4.1 Theria Ghat

4.1   

Theria Ghat (near Bholaganj)

 Dak Bungalow

Theria Ghat

We begin tracing Scott’s Road at Therria Ghat. Therria lies below Mahadeo in the East Khasi Hills District of Meghalaya.
Presently there is no sign of a Ghat[35], but even if it did exist, it is likely to be in Goainghat sub-district of Sylhet District in Bangladesh. Therria Ghat was strategically located in the intricate inland waterway system of the Surma valley. Therria Ghat had easy water access to the Surma river and from there down the river to the even more intricate Ganges river system and on to Calcutta.
 

In about 1832, it was a 3 week tedious passage from Calcutta to the foot of the Khassia Hills[36]. The course was devious, and often interrupted, while crossing the Sunderbunds, or low swampy grounds of Bengal where the Ganges discharged itself into the sea, by a hundred mouths, which had to be crossed. As mentioned previously, at the end of the voyage, there was a comfortable Bungalow provided by the Company, where travellers lodged before ascending the Khasi Hills. At night tigers could be heard roaring in the neighbourhood. While ascending the steep sides of the mountains, women and children were borne in chairs[37] and hampers according to the usual mode of travelling in these hills.

In 1835, Robert Pemberton[38] wrote about this area:
 

“Throughout the whole of this ascent, from the base of the mountain to the crest of the table-land, the most luxuriant vegetation is seen; and the road, by which the more elevated regions are attained, has been so much improved, that the whole distance from Teerea Ghaut to Moosmye may now be traversed, on horseback, with perfect safety. The country at the foot of the ascent is, during the rainy season, almost entirely inundated, and remarkably unhealthy, but even at an elevation of about 1,300 feet, this character of insalubrity ceases to exist, and the inhabitants of Soopar Poonjee appear to be altogether exempt from the diseases, which prevail in the country immediately below them.”

 

In 1841, the first Welsh missionary in the Khasi Hills, Thomas Jones, travelled with his young wife Anne Jones to Cherra punjee from Calcutta down the Hoogly river, then the Sunderbans, and finally up the river networks to the Surma river and fresh water Jheels[39] to the foothills below Cherra punjee[40].  Then they had to climb up the mountains on foot or had to be carried in ‘Khoh-Kit-Briew’ up 4,500 feet.  They finally reached Cherra punjee on 22 June 1841.
 

Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker was one of the greatest British botanists and explorers of the 19th century. Hooker was one of the founders of geographical botany, and Charles Darwin's closest friend. On 11 November 1847, Hooker left England for a three year long Himalayan expedition, which included the Khasi Hills. In about 1850, when Hooker[41] was traversing the region, he painted a very beautiful picture of the area:
 

The Therria bungalow lies at the very foot of the first rise of the mountains; on the way we crossed many small streams upon the elephants, and one large one by canoes: the water in all was cool and sparkling, running rapidly over boulders and pebbles. Their banks of sandy clay were beautifully fringed with a willow-like laurel, bamboos and palms, over which rattan and various flowering plants climbed.
 

Dr. Thomas Oldham (1816-78) was the professor of geology at Trinity College, Dublin, and Director of the Geological Surveys of Ireland and India. In 1854, Oldham[42] traversed the region and reported:
 

“The ascent to the hills by the beaten road, is at first very gradual, along the sides of a sandstone spur—but at the height of 2,000 feet, the slope suddenly becomes steep and rocky, and the road mounts by bold staircases and zigzags to the table land above. In the first portion of the ascent the road is beautifully shaded by groves of the orange and citron, the jack and the betel palm, mixed with stately forest trees, many of them entwined with pawn and here and there a gigantic banyan.”
 

Oldham also reported that in their shade the pineapple and plantains grew in wild profusion. In places water pipes, fashioned out of hollowed betel nut tree trunks, carried water for several hundred yards along the hillside. The groves from which the whole of Bengal was supplied with oranges, occupied a belt of one to two miles in breadth, at the sloping base of these mountains, and in a soil formed of the debris of limestone, which formed the principal rock on this side of the range.
 

They seemed to thrive up to an elevation of nearly 2,000 feet above the plains, where the character of the vegetation indicated a change, from a tropical to a more temperate region, and the wild raspberry and strawberry were seen on the borders of the numerous small springs, which issued from fissures in the rocks.
 

Therria Ghat also witnessed some macabre incidents in November 1862. The European residents of Cherra poonjee, most of whom were ladies and children, were seriously alarmed by the movements of a body of Syntengs (or Pnars). James Thornton who retired as the Deputy Surgeon General of the Bengal Medical Service was stationed here during 1867-1869. According to Thornton, having contrived to elude the British troops in the Jyntia Hills, they made their way as far as Terria Ghat[43], at the foot of the Khasia Hills, and only 10 miles from Cherra punji station. They surprised and burned the place, killing some of the inhabitants, several police, and two or three unfortunate Bengali traders (called ‘box wallahs’) who were on their way to Cherra punji to sell their wares.
 

The Welsh missionaries also reported that in 1862, one company of Syntengs, numbering about 300, came within 7 miles of Cherra punji, intending to march upon the European settlement[44]. During the night a sudden rush was made upon Therria Ghat village, at the foot of the hills, where a number of Bengalis were slain, their skulls being carried away on the point of their spears in triumph.

In about 1866, Pollock noted that:
 

“the Terria Ghat river afforded capital fishing, and in its neighbourhood both small and large game were to be found[45]...In the rains, when the plains were inundated, numerous tigers used to come up the hill, and it was not safe to go out after dark, and many people were killed by them”. 
 

Owing to the hilly nature of the country, and the consequent lack of roads, a large number of men, women, and children, gained their livelihood as coolies or carriers[46]. The narrow paths zigzagged torturously and the Welsh missionaries considered them more fit for goats and monkeys than human beings. Yet up and down these rugged, crooked paths, both men and women went with remarkable agility, carrying heavy loads, the men about 80 pounds (40 kgs.), and the women about 50 pounds (25 kgs.), for 15 to 18 miles a day.
 

The 'basket' in which the load was carried was suspended from a plaited band, two or three inches broad, fixed firmly against the forehead. The strongest coolies could carry men, of average weight, in the Ka Ko or Toppah, which was also suspended from a strap across the forehead. In taking long journeys, two carriers were required for the Toppah, who carried their passenger in turn.
 

Toppahs, however were a dangerous mode of transport. In September 1887, 8 new Welsh missionaries sailed for India from Liverpool, England. Amongst them were Dr. and Mrs. Arthur D. Hughes (destined for the Jaintia Medical Mission in Jowai). Owing to a serious accident to his wife, while being carried in a Toppah at the top of a steep precipice, Dr. A.D. Hughes had to return home in the spring of 1891.
 

Major Philip Richard Thornhagh Gurdon was the Deputy Commissioner of Eastern Bengal and Assam Commission, and Superintendent of Ethnography in Assam. In 1906, Gurdon reported that besides carrying people, a considerable number of Khasis earned their livelihood as porters, carrying potatoes to the markets on the Sylhet side of the district. From here the potatoes were transported in country boats to the different places of call of river-steamers in the Surma Valley[47]. Eventually the steamers carried the potatoes to Calcutta. Many persons were also employed in carrying rice up the hill from Theria to Cherra punji, Shillong, and on to other places. Salt was also carried by porters by this route. 

The coolies, both male and female, could do the journey between Cherra punji and Shillong, or between Shillong and Jowai, in one day - each of the journeys was some 30 miles. They carried their loads of rice and salt from Therria to Cherra punji, an ascent of about 4,000 feet in some three to four miles, in the day. The Khasis were considered the best porters in the north of India, and were frequently requisitioned for transport on military expeditions.