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expedition in the Tangkhul area |
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daily routine: dispensary, photographs |
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The day's routine was simple. With the first gleam of day-light through the hut walls, in came Abung with a cup of tea. Next we packed the kit and sent off the porters, the compounder and I staying back to hold a final dispensary. Our route lay well off the beaten track, and there was urgent need for it. With luck we were off by eight, but when we got in depended on the roadside villages, for we stopped to hold a dispensary session in each and seldom got off again in less than an hour. After medical aid, when confidence had been established, came photographs - sometimes posed, grave headmen against their house-fronts, to show the sweep of the Tangkhul haircut, the fine features; sometimes unstudied, snatched at the right moment, a quick portrait of a laughing boy. When we reached the night's camp there was a short (19) lull while we settled in, ate and rested; and then there would be one long dispensary till dark or after. |
