Prologue – The author recounts a story of a brave man who was appointed by the gods to go where no man had gone before. She describes the story of two men who were one, walking together in the high mountains. The author believes that all stories are connected, but at night, she hears more silent and separate stories. She finds an unwritten past story hidden beyond the mountain wall and encounter an abandoned hut on a bleak hill. The author senses a presence in the deep silence, and a closed book opens, telling the story of the man, woman, and priest. The story is vivid, and the reader can decide whether to believe or not in the author’s belief that after everything is laid to rest, love is the most important thing, and memory gives life.
1847 – Gimur, a 17-year-old girl from Mebo village, stands on a hill, surrounded by red flowers and tall, thorny tagat trees. She wonders about the smoke rising from the flat land across the river, wondering if it is fires. A young man named Lendem, who is ten years older than Gimur, tells her that everyone is looking for her. Gimur’s mother believes she is uncontrollable and daring, but she is more like a boy.
As night falls, Gimur and Lendem run back to the village, where they hear a group of men approaching at the foot of the hill. The men are white men called miglun, who want to establish a trading post. Gimur’s father, angry and restless, decides to meet them at the foot of the hill by the river and travel at dawn to see who they are. The men are white men from Assam, who want to protect fishermen and gold washers who have fled to the Assam plains. Lendem’s father, a village elder, does not trust strangers and decides to meet them at the foot of the hill by the river. They will travel at dawn, and one look will be enough to determine their identity.
On a warm March night, British troops were unable to reach Mebo due to a bend in the river. Captain Hamilton Vetch, an experienced officer, believed the meeting with the villagers had gone well. Gimur, a young girl, rushed back to her house and sat on the veranda, concentrating on the voices. A half moon was rising above the trees, and she hoped to hear the conversation. A man, Kajinsha, stared at her, causing her to think he was standing on a stone. He wore a black cloth wound around his head and spoke in a harsh, grating voice. Gimur asked him about her village, but he slid away without saying anything. The village was calm and peaceful, but suddenly, Gimur felt strangely bereft. The story highlights the dangers of misunderstanding and the importance of understanding the complexities of human relationships.
Kajinsha, a young man from the east, had traveled across mountains to reach the Abor village of Mebo. He had heard about white men heading towards them and decided to follow their boats and men upstream. Kajinsha’s father had told him that the British had conquered the Ahom kings of the east and were now the rulers of Assam. Kajinsha’s father had performed rituals for a peaceful existence in the snowy mountains but the gods had not answered his prayers.
Kajinsha had grown up in an environment of war and death, with tribes living in isolation and facing inter-tribal feuds. One summer night, Kajinsha woke to the cries of people fleeing from their burning village. His father decided to move further north to the Dagum mountain range on the border with Tibet, and he was a big strong man but peaceful at heart. He did not want war and taunted his relatives and friends.
Kajinsha’s father asked who would come with him, and when no one answered, he said, “You are afraid. You cannot fight, and you cannot find a new place to defend. Stay here and hide!” He then lifted Kajinsha in his arms and promised him that one day he would marry and bear sons and daughters in a new place far away from here. They left, accompanied by Kajinsha’s father’s brother and his wife.
However, soon enough, word reached his father that white men were traveling far and wide in their territory, seeking a way north and heading towards them. They were aided by men of rival clans and some plains people who carried the white men’s food and clothes. Kajinsha’s father warned them not to allow them to come to their village.
Kajinsha’s clan in Assam was disturbed by foreign men who entered their land, bringing gifts of salt, iron, tobacco, and opium. To stop their advance, Kajinsha’s father and uncle devised a strategy to teach their own brothers a lesson and to protect their territory. In 1836, Kajinsha’s father and uncle led a group of Tibetans to meet the Mishmee chief of Ghalum, who controlled the southern part of the territory. However, the alliance was spurned by the Mishmees of Ghalum, and Kajinsha’s father turned his back on his Mishmee brothers.
In 1839, news of a plot by the Khampti clans of Suddya in Assam to rise up against the British reached Kajinsha’s father. He led a group of men south to the Khampti villages, joined hands with 500-armed warriors, and advanced on the British station. The British Political Agent, Colonel Adam White, and his forces were butchered and all but two sepoy lines burned to the ground. Kajinsha’s father was fatally wounded, and he was close to death when he returned home.
Kajinsha’s life had been filled with war since his father’s death, and he looked down at the Suddya country of Upper Assam, which was densely forested and divided into northern and southern tracts. The British gained a foothold in Assam due to local rulers fleeing to Calcutta and begged help from the East India Government. Kajinsha never forgot anything and continued his journey, knowing that his father had died without telling him what he needed to be prepared for.
1848– Nicolas Michel Krick, a young French Jesuit priest, embarked on a journey from an island shore and never returned. Born in 1819, he was the second of five children to Michel and Elisabeth Dubourg Krick of Lixheim, Lorraine, France. His parents were pious, hardworking people who lived a simple life without much thought about fate or destiny. Krick’s father married a middle-aged widow, and his brothers also worked in the tailor shop.
Krick entered the Seminary of Nancy at twenty and was ordained in 1844. He was appointed as second curate in Phalsbourg three years later. The time of change in France was also affecting the spiritual life of Europe. The Roman Catholic Church had thriving Christian communities in Asia, with Jesuit priests enjoying patronage from the Ming rulers of China. However, Christianity was proscribed in 1724, and missionaries in the provinces were deported to Canton and Macao.
Britain played a pivotal role in restoring Christian communities in China and other eastern lands. The Treaty of Whampoa granted commercial privileges to France with access to certain ports and free travel and missions in China. After protracted negotiations, France secured an edict of tolerance from the Chinese emperor that would permit Christian missionaries back into China. Church leaders began to look east again, exploring the unexplored mountains of the high Himalaya and the mysterious kingdom of Tibet.
Nicolas Krick, a young man leaving his French parish to serve in remote foreign missions, sought a faith that would be unshakeable and challenged the nature of reason, faith, and freedom of conscience. He believed that traditional ways of preaching had served their purpose in quiet European towns, and that Father Krick wanted meaning back. He wanted to abandon oratory and speak to assemblies in the language of the heart, imbuing every prayer and sermon with the original conviction of his vocation in the service of God. Krick sought an experience of passionate union with the divine, which would come only through love and service. He embarked on a journey across seas and continents, searching for love and hope beyond the self. In October 1848, he completed the formalities of a candidate and arrived at the Missions Étrangères de Paris.
1849 – Gimur wakes up from a dream and wonders why the village is quiet. Her mother, Lendem, tells her that everyone has left, but she insists on going. They follow the path leading out of the village, and they hear shouts of runners arriving at war with the British. Gimur is filled with joy as she thinks the British are a fearsome race who have appeared suddenly from nowhere. They possessed firearms and punished anyone who tried to stop them.
Gimur’s father, the greatest warrior of the Lego clan, was killed by the British when he collapsed on the road. The village is shaken by this news, as people believe the British are strong and have gunboats and hundreds of soldiers. Gimur thinks that if she feels strongly enough, the strangers will leave them in peace.
Lendem, who is in a trance, asks Gimur to stop for a while, and they continue on without another word. They reach the village where refugees from the burnt village gather, where the sun has already dropped behind the mountains. The men are all assembled in the moshup, a barrack-style longhouse for men in every Abor village. Gimur and his aunt, Moi, are worried about Gimur’s safety due to the danger of elephants. Mouri tells Gimur that it won’t be easy to drive away the migluns, as they are clever and careful people. She warns Gimur that they will never leave until they get what they want.
Moi, a young girl from Bor Abor country, was forced to settle in Mebo village in 1822 when a woman was abducted by an enemy tribe. Lendem’s uncle tried to bring the woman back but never found her. Instead, he met with the British and demanded punishment for sheltering the runaway couple. The British were not interested in the situation, as they were fighting against Burmese invaders.
Mouri joined a group of two hundred Abors to meet the British and settle on the banks of the Dibang River. They were well-received in Suddya, where Moi was introduced to a miglun woman and her husband. One day, the miglun lady brought out a book and a pencil, which Moi had never held before. She sang and began beating the air, leaving Moi with only that smile.
Mouri learned that the woman was a miglun priest’s wife from America, who had set up a school in Suddya. Moi returned to Mebo but moved away to her present place, living an energetic widow who never stopped talking about the past. Gimur, listening to Moi’s words among the refugees, had a stake in this long, blurred history because her father’s early death was associated with that incident.
One day, Moi gave Gimur a book and a pencil to keep, and when she got home, she heard voices coming out of the meeting house. She recognized a man named Kajinsha and asked him his name. He told her his name, Kajinsha. Gimur was startled and asked who the man was. Lendem explained that one of the visitors was the son of a Mishmee chief who died after the Suddya attack.Lendem, a woman, is unsure of the origin of a man visiting the Idu clans of Anuda village. He assures her that the elders have decided against British intervention, and that they are united in their fight against the Migluns.
1850 – Mebo, a village in Assam and Tibet, was a center of activity for the Abor clans, who occupied the territory between the plains of Assam and Tibet. The British had some knowledge of the Abor clans, but they were surprised to see the Mebo moshup crowded day and night with men of the great Padam clans and visitors from villages beyond the Pari mountains and the confluence of the Siang and Yamne rivers. The elders of the tribes held meetings in the moshup, discussing war and the issue of runaway “slaves” who had taken advantage of their engagement as allies of the British during the Anglo-Burmese war.
The British did not actively encourage their desertion, but they did not respond to Abor demands to return them. Around the same time, the British began extending protection to the saniwals, beheeas, gold washers, and fishermen, who came up from the plains for profit and traditionally surrendered some payment in kind to the Abor and other original residents of the hills. In retaliation, some Abor men mounted a raid on a British garrison and kidnapped three saniwals.
Mebo was an important settlement with its strategic position on a range of hills that guarded the route to the Abor villages in the snow mountains to the north. It was generally agreed that it was a place of nostalgia and desire for the long-ago time when brothers had lived together. Every night, the Abor from near and far held meetings in the moshup. Gimur, a young girl, lived midway between the topmost houses facing the Siku stream and the girls’ dormitory building, the rasheng, where all young, unmarried girls met every evening to socialize and chat.
Gimur finds a spelling book in the Khampti language, given by Moi. She uses the pencil to write letters in the black letters, feeling pleasure and imagining the woman who smiled at Moi. The rainy season from March to September is subservient to the weather, and it is planting time for the Khampti people. As the planting season begins, Gimur spends more time in the fields and stays overnight in her shack.
Her friend Nago works in the adjoining field, and they call out to one another while weeding, turning the soil, and dibbled their seeds. One night, thunder wakes Gimur, and she hears someone coughing. She tries to hide her face but is interrupted by a burning log. She sees Kajinsha, a man standing drenched in the rain under her roof. He speaks with a strange accent and asks her to join him.
Kajinsha arrives at her hut and asks to join her. He smokes his pipe, “kacung,” tapping the long brass pipe. He is never without it and sometimes doeszes but never returns. Gimur doesn’t know what to think about him, but he is always before her eyes. One day, he brings her a gift of fish and sour green fruit, but he fails to appear when she asks about it. She thinks he is a dream or an illusion, but only Nago knows about him. One afternoon, Nago comes looking for Gimur and sees the packet of fish. Gimur exclaims, “Hai! Where did this come from?”
Gimur is surprised to find that her friend Nago is also experiencing a relationship with Kajinsha, a visitor from the village. Gimur is unsure of what to think about, but she decides to share her experiences with her friend. Nago is calm and explains that Kajinsha wants to sit by the fire, while Gimur is suspicious of his behavior.
Gimur’s mother, Lendem, is the only person who can discern the difference between the two. She questions Kajinsha’s presence in her life and wonders why he is persistently appearing. She uses her spelling book to record words and events, learning new words like awang (rain), lai (moon), and minung (nose).
Lendem’s mother, aware of Gimur’s thoughts, tries to explain the concept of words and suggests that she should focus on working and observing the growth of leaves and shoots. Gimur is left to wonder if Kajinsha is a visitor or if she is simply wasting time with the white, dead leaves.
Gimur was infuriated by her mother’s harsh words about her age and her lack of knowledge about human heart and words. She returned to her shack carrying her book and pencil, fearing to stay alone in the forest. Her mother wouldn’t allow her to stay alone, and she wondered if Kajinsha would return.
Kajinsha arrived, and they sat in a hut facing a dark mountain. He was impatient and eager to explore the land, as they might be the only people in the world. Gimur and Kajinsha met in the shack, and he had some knowledge of hers. He was a warrior of the skies who traveled across the forest at night, knowing the secrets of the land and the hidden paths of tribes.
Gimur asked him what he wanted, and he explained that he wanted life with her and no secrets. He was always trying to unravel secrets, and Gimur thought he was like a shaman talking to the gods. He taught her a new word, “kambring,” which meant the other world would be bigger and better, with no forests, only rivers and grass, and her and him. Kajinsha shifted his face towards Gimur, clutching her tightly, and she peeped at him, feeling rested and content. They were both sound asleep, leaving Gimur feeling content and content.
Priest Nicolas Krick, a priest at the Missions Étrangères de Paris, was awaiting assignment orders for Tibet. However, due to strategic considerations, his name was not on the list of those leaving for India and Hong Kong. The mission had been established by Pope Gregory XVI in 1846, and the responsibility of preaching the gospel in Tibet had been entrusted to the Missions Étrangères de Paris.
The Directors of the Paris mission were faced with a dilemma about geography, as they had insufficient data and information from two missions in Szechwan and Yunnan took weeks and months to arrive. To overcome this obstacle, the Mission sent Charles Alexis Renou to Szechwan to assess the situation and prepare the ground for the Tibet Mission. Renou sent optimistic letters favoring entry into Tibet by the western route from China, but the Directors were cautious. They decided to find a southern route across the Himalaya through India, which was ruled by the British.
The Directors agreed to the suggestions of Bishop Patrick Joseph Carew and Oliffe, who proposed adding Assam to their mission in Lassa. Rome approved their decision, and on 16 February 1850, Assam was officially added to the Apostolic Vicariate of Lassa. The missionaries selected to take up this task were Julien Rabin, Louis Bernard, and Nicolas Krick. Renou advised the mission to spread knowledge of medicine and vaccines to the indigenous population, as well as the necessity of learning Tibetan.
On 23 December 1849, a group of missionaries left for Portsmouth to board an English vessel heading for Madras. Krick, a young man with no idea of his new destination, was eager to learn and carry out his apostolic work. They set sail on 1 January 1850, crossing the equator during ancient naval rituals. The missionaries were exempt from the riotous Neptunus Rex rituals for dominion over the seas.
Krick’s mission was different from other Europeans who had entered the country, as they had not established a mark in that kingdom. They would have to trust divine providence and prayed for help. They reached Madras on 26 April 1850, having been at sea for over hundred days.
Upon arrival, they were warmly welcomed by Archbishop Farrell and Archbishop Patrick Joseph Carew, who had come from Mylapore to take charge as vicar apostolic of the entire province of Bengal. However, the name of their mission had been erroneously changed from Tibet to Assam.
The missionaries left Calcutta on 14 June, sailing up along the Burhampooter river to Gowhattee. The journey was long and circuitous, with a brief halt in Dacca where they met Oliffe, who persuaded them to send the missionaries into Assam.
Upon reaching Gowhattee, the missionaries realized that they were within striking distance of Tibet. The people they met, their helpers, and houseboys, belonged to different ethnic and linguistic groups and spoke different dialects and languages. They would have to engage language teachers and learn a new tongue, at least Assamese.
Despite the friendly reception from the British authorities and the Protestant clergy, the response to questions about Tibet was always the same: “Do not venture out,” as it was considered terra incognita and the land of “savage mountaineers.”
Summary of The Black Hill 1851 & 1852
Summary of The Black Hill 1853
Summary of The Black Hill 1854
Summary of The Black Hill 1855
One Reply to “Mamang Dai The Black Hill Summary( Prologue – 1850)”