HO HILLMEN. 



My first care on reaching the ground was to start half-a-dozen men 

 for firewood, whilst I took others with me carrying kettle, water - pots, 

 wash-hand basin, saucepan, and all available vessels, to secure a supply 

 of clear water for cooking and drinking for myself and servants before the 

 small stream which ran through the valley should be disturbed by the thirsty 

 elephants. This done, I sounded the assembly on my cornet for Sergeant 

 Carter, who was not yet in sight, to let him know that the day's march was 

 over, and he soon came up with the last elephants. 



The valley was very damp, and after dinner I had a fire kept up for 

 half an hour in the tent ; and though I turned in amidst the smoke, it was 

 better than a cold raw atmosphere. I believe that, with a small fire kept 

 up in or near the tent all night, and of course mosquito-curtains, and a cot 

 at least three feet from the ground, a person may sleep in the most malari- 

 ous swamps or jungles with safety. As the miasma is carried up, or anni- 

 hilated, in the warm atmosphere, I have frequently done so without ill effects. 

 In unhealthy jungles I make it a rule to keep within the influence of the 

 camp-fires after sunset, and in the mornings until the jungles are warmed 

 by the sun, when possible. 



December 30, 1875. — To-day we marched from 7.30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. 

 The coolies got off at 4 a.m. The country was more difficult than yesterday, 

 and we only did about sixteen miles. Here we caught up the coolies, and 

 found such a good camping-ground that I ordered a halt. With so many 

 men and elephants, for whom space, water, and fodder were necessary, it was 

 not every place that offered facilities for camping. The country to-day was 

 all grass and a little bamboo, but closer and steeper than yesterday. The 

 few villagers we saw were Hill Arracanese and Chuckmas, and had strongly- 

 marked Indo-Burmese features. I noticed a breed of fine white fowls and 

 several geese in the two or three villages we passed. All the houses were 

 raised upon bamboo platforms about ten feet from the ground, a good pro- 

 tection against malaria and dampness. 



Our encampment this evening was better situated than yesterday. My 

 tents and the sergeant's occupied a small hillock covered with short grass, 

 rising in the centre of a narrow valley. The coolies were comfortably 

 squatted on the level ground along the stream, where they erected grass 

 huts as a protection against the soaking night dew. The view up to the 

 closing of the valley, a vista of about half a mile, was unique. Several 

 small rounded hillocks, like the one my tent occupied, rose from the level 

 ground ; spurs ran out from the sides of the hills enclosing the valley, here 

 only about three hundred yards wide ; and the stream wound a tortuous 

 course around these and the hillocks. The spurs at their lowest points 



