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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Life in an Indian Outpost Author: Gordon Casserly Release Date: October 17, 2011 [EBook #37782] Language: English *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE IN AN INDIAN OUTPOST *** Produced by Steve Klynsma, Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) LIFE IN AN INDIAN OUTPOST BOOKS OF TRAVEL Demy 8vo. Cloth Bindings. All fully Illustrated THROUGH INDIA AND BURMA WITH PEN AND BRUSH By A. H UGH F ISHER . 15s. net ALONE IN WEST AFRICA By M ARY G AUNT . 15s. net CHINA REVOLUTIONISED By J. S. T HOMPSON . 12s. 6d. net NEW ZEALAND By Dr M AX H ERZ . 12s. 6d. net THE DIARY OF A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE By S TANLEY P ORTAL H YATT . 12s. 6d. net OFF THE MAIN TRACK By S TANLEY P ORTAL H YATT . 12s. 6d. net WITH THE LOST LEGION IN NEW ZEALAND By Colonel G. H AMILTON -B ROWNE ("Maori Browne"). 12s. 6d. net A LOST LEGIONARY IN SOUTH AFRICA By Colonel G. H AMILTON -B ROWNE ("Maori Browne"). 12s 6d. MY BOHEMIAN DAYS IN PARIS By J ULIUS M. P RICE . 10s. 6d. net WITH GUN AND GUIDE IN N.B. COLUMBIA By T. M ARTINDALE . 10s. 6d. net SIAM By P IERRE L OTI . 7s. 6d. net AFTER THE PROCLAMATION PARADE. LIFE IN AN INDIAN OUTPOST BY M AJOR GORDON CASSERLY (INDIAN ARMY) AUTHOR OF "THE LAND OF THE BOXERS; OR CHINA UNDER THE ALLIES"; ETC. ILLUSTRATED LONDON T. WERNER LAURIE LTD. CLIFFORD'S INN CONTENTS CHAPTER I A FRONTIER POST PAGE Our first view of the Himalayas—Across India in a troop train—A scattered regiment—An elephant-haunted railway—Kinchinjunga—The great Terai Jungle—Rajabhatkawa—In the days of Warren Hastings—Hillmen—Roving Chinese—We arrive at Buxa Road—Relieved officers—An undesirable outpost—March through the forest—The hills—A mountain road—Lovely scenery—Buxa Duar—A lonely Station—The labours of an Indian Army officer—Varied work—The frontier of Bhutan—A gate of India—A Himalayan paradise—The fort—Intrusive monkeys—The cantonment—The Picquet Towers—The bazaar—The cemetery—Forgotten graves—Tragedies of loneliness—From Bhutan to the sea 1 CHAPTER II LIFE ON OUTPOST The daily routine—Drill in the Indian Army—Hindustani—A lingua franca—The divers tongues of India—The sepoys' lodging—Their ablutions—An Indian's fare—An Indian regiment—Rajput customs—The hospital—The doctor at work—Queer patients—A vicious bear—The Officers' Mess—Plain diet—Water—The simple life—A bachelor's establishment—A faithful Indian—Fighting the trusts—Transport in the hills—My bungalow—Amusements in Buxa—Dull days—Asirgarh—A lonely outpost—Poisoning a General—A storied fortress—Soldier ghosts—A spectral officer—The tragedy of isolation—A daring panther—A day on an elephant—Sport in the jungle— Gooral stalking in the hills—Strange pets—A friendly deer—A terrified visitor—A walking menagerie—Elephants tame and wild—Their training—Their caution—Their rate of speed—Fondness for water—Quickly reconciled to captivity—Snakes—A narrow escape—A king-cobra; the hamadryad—Hindu worship of the cobra—General Sir Hamilton Bower—An adventurous career—E. F. Knight—The General's inspection 19 CHAPTER III THE BORDERLAND OF BHUTAN The races along our North-East Border—Tibet—The Mahatmas—Nepal—-Bhutan—Its geography—Its founder—Its Government—Religious rule—Analogy between Bhutan and old Japan— Penlops and Daimios —The Tongsa Penlop —Reincarnation of the Shaptung Rimpoche—China's claim to Bhutan—Capture of the Maharajah of Cooch Behar—Bogle's mission—Raids and outrages—The Bhutan War of 1864-5—The Duars—The annual subsidy—Bhutan to-day—Religion—An impoverished land—Bridges—Soldiers in Bhutan—The feudal system—Administration of justice—Tyranny of officials—The Bhuttias—Ugly women—Our neighbours in Buxa—A Bhuttia festival—Archery—A banquet—A dance—A Scotch half-caste—Chunabatti—Nature of the borderland—Disappearing rivers—The Terai—Tea gardens—A planter's life—The club—Wild beasts in the path—The Indian planters—Misplaced sympathy—The tea industry—Profits and losses—Planters' salaries—Their daily life—Bhuttia raids on tea gardens—Fearless planters—An unequal fight 45 CHAPTER IV A DURBAR IN BUXA Notice of the Political Officer's approaching visit—A Durbar—The Bhutan Agent and the interpreter—Arrival of the Deb Zimpun—An official call—Exchange of presents—Bhutanese fruit—A return call—Native liquor—A welcome gift—The Bhutanese musicians—Entertaining the Envoy—A thirsty Lama—A rifle match—An awkward official request—My refusal—The Deb Zimpun removes to Chunabatti—Arrival of the treasure—The Political Officer comes—His retinue—The Durbar—The Guard of Honour—The visitors—The Envoy comes in state—Bhutanese courtesies—The spectators—The payment of the subsidy—Lunch in Mess—Entertaining a difficult guest—The official dinner—An archery match—Sikh quoits—Field firing—Bhutanese impressed—Blackmail—British subjects captured—Their release—Tashi's case—Justice in Bhutan—Tyranny of officials—Tashi refuses to quit Buxa—The next payment of the subsidy—The treaty—Misguided humanitarians 64 CHAPTER V IN THE JUNGLE An Indian jungle—The trees—Creepers—Orchids—The undergrowth—On an elephant in the jungle—Forcing a passage—Wild bees—Red ants—A lost river—A sambhur hind—Spiders—Jungle fowl—A stag— Hallal —Wounded beasts—A halt—Skinning the stag—Ticks—Butcher apprentices—Natural rope—Water in the air— Pani bel —Trail of wild elephants—Their habits—An impudent monkey—An adventure with a rogue elephant—Fire lines—Wild dogs—A giant squirrel—The barking deer—A good bag—Spotted deer—Protective colouring—Dangerous beasts—Natives' dread of bears—A bison calf—The fascination of the forest—The generous jungle—Wild vegetables—Natural products—A home in the trees—Forest Lodge the First—Destroyed by a wild elephant—Its successor—A luncheon-party in the air—The salt lick—Discovery of a coal mine—A monkey's parliament—The jungle by night 83 CHAPTER VI ROGUES OF THE FOREST The lord of the forest—Wild elephants in India— Kheddah operations in the Terai—How rogues are made—Rogues attack villages—Highway robbers—Assault on a railway station—A police convoy—A poacher's death—Chasing an officer—My first encounter with a rogue—Stopping a charge—Difficulty of killing an elephant—The law on rogue shooting—A Government gazette—A tame elephant shot by the Maharajah of Cooch Behar—Executing an elephant—A chance shot—A planter's escape—Attack on a tame elephant—The mahout's peril—Jhansi's wounds—Changes among the officers in Buxa—A Gurkha's terrible death—The beginner's luck—Indian and Malayan sambhur —A shot out of season—A fruitless search—Jhansi's flight—A scout attacked by a bear—Advertising for a truant—The agony column—Runaway elephants—A fatal fraud—Jhansi's return 104 CHAPTER VII A FIGHT WITH AN ELEPHANT We sight a rogue—A sudden onslaught—A wild elephant's attack—Shooting under difficulties—Stopping a rush—Repeated attacks—An invulnerable foe—Darkness stops the pursuit—A council of war—Picking up the trail—A muckna —A female elephant—Photographing a lady—A good sitter—A stampede—A gallant Rajput—Attacking on foot—A hazardous feat—A narrow escape—Final charge—A bivouac in the forest—Dangers of the night—A long chase—Planter hospitality—Another stampede—A career of crime—Eternal hope—A king-cobra—Abandoning the pursuit—An unrepentant villain—In the moment of danger 124 CHAPTER VIII IN TIGER LAND The tiger in India—His reputation—Wounded tigers—Man-eaters—Game killers and cattle thieves—A tiger's residence—Chance meetings—Methods of tiger hunting—Beating with elephants—Sitting up—A sportsman's patience—The charm of a night watch—A cautious beast—A night over a kill—An unexpected visitor—A tantalising tiger—A tiger at Asirgarh—A chance shot—Buffaloes as trackers—Panthers—The wrong prey—A beat for tiger—The Colonel wounds a tiger—A night march—An elusive quarry—A successful beat—A watery grave—Skinning a tiger 141 CHAPTER IX A FOREST MARCH Reasons for showing the flag—Soldierless Bengal—Planning the march—Difficulties of transport—The first day's march—Sepoys in the jungle—The water-creeper—The commander loses his men—The bivouac at Rajabhatkawa—Alipur Duar—A small Indian Station—Long-delayed pay—The Subdivisional Officer—A dâk bungalow—The sub-judge—Brahmin pharisees—The nautch —A dusty march—Santals—A mission settlement—Crossing a river—Rafts—A bivouac in a tea garden—A dinner-party in an 80-lb. tent—Bears at night—A daring tiger—Chasing a tiger on elephants—In the forest again—A fickle river—A strange animal—The Maharajah of Cooch Behar's experiment—A scare and a disappointment—Across the Raidak—A woman killed by a bear—A planters' club—Hospitality in the jungle—The zareba—Impromptu sports—The Alarm Stakes—The raft race—Hathipota—Jainti 174 CHAPTER X THROUGH FIRE AND WATER India in the hot weather—A land of torment—The drought—Forest fires—The cholera huts burned—Fighting the flames—Death of a sepoy—The bond between British officers and their men—The sepoy's funeral—A fortnight's vigil—Saving the Station—The hills ablaze—A sublime spectacle—The devastated forest—Fallen leaves on fire—Our elephants' peril—Saving the zareba—A beat for game in the jungle—Trying to catch a wild elephant—A moonlight ramble—We meet a bear—The burst of the Monsoons—A dull existence—Three hundred inches of rain—The monotony of thunderstorms—A changed world—Leeches—Monster hailstones—Surveyors caught in a storm—A brink in the Rains—The revived jungle—Useless lightning-conductors—The Monsoon again—The loneliness of Buxa 196 CHAPTER XI IN THE PALACE OF THE MAHARAJAH The Durbar—Outside the palace—The State elephants—The soldiery—The Durbar Hall—Officials and gentry of the State—The throne—Queen Victoria's banner—The hidden ladies— Purdah nashin —Arrival of the Dewan —The Maharajah's entry—The Sons' Salute—A chivalrous Indian custom— Nuzzurs —The Dewan's task—The Maharani—An Indian reformer— Bramo Samaj —Pretty princesses—An informal banquet—The nautch —A moonlight ride—The Maharajah—A soldier and a sportsman—Cooch Behar—The palace—A dinner-party—The heir's birthday celebrations—Schoolboys' sports—Indian amateur theatricals—An evening in the palace—A panther-drive—Exciting sport—Death of the panther—Partridge shooting on elephants—A stray rhinoceros—Prince Jit's luck—Friendly intercourse between Indians and Englishmen—An unjust complaint 213 CHAPTER XII A MILITARY TRAGEDY In the Mess—A gloomy conversation—Murder in the army—A gallant officer—Running amuck on a rifle-range—"Was that a shot?"—The alarm—The native officer's report—The "fall in"—A dying man—A search round the fort—A narrow escape—The flight—Search parties—The inquiry into the crime—A fifty miles' cordon—An unexpected visit—Havildar Ranjit Singh on the trail—A night march through the forest—A fearsome ride—The lost detachment—An early start—The ferry—The prisoner—A well-planned capture—The prisoner's story—The march to Hathipota—Return to the fort—A well-guarded captive—A weary wait—A journey to Calcutta—The escort—Excitement among the passengers on the steamer—American globe-trotters—The court martial—A callous criminal—Appeal to the Viceroy—Sentence of death—The execution 232 CHAPTER XIII IN AN INDIAN HILL STATION To Darjeeling—Railway journeys in India—Protection for solitary ladies—Reappearing rivers—Siliguri—At the foot of the Himalayas—A mountain railway—Through the jungle—Looping the loop—View of the Plains—Darjeeling—Civilisation seven thousand feet high—Varied types—View from the Chaurasta—White workers in India—Life in Hill Stations—Lieutenant-Governors—A "dull time" in Darjeeling—The bazaar—Types of hill races—Turquoises—Tiger-skins for tourists—The Amusement Club—The Everlasting Snows—Kinchinjunga—The bachelors' ball—A Government House ball—The marriage-market value of Indian civilians—Less demand for military men—Theatricals—Lebong Races—Picturesque race-goers—Ladies in India—Husband hunters—The empty life of an Englishwoman—The dangers of Hill Stations—A wife four months in the year—The hills taboo for the subaltern—Back to Buxa 262 CHAPTER XIV A JUNGLE FORT I decide on Fort Bower—Felling trees—A big python—Clearing the jungle—Laying out the post—Stockades and Sungars —The bastions— Panjis and abattis —The huts—Jungle materials—Ingenious craftsmen—The furniture—Sentry-posts—Alarm signals—The machicoulis gallery—Booby-traps—The water-lifter—The hospital—Chloroforming a monkey—Jungle dogs—An extraordinary shot—An unlucky deer—A meeting with a panther—The alarm—Sohanpal Singh and the tiger—Turning out to the rescue—The General's arrival—Closed gates—The inspection—The "Bower" and the "'Ump"—Flares and bombs—The General's praise—Night firing—A Christmas camp 280 CHAPTER XV FAREWELL TO THE HILLS The Proclamation Parade—An unsteady charger—"Three cheers for the King-Emperor!"—The Indian Army's loyalty—King George and the sepoys—A land held by the sword—An American Cavalry officer's visit—Hospitality of American officers—Killing by kindness—The brotherhood of soldiers—The bond between American and British troops sealed by blood—U.S. officers' opinion of us—A roaring tiger—Prince Jitendra Narayen—His visit to Buxa—An intoxicated monkey—Projected visits—A road report—A sketch fourteen feet long—The start—Jalpaiguri—A planters' dinner-party—Crossing the Tista River—A quicksand—A narrow escape—Map-making in the army—In the China War of 1860—Officers' sketches used for the Canton Railway survey—The country south of the hills—A sepoy's explanation of Kinchinjunga—A native officer's theory of the cause of earthquakes—Types on the road—After the day's work—A man-eater—A brave postman—Human beings killed by wild animals and snakes in India—Crocodiles—Shooting a monster—Crocodiles on land—Crossing the Torsa—Value of small detachments—The maligned military officer—A life of examinations—The man-killing elephant again—Death of a Bhuttia woman—Ordered home—A last good-bye to a comrade—Captain Balderston's death—A last view of the hills 296 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS After the Proclamation Parade Frontispiece Buxa Duar To face page 16 "The fort was built on a knoll" " 16 Rajput sepoys cooking " 24 British and Indian officers " 24 My double company " 28 My bachelor establishment " 28 A kneeling elephant " 36 "The ladies of the hamlet came forward" " 54 Bhuttia drummers " 54 Chunabatti " 56 "From my doorstep I watched them coming down the hill" " 66 The Deb Zimpun's prisoners " 66 The Durbar in Buxa " 74 A sambhur stag and my elephant " 90 Bringing home the bag " 90 Forest Lodge the First " 100 Forest Lodge the Second " 100 "The mahout was holding up the head" " 110 Subhedar Sohanpal Singh " 128 "We saw another elephant" " 130 The tiger's Lying in state " 172 The tiger's last home " 172 "My sepoys drilling" " 178 Buglers and non-commissioned officers of my detachment " 178 The walled face of Fort Bower over the river " 282 The stockade and ditch of Fort Bower " 282 The gate with wicket open and drawbridge lowered " 286 Captain Balderston inside the stockade " 286 Bringing home the General's dinner " 290 "I was mounted on a country bred pony" " 296 "An elephant loaded with my stores and baggage" " 296 LIFE IN AN INDIAN OUTPOST CHAPTER I A FRONTIER POST Our first view of the Himalayas—Across India in a troop train—A scattered regiment—An elephant- haunted railway—Kinchinjunga—The great Terai Jungle—Rajabhatkawa—In the days of Warren Hastings—Hillmen—Roving Chinese—We arrive at Buxa Road—Relieved officers—An undesirable outpost—March through the forest—The hills—A mountain road—Lovely scenery— Buxa Duar—A lonely Station—The labours of an Indian Army officer—Varied work—The frontier of Bhutan—A gate of India—A Himalayan paradise—The fort—Intrusive monkeys—The cantonment —The Picquet Towers—The bazaar—The cemetery—Forgotten graves—Tragedies of loneliness— From Bhutan to the sea. Against the blue sky to the north lay a dark blur that, as our troop train ran on through the level plains of Eastern Bengal, rose ever higher and took shape—the distant line of the Himalayas. Around us the restful though tame scenery of the little Cooch Behar State. The chess-board pattern of mud-banked rice fields, long groves of the graceful feathery bamboo, here and there a tiny hamlet of palm-thatched huts—on their low roofs great sprawling green creepers with white blotches that look like skulls but are only ripe melons. But the dark outlines of the distant mountains drew my gaze and brought the heads of my sepoys out of the carriage windows to stare at them. For somewhere on the face of those hills was Buxa Duar, the little fort that was to be our home for the next two years. For four days my detachment of two hundred men of the 120th Rajputana Infantry had been whirled across India from west to east towards it. From Baroda we had come—Baroda with its military cantonment set in an English-like park, its vast native city with the gaily painted houses and narrow streets where the Gaikwar's Cavalry rode with laced jackets and slung pelisses like the Hussars of old, and his sentries mounted guard over gold and silver cannons in a dingy backyard. Where in low rooms, set out in glass cases, as in a cheap draper's shop, were the famous pearl-embroidered carpets and gorgeous jewels of the State, worth a king's ransom. Four days of travel over the plains of India with their closely cultivated fields, mud-walled villages, stony hills and stretches of scrub jungle, where an occasional jackal slunk away from the train or an antelope paused in its bounding flight to look back at the strange iron monster. Across the sacred Ganges where Allahabad lies at its junction with the River Jumna. The regiment was on its way to garrison widely separated posts in outlying parts of the Indian Empire and neighbouring countries. Two companies had already gone to be divided between Chumbi in Tibet and Gantok in the dependent State of Sikkim, and to furnish the guard to our Agent at Gyantse. The month was December; and they had started in August to cross the sixteen-thousand-feet high passes in the Himalayas before the winter snows blocked them. The regimental headquarters, with four companies, was on its way to embark on the steamers which would convey them a fourteen days' journey on the giant rivers Ganges and Brahmaputra to Dibrugarh and Sadiya in Assam. At Benares my two companies had parted from the rest and entered another troop train which carried us into Eastern Bengal. Every day for three or four hours our trains had halted at some little wayside station to enable the men to get out, make their cooking-places, and prepare their food for the day. The previous night my detachment had detrained at Gitaldaha, where we had to change again on to a narrow gauge railway, two feet six inches in width, which would take us through Cooch Behar to our destination. The railway officials informed me that we must stay in the station all night, as the trains on this line ran only by daylight. I asked the reason of this. "They cannot go by night on account of the wild animals," was the reply. "The wild animals?" I echoed in surprise. "Yes; the line runs through a forest, the Terai Jungle, full of elephants and bison. Three months ago one of our engines was derailed by a wild elephant and the driver badly injured. And not long before that another rogue elephant held up a station on the line, stopped a train, blockaded the officials in the buildings, and broke a tusk trying to root up the platform." And when daylight dawned and I could see the toy engine and carriages, I was not surprised at the fear of encountering an elephant on the line. Now on our fifth day of travel we were nearing the end of the journey. We had passed the capital of Cooch Behar and were approaching Alipur Duar, the last station before the Terai Forest is reached. Suddenly, high in the air above the now distinct line of hills, stood out in the brilliant sunlight the white crest and snowy peaks of Kinchinjunga, twenty-eight thousand feet high, and nearly one hundred and twenty miles away. Past Alipur Duar, and then hills and snow-clad summits were lost to sight as our little train plunged from the sunny plain into the deep shadows of the famous Terai Forest—the wonderful jungle that stretches east and west along the foot of the Himalayas, and clothes their lowest slopes. In whose recesses roam the wild elephant, the rhinoceros and the bison, true lords of the woods; where deadlier foes to man than these, malaria and blackwater fever hold sway and lay low the mightiest hunter before the Lord. And standing on the back platform of our tiny carriage my subaltern and I strove to pierce its gloomy depths, half hoping to see the giant bulk of a wild elephant or a rhinoceros. But nothing met our gaze save the great orchid-clad trees, the graceful fronds of monster ferns, and the dense undergrowth that would deny a passage to anything less powerful than bisons or elephants. In a sudden clearing in the heart of the forest, the train stopped at a small station near which stood a few bamboo huts and a gaunt, two-storied wooden house in which, we afterwards learned, an English forest officer lived his lonely life. The place was called Rajabhatkawa, which in the vernacular means, "The Rajah ate his food." It was so named because, nearly one hundred and thirty years before, in the days of Warren Hastings, a Rajah of Cooch Behar ate his first meal there after his release from captivity among the hill tribesmen of Bhutan who had carried him away into their mountain fastnesses. They had released him at the urgent instance of a British captain and two hundred sepoys who had followed them up and captured three of their forts. Among the crowd of natives on the platform at this station were several of various hill races, Bhuttias and Gurkhas, with the small eyes and flat nose of the Mongolian. I was surprised to see two Chinamen in blue linen suits and straw hats, fanning themselves and smoking cigarettes, as much at home as if they were on the Bund in Shanghai or in Queen's Road in Hong Kong. But later on I learned that Rajabhatkawa led to several tea gardens, where Chinese carpenters are always welcome. These men are generally from Canton, the inhabitants of which city emigrate freely. I have met them in Calcutta, Penang, Singapore, Manila, and San Francisco. On again through the jungle our train passed for another eight miles, and then drew up at a small station of one low, stone building with a nameboard nearly as big as itself, which bore the words "Buxa Road." It stood in a little clearing in the forest, where the ground was piled high with felled trees, ready to be dispatched to Calcutta. This was the end of our railway journey. The sepoys tumbled eagerly out of the train, threw their rolls of bedding out of the compartments, fell in on the platform and piled arms, and then turned to with a will to unload the heavy baggage from the brake- vans. A number of tall, bearded Mohammedans, men of the detachment of the Punjabi Regiment we were replacing, were at the station. Their major came forward to welcome me, and expressed his extreme pleasure in meeting the man who was to relieve him and enable him to quit a most undesirable place. This was a blow to me; for I had pictured life in this little outpost as an ideal existence in a sportsman's paradise. "What? Don't you like Buxa Duar?" I asked in surprise. "Like it?" he exclaimed vehemently. "Most certainly not. In my time I have been stationed in some poisonous places in Upper Burmah, when I was in the Military Police; but the worst of them was heaven to Buxa." I gasped with horror. "Is it as bad as all that? How long have you been here?" "Three weeks," replied the major; "and that was three weeks too long. Before you have been here a fortnight you will be praying to all your gods to take you anywhere else." This was pleasant. The subaltern of the Punjabis now came up and was introduced to me. He had been six months in Buxa; and his opinion of it was too lurid to print. My subaltern, who had been superintending the unloading of the baggage, joined us and in his turn was regaled with these cheering criticisms of our new home. His face fell; for, like me, he had been looking forward eagerly to being quartered in this little outpost, where, we had been told, the sport was excellent. Fortunately men's tastes differ; and after eighteen months' experience of this much-abused Buxa, I liked it better than any other place I have ever served in in all my soldiering. I learned from our new friends that the fort was six miles from the railway and fifteen hundred feet above it; so I inquired for the transport to convey our baggage there. Before leaving Baroda the quartermaster of our regiment had written to the nearest civil official of the district, requesting him to provide me with a hundred coolies for the purpose. There were also, I knew, three Government transport elephants in charge of the detachment quartered in Buxa Duar. These I saw at the station engaged in conveying the baggage of the Punjabis, who were to leave on the following day. I asked for my hundred coolies. The major laughed when I told him of our quartermaster's requisition. "Your regimental headquarters," he said, "evidently did not realise what a desolate, uninhabited place this is. A hundred coolies? Why, with difficulty I have procured eight; four of them women. You will have to leave your baggage here under a guard, and have it brought up piecemeal on the elephants after our departure. And now, if you will fall in your men, I'll lead the way up to Buxa and gladly take my last look at it." A baggage guard having been left at the station with our food and cooking-pots, etc., my detachment fell