| caption: |
Chapter Twenty-one. Head-Hunting Rites |
| caption: |
rumours and young men from Tamlu come for heads |
| text: |
(164) The news of my coming, and more particularly of the spoils I bring with me, has flown like wildfire through the countryside and it is not long before I realize that it is easier to carry a basket of bread untouched through a hungry crowd than a head trophy through the Naga Hills. |
| text: |
Hardly have I entered the Konyak country, before I am way-laid by young men from Tamlu begging for a piece of head. Exultantly they carry the small piece I hand them over back to their village, singing of the glorious deeds of war, which incidentally they have never performed. |
| text: |
"We are like tigers, terrible to our enemies; like hawks we pursue our enemies. Our enemies tremble and shake. We have captured a head from the village of the enemy . . . ." |
| text: |
Here one breaks off the song and asks me in a whisper: "What was the name of the village, Sahib?" |
| text: |
And then, raising his voice, he sings: ". . . we have captured a head from Pangsha; conquered are the men of Pangsha!" |
| text: |
It is no less grotesque when, shortly after, they ask me whether it is the head of a man or a woman, and close on my answer, follows the pompous announcement that they have captured the head of a man from Pangsha. |
