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This article is an extract from
'''THE LUSHAI EXPEDITION '''
1871-1872
BY
R.G. WOOD..."

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This article is an extract from 

'''THE LUSHAI EXPEDITION ''' 
1871-1872 

BY 
R.G. WOODTHORPE. 
LIEUT. ROYAL ENGINEERS. 

LONDON: 
HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, 
13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 

1873. 
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[[Category:India|M ]]
[[Category:Places|M ]]

=Tuitu=
We may now accompany the head-quarters on
the onward march for the rest of the cam-
paign, as a passing reference to events occurring
in rear is all that will be necessary.

All the wounded were sent in to Tipai Mukh
on the 1st of January, to be attended at the dep6t
hospital there.

Captain Harvey with his Sappers left Tuibum
on the 4th for Pabarchung ; and encamping near
its 8ummit| commenced work upon the road.
Colonel NuthaU with his Goorkhas went into a
beautifiil little stream called the Tuitu, on the
other side of the hill, and worked backwards to
meet the Sappers.

The General and staff left Tuibum on the 6th,
and halting at the Sapper camp for the night
arrived at Tuitu (No. 8.) early on the morning
of the 7th.

The Tuitu runs along a deep and narrow valley,
separating the Kholel range from Fabarchung. It
is a clear stream, with firm sandy and stony bed,
its banks clothed with bamboo, and a tall graceful
feathering reed.

On the way over Pabarchung a very good view
of the Yanbong hills was obtained, and many
more villages and innumerable jooms became
visible. These had been concealed from other
and nearer points of view by the denseness of the
forest, but now we could see the whole eastern
face of the hill. The elevation of the camp of
the Tuibum was seven hundred feet, the height
of Pabarchung three thousand seven hundred
feet, and the Tuitu, at the point we crossed it,
about one thousand five hundred feet.

On the 8th the Sappers having come up, the
whole moved on to the site of a deserted village,
called Daidoo, on the Kholel ridge, and were suc-
ceeded at No. 8 by the 22nd N. I.

The path led us through deserted jooms up a
steep and narrow spur. As we ascended, leaving
the region of bamboo behind, the jungle became
more open, only grass and a few low shrubs
growing between the tall trees. Wild helio-
trope and cocoa-nuts, and other flowering weeds,
abounded along the path.
==Daidoo==
The troops arrived at Daidoo between two and
three, p.m., and a spot being fixed on for a camp,
everyone was soon busy — some searching for
water, others building huts. The water was
found after a great search, but yielded a very in-
sufficient supply.

This village had been deserted for some two
years, and the stream was choked up with
dead leaves, old bamboo, ashes, mud, &c., and
though attempts were made to improve it by
cleaning it and constructing small troughs, yet
the result was far from satisfactory.

The sky had become clouded during the march^
and there was no doubt that we should have rain,
which came down heavily about six p.m., and
lasted through the night.

Time and the friendly bamboo both being
wanting, the huts were not successfully con-
structed and the rain came through in every part.
Very few had been fortunate enough to get mai-
chaus constructed, and almost everyone passed
the greater part of the night in a swamp of
sloppy blankets and grass.

About seven o'clock next morning the rain and
mist cleared off, and the sun came out warm
and bright, accompanied by a keen strong wind,
blowing right across the ridge on which we were
encamped; and availing ourselves of these two
beneficent agencies, our wet clothes and soaked
blankets were hung on ropes and stretched firom
tree to tree, and soon dried.

Two theories were held by rival parties in the
camp, as to the best way of stretching a waterproof
sheet, whether outside over the leaf roof or inside
under it. The theories were put to the proof on
this occasion, and resulted in the triumph of the
first named, though some continued, against their
better judgment, to adhere to their old plan.

It must be evident, or ought to be, that the
sheet put outside keeps the water from penetrat-
ing through the leaves, conducting it off the slop-
ing roof to the ground outside, while, if stretched
inside, no matter how tightly the stretching is
done, the rain, unless the sheet is arranged
at a very steep slope indeed, soon finds its way
through the leaves, and passes and collects grad-
ually in the sheet, which becomes a reservoir of
water, liable on the slightest incautious touch to
discharge its contents in every direction within
the hut.
==Protection Against Rain==
It is not a pleasant thing in a dark night, as
I found by experience, to have to get up about
two a.m., and stand under the dripping roof, to
empty out a gallon of icy-cold and dirty water,
which has bagged the sheet down to within a
foot of one's head. One occupant of our hut,
doing this without proper caution, sent the whole
of the collected water in a gush on to an unof-
fending fellow sleeping next to him, who,
having taken the precaution of putting his sheet
outside, would have otherwise remained dry
throughout the night. At the very best, the
inside arrangement, even if it does not carry all
the water on to the bed of the sleeper beneath,
makes the ground within the hut wet.

The next day, the 9th January, Mr. Edgar's
scouts informing him that a better supply of
water was to be found at Pachui, another de-
serted village about a mile off on the same range^
the General and staff with the 44th marched to
that place, leaving the Sappers at Daidoo to com-
plete the road between Pachui and the Tuitu.

After his arrival at Pachui (known officially as
No. 9), Nura Sinpanu's muntri, and Rution Singh,
an emissary from Sukpilal, came in. The latter
is a Hindustani, formerly a cooUe in a tea-garden,
who deserted to the Lushais some years back,
and has since acquired some influence among
the Western tribes, which he is supposed to have
frequently exercised to our prejudice.

They said that Khalkom was ill, and that
Sukpilal had gone to see him, but that they
would come in at once if the General would for-
give the delay.

They were sent back with the reply that, if
they wanted to see the General at Pachui, they
must come in at once, as the march would not be
delayed on their account. The Khalkom villages
were said to be three days' journey from No. 9,

Darpong also arrived with the letter he was to
have taken to General Nuthall. He said that, in
consequence of some ill-treatment Foiboi's mes-
sengers to General Nuthall had met with at the
hands of the Munipuris, the Lushais were afraid
to take this letter. Mr. Edgar considered this
story to be false, and believed that the real reason
for their not taking the letter, was the fear that
it might contain an order for an immediate attack
on the Lushais.
==Camp at Pachul==
The camp at Pachui was admirably situated, as
it not only commanded the road to the Tuivai,
and southern portion of the valley and villages of
New Kholel, but also the country to the west,
where stood Khalkom's villages. At the same
time it covered the communications with Tuibum.

It was therefore determined to halt here, while
trying to bring the Western tribes to terms, and
collecting sufficient supplies to march rapidly on
Poiboi's village, if he should eventually declare
against us, and oppose our advance against Lalbura.

The onward road was at first to have been
made along the Kholel ridge, without going near
Poiboi; but we were told that a good route to Lal-
buralay through the country of the Poibois, and as
there was a scarcity of water along the former, and
Poiboi's intentions were so exceedingly doubtful^
the General felt it necessary, in order to secure
his communications, to pass through that chiefs
territory, and a road was accordingly commenced
down to the Tuivai.

Poiboi had, on several occasions, expressed to
Mr. Edgar his friendly feelings towards us, and
his displeasure at the conduct of his cousins.
Still it was not to be forgotten that it was against
his own relations that the arms of the left column
were directed ; and as he could at any time him-
self assemble a large number of fighting men,
he was informed that he must give a most satis*
factory guarantee of his perfect neutrality.

Pachui is, as before mentioned, in the kholel
range, and the hill of Chepui just opposite to it.
A deep valley intervenes, through which flows the
Tuivai, some two thousand feet below, the eleva-
tion of Pachui camp being about three thousand eight hundred and fifty feet above sea level.
On the slopes of Chepui were visible the two large villages of Chepui and Tingridum, the most northerly of Poiboi’s villages.
==Kholel Range==
After Colonel Lister's Expedition in 1869, the
Lushais withdrew their villages further south,
leaving a large belt of jungly hiUs between them-
selves and our most southern cultivated tracts,
and established what they called guard- villages,
CDmmanding the approach from our frontier to
their chief villages. Daidoo and Pachui were the
guard- villages to the chiefs residence in Old
Kholel, which will be described further on ; and
Chepui and Tingridum were the guard-villages to
Poiboi's country, and his residence at Chetam ;
the range on which the latter is built being con-
cealed from our view at Kholel by the lofty inter-
vening range of Lengteng.

The Kholel range consists of a series of lofty
peaks connected by narrow ridges. The peaks
increase in height towards the south ; the highest
we reached, from which we observed angles, &c.,
was five thousand two hundred feet.

The Tuivai flows on three sides, separating the
range from Momrang on the south, and Yanbong
on the t^est ; nearly opposite No. 9, the Tuivai
flows out from the eastern hills under Tingridum.

The climate here was delightful, pleasantly
warm during the day, with a refreshing breeze
blowing over the hills. The only drawback was
the heavy fog which frequently rose from the
river during the night, and did not disperse till
about ten in the morning. It was worse than rain,
penetrating everywhere ; and condensing on the
interior of thereof, it kept up a continual dripping
from every blade of grass or pendent leaf.

A great protection against this mist were thick
muslin mosquito curtains, made like a tent from
the sloping sides of which the water ran off, and
beneath which was to be found the only dry spot
in the hut. The evenings were clear, star-lit, and
cold — the average minimum temperature during
the night being forty-four degrees.

When the mist did not trouble us in the early
morning, the scenery was magnificent. On both
sides the mist lay in the valleys like a sea of the
softest wool, stretching away for miles, marking
out each spur and ravine on the mountain sides like
well defined shores. The peaks of the lower ranges
stood up like little islands, while currents of
air below dashed the mist against the steep out-
running spurs, like mimic breakers against some

bold headlands. The hills extended far away to
the west, rising range upon range, purple and blue,
till the sun, appearing above the bluff mass of
the Surklang, lighted up the mountain sides with
the most brilliant tints of orange and green, and
changed the cold blue of the cloudy sea beneath,
into all the varied and delicate tints of mother
of pearl, while over all hung the canopy of
clear lilac and gold of the morning sky. Such a
scene requires a much more eloquent pen than
mine to do justice to it, or even to convey any
idea of its exceeding beauty.

" I cannot paint
The cataract, the tall rock,
The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,
Their colours and their forms."

Mizoram, 1852: Tuitu - Revision history

Pdewan: Created page with "{| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"| This article is an extract from '''THE LUSHAI EXPEDITION ''' 1871-1872 BY R.G. WOOD..."

Pdewan: Created page with "{| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"|
This article is an extract from
'''THE LUSHAI EXPEDITION '''
1871-1872
BY
R.G. WOOD..."