NURTING AND ITS WELSH MISSIONARY 501 



bed of the nullah, which was a mass of huge boulders. The 

 branch gave, and down the horse went, but as his value was 

 but nominal he was not seriously hurt ! We sent our beasts 

 by a roundabout way and walked over this temporary bridge, 

 and after a while came to what had in former days been a 

 very good road. It had been bridged, but it had not been 

 attended to for years, and they were impassable and in the 

 last stage of decay. 



When we got within sight of the village, I took a short cut 

 and got there before the others. I found, as before stated, a 

 Welsh missionary with a cartload of children in the dak 

 bungalow, so we had to put up in the school-room, which, 

 from its appearance, could not have been used for months and 

 months, and was a mass of filth. We got it cleaned out, but 

 the odours were abominable, and surrounding the bungalow 

 we were in, were vile marshes ; pigs roamed about in dozens 

 and were evidently in the habit of occupying what ought to 

 have been the place of instruction for the village community. 

 We could not stand the stenches and filth, and left the next 

 afternoon for Jowai, having shot some duck, teal, snipe, 

 and a solitary snipe in the adjacent bheels. We had a 

 delicious bathe in the Mouton river, which was a clear, cold 

 stream. The road to Jowai is exceedingly pretty, passing 

 through undulating country, for all the world like the Brighton 

 downs. We had to cross several lovely streams and flooded 

 woods, where in the season woodcock abound. We got to 

 the dak bungalow at 3 p.m., and our traps arrived shortly 

 afterwards. Mr. Shadwell, the Assistant-Commissioner, soon 

 sent us a quantity of vegetables and also other necessaries of 

 life. There is a detachment of the 44th here, and I was 

 building a stockade for them. Just below the hill on which 

 the bungalow stands there is a deep valley, with a river 

 passing through its centre, and on a former visit I had noticed 

 that it swarmed with fish ; so this time I had plenty of tackle 

 with me, and also an india-rubber boat. The Gurkhas used 

 to catch a good many of the fish, but the Cossyahs did not 

 like their doing so, as they said the river was sacred. So 

 Blake, Ommaney, and I went down, thinking to fill our creels ; 

 but not only did we not catch a single fish, but did not see 



