144 NAGA HILLS. peak of Jápvo, which is about 10,000 feet above sea-level. On the boundary of the District they are saddle-backed in shape, often bristling into sharp ridges, with steep and almost inaccessible slopes. In the interior they roll out into table-shaped spurs with grassy sides, Through this range several passes lead into the State of Manipur, along which hill ponies can be led; and it is said that no insuperable obstacles exist to the construction of a good road History. -- The Nágá Hills were formed into a separate District under a Deputy Commissioner in 1867. Even at the present day this tract has not been completely surveyed, and it constitutes one of the least orderly portions of the whole British Empire. It is inhabited almost entirely by the aboriginal tribe known as Nágás, who will be described more particularly in a subsequent paragraph. It is said that they maintained peaceable relations with the native Aham kings of Assam ; but soon after our occupation of the Province, they commenced a series of depredations on the Districts of Nowgong and Sibságar towards the north, and Cachar on the south-west. Between the years 1832 and 1851, no fewer than ten armed expeditions were despatched to chastise them in their native hills. Apart from their natural inaccessibility and the wide range of country over which they wander, the Nágás were protected by reason of a diplomatic difficulty. Their hills border the territory of the Rájá of Manipur; and it was considered unadvisable to raise any questions with that State, whose first treaty with the British dates back as early as 1762. Our policy towards the Nágás has uniformly been directed to establishing political control rather than direct government. In 1867, a Deputy Commissioner was first stationed at Samaguting, and a portion of the Nágá Hills was constituted for certain purposes into an executive District. This was rendered necessary by the continual raids of savage Nágá tribes on British villages in the plains, no less than 19 of such inroads having occurred between 1853 and 1865, in which 233 British subjects were killed, wounded or carried off, necessitating fre retaliatory expeditions against the offending tribes. It was thought that by the establishment of a British station within the hills, a central position would be secured, from which peaceful influences might gradually be extended over the Nágás, who have always manifested predatory instincts and rugged independence. The systematic exploration of the country was also held out as an object of scarcely secondary importance. The eastern limits of the District were fixed at the Dáyang river; but it was not intended that the country on the farther bank, also inhabited by Nágá tribes, should be regarded as beyond the frontier of British India. Since that date, surveying parties have been constantly engaged in ascertaining the geographical outlines of this wide stretch of country, which possesses both political and physical
