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A detailed description of Hakchang |
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To Hakchang - about 9 miles. We had great delay in starting (we did not get off till 9.0am) and I was not at all sure that we should get off at all. The Tuensang coolies turned out well enough down to the last 20 loads and we had to wait an hour and a half for these, getting them by ones and twos with threats and cajoleries and comings and going, stampings, shoutings and the rest of it, Chongpho and Kangsho had carried from Kudeh, and it was the turn of Bilaeshi and Lomao to carry. They had never done it before, of course, and, considering that it was not so bad. Indeed, it was rather a triumph to get all our coolies out of Tuensang as we did. I decided to go on to Chingmei via Tobu, as if I went direct by Kejok and Konya it would be very difficult to get coolies for the second stage, as it was practically certain that Tuensang would refuse to carry for more than one day and I did not want to have to call for coolies from them for a second stage and be refused. There was bound to be difficulty in getting to Tobu, but they could at any rate supply the coolies to take us on to Chingmei if we once got there. |
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On the way to Hakchang we passed the site from which both Tuensang and Hakchang were founded, and Hakchang speak the Chang language and wear the Chang tattoo, but in appearance and customs they are entirely Konyak except that they do not shave the heads of their women as the neighbouring Konyak villages do. The Hakchang men cultivate a peculiar form of hair-dressing in which besides a tail of hair behind - usually knotted - they cultivate a straight lock in front coming right down the forehead, most of the men wearing hats or headbands. This style of haircutting is said to be the original Chang style, and is still resorted to temporarily in case of the repeated death of a man's children, the reversion to the old style being apparently intended to mollify the ancestral spirits. We crossed the Tuensang river on the way, and I noticed that again, as at Tuensang, erect stones were put up on each side of the river, while the approaches to the bridge, which was of bamboo, were built up of stones. |
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Hakchang has about 200 houses crowded together on a very steep and stony spur. There are hardly two contiguous houses on the same level anywhere. |
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They mentioned here that the Chang used to have a "bird" clan, now extinct, or very nearly so. Probably it corresponds to the Hornbill clan of the Aos and Lhotas. The Kudamji or Huluk Ape clan of the Changs is also said to be gradually approaching extinction. |
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Saochu, a Konyak village on the west side of the Yangmun came in, for the first time, to see us and Maksha, an offshoot of Hakchang as also Kejok, Konya and Ninyam, who are friendly with Tobu. |
