| caption: |
Chapter Nine. The Girls' Club of Punkhung |
| caption: |
arrival at Tanhai; corpses on platforms |
| text: |
Not a stitch of my clothing was dry when eventually we reached Tanhai, and I asked the people of one of the morung to light a fire so that we could warm and dry ourselves a little. I took this opportunity to talk to the gaonbura, filling several pages of my notebook with information on the social organization and various customs of Tanhai. What strange fatality followed me? Wherever and whenever I arrived there was bound to be a funeral. No sooner had we reached Tanhai than we heard the now familiar wailing and a procession with the corpse of a boy passed in front of the morung. Here in Tanhai, as in Wakching, the people of one of the morung are disposed of on bamboo biers, while those of the other morung, as well as the people of Ang Clan, are placed in open wooden coffins. |
