| caption: |
Tablung guides desert and Chihu unwilling to supply any; back to Ungrurr |
| text: |
28. On the 14th February, we left Chihu (or Shushu) early. The villagers had been most liberal in giving us supplies, having pounded out rice during the night with the greatest goodwill. We could not persuade them to give us a guide, as there were no Assamese-speaking men among them, and our Tablung guides had deserted during the night, having I believe, got an inkling that we knew they had been deceiving us the day before. I was delayed with my work, and when I overtook the camp at the River Tzela, about 12 o'clock, I found that the wrong road had been taken, and, though the road was very good down to the river on the Shushu side, on the opposite bank not a trace of a path existed. The only thing to be done was to cut our way up the steep hillside to the top of the spur, where we hoped to find a path of some sort. The ascent was nearly perpendicular, and we progressed very slowly, clinging on by roots and creepers, as the loose, shaly soil slipped away from beneath our feet, and we had only ascended 1,200 feet and made about one and half miles in three hours. At last we found an obscure, disused path, tangled thorns, creepers, and ferns tripping up our feet below, while the overarching grass and bushes caught our faces above, and it was not till 6.30, as darkness was closing round and raid beginning to fall, that we at last emerged on to the open path leading direct to Ungrurr, still distance about two miles with a steep ascent of 1,500 feet. We toiled up this in the dark and rain, reaching the village about 8 o'clock. We waited for the coolies, and all got into our old camping-ground by 9 o'clock. |
