| caption: |
Ninu will not rebuild until permanent peace concluded with the British; use of sago |
| text: |
54. The Senua man and others who were with us said that the Ninu men will not rebuild their village on its old site until permanent peace is concluded with us. They are now at peace with all the surrounding villages except Khanu; and I think it not unlikely that, on the guard being established at Bor Bansang, they began to remove their property to those villages which would receive them, a comparatively small number only remaining in the two villages of Ninu to take care of them. There were no signs of rice-pounding visible, but quantities of the bark of the sago-palm tree, which is largely used as an article of food in all villages east of Tablung, at Chen and elsewhere, were lying about everywhere. It seems that the nephew of the Bor Bansang chief has lately married a Ninu girl, and a few families (thirty to forty) have gone to live at Chasa (Horu Bansang). (By a curious slip, which escaped Captain Butler as well as myself, I see that in my last year's report I said "Sa" was an affix signifying large: it has just the opposite meaning, "small" - "Nu" meaning large). We cannot deny our admiration to the headmen of Ninu for the staunch way in which, having got Ponghi into trouble, they have stood by him. They have sworn to protect him, if he will trust them; the chief saying, "If I give you up, on that day with the sun let my glory set; and when the moon sets may my glory set, and my name as Rajah be forgotten on the face of the earth." |
