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Chapter Twenty-seven. Return to Nagaland |
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Instead of visiting Mon we went to Chui, accompanied by an English-speaking young man of that village, who was vice-chairman of the local council. A jeep track led from the town of Mon through hill-fields, commonly known as jhum, towards Chui. As we were overtaking a colourful group of men, I asked the driver to stop and got out to talk to the men. They were from Totok, and many had still the face tattoos of successful headhunters. I told them that many years ago I had spent some time in Wakching, and knew that Totok used to be at war with Chui, on whose land we were now standing. A loquacious old man confirmed this and laughingly said that because of the fighting he had been sent to jail in Kohima, and that he remembered me as being the man who had arrested him. He must have taken me for Mills or perhaps Pawsey, the last British Deputy Commissioner of the Naga Hills, but was very good-tempered about that long past incident and gladly accepted a cigarette. |
