500 'WILD SPORTS OF BURMA AND ASSAM 



lack of game, but it generally broke away far from where I 

 was stationed. Gaur and sambur and bears were the principal 

 beasts to be found. 



In October 1869, General Blake, Ommaney of the 44th, and 

 I went for an excursion over the hills, and Trevor, the Super- 

 intendent Engineer, accompanied us as far as Jowai. Skinner, 

 of the Police, also came a part of the way. We started after 

 breakfast, going by the Cossyah paths in preference to the 

 cart-track laid out by Major Briggs. By the route we fol- 

 lowed, Pombara was only twelve or thirteen miles, by the 

 latter, twenty-two ; but the grass had not been burnt, and the 

 Cossyah paths obliterated, so we had to walk the greater part 

 of the way, and it took us three and a half hours to get to 

 our destination. Pombara is a pretty place. -It is colder 

 than Shillong. There is a very deep and widish ravine to the 

 right, with high peaks beyond. The bungalow is very fair. 

 We took our guns and strolled out in the evening ; we only 

 saw a few black partridges and quail, but the General went on, 

 whilst we returned home and shot a young barking deer, 

 which turned out when roasted whole uncommonly good 

 to eat. 



The road from Pombara towards Jowai is very pretty, with 

 groves of oak and rhododendrons and masses of the common 

 pine. It is pretty level for about five miles, then there is an 

 abrupt ascent of 1500 feet. There was no road then, so 

 we had to climb up the steep hillside, which was no joke ; 

 but the view from the top was lovely. We breakfasted 

 there and then went ofT a couple of miles further, then turned 

 off to Nurting. The road had either lapsed into jungle or 

 had been washed away ; we went by Cossyah paths, and 

 worse ones I never wish to see. One nullah we came to had 

 precipitous banks, and the means of crossing was a fallen tree. 

 This was very well for bare-footed Cossyahs, but useless to 

 us with ponies. Ommaney wanted to ride his old screw over 

 the frail bridge, where there was no foothold for a horse ; 

 but we persuaded him to dismount at all events. On he 

 went, leading his Bucephalus ; but the latter had not got half- 

 way when he toppled over, one hind-leg caught in a fork of 

 the tree, and the horse was suspended head-foremost over the 



