130 
MINUTES OE PROCEEDINGS OE 
Cutchabarry-—would be unaccounted for; for from personal inspection I saw 
that the want of water for the latter place could have been remedied by a 
few men in a week, the old water channels leading from the Surrunbundee 
being still in existence and but slightly injured. 
From Sidlee two routes led towards the interior of Bhootan by way of 
Bissen Singh, as the first point in the hills was named. The more direct 
route was said to be through jungle and forest, with a scarcely perceptible 
track, suffering from scarcity of water and abundance of wild beasts; it was 
said that even the Bhootea seldom traversed it, and he bore a high character 
for endurance and woodcraft. The other road led away from the direct 
route to the villages of Eagneeragoan and Dootma, and after a wide sweep 
to the S.W. to the foot of the mountains. The straight and less known 
path would take a single traveller three days, walking from sunrise to sunset; 
and from Pokeehaga (the name of some spot where the ascent began), it 
would take half a day, or as our informant expressed it, from sunrise to 
“ there,” pointing to where the sun would stand about noon—for the natives 
of Sidlee had but a vague and dangerous idea of distance. The easier path 
would, it was said, take six days. 
As our column suffered from a scarcity of baggage animals, and as we 
would be obliged to carry our provisions with us any way, the shortest road 
appeared to have advantages, especially as the winter time was fast passing, 
owing to the delay of our having to wait the result of Major-General 
Mulcaster's operations against Dewangiri; besides, as either road was then 
a terra incognita , it was as well to take the shortest. So our practical chief, 
Colonel Bichardson, directed the field engineer to clear the direct path, 
and in a short time Lieutenant Garnault was driving a wide passage through 
the dense wilderness of grass that spread far on our onward way. Working 
with a rapidity scarcely to be credited, this indefatigable officer soon cleared 
the dry growth of grass by a systematic plan of prairie-firing. Marking the 
direction of the wind and setting up marks on high, he fired the jungle, 
and miles upon miles of an impenetrable wilderness was soon so clear that 
a deer would have been visible at a mile's distance. Working parties under 
the sappers, well supported by armed parties, cleared through the burnt 
embers a 12-foot way, and before long an excellent road was completed to 
the spot which would mark our first day’s march. 
The appearance of these conflagrations was, at times when the wind was 
high, indescribably grand—a perfect wall of fire would travel with wonderful 
rapidity over the wide face of the country, with a roar quite appalling. 
Even when at a safe distance to windward the elephants would trumpet 
shrilly and tremble with fear at this revelry of their great dread, fire. 
The arsenal of His Highness the Baja of Sidlee did not present an 
imposing, praiseworthy appearance. Two or three old honeycombed guns, 
of the smallest calibre, one burst at the first reinforce, lay just inside the 
gate, about which lounged some dozen Bengalese, not the most desperate 
of warriors. This armory was also the barracks of His Highness, it was full 
of spears with imposing-shaped heads and fringes of scarlet tassels; match* 
locks more or less dangerous to the person using them, three of large bore 
and evidently meant as wall-pieces, and at the most, some thirty swords 
completed the warlike stores of the place. The powder (made at Sidlee 
itself) was of unequal grain, dead in lustre and filthily dirty; no wonder that 
