CHAPTEK XVI 



LAST DAYS IN SIKKIM 



PUNITIVE measures against the Kajah were not very ad- 

 mirably carried out. Instead of the friendly chiefs being 

 invited to Darjiling, the Kajah was bidden to come in and 

 surrender, bringing the guilty parties with him, on pain of 

 invasion. But when he failed to comply, and indeed to 

 bring in the guilty was beyond his power, the threat was not 

 carried out. 



The army camped for some weeks on the north bank of 

 the Great Eungeet, the Dewan with his handful of followers 

 being on the hill not three hours away, and finally with- 

 drew, while for penalty the fertile Terai lands, the British 

 gift to the Kajah, were resumed, his pension withdrawn, 

 and Southern Sikkim annexed. The fidelity of the Tchebu 

 Lama was happily rewarded with money and a grant of land 

 at Darjiling. 



From his intimate knowledge of the country, Hooker was 

 in a position to give sound counsel when asked, and to perceive, 

 if he could not always correct, various false steps taken by 

 the temporary administration ; but he intervened as little as 

 might be in matters which were not his proper concern, and 

 his chief satisfaction lay in the eventual release of one of his 

 men who was reported to have been murdered, and in the fact 

 that thanks to his clear account of the affair, Lord Dalhousie 

 acquitted Campbell of blame, and re-appointed him with wider 

 powers than before. 



For a short time the military preparations threatened to 



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