| caption: |
Chapter Twelve. Towards Unknown Country |
| caption: |
crossing the Dikhu river again |
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Travelling first east and then south-east, the long column wound along the cultivated slopes into the valley of the Upper Dikhu, where we crossed the river on a bridge of high piles, the porters wading through the shallow water. This first day was very quiet; we were still in administered country, and apart from one of the Nagas, who managed to spike his leg on the spear of the man behind, there were no casualties. As on many days to come, there was a fairly stiff climb in the afternoon, for, going east, we had to travel almost at right angles to innumerable, long drawn out ridges. Nagas always settle on the tops of the mountains, and since we usually camped near a village, the daily routine entailed starting in the cool of dawn downhill. arriving in the hot, stuffy valley about midday, when the sun was hottest, and then climbing up the mountain as the sun sank, to spend the night on some windy height. That first day we climbed to Chare, lying 2,400 feet above the valley. The people had built us a camp on a slope before the village gate -- two huts and numerous shelters of bamboo and banana leaves, with just enough space between for our tents. |
