CHAPTER II.Travels and Residence in North-Western Assam.—Description of Burpetah in the Rains.—Vampire, or Fox Bats.—Leaf Insect.—Seclusion of Villages in the Jungles.—Country abounds with Wild Animals.—Number of Deaths, and Damage done to Crops.—Native mode of killing a Tiger.—Conflagrations of Jungles.—Danger therefrom to Travellers.—Cultivation of high and low lands.—Number of Crops.—Primitive Mode of Husbandry.—Irrigation by Cacharies.—Country Inundated.—Population and Condition of the People.—Law on Slavery.For the more speedy and effective administration of justice among the people residing in the north-west quarter of the district of Kamroop, and for the promotion of trade, the Governor-General’s Agent directed the establishment of an out-post for an assistant at Burpetah, on the Chawl Khawa river, and I was selected to proceed for eight months upon this duty.The population of Burpetah is estimated at about three thousand souls; their huts are built without any regularity on high artificial mounds of earth, in the centre of gardens of betel nut and plantaintrees, clumps of bamboos, cane and grass jungle, mango and other large trees, under the shade of which, impervious to the sun, roads or channels intersect the town in every direction. In the rainy season, these channels, owing to the inundation of the country, are filled with water many feet in depth. Every house, consequently, is provided with one or more canoes, in which the inhabitants visit each other’s isolated positions; and the cattle are brought upon the little eminences at night, and housed oftentimes under the same roof with the family, if not in the same room. Daily may the cattle be seen swimming across these street-streams in search of a dry spot of land on which to graze. In this manner, for four months of each year—June, July, August, and September—are the people surrounded by floods; but, as if endowed with amphibious natures, they seem equally happy in or out of the water, and pass their time on board their boats in trading with other villages throughout Assam. When at home, they amuse themselves during the rainy season in collecting the wood which floats down the rivers, from the destruction of their banks alluded to in the foregoing chapter; and in the sport of catching wild buffaloes, deer, and pigs, which are now seen in great numbers swimming across therivers from the low inundated grounds to reach more elevated spots on which to subsist: the animals in their passage, being overtaken by canoes, are captured with the aid of ropes and spears, with little difficulty.1. VAMPIRE OR FOX BAT. 2. TIGER BEETLE OF ASSAM. 3. HERCULES BEETLE OF Do.1. VAMPIRE OR FOX BAT.2. TIGER BEETLE OF ASSAM.3. HERCULES BEETLE OF Do.W. Wing delt.London, Smith Elder & Co. 65, CornhillAt Burpetah there is a very long building supported by wooden posts carved with emblems of Hindoo Deities, with a grass roof and mat walls. It is called a shuster, alias temple; and is a religious endowment, where the vedas or holy books of the Hindoos are chanted, and offerings in kind and cash received. A grant of rent-free land, given by the Assam king Sebsunker, in 1657A.S.or 1735A.D.is attached to the temple, and a number of disciples, with two chief priests or pontiffs, manage the affairs of the establishment.On the trees at Burpetah, great numbers of the Vampire or Fox-bats are to be seen hanging by their claws with their heads downwards. They are offensive looking objects, having a body eleven inches long, and each wing twenty-two inches in length. I have never heard a native assert that they suck the blood of cattle when sleeping, and if it were the case, such a circumstance would certainly be quickly verified; it may therefore justly be inferred, that this is a popular error. It is said that the food of the fox-bat consists entirely ofjungle fruits; their flesh is esteemed a delicacy by many natives, and I have frequently shot them to gratify the appetites of my own servants. There is a strange superstition amongst the natives, that the bones of the fox-bat, worn as an amulet or charm, will cure any limb or part of the body affected with pain.One of the most curious members of the animal (query, vegetable?) world in Assam is the Leaf insect—so called from its very close resemblance in form, colour, and general structure (even to the fibre), to the leaf of the tree which it inhabits. In fact, until the insect moves, it is difficult to distinguish it from the leaf itself. The annexed drawing will convey an idea of this singular freak of nature; many attempts at transmitting a perfect specimen to Europe have been frustrated by the perishable character of the insect. Spirits are entirely inefficacious as preservatives, and camphor destroys the colour of the animal.1 & 2. LEAF INSECT OF ASSAM (MALE & FEMALE). 3. SAIKNAH CATERPILLAR (BUTTERFLY).1 & 2. LEAF INSECT OF ASSAM (MALE & FEMALE).3. SAIKNAH CATERPILLAR (BUTTERFLY).London, Smith Elder & Co. 65, CornhillIn perambulating the district, I was particularly struck with the immense extent of high grass jungle between the Burrampooter river and the foot of the Bootan mountains. I frequently traversed a distance of eight and ten miles through a dense grass jungle twenty feet high, without meeting with a solitary hut or any cultivation; but suddenly, a villageand an open cultivated space of a few hundred acres would burst upon the view and vary the monotony of the scene. This would be followed by a dreary waste extending to the next village, often five or six miles distant; while a solitary foot-path, forming the only communication between the small communities thus isolated, clearly showed that for many months in the year little intercourse, except by water, is kept up between them.The country is infested with wild animals, and the footpaths are dangerous at all times. Some slight idea may be formed of the danger to human life from the denizens of the jungle, when I state that in the western quarter of the district of Kamroop alone, in the short period of six months, the police reports included twenty men killed by wild elephants and buffaloes. The damage done to the rice crops yearly by wild elephants and buffaloes is very considerable; and although Government bestows a reward of two rupees eight annas, or five shillings, for every buffalo destroyed, and five rupees or ten shillings for every tiger’s head, such is the apathy and indifference of the natives to their own interests and preservation, that they seldom exert themselves to earn the gratuity, until repeated aggressions become unbearable. When wild elephants pull downtheir huts, or a tiger, from previous success, becomes emboldened to enter their little dwellings and carry off their cattle, then the village community will turn out in a body; surrounding with nets the tiger’s lair,—a small patch of jungle in the vicinity of the village,—and shouting and yelling, they drive the intruder into the nets, where he falls an easy victim to the spears and bludgeons of the enraged and injured populace.In January, February, March, and April, the whole country adjoining Burpetah presents a spectacle seldom seen elsewhere: the natives set fire to the jungle to clear the land for cultivation, and to open the thoroughfares between the different villages, and the awful roar and rapidity with which the flames spread cannot be conceived. A space of many miles of grass jungle, twenty feet high, is cleared in a few hours; and the black ashes scattered over the face of the earth after such recent verdure, form one of the most gloomy and desolate landscapes that can well be imagined. But so rapid is vegetation in Assam, that a few days suffice to alter the scene: the jungle speedily shoots up with greater strength than ever, and at the approach of the heavy rains in June, it again attains a height of many feet. On more occasions than one, though mountedon an elephant, I have had the greatest difficulty to out-flank a fierce roaring fire, rapidly moving with the wind, in a long line over the country. The elephant, of all animals, is the most fearful of fire; and on hearing the approach of the element he instantly takes to flight; but the rapidity with which the flames spread renders escape most hazardous, especially if the wind is high andright aft. The best plan to adopt if a fire breaks out to windward, is to circle round the nearest flank with all expedition, gaining the space burnt by the advancing flames. On foot, escape would be almost impossible; the jungle being impenetrable except by a narrow footpath, and this being frequently overgrown with grass, if no open spot be near at hand, inevitable destruction must be the fate of any unfortunate traveller to leeward of a fire.In Assam, excepting the fields close to the villages, the best land is never manured. One crop of planted winterd’hanor rice is cut in November or December, every year, from generation to generation. This land is never allowed to lie fallow; abundant rain being all that is requisite to ensure plentiful crops: the richness of the soil seems inexhaustible.The low lands liable to inundation are never manured; the jungle is burnt down, and for threesuccessive years two crops are annually realized from it. In February, mustard seed is gathered in: a source of great profit to the cultivator; and in June the spring rice, sown broad-cast, is reaped. After the land has been thus impoverished, it is allowed to remain fallow for three years; and fresh jungle land is burnt and prepared in the same primitive way, and with the most simple implements of husbandry. In other parts of Assam extensive tracts of land are beautifully cultivated, and pretty villages are numerously studded over the country; but, although lakes and streams are everywhere to be met with, no attempt is made by the Assamese tribes, excepting the Cacharries, to irrigate the land, and thus render the crops more certain and productive.The Cacharries who reside at the foot of the hills are the most useful and industrious, as well as the most athletic men in Assam, and allowed to be the best cultivators. They irrigate their lands to a great extent from hill streams, and consequently raise far better crops than their neighbours. During the months of June, July, August, and September, a great portion of Assam is inundated, and boats leaving the innumerable streams and large rivers, paddle over the country in every direction; indeed, in many places, particularly at Burpetah, boats formthe only means by which any communication can be kept up. To facilitate intercourse during the dry season, roads have been constructed, and bullock-carts introduced, similar to the hackerys in use in the Western Provinces of India, for the conveyance of the produce of the lands to the best markets; but the Assamese are so wedded to their old customs, and attached to the use of slaves and bondsmen in every capacity—as servants, porters, and cultivators, that it has been found no easy matter to induce them to adopt a new system, however obvious its advantages.A new era, however, is approaching: a law has been promulgated, abolishing slavery in India, and as the people become more enlightened by education and intercourse with Europeans, they will relax their adherence to old and absurd usages and prejudices. In the district of Kamroop above twenty thousand slaves and bondsmen may obtain manumission by simply asking for it; and as there is no doubt they will do so, we may anticipate, from the acquisition of freedom, a total alteration of the habits and feelings of the Assamese. Large wastes of land will be brought under cultivation, and thousands of families made independent and comfortable. Assam has now been subjected to British rule for aperiod of nearly twenty years, and the people have enjoyed the fruits of their labours in peace and security: a condition of things to which they were strangers under their own chieftains.The population of Assam is assumed to be about 800,000 souls; but as no correct census has been taken, the accuracy of the estimate cannot be determined. It may be presumed, however, that the population does not increase to any great extent, for a state of slavery and bondage has never been favourable to the due multiplication of the human species.The proprietors of slaves and bondsmen consist of the most respectable men in Assam, and of course are strenuous supporters of the continuation of the lucrative and nefarious traffic in their fellow-creatures. To deprive them of their proprietary right to their slaves it has been urged would be unjust, and offensive to their usages; and, following the example of the West India proprietors, they contend that the slaves being their lawful property as much as houses, grain, or cattle, compensation should be made by Government for the release of every man from bondage. The Indian Government, however, has adopted a different course. It has published a regulation that forbids the officers of all courts fromallowing forcible possession of the person or services of a slave, or his property. In future, therefore, slave-holders will not be able to compel their slaves to obey their orders, and as this law becomes gradually enforced, slavery will be practically abolished; a new order of men will arise, stimulated to more vigorous exertions by the conviction that they will reap the benefit of their labours, and extended cultivation and a freer exchange of commodities will infallibly ensue.Assamese Plough and Implement for Levelling Ploughed Land.Assamese Plough and Implement for Levelling Ploughed Land.
CHAPTER II.Travels and Residence in North-Western Assam.—Description of Burpetah in the Rains.—Vampire, or Fox Bats.—Leaf Insect.—Seclusion of Villages in the Jungles.—Country abounds with Wild Animals.—Number of Deaths, and Damage done to Crops.—Native mode of killing a Tiger.—Conflagrations of Jungles.—Danger therefrom to Travellers.—Cultivation of high and low lands.—Number of Crops.—Primitive Mode of Husbandry.—Irrigation by Cacharies.—Country Inundated.—Population and Condition of the People.—Law on Slavery.For the more speedy and effective administration of justice among the people residing in the north-west quarter of the district of Kamroop, and for the promotion of trade, the Governor-General’s Agent directed the establishment of an out-post for an assistant at Burpetah, on the Chawl Khawa river, and I was selected to proceed for eight months upon this duty.The population of Burpetah is estimated at about three thousand souls; their huts are built without any regularity on high artificial mounds of earth, in the centre of gardens of betel nut and plantaintrees, clumps of bamboos, cane and grass jungle, mango and other large trees, under the shade of which, impervious to the sun, roads or channels intersect the town in every direction. In the rainy season, these channels, owing to the inundation of the country, are filled with water many feet in depth. Every house, consequently, is provided with one or more canoes, in which the inhabitants visit each other’s isolated positions; and the cattle are brought upon the little eminences at night, and housed oftentimes under the same roof with the family, if not in the same room. Daily may the cattle be seen swimming across these street-streams in search of a dry spot of land on which to graze. In this manner, for four months of each year—June, July, August, and September—are the people surrounded by floods; but, as if endowed with amphibious natures, they seem equally happy in or out of the water, and pass their time on board their boats in trading with other villages throughout Assam. When at home, they amuse themselves during the rainy season in collecting the wood which floats down the rivers, from the destruction of their banks alluded to in the foregoing chapter; and in the sport of catching wild buffaloes, deer, and pigs, which are now seen in great numbers swimming across therivers from the low inundated grounds to reach more elevated spots on which to subsist: the animals in their passage, being overtaken by canoes, are captured with the aid of ropes and spears, with little difficulty.1. VAMPIRE OR FOX BAT. 2. TIGER BEETLE OF ASSAM. 3. HERCULES BEETLE OF Do.1. VAMPIRE OR FOX BAT.2. TIGER BEETLE OF ASSAM.3. HERCULES BEETLE OF Do.W. Wing delt.London, Smith Elder & Co. 65, CornhillAt Burpetah there is a very long building supported by wooden posts carved with emblems of Hindoo Deities, with a grass roof and mat walls. It is called a shuster, alias temple; and is a religious endowment, where the vedas or holy books of the Hindoos are chanted, and offerings in kind and cash received. A grant of rent-free land, given by the Assam king Sebsunker, in 1657A.S.or 1735A.D.is attached to the temple, and a number of disciples, with two chief priests or pontiffs, manage the affairs of the establishment.On the trees at Burpetah, great numbers of the Vampire or Fox-bats are to be seen hanging by their claws with their heads downwards. They are offensive looking objects, having a body eleven inches long, and each wing twenty-two inches in length. I have never heard a native assert that they suck the blood of cattle when sleeping, and if it were the case, such a circumstance would certainly be quickly verified; it may therefore justly be inferred, that this is a popular error. It is said that the food of the fox-bat consists entirely ofjungle fruits; their flesh is esteemed a delicacy by many natives, and I have frequently shot them to gratify the appetites of my own servants. There is a strange superstition amongst the natives, that the bones of the fox-bat, worn as an amulet or charm, will cure any limb or part of the body affected with pain.One of the most curious members of the animal (query, vegetable?) world in Assam is the Leaf insect—so called from its very close resemblance in form, colour, and general structure (even to the fibre), to the leaf of the tree which it inhabits. In fact, until the insect moves, it is difficult to distinguish it from the leaf itself. The annexed drawing will convey an idea of this singular freak of nature; many attempts at transmitting a perfect specimen to Europe have been frustrated by the perishable character of the insect. Spirits are entirely inefficacious as preservatives, and camphor destroys the colour of the animal.1 & 2. LEAF INSECT OF ASSAM (MALE & FEMALE). 3. SAIKNAH CATERPILLAR (BUTTERFLY).1 & 2. LEAF INSECT OF ASSAM (MALE & FEMALE).3. SAIKNAH CATERPILLAR (BUTTERFLY).London, Smith Elder & Co. 65, CornhillIn perambulating the district, I was particularly struck with the immense extent of high grass jungle between the Burrampooter river and the foot of the Bootan mountains. I frequently traversed a distance of eight and ten miles through a dense grass jungle twenty feet high, without meeting with a solitary hut or any cultivation; but suddenly, a villageand an open cultivated space of a few hundred acres would burst upon the view and vary the monotony of the scene. This would be followed by a dreary waste extending to the next village, often five or six miles distant; while a solitary foot-path, forming the only communication between the small communities thus isolated, clearly showed that for many months in the year little intercourse, except by water, is kept up between them.The country is infested with wild animals, and the footpaths are dangerous at all times. Some slight idea may be formed of the danger to human life from the denizens of the jungle, when I state that in the western quarter of the district of Kamroop alone, in the short period of six months, the police reports included twenty men killed by wild elephants and buffaloes. The damage done to the rice crops yearly by wild elephants and buffaloes is very considerable; and although Government bestows a reward of two rupees eight annas, or five shillings, for every buffalo destroyed, and five rupees or ten shillings for every tiger’s head, such is the apathy and indifference of the natives to their own interests and preservation, that they seldom exert themselves to earn the gratuity, until repeated aggressions become unbearable. When wild elephants pull downtheir huts, or a tiger, from previous success, becomes emboldened to enter their little dwellings and carry off their cattle, then the village community will turn out in a body; surrounding with nets the tiger’s lair,—a small patch of jungle in the vicinity of the village,—and shouting and yelling, they drive the intruder into the nets, where he falls an easy victim to the spears and bludgeons of the enraged and injured populace.In January, February, March, and April, the whole country adjoining Burpetah presents a spectacle seldom seen elsewhere: the natives set fire to the jungle to clear the land for cultivation, and to open the thoroughfares between the different villages, and the awful roar and rapidity with which the flames spread cannot be conceived. A space of many miles of grass jungle, twenty feet high, is cleared in a few hours; and the black ashes scattered over the face of the earth after such recent verdure, form one of the most gloomy and desolate landscapes that can well be imagined. But so rapid is vegetation in Assam, that a few days suffice to alter the scene: the jungle speedily shoots up with greater strength than ever, and at the approach of the heavy rains in June, it again attains a height of many feet. On more occasions than one, though mountedon an elephant, I have had the greatest difficulty to out-flank a fierce roaring fire, rapidly moving with the wind, in a long line over the country. The elephant, of all animals, is the most fearful of fire; and on hearing the approach of the element he instantly takes to flight; but the rapidity with which the flames spread renders escape most hazardous, especially if the wind is high andright aft. The best plan to adopt if a fire breaks out to windward, is to circle round the nearest flank with all expedition, gaining the space burnt by the advancing flames. On foot, escape would be almost impossible; the jungle being impenetrable except by a narrow footpath, and this being frequently overgrown with grass, if no open spot be near at hand, inevitable destruction must be the fate of any unfortunate traveller to leeward of a fire.In Assam, excepting the fields close to the villages, the best land is never manured. One crop of planted winterd’hanor rice is cut in November or December, every year, from generation to generation. This land is never allowed to lie fallow; abundant rain being all that is requisite to ensure plentiful crops: the richness of the soil seems inexhaustible.The low lands liable to inundation are never manured; the jungle is burnt down, and for threesuccessive years two crops are annually realized from it. In February, mustard seed is gathered in: a source of great profit to the cultivator; and in June the spring rice, sown broad-cast, is reaped. After the land has been thus impoverished, it is allowed to remain fallow for three years; and fresh jungle land is burnt and prepared in the same primitive way, and with the most simple implements of husbandry. In other parts of Assam extensive tracts of land are beautifully cultivated, and pretty villages are numerously studded over the country; but, although lakes and streams are everywhere to be met with, no attempt is made by the Assamese tribes, excepting the Cacharries, to irrigate the land, and thus render the crops more certain and productive.The Cacharries who reside at the foot of the hills are the most useful and industrious, as well as the most athletic men in Assam, and allowed to be the best cultivators. They irrigate their lands to a great extent from hill streams, and consequently raise far better crops than their neighbours. During the months of June, July, August, and September, a great portion of Assam is inundated, and boats leaving the innumerable streams and large rivers, paddle over the country in every direction; indeed, in many places, particularly at Burpetah, boats formthe only means by which any communication can be kept up. To facilitate intercourse during the dry season, roads have been constructed, and bullock-carts introduced, similar to the hackerys in use in the Western Provinces of India, for the conveyance of the produce of the lands to the best markets; but the Assamese are so wedded to their old customs, and attached to the use of slaves and bondsmen in every capacity—as servants, porters, and cultivators, that it has been found no easy matter to induce them to adopt a new system, however obvious its advantages.A new era, however, is approaching: a law has been promulgated, abolishing slavery in India, and as the people become more enlightened by education and intercourse with Europeans, they will relax their adherence to old and absurd usages and prejudices. In the district of Kamroop above twenty thousand slaves and bondsmen may obtain manumission by simply asking for it; and as there is no doubt they will do so, we may anticipate, from the acquisition of freedom, a total alteration of the habits and feelings of the Assamese. Large wastes of land will be brought under cultivation, and thousands of families made independent and comfortable. Assam has now been subjected to British rule for aperiod of nearly twenty years, and the people have enjoyed the fruits of their labours in peace and security: a condition of things to which they were strangers under their own chieftains.The population of Assam is assumed to be about 800,000 souls; but as no correct census has been taken, the accuracy of the estimate cannot be determined. It may be presumed, however, that the population does not increase to any great extent, for a state of slavery and bondage has never been favourable to the due multiplication of the human species.The proprietors of slaves and bondsmen consist of the most respectable men in Assam, and of course are strenuous supporters of the continuation of the lucrative and nefarious traffic in their fellow-creatures. To deprive them of their proprietary right to their slaves it has been urged would be unjust, and offensive to their usages; and, following the example of the West India proprietors, they contend that the slaves being their lawful property as much as houses, grain, or cattle, compensation should be made by Government for the release of every man from bondage. The Indian Government, however, has adopted a different course. It has published a regulation that forbids the officers of all courts fromallowing forcible possession of the person or services of a slave, or his property. In future, therefore, slave-holders will not be able to compel their slaves to obey their orders, and as this law becomes gradually enforced, slavery will be practically abolished; a new order of men will arise, stimulated to more vigorous exertions by the conviction that they will reap the benefit of their labours, and extended cultivation and a freer exchange of commodities will infallibly ensue.Assamese Plough and Implement for Levelling Ploughed Land.Assamese Plough and Implement for Levelling Ploughed Land.
CHAPTER II.Travels and Residence in North-Western Assam.—Description of Burpetah in the Rains.—Vampire, or Fox Bats.—Leaf Insect.—Seclusion of Villages in the Jungles.—Country abounds with Wild Animals.—Number of Deaths, and Damage done to Crops.—Native mode of killing a Tiger.—Conflagrations of Jungles.—Danger therefrom to Travellers.—Cultivation of high and low lands.—Number of Crops.—Primitive Mode of Husbandry.—Irrigation by Cacharies.—Country Inundated.—Population and Condition of the People.—Law on Slavery.
Travels and Residence in North-Western Assam.—Description of Burpetah in the Rains.—Vampire, or Fox Bats.—Leaf Insect.—Seclusion of Villages in the Jungles.—Country abounds with Wild Animals.—Number of Deaths, and Damage done to Crops.—Native mode of killing a Tiger.—Conflagrations of Jungles.—Danger therefrom to Travellers.—Cultivation of high and low lands.—Number of Crops.—Primitive Mode of Husbandry.—Irrigation by Cacharies.—Country Inundated.—Population and Condition of the People.—Law on Slavery.
Travels and Residence in North-Western Assam.—Description of Burpetah in the Rains.—Vampire, or Fox Bats.—Leaf Insect.—Seclusion of Villages in the Jungles.—Country abounds with Wild Animals.—Number of Deaths, and Damage done to Crops.—Native mode of killing a Tiger.—Conflagrations of Jungles.—Danger therefrom to Travellers.—Cultivation of high and low lands.—Number of Crops.—Primitive Mode of Husbandry.—Irrigation by Cacharies.—Country Inundated.—Population and Condition of the People.—Law on Slavery.
For the more speedy and effective administration of justice among the people residing in the north-west quarter of the district of Kamroop, and for the promotion of trade, the Governor-General’s Agent directed the establishment of an out-post for an assistant at Burpetah, on the Chawl Khawa river, and I was selected to proceed for eight months upon this duty.The population of Burpetah is estimated at about three thousand souls; their huts are built without any regularity on high artificial mounds of earth, in the centre of gardens of betel nut and plantaintrees, clumps of bamboos, cane and grass jungle, mango and other large trees, under the shade of which, impervious to the sun, roads or channels intersect the town in every direction. In the rainy season, these channels, owing to the inundation of the country, are filled with water many feet in depth. Every house, consequently, is provided with one or more canoes, in which the inhabitants visit each other’s isolated positions; and the cattle are brought upon the little eminences at night, and housed oftentimes under the same roof with the family, if not in the same room. Daily may the cattle be seen swimming across these street-streams in search of a dry spot of land on which to graze. In this manner, for four months of each year—June, July, August, and September—are the people surrounded by floods; but, as if endowed with amphibious natures, they seem equally happy in or out of the water, and pass their time on board their boats in trading with other villages throughout Assam. When at home, they amuse themselves during the rainy season in collecting the wood which floats down the rivers, from the destruction of their banks alluded to in the foregoing chapter; and in the sport of catching wild buffaloes, deer, and pigs, which are now seen in great numbers swimming across therivers from the low inundated grounds to reach more elevated spots on which to subsist: the animals in their passage, being overtaken by canoes, are captured with the aid of ropes and spears, with little difficulty.1. VAMPIRE OR FOX BAT. 2. TIGER BEETLE OF ASSAM. 3. HERCULES BEETLE OF Do.1. VAMPIRE OR FOX BAT.2. TIGER BEETLE OF ASSAM.3. HERCULES BEETLE OF Do.W. Wing delt.London, Smith Elder & Co. 65, CornhillAt Burpetah there is a very long building supported by wooden posts carved with emblems of Hindoo Deities, with a grass roof and mat walls. It is called a shuster, alias temple; and is a religious endowment, where the vedas or holy books of the Hindoos are chanted, and offerings in kind and cash received. A grant of rent-free land, given by the Assam king Sebsunker, in 1657A.S.or 1735A.D.is attached to the temple, and a number of disciples, with two chief priests or pontiffs, manage the affairs of the establishment.On the trees at Burpetah, great numbers of the Vampire or Fox-bats are to be seen hanging by their claws with their heads downwards. They are offensive looking objects, having a body eleven inches long, and each wing twenty-two inches in length. I have never heard a native assert that they suck the blood of cattle when sleeping, and if it were the case, such a circumstance would certainly be quickly verified; it may therefore justly be inferred, that this is a popular error. It is said that the food of the fox-bat consists entirely ofjungle fruits; their flesh is esteemed a delicacy by many natives, and I have frequently shot them to gratify the appetites of my own servants. There is a strange superstition amongst the natives, that the bones of the fox-bat, worn as an amulet or charm, will cure any limb or part of the body affected with pain.One of the most curious members of the animal (query, vegetable?) world in Assam is the Leaf insect—so called from its very close resemblance in form, colour, and general structure (even to the fibre), to the leaf of the tree which it inhabits. In fact, until the insect moves, it is difficult to distinguish it from the leaf itself. The annexed drawing will convey an idea of this singular freak of nature; many attempts at transmitting a perfect specimen to Europe have been frustrated by the perishable character of the insect. Spirits are entirely inefficacious as preservatives, and camphor destroys the colour of the animal.1 & 2. LEAF INSECT OF ASSAM (MALE & FEMALE). 3. SAIKNAH CATERPILLAR (BUTTERFLY).1 & 2. LEAF INSECT OF ASSAM (MALE & FEMALE).3. SAIKNAH CATERPILLAR (BUTTERFLY).London, Smith Elder & Co. 65, CornhillIn perambulating the district, I was particularly struck with the immense extent of high grass jungle between the Burrampooter river and the foot of the Bootan mountains. I frequently traversed a distance of eight and ten miles through a dense grass jungle twenty feet high, without meeting with a solitary hut or any cultivation; but suddenly, a villageand an open cultivated space of a few hundred acres would burst upon the view and vary the monotony of the scene. This would be followed by a dreary waste extending to the next village, often five or six miles distant; while a solitary foot-path, forming the only communication between the small communities thus isolated, clearly showed that for many months in the year little intercourse, except by water, is kept up between them.The country is infested with wild animals, and the footpaths are dangerous at all times. Some slight idea may be formed of the danger to human life from the denizens of the jungle, when I state that in the western quarter of the district of Kamroop alone, in the short period of six months, the police reports included twenty men killed by wild elephants and buffaloes. The damage done to the rice crops yearly by wild elephants and buffaloes is very considerable; and although Government bestows a reward of two rupees eight annas, or five shillings, for every buffalo destroyed, and five rupees or ten shillings for every tiger’s head, such is the apathy and indifference of the natives to their own interests and preservation, that they seldom exert themselves to earn the gratuity, until repeated aggressions become unbearable. When wild elephants pull downtheir huts, or a tiger, from previous success, becomes emboldened to enter their little dwellings and carry off their cattle, then the village community will turn out in a body; surrounding with nets the tiger’s lair,—a small patch of jungle in the vicinity of the village,—and shouting and yelling, they drive the intruder into the nets, where he falls an easy victim to the spears and bludgeons of the enraged and injured populace.In January, February, March, and April, the whole country adjoining Burpetah presents a spectacle seldom seen elsewhere: the natives set fire to the jungle to clear the land for cultivation, and to open the thoroughfares between the different villages, and the awful roar and rapidity with which the flames spread cannot be conceived. A space of many miles of grass jungle, twenty feet high, is cleared in a few hours; and the black ashes scattered over the face of the earth after such recent verdure, form one of the most gloomy and desolate landscapes that can well be imagined. But so rapid is vegetation in Assam, that a few days suffice to alter the scene: the jungle speedily shoots up with greater strength than ever, and at the approach of the heavy rains in June, it again attains a height of many feet. On more occasions than one, though mountedon an elephant, I have had the greatest difficulty to out-flank a fierce roaring fire, rapidly moving with the wind, in a long line over the country. The elephant, of all animals, is the most fearful of fire; and on hearing the approach of the element he instantly takes to flight; but the rapidity with which the flames spread renders escape most hazardous, especially if the wind is high andright aft. The best plan to adopt if a fire breaks out to windward, is to circle round the nearest flank with all expedition, gaining the space burnt by the advancing flames. On foot, escape would be almost impossible; the jungle being impenetrable except by a narrow footpath, and this being frequently overgrown with grass, if no open spot be near at hand, inevitable destruction must be the fate of any unfortunate traveller to leeward of a fire.In Assam, excepting the fields close to the villages, the best land is never manured. One crop of planted winterd’hanor rice is cut in November or December, every year, from generation to generation. This land is never allowed to lie fallow; abundant rain being all that is requisite to ensure plentiful crops: the richness of the soil seems inexhaustible.The low lands liable to inundation are never manured; the jungle is burnt down, and for threesuccessive years two crops are annually realized from it. In February, mustard seed is gathered in: a source of great profit to the cultivator; and in June the spring rice, sown broad-cast, is reaped. After the land has been thus impoverished, it is allowed to remain fallow for three years; and fresh jungle land is burnt and prepared in the same primitive way, and with the most simple implements of husbandry. In other parts of Assam extensive tracts of land are beautifully cultivated, and pretty villages are numerously studded over the country; but, although lakes and streams are everywhere to be met with, no attempt is made by the Assamese tribes, excepting the Cacharries, to irrigate the land, and thus render the crops more certain and productive.The Cacharries who reside at the foot of the hills are the most useful and industrious, as well as the most athletic men in Assam, and allowed to be the best cultivators. They irrigate their lands to a great extent from hill streams, and consequently raise far better crops than their neighbours. During the months of June, July, August, and September, a great portion of Assam is inundated, and boats leaving the innumerable streams and large rivers, paddle over the country in every direction; indeed, in many places, particularly at Burpetah, boats formthe only means by which any communication can be kept up. To facilitate intercourse during the dry season, roads have been constructed, and bullock-carts introduced, similar to the hackerys in use in the Western Provinces of India, for the conveyance of the produce of the lands to the best markets; but the Assamese are so wedded to their old customs, and attached to the use of slaves and bondsmen in every capacity—as servants, porters, and cultivators, that it has been found no easy matter to induce them to adopt a new system, however obvious its advantages.A new era, however, is approaching: a law has been promulgated, abolishing slavery in India, and as the people become more enlightened by education and intercourse with Europeans, they will relax their adherence to old and absurd usages and prejudices. In the district of Kamroop above twenty thousand slaves and bondsmen may obtain manumission by simply asking for it; and as there is no doubt they will do so, we may anticipate, from the acquisition of freedom, a total alteration of the habits and feelings of the Assamese. Large wastes of land will be brought under cultivation, and thousands of families made independent and comfortable. Assam has now been subjected to British rule for aperiod of nearly twenty years, and the people have enjoyed the fruits of their labours in peace and security: a condition of things to which they were strangers under their own chieftains.The population of Assam is assumed to be about 800,000 souls; but as no correct census has been taken, the accuracy of the estimate cannot be determined. It may be presumed, however, that the population does not increase to any great extent, for a state of slavery and bondage has never been favourable to the due multiplication of the human species.The proprietors of slaves and bondsmen consist of the most respectable men in Assam, and of course are strenuous supporters of the continuation of the lucrative and nefarious traffic in their fellow-creatures. To deprive them of their proprietary right to their slaves it has been urged would be unjust, and offensive to their usages; and, following the example of the West India proprietors, they contend that the slaves being their lawful property as much as houses, grain, or cattle, compensation should be made by Government for the release of every man from bondage. The Indian Government, however, has adopted a different course. It has published a regulation that forbids the officers of all courts fromallowing forcible possession of the person or services of a slave, or his property. In future, therefore, slave-holders will not be able to compel their slaves to obey their orders, and as this law becomes gradually enforced, slavery will be practically abolished; a new order of men will arise, stimulated to more vigorous exertions by the conviction that they will reap the benefit of their labours, and extended cultivation and a freer exchange of commodities will infallibly ensue.Assamese Plough and Implement for Levelling Ploughed Land.Assamese Plough and Implement for Levelling Ploughed Land.
For the more speedy and effective administration of justice among the people residing in the north-west quarter of the district of Kamroop, and for the promotion of trade, the Governor-General’s Agent directed the establishment of an out-post for an assistant at Burpetah, on the Chawl Khawa river, and I was selected to proceed for eight months upon this duty.
The population of Burpetah is estimated at about three thousand souls; their huts are built without any regularity on high artificial mounds of earth, in the centre of gardens of betel nut and plantaintrees, clumps of bamboos, cane and grass jungle, mango and other large trees, under the shade of which, impervious to the sun, roads or channels intersect the town in every direction. In the rainy season, these channels, owing to the inundation of the country, are filled with water many feet in depth. Every house, consequently, is provided with one or more canoes, in which the inhabitants visit each other’s isolated positions; and the cattle are brought upon the little eminences at night, and housed oftentimes under the same roof with the family, if not in the same room. Daily may the cattle be seen swimming across these street-streams in search of a dry spot of land on which to graze. In this manner, for four months of each year—June, July, August, and September—are the people surrounded by floods; but, as if endowed with amphibious natures, they seem equally happy in or out of the water, and pass their time on board their boats in trading with other villages throughout Assam. When at home, they amuse themselves during the rainy season in collecting the wood which floats down the rivers, from the destruction of their banks alluded to in the foregoing chapter; and in the sport of catching wild buffaloes, deer, and pigs, which are now seen in great numbers swimming across therivers from the low inundated grounds to reach more elevated spots on which to subsist: the animals in their passage, being overtaken by canoes, are captured with the aid of ropes and spears, with little difficulty.
1. VAMPIRE OR FOX BAT. 2. TIGER BEETLE OF ASSAM. 3. HERCULES BEETLE OF Do.1. VAMPIRE OR FOX BAT.2. TIGER BEETLE OF ASSAM.3. HERCULES BEETLE OF Do.W. Wing delt.London, Smith Elder & Co. 65, Cornhill
1. VAMPIRE OR FOX BAT.2. TIGER BEETLE OF ASSAM.3. HERCULES BEETLE OF Do.
W. Wing delt.
London, Smith Elder & Co. 65, Cornhill
At Burpetah there is a very long building supported by wooden posts carved with emblems of Hindoo Deities, with a grass roof and mat walls. It is called a shuster, alias temple; and is a religious endowment, where the vedas or holy books of the Hindoos are chanted, and offerings in kind and cash received. A grant of rent-free land, given by the Assam king Sebsunker, in 1657A.S.or 1735A.D.is attached to the temple, and a number of disciples, with two chief priests or pontiffs, manage the affairs of the establishment.
On the trees at Burpetah, great numbers of the Vampire or Fox-bats are to be seen hanging by their claws with their heads downwards. They are offensive looking objects, having a body eleven inches long, and each wing twenty-two inches in length. I have never heard a native assert that they suck the blood of cattle when sleeping, and if it were the case, such a circumstance would certainly be quickly verified; it may therefore justly be inferred, that this is a popular error. It is said that the food of the fox-bat consists entirely ofjungle fruits; their flesh is esteemed a delicacy by many natives, and I have frequently shot them to gratify the appetites of my own servants. There is a strange superstition amongst the natives, that the bones of the fox-bat, worn as an amulet or charm, will cure any limb or part of the body affected with pain.
One of the most curious members of the animal (query, vegetable?) world in Assam is the Leaf insect—so called from its very close resemblance in form, colour, and general structure (even to the fibre), to the leaf of the tree which it inhabits. In fact, until the insect moves, it is difficult to distinguish it from the leaf itself. The annexed drawing will convey an idea of this singular freak of nature; many attempts at transmitting a perfect specimen to Europe have been frustrated by the perishable character of the insect. Spirits are entirely inefficacious as preservatives, and camphor destroys the colour of the animal.
1 & 2. LEAF INSECT OF ASSAM (MALE & FEMALE). 3. SAIKNAH CATERPILLAR (BUTTERFLY).1 & 2. LEAF INSECT OF ASSAM (MALE & FEMALE).3. SAIKNAH CATERPILLAR (BUTTERFLY).London, Smith Elder & Co. 65, Cornhill
1 & 2. LEAF INSECT OF ASSAM (MALE & FEMALE).3. SAIKNAH CATERPILLAR (BUTTERFLY).
London, Smith Elder & Co. 65, Cornhill
In perambulating the district, I was particularly struck with the immense extent of high grass jungle between the Burrampooter river and the foot of the Bootan mountains. I frequently traversed a distance of eight and ten miles through a dense grass jungle twenty feet high, without meeting with a solitary hut or any cultivation; but suddenly, a villageand an open cultivated space of a few hundred acres would burst upon the view and vary the monotony of the scene. This would be followed by a dreary waste extending to the next village, often five or six miles distant; while a solitary foot-path, forming the only communication between the small communities thus isolated, clearly showed that for many months in the year little intercourse, except by water, is kept up between them.
The country is infested with wild animals, and the footpaths are dangerous at all times. Some slight idea may be formed of the danger to human life from the denizens of the jungle, when I state that in the western quarter of the district of Kamroop alone, in the short period of six months, the police reports included twenty men killed by wild elephants and buffaloes. The damage done to the rice crops yearly by wild elephants and buffaloes is very considerable; and although Government bestows a reward of two rupees eight annas, or five shillings, for every buffalo destroyed, and five rupees or ten shillings for every tiger’s head, such is the apathy and indifference of the natives to their own interests and preservation, that they seldom exert themselves to earn the gratuity, until repeated aggressions become unbearable. When wild elephants pull downtheir huts, or a tiger, from previous success, becomes emboldened to enter their little dwellings and carry off their cattle, then the village community will turn out in a body; surrounding with nets the tiger’s lair,—a small patch of jungle in the vicinity of the village,—and shouting and yelling, they drive the intruder into the nets, where he falls an easy victim to the spears and bludgeons of the enraged and injured populace.
In January, February, March, and April, the whole country adjoining Burpetah presents a spectacle seldom seen elsewhere: the natives set fire to the jungle to clear the land for cultivation, and to open the thoroughfares between the different villages, and the awful roar and rapidity with which the flames spread cannot be conceived. A space of many miles of grass jungle, twenty feet high, is cleared in a few hours; and the black ashes scattered over the face of the earth after such recent verdure, form one of the most gloomy and desolate landscapes that can well be imagined. But so rapid is vegetation in Assam, that a few days suffice to alter the scene: the jungle speedily shoots up with greater strength than ever, and at the approach of the heavy rains in June, it again attains a height of many feet. On more occasions than one, though mountedon an elephant, I have had the greatest difficulty to out-flank a fierce roaring fire, rapidly moving with the wind, in a long line over the country. The elephant, of all animals, is the most fearful of fire; and on hearing the approach of the element he instantly takes to flight; but the rapidity with which the flames spread renders escape most hazardous, especially if the wind is high andright aft. The best plan to adopt if a fire breaks out to windward, is to circle round the nearest flank with all expedition, gaining the space burnt by the advancing flames. On foot, escape would be almost impossible; the jungle being impenetrable except by a narrow footpath, and this being frequently overgrown with grass, if no open spot be near at hand, inevitable destruction must be the fate of any unfortunate traveller to leeward of a fire.
In Assam, excepting the fields close to the villages, the best land is never manured. One crop of planted winterd’hanor rice is cut in November or December, every year, from generation to generation. This land is never allowed to lie fallow; abundant rain being all that is requisite to ensure plentiful crops: the richness of the soil seems inexhaustible.
The low lands liable to inundation are never manured; the jungle is burnt down, and for threesuccessive years two crops are annually realized from it. In February, mustard seed is gathered in: a source of great profit to the cultivator; and in June the spring rice, sown broad-cast, is reaped. After the land has been thus impoverished, it is allowed to remain fallow for three years; and fresh jungle land is burnt and prepared in the same primitive way, and with the most simple implements of husbandry. In other parts of Assam extensive tracts of land are beautifully cultivated, and pretty villages are numerously studded over the country; but, although lakes and streams are everywhere to be met with, no attempt is made by the Assamese tribes, excepting the Cacharries, to irrigate the land, and thus render the crops more certain and productive.
The Cacharries who reside at the foot of the hills are the most useful and industrious, as well as the most athletic men in Assam, and allowed to be the best cultivators. They irrigate their lands to a great extent from hill streams, and consequently raise far better crops than their neighbours. During the months of June, July, August, and September, a great portion of Assam is inundated, and boats leaving the innumerable streams and large rivers, paddle over the country in every direction; indeed, in many places, particularly at Burpetah, boats formthe only means by which any communication can be kept up. To facilitate intercourse during the dry season, roads have been constructed, and bullock-carts introduced, similar to the hackerys in use in the Western Provinces of India, for the conveyance of the produce of the lands to the best markets; but the Assamese are so wedded to their old customs, and attached to the use of slaves and bondsmen in every capacity—as servants, porters, and cultivators, that it has been found no easy matter to induce them to adopt a new system, however obvious its advantages.
A new era, however, is approaching: a law has been promulgated, abolishing slavery in India, and as the people become more enlightened by education and intercourse with Europeans, they will relax their adherence to old and absurd usages and prejudices. In the district of Kamroop above twenty thousand slaves and bondsmen may obtain manumission by simply asking for it; and as there is no doubt they will do so, we may anticipate, from the acquisition of freedom, a total alteration of the habits and feelings of the Assamese. Large wastes of land will be brought under cultivation, and thousands of families made independent and comfortable. Assam has now been subjected to British rule for aperiod of nearly twenty years, and the people have enjoyed the fruits of their labours in peace and security: a condition of things to which they were strangers under their own chieftains.
The population of Assam is assumed to be about 800,000 souls; but as no correct census has been taken, the accuracy of the estimate cannot be determined. It may be presumed, however, that the population does not increase to any great extent, for a state of slavery and bondage has never been favourable to the due multiplication of the human species.
The proprietors of slaves and bondsmen consist of the most respectable men in Assam, and of course are strenuous supporters of the continuation of the lucrative and nefarious traffic in their fellow-creatures. To deprive them of their proprietary right to their slaves it has been urged would be unjust, and offensive to their usages; and, following the example of the West India proprietors, they contend that the slaves being their lawful property as much as houses, grain, or cattle, compensation should be made by Government for the release of every man from bondage. The Indian Government, however, has adopted a different course. It has published a regulation that forbids the officers of all courts fromallowing forcible possession of the person or services of a slave, or his property. In future, therefore, slave-holders will not be able to compel their slaves to obey their orders, and as this law becomes gradually enforced, slavery will be practically abolished; a new order of men will arise, stimulated to more vigorous exertions by the conviction that they will reap the benefit of their labours, and extended cultivation and a freer exchange of commodities will infallibly ensue.
Assamese Plough and Implement for Levelling Ploughed Land.Assamese Plough and Implement for Levelling Ploughed Land.
Assamese Plough and Implement for Levelling Ploughed Land.