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
Mythephum or Muphum (lit. Manipuri settlement) was a small military
post, and we encamped below in a wide valley among recently cut
rice fields, with a river rushing by us. The place is so named from
having been a Manipuri settlement, in the old days before the Burmese
invasion. High hills rose above us on all sides, the valley running
in and out among them and following the course of the stream. To
our north, and at a distance of a mile or two, was the once powerful
village of Muram, still populous but submissive. I had a small but
most comfortable straw-built hut, and well remember how delightful the
early morning was next day, when I had breakfast at sunrise and saw
my thermometer at thirty-two degrees. Only those accustomed to great
heat realise the delights of a low thermometer. Mythephum is over
4000 feet above the sea, and being a low valley is often extremely
cold. Sometimes in winter the stream is for a day quite choked by
blocks of ice, and I have seen the thermometer at twenty-six degrees,
150 feet above the valley, which probably meant eighteen degrees at
the lowest level on the grass.
It was my intention to march on Mozuma by a track which would avoid
the powerful villages of Viswema, Kohima, Jotsuma and Konoma, and
enable me to attack the enemy in the rear. Half-way I was delayed
by receiving no letter from Mr. Carnegy, with whom I had to act in
concert, and this prevented me from reaching the scene of operations,
as I received the startling news that the Manipuri outpost of Kongal
Tannah on the borders of the Kubo valley had been attacked on December
14th by a party of men sent by the Rajah of Sumjok or Thoungdoot,
and eight men killed. This threw the whole population of Manipur into
a state of commotion, and the Maharajah begged me to return at once,
and I felt it my duty to do so, as my chief work was to protect Manipur
and its interests. I therefore returned to Manipur on December 17th,
leaving my party on the frontier, where they remained some time longer,
the Nagas being unwilling to submit; and making overtures instead to
the Maharajah Chandra Kirtee Singh. He sternly declined their offers,
and threatened that if they did not speedily yield to the British
authorities, he would send a large force to our aid.
The Naga Hills Campaign of that year had no further interest for
Manipur, and it had a sad ending for us, as Mr. Carnegy was accidently
shot by a sentry.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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