depressed "state : lie was determined to keep up
appearances before his followers, but was almost
servile to us ; he caused his men to make a parade of
their arms, as if to intimidate us, and in descending
narrow gulleys we had several times the disagreeable
surprise of finding some of his men at a sudden turn,
with drawn bows and arrows pointed towards us.
Others gesticulated with their long knives, and made
fell swoops at soft plantain-stems; but these artifices
were all as shallow as they were contemptible, and a
smile at such demonstrations was generally answered
with another from the actors.
From Katong we ascended the steep east flank of
Tendong or Mount Ararat, through forests of Sal
to d long-leaved pine, to Namten, where we halted
two days. The Dingpun Tinli lived near, and waited
on us with a present, which, with all others that had
been brought, Campbell received officially, and transferred
to the authorities at Dorjiling.
The Dewan was thoroughly alarmed at the news
here brought in, that the Rajah’s present of yaks,
ponies, &c., which had been sent forward, had been
refused at Dorjiling; and equally so at the clamorous
messages which reached him from all quarters, demanding
our liberation ; and at the desertion of some
of his followers, on hearing that large bodies of troops
were assembling at Dorjiling. Repudiated by his
Rajah and countrymen, and paralysed between his
dignity and his ponies., (which he now perceived would
not be welcomed at the station, and which were daily
losing flesh, looks, and value in these hot valleys,
where there is no grass pasture,) he knew not what
olive-branch to hold out to our government, except
ourselves, whom he therefore clung to as hostages.
On the 22nd of December he marched us eight
miles further, to Cheadam, on a bold spur, overlooking
the Great Rungeet, and facing Dorjiling, from which it
is only twenty miles distant. The white bungalows
of our friends gladdened our eyes, while the new
barracks erecting for the daily arriving troops struck
terror into the Dewan’s heart. The six Sepoys * who
had marched valiantly beside us for twenty days,
carrying the muskets given to the Rajah the year
before by the Governor-General, now lowered their
arms, and vowed that if a red coat crossed the Great
Rungeet, they would throw down their guns and run
away. News arrived that the Bhotan inhabitants of
Dorjiling, headed by my bold Sirdar Nimbo, had
arranged a night attack for our release; an enterprise
to which they were quite equal, and in which they
have had plenty of practice in their own misgoverned
country. Watch-fires gleamed amongst the bushes,
we were thrust into a doubly-guarded house, and
bows and arrows were ostentatiously levelled so as
to rake the doorway, should we attempt to escape.
Some of the ponies were sent back, though the
Dewan still clung to his merchandise and the feeble
hope of traffic. The confusion increased daily, but
* These Sepoys, besides the loose red Jacket and striped Lepcha kirtle,
■wore a very curious national black hat of felt, with broad flaps turned up
all round : this is represented in the right-hand figure, in the illustration
on the next page. A somewhat similar hat is worn by some classes of
Nepal soldiery.
VOL. ii. M