| caption: |
Munniporee names of Naga and Kookie tribes; decline of tribal population; language |
| text: |
Having given some account of the people of the Valley of Munnipore, I shall now proceed to a description of the inhabitants of the hills around it. These in the West are known under the general appelations of Naga and Kookie. In Munnipore they are all embraced in the term Hau. Koupooee, Quoireng, Khongjai, Kamsol, Anal-Namfau, Aimole, Kom, Koireng, Cheeroo, Chote, Pooroom, Muntuck, Karum, Murring, Tangkool, Loohoopa, Mow, Muram, Miyang-khang, Gnamei, are the names in use amongst Munniporees to distinguish the principal tribes, and though each of these tribes has a distinctive name of its own, often quite different from the Munniporee one, still as with the later (42) all are familiar, and as it is the name a stranger would be most likely to hear used, I shall in the subsequent pages speak of them by these names. All of these tribes were much more numerous than they are at present, and not further back than thirty years ago, some of them, who are now represented by but one or two small villages in positions far removed from their former ones, occupied large tracts; but though reduced in numbers they retain all their particular customs, speak their separate languages, and are objects of much interest. Than the contrast between the compartively tall and prominently featured people of the western plains, and the diminutive in stature low-nosed inhabitants of these hills a greater could scarcely be conceived, and it is rendered more striking by the suddenness - one step from the plain - with which it is presented to view, but great as the contrast in their personal appearance is, it is equalled, as will be seen by that between the manners, customs, and ideas of the two peoples. |
