tail-hair is attached. The other types of weapons are shield, spear, bow and arrow, axe, dagger, etc. Food and drink: Their staple food is rice. Kochu (taro), millet, maize, and tapioca are important substitutes for rice when it is scarce. Other than rice, some of the most frequently consumed foods are kochu, dried fish, bamboo shoots, sorrell, sweet potato, pumpkin, gourd, and banana. Although they eat meat less often, they relish that of wild animals, beef, pork, chicken, and fish and other aquatic fauna. They use a kind of potash in curries, which they obtain by burning dry pieces of plantain stems or young bamboo locally known as kalchi or katchi. After they are burnt, the ashes are collected and dipped in water; they are strained in conical shapes in a bamboo strainer. These days most of the townspeople use cooking soda from the market in place of ash water. The Garo make their own liquor by fermenting a special type of rice and the finished product is called "Minil Bichi". Besides other drinks, country liquor plays an important role in the life of the Garo. Garo architecture Generally one finds similar types of arts and architecture in Garo Hills. They normally use locally available building materials like timber, bamboo, cane, and thatch. Garo architecture can be classified into the following categories: Nokmong – The house where every A'chik household can stay together. This house is built so that inside the house there are provisions for sleeping, hearth, sanitary arrangements, kitchen, water storage, place for fermenting wine, place for use as cattle-shed or for stall-feeding the cow, and the space between earthen floor and raised platform for use as pigsty and in the back of the house; the raised platform serves as hencoop for keeping fowl and for storing firewood, thus every need is fully provisioned for in one house. Nokpante – In the Garo habitation, the house where unmarried male youth or bachelors live is called Nokpante. The word Nokpante means the house of bachelors. Nokpantes are generally constructed in the front courtyard of the Nokma, the chief. The art of cultivation, arts, and cultures, and games are taught in the Nokpante to the boys by the senior boys and elders. Jamsireng – In certain areas, in the rice field or orchards, small huts are constructed. They are called Jamsireng or Jamdap. The season's fruits or grains are collected