for even if we should be lucky enough to escape rain, the dew is so heavy in those parts that it wets one just as thoroughly as a shower of rain.  These three items with my cloak and cork mattress—­which is also a very necessary adjunct in such a damp climate—­amounted to thirty-one pounds, leaving only nine pounds for a change of clothes, plate, knife, fork, etc.—­not too much for a four months’ campaign.  However, ‘needs must,’ and it is surprising how many things one considers absolute necessities under ordinary circumstances turn out to have been luxuries when we are obliged to dispense with them.

The advance portion of the column did not arrive at Tipai Mukh, only eighty-four miles from Cachar, until the 9th December, which will give an idea of the enforced slowness of our progress.  Tipai Mukh proved a very suitable place for our depot:  it was situated at the junction of two rivers, the Tipai and the Barak; thickly-wooded hills rose precipitously on all sides, but on the right bank of the Barak there was sufficient level space for all our requirements.  With the help of local coolies, the little Gurkhas were not long in running up hospitals and storesheds; bamboo, the one material used in Lushailand for every conceivable purpose, whether it be a house, a drinking vessel, a bridge, a woman’s ear-ring, or a musical instrument, grew in profusion on the hillside.  A trestle bridge was thrown across the Tipai in a few hours, and about that bridge I have rather an amusing story to relate.  On my telling the young Engineer officer in charge of the Sapper company that a bridge was required to be constructed with the least possible delay, he replied that it should be done, but that it was necessary to calculate the force of the current, the weight to be borne, and the consequent strength of the timber required.  Off he went, urged by me to be as quick as he could.  Some hours elapsed, and nothing was seen of the Engineer, so I sent for him and asked him when the bridge was to be begun.  He answered that his plans were nearly completed, and that he would soon be able to commence work.  In the meantime, however, and while these scientific calculations were being made, the headman of the local coolies had come to me and said, if the order were given, he would throw a good bridge over the river in no time.  I agreed, knowing how clever Natives often are at this kind of work, and thinking I might just as well have two strings to this particular bow.  Immediately, numbers of men were to be seen felling the bamboos on the hillside a short distance above the stream:  these were thrown into the river, and as they came floating down they were caught by men standing up to their necks in water, who cut them to the required length, stuck the uprights into the river-bed, and attached them to each other by pieces laid laterally and longitudinally; the flooring was then formed also of bamboo, the whole structure was firmly bound together by strips of cane, and the bridge