THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
135 
evening, and native camp followers were informed that for such behaviour 
they would in future render themselves liable to punishment. 
One hundred of the cavalry were ordered to leave our force the following 
day, and proceed to the town where they had been directed to be stationed, 
leaving two hundred with the force. 
The 1st January saw us off again to a camping ground eight miles distant; 
for the first four miles we passed through the same high grass as before, 
cavalry leading the column, and then we came upon a clear pebbly bottomed 
stream, on either bank of which ran a strip of forest, whose boughs over¬ 
lapped and formed an arch above the water; this thatch was matted by 
gigantic creepers, festooned in a manner beyond description beautiful. 
Four such streams did we cross, none above 2 feet in depth, occasionally 
a boggy bottom where the elephants sank deep, but these wise animals got 
through eventually, breaking down obstructing boughs and winding through 
the wilderness of trees till they formed a path which allowed themselves and 
their loads through. 
The place where we were to encamp was a dense mass of tall grass beside 
a stream called the Dalpanee. To work officers and men went, cutting 
down the growth of jungle, two hours had done but little, and then we trod 
down the masses of grass which allowed us an open space to pitch our tents 
upon. The elephants did right good service, they would tear up the jungle 
and toss it on their backs, and carrying it off threw it away, one elephant 
doing the work of twenty men. Eeaping the grass being out of the question, 
at length, as I said, we trampled it down and pitched our camp as best we 
might. Well may this country be called a “ howling wilderness.” Fever 
here began to shew itself among us; we had previously had many cases, 
which had nearly all given way to the remedies, but Lieutenant Garnault 
was now laid up, and a large proportion of the men. 
The country certainly had an undeniable air of unhealthiness about it, but 
we were going on towards the enemy and thought but little of the matter, 
except when the stench of the rank vegetation made itself more than usually 
disagreeable. 
The Deputy Quarter-master General and Mr Metcalf went on again from 
Dalpanee to reconnoitre the road to Bissen Sing, and to find the whereabouts 
of the once large town of Cutchabaree. Our guides were useless, and we 
soon found that the great obstacle to an advance would be the want of water 
for even culinary purposes. 
The stream close by which we were encamped was full of fish, which 
attacked us savagely when we bathed, nibbling most unpleasantly at our 
legs, they took a fly readily and afforded considerable sport; they ran, about 
herring size, some even up to a pound in weight, and proved excellent eating. 
Many wild elephants were here seen by the mahouts or elephant drivers 
when collecting forage, and rhinoceros tracks were quite common and fresh 
on the river bank, while deer marks were beyond number, but, to the sorrow 
of our sportsmen, a General Order was issued which prohibited going out on 
shooting excursions. 
The reconnoitring party could only find a small streamlet of water in a 
place about five miles off, and as the quantity would not suffice for the whole 
force, the old right and left leg plan was again put in force, and Colonel 
Richardson, with the 44th Native Infantry, marched thither, where they had[ 
