View source for Mizoram, 1852: Tuitu

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This article is an extract from <br/>


'''THE LUSHAI EXPEDITION '''  <br/>
1871-1872<br/>

BY<br/>
R.G. WOODTHORPE.<br/>
LIEUT. ROYAL ENGINEERS.<br/>

LONDON:<br/>
HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, <br/>
13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.<br/>

1873.<br/>
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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."