| caption: |
Chapter Twelve. Towards Unknown Country |
| caption: |
packing luggage; leaving for expedition |
| text: |
We spent two more days in preparations before all the porters were ready and all the loads packed. My own luggage consisted of my tent and three carrying-baskets containing mainly clothes and warm bedding. When we left Mokokchung on Friday, the 13th November, the whole of the village was on foot to watch the departure of this strange crusade against the slave-raiders. The women and children crowded on the bamboo platforms staring at the long file of sepoys, and at the last minute the gaonbura held up the whole of the column in the middle of the village by offering (110) us farewell drinks of rice-beer, the usual way of giving a raiding party a send-off. |
