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.7)5

MY THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

AND

^Bcapt from fQe (Retenf Qfttuftng

MRS. ST. CLAIR GRIMWOOD.

FROM A PHOTOOFIUPH BY VANDYK.

^■-i,.....! EH.I I'Alri.. ?. S-t.r . frrim». .J ."

Three years in Manipur

Escape trom tbe decent <Dntfne

ETHEL ST. CLAIR GRIMWOOD

IVITU ILLUSTKATIONS AND PLAN

LONDON

RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON

9sblishtre in Otbinnq) to $ci ^^cetQ the Quttn

189I

\All rights rtu>Vf./\

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

-•o*-

PORTRAIT OF MRS. GRIMWOOD

BEAR FROM NAGA HILLS .

DRAGON IN FRONT OF THE PALACE

VIEW OF THE RESIDENCY AT MANIPUR

TRIBESMEN OF MANIPUR .

THE GARDENS OF THE RESIDENCY AT

MANIPUR

NATIVES OF THE MANIPUR HILLS

SKETCH MAP OF MANIPUR

PORTRAIT OF MR. FRANK GRIMWOOD

frontispiece

title-page

to face page i

»>

118
184
200
214

389849

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.

FACE

My husband oflfered the post of Political Agent at Manipur —
Arrival there and first impressions — ^Adventures on the
journey — Coolies — Arrive at Cachar - - - i — lo

CHAPTER II.

Cachar or Silchar — ^We are f(Sted there — The hill tribes : Kukis,
Tongkhuls, etc — Their dress and habits — Rest-houses,
and difficulties therein — Manipuri Sepoys : camp on the
Makru River — Logtak Lake — Colonel Samoo Singh — ^The
Senaputti ------ n — 28

CHAPTER III.

Favourable impressions of our new home, the Residency — ^The
Maharajah — His brother the Jubraj — Polo with the Princes
— ^The Senaputti a fine sportsman — ^Visits us on Sunday
afternoons — Shell-firing — Prince Zillah Singh — ^We tiy to
learn the Manipuri language - - . - 29 — 43

CONTENTS

CHAPTER IV.

Collect various animals around us — Habits of our pets — Our
beautiful grounds — The Nagas — Amusing incident — The
liquor Zu — Roast dog — ^Villages allotted to us for food,
labour, etc — Women do the work — Children of the
Maharajah — A water-party — Every child dances in Manipur
— ^The Manipuri women not shut up - • - 44-

PAGB

-59

CHAPTER V.

Trips to the Logtak Lake — Beautiful scene on the lake —
Tent pitched on an island in it — The Pucca Senna accom-
panies us — Crowds collect to see us — Old women dance —
Natives laugh at my riding-habit — Moombi — Steep ascent
— Chief of the village threatens us — Unpleasant quarters —
Wet condition and hostile reception — My husband teaches
the Prince English ..... 60 — 74

CHAPTER VI.

Society at Manipur — Band of the Ghoorkas — The bandmaster
— His peculiar attire — The regiment ordered away, to our
regret — Worse news — We are ordered to leave — Parting
views — Mr. Heath appointed — Son of the Tongal general
— His good and bad qualities — Magnificent scenery — The
Ungamis — Their quarrelsome character - - 75 — 92

CHAPTER VII.

Short stay at Jorehat — My husband appointed to Gauhati —
Value of the bearer in India — His notions and mine not
always in harmony — ^Arrive at Gauhati — Illness and death
of Mr. Heath — Presentiments — My husband returns to
Manipur — I remain at Shillong — Delicious climate - 93 — 103

CONTENTS xi

CHAPTER VIII.

PACE

terrible experience— A Thoppa and a journey in one— Its
difficulties and dangers — The Lushais— Arrive at Sylhet—
Find the coolies have levanted — A pony journey ends

disastrously — A night walk — ^Accident to Mr. A .

— Arrive at a teahouse — Not a shadowy dinner - 104 — 116

CHAPTER IX.

Return to Manipur — Mr. Heath's grave — Old Moonia — A
quarrel and fight between Moonia and the Chuprassie's
wife— Dignity of the Chuprassies— The Senaputti gets up
sports — Manipuri greetings and sports - - 117 — 128

CHAPTER X.

Bad relations between the Pucca Senna and the Senaputti —
Rival lovers — Quarrels in the Royal Family — Prince
Angao Senna — Pigeon contests — The Manipuris' fondness
for gambling — Departure of the Ghoorkas — Too much
alone ...... 129 — 137

CHAPTER XI.

The Princes quarrel — ^Attack on the Maharajah — His retreat
— His cowardice and accusations — The Pucca Senna
departs also — Conduct of the Jubraj - - 138 — 147

CHAPTER XII.

Vigour of the new reign — A magic-lantern performance — Con-
duct of the bandmaster — First mention of Mr. Quinton —
Visit to Burmah — Beauty of the scenery — House ourselves

XII

CONTENTS

PAGE

in a Pagoda — Burmese love of flowers, and of smoking —
Visit Tummu — Burmese love of chess— First meeting with
Grant — He helps us to make a cake — Search after orchids
— Arrival of visitors — Important telegram from Chief Com-
missioner — Coming events commence to cast shadows 148 — 167

CHAPTER Xni.

Preparations for the Chief Commissioner's visit — Despair over
the commissariat — Uncertainty of Mr. Quinton's intentions
— Uneasiness of the Manipuris — They crowd into their
citadel — Decision of the Government of India and their
policy against the Jubraj — Death of our dinner and our
goat — ^Arrival of Mr. Quinton and Colonel Skene — Mr.
Grim wood ordered to arrest the Jubraj — The Regent and
his brother appear at the Residency — The Manipuris suspect
hostility — The old Tongal — Last evening of peace - 168 — 185

CHAPTER XIV.

Up early on the eventful morning — The Jubraj does not attend
the Durbar — Visit of Mr. Grimwood to the Jubraj — Finds
him in high fever— Matters assume a serious aspect —
Thoroughfares deserted — Terrific thunderstorm — Our ser-
vants take French leave — My ayah deserts — Melancholy
thoughts — Lovely moonlight night — A Manipuri arrives to
spy out our doings — The night before the outbreak— Attack
on the Residency — Capture of the Jubraj's house —Anxiety
about Lieutenant Brackenbury — Stray bullets find their
billet in the Residency — Attack gets hot, and big guns play
on the Residency — We have to take to the cellars — The
Regent invites Mr. Quinton to an interview - 186 — 214

CONTENTS xiii

CHAPTER XV.

PAGB

Mr. Brackenbury — Scenes in the little cellar — Destruction of
our home — Another moonlight night with a difference —
Re-opening of the attack on the Residency — Death of
Mr. Brackenbury — Preparations to escape - - 215—227

CHAPTER XVI.

Escape of the servants — Mr. Gurdon comes for me— Away
from shelter, and one's life in one's hands — Over the hedge
and across the river — Lie in the ditch for shelter from
shot — Fired on at Burri Bazaar - - - 228 — 235

CHAPTER XVn.

Burning of the Residency and of all our effects— Difficulties of
retreat — No food, wet clothes, burning sun — Pursued —
Exhaustive march — Kindness of a Naga boy — Fired on —
Sleep after a march of twenty miles— Have to march again
— Captured a Manipuri with rice — Enemy lurks around us
— Come upon a stockade — Are attacked — Goorkhas in
sight --..-- 236—257

CHAPTER XVHI.

Saved — Captain Cowley pursues the enemy, and we fall on our
feet — Have to wear Sepo)rs' boots — Halt at Semiatak —
Transitions of climate — Manipuris attack — Tables turned on
them — Shortness of food — The Nagas — Cross the Jhiri and
r^ain the British frontier - - - - 258—269

XIV

CONTENTS

CHAPTER XIX.

PAGB

Our ignorance as to Mr. Quinton's proceedings — News at last
reach India and England— Take off my clothes for the first
lime for ten days— March to Lahkipur — The ladies of
Cachar send clothes to me — Write home— Great kindness
shown to me — My fears for my husband — The telegram
arrives with fatal news — Major Grant's narrative - 270 — 310

CHAPTER XX.

Her Majesty gives me the Red Cross— I go to Windsor and see
her Majesty — The Princess of Wales expresses a wish to
see me — Conclusion- .... ^ii — 316

i«SBai«i

rw^^/Sn^V

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

CHAPTER I.

Manipur ! How well I remember the first
time I ever heard the name — a name, too,
which was comparatively unknown three
short years ago, owing to the fact that it
belongs to a remote little tract of country
buried amongst hills and difficult of access,
far away from civilized India, and out of
the beaten track. This is not a geographical
treatise, and therefore there is no necessity
to dwell much on the exact whereabouts of
a place which has already been described
more than once. I will therefore attempt
no lengthy description, simply stating that

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

the valley of Manipur lies between Cachar,
the Kubo Valley, and Kohima, and is sur-
rounded by six ranges of hills which separate
it from the tracts of country named. A
pretty place, more beautiful than many of the
show-places of the world ; beautiful in its
habitable parts, but more beautiful in those
tracts covered with forest jungle where the
foot of man seldom treads, and the stillness
of which is only broken by the weird cry
of the hooluck* or the scream of a night-
bird hunting its prey.

We had not been in India many months
when my husband was offered the post of
political agent at Manipur. We were at the
time in a very junior position in Sylhet, a
place which had not fascinated either of us
in our short stay there ; but as a junior
officer my husband could not complain.
When, therefore, we got a letter one morning
offering him Manipur, we were much elated.
Visions of the glories heard of, but not seen,

* The hooluck is a black monkey, peculiar to Assam.

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

floated in front of both our minds. I pictured
to myself the dignity of being the mistress of
a Residency, of possessing servants in scarlet
and gold, with * V.R/ on their buttons, and a
guard-of-honour to walk out with me when-
ever I chose. I saw visions of a large
house and extensive grounds, and I pictured
the ensign of Old England dominating over *
all. Frank, likewise, had dreams of polo
ponies that played of their own accord every
day of the week, and visions of many tigers
only waiting to be shot, and snipe roosting
in the veranda !

Perhaps some may wonder why such
dreams should be ours, and why we built
such castles in the air. Once, many years
before this time of which I write, my hus-
band had passed through Manipur on his
way to England. He had spent a couple
of days there, and had seen the lake in the
compound covered with wild -duck, which
were almost as tame as the familiar bird
associated, as a rule, in our minds with

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

green peas and the spring. He had played
a never-to-be-forgotten game of polo with
three royal princes on a ground worthy of
Hurlingham, and he had taken it out of
the snipe one morning. Small wonder that
those two days remained in his memory,
and made him long for more like them,
when it was his fate to be stationed in an
uncongenial spot, where polo comes like
Christmas once a year, and which even the
snipe desert. And small wonder, too, was
it that when the letter came, offering him
the coveted post, he jumped at it. How
glad we were, and how we hastened to pack
up our belongings and depart to the land
of so much promise !

Nothing bothered us, not even when our
kitchen was blown down bodily in a gale
of wind one night, and our new cooking-
pans were damaged, and, worst of all, our
highly-valued and excellent cook gave notice
to quit immediately. The latter though, I
am glad to say, reconsidered his decision, and

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 5

on my promising him extra pay and new
cooking-pots, he kindly condescended to link
his fortunes with ours for a further period.
Alls well that ends well, and the extreme
sunniness of my temper on that occasion
merited a little reward. A flying visit to
Shillong, the hill station of Assam and head-
quarters of the Government of that province,
and a hasty return to Sylhet to bid good-bye
to the few Europeans there and to collect
our possessions, occupied our time until the
day arrived which was to see us start on our
long journey.

Here in England we consider a journey
long that lasts perhaps a day and a half, or
even one whole day ; but to anyone who
has ever been in the remote parts of India,
and more especially of Assam, a two days
journey would count as very little. Our
journey to Manipur took sixteen days, and
hard travelling into the bargain. Up every
morning and in our saddles soon after six,
with a fifteen-mile ride before us — hail, rain,

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

or sunshine. People in England cannot
realize what real hard travelling means. The
whole of your baggage in Assam is carried
by coolies. They are wonderfully strong,
and can take very heavy loads — when they
please, that is to say. But a disagreeable
coolie can be very disagreeable indeed. We
encountered many such, and the first day on
our travels it happened that we had more
than one unruly specimen.

We started in boats late one night after
dinner, and slept on the river, while the
boatmen rowed us up stream to a place some
twenty miles away, where our horses were
to meet us. It sounds rather pleasant
travelling by boat at night on a broad
smooth river, with the moon shining over-
head as only an Indian moon can shine.
But the situation loses much of its romance
when you know the style of boat that we
travelled in. They are small, awkwardly-
built machines, rather of the Noah's-ark type,
with a roofing made of bamboo coarsely

'^mw^v^mm^'

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 7

woven into matting, and so low that it
necessitated crawling in on all fours when
you wished to retire for the night. Any
idea of standing upright had to be abandoned.
Once in, you had to lie down and shuffle
off your clothes, and tumble into your
blankets, which were spread upon the floor.
Every time there was any steering to do,
the vibration caused by the movement of the
rudder awoke you from your slumbers ; and,
worst of all, the insects that swarmed in the
woodwork were most numerous and officious
in their unceasing attentions to the unhappy
occupants of the boat.

Two of our crew had the misfortune to
disagree upon some trivial matter during
the night, and as the space for settling their
differences was limited to about four square
feet on the prow of the boat, the stronger
mariner ejected his weaker comrade into the
river with much noise, wordy and otherwise.
Having ascertained the cause of the squabble,
and insisted on the immediate rescue of the

THREE YEARS JN MANIPUR

fallen adversary from an untimely end, we
were allowed to sleep as peacefully as we
could until daylight, when we arrived rather
cold and very hungry at our first halting-
stage, wliere chota hazri (early breakfast)
and our horses awaited us. Then began a
struggle between our domestics and the
shivering crowd of coolies collected for the
purpose of carrying our luggage. With one
voice they exclaimed that the Memsahib's
boxes were quite too enormous to be carried
at all — in fact, that there never had been
boxes like them before or since, and that we
must pay for at least three coolies for every
box. My husband made a few observations
to them in a somewhat peremptory form,
and the end of the matter was that two men
were told off for each trunk, and eventually,
with many heart-rending groans, our luggage
moved off. Now, there is one point which
I must touch upon before going on, and it
is a point which must strike anyone who
has ever travelled in India, and that is the

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

extraordinary habit your rattletraps have of
looking disreputable as soon as they come
to be mounted on the back of a coolie.
Whether it is that the undeniable presence
of a large and unsightly bundle of bedding
has a demoralizing effect upon the whole,
which is not lessened by the accompanying
basket of fowls and ducks destined to be
your breakfasts and dinners until you arrive
at your destination, I cannot say. But be
your trunks the most respectable, neat,
orderly trunks on the face of this earth,
they will look plebeian when they come to
be carried on the back of a half-clothed
native, and you would scarcely recognise
them were it not that your own name betrays
you, painted in large white letters on them
all, and your horses fail to shy at them in
consequence, if they are gifted with ordinary
intelligence.

We started off about two hours after our
things had left, but we had not gone far
when I saw a familiar object lying on the

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

side of the road in the shape of my largest
bonnet-box. Further on we spied nearly
all our luggage, with the wretched cook
doing * sentry go ' over it. On inquiring,
we found that all our coolies had run away —
no one knew where, and it was quite im-
possible to get them again. Eventually we
raised a few more from a police Thana,
and had to drive them in front of us the
whole way to prevent them bolting too.
Consequently we were many hours getting
to our destination, and did not get dinner
till about nine at night. With few excep-
tions, our march continued like this every
day until we arrived at Cachar, a small
station on the Manipur frontier.

[II ]

CHAPTER II.

Cachar, or rather Silchar, deserves a descrip-
tion, as it has been of such importance
during the recent troubles at Manipur. The
town is about one hundred and thirty miles
from the Manipur capital, but only twenty-
four miles from the boundary. The state
of Manipur is separated from the Cachar
district by a river called the Jhiri, where
we have outposts garrisoned by troops.
Silchar itself is not a very large station,
though it boasts of more Europeans than
most Assam districts, there being a regiment
always quartered there besides the usual
civil authorities. The district has a very
large planting community, and abounds in
tea-gardens ; and as the planters are con-

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

stantly in and out, there is a very fair amount
of gaiety, especially in the winter months,
when there are always two or three race
meets, each lasting for a week, which bring
people in from far and near.

Silchar has seen much trouble during the
last year. In September, 1890, the Lushai
disaster occupied everyone's attention, and
troops poured through the place on their
way to the hills about Fort Aijal to avenge
the treachery of the tribes inhabiting those
regions — treachery which resulted in the loss
of two valuable lives. A few weeks later
curiosity was rife to see the ex-Maharajah
of Manipur, who had been driven from his
throne by his brother the Senaputti, and was
passing through on his self-imposed pilgrimage
to the sacred city of Brindhaban on the
Ganges, accompanied by three of his brothers.
Christmas brought the usual round of races,
dances, and dinners with it ; but the sound
of the Christmas bells had scarcely ceased
when the New Year brought tidings of a

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

disaster which caused men s faces to pale,
and almost out-rivalled the horrors of the
mutiny. But I am anticipating events, and
must return to ourselves and our experiences
three years earlier.

We stayed two or three days in Silchar
on our first arrival there and made some
new friends, and were f&ted, as is the custom
when new-comers arrive at a station in India.
Hospitality is a law, and you have only to
be English to be assured of a welcome from
your fellow-countrymen, who are ready to
put themselves, their houses, and possessions
all at your service. There are disadvantages,
maybe, to be met with in India which are
many and great, and one loses much by
having to live out there ; but one never meets
with such true-hearted kindness anywhere
else as in India. The narrow prejudices
and questioning doubts as to who you are,
and what your station in life is, which assail
you at home, vanish entirely when you need
hospitality out there. The civil list or the

THREE YEARS IN MANJPUR

army list will tell your position and income,
and for the rest you are English, you come
from the old country, and all are glad to see
you and be kind to you. I am happy to
think of the good friends piade when I was
out there too — friends who were ready to
share their pleasures with me, and who were
still more ready to help me when the dark
days of trouble came and human sympathy
was so needed. Their names will ever live in
my heart, and may all good luck be theirs !

Our short stay in Silchar came to an end
very soon, and we were on our way to
Manipur in real earnest by the end of the
third day. The first two marches out to
the Jhiri were uneventful, and we then found
ourselves on the banks of the river, with a
vast expanse of forest jungle before us to
be traversed the following day. Unluckily,
it rained all that night, and when the
morning arrived it was still damp and
drizzling. We changed our coolies here,
and got Nagas (hillmen) to carry the

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 15

baggage. They were fine -looking men,
belonging to the various hill tribes about
Manipun There were Kukis, Tongkhuls,
and Kupoes, and they seemed to my un-
initiated eyes very alarming people indeed.
They wore very few clothes, and their necks
were adorned with many necklaces made of
gaudily - coloured glass beads. Their ears
were split to a hideous extent, and in the
loops thus formed they stuffed all kinds of
things — rolls of paper (of which they are
particularly fond), and rings of bamboo,
which stretched them out and made them
look enormous.

Their hair was cut in different ways. The
Tongkhuls* heads were shaved with the ex-
ception of a ridge along the top, which ex-
tended to the nape of the neck, and gave
them the appearance of cockatoos.

The Kukis* hair was long, and gathered
up into a loose and very untidy knot at the
back of their heads, and the Kupoes had
theirs cut so that it stuck out all round

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

their heads and made them look as though
they had fur hats on. TAey made no fuss
over the Memsahib s trunks, and I was much
amused at the way they all rushed for the
bath, which had a flat cover to it, and was
easy to carry and cool against their backs.
It was a muggy kind of day in the middle
of April — a day that invariably brings out
legions of horse-flies and gnats and things of
that species to worry you and your horses.
Worry us they most certainly did. They
collected in rows under the brims of our
hats and stung our faces, and they settled in
swarms on our horses, and what with the
dreadful state of the so-called road, and the
heat and the flies, we were dreadfully tor-
mented. We had a guard of Manipuri Sepoys
with us, who marched along in front of us
and helped to lead our horses through the
sea of deep mud which covered the road.
For seven miles we plodded on like this, and
then we came to the first range of high hills
and got out of the mud. These hills are

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

the backbone of Assam, and the Manipur
ranges are a continuation of those known
as the Naga Hills. The highest range on
the road to Manipur is about 6,000 feet,
but they are all steep, and the road over
them is very rough, making riding difficult
in places. They are covered with bamboo
jungle, and here and there you come across
villages, but they are not numerous.

At every five miles the Manipuris had
Thanas for the purpose of keeping a look-
out against enemies, and acting as stages
for the dak-runners. These Thanas were
not always fortified, but the larger ones were,
and they had been attacked more than once
by Lushais out on a head-hunting expedi-
tion. There was great excitement at our
advent at all the Thanas, and the Sepoys
on guard at each stage turned out in style
and gave us the 'General's salute.' They
had a particular fondness for bugling, and
they exercised it on every possible occasion ;
but I'm afraid they were not struck with our

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

appearance that day, as we were very tired
and hungry, and covered with mud.

We did not get to the end of our march
till late in the evening, and we then found
we had to cross a river, as our camping-
place was on the left bank, and our horses
had to be left on the other side. We crossed
by means of a bamboo suspension-bridge —
a most alarming - looking erection. These
bridges are really curiosities. They are
made of wire twisted into thick ropes, and
stretched from trees on either side of the
river at different heights. Bamboos are
hung on to the wires close together to form a
kind of railing on each side, and these are
fastened with cane to the floor of the bridge,
which is made of bamboo also, woven into
a kind of coarse matting, and although they
look most flimsy and airy erections, they are
really very strong, and can carry any number
of men on them at once, and animals too,
if necessary. They are a great height from
the water, which you can see between the

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 19

chinks of the matting as you walk across,
and they have an unpleasant fashion of
swinging violently when you are in the
middle of them, making it very difficult to
keep your footing. I did not like going over
it at all, and tumbled down in the most
awkward fashion more than once, much to
the amusement of the Manipuris, who laughed
very heartily.

It began to rain shortly after we had
arrived at the rest house, a large barn-like
place built of bamboo also, with one doorway
and no windows of any kind, and a mud
floor. Not an atom of furniture graced this
abode, and there was nothing to be done
but to sit down on the ground and wait until
our luggage should arrive — very hungry, and
generally out of sorts. Nothing came in
until nine at night, when the cook arrived
with the kitchen paraphernalia, and we had
a sort of dinner on the floor, and then had
to wait until two in the morning for our
heavy baggage and beds, which were travel-

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

ling on elephants. It was a dreadful four
hours, for in the meanwhile swarms of mos-
quitoes and sandflies came out and attacked
us — hands, faces, and, in fact, any part of
us that was not covered. The delay was
caused by the road being too steep and
slippery for the elephants, and their having
to be unloaded five or six times — a most
tedious operation.

About three in the morning we got our
beds put up and turned in, longing for sleep,
but I hadn't been there an hour before the
rain, which had poured down in torrents ever
since dinner, made its appearance through
the roof and descended upon my head. So
we had to get up and move everything, and
then were able to sleep in peace for the
remainder of the night. Of course, all idea
of going on the next day was out of the
question, as servants, coolies, and elephants
were all too tired, and, to add to this, the
rain never ceased, so I made the best
of things and stayed in bed all day, while

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 21

the coolies busied themselves in making me
a dooly out of bamboos, as we found that
my horse had got a sore back from his long
climb the day before, and my husband decided
that it would be better to have me carried
the rest of the way. I had time to notice
particularly our escort of Manipuri Sepoys
during our halt at this place. We were
supposed to have thirty men altogether, but
I never saw more than twelve. When
marching, they had counted themselves over
twice by running on ahead directly they had
presented arms once, and going through the
same performance round the corner, fondly
imagining that we should be under the im-
pression that we had double the number with
us. Their uniforms were limited. There
were about three complete ones amongst
them, and the remainder adorned themselves
in confections of their own. When halting,
we were provided with a sentry to keep
guard over us all day, and he was relieved
about every three hours, which gave rise to a

22 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

most amusing scene. A dirty-looking indi-
vidual came up to the Sepoy on duty, and
saluted him with the ordinary native salaam.
The sentry then proceeded to divest himself
of his uniform coat, belt, etc., and rifle, which
he threw down on the ground ; whereupon
the dirty -looking person picked them up,
hastily put them on his own manly form,
and, having done so, came up to where
we were sitting and saluted in fine style.
The other man had meanwhile disappeared.
At night we had two sentries, and they fre-
quently asked us whether they might mount
guard in the veranda of our hut. This meant
that before very long they would both be fast
asleep upon the floor, snoring so loud that we
were awakened.

When marching, each man went as he
pleased and whatever route he pleased. If
he were of a lazy turn of mind he slid down
all the short cuts, but we generally had one
or two walking in front of us, one of whom
invariably possessed a bugle, which he made

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 23

the most of by giving us selections on it
from his own imagination. I believe he
meant well. Their rifles were carried over
their shoulders, and their worldly possessions
were done up in a cloth and slung on to the
end of them in large bundles. The Manipuri
Sepoy was no doubt a very funny animal
indeed.

We left our wet camp at the Makru River
the next day, very glad to get out of it,
and proceeded on our journey towards
Manipur. Every day was the same : up and
down hill all day and a bamboo hut at night ;
but our experiences of the first day had
taught us wisdom, and we put the things
which we wanted most upon coolies, and the
elephants carried the rest, as they went so
slowly. The Nagas used to swarm out of
their villages as we came along to see us,
and they were especially interested in me,
as many of them had never seen an English
lady before. Seven days in the hills, and
the eighth brought us at last to the top-

24 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

most ridge of the last range, and then I
had my first glimpse of the valley of Manipur
lying beneath us, looking delightfully calm
and peaceful in the afternoon sunshine. It
i looked so beautiful to us after the hills of the
previous seven days, stretching away smooth
and even as far as the eye could see, and
we stopped on the top of the hill some time
for the pleasure of looking at it. We could
distinguish far away in the plain the white
walls of the Maharajah's palace, and the
golden-roofed temple of his favourite god.
Just below us stretched the blue waters of
the Logtak Lake, studded with islands, each
one a small mountain in itself. Villages
buried in their own groves of bamboo and
plantain-trees dotted the plain, and between
each village there were tracts of rice-fields
and other cultivation. The whole valley
looked rich and well cared for, and we
longed for the next day, which was to see
us at our journey's end.

We were met at the foot of the hill by

THREE YEARS IN MAKIPUR

ten elephants and a guard of fifty Sepoys,
under the command of a high officer of state
called Colonel Samoo Singh, who was one
of the most hideous old gentlemen I have
ever seen. However, he was politeness itself,
presenting us with large baskets of fowls and
vegetables, and escorting us to the rest-house,
to which we all went mounted on elephants
gaily rigged out in red cloth. I wanted to
go on the same elephant as my husband,
but the interpreter said * his Excellency the
Colonel Sahib ' would not like it if we did
not make use of a// the elephants brought
out for our glorification, so I proceeded in
solemn dignity behind my husband's quad-
ruped. The old colonel came up to the
house with us, as also did the guard of
honour ; and then after a final salute they
all departed and left us to our own devices.

Early next morning we were up and ready
for the last seventeen miles into Manipur.
We had tried to smarten ourselves up as
much as possible, as we were to be met by

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

some of the princes before we reached our
journey's end, but, alas ! a mischievous rat
had busied himself during the night by eating
a large hole in my husband's hat and all the
fingers off my right-hand glove, and we could
not get at our boxes to rummage for others,
so we had to go as we were.

The old colonel rode with us, and seven
miles from Manipur we were met by four
princes. They had had a small hut built,
which was nicely matted and arranged with
chairs. As we rode up, the four royalties
came forward to meet us, amidst much
blowing of trumpets and presenting of arms
by their several guards of honour. This
was my first introduction to the Senaputti
of Manipur, and little did we foresee the
terrible influence he was destined to bear
on our future ! He was not a very striking-
looking personage. I should think he was
about five feet eight inches in height, with a
lighter skin than most natives, and rather a
pleasing type of countenance. He had nice

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

eyes and a pleasant smile, but his expression
was rather spoilt by his front teeth, which
were very much broken. We liked what we
saw of him on this occasion, and thought
him very good-natured-looking. The other
brothers did not strike us at all, and there
were so many people there, including im-
portant officers of state, that I became con-
fused, and ended by shaking hands with a
Sepoy, much to that warrior's astonishment.

We were escorted to the reception-barn by
the princes. The Senaputti was the only
one who could speak Hindostani amongst
them, and my husband was able to talk to
him, but the others only knew Manipuri, so
contented themselves with smiling continu-
ously, and I followed suit by smiling back,
and it didn't tire any of us. They presented
us with an enormous quantity of things, and
I do not know how many baskets of fowls,
ducks, and vegetables they didn't give us, for
they seemed unending. At last, after more
hand - shaking, which entirely ruined my

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

already fingerless glove, some polite speeches
from my husband and more amiable smiles
from me, we mounted our horses and, accom-
panied by our four royal friends and their
retinue, rode into Manipur. A salute of
twelve guns was fired on our arrival, and
after we had taken leave of the princes at
the entrance to the Palace we turned into
the gates of the Residency, and felt that our
journey was really at an end.

[29]

CHAPTER III.

I ALWAYS think a great deal depends on one's
first impressions of anything, be it place or
people. One is struck with a house or a
garden if it looks pleasant at first sight,
even though a closer acquaintance with it
may bring disappointment. My first impres-
sions of our house and surroundings on this
occasion were of the most favourable descrip-
tion. A long carriage - drive led up from
the entrance-gate to the house. There were
trees each side, and a delightful stretch of
grassland dotted about with deodars and
flowering shrubs, with a tennis-court in the
centre on the right. A hedge of cluster roses
all in blossom divided the outer grounds from
the flower-garden surrounding the house, at

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

the end of which was a small lake with an
island in the middle of it, where, late as it
was, a few wild-duck were still swimming
about. We cantered our horses up the drive
to the entrance, a long flight of steps covered
by a porch, over which grew a beautiful
Bougainvillia, whose gorgeous purple blossoms
entirely hid the thatch with which the porch
was surmounted. The Residency was a long
low house with a thatched roof. The walls
were painted white, and the wood - work
picked out in black. A veranda surrounded
it, comfortably matted and strewn about with
rugs and skins. In front of the house there
was a circular lawn covered with flower-beds
blazing with colour, and at the end of the
lawn was the flagstaff of my dreams and the
ensign of Old England waving proudly in the
breeze. To us, fresh from the jungles of the
previous nine days, the place seemed beauti-
ful, and even after we had grown accustomed
to it, we always returned to it with a fresh
sense of pleasure. The inside of the house

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 31

was equally charming, and after our little hut
at Sylhet it seemed a mansion. The red-
coated servants were all in attendance, and a
couple of Ghoorka orderlies, so that my aspi-
rations in that direction were amply satisfied.
In a very few days we had shaken down
most comfortably. We had brought with
us everything we possessed, and I soon
had as pretty a drawing-room as anyone
could wish for. The next thing my husband
had to do was to make friends with the
Maharajah. For this purpose a durbar was
arranged, and it took place about two days
after we had been there, at eight in the morn-
ing. It was a very imposing function indeed.
Red cloth was spread all over the veranda
and on the front steps, and our whole escort
of sixty Ghoorkas was drawn up on the front
lawn. The Maharajah arrived with a grand
flourish of trumpets, attended by all his
brothers, and accompanied also by a large
following of Sepoys, slaves and ministers of
state, each of the latter with his own retinue.

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

The Maharajah was a short, fat, ugly little
man, with a face something between that
of a Burmese and a Chinaman — rather fairer
than the Bengal natives, but much scarred
with small-pox. He was dressed very simply
in white — a white coat with gold buttons,
and a very fine white muslin Dhotee.* He
had a large white turban on his head, in
which was stuck a spray of yellow orchids.
Gray woollen stockings covered his legs,
fastened at the knee with blue elastic garters
with very fine brass buckles and little bows,
and his feet were encased in very large
roughly -made laced boots, of which he
seemed supremely proud.

His eldest brother, the Jubraj, was a
second edition of himself, only stouter and
uglier. Next in order rode the Senaputti,
whom I have already described, and he was
followed by five younger brothers. My hus-
band had to go to the outer gate to meet

* Dhotee — the usual dress a native wears instead of
trousers.

«■

mam

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

his highness with his hat off, where he shook
hands with all the princes, and then walked
with the Maharajah back to the house and
into the durbar hall, which was in the centre
of the Residency. The whole durbar, being
only a complimentary ceremony, did not last
more than ten minutes, but before he left
the Maharajah expressed a wish to see me ;
so I appeared and shook hands with them
all, and smiled amiably, as I did not know
enough of the language then to speak to
them. They all stared at me very solemnly,
as though I were a curious kind of animal,
and shortly afterwards they took their de-
parture.

I shall not attempt a detailed account of
our life at Manipur, as it was very mono-
tonous and uneventful. We got to know
the princes very well. My husband played
polo with them, and I frequently rode with
them. The Senaputti in particular was our
very good friend. There was something
about him that is not generally found in the

character of a native. He was manly and
generous to a fault, a good friend and a bitter
enemy. We liked him because he was much
more broad-minded than the rest. If he
promised a thing, that thing would be done,
and he would take the trouble to see himself
that it was done, and not be content with
simply giving the order. He was always
doing little courteous acts to please us. On
one occasion I mentioned to him that I had
been very much frightened by a lunatic in
the bazaar, who was perfectly harmless, but
dreadfully deformed as well as insane. He
used to spring out upon you suddenly,
making terrible grimaces, which was not
pleasant, and he frightened me several
times. I noticed after speaking to the Sena-
putti about him that he had not been in the
bazaar for a long time, and afterwards I was
told that the Prince had ordered him to be
kept at home in the evenings, at the time
we usually went out for a walk.

Another time I had been very ill, and

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

when I was getting better, kind inquiries
came every day from the Senaputti, accom-
panied by half a dozen small birds which he
thought were eatable, as he had often seen
my husband bring snipe home. The birds
were useless, of course, but I valued the kind
thoughts which prompted him to send them.
If anything went amiss with my husband's
polo-ponies, the Senaputti was quite ready
to send him as many as he wanted of his
own, and he always mounted any visitor
who might be staying with us and wish for
a game. He was a keen sportsman and a
capital shot. In the cold weather he often
organized a weeks deer -shooting for my
husband, to which I always went, and very
good fun it was. The Senaputti would meet
us at the place with a number of elephants,
and we used to start very early in the morn-
ing, and generally returned with a good
bag. Bigger game was scarcely known
in the valley. Occasionally a stray tiger
would wander down and kill a bullock or

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

two, the news of which was immediately
conveyed to the Maharajah and a shooting-
party organized. A number of men kept
for the purpose would start out to the spot
where the tiger was supposed to be with
nets and enormous spears. They surrounded
the bit of jungle first with nets and after-
wards with a strong bamboo fence, which,
when erected, enabled them to remove the
nets. The whole of the royal family then
arrived and ourselves, and ascended into
little platforms built up very high off the
ground to be safely out of reach of the tiger
should he escape ; and then, with much
blowing of trumpets and shouting, the fun
began. The jungle inside the fence was then
cut down, each cutter being protected by
another man armed with an enormous spear.
By degrees all the jungle was cut and the
tiger forced to appear, when the occupants
of the platforms all shot at him at once
and ended his career. Sometimes the tiger
was speared by the men inside the fence,

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

but the poor beast always had ten or twelve
wounds in him when we came to examine
him. It was exciting, but it was not sport,
and I always felt sorry for the tiger. When-
ever I was present the Maharajah presented
me with the skin and claws, and I got quite
a collection in my three years at Manipur.
• The princes always seemed to like our
taking an interest in their concerns, and they
frequently visited us, even sometimes on
Sundays with a small following, and with-
out any ceremony. Their people remained
in the veranda, and they used to come into
the drawing-room and talk to us, and look
at our photographs and my husbands
guns.

Any new invention in the latter pleased
them immensely, and they immediately
wished to know where the weapon was made
and all particulars. They generally stayed
with us some time on these occasions. Two
or three days afterwards they would ask my
husband to shoot or ride with them, and

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

we always saw something of them during the
week. On one occasion I mentioned to them
that I had never seen a shell fired, so they got
the Maharajah to arrange for a field-day, and
we rode out to their own rifle-range, and
saw their two mountain-guns brought out
with different kinds of shell, and fired by
the Senaputti himself.

When I think over the events of the last
few months, it seems difficult to realize the
friendly terms on which we had ever been
with the Court at Manipur. How little we
could foresee the terrible destruction those
same guns were to bring upon our peaceful
home in the near future ! I was so delighted
that day at watching the effect of a shell on
the hill we were firing at, and the Manipuris
got the range very well, almost every shot
taking effect. We were out that morning
four or five hours, and all rode back together.
The Maharajah rode a beautiful pony on a
gold saddle, with large flaps on each side
to protect his legs, also of gold. The pony's

^1^

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

bridle was made of gold cord, and his head
and back covered with balls of soft white
cotton. These saddles are really curiosities,
and are peculiar to Manipur. The balls of
cotton are arranged to protect the pony s
sides from being hit at polo, and the whole
turn-out is very well made, though rather
heavy for the Small steeds. It was a fine
sight to see the Senaputti play polo. He
was very strong ; in fact, the Manipuris used
to tell us that he was the strongest man in
the country. He could lift very heavy
weights and throw long distances, and to
see him send the ball skimming half across
the ground with one hit was a very pretty
sight. He could do strokes that few Mani-
puris knew, which is saying a great deal, for
an average player at Manipur can beat most
Englishmen. The Senaputti was a magnifi-
cent rider, and he was always mounted on
beautiful ponies. He wore a very picturesque
dress for polo — a green velvet zouave jacket
edged with gold buttons, and a salmon-pink

silk.Dhotee, with white leather leggings and
a pink silk turban. He had long hair, which
he used to twist up into a knot at the back of
his neck, and he always looked very nice on
these occasions. All the princes played polo.
There was one called Zillah Singh, a boy
of about seventeen, whom we used to call
the Poem. He was a slight, graceful-looking
lad, and he used to ride a tiny mite of a
pony, and never troubled himself with too
many garments. His turban was always
coming off, and his long black hair streamed
in the wind as he flew about all over the
ground. Even the little son of the Maharajah
used to play. He was a dear little fellow, of
about eight years old, and once a week there
was generally a youngsters' game, in which
all the little royalties used to perform, and
remarkably well too, considering how young
most of them were. My husband played
regularly twice a week, all the year round.
The Senaputti liked to play for stakes, which
were generally muslin cloths or turbans.

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

These were all hung up at the end of the
ground, and when the game was ended, the
winning side were presented with them, and
the losers had to pay for them, which gave
an interest to the game, and made both sides
play up.

I have said more about the Senaputti than
the other princes, because he was the one
of them all that we knew intimately. He
could speak Hindostani well, while the other
princes spoke nothing but their own language,
and when we first went to Manipur my hus-
band, of course, didn't know a word of Mani-
puri, so had to speak to them through an
interpreter. He did not lose much time in
setting to work to learn it, and he had an
old pundit* who used to come every day
to give him lessons. This old gentleman
was rather a character. His name was
Perundha Singh, and he deprived Govern-
ment of fifty rupees annually, by virtue of

* Pundit— tutor or interpreter, who will coach you in a
language.

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

calling himself * Burmese Interpreter to the
Political Agent/ which designation he had
engraved on a brass plate which he wore
on the front of his belt. Whether he really
knew Burmese was another matter, but he had
certainly been in Burmah, and had seen some
fighting there and even got wounded himself.
He never turned up on wet days, because the
bullet, which, he affirmed, had never been
extracted, got affected by the damp and
became rusty, causing him much pain and
preventing his sitting down. I had a grand
idea of learning Manipuri too, but the old
pundit used to pay me such florid compli-
ments over the extreme rapidity with which
I was picking up the language, that my
husband thought I should learn it before he
did, and said we must have our lessons at
different times, which I found rather dull
work, so ceased them altogether. The old
pundit was a grand gossip. He had a
thousand stories of the good and evil deeds
of all the Sahibs who had been before us,

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

and I must honestly confess the deeds seemed
chiefly evil ones. He invariably ended up by
saying that there never was, and never would
be, such a good and excellent Sahib as the
present one, which judicious piece of flattery
he hoped would be productive of great
pecuniary results.

[44]

CHAPTER IV.

Such was our life at Manipur. It seldom
varied day by day. We used to ride every
morning, and directly after breakfast go the
round of the place, visit the stables and
kitchen-garden, and feed all the animals, from
the horses down to the two little otters,
which were so tame that they followed us
about like dogs. What would life in India
be without one's animals, I wonder? We
were never tired of collecting around us
all kinds of creatures, and the natives got
to know it, and used to bring us anything
they caught. We had three monkeys, little
brown fellows, which were my delight.
They lived during the day in boxes nailed
to posts, and were tied by ropes long

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

enough to enable them to run up and down.
Sometimes they got loose, and we had a
long chase to get them again, as we could
not leave them to do their pleasure upon
our garden. One of them was so clever
that we had to get him a chain to fasten
him by, as he could undo any knot, and gnaw
any rope in half in no time. He used to
untie the rope and then look cautiously round,
and if he saw anyone watching him he would
sit on the end he had undone and pretend
to be deep in the mysteries of his toilette ;
but if no one were looking, he would rush
off to a large bed of sunflowers on the front
lawn and snatch at the blossoms, tearing them
to pieces, and strewing the petals all over the
place. After this he would make for the
house, and, if he were not discovered, run
into whatever door or window happened to
be open and do dreadful damage to anything
that took his fancy. Directly he was seen
there used to be a grand hunt after him,
when he would betake himself to a particular

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

tree in the grounds, clamber up to the very
top, where the branches were too thin to bear
any man, and remain there making the most
hideous faces at us below. We had to station
a man to watch him, as if everyone disap-
peared he would immediately come down
and do more mischief. Sometimes it would
be a whole day before the young ruffian was
caught, but he generally came down for his
evening meal, and then was captured. All
three monkeys slept together on a beam in the
roof of my bedroom veranda, and they were
as good as any watch-dog, for if anything
came into the veranda after dark they would
begin chattering and making a great com-
motion. Poor little monkeys ! I cannot
bear to think of what their fate must have
been.

We had a bear, two otters, a tame deer,
and two large gray and red cranes, besides
the monkeys. The bear was a small ball
of black fluff when he came to us, with tiny
teeth that could not hurt. We brought him

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

up on milk and rice, and he grew a huge
beast. I was a little afraid of him when he
grew up. He was always getting loose, and
was almost as difficult to catch as Jacko.
When he was caught, it was very amusing
to see him standing up behind his post
playing hide and seek with the servant who
was tying him up. He used to put his paw
round the post and give the man's bare leg
a friendly pat, which must have been very
painful, and he stood all the while upon his
hind-legs. He got very fierce as he grew
older, and one day I was out in the garden
gathering flowers and suddenly noticed the
Chupprassies and orderlies flying towards the
house — a proceeding that always happened
directly the bear was at large. He very
soon spied me out, and came rushing towards
me, and I began to run ; but long before I
could get to the house he had overtaken me.
I threw the flowers I had collected behind
me, hoping that he would stop for them, but
he just sniffed at them and then came on.

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

He caught me up in a moment and clawed
at my back, and tore my jacket all the way
down. Fortunately it was a very cold day,
and I had put on a thick winter coat, which
saved me from getting badly clawed ; but he
gave me some nasty scratches. Luckily the
Ghoorka orderly saw it from the house, and
ran up and beat him off ; and then the other
servants came and captured him and chained
him up. So my husband said we must get
rid of him, and the next day he was con-
veyed away by four Nagas and a couple of
Ghoorkas to a hill covered with jungle
about fifteen miles away and let loose there,
with a heap of rice and a lot of plantains
to keep him going.

The next day we heard that the Mani-
puris had kept a holy festival on the identical
hill, but we never asked whether they had
seen our poor bear afterwards, and we never
heard of him again. Our large grounds were a
great delight to us at Manipur. We had quite
a park at the back, with fine large trees and

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

bushes of gardenias and roses and oleanders.
The kitchen-garden was separated from the
rest of the grounds by a wall which ran all
round it. It always reminded me of an
English garden with fruit-trees growing on
the wall, and English vegetables all the year
round. We had nine gardeners, or Malis,
as they are called in India.

Talking of them reminds me of an amusing
incident which happened in connection with
them. They were Nagas belonging to one
of our villages which lay at the back of
the Residency grounds, between us and
the river. The Nagas never burden them-
selves with too many clothes, and these in
particular wore little beside a necklace or
two. I mentioned this fact to a spinster
lady friend of mine on one occasion, and she
was so horrified that she sent me shortly
afterwards nine pairs of bathing-drawers to
be given to them. They were very beautiful
garments ; some had red and white stripes,
and some blue, and they were all very clean.

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

I presented them gravely one morning to
my nine Malis, and a few days after I went
into the garden in the evening and found
two of the men at work. One had made
a hole in his bathing apparatus and had put
his head through it, while his arms went into
the places for the legs, and he was wearing
it with great pride as a jacket ; and the other
had arranged his with an eye for the artistic
on his head as a turban. After this I gave
up trying to inculcate decency into the mind
of the untutored savage. We had a good
many Naga servants. My second Khit-
mutghar* was a Naga, and a very excellent
servant he was too, except when he was
drunk, which I am sorry to say was very
often. If we were going into camp, or if
we had just returned, were the particular
occasions which, in his mind, were the ones
of all others to be celebrated with much
spirituous fluid. A message would come
from the village to say that Mecandai (the

* Khitmutghar — ^butler, table-servant.

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

gentleman in question) was very dangerously
ill — in fact, that he was not expected to live
through the day. At first my sympathies
were all aroused in his cause, but after a
little experience I discovered the nature of
his illness, and had him conveyed , to the
house. The native doctor was then sent for,
and if he said the man was ill he was put
into the hospital, if not, he went under
military escort to the quarter-guard.

The Nagas will drink anything, but the
stronger it is the better they are pleased.
They have a beverage of their own which
they make of fermented rice water. They
can drink great quantities of it with no bad
effect at first, but they get very drunk on
it if they go beyond a certain limit. They
call this liquor Zu, and I have heard my
husband say he found it very refreshing
after a long hot march ; but I never had
the courage to touch it, as they offered it
to one out of a bottle that was never cleaned
and that everybody drank from. I sup-

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

po§e to a Naga there is nothing more delicious
than roast dog washed down with quarts of
this Zu. Poor doggies! They are only
kept to be eaten. They are well fed while
they are growing up, and then, when they
are re9,dy to be eaten, they are starved for
a day. At the end of this they are given
an enormous feed of rice and the re-
mains of a former comrade, perhaps, which
they eat up ravenously ; and then the
head man of the village gives the victim
a blow on the head and converts him
into curry and rice. On one occasion
we were going up to our hill bungalow,
and our village Nagas, wishing to do
us honour, erected a triumphal arch at
the entrance to our garden. Fortunately
I looked up at it before going under, and
saw, to my horror, the head of a dog, which
had just been cut off, hanging in the centre
of the erection, whilst his four paws and
tail graced the sides, and the whole archway
was so low that I should have touched the

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

top of it as I rode under. I dismounted,
however, and walked through.

The hill bungalow mentioned was situated
about fifteen miles from Manipur It was
about 6,000 feet above sea- level, with a
delightfully cool climate all the year round,
though the rainfall was excessive during the
summer months, and damp mists came up
from the valley below, hiding even the garden
round the house, and making the place very
cold. Still, it was pleasant to be able to
get away up there for a few days change
from the heat at Manipur, and we generally
went up from Saturday till Tuesday every
week. The .village below the house belonged
to us, and rejoiced in the name of Khan-jhub-
khul. We had some five or six villages,
which were given us by the Maharajah, the
inhabitants of which worked for us. They
were situated in different parts of Manipur,
and we found it very convenient. The Nagas
preferred working for us to working for the
Maharajah, as we paid them for their labour.

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

whereas the durbar considered it as revenue,
and gave them nothing. At the same time,
the way the Manipuris managed all the hill-
tribes about them was very creditable. Every
village had to work for the Rajah so many
months in the year — about four. Some had
to cut wood, and bring so many bundles in
for the palace ; others had to give so much
rice, or go down to Cachar or to Kohima
for trading purposes, and each tribe had its
own duties. This system extended throughout
Manipur, and not only amongst the hill-tribes,
but also among the Manipuris themselves,
and was called * Lalup.' In return for their
services they got their land rent free, and
were not restrained from trading in their own
interests as soon as they had performed
their * Lalup * for the Maharajah. It was a
system that answered very well, and the
people seemed well-to-do and contented.

The women did all the hard work, as a
rule. They wove all their own and their
husbands* clothing, and cooked and looked

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

after the house generally, besides working
in the fields and coming every evening to
the big bazaar* with merchandise* for sale
or exchange. No men were allowed to sell
in this bazaar with the exception of a few
Bengalee traders, who sat in a different
part of the market and sold cloths. It was
a pretty sight in the evening to see all the
women hurrying along with their wares on
their heads, and their little babies slung on
their backs. They sat in long rows in the
bazaar, and it was divided up in a most
methodical way. Vegetables and fish oc-
cupied one end, and cloths and jewellery the
other, and the whole of the female popula-
tion turned out, and even the princesses
occasionally sold in the bazaar. The
princesses were more numerous than the
princes, as each of the latter had several
wives. The Senaputti was supposed to be
the happy owner of nine wives, and the
others had almost as many.

* Bazaar— market

56 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

The eldest daughter of the Maharajah was
about fifteen. She very often came to see
me, in company with nine or ten other girls
of the same age, of whom more than half
were royalties. The Senaputti used to
bring them, and they loved running all over
the house, examining everything. They
liked most of all to go into my bedroom
and try on my clothes and hats, and brush
their hair with my brushes, admiring them-
selves in my long looking-glass. They used
to be very much surprised to find that my
dresses would not meet half-way round their
waists. The Senaputti generally waited in
the drawing-room talking to my husband.
After the party had explored my room, we
used to rejoin the others, and take them all
out into the garden, allowing them to pick
the flowers, and decorate each other, and
then my husband would photograph them.
They were always amused with the monkeys
and rabbits, the latter particularly, as those
animals are wholly unknown in Manipur.

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 57

In fact, these Manipuri children were very
much like any other children in their delight
at seeing new things. They liked going
into the dining-room when the table was laid
for dinner, and asking us what all the knives
and forks and spoons were used for ; and
they enjoyed sitting on the sofas and in the
big armchairs, * just like the Memsahib,* they
said.

Once we had a water-party on the lake
in the grounds. The big pink water-lilies
were in full bloom, and we had about five
boats crammed with these children and some
of the little princes, and we all pelted each
other with water-lilies and got very wet, and
enjoyed it immensely. Of course it was
always a drawback not being able to offer
them anything to eat or drink, as their
caste forbade them taking anything of the
sort ; but we used to give them flowers,
and Japanese fans, and beads, and those kind
of things, with which they were very de-
lighted. Some of the Manipuri girls are very

58 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

pretty. They have long silky black hair as a
rule, and fair complexions, with jolly brown
eyes. They cut their hair in front in a straight
fringe all round their foreheads, while the
back part hangs loose, and it gives them
a pretty, childish look. They dress very
picturesquely in bright-coloured striped petti-
coats fastened under their arms, and reaching
to their ankles. Over this a small green
velvet zouave jacket is worn, and when they
go out they wear a very fine muslin shawl
over their shoulders, and gold necklaces
and bracelets by way of ornament. Very
pretty these little damsels look as you meet
them in twos and threes along the road
going to their dancing-lessons, or to market
or temple. Every child is taught to dance
in Manipur. They cease when they marry,
but up till then they take great pride in
their nautches.

The Manipuris do not shut up their women,
as is the custom in most parts of India,
and they are much more enlightened and

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 59

intelligent in consequence. As soon as a
woman marries she puts back her fringe,
but no other restrictions are laid upon her.
They do not marry until they are fifteen,
and I have seen girls of seventeen un-
married. From going so often through
the bazaar in the evenings, I got to know
several of the women very well, and they
liked my coming and having a chat to
them. I learnt all their little troubles and
anxieties — how so-and-so's baby was teething
and generally ailing, and how someone else's
had grown an inch, or who was going to
be married, and who had died. I liked
talking to them, and I learnt a good deal
of the language by doing so.

[6o]

CHAPTER V.

From April to the end of October was the
rainy season in Manipur, and from October
till the end of March the weather was as
perfect as could be, very cold, and yet bright
and sunshiny, with never a drop of rain
to trouble one. All our winter went in
camp. We used to go out for a month
at a time, and then return to the Residency
for a few days before starting out again
in another direction. We generally managed
two trips to the Logtak Lake. This lake
lay to the south of the valley, a day's journey
by boat, or two days' if one rode. We
preferred the boating. We used to start
off early in the morning and ride about
fifteen miles, where the boat would wait for

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

US, with all our luggage packed in one end
of it, and a well-filled lunch-basket to keep
us going by the way. These boats were
long and narrow, and were called 'dug outs,'
because each one was hollowed out of a
single tree. We spread the bottom with lots
of straw, and put rugs and pillows on the
top, and then lay down on them and found
it very comfortable.

About five in the evening we arrived at
the mouth of the river, and had generally
to wait some time there to allow the
wind, which always got up in the evenings,
to subside, as the lake was too rough to
cross while it was blowing. Even when
we did cross, two hours later, the waves
kept breaking into the boat, and we had to
set to work to bale the water out. I don't
think I shall ever forget the first time
I saw the lake. We did not arrive till
late, and the moon was high up in the
heavens, shedding a glorious silvery light
on the broad expanse of waters, and making

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

the islands, each one a small mountain in itself,
appear shadowy and far off. Far above our
heads flew strings of wild geese going off
to feed, and uttering their strange hoarse
cry as they flew. Here and there as our
boat shot past some sheltered nook or tiny
islet two or three ducks would paddle out,
scenting danger, and curious water - birds
would rise from the swampy ground and
noiselessly disappear in the far distance.
But the stillness on all around us, and the
beautiful lake, whose surface the now dying
wind still gently ruffled, had a great effect
upon one's imagination, and I was quite sorry
when we shot through a narrow creek and
came suddenly upon the camp. Our tents
were pitched on one of the largest and most
beautiful islands, under a big tree, and at the
end of a long village, which was built
picturesquely on the shore of the lake. The
villagers and our servants came down to
help us out of our boats with torches and
the inevitable bugler, who played us up to

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

our tent in grand style. We were very
glad to get in and find an excellent dinner
awaiting us, and still more pleased to get
to bed. Every day we used to start out
at six in the morning, before the mist had
cleared — I in one boat, and my husband in
another — and creep round the little islands
after duck, and we generally returned
with a large bag. In two days once my
husband got eighty-two ducks and thirty
geese. He did great execution with an
eight-bore he had, and generally knocked
over half a dozen or so at a time with it.
Duck-shooting is very exciting, and hunting
wounded birds a lengthy operation. They
let you come quite close to them, and
you think you have got them safely, when
they suddenly dive under your boat and
appear again yards off ; and by the time you
have turned your boat and gone after them
again they are still farther away. I never
liked it when we had caught them and they
used to be consigned to my husband's boat,

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

as I could not bear to see them killed.
Sometimes they were so tame that we let
them alone, as it seemed butchery to shoot
them.

One year when we went to the Logtak
the Pucca Senna (the Maharajah's third
brother) asked if he might come too.
We were very pleased to have him, so
he arrived, and every day he went out
shooting with us, and as he was a good
shot he made a welcome addition to our
party. He shot everything he could see,
whether it was game or not, but he
shot well. We sent all the birds we could
not eat up by boat to Manipur for the Sepoys
of our escort, who were very grateful for
them. We stayed a week the time the
Pucca Senna was with us, and he came on
afterwards on a tour along the southern
boundary of the valley to some very curious
places, where they had never seen an English
lady before, and where the people exhibited
the greatest curiosity and excitement over

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

my advent. We were always coming upon
crowds collected at different places on the
roads, who had journeyed many miles to
see me. They all presented us with a few
eggs or fowls, as the case might be, in the
hope that the presentation of them would
delay us, and that they would be able to
get a good view of me. Sometimes, instead
of giving us anything, they brought four
old women to dance before us, and we
would come upon them suddenly over
the brow of a hill and find them jumping
about on the other side like so many old
monkeys for our edification. We were, of
course, obliged to stop and look at their
exertions, and present them at the end of
the performance with rupees. They always
came round me and touched my clothes and
hands, and seemed to be surprised when I
turned up my sleeve and showed them that
my arm was white too, like my hands. My
clothes caused much curiosity. It was the
time then of large dress-improvers, and they

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

had seen me walking out at one village we
stopped at in a fashionably-made costume,
with at least three steels in it.

The next day I went out on my pony
in a riding habit, followed by the usual
crowds. We stopped for a few minutes, and
I saw our interpreter in fits of laughter over
something. I asked my husband .what the
man was laughing at, and after a little
persuasion the interpreter told us that the
villagers wished to know what I had done
with my tail ! At first I had no idea what
they meant, but after a little while they
explained, and then I discovered that they
had imagined the fulness at the back of my
dress had concealed a tail, and they could
not understand why the habit looked different.
We were very much amused, and when we
got back to the camp I showed some of
them the steels in my dress. They thought
it a very funny fashion indeed.

We went away the next day, much to
their disappointment, to a place a long way

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

off in the hills, and had a number of queer
adventures. The Manipuris told us that this
place, called Moombi, was about eighteen
miles distant, so we started very early. I
commenced by riding, but before we had
gone very far the hills became so steep that
I got into my long chair and was carried
by Nagas. My husband had to walk, and
so did Prince Pucca Senna, much to his
disgust, as he was a very lazy individual,
and never cared to use his legs much. This
time there was no help for it, so he puffed
and blew as he came up the hill, and said
he felt very ill indeed. It must have been
thirty miles instead of eighteen, and it was
very tiring. I had to hold on to the arms
of my chair to keep myself in it at all, and the
road got worse and worse, until at last I had
to take to my hands and knees too, as by
this time the rest of the party were crawling
up on all -fours like a string of ants. We
got to the top at length, and were going on
up to the village, which was a few yards

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

ahead, when a message came down from the
chief of the village, sent by one of his slaves,
saying that if we came any farther he would
shoot at us. This was rather alarming at
the end of a long and tiring march. The
messenger went on to say that they had
built a grass hut for us a little below the
place we had halted at, and that no one would
molest us if we stayed there, but we were
not to go into the village. I think if we had
had a sufficient armed force with us that
my husband would have gone on, but as
we were only travelling with a small escort
of Manipuris, who seemed much more inclined
to run down the hill instead of up it, we
agreed to remain in the hut they had built
for us, to which we then proceeded. There
was no mistake about its being di grass hut.
It was built of green grass, something like
pampas grass, with flowery tops which they
had not cut off, but left to wave in a sort
of archway over our heads. The roof was
very light and airy, and full of large spaces

TRIBESMEN OF MAI

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 69

to allow of rain or hail entering the
abode if the weather were stormy. The
floor was covered with loose, ungainly-look-
ing planks, thrown down anyhow all over
it, and if you trod on the end of one
suddenly, it started up at the other end
like a seesaw. Fortunately we always took
a small tent with us to be certain of shelter
in case any of the arrangements should fall
through, and we had it on this occasion. We
soon unpacked it, and got a place on the
side of a hill cleared, and began putting it up,
hurrying over it as fast as we could, as the
clouds were gathering up all round us, and
we knew rain was coming. However, long
before we had finished erecting it the storm
broke. I have rarely seen such a storm.
The wind blew so strongly that it needed
all our forces to hold on to the tent-ropes
to prevent the whole being blown down the
hill on to the top of the unfortunate prince,
who, by the way, was housed below us in a
wretched grass shed, a copy of ours, only very

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

much smaller. The thunder and lightning
were dreadful, as the hills around us re-echoed
every peal, and the lightning shone out so
vividly in the darkness which had set in.
At length the wind went down somewhat,
and we adjourned to the hut for dinner,
where we sat under one umbrella with our
feet on the bath-tub turned upside down,
and our plates in our laps. The rain poured
meanwhile through the so called roof, and
the nodding grass-tops dripped on to our
heads. We got to bed about two in the
morning, when it cleared up, and -the stars
came out, as it were, to mock at us for the
general soppiness of ourselves and our be-
longings. We did not dare inquire for the
well-being of the prince. Streams of water
we knew had rushed down the hillside, quite
powerful enough to carry his hut away.

Next morning very early one of his followers
came up to say that his master had not been
able to sleep all night, as his house had been
swept away and many of his valuables lost ;

tm^

m^Kmam

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

and that he presented his salaams to the
Sahib and the Memsahib, and hoped that
we did not intend remaining in so horrible a
place. It had been our original intention
to stay at Moombi three days, but our wet
condition, coupled with the hostile reception
from the chief, decided us to make a move
down the hill. First of all, though, my
husband insisted that the chief should come
down and pay his respects to us, which, to
our great surprise, he did after a little
persuasion, bringing his three wives and a
number of followers, all of whom were armed
with guns of very ancient design, with him.
They wore very few clothes, and were not
pleasant-looking men, and the women were
all very short and dumpy-looking, and, oh !
so dirty. They presented us with eggs and
melons, and the wives gave me a curious
spear and some baskets of rice. My husband
asked them what they meant by greeting
us with such an alarming message the night
before, to which they replied that they had

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

made a mistake, and did not mean that they
would fire on us. We found out afterwards
that they thought we were coming to collect
some revenue which they had owed to
Manipur for some time and refused to pay, and
that they were afraid we intended marching
into their village and forcing them to pay.
My husband hauled the chief (who, by the way,
called himself a Rajah) over the coals for
it, and told him that he was to come into
Manipur, where the revenue case would be
inquired into ; but we parted very peaceably
after going up to the village by the chiefs
own invitation, where we inspected the
outside of his house. It was fenced all
round with strong stakes, and on the top
of each stake was a head, and more than
one of them unmistakably human skulls.
Whether the original owners of them had
died natural deaths, or whether they were
trophies of war, we did not inquire. There
were some beautiful elephants* tusks in the
chiefs veranda, and some fine-toned Kuki

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

gongs, one of which he presented to us.
We left with many expressions of affection
from the Rajah of Moombi and his wives,
but we were very glad when we found our-
selves at the foot of the hills leading up to
his. kingdom, and solemnly made a vow never
to return there again. We visited the iron
wells on our way home. There are about
seven of them, and it was very interesting
watching the men at work.

My husband amused himself in the after-
noons by teaching the prince English. He
used to read out of a queer old spelling-
book, filled with words that one would
really never use. One sentence was — that
is to say, if one could call it a sentence —
* an elegant puce quilt.' Now, I don't think
his highness would ever have used either
word, but it amused me greatly to hear him
trying to pronounce * quilt ' ; it developed
into * kilt,' and never got any farther. I
laughed so much that I had to beat a hasty
retreat. There was one expression the prince

74 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

did learn, and that was * good-bye ' ; but it
was a little embarrassing to meet him on
arrival and be welcomed by a shake of the
hand and a solemn * good-bye/ It rather
damped one's ardour. He never could
understand that it was a farewell salutation,
and not a general greeting.

[75]

CHAPTER VI.

When we first went to Manipur we had a
certain amount of society, as it was then the
headquarters of a Ghoorka regiment, which
was stationed four miles away from us, at a
place called Langthabal ; not a pleasant spot
by any means, as it had only been roughly
cleared for a cantonment, and the roads
about it were little better than paths. The
officers lived in huts made of bamboo, and
the walls had a thin covering of mud on the
outside, which some of the more enter-
prising inmates had painted with whitewash,
making them look a little more like the
habitations of civilized folks. Some of the
huts had verj^ pretty gardens round them,
but small, of course, though the flowers there

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

seemed to do twice as well as ours did in
the Residency garden. We saw a good
deal of the officers in the 44th Ghoorka
Rifles, the regiment there when we arrived.
They used to come in for polo twice a week,
and to what I was pleased to call my * at
home ' every Thursday, when we played
tennis and had the Maharajah's band from
four o'clock till six. This band was composed
of Nagas, and it was wonderful to hear how
easily they learnt English music. Waltzes
and any dance music came easiest to them,
and they kept excellent time ; but they could
manage anything, and I have heard them play
difficult selections from the great masters with-
out a mistake. Their bandmaster was very
talented. As a young man he had gone to
Kohima to be taught by the bandmaster of the
44th Ghoorka Rifles, and he had a natural ear
for music, and could even sing a little. He
used to get very impatient at times when the
bandsmen were more stupid than usual, and on
one occasion he took to beating them, and

nwvwa

IWM«

»9"

MMBBI

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

they refused to work any longer under him.
They were imprisoned, and many of them
beaten, but at last, after a great deal of per-
suasion, backed by a few rupees, they were
induced to begin again, and the bandmaster
promised to cease from castigating them
whenever they played a wrong note.

I shall never forget my first introduction
to the bandmaster. He arrived dressed in
what he called his * Calcutta clothes,' of
which he was immensely proud. They con-
sisted of a white frock coat, made in a very
old-fashioned way ; black broadcloth con-
tinuations, rather short and very baggy ; a
red-corded silk waistcoat, with large white
spots, and tie to match ; turn-down collar
and ancient top hat, constructed in the
year 1800, I fancy. He had a small
peony in his button-hole, and last, but not
least, patent - leather boots stitched with
white and covered with three rows of pearl
buttons. He carried a light cane, sur-
mounted by the head and shoulders of a

THREE YEARS IN MANIfUR

depraved-looking female in oxidized silver
as a handle. He showed this to nie with
great pride, and really it was a marvellous
machine, for when you pressed the top of
her head, attar of roses came out of her
mouth and nose, and if you were anywhere
near you were covered with that pungent
liquid. It was very difficult to avoid laughing
at this curious get-up, and when he had
safely embarked on a long overture from
* William Tell,' I disappeared for a few minutes
to give vent to my amusement. He was
quite a character, and always afforded me a
weekly surprise, as he seldom appeared in
the same clothes twice running, and his
wardrobe seemed as endless as it was select.

Being able to have the band when we
liked was very pleasant. It brought the
officers over from Langthabal once a week
at any rate, and we always rode out to
see them every week. We were very gay
there in those days, and we used to have
dinner-parties, and I enjoyed the change of

— I

THREE YEARS IN MANJPUR 79

going to the mess to dinner now and then.
Of course the four miles' journey there was
a little trying. The Manipur roads never
admitted of driving, so I used to be carried
in a long chair by hospital Kahars, and my
husband used to ride. It was terribly cold
coming back late at night, and often very
wet, but we did not mind that very much
to get an outing occasionally.

Terribly sorry we were when the decree
went forth that we were to lose the regiment.
We knew that they might go any day, and
a Chin expedition cropped up in the winter
of 1888, which took our only neighbours off
on the warpath. We were very depressed
at the idea of losing them, but perfectly
desolated when a letter came saying that we
ourselves were to go to another station. We
were out in camp when it arrived, and I
never shall forget the hopeless silence that
fell upon us both at the news. We had
counted upon being safely installed at Manipur
for three years at the least, but, alas! a

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

number of senior men were coming out
from furlough, and had to be provided
with districts before the juniors. We had
taken so much pride in the place during
our ten months' residence there that we
were very loath to go. We talked it
over, trying to find some way of getting
out of leaving, but came to the conclusion
there was none. That was in December,
but we did not really leave until February,
as the officer who was to relieve us had
to come a long distance from the other side
of the Assam Valley, and he took as long
as he possibly could in coming, being
as loath to take the place as we were to
give it up. Sadly we walked round our
gardens, noted the rose-trees only lately
arrived from Calcutta, which we had been
counting on to make the place beautiful
during the coming year, and gazed mourn-
fully at the newly-made asparagus-bed that
we hoped would have fed us in three years'
time. I almost felt inclined to destroy every-

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

thing, but my husband was more magnan-
imous, and even went as far as to say he
hoped Mr. Heath (our successor) would
enjoy it all.

We made the most of our last two months
in Manipur. Two shooting expeditions to
the lake, and a journey to Cachar for the
Christmas race-meet, occupied most of our
remaining time ; but, like all things, it came
to an end — all too soon for us — and one
morning the guns boomed out a salute to
our successor. It was a case of * Le roi est
mort. Vive le roi!' The same elephants,
covered with the same crimson coverings,
welcomed him in the identical manner that
they had welcomed us. The red-coated
Chupprassies hastened to pay their respects
to the new Sahib and attend to his wants,
heedless of those of the old Sahib, and I
think we both felt then what leaving the place
would really mean to us. Mr. Heath was
much impressed by all the glories prepared

for him, but he had not been in the house

82 THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

very long before he told us how much he
disliked coming to Manipur. He hadn't
a good word to say for it, and I felt very
sorry for him, as he really seemed to dread
the loneliness terribly. Lonely it certainly
was, and the outlook was worse for him
than it had been for us, as we had each other,
and the regiment was four miles off. He
had no one. I knew well how the solitude
would weigh on him before many days were
over. It had been dreadful work for me at
times, when my husband was kept in the office
till late in the evening, and I had to amuse
myself as best I could from eleven in the
morning until dinner-time. There were no
books or papers to be got under three weeks
or a month's post, and then one had to buy
one's books, as there was no going to a
library for them. So I felt very sorry for
poor Mr. Heath, as he seemed far from
strong into the bargain. However, I did
my best to cheer him up by taking him
all round the gardens and over the house,

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

and showing him that, as far as the place
went, he could not wish for a better. Then
we went for a walk through the bazaar and
on to the polo ground, and eventually,
when we returned in . the evening, he
seemed in a happier frame of mind, and the
band playing whilst we were at dinner cheered
him up considerably. But next day, when
the time came for us to depart, he was very
gloomy, and as I was worse myself, I could
not put on a pleasant outward appearance.
It was very hard to leave the place, having
to bid good-bye to all our pets, leaving them
in the hands of the servants who might or
might not look after them. I took the three
little monkeys with me, as I would not part
with them, and they were travellers already,
as they had come to Manipur with us. My
husband did suggest letting them loose in
a large grove of mango-trees not far from
the Residency that was filled with monkeys
which we often used to go and feed with rice
and plantains, but I knew how they fought

84 THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

amongst themselves, and how the big ones
bullied the little ones, so I preferred taking
my three with us. I took a last walk round
the grounds, and almost directly after break-
fast our horses came to the door and we had
to make a start. All the servants that were
remaining behind came and bid us good-bye,
and some of the red-coated Chupprassies
gave us little presents of dried fruits and
nuts. We rode out of the place very slowly,
but as soon as the quarter-guard gates had
closed behind us we put our ponies into a
gallop, and never stopped till three or four
miles lay between us and the Residency,
and neither of us spoke much for the rest
of the ten that limited our journey that
day.

We were going to a place over two hundred
miles away called Jorehat, in the Assam
Valley, near the Brahmapootra, and to
get to it we had to pass through Kohima,
in the Naga Hills, ninety-six miles from
Manipur. It was my first visit there, and

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

I enjoyed the eight days' journey to it
immensely. We were accompanied as far
as Mao Thana (the boundary between the
Manipur state and Kohima) by the eldest
son of the Tongal General. Before going
on, I think some description of the latter
officer will not be amiss, especially as he
has played so important a part in the late
rebellion. He was an old man, nearer
eighty than seventy I should think, taller
than the average Manipuri, and marvellously
active for his age. He had a fine old face,
much lined and wrinkled with age and
the cares of state which had fallen upon
him when he was quite a young man,
and had in no wise lessened as his years
increased. He had piercing black eyes,
shaggy overhanging white eyebrows, and
white hair. His nose was long and slightly
hooked, and his mouth was finely cut and
very determined. He was fond of bright
colours, and I never remember seeing him in
anything but a delicate pink silk dhotee, a

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

dark coat made from a first-rate English
pattern, and a pink turban, and when the
orchids were in bloom, he seldom appeared
without a large spray of some gorgeous-hued
specimen in the top of his turban. The
Tongal always reminded me of an eagle.
He had the same keen, rugged expression
and deep-set, glowing eyes. Few things
happened without his knowledge and con-
sent, and if he withheld his approbation
from any matter, there would invariably
be a hitch in it somewhere. He was
credited with more bloodshed than any man
in the kingdom. If a village had mis-
behaved itself, raided on another, or refused
to pay revenue or do Lalup, the Tongal
would travel out to that village and wipe
it off the face of the earth. Men, women,
and children were cut down without the
slightest compunction. Few escaped, and
these travelled away and joined other villages ;
but every house and barn and shed was
burnt, pigs and fowls destroyed, and ruin

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR S?

and devastation reigned where prosperity
and plenty had held sway before. I believe
in later years restrictions were brought to
bear upon the Manipur durbar which pre-
vented such wholesale slaughter ; but in
earlier days the Tongal had, as he expressed
it, ' nautched through many villages * in the
style described, and brought desolation into
many a hillman*s peaceful home. If he had
his faults, he had his virtues. He was very
enterprising, fond of building bridges, and
improving the roads about the capital. Like
the Senaputti, he was a keen soldier, enjoyed
watching good shooting, and had been in
his younger days a first-rate shot himself
He was an obstinate old man, and it was
very difficult to get him to listen to any
proposition if it did not please him at the
outset ; but when once he had promised to
get anything done, he did not go back from
his word, and one knew it was reliable. He
lived in a large house some distance to the
south of the palace, with his family. Of these,

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

only two sons were of any importance — the
eldest, called Yaima, and the second son, a
very handsome young fellow, named Lumphel
Singh. The latter was perhaps the most
influential, and my husband always said he
thought that he would take his father's place
in the state when anything happened to the
old man. Lumphel was the favourite aide-
de-camp of the Maharajah, and he was
the officer in charge of the hundred and
twenty-eight miles of road between Manipur
and Cachar. At durbars he used to stand
behind the Maharajah's chair with a very
magnificent uniform covered with gold lace,
and a gold turban.

Yaima, the eldest brother, was not good-
looking at all, but a nice young fellow, and
very hardworking. He came with us on
our journey to Kohima at the time of which
I write, and was very obliging, and ready
to put himself out in any way in order
that we might be comfortable, which, con-
sidering that we were departing, as we then

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

thought, for good from the place, was very
courteous on his part. We were very sorry
to part with him at Mao Thana. The
scenery on the road between Kohima and
Manipur is magnificent. Some of the hills
run as high as nine thousand feet, and yet
until you are within three days journey of
Kohima the road is almost level, winding in
and out along a narrow valley. Forests of
oak abound the whole way, and in the cold
weather the trees lose their foliage, making
it look very English-like and wintry. Some-
times you find yourself riding along a narrow
path which skirts round the side of a steep
hill, while below you is the river, clear and
blue and deep, with an occasional rapid dis-
turbing the calm serenity of its flow. The
hills around are studded with villages, and
peopled by various tribes. The Nagas in
the immediate vicinity of Kohima are perhaps
a finer race than any hillmen to be found
in Assam. They are called Ungamis, and
are very fine men, most of them six

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

feet high at least, broad shouldered, and
powerfully built. Their dress is curious,
and quite different to any of the Nagas
about Manipur. It consists of a kind of
very short kilt made of coarse black cloth,
trimmed with three or four rows of shells
like cowries. In old days, before Kohima
was as settled and quiet as it is in these
days, these rows of shells are said to have
borne a meaning — a man who had never
taken a human head was not allowed to sew
them on to his kilt. For every head taken
they affixed so many cowries, five or six at a
time, as the case might be, and a warrior with
three rows on his kilt was considered a great
gun indeed.

The Mao Nagas were Ungamis, and used
to be rather a handful for the Manipuris
to manage. They were always getting up
feuds with the villagers over the border, and
the Manipuris were very often afraid of
hauling them over the coals for it, for fear
of getting the worst of the fray. We stayed

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

two days at Kohima on our way to Jorehat,
and travelled after leaving there through
the Namba forest to the next station,
called Golaghat. We took eight days to
do this bit of our journey, as the weather
was delicious, and we wanted to make the
most of our time on the road, being in no
hurry to arrive at our destination. This
Namba forest covers an enormous area. It
extends hundreds of miles each side of the
road, which is constructed right through the
middle of it. The scenery is wonderful.
High forest jungle rises each side of you
as you ride along. Here and there you
come across a river, whose sandy banks show
the footprints of many a wild beast. Bears,
tigers, leopards, and elephants swarm in the
jungle around, but one seldom sees anything
more exciting than a harmless deer browsing
by the wayside, or a troop of long-tailed
monkeys crossing the road. It is all very
wild and beautiful, and when we eventually
came to the end of our eight days* march

through the Namba, and reached cultivated
regions once more, we were quite sorry. We
stayed two days at Golaghat, the first station
reached after leaving the forest, and then
proceeded to our new subdivision, arriving
there at the end of three days.

[93]

CHAPTER VII.

There is no necessity to give a detailed
account of the time spent between our leaving
Manipur and our return there. It extended
over a period of some ten or twelve weeks
only. Instead of remaining at Jorehat three
months as we had at first expected, we were
there only ten days, just long enough to get
everything unpacked and stowed away, when
a telegram came from Shillong, ordering my
husband to another station called Gauhati,
on the Brahmapootra. As it was a better
appointment, he accepted it, but it was very
hard work having to start off on the march
again before we had had time to rest
ourselves after our long journey from
Manipur. That wonderful domestic whom

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

we could never do without in India, the
bearer, soon repacked all our things. Why
haven't we someone like a bearer in England ?
He is a perfect godsend in the shiny East.
He is valet to the Sahib, makes the beds,
dusts the rooms, cleans the lamps and boots,
and is responsible for all the performances
of the other domestics. If they fail to do
their duty, or break your furniture or crockery,
you scold the bearer. If one of your horses
goes lame or gets out of condition, the
bearer knows of it very soon, and if your
cook sends you up anything nasty for dinner,
or the butter is sour or the milk turned, your
bearer is admonished. No doubt he lectures
the other servants for their misdeeds, and
takes many gratuities from them, varying
in bulk, for pacifying his irate master or
mistress. He generally gets on amicably
with the whole establishment, but sometimes
he makes an enemy of one or other of the
servants, and ructions are as constant as they
are noisy. The two bearers (for they gener-

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

ally hunt in couples) that we had had been
with my husband for many years. They
were both very excellent servants, though
the elder of the two gave himself the airs
and graces of a Maharajah.

My advent into the menage did not please
him at all. Well he knew that his little
sins of omission and commission, so easily
perpetrated in a bachelor establishment,
would all vanish and be things of the past
when a Memsahib came out from Belat* to
rule the roost. Many a battle have I had
with Mr. Moni Ram Dass, as my husband's
chief factotum was called, before I could get
him to see that my way was not his way
sometimes. For instance, on one occasion
shortly after my arrival in India I found him
airing the wkole of my husband s wardrobe
in my drawing-room at an hour when visitors
were certainties. Now, there are some
garments in a man's outfit — and in a woman's,
too, for that matter — which, with the best

♦ Belat — England.

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

intention in the world, could never be made
to look fitting ornaments for a lady's drawing-
room. I expounded this theory to the bearer
on this occasion, but it was some time before
I got him clearly to understand that his
master s wardrobe was to be confined to the
limits of the dressing-room and back veranda ;
and when he did carry ofT the garments in
question, it was with an expression on his
face of severe displeasure at my want of
taste in not considering them in the light
of ornaments to my drawing-room. One
virtue in this estimable individual certainly
was worthy of all praise : he knew how
to pack.

When we were leaving Manipur, he had
packed all our belongings, and on our
arrival at Jorehat, after a long, rough journey,
we found everything in perfect order, and
not even a cup broken. He repacked our
things when we had to leave there again,
and took them himself to Gauhati, saving
us all the trouble of having to look after

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

our heavy baggage ourselves, and enabling
us to follow on in comfort some days
later.

It was beginning to be hot when we
arrived at Gauhati early in April, and I
dreaded having to spend the hot season in the
plains. It was to be my first experience of
great heat, as the summer before in Manipur
we had never needed punkahs, and on the
hottest day we ever had, the thermometer
registered only S;"*.

A week after we went to Gauhati,
news came from Manipur that Mr. Heath,
our successor, was very ill indeed with
dysentery. And as every day went by,
bringing reports of his condition, some-
times better, and then worse again, we
began to fear that he would not recover.
At last one day a telegram came saying that
all was over, and that he had died the
previous evening. We were both very sorry
to hear it. We had liked what we saw of
him so much, and had been so sorry to

98 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

leave him there, apart from our own sad
feelings at going, knowing that he disliked
and dreaded the place so much. It seemed
terribly sad. I knew well, too, that it would
mean our returning there, and much as I
had regretted leaving, I did not want to go
back.

I cannot tell why the dislike had arisen
within me at the thoughts of returning ; but
the journey was so long, and the time of
year so trying, and on the top of that there
was the feeling that a man whom we had
known and liked had just died in the
house, and that if we went back it would
be to rooms that were full of his things,
and associations quite unlike those we had
left behind us. Maybe that a warning of
all that was yet to come filled me with
some unknown presentiment of evil, but it
seemed as though our return there was
inevitable.

Within twenty-four hours after we had
heard of Mr. Heath s death came the letter

mmm

■SWHHil

BB««9!!^Ka

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

offering Manipur again to my husband. I
watched his face light up as he read it, full
of eagerness to get back to the place he
loved, and I knew that I could never tell
him that I did not want him to go. My
reasons for not wishing to return seemed
childish, and I thought he would not
understand the superstitious ideas which
filled me with dread at the idea of
going back. So when he came to me
with the letter and asked me to decide
whether we should say yes or no to it,
I said we had better accept what it
offered.

As it was so late in the year for travel-
ling, and the weather so hot and un-
healthy, my husband decided to leave me
in Shillong on his way to Manipur, and let
me follow in October. It was with a heavy
heart that I superintended the arrange-
ments for the return journey. An unde-
finable dread seemed to predominate over
all I did, and I bid good-bye to my hus-

lOO

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

band when he left me behind in Shrllong
with a very heavy heart, and my anxiety
was not lessened when I heard from him
day after day, giving me terrible accounts
of all he was going through on the
way. Every one of his servants, with
the exception of the Khitmutghar, got ill
with fever and other complaints peculiar to
the time of year. They had to be carried
the whole way, and my husband had
to cook his own dinner and groom his
horses himself every day, besides having
to unpack all the necessary tables and
chairs at each halting -place, and do them
up again before starting off next morning.
It was only a mercy that he did not
get ill himself to add to the other miseries,
and that I was not there to make
extra work for him. Very glad was I . to
hear from him at last that he had arrived
safely at Manipur. I don't think he felt
very bright at first. He was quite alone
there. The regiment was still away in

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

lOI

the Chin Hills, and rumours were afloat that
when it did return most of the men were
to be drafted to Shillong, and only a wing
left to garrison Langthabal. My husband
complained, too, that the Residency had some-
what gone to seed since we left. During Mr.
Heath's illness and the time which elapsed
between his death and our return the ser-
vants had all taken a holiday, so there was
a good deal to be done to get things into
order again. Several rooms in the house
that contained the dead man s effects were
kept locked up, and it was some time before
my husband could get the whole house
opened and the things sent away down to
Calcutta.

Meanwhile I was enjoying myself very
much, having got over my first feelings of
loneliness, and made friends with everyone
in the place, more or less. Shillong is a
lovely little station nestling away amongst
the Khasia Hills, in the midst of pine woods,
and abounding in waterfalls and mountain-

102

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

torrents. The climate is delicious all the
year round, and the riding and driving as
good, if not better, than any hill-station in
India. Life there was very pleasant, not a
superabundance of gaiety, but quite enough
to be enjoyable. I have spent some very
happy days there with some good friends,
many of whom, alas ! I can never hope to
see again ; and the memories that come to
me of Shillong and my sojourn there are
tinged with sadness and regret, even though
those days were good and pleasant while
they lasted.

Things have changed there now, that
is, as far as the comings and goings
of men change, but the hills remain the
same, and the face of Nature will not
alter. Her streams will whisper to the rocks
and flowers of all that has been and that is
to be. So runs the world. Where others
lived and loved, sorrowed and died, two
hundred years ago, we are living now, and
when our day is over and done there

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR 103

will be others to take our place, until a
time comes when there shall be no more
change, neither sorrow nor death, and the
former things shall have passed away for
ever.

CHAPTER VIII.

I LEFT Shillong early in November, 1889,
travelling part of the way towards Manipur
quite alone, and had a terrible experience too.
I had arranged to journey a distance of thirty-
eight miles in one day. I sent one of my
horses on the day before, and started in a
* Khasia Thoppa ' down the last hill of
the range upon which Shillong is situated,
which brings you down into the plain of
Sylhet. A Thoppa is a very curious mode
of locomotion. It is a long cane basket,
with a seat in the middle, from which hangs
a small board to rest your feet upon.
Over your head is a covered top made of
cane, covered with a cloth. You sit in this
basket and a man carries you on his back.

mifKmmmm

^^^10

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

105

supporting some of the weight by tying a
strap woven of cane on to the back of the
Thoppa, which he puts over his forehead.
The Khasias, luckily, are very strong men,
but they think it necessary always to begin
by informing you that you are much too
heavy to be lifted by any single individual,
unless that said individual be compensated
at the end of the journey with double pay.

You ask him what you weigh, and he
scratches an excessively dirty head, shuts
up one eye, spits a quantity of horrible
red fluid out of his mouth, and then informs
you that he should put you down as eighteen
or nineteen stone, and he even will go as
far as twenty sometimes. This, to a slim,
elegant-looking person, partakes of the nature
of an insult, but eventually he picks you up
on his back and proceeds along the road
with you as fast as he can, as if you
were a feather weight. Going along back-
wards, and knowing that, should the man's
headstrap break, the chances are you will

io6

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

be precipitated down the Khud,* are certainly
not pleasurable sensations ; but it is astonish-
ing how exceedingly callous you become
after a lengthy course of Thoppa rides up
in the hills. Sometimes your Thoppa wallah t
may be slightly inebriated, when he will
lurch about in a horrible manner, emit
a number of curious gurgling noises from
the depths of his throat, and eventually
tumble down in the centre of the road,
causing you grievous hurt.

At other times he will take into consideration
that it is a cold night, the Memsahib is going
to a Nautch,J and will be there four or five
hours, while he is left to his own reflections
outside, waiting to carry her home again when
her festivities have subsided. Having arrived
at the conclusion that the cold will probably
by that time be intense, he will come to take
you to the scene of action enveloped in

♦ Khud — precipice, cliff.

t Thoppa wallah — ^bearer, or man who carries Thoppas.

I Nautch— ball

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

107

every covering that he can get together.
After he has carried you a short way he
begins getting hot, and rapidly divests himself
of his many wrappers, placing them on the
top of your machine, where they flutter about,
hitting you now and then playfully in the
mouth or eye, as the case may be, and making
themselves as generally unpleasant as they
possibly can. Having done so, they end by
falling off into the road. Your Khasia per-
ceives them, and immediately descends with
you on to his hands and knees, and grovels
about until he recovers the fallen raiment.
During this process your head assumes a
downward tendency, and your heels fly
heavenwards ; and should you move in any-
way ever so slightly, you immediately find
yourself sitting on the ground in a more
hasty than dignified attitude, upbraiding your
Khasia in English. You may swear at a
native and abuse all his relations, as their
custom is, in his own language, and you will
not impress him in any way ; but use good

io8

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

sound fish- wife English, and he will treat
you as a person worthy of respect.

On my journey from Shillong, at the time
of which I write, I fell in with two very
amiable Khasias. One could speak Hin-
dostanee rather well, and he walked beside
me as I travelled down the hill and talked
to me on various interesting subjects. He
asked me a great deal about the Lushais,
and I invented some wonderful anecdotes
for his delectation. When we parted, I
think I had impressed him with the idea
that I was a' person of great moral worth.

At the foot of the hill I got into a small
train, the only railway to be found at present
in that side of Assam. I think it only
extends over about twelve miles of country,
and there are about four trains, two up and
two down daily. They do not trouble them-
selves by putting on too much speed. We,
my servants and I, travelled as far as we
could in it, and then I found myself within
twenty miles of Sylhet — my proposed desti-

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

109

nation — in lots of time to ride in comfort-
ably before dark, and get my servants and
baggage in at the same time. But, alas!
the inevitable fate of the traveller in Sylhet
was destined to be mine, too, on this occasion ;
and when I got out of the train, expecting
to find my coolies waiting for me, I found a
wretched police inspector, who informed me
that the coolies had all run away, and he
could not get me any more. What was to
be done I knew not, but after some delay I
met a young fellow whom I knew slightly,
as he was connected with the railway, and
I had seen him passing through the district
once before. He was a perfect godsend to
me on this occasion, and after some hours*
hunting for coolies he managed to get the
requisite number, and started them off with
my luggage.

The next thing to be done was to start

myself. Mr. A kindly offered to go

with me half-way, as it was then four o'clock,
and only two hours of daylight left. Off we

THREE YEARS IN At AMI PUR

Started, he on the most extraordinary pony
I have ever seen, that looked as though it
might fall down at any moment, and I on
a small Manipuri pony I had taken with me
up in the hills. We started off galloping,
and went as hard as we could for six miles.
I hoped that about seven miles from Sylhet
I should find a pony-trap waiting for me
which a planter had offered to send to meet
me, so I did not spare my small steed, as
I knew he would not think anything of
twelve miles.

By the time we got to the river, where
I expected the cart to meet me, it was almost
dark. My poor pony was terribly tired and

hot, but Mr. A 's curious old beast seemed

none the worse. We crossed the river on
a ferry, and then found there was no cart
on the opposite side. It was a terrible blow,
for our ponies had done enough as it was.
Night was rapidly overtaking us, and seven
miles of the road lay before us to be got over
somehow. I had passed all my coolies three

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR iii

miles away on the road from the railway,
and knew that they would not be in for
hours. There was nothing to be done but
to go on as best we could. There were
tracks of the cart-wheels in the road, so
I knew it had been there, and it made
it all the more annoying. It was no good
trying to gallop on, as my pony was so
tired he could scarcely crawl.

We proceeded slowly for about two miles.
It was getting darker every minute, and at
length we could see nothing at all, but knew
that we had still five more weary miles to travel

over. Mr. A suggested our urging our

horses into a canter, which ended disastrously
for me, as my pony caught his foot in
something on the road and landed on his
head. That was the end of all idea of
riding, so I got off, hauled him up on his
legs by dint of much persuasion, and started
off walking. The road was ankle-deep in
loose sand, jackals hurried by us at every
moment, and noises startled me at every

112

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

turn. At last I remembered that the planter
who had sent the cart out lived somewhere
in that neighbourhood. When we had been
quartered in Sylhet, I had often ridden past
his house, though I had never been actually

up to it, and I told Mr. A that I thought

we had better steer for his bungalow, if we
could only find the road up to it. We
went on as fast as we could, considering, and
at length saw the lights of the house standing
some distance to our left away from the road.
The next thing was to find the way up to it.
My companion asked me to look after the
ponies — a rather unnecessary precaution., as
they were too tired to need any looking after
— and he proceeded to try and find the road.
After a little while I heard a stifled call in
the distance, which was repeated, and then

I discovered that poor Mr. A had fallen

into a horribly wet, slushy rice-field, and
needed my help to extricate him. Having
given him the necessary aid, and hauled him
out, we decided that any more searching

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

for the road up to the house would be a
futile waste of energy, and were preparing
to make the best of our way into Sylhet,
when a coolie woman came by, and we rushed
at her and asked if she could show us the
way to the Sahib s bungalow. She seemed
very much alarmed at our sudden appear-
ance, as we were then only dimly visible by
the light of the rising moon. However, she
said after a little that she would not mind con-
veying us up to the house, provided that we
would allow her a fair start in front of us, as she
professed to be much alarmed at our horses.

We proceeded slowly and solemnly
behind her, and at length found our-
selves not at the bungalow, but at the
tea-house, an erection made of corrugated .
iron in which the tea was manufactured.
All round this building there were wire stays
which were fastened in the ground and
attached to the roof, to prevent the latter
being blown off in storms of wind. My poor
tired pony caught his feet in one of these

114 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

wires and tumbled down ; so, thinking that it
was better to take what rest he could, he did
not trouble himself to get up again, 1 1 was not
much good scolding our guide, but we seemed
no better off than we had been in the road
below, and the lights of the bungalow gleamed
just as far away as before. Mr. A sug-
gested shouting, so simultaneously we all
lifted up our voices and shouted as loud as
we could.

At length, after doing this a great many
times, a light appeared in the door of the
bungalow ; and a few minutes afterwards the
figure of my friend the planter became visible
descending the hill upon which his house was
situated, and coming armed with a big stick
to see what evil spirits were in possession of
his tea-house.

Very much surprised was he when he
found there was a lady in the case, and not a
little disconcerted over his own appearance,
as he was not clad in raiment suitable to the
entertaining of female visitors.

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 115

I was much too tired, however, to notice
whether he was got up for the occasion or
not, and he seemed a perfect godsend to us
both after all we had gone through.

He soon took us up to his house, and in
half an hour gave us dinner. Real dinner,
too — not a shadowy make-belief; but soup,
entree, and joint, just as though we had
come by invitation, and this had been the
result of some days* preparation.

How we did eat ! There was little doubt
that we appreciated the excellent fare set
before us, and at the end of it I felt a
different being.

Our friend the planter had meanwhile got
himself up regardless of expense, and offered
to drive me into Sylhet, an offer which I
most gladly accepted, leaving the poor
Jabberwock in a comfortable stable, with a
large bundle of grass in front of him, which
he was too tired to eat.

We did not take long to get over the four
miles to Sylhet, where I bade farewell to the

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

-, who returned with

planter and Mr. A —
him to the garden.

I had the pleasure of lying down on a bed
with no bedding, and waiting until my coolies
and baggage should arrive, with part of my
muddy habit rolled up to serve for a pillow ;
and very well I slept for three good hours,
when at two o'clock in the morning my
goods and chattels commenced dropping in,
and I was able to go to bed in real, sober
earnest.

Next morning the Jabberwock arrived,
looking rather miserable, with a very large
swelling on his leg, and a bad girthgall ; so
there was no possibility of our continuing
our journey that day, as the servants all said
they were dying, and could not move on at
any price. However, the day following they
had recovered sufficiently to proceed another
fifteen miles ; and after three more days I
arrived at Cachar, where I found my
husband, who had come down from Manipur
to meet me.

CHAPTER IX.

It was strange finding myself back in
Manipur after nearly nine months* absence ;
but though the house had had several im-
provements made to it, and the grounds
were prettier than when we had left in
February, I could not settle down in the place
as I had done before. Poor Mn Heath was
buried in our own garden, quite close to the
house— so close, in fact, that I could see his
grave from my bedroom window. There
had been two graves there before — one was
Major Trotter s, who was once political agent
at Manipur, and died there from wounds
which he had received fighting in Burmah ;
the other was that of a young Lieutenant
Beavor, who had also died at the Residency,

ii8

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

of fever. But we had never known either
of these two men, so that I did not look
upon them in the same light as I did on
Mr. Heath, and his sudden, sad death
seemed to haunt me. Once a friend of
mine remarked to my husband, *What an
unlucky place Manipur is ! I have seen so
many political agents go up there, and some-
thing always seems to happen to them.'
Hearing this gave me a cold shudder, and I
longed to get my husband to give up a place
so associated with gloomy incidents, and take
some other district in the province. Not that
I was ever really afraid of anything tangible.
I rode alone all over the country, fearing
nothing from the inhabitants, who knew me,
and would have been only too ready to help
me had I heeded aid ; and I have been left
for days together quite alone at the Residency
while my husband had to be out in camp.
Once he had to go down to Tammu in Bur-
mah, five days* journey from Manipur, and I
was too ill to go with him, so stayed behind.

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 119

For sixteen days I was there all alone. We
had no neighbours nearer than a hundred
miles off, and I never even heard English
spoken until my husband returned. The old
ayah used to sleep on my doormat at night,
and I always had sentries outside the house,
back and front I used to hear, or imagine I
heard, all kinds of noises sometimes, and get
up, waking the old woman from her noisy
slumbers to come and do a midnight parade
all round the house, searching in every nook
and corner for the disturber of my rest, which
was probably nothing more harmful than an
antiquated bat roaming about in the roof, or
a rat in the cellars beneath the house. The
poor old ayah used to pretend to be very
valiant on these occasions, and carefully hunt
in every dark corner which I had already
turned out ; but she was always glad to get
back when the search was ended to her own
venerable blanket, in which she used to roll
her attenuated form, and snore away the
long vigils of the nights.

I20 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

Poor old Moonia! she was a faithful
old soul, and has tramped many a mile
after me in my wanderings backwards
and forwards. She was a lazy old woman,
but if I told her so, she gave me warn-
ing on the spot. She did this very fre-
quently — on an average, six times a month ;
but after a little I got accustomed to it
— in fact, I may say I got rather to like it
— and I never by any chance reminded her
of her promised flitting, or took any notice
of the warning when she gave it to me.
She was a very quarrelsome old creature,
and had some very bitter enemies. First
and above all she detested the head bearer.
She hated him with a deep and deadly
hatred, and if she could do him a bad turn
she would do it, even though it caused her
much fatigue, bodily and mental, to accom-
plish it. Next to the bearer she disliked
the wife of one of the Chupprassies. This
female was a powerfully-built Naga woman,
with a very good opinion of herself ; and she

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

121

returned the ayah's dislike most fully. They
were always at war, and on one occasion
they had a stand-up fight. We had gone
out into camp, and as Moonia (the ayah) had
not been well, I left her at home instead of
taking her with me, as I generally did.
Two days after we had started, a report
reached us that she had had a terrible fight
with the Chupprassie's wife, and the latter
had injured her very seriously. We heard
nothing more about it at that time, so I
imagined that the ayah s wounds were heal-
ing, and that I should not be informed as to
details at all. Not so, however. We re-
turned to the Residency a fortnight later,
and I sent for my abigail as usual, receiving
in return a message saying that she could
not come, as she was still dangerously ill.
Having, however, insisted on her appearing,
she came — very slowly, and with her head
so enveloped in coverings that I could not
see even the tip of her nose. Groans issued
forth at intervals, and she subsided on to the

122

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

floor directly she entered the room. After
a little parleying, I persuaded her to undo
her various blankets, and show me the
extent of her injuries. They were not
serious, and the only real wound was one on
the top of her head, which certainly was
rather a deep cut. However, I soon im-
pressed upon her that I did not think she was
as near death s door as she evidently imagined,
and let her return to her own apartments,
vowing vengeance on her adversary.

Moonia presented a petition soon after-
wards, and my husband had to try the
case, which he proceeded to do in the
veranda of the Residency. The evidence
was very conflicting. All the complainant*s
witnesses bore testimony against her, and
vice-versd ; and the language of the principal
parties concerned was very voluble and
abusive. The ayah made a great sensation,
however, by producing the log of wood she
had been beaten with, covered with hair and
blood, and the clothes she had worn at the

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

123

time, in a similar gory condition. The hair
in the stick was very cleverly arranged.
Where it had originally come from was not
easy to define ; but it was stuck in bunches
the whole length of the stick, and must have
been a work of time and ingenuity. How-
ever, there were many exclamations of com-
miseration for the complainant, and eventually
the defendant was fined one rupee, and
bound over to keep the peace.

Then ensued a funny scene. The ayah
argued that the fine imposed was not heavy
enough, and the adversary threatened her with
more violence as soon as she should leave the
presence of the Sahib ; and they swore gaily
at each other, as only two native women
know how to swear, and had to be conveyed
from the court in different directions by a
small guard of the 43rd Ghoorkas, who
were mightily amused at the whole business.
I thought at the time that should the Chup-
prassie's wife ever get an opportunity of
wreaking vengeance on the ayah, she was

124

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

just the sort of woman to make that revenge
a deep one ; and I pitied the ayah if she
ever fell into her hands. The day did come
before very long ; but of that I shall speak
later on.

Our Chupprassies were very useful, but
very lazy, and puffed up with pride in their
own loveliness. Their red coats with the
* V. R. ' buttons, covered with gold braid, lent
them much dignity ; and there were many
little offices which they absolutely refused to
perform because they wore the Queen's
livery, and considered themselves too im-
portant. For instance, I requested four of
them once to go into the garden and catch
grasshoppers out of the long grass with
which to feed a cage full of little birds. One
of the four alone condescended to go ; the
rest solemnly refused, saying that they could
not demean themselves by such a perform-
ance, and that I must get the Naga boys
out of the village to do it for them. And I
had to give in to them ignominiously.

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR 125

These ten Chupprassies were all supposed
to be interpreters of some kind or another ;
but for the most part they could speak no
other dialect but their own, whatever that
happened to be, and had no idea of trans-
lating it into any other tongue.

Altogether, they were decidedly more
ornamental than useful. Two of them rode
extremely well, and they acted as my jockeys
in some pony-races which the Senaputti got
up one Christmas Day, amongst other sports,
for the amusement of our Sepoys and his
own.

The Senaputti had got the idea of this
Gymkhana from having seen the 44thGhoorka
sports on one occasion at Langthabal, when
that regiment was stationed there, and be-
sides the ordinary races and competitions,
the Manipuris had some which I have never
seen anywhere else. One feat they performed
was to lay a man on the top of six bayonets.
The bayonets were fixed to the rifles,
and the latter were then driven into the

126

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

ground like stakes with the points upwards.
A man then lay down flat on the ground
and made himself as stiff as possible, when
he was lifted up by four other men, and laid
along the tops of the bayonets. Had he
moved they must have gone into him, and
we never knew how the performance was
managed, or whether they fixed anything
on the points of the bayonets to prevent
their piercing his flesh ; but it did not look
a nice trick at all, and one always dreaded
an accident. There was wrestling, too, in
which the princes took part, and foot races,
and the Senaputti gave the prizes, mostly
in money. And to wind up there was a play.
The Maharajah had three jesters, exactly
like the old English fashion of having court-
jesters to amuse royalty.

The Manipuri specimens were very funny
indeed. Their heads were shaved like the
back of a poodle, with little tufts of hair left
here and there ; and their faces were painted
with streaks of different-coloured paints, and

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 127

their eyebrows whitened. They wore very
few clothes, but what they had were striped
red and green and a variety of shades. They
walked up to the tent where we were sitting
to watch the sports, all leaning against each
other, and carrying on a lively conversation
in Manipuri, which seemed to amuse the
spectators very much. On reaching the
door of the tent they all fell down at our
feet, making terrible grimaces by way of
greeting, and then they picked each other
up and retired a few yards off and com-
menced the performance. One disguised
himself as an old woman, and another as a
native doctor, and the third as a sick man,
lying on the ground covered with a white
sheet. Someone out of the crowd was im-
pressed into the play, and he had to call
the doctor to the sick man, who was mean-
while heaving up and down upon the ground
in a very extraordinary manner. The doctor
came and poked him about, making observa-
tions in Manipuri, at which everyone roared

128

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

with laughter ; and then the old woman
arrived and dragged the doctor off home.
She was supposed to be his wife, and as
soon as she appeared a scuffle ensued,
in which the old woman's clothes fell off.
We thought best to beat a retreat, as the
play was beginning to be rowdy and the
dialogue vulgar ; but I believe that it went
on for some hours afterwards, as we heard
shouts of laughter proceeding from the
direction of the polo - ground, where the
sports were held, late at night ; and the
princes told us the next day that it had
been a very good play, and the only pity
was that we had witnessed so little of it.

CHAPTER X.

All was peaceful at Manipur around us
until September ii, 1890. As day after
day went by, we seemed to get to know
the royal family better. Rumours of strife
amongst the brothers reached us from time to
time, and petty jealousies showed themselves
in some of their dealings — jealousies that the
weak will ever have for the strong, in whatever
country or community it may be. But we
were good friends with them all, though it
was difficult at times to avoid giving cause
for disputes between the Pucca Senna and
his more powerful brother, the Senaputti.
If one came more often than the other, that
other would get annoyed, and refuse to come
at all for some time. The Pucca Senna got

I30

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

very angry, because the Senaputti frequently
escorted the young princesses on their visits
to me, and on one occasion he tried to arrest
some of their attendants in the road when
they were leaving the Residency, which
might have been the beginning of a very
serious disturbance, had not my husband,
hearing privately that something of the kind
was meditated, sent an orderly and a Chup-
prassie with the girls to see them safely as
far as the palace.

The Senaputti had left the Residency on
that occasion some time before the young
princesses went away. Poor children ! they
were very much alarmed at the attempt to
waylay their attendants, and it was a very
long time before they summoned up enough
courage to pay us another visit.

We knew that the Pucca Senna and the
Senaputti were rivals, too. Both wished to
marry a girl who was supposed to be the
most beautiful woman in Manipur. She
rejoiced in the name of Maipdkbi, but I

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

131

never thought her as pretty as some of
the young princesses who used to come and
see me. She was not a royalty herself, but
was the daughter of a wealthy goldsmith
who lived near the palace ; her father was
a prominent member of the Maharajah's
durbar, or council. She was taller, though,
than the average Manipuri, about sixteen
years of age, and very fair, with quantities of
long black hair. She was always very well
dressed, and had a great many gold bracelets
on her arms, and some necklaces of pure
gold which weighed an enormous amount

* Fine feathers make fine birds,* says
an old proverb, and in this case it was
certainly true ; but the two princes thought
her beautiful, and were at daggers drawn
about her. We had a big nautch one night,
to which MaipS^kbi came as chief dancer.
All the princes were there to see it, and
the two rivals for the young lady's affections
sat oae on each side of me. The Senaputti
was all cheerfulness and good-humour, but

132

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

the Pucca Senna was very gloomy and
morose, and at the end of the evening my
husband said we must never ask the two
brothers together again. Shortly afterwards
we heard that they had had a terrible quarrel,
in which the Maharajah had taken the part
of the Pucca Senna, and that the Senaputti
had sworn never to speak to the latter again,
an oath which he kept to the letter.

Meanwhile I went away to the hills, and all
seemed to go on quietly for two or three
months, though a storm was brewing in the
meanwhile, which only needed an opportunity
to burst forth and overwhelm the reigning
power in destruction. The eight brothers
split up into two factions — the Maharajah,
Pucca Senna, Samoo Hengeba, and the
Dooloroi Hengeba formed one side ; whilst
the Jubraj, Senaputti, Angao Senna, and the
young Zillah Singh all leagued together.
Of the first four named, the Samoo Hengeba
and the Dooloroi Hengeba are the two that
have not been mentioned previously. The

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

133

first of these was the officer in charge of
the Maharajah's elephants, numbering about
sixty. It was his duty to manage all the
arrangements in connection with them, and
on grand occasions, when the Maharajah
rode on an elephant, his brother, the Samoo
Hengeba, acted as Mahout.* The name
means Chief over elephants, Samoo being
the Manipuri name for an elephant, and
Hengeba head or chief.

The Dooloroi Hengeba had command of
all the Maharajah's doolies.t This mode of
travelling was confined to the rich, and was
considered a mark of great dignity ; not
everyone could indulge in this luxury, and
those who did had to get special permission
to use them, though sometimes they were
conferred upon ministers of state by the
Maharajah as a mark of recognition for their
services. The Maharajah seldom travelled

* Mahout — driver.

t Doolies — a sort of palanquin, made of cane, in which
people are carried.

134 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

in any other style, as he was a very stout,
apoplectic kind of personage, and it suited
him better to be carried than to ride or go
on an elephant. His dooly was a very
magnificent affair, made of wood, with gilt
hangings all round it, and a gilt top, which
could be put over it in wet weather.

Prince Angao Senna was in charge of the
road between Burmah and Manijpur. He
was supposed to travel up and down it to see
that it was kept in a state of repair, but I
don't think he ever did so. He was quite
young, about two or three and twenty, and
I never remember seeing him without his
having a large piece of betel-nut in his mouth,
which he used to chew. It gave him the
appearance of having a swollen face, as he
stuffed enormous bits of it into his mouth all
at once, exactly as a monkey will do with
nuts or anything of the kind, and people said
he never cared for anything but eating and
drinking and watching pigeon-fights.

The Manipuris are great gamblers, and

^^^r^^'f^i^K^mm^r'^mmmrw^^^

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 135

they used to make these pigeon-fights the
occasion for betting considerably. A good
fighting pigeon was worth a lot of money —
forty or fifty rupees. They were handsome
birds, larger than the ordinary pigeon sold
in the market for an anna apiece, and they
had most beautiful plumage. The contests
between two of them were generally held in
the middle of one of the principal roads.
Each owner brought his pigeon to the scene
of action tied up in a cloth, and they were
then put under a wicker cage, something like
a hen-coop, where they fought until one
conquered.

It was very unexciting to watch it, we
thought ; but the crowd of spectators used to
take a breathless interest in the combatants,
and bet considerably upon them. I never
quite understood how they decided which
bird had won, as they simply beat each other
with their wings, cooing loudly the whole
time, and sometimes one seemed victorious,
and sometimes the other. However, there

136

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

were doubtless points in the combat which
we did not understand, and the Manipuris
always took the deepest interest in them.

Latterly, after the expulsion of the Maha-
rajah, his brother, the regent, put a stop to
these pigeon -fights, as the gambling over
them was becoming excessive, and several
of the younger princes had been seriously
involved, and the state had had to pay their
debts. A heavy punishment was inflicted
upon anyone found encouraging a pigeon-
fight, and even the casual spectators received
a beating, whilst the owners of the birds, and
whoever had instigated the proceedings, were
hauled up before the durbar and fined large
sums. However, Prince Angao Senna was
never caught red-handed, though we heard
that he still continued to encourage and attend
these stances on the quiet.

June, July, and August went by. Day by
day came letters from my husband at
Manipur full of all the little details which
went to make up his life there, and never

W '^1

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

137

a dream of future trouble arose to disturb
our peace of mind. The only thing that
rather worried my husband was the approach-
ing departure of our only neighbour, an officer
in the 44th Ghoorkas, quartered at that time
at Langthabal. Since the regiment had left
in the winter of 1888 for Burmah, we
had never had more than a wing of it back
at Langthabal, and in the winter of 1889 it
was decided that the troops should be re-
moved altogether, and our escort increased
from sixty to a hundred men under a native
officer. But this decision took some time
to effect. Barracks had to be built in our
grounds for the accommodation of extra men,
and these took time in building. So that it
was not until January, 1891, that the garrison
at Langthabal departed.

CHAPTER XI.

Early in September, 1890, the storm that
had long been gathering amongst the princes
at Manipur came to a head and burst. The
spark that kindled the blaze arose out of a
very small matter indeed. The young prince
Zillah Singh had been quarrelling with the
Pucca Senna over everything and anything
that could be found to quarrel about, and at
length the Pucca Senna got the Maharajah
to forbid Zillah Singh to sit in the durbar,
at the same time depriving him of some
small offices of state which he usually per-
formed.

The young prince lost no time in consulting
with his powerful brother and ally, the Sena-
putti. The result was that one night, about

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

139

midnight, when the Maharajah had retired
and the rest of the palace was wrapped
in slumber, the young prince collected a
handful of followers, and with his brother
Angao Senna climbed the wall leading to
the Maharajah s apartments, and began firing
ofif rifles into the windows. The Maharajah
had never had much reputation for courage,
and on this occasion, instead of rousing his
men to action and beating ofif the intruders,
he rushed away for safety out at the back of
the palace, and round to the Residency.

Meanwhile, the first note of alarm was
brought to my husband by the bearer, who
woke him up at two in the morning with the
report that a fight was taking place in the
palace, which report was fully confirmed by
the whiz of bullets over the house ; and in a
few minutes the Maharajah and his three
brothers arrived in hot haste from the palace,
trembling for their safety. Some Sepoys
came with them, and a great many followers
armed with swords and any sort of weapon

I40

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

they had managed to snatch up In the general
mel^e.

My husband went out as he was, to receive
the Maharajah, and got him to go into the
durbar room and lie down, as he was in such
a terrible state of alarm. But he refused any
comfort, though he was told that he need
have no fear, as even then the Ghoorkas
were marching in from Langthabal and as
many as were needed could be got down
from Kohima in four or five days to retake
the palace which the rebel princes had got
possession of. But all to no purpose.

Meanwhile my husband went away to
dress, and in a very short time the detach-
ment of the 44th had arrived from the
cantonments to garrison the Residency in
case of attack. But the fight was a very
feeble one, owing to the immediate retreat of
the Maharajah and his party, and after the
first few shots all was quiet. My husband
brought every argument to bear upon the
Rajah to induce him to brave the matter out,

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 141

and allow some efforts to be made to regain
his throne ; but he would not listen to any
reason, and after some hours spent in fear
and terror as to what the next move might
be, he signified his intention to my husband
of making a formal abdication of his throne
for the purpose of devoting the remaining
years of his life to performing a pilgrimage to
the sacred city of Brinhaband, on the Ganges.
He was in the Residency from two o'clock
in the morning of one day to the evening
of the day following, as my husband was
anxious to get him to reconsider his hasty
resolve to abandon his throne ; but fear of
the Senaputti overcame all other sensations :
he persisted in putting his intentions in
writing ; the letter was sent informing his
rebel brothers of his decision, and in the
evening he left the place with a strong escort
of Ghoorkas to see him safely down to
Cachar.

During the hours that he spent at the
Residency, an incident occurred which he

142

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

(the then Maharajah) has since tried to bring
up before the public as an accusation against
my husband ; but the real facts of the case
were as follows : I have mentioned that on
leaving the palace that night the Maharajah
was escorted by a number of Manipuri
Sepoys, all armed with rifles, besides the
rag-tag and bob-tail who carried swords, and
dios, and such weapons. To avoid con-
fusion and any unnecessary cause for alarm,
the officer in charge of our escort, and my
husband, considered it wiser to deprive the
Manipuri Sepoys of their rifles for the time
being. They were therefore all collected
and stowed away in a corner of the veranda,
and it was intended that they should, of
course, be eventually returned to their several
owners ; or if further hostilities were com-
menced by the occupants of the palace,
making it necessary to defend the Residency, .
each Manipuri should receive back his rifle
at once, and be considered as part of our
own force. But as the firing had ceased

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

143 '

entirely in the palace, it would have been
unwise to leave the Manipuri Sepoys in
possession of their rifles, for they were under
no sort of control, and were ready to fire
without any provocation at all, a proceeding
which would probably have been attended
with disastrous results, as the Senaputti
would not have hesitated to return the fire
from his strong position in the palace, and
things would have assumed a serious attitude.
The Maharajah was consulted, and agreed
to the proposition, and his men were dis-
armed for the nonce. This has since been
turned into a very different tale by the
exiled monarch to serve his own ends, and
he has accused my husband of disarming his
troops without his consent, thus disabling
them from making any attempt to regain the
position he had forfeited himself through
abject cowardice.

At length, after nearly thirty-six hours in
the Residency, during which the Maharajah
would eat nothing, he made a formal abdica-

144

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

tion in writing of his throne in favour of his
next brother, the Jubraj ; and my husband,
finding every argument of no avail, began
to make the necessary arrangements for* his
highnesss departure, which took place in
the evening of the second day. Some of
the ministers came to the Residency to bid
him farewell, and seemed sorry that he was
going ; and there were some very affecting
partings.

No regret seems to have been felt, how-
ever, on the Pucca Senna's departure, as he
and his two younger brothers accompanied
the Maharajah into his voluntary exile. The
Pucca Senna had never been a favourite.
He was very bad-tempered and jealous, and
ready to find fault with everything, and
make mischief all round. People liked the
Maharajah himself, but his favourite brother
was cordially disliked ; and afterwards, when
we were out in the district in the winter, we
used to hear the opinion of the country
people, and it was always that they con-

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

sidered it a pity the Maharajah had gone,
but they did not want the Pucca Senna
back.

My husband bade them farewell on the
banks of the river separating the Cachar
road from the Residency, and saw them
safely on their way, escorted by our
Ghoorkas, and then returned to begin a
new regime, which was destined to last but
a few months, and end so unhappily.

Meanwhile, during the attack on the
palace, and victory of the rebel princes, the
Jubraj had betaken himself to a place seven-
teen miles from Manipur, called Bishenpur,
there to remain a neutral observer of the
contest for the Ghuddi.* Had the Maharajah
held his own, and driven the rebels out of
the place as he should have done, the Jubraj
would still have been on the right side by
saying that he was away, and consequently
did not know what was taking place in the
city. As it was, he returned to Manipur as

* Ghuddi — throne.

[46

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

soon as matters had settled themselves in
favour of the Senaputti and his adherent
brothers, and accepted with calm equanimity
the government of the state, and the title of
regent.

There has been some confusion over the
different titles given to the various members
of the royal family at Manipur ; and to avoid
any further mistakes as to the identity of
each, I cannot do better than end this
chapter with a tree showing the several
princes and their denominations both before
and after the flight of the Maharajah, known
as Soor Chandra Singh — thus :

Jubraj,
Heir-Apparent.

Soor Chandra Singh, 7.

Maharajah. Pucca Senna,

Commander of the

Senaputti,
Commander-in-Chief.

Samoo Hengeba,
Chief officer in charge
of the elephants.

5.
Angao Senna,

Officer in charge of

Tamil m Road.

6.
Dooloroi Hengeba,
Officer in chaise
of doolies.

horse.

Zillah Singh,

A.D.C. to the

Maharajah.

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 147

When the Maharajah went away, he took
with him, as I have said before, the three
princes known as Pucca Senna, Samoo
Hengeba, and Dooloroi Hengeba, leaving
behind him the remaining four, who took
upon themselves new titles as follows :

The Jabraj became - - - Regent.

The Senaputti became - Jubraj

, Prince Angao „ * Senaputti.

Zillah Singh „ - Samoo Hengeba.

Therefore in future I shall use these titles
in writing of the new Government to avoid
confusion.

CHAPTER XII.

Early in November I returned from the
hills, and went back to Manipur. Every-
thing seemed changed by the alteration
in the government of the state. There
was little doubt that the new Jubraj was
practically ruler of the roost, and the im-
provement was very great in everything.
Roads that had been almost impassable in
the ex-Maharajah s reign were repaired and
made good enough to drive on. Bridges
that had been sadly needed were erected ;
some of them on first-class plans, which
were calculated to last three times as long
as the flimsy structures which existed pre-
viously. The people seemed happier and

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

149

more contented, and my husband found it
much easier to work with the Manipur
durbar than he had done when there were
eight opinions to be consulted instead of
four. There were no more petty jealousies
and quarrels among the princes, and I had
no fears about asking them all at once to
any festivity.

At Christmas they all came to a magic-
lantern performance. My husband had got
one out from England, and he made the
slides himself from photographs, chosing as
■ subjects groups of Manipuris, or photographs
of the princes and bits of the country. A
picture of Miss Maipikbi was greeted with
much applause on the part of the Jubraj,
who, by the way, had decided to add this
young lady to his other nine wives. The
performance concluded with a large repre-
sentation of the ex-Maharajah in royal dress.
Dead silence greeted it, and an awkward
pause ; but my husband changed the slide
almost directly to one of a humorous

I50

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

character, which caused everyone much
amusement.

I mentioned the royal dress in the
Maharajahs photograph. This was worn
only on very great occasions, usually of a
sacred nature. It consisted of a coat and
Dhotee made of silk, of a grayish shade,
embroidered all over, in purple silk in a
fleur-de-lis pattern. No one but a prince
could wear this particular stuff ; and if any-
one was found with it on, whether in his
house or on the public thoroughfare, he
was immediately seized, and deprived of
the garments in question, and everything
else he happened to have on at the same
time.

On one occasion the bandmaster expressed
a wish to have his photograph taken, and
my husband arranged to do it for him on
a certain day. He arrived with a large
bundle, saying that he wished to be allowed
to change his attire in our grounds, as he
desired to be taken in the royal dress, and

WR9WI

■V

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

151

could not walk from his house to ours
without being subjected to the ignominious
treatment I have already described. So he
retreated to the largest tree he could find
and retired behind it, where he hastily attired
himself in the coveted robes, adding as extra
adornment a cap of green satin embroidered
in gold, shaped like a small tea-cosy, and
curious sorts of pads, also of green satin, on
the backs of his hands. He put a large red
flower in his buttonhole, and borrowed my
husband's watch and chain, as he had none
of his own. He looked a very queer character
indeed, but the photograph turned out a
great success and filled him with delight,
which increased tenfold when I painted one
for him. He divested himself, after the picture
was done, of his fine feathers, and took them
away in the same dirty, unsuspicious-looking
bundle in which they had arrived.

I was sorry to find that this bandmaster
had left Manipur when I returned there.
He had gone down to Calcutta with the ex-

152 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

Maharajah, with whom he had always been
a great favourite, and left the band to the
tender mercies of a havildar, who knew
nothing of music.

Early in January of this year, 1891, we
went to Kohima to meet the chief com-
missioner, Mr. Quinton, and spent a very
pleasant four days there. It was always such
a treat to see people. Life in the station
at Manipur was so dreadfully monotonous,
but I had been better off than my husband,
who had not seen any white faces for several
months. Not that that troubled him very
much. He always adapted himself to what-
ever were his circumstances, and made the
best of them, never thinking of, and worrying
himself for, the many things he had not got.
But when the opportunity of getting anyone
down to stay with us did arise, he was very
keen about it, and while at Kohima we tried
very hard to persuade the chief and his
daughter to come to Manipur; but it could
not be managed, as Mr. Quinton had then

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

»53

arranged his tour, and had not sufficient, time
to spare to enable him to come such a long
distance out of his way. That journey was
always the difficulty, and had it not been such
a lengthy one, people at Kohima would often
have come down to see us at Manipur. But
as a rule the whole of their leave was
swamped in coming and going.

From Kohima we went to Tummu, in
Burmah, returning first to the Residency
for a few days. This was my first visit to
Burmah. My husband had gone down the
year before, but I had been too ill to ac-
company 4iim, and had stayed behind. We
had lovely weather, and enjoyed the journey
there immensely. The scenery on the way
is lovely, and as the forests are not so dense
as those on the Cachar road, one can get
magnificent views of the surrounding country
every now and then. Range after range of
mountains rise gloriously around you, as you
wend your way among the leafy glades and
shimmering forests which clothe their rugged

154

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

sides. Cool and green near you, growing
purple as you leave them behind, and be-
coming faintly blue as they outline them-
selves on the far horizon, these mountains
fill you with admiration. Forests of teak
rise on each side of you as you get nearer
Tummu, and the heat becomes much
greater.

After five days we arrived at our camp,
which was situated on the boundary between
Manipur and Burmah, at a place called Mori
Thana. Here we stayed, living in a pagoda,
in company with several figures of Buddha
and many other minor deities, indicating that
the building was sacred. The Burmese are
very fond of flowers, and they always place
vases of gaily - coloured blossoms in front
of their gods, and small punkahs to keep
them cooL The pagoda we were lodged
in was built, like all Burmese houses, on
piles, about three feet from the ground. The
climate is so damp that they are obliged to
be raised, or the floor of the house would

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

155

very soon become rotten. Everything at
Tummu was quite different to Manipur : the
women dressed in much gayer colours, and
did their hair more picturesquely in large
knobs on the top of their heads, into which
they stuck tiny fans, or flowers, or brightly-
coloured beads. All the women smoke, even
the young ones, and one seldom sees them
without a cigar in their mouths. These
cigars are made of very mild tobacco, grown
in their own gardens, and dried by them-
selves. They roll a quantity up tight in the
dried leaf of the Indian corn-plant, and tie
the ends round with fine silk. They are
longer and fatter than those smoked in
England, and the Burmese girls at Tummu
did not approve at all of some from Belat
which my husband gave them, as they were
too strong for them.

The Myouk* came out to see us the day
after we arrived. He was a Burman, of

* Myouk — a civil officer in Burniah corresponding to an
extra assistant commissioner in other parts of India.

156

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

course, but spoke English very well indeed,
and was most anxious to be of use to us.
He was dressed in silk of the most delicate
shade of pink, with a yellow turban, and he
rode in on a charming bay pony, looking
altogether very picturesque. We informed
him that we intended riding into Tummu,
so he politely offered to escort us and show
us the way ; and he rode back with us, and
we found him a very pleasant companion.
I was delighted with Tummu, and we
wandered about in the village, looking at the
pagodas, and investing in the curiosities to
be got in the place. We bought some lovely
pieces of silk, and some quaintly - carved
wooden chessmen. The Burmese have a
game of chess almost identical with ours —
the same number of pieces, and a board
marked out in black and white squares. The
rules of the game, too, are almost exactly
the same, but the pieces are named differently,
and carved to represent elephants and pagodas,
instead of castles and knights. The Mani-

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

157

puris also played chess, and I once saw a
lovely set of chessmen carved in ivory and
gold that the Maharajah possessed. The
ones I got at Tummu at the time of which
I write were made of oak, and were evidently
ancient, which added a charm in my eyes,
though the Myouk was very anxious to get
a new set made for me. However, I went
on the principle of a bird in the hand
being better than two in the bush, and
marched away with my trophies on the spot.
We were returning to our camp for breakfast,
when the Myouk informed us that there was
another Sahib living in the place, a military
Sahib of the name of Grant. This was news
indeed to us, as we had had no idea when
at Manipur that we had any neighbours
nearer than Kohima, ninety-six miles away
from us, and here was someone only sixty-
five — quite a short journey.

My husband said he would go and look the
* military Sahib * up, but before he could do
so the Sahib in question had looked us up.

158

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

I do not think Mr. Grant, as he then was,
ever expected to have a lady sprung on him
unawares, and he seemed a little bothered
over his clothes, which were those generally
assumed by bachelors when they are safe
from any possibility of female intrusion in
the solitude of a jungle outpost. However,
he soon remedied that. He went away to
his bungalow after I had made him promise
that he would come back later ; and when
he did return it was in attire worthy of better
things than a camp dinner with camp dis-
comforts. But he was so bright and jolly
that he cheered us both up, and made all
the difference during our four days at Tummu.
We went to tea with him in his tiny quarters,
and had great jokes over the * army ration ' —
sugar and butter — and the other etceteras
of a temporary encampment. He was
quartered at Tummu in charge of a part
of his regiment, and considering the loneli-
ness of his surroundings and the distance
he was away from any sort of civilization,

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

159

we marvelled that he was so cheery and full
of spirits.

One day he came out to our camp at
Mori Thana and helped me to make a cake,
which turned out afterwards, I am bound
honestly to say, burnt to a cinder. My
husband made some cutting allusions to it,
and told me that it would save our having
to invest in charcoal for some days to come,
and added many other remarks of the same
kind ; but, nothing daunted, Mr. Grant and
I set to work and carved up that cake, dis-
covering as a reward a certain amount
in the middle which was quite, eatable and
altogether excellent, which my husband also
condescended to try after some persuasion,
and pronounced fair.

We were all very keen about orchids, and
these grew abundantly on the trees round
about Tummu, so we went for long rambles,
and returned always with armfuls of them.

We were very sorry to bid good-bye to
Mr. Grant at the end of our stay in Burmah,

i6o

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

and we tried to persuade him to get leave
and come up to us for a time for some duck-
shooting on the Logtak Lake.

On the way back we got the news that
we were to have two visitors, Mr. Melville,
the superintendent of the telegraph depart-
ment, in Assam ; and Lieutenant Simpson, of
the 43rd Ghoorka Rifles, who had been
ordered down to Manipur from Kohima to
inspect some military stores which had been
left behind at the Langthabal cantonment,
when the troops went away. We were very
pleased at hearing they were coming, as
even the ordinary two or three visitors who
had come every winter on duty in previous
years had failed us. Mr. Melville arrived
about ten days after we returned to Manipur
from Tummu, but Mr. Simpson came almost
at once. I had known him well in Shillong,
and we had always been great friends. He
was very clever, and a wonderful musician,
and nothing pleased him better than to be
allowed to play the piano for hours, whatever

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

i6i

he liked, without interruption. My husband
and he soon became good friends. Their
tastes were congenial, and Mr. Simpson was
always delighted to shoot with him, and he
got on very well with the princes, especially
the Jubraj, who liked looking at his guns
and talking military * shop ' with him. Several
shooting-parties were organized by the prince,
and the Shikaris always returned with good
bags.

Mr. Melville stayed only three days with
us, but he promised to return for another two
on his way back from Tummu, where he
was going to inspect his office. On Sunday,
February 21 (the day Mr. Simpson arrived),
in the evening we were surprised by getting
a telegram from the Chief Commissioner, the
gist of which was as follows :

* I propose to visit Manipur shortly. Have
roads and rest -houses put in order. Further
directions and dates to follow'

We were electrified ! Why was the chief

coming like this suddenly? The telegram

i62 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

gave no details, and the one and only cause
for his unexpected visit that we could think
of was that it had something to do with the
ex-Maharajah. This individual had been,
during these months, in Calcutta, from which
place he had concocted and despatched more
than one letter to Government, begging for
a reconsideration of his case, and help to
regain the kingdom which he had been un-
justly deprived of by the Jubraj, assisted by
my husband's influence.

Curiosity had naturally been rife at
Manipur as to whether the exiled monarch
would be restored by our Government,
and the Jubraj and Tongal General had
never ceased asking my husband his opinion
about it. We knew full well that if
such a step were contemplated, the fulfil-
ment of it would be a difficult operation,
as we were aware of the bitter feeling which
existed against the ex-Maharajah, and more
especially against his brother, the Pucca
Senna. From private sources we had heard

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 163

that arms, ammunition, and food were being
collected by order of the Jubraj inside the
palace.

This information came to me quite
casually one day. We used to employ a
Manipuri Shikari* to shoot wild duck for
us during the cold weather, when my husband
was not able to get them himself, and I sent
for this man one day, and told him what I
wanted him to get for us. He said he was
not able to shoot, as the Jubraj had ordered
him, as well as all the other men in his
village, to bring their guns into the palace
arsenal, and that all the villages in the neigh-
bourhood had received similar commands.
I let the man go, and went and repeated
the story to my husband, who remarked that
it looked as though preparations were being
made to resist the ex-Maharajah, should he
return to Manipur. Of course, on the
receipt of the telegram from the Chief Com-

* Shikari — sportsman, or a man who will go out shooting
for you or with you.

i64 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

missioner, my husband had to inform the
durbar of his approaching visit. Curiosity
reached an overwhelming pitch, and the
efforts of the Jubraj and his colleagues to
find out what was going to happen were
unceasing. They never quite believed that
my husband was as ignorant as they were
themselves about things, and invariably went
away much disturbed. We ourselves were
just as curious and longing to know what
was really coming to pass.

In the meanwhile I had arranged to leave
for England.

For more than three years our one talk
had been of furlough and home, and now
that the date of sailing had been really fixed,
it seemed almost impossible to put it off in
order to be at Manipur waiting to see the
results of the Chiefs visit. My husband said,
however, that he thought it would be more
prudent if I arranged to go by an earlier
steamer, to be out of danger in the event of
anything serious happening, and consequently

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

165

all the necessary arrangements were made
for my departure. I couldn't help feeling
that I would rather stay, however, and, as
I said to a friend in writing home, * see the
fun,' and my packing did not progress satis-
factorily at all.

Mr. Simpson was very keen to remain
at Manipur, too ; but all his work was done
there, and there was really no reason for
his stopping. He wired to the colonel of
his regiment for permission to remain, and
my husband backed the request up, so
eventually the necessary leave was granted,
and he was delighted at the mere idea of
a disturbance which might mean fighting.
Of course the sudden alteration in my plans
did not escape the notice of the Jubraj, and
in fact the durbar itself It seemed as though
the whole State was on the qui vtve, to dis-
cover any slight clue to the mystery which sur-
rounded the visit of the Chief Commissioner.
My sudden determination to depart was
looked upon as possessing a very serious

1 66 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

meaning indeed. I was flying from danger.
This was the prevailing idea, and the Tongal
General asked me point blank one day
whether it was the case or not, at the same
time begging me to put off going till after
the Chief had left Manipur. The princes
used every persuasion they could to induce
me to remain, and they and the old general
came more than once with messages from
the Maharajah to the same effect. We ex-
plained to them that my passage was taken
and paid for in the steamer, and that the
money would be forfeited if I failed to sail
on a certain date ; but this had no weight,
and they did not seem to like my going
away at all, and begged me to stay on.
These persuasions, added to my husband's
extreme reluctance to let me go, and my
own wish to remain, carried the day.

About ten days before Mr. Quinton arrived
we heard for certain that the object of his
visit was tioi the restoration of the ex-
Maharajah, and so, after much coaxing from

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

167

me, my husband, thinking of course that no
danger could now be possible, allowed me
to stay. I remember so well how lightly
we talked over coming events, and my
husband saying that if anything did happen,
they would make me a nice safe place in
one of the cellars under the house. Could
we but foresee what is behind the dark veil
with which the future is enveloped, and know
that sometimes in our idlest moments we are
standing as it were on the brink of a grave,
is there one of us who would not rather die
at once than struggle on into the abyss of
desolation and death awaiting us in the near
future ? And yet it is undoubtedly a merciful
Providence that orders our comings and
goings from day to day in such a manner
that we cannot peer into the mist of approach-
ing years, and discover for ourselves what
fate awaits each one of us. * Sufficient unto
the day is the evil thereof.'

CHAPTER XIII.

Of course there were a great many prepara-
tions to be made in honour of the Chief
Commissioners visit. The question which
occupied my attention most was how to
feed so many. The resources of the country
in the way of food were very limited.
Beef was an impossibility, as no one was
allowed to kill a cow, and mutton was almost
equally unprocurable. The Jubraj kept a
few sheep for their wool, and once in a
way he killed one or two of them to provide
a dinner for all the Mussulman officers and
servants in the palace ; but this occurred
very seldom. We lived on ducks and fowls
all the year round, and managed fairly well ;
but having to provide for sixteen people

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

169

was a different matter altogether. My
husband made several valiant attempts to
secure some sheep from Cachar, and after
much difficulty he got four, and we heard
they had commenced their march up to
Manipur. But they never arrived alive.
The drover was a most conscientious person,
and took the trouble to bring the four dead
carcases up to the Residency for our in-
spection, to assure us that the poor animals
had died natural deaths, which we thought
very touching on his part.

We were in despair over our commissariat,
but at last that invaluable domestic, the bearer,
came to the rescue, and proposed that as we
could not get genuine mutton, we should
invest in a goat. One often eats goat in
India, deluding one s self with the idea that it
is sheep, because it has cost one as dear, and
the native butcher swears that he is giving
one the best mutton in the district. But
after you have kept house for a year or
two, and got to know the wily Oriental,

lyo

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

you are able to distinguish truly the sheep
from the goats. Be that as it may, when
one can't get one thing, one must content
one's self with the best substitute ; and on
this occasion I was very grateful to the
bearer for his timely suggestion, and com-
missioned him to search the neighbourhood
for the desired goat, which after some days
was discovered, and brought to the Resi-
dency for inspection. We had a committee
of four on it, and came to the conclusion
that it was a most estimable animal, and
altogether worthy of providing dinner for
a Chief Commissioner. So we bought that
goat, tethered him in the kitchen -garden,
and fed him every day and all day. He
grew enormous, and slept a great deal when
he was not eating, which was his favourite
occupation.

Meanwhile the days went by, and at last
only one week remained before the Chiefs
arrival, and by that time we knew that he
was bringing an escort of four hundred men

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

171

with him and several officers ; but we did
not know how long they were going to
stay, or why so many were coming, or
whether they were going on to Burmah.
A telegram had come some days previously,
telling my husband to get coolies ready to
take the party to Tummu, and he thought
from that that it was Mr. Quinton*s intention
to pay a visit to that part of the valley ;
but everything seemed uncertain, and the
Manipuris were very curious to find out
what it all meant.

About a week before the Chief . arrived
Mr. Gurdon was sent on to see my husband,
and talk over matters with him ; but even
then we were ignorant of what was really
intended, and it was only on the day before
they all arrived — Saturday. March 21 — that
my husband was told all by Mr. Quinton
himself, whom he had ridden out ten miles
to meet. He started out in the morning for
Sengmai. the first halting-stage on the road
to Kohima from Manipur, and on his arrival

172

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

he wired to me, telling me to expect eleven
to breakfast the next day, which, with our-
selves, Mr. Melville, and Mr. Simpson made
fifteen.

Mr. Simpson and I went for a ride that
evening, and as we were returning we both
remarked the great number of Manipuri
Sepoys we met, hurrying into the citadel.
They swarmed along the road, and on getting
near the big gate of the palace we had some
difficulty in getting our horses through the
crowds which were streaming into the fort,
and I was quite glad when we got back
safely into the Residency grounds again.
My husband returned about seven from
Sengmai, very tired and very much worried
at all he had heard. I went into his little
private office with him, and there he told
me of what was to take place on the morrow,
making me promise not to breathe a word
of it to either Mr. Melville or Mr. Simpson,
as it was to be kept a dead secret. He wrote
off at once to the regent, telling him that

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

173

the Chief Commissioner would hold a durbar
on the following day at twelve, at which he
hoped all the princes would appear, and then
we went away and had dinner. It was
difficult to talk of other things while our
minds were full of the information my
husband had received, and I was very glad
when the evening ended, and our two visitors
had gone to bed.

It had been decided to recognise the
regent as Maharajah, but his brother, the
Jubraj, was to be arrested at the durbar
the next day, taken out of the country,
and banished for several years. That was
the news my husband brought. It has
been hinted of late by some that the
friendship which we had both entertained
for the Jubraj was infra dig., and contrary
to the usual mode of procedure adopted by
Anglo-Indian officials in their intercourse
with the rulers of native states. But when
first we went to Manipur, my husband was told
that he must endeavour to establish friendly

174

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

feelings between the princes and himself,
and that he was to make a point of becoming
acquainted with their language, in order to
acquire an influence for good over each
member of the Maharajah's family and over
the state itself.

I do not think there was ever any loss of
dignity or unbecoming familiarity in my hus-
band s friendship for the Jubraj. Full well that
prince, and all the other members of the durbar,
knew that where things went wrong they would
not escape his notice and reproof, even as
when they went right he would give praise
where praise was due ; and if such a friendship
were distasteful and unusual in similar circum-
stances, why was it never commented on
by those in whose power it was to approve
or disapprove, and who knew that it existed ?
Small wonder was it that we were both very
sorry to hear of the fate which was in store
for the Jubraj. We remembered all the
little acts of courtesy and kindness which
he had performed to help make our lonely

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

175

existence brighter, isolated as we were from
any English friends, and we knew how much
he would feel being sent out of Manipur at
so short a notice. However, we could do
nothing by talking it over, and so Went to
rest ourselves, resolving to think no more
about it until the next day.

The morning of the 22nd broke clear and
beautiful over the valley. The place had
never looked more lovely. Clusters of
yellow roses blossomed on the walls of the
house, and the scent of the heliotrope greeted
me as I went into the veranda to watch
my husband start to meet Mr. Quinton.
There was a delightful sense of activity about
the place, and one felt that something of
more than ordinary importance was about
to take place ; white tents peeped out from
amongst the trees surrounding the house,
and the camp prepared for the Sepoys
stretched along under our wall at the end
of the lake. Mr. Simpson and I strolled
down the drive, out into the road, to see

the preparations in honour of Mr. Quinton's
coming. Chairs were placed near the
principal palace gate, and a carpet, and a
table with flowers on it ; and there were
a great many Manipuri Sepoys lining the
road by which he was expected to arrive.

I was called back to the house by the
bearer with a piece of intelligence which
almost took my breath away — the goat was
dying ! I raced back to the Residency, and
rushed to the scene of action. There on
the ground lay the goat, breathing his last,
and with his departing spirit went all my
dreams of legs of mutton, chops and cutlets.
I sent to the house for bottles of hot beer
and quarts of brandy, and I poured gallons
of liquid down the creature's throat; but
all to no purpose, and after giving one last
heartrending groan, he expired at my feet.
I could have wept. The pains that had been
taken with that goat to make it fat and well-
favoured for the delectation of my friends !
and then that it should shuffle off this mortal

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

177

coil on the very day fixed for its execution
was altogether heartrending. I think I really
should have found relief in tears, had n8t
my attention been aroused by the sound of
the salute being fired from the palace, which
meant that the Chief and his party had ap-
peared in sight. So I turned away sadly,
after giving orders to have the creature
buried, and proceeded to the house, where
I met Mr. Simpson and Mr. Melville. They
both expressed much sympathy, but we could
not help seeing the funny side of the affair,
and ended by laughing very heartily over
the sad end to my mutton scheme.

Twelve times did the gun boom from
the palace, and by the time the twelfth had
sounded, Mr. Quinton, accompanied by
Colonel Skene and my husband, had arrived
at the house, followed shortly by the other
officers, who had remained at the camp to
see their men comfortably housed and settled.
We all went in to breakfast, but I noticed

that my husband seemed troubled about some-

178 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

thing, as he scarcely spoke at all, and I
wondered what fresh news he had heard.
However, I had no opportunity of speaking
to him at all, and the conversation flowed
merrily round the table. I knew very few
of the Chief Commissioner s party, as all the
officers belonging to the 42nd Ghoorka
Rifles were total strangers to me. Of the
rest, Mr. Brackenbury and I were perhaps
the oldest friends. He had been stationed
at Manipur before, when we first came to
the place, and we had seen a great deal of
him, so were glad that he had come on this
occasion.

As soon as breakfast was over, prepara-
tions were made for the durbar, and the
work of the day began. I had no oppor-
tunity of speaking to my husband until he
was dressing for the ceremony, and then I
went and asked him what was bothering
him ; and he told me that A^ had been
ordered to arrest the Jubraj at the close
of the durbar. It is not for me to give an

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

179

opinion on this point at all, and whether
such a course of action was honourable or
not ; but it was only natural that my husband
should feel sorry that he had been chosen to
carry out such a proceeding. To be obliged
to arrest a man himself with whom he had been
on friendly terms for nearly three years, and
see him treated like a common felon, without
being able to defend himself, was naturally a
hard task, and my husband felt it bitterly.

I summoned up courage to ask whether
some other officer might not make the
arrest, as it had to be made ; but was
told that the Jubraj would probably feel it
less if my husband did it, as they were good
friends. Precautions were taken to prevent
his escaping. The doors of the durbar room
were all locked with the exception of the
one by which the princes would enter, and
guards were stationed in the adjoining rooms,
as well as all round the house and in the
verandas. Most of the officers were ignorant
of what was intended, and they were joking

i8o

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

with me, and trying to find out whether I
were in the secret or not, while we were
waiting for the Maharajah to arrive.

Meanwhile the written orders of the
Government of India had to be translated into
Manipuri, and for this purpose two of the
office clerks and the Burmese interpreter were
brought to the Residency and given the
papers to translate. The orders were lengthy,
and the translation of them took some time.
Each of the clerks had a sentry placed over
him, and they all had to swear an oath
that they would not divulge one word to
anyone of the contents of the papers given
them to translate. Some time before they
were completed the regent and all his brothers
arrived at the Residency gate. I have laid
particular stress on the word all, because
it has been said that the Jubraj did not
accompany his brother on this occasion,
though subsequent evidence has since ap-
peared showing that he was really present
with the rest. Had there been no reason

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

i8i

for keeping the princes waiting at the gate,
things might have ended very differently.
But that delay enabled some of the Manipuri
Sepoys to gain admission into the Residency
grounds, from where they could take note
of all the proceedings. They made good
use of their opportunities, marked the distri-
bution of our forces, saw the Ghoorkas
lining the entrance-steps, and the officers in
uniform in attendance outside. Some of
them even strolled round to the back of
the house, and there they saw the same
preparations — Sepoys on the steps, and
guards about the grounds.

Of course the Manipuris did not keep this
to themselves, but made their way out again
to the Jubraj, and told him of all they had
seen ; and he took the opportunity to return
to his house with his brother, the Senaputti,
giving out as an excuse that he felt too ill to
remain waiting about in the hot sun. He had
not been well for some time before, but
whether he really felt as indisposed on this

l82

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

occasion as he affirmed is open to doubt. He
had already made the acquaintance of the
Chief Commissioner, and so had the Senaputti,
as the latter had ridden out to Sengmai on
the Saturday to meet Mr. Quinton, and
the Jubraj had also met him seven miles
out of Manipur on Sunday morning.

When, therefore, the regent was asked to
come on to the Residency, he came, accom-
panied by his youngest brother only, Prince
Zillah Singh, the Tongal General, and some
other less important ministers. As soon
as my husband saw that his highness had
arrived without the two elder brothers, he
informed Mr. Quinton, who sent out word
to the regent that the durbar could not be
held without the attendance of the Jubraj
and Senaputti. My husband had a long
conversation with the regent before his
highness came into the house, and the latter
agreed to send for his brothers to the
palace, coming himself into the Residency
to await their arrival. It seemed a long

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

183

time before the messenger returned from
the palace. The old Tongal was so seedy
at the time that we wondered at his having
been able to put in an appearance at all.
I went into the drawing-room, and found
the old man asleep on the floor, and got
him to lie down on a sofa with a pillow
under his head, where he very soon
slumbered peacefully. At last the regents
messenger returned with the reply from
the Jubraj that he was too ill to leave his
house, and hoped Mr. Quinton would excuse
his appearing ; so the durbar was postponed
till the next morning, Monday, March 23,
at eight o clock, and it was impressed upon
his highness that his two brothers mus^
attend. They then went away. There is
little doubt that, from this moment, some
inkling of what was intended penetrated
the minds of the princes and their ministers,
just as all the officers guessed that it was
the J ubraj who was * wanted. *

However, business being over for that

i84

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

day, we set to work to amuse ourselves as
best we could, strolling about the grounds,
and into the bazaar in the evening. We
had already arranged to have a polo-match
one day during Mr. Quinton's visit, in which
the princes were to play ; and the regent
had promised to have a review of his troops,
which was always a pretty sight. In addition
to this, the band had been lent to us to
play every evening at dinner ; and we were
to have a Manipuri nautch on the Monday,
followed by a Naga dance the next evening,
if the weather permitted. This programme
had been drawn up by my husband and
myself two or three weeks before Mr.
Quinton s arrival, but it has since come to
light that the Jubraj suspected us of treachery
in asking him to arrange and be present at
these nautches.

We had never seen so many people
in the Residency at once as there were
that Sunday night at dinner — fifteen in all.
I felt rather forlorn, being the only lady

NATIVES Of" THE MANIPUR HILLS.

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR 185

present, and wished that I had even one
familiar spirit in the shape of another woman
to keep me company.

The band was very much appreciated, and
everything seemed very bright and cheery.
No thought of evil troubled any of us, for
little we knew that it was the last evening
we were to spend in peace there all together.

The next day Mr. Melville was to leave
us. I had tried to persuade him to stay
longer, as he had only been two days with
us before, and had seen nothing of the place ;
but his time was precious, and he had his
work to do in a great many other places,
so we could not get him to alter his arrange-
ments. He agreed to compromise matters
by remaining until the afternoon of the
following day, the 23rd, and about eleven
the party broke up and retired to rest.

[i86]

CHAPTER XIV.

It is now some time since the events
took place which I am recording here, and
not one vestige of the past remains to help
me in my work, not a single scrap of
writing or note of any kind ; yet the smallest
detail of those few terrible days is engraved
so indelibly upon my memory that it seems
but the occurrence of yesterday, and I need
no reference to help me in my description
of a catastrophe which almost outrivals some
of the horrors of the Mutiny.

We were all up early on the morning of
the 23rd. The durbar was fixed to take place
at eight, and the rooms had to be prepared
for the ceremony. But when eight o'clock
came, it brought only a message from the

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

187

palace, saying that the Jubraj was too ill
to leave his house, and therefore the regent
had not come ; so the red cloth arranged for
his reception was put away, and a consultation
took place between the Chief and my hus-
band as to what the next move should be.

It was decided to make one last attempt
to get the princes to attend, and then
if that failed, other measures were to be
resorted to. But twelve o clock brought no
better results, and about four my husband
was sent to the palace to see the Jubraj,
and convey to him personally the orders
of the Government, and use all his influence
to persuade the prince to give himself up
quietly, telling him at the same time that
the proposed banishment was not to last
for ever, but that it would depend chiefly
on his good behaviour, and eventually, at
the death of his brother, the regent, he (the
Jubraj) would be allowed to return to
Manipur, and ascend the throne as Maha-
rajah. It was a veritable hornets* nest into

i88

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

which my husband ventured that afternoon,
accompanied only by his friend Mr. Simpson.
He would not take even a single orderly
with him, knowing in what an excited state
the whole palace was at that time. It was
crowded with Sepoys, collected, the regent
told him, for the review which we had
desired to witness. I got very anxious about
them both when more than an hour had
passed and they had not returned, but when
my husband did come back I knew at a
glance that his mission had failed. He said
the Jubraj was certainly very unwell. He
had had some difficulty at first in persuading
the prince to come and see him at all, but
after finding out from his people that the
two Sahibs had come quite alone, the Jubraj
had himself carried down to see them in a
litter. The exertion caused him to faint,
and my husband said that there was no
doubt as to his illness, and that he found
him in high fever.

Shortly before this visit to the palace

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

189

took place, Mr. Melville started ofif on the
first stage of his journey to Kohima. He
intended travelling as far as Sengmai that day,
a distance of ten miles. My husband tried to
make him reconsider his decision to go, and I
added my persuasions to his. We did not like
the look of things at all, and how matters
would end was, to say the least, very uncertain.
I remember so well our all standing
on the steps of the Residency that after-
noon, watching the coolies collecting Mr.
Melville's luggage, and begging him to
remain even one day longer with us, for
fear of anything going wrong ; and I re-
member equally well his answer : * Thank
you very much, Mrs. Grim wood,' he said,
* but do not fear for me. I am not im-
portant enough to be captured by these
Manipuris. I shall get on all right, never
fear ' ; and in a few more minutes he had
left us. But the thoughts of his going away
like that, alone, without any guard to protect
him, troubled me more than once that

I90

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

afternoon, and I could not get it out of my
head. Matters assumed a serious aspect
indeed when my husband returned about
six o'clock from the palace with the news
that he had been unsuccessful with regard
to the Jubraj. There was only one way,
then, out of the difficulty, and that was to
place the affair in the hands of the military,
and apply force where persuasion had failed.
It was a council of war, indeed, and every-
thing seemed to combine to fill me with
sensations of dread for what was going to
happen. I could not feel the excitement
that took possession of the men when the
chances of a probable fight became known.
Such an idea filled me with alarm and
horror. The place had a deserted look
about it, and on the principal road, as a
rule crowded with people at that hour, not
a soul was visible.

The clouds had been gathering up all
the afternoon, and about seven o'clock a
terrific thunderstorm occurred, and darkness

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 191

set in, which was only lit up now and then
by brilliant flashes of lightning. I busied
myself about the house, where I found a
state of confusion reigning. A number of
the servants had taken French leave and
departed, scenting danger.

My old ayah was among the first to go. She
had been with me four years, and had followed
me about faithfully till now ; but at the first
sign of danger she packed up her belongings
and went off. I wondered where she had
taken refuge, for she had a good many
enemies, and was not a native of Manipur,
so had no home or relations in the place
to whom she could fly for protection. I
felt her desertion very much. She was
only a native, but she was at any rate a
woman, and better than no one in a case
like that However, there was no good to
be got out of thinking over her departure,
and I had as much as I could do as it
was to keep the other servants up to the
mark, and get them to understand that

192

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

dinner that evening would have to be
gone through the same as usual. Mr.
Quinton and three of the others amused
themselves by playing whist until dinner-
time, as, of course, going out was an im-
possibility ; and I went to the kitchen to
superintend the arrangements there, and to
make preparations for the next day, as I
knew that if there were fighting going on,
I should be left without a single servant,
and so resolved to get as much work out
of them while they were there as was
possible. We made a quantity of soup
that night, as I thought it would be useful,
and cooked some fowls to provide us with
something to eat the next day in case of
accidents. And then we had dinner.

No one seemed inclined to speak much
that evening. With me conversation was
almost an impossibility, and the rest were
too excited about the morrow to be able
to talk and laugh as they had done the
day before. It was a relief to me when dinner

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

193

was over. I felt nervous and low-spirited,
and very lonely, quite out of place amongst
those men whose profession it was to fight,
and who were longing for the next morning.

Thoughts of England and of all whom
I loved there, flocked through my mind,
and I wondered what they would say
if they could see us then, and know
the possible danger that threatened us and
our home. My husband was troubled at
the thoughts of my being in the place at
such a time, and he blamed himself for
having agreed to my staying, though I had
done so of my own free will. Even then
we did not dream of any really serious
ending. We expected that the Jubraj would
fight well — in fact, the officers and Sepoys
were hoping that the resistance would be
strong, and my husband was afraid that
the hoi^e might get knocked about, and
some of our property destroyed ; but serious
alarm for our own safety never entered
our heads. This was the night of the 23rd,

194

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

the date that we had originally fixed for
the Manipuri nautch to take place ; but
under the circumstances we did not think
it likely that the girls would come. Mr.
Brackenbury amused us by singing comic
songs, accompanying himself on his banjo after
dinner, and all went to bed early, as everyone
had to be up at three the next morning.

It was a lovely moonlight night, and my
husband and I walked up and down in the
garden for some time after our guests had
gone. I felt restless and unhappy, but he
did his best to reassure me and make me
believe that we should all be perfectly safe.
Just before we were preparing to go in, the
sentry challenged at the gate, and appeared a
few minutes afterwards with a Manipuri, who
had been sent from the palace to inquire
whether we wished to have the nautch or
not, saying at the same time, that the girls
who were to dance were waiting outside
in the road if we wanted them. Of course
we told him it was much too late to think

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

195

of such a thing at that time, and the man
left the place. We believed that he had
really been sent to spy out the land, and
find out what preparations, if any, we had
been making. If that were his mission,
he must have been seriously disappointed,
for the whole place, and everyone in it, was
wrapt in slumber, with the exception of my
husband and myself, and we very often
walked about the grounds late on moonlight
nights, so there was nothing unusual in our
doing so on this occasion. There were a
few extra sentries on guard, but chiefly at
the back of the house, and the presence
of the Chief Commissioner was quite suffi-
cient cause for a larger guard than usual.

At iast we turned in too, one to sleep as
unconcernedly as ever, knowing not that it
was his last night upon earth ; the other
to lie awake, listening to the hours as they
were struck out on the gong down at the
quarter-guard, and wonder what the ending
of the next day would bring. I never

196 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

closed my eyes all through the watches of
that night — the last I was destined to spend
in Manipur — and when three o'clock came
I woke my husband, and told him that the
hour had come when we were all to get
up, and the work of day commenced.

It was a bitterly cold morning, and quite
dark. I dressed quickly, putting on a warm,
tight-fitting winter dress. W# had a sort
of scratch breakfast of eggs and bread-and-
butter about 3.30 a.m. ; but most of the
officers had theirs at the camp, and started
from there, so that I did not know when
they actually left to commence the attack.
My husband accompanied Colonel Skene,
much to my distress, as I thought he would
have stayed at the Residency, being a
civilian ; but he seemed just as keen on
going as the others, and I had to make
the best of it. Mr. Quinton, Mr. Cossins,
and I all went off to the telegraph-office,
which was situated at the end of the drive,
about three hundred yards from the Residency.

It was well built and fairly strong, the base-
ment being made of stone, and there was
a similar building on the opposite side,
which my husband used as an office for
himself, the lower half of which contained
the treasury. Here we took up our position,
going up into the telegraph - office first to
send a message to the Government of India,
giving details of all that had occurred up
to date. Mr. Cossins, who was acting as
secretary to the Chief Commissioner, brought
the telegram down, and while we were
waiting and watching the Baboo* despatch
it, we heard the first shot fired, in the palace,
which was followed up quickly by others,
and we knew then that the fight had
begun.

By this time the dawn was breaking, and
streaks of daylight were dispelling the
darkness around. It seemed difficult to
me to realize what was really taking place.
I had heard firing in the palace so often

* Baboo — native clerk.

I9« THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

that it seemed almost impossible to under-
stand that a sterner game was being played
now, and one which was to cost both sides
so dear. Only half the telegram had been
sent, when we were startled by the sudden
advent of a bullet through the office window
at our elbows. It crashed through the glass,
breaking it to pieces, and went into the wall
opposite. My heart went to my mouth with
fright, and I left the place with considerable
rapidity, taking up a more secure position
below, where I was fairly protected by the
stone basement of the building. Mr. Cossins
occupied his time in taking several journeys
up to the house, where he mounted to the roof
to discover whether he could see what was
going on inside the palace wall ; but it was
impossible, as the Jubraj*s house, which we
knew was being attacked, was some distance
off, and hidden from us by intervening build-
ings. It was situated near the outer wall of
the palace, and our men seemed to have
taken a very short time in getting up to it.

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

199

The whole palace was fortified. Five
walls surrounded the Maharajah's enclosure.
The outer of these was much broken, and
of no great height ; but the inner ones
were very strong, built of brick and supplied
with bastions, and they surrounded the inner
palace on all four sides. On three sides of the
outer wall was a canal, very deep and wide.
It was here that the great boat-races took
place every year, and the water was always
kept weeded and clean for those events.
The whole citadel was built with a view
of resisting attack in the time before Burmah
was. annexed, when armies of raiders used
to come down upon Manlpur with hostile
intent ; and it was a place which could easily
be held against an attacking force, provided
big guns were not brought to bear upon it.
The Manipuris were well armed, and supplied
with ammunition. The Maharajah had four
mountain guns which had been presented to
his father by our Government in return for
services which he had rendered in times gone

■^ 'm

200

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

by. The Jubraj understood perfectly how
to work these guns. We had seen him fire
them himself for our amusement on an
occasion already described, and we knew
he would be perfectly cognizant of their
powers of destruction when the opportunity
occurred to bring them into play against
us. Of course we, who were left at the
Residency, did not know what was going
on round the Jubraj s house, where all the
firing seemed to come from. From time
to time stray bullets came over our heads
where we sat down at the telegraph-office.
I thought it was very exciting then, and
the little Ghoorkas, who had remained to
keep guard over the place, were constantly
running out on to the road in front of our
entrance - gate, to see whether they could
discover what was happening. They did
not like being inactive at all

About half-past ten my husband returned,
and came to the treasury to get out some
of* the reserve ammunition which had been

SKerCH WAP OF WKHIPOR ,

202

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

Stored there. He only stayed a few minutes,
talking to me before rejoining Colonel Skene.
He told me that the Jubraj s house had been
captured after a good fight, and that our men
were in possession of it, and the principal
gateway besides, and had taken a good
many prisoners. I asked if anyone had
been hurt, and he said there were grave
rumours about Lieutenant Brackenbury.
No one seemed to be certain of his where-
abouts, while some affirmed that he had
been wounded, and others that he had
been killed. We were very anxious about
him,, but my husband said that it was all
uncertain, and he might be perfectly safe
all the time ; and of course we hoped he
was all right.

About twelve Mr. Quinton and I went
up to the house, but long before going
he had made another attempt to get the
telegram to the Government of India de-
spatched, and had found that the wires
had been cut on all sides, so all hope of

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

203

communication from that source was aban-
doned. We were rather hungry by twelve,
as no one had eaten much at the hasty
repast at three in the morning, and we
were very glad of some hot tea and sand-
wiches now. I went on a voyage of
discovery round the house. One or two
servants still remained, but they seemed
very frightened, and were saying many
prayers to their gods for their safety. A
stray bullet or so had hit the walls of the
house, knocking off some of the plaster,
but otherwise everything looked the same
as usual.

We returned to the office in about an hour,
after I had seen that all the preparations for
lunch were made. The cook had departed,
but the bearer and I between us managed to
get things ready in a fashion. I took a book
to read with me, and busied myself in that
manner until, about one o'clock, Colonel
Skene and some of his officers, with my
husband, returned from the scene of action.

2C4

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

Our first inquiries were for Mr. Bracken-
bury, and then it became evident that
something serious had happened to him,
and all our fears were aroused. After
that, things seemed to assume quite a
different aspect, for the officers were all
talking so gravely together, and did not
seem quite satisfied with the way things
were going.

However, we went back to the Residency
to get something to eat. All had returned
with the exception of Mr. Simpson and
Captain Butcher, who were still at the Jubraj's
house, and Mr. Brackenbury, whose exact
whereabouts were unknown. We had com-
menced lunch, when my husband asked me
if I would give orders that some food should
be sent to the two officers who were not able
to leave their posts, and I went away to a
little room adjoining the dining-room and
commenced cutting sandwiches for them, as
the servants had disappeared, and one had
to get everything for one's self or go without.

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

205

I had been busily engaged for about
ten minutes, when I heard a sound which
filled me with alarm, and a bullet crashed
through the window above my head. It
frightened me more than the one at the
telegraph - office had done, and I dropped
my knife, left the sandwiches as they
were, and rushed into the dining-room.
All the officers meanwhile had gone out,
and had found that the Manipuris had
crept round to the back of the Residency
and commenced an attack upon us, using
as cover the Naga village which lay between
our grounds and the river. This was a
clever move on their part, and it was
some time before the troops could drive
them back, as most of our men were en-
gaged in holding the posts inside the
palace captured early in the morning, and
this left only a small guard for the Residency,
treasury offices, and Sepoys' camp. Eventu-
ally our party set fire to the Naga village,
and drove the Manipuris out. Bullets had

2o6

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

made their way through the window-panes
and doors of the dining-room, and had
smashed some of the breakfast-things and
the glass on the sideboard. It was difficult
to find out the most secure place in the
house, as the firing was hot in the front of
the Residency by this time, and the walls,
being only lath and plaster, were little or
no protection.

My husband suggested my descending to
the cellars, which were under the house and
built of stone ; but I did not like the idea, and
remembered how scornful I had been when

we had talked over matters weeks before, and
he had joked about the snug corner he would
make ready for me in the basement of
the house. So I made up my mind to
remain al?ove-board, so to speak, until the
worst came to the worst. It was heart-
rending to see the work of destruction which
was proceeding in the different rooms mean-
while. The windows were broken, and
every now and then bullets crashed into

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

207

the rooms, smashing different things — first
a picture, then a vase, then a photograph.
All my beloved household gods seemed
coming to grief under my very eyes, and
I was powerless to save them. We did
try to collect some of the most valuable
of our belongings together and put them
away in a heap in the durbar room, which
at that time had escaped with only one
broken pane ; but it was dangerous work
going into the front rooms to remove
them, for as the afternoon went on the
firing became hotter, and bullets rained into
the house at every second.

It must have been about half-past four that
the big guns began to be played against us.
It had been found necessary to concentrate
the whole of our force on the Residency and
out-buildings, such as the treasury and offices,
and this entailed abandoning all the positions
captured in the early part of the day inside
the outer wall of the palace, and bringing
all the men together. The wounded had

2o8

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

to be recovered from all directions and
conveyed to the hospital, which was some
distance from the Residency.

Lieutenant Brackenbury had been dis-
covered lying on the bank of the river
which flowed north of the palace, where
he had fallen shortly after the attack was
made early in the morning. He had
mistaken the direction, having got the
wrong side of the wall near the Jubrajs
house, from which point he had been
exposed to a heavy fire from the enemy.
It was only a marvel that he was still
alive when eventually discovered, for he
had remained where he fell the whole of
that day, and the Manipuris had never
ceased firing at him as he lay. When his
exact whereabouts did become known, it
was a difficult and dangerous task to
remove him. Efforts had been made by
some of the Sepoys to drag him away,
and a native officer had been mortally
wounded in the attempt. At last, about

■p

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

209

four o'clock in the afternoon, he was rescued
and brought into the hospital, and it was
found that he had received terrible injuries,
being wounded in several places.

The sound of the first shell which whizzed
over the Residency made me speechless with
terror. I had heard the boom of the guns
in the morning, and knew that they had been
used to try and drive Captain Butcher's
party out of the Jubraj's house, which had
been captured ; but they had sounded some
distance off, and I had not realized how
terrible they could be untij they were turned
against our own house.

The cellars were by this time unavoidable.
My husband told me that we should have to
make some sort of rough hospital in one of
them, as the Residency hospital, where the
wounded had been taken, was built of plaster
and would not be bullet-proof ; so we set to
work to get blankets and sheets down from
the house, and everything we thought might
be useful.

2IO THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

Meanwhile shells were doing dreadful
damage over our heads, and we were afraid
they might set fire to the thatch and force us
out of our temporary shelter. Luckily most
of them went over the house into the garden
at the back, where they could not do such
serious damage ; but the noise the guns made,
added to the other firing, which had never
ceased, was deafening.

There was not the slightest doubt by this
time that our position was about as bad as it
could very well be. I seemed paralyzed with
fear, and it was only by forcing myself to do
something, and never thinking or imagining
for one moment what the end of it all might
be, that I kept my senses sufficiently to be
able to make an effort to help the rest. I
heard that the wounded were to be brought
up to the house immediately, as the hospital
was getting too hot for them to remain in
it. Poor fellows ! they had endured so
much as it was in getting there, that it
seemed very hard to be obliged to move

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

211

them again so soon, and take them up to the
Residency.

There were a good many of us in the
cellar by this time — Mr. Quinton, Colonel
Skene, my husband and myself, Mr. Cossins,
and Mr. Gurdon. It was about seven o'clock,
and a lovely evening. The sun was just set-
ting, and the red glow of the sky seemed to
illuminate the landscape around and the
faces of the colonel and my husband as they
stood in the doorway talking together in low
tones. It was no difficult matter to read
what was written on both their faces, and
I did not dare ask what was going to
happen.

At last my husband came and told me that
we were to leave the Residency, and try and
find our way to Cachar. It seemed worse to
me to think of going out of the house than
to remain there ; but whatever was to take
place had to be at once, and there was no
time to spend in giving way to the terrible
fear which possessed me. However, a further

212 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

consultation was held, ancf it was decided to
make a truce with the regent, and put an
end to hostilities by coming to some terms
with him. A letter was written, which
the Chief Commissioner signed. It ran as
follows :

* On what condition will you cease firing on
uSy and give us time to communicate with the
Viceroy y and repair the telegraph ?'

While this letter was being written, the
colonel had ordered our buglers to sound
the * cease fire/ which they did at once ;
but it was some time before the Manipuris
followed suit. At last their guns ceased, and
all was quiet. Then my husband went out
with the letter, and called a Manipuri off the
wall to take it to the Jubraj. The man went
away with it, and my husband returned to
the Residency.

Some minutes later a message came to say
that the regent wished to see Mr. Quinton
and talk over matters with him ; and this

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

213

message was followed by a letter written in
Bengc^li, which contained an acknowledgment
of the Chiefs letter, and a proposal to the
effect that we should surrender our arms if
the Manipuris agreed to cease firing. There
was some discussion about the translation of
part of this letter, and Mr. Quinton proposed
that the Jubraj should be called upon to
explain the meaning of the passage in ques-
tion, and asked whether it would be possible
to see him.

Meanwhile the Chief Commissioner s party,
consisting of himself, Colonel Skene, Mr.
Cossins, Lieutenant Simpson, and my hus-
band, had gone down to the office at our
entrance gate,' and waited there while the
regent's letter was being translated. Mr.
Simpson had gone of his own accord,
as he wished to accompany my husband,
and I had begged to be allowed to go
with him too ; but he said I was safer
where I was, and bade me good - bye,
telling me to keep a brave heart, that

214 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

the firing was at an end, and peace about
to be restored ; and he told me to try and
get some rest, as I looked so tired. I never
saw him again.

i i

FRANK ST. CLAIR GR1MW00D.

FROM * PHOTOORAPH Br VANOYK.

CHAPTER XV.

I REMAINED where he had left me, alone for
some minutes, though some of the officers
were standing just outside the door of the
cellar where I was sitting. It seemed so hard
that I could not go with my husband. I
feared being left alone without him, and felt
very lonely and broken-hearted among so
many men, mostly strangers to me. I knew,
too, that they would look upon me as an
extra burden, and wish me very far away.

I was roused to action by the doctor, who
had taken advantage of the truce to get his
wounded brought up from the hospital to the
house, and had come up first to see what
kind of a place could be got ready. I
showed him the cellars, for there were several,

2l6

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

which all communicated with each other, and
formed the entire basement of the house.

Shortly afterwards the Kahars* arrived,
carrying poor Mr. Brackenbury on a mat-
tress, and the others followed fast, so that
the small cellar was very soon quite full of
men lying side by side on the stone floor.
The blankets and sheets that we had already
collected were very useful, and I made
several journeys up to the house, and
gathered up every kind of covering from
every direction, and all the pillows I could
find. A little cooking-stove proved of great
service. I fixed it securely upon a table in
one corner which I reserved for cooking
operations.

The soup we had made on the previous
day was in great request. Fortunately there
was a large quantity of it, to which I added
the contents of five or six tins which I found
in the store-room. Milk was the difficulty.
All the cows were out in the grounds, and

* Kahars — hospital assistants.

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

217

many of them had strayed away altogether
and we could not get any milk from them,
so were obliged to fall back on condensed
milk, of which we also had several tins.

Some of the men were terribly wounded,
but poor Mr. Brackenbury was by far the
worst. His legs and arms were all broken,
and he had several other injuries besides.
It seemed a marvel that he was still alive
and fully conscious to all that was going on
around him. The doctor attended to him
first of all, and had bound up his broken
limbs, and done as much as possible to
alleviate his sufferings ; but it was a terrible
sight to see the poor lad in such agony, and
be so powerless to lessen it in any way. He
was very thirsty, and drank a good deal of
soup and milk, but we could not get him into
a comfortable position. One minute he would
lie down, and the next beg to be lifted up ;
and every now and then his ankle would
commence bleeding, and cause him agony to
have it bound up afresh. His face was

2l8

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

gray and drawn, and damp dews collected
on his forehead from the great pain he was
suffering.

That scene will never be forgotten — the
little cellar with a low roof, and the faces of
the wounded lying together on the floor.
We did not dare have a bright light for fear
of attracting attention to that particular spot,
and the doctor did his work with one dim
lantern. Such work as it was, too ! Every
now and then he asked me to go outside for
a few moments while the dead were removed
to give a little more space for the living.

There were some terrible sights in the
cellar that night — I pray I may never see
any more like them ; but being able to help
the doctor was a great blessing to me, as it
occupied my attention, and gave me no time
to think of all the terrible events of the day,
and the wreck of our pretty home. I was
very weary, too — in fact, we all were — and
when at about half-past ten I asked every-
body to come and get some sort of a dinner.

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

219

they seemed much more inclined to go to
sleep, and no one ate much.

The dinner was not inviting, but it was
the best that could be got under the circum-
stances, for I had had to do it all myself.
One or two of the servants still remained,
but they cowered down in corners of the
house, and refused to move out or help me
at all. Perhaps had we known that it was
our last meal for nearly forty-eight hours, we
should have taken care to make the most
of it ; but no thought of what was coming
entered our minds, and long before the
melancholy meal was ended most of the
officers were dozing, and I felt as though I
could sleep for a week without waking.

We all separated after dinner about the
house. I went back to the hospital for a
little, and found the doctor wanted more
milk, so I returned to the dining-room,
where I was joined by Captain Boileau, and
we sat there for some time mixing the con-
densed milk with water, and filling bottles

220

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

with it, which I took downstairs. It was
quieter there than it had been. The wounded
had all been attended to, and most of them
had fallen asleep. Even Mr. Brackenbury
was dozing, and seemed a little easier, and
only one man was crying out and moaning,
and he was mortally wounded in the head.
So finding I could do no more there, I went
upstairs again, resolving, if possible, to go to
my room and lie down for a little while and
sleep, for I was very tired.

I went sorrowfully through our once pretty
drawing-room, where everything was now
in the wildest confusion, and saw all the
destruction which had overtaken my most
cherished possessions. There are those who
imagine that in a case like this a woman's
resource would be tears ; but I felt I could
not weep then. I was overwhelmed at the
terrible fate which had come upon us, and
too stunned to realize and bewail our mis-
fortunes.

Perhaps the great weariness which over-

W^^^^^^^P^

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

221

came me may have helped me to look
passively on my surroundings, and I walked
through the house as one in a dream,
longing only to get to some haven of rest,
where I could forget the misery of it all in
sleep.

I wended my way to the bedroom through
a small office of my husband's, but when I
reached the door I found it would not open,
and discovered that part of the roof had
fallen in, caused by the bursting of a shell.
So I gave up the idea of seeking rest there,
and retired to the veranda.

I went down the steps and stood outside
in the moonlight for a few minutes. It was
a lovely night, clear and bright as day ! One
could scarcely imagine a more peaceful scene.
The house had been greatly damaged, but
that was not apparent in the moonlight, and
the front had escaped the shells which had
gone through the roof and burst all round at
the back. The roses and heliotrope smelt
heavy in the night air, and a cricket or two

222

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

chirped merrily as usual in the creepers on
the walls.

I thought of the nigjit before, and of how
my husband and I had walked together up
and down in the moonlight, talking of what
the day was to bring, and how little he had
thought of such a terrible ending ; and I
remembered that poor lad lying wounded in
the cellar below now, who only twenty-four
hours ago had been the life and soul of the
party, singing comic songs with his banjo,
and looking forward eagerly to the chances
of fighting that might be his when the morn-
ing came.

I wondered where my husband was, and
why they had been away so long. They
would be hungry and tired, I thought, and
might have waited to arrange matters till the
next day, as they had apparently been suc-
cessful in restoring peace. I had an idea of
wandering as far as the gate to see whether
the party was visible, but on second thoughts
I went back into the veranda, and resolved

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

223

to wait there until my husband should
return.

There was one of the officers asleep in a
chair close to me, and I was about to follow
his example, when Captain Boileau came
out, and I went to him and asked him if he
would mind going down to the gate and
finding out whether he could hear or see
anything of the Chief Commissioner s party,
and if he came across any of them to say I
wanted my husband. He went off at once,
and I fell into a doze in the chair.

It was about twelve o'clock at this time.
I do not know how long I had been asleep,
when I was awaked suddenly by hearing the
deafening boom of the big guns again, and
knew then that it was not to be peace.

For a few seconds I could not stir. Terror
seemed to have seized hold of me, and my
limbs refused to move ; but in a minute I
recovered, and ran through the house down
to the cellar again, where everyone had
become alive to the fact that all was over

224

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

for US. Where was my husband ? What had
become of them all ? This thought nearly
drove me mad with anxiety. I could not
imagine what their fate had been, but I
knew the anguish of mind my husband
would endure when the sound of those
terrible guns would tell him that we were
being attacked again, as he knew we were
almost powerless to make any resistance,
through lack of ammunition.

We knew that our one chance lay in
retreating, as that move had been meditated
by Colonel Skene early in the evening,
before the truce had taken place ; so after
an hour had gone by the doctor began
moving the wounded out of the cellar, as
an immediate retreat had been decided upon.

We were still without any definite tidings
of the position of Mr. Quinton and my
husband, and the other officers who had
accompanied them, and our anxiety on their
behalf increased every hour.

It took a long time to get all the wounded

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

225

on to the grass outside. Mr. Brackenbury
was moved first. Poor lad ! he begged so
hard to be left in peace where he was, and
the moving caused him terrible agony. One
by one all the poor fellows were helped out,
until only a few remained. I gave my arm
to one of these, and we were going out
through the cellar door, when we were met
by four Kahars, carrying someone back
into the hospital. The moonlight shone
down upon them as they came, and lit up
the white face of him they carried, and I
saw that it was Mr. Brackenbury. The
movement had killed him, and he had died
on the grass outside a few seconds after
leaving the cellar. Better thus than if he
had lived a few hours longer to bear the
pain and torture of our terrible march ; but
it made one's heart ache to leave that young
lad lying there dead, alone in the darkened
cellar. I went back there just before we
left the place, and covered him up gently
with a sheet that was lying on the ground,

226

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

and I almost envied him, wrapped in the calm
slumber of death, which had taken all pain
and suffering away.

I had no hope that we should ever suc-
ceed in making our escape, and it seemed
almost useless even to make the attempt.
All was ready, however, by this time for
our departure, and I went out too, hoping
that the Manipuris would soon set fire to
the house, which would prevent any indigni-
ties being heaped upon the dead by their
victorious enemies.

Outside the noise was deafening. Shells
burst around us at every turn, and kept
striking the trees and knocking off great
branches. All idea of going up into the
house had to be abandoned, so I could not
get a hat or cloak or anything for the
journey before us, and had to start as I was.
Just before lunch-time I had taken off the
close-fitting winter gown which I had put
on in the morning, and instead had arrayed
myself in a blue serge skirt and white

■^ "^l

■W3^

^=1

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

227

silk blouse, which gave me more freedom
for my work in the hospital. I could
not have chosen better as far as a walk-
ing costume went, and should have been
all right if only I had been able to collect a
few outdoor garments — hat, cloak, and boots,
for instance. As things happened, I was wear-
ing on my feet thin patent leather slippers,
which were never meant for out-of-door
use, and my stockings were the ordinary
flimsy kind that women generally wear. My
dress had got soiled already in the hospital,
and was not improved by the march after-
wards; but I managed to get it washed when
we eventually reached British territory, and
have it by me to this day. It will be pre-
served as an interesting relic.

CHAPTER XVI.

The bustle and confusion outside were great.
The Sepoys were being mustered into
marching order, but around them* on all sides
people were rushing about, knocking each
other over in their eagerness to make good
their escape. These were chiefly servants,
Bunnias,* and the many followers who
accumulate wherever a regiment goes.

I stood for some time watching them
tearing away, until a sudden fear took hold
of me that I had been forgotten and left
behind. I was meditating going myself, but
on second thoughts I remembered I had
promised the officers to remain where I was,
and they had said they would come for me ;

* Bunnias — grain-sellers, provision merchants.

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

229

and just at that moment one of them came
and told me that we were to make a move.

Out in the open, away from the shelter
of the house, with one's life in one s hands,
as it were, my senses nearly left me. The
noise was awful, for besides the bursting of
the shells, the firing was heavier than it had
been before. I had not gone six yards from
the house when a shell exploded almost
at my feet, knocking off some branches of a
big tree close by, and wounding me very
slightly in the arm. I jumped behind the
tree, in the vain hope that its broad trunk
might save me from further injury, and
there I remained for some seconds. The
scurrying of those going towards the river
awoke me to my senses again, and off I
went, too, forgetting to look for my com-
panion, from whom I had managed to get
separated.

It was no easy matter to get on to the
Cachar road from the back of the Residency,
as there were many obstacles in the way.

230 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

The inner garden was separated from the
outer compound by a tall hedge, composed
of thorns and sharp twigs. I had superin-
tended the erection of this hedge myself. We
had kept a great many cows, and they were
always making their way into the flower-
garden and destroying the rose-bushes.
Nothing seemed to keep them out until
we made this thorn hedge, and that, as
I remarked to my husband when I took
him to see it first, * was calculated to keep
an army of men out if it came to the point.'
Fortunately, by the time I arrived at this
hedge it had become much broken down, the
result of the energy of those who had already
gone through it. I found a convenient hole,
and got through with comparatively little
damage to my raiment ; but my hands
received a good many scratches, and my
poor stockings were dreadfully torn. How-
ever, on I went, perfectly insensible as to
who were travelling with me. The next
obstacle was a mud wall, low enough on our

THREE YEARS IN MANJPUR

231

side, but with a six-foot drop on the other.
I found myself sitting on the top of this,
wondering how I was going to make the
descent of the other side, when someone
gave me a gentle push, as a sort of warning
that I was stopping the traffic, and I slid
gracefully down on the other side into the
arms of a friendly Bunnia, who also helped
me down the river bank, which was very
slippery and muddy. I fell two or three
times, doing considerable damage to my
already dirty dress ; but I got to the water s
edge at last, and made a valiant effort to
cross the river.

Fortunately for us, it was March, and not
April or May ; for had these events taken
place later in the year, I do not know how
we should have crossed that river. But as
it was the end of the cold weather, and the
rains had not commenced, the stream was
low and easily waded. I did not know how
deep it was, for we had never crossed it
riding, as we generally did Manipuri rivers.

232

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

We had often thought of doing so, but the
banks were so steep and slippery that my
husband said it would do the horses no good
to clamber down them, and then we might
find the river too deep to ford.

So with this delightful uncertainty about
things, I made my first plunge, and stepped
into the water, which was dreadfully cold.
I had got into the middle of the stream, when
I was overtaken by the doctor, who seemed
rather astonished at finding me there alone.
However, I explained to him that I had
been too frightened to remain at the house
when I saw so many people running away,
and had managed fairly well up to that time,
but I did not like the river.

He was certainly a good Samaritan on this
occasion, for he carried me the rest of the
way through the water, and was just about to
land me high and dry on the bank, when his
foot slipped in the mud, and down we went.
We soon picked ourselves up, however, and
scrambled out, and then I found that the

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 233

heel had come off my shoe in the water.
I was covered with mud and shivering
with cold, for my skirts were dripping with
water and very heavy. But there was no
time to be lost, and I climbed up the bank
and crossed the road, on the other side of
which was a deep ditch, into which I re-
treated and lay down, for firing was going
on, and I did not know from which side
it came, whether from our men, who had
all caught me up by this time, or the
Manipuris. Whenever I heard shots after-
wards I used to be alarmed, for I never
could tell when our men were firing, and
always feared the worst, unless I was actually
in the midst of the Sepoys, and could see
them shooting with my own eyes.

We waited in the ditch some time, until all
the Sepoys had crossed the river, and then
we started ofif again to find the way to
Cachar. We went some way in. the opposite
direction at first, and had to come back
again ; but at length we turned down on to

234

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

the right road, and commenced the march in
real earnest. It was a moonlight night, which
enabled us to see quite plainly. Had it been
dark, our difficulties would have been in-
creased tenfold. We could not march fast,
for the wounded had to be brought along
with us, and the number of Kahars carrying
them was limited. What they must have
endured no one can imagine, being jolted
along for so many hours together without
any food or rest. I knew every inch of the
road we were travelling, as I had ridden
down and up it so often in my journeys to
and from Cachar, and I was able to give the
others the benefit of my knowledge.

We marched along in silence for some
miles. At a place called Burri Bazaar we
were fired on, but we were not followed
from the palace, as we had fully expected.
Whether they did not know we had escaped,
or whether they thought discretion the better
part of valour, and preferred remaining
behind the shelter of their stone walls, to

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 235

following after us with hostile intent, I can-
not say. But it was fortunate for us that
they gave us the start, and let us get some
distance away before they attempted to
pursue us.

CHAPTER XVII.

It was about two in the morning that we left
the Residency, and we marched steadily on
until daybreak. We had not gone four miles
away from the station, when I turned to look
back, and found the whole sky for miles
round lit with a red glow, whilst from among
the trees surrounding our house flames were
leaping up. Those only who have feelings
of affection for the places where they live,
and which they call home, can picture what
that burning house meant for me.

All we possessed was there — all our
wedding presents, and everything that goes
towards making a place homelike and com-
fortable ; and these were being destroyed
under my very eyes, while I, like Lot s wife
of old, had to turn my face in an opposite

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 237

direction, utterly powerless to avert the
terrible destruction which was overtaking all
I valued.

I thought of my husband, who I believed
to be a prisoner in the palace, surrounded by
enemies, witnessing the demolition of the
house, and not knowing where I was, or what
had become of me. He would see the flames,
and hear those terrible guns booming out at
every second, and he would know that I was
either flying for my life or dead, but no more.
And yet I thought he was better off" than
we were. All hoped that Mr. Quinton
and his party would be quite safe, even
though they were prisoners, safer than we
were ; and I myself, knowing the Jubraj so
well, thought that he would be clever enough
to see his own advantage in keeping them as
hostages, even if he were not influenced by
feelings of friendship for my husband. And
with this reflection I had to quiet my own
misgivings. But it was hard to march on in
silence without giving way, and it was only

238

THREE YEARi IN MANIPUR

by resolving not to look back at all that I
managed to restrain my feelings.

I was glad when the dawn came. Every
misfortune seems so much harder to bear at
night, and there is something in the daylight
which gives us strength. If we are ill, we
always seem worse during the night ; if in
sorrow, it is harder to bear in the dark when
we are awake and the world is sleeping. And
so with myself at this time. The daylight
seemed to lessen the horror of the whole situa-
tion, and when the pink flush of the dawn
came, it mingled with the red glow caused by
our burning home, until all was merged into the
full light of the rising sun. Then we halted,
and had a consultation as to what route we
were to pursue. If we went straight on for
another six or seven miles, we knew we
should have to pass a large Thana strongly
garrisoned. On the other hand, if we forsook
the main road and took to the hills, we stood
the chance of losing our way altogether.

Our great hope was to meet with Captain

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 239

Cowley and his detachment of two hundred
men, who, we knew, were marching up from
Cachar. They had commenced their journey
to Manipur some days before the rebellion
had taken place, and did not know anything
of the sort was likely to occur. We knew
they were due at a place called Leimatak,
some thirty miles from the capital, on the
25 th, so that if they had kept to their dates,
they could not be more than twenty miles
away from us at that moment.

It was the early morning of the 2Sth when
we found ourselves debating over the road,
twelve miles away from Manipur. It was
decided at length to cut across the fields,
and make our way over the hills, hoping to
strike the Cachar road again at a higher
point, and avoid the Bishenpur Thana.

So we started off again. I was then very
exhausted. We had had no food, and the
water we met with was very dirty. My feet
were cut and sore from the rough walking
I had already had, and my clothes still damp

240

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

and heavy. By this time the sun was fairly
high in the heavens, and beat down upon my
uncovered head, threatening me with a bad
headache at the least, and possibly sunstroke.
It was quite evident that some sort of head-
gear must be provided, so after trying a
turban, which I found insufferably hot and
heavy, one of the officers gave me his helmet,
and wore the pugaree himself. Our way
lay for some distance across Dhan-fields.*
Owing to the heavy dew which had fallen
during the night, these were very wet and
soppy, and we were glad when we reached
the first hill and began the ascent.

We had been unmolested for some hours
now, but the boom of the guns and the crack
of the bullets hitting the walls of the house
had left such an impression on me that I
fancied firing was still going on, and could
scarcely believe the others when they told
me nothing of the kind was taking place, for
the noise in my ears was dreadful.

* Dhan — rice.

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 241

The first hill was very steep, but only a
foretaste of what was to come later on. It
was covered with short straggling green
grass, interspersed with the rough stubble of
last year, which had originally been several
feet high, but had been burned, according to
the custom in those parts. Here and there
a long tough end that had escaped the fire
hit one in the face, covering one with smuts,
and leaving a black mark where it had
touched one, so that after a very short time
we all looked more or less like sweeps.

The hill we were climbing had a small

plateau about three-quarters of the way up,

and we steered for this, intending to have a

really long halt, and hoping to find water.

It was a shady little spot, and when we did

reach it, we were all glad to lie down and

rest after our terrible exertions. We had a

wide view of the plain and the road by

which we had travelled, so knew we should

be able to note at once if the enemy were

pursuing us, and could afford to give our-

242 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

selves a little breathing space. Water had
been found, as we expected, quite near, and
as it was much cleaner than what we had
discovered in the fields below, everyone
drank a good deal, and the Sepoys filled up
their bottles with it.

I do not know how long we remained here,
as I went to sleep almost at once on our
arrival; but when I woke up at last, the
others were moving on up the hill, and I
had to go too with them. Some distance
behind we noted a crowd of natives following
us. It was difficult to distinguish whether
they were Manipuris or Nagas, but as they
were armed with spears and Da6s,* we con-
cluded they must be the latter. Manipuris
would have had rifles.

They never came very close to us, for fear
of being shot themselves ; but we could see
them the whole time dancing behind us,
shouting and waving spears about. Once or
twice they were fully within range, and we

* Dads — ^knives.

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 243

could have shot some of them ; but it was
hardly worth while, and our ammunition was
none too plentiful. A terrible fate would
have overtaken any straggler who might
have fallen behind without the means to
defend himself. His head would have been
captured as a glorious trophy, carved off while
he was alive, for these tribes never trouble
about killing their victim first before taking
his scalp unless he offers great resistance.

We had reached by this time an elevation
of about 4,000 feet above sea-level, and
knew that more than 2,000 feet at least still
awaited us to be climbed before the top of
the ridge could be reached. The Leimatak
hill, towards which point we were travelling,
was 6,700 feet high, and was the topmost
peak of the first range of hills lying between
us and Cachar.

We clambered on steadily, but very slowly.
I was so tired that I could hardly put one
foot in front of the other, and felt much more
inclined to lie down in the jungle and go to

244 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

sleep, than to march on. We were very
hungry, but I think I suffered less in that
respect than the men did ; for though I
should have eaten probably as heartily as the
rest had we possessed food, as there was
none to be got, I never thought much about
it. Sleep seemed much more desirable.

It was two o cloflc on the morning of the
25th that we left the Residency, and it was
now between three and four in the after-
noon. Every fresh hill seemed worse than
its predecessor, and at last we began ascend-
ing one which appeared almost impossible
to climb. Its sides were very steep and
rocky, and there was only the merest
apology for a path to direct us in any way.
It was a case of using hands and knees to
perform the ascent, and it seemed as though
we should never reach the summit. When,
after wearily toiling on for some hours, we
did arrive at the top, I felt that I could not
move another step.

We did halt for a short time here, and

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 245

while we waited an incident occurred which
touched me very much. A young Naga,
who had been a Sais * in our service for
several months at one time, found his way
to our camp at the risk of losing his life
had he been discovered by the enemy, and
presented me with three eggs, expressing
at the same time his sorrow at not being
able to do more for me. He stayed till
sunset with us. and then crept back under
cover of the darkness to his village. I was
much touched at this simple act of kindness,
and I have often remembered it since, and
wished it were in my power to do something
for the brave lad. But unfortunately I have
forgotten his name, and that of the village
to which he belonged.

Three eggs are not many among eight
hungry people, not to speak of the Sepoys ;
but no one would share them with me,
in spite of my begging them to do so. I
could not manage a raw egg, though I

* Sais — ^room.

246

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

made several valiant efforts to swallow one.
Eventually they all came to a bad end, for
the two remaining ones were put into some-
body's pocket for safety, and were smashed
later on, so no one benefited much by the
little Naga boy s well-meant offering.

While we were halting on the top of this
hill, one of the officers took a few men with
him and went on to take stock of the sur-
rounding country, as our exact whereabouts
seemed uncertain. He came to a Manipuri
Thana before he had proceeded far, and had
a parley with the native officer in command
there, who called to him, telling him he had
something to say. So the party went up to
within speaking distance, and the Manipuri
called out that he had orders to * pass the
Memsahib and Sepoys,* but that all the
officers must return to Manipur.*

However, as soon as he was told that our
party intended proceeding undivided, he
ordered his men to fire on us, which they
immediately did, and we had to begin

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

247

marching again down the hill and up the
other side of the ravine. The firing con-
tinued on both sides the whole time, and
it was only when we eventually reached the
summit of the opposite hill to that upon
which we had halted, and disappeared over
the crest, that it ceased.

The sun had set, and night was beginning
to close in and put an end to the longest
day I have ever known. It seemed months
almost since our departure from the Resi-
dency, and yet it was but twenty-four hours.

How I envied my husband and the others,
who, as I then thought, were at any rate
in comparative safety, able to eat and sleep,
even though they were prisoners ! Not that
anxiety on my husband's account did not
trouble me. I longed to know how he was
being treated, and whether they would tell
him of my escape, and spare him the torture
of not knowing my fate, for I knew how he
would fret over it if he did not know.

It seemed so terrible to be obliged to

248

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

march away leaving them all behind, and at
times I longed to hurry back and see for
myself what was happening, while, again, I
would have given anything to have reached
Cachar, and been able to send up help to
those in captivity. We thought that Mr.
Melville had been made prisoner and
brought back to Manipur, as a rumour to
that effect had reached us on the 24th, and
in that case we supposed he would be
with the Chief and his party, a prisoner in
the palace.

Perhaps the utter weariness of body and
mind which threatened to overcome me at
this time prevented my brooding too much
on the possible fate of those we had been
forced to leave in the hands of their enemies,
and it may have been well that it was so.

All that terrible night we tramped on, I
with bare feet, as my thin shoes had given
out long since. At length, about one o'clock
in the morning, we halted in a small grove
of trees, lying in a hollow between two hills.

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR 249

We had marched more than twenty miles,
and rest was absolutely essential. Here we
lay down and slept. The officers gave me
their great-coats and bore the intense cold
themselves, and I slept as I have seldom
slept in a comfortable bed at home, never
waking once until someone aroused me about
half-past three in the morning, and told me
the weary tale again -we were to move on.

The first glimmer of dawn was appearing
as we commenced marching again — hungry,
tired, and dispirited. No one knew the
way, and we only had rough paths here and
there to guide us through the jungle ; but
the actual walking was not so difficult, as
we were travelling along the top of a ridge
of hills, and had no very steep ascent or
descent.

Every now and then we were able to see
the Leimatak peak, still some distance off,
which I had recognised and pointed out to
the others, and I knew that the road to
Cachar passed right through a small grove

250

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

of trees on its summit, so we made it our
landmark.

The chances of meeting Captain Cowley's
party seemed growing less every hour. Had
he been obliged to turn back ? we wondered.
Would he have gone on towards Manipur,
and have passed the place where we hoped
to strike the road ? We knew nothing.

We were all utterly weary, and dispirited
from want of food and rest. It was now the
morning of the 26th, and we had none of
us tasted food since the 24th. I was so
tired that I wished I were dead more than
once, and everything seemed quite hopeless,
when we came upon the road suddenly.

I think from this moment fate favoured
us. We had entertained so little hope of
finding the road at all, that it seemed a piece
of good fortune when we came upon it sud-
denly, even though we had all our work
still before us and were without food.

The next thing that happened cheered
our drooping spirits not a little. We came

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

2;i

round a corner and found three Manipuri
Sepoys sitting by the roadside, with their
arms and accoutrements by them, cooking
their morning meal. They were taken by
surprise at our sudden advent, and two
of them fled, leaving the third a prisoner
in our hands. He was not so active as the
rest, and the Ghoorkas were too quick for
him. They tied him up with straps and
anything they could find, and the poor
creature evidently thought that his last hour
had come. He fell on his knees when he
saw me, calling me * Ranee, Ranee,* and
imploring of me to save him. So I spoke
to him as well as I could in Manipuri, telling
him not to be frightened ; that we did not
intend to hurt him.

Meanwhile, the rice they had cooked
came in most acceptably, and perhaps, had a
disinterested onlooker been present, he might
have been very much amused at the eager
way we all rushed at it to devour it. How
good it seemed, even though there were

252

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

scarcely two mouthfuls for each one. What
there was was received most gratefully, and
I felt very selfish at discovering that, in
their thoughtfulness for me, the officers had
managed to save a small basketful, which no
one would touch, and which they insisted on
keeping for me. After the rice was disposed
of, we questioned the Manipuri we had
captured to find out whether he knew any-
thing of Captain Cowley's movements. He
told us that he knew the Sahib had arrived
at Leimatak on the 25 th, and that he had not
yet passed along the road towards Manipur.
So we were cheered at the tidings, for we
knew now that, with any luck, we must
meet with the detachment before very long,
and could not be more than eight miles
away from Captain Cowley at that moment.

The Manipuri went on to say that there
were a number of the enemy lying in wait
for us about half a mile further on, and he
advised us to take to the jungle again,
offering to show us a path that would lead

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

253

US into Captain Cowley *s camp. The idea
of more fighting struck terror into my heart,
and had I been in command I should have
been foolish enough to take the man's
advice ; but fortunately the others decided
without hesitation to go on, and said they
did not believe the prisoner was speaking the
truth.

We had scarcely gone half a mile when we
came suddenly upon a stockade, and as soon
as we appeared round the turn in the road
which disclosed it to our view, we were fired
on from the hillside above us. I threw
myself down for protection against the
sloping side of the road, but was not allowed
to remain there, as the stockade was about
to be rushed, and I had to get over it too,
as best I could. Fortunately it had been
constructed to prevent Captain Cowley s
party from getting past that point in the
road, and was in consequence easier for us
to clamber over, as we had come from the
opposite direction ; but I knew that it was

254

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

useless for me to attempt climbing over it,
as my dress would be certain to catch on
the sharp ends of the bamboos with which
the stockade was constructed, and there
I should be suspended, an excellent mark
for any stray bullet. So I made a rush to
the other side of the road, where I lost my
footing and fell, rolling down the Khud.
But luckily it was not as steep as it might
have been, and I managed to scramble up
and get round the stockade, helped very
considerably by my former friend the Bunnia,
before mentioned, who stretched out his
leg from a secure position, and I clambered
up by it and lay down completely exhausted
and panting from my exertions down the
hillside.

Meanwhile firing was going on overhead,
which was returned by our men, who killed
one or two of the enemy. But the latter
were so well screened by the trees around
them that it was difficult to get a shot at
them at all. I do not know how matters

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 255

might have ended, but suddenly someone
called out that there were more men coming
up the hill. No one knew who they were,
for they were a long way off, and could
only be seen every now and then as they
appeared in and out of the trees. Sepoys
they were we knew, but were they friends
or enemies ?

I felt too exhausted to get up and look
at them, as all the others were doing, until
there was an exclamation from someone that
the new arrivals were Ghoorkas. I had
felt certain that they would turn out to be
Manipuris, who would put an end to us in
a very short time. But when opinion be-
came divided as to their identity, the long-
ing for life which we all possess so strongly
surged up into my brain, driving me nearly
crazy with excitement, and hope, that takes
so much killing, rose again within me.

Still we were * doubtful. We could see
as they came nearer that they wore Khar-
kee, but the uniform worn by the Jubraj s

256

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

men was almost identical with that of the
Ghoorkas. We sounded our bugle, and it
was answered by the advancing party ; but
then we remembered the Manipuri bugle
call was the same as that of the 43rd
Ghoorka Rifles, to which regiment Captain
Cowley belonged. We got out our only
pocket-handkerchief, tied it to a stick, and
waved it about, but we could not see
whether that signal was returned or not.
The time which had elapsed since they were
first sighted seemed hours ; it was in reality
only a few minutes.

Gradually they advanced nearer, running
up the hill as fast as they could, and then
the majority cried out that they were the
Ghoorkas from Cachar. I shut my eyes,
for I could not bear the strain of watching
them while their identity was uncertain.
But at last a Sahib was descried amongst
them, and all doubt was over ; they were
the Ghoorkas, and we were saved. I
remember someone asking me if I would

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 257

make one last effort and run down the hill
to meet them, as the firing was still going
on, and a stray bullet might even then find
its billet ; and I remember getting up, with
a mist in my eyes and a surging in my head,
and running as I have never ran before or
since down the hill, helped along by two
of the officers.

I remember putting my foot on a stone
which rolled away from under it, and gave
my ankle a wrench which sprained it, and
turned me sick and giddy with pain ; and
I remember meeting Captain Cowley, and
seeing his men rushing past me up the hill,
and then I remember nothing more for
some time, I did not faint, but I believe
I sat down on the side of the road and
sobbed, for the strain had been more than
I could bear after all the horrors of the
previous two days, and tears were a relief.

[258]

CHAPTER XVIII.

We were saved ! That was the one thought
in my mind when I was able to recover my
senses sufficiently to be able to think at
all. Saved from the terrors of starvation,
and from the hands of our enemies ; and
in my heart I thanked God for having
given me the strength which had enabled
me to bear all the misery and weariness
of the last few days. We human beings
are so given to forgetful ness, and fail so
often to remember that we owe thanks to
Providence for preserving us when man's
help is of no avail. We are ready enough
to thank our fellow-men for what they do for
us, but we forget the rest. This time I can
honestly say that I thanked God from the
bottom of my heart.

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

259

As I sat there by the side of the road,
bereft of everything I possessed in the
world save only the clothes I wore, I
did not think of what I had lost, but only
of the life that was still mine. This world
is very good and pleasant to live in. Home
and friends are very dear to one at all times.
But all these are never so precious as when
we see them slipping from our grasp, and
feel that even our breath, and the life-blood
coursing through our veins, are to be taken
from us ; then alone do we fully rouse our-
selves to action, while we struggle and fight
for the life that is so dear.

It was some time before I recovered my
senses sufficiently to be able to join with
the rest in giving the rescuing party a
detailed account of our miraculous- escape.
Some of Captain Cowley*s men were still
pursuing the now-retreating foe, and we could
hear shots being fired from the brow of the
hill above us. We remained where we were
for some time, and our rescuers produced

26o

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

biscuits and potted meat and soda-water.
They had whisky with them too, so we
really felt we had fallen on our feet. I was
too exhausted to eat much, and did not feel
at all hungry ; but I was glad enough to
drink a peg,* and felt very much better for
it. My ankle was ver)'^ painful, so the doctor,
who was among the newcomers, bound it
up for me, and I went to sleep by the road-
side for a short time.

I have said we were saved, but that does
not mean that we were entirely out of
danger of being fired upon by the Manipuris.
They had not spared Captain Cowley's party,
though they had allowed him to march
up to within twenty miles of us without
making themselves unpleasant. But the
night before he met us he had marched as
usual into a new camping-ground, wholly
ignorant of what had occurred in Manipur,
and to his great surprise had been fired
on. Shortly afterwards fugitives from our

* Peg — whisky and soda.

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

261

party arrived, and told him that we were
wandering about in the jungle with every
chance of coming to grief before very long,
unless rescued. This news was startling,
to say the least of it, and caused him to
hurry on to our help. When, some miles
away, he heard shots being fired from the
top of the hill, he concluded that we were
not far off, and before long caught sight of
the stockade and arrived in the nick of
time with men, food, and ammunition to
our aid.

The rest of our march was a different
thing to what the commencement had been,
though discomforts were still many and great.
Food was none too plentiful for the Sepoys,
though we did not fare badly, and after
two days of starvation one is not particular.
The 43rd had got a supply of beer, whisky,
and cocoa, which were all most acceptable
commodities, and I was able to get other
luxuries from one of the party, viz., a brush,
a sponge, a grand pair of woollen stockings.

262 THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

and some Sepoys boots, which each measured
about a foot and a half in length and were
broad in proportion. However, beggars
can*t be choosers, and as my ankle was
very much swollen the commodious boots
did not come amiss.

After we had rested some hours we pushed
on down the hill to Leimatak, which place
was reached before sunset. I was carried
in a dooly, as my ankle was too painful to
allow of my walking.

When we arrived at the camp we found
a string of elephants and mules, which had
been travelling up with the detachment, and
which had been left behind by Captain
Cowley when he discovered the state of
affairs we were in, and had to hurry on to
our help. It seemed difficult to realize that
we were still in a hostile country, surrounded
by enemies, for the camp looked just the
same as it had done in more peaceful
regions.

I had travelled down from Shillong, in the

^■■a II nm m iL-*— f^— (ii . 4 ■ W^PIW«W»<!HtWBcs^|^0

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 263

winter of 1890, with the 43rd Ghoorka Rifles,
and was consequently quite accustomed to
the bustle and movement accompanying a
regiment on the march.

We halted at Leimatak for four or five
hours, and had a very respectable dinner,
to which we did full justice. Afterwards I
lay down and went to sleep again, until it
was time to move on.

From this time our march was very mono-
tonous. We got up at three every morning
and marched until sunset. We had a meal
of army rations and cocoa in the morning,
and another meal of army rations and beer
in the evening, after which we all went to
sleep as we were, and never woke until
the bugle sounded the reveille.

We were always dead-tired. The hills
were very steep, and as we got nearer
Cachar the heat was intense during the
day, and the cold piercing at night. We
could only move very slowly, and with
caution, for we never knew when we might

264 THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

be attacked. Pickets were posted all around
us on the hills at night, for the purpose of
keeping a look-out against the enemy.

We were fired at several times during the
march, but the Manipuris did not like the
look of a large party, and kept a respectful
distance, sometimes firing at us from such
a long way off that we did not take the
trouble to reply to it. And yet I was more
nervous and unstrung at this time than I
had been when the danger was really immi-
nent, and bullets coming fast. A stray shot
used to make my heart beat with terror, and
at last I got so nervous that whenever a
shot was fired my companions used to say
it was only a bamboo burning in the jungle
behind us.

We set fire to nearly all the Thanas on
the road, which we found for the most part
deserted and empty. At one place called
Khowpum, the Manipuris had only left the
Thana a few minutes before our arrival. They
were lying in wait for us though, on the top

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

265

of a small ridge, hoping to catch us as we
came round the turn of the road. But they
were caught themselves, as the Ghoorkas
made a small detour and appeared on the top
of the ridge instead of below it, and opened
fire upon them, causing them to retreat
hastily, after a very slight show of resistance.

We then marched into the Thana, and
found a quantity of rice in baskets, which
had evidently just arrived from the Maha-
rajah's Godowns* for the monthly rations.
We could not take the whole amount with
us, but the Sepoys were allowed to carry
as much as they could, and it was a lucky
find. It was often very difficult to procure
food for the men, and they had more than
once to go without dinner when they got in at
night, though as a rule they had half-rations.
We had managed to get a supply of rice
from one of the Naga villages situated near
the road.

The Nagas were for the most part friendly

* Godowns — storehouses.

266

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

disposed towards us, but here and there they
gathered together near their villages, which
they had deserted for the meanwhile, and
had a stray shot at us as we passed along.
We never burned these villages, thinking
they might be useful to the troops when
they should return.

I walked most of the way, except the first
march after meeting Captain Cowley. He
had a pony which he lent me, but the hills
were very steep at the best of times for
riding, and on this occasion I had to balance
myself as best I could on a man's saddle,
with the off stirrup crossed over the pony's
neck to make some sort of pommel. Riding
thus downhill was an impossibility, and I
never made the attempt.

My ankle pained me very much at times,
but for the most part it seemed to have no
feeling in it at all, and was swollen into an
unsightly mass.

We came across one or two poor old
Manipuri women on the road as we neared

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

267

the frontier. They had been peaceably-
travelling up to their homes when the trouble
came, and the men with them forsook them
to hide in the jungles around until we should
have passed by. Poor old ladies ! As soon
as they saw me they rushed at me and clung
to my skirts, refusing to let me out of their
sight for a minute. We took them with us
to Cachar and let them remain there until
peace should be restored once more.

Day by day brought the same routine :
the weary march in the hot sun, and the
worn-out slumber at night ; but at last the
day dawned which was to see us across the
frontier in British territory once more, saved
in every sense of the word.

It was sunset on the last day of March as
we crossed the river Jhiri. I had come all
those weary miles through dangers great
and terrible, and was alive to tell the tale.
Illness had spared us all. We might have
had cholera amongst us, to add to the rest of
our troubles ; but we had been free from that

268 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

To me, a woman, solitary and alone
amongst so many men, the march had been
doubly trying ; but to hear them say that I
had not been a burden upon them was
some reward for all I had endured.

It has been said lately by some that this
retreat to Cachar was in a great measure due
to my presence in Manipur at the time, and
that my helplessness has been the means of
dragging the good name of the army, and the
Ghoorka corps in particular, through the mire,
by strongly influencing the officers in their
decision to effect ' the stampede to Cachar.*

But I scarcely think that they would have
allowed the presence of, and danger to one
woman to deter them from whatever they
considered their duty ; and had they decided
to remain at the Residency that night, I
should never have questioned their right to
do so, even as I raised no argument for or
against the retreat to Cachar.

I think that the honour of England is as
dear to us women as it is to the men ; and

"sr -w

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 269

though it is not our vocation in life to be
soldiers, and to fight for our country, yet,
when occasion offers, I have little doubt that
the women of England have that in them
which would enable them to come out of any
dilemma as nobly and honourably as the
men, and with just as much disregard for
their own lives as the bravest soldier con-
cerned.

But such an insinuation as I have quoted
is not, I am happy to think, the unspoken
opinion of the many to whom the story of
Manipur is familiar. It is but the un-
charitable verdict of a few who are perhaps
jealous of fair fame honestly won, and who
think to take a little sweetness from the
praise which England has awarded to a
woman.

That such praise has been bestowed is
more than sufficient reward for what, after
all, many another Englishwoman would have
done under similar circumstances.

[ 270 ]

CHAPTER XIX.

During the eventful days which had elapsed
between March 23 and April i, nothing
definite had been known by the authorities
in India as to Mr. Quinton's proceedings and
whereabouts. All that was certain was that
he had arrived at Manipur, and had been
unable to carry out his original plans for
leaving again the day following his arrival,
owing to the refusal of the Jubraj to obey
the orders of Government ; but the tidings
of the fight which had followed had never
been despatched to head-quarters, owing to
the telegraph-wire having been cut imme-
diately after the contest began.

That communication, in this manner, was
interrupted was not as serious an omen as

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

271

might have been supposed. Cutting the
telegraph-wire was a favourite amusement
of the Manipuris ; and even during the small
revolution in September, 1890, they had
demolished the line in two or three direc-
tions.

But when several days went by, and still
the wire remained broken, and no informa-
tion of any kind as to what was going on in
Manipur reached the authorities, people
became alarmed.

Rumours came down through the natives
that there was trouble up there ; and a
few of the traders found their way into
Kohima with the news that all had been
killed.

. Then excitement rose high, and every day
fresh rumours reached the frontier, some of
which said that I and one or two others had
escaped, but the rest were either killed or
prisoners.

The first definite information came from
our party. An officer was sent on by double

272 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

marches on the 31st with the despatches,
civil and military ; and before another
day had passed the whole of India knew
the names of those who had escaped,
as well as of those who were prisoners, and
in a few hours the news had reached
England.

To some, that news must have been
snatched up with great relief; but there
were many who read it with terrible mis-
givings in their hearts for the fate of those
dear to them who were in captivity.

A person who does not know the sensation
of never taking his or her clothes off for ten
days can scarcely realize what my feelings
were when, on arriving at the Jhiri rest-
house, I found a bath and a furnished room.
Nothing could ever equal the pleasure which
I derived from that, my first tub for ten days.
I felt as though I should like to remain in it
for hours ; and even though I had to array
myself again afterwards in my travel-stained
and ragged garments until I reached Lahkipur,

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

273

the sensation of feeling clean once more was
truly delightful.

I was covered with leech-bites, and found
one or two of those creatures on me when I
took off my clothes. They had been there
three or four days, for we had fallen in with
a swarm of them at one of the places where
we had camped for the night during the
march. It was near a river and very damp,
and the leeches came out in crowds and
attacked everybody. But the men were able
to get rid of them better than I was, and I
had to endure their attentions as best I
might until we got to the Jhiri, and I could
indulge in the luxury of taking off my
clothes.

I slept on a bed that night, and was- very
loath to get up when the bugle awoke us all
at the first streak of dawn.

We marched ten miles into a place called
Lahkipur, where we found a number of
troops already mustering to return to
Manipur.

274 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

I found clothes and many other necessaries
at Lahkipur, which had been sent out for me
by the ladies of Cachar ; and I blessed them
for their thoughtfulness.

The luxury of getting into clean garments
was enchanting ; and though the clothes did
not fit me with that grace and elegance that
we womenkind as a rule aspire to, still, they
seemed to me more beautiful than any
garments I had ever possessed. They were
clean ; that was the greatest charm in my
eyes.

Then came breakfast, such as we had not
indulged in for a very long time, and every-
thing seemed delicious.

Immediately after breakfast we all sat
down to write home. It was hard work for
me after all I had gone through, and with the
keen anxiety I was still feeling about those
left behind, to put the account of the terrible
disaster into words ; but I felt that if I did
not write then, I should not have the
strength to do so later on, and I managed

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

275

to send a full account home by the next
mail.

We halted at Lahkipur all that day, and
we started to march our last fourteen miles
into Cachar on the night of April 2, or,
rather, the early morning of the 3rd. A
number of the planters in the neighbourhood
came in to Lahkipur to see us before we
left, and hear from our own lips the narra-
tive of our escape, and the news of it all
got into Cachar long before we ourselves
arrived.

Everyone seemed anxious to show us all
kindness ; but the efforts that were made to
secure comforts for me in particular were
innumerable as they were generous. When
I eventually did arrive at Cachar, I found
myself made quite a heroine of. There was
not one who did not seem honestly and
heartily glad to see me there again safe, and
I shall never forget the kindness I received
as long as I live.

But amongst them all, there were some

276

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

old friends who received me into their
house, putting themselves out in every
possible way to add to my comfort, to whom
I owe a debt of gratitude that I never can
repay. It would not perhaps be quite agree-
able to them if I wrote their names here ;
but when this record of my terrible adventure
reaches them in their far-off Indian home,
they will know that I have not missed the
opportunity, which is given me in writing
about it, of paying them a tribute of grati-
tude and affection for all their goodness to
me in a time of great trouble.

It was delightful to have a woman to talk
to again, although my companions on the
march had one and all shown me how un-
selfish and kindhearted Englishmen can be
when they are put to the test. They had
never let me feel that I was a burden on
them, and though often I felt very weak
and cowardly, they quieted my misgiv-
ings, and praised me for anything I did,
so that it gave me courage to go on and

vm^sm

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

277

help to endure the horrors of that terrible
retreat.

For a week I remained with my friends at
Cachar, tormented by anxiety concerning
my husband. The general opinion seemed
to be that he and his companions would
be perfectly safe, but I was full of terrible
misgivings. I remembered stories of the
Mutiny in bygone days, and had read how
the prisoners then had often been murdered
just at the moment when rescue was at hand.

I feared that when the troops should go
back, the Jubraj would refuse to make terms
with them, and would threaten to kill the
prisoners if our troops came into the place,
and I wondered what they would do in that
case.

I sent two letters up by Manipuris to my
husband, care of the regent, telling him of
my escape. I was only allowed to write on
condition that I said nothing of the prepara-
tions which were being made to rescue Mr.
Quinton and his party. But it was a relief

278 THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

to me to be able to write a few lines, for my
one idea was to spare my husband the awful
anxiety which he would endure until he should
hear of my safety.

I had been a week in Cachar when the
news came which put an end alike to all
hope and all fear. Troops had been hurry-
ing back to Manipur, and the station was
alive with Sepoys of all regiments. All the
officers and men who had come down with
me from Manipur had gone some way on
the road back there. The wounded had
been placed in the Cachar hospital, where I
went to see them two or three times. Poor
little fellows ! they all seemed so glad to
see me.

At last one evening, exactly a week
after our arrival, a telegram arrived from
Shillong to say that authentic news had
come from the regent at Manipur to the
effect that all the prisoners had been mur-
dered. I saw the telegram arrive. I was
in the deputy commissioner s bungalow when

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR 279

it was handed to him, and made the remark
that I disliked bright yellow telegrams, as
they always meant bad news.

In India a very urgent message is always
enclosed in a brilliant yellow envelope. But
the officer said that he did not think any-
thing of them, as he was receiving so many
of them at all hours of the day, and for the
time I thought no more about it.

Shortly afterwards I noticed that he had
left the table. Then I went out too, and
met my friend outside, who seemed rather
upset about something, and told me she
was going home at once. So we went to-
gether.

But as soon as we had got into the house
she broke to me, as gently and mercifully as
she could, the news that my husband had
been killed. It was a hard task for her, and
the tears stood in her eyes almost before she
had summoned up the courage to tell me the
worst. And when she had told me I could
not understand. The blow was too heavy.

28o

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

and I felt stunned and wholly unable to
realize what it all meant. I could not believe,
either, that the news was true, for it seemed
to me impossible that any authentic intelli-
gence could have been received.

But after a night of misery, made almost
heavier to bear by reason of the glimmer of
hope which still remained that the news
might be false, the morning brought par-
ticulars confirming the first message, and
giving details which put an end to any un-
certainty. The regent had sent a letter
saying that the prisoners had been killed.
I believe he stated they had fallen in the
fight at first, but afterwards contradicted him-
self, and said they had been murdered by his
brother, the Jubraj, without his knowledge
or consent.

I cannot dwell on this part of the story.
It is all too recent and painful as yet, and
too vivid in my recollection. There are no
words that can describe a tragedy such as
this. Besides, the fate of those captives is

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

281

no unknown story. All know that through
treachery they found themselves suddenly
surrounded by their enemies, with all hope of
help gone, and without the means to defend
themselves.

And the ending — how they were led out
one by one in the moonlight to suffer
execution, after having been obliged to
endure the indignity of being fettered !
How, of that small band, one had already
fallen dead, speared by a man in the crowd ;
and one was so badly wounded that he had
fallen, too, by the side of his dead friend, and
had to be supported by his enemies when he
went out, as the others had to go, to meet
his fate.

And yet in all that terrible story there is
one ray of comfort for me in the fact that my
husband was spared the fate of the rest. I
am glad to think that he did not suffer. He
never heard those terrible guns booming out,
proclaiming the work of destruction which
was being wrought on the home he had

282

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

loved. He did not see the cruel flames
which reduced our pretty house to a heap of
smoking ruins, and he did not know that I
was flying for my life, enduring privations of
every kind, lonely, wretched, and weary at
the outset.

He was spared all this, and I am thankful
that it was so. For before the guns com-
menced shelling us again on that dreadful
night, the tragedy described had already
taken place within the palace enclosure.

Well for me was it that I was ignorant of
my husband*s fate. Had I known, when we
left the Residency that night, that he and I
were never to meet again on God's earth, I
could never have faced that march. It had
been hard enough as it was to go and leave
him behind me ; but thinking that he was
safe helped me in the endeavour to preserve
my own life for his sake.

It is time to end this narrative of my own
experiences, for all was changed for me from

the day that brought the terrible news ; but

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PVR

283

the account of the incidents of March, 1891,
would scarcely be complete without my
touching on some other events which were
occurring in a different quarter in connection
with the Manipur rebellion.
. I allude to the noble part taken by Mr.
Grant (whom I have referred to earlier in
this volume) in the affair as soon as tidings
of the disturbance reached him. To describe
his share in my own words would scarcely be
a satisfactory proceeding, so I have thought
it better to add his letter, giving all the
details of what occurred, to my own narra-
tive.

The news first reached him on the morning
of March 27, and in his letters home he
describes the subsequent events as follows :

Major Grant's Narrative.

*On March 27, morning, thirty-five men
of 43rd Ghoorka Light Infantry came into
Tummu, reporting there had been a great
fight at Manipur on 25 th. Chief Commissioner

284 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

Grimwood, the Resident, same who came
to see me with wife, Colonel Skene, and
many others, killed, and five hundred
Ghoorkas killed, prisoners, or fled to
Assam ; the thirty-five men of 43rd Light
Infantry had been left at the station Lang-
thabal, four miles south of Manipur, and after
the others broke they retreated to Tummu in
forty-eight hours, only halting four hours or
so, fighting all the way and losing several
killed. I wired all over Burmah, and asked
for leave to go up and help Mrs. Grimwood
and rest to escape, and got orders at eleven
p.m. on 27th.

* At five a.m., 28th, I started with fifty of
my men, one hundred and sixty rounds each,
thirty Ghoorkas, Martini rifles, sixty rounds,
and three elephants ; marched till five p.m.,
then slept till one a.m., 29th, marched till
two p.m., slept till eleven p.m., marched and
fought all the way till we reached Palel at
seven a.m., 30th, having driven one hundred
and fifty men out of a hill entrenchment and

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

285

two hundred out of Palel, at the foot of the
hills, without loss. Elephants could only
go one mile or so an hour over these hills,
6,000 feet high, between this and Tummu,
but road very good. Prisoners taken at
Palel said that all the Sahibs killed or
escaped ; Mrs. Grimwood escaped to Assam.
Poor Melville, who had stayed a week before
with me at Tummu (telegraph superinten-
dent), killed on march.

' I marched at eleven p.m., 30th, and neared
Thobal at seven a.m., meeting slight re-
sistance till within 300 yards of river, three
feet to six feet deep, and fifty yards broad ;
there seeing a burning bridge, I galloped up
on poor ** Clinker " (the old steeplechasing
Burman tal I had just bought on selling my
Australian mare ** Lady Alice "), and was
greeted by a hot fire from mud-walled com-
pounds on left of bridge and trenches on
the right in open all across the river. I saw
the wooden bridge was burnt through, and
made record-time back to my men, emptying

286

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

my revolver into the enemy behind the
walls.

* My men were in fighting formation. Ten
my men 2nd Burmah Battalion of Punjaub
Infantry (new name), and ten Ghoorkas
in firing line at six paces interval between
each man, and twenty my men in support
lOO yards rear of flanks in single rank, and
twenty my men and twenty Ghoorkas reserve,
baggage guard 300 yards in rear with ele-
phants, and thirty followers of the Ghoorkas
(Khasias, from Shillong Hills). We opened
volleys by sections (ten men) and then ad-
vanced, one section firing a volley while the
other rushed forward thirty paces, threw
themselves down on ground, and fired a
volley, on which the other section did like-
wise. Thus we reached 100 yards from
the enemy, where we lay for about five
minutes, firing at the only thing we could
see, puffs of smoke from the enemy's loop-
holes, and covered with the dust of their
bullets. I had seen one man clean killed

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

287

at my side, and had felt a sharp flick under
arm, and began to think we were in for about
as much as we could manage ; but the men
were behaving splendidly, firing carefully
and well directed. I signalled the supports
to come up wide on each flank ; they came
with a splendid rush and never stopped on
joining the firing line, but went clean on
to the bank of the river, within sixty yards
of the enemy, lying down and firing at their
heads, which could now be seen as they
raised them to fire ; then the former firing line
jumped up and we rushed into the water. I
was first in, but not first out, as I got in up
to my neck and had to be helped out and
got across nearer to the bridge, the men
fixing bayonets in the water.

* The enemy now gave way and ran away
all along, but we bayoneted eight in the
trenches on the right, found six shot through
the head behind the compound wall. At
the second line of walls they tried to rally,
but our men on the right soon changed their

288

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

minds, and on they went and never stopped
till they got behind the hills on the top of
the map ; our advance and their retreat was
just as if you rolled one ruler after another
up the page on which the map is.

' When I got to (A) I halted in sheer
amazement ; the enemy's line was over a
mile long. I estimated them at eight
hundred, the subadar at one thousand two
hundred ; afterwards heard they were eight
hundred men besides officers. They were
dressed mostly in white jackets with white
turbans and dhoties, armed with Tower-
muskets, Enfield and Snider rifles, and about
two hundred in red jackets and white tur-
bans, armed with Martinis, a rifle that will
shoot over twice as far as our Sniders. I
simply dared not pursue beyond (A), as my
baggage was behind, and beyond them I
had seen two or three hundred soldiers half
a mile away on my right rear.

* At eight a.m. I was in the three lines of
compounds, each compound containing a good

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

289

house about thirty by twenty feet (one room),
and three or five sheds and a paddy-house.
We carried over our baggage on our heads,
leaving a strong party at (A), and set to
work to prepare our position for defence.
I had used eighty of our one hundred and
sixty rounds per man ; only one man was
killed. I found I was slightly grazed, no
damage, and three of my six days' rations ;
and I could not hope to reach Manipur,
therefore I must sit tight till reinforced
from Burmah, or joined by any of the
defeated Ghoorka Light Infantry troops
from Cachar.

* We filled the paddy-house with paddy,
about a ton, and collected much goor
(sugar-cane juice) and a little rice and green
dhal and peas from the adjoining houses.
Then I cleared my field of fire: — i.e., by
cutting down the hedges near and burning
the surrounding houses and grass ; my walls
were from two feet to four feet high, and
one to three feet thick, and, I thought,

290 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

enough. Put men on half ata and dhal ;
shot a mallard (wild duck on river), and
spent a quiet night with strong pickets.

* On April i, at six a.m., my patrols
reported enemy advancing in full force from
their new position. I went to (A), where
picket was, and took a single shot with a
Ghoorkas Martini into a group of ten or
twelve at 700 yards. The group bolted
behind the walls at (B), and the little
Ghoorkas screamed with delight at a white
heap left on the road, which got up and fell
down again once or twice, none of the others
venturing out to help the poor wretch.

* Then a group assembled on the hill,
1,000 or 1,100 yards off, and the Ghoorka
Jemadar fired, and one went rolling down
the hill ; I fired again, but no visible effect.
The enemy then retired under cover ; but
at three p.m. they advanced in full force. I
lined wall (A) with fifty men, holding rest
in reserve in the fort.

* The enemy advanced to 600 yards, when

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 291

we opened volleys, and after firing at us
wildly for half an hour, they again retired to
800 yards, and suddenly from the hill a
great *' boom," a scream through the air ;
then, fifty feet over our heads, a large white
cloud of smoke, a loud report, and fragments
of a 9-lb. or lo-lb. elongated common shell
from a rifle cannon fell between us and our
fort ; a second followed from another gun,
and burst on our right ; then another struck
the ground and burst on impact to our front,
firing a patch of grass ; they went on with
shrapnel.

* I confess I was in a horrid funk, for
although I knew that artillery has little or
no effect on extended troops behind a little
cover, I dreaded the moral effect on my
recruits, who must have had an enormously
exaggerated idea of the powers of guns ; but
they behaved splendidly, and soon I had the
exact range of the guns, by the smoke and
report trick, 900 or 970 yards ; and after
half an hour, during which their fire got

292 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

wilder and wilder, both guns disappeared,
and only one turned up on the further hill,
1,500 yards from (A), from which they made
poor practice, as the Ghoorkas' bullets still
reached them, and they only ran the gun
up to fire, and feared to lay it carefully. All
this time the enemy kept up their rifle fire,
from 600 to 800 yards, but I only replied to
it when they tried to advance nearer.

' By this time it grew dark, and when we
could no longer see the enemy we concen-
trated in the fort, as the enemy had been
seen working round to our left. I sent the
men back one by one along the hedges,
telling each man when and where to go ;
none of them doubled.

* It was quite dark when I got back, and
posted them round our walls, which seemed
so strong in the morning, but were like
paper against well-laid field-guns ; I felt
very, very bitter.

* I was proud of the result of my personal
musketry-training of my butchas (children),

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

293

all eight months recruits, except ten or fifteen
old soldiers, who set a splendid example, and
talked of what skunks the Manipuris were,
compared to the men they had fought in
Afghanistan and the North-West Frontier ;
but they all said they had never seen such
odds against them before. Our total day s
loss — a pony killed, and one man slightly
wounded.

* All night the enemy kept up a long-range
fire without result, which was not replied to.
I tied white rags round our foresights for
night-firing. I slept for about two hours in
my east corner, and at three a.m. turned out
to strengthen the walls in four places against
shell- fire, made a covered way to the water,
and dug places for cover for followers.
Luckily much of the compound was fresh
ploughed, so we only had to fill the huge
rice baskets with the clods, and the ration-
sacks, pails, my pillow-case, and a post-bag
I had recovered, everything with earth,
and soon I had five parapets in front and

294 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

flanks, each giving cover for eight or ten
men. The enemy had retired behind the
hill.

* At three p.m. a patrol reported a man
flag-signalling. I went out with white flag,
and met a Ghoorka of 44th, a prisoner in
Manipuris' hands, who brought a letter signed
by six or eight Babu prisoners, clerks, writers,
post and telegraph men, saying there were
fifty Ghoorka prisoners and fifty-eight civil
prisoners, and imploring me to retire. If I
advanced they would kill the prisoners ; if I
retired the durbar would release them, and
send them to Cachar. I said those prisoners
who wished could go to Cachar, and I would
retire to Tammu with those who wished to
come with me.

* I also wrote to the Maharajah, and also
on 2nd, '3rd, 4th, and 5th messages passed
from me to Maharajah and his two brothers,
Jubraj and Senaputti, the heir and the com-
mander-in-chief.

' Maharajah wrote saying he was not

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

295

responsible for the outbreak ; and Sena-
putti told the messengers he had 3,000
men in front of me, and would cut us
all up.

' I wrote refusing to move without the
Ghoorka prisoners at least, and said '* I
didn*t care for 5,000 Manipuri Babus."*

* At last Jubraj said the prisoners had
been sent away to Assam, and sent me
500 pounds ata and 50 pounds each dhal
and ghee to retire with. I sent back the
rations, and refused to move without a
member of the durbar as a hostage, to
remain at Tammu till prisoners arrived at
Cachar and Kohima. They offered me a
subadar. * I said he was no one. I had
signed all my letters as CoL A. Howlett,
Com. 2nd B. Regt., to impress them with
my strength and importance, and put on the
subadar*s badges of rank in addition to my
own.

* The next morning (6th) they attacked

* fiabu — office-clerk ; used here as a term of contempt.

296 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

again at dawn, and as I had only seventy
rounds per man for Sniders and thirty for
Martinis, I closed into the fort. At first,
after forty minutes' shelling, they made
determined efforts to cross the walls 100 to
200 yards in front of my front and left ; but
nearly every man was hit as he mounted the
wall, and then they remained firing from
behind the walls.

'At eight a.m. a good lot had collected
behind the wall 200 yards from my left. I
crept out with ten or twelve Ghoorkas, who
held my rear and right under the hedge, and
drove them with loss by an attack on their
right flank, and we bolted back to fort with-
out loss.

* Then at eleven a.m. there was firing from
behind the hedges to our front with a weapon
that rang out louder than their rifles. I crept
out with a havildar and six Ghoorkas close
in the ditch under the hedge, out to our front
from our right, up to within ten yards of the
nearest of them. They opened a wild fire,

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

297

and bolted as we attacked their left flank ;
but then we found ourselves in a bit of a
hole, for thirty or forty were in a corner
behind a wall, six feet high, over which they
were firing at us. I had my D. B. sixteen-
bore shot-gun, and six buckshot and six ball
cartridges, and as they showed their heads
over the wall they got buckshot in their
faces at twenty yards.

* When my twelve rounds were fired, and
the Ghoorkas also doing considerable damage,
we rushed the wall, and I dropped one
through the head with my revolver, and hit
some more as they bolted.

*When we cleared them out we returned
to the fort along the ditch, having had the
hottest three minutes on record, and only
got the Ghoorka havildar shot through the
hand and some of our clothes shot through ;
we had killed at least ten.

* Next day I visited the corner, and
found blood, thirty Snider and fifteen
Martini cartridges, and one four-inch long

298 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

Express cartridge, '500, which accounted for
the unaccountable sounds I had heard.

* Next day I heard I had killed the
** Bhudda " (old) Senaputti, or the com-
mander-in-chief of the old Maharaj, father
of the present lot of scoundrels, and also two
generals ; but that is not yet confirmed.

* Well, as I said, we bolted back into the
fort, and I had thirty minutes* leisure to go
all round my fort, and found I had only fifty
rounds per man, enough for one hour's hard
fighting, and only twenty-five for Martinis ;
so I ordered all the men to lie down behind
the walls, and one man in six kept half an
hour s watch on their movements. The men
had orders not to fire a shot till the enemy
were half-way across the open adjoining
compounds ; but the enemy declined to cross
the open, and the men did not fire a shot all
day. I picked off a few who showed their
heads from the east corner, where I spent
the rest of the day, the men smoking and
chatting, and at last took no notice of the

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

299

bullets cutting the trees a foot or six inches
over their heads.

* Thus the day passed, the enemy retiring
at dark, and we counted our loss — two men
and one follower wounded, one by shell ; one
pony killed, two wounded ; two elephants
wounded, one severely ; and my breakfast
spoilt by a shell, which did not frighten my
boy, who brought me the head of the shrapnel
which did the mischief — I will send it home
to be made into an inkpot, with inscription —
and half my house knocked down.

* Next day, 7th, quiet, improved post and
pounded dhan to make rice.

* Saturday, 8th, ditto. Large bodies of
Manipuris seen moving to my right rear long
way off.

* At five, 7th, two Burmans came with
letters from Maharajah to Viceroy, and a
letter from ** civil " to poor killed chief com-
missioner. I opened and found that large
army comes up from Burmah ** at once." A
small party three or four days before would

300 THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

have been more use. Maharajah's letter a
tissue of miserable lies and stupid excuses.

* At noon, 8th, white flag appeared, and a
man stuck a letter on road and went back.
Went and found it contained a letter from
Presgrave, with orders from Burmah for me
to retire on first opportunity, and he was not
to reinforce me, but to help me to retire. I
was sick, but the orders were most peremp-
torily worded. So at 7.30 p.m., on a pitch-
dark, rainy night, we started back — a splendid
night for a retreat, but such a ghastly, awful
job!

* We had two wounded elephants with us,
and made just a mile an hour, only seeing
our hands before our faces by the lightning-
flashes. I had to hold on to a Sepoy s coat,
as I could see absolutely nothing ; but they
see better in the dark than we do. We
were drenched to the skin, and were halting,
taking ten paces forward when the lightning
flashed, and then halting the column half an
hour at times ; but the feeble Manipuri, of

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 301

course, would not be out such a night, and
we passed through three or four villages full
of troops without a man showing.

* At two a.m., 9th, a man said sleepily,
** The party has come" — that was all — and
the next moment Presgrave had my hand.
He had heard that I was captured, and all
my men killed or taken at two different
places ; had returned nearly to Tummu, but
the two Burmans with Maharajah's letter
told him where I was, and he marched thirty-
six hours without kit or rations, only halting
for eight hours, and was coming on to
Tummu. He went back to meet some
rations, and then, after passing the night in
a Naga village, returned to Palel and here,
with a hundred and eighty men and eleven
boxes of ammunition — forty of them our
mounted infantry.

* At Palel we found three or four hundred
Manipuri soldiers who did not expect us ;
they saw us half a mile off, and bolted after
firing a few shots. I went on with the

302 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

mounted infantry, and after trotting till
within 300 yards of the retreating army,
we formed line on the open and went in.

* I rode for a palki and umbrella I saw,
and shooting one or two on my way got close
up ; but a hundred or so had made for the
hills on our right and made a short stand,
and suddenly down went poor Clinker on
his head, hurling me off. Jumped up— I
was covered with blood from a bullet-wound
in the poor beast's foreleg, just below the
shoulder. Two men came up. . I twisted
my handkerchief round with a cleaning-rod
above the wound, stopping the blood from
the severed main artery, and, refilling my
revolver, ran on.

* By this time the men had jumped off and
were fighting with the enemy on the hill ;
the palki was down, and I fear the inmate of
it escaped. We killed forty of them without
loss, excepting poor Clinker and another
pony. After pursuing three miles we
stopped, and returned to the infantry, which

were rather out of it, though they doubled
two miles. Found poor Clinker's large bone
broken, and had to shoot him at once.

* We collected the spoil and returned to
camp, where we had a quiet night, and were
joined by the Hon. Major Charles Leslie
and four hundred of his 2nd-4th* Ghoorkas,
and two mountain guns ; Cox of ours.
Total now, eight British officers ; all very
nice and jolly ; but to our disgust we have
to halt here for rest of ours, rest of Ghoorkas,
two more guns, and General Graham.

* Cox brought me telegrams of congratu-
lations from Sir Frederick Roberts, General
Stewart, commanding Burmah, and Chief
Commissioner, saying everything kind and
nice they could. I sent in my despatches
next day, and so the first act of the Manipur
campaign closes.

* My men have behaved splendidly, both
in attack, siege, and retreat, and I have
recommended all for the Order of Merit.

* 2nd-4th — 2nd Battalion 4th Ghoorkas.

304 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

My luck all through has been most .marvel-
lous ; everything turned up all right, and
there was hardly a hitch anywhere. Poor
Clinker! He was 300 yards from eight
hundred rifles for twenty minutes and never
touched, and a shot killed him at full gallop.
Now ** bus '* (enough) about myself in the
longest letter I have ever written/

* Mam pur Forr, April 28.

* We arrived here yesterday, and found
it empty. We gave them such an awful
slating on the 25 th that they resisted no
more either at my place, Thobal, or here.
On the 25th I went out from Palel with
fifty my men, Sikhs, fifty our Mounted Infantry
under Cox, and fifty 2nd-4th Ghoorkas, the
whole under Drury, of 2nd-4th Ghoorkas.
We had orders only to reconnoitre enemy's
position, not to attack, as remainder were to
arrive that morning.

* The road ran along the plain due north
towards Manipur, with open plain on left

I . I

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR 305

and hills right. Saw the enemy on the hills

and in a strong mud fort 1,000 yards from

hills in the open. I worked along the hills

and drove the enemy out of them, as we

found them unexpectedly, and had to fight

in spite of orders. Then Drury sent on to

the general to say we had them in trap, and

would he come out with guns and more men

and slate them. Then he sent the Mounted

Infantry to the left to the north-west of the

enemy, and we worked behind the hills to

the north-east, thus cutting them off from

Manipur. We went behind a hill and

waited.

* At 1 1.30 we saw from the top of our hill

the column from Palel, two mountain guns,

and one hundred 2nd-4th Ghoorkas. The

guns went to a hill 1,000 yards to the east

of the enemy's fort, and we watched the

fun. The first shell went plump into the

fort ; soon they started shrapnel and made

lovely practice, the enemy replying with two

small guns and rifles. Then we got im-

3o6 THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

patient and advanced, and worked round to
their west flank. The guns went on sending
common shell and shrapnel into the fort till
we masked their fire. The Ghoorkas, also
under Carnegy, advanced from south from
Palel. We did not fire a shot till within
ICO yards, fearful of hitting own men. Then
our party charged, but were brought up by
a deep ditch under their walls ; down and
up we scrambled, and when a lot of our men
had collected within ten paces of their walls,
firing at every head that showed, the enemy
put up a white flag, and I at once stopped
the fire: Then they sprang up and fired
at us. I felt a tremendous blow on the neck,
and staggered and fell, luckily on the edge
of the ditch, rather under cover ; but feeling
the wound with my finger, and being able
to speak, and feeling no violent flow of blood,
I discovered I wasn't dead just yet. So I
reloaded my revolver and got up.

* Meanwhile my Sikhs were swarming
over the wall. I ran in, and found the

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

307

enemy bolting at last from the east, and
running away towards Manipur. My men
were in first, well ahead of both parties of
Ghoorkas.

* After I had seen all the Manipuris near
the fort polished off, I sent for a dresser and
lay down in one of the huts in the fort.
Soon had my clothes off, and found the
bullet had gone through the root of my
neck, just above the shoulder, and carried
some of the cloth of my collar and shirt right
through the wound, leaving it quite clean.
I was soon bound up, and men shampooed
me and kept away cramp. It was* only a
very violent shock, and I felt much better
in the evening.

* As soon as the enemy got clear of the
fort the shrapnel from the hills opened fire
on them, and when they got beyond, then
Cox cut in with his mounted infantry, and
only five or six escaped ; but poor Cox got
badly shot by one of them through the
shoulder, but is doing well.

3o8 THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

'Carnegy and Grant, of the 2nd-4th,
found twenty or thirty of the enemy in a
deep hole in the corner of the fort, where
they had . escaped our men, and in settling
them Carnegy got shot through the thigh,
and Drury got his hand broke by the butt
of a gun. Two of my men were wounded,
and two of the 2nd-4th killed, and five
or six wounded, I think because they were
in much closer order than my men, who
were at ten paces interval.

* We gathered seventy-five bodies in the
fort and fifty-six near it, and the shrapnel
and mounted infantry killed over one
hundred. The Manipuris here say we killed
over four hundred. So we paid off part of
our score against their treachery. We spent
the night there.

' They were tremendously astonished and
disgusted when they heard in Palel we had
had such a fight. The fact is we left them
no bolt-hole, and they thought, after their
treacherous murder of the five Englishmen

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

309

at Manipur, that we would give them no
quarter, and so every man fought till he was
killed.

* Next morning we advanced to my fort
at Thobal, and found it deserted*; and the
royal family and army fled from Manipur as
soon as they heard of the action of the 25th.
So yesterday, the 27th, we marched in here,
my Thobal party, by order of the general,
being the first to enter the palace on our
side, the Cachar and the Kohima columns
arriving from the west and north just before
them.

* I, alas ! in my dholi, did not get up till
two hours after, as it poured all the march,
and the mud was awful ; but I slept Ai last
night, and to-day am feeling fit and well.

* General Collett, commanding the army,
came to-day to see me, and said all sorts of
nice things to me, and his A.-G. asked me
when I would be a captain, and said I would
not be one long, meaning I would get a
brevet majority. But all these people are

3fo THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

very excited now, and talk of my getting
brevet rank, and V.C. and D.S.O. ; but
when all is settled, if I get anything at all
I will be content, and it will be about as
much as I deserve. I have asked leave if
I might stick to my men, as they had stuck
so well to me at Thobal. I have had such
luck, the men in this regiment will do
anything for me, and I hate the idea of
changing regiments again, so I may remain
if a vacancy occurs.

* I went out for a ** walk " in my dholi this
evening, and went round the palace — a very
poor place/

[311 ]

CHAPTER XX.

Little remains now to be added to the
record of my three years in Manipur, and
escape from the Mutiny. Mr. Grant is now
a major and a V.C., and never were honours
more bravely won. England has given me un-
stinted praise, and her Majesty has honoured
me of her own accord with the Red Cross,
of which I am proud to be the possessor.

Shortly after my arrival in England in June,
I was invited to Windsor and had an audi-
ence of her Majesty, during which I related
some of my experiences, which, I believe,
interested her. The Red Cross is an honour
doubly valuable as having been presented to
me by her Majesty in person ; but the warm
interest she has since been pleased to take in

312 THREE YEAHS IN MANIPUR

me I look upon as an equally great honour,
and my visit to the Queen at Windsor will
for ever be remembered as a red-letter day
in my existence.

Before I had been many days in England,
the Princess of Wales was also kind enough
to express a wish to see me, and her royal
highness has honoured me greatly by in-
teresting herself in me in many ways ; so that
though I have lost much, I have received
great sympathy ; and I know that there are
few hearts in England who have not felt for
me in my trouble.

But sometimes the thought of the future,
and the fate in store for me, seems very dark
and dreary. Few of us are without ambi-
tions, and I had mine in the days that are
gone ; but when they have all been destroyed
at one blow, it is difficult to raise up new
ones to take the place of the old — difficult to
battle for one*s self in this eager, hurrying
world, when one has grown accustomed to
having someone always ready and willing to

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

3^3

battle for one ; and difficult to accustom my-
self to a lonely, solitary existence, after four
years of close companionship with one whose
sole wish was to make my life happy.

Ah, well! life, after all, does not last for
ever, and maybe some day we shall awake
to find ourselves in a different sphere, where
our lost ambitions may be realized, and where
disappointment and death have no part.

In this book I have endeavoured to avoid
writing anything which may be construed
into an accusation or insinuation against any
of the persons concerned, whether they be
alive or dead. Far be it from me to speak
of blame, or to attempt to place any extra
responsibility on any one person. It is not
in my power to do so, and if it were, I should
hesitate.

We know that those five brave men sacri-
ficed their lives sooner than listen to the
terms of ignominy and disgrace proposed
by their victorious enemies. The touching
answer given when the ungenerous proposal

314 THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

was made to them shows that they never
wavered from their duty. * We cannot lay
down our arms/ they said, * for they belong
to Government' And each one met his
death bravely for the honour of England.
* ^ ^ * ^

I have since heard of the escape of most
of our servants. They were made prisoners
and kept by the Jubraj in gaol for some time,
but released before the arrival of the troops.
Mr. Melville's sad fate filled all with horror,
and seemed doubly hard as he had never
had anything to do with Manipur before this
year, 1891, but merely happened to be in the
place at the time.

A new Rajah has been appointed now on
an entirely different footing. He is only a
little fellow of five years old, a descendant of
some former monarch, and it will be many
years yet before he can govern the country
and the people, and restore the old feelings
of peace which existed between our Govern-
ment and Manipur.

THREE YEARS IN MAN I PUR

315

Those by whose orders Mr. Quinton and
his companions were murdered have paid
the penalty by forfeiting, some their lives,
and others their liberty, and order is once
more restored.

But in more than one home in England
there is sorrow for those who are not. Their
vacant places can never be filled up, even
though in time, when the grass has grown
green above them, we shall learn to think of
them not as dead, but as living elsewhere
purer, truer, freer lives, unhampered by the
sorrows and cares of this world.

Time may, perhaps, do that for us, but
meanwhile hearts will ache, and longings will
arise for * the touch of a vanished hand, and
the sound of a voice that is still,' and the
hard lesson will have to be learned that
nothing is our own — no, not even those who
seem part of our very lives, around whom all
our tenderest interests and highest hopes
cling.

Well for us if, in learning the lesson, we

3i6

THREE YEARS IN MANIPUR

keep our faith and trust in the Being for
whose pleasure we were created, and whose
right it is to demand from us what we value
most. And if, when our time comes, and we
look back across the vista of years at all the
disappointments and all the sorrows, which,
after all, outweigh the happiness in our lives,
and can say, * It was all for the best,' then the
lesson will not have been learnt in vain, and
it will indeed be well with us.

THE END.

JAN? 4 ^^''>?

BILLING AND SON$, PRINTBRS, GUILDFORD.

/. £>. *• Co.

POSTSCRIPT.

The two letters written by Major Grants and quoted on pp. 283
and 304, appeared originally in the columns of the ' Times * news-
paper.

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