far from the Bramapootra, and these stray ones are delicate feeders, and difficult to land.

The Assamese catch them with plantain, and, following their example, I used it for bait. To a light trout rod I attached a reel of very light line, to the end of which was fastened a piece of bamboo as long as a lead pencil, and about the same thickness, and to each end of the bamboo I attached a hook, with about six inches of gut, and baited with plantain. The bait, when dropped into the water, sinks to the length of the gut, while the piece of bamboo acts as a float. The bait must then be allowed to float down the stream without being jerked, the angler taking care to keep well out of sight. In this manner I have caught great numbers. The fish take the bait with a splendid rush, and if light tackle is used, often give considerable play before showing on the bank.

Fishing, and an occasional shot at a snipe, were the only outdoor amusements to be had in the warm weather, and then the rain and sun were often in the way, so that I had plenty of spare time, when my lesson in Assamese was over, to learn something of the Assamese people.

Included in the population of the plains of Assam are numerous tribes of Miris, Domes, Abors, Khamtees, and Singphoos, many of whom have left the hills for the plains. The real Assamese are, however, easily distinguished by their dress and general appearance, and to this part of the population, as distinct from the tribes, I must confine my observations for the present, reserving

for a future chapter a description of the tribes amongst whom I visited.

In stature the Assamese are of middle height, and the majority of them are of fair complexion, except when darkened by exposure to the sun.

They are very simple in their habits, living principally on rice, vegetables, and such small fish as they catch in the small streams and ponds in their neighbourhood. They are of gentle and pleasing manners, but exceedingly indolent, caring for little beyond the supply of their daily wants, which requires little labour on their part, and their vegetarian diet has probably much to do with their effeminate appearance.

Their houses are of the poorest description. A square hut, generally containing two rooms, one for sleeping and the other for cooking and sitting-room; the walls are made of reeds plastered with cowdung, and the roof thatched with grass or reeds. The floor is also plastered frequently with cowdung, and kept constantly swept. Their household utensils consist simply of an earthen pan for boiling rice, with one or two earthenware cups, a raised bamboo bench, which forms their bed-place, and a mat, serving as bed and bedding.

The houses of the wealthier differ but little from these, with the exception of being larger and better built. The dress of the Assamese peasant is very simple; a cotton cloth thrown over the shoulders, and another cloth wound round the waist, and reaching to the knee, forms his entire costume. The wealthier class, however, wear a large turban of fine white muslin, with a

white scarf twisted in several folds round the upper part of the body, and a similar cloth round the loins, reaching to the ankle. Shoes are rarely if ever worn.

The dress of the women is not ungraceful; a tightfitting jacket, reaching the waist, and buttoned up to the throat, displays the symmetry of their busts, while a silk or cotton cloth wound round the waist, and reaching to the ankle, fits somewhat tightly, and reveals the contour of their generally well-shaped limbs. Their hair is worn parted in the middle, and done up into a large chignon, secured, in the case of the wealthy, by large-headed silver pins. As ornaments they wear silver and gold earrings, with finger rings of the same metals, and anklets of silver. Taken altogether the women are not bad-looking, but after marriage they sadly disfigure themselves by dyeing the teeth black, which has a very disgusting appearance.

In religion the Assamese affect Hindooism, but they are lax in the observance of religious rites, and their ceremonies are often very different from those practised by the Hindoos of India. Traces of caste exist, but the distinctions are not so broad as in India.

Marriage among the Assamese, though considered a special duty of life, has not that sanctity which renders it very binding, for divorce is very common. A man who is tired of or displeased with his wife, has only to assemble his relations and distribute a handful of salt among them, or tear a betel leaf in two, and declare himself divorced, to get rid of his wife, and then both the man and woman are at liberty to marry again, the

man, of course, providing for any children born before the divorce.

A widow can never marry again, but she may, without absolute disgrace, become the mistress of any man, though her position is looked upon with some contempt. The children born from this connection are considered legitimate, and inherit equally with those children born of wives. Polygamy is common, and a man marries as many wives as he can keep, while concubines seem to be looked upon as necessary to the proper appointment of the houses of the wealthy, and, as may be supposed, the domestic life of the Assamese is disturbed by female disputes.

The laxity of morals amongst the people is conspicuous, and this, coupled with the vice of an inordinate use of opium, constitutes one of the greatest drawbacks to industry and progress. Indeed, it is painful to contrast the active industry of the former population, as evidenced by the gigantic ruins to be met with in the country, with the listless apathy of their descendants, who spend most of their time under the influence of opium, caring little for anything else after they have satisfied the cravings of hunger. Men, women, and even children indulge in opium, which they prepare for use in a somewhat novel manner. Dissolving the opium in water they soak in the solution long strips of cotton cloth, about two inches wide; these, when saturated, are dried in the sun and used as occasion requires, a small piece of the cloth being torn off and chewed, or the rag soaked in water, which is then drunk as a potion. The Assamese do

not smoke opium as the Chinese do, but my own observation led me to believe that smoking the drug is less injurious than taking it as the Assamese do. Smokers do not become insensible or fall into a trance-like state, as is commonly supposed. On the contrary, while a man smokes opium he can talk as rationally as a man who smokes a cigar, and I state this on my own personal experience, having frequently smoked opium; but the opium-drinker becomes stupified and intoxicated.

In these days, when the outcry in England is so great against the sale of opium to the Chinese, it may not be out of place, while referring to its use in Assam, to give my own experience of the effects of opium among both peoples.

There are many who blame the Indian Government for monopolising the sale of opium in Assam, and even for its introduction into the country. If we consider, however, that the Assamese and all the neighbouring tribes have cultivated opium, for their own consumption, from time immemorial, the Government must be held blameless for the act of introduction. And again the people will work for opium when they will work for nothing else, and if we consider that the Assamese were formerly able to grow the drug at a very slight cost, which enabled them to indulge in it so much more freely, we must admit that there is some wisdom in a Government taking upon itself the monopoly of an article, which, as will presently be shown, is an actual necessary of life to its subjects. By means of this monopoly, the vice of opium-drinking is rendered much more