p. 10
The main crops are summer rice (maikum), sown with the first rains and reaped in November-December, and cotton (phēlō), also grown in the rains and gathered in the cold weather. The system of jhuming, by which land is prepared for cultivation by cutting down and burning the jungle, is in no respect different from the practice of all hill-tribes in the province. They do not plant out their rice, nor use the plough in cultivating it. There is no irrigation.
Besides these main crops, castor-oil is grown for feeding the ēṛī silkworm; maize (thèngthē), turmeric (thārmit), yams (hèn, Colocasia), red pepper (birik), aubergines (Hindi, baiṅgan; Mikir, hēpī), and ginger (hànsō) are also cultivated in small patches. Another crop is lac, grown on branches of the arhaṛ plant (see Khasi Monograph, p. 47).
When Mr. Stack wrote, the most important institution from the point of view of agriculture was the association or club of the dekas (Ass.), or young men (from twelve to sixteen, eighteen, or twenty years of age) of the village (Mikir, rī-sō-mār); but it is reported that this useful form of co-operation is now falling into desuetude. In former days the village youths (as in Naga-land) used to live together in a house by themselves, called in Mikir māro or teràng (in Assamese, deka-chang).[2] Now there is no mārō, and the rīsōmār live in the gaoṅbura’s house, in the hòng-phārlā, the place in which strangers are lodged. They send a boy to bring their food from their homes, and all eat together. Each man’s share is brought in a leaf-bundle (àn-bòr) to keep it warm. The gaoṅbura calls the people together, and proposes that, having so many lads in the village, they should start a lads’ club. If agreed to, the union of the rīsōmār is formed, and the lads take up their quarters in his house. The club is organized under regular officers appointed by themselves. The gaoṅbura has general authority over them, but their own chief is the klèng sārpō. Next comes the klèng-dun, then the sodār-kethē, then the sodār-sō or phàndiri, then the sànghō-kerai (“he who fetches the company”), then the bārlòn (“carrier of the measuring-rod”). Other officers are the chèng-brup-pī and chèng-brup-sō (drummers, chief and lieutenant), the phàn-krī (the lad who waits on the klèng sārpō), the motàn ār-ē and motàn ārvī (“the right and left outside strips of the field”), the làngbòng-pō (“carrier of the water-chunga”), ārphèk-pō (“carrier of the broom”), and the chinhàk-pō (“carrier of the basket of tools”). The rīsōmār all work in the fields together, each having his own strip (ā-mo) to till. The village fields are allotted each to one house, and the grown men confine their work to their own fields; but the rīsōmār go the round of all the fields in the village.
Work is enforced by penalties. They used to roast those who shirked their share; now they beat them for failure to work. If the klèng sārpō finds a lad refractory, he reports him to the gaoṅbura.
Villages like having deka clubs. They help greatly in cultivation, practice dancing and singing, and keep alive the village usages and tribal customs. They are in great request at funerals, which are the celebrations in which most spirit is shown.
Hunting, with spears and dogs, is practised. The objects of the chase are deer and wild pig; also the iguana (Ass. gui) and tortoise. The dog barks and follows up the track by scent. They also set traps (ārhàng) for tigers, with a spear placed so as to be discharged from a spring formed by a bent sapling; twice round the tiger’s pug gives the height of his chest, at which the spear is pointed; a rope of creeper stretched across the path releases the spring when the tiger passes that way and comes against it.
Fishing is done with rod and line, but chiefly by means of traps and baskets, as in Assam generally. The trap (ru) is a basket of bamboo, constructed so that the fish can get in but cannot get out, and is fixed in an opening in a fence (ā-ru-pāt) placed in a stone dam built across a stream.
The staple food is rice, which is husked in the usual way, by being pounded with a long pestle in a wooden mortar, and cooked by the women of the family. The flesh of cows is not eaten; there is said to be a dislike even to keep them, but this prejudice is now dying out. Milk is not drunk. Fowls, goats, and pigs are kept for food, but eaten chiefly at sacrifices; eggs are eaten. A delicacy is the chrysalis of the ērī silkworm (Attacus ricini); it is eaten roasted and curried. Children (but not grown folk) cook and eat crabs and rats. In cooking meat, spits (òk-ākròn) are used; the meat is either cut up and skewered, or a large lump is placed whole on the embers; it is thoroughly cooked. Fish is cut into slices and put in the sun to dry, or smoked. Meat also is cut into strips and dried on frames in the sun.
The vegetables are those commonly used by the Assamese. Sugar-cane (nòk) is not much grown. A favourite seasoning is mint (lōpòng-brik).