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Munipur valley; breakfast at Thompson's bungalow; polo; bazaar; stampede |
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Butler started to ride on as we had to get to Munipur to PT. We walked, two elephants having been told off for our use. The whole way was a dead flat, the valley opening out broadly as we neared the town of Munipur. The coloration at this season of the year is extremely ugly, most of the trees bare & the grass of the same tint - of ochre - spread over both plain & hill, shewing black on the hills where burnt. It was rather warm walking & bagged a few birds although none was new on the way. Got a fair fixing of the place & mounting the elephant got in about 2-30. To Thompson's bungalow, where we got bkfast, his place is prettily kept, nice flower & kitchen garden, where I saw splendid beetroot & peas & excellent cabbage, onion, lettuce &c. Neither asparagus nor celery will grow & strawberries not a success, from too much wet. Walked in evening to the Polo Ground where some 16 players were hard at the game & then on to the bazar held in the open space in front of the Palace gate. Here some hundreds of people were assembled. Hill men, Sylhetias, Munipuris, the stall keepers all women. The bazar contained good I'll say excellent vegetables & all the other necessaries of native life. I got some good axes & a lot of goor in lieu of sugar of which we have run out. While walking about a stampede occurred [47] & we cd not make out why the people both buyers & sellers were making off in such a hurry. It turned out that we were the innocent cause of the bolt. Some blackguard must have given out, possibly by the Raja's orders or his minions that we were up to mischief & to be on their guard, for it happened just as retreat sounded from where our Police were located. I was very glad that we had bought some things & paid them what was asked without any bullying as it would shew them we are not such devils as so many of our Asiatic friends? try to paint us to the more ignorant of the population & specially to the weaker sex. Night quite mild & I enjoyed a good night's rest, particularly as I cd look forward to a quiet day on the morrow - comparatively quiet I should add for I began it by describing some birds about 7 am & then worked up Journal until Bkfast & the time for the durbar at 11 o/c. |
