COSSYAH AND JYNTEAH HILLS 



THESE hills may be said to commence about eighteen miles 

 south of Gowhatty, at Burneyhat, and extend in a south- 

 eastern and western direction ; they skirt Sylhet and Cachar, 

 and beyond are called the Lushai hills ; and both further 

 north and further south they go by various names, but they 

 are all a part of a vast plateau. Towards the east and 

 north they are called the Naga, Mishmee, and other hills, and 

 extend into China and Burma, and there are lofty peaks 

 often covered with snow. Until Upper Burma was annexed, 

 only two or three people (Europeans) had ever crossed from 

 Assam into Burma, but now the provinces are contiguous. 

 The people inhabiting that vast space consist of many tribes, 

 all more or less savages, and give constant trouble frequently 

 cutting up small detachments, and then fleeing into their 

 mountain fastnesses, where they are pretty safe from attack 

 by regular troops ; but the brave Sikhs who have enlisted 

 into our police generally give a good account of them. 



Cherra Poonghie, overlooking the Sylhet plains, was occupied 

 by our troops for many years, but Shillong and Jowai and 

 Kohima, as well as Muniyur, are the only places now 

 garrisoned, excepting small detachments at Deebrooghur 

 and other places. These regiments are now Gurkhas, but in 

 my time the 44th was the only real Gurkha regiment. 



Colonel Briggs, who had been employed under Major 

 Kennedy in the construction of the hill road towards Nepaul, 

 laid out with his usual skill a road connecting Shillong and 

 Gowhatty, and also Shillong and Jowai. These were far too 

 good for bridle paths, and never completed as a cart road. 

 The distance too was excessive. The consequence was that it 



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