The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-16 00:00:00

The War in Bhootan.

The intelligence from Bhootan is of a somewhat
serious nature. Up to Jan. 29, four of our posts
had been almost simultaneously surprised and at-
tacked by the Bhooteas. The enemy were driven
back in all four cases by our detachments, but, in
one instance, with seven casualties on our side in a
detachment of 50 men, and in another with the loss
of 1 officer and 5 sepoys killed, and 1 Officer and 38
sepoys wounded. The following telegram has since
been received by the Bengal Government :

From Cooch Behar. To Calcutta. From H. Beveridge,
Esq., Deputy-Commissioner, to Private Secretary, Lieu-
tenant-Governor of Bengal.

sth February.—Colonel -Watson, on the 4th inst., sent a
force to drive the Bhooteas from a stone stockade which
they had made at Balla ; but the force at his disposal proved
too weak. The Bhooteas were well protected, and we had a
good many casualties. Lieut. Millett of the 11th N. I. killed.
Lieut. Cameron, Royal Artillery, wounded, and some 12 or
15 Sepoys wounded. Col. Watson has applied for the two
guns belonging to Cooch Behar. They will be sent off at
once.

" Our troops," observes the Calcutta Englishman,
"as yet have carried everything before them,
but our columns, ridiculously small even at the com-
mencement of the campaign, are now so reduced by
the detachments holding our chain of outposts along
the hills, and keeping up our communications, that
neither our open camps nor our posts are safe from
the night attacks and rushes of large bodies of an
enemy who, however unwilling to meet us by day,
are yet determined enough to fight for their hearths
and homes in a manner which, in a great measure,
neutralises our superiority over them in arms, in
discipline, would that we could also add, in numbers.
Harassed in a malarious climate by constant night
duties to keep in check a tribe of men like the
Bhooteas, to whom the jungle is ahome, and through
which they can crawl like wild beasts almost up to
our very sentries, it is not to be wondered at that
our troops are getting sickly. Fever is very pre-
valent, and the Bhootea rabble are allowed to swarm
within a march of our camps, for the simple reason
that our men, from over-work and .night guards,
are unable to bear the fatigue of double marches
and dours, for the purpose of dispersing them. The
Bhooteas can only set down this inactivity to fear.
Our troops must not only be reinforced, but must,
in the difficult nature of the seat of war, have
sufficient support available in case of need. It
must be done, sooner or later, the rainy season is
not so far distant, and the Bengal Terai, if it does
not kill, must seriously affect the efficiency of the
force."

Upon the same subject the Hurlearu, of the Bth
February, says :—" The Bhooteas have attacked
our posts, and evinced considerable daring and
courage. At the Bala Pass, as will be seen from
the account in another column, they rushed up to
the stockade and persisted in their attempt to cut
down the gates with their terrible curved knives for
one hour and a half, and this under a heavy fire of
musketry. They only broke and fled, or rather they
only disappeared when the first streaks of dawn
warned them of the advantage which another half
hour would give the musketeers. It is remarked
that the side of the stockade exposed to their attack
was stuck as full of arrows as a porcupine's back
with quills. They have begun to waylay small
parties, and to hover round our outposts, and gene-
rally to manifest a spirit, the expression of which
we might have escaped by a steady and rapid ad-
vance on their capitals. We have contented our-
selves with seizing what we wanted, we shall now
find the impolicy of doing so without first having
broken their power. The Bhooteas fight with
curved knives and bows and arrows. Primitive
weapons, it is true, but then the knives are broad
and heavy. We have seen some half an inch thick
at the back, and a clever mountain fencer would
consider the decapitation of a man with one of them
but a very small feat. The whole country is covered
with dense jungle, and in such cover, the advantage
of the silent but deadly arrow must be apparent
to every one. They can lie in wait, and pour in
flight upon flight without risking very much in the
chance of being followed. The only way out of the
scrape is to seize the whole country by a swift ad-
vance, and to return as much as we choose of it
next cold weather, making our own arrangements
for the conspicuous absence of such men as the pre-
sent dictator."

THE DAY OF REST.—This new penny magazine
will, it is said, create a great sensation. Consisting
of 24 pages same size, paper, and type as "All the Year
Round," it will have in addition a handsome illustration to
the leading tale, and when necessary diagrams and illustra-
tions to elucidate scientific articles. It will count amongst
its contributors several gentlemen who have written for
the Saturday Review, Blackwood, Fraser, The Quarterly,
Spectator, Cornhill, Temple Bar, Sunday at Home, Leisure
Hour, the Illustrated London News, and the Illustrated
Times. These writers are well versed in the way of
rendering science agreeable and fiction beneficial. In
addition to this, as a novel feature, the editor, Mr. Hain
Friswell, is to give, in " The Whispering Gallery," a
gossip with his readers, and a report of all that is most
new and interesting in science, literature, art, and so-
ciety. Under such circumstances, wo need not say that the
magazine will be readable from the first page to the last,
nor that the readers will preserve and prize it when read.
The leading tale of the Day of Rest is spoken most highly
of, and bears the absorbing title of " The Hidden Sin ;"
it is written by an author well known as a poet on the
leading critical journal.
EXCESS AND DEFECT.—TWO singular incidents
occurred on the drawing for the conscription three
days back at Valognes (Manche). One young man, born
without arms, drew his number from the urn with his foot,
while another was so tall that he could not pass erect be-
neath the measurement standard. He was six feet seven
in height.