APPENDIX—MEDICAL HISTORY OF THE DUFFLA EXPEDITION.
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22. head-quarters move to Hurmutti Camp No. 2.—The plan of operations laid down in
the Quarter Master General's memorandum of the 15th July was carried out on the advance
of the force. The troops were to start from Narainpore, officers, men and followers, with their
service equipment only ; all tents, spare baggage, &c., being left in store. Advance parties
were to proceed and explore, mark out, make or improve the road; other parties would consoli-
date the work, and make all fairly practicable for the transport. It followed, therefore, that for
the first three marches head-quarters were in the middle of the force ; exploring and road-
making parties being a march in advance; the rear a march behind; all parties being employed
in improving the communications.
Head-
quarters
move to
Hurmutti
Camp No. 2.
Working parties had been employed on the road to Hurmutti since the 23rd November.
On the 26th, the sappers marched in that direction, the 44th on the 28th, and the 16th on the
1st December, hutting themselves along the road so as to be near their work.
A sufficient number of days' supplies having been sent on to Camp No. 2, Hurmutti, and
the main stores of the expedition having been collected at Narainpore, head-quarters marched to
Camp No. 2 on the 5th December, distance about 14 miles. Time occupied—as it will be re-
corded on all the marches as performed by the staff—41/2 hours. The time for marching was
or de r e d t o be 9 A. M. , be c a us e of t he he a vy de ws a t ni ght a nd c ons e que nt we t ne s s of t he
jungle, and to give the men time to eat.
The road was by this time hard and good, with only one or two places where the swamps
newly filled in had been so trodden down by elephants as to cause a little delay. The track
was level, near the right bank of the river, for the most part through reed and high sugarcane-
like grass, sorghum sacchratum, and wild cardamom jungle from 14 to 18 feet high; partly
through forest and partly through open clearings for cultivation. A creeper in these jungles,
tæderia fetida, is most offensive on being touched or pressed, and it took some time to over-
come the nauseous smell, like sulphuretted hydrogen. It was met with on nearly all the
marches, and in some instances got mixed with the materials for huts. The Dikrung was forded
1 1/2 miles from the Post.
23. Camp No. 2, Hurmutti .—Hurmutti, 460 feet above the sea, is now the name of
a tea garden occupying the site of a former large town. The lines of the walls can be traced
by the debris of bricks. Under the surface these are in good preservation, measuring 10 × 4 × 2
inches. From this town extended a " king's highway" far to the eastward, consisting of a
broad and well-raised road paved with brick and stone.
Camp No. 2 :
Hurmutti.
The site was on the high left bank of the river as it emerges from the lower hills, about
50 or 60 feet above the broad bed of the stream, in which the water is now shallow and
occupies but a small portion. The huts for troops and transport were erected on this shingly,
sandy land near the river, now high and dry, but which had been thickly covered with high
grass and reed jungle. The huts for head-quarters had been built near the manager of the
tea garden's house, and those of the other officers along the high bank looking down on the huts
of their men. The camp was a good one. It could not, however, have been occupied much
earlier in the season. A working party was now detailed to form a depot hospital.
Surgeon Wilson was nominated to the medical chare of the Post and hospital. The
instructions left with him were to treat all men sent back from the front if likely to recover
within a reasonable time, otherwise they were to be sent on by boat to Narainpore.
24. To Borpani, Camp No. 3.—Head-quarters moved on the 10th December to Camp No. 3.
The path entered the forest on leaving the tea garden ; a wild elephant track had been taken
advantae of for some part of the way when the route was being marking out. It had been
widened and consolidated, sloped off in places, and some small streams bridged. The road was
principally through thick forest, equivalent to terai; there were the caoutchoue and other mag-
nificent trees. Thick undergrowth of tall bushes, canes and grasses, matted together with
creepers which ascended and wound themselves over the trees, rendered the jungle on either
hand almost impenetrable. An old elephant kheddah was found about half-way. The path lay
at some distance from the Dikrung and hit the river again just opposite the Post. The river was
forded to reach the camp. Camp No. 3 was situated on the right bank of Dikrung, on the pro-
montory formed by the Borpani river joining it from the westward. The site was covered
with high forest trees growing very close together ; a clearing had been made sufficient for
the new stockade and for the butting of the troops. The space was very confined. The felling
and clearing of the large forest trees was a work of labor and danger. Distance 7 miles;
time 2 1/2 hours ; height above sea 477 feet. The transport hutted along the left bank of the
river opposite the stockade.
On the 11th, the remainder of the transport corps, 2 officers and 300 men, arrived at head-
quarters. Surgeon Raye, at his own request, wishing to be nearer the front, was moved tc
Hurmutti, Surgeon Wilson returning to Narainpore.
To Borpani :
Camp No. 3,
25. Hurjoolie, Camp No. 4.—On the 14th December, the force advanced in order, as
through an enemy's country, to camp No. 4; head-quarters marching with it from this date. A
reconnoitring party had visited the place, and parties from camp had improved portions of
the road.
Hurjoolie :
Camp No, 4.
The line of march was a long one. Head-quarters staff next to the advance guard; the
troops, and then followers and transport corps with baggage guards interposed; the rear guard