Travels and Residence in North-Western Assam.--Description
of Burpetah in the Rains.--Vampire, or Fox Bats.--Leaf
Insect.--Seclusion of Villages in the Jungles.--Country
abounds with Wild Animals.--Number of Deaths, and Damage done
to Crops.--Native mode of killing a Tiger.--Conflagrations
of Jungles.--Danger therefrom to Travellers.--Cultivation
of high and low lands.--Number of Crops.--Primitive
Mode of Husbandry.--Irrigation by Cacharies.--Country
Inundated.--Population and Condition of the People.--Law on
Slavery.
For the more speedy and effective administration of justice among the
people residing in the north-west quarter of the district of Kamroop,
and for the promotion of trade, the Governor-General's Agent directed
the establishment of an out-post for an assistant at Burpetah, on
the Chawl Khawa river, and I was selected to proceed for eight months
upon this duty.
The population of Burpetah is estimated at about three thousand souls;
their huts are built without any regularity on high artificial mounds
of earth, in the centre of gardens of betel nut and plantain trees,
clumps of bamboos, cane and grass jungle, mango and other large trees,
under the shade of which, impervious to the sun, roads or channels
intersect the town in every direction. In the rainy season, these
channels, owing to the inundation of the country, are filled with water
many feet in depth. Every house, consequently, is provided with one
or more canoes, in which the inhabitants visit each other's isolated
positions; and the cattle are brought upon the little eminences at
night, and housed oftentimes under the same roof with the family,
if not in the same room. Daily may the cattle be seen swimming
across these street-streams in search of a dry spot of land on which
to graze. In this manner, for four months of each year--June, July,
August, and September--are the people surrounded by floods; but, as if
endowed with amphibious natures, they seem equally happy in or out of
the water, and pass their time on board their boats in trading with
other villages throughout Assam. When at home, they amuse themselves
during the rainy season in collecting the wood which floats down the
rivers, from the destruction of their banks alluded to in the foregoing
chapter; and in the sport of catching wild buffaloes, deer, and pigs,
which are now seen in great numbers swimming across the rivers from
the low inundated grounds to reach more elevated spots on which to
subsist: the animals in their passage, being overtaken by canoes,
are captured with the aid of ropes and spears, with little difficulty.
At Burpetah there is a very long building supported by wooden posts
carved with emblems of Hindoo Deities, with a grass roof and mat
walls. It is called a shuster, alias temple; and is a religious
endowment, where the vedas or holy books of the Hindoos are chanted,
and offerings in kind and cash received. A grant of rent-free land,
given by the Assam king Sebsunker, in 1657 A.S. or 1735 A.D. is
attached to the temple, and a number of disciples, with two chief
priests or pontiffs, manage the affairs of the establishment.
On the trees at Burpetah, great numbers of the Vampire or Fox-bats are
to be seen hanging by their claws with their heads downwards. They
are offensive looking objects, having a body eleven inches long,
and each wing twenty-two inches in length. I have never heard a
native assert that they suck the blood of cattle when sleeping, and
if it were the case, such a circumstance would certainly be quickly
verified; it may therefore justly be inferred, that this is a popular
error. It is said that the food of the fox-bat consists entirely of
jungle fruits; their flesh is esteemed a delicacy by many natives,
and I have frequently shot them to gratify the appetites of my own
servants. There is a strange superstition amongst the natives, that
the bones of the fox-bat, worn as an amulet or charm, will cure any
limb or part of the body affected with pain.
One of the most curious members of the animal (query, vegetable?) world
in Assam is the Leaf insect--so called from its very close resemblance
in form, colour, and general structure (even to the fibre), to the leaf
of the tree which it inhabits. In fact, until the insect moves, it is
difficult to distinguish it from the leaf itself. The annexed drawing
will convey an idea of this singular freak of nature; many attempts at
transmitting a perfect specimen to Europe have been frustrated by the
perishable character of the insect. Spirits are entirely inefficacious
as preservatives, and camphor destroys the colour of the animal.
In perambulating the district, I was particularly struck with the
immense extent of high grass jungle between the Burrampooter river and
the foot of the Bootan mountains. I frequently traversed a distance
of eight and ten miles through a dense grass jungle twenty feet high,
without meeting with a solitary hut or any cultivation; but suddenly,
a village and an open cultivated space of a few hundred acres would
burst upon the view and vary the monotony of the scene. This would
be followed by a dreary waste extending to the next village, often
five or six miles distant; while a solitary foot-path, forming the
only communication between the small communities thus isolated,
clearly showed that for many months in the year little intercourse,
except by water, is kept up between them.
The country is infested with wild animals, and the footpaths are
dangerous at all times. Some slight idea may be formed of the danger
to human life from the denizens of the jungle, when I state that
in the western quarter of the district of Kamroop alone, in the
short period of six months, the police reports included twenty men
killed by wild elephants and buffaloes. The damage done to the rice
crops yearly by wild elephants and buffaloes is very considerable;
and although Government bestows a reward of two rupees eight annas,
or five shillings, for every buffalo destroyed, and five rupees
or ten shillings for every tiger's head, such is the apathy and
indifference of the natives to their own interests and preservation,
that they seldom exert themselves to earn the gratuity, until repeated
aggressions become unbearable. When wild elephants pull down their
huts, or a tiger, from previous success, becomes emboldened to enter
their little dwellings and carry off their cattle, then the village
community will turn out in a body; surrounding with nets the tiger's
lair,--a small patch of jungle in the vicinity of the village,--and
shouting and yelling, they drive the intruder into the nets, where
he falls an easy victim to the spears and bludgeons of the enraged
and injured populace.
In January, February, March, and April, the whole country adjoining
Burpetah presents a spectacle seldom seen elsewhere: the natives set
fire to the jungle to clear the land for cultivation, and to open the
thoroughfares between the different villages, and the awful roar and
rapidity with which the flames spread cannot be conceived. A space
of many miles of grass jungle, twenty feet high, is cleared in a
few hours; and the black ashes scattered over the face of the earth
after such recent verdure, form one of the most gloomy and desolate
landscapes that can well be imagined. But so rapid is vegetation in
Assam, that a few days suffice to alter the scene: the jungle speedily
shoots up with greater strength than ever, and at the approach of
the heavy rains in June, it again attains a height of many feet. On
more occasions than one, though mounted on an elephant, I have had the
greatest difficulty to out-flank a fierce roaring fire, rapidly moving
with the wind, in a long line over the country. The elephant, of all
animals, is the most fearful of fire; and on hearing the approach
of the element he instantly takes to flight; but the rapidity with
which the flames spread renders escape most hazardous, especially
if the wind is high and right aft. The best plan to adopt if a fire
breaks out to windward, is to circle round the nearest flank with all
expedition, gaining the space burnt by the advancing flames. On foot,
escape would be almost impossible; the jungle being impenetrable except
by a narrow footpath, and this being frequently overgrown with grass,
if no open spot be near at hand, inevitable destruction must be the
fate of any unfortunate traveller to leeward of a fire.
In Assam, excepting the fields close to the villages, the best land
is never manured. One crop of planted winter d'han or rice is cut in
November or December, every year, from generation to generation. This
land is never allowed to lie fallow; abundant rain being all that
is requisite to ensure plentiful crops: the richness of the soil
seems inexhaustible.
The low lands liable to inundation are never manured; the jungle is
burnt down, and for three successive years two crops are annually
realized from it. In February, mustard seed is gathered in: a source
of great profit to the cultivator; and in June the spring rice, sown
broad-cast, is reaped. After the land has been thus impoverished, it
is allowed to remain fallow for three years; and fresh jungle land
is burnt and prepared in the same primitive way, and with the most
simple implements of husbandry. In other parts of Assam extensive
tracts of land are beautifully cultivated, and pretty villages are
numerously studded over the country; but, although lakes and streams
are everywhere to be met with, no attempt is made by the Assamese
tribes, excepting the Cacharries, to irrigate the land, and thus
render the crops more certain and productive.
The Cacharries who reside at the foot of the hills are the most
useful and industrious, as well as the most athletic men in Assam,
and allowed to be the best cultivators. They irrigate their lands to
a great extent from hill streams, and consequently raise far better
crops than their neighbours. During the months of June, July, August,
and September, a great portion of Assam is inundated, and boats leaving
the innumerable streams and large rivers, paddle over the country in
every direction; indeed, in many places, particularly at Burpetah,
boats form the only means by which any communication can be kept
up. To facilitate intercourse during the dry season, roads have been
constructed, and bullock-carts introduced, similar to the hackerys
in use in the Western Provinces of India, for the conveyance of the
produce of the lands to the best markets; but the Assamese are so
wedded to their old customs, and attached to the use of slaves and
bondsmen in every capacity--as servants, porters, and cultivators,
that it has been found no easy matter to induce them to adopt a new
system, however obvious its advantages.
A new era, however, is approaching: a law has been promulgated,
abolishing slavery in India, and as the people become more enlightened
by education and intercourse with Europeans, they will relax their
adherence to old and absurd usages and prejudices. In the district
of Kamroop above twenty thousand slaves and bondsmen may obtain
manumission by simply asking for it; and as there is no doubt they will
do so, we may anticipate, from the acquisition of freedom, a total
alteration of the habits and feelings of the Assamese. Large wastes
of land will be brought under cultivation, and thousands of families
made independent and comfortable. Assam has now been subjected to
British rule for a period of nearly twenty years, and the people have
enjoyed the fruits of their labours in peace and security: a condition
of things to which they were strangers under their own chieftains.
The population of Assam is assumed to be about 800,000 souls; but as no
correct census has been taken, the accuracy of the estimate cannot be
determined. It may be presumed, however, that the population does not
increase to any great extent, for a state of slavery and bondage has
never been favourable to the due multiplication of the human species.
The proprietors of slaves and bondsmen consist of the most
respectable men in Assam, and of course are strenuous supporters
of the continuation of the lucrative and nefarious traffic in their
fellow-creatures. To deprive them of their proprietary right to their
slaves it has been urged would be unjust, and offensive to their
usages; and, following the example of the West India proprietors, they
contend that the slaves being their lawful property as much as houses,
grain, or cattle, compensation should be made by Government for the
release of every man from bondage. The Indian Government, however,
has adopted a different course. It has published a regulation that
forbids the officers of all courts from allowing forcible possession
of the person or services of a slave, or his property. In future,
therefore, slave-holders will not be able to compel their slaves
to obey their orders, and as this law becomes gradually enforced,
slavery will be practically abolished; a new order of men will arise,
stimulated to more vigorous exertions by the conviction that they
will reap the benefit of their labours, and extended cultivation and
a freer exchange of commodities will infallibly ensue.