'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎455] (474/622)

HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAYY.
455
firing poisoned arrows and spears, and rolling down heavy
boulders* from the tops of the high cliffs forming the banks of
the river. The position of the small force was an exceedingly
critical one. On both banks of the river they heard the enemy's
war-cries, the natives in the forest signalling the advance of
the force to those on the cliffs, while they fired on them showers
of poisoned arrows with iron barbs, but would not show in the
open. Some natives of the rear-guard carrying provisions, were
killed and disembowelled, which created such a panic among
the remainder that they fled, and the Detachment was without
food for nearly forty-eight hours. After capturing the Boor-
maun village. Lieutenant Davies encamped behind the huge
boulders on the strand of the river, in which the canoes were
moored with a small guard. All night the enemy fired arrows
and spears, giving the camp no rest, and, in the morning. Lieu
tenant Davies, who had put his coat on the top of his rifle,
which was stuck in the ground, found it riddled with arrows.
To induce the natives to quit the jungle. Lieutenant Davies,
having sent the force on in the morning, remained behind in
concealment, with Sergeant-Major Carter, of the 1st Assam
Light Infantry, and a few sailors and Goorkhas, all crack shots.
The feint proved successful, as the natives, seeing their foes in
full march, came out into the open, when a volley brought down
the foremost of them, including the chief. In this Expedition,
several men of the British force, both Europeans and natives,
were killed, and a large number were wounded. Lieutenant
Davies performed an act for which an officer was promoted in
the sad case of the late Commodore Goodenough; he sucked
the wounds of several of his men who had been hit by poisoned
arrows, and thus probably saved their lives. Captain Lowther,
in a report to the Agricultural Society of India on the "aconite
poison" used by these Abors, says: —"Out of twenty-five
wounded Europeans, only four died, one of these men in half
an hour."
The Abors suffered severely, and sixty-four men were ascer
tained to have been killed and a large number were wounded.
At the foot of the hills the force was joined by Captain Bivar,
the Assistant-Commissioner, who remained there with the
reserve and a depot of provisions, much needed by the starving
party, and then the whole column returned to Dibrooghur. On
the 4th of February, 1859, Lieutenant Lewis arrived at Dibroo
ghur with No. 4 Detachment from Sylhet, and Lieutenant
Davies' party, whose term of service had mostly expired, re
turned to the Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. . He, however, remained behind, and
accompanied the second Expedition of February, already
detailed, which resulted in the submission of the tribe.
* The method adopted was to tie the boulders in their places, with strips of
bamboo, which they cut when they saw their enemy underneath.
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