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Chapter Four. Above the Clouds |
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set off via Wanching; claws of pangolin used to cure centipede inflamation |
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It was drizzling with rain when, early next morning, we walked over the ridge to the neighbouring village of Wanching, and then climbed down innumerable stone steps on the southern side of the mountain. Here, on a stone by the path, we found the claws of a Chinese pangolin, and the dobashi told us that, according to a Konyak belief the scratching of the skin with such ant-eater claws soothes the inflammation caused by the touch of hairy centipedes. Some Konyak must have killed a pangolin, and altruistically left two of the claws in this conspicuous place. |
