| caption: |
description of Namsang Machankong |
| text: |
The gaonbura of Namsang Machankong is expecting me on the way. He is an old man who still has all the chest tattoos of the head-hunter. Proudly he tells me that he earned them in his youth on a raid against Kamahu. The tattoos are the same as in Wakching. Three human figures in the centre of rows of dots. Namsang Machankong is a pathetic little village which was founded only seven years ago. It has hardly more than twenty houses and these are so sparse as I had not seen them in any other Konyak village. They are almost entirely built of bamboo (183) and remind me most of Ao houses. The simple gable roofs are covered with palm leaves and have no rounding off in the front as happens in Wakching. In some houses a small steeply rising roof over the entrance finishes off the front. The morung too is very small, of the same type as the Kongan morung. The drum is set up under a separate, quite large, protective roof next to the morung. The drum is painted red. |
