The Geographical Journal (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society): Volume XII, No. 2 [‎305v] (113/154)

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OBITUARY.
were weak and faint (having had no food for nearly two days!). \\oodthorpe
took the raft across himself every trip (only one passenger could go at a time, as
the plantain trees were so heavy and sunk more than a foot under water), and, as
usual, worked like a Trojan. On another occasion he made us fell a tree across
a deep and rushing mountain torrent, and, rigging up a hand-rail of cane, we crossed
safely. Once we were very hard up for food, and saw no prospect of obtaining
any. Woodthorpe recollected he had a few dynamite cartridges, so he went on
a river in a little Berthon boat, and, exploding the cartridges by the aid of some
Bickford’s fuses, obtained a plentiful supply of fish, and so saved the situation. I
could quote very many instances of the skill, readiness, pluck, and resource of my
friend, and it gives me now the greatest pleasure to look back upon the happy
and exciting times we have had together.
Colonel H. Godwin-Austen, f.r.s., in his paper read before the British Association
at Aberdeen in 1885, on Woodthorpe’s expedition from Assam to the Irrawadi,
said, “ Colonel Woodthorpe possesses all the qualifications that make the
successful explorer. Great powers of endurance and observation, zeal for his
work, brave but cautious, a talented draughtsman, and last, but not least, the tact
to make himself liked by the people of the country.” Colonel Sir H. Yule, in the
discussion that followed the reading of my paper in 1886 on Woodthorpe’s expe
dition before the Royal Geographical Society, said, “ I am delighted to hear the
testimony which Major Macgregor has borne with regard to his fellow-traveller,
Colonel Woodthorpe, an officer with whose remarkable enterprises I have been
much impressed for the last seven or eight years. Colonel Woodthorpe has made
several remarkable journeys to the north-east of India ; but his explorations have
not been confined to that region. He has just returned from a journey in the
extreme north-west beyond the British frontier, through passes which have never
before been trodden by any European (exploration beyond Gilghit with General
Sir William Lockhart). Colonel Woodthorpe has been an explorer in the regions
of the sources of the Irrawadi and of the Oxus.” On the same occasion, General
J. T. Walker (late Surveyor-General of India) said, “ Colonel Woodthorpe is one
of the ablest and best officers in a department which contains many and excellent
men.”
In 1885-86 he followed the fortunes of an officer (Sir William Lockhart, who
will shortly return to India as the third commander-in-chief, whose friendship and
regard Woodthorpe had the good fortune to win) in the hazardous opening-up of
friendly tribal relations, and the exploration of routes north of Chitral during the pro
gress of the Afghan Boundary Commission under Sir Peter Lumsden. Sir William
Lockhart knows well what his services were on that occasion ; his patient, untiring
devotion to duty as surveyor of the expedition in face of difficulties that would have
paralyzed the courage and swamped the endurance of any ordinary man. Years
afterwards, under very different circumstances, the opportunity occurred of testing
the accuracy of the work so accomplished by more rigorous methods which the
general advance of scientific surveys in these regions rendered feasible. I can
only say that I have never ceased to maivel at the completeness and thorough
ness of Woodthorpe’s results, knowing well what he had to face in order to secure
them.
On February 15, 1889, he was appointed by Lord Roberts chief of the
Intelligence Branch of the Q.M.G.'s Department in India. No better selection
could apparently have been made. The Indian Intelligence system is entirely
different to that of England. In England, Intelligence officers can always work on
the assured basis of sound maps. In India, both sound topography and general
ethnological information have first to be secured by the Survey Department before