The Lapchas were, however, not so easily managed. Part
under their chief Nam-si maintained an absolute independence, and the remainder have been so troublesome, that the Gorkhalese have judged it prudent to give them a governor, or, at least, a collector of their own. This person, named Yu-kang-ta, and called Angriya Gabur by the Bengalese, is nephew of the Lapcha chief, who has so gallantly defended the remnant of the principality. In 1808, I found that he was in possession of the whole civil government, and had agreed to pay annually a fixed sum as tribute. The Subah of Chayenpur was, however, in military authority over him, and there were Gorkhalese troops at Sikim and Darjiling, the two chief places in the district.
On the return of the young Raja to Gandhauk, he brought with him as an escort 500 Bhotiyas of Thibet; and an insurrection seems to have been meditated. In the end of 1809, a person calling himself Dihit Karan, a relation of the chief of the Kirats, came to Lieutenant Munro, then stationed at Sannyasikata, and informed him that he had been sent as an ambassador by the Chinese general, (Vazir,) who had arrived with 15,000 men and 40 guns to restore the Prince of Sikim, and that he was on his way to Puraniya, to proceed from thence to Calcutta. From the information of his nearest relations, there is reason to think that Dihit Karan had died before this time, and the messenger did not go to Puraniya. It is probable that he merely came to sound Mr Munro, whether or not there was any actual appearance of hostility between the British government and the Gorkhalese. The only troops that had come were the 500 armed Bhotiyas; but with even these the enterprising Lapcha is said to have determined to proceed, and a good many Gorkhalese soldiers marched in that direction. At this time the Lapcha died, and after a little
skirmishing things were amicably adjusted, the Sikim Raja retaining Gandhauk alone.
The map of this country drawn by the Lama, and mentioned in the Introduction, although very rude, as might be naturally expected, will enable scientific men to throw considerable light on the geography of that country, hitherto almost unknown, and more reliance is to be placed on most of the Lama’s positions, than on those given in the map of the countries east from Nepal, which has been mentioned in the same place, except towards the south-west corner, for the Lama was better acquainted with the other parts of the country than the person who constructed the map to which I have alluded. His scale is an inch to the day’s journey. His angular lines represent mountains, and, beginning at the north, we find Khawa karpola, that is, the mountain white with snow, or the highest ridge of Emodus, which separates Sikim from the dominion of Lasa. According to the map, this ridge is penetrated by three rivers. That on the west is the Kankayi; but it seems doubtful whether or not this actually rises from beyond the highest peaks of Emodus, for, in another map, which will be afterwards mentioned, its source is made to come from a lower range of the snowy mountains, which by some is called Mirgu; and this opinion is strongly confirmed by its size, when it enters the plains. The Kankayi would appear to run in a narrow valley between two ridges of mountains, and for some way down the whole valley belonged to Sikim. In this are two Golas or marts, Bilasi and Majhoya. To these marts the low country traders carry rice, salt, extract of sugar-cane, hogs, dry fish, tobacco, spirituous liquor, and various cloths. Formerly they took oxen for slaughter, but, since the conquest, this has been prohibited. They procured in return
cotton, Indian madder, (Manjit,) musk, and Thibet bull-tails, (Chaungris.)
Farther down, the Kankayi formed the boundary between the Kirats and Sikim, until it reached the plain, the whole of which, as far as the Mahananda, belonged to the Vijaypur Rajas, while all the low hills belonged to Sikim. These low hills are not represented in the map, although they are of very considerable size, such as the greater part of the mountains of Scotland or Wales; but, near Emodus, these appear like molehills. The hilly country, I am told by the traders, commences at what they call six coses north from Sannyasikata, and extends about eighteen coses farther to Siumali, another mart, which the low country people name Dimali.
The hills south of Dimali are thinly inhabited by the Mech or Dimali, who cultivate cotton, rice, and other articles, in the same manner as the Garos, which will be described in my account of Asam. This kind of country extends from the Kankayi to the Tista, everywhere, probably, about the same width; but the coses, in all likelihood, are very short, twelve of them being reckoned a day’s journey, and, in such roads, twelve miles is a long journey, and will give no great horizontal distance.
Between the Mahananda and Tista the Sikim Raja possessed a low tract, four or five coses wide, which is inhabited by Koch, and cultivated with the plough. The chief place in it is Dabi, on the east bank of the Mahananda. This part is not noticed in the Lama’s map.
Siumali, or Dimali, according to the Bengalese, is a custom-house on the east side of the Bala kongyar river, but the Lama places it on the west, and is probably more correct, the Bengalese concerning such points being uncommonly stupid. At this custom-house or mart is a Lapcha collector, appointed