18 S. E. Peal — Report on a visit to the [No. 1, 



the Niinki, up and beside which we travelled for some hours, and which in 

 places is anything but easy walking, and, though bare-legged, I found shoes 

 were necessary. Here and there a man had an ugly fall, and it was well the 

 things were well packed, as the loads had rough usage. Gradually it began to 

 rain, which was a damper in every sense, as where we went on the banks leeches 

 abounded, and in the river bed the rocks and boulders and the smaller 

 shingle became very slippery. A small lean-to shelter or old hut marked 

 where the path left the Niinki bed to ascend the spur, and here I made 

 the men halt. The Nagas and Singphus and Mung at once pulled out 

 pipes, so I made my fellows all take a little rum " medicinally." We then 

 started on and found the first 1,000 or 1,500 feet pretty steep, the path 

 being unmistakeably visible, both by the track below and the blazes on the 

 tree stems of all ages, from one to ten years ; a peculiar feature of the 

 path was that it very seldom varied from a dead level for perhaps two 

 miles or so, and never descended anywhere as much as 30 feet, and was in 

 the main fairly straight. Vegetation began to vary a little, not only trees, 

 but plants and herbs of new kinds were seen, and after about a couple of 

 hours' pretty easy walking the track got steeper and steeper, where the 

 long spur joined the main range. At last the climbing became no joke, to 

 the men who had wetted loads especially, and we had frequently to rest ; 

 half an hour or so of this work brought us through some kako bamboo to 

 the crest of the ridge, which was quite narrow and densely wooded, the 

 views either way being simply of clouds and mists. 



At about fifty yards from the path we camped on a small level, and 

 the rain left off in time for the people to hang out and dry their clothes, 

 blankets, &c. The only thing now needed was what we had too much of 

 already, i. e., water. 



Some of the Nagas, however, went away to the bamboos, getting 

 about a gallon from the joints, which sufficed for cooking my dinner and 

 brewing tea for all the party. 



I repeatedly told them there was a spring of good water some 400 

 yards down the path on the east side, in a gully off the same, but both 

 Lah and the Nagas denied it, and said it was useless to go. Subsequently, 

 when at Bor Phakial, I heard that it was true that there was water there. 

 At 9 p. m. water boiled at 205°. 75, air being 57° F. Considering our wet- 

 ting and fasting, the people were all in very good spirits, and we were 

 anxious to see through the veil of mist to the south, — but no such luck, 

 the night proved foggy too. In the early morning I put my orderly to 

 watch for the view at a part of the crest where there was a patch of grass 

 some two acres in extent. At about 8 a. m. he reported by shouting to me 

 that the clouds were clearing and mountains showing beyond. I at once 

 went up with my prismatic compass, and now and then the driving white 



