the fields.

The gennas of the agricultural year are proclaimed (unless
the contrary is stated) by the aivou on the morning of the
day on which he has decided, after consulting if necessary
the old men wise in these matters, to hold the genna, as
the date is not a fixed one, but varies according to the state
of the weather and the success or failure of former crops
considered in conjunction vnth. the times of previous sowing.
It is, however, desirable, though not necessary, to sow at
the end of the first quarter of the moon. Seeds sown at
the wane of the moon do not sprout.^ The position of
Orion is also observed for the sowing, which should
take place when he is in the same position in the sky as the
sun is at about 2 p.m. (lubagholo) in the dajrtime. The call
of the Icasupapo (cuckoo) is also listened for as an aid to
fixing the sowing gennas, for the sowing should never take
place before it has been heard. The remaining gennas are

^ But not 80 others ; c/. p. 02.

IV RELIGION 221

fixed with less precision and more by guess, except in the
case of the harvest, which is fixed by the ripening of the
crop. Follow the gennas of the Sema agricultural year
by Siiphuo reckoning and as observed in the Zumomi village
of Sheyepu : —

1. The first genna of the year is the ASVYEKHIPHE.
It marks the beginning of the clearing of new jhums. On
this day no one may cut wood, husk paddy, spin, weave,
sew, string beads, or peel tying bamboos. All persons
clearing new fields take an egg to their field, and they may
not let anyone take fire from their hearths on that day.
The egg is placed in a piece of thumsii^ stick split into three
at the top to hold the egg. The field house, akhapiki, is
afterwards built on the spot where the egg was placed. The
clearing of the jungle is then begun and may proceed at
the clearer 's will, provided he leaves a small patch uncleared
for the next genna.

2. This is the LUWUNYI, which marks the completion
of the clearing of new jhums. On this day the same prohibi-
tions ^ are observed as on that of Asiiyekhiphe. All the
patches of uncleared jungle must be cleared and finished
off on that day. Persons whose fields contain unlucky spots,
spots such as places struck by Kghtning, or springs from red
earth and containing a red deposit in the water (and an
oily scum on it), must offer an egg at these spots, stuck as
before in a cleft thumsu stick. Later also offerings of dogs
and pigs and chickens are made at such places.

3. The next genna takes place after the jhums have been
burnt and are all ready for sowing. It is called VIS A VELA .
Spinning, weaving, sewing, peeHng of tying bamboos, and
all work in the fields is forbidden.*

4. The Visavela is followed on the next day by the
KICHiMIYA (or LIT SABA) in honour of the spirit of
that name, at which paddy husking, spinning, weaving,
sewing, and stringing beads are forbidden ^ to the village.
All rich or important men kiU pigs, and each gives the lower
part (from halfway up the thigh downwards) of the off
hind leg to the AmtJmo (the First Reaper). Persons who

^ Thumsii is a tree bearing very acid edible berries. * CMni.

222 THE SEMA NAGAS part

kill pigs at this genna must also refrain^ from peeling tjdng
bamboos.

5, 6, and 7. The Kichimiya marks the completion of
preparation of the fields. The actual sowing may foUow
immediately or be postponed till the time is exactly right
in accordance with reckonings already mentioned. In
either case it is immediately preceded by the genna called
MITI, in which it is forbidden for any member of the village
to go to the fields at all.^ The day after Miti is also genna,
and called MVzAH. Tying bamboos may not be peeled,
and every man sows a handful of paddy, not in his field,
but on the path. The next day the whole village goes and
sows fields of the awou, the awou himself beginning. On the
next day, APITEKHU, it is again genna ^ to go to the
fields at all, but on the day after Apitekhu the chief's field
is sown by the whole village, the chief being forbidden to
take anything out of his house or to speak to any stranger.
This day is called Ariizhu, but it is not a genna day.

8 and 9. The completion of sowing is marked by the
AOKHUNI gennas. Big and Little {Aolchuni kizheo and
Aokhuni kitla). The former takes place immediately
sowing is completed. No wood is cut and paddy is neither
husked nor even spread to dry, as if this were done the roots
of the sown grain would not strike, drying up, no doubt,
Uke the paddy dried in the viUage. The latter genna foUows
a few days after the former and consists merely in a prohibi-
tion against going to the fields. ^ If rain is wanted at this
time the Tsitsogho pini for making rain is performed as
already described.

10. When the young rice is about a foot or so high the
AUHUKITI is observed, to keep the young blades from
withering. AU work is stopped for one day and the genna
is followed by the first clearing (amuza) of the fields to get
rid of the weeds that have grown up.

1 1 . The second clearing {akiniu) of the fields is inaugurated
by the ALU C HIKE genna. Every member of the village
who is cultivating that year sacrifices a fowl or an egg in
the fields and throws a few grains of corn to every stream

» CMni. * Pini.

IV RELIGION 223

which he crosses. He works in the fields that day, but the
following day all work is forbidden, and no one in the village
at all may go to the fields.

12. When the ear begins to form, the very important
genna called ANY I takes place. It must be started five
days before the end of the last quarter of the moon and
lasts during these five days. No one may go to the fields
for that period, and on the first day (called Asiiza) no one
may leave the village at all. On the second day, Aghiiza,
persons who have acquired status by gennas prepare rice
for brewing the liquor called azhichoh. On the third day
(called Ashyegheni) everyone must remain in the village and
must eat pork. All who can kiU pigs. Those who do not
must buy flesh from those who do, for if pork is not eaten
the grain will not form properly. On the following morning,
Anyeghini, every married couple makes a little offering at the
foot of the front centre post, atsiipi, of the house for Litsaba
(the name Kichimiya not being used in this connection).
On both Ashyegheni and Anyeghini men must remain chaste,
and on the day following the latter, Laghepini, all males
clear the village path to the fields, but women are allowed
to go and work in the fields.

13. The Anyi is followed by the genna called LAKEOKHU
or TEKHEKHI, observed for the good of the crops. The
whole village is forbidden to go to the fields, and paddy may
not be husked at aU. The a/:e/:ao provides a pig and theawou
and amthao go outside the viUage and eat it. The amthao
brings back the head and cooks and eats it in his house.

14. The next genna is the AKHAPE-KUMTA^ to
make the ears break their sheath straight and well. The
whole viUage abstains from going to the fields and may not
peel pliant bamboos, nor spin, nor weave, nor sew, nor string
beads. No doubt the binding of thread could have a
binding effect on the bursting ears.

15. The SAGHU-AKHU (female saghu) is an important
genna of one day's duration. AU work is forbidden ; many
kill pigs, and whoever does so distributes pieces of flesh
throughout the viUage. This is done at dawn, when each

^ Akhape-kumta = " The ear cemnot open."

224 THE SEMA NAGAS part

man must squeeze out through a half-closed door, get his
share, take it back, and burn a scrap of it before his atsiipi
(the front post of the house) before opening his door wide.
Killers of pig get one day's free labour from the recipients
of pieces of pork. The offering burnt before the atsiipi
must be done by the householder or he suffers disaster.

The awo2i at dawn on the day of the saghii announces the
next day but one as the day of the genna, but the genna in
point of fact is kept that day. The object is said to be to
deceive the spirits whose evil influences the genna is intended
to avert. Saghii is said to be connected with the root of
Kesah = bad.

16. The SAGHU-ADU (male saghii, the two Saghii are
said to be called male and female because there is a pair of
them) is a one-day's genna kept exactly Uke Saghii-akhu,
except that pigs are not killed. If this genna and that of
Saghii proper are not announced wrongly the awou is apt
to die untimely. The Saghii-adu is kept at full moon and
the reaping begins at the next new moon.

17. APIKHIMTHE marks the beginning of the reaping
and takes place the day before that fixed for the first cutting
of the crop by the amtlmo ; males must abstain from rice,
beef, and dog's flesh on this day, but may drink Uquor and
eat the flesh of other animals. Before dawn on this day
all males go to the nearest river and wash their bodies,
weapons, and clothes. The infirm wash only a corner of
their cloth. They bring back with them new water in new
vessels (" chungas ") of bamboo and may not touch the old
water that may be in their houses on that day. On the
eve of Apikhimthe and on the following night all males
must remain chaste, and, having taken their clothes and
weapons, collect before the house of any member of
their clan who may have a suitable house as clean as possible.
There they collect the fermented rice, from which they are
to make their Hquor with the new water that they bring,
and there they sit and drink on the day of the genna. All
meat and drink unconsumed by cock-crow on the night
following the day of genna are buried in one pit near the
village. Should a wild dog defecate over this pit it is

IV RELIGION 225

regarded as a most unlucky omen. On the day of genna
the whole viUage must stay at home, neither going to the
fields to work nor visiting any other village. On the next
day reaping is begun. The day before the reaping is open
to the general pubUe the amthao goes to the fields and cuts
a single head of corn from his (or her) own field (if any).
If the corn in that particular field is not in ear, a stem or
leaf of the plant will do. This is taken back to the village
and deposited in the granary. ^ For the ceremony performed
by individuals before reaping their own crops see story XVII
in Part VI.

18. The next genna, the AWONAKUCHU,^ celebrates
the harvest home after the reaping has been finished and all
the grain reaped by everyone carried home. Tliis genna
occupies two days, the fii'st of which is strictly caUed
Abosuhu, that is to say, the " making of mat enclosure " for
the grain, bamboo mats being used to enclose the grain
within the w^alls of the granary to prevent the loss of the
grain, which is heaped up inside a circular wall of mat.
The Awonakuchu is the first eating of the rice from the top
of the newly -stored crop.

On the morning of the Abosuhu the men eat as usual with
the women, but in the evening separate themselves as in
the Apikhimthe and sleep away from the women. Again
at cock-crow some of the men go for new water and there
wash their bodies (not their clothes) and bring new water
in new " chungas," and this water only maybe used by the
men that day for washing or for cooking. The whole viUage
is genna that day, doing no work and going nowhere. The
men again separate themselves that night, and the genna
ends at cock-crow next morning.

Of the gennas above given the Anyi, Saghil, and Awona-
kuchu are probably universally observed by Semas, though
the others are most of them subject to very considerable
variations and divergences.

In addition to the regular agricultural gennas, some,

* The Angami first reaper cuts several heads, takes them home, rubs
out the grain, and cooks and eats it.

* Awonakuchu probably = "The awou's eating (chu) of rice {ana)."

226 THE SE]\IA NAGAS part

if not all, of the Semas who have recently started
terraced fields have adopted an Angami genna observed
on the occasion of flooding the field. New fire is made
with a fire-stick and on it " pitu modhu " {azMchoh) is
made. This is taken to the field and some of it is poured
into the channel or channels that bring the water to the
terraces, with an injunction to the water to flow steadily
and not to be lost in holes by the way.

Another annual genna there is, but not connected with
agriculture. This is the TEGHAKU8A (="the genna
of the Teghami "), which is performed for the prevention of
disease. It is annoimced by the Lapu and consists in one
day's pini.

The origin of all gennas is imputed to the original man
/ who lived with his brothers the Spirit and the Tiger. The
Spirit knew when it was right to go to the fields and when
to abstain in order that the crops might be good, and the
man would ask, saying, " Do you go to the fields to-day ? "
and the Spirit would answer " Yes," or " No. It is the
Litsaba genna," and so forth, and thus the man learnt.
This perhaps suggests the adoption of the gennas from the
inhabitants found in country invaded and occupied by
Semas, or from immigrants of superior culture who may have
introduced the cultivation of rice.

In addition to the regular and recurring agricultural
gennas^ there are, of course, a number of gennas observed
y by the whole village which occur from time to time according
to circumstances — gennas for making peace or war, gennas
for repairing the village defences, gennas observed for the
birth of some monstrosity, or gennas such as that observed
by Alapfumi in 1915, when the whole village beheld two
suns (or a sun and a moon side by side, as others say)
in the sky at sunrise {v. infra under " Nature "). The
genna for rain has already been mentioned ; there are
gennas to avert disease ; and there are also occasions when
the whole village is genna on account of the action of one
member of it. Thus if a man takes oath on a tiger's tooth,

* In the accounts of the following gennas I have not adhered in all
cases to the Silphuo form.

IV RELIGION 227

at any rate while the crops are in the ground, the village
must observe a genna, or if a man gives a feast or entertain-
ment (Inami-kusd) to which another village is invited, the
whole village does genna. Most of these gennas merely
consist in the observance of pini.

This feast of Inami-kusa (" stranger calUng feast ") is the Social
final goal of the series of feasts by which an individual attains """
to social distinction. The first of these is the SHIKUSHO,
at which one pig is killed and its flesh distributed and Uquor
provided for the whole village on six successive mornings.
It is performed at the harvest. A man who has performed
the Shikusho may then proceed to the ARISA, at which a
bull is killed and Uquor provided as before on six successive
mornings for the whole village. In the case of both these
gennas the village generally puts on its best clothes and
turns out and dances. The man who has done the Apisa
(? = " cloth feast ") is entitled to wear the cloth called
akhome,^ and he puts up outside his house a long bamboo
pole thickly covered with small cane leaves and with the
lower half supported by a rough forked pole of the tree
called micMsu,^ a tree with a white flower and highly irritant
bark. To the dropping end of the bamboo ornaments of
gourds a sort of tassels of bamboo are attached, which swing
and clatter in the wind . This erection is called aghilza . ^ The
bull is not an absolutely essential part of this ceremony,
but unless included the cloth akhome cannot be assumed.
Mithan may be substituted for ordinary cattle by anyone
rich enough to do so.

The Apisa genna is followed by that called AKIK YEGHE.
This necessitates the slaughter of a mithan and the standing
of a drink to everyone in the village. An ordinary buU may
be substituted for the mithan, at any rate in some villages.
The celebrating of this feast enables the giver to put horns

' See Part I, p. 14. " Schima wallichii.

* Or akedu, or michikedu when the ceremony is not absolutely com-
pletely performed and a shortened bamboo is put up (akedu) or the cane
leaves with which the bamboo should be covered are omitted (michikedu).
When a man is fetching cane leaves to make an aghiiza the whole village
must observe a genna and such leaves may not be taken from the land
of another village without permission.

Q 2

228 . THE SEMA NAGAS part

{tenhaku-ki) on his gable and the Y-shaped genna posts in
front of the house, each one of which represents a mithan
slaughtered.

The culminating genna of this description is the
INAMI-KUSA. Only a very rich man can do it, and it
can hardly be reckoned as belonging to the regular series
of social status gennas. Another village must be invited
(as the name denotes) and at least two mithan, and usually
more, killed, together with pigs in large numbers. Liquor
is unUmited, and altogether it is a great feast. The whole
village in which it takes place observes jpini, and there is
dancing in gala dress.

In all these gennas an egg is broken on the bull's head
as it is being killed, with the words " Athiuno kuihomo
hekepini. Teghdmino kimiyeno atsil akizheo o-pa nyekdni " —
" Hereafter let me kill many. Be the spirits kind, a mighty
bull shall follow in your tracks." It should be added that
though it is normally bulls which are killed, the substitu-
tion of cows is not barred.

At the Shikusho and Apisa the festal hquor must be first
tasted by an old woman, who receives the leg of a pig, which
is hung up over the celebrant's door while he is genna and
taken away by her afterwards. This old woman must be
the first to cook during the genna, and she separates and
throws away the share of meat set aside for the spirits.
She is called Yi'ipu or AtsiighiikulJiau.

Another feast of a similar sort is theKUPULHU-KILEKE,
^ the Feast of Friendship, given by a man to cement the tie
of friendship with another. The present given to the guest
so bound amounts to from half a pig's body with the head
to a hind-quarter and a large part of the body of a mithan.
The whole village keeps pini on the day of the entertainment,
and songs are sung, in particular songs in honour of the
entertainer and his friend. There is no dancing. The friend
spends two nights in his host's house, sleeping as a rule on
the paddy husking bench in the akishekhoh or apasiibo, and
thereafter goes home.

This feast must be returned within three years, but some-
times the recipient is unable to do this, and it may stand

■< Q

a £

z s

■^ >

" = J

IV RELIGION 229

over to the next generation, when, if not repaid, a fine is
sometimes claimed. In any case the return feast is expected
to exceed that originally given in extent, though the penalty
claimed in case no return is made is usually half the expenses
of the original feast.

It is not incumbent on a man asked to a feast of
friendship to accept the invitation in the first instance,
but if he accepts he is liable to damages for breaking the
compact.

The method of killing mithan at these feasts is interesting.
The mithan, with cane ropes bound to its horns and forehead,
is hauled up to a new Y-shaped post erected for the purpose,
and when it puts its head against the fork, its legs are pulled
away with the help of cane ropes so that it is thrown on
one side, in which position it is held dowTi by long poles laid
across its body. Its head must point east, and some Semas
insist on its being thro^vn on the left side.^ Its legs are
then lashed together, and one of the poles no longer needed
to hold it down is inserted between the hind legs in front
of the lashings and passed up behind the tail. This is
pulled back so as to lever the hind legs almost into a straight
fine with the body, rendering the animal unable to struggle.
First two or three formal strokes with a stick are given,
then a shght cut is made on the flank behind the shoulder,
and an old man inserts into this cut the point of a hard
stick, which he drives home with a quick push, while the
giver of the feast pours water on to the animal's muzzle.
The whole operation is surprisingly quick, and death seems
to be practically instantaneous the moment the stick is
driven home. It is drawTi out carefully and slowly. The
formal blows with a stick and the use of a stick instead of
a spear to kiU the animal suggest a period when iron weapons
were not known and a reluctance to use iron in kiUing the
animal even though transfixion may have been substituted
for beating to death. Aos, when sacrificing mithan, make
a formal blow on the forehead with a stone.

Of gennas done by individuals to get rid of sickness the Sickness.
APIKUKHO has abeady been mentioned (p. 218). A

^ So that the cut is made behind the right shoulder.

230 THE SEMA NAGAS part

variant form, however, exists in which one egg may be used
instead of two and thrown in any direction away from the
sick man's house, and in which the egg or eggs may be
manipulated by any person and are not thrown by the lapu.
The thrower in throwing the egg away says, " Hi pfe
o-tsuanike ; hi Tiguno athiuye i-pulo akevishivepelo " — " This
I have taken and given you ; henceforward make good my
condition." Immediately this is done the sick man's door
is shut, and he speaks to no one but those of his own house-
hold, while the operator goes to his own place. Should the
operator himself be of the sick man's household he comes
back into the house, takes a burning brand or two from the
fire, throws it towards the door, shuts the door, and sits
down inside the house as far from the sick man as he con-
veniently can, and refrains entirely from speech with
him.

Another ceremony for healing the sick is the KUNGU-LA
{lit.= " Heaven-road "). A thumomi is called in to do this,
and the precise formulae are known only to him (or her),
but as far as the uninitiated can say the ceremony consists in
kiUing a pig and tearing up a banana leaf into strips. From
these a large number of diminutive leaf cups are made and,
filled with rice-beer, are hung on the carved frontal post
[afsu) of the house. In other pieces of leaf scraps of
pig-meat are wrapped and also stuck on to the post. A leg
of the pig, together with the tongue, gall, tail, a scrap of
Uver, and the bladder unemptied, is put into a basket and
left in the house near the sick man's bed in order that the
thumomi may come in the spirit that night and take the
contents, or rather their spiritual equivalent, as a gift to
the Kungumi. On the following morning the thumomi
comes in the flesh and takes away the gross matter that
remains. During the actual day of the ceremony the sick
man may not speak to strangers, and a bunch of leaves is
stuck up on the outside of his house to show that he is
genna that day.

In Emilomi and the neighbouring villages a form of
genna of the same sort, more or less, is used and called
AZV-LA (" Water-road "), but is associated with the

IV RELIGION 231

python (aithu) to whom, no doubt, intercession for recovery
is made.

There are probably many other forms of genna^ practised
by the ihumomi, who, indeed, probably invent new forms
of whatever kind and whenever they see fit. These ihumomi
are arrant frauds and practise any sort of knavery that a
gullible clientele finds attractive. Some of them probably
have second sight in some degree, but do not scruple to
" detect " thieves, etc., with absolute disregard of even the
possibihties of the case, probabiUties let alone. Their
favourite trick of extracting " dirt " has already been
mentioned. The foolery with which they accompHsh this
is manifold. They wiU pretend to draw it up to the surface
of the body with leaves as though with a magnet, to blow
it down from the top of the patient's head till it descends
to his feet, where they extract it, to squeeze it up to the skin
with the hands, and a hundred and one like escamoteries,
" extracting " it at the critical moment by sucking with the
mouth, where they conceal the " dirt " to be extracted
under the tongue, and allowing it to faU out, when the
patient seriously believes that it has come from his body,
though devil a mark there is to show how it passed his skin.
The sucking out of the extracted object is often accompanied
by a shrewd nip, which the patient takes for the pain
attending the object's emergence from his body. The
writer has been operated on by one of these practitioners.
The objects produced are bits of stone, quartz, iron, tin,
old teeth, chewed leaves, mud, hairs, etc., the latter being
invariably produced from a patient with a cough. They
are taken from the exterior of his guUet and he is told that
it was these hairs that made him cough. A really clever
ihumomi extracts not with the mouth, but with his bare
hands, so that the object is probably not concealed in his

^ Petty afflictions such aa sore eyes are said to be sometimes got rid
of by packing up rubbish in the house in an old basket and saying " I
am going out," then leaving the house and hanging up the basket on a
tree outside the village vrith the words " Stay here and mind this basket,
I shall not be gone long," then returning home by another path. I £im
indebted to Mr. Mills for this, and it is a Lhota custom, but the Semas
who practise it may have got it from the Sangtams.

232 THE SEMA NAGAS part

mouth, but in such cases he usually does it in the inner
darkness of a Sema house where little skill or sleight of hand
is needed.

For a consideration a thumomi will sometimes teach his
trade, but no case of a pupil's having given away his teacher
is known. Indeed they appear to have a belief in their own
powers which assorts most ill with the impostures they
practise.

But to go out of one's way to convict the thumomi of
fraud is to break a bluebottle upon the wheel. Sufficeth it
that ,the thumomi beUeves in himself and is beheved in by
his patients and in very truth often cures them by faith
alone. After all, he differs little from a " Christian
Science " practitioner, unless it be in that he uses a trifle
more deception to induce the state of mind in which the
patient recovers of his affliction.

The thumomi, though a well-loiown and more or less
indispensable person, has no official position in the village
hierarchy. He (or she) is a private practitioner, self-
appointed and independent. He acts as an intermediary
between private persons and the spirits, and sometimes is,
or claims to be, clairvoyant. He is a dreamer of dreams
and skilled in the interpretation thereof, a curer of illness,
and a discoverer of stolen property.^ Sometimes he has,
or is credited with, a knowledge of poisons ^ not possessed
by the ordinary man. Yet he is not as a rule a man of
any social standing or personal influence, and is almost
invariably poor, so markedly so that it is generally held
that a thumomi is unable to acquire riches, a behef which
assists creduUty in the thumomi' s impostures, as it meets
the most obvious criticism as to the thumomi s object in

^ Divining is a property often ascribed to books. A chief once came
to me and asked me to look in my books and tell him the whereabouts of
his brother, who had run away from the hospital into the jungle in delirium.
I consulted the aortea Homerianae for him with the most appropriate
results, opening the Odyssey at the passage where Telemachus asks for
news of his father, and is told that he has visited the land of the dead and
returned.

* Including that of the poison called atsiinigha, the fruit of a plant,
which when thrown at a person or secreted in his clothes enters into his
body, causing him to die later on by the swelling of all his limbs.

n1
7 >

[Tj face p. 232

V RELIGION 233

deceiving. No stigma attaches to the activities of a thumomi
or to his practice of magic, ^ and he is not necessarily
regarded as being personally responsible for being a thumomi,
which may befall him against his will.

The important incidents of a man's Ufe entail, of course,
the observance of gennas. It has already been mentioned
that the birth of a domestic animal necessitates the observ-
ance of genna,and the birth of a human being is accompanied
by stricter observances.

When a male child is born its mother observes six days' Birth,
genua, and five for a female child, but in the case of her first -
child, of whichever sex, the genua is ten days. A dog or
pig is killed. Wild vegetables, flesh killed by vnld animals,
or any other " bad meat " is forbidden to the household,
wliich must live on food of its own provision. The members
of the household may not work in their own fields or go
to their granary, but may work in the fields of others. The
mother herself must stay at home for the period of the
genua and may not leave the precincts of the house except
to defecate, and may not speak to any stranger. As soon
as the child is born she eats a chicken of the same sex as the
child.

When the days of genua are completed the mother takes
a child of the same sex as her infant, an empty basket, and
a rain shield, and goes to the end of the village and says " I
am going to the fields," and then returns to the house.
The genua is then at an end.

Should the father be out when the birth takes place he
may not enter the house tiU the sun has set.

The method of dehvery (or at any rate one method) is
for the mother to squat on her heels upon a cloth spread
on the ground. A woman steadies her shoulders from behind,
another doing the same from in front, while a third steadies
and supports her knees.

The after-birth is buried inside the house under the bed

^ I have noted this as Dr. Jevons has based a distinction between magic
and reUgion on the lines that the former is regarded as something bad and
unlawful even by primitive communities (Folklore, vol. xxviii. No. 3,
September, 1917). This is, at any rate, not always the case.

234 THE SEMA NAGAS part

or in some other spot where no one is likely to tread. An
old woman buries it and washes her hands and face there-
after, and, though eating in the house, eats separately for
three days.

Should the mother die in childbirth she is taken out by
the back door and buried behind the house. The husband
in such a case is genua for eleven days. All the dead
woman's beads, ornaments, clothes, etc., are thrown away,
and her husband's personal property is not touched by
anyone " for a year," i.e., until after the next harvest.
Even then all utensils, etc., are got rid of as soon as they
can be replaced, and no one will touch them except the
aged. If the child lives and there is no woman of the house-
hold to take charge of it, it is given to some childless couple,
who eventually take half the marriage price if it is a girl,
and who bring it up as their own son if a boy, though in the
latter case the boy does not change his clan for that of his
foster-parents. If the child dies at the same time as its
mother it is buried with her.

A new-bom child which dies is buried in the akishekhoh,
and is not buried with a cloth, but only with bamboo bark
instead. Three days' genua only is observed for its death.

Children are suckled for from one to three years, and it
is not unusual to see a Sema mother suckUng two children
who may have more than a year's difference between them
in the matter of age.

On the third day after the child's birth the lobe of the
ear is pierced by some clans, notably the Yepothomi and
others to the north, and a wisp of cotton put into it, and at
the same time a tiny basket is made and Uned with leaf
and six pebbles, and six bits of ash are put into it. When the
mother takes a child and goes (nominally) to the fields to
break the genua, the child carries this basket and its contents
to the village well, where it throws them away. The child
taken on this occasion may be a brother or a sister of the
infant or near relative or merely a neighbour. Just before
the boring of the ear the child is given a chicken of the same
sex as itself. The mother may not eat of this chicken.
The Asimi, Zumomi, and some other clans do not bore the

IV RELIGION 235

ear at all on this occasion, and by those that do so only
the lobe of the ear is bored then. In the case of boys the
concha of the ear is pierced later, and usually somewhere
about the age of puberty. If not done before marriage the
concha of the ear cannot be pierced unless the genua for
touching an enemy's corpse is done. Among the northern
Semas two holes are made, one at the edge of the fossa of
the antihelix and one in the concha, and become gradually
enlarged by the insertion of thick wads of cotton wool until
in the aged they are distended to an enormous size. In the
case of girls all Semas alike bore the hole at the apex of the
helix from below upwards. These holes are in addition
to the hole in the lobe which every Sema has. A Sema
accustomed to wear cotton in the holes in his ears cannot
discontinue it without discomfort, largely owing to passage f
of air through the empty apertures, which interferes with
his hearing.

The distension of the ear sometimes causes even the outer
edge to spUt, while to inflict an injury on a man by tearing his
ear, whether the lobe or the concha, is a serious offence, as
the torn ear will not hold ornaments. The torn ear, however,
can be mended, as if tied up quickly and spUced with fresh
chicken skin the parts grow together again.

The Asimi, Zumomi, and other clans who do not always
pierce the lobe of the ear on the third day have a regular
occasion for doing so. Anyone who is so inclined and has
a son of suitable age celebrates a genna called anivu, in
which he kills a pig and provides a large quantity of rice
liquor and gives a feast. Anyone in the village who has a
son or daughter with ears unpierced may have them pierced
on that day. For boys they make only one hole in the
middle of the concha instead of two, and one in the lobe.
The number and position of holes bored vary by locality
rather than by clan, the southern Semas following the last-
mentioned custom generally, while one or two villages like
Iganumi, much influenced by Angamis, bore four small holes
in the outer edge of the helix and one in the lobe, no others. ^

^ If a man die with the concha of his ear unbored his forebears in the
next world disown him.

236 THE SEMA NAGAS part

In the Yepothomi and in the other clans who bore the
lobe on the third day the child's name is usually given on
the same day. It may be given by the parents or by
anyone at all who has ideas on the subject. Omens as to
its suitabihty are not taken, but the choice of a name, as
among all Semas, except possibly the villages of the Lazemi
group, is Umited by the social standing and degree of pros-
perity of its parents. If an ambitious name is given to the
child of poor parents people remark, '' Alio ! aho ! " (" Oh !
I say," as one might put it), and most frequently the child
dies. In any case it is a subject for ridicule, and probably
receives a nickname much more opprobrious than a name
that might in the first place have been suitably bestowed.
Thus while a chief will give a child names implying prowess
in war or prosperity in peace, the names given to a poor
man's son denominate him an object of poverty, scorn, or
aversion. Among chiefs' names we find such as " Victor "
(Gwovishe),'^ " Challenger " (Nikhui), " Preventer " {Ka-
khiya, one who holds the road and prevents the escape or
onslaught of the enemy), " Resorted to " {Inato),^ " En-
riched " (Nikiye), or in the case of girls " Peace-maker "
{Siikhali), " Hostess " (Khezeli). As examples of the
names of nobodies, we might take " Eyesore " (Zunache),
" Notorious debtor " (Nachezil, Nachelho, the debts being
in paddy and this existence implying permanent poverty),
" Untouchable " {Sholepu, because of the filthiness of his
habits,) "Outcast" (Yevetha), and for girls "Spurned"
{Mithili), " Gossiper " (Pilheli).^

In the more southern villages of Zumomi and Asimi the
name of a child is fixed upon when the genua for its birth
expires, but it is not used and the child is spoken of as
Kumtsa,* or Kakhu, or some such common name, the real

^ Lit. " one who goes well."

* I.e., by persons wanting help or protection or the settlement of
disputes.

' Or, perhaps, " chatterbox," but the name has the implication that
the chatter is of an unpleasant if not abvisive description, and that the
owner's tongue is without restraint — " Billingsgate " might almost pass
as a translation.

* Kumtaa = " Bitter," a very common name indeed.

IV RELIGION 237

name not being used till the child is some months old, an
indication of the excessive susceptibility of new-born
children to evil influences. Another instance of this is
found in the superstition that the sand-lizard {aniza) informs
the spirits (tegJiami) of the birth of male children, with the
result that the spirits collect and destroy the new-born child.
For this reason men kill the sand-Uzard on sight. Women,
on the other hand, always let it go scathless, as when a
female child is born it remains chini and does not leave its
hole. The women, moreover, sometimes make a fuss if
men try to kill an aniza and endeavour to protect it.^

Generally speaking, the Sema has the same disinchnation
to mention his own name that most Nagas have, though the
feeling is fast weakening. It may have some connection
with the notion that a man's soul answers to the name as
well as his body.

Before leaving the question of nomenclature it should be
mentioned that the Sema never gives to the child the name
of a living relation, though the names of dead ancestors are
popular among those ^vith a child to name. The explana-
tion given is that, if the name of a living senior be given, the
elder will die, as a substitute for him in this world has been <
provided. Possibly there is behind this some fear that such
nomenclature would be tantamount to saddling one soul
with two bodies, one of which, being useless, would die.
The very strong objection which Semas have to having an
animal named after them may be connected with the same
idea. At the same time, they do not appear to have, at the
present time, any behef at all that the dead are reincarnated
in the living.

In addressing one another, Semas are most punctilious
in using a suitable appellation in speaking to or of any but
intimates or inferiors. They use the terms of family
relation when speaking to a senior or a stranger who is
of their clan, caUing them " imu (my elder brother) So-

* Cf. the practice of the Port Lincoln tribe of South Australia in regard
to the lizard called ibirri (male) and tvaka (female) ; each human sex tries
to destroy the opposite sex of the lizard, on the ground that it was this
lizard which divided the sexes in the human species. Sir J. Frazer, " The
Golden Bough," vol. xi, p. 216 (3rd ed.).

238

THE SEMA NAGAS

PART

and-so," " Ini (aunt) So-and-so," " Itiikuzu (my younger
brother) So-and-so," and so forth, according to their
seniority. Similarly, members of a clan to which the speaker
is related by marriage will be addressed as " ichi (my
brother-in-law) So-and-so," etc. Equals who are not
intimates or relations are addressed as " ishdu (my friend)
So-and-so," inferiors (in age) who are not related are
addressed as dpu (" lad"), while the terms ipu and iza {" my
father," *' my mother ") are used for any very senior person
or one to whom much respect is due owing to his position.
Thus the writer was always addressed as Ipu shaha {" Father
Sahib ") until well enough known to become " Ipu " simply.

Puberty. The assumption of man's dress by a Sema boy is a matter
of small account and is variously observed by the different
clans. Thus the Yepothomi boy on the day that he first
puts on the " lengta " merely abstains from wild vegetables,
meat killed by wild animals, and any other sort of food
which is spiritually dangerous. The Ayemi boy is stood
upon the husking-table while the "lengta" is first put on
by his parents ; this is done to put him out of reach of Hce,
which might otherwise infest his " lengta " and trouble him.
He observes no other rite or tabu. The Zumomi, also with
the object of avoiding Hce, refrain from the rice from which
liquor has been brewed on the day on which they have
first put on the "lengta." They also refrain from vege-
tables. As, however, the "lengta" is usually first put on
by them at night after the last meal, the actual abstention
is rarely more than a nominal deprivation.

Marriage. The Sema formaUties in connection with marriage vary
to a considerable extent among different clans and are
characterised by a vast number of minute observances.
The account below gives only the general details.
- At the time of formal betrothal the prospective bride-
groom goes to the house of the parents of the girl and
eats and drinks there. He is accompanied by a person
called anisu — in the Yepothomi clan an old man, in the
Ayemi clan an old woman — who drinks and eats before
the prospective bridegroom does so and blesses the
match. This is no doubt to assure, if possible, that

IV RELIGION 239

any evil influences attending the proposed marriage shall
fall on the anisic, who is old and therefore unimportant or
less susceptible, rather than on the bridegroom, just as the
reaping and sowing of crops are initiated by old persons
who have in any case little to expect of life, are of Httle
value to the community as fighting, working, or breeding
units, or perhaps who are so tough as to be able the better
to withstand evil influences, for it is clear that young infants
are the most vulnerable. The anisu is asked whether he
comes with the authority of the intending bridegroom's
parents. He answers " Yes," and asks for the girl. Assent is ^^
given, after which he kills a pig and cuts up the meat. After
this a breach of the promise of marriage by either party
without cause entails liability to a fine, usually of from
Rs. 6/- upwards, according to the social position of the
injured party.

The time that may elapse between the betrothal and the
marriage may be almost anything from days to years, for
in the Tizu valley the children of rich men are sometimes
betrothed before they reach puberty, and though in such
cases the actual marriage sometimes takes place before
puberty,^ it is more common for a betrothal to take place
and the marriage to foUow when the parties are of a suitable
age.

Before the day fixed for the marriage the anisu takes a
piece of salt and a dog and visits the house of the bride's
parents. He (or she) puts the salt into the thatch of the
roof from inside the house, where it remains untouched, and
gives the dog to the bride's parents. This visit is followed
by one by the bridegroom, who is accompanied by a friend
or relative chosen for his cleverness, who argues the question
of price with the bride's parents, doing his best to reduce
it. When the price is finally fixed, the cattle, etc., are y
brought over the same evening from the bridegroom's house
if the parties are in the same village. If the bride fives in

* Cohabitation does not take place in the case of such marriages until
the parties are fit for it. They return to their parents' houses for the
time being, as a rule. Such early marriagea usually take place for more
or leas poUtical reasons.

240 THE SEMA NAGAS part

a distant village, the approximate amount of the bride-price
is conveyed by friends of the bridegroom some way behind,
and if after all they have not brought enough they hand
over what they have and indicate to the bride's parents
other cattle in their village which they will add to the
price. When the bride's parents have expressed themselves
satisfied, a pig brought by the bridegroom's party and caUed
azazhunala (? = " way to mother-beholding ") is killed and
cut up. This completes the contract, and the essential transfer
of the girl from the potestas of her father to her husband is
complete. The fragments of the pig are given to the bride's
relations (the bride may not taste it), and each one that
receives a fragment pays a basket of paddy, which is sent
with the bride to her new house. The bridegroom's party
, then name the date, not before the third day under any
circumstances, on which they will come for the bride.
Against that date the bride's relations get ready. Drink
and food are prepared to entertain the bridegroom's party,
all the paddy which is to be sent along with the bride is
got ready, and whatever else she is to take with her.

On the day appointed the bridegroom comes with a party
of his relations to carry away the bride and her stuff. The
latter, consisting of a considerable amount of paddy together
with the bride's dowry of cloths and ornaments, is all
arranged ready outside her parents' house. The bride-
groom's party, having arrived, eat and drink with the bride's
people, and after that start back to their own village.
The anisu must be the first to pick up a load and give it to
someone to carry. Then a procession starts to the bride-
groom's house. First goes a warrior in full kit and carrying
a spear in one hand and a dao in the other. He is called
akeshdu. After him goes the anisu, likewise, if a man, with
spear and dao. After the anisu comes the bride, a narrow
red and yeUow circlet of plaited cane round her head, and
a chicken in her hand, and a woman's staff which has a
wooden top shod with a long iron butt-piece. In some cases
the bride carries a dao instead, which she presents to her
husband. After the bride comes her personal property,
carried by a man specially chosen for the purpose and called

IV RELIGION 241

aboshdu. He also carries food for her to eat on the way, as
she may not eat after her arrival. The aboshou is followed
by the bride's paternal aunt (ani), preferably her father's
elder sister, but a younger sister or, if no sister is available,
a female cousin on the father's side will do. She is called
for the occasion akawoku-pfu in virtue of carrying the bride's
akaivoku — a " work-basket " containing balls of thread, a
spindle, etc., symbolical of her duty in life. This is carried
even in the case of the Tizu valley Semas, who do not know
how to spin or weave. After the akawoku-pfu come the
bride's brothers and her mother and other relations, excepting
her father, who is not allowed to accompany the bride,
together with the bridegroom and his relations, in no par-
ticular order of precedence. All, of course, go in single file
and march to the usual accompaniment of meaningless
chants and loud cries. On arrival the property is put into
the bridegroom's own house. The bride and her mother
and relations sleep there, but may not eat in it. They eat
(except the bride, who must fast) in the house of the bride-
groom's parents. The bridegroom may not sleep in his
own house that night. The next morning the bride and
the aboshou first eat together in the bridegroom's parents'
house ; then the aboshou and the whole of the bride's party,
who eat after the aboshou and the bride, go home. Small
presents are given to the anisu, the akeshou, the aboshou,
and the akawoku-pfu by the bridegroom, and also to the
aluzhitoemi, or captain of the working gang of which the
bride was a member. The latter's present consists of a
chicken and a handful of small beans, and is called
mini-lha-me (" petticoat stripping-ofE price "). The akeshou
and the aboshou usually get about Rs. 2/- each, and the
akawoku-pfu Rs. 5/-. The bride's mother is given a hoe by
the bridegroom. 1 When the anisu is a woman she gets a
basket of each sort of cereal brought by the bride, but these
payments vary a good deal. For that d9y the newly-
married pair observe pini and may not go to the fields, and
the bride may not even go to cut wood or draw water. In
the evening the anisu kills the chicken brought by the

^ This is not given if the bride has been married before.

242 THE SEMA NAGAS part

bride, and the bride gives liquor to the bridegroom's
relations. The chicken is cooked and eaten by the
newly-married couple, who sleep together in the bride-
groom's house that night, the ceremony being entirely
concluded.

By the custom called agasho a man, or his heir male, can
claim a payment on the marriage of his sister's first child,
male or female. The amount used to be a black cloth, but
is now Rs, 5/-. Failing payment a field is liable to be
confiscated and sold.

Divorce. No Ceremony accompanies divorce, but if a woman is
divorced for adultery she or her parents or their representa-
tives have to pay a cow to the injured husband. Moreover,
the marriage price has to be returned to him if such a divorce
takes place within three years of the marriage. The
paramour is beaten if he is caught, and if he has ventured
to interfere with a chief's wife he is turned out of the village
and his property confiscated. If the husband divorces his
wdfe for any other fault within three years of marriage he
may claim back the price paid for her, but not after that
date, though he can claim it if she divorces herself by refusing
to live with him. If, however, he systematically ill-treats
her without cause he loses the claim. ^

Death The Sema views as to the soul and its survival after death

®'^' have ah-eady been dealt with, but to understand the observ-
ances attending death it is necessary to bear them in mind.
It has been seen that the episode of death is to some extent
regarded as due to a voluntary desertion on the part of the
departing soul, always a source of anxiety on account of its
Uability to stray. It would appear, however, that there is
something contagious about dying, and that association
with death is Hable to cause it. Merely to spread an untrue
report of a man's death may cause it in itself, and the penalty
for doing this serious injury is a heavy fine, usually about
four mithan. Possibly the fact of a man being reported
dead gives mahcious spirits some hold over him, just as to
mention the name of an infant (or even of an adult if done

' See also Part III, Position of Women, etc. The right to a return of
the price within three years of marriage does not hold good for all Semas.

monies.

IV RELIGION 243

often and persistently) is enough to cause death. Again
the grave is begun as soon as a man is dead, but should he
prove to be merely unconscious and recover, it is essential
that some substitute should be buried, and his own stool
{alaku) is wrapped in a cloth and put in the grave in his
stead. ^ The stool is chosen as, like the bed (alipa), it is so
closely associated with its owner as to contain some part
of his essence, as it were, in virtue of which it is absolutely
genna at any time to cut or burn a person's stool or bed,
while it is very bad form to sit on the bed of a Sema chief
unless invited by him to do so. Until the actual burial
the dead man's household may eat and drink as usual,
but after the burial has once taken place no one of the
household may eat again that day, and on the following
morning akini seed {Perilla ocimoides, L.) is pounded up,
made into a paste with hot water, and put into the mouth
on a bit of thatching grass stalk. It is spat out, and after
that all the dishes and vessels in the house are washed, to
cleanse them, no doubt, from any death-pollution which
might affect others using them. A meal is then taken as
usual. 2

On the second day after the death a pig is killed, and the
dead man's share of flesh, torn up into very fine fragments
such as a ghost can manipulate, is put for him in a platter
with rice, chiUies, etc., covered up with leaves and set on
a shelf for the ghost, who helps himself to minute particles.
Pieces of meat not torn up are sometimes set there, and it is
known that the ghost has partaken by his infuiitesimal
nibbUngs. For ten days not only the whole household but
everyone in the village who belongs to deceased's clan
observes pini, not going to the fields and abstaining from
aU vegetables. On the tenth day the house is cleaned out
and the genna is at an end.

The method of burial is as follows. A grave is dug breast

^ This waa done in the case of one Kiyakhu of Aochagalimi, an
acquaintance of mine. Cf. " The Golden Bough," vol. viii (3rd ed.),
pp. 98, 100.

- The ceremonies of death and burial are recorded as observed in the
Zuiuomi village of Kiyeshe.

R 2

244 THE SEMA NAGAS part

deep in front of the house ^ and usually a little to the left,
Tliis grave is Uned with hewn planks of wood at the bottom
and sides and with bamboo matting at the ends. The body
is laid face upwards, the head at the end nearest the house,
on the plank at the bottom at full length, with a spear at
his side, a dao at his head, and a dao carrier, at least one
string of conch shell beads (ashogho), cloths up to about
seven or eight, and a spare " lengta." Asimi villages put
a bead and some fragments of foodstuffs between all the
fingers of their dead. In the ears are wads of fresh cotton
put in by some near relation. ^ A peg-top (aketsii), a snare
for birds (akiisu), and a pipe and tobacco accompany the
dead warrior. A boy is given a sharpened bamboo instead
of a spear, while a woman, in place of spear and dao, is
given the iron-shod stick that she used in her lifetime. In
place of the peg-top she takes a single bean of the pod of
the great sword-bean (alau), together with a springy shp of
bamboo taken from the wall of the house. This serves the
same purpose to her as the peg-top does to the male, for
she uses it to delude Kolavo^ when she comes to the narrow
way where he lies in wait for passing souls seeking whom he
may devour. He sits in the path with a truculent air.
" My head is full of lice " (akhu), says he. " Oh," says she,
" let me kill them for you." Then she goes up to him and
as he sits there searches his head and starts to cHck the
bamboo shp from time to time as though it were the popping
of squashed hce, monsters in size. Suddenly she flicks the
bean to a distance. " I will run and catch it," she says,
and so shps by and escapes. In the same way a man or
boy gets by when pretending to go to fetch his errant peg-

* A new-bom child that dies, or one that is bom dead, is buried inside
the house in the akishekhoh. An American traveller relates that a Sema
told him that he buried a young girl, his daughter, inside the house because
she would be frightened to be left outside alone at night, but the actual
age of the child is not given (" Ethnography of Nagas of Eastern Assam,"
Furness, Journal of Anthropological Institute, 1902, vol. xxxii).

* This service is performed by any near relation, mother, wife, brother,
etc.

' Metsimo, the Angami equivalent, makes every passing soul eat a
monster nit from his head unless he is already eating one, so that a
bleusK seed is put in the mouth of the dead to deceive him.

Graves ix Front uf a Huusk at Emilomi. The Graves are to the Right

Front instead of to the Left Front as is customary. As usual the

Man's Grave is fenced, while his Wife's has no Fence.

A ■!///-'. //no at I'liii.i.Mi \'iLf..\(;i;.

[To face p. 245.

IV RELIGION 245

top. When the body has been laid in the grave a piece of •'
resinous pine wood is taken and lit, and the body is fumigated
to drive away worms and flies and insects by waving the
torch round it to the words " Niya liki kumoike, Ina
cheghi 'ya ke, ina kuku 'ya ke," which is, being interpreted,
" It befalls not our clan alone. Men of all villages that can
be named come to this."^ Cross-pieces of stick are then
put across the grave over the body, being thrust into the
earth on each side just above the planks that form the
lining of the sides. Over these another plank is put to form
the lid, as it were, of the grave, and on the top of that the
earth is heaped in and piled up. In the process of this a
chicken is killed and buried by stamping it into the earth
that is being put into the grave. All the earth taken from
the grave is put back so that when the grave is completed
there is a mound over it. On this mound a piece of bamboo
is set upright, the bottom sharpened and thrust into the
earth, the top split, splayed out, and made into the form of
a basket by the interweaving of horizontal strips. This
is used as a stand for a gourd of liquor. For a man of
importance a fence is made round the mound and a little
roof of thatch put up.

On the day of burial cattle and pigs are killed and the -^
skulls put up on a sort of fence or rack erected for that ^
purpose along with the skulls of those slaughtered by the
dead man during his lifetime, the souls of which he either
takes with him to the village of the dead or finds already
awaiting him there. At right angles to this fence down
another side of the grave is put a rail of bamboo on which
cloths and ornaments belonging to the dead man are hung,
as well as a miniature panji basket with " panjis " and his
shield, while a spear or two are stuck into the ground beside
them. To the inside of the shield a fire-stick and thongs for

^ Lit. " Our clan (custom) alone is not. Villages ten custom is ;
villages call-call custom is." The language is archaic. Ten is used as
the equivalent of a very high number where the Senia ordinarily uses
ketonhye, " a thousand," nowadays. Perhaps it dates from the time
when counting did not go beyond ten. Kuku in the last clause is obscure,
but is believed to be from the ku = to call. Ina = ghana, " a village
community." Aya is the southern form of aye = " clan," " custom."

246 THE SEMA NAGAS part

making fire are tied. The disposal of a dead man's dog
varies. The prevaihng custom has been described, a dead
man's favourite dog being killed and buried in his grave
after his body has been put in and before the earth is thrown
back. The Zumomi, however, cut up the dog together
with the cattle and distribute its flesh to all guests at the
funeral who are not of the same clan as the dead man. The
Chophimi clan divides the flesh of a dog killed in this way
among all the guests. A dead man is systematically
keened by his female relatives, and his widows will
often keen him for some time after his death and
burial.

Occasionally a wooden statue of the deceased nearly life-
size is made and set up clothed in his ornaments over the
grave, but this appears to be merely imitation of the Angamis
and not a genuine Sema custom. It is rarely done. If the
dead man is a warrior, a bamboo pole is erected from which
dangles a string supporting a gourd for each head at the
taking of which he has assisted, and an earthen pot for each
head he has actually taken himself. ^ After a man has taken
a head himself an enemy's cattle and even dogs killed by
him are counted when reckoning the number of gourds to
be put up. Besides these, little baskets are hung up repre-
senting the number of raids or warlike expeditions in which
the dead man has carried panjis or otherwise taken part.
In some Asimi villages the memory of a rich man is
perpetuated by a shallow circle of flat stones set in
the ground so as to slope away from the centre of the
circle at an obtuse angle. Stone circles of this sort are
called atheghwo.^

When a woman in extremis is visited by her parents they
take a bit of stick from the gable of her house. When
they have said all they wish to say they place the stick by
the dying woman's bed and cut it in two, thus releasing
the life so that their daughter can die in comfort.

* ilr. Mills tells me he has seen a tally of the dead man's liaisons put
up on a Sema's grave in the form of little sticks carrying a tuft each of
red hair. He was told that to touch a woman's breasts would qualify
for one of these.

* Keicha Nagas build similar circles for the same purpose.

a: £;

\To face p. 240

IV RELIGION 247

In the case of a woman it is a matter of strict etiquette
that as many should attend at her funeral as accompanied ^
her on her wedding day from her father's to her husband's
house.

There is no positive orientation of the dead, but a negative
orientation, as they must not, when buried, look towards /y
the house in which they lived when alive.

There remain a few miscellaneous items of semi-religious
belief which it is difficult to assign to any particular category.
The ihumomi have already been mentioned in their connec-
tion with the healing of the sick, but their activities are not
limited to this. The thumomi is essentially a seer, the Greek -y'
^avTL^, an interpreter of omens, a dreamer, clairvoyant.
Second sight he no doubt often has in some degree or other,
and since it is an intermittent gift, he must simulate it when
absent, for the sake of his reputation, and descend to decep-
tion just as a European medium does. In general the
thumomi is in some degree possessed and is sometimes subject
to fits somewhat resembling epilepsy. In particular, it is
true, he diagnoses and recommends upon cases of sickness -^
and also upon the probable success or failure of contemplated
trading ventures, but he may be consulted on anything
from the detection of theft to the foretelling of the future,
though in the latter case he usually restricts himself to
advising that good or bad vnW. probably follow a certain
course of action or the observing of certain gennas. Omens
may be taken by anyone, though certain persons and
ihumomi in particular have the faculty of obtaining correct
results. The commonest method is by the use of the fire-
stick, the omen being taken from the disposition of the
broken strands of the bamboo thong after it has been
charred through to breaking point by the friction. Dreams, -
like omens, are not the exclusive province of the thumomi,
and happen to anyone. Indeed most Semas believe in their
own dreams, and take note of them as forecasting events •'
to come, in particular those of hunting and war. A dream
is not interpreted in the terms in which it occurs, but on a
regular and known system. Thus to dream of bringing in a
human head forecasts success in hunting, but the opposite

248 THE SEMA NAGAS part

in war.i To dream of a man carrying a load means that
someone will be injured, and so forth. Of com-se all dreams
cannot be reduced to formulae, so that there is plenty of
scope for the exercise of the imagination of the dreamer or
of anyone he consults in the interpretation of them.

Second sight also is far from being confined to thumomi.
Very early in the morning before daybreak on April 13,
1918, some Sema scouts and carriers attached to the column
operating against the Kuki Chief Chenjapao burnt a Kuki
village after a brush with a Kuki patrol and succeeded in
taking a head. They marched back to the camp singing
pseans, arriving at about 8.15 a.m. The leaders of the
party were Nikiye, Sakhalu's brother, and Sakhalu himself,
and the carriers who went included a large proportion of
men from that village, one of whom killed the Kuki, whose
head Sakhalu cut ofiP. The following night (April 13)
many persons in Sakhalu's village (six marches distant)
clearly heard the chanting of the paeans of the successful
raiders. A number, however, were, even when their atten-
tion was directed to it, totally unable to hear the singing,
but it was at once known and recognised throughout the
village that their fellow villagers with the column had got a
head. No natural explanation of this phenomenon is
possible. Semas in administered villages do not take
heads, or if they do, they do not advertise their wrong-doing
by singing paeans that can be heard for miles at night,
while verbal communication with the column was out of
the question. Nor had any heads been taken or paeans
Bung by the independent villages across the other side of
the Tizu valley. This instance cannot strictly perhaps be
called second sight, but is clearly of that nature. Two or
three cases also occurred within the writer's knowledge in
regard to labourers who had gone to France with the Naga
Labour Corps. They may have been pure coincidence,
but a similar explanation certainly suggests itself. It

^ And usually to dream of dead animals' flesh foretells human death.
A curious parallel may be found in the English superstition (for presumably
there is one) which causes Mr. Vachell in one of his novels to make a
character dream of butcher's meat and therefore predict misfortune.
This was pointed out to me by Mr. J. P. Mills.

IV RELIGION 249

happened three times that relations of an absent labourer
came to the writer to ask if it were true that So-and-so
(in France) was dead, refusing to say any more than that
they had heard that he was dead. On each occasion no
casualty report had been received, nor could any news of the
labourers' death have reached their relations by material
channels, but the death reports were received in each case*
about two months later.

Wraiths of the living are also seen. On June 11, 1918,
Hotoi and Luzukhu (two interpreters), with four servants,
went out to meet some friends expected to arrive that day
at Mokokchung from a distant village. They saw them
coming towards them up the hill, called to them, and were
answered. The approaching guests disappeared for a
moment in a bend in the path. Hotoi and Luzukhu
waited for some time and, being unable to conceive why
they did not appear again, went to look. They found no
one at all in the angle of the path, and it was not possible
for them to have gone off in any other direction. The
expected guests arrived the following day. A similar case
occurred in Sheyepu about the same time. A man from
another village came to the village to trade, spoke to several
people, and was seen and recognised by many. It was,
however, only a wraith, as the man himself came two days
later and said the same things as his ^vraith had said to
the same persons. He avowed that he had not been present
at all on the previous occasion. ^ The psychic experiences
of Semas differ little on the whole from those of more
cultured societies.

The forces and phenomena of Nature, though not definitely Nature.
deified by the Semas, are often regarded as the manifesta-
tions or abodes of spirits. In the case of the sun and moon
they are not worshipped or deified, and no clear conception
at all is entertained of their nature. They are regarded -
as phenomena, and their existence is taken as a matter of
course, but they are called upon to witness oaths and

* One was a Chang, two were Semas.

* I am indebted to Mr. Mills for drawing my attention to these two
incidents.

250 THE SEMA NAGAS part

asseverations, and cannot be falsely invoked with impunity.
Their functions used to be the opposite of what they now
are, as the sun shone by night and the moon by day, but
the heat of the moon was so intolerable that the earth and
all that is therein was becoming scorched up entirely. At
last a man took a handful of dung — a cow-pat — and threw
it at the moon's face, telling it to shine at night only, when
its light would be less intolerable, and to let the sun shine by
day instead. This change took place, and the cow-dung
is still to be seen sticking to the moon's face.^ In this story
the daily change from darkness to Ught is apparently
regarded as a phenomenon independent of the sun and
moon. The word for sun is tsiikinhye (? =" Eye 2 of heaven's
house "). The moon is akhi, the same word being used for
month.

Eclipses are said to be caused by a tiger eating the sun
or moon, as the case may be, and in the case of the former
they foretell the death of some great man within the year.

The stars {ayeh) are believed to be, in some cases at any
rate, men who have been translated to the heavens after
their death. A comet is always regarded as the soul of
some great warrior. Only a few of the stars and constella-
tions are named, and these, as might be expected, are the
more striking of the ones that appear in the cold weather
when night after night the sky is clear. In the rains it is so
overcast that one rarely sees the stars at all. The Pleiades,
as always, have caught the fancy. They are very bright
and clear in this latitude for all their minuteness, and it
is often possible to count seven and sometimes nine of them,
though all do not seem to be visible at the same moment.
The Semas, however, seem to notice the six larger ones only
as a rule, 3 though they say that there used to be seven,

^ The Kukis have a similar legend regarding the changing about of
the sun and moon, though the incident of throwing dimg is omitted. There
is also a Mexican story which ascribes the diminution in the moon's bright-
ness, which used to equal that of the sun, to the gods having flung a rabbit
in its face (Man, November, 1918, p. 165). ^ Or "node."

' Unless they regard these stars as moving about, which is not unlikely,
as it seems impossible with the naked eyo to see even seven at the same
moment, and the effect is not unlike that of a star popping in and out at

IV RELIGION 251

reminding one of the Greek tradition that the seventh star
of the Pleiades (Pleione) had fled at the time of the Trojan
War. The Semas call the Pleiades Ayenikilimi, " The Star
Princesses. "1 They were a company of pretty girls who
were spinning and making liquor in a rich man's house
when they were killed in a sudden raid on the village. They
still dance in the heavens as they did on the earth.

The Belt of Orion is the most obvious of all constellations
to those who live in these hills. It is known as Phoghivosii-
lesipfemi, the " Roof tree-carriers," and was once three men
who were killed by their enemies as they were carrjdng a
tree to make the roof -beam of a house. The small stars
that form the sword or scabbard are sometimes regarded
as the enemies that ambushed the " Roof tree-carriers."

The Milky Way is known as Aziighongu or A'iziighongu,
" The Soul-River."2

No distinction other than that of size is drawn between

different places. Thus the Gurkhas call them Kochhpachi, the " hurly-
burly." Sir James Frazer (" The Golden Bough," 3rd ed., vol. vii,
pp. 307, note 2, 312, lino 1, and note on the Pleiades, pass^im) suggests
that savages see no more than six because of defective vision. As the
vision of Nagas is usually very keen, I doubt if this explanation of the
reason why only six are usually seen is the real one. It is more likely
mere inattention. I have known men, when asked how many there are,
reply, " I can't say, I never counted them." On the other hand, the
Angamis see seven and say so. They were, in Angami story, seven men
who were killed by raiders while digging up bamboo rats, and seven is
an iinlucky number among the Angamis, and parties of seven are strictly
avoided by traders or warriors on the warpath or a-hunting. Meches,
too, call the Pleiades the Seven Brothers. The visibility of Pleione seems
to vary in the Naga Hills. In the winter of 1915—16 I frequently noticed
the star distinctly, while in that of 1918-19 I was imable to detect it
without field-glasses (in spite of a very clear sky) as anything more than a
blurred or twinkling aspect of Atlas.

The Thado Kukis say that the Pleiades are a number of brothers who
only had one cloth between them and had to cover themselves with it
all at the same time. To the belt and sword of Orion they give the name
of a rat that digs its hole deep down in a direct line from the surface of
the ground and then turns off at right angles. Shooting stars, they say,
are going to the *' deka chang " or bachelors' hall, and they have a song
which represents them as calling to the other stars to join them there.
^ Aye = star, niki-limi = kinilimi (fem. of kinimi), " rich girls."
* It might mean merely the reflection of a river : aghonugu — shadow,
reflection, soul ; azii = water ; aizii = a river, pool, or stretch of still
deep water ; but " river-souJ " is perhaps more likely.

252 THE SEMA NAGAS part

the smaller stars (ayesii) and the planets or big stars
(ayepu). Of the planets, Venus is known as " The Sema
Star " (Siyepu) ; another, probably Mercury, as " The
Tushomi Star " {Tushyepu). The identity of Venus when
she appears as the morning star with her appearance as
the evening star seems to be reahsed. Falling or shooting
stars are just ayeba — " star-dung."

In June, 1915, the villages of Alapfumi and Lumitsami
saw a moon and a sun^ rise together in the east. On the
appearance of this phenomenon all the young rice died,
but when an hour or so later the sun was seen to shine by
himself as usual, the rice took heart again, no doubt, for the
young plants revived. The occurrence was beheved un-
precedented, but was thought to be possibly connected with
a recent epidemic in Lumitsami. Anyhow, a strict genna
was observed by that village, which abstained from eating
vegetables during its observance.

Earthquakes {tsutsil-kogholu, prob.= " world rending "^j
are caused by some spirits raising the earth as though it
were paddy, to test the weight and fruitfulness of it. They
are usually followed by a poor harvest. ^

The rainbow [milesu) is spoken of as " The Seraph's
foot " {kungumi 'pukhu) and rests upon earth in some spot
where a sacrifice has been made in the fields. Should it
fall in a viUage it portends the death in war within the year
of someone in that village.

Lightning — sheet Hghtning, that is — is the " Flashing of
Iki's dao," Iki being a fabled fellow of excessive cunning who
cheated the tiger more than once as weU as his fellow men.*
But no fiu-ther explanation is forthcoming as to what Iki is
doing flashing his dao in the sky. Forked hghtning is called
amusuh and marks the fall of a celt and the wrath of heaven

' Or, as some said, two suns.

* Or tsutsilu, perhaps = " heaven -shivering."

» The Kukis in the event of an earthquake call out " We are alive ;
we are alive," so that the god under tho earth, who is conceived of as
shaking it to find out if men still inhabit it, shall know they are there and
desist. They also attribute earthquakes to the presence of a great snake
that coils round the world. When it succeeds in biting its own tail the
earth is shaken. * See Part VI.

IV RELIGION 253

on the stricken object. Thunder is atsiitsutsu ( = " Heaven-
tearing ") or tsutsukiissu.

The conception in the Sema mind of a river, at any rate
a large river, appears to be rather that of a conscious and
personate being rather than merely the abode of a spirit.
Thus one of the few really serious oaths that can be adminis-
tered to Semas is that on the water of the Tapu (Dayang)
River, a small quantity of which is drunk by the swearer.
Even a man who has sworn truly on Dayang water will
often be afraid of crossing it or of eating fish from
it, lest he should have taken its name in vain and not
be held guiltless. The same probably applies to other
rivers such as the TuzU (Tizu), the Nanga (Dikhu), and
the Tiitsa (Tita). It also apphes, in a lesser degree
probably, to the water of the village spring. So, too,
when crossing any biggish river by a bridge, a Sema
almost always throws down on it, apparently as a present
to the stream, which may object to being crossed in this
way, a scrap of greenstuff plucked from the bank or a stone
picked up from the path. The thought underlying tliis is
not, however, very clear, and it may be that the bridge itself
as such is the abode of some dangerous spirit, just as the
Semas who went to France with the Labour Corps, when
getting into a railway train for the first time, dropped copper
coins in considerable numbers on the railway track to
propitiate the spirits that belonged to it.

Stones are also the subjects of some behefs which are,
from the civiUsed point of view, decidedly radical. The idea
that stones can breed, begetting and conceiving offspring,
is not easy to assimilate, but the aghucho, " war-stones,"
have been already mentioned.^ Like them, too, the charm-
stones {anagha, ashegha) breed and increase. Anaglm are
kept in the paddy and conduce to plentiful crops, ensure
their lasting well, and among other duties fight the mice that

* There seems to be a legend about a stone called Puzi at Champhimi,
or on the ridge near that village, having been overthrown by the mountain
Tukahu. Possibly this story reflects some tradition of the overthrow or
expulsion of Rengmas by Semas or of Semas by Angamis. One may
compare the traditions of the fighting stones of the Khasia hills, or Duilong,
the Lhota stone which overthrew the stone at Changchang of the Ao tribe,

254 THE SEMA NAGAS part

come to eat and despoil. In proof of this, every true anagha
has on its surface the marks where mice have bitten it.
These marks are, cm-iously enough, exactly like the imprint
of a rodent's gnawing.^ The stones are usually smallish,
heavy nodules about the size of a pigeon's egg or bigger,
round or oval, and black. When rubbed with the finger
a wet smear appears. If burnt they make, it is said, a very
loud report. They also have a disconcerting habit of
running away and hiding in unexpected places. While the
round or oval charm-stones are called anaglia and associated
with rice, the irregular ones are compared to the hind leg
of a pig, the head of a deer, etc., and contribute to
plenteousness of flesh, whether wild or tame. These are
called ashegha and kept in the house to ensure success in
hunting and the prosperity and fruitfulness of livestock.
The probable derivation is from the root of teghami ;
anagha <ana = " husked rice " and {te)gha = " spirit,"
ashegha <ashe = " deer," " game " (or ashi = " meat,"
probably the same word originally), and -gha. It is probable,
however, that the significance of the derivation is not
reahsed, as the stones are not regarded as real teghami,
though they are often held to have a more or less animate
existence and certainly to act as prosperity charms. They
are taken out at times and pig's fat is put on them for their
delectation and nourishment.

A black stone about 18 inches long, picked up in the
fields at Natsimi somewhere about the year 1906, had (in

^ One anagha in ray possession appears to have been rubbed at one end
and the " tooth-marks " at the other appear to be the result of deUberate
incisions. It has occurred to me that this stone was intended to be made
into an implement, the broader end being rubbed down and worked to a
cutting edge and the more pointed being roughened and reduced to form
a tang. An Angami once told me that all true charm-stones were elongated.
If this supposition is correct, one may imagine how suitable stones of the
right material (hard rock, like olivine and serpentine, is rare in the hills)
would be saved up and, after the introduction of iron, would survive as
treasures, the real purpose for which they had been intended being
forgotten, even though many might already be partially worked. The
prevalence of " mice's tooth-marks " might be due to the incising of
stones when found to make sure that they were of the right texture.
Montesinos {Memoriaa Antiguaa Hialoriales del Peru, Hakluyt Soc, 1920,
p. 86) mentions small stones identified, like Naga celts, with thunderbolts,
kept (as anagha by Kacha Nagas) in little baekets, and used as love charms.

:j^ ^

Ail i

A « A A i

I A 4

Celts; kdind at or near Seromi Village.

.-1 .V.I (. II A SH owi NG Scabs

MADE BY THE TeETH OF

THE Mice or R.\ts with

WHICH IT HAS FOUGHT TO
PROTECT THE PaDDY.

X.B. — The tape meiisure shows the scale in inches.

Iron Blades at present in use and Celts found in Sema Country.

1. Iron Axe (or Adze) Blade — Amoyhu (Amkeh).

2. „ Hoe Blade, tafuchi. i.mported from Y.\chungr Tribe.

3. ,, ,, ,. haiujo-kupu.

4. ,, „ „ pu.shi/e-knpu.

5. 6, 7. Stone Celts. [To face p. 254.

IV RELIGION 355

1912) acquired a regular cult. It has an interpreter who
communicates with it in dreams, in which it appears as a
human being, the stone itself being said to walk about in
human form by night. The stone has been put in a niche
in a cliff where only one or two can approach at a time. It
is said to foretell success or failure in trading ventures, a
coin, usually a pice,^ being handed to the interpreter, who
places it on the sloping side of the stone. If it slips off, the
omen is bad, if it stays on it is good. The behaviour of
the coin depends, as a matter of fact, on the precise spot
on which the stone's " dobashi " puts it, as the inclination
of the slope varies. The number of pice collected from its
devotees by this stone is considerable, and, though he stoutly
denies it, the stone's " dobashi " no doubt disposes of them,
while he gives out that the stone itself removes them by
night. This stone grows, and is incredibly reported to have
increased its length by several inches since its first appear-
ance. It had, when the writer saw it, a greasy surface
and received a surreptitious finger-print, though leaving no
grease on the finger. It is said on more or less reliable
information to change colour — possibly under changing
atmospheric conditions. Its vogue is considerable among
the neighbouring villages, particularly the Rengma villages
just west of Natsimi. The approaches to the stone are
marked with the remnants of innumerable sacrifices of
eggs, fowls, and pigs, and fowls released at the spot were
reported to stay there of their own accord. Lazemi has two
stones which are kept buried and dug up at irregular
intervals of about three years or so at the instance of the
principal rehgious official of the village, who shares the secret
of their abiding place with two other old men. These two
stones are male and female and, of course, cohabit and breed
prolifically ; their existence, safe-keeping, and propitiation
(or nourishment) are regarded as essential to the prosperity
of the village. The stones, which are buried in the ground,
come to the surface of their own accord on the proper date,
when they are produced and feasted, after which they are
buried again in secret by the three old men.

^ Value oae farthing or so of English money, but with greater purchasing
power locally.

256 THE SEMA NAGAS part

With reference to these beUefs in Natsimi and Lazemi, it
is to be remembered that both villages are west of the
Dayang and in closer contact with Lhota practices than
the majority of the Sema tribe. The cult of stones is
marked among the Lhotas, but is not particularly noticeable
among Semas in general. There are, however, certain
stones which are looked upon with some superstitious feehngs.
By the side of the bridle-path from Mokokchung to Lumami
there is an outcrop of shaly reddish sandstone to which
every passer-by makes a present ^ — usually a pebble or a
bit of stone picked up from the path and tossed casually
on to the stone whUe going by. Again, between Alapfumi
and Lumitsami the path is in one place cut in the rock.
This is a crumbUng bit of cUff with gaping strata which
harbour a number of snakes. It is regarded as a special
home of some spirit, and the Semas of some adjacent villages
object most strongly to its being cut away to improve the
bridle-path, and will not do the work themselves on any
account ; nor is it regarded as anything but rash in the
extreme, if not actually mischievous or impious, to try to
kill any snake living in the cracks in that rock. A man once
tried to do so. He failed, but nearly died himself as a result
of his attempt.

Celts, as already noted, are called Poghupu-moghii {i.e.,
" Toad axes "),2 and are believed to be thunderbolts faUing

^ Alternative explanations {vide " The Golden Bough," 3rd ed.,
vol. ix, p. 9 et sqq.) have occurred to me, but there is no evidence to suggest
any explanation of this particular case as other than one in which presents
are offered to the stone. The Semas themselves so describe it. It is
possible that these stones, and the similar presents of stones and grass
offered when crossing a river by a bridge, were originally substitutes
offered to the spirit of the place, to be accepted by him in lieu of the person
of the passer-by, as an alternative subject for his unpleasant attentions.
If so, this would seem to have been forgotten. It may perhaps be inferred
from note 4 on p. 9 of the passage in " The Golden Bough " referred to
that actions of this sort may gradually have developed into the mere
offering of gifts in other parts of the world also. That the Semas regard
them nowadays as propitiatory offerings is probably established by the
offerings of " pice " given to the railway by the Sema labourers as
above mentioned.

* Almost all other tribes speak of them as " spirit hoes," " god-axes,"
etc., e.g., Miighka-wo (= "spirit's hoe" — Chang), Potao-phu {— "god-

IV RELIGION 257

in a flash of lightning. The real essence returns to heaven,
the mere husk only remaining on earth. The name is
probably significant of the connection between the Toad and
Kichimiya, the spirit of fruitfulness, who gives the crops.
The Toad is his friend, though no one seems to know much
more about the relationship between them. The possession
of celts is not, as a rule, so highly prized by Semas as by
Angamis. The Sema who finds a celt, however, does not
(Uke the Lhota) refuse to touch it. He always keeps it and
beheves that it causes fertiUty to his beans and possibly
to his other crops of minor importance. He often uses it
as a whetstone. Celts used to be found with some frequency
near Seromi, Yehimi, and Tichipami. They are highly
reminiscent of Naga iron implements, having plano-convex
edges (flat one side, rounded the other, Uke a Naga dao)^
and slightly indented shoulders so as to facilitate fitting to
a wooden handle. The flat surfaces of the blade end are
poUshed, but the round ones of the tang end are left rough.
The stone of which they are made is, as a rule, either a
greenish stone resembling serpentine, or a black stone of
almost exactly the same appearance as the anagha and
ashegha. There are two types, the majority being more or
less triangular with some attempt at making shoulders, and
the others longer with less difference in width and no attempt
at shouldering. The wear of the latter exactly corresponds
to the wear of the average iron hoe, the right-hand corner
(as the hoe is held when in use) being much worn. They
vary in length from 5 inches to 1| or less, in breadth from

axe " — Lhota)^ Kutakr-pu (or vu = " god-axe " — Ao), etc. The Angami,
however, does not use any such expression. The Kuki, while using another
word, nevertheless says that celts are the hoes of the sky-spirit, and they
explain the fact that they are occasionally picked up by human beings by
relating how sometimes, when the sky-spirit is laboriously working at
the perfection of his hoes, he is infuriated by the incessant shrilling of the
cicada and hurls his imfinished implement at the tormentor. Thus it
falls to the gromid and is found of mortals. To anj'one who has suffered
at the cicada's hands the story is most convincing.

1 I have only once seen a Naga dao that was not plano-convex. It was
a Konyak dao fresh from the forge at Wakching with a flat edge on both
sides. I fancy it was about the first Naga dao ever made so. That was
in 1916, but I have not seen any more since.

258 THE SEMA NAGAS part

3^ inches to about half an inch, and in thickness from nearly
li inches to less than half an inch. As these celts are
regarded as " dead " they naturally do not breed. It may
be added that in the same way any charm -stone can be
killed by inflicting a wound or burning it, so that a cHpped
charm-stone has no virtue, though this does not apply to
the wounds of mice's teeth, which are the proof of its
genuineness. It is probably not so very long, comparatively
speaking, since the Semas acquired the use of iron. Mr,
Ogle in 1875, when he visited Chishilimi surveying, noticed^
that " 3 or 4 inches " of worn spear butt would fetch a rupee,
and that when the rupee, in the Naga Hills at any rate, was
worth far more than it is now. Two annas would be about
the present value.

Beliefs attaching to animals are, of course, legion, and a
If book might be made of them alone. Many have been touched
on already, and some will be found embodied in the stories
in Part VI, but one or two instances may here be given of
the sort of powers with which animals are credited. A leech
if cut in half dies. If cut in three pieces, however, a little
bird takes the middle part as his share and joins the two
end parts together by way of return. This belief appears
to be common to all Naga tribes and is, at any rate, known
to Semas, Lhotas, Aos, Changs, and Phoms. The leech, of
course, is one of the minor trials of the hills, as it swarms
everywhere throughout all jungles in the rains, and the
word for leech ^ is one of the comparatively few words that
are very patently traceable to a common root among most
of the Naga tribes. Again there is the flying fox ^ called
agho, which flies over the Sema country in the cold weather
and goes in orderly formations, but returns, it is said, in a
disorderly rout. These " birds " are held to be going to

^ Para. 11, Appendix A to the "Report on the Survey Operations in the
Naga Hills, 1875-76."

- Angami — reva. Kacha Naga (Lyengmai) — the-ba-po.

Chang — wdth. Lhota — iva.

[Kuki (Thado) — wat, vja.] Sema — aive.

Kacha Naga (Zemi) — them-hat. Sangtam — avi.
^ It is usually spoken of as a bird, and, as it seems rarely found in the
Sema coimtry and is only seen when flying, the mistake is not unnatural.

IV RELIGION 250

make war on Toti-ina, the Amazons' village, which is just
east of Murromi, the village of tiger-men already referred to.
The disorderly manner in which they return is due to the
squabbles thej' are having about the heads that they have
secured. On the way over the hills they commission bees
to go and take men's heads for them. The bees go and
try to bite off a hair from a man's head, and if they get it
and carry it away to the agho, the man dies. The passage
of these bats over a village is said always to be followed
by death.

From Toti-ina are believed to come the little gongs of
bell metal (probably Singpho work) which are imported
from the East and sometimes worn hanging on the front of
the cowrie-covered lengtas called amini-kedah. And from
there, too, come certain spears that are really made by the
smiths of the Kalyo-kengyu tribe in their slate-roofed houses
in territory still unvisited by white men.

The giant wood-louse that curls himself up into a striped
ball the size of a 2 oz. bullet is regarded as a most pernicious
insect. When a man goes by, he curls up and stays so for
a considerable time, after his manner. Some time later
he uncurls. B}'^ and by comes a tegJiami hunting the man
after the manner of spirits. " Has that man gone by ? "
says he. " How long since did he pass ? " " Oh," says
the wood-louse, " he has just gone. I curled up when he
came, and I have just uncurled again." So the teghami
continues the pursuit and, it may be, catches the man. The
spider, on the other hand, sees the man go by and goes on
spinning his web. When the tegharni asks the spider the
same question the spider replies, " He passed long ago.
See ! I have spun all this since then ! " and shows his
cobweb, when the teghami gives up hope and his pursuit.
Semas seeing the giant wood-louse in the path, stamp on it
and destroy it.

A centipede that curls up Uke an ammonite is called
hitimi-nodu (= "Dead Man's Earring" or "Ghost's Ear-
ring "), a name which, in their own tongue, the Lhotas also
give it. The strings of ants that one sees crossing and
recrossing paths are going to attack their neighbours, and

S 2

26o THE SEMA NAGAS part

it is from them that men first learnt the art of war. The
chattering of certain birds foretells the presence of game,
or fortune or misfortune in war.

The time of sowing is foretold by the call of the Kasupapo
and by the ascendancy of Orion's belt, and the whole Sema
calendar depends on the time of sowdng. Indeed in some
of the more eastern villages there seems to be no real
calendar at all, and the times of year are just given names
according to the work that is done, the year being reckoned
always by the jhums cleared, ^ The items in the programme
of the agricultural year are all known and are gone through
consecutively in the same order year after year, and the
lapse of time is marked by referring to the period of such-
and-such an operation, but this can hardly be called a
calendar. The Cis-Dayang villages, however, (and probably
others which are subject to Angami influences) have a
regular calendar of twelve months in the year, as have also
the northern Semas, though the months of the latter have
different names from those of the former and differ among
themselves a good deal. The majority of Semas seem to
have no intercalary months, but the Cis-Dayang Semas
probably have, like the Angamis, some intercalary days.
In any case, the reckoning is both vague and rather
arbitrary, and, as it is not ^vritten or recorded in any way,
it can be roughly corrected from time to time by the arbitrary
ruUngs of the " Old men who knowj" the unofficial and
decidedly untrustworthy trustees of the calendar. It is
regarded as genua for the younger men to attempt to keep
the reckoning.

The year of the Cis-Dayang Semas begins, like the Angami
year, about October, just before the harvest ; but the other
Semas seem to end their year with harvest-home, beginning
it about January. The Cis-Dayang months are given
as : —

1 Th\i8 a nuin asked his age will say that he can remember such-
and-such a field having been cut so many times and the interval
between its cutting is so many years. This reckoning is, of course,
very vague, as the interval of years between the clearing of a given
field and its next clearing tends to decrease considerably as the villages
grow.

RELIGION

261

1. Akinekhi (i).

2. Ghikusohhi.

3. Apokusdkhi.

4. Asophukhi.

5. AposJiakhi.

6. Athikukhi.

7. Aghihukhi.

8. Akinekhi (ii]

9. Amozakhi.

10. Tuluni.

11. Kimnyakhi.

12. Amthakhi.

The trans-Dayang Asimi villages probably observe much
the same calendar. Of the other Semas. the northern
villages observe a calendar as foUows : —

1. Lipikhi. 5. Wozhokhi. 9. Teghekhi.

2. Luwokhi. 0. Mozakhi. 10. Saghekhi.

3. Akikishekhi. 7. Mozakhi-akinyu. 11, Ghilekhi.

4. Lusakhi. 8. Anyekhi. 12. Aitikupukhi,

or Aonakuchukhi.

Obviously, No. 9 of the first calendar corresponds to No. 6
or No. 7 of the second, as does No. 2 in the first to No. 11
in the second. Ghilekhi is the month of reaping. Kimnyakhi
probably corresponds to Anyekhi, the month of the Anye
genua. A certain amount of light is thro^vn on the connec-
tion of the two calendars by the variations from the latter
of the southern Tizu vaUey Zumomi, These have Nos. 4,

5. and 6 of the second calendar identical. Mozakhi, however,
is followed by Lurukhi, and this by Tulunikhi, corresponding
apparently to No. 10 in the first calendar and apparently
also to Mozakhi-akinyu in the second, as it is followed by
Kichiminikhi, which certainly corresponds to Kiiiuiyaklii
and Anyekhi. Kichiminikhi is followed hy Lahukhi and
that again by Saghekhi (the month of the Saghe genua),
and then by Saghe-athuwukhi, " the month after Saghe,"
this being followed by Ghilekhi. Lusakhi marks the burning
of the old jhums, Kichiminikhi is the month in which the
new millet just reaped comes into use, and Aonakuchukhi is
the month in which the new rice is available for food. The
variations in the calendar probably correspond in some
degree to variations in agriculture necessitated by differences
of climate in different locaUties.

Generally speaking, the Sema finds it difficult to sr.}'
offhand either the number of months in the year or thejj*

262

THE SEMA NAGAS

PT. IV

names, and can only get them in order by a deal of thought.
Even then, he generally gets the number wrong, and one is
often assured that there are ten months in the year or
sometimes even thirteen.^

^ Tlie Changs reckon eleven months to the year and fill in with " naklig,^'
a space which is not reckoned at all, but is regarded as night. It may not
be counted, as to do so is genna, since it belongs to the spirits. The Changs
are careful obser\'ers of the sun, and the naklig is perhaps the direct result
of the detection of the difference between the lunar and the solar year.

ADDENDA

(1) Twins. Twins among the Semas are more frequent than among
neighbouring tribes. They are on the whole held unfortunate, partly
owing to the added trouble to the mother, partly owing to a belief that
they are less strong than single children, and that if one die the other will
not long survive. Hoito of Sakhalu and his twin sister (p. 144, Ped. Ill)
are quoted as an instance. Some ajDpear to think that the birth of twins
is followed by the early death of both parents. More than two children
at a birth seems to be unheard of.

(2) " Apodia'^ deaths. — Besides death in childbed, death at the hands
of lightning, fire, water, or wild animals, or the fall of or from a tree, or
by suicide, are regarded as " apodia " {asukesalo) — in some way accursed
and contagious. The body must not be buried in front of tlie house, but
at the back instead or in broken ground near by where men do not walk
about {c.f. the Garo belief, Plajrfair, op. cit., p. 105, Garos killed by wild
animals being reincarnated in that form).

Animals killed by carnivora are regarded in a similar light and called
ketseshn. Their flesh may not be eaten by women.

In the case of both men and animals the exnl attaching to the manner
of death and the prohibitions entailed can be avoided if before expiry the
unfortunate can be caused to consume food or drink. It is enough to
pour a little water into the mouth of the dying or even to spit into it.

(3) A curse is effected by men naming the one to bo cursed, flourishing
their daos and spitting in unison. It is evaded by passing a fowl round
the pei-son and letting it go into the jungle. It is called ghapiv. —
*' devoted to the spirit" or "jimgle." The same is done after taking a false
oath, etc.

">'

PART V

LANGUAGE

c"
n.

PART V

LANGUAGE

Readers of Herodotus will remember the passage which
relates how the Scythians sent Darius a symbolic message
consisting of a bird, a mouse, a frog, and five arrows. i
A similar use of symbolism to convey or merely to emphasise
a message is common among all Naga tribes. The com-
monest symbols used by the Semas are those of a panji, a
burnt stick, and a chilli. A challenge to war is usually
conveyed by a broken panji. The writer once received a
challenge to personal combat purporting to come from the
chief of the Yachungr village of Saporr and accompanied
by a chilli impaled on a panji, signifying that if he declined
the challenge he was only fit to be impaled like a sacrificed
dog and would be made to smart with a smarting as of
many chillies. In point of fact the message was probably
concocted by the village of Sotogorr or by some Semas who
had a grudge against Saporr and wished to get the village
into trouble. Another of the commonest of all symbols
in the Sema country is the laying of greenstuff or any other
barrier across a path to intimate to persons following that
the man who has preceded them has not followed the path
so barred.- It is enough, when using such a symbol, merely
to throw down in the path which is not to be followed a
handful of leaves or grass.

As to the use of symbols, however, most of what has

^ Herod, iv. 131. So during the Kuki rebellion of 1917-19 a large
number of such symbolic messages of the most varied composition were
circulated in the hills by the Kukis, an ear-bead meaning "Hear (and
obey) ! " bemg usually attached to them.

- Vide infra. Part VI, story No. xvii.

265

266 THE SEMA NAGAS part

been said about it in the Angami monograph applies, gene-
rally speaking, to the Semas too, and the same may be said
of the Sema use of the Assamese language. Indeed, the
Assamese language, as used in the Naga Hills, is peculiarly
well adapted for the reproduction of Naga idioms, and as
a vehicle of interpretation it makes a far better lingua franca
for the Hills than Hindustani or English would, the substitu-
tion of which for Assamese has been occasionally suggested.

The Sema language itself, like that of all Naga tribes,
varies both in vocabulary and in pronunciation from village
to village. There are, however, certain groups within which
the language is comparativelj'- stable. The divergence is
most marked between the dialect spoken by Lazemi and
the other Semas of the Dayang Valley and that in use in
the Tizu Valley. The villages in between differ from both
to some extent, but incline decidedly towards the Tizu
Valley dialect, fi'om which the Dayang Valley language is
so different as not to be ordinarily understood by a Sema
not in touch with. Dayang Valley villages.

In the Tizu Valley, again, there is considerable difference
in pronunciation. The northern villages of the Yepothomi,
Awomi, Ayemi, and other clans are apt to chp and shorten
their words even more than the Ziimomi villages lower down
the river. For instance, " mlai " becomes " mk," " pilesai "
" pisai," and so forth. Particularly noticeable is the
dropping of final i in the northern villages : " ani " becomes
" an\" Yehimi becomes Yehim\ Also il at the end of a
word is used where the others use i, while the / in pf is
dropped entirely. At the same time the vocabulary is
very much the same. The villages, however, of the central
plateau, such as Sanakesami, have many differences of
vocabulary as well as differences of pronunciation, and
Seromi and its neighbours to the north differ similarly
from the Tizu Valley Semas. The village of Aichi-Sagami
has a trick of inverting the order of words and even syllables,
particularly with interrogations. There is a Sema jest which
aptly illustrates the differences of vocabulary from village
to village. Seven men of different villages happened to
meet by the road one evening. They asked one another

V LANGUAGE 267

what they had got with them to eat with their rice. Each
mentioned a different thing — atusheh, gwomishi, mugishi.
amusa, akelho, etc., inchiding, as some understood it, dried
fish, meat, and various kinds of vegetables. They agreed
to pool their good things and share alike and sat down
prepared for a feast, each one thinking how he had scored
by agreeing to share with his neighbours. When they
opened their loads, they all produced chiUies.

The dialect followed here is, as far as possible, based on
that of the Ziimomi and other Semas situated round the
upper waters of the Iviliki river, and more or less in the
centre of the administered parts of the Sema country, as
well as on that of the Tizu Valley. The dialect of the
Yepothomi Semas on the Upper Tizu differs shghtly in
pronunciation, but scarcely at all in vocabulary. The
vocabulary to this grammar, however, is rather more
cosmopolitan, containing words picked up at random any-
where in the Sema country, central Sema forms taking
precedence. A few Dayang Valley forms are given in
square brackets by way of contrast.

Elisions of vowels or syllables have been marked by an
apostrophe, but in the majority of cases the full form has
been written. Great difficulty is caused in understanding
vSema by the frequency of elisions. Thus No etadolo izitiuuni
aie ? (= " Are you going on tour these days ? ") would be
reduced to No' dolo 'zunyaie ? At the same time actual
inversions of letters and syllables, such as apiiku for akujm
(leg, foot) or tiJdla for kitila (little), are very frequent.
A further difficulty is encountered in the tonal nature of
the language. Words will be found precisely the same,
but differing in meaning according to the tone in which
they are pronounced ; e.g., Achu'i pronounced in a high tone
means a frog, in a low tone a " serau," while pronounced
in a tone midway between the two it means a " green
pigeon"; azhi (high) = liquor, azhi (low) = (1) blood,
(2) rat. The number of meanings attaching to one word is
a great stumbling-block ; akuhu, for instance, means red,
huluk, bug, root, raw, and other equally disconnected things.

In sentences and words given as examples the verbs " to

268 THE SEMA NAGAS part

come " and " to go " have been generally given with their
full root forms gwogh and gwo. In ordinary speech the
abbreviated roots egh or gh and gu or imi are much more
common.

The quahty given to aspirates varies as much as, or even
more than, quality given to vowels. The sound represented
by gh, for instance, varies in practice from an ordinary EngUsh
" g *' to nothing at all. The normal value is a guttural sound
something like the Arabic '' glmin" (A), but this is often
slurred into a mere " w."

The only printed authorities on the Sema language are
(1) Sir G. Grierson's " Linguistic Survey of India," vol. iii,
part ii, where he includes Sema in the western Naga sub-
group of the Naga group ; and (2) the rudimentary grammar
by the writer of this monograph, of which the present account
is nothing more than a shghtly abbreviated revision. The
vocabulary and specimens, however, given by Sir George
Grierson in his sketch of Sema were probably recorded
entirely through the media of other languages and seem to
be based primarily on the dialect of Lazemi and the Dayang
Valley Semas, which is confined in scope to a few villages,
and which is with difficulty understood by the bulk of the
tribe.

The brief outline of Sema which follows makes no preten-
sion to being an exhaustive or reaUy scientific grammar, ^
and the vocabulary ^ has been shortened as far as possible
by omitting words given elscAvhere in the pages preceding it.

^ A review by Mr. Grant Brown of Mr. Pettigrew's " Tangkliul Naga
Grammar " {Man, February, 1919) is very severe on persons who have the
audacity to reduce an unwritten language to writing in spite of an ignorance
of phonetics. The writer's excuse, however, must be that, however
bad his attempt may be, it is the best available, as there is probably no
other person at all with a knowledge enough both of Sema and English for
the purpose, and no previous reduction to writing exists at all, except the
section allotted to Sema in Sir George Grierson's work already mentioned.

The alphabet used is approximately that recommended by the Royal
Geographical Society, though the doubling of a consonant to indicate the
shortening of a preceding vowel has been eschewed as inexpedient. The
system does not differ materially from Sir George Grierson's, and it is
probably much better suited to practical purposes than the elaborate, if
scientific, phonetic alphabet.

' Sec Appendix VI.

V LANGUAGE 269

The alphabet that follows shows the value given to the
letters of the Roman character when used for writing the
Sema language, which has, of course, no written character
of its own. Vowels have their Continental rather than
their English values, and the accent is on the whole evenly
distributed, though a faint stress is laid on the first, third,
and fifth syllables of a word, in preference to the second,
fourth, etc., as a rule. Unusual stresses have been indicated.

(i) CONSONANTS,
(a) Simple.

B as in English.

D ditto.

F ditto.

O always hard, as in " gun," except when it is joined with
" n " in '' ng," which is pronounced like the " ng "
in " singer," the " g " sound not being carried on to
a following vowel.

if as in " Heaven," always sounded when written.

J as in " joy."

K as in EngUsh, but perhaps very slightly aspirated.

L as in English.

M ditto.

N ditto, shown as h when nasal as in French.

P ditto.

R as " rr " in " carry." (" R " is practically non-existent
in the language as spoken b}'' the southern Semas and
is rare among all Semas, who find the sound difficult
to enunciate.)

S as in " this." Always sibilant.

T as in Hindustani with the tongue against the upper teeth.

V as in EngUsh.
W ditto.

Y as in " yes " ; always consonantal and never merely

equivalent to a vowel.
Z as in EngUsh.
(6) Aspirated.

Ch as in " church," always soft.^

' C only used in the aspirated form Ch, Q and X discarded.

270 THE SEMA NAGAS

PART

Gh represents a peculiar guttural g approximating to the
Arabic • (G^Aain) and sometimes approaching an

" R " sound. " Gh " takes the place in Sema that
" R " does in Angami.
Kh as in '' funk-hole."' Also as the " ch " in the Scotch
"loch," in M'liich case it is written Ich. But the
pronunciation varies, as in the case of " grj^," very
considerably, according to the individual speaking or
at least his village.
Ph as in " tap-house," not as " f."

Sh as in " shall," but sometimes interchangeable with " s."
Th as in " pot-house,"' not as in " pith."
Zh as " s " in " treasure " or as the French " j."
All other aspirated consonants are pronounced on the
same principle as the pronunciation of ph and th.

(u) VOWELS.

(a) Simple. The usual value

A long as in " father." "(^ of the vowel is

A sharp as in " pant." j somewhere be-

tween these two.

A also occasionally short as u in " cut."

E long as a in " pay." 1

E short as in " HeU." j -^^**°-

/ long as in " ravine " or as e in " me." ")

/short as in "tin." J ^^**°-

O long as in " go." 1

O short as in "got." j ^^*^°-

O slightly broader than above, perhaps as
in " gone," shorter than oa in " broad."

U long as w in " flute " or as oo in " pool." \ ^.

U short as in " pull." / ^^**^-

U almost as oe in German " Goeben," as u in " churn,"
but sometimes tending towards the French w of " tu."
(6) Diphthongs.

Ai as in " aisle " or as i in " ice."

Au as ow in " cow,"

Oi as oy in " oyster."

V LANGUAGE 271

N.B. — Oil is pronounced , not as a true diphthong, but as
two more or less distinct sounds. The diseresis is not
written to avoid confusion with " ii/' Ao is a slightly
longer sound than au.^ the two vowels being so pronounced
that their separate sounds can just be distinguished.

The value of the simple vowel has purposely not been too
closely defined. In the first place, the pronunciation of
vowels varies considerably, not onW between villages, but
between individuals. In the second place, the normal value
of the vowel is very elusive and varies between the long
and short quantities. ^Vhere the vowel is very definitely
long or short, the marks - for long and ^ for short have
been used. A pause between two syllables is marked by
an apostrophe thus, ' , the ordinary apostrophe, ' , being
used for the omission of a vowel. The diieresis is used to
mark the separate pronunciation of contiguous vowels,
except in the case of the vowel it. The accent from left
to right, ^ , is used to denote the sharp a, while that from
right to left, ' , is used to indicate stress.

THE NUMERAL.

(i) CARDINALS.

1. Laki, khe.

2. Kini.

3. Kuthu.

4. Bidhi, bidi.

5. Pongu.

6. Tsogha, ROghoh.

7. Tsini.

8. Tache, thache.

9. Tuku.

10. Chughi.

11. Chiighi-khald.

12. Chiighi-kini, etc.

17. Muku-ma tsini {or chiighi -tsini). ^

18. Muku-ma thache {or chlighi-thache).

19. Muku-ma tuku {or chiighi-tuku).i

^ See note on next page.

272 THE SEMA NAGAS part

20. Muku.

21. Muku-khaki.

22. Muku-na kini (or muku-kini).

23. Muku-na kiithu {or muku-kiithu), etc.

26. Muku-na tsogho, muku-tsoghoh.

27. Seghi kumpa tsini [seghi kupvuma tsini.^]

28. Seghi kumpa thache (etc.).i

30. Seghi.

31. Seghi-khaki.

32. Seglii na kini, seghi-kini.

33. Seghi-kiithu, etc.
38. Lhobdi toma [upvoma] tache.^

40. Lhobdi.

41. Lhobdi-khaki, lhobdi na laki, lhobdi laid.

42. Lhobdi na kini, lhobdi kini.
48. Lhopung toma tache.^
50. Lhopungu.
60. Lhotsoghoh.
70. Lhotsini.
80. Lhothache.
90. Lhotuku.

100. Akeh.

110. Akeh na chiighi.

200. Akekini, khekini.

201. Akekini na laki.
300. Akekiithu.

1000. Ketonhyeh, akeh akechiighi.
1100. Ketonhyeh laki no akeh.

In speaking of numbers the word pana — the agentive Jj

^ N.B. — In the case of the last number, and generally of the last three
numbers, short of any multiple of ten the number is expressed by saying
" the 8 short of 30," " the 7 short of 50," etc., as the case may be.
The expression " short of " is expressed by different words in the case of
the tens, the twenties, and the multiples of ten above 20. Among the
northern Semas the straightforward form is possibly the commoner,
except for the nines, which are almost always put in the indirect form.
In some of the Tizu Valley villages the indirect form is used for even the
sixes, the nearest multiple of ten being always used to reckon from,
whether forward or backward. This method, however, is very rapidly
becoming obsolete, and the younger generation uses the direct forms even
for the " nines."

V LANGUAGE 273

of the pronoun of the third person — pa, is sometimes
used ;

e.g. i nunu pana pongu ani = (lit.) my children they are
five.

Kipitimi pana kini, totimi pana kiithu = two boys and
three girls.

Imishi pana Ihopung anni = I have 50 head of cattle.
(Lit.) my cows they are 50.

Khe = one, is used in counting only.

Ketonhyeh, 1000, is used vaguely of very large numbers,
like the word " myriad " in EngUsh.

(ii) Ordinals.

Ordinals are only found up to three or four places, at any
rate among the Semas of the Tizu Valley.

1st — atheghiu (atighisM) .

2nd — (of more than three) pashelo, atheghhishelo.

2nd — (out of three) amithau.

3rd — (out of more than three) amithau.

Last — athehau.

Athekau covers all after 2nd or 3rd as the case may be.
These ordinals are the terms used for dividing the game got
in hunting.

(iii) Distributives.

Singly = laki laki.

Two by two = kini kini, etc.

(iv) Numeral Adverbs.

Once = Ohio laki.
Twice = Ohio kini.
Thrice = Ohio kiithu.
Fourth = Ohio bidhi, etc.

Half = Thilkha.

Fraction, part = sazhe, asazhe.

N.B. — The Sema method of countmg is clearly based originally on the
five fingers of the liand and the ten of the two hands.

Changs, however, go up to the 20 digits of the hands and toes, taking
that as a vinit, and I have heard a Phom speak of " a whole man " meaning
twenty, the maximum number of digits possessed by one man.

274 THE SEMA NAGAS part

THE NOUN.

The Sema noun has two forms —

(1) The complete form, when it is preceded by the

entonic a.

(2) The enclitic form, when the entonic is dropped ;
e.g. in complete form " atsa " = " word " — enclitic form

" tsa."

The complete form is used when the word stands alone
or at the beginning of a sentence or is unquahfied by a
possessive pronoun, or other similar qualifying word
immediately preceding it.

The enclitic form is used when the noun is governed by a
word preceding it.

e.g. Amti kiiniye cheni = I am come to buy salt.
Pa'mti akevi moi = His salt is not good.

Kiu'tsa pi hya ? "atsa kaJia " = " WhSit word did you
say ? " " No word."

There are no cases, the case meanings being expressed by
the use of post-positions {vide infra). (The personal pro-
nouns, however, have an oblique form) ;

e.g. Give it to Khupu = Khupu tsiilo.

The plural is sometimes formed by the suffix ko, particu-
larly in the Dayang valley, ^ but when the number is obvious
from the context, this is usually omitted.

Dohashiko hulao ani = The Dobashis are over there.

Amishi kija aie ? = How many cows are there ?

A common plural is formed in -uh ; e.g. apeli-mi =
" brother " {or " brothers ") > apeliun = " brothers " — a
definite plural.

The post-position " vile " is, however, used almost as an
objective case termmation. Its proper sense is one of
proximity or direction, but " Ivekuvile pilo " merely means
" tell Iveku." The post-position -no, or sometimes -ye, is
suffixed to the nominative of the verb when the noun repre-
sents an agent by which something is done ;

e.g. Sakhalu-no Abor'limi ipfil ghe = Sakhalu took the
head of an Abor girl.

^ The plural in -ko is nol in general use anywhere else.

V LANGUAGE 275

-ye is used particularly wiien the noun is, so to speak, in
a disjunctive position, e.g. " O Amiche, 0 Hocheliye " ( = " O
Amiche, 0 Hocheli " ) in Part VI, story No. XX.

Gender of Nouns.

In the case of human beings sex is denoted by the use of
different words, but in the case of animals and birds the
sexes are differentiated by the use of certain suffixes distin-
guishing males, females which have not given birth, and
females wliich have given birth to offspring.

(1) Used in the case of certain domestic animals : —

Male. Female that has not Female that has

given birth. given birth.

Ali. Ani. Akhu.

e.g. Atsiiyatsiili atsuani=sx maiden atsiikhu = a brood

= a dog. bitch. bitch.

Awoyawoli awoni—n sow that awokhu=fi sow that

= a hog. has not littered. has littered.

(2) Used in the case of almost all wild animals and one or
two domestic animals : —

Atsii. Akhukhoh. Akhu.

e.g. Akahay akaha'tsil, a male ele- and akaha 'khukhoh,
phant. etc.

Avi > avitsii, a bull mithan,
etc.

N.B. — Ashiki. a monkey, may take either (1) or (2).

(3) Used for all birds :—

Adii. Akhukhoh. Akhu.

e.g. Laliu > laliudu (a cock jungle fowl), etc.

Formation from Verbs.

A noun may be formed from verbs by prefixing Ke to
the root and suffixing -7ni (man, men) ;

e.g. ti = die yKetimi = dead man or dead men.
Puka = thieve > Kepukami = thief, thieves.

T 2

276 THE SEMA NAGAS part

THE ADJECTIVE.

The adjective follows the noun qualified.

It is not changed for a feminine noun.

Sometimes the entonic a is retained and a preceding final
vowel, usually i, elided, but ordinarily it drops the entonic
when following a qualified noun. The entonic is used, not
eHded, when the adjective is predicative ; e.g. azhia 'kizJie =
a big dao, azhta akizhe — the dao (is) big.

An adjective is formed from the verb by the prefix of ke
to the root ; e.g. pi = speak, > kepi = spoken ; piti =
burn, > Jcepiti = burnt.

Comparison is made by the use of the sufiix -ye, after the
noun with which the subject referred to is compared, followed
by the pronoun joined to the adjective of comparison ; e.g.
otsiiye itsil pa zhe = My dog is bigger than your dog. .

Timi hupauye Mpau pa vi = This man is better than that
[literally " man that-than this he (is) good."]

A superlative is formed by the addition of the suffix o to
the simple adjective. Akizhe = big > akizheo = biggest.

" Choemi akevi ani, Asimi akevio " = " The Lhotas are
good, but the Semas are the best."

The adjective is sometimes formed into an adverb by the
addition of the suffix -ko, -ku, -kei ;

e.g. Alio good, right > alloku well, very.

THE PRONOUN.

Singular. Plural.

Ni, 1 J [niukko] 1 ^ ^^

Niye J ni, niuh )

Oblique form (always preceding

and attached to the govern-

word) i-

= You. t^^^^^.U = You.

no, non

Singular. Plural.

Oblique form : — 0- [but in agentive no-]
Pa = he, it [pananuko, pananko] 1 _rpi

pan^nh j

V LANGUAGE 277

Oblique form : — pa

e.g. Ina pike (or niye pike) ^= I said.
Pana i-pike — he said to me.
pana otsiivekeana = he gave it to you.
niy' ohempi — I did not strike you.
niye pa heni =^ I will strike him.
pana pini = he will say.
pa helo = strike him.

N.B. — Vile (really a post-position implying approach, e.g. ivile gowgheke-
velo = dorit como (near me)) is used with the indirect object of verbs of
speaking, e.g. tell him -pavile pilo.

A dual form of the personal pronoun is also found, at any
rate among the Northern Semas : —

We two = ikuzho.
You two = okuzho.
They two = pamho.

For numbers of more than two the first person singular
is used with the numeral : —

e.g. We three — niye kiithu.

The Pronominal Adjectives.

My = i. Our = niukomi. 2

Thy = o- Your = nonkomi.'^

His = pa- Their = panoiikomi.^

e.g. Amishi = a cow.
i mishi = my cow.
niukom'mishi = our cow.
atsii = a dog.
otsii = thy dog.
norikomi'tsu = your dog.
'pa'tsil = his dog.

^ The agentive/na is probably the more correct. The forin 7iiye is really
a sort of locative, an uninflected noun being avoided and the miinflected
pronoun ni- only used when there is a following novui which is usually
inflected.

- In form this is a collective noun.

278 THE SEMA NAGAS part

Demonstrative Pronoun.

This = hipau, tipa, ti, i.
That = hupau, tipa, ti.
This, that much = tiliki.

Plural.

These = [hipako], hipanon.
Those = [hupako], hupanon.

The demonstiative pronoun follows the noun it quahfies ;
thus " those men "= timi hupako.

The Interrogative Pronoun.

Who ? — ku, ku'u kiu, kiuwi, kuhu ?
What ? — kiu, kihwi ?

How much ? 1 , . . ,..7.0
How many ? j J ' J

The Indefinite Pronoun.

Some = kiukiu, used of both person and things.

A few = kiitila, kitila.

Someone = hammi.

Something = kunhye, kukunhye.

Anyone = kammi.

Anything = kiivil, kiwilmo, kuwunw.

. ^,, . > at all = kiu-kiu mo.
Anything j

,- ° I at all = kumo kumoi, kumo kaJm.

No one J

The Relative Pronoun.

The relative pronoun " who " is translated by " Kiu,"
which is : (1) placed in the relatival clause while the verb
in the same clause is put into the participial form ;

e.g. The man who came has gone.
Kiu gtvogheno gwovekeana.

V LANGUAGE 279

(2) Suffixed to the verb^ which belongs to it, the verb
put into a short form of the tense which it would naturally
take ;

e.g. Gwovekiu = The man who has gone {gwove).

BoroshaJia givoghinkiu = Deputy Commissioner who
is coming here {gwoghinchin).

The Reflexive Pronoun.

" Self " is expressed by the word aliki, but this is only
used in the singular, and contains also the sense of alone.
Like " self " in Enghsh, it is usually linked to the pronominal
adjectives, but precedes the verb ;

e.g. riiki = mj'^self.

Oliki = thyself.

Paliki = himself.

Niye iliki gwoghi = I came myself {or I came alone).

Oimi is expressed by repeating the pronominal adjective
after the reflexive pronoun ;

e.g. Iliki i'u = my own property.
Oliki o'li = your own property.
Paliki paki = liis own house.

" One another " = " Pamaliki " (" Both themselves ") and
is followed again by " Pairmkepi " (" the aforesaid two ") ;

e.g. Hupako pamaliki pamakepi tikileve = Those two
killed each other.

NEGATION.

The negative particle is —

mo = no (as opposed to ih, iye = yes) ;
e.g. "Do vou understand?" " No "="i\^a itian'
kyar' '' Mor

* I am not sure that I am correct in this, and that the relative iia this
case is not formed by the particle -ke, to which the emphatic -ti has been
added, and that gwovekiu should not be written gwove-ke-u. Cf. p. 292 sq.
— use of the particle -ke. The emphatic u (or o) is the same as that used
to form a superlative.

28o THE SEMA NAGAS part

The simple negative used with another word is

moi = not ;
e.g. " Amishi hijpau omishi mono ? " " Imishi moi."

" Is this cow your cow or not ? " " It is not my cow."
With verbs the negative varies with the form of the verb
used.

There are three negative enclitics used with verbs : —

moi, mjpi, mlai.
moi is the general negative and may refer to any time.
mpi refers definitely to past time only.
mlai implies inability as well as negation, and may refer
to any action in either present or past time ;

e.g. niye pi moi — I did not saj^ I do not say, I will not say.
niye pi mpi = I did not say, I never said.
niye pi mlai — I cannot say, I could not say.
Inabihty is also expressed by the termination " = lesai "
e.g. pa pilesai = he can't say.

With verbs of perception the enclitic " mlai " has no
more than a merely negative sense ;

e.g. " Itumlai " = " I do not see " (it could not mean " I
am blind ").

N.B. — Mpi apparently <mo pi = "not say." Mlai probably <-mo-
le-sai ; -sai = sah = bad.

Want of knowledge is expressed by " mta "^ [ < mo iti
a{ni)] ; " mta " alone = " I do not know " ;

e.g. " Khupu kilao gwoniani kya ? " " Mta."

" Where is Khupu going off to ? " " I do not know."

" Mta " is also used to express " I do not know how to,"
in which case it is attached as an enclitic to the root form
of the verb ;

e.g. " niy' otsa pi mta "==" I do not know how to speak
your language."

Prohibition is expressed by the use of the infix -keve- ;

e.g. jyilo = speak, pikevelo = " don't speak."

Ke alone as a suffix with the root of the verb is used as
an abbreviated prohibition ; pike f " don't speak."

The word " Kahd" is used in the sense of " there is not "
or " I have not " or " there is none," or merely " is not " ;

^ Or mtai, mlao.

V LANGUAGE 281

e.g. " O mti aniinoi V " Kalid.''

" Have you any salt ? " "I have not."

(lit. " Your salt is there ? ")

" Inaio an'kya ? " " Inato kahd."

" Is Inato here ? " " He is not."

" Opfulo musheho kije kya .? " " KaM."

" How many guns are there in your village ? "

" There are none."
" Otsa pikepfu an' kya ? " " Kahd."
" Have you anything more to say ? " " No."

A corresponding interrogative ahai, " is there ? " is also
occasionally used, and an obsolete form ha is sometimes
found for kaha in songs.

THE VERB AND ITS USE.

The Sema verb is not inflected to accord with difference
in number or person, and has no genuine passive voice. ^
Mood and tense, in so far as they are distinguished at all,
are expressed by the addition to the root of suffixes, infixes,
and occasionally affixes, for which the verb " to be " (a) and
other auxiliary verbs {shi = do, pi = say, imi = go, che —
proceed, lu — take) are used, as well as post-positions
-no = from, -ye = in, at. In addition to these are certain
particles used with verbs which probably originally fell
under one of the heads described, but which are now not
ordinarily used except to form part of a verb ; e.g. -ni, -ke,
-ve, -lo, -puzil.

The combinations of these auxiliaries and particles with
the root are infinite, and by their arrangement and repeti-
tion all sorts of shades of meaning are conveyed. The

^ The verbal adjective formed with ke {vide infra) is, of coui-se, passive in
sense, and an approach to a real passive is found in the use of the active
verb with a subject understood, but even here the verb is really active
and not passive, though it is used perhaps as a sort of middle. Thus we find
Eno Ayemiye atsa-yeyeshiye Ayemi shitsuke
and the Ayemi by chattering Ayemi became
where shitsuke (lit.= " make-gave ") is equivalent to a passive, a subject
for shitsuke being really required to complete the grammatical sense, unless,
indeed, Ayetniyehe taken as the subject, in which case a direct object is
required for shitsuke.

282 THE SEMA NAGAS part

negative is similarly used, though the form used varies to
some extent with the tense of the verb, as has already been
indicated when dealing with the negative.

Taking then, for example, the verbal root pi = " say,"
'" tell," different parts of the verb may be formed as
follows : —

Apart from the use of the root alone, which is sometimes
used as an aorist tense without inflexion, the simplest parts,
in which verbal participles only are used, are : —

The present or future with -ni ; e.g. pini = " says,"
" will say."

The imperative with -h ; e.g. pilo = " say " [Lazemi use
pi-siih].

The past with -ke ; e.g. pike = " said."

X.B. — Tliis ke is occeisionally reduplicated apparently for emphasis ; e.g.
akikeke for lakike = " was single " < laki = one.

The particle ve is used with some irregularity. With
certain auxiliaries such as the causative -tsii- {tsii- = " give ")
it is almost always used ; e.g. pilo = " say ," pivetsiilo = " ca,use
to say," though piitsiXlo in such a case would probably be
understood. Again with the past tense form in which the
auxiliary a is used, ve is always inserted — piv'a (or piv'aiy
for pive-a = " has said," " did say." [Lazemi and some
other Dayang Valley Semas say pive-la.] So also with the
past tense form in -keana {ke-an{i)-a, the particle ke followed
by the present tense and again by the root a = be, remain)
pivekeaiuL would more often be used in preference to pikeana
for " has said," but not necessarily.

N.B — The form in keana is particularly used by the Seraas east of the
Tizu, but is not very common.

Again with the imperative, -ve- is almost always omitted,
though pivdo for pilo might perhaps be occasionally heard,
and in somr verbs such a use of -ve- in the imperative would
be normal. The termination -ne is added to the imperative
to make a command less abrupt or to modify it to a request ;
e.g. pilo = " say," pilone = " be good enough to say." In
the prohibi'.ive form of the verb, however, -ve- is always
found when the full form is used. This form is made with

» This form has a stronger sense of completion than the form in -ke.

V LANGUAGE 283

the prohibition -ke- (not to be confounded with the suffixed
ke of the past tense), with ve, and with the imperative particle
lo in that order. Thus pilo = " sav," pikevelo — " do not
say."

An abbreviated pike with a marked accent on the second
syllable is, however, often used instead when speaking
hurriedly.

There is another use of ke when it is an affix and appears
to be distinct from the infixed or suffixed ke of the past
tense. As an affix it is used to form an adjective from the
verb ; thus kepi = " said," " spoken," " that which is or
has been said." Atsa kepi inzhulo = " listen to the word
which has been (or is being) spoken." This use of ke has
been dealt with separately below. Its use in the gerundive
{pi-ke-pfu = " for saying," " to be said ") and the corre-
sponding negative {pikepfu kahd = " nothing to say ")
probably falls into the same class. The pfu of the gerundive
is probably the root pfu = " carr}'."

The verbal termination -puzil is used to form a past
participle ; e.g. pi-piizii = " having said." A similar use of
-puzii other than with verbs is to be found in ipuzil = " there-
after," but -puzii does not seem to be used as an ordinary
post-position.

The post-position -no is used like -puzii to form a past
participle ; e.g. pino = " having said," but the degree of
completion indicated is less than when -puzil is used. Some-
times -no is used redundantly suffixed to -puzii ; e.g. ti
pi-puziino — " having said this."

The post-position -ye is used principally in conjunction
with the auxiliary verb a ( = " be ") to form a conditional
or with the future particle -ni to form a final tense. Thus
pi-a-ye —" ii sa,y " [Lazemi pi-a-zo], j^i-ni-ye = " for saying,"
" in order to say." In the case of both these post-po^'itions
in their use with the verb they do not bear quite the same
shade of meaning as in their regular use as post -positions
with nouns.

The composition of parts of the verb with auxiliaries is
rather more complicated, as several are often collected
together, and the result is really a compound verb rather

284 THE SEMA NAGAS part

than a part of a verb ; but as some of these forms are much
abbreviated by use, examples of the commoner ones are
necessary, particularly as they are coming to be used almost
as inflections of the verb. Thus the imperative of pi,
= " say," is sometimes used practically tantamount to a
permissive suffix, the i being elided and p7o being prefixed to
the infinitive of the verb ; e.g. pap'lo ngulo, " let liim stay,"
really being " tell him to stay," " say to him ' stay,' "
though the direct object pa is used here, and not the form
pa-vilo, which would be usual with the verb pi. So also
pa p'lo pa'tsa pilo = " let him tell his story," of which the
corresponding prohibitive would be pa plo pa'tsa pi-keve-
lo = " let him not tell his story."

With ani, the present of the verb " to be," an ordinary
continuative present is made — piani (usually contracted to
p'ani), " is saying." In addition to this, and to the general
use of the root a- to form a continuative verb, the compounds
of the root with the auxiliary roots are usually helped out
with the verb "to be " as well. Thus the potential form
of the verb, e.g. " can say," is composed of the roots of the
verbs " to say " (pi-), " to take " (lu-), and " to be " (a-),
giving pilunani (pi-luni-ani) = " can say." The Lazemi
dialect uses a potential form like the Angamis in -levi
> pilevi — ^lit. " good for saying " or " up to saying."

With the verb "to do " (shi-) a desiderative is formed ;
e.g. pini shiani — " %\dshes to say " (lit. " is making ' will
say'"). So also a continuative perfect _pi-a-5Aw', "has
said " (lit. " say-be-makes "). Compounds with the verb
die, meaning " proceed," are very frequent and almost
always express habituation ; e.g. pi-che-ni = " always says,"
pi-che-ke = " used to say."

There is, however, one combination, in which che follows
the root of the verb wu = "go," where the combined roots
express inception and the idea of habituation is not associated
with che. Thus pi'un'chen' (for pi-iouni-che-ni) = " begins
to say " or " is about to say " — lit. " say, will go, proceeds."
In this combination the root may or may not be followed
by the particle ve.

A particle used with verbs to give a dubitative sense

V LANGUAGE 285

is kye = " perhaps." In the past it seems to be usually
associated with the particle ve, e.g. jpi-ve-kye-ni = " perhaps
has said," in the present with the verb " to be," e.g. pi-an'-
kye-ni, " perhaps says," and in the future with the inceptive
combination given above — pi'un'chen'kyeni = " will possibly
say."

The variations of the negative with the different tenses
of the verb have been already mentioned. The position
varies as well as the form, as the negative particle is some-
times used as an infix, sometimes as a suffix. The simple
negative mo is usually infixed, the form moi is used as a
suffix, as also are the forms -lesai, -mlai, -mpi.

Thus formed with 7no, we have a negative of the dubitative
pi-mo-kyeni = " perhaps does not," " will not," or " did
not say." So too we have a negative conditional pi-m'aye =
" if not say " (for pi-mo-a-ye) and pi-mo-no the negative of
the past participle pino and pipuzii. Only when suffixed
to the root form aorist {pi-mo < pi) is mo used otherwise
than as an infix to make a negative verb.

Moi, on the other hand, is always a suffix except in the
past time negative formed with moi and ve ; e.g. pi-moi-
ve = " did not say," " has not said." Otherwise it is
always a suffix and as such is perhaps the commonest form
used for giving the verb a negative sense ; e.g. pi-moi, the
negative of present or future (or sometimes of the past),=
" does not say," " will not say," sometimes even " did not
say," [The Lazemi group uses pi-lho = " will not say,"
an Angami form.] So too in compounds pin'shimoi — " does
not wish to say," pi'uchemoi = " does not begin to say," for
pi-itm-che-moi, negative of pi'un'chen' (pi-vm-ni-cJie-ni). So
too a negative habitual pi-che-moi = " never says " or
" does not always say," corresponding to pi-che-ni.

The negative suffix 7npi is used with the root only and
in reference to past time always ; e.g. pi-mpi = " did not
say," " has not said." The potential negatives, -lesai and
mlai, are also suffixed to the root pi-lesai pi-mlai = " can-
not say," the latter form probably expressing the more abso-
lute inability and being no doubt originally a contraction of
pi-mo-lesai — " not even bad to say," i.e. " not able to say

286 . THE SEMA NAGAS part

at all/'^ pi-U-sai, " cannot say,"' " bad for saying " being
the negative of pi-le-vi {vide supra), " good for saying,"
" able to say '" ; sai probably < the same root as sah in
alJu)-ke-sah, al'esah = " bad." The prohibitive with -Jceve-
and the negative of the gerund have been already mentioned.
Instances of the use of the verb in all its forms may be
found in the Sema stories in tliis volume, but one or two
are appended here as examples : —

Continuative and Causative Verbs.

CoNTiNTJATiVE Verbs are formed by the addition of
-a- { = " remain," " be ") to the root form of the simple
verb, which is then conjugated as usual ;

e.g. Pt = " speak " > pi-a = " continue speaking," pialo
= " go on saying," pia-cheni — " keeps on saying."

Other compound verbs are formed by simply joining two
roots and adding the necessary suffixes, etc., to the second ;

e.g. pi-inzhulo = " ask and say," < pi = say, inzhu-= ask.
zhu-paliaiveke = " looked-but-could-not-find," <zhu =
look, paha, pahai, = lose.

Causative Verbs are formed by adding the particle -ve
to the simple root, and compounding with the verb
tsil = " give," thus : —

Lha = " flay," Niye olhani = " I will flay you."

Niye olhavetsiini = " I will have you flayed."

Shi = " do " > Shilo = "do," Shivetsulo = '"' cause to
do," " make do." Piti = " burn " > Pitike = " burnt "
(intransitive), Pitivetsiike = " bmnt " (transitive). Aki
pitike = " the house burnt," aki pitivetsiike = " he burnt
the house."

The particle ve is sometimes omitted. The causative
form of a verb is sometimes used as nothing more than a
merely emphatic form of the simple verb.

INTERJECTIONS.

Assent ... ... ih, ih ih, iyeh, oh, uh.

Approval . . . h.au ! hau !

1 Or perhaps the mo in jnmlai is merely a redvindant negative put in for
emphasis.

LANGUAGE

Disapproval
Disgust
Anger . . .
Dissent . . .

. a, yn
\ aich.

Satisfaction

... tah ('■ Enough ! "
tiv'ai ( = " is dead ")

287

That'll do/')

INTERROGATIVES.

Questions may be asked by —

(a) The addition of an inteiTogative particle or enclitic
which (i) merely asks a question, or (ii) suggests the possi-
bility of an answer in the negative.

(i) Particles implying mere interrogation are —
Icya, la, aie, no, 'o. But " kya " is the one in ordinary
use and cannot be misunderstood.
Nuan' kya T
Nuani kya ?

Nuani aie ? r= " Are (you) laughing ? "
Nuani no?
Nuani 'o ? ,
La is used particularly in asking for confirmation or
repetition : —

" Was it Inato you called ? " No Inato ku la ?
(ii) Particles implying a possible negation are :
moi, moTU), shina, keslia, the first two being in common
use ;
e.g. Nuani moi ? \

Nuani mono ? > =" Are you laughing or not ? "
Nuani shina ? )

Nuani kesha ? = " Are you laughing ? " (expressing
surprise and the answer " No ").
(6) The omission of the final i of the verb ;
e.g. Nuan' ? = " Are you laugliing ? "
Alternative questions may be asked —

(i) By using the enclitics ... Aryo .... kya ? or merely
sufl&xing the encHtic . . . 'o to the first alternative ;
e.g. Enakhu mishi kyo, ketami mishi ghi kya ? — " Are

288

THE SEMA NAGAS

PART

they Enakha's cattle, or are they the cattle of others as
weU ? "

Na hinimi 'o kumulhomi ? Na kekdnii kyo, kahami kya ?
= " Are you a rich man or poor ? " " Are you a chief or
a nobody ? "

(ii) By repeating the verb and following it by the
negative enclitic mono, moi, or in the case of the past
tense " mpi'a " ;

e.g. Nuani, nuani moiw ? = " Are you laughing or are
you not ? "

Nu, numpi'a ? = " Did you laugh or not ? "

POST-POSITIONS.

Post-positions correspond to prepositions in English, and
take the place of case endings, of which there are none. They

re an encntic
Into, to

, loiiowmg tne word governed : —
'lo,'u.

... lo, 'no.

... 'so, 'shou.

From

lo.

Along with

... 'sa.

With, by (ir

istrumental) 'pfe, 'no.

By (agentiv

e) ... ... ... 'no, nd.^

Before

'zu.

Between . .

'mtala.

Behind

'thiu.

Above

... 'shou, 'so.

Across

'ghngugu.

Among

'dolo. J

Below

'kho, 'chiliu.

After

... 'thiu.

Near

... 'vile.

Round

'ho.

Through . .

... 'mtala.

Towards ..

'vile, 'vilo.

Because of,

for ... ... ... 'ghetiguno, 'ghe'uno.

LANGUAGE

289

In presence of ... ... ... 'zw.

In, at, to, by, than ... ... 'i/e.^

e.g. Pana iki-lo vmv'ai = " He went to my house."

O-pfulo avi kaha = " There are no mi than in your

village."
Azhtaso ikalo = " Sit on (your) dao."
Pa'pfulo pov'ai = " He ran away from his village."
Pasa izuwuni = " I will go out with him."
Asilpfe helo = " Beat (him) with a stick ! "
Kungumino i-tsiive = " A spirit gave (it) me."
I-zu chelo = " Go in front of me."
Zhuke 'ghenguno, ilumo = " Because you looked, I am

angry."
Tighenguno [tighehino) = " Because of that."
Apazaye pike = " (He) spoke to his parents " (or

'' (his) parents said ").
Thanavmye = " At dawn."
Niye zilake = " I slept on."

^ N.B. no, -ye are attached to the nominative of the agent, no real

passive mood existing. The sense of agency impUed by no is much
stronger than that suggested by -ye, which really indicates nothing more
than the location of the action.

ADVERBS.

Adverbs of Manner.

How

kishene.

Thus ...

... hipapi, nahi, ishi.

In that way

... hupapi.

Slowly ...

... asheshina.

Quickly

... mtazii.

Silently

... inakho'i.

SUghtly

kitili.

Equally...

... akemeh.

Accidentally

... mtano (" mta " participial form)

Haply ...

... mtapi.

Alone . . .

... kiliki.

Gratis . . .

kumsa.

Why ...

... kushia {<ku shi a).

290

THE SEMA NAGAS

PART

Very, truly, quite

Unawares

alloku (e.g., Akumla ani = " I am
busy," akumla alloku ani = " I
am very busy," alloku keguzumi
= " quite mad ").

mtano.

Adverbs of Time.

The other day

The day before the day
before yesterday

The day before yester-
day ...

Yesterday

To-day

To-morrow

The day after to-morrow

The day after the day
after to-morrow

Last month

This month

Next month

Last year

This year

Next year

Last night

To-night

To-morrow night

Formerly

Nowadays

Now

When ...

Then ...

At once

kaghenyu (usually about 10 to 12
days ago).

shibidhini.

ishikHhuni.
ieghi, eghena.
ishi.
thogho.
dginyu.

kiviiniu.

ikulo khii.^

kepakhii.^

akhiithe.

kanikhu'mphelo. ^

kashi'mphelo.^

thoku'mphelo.^

izhi, izhi poihd.

tohuh (used when speaking during

daytime).
itizhi (used when speaking after

sunset).
tozhiu.
kdghe.

ishito-gholo, etadolo {itahe-dolo).
itehe.
koghono.

tileno, pathiu {i.e., after that).
mtazii.

^ Or khi. * 'Mphelo is usually omitted in ordinary conversation.

LANGUAGE 291

One day

... aghla laki, gwola laki.

Sometimes

... kluxrihia-khanhia , kanhiu, kanya

aghlo.

Daily, always .

... alhokuthu, gwolatsutsii, aghla-

tsutsii.

Never . . .

... kilemo. .moi.

Soon

kitla-dolo.

By and by

... itdu7io.

Henceforward

... hepathiu.

Before ...

... azuno.

Afterwards

... athiuno.

Hereafter

... hithouno.

Until ...

... oghloki.

By day ...

... puchou.

At midday

... telhogJiolo.

In the morning

... inakhe.

In the afternoo

n ... avelao.

In the evening

... kezhiliu.

At night

... potho.

Again . . .

... etaghe.

Adverbs of Place.

Somewhere

... kilela.

Elsewhere

... kutao.

Anjrwhere

... kilaumo.

Everywhere

... kumtsiilo.

On this side, h<

3re ... hilau.

On that side, t]

lere ... hulau.

Hence . . .

hilehina.

Thence ...

... hulau ona.

Near

... avela, avile.

Afar

... glmchewa.

At a distance

... kushuwa.

Above ...

... aliu, ashou.

Below . . .

... achilu achiliu, akho, apeo.

Around

... aho.

Ahead . . .

... nzou.

Forwards

... azu.

Backwards

... athiu.

U 2

2gi

THE SEMA NAGAS

PART

In the presence (of)

Within ...

Without

Outside

Before . . .

After ...

Underneath

Between

Together

azu, selokuno.

seloku.

kalau.

kalatseu, kalacheo.

azuno.

athiuno.

akhwou, akho.

amtala.

kumtsa.

CONJUNCTIONS.

Also ghi.

Although ... ... -WW (encUtic on the verb).

Except ... ... ... peveno, iveno.

Because ... ... ghengu.

But ... ... ... kishikeno.

And ... ... ... eno, ino, -ngwo, -ngo.

Perhaps ... ... kye, kyeni (both at end of sentence).

Then ... ... ... tishino, tilehi.

Therefore ... ... tighenguno, tighe'uno.

Too ghi.

And linking two nouns is expressed by the suffix -ngwo
or -ngo suffixed to the anterior noun of the two ; e.g., timi-
ng wo teglmmi — " the man and the spirit."

Eno Amiche-ngo Hocheli-no, kimiyeke-ghenguno, Arkha pa
'ki pitivetsiimoke.

" And Amiche and Hocheli, because they pitied (him),
did not burn Arkha's house."

Arkha no panoh hapovetsiike-mu, ami sutsiimokeke =
" Although Arkha had driven them out, (they) did not set
fire (to it)."

Use of the particle Ke in the formation of nouns and adjectives

from verbs.

A. Nouns are formed from verbs by using the particle Ke.

(1) Nouns of the agent, the doer of an action, are formed
by the addition to the verbal root of ke and mi ( = man).
These two are added in two ways : —

V LANGUAGE 293

(a) Ke precedes the root and mi follows it ;
e.g. Puka-lo = steal > ke-piika-mi = a thief.

{AkJm) musse-lo = fish > (akha) ke-musse-mi = a
fisherman.

(6) -kemi, the two particles being joined, follows the root
form of the verb. This is generally done with compounds ;

e.g. Astali shilo = murder > dlsalishikemi — a murderer.
Kineshu chelo = oppose > kineshukemi = an oppo-
nent.

Atsaokebachulo = loot > atsaokebachukemi = looter.

(2) Nouns of the instrument with which the action is done
or of the results caused by the action, are formed by the
addition of " ke " as a prefix, with varying nouns added to
the root as a suffix instead of the mi used for the nouns of
agent ;

e.g. Puka-lo — steal > ke-puka-nhyemoga = stolen
property {anhyemoga = property).

(Akha) musse-lo = fish > (akha) ke-musse-i = a fish
hook {-i < ayi = iron).

(3) Nouns of the results of the action are also occasionally
formed by the addition of " ke" to the root as a suffix ;

e.g. Atsaokebachulo = loot (vb.) > atsaokebachuke = loot
{i.e., the plunder obtained by looting).

(4) The addition oi " ke" to the root as suffix, although it
is possibly in reality merely the sign of the past tense, often
gives it the force almost of an abstract noun ;

e.g. Puka-lo = steal > pukake = theft.

Kelamu-lo = starve > kelamuke = starvation.

B. Adjectives are also formed by the addition of Ke-
or -KehU.

(1) A participial adjective is formed by the prefixing of
Ke- to the root of the verb ; e.g., pi > kepi — spoken,
ti > keti = dead. In the case of a transitive verb this
participle is a passive participle ; keshi, for instance, meaning
" done," not " having done."

294 THE SEMA NAGAS part

(2) An adjective may in some cases be formed by the
suffixing of -ke ;

e.g. chu eat, {ake)vi good > chuvike = palatable.

(3) An adjective, which is really equivalent to a relative
sentence, is formed by the addition of -kehu to the root of
the verb ;

e.g. pi > pikehu = " which has been " (or " is to be ")

"spoken," thus akumla shikehu shiah = "go on doing

I are I
the work which you ■! > doing " (or " which you

have to do ").

N.B. — The use of ke is very idiomatic, and as ke has a prohibitive and
sometimes a privative sense, it may, if used wrongly, convey precisely
the opposite intention to that desired. It is also a part of the verb " to
be," and, suffixed to an adjective, converts it to a verb. Thus aiti-ke =
•'it is cold," " shonumi A;e" = " (he) is a miser."

SYNTAX.

Owing to the absence of inflexions, the order of the
sentence is important in Sema. The rules are very simple.

The subject comes first, followed by its adjuncts, then
the predicate, the verb standing last.

The object precedes the verb, the direct object preceding
the indirect object where both are found together.

An adjective or demonstrative pronoun qualifying a noun
follows it.

An adjective forming part of the predicate precedes the
verb.

Possessive pronouns precede the nouns which they quahfy.

Adverbs precede the noun or verb qualified.

Interrogative particles come at the end of the sentence,
even in indirect speech.

In compound sentences the dependent clauses precede the
principal clause.

In conditional sentences the protasis precedes the apodosis.
Examples : —

I struck him ... Ina pa hev'ai ... (I him struck).
He struck me ... Pana i-hev'ai ... (He me struck).

V LANGUAGE 295

I spoke my words Niye i-tsa ShaJmvile (I my- words Sahib-

to the Scahib ... piv'ai ... ... to spoke).

I gave you two Niye amishi tsoboi (I cows black two

black cows ... kini otsiivekeani you-gave).
That crow is danc- AgJia hulau allokei (Crow that well is

ing finely ... ilheani ... ... dancing).

I have much work I s h i ak u ml a (to-day work much

to-day ... kuthom'ani ... is).

What are ' you Na kiu kaku-he^ (You what write,

writing? ... kya ? ... ... eh?)

I never told you Niye egheni pi ovile (I will come-say you-

that I would pimpi. to said not).

come.
If he stay here, I ^ (Pa hilau nguaye, niye Kabu (or Kozumi

shall go up to I I pfu) ekwoni. (He here stay-if, I

Kohima. J [ Kohima will go up).

ORATIO OBLIQUA.

A sentence is put into indirect speech by the use of the
verb Pi, " to say." This is used in three forms : the present,
Pani {Pi-ani), " he says," " it is said," " they say " ; the
past, Pike, " he said," " it was said," etc., and the aorist,
Pt = " he says," " he said," etc. Of these three, Pani is
the form most in use, though Pi is also very common,
particularly among the more northern villages.

(1) Pani is used after the root form of the dependent verb,
followed by the particle le, or after the root form alone, e.g. : —

Direct form. Indirect form.

Speak = 2?iZo ... ... He tells you to speak.

Nono pile pani.

What are you saying ?1 |He asks what you are saying.

KiuHsa pi an'kya ? J | Kiu'tsa pile pan'kya.

He comes for a law] j'He says that he is come for a

suit. I } law suit.

Atsa kekeghaniye che'nij yAtsa kekeghaniye che pani.

^ Lit. " paper (kaku) strike (he)."

296 THE SEMA NAGAS part

(2) Pike is used when the words are reported in their
original form, the main clause standing first and the reported
speech being often followed by a second and redundant
pike ; e.g. : —

Khupu reached Kohima

yesterday.
Khupu eghena Kahumi

pfu tohvai.

Khupu said that he reached

Kohima yesterday.
Khupuno pike, eghena Kabumi

pfu tohvai pike.

(3) Pi is used (like pike) after the words of the speech
reported in the direct form, redundantly at the end of the
dependent clause, but the dependent clause comes first,
followed by the main clause containing the verb of saying ;
e.g. :—

I will come ... ... I never told you that I would come-

Niye egheni ... ... Niye egheni pi, ovile pimpi.

An oblique imperative is often used, and is formed by
adding pi to the root plus le, e.g. : —

" Come "= Eghelo, " You are told to come "= Eghelepi.

This form, however, is often used as a mere substitute for
the direct imperative.

SLANG.

The writer has only actually met with one word (there
are probably others) which is actually substituted by Semas
in speaking as slang for the real word. This is achokha, an
obscene expression for the fish called keghenipu.^ There is,
however, a practice which seems to be known in most Sema
villages of inverting or altering the order of words in a
sentence, or of syllables in a word, so as to make the language
meaningless gibberish to anyone not knowing the slang.
There does not seem to be any fixed system on which this
is done, but the general idea seems to be, as has been said,
to reverse the order of words, syllables, or both. There
does not seem to be any very real advantage gained by the
use of this slang beyond that of being able to irritate one's

1 Which is held to resemble the male organ of generation.

V LANGUAGE 297

neighbours who do not know it by speaking it in their
presence, and, speaking generally, it seems to be more of a
game than anything else, and is invented and used much as
secret alphabets and ciphers are by small boys at school,
who send notes to one another in them simply for the sake
of using the code. At the same time, it is said that the
Sema slang is used with some effect in trade, as it is possible
for one man to warn another that the price asked by a third
for some article is too high, which he would not like to do,
and would not do, if he had to speak in plain Sema which
the seller could understand. This slang is also said to be
useful in intrigues, and undoubtedly is used to make
offensively personal remarks and to abuse strangers who do
not understand it.

The use of this slang is sometimes confined to a very small
proportion of each village, sometimes it is used by the
majority of the younger population, who have more than
one version in use, but in one Sema village, apparently the
only one, Aichisagami, the whole village has acquired this
slang, and to such an extent that it has almost become the
ordinary language of the village and is normally used by
the people of the village in speaking to one another, and is
frequently used unthinkingly to people from other villages
who cannot understand until the speakers correct themselves
and use ordinary Sema. The result of this in Aichisagami
has been the production of secondary slangs based on the
first, which are spoken by a number of the villagers in the
same way that what may be called primary slang is used in
other villages. As the original slang was never formed by a
complete inversion of words or phrases, the secondary slang
is not a mere reversion to straightforward speech, though in
short words it is necessary to omit, or to insert or alter
sounds to avoid this.

As there are variations, however slight, of dialect from
village to village, and as the possible combinations and
permutations of words and sentences are infinite, and the
amount of the inversion used in speaking slang dependent
purely on the whim of the inventors, it is obvious that the
slang used in one village is not likely to be understood by

298

THE SEMA NAGAS

PART

the speakers of slang in another, though words and even
phrases here and there might easily coincide.

As examples of slang by inversion, the following phrases
from Aichisagami are given : —

English.

Ordinary Sema.

Inverted form.

Re-inverted form.

(Used by part of
the village,
others using
different re-
in versions.)

(Proper name)

Ina^^u

Ikhxiiia.

(Proper name)

Hozeke

Kehoze.

One

laki

kila.

Three

kiithu

thiiku.

Sixteen

muku-ma-tsogho

tsogho-ma-muku.

Twenty-one

muku-kaki

kakikumo.

Forty-two

Ihobidi-kini

bidikin'lho.

Forty -eight

Ihopongu pa-tache ponguchetapalho.

Sahib

shaha

hoshe.

Don't know

mta

tamo

tagam, tamoga.

Chillies

gwomishe

shegomi

mishego.

Accursed

ghapio

piogha

piaghao.

Thus

nahi

hinna

na'e.

ani

nyia

athonani.

Is calling me

i kuani

iniaku.

What shall (I) do T

k'u shini a ?

shinia ku ?^

iniaku ?

There is no cooked

ana kaha

akahana

akahathona

rice.

[athokahana].

There is no liquor.

azhi kaha

akahazhi

anyiakahazhi.

Where are (you)

kilao wuni ?

lakiwunio 7

laowuniki 7

going ?

What is your

o-zhe kiu kya ?

ok'uzhekya 7

ok'ukezha 7

name 7
Why have you kiushi'chen'kya 7 8hik'u'nchekya7» chenkushikya 7

come 7
What to do ? kiu shikepfu ke 7 u 'unoehi 7 kyinopfuk'ushe 7

(I am) going osa itsucheni

about with you.
Killed a tiger eghena angshu

yesterday. vekev'a.

He is asking too pa'me chile

high a price. kuani.

osa ichen'tsii

osa itetsechtini.

enaghe ashongu ashuwiino ekeu-

kevev'a. ghevena.*

pachilomoanyiku kuanyilo amechi.

1 Shinia km. — A Soromi man using the inverted slang of that village,
or one of the inverted slangs of that village, would say ahiaku ?
* Shik'u'nchekya. — Tho Soromi inversion is ahik^ uchenkya f
' Ekenghevena < Eghena vekev'a amalgamated.

LANGUAGE

299

EnijUsh.

Ordinarij Scnui. Inverted Jorm.

hizhohi tsiikevclo zhehi kevelotsii

Re-invrrled form.

(Usid by part of
the village,
others using
different re-
in versions.)

tsiikehizhevelohi.

Don't give so
much.

In Sagami village Sagamipfulo atsa Agam'sa palopfu Mtsagami sago

they always kumtsii biclclao akumtsiitsa atsakiitsapiono

speak all words picheni. d e 1 a o n o p i dal-uono chon

upside down. chen'pi. 'pi.

It remains to be added that Semas believe they had
once the secret of writing, but that dogs ate the skin on
which it was recorded.

Sema vocabularies wiU be found in the Appendices (VI).

?.'

PART VI

FOLK-LORE

PART VI

FOLK-LORE

TALES.

The stories which follow here were taken down by the
writer principally from two Semas — Vikhepu, Chief of the
Ayemi clan in Seromi, and Mithihe of Vekohomi, a man of
the Yepothomi clan. The stories given by Mithihe may
be recognised at once by beginning with a set formula which
varies very little. Asked why he began in this way, he
replied that that was how the old men had told them to
him. Vikhepu, on the other hand, a chief and a man of
superior intellect, considered the formula out of place and
unnecessary, and his style is generally much less diffuse.
The actual words of these two are recorded except in one
particular point. As most of their tales were originally
collected to form the basis of a " reader " intended to be
used in elementary schools in Sema villages, it was necessary
here and there to substitute finite verbs, as approved by
the Sema relaters of the stories, for some of the participles,
and to start new sentences from time to time for the sake
of lucidity. As some of the stories were originally written
the participles carried on interminably till the thread
was lost, and the sense sometimes confused. As the
original manuscript was destroyed and the opportunity
for again recording the stories had passed, they are set
down here in their revised forms with the finite verbs
in place of the participles which are ordinarily strung out
to the utter confusion of any listener not a Sema, and some-
times indeed to the ruination of the story-teller himself.
In other respects nothing has been altered, as the participles

304 THE SEMA NAGAS part

would come at the end of clauses where at present they are
as finite verbs. Numbers XXI and XXII were recorded
as they are from different sources.

In recording the stories here an approximately literal
rendering is given in English followed by the original Sema
translated word for word. The titles are in some cases
fanciful, as the stories in the original have not any fixed
and definite titles. Many Sema stories there are which, as
one of Hakluyt's voyagers says of the " maner " of
Persian " manages," " for offending of honest consciences
and chaste eares, I may not commit to writing." But the
twenty or so given here will serve as a sample of Sema folk-
lore.

THE PLANTAIN AND THE HAIRBRUSH TREE.

Now of old time we Semas have a story. I will tell it.
Do you listen.

The Plantain said to the Hairbrush Tree, " Do you grow
(and bear fruit) from your stem, or do you do it from your
branches ? " This did he ask him. And the Hairbrush
Tree made answer to the Plantain ; "I bear fruit from the
stem," said he. And the other supposed it to be true, and
after bearing fruit from his stem died. But the Hairbrush
Tree, because that he bore fruit from his branches, even yet
survives, it is said.

Eno kaghelomi ni Simi atsa laki anike. Ino ti

Now men of old we Semas word one is. I this

pini, inzhulone ! ^
will say, listen (please).

Auchobono amoghobovilo ti pike, " Noye

The Plantain to the Hairbrush-tree this said, " You

amuzulono wuchen' ^ kyo anikalono

from the stem continue to go (or) from the branch

* The addition of -ne to the imperative termination -lo makes the
injiinction rather more pohte than it would be otherwise.

* Wucliini always accented on the second syllable.

VI FOLK-LORE 305

wuchen' kya ? " ti pi-inzhuke. Araoghobono
continue to go eh " this say-asked. Hairbrush tree

auchobo pishike, " Niye amuziilono wucheni,"

Plantain say-made " I from the stem continue to go "

pike. Paye kucho keghashi ; pa 'muziilono wu-epeghe-
said. He true supposed his stem from go-having-

puziino tiuve, eno amoghoboye anikalono

come-forth died, but the hairbrush-tree from branch

wuchenike-ghenguno itahe ghi a pike,
continued to go because of now too remains said.

II.

THE SAMBHAR AND THE FISH-POISON VINE.

Of old we Semas have a story. I will tell it. Do you
listen.

The Sambhar and the Fish said they would make friends,
and the Sambhar said to the Fish, " My friend, whenever
men with dogs come hunting me, I shall come running down
the stream. Do you splash up the water and obscure my
tracks." Having said this he went his way. And the Fish
said to the Sambhar, " My friend, men will strip the bark
of the fish-poison vine^ and bring it to kill me. You too
break down that vine with your horns ! " With these words
he told the Sambhar to break it down. For this reason
even nowadays the Sambhar keeps breaking down the
fish-poison vine.

Kaghelomi ni Simi atsa laki anike. Ino ti pini.
Men of old we Semas word one is I this will say.

Inzhulone !
Listen (please).

Akhuh-ngo akha pama ashou shi pike. Akhuhno
Sambhar and Fish both friend make said Fish

akhavilo " I-shou, timino atsii sasii i-

to Sambhar, " My friend men dogs with me

* See Part II, under "Fishing."

3o6 THE SEMA NAGAS part

hachekeloye, ino aghokilo polo-eghenike.

when keep hunting I in river bed running will come

Nono azii shopfe i-nyepa nhavetsiilone."

You water splash up my tracks make obscure (please)."

Ti pipuziino pano itsuwuve pike, Eno akhano

This having said he moved off said and fish

akhuhvilo " I-shou, timino aphitsiibo 'kwola
to Sambhar " My friend men fish -poison creeper bark

khusa-siiwu i-vekhichenike. No ghi aphi-

strip-bring-go me keep on kUling You too fish-poison

tsiibo o-kibono sochevetsii-lo " pipuziino, akhuh

creeper your-homs with break down having said Sambhar

pulo sochevetsiipe pike. Tighenguno etadolo ghi

to break down told on account of this nowadays even

akhuhno aphitsiibo sochechenike.

Sambhar fish-poison creeper keeps breaking down.

III.

THE SQUIRREL AND THE QUAIL.

Of old there is a story of us Semas. I will tell it. Do you
listen.

The Quail and the Squirrel agreed to make friends. " My
friend," said the one, " we two will have a look at the
snares men set." The other agreed, and they went to
have a look at the snares set by men. As the Quail went
along in front, it was the Quail that got caught in the snares
of men. The Squirrel with his teeth used to gnaw them
through. The Quail said to the Squirrel, " My friend, my
throat is aching. ^ You go in front now in your turn,"
said he. The Squirrel agreed and went in front. The
Squirrel got caught in the snares of men. The Squirrel said
to the Quail, " My friend, my throat hurts." But the Quail,
as he had no teeth, did not gnaw through (the snare) at all.

^ I.e., 83 a result of pu tting his head into the nooses.

VI FOLK-LORE 307

And so the Squirrel died. For this reason the Quail does
not enter the jungle, but keeps to the open fields, at least
so they say.

Kaghelomi ni Simi 'tsa laki anike. Ti pini. Inzhulone !

Atsung-ngo akili pama ashou shi-

The Quail and the Squirrel they two friends agreed-to-

pike. " I-shou, ikuzho timi liche ikani "

make. " My friend we-two men's snares will examine "

pike. Allo-pipuziino pama timi 'liche ikawuke.
said having agreed they-two men's snares went-to-look-at

Atsungno atheghushi chekeloye timi 'lichelono

The Quail in-front as-he-went-along men's snares-in

atsung meveke. Akilino ahuno ghuthavetsU-

the Quail was caught. The Squirrel teeth-with kept-

cheke. Atsungno akilivilo " I-shou, niye

gnawing-through the Quail Squirrel-to " My friend I

i-ku'ohno siiai. No ghi itaheye atheghushilo," pike,
my throat-in ache You too now go-in-front " said

Allo-pipuziino akilino atheghushike. Timi 'lichelono
having-agreed the Squirrel went-in-front Men's snares-in

akili meveke. Akilino atsung vilo

the squirrel was caught The Squirrel the-quail-to

" I-shou, i-ku'oh siiai," pike. Atsungno ahu

" My friend my throat hurts " said the Quail teeth

kahake-ghenguno kuno ghuthavetsiimokeke.

were not-by-reason-of at all did not gnaw them through

Iveno akili tiuveke. Tighenguno atsungno

and so the Squirrel died This-because-of the Quail

aghala ilomoike ; alughulo chewuve, pike-

jungle does not enter open-field keep-going they having

thono.
related.

X 2

3o8 THE SEMA NAGAS part

IV.

THE LEOPARD-CAT^ AND THE SQUIRREL.

Of old we Semas have a story. I will tell it. Listen.

The Leopard-cat and the Squirrel made friends. The
Squirrel said to the Leopard-cat, " My friend, I will gnaw
oflf and bring that bees' nest from the tree. I will climb the
tree," said he, " and will call out from the top. Then
you answer ' Holloa, friend ! ' and beat your breast."

When the Leopard-cat beat his breast accordingly the
bees came out of their nest and stung him in the eyes. For
this reason the Squirrel, through fear of the Leopard-cat,
does not come out on to the path, as he squatted on a soap-
vine ^ in the jungle in fear, they say.

Kaghelomi ni Simi atsa laki anike, Ti pini, Inzhulo !

Anyengu-ngo akili pama ashou shike.

The Leopard-cat and Squirrel they two friend made

Akilino anyenguvilo " I-shou, ino asiilo akhibo
Squirrel leopard-cat to " my friend I tree-from bees' nest

ghutha-siigheni," pike, " Ino ikhu asii akelono eghan-
gnaw will bring " said " I climb tree from top will ci-y

ike ; noye * I-shou, huhwoi ' pino o-melolo

out you, ' My friend, holloa ' having said your-breast-on

kokhulone." Ti pipuziino anyenguno pa 'melolo

beat (please)." This having said leopard-cat his breast-on

kokhukelaoye akhino pa 'bolono ipegheno

in beating the bees their nest out of having come out

pa 'nhyeti khuphovetsiike. Tighenguno akilino an-
his eyes stung. For this reason Squirrel Leopard-

yengu musano alaghulo ipeghemoi,

cat having feared on the path does not come out

musano aghasalo asakhelilo awuve pike,

being afraid in the jungle soap- vine on squatted they say.

^ Felia bengalensis.

* Asakheli is a creeper which is bruised and used as soap for washing
with. It yields a certain amount of thin lather.

VI FOLK-LORE 309

THE LEOPARD-CAT AND THE NIGHTJAR.

There is a story of olden times. Do you listen.

The Leopard-cat and the Nightjar^ made friends. The
Leopard-cat asked this of the Nightjar — " My friend, why
do you keep crying out in the night ? " The Nightjar
answered to the Leopard-cat, " My friend, I do not know,"
and the Leopard-cat said to the Nightjar, " My friend, if
(you hear) a rustling at the top of the tree, I am coming
to have speech with you, be on your guard, please. But if
a rustling comes along the ground it is the wind blowing,
fear nothing." Having said this he came along the ground
in the night. (The Nightjar) thought in his heart that (the
Leopard-cat) was not coming, and not being aware of even
a breath of wind above him feared nothing. Thus (the
Leopard-cat) having got to the top of the tree above him
devoured the Nightjar.

Kaghelomi 'tsa laki anike. Inzhulone !
Men-of old's word one is Listen, please.

Anyengu-ngo akaku^ pama ashou shike.

The Leopard-cat and Nightjar they two friend made

Anyenguno akakuvilo " I-shou, kushiye puthou-

The Leopard-cat to the Nightjar " My friend, why night

no eghachenike ? " ti pi-inzhuke. Akakuno

in do you keep crjnng out " this said asked the Nightjar

anyenguvilo " I-shou, niye mtake," pino,

the Leopard-cat-to " My friend, I do not know " having said

anyenguno akakuvilo " I-shou, asii akeone

the Leopard-cat the Nightjar-to " My friend, tree at the top

ghoghoshicheaye ino oputsaniye chenike, musa-
keep-rustling-if I to you to-have-speech am-coming be-
alone. Eno ayeghilono ghoghoshi-cheaye
afraid, please. And on-the-ground rustling come if

^ Akaku is probably the Indian Nightjar, but has not been positively
identified.

310 THE SEMA NAGAS part

amulhuke, musakevelone." Ti pipuzuno

the wind blows do not be afraid, please." This having said

puthouno ayeghilo egheke. Pa'melolo ani

in the night on the ground came His mind-in was

chekemopaye pa'shou kumono amulhughasi

he not coming if him above not one breath of wind

kumsiizhuno musamo. Hishi akelono pa 'shou

perceiving was not afraid Then to the top him above

egheno akaku tsiichuveke.
having come Nightjar devoured.

VI.

THE OTTER AND THE LEOPARD -CAT.

Of old we Semas have a story. I will tell it. Listen,
please.

The Leopard-cat and the Otter made friends. The
Leopard-cat said to his friend the Otter, " My friend, let us
get into man's house and steal a fowl." His friend the Otter
agreed, unknowing. They two got into man's house and
caught a fowl. Thereupon the fowl set up a squawk, whereon
the man got up in haste. He snatched a brand and struck
both the Leopard-cat and the Otter. The Leopard-cat ran
out, but the Otter not knowing the way was left behind
inside, and the man belaboured him with the firebrand.
For this reason the Otter said to his friend the Leopard-
cat, " My friend, let us go into the pool (in the river) and
catch and eat fish. Do you take hold of my tail and hold
on to it hard." Saying this he plunged in. Now the Otter
was at home in the water. As nothing happened the Leopard-
cat was ashamed to come out before his friend had caught
anything. After this had gone on (for a while) he (the
Otter) at last caught and brought out a little tiny fish. The
Leopard-cat was curling back its lips in death. His friend,
pretending that this was laughter (said), " My friend, why
are you so delighted at having caught a minnow ? " While
he was saying this his friend expired.

VI FOLK-LORE 311

Kaghelomi ni Simi atsa laki anike. Ino ti pini.
Inzhulone !

Anyengu-ngo atsiigho pama ashou shike. Anyeng-
Leopard-cat and Otter they two friend made Leopard-

uno pa'shou atsughovilo " I-shou, ikuzho timi
cat his friend Otter-towards " My friend, we two man's

'kilo ilono awu pukani," pike. Pa 'shou

house-in having entered fowl will steal," said His friend

atsiighoye mtano allo-pike. Pamano tirai 'kilo
Otter unknowing agreed They two man house-in

ilowuke ; awu laki keghake. Tilehino awuno egha
went in fowl one caught Thereon fowl squawk

ithougheveke. Tilehino timino po-ithougheveke. Amisii
got up Thereon man run-got up firebrand

ikipe, anyengu-ngo atsiigho pama heke. Anyenguye
snatched leopard-cat and otter both hit Leopard-cat

po-iveno atsiighoye ala mtano seleku

having run-gone out otter way not knowing within

nguke. Tilehino timino amisii pfe atsiigho kuthomo
remained Then man brand lift otter much

heveke. Tighenguno atsiighono pa'shou anyenguvilo
beat Therefore otter his friend Leopard-cat-to

" I-shou, ikuzhe aiziilo ilono akha kegha-

" My friend, we two pool-in having entered fish catch

chuni. No ghi i-shomhi phekeveno^ i-shomhi

will eat. You too my tail not letting go my tail

siinhye-pfelo," pipuziino pana iloke. Tilehino

pull-take " having said he went in Now

atsiighoye aziilo kaakeke. Kumo shimono

otter water-in was-a-dweller Nothing having not done

anyenguye pa' shou zukuzhoye, akha

Leopard-cat his friend being ashamed (before), fish

^ phekeveno, a gerundival form derived from the prohibitive phe-kevclo,
" do not let go," compounded with the post-position no.

312 THE SEMA NAGAS part

itumlai apiloye ipemoke. Hi shi-

could not get as long as did not come out. This having

apuziino akhati kitla itulu-ketino kalao

kept doing fishlet little having got (at last) out

siipegheke. Anyenguno tiwuniye ahu

brought-emerged. Leopard-cat being about to die teeth

itsiipfeake. Pa 'shou nuani keghashi, " I-shou,
bared His friend is laughing pretend " My friend,

noye khamlati keghalukeno ku allo-kevishianike ? "
you minnow having caught why are delighted ? "

Ti pino-laoye pa'shouye tiuveke.
This while saying his friend died.

VII.

THE BATTLE OF BIRDS AND CREEPING THINGS.

We Semas of old have a story. I will tell it. Listen.

The Sand-lizard and the Tailor-bird ^ made friends.
The Tailor-bird broke off a twig and turned his friend the
Lizard stomach upwards on to his back. Thereon the
Lizard spoke thus : "If this is what you do I will collect
all that creep on the earth." Having said this he collected
all that creep on the earth. And the Tailor-bird said " If
you do this, I likewise will collect all the birds of the air."
And having said so he collected all the birds of the air.

Then they made war, fought. And the earth-creepers
brought the Python as leader and the birds of the air brought
the Hornbill ^ and the Eagle ^ as leaders. The Eagle said
to the Hornbill, " You are the biggest. Go down and carry
off the Python," says he. The Hornbill, saying " The
Python is bigger than I am," would not go. 80 then he
said to the Awutsa,'^ " You go and bring up the King-cobra."

^ Liliti — Orthotormia sutorius — the Indian Tailor-bird.

* Aghacho — Dichoceros bicornis — the Great Hornbill.

' Alokhu -'Lophotriorchis kieneri — the Rufous-bellied Hawk-Eagle.

* Acero9 nepalensis — the Rufous-necked Hornbill.

VI FOLK-LORE 313

But the Amutsa said, " The King-cobra is bigger than L I
go not." Then the Eagle said, " I will go down," and did
so. So the King-cobra and the Eagle fought together.
And when the Eagle got the worst of it the birds of the air
cried aloud, btit when the Eagle got the upper hand they
chuckled. And when the Cobra was being worsted the
reptiles cried out, but when the Cobra got the upper hand
the reptiles chuckled. At the last the Eagle flew back with
the King-cobra and the birds of the air chanted a psean.
Then they divided the flesh. The Crow ^ rubbed himself in
the gall, and they say that this is why he is black. And
the Minivet^ rubbed himself in the blood, and this is why
the Minivet is red, they say. And the Ruby-throat' was
late and did not arrive until after the other fellows had
eaten up the meat. There was no meat (for him). Although
he had been given none, only a little blood remained. It
was smeared on his chin, and for this reason, they say, he
has a red chin.

Kaghelomi ni Simi atsa laki anike. Inotipini. Inzhulone.

Aniza-ngo liliti pama ashou shike.

Sand-lizard and Tailor-bird they two friend made

Lilitino asiikugha nichephe pa'shou aniza

Tailor-bird twig broke off his friend Sand-lizard

kive vekide-vetsiike.* Tilehino anizano ti

stomach turned upside down. Then Sand-lizard this

pike " Nono ti shiamu, ino ayeghilo-kechepu

said " You this do-although I the earth-on creepers

kumtsii sa-eghenike," pipuziino ayeghilokechepu

all will collect " having said earth-creepers

kumtsii sa'gheke. Eno lilitino " Ti shiaye, niye
all collected And Tailor-bird " This if do I

^ Agha — Corvus macrorhynctLa — the Jungle Crow.

* Chilichepu — Pericrocotus speciosus — the Indian Scarlet Minivet.

* Izhyu. Probably Calliope tsebaiewi — the Thibet Ruby-throat.

* Perhaps it means that the lizard was disembowelled, but I think that
it merely means he was rolled over on to his back.

314 THE SEMA NAGAS part

ghi kungu-'ghao kumtsii sagheni " pipuziino, pa ghi
too heaven-birds all will collect " having said he too

kungu-'ghao kumtsii sagheke.
heaven-birds all collected.

Tilehino panon aghiishike, kulouke.^ Eno ayeghilemino
Then they made war fought and earth-remainers

aithu akizheo shi-egheke. Eno kungu-'ghaoye aghacho-
Python biggest make-came and heaven-birds Hornbill

ngo alokhu pama akizheo shi-egheke. Alokhuno
and Eagle they two biggest make-came Eagle

aghachovilo ti pike. " No akizheoke ; ikeno

Hornbill to this said " You are biggest having gone down

aithu pfeghelo," pike. Aghachono " Ni-ye aithuno pa
Pji:hon carry off," said Hornbill " I than Python he

zheke " ti pipuziino wumoive. Tamaye awutsa-

is big " this having said would not go So then to the

vilo " Nono ikeno apeghiala pfeeghelo,"

awutsa " You having gone down King-cobra bring up "

pike. Awutsano, " Ni-ye apeghialano pa zhekeke.
said Avmtsa " I than King-cobra he is big (indeed)

Wumoi," pike. Tilehino alokhuno " Ino ikeni "

I go not " said Then Eagle " I will go down "

pipuziino, pano ikeke. Apeghiala-ngo alokhu

having said he went down King-cobra and Eagle

pama kicheghike. Alokhuno akhwo shi-akeloye
they two fought Eagle underneath do - becoming

kungu-'ghaono kaapike. Alokhu-no asho shi-akeloye
heaven-birds cried out Eagle above do-becoming

kungu-'ghaono nuapike. Eno apeghialano akhwo

heaven-birds laugh-remain-said and King-cobra underneath

shiye ayeghilemino kaapike. Eno apeghialano asho
doing earth-remainers cried out and King-cobra above

' The root kulou- = to fight without using deadly weapons, i.e. with
ehields and stones or clubs, whereas aghuahi- would imply the use of
spears and daos.

VI FOLK-LORE 315

shi-akeloye ayeghilemino nuapike. Kuthouye

do-becoming earth-remainers laugh-remain-said Eventually

alokhuno apeghiala pfe-egheve, kungu-'ghaono aghiile
Eagle King-cobra carry-came heaven-birds paean

kuake. Tilehino panonno ashi phuke. Aghano atithi
chanted Then they flesh divided Crow gall

bolo ihike. Tighenguno aghano tsiibui, pike,

pool-in wallowed This because of Crow black said

Eno chilichepu azhi bolo ihike. Tighenguno

And Minivet blood pool-in wallowed On account of this

chilichepu huchuhi, pike. Eno izhyuno eghemo-

Minivet red said And Ruby-throat having been

apuziino timino ashi chukhavoke'thiuno egheke. Ashi
not come men meat had eaten up after came Meat

kahake. Pa tsii-mono azhi kitla agheke. Pa

was not him not having given blood little remained his

'mukhu lo nyetsiike. Tighenguno pa 'mukhu huchuhi
chin on smeared This-because-of his chin red

pike,
said.

VIII.

THE DISPERSION OF CRABS.

Once upon a time a Tigress had a cub which she had
given birth to in the jungle. A Partridge was scratching
up the earth in the bed of a stream when a Crab bit the
Partridge's leg. The Partridge flew up and colliding with a
plantain tree (disturbed) a Bat (which) brushed against
the back of a Sambhar's ear (as it flitted away). The
Sambhar, as it dashed off, stepped on the tiger cub and
killed it. The Tigress came. " Sambhar, for what did
you step on and kill my baby ? " "It was not me. It
was the Bat ; see him about it " (said the Sambhar). But
the Bat said, " It was not me ; it was the Partridge. See
him about it," says he, and the Partridge said, " It was not
me ; it was the Crab. See him about it." " Crab," said

3i6 THE SEMA NAGAS part

the Tigress, " for what did you step on and kill my baby,
eh ? " The Crab said nothing, but, grunting " 'm 'm,"
slipped in under a stone. Then the tigress had to ask the
Huluk.i " You pull the Crab out of that," said she. But
the Huluk pitied him and said, " He is not there." Just
then the Crab bit the Huluk's finger, and on that he pulled
him out and threw him down on a great big boulder so that
he broke, and bits of Crab drifted down into all streams.
That is why, they say, crabs frequent every stream.

Kaghe angshuno aghalo ati laki piti-

Formerly Tiger jungle-in offspring one give-birth-to-

sasiiake. Agilino aghokitilo ayeghi pea-

was accompanying Partridge stream-bed-in earth while

kelono, achuwono agili 'pukhulo mikitsiike.

was scratching up Crab Partridge leg-on bit

Agilino yeo, auchobo vekinikelono, ashukhano

Partridge flew plantain-tree having struck against bat

yeo akhuh 'kinibalo vetsiike. Akhuhno poniaye
flew Sambhar ear-back-on struck Sambhar in running

angshu-ti nekhevetsiike. Angshuno eghepuzii

tiger -cub trampled -on-and-killed Tiger having come

" Akhuh, noye ku-ughenguno i-nga nekhevet-

" Sambhar you for what reason my baby trampled on

siike ? " " Ino kumoi. Ashukhano ke ; pavilo

and killed " " (by) me was not (by)Bat was to him

pilo," pike. Ashukhano pike, " Ino kumoi ; agili-
speak " said Bat said " (by) me was not (by)

no ke ; pavilo pilo," pike. Agilino " Ino
Partridge was to him speak " said Partridge " (by) me

kumoi ; achuwono ke ; pavilo pilo," pike. " Achuwo,
was not (by) Crab was to him speak " said " Crab

noye ku-ughenguno i-nga nekhevetsiike-a ? "

you for what reason my-baby trampled-on-and -killed, eh ? "

* Akuhu = " Hylobatea huluk," the black gibbon.

VI FOLK-LORE 317

ishi pike. Achuwono ku-urao pimono " ahia-

thu8 said Crab nothing having not said " 'um

ahia "^ ishi pipuzii atukholo iloveke. Tighenguno
'um " thus having said stone-under went in Because of this

angshuno akuhuvilo pike " Noye achuwo siinhye-
Tiger to ' Huluk ' said " You Crab pull-

phetsiilo," pike. Akuhuno, pa kimiyeye, " Kahai "
extract " said Huluk him in pity (for) " Is not "

i pike. Kutou ghi akuhu achuwono aoulotilo mikitsiike-
this said after just Huluk Crab finger-in bit

ghenguno akuhuno pa siinhye-phepe, atukhu

because of Huluk him pull-extracted boulder

akizheolono vephovekelono, achuwo

biggest-one having thrown down and broken Crab

'muno aghokiti kumtsii iloveke. Tighenguno
fragments streams all went in This because of

aghokiti kuchopu achuwo acheni pike,
streams all crabs frequent said.

IX.

THREE BROTHERS.

Of old a Spirit, a Tiger, and a Man were born of one mother.
When the Spirit looked after his mother he washed her and
fed her with rice and gave her rice beer to drink, so that his
mother fared well. When the Man looked after his mother
she fared well. When the Tiger looked after his mother
he used to scratch her and lick up his own mother's blood
so that she withered.

One day the mother said to the Spirit and the Man
together " I am going to die to-day. Let the Tiger go to
the fields. When I am dead bury my body and cook and
eat your meal over my body."

After the Tiger had gone down to the fields his mother

^ Ahia-ahia has no meaning, but represents the grunts of the crab.

3i8 THE SEMA NAGAS part

died. The Spirit and the Man together buried their mother's
body. Over her body they cooked and ate their meal.
After that the Tiger came. When he could not find his
mother he cried out, " Where is my mother ? " With this
he scraped about for his mother's body, but being unable
to find it fled into the jungle.

Kaghe aza laki-no teghami laki, angshu laki,
Formerly mother one from Spirit one Tiger one

timi laki punuke. Teghami no aza sasiiaye

Man one were bom Spirit mother while-remaining-with

azii-kuchuveno ana-tsii azhi-zheno

water having bathed rice given liquor having made drink

aza akevishi-a. Timi-no aza sasiiaye

mother well-do-remains Man mother while-remaining-with

aza akevi shi-a. Angshu-no aza sasiiaye

mother well-do-remains Tiger mother while remaining with

aza chukano aza'zhi mineveno

mother having used to scratch mother's blood having licked

azaye kimoghwoiye agheke.
mother in drying up remained

Aghla laki-no aza-no teghami-ngo timi pamavile pike :
Day one on mother Spirit and Man they-two to said

" Niye ishi tiveni aike. Angshu alu huvepelo.
" I to-day will die am Tiger field let go down

Niye tivepuzii ikumo khwoveno ikumoshouno

I having died my-corpse having buried my-corpse-over

alikuli shi-chulo."
meal make-eat."

Angshu alu huveketino aza tiuveke. Te-

Tiger field having gone down mother died Spirit

ghami-ngo timi pamano aza'kumo khwoveke. Pa'-
and Man they two mother's corpse buried her

kumo shouno alikuli shi-chuke. Tilehina angshu egheke.
corpse over meal make-ate Then Tiger came

VI FOLK-LORE 319

Pa'za zhu-pahaiveno atsa pike : " I-za

his mother look-having lost words said " My mother

kilao ai kye ? " Ti pino aza'kumo

where is eh ? " This having said mother's corpse

Ihezhuke. Lhezhu-pahaiveno aghalo poveke.

scrape-sought scrape-seek-having lost jungle-in ran away.

IKI AND THE TIGER.

We Semas have a story of the ancients. I will tell it.
Listen, pray.

A Tiger kept a pig.^ Iki told the Tiger to bait a snare ^
with the pig. The Tiger asked Iki, " How are snares set ? "
said he. On this Iki said to the Tiger, " Kill^ the pig and
bring along the meat, the forequarters and the hind, and
tie it with cords* just by the snare." That was what he
said, and so the Tiger, supposing him to be in earnest,
brought along the fore- and hindquarters and placed them
near the snare. Iki took them away, cooked them, and
ate them up. Next the Tiger asked Iki why the game was
not caught. " Why does not the game get caught ? " asked
he. So Iki said to the Tiger, " Perhaps you are keeping
some of the meat in your house, and that is why game does
not get caught in the snare." That is what Iki said to the
Tiger. The Tiger having replied " I am keeping a little of
the liver and a little of the fat,"^ went to his house, fetched
back the liver and a little of the fat, and set it (by the snare).
Iki ate this too, but did not get caught. Then the Tiger
said to Iki, " Game does not get caught." Iki said to the
Tiger, " In that case fetch here some rice beer and beans
and set them by the snare." And so Iki smeared his body
all over with rice beer and beans and got caught in the
Tiger's snare. The Tiger and the Leopard-cat came down
to examine the snare. When he saw the two of them Iki
ran down and remained caught. The Tiger in ignorance,
supposing it to be real, said to the Leopard-cat, " Game is

320 THE SEMA NAGAS part

caught, is it not ? " and they two carried off the meat. Iki
said to the Leopard-cat, " When you are carrying off my
body to the house don't exert yourself too much ! "
Accordingly the Leopard-cat went along without doing his
share of the carrying. The Tiger, being unable to carry
(the body alone), said to the Leopard-cat, " You carry
properly too." The Leopard-cat went on carrying. Iki
took out a knife and slashed the Leopard-cat. The
Leopard-cat said to the Tiger," Pismires^ keep on biting me."
The Tiger said, " In that case we will cut up the meat.
Pluck and bring leaves." The Leopard-cat went to pluck
leaves ; he brought leaves which he had torn. On this the
Tiger said, " If that is what you do, bring bamboo
' chungas '^ now ! " said he. The Leopard-cat went to
cut " chungas." He brought them with both nodes cut off.
The Tiger said to the Leopard-cat, " I will get (them) !
Stay here and watch the meat."^ After he had said this,
and when he had gone to get the " chungas," Iki said to
the Leopard-cat, " Leopard-cat, if you too wish to eat my
flesh, make water on my tail ! "^ On this the Leopard-cat
made water on his tail. Iki flicked his tail in the Leopard -
cat's eyes and ran off.

Next the Tiger came. " Where has the game gone to ? "
he asked the Leopard-cat. " Gondoup, gondoup,"" said
the Leopard-cat. Then the Tiger struck the Leopard-cat
so that he fell over by the side of the path. For this reason
the Leopard-cat always frequents abandoned paths.

After this the Tiger, having gone to Iki's home, (found)
Iki weaving wall-matting. ^^ He spoke to Iki. " Both its
hands and its feet were just like yours," said he. Iki said
to the Tiger, " My child has got dysentery to-day," and
having said this he wove the Tiger's tail into the matting ;
the Tiger was not aware of it. A little later Iki said to the
Tiger, " If you really want to eat my flesh to-day, drag
that and come after me ! " said he. The Tiger chased
him, dragging the matting. When he had all but caught him,
Iki called out to a Shefu'^^ that came flying overhead, saying,
" O creationis of mine ! " The Tiger asked Iki, " The
Shefu — is it you were his creator ? " The Tiger said to

VI FOLK-LORE 321

Iki, " Me too— make me like the Shefu." The Tiger said
that to Iki. Iki agreed. " Climb up," said he, " and fetch
back cane," and then, " Climb down and strip athughu^* —
(bark) — bring it back (for fibre)," said he, and then, "Climb
up and cut thumsii^^ wood and bring it back," said he, and
then, " Climb down and find a shohosii^^ tree," he ordered.
At last, having gone with the Tiger into the jungle, and when
(the Tiger) had brought fibre and cane to the sJiohosil
accordingly, he tied up the Tiger to the shoJiosii tree. Then
he said to the Tiger, " See if you can shake ! " He tried to
shake ; not a bit of it ; he couldn't. Then he sharpened
the thumsii wood. " With this I am making you a beak,"^"
said he, and thrust it into his jaws.^^ Then, " With this I
will make you a tail," said he, and he sharpened (another
bit of) thumsii wood and thrust it into the fundament.
After the space of three days Iki and the Leopard-cat came
along together. The Tiger was in distress. " Iki," said
he, "is it for good that you are doing this, or is it for
evil ? " Then Iki and the Leopard-cat both went off and
came back in nine days' time. The Tiger had died and a
blue-bottle fly was laying eggs, (Then Iki and the
Leopard-cat broke off branches and beat the body till the
blue-bottle flew out. Iki said, " I told you to turn into a
shefu ; do you prefer turning into a blue-bottle fly ? "

Then he caught the blue-bottle and put her into a bamboo
" chunga," and, having smeared the " chunga " with pigs'
fat, kept repeating, "There's a charm-stone in this."^^
There was an old widow woman who kept a pig. Iki kept
marching round the widow's house. In the widow's house
there lived only 20 the widow and a girl. The girl said to
Iki, " I will have a look at the charm-stone." When Iki
refused, the girl, in spite of it, puUed out^^ the stopper from
the bamboo. Off flew the blue-bottle. Then said Iki to
the girl, " If it was your pig that you and your mother would
be giving me, I'd not take it ! "22 and the girl said, " Be
content with my mother's and my pig," so Iki grabbed up
the pig and made a pig-cradle ^^ and carried it off on his back,
chanting, " Oh ! she has stopped up Iki's fundament ! "2*
On this the girl asked Iki, " Iki ! What's that you're

322 THE SEMA NAGAS part

singing ? " "I was singing How heavy the load," says
he to her.

For this reason we Semas always tell the story
of Iki.

Kaghelomi ni Simi atsa laki anike. Ino ti pini.
Inzhulone.

Angshuno awoli^ peghiake. Ikino angshu-vilo awoli
Tiger pig (male) kept Iki Tiger towards pig

aitho^-shimukha pike Angshuno Ikivilo " Kishishi aitho-
snare bait said Tiger to Iki " how snare

shichenike la ? " pipuziino Ikivilo inzhuke. Tilehino Ikino
is made eh " having said to Iki asked Thereon Iki
angshu-vilo ti pike, " Awoli hekhipuziino'

Tiger to this said " Pig having beaten to death

abi-ngo apukhu-ngo ashi pfuhuho aithovilo

forequarter and leg and meat carry-down snare-near

akeghino * tsiipaalo," pike. Tilehino angshuye kucho
with cord tie up " said Then Tiger true

keghashi abi apukhu pfuhuno aitho-vilo

suppose shoulder leg having carried down snare near

tsiipaake. Ikino pfewo-lhochuveke. Ipuziino

place-kept Iki take-away-cook-ate up After this
angshuye mtano " Kushia ashi memoke la ? "
Tiger not knowing " why game is not caught eh "

ti pipuziino, Ikivilo " Ashiye kushia memoke-
this having said to Iki " The game, why is not caught,

a ? " inzhuke. Tilehino Ikino angshuvilo ti pike " Nono
eh ? " asked Then Iki to Tiger this said " You

ashi akilo paani-kye, tighenguno aitholo

meat in house are keeping perhaps therefore in snare

ashi memono anike," Ikino angshuvilo

game not having been caught is " Iki to Tiger

ti pike. Angshuno " Ino alloshi kitila amchi^ kitila

this said Tiger " I liver little fat little

paanike " pipuziino, aki wono alloshi-ngo

am keeping " having said house having gone liver and

VI FOLK-LORE 323

amchi-ngo susiihu-egheno paake. Ikino ti ghi

fat and fetch-having come placed Iki this too

chuheno memoke. Tilehino angshuno Ikivilo

having eaten -up was not caught Then Tiger to Iki

ti pike " Ashiye raemoke." Ikino angshuvilo ti

this said " game is not caught " Iki to Tiger this
pike " Ti shiaye azhicho-ngo aMonye-ngo pfuhu-
said " This do-if rice-beer and beans and bring-down -

egheno, aithovilo paalo," pike. Ikino azhichopfe
having-come snare-near place " said Iki rice-beer- with
a^'Aonyepfe ishi pa phi kumtsii nupfupuziino

beans-with thus his body all having smeared over
angshu 'itholo meake. Angshu-ngo anyengu

Tiger's snare-in remained caught Tiger and Leopard-cat
pama aitho kaniye huegheke. Angshu-ngo

they two snare to examine came out Tiger and

anyengu pama zhuno Ikino pohuno

Leopard-cat they two having seen Iki having run down
meaghike. Angshuye mtano kucho keghashi

remained caught The Tiger unknowing true supposed

anyenguvilo " Ashi meaye-kena ! "

to the Leopard-cat " Game being caught is it not so ? "
pipuziino, pama ashi pfuke. Ikino anyengu-vilo "
having said they two meat carried. Iki to the Leopard-cat

" Ikomo akilo pfuwuveno sanoye, ikomo

" my corpse house-to having carried off in taking my corpse
ighwono pfukevilo ? " piyeno, tighenguno

with effort do not carry " having instructed therefore

anyenguye pfutsiimono cheke. Angshuno

the Leopard-cat not having carry-given went The Tiger

pfumlano anyenguvilo " No ghi

being unable to carry to the Leopard-cat " You too

thapfulo ? " pike. Angyenguno pfucheke. Ikino akke

carry fuUy " said Leopard-cat carried on Iki knife

ikipfe anyengu ghathake. Anyenguno angshuvilo
took out Leopard-cat slashed Leopard-cat to the Tiger

Y 2

324 THE SEMA NAGAS part

pike " Atisii ^ i-mikikhichenike," Angshuno "Tishiaye
said " little ants me keep on biting " Tiger " This if do

ikuzho ashi phunike. Akeghu ghesii-eghelo ? " pike,
we two meat will cut up leaves pluck-bring " said.

Anyenguno akeghu ghewuke ; akeghu siikhuveno
Leopard-cat leaves went to pluck leaves having torn
siigheke. Tilehino angshuno pike " Ti shiaye itaheye
brought Thereon Tiger said " This if do now

asUpuhu siighelo ? " pike. Anyenguno asiipuhu
bamboo vessels bring" said Leopard-cat bamboo vessels
niche wuke ; anhye ghuveno siigheke. Angshuno ti
went to cut node having cut off brought Tiger this
pike anyenguvilo " Ino luwuni ? Ihi ashi

said to Leopard-cat " I will get Here meat
kheaghelo ? " Ti pipuziino pano asiipuhu

watch over " This having said he bamboo vessels
luwukelaoye Ikino anyenguvilo ti pike,

while had gone to get Iki to Leopard-cat this said

" Anyengu, no ghi i-shi chunishiaye i-shomhi

" Leopard-cat you too my flesh if wish to eat my tail
puzhotelo ? " Tipuziino anyenguno pa'shomhi puzhotetsiike.
urinate on " After this Leopard-cat his tail urinated on.
Ikino pa 'shomhino anyengu 'nhyeti

Iki his tail with the Leopard-cat's eyes

hephovetsiipuziino poveke.

having caused to strike (lightly) fled.
Tilehino angshuno egheke ; anyenguvilo " Ashi kila
Then Tiger came to Leopard-cat " Game where

wuveke?" ti pi-inzhuke. Anyenguno " Ikera, ikera "i°
has gone" this say-asked Leopard-cat "Gondoup Gondoup"
pike. Tilehino angshuno anyengu hekulupfe,

said Then Tiger Leopard-cat knocked aside

alavelo vesiike. Tighenguno anyenguno

by side of path threw down For this reason Leopard-cat

lave-'zuchenike.
always- walks-about-on-abandoned -paths.

VI FOLK-LORE 325

Tilehino angshuno aki-u wupuziino Ikino

Thereafter Tiger house the having gone Iki

atozu ughoake. Ikivilo ti pike "Apukhu ghi

wall-matting was weaving To Iki this said " Leg too

aou ghi noi toh " i-pike, Ikino angshuvUo " I-

hand too you- just like " this said Iki to Tiger " My

ngano ishi azhiba anike." Ti pipuziino

babe (by) to-day dysentery is " This having said

angshu 'shomhi atozulo ghosiivetsiike ; angshuye

Tiger tail wall-matting in wove Tiger

mtano ake. Kuthouno Ikino angshuvilo ti pike,
not knowing was Afterwards Iki to Tiger this said
" No ghi i-shi chuni-shiaye ihi khapfu i-hazulo ? "
"You too my flesh if wish to eat that drag me pursue "
pike. Angshuno atozu khapfu pa hake. Pa

said Tiger waU-matting drag him chased Him

haluvenichekelono shefu^^ yeocheghekelono

having begun to catch up hornbill while having flown across
Ikino shefuvilo " o-i-lho " pike. Angshuno

Iki to the hornbill " O my creation " said Tiger

Ikivilo " Shefuye nono Ihotsiikeshi-a ? " ti pi-inzhuke.

to Iki " Hornbill you created what, eh ? " this said asked
Tilehino angshuno Ikivilo " Ni ghi shefu toh i-shitsiilo "

Then Tiger to Iki " I too hornbill like me make "
pike. Angshuno Ikivilo ti pike. Ikino aUopipuziino
said Tiger to Iki this said Iki having agreed

" Azhou hukeloye akkeh pfueghelo " pipuziino,

" Up above in climbing cane carry-come " having said
eno " Ghabou huaye atughu Iha-pfu-eghelo "

and *' Down below climbing fibre-bark strip-carry-come "
pike, eno etaghe " Azhou huaye thumsii

said and again " L^p above when climbing acid-wood
hetha-pfu-eghelo " pike, eno " Ghabou huaye

cut-carry-come " said and " Down below when climbing
shohusii zhu-pa-eghelo " piyeno, ike tilehino

hard- wood look-find-come " having directed so then

326 THE SEMA NAGAS part

angshu sasii aghau hupuziino shohusiilo

Tiger with jungle having gone to hard- wood tree

atughu-ngo akkeh-ngo ishi pfepuziino

fibre bark both cane and accordingly having brought

angshu shohusiilo phepukuke. Tilehino

Tiger to the hard-wood tree tied up Then

angshuvilo " Ethazhulo ! " pike. Ethazhuke ; laimo

to Tiger " Shake-see " said tried to shake little not
shimoveke. Tilehino thumsU A:/iiipuziino " Ihino

did not do. Then acid wood having sharpened " with this
ahu^' shitsiianike " pipuziino, abafc/^alo*^ Mesii-tsiike.
beak shall get made " having said mouth-into thrust-in-gave
Eno " Ihino ashomhi shitsiini " pipuziino,

and " with this tail will make give " having said

thumsii A:Mpuziino asiibokilo A;^esiitsiike.

acid wood having sharpened into fundament thrust-in-gave

Akiithunino Iki-ngo anyengu pama

In a three days' space Iki and Leopard-cat they two
huegheke Angshuno amelo siiagheke, " Iki noye kevipuno
came down Tiger in heart was aching " Iki you for good
i shianike, kesapuno i shianike la ? " ti pike,
this are doing for bad this are doing eh ? " this said
Tilehino Iki-ngo anyengu pamaye wuvepuziino aghlo
Then Iki and Leopard-cat they two having gone day
atokunino hugheke. Angshuye tiuvepuziino

in nine days' time came down Tiger having died

ayela yesiiagheke. Tilehino Iki-ngo anyengu

blue-bottle fly was laying eggs Then Iki and Leopard-cat
pama atsiini pighepheno angshu 'kumo

they two leaves having broken off Tiger's corpse
heketino ayela yepegheke. Ikino ti pike

having beaten blue-bottle flew out Iki this said

" Ino shefu miviulo pike, no ayela miviu-

"I hombill become said you blue-bottle become
shi-a ? "
wish eh ? "

VI FOLK-LORE 327

Tilehino ayelakhu keghasuwo asiipuhulo

Then female blue-bottle caught in bamboo vessel

supuzuno, ashi-kimitheno asiipuhu nupu-

having put pig's-stomach-fat-with bamboo vessel having

ziino " Agha anike " picheke. Thopfumino

smeared " Charm -stone is " kept saying Old woman

awoli pegheake. Ikino thopfumi 'ki muMaake.

pig kept Iki old woman's house kept walking round

Thopfumi 'kilo thopfumi laki ilimi laki paraa
Old woman's house-in old woman one girl one they two

chimeake.20 Ilimino Ikivilo " Ino agha zhu-tsiini "

lived alone Girl to Iki " I charm-stone will look-give "

pike. Ikino piyemo piamuno, ilimino asii-

said Iki refuse although having said girl bamboo

puhu akimike sujuvetsiike,'^^ ayela yeowuveke.
vessel stopper pulled out blue-bottle flew away.

Tilehino Ikino ilimivilo " 0-za okuzho 'woli

Then Iki to girl " Your mother's you both pig

i-tsiini pimu, niye lumoke-cho ! "

to me will give although say I am not taking-indeed "

ti pino, ilimino Ikivilo, " I-za ikuzho

this having said girl to Iki " My mother's we both

'woli luvetsiilo " pino, Ikino awo keghapfe,

pig make take " having said Iki pig grabbed up

awophe shipuziino akho pfunikelono " Ih ! Iki
pig-carrier having made load while carrying off " Oh Iki's

'siibo mikhenhe ! " pike. Iketilehino ilimino Ikivilo,
fundament stopped up " said Thereon girl to Iki

" Iki, tiye ku 'le ke ? " ti pike Ikivilo inzhuke.
" Iki that what song was " this said to Iki asked

Ikino pavilo " Akho-kemishi 'le ke," pike.
Iki to her " load heavy song was " said.

Tighenguno ni Simiye Iki 'tsa pichenike.
For this reason we Semas Iki's story keep telling.

328 THE SEMA NAGAS part

^ Awoli — not, however, a boar. As mentioned (Part II), grown boars
are not kept by Semas, nor, indeed, by other Naga tribes.

* For aitho see also Part II, under " Hunting," etc.

' Hekhi or hekhe {cf. nekhe) is to kill by beating, the usual way of killing
pigs.

* Akeghi is the usual word for string, cord, etc., and is used primarily
of jungle creepers and fibre used for tying.

' Amchi = the fat of the intestines only.

* Atisii — a very small variety of ant.

' A section of bamboo cut off just below one node, which forms the
bottom of the vessel, and just below the next node above so as to give an
opening at the top. The leopard-cat brought sections of bamboo without
a node at either end and so quite useless for holding the blood for which
they were wanted. The leaves were wanted to put the pieces of flesh on.

® Or " game."

^ The human and animal attributes of the persons in the tale are changed
almost at will. Iki is normally regarded as a man, but is given a tail for
the nonce.

^^ *' Ikera " is meaningless, but might be mistaken for either the word
for " went down " or that for " went up " equally well.

^^ The walls of Sema houses are made of bamboo split into narrow slats
and woven.

** The Malayan Wreathed Hombill — Rhytidoceros undulatus.

1' Lho = " create," rf. Alho-u = God — the Creator.

** A shrub that produces fibre, the bark being stripped and used for
making nets, bow-string, etc.

^^ A fruit tree the berries of which are eaten and the wood of which
contains a plentiful supply of very acid sap.

" A tree with very hard wood.

*' Ahu — ^lit. "tooth," but always tised of a bird's beak.

^' Ahakha appears to give the sense of the open mouth ; the ordinary
word for mouth is akiche.

** See Part IV, page 25.3 sq. It is customary to anoint charm-stones
with fat taken from pigs' intestines.

*" Chimemi is a person who lives without a companion of the other
sex, and thios a " widow," " widower," " bachelor," " spinster " ; chime-
is used as the root of a verb meaning to live in such a condition.

-^ Sujuvetsiike — or " pulled o_ff" according to whether the vessel is closed
b y a stopper that fits in or a lid that fits over ; akimike means either.

" I.e., as sufficient compensation for the vanished charm-stone.
(Cho < kucho = true.)

** Pigs are carried strapped to a flat frame of bamboos which enables
a man to carry them on his back. The Naga does not attempt to drive his
pig to market.

*♦ The expression i-aiibo mikhenhe is used in derision by a man who has
scored off another in a bargain and got much more than the real value
of the article sold or bartered. The precise significance of the metaphor
is unprintable, but there is much the same expression in vulgar English.

VI FOLK-LORE 329

XI.

THE FAIRY WIFE.

Once upon a time a man had two sons. Their father
and mother both died. The two brothers lived alone. ^
Sky maidens^ used to come down the frontal post, and
washed themselves ; they spied on them. Two girls came
and were washing. The elder (boy) spoke to the younger.
" I will catch the pretty one ; you shall catch the ugly
one," he said. The elder first tried to catch the pretty
one, but the ugly one fell into his hands, while it so happened
that the pretty one came into the hands of the younger
(brother). On this account the elder said to the younger,
" Let us two go and gather fruits." On the brink of a
deep pool there was a fruit tree. (The elder) having said
to the younger " You climb up that tree first," the younger
climbed up. Then (the elder) cut down the fruit tree and
(the younger) fell down into the pool. So his wife took a
chicken's thigh, but as she was charming and luring him
out^ (the elder) startled her,* Because he had done this
the wife of the younger said, " You take me for your wife,"
and saying so told him to make up a fire afar off. Believing
her in earnest and having made up a fire, the younger
brother's wife ascended to heaven (in the smoke). Then
in heaven she gave birth to a male child. As the child
always kept saying " I will go down to the village of my

^ See Note 20, preceding talc.

* The Sema word is kungulimi — feminine of kungumi — i.e., women of
the spirits of the sky. They seem to be conceived of as iising the carved
pole of the front of the house as a means of descending to earth, but the
original is far from explicit.

^ The Sema word mussu-sapechepia (literally " bait -with -lift -come -say
continue ") means coaxing and enticing along with a bait, and the fairy
is probably conceived of as drawing her husband out of the water by super-
natural power as with a magnet.

* The Sema word kichi-suvetsu implies the making of a sudden rush or
other movement calculated to startle or frighten. It may have as its
object either the fairy or her husband, as the language is ambiguovis, but
the effect in any case is to break the spell and cause the man's death.

The whole story as recorded is excessively elliptical and suffers in a verj'
typical way from an absence of subjects, objects, and explanations.

330 THE SEMA NAGAS part

father's people," his mother let him down by a thread (tied)
round his waist and sent him oS. But before he could
reach the earth a crow broke the thread and dashed the
child to death, so that its liver burst out. And because the
crow pecked at it, they say, the crow even now always pecks
the flesh of man.

Kaghelomi timi laki-no kepitimi kini punuke. Apu
Men of old man one by males two born Father

aza pama kinikuzho tiuveke. Pama atazii

mother they two two-both died They two brothers

chimeake. Kungulimino atsiikucholono azii-

lived alone Sky-spirit women frontal-post-on-from used

kuchucheke ; mikiake. Ilimi mi-kinino azii-

to bathe hid and watched Girls two persons came

kuchuagheke. Akicheono aitiuvilo pike " Ino akevio
and were bathing Elder to younger said " I best

kaghaluni, noye alhokesao kaghaluni," i pike. Akicheo
will seize you worst will seize " this said Elder

paghino akevio kaghaaye alhokesaono pa 'oulo

first best while catching worst his hand-in

eghe, akeviono aitiu 'oulo iloghe i shike.

came best younger hand-in entered so happened

Tighenguno akicheono aitiuvilo " Ikuzho aA;^ti
For this reason elder to younger " We two fruit

khouni," i pike. Aizii kuchomukulo aMatibo
wiU gather " so said Pool at the edge of fruit-tree

laki ake. Aitiuvilo " Tipa 'bolo o paghino

one was Younger-towards " that tree-on you first

ikulo " pipuzii aitiu ikuveke. Tilehino

climb up " having said younger climbed up. Then

a^^atibo yekhepe, aiziilo vesuveke. Ike pa

fruit-tree cut down into the pool fell So his

'nipfuno awudu 'loko pfe, mussii-sapechepiaye

wife cock thigh took b^-it-keep-luring-out-whUe

VI FOLK-LORE 331

kichisiivetsii. I shike-ghenguno aitiu 'nipfuno pike
startled This did-because of younger wife said

" Nono o-nipfu i-shipeni " ipiaye, akhalo ami pholo^
" You your wife me make " so saying afar off fire light up

pike. Kuchokucho keghashi ami photsiikelono aitiu
said true true suppose fire in lighting up younger

'nipfuno atsiitsiilo iliuveke. Ike atsiitsiilo anga
wife into heaven ascended So in heaven babe

kepitimi laki punuke. Angano " I-pu nagami

male one born babe " My-father village-men

'pfulo ikeni " i pikacheake-

village-into will descend " this always kept on

ghenguno, pa 'zano ayetlii laki achitalo

saying-because of his mother thread one round-waist-by

chiitsiipuzii pikeke. Ike ayeghi tohmla-aphilono
let down sent off So earth before he could reach

aghano ay a vethave-tsiipuzii anga vekheveke.

a crow thread having made to break babe killed

Tilehino anga 'Uoshi vezoveke. Aghano meghike-
Then babe's liver broke out Crow pecked

ghenguno agha-no itahi ghi timi 'shi meghicheni pike,
because of crow now too men's flesh always pecks said.

XII.

THE FAIRY HUSBAND.

Once upon a time a man had nine sons. Among them
was one daughter. ^ One day the girl said to her father and
mother " Brew liquor against the settlement of the marriage
price with my husband that is to be." A fairy (kungumi)

* The idea contained in the root pho- is not so much that of kindling
fire as of blowing up into flame and smoke some smouldering substance.
Semas when in the fields often carry torches of smouldering millet husks
at which to light their pipes.

* The Sema idiom ig " Among them one girl emerged " ; there were
ten altogether.

332 THE SEMA NAGAS part

had said he would marry her ; that was why the girl kept
talkmg just like this every day. Her father and mother
said to their child, " No one is for marrying you, why do you
keep talking about settling the price ? "

One da}'^ the girl said, " I am going off to-night. After I
have made and served the meal I shall go." That night
she made ready the meal. In the morning when her parents
had risen they looked but could not find her. But in front
of the house there were many goats tied. The fairy had
taken the girl and presented goats. ^

When a month had expired the fairy's wife brought a
man child to which she had given birth to her parents' house.
Her brethren took the babe to dandle it. All nine handled
it. As it left the hands of the youngest the babe died. Its
mother cried. Just after that fire smoked in the heavens
from a very big star. Having seen this the fairy's wife
said, " My husband's father and my husband are letting me.
know that they are coming to fetch me by the smoke from
a fire on the big stone behind our house. I must go."
Then she applied magic medicine^ to her child's nostrils.
To her mother, " As I am going up do not look at me ! If
you do look at me you will die without ever seeing my form
again." Having given this behest she ascended. Her
mother, not obeying her behest, parted the thatch, and
looked on. The fairy came down in a red glow and took
up his wife and child. Her mother, because she had watched,
saw her thereafter never again.

Kaghe timi laki-no kepitimi toku punuke. Tipa
Formerly man one from males nine bom These

dolo totimi laki epegheke. Aghlo laki ilimi-no apa-
among girl one emerged. Day one girl father-

azavile pike, " Akimi-noiye amekeghane azhi
mother-to said *' Husband-to-be price discuss liquor

beaghile," pike. Kungumi laki - no pa luniapi ;

brew " said Kungumi one (by) her will take had said

* To pay goats for a bride is not a Sema custom.

* Keichopi. No one could say exactly what this was, but it seems to
be a sort of charm used medicinally only. Kekhopi also = "philtre."

VI FOLK-LORE 333

inkegheuno ilimi-no aghla-atsiitsii tiliki picheke.

for this reason girl everyday just like this kept saying

Apa-aza pa'nuvile pike " Kumo-no o luamono,

Father-mother their child- to said " No one you not taking

kiu 'me keghaniye i pichen' kya ? "

what price for discussing this keep saying eh ? "

Aghlo laki ilimi-no pi. " Niye itizhi wuniaike. Alikuli
Day one girl said "I to-night will go am Meal
shipuzii-no tsiipuzU wuni." Tipazhi alikuli shike.
having made having given will go " That night meal made
Thanawuye apu aza ithouno zhu-pahaiveke.

In the morning father mother having risen look-had lost
Ille aki shekolo anyeh kuthomo tsiipaghe ani.

But house in front of goats many tied up are

Kungumi-no ilimi lukelono anyeh tsiike.
The Kungumi girl when taking goats gave.

Kungumi 'nipfu akhi laki shiketino anu

Kungumi's wife month one having expired child
kepitimi punusasii apa-aza aki-lo

male give birth-brought father-mother house-into

egheke. Pa'pelimi-no anga kapfezhunnia luke. Toku

came Her brethren infant to dandle took Nine

kumtsii pfezhuke. Anupao 'ouluno anga tiveke.

all handled Youngest from the hand of infant died

Pazano kaake. Tipathuye atsiitsiilano ayepu akizheo-

Its mother cried After that from heaven star very big-

lano ami phoke. Ti itulupuzii Kungumi 'nipfu pike

from fire smoked This having seen Kungumi's wife said

" I'kimi pa'po-ngo ikimi-ngo isaluniye

" My husband his father and my husband me-for taking

ikisalo athokhu kizhelo amipho ipi-

my house-behind stone big-on fire smoke is-sho^\'ing-
ani. Niye wuni-aike." Tipathiu pa'nu anhilcikOo
to-me I will go am " Thereafter her child nostrils

kekhopi tsiike. Pazavile " Ikukilo

magic -medecine gave Her-mother-to wards " ascending-in

334 THE SEMA NAGAS PART

ihizhukevelo ! No i hizhuaye allokuthu azhu

me do not look at You me looking at if for ever shape

itumlano tiveni." Tipatsa pivepuzii ikuke.

not having seen will die " This word having said ascended

Pa'za pa'tsa lumono aghi kiyeno

Her mother her word not taking thatch having parted
hizhuveke. Kungumi huchuwi ekeghepuzii

looked on Heavenly Being red having descended

pa'nipfu pa'nga sakuveke. Pa'za hizhuke

his wife her babe took up Her mother looked on
ghenguno tipathiu kilemo itumlaiveke.
because of thereafter never did not see.

XIII.

THE witch's daughter.

Once upon a time there was a chieftain named Kholaou.
When his son was eating fish a fish-bone stuck in his throat.
A wise-woman^ named Khayi and her daughter named
Mtsiili were both called in by the chief. " If you two succeed
in extracting the fish-bone from my son's throat I will
present you with a mithan," said he. Khayi was unable to
do so, so Mtsiili said to her mother, " Mother, why don't
you get it out ?" Khayi answered, " If you can do so, you
extract it."

Mtsiili, after extracting it, was going along driving the
mithan and Kholaou 's village-men were lying in wait by
the path to kill both mother and daughter. Mtsiili was
aware of them.^ " Enemies are lying in wait to kill us,"
said she. So she sharpened a spear and, having thrust it
into the ground, went in under the earth. From an eminence
Khayi said, " We have gone home. Who are you waiting
to spear, eh ? " With these words, they say, she came
driving on the mithan (after Mtsiili).

* Thumomi. See Part IV, page 2.30 sq.

■ Itiluke usually = " got " (< iti " know " and iw "take"). Sometimes
also " understood."

VI FOLK-LORE 335

Kaghelomi kekami laki pa 'zhe Kholaou ake.
Men of old chieftain one his name Kholaou was.

Panu akha chukelono akha-ghi kupiihaveke.
His son fish while eating fish-bone stuck-in-the-throat.

Thumomi pa 'zhe Khayi pa 'nu 'zheno Mtsiili
Witch her name Khayi her daughter name Mtsiili

pama aza anuvilo akekaono pike : " Okuzhono

they two mother daughter-to Chief said " You two

inu 'ku'ohlo akha-ghi shiphevetsiiaye, avi

my-son throat-from fish-bone if extract mithan

laki o-kutsiinia," pike. Khayiye

one to you will buy and give " said. Khayi

itumlaive, Mtsiilino pa 'zavilo pike " I-za,

was unable to get Mtsiili her mother-to said " My-mother

noye kushiye shivetsiimoke? " pike. Khayino " Shiaye,
you why did not get done " said Khayi "If do

nono shiphevetsiilo," pike. Mtsiili-no shiphetsiipuzii
you extract " said Mtsiili having extracted

avi hasasii-wochekelono Kholaou pa

mithan drive-along-with-while-going-along Kholaou his

nagamino pama aza anu iveniye alalo

village men they two mother daughter to kill in the path

kheakelono, Mtsiilino itiluke. " Aghumino ikuzho
while lying in wait Mtsiili was aware " Enemies us two

iveniye kheani " pike. Angu cheghino

to kill are waiting " said Spear having sharpened

ayeghilo kusiipuzii ayeghikouno woveke.

into earth having thrust in under earth went

Aghiinglono Khayino pike " Niye i-kilao

From an eminence Khayi said " I my house towards

woveano, nonguye ku-u yiniaye kheanike-a ? "
having gone on you whom to kill are waiting, eh ? "

pipuzii, avi hasasii-egheve pike,

having said mithan drive-along- with-came said.

336 THE SEMA NAGAS part

XIV.

THE dog's share.

We Semas have a story of olden time. Listen, please.

A bitch had given birth to pups. While hunting for
meat to give her pups, a partridge in a swampy place was
pinched^ in the foot by a crab. On that the partridge
flying up in fear brushed against a sambhar's ear. The
frightened sambhar jumped up to run away. In running
away he bounded on to the dog and killed ^ her. The
puppies said, " Where has our mother gone ? " and asked
the man. The man said to them, " Your mother was
hunting game and the sambhar stamped on her and kiUed
her." The pups asked God, saying, " Between the heavens
and the earth who is the greatest ? " God said to them
" The Tiger is the greatest." The two (pups) went to the
tiger's house. The Tiger said to them, " Sleep in my house."
Having given them cooked rice, and liquor to drink, they
slept in the house. In the night a breeze came blowing.
Both pups got up and barked. The Tiger said to them,
" The Elephant is greater than I; say nothing. "^ Since he
said the Elephant was greater the two of them went to the
Elephant's house. The Elephant gave them rice (to eat),
liquor to drink, and said to them, " Sleep in my house."
So they slept. In the night a breeze came blowing. They
put to the proof the Elephant's heart.* The Elephant said
to them, " The Spirit is greater than I. Say nothing."
The pups having said " Under heaven the Spirit is the
greatest," said to the Spirit, " Our mother went hunting
game to give us meat. As she went the sambhar stamped

1 The construction in the Sema is not actually passive. The partridge
is put into the agentive C€tse {agili-no) instead of the crab {achuwo), either
by an alteration by the teller in the construction of his sentence as he
spoke or perhaps by an error of mine in recording. Compare No. VIII,
above.

* The Sema word nekhive — or nekhivetaii — (the latter being, strictly,
causative) means " to kill by stamping upon."

* Atsa-pikevelo may simply mean " do not make a noise," or may rtiean
" do not tell your story " to me as I am not the greatest in the world.

* ' By barking as though there were something else coming beside the
wind, and therefore some cause for fear.

VI FOLK-LORE 337

on and killed our mother. Under heaven the Spirit is the
greatest, strike and kill the sambhar." The Spirit said,
" Sleep in my house " ; he gave them rice, he gave them
liquor to drink, and told them to sleep. In the night a
breeze came blowing. The pups proved the Spirit's heart.
The Spirit said, " The Man is greater than I. Say nothing."
The puppies, having said that under heaven the I\Ian was
the greatest, said to the man, "Our mother went hunting
game to give us meat. The sambhar stamped on and
killed our mother as she went." Again " Stamp on and
kill the sambhar " said they to the man. The man agreed
(to do so) ; he told them to sleep in his house, gave them
rice to eat and liquor to drink, and said to them, " Sleep in
my house." In the night a breeze came blowing. The
pups put the man's heart to the proof. The man, unafraid
in spite of the darkness, said to the pups, "Do not be afraid."
The pups were as glad as could be. The man said to the
pups, " Pour out and bring water," and the pups poured
out and brought water. The man sharpened his dao,
sharpened his spear, cooked rice, made curry, and after
both of them and the man as well had eaten, the three of
them went down into the river-bed and sought for deer
tracks. They met with elephant tracks. " This is not
it," they said, and met with bison^ tracks. " This is
not it," they said, and having passed by the tracks of all
(other) game they met with the slot of a sambhar. The
pups said, " This is what killed our mother." Then the
man said to the dogs, " You two drive the deer along."
Again he said to them, " If the deer comes on the ground
you two also come on the ground ; if the deer comes on
the tree-tops you two must come on the tree-tops also,"
said he. Then the man got round in front of his quarry
in the river-bed. The sambhar came bounding into the
river-bed. The man quickly transfixed the sambhar with
the spear. Then they cut up the flesh. As the dogs' share
he gave the dogs^ two haunches. The dogs were as glad

^ aviela = the " gaur," 60s gaums.

* The dogs' share is usually one or both of the hind legs. The whole
share of both is, more often than not, not claimed ; at any rate, if there

338 THE SEMA NAGAS part

as could be. " Who killed my mother now ? " said they,
and bit the sambhar in the ears. The man took the head ;
the rest of the flesh he gave to his villagers. ^

Now they say that from of old man has kept dogs (for
this reason) : the dogs after having brought about the death
of the sambhar in exchange for their mother, dog and man
consorted, so they say. The man, together with the dogs,
went to complain to God. God told them to trap the
partridge in a snare and eat it. He told them to ask the
huluk for the crab. The huluk was groping for the crab.
The crab suddenly^ gave his friend a nip on the hand. The
huluk pulled out the crab and dashed it to pieces on a stone.
Thence they say crabs spread into all streams. For this
reason, they say, every one goes to catch crabs in the streams.

Now from of old we Semas, after hunting game, do not
forget the dogs' share. And now, too, we represent to our
father Sahib ^ that the dogs' share be not forgotten. So now,
too, give order not to forget the dogs' share.

Kaghelomi ni Simi atsa laki ani. Inzhulone !

Atsiino ati piti-paake. Ati tsiiniye

Dog pups had given birth to. (To) pups to give

ashi hakelono agilino ayeghikilono achuwo

meat while hunting partridge in a swampy place crab

apukhulo miki-tsiike. Tilehina agilino musano yewu-

in the foot bit. Thereon partridge in fear while

kelono akhuh kinilo vetsiike. Akhuhno musano

flying off sambhar on the ear touched. Sambhar in fear

poniye ilheithu ; pokelono ilhewo atsii

to run away jumped up in running away jumped dog

are more than a very few participators in tlje hunt. The share is taken
by the owners of the hunting dogs and not given to the dogs themselves.

^ It would be genua to eat it himself, though he would hang up the skull
in his house.

* ()T perhaps " unwittingly" ; the want of knowledge implied by mtano
may refer either to the crab or to the huluk.

' In this case the Sub-divisional Officer of Mokokchung, who often has
to decide claims for " the dogs' share " of a deer which has been killed
by someone who is not of the hunting party chasing the deer, and has
refused to give up the share due to the dogs that put it up.

VI FOLK-LORE 339

nekhi-veke. Atsiitino " I-za kilao

staraped-on-and-killed. Puppies " My mother where
wuvekela ? " ti pino timivilo inzhuke.

has gone ? " this having said of the man asked.
Timino pavilo pike " 0-zaye ashi hawuke-

Man to him said " Your mother game when had gone
lono akhuhno o-za nekhi-veke," ti

to hunt sambhar your mother stamped on and killed," this
pike. Atsiitino " Atsiitsii-ngo ayeghi pamadolo ku
said. Puppies " Heaven and earth between the two who
akizheo kela ? " ti pino Alhouvilo inzhuke.

greatest is ? " this having said God asked.

Alhouno pamavilo " Angshu akizheo " pike.

God to the two of them " Tiger greatest " said.

Pamano angshu 'kilo wuveke. Angshuno pamavilo
They two tiger house-in went Tiger to them (two)

*' I-kilo ziilo " pike. Ana pama

" my house in sleep " said cooked rice to them (two)
tsii,^ azhi pama zhino pa 'kilo

give liquor them having given to drink his house in
zuake. Puthouno amulhu mulhu-egheke. Atsiiti pamano
slept. In the night breeze blow-came. Pups they two
eghathugeke. Angshuno pamavilo ti pike

got up and barked. Tiger to them (two) this said

" Ni-ye akaha pa 'zhe ke. Atsa pikevelo ? " pike.
" I than elephant he big is word do not say ? " said.
Pamano akaha pa zhe keno pino, akaha

They two elephant he big having been having said elephant's

'kilo wuveke. Akahano ana pama

house to went. Elephant cooked rice to them (two)

tsiino, azhi zhishino, pamavilo

having given liquor having given to drink to them (two)

" I-kilo ziilo " pike. Tilehi ziiake. Puthouno

" My house-in sleep " said. Then slept. In the night

^ The postposition -no of zhino qualifies tsii as well as zhi, as often it is
BuflBxed to the latter of two such verbs only.

z 2

340 THE SEMA NAGAS part

amulhu mulhu-egheke. Akaha 'mlo phezheke.

breeze blow-came Elephant heart put to proof

Akahano pamavilo " Ni-ye teghami pa zhe ke. Atsa
Elephant to them " I than spirit he big is Word

pikevelo ? " pike. Atsiitino " Atsiitsiikholoye teghami
do not say?" said Pups "Under heaven spirit
akizheo " ti pino, teghamivilo " I-zano ashi

greatest," this having said to the spirit, " My mother meat
i-tsiiniye ashi hawuveke. Wukelono akhuhno

to give me game went hunting While going sambhar

i-za nekhiveke. Atsiitsiikholoye

my mother stamped-on-and-kUled. Underneath heaven
teghami pa zhe keno, akhuh hekhivetsiilo " pike.
spirit he big being sambhar strike-and-kill " said
Teghamino " I-kilo ziilo " pike ; ana

Spirit " My house-in sleep " said ; cooked rice
pama tsii, azhi zhino pama-vilo zii

(to) them give liquor having given to drink to them sleep
pike. Puthouno amulhu mulhu-egheke. Atsiitino teghami
said In night breeze blow came. Pups spirit's

'mlo phezhuke. Teghamino " Ni-ye timi akizhe ke.
heart put to proof. Spirit " I than man great is

Atsa pikevelo ? " pike. Atsiitino atsiitsiikholoye
word do not say ? " said. Pups underneath heaven
timi pa zhe keno ti pino, timivilo atsiitino

man he big being this having said to man pups
" I-zano ashi i-tsiiniye ashi ha-wuveke.

" My mother meat to give to me game went hunting
Wukelono akhuh-no i-za nekhivetsuke " ;

while going sambhar my mother stamped-on-and-kUled " ;

timivilo " Akhuh nekhivetsiilo " pike. Timino allopike ;
to man " Sambhar stamp-kill," said. Man agreed

pa 'kilo ziipike, ana tsii azhi zhi-

his house-in sleep-said cooked rice give liquor having given
ishino pamavilo " I-kilo ziilo " pike,

to drink to the two of them " My house-in sleep " said.

VI FOLK-LORE 341

Puthouno amulhu mulhu-egheke. Atsiitino timi 'mlo
In the night breeze blow-came. Pups man's heart

phezhuke. Timiye musamono puthouno atsiivilo
put to proof Man not fearing in the night to pups

" Musakevelo " ti pike ; atsiitino palo kevi-

" Do not fear " this said pups their good went on

shiake. Timino atsiitivilo " Azii lesii-eghelo "
making good. Man to the pups "Water pour and bring "

pipuzii, atsiitino azii lesii-egheke.

having said pups water poured out and brought.
Timino aztha chighe, angu chigheno, ana

Man dao sharpen, spear having sharpened, rice
beno, ayelho ishino, pama ghi timi

having cooked, curry having made, they two both man
ghi chupuziino, pana kiithu aghokilo ilono

and having eaten they three river-bed having entered
ashipa sheke. Akaha-pa sholuke. " Ihi

tracks sought. Elephant-tracks met with " This

kumoke," ti pino, avielapa sholuke. " Ihi

is not (it) " this having said bison-tracks met with. " This

kumoke," ti pino, ashi kumtsii 'nyepa

is not (it) " this having said game all tracks

piyepahano akhuh 'nyepa sholuke. Atsiitino pi

having discarded sambhar tracks met with pups said

" Ihino i-za nekhiveke." Tilehino timino

" This my mother killed (by stamping) " Thereon man

atsiivilo " Okuzhono akhuh ha-eghelo." Ti

to pups " You two sambhar drive-come." This

pino timino pamavilo " Akhuhno ayeghilono
having said man to them (two) " Sambhar on the earth
egheaye nokuzho ghi ayeghilono eghelo ; akhuhno
if come you two also on the earth come sambhar

asiilono egheaye nokuzho ghi asiilono

from on tree come-if you two also tree-from-on
eghelone," pike. Tilehino timino aghokilono ashi
come please " said. Thereon man in the river-bed game

342 THE SEMA NAGAS part

thawuke. Akhuhno aghokilo ilheilo-egheke.

got round in front of. Sambhar in river-bed jumped came

Timino mtazii anguno akhuh chekhike. Tilehino
Man quickly with spear sambhar transfixed. Thereon

ashi phuke. Atsii sala apukhu kini atsU tsiike.
meat cut up dogs' share legs two (to) dogs gave
Atsiino palo kevishi " Kinono i-za nekhi-

dogs rejoiced-exceedingly who my mother stamped on
veke la ? " ti pino akhuh kinilo

and killed eh ? " this having said sambhar in the ear
miki-tsiike. Akutsii timino luke. Ashi ketao agami

bit head man took flesh remaining villagers

tsiike.
gave.
Eno kagheye timino atsii pegheno p'ani. Atsii

So of old man dog having kept they say dog
pa 'za zukhu akhuh ivetsiiketeno

his mother in exchange for sambhar having caused to kill
atsii -ngo timi pama awuve p'ani. Timino atsii
dog and man they two consorted they say Man dog
sasii Alhouvilo atsa keghawuke. Alhouno

take with to God word went to complain God

agiliye akusulono mechulo pike. Achuwoye akuhuvilo
partridge in snare trap -eat said. Crab huluk- to wards

khupelo pike. Akuhuno achuwo khuake. Achuwuno
ask for said " Huluk " (for) crab was scraping crab

mtano pa 'shou aoulo miki-tsiike. Akuhuno achuwo
suddenly his friend in hand bit-gave. Huluk crab

siizosu epegheno athulo vephoveke.

pull having extracted on a stone dashed to pieces.
Tilehino achuwo aghoki kumtsii iloveke p'ani.
Thereon crab streams all entered they say.

Tighenguno kumtsiino aghokilo achuwo kucheni

Therefore everyone in the streams crab go to catch

p'ani.
they say.

VI FOLK-LORE 343

Eno kagheno ni Simino ashi ha-kelono

And so from of old we Semas game when hunting

atsiisa pahamoke. Itahe ghi atsiisa

the dogs' share do not forget. Now too dogs' share

pahamokeye, i-pu Shahavilo

while not having forgotten my father Sahib-near

keghacheni. Itahemu atsiisa pahakevelo

will represent. Even now dogs' share do not forget

pilepi.
give order.

XV.

woodpecker's corner.

Once upon a time there was a man. His name was
Khwonhyetsii. At the top of a tree at the edge of his field ^
a woodpecker had hatched out young. A tigress at the
foot of that tree had borne and was rearing cubs. When
their mother was away Khwonhyetsii^ thrust spines of the
khwoghe tree right in*^ to the hearts of the tiger-cubs and so
did them to death. The tigress mother came back. " My
babes — why have they died ! " she cried. " I have eaten
no yechuye^ and I have eaten no aghiye'^ and I have eaten
no ashebaghiye ! ^ Since I have not done so why have my
babes died ! " Saying this and without detecting Khwo-
nhyetsii's trick, the tigress sung this lament, " Alas ! alas !
for the woodpecker's corner ! ^ Alas ! alas ! for Khwo-

^ Aluba lit.= "field dung" and means the wasted strip that must be
cut along the edge of the jungle to let sun and air to the field, but which
cannot be itself cultivated owing to its nearness to the high growth of the
jvmgle. Big trees in this strip are not felled, but merely stripped of their
leaves ; the lower growths are not carefully cleared, but roughly cut and
laid. An aluba is, no doubt, what Omar was referring to in his
" Strip of Herbage strown
That just di\'ides the desert from the sown."

" Khwo-nliyetsii. The root nyetsii means " to poke," and there may
be some connection, though this root is usually limited to an obscene sense.

^ The precise meaning of khuda is that the thorn was thrust in so that
no part remained above the level of the skin. * ? A polygonum.

' Hydrococtyle javanica. Ashebaghiye (= deer's "agliiye" — ashe pa
'ghiye) is probably a similar plant. It is not known why the tigress
might not eat these herbs.

344 THE SEMA NAGAS part

nhyetsii's comer ! " With this dirge she fled. And so for
this reason any of us Semas who has killed a tiger, as
long as he lives, goes without eating these plants.

Kaghelomi timi laki, pa'zhe Khwonhyetsii, ake.

Men of old man one his name Khwonhyetsii was

Pa'lubalo asushuno asiibokungu ati ati-

his field-waste-in woodpecker at the top of a tree young had

khoa. Angshuno tipa 'siibolo aphelo ati

hatched out tiger that tree at near under young

piti-sasiiake. Angshu aza kaha-

give-birth-was-accompanying tiger mother is-not-after-
thilono Khwonhyetsiino khwoghesahu khuda angshu-
while-in Khwonhyetsii kJncoghe spine flush tiger-

ti 'melolo khusiivetsiipuzii pitiiveke. Angshu

cubs heart in having thrust in did to death tiger
aza egheno. " I-ngaye ku-ughenguno

mother having come " My babes for what reason
tiake-a ? " i pipuzii, " Ino yechuye chumo,

have died " This having said " I yechuye did not eat
ino aghiye ghi chumo, ino ashebaghiye ghi

I aghiye too did not eat I deer's aghiye too
chumo ! I shimono ku-ughenguno i-nga

did not eat This not having done for what reason my babes
tiaruke-a ? " Ishi ti piakelono Khwonhyetsiino

have died eh ? " Thus this while saying lihwonhyetsii

mikiakelono, angshuno ale pheke " He-e,

continuing to deceive tiger song lamented " alas
he-e, asushu 'luba ? He-e, he-e, Khwonhyetsii

alas woodpecker's field-refuse alas alas Khwonhyetsii 's

'luba ? " ishi phepuzii poveke. Ike

field-refuse " thus having lamented fled. And so

tighenguno ni Simiye angshu ikemiye timokelo
for this reason we Semas tiger killer as long as not die
hipa yeye chumono cheni.

these plants not having eaten proceed.

VI FOLK-LORE 345

XVI.

THE YEPOTHOMI.

We Semas have a story of olden time. I will tell it.
Listen, please.

To one father, a Yepothomi, and from one womb, six sons
were born. Counting the father it made seven. After
buying six ivory armlets^ to share among them, but having
been unable to buy an armlet for the youngest, the father
died in the meantime. ^ The youngest took his father's
ivory armlet. On the youngest's arm it was loose. The
youngest said to his elder brother, "My brother,^ take
father's armlet and give me yours." His elder brother took
this saying ill and, raising his dao, cut down his younger
brother. Then the others said to him, " You have killed
your younger brother. Go hence." For this he went to
the Sema side, and of the four, one* fled to the village
of the Yachumi,^ and another* entered the village
of the Lophomi,^ another* went to the Muchomi' side, and
another"^ went to the Tukomi^ side. For this reason our
Yepothomi clan became most numerous among Tushomi,^
and among Semas, being from one womb, it is small. Among
the Semas the Yepothomi are said to be few. Over there
among Tushomi the Yepothomi clan is said to be numerous.

* The ivory armlet — Akahaghi — consists of a slice from a thick part of
an elephant's tusk, the arm being put through the central hollow.

* Khumlano-aphilono — cf. No. XXII, note 1.

* In the Sema I-mu — " my elder brother." The distinction of seniority
among brothers is very carefully observed in forms of address ; a younger
brother would never say " brother " simply, or use the personal name
without prefixing " my elder brother."

* In the Sema hamino = " some." It may refer to their descendants,
but appears to be vised of the brothers themselves.

* The Yachungr tribe.

* The northern part of the Sangtam tribe.
^ The Chang tribe.

® The southern Sangtams. In the Sangtam and Yachungr tribes there
are clans believed to be identical with the Yepothomi. See Part III,
pp. 123, 124, 134.

^ The word Tushomi is vaguely used by Semas for tribes east of them
and until recently mainly hostile and having little comrmxnication with
them. The word might almost be rendered " Barbarians,"

346 THE SEMA NAGAS part

Kaghelomi ni Simi atsa lake ani. Ino ti pini, inzhulone !

Apu laki Yepothomino apfo lakilono anu tsoghoh
Father one Yepothomi womb one-from child six

punuke. Apu phino tsini shike. Aka-

born. Father having counted seven made Ivory arm-

haghi tsoghoh sala khulono panondolo anipao

lets six share having bought them among youngest's

'kahaghi khumlano-aphilono

ivory armlet in the time during which he was unable to buy

apu tiuveke. Anipao apu 'kahaghi luke.

father died. Youngest father's ivory armlet took.

Anipao 'ouloye kukushikeke. Anipaono amuvilo
Youngest arm on shook about. Youngest to elder brother

" I-mu, i-pu 'kahaghi nono

" My elder brother, my father's ivory armlet you

luno o-kahaghi i-tsiilo," pike,

having taken your ivory armlet to me give " said.

Amuno tipa 'tsa alhokesa keghashino

The elder brother this word bad having estimated

azhta pfe aitiu kiveghile. Tilehino panon

dao lift younger brother cut down. Thereon they

pavilo " Nono aitiu ghikhiveke. Hilao

to him " You younger brother have killed From here

awuve " pipeke. Tighengu pano Similao awuveke,
go away " ordered. Therefore he Sema side went along

eno pano' bidiye hamino Yachumi pfulo poveke,

and they four some Yachungr village-into fled

eno hamino Lophomi pfulo Uoveke, eno hamino

and some Pirr village into entered and some

Muchomi kilao woveke, eno hamino Tukomi kilao
Chang direction went and some Isa-chanr direction

woveke. Tighenguno ni Yepothomi 'yeh Tushomi
went. For this reason we Yepothomi clan Tushomi

kilao kutomo shiuveke, eno Simiye apfo lakino
direction many became and Sema womb one-from

VI FOLK-LORE 347

kitla shiuveke. Simi kilaoye Yepothomi kitla shi

few became. Sema direction in Yepothomi few do

pike. Hulao Tushomi kilaoye Yepothomi 'yeh

said. On that side Tushomi direction-in Yepothomi clan

kutomo ani pike,
many is said.

XVII.

THE YEPOTHOMI AND THE AYEMI.

Now I will tell you a story. Listen, please.

Of old the Ayemi and we the Yepothomi were, it is said,
one clan. Of one father six sons were born. While the
eldest brother^ had no substance, ^ the youngest brother
had. The eldest could not bear the sight of the youngest.
He said to the younger, " My brother, let us go and sacrifice
a fowl in our fields." ^ On that the youngest assented. The
youngest had his fields at the edge of the village ; the eldest
had his fields afar off. Then the other brothers* said to
both of them, " For fear of enemies, do not go." But they
went, not heeding their saying. The eldest said, " Brother,^
as you are going in front, please break off leaves and put
them (in the path) for a sign.^ (Then) he himself without
making it known (to his younger brother) went (back).
Then came enemies and took the head of the youngest.
Then the other four brothers said to the eldest, " Why has
not the youngest come ? " The eldest answered, " We did

^ Amu akicheo = lit. the first elder brother.
' Akuchupju = the wherewithal to eat.

' The fowl is killed in the fields, plucked, and singed there, but brought
back and eaten afterwards.

* AnUhaonoko = lit. " the in between ones."

* I-tilkuzu = " my younger brother." See note No. 3 to the preceding
story.

* Referring to the common practice of breaking off a bough a twig
and placing it at cross roads across the path which is not to be followed.
An enemy seeing fresh twigs placed in this way would know someone
had just gone by, while the younger brother would assume from being asked
to do this that the elder meant to follow and overtake him.

348 THE SEMA NAGAS part

not go together." Then the four came to see. Enemies
had taken his head. The body they found. After that
they spoke words ; they told (the eldest) to go by himself.
For this reason the Yepothomi became more than the
Ayemi,^ and the Ayemi, they say, planted in their fields
the jungle plant narubo. And we Yepothomi, for fear of
enemies, always perform the field ceremony in our
houses. -

Eno ino atsa laki ovilo pini. Inzhulone.

Now I word one to you will tell. Listen (please) !

Kagheye Ayemi niun Yepothomi ayeh laki pike.
In olden time Ayemi we Yepothomi clan one said.

Apu lakino anu lakino anu tsogho punuke.

Father one-from mother one-from child six bom.

Amu akicheono akuchupfu kahano anipaono

Elder brother first sustinence not being youngest

akuchupfu acheke. Akicheono anipao zhuni-

sustinence continued to be. Eldest youngest did not

shimokeke. Anipaovilo " I-tiikuzu, alulo

wish to behold. To youngest " My younger brother in field

awu ghewuni," pike. Tilehino anipaono allopike.

fowl will sacrifice " said. Then youngest agreed.

^ The Yepothomi being descended from the four middle brothers and
the Ayemi from the eldest.

- Different plants are used by different clans. Thus the Yepothomi
and the Chophimi use a little plant with a white flower, calling it alulabo,
a name which refers to its vise, and is probably used by each clan alike
for its own plant. The ordinary method is to search for the plant used,
dig it up with the root, and take it to the place where reaping is to begin.
Then a Uttle rice, meat, and liquor are placed on the plant, which is set
down by the crop to be reaped, probably to afford a living dweUing for
the rice spirit which is to be deprived of its home, though this intention
seems to have been forgotten by most if it was ever known to the
commonalty. The Ayemi, however, plant the narubo at the edge of the
crop, so that it grows there ready, and the rice, liquor, etc., are placed
by the plant where it grows. The Yepothomi, on the other hand, take
their plant to their houses and, having performed the ceremony there,
take it to the fields. It may be noted that the word vised in this connec-
tion for plant, aye, is probably the same as that for custom and also for
clan.

VI FOLK-LORE 349

Anipaono akubalala alucheke ; akicheono

Youngest at edge of village was cultivating eldest

aghacheu alucheke. Tilehino amthaonokono

afar off was cultivating. Then the (brothers) in between

pamavUo " Aghiimi musano wukevilo " pike,

to the two " Enemies having feared do not go " said.

Panon 'tsa lumono wuveke. Akicheono pi

Their word not having taken went. Eldest said

" I-tiikuzu, opagheno gwovemu alalo

" my younger brother first though going in path

amichishi atsiini siitaki-vetsiilone."

making signification leaves pluck and place (please)."

Pano piyemono wuveke. Tilehino aghiimi

He without informing went. Then enemies

egheno anipao ipfuve. Tilehino amthao-

having come youngest beheaded. Then the (brothers)

kono pana bidino akicheovilo " Anipao eghe-

in between they four to eldest " youngest not having

mono kushia ? " pike. Akicheono " Ikuzho wumpi,"
come why " said. Eldest " we two did not go "

pike. Tilehino pana bidino zhu-egheke. Aghiimino
said. Then they four came to look. Enemies

ipfuwuve-agheke. Akumo ituluke. Tilehino atsa

had beheaded and gone. Corpse found. Then words

pike ; pano pa keta shiwuve pike. Tighenguno

said ; he his different make-go said. For this reason

Ayemiye Yepothomi pachike ; eno Ayemiye

Ayemi-than Yepothomi became more and Ayemi

aghala tsiini narubo alulo shuwuye pike. Eno

jungle plant narubo in field went to plant said. And

niye Yepothomiye aghiimi musano akilono

we Yepothomi enemy having feared in house

aluye shiluvecheni.

field-custom (or " field leaf ") always-make-take.

350 THE SEMA NAGAS part

XVIII.

THE NAMESTG OF THE CLANS.

Let me teU of our Sema clans. Listen, please.

The Yeputhomi were called Yeputhomi by reason of their
deep (iho) hearts/ and the Ayemi were called Ayemi for
their chattering {yeye). And the Awomi, not using fair speech
towards men, always speak contentious {awou) words : for
this reason they were called Awomi. And a Chishilimi stole
from a man's house. The man said to him, " Why did you
steal from my house ? " and on his replying " I stole not "
smote^ him in the mouth. For this reason his clan was
caUed Chishilimi. And the Kibalimi,^ through fear, defec-
ated within their houses, therefore their clan was called
Kibalimi. And the Tsiikomi when struggling with a man
were gripped (tsukii) by him by the throat (ku'oh). For that
reason they were called Tsiikomi. And when the men of
other clans were comparing their exploits in hunting and
war, the Wokhami having fattened their pigs (awo) measured
their girth (khakimhe) to see whose was the biggest. For
this reason they were caUed Wokhami. And the Kinimi*
were rich in grain and rich in cattle. Therefore they were
called Kinimi. And a Wotzami having killed an enemy was
catching a pig (awo) for sacrifice^ when the pig bit (tsa) him

^ ' Fe = clan, tho = deep ; the sense being rather bad than good. The
derivations are sufficiently far-fetched. It is impossible to reproduce the
play upon words in the translation, but a reference to the Sema text will
in most cases make the point obvious. Where this is not the case notes
have been given.

* Chishi = to strike with the fist held with the back of the hand upwards,
the thumb straight, not bent as with us, and the first joint of the finger
being accordingly more nearly in the line with the back of the hand than
is the case with the fist as we double it, so that the blow is delivered with
the middle joints of the fingers rather than those at the base of them.

' 'Ki = house, 'ba = dung {bai = defecate). The idea is that they were
afraid to go out in the early morning, which is a favourite time for raids
by head-hunters.

* Kinimi = " rich man," as well as being the name of a clan. In the
latter sense there is an alternative interpretation which makes Kinimi a
patronymic = descendants of one Kini.

' Aghiipu is the ceremony performed after taking a head. The pig
killed at it is therefore called aghupu'wo, the sacrificed pig. See also
Part III, page l:*f» nq., for Zumomi, etc.

VI FOLK-LORE 351

in the hand. Therefore they were called Wotzami. And
because the women of the Shohemi kept cranmg forward
(shohe) their necks they were called Shohemi. And the
Chophimi by reason of their neck remaining sticking up
(chophe) out of a deep pool were called Chophimi. And the
Achumi for the eating (chu) of much cooked rice (ana) were
called Achumi.

Ni Simi'yeh pinine,

Of us Semas clans will tell (with your permission),

inzhulone !
listen (please).

Yeputhomino amelo tholoye Yeputhomi shitsiipike,
Yeputhomi in heart deep-being Yeputhomi made call

eno Ayemiye atsa yeyeshiye Ayemi shitsiike. Eno
and Ayemi words in chattering Ayemi made and

Awomi timivilo atsa akevi pimono atsa

Awomi to men words good not having spoken words

awou picheni ; tighenguno Awomi shitsiike. Eno

contentious keep saying for this reason Awomi made and

Chishilimi lakino timi 'kilo pukake. Timino pavilo
Chishilimi one man's house-in stole. Man to him

" Noye kushiye i-kilo pukake ? " ti pike, pano

" You why my house-in stole " this said he

" Pukamo " pike-ghenguno pa 'kichi chishike. Tighengu-
not steal said-because of his mouth punched. For this

no pan' ayeh Chishilimi kutsiike. Eno Kibalimino
reason their clan Chishilimi made call and Kibalimi

musano aki seleku baiveke-ghenguno, pan' ayeh

having feared house within defecated because of their clan

Kibalimi shitsiike. Eno Tsiikomiye timino kiche-

Kibalimi made and Tsiikomi with a man while

ghikelono pano 'ku'oh tsiikiike. Tighenguno Tsiikomi
struggling he gullet seized. For this reason Tsiikomi

shitsiike. Eno ayeh ketamino ashi aghii kukhu-
made and clan other men's game war while com-

352 THE SEMA NAGAS part

akelo, Wokhamino awo pulhono ku

paring and reckoning Wokhami pig having fed whose

'wo pa zhe la khakimheke. Tighenguno Wokhami
pig it big eh ? measured. For this reason Wokhami

shitsiike. Eno Kinimino athi kutomo amishi kutomo
made and Kinimi grain much cattle much

pegheye, tighenguno Kinimi shitsiike. Eno Wotsamino
in fostering for this reason Kinimi made and Wotsami

aghiimi ikelono aghiipu'wo keghanikelono awono

enemy having killed sacrificed pig while catching a pig

aou tsavetsiike. Tighenguno Wotsami shitsiike. Eno
hand bit. For this reason Wotsami made and

Shohemi totimino aku'oh shohe-shoheke-ghenguno,

Shohemi women necks stretch out-stretched out because of

Shohemi shitsiike. Eno Chophimiye aiziilono aku'oh
Shohemi made and Chophimi in deep pool neck

chophe agheye Chophimi shitsiike. Eno Achumino
stick out in remaining Chophimi made and Achumi

ana kutomo chukeghenguno Achumi shitsiike.
rice much ate-because of Achumi made.

XIX.

THE ORIGKSr OF TRIBES.

They do say^ that of old the Foreigners. Angamis, Aos,
Lhotas, and we Semas had the same ancestor, ^ and the
same mother they say. When they separated their father
kUled a bulP and gave it to them. " Who will eat the head ? "

* Pikema. It is difficult to render this form in English. The suffix -ma
gives a sort of concessive or indefinite effect to the more ordinary pike,
perhaps intended here to be apologetic.

* Apu-aaii = lit. " father-grandfather."

* Muru. This word for a bull is probably not of genuine Sema origin.
It is unknown to most Semas. Perhaps it is merely obsolete.

VI FOLK-LORE 353

said he. The Foreigner, that he might become the
Foreigner, said, " As for the head I will eat it." " Who will
eat the shin ? " said (the father). The Angami, that he
might become the Angami, said, " I will eat the shin."
And then " Who will eat the hoof ? " said (the father).
The Lhota, to become the Lhota, said, "I will eat it."
" The heart— who will eat that ? " said (the father). The
Ao, to become the Ao, said, " I will eat it." " Who wiU eat
the fore-leg ? " said (the father). The Sema, to become the
Sema, said, " I will eat the fore-leg."

The Kolami, because he had eaten the head, became the
greatest. The Angami, because he had eaten the shin,
became great in the calf.^ The Ao, because he had eaten
the heart, even in the face of an enemy, keeps a great heart
and calls on his father's name, when men are spearing (him)
and shouting, and does not call on his mother. ^ The Lhota,
because he had eaten the foot, is a great walker when
travelling, they say. And we Semas, because we had eaten
the fore-leg, are light-fingered,^ they say, and in hunting
game, too, we Semas are clever to strike, they say, and we
Semas in making war, too, are quick of hand to kill, they
say.

Foreigners, we Semas, Angamis, Lhotas, and Aos were
thus of one ancestry. (Their father) divided clothing. Then
the Foreigner, to become the Foreigner, took the hat, boots,
and from that day many cloths. To the Angami * after
the Foreigner his parents gave three cloths, and they made
him put on a kUt ^ too. After the Angami his parents wove

^ The Angami is known for the size of his calves.

- The Sema in distress or in extremis always calls out iza, iza, " mother,
mother." The Ao calls "father, father," but the Sema notion that this
indicates bravery is fallacious.

' Alluding to the Sema propensity for picking and stealing,

* Tsungumi-no. There is break in the construction. The relator has
begun to say what the Angami took, hence the agentive case, but has
ended by saying what his parents gave to him.

' Amini really =" petticoat," used of the Angami kilt, a black cloth
wrapped round the loins starting at the back and ending in the front,
and covering the body from the waist to halfway dowTi the thigh, one
comer being pulled between the legs from behind and fastened by a cord
running up to the waist.

A A

354 THE SEMA NAGAS part

three cloths for the Ao and wove him a loin-cloth as well.
Two cloths and a loin-cloth ^ they wove the Lhota. For our
Sema they wove one cloth only. And as there was no
thread left they wove him a little flap.^ For this reason
even now Semas wear a little flap about their loins.

Kagheye Kolami-ngo Tsungumi-ngo Cholimi-ngo
In old time Foreigners and Angamis and Aos and
Choemi-ngo ni Simi-ngo ishi apu-asii laki

Lhotas and we Semas too thus father-grandfather one
pikema, aza laki pike. Panoii kiituta shinikelo
suggested mother one said. They separate when making
apuno muru hekhino panoii tsiike. " Kuno akutsii

father bull having kOled to them gave. " Who head
chuni ? " pike. Kolamino Kolami shinikeuno " Akutsii
will eat " said. Foreigner Foreigner for doing " Head
ino chuni " pike. " Kuno apite chuni ? " pike.

I will eat" said. "Who calf will eat" said.
Tsungumino Tsungumi shinikeuno " Ino apite chuni " pike.
Angami Angami for doing "I calf will eat" said
Eno " Kuno apukhu chuni ? " pike. Choemino Choemi
and " Who foot will eat " said. Lhota Lhota
shikeuno " Ino chuni " pike. " Amlokuno chuni ? " pike,
fordoing " I wiUeat " said, '* Heart who will eat " said.
Cholimino Cholimi shikeuno " Ino chuni " pike. " Kuno
Ao Ao for doing " I will eat " said. " Who

abi chuni ? " pike. Ni Simino Simi shikeuno " Ino abi
arm will eat " said. We Semas Sema fordoing "I arm

chuni " pike,
will eat " said.

' Aahola is the word used for the Ao and Lhota " lengta," a garment
consisting of a strip of cloth running round the waist and down between
the legs from behind and up in front, where the end passes under the girdle
part and hangs over, having expanded into a square or oblong flap.

* Akichekeka. The tribal loin-cloth of the Sema is a single flap, about
9 inches by 3, either depending from the girdle or formed from one end
of it. It is not fastened between the legs in any way. It is, however,
rapidly giving place to a form of the ashola.

VI FOLK-LORE 355

Kolamino akutsii chukegheuno akizheo shiwuveke.
Foreigner head ate-because of biggest became (do-went)

Tsungumino apite chukeghaono apite-kizhekemi shiwuveke.
Angami calf ate-because of big-calf-men became

Cholimino amlo chukegheuno aghiimino ikelo

Ao heart ate-because of enemies (by) when killing

ghi amlo kizhe shino apu zhe kukethiuno

even heart big having made father's name after calling on
timi yikeghoye aza zhe kumoi.

man in spearing and shouting mother's name do not call
Choemi apukhu chukeghaono apukhuno izuwukeloye
Lhotas foot ate-because of a-foot in journeying
alache'tilvemi pike, Eno ni Simino abi

men-who-know-to-walk-the-road said and we Semas arm
chukeghaono aou papashi puka pike, eno ashi
ate-because of hand quick steal said and game
hakelo ghi ni Simino ashi cheti pike, eno ni

while hunting too we Semas game know-to-hit said and we
Simino aghiishikelo ghi aou papashi aghii ie pike.
Semas while making war too hand quick war kill said.
Kolami-ngo, ni Simi-ngo, Tsungumi-ngo, Choemi-ngo,
Foreigners and we Semas and Angamis and Lhotas and
Cholimi-ngo ishi apu-asii lakikeke. Api-nhyemoga
Aos too thus forefather one was. Cloth-articles
kizhepike. Tilehino Kolamino Kolami shikeuno akutsii-
divided. Then Foreigner Foreigner for doing head-
kokho, apukhukokho, isheno api kutomo luke.

covering boots from that day cloths many took.

Tsungumino Kolami sheloke api kiithu tsiino

Angami Foreigner after cloths three having given
apu-azano amini ghi shotsiike. Tsungumi sheloke
father-mother, kilt too made to put on. Angami after

apu-azano api kiithu Cholimi ghotsiino

father-mother cloths three (to) Ao having weave-given

ashola ghi ghotsiike. Api kini Choemi

loin cloth too weave-gave. Cloths two (to) Lhota

A A 2

356 THE SEMA NAGAS part

ghotsiino ashola laki ghi ghotsiike. Ni

having weave-given loin cloth one too weave-gave. We

Simiye api laki liki ghotsiike. Eno aye

Semas as for cloth one only weave-gave and thread

kahakeghenguno akichekeka kitila ghotsiike.

was not-because of flap little weave-gave.

Tighenguno itahe ghi Simino akichekeka kitila

For this reason now too Semas flap little

minicheni.
wear-about-the-loins.

XX.

ARKHA SINGS.

Once upon a time Arkha had driven out (of the village) ^
the brothers Hocheli and Amiche. Therefore the two of
them, when Arkha was asleep, got fire to burn Arkha to
death by setting light to his house. While they were getting
the fire Arkha woke up and made a song — " Woe is me," so
he sang, " 0 Amiche ! 0 Hocheli ! while you remained in
my village we were rivals ; now that you have gone the
village is cold." Such were the words he kept singing. For
this reason the two pitied him. " He is the boy to keep
thinking of us," they said, and did not put fire to (his house),
they say.

Kaghelomi Arkhano Hocheli-ngo Amiche pama
Men of old Arkha (by) Hocheli and Amiche they two

atazii hapu-poveke-keghenguno, puthouno Arkhano
brothers had driven to flee-because of by night Arkha

ziiakelono Arkha 'kilo ami siipuzii

while continued to sleep Arkha's house to fire having applied
Arkha piti-kheveniye pamano ami kulake.

Arkha for burning to death they two fire obtained-by-asking.

* Yezami. Hocheli and Amiche went eventvially to Sotoemi.

VI FOLK-LORE 357

Ami kiilaakelono, Arkhano ziiida ithou

Fire while obtaining (by asking) Arkha from sleep rise

ale shike, " Oishehe ! " i pipuzii, " 0 Amiche ! O
song made " Woe is me " this having said " 0 Amiche O

Hocheliye ! Anicheno ni-pfu^ kuMomino

Hocheli while remaining my village rivals

haye^ apfu mukho ani " ti pi ale shiagheke.

in not being village cold is " this say song do remained.

Tighenguno kimieye pamano " Ni kumsu

For this reason in pitying they two (of) us thought

luchekemi," i pipuzii ami siitsiimoive

one-who continues to take this having said fire did not apply

pike,
said.

^ Ni-pfu rather archaic ; the ordinary fomi would be ipfu.
2 Haye also archaic and now only in songs. In common speech kaha-no
or kaliakeno or perhaps kaJmye would be used.

XXI.

MUCHUPILE.

There is a story of olden time which we Semas have. It is
the story of Muchiipile of old, A man had married a pretty
girl. Muchiipile caused her death. Muchiipile loved the
man and lived with him. From the girl's body, thrown out
in the forest, a bamboo shoot sprang up. When the top
was picked and boiled it kept gurgling " Muchiipile pfo pfo."^
As it bubbled " Muchiipile " she threw away the potful.
After that (the bamboo shoot) became an orange^ tree. At
the top of the orange- tree was one beautiful fruit. The
husband, saying " It reminds me of my former wife,"
plucked it and put it away in a basket. When her husband
had gone to the fields, she came out of the basket and did
the house-work. And when her husband was coming
(home) she used to go back again into the basket. Both
Muchiipile and her husband said, " Who always gets the

358 THE SEMA NAGAS part

work done like this ? I would give him to eat though there
were nothing left for myself. ' ' ^ One day her husband, having
said that he was going to the fields, came back, hid, and
watched. He caught her. " Where have you come from ? "
said he. " We two were (happy) together before " (she
answered) " Muchiipile killed me and threw (my body) into
the forest. After that I became a bamboo shoot. She
picked and cooked me and having cooked me threw me
away. Next I became an orange tree, and when you
gathered me and put me in the basket I regained my human
form." Thereon her husband became wroth, killed Muchii-
pile and threw her body away, for when Muchiipile came
back from the fields she said, " Help me off with my load,"
and her husband went and cut her down and threw her
away. He and his former wife lived together. Both of them
in coming and going touched Muchiipile's bones. For this
cause their limbs swelled and they died.^

The " lived happily ever after " ending is conspicuous
by its absence in Naga stories. There are several versions
of the ending of this story, none of them satisfactory from a
sentimental point of view. Cf. Angami Monograph, Part V,
" Hunchibili."

Kaghelomi ni Simi atsa laki anike. Kaghe Muchiipile

Men of old we Semas story one is. Formerly Muchiipile

'tsa anike. Kepatimi lakiye totimi akivi luake.

story is. Male man one woman good married.

Muchiipileno totimi tiuvepiyeke. Muchiipileno tiyepa

Muchiipile woman caused to die. Muchiipile that man

alio awuveke. Totimi hekipfe aghalono

good associated with. Woman killed thrown in jungle

akutu epegheke. Akutu soh-lhokeloye

bamboo-shoot came out. Bamboo shoot pluck-boiled when

" Muchiipile pfo pfo " ^ mukhoake ! " Muchiipile "

Muchiipile pfo pfo continued gurgling. Muchiipile

mukhoakeaye kulholi

when continued to keep gurgling pot of comestible

VI FOLK-LORE 359

pheveke. Kutoughi mishitibo^ shike. Mishitibolono
threw away. After that orange- tree did. On the orange tree

akeolo akhati laki akivi akimino " Kaghe i-nipfu toi "
at top fruit one good husband " formerly my wife like "

pino Mosohno akholo paake. Mishitino

having said having gathered in basket put-kept. The orange

timi shiuveke. Pa 'kimono alulo huveaye

human became. Her husband to field when was going down

akholono epegheno akilo akumla shike. Eno pa

from basket havmg emerged in house work did and her

'kimi egheaye kutoughi akholo

husband when was coming after that into basket

ilovecheke. Muchiipile-ngo pa 'kimi pamaye "Kuno
always entered. Muchiipile and her husband both " Who
ishi akumla shitslichenike la ? Niye chumomu
thus work always gets done eh I although not eat

pa tsii pike.^ Aghlo lakiye pa 'kimino alulo huni
to him give said day one on her husband to field will go

pipuziino ileo mekheake ; Pano ituluke ; " Noye
having said return hid watched He caught " You
kilehino egheke ? " pilve. " Kaghe ikuzho acheke.
whence came " said. " Formerly we two lived together
Muchiipileno i-hekhipfe aghalo pheveke. Tilehino

Muchiipile we killed in jungle threw. Then

akutu shike ; soh-lho Ihopuziino pheveke.

bamboo-shoot made pluck boil having boiled threw away
Tilehino mishitibo shi ; nono i-kho-pie akholo

Then orange-tree did you me gather in basket

pavekelo, niye timi shike." Tilehino pa 'kimino

in keeping I human did." Then her husband

kuloghuke ; Muchiipile hekhipfe pheveke. Muchiipile

was angry Muchiipile killed threw away. Muchiipile

alulo egheno " I-khoh pfekhitsiilo ! " pike ; pa

from field having come my load pick up give said her
.'kimino wuvepuzuno pa ghiikhu pheveke.
husband having gone her cut down threw away.

36o THE SEMA NAGAS part

Kaghe-nipfu pama ake. Pamano hulao-hilao
Former wife they two remained. Both this way that way

wuveaye Muchiipile asaghiino pama khuke.

in continuing to go Muchiipile bones both touched.

Tighenguno api-aou* inguno tiuveke.^
Therefore limbs having swelled died.

^ " PJo pjo " represents the sound made by the bubbling water, which
also kept repeating Muchiipile's name. In the Lhota version the water
says " Hunchibili la-la, la-la, Hunchibili la-la, la-la," according to the
lady's name in that version.

* Mishiti also = " lime " or " lemon," being generic. Tliere is only
one Sema village in the Sema country where oranges grow, but the Lhota
version gives the fruit as an orange. The Khasis have a similar story
in which a girl comes out of an orange to do the house-work. For the
same motif in. a Kachari story see Soppitt, op. cit., p. 61.

' There is a break in the Sema construction. The sentence starts by
giving the words of Muchiipile and her husband in oratio recta and ends
with pa tsii pike, an oblique construction, instead of pa tsUni pike,

* Api-aou means the body with aU the limbs ; cf. the expression api-
ampiu for the whole body. Aou = " hand " or " arm."

* They would be liable to swell up and die as a result of the husband's
touching again the bones of a person he had killed, apart from any power
the contact might have of enabling Muchiipile's ill-will to affect the objects
of it directly.

XXII.

THE twins' HUNTING.

We Semas have a story of old. Once upon a time there
was a man and his wife. Before their child was born^ a
tiger carried off the father. After that twin sons were born.
They asked their mother, " Where is our father ? " Their
mother said to them, "Your father was carried off by a
tiger." Thereon the two brothers took some cold lunch, ^
went into the jungle, and followed up the tiger's tracks.

* Punu-mo-philono, literally " in the reckoning before birth," i.e., during
pregnancy.

* Alhe is the cold rice (and curry or other comestible) cooked before-
hand and taken to the fields or on the march to eat in the middle of the
da^.

VI FOLK-LORE 361

They found him. Then they got up into a tree and threw
their spears at the tiger and killed him. But when they
had done so the two of them ran away, and for this reason
tigers still exist, they say. And moreover, since after this
the pair sang the Aphi'^ dancing song, we Semas still sing
the Aphi song.

Kaghelomi ni Simi atsa laki anike. Kaghe akimi
Men of old we Semas story a is. Formerly husband

anipfu ake. Anu punu-mo-philono apu angshuno

wife were. Child born not reckoning in father tiger

tsuveke. Tipa-thiuno kepatimi mi kini punuke.
devoured. That after male men two were born.

Aza-vUo " I-pu kilao ake la ? " ti pike. Azano
Mother to " My father where is eh " this said. Mother

pamavilo ti pike " 0-puye angshuno tsuveke."
to both this said " Your father tiger (by) devoured."

Tilehino pama ataziino alhe shipuzii aghalo

Then both brothers cold food having made into jungle

wupuziino angshu 'nyepa zhuwuke ; ituluke.
having gone tiger track see went found.

Tilehino asiilo ikupuziino angshu khuke.

Then in tree having got up tiger threw-spear-at.

Tilehino pamano angshu hekhikhavepuziino kinino

Then both tiger having completely kUled the two

poveke-ghenguno hishi angshu acheni pike. Eno
fled because of thus tiger still exist said and

ipuziino pamano aphile ghi pikeghenguno, ni Simino
after this both Aphi song too said because of we Semas

aphile pichenike.
Aphi song keep saying.

^ The aphi-le is siing at the dancing which follows the slaughter
of mithan in ceremonies performed for the erection of aghiiza
c/. pp. 115, 227,

362 THE SEMA NAGAS part

SONGS.

The songs which follow are fairly typical of Sema songs
in general. Examples are given of Lezule — songs sung in
the house, e.g., at a feast, and of Alu'kumla'le — songs sung
while at work in the fields. The fact that a song belongs
to one of these classes does not prevent its being sung on
other occasions : e.g., a Lezu'le might be sung in the fields,
Alu'kumla'le are often sung in the house. The difference
seems to be based on the music, the latter class being much
easier to sing and therefore better suited to singing while at
work. Probably, too, the tunes belong traditionally to one
class or another.

As will be gathered from the footnotes to the songs, the
language used in songs is often archaic, and sometimes the
meaning has been entirely forgotten. Where it is remem-
bered the meaning of the song as a whole is often obscure,
as the composer of a song uses disconnected words which
mean much to him but convey little to those who cannot
follow his thought and do not know to what he is alluding.

Even newly-composed songs often need their composer
to explain exactly what it is all about, and trying to translate
them with the aid of someone who does not happen to know
is rather like trying to disentangle a difficult chorus of
Aeschylus.

Of the songs given here the first is an example of a stereo-
typed form already described in which the song has been
reduced to a mere formula. Both it and the second Lezu'le
which follows are of recent composition. The third, an
Alu'kumla'le, is old and nearly forgotten, and the fourth,
though the words are well known, is obscure in places, as
the circumstances to which it alludes are entirely forgotten.
Both the Alu'kumla'le given here go to the same tune. No
attempt has been made to render in English the meaningless
syllables necessitated by the singing {iho, uno, u, etc.), which
have no more meaning than " Tra-la-la " or " Hey-
nonni-no."

Songs are ordinarily referred to by their first line.

VI FOLK-LORE 363

Inato-no Likelio {Lezu'le).

Inato killed and brought back the head of a girl of Lik^.^
Vikeshe^ put her hair in his ear, put the Like girl's hair in
his ear. Khakuli^ made glad. Khakuli made glad.

0 Inato-no Likelio ipfughe

Inato girl of Like killed and took the head

iho, iho, iho, i.
0 Vikeshe asa li-kyeghe
Vikeshe hair put-in-his-ear

iho, iho, iho, i.
0 H-kyeghe, Likeli 'sa likyeghe

put-in-his-ear, the Like girl's hair put-in-his-ear

iho, iho, iho, i.
0 Khakuli allove
Khakuli made glad

iho, iho, iho, i.
0 KhakuH allove-o
KhakuU made glad

iho, iho, iho, i
iho, iho, iho.

II.

A song of the Kuki war [Lezu'le).

Kekheche, my father, Kekheche, my father, when you go
to raid, when you go to raid in the country of the Kukis, in
the country of the Kukis, take heed lest you be wounded.

Ere anyone else pluck a Kuki flower, pluck and take a Kuki
flower.

* Likemi — the men of the village of Like, i.e., the Ao village of Lung-
khxrng, better kno\\Ti as " Nankam." Inato did not really ever kill a
Nankam girl, though he did take the head of a Chang warrior at Tuensang
(" Mozungjami ").

- Vikeshe was the son of Inato's elder brother.

^ Khakuli was Inato's wife. Not his first wife, who was one of his
father's widows, but a later one, and the only one who bore hina a child.

364 THE SEMA NAGAS part

Kukimi^ Lakuhu 'Le.
I hoi

I-pu Kekheche^ I-pu Kekheche ihoi ihoi

My father Kekheche My father Kekheche
Kukimi lao-o — iho Kukimi lao-o iho

Kuki side (towards) Kuki side

I hoi ihoi

Lakuhu-lono lakuhu-lono ihoi ihoi

When going on the war path when going on the war path
Uno zaniiiku u kutolo u-o-iho

mishap beware

Ihoi ihoi

Akhamunu^ u kiitami u khomoye

Flower another while not plucking

Akhamunu u Kukimi u kholuye^

Flower Kuki pluck and take

Ihoi ihoi.

Ishi no ghi sholu {Alu'kumla'le).

(A girl addresses her lover.)

To-day we have met again. To-day I am adorned as a
damseP should be. When not adorned they looked upon
one another, Hocheli^ and a man,' a man of some other

* Kukimi. The Semas usually use Kotsomi, borrowed from the Angami
word for Kuki, " Kotsoma," which is probably derived from the Manipuri
word " Khonjai," but some have adopted our word Kuki and given it a
Sema form.

- Kekheche was a Sema interpreter who went in charge of coolies with
one of the colvimns that operated from the Naga Hills against the rebel
Kukis in 1918.

^ Plucking a flower is a metaphor for kilUng an enemy.

' Not the ordinary imperative form, but really a participle.

* Akheono timi is used, in singing only, to mean a girl who is of marriage-
able age. Akheo is a person of either sex who is of marriageable age but is
Btill unmarried.

* Hocheli, here a woman's name, is the girl who is speaking.

' The man who is addressed. She is being provocative ; she could not
look on a man of her own clan with anything but indifference.

O. o. o. o

0. o. o. o

VI FOLK-LORE 365

clan — of my own clan (I forget which). At the elder's
words of rebuke^ I was troubled O my father ! -

0. o. o. o

Ishi no ghi sholu
To-day you too met

Ishi akheono timi kiye ' yepfu
To-day damsel like adorned

Yepfumoye hoche

When not adorned looked upon

Hocheli ngo timi
Hocheli and a man

Timiyelo niyelo

Of other man's clan of my clan

^ Asiighakuwo. The real meaning is very doubtful. No one seemed
able to say for certain, and it might be approbation or it might be rebuke.
It seems to be a forgotten word which has only survived in this song. This
song itself had almost been forgotten, and there were only a few who knew
it all when I took it down from a man of Sheyepu, I obtained another
version from a man of Moemi which I give below, but the meaning has
been long forgotten, and as only a word or two here and there is intelligible
even to the singers, I attempt no translation. It apparently introduces
Hocheli (Hokali) and her father, and is also a song of the Zumomi clan, so
that it probably has the same origin as the version already given.

Ishi no ghi sholu

Akheono timi kiye yepfu

Hokali pa'puno

Kunokughii

Akukhuno ni 'ghami

Mayeghii laye

ikapapu sikipe

nacheluye

awudu nil

lakeke pukecheshia

ini suluye.

* I-shiapuno apparently merely singing for i-pu, " my father," perhaps
lit. = " the one who treats me as a father does."
' Kiye only used in this sense in singing.

366 THE SEMA NAGAS part

O. o. o. o

0. o. o. o

O. o. o. o

0. o. o. o

Akechimi 'tsa na
Elders' words by

Asiighakuwo min'losiye
(?) of rebuke I was sorry

Ishiapuno hei
0 my father

O. o. o. o 0. o. o. o.

IV.

Ateelao Shimonaye {Alu'kumWle).

(A man soliloquises.)

Though I wish not to grow old, while I say it it has befallen
indeed. My suns are counted, my tale of years ^ is growing
full. I have begun to pass away. When going down to
Thoilalapi^ there were damsels such as wear bracelets on
their wrists. The night before last when going on the path,
when going to look upon my beloved, as I was arriving I saw
a stranger ^ girl's mother and was troubled thereat.

The moon rose and made bright the sward * before my
house. (On one side they said) " I am one who sleeps in

1 Siyepi is really " reckoning of jhums," the method by which count of
years is kept being by recalling the land freshly cut in each year. The
ordinary method is to take the land last cleared, name and count the lands
cleared before it backwards until the land first named again recurs, and
then to count how many times one can remember that clearing of that
land and multiply the number of years in the cycle by the number of times
that the clearing of the particular land taken can bo remembered. This,
of course, is far from accurate, as the cycle of jhums cleared is apt to
contract or expand in accordance as the population of the village grows
or decreases, the difference being often very considerable.

2 Thoilalapi is the name of a field.
- Ina, i.e., from another village.

* In front of every house is a piece of flat ground cleared and levelled.
I have used " sward " as the nearest English word, but no grass grows on it.

VI FOLK-LORE > 367

Laza's house " ^ ; (on the other side they cried) " I am one
who sleeps in Ahota's house." The young men who sleep
in other houses when they go to war, when they cross over
the hill-top, 2 those men who sleep in other houses, they are
such as meet with misadventure and are troubled thereat.

O. o. o. o

Ateelao shimonaye

Elderly not wishing to become

Piaye eghu kucho
while saying come true

Atsala pio
suns are counted

Siyepi wo-chayeo

tale of jhums has become full

Iloencheaye
I in beginning to pass

Thoilalapi lakhohulo-na

Thoilalapi while going down the road of

Lozhitimi ulo
young girls on hand

Kumlapfu m'chekolumi

brass bracelet one who is seen wearing

1 The young men sleep in the front part of the house of the chief or any
other rich man. The allusion seems to be to a faction fight between two
of these dormitories. The sequence of thought is obscure, and the circum-
stances of the composition of the song forgotten, but apparently the com-
poser laments that when he went forth for dalliance he met with strangers
instead of his beloved, and then got mixed up in a squabble between two
sets of yoiuig buclis, for whicli ho was not in the mood, leading him to
dismiss the subject with a contemptuous estimate of all the bucks except
his own set ; altogether a disgruntled songster.

^ Aghothu — " a boundary " — here used in what was probably its original
sense of the top of a range of hills.

O. o. o. o

0. o. o. o

O. o. o. o

0. o. o. o

368 THE SEMA NAGAS part

O. o. o. o

0. o. o. o

0. o, o. o

0. o. o. o

O. o. o. o

kazhe ala chelo

night before last road in going

'Lozhilio ohowunaye

Beloved when going to look upon

Cheloghiyono
when arriving

Ina 'lio pa 'zanana
Stranger girl her mother

Ituliye allomoghani
when seeing was troubled

Akhino epen'ke akah veloaye
moon (-by) came out level in lighting up

Isheni Laza kipfumi

I am one who sleeps in Laza's house

Isheni Ahota kipfumi

I am one who sleeps in Ahota's house

Timi kipfumina

The younger men who sleep in the houses
of others

Aghoha shilo

when they go to make war

Aghotu kapelonikechelono
the range when crossing over

Timi kipfumina

The young men who sleep in the houses of
others

FOLK-LORE

0. 0. 0. o

Akesa sho-mulekinimi

evil meet and be troubled men

0. o. 0. o

0. o. o. o 0. o. 0. o.

369

Lezule (composed in France by Sema labourers).
0 you young bloods go and search for Shiyihe, mine elder
brother, and you colleens for darling Losheli his sweetheart.
Tell what he went forth to do ; tell (her) that he went forth
to pluck a flower ; tell (her) that he went forth to pluck a
flower, a flower of the Germans he went to pluck, went forth
to pluck and take. In going, in gomg fare thee well.
Hiyelo ashopumino imu Shiyihe

young bucks my elder brother Shiyihe
Hiyelo asholimino^
Hiyelo anga^ Losheli 'llomi hiwulo
Losheli lover go seek
Hiyelo ku shiwuniye chenike pilo
what to do went say
Hiyelo akhamunu Mowuniye chenike pilo
flower to pluck went say
Hiyelo 'khamunu Mowuniye chenike pilo
flower to pluck went say
Hiyelo Jermalimi
Germans
Hiyelo Mowunike

to pluck
Hiyelo ^'7ioluniye chenike

to pluck and take went
Gwolo-gwolono ilili gwolo.
in going-in going well go.

1 Asholimi is a difficult word to translate. It is the feminine equivalent
of a^Jiopumi, the nearest translation of which is the public -school expression
a " blood." Perhaps " peach " would render asholimi better than any
other expression.

* Anga usually = an infant. It is also used for the pupil of the eye
(no doubt its original meaning), and here apparently as a term of endear-
ment. Cf. the Greek use of k6pt].

B B

370

THE SEMA NAGAS

PT. VI

Note. — As an example of Sema music I give the notation of two songs
(No. I and No. Ill), showing as nearly as possible the different parts, which
are sung simultaneously (see p. 114), as sung in Kiyeshe village.

I. — 0 Inato-no.

Treble.

£±:Mi^j^zM:

cJ-Vii

?^3

O lu-a-tonoLik-e-lio i-pfu-ghe i-ho-i i-bo i-ho.
Alto. ^

^iE^SS^

-*n^-^

3^E3=pg

Bass.

't^

^—-^

r:?5EgE?Ep^

III. — Ishi no (jhi sholu.

D Major.

-^rr4-

fi^

i^£

:^:

±=1^

:±±

O - he

o - he

I • shi no ghi sho - lu

O o o o

o o o o

O o 0 0

O O 0 o

O 0 0 o

^1^1^

y^^-

No. IV is sung to the same tune as No. III. I am indebted to my wife
for recording both the above tunes.

APPENDICES

I. Bibliography.
II. Sema Migrations and Affinities.

III. Reciprocal Table of the Names of Relations.

IV. Extract from a Letter on the Subject of the
Relations between a Sema Chief and his Dependants.

V. The Semas and Mr. Perry's " Megalithic
Culture of Indonesia."

VI. Sema Vocabularies.

VEI. Glossary.

b B 2

APPENDIX I

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF INFORMATION AS REGARDS SEMA NAGA

TRIBE

1. "Gazetteer of the Naga Hills and Manipur " ; containing
some geographical information and historical details of
British occupation.

2. Assam Census Reports of 1891 and 1911 ; containing
a little general information.

3. Col. L. A. Waddell, "Tribes of the Brahmaputra
Valley," Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Part 3, No. 1,
of 1900 ; containing a note on the " Siima " tribe which is
meagre and quite inaccurate. The Semas have never worn
a " flap of wood " by way of a garment, and the unmarried
girls do not sleep in separate houses.

4. Miss G. M. Godden, " Naga and Other Tribes of N.E.
India," Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. xxvi ;
containing a resume of information collected from other
sources, with very little regarding the Semas in particular,
and that by no means always accurate.

5. W. H. Furness, " Ethnography of the Nagas of Eastern
Assam," Journal of the Anthropological Institute for 1902,
vol. xxxii, July to December ; containing little as to the
Semas, and making one bad mistake in confusing the Konyaks
of Chima with the Sema tribe — a mistake probably due to an
Assamese interpreter, as English-speaking Assamese often
speak of the people of Chima or Sima as " Semas," the
resemblance of the two words being entirely fortuitous.

6. J. H. Hutton, " The Angami Nagas " (Macmillan, 1921)
contains a few notes on the Sema tribe in particular, and a
bibliography of the books relating to the various Naga
tribes of the Naga Hills District.

374 APPENDIX I

7, J. H. Hutton, " Leopard-men of the Naga Hills,"
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 1920, Deals
with lycanthropy.

N.B. — Authorities for the Sema tongue, such as there are,
have been mentioned in Part V when dealing with the
language.

For definitely Bodo tribes in Assam the following may
be referred to : —

(a) Major A. Playfair, " The Garos " (Nutt, 1909).

(6) C. A. Soppitt, " Historical and Descriptive Account
of the Kachari Tribes in the North Cachar Hills " (Shillong,
1885). Reprinted, with an Introduction by E. C. Stuart
Baker, in 1901.

{d) W. C. M. Dundas, " Outline Grammar and Dictionary
of the Kachari (Dimasa) Language " (Shillong, 1908).

(e) J. D. Anderson, " Kachari Folk-tales and Rhymes "
(Shillong, 1895).

For Burma tribes mentioned the authority consulted is
the " Gazetteer of Upper Burmah and the Shan States."
Part I. Rangoon, 1900.

APPENDIX II

SEMA MIGRATIONS AND AFFINITIES

The accompanying chart shows the migrations of the
Sema tribe. North of the line of, say, Cheshalimi the
chart is not only approximately correct but approximately
complete. South of Cheshalimi the chart is probably
correct as far as it goes, but in this area, in which the settle-
ments that remain are of longer standing than in the north
of the Sema country, there have probably been many move-
ments that have been forgotten. Thus there is no informa-
tion to account adequately for the curious case of the village
of Swemi near Khezabama, a genuine Sema village left
surrounded by Angamis. The village of Khezakenoma has
been shown as a Sema settlement. It is possible that the
tradition which tells of the ancestor of the Semas having
come from that village is merely connected with the present
village of Khezakenoma owing to that village being able
to point to a stone as the actual stone spoken of in the legend
on which the paddy set to dry doubled itself by nightfall.
No doubt this story is much older than the cracked dolmen
exhibited by Khezakenoma. At the same time the
linguistic connection between the Khezami Angamis and
the Semas is close enough to warrant the assumption that
they have at some time in the past been more intimately
connected than they are now.

The origin of the legendary connection with the mountain
of Tukahu (Japvo) is obvious enough. Any Sema almost
who wished to indicate the south as the direction from which
his ancestors came could most easily do so by pointing to
the highest peak in the Barail range and saying " We came
from near there," This would be particularly the case

375

376 APPENDIX II

with Semas settled up the Dayang Valley, which is dominated
for a long way by Japvo {IDzupfii = " Mother of waters"),
where the river has its source.

The probable location of the tribe before it reached its
known habitations and sojourning places in the Naga Hills
district has been shown as the country of the Khoirao tribe
in the Manipur State. This tribe is a small one wedged in
between the quasi-Angamis of Maram^ to the west, the
Tangkhuls to the north and east, and Kacha Nagas and
Kukis to the south. The Khoirao tribe's villages, few in
number, speak dialects which vary acutely, and the villages
near Maram such as Purun and Khoite (I give them the
names by which they are known in the Manipur State) have
clearly close affinities to Maram and probably a very large ad-
mixture of Angami blood. Their culture is very much closer
to Angami culture than to Sema. Further north, however, in
Khongde and Raime, this is less marked, and in the little
village of * Ngari, which again speaks its own dialect, the
affinity to the Sema tribe is most pronounced. This is the
case with both the speech and the physiognomy of the
people. It struck me most forcibly as soon as I saw the
headmen of the village, and the appearance of their fellow
villagers, made the more obvious in some by a similar method
of hair-dressing, confirmed it ; as did also their speech
and vocabulary. And this though I had gone to Ngari —
the first Khoirao village I went to — without any idea of such
a thing in my mind and without even knowing the name of
the tribe that inhabited the village. I had expected to find
Tangkhuls there.

Ngari is the most northerly village of the KJioirao tribe,
and somewhat to the north of it comes the Tangkhul village
of Chingjaroi, known to the Angamis as " Swemi," though
this name appears to be unknown in the village or its
immediate locality. A name like this is not without signifi-
cance, and it may be fairly assumed that this village was
also at one time occupied by the Sema tribe, and hence was
given this name by the Angamis that traded with it. Indeed

* The people of Maram use the first personal possessive i- of the Semas,
at any rate with the names of relations, e.g., i-po — " my father."

' krmm ai Onn,
vW" the Hho/mo tr-hf

CHART SHOWING

MIGRATIONSofthe SEMA TRIBE

according to ihsir own traditions

f/ames urtderlilnd inyellrm, show Yillogm m wfneti tht Astm, Clan predommaUi
Names (Jnderlmed in rtd rJicm Villages in which the Zumom, Clan prwdom.
Namt^ uniJtriintil m blue ihow i^il/a^es in whichthtYepoOwmi^ytmi orffunomCiofa prtdvi
medm^nen show ViHagesin which OttCheshcUmi orOiishilimi Oanf^OiminaU
Namei undeHiaedm tJadt show Vti/ayes m which «tia- Oaas ^■9domiaoU{mostfyAwomi trKimmi}
tthat w<u pmbabtjf eA* aetua/ /me a/" mrgraOwt

JSmnX^^>lit€w iSwt liJ"BI!i

APPENDIX II 377

it is very likely that it was actually the village or the site
from which the Semas of Swemi (which is, of course, the same
word as Sema, Semi, Siimi, or Simi) near Khezabama
migrated to that place. But however that may be, one
may fairly assume, in view of the obvious Sema affinities
in Ngari, that Swemi (Chingjaroi) is another stage southwards
in the migrations of the Sema tribe.

The language of Ngari is probably nowhere recorded. The
Khoirao recorded by Sir George Grierson in the linguistic
survey of India is probably that of another Khoirao village,
and the dialect of these villages varies enormously. Of
several through which I passed I found only Ngari which
retained that very marked Sema characteristic the initial a-
for nouns. In Ngari, too, the Sema physiognomy was more
marked than in Khoite, though the latter have a truly
Sema propensity for snapping up unconsidered trifles. I give,
at the end of this Appendix, a parallel table of a few words
used in Ngari and their Sema equivalents. Unfortunately, I
only had a very short time in Ngari itself, and was unable
to revisit the village, but I am convinced that in the
descent of its inhabitants the ancestors of the Sema
tribe are well represented. It may be noted that
they mark the performance of certain gennas by the
erection of a tree in a manner very similar to the Aghiiza
or Akedu.

It is also curious that one should find in Khoirao villages
clans of the same name as Sema clans. Thus I learn from
Colonel Shakespear that there are in Khoite clans called
CJionamei and Kinamei, in Meheme (" Purul ") Kunamei
(cf. Sema Chunimi and Kinimi), whUe the head of the clan,
though in some clans called Viyeh (? " the good one "), is
in the others called Sume, Viyeh and Sume having been the
names of the two brothers, elder and younger respectively,
from whom the clans claim descent. The Viyeh or Sume
gets a leg of every animal killed by his people whether wild
or tame, very much like a Sema chief. The Khoiraos of
Purun trace their more immediate origin to Mekrima
(Maikel) like the Angamis, but their ultimate origm to two
gods, Lappo and his wife Raru, who came from a place or

378 APPENDIX II

a god called Deamo ^ in the west, " where the western
sky meets the earth," and the spirits of the dead go
west to a hill called Kapura, the locality of which is
unknown.

The chart of the Sema migrations omits certain villages
to the west, near the plains, which have been planted out
artificially by the Deputy Commissioner of the Naga Hills
or the Sub-divisional Officer of Mokokchung to relieve
pressure of population in parts of the Sema country. As
these villages are not the result of natural migrations in
any degree, they have not been shown in the chart, though
some have been marked in the map of the Naga tribes which
accompanies the monograph on the Angamis. These
villages — there are five or six — are too far west to appear
in the map of the Semas and their neighbours published in
this volume.

The Khoiraos of Purun place their origin in the west,
and though this may refer to some place as far west merely
as Mekrima (Maikel), it is to be noticed that there are
marked similarities between the Semas and some of the Bodo
tribes to be found in other parts of Assam. The paper
referred to in Appendix I, No. 7, dealt with the question of
lycanthropy and tiger clans. ^ It also mentioned the Y-shaped
posts which the Garo uses, as does the Sema, ^ and which the
Kachari apparently used to erect in stone, to judge from
the carved stones of similar shape still to be seen at Dimapur.
There are also certain linguistic affinities to be traced
between Sema, Kachari, and Garo (see note at end of this
Appendix), while some similarity seems to obtain between
Semas and Garos in the matter of their views on female
chastity, which are noticeably strict as compared with
those of their neighbours. A few similar resemblances may
also perhaps be traced between the Semas and the Karen

^ Deamo ? = Diina {doima), the river Dima or Dhansiri, the home of the
Dima8a(Kacharis), whose capital was Dimapur.

* Apropos of the Zumomi story of the descent of their ancestor from
a squirrel, it is worth noting that the Kacharis have a definite squirrel clan
(Endle, "The Kacharis," p. 27).

' Also the Wa of Burma ("Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan
States," Part I, vol. i, p, 505) and the Khawtlang clan of Kukis.

APPENDIX II 379

tribes known in Burma as the Mano and the Southern Bre,
who, hke the Semas,^ reap their rice by stripping the ears
by hand into a basket instead of using a reaping hook. The
identity of the name given by Kacharis and Semas to their
Creator has been already pointed out ; also the common use
by the Sema and the Kacha Naga of a certain type of
stone circle to commemorate rich men, the only memorial
made with stones by Semas. Hill Kacharis allow Kacha
Nagas to eat in their houses on the ground of relationship,
admitting that they and the Nagas are descended from the
elder and younger of two brothers respectively. Kukis
they will not allow to enter their houses on the ground
that they are strangers entirely.

My general conclusion is that the Semas are a composite
tribe containing a larger proportion of Mongolian and Bodo
blood from the direction of the north or north-west than
their Angami neighbours. There have been immigrations
into Assam from the north, whence came the
Singphos, Kacharis, and the Garos ; from China or the
north-east, whence came the Shan and the Tai races
generally (the Tamans of the upper Chindwin Valley in
Burma clearly came across the Irawadi from China and
for a time lived in the hills between the plains of Burma
and Assam before they w^ent back again to their present
location in Burma) ; and from the south, whence came
apparently the people of Maram, the Angamis and the Kuki
tribes (though, of course, these later migrations may well
have come from the east and perhaps the north-east
originally, subsequently turning north again). One would
therefore expect to find a considerable variety of culture
in the Naga tribes, though indeed this is clearly the case
with Indonesia generally, and it is undoubtedly not merely
coincidence that we find a system of terraced cultivation
in the Philippines, for instance, identical with that of the
Angami Nagas combined with what seems to be a very
similar village polity. Many other points of contact arise
between Naga tribes and such peoples as the Dusun of

* So, too, the Garos (Pla\-fair, op. cit., p. 34), Bhois, and Lynngam
(Giirdon, " The Khasis," p. 40, 2nd ed.).

38o

APPENDIX II

British North Borneo, or theToradjas of the Celebes,' whose
beliefs with regard to the soul seem to be very much the
same as those of the Semas. If the Semas be in the main
of a northern stock, like the Kacharis, they have certainly
absorbed much of the culture of the immigrants from the
south, represented by the Angamis, who in their turn must,
of course, have absorbed much of the north-western stock.
It was possibly under the influence of the immigration from
the south that the former immigrants from the north-west
changed to a patrilineal system from the matrilineal system
still adhered to by the Garos.

Note. — The Garo numerals are at least as near those of the E^hoiraos
as the Sema, and the Garos came from north of the Brahmaputra, so it
may be that the Khoiraos and Semas contain an element of some common
stock which, having come south, turned eastwards, th\is accounting for
the Khoirao account of the western origin ; the Sema account of a southern
origin would not be affected, as it only refers to Japvo and the country
in the neighbourhood of the present location of the Khoiraos, whence it
is virtually certain that the progenitors of the Sema tribe migrated to
the present Sema covintry.

List of numerals, etc., as found in Khoirao, Sema, Kachari (Dimasa),
and Garo : —

Khoirao

English

{of Khongde)

{of Ngari)

Sema

Kachari

Oaro

one

keshi

keae

laki, khe

two

kini

gni

three

ktUhom

kuthom

kuthu

ketham

gitam

four

hizhi

bizhi

bidhi

biri

bri

five

pongo

pongu

ponga

bonga

six

aurok

tsughok

tsoghoh

doh

dok

seven

thoni

tsini

shini

ani

eight

silat

thache

chat

chet

^ It has already been pointed out that the Sema story of the inter-
change of functions between the sun and moon is reported also from
Mexico. A comparison of the Kachari legend of the re -creation of the
earth after the Flood (Soppitt, op. cit., p. 32) is most decidedly reminiscent
of the Algonquin legend so widely distributed in N. America (Frazer, " Folk-
Lore in the Old Testament," vol. i, p. 295 et sqq.) in which the muskrat
brings up grains of earth from below the sea, for the Creator to fashion
the land from, as the crabs do in the Kachari story. The Kachari account
of the creation of man (Soppitt, loc. cit.) is also obviously intimately con-
nected with that given by the Khasis (Frazer, op. cit., vol. i, p. 18), while
the story from the Bila-an of the Philippine Islands of the people who were
created with their noses upside down so that they could not go out in the
rain (Frazer, op. cit., i, p. 16) is also found in the Naga Hills among
Semas, and among the Changs.

APPENDIX II

381

Khoirao

English

{of Khomjde)

(of Ngari)

Scma

Kachari

Garo

nine

auku

tauku

thuku

auku

aku

ten

aero

aegho

cheghi

chikung

twenty

muku

kwon

road

ala

lama

house

adi

aki

my father

ipo

Kohima

Kabu

grandfather

aau

aju

achu

cattle

amiahi

musu-ma

matclni

It may also be noticed that the enoHtic -ne, = " pleaao," is common to
Sema and Garo, while the use of the particle -ve to indicate peist time in the
verb seems to be common to the Semas and to the Khoiraos of Ngari.

The Garo list is taken from Col. Playfair's book, the other lists from
my own notes.

ffl

•F-l

•*

ert

•* ^

Ci-

2'o « >> .

O O 03 » <B
-^^00 II 3

m 't- "3 ""^ 2

O Hf

S' II 5 Sg O +; 08

•■* ..tf !(0 S 5 iTl

^ e S e e a ^ «

eeeeeeub

S^2 _

a =

s .>

S >'

.2. a

to ^

'3 r

•3d "

c8 -i

12;

C8 ^

a ::

0) «

:a ::

* .

§ a
a 2

o ««
ft 2

„ '^^

N.B. — m.8.= man speaking, w.s.
is t- ; this replaces the initial o- ; t
mother."

: : S -^ ^ 7 =4

. .^a,ri,a,

• ' ^ u^ u"^

: : s 2 f^ 2o
<u vi fn fc( ^1 -r

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o =s o o o o S

« 5- c t>, o .^ . o

>»:§ ^ " S S S

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?s'"£.s fto* a,sa ss

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a.i. "i ^ s "s g

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^.£3 t< St '^ c S

: :o o -^ -S"^ -^ '°

• • & Jh .2 .2 M to 00

I— I t) fO ■* ic «o t^

383

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tt)

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o « e e

OSO ^<M

-^ C^ <N IN

-5^72 2 :

T3 73 -■" .=° :
'xi'^SS

OB m WM)<d

e e e d e

05 o -H ci CO

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CO "Its o'
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00 00 ' * •

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'vn : : a
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05 03

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01 CO oD (0 c5

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to 00 ^-'^— ' 2

"u 'fc* ® ® '

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S^^^,"-

Daug
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Son's
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Sister

e e B B e

Tt in o t^ 00

<N IM M (M <N

■> 2^-== >>x:
00 "O B 5 "c

■« cS t; d °"

3 fi 2 S 0:2

_ c3 00 '^ c 2

-^ c g © o a
J 22 <" ©f

^ ® o ►> jn ^

•B

•n

§ i

er's child
s husban

2-^

ji ©

09 00

ther ...
other ...
ther . . .
other

xij:
0 0

■*j © ©
0 -s -*^

U b

00 00

^X!

^ to 'oo

.sa^ B

00 00

CO 00 CD
"u "fcc 't<

ither's
ither's
other's
other's
usband

jSXi

*i -li -»j

d si

000

fefa

;?.s

SSS

fefeSSM

-^ M

n "*

10 «5 t>

0: 0 -H 'm' fO

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-^ C^J C-J (N !N
383

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6 a B e B

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Pl^ 0 ^<

•

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c e 5^ e z2<i

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jand'e
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whetl
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384

APPENDIX IV

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER ON THE SUBJECT OF THE RELATIONS
BETWEEN A SEMA CHIEF AND HIS DEPENDANTS. THE

boi (or bawi) system referred to is that which

EXISTS AMONG THE LUSHAIS

... I KNOW of no independent tribes in regular com-
munication with the administered district to the south of
the Phom country which commonly practise any form of
genuine slavery, the test of which I should regard as the
buying and selling of human beings, and there is no practice
in the administered area which even a warped imagination
and a distorted mind could regard as such. There are,
however, relations between chiefs and their subjects in the
Sema country, both administered and independent, which
present certain superficial similarities to the Boi system in
the Lushai Hills ... A somewhat similar system in a
modified form exists in the Chang country, but it will
probably be enough to examine in detail the relations
existing between the Sema Chief (KeJcami) and the villager
(Miighemi), and it is necessary to a proper understanding
of this to explain how these relations have arisen . . .

The vast majority of the villages of the Sema tribe have
either just emerged from, or are still governed by, migratory
conditions, as the tribe has during the last and the present
generation grown and extended at a great rate and over a
large area, and is yearly extending eastward at the expense
of less warlike tribes. It is still the custom, wherever
circumstances permit, for the elder sons of a Sema chief to
leave the paternal village and make villages of their own. A
chief's son taking a colony of this sort is given by his father
as many of the households willing to go with him as his

385 c c

386 APPENDIX IV

father can spare, and to his nucleus is frequently added a
small number of broken men, thieves, debtors and such.
It is significant that the real meaning of the word Miighemi
is " orphan," whence it has been applied in a more general
sense to the ordinary villager who adopts the chief as his
" father " and protector. Such a community would occupy
and hold its village and land by force and in the face of
opposition from some previously established and more
numerous community. Almost the whole of the present
Sema country, at any rate north of Satakna and east of
the Tizu, was occupied by Aos and Sangtams, who were
driven out during the last and the preceding generations.
Under such circumstances the desertion of a single house-
hold or a single fighting man is obviously a serious matter.
In addition to this, the land occupied by the new village is
regarded as belonging not to the community but to the
chief, who has led the colony and by whose favour and pro-
tection the other members of it accompany him, for the
Sema chiefs are on the whole an aristocracy in the literal
sense of the word, being (perhaps owing to better feeding)
morally, physically, and intellectually the best men of the
community.

These conditions have led to the establishment of recog-
nised rights and duties between the chief and his subjects,
which are at a stage between patriarchal and quasi-feudal,
and which, even in villages where the conditions which
gave rise to them no longer exist, are so much in accord with
local sentiment that the punishment of their breach is no
more regarded as unjust than the punishment, say, of theft.

The system is one of family adoption and of land tenure
combined, but its important principle is that the chief
himself distributes his land among his villagers, reserving
certain portions for his own cultivation, and a recognised
right with its corresponding duty has grown up on both
sides, so that while the villager ^ is entitled to have land
allotted to him by the chief, the chief is likewise entitled
to a certain number of days' work in the year from each
villager cultivating his land. The number of days' work

* That is, from the time he marries.

APPENDIX IV 387

given varies from five days to in some cases as much as
thirty, but is normally from about ten to fifteen days in
the year.

In addition to this the chief provides his " orphans "
with wives, with food in times of scarcity, and with seed
if necessary, as well as general protection, which frequently
includes the payment of fines incurred for misdemeanours
committed in or against other villages. It is true that the
chief usually expects loans and payment of this sort to be
paid back, and, in the case of ordinary loans of paddy, with
interest, but he does not object to waiting a very long time
for repayment, repayment of paddy often being made in
the next generation.

On the other hand, the villager pays a form of homage to
the chief who protects him, addressing him as " Father,"
giving him shares of meat killed in hunting or sacrificed at
geimas, and being under the obligation of not removing from
the chief's village, since this would deprive the chief of the
persons who cultivate the land, and impair his prestige
and, in the case of an independent chief, his fighting force.
The " orphan," in fact, adopts the chief as a father, and the
latter inherits the former's property in preference to any
male relations who are not on the same footing with regard
to him . . .

This system must not, of course, be regarded as inflexibly
adhering to one pattern, but has been subjected to modifica-
tions effected by the purchase of land by villagers, by the
division of a chief's land between brothers at his death,
by varying local customs, so that in some cases a man may
owe merely nominal homage to the chief and cultivate his
own land or that of some other villager, who is himself
independent of the chief in all but name, though in most
villages all members owe a few days' work to the principal
chief, whatever their other relations to him may be.

When a man living in the administered area wishes to
leave his village and make his home somewhere else and
the chief is unwilling to let him go, he is allowed to go after
payment of a small sum to the chief. Cases are treated on
their merits, but the usual payment is from Rs.5/- to Rs.lo/-,

c c 2

388 APPENDIX IV

according to the degree of vassalage in which he stands,
Rs.l5/- as a general rule being the highest amount at present
paid in discharge of all a man's obligations to his chief other
than actual debts. When such a person goes to another
village he ordinarily places himself under the protection of
the chief of that vUlage, who frequently pays for him the
sum due to his last chief.

On the whole the " orphan " probably gets . . . the
best of the bargain, and it is only some system of this sort
which makes life possible to many of the inhabitants of the
average Sema village. The poor, the old, the crippled and
the mentally deficient turn to their " Father " the chief
when they are in need. He helps them as a matter of course,
for his reputation is involved, but his only security for
payment in the future is that he and they stand in the
hereditary relations of " father " and " orphan " ; if these
relations were abolished, those of the latter unable to main-
tain themselves would have to starve or steal or be supported
by Government. Nor is this the only way in which the
system is valuable under present conditions. Cash in the
Sema country is a scarce commodity, much of the trade
being still carried on by barter, and many persons only
handling rupees at the time when they go away from the
village to work on the cart-road or elsewhere in order to
earn the Rs.2/- which Government requires as house-tax.
But the " orphan " system again provides credit. A man
who wishes to marry but cannot collect the necessary sum
goes to his chief, who provides it for him, getting in return
a reversionary title to the marriage prices of the bride-
groom's daughters if he should have any in the future, and
if he should die before they marry, and if he has no male
heirs among the " orphans " of the same father, on the whole
a biggish " if." ^ Here again the hereditary relations between
the chief and the subject give security that the obligation
can be repaid, if not to the chief, at any rate to his successors.
It must also be remembered that almost all the chief's

' If a chief brings up the daughter of an "orphan" in his outi house,
as he often docs, he is entitled to claim a return for having done so when
the girl marrie;;, and it is usual to pay this out of the marriage price.

APPENDIX IV 389

influence is bound up with this system, and it is on the
chief's influence that . . . depend . . . the general good
behaviour of the Sema country, and . . . the settlement of
innumerable petty disputes . . . Moreover, the obligations
entailed by this system and the consequence of breaches of
it are thoroughly understood and entirely conform to tribal
sentiment and the inherent conception of society that
prevails in the Sema country both among the chief and the
ordinary villagers.

If any proposal were made to abolish the " orphan "
system among the Semas or the corresponding and similar
system among the Changs, it wovild have to be borne in
mind that such an abolition would have the effect of under-
mining the authority of the chief, seriously disturbing the
whole tribe, and causing a vast increase of petty litigation,
and would probably tend to make disputes over land much
more liable to end in violence, as it is a long way to court,
and the chief might be unable to stop affrays. It would
further necessitate provision for a large number of paupers,
and would probably give rise to a difficult land question,
as the majority of Semas are dependent on the chief, who
is " father " to them, for land to cultivate. It would,
moreover, make the trans-frontier chiefs exceedingly averse
to the extension of British administration, and they would
probably jeer at the chiefs of the administered villages as
having lost their position and reputation. On the other
hand, even if exception be taken to certain features of the
system, there is much to be said for leaving it to die a more
or less natural death in the course of time, as it is already
showing signs of decay in many villages in the Dayang Valley.
That interference with long -established custom, however
reasonable on the face of it, has unlooked-for consequences,
may be gathered from the effect of an attempt made a few
years ago to enforce a three years' limitation order for debt
in the Mokokchung Sub-division. ... A Standing Order
had recently been passed limiting the time for claiming
repayment of any debt to three years after it had been
incurred. This order was applicable to debts of paddy as
well as of cash. After I had enforced the Order in several

390 APPENDIX IV

cases of old claims, I found a steady increase in the number
of persons produced for punishment for having stolen paddy
from the granaries of their neighbours, than which
nothing is easier, as granaries are built away from the
village for fear of fire, are made of bamboos, the only avail-
able material, and have no locks. I found out eventually
that these thefts were due to the thieves having been unable
to get any loans, as there was no prospect whatever of their
repaying in three years, and so no one would give them paddy
and they were forced to steal. When the Order was cancelled
as regards loans in kind, this epidemic of thefts stopped at
once.

It may perhaps be worth while indicating one or two
points in which the Sema " orphan " system seems to differ
from the " 6oi " system. In the first place it is a system
of land tenure, almost a manorial system, and not one of
domestic service, for the " orphan " does not necessarily
or ordinarily become an inmate of the chief's house or owe
him any labour except a very small and fixed amount in
the fields. In the second place, he does not lose or acquire
any particular social status ; he cannot become chief,
because the office is hereditary, but he becomes a village
elder (Chuchomi) in his turn, and may have " orphans "
of his own. Thirdly, the marriage price ^ of an "orphan's"
daughter is only paid to his " father " in case the real father
of the girl dies before her marriage and without male rela-
tions who are " orphans " of the same " father," the adopted
" father " being then the nearest heir. Fourthly, the sum
needed to discharge obligations to the chief is very small
indeed. . . .

1 As distinct, that is, from any expenses the chief may have directly
incurred on the girl's upbringing.

APPENDIX V

SOME REMARKS ON THE SEMAS IN CONNECTION WITH
MR. perry's " MEGALITHIC CtTLTURE OF INDONESIA."

In a paper which I read before the Oxford Anthropological
Society in 1919 I drew attention to a number of points
in which the evidence available from Naga tribes seemed to
run counter to the conclusions arrived at by Mr. Perry,
who definitely includes the Naga Hills in the area of which
he treats.

Without wishing to detract in any way from the value
of the general trend of Mr. Perry's researches, or to re-
capitulate all the points of my paper referred to, I think it
worth noticing here a few of these points which more par-
ticularly touch the Semas.

Mr. Perry's conclusions contain among others the
following : —

(1) That hereditary chiefs in Indonesia claim descent
from a sky-spirit.

(2) That the use of stone in general is " associated with
the presence of hereditary chiefs."

(3) That the use of stone graves and stone seats is
specially connected with hereditary chiefs.

(4) That the use of seats at all is foreign to the civilisation
of Indonesian people, who " habitually sit on mats or squat
on the ground."

(5) That materials used for building probably do not
depend on local conditions.

(6) That working in stone is roughly co-extensive with
a cult of sacred stones.

(7) That the existence of certain food tabus shows that

391

392 APPENDIX V

the soul-substance of man is regarded as identical with
that of the animals whose flesh is tabued.

The Sema Tribe^ is a direct contradiction of conclusions
(1), (2), (3) and (4), though (in connection with No. (1))
stories of the Kungumi — sky-spirits — are plentiful enough.
Indeed the general conclusion on these points from the
Naga Hills is that the use of stone and descent from sky-
spirits is found primarily where there are democratic
institutions, while the assumption that the use of seats
generally is foreign to Indonesian culture would seem to
be entirely unfounded as regards the Naga areas.

AU Nagas and Kukis habitually sit on seats, and not on
the ground if they can help it.

With regard to the fifth conclusion mentioned, all evidence
from the Naga tribes suggests that materials used in building
are dependent on those locally available. Thus while the
majority of tribes use thatching grass for roofing, the Aos
use palm-leaves, " Tokupat," where thatching grass is
scarce and the palm is common, while the Kacha Nagas
and Kukis where thatch is scarce use bamboo and cane
leaves. So, too, the Kalyo-Kengu, who are able to obtain
slate, use that either instead of thatch or to eke out what
thatch they can get. When it comes to building we find
the Angamis, who have timber in plenty, but little bamboo,
use hewn planks to build with. The Semas, with little
timber but plenty of bamboo in their country, use the
latter. Stone is used in building by the Angami partly,
no doubt, because, in order to get his houses into the limited
village sites available, a great deal of stone must be dug out
and disposed of in the process of levelling the ground for
building.

The sixth conclusion mentioned does not hold good of
the Naga Hills, where the cult of sacred stones is on the
whole as strong among the tribes that do not use stonework
and have no megalithic customs as it is among those that
do.

In this connection I would draw attention to the origin

^ And the same probably applies to the Thado Kukis as well, though
they arc a very different tribe from the Somas,

APPENDIX V 393

myth of the Aos ; Mr. Perry's conclusion that myths
ascribing the source of a tribe to a hole in the ground are
" due to the adoption of the culture associated with the use
of stone and of the practice of interment " fails here. The
Aos all ascribe their origin to a hole in the ground at the
place called Lungtrok — " Six Stones " — on Chongliemdi
Hill, but they neither use stone nor practise interment.

As regards the seventh of these conclusions, we find
that in the Sema as in most other Naga tribes the vast
majority of food tabus originate in the fear of the trans-
ference of the characteristics of the animal eaten to the
person eating it. While it is likely that most Nagas see
no distinction between the soul-substance of men and
animals (in so far, that is, as they are able to think at all
of the substance of the soul apart from the soul itself, for
they do not grasp abstractions), the reasons for food tabus
are physical, not psychical. The flesh of tigers, leopards,
and here and there of some other animals is certainly avoided
on the ground of relationship with men, but this relationship
is material and physical and not based on identity of soul
with some animals to the exclusion of others.

Mr. Perry is perhaps a little too prone to jump at con-
clusions. Colonel Gurdon ("The Khasis," p. 40) mentions
that by the Khasis " the bottoms of valleys are divided into
little compartments by means of fairly high banks " into
which the water is let in "by means of skilfully contrived
irrigation channels." Mr. Perry (" Megalithic Culture of
Indonesia," p. 136), quoting this, says : " The Khasis have
irrigated terraces." But this is just what they have not got.
They commonly irrigate the flat or almost flat bottoms of
the valleys. 1 When an attempt to introduce terraced culti-
vation was made in the Khasia Hills in 1917-18 it was
necessary to send for Angamis from the Naga Hills to show
how it was done. It is therefore not possible to accept

^ I shouJd, however, add that Mr. L. O. Clarke tells me that while he
was Deputy Commissioner of the Khasia and Jaintia Hills in 1910-11
he observed that a Jaintia village started to make terraces of some sort
on the lower slopes of a valley, the bottom of which was irrigated, appa-
rently under pressure of population which necessitated the extension of
the irrigated area.

394 APPENDIX V

Mr. Perry's statement (p. 137) that although " accounts
sometimes only state that irrigation is carried on and make
no mention of terraces," yet " there need not be any
hesitation in including all the irrigation systems of Indonesia
under the heading of terraced irrigation." One hesitates
after that to accept such a statement as that in Indonesia
" no signs exist of any beliefs in a world in the sky or in
beings connected with it previous to the arrival of the stone-
using immigrants." At any rate the heavenly bodies must
have been there to rouse the natural imagination of men.

APPENDIX VI

SUBJECT VOCABULARIES.

Alien People.

Angami

.. Tsiingimi.

.. Cholimi.

Chang

.. Mochumi.

Europeans

. . ShaJmmi.

Foreigners

Kolami.

Konyak

.. Minyumonagami (i.e. naked, lit

" petticoatless," village men).

Kuki

Kotsomi, Kukimi.

Lhota ...

.. Choemi.

Plains -men

Aphimi.

Rengma

. . Mozhumi.

Sangtam (Pirr)

. . Lophomi.

„ (Isa-chanre)

.. Tuhomi.

N.B. — Mochumi, Minyumonagami, Lophomi, and Tukomi and other
tribes to the East of the Sema country are also called indiscriminately
Tushomi.

Drink.

Liquor...

... azhi.

" Pitha modhu "

... azhichoh.

"Sakamodhu"

... akilza.

" Kachari modhu " .,

... azoghii.

Rohi

. . . akuputsii

Angami modhu

. . . dmiikizhi

Water

... azii.

396

APPENDIX VI

Food.

Kachu

... di.

Chillies

... gwomishi.

Vegetables ...

. . . ayekulho.

Meat

... ashi.

Meat and vegetables

. . . ashikulho.

Little fish

. . . akhamusa

Salt

... amti.

Rice ...

... atikishi.

Cooked rice

... ana.

Hen's eggs

... avmkhu.

Milk

... kechizii.

amishi kechizii = Cow's milk,

akhi kechizii = Bees' milk, i.e. honey.

{kechizii lit. = breast water.)

Money.

Rupee 1 ...

ghaka, aurang (laki) ; apa
agJiapa (=Re.I/-).^

Annas 8 ...

aduli, atuli.

„ 4

siki, hiki.

» 2

...

miya.

,. 1

...

paisa bidhi.

Pies 3

...

paisa laki.

Change

... . . .

amuno (small coins).

" Give me change for a

rupee "..
Rivers

" ghaka amuno kililo."

The Dayang ...

. . . Tapu.

TheDikhu

... Nanga, Langa.

The Tita
The Tizu

... Tiltsa.
. . . Tuzii.

^ R«.2/- using this word = agha kini. Aghapa is confined to the neigh-
bourhood of Litami and Phusiimi. Qhaka is commonest among the
southern Semas, being taken from the Angami raka ; aurang (from the
Lhota) is usually used among the northern Semas.

APPENDIX VI

Dis

eases.

Chicken-pox

... athogha.

Measles

. . . gluxtlioga.

Small-pox

. . . agJiapeh.

Boils

. . . amishe.

Epilepsy

... kilegha.

Fever ...

. . . agakimiki.

Gonorrhoea

j gJiachogha.
'" \ mussala.

Syphihs...

... kolagha.

Dysentery

... azhiba.

Diarrhoea

... tiziiba.

Itching, irritation

. . . apikumuthoh.

Itch, scabies ...

... missala.

Goitre

... akole.

Cold in the head

• ... mukogha.

Cough ...

... ikki, ichi.

Elephantiasis ...

... kwolagJiu

Parts of

the Body.

Body

... ashi, ape-ampiyu

Head

... akutsii.

Hair of the head

... akutsii' sa, asa.^

Face

. . . aghi.

Forehead

... akishe.

Eyebrow

. . . anhyekiki-mhi.

Eyelash

. . . anhyeti-mhi.

EyeHd

... anhyeti-ke.

Pupil

... anga.

Eye

. . . anhyeti.

Ear

. . . akini.

Nose

... anki, anhiki.

Nostrils

... anhikiki.

Cheek

. . . anamchu.

Mouth

... akichi.

Moustache

... akichi-mhi.

Lip

... amtsii.

397

^ N.B. — Hair of the head = " asa,'^ but hair of any other part of the
body = amhi.

398

APPENDIX VI

Jaw

... amhughi.

Tooth

... ahu.

Tongue

... amili.

Chin

... amkhu.

Beard ...

... amkhu-mhi.

Neck

... aziipo.

Throat

... aku'oh.

Chest

... a7nla.

Breast ...

... akechi.

Arm

... aou.

Shoulder

... aberinka, abieghi.

Armpit

... achishekoh.

Upper arm

... aoumlo.

Elbow

... aounnhye.

Fore-arm

... aouchi.

Wrist

.. • ... aounhye.

Hand

... aoumzi.

Pahn

... aoumza.

Finger

... aolati.

Knuckle

... akiikukh (the bent

finger), aou-ihoku,

aolati-thoku.

Thumb

... aolohu.

Nail

... aoumtsil.

Back

... akiche.

Navel

... apfolah.

Stomach

... apfo.

Bowels ...

... akeghi.

Liver

... apheh.

Heart ...

... ameloti (=mind fruit)

Lungs ...

... aihuthu-kishekl.

Kidney

... akeluh.

Buttocks

... asiiboki.

Fundament

... asiibo.

Private parts (of the

male) ... achokoghoti.

Penis

... achoh.

Vulva ...

... amoh.

Testicle

... achogholati.

Leg

... akupu, apuku.

APPENDIX

VI 399

Hip

a'iku.

Thigh

alitko.

Knee

akiuunhye.

Shin, calf

apithe.

Ankle

alaonhye.

Foot

aknpumizhi.

Toes

akupuloti (ht. " fruit
on the legs ").

Big toe

akupuloku, apkulokv.

Heel

apitsu.

Bone

asheghii, aghii.

Tail

ashomhi.

Horn

Colours.

akibo.

White

...

mietsoghi, metsogho'i.

Black

... ...

dzubui, tsoboi.

Red

huchuhi (also " brown "),
akuhu.

Blue

... ...

dkutsu.

Yellow

... ...

aoni.

Dun, drab

...

fogwi.

Green

tsogokhu, tsilabii.

Pinli

Crops.

huzui.

Thatching grass . . .

...

aghi.

Cereal

... ...

ad.

Paddy

aghii.

Maize

kolakithi.

Millet (Italian) ...

assuh.

Job's tears

... ...

akithi.

Sorghum (" Menitessa ")

atsiinakhi.

A crop like very tall,

black, small

aghu (Chenopodium

and close-seeded millet.

miirale).

A crop resembling Italian millet,

but with the heads

5 in clusters.

amyi.

Kachu (taro)

... ...

a'i.

Sugar-cane

...

akhu'i.

400

APPENDIX VI

Implements.

Dao

... azhta.

( akuwo (the " necktie

Hoe

} hoe").

( tafuchi (Yachumi hoe).

Spade {pJiarua)

... akupu.

Earth-breaking

hammer ... athegliasi.

Wood-chopper

... amoghu.

Basket

... amthoh.

Adze

... amkeh?-

Rake

... akuwa, achaka.

Fishes, etc.

Fish

... akha, aka.

Crab

... achuwoh, atsugho.

Mahseer ...

... achesuh.

Boka

... anyipu.

Miller's thumb

... dida, duda, chuda.

Loach

keghenipu (in slang also

" achokha,' sens. obsc.).

Eel

... akhaiki.

Shrimp, prawn

... atsukoh [akha).

Domestic Animals (tikishi).

Dog

... atsil.

Cat

... akusa.

Mithan {bos frontalis — gayal) ... avi.

Cow

... amishi (also used for

cattle generally, includ-

ing mithan).

Mithan-cow hyb

rid ... ... avyega.

Buffalo ...

... aeli.

Goat

... anyeh.

Pig

... awo.

Fowl

1 Rut. nfViAra iiBA f

... atim.

ihnnlii and imo nrnhn tnr an nrl7.p-nl1n.rtnH imnlAmnnt. fnp

digging holes, graves, etc.

Worm

Leech

Flea

Bug

Mosquito

Sand -fly

Horse-fly

Butterfly

Firefly

Fly

Green locust

Red locust

Wasp, bee

Grasshopper

Spider

Centipede

Snail, slug
Scorpion .

PPEND

IX VI 401

Insects.

. alapu.

. aiveh.

. ahi.

. akuhu.

. akaomi.

. ammii.

. amthu.

. amimi.

. asilglmo, saghu, hemlala.

. ayelakhu.

. tlhaku.

. kiilsiipmi.

. akhi (generic).

. leotsii.

. talhakJm.

. kitimi nodu (lit. =" dead-

man's earring "), lati-

lala, alaza.

... tenhaku.

... achuwoh pa'za (lit. = " the

crab's mother ").i

' alhache (generic).

ashukhu (black ants).

.- atisil (small red ants).

alJiakhu (white ants).

alhu (white ants winged).

Ant

Wild Animals (teghashi).

Bengal monkey {Macacus pelops) ashuki.
HiU monkey {Macacus assa-

mensis) ... ... ... asii.

Brown stump -tailed monkey

(Macacus arctdides) ... ... amthuh.

Hviluk {Hylobates hooluck) ... akuhu.
Langur (" Hanuman " — Pres-

bytes entellus) ^ . . . ... ... angu.

* The Kuki word for scorpion, ai-pi, has the same meaning.
2 Or Pithecus brahina.

D D

402

APPENDIX VI

Monkey (generic)

Leopard tiger (generic)

Tiger (as distinct from leopard)...
Lynx ( ? Felis caracal) ...
Wild cat (grey — ? Felis chaus) ...
Golden cat {Felis aurata)
Leopard cat {Felis bengalensis) . . .
Civet cat ( Viverra Zibetlm)
Small civet cat {Viverra malac-

censis ?)...
Bear

Wild dog

Elephant ...
Rhinoceros

Wild buffalo

Wild mithan or Gaur {Bos gaurus)

Wild boar

Porcupine
Hedgehog

Marten {Mustela fiavigula)
Sambhar ...

Barking deer {Cervulus muntjac)
Serau {Capricornis sumatrensis

rvbidus)

Otter

Jun^e TaX {RattiLS fulvescens) ...
Bamboo rat {Rhizomys)...
Rattus macJcenzi ...

Shrewmouse

"Badger"

sliukutliungu[1 {a)shu{ki),
{a)ku{hu), {am)thu{h),
{a)ngu ?].

angshu.

aholangshu.^

angshu-pupu.

akufu.

angshu-akinu.

anyengu.

akii, aku.

akenhe.

ava.

atinhe.

akaha.

aveghi.

agJmleli.

aviela.

amini.

acheku.

kifimi'cheku {i.e. " dead

man's porcupine ").
aketsii.
akhu.
ashe.

achui (l.p.).

achegeh, atsughoh.

azhefu.

achiigi.

azhuye, azhichu ( =

" edible rat ").
azhitsiih.
khoMwo, awosho.

^ Some also use angshu- akeghu for tiger, though this usually means a
small reddish cat. The Semas are not very clear in their own minds as
to the distinction between tigers and leopards ; thus angshu-allo usuallj
means a real leopard as opposed to a were-leopard {angshu-amiki), bu1
both terms may be heard also apfjlied to tigers.

APPENDIX VI

403

Squirrel' ...

Ground squirrel ...

Flying squirrel (greater) {Petau-

rista yunnanensis)
Flying squirrel (less) {Pteromys

aboniger ... ...

Black squirrel {ratrifa gigantea)...

Bat

Pangolin {Manis aurita)

Birds.

Jungle fowl {Gallus ferrugineus)
Bamboo partridge {hamhusicola

fytchii) ...
Arakan hill partridge (arboricola

intermedia)
" Kalij " pheasant [genncBus

horsefieldi)
Tragopan pheasant {tragopan

blytlii'i) ...
Peacock pheasant {polyplectron

chinquis)
Quail

Woodcock, snipe
Dove {turtur suratensis) ...
Rufous turtle dove {streptopelia

turtur) ...
Bar-tailed cuckoo dove (macro-

pygia tusa lia) ...
Green pigeon
Imperial pigeon (" poguma " —

ducula) ...

akili.
akili-azugeh.

attolo.

asiigi.
atiki.
ashukha.
ashephu.

laliu.

agili.

akhi.

aghii.

aghah.

avniglii.
atsungg.
alisil. 2
mekudu.

akewo.

ashogo.

kutuli, tukuli, achui.

adungg.

' Tomcutes lokroides (Assam squirrel) and C'aUosciiirua erylhraeus
nagarum (Red-bellied squirrel) and Dremomys macmillani (yellow-bellied
squirrel). The Sema does not draw fine distinctions between species. If
he recognises them they do not interest him.

* I have been given chepatsungg for woodcock, but it seemg really to
mean a button quail. The ancestor of the quails is believed to have con-
sorted with the field-mouse, and to have thus acquired the habit of running
about in the fields.

D D 2

404 APPENDIX VI

Great hornbiU {Dichoceros bicornis

— ' ' wongsorai " ) aghacho .

Rufous-necked hombill {Aceros

nepalensis) ... ... ... awutsa.

Malayan wreathed hornbiU {Rhy-

tidoceros undulatus) ... ... shefu.

Pied hombill {anthracoceros albi-

rostris) ... ... ... ... gliaboshutoki.

? Goodwin Austen's hornbill ... kuhu.
Owl ... ... ... ... ahhahoh,

" Bulbul " {Molpastes bengal-

ensis) ... ... ... ... amduh.

Woodpecker ... ... ... ashuslm, gaseghe.

Himalayan Pied Kingfisher

(Ceryle lugubris) ... ... tuziio.

Brain Fever bird (Hierococcyx

sparverioides) ... ... ... pipilhu.

Cuckoo ... ... ... ... kuti, guti.

c ,1 T.T -• f michekalhu,

bwallow, Martin ... ... ... < , „

(^ akalhu.

Crow ... ... ... ... agha.

Wagtail (generic) ... ... aiti.

Hawk ... ... ... ... aUiaku, awoleh.

Eagle (Rufous-bellied Hawk-
eagle — LophotriorcMs kieneri) alokhu.

Reptiles.

Snake ... ... ... apeghi, apoghii.

Python ... ... ... a'ithu.

Slow- worm ... ... ... azM-shukesapoglm.^

Lizard ... ... ... atakheh (used in particular for

the " blood-sucker " lizard
which changes colour like
a chameleon).

Sand lizard ... ... ... aniza.

Flying lizard ... ... wuheh.

Frog achui (h.p.).

* I.e., " liquor-drink-bad-snake," because if you kill it your drink goes
bad on you.

APPENDIX VI

4f>5

Toad

... thoghopu, pogopu.

Tortoise

... atoinhyeh {assuhu\.

Tadpole

kodela, yemoghwo.

Hunting.

Game

... ashi.

Tracks

. . . anyipa.

Horns

... aikibo.

Wound

... akuh.

Blood

. . . azhi.

Clots of blood

. . . aikichehmokoh.

Huntsman ...

. . . ashihami.

Hunting dog

... ashihatsii.^

Go a-hunting

... ashihawolo (imperative).

Scent

... muna.

Hit (with spear)

... chelu anni, chev'ai (vb.).

Miss (with spear) ...

... cheziive (vb.) {chemoi =

throw).

Hit (with gun)

... kaku anni, kakuv'ai (vb,).

Miss (with gun)

... kaziive (vb.).

Panji

. . . ashu.

Pitfall

. . . akhwo.

Trap

... aitho.

Snare...

... akessuh, awufu.

Bird lime

... ghoghotah.

Weapons.

Bullet

... mashehu-ti, alika-ti {i.e. "

fruit ").

Gun

... musheho, mashehu, alika.

Bow ...

... alika.

Bowstring ...

. . . alika-keghi.

Arrow

. . . aliwoh.

Quiver

. . . aliwokuh.

Shield

... aztho, azhto.

Spear

... angu [anyi].

Dao

... aztha, azhta.

Dao with curved back

. . . akyekeh.

^ A dog which won't hi

int is called atsuzii (? = "dog-water")

not

gun

4o6

\PPENDIX VI

Dao handle ...

. . . aztha-lagi.

Dao sling

. . . asuki.

"Wooden-hafted axe

... aztJia kohi.

Iron-hafted axe

. . . ailagi.

Iron-hafted spear . . .

... aiyingussuh.

Hairy-handled spear

. . . angsa kumagJia, angussah

Musical Instruments.

Flute

. . . fululu.

Jews' harp ...

. . . aliewo.

Drum

. . . sheku.

Bell, rattle (wooden)

... kohkohpoh.

Dress and Ornaments.

Hombill feathers . . .

. . . aghachomhi.

Cotton for the ears

... akinsupha.

Hair wig

. . . avabo.

Whiteheads

... asJioghi.

Pig-tusk necklet

. . . aminihu.

Hair sash

... amlaka.

Ivory armlet

... akahaghi.

Cowrie gauntlet

... aouka as'uka.

Hair fringe to gauntlet . . . samogho.

Brass bracelet

. . . asapu.

Waist-belt containing purse ghakabo.

Waist-belt for dao sling . . . asuchikheki.

Sema apron ...

. . . amini.

Large apron ornamented

with cowries in rows . . . aminikedah.

Small apron with a

DowTie

circle

. . . lapucho.

Horizontal tail

. . . avikisaphu.

Hanging tail

... asaphu.

Cane leggings

. . . apkuki.

Cloth

... api.

Red cloth

... akuhu'pi.

Cowrie cloth...

. . . asenukedapi.

Woman's armlet

... aksa.

APPENDIX VI

407

Nature.

The world ...

titsiikholo ; (in oaths " atsiitsu

ayeghi pama dolo "= that

which is between heaven

and earth).

Heaven

... atsiitsu.

Earth

... ayeghi.

Water

... azii.

Fire

... ami.

Air ...

... amulhu.

Sun

... tsiikinyhe.

Moon

... akhi.

Stars

... aiyeh.

Falling stars...

... aiyefta (lit. "star excrement").

Wind

... amulhu.

Storm

... pasapagha.

Rain ...

... tsiitsilghu, mutsil ; mutsiisala

(" rainy season ").

Hail

... apilghi.

Snow

... mulasil, morasii.

Ice, frost

... avu.

Cloud

... kunkusu.

Mist {from river)

... azilthothu.

Thunder

... atsutsusii (lit. = heaven tear-

ing), tsutsukilssu.

Lightning {sheety .

... I ki' zhf-a kukulo {= the ^sbshing

of Iki's dao).

Lightning (forked)

... amusuh, agJiashu.

Forest

... avezii, aghaghii (as opposed to

" agJiasa," light jungle).

Mountain

... naguto.

Cliff, boulder

... athokhu.

VaUey

... aboku, akuthoku.

River...

... aghoki, awoki.

Stream

... awokiti.

Waterfall, rapids

... azupapa.

Rainbow

... milesii.

^ The verb used with Iki'zhta is kululo or kukulo, the verb used of forked
lightning is keglialo.

4o8

APPENDIX VI

Trees, plants, and fruit (tree, wood, plant = asii, abo ;

fruit = ati).

Alder tree ...

... littisii {Aldus nepalensis).

Birch tree ...

. . . yepasii.

Oak tree

. . . apisii.

Acorn

... apiti.

Walnut tree

( ghakutisii.
'" \ gliakutibo.

Walnut

... gJmkuti.

Pine

... assahu, assahu-bo, assahu-sii.

Giant bamboo

... aphobo.

Large bamboo

... apicheh.

Common bamboo .

. . . api.

Tying bamboo (" t

angal ") akau.

Little bamboo

... aiyichi (the single bamboo).

Little bamboo

. . . amah.

Cotton tree (simal) .

. . . punyosii.

Sago palm ...

... aithobo.

Fig tree

... koghobo.

Fig

... koghoti.

Tree fern

. . . sapunadi-bo.

Hair-brush palm

. . . amuwoh.

Wormwood ...

... khokhu-bo, kopu-bo.

Soap-tree

... thopi-bo.

(Soap [the bark]

... thopi-'ko-iko.)

Soap-vine ...

... asalu-bo.

Bird lime tree

. , , ghoghotah-bo.

Bohinia

... pahakupvu-sU {-bo).

Elephant apple

... aghatsati {-bo) (the Assamese

" o-thenga ").

WUd strawberry

... agauu lozhe-ti.

Blackberry ...

. . . yevui-ti-bo.

YeUow raspberry .

. . . siiliti-bo.

Crimson raspberry .

. . . avichokoghwo-ti-bo.

WUd peach tree

... yekuti-bo {the iTmt=yekiiti).

Cactus (Euphorbia) .

... kohpi.

Lime, Orange (etc.

generic) mushoti, mishiti (the tree =

mishiti-sii).

APPENDIX VI

409

Wild quince tree

Nettle
Cane ...
Willow tree ...

jiukwcfi-sil

kweti).
apoghil.
akkeh.
tizilsii.

(the fruit = pu-

Seer

Load

Duli

Pipe

Pot

Gourd

Cup .

Man

Man (male) ...
Woman
Infant
Child

Boy

Young man ...
Middle-aged man .
Elderly man...
Old man
Girl (young)
Young woman
Middle-aged woman
Elderly woman
Old woman ...

Measures.

... dohu^

. . . akhoh.

... abi (about three maunds).

... azzithu (" chunga ").

. . . aghiibo.

... apmi (" lao ").

. . . azhukhu.

Man.

. . . timi.

. . . kepitimi.

... totimi.

... anga.

. . . itimi.

. . . dputethemi.

. . . dpumi.

. . . muchuhela.

. . . niuchomi.

... kitemi (too old to work).

. . . ilillioteh.

... ilimi, alimi.

... thopuhela.

. . . thopumi.
kitemi.

Go ...
Go in
Go out

Verbs of Motion.
{Imperative forms.)

... gwovelo, guvelo, wulo.

... ghulo, ilulo.

... pavelo, ipavelo.

Strictly, aohu= the two hands full.

410

APPENDIX VI

Go up
Go down
Go back
Come
Come in
Come out
Come up
Come down ...
Come back . . .
Go along the level
Go for a walk
Go on a tour
Go to the fields
Walk

Run ...

Reach
Jump
Jump up
Jump down ...
Jump into ...

kwovilo, ekwovilo.

kevilo, ekevelo.

ilyovelo.

gwoglielo, eghelo, 'ghelo.

givologhilo, eloghilo, ileghelo.

paghilo, ipeghilo.

koghilo, ekoghilo, khwoghelo.

keghilo, ekeghilo.

ily eghelo.

phivelo.

ilulo, ilyulo.

izuvmlo.

hulo.

chelo (used of coming rather

than of going).
povelo (used of going rather

than of coming).
tohlo.
agutilo.
ikulo.

ilheikikevelo.
khaiilhelulo.

Verbs of Perception.

{Root forms.)

Know

... iti.

See

... itu [zil] (get = itulu).

Perceive

... zhu.

Look, look at

... hizhu.

Hear

... n'zhu, inzhu.

Feel (with hand)

... kunhuzhu.

Think

... kumserrii.

Abuse.

Ghapio

accursed (somewhat strong).

Akumokeshu

... burier of corpses (somewhat

strong).

APPENDIX VI

411

Pokimi

. . . runaway.

Kahami

... worthless fellow.

Ghokomi

... fool, feckless, incapable and

helpless.

Kegilzumi

... idiot, lunatic.

Awokhu-toh ...

... sow-like (used of one who is

lazy or can't walk).

No nhapitivelo !

... die in child-birth ! (to women).

No ketseshe-shi-tilo !

... die " apotia."

There are two forms of symbolical abuse which are called
(1) anhyeba-sedfsii, in which the speaker pulls down his
cheek so as to show the inside of the lower lid and white of
the lower part of his eye. This is equivalent to telling a
man to eat anhye-ba — " eye-excrement." (2) Asiibo-kiUsu,
in which the speaker turns his rump towards the person
abused and smacks it — the equivalent of a vulgar expres-
sion not unknown in England.

Greetings.

Are you well ?

I am quite well (replying to

above)
Farewell (to one departing)
Keep well (to one remaining)

akevishi ari'kya ?

akevishiani.

akevishiwulo.

akevishialo.

EnGLISH-SeMA VoCABTJLARy.

For the sake of convenience in pronouncing, " kh,"
where a very marked aspirate and pronounced somewhat
like ch in the Scotch " loch," has been written kh or kh ;
long and short vowels have also been marked here and there
for the same reason, and where there is a marked accentua-
tion without which the word cannot be understood, the accent
is noted in brackets. In a few cases where a word differs
from similar words in tone only, and where the difference
in tone is very marked, " l.p." (low pitch) or " h.p." (high
pitch) follows the word in brackets.

412

APPENDIX VI

Verbs are all given in the imperative form for the sake of
convenience even where no imperative is ordinarily used ;
the present or other tense may be formed by cutting off the
" -Zo " of the imperative termination and adding that of the
tense required. The " -ve-" which sometimes precedes
the" -lo " of the imperative is often omitted in other tenses.

Where a word implies relationship, and is only used with
a possessive pronoim preceding it, the entonic "a" is
replaced by an apostrophe.

To avoid imnecessary repetitions most words which have
appeared already in the lists of adverbs, etc., or in the
subject vocabularies have been omitted.

Englisi

[. Sema.

A.
laki.

A, an

Abandon

... phevelo.

Abide

... ngulo.

About {adv.)

... hulao-hilao.

Abreast ...

... akkemmi (lit. = men of equal age).

Abscond

... povelo.

Abtise (n.)

... atsa alhokesah.

Accept ...

lulo.

Accidentally

... mthano.

Accompany

... kumtsa gwolo.

Accurate

... kucho kucho.

Accursed

... ghapio {primarily used oj a chicken released in the

jungle as a " scape-goat " by a sick man).

Accusation

... atsa kegegha, atsa keghra.

Accuse . . .

... ngukulo.

Ache (vb.)

... siilo {is aching = suanni, sanni).

Acid {adj.)

... khanunvo.

Acquaintance

... nikitoimi (= neighbour).

Acquire ...

... itululo.

Active ...

... taikemi (n.).

Admonish

... kiitsiilo.

Adult ...

... see " young. ^^

Advance

... atSghgshilo.

Adversary

... kokesiih, kekesu-kechemi.

Afar

... alakusua.

ASection

... kukukye, akukukhu.

Affliction

... aghime.

Affray . . .

... kicheghi.

Afoot ...

... alacheno {alache = road-go).

Afraid . . .

... miisa.

Afterbirth

... amonha.

Afternoon

... avelew).

APPENDIX VI

413

English.

Sema.

Again

etaghe.

Against ...

.. mongupfe, 0 lao kumoi (= not of your aide).

Agent

azokumi.

Agree

.. kumtsalo.

Aim (vb.)

.. meghezhulo, megalulo.

Alarm ...

. . miisa.

Alien (n.)

.. ainakitdmi, inS,mi.

Alike

.. aphiphi.

Alive

.. akukhu.

All

.. akuchopu, kiimtsu.

Alone

.. 'likhi, 'liki.

Aloud ...

.. igwono.

Alter

.. kililulo.

Alternately

.. kuzoku-kiizoli.

Always ...

. . alhokuthu.

Ambush

.. akiigotsvi, itsii.

Among

. . dolo.

Ancestor

. . asii.

Ancestors

.. kaghe-kichimi, apo-asii.

Ancient ...

.. akha.

Angry

. . kuloghwu.

Animal ...

.. akenu, tikitiva.

Annoyance

. . alhomogha.

Another

. . ketao.

Apart ... . . . ,

.. kiitiitha.

Apartment

.. kalaobo (outer room), amphokibo (middle room).

akusaobo (back room).

Apiece ...

.. laki laid.

Appetite

. . miizzthi.

Applaud

.. alhokevishilo, aou kuktdo ( = clap).

Arise

.. ithoulo.

Around (adv.) ...

.. aho (in compounds " ho " ; e.g. ho eghelo = come

round).

Aroimd (post-position)

... 'ho.

Arouse ...

. . kedalo.

Arrest ...

.. keghalvilo.

Arrive ...

.. toUo, tohlo.

Artful

.. amkukinimi (noun) ( = man rich in vnles).

Article ...

.. a'u, anhyemogha.

Ascend ...

.. kwolo, ekwovelo.

Ash

. . ayevu.

Ask

. . in jelo.

Ask for ...

.. kulo.

Aslant ...

.. kughoh.

Asleep ...

ziiavii, ziiani (vb.).

Assault (n.)

. . kichegi.

Assemble

.. akwoshilo.

At once ...

. . ghotolaki.

Attention, pay (vb.)

. . . inyululo.

414

APPENDIX VI

English.

Autumn...

... tekheghulo.

Avaricious

. . . kutsiikichemi

Await ...

... khelo.

Awake ...

. . . kedalo.

Awe

. . . miisa.

Sema.

Baby
Back (n.)
Back door
Bacon . . .
Bad

Balance
Bald ...

Bamboo...

Bang

Bar (vb.)

Bar (n.)

Barber ...

Bare

Barefaced

Bark {of tree)

Bark {vb.)

Barter

Bashful

Basin

Bask

Basket

Bastard

Bathe

Battle

Bead

Beak

Beam

Bean

Bear (a child)

Beast

Beat

Beautiful

Beckon

Become

Bed

Beef

{vb.)

itimi, anga.

akiche.

akiissa, akiissao.

awoslii.

alhokesah, akesah {accent ultimate in both cases).

shipaku.

nyhemoga.

ala {remainder).

akiitsiimhikaha, mhiphai or akishe mhiphai

( = bald in front).
akao {generic),
aghiigha.
khavelo.
akadu.

akiitsii-keshimi.
kumsa.
kuzhomoi.
asiikoza.
eghalo.
alhikeshi.
akukuzhomi (n.).
akhu.

tsukinyhe {or ami) poghalo.
ashwege, abi {big duli), asli {little duli), akwoh

(" kang "), aka'u {" jappa ").
thekanu.
azii kuchulo.
aghiikighi.
alo.
achi.

aghao-kechi, aghao-hu.
aketsu, akivi (cross beam).
ake^Ai.
punulo.
akenu.
bulo ; helo.
hizhukia alhoi.
aoulaihilo.
shiuvelo.
alipa, azii'a.
amishishi.

APPENDIX VI

415

English.
Before ...

Beg

Beggar

Begin
Begone ...
Behead ...
Behind ...

Behold

Belch

Bellow (vft.)
Bellows ...

Belly

Belly-ache

Beloved

Bent, crooked ..

Best

Bet {vb.)
Betray ...

Better ...
Beware ...

Big

Bind

Bird

Bird-lime
Bird-nest

Birth

Bite

Bitter

Black

Blacksmith
Bladder
Blame (vb.)

Blank

Blaze
Bleat {vb.)

Blind

Blister ...
Blockliead

Blood

Bloom (flower) . .
Blow (n.)
Blunder

Blimt

Blush {t;6.)

Boast (vb.)

Boat

Boatman

Body

Sema.
azou.
tsoholo.
kutsohomi.
ashenyelo.
povelo.
akiitsii lulo.
athiu.

zhulo, hizhulo.
muchukalo.
eghalo.
akufupu.
apfo, apvo.

apvosiiani {vb. — is aching).
akuknkhumi, kukukyemi (n.).
akuwohoh.
akiveo, allokeo.
thapilo.

akhaono pana saphulo (lit.= secretly go and help
the other side).

-ye kevi.

shitsashilo.

kizhe, akizhe.

tsiighalo.

aghao.

atta.

aghaopusii.

anga punuke ( = babe born).

mi kilo.

kumtsai.

tsiiboi.

akighekemi, akiyekemi.

akachebo.

atsa 'kesah pilo.

aldmtheh.

amikiighiikhu.

anyehghashilo {of a goat itself anyehghalo).

anyeti kerichemi (n.)

ingu.

ta keghiizumi ( = a little crazy).

azhi {l.p.).

akupu, akiipfu, akuphu.

he.

kumsumu {vb. kumsmnu va).

tsogamoi.

hochuhi valo ( = turn red).

akekeza shilo.

ashuka.

ashuka peghemi.

api-ampiu.

4i6

APPENDIX VI

Ekgush.

Sema.

Boil water {vb.)

... azii pululo.

Boil (n.)

... amishe (small), upah (large), mishtsa.

Bold

... miisamokemi (n.).

Bone

... ashogho.

Book

. . . kaku.

Borrow ...

... nalulo.

Borrower

. . . timipikupvumi.

Both

. . . pama.

Bother (v6.)

... aUiomoghatsiilo, 'ghimetsiilo.

Bottom ...

... asiibo.

Boundary

. . . aghothu.

Bowels ...

. . . akheghi.

Boy

... itimi, apumi (see " young ").

Bracelet...

asu'ukekah, asapu.

Brains ...

... akhoh (literal), amelo {metaphorical).

Bramble

... asahu (= thorn).

Brass

... asapui, asapu'i.

Brave ...

... pamelo'kizhe (= his heart great).

Breeze ...

. . . amulhu.

Brew (vb.)

... beaghilo.

Bridge ...

... akupu {of wood), ayikupu (0/ iron), akkekupu

(0/ cane).

Bring

. . . seghelo {of a thing carried), saghelo {of a thing led).

Broad

... kizhe.

Bubble

aziikiimla.

BuUd

... akishilo.

Burden ...

... akwo, apfe {N.B. — " apfe" is not used alone, but

" apfe laki " = one load).

Burial-place

akvunokukho.

Burier ...

... akumokeshu, amushoh.

Bum {vb.)

... pitilo {intr.), pitivetsiilo {tr.).

Bury

. . . khwoivelo.

Bush

. . . asukegha.

Busy

... " akumla kuthom'ani " ( = *' work much is ").

Buy

... kulo, khiilo.

By-and-by

... itovmo.

Bypath

. . . alilula.

Calamity
Calculate
CaU {vb.)
Call away
Capture {vb.) .
Carcass ...
Care, take {vb.).
Carry

ahakesah.

philo.

kulo.

kusasiilo.

keghalo.

akumo.

alloputsiilo.

pfulo, pulo {on the back), pfelo, pelo {in the hands).

APPENDIX VI

417

English.
Catch (/(s/()

Cattle

Certain ...

Chain

Chair

Chemge {vb. tr.)...

Change {small coin)

Channel

ChaMWJter

Charm (n.)

Cha«e {vb,)

Cheap ...

Cheat (n.)

Cheek

Chest {of body) ...

Chicken

Chief (n.)

CliUd

Childhood

ChiUy

Circuitous

Clan

Clap {hajids), {vb.)

Claw

Clay

Clean
Close {vb.)

Cloth

Cobweb ...

Cock

Cock-crow
Cohabit ...

Cold

Comet ...
Commerce
Companion
Compassion
Complaint
Conch-shell
Confine ...
Conflict {n.)
Contemporary (n.)
Converse {vb.) ...
Cook{vb.)
Copulate

Cord

Corpse ...

Cost

Seha.
(aklia) mussiilo.

akdepeghiu ( = domestic animals).
tangui.
alia,
alaku.
akililo.
amimo.
aziila.
amelo,
agha.
havelo.
amethomo.
kemikimi.
animuchu.
amla.
awuti.
kekami, akckao {the former refers to the rank or

class, the second to the single individiud).
itimi.

itimilo, itilo {locative form).
sitike.
vekoho.
ayeh, ayah,
aou kukvdo.
aoumtsii.
agha.

mutsomishei.
kliavelo.

api {red cloth = akuhupi), ananupfo (= clothes).
talhakutha.
awudu.
awuighave'a.
saziialo.
siti.

ayephu.
alhi.

akesammi {of males), apami {of females).
kimiyeh.

atsa kekegha, atsa keghra.
alapu, aveka {pieces of shell).
khavelo.
kighi, Jd'i.
akhemi.
kiipetsalo.

belulo {of rice), Iholulo {of curry, etc.).
sazulo, aniou nyatsiilo.
akheghi.
akumo.
ame.

E E

4i8

APPENDIX VI

English. Sema.

Cotton ... ... ... asiipa.

Covmtenance ... ... aghi, agi, adi, ayi, ani.

CoTintry ... ... aluza {district, region), aphu (= village).

Courageous ... ... amelo-kevi (= ^eart grood).

Cover (ufc.) ... ... bevelo.

Coward ... ... ... inamonii, amelo-ke-kaha-mi.

Cowherd ... ... amishiMkhemi.

Crawl ... ... ... ippuchelo.

Crazy ... ... ... keghuzumi (n.).

Creeper ... ... ... sukkasii.

Cripple ... ... ... apukuketimi, apukukoghwohomi.

Crooked ... ... akuwoho.

Cruel ... ... ... kiirdyeTao {= not pity).

Cry {vb.) ... ... kaalo.

Cubit ... ... ... aou laki.

CuS (vb.) ... ... daihelo, duhalo.

Cultivate ... ... (alu) chichelo.

Cup ... ... ... azuku.

Cure (vb.) ... ... shipivilo.

Curl (n.) ... ... asaichegeh, asayegekeh.

Custom ... ... ... aghiili-ayeh, nipuasiye, niye, nige, ayeh, ayah.

Cut ... ... ... michevelo.

Daft

Daily

Dam (n.) (of water)
Dam [vb.)
Damaged
Damip ...
Dance (vb.)

Dark

Dawn

Day

Day and night ...

Daybreak

Daylight

Dead

Deaf

Dear (costly)

Decapitate

Decked {tvith ornaments)

Deep

Delay

Delirium
Deliver ...
Descend...

keghuzumi (n.),

aghulo atsiitsii, aglilo achi.

azii keputhu.

aziikalo.

shiposa.

potsaive.

kokalo, apilewolo.

zumoive (= do not see, did not see).

tsiitoye, thanaii.

aghlo.

potho pochou.

tsikinhya.

atsalaviaye ( = sunlight being good).

keti.

akLnipo, akinikowopomi (n.).

(pame) chile ; pame shuani (= its price is high).

ipfughelo ( = take a head in a raid).

ananupuke.

akuthoku.

monoivai.

aghamiki-izu (lit. = fever-wandering).

kupunulo {of aid given to a woman at child-birth).

yekelo, ekelo.

APPENDIX VI

419

English.

Skma.

Desire (n.)

. khu, akukukhu, kukukye.

Destiny ...

aghau {l.p.).

Destructiou

. shiposa.

Detour ...

alavekoho.

Dew

. atsuzii.

Die

tivelo, tiuvelo.

Difficult

. akushoh.

Dig

. chulo.

Directly

ohtolaki.

Dirty

. aklteni, mithemoi, aklieAteh {of persons).

Discord

. ki'i, kighi.

Dish

ali, akhu, asiikhia.

Disobedient (is)

. atsachimlai.

Dispute {vb. tr.)

kishilo.

Distant ...

. kushoh, kushuwa, ala-kusuwa.

Distinct

. ketao.

Distribute

. kizhiilulo.

Ditch

. amgazulaki.

Dive

. azulo ilulo.

Divide ...

kizhululo.

Divorce {vb.)

.. hapevelo, ikhavelo.

.. shilo, mulalo.

Dog

. . atsii.

Domestic animals

.. akilopeghiu, akUakipeghi, tikishi.

Door

akikha, alyuwo {of a village fence).

Dowry ...

akhii.

Drag

. . siinhyelo.

Dream ...

. . amou.

Dress

. . api.

Drink

.. shulo {of fermented liquor only), yelo {of drinks

other than fermented liquor).

Drip

.. azuizhii keghalo, aziikeguzhipelo.

Drive

.. halo.

Droll

. . ghava.

Drop (n.) (of water) .

aziikegiizhi {accent on last syllable).

Drown {vb. intr.)

. . azulo ilulovelo ( = sink in water).

Dnank ...

.. shomzu v'a.

Dry

. . akithi.

Dimib

.. amlitsukemi («.).

Dung

. . aba.

Dust

. . ayeghemoku {accent on ultimate), ayeghe-ghoghu.

Dwell

. . ngulo.

Dye

amchu {red), akutsiipi {blue, black), aone {yellow).

Each {distributive) ... laki laki.
Early inakhe.

E B 2

420

APPENDIX VI

Engltsh.

Sema.

Ear-ring

ayekliamonu, akhamonu {ear ornament), akin-

supha {ear cotton).

Earth

ayeghi, ayeghe.

Earthquake

tsutsiikogholu, tsutsilii.

East

tsikinhyekipela.

Easy

mulomo, akumlah {accent on ultimate).

Eat

ilhulo {take food), chulo {act of eating), 6echulo

{eat with Imnd), hachulo {eat with spoon).

Echo

muza-muza.

EcUpse

tsikinhyehaou {of sun), akhihaou {of moon).

Edge

akechegela, apfejai ; {of river or precipice)

amukii ; {of cup or utensil) amutsii.

Effigy

aghongu.

Egg

-Idiu, -khuh, awukhuh ( = hen's egg).

Elbow

aounhye.

Elder

akichiu.

Elsewhere

kethaola.

Embankment (0/ a field)

ayekixzbo.

Embrace {vh.) ...

kiigapfelo.

Employment ...

akumla.

Empty

kumsa.

Encircle

veholevelo, suhulevelo.

End

asiibo {latter end), akichu {fore-end).

Endeavour (vh.)

mulazhulo.

Enemy ...

aghumi, aghuemi.

Enlarge ...

kizhesliilo.

Enough

ta ! thai ! ivelo !

Enter

eloghilo.

Entice ...

ziilulo, ziisaghelo.

Entire ...

kupvu.

Entirely

kupvulo, alloko (= quite).

EpUepsy

kileghakipe.

Equal ...

aphiphi.

Erect

mozucho.

Escape {vb.)

povelo.

Espouse

anyipfu lulo {of the man), nhilo {of the woman).

Evening. . .

kezhiliu.

Ever

gwolatsutsii.

Everyone

kumtsii.

Everywhere

kumtsiilalo, kumtsiila.

Evidence

akesao 'taa.

Exact

kuchoh.

Except {post-poatn.) ...

peveno, iveno.

Excess ...

she, chilo.

Exchange (vb.)

akililo, kililulo.

Exercise, take

kamalichelo, amulbu kutofu iluchelo.

Expend

pokavetsiilo.

Expensive

pamcshoh.

Explain

kiitsilo, ketsiUo.

APPENDIX VI

421

English.
Extinguish
Extremity
Eyesore

Sema.
pinhovelo.

asiiboki {Hi. = fundament).
anyctizu.

Fable

... kaghalomi'tsa {word of men of old time).

Face

... aghi, agi, ayi, adi, ani.

Faint {vb.)

.. izuvuvelo, or use tiuvenchin {= is beginning to

die).

Fair

. . . zhuvi.

Fall (r^.)

... iluvelo.

Fallen

. . . ekyeke.

False

miki.

Family

nisholokumi.

Famine ...

. . pokkii, pokkukye.

Famous

.. -pa zhe vi {\h.= his name good).

Fan

.. amikofupu.

Far

. . alakusua.

Farewell !

akevishialo {to one whom you are leavitig).

akevislii wolo {to one who is leaving you).

Fasten

. . tsoghavelo.

Fat

. . . akukizhe.

Fat (n.)

. . . atha.

Fate

... aghau {l.p.).

Fatigue ...

... aghamc.

Fault, commit (vb.)

. . . alhokesah shilo.

Favour ...

. . . kimiye.

Fear (vb.)

. . . miisalo.

Feather

. . . amhi.

Feeble

... apekeveki, apekii.

Feed

... tsulo.

Feel

. . kimhuzhtdo.

FeU(v6.)

. . iluvetsiilo.

Fence

. . aghothu.

Fetch

. . seghelo {of thing carried), saghelo {of person or

animal led).

Fever

. . aghakimiki, aghamiki.

Few

kitila, kitla.

Field

. . alu.

Fierce ...

.. kichi.

Fight (vb.)

aghueshilo, aghushilo.

Fill

.. akuchopu shilo.

Fin

asakhu {dorsal), akiehibo, achishibo {pectoral).

Find {vb.)

itululo.

Fine {vb.)

. . asachulo.

Finger ...

aolati.

Finished

.. tov'ai, thaiv'ai {past tense of vb.).

422

APPENDIX VI

English.

Sema.

Fire

ami.

Fire {vb.)

. . pitivetsiilo.

Fire {of a gun) (vb.)

.. phelo.

Fireplace

. . amphokibo.

First

.. atigheshi, atheghiu.

Fish (n.)

.. akha.

Fish(u6.)

., akha musselo.

Fisherman

. . akha kemussemi.

Fish-hook

. . akha kemvissei.

Fishing-rod

.. akha kemusse shuhi.

Flame

.. ami-TTiTlT (lit. "fire-tongue").

Flat

.. ipelleh, moduni, apashi.

Flay

.. Ihalo.

Flee

.. povelo.

Fleet (adj.)

.. pohxaajii {vb.= can flee).

Flesh

.. sshi.

Flexible

.. siikuhoikye.

Flow

.. (azii) koiilo, (azii) uvelo.

Flower ...

akupu {when put in the ear, akhamunii).

Fly(n.)

.. aghyela, amuthu {horae-fly).

Fly {vb.)

.. yauvelo, yevelo.

Foam

.. aziikumla.

Fold {vb.)

.. kekano sutsiilo.

athiu wolo {go after), athiu eghilo {come after)

Food

. . akuchupfu.

Fool

.. keghiizumi.

Foot

apuku apa, apuku mizhi.

Footpath

. . ala.

Footprint

. . aptiku'nyepa, anyepa, apa.

Footstep

. . apuku'nyepa.

Forbid

.. lakavelo, kaivelo.

Forcibly

. . ighono.

Forefathers

.. apo-asvi.

Forefinger

. . aolati anoghu.

Forget ...

.. knmsumavelo.

Forgive ...

.. kevetsiilo.

Fork (0/ trees) . . .

. . akiiba.

Formerly

kaghe.

Forsake

.. phevelo, ivelo.

Fort

. . apuM.

Foul

.. &kheuhyeh, akikhunya.

Frequently

. . alhokuthu.

Fresh

akughonu.

Friend

'shou, 'sho ; apami {between women).

Frighten

pikumiisalo.

Front {in front of)

'velo.

Froth

azukumla.

Fruit

akhati, 'ti.

Fruit -stone

atu

English.

Fuel

Full

Full moon

APPENDIX VI

423

Sema.

asu.

ohitol.

akhikikiye.

Gadfly

. amthu, amuthu.

Gain

alah, isheluki.

Gale

amulhu, pasapagha.

Gamble (vb.)

. atsupusho kikivelo.

Game, play (vb. )

. ghavashilo, khokalo.

Gaol

akuwu, akugho.

Garden ...

. atu.

Gate

. akeka.

Gather

. kichukumkholo.

Generation

. tekkelh.

" Genna "

chini (it is genna = chinike).

Gently

asheshino.

Get

itvilulo.

Ghost

. kitimi 'ngongu (dead marCs wraith).

Gift

auwi (gijt to distinguished guest), kumsa ( = gratis).

Girl

ilimi, alimi.

Give

tsiilo.

Glad

alloshishi.

Gloom (literal)

zagughii, chegughii.

Gnat

ammii.

Gnaw

minyhelo (accent penultimate).

. guvelo, gwolo, gulo, wulo.

God

Timilhou, Alhou (the Creator).

Gong

. ai.

Good

akevi, alio, alho.

Grood fortuno ...

anguvia.^

Goods

anhyemoga.

Gourd ...

ahoghi, apvu.

Govern (ofach ief, etc.)...

akeka michilo.

Granary. . .

, aUeh.

Grandchild

atilimi.

Grass

aghii (thatching grass), aghasa (grass jungle).

Gratis ...

kumsa.

Grave ...

akumo kukhoh.

Graze (vb. tra7i8.)

amishi kyelo.

Grease (n.)

atha.

Great

kizhe.

Green ...

tsogokhui.

^ Anguvia < angu lit. = " dizziness " caused by a rush of blood to the
temples, hence equivalent here to "forehead," "fate," and vi, "good,"
a " remain."

424

APPENDIX VI

English
Grief ...
Grind (corn)
Ground ...
Grow {vb. trans
Growl (n.)
Growl (vb.)
Guess
Guide (n.)
Gum
Gun
Gunpowder

Sema.
amelussah.
(a'o, aghu) shUo.
ayeghi.
pukalo.
aghagha.
eghealo.
keghashilo.
alapiekemi.
atta.

musheho, alika, mashehu.
amichu, amitsu.

Habit

... apasiyeh, ayeh.

Hail

apfoghi, apoghii.

Hair

. . . amhi, akutsii 'sa (0/ the head only)

Half

... thiikha.

Halt (i-6.)

. . . ngulo.

Hammer (n.) ...

. . . chishethulu.

Hand

... aoumzi.

Handle (n.)

alaghi.

Handsome

... azhuki\'i.

Happy ...

ameloshile.

Hard

. . . akusho ; mukamughai.

Hardship

... imeke, immike.

Harelip ...

akechiizhi.

Harvest

. . . ghilehu.

Harvest-time ...

. . . ghilekii.

Hat

... akutsii kekhoh.

Hate

... zhunishimo.

... pa.

Headache

akhutsii siiani {vb.).

Healthy

... apiallo, ampiwallo (= body -well).

Hear

... inzhulo.

Heart

amlo, amelo.

Hearth

... amiphokibo.

Heat

liivwi.

Heaven ...

. . . atsiitsii.

Heavy ...

. . . mishishe.

Hedge ...

. . . aghutu.

Heel

... apitsu.

Heir

. . . alagha.

Help

... 'saphulo.

Hen

... awu-khu.

Hen-roost

awu-kacheh.

Hence

. . . hilehina.

Herdsman {of hine

... amishikheo.

Here

. . . hilau.

APPENDIX VI

425

English
Hereafter
Hiccup
Hide (vb.)
High
HiU
Hip

Hoe («.)
Hold
Hole {in clothes)

Honest ...

Honey . . .

Honeycomb

Hook ...

Horn

Hornet . . .

Horse

Hospital

Hot

Hot season

Hotase . . .

How

How long

How often

Hunger ...

Hvint (vb.)

Hurricane

Husband

Husbandry

Husk ...

{the simple verb
akhi " ; piani or

Sema.
hipathiu.
muchuka.

kiisivelo {<r.), itsuvelo {intr.).
chukumoghai ; ohile {of price)
athoh.
a'iku.
akuphu.
tsiikepialo.
akhi...ipiani

used with

be used).
mizucho.
akhi kechizii.
akhighwu.
ihoshu, ihoghwi.
akibo.

akliighii, akhighi.
kuru ( < Hindi ghora).
akusiiki, akesiiki.
liivwi.
tokutsala.
aki.

kishine.
ketuhe.
kitohila.

miiziiti, kelamu {starvation).
halo, ashihalo (" hunt meat ")
pasapagha.
akimi.
alumla.
ayepika.

am 18 not
ipiani " must

Ice

... a\'xi, avuchekuthoh (occen< OH wftima^e)

Idiot

... keghiizumi.

Idle

... akipichi, kokonana.

... -aye {enclitic).

Ignite . . .

... amisiilo.

Ill, be ...

... siilo, siiani > sani {present tense).

Immediately

... mtazziilo.

Immodest

... kuzhomokimi (n.).

Imprison

... akuwushipaalo .

lo.

Indian com

kolakiti.

Indigo . . .

... akiitsiipibo.

Infancy . . .

itUo.

Infant . . .

... anga.

Inform ...

pilo.

426

APPENDIX VI

English.

Sema.

Insane ...

.. keghiizunii (n.).

Insect ...

anyiga.

Inside ...

. . seleku.

Intellect

amelo {the heart is regarded as the seat of feeling

and intelligence).

Interest {on loans)

.. akughushela, akiegeshe.

Intestine

. . akive {the large intestine), akkeghii {the smaU),

Into

.. seleku, lo.

Invert ...

. . pebidelo.

Iron

.. ayl.

. . ani.

Isolate ...

ketashi katavelo (used of villages and persona).

Ivory

. . akahahu.

Jap vo ...

. . Tukahu, Tukave.

"Jhum"

. . atholu.

Join (vb.)

kimelo.

Joke

.. ghava (shilo).

Juice

.. akhatizvL {of fruit).

Jump {vb.)

.. asilhechelo.

Jungle ...

.. avezii {virgin forest), aghaghii {tree jungle),

aghasa {low jungle).

Keep

.. paalo.

Kernel ...

. . ati.

"Khel"

asah {division of a village) ; ayeh {clan).

Kick(w6.)

.. kitUo.

Kid

.. anyeh-ti.

Kidneys

amichikuchopuloti, akelu.

Kill

kakilo {unth gun) ; jHlo, jdvelo {with spear) ;

ghokhelo, ghikelo {loith dao).

Kind, be (v6.) ...

. . kimiyelo.

Kiss (vb.)

mutsiilo.

Batten

. . akwosati.

Kneel ...

.. kwokenyhelo.

Knife

.. azthachi.

Knock {as on a door) (v

).) kukuzhulo.

Knot {vb.)

.. kumkhwovelo.

Know ...

.. itilo.

Kohima

.. Kabu, Kozii.

Laborious

. . . alaimlaaho.

Labour

... akumla.

Lad

.. apumi {vide infra " youn^ ").

Ladder

. . . akala.

APPENDIX VI

427

English.
Lake

Lame man
Land
Land -slip
Language
Large
Last {adj.)
Late

Laugh {vb.)
Law-suit
Lay (place) {vb
Lazy
Lead (n.)
Leaf

LeEin (adj.)
Learn
Left hand (side)
Lend

Length ...
Letter . . .
Level
Liar

Lick {vb.)
Lie-down
Life

Lift {vb.)
Light {adj.)
Liquor . . .
Listen ...
Little ...
Little -finger
Liver
Living . . .
Load {n.)
Loan

Lofty . . .
Log
Long
Look {vb.)
Looking-gleiss
Loose {vb.)
Loot (n.)
Loot {vb.)
Lose

Loudly ...
Love (n.)
Lovely . . .

Sema.
aiziikucho.

apukhu-kegechemi, ayekhuko-ghopami.
ayeghi, ayeghii, ayeghe.
anekine.
atsa.
akizhe.

ashokao ; athekau {of numbere).
monuv'ai {vb.).
nulo.

atsa kekegha, atsa keghra.
kevetselo. '

akipichi, kokonana.
alyegholati,
atsini.
apilokumo.
meghushizhulo.
aoupiyu.
punalo.
akushulao.
kaku.
akkemm.

akimiklmi, kemikimi.
minyalo.
zulo.
akiiA;Au ; alaga {of lives given in oaths) ; asho-

lokiuni {do. referring to tJie persons whose lives

are given).
pfekelo, pekelo.
mi tithe,
azhi {h.p.).
inzhulo, chelulo.
kitila.

aolati amiighu.
aloshi.
Muani {vb.).
akhoh, akhwoh.
akena.
aikyekeh.
asiikumo.
kiishuwa.
hizhulo.

aghongu-kuyu, timi-kuzhapu.
khokovelo.
atsaokebachuke,
atsaokebachulo,
pahaivelo.
eghono.

akvikukliu, kukukye.
zhukela alho.

428

APPENDIX VI

English.

Sema.

Low

chilini.

Luck

aghao {l.p.).

Liiggage

anyhemoga.
M.

Madman

aghiizumi {epileptic) ; alloko keghiizumi {=quite
crazy).

Maid

iUimi, iUlhoteh.

Make

shilo.

Male ..

kepitimi, piketimi.

Man

timi ; -mi {in compounds).

Mango (it»

Id)

muzhobo {tree), muzhoiti {fruit).

Manner ..

ayeh.

Manure ..

aba ; abazii {liquid).

Many

kuthomo.

Mark

aghothu.

Market ..

alhi-kekegha, alhi-pogulo.

Marriage, arrange

for (0/

a chief arrangiiig

avnfe

jor a subject)

kh^o.

Marriage, ask in (vh.) ...

inlo.

Marriage, give in

[vh.)...

lu-tsiilo.

Marrow ...
Marry

akhii.

kilaolo {see also " cspoiwe "), lulo {of the man)
('kilo) gulo {of the woman).

Mat

ayephu.

Matches

amihebo (= " fire-strike-stick '^).

Meal

aghulo, ailikuli.

Meat

ashi.

Meet {vh.)

kusholo.

Meeting (n.)

kusholoki.

Mend

pukholo ; (aklii) khusselo {of a thatched roof).

Merchant

Jdcheghuzunii, aghiizumi.

Merciful, be {vb.)

kimiyslo.

Messenger, herald

chochomi.

Metal

ayi.

Meteor ...

ayeba ( = star dung).

Methinks

imelolo.

Midday, at

telhogholo.

Middle

amtalo {adv.).

Midnight, at

ziibulo.

Midwife

timikupunokemi.

Mildew ...

akoghwumhoh.

MUk(t;6.)

akechizii sulo.

Mind (n.)

amelo.

Mire

anyihohoh, aaniba. .

Miscarriage

anokhikye ; nhapitilo {death in child-birth). J

Miscarry

anokevelo. J

APPENDIX VI

429

English.

SfJMA.

Miser

... michikeo.

Miss (vb.)

... cheziivelo {with spear), kaziivelo {with gun).

Mist

... aziithothu {from river), kunkusii {cloud).

Mix

... sukkalo, kckavelo.

Moan {vb.)

... eghalo.

Mock {vb.)

... zhumulo.

Moist

... putsaive {vb.)

Mole {on skin) ...

. . . tichiphu.

Money ...

... wurang, aureuig, ghaka, apa.

Month ...

... akhi, akvi.

Moon

... akhi, akii ; akutheh {new moon), akii'akichilo

{JtUl moon), akiihawuncha {waning moon).

Morning...

... inakhe {adv.).

Move

... ikikekliyelo, ikikekhyevelo.

Much

... kuthomo ; hizhehi {so much).

Mud

... aani, aaniba.

Murder (i;6.)

... atsalishilo.

Murderer

... atsalishikemi.

Mushroom

... aphu, apvu.

Muzzle (of gun)

... alikakichi, musheho-kichi.

Naked . . .

Name

Near

Necklace
Needle . . .
Needy . . .
Negligent
Neighbour
Net {fishing)
New

Night ...

Nipple . . .
Nipple of g^m
Nobody

Nod {vb.)
Noise .. . .
None
N'ons3nse
Noon

minyumokimi (n.).

azhe.

avile, akupunulo ; (avilokami = person sitting
near).

ala {string of beads).

apu {of bamboo), ayipu {steel needle).

kumulhomi.

akipichimi.

nikitoimi.

akhasho.

akiteh ; phutemi {used 0/ new villages as opposed
to the original collection of houses).

pothoh ; ziibulo {midnight), izhi {last night),
tohuh {to-night, used during daylight), itizhi
{to-night, used after dusk), thozhiu {to-morrow
night), ina pothoh = just before dawn.

akichiloti.

apuchoh.

kxmaokaha {there is nobody) ; kahami (o
" nobody ").

akutsii kungulo.

aghugha.

kaha.

akumo'tsa (ht. "corpse's word").

telhogholo.

430

APPENDIX VI

English.

North

Nowadays

Nowhere

NumeroTis

Sema.
aboulao (lit. downwards, towards the plains)
etadolo, ishitogholo.
kilemokaha.
kuthumo.

Oath, hear (vb.)

enilo.

Oath, take (i;6.)

tushakelo.

Obey

(atsa) inyilo.

Objection

azuzu.

Obtain

itulo.

Odour

akho, nma, nmashusho.

Offence ...

atsali.

Offspring

nunu.

Often

ghwolatsiitsu.

atha (fat), amizii (kerosine, lit. "fire-water").

Old

aka (l.p.) ; phuyemi (old village as opposed to new

settlements) ; kitemi (old man or woman) ;

older (of brothers, etc.) = akichiu.

Omen, take {vb.)

(asii) keaghelo.

. 'so, 'shou.

Once

ohto laid.

One

laid, khe (in counting).

Onion ...

atsuna.

Only

liki, aUld.

Open

'khokolo ; kakevelo (of doors).

Opponent

. kineshukemi.

Oppose ...

. kineshuchelo.

Order («6.)

. asheshulo.

Ornaments

. anyhemoga.

Orphan ...

miighemi, meghemi.

Other

. ketao ; ketami (n.).

Outside ...

. kalacheo.

Over

. 'shou, 'hu.

Overtake

. hazhulo.

Overturn

bidelaono khelo ( = turn upside down).

Owing to {post-pn.)

. 'ghengnuo, 'ghe'uno.

Own (adj.)

'liki, kuthutha (collective).

Own (vb.)

. paghalo.

Owner

. p&ghakimi.

Fain ... ... ... aghimeh, agheme ; (vb. bHIo).

Pair ... ... ... athena.

Palatable ... ... chuvike.

Pale (from fear) ... palai (you turn pale I = oghi palaive I).

APPENDIX VI

431

English.

Sbma.

Palm-tree

... aitliobo {aago palm), kithuchobo (planta/in).

aochobo {loild plantain), amea {umbrella palm).

amugho {hair-bruah palm).

Paper ...

. . . kaku.

Paradise

. . . kungumipf u {gocW village).

Paramour

. . . alozhilio.

Pare

... Ihavelo, ayukoza Ihavelo.

Parents

. . . apa'aza.

Part(n.)

. . . alyeki, alyekhe, asazhe.

Path

. . . ala.

Pattern

. . . ayfishi.

Pauper

. . . kumulhomi, mughemi.

Pay(n.)

. . . akheme {daily wage), atha {monthly wage).

Pen

. . . kakukihepf u.

People

... timikomi.

Perceive

. . . zhulo.

Perform

. . . shilo.

Perfume

ahotsonkwui.

Perhaps

... kye ; tishin'ani (= "i« may be") ; kyeni.

Petty

kitila.

Pewter

... aklisaijd (i.e. the iron used for a/rmleta — akiiea).

Phlegm {literal)

. . . agheho.

Picture ...

... aghongu kolhuki.

Piece

. . . alyekhe.

Pierce

... khuphelo.

Pigeon

... akewo, ake'o.

Pillage {vb.)

... atsaokebachulo.

Pinch

... yillo.

Pipe

. . . aX;Athu.

Pit, pitfall

. . . akhwdh.

Place (n.)

... aa.

Place (i;6.)

. . . pavelo.

Plains ...

. . . abou.

Planet

ayepu (used for any large star).

Plank

. . . alipa.

Plant

. . . aghatsani.

Pletntain

... kithuoho-ti, ketiucho-ti.

Plate

. . . aili.

Play(t;6.)

. . . ghavashilo.

Please oneself . . .

. . . akshishilo.

Pleased

... allove.

Pocket

. . . zholabo (prob. < " jola," a foreign word =

haversack).

Point

... mutsiisi ; angu-mli {of a spear).^

Point out (vb.) ...

... piyelo.

Poison

... thughu ; aichi {for stupefying fiah).

Pole

... aketsa.

* mli here probably = " tongue."

432

APPENDIX VI

English.

Pond

Pool

Poor (n.)

Pork

Portion ...

Portrait

Post (wooden) ...

Pot

Pour

Precipice
Pregnant, be {vb.)
Prepare ...

Pretty

Prevaricate
Prevent
Previoxisly
Price

Prick (vb.)
Prison ...

Profit

Prop {vb.)
Property
Proprietor
Prostitute^
PuU {vb.)
Pumpkin
Punch {vb.)
Punish (n.)

Puppy

Purchase {vb.) ...
Purse
Pursue ...
Pu8h(t;6.)

Put

Put on {of clothes)
Putrefy ...
Putrid

Sema.
aiziikuchoh.
aizii.

kumulhomi, mugbami.
awoshi.
Eisazhe.

aghongu kolhuke.
atsii, aketsii.
alii, ali.

(azii) lesiilo, liiisiilo.
atokhu.
missichelo.
agilikutholo.
zhuke akevi.
see " shuffle.^*
kheyagholo.
kagheno.
ame.

kwalo, kwulo.
akoghu.
alah.

chevelo, cholo.

anhyemoga, paghake-nyhemoga.
paghakimi.

kuthokalimi, asalhami, kusalhanoi.
sinyhelo.
ahyengu.
chishilo.

ghemetsilo, "saza" tsiilo.-
atsii-ti.
khiilo, kiilo.
ghaka-bo, wurang-bo.
hapovelo.

tuhapelo, tupovelo.
pavelo.
minilo.
tsiivelo.
tsive.

Quagmire
Quake {vb.)
Quarrel ...
Quench {by water)

anyihohoh.

itailo.

kighi, ki'i, kiyi.

(azii) itsiivelo, itsivelo.

^ The Sema has no exact equivalent, as there are no professional prosti-
tutes in the Sema covmtry.

* iSaza is a Hindustani word in common use now.

APPENDIX VI

433

English
Quick, bo (vb.) .
Quickly ...
Quietly ...
Quite {adv.)

Sema.
mcghelo.
mtazii.

tseyamoshimo, tsiighumoshimono.
alloko.

Rafter

. . . akhu ; akhetsii (roof -tree).

Rain

... tsutsiigho.

Raise

... pfekelo, pekelo.

Rake

. . . akuwu.

Ramble {vb.)

... ilyulo.

Ramrod

... alika kekhepvu.

Rap

. . . kukuzhu.

Rape {vb.)

... tsiimomo saziilo.

Raw

... akut/iu, akiihuh {of meat) ; akupusho {of fruit

etc.).
... akkeh.

Razor ...

Reach {vb.)

... ao chopolo ( = reach and take).

Reach

... philo.

Ready ...

. . . shiloa.

Reap

... wolo {with a sickle), lusulo {in Sema fashion.

stripping the ears by hand).

Rebellious

. . . akhekeza.

Rebuke {vb.)

... alomipilo.

Receive ...

... lulo.

Recently

... etadolo.

Reckon ...

... philo.

Recline ...

. . . zii'alo.

Recognise

. . . itilo.

Recollect

... 'melo pogozhulo.

Reconcile

. . . alashivetsiilo.

Reconciled, be {vb.)

... alashilo.

Reflect

... 'melo nizhulo.

Refusal ...

... (inyiimoke = I don't consent).

Release {vb.)

pevelo.

Remain ...

. . . ngiilo ; alo {in compounds).

Remake

. . . shikithelo.

Remember

kumsiilo.

Remote ...

. . . kushoh.

Remove

... ekekevetsiilo.

Rent

. . . ayegheme^ {what is the rent = ayegheme kije tsii

kya f).

Rent {vb.)

... (alu) mishichichelo.

Repair {vb. )

. . . shikithelo ; shikithevetsilo {of some absent object).

Repeat {of speech)

... etaghe pikithelo.

1 I.e., " land -price."

F F

434

APPENDIX VI

English.

Sema.

Report (0/ a

gun)

alikaghagha.

Repose (n.)

aphipipi.

Reprimand (vb.)

alomipilo.

Reptile ...

lapiilaghu.

Resin ...

... ...

asiitha.

Rest {vb.)

...

aphipipilo.

Return ...

...

ilyovelo, ilyeghelo.

Revenue

...

ayegheme.

Reward ...

awogh, aghoh.

Rice

atikishi ; ana {cooked rice).

Rich man

kinimi.

Ride (t*.)

... ...

kurushou ikvilo.

Rifle

...

kolami'lika (i.e., "foreigners'

Right hand

{of direction)

azheo.

Ring (n.)

asaphu.

Ripe

...

akini.

Rise {vb.)

ikulo, ithoulo.

Road ...

ala {Naga path) ; potila {br
{cart road).

Roar {vb.)

eghalo.

Rock . . .

aXhokhM.

Root

...

akuhuh {accent on ultimate).

Rope

akeghih.

Rotten ...

akutsii.

Round . . .

chopumuloh.

Rub {vb.)

munulo.

Rule {vb.)

...

akeka michilo.

Rvde (n.)

aye.

Run {vb.)

polo ; povelo {run away).

Rust

aisah.

thogula

Sacking . . .
Salary . . .
SaUva . . .
Salt

Salute {vb.)
Same
Sand
Sap
Say

Scald {vb.)
Scar

Scold {vb.)
Scratch {vb.)
Scream {vb.)
Scream (n.)

yekhepi {accent on penultimate).

atah.

amtsazzii.

amti.

aopfeketsilo.

apipi.

asayi.

asuzu.

pilo.

aziikumokhono vipiyetsilo

agiizakhu.

alomipilo.

chukhalo.

eghalo.

aghiigha.

APPENDIX VI

435

English.
Search (vb.)
Seat
Second ...

See

Seed

Seize

Self

SeU

Send

Sense

Separate

Separate (vb.) ...

Servant ...

Serve

Sew

Shade

Shadow ...
Shake (vb.)
Shallow ...
Shame ...
Share (n.)
Sharp
Shave ...

Shelf

Shield

Shiver (n.)

Shoe

Shoot

Short

Shout (uft.)
Shuffle (vb.)

Shut {vb.)
Sick, be {vb.)
Side

Silence . . .
Silver ...
Similar ...
Sing

Single . . .
Sink {vb.
Sit

Site {of house)
Skin (n.)
Skin {vb.)
SkuU ...
Sky
Slander ...

intr. )

S£MA.

phuzhulo.
alaku.

amithao {of three), paahelo {of more than three).
itulo.
atipithi.
keghalo.
'liki, aliki.
zhelo, zhevelo.

tsiipulo {of an object), pulo {of a person only).
amelo.
kuthutha.
kuthuthashilo.
akkemi, timikemi.
timikelo.
(api) tsoghulo.
akichekoh.
aghongu.
sikinlo.
Uali.
kuzho.

asazhe, akikizhe.
tsiigha, tsogha.
miyelo.
alikaa.
aztho.

sitikokokwoi.

apukukukwoh {accent on ante-pemdtimate).
(ahkano) kalo.
yikwonhe, ikwonhei.
kutsilo.

kopho-nyepolo, ophoh-nyepolo {lit. stamp out
earth for floors > to mark time ; to beat about
the bush, prevaricate).
khalo ; miilo, imilo (of eyes)
siilo (is sick = sdni, silani).
tekhao.
kammmii.

aurang-i ( == rupee metal)
toina, toh.
aleshilo.
'liki, aliki.
(aziilo) Uulovelo.
ikalo.
akipfo'a.

ayikwo, ayukoza.
Ihalo.

akutsii paghe.
atsiitsu.
'zhe shipuisatselo.

F F 2

436

APPENDIX VI

English.

Sema.

Slave!

... akughu (?) ; akkemi, akhemi (= servant).

Slap (vb.)

... dahelo, daihelo.

Slay

. . . ivelo.

Sleep (vb.)

... ziialo, zealo.

Sleepiness

. . . aghwungu.

Sleepy, be (vb.)...

... ingulo.

Shiny

. . . inhila.

SUghtly

. . . kitla kitla.

Slip {vb.)

... vhekevelo.

Slippery...

. . . pepepeh, pevepoh.

Sloping ...

... chozhoi, kohuiya.

Slow

. . . asheshi.

Slowly ...

asheshino.

Smack {vb.)

... dahelo, daihelo.

Small

... kitila, kithiti.

SmeU

... akhokumna.

Smile {vb.)

... nulo.

Smiling

. . . nuketoi.

Smoke (n.)

... amkhi, amchi.

Smoke {vb.)

. . . afcMtuhu tsilo {of tobacco).

Snailfihell

tenhakubo.

Snake ...

... apeghi, apeghii.

Snare {vb.)

. . . alicheshilo, akussiishilo.

Snatch ...

... mukhallo.

Sneeze (n.)

... hachi.

Snore {vb.)

nhizilo.

Snow

... morusii, mixlasii.

Soap

... akutsiikukuchupho {generic)

Soft

. . . mutsamnye.

Soil (n.)

. . . ayeghi.

Soil (vb.)

. . . ai^neshi velo .

Son

. . . nu, nunu.

Song

. . . ale.

Soon

... kepaiye, kei.

Sorrow ...

... amelussah ( < amSlo-sii-a).

Soul

. . . aghongu.

South

. . . ahulao {lit. = upwards).

Sour

... khammvo.

Sow (n.)...

... awokhu.

Sow {vb.)

. . . (atipithi) sholo {sow carefully in Sema fashion) ;

(atipithi) hulo, pfulo {sow broadcast in the Ao

or Sangtam manner).

Spark ...

. . . amikumfa.

Speak

. . . pilo.

Spear (n.)

. . . angu.

Spear (r6.)

... angulo ivelo.

Spectacles

... anyeti-kokwopfu.

^ No precise equivalent, as slavery is not praotiaed by the Semas.

APPENDIX VI

437

Enoush. Sbma.

Spit

... muBsutelo.

Spittle ...

... amthi.

Spleen . . .

... alhuchi.

Spoil (vb.)

... alhokesah shitsiilo.

Spoon (n.)

atsiigolesa.

Spring (n.)

... aziipfuki.

Squat (vb.)

... iseilo.

Stammerer

... amli-kutsiimi.

Stand (vb.)

... putughwo'alo.

Stand up

... ithoulo, putugwolo.

Star

... ayeh, ayesiih.

Starvation

... kelarauke.

Starve . . .

... kelamulo.

Steal ...

pukalo.

Steel

ahizuh.

Steep {adj.)

... akke, akewu.

Stick {n.)

... asii.

Sting (n.)

... akhiichoh (0/ 6ee«, e<c.).

Sting {vb.)

... (akliino) kwolo (0/ 6ee«).

Stomach

apfo.

Stone

... athu.

Stop {vb.)

kheagetsilo {tr.), khealo {intr.).

Storm . . .

... pasapagha.

Story ...

... kaghelom'tsa, kichim'tsa.

Stream ...

... aghokiti, awokiti.

Straight

... muzochoi.

Stranger

... enami.

Straw . . .

aliteghezhini. _

Strike . . .

... helo, bulo.

String . . .

akeghi.

Strong . . .

... chobbo, chobboi.

Subject (n.)

... meghemi, miighemi.

Substitute

... azokwo, azzokwuh.

Suck ...

... (akechi) nyilo (0/ a swcWingi) ; mutzulo.

Suckle . . .

... akechipinlo.

Suddenly

mtano.

Sun

... tsikinhye, ketsinhye.

Sunrise, at

... tsikinhipechelo.

Sunset, at

... tsikinhihmi kechelo.

Suicide ...

... pa no kishishi pa ivike, panaliki pa ivike {killed

himself on purpose).

Suppose

... keghashilo.

Sure

kucho kucho.

Suspect (vb.)

... 'gelitoii kvunsiiliilo {/ suspect Mm = niye pa

gelitoi kumsuluani).

Swallow (n.)

michekalhu.

Swear . . .

... tushakelo.

Sweep . . .

... kwuivelo.

Sweet ...

... ngoinnii.

438

APPENDIX VI

English.
Sweetheart

Swim
Swoon {vb.)

Sema.
'Ihozhilepfu {speaking oj the female), 'Ihozhipu'u

(speaking oJ the male).
azughalo.
izuvuvulo.

Tail

Tailor . . .

Take

Take away

Talk

Tall

Tame

Tank

Teach ...

Tear (n.)

Tear {vb.)

TeU

Tent

Thief

Thin

Thing

Think

Thirst

Thorn

Thread

Thrifty man

Through

Throw (vb.)

Throw away

Thrust ...

Thumb ...

Thiinder

Thus

Tie (vb.)

Tighten...

Tigress ...

Tipsy ...

Tobacco...

Tomb ...

To-morrow

Top

Top {tfie toy)

Topsy-turvy

Torch ...

Touch {vb.)

Track ...

ashomhi.

apiketsoghou.

lulo.

luvelo, siivelo.

pialo, atsa pilo.

kushoh.

apoghou, apeghiu.

alziikucho.

shipiSlo.

anhyezii.

Bukhuvelo.

pilo.

apiki.

kepukami.

ipumihei (of things), adumekhekhiu (of persons).

anyemogha.

kvunserriilo, kumiizhulo.

thoghuti.

asahu.

ayeho.

akukutsimi, akutsiikichemi.

'mtala.

chelo.

phevelo.

khiilo.

aouloku.

atsutsiisu, tsiitsiikussiih.

ishi, nahi.

kumshovelo.

siikutsu kweshilo.

angshuakhu.

shomzii.

akhipi.

akhumona.

thogu.

amzu.

aketsii.

bidelao.

asiiteh (lit. = millet husk).

bulo.

anyepa.

English.
Trade (n.)
Trade {vb.)
Trader ...
Trance, go into (vb.)
Trap {litercd) ...
Travel (vb.)
Traveller

Tree

Trigger

Trouble

True

Try

Turns, by

Twin

APPENDIX VI

Sbma.
aghughii.
alhikishilo.
alhikishimi.
izipeghelo.
akessiih, awufu.
izuwulo {primarily for trade).
aghiizumi (primarily for trade).
asii, abo.
alikamoke.
aghime.
kucho.

pulolo, pulozhulo.
ketsoghiino.
kumtsapunukemi.

439

Unbusinesslike man .

.. khwoshemi (a man who is too stupid or ignorant

to trade).

Unclean

.. akheni, akeklieni.

Under ...

chilu, apeo.

Understand

chilulo.

Undo

.. Ihapevelo.

Unequal

akemikumo.

Unripe ...

akupusho.

Untie

. . khakevetsilo.

Untrue ...

.. miki.

kungu.

Up, get (t;6.) ...

ithoulo.

Urine

. . puzho.

Vagabond
VaUey

pokimi.
. . . akita.

Valuable

. . . ame.

Vein

. . . amvmhii.

Venom {of snakes)

. . . athiti, apeghi'thiti.

Very

. . . alloko.

Vex

. . . 'ghimetsiilo.

Village

. . . apfu, agana.

Virgin ...

. . . ililotheh.

Voice

. . . asiitsa.

Vomit (n.)

. . . mughupaake.

Vomit {vb.)

... mughuvelo._

Vulture

... alluamishikumukemeghu 1
kite).

[= cow-corpse-pecking ■

440

APPENDIX VI

English.

Wade

Wages ...

Waist

Wait

Wake (vb. tra)is.)
Walk(v6,)

WaU

Want (vb.)

War

War, make (vb.)
Warm ...
Warrior

Wash

Watch (f6.)

Water ...

Wax

Way

Weak

Wear (of clothes, vb.)

Weariness

Weave ...

Weed (n.)

^Veep

Weigh ...

Weighty

Weir

Well {adv.)

Westwards, west

Wet (vb.)

What

Whatever

When

Whence
\Vhisper (n.)
Whistle (/I.)

Why

Wicked ni.in

Wide

Widow, widower

Wife

Wild animals ...

Will

Wind (n.)
Wing
Wink(n.)
Winter ...

Sema.

aziibalo.

atha.

achetha.

khelo.

kiitavelo.

iluelo.

athobi.

shishilo.

aghu.

agiishilo.

sukuthoi.

kivimi.

azii kiichuvelo ; (aghi) pavelo {wash the face).

aghiizhulo {of village sentinels) ; mekezhulo

{watch secretly).
azii.

aghiigha.
ala {path).
apekekye.
ulo.

aghame.
apigholo.
alupi.
kalo.

megezhulo, meghezhiilo.
mishishei.
akhiih {h.p.)
allokei.

tsikinhye-kulola.
putsalo.
kiu.

ki'shimo.
kogho.
kilehina.

amelotsa (lit. = heart-word).
mizhi.
kiushia.
atsalikeshimi.
akizhela, akuzhulao.
chimemi.
anipvu.
teghashi.
kuthoh.
amulhu.
akichibo.
anhyekutsuke.
siisutsala {lit. = shivering time).

APPENDIX VI

441

English.
Wipe
Wish {vb.)
Witch
With
Withered
Within
Witness
Woman

Wood .
Word .
Work (n.
Work {vb
World .
Worry (vb.)
Worst ...
Worship
Wound (n.)
Wrestle ...
Write ...
Wrong . . .

(middle-aged).

Sbma.
khunhuvelo.
shishilo.

thumimi, thumdmi.
'sa.

kimughoi.
seluku.

'kualonoke, azhepfeki.
totinai ; ilinu {girl), topfumi

kitemi {old). See '^ young."
asii.
atsa.
akurnla.

akumla shilo ; mulalo.
tsitsiikholo.
'ghimetsiilo.
alhokesa-o.

(teghami, kungumi) putsalo.
akliuh (l.p.).
kukalo.
kaku helo.
achipishimo {accent ultimate) ; miki (untrue).

Yawn (vb.)
Year

Yearly, year by year
Yesterday

Young

ahushilo.

ampeh, amphe ; kanyeku (last year), kashi (this

year), thooku (next year).
amphe amphe.
eghena.

Male. Female.

'apulotimi (up to about 14
years)

Yoimgor

apumi (15 «o 25 or 30)
ahelo (30 to 40) ^ ^
awolelo (40 to 50) ( •"
muchomi (50 to 60) ...
, kitemi (too old to work)
aitixi.

ililhoteh.
ilimi.

thopfuhelo.

thopfumi.
kitemi.

^ Ahelo and awolelo are also called muchuhdo.

APPENDIX VII

GLOSSARY

Apddia

(< Assamese dpadiya — " accidental " or " caiising
misfortvine " ; Bengali dpad = a calamity) applied
to death by certain particular misadventures,
e.g., death in childbirth, killing by a tiger, loss
in the jungle, drowning, killing by the fall of a
tree or by a fall from a tree, death by snake-bite.
These are not all regarded as " Apodia " deaths
by all tribes, but the first three seem to be in-
variably so regarded.

Bison

i.e. the wild mithan, Bos gaums.

Chablll

Chunga

A form of currency formeriy used in the Ao
country and consisting of a narrow strip of
iron from 6 to 8 inches long with a triangular
projection at one end. Probably it represents
a conventionalised spear.

Chabili l<chabi — a key, pronounced Sdblli.

A section of bamboo used as a drinking vessel
or for carrjang water. In the latter case a
length of 3 or 4 feet is used, the nodes being
pierced to admit the water down to the
bottom.

Dao

deka chdng
deo-bih

A sort of bill of varying shape used both for wood-
cutting and as a weapon by the tribes of N.E.
India and Burmah. Sometimes spelt dah.

V. " mdrung.'"

{Ut." god -poison "). A very powerful and destructive
fish poison made from the root of a plant growing
at low altitudes.

APPENDIX VII

443

deo-mdni

dhdn ...
dhoti . . .

dhuli ...
dobashi
diili . . .

Ekra

Oaonbura

genna . . .
genna-bura

Huluk...
Jdppa. . .

jhum ...
jhuming

{lit. " god-bead "). A variety of bead made from a
reddish - brown stone flecked with black. The
stone seems to be found in Nepal and beads made
from it are very highly prized by Nagas. Possibly
dug from ancient graves.

The Bengal Asiatic Society's Journal, volume
xvi, p. 713, contains a notice by H. Piddington
of the " Deo-Monnees or Sacred Beads of Assam."

The unhusked grain of the rice plant, commonly
called " paddy."

Loin-cloth. A strip of broad muslin cloth wrapped
round the waist, drawn between the legs and
tucked in in front. It forms the ordinary nether
garment of Assam auid Bengal.

See dhoti.

'• One who speak.s two languages," an interpreter.

A large basket averaging about 5 feet in height
and 2i feet in diameter with a pointed cover.
Used for storing grain by the Angamis.

A tall grass (probably an andropogon) with a stiff
stem and sharp-edged leaves.

{lit. = village elder). The head man of a village
or of a " khel " holding his appointment from
Government.

See p. 220.

{lit. = genna elder). A Naga-Assamese term used
more or less indiscriminately for the four religious
officieds of the Angami village and for the cor-
responding functionaries in other Naga tribes.

H
A black gibbon, hylobates huluk.

A four-footed carrying basket with a pointed lid
narrower at the bottom than the middle. It
is made of two thicknesses of split bamboo or
cane, with a lining of bamboo leaves in between
to keep out the wet. GeneraJly from 3 to 3i feet
in height and 18 to 20 inches in diameter.

Land cultivated by "jhuming."

A form of extensive cultivation in which an area
is cleared of jungle (which is burnt, the ashes
being dug into the ground), and sown for two
successive years. At the end of this period
weeds come up too thickly for convenient cultiva-
tion, and the fertility of the soil is to some extent
diminished. The land is then allowed to remain
uncultivated for from five to fifteen years, at
the end of which time there is a fresh deposit of
leaf mould and the growth of tall vegetation has
killed off the small weeds that interfere with
cultivation. In jhuming only one crop is sown
in the year, rice in the first year being followed
by millet in the second where this cereal is
cultivated.

444

APPENDIX VII

Kacheri
kachu

Tcang .

khang
khel .

or " cutcherry," the magistrate's court.

The arum, Colocasia antiquorum, grown largely
as food by the more northern and eastern Naga
tribes.

A basket wide at the top and pointed at the bottom
used for carrying.

See kang.

The word for an exogamous group among the
Ahoms. Hence applied to the Angami thino,
and as the different thino in an Angami village
usually live in separate quarters, the word has
consequently been applied to a subdivision of a
Naga village regardless of exogamy, to which,
as in the case of the Semas for instance, it has
frequently no reference at all. v. p. 121n.

Lao
lengta

Gourd used for carrying and storing liquor.

A narrow strip of cloth tied round the waist, passing
between the legs from behind and up to the waist
again in front, whence it falls down again in a
square flap.

Machdn A raised platform made of bamboos split and

interwoven, of simple bamboos, or of wood.

mddhu v-'^modhu."

menitessa A cereal used in the concoction of fermented liquor —

the great millet {? sorghum vulgar e).

mithdn The domesticated variety of Bos frontalis, one of

the species of Indian bison.

mddhu Fermented liquor brewed from rice, of which there

are three or four varieties known to Nagas, \'iz.: —
pita modhu, made from uncooked rice and fer-
mented after the addition of water, a very mild
drink ; kachdri modhu and rohi, made from rice
boiled and subsequently fermented ; and sdkd
modhu, made by infusion, boiling water being
poured through previously steeped and fermented
rice, like the first a mild concoction.

mdrung (or deka chdng) The house in which the bachelors of the clan sleep.
Also used as a centre for clan ceremonies and a
sort of men's club generally.

Nagini

A female Naga.

Paddy...

pdnikhets

Rice growing or in the husk.

{lit. " water-fields "). Irrigated and flooded terraces
for growing wet rice.

APPENDIX VII

445

panjxa.

pharua

ptce

Spikes of hardened bamboo used to impede the
passage of an enemy, impale wild animals in
pits, etc. They vary from eight inches to four
feet in length, and when well seasoned by exposure
to the weather are sharp enough to pierce the sole
of a boot.

An implement used for hoeing and digging and
made like a spade with the blade at right angles
to the handle. The term is also applied to Naga
hoes.

A small coin roughly equivalent to a farthing.

Sarkar. . .

serow . . .

shikari

The British Government.

Nemorhhoedus rubida, a species of antelope allied
to the goat and living on jimgle-clad precipices.
The variety alluded to in this monograph is the
Burmese or red serow. The Assamese call it
deochaguli (=" god-goat "), probably owing to
its extraordinary elusiveness.

A tracker, hunt«r of game.

Tez patta

lit. " sharp leaf," so called from its acid and
aromatic taste, the laurus cassia.

Fermented liquor. [Zu is an Angami word )

INDEX TO SEMA NAMES AND
WORDS

Abbreviations.

c/. ...
cl.

. . . compare.
. . . clan.

ped. . . .

. . . pedigree (following
p. 144).

illstd.

... ' genna.'
. . . illustrated.

tr.

. . . river.
. . . tribe.

... footnote.

... refer to.

vil. ...

... village.

Abidela, 40, 41, 46

Aboimi, cl., 126

aboshou, 241

aboshu, V. ' pounding tables '

abosuhu, g., 225

Achumi, cl., 121, 122, 126, 135, 351

aghacho, v. ' hombill '

aghao-pucho, 15

aghasho, 138

aghau, 64, 193, 199

aghiye, 96, 343

aghongu, 199 sq., 205, 210 ; cf.

' soul '
aghii, 98, 180, 182, 214
aghiicho, 174, 175, 253
aghuhu, 16n., 48 ; illstd. 12, 37, 48
aghiiza, 36, 115, 361n., 377; illstd.

227
Aghiiza, g., 223
Ahota, 367
aichi, 83 sq.

Aichikuchumi, vil., 25, 163
Aichisagami, vil., 8n., 33, 205, 266,

297, 298
AiTia, 107
aitho, 78, 81
akawoku-pfu, 241
akedu, 115, 227n., 377
akekao, v. ' chief '
akeshou, 240, 241
Akhape-kumtha, g., 223
akini, 61, 243

SEMA NAQAS. 447

akiniu, 222

akishekhoh, 40, 41, 46, 228, 234
akumokeshu, v. ' lapu '
akutsii-kegheheo, 175, 176, 179
Alapfumi, vil., 33, 113, 157, 226,

252, 256 ; ped. I ; illstd. 64
alau, 73, 106, 160, 244
Alhmi, 191, 194, 212, 328, 336
aluba, 343n.
Aluchike, g., 222
alulabo, 348n..
aluzhitoemi, 241
aluzhu, V. ' gang '
Amiche, 356

amiphoki, v. ' hearth,' cf. ' room '
amoshu, V. ' lapu '
amthao, 216, 217, 221
amukeshiu, 138, 141, 382, 383
amiishou, v. ' lapu '
Amuza, g., 222
anagha, 253, 254
anga, 138, 369n.
angulimi, 131, 138, 143
anisii, 238 sq.
anivu, g., 235
aniza, 237, 313
Ann, g., V. ' Anyi '
anukeshiu, 145n..
anulikeshimi, 145n., 148
Anyegheni, g., 223
Anyi, g., 45, 223, 225
Aochagalimi, vil., 187, 243?i.

448 INDEX TO SEMA NAMES AND WORDS

Aokhuni, g., 222
apasuho, v. ' akishekhoh '
aphile, 115, 361
apikesa, g., 218
Apikhimthe, g., 224
Apikukho, g., 21 8n., 229 sq.
Apisa, g., 227, 228
Apitekhu, g., 222
Apitomi, vil., 37
Arkha, 135
ariizhu, g , 222
asah, 121

ashebaghiye, 96, 343
ashegha, 253, 25
ashepu, 79
ashipu, 216, 219
Ashonumi (phratry), 125
Ashyegheni, g., 223
Asimi, cl., 65, 113, 121, 122, 123,
124, 126, 217w., 234, 235, 236,
244; illstd. 8
asiikesalo, 262
Asukokhwomi, vil., 169
asiikuchu, g., 217
asumtsazu, 216
asu-pusuke, 109 ; illstd. 100
Asuyekhiphe, g., 221
Asiiza, g., 223
atheghwo, 246 ; illstd. 245
atsughiikvlliau, 228
atsiinakhi, 61, 219
atsilnigha, 232n.
atsupi, V. ' post '
Auhiikiti, g., 222
Awohomi, vil., 5
Awo-Kinimi, cl., 123
Awomi, cl., 121, 122, 123, 124, 125,

126, 129, 130, 266, 350
Awonakvchu, g., 225
awou, 150, 151, 198, 216 sq., 224
awupishekuchu, 44
atmitsa, 93, 124, 312 ; c/. ' hombill '
ayeh, 125, 348n. ; v. ' clan '
Ayemi, cl., 122, 123, 126, 129, 130,
134, 135, 217n., 238, 266, 303,
347, 348, 350 ; peds. II, VII
ayeshu, in medicine, 101 ; in oaths,

165
azazhunala, 240
Azekakemi, vil., 149n,
azhichoh, 98, 99, 223, 226
Azhomi, 4

Baimho, vil., 34, 169, 170 ; ped. V.

Champimi, vil., 253n.
Chekemi, cl., 122, 129

Chekiye (of Sagami), 205; (of

Lukammi), 206, 207
Ohesha, 125n., 126, 127
Cheshalimi, vil., 5. 375 ; cl., 122,

124, 125, 126, 130, 131
chini, 220, v. ' genna '
Chipoketami, vil., 205
Chishi, 125n., 126, 127
Chishilimi, vil., 5, 258 ; cl., 122,

124, 125, 126, 130, 350 ; peds.

VI, VIII, XI
Cholimi (Ao tr.), 123 ; «. ' Aos '
Choliphuo, 219, 220
Chonomi (Sangtam vil.), 169
Chophi-ChoU-tsa, 123
Chunimi, cl., 122, 124, 126, 377
Chuoka, 130

EMiLoan, vil., 43, 128

Jidulu, V. ' flute '

Ghabomi, 4

ghapiu, 262, 410, 412 ; c/. 197, 255

Ghokwi (of Kulhopu), 204

Ghukiya, 128, 185 ; ped. IX

Ghukwi, vil., ped. IX

Ghulhoshe, 163

Gwovishe, 9, 170, 173, 205, 206

HEBULim, vil., 5, 59

Hekshe (of Seromi), 71

Hezekhu (of Sheyepu), 194 ; ped.

IV ; viii ; illstd. 14
Hocheli, 356, 364
Hohe, 106

Hoishe (of Yehimi), 71
Hoito (of Sakhalu), 262 ; ped. Ill ;

viii
Hokali, 365/i.
Hoshomu, 123
Hotoi (of Sakhalu), 182, 24!)
Hovishe (of Yezami), 170
Hozeshe (of Tsukohomi), 9

Iganumi, vil., 178n., 235

Ikashe (of Sheyepu), 81

Iki, 252, 315, 407

Ilheli, 177

Inache (of Baimho), 170

Inaho (of Melahomi), 27, 205, 206 ;

(of Lumitsami), 157, 166
Inami-kuea, g., 227, 228 ; v.

' aghiiza '

INDEX TO SEMA NAMES AND WORDS 449

Inato, 29, 41, 116, 157, 159, 161,
178, 186, 203, 206, 211, 363;
ped. I ; viii

Ivihe (of Aochagalimi), 187

Ivikhu, viii

Izhihe, 163

Kaka, 126

Kakhu (of Sapotimi), ped. VIII

Kamli, 178n.

kasupapo, 62, 220, 260

Katenimi, cl., 122, 129

fee, 279n., 292 sq.

kekami, 152, 185

Kekheche, 363, 364n.

krtscshe, 73, 262

Khakho, 126

Khakholimi (or Khakhomi). cl.,

122, 126, 131, 132
Khakvdi, 363
Khavi, 334

Khekuvi (of Shevekhe), 182
Khoghamo, 126, 127
Kholaou, 334

Khowakhu (of Shevekhe), 48
Kkozhurao (of Kukishe), 205
Khuix-i, vil., 204
Khupu, 28, 29, viii
Khuzhomi, cl., 122, 129
Khwonhyetsii, 96, 343
Kibalimi, cl., 122, 127, 129, 131.

218, 350
Kichilimi, vil., 131
Kichimiya, 195 sq., 257 ; g., 221
Kileki, r., 7, 51, 59, 267
Kilomi, vil., iUstd. 34
Kini-Chunimi, cl., 124
Kinimi, cl., 122, 123, 124, 125, 126

350, 377 ; ped. I
Kinishe, 126
kitike, v. ' kick-fighting '
Kitila, 212
kitimi, 107, 198, 210, 259 : v.

' ghost '
Ki%Tikhu, vil.. In.
Kivilho (of Seromi), 130
Kiyelho (of Alapfvuni), 157, 158 ;

ped. (of Seromi), 130
Kiyeshe (or Sakhai), vil., 10. 33,

63m., 128, 243?i., 270
Kiyetha, vil., 57
iKivezu, 204

Ko'cheke (of Sakhalu), 198
Kohazu (of Sakhalu), 164, 177
Kohii, ped. XI

'cohkohpfoh, 57, 58 ; illstd. 52, 66
Kohoto, ped. X

S£HA NA6i.S.

kolami, 353

Kolavo, 197, 212, 244

Kiikihe (of Emilomi), 43

Kukishe, vil., 205 ; illstd. 176

Kukwobolitomi, 198

Kulhopu, \il., 204

Kumishe, vil., 25, 169

Kumtsa (of Emilomi), 43

Kumtsii, 48

Kungulimi, 132, 329

Kungumi, 191, 194 sq., 212, 230,

331, 392
Kupvuhe, ped. XI
Kusheli (of Litsammi), 205, 206
Kutathu, 130

Laghepini, g., 223

Lakheokhu, g., 223

Lakomi (Sangtam ^'il.), 170

lapu (or amushou), 71, 176, 179,

180, 214, 215, 216, 217 sq., 226
Lalsapa, v. ' Litsaba '
Laza, 367
Lazemi, \-il., 5, 6, 8, 14, 29, 34n.,

35, 69, 121, 124, 133, 176, 183,

236, 255, 256, 266, 268, 282,

283, 284, 285
Lhoshepu, \-il., 10
li, 131 sg.

Like, i>iA:emi, = " Nankam,' q.v.
Litamj, \^\., 29, 34, 35, 173
Litsaba, 195 sq., 223 ; g., 221
Litsami, vil., 4, 19, 47
Litsammi, ^^l., 14, 205, 206
Litsowo, V. ' Kolavo '
Lizotomi, vil , 205
Lochomi, vil., 121
Lohatha (of Azekakerai), 149w.
Lophomi (Sangtata xi\.), 4, 345
Loselonitomi, 198
LosheU, 369
Lotesami, vil., 123, 206
Lumami, ^^l., 256
Lumitsami, vil., 29, 157, 159, 178,

252, 256; illstd. 116; ped. I;

cf. ' Inato '
Lumtami ( = Lum6ikami, Seuigtain

vil.), 169
Lutvunyi, g., 221
Luziikhu (of Baimho), 249 ; ped. V

Maghkomi, vil., 172, 173
Melahomi, vil., 27
michikedu, 227n.
michisu, 165, 227
iniki, 201

G G

450 INDEX TO SEMA NAMES AND WORDS

MishiUmi, vil., 5, 6, 15, 18, 124,

131, 132
Mishilitha, 216

Mithihe (of Vekohomi), 303, viii
Miti, g., 222
Moemi, vil., 365
Molimi, cl., 130
Mtsiili, 334
Muchomi, v. ' Chang '
Muchupile, 357
miighemi, 144, 145 sq., 385 sq.
Mukalimi, vil., 131
Muromi, cl., 122, 123, 129
Muro-sipomi, cl. (unlucky), 123
Murromi, vil., 96, 207, 259
Muza, g., 222
Muzamuza, 197

narvbo, 348n. ; cf. 64, 125, 225

Naruto (HiU), 208, 211

Natami, vil., 121

Natsimi, vil., 6, 254, 255, 256

Nikashe (of Aichagachumi), 25, 170

Nikhoga, 125, 126, 135

Nikhui, 170

Nikiye (of Sakhalu), 248, viii

Nivikhu, ped. X

Nivishe, 157

Nizukhu, ped. VII

Nionomi, vil., 77 ; cl., 122, ped. Iln.

Pakavi, 25, 169

PhiUmi, vil., 149, 174, 200; illstd.

38, 245
Phusumi, vil., 149, 173, 206
Phuyemi, vil., 34
jnni, 220 ; v. ' genna '
Povilho (of Sheyepu), 81
PutheU, 127, 128, 144 ; peds. IX, X
Puzi, 253n.

RoTOMi, vil., 149 ; illstd. 34

Sagami, v. ' Aichisagami '

Sage, g., v. ' Saghu '

Saiyi, 205

Sakhai, v. ' Kiyeshe '

Sakhalu, 71, HO, 164, 177, 182,
204n., 205, 248 ; (vil.) 33, 102,
149, 198, 204n., 218, 248;
ped. Ill ; illstd. 36

Sakhuto (of Khuivi), 204, 205

Sanakesami, vil., 266

Sapotimi, vil., 168 ; ped. VIII

Satami, vil., 33, 57, 113n.

Seromi, vil., 6, 7, 33, 34, 34n., 43,
60, 71, 105, 121, 168, 169, 257,
266, 298«.., 303 ; ped. II

Shahapfumi, vil., ped. X

shefu, 320

Shehoshe (of Litsami), 19, 20, 47, 51

Shevekhe, vil., 48, 214

Sheyepu, vil., 81, 102, 169, 194,
204JI., 218, 219, 249, 365 ;
ped. IV

Shietz, vil., 169

Shikiili (of Iganumi), 178n.

Shikusho, g., 219, 227, 228

Shikyepu, 197

Shipvomi (Sangtam vil.), 173

Shisho, g., V. ' Shikusho '

Shitzimi, vil., 50n.

Shiyihe (of litsammi), 369

Shochunai, cl., 122n.

Shoghopu (of Litami), 29

Shohemi, cl., 122, 123, 350

shohosii, 321

shonumi, 217

Sichimi, vil., 113

Simi, 126, 219

Sishimi (or Shisimi), vil., 121

Sisilimi (or Shishilimi), vil., 131

Sotoemi, vil., 181, 218, 356

augotsa, 80

SiikheU, 205

Sukomi, vil., 77, 128 ; ped. IX

Siimi, 219

Suphuo, 219, 220

Swemi (vil. = Semi, Swema), 5, 36n.,
59, 375, 376, 377

tafuchi, 67 ; illstd. 66, 254

TaloU, 197

Tapu, r., = ' Dayang,' q.v.

Tegha-aghuzuwu, 198

Tegha-kesa, 198

Tegha-kma, g., 219, 226

teghami, 192 sq., 195 sq., 259, 340 ;

V. ' spirits '
Tekhekhi, g., 223
thoghopu, V. ' toad '
Thoilalapi, 366
thopfughabo, 22, 102
Thumoli, 106
thumomi, 178n., 213, 214, 230 sq.,

247 334
thumsu,'52, 221, 321
Tichipami (or Tichimi), vil., 257
Timilhou, v. ' Alhou '
Tokikehimi, vil., 58, 181
Toti-ina, vil., 259
Tsakalu, 135
tsitsogho-pini, g., 214, 222

INDEX TO SEMA NAMES AND WORDS 451

Tsivikaputoini, vil., ped. VI

Tsukohomi, \n\., 169, 205

Tsukomi, cl., 122, 129, 218, 350

Tsunimi, cl., 126

Tiighaki, 128

Tukahu, 5, 124, 253n., 375

Tukhemmi, tr., 17, 19, 21 ; v.
' Kalyo-Kengjoi '

Tukhepu (of Sheyepu), 102

Tukomi ( = S8ttigtain, q.v.), tr., 4, 5,
8, 11, 13, 15, 17, 58, 112. 122,
124, 170, 181, 207, 219, 345

Tukophuo, 219, 220

Tushomi, 124n., 345, 395

Tiitsa, r.,= 'Tita,' q.v.

TuziX, T., V. ' Tizu '

Vedami, vil., 33 ; illstd. 38
Vekohomi, \al., 124, 303 ; ped. VII
Viheshe (of Yezami), 170
Vikeshe (of Lumitsami), 157, 159,

303 ; ped. I
Vikhepu, 206n., 303 ; ped. II ;

viii, and v. Frontispiece
Vikhyeke (of Tsivikaputorai), ped.

VI
Vikihe (of Emilomi), 43
Vikoto (of Kumishe), 25
Visavela, g., 221
Vutahe (of Sakhalu), 198

WoKHAMi, cl., 122, 135, 350
Woremi, cl., 130

Wotzami, cl., 122, 126, 127, 129,
135. 350

Yachumi, tr., 4, 5, 7, 8, 15, 21, 23,
25,49,58,71,99,104,112,134,
176, 210n., 345 ; (hoe) 66

Yatsimi, \il., v. ' Yet.simi '

yechuye, 61u., 343

Yehimi, vil., 57, 71, 257, 266

yemale, v. ' paean '

Yemithi (of Lizotomi), 205

" Yemoli's House," 105

Yemunga (of Litsammi), 206

Yepothomi, cl., 121, 122, 123, 124,
125, 130, 134, 217»., 218, 234,
236, 238, 266, 267, 303, 345,
347, 348, 350 ; peds. ITT. V

yeahuye, 101

Yetsimi (Sangtam vil.), 112, 123,
130, 181

Yevetha, 181

Yezami, vil., 82, 135. 170, 356

Yezetha, illstd. 8

Yiicho, 219

Yiipu, 228

Z.\LEPU (of Kiimishe), 25

Zhekiya, vil., 197?'..

Zhetoi (of Sheyepu), 204n.

Zivihe, vil.. 170

ZuJdya (of Kiilhopu), 204

Zumethi, \nl., 205

Zumomi (or Ziimonii), cl., 10, 48,
71, 77, 121, 122, 127, 128, 195,
197, 217n., 218, 219, 234, 235,
236, 238, 243n., 246, 261, 266,
267, 365, 378n. ; peds. IV, IX,
X

G G 2

GENERAL INDEX

Abor. tr., 20, 77

abuse, terms of, 92, 480 : sym-
bolical, 411

accent, in., 271

address, 137, 238

adjective, 276

adoption, 145, 162 sq. ; cf. 388?i.

adultery, 183, 186, 242

adverbs, 289 sq.

adze, 66

aflfinities, 4, 375

afterbirth, 233

age, 409 ; in genna, 90 sq., 234, 237,
239 ; reckoned, 260n., 366w ;
grades of, v. 409, 441, and cf.
' gang '

sigriculture, 59 sq. ; implements of,
63 sq., 66 sq.

Ahoms, tr., 121

Algonquins, 380

Almighty, v. ' Alhou '

alphabet, 268 sq.

Amazons, 96, 259

America, North, 380n.

Anderson, J. D., 374

Angami, tr., 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12, 17, 18.
19, 20, 28, 34n., 35, 36, 37, 38,
40, 41, 43, 48, 49, 59, 67, 74, 77.
78, 89, 99m., 110, 121, 123n.,

133, 138, 139, 143, 151, 164,
193, 196, 208, 212, 216n., 235,
244n., 251n., 253n., 257, 260,
284, 285, 352, 373, 379, 380,
392, vii, xvi

animals, 213, 258 sq., 400 sq.

animatism (of fire), 43 ; cf. ' stones '

animism, 191

ants, 124, 259, 320, 338

Ao, tr., 4, 5, 7. 13, 14, 18, 19, 24, 26,
34n., 58, 67, 71, 77, 78, 85, 87,
96n., 105, 113, 123, 130, 133,

134, 139, 141, 108, 172, 173,

187, 195n., 197. 203n., 219, 220,

229, 253w., 257n., 258, 352.

354%., 386, 392, 393, xvi
ape, 43 ; as aghau, 193 ; clan, 127 ;

and V. ' huluk '
' apodia,' 73, 262
appearance, 8
a.pxvy^''"hs, 216n.
aristocracy, 150, 386
armlet, 11, 12, 18, 345 i

arrow, 23, 107
art, 47
ashes, in genna, 70, 234 ; imbibed,

100 ; in pottery, 53
aspirate, 263, 269
Assamese, 87, 121n., 266
Athenians, v. ' Greeks '
authorities, 373
axe, 66 ; battle-, 21, 181, illstd 22 ;

stone, 196, 257, illstd. 254

Bait, 82

Baker, E. C. S.. 374

Balfour, H., 19n., 42/1., 67w.

bamboo, erected, 36, 227 ; for

heads, 165, 176 ; pickle, 52 ;

as property, 68 ; tabued, 221,

222, 223
Barail, 375
Barnes, H. C, viii
barter, v. ' sale '
baskets, 55 sq., 67 ; bride's, 241 ;

panji, 16, 17, 24, 266
bats, 258, 259, 315
beads, 11, 17; genna, 18; brass,

68, 110; tabued, 221, 223;

buried, 244
beans, buried, 244 ; celts and, 257 ;

eaten, 219 ; game, 106 ; grown,

61 ; on mi than, 73 ; payments

of, 217, 241 ; tabued, 73, 217 ;

as tally, 160

GENERAL INDEX

453

bed, 39, 77. 117, 201, 243

beer (rice), 97 sq.

bees, 72, 259 ; tabued, 217 ; medi-
cine, 103

bellows, 52

bells, 12 ; cow-, 57, 58

betrothal, 184, 239

Bhoi, tr., Gin., 379n.

Bila-an (Philippine tr.), 380n.

birds, 48; battle of, 312; scaring
of, 52 (illstn.) ; and cf. ' hawk '

birth, 183, 233 sg. ; of animals, 78,
183

Bizerta, xvi

bleicksmithy, 51 sq.

blindness, 180

blister, lOln., 104

Bodo, an., 64n., 374, 378, 379

bai (or bawi), 385, 390

booby-traps, 171, 172

books, 232n.

Borneo, 106, 380

bow, 21 sq., 24, 107, 171

Brahmaputra, r., 380n.

brain (of enemy), 214

brass, 11, 12, 53, 58, 110

Br6 (Burma tr.), 63n., 379

bridges, 35, 36 ; genna for, 35 ;
offerings at, 253, 256«.

brine, in tempering, 52 ; in cooking,
58n.

Brown, R. Grant, 268n.

bmlding (gennas at), 44, 45

Burier, v. ' lapu '

Burma, 49, 63n., 96n., 374, 377n.,
378n., 379

Butler, S. G., viii

butterflies, 211

Calendar, 260 sq.

cancer, 180, 181 ; cj. 358

cane, property in, 68, 227n. :
weapons, 113u.

cfuinibals, 96 ; cf. 1 74

Carter, Dr., viii

carving, 48

castration, 71

cats, 69, 70

cattle, 37, 69, 73 ; damage by, 74 ;
flesh tabued, 65, 224 ; keep of,
75 ; payments in, 162, 240 ;
-trespass, 74 ; sacrificed, 227,
245 ; in war, 173, 174, 182

Celebes, 380

celts, 196, 252, 256 s^.

Census, of Assam, 25, 90»., 133n.,
135«.., 187, 373 ; of India, 191

centenarian, v. ' Kiyelho '

centipede, 259

' chabili,' 58

ChAkrima (or Chekrama)," 4, 5, 6,
18, 20, 21, 48

challenge, 84, 168

Chang, tr., 4, 5, 20, 25, 43, 44, 49w.,
58n., 63n., 65n., 77, 81, 82n.,
89, 102, 106, 107, 127, 134, 138,
139, 171, 208, 210n., 211n.,
2127t., 249, 256w., 258, 262n.,
273n., 345, 363, 380w., 385, 389

Changchang, Ao vil., 253n.

Changki, Ao vil., 207/i.

character, 25 sq., 154n.

charm, 252, 329, 332 ; -stone, 174,
253 sq., 321, 328

chastisement (with nettles), 28

chastity, 183 ; for bees, 72 ; at
gennas, 176, 179, 182, 183, 223,
224 ; for hunting, 77 ; for
omens, 76 ; in war, 183 ; of
widows. 211

Chatongbong (Sangtam \'il.), 206

" Cherama," vil., v. ' Natsimi '

Cherechima, Angami cl., 123n.

chicken, v. ' fowl '

chief, 8, 26, 33, 37, 45, 46, 110, 121,
122, 136, 143, 144, 145 s^., 150,
153, 158, 163, 185, 216, 219.
222, 236, 239m., 303, 377,385 s?.

chieftainship (inheritance of), 148,
149

children, treatment of, 28, 153, 186;
number of, 45, 46 ; affected by
parents' food, 90 sq. ; suckled,
234 ; susceptible to spirits,
237, 239, 242 ; ped. Xn.

chillies, 61, 77, 89, 96, 267; medicine,
103 ; smoke of, 108 ; sjtu-
bolic, 265; as wages, 117

China, 379 ; Cochin-, 196

Chindwin, r., 3

Chingjarei (Tangkhul vil.), 376

Chipoketami, vil., 205

Chisang (Sangtam vil,), 169

Chongliemdi, 393

Christianity, 191n., 192, 203rJ., 213

Christian Science, 232

'chimga,' 41, 207»i., 224, 320, 321 ;
illstd. 166

Churangchu (of Chisang), 169

churl, V. ' rniiyhemi '

cicada, 257m.

clairvoyance, 231, 232, 247, 248

454

GENERAL INDEX

clan, 108, 121, 122 sq., 350 ; list,
122 ; inter-tribal, 134 ; as
providing lapu, 217 ; Khoirao,
377

clappers. 57

aarke. Dr. E. W., 195n.

Clarke, Ii. O., 393n.

cloths, 14 5g. ; tabu, 18 ; red, 211 :
buried, 244

coiffure, 9, 10

colonies, 8, 144, 148, 154, 216n.,
385. 386

colour, 47, 49, 51

comets, 250

compensation, 74, 108

complexion, 6, 8, 9«..

conception, 183

conjunctions, 292

consanguinity, 131. 134 ; peds.
II, X

consonants, 270

constellations, 62, 250 sq.

cornelian, 11, 17, 18

cotton-wool (in ear), 8, 10 ; illstd.
16

cough, 231

counting, 272n., 273n.

couvade, 138

crab, food, 05 : medicine, 102 ;
tabued, 74 ; dispersed, 315,
336, 338 ; in Creation, 380n. :
mother of, 401

Creation, 380?i.

Creator, v. ' Alhou '

credit, 388

crops, 60 sq., 195, 216, 251, 399,
and c/. ' grain ' ; charm for,
253, 254 ; injured by other
pursuits, 55n., 57, 73, 106,
107, and c/. 103 ; protection
of, 65 sq., 74

crossbow, V. ' bow '

cultivation (reciprocal), 154 ; v.
' gang '

currency, 58

cuLTse, 216/1., 262

custom (genna for not observing),
35, 37

Daily life, 116 sq.

Zaiudiv, 193

Dalton, Colonel H T., 107

dancing. 111 sq., 227

' dao,' 20 sq., 47, 66 ; in burial,
244 ; as currency, 58 ; in
cursing, 262 ; in dancing,
112, 113; edge of, 257;

genna at making, 52 ; in
harvest, 63 ; sat on, etc., 180,
181 ; in weddings, 240

Da\'is, A. W., 25, 26n.

Dayang, r., 3, 5, 164, 212, 256.
260, 261 ; VaUey, 6, 8, 15, 18.
33, 51, 84, 87, 149, 161, 176,
183, 266, 267, 268, 274

Dead, v. ' kitimi ' and ' ghosts ' ;
abode of, 211 sq., 235n. ; anger
of, 181, 182, 358, 360 ; dis-
posal of, 217, 218; Hill of,
208, 209, 211 ; Path of, 212

Deamo, 378

death, cause of, 209, 242 ; customs
at, 209, 234, 262 ; report of,
242

debt, 160 sq., 389

decency (ideas on), 9, 13

decoration, 39, 47

deer, 75, 78, 79, 81, 124; and v.
' sambhar '

defence, 34

deities, 191 sq. ; cheated, 244

democratic (institutions), 392

digits, 273w.

Dilchu, r., 17, 51

Dimapur, 378/i-.

Dimasa, tr., 378n., 380, and v.
' Kachari '

diphthongs, 271

•'dirt" (extracted), 213, 214, 231

disease, treated, 100 sq., 213, 214,
218, 229 sq. ; cattle-, 104 sq.,
168 ; cause of, 200 ; leopard,
etc., 202 ; resulting from recon-
ciliation, 180 sq. (and c/. 358,
360) ; words for, 397

dishes, 41

disinfection, 104

disputes (settlement of), 163 sq.,
182

divining, 232n.

division (of land), 156

divorce, 184, 186, 187, 242

docking, 71 ; reason for, 72

dogs, 70, 405n. ; buried, 71, 246 ;
bite of, 74, 101 ; docked, etc.,
71 ; eaten, 104, 123 ; at
marriage, 239 ; ornaments put
on, 11 ; share of (in himting),
75, 76, 337 ; tabued, 123, 217,
224 ; as tonic, 104 ; wild, 224 ;
writing eaten by, 299

dowry, 184, 240

draughts (game), 110, 111

dreams, 247 sq.

dress, 10 sq.

GENERAL INDEX

455

drink, 97 sq.. 395 ; spirits blown
from, 99, 193

drowning, 262

drum, 57

Duilong, 253n.

Dundas, W. C. M., 374

dung, clan tested by, 125; as
disinfectant, 104 ; of field,
343n. ; as medicine, 102, 103,
203 ; as missile, 108 ; of stars,
252

Dusun (Borneo tr.), 379

dye, 51 ; tabued, 65

Eak, ornaments, 10, 11, 17, 53,

235, 244, ("dead man's")

259: pierced, 11, 234 sq.,

(pigs, etc.) 71, 72
earth, paths on, 1 64 ; origin from,

124, 125n.
earthquake, 252
eating, 97
eclipses, 250
eels (avoided, etc.), 94
eggs, in medicine, 102, 218, 230;

as offerings, 221, 222, 228, 255 ;

shells preserved, 73
' ekra,' 52, 65, 91, 102, 108
elders, Sema, v. ' Chochomi ' ; Ao.

V. ' Tatar '
elephant, 113«., 336; dance, 113
elision, 267
emetic, 103, 203
Endle, Rev. S., 374, 378n.
epilepsy, 247
eschatology, 181, 211 sq.
etiquette, 97, 137, 237, 243, 247
exogamy, 122 sq., 129, 130, 131,

133, 134, 183
expiation, 130, 137, 180, 181
eye (disease of), 103, 180, 231n.
" eye -excrement," 411

Fainting, 209

fairies, 192, 329, 331 /

family (affections), 29 /

fan (\vinnowing), 67 ''

fasting, 241

fat (applied to charm-stones), 254,

321, 331
fibres (in wea%nng), 49
fields (tabued to owner), 233
fines, 108, 145, 163, 184, 186, 229,

239, 242
fire, -making, -stick, etc., buried,

245 ; death by, 262 ; at dances,

112; at harvest, 65; at
irrigation, 226 ; mat-ches

tabued, 65, 180; new, 43,
179, 182, 226 ; in omens, 247 ;
at peace-making, 179 sq. ;
personified, 43 ; precautions
against, 39, 64, 68 ; tabu to
put out, 43 ; in sickness,
lOln., 218, 230; smoke, 329,
332 ; source of, 43

fish, 89, 94, 305 ; names of, 400

fishing, 81 sq., 214, 215

flesh (oath on own), 165

Flood, 380n.

flower, pluck (metaphor), 363, 364,
369

flute, 56, 57 ; tabued, 55n., 57, 106

flying-fox, v. ' bat '

flying-squirrel, 9 In.

food, 89 sq., 396 ; buried, 224 ;
cold, 360n. ; for ghosts, 176,
176, 210, 243 ; in new vll.,
155 ; tabued, 90 sq., 124, 129,
(at harvest) 65

fowl, 39, 46, 72, 73 ; at births, etc.,
233, 234 ; buried, 245 ; as
fine, 108 ; in medicine (gall of),
101, (skin of) 102, 235 ; plucked
alive, 218 ; presented, 241 ;
sacrificed, 44, 73, 175, 200, 218,
221, 222, 234, 241, 255, 347

France, 173, 248, 369 ; ped. X ;
viii, xvi

Frazer, Sir J., 191, 251n., 380n., and
V. infra *' Golden Bough "

friendship, 29, 228, 229

frogs, eaten, 89 ; repugnant, 28 ;
tabued, 65, 94

fuel, 44, 56, 67, 68 ; gathered, 116

fumigation, 76, 104, 181, 245

fungi, 124 ; eaten, 96, 117

Fumess, W. H., 244/1., 373

GAiiL, fowl's as medicine, 101 ; pig's

as offering, 230
game, 75, 76 ; shared, 75, 273, and

cf. 179 ; tabued, 77, 328n.
games, 105 sq.

gang, working, 116, 152 sq., 183, 241
garlic, 199/t.
Garo, tr., 6?i., 64/i., 132n., 211n.,

262, 374. 378, 379, 380, 381, vii
gender, 275
genealogies, 144 55.
genua, 220 ; 2 9, 37 ; of agricviltural

year, 220 sq. ; amthou, 217 ;

ants, 124; anyi, 45; apes, 91,

456

GENERAL INDEX

127 ; ashipu, 219 • asilkuchu
217; awou, 216; awutsa, 93
124, 128; beans, 73; bees
72 ; birth, 73, 183, 233, 234
boar's tushes, 11, 78; bridges
35 ; broken spoon, 95, pot
96 ; building, 38, 44, 45
calendar, 260, 262n. ; eat, 69
70 ; crops, 66, and v. ' harvest'
dao-making, 52 ; death, 234,
242 sq., 262 ; dress, 11, 18
dye, 51, 65 ; ear-piercing, 11
234 sq. ; entertainment, 227
exogamy, 130 ; fire, 43 ; fish
ing, 82n., 88 ; flesh, 124
flute, 106 ; food, 90 sq., and v.
' vegetables (tabued) ' ; fuel
44 ; fungios, 124 ; with hair
174 ; head-taking, 174 sq.
(against) 178, 182 : hunting
76, 77, 338n. ; irrigation, 226
land, 156 ; marriage, 238 sq.
matches, 65, 180 ; migration
154 ; neglect of custom, 35, 37
198, 199 ; oath, 226, 227 ; ob
servance of g., 117, 220 ; peace
179 ; pigs, 71 ; portent, 209
226 ; pots, 54, 55, 96 ; g
proclaimed, 150, 151 ; rain
214, 215 ; sage, 150n., 198
sickness, 218, 230 ; sign of g.
230 ; snaring, 80, 81 ; suicidal
fowl, 96 ; tigers, etc., 77, 90,
208 ; tops, 106

gentians (medicine), 104n.

Geographical Society, Royal, 268n.

Germans, 369

ghost, 175, 176, 178n., 198, 210, and
cf. ' kitimi ' ; of tigers, 71 ; of
hawks, 94 ; fed, 176, 210, 243

ginger, 199n., 201, 202, 207n.

ginning, 49

goats, 69, 332

go-between, 184

God, V. ' Alhou '

Godden, Miss G. M., 373

gods, 191, 194*5'.

goitre, 8, 104

" Golden Bough, The," 28, 106,
136, 143, 191, 196n., 237n.,
243n., 251n., 256n.

Golgotha, 176

gongs, 259

gourd, oath on, 165, 166 ; for heads,
176, illstd. 179; vessel, 66
(illstn.)

grain, fall of, due to jumping of
frogs, 65 ; extravagance with.

due to foods, 95, 96 ; as offer-
ing, 232

granaries, 36, 64, 69, 225 ; tabued,
233 ; illstd., 34

graves, 37, 243 sq. ; in oath, 165 ;
illstd., 245, 246

Greeks, 46, 216n., 251, (Athenians)
131

Grierson, Sir George, 268, 377, xvii

guardianship, 147 ; of children, 186

gun, 18, 75, 171, 172

Gurdon, Colonel P. R. T., 64n., 379n,
393.

Habitat, 3

hair, 8, 9, 10, 180n. ; shaved, 183 ;
in tradition, 43 ; in magic, 174,
178, 259 ; in medicine, 101 ;
cf. ' beard ' ; in ornament, 16,
134, 178 ; of dogs, (in orna-
ment) 13, 47, (in medicine) 101,
213 ; of goats (scarlet), 12, 15,
16, 19, 20, 21

Hakluyt, 8, 99, 131, 187, 304

hammer (stone), 52, 424

harvest, 64 sq., 196, 217, 224, 225,
348n.

hawk, 94, 208

head, 180 ; bored and hung, 175,
176, 218; substitute for, 173,
174 ; taken, 178, 179, 363, 364,
369 ; taking tabued, 178, 182 ;
of tiger, etc., 77

head-gear, 10, 16, 18, 24

head-hvinting, v. ' warfare,' ' head '

hearth, 39, 42, 70, illstd. 48 ; in
fire-making, q.v., 42 (iUstn.)

Heaven, 212, and v. ' sky '

Herodotus, 265

hierarchy, 216

Hodson, T. C., 178n.

hoe, 63, 66, 67 ; given to bride's
mother, 66, 241

" hog's rub," 108

hombill, 404 ; aghacho, 16, 92, 129,
312 ; awutsa, 93, 124n., 312 ;
shefu, 320, 328

horns (house-), 38, 48, 227, 228 ;
illstd. 40

hospitality, 26, 97

house, 36, 38 sq. ; plans of, 40, 41

household, 45

huluk (ape), 315, 338 ; cl., 127 ;
eaten, 9V; in rain-making,
214, 215 ; tabued, 91, 127

hunting, 27, 75 sq., 338n. ; charm
for, 254 ; dogs, 70 ; rights, 80

GENERAL INDEX

457

hiiBband, 138, 140
Hutton, J. H., 167n., 174n., 268,
373, 374

Ill-treatment (in divorce), 242

impiety (consequences of), 130, 137 ;
cf. 180

implements, agricultural, 63, 66,
400 ; household, 40, 41, illstd.
66 ; shovildered, 67, 257 ; stone,
196, 252, 256 sq.

Imtong-lippa (Ao), 207n.

incest, 131, 133

Indonesia, 379, 391 sq., xvii

inheritance, 136, i 4:5 sq., 155 sq.

insects, as food, 94 ; soul in, 211

interest, 161

interjections, 286

interrogative, 278, 287

Irawadi, r., 379

Ireland (parallels from), 73, 103,
(Donegal) 174n., (Galway) 194

Iron, for bums, 103 ; in genna, 180,
181, 240 ; for striking light,
180n. ; oath on, 165 ; ob-
tained, 53 ; value, 258

irrigation, v. ' terraced cultivation '

isolation, 104

ivory, 11, 56, 99n., 107

Japvo, 3, 5, 375, 376, 380n.
Jevons, Dr., 233n.
Jew's harp, 56, 57

' jhum,' 59 sq., 150, 216 ; in reckon-
ing, 260, 366n.
Job's tears, 60 ; brewed, 98
joke (practical), 108
jumping, 109, 113

Kacha Naga, tr., 246n., 258n., 376,

379, 392

Kachari, tr., 6n., 48n., 87n., 88n.,
127n., 374, 378, 379, 380, vii

Kalyo-kengyu, tr., 17, 19, 259, 392,
and V. ' Tukhemmi '

Karen (Bvirma tr.), 63n., 378

Kayan (Borneo tr.), 19n., 106

keening, 246

Kemovo, 151

kestrel, 208

Keza-, V. Kheza-

Khabza (Ao vil.), 96h.

Khasi, tr., 64/i., 253, 360, 379».,

380, 393
Khawtlang (Kuki cl.), 378«.

' khel,' 121n., and v. ' aaah '
Elhezakenoma, vil., 5, 375
Khezami, 4, 6, 20, 21, 138n.
Khoirao, tr., 4n., 6n., 376, 377,

381, 386».
Khoite (Khoirao vil.), 376, 377
Khongde (Khoirao vil.), 376, 380
kick-fighting, 13, 109; illstd. 110
Kingdon-Ward, Capt., viii
Kitsa (Yachungr vil.), 170
Koio (Lhota vil.), 212
Konyak, tr., 13, 20, 49, 100, 171,

172, 257n.
k6pv, 369n.

Kudamji (Chang cl.), 127
Kuki, tr., 250n., 251n., 252n.,

257n., 258n., 265n., 376, 378n.,

379, vii ; operations against,

175»., 248, 364, 392

Labour, due to Chief, 147, 148,
149, 222 ; to awou, 151, 216 ;
to killers of pigs at Saghii, 224

land, rights in, etc.. 144 sq., 150,
155 sq. ; in oaths, 164 ; in
natural produce of, 68, 227n.

language (Sema), 266 sq. ; 123 ;
pronunciation of, 4n., 266

Lania, r., 3, 6

' lao ' illstd. 66

Lappo, 377

leaves, as platters, 69 ; sign of
genna, 230, and cf. 265, 347

leech 256

'leng'ta,' 12, 13, 14, 16, 238, 259,
354

leopard, v. ' tiger '

leopard-cat, 308, 309, 310, 319

leopard-men, 200 sq., 374

levirate, 136, 137 ; ped. I

Lhota, tr., 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 13, 14, 17,
26, 34, 37, 45, 60, 65, 67, 75,
77, 85, 102, 105, 135, 161, 173,
175, 193n., 197, 212n., 231n.,
253n., 256, 257, 258, 259, 352,
354m., xvi

haison, 246

hce, 244

life (daily), 116

lightning, 252, 257, 262 ; in oath,
70 ; spot struck by, 221

Lingmstic Survey (of India), 268,
377

Uver, 69, 70, 73, 175, 230

livestock, 69

Lizaba (Ao deity), 195n.

hzard, 66, 237, 312

458

GENERAL INDEX

loans, 160 sq., 390

Longjang (Ao \'il.)! 172

Longsa (Ao vil.), 7, 24, 34n., 123,

168
loom, 49 sq.

" Lozema," v. " Lazemi '
Limgkamr (Ao cl.), 134
Lmigtang, v. ' Litami '
Lungtrok, 393
Lushais, 385, ^"ii

lycantliropy, 28, 97, 104, 200 sq.
Ljimgam, tr., 64n.., 379n.

Magic, 174, 178/i., 213 sq., 233

magician, 192, and v. ' thumami '

Maikel, v. ' Mekrima '

Mandeville, Sir J., 89, 131n.

Manipur, 6, 49, 107, 376

Mano (Biirma tr.), 63n., 377

manor, 144, 145 sq.

fiavTis, 247

Maram, 376, 379

marriage, 238 sq. ; 28, 44, 66, 130,
133, 134, 145, 183, 184, 185,
234, 331, 388, 390 ; bride's
mother at, 66, 133, 241 ;
mother's brother at, 137 ; with
step-mother, 136 ; by ex-
change, V. ped. Ill

masquerade, 106

matches, v. ' fire '

matriUneal system, 96n., 127, 128,
129, 131 sq., 137

M'Culloch, Col. W. J., 107

measurements, 409 ; of animals,
1 62 ; and v. ' time '

Mech, tr., 25 In.

medicine, 27, 91, 100 sq. : cf.
' disease '

medium, 247

Meheme (Khoirao vil.), 377

Mekrima (Memi-Angami vil.), 377,
378

Memi, 12.3n.

Mesetsii (Angami vil.), 59

messages (symbolic), 168, 265

metal work, 51 sq.

Mexico, 250n., 380n.

Mezhamibagwe, vil.. In.

middle (voice), 281n.

migration, 4, 8, 154, 193, 200,
216n., and v. 'colonies'

Mikir, tr., 37n.

milk, 69 ; human (ae medicine), 103

Milky Way, 251

millet, 61, 217 ; fermented, 98 ;
carried, 64 (illstn.)

Mills, J. P., 172?i., I15n., 193».,
231n., 246n., 248n., 24971., viii

Mishmi, tr., 20

mi than, 64 sq. ; ear cut, 182 ;
counted as head, 174, 175 ;
flesh given to bride's mother,
133 ; tabued, 224 ; how killed,
229 ; measured, 162 ; sacri-
ficed, 218, 227, 228 ; soul of,
211 ; tail cut, 173, 182

' modhu,' 97

Mokokchung, 7, 96, 170, 206, 207n.,
249, 256, 378

money, 58, 59, 396

Mongmethang (Ao vil.), 133n.

monkey (fire got from), 43

monoliths, 36

Montesinos, Fernando, 254n.

months, 260, 261 ; interceJary,
260, 262n.

moon, 202, 249, 250, 262n. ; in
art, 48 ; in agriculture, 62n.,
220, 224 ; in oaths, 249 ;
phenomenal, 226, 252

' mortmg ' (or ' deka chang '), 37.
45, 199 ; illstd. 38

mother, 131n., 185, 353n. ; brother
of, 137 ; of bride, 66, 133, 241.
(tabued) 130 ; step-, 29, 136

mouse, 196, 253, 258, and v. ' rat ' ;
field-, 403/1.

movable property, 158 sq.

" Mozungjami," v. ' Tuensang '

mud-pies, 105

music, 56 sq., 114, 370; v. 'flute,'
etc.

Naklig, 262n.

names, 236 sq. ; 132 ; of clans, 126,
350 ; of dogs, 70 ; for rela-
tives, 138 sq. ; reluctance to
mention, 143, 237 ; connected
with sovil, 209, 237

Nankara (Ao vil.), 34n., 132, 133n.,
172, 173, 179, 363

narcotics, 99 sq.

nature, 249 sq., 407

necklace, 11, 17 ; tabu of, 11, 18

negation, 279

nets, 82

Ngari (Khoirao vil.), 376, 377, 380,
381

nicotine (imbibed), 100

night-jar, 309

Nihu, 205

notation, 370

noun, 274

numerals, 271 sq.

GENERAL INDEX

459

Oaths, 164 sq. ; 26, 249, 250, 262 ;

cf. 427 ' life ' ; of cats, 70
offerings, to railway, 253 ; to

stones, 256
officials, religious, 216 sq. ; secular,

144 sq., 150 sq., 216. 338,

385 sq.
Ogle, Mr., 258
oil-seed, 61, 243
old men, 117, 163, 239, 200
omens, 42, 76, 179, 194, 195, 236,

247 sq. ; birds, 260 ; eclipse,

250 ; rainbow, 252 ; stone, 255
orange, 357, 360
oratio obliqua, 295
orchid-stalk, 9, 12, 16, 20«., 184
orientation, 211, 229 ; of dead, 247 ;

of house, V. plans, pp. 40, 41
origin, 5, 375 sq. ; of clans, 124 sq.,

127, 350
Orion, 62, 220, 251
ornamentation, 47, 49
ornaments, 10 sq. ; as insignia, 178 :

in divorce, 187 ; in bvirial, 244.

245, 246
orphan, v. ' miighemi '
otter, 310

Ourangkong (Phom vil.), 9n.
owl, 143n.
ownership (joint), of cattle, 74, 75 ;

of land. 156

Pacific, xvii

paddy, v. ' rice '

paean, 115, 175, 176, 177, 248, 313,

315
panji, 16, 17, 24, 78, 168, 171 ;

in buiial, 245, 246 ; sjTnbolic.

265
paralysis, 81

parents, 139, 262 ; and v. ' ciiildren '
partridge, 315, 336; -song, 112;

tabued, 217
partvirition, 233
paths, 35 ; barred, 265, 347 ;

cleared, 223 ; tabued, 154, 179
patriarchate, 130
patrician (cl.), 125
patterns, 47, 49, 56
peace-making, 81, 179 ^g.
Peale, S. E., 133, 134, xvii
pedigrees, 144
Perry, W. J., 391 sq.
Peru, 254n.

petticoat, 17, 18, 241, 353n.
Pettigrew, Rev. W., 268n.
pheasant, 72 ; tabued, 217

Philippine Islands, 53n., 143ra., 379,
380n..

philtre, 332

Phom, tr., 9, 172, 192n., 258, 273n.

phonetics, 26871.

photography (objected to), 199.
200

physique, 6, 8

pig, 46, 71, 72, 77, 98, 160, 163, 216
carried, 321, 328 ; eating com
pulsory, 223 ; as fine, 108
given to amthao, 221 ; sacri
ficed, 34, 35, 45, 155, 157, 175
176, 217, 221, 223, 227, 228
230, 233, 235, 239, 240, 242
245, 255, 350; wild, 11, 61, 66

pipe, 43, 51, 100 ; buried, 244 ; of
enemy, 180

pitfalls, 78, 171

' pitha modhu,' 97

pixies, 192

planet, 251, 252

Piano Carpini, Johannes de, 131n.

pl£intain (tree), 304

play, 105 sq., 108

Playfair, Col. A., 64n., 132/!.. 211n.,
262, 374, 381

plebeian (clans), 125

Pleiades, 250, 251

Pleione, 251

poison, 232 ; arrow-, 23 ; for fish,
83 sq., 215 ; magical, 232n.

polyandry, 135

polygyny, 135, 143, 185

polytheism, 191

post-positions, 288

posts, erected, 36, 227, illstd. 176 ;
forked, 37, 228, 229, 378.
illstd. 37, 116; of house
(gennas for), 44, 45, 223, 224 ;
king-, 40, 41, illstd. 48 ; to
mark property, 69 ; must not
sprout, 38

pots, made, 53 sq., 117 ; washed, 97

poultice, 102

pounding tables, 37, 38, 40 ; iUstd.
56

pregnancy (tabu during), 90n.

priest, V. ' awou '

pronoun, 276

pronunciation, 4;i., and v. ' lan-
guage '

property, 155 sq. ; in trees, etc., 67,
68, 227/1. ; in cattle (joint), 74,
75 ; in game, 80, 81 ; division
of, 136, 156 sq. ; inheritance of,
136

propriety, 9, 13, 183, 184

460

GENERAL INDEX

puberty, 183. 238, 239

purchase, v. ' sale '

Purun (Khoirao vil.), 376, 377

puzzles, 107

python, 129, 197, 231, 312

Quail, 306, 403n.
quantity, 4n., 271

Railway (track propitiated), 253,

256n.
Raime (Khoirao vil.), 376
rain, cavised, 214, 215; made,

213 sg., 222
rainbow, 195, 252
rake, 67
Raru, 377
rats, eaten, 91 ; tabued, 217 ; and

V. ' mouse '
raven, 143n.
reaper (first), 216

reaping, 63, 64, 224, 225 ; illstd. 64
red, 47; cloth, 211; earth, 127,

221 ; water, 221
relationship (terms of), 138 sq.,

382, 384
relative (pronoun), 278
religion. 191 sq. ; officials of, 216
Rengma, tr., 3, 5, 6, In., 18, 19,

253n., 255 ; Naked, 4
reptiles, 28, 94 ; battle of, 312
repulsion (instinct of), 28, 90, 103
Resopu, 205
rheumatism, 81
rice, 60, 219, 222, 240 ; -beer, 98 ;

tabued, 224
riot, 182
rites, 219
river, V. ' water '
Rivers, Dr. W. H., 143n.
' rohi,' 97
rooms, 38 sq., 46
ropju, 193
Rtissia, 99

' Saka modhu,' 97
sale (customs governing), 160
salt, 58, and v. ' brine ' ; as cur-
rency, 58 ; at marriage, 239 ;
as medicine, 104
sambhar, 21, 305, 315, 336
Sangtam, tr., 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 13, 15,
25, 5\n., 57, 58, 112, 123, 124,
134, 169, 170, 180n., 181, 196,

207, 219, 220, 231n., 258n.,

345, 386
Sangtamla (women's village), 96r?.
Sapor (Yachungr vil.), 265
scape-chicken, 262, and cf. 197,

412
scorpion, 401
Scythians, 265

second-sight, v. ' clairvoyance '
Sema, pronunciation of, v. ' lan-
guage ' ; typical, 64 (illstn.)
sentiment, 29
sex, in birth ceremony, etc., 233,

234 ; relations of sexes, 28.

117, 133, 183, 237, 239
Shakespear, Col. J., 377
Shans, 379

share (" the dogs' sh."), 75, 336
sheaf (last), 64
shells, as ornaments, 11, 12, 13, 16,

17, 18, 47, 56, 244; as stakes,

110
shield, 24 sq. ; in burial, 245
Shitri (Lhota cl.), 135
shrine (of com spirit), 64
sickness, v. ' disease '
sieve, 67

signals (smoke), 84, 332
signs, of direction, 265, 347 ; of

genna, 230 ; of possession, 69
singing, v. ' songs '
Singpho, tr., 259, 379, vii
sitting-place, 36 ; illstd. 37
skulls, of cattle, game, etc., 39,

245, 338n. ; h\iinan, v. ' head '
sky, 191, 211, 230, 329, 332, 394
.slang, 296 sq.
sleep, 200, 202
smells (obnoxious to spirits), 65,

92, 104n., 199
smith, 51 sq.
snake, 313, and v. ' python ' ; -bite,

101 ; killing tabued, 90n. ;

repugnance for, 28 ; venerated,

256
snares, 78 sq. ; buried, 244 ; rights

in, 80, 81
sneezing, 209
songs, 114 sq., 117, 154, 361.

362 sq., 370
Sophocles, 216«.
Soppitt, C. A., 87n., 127n., 194n.,

374, 380n.
sorghum, v. atsiinakhi
sororate, v. ped. X, and cf. I, II
Sotogorr (Yachungr vil.), 265
soul, 169, 194, 199 sq., 208 sq.,

242 sq., and cf. aghongu ;

GENERAL INDEX

461

called. 209. and cf. 2:37 ; a>^
hawk, 208, 209 ; of mithan.
194, 211 ; posthumous dangers
to, 71, 94. 212. 244

sowing, 220 sq., 260

spear. 19 sq. ; abstracted, 182 ;
in burial. 212, 244, 245; in
dancing, 112, 113; first (share
of), 75, 179 ; ornamented, 47 ;
tempered with nettle -juice, 52

spell. 329

spider, 259 ; as food, 94

spindle, 49. 241

spinning, 48; tabued, 221, 223,
241 ; illstd., 50

spirits, 191 sq. ; of earth, 192, 336 ;
of crops, 64, 348n. ; familiar,
64, 193, 194, 199 ; of forest,
192 ; of sky, 191, 257«., 329,
331 ; in snakes, 256 ; in stones,
174, 253 sq. ; -squirrel, 128.
378n. ; in water, 253 ; blown
ofi drink, 99, 193 ; cheated,
150n.. 198 ; children attacked
by, 237, 239 ; commvmicated
with, 230, 232 ; defied, 84 ;
deterred, (by smells) 65, 92,
104n., 199, (by smoke) 76,
104 ; enticed, 193 ; frightened.
154 ; inferiority of, 192n., 337 ;
in migration, 155, 193, 200 ;
propitiated, 99, 192, 198, 199,
213, 253, 256 ; pursue man,
259 ; teacher of gennas, 226 ;
akin to man, 128. 192, 199,
226, 317

spitting, 216n., 262

spittle, 262 ; of fish, 87, 88 ; of
trees, 216

spring, V. ' water '

sqmrrel, 128, 306, 308, 378n.

Stack, E., 37n.

stake, slaughter of mithan with,
229 ; in games, 110

stars, 250 sq., 332

statue, 246

stature, 6, 8

step-mother, 29, 136

stick, cut to release Life, 246 ;
-kicking, 109 ; for killing, 72,
229

stitch (caused), 95

stone, axes, 196, 252, 256 sq.
breeding, 174, 175, 253, 255
buried. 255, -chute, 172
fighting, 253n. : hearth, 39
killed, 258 ; offering to, of
256 ; pebble in genna, 234

putting, 109 ; in sacrifice,
229 ; use of, 391 sq. ; vener-
ated, 174, 175, 253 sq. ; in
war, 169, 172

stool (as substitute for ownerK
243

suggestibility, 27

suicide, 262

Siimc, 371

sun, 249. 250. 262n. : in art, 48 ; at
births, 233 ; double, 226, 252 ;
in eschatology, 211 ; in oaths,
166, 249

Swemi, vil., 5, 36n., 59, 375, 376, 377

symbolism, in messages, 168, 265 ;
in abuse, 411

syntax, 294

Tai, 379 ; vii

tail, docked, 71, 72 ; ornamental,
16, 17 ; as trophy (of leopard,
etc.), 77

tally, of beans, 160 ; for heads, 176,
246 ; of knots, 187 ; of notches,
69

Taman (Burma tr.), 379

Tangkhul, tr., 21, 26, 90n., 268n.,
376

Tartars, 89, 131n.

tdtar (Ao elder), 96n., 203n.

tattoo (absent), 10

tea, 97

teeth (loss of), 180, 181

tempering, 52

Tengima, 5, 6, 11

terraced cultivation, 7, 59, 214n.,
379

'■ Terufima," v. ' Mishilimi '

Thado, V. ' Kuki '

theft, 26, 64, 65, 80, 81, 182, 377,
390 ; detected, 231

Theumukuktvu (Angami genna), 196

thread, 58, 65, 241

thvmderbolt, 196, 256

tiger, 317, 319, 336, 360 : clans,
378 ; eclipse caused by, 250 ;
fire discovered by, 43 ; flesh of,
65, 90, 208 ; game, 1 10 sq. ;
ghost of, 71, 210m. ; hunted,
75 sq. ; kills of, 65, 208 ; re-
lated to man, 128, 208, 226,
317 ; -men, 200 sq. ; oaths on,
26, 165 ; tabu, (at harvest) 65,
(on killer of) 77, 96, 344

tigress, 207n., 315, 343

Ti-Ho, r., 3

time, 220 ; measured, 260/1., 366n.

462

GENERAL INDEX

Tita, r., 4

Tizu, r., 3, 13, 33, 212, 282, 38G ;

VaUey, 18, 36, 46, 59, 81, 88.

122, 202, 211, 241, 261, 266,

267, 272n.
toad, 196, 256, 257
tobacco, 99 ; buried, 244 ; as

medicine, 101 ; -water imbibed,

100
tone, 267
tops (peg-). 105 ; buried, 244 ;

tabued, 106
Toradjas (Celebes tr.), 380
torch, 42, 65, 331
totemism, 128, 129 ; cj. 124, 127
"touching m.eat," 173, 179, 235;

cf. ' flower '
toys, 105 sq.
trade, 58, 160, 167
transfer (of property), v. ' sale,'

' debt '
traps (for game), 78 sq.
trees, death by, 262 ; in oath, 165 ;

property in, 67, 68 ; sap of,

216 ; in war, 172
tribes (origin of), 352
tribute (of meat), 75, 145, 377 ; c/.

' labour '
Tuensang (Chang vil.), 363n.
tune, 370
Tuzu, r., = ' Ti-Ho,' q.v.,a\so ' Tizu,'

q.v.
twins, 262, 360 ; ped. HI
Tylor, Sir E., 191

Ungma (Ao vil.), 7, 203n., 206
" Ungoma," vil., v. ' Iganumi '
urine, in genna, 230 ; in medicine,

103 ; in play, 105
utensils, 40 sq. ; iUstd. 66

Vacheix, H. a., 248n.

vegetables, 61 ; collected, 96, 117;
medicinal, 101 ; tabued, 61n.,
73, 216, 217, 233, 238, 243, 252,
344

venereal disease, 105

verb, 281

vermin, 9, 39, 83n., 117, 244

village, 33 sq.

vitality, 27

Viyeh, ^11

vocabularies, 395 aq.

vowels, 269 sq.

Wa (Burma tr.), 377n.

Waddell, Col. L. A., 373

wages, 58, 117, 154

Wakching (Konyak vil.), 257n.

war, 167 sq. ; 26, 27, 150, 386, 387 ;
game. 111 ; learnt from ants,
259 ; mimic, 108, and cf. 153,
154

warrior, 167 sq. ; in bmlding, 45 ;
tabvied, 175 ; ghost of victim
fed hy, 210 ; in weddings, 240

washing, 116 ; ceremonieil, 182, 224,
243 ; of dishes, 97

water (drinking, etc.), 38, 116;
crossed, 155 ; hfted in sieve,
201 ; in oaths, 164, 253 ; offer-
ings to, 222, 226, 253 ; per-
sonified, 253 ; in connection
with rain, 214 ; stolen, 155 ;
in new village, 155, 218

weapon^ 12, 18 sq., 47, 178, 405;

ineffective, 18 ;

224; and cf. ' dao,'

etc.

^50, 117 ; tabued, 221,

weeding, 222

weight putting, 109

weirs, 81

well, V. ' water '

were-leopard, 200 sq.

whistle, 57

white (protecting crops), 66

widow, 136, 159, 185, 186 ; mar-
riage of, 136, 185 ; mourning
by, 210, 211 ; price of, 184,
185 ; share of, 158

wife, 138, 143, 184, 185; position
of, 185, 187 ; qualifications of,
184

wdg, 10

Williamson, N., 9n.

wills, 159

wind, 57, 106, 196

witch, V. ' thumomi '

Wokha, 204 ; Hill, 208

women; appearance, 8, 28 ; dis-
position, 28 ; dress, 17 ; at
fishing, 85 ; food of, 95 ; heads
of, 177, 178, 363 ; position of,
28, 46, 183 sq. ; rights in
property, 156, 158 sq. •. first to
rise, 117; singing, etc., 114;
iron staff of, 240, 244 ; tabued
at peeice-making, 179 ; village
of, OGn., 259 ; in war, 168,
172 ; as were-leopards, 203,
205, 206

GENERAL INDEX

wood, birds, 48 ; utensils, etc., 41
wood-loiise, 259
woodpecker, 343
Woodthorpe, Col. R. G., xvii
work, V. ' labour '
working party (aluzhi), v. ' gang '
wormwood, 104n., 108, 199
wounds, sympathetic, 204, 205 ; Zogazumi (Angami vil.), 48
treated, 101, 102, 235 Zubza (i.e. Dziidza), r., 6

463

wreuths, 249
writing, 269, 299

Yaohctnor, tr., V. ' Yachumi '
yeast, 98, 102

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