| caption: |
attacked at Gosutomi; village burnt; sacrificed puppy |
| text: |
36. On the 3rd March, passing through Hueshonagami, we descended to Nunomi. A small party of constables and coolies went into the village for rice, with which they were liberally supplied: the headman came out to meet us, everything seemed peaceful, and we hoped to make the Doiang before nightfall. However, when we had gone about three miles from the village, our rear-guard was suddenly attacked by a large number of Nagas, who had come up through the jungly ravines behind us. I had seen them descending from the village on looking back, but, as their arms were concealed in their clothes, I thought they were going to their jhooms. They had probably hoped to cut off the coolies, but the latter, in the speedy prospect of a few days' halt at Wokha, were going very well, and the Nagas, having a steep climb through tangled grass, had only come up with the rear-guard. Leaving a native officer and Police Inspector Memaram to form camp close by at the village Gosutomi, Colonel Tulloch took twenty men with him, and we went back at once to the village, attacked and burned it, the Nagas offering a very slight resistance, as usual when a steady advance is made against them. At various parts of the road, just outside the stockade, we found portions of a puppy, which had been killed, cut up and buried, when they came after us. I learned next day that this ceremony is supposed to secure immunity from adverse spears or bullets. |
