KHAMTI TO INDIA 



tigers ; if so, they were utterly inadequate for the purpose, and 



we inclined to the belief that they were connected with some 



religious superstition. When we bivouacked for the night, we 



should have felt more satisfied with the day's work if fever had 



not eot a firm hold on four of our men. Loureti, the voungrest 



of the troop, was the worst case, and kept up with difficulty, 



although the unselfish Anio took his pack as well as his own. 



Their condition distressed us, as we could do little to alleviate 



it beyond giving them flannel shirts and quinine. It is perhaps 



needless to say that this and the days that followed proved the utter 



fallaciousness of the information supplied us at Khamti. " Pessi- 



mus " had assured us we should have no more torrent scrambles ; 



we had little else. As for Hoe Daung, the minister, he had 



told us that we could have no difficulty in finding the wa\-, as 



there was no choice ; he might have added that, lor the most 



part, there was no route to lose. Without the guide it must 



have been impossible for us to guess it. 



We ascended the valley of the Nam - Tsai, finding plentiful 



signs of forest rangers in the spoor of antelope, tigers, and 



rhinoceros. W'e had to thank the latter for many an enlarged 



path and flattened bank. Poulanghing, the guide, e.\plained that 



these are two-horned rhinos, and that their flesh is good. Their 



prints were not so large as those which I had seen in Sundarbunds. 



In this forest march we came to a clearing where was a muddy 



spring, a likely lair for wild pig. In a large tree was built a 



machan or small bamboo platform, whence a hunter could command 



the descent of tiger or rhinoceros to drink. 



Near our midday halt we had a stroke of luck in ihi- discovery 



of two loads of rice placed under cover, no doubt by some folk 



against their return from Assam. It was a godsend and a 



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