My Experiences in Manipur and the Naga HillsJohnstone, James, Sir
History
My Experiences in Manipur and the Naga Hills
Johnstone, James, Sir
Manipur (India) -- Description and travel; Naga Hills (India) -- Description and travel
The next morning we set out for Borpathar, a village with a fine sheet
of cultivation on the banks of the Dunseree, and took up our quarters
in the old blockhouse, which had been converted into a comfortable rest
house. Here again we received a perfect ovation, the people, headed by
my old friend Hova Ram, now promoted to a Mouzadar, coming in a body,
with fruit and eggs, etc., to pay their respects. The population had
sadly diminished since my early days, the people having in many cases
fled the country for fear of Naga raids.
The march having been a short one, all our baggage had time to come
up. In the evening the girls of the village entertained us with one
of their national dances, a very pretty and interesting sight. After
a good night's rest we again started, our march lying through the
noble forest, where buttressed trees formed an arch over the road,
showing plainly that Gothic architecture was an adaptation from
nature. I had never marched along the road since it was cleared; but
I was there in 1862, in pursuit of some Naga raiders, when it would
have been impassable, but for elephant and rhinoceros tracks. Even
then I was struck by its great beauty, and now it was a fairly good
cold weather track.
We halted at Deo Panee, then at Hurreo Jan, and Nowkatta, and on the
fourth day reached Dimapur, where we found a comfortable rest house,
on the banks of a fine tank about two hundred yards square. This,
with many others near it, spoke of days of civilisation that had long
since passed away, before the Naga drove the Cacharee from the hills he
now inhabits, and from the rich valley of the Dunseree. Near Dimapur
we passed a Meekir hut built on posts ten or twelve feet high, and
with a notched log resting against it, at an angle of about seventy
degrees by way of a staircase, up which a dog ran like a squirrel
at our approach. The Meekirs occupy some low hill ranges between the
Naga hills and the Burrhampooter.
The country round Dimapur is exceedingly rich, and everywhere bears
the marks of having been thickly populated. It is well supplied
with artificial square tanks, some much larger than the one already
referred to, and on the opposite bank of the river we crossed to reach
our halting place, are the remains of an old fortified city. Mounds
containing broken pottery made with the wheel, abound, though the
neighbouring tribes have forgotten its use. At Dimapur, in those days,
there were three or four Government elephants and a few shops kept by
"Khyahs," an enterprising race of merchants from Western India.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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