76 TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEYS. 



cowardly and malignant behaviour of the inhabitants, whom Major 

 Badgley found to be a particularly obnoxious and untrustworthy 

 lot, proved awkward obstacles to progress. 



Lieutenant Woodthorpe was deputed with an assistant in the 

 first instance to accompany Lieutenant Harman to the Miri hills, 

 as already mentioned on page 52. On his return, Lieutenant Wood- 

 thorpe proceeded to Sadiya, and without waiting for his Mishmi 

 carriers, who had failed to put in an appearance, he ascended a 

 range of hills rising about 9,000 feet high, and overlooking the main 

 valley of the Dibong, and succeeded in acquiring the following : — 

 (1) a fairly accurate knowledge of the sources of the Dibong. and 

 the course of its main stream in the hills ; (2) an accurate know- 

 ledge of its course in the plains, and of about 1,000 square miles 

 of the hills bordering it ; and (3) an approximate knowledge of an 

 additional 1,100 square miles in the hills. The Dikrang, Diphu, 

 and Digaru rivers were also mapped. 



This party had been engaged for several years in surveying the 

 hills south of the Brahmaputra river, the greater portion on the 

 half -inch scale, when in 1878 Major Badgley was instructed to 

 undertake a full topographical survey on the larger scale of 

 two inches to the mile of all the land on the south of the Sylhet 

 district left unsurveyed by the Revenue Survey, and afterwards 

 to make a detailed survey of the boundaries of tea grants and 

 estates. The want of accurate surveys was believed to be costing 

 Government heavily in fraudulent zemindari claims. "With the 

 assistance of some surveyors lent from the Revenue Survey Branch 

 this work was taken in hand. Much difficulty was experienced in 

 triangulating, the stations being in most cases platforms supported 

 by bamboo scaffolding round trees, the tops of which were cut off 

 and the levelled stump used as a stand for the theodolite. Great 

 care had to be taken not to touch the tree, as once set swaying it 

 took some time to come to rest, and the wind for the same reason 

 sometimes put a stop to observations. Major Badgley says of the 

 Tipperaks that they are active fellows, and excellent hands at 

 jungle cutting, but their fondness for burning the forests makes 

 them undesirable cultivators. The Manipuns he describes as 

 pleasant-spoken, independent, and good hands at a bargain, but 

 in matters concerning land as often victimised by the Sylhetias, who 

 are strong, cowardly, morose, ami quite uncompromising in their 

 haired of Europeans. 



