CHAPTER VIII 



KHAMTI TO INDIA 



Enter the Plain of Khamti — Blackmailing at Tsaukan — Passage of the Nam-Kiou — 

 Khamti (Padao) — Interviews with the King's Son ; with the King — English Influence 

 — Account of the Khamti Thais — Pagodas — Panlian — Carrier Difficulties — Departure 

 -Again in the Mountains— Vexatious Delays — Desertion of Porters — Critical 

 Position — Fever — Three Columns— Roux falls in Rear — Pass to India — Death of 

 an old Christian — Short Commons — Two more Men left behind — We abandon 

 Tent and Baggage — Hunger — First Village — Mishmis — Revictualling the Stragglers 

 — Singphos^The Way Lost — Plain of Assam— Bishi ; Good Treatment — Details 

 concerning Village — Roux Rejoins — Easy Progress — Elephants — Reception by a 

 Singpho Chief — The Brahmaputra — Sadiya — Cordial Welcome from the English 

 Agent — Position at Sadiya ; Native Population — Tea Plantations — Method of Work 

 — En route for Calcutta — Descent of the Brahmaputra — Historical Reflections on 

 India ; Dupleix. 



After a bath in the river we stretched ourselves on the grass in 

 the open, and watched a magnificent sunset. It was good thus to 

 lie beneath the wide arc of heaven after being so long restricted 

 in our surroundincrs. 



Whilst preparing for our evening meal, our ears were saluted 

 in the distance by a prolonged note, which, as it rose and fell in 

 its approach, was presently distinguished as proceeding from a 

 melancholy gong. A small band of about fourteen Pais then 

 came in sight, winding in Indian file towards our camp. At 

 their head we recognised one of the deputies who had given 

 us their company on the road. When opposite to us they 

 stopped, gravely saluted in a quasi-military fashion, pronounced 



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