54 



RESULTS OF HIS VISITS 



Extract from the Author s letter to Captain F. Jenkins, Commissioner of 

 Assam, regarding the Mishmees. December, 1836.* 



" I had thus become acquainted with all the influential chiefs near 

 our frontier, and by all I was received in a friendly and hospitable 

 manner. In accordance with my original intentions, my attention 

 was in the first place directed towards ascertaining whether the tea 

 exists in this direction or not, and, as I have already informed you, 

 I have every reason to think that the plant is unknown on these hills. 

 From what I have seen of the tea on the plains, I am disposed to 

 believe that the comparative want of soil, due to the great inclina- 

 tion of all the eminences, is an insuperable objection to its existence. 



"As I before observed to you, during my stay at Jingsha, my 

 curiosity had been excited by reports of an incursion of a consider- 

 able force of Lamas into the Mishmee country. It hence became, 

 having once established a footing in the country, a matter of para- 

 mount importance to proceed farther into the interior, and, if possi- 

 ble, to effect a junction with these highly interesting people ; but all 

 my attempts to gain this point proved completely futile ; no bribes, 

 no promises would induce any of the chiefs to give me guides, even 

 to the first Mishmee village belonging to the Mezhoo tribe. I was 

 hence compelled to content myself for the present, with obtaining as 

 much information as possible relative to the above report, and I at 

 length succeeded in gaining the following certainly rather meagre 

 account. 



" The quarrel, as usual, originated about a marriage settlement 

 between two chiefs of the Mezhoo and Taeen tribes : it soon ended 

 in both parties coming to blows. The Mezhoo chief, Rooling, to 

 enable him at once to overpower his enemies, and to strike at once 

 at the root of their power, called in the assistance of the Lamas. 

 From this country a force of seventy men armed with matchlocks 

 made an invasion, and, as was to be expected, the Taeen Mishmees 

 were beaten at every point and lost about twenty men. The affair 

 seems to have come to a close about September last, when the Lamas 

 returned to their own country. Where it occurred I could gain no 

 precise information, but it must have been several days' journey in 

 advance of the villages I visited. 



* For the whole of this able communication, detailing the object and results of 

 his visit to the Mishmee mountains, See Journ. As. Soc. Beng. May 1837. 



