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Chapter Twenty-six. Tribesmen Of Tirap |
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Such a solution, however, was acceptable only to small village communities of little importance, whereas large villages of great political power made every effort to find a chief of pure Wangham blood. Thus in 1952, Longsom, a colony of Chanu, but politically allied to Niaunu, could not obtain a chief from Chanu when their chiefly lineage died out. The villagers requested the chief of Niaunu to send them one of his kinsmen, and he obligingly seconded his father's younger brother's son to the chiefdom of Longsom. The domain of a chiefly house could also be enlarged by conquest. Thus seven generations ago a force of warriors from Niaunu raided and defeated the neighbouring village of Zonlong. The chief's entire family and about half of the commoners were wiped out and the surviving commoners chose to remain in the village under a new chief, who belonged to a junior branch of the chiefly family of Niaunu. The village was renamed Mintong, and as such it now forms part of the Niaunu group of villages. |
