| caption: |
draft of Letter to J.H.Hutton |
| text: |
Though the international situation makes it very doubtful if I shall return to Manipur, I would still be very grateful for any advice and information could give me, particularly about the Kabui Nagas. I went out to Manipur for the first time last year, and if I had realised what I was going to, I should have done some reading beforehand. Almost as soon as I arrived we went off on tour to Ukhrul, and I had to use the camera with no more knowledge of the people and their customs than I could pick up casually. Within a few days of getting back we were off again, this time to Tamenglong, down the Barak to Kambirong and out to Jhirighat along the Cachar road. We made one more short trip, out to Chakpi and Mombi, where the Kukis proved much harder to photograph than any Nagas had been, and it was only after we had settled down in Imphal that I was able to do some reading and, during the Governor's visit, meet Mr.J.P.Mills and learn several things which would have saved me time and film if I had known them, as I should have done, before we started. |
| text: |
In spite of all the mistakes I have a considerable collection of pictures - about 850 - covering nearly every tribe in Manipur, as well as some outside it. The Secretary of the Royal Central Asian Society, hearing that I had been asked to join a party going through the Barak gorges below the Cachar road, suggested that as I was really interested in the Nagas, I should ask advice from those who knew most about them, and try on this second trip to turn my collection of pictures into a properly informed record. |
| text: |
How far that plan will go now I can't say. I should, however, be very glad to have your advice. I shall be free to meet you at Waterloo at 1.30 p.m. or, as I have a car, I could come to Tisbury, whichever is the most convenient for you. |
