THE YAKHA: CULTURE, ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT IN ...

name for the animal, However, while they were remembered fondly as
providing the most delectable meat, we saw none dead or alive whilst we
were in the village, although our father kept a porcupine quill as a
momento and claimed there were still some to be found in the forest.
Another unloved forest creature was the leech (m, lakph~k).
Leeches were not confined to forests, but were found in cultivated areas
too, anywhere where vegeta t ion was reasonab! y dense above about 5,000
feet. They were said to hibernate in holes, caves and under rocks,
coming out during the summer months (from April to October). Many
people walked around with little bags of salt tied to the end of sticks,
particularly during the monsoon season when leeches were particularly
prolific, These bags enabled them to dab off any leeches which had
become attached to their legs and arms without having to stop walking.
The largest leeches (anything up to three inches long when engorged)
were the cattle leeches, found in the forests at higher altitudes.
If one added to these noxious creatures the presence of spirits such
as soghek (Chapter Four) then potent reasons existed for perceiving the
forest as a less than benign environment, In cutting down forest trees
for fuelwood (as one had either to do oneself or arrange for others to
do at least once a year) there was a sense that one was not only
contributing to the depletion of forest cover but was cutting back on
the abode of eagles and wild beasts of all descriptions, While people
were dependent on forest resources for their f uelwood and fodder needs
and many other subsidiary products, there was nonetheless an ambivalence
in peop!els remarks about the decline in forest resources over the
~revious decades.
This ambivalence may have been !inked to their percept ions of the