Here That the Book Was Entirely Written From
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
6/- Net A FLY ON THE WHEEL OR HOW I HELPED TO GOVERN INDIA BY LIEUT.-COL. THOMAS H. LEWIN AUTHOR OP "wild tribes OF THE SOUTH-WESTERN FRONTIER," "handbook of THE TIBETAN LANGUAGE," ETC., ETC., ETC. LONDON CONSTABLE " COMPANY LTD 10 ORANGE STREET LEICESTER SQUARE WC 1912 lAll Rights Reifrvc4 " devores Jours a la f ois heureux et triste, jours par le travail et I'enthousiasme, jours comme on n'en voit qu'une fois dans la vie." Lacordaire. 3015919 PREFACE since I this It is now more than thirty years published in India horn the into which I book of my youth ; Mutiny to the end of the was plunged, a boy fresh from Addiscombe, first Frontier War against the marauding Lushai tribes on the South-Eastern Frontier of Bengal, during which last opera-tion I acted as political officer. I India has greatly changed since those days : changed as the book in its edition and myself am changed. I read new wonder at the boy who so lightly went forth to face the unknown. I can only add here that the book was entirely written from and that if there diaries, kept carefully for my home-folk, are mistakes or misconceptions I cannot alter them now. Such as real and the they are recorded here, so they were true to young who down fellow wrote them long, long ago, with no views as to " publication. The old fellow" who now reads the book over the last time feels that touch this for he cannot fresh young work without marring it : they are the vivid impressions of his youth. " Naught feared this body of wind or weather When youth and I dwelt in't together." T. H. LEWIN. Parkhurst, January a6, 1912. CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. JvOOKiNG Back (1857-58) I II. Central India (1859) 28 . HI. The Indian Police Service (1861-62) 56 IV. Hazaribagh (1862-63) . 73 Hazaribagh V. " continued (1863-64) 83 . VI. NoACOLLY (1864-65) 103 VII. Chittagong (1864-65) . 123 VIII. The Shendus (1865-66) 146 IX. The Hill Tracts of Chittagong (1866-67) 183 continued X. The Hill Tracts of Chittagong " (1867) 209 continued XI. The Hill Tracts of Chittagong " (1867-68) 236 XII. The Lushai Expedition (1871-72) 255 XIII. Conclusion 291 F.W ILLUSTRATIONS Captain T. H. Lewin (Thangliena) Lushai with the Chiefs Frontispiece ...... Map Demagree of 305 , . Map Chittagong District Facing 318 of the . A FLY ON THE WHEEL CHAPTER I LOOKING BACK 1857-58 I HAVE arrived at the midmost stage of life ; and now, before quitting the table-land of maturity and striking down to the level of lower old age, I am minded to look back, while I am still able to gaze at the past, with vision undimmed by age, or infirmity. I come of old Kentish stock, who for three generations had sent sons to India ; and therefore it was a natural start in life when one of my Indian uncles obtained for me a cadetship in the East India Company's service, and I was in due course started out with a dozen other youngsters, my college-mates from Addiscombe, bound for Calcutta, on the 9th September, 1857, the year of the Indian Mutiny. We had heard rumours in England, before starting,of insur-rection in Bengal, but the disturbance was thought to be local, and not of general importance ; and after the final wrench from home ties,and the quick ensuing superlative wretchedness of sea-sickness, we reached the Mediterranean, our youthful minds much elated with the sense of our own individuality,and troubled only by insatiable appetites ; sea and sky, present and future, alike undimmed by any fleck of cloud, any presage of evil omen. At Malta, however, serious news awaited us, news that struck home to our boyish hearts, and brought us face to face with the stern realities of life and death. The province of Bengal was in a flame of revolt from end to end ; the entire Bengal army was F.w. B . i A FLV ON THE WHEEL in open mutiny ; and, what stirred us most, the batch of cadets which had precededus to Bengalby a few months only,young fellows we had all known, and with whom we had played cricket within the year " they,our schoolfellows,had been sur-prised and massacred at Allahabad, as they sat at mess. The knowledgeand fear of death as a thingpossibleto ourselves had hitherto been unknown to us ; but now it came very near as we realised the dreadful scene. The cheerful mess-table,with itslights,and white cloth sparklingwith silver and wine ; and then in a flash the windows filled with the black threatening faces and murderous eyes of the mutineers,as they surrounded the mess-house, from which not one of the poor lads escaped alive. The fun of our voyage was gone. The gloriesand wonders of Alexandria and Cairo ; the crossingof the pathless desert sands, strewn with skeletons of animals and shapeless masses of rock,over which we joltedheavilyin our mule-drawn vans ; the dry burning heat of the Red Sea and the moist cUngingwarmth of the Indian Ocean and Ceylon ; the strange new human creatures that swarmed round the ship,importunate for alms, as we stoppedfor coaling: all passedbefore our eyes like a dream, as obstacles and delaysin our now tedious journey. The fever had seized us ; the desire to fight,the wish for ven-geance was in our blood. We wanted one thing only" to reach quicklythe land where our comrades and friends had so treacherouslybeen murdered. It was a relief when at last the low, muddy banks of the Hoogly came in view. The pilotclimbed on board, and we slowlysteamed up the river and droppedanchor off the Cityof Palaces. I even now shudder to recall the chill feelingof lone-liness and home-sickness with which I soughtthe bare,cheerless room assignedto me in the cadet's quarters in Fort William. Alone in a strangeland ; my fellow passengers had scattered and gone their respectiveways on landing; my fellow cadets even, had found friends to meet them, while I went alone to the Fort Adjutant, to report my arrival,and inquireto what regimentof the Bengalarmy I was likelyto be posted. " " " Army !" regiment! was the reply. There is no Bengal army ; it is all in revolt. You will be sent off to the front at once, and perhapsattached to some Queen'sregiment. Provide LOOKING BACK 3 yourselfwith a camp-bedsteadand a chillumchee,and wait for orders." I saluted and left the presence of my superiorofficer,deeply " ponderingas to the possiblenature and qualitiesof a chillum-chee," but not venturingto inquirefurther. However, I must obey orders ; so with some misgivingsI entrusted myselfto some palanquin-bearers,who joggedoff with me to the bazaar, whence I returned triumphant,with my chillumchee,or brass washing-basin,borne helmet-fashion on the head of a dusky porter,who followed in the wake of my novel conveyance. The bedstead I did not purchase,grudgingthe expense out of my slender purse. Next morning I learnt that I and four other cadets were to proceed to Chinsurah, to joinHer Majesty's34th Regiment, which was under orders for Cawnpore. We were each allowed 150 lbs. weightof luggage; and I ruefullypartedwith the rest of my belongings,which I did not see againfor a year and a half. On reachingChinsurah and reportingmyselfto the Adjutant of the 34 th,I was postedto C company, and the same day we were booked by railwayto Raneegunge, and marched to a standingcamp. There, two other cadets and myself were allotted an empty tent, and, rollingourselves up in our cloaks, we laydown on the bare groundand sleptprofoundly. From Raneegunge,I set off with a lieutenant and fifteen men of the 34thRegiment,by horse-dak,in wretched joltingvehicles. The order was givenfor the men to load their rifles,and we pushed on nightand day,changinghorses every ten miles. At Benares we joinedforces with a detachment of the 82nd Regi-ment, and, leavingour horse-daks,we proceededin bullock- wagons. I engaged a servant at Benares, who added much to my comfort, and at Allahabad I had the satisfaction of drawing my first pay " my last,too, for many months " and invested promptly the greaterpart of it in the purchaseof a pony. I had found the slow, dusty progress of the bullock-train most weary and monotonous, and one evening,to beguilethe tedium of the way, I rashlydisplacedthe driver of my wagon and determined to try my hand at drivingthe quiet-looking beasts. There was no diiving-seat,the driver having to squat B 2 4 A FLY ON THE WHEEL on the poleto which the oxen were yoked. I seated myself accordingly,and soughtto apply the simplemeans I had seen the driver use to increase our speed. It looked so easy, to screw the taU round a bit and givea gentledigwith the goad. I had no difficultyin settingthem going; but, alas ! it was the old story of the salt-mill over again. I had no power to stop them. Away went the heavy wagon, swayingand groaningin the ruts of the road. The lieutenant from the wagon in front turned in astonishment to see what had happened ; but I, luckless charioteer,had enough to do chnging to the pole, where I with difficultykept my seat. The road lay along a steepembankment, and, checked by the wagon in front,down the slopemy bullocks plunged,draggingme and the wagon after them. Shouts filled the air as we left the track,and I, thrown from my uneasy perch,climgon for dear lifeunderneath the pole,with the great wheels thunderingon either side of me, while in front laythe deep precipitouschasm of a watercourse, in which we seemed doomed to end our career.