| caption: |
Relations with Tributary States and Frontier Affairs |
| caption: |
Nagas on the Lakhimpur frontier; claim for rent-free land by Namsangia chief; danger from Singphos |
| text: |
28. The Borduaria and Namsangia Nagas have given no trouble during the year under report. They have come in to trade at Dibrugarh in considerable numbers and deputations have visited the Deputy-Commissioner to pay their respects. A Namsangia chief named Rangbang in May 1889 applied for a grant of rent-free land between Nabangkhona pathar and the Buri Dihing, on the ground that Kakojan, near Jaipur, which he alleged had been granted to him by the Assam Rajas, had been occupied by the Government ryots. The application was disallowed by the Deputy-Commissioner, as the Nagas receive an annual payment of Rs.450 in lieu of any rights they thought they had to any lands within the Inner Line. The Borduarias and Namsangias carried on the old feud among themselves in the hills. |
| text: |
In April last the Nagas of Saban, a cis-Patkoi village from one to two days' journey from Ledo, attacked a party of Rangpang Nagas who were coming into Margherita with rubber, at a place about four miles beyond the Inner Line. One of the Rangpang Nagas was killed and the rubber brought by them was looted by the Saban people. The Tikak guard was reinforced and an enquiry made by the Rai Bahadur Lahmon Das Hazarika. The Nagas who were attacked came from Rasha, a village ten or twelve days' journey across the Patkoi and were attacked by the Saban people who mistook them for Nagas of Morang, a trans-Patkoi village, with whom they have a blood feud, the Morang Nagas generally having had the best of it. The Nagas to the south of the Patkoi are much under the influence of the Singpho chiefs of the Hukong Valley, while those to the north are called by the Singphos "Gumlaus", i.e. "British Nagas", or Nagas under our rule. The Singphos on the Noa Dihing, however, exercise some influence over the Nagas in their neighbourhood on this side of the range, in fact many of these Nagas speak or understand Singpho. It was therefore determined at the request of the Sabans, that Kherem Gam, a Singpho chief living on the Dirap, a tributary of the Dehing, should attempt to arbitrate in the matter. In January Kherem Gam, who had visited Saban, reported that the Saban people would only pay 11 maunds of rubber, while the aggrieved party demanded 30 maunds. So far he has not been able to effect any settlement of the matter. |
