The machine system did not gain India, and will not keep it for us; we must go back to a better system, or be prepared to relax our grasp, and give up the grandest work any nation ever undertook--the regeneration of an empire! The House of Commons has to answer for much. No Indian administration is safe from the interference of theorists. To-day it is opium that is attacked by self-righteous individuals, who see in the usual, and in most cases harmless, stimulant of millions, a crying evil; while they view with apparent complacency the expenditure of £120,000,000 per annum on intoxicating liquors in England, and long columns in almost every newspaper recording brutal outrages on helpless women and children as the result. Then the military administration is attacked, and in pursuance of another chimera, an iniquitous bill is forced on the Government of India calculated to produce results, which will probably sap the efficiency of our army at a critical moment. So it goes on, and it is hardly to be wondered at that the authorities in India give up resistance in sheer disgust, knowing all the while that, as the French say, le deluge must come after them. It may be said, "What has all this to do with Manipur and the Naga Hills?" Nothing perhaps directly, but indirectly a great deal. The system which I decry carries its evil influence everywhere, and Manipur has suffered from it. I describe the Naga Hills and Manipur as they were in old days. I strove hard for years to hold the floods back from this little State and to preserve it intact, while doing all I could to introduce reforms. Now the floods have overwhelmed it, and if it rises again above them it will not be the Manipur that I knew and loved. May it, in spite of my doubts and fears, be a better Manipur. CONTENTS Page Introduction xix Chapter I. Arrival in India--Hospitable friends--The Lieut.-Governor--Journey to the Naga Hills--Nigriting--Golaghat--A panther reminiscence--Hot springs--A village dance--Dimapur--My new abode 1 Chapter II. Samagudting--Unhealthy quarters--A callous widower--Want of water--Inhabitants of the Naga Hills--Captain Butler--Other officials--Our life in the wilds--A tiger carries off the postman--An Indian forest--Encouragement 12 Chapter III. Historical events connected with Manipur and the Naga Hills--Different tribes--Their religion--Food and customs 22 Chapter IV. Value of keeping a promise--Episode of Sallajee--Protection given to small villages, and the large one defied--"Thorough" Government of India's views--A plea for Christian education in the Naga Hills 37 Chapter V.