. The Lushai Hills : a story of the Lusahi pioneer mission . Near it is another public building, the t^^nHJIj ^., * ■^^mHIIHH 1^ ^4^..^ iJ l^k^ *- ^^nMHp^ H||^ *^Pi% i^^::.^ f ^^^^^B Splitting Bamboos for Buildings. Zawlbuk, or bachelors quarters. In front of these is anopen space, generally of level ground, from which thestreets, following spurs and slopes of the mountain,radiate in aU directions. Ordinarily, houses are raised afew feet from the ground, and being built on the steep hill-side, are propped on piles of different lengths to secure alevel flooring. The frame-work of the buildings
. The Lushai Hills : a story of the Lusahi pioneer mission . Near it is another public building, the t^^nHJIj ^., * ■^^mHIIHH 1^ ^4^..^ iJ l^k^ *- ^^nMHp^ H||^ *^Pi% i^^::.^ f ^^^^^B Splitting Bamboos for Buildings. Zawlbuk, or bachelors quarters. In front of these is anopen space, generally of level ground, from which thestreets, following spurs and slopes of the mountain,radiate in aU directions. Ordinarily, houses are raised afew feet from the ground, and being built on the steep hill-side, are propped on piles of different lengths to secure alevel flooring. The frame-work of the buildings is of timber A I,AND OF HILLS AND VALLEYS. 25 the walls are made of split bamboo woven into matting,and the roofs are thatched with cane lea\es or grass. ]\Iostconsist of one windowless room (whose furniture is littleother than two sleeping platforms, a mud hearth, and claycooking pots), and outside is a front platform or Gayals (Bos Frontalis). Lushai Cattle. Underneath the house the domestic animals shelter—thegayal, the hill-goat, pig, and dog. There are so many noises in a Lushai village in the daj-time, says Mr. Lorrain, that it is often difficult to makeoneself heard at any distance. Directly a meeting begins. 26 THE LUSHAI HII,I,S. a legion of evil spirits seems to take possession of all the livestock in the place ; fowls begin to cackle, cocks to light,pigs to squeal, dogs to bark, goats to bleat, and even thepoor little babies seem to be impelled to cry more loudlythan usual. The gayals {Bos frontalis) are described as magnificentbeasts, resembling nothing so much as the Chillinghamwild cattle magnified. * They are only kept for slaughter,and with freedom and habits of life but little altered fromthat of their wild state, they are hardly at all changed inappearance by domestication. The Lushais never feedthem with anything but salt, of which they are so fond thatthe custom of gi\ing it to th
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