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visit to Yekhum and Sanis |
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Yesterday and today, a march to Yekhum and Sanis. In these Lhota villages the houses are small and mean, dark and cramped. They are built close to the ground and though fires are infrequent, as the floor is made of earth, they are dirty and dusty inside and no air circulates as in the raised houses of the Aos. There are no fine carved posts, for the whole house is made of bamboo with thatch or palm-leaf roofs. The front of the house is semicircular and its roof slopes up to meet the main roof-tree which swings upward in the front. The explanation of these dingy houses is not that the Lhota is poorer than the Ao, but simply that he is thriftier. A fine house is a waste of money. 'The Lhotas are the Naga Scotsmen', J.P.Mills has said. |
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The houses as a rule are situated on either side of a (40) broad road through the village and large stone menhirs like miniature stonehenges stand in line down the street. These commemorate the Feasts of Merit which the owners of the houses have given to the village. Today at Sanis the street was swarming with pigs, dogs and goats. Mats covered with a chopped root were spread out in the sun to dry, piles of firewood were outside the houses and the whole village looked ragged and unkept. |
