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to Chasa; similarity to Chang; disposal of dead; morung; log drum; tables for clan feasts |
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To the stream east of Chasa. The Dilli obviously forms the boundary between two different tribes. Chasa differs remarkably from the villages south of the Dilli. To start with, the language usually spoken (the Borduria dialect) bears very marked resemblance to Chang. The houses are built on machans and in streets just like an Ao village but the houses have the usual five "chimneys". The village is clearly of mixed origin. Several of the bucks were wearing waist-belts made of sections of cane and decorated with red cane and shirt buttons, obviously a stage between Chang and Konyak customs. These belts, I was told, were worn also at Chanyu, but I had not seen them the previous day. They are not worn at Borduria. |
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In Chasa the disposal of the dead is slightly different to that of other villages. The dead are dried in machans placed on the left of the village path at the entry to the village. The heads are removed when the corpse is dry and placed in a series of small vaults clan by clan on the opposite side of the path. The vault is partly dug out and partly built up with a few slate-like stones on end, and is covered with flat stones. On the top there are various signs of the wealth of the deceased - guns, carved in wooden daos [sic], cloth, etc., and in the case of women iron sticks with five rings branching off from each side. There were no erect stones in the vicinity, but about 20 yards further on, there was an erect stone with a very distinct fork at the end, resembling that on Singphan hill. |
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The morung was a miserable shanty, the drum consisting of a gnarled hollow tree, the main part of the trunk not being touched and all the prominent notches being left. |
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The Ang's house was uninteresting. At the exit to the village there was a series of tables made of bamboos. The top of each table was divided into sections and at the end of each table was a separate small one. I was told that each clan feasts here after the paths have been cut, the head of the clan having his food separately and the divisions in each main table being for separate dishes for the participants. |
