My Experiences in Manipur and the Naga Hills — John Shaqi
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
On the 23rd June, my wife presented me with a son, and he being the
first child of pure European parentage born in the hills, the Nagas
of Samagudting took great interest in the baby, and old Yatsolé the
Péumah, said he should be their chief and named him "Naga Rajah." The
friendly women and girls from the village constantly came to see
him. We liked the hills and the people, and the work so much that we
both felt we could willingly have passed our lives among them. All
the same, our accommodation was really most wretched, and food was
bad and scarce, and water scarcer. As the rainy season advanced the
place grew more and more unhealthy, and having a baby to attend to,
my wife never left Samagudting. I continued to go down to Dimapur
occasionally, and sometimes rode out with my friend Needham to inspect
the path that was being cut to Mohung Deejood and a rest house being
built at a place in the forest on that road, called Borsali. It was
pleasant to have a companion during a long lonely ride. Needham was an
indefatigable worker, and always ready for a dash. He made a capital
frontier officer, and has since greatly distinguished himself on the
N.-E. Frontier.
Towards the end of August, the Vanda Cærulea orchids began to come
into flower. There was a magnificent plant of them in a large old tree
on the summit of the hill, indeed the most splendid specimen of their
kind that I ever saw; but wild flowers, many really beautiful, were
generally procurable, especially a small snow-white flower rather like
a periwinkle that grew in the jungle on a small ever-green bush. Ferns,
including maidenhair, were very plentiful, and we made collections
of them in our morning and evening walks. These walks often led us
past stray huts, and once my wife was asked to come into one and
prescribe for a sick Naga woman. We both entered it and finding that
the woman had fever, we told her husband to keep her cool and quiet,
and promised some medicine. When we again went to see her, the hut,
about nine feet by seven feet in size, was full of little fires on the
floor, over which several Nagas were drying strips of flesh from an
elephant that had been killed a few miles away. The temperature must
have been about 110 degrees, so little wonder that the poor woman was
no better. The husband said she would not take her medicine, and when
in our presence he attempted to give it she hit him on the head; yet he
wore the warrior's kilt, so had taken at least one life. When my wife
sat down by her and gave her the medicine she took it readily. Towards
the end of the rainy season many were laid low by fever. Natives of
other parts of India until thoroughly acclimatised, suffer greatly
from the diseases peculiar to jungle districts, and our servants were
not exceptions to the rule. Once acclimatised, a Hindoostani seems
able to stand anything. It used to be said in my regiment, the 1st
Assam Light Infantry Battalion, now 42nd, that Hindoostani recruits
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