03-01-584

584

ABOR-MIRI, AND DAFL.

　Abor, Miri, and Dafl are Assamese names for a tribe which inhabits the mountains between the Assam Valley and Tibet. Many of them, especially of the Miris, are now settled within British territory, in Lakhimpur, Sibsagar, and Darrang.

　The tribe has a strong Mongolian type, especially the Abors, who have only in late time begun to settle within British territory.

　The Abors occupy the mountains to the north of Sadiya about the Dihang and Dibang rivers. They are apparently a numerous tribe. Mr. Needham remarks that we know of some 20,000, and that we are aware that there are very many more to the north again of those we know of. In British territory there were only some 170 Abors in the Lakhimpur district reported during the preliminary operations of this survey. The corresponding figure at the last Census of 1901 was 357.

　The Abors are subdivided into numerous clans or minor tribes. They are at present blockaded by the English, and we have no communication with them.

　The Abor dialect is almost identical with Miri. The Ps and Mnyngs, two other numerous tribes inhabiting the hills on the right bank of the Dihang, also speak the same language. No separate specimens have been given. A list of standard words and phrases in Abor, so far as this dialect differs from Miri, has been kindly prepared by Mr. J. F. Needham and has been printed after the Miri list.

　The Miris occupy the hills to the west of the Abors and extend to about 94ﾟ north latitude. They have also been settled in the Assam Valley for a long time. They were pushed down by the Abors, and these Miris are generally believed to have been slaves to that tribe. In the Assam Valley they were conquered by the Ahoms.

　 According to Mr. Needham, the Miris who reside on the banks of the Brahmaputra, Dihang, and Dibang rivers, in the neighbourhood of Sadiya, call themselves Mshing, and are of the Shaiyng, Oiyn, Chtya, Dmbk, and Shmwng clans, each of which is divided into numerous sub-divisions. M-shing means 'a Shing man,' and is identical with ny-sing which name the Dafls use to denote themselves.

　The Assamese Miris are now found in Darrang, Nowgong, and, above all, in Sibsagar and Lakhimpur. Their numbers are returned as follows:-

　In Darrang they are found in the eastern part of the district, in villages on the Bhareli river, and to the east of it. In Sibsagar Miri is spoken in the north-west corner,