In Spite Of The Depressing Character Of The Climate
(Cherrapunjee Boasts The Highest Rainfall On Record), Yule Thoroughly
Enjoyed Himself, And Always Looked Back With Special Pleasure On The Time
He Spent Here.
He was unsuccessful in the object of his mission, the
obstacles to cheap transport offered by the dense forests
And mighty
precipices proving insurmountable, but he gathered a wealth of interesting
observations on the country and people, a very primitive Mongolian race,
which he subsequently embodied in two excellent and most interesting
papers (the first he ever published).[27]
In the following year, 1842, Yule was transferred to the irrigation canals
of the north-west with head-quarters at Kurnaul. Here he had for chief
Captain (afterwards General Sir William) Baker, who became his dearest and
most steadfast friend. Early in 1843 Yule had his first experience of
field service. The death without heir of the Khytul Rajah, followed by the
refusal of his family to surrender the place to the native troops sent to
receive it, obliged Government to send a larger force against it, and the
canal officers were ordered to join this. Yule was detailed to serve under
Captain Robert Napier (afterwards F.-M. Lord Napier of Magdala). Their
immediate duty was to mark out the route for a night march of the troops,
barring access to all side roads, and neither officer having then had any
experience of war, they performed the duty "with all the elaborate care of
novices." Suddenly there was an alarm, a light detected, and a night
attack awaited, when the danger resolved itself into Clerk Sahib's
khansamah with welcome hot coffee![28] Their hopes were disappointed,
there was no fighting, and the Fort of Khytul was found deserted by the
enemy.
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