| caption: |
Chapter Twenty-six. Tribesmen Of Tirap |
| caption: |
introduction to the Noktes, sub-group of the Wanchu |
| text: |
Khonsa lies within a territory inhabited by Noktes, a tribe some 20,000 strong. Both the settlements and the appearance of the Noktes reminded me vividly of the Konyak Nagas, and there can be little doubt that racially and culturally the Noktes belong to the Naga group. One of their peculiarities is the production of salt from salt springs, and the barter trade based on this salt production. They used to exchange it in the plains of Assam for cloth and also bartered it to the Rangpan Nagas of Burma, from whom they obtained fowls and agricultural produce. Before the establishment of Indian administrative control the local tribesmen were hardly aware of the fact that notionally an international frontier lay between them and their friends and trade partners living on the far side of the mountain range which separates India from Burma. |
