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Flit like the softest shadows, more silent than a shade-
Men and women bearing memories for me;

Folk who gave me friendship, aye, and enemies I have made-
For you cannot fail to make them-two or three.

But the thing that twists the tail of me and makes me cough and choke,

Now the time for parting draws so deadly near,

Are the words some folk have written and some others I've heard spoke,

Every one of which will be a memory dear

When those who wrote or said them are ten thousand miles away, And I have passed for ever from their ken,

For another term of service in that wondrous Far Cathay

A ghost re-born into a world of men.

They make me proud beyond belief, and humble to the dustThose words too kind, too generous by far.

Who am I that men should praise me, honour, glorify, and trust? A sepulchre, where lime-wash masks the tar!

De mortuis

One knows the rest. They feel that I am dead. One doesn't bandy jibes across a bier;

But upon my naked heart the sods are hailing down like lead . . . And to-morrow they'll be ranged upon the pier

To grip my hand and wish me luck; and how, I ask, shall I
Endure to part from friends I love so well?

Promotion? Christ! I tell you that to-morrow I shall die
And night will find me damned in deepest hell.

On deck I'll stand while bugles sound the last Farewell1 of all. (The lid is on, the nails are hammered true.)

And the mist that hides the shore from me shall be my funeral pall, And I'll see it through a wetter, salter dew.

They'll be sorry that I'm going-the bulk of them, I think;
But none of us was ever long miss'd yet.

And as I watch the shore-line go and 'neath the sky-line sink,
I shall dream some will remember, and shall know all will
forget.

1 It is the custom in Nigeria and the Gold Coast to sound The Hausa Farewell -one of the most heart-rending musical wails ever composed--by the massed buglers of the nearest available battalion of the West African Frontier Force, in order to speed the departing Nigerian Official, civil or military.

FROM THE OUTPOSTS.

AMONG THE KUKIS.

BY LIEUT.-COLONEL A. VICKERS.

THE white paddle steamers churning their way slowly up the swollen brown waters of the Brahmaputra turn sharply from north to east as they enter the valley of Assam through the defile at Pandu Ghât. Passengers are enchanted with the cool breeze which greets them, while it rolls away the mists of the night to reveal the splendour of a mountain panorama in the brightness of an Eastern dawn.

Along the banks are virgin forests, dripping with the morning dew, where the antlered sambhur, following his watchful hinds, trips daintily across the swampy glade.

Here and there the forest opens out to reveal an expanse of green pampas grass, waving in the breeze its fronds of feathery silver.

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On the horizon, all around, rise the blue mountains of Himalaya, and above them the eternal snows tower into the blue of heaven, calm, serene, and pure. A strange man the traveller whose soul is not uplifted for a while by such a scene!

But the paddles stop their rhythmic churn. A loud bell clangs, and raucous voices squabble on the shore as the boat glides alongside the jetty.

Called to earth and sordid care again, the traveller can find it in his heart, truly, to say that only man is vile.

Such an introduction to Assam does many an English youth receive on his way to start a career. For Assam, still undeveloped, offers many prospects of flourishing industry in coal, oil, timber, and tea.

The broad river winding through the valley offers cheap and easy transport, while faster conveyance is available to the head of the valley by the AssamBengal railway and its branch lines. A new line of rail has been surveyed into Northern Burma by way of the Hukong Valley, but funds are not available these days for an enterprise which is at present of strategic rather than commercial value.

And what of the folk who people the plains and hills in this fascinating corner of our Empire ?

In the hills the Mongolian type predominates, with varying strength from pure Mongols like the Thibetans and Bhutias in the mountains on the north bank to the Naga tribes on the southern hills, whose origin is still obscure, and who resemble in appearance, dress (what there is of it), and customs the people of the South Sea Islands.

The inaccessibility of these mighty mountain ranges, covered with the densest jungle and divided by raging torrents, rendered impassable by the melting snows and monsoon rains, has developed a strong and conservative tribal spirit among the various people of the hills.

A study of the numerous tribes all round the frontiers of Assam is of absorbing interest. On the north bank of the mighty river live the Gurkhas, Bhutias, Akas, Daflas, Arbors, Mishmis, and Miris. And on the hills of the south bank live the Singphos, Chungs, Nagas, Khasis, Manipuris, Chins, Lushais, and Kukis. All these have preserved their identity and successfully defended their mountain fastness against the many tides of conquest and absorption that from time immemorial have swept up and down the broad valley of Assam, where tigers now prowl the dense fever stricken jungles that overgrow the ruins of the ancient cities and civilisation

VOL. CCXXI.-NO. MCCCXL.

of the plain. Here and there a gateway or a temple pillar stands up in the silent gloom of the shady evergreen forest : a monument to a people who, through decay, disease, and the ravage of conquest, have long since passed away and been forgotten; for the climate of the vale, to the stranger so balmy and pleasant, has in it the germs of decay for the human race. Succeeding generations, saturated with the lethargy of malaria and spleen, seek the solace of opium, which hastens the end.

In this way the Ahoms and the Kacharis, once prosperous dwellers in the land, became effete and were easily conquered by invaders from the west, who in turn were overrun by invading hordes from Burma. Then it was that the British Government from India stepped in and put a stop to the fiendish cruelties of the Burmese conquerors, and drove them back into Burma through the Hukong valley.

The wretched dwellers in the plain were quick to respond to the just treatment of the British Government firmly installed by good troops.

The wonderful fertility of the alluvial soil enabled the cultivators to grow rice for export. Cattle flourished in the grass-lands. Tea plantations sprang up here and there, and now the tea of Assam finds a ready market all over the world. Excellent coal from the foothills finds its way into the bunkers of the ships in

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Chittagong harbour and Cal- British has brought to the cutta. The oil industry flour- miserable, down-trodden people ishes. of the plain the blessing of freedom, self-respect, and prosperity.

So far, we may say that the Government of Assam by the

Very different is the history of the hill men. Stout defenders of their liberty and independence, the hill tribes round the border have held their own with marked success against attempts to confer on them the blessings of a British constitution.

Before we occupied the valley of Assam the hill men enjoyed no end of fun raiding the lowlands and returning with slaves, cattle, rice, and all manner of loot. The ladies encouraged the raiders; for the pretty girl would not look at a suitor who had not performed heroic deeds in a foray over the border.

Every tribe has come to blows with us over this raiding business, and few have given us more trouble than the Kukis.

Their country lies south and east of the Naga hills on the south side of the valley. They have encroached upon Manipur State, and occupy the hills on the south and east borders of the Manipur valley as unruly subjects of the Rajah of Manipur. They are short stout men of Burmese origin, having great physical endurance, and are so famous for prowess in war that even the truculent Nagas have a wholesome respect for their methods of retaliation.

The Kuki alone of all these

II.

hill tribes understands the value of combination, and will sink all inter-tribal feuds to down a common enemy.

The ancestral home in the village street, and the hereditary plot of land so dear to the Naga tribes across their border, mean nothing to them. The instinct of the Kuki village community is to wander. They build houses of rough - hewn planks and logs, and fortify their villages with stockades cut from the jungle trees.

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Crops are grown by a simple method known as Jhoom," which consists of felling the trees and brushwood in the dry winter months. The timber lies scattered about, drying in the sun till the March winds blow. It is then set on fire, and the ashes are hoed into the earth. Rice, millet, Indian corn, and cotton are sown with the first showers of early summer. Two seasons' crops can be raised on the same ground before weeds and brushwood again choke the soil. A fresh patch of jungle is then cut down, and the "Jhooming" process repeated. When all the jungle round a village has been demolished, the community will move on a few miles to fresh ground and build a new village.

This wasteful and wandering the little valley, together with method brings them into frequent conflict with their neighbours, on whom they perpetually encroach. Raiding and retaliation keep alive a warlike and truculent spirit among the Kukis. They are armed with a remarkable number of old Tower muskets and muzzleloaders of all sorts.

Not only do they buy gunpowder from traders, but they make it themselves, obtaining the necessary saltpetre from their urine and that of their cattle and pigs by a special process of exudation and incrustation in pits of refuse and stable litter.

Their methods of hunting are remorseless and short-sighted. Having no game laws, they quickly exterminate all wild beasts within miles of their villages.

The restraint of the white man's government depresses them. Rather would they roam the jungles and be free than enjoy the blessings of peace, protection, and taxes within our borders.

The joy of possessing firearms induced them to join the army of the Rajah of Manipur. This fertile little State lies in a valley tucked away in the mountains between North Burma and Assam. It was converted from spirit worship to Hinduism some six hundred years ago. Then the Manipuris made broad their phylacteries, and became such strict Hindus as even to 'outBrahman the Brahmans.

the demoralising influences connected with Hinduism, have had their effect on the Manipuri, so the more warlike Kuki from the mountains was welcomed in Manipur as mercenary soldier to garrison Imphal, the capital, and guard the royal palaces.

Some thirty years ago Manipur State rose in arms against the British. The scene opened with the treacherous murder of the Chief Commissioner of Assam, the British Resident in Manipur, the Colonel commanding the Gurkha Escorts, and others, who had been invited into the Rajah's palace, unarmed, for a friendly chat. The subsequent proceedings of the officers in charge of the Resident's and Commissioner's escorts need not be recorded here. The Kuki troops of the Manipur Rajah took heavy toll of the escorts, and had things all their own way till our punitive column arrived. Then the State troops melted away into the jungles, taking their arms with them, which accounts for the large number of serviceable firearms now in the hands of the Kuki tribes.

The descendants of these soldiers are now firmly established in the hill tracts of the little State.

The gathering of taxes from such roaming folk presents difficulty. The tax-gatherer, poor fellow, will never be a popular person. Our Biblical records add no lustre to his profession; while in the Far East he is apt The enervating climate of to become a very wealthy man.

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