A Sketch of Assam: With some account of the Hill TribesButler, John, Major
History
A Sketch of Assam: With some account of the Hill Tribes
Butler, John, Major
Assam (India) -- Description and travel; Assam (India) -- Social life and customs; Ethnology -- India -- Assam
on the banks, is nevertheless a marvel. In the Chawlkhawa river,
opposite Burpetah, I have seen basking in the sun on the sand banks,
as many as ten crocodiles at a time; and upon one occasion, a heap
of one hundred crocodile's eggs, each about the size of a turkey's
egg, were discovered on a sand bank, and brought to me; I found on
blowing them, that they all contained a perfectly formed crocodile,
about two inches long, which would have crept forth after a few days'
farther exposure to the sun.
The flesh of the crocodile is like that of fish, emitting the same
odour, and partaking of the flavour of the coarsest of the finny
tribe. After skinning a small crocodile caught by a fisherman
in his net, one of my native servants made a curry of the flesh,
which is consumed by some low caste men in Assam, as well as in
Western India. The eggs of crocodiles and river turtle are esteemed
delicacies. Upon the merits of the flesh of the turtle I need not
expatiate. I have frequently endeavoured to shoot the crocodile, but
if they be not almost invulnerable, they contrive to elude capture;
for when wounded they manage to get into the river, and either escape
to recover, or die out of sight. It never was my fortune to kill and
secure more than one, which was upwards of twelve feet in length. He
was mortally stricken with one ball.
The station of Seebsaugur merits little notice. It is a low, flat
country, subject to inundations. There are several large artificial
tanks, and one or two fine old Hindoo temples, in and about the
station. The fort of Rungpore, built of brick on the opposite side of
the Dikhoo stream, is quite in ruins; and of the old city of Rungpore,
not a hut is now in existence: all the inhabitants being now apparently
located at Seebsaugur, which, from having become the residence of
the civil officers in charge of the district, will in a few years,
in all probability, be a populous, thriving town. After a few days'
residence at Seebsaugur, I again set out in a small boat on the
Burrampooter; passing the new station of Dibroo Ghur, the residence
of the Political Agent of Upper Assam, and other gentlemen connected
with the manufacture of tea, I ascended the dangerous rapid formed by a
ridge of stones extending almost across the river, a little below the
junction of the two rivers, Dihong and Dibong, with the Burrampooter,
and in seven days from Seebsaugur, arrived at the end of my journey,
Saikwah. Here I assumed the command of three hundred men, and two
six-pounders.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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