148 
MINUTES OE PEOCEEDINGS OE 
man who had been following me from Dootma with a letter caught me, and 
I felt glad at this addition of a stout well-armed man to my party, the more 
especially as great excitement was apparent among the hostages and their 
friends, who now came forward and warned me of the neighbourhood of 
armed bodies of Bhooteas, they also explained all about the late raid, and 
inveighed bitterly against the Bhootea robbers, telling of slave drivings and 
murders; this was interpreted to me through my mahout or elephant driver, 
who spoke both Assamese and Hindostanee. 
We cooked our dinner, and one man was placed at the ford, some 200 
yards from our camp. About midnight the village next to us, about a quarter 
of a mile distant, was seen to be on fire, and we all stood to our arms 
expecting an attack; roof after roof caught fire, and for two hours the 
conflagration raged. At last I stole out, and creeping by some ditches came 
within 200 yards of the village. Men and women were screaming and 
wringing their hands, and some ten or twelve men stood apathetically by, 
never attempting to stay the flames. They were, however, not dressed 
like Bhooteas, but most undoubtedly were emissaries or adherents of the 
enemy. 
Not liking this neighbourhood I packed up my traps before daylight, 
and keeping the party well together made tracks to the westward. Two guides 
from the village of Coomergoan, said they would lead me in two days to where 
a force of the “ Company Bahadors” was assembled. 
As the day dawned we found that we were close to the foot of the hills, 
within four miles of our front rose the wooded sides; the whole country 
around us for miles was cultivated and dotted with villages, then we came 
upon two branches of a large deep swift river, one of which I crossed 
on a raft; on the west bank of this river, called the Byeduck, the 
cultivation changed, and we entered a dense tangle of forest and jungle, 
through which a path had been lately cut, which marked our way plainly 
enough* Seven hours of uninterrupted marching brought us to an opening 
in the forest, in the centre of which lay the deserted little village of 
Mezpara, close to it ran a pleasant little stream where we made half an 
hour's halt for refreshing man and beast. My ancle all this day pained 
me most villainously and was getting angry and hot, laying it in the cold run¬ 
ning water refreshed it immensely. Some three hours more marching from 
Mezpara, through a wild grass jungle, brought us in view of some villages lying 
right and left of the track, and to what I understood to be an old fort. It 
looked more like a tank, but I did not go near, fatigue overcoming curiosity. 
Erom hence began a succession of deep ravines, having from 2 to 4 feet of water 
with muddy bottoms; twice my pony had to swim, and the elephants ex¬ 
perienced difficulty in getting up the banks. This delayed us very much, and 
towards half-past four p.m. I halted again. We were all now thoroughly dead 
beat, and would have remained here for the night had the guides not been 
continually telling us that “ the army lay encamped close by," and -so they 
got us on, mile by mile. While eating some biscuits at the last halting 
place, one of the Sepoys came running to tell me that two Bhooteas were 
walking towards us, so ordering the men to hide, we suddenly pounced on our 
victims, but found that they were in possession of two passes for safe conduct, 
and were in fact employed to do some service for our government, collecting 
wood and building bridges. These passes were given by a Captain Hydyut 
