A Sketch of Assam: With some account of the Hill Tribes

by Major John Butler

As my cottage had not the usual white cloth ceiling suspended, insects, snakes, and vermin frequently descended from the roof into the rooms; but by keeping the house free of baggage and well swept, contact with them was avoided. The reader will suppose an Assam mat-hut to be a dreary kind of residence; but I can assure him, the logwood fire on a hearth one foot high, in the centre of the room, with a small window cut high in the wall for the escape of the smoke, is by no means devoid of cheerfulness.

The general characteristic of the climate of Upper Assam is excessive moisture. Rains fall heavily and frequently in March, April, and May, and continue to the middle of October; and from this time till February the atmosphere is cool and pleasant. As the bordering hills of Assam, both on the north and south, are peopled by a variety of tribes differing from one another in aspect, language, and customs, I have, in later pages, briefly depicted each class; mingling personal description with a narrative of as much of their respective histories as circumstances have put it in my power to offer.

TABLE.

Showing the number of days required for a Budgerow to proceed from Calcutta to Suddeah, or Saikwah in Upper Assam, from October till 1st June:—

	No. ofdays.
From Calcutta to Dacca	12
From ,, Dacca to Goalparah	19
From ,, Goalparah to Gowahatty	6
From ,, Gowahatty to Tezpore	6
From ,, Tezpore to Bishnath	3
From ,, Bishnath to the mouth of the Dikho river, 12 miles distant fromSeebsaugur	6
From ,, Dikhoo Mookh river to Dibroolghur	7
From ,, Dibroolghur to Suddeah or Saikwah	6
Total days	65

Excepting with a westerly wind during the rains, the navigation of the Burrampooter river is tedious, uncertain, and dangerous, from falling banks, floating trees, a rapid current, and no tracking ground: the jungle extending to the edge of the river. In Assam a canoe is the safest and most speedy mode of travelling.

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.