1872.] 
23 
S. E. Peal — Visit to the Nag a Hills. 
&c. # The trouble, time, and labour expended in raising their crop of hill rice, 
or their Koni dhanf, if sunk in potatoes or wheat, would yield them four or 
six fold, and enough to supply the plains with the former, as in the Kliassia 
Hills. Whether it is politic to render them wholly independent while they 
have such vague ideas regarding their relationship to us, I cannot say. A 
peace policy till we get a railway, would seem the best for us planters> 
unless extraordinary vigour was shewn. A glance at the map, and a knowledge 
of what they have done, would show at once that they could nearly annihilate 
tea south of the Brahmaputra, by a system of night raids, for which they 
are famous. The present almost deserted state of this portion of the Sib- 
sagar district, between the Dik’ho and Diling and south of the Dhodur All, 
is a standing proof of what they did forty years ago, “ committing such 
devastation,” according to Robinson, “ as to force the ryots to remove from 
the neighbourhood, and stop all communication by the roads.” And there 
are men living who remember this tract as a vast village, or a series of villages. 
The destruction was done by Nagas, Burmese, and Singphus. 
Not only during our trip, but both before and after, the question of 
our present mutual relationship pressed on our notice. It is not a bad habit, 
especially in a country like this, which we have recently invaded, to get the 
“ oldest inhabitant” in any locality, and enquire. Thus we here heard 
among others, that there never was, in the old days, a fixed boundary 
to the province here, and not only did the Nagas give regular tribute in 
kind to the Asamese Rajalis, but the so-called Abors as well. There were 
both Naga and Abor ‘ Sokeals,’ or Official Interpreters, and the Abor 
tribes had access to the plains through certain routes, now closed to them. 
I see also, by referring to Robinson’s Asam, p. 384, that the Nagas about 
here are reported to have paid allegiance to the Rajahs of Asam, and 
again so at bottom of p. 386. As far as I can see, the tribes about here 
now forget this, and consider themselves de facto free, and any attempt 
on our part to remind them of their former allegiance by active measures, 
such as taxation or surveys, would lead to serious complications and to a 
* Wo did not see the places where they cultivate their kachchus, and garden 
produce, called “ Erra j” hut I have since scon some clearances of this kind, at the 
Naga village near Borhat on the Desang and Dhodar All. The land was carefully 
enclosed by a fence made of the boughs of the trees felled inside the clearance, not 
piled carelessly, but built up so as to be wholly impassable and impervious to pigs. 
Inside, I found kachchus, chillies, yams, and also mint, cotton, and plants which 
I did not know. The ground was carefully weeded, and paths led though it, and 
small « tongis,’ or huts on posts, were erected here and there to servo for watching 
at night. 
I found many opium-eaters at this village, even among the lads. They are 
Mohongias. 
t Koni, dhan, and sowl. 
