| caption: |
Porters, jungle track, carrying jappas. Cane carrying-baskets used extensively for touring and known in local lingua franca as jappas, in Manipur as thapus. Double-skinned, made of two separate webs of closely woven cane Between the two are layers of banana leaves, which render the baskets virtually waterproof. Among the Nagas in time of war or danger to the village by fire during the jhum-burning season, valuables are packed into them and they are concealed in some ravine or other safe place. During the Japanese invasion of Assam in 1944, my films and note-books were packed way like this and remained for six months with little damage to their contents, despite the Indian monsoon. |
