178 A MONOGRAPH OF THE PHEASANTS 



that it had been entirely deserted, and no Manipuri could get within ten miles of the 

 nearest known haunt without the certainty of being murdered. On the other hand, if 

 we were to go openly, we should want an army to secure our safety, should have to fight 

 a number of regular battles, and probably set the whole southern frontier in a blaze. 



'' I replied that this might be all true (and I did not doubt it, as, when I went down 

 to the junction of the Chakpee and the Imphal Turail, the main Manipur river, some 

 thirty miles short of the nearest haunt, six hundred soldiers w^ere turned out to make 

 the trip safe), but — and there was a great deal in that but — the Loe-nin-koi had to 

 be got. 



''Then at last — necessity is often the mother of invention — seeing that escape was 

 hopeless, a notable scheme was devised. A party of Kamhow refugees, living or 

 wandering about near the border were sent for, and two of these I taught to skin. The 

 plan was that all the adult males of the party, some sixty in number, should make their 

 way to the nearest place where the Loe-nin-koi was known to occur, and while three or 

 four trapped and two skinned, the rest, who knew all the ground well, should spread out 

 in all directions and guard against a surprise. Set a thief to catch a thief; being 

 Kamhows themselves, they knew what to expect and how to guard against it, and they 

 knew, moreover, every inch of the ground. Any one else was certain to be killed, but 

 in their case there was, as they arranged the expedition, little danger. Of course they 

 were clamorous for some of the Enfield rifles of my guard, but as I well knew that then 

 instead of trying to get pheasants they would have gone head-hunting among their 

 former acquaintances on their own account, and probably have thus led into a serious 

 counter-raid into Manipur, I positively refused to give them any arms. They were to 

 run, not fight, and with all their scouts out, and knowing the ground far better than the 

 Kamhows on the other side of what I may call the Debateable Land, there was no 

 chance of them getting into serious trouble. Now, these creatures were the most 

 absolute savages ; they never had, I believe, though my Envoy thought otherwise, the 

 slightest intention of bringing the pheasants ; all they were manoeuvring for was to get a 

 pretext for raiding into their old country, and to procure arms so as to enable them to 

 pay out old scores. So, naturally, when they found that they were to have no chance of 

 doing business on their own account they decamped during the night. Then we sent 

 some of the Moirang people, who had a certain acquaintance with them, to warn them 

 that they must either come back and arrange definitely to get those pheasants, or they 

 should be driven out of Manipur territory, when, as they well knew, their quondam 

 compatriots would have speedily accounted for them. 



"Thereupon they all returned, remarking blandly that they had only run back to 

 their camp in order to fetch food for the trip. They seemed in such perfect good 

 humour that we were a little too kind to them, whereon they at once began to say that 

 without arms they would certainly not go, and to assume a distinctly insolent manner, 

 though a few hours previously they had crept into the village in mortal terror. Then 

 my Manipur mentor, one of the sweetest-tempered and most patient old gentlemen I 

 ever met with, blazed out in wrath, for the first and last time during the six months 

 we were together (and even then, as I found out, it was only a piece of excellent acting). 

 In a minute two of the leaders were seized, eight men of the guard loaded their rifles, 

 and it seemed as if there was going to be an execution then and there. All the rest of 



