Start for Manipur--March over the hills--Lovely scenery--View of
the valleys--State reception--The Residency--Visitors.
Lowremba Subadar, an excellent old fellow, formerly in the service
of Colonel McCulloch, was sent to Shillong to be in attendance
on me, and of course to find out all he could about me and report
the result. Before I left, he sent a note to the Maharajah of my
requirements in the way of coolies, etc., for our long journey of
ten days between Cachar and Manipur, and I also intimated that, as
the representative of the British Government, and as one who well
knew what was due to me as such, I should expect to be received with
proper ceremony.
This was a point on which I laid much stress, as my experience had
taught me that in a native state so tenacious of its dignity and
ancient customs as Manipur, my future success depended in a great
measure on my scrupulously requiring all that I was entitled to, and
as much more as I could get. It had been a complaint against one of
my predecessors that he had been discourteous, and I determined that
the Manipuris should not have to complain of me on that score, and in
my letters I took care to be as courteous and considerate as possible.
On former occasions it had been the custom for a new political agent
to enter the capital unattended, and to call on the Maharajah the
next day, the latter repaying the visit a day later. This I did
not consider sufficient, and I determined that he should come out
to meet me in state. When Colonel McCulloch returned to Manipur the
second time, this had been done, Colonel McCulloch being an old and
intimate friend of the Maharajah. I quoted this as a precedent. I
tried in vain to get the Foreign Department to back up my request,
but could not induce them to interfere on my behalf, so I took the
responsibility on myself, and sent a formal demand to the Maharajah
to send a high officer--a major commanding a regiment--to meet me on
the road, and to meet me himself in state at a suitable distance from
the capital. The result will be described.
All being ready we left Shillong, my wife, nurse and children on men's
backs as before, for Cherra Poojee, where we arrived the second day;
thence, on the third day, we went to Thuria Ghat, on by boat via
Bholagunj, to Sylhet and Cachar. We reached Cachar on October 17th,
after passing the historical fort of Budderpore, where a battle was
fought with the Burmese in 1825, and settled down in the bungalow
of our kind friend Major Boyd who was away. Our coolies arrived on
October 18th, and we again packed our things and prepared to depart
on our final march.
We left Cachar for Manipur on October 20th, my wife and the nurse and
boys in "doolies," a kind of tray four feet long by two in width,
with sides and ends eight inches in height, supported by two long
poles running along the bottom of each side, and slung at each end
to loose bars of wood carried on men's shoulders. The passenger sits
inside as best he can, and there is a light matting roof thrown over
to protect him from the weather. To begin with, it is an uncomfortable
and shaky conveyance, but in time one gets accustomed to it.
Our baggage was carried mostly on men's backs, each load varying from
sixty to seventy pounds in weight. Altogether we had, I daresay, one
hundred coolies, as everything we required for a ten days' journey had
to be carried, in addition to personal baggage and stores for our use
on arrival. I had provided a tent in case of need, but did not use it,
as rude huts were provided for us at all the stages along the road. Our
first halt was at Luckipore, in British territory, and, as usual,
the first march was the most trying; for servants, coolies, etc.,
have to learn each other's ways. I had an escort of one hundred men
of the 35th Native Infantry, under a subadar, as it was expected that
I might have to go on an expedition soon after my arrival, and these
men had their own special coolies, so we were a large party altogether.
We halted at Luckipore, as I have said, a few miles from the Hoorung
Hills and at Jeree Ghat. Next day we left British territory and entered
Manipur, where we found some huts built for our accommodation. At Jeree
Ghat the really interesting part of the journey commenced; thence, till
Bissenpore in the valley of Manipur is reached, the traveller marches
day after day over hills and across rivers. The first day from Jeree
Ghat we crossed the Noon-jai-bang range, the summit of which is 1800
to 1900 feet above the sea from whence a fine view of the next range,
Kala Naga or in Manipuri, Wy-nang-nong, is obtained. The road which
was made under the superintendence of Captain (afterwards Colonel)
Guthrie, of the Bengal Engineers between 1837 and 1844, at the joint
expense of the British and Manipuri Governments, the former paying
the larger share, was excellent for foot passengers and pack animals,
but not wide enough and too steep for wheeled traffic on a large scale.
After descending from Noong-jai-bang we halted on the banks of the
Mukker river amidst splendid forest, and next day ascended the Kala
Naga range and halted on the crest close to a Manipuri guard house
at a height of 3400 feet.
From this spot a magnificent view of the plains of Cachar is
obtained, and in fine weather, far beyond them the Kasia hills in the
neighbourhood of Cherra Poojee may be descried. The scene at sunset
is sometimes magnificent. In the foreground the dark forests, and in
the far distance a huge bank of golden clouds with their reflection
in the watery plain, and a mingled mass of colours, green fields,
purple, crimson, red and gold, all mixed up in such a way as no
painter would ever attempt to copy. As the sun sinks those colours
change and re-arrange themselves every minute in quick succession,
and when at last night closes in, the impression left on the mind is
one of never-ending wonder and admiration.
From Kala Naga to the Barak river is a very stiff descent, calculated
to shake the knees of an inexperienced hill-walker, and many is the
toe-nail lost by the pressure of one's boots. Here as at the Mukker
and other rivers farther on, the Barak is crossed by cane suspension
bridges, which vibrate and move at every step. In the dry season
these rivers are crossed by very cleverly constructed bamboo pontoon
bridges, but when the rainy season has commenced, they become raging
torrents, which nothing but a fish could live in, and but for the
suspension bridges, all communication with the outer world would be
cut off. The bridge over the Eerung river was one hundred yards in
length, and like all the others, was, when I first went to Manipur,
constructed entirely of cane and bamboo, and could by great exertions,
be finished in three days. During my period of office, wire ropes
were substituted for the two main cables on which all rested, and the
strength of the bridges greatly increased thereby. It was an important
part of my duty to see that both roads and bridges were kept in order.
Our march was interesting but uneventful. We started after breakfast
and generally reached our halting place in time for a late luncheon
or afternoon tea. Wherever we halted we had a hut to live in,
generally in some picturesque spot, one day giving a splendid view
of hill and valley with nothing but forests in view, on another we
were perched on a hill overlooking the beautiful Kowpoom valley,
a sheet of cultivation. At last, on the ninth day after crossing
the Lai-metol river, and ascending the Lai-metol, we had our first
view of the valley of Manipur [14] spread out like a huge map at our
feet. Seen as it was by us at the end of the rainy season, and from a
height of 2600 feet above it, is a vast expanse of flat land bordered
by hills, and mostly covered with water, through which the rice crops
are vigorously growing. To the south the Logtak lake is visible, with
several island hills in it, while far away to the north-east might be
seen the glittering roofs of the temples of Imphal, the capital. It
requires time to take in the view and to appreciate it. In the dry
season it looks very different with brown, dried-up hills in the
place of green.
The valley of Manipur possesses a few sacred groves, left, according to
the universal aboriginal custom, throughout all parts of India that I
have visited, for the wood spirits, when the land was first cleared;
but no natural forest. These groves are little isolated patches of
forest dotted here and there; the villages have plenty of planted
trees, many of great antiquity, and from the heights above they have
the appearance of woodland covered with grass. Besides this, all is one
sheet of cultivation or waste covered with grass. It was once entirely
cultivated, that is, before the Burmese invasion of 1819, when the
population of the valley, was from 500 to 1000 per square mile.
We halted to rest on the summit of the Lai-metol, and then descended,
passing sometimes under a kind of wild apple tree with very
eatable fruit, and once through a lovely grove of oak trees, called
"Oui-ong-Moklung," and then, still far below us, saw some elephants
sent for us by the Maharajah. These elephants were posted at Sebok
Tannah, [15] a police station where the ground begins to grow level,
and a mile farther brought us to Bissenpore, where there was a rude
rest house. Here we halted for the night.
I have mentioned my demand that I should be met with proper
ceremony. It was of course stoutly resisted, every argument founded
on old custom, etc., being used against it. However, I stood firm, and
absolutely refused to go beyond Bissenpore, till the Maharajah gave me
an assurance that he would do all I required. In the end he gave in,
and a day before reaching that place, his uncle met me on the road with
a letter saying that all should be done as I wished. This official,
by name Samoo Major, became a great friend of mine, and remained so
till I finally left; he is, alas, I believe, now a prisoner in the
Andamans, having been supposed to be implicated in the rising in 1891.
The next day we left Bissenpore in good time, and marched the seventeen
miles to the capital, halting half-way at Phoiching, where I was
met by some officials. Farther on, some of still higher rank came
to greet me, and finally, at the entrance to the capital, I was met
by the Maharajah himself, surrounded by all his sons. A carpet was
spread with chairs for him and myself, we both of us having descended
from our elephants, advanced and met in the centre of the carpet,
and having made our salutations (a salute of eleven guns was fired
in my honour), we sat and talked for two minutes. We then mounted,
the Maharajah's elephant being driven by his third son, the master
of the elephants; and we rode together through the great bazaar,
till our roads diverged at the entrance to the fortified enclosure
to the palace, where we took leave of each other, and he went home,
and I went to the Residency, which I reached at four o'clock, my wife
and children having made a short cut.
The Residency then was a low and dark bungalow built of wattle
and daub, and thatched. It had one large room in the centre, and a
bedroom on either side with a small semicircular room in front and
rear of the centre room; there was one bathroom (I speedily added
more), and verandahs nearly all round. There were venetians to the
windows, but no glass, and the house was very dark and very full of
mosquitoes. However, all had been done by the Residency establishment
to make the place comfortable, and we were too old travellers and
too accustomed to rough it, to grumble. The house might be rude and
uncomfortable, but some of my happiest days were spent in it. The
building was at the end of a garden, with some nice mango, and other
trees here and there, and had a little more ground attached to it,
but we were on all sides surrounded by squalid villages and filthy
tanks and cesspools, and the situation was very low, though well
drained. Our English nurse grumbled incessantly, but we had engaged
in advance, a nice pleasant Naga woman, named Chowkee, to help her,
and soon made everything right for the night, but the mosquitoes were
terrible, and though my life has been spent in countries swarming
with them, I give Manipur the palm, it beats all others!
No European lady or children of pure blood had ever before been
seen in Manipur, and at first there was great excitement wherever
we went, all the population turning out to look at us. By degrees
they became accustomed to the novelty, but still occasionally people
from distant villages coming to the capital stopped to stare. Every
now and then my wife had visits from strange old ladies, often from
the Kola Ranee, the widow of the last Rajah of Assam, and by birth a
Manipuri princess, daughter of Rajah Chomjeet, and first cousin of
the Maharajah Chandra Kirtee Singh. Once an old woman of 106 years
of age, with a daughter of 76, were visitors, and once or twice some
other relic of a bygone age called on us. Among the latter was old
Ram Singh, the last survivor of Wilcox's famous survey expeditions in
Assam, in 1825-26-27-28. Wilcox was one of the giants of old, men who
with limited resources, did a vast amount of work among wild people,
and said little about it, being contented with doing their duty. In
1828, accompanied by Lieutenant Burton, and ten men belonging to the
Sudya Khamptis (Shans), he penetrated to the Bor Khamptis country, far
beyond our borders, an exploit not repeated till after our annexation
of Upper Burmah. Ram Singh had a great respect for his former leader,
and loved to talk of old days.