45021\6-24

It would not do to close this discussion without some mention of
that large and ferocious looking domesticated animal so import=nt to the
coolie--the water-buffaloil These animals are used to help in plowing the
fields. For the rest of the year they are left to the care of the smaller
boys of the family, along with the cattle. These enormous brutes are con-
pletely obediant to the commands of Hindu boys anywhere from the ages of
six or seven, on up’ At the very scent of a white man they will charge
either at him, or in some cases it would seem to be away from him in feart
As one is never quite sure what his reaction will be, one always attempts
to circumvent them at a distance. Yet when the six year oldis near, he
has the beast under contrel again in short order’ One may often see several
snall boys playing around the beasts, riding ontheir expansive back, or even
hanging on totheir tails, yet the buffalo go | abouttherr munching or wandering
as unconcerned with the irritation as if it were not theres

Hinduism in Assam has not apparently brought the usual pessimisn
to the coolce, that is so common elsewheree The farmers respond to a friend=
ly approach in a like manner, and in talking to them they prove te be cheer-
ful and even humonous. When coming upon a group, one often finds them laugh-
ing and giggling with each other at a great rate. Christianity has made little
progress in this part of Assan. The Catholic priest has about a thousand
members in his flock, although there seem to be no other Christian missions
in the immediate vicinity. The Anglican Church has 2 mission at Marzherita
that holds services once & month, chiefly for British residents. The few
Christian bearers who worked for American Army personaél had come up from
Shillong and Calcutta as camp followers. Hindus, Muslims, and Indian Chris-
tians alike spoke of a Christian as a "Jesus-Christian"--perhaps with good
reason, 2s there have been a number of Indian Christian movements in differ-
ent parts of India where the "prephet™ or originator of the sect has been
reverenced as a "guruB or sort of a lesser god! These movements have not
affected the more isolated farmers of Assam apparently, for they know little
about anything but their own local variety of Hinduism with its many tabus.