SOME ASSAMESE PROVEBBS. 179. Ma hangs. Dhan Mahangalai gal Ion bhdr pe'di, M^ti bhar anile ghar machibalai hal. My beloved husband has gone id Mahang, returnino; whonoe he throwing asi le the load of salt, has brought in a l<>ai of earth which will sjrve the purpose of plastering the house. <f^ lover ; 15^ (Mahang) is a place on the Naga Hills bound- ary close to Baruasali in the district of Sibsagar. Here there was a salt mine, and it was from that place Upper Assam used to receive its supply of salt. The proverb means that the man is such an idiot that, instead of bringing homo salt, he brought earth which, however, his wife utilised in plastering the house. 180. Miris. fjf^"^ f^c^, fsifs^^ ^r.^ I Tirik kile, Mirik mile. A Tvife is to be managed by blows, and Miris by gool treatment. With reference to this Assamese recipe for managing a wife, compare No. 96, also the old English saying " a woman, a dog and a walnut tree, the more you beat them the better they be." 181. The Mahanta. Mahantar chin mahanit, buri garur chin ghd(n)hanit. The Mahanta is known in a field of mdh anl an old bullock in a grass-plot. A man's worth can be tested by only in the field of work for which he is fitt3d. The story runs thus. If you want to test a man whether he is really a mahanta or not, take him to a mdhani (or field of pulse), and if he can resist the temptation of eating the pulse, he is a real mahanta^ conversely if an old bullock cannot graze in a grass plot, it is deemed worthless.
