In common with many Old Kuki clans, the dead are buried in a special cemetery outside the village. The corpse of a "Thangchhuah," dressed in fine cloths and the head adorned with a chaplet of the tail feathers of the hornbill, is carried round the village on a bier by all the old people of both sexes, encircled by a ring of dancers singing a dirge to the accompaniment of drums, and followed by the widow dressed in the scantiest rags and raising loud lamentations. A halt is called opposite the house of every person of importance, and the inmate is expected to regale the party with zu. The circuit of the village completed, the corpse is carried to the grave and buried with rice and other eatables and a flagon of zu. A rough representation of a house is built over the grave and food and drink are placed in it for a year. The grave is fenced round and the heads of any animals which have been killed in the deceased's honour are placed on posts. At the close of a year a cane is stretched between poles over the grave, and from it are suspended pieces of cloth, small baskets containing tobacco and linseed, and the bodies of small animals and birds. This is the final ceremony, and the spirit is supposed to have no further concern with this world. The Biate in the Lushai Hills worship the images in the Bhuban caves, but I am told that those in the North Cachar Hills differ in this respect. The three images are called Bolawng Raia, Chhinga Raia, and Maituki Raia, Raia being a corruption of Rajah. A fowl, a pig, two eggs, and two kinds of jungle vegetable called "chinghrut" and "hruitung" are offered to these deities outside the village once a year. The following tale is told to account for this worship of images, which is so opposed to general custom:--Long ago Zatea stole a mithan belonging to two Biate chiefs, Chonlut and Manlal, and on their trying to recover their property they were severely wounded. On their way home they noticed that the leaves of the "bung" tree, a species of Ficus, attached themselves to their clothes, and at night they dreamt that the leaves spoke, saying, "Do not throw us away; we are sent by the gods of the Bhuban caves to heal you." They applied the leaves to their wounds and were soon healed, and then set off in search of these new gods. [12] It is probable that in the course of their wanderings the Biate at one time lived near the Bhuban, and in that case their adopting the figures as local deities is quite in keeping with what has happened in other clans. Thus the Chiru worship the god of Kobru, though their settlement near that hill is of recent date. The Zote, a clan very closely allied to the Biate, after sacrificing a mithan, place bung leaves in a basket at the foot of the memorial post and throw them away with the "sherh" after three days. This clan pays special honour to Chhura, and after a mithan sacrifice a knotched pole called Chhura's ladder is placed against the gable of the house, and