went out to hunt. In the place where they went hunting they saw a huge black caterpillar; the dead called it a bear. Ngamboma did not see it, and by accident trod on it and killed it. Then the dead said to Ngamboma, 'That bear which ran towards you, have you seen it?' they said. Ngamboma--'I have not seen it,' he said. Presently they saw the caterpillar which he had trodden on, 'Hei-le! Why, you have shot it!' they said. They carried it up to the village and all the dead ate up its flesh entirely. Ngamboma, however, did not care to eat any of it. Then Khuptingi said to Ngamboma, 'Living people and dead people, we shall not be able to live together comfortably; therefore, if you now build yourself a house here and then return to your home, when you die you will be able to live in it?'--thus Khuptingi said. So he set to work to build a house. The dead called the arum trees, and they split them with axes and built (with them), but Ngamboma just split those arums with his nail very quickly. 'Can one build houses with such stuff?' he said. Then, splitting real trees into planks, he built his house. Then Khuptingi said to Ngamboma, 'If you go to your house and call all the villagers together and sacrifice a mithan, and when you have finished eating its flesh you put on very good cloths and wear round your neck the sacrificial rope (the rope the mithan was bound with), and call on my name, then you will die and will be able to come to our village,' she said. Just as Khuptingi said it came to pass; he died as he was lying on his bed, then they were able to live together with comfort. When he saw the house that he had built in Mi-thi-khua, he said, 'Who built that house?' The dead said to him, 'You built it while you were alive.' Then they married in Mi-thi-khua, it is said. "It is because of this story of Ngamboma and Khuptingi that we say nowadays people are in Mi-thi-khua." CHAPTER V THE LAKHER OR MARA CLAN This clan emigrated from the neighbourhood of Thlan-tlang (called by the Chin Hills officers Klang-klang) in comparatively recent times. They are closely allied to the Southern Chins, and a description of them belongs more properly to the Chin Monograph. Much of the information in Messrs Carey and Tuck's Gazetteer regarding the Southern Chins applies to the Lakhers. I therefore propose to give only a brief description here.