| caption: |
stones thrown at sentries |
| text: |
24. We encamped just below the third village of Kamahu, the road to Tangsa passing above our camp. On the 11th I went up early to the mark, but could do no work on account of the continued hazy weather, and so returned to camp, and in the afternoon visited the three villages, making sketches and chatting with the villagers, who were very friendly. During the night, about one o'clock, the camp was aroused by shots from the two sentries facing the village; on inquiry, they stated that some stones had been thrown at them from the road above. Colonel Tulloch and I at once went up to the village, but we found it quite quiet, and everyone apparently in his own house with his family, so we returned to camp. Early the next morning, I sent up a head-constable to the village for the headmen; he returned with several old men, who professed entire ignorance as to the stone-throwing, saying they were all asleep when they heard the shots. I dismissed them with a warning that more stones would entail punishment. I cannot account for this incident. Some Nagas from another village, actuated by ill-feeling towards Kamahu, may have thrown the stones in hopes of stirring up a quarrel, or they may have been thrown "for a lark" by some young scapegraces from the village. The stone-throwing, on the other hand, may have existed only in the minds of the sentries, who were recruits, as the night was clear, and anyone approaching them or moving on the road above should have been visible to them. |
