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Relations with Tributary States and Frontier Affairs |
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Nagas on the Sibsagar frontier; thefts from Cherideo tea garden |
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20. Deputations from several tribes of Nagas paid visits of courtesy to the Deputy Commissioner and made presents of goats, fowls, daos, spears, etc. The representatives of the Failung tribe said that their tribe had become reconciled with Jaktung which reconciliation was made the condition of the pardon granted by the Chief Commissioner to four men of the former tribe who were convicted of murder in 1893-94 (see paragraph 21 of the Report for 1893-94). There was no cessation of the feud between Borgang and Jaktung out of which that murder arose, Failung having then taken the side of Borgang. It is however so far satisfactory that the Failung villagers professed to be at peace with their neighbour. A deputation of Changnoi Nagas who visited the Deputy Commissioner on the 5th March 1895 stated that they were at war with the Khamlung tribe. These Changnois are a remnant of the once important tribe of that name to the south-east of Molung which was broken up by an attack of Abor Nagas some years ago. Some of them then emigrated to the neighbourhood of Joboka, while another branch now referred to remained at or near the site of the old village. The Khamlungs with whom they are at feud live to the south of their chang and are apparently distinct from the Khamlung tribe near Joboka which sent in presents during the year. The other Nagas who visited the Deputy Commissioner said that they were at peace with the neighbouring tribes. There was, apparently a cessation of hostilities between Joboka and Banfera, but it is probably only temporary. A cow mithan was brought in by the Joboka Nagas and was presented by Mr. Pittar, the Deputy Commissioner, to the Zoological Gardens, Calcutta where it was safely received. |
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There were two cases against Nagas brought to trial during the year. In the sadr subdivision a Joboka Naga was convicted under sections 379 and 380, Indian Penal Code and sentenced to nine months' rigorous imprisonment for stealing from the Joboka tea garden a china cup, a brass tow (cooking utensil) and an axe belonging to a servant of the assistant manager of the garden. In the other case which occurred in the Golaghat subdivision, a Naga was punished with six months' rigorous imprisonment under section 324, Indian Penal Code, for causing hurt to an Assamese by striking him across the ribs with a dao. Both parties were apparently drunk and quarrelled for a trivial cause. |
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Complaints were made by the General Manager of the Assam Company about petty thefts committed by Nagas in 1892, 1893 and 1894 at the Cherideo and Dholebagan factories of that Company. On the 23rd February 1895 a godown at Cherideo was set fire to and a large quantity of garden stores, valued at about Rs.4,000, were burnt in it. The circumstances under which these offences were committed leave little room for doubt that they were the work of Nagas using the Tiruduar, a pass which debouches into the plains by a path leading through the Cherideo garden and close past the manager's bungalow and the godown which was burnt. This last offence was brought to the notice of the Chief Commissioner when he was on tour at Golaghat and in compliance with his orders, parwanas were issued by kotokis to all the Naga villages making use of the path above mentioned, calling upon them to give up the perpetrators of the offences which had been committed, and warning them that if they failed to do so, the path would be closed next cold weather. On the 22nd March 1895, the Deputy Commissioner visited Cherideo and in company with the manager saw the scene of the occurrences and the path used by the Nagas. There can be no doubt that the situation of the path offers every temptation to the Nagas using it to pilfer and commit mischief. The Deputy Commissioner expressed the opinion that it would be possible, without putting the Nagas to inconvenience, to divert the path so as not to place these temptations in their way. Since the close of the year the Chief Commissioner has approved the Deputy Commissioner's proposals to divert the path and has further ordered that the path is to be closed until the offenders are given up, and that a substantial fine should be inflicted on each of the villages using the path in the event of their failing to surrender the guilty persons. |
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With the above exceptions, the behaviour of Nagas in the district has been generally satisfactory and peaceful. |
