CHAPTER VI.

UPPER ASSAM.

Unexpected Delay-The Wet Season-Assamese Calamities-Depopulalation-The Cooly Question-Mistaken Legislation-A Tea Plantation --- Cultivation of Tea-Manufacture— Ruins-Button QuailParrots.

IT soon appeared that the quarters placed at my disposal at Debrughur, would become my residence for the next three months, during which it would be impossible to proceed beyond Sudiya. The rains had driven all the tribes back to their hills, while the swollen Bramapootra and its numerous tributaries had rendered the roads leading from the plains to the hills utterly impassable. The only choice therefore lay between selecting Debrughur or Sudiya as a residence, and I chose the former place for my summer quarters.

This enforced delay was unexpected. My great desire when setting out from Calcutta had been to reach the highlands of the Mishmee hills before the rain set in, so as to escape that most tiresome of diseases, Assam fever, so prevalent in the plains during the summer months. The rains, however, had set in earlier than usual, and the time lost on the up-voyage, in consequence of the floods, had upset my calculations. It was impossible to repress

the apprehensions that some of our party might be prostrated by fever, for Masu and Lowtzang had already begun to suffer from the damp heat of the climate.

There was some consolation in the thought that this enforced residence in Assam would enable me to learn something of the language, a knowledge of which would be of inestimable service in communicating with the tribe on the frontiers. It would be impossible to reach the Mishmee hills now before December, and by that time the roads in Thibet would be rendered impassable by snow, so that it would be necessary to remain with the Mishmees until the following spring, and then advance into Thibet.

Such was now the prospect before us, and I set to work to make ourselves as comfortable as possible under the circumstances.

The native town of Debrughur consisted of a long row of brick and mat built houses along the left bank of the Debru river, nearly all occupied by native traders from Calcutta, and almost constituting a bazaar, in the rear of which a few Assamese dwellings of mud or bamboo mat walls, thatched with reeds or straw, comprise the whole of the native town.

About a half a mile further up the river on the same bank, are the barracks of a regiment of Assam Light Infantry, while a few scattered bungalows occupied by the civil and military officers, with a church, a gaol, and a large heap of ruins called the new Cutcherry or Court House, form the European part of the station.

There is nothing inviting about the place, and but

for the proverbial hospitality of the Sahibs and their ladies, residence at Debrughur would have been most dreary.

Day after day a constant down-pour of rain made outdoor excursions so impossible that I rarely left the house, save for an hour or so in an evening, when a slight break in the showers afforded a chance for a stroll along the river bank.

The never-ceasing patter, patter, and drop, drop, of the rain, has a most depressing effect even on those who are accustomed to a wet monsoon. I tried to escape from the ennui by making myself acquainted with the history and condition of the country.

Some remarks on Assam may take the place of a record of life at Debrughur in the wet season. And the reader may be assured that he is a gainer by the exchange.

Assam comprises the whole valley of the Bramapootra, extending over an area of more than thirty thousand square miles. To the north and north-east a range of high mountains, inhabited by numerous tribes of Bhooteahs, Abors, and Mishmees, divides it from the countries of Bhootan and Thibet. On the west it joins Bengal. On the south and south-east, another mountainous region, inhabited by innumerable tribes, separates it from Burmah. Thus, Assam may be literally described as a long curving valley of an average width of from sixty to seventy miles, completely walled in by mountains inhabited by tribes more or less savage.

Its ancient history, in which the legendary element is

more than usually strong, would require a volume to do it justice, and those who may have a wish to know more of it, are recommended to read a work on Assam, published by W. Robinson in 1841.

For our present purpose, as intending to give a brief sketch of those circumstances which have so greatly influenced the social and political welfare of the country, it will suffice to begin with the reign of the Ahom King, Chukapah.

The Ahoms, or first conquerors of Assam, were a fine warlike race of people belonging to the Shan family, inhabiting the north-east of Burmah, whence they are supposed to have advanced into Assam about the beginning of the thirteenth century.

Under the energetic reign of the Ahom dynasty, the country seems to have thriven fairly, until about the end of the eighteenth century, when, after a long series of internecine struggles, Goureenath, the reigning king, applied to the East India Company for assistance against his enemies.

It was thought advisable by the Company at that time to put an end to the domestic inquietude reigning in Assam, and some troops were despatched to Gowhatty under Captain Welsh, who in a very short time restored perfect order; but this officer's efforts in this direction had scarcely been crowned with success when orders were sent to withdraw the British protection from the country. And from this time began that frightful chain of calamities which may be said to have literally depopulated the country.

Assamese Calamities.

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Rebellion followed on rebellion until, in 1809, the reigning Raja again petitioned the Indian Government for assistance. A fatal policy of non-interference led to a refusal, and the agent of the Raja applied to the court of Burmah. This Government, delighted at the opportunity of increasing their influence in the direction of India, despatched a small army across the Patkoi range, which was shortly followed by another army of sixty thousand men.

The supposed allies swept over the unfortunate country like a cloud of locusts eating up its very vitals. Invited as protectors, the Burmese soon became the possessors of Assam, committing the most frightful excesses, until at last they even threatened our Indian frontiers. This audacious conduct on the part of the Burmese led to war between Burmah and the East India Company, which finally resulted in the former being driven from the country, which was then formally annexed to our Indian possessions in 1827.

Unfortunately for Assam the interference of the British had come too late. Following in the footsteps of the Burmese invaders, the tribes of the surrounding hills descended into the plains, and carried those of the population who had escaped the sword of the Burman back to the hills as captives; so that, instead of a prosperous country, with a large and flourishing population, the British found it waste and all but depopulated.

Of all the countries bordering on India which have come into British possession, there is none whose history is so mournful as Assam, none wherein mistaken policy