The Nagas

Hill Peoples of Northeast India

Project Introduction The Naga Database

manuscript - Christoph von Furer-Haimendorf, Naga diary five

caption: nudity, decency and female attractiveness
medium: diaries
person: ShankokNgapnun
ethnicgroup: Konyak
location: Wakching
date: 14.4.1937
production:
person: Furer-Haimendorf
date: 1.4.1937-26.6.1937
note: translated from german by Dr Ruth Barnes
acquirer:
person: School of Oriental and African Studies Library, London
text: Shankok made some remarks which are interesting from a psychological point of view. We were talking about the women of Longkhai, Oting and the other villages of this group, and Shankok, too, said (52) that he does not like the short skirts. To discover his taste I showed him several photographs from Oting and Longkhai. He did not at all like the very scantily clad girls and he declared that they did not seem desirable to him at all, but he liked the bust portrait of one Oting girl who had somewhat more elaborate jewellery and he praised her long, straight nose. The pretty Ngapnun also raised his praise and he said that she had a beautiful head which I quite agree with.