looking more spectral than ever, and still more
violently agitated; and I thought I perceived that
whatever were his plans, he had failed in them. He
asked me what view the Governor-General would take
of this proceeding ? and receiving no answer, he went
.off with the Tchehu Lama, and left me with the third
individual. The latter looked steadily at me for some
time, and then asked if I did not know him. I said I
did not, when he gave his name as Dingpun Tinli, and
I recognised in him one of the men whom the Dewan
had sent to conduct us to the top of Mainom the
previous year, This opened my eyes a good deal, for
he was known to* be a right-hand man of the Dewan’s,
and had a short time before been convicted of kidnapping
a Brahmin girl from Nepal,* and had vowed
vengeance against Campbell for the duty he had
performed in bringing him to punishment.
I was soon asked to go to my tent, which I found
pitched close b y ; they refused me permission to see
my fellow-prisoner, or to be near him, but allowed me
to hang up my instruments, and arrange my collections.
My guards were frequently changed during the
night, Lepchas often taking a tu rn ; they repeatedly
assured me that there was no complaint or ill-feeling
against me, that the better classes in Sikkim would be
greatly ashamed of the whole affair, that Tchehu
Lama was equally a prisoner, and that the grievances
* This act, as I have mentioned, was not only a violation of the British
treaty, hut an outrage on the religion of Nepal. Jung Bahadoor demanded
instant restitution, which Campbell effected ; thus incurring the Dingpun’s
wrath, who lost, besides his prize, a1 good deal of money which the escapade
cost him.
against Campbell were of a political nature, but what
they were they did not know.
The night was very cold (thermometer 26°), and two
inches of snow fell. I took as many of my party as I
could into my tent, they having no shelter fit for such
an elevation (12,590 feet) at this season. Through the
connivance of some of the people, I managed to
correspond with Campbell, who afterwards gave me
the following account of the treatment he had received.
He stated that on leaving the hut, he had been met by
Meepo, who told him the Soubah had ordered his
being turned out. A crowd of sepoys then fell on him
and brought him to the ground, knocked him on the
head, trampled on him, and pressed his neck down to
his chest as he lay, as if endeavouring to break it.
His feet were tied, and his arms pinioned behind, the
wrist of the right hand being bound to the left arm
above the elbow; the cords were then doubled, and he
was violently shaken. The Singtam Soubah directed
all this, which was performed chiefly by the Dingpun
Tinli and Jongpun Sangabadoo.* After this the
Soubah came to me, as I have related; and returning,
had Campbell brought bound before him, and asked
him, through Tchebu Lama, if he would write from
dictation. The Soubah was violent, excited, and
nervous; Tchebu Lama scared. Campbell answered,
that if they continued torturing him (which was done
by twisting the cords round his wrists by a bamboo -
wrench), he might say or do anything, but that his
* This -was the other man sent -with ns to Mainom, by the Dewan, in the
previous December.