Contributions to the craniology of the people of the empire of India / by Sir Wm. Turner.

  • Turner, Wm. (William), Sir, 1832-1916.
Date:
1899-1901
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Contributions to the craniology of the people of the empire of India / by Sir Wm. Turner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Tonkal Ndgds. Table 1L In 1893 a box reached me from Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colone] F. W. Wright, D.S.O., containing eight skulls which he had collected in the house of a Tonkal Naga, in the upper village of Hwining, situated about 6000 feet above the sea-level in the hills some forty miles north-east of Manipur. The occasion which led to an expedition being sent into the hills was a raid by the “ Kukis” on the Naga village of Swemi, situated some 7000 feet above sea-level, and about 70 miles north-east of Manipur. The people of Hwining, although themselves Nagas, had joined the Kukis in the raid on villages of their own tribe. Dr Wright also wrote a most interesting letter, in which he informed me that there are two villages at Hwining, an upper and a lower, built on the crest of a spur running from about south-west to north-east, and at the south-west end is the upper village. The villages are separated by about half a mile of uneven ground, and their inhabitants used to fight with each other, and take each other’s heads. As it is not the custom of the Tonkal Nagas to preserve the heads of friends and relatives, but to bury their dead close to their houses, the skulls collected had evidently been those of persons murdered or killed in battle, and afterwards preserved. Dr Wright found these skulls fixed as trophies to a board on the wall of the front room facing the entrance to a house. He believes them to be the skulls of Tonkal Nagd,s, as Hwining is surrounded by Tonkal villages, with which it was, and indeed in some instances is, still at feud; possibly they are skulls of the Nagjls of the lower village of Hwining. The head of a woman is as much prized as that of a man, for as women do not go far away from their homes, the captor requires to approach close to the hostile village, and puts himself therefore into greater danger in order to secure the head. From the very instructive account of the Nag^ts with which Dr Wright has favoured me I make the following; extract:— “ The hills north-east of Manipur range in height from 3000 to 7000 feet. They are clothed with forests, and abound in game. The human inhabitants are Ndgas and Kukis. Both are savage tribes, and go about nearly naked, but the women are more clothed than the men. They make clearings in the forests and grow crops of rice, Indian corn, etc., and from the rice they make a fermented liquor called ‘ Zoo,’ which is not unlike a rough kind of cider. The Ndgds are the indigenous natives, and reside permanently in one place, and live in huts on the tops of the hills, where they can command a view of the approach of their enemies. The Kukis have immigrated from the south from the hills between Manipur and Burma. They are not settled in their habits, but make from time to time new clearings, so that they are very destructive to the forests, and raid the Ndgd villages and kill the inhabitants. Both Ndgds and Kukis eat the flesh of pigs and other animals. It is said that a Ndgd gives a good meal of rice to a dog, then kills and roasts it, and makes a meal of dog, stomach and rice.