Mizoram, 1872: The Cachar
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BY LONDON: 1873. Indpaedia is an archive. It neither agrees nor disagrees |
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The Cachar
The Cachar or left column of the Lushai Ex- pedition consisted of the following troops : — Half of the Peshawur mountain battery of artillery under Captain Blackwood, R.A. ; one company of Sappers and Miners under Lieu- tenant Harvey, R.E. ; five hundred men of the Punjaub Native Infantry under Colonel Stafford : the same number of the 42nd Assam Light Infantry under Colonel Rattray, C.B. ; the same number of the 44th Assam Light Infantry under Colonel Hicks; and one hundred police under Mr. Daly.
Lieutenant-Colonel Davidson, who was in charge of the Commissariat Department, had one thou- sand two hundred coolies, and several elephants,, placed under his orders. A coolie corps consist- ing of eight hundred men intended for the carriage of the Sepoys' baggage, was enrolled under Major Moore and Captain Branson, assisted by Captain Hedayat, native aide-de-camp to the Commander-in-Chief.*
The conduct of the operations of the left column was entrusted to Brigadier-General Bourchier, C.B., commanding the North-eastern Frontier district. On his Staff were Lieutenant- Colonel F. Roberts, R.A., V.C, C.B., Deputy- Assist.-Quartermaster-General, Capt. H. Thomp- son, Brigade Major; and Captain Butler, Aide- de-Camp. Dr. Buckle, Inspector-General of Hospitals, was in medical charge, and Mr.Edgar Deputy-Commissioner of Cachar, accompanied the column as Political Officer.
A gentleman named Burland, of great ex- perience on this frontier, who had visited the Lushais with Mr.Edgar previously, was appointed to act as Assistant Political Officer. His health, however, failed, and he never got beyond No. 7 Camp, and had to relinquish his appointment long before the return of the Expedition •
Silchar
Silchar, the Sudder, principal station of the Cachar District, is a small place boasting only of a few brick buildings, including the cutcherry or court-house, and church.
There is a large native bazaar, the houses in which, as well as those of most of the European residents, are built of bamboo and mud. There are two large European shops, which, taking ad- vantage of the necessities of the troops that composed the Expedition, raised their prices enormously. They had no fixed scale, but the price of their goods was raised when the demand for them became much greater than usual. An article which could be obtained on our arrival at Cachar for one rupee, commanded four rupees during the fortnight or so in which the place was occupied by our troops.
It is a very quiet little station, and such an exciting event as the passing through of so many troops, lifted it entirely out of its normal state of level dulness ; and ** Let us make hay while the sun shines," was apparently the motto adopted by all classes of shop-keepers, European as well as native.
This being the nearest station to Tipai Mukh, it was fixed upon as the rendezvous of the various corps comprising the Force, and thither all their special equipments, waterproof sheets, boots, tools, Norton's pumps, &c., had been sent on by water. The different corps which arrived in Silchar came from Abbdabad, Roorkee, and Assam.
The Artillery and Sappers were conveyed from Calcutta in a Government steamer as far as Chattuck, on the River Soorma, picking up the 22nd P. N. on their way at Dacca.
A camp was formed at a place called Kala Rokka a few miles above Chattuck, above which the state of the river prevented any steamer pro- ceeding. From this place, as soon as country boats could be obtained, they were brought into Cachar.
The first casualty of the campaign Occurred on board the Government steamer. It suddenly grounded, and a flat attached to it, missing the shoal, went ahead, snapping the hawsers. One of these flying back, caught a native attached to the battery, and broke his leg so badly that immediate amputation was necessary.
Posts on The Sylhet
The 44th arrived from Shillong on the 9th November, the Artillery and Sappers on the 18th ; and the 22nd and 42nd a few days later.
The General and Staff had arrived about the 16th, and the next few days were devoted to the distribution of the waterproof sheets, boots, &c., to the troops and coolies ; and to the reduction of the kits of officers and men to the appointed limits of weight, twenty seers, or about forty pounds for an officer, and twelve for a sepoy. Each corps was also supplied with coolies and inspected by the General.
While the General was in Silchar, he saw reasons for coming to the conclusion that the posts already established on the Sylhet and Cachar frontier were not sufficiently far south, either to protect his right flank, or to enable him to bring any pressure upon Sukpilal and Khalkom, should they throw in their lot with the Howlongs, or Eastern tribes, and therefore, ordered the officer commanding the 4th N.L, then stationed in Cachar, to occupy a hill called Benkong on the Noonvai range, and another point on the Rengtipahar, near the Koloshib Hill, cutting roads from them to the Sonai and Dullesur rivers respectively, in order to bring these posts into communication by water with Cachar — arrange- ments which were most successfully carried out.
General Nuthall had been requested to move the Rajah of Munipur to post detachments on the Southern frontier, flanked by a force near the Nivirang Lake. So great, however, were the difficulties which interfered with the accom- plishment of this design, that these posts were never established.
Great doubt had existed as to the best route from Silchar to Mynadhur. Two routes were possible ; one over the Buban range vid Monier- khal ; and the other round by Luckipur and the banks of the Barak.
The former was the one originally intended to be adopted. The road for three miles beyond Monierkhal was nearly level, but from thence the existing path led up the face of the hill, cer- tainly at a very steep gradient, crossing the range at nearly its highest point. Colonel Roberts, and Colonel Nuthall of the 44tli N.I., went out to explore this route ; but, unaccustomed as they then were to hill-climbing and steep rough paths, the difficulties which presented themselves seemed to them insur- mountable. They failed, moreover, to find water anywhere between the foot of the range on the one side, and Mynadhur on the other, and con- sequently all idea of adopting this route was abandoned.
The next thing to be done was to find the path which, though seldom used, was said to exist between Luckipur and Mynadhur, and accord- ingly some Cachari Kookies were sent out to look for it.
The whole of the country on either bank of the Barak is very difficult. Long spurs are sent down from the Bubans on one side, and the Noonjaibong range on the other. These run steeply down to the very water's edge, and are separated from each other by deep and boggy ravines, and covered with the densest jungle.
The coolies, having either found some ele- phants' tracks, or observed paths used by wood- cutters, or, which is more likely, having cut one out for themselves straight ahead, shirking no obstacles, returned to report their success, and the 44th were sent out to improve and widen the path so discovered, and make it practicable for laden elephants — a portion of the pro- gramme which was never accomplished.
The 44th marched out of Silchar on the 21sfc November to Luckipur, and ten Sappers left in boats on the same day for Mynadhur. The road, which, as far as Luckipur, is the high road to Munipur, was very good, and from this point to Alui tea-garden but few difficulties were encountered. Beyond this, however, it lay along the left bank of the river, crossing the spurs before mentioned, rising and falling con- tinually, often as much as seven hundred feet, and always with a very steep gradient. Through- out its whole length there was not a single level portion extending to the distance of one hundred yards. It was altogether a most fatiguing and harassing road — the march along which reminded one of the old King of France, of whom we are told, that " He, with all his men, marched up the hill, to march down again."
Forest Scenery
The road, or rather path — for it never aspired to be anything more — lay though a jungle of fine forest trees, from the branches of which huge creepers hung in graceful festoons, with a pro- fusion of tall bamboos and cane all around, while tangled thorns and shrubs, with a network of long roots, covered every inch of ground between these. Regarded as forest scenery, the aspect of the road was very fine; but to troops on the march, the irritation caused by its difficulties interfered materially with any appreciation of the beautiful in which they could indulge.
"On either hand Uprose the trunks with underwood entwined. Making one thicket, thorny, dense, and blind. Where, with our axes, labouring half the day, We scarcely made some half a rod of way."
Compared with this route, I cannot help think- ing that a little engineering would have made a better one over the Buban, and certainly a much shorter one. Afterwards, as we shall see at Chepui, laden elephants encountered and overcame the difficulties of a much worse path than that over the Buban, as it existed at first; whereas the elephants, with their loads, could not be sent by the other road to Mynadhur, their burdens having to be taken on in boats.
As to the difficulty about water in the Buban, Captain Badgley, passing over with a survey party for the first time, to join the head-quar- ters, saw near the very highest points of the path a ravine in which his practised eye led him to suspect that the precious fluid might be found, and sending some of his men down into it, a stream was discovered within two hundred yards of the path, which afterwards sufficed at one time for the wants of more than four hun- dred coolies, without any sensible decrease in the supply. This fact renders it evident that if a survey party, " the pioneers of civilisation,** had been allowed to precede the column as far as it could with safety, instead of remaining idle in Cachar for a month, great expense, and much loss of time, would have been saved.
In the meantime news had arrived in Cachar that the Coolie corps, under Captain Heydayat Ali, had been attacked by cholera at Kala Rokka ; and Colonel Sheriff, 42nd Light Infantry, Major Moore, with Drs. White and Gregg, were sent down to that camp. The medical and embark- ing authorities at Calcutta are stated to have protested against the crowding of eight hundred coolies into two flats, but their protest was of no avail. The coolies were neither accompanied by any European officer, nor had sufficient medical aid been provided for them. The ordinary precautions to prevent overcrowding, so strictly enforced in the case of labourers imported to work in the tea-gardens, seem to have been entirely disre- garded ; and the result was what might have been anticipated.
Dr.White, on his arrival, divided the coolies into three camps, at diffirent points along the river. While the hospital remained at Kala Rokka, a convalescent camp was established some few miles further up the stream ; but, notwithsland- ing these and other judicious measures, with the exertions of the medical officers, the disease was not got entirely under control till towards the end of December; by which time the number of the coolie corps was reduced to three hundred and eighty-seven.
A very serious strain was thus brought on the Commissariat Department, who were called on to supply carriage for the baggage of the troops, as well as for their own stores. Fortu- nately water-carriage was available as far as Tipai Mukh; and the collector of Sylhet undertook, in our emergency, to supply three hundred coolies to fill up the vacancies caused by the outbreak of cholera.
This incident is only one of the many examples we have had, in almost all our expeditions, of that inattention to details which is so conspicuous a defect in British arrangements, and was at no time more remarkable than in the Crimean war. In the present instance, it well nigh perilled the success of this Expedition at its very outset.
