Mizoram, 1872: Withdrawal of The Troops
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Withdrawal of The Troops
The withdrawal of the troops was conducted most methodically, each detachment in turn leaving a few men as guard, vacating its post two or three ' hours before the head-quarters arrived.
At Chepui the second halt was made, and a great distribution of presents took place to those men who had hitherto accompanied us. Bed shawls and blankets, gay carriage rugs, white shirts, turbans of all sorts, and strangest present of all, but truly British-like in its inappropriate- ness, aluminium crystal-backed two guinea watches, and a glass decanter, were given away to the gratified recipients.
Darpong became the proud possessor of a watch, which he flourished about, applying it to the ears of his less fortunate friends for them to hear it tick, and showing them how the works moved. Alas ! two days after he had lost the key, the watch had stopped, and no one envied him his prize in the least.
If it were necessary to give them something to amuse them, and at the same time point a moral, some of those musical toys, in which, by turning a handle gently, a small regiment of soldiers (usually three) is made to appear and disappear across a mimic parade-ground to the soft pleasing sound of a simple strain, would, no doubt, have delighted them. The Politicals might have explained to the intelligent savages that the soldiers were our troops; the parade-ground, Lushai Country; the motive power necessary to bring the Sepoys into that country the raiding they so often had indulged in; and that the inevitable consequence of their turning the handle would be the re-appearance of the soldiers at whose departure they were then rejoicing.
At Chepui we saw some enterprising Cabuli fruit-sellers who had been down as far as Kung- nung with their stock of raisins, pistachio nuts, almonds and native fruits. Purchases were eagerly made from them, and mysterious whispers conveyed the invitation:
"Come and dine, we have a plum-pudding to night."
Such invitations had hitherto been so rare, that it was impossible to refuse them.
The night we were at Chepui, about eight o'clock, as we were sitting over our camp fire dis- cussing the events of the day and rum and water, we heard strains of music, accompanying a wild monotonous chant, approaching the camp. We rose to see what it meant, and saw nearly the whole male population of Chepui C9ming up in procession, preceded by a few men playing drums, gourd instruments, and reed-pipes. At their head marched a staff-officer with a lantern, who had gone to conduct the procession past the sen- tries.
The Lushais halted in an open space, and offi- cers. Sepoys, and Lushais formed a ring, in which it was intimated dancing was to take place. After a short song, intended to be an account of our doings, but whether complimentary or not no one possessed sufficient knowledge of the Ian- guage to determine, the dancing commenced. One man came forward, and loosing his sheet fastened it in a roll round his waist, and placing a small com cob on the ground to indicate the lady of his affections, commenced a sort of pas d’extase. With bent knees, and body inclined forwards, he kept time to the slow music by swaying to and fro, turning now to the right, now to the left, opening and closing his fingers. Oc- casionally this motion was varied by a few excited bounds backwards and forwards, and twisting and twirling.
When the first dancer was tired a second took his place, but there was very little change in the character of the dance.
The entertainment was given by the flickering light of a few lanterns, fixed in their owners' waistbelts, or placed in the ground at their feet. After rum had been served out with great impar- tiality to all the performers, and the dancers had begun to get excited, kicking over the lanterns, and covering everyone with dust, the General said, " Hold, enough!” and the assembly broke up.
Wild-Flowers In The Jungles
During the march to Chumfai, we had been disappointed at meeting so few wild-flowers in these jungles. Violets, with little or no scent, had been frequently found, especially in Chumfai valley; but these violets, some heliotrope, cox- comb, and a few other common flowering weeds, were the only varieties of Lushai Flora we had discovered.
On the return, however, our disappointment was turned to delight, and had we remained longer in the country, we should, probably, have been well pleased with the flowers. Even their wild-fruit trees were in blossom, tall trees covered with a large white flower like a gera- nium, others a blaze of scarlet blossoms; the crimson rhododendrons enlivened the gloom of the forest; a beautiful little green passion-flower hung in festoons from the trees, the convolvulus adorned the tangled briers, and through the long grass by the roadside sprang up golden fern and lilac flowers.
The days were gloriously fine. Butterflies, of the most brilliant and varied hues, chased each other through the shadowy glades, and along the sunlit path ; while beautiful little red and yellow birds flitted from tree to tree, flashing through the sunlight like pure gold.
Unfortunately, owing to the rapid movements of the troops, and to prevent any unnecessary alarm or disturbances no one with the head- quarters was allowed to shoot any birds in the jungle. A native Naturalist had been sent from Calcutta to accompany the Expedition, but he remained in rear, and I do not know what addi- tions he made to the Museum in the cause of science.
We found that all the camps had been much improved by those who had been stationed in them. Commodious and well-built huts, small mess-rooms, slight stockades, and well-cleared spaces all round, made them hardly recognisable as the little leafy shed-covered spots which we used to come upon suddenly out of the jungle.
At one of the camps, a quantity of empty ghi casks were thrown into the fires as the troops were about to march. Having been well satu- rated with their greasy contents, they blazed up merrily, the iron hoops falling off into the flames and exciting the cupidity of the Lushais, who, as usual, had collected to pick up anything the troops left behind them.
Jooming Operations
At first they tried to snatch out the hoops, but getting their clothes singed in the attempt, they retired to the jungle, and flinging every- thing off, armed themselves with long sticks, and rushed down upon the fires again; and as the rear-guard marched off, they saw the Lushais dancing and gesticulating like demons round the flames, red hot hoops being whisked out in all directions.
Our return was the signal for the commence- ment of jooming operations, the fires following us closely. Looking back each day, we could see their smoke rising up from the hill-sides, even to the camps we had left only that morning.
All the country for miles around was misty with joom smoke, and the increasing haze of the weather told of the approaching heat and rains. The view from each of our elevated camps was far less extensive than formerly, and many of the distant ranges had disappeared altogether.
On the journey back, at first, we used to get our letters two and sometimes three times a day; not less than the number of deliveries in a well-con- ducted town in England. The reason of this was that each day we advanced a stage in the direc- tion whence the letters were coming; so that we received letters before starting, and then reaching the following stage found the next dak returning.
Here I must express my admiration for the dak arrangements made by Colonel Roberts, and carried out under his orders by the police with wonderful regularity. Not a day passed without despatching the dak, and scarcely a day without receiving the letters and papers, though they arrived sometimes in the middle of the night, much to the dissatisfaction of some drowsy souls, who preferred sleeping to any number of com- munications from friends.
A few souvenirs were brought away by the officers and men, such as skin shields, spears, musical instruments, &c., but the greatest curio- sities of all which we brought back were the old captives who had been given up.
We had a large and increasing following of cap- tives as we returned. Many of them were young
people with their families, but among them were a few aged ladies and gentlemen, who were wonderfully old, and utterly incapable of walking. These were therefore carried on coolies* backs. The old things knelt in a sling which passed across the coolies' foreheads, and clung to his shoulders. This mode of travelling must have been very tiring in a long day's march.
Old Captives Rescued
When put down during a halt, they, at once went to sleep, and seemed utterly apathetic as to their fate. A return to their native villages must have been for them the awaking of Rip Van Winkle; they would find young people become old, and all their former intimates dead or un- mindful of them; and probably, if they had not been in the imbecility of extreme old age, would sooner have remained with their captors, who must have treated them with some consideration or kindness.
I made a sketch of one of these old people, but could arrive at no conclusion as to the age or sex, and my questioning elicited no response what ever from the shrivelled mummy. There was an expression of coarseness, and the reflection of far off sadness, as it were, visible in the countenance of the poor old thing, and one was filled with pity to think that it had still to be carried over a hundred miles, to find probably at the end no one to care for it or look after it, till welcome death should at last arrive.
Our coolies, who were Cossyahs, were very much pleased at the idea of returning home, and used occasionally in the evening to get up small entertainments of singing, whistling, and dancing round a fire. One, a little boy, used to arrange his dress like a woman's, and give imitations of Hindustani and Cossyah nautches to the accom- paniment of an imaginary tom-tom. Their friends meanwhile looked on with an absence of any ap- parent approval, and a persistent gravity which could not have been surpassed by the most fashion- able audiences at home, when viewing an amateur performance by their most enthusiastic friends.
Leeches, ticks, mosquitoes, sand-flies, and other abominations which we had been so freely promised by some sanguine friends before we started on the Expedition, but from which we had hitherto been free, began to annoy us very much on the return, and we were not sorry to get back once more to Tipai Mukh, where the whole force arrived on the 6th or 7th March.
Profitable Business
The detachments from the nearer stations had gone on to Cachar on rafts or in boats as they arrived at Tipai Mukh, and the rest were em- ployed in constructing rafts.
Tt had originally been intended that the troops should march, but owing to the heat, and the fact that cholera had once more appeared among the men at Tipai Mukh, the water-route seemed to be the best.
A large number of Lushais had accompanied us as far as Tipai Mukh, and were busily employed in driving a few last bargains. They brought down large quantites of India-rubber, which they exchanged eagerly for salt, equal weights, and as the value of the rubber was more than four times that of the salt, any individuals who could com- mand a large supply of the latter had an excellent opportunity of doing a little profitable business.
By the 10th of March, in accordance with the orders of the Government before quoted, all the troops and coolies had bidden farewell to Tipai Mukh; and the Tuivai itself, flowiDg past mined hats and deserted godowns, once more greeted the Barak with its ceaseless babble, undisturbed by the cries of coolies and the trumpeting of elephants, while the surrounding jungles relapsed into their former silence, resounding no more to the blows of the invaders' axes.
The rapids on the Barak, at this season of the year, were very shallow, and great excitement and amusement were afforded to the Sepoys by the trouble and hairbreadth escapes they met with in managing, or rather in trying to manage, their rafts, and steering them clear of sunken rocks and tree trunks.
This mode of travelling was entirely new to many of them, and their efforts were not always successful, as evinced by the ever-increasing pile of broken rafts at most of the difficult passages.
