Kuki (Indic people); Lushai (Asian people); Lushai language
Jhuming is certainly a very wasteful method of cultivation, as seldom
more than two crops are taken off the same piece of land, which is then
allowed to lie fallow till it has again become covered with jungle,
which will take three or four years in the case of bamboo, and seven
to ten if the jungle be trees. Tree land is said to give better crops,
but the labour of felling is greater than in the case of bamboo and
more weeding is required, and if the land is jhumed too frequently the
trees give place to coarse grass, which the Lushais refuse to jhum,
whereas bamboos only grow thicker for cutting.
[10. Hunting and fishing.] All the hill men are very fond of fresh
meat, and are clever at trapping game. Long lines of rough fencing are
run through the jungle, with small openings at intervals, in which
snares are set. Pheasants, jungle fowl, &c., coming to one of these
fences will always run along it till an opening is found, and thus get
snared. Porcupines are killed by a bamboo spear fastened to a sapling
bent back like a spring alongside a run and so arranged that it shall
be released just as the animal is opposite the spear point. Tigers
are caught under a platform of heavy logs, which is supported in an
inclined position by a strong cane passed over a cross piece held up
by two uprights. In a hole under this platform is placed a pig in a
basket; on the tiger pulling at the basket the heavy platform falls
and squashes him, while the pig, being in a hole, escapes. Deer,
wild cats, &c., are caught in snares, a noose being arranged so
that on the animal's stepping in it a sapling to which the noose is
attached, and which is held down in a bent position, is released,
thus hoisting the animal up into the air. The method of releasing
the bent sapling or causing the platform to fall is in all cases
the same. Two uprights are driven into the ground and a bar securely
tied across near their tops. The string or rope which supports the
platform or keeps the sapling in a bent position has a wooden toggle
tied to it. The string is drawn between the uprights and one end
of the toggle is hitched under the bar and the other end drawn down
between the uprights until it is perpendicular, in which position it
is held by a movable piece of wood being slipped across the uprights,
just behind its lower end. In this position the pull of the string is
on the upper cross bar, and a very slight touch will remove the lower
one and set the toggle free; then up goes the string and down comes
the platform or the noose is tightened. The removal of the lower bar
is achieved in several ways. The bait or one end of a string stretched
across the run may be tied to it, or it may be made to support one
end of a tiny platform, on which the unwary quarry treads as it passes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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