On the Irrawaddy: A Story of the First Burmese War

by G. A. Henty

  Chapter 11: Donabew.

  Stanley Brooke did not accompany the land column, as the generalsaid to him, two days before:

  "I have been speaking with General Cotton, and he said that heshould be glad if I would attach you to his staff, until the forceunites again. Not one of his staff officers speaks Burmese and,although he has two or three interpreters with him, it will bebetter, if Bandoola sends in an officer offering to surrender, thathe should be met by a British officer.

  "In the next place, it may be necessary for him to communicate withme and, assuredly, with your experience of the country, you wouldbe able to get through better than anyone else. I do not apprehendthat there would be any great danger, for we know that everyavailable fighting man has been impressed, by Bandoola; and thepassage of our column will completely cow the villagers lyingbetween us and the river.

  "I suppose," he said, with a smile, "that you have no objection,since it will save you a long and, I have no doubt, a veryunpleasant march; and you will also obtain a view of the affairs atthe stockades at Pellang and Donabew."

  The land column started on the 13th of February, the water columnon the 16th, and the detachment for Bassein sailed on the followingday. Stanley was delighted at being appointed to accompany the boatcolumn. The march through the country would present no novelty tohim, and it was probable that the land column would encounter noserious resistance until, after being joined by General Cotton'sforce, it advanced against Prome. His horses went, with those ofGeneral Cotton and his staff, under charge of the syce and Meinik.

  The one steamboat kept, at the start, in rear of the great flotillaof boats so that, in case of any of them striking on a sandbank, itcould at once move to her assistance, and pull her off. The scenewas a very bright one as, in all, upwards of a hundred craft, ofvarious sizes, proceeded together. In front were half a dozengunboats; next to these came the two sloops of war; followed by therest of the boats, proceeding in irregular order. There was verylittle stream, for the rivers were now quite low and, although theflat country was still little more than a swamp, the rains in thehills that supplied the main body of water to them had long sinceceased. The ships' boats were, of course, rowed by the blue-jackets.The other craft were, for the most part, manned by natives; thoughthe soldiers on board occasionally lent a hand.

  Two days after starting, the boats destroyed three newly-erectedstockades, that were found unoccupied; and on the 19th reachedPellang, where three very strong stockades had been erected. Abattery was thrown up next day from which, as well as from thesteamboat and sloops of war, shells were thrown into the stockade;with such effect that two of the enemy's works were evacuated, assoon as the troops took the offensive, and the main Pellangstockade was also abandoned, without resistance. The two smallerworks were destroyed, and a portion of the 18th Madras Infantry wasleft here, to maintain communication with Rangoon.

  On the 27th the flotilla entered the main stream and, the next day,the advance came in sight of Donabew. It was another five daysbefore the whole force was in position, for several of the mostheavily laden craft stuck fast on the sandbanks at the fork of theriver. The next day Donabew was summoned to surrender. Bandoola,who was at the head of 15,000 men, returned a refusal; which wasgiven in courteous terms, differing very widely from the haughtyand peremptory language in which all previous communications hadbeen couched.

  The next day a party of the 89th landed on the low-lying groundbetween the main stockade and the river and, in spite of the heavyfire, succeeded in ascertaining the strength and nature of thedefences. The main work was in the form of a parallelogram, about amile long, and stood on ground rising above the general level; andfifty pieces of cannon, of various sizes, were in position on theriver face. Two outworks, constructed of square beams of timber,with an outer ditch and a thick abbatis, defended the southern faceagainst an attack from an enemy landing below it.

  It was necessary to leave a strong guard on board the flotilla,lest an attack should be made by war canoes and fire rafts. Thegeneral, therefore, had not more than 600 men available for theassault. As the enemy's guns completely commanded the river, it wasnecessary to land below it; and on the morning of the 7th thetroops were disembarked, with two six-pounder guns and a rocketdetachment. Forming in two columns, they advanced against the lowerof the two covering stockades and, after an exchange of fire withthe enemy, rushed forward and forced an entrance into it; althoughthe enemy resisted with more resolution than they had, for sometime, shown. 280 prisoners were taken, and the rest of thedefenders fled to the second work.

  Two more guns and four mortars were landed and placed in positionand, after the stockades had been shelled for a short time, astorming party--under Captain Rose--advanced to the assault. Soheavy a fire was opened upon them that the little column wasbrought to a standstill, and forced to fall back; with the loss ofits commander, and of Captain Cannon of the 89th, while most of theseamen with the storming party were either killed or wounded.

  This want of success, against a mere outwork, showed General Cottonthat--with the small force at his disposal--it would be worse thanuseless to renew the attack for, were the outwork carried, the losswould be so great that it would be hopeless to think of attackingBandoola's main position. He therefore determined to abstain fromfurther attack, until reinforced.

  "Now, Mr. Brooke," he said, as soon as the troops had been taken onboard the boats again, "I must bring your services intorequisition. This is just the contingency that we thought mightpossibly occur. I cannot advance up the river until Donabew istaken, and I cannot attack the place with the force at my command.Therefore I will at once write a despatch to General Campbell, foryou to carry. You will be accompanied by the two men of thebodyguard, who have come with me as orderlies. I shall have no usefor them, here; and three of you, together, need not fear anymolestation from the few people remaining in their villages, andmay be able to cut your way through any of the bands of deserters,or beaten troops, dispersed over the country."

  "Very well, General. I shall also take my Burman, on my secondcharger. He may be useful in getting news as to roads from thenatives; who will, as likely as not, fly into the jungle when theysee us approaching. However, there is not much fear of our losingour way, as it will be along the river, as far as Tharawa."

  A boat was at once sent off to the craft carrying the two orderliesand the horses of the staff. As soon as the despatch was written,Stanley, after shaking hands with his companions, was also rowed tothe horse barge. This was, at a signal of the general, taken in towby the steamer, and piloted to the opposite bank. A boat, soundingahead, presently found a spot where there was enough water for thebarge to get alongside the bank. The horses were led ashore; andStanley, the two troopers, and Meinik mounted.

  The Burmese are poor riders but, during the wet season, Stanley hadoften taken Meinik, on his spare horse, when riding about in thecamp; partly because he could trust him to look after the horsescarefully, and in the second place to accustom him to ride onhorseback so as to act, if required, as an orderly. Meinik wasquite of opinion that there would be no risk, whatever, in passingthrough villages; but thought it probable that they might fall inwith disbanded troops, as it was known that the land column had,soon after starting, captured the fort of Mophi; and that itsgarrison, between two and three thousand strong, had taken to thejungle and dispersed.

  "Still, master," he said, "I don't think it likely that they willattack us. They will be expecting no one, and we shall come uponthem by surprise; then they will run into the bushes, thinking thatyou must have many more troops behind you. No, it is not likelythat they will have many guns; they would throw them away when theyfled, partly to run faster through the forest, partly because mostof them will be making off to the villages, hoping to lie concealeduntil the war is over; while if they had guns in their hands, itwould be known that they were deserters, and they might be seizedand sent across the river to Bandoola, or up to Prome."

  They rode some fifteen miles before dar
k, and then took up theirquarters in a village. The few old men, women, and childreninhabiting it fled, at their approach; but when Meinik went to theedge of the jungle, and shouted out loudly that they need not fear,for that no harm would be done to any of them, and good priceswould be given for food, two or three returned and, finding thestatements to be true, one of them went into the jungle again, andbrought the others back. Fowls and eggs were brought into the hutthat Stanley occupied, and a good supply of grain for the horseswas also purchased. Thus, Stanley was able to avoid breaking intothe small stock of provisions they had brought with them.

  The inhabitants of this part of Burma were a tribe known asCarians. They were the tillers of the soil, and were an industriousand hardy race. The country was so rich that they not only raisedsufficient for their own wants, but sent large supplies of grainand rice to Ava. They were very heavily taxed but, as a rule, wereexempt from conscription. Nevertheless they had, on the presentoccasion, been forced to labour at the stockades, and intransporting food for the troops.

  Their forest villages were small. They consisted of little huts,erected either in trees shorn of their branches, or upon verystrong poles. These abodes were only accessible by rough ladders,formed by nailing pieces of wood across the trees or poles. Thiswas absolutely necessary, on account of the number of tigers thatinfested the forest. The village where they had halted was,however, built upon the ground; but was surrounded by a strongstockade. The people assured Stanley that none of the fugitivesfrom Mophi had come that way.

  There had, they said, been many, after Bandoola's defeat; but theyhad seen none, of late. They declared that they had far greaterfear of these than they had of the English; for that they plunderedwherever they went and, if they could not obtain enough to satisfytheir expectations, burnt the houses, and often killed many of theinhabitants. The villagers volunteered to keep watch all night, atthe gate of the stockade; although they said that there was no fearof anyone approaching, as strangers could not find their waythrough the forest, in the dark and, even could they do so, thefear of tigers would prevent them from making the attempt. Stanleyagreed to pay some of them to watch, but also stationed one of hisown men as sentry, relieving him every three hours.

  An hour after they reached the village, they saw one of the warboats rowing rapidly up the stream; and had no doubt that it wasbearing a message from Bandoola, saying that he had repulsed theattack of the British. Beyond hearing the howling of tigers in theforest, Stanley passed the night undisturbed, except when he wentto change the sentry. Meinik took his share of watching; andStanley, himself, relieved him an hour before daybreak.

  By the time the sun rose, the horses had been fed and breakfasttaken. After riding some miles, the country became more open.Cultivated fields succeeded the dense forest. The ground washigher, and little groups of huts could be seen, wherever a smallelevation rose above the general level. The change was verywelcome, for they were able to travel faster, and there was lesschance of their coming suddenly upon a party of the disbandedtroops.

  Presently, just as they reached a larger village than usual, by theriver bank, a thick smoke arose from one of the houses, and theycould hear female screams.

  "Come on!" Stanley shouted, to the three men riding behind him."See that your pistols are ready to hand, and draw your swords."

  Illustration: Stanley cut down the man who was about to fire thehut.

  This village was not, like the last, stockaded; being some milesaway from the forest. As they dashed into it, they saw some twentyBurmese. Two women lay dead, in front of one house; and one of themen, with a torch, was about to fire another. Absorbed in their owndoings, the Burmese did not notice the coming of the horsemen untilthe latter were close to them. Then, with a cry of consternation,they turned to fly; but it was too late. Stanley cut down the manwho was about to fire the hut, and he and the others then fell uponthe Burmans, with sword and pistol. Six of them were killed. Therest were pursued but, dashing down to the river, they plunged in,pistol shots being sent after them.

  Stanley remained on the bank, until he saw that they had fairlystarted to cross the river, then he re-entered the village. Two orthree frightened people came out from their hiding places, whenMeinik shouted to them that all was safe.

  "They have all gone," he said, "you need not fear being disturbedby them again. See, there are six guns lying in the road; and youwill find plenty of ammunition on those fellows that have fallen.There are some spears and swords, too. Of course, you can donothing if a number of these fellows come; but if there are onlytwo or three, you and the women ought to be able to dispose ofthem. Now we must ride on."

  On the third day they arrived at Tharawa, and found that Sir A.Campbell, who had been assured by the natives that Bandoola hadretreated, had continued his march the day before. The place was solarge that Stanley thought it unsafe for them to sleep there, andthey rode on to a little village, two miles away. Here they werereceived with great deference, the passage of the troops the daybefore having profoundly impressed the villagers. After waitingthree hours to rest the horses, they again mounted and, riding allnight, arrived in the morning at Yuadit--a village twenty-six milesfrom Tharawa--and found the force on the point of starting.

  "No bad news, I hope, Mr. Brooke?" the general said, as he rode upto him.

  "I am sorry to say, sir, that my news is not good. Here is thebrigadier's despatch."

  "This is unfortunate, indeed," the general said, when he had runhis eye over the document.

  "Mr. Tollemache, please to ride along the line, and say that thecolumn is not to get into motion until further orders."

  Colonel Adair and the other officers of the staff had been on thepoint of mounting, when Stanley rode up. The general called two orthree of the senior officers to him.

  "Cotton can neither take Donabew, nor get past it," he said. "Hereis his despatch. You see, he has lost several officers and a goodmany men; and that in the assault on an outlying work, only. I amafraid that there is nothing for us to do, but go back to hisassistance."

  "I am afraid not, sir," Colonel Adair said. "Our supplies arerunning short already and, you see, we decided upon filling up allthe carts at Tharawa, where we made sure that we should be met bythe boats. The country round here has been completely stripped, andit would be a very serious matter to endeavour to advance to Prome,without supplies. Moreover, we might expect a much more seriousresistance than we have bargained for. The news that Bandoola hasrepulsed his assailants--and you may be sure that this has beenexaggerated into a great victory--will restore the spirit of theBurmese. It is evident that we must turn back, and finish off withBandoola before we advance further."

  Orders were accordingly sent, to the officers commanding thevarious corps, that the column was to retrace its steps and, whilethey passed through the village, Stanley related, in much greaterdetail than had been given in the despatch, the events of theattack, and the nature of the defences at Donabew.

  The troops marched along with a cheerful mien. It was, of course,an annoyance to have to plod back along the road they had beforetraversed but, upon the other hand, there was a generalsatisfaction that they were, after all, to take part in the captureof Bandoola's last stronghold.

  Colonel Adair rode on with the little troop of cavalry. He was topush forward to Tharawa, and was to offer rewards to the nativesthere for every boat brought in. There was little doubt that manyof the fishermen had hauled up their craft into clumps of bushesand brush wood, to prevent their being requisitioned by Bandoolaand, although it was not likely that a large number would now beobtained, yet even if but a dozen were found, it would be ofassistance.

  The rest of the force reached Tharawa on the following evening,with the exception of a party left to protect the slow-movingwaggons. They found that nine canoes had been obtained, and that aconsiderable portion of the scanty population had been, all day,employed in cutting bamboos and timber for rafts.

  The next morning the troops were all engaged on the same w
ork, andin the construction of rafts; and at nightfall three hundred men ofthe 49th were taken across the river to the town of Henzada, incase Bandoola, on hearing of the preparations for crossing, shouldsend a force to oppose the passage. It took four days' continuouslabour to get the little army across, as it was necessary to makelarge timber rafts to carry the carts, horses and bullocks, gunsand stores.

  Hearing that a force was posted, some fifteen miles away, tointercept the detachment that was marching from Bassein; ColonelGodwin, with a party, was sent off that night to endeavour tosurprise it. The Burmese, however, took the alarm before they wereattacked; and scattered in all directions, without firing a shot.The army marched along the right bank, and arrived before Donabewon the 25th of March. Communications were opened with GeneralCotton's force, below the town; and both divisions set to work toerect batteries.

  The Burmese made several sorties to interrupt the work, and one ofthese was accompanied by Bandoola's seventeen elephants. The troopof cavalry, horse artillery, and the rocket company charged closeup to the elephants; and opened fire upon the howdahs, filled withtroops, that they carried. In a short time most of these and thedrivers were killed; and the elephants--many of which also hadreceived wounds--dashed off into the jungle, while the infantryfled back into the stockade, into which a discharge of shells androckets was maintained, all day.

  The next morning--the 1st of April--the mortar batteries werecompleted; and these, and others armed with light guns, kept up acontinuous fire into the enemy's camp. At daybreak on the 2nd, theheavy guns of the breaching batteries also opened fire and, in avery short time, the enemy were seen pouring out in the rear oftheir works, and making their way into the jungle. As there hadbeen no idea that they would so speedily evacuate the stockade, nopreparations had been made for cutting them off; and the garrison,therefore, effected their escape with but little loss.

  The troops at once occupied the work, and found large stores ofgrain and ammunition there, as well as a great number of guns. Fromsome of the wounded Burmans, it was ascertained that the evacuationof the fort was due to the death of Bandoola; who had been killed,by the explosion of a shell, while watching the operations from alookout that had been erected for him, at the top of a lofty tree.His death had caused the most profound depression among thegarrison. Their leaders in vain endeavoured to reanimate theircourage. The opening of the fire with the heavy guns completedtheir discomfiture, and they fled without thought of resistance.Indeed, the greater part had stolen away during the night.

  A portion of the fleet had already passed up beyond the fort, undera heavy fire; and the rest now came up. The supplies of grain wererenewed and, a guard being left to hold the works, which would nowserve as a base, the army again started up the river--the watercolumn proceeding to Tharawa, the land force marching back toHenzada, whence they were carried across the river in the boats.Here the force was joined by the reserve column from Rangoon,consisting of several companies of the Royals and the 28th NativeInfantry, with a supply of elephants and carriage cattle which hadarrived from Calcutta.

  On the 14th, Yuadit was again reached. No opposition, whatever, wasencountered; indeed, the whole country was deserted, theinhabitants having been ordered away by the Burmese authorities, assoon as the fall of Donabew was known. When within four days' marchof Prome, two native officials came in, with a communication to theeffect that the Burmese were ready to treat for peace. As it wasknown, however, that reinforcements were on their way down fromAva, it was evident that this was merely a pretext to gain time;and the general sent word that, when he arrived at Prome, he wouldbe ready to open negotiations for peace.

  The country through which the army was now passing was verybeautiful. In the far distance on the left, the mountains of Aracancould be seen; while on the right the country was undulating,richly cultivated, and broken by clumps of timber, with abackground of the range of hills running along near the Pegu river.On the 24th the heights of Prome, eight miles away, were visible;and the flotilla could be seen, lying at anchor a short distancebelow the town. Messengers came out that afternoon, to endeavour toinduce the general not to enter it; but a reply was sent that thiswas out of the question, that no harm would befall the inhabitants,and that--as soon as he entered--the general would be ready toreceive any persons qualified to treat for peace.

  Some hours before daybreak the army marched forward and, bysunrise, were close to the town. The position was found to beextremely strong. Every hill commanding the place had beenfortified, to the very summit. Strong stockades ran in everydirection, and it was evident that a great number of men must havebeen engaged, for a long time, in attempting to render the placeimpregnable.

  Not a soldier, however, was to be found. A native of the placepresently met them, with the news that the governor and troops hadevacuated it, with the exception of a small party who were firingthe town. This story was corroborated by wreaths of smoke, risingat various points.

  The troops pressed forward at the top of their speed. On enteringthe town, they found that the native population had all been forcedto leave and, piling their arms, they set to work to extinguish theflames; which they did not, however, succeed in doing until nearlyhalf the town was destroyed. Fortunately the fire was checkedbefore it reached the great magazines of grain, and other stores,for the army.

  The belief that the negotiations had been only pretexts to arrestthe advance of the troops against the town, until the expectedreinforcements arrived, was confirmed by the natives; who presentlycame in from hiding places where they had taken refuge, until theirarmy retired. They said that, as soon as the news came of the fallof Donabew, fresh levies were ordered to be collected in every partof Upper Burma; while the whole population of the province had beenemployed in adding to the defences of the town, which had beenalready very strongly stockaded.

  It was a disappointment to the force, which had hoped that theoccupation of Prome would bring about the submission of the courtof Ava; and enable them to be taken down the river in boats, andembark, before the rainy season again set in. Nevertheless, theprospect of passing that season at Prome was vastly more pleasantthan if it had to be spent at Rangoon. They were now inland, beyondthe point where the rains were continuous. The town was situated onhigh ground, and the country round was open and healthy. Althoughfor some little distance round the cattle had been driven off, andthe villages destroyed; it was certain that flying columns would beable to bring in any amount of cattle, before the wet season began.

  For a short time, it was thought that the occupation of Prome wouldshow the king and court that it was useless to continue thestruggle, any longer; but these hopes were dissipated when it wasknown that a further levy of 30,000 men had been called out. Thecourt, however, was apparently conscious that its commands would nolonger be obeyed with the alacrity before manifested. The earlylevies had obeyed the call with cheerfulness; believing in theirinvincibility, and confident that they would return home laden withspoil after driving, without difficulty, the audacious strangersinto the sea. Things, however, had not turned out so. The troopsthat had left Ava in high spirits had been routed, with very heavylosses. Their great general, Bandoola, had been killed; andfugitives from the army were scattered over the land, bearing withthem reports of the extraordinary fighting powers of these whiteenemies, and of the hopelessness of attempting to resist them. Theconsequence was that in issuing the order for the new levy a bountyof twenty pounds, which to the Burmans was a very large sum, wasoffered to each man who obeyed the call.

  The first step, on the part of the British general, was to sendproclamations through the country; guaranteeing protection to all,and inviting the population to return to their towns and villages.The troops were employed in erecting, with the assistance of asmuch native labour as could be procured, comfortable huts outsidethe town; so that the natives, on returning should find their homesunoccupied and untouched. It was not long before this excellentpolicy had its due effect. As soon as those who first returned sentthe news t
o their friends, the fugitives came out from their hidingplaces in the forests, in great numbers, and returned to the city.Those whose homes were still standing settled down in them andresumed their ordinary avocations, just as if their native rulerswere still in authority; while those whose houses had been burnedset to work, with a cheerfulness characteristic of their race, tore-erect their light wooden dwellings.

  So favourable were the reports spread through the country of ourconduct that, in a short time, the population of Prome wasconsiderably larger than it had been before the advance of ourarmy. Similar results were speedily manifest throughout the wholedistrict below the town. From the great forest that covered morethan half of it, the villagers poured out, driving before themherds of cattle and, in two or three months, the country that hadappeared a desert became filled with an industrious population.Order was established. The local civil officers were againappointed to their former posts, but their powers of oppression andintimidation were abrogated, by the order that no punishment beyonda short term of imprisonment was to be inflicted on any person,whatever, until the case had been brought before the Britishauthorities; and soon the only fear entertained by the people ofthe rich district of the lower Irrawaddy was that the Britishtroops would march away, and leave them again to the oppression andtyranny of their former masters.

  The markets of Prome were abundantly supplied with food of allsorts and, as everything was liberally paid for, any number ofbullocks were obtainable for, although the Burmese are forbidden bytheir religion to kill cattle, and therefore keep them only fordraught purposes, they had no objection to our killing them; orindeed, to eat the meat, when they could obtain it. Labour of allkinds was abundant, and great numbers of canoes were constructedfor the purpose of bringing up supplies from the villages on theriver, and for the advance of the force at the end of the wetseason. Until this set in in earnest, small bodies of troopsmarched through the forests; driving out the bands that infestedthem, and plundered and killed the country people without mercy.

  The general's aides-de-camp had a busy time of it, being constantlyemployed in carrying orders to the towns and villages, in hearingcomplaints and, in Stanley's case, entering into agreements for thepurchase of cattle and grain. When in Prome, he spent a good dealof his spare time with his cousin who, having bought a horse,frequently obtained leave to accompany him on his excursions onduty. A warm friendship had sprung up between them. Harry was twoyears older than Stanley, and had been at Eton up to the time thathe entered the army. He was, however, in manner no older than hiscousin; whose work, for the three years previous to the outbreak ofthe war, had rendered him graver and more manly than a life spentamong lads of his own age could have done.

  Meinik always accompanied Stanley, wherever he went. He had now, tothe latter's quiet amusement, modified his Burmese costume; makingit look like that of some of the whites and, indeed, he would havepassed without notice as one of the Goa-Portuguese mess waiters, inhis suit of white nankeen. When riding, or on any service away fromthe headquarter camp, he was dressed in a suit of tough brown khakiwhich he had obtained from one of the traders at Rangoon. The coatdiffered but little from that of the suit Stanley had handed overto him; except that it was somewhat shorter and without the smallshoulder cape and, in fact, resembled closely the modern regimentaltunic. Below he wore knee breeches of the same material; withputties, or long bands of cloth, wound round and round the leg, andwhich possessed many advantages over gaiters. He still clung to theturban but, instead of being white, it was of the same colour ashis clothes, and was much larger than the Burmese turban.

  "Burmese are great fools," he often said to Stanley. "They thinkthey know a great deal; they know nothing at all. They think theyare great fighters; they are no good at fighting, for oneEnglishman beats ten of them. Their government is no good--it keepseveryone very poor and miserable. You come here; you know nothingof the country, and yet you make everyone comfortable. We ridethrough the villages; we see everyone rejoicing that they aregoverned by the English, and hoping that the English will never goaway again.

  "What do you think, sir--will you stay here always? You have hadmuch trouble to take the country. A great many people have beenill; a great many died. Now you have got it, why should you go awayagain?"

  "It is quite certain that we shall not give it all up, Meinik. Ithas been, as you say, a troublesome and very expensive business;and the farther the king obliges us to go up, before he makespeace, the more he will have to pay, either in money or territory.Of course, I cannot say what the terms of peace will be; but Ishould think that, very likely, we shall hold the country from thesea up to here, with Aracan and a strip along the sea coast ofTenasserim."

  "That will be good," Meinik said. "I shall never go outside theEnglish land, again. There will be plenty to do, and a great tradeon the river; everyone will be happy and contented. I should be afool to go back to Upper Burma; where they would chop off my head,if they knew that I had been down to Rangoon when the English werethere."