THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 145 
been driven from two of the most important; and as orders were now sent 
to Col. Bichardson to withdraw from Bissen Singh and Bephoo Chung, and 
to take all his force to join the Bight Column under Maj.-Gen. Mulcaster, we 
actually, at this period, had but two posts left, namely, Dalingkote and 
Buxa. So much for undervaluing an enemy, who “was found to be daring, 
full of courage, numerous, and not ill-armed(though he had been painted 
“ cowardly, enervated, small in numbers, and miserably-armed ”). Whatever 
terms may be applied to the tactics and conduct of the British forces, it is 
but just to give the wild Bhootea credit for the few good qualities he may 
possess. 
On Col. Bichardson’s return to camp from Bissen Singh he found awaiting 
him the orders to destroy and retire from the posts formed by our column, 
which had been held intact, and instructions were given accordingly. I myself 
received orders to proceed to the command of an Armstrong mountain bat¬ 
tery, which was attached to the left-centre column, that which had been 
driven from Tassagong, and though laid up for the past three days with a 
bad attack of fever which had left me unusually weak, I obtained leave to 
proceed at once to the new appointment. 
There was a difficulty, however, about getting to my destination; the only 
known way was by Gowalpara, where I should have had to wait, perhaps for 
a week, for a steamer going to Doobree, from whence it was seven long 
marches to the Bala Pass. This would perhaps take me 14 to 20 days, 
a period I could not give, as it was highly probable our force at Bala would 
attack Tassagong shortly, so that although the country intervening (only 
60 miles in a direct line), was entirely unknown, not an Englishman having 
ever been through it. After weighing it over, I decided it would not take me 
longer than the round-about way via the base of operations, and therefore 
getting two men from the village of Dootma (who, however, denied all 
knowledge of any path), to assist me, I set off on the 22nd February. The 
jungle fever had, however, taken such hold of me that I could not leave 
my bed; the hours of night were the worst, sleep being quite out of 
the question, and my head swimming with the quantity of quinine it was 
necessary to take. To make matters worse I had a week before sprained 
my ancle badly, this was swollen and angry, notwithstanding repeated 
applications of leeches; I was quite unable to walk. When I started 
on the 22nd, I looked anything but a valuable addition to a fighting 
force. 
Three Sepoys and a native non-commissioned officer were given me as an 
escort, and two elephants were allowed for the carriage of these men, and 
for their kits and provisions for 10 days. 
At starting the two guides again protested against going, declaring with 
wringing hands they had never been westward, and that the country in that 
direction was a howling wilderness; a promise of £1 a piece had a good 
effect in calming their despair. Having a compass, and knowing that my 
journey was as due west as I could make, I set forth, but for the first few 
miles was constantly stopped by the repeated remonstrances of the guides , 
who implored to be allowed to depart, but as my whole hope lay in them 
(and the little compass), we soothed their fears, excited their cupidity, and 
succeeded in persuading them to try their skill in finding a path. 
Passing for three or four miles by the same route as led to Goosagoan, we 
