SINGPII0, an uncivilised tribe occupying the hills bordering tho extreme eaatern frontier of Assam. They entered the Assam valley from Burma about A.D. 1773, and are now settled in the tract in lat. 2G° and 27° N., and long. 96° E. Colonel Dalton says they are known to the Bur mese as Ka-Ku and Ka-nye'', but that on entering ARSAID they called themselves Singplio, which in their language means man. They occupy both the north and the south of the Patkoi moun tain, and are near the Ilukong valley or Paven dwen. 1000 feet above the seri. Another body, the Mirip Singpho, dwell farther east, in long. 97° E., between the Shootty-doung-gyee and the Ira wadi, and near them, near the Ilukong valley, are the amber mines, 1000 feet above the sea level, in lat. 2G° 20' N., and long. 96° E. Their tirst settlements in Assam were on the Tenga prani, E. of Sadiya, and on the 13ori Dihang tiver in Namrup, under their chiefa called Gam, La, and Thu or Du. They are a fine athletic Mongoloid, olive-yellow coloured race, above the urinal stan dard, capable of enduring great fatigue, but addicted to opium and spirits ; hair abundant ; fond of amber car ornaments and of the deo mani (god-bead), a blight-coloured bead. The men tattoo their lower limbs, and the married women from the ankles to the knees. They are polygmnists. They bury their dead until decom
posed, and afterwards the bones are placed in a coffin and decked out. On the demise of a parent, the eldest son takes the landed .property and the youngest son the personal property, the inter mediate sons remaining with their eldest brother.
The plincipal tribes on the frontier of Lipper Assam are the Muttuk, the Khamti, and the Singpho. The Bur Senaputti, or chief of the Muttuk branch of the Singpho, entered into an engaaement in May 1826, whereby he acknow ledge% the supremacy of the British, and bound himself to supply :300 soldiers in time of war. The management of the country was left in his own hands, except as rewards capital offences. In January 1835 the obligation to supply troops was commuted to a money payment of Rs. 1800 a year. In 1826, similar agreements were made with the Khamti chief of Sadiya, but in 1839 they attacked the town of Sadiya, and many persons, as also Colonel White, the political agent. were slain. Agreements were also made in May 1836 with the Singpho. These tribes were impli cated in the Khamti rising in 1839, but they tvere allowed to surrender under conditions. Many of the Singplio clans have become extinct, and the main body have left Assam for Hukong Upper 13urina.