[8. Weapons.] The Lushais have been in possession of firearms for the last sixty or seventy years. These weapons are flint-locks bearing the names of many European makers; many are Tower muskets, and guns bearing the marks of the French Customs Department are not at all rare. These guns came into the country in the first instance chiefly through Burmah, though no doubt some came through Chittagong, and much money must have been made, for the demand was large. When the weapons first began to appear, the Lushais and other western tribes used to obtain them from the tribes on the Burmah border, giving slaves in exchange, a strong male slave being equivalent to two guns. The other weapons in use are spears and dahs. The former are inferior weapons with iron laurel-leaf shaped blades about a foot or fifteen inches long, very insecurely attached to the shaft, which is of hard wood, often a piece of sago palm; at the other end of the shaft is a long iron spike which is stuck into the ground when the user halts. A special spear is used for sacrificial purposes, the blade of which is much longer and diamond-shaped. The spike at the other end is also much elongated, so that sometimes the wooden shaft is only six or seven inches long. The dah is a more serviceable weapon, being copied, as its name "kawlnam" denotes, from the Burmese weapon, but the blade is shorter, the handle is of wood lacquered black and red, and ornamented with brass bands and a brass knob at the end. In former days oblong shields of bison-hide eighteen inches wide and about two feet long, adorned at the two upper corners with tassels of goat's hair dyed red, were carried. The upper half of the shield was sometimes covered with discs of brass, while from a string crossing the centre of the shield hung a row of brass cones about two inches long, from each of which depended a tassel of red goat's hair, reaching to the base of the shield. Bows and arrows have entirely gone out of use, but were formerly used, especially in the chase, when the arrows were poisoned. The bows were small and made of bamboo, the string being of bark. The arrows were furnished with barbed iron points, and were carried in a bamboo quiver with a leather cap to it. Among weapons we must class the bamboo spikes with which a retreating foe or villagers expecting an attack rendered the ground almost impassable to a bare-footed enemy. These spikes were of two kinds, one used round the village or block house, and the other, carried in a neat little cane-work quiver, and stuck in the path when returning from a raid to delay pursuit. The former were simple bamboo spikes of various lengths, while the latter were carefully smoothed bamboo spikes about six inches long, and no thicker than a knitting needle; each sort was nicked so that it might break off after entering the flesh. To a bare-footed foe these spikes form a very serious obstacle, and even our troops have suffered from them,