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CHAPTER IV.

KOOSHTEAH TO GOWHATTY.

The Bramapootra-Serajgunge-Change of River-bed-The RajmahalProposed Companion-Partnership of Explorers-Crocodiles-Water Snakes-Gwalpara-Gowhatty-Wants of a Station.

ON arriving at Kooshteah next morning, no steamer was visible, but in the course of the afternoon she arrived with her two flats in tow, one on each side, and I hurried on board anxious to hear that all was well. The Chinamen were in capital spirits, and the mules quite at home in their temporary stalls on deck, but my favourite dog Mahmoud had died the day before, from an attack of pneumonia; this was a great loss, for he was a splendid watch-dog, and would have been most valuable in the wild country of Thibet.

We were detained three days at Kooshteah waiting for cargo. The steamer lay under the banks of the river sheltered from the breeze, and the heat was fearful; during the day the thermometer stood at 104° in the shade, and registered 96° at night, so that on the fourth day all were glad to quit our moorings and get out into the broad waters of the Ganges, and thence into the Bramapootra at Goolunda.

Once upon this mighty stream, life again became bearable. The waters fed by the snows of Thibet, cooled the breeze which blows steadily down-stream at this time of the year, and, as we faced it, the effect on our exhausted frames was almost magical. We stretched ourselves like men who had just risen from a long and heavy sleep; my bulldogs which for the previous few days had been lying listlessly about the decks, alike indifferent to food and caresses, sniffed the cool air, and, with a shake, seemed to throw off the lethargy which had for so long robbed life of pleasure. The mules, which had stood patiently, during long hot days, with hanging heads, greeted the refreshing breeze with whinnyings and playful attempts to lay hold of the Calassees as they passed to and fro along the deck.

Among the passengers on board the change was equally appreciated. The hearty laugh was soon heard along the decks, with the pop of the 'belatee panee,'* used in the manufacture of 'pegs,' a very appropriate name given to potations which, in the days of my Indian griffinage, some fifteen years ago, were called by the less significant name of 'brandy and sodas.' Each pop was followed by a long-drawn 'ah,' which consigned to oblivion the remembrance of past woes. Thus com

menced our voyage up the Bramapootra.

On the evening of the second day from Kooshteah we arrived at Serajgunge. There was nothing to be seen in the shape of a town: the only representative of civilization visible from the steamer was a large hemp factory

Soda-water.

more than a mile inland, which was pointed out as having, a year or two before, stood close to the river bank. This indeed was evidence of the rapidity with which the river changes its course, a characteristic, peculiar to it, which affords one of the greatest obstacles that navigators have to contend against in the Bramapootra.

To give some idea of the uncertainty of this river's course, Mr. Sandeman, the Accountant-General in Calcutta, gave me a copy of a map showing a survey of the Bramapootra made less than one hundred years ago, which marks the old course of the river below Gowhatty, more than fifty miles to the eastward of its present channel.

These rapid changes are undoubtedly attributable to the deposits brought down by the annual floods, which in one season form huge sand-banks, and when left dry in the winter months speedily become covered with rank vegetation, forming, on the next rise of the river, great barriers against the stream, which force its waters into new channels.

The day after leaving Serajgunge, we anchored in the evening alongside the steamer 'Rajmahal,' bound from Northern Assam to Calcutta.

After we had safely moored, some of the passengers from the other steamer came on board to hear and exchange news, and among them was a gentleman who made anxious enquiries for myself. Such a message brought me quickly on deck, hearing that I was enquired for, greatly wondering what any person coming from

Proposed Companion.

47

Assam could want with me. I was not long kept in suspense, for a stranger eagerly greeted me, expressing his delight at the meeting, to ensure which he had come down-river from Debrughur. He then went on to explain that he was anxious to accompany me in the journey to Thibet, having made all his preparations in anticipation of this event, observing also that, as he understood surveying, he could lay down the route as we went along. Here was a dilemma, a gentleman had positively journeyed over eight hundred miles to join me in the expedition, only now to be told that I could not consent to it. It was an ungracious duty to perform, but the very idea of having a person in my party bent on carrying a lot of instruments with him, and using them among the suspicious tribes we would encounter nerved me to reply that I regretted that all my arrangements had been made, and it would be impossible for him to join my party, but that if he was bent on the same journey as myself, I hoped we might have the pleasure of meeting on the road and comparing notes. This was a great blow to my wouldbe companion, and I heard afterwards that he complained of want of courtesy on my part in thus refusing his company. Lest some of my readers, who are inexperienced in the physical hardships and mental trials to be encountered in such a journey, should be inclined to think that there was a churlishness in thus refusing to allow this gentleman to join me, I must crave their patience while I briefly state my reasons for doing so.

Since boyhood I have read with avidity all books of travel within my reach, and long before I was in a position to undertake a pioneering journey the perusal of such works confirmed me in the opinion that the most successful explorers of modern times have been those who travelled alone. In Africa I had the example of that father of explorers, Livingstone, besides those of Baker, Burton, Reade, and others, men whose success as skilful and brave explorers is undeniable, all of whom travelled alone, sharing with no one the merit of success or the blame of defeat. In South America, Musters, depending entirely on himself, travelled through Patagonia successfully; while Shaw, quite alone, reached Kashgar, and returned to India, making one of the most successful journeys in that part of Asia of his day. Colonel Hannay, also alone, travelled from the Irrawaddy to the Bramapootra, a journey which is now considered. almost impossible, on account of the lawlessness of the people inhabiting the intervening country.

Such are a few of the most successful journeys which have been accomplished by single individuals. It would be an ungracious task to particularise those expeditions in which what may be termed a partnership of explorers has resulted in defeat, quarrels, and lasting enmity, brought about by jealousy, and the close intercourse of incompatible natures.

These are the considerations that have always induced me to travel alone, and led to my declining a companion on this occasion. True, I have been unsuccessful more than once, but I alone bear the misfortune of defeat,