Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 1.djvu/113

 SINGPHOS.

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HE Singphos are by far the most powerful and formidable of all the hill tribes on the northern frontier of Assam; they are also the most numerous, and scattered over the widest extent of country. They are divided into twelve tribes, and have four castes, named Thengai, Myung, Lubrung, and Mirup.

They are believed not to be a branch of the Shan tribes, but of Indo-Chinese origin, and their own traditions point to the confines of Tibet as their original location. Their language, which is monosyllabic, is unwritten; its intonations are very similar to the Burmese, and its grammatical construction almost the same. They are said to have "no religion properly their own, but have patched up a creed from amongst the superstitions of all their neighbours, and decorated their rude temples with ruder idols of all religions."

Polygamy is practised without restriction as to the number of wives, free or slaves, the offspring of both being treated alike. They bury the dead, having first exposed the body at a distance from their village until decomposition is complete; though, in order to give all the friends and relations an opportunity of attending, the actual funeral ceremony of the chiefs is sometimes deferred for years.

The houses of the Singphos are generally nothing but long sheds, roofed in with grass or bamboo leaves, and the walls composed of split bamboo. The floor of the dwelling part is raised about four feet from the ground, and the entrance forms an extensive porch, in which are congregated pigs, fowls, household and agricultural implements, and where women may generally be seen pounding rice. These buildings are sometimes one hundred feet long, ami are divided into compartments, allotted to several families. Occasionally immense houses may be seen, which are occupied by powerful chiefs, the timbers of these buildings being of such enormous size and length, as to render it a matter of surprise that they could have been erected by mere manual labour. At the burning of the Ningrang chief's house, when the village was surprised by our troops in 1843, the officers remarked that the posts were of prodigious diameter and length, and it was regretted that war rendered it necessary to destroy such a magnificent residence. The mansion was entered by