WITH THE WILD ABORS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 185, 3 February 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

WITH THE WILD ABORS.

GRAMOPHONE IN THE FORBIDDEN LANDS. The final chapter in the history of the Assam hill tragedy has yet to be written, though there can be but one conclusion to the history of the primitive tilts of the wild Abors at the steel windmills of Western civilisation. The mystery surrounding the death of Mr. Noel Williamson and his party is cleared up in the India Office White Paper, but there is a preceding chapter in this tale of adventure, which is told by Colonel D. M. Lumsden, C.8., of the Royal Geographical Society, whose diary is published in the Journal It is the plain, curt statement of fact of an explorer, to whom peril is not an incident but the atmosphere of daily life. The laconic sentences tell of the journey, of three white men into one of the only territories in the whole world which still remain absolutely unknown — a journey which the treacherous murder of Williamson and Gregorson a year later

was the result. To this day no white man has set foot in the mountain fastnesses of the Abor country, although the tribesmen have been harrying the Assam line the middle of last century, and more than one punitive force has been sent against them. In recounting the story of the expedition Colonel Lumsden says that his own object in endeavoring to penetrate the unknown world was the unveiling of the mystery which still envelopes the falls of Tsnapo, on the Dihang river. He was accompanied by Mr. Williamson, the establishment of friendly relations whose intention, as political officer, was with the Abor tribesmen, <rad the Rev. W. L. B. Jackson, who had his mission work at heart.

Two years ago the three, with a small party of coolies, left Pasi Ghat, the last outpost of safety, and after a fortnight of marching through primeval forest and over precipitous moi|ntains, they reached Kebong, just beyond the verge of the unknown. They never crossed river; first one excuse and then another was advanced by Abor headsmen, who professed friendship, and finally they were forced to return, with a pressing invitation to re-visit the country next year. It was the acceptance of this invitation which ledi Mr. Williamson to cross the forbidden line and the Dihang last March, and it was the very headsman who had invited him that led him to his death.

Colonel Lumsden says that the country was embroiled in inter-tribal warfare, and the track which they followed through the gloomy forests was a warpath for the Abor clans. Some idea of the country may be gathered from the following note:— "About a mile from the camp we found our path blocked by a perpendicular rock quite 20ft in height. There was no way round, only a steep cliff on one side and deep water on the other. This we surmounted by felling a big tree, in which we cut notches, placed it against the rock, and scrambled up. But worse was to come. Scarcely another mile onward ere we had to feel our way along the edge of a steep precipice, holding on to tufts of grass and with barely a foothold. It was ugly going, as a single false step would have landed you in the pool below ; —height 2383 ft." The Abors are of a Mongolian type, somewhat similar to the Tibetans, whose country bounds Abor lands in the north; some ninety miles from the British outer line. Here is a description of a gam, or headman:—

"At sundown we had a visitor—the Gam of Kebong. He was a tall, bent, aged specimen, and wore for a helmet a metal dish-cover, while on his body hung a long sack-like garment of Tibetan textures. He was very polite, and offered'to leed us to his village next morning. Then followed a request for rum."

Madu, Gam of Riu, who led Williamson to his death, was friendly enough during the first visit. A big, fierce-look-ing warrior, with an expression like Minoutauh in Watts' painting—a heavy, brutal, sensual cast—he turned ouf"to be the Abor Minister for War. Under the influence of Harry Lauder's Scotch songs on the gamaphone he thawed, but their present advance he would not hear of, as the country was at war, and he could not "look after" his guest. Harry Lauder on th~e gramaphone was in great request, but the terrors of the magic lantern sent the women and childhen howling to the woods, and many of the warriors followed after a brief experience of the lamp of evil spirits. Presents of medicine, which were extremely popular, and needles, apparently won the community, but after a day or so the white men were politely requested to leave, and in order that none of the evil spirits should be left behind the young men of the tribe followed for some miles, throwing shreds of bamboo over the guests. After various adventures the party reached Pasi Ghat again.