[174] See The Angami Nagas, Part I.—J. H. H. [175] The Semas and some other tribes rub them with pig’s fat.—J. H. H. [176] It may be noticed that the presentation of fish by a man to his betrothed is the formal sign of the completion of an Ao marriage.—J. H. H. [177] Cf. Apuleius, The Golden Ass, Chap. XV.—J. H. H. [178] Rarakham appears to be the same as the Sema pulakhu, which, however, was identified for me as Mosla dianthera. It is quite likely that both plants are used by Nagas under the same name.—J. H. H. [179] The Aos erect a stout and tall rice plant on a piece of bamboo and put it by the field to make the rice grow, by its good example, as high from the ground as the top of the uplifted rice plant.—J. H. H. [180] There is a white serow of supernatural qualities at Seromi in the Sema country, and the Assamese, indeed, call the species deo-chaguli, “the spirit-goat,” no doubt owing to its exceeding shyness and elusiveness.—J. H. H. [181] Lobeni, a dream-woman of Phiro, who was an acquaintance of mine and whose dreams of hunting prospects were famous for their accuracy, used to ask for a cloth or handkerchief of her client on which she used to sleep. The same practice is recorded of the Moscoc, dream diviners of Peru. (Memorias Antiguas Historiales del Peru, Hakluyt Soc. 1920, p. 60, note.)—J. H. H. [182] So, too, the Samoans; George Brown, Melanesians and Polynesians (Macmillan, 1910), p. 219.—J. H. H. [183] Cf. the New Britain belief; George Brown, Melanesians and Polynesians, p. 193.—J. H. H. [184] The interpretation of dreams by opposites (cf. Apuleius, The Golden Ass, Chap. XXI.) is frequent among Nagas generally, and may no doubt be usually based on this principle.—J. H. H. [185] I have found the same belief among the Thado Kukis.—J. H. H. [186] This belief might be connected with that by which some Nagas explain earthquakes as the spirit under the earth shaking the earth as in a winnowing fan to find out what the crops are like and weigh their quantity and quality.—J. H. H. [187] Cf. the somewhat similar Garo story; Major A. Playfair, The Garos, p. 85.—J. P. M. Cf. also Col. Gurdon, The Khasis, p. 172, where it is to be noticed that the Khasis, like the Semas, make the moon masculine and the sun feminine. The Sema version (The Sema Nagas, p. 250) is still nearer to the Lhota, and a similar story (with a “rabbit” instead of dung) comes from Mexico. A geographical link between the two stories is perhaps provided by Japan, where the hare is associated with the moon (vide Lord Redesdale, Tales of Japan, “The Crackling Mountain,” note 1). The Malays also say that the sun and moon were once of equal brightness (Ratzel, History of Mankind, I. p. 478). The Nicobarese have the same beliefs as the Lhota both as to the former proximity of the sky and as to the interchange of functions between the sun and the moon (vide The Indian Antiquary), August 1921, Part DCXXXV. p. 235.—J. H. H.