"Formerly the Lushais raided the Tipperahs and captured about ten and dragged them back to their village, and killed them either in the street or just in front of their houses. Presently they said, 'Let us dance.' They danced before the heads of the slain, and a crowd collected and watched. The heads were placed on posts around the open space in the village, and those who had killed men came out into the space in the centre of the village with their guns and fighting dahs, wearing their 'chhawn' head-dress, and the girls came with beautiful plaits of red and black cotton thread and tied them round the knots of the young men's hair. This is called 'arkezen.' Then the young men danced beautifully. 'We are very magnificent,' they said. In the middle of the open space a platform had been built of bamboos like those in front of the house. On this everyone collected any number of eggs, and those who had killed their enemies and those who had felt no fear ate up the eggs as fast as possible. This is called 'malchawh.' Very tall 'thingsia' and 'phulrua' (kinds of bamboo) are put up in front of each man's house and called 'ralngul,' and they hang to the end of the phulrua, by a piece of cane called 'vawmhrui,' a circle of pierced pieces of wood; these are called 'hrangkhual.'" In wars between Lushais it was considered wrong to kill chiefs. This, of course, was due to the chiefs being all of the same family. When starting on a raid each man provided himself with cooked rice for several days. This was rammed down very tightly into pieces of bamboo, so that several days' food could be conveniently carried without fear of any being lost on the road. Sections of bamboos were also employed as water bottles, the bamboo being cut above one joint and below the next and a small hole made just below the joint on one side, which could be easily plugged with a roll of leaves; for sake of lightness the bamboo would be whittled down as much as could be safely done. These raiding parties travelled immense distances. About 1850, Vuta, whose village was then at Hweltu, suddenly appeared at Pirovi's village on the Soldeng, and, taking the people entirely by surprise, made many captives, among whom were the chieftainess and her infant son. Many others were killed and much loot rewarded the daring savages. The distance between the two villages is about seventy miles in an air line and at least twice that by the jungle paths. Although guns quickly became common in the Hills, the style of warfare did not change. In the war between the Northern and Southern Chiefs, which lasted from 1856 to 1859, each side only made three successful raids, and the actual number killed in action appears to have been very small. I once asked one of the chiefs who had been very prominent in one of the later wars how many men he had killed with his own hand, and, on my expressing surprise at his admitting that he killed none, he naïvely remarked, "You see, we chiefs always go last, shouting