Ungma being the biggest Ao village, this threat effectively stifled criticism. Troublesome children are sometimes punished by being whipped across the stomach with nettles, or by having a nettle put in their ears instead of a flower. Oaths. The oath is held in high regard among the Lhotas as it is among the Angamis. A man who is accused of an offence on suspicion may clear himself by taking an oath. The commonest form is for a man to bite a tiger or leopard’s tooth and to swear that if he did such and such a thing may a tiger or leopard kill him. The formula used is the same in all cases, excepting, of course, that whatever offence the man is accused of is inserted. For instance a man accused of adultery would swear— Ana itsongi nsopi: osi ana itsongi I your wife with have not committed adultery; but I your wife with sopi lina mharrki committing adultery if am in the habit of, by a tiger a-rhamtoksi yantaroki sena mi-hm me allowing to be bitten all the village men bamboo shavings fire-stick penphia a-mungitokle. using for me let them keep emung. In other words, may he be killed “apotia” by a tiger and the whole village purify themselves with fire and keep emung for him. A few hairs from the swearer’s head, with a little earth, are often bitten instead of the tooth. In cases where the accusation is of stealing thread or some such thing, a skein of thread being said by one side to be stolen, and by the other side to be his own, a little of the thread is put with the hair and the earth. A very solemn oath which entails a day’s emung for the village is that on a leaf of the mingetung. The heaviest of all is on a bonne bouche consisting of a little earth from the place used by the boys of the “morung” as a latrine, a piece of wood from the house of a man who has died “apotia,” a little earth from a grave and a few hairs from the swearer’s head. This oath is very rarely taken, and is thought to involve certain death for the swearer if taken falsely. Land disputes are occasionally decided on oath, which is invariably sworn on a little soil from the land in dispute. Whichever side will take the oath gets the land. It is probably never knowingly taken falsely, as all Lhotas firmly believe that whoever swears this oath falsely will die before he can reap a harvest from the land he has dishonestly gained. An ancient oath, which is only remembered by old men, was taken on the huge boulder known as Deolung. Each side in turn held an egg and swore by Deolung that their story was true. Whoever went mad first lost! The custom was abandoned, it is said, “because it was such a terrible oath.” The idea of making both sides swear and then awaiting results resembles the Ao custom, by which both sides take the same oath, and the decision goes to the party which suffers no loss of