The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-08-28
The BackWoods OF India
BY FRANK G. CARPENTER.

our Indians, and many who tattoo and
deform themselves In various ways. The
Nagas stretch the lobes of the ear
and pierce it In such a way that it
forms a ring of flesh three or four
inches in diameter. They also split
the ear so that 1t looks like a great
lump of flesh.
These Nagas are found in the same dis
trict as the savages of which Mr.. Rob
ertson speaks. They inhabit the country
east of the Assam valley. They are Mon
gols and number in all about 100000.
The largest of their tribes Is the Angami,
who have lately come under British sub
lection. The Angami believe they were
the first people on earth, and say that
they sprang from the dew. They call the
earth their only master, and worship It,.
Their homes are villages surrounded by
stockades and guarded by thorn bushes
and nettles They come into them through
sunlSen paths, the entrances being pro-
tected by doors. Each tribe has its chief,
and the people have blood brotherhood.
like some of the African tribes
AnQther of the Maya divisions is
known as the Aos. These people were
once notrious Shareholders, and they sac
rificed the slaves which they caught in
war. Another is the Semas, who until
recently were head hunters and did not
scruple to entertain guests and slay them
when off guard.
BACHELORS Halls and Maidens' Apart
ments
1 am told that the Nagas have great
buildings for the bachelors or young men
of the tribes, corresponding somewhat to
the mems quarters In New Guinea, and
also to the young peoples halls among
the Nasal of Central Africa, where Pres
ident Roosevelt has been hunting. In
New Guinea all the men of one tribe
live in such quarters, and their wives
bring them their food. In Marsailand the
girls and young warriors have a COM
mon house to themselves. Among the
Nagas and other tribes OF the hills of
Bengal the young mems hall is erected
on a platform, and the girls house Is
nearby. The men sleep in berths, and In
the girls house there are always two or
three maidens sleeping together. In ad-
dition there is sometimes an old woman
as chaperon. am told she is often half
blind and spends but little time on her
job.
Women with More Than One Husband
Polygamy is common throughout most
parts of India There are something like
60, 100000 Mohammedans scattered over
the country, who by their religion have
the right to four wives, and there are
20,000,0O0 Hindoos. each of whom has as
many wives and slave girls as he can
support
High up in the Himalayas the reverse
is the case. The Bhotiyas, some of whom
1 saw during my trip through the noun
tains, practice polyandry, that is, one
woman will have several husbands. This
is so with the Thibetans and others of the
far north, and sometimes with the Jats of
the Punjab and the Santals of Bengal 1t
is still common along the whole Hima-
layan range from Assam to Kashmir, and
also among the Todas OF the Nilgiri
hills.
Such marriages are often matter of
bargain and sale. II there is a pretty girl
in the family and a man falls in
love with her he pays 80 much to her
parents. and possibly comes into the
house as her husband After a time
a second lover may appear, and without
the first husband can offer large sum to
secure exclusive possession he pays his
price and joins the circle. I am told that
1t is entirely question of money, and
that the man who can afford 1t can have
a wife to himself. In such marriages the
children are looked upon as belonging to
the women and their fathers can lay no
claim to them
In the NfIgiri Hills
In southen India there are many
strange tribes. In the Nilgiri hills, a
great plateau, over a mile high, not far
from Madras, there are aborigines who
correspond to the Anus of Japan. They
are hairy people, noted for their drunk
enness and laxity of morals. They dwell
In huts about 10 feet high, with door
ways so small that one has to crawl in
Nd oil hot H.
made of bamboo and covered with thatch.
They are chiefly herdmen and noted for
their long-horned buffaloes, which they
drive about frong place to place to pas
ture. These people worship the rising
sun and the moon, and they have other
gods of various kinds. They now and
then sacrifice calves, with the hope that
the cows will give more milk; and at
funerals they sacrifice buffaloes, believ-
ing that their souls will go with the dead
up to heaven.
The Todas are allied to the frewalkers
people who claim that they can trot over
living Goals without harm. l see an in
stance of one of their ceremonies In to-
days paper. 1t took place at Mushira-
bad. where. it is related, the people. by a
great fire of wood, made a bed of live
charcoal IS feet In diameter. While the
Goals were still red two priests, bearing
flags, jumped barefooted into them and
walked to and fro again and again over
the fire. AS they did $50 the people to
the number Of hundreds walked over the
Goals, and among them were children of
all ages. The newspaper account says
that not single one received injury not
even a burn, and that the only effect of
the ordeal was to make them perspire
profusely.
Another strange people Of India are
the Kandhs, or mountaineers. They were
great in the past and bloodthirsty and
powerful, but since they have come I'M
der the British they have abolished many
strange customs. They once had human
sacrifices and kidnapped the people of the
plains. Their victims were daintily fed
until the day Of the sacrifice, when they
were killed in honor of the earth god
whom they worshiped The Santals wor-
ship the great mountain, and the Gonds,
who think they are sprung from GER
tain peak of the Htmalayas, bury their
dead with their feet turned northward
that they may be ready to start home
without turning around.
There are also many strange tribes in