452 Narrative of an Expedition into [June, 



high hill till we came to cultivation, from whence we looked down 

 upon Semker, on the foot of a hill beneath us. By a very steep path 

 we descended to the encamping huts erected by Toolaram Sanaputtee, 

 who had previously arrived with the Shans I had attached to him. 

 He had not been up to Semker for many years, and therefore was 

 ignorant till now where the Angamees were located, which to my as- 

 tonishment I found to be eight days journey further on. I applied to 

 Toolaram Rajah for a statement of the depredations committed by the 

 Angamees on his people, and found several of his Naga villages had also 

 been sufferers ; and on inquiring the reason of these attacks, I was 

 informed that they were merely to extort conch shells, cloths, &c and 

 that the Angamees seized as many people as they could, to obtain ransom 

 from their relatives, and killed all that attempted to escape, cutting off 

 their heads (with the blade of their spears) which would be ransomed 

 by their relatives also, this being one of the barbarous customs of the 

 Nagas. I also applied for a statement of the sufferers of the village of 

 Rangai, but the Rajah could not furnish one, as the people had all fled 

 into the jungles, he knew not whither. I was told that the people of 

 Semker also were thinking of leaving their village for another place, 

 till they heard that troops were going against the Angamees, for they 

 also were in daily fear of being cut up, which they certainly would be 

 the moment they refused to bribe them with salt, dried fish, &c. The 

 Semker people are not great cultivators, but live chiefly by the pro- 

 duce of their salt springs, and by traffic with the peaceful Nagas around 

 them. They bring dried fish, beads, conch shells, and brass ornaments 

 from Oodarbund Haut, and barter them for cotton, wax, ivory, chillies, 

 &c; and an extensive and infamous trade is carried on in slaves, 

 who are stolen indiscriminately by. all in that quarter, and sold to 

 the Bengalli merchants who go up for cotton. I hear that a slave 

 can be procured for twenty packets of salt, seven of which are 

 to be had for one rupee. I saw many Muneeporees, who had been 

 thus seized whilst young, and sold both amongst Kookees, Cacharees, 

 and Nagas. 



There are 140 houses of Cacharees, and five or six of Nagas, but 

 the Semker Cacharees are demi-Nagas, and many of them have mar- 

 ried Naga girls. They have lost the good qualities of the Cacharee, 

 and resemble more the meaner and more cowardly Nagas of the 

 lower hills of Cachar. I found here Ohkonah of Umbawlo, or Ing- 

 hong, and Hajootoe, on the part of Equigimpo of Beren, two chiefs of 

 independent villages who had heard of the approach of the troops, 

 and both came to offer submission, and to seek protection from the 

 Angamees. They seemed much afraid lest we should not attack 



