In Abor Jungles

A full and comprehensive account of a classic punitive expedition to subdue and settle three tribes - the Abors, the Mishmis and the Miris - in and around Aborland on the frontiers of Assam and China in British-ruled India. The 1911 Abor Expedition under Major-General Hamilton Bower was carried out to punish the perpetrators of a massacre of a British colonial official, a doctor and their coolies in March that year. After some fighting and burning of villages, the murderers were caught, the tribal chiefs - 'Gams' - submitted to the British Raj, and their tribal centres were destroyed. The author - a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society - gives a full account of the episode, together with interesting anthropological descriptions of the tribes and their customs - including the 'ring of love' and their habit of using teacups as earrings. The book is well illustrated with more than seventy photographs and a map of the expedition drawn by the author.