| caption: |
Description of the houses, granaries and inhabitants of Kuthurr |
| text: |
We started out at 7.30 to go to Sangpurr in wrath and had crossed the river and were well started up the horrid climb, when the missing man and one son turned up. As they ought to have been there with their coolies at Chentang they got well beaten and we sweated back up the hill again to Chentang and thence started for Kuthurr, packing up camp and getting away at 9.45, which, considering the delay, was very good work. The Tuensang cornerboys did their share of carrying and did it very well. We got up to Kuthurr, about 8 miles - uphill all the way, by about 12.30. Not a very interesting village. The granaries, like all those of the Changs and of the other Yimtsungrr, are protected from rats by round discs of wood on the poles just under the floor. The houses are frequently walled with planking, and sometimes roofed with the same huge wooden shingles as Sangpurr use in the case of rich men. No particular ceremonial status is necessary, however, as it is in the case of the Angami, who wishes to give his house a shingle roof. The women have a curious way of doing their hair. An ordinary knot is made at the back with a rather long loop of hair sticking out straight behind, and then the knot is turned over and tucked in which brings the loop over so that it stays pointing forward over the left ear. The men I noticed had in some cases tattoos on their arms, while the women had a very small lozenge pattern, of the same shape as the Chang, on their foreheads. There were a fair number of heads hanging up on bamboos, and Kuthurr is at war with its neighbours Sotokurr and Yimtsung-awenrr. The forked posts erected have a lozenge pattern on the front, suggesting the white star on the forehead of a mithan, and are high and narrow with a short stem. |
