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journey back to Mokokchung |
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But while for great stretches the jungle rules, some hillsides have been completely cleared and cultivation is vaster and more sustained than any I have seen in Mokokchung. The Angamis terrace whole hillsides for paddy cultivation leading the mountain streams in little channels or in hollow bamboos from one level to another. Some terraces are like fields while others are mere strips only three or four feet broad. Today we passed some perfectly terraced land with the paddy dangling its graceful tassels as high as my shoulder. The vivid green terraces swing round the hillsides in parallel curving bands. On the drier slopes there are fields of maize and Job's Tears, and scarecrows with plaited bamboo bodies, staring vacuous heads hover from the tips of nodding poles. |
