Page:Lord Amherst and the British Advance Eastwards to Burma.djvu/109

Rh measures were being taken in the original seat of the troubles to restore the prestige of the Company. Few countries presented greater difficulty to a military commander. The rainfall on this coastline is far above the standard even of the humid regions of the world. The rivers perversely flow from the central mountain range almost parallel to the coast, and for great distances are rather estuaries than streams, so that a force advancing to the south would have to pass through sodden wastes either sterile or covered with dense masses of tropical vegetation, and at frequent intervals have to cross what were practically inlets of the sea. The beauty of the scenery was no adequate set-off in the eyes of the commanders for the enormous difficulties of transport. As will be seen hereafter the Government at Calcutta found the gravity of their task aggravated by the mutinous spirit of the troops who were detailed for the undertaking. At length, however, an army of 11,000 men was concentrated at Chittagong under General Morrison. Gunboats and cruisers sailed along the coast carrying the two European regiments. The passage of the Náf river was not disputed by the enemy, but a painful struggle of two months with physical obstacles lay before them. Sir Henry Lawrence, then a subaltern, was serving with General Morrison; and there is an interesting account in his Life of the many struggles his division encountered on its way — Sir Henry, up to his waist in water, fording rivers and transporting all the horses of a regiment and all