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Stone carvings and monoliths; map inaccuracy; land dispute; loan refused |
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To Padhekot - 12 miles. A long day on very bad Kuki paths. Started at 8 and got in to camp about 4.30. (18) The baggage went direct and was in by midday. We went first to Peisa, a small Naga village which has never recovered from an old epidemic of cholera. It contains one of the very few existing stones carved by Nagas. The figure is said to be about a hundred years old. It is in low relief and represents the lady love of the man who carved it. It was brought from the old site of the village to the present site and has near it twelve small monoliths set up in its honour. From Peisa we went to Gopikot, a Kolang village run by Thados. It had moved since the map was made and is not on the old site of Peisa, with which it has a chronic quarrel about land. This the Subdivisional Officer will settle shortly; it would have meant camping there had we tried to settle it today. From there we went on along the spur to Khunglung, another Kolang village. Khunglung say they are nearly starving owing to rats having ruined their last three harvests. Their looks and the amount of drink going belie this statement and I refused to sympathise with their request for a loan. From Khunglung we dropped about 2500 feet down to the Jiri Gang and up another 2500 feet to Padhekot a Changsen-Kuki village. The path was very steep, covered with slippery, dry leaves and in the worst possible (19) condition, being merely an abandoned "Jhum" path. The Naga dobashi with me said it was the worst path he had ever seen. |
