View source for Mizoram, 1872: Mynadhur

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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 ]]
=Mynadhur=
Mynadhur, the last and most outlying of 
the tea-gardens, is prettily situated on 
the left bank of the Barak, where the river, 
taking a semi-circular bend, leaves a long stretch 
of tolerably level ground between its banks and 
the foot of the hills. The garden covers several 
low tilas, the bungalow crowning one of them ; 
and beneath this, on the river's bank, are the 
huts and bazaar of the coolie labourers. There 
is also a small stockade of ancient bamboos, the 
weakness and ruinous state of which sufficiently 
indicate the sense of security felt by the in- 
habitants of the garden, who, however, have a 
small police-guard generally stationed there. 
Though so far removed from all aid, this garden 
has never, I believe, been attacked by Lushais 
owing probably to the extreme difficulty of the 
country between it and their own border. 

The General and Staff arrived at Mynadhur, 
about the 29th November, with one wing of the 
44th and the Sappers. The jungle about 
Mynadhur consisting principally of bamboo, no 
difficulty was experienced in speedily construct- 
ing barracks, hospitals, magazines, godowns, and 
officers' quarters. 

Commissariat stores for three months had 
been collected here, and ordnance and other stores 
were arriving ; while a fleet of small boats, of the 
light tonnage necessary for passing the rapids and 
shallows of the Barak higher up, had been sent 
down from Sylhet and Cachar. 

The boatmen in these districts had the most 
intense horror of this part of the country, and it 
was with great difficulty that they were induced 
to go with their boats ; many preferring to sink 
them, while they themselves disappeared in some 
place of concealment till the danger was past. 

Meanwhile, the line of telegraph from Cachar 
had been carried down to Mynadhur ; the telegraph 
party, under their energetic chief, having brought 
it over the Buban, in the face of many obstacles. 
A telegraph office was at once opened; and a 
daily post was established between Silchar and 
Mynadhur ; so that by the first week in December, 
the head-quarters of the Force were in communi- 
cation with Calcutta, both by telegraph and post. 

The road onwards to Tipai Mukh was at once 
commenced, and some friendly Lushais having re- 
presented the best route to be on the Munipur 
bank, the beginning of it was made on that side. 

It may be necessary to explain the presence of 
these Lushais in camp. Mr.Edgar, who was still 
in Cachar, having sent messages to Sukpilal, was 
anxiously awaiting their return. Eight Lushais 
from Poiboi's villages arrived with presents, but 
they were men of small account and not entrusted 
with any definite overtures. They said that they 
had met Raipa, an old Kookie who had been dis- 
possessed by the Lushais, and who accompanied 
the column as guide and interpreter. This Raipa 
was then exploring to find a route, but these men 
said to Mr. Edgar that he was not likely to find 
one in the direction taken by him, but that they 
knew of one by which they would guide the troops, 
and four of them were sent down for that purpose. 

The scenery all up the Barak is extremely 
beautiful, lofty wooded hills coming down to the 
water's edge, and receding here and there, so as 
to afford glimpses of more distant ranges, while 
large rocks and sandy strips diversify the 
character of the banks. The river winds about 
very much, the bends presenting a series of pic- 
tures, the elements of which, wooded hills, rocks, 
and water, though ever the same, are constantly 
varying in arrangement ; and in the varieties of 
light and shade, each differs from the other in 
some point of detail, but on the whole all appear 
equally beautiful. Alligators bask in the sun here 
and there on the rocks, sliding off lazily into the 
deep pools beneath when a boat approaching too 
near rouses them from their slumbers. 

As the head-quarters advanced, the regiments in 
rear followed up in order, each working on a 
certain portion of the road. The Artillery was 
left in Cachar till the road to Mynadhur was re- 
ported fit for elephants, and they did not get the 
order to march till the 2nd December. 
==Camps==
The time, however, was not wasted; the ex- 
periment of elephants instead of mules, as animals 
of draught, was to be tried in this campaign; and 
the gunners not having received their elephants 
till their arrival in Cachar, they were fully em- 
ployed in altering and refitting their equipment, 
many portions of which were entirely novel and 
untried. The strength of the battery was also 
made up by drafts from the 42nd and 22nd regi- 
ments, and these had to be instructed in their new 
work ; but when the order for the march arrived 
it found them all ready and in first rate order. 

The road onwards from Mynadhur was similar 
in character to that up to it, precipitous and 
jungly. Four camps were established between 
Mynadhur and Tipai Mukh. These camps were 
numbered from one to four; a large board being 
nailed up on a tall tree near the entrance to each, 
with an inscription roughly painted in black, 
"Station No. 1, &c." 

A description of one will suffice for all, as well 
as for many of the others formed south of Tipai 
Mukh. 

Arrived at the halting place, all the troops 
went to work cutting down branches of trees and 
bamboos, collecting leaves, grass, &c. In this 
work the active little Goorkhas of the 44th N- I., 
were much more at home than their up-country 
brethren in arms, who at first used to look help- 
lessly on, while the former, springing into trees 
like monkeys, lopped off branches, collected 
bamboos, &c., and had quickly constructed com- 
fortable ranges of cantos, with a low raised bamboo 
floor as a sleeping place, before the others had 
made up their minds what to do. 

All the Sepoys had been supplied with kookries, 
a peculiar kind of native knife, most effective in 
cutting jungle when successfully used. The 
Goorkhas, as a rule, were possessed of their own, 
but those supplied by Government were soon use- 
less, often breaking after the first few blows, 
efficiency having been sacrificed to economy. 

A large number of Cachari, Mekir, and Kookie 
coolies were with the advance, and these men were 
very expert in cutting jungle and building huts. 
In an almost incredibly short space of time, they 
ran up quarters for the General and other officers 
with him. The framework was fastened together 
by strips of bark, and the walls consisted of 
bamboo, leaves, and grass. Each hut was fur- 
nished with, a standing bedstead, a table and stool 
of bamboo. Outside was the mess-table, the super- 
structure of which was formed of split bamboo, 
supported by legs of rough timber ; and around 
it were seats constructed also of split bamboo. 
==Stations==
It was astonishing how soon a waste, howling 
wilderness of jungle was transformed into a 
pleasant camp ; and as abundance of fire- wood was 
at hand, large camp-fires.were always maintained, 
which tended to keep these halting-places drier 
and healthier than might have been expected. 

All these stations were situated close to the 
river's edge'; a position by which an ample supply 
of water was secured, and the Commissariat's 
boats were able to provide the troops with the 
necessary provisions every evening — the coolies 
being thus set free for road-making. The rapids 
proved passable for boats up to two hundred 
maunds, though they were dragged through these 
with difficulty. 

At No. 3, the road again crossed to the Cachar 
side, and so continued to Tipai Mukh. A floating 
bridge of ingenious construction provided a con- 
venient passage across the river at each of the 
three points where the road changes from one side 
to the other. The bridge consisted of an octagonal 
raft of bamboo and matting, slung down stream 
at two adjacent comers by large cane loops to a 
very strong rope of cane ; which, firmly fastened 
at each end to trees on either bank, hung slackly 
in the water. The raft was worked backwards 
and forwards by two men hauling the rope 
through the loops. 

General Bourchier reconnoitred Tipai Mukh in 
person on the 9th, and notwithstanding predictions 
to the contrary, no stockade or other demonstra- 
tion of hostility was discovered. The place was 
found to be admirably suited for a large camp 
or depot. 

It is situated, as its name implies, at the con- 
fluence of the Tuivai (according to the Lushais, 
miscalled Tipai by us) or Tipai with the Barak, 
at the point where the latter, flowing in a south- 
westerly direction through Munipur, takes a 
sudden turn northward. At that season of the 
year the Tuivai was reduced to a small stream of 
about fifty yards in width, leaving on its southern 
bank a large stretch of shingly beach, which, with 
a high sandy plateau, formed a square of some 
seven acres, bounded on the east and north by the 
Tuivai, west by the Barak, and south by a steep 
wooded hill, the end of a spur from a range to 
the south-west. 
==Good Camping Ground==
North of the Tuivai again, along the left bank 
of the Barak, was another long strip of sand and 
shingle, of some ten acres in extent. No doubt 
when the rains set in, the rivers, swollen and 
turbulent, rushing violently past their banks, 
and coming suddenly into collision, cover this 
bare space with a mass of seething waters ; but 
in December, when they had sunk to quiet peace- 
able streams, it afforded us good dry camping 
ground. 

On the south beach. Commissariat and Ord- 
nance godowns were erected, and the Artillery 
and Engineer parks found accommodation, while, 
on the sandy plateau above, officers' quarters, 
mess, &c., were established. 

On the northern strip, Hospitals and Sepoys' 
lines were built, sufficient space remaining for 
a camping ground for elephants ; and a light 
bridge was thrown across the Tipai by the 
Cachari Kookies. Practical fellows these^ caring 
little for mathematics and theory. While a 
scientific officer was calculating, in a hut close by, 
the strength of timber necessary for the bridge, 
the weight of troops likely to pass over it, the 
force of the current, and other considerations to 
which education and engineering books teach us 
to attach importance, as necessary to the safe con- 
struction of a bridge, these Kookies, who had 
never heard of Tredgold, and probably would not 
be any handier if they had, had actually built a 
bridge with the materials, small timber and 
bamboos, nearest to hand — a bridge built so 
substantially that it lasted throughout the cam- 
paign. When the aforesaid Engineer officer came 
out with his design and calculation, faultless, no 
doubt, in every detail, we may feel sure he 
looked rather surprised when he saw his work 
done for him. 

I may here mention another amusing incident. 

Colonel Stafford and Captain Harvey, R.E., 
were talking to a soubadar of the 22nd, when 
the latter expressed his opinion that if the 
Lusbais only dammed up the Tipai a few miles 
above the camp, till a large volume of water had 
accumulated, and then let it out, it would sweep 
away the camp entirely. 
==Amusing Incident==
Captain Harvey said, ** Perhaps the soubadar 
will be good enough to explain the size of the 
dam, where it could be constructed to be out of 
the reach of our troops, and also the amount of . 
water necessary for this work of annihila- 
tion." 

Here his orderly, with the usual freedom of 
natives, joined in the conversation by saying, 
‘Of what use is it asking the soubadar. Sahib, 
these questions, only we Sappers know all this 
kind of work." 

Considering that a native Sapper knows very 
little, if anything, more than an ordinary Sepoy, 
this calm assumption of superiority was delicious. 

A strong picquet was placed on the hill before 
mentioned, the trees cleared away, and a small 
field-work thrown up, at an elevation of two 
hundred feet above the camp, with which it com- 
municated by a small zigzag trench, which it 
commanded, as well as a long reach of the Tipai, 
thus preventing the possibility of a surprise from 
the south. 

A similar work was constructed on the hill 
to the north-east of the Tuiyai, guarding against 
attack from that direction. The north end of 
the camp was further protected by a small trench 
and breastwork, extending across the strip of 
sand to the river's edge. 

Of course all this laborious work was not 
accomplished at once, but to prevent confusion, 
I have described all these details here. The 
great disadvantage of this camp was that, lying 
low, surrounded by wooded hills rising above 
it to a height of twelve hundred feet, every 
evening as the sun sank behind the western hills, 
fog and mist slowly settled down upon it, and 
did not lift till late next morning. 

The day after the Greneral made his appearance 
at Tipai Mukh, a fleet of two hundred boats, 
laden with stores under the command of Mr. 
Patch, District Superintendent of Sylhet Police, 
and escorted by some of the 44th, also arrived. 

Mr. Patch's services had been placed specially 
at the disposal of the Military authorities, and 
throughout the Expedition he continued to com- 
mand this Commissariat Fleet, a duty involving 
hard and monotonous work, which was little likely 
to be varied by any excitement ; but on the able 
and zealous performance of which depended 
much of the success of the Expedition, and this 
ability and zeal were not wanting. 
==Road Making==
Having advanced so far, the next thing to be 
done was to find the onward path and convert 
it into a road. The General and Colonel Roberts, 
under the guidance of a Lushai, attempted to 
explore a road towards Kholel, but it was ex- 
ceedingly steep and rocky. One of the Lushais 
then in camp, a Muntri of Poiboi, Darpong by 
name, stated that if it was made worth his while 
he might be able to find a better way. Mr. 
Edgar arrived at Tipai Mukh on the 12th Decem- 
ber, and hearing what Darpong had said, sent 
him and Baipa to explore the country. 

Mr. Edgar, after his arrival, advised the 
General to push on to Kholel for the following 
reasons. While they remained at Tipai, they 
had not the opportunity of opening communi- 
cations with friendly or neutral tribes, which 
would be afforded by occupying Kholel, situated 
as it was between the villages of Khalsom, Lalbhi, 
and Sinpaun on the one sid, and Poiboi's on 
the other; all of which were supposed to come 
under one or other of the above classifications. 

An idea had also become prevalent among the 
Lushais that the force would never get beyond 
Tipai Mukh ; but would remain there till negoti- 
ations were entered into, or some of the tribes 
submitted. It therefore seemed of great import- 
ance that an onward move should be made, to 
convince the Lushais that we really meant to 
go through their country, and also to force them 
to adopt some decisive policy towards us. 

It was therefore determined to advance on 
the 16th. A working party had been sent on the 
14th to a point about two and a half miles along 
the elephant track pointed out by Darpong, 
where was a level piece of ground with two small 
streams running through it. Here our party 
camped and set to work on improving the track, 
and thither the head-quarters proceeded on 
the 16th. 
==Difficulties of Construction==
As the road had to be explored each day, and 
the next day's camp ahead settled beforehand^ 
the advance was necessarily slow. The road, as 
far as the Senvong range, followed a tolerably 
easy gradient, and lay through slightly less diffi- 
cult jungle than had been previously encountered. 
The principal difficulties which impeded its con- 
struction arose from the very rocky character 
of the hill in several places, which necessitated 
a good deal of blasting. Water was met with 
in several places.