In this book, the author presents a selection of passages from older literature, down to 1900, which has bearing on the history, people and problems of what is now known as the North-East Frontier Agency. These passages are of unusual value, for they give us a picture of the country as it was before it had suffered any external influence. On the whole, very little is known about the people whose writings are reproduced in this book: only two of them find a place in the Dictionary of National Biography. Whatever information is there has been collected from chance references in journals and occasional autobiographical passages. Very little is written about the tribal people of the north-east frontier of India. The few books of the early period are today collector’s pieces. Yet these elusive records contain much that is of absorbing interest. The descriptive account is well-written and its picture of the frontier tribes is lively and informative.