LUSHAI HILLS  , a mountainous

district of Eastern Bengal and Assam, south of Cachar, on the border between Assam and Burma . Area, 7227 sq. m.; pop . (1901) 82,434 . The hills are for the most part covered with dense bamboo jungle and rank undergrowth; but in the eastern portion, owing probably to a smaller rainfall, open grass-covered slopes are found, with groves of oak and pine interspersed with rhododendrons . These hills are inhabited by the Lushais and cognate tribes, but the population is extremely scanty . From the earliest known times the original inhabitants were Kukis, and the Lushais were not heard of until 1840, when they invaded the district from the north . Their first attack upon British territory took place in November 1849, and after that date they proved one of the most troublesome tribes on the north-east frontier of India; but operations in 1890 resulted in the complete pacification of the northern Lushai villages, and in 1892 the eastern Lushais were reduced to order . The management of the South Lushai hill country was transferred from Bengal to Assam in 1898 . To obtain more efficient control over the country the district has been divided into eighteen circles, each in charge of an interpreter, through whom all orders are transmitted to the chiefs . The Welsh Presbyterian Mission began work at Aijal in 1897, and the people have shown un, expected readiness to accept education . According to the census of 1901 the total number of Lushais in Assam was 63,452 . See Colonel T .

H . Lewin,

Wild Races of N.E . India (1870) ; Lushai Hills Gazetteer (Calcutta . 1906) .