KHAMTI TO INDIA 



English shoes, everyone went barefoot. The plain folk do Httle 

 carrying ; when they do, they make use of a long bamboo balanced 

 on the shoulder with a basket at either end. 



Much of our information was derived from the minister, who, 

 when we got him alone and with the insinuation of a special 

 bribe if carriers were forthcoming, displayed no lack of intelligence 

 and a really remarkable memory, by which he described the 

 routes of departure from Khamti,^ and reeled off almost without 

 check each day's stage for a month's march. On this occasion 

 also we dispensed with our cumbrous method of intercourse, and 

 got along quite as fast by a speedily established dumb-show. In 

 the course of our talk we learned that the Singphos and the 

 Kachins are one and the same, the first being the Thai appella- 

 tion and the second the Burmese. This people, who extend south 

 of Khamti, were described as at this very time in active warfare 

 with the English. 



A petty chief from a village to the west paid us a visit, and 

 he too possessed a certificate from Mr. Gray. Plenty of folk 

 hereabout expressed a desire to go to India. If the route is 

 improved, frequent communication between it and Khamti will 

 probably ere long be established. 



The announcement — naturally not made without fresh gratuitv 

 — of twelve porters recruited for us in the mountains, made us 

 anxious to prove the minister's itinerary without delay. From 

 Khamti to Bishi, the first village in Assam, was said to be 

 only nine days' march, but without intermediate settlements. 

 To be on the safe side, we laid in supplies for eleven days. 



' There are three routes to Assam : one to the south by the source of the river 

 Dapha ; a second by that of the river Dihing ; and a third to the north by the .Mishmis. 

 The first of these only has been followed : by Colonel Woodthorpe in 1S75 (1S85 ?) and by 

 Mr. Gray in 1893. 



