| caption: |
letter from W.G. Archer to D.C. about the proposed transfer of the Konyaks to Tirap District |
| caption: |
substitution of monkey heads for human heads in the Control Area |
| text: |
I found that the Wakching Konyaks are very sore that villages in the control area can go on taking heads while they themselves are deprived of them. Kongon, for example, spoke very bitterly of the results which attended the use of a monkey's head instead of a man's when they made their last log drum 'Ten men died and it was all due to that'. Wangla will have to bring a new log drum next year when the Ang is married and they told me that they were determined to have a head on that occasion. There can be little doubt that continued head taking in the control area makes for general unrest in the administered tract, and it would make it much easier for the administered Konyaks to evolve suitable tribal substitutes for their head-taking rituals ( as the Aos and Lhotas have done) if there was not this standing incitement from across the border. |
