m 
 
 L^N 
 
 
 
 ;sN 
 
 ,ER LAND 
 
 D WORK 
 PAUL FRONTIE 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 4 

 
 DR. MANAK BAMJI. 
 
 SUBJECT 
 
 No. 
 
 674 India. INGLIS (The Hon. James) Tent 
 
 f T '*e in Tigerland ; being Sporting Re- 
 liscences of a Pioneer Planter in an I 
 lian Frontier District. Coloured plates, fl 
 -. 8vo. 1888. NICK COPY. 1 8s. 
 lN?fls (Gen. J. J. M.) The "Life" 
 
 and Times of General Sir James Browne, 
 R.E., K.C.B., K.C.S.I. Plates, 8vo. 1905. 55. 
 
 676 - - IRWIN (H. C.) The Garden of 
 India ; or, Chapters on Oudh History and 
 Affairs. 8vo. 1880. 6s. 
 
 677 JAMES (Sir W. M.) The British in- 
 
 India. Map, 8vo. 1882. 55. 
 
 678 KAYE (J. W.) Lives of Indian 
 
 Officers, illustrative of the History of the 
 Civil and Military Services of India. 2 
 vols., 8vo. 1867. los. 6d. 
 
 679 KAYE and MALLESON'S History of 
 
 the Indian Mutiny of 1857-8. 6 vols.. cr. 
 8vo. 1897. NICE COPY. I2S. 6d. 
 
 680 KEENE (H. G.) History of India 
 
 from the Earliest Times to the End of the 
 Nineteenth Century. 2 vols. 8vo. 1906. 153. 
 
 681 - - KNIGHT (E. F.) Where Three 
 Empires Meet. A Narrative of Recent 
 Travel in Kashmir, Western Tibet, Gilgit, 
 and the adjoining Countries. Illus. and 
 map, 8vo. 1893. 6s. 
 
 682 - - LEITNER (G. W.) The Languages 
 and Races of Dardistan. Plates, 4to., half 
 calf. (Lahore), 1878. 73. 6d.

 
 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND, 
 
 WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED 
 
 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 TWELVE YEARS' SPORTING REMINISCENCES 
 
 OF A PIONEER PLANTER IN AN 
 
 INDIAN FRONTIER DISTRICT. 
 
 THE HON. JAMES INGLIS, M.L.A. 
 
 ("Maori"), 
 
 MINISTER FOR PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, SYDNEY, N.S.W. ; 
 
 AUTHOR OF "TIRHOOT RHYMES," "OUR AUSTRALIAN COUSINS," "OUR NEW ZEALAND 
 
 COUSINS," ETC. ETC. 
 
 WITH TWENTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS IN CHROMO-LITHOGRAPHY. 
 
 LONDON 
 SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, AND COMPANY 
 
 LIMITED 
 
 >t. Shmsitan'i f&cuufr, dfrttfr Hatic, <.. 
 1892 
 
 [All Bights Reserved]
 
 LONDON: 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITKD, 
 
 STAMFORD STREET AND CIIARTNG CROSS.
 
 PREFATORY. 
 
 WHEN I wrote " Sport and Work on the Nepaul Frontier," 
 a book which is incorporated with the present volume, I 
 closed it with these words: "If this volume meets the 
 approbation of the public, I may be tempted to draw further 
 on a well-stocked memory, and gossip afresh on Indian life, 
 Indian experiences, and Indian sport," &c. The book was 
 undoubtedly well received. A cheap edition of many thou- 
 sand copies was struck off by the " Franklin Square Press " in 
 America, and was widely read in the United States ; and in 
 Australia regrets have been frequently expressed that the 
 original edition had been exhausted. I am therefore to some 
 extent justified in believing that my Indian gossip has fairly 
 met with the approbation of a large section of the reading 
 public. Hence in the present work I simply resume the 
 thread of my sporting recollections. I have chosen my own 
 way of telling my story and arranging my incidents, so as to 
 add fresh interest, and enlist the attention and the goodwill 
 of my readers as far as possible, and I hope I may have been 
 fairly successful in doing this. 
 
 JAMES INGLIS. 
 SYDNEY, N.S.W., 
 1888. 
 
 20882GG
 
 OKIGINAL PKEFACE TO "SPOET AND WOKK" 
 
 I WENT home in 1875 for a few months, after some twelve 
 years' residence in India. What first suggested the writing 
 of such a book as this, was the amazing ignorance of 
 ordinary Indian life betrayed by people at home. The 
 questions asked me about India, and our . daily life there, 
 showed in many cases such an utter want of knowledge, that 
 I thought, surely there is room here for a chatty, familiar, 
 unpretentious book for friends at home, giving an account of 
 our every-day life in India, our labours and amusements, our 
 toils and relaxations, and a few pictures of our ordinary daily 
 surroundings in the far, far East. 
 
 Such then is the design of my book. I want to picture to 
 my readers Planter Life in the Mofussil, or country districts 
 of India ; to tell them of our hunting, shooting, fishing, and 
 other amusements; to describe our work, our play, and 
 matter-of-fact incidents in our daily life ; to describe the 
 natives as they appear to us in our intimate every-day 
 dealings with them; to illustrate their manners, customs, 
 dispositions, observances and sayings, so far as these bear on 
 our own social life. 
 
 I am no politician, no learned ethnologist, no sage theorist. 
 I simply try to describe what I have seen, and hope to
 
 VI ORIGINAL PREFACE. 
 
 enlist the attention and interest of my readers, in my remi- 
 niscences of sport and labour, in the villages and jungles on 
 the far-off frontier of Nepaul. 
 
 I have tried to express my meaning as far as possible 
 without Anglo-Indian and Hindustani words ; where these 
 have been used, as at times they could not but be, I have 
 given a synonymous word or phrase in English, so that all 
 my friends at home may know my meaning. 
 
 I know that my friends will be lenient to my faults, and 
 even the sternest critic, if he look for it, may find some 
 pleasure and profit in my pages. 
 
 JAS. INGLIS. 
 
 SYDNEY, N.S.W. 
 
 Oct., 1878.
 
 Vincent Brooks, Day <k Son. Lith. 
 
 t
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 I HAVE had so many inquiries for copies of " Sport and 
 Work on the Nepaul Frontier," now out of print, that I 
 resolved, when publishing my new book, " Tent Life in Tiger- 
 land" (which is really a continuation of my planting and 
 hunting experiences in India), to reprint the former volume, 
 and the present double volume is the result of that resolve. 
 
 My " unpretentious chatty gossip " has been so favourably 
 received by both critic and general reader, that I may be 
 pardoned if I anticipate the same kindly reception for the 
 present work. 
 
 I have written the new matter from my old sporting 
 journals, at odd hours, as a recreation amid the worries and 
 distractions of business and political life. It is therefore 
 perhaps fortunate that I never pretended to be master of a 
 graceful literary style. 
 
 Yet let me hope my book may not only interest and amuse 
 but that my endeavours to give a faithful picture of planter 
 life in India may help to remove some misconceptions, and 
 enlist the sympathy of our fellow-countrymen for those 
 gallant and kindly pioneers of peaceful conquest who are
 
 Vlll PEEFACE. 
 
 doing so much to uphold the high honour and fair fame of 
 the dear old mother land in the far-off Eastern dependency, 
 so full of interest and mystery, and which (may I say it ?) is 
 still so little known or understood by the mass of average 
 Britons at home. 
 
 Your obliged and faithful servant, 
 
 JAMES INGLIS.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL, 
 
 BOSTON. 
 
 Gent %ifc in 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 My residence in favoured districts for sport Purneah Bhaugul- 
 pore Kheri How Indian descriptions strike the ordinary 
 English reader Jogees or Fakeers Scenes and encounters in 
 the jungle The attitude of the sceptical inexperienced reader to 
 records of Indian sport Anecdote in illustration An appeal to 
 the reader ......... 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 TOO CLOSE TO BE PLEASANT. 
 
 The Koosee Valley Our Hunt Club The members Our camp 
 " Old Mac " The must elephant A sudden alarm A mad 
 charge Wreck of the camp " Old Mac " in deadly 
 Rescue Reaction . . 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 AT CLOSE QUARTERS WITH A TIOETl. 
 
 Ilyseree A decaying village Ravages of the river Joe's yarn 
 The ruined shrine "Sign" of tiger The bamboo thicket- A 
 foolhardy resolve Tracking tiger on all fours Inside the 
 thicket Inside the enclosure Inside the temple The bats 
 " Alone with a man-eater " The tigress at bay " Minutes that 
 seem like hours" Well done, good revolver "Never again on 
 foot " Wild beast statistics from TJie Saturday Review . 20 
 
 * I
 
 X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A NOCTURNAL ADVENTURE. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Out for Kliubber A clean shot The Loha sarung, or sarus crane 
 A strange place for a live fish Wealth of game A varied bag 
 My yarn Leopards superior to the tiger in daring and ferocity 
 Partiality to a diet of dogs A seed harvest camp Leopards 
 close by A sultry night under canvas Dozing off Is it a 
 nightmare ? A terrible awakening Eye to eye A perilous 
 interviewer The fatal shot ...... 38 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 " THE HABITATIONS OF HORRID CRUELTY." 
 
 Back to camp A piteous burden The agonised mother The 
 father's story Pity and indignation An ingrate servant 
 Fiendish barbarity The long weary night Welcome arrival of 
 the old doctor Hovering 'twixt life and death Skilful surgery 
 " Who did it ? " The tell-tale slate How the deed was done 
 Retribution . . . '...,. . .49 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ROUGH-RIDING IN INDIA. 
 
 News of a " kill " Elephants in line The jungle at early dawn 
 Half through the Baree A tiger charges A bolting elephant 
 Smash goes the howdah Escape of " Butty " Wasps and 
 elephants " Dotterel " A razor-backed elephant " That 
 demon of a dog " Bolted A shaker How to tame a vicious 
 tusker . . . . . . . . .62 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE BEAR AND THE BLACKSMITH. 
 
 A Bancoorah yarn Billy the blacksmith The black sloth bear 
 Camp at Susunneah marble quarries A transformation scene 
 Night melodious Locale of the hunt To our posts ! The 
 beat Billy is dry " Look out ! there's a bear ! " Down goes 
 Billy Bruin a-top A novel wrestling match Intense excite- 
 ment Over the precipice ! Search for the body Miraculous 
 escape " Twank-a-diddle-oh " More about bears The sur- 
 veyor's fight for life A terrible disfigurement Marvels of 
 modern surgery A sweetheart true as steel A slap at sceptics 
 " Truth stranger than fiction " . ... . . .74
 
 CONTENTS. XI 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 NEVER TRUST A TIGER. 
 
 PACK 
 
 Exaggerated yarns Man-eating tigers An easy prey "On the 
 watch " A common tragedy " Mourning in some lowly hut " 
 The Pertaubgunj tiger Shifting camp An obstinate elephant 
 Kiver-side scenery Kevolver practice Salamee Rapacity of 
 servants A halt Enquiry We form line The beat Ele- 
 phants uneasy The man-eater breaks cover A tame termi- 
 nation False security "Look out, boys; it's alive!" A 
 dying effort and a costly bite An instance of cool heroism In 
 the jaws of a tiger A plucky rescue Moral : " Never trust a 
 tiger" . . . . .- ..... 98 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 OLD TIMES. 
 
 The old well The Fakeer A pious old hermit Jogees Pagan 
 cruelties Peter the braggart Soured by bad luck Scotch 
 Hindostanee Peter pot valiant His " teeger " story An igno- 
 minious collapse The real truth of the matter The "Blue 
 Devils" Practical joking The rough pioneer days Police 
 tortures " Old Hulman Sahib " A novel punishment The old 
 regime changed Modern progress . . . . t 115 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A CHAPTER ON " PIG-STICKIN'." 
 
 Getting under weigh Tally-ho! Game afoot A cunning old 
 tusker One man down At our wits' end A ghat ahead The 
 boar is a "jinker" A comical interlude " Now's the chance" 
 First spear ! A desperate fight for life Death of the boar 
 Eulogy on the sport The Queenslander on Indian sports 
 " Hints to Hog Hunters " from The Oriental Sporting Magazine 132 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 AN EXCITING NIGHT WATCH. 
 
 Belated at Fusseah The old CliowJceydar Searching for supper 
 The dilapidated bungalow The GomastaWs news Tigers close 
 by Proposal to sit up for a shot Shooting from pits Night 
 scenes in the jungle A silent watch A misty figure through 
 
 b 2
 
 Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 the gloom A sudden roar The challenge accepted The plot 
 thickens The young tiger and the old hoar A death-struggle 
 Savage heasts in mortal conflict Defiant to the last Trophies 
 of the night ......... 150 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 POLICE EASCAHTY. 
 
 The native village police then and now The power of the Daroga 
 Exactions from the peasantry My attitude to the police 
 The village jury system My neighbour down the river A 
 bungalow of the olden time The chabutra Changed methods- 
 now of dealing with natives Taking villages in lease Measuring 
 the new lands Native disaffection Police plottings The 
 Dhaus A welcome visitor Out with the doctor Put up a 
 tiger A resultless beat A day's general shooting Events down 
 the river Cholera Death in the lonely hut Spies at work A 
 devilish plot Concocting false evidence A late call Making a 
 night of it In the morning Accused of murder The arrest 
 Reserves his defence The trial Excitement in court Appear- 
 ances all against the planter Turning the tables The case 
 breaks down Discomfiture of the Police . . . .164 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 AN EVENTFUL DAT. 
 
 The famine of 1874 Xature of relief works Fatalism Humane 
 tendencies of British rule Epidemics Sharp contrasts 
 Crowded incidents of planter life A fierce hail-storm A run- 
 away elephant Through the forest Hue and cry after a thief 
 A desperate fugitive Setting an ambush Female furies An 
 exciting diversion A desperate scuffle Capture Tactics of the 
 female gipsies Horrible cruelty A hapless little one Out- 
 witted! The robber escapes Feasting amid famine A Brahmin 
 Vhoj Appearance of the village The guests The cookery 
 The feast Strange plates A motley melange Prodigious 
 appetite Once more on the road Reach Soopole Hospitable 
 reception .......... 189 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 FAMINE AND FIGHTING. 
 
 Early spring in India " The Black District " Desperate straits 
 One ghastly group Relief works Conservatism of natives The
 
 CONTENTS. xill 
 
 old easy-going style of work A zealous young reformer Glow- 
 ing visions Wheelbarrow reform Irritating Explaining 
 Theory Actual practice Back to the old style The coolies 
 Sad scenes Poor suffering humanity The terrible hunger 
 Back to Hoolas The seed industry 'Native dodgery Tricks 
 and tests of the seed trade Mode of contract Fluctuations of 
 the market A slippery neighbour News of a meditated looting 
 expedition The Golail Preparing for a fight Call out the 
 levies Disposition of our forces News of the raiders Confront- 
 ing the robbers Their insolent audacity A kuock-down blow 
 " Wigs on the green " A regular ruction " Loot " and "lay 
 on "The tide of battle Victory ! . . . . .208 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 CASTE CHARACTEBISTICS. 
 
 Curiosities of the census Quaint characters The Bohemians of the 
 East Mendicant friars Actors and jugglers The Story Teller 
 "After a weary day" A visitor in camp His appearance 
 His reception The gaping circle of listeners The story 
 " Petumber and Mahaboobun " The story of their love A rival 
 Plot and counterplot The drama develops Petumber's sud- 
 den return Confusion of the wicked plotter Jealousy Wifely 
 fidelity The darkened bath chamber Assumption of a strange 
 character The furious sandal Crack ! " Tung-ng-ng ! " 
 Acting up to his character " Glug-glug-glug ! " Another good 
 story "The Brahmin and the Bunneah" Sanctity and pre- 
 tensions of the Brahmins Their power on the wane Progress of 
 modern thought An enlightened Hindoo on the decadence of 
 priestcraft Beneficence of British rule ..... 231 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 PEBILS BY FLOOD. 
 
 Native characteristics Pioneer work Riverside villages The 
 harvest of the flood the cousins Bad blood A murderous 
 blow My arrival on the scene We must find the body The 
 boat The river in flood Swept away by the torrent Shooting 
 the rapids Straining every nerve to avoid the main stream One 
 spot of refuge amid the raging waters The deserted cattle camp 
 The floating island Teeming with fugitive life Unexpected 
 flotsam A babe in strange company The mangy tiger Rescue 
 Return to factory . ..... 255
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 A JUNGLE TRAGEDY. 
 
 TAGK 
 
 Varieties of winged game News of a " big beat "Get to camp 
 The marshes country " Hunter's pot " Charge of a wounded 
 bull buffalo A terrible impalement On the track Difficult 
 country Slow and dangerous tracking Indications of our quarry 
 An unsuccessful day A bad night News with the dawn 
 Eesume our quest Horrible signs Sickening gusts A ghastly 
 sight Close of the tragedy The funeral pyre. . . . 268 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 "A DAY AT THE DUCKS." 
 
 Fresh sensations at every footstep The endless procession to the 
 water Daybreak The annual exodus begins The Kutmullea 
 PoJcra The first shot What a commotion ! Tank shooting 
 A good bag for the pot The river banks River scenery What 
 variety of life! Shoot an alligator A miss entangled in a 
 Ttahur Khet Hornets A sudden and unwelcome rencontre A 
 lucky escape In the Oude jungles Abundance of big game 
 A quiet saunter through the forest The coolies give news of nil- 
 ghai Muster the coolies for a beat Take up a good position 
 Jungle sights and sounds Sound of the distant beaters My 
 first nilghai Sudden appearance of a bull rhino A glorious 
 prize indeed ! Measurement ...... f 278 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 IN THE WILDS OF OUDE. 
 
 New surroundings Waste land grants A forest Alsatia Pioneer 
 work The bungalow and its environments My pets An out- 
 post near the Sarda River Reducing chaos to order Surveying 
 the country A likely spot for tiger Send Juggroo for the 
 elephant A sudden interruption A roar and a panic The 
 young tiger charges A picture of savage grace Lucky escape 
 and fortunate shot Another surprise Advent of the elephant 
 Preparing to beat Motee refuses More elephants needed 
 Renew the beat the next day Forming line A plucky charge 
 A stampede The coolies refuse Trying it single-handed 
 Once more to the charge A hit! The tigress turns tail A 
 foolish resolve Following the tigress " A dry and weary wilder- 
 ness" Cross the Sarda Intense excitement A stern chase
 
 CONTENTS. XV 
 
 In a dangerous fix Hopelessly lost " No sign of life or water " 
 Deadly thirst Delirium I am deserted A terrible night 
 Digging for water Unconsciousness Found by the searchers . 300 
 
 CHAPTER xix. ;; 
 
 INCIDENTS OF THE "BIG BEAT." 
 
 News from the military Arrangements for grazing commissariat 
 elephants Advent of a jolly party News of big game An 
 imposing procession The start The country Lagging behind 
 A sudden apparition "A Sambur, by Jove!!" Only a 
 Swamp deer after all Points of difference We proceed down 
 the river A likely spot for game A sudden diversion The 
 monkey's warning A hurried consultation Biiggs left on the 
 watch Grows impatient Determines to reconnoitre A soliloquy 
 A wary stalk " A sight that sets his ears a tingling " " Angry 
 green eyes glaring " Bang ! A miss A shot and a charge 
 simultaneously Bullet and teeth both " get home " Poor Briggs 
 carried home After the cubs next day The " old General" in 
 charge Discovery and capture of the cubs A likely spot for 
 leopard Gopal on the track " Not one but two leopards " 
 They will not break Halt for tiffin and send for fireworks One 
 more try The end of a memorable day. .... 322 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 TWENTY-FOUR HOUKS IN A LIVING TOMB. 
 
 Native and European ideas of sport contrasted Illustrations 
 Pitfalls How formed A morning tour of inspection Prepare 
 for pea-fowl Method of the sport Start a herd of spotted deer 
 Off for a stalk Noonday heat and stillness An anxious wait 
 Death of the stag Wending homewards A treacherous path 
 Hidden pitfalls A sudden shock Miraculous escape Happy 
 issue Visit the "old General" His camp levee A yam after 
 tiffin "The General" takes a trip north after tiger A rascally 
 groom Trapped in a pit of miry clay Caged with a cobra A 
 terrible fight for lift Reaction Breaking of the monsoon A 
 new danger Doomed to be drowned like a rat in a hole Rescue 
 at the eleventh hour A parting tribute to the glad old days and 
 the gallant and true old comrades A few parting words 
 Conclusion ......... 311 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 A CHAPTER ON GUNS. 
 
 Remarks on guns How to cure skins Different recipes 
 Conclusion . 362
 
 XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 Sport anfc Work on tbc IRepaul ^frontier. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Province of Behar Boundaries General description District of 
 Chumparun Mooteeharree The town and lake Native houses 
 The Planters' Club Segoulie 369 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 My first charge How we get our lands Our. home farm System 
 
 of farming Collection of rents The planter's duties . . 374 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 How to get our crop The " Dangurs " Farm servants and their 
 duties Kassee Rai Hoeing Ploughing " Oustennie " 
 Coolies at work Sowing Difficulties the plant has to contend 
 with Weeding 380 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Manufacture of Indigo Loading the vats Beating Boiling, 
 straining, and pressing Scene in the Factory Fluctuation of 
 produce Chemistry of Indigo ...... 391 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Parewah factory A " Bobbery Pack " Hunt through a village after 
 a cat The pariah dog of India Fate of " Pincher " Rampore 
 hound Persian greyhound Caboolee dogs A jackal hunt 
 Incidents of the chase ....... 402 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Fishing in India Hereditary trades The boatmen and fishermen 
 of India Their villages Nets Modes of fishing Curiosities 
 relating thereto Catching an alligator with a hook Exciting 
 capture Crocodiles Shooting an alligator Death of the man- 
 eater 410
 
 CONTENTS. XV11 
 
 " . CHAPTER VII. 
 
 FJLGB 
 
 Native superstitions Charming a bewitched woman Exorcising 
 ghosts from a field Witchcraft The witchfinder or " Ojah " 
 Influence of fear Snake bites How to cure them How to dis- 
 cover a thief Ghosts and their habits The " Haddick " or native 
 bone-setter Cruelty to animals by natives .... 424 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Our annual race meet The arrivals The camps The "ordinary" 
 The course " They're off " The race The steeple-chase 
 Incidents of the meet The ball ...... 435 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Pig-sticking in 'India Varieties of boar Their size and height 
 Ingenious mode of capture by the natives The " Batan " or 
 buffalo herd Pigs charging Then- courage and ferocity De- 
 struction of game A close season for game .... 443 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Kudercnt jungle Charged by a pig The biter bit " Mac " after 
 the big boar The horse for pig-sticking The line of beaters 
 The boar breaks " Away ! Away ! " First spear Pig-sticking 
 at Peeprah The old " lungra " or cripple A boar at bay 
 Hurrah for pig-sticking !....... 451 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The sal forests The jungle goddess The trees in the jungle Ap- 
 pearance of the forests Birds Varieties of parrots A "beat" 
 in the forest 'The " skekarry " Mehrman Singh and his gun 
 The Banturs, a jungle tribe of wood-cutters Their habits A 
 village feast 'We beat for deer Habits of the spotted deer 
 Waiting for the game Mehrman Singh gets drunk Our bag 
 Pea-fowl and their habits How to shoot them Curious custom 
 of the Nepaulese How Juggroo was tricked, and his revenge . 461 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The leopard How to shoot him Gallant encounter with a wounded 
 one Encounter with a leopard in a Dak bungalow Pat shoots
 
 XV111 CONTENTS. 
 
 two leopards Effects of the Express bullet The "Sirwah 
 Purrub," or annual festival of huntsmen The Hindoo Kyot Rice- 
 planting and harvest Poverty of the ryot His apathy Village 
 fires Want of sanitation ....... 479 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Description of a native village 'Village functionaries The barber 
 Bathing habits The village well The school The children 
 The village bazaar The landowner and his dwelling The 
 " Putwarrie " or village accountant The blacksmith The 
 " Punchayiet " or village jury system Our legal system in India 
 Remarks on the administration of justice .... 491 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 A native village continued The watchman or " chowkeydar " The 
 temple Brahmins Idols Religion Humility of the poorer 
 classes Their low condition 'Their apathy The police Their 
 extortions and knavery An instance of police rascality Cor- 
 ruption of native officials The Hindoo unfit for self-government 506 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Jungle wild fruits Curious method of catching quail Quail nets 
 Quail caught in a blacksmith's shop Native wrestling The 
 trainer How they train for a match Rules of wrestling Grips 
 A wrestling match Incidents of the struggle Description of 
 a match between a Brahmin and a blacksmith Sparring for the 
 grip The blacksmith has it The struggle The Brahmin 
 getting the worst of it Two to one on the little 'un ! The 
 Brahmin plays the waiting game, turns the tables and the 
 blacksmith Remarks on wrestling ..... 519 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Indigo seed growing Seed buying and buyers Tricks of sellers 
 Tests for good seed 'The threshing-floor Seed cleaning and 
 packing Staff of servants Despatching the bags by boat The 
 " Pooneah " or rent day Purneah planters Their hospitality 
 The rent day a great festival Preparation Collection of rents 
 Feast to retainers The reception in the evening Tribute Old 
 customs Improvisatores and bards Nautches Dancing and 
 music The dance of the Dangura Jugglers and itinerary show- 
 men " Bara Roopes," or actors and mimics. Their different 
 styles of acting ......... 533
 
 CONTENTS. XIX 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Koosee jungles Ferries Jungle roads The rhinoceros We 
 go to visit a neighbour We lose our way and get belated We 
 fall into a quicksand No ferry boat Camping out on the sand 
 Two tigers close by We light a fire The boat at last arrives 
 Crossing the stream Set fire to the boatman's hut Swim the 
 horses They are nearly drowned We again lose our way in the 
 jungle The towing path, and how boats are towed up the river 
 We at last reach the factory News of rhinoceros in the 
 morning Off we start, but arrive too late Death of the 
 rhinoceros His dimensions Description Habits Rhinoceros 
 in Nepaul The old "Major Captan" Description of Nepaulese 
 scenery Immigration of Nepaulese Their fondness for fish 
 They eat it putrid Exclusion of Europeans from Nepaul 
 Resources of the country Must sooner or later be opened up 
 Influences at work to elevate the people Planters and factories, 
 chief of these Character of the planter His claims to consider- 
 ation from Government .... 547 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 The tiger His habitat Shooting on foot Modes of shooting A 
 tiger hunt on foot The scene of the hunt The beat Incidents of 
 the hunt Fireworks The tiger charges The elephant bolts 
 The tigress will not break We kill a half-grown cub Try again 
 for the tigress Unsuccessful Exaggerations in tiger stories 
 My authorities The brothers S. Ferocity and structure of the 
 tiger His devastations His frame-work, teeth, &c. A tiger 
 at bay His unsociable habits Fight between tiger and tigress 
 Young tigers Power and strength of the tiger Examples 
 His cowardice Charge of a wounded tiger- Incidents connected 
 with wounded tigers A spined tiger Boldness of young tigers 
 Cruelty Cunning Night scenes in the jungle Tiger killed 
 by a wild boar His cautious habits General remarks . . 568 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 The tiger's mode of attack The food he prefers Varieties of prey 
 Examples What he eats first How to tell the kill of a tiger 
 Appetite fierce Tiger choked by a bone Two varieties of tiger 
 The royal Bengal Description The hill tiger His descrip- 
 tion The two compared Length of the tiger How to measure 
 tigers Measurements Comparison between male and female 
 Number of young at a birth The young cubs Mother teaching
 
 XX CONTENTS. 
 
 cubs to kill Education and progress of the young tiger 
 Wariness and cunning of the tiger Hunting incidents showing' 
 their powers of concealment Tigers taking to water Examples 
 Swimming powers Caught by floods Story of the Soonder- 
 bund tigers ......... 585 
 
 CHAPTEE XX. 
 
 No regular breeding season Beliefs and prejudices of the natives 
 about tigers Bravery of the " gwalla," or cowherd caste Claw- 
 marks on trees Fondness for particular localities Tiger in Mr. 
 F.'s howdah Springing powers of tigers Lying close in cover 
 Incident Tiger shot with No. 4 shot Man clawed by a tiger 
 Knocked its eye out with a sickle Same tiger subsequently 
 shot in same place Tigers easily killed Instances Effect of 
 shells on tiger and buffalo Best weapon and bullets for tiger 
 Poisoning tigers denounced Natives prone to exaggerate in 
 giving news of tiger Anecdote Beating for tiger Line of 
 elephants Padding dead game Line of seventy-six elephants 
 Captain of the hunt Flags for signals in the line " Naka," or 
 scout ahead Usual time for tiger shooting on the Koosee Firing 
 the jungle The line of fire at night Foolish to shoot at moving 
 jungle Never shoot down the line Motions of different animals 
 in the grass ......... 602 
 
 CHAPTEE XXI. 
 
 Howdahs and howdah-ropes Mussulman custom Killing animals 
 for food Mysterious appearance of natives when an animal is 
 killed Fastening dead tigers to the pad Present mode wants 
 improving Incident illustrative of this Dangerous to go close 
 to wounded tigers Examples Footprints of tigers Call of the 
 tiger Natives and their powers of description How to beat 
 successfully for tiger Description of a beat Disputes among 
 the shooters Awarding tigers Cutting open the tiger Native 
 idea about the liver of the tiger Signs of a tiger's presence in 
 the jungle Vultures Do they scent their quarry or view it ? 
 A vulture carrion feast ..... 616 
 
 CHAPTEE XXII. 
 
 "We start for a tiger hunt on the Nepaul frontier Indian scenery 
 near the boarder Lose our way Cold night The river by 
 night Our boat and boatmen Tigers calling on the bank An 
 anxious moment Fire at and wound the tigress Beach camp
 
 CONTENTS. XXI 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Nepaulee's adventure with a tiger The old Major His 
 appearance and manners The pompons Jemadar Xepaulese 
 proverb Firing the jungle Start a tiger and shoot him 
 Another in front Appearance of the fires by night 'The tiger 
 escapes Too dark to follow up Coolie shot by mistake during 
 a former hunt ..... 627 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 AVe resume the beat The hog-deer Nepaulese villages Village 
 granaries Tiger in front A hit ! a hit ! Following up the 
 wounded tiger Find him dead Tiffin in the village The 
 Patair jungle Search for tiger Gone away! An elephant 
 steeplechase in pursuit Exciting chase The Morung jungle 
 Magnificent scenery Skinning the tiger Incidents on tiger 
 hunting 642 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Camp of the Nepaulee chief Quicksands Elephants crossing 
 rivers Tiffin at the Nepaulee camp We beat the forest for 
 tiger Shoot a young tiger Red ants in the forest Bhowras or 
 ground bees The ursus labidlis or long-lipped bear Recrossthe 
 stream Florican Stag running the gauntlet of flame Oar 
 bag Start for factory Remarks on elephants Precautions 
 useful for protection from the sun in tiger shooting The puggree 
 Cattle breeding in India, and wholesale deaths of cattle from 
 disease Xathpore Ravages of the river Mrs. Gray, an old 
 resident in the jungle Description of her surroundings . . 654 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Exciting jungle scene The camp All quiet 'Advent of the cow- 
 herds A tiger close by Proceed to the spot 'Encounter 
 between tigress and buffaloes Strange behaviour of the 
 elephant Discovery and capture of four cubs Joyful return to 
 camp Death of the tigress Night encounter with a leopard 
 The haunts of the tiger and our shooting grounds . . . 670
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 HOT WORK IN THE JUNGLE PADDING THE PRIZE Chromo. Frontispiece 
 
 PORTRAIT OF AUTHOR ..... to face page vii 
 
 HOWDAH ELEPHANTS A STAUNCH TUSKER . ,, 16 
 
 BULLOCK HACKRIES, OR NATIVE CARTS . 44 
 
 GETTING ELEPHANTS READY FOR THE BEAT . ,, 64 
 
 RETURNING TO CAMP THROUGH THE MARSHES. 80 
 
 DEATH OF THE MAN-EATER .... ,, 108 
 
 JUNGLE TROPHIES SKINNING THE TIGER . ,, 160 
 
 NUTHS WANDERING GIPSY THIEVES 196 
 
 SNAKE CHARMERS ..... 232 
 
 ACROBATS ....... 248 
 
 HIGH-CLASS BRAHMINS PUNDITS ... 253 
 
 HAUNT OF THE BUFFALO .... 273 
 
 NATIVE BOATS AND BATHING GHAT A TYPICAL 
 
 INDIAN RIVER SCENE .... 289 
 BULL RHINOCEROS A GLORIOUS PRIZE . . 298 
 AN INDIAN RIVER SCENE ELEPHANTS EN- 
 JOYING THEMSELVES 336
 
 xxiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 TfGER HUNTING RETURN TO THE CAMP . . Chromo, Frontispiece 
 
 COOLIE'S HUT ......... 387 
 
 INDIGO BEATING VATS .... Chromo, to face p. 301 
 
 INDIGO BEATERS AT WORK IN TTIE VAT . 394 
 
 INDIAN FACTORY PEON ....... 400 
 
 INDIGO PLANTER'S HOUSE .... Ohrnmo, to fare p. 402 
 
 PIG STICKERS . . . . . . . . . 460 
 
 CARPENTERS AND BLACKSMITHS AT WORK . CliTOmO, to face p. 501 
 
 HINDOO VILLAGE TEMPLES . :")07
 
 TENT LIFE IN TIGEKLAND. 
 
 HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL, 
 INTRODUCTION. BOSTON< 
 
 My residence in favoured districts for sport Purneah Bhaugulpore 
 Kheri How Indian descriptions strike the ordinary English reader 
 Jogees or Fakeers Scenes and encounters in the jungle 'The attitude 
 of the sceptical inexperienced reader to records of Indian sport 
 Anecdote in illustration An appeal to the reader. 
 
 FOR some years I enjoyed the privilege of residence in two 
 of the very finest sporting districts of India. 
 
 Purneah and North Bhaugulpore, bordering on the Terai, is 
 admittedly even for India a very sportsman's paradise, and 
 is probably, or was then at all events, the best tiger-shooting 
 ground in the world. Having practically supreme control 
 over many miles of territory there, and feudal jurisdiction 
 over scores of villages and leagues of jungle, it would be 
 strange if, with my ardent love of field-sports, I did not have 
 some noteworthy experienc es. 
 
 In the district of Kheri, in the North- West Provinces, I had 
 charge subsequently of very extensive grants of " waste," or 
 untilled jungle lands, and was actively engaged in reclaiming 
 the virgin forest, and administering great estates in a wild 
 and comparatively unsettled country. Here again the 
 opportunities for sport from rhino and tiger-shooting, down 
 to ortolan and plover are probably only second in all India 
 to Purneah; and here again I had manifest opportunities
 
 2 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 of filling my sporting journal with many items of more 
 than ordinary interest. 
 
 I was brought, too, into constant contact with past masters 
 in woodcraft and jungle lore. I was a good listener as well 
 as an industrious scribe, and having some literary leanings, I 
 took care to embellish my journals with the records of many a 
 stirring adventure poured into my willing ear in the shadow 
 of the tent, at the time when the camp fire casts its ruddy 
 glow on the motley menage of a good old-fashioned mofussil 
 shikar party. 
 
 Then again, I was rather a favourite with my native 
 servants and companions, always trying to treat them kindly 
 and to mix freely with them, and was not above listening to 
 their stories ; and I am indebted for many a curious bit of 
 description to the unaffected narration of some one or other 
 of my keenly-observant native foresters or huntsmen. 
 
 To the ordinary reader in an English or Australian town, or 
 to any one indeed who has not lived in India, the bare recital 
 of many of the most common incidents of a day's shooting 
 in that land of glowing colour, teeming life, and romantic 
 associations, seems exaggerated, strained and unnatural. To 
 come suddenly, for instance, on a gaunt, haggard, dishevelled 
 devotee, hollow-eyed and emaciated, his almost nude frame 
 daubed over with barbaric pigments, brandishing curious- 
 looking weapons, shouting uncouth discordant rhymes, or 
 waking the forest echoes with cries like those of the wild 
 beasts, among whose jungle solitudes he takes up his abode, 
 would rather startle the nerves of the ordinary dweller in 
 cities. And yet these wandering jogces or fakeers are to be 
 met with in almost every jungle from Cape Comorin to the 
 Spiti. 
 
 To meet face to face a surly boar, having tusks that would 
 badly " rip " an elephant, and who resents your intrusive 
 approach to note the stealthy slouching gait of some lithe 
 leopard, stalking the peaceful antelope or graceful spotted
 
 INTR OD TJCTION. 3 
 
 deer, yourself all unseen, is a sensation that lives in your 
 memory to gaze on the shock of combat between two 
 antlered stags, or the snarling battle for the fragments of a 
 carrion feed between hissing vultures, or howling wolves, is 
 a revelation of savage animal life that one does not soon 
 forget. To lie on the river-bank and watch the animation 
 and picturesque grouping in the broad shallow of the troubled 
 stream below, as the great elephants gambol in the cooling 
 pool and splash their heated heaving sides with spurts and 
 dashes of water from the river, is a sight that would gladden 
 an artist's heart. To mark the rapid flight over the 
 sequestered forest tank of myriads of bright-plumaged water- 
 fowl, to see the long-legged waders running nimbly round the 
 sedgy marge, or view the bending broad leaves of the water- 
 lily, lapping pearly globules from the cool clear tank, as 
 the blue fowl step daintily from one to the other, pressing 
 them for a moment beneath the surface ; and then as the 
 lazy raho pops his round nose above water to suck in a 
 fly ; to see the long ugly serrated back of the man-eating 
 saurian surge slowly through the yielding element that is a 
 picture which one can never hope to see equalled, in varied 
 interest, in any other land. And, most thrilling and memor- 
 able of all, to see the convulsive upward leap, and hear the 
 throttled gasping roar of a wounded tiger, 1 as the whiff of 
 powder smoke from your trusty gun salutes your nostrils 
 like grateful incense that's one of the sensations that makes 
 the dull pulses throb and quicken their beat ; and all these, 
 dear Header, and hundreds more, are within the compass of 
 one day's successful shooting in the dear old happy hunting- 
 grounds of a good mofussil district in India. 
 
 To any one who truly loves nature, who has perhaps 
 happily something of the artist and the poet, be it ever so 
 faint, in his soul, as well as the ardour and enthusiasm of the 
 sportsman, to that one who has experienced even a little of 
 the charm of the Indian sporting life all the sneers and 
 
 B 2
 
 4 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 stupid imbecilities of the untravelled and inexperienced 
 sceptic, to whom the hunter's stories and reminiscences are 
 so many " idle tales," are harmless, and do not even cause a 
 momentary irritation ; they excite his good-natured pity. 
 Beyond a doubt the least experienced in jungle-craft are very 
 often the most prone to exaggerate ; but to any one who has 
 gone through even one season's shooting in India, in a good 
 district, the truth is very easily winnowed from the admixture 
 of falsehood; and to such an one it is matter of constant 
 acknowledgment that, so far as Indian sport is concerned, 
 " Truth is often stranger than fiction." 
 
 This attitude of cynical unbelief, and partly good-humoured, 
 partly contemptuous scepticism, in regard especially to 
 Indian tiger stories, is very humorously illustrated by the 
 following good anecdote, which I cut out of a Sydney news- 
 paper some time ago 
 
 "A well-known Anglo-Indian raconteur, on his first re- 
 appearance in London, was one of a dozen or more guests at 
 a dinner-party in Kensington, and among them he was 
 delighted to see his old friend, Sir D. M., who had retired 
 some years previously from the bench of a provincial High 
 Court. He recollected a startling incident connected with a 
 tiger in which he and Sir D. M. had both shared. At a fitting 
 opportunity he introduced the story, and, feeling confidence 
 in his old friend's memory and his readiness to vouch for the 
 truth of every detail, gave it with all the facts, especially 
 with one special fact that was rather hard to believe. When 
 telling it, therefore, he laid stress upon the presence at the 
 scene of his former colleague in the service, and looked 
 pointedly at him. The expected response did not come ; but 
 Sir D. M.'s face wore a look of perfect incredulity. 'My 
 dear fellow/ he said at last, on direct appeal, 'I am very 
 sorry, but I recollect nothing whatever about it.' The 
 raconteur of course collapsed there and then. Boiling over 
 with rage, he sought his friend as soon as he could get at him
 
 INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 in private, and remonstrated with him on his strange lapse of 
 memory, and appealed to him whether, even if he did not fully 
 recollect the occurrence, it might not have been possible to 
 save his credit with the company by a less positive disclaimer. 
 ' My dear J.,' replied the old Judge, ' I remembered perfectly 
 well the incident you were telling ; but I remarked that all 
 the people at the table considered you were lying. If, then, 
 I had corroborated you, the only result would have been that 
 they would have set me down as a liar too, and my regard for 
 our host made me wish to avoid a double catastrophe.' " 
 
 In the following pages, my second instalment of sporting 
 recollections, and descriptions of all the varied and strange 
 incidents of jungle life in our far-off Indian hunting-grounds, 
 may perchance call up a feeling similar to that exhibited by 
 the guests at the table in the foregoing anecdote ; but I well 
 know that there are many of my " dear old chums " whose 
 kindly remembrance of the truth will be refreshed by the 
 recital of old stories, half forgotten, it may be, till my narration 
 quickens the sleeping memory ; and there will be many too, 
 I hope and trust, who will go hand in hand with me through 
 the villages and jungles trusting to my guidance ; and who, 
 over the evening camp-fire, will listen with sympathy, interest 
 and kindly appreciation, as I endeavour to portray to them a 
 real presentment of the life of a pioneer in the Indian back- 
 woods, and with a lenient regard to my shortcomings, may 
 reward me by their attention, and inspire me afresh by their 
 confidence and goodwill. 
 
 And now to our recollections of TENT LIFE IN TIGERLA.ND.
 
 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 TOO CLOSE TO BE PLEASANT. 
 
 The Koosee Valley Our Hunt Club The members Our camp " Old 
 Mac " The must elephant A sudden alarm A mad charge Wreck 
 of the camp " Old Mac " in deadly peril The Eescue Reaction. 
 
 THIS is how it was ! 
 
 We had had a hard day of it in the jungles. It had been 
 even hotter than usual for the time of the year, although it 
 was March, when the hot winds sweep like a sirocco over 
 the waving leagues of tall dry elephant grass and dreary 
 expanses of arid burning sand, that compose the peerless 
 hunting-grounds through which the Koosee rolls its flood. 
 
 The Koosee is one of the tributaries of the Ganges the 
 sacred " Gunga Mai " of the Hindoos ; a stream with more 
 weird, mysterious, fantastic associations connected with its 
 swift, silent, turbid flow, and palm-fringed temple-crowned 
 banks, than perhaps any other river ever mentioned in the 
 history of man. 
 
 - The Koosee comes directly down with a turbulent im- 
 petuous rush from the towering Himalayas, those eternal 
 abodes of ice and snow, the majestic solitary throne of 
 mighty " Indra " " the ruler of the universe." The main 
 stream runs with a swift milky flood, dividing the two great 
 indigo and rice districts of Bhaugulpore and Purneah. 
 When swollen by the melting of the snows or by the 
 annual rains, the river overflows its banks, and at such 
 times presents the appearance of a broad swiftly-flowing
 
 TOO CLOSE TO BE PLEASANT. 1 
 
 sea, for its breadth from bank to bank is often ten, and in 
 some places nearly twenty miles across. In the dry season, 
 the waters always of the same milky hue are confined to 
 innumerable channels ; some so shallow that the stilted 
 plover can wade across; and others running deep and 
 strong, with a ceaseless gurgling swish that would sweep 
 the stateliest elephant off its feet, and carry its ponderous 
 bulk far down the stream. These streams seem to run at 
 random over this deltaic plain. Diverging here, reuniting 
 there ; forming a wide bend in one place, and cutting direct 
 through the sandy soil in another ; the face of the country 
 is split up into an infinitude of islands, and reticulated 
 everywhere by a network of dry channels and shifting 
 sandbanks ; and over all, wherever there is an inch of soil, 
 the stately elephant grass spreads its feathery mantle, and 
 when the light, silvery, filmy reeds are in flower, the 
 landscape seems like a vast silver swaying sea; with ever 
 and anon a steely bluish vein casting back the burnished 
 reflection of the burning sun, where the silent river pursues 
 its impetuous course, to join the dark mysterious waters of 
 the mighty Gunga. 
 
 Every year the river spreads here a layer of fertilising 
 mud, and there a covering of destructive sand over the 
 valley, or rather plain for it seems as flat as a board. 
 Countless herds of cattle come from the far-off highlands, 
 and populous villages of Tirhoot, to graze on the succulent 
 young shoots and undergrowth that quickly spring up. 
 These herds are closely followed by the stealthy ferocious 
 tiger ; while the savage cunning rhinoceros, too, may be 
 found at rare intervals. Of wild buffaloes, who love to 
 haunt the frequent swamps and marshes jackals, wolves, 
 hysenas, and other predatory brutes, there is no end 
 swamp-deer, hog-deer, sambhur, and other cervine species, 
 herd together in the tall grateful cover of the friendly 
 jungle grass and wild pig, porcupine, wild fowl, game
 
 8 TENT LIFE IN TIQERLAND. 
 
 fowl, and other animals, dear to the sportsman, are to be 
 met with in incredible numbers. The plains of the Koosee 
 are indeed the sportsman's paradise. The great height of 
 the jungle grass, however (it grows in huge tufts, like canes 
 or reeds), makes it almost impossible to follow your game 
 with any hope of success, unless you have elephants. The 
 expanse of grass, too, is so vast the creeks, the channels, 
 and concealed watercourses the runs or tracks made by the 
 wild animals themselves, or by the tame herds are so 
 numerous and intricate, that unless one has a good " line " 
 of elephants, he need not expect to make a great bag. 
 Unless one were acquainted with every inch of the country, 
 it would be as useless to look for a tiger, or rhinoceros, or 
 even herd of wild buffaloes, with only one or two elephants, 
 as it would be to look for the proverbial needle in a bottle 
 of hay. 
 
 Every year, therefore, when the hot March winds began to 
 blow, when the grass had become sapless and brittle, and 
 rustled with harsh grating sound as the blast swept over it ; 
 when the cattle had trod down all the dried leaves and 
 withered twigs, till all the country under foot was a vast 
 magazine of light tindery material that the least spark would 
 set into a blaze; when the indigo was all sown in the 
 lowlands and uplands; when the village rents had been 
 collected, and the gramies or thatching coolies had begun 
 to make the annual repairs on the roof of the bungalow, 
 enveloping the rooms in dust, and ejecting spiders, centi- 
 pedes, scorpions, bats, rats, lizards, and snakes from their 
 hidden haunts under the rafters and chutts ; then would we 
 get the camping furniture from the godown, erect the tent in 
 the compound, and thoroughly repair it, furbish up our 
 battery of guns, cast bullets and fill cartridges; and then 
 sending purwanas or chitthis (orders or compliments), as the 
 case might be, to every wealthy native round about the 
 factory, who could borrow, beg, or steal an elephant, asking
 
 TOO CLOSE TO BE PLEASANT. 9 
 
 them to forward the mighty animals to our hunting camp ; 
 we would prepare for a burra shikar, that is, a month's tiger- 
 shooting in the game-infested Dyaralis of the Koosee. 
 
 It would take me too long to describe our camp furniture 
 or baggage. In the Koosee district, a few of us indigo 
 managers, of like ages and kindred proclivities, used to club 
 together. We might, on occasion, have a friend or two from 
 some of the military stations, or from Calcutta ; be joined, 
 perhaps, by a native magnate, whose soul longed for the 
 worship of Saint Hubert ; or be accompanied by some dis- 
 tinguished traveller or honoured guest, whose sporting 
 instincts led him to the society of brethren in arms, for 
 we were all keenly infected with the hunting ardour, and 
 in the pursuit of our royal game cared very little what 
 trouble we took, or what expense we incurred. 
 
 In this way our little club had one year entertained the 
 gifted, courtly, lamented Viceroy the gentle, genial, ac- 
 complished, but ill-fated Earl Mayo. On the occasion to 
 which my present story refers (and if I pursue my in- 
 troductory descriptions much further, I am afraid your 
 patience will be exhausted ere I begin to narrate the 
 thrilling adventures that as yet lie in the background), 
 our party consisted of, first: Joe, or "Captain Joe," as 
 we called him, for he knew every inch of country for miles 
 round. He knew the habits, the calls, the hiding places, 
 the very " taint in the air " of every denizen of the jungle, 
 better than the best shikarree that ever followed a track or 
 hunted up a poonj (poonj is a footmark), and besides being a 
 dead shot, a clever planter, and a favourite with the ladies, 
 he was the coolest hand in a crisis and the best captain of a 
 hunt it has ever been my good fortune to come across. 
 
 Second on the list was his brother George. A merry 
 twinkling eye, peering out from swelling, unctuous undula- 
 tions of flesh ; a moist, merry, rather pendulous lip ; a fair 
 rotund corporation; well-shaped calves, hands, and feet;
 
 10 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 and a skin which showed, beneath its woman-like whiteness, 
 the veins meandering about like the ruddy streaks of a sun- 
 kissed apple, might have conveyed an impression to the most 
 careless and casual observer, that George was a man who- 
 loved good cheer. Never was an impression more in conso- 
 nance with actual fact. George was the " Soyer " of our 
 party. Even, now my mouth waters at the recollection of 
 the stews, ragouts, entremets, sauces, and wonderful combina- 
 tions of delicious toothsomeness, that George's skill would 
 evolve from his culinary consciousness. He was a born cook. 
 But although fat, he was far from feeble. At putting the 
 stone, throwing the hammer, smashing with his revolver a 
 bottle bobbing on the current of a jungle creek near the tent, 
 or any other athletic exercise requiring dexterity and skill, 
 not one of us in the camp could equal or approach him. Of 
 his adventures more anon. 
 
 Our third member was " Old Mac," a man of enormous 
 strength and powerful frame, but whose grizzly locks and 
 grey beard bore token of the severe training he had under- 
 gone when he had engaged to pull an oar against Oxford in 
 the Cambridge winning eight of many years ago. Mac was 
 a thorough good fellow. Clever, satirical, lazy till roused, 
 eternally warming his ruby-tinted nose a real Roman 
 with the jet black, greasy-looking bowl of a very small, much- 
 mended little meerschaum pipe, he was yet passionately 
 fond of shooting, and was the best snipe shot in camp. The 
 little meerschaum was his "fetish." It was NEVER out of 
 his mouth, not even, I verily believe, when he slept, and, 
 indeed, I have often seen him indulge in an abstracted 
 whiff between the intervals of soup, fish, joint, game, cheese 
 and fruit. 
 
 Old " Butty," a six-footer (our district engineer), as well 
 as part proprietor of a good factory ; Pat Hudson the 
 blithest, brightest, merriest, wittiest, most loving-hearted, 
 free-handed, reckless, careless, happy-go-lucky, blundering,
 
 TOO CLOSE TO BE PLEASANT. 11 
 
 thundering Irishman that ever followed hounds or won a 
 steeplechase (and there was no better rider then, perhaps, in 
 all Hindostan), and myself, were the remaining members of 
 our party. 
 
 We were a merry half dozen, and fairly typical of the good 
 old school of Tirhoot planters ; and, to begin my story once 
 more 
 
 This is how it was : 
 
 We were camped on the bank of one of the swift-running 
 milky streams I have referred to. There was a lovely moon- 
 light, and a faint breeze was just stirring the feathery tops 
 of the jungle grass and ruffling the glassy surface of the 
 stream. The lamps were lit in the dining tent. The white- 
 robed servants were flitting to and fro. Pat Hudson, in the 
 pauses of conversation, was striking chords (if one may be 
 said to strike anything out of a wheezy German concertina), 
 and " Old Mac " lay back luxuriously in his easy chair, blow- 
 ing a cloud from his eternal " cutty." 
 
 Says Pat, " I thought the brute was as unsteady as blazes 
 to-day." 
 
 " No wonder," said Joe. " He is as must as can be, and I 
 wonder he has done no mischief before now." 
 
 " You'd better have him tied up to-morrow, Pat," said 
 George, " and you can put your hmvdah on the little 
 mukna." 
 
 The conversation, of which this was a part, bore reference 
 to a magnificent elephant that had been lent by a neighbour' 
 Piajah to Pat. The animal was the finest, stateliest, most 
 noble-looking beast in the whole camp. We had in all 
 thirty-seven elephants, and they were picketed out, all 
 round the camp, their huge bulk, swaying trunks and tails, 
 and flapping ears, looking weird and uncanny in the pale 
 clear flood of moonlight that suffused the scene. 
 
 It was indeed a strange sight, but to us a very common- 
 place one. All over the sandy circle (our camp was on a
 
 12 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 little clear mound, hemmed in on all sides by the tall jungle 
 grass, save where the river ran deep and swift in front) 
 twinkled numerous fires, where the syces (grooms), mahouts 
 (elephant drivers), beaters, water-carriers, domestic servants, 
 and other camp followers, each cooked his evening chattie of 
 rice or broiled his slice of venison part of the spoils of the 
 day's shooting over the glowing embers. A huge semul or 
 cotton tree, with buttressed trunk and gnarled branches, and 
 a clump of solitary palms, were the only trees that broke the 
 monotonous surface of the grassy plain for miles around. 
 At some distance from the camp Pat's elephant the dun tar 
 (duntar is a tusker) was chained up to a strong peg, driven 
 deep into the ground. He was watched by a strong guard 
 of drivers and other natives, armed with spears, and the 
 brute was exercising his ingenuity, or giving vent to some 
 inward fit of spleen, by blowing heaps of sand and dirt over 
 his head and body. Occasionally he would uplift his 
 mighty trunk and emit a shrill, trumpeting, crashing 
 scream ; then he would seize a massive limb of a tree that 
 lay beside his heap of fodder and smash the earth all around 
 him with it. 
 
 It was evident the brute was excited, and an uneasy feel- 
 ing seemed to pervade all the elephants, and extended its 
 unseen, indescribable influence to every living being in 
 camp. 
 
 From evidences, which the keen eyes of Joe and George 
 had detected all during the day's " beat," there could be little 
 doubt that the ponderous brute was getting into that danger- 
 ous state of uncontrollable passion and fierce ' savagery, 
 which is the characteristic of the male elephant in the 
 amatory season. At such a time when, if still unsubju- 
 gated by man, and its natural wildness not yet tamed down 
 by discipline, its instincts would lead it to pair off with the 
 favourite female of the herd the tame tusker develops a 
 fierce uncontrollable irritability. His savage nature comes
 
 TOO CLOSE TO BE PLEASANT. 13 
 
 to the surface. He becomes moody, sullen, and altogether 
 untrustworthy some, of course, more so than others and 
 this state of savage incertitude of temper the natives call 
 must. A must elephant is always a dangerous brute. When 
 must, they are generally secluded from all contact with 
 other animals. Fastened in the peil Jchanna, or elephant 
 shed, by massive chains round the ankles, even the careless 
 mahout then becomes wary as he approaches the brooding, 
 savage brute to give him his daily food, and all men and 
 animals about the village give the sullen tusker a wide berth. 
 
 When he is coming into this state, the surest indication 
 perhaps is a stream of thick, yellowish, viscid-looking 
 humour, which exudes from a small orifice under the eye, 
 no bigger, apparently, than a pin's head. His irritation and 
 unsteady temper also shows itself by quick turnings round, 
 short spasmodic little charges, an inclination to toss dirt and 
 clods about, frequent trumpetings, disinclination for food, 
 and a blind wreaking of seemingly uncontrollable rage, at 
 the slightest impulse, on any object, animate or inanimate, 
 that may come in his way. 
 
 The day had been intensely hot. Our " beat " had been 
 over a big area of jungle. We had bagged two tigers, two 
 buffaloes, and the usual number of pig, deer, florican, and 
 other small game for the servants and our own kitchen 
 requirements; and all day Pat's objurgations had been 
 incessant, as the huge tusker had behaved in the strangest 
 manner. Often rushing forward in front of the line ; at 
 times wheeling round and making a charge at the nearest 
 elephant keeping up all the while a rumbling sound like 
 distant thunder ; then trying to charge into a herd of tame 
 cattle ; and at times endeavouring to rid itself of the liowdah 
 by shaking itself like a huge water-dog after a bath. The 
 mahout (driver) could scarcely keep the brute to his work, and 
 it was evident that the duntar was becoming unsafe to ride. 
 
 When we got into camp, the mahouts had the greatest
 
 14 -TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 difficulty in unharnessing the howdah, and the savage beast 
 had already hurt one incautious grass-cutter, who had 
 ventured too near, by a swinging blow with his powerful 
 trunk, which had sent the unhappy guddlia IM butcJia (son of 
 a donkey) flying headlong into a heap of thatching grass. 
 
 When Juggroo, his own malwut, had managed to secure 
 him to the strong stake before mentioned, the thick, clanking, 
 hobbling chains were fastened on him, and after pouring 
 several big earthenware pots of water over his head, old 
 .Shumslier (the "flaming sword") for such was the elephant's 
 name seemed to have become a little quieter. 
 
 We were all seated under the shamiana, in front of the 
 dining tent. A shamiana is a sort of fringed canopy under 
 which in India the dwellers in tents sit in the cool of the 
 evening to sip their sherry, smoke their manillas, and talk 
 over the events of the day. Our hunting togs had been 
 discarded. We had all indulged in a bracing delicious bath 
 in the cool swift river, and now, dressed in pyjamas, loose 
 banians, slippers, and smoking-caps, we were waiting the 
 announcement of dinner. 
 
 Pat had just evoked a more than ordinarily excruciating 
 groan from the asthmatic concertina, when a sudden tumult 
 arose around the outskirts of the tents. Shouts and cries 
 broke upon the erstwhile subdued hum of the busy camp. 
 Then arose a piercing scream, as of one in mortal terror and 
 anguish, and from all parts of the camp arose the cry 
 " Bliago, Niago, Sahiban Duntar must Iwgca Duntar 
 khoolagea Jiy" 
 
 " Eun, run, Sahibs the Tusker has gone ' must ' or mad. 
 He has broken loose." 
 
 We all started to our feet. George had just gone down to 
 the bank of the river to where the cooking was going on, 
 which lay nearer the mad elephant's picket. By this time, 
 the terror-stricken servants were flying in all directions. The 
 huge brute, with infinite cunning, had all along been making
 
 100 CLOSE TO BE PLEASANT. 15 
 
 mighty efforts to wrench up the stake to which he was 
 "bound. This at last he had succeeded in doing. With the 
 first desperate bound, or lurch forward, the heavy ankle 
 chains, frayed and worn in one link, had snapped asunder ; 
 and with the huge stake trailing behind him, he charged 
 down on the camp with a shrill trumpeting scream of 
 maddened excitement and savage fury. The men with the 
 spears waited not for the onset. One poor fellow, bending 
 over his pot of rice, trying to blow the smouldering embers 
 of his fire into a flame, was seized by the long flexible trunk 
 of the infuriated brute, and had but time to utter the terrible 
 death scream which had startled us, ere his head was 
 smashed like an egg-shell on the powerful knee of the 
 maddened monster. He next made a rush at the horses 
 that, excited and frightened by the clamour around them, 
 were straining at their ropes, and buried his long blunt 
 tusks in the quivering flanks of one poor Caboolee horse that 
 had struggled in vain to get free. 
 
 The other elephants, hastily loosened by the 'mahouts, were 
 rushing in wild affright into the jungle, their sagacity well 
 informing them of the danger of encountering a must duntar 
 in his wild unreasoning rush of frenzied fury. 
 
 All this was the work of a moment. Poor George, who 
 was bending over some stewpan, wherein was simmering 
 some delicacy of his own concoction, was not aware of the 
 suddenly altered aspect of affairs, till the huge towering bulk 
 of the elephant was almost over him. Another instant, and 
 he would have shared the fate of the hapless mahout, had he 
 not, with admirable presence of mind, delivered the hissing 
 hot stew, with quick dexterity and precision, fall in the 
 gaping mouth of the furious brute. His next sensation, how- 
 ever, was that of flying through the air, as the brute, with 
 one swing of its mighty trunk, propelled him on his aerial 
 flight, and he fell souse in the middle of the stream, with the 
 saucepan still tightly clutched in his hand.
 
 16 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 Our first impulse had been to rush for our guns. Alas I 
 there was not a weapon in camp in a serviceable state. Our 
 " bearers " had taken them all to pieces to clean, and had 
 dropped them in affright, on the first wild outcry. " Old 
 Mac," in his hurry to get out of the depths of his arm-chair,, 
 had tumbled it over and lay sprawling under it, and all had 
 passed so rapidly, that before he could struggle to his feet 
 the enormous brute was fairly on us. With a rush he made 
 straight for the shamiana the ropes snapped like burnt flax 
 under his ponderous tread. The lacquered bamboo poles 
 that supported the shamiana swayed and snapped like pipe 
 stems, and with a swoop, like the wings of a monster swan, 
 or rather like the collapsing bulk of a pricked balloon, the 
 crimson-fringed canopy came crashing to the ground. We 
 had all made our escape in separate directions. It was a 
 regular stampede. Sauve qui pent was the order of the 
 moment. We had no time to think of poor Mac's predica- 
 ment. We stumbled over tent-ropes, dashed through the 
 pendent " cheeks" or bamboo screens, not knowing but what, 
 at any moment, the terrible trunk of the maddened giant 
 might be curling round our waists. 
 
 One or two of us, myself among the number, plunged into 
 the river and swam to a low brush-covered point, that jutted 
 into the stream on the opposite bank, where George was 
 already seated, rubbing his back with gruesome grimaces, and 
 swearing in his most classic Hindostanee at all elephants in 
 general, and must elephants in particular. 
 
 The emeute had been so sudden, the onset of the tusker so 
 rapid, that we had no time for thought, much less for action ; 
 and totally unarmed as we all were, what could we have 
 done to stay the furious charge of a mad infuriated animal 
 of such colossal size and strength as a must elephant ? 
 
 From all sides of the camp, in the long jungle grass, we 
 could hear the affrighted servants chattering in fearsome 
 accents, and calling out :
 
 G> 
 
 -*sT 
 W 
 
 3 
 
 EC 
 W 
 
 CL 
 15 
 

 
 TOO CLOSE TO BE PLEASANT. 17 
 
 " Bap re lap ! Arree Bap re bap ! Sahib murgea tha hai ! 
 hai ! " " Oh, father ! oh, my father ! the Sahib is dead ! 
 alas ! alas ! " 
 
 And then we began to count our number, and think what 
 had become of poor Mac. George, Joe, and myself were 
 together. "Butty" and Hudson had fled like hares down 
 the bank of the river, but where was Mac ? 
 
 " Good Heavens ! can he be over there ? " said Joe. 
 
 Mindful of my early colonial experience, I coo'ee'd. 
 
 An answer came from Hudson down the river. 
 
 " Coo'ee," again, but no response from Mac. 
 
 " Mac, Mac, where are you ? " we shouted. 
 
 No response ; and a dull dead fear began to hug the hearts 
 of us all. Over the river we could see the infernal brute, who 
 had thus scattered us, in a perfect frenzy of rage ; kneeling 
 on the shapeless heap of cloth, furniture, poles, and ropes ; 
 and digging his tusks, with savage fury, into the hangings 
 and canvas, in the very abandonment of mad uncontrollable 
 rage. We had little doubt but that poor Mac lay crushed to 
 death, smothered beneath the weight of the ponderous 
 animal, or mangled out of all likeness to humanity by the 
 terrible tusks that we could see flashing in the clear moon- 
 light. It seemed an age, this agony of suspense. We held 
 our breaths, and dared not look into each other's faces. 
 Everything showed as clear as if it had been day. We saw 
 the elephant tossing the strong canvas canopy about as a 
 dog would worry a door-mat. Thrust after thrust was made 
 by the tusks into the folds of cloth. Eaising his huge trunk, 
 the brute would scream in the very frenzy of his wrath, and 
 at last, after what seemed an age to us, but which in reality 
 was but a few minutes, he staggered to his feet (for all this 
 time he had been kneeling), shook his massive bulk, looked 
 fiercely and defiantly around, made as if he would have 
 marched straight through the dining tent, where the snowy 
 cloth glistened white under the tent-lamps, then, with a 
 
 c
 
 18 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 parting shrill trumpeting scream of concentrated wrath and 
 malice, some fresh idea seemed to enter his demented brain, 
 and he rushed into the jungle. 
 
 An awful silence seemed to fall on the scene. No sound 
 came from the deserted camp. The fires flickered fitfully, 
 and their ruddy glow was reflected in the stream. Occasion- 
 ally the plash of a falling bank, or the hissing-like soof of a 
 porpoise surging slowly up stream, as he came to the surface 
 to blow, broke the silence. All else was deathly still. 
 
 At length, with quite an audible sob, George uttered 
 speech. '' Poor old Mac ! " was all he said, and our hearts 
 felt like lead within us. 
 
 By this time, some of the servants were venturing forth into 
 the open. The elephants had all disappeared in the hidden 
 recesses of the jungle. Pat and " Butty " hailed us, and in 
 silence we swam across. Here the evidences of the mad 
 brute's frenzy were numerous. The strong folds of the 
 shamiana were pierced in all directions. A shapeless mound 
 of smashed furniture lay huddled in one corner, and calling 
 the servants, we proceeded mournfully to unwind what we 
 all felt sure was the shroud of our ill-fated comrade, " Poor 
 old Mac ! " 
 
 Just then a smothered groan struck like the peal of joy- 
 bells on our anxious ears, and a muffled voice from beneath 
 the folds of the sJiamiana in Mac's well-known tones growled 
 out, " Look alive, you fellows, and get me out of this, or I'll 
 be smothered ! " 
 
 The rebound was too much for our overstrained feelings. 
 George fairly blubbered out 
 
 " Mac, is that you ? " 
 
 " Who the devil do you think it is ? " came the response. 
 We raised a cheer, set to work with a will, and soon extri- 
 cated our composed friend from his unwelcome wrappings. 
 
 Then, indeed, could we see how narrow had been his 
 escape, how imminent his peril.
 
 200 CLOSE 10 BE PLEASANT. 19 
 
 In trying to get out of the way of the first rush of the 
 elephant, his foot had caught in one of the tent ropes, and the 
 whole falling canopy had then come bodily upon him, hurling 
 the camp table and a few cane chairs over him. Under these 
 he had lain, able to breathe, but not daring to stir, while 
 the savage beast had behaved as has been described. His 
 escape had been miraculous. The cloth had several times 
 been pressed so close over his face as nearly to stifle Mm. 
 The brute, in one of its 'savage, purposeless thrusts, had 
 pierced the ground between his arm and his ribs, pinning his 
 Afghan clwrja or dressing-gown deep into the earth ; and he 
 said he felt himself sinking into unconsciousness, what with 
 tension of nerve and brain and semi-suffocation together, 
 when the brute had happily got up and rushed off. 
 
 It was characteristic of Mac, that after he had swallowed 
 a stiff brandy and soda, his first care was to search among the 
 shattered debris of the wrecked shamiana for his beloved 
 black pipe. Having, much to his satisfaction, found this 
 tried friend, he relit it, got into a spare chair, and was soon 
 again blowing his cloud, as if nothing unusual had happened. 
 
 In response to George's agitated utterance 
 
 " Thank God, Mac, old man, it's no worse ; but it was a 
 narrow shave." 
 
 " Too CLOSE TO BE PLEASANT ! " was all he said. 
 
 We were not long in getting things rearranged. Our 
 servants gradually made their appearance. Scouts were sent 
 out after the elephants, and men posted all round the camp 
 to report if the must duntar again put in an appearance. 
 Dinner was served up, and soon we were all busy discussing 
 the viands, and the narrow escape from a sudden and cruel 
 death our trusty old comrade had just experienced. 
 
 c 2
 
 20 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 AT CLOSE QUARTERS WITH A TIGER. 
 
 Ryseree A decaying village Eavages of the river Joe's yarn The 
 ruined shrine "Sign" of tiger The bamboo thicket A foolhardy 
 resolve Tracking tiger on all fours Inside the thicket Inside the 
 enclosure Inside the temple The bats " Alone with a man-eater r ' 
 The tigress at bay " Minutes that seem like hours " Well done ! 
 good revolver " Never again on foot " Wild beast statistics from 
 The Saturday Review. 
 
 " I FANCY, Mac," said Butty, " that was about the narrowest 
 ' butch ' you ever had in your liSe." (" Butcli " is from 
 " butchana," to escape.) 
 
 " Never a closer," said Mac ; " I thought it was all up with 
 me once or twice." 
 
 "How did you feel ? " I asked. 
 
 " Well, I can hardly tell you. Whenever I recognised 
 that the brute was on me, I felt at once my only chance of 
 safety was to lie perfectly still. Once or twice the oppression 
 on my face from the pressure of the heavy canvas was almost 
 suffocating, and when the huge tusk buried itself in the earth 
 elose to my side, I could scarcely refrain from calling out." 
 
 " It must have grazed your ribs ? " 
 
 " It did. After that, I seemed to turn quite unconcerned. 
 All sorts of funny ideas came trooping across my brain. I 
 couldn't, for the life of me, help feeling cautiously about for 
 my pipe, which had dropped somewhere near, when I tripped 
 on the ropes. I seemed, too, to have a quick review of all 
 the actions I had ever done, and was just dropping off into
 
 AT CLOSE QUARTERS WITH A TIGER. 21 
 
 a dreamy unconsciousness, after pulling a desperate race 
 against Oxford with my old crew, when your voices roused 
 me to sensation once more." 
 
 Said Joe, " Well, do you know, I have had the same 
 sensations exactly, during one very narrow squeak I once 
 had." 
 
 " Which one was that ? " said George. 
 
 " Can't you remember the bucJiao (escape) I had in the 
 Byseree mundil (temple) ? " 
 
 " Ah, yes ! Tell them that. By Jove, that was a squeak, 
 and no mistake ! " 
 
 By this time our curiosity was all aflame, and there was a 
 general cry of, 
 
 " Come on, Joe, let's have the yarn." 
 
 " Tamaco lao ! " shouted Mac, that being equivalent in 
 English to " Bring the tobacco ! " and the white-robed old 
 bearer appeared at the bidding ; entering noiselessly from the 
 outside gloom, as if a spectre, summoned by a cabalistic spell 
 from the shadowy realms of spirit-land, had entered on the 
 scene. 
 
 Another boy followed him, bearing the Ag dan, that is, a 
 small brass or silver salver, containing pieces of glowing 
 charcoal. Along with this fire-dish (they are often beautifully 
 carved, and form a handsome ornament), the boy presented 
 to each smoker a pair of " chimtas," or small silver tongs, 
 with which the ruddy charcoal is lifted, and put into the 
 bowl of the pipe ; and while Mac was nearly burning his 
 rubicund proboscis, in the attempt to ignite his strong moist 
 tobacco, I may as well describe the locale of Joe's exciting 
 adventure. 
 
 I knew Byseree well. It was a straggling village, on the 
 right bank of the main stream of the Koosee, and had once 
 been a place of considerable importance. The encroachments 
 of the stream had laid waste many of its once fertile rice 
 fields. The magnificent tanks, which had been excavated
 
 22 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLA.ND. 
 
 with such patient care, and at such a vast expenditure of 
 labour by the villagers of some far-away remote time so 
 remote that even tradition failed to crystallise a single fact 
 concerning them were many of them now choked up with 
 sand and matted growth of water-plants. Very few houses 
 in the once populous and thriving town were now occupied. 
 Tumble-down frameworks of rotting bamboos and mouldering 
 thatch, festooned by rank luxuriant trailing creepers and 
 wild gourds, lay scattered all round the open area, like an 
 aggregation of big green ant-hills. 
 
 Bound the environs of the dismantled village, white gnarled 
 mango trees, denuded of bark and bare of leaves, stretched 
 out their gaunt arms, as if beseeching pity for their forsaken 
 greenery and stripped condition. The soil all around was dank 
 and clammy and moist. Here and there a huge embankment 
 of sand, with a mound of brushwood and matted debris, 
 showed where the annual floods tore down from the " terai," 
 sweeping everything before them in their devastating rush. 
 A few foundations of solid plastered brickwork, with rudely 
 fashioned posts, standing up alone, battered, charred, and 
 slowly rotting, evidenced the forsaken site of some wealthy 
 grain merchant's " dukan," or granary ; but the only inhabi- 
 tants now left in the village were a few humble cultivators 
 of the cowherd and gardening castes, with two or three 
 Brahmin and Eajpoot families; indigent, listless, fever- 
 stricken, and subsisting entirely on the produce of their 
 reduced herds, or the crops raised from a few patches of 
 vetches, or rice, scattered at intervals among the tall en- 
 croaching jungle grass, which everywhere waved its rustling 
 tops, and surrounded the ruined hamlet as with a belt of 
 impenetrable, sapless, dun-coloured growth. 
 
 Such villages are common enough in these " Dyaras " or 
 riverine plains, all over India. Many of the rivers that come 
 thundering down into the plains from the Himalaya, to join 
 the Ganges, shape for themselves a regular channel of gradual
 
 AT CLOSE QUAETEES WITH A TIGEE. 23 
 
 indentation parallel to their course. If any of my readers 
 will take the trouble to look at the map, they will see that, 
 like the ribs of a fern leaf, rivers come running into the 
 Ganges from both sides. Those on the north-east side, while 
 their current takes a southerly course, yet eat into the plain 
 from east to west ; and in this way many of their tracks, if 
 we may use that term, are often many miles in width. As 
 the river gradually works its way along, it eats into the 
 settled cultivated country on the one side, leaving behind it, 
 on the other, a wasted wilderness of sand-banks, patches of 
 black mould on which grows a luxuriant vegetation, deep 
 creeks, shallow sand-bars and stagnant lagoons ; in fact, the 
 very intricate country which I have described as the haunt 
 of the tiger, rhinoceros, and buffalo, the most worthless 
 country for culture or settlement, but the finest country in 
 the world for game and sport. 
 
 . The once thriving village and fertile rice-fields of Eyseree 
 had reached just about the culminating stage of this gradual 
 destructive process. The rich oil and seed merchants, the 
 sleek Brahmins, the gallant Rajpoots with their free tread, 
 manly forms, and independent bearing, had grown tired of 
 warring against continued floods and annual irruptions of 
 the predatory Koosee, and had sought a settlement further 
 away from the turbulent stream. The cattle-folds and 
 granaries had crumbled down, and lapsed into jungle. The 
 bamboo topes had tangled and twisted themselves intq a dense 
 matted impenetrable brake. The orchards of mangoes no 
 longer bore a single leaf. The temples were mouldering to 
 dust. One shrine, sacred to Khristna, was still occasionally 
 visited by some very aged and infirm devotee, from some far- 
 off village, whence he had come in his old age, to offer up a 
 prayer and deposit a few flowers once more before he died, . 
 at the shrine where he had worshipped in his vigorous early 
 manhood ere yet the terrible Koosee had swept away the 
 glory of the village.
 
 24 TENT LIFE IN TIGEBLAND. 
 
 It was a dreary place. The village "collections" were 
 always in arrear. The chief item in the annual revenue 
 was the fee charged at so much per head, on the foreign 
 cattle that were driven every year after the subsidence of 
 the floods, to graze on the fat pasture that then sprung up 
 on the deserted clearings, now almost unrecognisable from 
 the original jungle. Great herds of these cattle were driven 
 to this part of the Dyarah, as a favourite feeding ground, 
 and, as a direct consequence, tigers were plentiful, and a 
 " drive " through the Eyseree ilaka, or jurisdiction, was 
 always regarded as a sure " find." 
 
 And now to let Joe tell his story. 
 
 We were all attention. Our pipes were " drawing " beauti- 
 fully. The night was but young. There was little danger 
 of " Slmmsher " again putting in an appearance, and while 
 the " noker cJiakur " (servants) cleared up the wreck of the 
 " shamiana " outside, and put things generally to rights, Joe, 
 with a loud a-hem, commenced. 
 
 " Ye know, boys, I'm no hand at spinning a yarn, and I 
 would much rather George pitched it to ye. He could do 
 it better than I can, and he was with me at the time." 
 
 " I remember the incident well," said George, " but I 
 never poach." 
 
 " Blaze away, Joe, and you'll soon come to the end of it ! " 
 
 " Well," said Joe, " it was a good many years ago now, 
 when my old father was alive ; and he would seldom allow 
 us to have any of the factory elephants to go out after a 
 tiger, unless he went with us himself. On this occasion, 
 George and I had got the loan of a few ' beater ' elephants, 
 from the dehaat (surrounding country). It was the first 
 time we had gone out by ourselves, and we were full of 
 ardour and inexperience. 
 
 " We had beaten all over the Basmattea tuppra (tuppra is 
 ' an island ') round by Shikargunje and Burgamma, and had 
 put up nothing but a few pig and hog-deer. It was an
 
 AT CLOSE QUARTERS WITH A TIGER. 25 
 
 intensely hot day. We kept firing the jungle as we went 
 along, and about two in the afternoon we stopped near 
 Pokureea Ghat (ferry) to have some tiffin (lunch). 
 
 "While munching our dalpattees (a kind of cake) and 
 drinking some milk, which a polite Bataneea (cowherd) had 
 presented to us, a man came over in the boat and told us 
 that there was a man-eating tiger over at Eyseree. We sent 
 over one of our own peons to fossick out more information, 
 and he soon came back with a confirmation of the report, 
 and in a very short time we had swum our elephants across, 
 and were making for the supposed lair of the tiger as fast as 
 we could go ; and you know, Maori, what sort of a dehaat it 
 is," said Joe, turning to me. 
 
 " Awful bad travelling," I assented ; " I know the place." 
 
 " There was not much jungle about the village then," 
 Joe continued, " and we beat every possible patch we could 
 think of as a likely spot, but coming on no ' sign,' we began 
 to think we had been hoaxed, and were inclined to give 
 up further attempts for that day at least, in no very amiable 
 mood. 
 
 " Close by one of the tanks a small tank, with its surface 
 so covered by a dense carpeting of weeds that an incautious 
 elephant might even have been deceived, and have plunged 
 in, thinking it was dry land there grew a solitary semul, or 
 cotton tree. All round it was a dense, matted, inextricably 
 tangled, wild growth of bamboos, laced together with creepers 
 and climbing plants, and through the close-clustered, clinging 
 maze we could discern the grey, weather-stained, domed 
 roof of a temple, with great cracks gaping in the masonry, and 
 the iron trident on the top, twisted, bent, and rust-eaten, 
 hanging down over part of the roof. Amid the clefts of the 
 masonry a few sinuous creepers had effected a lodgment, 
 especially one broad-leaved, shady peepul tree (the ficus 
 indicus). The shade below was dark as the mouth of a cave, 
 and the ground was moist and yielding, while the elephants
 
 26 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 sank a foot deep into it every time we went near it. It was 
 so matted and wet, the creepers clung and intertwined so 
 closely and tenaciously together, that I never imagined it 
 would hide a tiger, and, indeed, we would not have thought 
 of beating through it, had not the mahout on George's 
 elephant directed our attention to a few scratches on the 
 bark of the tree, which, very excitedly, he affirmed to be the 
 marks of a tiger's claws. 
 
 " We both laughed at the idea, for the marks were fully 
 eleven feet off the ground, and we never imagined a tiger 
 could reach up that height." 
 
 " I've seen marks higher up a tree than that," said Mac. 
 
 " So have I since," said Joe, " but at that time we were 
 rather incredulous. However, I was determined to be 
 satisfied, and, getting down, I commenced to crawl through 
 the brake in order to get to the trunk of the tree. "Very 
 fortunately for me, as you will see in a minute, I took my 
 pistol with me. It was that identical pistol," said the 
 narrator, pointing to a handsome ivory-handled Thomas's 
 patent lying on the table. " You know it, all of you. It 
 carries a heavy bullet, with a good charge, and is no toy 
 at close quarters, as my story will prove anon." 
 
 " Why did you get off the elephant ? " said Butty. " That 
 was surely a foolish thing to do." 
 
 "Ye don't catch this child doin' such griff-like tricks," 
 said Pat. 
 
 " Well, I have learned more caution since," said Joe ; 
 " but the fact is, both George and I were afraid there might 
 have been an eenar (well) about the place, with perhaps 
 blocks of masonry, and, to tell the truth, I don't think any 
 elephant could have forced his way through such a tangled 
 clump." 
 
 "I remember, too," put in George, "that the edge of 
 the tank was rotten, and the ground panky (stiff moist 
 clay), and we were afraid of getting the elephants boggorl ,
 
 AT CLOSE QUARTERS WITH A TIGER. 27 
 
 let alone tumbling them down a well. Besides, we never 
 for a moment dreamed we would come upon ' old stripes ' 
 there after having been all over the place, and got never 
 a sign. Go on, Joe." 
 
 Joe continued : 
 
 " I got through to the tree with some difficulty, and 
 there, sure enough, were the footprints of a large tiger, as 
 distinct as any one might wish to see. The ground showed 
 marks all over a space of several yards in circumference. 
 The tiger had evidently been stretching itself up against the 
 tree, and cleaning its nails on the bark. The scratchings 
 on the bark were quite plain, and seemed of very recent 
 date, as the white milky juice had scarcely yet dried on the 
 tree. 
 
 " I narrowly scrutinised the whole surroundings. I could 
 see at one portion where the huge brute must have slipped 
 a little on the edge of the tank while drinking. The water 
 was yet muddy where it had flowed into the track of the 
 claws. It was hot, sultry, and still. The perspiration 
 streamed from me. I called out to George that there were 
 signs of tiger sure enough, and very fresh signs, too, but did 
 not think the brute was now in the covert. 
 
 " ' Are there any signs of a kill ? ' cried George. 
 
 " ' I can't see any, but I'll have a look,' I answered ; and 
 then creeping on hands and knees, cutting away a twig here 
 and a creeper there, I slowly made my way inwards, knife 
 in hand, and my pistol ready in my belt. I penetrated yet 
 farther and farther into the dark, noisome, gloomy tangle 
 of matted undergrowth." 
 
 " But hang it all, man alive ! was there a tiger inside ? " 
 burst forth Butty. 
 
 " Wait a bit, and you'll hear ! " said Joe. 
 
 " Dry up, Wheels ! Go on, Joe," said Pat. 
 
 Joe resumed his yarn. 
 
 " As I advanced farther and farther through the tortuous,
 
 28 TENT LIFE IN TIG EH LAND. 
 
 intricate path I was forcing for myself, the sounds of the 
 elephants and talking of the men grew fainter and fainter. 
 The shade, too, deepened, and grew gloomier; and full of 
 bounding health and spirits as I was, I could not repress a 
 sort of shudder as I crept deeper and deeper into the heart 
 of the 'banswarree (bamboo brake). 
 
 "I could hear George crying out occasionally, and I 
 answered as well as I could. After one response, I could 
 have almost sworn I heard a rustling and stealthy creaking, 
 as if some animal were forcing a way through the thicket in 
 front of me. A cold, creepy sensation came over me, and 
 for a moment I could hear my heart beat audibly. Still, I 
 never for a moment thought there could be a tiger. Neither 
 of us ever imagined a tiger would have gone into such a close 
 place, without leaving plain traces of his presence. Besides, 
 I had often heard strange stories of the Eyseree Jca Mundil 
 (the Eyseree Temple). The natives said it was haunted ; 
 that there was immense treasure hidden in it, and that all 
 sorts of " Ihoots " (ghosts) and spirits guarded the sacred 
 deposit." 
 
 George chimed in, " Joe had often expressed a wish to 
 explore this old temple, and it was that, I think, as much as 
 anything, that led him to be so foolhardy." 
 
 " Well, but the tiger ! " said Butty. 
 
 " Hold on, man," says Pat, " hurry no man's cattle, you 
 might have a donkey of your own some day." 
 
 " Faith an' I'd never buy you, Pat, at any rate." 
 
 " Oh, shut up, you fellows" ! growled old Mac. " Let's 
 have the yarn." 
 
 " Well," continued Joe, " by this time I was in a pretty 
 mess with sweat and mud and muck of all sorts ; but I was 
 now well through the encircling brake, and close up to the 
 mouldering wall of the old temple. Heaps of broken sculp- 
 tured masonry lay scattered about. The wooden framework 
 of a door in the wall, hung ajar, dropping noiselessly into
 
 AT CLOSE QUARTERS WITH A TIGER. 29 
 
 dust. The shade and shelter were so complete, that not even 
 a breath of wind could penetrate inside, to cause the 
 trembling moth-eaten timber to stir. A ruined low wall, 
 its coping all displaced, and great ugly chasms in its con- 
 tinuity, surrounded a circumscribed courtyard, literally 
 choked with rank vegetation. Bushes started from every 
 crevice and every crack in the mossy flag-stones. A green- 
 ish fungus-like growth covered all the masonry, and the 
 smell was sickly, oppressive, and suggestive of rottenness. 
 Everything spoke of ruin and decay and desolation but 
 desolate and dreary as the spot appeared," it wanted not 
 inhabitants. As I shook from myself the dank leaves and 
 withered twigs, and once more stood erect, a skulking jackal 
 slouched over the crumbling wall, on the other side of the 
 enclosure ; an odious, repulsive-looking Sap go (a species of 
 iguana) slithered noiselessly through a gap among the ruins ; 
 and numerous large-eared bats came flapping swiftly round 
 me, and with an eerie, uncanny swoop and ghost-like swish, 
 disappeared in the gloom." 
 
 " Ugh," said Butty, with a shudder, " it must have been a 
 lively sort of a place ? Eh, Joe ? " 
 
 " Lively ? " said Joe. " I tell you I never felt so uncom- 
 fortable in my life. I'm not superstitious, as you know, and 
 I don't think I'm much of a funk stick either ; but I'll never 
 forget how I felt just then, nor how earnestly I wished I 
 was well out of the infernal hole I had got into. 
 
 " A few cracked and crumbling steps, slippery with slimy 
 mould and festooned across with spiders' webs, led up to 
 the low frowning archway. I could yet see the little chiselled 
 gutter, with a stone spout, that carried away the milk, 
 poured as a libation to the grim idol perhaps the blood of 
 human sacrifices, who knows ? formerly offered to the deity 
 whose ruined shrine I was now surveying. Having come so 
 far, I determined I would complete my exploration tho- 
 roughly. The temple was one of those ordinary triple -domed
 
 30 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 affairs you see so constantly in all these ruined Koosee 
 villages. There is first a sort of antechamber, access to 
 which is got through a low-browed door. Inside is a central 
 square chamber, right under the biggest dome, with a black 
 stone, placed in an oval on the floor, and a gutter round it, 
 to let the blood, or oil, or milk, which are used as offerings, 
 run away from this sacrificial stone or altar, and in the 
 further recess, on a sort of pedestal, in an alcove, generally 
 stood the idol. 
 
 " I peered into the temple. A few straggling fitful gleams 
 of subdued light struggled through here and there a fissure 
 in the rugged, massive walls ; but they only served as a foil 
 to the Cimmerian gloom which enshrouded the whole interior. 
 The roof was high, vaulted, and reverberating. I could hear 
 the swish of the horrid bats as they circled round and round 
 the interior of the dome. The air seemed alive with whis- 
 perings. It was only the noise of the bat wings, but it 
 sounded very ghost-like and fearsome. r One would occasion- 
 ally swoop almost in my face, causing me to start back in- 
 voluntarily. As my eyes became a little more accustomed 
 to the gloom, I could see the sinuous roots of the fig-tree that 
 was silently but surely piercing every crevice, insinuating 
 itself into every crack and cranny, and more certainly and 
 swiftly than the destroying hand of time itself, was hastening 
 onward the inevitable dissolution of the strong, massive, mys- 
 terious structure, that had been built perhaps when the 
 Druids chanted their wild songs round the weird circle of 
 Stonehenge." 
 
 " Bravo, Joe ! You're getting quite poetical ! " This from 
 Butty, who was quietly replenishing his pipe. 
 
 " Oh, do shut up ! " snorted Mac. " Let him finish his 
 yarn. He's coming to the pith of the story now." 
 
 " These roots, in some places," continued Joe, who was 
 evidently warming to his tale as the vivid recollection of the 
 scene came back to him, " looked like huge coiling snakes as
 
 AT CLOSE QUARTERS WITH A TIGER. 31 
 
 they twisted about the fractured walls and roof. But the 
 gloom and shade were so intense, I could not discern any- 
 thing clearly inside the temple. At the far end, beyond the 
 indistinctly shaped arches and buttressed projections, I could 
 see something shining like a jewel through the gloom. It 
 sparkled and shone just like a brilliant in a setting of jet ; and 
 not doubting but that it might be some tinsel round the 
 mouldering fane in the hidden recess, or perhaps might even 
 be a real jewel, for such a thing was not at all unlikely, I 
 withdrew my head, and shouted out as loud as I could to 
 George, to send a fellow in with matches, that I might 
 thoroughly explore the gloomy interior of the murky ruin. 
 
 " I fancied then again, as the echo of my own shout lingered 
 round the ruin, that a sharp sibilant sound came from the 
 dark interior. It sounded like the ' fuff-fuff ' of an angry 
 cat ; but imagining it to be only the hiss of a snake, or per- 
 haps some sound made by the bats, I took no further notice 
 of it. 
 
 " From George's responsive shout, I made out that he was 
 hastening to join me himself; and I could, after a short 
 pause, hear him forcing his elephant into the bamboos ; but 
 after a struggle, he seemed to find the task an impossibility, 
 and retired. 
 
 " Again I called to him, and again I thought I heard the 
 puffing, hissing sort of a sound inside. 
 
 " By-and-bye, I could hear George laboriously making his 
 way through the brake, following the track I had made, and 
 swearing awfully at the prickly, spiky barrier of twigs and 
 creepers that impeded his progress. 
 
 "He took such a time that I got impatient. I turned 
 again, and peered into the dim chamber. I was startled. 
 Far back in the cavern-like gloomy arch, glittered two 
 lustrous orbs of a baleful greenish hue. Their intensity 
 seemed to wax and wane, as does the sparkle of a diamond as 
 the lio;ht strikes on its facets. I was struck dumb with
 
 32 TENT LIFE IN TIQEELAND. 
 
 astonishment for the minute. I could hear George rustling 
 noisily through the last opposing barrier of twigs that 
 separated him from me ; my curiosity was now quite aflame. 
 Strange, I felt no compunctious visitings of fear. The 
 presence of my brother seemed to nerve me. The oppressive 
 feeling of solitariness and sense of some impending danger 
 seemed to have left me. 
 
 " The glittering light of the two blazing jewels seemed to 
 expand and scintillate, and emit a yet more intense lustre. 
 With a cry to George, ' Come on, George ! ' I stooped down 
 and entered the close, stifling atmosphere : the darkness 
 seemed to swallow me up. I strode forth ; the bats surged 
 round my head, brushing me with their wings in wild 
 affright. I was directly under the dome. My hands were 
 extended in front of me like a blind man groping in an 
 unknown place, when with a roar that seemed to shake the 
 very walls and reverberated through the vaulted apartment, 
 the jewels blazed like a lurid gleam of fire ; a quick 
 convulsive spasm seized my heart as if a giant hand had 
 clutched it and squeezed it like a sponge, and I knew at 
 once that I was face to face, cooped up in this loathsome 
 kennel, caught in a deadly trap, ALONE WITH A MAN-EATING 
 TIGER ! 
 
 " At such a time, one does not take long to think. 'Twas 
 then the vista of my life appeared before my mental vision. 
 'Twas then a similar experience as Mac's, when he was like 
 to be crushed by that brute of an elephant, flashed across 
 my brain. Every incident of my life came trooping back 
 to memory, quick and distinct as the lightning flash lights 
 up every leaf and dripping twig and falling rain-drop in a 
 thunderstorm on a summer's night. 
 
 " My next act was purely instinctive. I realised, rather 
 than thought or felt, that the brute had been crouching back 
 in the chamber expecting to remain undiscovered. I had an 
 instinctive perception that it was a cur, that it would have
 
 AT CLOSE QUARTERS WITH A TIGER. 33 
 
 rather remained hidden than fought. It was probably 
 gorged after a heavy repast. It must have been a coward, 
 but my bold unceremonious entry must have been construed 
 into an attack. It had no escape, and, rendered fierce by 
 desperation, it was now springing upon me. As I say, all 
 this flashed swift as thought over my intelligence. It took 
 not an instant of time. But in that instant I grasped all 
 the circumstances of the case. I realised my danger, and 
 quick as thought I threw myself flat on my face. The 
 echoing reverberations of that terrible roar yet deafened me. 
 I knew there was a ringing sound in my ears. A huge body 
 swept over me with a terrific rush. In the confused jumble 
 of sound and conflicting emotions, I heard George's shout of 
 dismay and terror. I seemed to dart forward, and for a 
 minute I breathed again. In my mechanical instinct I had 
 darted forward. I was now behind the pillar which 
 supported the arch of the inner shrine. The man-eater was 
 rushing round the central chamber, lashing his sides with his 
 tail, and growling and roaring, but evidently in as great a 
 funk as either George or myself. 
 
 " George was shouting like the devil outside, not knowing 
 really what to do, and the tigress, for such she "proved to be, 
 was such an arrant cur that she was afraid to face him. 
 
 " Here, however, was your humble servant in as pretty a 
 mess as you can well imagine." 
 
 " Sweet Father ! I think so," said Pat. 
 
 " A devil of a fix," said Mac. 
 
 " By Jove," was all I could think of saying, while we all 
 hung breathless on Joe's every sentence. 
 
 " Well, boys, to make a long story short," said Joe, " I 
 got off safe and sound, and we killed the tiger between us." 
 
 " How was that ? " we all queried. 
 
 "This is what I did," continued our captain. "As you 
 remember, I had my pistol. I was in a dreadful funk 
 as you may imagine, but desperation gave me a certain 
 
 p
 
 34 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 nerve ; and I knew that a movement or a whisper would 
 probably bring down the fierce brute on me ; and cooped up 
 as I was in a mere den, what chance could I have against a 
 real live tiger ? By stretching out my hand, I could at any 
 moment have touched the brute. She seemed to have forgot 
 my existence quite, and after a few fierce boundings round 
 the central chamber, she was now lying crouched down, 
 peering eagerly out at the portal where George was yelling 
 like a fiend to the mahouts and peons to come to him. 
 Her head was between me and what little light there was. 
 Slowly I raised the pistol. At the click of the hammer, 
 faint as it was, she gave an ominous growl and turned her 
 head. 
 
 " Now or never was the time. 
 
 " A flash that lighted up the gloom ! ! 
 
 " Again ! 
 
 " Again ! ! 
 
 "Yet again ! ! ! 
 
 "The arched temple once more resounded with rever- 
 berating echoes ; but no roar this time from the tigress. 
 
 " She was stone dead. 
 
 " The first bullet had gone clean into the brain. 
 
 " And now, boys," said Joe, as he reached out his hand for 
 the soda water and brandy bottle, " that's my yarn, and I 
 don't want ever again to meet a jamoar of that sort, under 
 anything like similar circumstances" (janwar means an 
 animal). 
 
 Of course then the conversation turned on the feelings of 
 both Joe and George during the quick but exciting succession 
 of incidents. Various comments were made. We con- 
 gratulated Joe on his good aim and lucky escape ; and George 
 told us of how they had taken home the tigress, having 
 had to literally cut a passage out into the open, to let them 
 remove the body. 
 
 The tigress killed by Joe under such memorable circum-
 
 AT CLOSE QUARTERS WITH A TIGER. 35 
 
 stances was an old mangy brute, almost toothless, lank, lean, 
 and almost without a shred of hair. She measured eight feet 
 four inches, and must have been a cowardly, timorous brute. 
 Still it was a most foolhardy thing of any one to venture on 
 foot into a thick jungle of the description above stated, when 
 there were signs of tiger about. 
 
 Joe told me afterwards that he must have been several 
 times quite close to the tigress as he forced his way through 
 the jungle. At any moment she could have killed him with 
 one blow of her powerful paw, and in his after career, during 
 his residence in the Koosee jungles, during which time he 
 witnessed the death of over three hundred tigers, scores of 
 them falling to his own gun, Joe was never known to move 
 far from his line of elephants on foot, if tiger's foot-prints 
 were to be seen in the vicinity.* 
 
 * Lest the " intelligent sceptic " may be startled at the record of Joe's 
 success as a tiger slayer, I append the following extract from the Saturday 
 Review of January 15, 1887 : 
 
 " Such reading as the annual report sent home by the Government of 
 India on the destruction caused by venomous snakes and noxious wild 
 beasts, together with the measures taken for their extermination, forcibly 
 reminds us of the primary functions of Government in the Indian Empire. 
 The unremitting campaign waged against these pests is only a minor 
 instance of the large share of attention which the Administration is obliged 
 to devote to defending an inert population against the most immediate 
 dangers to life and property. But it will serve its purpose as well as more 
 conspicuous illustrations to show how continuously the efforts of Govern- 
 ment must be exerted in this direction, and how impossible it is to implant 
 and foster Western habits of self-reliance and energy in the races of thfr 
 Indian Peninsula. Their traditional helplessness is brought into rather 
 startling relief by an examination of the official returns before us. We 
 find, for instance, that no less than 644 deaths are reported as due to 
 jackals alone in the Bombay Presidency, Bengal, and the North-west 
 Provinces. The Indian jackal is by no means a formidable beast, although 
 it can fight in an ugly way when driven into a corner. Jackals, it is true, 
 will occasionally attack a chance wanderer by night. But a mere show of 
 determined defence is generally enough to keep them from coming to close 
 quarters with an adult ; and these figures are certainly higher than could 
 be reasonably expected. A perusal of this report, moreover, is equally 
 calculated to astonish and enlighten people who have a vague idea of the 
 mischief done by snakes and wild beasts in India as to the serious extent 
 
 D 2
 
 36 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 The moon was now declining red and threatening through 
 the rising mists, so finishing each his " peg," we called to our 
 " bearers," retired to our camp beds, and were soon dreaming 
 
 of their clestructiveness. The loss of human life is striking enough, but 
 the depredations amongst cattle, which are often the Indian peasant's only 
 source of subsistence and well-being, must not be left out of sight. The 
 measures of protection under a system of Government encouragement and 
 reward, do not, on the contrary, make very much progress, if we are to 
 judge from the report under consideration. Indeed, the death list rose from 
 22,425 persons in the previous year to 22,907 in the last twelve months. 
 In estimating these figures, however, we must bear in mind the tendency 
 of Indian statistics, as common as it is illusory, for any given returns to 
 swell in proportion as improvements are effected in the reporting agencies. 
 This feature is certainly illustrated by the figures before us. In one 
 province the police were instructed for the first time last year to report 
 the loss amongst cattle, together with the ordinary vital statistics which 
 they are charged to collect, instead of sending in the information at 
 separate times. The result of this consolidation of their duties was that 
 something like a third more cattle were returned as destroyed, although 
 the Local Government remarks that there is ' no reason to suppose that 
 there had been any increase in the actual number of deaths.' At the 
 same time it is acknowledged that even these figures are below the truth. 
 'Many of the largest grazing-g rounds upon which tigers and leopards do 
 most mischief are situated miles away from any police station, and the 
 graziers do not, during the grazing mouths, often leave the jungle for the 
 town or village where there is a reporting station.' 
 
 " We may take it, however, that, although the statistics relating to 
 cattle are admittedly imperfect, the returns affecting human life are 
 .approximately correct, and represent fairly enough the annual mortality 
 attributable to snakes and wild beasts. The death list has averaged over 
 22,500 for the last four years. As usual, the provinces which principally 
 suffered were Bengal, the North- West Provinces, and Oudh. Together 
 they contribute nearly two-thirds of the roll. Venomous snakes, of course^ 
 are far the deadliest enemies of human life. Out of the total number of 
 deaths they caused 20,142, leaving 2,675 to be ascribed to wild beasts. 
 No information is given as to the part played by the different varieties, 
 but the cobra is always the most destructive, and few things bring home 
 more vividly to Mr. Griffin the fatalism and apathy of the natives than 
 their remissness in clearing out buildings or localities notoriously swaim- 
 ing with these creatures. Amongst wild beasts the tiger occupies, as 
 usual, a bad pre-eminence; and, although he is more difficult for the 
 sportsman to get at every year, there is no practical abatement in his 
 destrtictiveness. Certain spots which are isolated by malaria and want of 
 communications are as much his undisputed haunts still as those ' beats '
 
 AT CLOSE QUARTERS WITH A TIGER. 37 
 
 the dreams of the ardent Indian sportsman, while silence 
 hovered over the snowy whiteness of our tents. 
 
 in the Central Provinces along the great salt line that stretched across 
 India before the days of the Stracheys, where the tigers discharged the 
 duties of the patrol, and the hardiest native smuggler would not dare to 
 run his pack. ' Alligators, crocodiles and sharks' are again credited with 
 251 deaths in the three provinces mentioned above, though it cannot be 
 said that in this enumeration the Government of India errs on the side of 
 too accurate a classification. The alligator proper is, in fact, only found 
 in the New World, while the various Indian crocodiles differ in some 
 important respects from the true crocodile of Africa. It is, we believe, the 
 'mugger,' or marsh crocodile, which generally comes in for the loose 
 designation of alligator, and this beast reaches an enormous size. 
 
 " As we have stated above, the returns of the destruction of cattle are very 
 far from being exact. Last year, however, has the proud distinction of 
 showing the heaviest loss that has yet been officially reported. The total 
 number of domestic cattle killed ran up to nearly 60,000 head. Snakes 
 are not held responsible for much of this loss, only 2,000 cases being put 
 down to snake-bite ; while the chief agents in the slaughter are tigers and 
 leopards, each claiming considerably over 20,000 victims. To turn now to 
 measures of reprisal, we find that 1,835 tigers, 1,874 bears, and 6,278 
 wolves were killed off last year, as compared with 2,196, 2,000, and 6,706 
 respectively in the preceding twelve months, in which the figures, for some 
 unexplained reason, rose considerably above the average. This bag need 
 not make the sportsman in quest of big game lose heart, provided he has at 
 his disposal those three coveted requisites time, health, and money. The 
 extermination of snakes depends very much upon the character of the 
 season, which does not appear to have been particularly favourable last year. 
 Nevertheless, the number destroyed did not fall below the average, which has 
 ranged for some time between 300,000 and 400,000; and of course this is 
 far from being accurate, and is probably very much below the mark. The 
 Government grants bestowed for these protective measures came to the 
 tolerable sum of Ks. 2, 21,126."
 
 38 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 A NOCTUENAL ADVENTURE. 
 
 Out for KlmUbcr A clean shot The Loha sarung, or sarus crane A 
 strange place for a live fish Wealth of game A varied bag My 
 yarn Leopards superior to the tiger in daring and ferocity Partiality 
 to a diet of dogs A seed harvest camp Leopards close by A sultry 
 night xmder canvas Dozing off Is it nightmare ? -A terrible awak- 
 ing Eye to eye A perilous interviewer The fatal shot. 
 
 HUDSON and self were up early next morning, long before 
 the others were awake, and hastily quaffing a cup of tea 
 brought by the ever watchful bearer, we mounted a small 
 pad elephant which was in readiness, and sallied forth to see 
 if we could get news of tiger, or find out what had become of 
 the " Duntar" 
 
 We found that the infuriated brute had luckily not gone 
 near any village ; and I may as well here state that during 
 the day he was secured, by the aid of several male elephants, 
 and hobbled so firmly to a strong post near one of the 
 villages, that he was rendered incapable of further mischief 
 during the continuance of his fit. 
 
 Jogging along, with our guns over our knees, we talked of 
 various things ; I noting keenly the appearances of the 
 jungle, and often exchanging interrogatories with the mahout 
 or driver. As we neared a great branching skeleton of a 
 withered cotton tree, the keen eye of my friend spied high up 
 in the forked branches an accumulation of twigs, grass, 
 sticks and feathers. Thinking it might be a vulture's nest, 
 and being desirous of procuring some of the eggs for a
 
 A NOCTURNAL ADVENTURE. 39 
 
 collector who had asked me to try and get him a few if 
 possible, we moved round the tree to have a better view. 
 
 Suddenly Pat touched my arm, saying excitedly, " Look 
 there, Maori there's a head in the nest what is it ? " 
 
 I looked up to where he pointed, and there sure enough, 
 peering over the edge of the nest at us, we could discern a 
 piercing eye watching with the utmost intentness our every 
 movement. The eye belonged to a head with a high bald- 
 looking crown, in company with a strong projecting beak 
 having broad duck-like mandibles. 
 
 " Hold on," I said to the mahout. 
 
 " DTiut ! " This to the elephant in guttural Hindostanee. 
 " Dliut " is the order in mahout language for the elephant to 
 stand perfectly still. 
 
 The sagacious brute was immediately as still as stone. 
 " It is a Lolia sarung" I whispered to Pat. 
 
 I had ball cartridge in my gun I took steady aim at the 
 motionless head. My bullet entered at the base of the skull 
 and went clean through at the other side. On after ex- 
 amination we found it had carried the brain clean away, 
 leaving the empty skull. There was scarcely a movement in 
 the loosely piled mass of material composing the nest. The 
 head sunk quietly out of sight. I was certain I had made a 
 hit, but Pat began " chaffing " me. 
 
 " Why, man, you've missed." 
 
 Just then a few drops of blood began to drip slowly down, 
 striking heavily on a projecting branch, and then a tiry 
 crimson stream began to trickle down the tree, a mute 
 evidence of the accuracy of my aim. 
 
 All was so perfectly still in the nest above that we could 
 scarcely credit the evidence of our senses, but sending the 
 mahout up the tree, he pulled out the unfortunate Loha 
 sarung, stone dead, and informed us that there were two 
 young ones in the nest. 
 
 These we quickly had handed down to us. As the mahout
 
 40 TENT LIFE IN TIGEBLAND. 
 
 was doing so, lie held them by the legs, their heads hanging 
 downwards. One consequence of this sudden reversion of 
 their ordinary posture was to cause them to eject each about 
 eight or ten small fish, which must have been swallowed 
 whole, and they came tumbling right on Pat's head. Here 
 let me state a fact. It may interest some of my readers 
 with a taste for natural history, and is a curious illustration 
 of the tenacity of life possessed by some fish. One of the 
 fish so unceremoniously ejected from the crop of the young 
 Loha sarung was actually alive. It was a small gliurai, a 
 species of river fish akin in habit and appearance somewhat 
 to the gudgeon. It is purely a bottom fish, has a round 
 bullet-like head, has the voracity of a pike, the vitality of an 
 eel, and its colour assimilates with the mud in which it 
 delights to grope about for food. 
 
 The Loha sarung, although purely a wading bird, and 
 subsisting entirely on fish diet, is yet powerful on the wing 
 and is rather a scarce animal. I fancy it is a species of tree 
 crane, but I am not sufficiently posted up in Natural History 
 to give its correct appellation. It stands about four feet in 
 height, is of a creamy-slate colour on the back and wings, 
 with a tint of lavender underneath. It has a long neck not 
 unlike that of a swan, which is of an intense vivid blue. 
 The feathers closely set, and overlapping like the scales on a 
 fish. The irridescent hues are very beautiful. Had I known 
 the poor brute was sitting on young, I would not have shot 
 it. The young ones were of the size of a half-grown goose, 
 with the peculiar dingy yellow covering characteristic of 
 the very adolescent gosling. The beautiful band of blue on 
 the neck had not yet appeared on them. The neck was 
 simply a dingier greyish yellow than the rest of the body. 
 We tried to keep them alive. They took the fish we 
 procured for them readily enough, but only lived for a 
 few day s after their capture. 
 
 With the poor dead bird hanging to the " pad," the limp
 
 A NOCTURNAL ADVENTURE. 41 
 
 wing? flapping funereally, we proceeded farther along the 
 river bank. In these grandly stocked reserves, the Koosee 
 Dyaras, or plains, if one goes out in this aimless sort of a 
 way, only intent on shooting what he sees, his pad will often 
 present a very curious, miscellaneous collection by the time 
 he again reaches camp. Pat was not a " new chum," or 
 " griff," as our Indian cousins would rather say, but I had 
 not long been in Bhaugulpore, and I fairly revelled in the 
 shooting, which is so much superior here to what it is in the 
 more settled districts of Tirhoot and Behar generally. We 
 consequently blazed away at everything that got up. 
 
 To give you some idea of the sort of sport one may have 
 on such an excursion as I am describing, let me barely 
 enumerate the " bag " we twain made that morning. Before 
 we got back to camp, our pad was like a poulterer's shop. 
 Besides the Loha sarung, we shot a florican, a Brahminy 
 duck, a wild goose, a brace of lalseer, or red-tufted mallard, 
 several pintails, grey duck, and teaL All these, except the 
 florican, we got by stalking silently through the long grass 
 by the river's brink. We also shot two or three sandpipers, 
 goggle-eyed plover, two beef-steak birds, or black ibis, and a 
 couple of curlew. Pat knocked over a brace of snipe near 
 one of the tanks, while I bagged a blue fowl, two grey 
 partridges, a brace of hares, and two green pigeons, which we 
 got in a small mango grove near a ruined village. So much 
 for small game. Besides these we saw and could have shot 
 numerous hog-deer, wild pig, otters, a tiger cat, a porcupine, 
 innumerable crocodiles, and aquatic birds in endless variety 
 and diversity. 
 
 Nor are these the only denizens of the dense brakes and 
 populous sand banks and waters. At any moment a tiger, a 
 herd of wild buffalo, a hyaena, or wolf, may get up before the 
 elephant, while a rhinoceros is not by any means a rarity. 
 There are few snakes in these jungles. The big brown water 
 snake and the harmless hurrecJiara, a dainty, delicate-looking
 
 42 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 little reptile, are numerous enough, and the Dhamin, or grass 
 snake, is not seldom seen; but the deadly cobra, the fatal 
 Sarikur, and the venomous Kerait keep more to the forest 
 country and resort to the villages where rats, mice, poultry, 
 frogs, and other such small deer most do congregate. Oc- 
 casionally one may come across a python in these riverine 
 plains, and I once shot one in the very place I have been 
 describing, which on examination presented a very curious 
 and uncommon illustration of the evil effects of greed and 
 gluttony. 
 
 It had killed and must have swallowed whole a pretty 
 big ravine deer. I found the horns of the deer had 
 worked their way through the stomach of the enormous 
 reptile, causing an ugly, most offensive, gangrenous sore, 
 which rendered the skin perfectly useless as a specimen. 
 The python, though swollen and enormously thick, only 
 measured 13 feet in length. I have seen one killed at 
 Peeprah, which measured 18 feet in length, and instances are 
 recorded of even greater lengths than this. 
 
 Reverting to Joe's yarn of the preceding night, Pat asked 
 me if I had ever experienced an encounter at such close 
 quarters with any tiger or large animal. This brought the 
 conversation back to the lordly felidse, and led me to relate 
 a nocturnal adventure which had happened to me not long 
 before, when I had been out in the forest country. And thus 
 ran my yarn : 
 
 " A NOCTURNAL VISITOR. 
 " ' It was a dream, a horrid dream.' 
 
 " It is not generally known that leopards, though inferior 
 in size and strength to the 'jungle king,' the Eoyal Bengal 
 Tiger, is yet his superior in courage and ferocity. Tigers 
 generally prefer the long grass jungles that fringe the deep 
 silent rivers of India, but the leopard loves the w r oods and 
 forests, and not unfrequently makes his lair on a platform of
 
 A NOCTURNAL ADVENTURE. 43 
 
 tauglecl brushwood and intermatted creepers. I have shot 
 them in places like this, at an elevation of over ten feet from 
 the ground. 
 
 " They frequently haunt the vicinity of villages, and become 
 bold robbers, carrying off the goats of the villagers, and eagerly 
 snapping up a stray dog if he be unwary or unlucky enough 
 to leave the precincts of the village pallisade. In the Sal 
 jungles of Oudh, and among the cowherd and charcoal 
 burners' villages along the Nepaulese frontier, many children 
 are annually carried away by these beautiful spotted marau- 
 ders. They usually prey on the chikara or four-horned 
 antelope, but black buck, spotted deer, and even wild hog 
 will be captured at a pinch, and dogs and calves furnish 
 them with many a savoury meal. My brother Tom, a tea- 
 planter, writing from Ambooteah, Kurseong, Darjeeling, 
 under date 14th May, 1887, says and I quote it here to 
 illustrate the trait I am referring to : ' One of my Syces 
 killed a pretty big leopard the other day with Ms Tcookree. 
 He was cutting grass, and it came upon him with a roar all 
 of a sudden. He had some puppy dogs with him, and it was 
 them the leopard was after. I fancy they are awfully fond of 
 dogs. A leopard took one of my dogs out of a cane chair 
 in the Tukdah verandah one night,' and so on but to my 
 yarn. 
 
 "In May, 1874, I was encamped near a picturesque village 
 in North Bhaugulpore, bordering on the gloomy Terai forests, 
 and my men had reported to me that two leopards haunted 
 the jungle close by. My tents were pitched on the high 
 bank of a beautiful tank, which had been excavated in long 
 remote ages by the first fathers of the hamlet, and whose 
 stored-up treasury of the precious fluid proved a welcome 
 blessing to the parched rice fields in seasons of drought. 
 
 "All day the camp had presented a busy scene. Group 
 after group of sturdy villagers had filed through the tent, 
 taking advances for the coming manufacturing season ; for
 
 44 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 the indigo was now waving high, and it was time to engage 
 carts and cutters, ploughs for the factory lands, and loaders 
 and beaters for the vats. Some had balances to receive, 
 others had vexed accounts to clear up. Some wanted loans 
 on the security of bullocks or cattle, wherewith to purchase 
 seed or agricultural implements. My native writers had 
 been busy with their reed pens, and squatted on the ground, 
 rocked their bodies backwards and forwards, as they drowsily 
 intoned the particulars of voluminous accounts to the village 
 putwarrie or accountant, who, in turn, elucidated the 
 mysteries of each man's hisab to the gaping villagers out- 
 side, underneath the tamarind trees. 
 
 " The day had been intensely hot. All the long forenoon, 
 a fierce west wind, laden with burning particles of dust, 
 had been blowing ; and the afternoon was close, still, terribly 
 hot. The hand punkah, in the tent, waved by a sleepy, 
 perspiring punkah wallah, disturbed the air, but gave no 
 relief, for the air felt like the hot blast of a furnace. At 
 length, the welcome evening breeze began to faintly sigh 
 amongst the bamboo leaves. My domestic servants, who had 
 been sleeping all day beneath the shadow of the great fig- 
 tree near the tank, began to rouse up. The syces or grooms, 
 came round with their buckets for the evening allowance of 
 gram for the horses. The dog-keeper let loose the dogs, who 
 came rushing boisterously into the tent, scattering the papers 
 of the p/iitwarries ; and the dusky slaves of the pen bundled 
 up their dingy unsavoury papers and parchments, and with 
 a lowly salaam shuffled on their clumsy shoes that had been 
 baking outside in the sun all day, and left the camp, to cook 
 their curry and rice in the village. 
 
 " The gomastali or head man came up with his report to tell 
 me of the prospects of the crops, the men who had carts, who 
 would engage on the morrow, and generally to give me all 
 the news of the different parts of the cultivation under his 
 charge.
 
 A NOCTURNAL ADVENTURE. 45 
 
 " Among other items of information, Debnarain Singh, such 
 \vas his name, told me that the leopards (for there were marks 
 of two) had destroyed a fine calf right in the village the pre- 
 vious night, and that they were becoming a regular pest to the 
 poor ryots. I determined on looking them up next day, and 
 told Debnarain to arrange for beaters, tomtoms, and fireworks. 
 With these I hoped to oust the spotted vixens from their 
 lair ; and from my position on a mychan, or elevated plat- 
 form of branches, get a shot at their bright and glossy 
 hides. 
 
 " After a dinner of peafowl and curry, washed down with 
 artificially cooled and ever- welcome Bass, I was glad to 
 throw myself down in my camp bed, and read the paper which 
 the dcd- runner or postman had just brought in from the post- 
 station some ten miles distant. We retire early in India 
 during the hot weather, or when alone in camp, for the 
 morning is the coolest and most enjoyable part of the day, 
 and we are up long before the sun shows his lurid blood-red 
 disc above the coppery horizon. 
 
 " For the sake of coolness, the klianats, or side walls of the 
 tent, had all been removed. The breeze had died away, and 
 the night was still and oppressively hot. From the village 
 came the distant hum of the villagers and camp followers 
 gossiping after their evening meal. My dogs lay around 
 panting with outstretched tongues. A faint sound of some 
 distant musician, drearily drumming his melancholy and mo- 
 notonous tomtom (or native hand-drum) ; the howl of some 
 village cur, the tweet-tweet of a belated minak (or Indian starl- 
 ing), or occasional horrid din of the screech-owl as her harsh 
 grating cry awakened the echoes, were the only sounds to break 
 the stillness. Far in the forest might at times be heard the 
 howl of a wolf or the bark of a hog deer; but gradually 
 sound after sound faded away and stillness reigned. 
 
 " Near at hand, a most unearthly yell, which seems the 
 despairing cry of some midnight demon, startles the deathly
 
 46 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 silence. The awful howl is caught up and repeated from 
 every quarter, till the whole forest seems peopled with 
 howling demons, and Acheron itself seems broken loose. 
 This sets the dogs agoing. The terriers bark furiously. 
 The retrievers whine and yelp. The two kangaroo hounds 
 bay out a loud wail, and the servants raise their heads and 
 utter angry imprecations. "Down, Dandy. Chup rao 
 Moscow;" and the sounds again die away. It is only the 
 jackals, and nobody minds them, although they might carry 
 off one's boots and rifle the cooking tent, if the dogs did 
 not keep watch and ward. 
 
 " At length all the camp is hushed in slumber. For a long 
 time I lay awake thinking. It is too hot to sleep. The 
 horses stamp and move about restlessly. Old ' Typo,' my 
 noble hound, is asleep, and dreaming in his sleep of some 
 cunning, dodging old jackal. He utters short excited yelps. 
 He is no doubt dreaming of a rare hunt. 
 
 " My mind reverts to my old College days the dear old 
 quadrangle where oft I have paced to and fro with loved 
 comrades scattered far and wide. Farther back wanders 
 the busy memory. I see the old village church with its 
 background of crimson heather and golden whin. The mossy 
 boulders on the hill, beside which the moorcock plumed his 
 glossy brown crest, and the grouse strutted proudly among 
 the bracken. I see the brown waters of Effoch dancing 
 noisily down the steep glen, and the glinting of the 
 yellow burn trout as he loups behind yon hoary moss- 
 covered boulder. Here comes Tarn Eoss, the shepherd, round 
 the peat stack, with his dogs frisking about him, and far 
 away up the brae a few sharp reports, the puffs of smoke 
 lazily curling upwards, tell me ' the shooters ' are out for 
 the day. 
 
 " I am asleep at last. But it is so hot. I am not sleeping 
 easily. It is a troubled repose. I have occasional waking 
 moments. The flickering oil lamp in the corner of the tent
 
 A NOCTUKNAL ADVENTUKE. -17 
 
 seems to trouble me and keep me awake. All is still. Xot 
 a breath of air stirs. 
 
 "Suddenly I am awake, wide awake, although my eyes 
 still remain closed; but a nameless terror ties me down to 
 the bed. A horrible fascination seems to keep me spell- 
 bound. I have a terrible weight of some dreadful horror 
 on me. My limbs are tied. I cannot move. I would give 
 worlds to cry out to move a limb ; but my tongue cleaves 
 to the roof of my mouth, and my body is as rigid as iron. I 
 am possessed with an awful fear. I know some terrible 
 impending danger confronts me. All this flashed through 
 my mind. It must have been instantaneous. And yet I 
 was in danger, real ghastly danger. I opened my eyes ! The 
 oil lamp had gone out, but through the open walls of the 
 tent a bright moon shone. It was almost as clear as noon, 
 and there, right in the centre of the tent, within two feet of 
 my face, stood a large full-grown leopard. It was a magnificent 
 animal. There was no sound save a subdued snore from 
 some sleeping tenant. How the brute had crept in among 
 the sleeping dogs and servants I never could divine. Hunger 
 could not have been her motive. She stood silently in the 
 middle of the tent. Her keen eye glared right in mine. Her 
 supple lissome tail waved slowly from side to side, with a 
 short spasmodic twitch at the extreme tip, as you may have 
 seen a cat's do, when lying on the grass watching a bird. I 
 could almost feel the brute's breath upon my face. I was, as 
 you can imagine, in ' a mortal funk.' At any moment the 
 brute might spring upon me. As I gazed, the eyes seemed to 
 contract and expand, and as I made an involuntary move- 
 ment, the fierce animal retracted her lips, disclosing to my 
 view the formidable fangs. How long I lay thus I do not 
 know. The leopard never stirred a step. There she stood 
 intently glaring into my strained eyes. At length to my 
 intense relief she turned slowly round. My agony of suspense 
 was becoming intolerable. With a glance behind, which
 
 48 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 seemed plainly to say, 'lie still,' she bounded lightly over 
 the prostrate form of a coolie lying huddled in his white cloth, 
 and made leisurely off. Then with a yell in which all my 
 pent-up breath found vent, I roused the sleepers, and fired 
 two rapid shots with my handy revolver, one of which I 
 fancied took effect. Dogs barked. Servants cried out. I 
 rushed for my gun, and just then the leopard turned round 
 and surveyed the agitated and alarmed camp. 
 
 " She stood out clear and distinct in the pearly moonlight, 
 She certainly looked a picture. I took a deliberate aim, 
 fired, and my bullet taking her fair behind the shoulder, she 
 toppled over without a lurch. 
 
 " Then there was a row and a rumpus ; such a torrent of 
 exclamations, queries, shouts of delight and eager ejaculations. 
 At all events, the leopard was dead. She measured 7 feet 
 9 inches one of the biggest and most handsomely marked 
 animals I have ever shot. How to account for her strange 
 visit and her unusual forbearance, I cannot. The incident 
 happened as I have described.* How the dogs did not discern 
 her presence, I know not. All I know is, that the skin 
 long decorated my mother's fireside at home ; and from this 
 nocturnal intrusion my nerves received the rudest shock 
 they have ever experienced during a rather adventurous and 
 varied career among the wild denizens of the Indian brakes 
 and jungles." 
 
 * This adventure is briefly mentioned in a former chapter. 
 
 M. D. (HARV'D) 
 orrr JOBAI/TH BHFT.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 "THE HABITATIONS OF HOKEID CRUELTY." 
 
 Back to camp A piteous burden The agonised mother The father's 
 story Pity and indignation An ingrate servant Fiendish barbarity 
 The long weary night Welcome arrival of the old doctor Hover- 
 ing 'twixt life and death Skilful surgery" Who did it? "The tell- 
 tale slate How the deed was done Retribution. 
 
 BY the time I had finished narrating my nocturnal adventure 
 with the leopard, we had nearly arrived back again at the 
 camp. On a nearer approach to the tents, we could plainly 
 perceive, from the unusual noise and" bustle, that something 
 extraordinary had happened. The servants were hurrying 
 to and fro with agitated looks and gestures, and a dense 
 crowd of villagers, each swaying his arms, brandishing his 
 iron-shod latliee, and all speaking excitedly together, showed 
 plainly that no ordinary event had either happened or was 
 even now being enacted. Jogging and spurring the elephant 
 into a shuffling sort of an amble, we hastily neared the centre 
 of all this tumult, the crowd scattering to right and left at 
 our approach. A lane was thus opened through the intensely 
 excited spectators, and it disclosed to us a spectacle which I 
 will never forget. 
 
 Before the Shamiana, several Kahars, or palkee carriers, 
 were grouped around a rude litter, or Dhodly, on which was 
 seated, tailor fashion, a handsome little olive-skinned boy. His 
 garments were literally soaked with blood. It had streamed 
 down his shoulders from two ragged torn wounds in his ears. 
 His breast was crimsoned with the copious flow, and a coagu- 
 

 
 50 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 lated pool of the life fluid nearly filled his lap. His clothes 
 were saturated with it, and at the slightest motion it welled 
 up and bubbled frothily out from a frightful gash in the poor 
 little fellow's throat. His throat was nearly cut from ear to 
 ear. His head was bent down upon his chest, and with the 
 fingers of the left hand he clutched the edges of the gaping 
 gash, the blood oozing through the poor bent fingers as he 
 tried to stem the fatal drain. He sat perfectly motionless 
 and still. He seemed at the last stage of exhaustion. His 
 eye alone betrayed intelligence. It was clouded by a look 
 of intense suffering and pain, but its intelligent glance 
 showed that he was keenly observant of all that was passing 
 around. 
 
 A hurried inquiry of Joe put us in possession of all the 
 facts, so far as he knew them. 
 
 Our friends had finished breakfast, and were lolling about 
 the camp, some filling cartridges, one cleaning his gun, and 
 George giving directions to the Kliansammah, or butler, 
 when they beheld a tumultuous group of villagers approach- 
 ing the tents, surrounding the Dliooly, which the Kaliars 
 were carrying at a rapid pace. The mother of the poor little 
 sufferer in the litter was rending the air with frantic cries, 
 beating her breast, while her disordered garments and 
 scattered grey locks streaming in the air showed the utter 
 abandonment of her grief. 
 
 Indeed, from the time the boy had been brought into camp, 
 she ceased not her lamentations, but was now seated beside 
 the litter on the ground, throwing her head wildly back, 
 swaying to and fro, beating her breast, and wailing out with 
 an agonising piteousness of expression 
 
 " Dohai, dohai, sdhiban ! Arrce lap re lap! ! Mem lalaivali. 
 Ai ho mera lalawah ! Arree lap re lap ! ! " 
 
 (" Mercy, mercy, gentlemen ! Oh, father, my father ! ! 
 Alas, my child, my child ! Oh, my father ! ! ") 
 
 The poor mother was nearly demented with grief. Those
 
 " THE HABITATIONS OF HORRID CRUELTY." 51 
 
 who have not seen the fierce, uncontrollable passion of the 
 Oriental nature, when conventionality is thrown to the winds 
 under the impulse of an overmastering emotion, can form 
 little idea of the piteous abandonment the despairing, thrill- 
 ing passionateness of this appeal. The poor woman was 
 almost hoarse her voice choked at times her burning eyes 
 had refused to weep more tears. She was wholly given up^ 
 to her intense passionate grief. Without a moment's cessa- 
 tion she continued her wailing exclamations, and it was with 
 the utmost difficulty we could get her pacified enough to let. 
 us hear the explanations we were all burning to receive. At 
 length the hope and soothing inspired by our presence- 
 seemed to relieve her; sobbing as if her poor heart would 
 burst, while the big tears chased each other down her 
 cheeks, we prevailed on her to be comparatively silent, and 
 the husband, a tall, stately, intelligent-looking Bunneali, or 
 grain merchant, stepped forth. 
 
 He, too, was labouring under intense agitation and excite- 
 ment, which he struggled manfully to master. Even then 
 the grave courtesy of the well-to-do Hindoo did not desert 
 him. With a lowly salaam and graceful wave of his shapely 
 arm, he apologised for appearing before the Sahibs with 
 uncovered head. Then he told his story. He was interrupted, 
 frequently by the remarks and exclamations of the bystanders. 
 It was an exciting scene enough, and there was plenty of 
 noise, interruption, clamour, question, and rejoinder. At 
 times the poor mother would break out into another loud 
 cry, beseeching mercy, protection, vengeance. The crowd 
 kept increasing, and we all listened as patiently as we could, 
 and with a feeling of growing horror and indignation, as the 
 poor father delivered himself of his narrative. 
 
 Shortly, it was to this effect. The facts are all well known, 
 and created a mighty sensation in the Pergunna, where they 
 occurred, at the time. 
 
 The child had bsen missed from the village the preceding 
 
 E 2
 
 52 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 evening, at the usual hour for retiring, and search had been 
 made for him high and low. His father was a man in very 
 comfortable circumstances for this part of the country, and 
 the boy was an only son. According to a very common 
 custom in these parts, the lurka, or boy, was decorated with 
 silver bangles on his wrists, and wore jewelled ear-rings in 
 his ears. He also had a valuable silver armlet worn above 
 the elbow ; and as the night wore on without news of the 
 missing lad's whereabouts, the anxious searchers and watchers 
 began to fear that the boy had met with foul play. 
 
 Their ominous forebodings were but too well founded. In 
 the morning, several of the villagers came upon the poor 
 little fellow in much the same plight as I have described. 
 The ornaments had been ruthlessly torn from his ears torn 
 literally from the warm living flesh. He had been stripped 
 of his other ornaments, and then, to make sure of his 
 murderous work remaining undetected, the callous, fiendish 
 monster who had thus shown his ruffian, cruel nature, 
 had gashed the poor child's throat with some blunt, jagged 
 instrument, and left his victim, as he imagined, slowly 
 bleeding to death. 
 
 The boy was a comely, intelligent little fellow, and had 
 been one of the brightest and most forward pupils in the 
 Government vernacular school in the village. When his 
 enemy departed (all this came out afterwards, as we shall 
 see), he felt that his only hope of life was to try to staunch 
 the flow of blood. His head had sunk clown upon his breast, 
 and by keeping it in that position, and trying to close the 
 gaping edges of his fearful wound, he found that the flow of 
 blood abated. All through the night the brave little fellow 
 had battled with his faintness and weakness. He had a 
 conviction that he would not die. He tried to crawl out of 
 the patch of thatching grass and make for the village, but his 
 strength quickly failed him. 
 
 The neighbours found Him as I have described, sitting on
 
 " TEE HABITATIONS OF HORRID CRUELTY." 53 
 
 the ground at the edge of the grass, bathed in blood, speech- 
 less, and his poor little body nearly drained dry. To all 
 their eager queries, and wild, incoherent questionings, he 
 could make no answer. When his agonised father and 
 mother appeared on the scene, the quick glance of recognition 
 and mute appealing look he gave them, showed his mind 
 was clear. He tried to speak, but a choking gurgle was all 
 the sound he could make. Every attempt he made to 
 articulate only increased the welling up of the crimson torrent, 
 and with a weary, despairing gesture of resignation, he seemed 
 to bend submissively to fate. 
 
 The distracted parents did not know what to do, but an 
 aged Brahmin, knowing our camp was close by, happily 
 suggested that the boy should be carried before the Sahibs. 
 No sooner was the suggestion uttered, than it was acted 
 upon. 
 
 A Dlwoly and bearers were procured. The child was 
 tenderly lifted into it, and, accompanied by nearly every 
 inhabitant of the village, the melancholy procession started 
 for the tents. 
 
 In the meantime " Butty," remembering that there was a 
 native doctor at a neighbouring Thanna, or police-station, 
 had got on horseback and galloped off as hard as he could 
 ride to fetch the doctor, telling Joe to send out a fast 
 elephant to meet them. George and myself, who both knew 
 a little of surgery in an amateurish way, had got lint, cold 
 water, bandages, and other appliances, and were now carefully 
 sponging the terrible wound. 
 
 We found the wind-pipe had been almost severed. The 
 poor child at times seemed in danger of choking. Nearly 
 all the blood in his body seemed to have been drained away. 
 His pulse was scarcely perceptible, but his mute appealing 
 look plainly thanked us for our attentions, and he seemed 
 fully conscious and observant of all that was passing. 
 
 The only thing that seemed practicable for us to do, was
 
 54 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 to try and put in two suture needles (I had a case of surgical 
 instruments with me), and compress the edges of the wound 
 by twisting thread round the projecting ends of the needles. 
 
 Fortunately our surgical skill w r as not subjected to a pro- 
 longed or severe strain. A sudden tumult and shouting 
 caused us to look up, and we found " Old Mac " indulging 
 in a sort of caper that made us imagine he had suddenly 
 taken leave of his senses. A clatter of horses' hoofs and a 
 wild shout of triumph enlightened our understandings, and 
 at a rapid hand gallop " Butty " rode up, threw himself from 
 his horse, scattered the natives to right and left, and was 
 immediately followed by the portly form and jovial beaming 
 
 face of our jolly station doctor, Surgeon-Major T , whose 
 
 timely arrival on the scene was providential. 
 
 " Old Bones," as we called him, with a quick glance took 
 in at once the whole posture of affairs, and losing no time in 
 questions, or exchange of salutations even, he was on his 
 knees . beside the poor little sufferer in an instant, whipped 
 the sponge from my hand, and was busily brushing away 
 the clotted blood, with all the tender gentleness of a woman 
 and the practised skill of the experienced surgeon. Sorely 
 tested endurance and over-strained nature had now given 
 way, and poor little Balkhrishna (the boy's name) had 
 fainted. 
 
 Scarcely a perceptible motion stirred his breast. We 
 thought he was dead. The doctor hung over him. A faint, 
 very faint indication of the passage of air round the livid 
 edges of the wound, and a scarce noticeable aeration of the 
 clotted blood, showed that the poor child still managed barely 
 to draw breath. 
 
 The first words of the doctor as he looked angrily around 
 were : " Send those niggers away ! " 
 
 " What's that infernal old woman howling about ? " That 
 was the next interjection, and was directed to the poor 
 wailing mother.
 
 " THE HABITATIONS OF HORRID CBUELTY." 55 
 
 " Take her out o' that ! " pursued the doctor, sharp and 
 stern ; " one would imagine something was the matter." 
 
 Then he quickly whispered to me, " Come along, Maori ! 
 Bear a hand. Quick! This is life or death. We must 
 get the boy into the tent." 
 
 We lifted the poor, seemingly lifeless child inside. Then 
 the doctor turned up his sleeves, and, as tenderly as a mother 
 could have done, he bathed the pallid face of the boy, and 
 the materials being speedily procured, he rapidly set to work 
 to sew up the wound. 
 
 We moistened the child's lips with brandy, but feared 
 every minute that the doctor had arrived after all too late, 
 and that the little fellow was beyond the reach of human 
 aid. 
 
 How anxiously we watched every varying indication, as 
 under the doctor's skilful fingers the wound seemed to 
 become less horrible to look at. I need not linger over the 
 details. A surgical operation to the unprofessional reader is 
 not an interesting subject of description. The job was 
 certainly a famous one in many respects, and I dare say there 
 are few Indian surgeons now living who have not heard the 
 particulars of T.'s jungle tracheotomy. 
 
 The doctor found that the wind-pipe had been cut into, 
 and that to insure ability to breathe he would have to make 
 a false wind-pipe. The operation was most skilfully per- 
 formed. One of us happened to have a new meerschaum 
 pipe in camp, and out of the silver tubing round the stem 
 the doctor extemporised a capital substitute for the usual 
 silver tube let into the trachea by the surgeon in the 
 operation of tracheotomy ; and having done this, dressed the 
 wound, and attended to the poor torn ears, he had done all 
 that human skill could do. The issue was in higher hands. 
 
 I may as well here give the sequel. For three days and 
 nights the poor little patient hovered between life and death. 
 He must many times have been very near the mysterious
 
 56 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 border that separates us from the "great beyond." Thanks, 
 however, to his brave^constitution, and the proverbial quick 
 healing tendency of the temperate Hindoo system, he began 
 to mend, after he had been tended with every care for three 
 days and nights. During that time, T. waited on his patient 
 with almost maternal devotion and care. He had come out 
 to join our hunt, but he refused to leave the side of the couch, 
 whereon lay his little unconscious charge. Every necessary 
 appliance had been procured, of course, from the " station," 
 and, by injecting stimulants and anodynes, the child had 
 been kept alive. It was, in fact, a fierce wrestle with death. 
 In the end, skill, assiduity, watchful care, and a hardy 
 young life battled successfully through, but it was a tough 
 struggle. 
 
 Meantime, we were consumed with an all-devouring 
 curiosity to find Jout the clue to the mystery. We specu- 
 lated if the miscreant who had committed the dastardly 
 act would ever be discovered. The native police had been 
 scouring the country, and following up every possible indi- 
 cation, but without success. Our District-Superintendent 
 himself had come out, and we had all carefully searched the 
 grass, where the poor child had been discovered, after the 
 murderous attack upon his life, to see if we could discover 
 any clue to the ruffian. 
 
 A hussooah had been found near the scene of the cruel 
 deed, and as it was rusty and stained with blood, there was 
 little doubt but that with this weapon the unknown dastard 
 had perpetrated his murderous act. A hussooah is a rough, 
 village-made hand-sickle, used in harvesting operations. It 
 has a serrated edge, like a blunt saw, is made by the village 
 blacksmiths, and is used in cutting alike the crops of barley, 
 wheat, and oats, the thick, hard stems of the gennara and 
 maize, and the rahur stalks that yield the luscious fattening 
 dall, or Indian pulse. 
 
 On the third day, there was a slight improvement in the
 
 " THE HABITATIONS OF HORRID CRUELTY." 57 
 
 little patient. His pulse was stronger. His eye looked 
 brighter. We were all collected round him in the tent, after 
 tiffin. I remember it was a Sunday, and none of us had left 
 the camp. The boy's father was there, but the poor mother, 
 after the first frantic outbreak, had remembered the claims of 
 custom, the tyranny of dustoor, and had retired to nurse her 
 grief, and feed on her agonising suspense, in the dark solitude 
 of the enclosed courtyard of the Bunneah's dukan, or shop 
 in the village. "We can picture to ourselves the anxious 
 moments that the poor woman must have passed ; how each 
 sound would be fraught with terror, each moment with fore- 
 boding. But her little son was not yet doomed. He was 
 not to die just yet. 
 
 We were, as I have said, all collected round the camp bed 
 on which the child was lying. Doubtless, the same thought 
 was present to more minds than one. I was thinking 
 
 " What cruel, callous ruffian could have done this ? " 
 
 The boy opened his eyes. He seemed to recognise us 
 again. A wan smile flickered over his features. He made a 
 motion with his hand, and pointed to his breast. We were 
 all attention at once. He was evidently trying to express 
 himself, but his tongue refused utterance. At every interval 
 of consciousness the question had been put to Mm, and re-put 
 over and over again : 
 
 "Who did this?" 
 
 But hitherto no light had been shed on the mystery. 
 
 Now again the doctor bent down. 
 
 " Abhi bolna sukta?" he asked "Are you able to speak 
 now ? " 
 
 A negative motion of the head. 
 
 Pointing to his throat again, the doctor asked : 
 
 " Coan Kurdea ? " 
 
 " Who has done it ? " 
 
 A gleam of intelligence flashed from the child's eyes. He 
 tried to raise his head.
 
 58 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 We gently helped him to a sitting position. 
 
 Then he wearily and faintly moved his fingers in imitation 
 of writing. 
 
 " Aha ! " burst out the father, who had been intently 
 observing every look, every movement. 
 
 " Aha ! He wants to write ! He has learned to write at 
 the village school. Now we shall find out who did it ! " 
 
 As the father poured this torrent of words out in quick 
 excited sentences of course in Hindoostanee the little 
 fellow nodded. 
 
 We procured a slate and slate-pencil and handed it to the 
 boy. 
 
 " Who did it ? " was again the question asked. 
 
 Slowly and with infinite labour, the faint fingers tried to 
 trace the characters. 
 
 The situation was truly dramatic. It was intensely 
 exciting. 
 
 Shakily, oh, how shakily ! the thin dusky little hand moved 
 the pencil. 
 
 But the letters grew. 
 
 E-A-M. Earn ! 
 
 Cha-ra-na. Such are the Hindoo letters. 
 
 " Ramchurn Gope ! " shouted old Mac. " The infernal 
 scoundrel ! " 
 
 We each drew a long breath. The name of the would-be 
 murderer was out at last, and Justice would assert herself. 
 
 I need not weary my readers by further elaborating the 
 details. The full particulars came out very clearly at the 
 subsequent trial. 
 
 I remember the sensation in court, as old Doctor T. carried 
 in the wan shrunken little fellow whom his skill and care 
 had indubitably won back almost from the very clutch of 
 death ; and how the slate with the two damnatory words on 
 it, were curiously examined by a crowd of planters who 
 thronsed the court.
 
 " THE HABITATIONS OF HORRID CRUELTY." 59 
 
 Ramchurn Gope, the ruthless scoundrel who had hacked 
 the poor child's throat in the manner I have described, was a 
 sullen-looking, low-browed cowherd in the service of little 
 Balkhrishna's father, the wealthy Bunneah. 
 
 On the night of his cruel attempt to murder his master's 
 child, he had been gambling with some of the young fellows 
 of a similar caste to his own, and had lost a few pice, paltry 
 copper coins. This gambling is a regular passion with many 
 of the natives. They are worse than the Chinese with their 
 fan tan. They play for cowrie stakes, at a sort of com- 
 plicated checkers, and they get terribly fascinated by the 
 game and excited over it. 
 
 The youth Eamchurn he was but a youth was of a 
 common enough but forbidding type among the low caste 
 Hindoos. Little removed from the brute, he had all the 
 fierce unreasoning greed, the cruel nature, the crafty cunning, 
 and utter callousness of the brute. As he retired from the 
 gambling scene, smarting under his losses, the pretty artless 
 boy came in his way. His cruel eyes only saw the silver 
 ornaments and jewels. His cupidity was fired at once. 
 Eeckless and ruthless, the devil found him ready to yield to 
 the temptation, and at once his mind was made up. He 
 resolved on the instant he would murder the child, possess 
 himself of the silver bangles, pawn these, and with the money 
 retrieve his losses. 
 
 He had little difficulty in inducing the child to accompany 
 him to the grass field. He said he had left his Jiussooah 
 there, would Balkhrishna go with him to look for it. The 
 poor unconscious little victim trotted off with his intended 
 murderer. You know the sequel. 
 
 The villain, after the perpetration of his horrid crime, 
 seems to have been visited with no touch of compunction. 
 It was found out by the police that he had pawned one of 
 the bangles with a grain seller in a neighbouring village, and 
 though this rascal must have known that the bangle was
 
 60 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 stolen, and in all probability belonged to the poor child, 
 never a word did he say of the matter. Such would be no 
 uncommon trait in a Hindoo huckster's character. They will 
 do almost anything for money. Of course I mean the baser 
 sort amongst them. These village usurers are terribly 
 covetous and unscrupulous. 
 
 Ramchurn went about his usual work, unsuspected in all 
 the awful grief that had come on the family. Stolid, un- 
 imaginative, conscienceless, he tended his plough bullocks 
 till he was seized by the police with old Mac and the District 
 Superintendent at their head, and then he bowed to fate, 
 acknowledged all, and seemed to acquiesce in every subse- 
 quent step that was taken to prove his guilt, as quite an 
 unnecessary fuss and supererogatory trouble. 
 
 He was hanged. Never did gallows tree bear more merited 
 fruit. 
 
 This case is very illustrative of one phase of Hindoo native 
 character. What strikes a European is the horrible cruelty 
 of the man ; yet such cases are far from uncommon. The 
 wonderful and notable features in this case, were the splendid 
 illustrations of quick resource and surgical skill of the doctor, 
 the bravery and self-possession and wondrous recovery of the 
 lad, and the dramatic surroundings and accessories of the 
 whole chain of incidents ; but in my experience of the natives, 
 I have often noticed instances of the same stolid indifference 
 to suffering, callous disregard of human life, and horrible 
 cruelty of disposition, scarcely inferior in ruthlessness and 
 beast- like remorselessness to the true instance I have just 
 described. 
 
 The records of every famine abound with illustrations of 
 the same fiendish cruelty. The worship of Kali the 
 ceremony of Suttee the practice of infanticide the tortur- 
 ings practised by the old native police, and the myrmidons 
 of wealthy Zemindars or land-holders, when extorting black- 
 mail or squeezing back rents out of hapless villagers, and
 
 " THE HABITATIONS OF HOEEID CRUELTY: 1 61 
 
 hundreds of other episodes of native life, all furnish examples 
 of the same pagan vice the vice of cruelty. Whatever 
 scoffers and enemies of the Christian religion may urge 
 against it or its professors, they cannot but admit that it 
 has a softening, refining, humanising influence, and tends 
 indubitably tends to lessen cruelty and make man less 
 beast-like and more God-like. Before I finish these sketches, I 
 will give a few more illustrations of the savage ruthless nature 
 of the heathen worshipper, and prove how true is the verse, 
 part of which heads my present chapter 
 
 " The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of 
 horrid cruelty."
 
 62 'TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 KOUGH-KIDING IN INDIA. 
 
 News of a "kill" Elephants in line The jungle at early dawn Half 
 through the Baree A tiger charges A bolting elephant Smash goes 
 the liowdali Escape of " Butty " Wasps and elephants " Dotterel " 
 A razor-backed elephant "That demon of a dog" Bolted A 
 shaker How to tame a vicious tusker. 
 
 ON the morning following the Monday, Joe awoke us all 
 very early from a sound sleep, with the welcome news that 
 the scouts reported a " kill " near a village to the south of 
 the camp. 
 
 A cowherd had brought the news that a fine female buffalo 
 and calf had been killed during the night, dragged out of the 
 batan, or cattle camp, and, from various evidences, we con- 
 cluded that it was no ordinary robber that had thus paid his 
 attentions to the unlucky herd, but a ferocious^ daring animal 
 that might be expected to show sport. In the first place, the 
 brute had boldly ventured into the very midst of the enclosed 
 herd, and had singled out one of the finest and biggest of the 
 buffaloes. It had seized the unfortunate animal by the neck, 
 breaking the vertebrae, and then dragged it clear of the latan, 
 over a dry watercourse and into a clump of reeds, where it had 
 partially devoured the carcase. The calf had been killed by 
 a single blow of the brute's powerful paw, and, notwith- 
 standing a wild stampede by the herd, and all the shouting 
 of the lataneas, or herdsmen, the tiger had managed to stick 
 to his prey and undauntedly carry it off. 
 
 All this was narrated with much volubility and breathless
 
 ROUGH-RIDING IN INDIA. 63 
 
 haste. The khiibbcria i.e., news-bearer was greatly excited ; 
 his action was dramatic enough to rouse our imaginations, 
 and from his description we were led to believe that the tiger 
 must be a " whopper." Already Joe had despatched " old 
 Juggroo," his tracker, to the spot, and after a plunge bath in 
 the clear tank, and a hasty cliota liaziree, or little breakfast, 
 the elephants were marshalled in array, we clomb into our 
 JwivdaJis, and off we set to beat up the Ijaree in which it was 
 said the gorged tiger had lain up. 
 
 It is a fine sight to see a line of elephants set out from 
 camp at early morn t when the dew is yet glistening on the 
 tall waving grass. The green broom-like jowah is beaded 
 with pearly drops, which are shaken off in a glittering 
 sparkling shower as the mighty beasts go crashing through. 
 As the Tiowdali brushes against some unusually tall clump of 
 bushes, the dewy burden is showered over cartridges and 
 guns, and you objurgate the maJwut for his careless driving. 
 
 The heads of the riders on the smaller elephants, with their 
 red and blue pugyries, bob about among the tall jowah, like 
 poppies in a field of Brobdingnagian corn. The Jwwdahs 
 sway, like drunken ships at sea, above the leafy foliage, 
 suggesting to the tyro the fear that the occupants are 
 momentarily about to be pitched out. The bright morning 
 sun shoots down his cheering beams, which are reflected back 
 from the polished gun-barrels; the glittering kookries, or 
 jungle knives, of the peons, who are perched like monkeys on 
 the pad elephants, holding on to the ropes, and the gleaming 
 silvery spear-heads of perhaps a score of stalwart beaters, 
 glint fitfully at intervals through the openings in the tall 
 jungle. 
 
 All is gaiety and animation. We have certain khubber, i.e., 
 news of tiger. The grateful manilla scents the still air as 
 the curling blue puffs mount slowly into the crisp fresh 
 atmosphere. It is not yet too hot, and long dank quivering 
 lines of mist lie in the hollows and by the water-courses.
 
 64 TENT LIFE IN TIOERLAND. 
 
 Far above, near the horizon, a dull grey bank of dun cloud 
 looms, prophetic of a westerly, dust-laden, fiery-furnace blast 
 about the middle of the forenoon ; but for the present all is 
 dewy, fresh, and delightful. 
 
 The old boar, with his " sounder," is trotting slowly down 
 by the lily-covered lagoon. The hog deer is trampling down 
 for his favourite hinds a snug retreat in the cool dark recesses 
 of the impenetrable jungle by the old mound that marks the 
 site of a ruined fortress, erstwhile manned by grim Mussulman 
 warriors, in the days of Aurungzebe. The black partridge is 
 crowing in the jowah jungle ; the peafowl are leisurely 
 sauntering to the deeper shade of the remote forest, after a 
 night of fearful dissipation in the grain fields ; and the quail 
 are calling in the corn lands, while flocks of grey and golden 
 plover, circling flights of silvery teal and swooping pintails, 
 or feathery clouds of tiny ortolan and mooneas, flash like 
 meteoric rain in the blinding sunshine, over glassy pool and 
 dew-bespangled mead. All over the vast plain there is a 
 soft diffused radiance a fresh brightness, an exuberance of 
 life and colour and the heart of the hunter is glad. We 
 hum snatches of songs ; we exchange gay repartee and banter ; 
 the elephants tramp along briskly, here and there plucking 
 down a succulent bunch of juicy reed tops, swishing it against 
 their mighty sides, and then slowly crunching it up with 
 evident satisfaction and gout. There is a flap, flap, flap of 
 the mighty ears a swish, swish, swish of the great ugly 
 tufted tails and the ponderous, flexible, marvellous trunks 
 are never for an instant still. 
 
 Then, as we near the locale of the " kill," pipes are laid 
 aside, cartridges are sorted, and the locks click, as the guns 
 are tried. "We form a line ; the word is given by the captain, 
 and, slowly and majestically, the picturesque array of great 
 ponderous animals surge ahead through the swaying, waving 
 grass, and the tumultuous fierce excitement of a beat for 
 tiger begins.
 
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 ROUGH-RIDING IN INDIA. 65 
 
 Our information led us to look for the tiger in a dense, 
 matted, difficult piece of tree jungle. Cotton trees, fig trees, 
 cork trees, Llianas, creepers, and prickly clinging tendrils, 
 twisted and twined in all directions, and sprawling bamboos, 
 and the pendent rootlets of the Bhur trees formed a dense, 
 almost impenetrable tangle, through which the elephants had 
 laboriously to force a passage. Joe and myself were stationed 
 on ahead, to secure a shot if possible at the retreating tiger, 
 if he should show his stripes. 
 
 The crashing of mighty branches as the elephants tore them 
 from the trees the snapping of others like pistol shots, when 
 the powerful brutes broke them across, as a faggot gatherer 
 would snap a withered stick ; and the swaying surging rush, 
 as some tall leafy sapling, bent, reeled, and uprooted, fell 
 with a dull crash iiito the thick jungle below, all told us that 
 the line was advancing, and the elephants were being well 
 handled. 
 
 The " Barce" as such a jungle is termed, resounded with 
 the shouts, oaths, and cries of the excited beaters. The 
 deafening clatter of several tom-toms, the occasional shrill 
 trumpeting of an impatient hatliee (elephant), as a tough 
 prickly creeper would trail a scar across his trunk, and the 
 indescribable mingled medley of crashing sound, which always 
 accompanies a beat in the jungle by elephants, formed 
 welcome music in our ears. 
 
 The line had got half through the " Baree," when, right in 
 the centre of the beaters, close under Butty's elephant, there 
 was a fierce roar, and an enormous tiger bounded out, flashed 
 for a second his yellow stripes before the startled sportsman, 
 and, with a rush, disappeared in the tangled undergrowth on 
 ahead. Not two minutes later, Joe's trusty bone-smasher 
 rung out a sharp quick challenge, answered with a succession 
 of roars that showed the bullet had sped truly on its mission. 
 The tiger, with over an ounce of lead in his flank, bolted 
 back, and charged the first elephant he encountered. This 
 
 F
 
 66 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 was a half -broken, and not wholly staunch, animal, belonging 
 to a wealthly " mahunt" * near Emamnugger. It had never 
 been charged before by a wounded tiger, and its courage was 
 not equal to such an unexpected strain. Spite of the mahout's 
 hammering and exertions, the poor brute turned tail and fled. 
 
 Now this is one of the most dangerous things that can 
 
 happen in tiger-shooting. Everything may depend on the 
 
 staunchness .of your elephant. Eather than ride a coward 
 
 shikaree hathee, or hunting elephant, you had better remain 
 
 at home. In its blind unreasoning dread of the roaring 
 
 demon, that with eyes blazing wrath, bristles erect, lips 
 
 retracted, and formidable fangs flashing, comes bounding 
 
 down upon it at the charge, an untried elephant will not 
 
 unnaturally turn tail and incontinently " skedaddle " as hard 
 
 as it can lay legs to the ground ; and let me tell you, en 
 
 parenthese, that if fear does not absolutely lend wings to a 
 
 bolting elephant, it can make him go at a pace that would 
 
 ; astonish the inexperienced in such matters. 
 
 Away, then, went the Mahunt's MuJcna (the native name 
 for the short straight-tusked variety of elephant), and, 
 roaring like a fiend, the wounded tiger gave chase. 
 
 His pursuit did not last long. Pat again got a lucky shot, 
 -which caught the monster in the fore shoulder, and crumpled 
 him up like a rose leaf. It was a regular smasher. Another 
 ibullet through the heart quickly settled him. 
 
 Meantime the terror-stricken elephant crashed straight 
 through the heavy tree jungle. His one object was to get 
 away from the tiger. Butty's servant behind the Howdali 
 wisely threw himself off, that is, he slid over the fairly 
 frightened brute's rump, and rolled into a prickly bush, 
 where he lay roaring to all the_Hindoo gods and goddesses 
 
 * A Mahunt is the head of a religious order of Ascetics in India. 
 Corresponds to the prior or chief abbot of a monastery in mediaeval 
 Europe. Many of these orders presided over by the Mahunt are wealthy, 
 having lands and property attached to their monastery.
 
 HOUGH-RIDING IN INDIA. 67 
 
 for Doliai mercy and help. He fancied every minute he 
 would make a mouthful for the tiger, and his sudden descent 
 and hideous outcry but added to the blind terror of the now 
 fairly ungovernable " bolter." 
 
 The Mahout was powerless. He tried to turn the brute 
 aside from a low overhanging branch twisted, gnarled and 
 moss-encrusted that stretched like a giant arm across the 
 way as if determined to bar further passage. There was just 
 room for the elephant to pass beneath. It was a miracle 
 Butty was not smashed to pieces on the spot. His quick eye 
 and ready resource saved him. As it was, he clutched hold 
 of an upper branch with all the energy of despair. By an 
 agile spring and strong muscular effort, ^he swung himself 
 clear, just as the Howdah was .smashed into splinters and 
 swept like touchwood from the back of the unwieldy 
 runaway, as it rushed beneath the branch. Poor Butty's 
 guns were sent flying in all directions, one of them exploding 
 in the air, and sending a bullet whistling through the trees 
 in very unwelcome proximity to George's ear. Soda-water 
 bottles popped ; cartridges, tumblers, a water-bottle, cigars, 
 fragments of cane work, and splinters of wood, were 
 scattered all around, and with the wreckage of the unfor- 
 tunate Hoivdah banging against her ribs, the now ten times 
 more maddened elephant tore through the jungle, fully 
 persuaded that the devilish tiger was seated on her rump. 
 She was only found again late at night, miles away from the 
 jungle, shrunken, foundered, jaded, and still trembling in 
 every limb. 
 
 The poor Mahout came worst speed in the melee. He got 
 his thigh badly smashed, was knocked insensible, and had a 
 narrow escape of his life. 
 
 " Butty " had a very " close shave " of it, and this incident 
 affords a good illustration of the dangers of tiger-hunting. 
 Of all the perils, that of a bolting elephant is the most to be 
 dreaded. 
 
 F 2
 
 68 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 On one occasion " Mac " had nearly lost his life in a much 
 similar case, and but a short time before, poor young B., a 
 genial gifted gallant young cavalry officer, had been dashed 
 against a tree while trying to throw himself from a bolting 
 elephant during a pig-sticking party, and had been killed on 
 the spot. 
 
 I have known an elephant to bolt on more than one 
 occasion, through the attacks of wasps or ground hornets. 
 The Indian wasp is no whit less truculent a customer than his 
 jimp-waisted yellow-ringed British cousin. In many of the 
 forests, colonies of wasps fabricate great conical nests, of 
 some papery material, which are attached to the under side of 
 the branch of some over-arching giant of the woods. As the 
 ponderous elephants crash through the leafy jungle, tearing 
 down creepers and clinging vines, these sweep off the citadel 
 of the wasps, and down they come in a swarm on the un- 
 conscious cause of offence. The huge pachyderm that he is 
 may be staunch enough to face the furious onslaught of a 
 boar at bay, the savage onset of the bulky rhinoceros, or the 
 fearsome charge of the Bengal tiger himself. His thick hide 
 may be tough enough and proof against the sounding whacks 
 of the gudjbaj or Jhetha (elephant goad and spear), but the 
 buzzing, piercing, pungent, pertinacious, vicious little devils, 
 with their poisonous stings, are too much altogether for his 
 equanimity, and ten to one, that highly-trained, courageous 
 and sagacious as he is, he will rush trumpeting in frantic 
 fear, and mad with pain and rage through the forest. 
 
 Well for the occupant of the HowdaJi, then, if he can guide 
 the reckless rush of the poor maddened brute. Better for 
 him if he can slide over the rump of his elephant, but in that 
 case he had better take his blanket with him ; or, in escaping 
 the chance of having his brains dashed out against a tree, he 
 may be but jumping from the frying-pan into the fire. The 
 wasps will to a certainty transfer their attentions to him, and 
 if he be not immediately covered from head to foot in his
 
 ROUGH-EIDINQ IN INDIA. 69 
 
 blanket, lie stands a chance of being stung to death. I have 
 known more than one case in which natives have thus fallen 
 victims. 
 
 The ground hornets, '" Bhowras" are nearly if not quite as 
 bad. They come buzzing out in an angry swarm from the 
 round funnel-shaped entrance to their underground strong- 
 hold, if the unfortunate elephant have trod on their mossy 
 mound, and then it is sauve qui pent. Clean heels must be 
 shown, or woe betide you. 
 
 Not unfrequently too, in tree jungle, you may dislodge a 
 colony of the fiery red forest ants which come showering 
 down on your howdah, and make matters very lively for you 
 while the engagement lasts. They tackle like bulldogs, and 
 stick to you like a Bathurst burr to a sheep's fleece, and one 
 always tries to give them a wide berth. 
 
 Once in particular I had the misfortune to experience an 
 involuntary canter on a bolting elephant. Talk of " rough 
 riding," of sitting a " buck jumper," of straddling a camel, or 
 getting across a working bullock! Being on a rough 
 shambling galloping elephant is a combination of the worst 
 points of all these. 
 
 It was in this way. 
 
 H., my assistant, and myself, had gone over from Lutch- 
 meepore to a factory some ten or twelve miles distant, to 
 look up a neighbour who the natives had reported was down 
 with fever. 
 
 We found "Dotterel" (of course I suppress real names) 
 suffering from a long debauch. The poor fellow had been 
 unfortunate, and had taken to a friend the brandy bottle 
 to drown care, and quench regret, and his friend (?) had 
 brought him to a pretty pass. I had met him years before, 
 when his path in life promised well, and he was then a 
 handsome, spirited, intelligent youngster, full of hope and 
 bright self-reliance, and possessed of every one's good opinion 
 and hearty good wishes.
 
 '70 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 Now we found a sad wreck. Poor Dotterel was sallow, 
 emaciated, unshorn, blear-eyed, a shivering, sodden drunkard, 
 trembling as with the palsy, and as utterly wretched-looking 
 a mortal as I have ever come across. His house, an old 
 unused factory bungalow, was squalid and unfurnished. The 
 poor fellow was really ill, and I determined to take him 
 back to my place, and try to infuse a little vigour into him, 
 and give him a chance to recover his health and self-respect. 
 
 We had a cross, sullen, badly trained brute of a hatni 
 with us (Hatni is a female elephant), which belonged to 
 my factotum, Geerdharee Jha, a portly Brahmin, who filled the 
 post of confidential adviser to me, in my Zemindaree diplomacy. 
 
 Geerdharee was what the Scotch would call a "geyan 
 grippy sort o' body." He liked to keep an elephant it 
 added to his dignity but he grudged the keep of a competent 
 Mahout. So the poor brute was ill-fed, badly cared for, and 
 some low-caste village " Jackaroo " was generally told off 
 to cut fodder for the half-starved brute, and drive it on the 
 rare occasions when the loan of it was asked for by such an 
 one as myself. 
 
 It was in the height of the rains, and the country was 
 half submerged, or I would never have tried such a journey 
 on such a sorry steed (if I can apply that title to a razor- 
 backed elephant). 
 
 The pad, too, was villainously dirty, badly stuffed, and 
 ragged, and the ropes that bound it to the elephant were 
 rotten and knotted in innumerable places. 
 
 We got Dotterel hoisted on to the pad. H. sat facing 
 the tail. I bestrode the lumbering brute, behind the greasy 
 malodorous Mahout, who straddled the neck of the hatni, 
 and off we set. 
 
 Now all elephants are timorsome of any animal, noise, 
 or thing that makes any demonstration at their rear. A 
 well-trained hunting elephant would face the foul fiend him- 
 self, tail, hoofs, sulphur and all, if he confronted him face
 
 ROUGH-KIDING IN INDIA. 71 
 
 to face but they do not like anything to approach too 
 closely behind them. 
 
 We got on pretty well till we reached a village about a 
 mile or so from the factory, when a yellow, mangy demon 
 of a dog came bouncing forth from the mound of ashes 
 whereon he lay licking his sores, and began barking and 
 blustering close to the heels of our elephant ; and his damna- 
 ble din aroused all the curs of the village, who, rushing out, 
 added to the demoniac chorus, and fairly frightened the 
 senses out of our unmanageable moving framework of bones- 
 and hide. 
 
 The " Dhaus " lay before us. A villainous marsh, full of 
 rotten holes and treacherous quicksands a slimy, quaking, 
 abominable bog, tangled o'er with matted tenacious marsh 
 weeds ; and indeed a nasty dangerous place. 
 
 H. was an old hand, and realised our danger at once. He 
 slid off with as much agility as he was capable of, and came 
 bang upon mother earth, with all the force of Antaeus, but 
 not with the like favourable result. He required a cushioned 
 chair for a full fortnight afterwards. 
 
 Poor Dotterel was already shaken and exhausted with 
 the long rough ride, and when the infernal " bolter " plunged 
 into the water with a lurch, the shock threw my trembling 
 unnerved guest headlong into the muddy ooze, and there he 
 stuck, and might have been fairly smothered, had not some 
 mullalis, or fishermen, close by come to his assistance, and 
 extricated him half-choked and wholly demoralised, from 
 his involuntary mud bath. 
 
 The miserable apology for a mahout was in a state of 
 mortal funk. His teeth were chattering with fright, and he 
 could only howl out, " Aree bap re lap ! " " Dhoob jaega ! " 
 We'll be drowned ! We'll be drowned ! ! We'll be drowned ! ! ! 
 
 By this time the elephant had somewhat recovered from 
 her funk, but plainly saw that she was mistress of the situa- 
 tion. She evidently held her mahout in utter contempt.
 
 72 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 She had recourse to a common trick of badly bred, ill- 
 tempered elephants. She commenced to rock violently to 
 and fro, endeavouring to shake us off her back. The fine 
 succulent stalks of the water-plants were forbidden forage 
 to her. Elephants are passionately fond of some kinds of 
 this food, but, if unaccustomed to it, it has a tendency to 
 scour the animals. She was evidently determined to get quit 
 of all incumbrances, and enjoy a surreptitious feast. 
 
 She reckoned without her host, however. 
 
 I felt that a very little more of this awful shaking would 
 not only shake all the sense out of me, but would infallibly 
 send the rotten ropes and rickety pad flying. I was holding 
 on like grim death to the ropes with one hand, while the 
 other clutched the mahout's snaky locks. 
 
 He still kept howling. ..-.. 
 
 I slipped quickly behind him on to the neck of the 
 elephant, snatched the gudjlaj, or iron driving hook, from his 
 hand, gave him a sounding whack on the side of the head, 
 and saw him take a regular dive into the Dhaus. 
 
 I could scarcely help laughing but my situation was 
 critical. The mahout could wade and swim like a Paddy-bird, 
 so there was no fear for him. 
 
 I was alone in the middle of a dangerous morass, with a 
 cunning vicious elephant. 
 
 Her malicious little eyes twinkled. She tried her utmost 
 to shake me off; she ducked her head, nearly straining my 
 back in two with the jerks, but I was firmly seated behind 
 her ears ; and now I rained a shower of blows on her huge 
 long head, that rattled again like an anvil under the lusty 
 battery of the blacksmith. 
 
 The brute curled round her trunk several times, and tried 
 to seize me, but I met the proboscis each time with a shower 
 of blows, and then digging in the sharp point of the iron 
 behind the root of the ear, I made the vicious brute scream 
 again, and trumpet for mercy and forgiveness.
 
 ROUGH-BIDING IN INDIA. 73 
 
 She was soon fairly cowed, for I showed her no leniency, 
 and after infinite trouble I got safely across the dangerous 
 ground. 
 
 Once or twice she tried to sidle off into deep water, where 
 of course, if she had dived, I would have been at her mercy, 
 but I managed to get to land all right. 
 
 H. and D. came over in a boat, and I never again asked 
 Geerdharee for the loan of his abominable uncanny brute of 
 an elephant. 
 
 Poor Butty's disaster, and the death of the tiger, put an 
 end to that day's shooting, and we returned to camp after 
 an al fresco lunch beneath a fine old Bhur tree in the 
 " Baree."
 
 74 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE BEAR AND THE BLACKSMITH. 
 
 A Bancoorah yarn Billy the blacksmith The black sloth bear Camp at 
 Susunneah marble quarries A transformation scene Night melodious 
 Locale of the hunt To our posts ! The beat Billy is dry " Look 
 out ! there's a bear ! " Down goes Billy Bruin a-top A novel 
 wrestling match Intense excitement Over the precipice ! Search 
 for the body Miraculous escape "Twanka diddleoh" More about 
 bears The surveyor's fight for life A terrible disfigurement Marvels 
 of modern surgery A sweetheart true as steel A slap at sceptics 
 " Truth stranger than fiction." 
 
 ONE evening after a blank day for tiger, we were all 
 sitting under the shamianah, and the conversation turned 
 on bears. 
 
 Pat was very anxious to get a bear-skin, to send to his 
 friends, and it was his remark, I think, which gave a direction 
 to the talk. 
 
 " Oh, you never find bears so low down as this," Joe 
 remarked. 
 
 " No ? I thought there were plenty of them." 
 
 " Oh, no ; they generally stick to hilly country, or the 
 elevated forest lands, but are rarely met with in grass jungle 
 in the riverine plains such as these." 
 
 " Are they dangerous shooting ? " 
 
 " Well, not particularly. They are easily shot, and a little 
 of it goes a long way." 
 
 " They are dangerous brutes at close quarters, though," I 
 remarked. 
 
 " How ? Did you ever have a tussle with one ? "
 
 TEE BEAR AND THE BLACKSMITH. 75 
 
 " Well, not myself, bat I have shot them, and have seen 
 many shot, and one of the most exciting adventures I ever 
 took part in was with a bear." 
 
 " Out with it, Maori." 
 
 " Spin us the yarn, old man," with numerous other similar 
 ejaculations. 
 
 "Let's have a 'peg' first," said Mac; and he at once 
 shouted for the Bearer. 
 
 The B. and S. was soon brought, and all hands settled 
 down comfortably in their long easy chairs, to hear my 
 story. 
 
 I turned to Pat. 
 
 " You remember old Billy Parrot ? " 
 
 " What, little ' JBeely,' as the natives used to call him ? 
 I should think I do; what a rum little beggar he was, to 
 be sure." 
 
 " Was that the little blacksmith that came up to erect the 
 machinery at Eampore ? " said Butty. 
 
 "The same." 
 
 " He was an awful * swiper* wasn't he ? " 
 
 " Yes, when he could get it. He was about the 
 strongest little man of his inches ever came into Tirhoot," 
 continued Pat. 
 
 " He was altogether a character. Oh, I know your yarn 
 now. It happened down at Bancoorah, didn't it ? " 
 
 I rejoined in the affirmative. 
 
 "Ah," said Pat, "that was a rum go, and no mistake. 
 But you ought to tell these fellows what sort of a man your 
 hero was." 
 
 " Oh, you can do that," I rejoined. 
 
 " Well, boys," said Pat, nothing loath, " Billy, as you have 
 just heard, was originally a blacksmith. He had been a 
 sailor, and had knocked about the world a good deal, and 
 at last had got a billet in the Calcutta mint, on some 
 miserable tullub (i.e., pay) of perhaps 40 or 50 rupees a
 
 76 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 month. When Henry H. was down in Calcutta one cold 
 weather, looking about for a man to come up and put his 
 machinery together, he came across Billy. The prospect of a 
 good job in a planting district at 150 rupees a month was 
 quite enough to seduce Billy from his allegiance, and he 
 accordingly came up to Tirhoot. 
 
 " He was a good-natured little fellow, as strong as a bull, 
 a splendid wrestler, as we soon found out, but not very 
 polished in his manners fond of liquor." 
 
 " Small blame to him," said George. 
 
 " But his Mte noir was a lady. He never felt at ease 
 when in a lady's presence ; for, poor fellow, he had never 
 been much used to polished society, and the ladies used to 
 quiz him unmercifully." 
 
 " What was that song he used to sing again ? It had a 
 capital chorus, I remember," asked Mac. 
 
 " Oh, aye ! let me see, what was it ? " Pat ruminated. 
 
 " I remember the chorus," I said. " Twanka diddleoh 
 don't you remember, Pat ? " 
 
 " Ah, that was it. I only remember the beginning 
 of it 
 
 " I am a good blacksmith, 
 The prince of good fellows ; 
 I drive away care 
 While I work at my bellows. 
 
 I forget the rest, but the chorus runs thus." Pat then 
 sang 
 
 " Twanka diddleoh, Twankediddleoh, 
 Twankediddle iddle iddle oh ; 
 He that loves good ale 
 Is a jolly good fellow." 
 
 I have often wished to get the words of the song. It was 
 a capital chorus, though it may lack the polished beauty of a 
 Tennysonian lyric, and many a time I have joined lustily in 
 the refrain, with choice spirits keen and true, who now sleep
 
 THE BEAR AND TEE BLACKSMITH. 77 
 
 peacefully in the perfumed garden plots of factories, scattered 
 through the sunny plains of Behar. 
 
 Billy was tremendously strong, and we used to pit him 
 against native wrestlers whenever we could get him up to 
 the scratch. He was really a proficient wrestler, and very 
 fond of that most manly but much neglected sport. To get 
 up his muscle, Billy used to go into severe training, and I 
 never saw him worsted in an encounter but once, when 
 he was thrown by a slim wiry Brahmin, from somewhere 
 near Delhi. 
 
 Contests between trained rams, as well as cock fighting, 
 are very favourite amusements with wealthy natives. Billy 
 had a magnificent trained ram, and I have seen him kneel 
 down, brace up his brawny muscles, and present the fleshy 
 part of his arm and shoulder, for the ram to butt at. In this 
 way, Billy trained both his ram and himself simultaneously, 
 killing " two birds with one stone." To see the ram with 
 " bossed front " come tearing down at the charge at his 
 utmost speed, and come smash on Billy's braced-up muscles 
 with a sou/, you would have thought his arm must be 
 pounded into a jelly, and that Billy would never survive the 
 shock. It never seemed to hurt him, however. I have seen 
 him go through the ordeal more than once, and the natives 
 used to think him a perfect man of iron. 
 
 " Well," said George, " I would object to being made such 
 a Butt of, anyway." 
 
 Pat shied his slipper at him, while groans arose from all 
 sides. 
 
 " You ought to pipe us a stave after that," said Butty. 
 
 Pat again started " Twankediddleoh," and we all joined in 
 the chorus. 
 
 When the noise had subsided, they again asked me for my 
 yarn about Billy and the Bear. 
 
 Before working up my climax, however, I had perhaps 
 better begin by giving the reader a few items of information
 
 78 TENT LIFE IN TIGEBLAND. 
 
 about the Indian bear, and the scene of the occurrence 
 between Billy and Bruin. 
 
 Forsyth, in that most delightful book, " The Highlands of 
 Central India," says : 
 
 " The common black sloth bear of the plains of India, 
 Ursus labiatus, is very plentiful in the hills, on either side of 
 the Narbada, between Jubbulpur and Mandla. Indeed, there 
 are few parts of these highlands where a bear may not at any 
 time be met with. They are generally very harmless until 
 attacked, living on roots, honey, and insects, chiefly white 
 ants, which they dig out of their earthen hillocks. The 
 natives call them ddam zdd, or, 'sons of men,' and, con- 
 sidering them half human, will not as a rule molest them. 
 Eeally, their absurd antics almost justify the idea. Some- 
 times, however, a bear will attack very savagely without 
 provocation generally, when they are come upon suddenly, 
 and their road of escape is cut off. As a rule, in frequented 
 parts, they do not come out of their mid-day retreats, in 
 caves and dense thickets, until nightfall ; but in remote 
 tracts they may be met with in the middle of the day." 
 
 They are plentiful in the western parts of India. In the 
 Bombay Presidency about Shahpore, Goonda, and other 
 localities under the western ghats. They may be met with, 
 too, in Central Assam, and indeed in most of the hilly parts 
 of the mighty Indian Peninsula. I have shot them on the 
 ISTepaul Frontier in North Bhaugulpore, and near the border 
 in Oudh, but the scene of the occurrence I am about to 
 narrate lies in Bancoorah. This charming place nestles 
 amid the Eajmehal Hills, in Bengal Proper, and is a favourite 
 haunt of many varieties of large game. 
 
 I had received an invitation from our former Superin- 
 tendent of Police, to join him in a Bear-shooting excursion, 
 and I accordingly packed up my traps and started. 
 
 Arrived at Sahibgunge, I had encountered poor Billy, as 
 drunk as the Piper o' Dundee, and held in pawn by the irate
 
 THE BEAR AND THE BLACKSMITH. 79 
 
 kitmutgar of the Dawk Bungalow, for liquors and other goods 
 supplied. I could not leave Billy to the tender mercies of 
 our sable Aryan brother, and knowing he was very good if 
 put on his honour, I took him along with me. In due course 
 we reached Bancoorah. 
 
 I need not weary you with the preliminaries for a shikar 
 party in the East. There is no stint of comforts, let me tell 
 you, and the Anglo-Indian well knows how to cater for all 
 the wants of frail mortality. 
 
 Our party consisted of the Judge of the District, the 
 Doctor, one or two Calcutta Barristers, my friend the Peeler, 
 Billy, and myself. I had lent Billy a gun ; we had always 
 plenty of spare habiliments in our dressing-cases and port- 
 manteaus, and one fine morning off we set front the station 
 in the highest spirits, and after "juist a wee snifter to clear 
 oor thrapples," as the Doctor put it. Needless to remark, our 
 disciple of Galen hailed from " north the Tweed." His pre- 
 scription gave unbounded satisfaction to Billy, who remarked 
 to me confidentially, 
 
 " Ah, Maori ! He's a fine fellow, that Doctor, no 
 mistake ! " 
 
 After a smart ride, we reached our encampment in the 
 cool of the evening, and again the soothing weed and the 
 worship of Bacchus claimed their votaries. About eight 
 p.m. dinner was announced, and we adjourned to the mess 
 room. 
 
 We were camped at a place called Susunneah. Near by 
 were some famous marble quarries. The whole neighbour- 
 hood was reported to be well stocked with game. The 
 country was difficult to beat, and we had an army of coolies 
 for that purpose. Among the hills were many rugged gullies 
 and precipitous gorges and numerous caves, among which the 
 bears took up their quarters. 
 
 Every arrangement had been made for our comfort, and to 
 those who do not know what high official position, combined
 
 80 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 with good pay, can do in the East, I may as well sketch the 
 surroundings. Our mess room for instance. 
 
 We found, in this rocky wilderness, an apartment brilliant 
 with flowers and lights, a table glittering with glass and 
 plate, and groaning under the weight of such a repast as is 
 rarely seen, except at the board of some mighty " swell," 
 high up in the Olympian heights of senior service and good 
 appointments. 
 
 But two short days before, this banquet hall had been 
 the abode of dirt, discomfort, smoke, noise and confusion. 
 Cobwebs stretched their cheerless cords in dusty festoons 
 from the grimy roof. The smoky walls gave back the lurid 
 gleam of fluttering, flickering flame. Dusky forms were 
 seen through the smoke, gliding about with red-hot iron bars 
 in hand, like evil spirits bent on errands of malice and 
 destruction. A thick sulphureous pall hung all around ; and 
 from within came sounds of clanging iron, clattering steel, 
 and a groaning wheezy puffing sound, as if the demons of 
 the pit had got the asthma; but which actually proceeded 
 from about half a dozen broken- winded blacksmiths' bellows. 
 In fact, not to mystify you further, the apartment had been 
 used as the smithy attached to the quarries. 
 
 Under the active supervision of my host, however, the 
 forges had been pulled down, anvils and bellows hid away ; 
 the floor, cleared of its litter, had been laid with slabs of 
 smooth white stone from the neighbouring quarries. 
 
 Under the transforming magic wand of a raj mistree, or a 
 master mason, and a pot of whitewash,* the walls now 
 glistened white as purity itself, while the grimy cobwebs had 
 given place to tasteful curtains and handsome hangings. 
 But I must " belay " " heave in the slack," or we will never 
 get to the bears. 
 
 Over that dinner I would fain linger. If you want the 
 perfection of cookery, go to India. The fragrant odours, 
 the savoury steams, the tender, juicy, seasoned tit-bits of
 
 THE BEAR AND THE BLACKSMITH. 81 
 
 game, the incomparable salad, the well-selected wines, the 
 foaming champagne, well iced for our Calcutta friends had 
 brought up a notable supply of ice with them and then the 
 after siesta, when, with pipe gently pressed between the lips, 
 the aromatic vapour curling lovingly around our heads, the 
 relaxed fingers of the left hand toying with the polished 
 stem of the champagne goblet, the punkah swinging grate- 
 fully overhead, mind and body at perfect ease, we but hold ! 
 this really will not do ; we shall never get to the bears. 
 
 Ah, here comes the shikari; so now to give our orders, 
 and then " turn in." 
 
 This was accordingly done, and soon a deep silence reigned 
 around, only broken at intervals by a stertorous gurgitation 
 from Billy ; a squeak occasionally from the creaking 'punkaTi ; 
 or a rustle, as some uneasy sleeper, on whom the salmon had 
 taken effect, turned restlessly on his couch. 
 
 Outside, however, in the shade of the trees, a different 
 scene was being enacted. Here a number of ghatwals had 
 congregated; and with that intense admiration of classic 
 music which distinguishes the mild and veracious Hindoo, 
 they waked the echoes of the surrounding hills, and lulled 
 the pallid moon to sleep, with gentle serenades, chanted 
 with all the melting pathos which a strongly nasal intonation 
 can bestow, and charmingly accompanied by the brittle 
 diapason of about a dozen large Sonthali drums. 
 
 This agreeable concert, varied at intervals by the demoniac 
 howling of a pack of jackals and the baying chorus of all 
 the dogs in camp, was maintained till nearly dawn. 
 
 Nothing is so dear to the native as this unearthly din all 
 night. They call it music. Profane Anglo-Indians some- 
 times call it something else and christen it with a boot-jack, 
 or any handy missile. 
 
 At 3.30 a.m., a voice in sweetly modulated tones awoke 
 the silence of the tent in which four of the party were 
 asleep.
 
 82 TENT LIFE IN TIG Eli LAND. 
 
 " Sahib ! Sahib ! " No answer. 
 
 " Sahib ! " a little louder. " Sarce teen ludja hai ! " 'which- 
 means, " It's half-past three o'clock." Still no reply. The 
 speaker then gave a gentle twist to a big toe, which protruded 
 from beneath the sheet. Whereupon a voice, like that of 
 the Numean lion, terrible in its wrath, roared out, " Jehunnum 
 ko jao, soor Tea beta," which, being translated, meant a per- 
 emptory order to the son of a pig to betake himself to the 
 antithesis of Paradise. At the same time the owner of the 
 voice, a brawny giant, uprose, with staring eyes and dis- 
 hevelled hair, but not before the obsequious attendant had. 
 made a precipitate retreat through the friendly doorway. 
 
 This awoke all the sleepers, and we were soon discussing; 
 chota hazree. Then gun cases were opened, cartridges hunted 
 up, arms distributed among the music-loving gliatwals,. the- 
 horses and elephants were brought forward, and all hands- 
 fairly started for the jungle, which was some four miles off. 
 
 A most suspicious-looking box was sent on ahead, in* 
 charge of two brawny coolies who groaned beneath its weight.. 
 This was popularly supposed to contain fireivorks, and, if by 
 a wild fiction you can call a sandwich a Catherine wheel, a 
 bottle of soda water a cracker, and other liquors squibs 
 and Roman candles, then it was fireworks. Several hours, 
 later, when the hot sun had parched the gullets of the sports- 
 men, the "fireworks " were let off to great advantage, I can. 
 assure you. 
 
 On our arrival in the jungle w r e found our policeman had 
 arranged everything for our comfort. We were to post 
 ourselves along the edge of a steep precipitous gully here 
 called a Tchud and let the gliatwals and coolies beat up to 
 us. Myclians, or platforms in the trees, had been prepared 
 for us about fifty yards apart ; and we were not long in 
 taking our places. Being a pretty good shot, and being 
 moreover an invited guest, I had been told off to the extreme 
 right of the line. Close to my myclian was a pretty welL
 
 THE BEAR AND THE BLACKSMITH. 83 
 
 worn deer track, leading to a rugged precipitous descent into 
 the deep khnd beneath, and in the rear of our position. The 
 sides of the khud were strewn with rugged splintered 
 boulders and sharp jutting rocks. In every crevice a 
 multitude of bushes and gnarled trees had found a precarious 
 foothold, and hid the depths below as with an impenetrable 
 screen ; but we could hear the gurgling and splashing of a 
 hill-stream far down in the deep recesses ; and parrots, 
 mango birds, orioles, and other creatures of gorgeous plumage, 
 darted hither and thither and imparted an aspect of animation 
 to the scene. 
 
 Billy was away near the other end of the line, and my 
 friend the Police Superintendent occupied the myclian next 
 to mine. Being old stagers we had each provided ourselves 
 with a neat little portable " moorah" or cane stool, and from 
 our comfortable perches we smiled with grim satisfaction as 
 dimly, through the leafy screen, we could descry our less 
 thoughtful companions, wriggling on a knot, or straddling a 
 branch with their legs dangling beneath. 
 
 I soon disposed of my knife, cartridge belt, and other 
 incumbrances, in branches handy, and with my revolver 
 stuck in my cummerbund, I settled myself down, to wait the 
 result of the hank, as the beat in forest jungle is termed. 
 
 Soon a distant shout announced that the coolies had begun 
 the beat, the drums could be heard fitfully in the far 
 distance, and the yells and shouts swelled in volume as the 
 men crested a ridge, and became subdued and deadened 
 again as they plunged through the hollows amid the rocky 
 ground. There were numerous caves in the jungle, believed 
 to be tenanted by bears ; but as we had received no certain 
 intelligence of the presence of Bruin, and as our Calcutta 
 friends were anxious to get all the sport possible, it had been 
 arranged that we were to fire at anything that might get up. 
 
 Very soon a rustle was heard in the thicket in front ; the 
 sharp crack of a rifle and the whiz of a bullet followed, as 
 
 G 2
 
 84 TENT LIFE IN TIQEELAND. 
 
 the doctor opened the ball by a shot at a small ravine deer ' 
 the deer came over in our direction, and was just " taken 
 out of my teeth " by the " Peeler," who tumbled it over in 
 front of me. 
 
 The line of beaters now drew nearer and nearer, and the 
 firing and excitement became general. I knew the crack of 
 the No. 16 I had lent to Billy, and recognised its sharp ping 
 more than once. Hares, partridges, peafowl, jackals, jungle 
 fowl, and other small game, hurried past unheeded. From 
 the tremendous din, we judged bigger game was afoot. 
 Every eye was strained to its widest extent, every ear on the 
 alert, every nerve tense and strung. Soon, with a magnificent 
 bound, a noble stag came leaping forth, followed by a 
 trembling string of frightened fawns and does. He passed 
 the ' Peeler," and received a bullet in the hind leg, and as he 
 tottered up to my myclian my express bullet caught him full 
 in the neck, and he toppled over. A few spasmodic struggles 
 and all was still. The hinds went tearing madly down the 
 rugged defile, and then the beaters began to emerge in twos 
 and threes, and we were reluctantly obliged to confess that 
 there was no Bruin " this journey." 
 
 We now descended, discussed a few of the "fireworks" 
 sent the killed deer away to the foot of the hill, and then 
 again prepared to take up our stations. 
 
 The beaters who had beaten from the east end had opened 
 out from the centre and gone right and left face, so as to get 
 clear of the jungle, and were leisurely making their way to 
 the west end to beat back. 
 
 A long silent wait now ensued. Our doctor I could just 
 faintly see on his perch, to all appearance fast asleep. C. 
 and I had been exchanging a few quiet remarks in a low 
 undertone, when our ears at the same instant caught a 
 suspicious crackle of breaking sticks, and, pointing our guns 
 at the place whence the sound proceeded, we were ready to 
 fire, when forth from the foliage appeared the heated visage
 
 THE BEAR AND THE BLACKSMITH. 85 
 
 of Billy, looking like a full moon, and he hailed us in husky 
 accents 
 
 " Maori, for goodness' sake give us a ' peg ' ! I'm as dry as 
 a lime-burner's wig." 
 
 " Confound you, Billy," I said ; " why the Dickens couldn't 
 you wait ? We might have a bear on us at any moment, and 
 you might spoil the sport. 
 
 " Oh, hang the bears," said Billy ; " I'm as dry as a match 
 box, and I must have a ' peg ' ! " 
 
 To get quit of him, C. handed him down a leathern bottle 
 containing the needful, and Billy took a long pull ; then 
 another, yet another, and then, wiping his mouth with the 
 back of his hand, returned the bottle to C. In the meantime 
 I had descended from my mychan, foolishly leaving my 
 battery beliind me, and was leisurely stepping out to take " a 
 slight taste of the crature" myself. (Note to the tyro in 
 Indian shooting: never leave your gun in jungle-shooting, 
 you know not what at any moment may get up.) 
 
 C. was lying full length on his mychan reaching down for 
 the bottle, when a shrill whistle made our hearts jump, and 
 the Judge yelled out from the far left 
 
 " Look out, you beggars, there's a bear ! " 
 
 Instantly I turned to rush back to my perch of safety. 
 
 Billy dropped the bottle and spluttered out 
 
 " The devil there is ! " 
 
 C. sprang into position, and tried to reach down his 
 gun. 
 
 In less than five seconds, however, with a curious savage 
 grunt, and a rush through the bushes, a great she-bear was 
 close upon Billy. 
 
 She had a little cub, a wee beady-eyed round little ball of 
 fur, hanging like grim death to her back, and she came 
 swiftly with a lurching rolling gait, and it began to look 
 very awkward indeed for Billy Parrot. 
 
 I do not think she would have waited to attack either of
 
 86 TENT LIFE IN TIGE11LAND. 
 
 us, but instinctively I pulled my revolver and fired. The 
 bullet took her fair in the lower jaw, and made a terribly 
 splintered wound ; and then, with a savage growl of pain and 
 wrath, she rose up and rushed straight at Billy, who seem- 
 ingly had been too bewildered to fly. 
 
 I was " making tracks " for my friendly tree now, as hard 
 as I could run, and C. yelled out to Billy 
 
 " Here, Parrot, give us your hand, man. Look smart, you 
 muff, or you'll be grabbed ! " 
 
 Billy seemed for an instant to be undecided. C. had lain 
 down, and was again trying to grasp Billy's hand. Billy's 
 inches were, however, too few ; he could not reach the friendly 
 succouring clasp. All this passed much quicker than I can 
 describe it. 
 
 Just at the last moment, all too late as it proved, Billy 
 tried to flee. The hot breath of the infuriated bear was now 
 on his cheek. He made a leap, but his foot caught in a vine, 
 and down he went. 
 
 In an instant the savage growling brute was on top of him. 
 Well it was for Billy now that my shot, after all, had caught 
 the brute in the jaw. 
 
 A bear's fangs, let me tell you, are no child's toy. But the 
 brute was powerless to bite. 
 
 Still they can lacerate a man terribly with their long, 
 powerful black claws, with which they tear open the hardened 
 ant-hills. 
 
 My heart was beating like a sledge hammer. By this 
 time both C. and I had got our guns, but we could see 
 nothing but a confused mass of fur and leggings. Billy, 
 how r ever, now seemed to be getting his " dander riz," as our 
 Yankee friends would say. 
 
 I am sorry to say Billy was not a pious young man, 
 he was swearing most horribly, and really concerned for his 
 safety as we were, we could scarcely retain our gravity. 
 
 The bear had got him in a firm hug, and was rolling
 
 THE BEAR AND THE BLACKSMITH. 87 
 
 over and over with him, growling most savagely, and 
 smothering him with the blood that rushed from the 
 broken jaw. 
 
 Billy's knowledge of the tricks of the wrestling ring, and 
 his great strength, here now, however, stood him in good 
 .stead. His strong little bandy legs were twined, with a clutch 
 like ivy, round the hind quarters of the bear, keeping it from 
 tearing him. with its hind claws. He had got his left elbow 
 right under the bear's throat, a favourite wrestling trick of 
 Billy's, keeping its mouth from his face, and with his right 
 fist he was dealing the infuriated brute sounding blows 
 in the face, the ribs, and over the snout, shouting like a 
 madman all the while, and mingling Hindoo and marine 
 oaths together, in the oddest and most laughable jumble 
 imaginable. 
 
 I never saw such a sight, and, imminent as was the danger 
 to our poor friend, I fairly roared with laughter. This 
 seemed to rouse Billy's ire worse than ever, and he began to 
 expend a few of the vials of his wrath upon me. By this 
 time, the whole of the party, attracted by the noise, were 
 coming trooping to the spot. 
 
 The bear was a big powerful animal, and we began to note 
 with concern, that in their struggles, the strangely but, after 
 all, not unevenly matched combatants had rolled very near 
 to the edge of the khud. 
 
 We shouted to Billy to apprise him of this new danger, 
 but he was too excited, and too intent on administering 
 punishment to his enemy, to catch the import of 
 what we said. Over and over they rolled. They 
 writhed and panted and struggled. Billy's grip was 
 as unyielding as the bear's. For once the shaggy monster 
 of the woods had encountered a hug fully as determined 
 as his own. 
 
 You may imagine all this passed as quick as w T ords can 
 speak. There had been no time to do any thing. The Doctor
 
 88 TENT LIFE IN TIGEBLAND. 
 
 was now tearing at a vigorous sapling ; but a club was just 
 as powerless in our hands as a knife or gun. We could get 
 no chance to strike or shoot, for we might just as likely hurt 
 Billy as the bear. 
 
 The growling savage was tearing at Billy's shoulders, 
 cutting deeply into the flesh, as we could see. The cub had 
 disappeared into the undergrowth. Billy was pommelling 
 the bear, raining his blows with lustiest good will on the 
 bleeding face of the maddened animal. 
 
 Over and over they rolled. They were now terribly near 
 the edge of the khud. 
 
 " Oh, Heavens ! he'll be killed," cried the Judge. 
 
 We were now seriously alarmed. 
 
 My ill-timed hilarity was now hushed, and a wild dread 
 tugged at my heart-strings. 
 
 We were seemingly all actuated by a desperate impulse to 
 save Billy at one and the same moment. We rushed forward, 
 but all too late. 
 
 With a last defiant whoop from Billy, the interlocked 
 combatants gave one lurch on the giddy edge of the deep, 
 rocky precipice, and, as we rushed to the verge, we saw the 
 black jumbled mass bound from an overhanging sharp-edged 
 ledge of basalt, and rumblingly disappear down the gloomy 
 shaded depths of the chasm. 
 
 I felt nearly sick. The Judge staggered up against a tree. 
 For several moments none of us spoke. 
 
 " Good Heavens, it is awful ! " said one of the barristers. 
 
 C. was the first to evince some decision of purpose. 
 
 Not one of us, I am certain, even expected to see poor Billy 
 alive again. 
 
 " Let us get down," said C. 
 
 He whistled on a small silver whistle for some of the syces 
 to come up, and we prepared to descend by the deer track I 
 have already noted, to search for the mangled remains of our 
 poor comrade.
 
 THE BEAR AND THE BLACKSMITH. 89 
 
 When some of the men came up, C. ordered a spare 
 elephant to be got as soon as possible ; and then a melan- 
 choly, moody, and silent party we began the steep descent, 
 each fearing the worst, and not daring to hope that the poor 
 fellow had escaped a cruel death. 
 
 It was a wild, rugged spot. We were soon in a dense 
 shade. Towering rocks raised their rugged bosses on either 
 side. It was no easy task, and not unattended with danger, 
 getting to the bottom of the khud. 
 
 Not one of us spoke. I do not think one of us exchanged 
 a syllable as we clambered down. We were all too busy 
 with our forebodings, and sick at heart with the fate of our 
 companion. 
 
 At last we got to the bottom of the deep ravine, and 
 slowly, and struggling amid shattered rocks, tenacious creepers, 
 and prostrate forest trees, began our search up the gloomy 
 hollow. 
 
 Already the news had spread among the beaters. It is 
 amazing how quickly an alarm spreads among these wild hill- 
 men. A knot of them were now tearing recklessly down the 
 path by which we had descended, and their loud expressions 
 of alarm and commiseration broke the silence. 
 
 I felt awfully sad at heart. I was reproaching myself 
 with having brought the poor fellow with me, to act as a sort 
 of butt ; and my heart smote me as I thought how, if I had 
 only aimed truer, or rushed in to help a little sooner, our 
 poor comrade's life might have been spared. 
 
 C. was in front, making a desperate attempt to clamber 
 over a huge boulder that lay right in the path. Dense 
 matted jungle barred the way on every side. Behind this 
 wall of jagged rock we expected to find the mangled body of 
 poor Billy. It was impossible any one could fall from such 
 a height and not be killed. 
 
 I hurried forward and tried to push C. up from behind. 
 He was desperately tugging at a tuft of grass which grew
 
 90 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 out of a cleft in the rock, when a sound smote on the 
 stillness that caused rne to stagger. My knees bent under 
 me. C., who had been standing on my back with one foot, 
 while like a cat lie tried to find a foothold on the rock with 
 the other, swayed like a ripe apple, and clutched still more 
 desperately at the tuft of grass. 
 
 Again the sound ! 
 
 Down I fell on my face. Down came C. on the top of me, 
 and rolling over on to the Doctor, who was close behind, he 
 communicated his motion to the. Judge, and there we all 
 went rolling down the scaur together. The natives, seeing us 
 all rolling in a heap in this ludicrous manner, imagined the 
 bear had attacked us again, and began swarming up the rocks 
 and trees in all directions, and for a few minutes the gloomy 
 cavernous-like bottom of the deep narrow kkud resounded 
 with noises like the pit of Tophet. 
 
 What in the name of thunder had caused all this 
 commotion ? 
 
 Only this ! 
 
 On the other side of the great opposing rock, we could 
 now distinctly hear, " Twanke diddle oh ! Twanke diddle 
 oh ! Twanke diddle, iddle, iddle, oh ! " crooned softly. 
 
 We leapt to our feet. " Hurrah ! " we shouted, and then 
 we hurrahed and shouted, and leapt about again, and 
 generally behaved as if we had all suddenly gone mad. 
 
 There was no doubt about it ; Billy had escaped as by a 
 miracle, and there he was, giving us his jolly old chorus, 
 .albeit he gasped somewhat for breath, and seemed to be 
 rather thick in the wind. 
 
 We soon got over the rock. The natives tore a way 
 through the creepers and ferns ; and we found Billy alive, 
 but sorely torn and bruised, sitting on the mangled carcase 
 of his late enemy, and though very shaky and faint, yet still 
 full of pluck, and as eager for a " peg " as ever. 
 
 Poor Billy ! He soon had a brimming soda and brandy
 
 TEE BEAR AND TEE BLACKSMITH. 91 
 
 "brought him, and then we learned the particulars of his 
 unpremeditated and unprecedented fall. 
 
 As we looked up at the frowning crags, we could scarcely, 
 even yet, reconcile his escape with the grim evidence of the 
 fearful height he had fallen. 
 
 Yet, barring a terrible bruise on the thigh, and his torn 
 and lacerated shoulders, he was sound in wind and limb. 
 On examining the bear, we found that the whole of her ribs 
 liad been smashed in, as you would crush an egg-shell. She 
 must have fallen on the jagged rock we saw from the top, 
 and fortunately her body reached the earth first, and 
 doubtless saved poor Billy from being smashed into a 
 mangled heap. My pistol bullet had smashed her under 
 jaw completely. My pistol was a Thomas's patent, and 
 carried a large ball, but Billy's escape was, after all, simply 
 miraculous. 
 
 Poor fellow, he bore all the pain of his removal with the 
 most imperturbable nonchalance. Fortunately, the doctor 
 was handy, and by the evening, Billy, propped up in a camp 
 bed, with wraps and pillows at his back, was again able to 
 give us his glorious chorus : 
 
 " Twankediddle oh, &c., 
 He that loves good ale 
 Is a jolly good fellow." 
 
 When I had finished my yarn, Pat proposed Billy's health, 
 and we all did justice to the toast. 
 
 Poor Billy has long ago gone to the silent land of shadows. 
 Peace to his ashes. 
 
 " Did you catch the cub ? " asked Mac. 
 
 " Yes," I replied. " The beaters found it, and C. kept it 
 for a long time and taught it many tricks. You know they 
 are easily tamed." 
 
 Eventually, he got tired of it, and gave it to his bearer,
 
 92 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 who, in turn, sold it to a travelling Caboolee, and my own 
 bearer, Cliulle Loll, pointed out to me at Sonepore fair, last 
 year, a dancing bear, which he stoutly affirmed was the 
 same cub that we caught on that memorable day when Billy 
 wrestled the mother and came off the victor. 
 
 These Indian sloth bears can be taught almost any tricks. 
 They are very commonly led about by wandering showmen, 
 principally Afghans, in this way, muzzled, from village to 
 village, and go through a variety of antics to the great 
 amusement of the children. 
 
 The keeper generally has a long cord affixed to the poor 
 bear's snout, and as he jerks this, he intones in a sing-song 
 nasal drawl 
 
 " Natcho, Blialo ; Natclio ! Arree, Natclio ! hah ! " 
 " Dance, my bear, dance ! " &c. 
 
 Bhalo is the common name in Bengal for the bear, and 
 they are really very tractable, and can be taught almost 
 anything ; but when wounded, or roused, as you have just 
 seen by my story, they can become very dangerous and 
 savage foes. I can further illustrate this. 
 
 At the time of the Prince of Wales's visit to India, I 
 happened to be laid up with a severe illness, which necessi- 
 tated constant nursing and medical attendance. The 
 celebrated war correspondent, Archibald Forbes, and Mr. 
 Henty, special correspondent of the Standard, were my 
 brother's guests ; and partly to make room for them, and 
 also to be constantly near the doctor, I got a snug little 
 private room in the fine General Hospital, out near the 
 Cathedral, in Calcutta. 
 
 In the next room to me was a merry young fellow, a 
 surveyor in the Indian Survey Department, and we soon 
 struck up an intimacy. I was unable to leave my bed, but 
 B. used to come in and beguile the tedium of my forced 
 inaction. Poor fellow ! His had been a terrible trial ; he 
 was all bandaged up, round the head and face, and for some
 
 THE BEAR AND TEE BLACKSMITH. 93 
 
 time it was painful to see him come in. At first I did not 
 like to ask him what was the matter, but seeing my curiosity, 
 he one day volunteered the information. 
 
 "You are wondering what I am bandaged up like this 
 for," he said; " I'll tell you." 
 
 " Fact is, I've lost half my face, from an encounter with a 
 bear." 
 
 My looks expressed the concern and curiosity I felt. 
 
 "Yes," continued B., "the brute has spoilt my beauty 
 for me, but I had the satisfaction of killing the 
 varmint." 
 
 Then he told me the particulars. 
 
 He had been out surveying in the hills, somewhere in the 
 Nerbudda valley, I think it was; and his men had cut 
 several lanes in the thick grass and underwood, for the 
 purpose of his survey. One day, while peeping through his 
 theodolite, an immense she-bear came calmly out into the 
 cleared avenue, and stood placidly surveying Mm. To take 
 sights of another kind was the work of an instant. Picking 
 up his rifle, he sent a ball crashing in behind the shoulder of 
 the bear, and the shaggy brute toppled over, seemingly shot 
 dead. Very foolishly and incautiously, poor B. bounded 
 forward exultantly to examine his prize. As he was turning 
 the apparently dead beast over, she suddenly got up and 
 fetched him a terrific clawing " wipe " across the face. The 
 poor fellow's voice faltered when he told me this part of the 
 story. 
 
 The whole of his right cheek, his lower eyelid, half of his 
 lips and nostrils were clawed clean away. 
 
 With a trembling sob in his voice he added, 
 
 " I wouldn't have minded much, old man, but I was just 
 about to be married to the nicest little woman in the world, 
 and she doesn't know anything about this, and I am afraid 
 now to let her know." 
 
 Poor gallant fellow, he was too true a man tD ask the girl
 
 94 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 he dearly loved to wed a maimed and disfigured unfortunate., 
 like himself. 
 
 But I may as well tell the sequel. 
 
 His men had got him to Jubbulpore, where the doctor did 
 all for him that he could, and sent him down to Bombay. 
 Here the stitching had all to be done over again, and the 
 poor fellow nearly died from exhaustion and loss of blood. 
 
 His first thought had been of his promised bride, and he had 
 begged his friends not to tell her of his terrible disfiguration. 
 
 Failing to get well in Bombay, he had now been some 
 time in the Calcutta hospital as a private patient, and in a 
 few days he was to undergo an operation, from which he had 
 hopes he would emerge with some renewed promise of 
 eventual recovery. 
 
 To be brief, the operation was performed. It was done by 
 Sir Joseph Fayrer, I believe, with Dr. Ewart and others 
 assisting, and was witnessed by the Duke of Sutherland, I 
 remember, who came into my room to give me a kindly 
 word in passing through. I daresay he thought I was one 
 of the regular patients. I'm none the less grateful for his 
 kindly meant courtesy. Eemember I am only stating verit- 
 able facts. 
 
 The operation caused great stir at the time, and is in 
 itself a wonderful tribute to the marvellous development of 
 surgical skill at this stage of the world's history. 
 
 B. was supplied with a perfect new eyelid from a flap of 
 skin taken from his brow. From the skin of his neck a new 
 cheek was formed. From his throat a layer was dissected, 
 twisted up, and formed into lips, and a new nostril was also 
 fashioned for him from the same material. 
 
 It may please the sympathetic reader to know that the 
 girl he loved so well stuck to him like a brick, and the last 
 I heard of them was that they were happily married, and 
 B. was barring a few ugly scars, of course very little the 
 worse for his rude encounter with an Indian she-bear.
 
 THE BEAR AND THE BLACKSMITH. 95 
 
 Now those are facts. There are, as I have already pointed 
 out, some unbelieving and possibly vacant-minded individuals 
 who think themselves awfully smart and knowing; they 
 will not believe anything that falls beyond the range of 
 their own narrow comprehension and restricted experience. 
 
 These are the men who sneer at all tiger stories, who 
 openly flout every traveller as a romancer, and who are so 
 wise in their own conceit, and so entrenched in their little 
 petty circle of limited common-place experience, that they 
 scout every man who happens to have seen a few strange 
 adventures as an impostor, and laugh the laugh of scornful 
 disbelief whenever the travelled man opens the wallet of his 
 memory, and tells a few of his reminiscences. 
 
 Such conventional unbelievers remind me of a capital 
 story of a well-known Australian colonist, who experienced 
 a rebuff of the sort I refer to once, when he was home in 
 England. 
 
 Our retired squatter, among other places in the old 
 country, had paid a visit to see the beauties of the South of 
 England, and found himself at Torquay on the occasion to 
 which I refer. 
 
 It happened to be the weekly market day, and many of the 
 neighbouring farmers had come into the market town. Our 
 colonist found himself at dinner-table at the farmers' ordinary 
 at one of the chief hotels, and sat down near the end of the 
 table. Opposite to him sat a wizened old farmer, with 
 cheeks like a winter apple, and with a keen look of bottled- 
 up curiosity on his face. 
 
 The gentleman who sat at the other end of the table 
 during dinner called to our friend, whom he knew as an 
 Australian gentleman 
 
 " Mr. So-and-so, the pleasure of a glass of wine with you," 
 adding, " It is not every day we get a real live Australian 
 amongst us." 
 
 This fired the little old farmer's curiosity.
 
 96 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 "With a look of mingled bonhomie, curiosity, and deference, 
 he said 
 
 " Be ye from Australia, sor ? " 
 
 " Yes, I've just returned after an absence of thirty years." 
 
 " Foine country, be'ant it ? " 
 
 " Well, I've got every reason to speak well of it, being 
 enabled to retire from business." 
 
 " Ah ! " there was a pause. 
 
 " What moight be the price of oxen out your way now ? " 
 
 " Oh, I've seen them sold at 25 a head." 
 
 " Ah ! fair price, that." 
 
 " Yes, and I've seen them sold at 5s. 6d." Sensation. 
 
 The old farmer seemed undecided. A short time elapsed. 
 Then he returned to the charge. 
 
 " What might be the price of wedders now in Australy ? " 
 
 Our " Waler " was equal to the occasion. 
 
 " I've seen them sold at 25s. apiece." 
 
 " Fair price ! " 
 
 " Yes, and I've seen them sold at eighteenpence a dozen." 
 
 Still further sensation. 
 
 The old farmer stared aghast. The company were getting 
 amused and interested. 
 
 The bluff old English yeoman was however not to be put 
 down thus. He at length hazarded another question. 
 
 " What might be the size of your fields now in Aus- 
 traly ? " 
 
 Our friend, having in his mind's eye a station on the 
 " Downs," where five or six flocks of sheep could be seen 
 depasturing from the verandah of his house, and to give the 
 farmer a further idea of the size of the Downs, said, referring 
 to a well-known mountain in Devonshire 
 
 " Have you ever been to the top of Hey Tor ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "And you can look upon two seas from the top, can't 
 you?"
 
 TEE BEAR AND TEE BLACKSMITH. 97 
 
 " Yes, maiglit be, on a foine day ! " 
 
 " Well, that's the size of our fields." 
 
 The old man was thoroughly nonplussed. Our friend was 
 as grave as a judge. The old fellow laid down his knife and 
 fork, crammed his hat on his head, then he said slowly and 
 deliberately 
 
 " Thou beest the biggest liar ever God created." 
 
 He left the room amid roars of laughter, in which our 
 friend heartily joined, and yet he uttered naught but unvar- 
 nished truth in his Australian information. 
 
 To my sneering unbelieving critics, who have twitted me 
 with " drawing the long bow " in my hunting adventures, I 
 commend the moral 
 
 " There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, 
 Than are dreamt of in thy philosophy." 
 
 And also, the world is bigger than a cheese plate.
 
 98 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL, CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 BOSTON. 
 
 NEVER TRUST A TIGER. 
 
 Exaggerated yarns Man-eating tigers An easy prey " On the watch " 
 A common tragedy "Mourning in some lowly hut" The 
 Pertaubgunj tiger Shifting camp An obstinate elephant River-side 
 scenery Revolver practice Salamee Eapacity of servants A halt 
 Enquiry We form line The beat Elephants uneasy The man- 
 eater breaks cover A tame termination False security " Look out, 
 boys; it's alive!" A dying effort and a costly bite An instance of 
 cool heroism In the jaws of a tiger A plucky rescue Moral: 
 " Never trust a tiger." 
 
 IT must not be supposed that scenes of thrilling, I might 
 almost say sensational excitement, such as I have been de- 
 scribing, are of frequent occurrence. These are the incidents 
 that stand out prominently on memory's page, and when the 
 conversation turns on hunting topics, it is naturally 
 
 " The moving accidents, by flood and field, 
 The hairbreadth 'scapes," 
 
 that first present themselves, and are recounted 
 " By the fitful watch-fire's gleam." 
 
 An Indian shikar expedition is indeed organised on such a 
 scale-of completeness, game of all kinds is so abundant, and a 
 popular man in a good district, who knows how to utilise 
 native assistance, can muster such an array of elephants, 
 beaters, weapons and other indispensable accessories of the 
 chase, that success more or less pronounced is almost inevit- 
 able ; yet even then there are many blank days, and common- 
 place incidents, which are scarcely worthy of chronicle, and a
 
 NEVER TRUST A TIGER. 99 
 
 good deal of sameness is experienced, as day after day the 
 beat for tiger progresses. 
 
 The most wonderful stories of tiger hunting are told by 
 men who have had only occasional experience of the royal 
 pastime ; and the Grift", who has perhaps been only in at the 
 death of a half-grown cub, and even then merely as a 
 spectator, will, in course of time, and by a natural process of 
 indulgence in imaginative retrospection, gradually invest the 
 incident with a series of elaborate details, which do more 
 honour to his powers of fiction than of sober unvarnished 
 ^historical accuracy. It is from such men. \ve hear the 
 'wondrous tales of gigantic man-eaters, measuring eleven and 
 twelve feet from the point of the nose to the tip of the taiL 
 -Some would even fain continue the measurement backwards, 
 .-and make out the animal to be twenty-four feet anything, to 
 magnify their prowess and importance. 
 
 In reality, the tiger is not the audacious foolhardy animal 
 the generality of tiger-stories pourtray. He is more com- 
 monly a cunning sneaking rogue, keen to perceive when the 
 chances are against him, and ever mindful of the good old 
 .saw, 
 
 " He who fights and runs away, 
 May live to fight another day." 
 
 As a rule, in heavy jungle, with a big line of elephants, the 
 tiger will try to " make tracks," and slink away at the first 
 intimation of a concerted movement against his customary 
 haunt. A man-eater is in many cases an old brute, whose 
 youthful vigour has fled, whose fangs have been worn down to 
 the stump, whose active bounding agility has failed under 
 the insidious attacks of the edax rerum, and who can no 
 longer battle successfully with the fleet hog deer, the savage 
 wild boar, or the wary nimble cattle of the jungly herds. By 
 accident or design he discovers the fact that an unarmed 
 human being falls an easier prey than the other animals he 
 lias been accustomed to hunt, and very possibly he finds a 
 
 H 2
 
 100 TENT LIFE IN TIG EB LAND. 
 
 collop from the genus homo to be as toothsome as his more- 
 natural and accustomed diet of venison, pork, or rump steak. 
 
 Nearly all man-eating tigers are old animals. Their skin 
 is generally mangy ; they are very cunning ; will lie in wait 
 near the village tracks ; will stalk the unwary herdsman as a 
 cat will stalk a hedge sparrow ; they know the habits of the 
 village population as minutely as does the tax-gatherer, and 
 once they take up their quarters near a jungle village, they 
 become indeed a terrible scourge. 
 
 It must be remembered too, that the habits of the villagers 
 make the role of man-eater a peculiarly easy one, if once 
 the unholy appetite for human flesh has been awakened. 
 Ordinarily the village husbandman goes forth at early morn 
 to till his patch of paddy, or tend his cattle in the tall 
 growing jungle, and the men work singly or in little groups 
 of twos and threes. The women, wending their way to the 
 weekly bazaar, go forth, indeed, in a string, all chattering, 
 laughing, and laden with the produce of their little garden 
 patch, or small holding, for sale or barter. At the bazaar, 
 however, some dispose of their wares more quickly than 
 others ; some have purchases to make, over which a deal of 
 chaffering is indispensable. So it is that a few of the poor 
 things find the swift twilight suddenly descend upon them 
 when they are yet a weary dangerous mile or two from home. 
 'Tis then the cruel whiskered robber is on the watch. The 
 hushed affrighted women hurry on, their hearts thudding 
 with trepidation, and, as they hang on to each other's skirts, 
 they cast uneasy startled glances into every bush, and start at 
 every rustle in the tall feathery swaying grass. 
 
 Dogging every footstep, watching every movement, the 
 silent hungry man-eater is crawling swiftly and noiselessly 
 alongside the path. It is marvellous with what celerity and 
 absolute silence such a huge animal can glide through close 
 jungle. After all, they are but cats ; they have all the pro- 
 verbial attributes of the feline species, and not even a snake-
 
 NEVER TRUST A TIGER. 101 
 
 can wind among the grass as softly and silently as the 
 slouching man-eater hungering for human blood. The 
 tragedy is indeed a common one in many of these villages. 
 A basket gets overturned perhaps. A thorn enters the foot. 
 The wretched loiterer must perforce linger a moment to pick 
 up her little scattered purchases, adjust her dress, or stoops to 
 extract the thorn from her foot. Then, with a swift silent 
 bound for the man-eater rarely betrays his presence by a 
 roar the fierce animal makes his awful onslaught on the 
 terror-stricken hapless victim, and next morning a few 
 scattered, crunched and mangled bones are the sole evidence 
 of the ghastly tragedy that has been enacted. There is 
 mourning in some lowly hut. A deeper dread settles on the 
 haunted hamlet, but the daily routine must go on, and the 
 daily wants must be supplied. The apathetic fatalistic 
 doctrine resumes sway, and so the tale is repeated. In 
 planting districts, the factory manager is generally apprised 
 of the presence of the scourge, and in the end succeeds in 
 adding another grisly skull to his collection ; but in the lonely, 
 secluded parts of the country, a man-eating tiger is a very 
 incarnation of destruction. No wonder that the cowering 
 terror-stricken natives try to propitiate him by sacrifices 
 and prayers. I have even known them withhold information 
 as to his habits and whereabouts, from a superstitious dread, 
 that they will thereby incur the hostility of their enemy, and 
 bring upon themselves swift retribution. 
 
 Occasionally a few villages will combine, and organise a 
 beat, and try to drive their grim oppressor from the neigh- 
 bourhood. In such a case, badly equipped as are the 
 peasantry, the chances are that a few are frightfully mauled, 
 if not killed outright ; and the vile brute may simply shift 
 the scene of his operations to a neighbouring village, ere long 
 to be back again, bolder and more bloodthirsty than ever. I 
 have known whole tracts of fertile country allowed to relapse 
 into untilled jungle, from the presence of a single man-eating
 
 102 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 tiger. I have seen villages entirely deserted from the same 
 cause ; and when we therefore heard that near the village of 
 Pertaubgunj a man-eater had taken up his abode, and was 
 levying his terrible blackmail on the terror-stricken inhabi- 
 tants, it needed little incentive else, to make us determine to 
 beat him up, and free the neighbourhood from his diabolic 
 attentions. 
 
 Pertaubgunj was on the southern bank of the stream, and 
 having made arrangements for a start early in the morning, 
 we found that the dining tent had been struck when we 
 awoke, and that the whole camp was enveloped in the con- 
 fusion attendant on a change of quarters. Already the 
 bullock drivers had brought up their patient, mild-eyed oxen,, 
 and while some were busily splicing the tattered frayed grass 
 ropes that bind the sides of their primitive carts, others were 
 oiling the axles and winding hemp and tow round the naves 
 of the wheels. Already the coolies had packed up their pots. 
 and pans, had put away the cackling skinny poultry in 
 hampers and baskets, and the whole camp was littered with 
 tent pegs, dhurries or carpets, nets full of Blioosa, for the 
 bullocks ; and smouldering piles of ashes and damp straw on 
 all hands showed where the servants' camp fires had been 
 already used to cook the early morning meal of rice. 
 
 We had ample store of cold pastry and other debris of the 
 previous night's dinner, and washed our cold refection down 
 with fresh milk and hot coffee. Some of us preferred the 
 more inviting glories of Bass, bottled by Hibbert or Stone,, 
 and it was yet grey dawn, and the fiery sun was still 
 beneath the horizon when we mounted the pad elephants, 
 and started off to ford the swift river, in quest of the most 
 cruel and implacable foe of the poor Hindoo villager the 
 dreaded man-eating tiger. 
 
 Looking back over the level trampled plain, amid the thin 
 wavy lines of clinging smoke and detached columns of mist,, 
 we could see the white tops of the sleeping tents one by one.
 
 NEVER TRUST A TIGER. 103 
 
 sway and fall, and soon the noise of the bustling dismantled 
 camp was left behind, and we jogged along towards the ghat. 
 Beaching the miserable collection of boatmen's huts on the 
 brink of the river, with the tall bamboo poles each flying a 
 triangular tattered white rag by way of a pennon, to guide 
 the traveller through the lonely jungle to the welcome ford 
 we found boats in readiness, and hastily piled up the pads 
 and accoutrements on the largest of these, and were poled 
 across. 
 
 It took some time to get all the elephants to take to the 
 water, for the river was swift and deep, and the banks rotten 
 and steep. One obstinate Hatni, or female elephant, indeed 
 refused point blank to wet her feet, and had to be shoved in 
 head over heels, nolens volens, by two stalwart policemen, in 
 the shape of two of the mighty tuskers that carried howdahs. 
 Eventually, however, all got across in safety. The village 
 was some three miles from the ghat, and there was little 
 cover on this side of the river. The banks were lined with a 
 short stunted growth of jowdk bushes, and beyond this lay a 
 succession of undulating ridgy sandbanks, with deep reaches 
 of back water from a former flood, intervening. The ground 
 was nasty walking for elephants, being treacherous and full 
 of quicksands. This caused the line to open out and straggle 
 somewhat, and it was truly an Oriental sight, to see nearly 
 thirty huge lumbering elephants toiling heavily over these 
 ridges, plunging into the still bayou-looking lagoons, and, 
 with the picturesque puggrees, bronzed naked skins, and 
 polished spears of the natives, who were clinging to the ropes 
 like so many great monkeys, the scene was altogether a 
 striking one. 
 
 Beyond the sandy dunes, marking the site of the river bed 
 and the limits of its flood waters, stretched an undulating 
 expanse of rather lone country, pleasingly broken at intervals 
 by clumps of mango trees, plantains or bamboos. Here and 
 there a rude hamlet clustered round a dingy white temple,
 
 104 TENT LIFE IN TIGEBLAND. 
 
 whose cracked and crumbling dome and breached walls 
 betokened very forcibly either the extreme poverty of the 
 peasantry or their indifference to the ancient Pagan faith of 
 their ancestors. In the far distance rose the dark shadowy 
 line of the silent mysterious Terai, the brooding impenetrable 
 forest belt that clothes the lower flanks of the mighty 
 Himalayas, whose towering crests even now loomed weird 
 and grand in the far-off haze, and gathered to themselves the 
 floating vapours and mists of the plain ; and as the sun rose, 
 became enshrouded in an impenetrable veil of filmy clouds, 
 that hid their snowy grandeur from our gaze. 
 
 Deeply embedded in one of the sandbanks, we came upon 
 the rotting timbers of a hulking old river boat, one of the 
 great lumbering structures that carry down the country 
 produce of the border territory to the marts of Patna or 
 Calcutta. The bleached and battered old hulk, after long 
 years of traffic up and down the teeming Ganges, had here 
 been cast high and dry in some impetuous flood, and now 
 mouldered away into nothingness beside the frail tenements 
 of an unknown fisherman's hamlet. The carcase of an 
 overworked, worn-out bullock lay festering in the shade of 
 the rotting ribs of the old unwieldy craft. And two mangy 
 jackals snarled over the ghastly meal, disputing its possession 
 with a bevy of horrid-looking vultures and common crows. 
 On our approach, these unlovely scavengers stalked off to a 
 safe distance, and one of the jackals gave utterance to his 
 disapprobation by a prolonged demoniac howl, as if in protest 
 at our intrusion. This seemed to give umbrage to Butty, 
 who, drawing his revolver, commenced an ineffectual ball 
 practice at the unmusical ghoul. 
 
 How quickly man's sense of emulation is roused. Butty's 
 action seemed to actuate each of us with an itching desire to 
 display his accuracy of aim and the merits of his- six-shooter. 
 For a few minutes a very hail of leaden pellets buzzed around 
 the unlucky geedur, until a well-planted ball from George
 
 NEVER TRUST A TIGER. 105 
 
 settled his account, hushed his melody, and " cooked his 
 hash " for ever. 
 
 As we neared the village we were met by several of the 
 leading villagers, all of them seeming poverty-stricken, and 
 having a depressed subdued hunted look about them be- 
 tokening misery and an ever-present sense of insecurity and 
 fear. A few trays of rather unsavoury-looking sweetmeats 
 and some guavas and plantains were presented to us ; and 
 each head man presented a rupee in his open palm for us to 
 touch, which we did. This is a very touching (I mean no 
 pun), and an almost universal custom in these parts. Let a 
 village be ever so poor, it is a point of honour with the head 
 men to present " salamee" as the little tribute is called ; and 
 in many estates it forms a large item in the gross annual 
 revenue. ISTow-a-days, the proffered rupee is generally only 
 touched by the European visitor to whom it is brought, and 
 the villager is allowed to retain it. In cases, unfortunately 
 of too great frequency, where a sahib has rapacious and 
 unscrupulous retainers, they generally contrive to secure the 
 miserable coin of the poor ryot, under threat of using their 
 influence with their masters adversely to the villagers' 
 interests. 
 
 The rapacity and cruelty shown to the peasantry by these 
 underlings and hangers-on is deplorable, and is a despicable 
 trait in the character of these understrappers who hang about 
 in the retinue or take service with the planter, civilian, or 
 official in the East. It used formerly to be much more 
 shameless than it is now. The planter, with his strong sense 
 of fairness and scorn of meanness, has set his face against a 
 continuance of these exactions, and many of the old feudal 
 tributes of grain, poultry, goats, oil, and produce of various 
 kinds, "fiirmaish," as they were called, are now discontinued. 
 In estates under native superintendence, they are still 
 extensively levied, but the general plan now is, to commute 
 them into a money payment ; and though the average rent of
 
 106 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 land may be, in fact is, higher than formerly, I believe the 
 peasantry are as a rule less harried and worried by these 
 legalised extortioners than used to be the case. 
 
 All reforms come slowly, and when we consider the all- 
 potent force of " dustoor," or custom, in the East, the intense 
 conservatism of the people, their apathy and mutual distrust 
 of each other, one can realise that even now much injustice 
 is perpetrated, and much cruel oppression and extortion is 
 practised. Still the general tendency on all indigo planta- 
 tions is to bring the relations between ryot and landlord into 
 a much more harmonious state, and to protect the former as 
 much as possible from all undue interference, and extend to- 
 him kindly sympathy and support. The relations between 
 planter and cultivator are, in fact, as far as is practicable, 
 reduced to a strictly commercial footing, and though it will 
 be years yet before all the old soreness disappears in many 
 districts, it must be conceded that the European planter has 
 perhaps done more to consolidate our empire in the East than 
 many of our prejudiced Bureaucrats would allow. 
 
 However, this is too wide a subject for me to enter into 
 exhaustively here; suffice it to say, that in the present 
 instance our advent was joyfully ihailed as that of friendly 
 deliverers, bent on ridding the villagers of a dreaded and 
 deadly foe. 
 
 Joe called a halt, and the pad elephants gathering round 
 the one on which he was seated, we held a council of war 
 and interrogated the jhet ryot (head man) of the village as to 
 the whereabouts of the man-eating tiger. 
 
 We could get little precise information out of him. He 
 was rather a stupid fellow, and displayed a more than usual 
 amount of ingenuity in skirmishing round a question, and 
 giving vague, highly coloured, imaginative answers. Happily 
 for the temper of our chief, the village chowkeydar a stalwart 
 young gwallah (the cowherd caste) came to the rescue, and 
 informed us that an old man, a grass cutter, had been carried
 
 NEVER TRUST A TIGER. 107 
 
 off only recently, and lie believed lie could guide us to 
 the very spot which the tiger was then supposed to be 
 frequenting. 
 
 He was accommodated with a perch at the back of Joe's 
 howdah. The line was brought up. We clambered into our 
 howdahs examined our guns took a pull at the water 
 bottles, and were soon marching down in stately array upon 
 the supposed haunt of the evil-reputed brute who had long 
 been holding the trembling villagers in terror, and we deter- 
 mined, as we heard of all his ravages and of the many victims 
 he had struck down, that we would settle the score with him 
 to the full, if we were lucky enough to encounter him. 
 
 We swept round the village in line, and noticed with pity 
 the untilled appearance of many of the fields ; many of the 
 rice khets were fast relapsing into jungle. The cow-houses 
 were ruinous, and the granaries rickety and ominously empty- 
 looking. The children even seemed to have a scared look, as 
 if a dead weight was on their spirits, and the whole aspect of 
 the place betokened desolation and decay. 
 
 Our guide, now leaving a likely-looking piece of jungle to 
 the right, directed our line on to a wide level expanse of green 
 patair jungle, with here and there a trodden-down patch of 
 scrubby elephant grass. In fact, the place looked as if it 
 would not afford cover for a boar, and Joe, turning, again 
 asked the man if he were sure he was not misleading us. 
 
 " Bagli oos pur Tiy khodawand ! " said the cJwwkeydar. 
 " The tiger is over there, my lord ! " and he pointed to a small 
 patch of dog-rose jungle, on the far side of a sluggish shallow 
 nullah or creek, which was now almost dry. 
 
 Just then one of the elephants began to show symptoms of 
 unsteadiness, and the feeling seemed to be communicated by 
 some mysterious magnetic sympathy to the rest of the 
 sagacious animals. Their trunks were uplifted and curled 
 high above their heads. The mahouts had to urge them on 
 and apply the goad rather forcibly.
 
 108 TENT LIFE IN TIGEBLAND. 
 
 Some began rocking and shuffling the fore-feet backwards 
 and forwards uneasily. This is a sure sign of the vicinity of 
 tiger. The experienced elephants had evidently scented the 
 taint of the man-eater. Several began to make a low rumb- 
 ling sound from their insides. 
 
 My maJwut whispered to me, " There is certainly a tiger 
 here, sir." 
 
 We were inclined to be incredulous. There scarce seemed 
 to be cover enough for a cat, let alone a tiger. 
 
 We were now close up to the clump of bushes, still, how- 
 ever, on the near side of the nullah, when one of the elephants 
 gave a shrill trumpet, and as if by preconcerted arrangement, 
 forth sprang a long gaunt mangy- looking tiger, and proceeded 
 to lob leisurely along the plain. He came forth so calmly 
 and quietly, that for a minute we doubted the evidence of our 
 eyesight. 
 
 But there he was sure enough a great hulking unsightly 
 brute. We were now all excitement. Joe's rifle rang out 
 a challenge first, and immediate on the report the others 
 answered along the line. 
 
 The tiger dropped. Not a kick not a roar not a quiver. 
 It was about the tamest thing I had ever been at. Was the 
 brute only shamming ? These old man-eaters are very cun- 
 ning. Was this only a ruse to delude us ? to lure us within 
 charging distance ? 
 
 Not a bit of it. No playing 'possum here. The dark blood 
 was already welling out in a crimson stream from a round 
 little hole behind the powerful fore-arm. The dreaded man- 
 eater was dead. 
 
 " What a beastly sell," muttered Pat. 
 
 ."A regular cur," snapped Mac, whose bullet had flown 
 wide of the mark. 
 
 "The skin's not worth having," said Joe, and so on all 
 through the gamut of disgust, disappointment, and wondering 
 speculation.
 
 G> 
 
 C 
 (3 
 
 G) 
 
 JG 
 
 u 
 
 
 Q)
 
 NEVER TRUST A TIGER. 109 
 
 We were soon collected in a circle, gazing down at the 
 prostrate man-eater. No more now would the village maiden 
 tremble as she hurried back from the bazaar. No more now 
 would the tottering old crone cower beside the dried cow-dung 
 fire of a night, and hush the awed children into silence by 
 telling of the dreaded man-eater. 
 
 The man-eater was dead. 
 
 Pat was the first to alight. He was riding an elephant 
 but recently purchased by the Eajah, whose estates were 
 administered by Mac, and wishing to accustom the animal to 
 the sight and smell of a tiger, he called the mahout to gently 
 urge his charge forward, close to the warm, bleeding carcase of 
 the tiger. 
 
 One or two of us were already lolling back in our howdahs, 
 charging our pipes preparatory to a whiff. Pat was now 
 leaning over the prostrate foe, talking reassuringly to his 
 elephant, who trembled and seemed rather dubious about its 
 near proximity to such a formidable-looking dead cat. 
 
 All of a sudden, with a yell of absolute dismay, Pat howled 
 out 
 
 " Look out, boys it's alive ! " and fairly tumbled head 
 over heels in his sudden bewilderment. 
 
 At the same moment, the dead tiger opened wide its 
 greenish-yellow great cruel eyes, gave a convulsive gasp, 
 which disclosed its grinning horrible fangs, and rolling over 
 on its side, gasping and frothing blood and foam at the mouth, 
 its great claws stretched out rigid and threatening, it got hold 
 of the hapless elephant just above one of the toe-nails, and, 
 with a dying effort, it sent its yellow fangs deep into the 
 poor brute's foot. 
 
 The elephant screamed with anguish, the others piped 
 shrilly. The mahouts yelled and jabbered like so many apes. 
 In an instant the whole line was in wild commotion. The 
 poor brute of an elephant, mad with pain, piped and screamed 
 most piteously, and the driver, gathering up his legs as if the
 
 110 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 tiger were upon him, yelled aloud in a mortal funk to his 
 fathers and his gods to save his life. 
 
 It was all the work of an instant. 
 
 It was the last dying effort the last supreme and crowning 
 attempt at vengeance. But it was a costly bite. 
 
 The wound, although carefully washed and tended, in- 
 flamed, gangrene set in, and in three days the elephant 
 was dead. It cost us each three hundred rupees to make 
 up the loss, as we could not allow the owner to suffer for 
 our sport. 
 
 The moral is never trust even a dead tiger. Or rather, 
 more strictly speaking, a seemingly dead one. It was a dear 
 lesson to learn, but it was a salutary one. In all my after 
 experiences, out large game shooting, I first made very certain 
 my quarry was really dead, before I would allow man or 
 beast belonging to me to approach within yards of it. 
 
 Innumerable instances might be cited of the absolute folly 
 of trusting to appearances with seemingly dead tigers. Their 
 vitality is marvellous. Their cunning is no less most danger- 
 ous. I have seen them hide down as flat as a hare in even 
 light cover, and allow a whole line of elephants to tread 
 leisurely almost over their bodies, and then sneak off in the 
 rear of the lint. 
 
 A tiger is, in fact, gifted with all the wonderful adaptability 
 to circumstances of his prototype, the domestic cat, and as we 
 have just seen, even at the last gasp his power for mischief 
 is to be feared, and under every circumstance it is the height 
 of foolhardiness to go near him until the question of his 
 absolute death be put beyond a doubt. 
 
 But for this tragic ending, the whole affair would have been 
 one of the tamest description. The brute showed no more 
 fight than a half-starved mongrel before a bull terrier. I 
 have been in at the death of a good many tigers of this sort. 
 The best sport is given by your half-grown young cub, who 
 has never experienced a reverse, and who will come down at
 
 NEVER TRUST A TIGER. Ill 
 
 the charge, roaring like a fiend, whenever his royal privacy is 
 intruded upon. 
 
 Old tigers as a rule, and especially man-eaters, are the 
 veriest cowards when a bold front is shown, or when they see 
 that the odds are against them. 
 
 It is no uncommon feat for a party of jungle herdsmen, 
 armed only with their ironbound lathees, or quarter-staves, to 
 boldly show fight to the royal robber, and, by sheer pluck and 
 gallant daring, beat Mm off from some member of their herd 
 that he may have attacked. Too frequently, to be sure, some 
 one or more of the number may pay dearly for their temerity, 
 "but it is an apt illustration of the fact that men get inured 
 to a commonly incurred danger, and it seems also to illustrate 
 the contention of those best acquainted with the personal 
 prowess of the stalwart peasantry of India, that they are not 
 the abject cravens those would make them out to be, who 
 are only acquainted with the enervated, obsequious, emascu- 
 lated dwellers in the towns, who possess much of the cunning, 
 stealthy feline attributes of the tiger himself, without his dash, 
 courage, and fierceness. 
 
 I recently came across an incident of cool heroism and 
 bravery on the part of a few of our own kith and kin, which 
 :shows that the good old qualities of our race are not wholly 
 wiped out yet, and which is such a capital illustration of the 
 dangers of tiger shooting I have just been referring to, and 
 the opportunities it affords for individual courage and daring, 
 that it may fitly close this present chapter. 
 
 I extract the account from the narrative of an eye-witness 
 {Oriental Sporting Magazine for June, 1879) : 
 
 "In February, 1858, my old chum, A. H., was riding 
 back to his factory (Doorgapore) from Salgamoodea, when he 
 met Ben T., who assured him a tiger (no leopard) had killed 
 and eaten a girl, and severely wounded other people close by 
 in the Jowdeah village. As tigers had not been heard of 
 for many years there, they cautiously walked to the place.
 
 112 TENT LIFE IN TIG EEL AND. 
 
 There they saw, surely enough, an enormous tiger lying near 
 the side of a native's hut, coolly sunning himself on a nice 
 bed of straw. 
 
 " On this A. H. wrote off to Joradah to E. P. S. to come 
 
 and bring "Wm. S ff with him. He also wrote to me, to 
 
 Dooleah, to canter over at once, and while he galloped back 
 to Salgamoodea to get old T. K. and his elephant, he left 
 Ben to watch the tiger, and keep the villagers from making 
 a noise so as to disturb him. 
 
 "After about an hour or so, K. P. S. and Wm. S ff 
 
 arrived with the Joradah elephant, and not believing that a 
 tiger could be there, but perhaps a leopard, they asked where 
 the brute was, and on being shown a small piece of Putteal 
 jungle not more than forty feet square, they got on their 
 elephant and put him into it. A movement was noticed, 
 but no Mr. Stripes showed. After a bit, the noble brute was 
 seen some distance off, near the banks of the river, having 
 jinked round some houses unperceived by the gentlemen. 
 
 " On their trying to near the tiger, he swam the river 
 (the Coomar), and calmly walked across the opposite sand- 
 bank, evidently not knowing what to do or where to go. 
 To get the elephant across was a work of time, but when 
 done, Mr. Stripes was seen to have made a turn, and was 
 again facing to the river, at a place higher up than where he 
 had previously crossed. After a little while he again took 
 to the water, and while going up the bank a shot was fired, 
 I think by E. P. S., which seemed to take effect, as the brute 
 fell backward down the bank, but immediately recovering 
 himself, he jumped up the crumbling bank and quietly lay 
 down. 
 
 " Again the three sportsmen on the elephant recrossed the 
 stream, and here E. P. S., fancying he had done for the tiger, 
 descended, and without even reloading his discharged barrel, 
 he followed up close to the elephant. 
 
 " On approaching the place near which they knew the
 
 NEVER TRUST A TIGER. 113 
 
 tiger to be lying down, out jumped Stripes with a roar and 
 made for the elephant. This was too much for the nerves of 
 the stately pachyderm. He suddenly swung round, making 
 
 it impossible for either Ben or Wm. S ff to get even a 
 
 snap shot, and bolted away as if the devil himself was at his 
 heels. 
 
 " The tiger then seeing E. P. S. near the bank of the 
 river, charged him, when K. P. S. jumped over the bank, but 
 in an instant the tiger must have been on him, gripped him 
 by the left thigh, threw him down on the very brink of the 
 river, and then squatted down twenty yards off, higher up 
 the bank, with his face turned from the wounded man. 
 
 " Now came the tug-of-war. Where was E. P. S. ? He 
 must be wounded, if not killed if only the former, or under 
 any circumstances, he must be released. 
 
 " But there are often brave men in these emergencies, and 
 
 so it proved, for Wm. S ff ordered the elephant to kneel 
 
 down, when he and Ben T. got off, leaving the elephant; 
 they collected two or three plucky natives, went down, and 
 actually carried off their poor wounded comrade, while the 
 tiger made not a movement. 
 
 "E. P. S. was awfully mauled on the left thigh, which, 
 
 however, was not broken. Wm. S ff then tore off his 
 
 shirt, tied up the wound as best he could, and carried the 
 nearly insensible E. P. S. off to Salgamoodea, that being the 
 nearest place where European medical aid was procurable. 
 
 " Shortly afterwards A. H. and old T. K. came up upon 
 the elephant, determined to do or die ; but to make a long 
 story short, the tiger, on seeing the hathee, charged nobly for 
 fully sixty yards in the open, roaring as only a tiger can. 
 He was, however, doomed, for he got a pill from both gentle- 
 men, and, a second after, fell to rise no more, and their 
 wounded comrade was amply avenged." 
 
 The narrator very pertinently asks, " How often, sir, 
 would you hear of greater or cooler bravery than this ? 
 
 I
 
 114 TENT LIFE IN TIGEBLAND. 
 
 Imagine a tiger (then believed to be wounded) lying twenty 
 yards from a badly maimed friend, and see how many men 
 will coolly go and relieve and carry off the wounded man ! " 
 
 It is also added, " Of eleven men (natives) that the tiger 
 wounded, four died shortly after." 
 
 Now this simple and truthful narrative illustrates one or 
 two points which are of interest in discussing the nature of 
 the tiger and the risks attendant on his destruction 
 
 First. It is popularly supposed the tiger, like all of the 
 cat tribe generally, will not take to the water. Nothing is 
 more common than for them to do so, as I will presently 
 show. 
 
 Second. As a rule he will not face a resolute body of men 
 who advance boldly against him. To this there are ex- 
 ceptions, and this brings me to 
 
 Third. Never trust a tiger. Alivays reload in jungle 
 shooting before you advance ; and, 
 
 Fourth. Make proper arrangements and mature your 
 plan of attack before you go on a tiger shooting expedition. 
 It is too dangerous a game to trust to wayward luck or blind 
 chance. Do not undervalue your foe. In many cases he 
 will prove an absolute craven, and turn out to be an easily 
 subdued antagonist ; but if he is at all disposed to fight, the 
 greatest glutton for excitement will be likely enough to have- 
 his most unbounded appetite amply satisfied.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 OLD TIMES. 
 
 The old well The Fakeer A pious old hermit Jogees Pagan cruelties 
 Peter the braggart Soured by bad luck Scotch Hindostanee Peter 
 pot valiant His " teeger " story An ignominious collapse The real 
 truth of the matter The " Blue Devils " Practical joking The rough 
 pioneer days Police tortures "Old Hulman Sahib" A novel 
 punishment The old regime changed Modern progress. 
 
 AFTER the death of the man-eater, described in my last 
 chapter, and the unlucky accident to the Hatnee, we ad- 
 journed to the tents for bath and dinner. Our camp had 
 been pitched in a very ancient and decidedly picturesque 
 grove of tall mango trees. These were of an immense height, 
 gnarled, knotted, and twisted. Scattered round the grove 
 lay ruined heaps of carved masonry, evidences of former 
 grandeur, and the site had evidently been that of one of the 
 rude baronial fortresses in the times when the power of the 
 Great Mogul had scarcely penetrated to these remote border 
 tracts, near the great barrier line of the gloomy Terai. In 
 one corner of the square enclosure, which was of considerable 
 extent, yet stood a fine old well, constructed of solid masonry. 
 Two uprights of hard sal wood supported a cross-beam, in the 
 centre of which was a sort of a revolving drum windlass, with 
 a stout rope rove round it, and from its grazed and worn 
 appearance it was evident the villagers still used the well, as 
 their forefathers for many generations had doubtless done 
 before them. Beautiful ferns and mosses clung to its dank 
 Avails, draping it with a living tapestry of green, and overhead 
 
 I 2
 
 116 TENT LIFE IN TIOERLAND. 
 
 a fine old fig-tree, with numberless tendrils and rootlets 
 hanging pendant and swaying with every breath of wind, 
 spread a welcome shade over the cool deep well, and formed 
 a most pleasant covert from the fierce heat outside. 
 
 At another corner of the enclosure was a ruinous village 
 temple, with a great stately tamarind tree rising behind it, 
 and in a hollow in the mound forming the angle of the earth- 
 work, embankment, or entrenchment, an anchorite had taken 
 up his abode. He was a Fakeer, as they are called men 
 dedicated to some particular saint or god. Not unlike the 
 mediaeval mendicant monk, vowed to poverty, given to fasting, 
 mortification of the flesh, penances and contemplation, but 
 very frequently the biggest rascals and greatest hypocrites 
 one could come across. Many of them are very fanatical. 
 The Mussulman fakeers are especially so. But the Hindoo 
 jogee is ordinarily a broken-down old party, who has tired of 
 the world, and, eschewing its pomps and vanities, betakes 
 him to some solitary retired spot, and there in calm contem- 
 plation, prayer, penance, and pious meditation, strives, poor 
 Pagan, after his lights, to have communings with the great 
 unknown, to draw nearer and nearer to the Deity, to have 
 spiritual communion with the invisible. Who shall blame 
 them ? Poor withered old hulks many of them. I have 
 often pitied them. For the screaming, abusive zealot or 
 bigot who would greet you with a scowl of hatred, and ban 
 you with curses if your shadow came between him and the 
 sun, I never felt anything but a fierce reciprocation of his 
 heathenish contempt and hate. But with many of the 
 sylvan old hermits, placable, patient, resigned, mild-eyed 
 patriarchs, I have often held long conversations, and have 
 found really good, pious desires and patient endurance 
 underlying the unprepossessing exterior. The jogee generally 
 has his withered body daubed over with ashes and white and 
 red clay. His long hempen-looking hair is matted and 
 twisted into a great unsightly-looking coil round his head.
 
 OLD TIMES. 117 
 
 Only a small tattered rag surrounds his waist. That is all 
 his clothing. He carries a tong-like iron instrument with 
 which to extract a live coal from the fires of the villagers, a 
 sign that he claims hospitality. He may often, too, have a 
 worn-out old tiger skin and a rude drum or stringed instru- 
 ment as travelling impedimenta. 
 
 Many of the biggest rascals and thieves of the country 
 adopt the costume and wandering habits of the jogee for the 
 purpose of plying their nefarious occupations. And indeed 
 it is not only among our Pagan Hindoo brethren that we see 
 rascality assuming the cloak of sanctity, and the devourer of 
 the widows' and orphans' portions taking covert under the 
 garb of religion. Not a few, however, of those Hindoo friars 
 and hermits are really good, inoffensive, pious old fellows ; 
 and our old hermit here, close to our camp, was of the better 
 of his class. 
 
 His story, as he related it to us before our tent, was 
 an apt commentary on the care and trouble of life, and a 
 practical illustration of the common ills that haunt the lives 
 of the village dweller in these wild secluded tracts of 
 country. 
 
 His name was Petumber. He did not say of what caste 
 he was, but noticing the triple cord around his wasted 
 shoulders, I set him down for a Brahmin or a Eajpoot. His 
 father had been a rich man, owning a large extent of land in 
 Chupra, near the big Gunduck, and had owned boats on the 
 river, and was a man of substance. After liis father's death, 
 Petumber's evil luck seemed to have commenced. Bad 
 season followed bad season. One after another the boats 
 were lost on the river. He became involved in a lawsuit 
 with his elder brother, and at the end of ten years he found 
 himself a ruined man. Then he migrated down to Purneah, 
 which was his wife's country, and here for a time he had 
 struggled against ever accumulating misfortune. One of his 
 sons (Ms eldest, a fine promising young man) had been
 
 118 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 devoured by a tiger. Two bad been drowned in the floods. 
 His wife and several of his young children had been smitten 
 down with cholera. His story was a true one. Surely here 
 was a sad life. Surely here was a modern Job. Was the 
 old man querulous, discontented, bitter ? What a lesson he 
 taught us. Xever a murmur escaped his lips when we asked 
 him, Had he much*a/sos (grief) ? Was not his life a burden 
 to him ? Did he not consider he had had evil fortune ? His 
 reply was but this 
 
 " Hum Jcya Jcurre. Klioda Jca haat me liai. What matter ? 
 What can I do ? I am in God's hands." 
 
 Poor old hermit ! Here was simple faith. His only 
 creed, " whatever God wills is best." 
 
 And so he had become an ascetic. He had adopted the 
 jogees' garb. The charity of the villagers supplied his simple 
 wants. He was quite contented, and ready to go when he 
 was called ; as he expressed it 
 
 " ' Jul) wukht awe 
 Tub humjawe.' 
 
 When my time comes, I am ready to depart." 
 
 Very few speculations troubled the poor old fellow. 'Twas 
 the simple primal belief in destiny. Kismut What is, is ; 
 and what shall be, shall be. Withal, he was a cheerful, re- 
 signed, contented, old anchorite, and he seemingly com- 
 manded the most unfeigned respect of the villagers. 
 
 Some of these old Jogees are found attached to nearly every 
 shrine in India. I have come across them in the most 
 secluded and out-of-the-way nooks. They may be found in 
 the heart of the gloomiest, densest jungle ; their only living 
 neighbours being hyenas, tigers, and other wild animals. I 
 have heard innumerable stories of their familiarity with and 
 contempt of danger from wild beasts, and the most improbable 
 and apocryphal relations of their encounters, single-handed, 
 with tigers and demons ; and I knew of one case, near 
 Jynugger, where one old fakeer was known to share his den
 
 OLD TIMES. 119 
 
 in the woods, near an old temple, with a full-grown young 
 tiger.* 
 
 Of course he had tamed and trained the beast from its 
 youth up, but the popular superstition and love of the mar- 
 vellous invested the Jynugger Jogee with all sorts of super- 
 natural attributes ; and when the final catastrophe did come, 
 it was believed all over the country side that the sainted man 
 had gone to Asman (heaven) much in the same way as the 
 prophet of old in a chariot of fire, to wit ; the real finish 
 being that the tiger he had nurtured and tended, with a not 
 uncommon ingratitude, had turned against the hand that fed 
 it, and devoured its benefactor. 
 
 Such tragedies are not uncommon in these wild frontier 
 districts. They are a long, long weary way yet from the 
 fulness of the light. The dark clouds of superstition, 
 ignorance, and horrid cruelty still obscure the light and 
 battle with the dawn. "Were I to detail some of the scenes 
 of awful cruelty and heathenish horror that have come under 
 my own observation, I would not be believed. I have seen 
 poor mutilated women often in the Nepaul villages terribly 
 scarred and disfigured, simply from a jealous outburst of 
 devilish rage on the part of a brutal husband. I have known 
 of many case of infanticide fair infants cruelly done to 
 death at the bidding of a fiendish heathen custom. Further 
 on I may detail some of the inhuman cruelties practised by 
 the police and the torturings by petty officials. In these 
 dark regions, the most direful tragedies are enacted even 
 now under the name of religion. At the present day, even 
 while I write, witches are being stoned and beaten in 
 hundreds of villages ; offerings are being made to demons ; 
 and abominations are being perpetrated, before the very 
 conception of which the soul shudders and the heart turns 
 
 * In connection with this, let the curious reader compare what Farrar, 
 in his " Life of Christ," says in Ms chapter on John the Baptist, and which 
 I read after the above was written.
 
 120 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 sick, mostly, it is true, in native states and remote parts of 
 the country where English officials are rarely seen. 
 
 And yet we have men who go into ecstacies over the purity 
 and intellectual culture of the Hindoo faith, and also sneer 
 at the religion of Jesus and the efforts of Christian men to 
 dissipate the darkness. 
 
 There's nothing so easy in the world as to sneer. A sneer 
 is the devil's favourite weapon. Men who sneer at all 
 missionary effort are generally men who are utterly incapable 
 of comprehending the missionary spirit. God knows, much 
 missionary effort is misdirected, much zeal is frittered away, 
 and much cause is given to the enemy to rejoice ; but every 
 one who has seen the patient, self-denying lives of the true 
 Christian missionaries, as I have oft-times seen them, cannot 
 but feel that in the vital religion of these men the religion 
 of love the gospel message of peace and pardon from God 
 to man lies the only lever that will raise the sunken, 
 degraded humanity of the heathen, and place it again on a 
 level with the image of the Divine nature in which it was 
 created. 
 
 But I may be accused of preaching; so let me hasten 
 back to my sporting journal. 
 
 In the evening, our ranks were strengthened by the arrival 
 of a neighbour of mine, whom I had only met a few times, 
 but whose eccentricities were known to all of us. 
 
 Peter Macgilivray, as I will call him, was a real original. 
 In the way of boasting, he was a very Bottom the weaver, 
 and outrivalled Munchausen in the variety and marvellous 
 nature of his achievements. He was of Highland origin, and 
 when the barley-bree had thawed his icy Highland pride, he 
 was wont to discourse to us about his ancestral glories and 
 the ancient state of his " fowk," as he called his warlike and 
 noble progenitors. A shrewd suspicion was indeed extant 
 that Peter's birthplace was in a classic alley off the Gallow- 
 gate of Glasgow, where his father sold salt fish, tarry ropes,
 
 OLD TIMES. 121 
 
 and whiskey; but Peter bragged enough for any twenty 
 Highland chieftains, and had a thirst for whiskey in quite a 
 proportionate ratio, that is to say, if it were supplied at 
 any one else's expense but his own. 
 
 Poor Peter ! he was a queer mixture of kindliness and 
 meanness, of braggadocio and good-heartedness. In very 
 truth, bad luck had soured his temper ; and even if he had 
 the will to be generous, he had not the wherewithal. He had 
 a miserable factory on the right bank of the river, some four 
 miles from my outwork of Fusseah, and the whole of his 
 ilaka that is, the country under his jurisdiction or in his 
 occupation was subject to destructive floods. Year after 
 year, poor Peter sowed in hope, and year after year his hopes 
 were regularly swept away by the greedy and implacable 
 river. The rents from his rice villages and a few vats of 
 indigo from the higher lands, just sufficed to keep him from 
 being entirely swamped himself; but he was continually in 
 difficulties had the greatest trouble every year in getting 
 his agents to grant him an outlay, and carry him on ; and 
 the consequence was that Peter was kept very close to his 
 factory, seldom mixed with any of his fellow-planters, and in 
 fact lived very much like a native. 
 
 My first introduction to Peter had been one night shortly 
 after my arrival in the district, when I got belated in the 
 jungles and claimed hospitality at Hanoomannugger for the 
 night. Peter had made me as comfortable as his circum- 
 stances permitted, and on several occasions subsequently, 
 having a mutual interest in -the lands and rents of one or 
 two villages lying between his ilaka and mine, we had been 
 brought into contact. 
 
 At Joe's suggestion I had written to Peter, asking him over 
 to dinner. He was well known to us all by repute, and we 
 speedily made him at his ease. 
 
 At first, like all men who lead retired solitary lives and come 
 little into contact with their fellow-men, Peter was inordi-
 
 122 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 nately shy ; but after he had swallowed a few " pegs," with 
 which George plied him, his bashfulness began to disappear, 
 and Peter bade fair to shine as a conversationalist. He spoke 
 with a strong Highland accent, and his Hindostanee was 
 flavoured with the very same pronounced Doric twang. 
 Strange this pertinacious adherence to the broad vowel sound, 
 which proclaims the countrymen of Burns, no matter where 
 you may meet them or under what circumstances ! The 
 broad Scotch twang sticks to the kindly Scot, as the flavour 
 of the peat reek clings to his whiskey, disguise it as you may 
 with cloves, lemons, or any other vehicle whatever. 
 
 Peter, for instance, never spoke of tigers as tigers, but 
 always as "teegurs." George had but the night previous 
 been telling us a great " teegur " adventure in which Peter 
 had figured not altogether as a hero, and both George 
 and Mac were now leading diplomatically up to the 
 subject, and were, vulgarly speaking, " stringing Peter on 
 for a yarn." 
 
 Peter, under the influence of the whiskey, was thawing 
 rapidly. The thicker his speech became, the more fearfully 
 he rolled his r's, and his great broad face was now looming 
 through the thick clouds of his tobacco smoke like a full moon 
 in a fog. 
 
 " Aye, Georrge ! " he was saying. " That was a michty 
 kittle customer, thon teeger 'at we shot thegither." 
 
 " HiUoh, Peter ! what was that ? " we all shouted. " What's 
 that about shooting a tiger ? " 
 
 " Shoot a teeger ? " hiccupped Peter, now quite pot valiant. 
 " Man, I wad think no more of shooting a teeger than I wad 
 think of shooting black game. Teegers, hoof ! " Here Peter 
 snorted in his contempt of such small game, and nearly rolled 
 off his chair. 
 
 " Teegers ! " snapping his fingers. " I wad na gie that for 
 ony teeger that ever was whalped. Why, man, I hef shooted 
 them on foot and on horseback ; aye, and hef foucht with
 
 OLD TIMES. 123 
 
 them hand to hand too, mirover, as my goot freen Chorge here 
 can tell you." 
 
 Here Joe took occasion to replenish Peter's tumbler, 
 and hint to him that a narration of a tiger story would not 
 be unwelcome to the " fellows," meaning Butty, Hudson, and 
 myself. 
 
 " Weel, you see, Mowrie " (he twisted round my name till 
 I thought he would have broken Ms jaw), " there was wan 
 nicht 'at George and_ old Mac there cam up to my hoose, and 
 there had been great cracking aboot a teeger that was pelieved 
 to pe among the bamboos close to the bungalow, and I 
 pelieve myself they were poth afraid to stay ootbye in the 
 tents, and would rather pe with me in the hoose. But you 
 will hear." 
 
 It would be impossible to do justice to the mingled 
 cunning and drollery of Peter during this narrative. He 
 seemed dimly conscious that the whiskey had shown some- 
 what of its potency, and at times a suspicion that we might 
 be laughing at him would flash across his mind. He would 
 pull up in the middle of a sentence in the most ludicrous 
 manner, purse his lips, knit his brows, and look with super- 
 human gravity and fierceness at his tumbler then the 
 current of his recollections would resume its flow ; he would 
 chuckle, hiccup, smile blandly, albeit somewhat vacantly, 
 and as he warmed to his story he acted out the incidents, and 
 got quite excited and not a little muddy in the speech, while 
 he rattled his r's and intensified his vowel sounds most 
 energetically. It was indeed a comical sight. I cannot 
 pretend to do aught than very tamely transcribe the gist of 
 the narration. The reader will see how Peter's imagination 
 got fired up as he began to picture to himself the scene he 
 was describing. 
 
 " It wass geyan late at nicht when they cam to the door, 
 an' I was in my pyjamas, and not expecting nopody at all ; 
 put of course I wass glad to see them fery glad inteet ! So
 
 124 TENT LIFE. IN TIGEBLAED. 
 
 I cried oot to my pearer, ' Poy, pring pen the whiskey ! ' and 
 he procht it pen. It wass the fery finest whiskey ever 
 you tasted. Deed was't." 
 
 Now this was a fiction of the wildest sort on Peter's part. 
 Poor devil, we knew he had not had a bottle of grog, except 
 perhaps native toddy, inside the four walls of his bungalow 
 for years, and the idea of Peter shouting forth in a lordly 
 manner for unlimited whiskey, as if the contents of his 
 cellar were unbounded, was whimsical enough. 
 
 However, he pursued his narration. 
 
 " I can stand whiskey. I hef been used to whiskey efer 
 since I was that big " (holding two very unsteady hands 
 slightly apart from each other). " I mind at my father's hoose 
 that the fery dogs could drink whiskey if they wanted it. 
 My father was 
 
 " But the tiger, Peter ? " 
 
 " Oo, aye, the teeger. As I was sayin', there was a terrible 
 teeger there that nicht, and when we wass all trinking 
 at the whiskey och, it was fine whiskey. My father was 
 the fery finest chudge of whiskey in all the Hielants." 
 
 " But about the tiger, Peter ? " again suggested Pat. 
 
 " Cot pless me, man, I'm comin' to the teeger " (hiccup), 
 said Peter. " As I was sayin', the teeger came roaring up to 
 the door, and Chorge and Mac were poth in a terrible fright. 
 What with the fright and (hiccup) the whiskey together, they 
 were not worth a farden." 
 
 " Did the brute actually charge at the door ? " asked Butty. 
 
 " Charrrge ! Charrrrge ! " scornfully retorted Peter. " I 
 tell you, man, it was enough to knock the house down. You 
 could have heard the roaring and the noise and the growling 
 for ten miles, aye, for twentee miles. There was Chorge 
 on the top of the almirah, and Mac trying to get up on the 
 punkah." 
 
 " But what did you do ? " 
 
 " What tid I do ? What would any Hielant chentleman
 
 OLD TIMES. 125 
 
 do ? I took down my gun, and I opened the door, wide open, 
 and there wass what do you think ? not wan teeger (hiccup), 
 but two teegers, and they poth sprang clean upon me, but I 
 put a pall through the prain of one, and kilt him tead on the 
 spot." 
 
 " And what did you do with the other, Peter ? " we asked. 
 
 "Wis the ozer," hiccupped Peter, now very drunk, "I 
 knocked his prains out too." 
 
 " What, with another barrel ? " 
 
 " Anoyer bar'rl no, wis my fist." 
 
 " Hooch, man," continued Peter, waxing quite eloquent and 
 excited, "I haf shot more teegers than you efer saw in 
 your life. I can shoot teegers efery night I like from my 
 verandah." And then he began to get very indistinct indeed. 
 "We could catch something about his father shooting teegers, 
 and the teegers and whiskey and his father got terribly 
 mixed, and just then in marched Peter's old bearer with a 
 look of great disgust on his face. The old man walked up to 
 his havering master, gave him a tremendous shaking, and 
 upbraided him in no measured terms for making a beast of 
 himself, and so the poor old tiger- slayer was ignominiously 
 hauled off to bed. 
 
 Then we asked George was there any truth in Peter's yarn 
 at all at all. 
 
 " The lying old reprobate," said George. " He's as funky 
 of a tiger as he is of a cobra. Why, I don't believe he ever 
 shot at a tiger in his life. For one thing, I don't think his old 
 gun could go off, even if he were to try it. I know I would 
 not like to be within a mile of him if it did go off." 
 
 " But did he really shoot a tiger ? " I asked. 
 
 " No," responded George. " But the best part of the joke 
 is, that to this day, Peter firmly believes that he did kill two 
 tigers in the way he has related. 
 
 " Mac and I had been out shooting, and near Hanooman- 
 nugger we were lucky enough to stumble across two tigers we
 
 126 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 were in fact after florican at the time. But we managed to bag 
 both tigers, after a long beat, and by the time we got them on 
 the pad, it was getting late we were far from camp, and we 
 resolved to beat up Peter for the night. We had plenty of 
 grog and stores on the tiffin elephant, and as soon as Peter 
 knew we were well supplied, he was most demonstrative in 
 his entreaties to stay. 
 
 " Well, the result was pretty much what you have seen. 
 Peter got glorious and Mac and I determined to have a lark 
 with him. We had said nothing to him about the tigers, the 
 pad elephant having come up behind us, and when we had 
 got Peter very far gone, we sent out word to the mahouts to 
 bring the tigers up to the verandah. This they did, and then 
 at the preconcerted signal they came rushing in with wild 
 cries, and swore there were tigers in the compound. We 
 pretended to be very frightened. Mac got a gun shoved into 
 Peter's hands. We bore him to the door between us. He 
 let off the gun. I felled him with a rousing blow from a hard 
 tukeali (pillow). He was too drunk to rise, and there we left 
 him to come to his senses between the two tigers ; and Peter 
 firmly believes yet that he shot those two beasts, and is never 
 tired of telling the yarn now when he has got a little touch 
 of the cratur in him." 
 
 We all laughed heartily at George's explanation. 
 
 The reader must remember that in those days we were all 
 rather wild, reckless fellows. Practical joking was inevitable 
 when a few of us met, and not seeing each other sometimes 
 for months, we were apt to kick up such a bobbery when we 
 did meet, as earned us the name, among the garrison subs, 
 and Calcutta quill drivers, of the " Blue Devils." 
 
 Even then, the old hands had stories of their younger days 
 to tell which put all our wild achievements completely in the 
 shade. There must have been awful orgies in the riotous old 
 days, judging from the tales old planters used to tell ; but nous 
 awns change tout cela. The young planters get married now,.
 
 OLD TIMES. 127 
 
 and the ladies God bless 'em exert their usual refining 
 humanising influence, and the led wallali, or indigo planter, 
 is now comme ilfaut in all the polite convenances, and his 
 carriage and conversation are sans peur et sans reproche. 
 
 Some of the stories of the wild days that old Mac could 
 tell, were thrilling enough in all conscience. 
 
 Old David C. once blew up a young civilian who was 
 visiting his place literally blew him up and, more by good 
 luck than good guidance, escaped killing him. He had a 
 train of gunpowder laid actually right under the bed of the 
 unfortunate deputy collector, and gave him such a hoist as 
 I daresay he never again attained with all his subsequent 
 promotion and elevation. 
 
 Another of the wild old bloods, Barney H., overpowered an 
 artless young " griffin " " new chum," as he would be called 
 in Australia with grog, and then put him to bed between 
 the corpses of two poor dead coolies from one of the villages. 
 He put a climax to the horror of the youngster in the 
 morning, however, when he told him, between the paroxysms 
 of his throbbing headache, that it was only a joke, and if he 
 paid a couple of rupees each to the two widows, no more 
 would be heard of the matter. 
 
 You should have seen the face of that youngster. 
 
 " What ! " he gasped out, aghast with horror, " you you 
 surely did not kill the men ? " 
 
 " Oh, that's nothing," laughed Barney. " It was only done 
 in a lark." 
 
 The youngster got into a palkee that afternoon, and set out 
 for the station as hard as he could go, and never once thought 
 of emulating Lot's wife. 
 
 Now all fresh young communities have such reminiscences 
 and such stories of their early days. The rough and ready 
 pioneers have their uses. By-and-by the wild bloods die out, 
 and a more sedate generation succeed them, with different 
 ways and ideas, and alas, alas, many a time and oft with
 
 128 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 meaner vices and fewer noble and generous qualities. Eheu ! 
 it's the same old story " The good old days will never come 
 back." In fact, the qualities that command success in the 
 pioneer are little needed by his successor, who lives under 
 the reign of law and order; and the mistake lies in not 
 recognising how each generation finds its special work cut 
 out for it, and how qualities and fashions are irresistibly 
 bound to change with circumstances. 
 
 I have heard as a fact that the manager of Seeraha, in 
 the old times, in a fit of passion killed a table servant with 
 his crutch. He was laid up at the time with the gout (the 
 manager, I mean). The orgie was never interrupted for 
 a moment. There the stark and stiff victim to blind rage 
 lay on the floor, while the revel rout and the brimming 
 champagne grew all the louder and flowed with all the more 
 profusion, to show that the planters of the old-fashioned 
 school " didn't care." 
 
 It was a favourite resort of the native police then, to 
 torture witnesses into giving what evidence was necessary 
 to support the oftentimes nefarious designs and false charges 
 preferred before the Hakims or magistrates. One usual 
 course to adopt was to hang up the unfortunate witness by 
 the thumbs, with his toes just touching the ground, and 
 extract a signature to a document from him in that way. 
 Or they would bury him in an ant-heap, or press his toes 
 between split bamboos, or burn red chillies under his nostrils 
 until his nose and eyes would bleed again. Indeed in some 
 remote parts of the country, and in some of the native states, 
 such practices are not yet obsolete if report speaks truly. 
 
 My first manager, old Hulman Sahib, as the natives used 
 to call him, had a happy ingenuity, wherein I must confess 
 lay much of tiger-like ferocity, in dealing with recalcitrant 
 Assamees. On one occasion he had been defied by two 
 wealthy landholders in one of the factory villages, and for a 
 long time they set his authority at defiance. At length, in
 
 OLD TIMES. 129 
 
 an evil moment for them, some of the factory myrmidons got 
 hold of them, and they were brought before the great Hulman 
 Sahib himself. The old planter well knew how dangerous it 
 would be for his authority to rouse a feeling of sympathy 
 with these men on the part of the villagers. Already the 
 news had spread, and hundreds of cultivators from the 
 villages were collected in the compound, only waiting to see 
 what the Sahib would do. There was much disaffection just 
 then in the villages. The exactions of the middlemen had 
 become very grievous. The authority and prestige of the 
 factory were in danger. The two captured men were, from 
 the factory point of view, ringleaders of revolt and fomenters 
 of sedition. From the villagers' point of view they were 
 patriot leaders, village Hampdens, champions of popular 
 rights and liberties. It must be so arranged that they shall 
 be punished, and yet that no sympathy shall cling to them 
 on account of their punishment. 
 
 Old H. was equal to the occasion. The two men were led 
 out to the verandah. There were fully from 400 to 500 
 villagers assembled. Of course there were plenty of factory 
 servants and peons also present. The old planter, after 
 addressing the multitude on the enormity and heinousness 
 of the offence laid to the charge of the two ryots, no less 
 than contumacy, breach of agreement, repudiation of lawful 
 authority, and all the rest of it, said he was not going to beat 
 them. He wished to show them how gentle and paternal he 
 would be ; but he must mark his sense of just indignation in 
 some way that all would understand, and so he would make 
 the culprits punish each other. The assembled crowd looked 
 on in wonderment to see what the Sahib would do. Their 
 curiosity was excited, and so they held back to watch the 
 development. This was just what the wily old planter had 
 foreseen. 
 
 He next got the two poor fellows to stand back to back, 
 and tied their top-knots very firmly together with fine gut
 
 130 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 The top-knot is an appendage held in much honour by the 
 orthodox Hindoo, and to have it bound in :this way was a 
 great humiliation in itself. The two men, with strained 
 scalps, were now back to back, erect and otherwise free. 
 With truly devilish ingenuity, old H. now came, and up the 
 nostrils of each he inserted a good pinch of the very strongest 
 old Scotch snuff. What ensued was really laughable, but 
 confoundedly cruel. The two poor wretches began to sneeze 
 with might and main. At every convulsion they nearly tore 
 each other's scalps off. They roared and writhed, and bobbed 
 and sneezed. It was horribly painful to them, but it was 
 too much for the assembled villagers. The Assamee has a 
 keen sense of the ridiculous and a tiger-like touch of ferocity 
 too. They keenly appreciate intellectual acuteness, and they 
 could not but see how cleverly yet cruelly the old planter 
 was paying out old scores. They shrieked with laughter. 
 The charm of successful rebellion was gone. The would-be 
 village Hampdens were covered with confusion and shame. 
 They had become the laughing-stock of the district, and 
 therewith became the most humble and obedient upholders of 
 the old man's authority. 
 
 Such doings are no longer possible now. Indeed, the cloth 
 is in danger of being cut almost too much the other way 
 Every village coolie now knows his rights, and is not slow to 
 assert them. Roads intersect the country in all directions 
 (I speak now of Behar generally) ; village schools exist in 
 almost every hamlet ; the law's delays are still costly and 
 irksome, but there is little chance now for organized cruelty 
 or oppression ; and the planter, as a rule, especially in Tirhoot, 
 is looked up to as a protector and benefactor, and a 
 community of interests binds the village farmer and the 
 planter in a pleasant friendly intercourse. This is so on the 
 majority of indigo estates in Tirhoot and Chumparun. 
 
 In Purneah we were yet one or two steps farther back in 
 the path of progress. We were yet in the patriarchal age,
 
 OLD TIMES. 131 
 
 and, at the time I speak of, if a planter was popular with the 
 natives, as I may fairly say we generally were, he could 
 wield enormous power. Such men as Joe, George, and others 
 I could name, born and reared up in the district, knowing 
 every Assamee's family for miles round, were perfect little 
 kings in their own deliaat, and were in their own persons 
 judge, jury, fountain of justice, protector, and everything 
 else pertaining to rule and authority. 
 
 But, as I say, only these stories now remain, just like 
 glacial boulders on some heathery hillside, to tell of an older 
 epoch of disruption and violence. When I first became an 
 indigo planter, there were only two ladies in the whole 
 district. Now, the first article of furniture a young planter 
 tliinks of is a wife, if such a homely term can be applied to 
 the highest ornament and the dearest blessing in a truly 
 happy home. Men, too, are better educated ; cultivation is 
 more scientific; the wage and status of the cultivator are 
 higher ; communications are more widely extended and 
 better ; and altogether the old reign of rowdy violence and 
 boisterous robust hospitality and rough-and-ready exercise of 
 authority has passed away. Feudal custom has given way 
 to the reign of law. Things are done constitutionally now, 
 and with an approach to decency and order which would 
 have been scouted as impossible and impracticable thirty or 
 forty years ago. 
 
 I have been led further away by this digression than I 
 intended, but in my next chapter I will describe how we 
 slew the " grand grey boar " 
 
 " By Koosee's milky stream." 
 
 K 2
 
 132 TENT LIFE IN TIOEELAND. 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 A CHAPTEE ON " PIG-STICKIN'." 
 
 Getting under weigh Tally-ho ! Game afoot A cunning old tusker 
 One man down At our wits' end A ghat ahead The boar is a 
 " jinker " A comical interlude " Now's the chance " First spear ! 
 A desperate fight for life Death of the boar Eulogy on the sport 
 The Queenslander on Indian sports " Hints to Hog Hunters " from 
 The Oriental Sporting Magazine. 
 
 WHAT fox hunting is in the merry shires of England, what 
 grouse shooting is on the heathery moors of Scotland, what 
 kangaroo hunting is to the hardy bushmen of Australia, so is 
 pig sticking to the Anglo-Indian planter, or to the bold, keen 
 spirits that are to be found in every military cantonment in 
 broad Hindostan. I know of no sport that gives greater 
 enjoyment. The boar spear is the weapon par excellence of 
 the finished Indian sportsman. It requires the coolest 
 judgment, the most unfaltering nerve, the most consummate 
 tact, a keen eye and unflinching courage, to face the fierce 
 rush of an enraged tusker when he makes up his mind to 
 fight; and, unless well-mounted and thoroughly self-confi- 
 dent, I pity the chicken-hearted tyro who essays to stop the 
 gallant charge of a fighting boar at his spear's point, when 
 the indomitable old grey jungly warrior, with tusks champing 
 and bristles erect, comes tearing down with a snort of fury 
 and defiance, determined to do or die. 
 
 Long, long ago, now, amid the tussocks, fern and spear- 
 grass of the Canterbury back ranges in New Zealand, I have
 
 A CHAPTER ON " PIG-STICKIN'." 133 
 
 " ridden pig," and pistolled them off horseback ; but I never 
 felt the fierce delight of the chase in perfection until I was 
 initiated into the wild, conflicting emotions of a successful 
 boar hunt in India, under the auspices of Paddy Hudson and 
 Jamie McLeod, two of the finest sportsmen I ever heard 
 utter the whoop of victory over the gallant grey boar, when 
 they " dropped him in his tracks," and watched Ins unavailing 
 struggles to "get home" and sheath his tusks in their 
 panting steeds. 
 
 To be a successful pig-sticker, requires a rare combination 
 of qualities, and many a time and oft, even the most gallant 
 rider, true of heart, steady of hand and keen of eye, will find 
 all his skill and courage unavailing, and is forced to sheer off 
 before the determined charge of a fighting old grey boar. 
 
 Our elephants were fagged out rather, with recent long 
 marches, and as they had some distance to go for cJiarra 
 i.e. fodder we determined to have an off-day at Pig. We 
 were the more inclined to adopt such a course from hearing 
 of the sad ravages made by numbers of them on the paddy 
 fields of the poor villagers. On every hand we could see 
 evidences of their destructive ravages; and while Mac and 
 Peter went off to try for florican to the north of the village, 
 the rest of us, having mounted our horses, and accompanied 
 by a tatterdemalion mob of villagers, set out to the south- 
 ward to beat up a likely patch of jungle, just beyond the 
 surveyor's mound before mentioned. 
 
 Under the direction of Joe we divided our forces. Butty, 
 myself, Young D., my assistant, a plucky little fellow and a 
 capital rider, and our captain, took the side nearest the river, 
 where the jungle abutted on the sand flats, quicksands and 
 still lagoons of intercepted flood water, which I have already 
 described. The other contingent consisted of George, Pat, 
 and Tom H., who rode up just as we were about to begin the 
 beat. Tom was an assistant then on one of the north Purneah 
 factories, and hearing of our vicinity, had ridden over some
 
 134 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 eight miles to exchange greetings and get the news of our 
 shikar. 
 
 We were not long in getting under weigh. The villagers 
 raised the usual caterwauling din, to the accompaniment of 
 brittle thundering tomtom, screeching copper horns, and 
 rattling instruments of the kettle-drum order, only ten times 
 more discordant. Knowing by experience that the pigs 
 would break cover far ahead, we rode slowly along, well in 
 front of the line of beaters, and a wild tally-ho on the far 
 left soon told us that game was afoot. The wild exhilarating 
 whoop was quickly followed by our seeing three horsemen 
 tearing madly along the plain after a black speck in the 
 distance, and they were soon lost to view behind a rising 
 undulation topped by a clump ofjowar, the circling clouds of 
 dust marking their speedy track. 
 
 We were just beginning to wonder if all the luck was to 
 be on their side, when Joe espied a waving, rustling, zig-zag 
 motion in the grass ahead, and in a low whisper he enjoined 
 silence and circumspection. 
 
 " There's a sounder on ahead, boys," he whispered. " Don't 
 press them. Give 'em rope. Let them break." 
 
 We were now all excitement. We waved our hands to let 
 the beaters see there was quarry on ahead. This caused 
 them to redouble their shouting and yelling, and they bawled 
 and raised din enough to wake the Seven Sleepers. The crash 
 of their " mingled din " seemed to impart a fixed resolve to 
 the authors of those wavering and vacillating movements in 
 the grass. The little porkers seemed to scatter in affright, 
 while the zig-zag motion gave place to a steady forward rush, 
 and soon with an angry " hoo hoo " of defiance, an enormous 
 boar with gleaming tusks, followed by three sows and a few 
 half-grown youngsters, broke like a rocket from the friendly 
 cover and scattered over the plain in front. 
 
 Singling out the old boar, we were very soon in swift 
 pursuit. The tusker was making for a ragged edge in the
 
 A CHAPTER ON " PIG-STICKIN\" 135 
 
 plain, where the crumbling bank of a steep descent on to 
 the plane of the river below, made riding almost impossible. 
 His tactics showed the marvellous instinct of a sagacious 
 animal. Had he kept to the level upland we must have very 
 soon overhauled him. Had he gone right down to the hard 
 sand below, we could have surrounded him. He was un- 
 willing to face the yelling mob of beaters in the rear, and with 
 the quick divination of a hunted beast he made for the one 
 spot where he could most readily baffle pursuit, and where 
 he stood the best chance of escape. 
 
 If my readers can imagine the scene, they will readily 
 understand the posture of affairs. The rivers in India run 
 mostly through flat alluvial plains, in which they quietly cut 
 a channel, which during the rains is brimful, of a vast 
 breadth, and the turbid mass of swiftly running water is 
 almost of the same level as the surrounding plain. When 
 the rains are over, however, the river contracts to a narrow 
 stream of silver, in the middle of a great desolate, wide tract 
 of sandy ridges and water-worn hollows, plentifully inter- 
 spersed with rotting trunks of trees, small patches of tumbled 
 drift and straggling jungle. The real flood-bank of the river 
 is now perhaps miles away from the actual stream, and the 
 river-bed is, in fact, a valley, some miles in breadth in 
 places, confined between two ragged walls of shifting sand 
 and crumbling mould, and "along the base of this wall are 
 generally a succession of these still lagoons to which I have 
 more than once alluded, in which the village tame buffaloes 
 love to wallow ; where often the village fisherman finds a 
 rich finny harvest, and which, in the cool misty mornings of 
 December or January, are alive with teal or widgeon, wild 
 duck, ibis, curlew, plover, and innumerable winged varieties 
 of game. 
 
 The cunning old grey boar had headed direct for the 
 extreme edge of this rotten, crumbling ground. Young 
 D divined his tactics, and made for a rotten-looking
 
 136 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 descent on to the sandy flats below. His footing, however, 
 was unstable, as if he were treading on a loose heap of grain, 
 and we on the top enjoyed a hearty grin as we watched 
 
 D and his unlucky country-bred mare go tumbling 
 
 head over heels in a perfect avalanche of dust and sand, until 
 they rolled, unhurt, but choked and blinded, on the cool, 
 crisp sand-bar below. 
 
 The pig was lobbing along leisurely in front of us. Now 
 on the extreme edge of the bank, dodging among the half- 
 uprooted tussocks of elephant-grass that hung over the bank, 
 anon hidden from view as he dipped under the overhanging 
 bank and raised the finely pulverised Indian river sand in a 
 cloud behind him. Occasionally he would halt and grimly 
 survey us with a cool, critical look and an angry tremble in 
 
 his eye. D below kept shouting insulting threats at 
 
 him, and occasionally had to make a wide detour to avoid 
 one of those lagoons I have described. "We were fairly cir- 
 cumvented. None of us were so foolhardy, or had so little 
 respect for the safety of our lives, as to venture near the 
 grisly fugitive on foot. We could not get our horses to go 
 near the rotten edge of the bank, and we were fairly at our 
 wits' end. 
 
 We rode leisurely along at some distance from the edge 
 of the crumbling cliff, keeping parallel with the boar, and 
 occasionally getting one of the -syces, or running grooms, to 
 heave a clod at his sullen majesty, just to keep his temper 
 lively, or in the vain attempt to lure him from his admirably 
 chosen line of retreat. He was too wary, however, to be 
 
 tempted from his masterly position. But just then D 
 
 shouted out 
 
 " Look out, boys ! there's a ghat on ahead ; " and looking 
 forward, sure enough, to our joy, we descried one of those 
 cart-tracks worn down the face of the bank, and leading to 
 a ford. The boar, too, seemed to discern that here was a 
 dangerous pass, and still betraying a most marvellous under-
 
 A CHAPTER ON " PIG- STICKING" 137 
 
 standing of the imminence of his peril and the only way 
 to escape it, he suddenly turned sharp round, and doubling 
 back, seemed once again to laugh at all our efforts to come 
 up with him. 
 
 " Hang the brute ! " said Joe. " He may jink us this way 
 till nightfall. We must dislodge him somehow." 
 
 By this time the other contingent, having killed their boar, 
 had rejoined our party, and there being a small tattoo or 
 native pony, ridden by one of my native tokedars, Pat got off 
 his horse, leapt on the tat, and rode close up to the brink 
 of the rotten bank, shouting and brandishing his spear, and 
 hurling all the execrations he could think of at the wary old 
 boar. 
 
 Perhaps he (the boar) may have understood Pat's insinua- 
 tions, and felt indignant at so much insult. Perhaps he 
 disdained to fly from a Sahib mounted on a sorry-looking 
 diminutive native pony. Perhaps he really thought he had 
 an opportunity of turning the Philistines to flight in the 
 person of the vituperative Pat, but, at any rate, his " dander 
 was riz." Pat proved " a draw," and, with bristles erect, 
 eyes flashing forth rage and spite, his tusks champing and 
 his whole mind bent on ripping up Pat's miserable mount, 
 he charged up the bank and came tearing down at the double 
 on the venturesome Master Pat. It was comical to see our 
 friend kick and struggle and spur the unfortunate tat. The 
 pony didn't seem to see the adventure in the same light as 
 his rider. He struggled with might and main to turn and 
 flee. Paddy was as full of fight as a bulldog, and vigorously 
 plied his spurs. The pony had a mouth as hard as a coupling 
 chain, and tried all he knew to avoid facing the fierce-looking 
 assailant that was now within a very few yards of him, grunt- 
 ing forth the most defiant challenge, such as only an enraged 
 Indian boar can grunt. The saddle Pat bestrode, was one of 
 those flimsy padded constructions dear to the native equestrian, 
 and the girths were only knotted cords, which had been
 
 138 TENT LIVE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 patched up once and again, until it were difficult to tell how 
 much of the original material now remained. The unwonted 
 exertions of the generally somniferous tat proved too much 
 for the textile strength of the belly band. It snapped. The 
 boar was close on the pony. Away went Pat ignominiously 
 over the rump of the recalcitrant steed. The saddle, or 
 agglomeration of padded felts and cloths which did duty for 
 that part of the equestrian furniture, went one way, and Pat 
 went another. The pony, feeling himself free, gave vent to 
 his relieved feelings in a spasmodic upheaval of the hinder 
 portion of his frame, disclosing his hoofs to the startled gaze 
 of us onlookers. Lucky also for Pat that he (the pony) gave 
 utterance to a neigh of martial defiance. This served to 
 rouse the warlike tendencies of the boar to tenfold fury, and 
 with a concentrated grunt of rage he made straight after the 
 retreating steed. 
 
 Now was my opportunity. Cutting in between the boar 
 and the bank, I delivered a spear, that in my eagerness took 
 him too high and far forward, and only made an ugly gash; 
 over his off fore shoulder. Joe followed me up and delivered 
 a telling thrust in the loins ; and now the boar, realising all 
 his danger and roused to the utmost pitch of rage and fury, 
 began charging right and left at every fresh assailant. All 
 his cunning now was lost in his blind rage and eager desire 
 to inflict an injury on his cruel enemies. 
 
 It is really a grand sight to see a boar at bay. 
 He disdains quarter. 
 
 If he is of the true fighting breed, he sets his heart as 
 hard as a flint, and " drees his darg " without a sound. I 
 have seen a boar fighting with a tiger. I have been in at 
 the death of many a tawny monster. The true Bengal boar 
 is a very Spartan. He disdains to utter sound or sob or 
 sigh. When the fighting fever is on him, he is a very devil 
 incarnate. He shows no quarter and he asks for none, and 
 sad indeed is the plight of man or beast that forms a close
 
 A CHAPTER ON " PIG- STICKING" 
 
 acquaintance with his sharp, unpitying tusks. They can cut 
 as sharp and clean as a razor ; and even the stately elephant 
 prefers to give a wide berth to a grisly old grey boar when 
 his fighting instincts are fairly aroused, and he determines to 
 be the pursued no longer, but strikes a blow before he dies 
 for vengeance and may be victory. 
 
 So it was now with our old boar. He was a true old 
 jungly warrior. He had made his mind up now to fight. 
 Yet even now his native cunning and generalship did not 
 desert him. There was a small withered mango tree close 
 by. Feeling that he had deserted his only stronghold, the 
 friendly sheltering bank, he made straight for this tree, and 
 planting his stern against its trunk, he prepared to do battle 
 with all and sundry who wished to battle with him. 
 
 Pat by this time had got to his feet and beaten an igno- 
 minious and undignified retreat. Burning to distinguish 
 himself and recover his lost laurels, he was the first to urge 
 his steed down full tilt on the savage boar ; but here for 
 once the experienced pig-sticker was at fault, his over- 
 eagerness defeated itself. He missed the boar, and the old 
 grey warrior once again turned the tables on his foe, and got 
 well home with his charge, inflicting a nasty, ugly, gaping 
 wound on the stifle of the horse. 
 
 The thrust Joe had given him was now, however, becoming 
 stiff and sore. He occasionally settled down on his haunches 
 like a panting dog on a hot day, and my next spear took him 
 fair in the spine, and very speedily the old boar was stark 
 and stiff. 
 
 We beat back again for the coverts, and once more dividing 
 our party, we were lucky in spearing five young boars before 
 lunch. Every one of them fought well. These boars of the 
 Koosee Dyaras are all plucky animals. Instances have been 
 known in which they have even proved too much for the 
 Eoyal Tiger himself. One of these encounters I myself once 
 witnessed and will in a future chapter describe. But what
 
 140 TENT LIFE IN TIGEBLAND. 
 
 I want to impress on the reader is the fact that pig-sticking 
 in India is no child's play. It demands every quality of 
 a true sportsman. It taxes all the powers of a finished 
 rider, and one of bold undaunted nerve, to come off victorious 
 in the encounter. It is THE sport par excellence of the Indian 
 jungles, and there never was a " rank duffer " yet on this 
 earth who made a good pig-sticker. A man who is " good 
 after Pig " could hold his own anywhere, whether after wild 
 cattle on the pampas, out mustering on the salt bush country, 
 or in the Australian scrubs and gullies, or over the stiff 
 timbers and six footers of Leicestershire or Galway. In very 
 truth I know no sport in all the world that calls for more 
 varied exercise of pluck, judgment, forethought, quickness, 
 resource, and all manly qualities than this same pig-sticking. 
 I was rather amused then to read in that delightful paper 
 the Queenslander some time ago, under the heading "The 
 Savage Life," the following remarks on Indian sport, 
 which, although in a certain sense doubtless true of 
 some, is altogether inapplicable to the fierce and thrilling 
 ardour that fires every vein as you feel your good steed 
 bound under you, while you rally for the final burst after 
 a fighting thirty -inch old grey boar. The quotation is as 
 follows : 
 
 "The self-reliance engendered by the constant wrestle 
 with Nature in her silent wastes, which induces patient 
 endurance of hardship, the fortitude to bear disappointment, 
 and the intense enjoyment of success, is not a requisite in 
 our Native Shikar. In India, the sportsman is enervated by 
 the luxuries of the chase. He adds nothing to his moral 
 fibre by successful warfare against the brute creation. 
 Jungles teeming with pea-fowl and the smaller feathered 
 game where nilghai, spotted and hog deer crash through 
 the undergrowth in which the huge grey tusker grunts 
 suspiciously as he grubs up his meal of roots in which 
 possibly the awful tiger has made a lair for his sleek consort
 
 A CHAPTER ON " PIG-STICKIN\ n 141 
 
 afford excitement enough and to spare for the sportsman 
 who finds his pleasure in fowling-piece and rifle. There is 
 the requisite spice of danger, too, that lends excitement its 
 keenest zest. But there are no higher excellences required of 
 the hunter than that of shooting deftly at such game as offers. 
 He is not called upon to measure his reason against the wary 
 instincts and acute senses of his quarry, and to stake his 
 chance of success upon his superior cunning. Far less is he 
 called upon to extract the moderate provision necessary for 
 existence from a wary conflict with pitiless elements. The 
 Indian sportsman is housed in a commodious tent, waited 
 upon by obsequious servants. His every want is foretold. 
 Bottled beer and brandy pawnee cheer him after his day's 
 fatigues. His bearer kneels to wash his feet as he lounges 
 on a comfortable charpoy, indolently recalling the incidents of 
 the day under the soothing influence of a cheroot. When he 
 goes forth in the morning his head shikaree marshals the 
 army of beaters, directing their movements with the one 
 object of affording the Sahib the maximum of sport at the 
 minimum of trouble. He is, in fact, the sultan for whose 
 pleasure a subservient following are bound to find such 
 amusement as the jungle affords. No doubt the pastime is 
 glorious and the enjoyment great. But to such a one the 
 subtle, the almost weird charm of what we have termed ' the 
 savage life ' is almost unknown, and with every appreciation 
 of comfort, we are led to think he has failed to attain to a 
 hunter's truest pleasures." 
 
 The writer has evidently never been out pig-sticking in a 
 planting district, or tiger-shooting during the rains near the 
 Terai, or black buck shooting in a remote corner of Oudh, or 
 bear hunting in the Sonthal Pergunnahs, or leopard stalking 
 in the sal jungles of Bhaugulpore, to say nothing of the ibex 
 shooting on the Thian Shan, stalking Ovis Ammon or Thar or 
 Harigul among the glorious hills near Cashmere, or mahseer 
 fishing in Assam.
 
 142 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 To give the reader, however, a graphic unvarnished account 
 of this most famous and favourite of all Indian sports, I 
 cannot, I think, do better than extract a capitally written 
 article called " Hints to Hog Hunters," which appeared in 
 the Oriental Sporting Magazine for November, 1873, and 
 from a perusal of which a better idea can be formed of the 
 nature of the sport than from reams of description giving 
 details of individual encounters : 
 
 " Whatever the strength of the party," says my unknown 
 author, " not more than three riders should follow the same 
 hog, as a large number will interfere with good sport, by 
 being in each other's way, as well as by preventing the 
 overmatched boar from showing his finest qualities as a 
 fighter ; it is when opposed singly, or by not more than two 
 horsemen, that these qualities are displayed pre-eminently. 
 Another rule equally good is, that when the hunter has the 
 hog in his right front and within double spear's length, no 
 other should attempt to come between them ; and a third, 
 still more important, is, that under no provocation or temp- 
 tation should the spear be thrown at the hog. The breach 
 of these rules entails half of the accidents which happen to 
 both man and horse ; while another source of wounds is the 
 too great importance attached to the taking of the 'first 
 spear,' which often renders horsemen too eager and reckless 
 in the determination to draw first blood. It is well known, 
 that boars are far more savage and dangerous after feeling 
 the first wound, and consequently more skill and daring are 
 called for then than previously, when the principal object of 
 the hunted beast has been to escape into some neighbouring 
 covert ; but while too great an eagerness for the coveted 
 honour is to be avoided, that honour is well bestowed upon 
 him who, by his bold and skilful riding, has first not merely 
 scratched the wild hog's back, but buried deep in his side the 
 glistening blade, since, after such an injury, the enraged 
 animal seldom thinks more of escape, but only of revenge,
 
 A CHAPTER ON " PIG-STICKIN\ n 143 
 
 and thus his death becomes a certainty if the first spear be 
 ably seconded by his companions. 
 
 "When the horseman can deliver his thrust with hand 
 held low and rapidly dashed outwards from his side into the 
 hog's ribs, the wound will not only prove mortal, but the 
 spear can be easily withdrawn ; but this can only be effected 
 when the horse is racing alongside the hog ; when the latter 
 charges, the spear is usually driven deep down from his crest 
 through his lungs, or somewhat further back, in which case 
 the weapon cannot be readily extracted, but is often left 
 standing in the body of the hog ; and it is no uncommon 
 sight to see a large one with two, three, or even more spears 
 standing deep buried in his body, and yet charging desperately 
 all who approach him, till, weak from loss of blood and 
 feeling his strength gone, he gently subsides to the earth, 
 without a sigh or groan. 
 
 " A touch on the spine with a keen spear will generally 
 kill at once, and require no second thrust : the best places 
 therefore to aim at are the ribs, the crest and the centre of 
 the back. Beginners, it is notorious, frequently miss the 
 charging boar through their over anxiety to inflict a severe 
 wound, which induces them to raise too high the spear hand 
 and so go over the animal's back ; whereas in truth all that 
 is called for is a quick eye to direct to the fatal part, the 
 spear held low in a firm and steady hand : the speed of the 
 steed and boar as they advance towards each other will do 
 the rest. In the course of the chase, when an encounter is 
 not imminent, the spear is balanced easily across the body, 
 the right hand which holds it rests on the right thigh, and 
 its fingers can if necessary aid those of the left which guides 
 the horse ; but when the hunted hog may be expected momen- 
 tarily to turn and charge, the hand is slightly raised and 
 projected forward from the body, the point of the weapon 
 being some three feet from the ground, much of which is con- 
 cealed by jungle of some sort. Pig-stickers require a strong
 
 144 TENT LIFE IN TIGEBLAND. 
 
 rather than a pretty seat on horseback ; the more so since 
 they will mount fresh or young horses totally devoid of any 
 experience of cross-country work, and expect and make them 
 do their work by a firm and exacting hand, rather than by a 
 gentle and coaxing one ; so that the vulgar saying of ' a rum 
 'un to look at but a good one to go,' may be frequently applied 
 with justice to many individuals of their class. 
 
 "Dogs are not employed in either hunting out hogs or 
 hunting them afterwards, as if good and courageous they 
 would be soon killed, and their places could he supplied with 
 difficulty and only at great expense; but if inferior and 
 cautious, they are in the way of the horseman without lending 
 him any assistance. The best beaters for all descriptions of 
 jungle but thick forest, in which hogs are seldom looked for, 
 are elephants ; but when they cannot be obtained, men armed 
 with long staves, and supplied with fireworks, rattles and 
 kettle-drums, generally serve the purpose, though accidents 
 among them must be anticipated, as hogs which have made 
 up their minds not to face the open, cannot without difficulty 
 and some danger be dislodged by beaters from their strong- 
 holds ; in these cases a charge of snipe shot, applied from a 
 moderate distance on a certain prominent part, will cause 
 them almost invariably to move at once. 
 
 " The Wild Hog of India," pursues our author, and most 
 Indian sportsmen will cordially endorse his remarks, "is 
 acknowledged by experienced sportsmen to be the most 
 courageous one might almost say chivalrous of all the 
 numerous beasts of the chase to be found in the Peninsula, 
 throughout almost every part whereof he may be met with, 
 differing slightly according to the locality. Taking that of 
 the plains of Bengal Proper as the best type of his race, he 
 may be described as generally a nocturnal animal, possibly 
 rather through compulsion than choice, as in spots not much 
 disturbed by man he will be found resting and wallowing in 
 the soft lowlands at all hours of the day, specially should
 
 A CHAPTER ON " PIG-STICKIN'." 145 
 
 there happen to be water lying thereon. He is the first 
 among wild animals to leave the coverts of an evening in 
 search of food, and the last to return thereto the following 
 morning. His favourite lairs are the banks of tanks, lakes, 
 and water-courses overgrown with grass, reeds, or rushes, 
 and shaded by overhanging trees. There he will prepare 
 himself a dainty and luxurious couch by cutting down and 
 stamping upon a sufficient quantity of the softest grass and 
 leaves, and then with his snout gently raising the mass, and 
 inserting his body, until a perfect little hut be formed imper- 
 vious to sun and rain ; in this, with his back to a thick bush 
 of thorns, his snout to the outlet, he will devour up the juicy 
 sugar cane, the ripening paddy, and the soft black mud of 
 the neighbouring jheel, till the heavy crushing advance of a 
 line of elephants, or haply more fortunate, the slanting rays 
 of the setting sun penetrating the leafy shade, and the calls 
 of the francolin shall wake him softly ere the light sinks 
 behind the bank of the western clouds. 
 
 " The hog is essentially a gentleman of the old school, fond 
 of society, grave and dignified, not prone to quarrel or attack, 
 but when insulted (and his feelings of honour are exceed- 
 ingly acute) he extorts an apology in the hasty flight of his 
 aggressor, or, failing that, vents his injured feelings upon him 
 in the most resolute and unflinching manner, no matter how 
 strong or large that adversary may be; but having once 
 prostrated him, he disdains generally to mutilate his foe, 
 but tossing up his snout he looks around to see whether 
 there be any willing to take up the quarrel again, and if 
 none appear, trots off with a contented grunt and stiffly 
 elevated tail. 
 
 " Hogs when very young are of a yellowish-brown colour, 
 marked longitudinally with light-greyish stripes, which dis- 
 appear after a few months, and leave them a dark-brown, up 
 to two years of age or thereabouts ; they then become black, 
 and if in fine condition ' blue ' black, and thus are heard 
 
 L
 
 146 ,TENT LIFE IN TIOEELAND. 
 
 stories of desperate fighting ' blue boars/ which are nothing 
 more than hogs in their prime and full strength, with an 
 unusual amount of black bristles. 
 
 " With advancing age they become grey, and when very 
 old are almost harmless. A well-grown boar measures from 
 36 to 38 inches in height. Not one in a thousand exceeds, 
 and comparatively few attain that size. 
 
 " The head is comparatively lighter than that of the tame 
 beast ; it is armed in the lower jaws by tusks from three to 
 four inches in length outside the jaw bone, but these tusks 
 frequently grow to a much greater length, especially when 
 those of the upper jaw, which are shorter and thicker, having 
 been broken, permit them to curl over, supplying no longer 
 the hone, on which they are kept sharp and of serviceable 
 form ; in the latter case the lower tusks become useless for 
 attack and defence, and then sometimes the conscious animal 
 may exhibit a disinclination for combat. His legs and feet 
 are very blood-looking in appearance, and his tail, unlike 
 that of his domesticated cousin, is invariably straight, and 
 naturally tufted, but the tufts are often wanting in con- 
 sequence of the defeated boar being occasionally scalped by 
 his conqueror. The sows are much the same sort of animal, 
 though smaller and lighter in build, and unprovided with 
 tusks in either jaw ; but an old one sometimes carries a tusk 
 of one to two inches in length, quite enough to enable her to 
 inflict a deep cut. The bristles in her crest and back are 
 shorter and thinner than those of the boar, whose grow to the 
 length of three or four inches. 
 
 " When wild hogs are numerous they may be met with in 
 ' sounders,' or herds of from ten to thirty, or even more, in 
 each of which one or more well-grown boars may be found ; 
 but in countries more disturbed, ' sounders ' of six to ten 
 will be more commonly seen. Boars are often solitary, or lie 
 singly near the ' sounders ' without associating with them, as 
 is the case with certain bull elephants and buffaloes, and, like
 
 A CHAPTER ON " PIG-STICKIN\" 147 
 
 such, these hogs are the fiercest, their tempers having been 
 roused by expulsion from society. 
 
 "Wild hog are not only strong and courageous, but are 
 extremely crafty and fleet. When first breaking covert and 
 coming in view of his mounted enemies, he halts for a 
 moment, takes a rapid glance at the state of affairs, and often 
 either charges at once, or more probably, having made up his 
 mind as to the line of country to be taken, goes off at such a 
 pace that for the first few hundred yards the swiftest horses 
 gain little on him. When he finds that his hunters are over- 
 hauling him, he tries to throw them off by either crossing 
 suddenly, when at full speed a very common practice with 
 him and then rapidly taking a very different course, or 
 stopping in full career he avoids the spear by a quick turn 
 to the right, and, wheeling round, follows the horse, and 
 endeavours to inflict a wound behind. At such moments the 
 spur must be plied vigorously to save the horse. In country 
 much intersected by ' nullahs ' and dried water-courses, he 
 will often, descending one of them, turn sharp to the right or 
 left, or in jungly ground will suddenly halt and hide himself 
 in the grass till the hunters have passed, and then dash 
 off in some other direction. A hunted boar has been 
 known to cast himself into the nest of another, rouse 
 him up, and before the half-sleeping beast knew what had 
 occurred, he found the hunters upon him, and to save his 
 life has been driven into flight, while the intruder, with a 
 grunt of satisfaction, turned into his comfortable quarters 
 and, after recovering his wind, got into some heavy 
 covert. 
 
 " Many hogs will charge immediately the horsemen overtake 
 him ; indeed, if the strong covert be distant, such will gene- 
 rally be the case, and Ins rush will be extremely rapid and 
 sustained to some distance, if he escape the spear and follows 
 the horse, which he will do with long bounds and angry 
 grunts. Now and then a boar will altogether disdain flight, 
 
 L 2
 
 148 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 or even when the sought-for jungle be gained, will slacken 
 speed, turn, and at a trot increasing to his utmost speed will 
 rush headlong to the attack ; at such moments he is most 
 dangerous, and his appearance as he advances, with every 
 bristle in his body erect, his eyes flashing fire, the froth flying 
 from his champing jaws and half-open mouth, is very im- 
 posing, and quick and steady must be the horse, and bold 
 and experienced the rider, who will escape scatheless and 
 victorious from the encounter. Such face-to-face meetings 
 with tolerably fresh and large boars are to be avoided if 
 possible, and may be judiciously, when two or three hunters 
 are out ; but the solitary horseman cannot always do so, and 
 then this sport assumes its most dangerous and exciting 
 character, for there is death in the meeting." 
 
 The above account is at once the most concise and truthful 
 I have ever seen in print on the dangers incidental to pig- 
 sticking. That the sport is dangerous enough I have had 
 frequent opportunities of proving. I have had two friends 
 of my own young planters and bold riders, too killed out- 
 right in the hunting field by wild hog, and another was so 
 lamed that lie had to throw up his appointment a nd go home, 
 where, however, he eventually succumbed to the influence of 
 his terrible wound. That the sport is exciting and irre- 
 sistibly seductive to those who have gained some proficiency 
 in handling the spear, is proved by its universal popularity 
 all over India. Wherever a few sportsmen are to be found 
 congregated together, pig-sticking is the favourite toast in 
 that chosen land of teeming game ; and it is, in my humble 
 opinion, the field sport of all others that most combines the 
 elements of all true sporting ardour and delight ; calls forth 
 the keenest exercise of all manly qualities, and so enthrals 
 its votaries that all other sports seem tame and insignificant 
 beside the incomparable glories of a rattle across country after 
 a fleet grey boar, and a " tussle for first spear " with bold and 
 generous kindred spirits.
 
 A CHAPTER ON " PIG-STICKIN'." 149 
 
 Shortly after this our merry party broke up, and I had to 
 return to the factory, to undergo a spell of hard work, although 
 in such a glorious district for large game of all sorts, scarcely 
 a day passed in which I did not find some adventure worthy 
 of recording in my sporting journal. 
 
 M. D. (HARV'D) 
 CUTT HJBAIjTH DEE*T. 
 
 IXXS ANGIELLKS. OAj.
 
 150 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 AN EXCITING NIGHT WATCH. 
 
 Belated at Fusseah The old ChowTceydar Searching for supper The 
 dilapidated bungalow The Gomastah's news Tigers close by 
 Proposal to sit up for a shot Shooting from pits Night scenes in the 
 jungle A silent watch A misty figure through the gloom A sudden 
 roar The challenge accepted The plot thickens The young tiger 
 and the old boar A death-struggle Savage beasts in mortal conflict 
 Defiant to the last Trophies of the night. 
 
 IN my last chapter I incidentally mentioned that I had seen a 
 fight between a boar and a tiger. Such stray encounters are 
 far from uncommon, although rarely witnessed by any one in 
 a position to note its incidents and thus be able to relate 
 them afterwards. In the silent solitude of these remote 
 wilds, where savage animals hold undisturbed sway, rare 
 scenes of thrilling interest are constantly occurring. Tra- 
 gedies are enacted that would startle even the most sluggish 
 circulation into bounding excitement. The scenes in an 
 Indian jungle, especially when the rapid twilight has given 
 place to the dim, misty, mysterious night, are indeed in- 
 describable. 
 
 Often in the morning one may come across the evidences 
 of a death-struggle, a ghastly encounter, or a dear-bought 
 victory, in the blood-stained and torn bushes and grass, the 
 clawed and tossed up roots and earth, and often the crunched 
 and shattered bones of some poor victim, that may have 
 battled stoutly for his life against the midnight robber, or
 
 AN EXCITING NIGHT WATCH. 151 
 
 been struck down swiftly and surely beneath the mighty paw 
 of the great striped King of the jungles. 
 
 Sometimes, however, the tiger does not have it all his own 
 way ; I was once witness to the truth of this fact. 
 
 It was a memorable scene. I can never forget it. The 
 occasion was on this wise. I had been down at Fusseah during 
 mahye, or manufacture, taking note of the different processes, 
 and had been delayed longer than I intended by the bursting of 
 a press in the press-house. This was to some extent a serious 
 matter, for I only expected to have a few presses in all, as 
 most of my crop had been swamped by floods and incessant 
 rains ; and we were only expecting to fill one or two vats 
 more, before we would have to conclude the manufacture 
 entirely for the season, with a very poor return for all our 
 year's labour and outlay. The rivers were all in high flood. 
 The road through the jungles was in parts wholly submerged. 
 My elephant had not yet returned from a village, to which it 
 had taken my Gomastah, or headman, who had gone to report 
 on the amount of plant there, still remaining to be cut. 
 Altogether there seemed not the remotest prospect or possi- 
 bility of my getting back to the head factory by daylight. 
 There was no use grumbling. I resolved to make the best of 
 a bad job, and remain at Fusseah for the night. 
 
 Unfortunately, in anticipation of the bad mahye, the whole of 
 my Belatee stores that is, tinned meats, tea, groceries, and such 
 articles as are purchased in an English shop had some time 
 previously been sent to the head factory, and there was not 
 an atom of provender of what are called " Europe or Belatce 
 stores," about the place. The factory clunvkeydar, old Jhanki 
 Gope, that grizzled, wiry old veteran, who had been suspected 
 in bygone times of having taken part in many a midnight 
 foray on the herds of neighbouring villages, and who even 
 now, if report spoke true, was not averse to a little moss- 
 trooping work if the chances of discovery were remote, came 
 up to me with solicitude in his eye and extreme deference
 
 152 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 in his tone, to ask if my Highness would permit liim to 
 levy a contribution in kind from the batan, or cattle camp, 
 close by. 
 
 Knowing from experience what a good purveyor Jhanki 
 was, I signified my assent, and away went Jhanki with Ids 
 blue puggree jauntily set on the side of his head, his " lyart 
 locks " aggressively sticking up in all directions through its 
 tattered folds, and swinging his ponderous iron-bound lathee 
 vigorously around his head in the exuberance of his delight, as 
 he scented a good Burra Khanna for himself in the requisition 
 he was about to make. How Jhanki managed to persuade 
 the batanceahs I know not, but in a very short time after I 
 had reclined my weary limbs on the rather dilapidated cane 
 couch in the verandah, I was made aware of his presence by 
 his tall figure looming through the gloom, as with beaming 
 alacrity he informed me that he had procured provender for 
 his gurceb purwur, or protector of the poor meaning me. 
 I found that Jhanki had brought two of the herdsmen with 
 him, lusty picturesque fellows both, bearing a goodly supply 
 of sweet luscious curdled milk, crisp chupatees, or griddle 
 cakes, and a small pot of clotted cream, while the bleating of 
 an impounded kid, dragged captive at the heels of the 
 stalwart Jhanki, gave promise of grilled chops if " my soul 
 longed after the flesh pots." 
 
 To tell the truth, I was quite ready for a good supper. I 
 had had a long day's hard work, with little food, and of 
 course, having had no intention to be away from my comfort- 
 able bungalow for the night when I started in the morning, 
 had made no provision suitable to the circumstances in which 
 I now found myself. 
 
 The factory buildings at Fusseah were dilapidated in the 
 extreme. The river had several times during the previous 
 rains swept over the whole Kamat, or home cultivation, and 
 had even submerged the vats and the building itself in parts. 
 No assistant lived there, and the place was about the dreariest
 
 AN EXCITING NIGHT WATCH. 153 
 
 habitation for a white man that could be conceived. The 
 thatch and tiles in places on the roof had fallen off, leaving 
 the bamboo rafters exposed to rain and sun, and innumerable 
 bats had effected a lodgment in the dark corners of the mil- 
 dewed rooms, and were now darting backwards and forwards 
 with their eerie, ghostly flight in and out, in and out, with 
 that weird, silent, zig-zag motion so suggestive of dilapidation, 
 darkness, damp and melancholy. 
 
 I was glad therefore to have my rather gloomy thoughts 
 interrupted by the advent of the three men, and bestowing a 
 biwksheesh, gave the needful orders to have supper prepared 
 by the Gomastab's servants. While the cooking operations 
 were proceeding, I had time to chat with the herdsmen, who 
 informed me that in some thick jungle between the factory 
 and the ghat, they had reason to believe that two tigers had 
 taken up their abode. Of course, with the usual Oriental 
 hyperbole, they described the animals as being of gigantic 
 dimensions, and of the most bloodthirsty dispositions. But 
 having learned by bitter experience how much reliance was 
 to be placed in such tales, I attached but little importance 
 to their news. Presently, however, Debnarian Singh, the 
 Gomastab himself, on his elephant, came clanking up to the 
 factory with his report. He was accompanied by several 
 villagers, all chattering and talking loudly, and from their 
 excited conversation it was evident some unusual event had 
 occurred. The Gomastab having alighted and made his 
 salaam, I was soon put in possession of the khubber, i.e. 
 news. 
 
 There could be no doubt that " tiger " were in the neigh- 
 bourhood, for on coming across a cbucklab that is, a large 
 open piece of cultivation near the factory, bordered by a belt 
 of tall-growing and rather dense grass jungle the returning 
 party had come across signs of a recent " kill." In fact, the 
 torn carcase of the cow was still bleeding and warm ; and in 
 the gathering gloom the keen-sighted villagers, who were all
 
 154 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 practical huntsmen, had been able to see the poonj, i.e. tracks, 
 of two tigers in the soft earth. 
 
 This was rather an uncommon circumstance, that two tigers 
 should be present at a kill, but Debnarian Singh told me that 
 there could be no doubt that it was a tigress and half-grown 
 cub, which he had already marked down, but which, as he 
 had not seen them for some days, he fancied had left 
 the vicinity owing to the low-lying lands having become 
 submerged. The floods had prevented him getting in any 
 elephants to hunt them up, and the matter had been almost 
 forgotten. 
 
 My supper being now nearly ready, we deferred further 
 talk until after that important meal had been discussed. 
 
 I don't think I ever enjoyed a meal less. The surroundings 
 were comfortless and dreary. The wretched outturn of my 
 crop and the misadventure of the day in the press-house, had 
 not tended to raise my spirits. The damp, dirty floor, and 
 the miserable cliarpoy, or native truckle-bed, made of knotted 
 strings, and which was the only apparent available resting- 
 place for the night, were very different from the cosy bed- 
 stead and comfortable matted room of my snug bungalow, so 
 that I shuddered inwardly at the prospect of having to spend 
 a night in such a lonely and forbidding spot. 
 
 One gets so accustomed to comfortable, not to say luxurious, 
 surroundings in the East, and so habituated to the attendance 
 of the silent obsequious servants, who anticipate your slightest 
 wish, that the very absence of my bearer I felt was quite a 
 personal misfortune. Even my pipe after supper did not 
 seem to smoke as well as usual, and I was fast getting into a 
 desperate fit of the blues when Jhanki again came to the 
 rescue by suggesting that I might be able to get a shot at pig 
 or hog deer, as they were very numerous quite close to the 
 factory, and in fact the Gomastah had two or three pits near 
 by, dug for the purpose, in which he Was accustomed to 
 occasionally ensconce himself, and indulge in a luxury dear to
 
 AN EXCITING NIGHT WATCH. 155 
 
 a middle-aged and rather adipose Indian sportsman, that of 
 lying in wait for and killing Ms quarry at unawares, and 
 which is known to the Anglo-Saxon as " pot-walloping." I 
 never for a moment thought of sitting up for tiger, notwith- 
 standing the reliable evidence of their presence I had just 
 received. In the Koosee jungles, such foolhardiness is not 
 common. In forest country, or even in rocky districts, it 
 might not be so risky, but in these flat grassy plains the 
 idea is seldom even entertained. Purneah is essentially the 
 country of the lordly elephant and the big ~battue. 
 
 Of course I had my gun with me, and my cartridge-belt 
 was full, and Jhanki's astute mind had conceived the idea, 
 that if I should be fortunate enough to shoot anything, lie 
 would doubtless come in for a big share of the meat, and I 
 daresay visions of roast pork or venison already floated 
 before his excited imagination. However, anything was 
 better than the cold, creepy sensations which were stealing 
 over me ; and as the Gomastah volunteered to go with me, I 
 determined for the first time in my Indian career to try the 
 novel experience of shooting from a deer-pit. 
 
 This mode of shooting is very commonly practised by the 
 native shikarees in these jungles. Indeed, where pig and 
 deer are so numerous, the destruction by rooting up and 
 tramping down is quite as great as that done by the animals 
 feeding on the crops, and consequently the village watchers 
 seek to gratify their love of sport, as well as protect their 
 crops and furnish their larders, by shooting as many of the 
 midnight four-footed marauders as they possibly can. 
 
 They select a spot generally near the edge of the jungle, 
 some little distance from the tracks of the pig or deer or such 
 animals as frequent their fields, and here they form a shallow 
 pit some two or three feet deep, the earth from which they dis- 
 pose of in the shape of sloping breastwork all round. To guard 
 against a possible surprise from the rear for tigers of course 
 are very numerous where other game is so plentiful they
 
 156 TENT LIFE IN TIGEBLAND. 
 
 commonly stick some strong prickly branches of acacia or 
 Bher or other barbed jungle bushes on the side nearest the 
 cover. If they are of a particularly luxurious disposition, 
 they line the inside of the pit with warm, dry rice straw ; and 
 stout, elderly well-to-do pot-hunters even go the length of 
 taking a small cane morali, or stool, to sit on, and thus avoid 
 getting cramped during the long, weary wait which often 
 ensues before they get a chance of " a pot shot." The sports- 
 man's head being thus only some two feet or a foot and a half, 
 or even less, above the level of the ground, and the space in 
 front being clear and open, any animal, as big even as a 
 jackal, coming between the level of his eye and the sky-line 
 in front, affords an easy mark, while he himself remains perdu 
 and partly protected. 
 
 If the wind be favourable, the chances of a shot are not at 
 all bad, and sometimes the patient watcher is rewarded by 
 bagging several of the jungly depredators who do so much 
 damage to his crops. 
 
 To such a pit, then, I was conducted by my swarthy blue- 
 puggaree'd guide. He had the forethought and consideration 
 to take a morali with him, and finding there was room in the 
 pit for the two of us, I made myself as comfortable as I 
 could while Jhanki huddled himself up -in very small space 
 behind me. 
 
 The Gomastah, who was himself a keen sportsman, 
 occupied a similar coign of vantage a little distance to 
 the right. 
 
 It was now nearly ten o'clock. The watery crescent moon 
 struggled with fitful, evanescent gleams amid the humid, 
 tumbled waste of formless cloud. Here and there a sickly 
 solitary star peeped timorously through a watery aperture in 
 the sky, which again quickly closed as the clouds surged and 
 floated slowly across the face of the heavens. Far away one 
 could hear the ceaseless mysterious swish of the swift river 
 rolling its turbid flood down to mingle with the mighty
 
 AN EXCITING NIGHT WATCH. 157 
 
 Ganges in the distant valley which is the teeming cradle of 
 the Hindoo race. 
 
 A quivering, long-drawn, pulsating sigh seemed to be 
 wafted at intervals across the dark, misty plain in front, as 
 the cold night breeze swept through the feathery tops of the 
 long jungle grass, and the bending stalks rustled and shivered 
 and nodded their plumed heads together as if telling the 
 secrets of Night's jealously guarded mystery to each other. 
 
 Ever and anon a Brahmany duck (chuckwa) calling to its 
 mate, or the low, muffled tinkle of a cow-bell from some cattle 
 camp in the jungle, would break the brooding silence. The 
 sounds of distant tom-toms would beat in occasionally like a 
 thudding pulse upon the still night air, and then all would 
 die away again, and the deep silence brooded like a pall upon 
 the whole scene. The atmosphere was heavy with the 
 penetrating odour of the cattle-dung fires, burnt at every 
 Batan all night, partly to scare off wild beasts, but quite as 
 much to ward off the attacks of the ubiquitous hordes of 
 mosquitoes which, hover in clouds about the camps. 
 
 At such moments, one's whole past career passes swiftly 
 in review before one's mental vision. I could not help feeling 
 a sense of incongruity as I thought of my old college days, 
 and what some of my old light-hearted comrades would say, 
 could they see me half interred in a jungle pit in this far- 
 away nook of India, with a semi-naked cowering old cattle 
 lifter for my only companion. 
 
 Occasionally a soft, stealthy footfall would make itself 
 barely perceptible to our strained sense of hearing, as an 
 inquisitive jackal, or possibly a porcupine or mongoose, would 
 creep near, trying to probe the secret of the gloom-enveloped 
 shooting-pit. Once or twice a shadow had loomed above the 
 skyline, and as often I had glanced along the barrel of my 
 ready gun, but only to find that it was but a skulking jackal 
 and not game worthy to be the recipient of my bullet. 
 
 The nights by the river in such a damp jungly district
 
 158 TENT LIFE IN TIGEBLAND. 
 
 are always chilly, and the ground mists are very depressing, 
 and although well wrapped up, my fingers were getting 
 numb, and my senses dulled by the long stretch of watchful 
 attention, when all of a sudden Jhanki gently touched my 
 arm, and whispered in my ear, so low that I could scarcely 
 catch his accents, " DckJco dine hath, Sahib " (Look to the 
 right, sir). I quickly but noiselessly turned my head 
 in the direction indicated, and felt a thrill as I saw what 
 seemed, in the misty grey shadows of the night, looming big 
 and indistinct against the dull skyline, to be a great bulky 
 mass, which Jhanki assured me in the same low whisper was 
 a lurra soor, or enormous boar. 
 
 The direction of the wmd was such that he was all unaware 
 of our presence. He was coming straight towards us, slouch- 
 ing along in a seemingly slovenly, unconcerned manner, 
 stopping now and then to give a self-satisfied sort of grunt, 
 and rooting with his great, strong, flexible snout at almost 
 every step, whenever any juicy or succulent tit-bit seemed to 
 invite his attention. He was apparently alone. Either his 
 harem had satisfied their hunger and the ladies were reclin- 
 ing within the shelter of the tall grass, or he was possibly 
 some sour Thersites, who scorned the solacements of matri- 
 mony, and preferred to take the field in solitary bachelorhood. 
 
 Just then a friendly puff seemed to clear a long slanting 
 avenue in the leaden pall of cloud, and the maidan, or open 
 ground in front, was lightened by a sickly, straggling gleam 
 from the pale crescent moon, and objects became a little more 
 distinct. I was just about taking a sight to cover the boar's 
 brawny chest, when suddenly he struck an attitude, raised 
 his head, and stood out clearer, sharper and well defined a 
 noble picture of unconscious grace. Ay! boar though he 
 was, he was a noble-looking picture of massive strength. 
 
 For believe me, reader, a grand old fighting Bengal boar 
 in his native jungle has a suggestiveness of power and 
 strength about him which imparts to his mien a something
 
 AN EXCITING NIGHT WATCH. 159 
 
 which is not far short of downright dignity. Something had 
 evidently disturbed him. 
 
 What was it ? 
 
 We were not allowed to wonder long, for from the jungle 
 came forth a sudden growling, prolonged roar, which told us 
 that more royal prey was afoot. The situation was becoming 
 interesting. 
 
 Jhanki's clutch upon my arm was becoming tighter. I 
 could hear his quick, sharp breath as he hissed in my ear, 
 " BagTi liai KJwda wund ! " (A tiger). 
 
 The tusker did not seem exceedingly alarmed. His attitude 
 seemed to say, "I fear no foe. I am monarch of my own 
 domain, and I care not for the growl even of a tiger." 
 
 Lowering his head with an angry toss, he gave a loud and 
 savage grunt a deep " hoo ! hoo ! " as if taking up the 
 challenge and defying the tiger to do his worst. 
 
 Evidently the plot was thickening. And now I became 
 witness of such a scene as is only possible to witness in these 
 wild jungles, where savage brute life comes into conflict, kind 
 with kind, and where the most thrilling tragedies are being 
 continually rehearsed. 
 
 As if accepting the grunt of the boar as a direct gage of 
 battle, a louder roar from the jungle was the response, and 
 forth into the arena, with a bound, came out a magnificently 
 formed young male tiger, lashing his lean flanks with his angry 
 tail, his moustachios bristling with rage, his lips retracted, 
 showing his gleaming fangs, and the bushy hair round his 
 throat and neck stiff like a great ruff round his fine fierce 
 face, as he seemed determined to " force the fighting," and win 
 the victory by a sudden coup. 
 
 Alas for the young tiger ! 
 
 He was evidently unsophisticated, and not well versed in 
 jungle attack. He had probably been accustomed to find 
 such quarry as timorous deer or a poor stray heifer of the 
 herd overcome with terror at the sound of his magnificent
 
 160 TENT LIFE IN TIG EEL AND. 
 
 roar. He may have witnessed the more wary but invariably 
 successful onslaught of his ravenous dam upon every kind 
 of four-footed beast in his native hunting-grounds. He was 
 " out for the night." He was itching to win his spurs. The 
 promptings of independent action were strong within him. 
 He longed to be out of leading-strings, and wanted to kill 
 his own quarry. And so like a young brave out after his 
 first scalp, he roared defiance to all and sundry. The old 
 grey boar he had stumbled on now, however, was a champion 
 of just such another kidney, much to the young tiger's 
 evident astonishment. Like the typical Irishman, " he was 
 spoilin' for a fight," and amid the intense excitement of the 
 scene it was really whimsical to observe the young tiger's 
 sudden attitude of bewilderment. The old boar did not 
 seem to mind the roar so very much as might have been 
 anticipated. He actually repeated his " hoo ! hoo ! " only 
 in a, if possible, more aggressive, insulting and defiant 
 manner. Nay more, such was his temerity that he actually 
 advanced with a short, sharp rush in the direction of the 
 striped intruder. 
 
 I am sure that if the tiger could have retreated then with 
 any dignity, he would have been content to have cried " off " 
 there and then. He evidently found that he had " woke up 
 the wrong passenger," and that possibly for his first fight he 
 had caught rather a " tartar " ; and the boar seemed on his 
 part to resent his intrusion as something which was not to 
 be tolerated for an instant. This rash, presumptuous, intrusive 
 bully, tiger or no tiger, must be taught to respect the rights 
 of priority of possession. 
 
 Meantime Jhanki's eyes were almost starting out of his 
 head with excitement, and I was so intent upon watching 
 the curious scene now being rehearsed almost within reach, 
 that for the moment I forgot all about my gun, and indeed 
 luckily. For had we made a movement it is quite probable 
 that the attention of either the tiger or the boar, or possibly
 
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 AN EXCITING NIGHT WATCH. 161 
 
 both, might have been drawn to the third party in this mid- 
 night scene, and it might have gone hard with either Jhanki or 
 myself if they had chosen to attack us instead of each other. 
 
 However, the drama in real life being enacted so close 
 before our eyes was too engrossing for us to think of the 
 consequences. 
 
 Intently peering through the indistinct light, we eagerly 
 watched the development of this strange rencontre. 
 
 The tiger was now crouching low, crawling stealthily round 
 and round the boar, who changed front with every movement 
 of his lithe and sinewy adversary, keeping his determined 
 head and sharp, deadly tusks ever facing his stealthy and 
 treacherous foe. The bristles of the boar's back were up at a 
 right angle from the strong spine. The wedged-shaped head 
 poised on the strong neck and thick rampart of muscular 
 shoulder was bent low, and the whole attitude of the body 
 betokened full alertness and angry resoluteness. In their 
 circlings the two brutes were now nearer to each oth@r and 
 nearer to us, and thus we could mark every movement with 
 greater precision. The tiger was now growling and showing 
 his teeth ; and all this, that takes such a time to tell, was 
 but the work of a few short minutes. Crouching now still 
 lower till he seemed almost flat on the ground, and gathering 
 his sinewy limbs beneath his lithe, lean body, he suddenly 
 startled the stillness with a loud roar, and quick as lightning 
 sprang upon the boar. 
 
 For a brief minute the struggle was thrilling in its intense 
 excitement. 
 
 With one swift, dexterous sweep of the strong, ready paw, 
 the tiger fetched the boar a terrific slap right across the jaw, 
 which made the strong beast reel ; but with a hoarse grunt of 
 resolute defiance, with two or three short, sharp digs of the 
 strong head and neck, and swift cutting blows of the cruel, 
 gashing tusks, he seemed to make a hole or two in the tiger's 
 coat, marking it with more stripes than nature had ever 
 
 M
 
 162 TENT LIFE IN TIGESLAND. 
 
 painted there ; and presently both combatants were streaming 
 with gore. 
 
 This was round number one. 
 
 The tiger had evidently got more than he bargained for. 
 
 Betting at present very even. 
 
 The tremendous buffet of the sharp claws had torn flesh 
 and skin away from off the boar's cheek and forehead, leaving 
 a great ugly flap hanging over his face and half blinding him. 
 
 But Master Stripes had not come off scathless. There 
 were two or three ugly rips in his chest and neck, from which 
 copious streams were flowing ; and there was a troubled 
 indecision about the sweep of his long tail which betokened 
 a mind ill at ease, and seemed to say, " I wish I were well 
 out of this." 
 
 The pig was now on his mettle. 
 
 With another hoarse grunt, he made straight for the tiger, 
 who very dexterously eluded the charge, and lithe and quick 
 as a cat after a mouse, doubled almost on itself, and alighted 
 clean on the boar's back, inserting his teeth above the shoul- 
 ders, tearing with his claws and biting out great mouthfuls 
 of flesh from the quivering carcase of his maddened anta- 
 gonist. 
 
 He seemed now to be having all the best of it. 
 
 So much so that the boar discreetly stumbled and fell 
 forward, whether by accident or design I know not, but the 
 effect was to bring the tiger clean over his head, sprawling 
 clumsily on the ground. I almost shouted, " Aha, now you 
 have him ! " for the tables were turned. 
 
 Round number two. 
 
 Getting his fore feet on the tiger's prostrate carcase, the 
 boar now gave two or three short, ripping gashes with the 
 strong, white tusks, almost disembowelling his foe, and then 
 exhausted seemingly by the effort, apparently giddy and sick, 
 he staggered aside and lay down panting and champing his 
 tusks, but still defiant, with his head to the foe.
 
 AN EXCITING NIGHT WATCH. 163 
 
 This was round number three. 
 
 But the tiger, too, was sick yea, sick unto death. The 
 blood-letting had been too much for him. And now thinking 
 that it was time for the interference of a third party, I let 
 the two mutually disabled combatants have the contents of 
 both my barrels, and we had the satisfaction presently of 
 seeing the struggling limbs grow still, and knew that both 
 were ours. 
 
 Such is a plain, bald narrative of one of the most unique 
 and thrilling experiences of all my sporting career in India. 
 It rarely happens to the fortunate lot of any hunter to be 
 witness of such a desperate struggle between the fierce and 
 powerful tiger and the gamest and pluckiest beast of the. 
 Indian jungle a good old fighting grey boar. 
 
 M 2
 
 161 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. . 
 
 POLICE EASCALITY. 
 
 The native village police then and now The power of the Daroga 
 Exactions from the peasantry My attitude to the police The village 
 jury system My neighbour down the river A bungalow of the olden 
 time The chabuira Changed methods now of dealing with natives 
 Taking villages in lease Measuring the new lands Native disaffection 
 Police plottings The Dhaus A welcome visitor Out with the 
 doctor Put up a tiger A resultless beat A day's general shooting 
 Events down the river Cholera Death in the lonely hut Spies at 
 work A devilish plot Concocting false evidence A late call Making 
 a night of it In the morning Accused of murder The arrest 
 Reserves his defence The trial Excitement in court Appearances 
 all against the planter Turning the tables The case breaks down 
 Discomfiture of the police. 
 
 I HAVE elsewhere spoken of the rapacity and the rascality of 
 the Indian native police. Doubtless the spread of education 
 and a more intimate knowledge of the Englishman's method 
 of dealing out even-handed justice, has tended somewhat to 
 minimise their powers of mischief, inasmuch as the villagers 
 more accurately know the limits within which the policeman 
 can legally exercise authority ; and the ryot, too, is becoming 
 more independent, knows his rights better, and is most 
 tenacious of his privileges once he has acquired any. 
 
 But formerly the police Darogdh was most commonly a 
 petty tyrant, rejoicing in his almost unlimited power, 
 oppressing, worrying, harassing, and maltreating the native 
 whose rights and privileges he was supposed to protect ; and in 
 many instances it was well known to the cowed, submissive
 
 POLICE RASCALITY. 165 
 
 natives that the police were in league with all the most 
 notorious and bad characters within the district ; in fact, 
 police tyranny was an evil of such magnitude that it gradu- 
 ally led to an open revolt, and worked its own cure. 
 
 Now, when communications are so much better than they 
 were, when magnificent roadways and railways reticulate the 
 country in all directions i.e. in the more settled parts of 
 India when the system of administration has become more 
 organized and scientific, when every little hamlet can boast 
 its Patshala, or village school ; and more especially when a 
 much stricter and better system of inspection and supervision 
 is exercised by European officers, the police, although still far 
 from immaculate, have become a well-trained and important 
 body of officials, whose services are of great value in main- 
 taining order, in assisting in the collection of rural statistics, 
 and in performing most of the ordinary functions which 
 every police force is expected to perform in civilized states. 
 
 At the time of which I speak, however, and in the wild 
 Koosee district, where roads were almost unknown, and the 
 only means of communication was on the backs of elephants 
 or by the tedious and cumbrous method of river boats, 
 the police were indeed " a law unto themselves." The head 
 man of a police-station, called a Daroga or Thannadar, gene- 
 ally managed to surround himself with his own kinsmen, or 
 at any rate with men of his own caste and of kindred procli- 
 vities; and as his post was generally an isolated one, no 
 European inspector being able to visit Mm at all without his 
 getting timely previous notice from satellites posted on all 
 the leading lines of communication, he was able to lord it 
 over the submissive villagers, with all the arrogance and 
 harshness of a satrap, who is practically irresponsible for 
 what he does. 
 
 He generally contrived to be on good terms with any 
 leading man who would be likely to question his authority 
 or dispute his power; but all the humble '[cultivators, the
 
 1G6 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 industrious artisans, such as fishermen, potters, .weavers, 
 and other handicraftsmen, and the patient and thrifty trades- 
 men of the village, those who dealt in oil, grain, and country 
 produce generally, were often made the victims of his greedy 
 exactions, and were not unfrequently subjected to the most 
 impudent extortions by the swaggering, rapacious robbers of 
 the police thanna. 
 
 It was indeed dangerous to question their behests or to 
 dispute their authority. 
 
 They were adepts in all the chicanery of the law courts, 
 experts in the manufacture of evidence, practised in getting 
 up frivolous and fictitious charges ; and naturally being 
 armed with considerable authority by virtue of their official 
 position, they made the most of it, and so exaggerated their 
 powers that, in the minds of the credulous and ignorant 
 peasantry, they were the very embodiment of English rule, 
 and took good care to foster this belief by persecuting any 
 unhappy wight who dared to quarrel with them ; and in the 
 country districts with which I was best acquainted, much of 
 the opprobrium which was undoubtedly cast upon British 
 rule and associated therewith, in the minds of the simple 
 peasants, was directly traceable to the harsh exactions and 
 rascally practices of these licensed extortioners the Bengal 
 village police. 
 
 Having myself been a victim more than once to their 
 malicious ill-will, because I would not truckle to them, I 
 may be suspected of speaking with some bias or prejudice 
 against them. Any reference, however, to official reports of 
 fifteen or twenty years ago, will show that I am speaking but 
 the bare truth, when I say that the native police were 
 corrupt almost to a man, and that the system, however 
 perfect it may have appeared theoretically, and however 
 difficult it may have been to devise any other suited to the 
 times, was still a vast engine of oppression and terrorism, and 
 was rotten to the core.
 
 POLICE RASCALITY. 167 
 
 I could cite hundreds of instances where the most diaboli- 
 cal tortures were practised on unhappy villagers, who were 
 taken from their homes to the tkanna, and there subjected 
 to unheard-of cruelties on purpose to extort money or goods 
 from them. The police were " up to every move " to stifle 
 adverse evidence, and many a mysterious disappearance of a 
 witness who could give evidence against them, has been 
 directly traced to their malign ingenuity. 
 
 It was almost hopeless in the conduct of a large factory, 
 where daily and hourly one had to come in contact with the 
 natives in every department of buying and selling, of leasing 
 or exchanging land, of contracting for carriage, for forage, or 
 for service of arranging forest or fishery or ferry dues of 
 laying out roads and embankments, of settling villages, digging 
 wells, planting orchards, and all the multifarious complexities 
 of land and village management in the East, without first 
 of all securing by fair means or foul the good-will and 
 assistance of the police. Such was the general idea. 
 
 The least troublesome method was to pay the Daroga a 
 recognised blackmail. Do not our own blue-coated trun- 
 cheon-wielders get their Christmas-box ? But the Bengalee 
 " Bobby " was not satisfied with annual vails. For even 
 then his airs and insolence were sometimes so exasperat- 
 ing that some dispute would of a certainty arise; and if 
 once you incurred the hostility of this petty despot, he found 
 a thousand and one ingenious means of irritating and ob- 
 structing you in your work, and of exciting you to some 
 overt act which he would twist somehow to his own 
 advantage. 
 
 Of course all the criminal classes were at his beck and call. 
 Every budmash in your district would act responsive to 
 his nod. Your bunds might be cut, your cattle stolen, or 
 ploughmen or factory servants maltreated, or your granaries 
 broken into, and even your crops cut by night, and your 
 best village friends looted, and unless you were a man of
 
 168 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLASD. 
 
 resource and acted with a high hand, so as to make the 
 police feel that you had a long arm and could fight for your 
 own hand, like Hal o' the Wynd, you would find yourself 
 "in sorry case." Indeed, for years before I took charge of 
 Lutchmepore, the police had been allowed to have pretty 
 much their own way in everything. Large sums of money 
 had been paid by the factory to the head man; and the 
 common constables, in their peregrinations, had been accus- 
 tomed to come into the factory and take goats or fowls or 
 rice or whatever their greedy souls desired. 
 
 Having gained my planting experience in Tirhoot, where 
 the planters were a united and powerful body, where road com- 
 munications were as perfect as they could have been in any of 
 the finest Eoman Provinces of olden time, I was not inclined 
 to tamely submit to the insolent exactions of these uniformed 
 scoundrels; and it was not long ere I became fully aware 
 that I was an object of their ill-will and evil machinations. 
 
 My example, too, of independence had become contagious. 
 Many of the native land-holders and wealthy residents had 
 become heartsick of the tyranny which was daily practised 
 by these men and their myrmidons, and so when I had 
 soundly thrashed two or three who had been insolent to me, 
 and successfully contested one or two false cases which they 
 had brought against me, the spirit of revolt spread quickly 
 through the villages ; and after my first year in Lutchmepore, 
 by kind and generous treatment to all who came in contact 
 with me, by acting with absolute fairness and justice in my 
 adjudications between man and man, and by a liberal spirit of 
 compromise exhibited in my rent assessments and the usual 
 feudal services, I had won the confidence of the vast mass of 
 the village residents, and instead of going, as was their wont, 
 to the fhanna with a bribe in their hands to gain the ear of 
 the great man there, they preferred to come to me with their 
 complaints, and I usually settled them in the old-fashioned 
 Indian style by Puncliayiet.
 
 POLICE RASCALITY. 169 
 
 It may be interesting to digress for a moment to explain 
 what is meant by the Punchayiet, or punch as it is commonly 
 called. It really is to my mind the perfection of the jury 
 system. The complainant first of all states his case generally 
 we will take for example a case of trespass, in which he 
 claims damage to his growing crops from a neighbour whose 
 buffaloes may have eaten and trampled a certain portion of 
 the same. 
 
 Your first duty as a sort of patriarchal dispenser of justice 
 is -to summon the defendant. This is done by a formal 
 letter, a purwana, taken by one of the factory peons, who 
 receives from the loser in the suit, the sum of two or four 
 annas as a sort of fee for serving the summons. At the 
 stated time defendant and complainant appear at your 
 cutchcrry, and having stated the nature of the case before the 
 assembled crowd there always is a crowd around a planter's 
 cutcherry you ask the defendant to nominate two jurymen ; 
 and this he does, his nominations being subject to challenge 
 by the complainant. If the two men he names, who are 
 generally his friends, and as a rule respectable inhabitants of 
 the same village, be not objected to, the complainant then 
 nominates two on his part, to weigh the evidence in his 
 interest. The planter then nominates a fifth, the Fanchmee 
 or fifth Punchat/ict meaning five jurors who acts as a sort 
 of president or chairman of this board of five for that is 
 what it really amounts to and then the two parties to the 
 suit produce their witnesses, and the whole company retire to 
 the shade of some spreading peepul-tree, and there the case is 
 heard and decided on its merits. If any one is nominated 
 with a notorious leaning towards either complainant or 
 defendant, the right of challenge is exercised, and at once 
 disposes of him ; and each member of the Punchttyiet, being 
 generally as has been said, a resident of the same hamlet, and 
 knowing that at any moment he may be an interested party 
 himself in a similar case, and knowing also every detail of the
 
 170 TENT LIFE IN TIQERLAND. 
 
 locality and every point of traditional and local custom, their 
 award is almost certain to be a reasonable and fair one. It 
 is in fact a happy application of the principle of Local Self- 
 Government. The disturbing influence of personal individual 
 interest is effectively eliminated, all the proceedings taking 
 place in the midst of their fellow- villagers ; and in this ancient 
 and primitive fashion, the ordinary disputes of an ordinary 
 frontier Indian village are in the majority of cases amicably 
 settled. In the meantime the planter can generally devote 
 his attention to other pressing matters ; and when one Pun- 
 chayiet has been formed, it may often happen that all the petty 
 cases of the day are submitted to its adjudication, and very 
 rarely is it the case that there is any appeal from their 
 awards. 
 
 Now, we self-complacent Anglo-Saxons are apt to pat 
 ourselves on the back, and laud our wisdom in a great many 
 very questionable institutions which we think are the tie plus 
 ultra of perfection. We talk a good deal of our public spirit ; 
 we crow rather loudly about our calmly assumed superiority 
 to these dull clods of Eastern ryots, but I doubt very much 
 if, with all our boasted civilisation and superiority, a village 
 Punchayiet in Northern Purneah is not infinitely superior in 
 the despatch of business, in economy, and in practical utility 
 to our much-vaunted jury system. To return now to our 
 police. 
 
 I am about now to give an illustration of their audacity 
 of their dangerous audacity their unscrupulousness and their 
 vindictiveness, which at the time it happened made no small 
 stir among the European community, and the effects of 
 which, although I suppress the names, will be still fresh in 
 the memory of many old Indian residents who may read 
 these pages. 
 
 Down the river from my outwork Burgammah, and 
 adjoining my HaJca, i.e. the territory over which I had 
 jurisdiction, was another large concern, which had been
 
 POLICE RASCALITY. 171 
 
 worked by one of the early French settlers, a fine old 
 hospitable Gaul, who had married, reared a family, and lived 
 in the old Oriental patriarchal style, ruling his numberless 
 villages with a mild, benignant sway, which endeared him to 
 all the army of dependents and the many tenants who paid 
 tribute to the factory in cash or kind. 
 
 The old dwelling, with its long-sloping red tiled roof, broad, 
 low verandahs, upon which French windows opened from the 
 dim, cool rooms, hung with heavy, fringed punkahs and 
 crowded with ottomans, luxurious chairs, carved tables, and all 
 the accumulation of quaint, old-fashioned furniture which is 
 so characteristic of a real old factory bungalow in Bengal, 
 spoke of comfort unbounded, hospitality unstinted, and a 
 welcome " ever fresh and fair." Then there were the endless 
 lines of stables, fowl-houses, servants' quarters and non- 
 descript buildings of all kinds, swarming around the big 
 bungalow like a cluster of bees around the queen of the hive ; 
 the delightful old pleasaunce of a garden, filled with rare 
 flowering shrubs, or canopied here and there by enormous 
 umbrageous tamarind trees ; the masonry conduits bordering 
 the devious paths, and the great cool, dripping well in the 
 centre like a throbbing heart sending the life-giving fluid to 
 the rich beds of plump, luscious vegetables, carefully tended 
 by the old white-turbaned gardener and his numerous 
 bronzed assistants ; with its spacious chabutra in front of the 
 stately sweep of the house the two wings with their white 
 columns flanking the massive bungalow on each side the 
 kindly, clean chabutra, with its pleasant associations, its 
 stainless amplitude of smooth masonry raised above the 
 ground to keep one from the damp earth the hospitable, 
 social chabutra, where guests used to sit sipping the old brown 
 sherry, or the iced bacl sherbet, or the seductive home-brewed 
 milk-punch, handed by old feudal retainers in their pictur- 
 esque Oriental garb ; while the swish of the hand punkaJis 
 behind sent grateful waftings of air across one's heated brow,
 
 172 TENT LIFE IN TIOESLAND. 
 
 scattering the delicious aroma of fine old manillas through 
 the ambient air, when all round on the close-trimmed lawn 
 would be seen the numberless four-footed home pets of the 
 place, from stately stag-hound or brown-eyed beagle, down 
 to brindled bull-pup and wiry terrier, constituting the 
 " Sahib's lobcry pack." Underneath the shady old mango 
 trees too might be seen eight or ten stately elephants (each 
 attended by his gr assent), slowly masticating their evening 
 meal, and testifying by the lazy swish of trunk and tail, and 
 occasional deep rumble of enjoyment, their unqualified 
 satisfaction with their surroundings. 
 
 Such a scene might have been witnessed at any time during 
 the " ancien regime," when the kindly old planter lived 
 amongst his people, and never thought of visiting the far-off 
 " city of palaces " and evil smells on the distant Hoogly, save 
 perhaps once a year or once every two -years, when he would 
 take a run down to refurnish his cellars and square up 
 accounts with his agents at the annual auction sales. But 
 times have changed. The fierce competition and the some- 
 what sordid utilitarian spirit of the age has penetrated to 
 these remote river valleys. No longer now do the patient 
 ryots unhesitatingly acquiesce in the old patriarchal yet 
 autocratic sway. They have learned their rights and are 
 fully aware of their privileges. The rates for indigo are a 
 matter for annual settlement now. Wages of labourers 
 fluctuate as supply and demand fluctuates. The arrangements 
 for the annual carriage of the crop by boat or bullock-cart, is 
 now a matter requiring weeks of wearying diplomacy. Nay 
 more, half your vats may lie empty of indigo unless the rate 
 of your advances comes up to the anything but modest 
 expectations of your needy cultivators. The modern in- 
 stitution of "the strike" is quite acclimatised in Bengal 
 now. Beyond a doubt the position of the native has become 
 ameliorated to an extent which is hardly credible, and 
 which forms one of the brightest tributes to the beneficence
 
 POLICE RASCALITY. 173 
 
 of English rule in India, let rabid, revolutionary, red-hot 
 Kepublicans who malign and misrepresent British rule in 
 the East say what they may. The position of the planter has 
 not been improved in an equal degree or in any ratio at all 
 commensurate with the general advance in material pros- 
 perity which has taken place all around him. And thus it is 
 that he is constantly on the qui vive to take any fresh cultiva- 
 tion wherever he can get a lease of new villages, and he has 
 to make himself acquainted with the necessities and idio- 
 syncracies of all the native landlords and his surrounding 
 peasantry. This branch of planting work is called Zemin- 
 dar ee. The diplomacy involved is called momladaree. 
 
 The successful carrying on of a large indigo concern 
 depends largely upon the amount of capital one can use 
 in giving loans to native zemindars, i.e. land-holders. An 
 eight or nine years' lease may be got of certain villages, the 
 planter taking all the risk of collecting the rents, and paying 
 the landed proprietor in a lump sum in advance, and 
 generally also lending him a greater or less amount of rupees 
 without interest for a stated time. 
 
 When a lease of a village is thus acquired, a European 
 planter, by his better organisation and superior management, 
 is able to get a better return from the estate than the land- 
 lord himself could get under the old lotus-eating, laissez-faire 
 system, which is so characteristic of the languid Oriental 
 languid and voluptuous, at all events, as the Oriental landed 
 proprietor generally is. 
 
 The first thing to be done, then, on the acquisition of such 
 a lease, is generally to measure up the lands, to write up a 
 rent-roll on a proper business system, to see that each tenant 
 has his portion of land properly surveyed ; and it is found 
 almost invariably that where a cultivator may have been 
 paying a native landlord for, we will say, four or five foeghas, 
 he is in reality cultivating two or three times that amount. 
 A rectification of the rent-roll thereupon takes place. Instead
 
 174 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 of paying in cash, the cultivator may commute by agreeing to 
 cultivate a certain amount of indigo at a certain rate. But 
 until you get your village settlement, there is certain to be 
 much heart-burning, many quarrels, and strong opposition 
 and no wonder on the part of those who have been for 
 generations accustomed to the easy rule of native landlords, 
 and who are now for the first time brought sharply into 
 conflict with the Western method of land management. 
 
 At the time I speak of, this is what was happening. The 
 son of the old planter an active, energetic, high-spirited 
 young fellow had taken in a lot of new villages, peopled 
 principally by high-caste Brahmins, and he was measuring 
 the lands with a view of settling the rent-roll and the 
 proportion of indigo each tenant would have to cultivate. 
 The man he had out surveying had several times been 
 molested, the ryots were up in almost open rebellion, and 
 frequent ugly rumours of dangerous complications and 
 possibly even bloodshed had reached my ears. My friend, 
 the young planter, had himself been maltreated in trying 
 to rescue one of his servants who had been measuring some 
 fields in one of the newly-acquired villages. The police, of 
 course, like vultures scenting carrion, had managed to make 
 their services a matter of competition between the contending 
 parties. There was no doubt of it, they had been heavily 
 bribed by the planter to stand by him in the establishment 
 of his rights. But being very nearly every one of them 
 fellow-castemen of the recalcitrant villagers, and being the 
 recipients of very heavy bribes from that side also, it can 
 easily be imagined that their sympathies lay with the men 
 of their own lineage. My neighbour, too, while he stooped 
 to buy their aid, had not tact enough to conceal his contempt 
 for them, and the smouldering embers of their disaffection, 
 as might be naturally expected, soon broke out into an open 
 flame of active opposition, and at the period to which my 
 narrative has now brought us, the whole of the dehaat, i.e.
 
 POLICE RASCALITY. 175 
 
 the collection of villages, was in open rebellion against the 
 factory; and the natives were being actively encouraged in 
 their obstruction by the whole body of the police in that part 
 of the district. My poor neighbour had hailed my advent as 
 a welcome diversion, and myself as a valuable ally, and my 
 uncompromising attitude towards the police, and my prompt 
 and summary method of dealing with them, backed as I was 
 by the moral support of all the high English officials, with 
 whom I was on terms of the utmost friendship, and by the 
 no less telling material support of a wealthy proprietary, who 
 had implicit confidence in my judgment and discretion, and 
 who allowed me to make my own estimate of expenditure 
 all these made my friend look to me for moral support, and 
 it was partly under my advice that he was now working and 
 attempting to measure and settle his new villages. I had 
 quietly at different times sent down native able-bodied 
 fellows from my own dehaat men I had proved and whom 
 I could trust; and these were quietly working among the 
 villages, trying to win over the best disposed of the tenantry 
 to the side of the factory ; and one of the chief weapons they 
 employed was to sow disaffection between many of the 
 villagers who had felt the oppression of the police, and the 
 police themselves. 
 
 Of course the police, on their part, knew perfectly well 
 what I was doing, and they had determined to make an 
 example of my fellow planter show their power and thus 
 serve a double end in tightening their hold upon the villagers 
 and gratifying their spite against a Sahib at one and the same 
 time. They saw, indeed, that if the factory power was to 
 predominate, their own perquisites and prestige would suffer 
 grievous diminution. But, acting under my advice, my 
 neighbour had managed, by timely concessions and by wise 
 compromises with numbers of the leading men of many of 
 the disaffected villages, to gradually make some headway, 
 and he would no doubt in time have managed, as I had done,
 
 176 TENT LIFE IN TIGEMLAND. 
 
 to placate the people and institute a reasonable and fair 
 system of cultivation which would have been to the mutual 
 benefit of both planter and villager. But this was just what 
 the Darogah and his constables did not want. 
 
 Many a black scheme was mooted ; many a " vain trick " 
 was tried ; many a cunning trap was set ; many a plot was 
 concocted ; and many a time the whole machinery of chicanery, 
 intrigue, intimidation, and corruption was set in motion to 
 discomfit the hated planter. 
 
 And so they schemed and planned and watched for a pre- 
 text to draw him away from the deliaat, if even only for a time, 
 so that they might be left free to reconsolidate their waning 
 influence, and foment fresh disaffection against the Sahib. If 
 they got the Sahib away, they agreed they would once more 
 get the wavering villagers back " under their shoe soles," as 
 their proverb has it. 
 
 At last in desperation they concocted a devilish plan. 
 
 But you shall hear. Let us leave them at present thus. 
 
 Just about this time I received Jchubber i.e. news one 
 day that a burra Sahib i.e. a gentleman of some standing 
 had arrived at the other side of the Dhaus, and "would I 
 send the elephant across for him ? " The Dhaus, as described 
 in a former Chapter, was a reedy, weedy, shallow lake, rank 
 with aquatic vegetation and oozy with slime and fetid mud, 
 which stretched for some miles behind the factory. Under 
 the sweltering sun of summer, it was a very hot-bed of fever, 
 and in the cold months bred chills and agues, and was at all 
 times an uninviting and dangerous plague-spot. Its surface 
 teemed with legions of water-fowl, and round the marge I 
 have often had glorious snipe shooting ; but there were many 
 alligators in its sullen recesses, and there was only one or 
 two devious shallow fording-places, where a space was kept 
 clear of weeds, and on which two or three flat-bottomed and 
 very crank dug-outs, or village canoes, plied intermittently. 
 
 Wondering what Sahib could possibly have travelled by
 
 POLICE RASCALITY. 177 
 
 this little-frequented route to find his way to my isolated 
 "diggings," I hastily ordered .out the old "tusker," and 
 watched through my field-glasses, with some curiosity, the 
 scene on the farther side of the Dhaus. 
 
 I could see a large palkee, and a goodly group of bearers and 
 banghy-vvallahs that is, pack carriers squatting around it, 
 and a tall, soldierly -looking man, clad in the ordinary white 
 costume and sola hat of the civilian in the East, stood a little 
 apart, waiting for the elephant, but I could not recognise the 
 face at the distance. I could see the great elephant flounder- 
 ing along through the weeds and muddy water. The palkee 
 bearers were evidently now being directed by the villagers 
 to go round by the other and better crossing, some two miles 
 northwards ; and at last the Sahib and his luggage got placed 
 on the kneeling elephant, which next, slowly uprising, began 
 the return march through the lagoon. 
 
 To one situated as I w r as, scores of leagues from any 
 society, surrounded by a hostile and lawless population for 
 the most part for, away from my own factory cultivation, 
 the villagers looked with little favour on the white man 
 years of bad management and downright oppression by 
 former managers, nearly all of them unprincipled natives, 
 and some of them worthless half-castes, had given the factory 
 a bad name; and my readers can imagine the warm glow 
 of welcome and the throb of delight with which I at last 
 recognised in my unexpected visitor Dr. C , a dear, kind- 
 hearted, jolly old medico, who had at one time been stationed 
 near me in Tirhoot, and who was now high up in the 
 Government medical service. I had been for nearly a year 
 completely buried in these solitudes, and had scarcely seen 
 a white face during that interval. 
 
 What a godsend that visit was to me ! what it may have 
 saved me from, I will not tell. I was fast losing health 
 at the time, and was in a desponding, listless frame of 
 mind and body ; but the advent of the cheery, jovial doctor 
 
 N
 
 178 TENT LIFE IN T1GEELAND. 
 
 acted on me like a charm, and for the two or three days 
 he stayed with me, his presence did me good "like a 
 medicine." 
 
 How we did talk over old times and old comrades to be 
 sure! 
 
 What fun we had among the snipe and quail and wild 
 ducks ! We went out one day to look for tiger near Nurreya 
 Rajbarra, a famous village for game to the northward, having 
 heard news of a kill in the jowah jungle there ; but " stripes " 
 was too wary for us. I may as well describe the day's doings. 
 
 Having only the one elephant and not many beaters, the 
 
 tiger, who must have been " a discreet animal" left his lair 
 
 betimes, and being seen by a cowherd leisurely lobbing across 
 
 the sand flats near the river, we were, after considerable delay, 
 
 put on his tracks yet quite fresh and easily discernible on 
 
 the occasional patches of wet sand. He had gone straight 
 
 through several insignificant streamlets straggling branches 
 
 of the great swift rolling Koosee ; and that we were close on 
 
 the trail was evident from the wet drip on the farther banks, 
 
 .showing where the water had been shaken from his sleek 
 
 .sides as he emerged. With hopes raised and our pace 
 
 .quickened, and throwing out the beaters in the sparse jungle 
 
 to form a sort of half -moon formation, we now slowly 
 
 advanced, fully expecting that the big river would stop the 
 
 fugitive, and keeping a bright look-out for a shot. 
 
 Alas ! the tiger was beyond a doubt now " a highly 
 ^discreet animal." 
 
 Tracing the tracks right up to the steep, crumbling edge 
 of the main river, we found ample evidence of a fact which 
 has often been questioned, but which was well known to 
 both the doctor and myself, namely, that tigers take un- 
 hesitatingly to water when it suits their purpose, and that 
 they are in fact expert and powerful swimmers. This par- 
 ticular animal, a regular Koosee tiger, had made no more ado 
 in taking to the rapid current than if he had been a buffalo.
 
 POLICE RASCALITY. 179 
 
 In fact, as we gazed at the evidences of his fondness for 
 aquatic feats, we were startled by a cry from one of the 
 beaters, " DeJcho, Sahiban! Bagli to ooder Jiai! " (See, see, sirs, 
 the tiger is over there ! ), and looking across the wide, swiftly 
 rolling stream, sure enough we saw the tiger, a fine, full- 
 grown, splendidly marked male, leisurely making his way 
 among some hummocks and ridges of sand not many hundred 
 yards away. 
 
 " Hang it all ! I must have a slap at him," said the doctor. 
 
 " All right, old man ! But it's too far," I responded. Bang 
 went the doctor's rifle in reply, and the bullet sent a piff-paff 
 of white sand hurtling up some distance behind and to the 
 right of the tiger. This had the immediate effect of ac- 
 celerating his movements somewhat, and presently we saw 
 him leave the ridgy tract, where the shrunken, dry weather 
 channels gleamed in the sun, and scampering up a ragged 
 bank, disappear among some flapping patair bushes, evidently 
 making straight for some well-known haunt or friendly refuge 
 in the jungle beyond. 
 
 The doctor was too excited now to listen to reason. 
 
 Nothing would satisfy him but to make for the ghaut, 
 and follow up in pursuit at once. 
 
 The certainty was that the tiger, fearing pursuit and 
 having been disturbed, would make for some distant lair, 
 and with only one 1 elephant, few beaters, and only half of 
 a short day before us, it was foolish to imagine our quest 
 would be rewarded by success. 
 
 However, I had only to please my guest. 
 
 Off then we started. Crossed the ghaut. Beat all through 
 the patair jungle. Got all the Choonee villagers to come 
 and join the line. Made din enough to frighten all the 
 wild beasts within a radius of half-a-dozen miles. Finished 
 up by shooting a fine hog deer and two hinds for ourselves 
 and servants, and half-a-dozen pigs for the lower caste 
 villagers, and finally got home after dark rather tired, and 
 
 N 2
 
 180 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 the doctor not a little disappointed. He had heard so much 
 of the fame of the Lutchmeepore and Fusseah jungles, that 
 he had made sure of getting a tiger-skin to take down 
 country with him. Next day, however, he must depart; 
 and we determined to try and get the Ilmasnugger elephant 
 during the night, and beat down the other side of the Koosee 
 towards Burgammah, where he (the doctor) would rest for 
 the night, if necessary, and then continue his journey by boat 
 towards Calcutta via Bhaugulpore. 
 
 All arrangements were accordingly made, and next day 
 making a good start, we enjoyed a pleasant day together, 
 having the two shikar elephants and two small pad elephants, 
 which my Gomastali had succeeded in borrowing, and a good 
 line of beaters with us as well. 
 
 We did not see even " sign " of tiger, but made a good 
 general "bag," and reached Burgammah early, found Tom 
 
 H , my assistant, to welcome us; and we learned 
 
 from him that there had been a bit of a row down tli3 
 river on the next concern, where those village measure- 
 ments of which I have before spoken were being proceeded 
 with. 
 
 As I wished to see my neighbour, to arrange certain mat- 
 ters about boundaries, establish a neerick, or rate of payment 
 for certain produce, and a common scale of remuneration for 
 such and such services in connection with our factory work, 
 and wished also to cheer him up by the moral support of our 
 visit, we determined, as the doctor had overstayed his time 
 already, and as the tents were not very many miles away 
 and close to the river, to make a start after dinner, it being 
 a bright moonlight night ; and we ordered horses to be sent 
 down to a ghat some miles distant, opposite the camp, while 
 we proceeded by boat. 
 
 You will now begin to see the drift of all this long 
 preliminary description. 
 
 The drama is developing.
 
 POLICE RASCALITY. 181 
 
 Just as we are about starting from Burgammah, very 
 different scenes are being enacted down the river. 
 
 My neighbour, it seems, had been out shooting during the 
 afternoon, and coming to a seemingly deserted hut, had heard 
 cries as of some one in pain proceeding therefrom. 
 
 Calling, and getting no response, he had alighted and looked 
 in, and found there a poor outcast, one of the Eahabs of these 
 jungly river-side villages, evidently in the acute stage of 
 cholera. 
 
 As planters, we are all more or less habituated to these 
 scenes, and have little of the fear that natives manifest when 
 the dread cholera is about. This poor creature had evidently 
 been abandoned to her fate. The panic-stricken inhabitants 
 of the lowly thatched dwelling, if indeed she had not been 
 dwelling alone, had left her to perish untended and unsolaced 
 by the presence of any of her own kind. 
 
 My friend being in the main, although hot-tempered, yet a 
 humane and tender-hearted man, tried what he could do for 
 the poor thing, and again remounting, galloped back to his 
 camp, took some cholera tincture, and went back to see if 
 haply he could do the dying woman any good. Of course 
 his actions had been watched. He was all the time the object 
 of never-sleeping espionage ; and the thannadar had vigilant 
 observers always noting his slightest movement, if so be they 
 might find " occasion of offence " in him. 
 
 When he got back after the lapse of an hour or two, it was 
 eventide, and the wretched woman had gone to her account. 
 
 D was alone, as he imagined, and unobserved. 
 
 Reverently placing the end of her saree over the poor dead 
 face, he returned to camp, intending to send some domes to 
 bury the body early the next day. 
 
 Meantime the thannadar had been apprised by his creatures 
 of all that had occurred, and getting together "some lewd 
 fellows of the baser sort," men he knew he could rely on, to 
 swear black was white if need be and stick to it, he put into
 
 182 TENT LIFE IN TIQEBLAND. 
 
 execution a scheme which he had quickly matured in his evil 
 brain, which was no less than to charge the planter with a 
 capital crime. 
 
 Accompanied, as was after proved, by several of his Budmasli 
 followers, they went and set fire to the hut in which the dead 
 body of the woman lay, and then in pursuance of the vile 
 plot they had concocted, they got a few of the more disaffected 
 villagers to come rushing into the thanna, or police station, 
 to lay a charge of ravishing and murdering the woman 
 against the planter, and that to hide the evidences of his 
 crime he had set fire to the hut. 
 
 They acted^the dismal drama well. The thannadar went 
 out at once with his men, and took written depositions and 
 statements of all they heard and saw, and by the dawn of day, 
 armed with these, and accompanied by a bevy of suborned 
 witnesses, and even a few perfectly guileless and innocent 
 villagers, whose credulity had been imposed on by the cun- 
 ningly acted drama and by the hue-and-cry got up, they set 
 out for the residence of the nearest deputy assistant magis- 
 trate, who was a native officer also, and whose court was 
 being held some considerable distance off. The subordinate 
 police had taken care to keep any friendly disposed Assamee 
 cultivator out of the way. 
 
 All this had been the work of the night. Under cover of 
 the congenial semi-obscurity they had brought their devilish 
 plot to a climax ; and we must now look back to see what was 
 transpiring elsewhere. 
 
 The doctor, myself, and my assistant started as described 
 from Burgammah in the broad clear light of the moon, and 
 got safely down the river to the ghat, near which was the 
 camp. The doctor looked at his watch, and we found it was 
 just about half-past eight o'clock. 
 
 Intending to give D a pleasant surprise, we left the 
 
 boatmen with the boat, and proceeded to the tents. We found 
 D in bed, but soon woke him up. We again noted the time
 
 POLICE BASCAL1TY. 183 
 
 casually. It was about nine now ; and very shortly we had 
 our inner wants supplied, and commenced an all-night sitting 
 
 of a tobacco parliament. D told us all his troubles he 
 
 mentioned that cholera had broken out in his dehaat, and 
 incidentally, as quite a common occurrence, told us of the 
 sight he had seen in the evening in the solitary hut. We 
 were quite snug in the cosy tent, and did not, as it happened, 
 see any of the servants ; and it being the cold season, they 
 were, as we thought, all too comfortably rolled up in their 
 voluminous cotton garments to take much notice of our quiet 
 confidential talk. As a matter of fact, it subsequently 
 transpired they had all got leave for the night to go to a. 
 BJwj, or feast, in one of the neighbouring villages. 
 
 After several hours' pleasant gossip, sundry "pegs " in fact, 
 
 D took rather more than was wise and not a few cigars, 
 
 we judged that our syces would have had time to get down 
 with our horses to the appointed tryst ; and after a parting 
 jorum, we accompanied the doctor back to his boat, were 
 poled across stream, got our horses, bade the dear old doctor 
 " bon voyage," and away we cantered back to the outwork, 
 having a spin after a good boar^ on the way, in the grey chill 
 dawn, and although he managed to escape our spears, we felt 
 we had earned our breakfast well. 
 
 Now it so happened that I had to go into Purneah on 
 legal business, and found a summons awaiting me from my 
 mookhtear, or attorney, and so I was not long in starting, and 
 
 sent Tom H up to the head factory to attend to matters 
 
 generally till I returned. This took us both away from the 
 immediate vicinity of the plot ; and as the doctor was away 
 at Calcutta, and his boatmen were strangers to the neighbour- 
 hood, you will perceive how the nefarious plans of the wily 
 and wicked police were favoured by the absence of all those 
 
 who could have been called by D as witnesses of his 
 
 whereabouts during this eventful night. 
 
 Of course the party of conspirators were as equally in
 
 184 TENT LIFE IN TIG EEL AND. 
 
 ignorance of our midnight visit as we were of their rascally 
 plan. 
 
 Here then was a pretty complication. 
 
 The deputy magistrate was not a very experienced officer 
 and was burning for distinction and promotion. He only 
 
 knew D by repute, and it was no more than a notorious 
 
 fact that he was a bit of a ZuHberdust wallah, that is, a high- 
 handed, rough-and-ready, masterful sort of man. Little 
 wonder then that the magistrate, hearing only the skilfully- 
 arranged evidence, seeing the official and sworn statements of 
 old, experienced police officers, and finding the terrible charge 
 backed up by a host of cleverly-suggested probabilities, came 
 
 to the conclusion that D , in a fit of guilty passion or frenzy, 
 
 had really committed this odious crime, and he accordingly 
 set off with a strong bias against him, and prepared to look 
 only for evidences of guilt in everything that might come 
 under his observation. However, to make a long story short, 
 
 D was arrested. The plentiful libations during the night 
 
 and the tobacco smoke had not improved his appearance, and 
 when the posse of police arrived at the tents and woke him 
 up, he had a wretched bilious headache, and looked in fact 
 bad enough to have really been the murderer and fire raiser 
 they sought to make him. 
 
 To be brief, D had the shrewdness and good sense to 
 
 hold his tongue. The police got no inkling of the fact that 
 by the most providential arrangement, by the happiest good 
 fortune, a party of Sahibs had spent the greater part of the 
 night with the object of their vindictive hate. Nor did 
 
 D seek to enlighten them. The police story was a most 
 
 plausible one ; they backed it up by a marvellous chain of 
 circumstantial evidence, and the false and real were so 
 cunningly and cleverly interwoven, that even the English 
 residents in Bhaugulpore, when they first heard the story as 
 told by the police, were inclined to put the matter down as 
 another of the enormities committed by "those desperate
 
 POLICE RASCALITY. 185 
 
 characters the indigo planters " ; and so for a time poor 
 
 D was looked on as a vile desperado, and a fit subject 
 
 for the hangman. 
 
 '. As soon as he could, however, he secured the services of a 
 clever barrister from Calcutta. He wanted now "to hoist 
 his underground engineers with their own petard." " In the 
 pit which they had digged they would find themselves en- 
 snared," and he looked forward to having a respite from the 
 blackguards who had been weaving their vile nets about him 
 for so long. Not a hint or a whisper of his intended defence 
 was allowed to escape. The very police themselves were 
 almost stunned by what seemed the signal and complete 
 success of their odious conspiracy. 
 
 H and the doctor and myself received timely notice 
 
 to attend when the case was at last called on. The police 
 evidence was given with fullest amplitude of detail. Every 
 
 action of D on the memorable day was sworn to with 
 
 microscopic fidelity. The horse he rode, its colour, the 
 time of his first visit to the hut ; his going in ; his coming 
 out again all were faithfully recorded, and not a word of 
 denial was said. The witnesses were not even cross-ex- 
 amined. 
 
 " We quite admit it, your honour ; " "I have no questions 
 to ask this witness." Such sentences as these were all that 
 escaped the lips of the leading counsel. 
 
 , Things looked very black against D . So well had his 
 
 secret been kept, that very few even of the Europeans 
 present in court on the first day of the trial but what really 
 
 believed that at the very least D had been guilty of 
 
 some terrible impropriety, if not of the actual offence of 
 which he was charged. 
 
 The character of the woman was sworn to. The evidence 
 
 of several of D 's servants was twisted so as to make it 
 
 appear that he was not a paragon of morality, and the ac- 
 cumulated testimony of seemingly trivial details all tended
 
 186 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLANB. 
 
 to strengthen the conviction in the minds of his accusers 
 that their triumph was already assured, and that they would 
 succeed in accomplishing the ruin of their enemy. 
 
 The interest was intensified during the second day. The 
 thannadar swore to having visited the burning hut along 
 with others whom he named. He described the finding of 
 the charred corpse. A few of the leading disaffected villagers, 
 
 all active enemies of poor D , swore to having seen him 
 
 leave the hut and set fire to it. 
 
 The cross-examination at this stage was quick, probing, 
 searching, decided, dramatic. 
 
 " At what hour was this ? " 
 
 " About eleven o'clock." 
 
 " You are quite sure ? " 
 
 "Quite sure." 
 
 " It was moonlight ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " You could not be mistaken ? " 
 
 " Oh no ; it was the Sahib sure enough." 
 
 They knew him by his dress, by his topee, his white face, 
 and so on. Some very curious contradictory medical evidence 
 as to the appearance of the body, and the utter impossibility 
 of such appearances being possible on a body burned alive, 
 
 were elicited all confirmatory of D 's story. The ryots 
 
 accounted for their presence near the scene by saying they 
 were returning from some feast at the house of a friend, but, 
 being frightened at the Sahib, and indeed on bad terms with 
 him, they hid in the jungle and watched him. Each had his 
 story pat. The very variations and seeming discrepancies all 
 tended only the more firmly to substantiate the main dam- 
 natory facts. And no wonder. The whole thing had been 
 rehearsed for weeks. Every scoundrel knew exactly what he 
 had to say, and had heard exactly what every other witness 
 in the conspiracy would say. The tale was coherent in every 
 part. No cross-examination could shake the many facts as
 
 POLICE BASCALITY. 187 
 
 thus sworn to. It was abundantly proven to the satisfaction 
 of every disinterested hearer of the second day's evidence 
 
 that D was guilty of a cruel murder, and that he had 
 
 crowned the vileness of his misdeeds on the fatal night by 
 burning the hut in a drunken rage over the wretched victim 
 of his frenzy BETWEEN ELEVEN AND TWELVE O'CLOCK. This 
 was the crowning dramatic incident. They all agreed on 
 that point. They were all pinned down to that statement. 
 There was no divergence of opinion as to the precise hour. 
 It was just a little before midnight. They were all sure of 
 that. 
 
 And so the third day came round. 
 
 Of course you have guessed the denouement, and can tell 
 the sequel. 
 
 First was read D : 's own statement. The skilful dis- 
 closure and development of the plot to remove him from the 
 dehaat the intrigues that were set on foot and maintained 
 against him by the police and the leading cultivators were 
 depicted in a quiet yet masterly way that carried conviction 
 to every mind. Then came certain medical testimony which 
 quite falsified many important statements of the police. 
 
 A deep sigh of relief broke from every European in court 
 as each thread of the vile conspiracy was deftly laid bare. 
 
 And when H 's evidence and my own and the good old 
 
 doctor's was given, clearly accounting for every minute of 
 time on the fateful night, from early in the evening, the 
 bubble conspiracy had burst, and as vile and subtle and 
 inhuman a plot as ever was hatched, even by a Bengal 
 thannadar, was exposed in all its wicked hideousness. 
 
 Yes, the Bengal police of that day were a nice, gentle, 
 amiable set of officials. 
 
 It was lucky for D that nocturnal visit of his fellow- 
 countrymen. But for that, the diabolical ingenuity of his 
 foes might have triumphed, and he might have been done 
 to death an ignominious and cruel death by the false
 
 188 TENT LIFE IN TiaERLAND. 
 
 oaths and lying testimony of a pack of ruthless human 
 hyenas. 
 
 The chief conspirators got sentences of varying severity ; 
 and for a long time the Koosee planters were not much 
 troubled with the plottings and evil devices of the DAROGA- 
 JEE and his insolent swaggering henchmen the native village 
 police.
 
 ( 189 ) 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 AN EVENTFUL DAY. 
 
 The famine of 1874 Nature of relief works Fatalism Humane 
 tendencies of British rule Epidemics Sharp contrasts Crowded 
 incidents of planter life A fierce hail-storm A runaway elephant 
 Through the forest Hue and cry after a thief A desperate fugitive 
 Setting an ambush Female furies An exciting diversion A 
 desperate scuffle Capture Tactics of the female gipsies Horrihle 
 cruelty A hapless little one Outwitted! The robber escapes 
 Feasting amid famine A Brahmin Ihoj Appearance of the village 
 The guests The cookery The feast Strange plates A motley 
 melange Prodigious appetite Once more on the road Reach Soopole 
 Hospitable reception. 
 
 Ix the early part of March, 1874, a terrible famine raged in 
 ISTepaul and all along the northern Bengal provinces bordering 
 on the Terai. 
 
 On the 15th of March of that year, Sir Eichard Temple, 
 then Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, came up with a party of 
 officials to inspect the provision that had been made to 
 mitigate the famine in these remote districts. At Caragola 
 Ghaut, on the Ganges, enormous quantities of rice had been 
 stored under temporary cover, and myriads of tons in bags 
 were stacked up all along the banks of the river like the 
 extended walls of some field fortification. 
 
 Having considerable influence with the riverside population 
 I was entrusted with the work of collecting boats to transport 
 the rice to the famine-stricken districts further north. 
 
 Day after day long flotillas of native boats were laden with
 
 190 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 the welcome grain, and despatched as fast as the work could 
 be done up the swift Koosee beyond the Nepaul frontier, and 
 there distributed among the starving villagers. 
 
 Eelief works were instituted in various parts of Purneah 
 and North Bhaugulpore, and I had to be constantly out 
 among the poor wretched, emaciated creatures working on 
 these embankments and roads, and altogether, what with 
 seeing to the hiring, despatching, and the administration 
 generally, of water carriage of rice and relief works on land, 
 I had a busy time of it. 
 
 Eeaders at home can scarcely realise the awful nature of 
 such a dire calamity as that of a famine in India. 
 
 The lower classes, as I have before stated, are practically 
 fatalists, and when misfortune overtakes them, they are the 
 most helpless creatures in existence. They have no inner 
 resources of self-reliance, and, leading almost a vegetable life, 
 rarely moving many miles from their villages, they have 
 little or no conception of the vast world lying outside their 
 own immediate ken, and when their crops are smitten down 
 with drought or blight, or swept away by floods, they 
 generally, not without a deep, dumb pathos, calmly submit to 
 the inevitable as it appears to them, and accept their fate 
 without a murmur. 
 
 In seasons of cholera, emigration often takes place, when 
 all of the able-bodied portion of the population remove to 
 distant hill villages ; but the aged and infirm are left behind, 
 to fall victims to the dreaded pest, or escape as may be their 
 " Kismet" i.e. their fate. 
 
 These periodical scourges no doubt thinned the ranks of 
 the swarming hive of humanity in these thickly populous 
 districts, and in olden time was doubtless Nature's ruthless 
 way of keeping up what might be called a healthy balance 
 between those who subsisted and the means of subsistence, 
 although this may seem a callous way of putting it. As for 
 hygiene, it was not known.
 
 AN EVENTFUL DAT. 191 
 
 However, the humane tendencies of British rule could not 
 allow such a state of things to continue, hence it is that now, 
 when famine threatens any district, when cholera or small- 
 pox or fever or any other epidemic begins to claim its wonted 
 quota of victims, the humanitarianism of British rule steps 
 in, medical aid and medicine are promptly forthcoming, 
 and vast supplies of grain are sent from every point. Eoads 
 and embankments are made for that purpose, and canals 
 and railways are being constructed in all directions with 
 a view of mitigating such a calamity as famine; and 
 the whole tendency of English rule, as regards its native 
 subjects, is to conserve their lives and ameliorate their 
 condition. 
 
 If it be cholera that breaks out, an ever active army of 
 members of the noblest profession known to our common 
 humanity are sent to battle with the dread disease, and seek 
 to stay the hand of the destroyer. If it be fever, the 
 provident and humane foresight of the Government, at enor- 
 mous expense, has provided a means of coping with this 
 evil also, and the cinchona forests of Darjeeling, Upper India, 
 the Neilgheries and Ceylon, yield the life-giving and fever- 
 dispelling quinine ; and this is dispensed to the fever-racked 
 population at a price which brings it within the reach of 
 every one, or, in the Government-aided dispensaries, is given 
 gratis, and has been the means of saving yearly, thousands of 
 lives. 
 
 So too with small-pox. 
 
 This favourite medium of the goddess Kali, by which 
 she was supposed to yearly claim her myriads of victims, is 
 now by compulsory vaccination much reduced in its potency 
 for destruction. And so it is that a new problem is now 
 presented to thoughtful students of Indian life and character ; 
 the onward sweep and resistless march of the army of popu- 
 lation is fast treading on the heels of the capacity of the 
 country to carry its human swarm, and the big economic
 
 192 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 problem of the future, " How shall India sustain its teeming 
 millions?" becomes yearly one of greater perplexity, in 
 the wise solution of which the most momentous ' issues are 
 involved. 
 
 The magnitude of this thought has led me 'to digress, 
 however. My purpose is only in these sketches to give a 
 suggestive narrative of the varied incidents which make up 
 the story of a planter's daily life, and the reader must pursue 
 the suggestions to such solution as may suit his temperament. 
 
 My wish is simply to show the varied calls that are made 
 upon the planter's life, and the demands which are constantly 
 being made upon him for the exercise of very much higher 
 qualities both moral, intellectual, and physical than are 
 involved in the mere pursuit of field sports. 
 
 I would not have it thought for a moment that the planter 
 has nothing to do but go out day after day on his trusty 
 elephant in pursuit qf game, and I would have given a 
 totally false impression of our tent life in India if the reader 
 jumps to that conclusion. Life in India is indeed highly 
 dramatic, and presents the most constant and startling con- 
 trasts. 
 
 The ostentatious grandeur of the lordly zemindar, with his 
 retinue of sleek retainers, is sharply accented as he moves 
 along in all the profusion of jewelled magnificence, his 
 elephants bedizened with gorgeous trappings, and his impor- 
 tance loudly proclaimed by every circumstance of barbaric 
 pomp, when one hears amid the sound of the drums and the 
 clash of cymbals, the wailing cries of a long row of melan- 
 choly beggars that line the roadside like Lazarus or blind 
 Bartimaeus of old, their shrunken frames and contorted limbs 
 telling the most touching tale of human suffering, and ex- 
 citing oftentimes feelings rather of repulsion than of pity, so 
 horrible is the spectacle. Take any busy bathing ghat near 
 a city. The contrasts are so sharp and pointed, the incidents 
 are so varied, the canvas is so crowded, the phases of humanity
 
 AN EVENTFUL DAY. 193 
 
 are so multifarious, that when one comes fresh from the quiet 
 country, it all seems like the crowded phantasmagoria of a 
 feverish dream. 
 
 But one soon gets accustomed to it ; yet ever and anon one 
 receives a rude shock, which reawakes his first sensations 
 of pity or of wonder, or of awe, it may be, and such vivid 
 incidents as become memories for a lifetime are constantly 
 being presented. 
 
 Take one such the adventures of a single day. 
 
 On Monday the 9th March, 1874, I started in the early 
 morning from Lutchmepore, my head factory, to endeavour to 
 reach the small station of Soopole, some forty miles distant, 
 over rough and rugged country. 
 
 I had first to cross the Dhaus in one of the crank canoes I 
 have spoken of, and on the way across I saw a man-eating 
 alligator. Item the first. 
 
 On the other side, having mounted my elephant, which was 
 in waiting, I had to decide a case of trespass between two 
 angry litigants, who sought to end their long-standing quarrel 
 by my arbitration. 
 
 The case was one involving nice points, and it took me 
 some time to settle it. Item number two. 
 
 Meantime the sky had got immensely overclouded, and 
 shortly from the westward a fierce hail and thunder storm 
 came sweeping up, eddying and whirling with crushing fury 
 and howling noise, working along in a north-easterly direction. 
 
 Thatched roofs and houses were caught up as if by a 
 mighty arm, and were scattered about in all directions ; the 
 hailstones, as big almost as pigeons' eggs, with sharp, jagged 
 edges, came crashing down with relentless fury. I was glad 
 to take hurried shelter in a loose stack of refuse thatching- 
 grass and withered stalks of Indian corn, piled up loosely 
 near a cattle-camp, while my elephant, maddened by the 
 stinging of the hailstones, set his tail as straight as a ramrod, 
 shook both guddee and mahout off his back, and made straight 
 
 o
 
 194 TENT LIFE IN TIQEELAND. 
 
 back for the factory through the sluggish waters of the Dhaus. 
 Item number three. 
 
 The fury of the storm was soon spent, and the frightened 
 villagers came forth bemoaning their sad fate and sadly gazing 
 on ruined crops and, in not a few cases, maimed and wounded 
 cattle ; and I had to console them as best I could by a promise 
 of some little assistance from the factory. 
 
 Meantime messengers were despatched to bring back the 
 recalcitrant elephant. 
 
 Taking advantage of my enforced stay in the village, 
 numbers of poor sick creatures most painful cases of 
 suffering, some of them were brought out to me, as I had 
 the reputation of being a bit of a laid, i.e. a doctor. 
 
 I generally carried a small pocket case of instruments with 
 me and a bottle of quinine, and in one or two cases I was 
 able to give some slight relief by simple little surgical opera- 
 tions and doses of the febrifuge. One case was a horrible one. 
 A poor half-witted old man had fallen in a fit of epilepsy into 
 a smouldering fire, and his burns were something fearful to 
 look upon. It was evident he could not recover, as incipient 
 mortification had already set in, but the patient and silent 
 resignation to his fate was something most pathetic. Then I 
 had to speak to the headmen about their crops, discuss the 
 prices of produce with them, and generally hear all their 
 complaints and profess an interest which it was really very- 
 hard sometimes to feel. 
 
 Once more getting on the elephant, I had to cross a 
 stretch of boggy country, with rice swamp here and there, 
 traverse a part of the old original sal forest, which stretched 
 its arms like some great polypus all along the ridges 
 running down from the main spurs of the Terai into the 
 plain country. 
 
 These forests are very sombre and gloomy. 
 They are inhabited by curious jungle tribes of Santurs and 
 hillmen, and in their gloomy solitudes, hunting, charcoal-
 
 AN EVENTFUL DAY. 195 
 
 burning, and a little rude cultivation are the chief occupa- 
 tions of their inhabitants. 
 
 I had just emerged from one of these forest-crowned ridges 
 and was about to cross a pretty large open plain, studded 
 with cultivated fields and having a hamlet in the middle of it, 
 when I saw a crowd of villagers rush frantically out from the 
 houses, tightening their cummerbunds and brandishing their 
 lathees, that is, their fighting staves, some seemingly armed 
 with clumsy spears and old swords, yelling and crying at the 
 top of their voices as they pursued a desperate-looking fugi- 
 tive whose gaunt, wiry frame boasted no other covering than 
 a tattered shred of blue cotton cloth round his loins, and who 
 seemed straining every nerve to elude his infuriated pursuers 
 and reach the friendly shade of the sombre forest. I took in 
 the situation at a glance. 
 
 This was evidently a gipsy thief, one of a gang of 
 notorious house-breakers whose depredations for some time 
 past had been the talk of the villages round about. He 
 belonged to the gipsy caste Nutlis, as they are called a . 
 wandering, predatory tribe of which had been camped in the; 
 forest for some time. 
 
 They had actually paid a nocturnal visit to my factory, and 
 had stolen various things from the servants' huts. 
 
 They had broken into the house of a neighbouring village 
 banker, and had in several cases succeeded in stealing 
 
 O 
 
 jewellery from the persons of women, whom they had waylaid 
 and maltreated as they were returning from the village 
 bazaars. 
 
 They were a lawless and desperate set ; and telling the 
 mahout as I had evidently not yet been observed by 
 either the fugitive or his pursuers to draw back within 
 the shade of the wood again, we directed our course so 
 as to intercept the fugitive, and if possible succeed in 
 capturing him, as it was important that the gang should 
 be broken up. 
 
 2
 
 196 TENT LIFE IN TiaEELAND. 
 
 It was unfortunate that I was on the elephant. Had I 
 been on horseback, my task would have been easier. 
 
 Two of my peons were with me, accompanying me on foot, 
 and my old bearer was with me on the guddee. 
 
 Telling the mahout to be ready with the elephant, we 
 alighted, and creeping cautiously forward under cover, 
 arranged ourselves in ambush to intercept our intended prize. 
 We had however counted without our host. We were not the 
 only interested beholders. Scarcely had we taken our places 
 the wretched man being now near us so near, in fact, that 
 through the bushes we could see his set teeth and gleaming 
 eyes, and his wiry, swarthy frame strained to the fullest 
 nervous tension. He was making straight for us, and would 
 in a few moments have run into our ambush ; when, with a 
 shrill scream close beside us, which made us start as if we 
 were the guilty parties and not he, a bevy of shrieking 
 harpies, with dishevelled hair, bare bosoms, long skinny 
 fingers clawing the air wildly, and with discordant clamour, 
 came rushing at us from the rear and surrounded us. 
 
 These were the Nuthnees, or female gipsies, the members 
 doubtless of the pursued man's harem. 
 
 One of them had a sickly babe in her arms, and casting off 
 every shred of apparel as they screamed at us, they tried to 
 distract our attention from the desperate fugitive, and the 
 situation was, for me at all events, a very unpleasant one. 
 They came tearing around me like so many furies. 
 
 I was like Macbeth with the three witches, only more so. 
 They shook their skinny fingers in my face, dancing 
 around me, trying to take hold of me, and it was only by 
 my promptitude of action in laying about me most lustily 
 with my riding whip that I was able to keep them at 
 arm's-length. I learned afterwards that this brazen conduct 
 was a common dodge of these gipsy women; but it was 
 my first experience of their tactics, and I mentally wished 
 it might be my last.
 
 Page 196 
 
 Ruths. 
 
 Vinctnt Brookt, Day <t Son. Lttft. 
 
 gipsv fehieves.
 
 AN EVENTFUL DAT. 197 
 
 The pursued man was quick to avail himself of this sudden 
 diversion in his favour. 
 
 He doubled like a hare, twisted like an eel through the first 
 few villagers who were now close upon him, eluded with cat- 
 like quickness the blows that were aimed at him, and with 
 surprising agility made straight for the thickest part of the 
 undergrowth that skirted the forest. 
 
 I am ashamed to confess that for the first time in my life, 
 my blood being up and my hunting instincts being aroused, 
 I struck a woman. 
 
 The leader of the harridans, a particularly repulsive-looking 
 object, tried to throw herself in my way and encircle me in 
 her loathsome embrace. What I said I am afraid was not 
 exactly a prayer, but hitting her straight between the eyes, I 
 sent her flying, and away I went after the retreating form of 
 the thief as hard as I could lay legs to ground. The poor 
 hunted wretch was now much distressed, for during the 
 scuffle in the village he had received a crack on the sconce, 
 from which the blood was flowing, and his gait was now 
 unsteady, and his quick breath came in short spasmodic 
 gasps. 
 
 The villagers had evidently overshot their quarry, and so 
 far as I could see, he and I were alone. I was gaining upon 
 him, and was almost within reach of him with my hunting 
 whip, when he doubled round the bole of a thick sal tree, 
 and before I could stop, he had again put some distance 
 between us. 
 
 I was determined, however, not to be balked, and being in 
 pretty good wind myself, I made after him again. 
 
 This time his good fortune seemed to desert him, for 
 catching his foot heavily in some trailing jungle plant, he 
 fell prone to the earth, and in a minute I bestrode his 
 recumbent figure. 
 
 I had a strong silk sash as a cummerbund, which I hastily 
 unwound, and was about to pinion him, when the women
 
 198 TENT LIFE IN TIOEELAND. 
 
 again made their appearance on the scene. There were three 
 of them. The old hag had evidently retired. 
 
 The one with the babe in her arms was a plump, 
 matronly body ; the other two were young and exceedingly 
 pretty-looking. 
 
 Indeed, many of these gipsy women are noted for their 
 great physical beauty, but they are as fierce and treacherous 
 as tigers. Their natures are savage and cruel, and the life 
 they lead of continuous theft and depredation, does not tend 
 to make them any the more gentle and pacific. 
 
 The rough-and-ready method I had adopted in dealing 
 with the old hag had evidently shown them that I was not 
 to be dissuaded from my purpose by the usual way they 
 adopted of flinging away their garments already referred to. 
 One of the younger women implored me in the most 
 moving language she could command, to have mercy 
 dohai 1 1 on her man admi and not to take away her 
 bread-winner, piteously appealing to me to think of her 
 and her children. 
 
 They could see no sign of relenting about me. The man 
 lay breathing and panting heavily ; the cries of the advancing 
 villagers approached nearer. 
 
 I fancied a quick glance of intelligence passed between 
 the man and the matronly woman with the babe. 
 
 He seemed to be getting his wind and nerving himself for 
 a fresh effort. 
 
 The woman sprang forward now, and with excited gestures 
 and screaming volubility began to heap imprecations on my 
 head. She poured forth a torrent of galee abuse on my 
 devoted head, and on the heads of all my relatives down to 
 the twenty-seventh generation. Seeing me still relentless 
 for I was now beginning to pinion the man with my sash 
 she seized her child by the two arms, swung it wildly around 
 her head, the hapless infant wailing out a pitiable cry, and 
 then, with all the fury of a madwoman, she struck its little
 
 AN EVENTFUL DAT. 199. 
 
 limbs against a tree, bruising its poor little feet, and making 
 my very heart stop beating with the horror of my indignation. 
 I could not help the impulse, but forgetful of all else, I 
 rushed forward to save the infant, when, with a demoniacal 
 yell of exultation she flung it at me, and, to save it from 
 falling, I caught it in my arms. 
 
 She turned to flee, and I pursued, encumbered with the 
 infant; and not being altogether what you might call a 
 trained nurse, I found it no easy task to capture such a fleet 
 forest Hebe as she proved herself to be. And then all of a 
 sudden came the mortifying reflection that she had completely 
 outwitted me, and that this last desperate episode had been a 
 ruse to enable her husband to escape. 
 
 Turning to look, I found this was really the case. 
 I need not pile up further details. Suffice it to say the 
 rascal escaped. All that was left for the woman got away 
 too was the poor miserable babe. 
 
 On both his little heels were ghastly ragged wounds, where 
 the savage mother had dashed the little creature against the 
 tree. 
 
 The chaukeydar of the village, who now came up, took 
 charge of the poor little thing, but it did not live long. 
 
 The gipsies shifted their camp and left the neighbourhood ; 
 and I subsequently found, on comparing notes with my 
 
 friend S , the Soopole magistrate, to whom I related the 
 
 adventure, that this was not at all an uncommon dodge of 
 these gipsy women when any of the males of the tribe were 
 hard pressed, as had been the case on this occasion. 
 
 This is a bare, unvarnished recital, and such a narrative 
 may do more to give my readers an idea of the savagery and 
 cruelty of paganism than many a long sermon. 
 This, then, is item number four. 
 
 The next experience was destined to be one of those 
 sharp, sudden, and significant contrasts which are peculiarly 
 characteristic of India painful in their suggestiveness,
 
 200 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 startling in their suddenness, and calculated to make even 
 the most thoughtless think and the most critical and 
 unsympathetic hold their peace, when they begin to ponder 
 over the problem of British government in India. 
 
 At the moment of which I am treating, grim famine was 
 stalking over the land, thousands of the peasantry were 
 literally starving. And yet such is the strange, incompre- 
 hensible nature of the ostentatious Oriental, I was about to 
 witness a scene of lavish extravagance and riotous profusion. 
 
 It was now past midday, and little hope remained of 
 my getting to Soopole in time for dinner. But the day's 
 adventures were not yet finished. 
 
 The story of the excited and angry villagers was much as 
 I had surmised. The thief had been surprised in the act of 
 stealing some brass utensils from the courtyard of one of the 
 houses. One of the village women raised the hue and cry, 
 and had been struck down by the robber, and then followed 
 a fierce scuffle, and the incidents I have just described. 
 
 It was now long past tiffin time, and these frequent delays 
 on the road had caused me to miss my dak, where refresh- 
 ments awaited me. And so, after all the excitement and 
 exertion, there was little wonder that I felt most un- 
 romantically hungry. 
 
 The jhet ryot, or head man, gave me very welcome intelli- 
 gence, then, when he informed me that there was a blioj being 
 celebrated in the neighbouring village, and if I would submit 
 myself to his guidance, he would feel honoured at being- 
 permitted to show me the way. 
 
 A bhoj ? you ask. What is that ? 
 
 Well, shortly speaking, a bJioj is simply a feast. The 
 peculiar signification of the term over an ordinary feast is, 
 that at a bhoj the provision is so ample that you are expected 
 to eat to repletion. A bhoj is generally the outcome of the 
 ostentation of some opulent villager, who desires to stand 
 well with the Brahmins, dazzle the susceptibilities of his
 
 AN EVENTFUL DAY. 201 
 
 humbler neighbours, and excite the envy of those who are of 
 his own standing. Sometimes the bhoj is given to the 
 Brahmins in fulfilment of a vow, or to propitiate a deity, or 
 to ensure good fortune in some undertaking, or to show 
 gratitude for the birth of a son and heir, or recovery from a 
 sickness, or the happy termination of a speculation, or the 
 return from an auspicious undertaking, and so on. 
 
 The present bhoj, as I learned, was being given by a wealthy 
 merchant and village banker, in fulfilment of a vow of grati- 
 tude consequent on the birth of a son and heir. To be 
 strictly correct, the giver of the feast was a notorious usurer, 
 and was reputed to have made mints of money out of hoarded 
 grain. 
 
 Taking our way, then, through the forest in company with 
 several of my leading ryots, we were not long in emerging upon 
 a most beautifully situated collection of neat thatched houses, 
 with a small temple in one corner of the hamlet, and a deep 
 mossy well in the centre of a great courtyard or, more properly 
 speaking, market-place, which was shaded by several wide- 
 spreading fig trees. Eound the trees were rude earthen altars 
 or sylvan shrines ; quaint figures of gods and goddesses in 
 rudely shaped pottery were perceptible in groups on every 
 platform; and daubs of red and white pigments splashed 
 around, with withered flowers and faded tinsel ornaments, 
 bespoke something of the local sanctity of the place. It was 
 evident at a glance that the village was en fete. The inhabi- 
 tants were clad in clean raiment. The women peeped at us 
 in dozens from every little enclosure. The children looked 
 oily, sleek, and contented, and ran about in swarms. There 
 were certainly no indications of famine here. 
 
 Numerous groups of what Sydney Smith would have called 
 " oleaginous and saponaceous " Brahmins were collected all 
 around the circle ; and the giver of the feast, surrounded by 
 adulatory friends, beamed complacently from under the shade 
 of a goodly caparisoned shamiana, i.e. canopy.
 
 202. TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 Hearing the clank of my elephant, and being doubtless 
 apprised of my coming by the running footmen who ac- 
 companied our party, there was an immediate commotion in 
 the circle on my advent. 
 
 The fat and jolly old banker came waddling forward to 
 meet me, with many a profound salaam, and gave me a truly 
 Oriental and hospitable welcome to his village. 
 
 The Brahmins vied with each other in the flowery rhetoric 
 of their compliments and the obsequiousness of their genu- 
 flexions. 
 
 The children, clinging to the skirts of the parental garments, 
 gazed up wonderingly with their beautiful round brown eyes 
 at the unwonted appearance of a white man in the midst of 
 their quiet rural surroundings. My elephant, descrying 
 behind the shade of some friendly trees several of his own 
 genus, piped out a shrill query in elephant language as to 
 what was the likelihood of Ids being allowed to participate in 
 the Vhoj, and thus evoked a shrill chorus of elephantic 
 responses, which caused the village cattle to low, the Brah- 
 mins' ponies to snort and neigh, the ragged and mangy curs 
 to howl and yelp, and the tethered goats in the various en- 
 closures to bleat ; and all this medley of sound, with the din 
 and chatter of the excited and festive villagers, and the flood 
 of bright colours from the gay visitors and the many rich 
 Oriental surroundings, formed such a picture as could only be 
 seen in India ; and which, if painted by the magic brush of 
 some gifted artist, would surely be looked upon by our staid, 
 sober, stay-at-home, and shall I say it ? rather unbelieving 
 and unimaginative mediocrities, as something altogether un- 
 natural and impossible. 
 
 At the back of the village, two great trenches at right 
 angles to each other had been dug, not unlike what one sees 
 when he may happen to visit a great military camp, and 
 passing the front line of tents, finds his way to the rear, where 
 the regimental cooking may happen to be carried on.
 
 AN EVENTFUL DAY. 203 
 
 In the trenches, large quantities of glowing logs and redly 
 burning charcoal were giving out a fierce heat. Great 
 chatties of rice were steaming and bubbling with that delight- 
 ful sound always suggestive of pleasant cookery. 
 
 Great metal dekchees, on which the lids were blobbing and 
 dancing as the savoury steam forced them up, and escaped 
 in grateful little jets, which roused one's gastronomic percep- 
 tions to a most acute pitch of anticipation, were the cynosure 
 of the observant eyes of a mob of hungry, expectant, non- 
 descript beggars and cultivators and charcoal-burners and 
 denizens of the forest generally, who had been attracted by 
 the rumour of the bhoj, and who looked forward to having a 
 regular jollification from the debris of the feast, after the 
 invited guests had first partaken. Behind these, in true 
 Oriental fashion, were squatted numbers of the ladies of their 
 respective harems and their hungry progeny ; and the eager 
 glare in their eyes, and the expectant attitude of the poor 
 emaciated bodies, with the wistful, hungry look which one 
 gets accustomed to see in the poor districts in India, was 
 quite sufficient to tell a sad tale of want, hunger, poverty and 
 wretchedness, approaching even to the verge of starvation, 
 mutely suggestive of the straits to which these poor creatures 
 had been reduced by a succession of dry [and unpropitious 
 seasons. 
 
 However, the preparations for the Wwj were proceeding 
 merrily. 
 
 In the dekchees, kid's flesh was simmering, vegetable curries 
 and fish curries were approaching that delicious golden stage 
 when their aroma invades every avenue of sense, and there 
 was a general, subtle, indescribable something, suggestive of 
 feasting, pervading the whole atmosphere, which accentuated 
 my hunger and still further whetted my already sharp-set 
 appetite. 
 
 The giver of the feast was evidently for the nonce no 
 niggard. There must have been fully three-score Brahmins,
 
 204 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 and as many more invited guests who were about to 
 participate in his bounty, and the poor people who had been 
 attracted by the rumour of the feast must have numbered 
 two or three hundred. 
 
 As I alighted from my elephant, I was met by my smiling 
 host, who put a salamee of two rupees into my outstretched 
 hand in token of his feudal submission. 
 
 This I transferred to my mahout 
 
 I was then conducted to a seat under the shamiana, and 
 presently, after being sprinkled with attar of roses, a few 
 spices were served up on a curiously carved metal tray, and 
 then the guests began to seat themselves around, in groups 
 and companies, beneath the shamiana. 
 
 At these feasts, the cooking is invariably done by Brahmins, 
 as of course a Rajpoot, or a high-caste writer, or any 
 respectable high-caste man, would be in danger of losing 
 caste if he partook of food which had been prepared, or even 
 touched, by a man lower in caste than himself. 
 
 But a Brahmin being the highest caste of all, it would be 
 cf course no derogation for any one to eat food prepared by 
 him. 
 
 Indeed this forms one of the great sources of revenue by 
 which the poorer Brahmins manage to eke out a tolerably 
 comfortable existence. They generally have lands which 
 they and their servants cultivate, but the amount of little 
 perquisites which fall to their lot in the course of a year 
 from festivities and social observances of this kind is very 
 considerable. 
 
 The food being now about cooked, two or three brawny 
 attendants, nude to the waist, but with the sacred thread 
 over their shoulders denoting their sacerdotal caste, came 
 forward, each bearing on his shoulder a pile of freshly- 
 gathered, sweet, clean and crisp leaves of the great floating 
 water-lily. These leaves form a dense umbelliferous mass 
 over the surface of the tanks and lagoons which lie like
 
 AN EVENTFUL DAT. 205 
 
 jewels embossed in every nook and angle of the forest country 
 where there is a depression. 
 
 The leaves are gathered by the mullalis, or fishermen caste, 
 and are hawked around the villages whenever any feast of 
 this sort is going on. The leaf itself is about the size of a 
 very large dinner plate, and as it has a little depression at 
 the point of junction with the stem, it forms in itself quite a 
 natural and certainly graceful dining plate. 
 
 To each seated visitor one or two of these leaves were now 
 distributed, and then the steaming pots of rice, each grain 
 beautifully plump and pearly, and separated from its neigh- 
 bour, were brought up, and handfuls not spoonfuls, but 
 handfuls were ladled out with pleasing impartiality to every 
 squatting and expectant guest. 
 
 Behind the rice distributors came others apportioning the 
 goats' flesh and the curries. 
 
 On every leaf a little pile of pearly rice was flanked by a 
 steaming mess of curry, and a little mound of smoking meat 
 or fish. 
 
 Next came a distribution of various masalaJis and achar 
 that is, chutnees, condiments, and pickles. 
 
 But not content with this promiscuous mixture, your 
 gastronomic ideas would have received a rude shock had you 
 seen what next was added to the miscellaneous provision. 
 
 What was that, think you ? 
 
 Neither more nor less than a good round handful vijaggree, 
 or very coarse native sugar. But this was not all. 
 
 It was going to be a rare bhoj, and no mistake. For now, 
 in the middle of the leaf, where the stalk had been cut off as 
 I have described, one more addition was made by another 
 attendant who flopped down as the crowning chef d'oeuvre a 
 dripping handful of rich, luscious, clotted cream, or curdled 
 milk, which is looked upon as a great delicacy by the natives, 
 and goes by the name of dahee or dhyrc. 
 
 But these were only the lighter parts of the feast, what
 
 206 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 a Scotchman would call the kickshaws. These were only 
 intended to be the toothsome accompaniments to the more 
 solid viand which was next served out. 
 
 This took the form of enormous barley meal and flour 
 chupattees. 
 
 Eather leathery these latter, it must be confessed, but 
 savoury withal, as they had been well fried in a plentiful 
 allowance of boiling ghee or clarified butter. 
 
 Shade of Epicurus ! can you fancy the repast ? And yet it 
 would have done your heart good to have seen the zest with 
 which the heterogeneous mass of comestibles was consumed, 
 and the celerity with which it disappeared. 
 
 The capacity of some of the guests seemed to be infinite. 
 
 The famous feats of the porridge-eating Cornishman, Jack 
 the Giant Killer, would have been completely put in the 
 shade by the performances of some of the participants at this 
 famous bhoj. 
 
 Several greedy fellows I noticed, not content with stuffing 
 themselves till they emulated, nay exceeded, the performances 
 of the most absorbent boa-constrictor in the neighbouring 
 forest, dexterously transferred several chupattees from the 
 hands of the hospitable dispensers, and succeeded, as they 
 thought unseen, in secreting these beneath that portion of 
 their anatomy which was nearest the ground. 
 
 One would have thought they intended, like an old hen, to 
 brood over their chupattees and hatch out a new lot. 
 
 But the cunning rascals were intent on providing for the 
 inevitable time when hunger would again reassert itself. 
 
 So quickly watching for an opportunity when they thought 
 no one was looking, they slipped the chupattees out from 
 beneath them, and secreted them in the folds of their flowing 
 robes behind their backs. 
 
 And so it is that human nature asserts itself much in the 
 same way all the world over, whether it be a Sunday-school 
 feast in Great Britain or a bhoj in Pagan Hindostan. Next
 
 AN EVENTFUL DAY. 207 
 
 came a distribution of quantities of mittai or sweetmeats, 
 after which pan sooparce that is, prepared betel-nut, carda- 
 moms and other spices were handed round. All this terrific 
 gorging had been going on to the accompaniment of the 
 deafening brattling and clanging of several tom-tom players, 
 horn-playing demons, and other musicians (?), whose combined 
 efforts formed a pandemonium of sound which might have 
 driven Apollyon himself crazy. Having, however, satisfied 
 my hunger, although I certainly did not partake of the 
 miscellaneous olla podrida I have described, I did not wait 
 for the hungry onslaught of the poor half-starved, expectant 
 outsiders, but as I was anxious to get into Soopole before 
 nightfall, I made my salaam to my hospitable and delighted 
 entertainer, and starting once more on my so often interrupted 
 journey, made up for lost time by hurrying on across country, 
 and I need not weary the reader by more minutely recounting 
 the rest of the adventures which befell me on this memorable 
 day of crowded incident. 
 
 Suffice it to say, that after ploughing my way through 
 dense jungle tracts, and floundering through many a 
 treacherous quagmire, I arrived, weary and sore from the 
 rough jolting of this prolonged journey, safely at Soopole, 
 where I received a hearty welcome from the deputy 
 magistrate and his dear little wife, and after a bath, some 
 supper, and a good hot whisky toddy, and a humorous 
 narration of the day's incidents, I was soon safely asleep 
 in bed. 
 
 . M. C BAMjffi, 
 M.D. (Harv'd.) 
 CITY HEALTH DEPT. 
 
 108 ANGELES. CALIF,
 
 208 TENT LIFE IN TIG EEL AND. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 FAMINE AND FIGHTING. 
 
 Early spring in India "The Black District" Desperate straits One 
 ghastly group Relief works Conservatism of natives The old easy- 
 going style of work A zealous young reformer Glowing visions 
 Wheelbarrow reform Irritating Explaining Theory Actual 
 practice Back to the old style The coolies Sad scenes Poor 
 suffering humanity The terrible hunger Back to Hoolas The seed 
 industry Native dodgery Tricks and tests of the seed trade Mode 
 of contract Fluctuations of the market A slippery neighbour News 
 of a meditated looting expedition The Golail Preparing for a fight 
 Call out the levies Disposition of our forces News of the raiders 
 Confronting the robbers Their insolent audacity A knock-down 
 blow " Wigs on the green '' A regular ruction " Loot " and " Iny 
 on " - The tide of battle Victory ! 
 
 NEXT day broke crisp and clear, one of the lovely, almost 
 perfect days of early spring in India, when a soft breeze 
 gently stirs the heavy masses of the dark mango groves, 
 and sets the spear-pointed leaves of each waving feathery 
 bamboo softly whispering to its neighbour. 
 
 Light cirrhus clouds fleck the sky, the dew gleams on every 
 tiny leaf as if Khrishna Jee had himself passed during the 
 night with his train of ten thousand sportive maidens and had 
 scattered pearls on each side as they passed. The sun's heat 
 is tempered by the breeze, the young crops, if it is a good 
 season, are shooting up their delicate olive-green blades, " o'er 
 all the wold," everything is balmy and fresh and redolent 
 of the sweet springtide, and at such a time India is certainly 
 a delightful place to dwell in. 
 
 Would that it could be always Spring! But alas! the
 
 FAMINE AND FIGHTING. 209 
 
 fierce struggle for existence, the desperate disparity between 
 classes, the awful burden of frail humanity, forces itself 
 upon the serious attention of even the most frivolous ; and 
 one has but to go through the busy street of even a small 
 rural village to find ample evidences that sin and suffering 
 and man's depravity are not the mere figments of the theo- 
 logian's brain, but are hard, staring, palpable realities. But 
 a truce to trite moralisings. 
 
 To the north of Soopole and between Durbhunga and the 
 Terai, the famine had been so severe, and to such an extent 
 had the dearth spread, that all over the country-side the 
 villagers, speaking to each other, characterised the district as 
 the " Black District." 
 
 For nearly twelve months no rain had fallen, the cold 
 weather crops of the previous year had long ago been con- 
 sumed ; the early rice crop had been a failure ; the late rice, 
 on account of the drought, had not even been sown, and the 
 seed corn for the winter crop had been eaten. 
 
 To such dire straits were the people reduced, that even the 
 rigid bands of caste had been loosened, and it was no un- 
 common thing to see crowds of hollow-cheeked villagers 
 surrounding the quarters and houses of the wealthier classes, 
 piteously begging for even the sweepings of the granaries ; and 
 I could tell harrowing tales of the dire straits to which the 
 poor people were reduced by the famine which had settled 
 upon the land. 
 
 Snakes, field rats and mice, even grasshoppers, were 
 greedily eaten by the lower castes, wherever they could be 
 procured. Proud Eajputs and erstwhile well-to-do trades- 
 men battled fiercely with each other for possession of some 
 broken roots and carrots which had been left in the field near 
 one of my outworks. 
 
 In one village near the Baugmuttec, one of my friends came 
 upon a horrible and ghastly group of seventeen corpses, all 
 huddled together 'neath a Bhair tree, and consisting of 
 
 p
 
 210 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 evidently the total sum of four generations of one family, 
 who had elected, in the dumb despairing apathy of Oriental 
 fatalism, thus to die together. 
 
 There was the old Dada and Dadee, the decrepit grandfather 
 and grandmother of the group ; then their once lusty son, 
 with his poor wife and their children, and two or three tiny 
 little forms, withered and shrivelled up out of all semblance to 
 humanity, black with famine and exposure, that had been 
 last born into the world. 
 
 All the bodies were each simply a desiccated bag of bones 
 held together by blackened parchment. 
 
 Each poor corpse was so shrivelled and attenuated that it 
 could have been spanned within the compass of one's finger 
 and thumb, between the stomach and the backbone. 
 
 There were not many such horrible sights as these, thanks 
 to the noble efforts made by the Indian Government to relieve 
 distress, but in former famines such sights were not at all 
 uncommon, and the victims of these awful visitations might 
 have been numbered by the ten thousand. 
 
 Relief works had been started near Soopole and were in 
 full swing at the time I speak of. These consisted of embank- 
 ments to restrain the flood waters of the river, and of roads 
 connecting certain points, which would help to bear traffic in 
 support of the projected Tirhoot railway, and upon these relief 
 works teeming thousands of half-starved villagers had been 
 drafted from the most famine-afflicted portions of the pro- 
 vinces, and a whole army of engineers and civil officers of 
 various grades were engaged upon the work of supervision, 
 distribution of famine relief, and in various other duties and 
 capacities. 
 
 One curious illustration of the conservatism of the native 
 character was told me by one of the relief officers. It is 
 perhaps worthy of record. The usual modus operandi of a 
 village family engaged on embankment work was this : the 
 lord and master, armed with a Kodalie or cutting hoe, would
 
 FAMINE AND FIGHTING. 211 
 
 fill the little earthen basket carried by each of his wives and 
 children, as they bore it towards him. Two or three cuts 
 of the hoe, done in very leisurely fashion, would suffice to 
 put two or three pounds' weight of mould into these aforesaid 
 little bamboo baskets. 
 
 Then when the tokree or basket was filled, the Kodalie 
 would be thrown down, and the workman, stooping with 
 many a weary groan and with the utmost deliberation, would, 
 in unison with his wife or child, the bearer of the burden, lift, 
 the tokree with its little pile of mud or mould on to the head 
 of such assistant. 
 
 She, if it was a woman, would then in the same leisurely 
 manner glide gracefully away to the embankment, and with 
 a nod as if she was pouring out a libation to mother earth, 
 would deposit her little contribution to the slowly growing, 
 mound. 
 
 It was for all the world in effect much like a long stream 
 of two-legged ants incessantly passing and repassing, in 
 seemingly aimless fashion, from all points of the plain; but 
 such was the assiduity of these poor creatures and the power 
 of numbers, that small and seemingly insignificant as the 
 individual contributions were, yet at the end of the day a 
 large addition would be made to the ever-growing bulk of the 
 embankment. Here and there on the earthwork cuttings 
 little mounds were left, just as English navvies leave them on 
 railway works, and these are called ShaJiee or SakJm i.e. a 
 witness to show the depth of the cutting. 
 
 The women who carry the little baskets wear a little pad 
 of plaited straw or grass on their heads to ease the pressure 
 of their load. 
 
 But it really is most whimsical to see the deliberation 
 that is evinced, and the miserable little handfuls of stuff 
 that are carried in this slow and costly fashion. One does 
 not know whether to swear or groan. Most sahibs do both, 
 freely. 
 
 p 2
 
 212 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 One energetic young fellow, who had been engaged in 
 engineering work under very different circumstances over- 
 looking English navvies in fact felt the zeal of a reformer 
 stirring within him, and, quite unmindful of the good-natured 
 chaff of his superior officer, who had had considerable ex- 
 perience of the unprogressive Oriental mind, he determined 
 to try to introduce the methods of the English navvy, and see 
 if he could not effect some reform upon this old, primitive, 
 and certainly ridiculous -looking custom. 
 
 He tried to indoctrinate some of his native underlings with 
 a portion of his own fiery youthful zeal. He went to an 
 infinite amount of trouble to lay down planks from the 
 cutting of the embankment, and then, mindful of the slight 
 frames of his coolie workers, he got several miniature English 
 wheelbarrows made, weighing really not much more than 
 some twenty pounds or so ; they were made of light wood, 
 were nicely finished, and were quite suited to the capacity 
 of the weak, under-fed, small-boned natives to whom he 
 wished to teach their use. 
 
 He had so often in the mess-tent dogmatised on his 
 favourite theory, that the natives only w r anted teaching and 
 demonstration, to do work equal in degree to that of the 
 English navvy, that his superior officer good-naturedly chal- 
 lenged him to put his theory to the test, and this was the 
 result. He had taken a deal of care and trouble to get his 
 wheelbarrows made, he had adapted them as he thought 
 beautifully to the capacity of the human machines he had to 
 work with, and after a deal of explanation to his laboos, or 
 overseers, he got a picked gang one morning to attempt the 
 new-fangled wheelbarrow innovation. 
 
 The taboos in most mellifluous and persuasive accents 
 explained to the coolies the method of working the new 
 machines. 
 
 They clearly demonstrated to the young officer's complete 
 satisfaction that the work would be more effective, if not
 
 FAMINE AND FIGHTING. 213 
 
 actually easier, than the old-fashioned method of carrying 
 rnud in baskets. 
 
 The action of the wheel was explained, the reduction of 
 friction by impelling said wheel on the plane of the prepared 
 planks was carefully dwelt upon, and then the brawny 
 Englishman, to give a practical demonstration, filled the first 
 barrow himself, wheeled it easily along the planks, tumbled 
 it over the end of the embankment with a vigorous and 
 triumphant twist, as much as to say " EiJ/^/ea " ! ! " There ! I 
 have solved the problem of public works construction ; the 
 practical methods of the West have been wedded to the 
 patient and abundant labour of the East, and now public 
 works will go ahead with a rapidity and an economy which 
 will change the whole administration of the mighty depart- 
 ment which has charge of the public works of this great 
 Empire ! ! " 
 
 Yes ! the theory was perfect, but alas for the practice ! So 
 long as the zealous young officer himself remained as over- 
 looker, things went pretty well. Certainly it was a little 
 disappointing to find that no less than three or four coolies 
 were required to fill the barrow with any approach to expedi- 
 tion. Then the man who wheeled it, light as it was, had a 
 rather suspicious shakiness about the legs, and an unfortunate 
 tendency to sit down every few yards and squat in the old 
 ancestral Oriental fashion, or else awkwardly to overturn the 
 load at the wrong time and in the wrong place. 
 
 The intervals for a long rest, during which the tobacco and 
 lime were carefully triturated in the palm of the hand, and 
 then handed round as a sort of fraternal refreshment, were 
 also rather frequent. 
 
 But what did that matter ? 
 
 A beginning had been made at all events ! 
 
 They would soon get into the way of filling and wheeling 
 and emptying the barrow with greater precision and rapidity ; 
 and in any case he had practically demonstrated his theory to
 
 214 TENT LIFE IN TIG EEL AND. 
 
 be correct that it only wanted patience and perseverance to 
 make good English navvies out of half-starved Hindoo village 
 coolies. 
 
 Visions of promotion flitted before his mental eye. 
 
 He pictured to himself a vast establishment for the manu- 
 facture of a new and improved Oriental wheelbarrow for 
 which he might get the contract. 
 
 And so, after setting several of the wheelbarrows at work, 
 he departed to eat his tiffin with a contented mind, and with 
 that inward glow which always accompanies the successful 
 inauguration of any great and lasting reform. 
 
 Alas ! alas ! how inadequately had he gauged the prece- 
 dents of caste methods the irremediable conservatism of 
 Oriental habit ! 
 
 No sooner had he left, than the baboo retired to the shade 
 of the nearest tree, to console himself with the seductive 
 music of his fragrant hubble-bubble. 
 
 The coolies, wishing to carry out the sahib's instructions, 
 but weary already of the strange exertion of unwonted 
 muscles, thought they would make a compromise, and while 
 using the nya kul i.e. the new machine of the sahib, would 
 do so in the ancient fashion observed by their ancestors for 
 hundreds of generations back. 
 
 And so it was that when the young officer came down to 
 the works with quite a number of burra saliibs, after tiffin, 
 they saw the grand new wheelbarrows that were to effect 
 such a revolution in the Public Works Department, each with 
 its wheel carefully taken off and laid on one side, and while 
 one coolie carefully filled the barrow with little dabs of earth 
 from his Kodalic in the old antique style, the other four, 
 squatted alongside, chewing tobacco and indulging in 
 pleasant gossip till the nya kul was filled, after which they 
 would call in the aid of four or five others, who had all to 
 leave their work, and by the combined efforts of the eight or 
 nine, the little wheelbarrow was lifted on to the heads of the
 
 FAMINE AND FIGHTING. 215 
 
 four, who then had a very funereal pause, marched solemnly 
 along to the edge of the embankment, and there carefully 
 deposited their microscopic contribution to the earth- work, in 
 regular old orthodox style. You can imagine the chaff that 
 ensued ! That young officer is now a grey-haired old veteran, 
 and has done good service many a time and oft since then, 
 but wheelbarrows are not yet introduced to any large extent 
 in India, and he has been quite content to work on in the old 
 patient way. 
 
 - I merely give this as a somewhat humorous illustration of 
 the unchangeableness of native customs. The story is a true 
 one. 
 
 Well, I was anxious, as I had been nominated by Govern- 
 ment as one of the local committee on the relief works, to see 
 what was being done at Soopole. 
 
 I had to consult with the magistrate and local engineer, 
 Mr. Handley, who, strange to say, is now, even while I write, 
 in the service of the New South Wales Government, having 
 like myself succumbed to the Indian climate, and come down 
 to gain a new lease of health in this salubrious land of the 
 Eucalyptus. 
 
 Well, getting on our horses, we rode down to the coolie 
 lines, and after going all over the works, which were very 
 extensive, and seeing the various operations, we came back to 
 preside over the distribution of cooked food prepared daily for 
 the more necessitous cases that the burden of the famine had 
 thrown upon the hands of the authorities. 
 
 There is at all times a vast army of helpless, suffering 
 creatures in an Indian district, who are beholden to the 
 charity of well-to-do neighbours for their very subsistence. 
 
 In every village, at every ferry, near every bazaar, 'neath 
 almost every shady grove, and at every place where two roads 
 meet, there is sure to be some miserable, palsied, deformed, 
 degraded beggar, piteously appealing to the charity of the 
 passer-by, and of course these, what might be called per-
 
 216 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 manent and professional beggars or objects of charity, had 
 been attracted to the relief works from all quarters. 
 
 But besides these were scores of poor emaciated aged men 
 and women, scarcely able to totter, owing to their weakness ; 
 dozens of attenuated, pallid-looking children with a glazed 
 skin, swollen joints, and shrunken limbs, and the awful 
 hungry look which marks the famine-stricken their heads 
 seeming out of all proportion to the poor, wasted, parchment- 
 covered bodies ; ghastly objects indeed they were, and they 
 all moved with such a listless, objectless gait, all had the 
 same piping, quavering, querulous cry, all looked at one with 
 a horrible pathetic pleading look which spoke of absolute hope- 
 lessness, that it was a terrible ordeal to have to pass down the 
 long ranks and see the awful sum of unspeakable misery, the 
 intense depth of abject wretchedness, and poverty, and 
 hunger, which famine means in India. It was bad enough 
 to come across occasionally in one's peregrinations, such an 
 object as is described by Arnold 
 
 " A wretch in rags, haggard and foul 
 An old old man, whose shrivelled skin, sun-tanned, 
 Clung like a beast's hide to his fleshless bones ; 
 Bent was his back with load of many days 
 His eye-pits, red with rust of ancient tears 
 His dim orbs blear with rheum ; his toothless jaws 
 Wagging with palsy, and the fright to see 
 So many and such joy. One skinny hand 
 Clutched a worn staff to prop his quavering limbs ; 
 And one was pressed upon the ridge of ribs, 
 Whence came, in gasps, the heavy painful breath. 
 ' Alms ! ' moaned he, ' give, good people, for I die 
 To-morrow or the next day ! ' Then the cough 
 Choked him, but still he stretched his palm and stood 
 Blinking and groaning 'mid his spasms." 
 
 To see such an one occasionally, I say, and it is a common 
 sight, is bad enough; but to see such a sight multiplied 
 many-fold was my experience on that never-to-be-forgotten 
 day, and alas ! it was a sight that might have been seen at 
 many centres of relief work during that dreadful famine year.
 
 FAMINE AND FIGHTING. 217 
 
 It was painful to see with what greedy avidity they 
 struggled for the boiled rice, like wild beasts, and how they 
 almost tumbled over each other in their eagerness to get a 
 little pittance more. It was a dreadful sight ! 
 
 The recollection of those gaunt, cadaverous, living skeletons, 
 haunted me for many a day, and yet one could not help a 
 thrill of patriotic pride at the thought, that but for our 
 presence in the country as rulers, under the compulsion of 
 Christian compassion, countless thousands whose lives were 
 saved must have perished like dumb starved cattle. 
 
 I spent a day or two at Soopole in making full inquiries 
 as to the working of the relief system, getting my instructions 
 for minor works to be carried out in some of my own out- 
 lying villages where the pressure of want was being felt, 
 although not nearly so much, or so intense in degree as in 
 Tirhoot. 
 
 I got back to Hoolas without further adventure, and 
 certainly had a tamer ending to this visit than to my 
 previous one. 
 
 But I must tell you about that. 
 
 ***** 
 
 To give some graphic idea of the lawlessness of the villa- 
 gers and the state of strife that had been the rule between 
 rival factories during the busy competition of an excited seed 
 market, I may narrate an account of a regular pitched battle 
 which had caused me hurriedly to leave Soopole some months 
 before the time of which I have just been speaking. The 
 affair happened in this way. 
 
 I had gone to Soopole to look after some rent cases, which 
 had required the attendance of most of my head men and a 
 large number of my chief executive servants, and while 
 quietly enjoying the hospitality of my friend Handley, I 
 received news of an intended attack on an outlying seed 
 depot of my factory. 
 
 At that time I had at Hoolas (my largest depot for the
 
 218 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 seed trade, which was carried on by the factory in conjunction 
 with indigo manufacture proper) a smart little fellow named 
 
 D , whose duty it was to give out advances to cultivators 
 
 who would contract to supply so much indigo seed at a price 
 which was mutually determined upon. 
 
 I had on behalf of the factory made large contracts with 
 Calcutta merchants, with planters in Lower Bengal, and in 
 various other planting districts, to supply them with their 
 annual requirements of seed, and if our local seed crop was a 
 bountiful one, we also purchased largely in the bazaars, and 
 generally the margin between the price we paid for it on the 
 spot, and our contract price for delivery, resulted in a very 
 handsome profit. 
 
 If, however, the local crop failed, or was a partial failure, 
 the situation became somewhat complicated, and the outlook 
 not so rosy. 
 
 The native seed merchants, and the cultivators themselves, 
 were just as quick to recognise the fluctuations of the seed 
 market as I was. They could generally pretty well guess 
 Avhat amount of contracts I had made, and they would have 
 recourse to every dodge known to the subtle Oriental intellect, 
 to force prices up in the local mart, and as there were other 
 dealers, both native and half-caste in the trade, the natural 
 competition to supply large contracts from a possible short 
 crop would sometimes send up prices to almost a fabulous 
 extent. 
 
 When the crop was a full one, there was no trouble 
 supplies would come in freely, natives would in fact beseech 
 you to buy from them ; and as my employers were the Agra 
 Banking Company, I generally had the best of it in a 
 plenteous season, because I always had a command of ready 
 money. 
 
 It so happened that this year the crop was a very short one. 
 I had, as I have said, made large contracts in anticipation 
 of a good crop, and I had had considerable difficulty in getting
 
 FAMINE AND FIGHTING. 219 
 
 the cultivators who had contracted to supply me, to keep 
 their engagements. 
 
 All sorts of tricky practices are indulged in when such a 
 conjunction of affairs arises, and the present was no exception 
 to the general rule. Old worthless seed that may have lost 
 its germinating power is furbished up, dried and mixed with 
 a little turmeric and indigo dust, and is then rapidly revolved 
 in barrels or canvas bags, to put a nice polish on it. 
 
 Large admixtures of worthless forest seeds are used to 
 increase bulk, and it requires considerable smartness and 
 knowledge of native character to run a seed depot at such a 
 time. 
 
 We have various tests for seed. The most common of 
 course is the magnifying-glass. We have the water test 
 that is, heavy seed will generally sink, while light seed will 
 float ; and according as the sample answers the test, so do we 
 deduct the proportion from the bulk. To test artificially 
 coloured seed, we generally put a spoonful in a white linen 
 handkerchief, wet it and rub it gently in the palm of the hand, 
 when of course the colouring matter comes out on the white 
 linen. 
 
 Such samples are invariably rejected by an honest 
 dealer. 
 
 These are all tricks which one soon gets accustomed to and 
 can cope with, but things are not so easy when the season 
 has advanced and customers down south are clamouring for 
 their supplies. The quantities you rely on getting from your 
 cultivators come in very tardily, and you scour the country 
 with your peons and messengers, to force those who have 
 contracted with you to bring in their quota. 
 
 These in turn make all sorts of excuses. 
 
 Sometimes you have to take the law into your own hands, 
 and send out gangs of coolies to cut the crop vi et armis, and 
 bring it in perforce to your own threshing-floor. 
 
 Not unfrequently you will find an assamee has taken
 
 220 TENT LIFE IN TIOEBLAND. 
 
 advances from a rival seed merchant, and while he, having 
 spent the money, feels quite secure, lie quietly chuckles over 
 his part of the spoil, and leaves you and your rival to fight 
 together for the possession of the crop. 
 
 It is indeed a busy and an anxious time. 
 
 Your customer at a distance has no sympathy with you 
 and your troubles ; the very existence of his factory depends 
 upon his getting the seed in time to sow the crop ; you are 
 bound down by heavy penalties to supply certain quantities 
 within a given period ; an error of judgment on your part in 
 delaying to buy, in hopes that the market may fall, may be 
 fatal ; as some more astute or enterprising dealer may have 
 meanwhile stepped in and swept the whole crop from the 
 district 
 
 Now on the present occasion my smart little assistant, 
 D , had managed to make very favourable local contracts. 
 
 In fact, nearly all the cultivation of the surrounding district 
 had been secured under advances to the Hoolas factory. 
 
 A neighbouring dealer, rather a slippery customer, although 
 professing to be a great friend of mine, had, I knew, made 
 large delivery contracts, but being in want of ready cash, he 
 had omitted to give advances, and at the critical moment 
 found himself with short supplies ; and I had already acted 
 the part of a good neighbour to him, by sending him large 
 quantities which I could spare, and on which of course I 
 might have made a good profit elsewhere. 
 
 Seeing the market going up, however, I had made a few 
 other contracts, and could not now afford to let him have any 
 more seed. 
 
 Many of my small sub-contractors, and some of the leading 
 cultivators, had held back portions of what was still due to 
 me under my advances, and the usual higgling and diplomatic 
 bargaining was of course going on. 
 
 The condition of my rival in the trade, if I may so call 
 him, was becoming desperate, and so I was not altogether
 
 FAMINE AND FIGHTING. 221 
 
 taken by surprise when I received an urgent message from 
 my young assistant to hurry back at once, as he had heard 
 that a raid was about to be made upon a fine large store of 
 stacked seed plant, upon which I had made advances, and 
 which was garnered up on the threshing-floor of a rich 
 villager who owed me money, and located at some little 
 distance from the Hoolas outwork. 
 
 The information went on to say that undoubtedly the 
 nominal proprietor of the stuff had been bought over not to 
 very vigorously defend his property, but to make some little 
 show of resistance, and allow the stuff to be carried away. 
 There was no doubt, in fact, that it was " a put-up job," the 
 result of which, if successfully carried out, would be that I 
 would possibly lose my advances, lose a very valuable supply 
 of seed, upon which I depended to fulfil my contracts, and of 
 course lose a very handsome profit which was attached to the 
 completion of my transactions. 
 
 There was no time for hesitation. 
 
 The details received by me were quite sufficient to enable 
 me to resolve on my course, and, like a general preparing for 
 a campaign, I sent in instructions by two or three mounted 
 messengers to tell D what to do. 
 
 I resolved, if I could, to outwit the scheming rascality of 
 my fair-seeming neighbour, and give him a " Eoland for his 
 Oliver." 
 
 We had our spies and our paid emissaries all over the 
 district. 
 
 It was part of my policy to keep always a set of clever 
 unscrupulous rascals, for I can call them nothing else, in my 
 pay. 
 
 I was forced to do this in self-defence, and I was generally 
 kept pretty well informed of every dodge that was on the 
 tapis in my wide and lawless Deliaat. 
 
 Now in view of some such contingency as had just arisen, 
 I had been carefully getting together the nucleus of a light
 
 222 TENT LIFE IN TIOEELAND. 
 
 jungle artillery, in the persons of some dozen or more 
 golailclices. 
 
 These were all smart active fellows, perfect adepts in the 
 use of the golail. 
 
 The golail is a strong bamboo pellet bow, in the middle of 
 the arc of which, is a little web stretched between two strands 
 of the strong gut of which the string is composed. 
 
 The gut is, in fact, doubled in the centre, stretched apart 
 with two little bits of bamboo and interlaced, so as to make a 
 little mesh or net. 
 
 Hard mud pellets, dried in the sun, are then prepared, and 
 an expert marksman with the golail can make it very " hot " 
 for anyone who may chance to come against him unarmed 
 with a similar weapon. 
 
 In fact, a man with a golail and a good supply of pellets, 
 could keep up such a discharge that he could almost kill 
 anyone who tried to approach him. 
 
 I have myself killed a squirrel at eighty yards with one of 
 these primitive weapons, and in the hands of an expert 
 marksman they are indeed very dangerous and even deadly. 
 
 Now I knew pretty well that if the stuff was looted, it 
 would be taken to the threshing-floor of a relative of the 
 owner, in a neighbouring village, by nam6 Petumber Jha. 
 
 As he was a sub-contractor under my scheming rival, and 
 had already collected a large amount of plant, some of it by 
 fair means, and some by methods which were of the shadiest 
 character, I determined at once to allow the proposed loot to 
 be consummated, and to have ready a good ambush, and a 
 numerically stronger force than that which was likely to be 
 brought against me, so that I could swoop down in my turn 
 and recover the stolen property, and take as much of the 
 other stuff away also, as my fellows could conveniently carry 
 off. 
 
 The old Borderer's law, in fact. 
 
 I kept my own counsel, but made sufficient dispositions to
 
 FAMINE AND FIGHTING. 223 
 
 give an inkling of what I intended, to one or two cunning 
 trusty fellows whom I could rely on, and who were quite 
 delighted at the prospect of having a game at " turning the 
 tables." 
 
 And so I started for Hoolas. 
 
 I should explain that these men to whom I have just 
 referred had accompanied me to Soopole, they being witnesses 
 in a case which had been brought before Mr. Smith, the 
 magistrate, concerning payment of some rents. 
 
 I sent them off at once on horseback, to make certain 
 arrangements, the carrying out of which I had entrusted to 
 them, and then late in the afternoon I bade adieu to my 
 friends, and started back, determined to make a night march 
 of it and get into Hoolas before dawn. 
 
 It is also necessary to explain that the seed crop is cut in 
 the fields while the pods are still scarcely pucca, that is, 
 before the last ripening stage is reached. As with indigo, so 
 with nearly all the seed crops of India ; when the pods are 
 fully ripe, they open, and if not garnered before that last stage 
 is reached, the whole of the crop would be lost, as the seed 
 would fall to the ground. 
 
 Sometimes the native women, when gathering the crop, will 
 strip great handfuls of the pods off the stalks, and bury them 
 in the field, leaving certain marks by which they can 
 afterwards distinguish the spot. 
 
 This is done only when the market has gone up, and is one 
 of the ingenious ways in which the unsophisticated ryot seeks 
 to evade the due fulfilment of a contract. When the plant 
 is cut, it is bound in bundles and carried on the heads of 
 coolies to the Kaveehan or threshing-floor, where it is piled up 
 in circular heaps to be threshed out, winnowed, cleaned, and 
 packed as leisure permits. 
 
 My emissaries throughout the district had been so busy in 
 buying up and getting in growing crop, that much of it was 
 stacked in this fashion at various centres, waiting to be
 
 224 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 brought into the head depot, where I had a busy staff of men 
 at work, threshing, cleaning, bagging, and transporting the 
 seed to the head factory as fast as I could get it ready. 
 
 The reader will now, therefore, see that it was an object of 
 some importance for my rival to get possession of enough 
 seed to enable him to fulfil his contracts, and thus avoid a 
 heavy pecuniary loss. 
 
 I regret this long explanation, but it is absolutely necessary 
 to enable the reader to understand what followed. 
 
 I got into Hoolas about three o'clock in the morning. I 
 
 found young D up, waiting my arrival, and in a state of 
 
 fearful excitement. 
 
 He told me that he had been expecting all night to hear 
 that the attack had been already made by Sheik Manoola, 
 who was the ringleader in the nefarious scheme. But the 
 information he gave me was quite sufficient to confirm all my 
 surmisings, that the plan was in reality got up by my 
 neighbour, that he was in desperate straits for seed, and that 
 it was pretty certain this scoundrel, Sheik Manoola, who was 
 a Mussulman Budmasli, often employed by my neighbour to 
 carry out some truculent design, would stick at nothing to 
 carry out his master's orders. The man against whose 
 threshing-floor the attack was likely to be directed, was a 
 cunning, plausible fellow by the name of Moonee Lall Jha, 
 and I knew perfectly well that any attempt he would make 
 to defend what was practically my property would be only a 
 bogus one. Luckily for me I had been well served, and the 
 other side had not got KlmUber of my return. 
 
 Two or three of my old Tirhoot servants, however, upon 
 whose fidelity I could implicitly rely, gave me such informa- 
 tion as quite to convince me that my first surmise had been 
 the correct one, and I accordingly got out all my best 
 pyadas, i.e. fighting men, and sent them circuitously away, 
 with orders to station themselves in a small mango grove, 
 close to Petumber Jha's house and threshing-floor. They
 
 FAMINE AND FIGHTING. 225 
 
 were to wait there until they saw our elephants ; and D 
 
 would come round on horseback and take command when the 
 moment for action would have arrived. 
 
 I had three other elephants at the time, which, with my 
 old hunting elephant " Jorrocks," made an available squadron, 
 of what I might call heavy Oriental cavalry. I got my 
 golail fellows on the elephants well supplied with pellets, and 
 I started them off to be in readiness to swoop down and act 
 in concert with my ambushed pyadas to cover our retreat. 
 All this of course took some time. 
 
 We took breakfast and were waiting for events to develop 
 themselves, when presently, one after the other, in came my 
 messengers to tell me that they had got a good force of 
 reliable friends of the factory from the various well-affected 
 villages, and they had quite an army of coolies, accustomed 
 to do my weeding, and cleaning, and other factory work, who 
 were ready to go anywhere, and do anything, while the 
 promise of a double allowance of pice, and a feast into the 
 bargain, if my plan turned out successfully, made them all 
 eager for the performance of whatever they might be called 
 upon to do. 
 
 I now felt pretty easy in my mind. 
 
 If the attack did take place, as I had every reason to 
 believe it would, from the minute information given to me, 
 I felt quite satisfied that I could beat my enemies at their 
 own game. 
 
 And if the attack did not take place, I had made up my 
 mind to at once clear off every stem of plant from Moonee 
 Lall Jha's KureeJian and bring it into Hoolas. So I felt 
 " equal to either fortune." 
 
 Just as we were about to start, up came one of Moonee 
 Lall Jha's young men, in a state of well-simulated excitement 
 and indignation, to tell me that Sheik Manoola, with a band of 
 ludmashis, had just swept down at his master's place, had 
 beaten off all the retainers, and he pointed to some little 
 
 Q
 
 226 TENT LIFE IN TIG EEL AND. 
 
 marks on his back and shoulders, which he said were severe 
 bruises he had received while fighting valiantly in defence of 
 his master's and my property. He seemed a little discon- 
 certed at first, when he found I had so unexpectedly 
 returned. The fellow was an artist in his way, and to hear 
 him speak, one would have thought that he had himself 
 performed prodigious feats of valour ; but the gist of his tale 
 was to the^ffect that the robbers were in over-powering force, 
 and had managed to beat off all the defence Moonee Lall 
 could bring to bear against them, and, in a word, everything 
 had just happened as I had foreseen. It was now my time for 
 action, so I tied up the messenger, and then we hurried off 
 with our men down by the side of the lake ; through a 
 small village ; in amongst a lot of growing sugar-cane ; and 
 through a wild jungle patch of neglected mango groves, and 
 came out at the back of Petumber Jha's haree (that is the 
 orchards, plantain groves, and bamboo topes which lay behind 
 his homestead, which was rather an imposing cluster of houses ; 
 the man being well to do), and sending forward one or two 
 trusty scouts to reconnoitre, they came back with the tidings 
 that the whole of my plant had been carried off, that a long 
 string of women and children and coolies, each with a bundle 
 on their respective heads, were wending their way 'cross 
 country to Petumber Jha's place, and that Sheik Manoola, 
 with a considerable number of fighting men, was with the 
 party. 
 
 They also recognised one or two of the omlali, that is the 
 head factory servants of my neighbour, and I felt a chuckling 
 sense of satisfaction that so far my plans had matured 
 splendidly. 
 
 After a few moments' consideration with D we deter- 
 mined to ride boldly forward by ourselves, and first try the 
 effect of an outspoken peremptory demand for the restoration 
 of the pilfered plant. 
 
 So telling our fellows to come as quickly as possible behind
 
 FAMINE AND FIGHTING. 227 
 
 us, and unite all our scattered parties, so as to be ready for 
 immediate action, we set off, and cantering leisurely after the 
 retiring army of robbers, we rode boldly up into the midst of 
 them, right in amongst Petumber Jha's men, who were 
 busy mixing up all our stolen plant with their own. 
 
 And now, quiet, self-possessed, but determined, I demanded 
 the reason of this high-handed proceeding. 
 
 Just as I expected, Petumber Jha was very polite, very 
 cool, but full of artfulness ; as he told me that he had 
 purchased the plant from Moonee Lall Jha, was quite 
 prepared to show me the receipts, and that in fact I had been 
 made the victim of Moonee Lall Jha's duplicity, but that Tic 
 had got the stuff, and intended to keep it. I could see, how- 
 ever, that my sudden appearance had somewhat disconcerted 
 him. 
 
 He had evidently thought that I was well away out of 
 the district at Soopole, and I could see several of my ryots, 
 to whom I had often shown kindnesses, and who were on the 
 whole pretty well disposed towards me I could see that 
 they felt rather ashamed of themselves and were inclined to- 
 slink out of the affair. 
 
 I did not mince matters, but told him bluntly he lied. I 
 told him that I had heard of his intended raid, that I had 
 hurried back to prevent it if possible, that the magistrate 
 knew it, and that there was -little doubt but that he had 
 rendered himself amenable to a criminal prosecution, and 
 that the best thing he could do was to make the coolies 
 carry back the stuff, as I was determined to have it. 
 
 At this stage Sheik Manoola, feeling no doubt that he had 
 all the weight of the rival factory at his back, came up in an 
 overbearing swaggering way, put his hand on the bridle of 
 my horse, and began speaking in a very insolent manner 
 to me. 
 
 This roused young D 's ardent temperament, just a 
 
 little over fighting point, and with an explosive yell, which 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 TENT LIFE IN TIOEELAND. 
 
 would have done credit to a Tipperary man, lie jumped from 
 his horse and gave the Mussulman a truly British punch 
 which sent him flying, and immediately, as may be imagined, 
 there was a pretty row. There was " wigs on the green," and 
 no mistake. Shouts, yells, exclamations, arose on all sides. 
 The Sheik's men raised a defiant yell and came rushing at us 
 with uplifted lattliees. 
 
 I caused my game little Arab to curvet and prance round, 
 using my heavy thonged hunting-whip with good effect, until 
 
 I saw D remounted, then I told him to hurry off as hard 
 
 as he could pelt, to bring up the fellows from our ambush 
 beyond. 
 
 Away he went, and a good many of the enemy thinking 
 he was retreating, very luckily for me, rushed after him, 
 yelling like demons. But just then, right in the nick of 
 time, out came my swarm of pyadas and fighting Eajputs, 
 and there was a terrific melee as the contestants surged hither 
 and thither in deadly strife. Petumber Jha's men came 
 swarming out of a near enclosure, with spears, swords, battle- 
 axes, latthees, and all sorts of nondescript weapons swaying in 
 the air like a bamboo grove in a gale of wind. The women 
 shrieked, the horses neighed, dogs barked, children were 
 crying, and altogether there was a regular hullabaloo. 
 
 My men, however, were well led, and succeeded in rolling 
 
 the tide of battle past the houses ; and now up came D 
 
 at the head of his picked men, with his four elephants in line, 
 3,nd the golail pellets began to sing and whistle around the 
 heads of the chop-fallen followers of Petumber, who saw at 
 once that not only were they overpowered in strategy, but 
 out-numbered. 
 
 I was not sure, however, but that possibly a reserve force 
 of the enemy might be in the neighbourhood, and it behoved 
 me to get possession of the coveted seed plant as quickly as 
 possible. 
 
 My friendly coolies men, women, and children were
 
 FAMINE AND FIGHTING. 229 
 
 working like so many ants, trying to save the treasures of their 
 ant-hill in a sudden flood ; and each with a bundle of plant 
 on his head, some with half a bushel of seed tied up in a cloth, 
 others with bundles under each arm, were soon seen flying 
 hurry-scurry, helter-skelter across the face of the country, 
 scattering themselves to avoid pursuit, and almost while it 
 takes me to tell the tale, they had pretty nearly clear looted 
 the whole of the stock of our would-be despoilers. 
 
 All this time the battle raged fiercely in two or three little 
 separate centres, and my fellows with their yolails were 
 taking the utmost delight in peppering the unlucky followers 
 of Sheik Manoola, who were all conspicuous by their red 
 turbans, and who, moreover, as they were Mohammedans, 
 were fair game to my delighted Hindoo marksmen, who did 
 not spare them, I can assure you. 
 
 We now quietly began to withdraw our forces. By this- 
 time the news had spread like wild-fire through the adjacent 
 villages. 
 
 Eeinforcements were hurrying up ; and then it became- 
 apparent how sagacious and important had been my general- 
 ship in providing the elephants and marksmen. 
 
 My men began to draw off, following the retreating coolies. 
 
 With loud cries of encouragement to each other, with the 
 use of insulting and barbarous language towards myself, 
 bodies of excited and angry villagers now began to make 
 hostile demonstrations against the line of our retreat. 
 
 They would come on with a rush, yelling and shouting, 
 leaping in the air, waving their staves, brandishing their 
 weapons, and making all the usual demonstrations which are 
 
 common in affairs of the sort, when D or myself, suddenly 
 
 separating, would gallop outwards, and then come straight 
 down upon them and charge, going through them like a 
 hurricane, plying our whips the while ; and then our elephants, 
 with their load of expert marksmen, managed to keep back 
 our pursuers, and foil them at every point.
 
 230 TENT LIFE IN TIOEELAND. 
 
 I cannot pourtray on paper half the excitement and fun 
 which we experienced. 
 
 Of course all this took a considerable time, but my coolies 
 were now well away from the hostile villagers, and in my 
 own Dehaat, and knew that once they got near Hoolas it 
 would be utterly futile for any of our enemies to continue 
 their pursuit. 
 
 And so ended " the battle of the Kureehan" as my fellows 
 called it. 
 
 There were two or three law-suits over it, but I was 
 able to prove so clearly that they had been the aggressors, 
 that I came off with flying colours in every case, and so 
 crippled my unrighteous adversary, that I do not think 
 from that day to this he has ever attempted to loot a 
 rival threshing-floor, although up to that time it had been 
 a matter of constant occurrence, during the seed season, to 
 have half-a-dozen affairs annually of the sort.
 
 ( 231 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 CASTE CHARACTERISTICS. 
 
 Curiosities of the census Quaint characters The Bohemians of the East 
 Mendicant friars Actors and jugglers The Story Teller " After a 
 weary day " A visitor in camp His appearance His reception The 
 gaping circle of listeners The story " Petumber and Mahaboobun " 
 The story of their love A rival Plot and counterplot The drama de- 
 velops Petumber's sudden return Confusion of the wicked plotter 
 Jealousy Wifely fidelity The darkened bath chamber Assumption 
 of a strange character The furious sandal Crack! " Tung-ng-ng ! " 
 Acting up to his character " Glug-gliig-glug ! " Another good 
 story " The Brahmin and the Bunneah " Sanctity and pretensions 
 of the Brahmins Their power on the wane Progress of modem 
 thought An enlightened Hindoo on the decadence of priestcraft 
 Beneficence of British rule. 
 
 IT is a trite observation that "one half the world does 
 not know how the other half live," and certainly it is 
 very applicable in regard to many of the modes of liveli- 
 hood practised in what the poet calls the "gorgeous East." 
 To the student of human nature, or to a contemplative 
 philosopher, the mere nomenclature of callings in the Indian 
 census would give rise to many curious speculations. 
 
 There is, for instance, the Haddick, or Bone-setter, cor- 
 responding to our veterinary surgeon, but with this difference, 
 that the Indian bone-setter relies chiefly on the efficacy of 
 certain mantras or charms, and curious medicaments which 
 have been handed down to him through a long series of 
 generations, and which are supposed to possess some occult 
 virtue, which, when applied under certain conditions which
 
 232 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 are rigidly prescribed by tradition, will effect a cure. Matri- 
 monial agents are quite common. Public scriveners, or 
 writers of correspondence for love-sick swains and modest 
 maidens, may be found in every bazaar. 
 
 Of course the snake-charmer is a character which is never 
 by any chance left out of any book treating of the East. 
 Professional witch-finders Ojahs, as they are called are 
 also common to every village community, although to English 
 readers they recall a state of things now happily passed away 
 from our history. 
 
 Byragees, jogees, fakirs, the whole fraternity, that is, of 
 mendicant monks, hare-brained religious enthusiasts, begging 
 friars, and transcendental nostrum-mongers, come across 
 your path in every direction, and number frequently among 
 their ranks some of the veriest scoundrels in all the Eastern 
 world, who find the garb of the religious anchorite a con- 
 venient cloak to cover designs of the deepest rascality. 
 
 Even amongst these wandering devotees there are number- 
 less orders and sub-sections, all of whom have well-defined 
 and specific functions. 
 
 Some are known by marks peculiar to the worship of 
 certain gods and goddesses emblazoned on some prominent 
 part of their persons breast, forehead, arms, &c., &c. 
 
 Many of these wandering mendicants doubtless belong to 
 organised gangs, affiliated to each other by passwords and 
 signs. 
 
 But in all large aggregations of humanity in the East 
 they are sure to catch the eye by reason of their wild out- 
 landish look, their strange manners or extravagant dress, 
 or some distinctive difference which separates them from the 
 common herd. 
 
 Then there is the counterpart of the old Eoman augur or 
 soothsayer, one of whom is attached to every menage of any 
 great importance in an Indian province. 
 
 There are beings like the old witch of Endor, who profess
 
 CASTE CHARACTERISTICS. 233 
 
 to be able "to summon spirits from the vasty deep," and 
 whose services are more often called into requisition than 
 the casual observer might imagine. 
 
 There is the Master of Ceremonies, who will take charge 
 of any feast or merry-making you may wish to give to 
 your retainers or friends. There is the Bara Eoopeah, i.e. 
 literally, the man of twelve changes, who will masquerade 
 for you or your guests in twelve or more guises. He will 
 assume all sorts of characters : make himself, by a Protean 
 twist of countenance or readjustment of dress, a lady of 
 fashion, a woman of low degree, a hireling dancer, a police- 
 man, a planter, an angel or a demon, just as may suit the 
 whim of the actor, or the requirements of the audience > 
 
 Then there is the professional well-sinker, who does nothing 
 but sink wells, diving down in the water like a seal or an 
 otter, scooping oat the sand or soil from beneath the massive 
 wooden plates from which the superincumbent girth of the 
 well is made, thus allowing it to sink by slow degrees. 
 
 There is the bear leader, with his muzzled great brown 
 bear from the mountain districts, trained to dance for the 
 delectation of the village youngsters. There is the pro- 
 fessional hawker not the pedlar who peddles wares as 
 with us Western nations, but the man who hawks who 
 trains the gerfalcon and the kestrel, and who is in fact 
 the modern prototype of the old falconer of mediaeval story. 
 
 The dyer, the potter, the weaver, the Nooneali, or saltpetre 
 maker, the caster of nets, the weaver of the same, the mender 
 of ditto, the village barber, the man who pares your nails, the 
 professor of heraldry who will write you out a genealogy 
 suitable to your circumstances and varying in splendour 
 according to the amount of your remuneration, are of course 
 common occupations, and such as might be expected. 
 
 All these, and numberless other castes and subdivisions of 
 castes, ply their busy vocations in the populous East, and 
 are all recognised under the iron thraldom of that curious
 
 234 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 caste system which is at once the wonder and reproach, the 
 shackle and the salvation, according as it is looked at by 
 different minds, of the marvellous social cosmogony of the 
 Hindoo world. But among all the multifarious occupations 
 which come under the purview of an observant " dweller in 
 tents " in an Indian district, none appeal more quickly to a 
 man of keen observation than the numerous classes who 
 make their livelihood (often very precarious) by ministering 
 to the amusement of the people. 
 
 The musicians, the astrologers, the wizards, the enchanters, 
 the quacks, the acrobats, the bear leaders, the prophets and 
 soothsayers, the dancers and posture-makers, the snake- 
 charmers, sword-swallowers, fire-eaters, bards, improvisatores, 
 reciters of ancient legends, the singers, and the thousand-and- 
 one Bohemians, who drift about in the by-wash of the great 
 surging flood of humanity that rolls ceaselessly around the 
 dweller in the East all these appeal at once to your sense of 
 the incongruous, to your sense of the picturesque, and being so 
 utterly different from anything we have in our conventional 
 Western civilisation, they challenge the attention, and attract 
 the inquiry of the observer at once. Whole chapters could 
 be written describing their peculiarities, whimsical instances 
 connected with the pursuit of their vocations ; and, indeed, 
 many a time in my lonely life in India I have been under a 
 deep debt of gratitude to many a one of these poor wandering 
 performers, who have wooed me out of sad reflections or 
 gloomy meditations by their mirth-inspiring antics, or their 
 clever impersonations and really marvellous tricks. Of the 
 jugglers alone, a whole book might be written. 
 
 The sleight of hand of the East is incomparably more 
 finished and artistic, seeing that it is done in most cases with 
 the aid of no paraphernalia whatever, than anything we are 
 accustomed to in Europe. 
 
 But I never remember to have enjoyed a more hearty 
 laugh than at the recital on one memorable occasion of a
 
 CASTE CHAEACTEKISTICS. 235 
 
 most ridiculous story by one of these wandering professional 
 raconteurs, and which I will, with the reader's permission, now 
 endeavour to reproduce. 
 
 I cannot hope to give it with the same drawling mimetic 
 art, which made it so funny in the narration the first time I 
 heard it ; but as I have never seen it in print, and think it is 
 new to collectors of these quaint old tales, I venture to give 
 it here. 
 
 One night, after a long, weary, hot day's hard work in one of 
 my Belahie villages, trying to come to some settlement with 
 a lot of refractory assamies, who would neither pay rent nor 
 take advances, and who had subjected my good temper and 
 patience to a prolonged and severe strain, I had gone out in 
 the evening to have a shot at some ducks which had been 
 observed by my servants in the vicinity of a shallow lagoon 
 near my camp. I had found the brutes shy and wary. I 
 had shot at several snipe and missed everyone, and had got 
 bogged up to the middle in a quaking miry clinging morass. 
 My gun had been badly cleaned, and was kicking like a 
 borrowed horse. The fact is, everything had gone against me. 
 My liver was out of order, I was in a despondent frame of 
 mind, and must I confess it ? in a desperately bad temper. 
 
 To add to my troubles, my dakman had not brought my 
 usual mail from the head factory. I had nothing to read, 
 and, saddest fate of all, had nothing to drink and was short 
 of tobacco. 
 
 I had got back to the tents, bathed, had dinner and lay 
 down on my camp bed, restless, discontented and weary, but 
 withal in a very sleepless mood. The dogs were all tied up 
 at some distance away, and had been fed by the mehter or 
 sweeper. My servants had finished their evening meal, and 
 with the points of their cliupkuns a sort of tight boddice 
 unloosed, were enjoying the otium cum dignitate of a well- 
 earned rest, and were chatting together narrating the events 
 of the day; when suddenly on my irritated nerves there
 
 236 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 broke the sound of a cheery persistent voice, trolling the 
 well-known patter, in a sing-song nasal tone, of one of these 
 professional story-tellers. 
 
 My first impulse was to get up and kick the fellow out of 
 the precincts of the camp. 
 
 I felt so thoroughly "hipped" myself, that I seemed to 
 take it as a personal insult that anybody in such a weary 
 hot night, amid all the depressing surroundings, should dare 
 to be cheerful. 
 
 There must, however, have been some subtle magnetic 
 influence or spell in the very tones of the fellow's voice ; as 
 presently, raising myself languidly on my elbow, I found 
 myself surveying with some little interest, through the open 
 sides of the tent, the appearance of the new-comer. 
 
 He was a grizzled, sun-dried, weather-beaten old fellow, 
 clad in the most tattered raiment possible, having a greasy 
 skull cap on his head, merry eyes peeping over a network of 
 wrinkles on each cheek, a broken nose surmounting a gaping 
 cavern of a mouth, in the inner excavations of which could 
 be seen two or three yellow glimmering stumps, and altogether 
 the man looked like a good-natured gnome, some such 
 apparition as might have been expected to have jumped out 
 bodily from a page of Hans Andersen ; and before I well knew 
 whether to forbid his nearer approach or not, he, seemingly 
 quite oblivious of my presence, passed the door of the tent, 
 and with an air of easy familiarity, making himself quite at 
 home, squatted down by the side of my retainers, who were 
 now wideawake, and gave the man all the hearty welcome 
 due to an old acquaintance, and one who was evidently a well 
 known character amongst them. 
 
 I lay back and watched. 
 
 The usual salutations passed. The new-comer, with the 
 dexterous ease of a man who knows human nature thoroughly 
 well, and as if by the exercise of some magic art, was 
 presently the recipient of a bit of native leaf tobacco from
 
 CASTE CHARACTERISTICS. 237 
 
 this one, a little chunam from that one, and betel nut from a 
 third, and indeed all seemed anxious to press something 
 upon him. 
 
 My old bearer gravely took the mouth-piece of his JiubUe 
 bubble from his lips, and offered it to the old fellow, who took 
 two or three whiffs. 
 
 The old Khansammah, or Butler, Mussulman though he 
 was, came over with his attendant, from where they had been 
 lying apart; and tying up the points of his chupkun as he 
 advanced, he made the usual grave Mussulman's salutation, 
 and stroking his beard with the air of one who is expecting 
 to hear some good tiling, he joined the gathering circle. 
 
 My syce and "grass cuts" who had been busy combing 
 their well-oiled locks and titivating themselves generally, 
 suspended the operations of their toilet and gathered around. 
 Even my grave and dignified old moonshee seemed to have 
 felt the impulse of some subtle charm, for he too, with one 
 or two of the village patwarris, or accountants, came up in 
 their reverent fashion, with their flowing white robes around 
 them, and gave a pleasant nod of welcome to the merry- 
 looking little dried chip, who seemed so suddenly to have 
 become the cynosure of all eyes. By this time my megrims 
 had almost vanished. I had forgotten all about my liver, and 
 I found myself sitting up on my pallet, with my ears and my 
 senses on the qui vive, in the endeavour to find out what was 
 going on. 
 
 Through the half-open Khanats, I could see without being 
 myself perceived. 
 
 The servants seemed to fancy that I must be sound asleep, 
 and after cracking sundry jokes which seemed to put all his 
 audience in a good humour, a supplicatory chorus went up 
 from every voice, beseeching him to tell them a story. 
 
 Now I cannot hope, as I have said, to reproduce the action, 
 the gestures, the facial expression, the inimitable drollery of 
 the raconteur.
 
 238 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 The man was a born actor. Two or three times I found 
 myself heaving with silent laughter, as he illustrated the 
 various points of his narration. But this was the story and 
 you must just take it in my halting imperfect way ; and 
 indeed my only object in occupying your time by giving 
 it, is because I think the whole picture is one peculiarly 
 characteristic of tent life in an Indian frontier district, and 
 may serve a useful purpose in bringing strongly before the 
 mental eye of the reader, some presentment of the living 
 reality of the life we lead in the remote villages of such 
 an Indian planting district as I have been endeavouring to 
 describe. 
 
 The old fellow had a curious habit, when he seemed to be 
 searching for a word, of making a quaint clicking sound with 
 his tongue, then he would cock his head to one side like a 
 magpie. He would wag his old noddle, loll Ins tongue out 
 from amid his gleaming stumps, moistening his dry lips, 
 leeringly roll his beady twinkling eyes around, winking at his 
 audience ; shrug his shoulders like a French dancing-master, 
 sway his body in unison with the incidents of the story ; and 
 altogether seemed to mesmerize his audience into complete 
 accord with the varying developments of his plot ; and to tell 
 the honest truth, I must confess that I never heard a story 
 better told, sweeping as the assertion may appear, and I 
 never enjoyed any narration with a keener relish, than that 
 of this cunning old artist as he related the following tale. 
 Thus he began : 
 
 " There was once in a village, which I will not name, a 
 man whom I shall call Petumber." I must give it in the 
 following words but naturally the story loses a great deal of 
 force by the translation. 
 
 " Petumber was a great strong soft-hearted fellow, who was 
 the best runner and the best wrestler, but the kindest-hearted 
 young man in the village, always willing to help a neighbour 
 in a difficulty."
 
 CASTE CHARACTERISTICS. 239 
 
 And here followed a long description of the various kindly 
 acts Petumber was wont to do to his neighbours. 
 
 For instance this was one. An old woman who was 
 shrewdly suspected of being a witch, had a favourite nanny- 
 goat which had fallen into a well, and at the risk of his life 
 Petumber had been lowered down, and rescued the un- 
 fortunate beast. 
 
 " Well, time went on, and, as will happen to young men, 
 Petumber fell in love with whom think ye ? MAHABOOBUN, 
 the loveliest fay of all the village, daughter of a rich free- 
 holder; and being a finely-made, good-looking young man, 
 having a fair patrimony, numerous cows and a fair amount of 
 plough bullocks, his suit was looked upon with some degree 
 of favour by Mahaboobun's relations, and he had reason 
 to believe he was not altogether uninteresting to the fair 
 Mahaboobun herself." 
 
 But there was an lago in the case. 
 
 Of course he was the exact antithesis of Petumber. This 
 rival was a swarthy, beetled-browed, bandy-legged character, 
 whose name was Bal Khrishun, and he also had set his 
 affections on the peerless Mahaboobun. In the wrestling 
 matches in the village arena, things were so equally balanced, 
 that although Petumber was the stronger of the. two, Bal 
 Khrishun knew more tricks of the ring, and sometimes was 
 able to snatch a dubious victory from the broad-chested, 
 open-hearted Petumber by cunning and stratagem, but never 
 by fair and open play. 
 
 Of course Bal Khrishun was painted as a very Machia- 
 velli a double-faced, cowardly, chicken-hearted, scheming 
 scoundrel. 
 
 Then came a recountal of all the black deeds he had done. 
 
 He was a usurer ; he was constantly fomenting strife 
 among parties in the village, and altogether quite up to the 
 usual three-volume touch as the villain of the piece. 
 
 He seemed however to have acquired some strange malign
 
 240 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 ascendency over the gentle Mahaboobun, by working on her 
 fears and her timid half-confessed preference for Petumber, 
 inasmuch as he continually let drop veiled threats and vague 
 hints as to some evil that he could bring over Petumber, and 
 he skilfully contrived to make the poor girl to some extent 
 put herself in a false position by his cunning strategy, that 
 she appeared to listen to his addresses, while in reality she 
 only dissembled, to appease if she might his malignant 
 nature. 
 
 This part of the story was very cleverly worked out, and 
 the old man managed to bring his hearers, and myself too, 
 to a perfect pitch of interest as he described how on one 
 occasion Petumber came upon Bal Khrishun making overtures 
 to his lady love, which she with tears feebly endeavoured to 
 resist, and Petumber's righteous indignation being roused at 
 the sight of Mahaboobun's evident perturbation, he smote his 
 cowardly rival to the earth, and left him muttering dire 
 threats of revenge. 
 
 Subsequently the two young lovers were united in the 
 sacred bonds of wedlock, and Bal Khrishun registered his 
 vow of vengeance, and commenced to scheme against the 
 wedded peace of the loving couple. 
 
 By a series of skilful combinations, by hints and innuendoes 
 and cunningly-contrived stratagems, he succeeded in making 
 Mahaboobun rather jealous of her lord. 
 
 Then he contrived to beguile Petumber away to a distant 
 part of the country, on a pretext that a distant relation was 
 at the point of death, and wished to leave Petumber some 
 money. 
 
 Meanwhile a kindly fairy in the shape of the old woman, 
 whose goat had been rescued from the well, appeared on the 
 scene, and began to play a hand in the game. 
 
 She had not been an unobservant spectator of the duplicity 
 that was being practised by the wily and unscrupulous, yet 
 cowardly Bal Khrishun.
 
 CASTE CHARACTERISTICS. 241 
 
 Petumber's rascally rival had in fact arranged to carry off 
 Mahaboobun m et armis. 
 
 A litter borne by some " lewd fellows of the baser sort," 
 who were in his pay, and attached to his service, was to be in 
 readiness in the mango tope, at a given hour, and under the 
 pretext that Petumber had sustained a severe accident, and 
 was wishful to see his loved Mahaboobun before he died, she 
 was to be inveigled into the litter away from her home, under 
 the charge of the seemingly good Samaritan, the perfidious 
 Bal Khrishun. 
 
 The old woman, however, had got an inkling of what was 
 going on, and intercepting Petumber on his journey, gave 
 him sufficient warning of the plot that was being hatched 
 against his domestic peace, to make him at once change his 
 plans and hurry back. 
 
 All this was sketched out with infinite art, by the merry 
 old story-teller, and I had, as I hope my reader has, become 
 quite interested in the development of the plot. 
 
 My group of servants were listening with open mouths. 
 Now and then they would laugh heartily at some quaint 
 allusion, or some skilful touch thrown off by the story-teller, 
 and anon they would hold their breath as the interest of the 
 drama thickened. 
 
 And so we come back to the habitation of Petumber, which 
 was, as Eastern houses go, large and commodious, with 
 several apartments, and attached to the sleeping-room, one of 
 those cool, retiring resorts, known as the ghoosal khana, or 
 bath-room. Around one side of this room were ranged a 
 number of tall, portly brass water pots or jars, quite such as 
 we have been accustomed to read about in the good old story 
 of Ali Baba or the Forty Thieves just such jars as Ali Baba 
 hid the robbers in, when he scalded them to death with 
 boiling oil. 
 
 Well, the wily Bal Khrishun, dressed in his best, and 
 taking advantage of Petumber's absence, came up to put his 
 
 R
 
 242 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 nefarious scheme into execution. With I suppose a not 
 unnatural coquetry, the fair Mahaboobun, mindful that this 
 was an old flame of hers, and not wishing to ibe too hard 
 upon him, met him with the utmost kindness, and this so 
 raised the wicked desires and vain hopes of the evil-minded 
 Bal Khrishun, that he began to venture on rather dangerous 
 retrospections and began to press his claims upon Maha- 
 boobun's regard, with a slightly greater degree of amorous 
 ardour than was strictly compatible with the relationship 
 which actually existed between them. 
 
 Just at this critical moment, with his heart full of 
 conflicting emotions, boiling with indignation at the duplicity 
 and trickery to which he had so nearly been a victim ; having 
 been fully informed of the plot that was being hatched against 
 his domestic peace by the treacherous Bal Khrishun ; 
 Petumber came rushing up to the house in a state of pent-up 
 fury ; and Bal Khrishun's coward conscience taking alarm at 
 the sight of the indignant husband striding towards the house, 
 he exclaimed in accents of horror-stricken inquietude, "Arrcc 
 Bapre Bap, Behold Petumber ! ! What is to be done ? ! ! 
 Alas ! I am a dead man, and you are a ruined woman, unless 
 you hide me from the wrath of your incensed husband." 
 The situation was too critical to allow of calm reflection or 
 philosophic thought. 
 
 Mahaboobun, not unnaturally, felt to some extent the 
 prickings of conscience, and with a woman's natural wish to 
 avoid bloodshed and strife, acting upon the impulse of the 
 moment, she hurried Bal Khrishun into the yhoosal Jekana, 
 crammed him down with trembling and hurried fingers 
 among the row of brass pots, and told him for Heaven's sake 
 to assume the character of a brass pot himself, as his very 
 life depended upon it, and if he did not want to ruin her 
 altogether, she would dissemble and find some way of getting 
 him out of this perplexing predicament. Then with a parting 
 injunction to keep up his assumed character, and with a very
 
 CASTE CHABACTERISTICS. 243 
 
 portentous reminder that Petumber would not hesitate at 
 taking life when once his passions were roused, she left the 
 cowering, trembling, cowardly rascal in the semi-obscurity of 
 the damp ghoosal khana, and hurried out with palpitating 
 heart to meet her incensed lord. 
 
 His first word convinced her that concealment was useless, 
 and that he knew all that had transpired. 
 
 With choking accents of jealous rage, he demanded that she 
 should produce the miscreant who was endeavouring to sap the 
 foundations of his domestic tranquillity ; and she, beseeching 
 him to restrain his impetuosity, made a clean breast of it, 
 and while heaping every epithet of womanly scorn on the 
 head of the miserable Bal Khrishun, whose double-dealing 
 and vile treachery she now clearly saw, she so contrived to 
 reassure her husband of her fidelity and love, that the first 
 quick mad current of his wrath was turned aside, and he 
 determined not to take the life of his rival, but to teach him 
 a lesson which he would not readily forget. 
 
 You must bear in mind that all this was recounted as an 
 actual fact. 
 
 The story-teller, if I have succeeded in impressing the 
 reader sufficiently with an estimate of his wonderful skill, 
 had now reached the very climax of his dramatic art. 
 
 The auditors were agape with eager interest and 
 attention. 
 
 Being informed by the clinging wife that the hated rival 
 was even now in the ghoosal khana, Petumber strode to the 
 aperture in the wall leading into the inner darkened room, 
 swept aside the drapery which depended from the arch, and 
 bending upwards his brawny leg he took from its place upon 
 his shapely foot the heavy wooden sandal which he wore (a 
 high-heeled, brass-bound, heavy gadbadunee, which is worn by 
 travellers when going through the jungles. It has a large 
 wooden stud, which goes between the great toe and the next 
 one to it, and is very useful in keeping the wearer's bare foot 
 
 R 2
 
 244 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 off the ground in going through grass or jungle where snakes 
 might be numerous). 
 
 With this in his hand, the angry Petumber, peering into 
 the obscurity, saw the green glare in the eyes of the abject, 
 cowering, and hated Bal Khrishun. 
 
 His teeth were chattering with fright, and knowing that 
 his very life depended on his remaining undiscovered, he bent 
 all his thoughts to keep up the assumption of the character of 
 the brass pot, and determined at all hazards to act as if he 
 really were one. 
 
 Of course he was in ignorance that Mahaboobun had 
 already divulged his secret. 
 
 He felt, naturally enough, that his very life depended on 
 his seeming to be for the time a very brass pot, and nothing 
 else. 
 
 And here the original conception and intense dry humour 
 of the situation comes in. 
 
 As quick as thought, Petumber, with unerring aim, launched 
 his heavy sandal straight between the eyes of the luckless 
 Bal Khrishun. 
 
 The crack started the blood flowing from his unlucky 
 sconce, but he, true to his assumed character, responded with 
 a loud, sonorous, reverberative " Tung ! tung ng ng ! " 
 as the sandal rattled on his skull. 
 
 Petumber, thinking that he was being mocked, fancying 
 that he was being made a butt of, and experiencing a re- 
 doubled intensity of wrath, took up the other sandal, and sent 
 it flying after its fellow, propelled with all the force of his 
 powerful arm, right between the eyes once again of the 
 hapless Bal Khrishun. This time he could not altogether 
 suppress a stifled groan ; but, shaking with terror, and still 
 true to the character he had assumed, he again sang out 
 " Tung ng ng ng ! " The wrath of Petumber now knew 
 no bounds. 
 
 Forgetful of prudence and his promise to his wife, and all
 
 CASTE CBAEACTEEISTICS. 245 
 
 else, except to thrash his adversary, he seized a stout bamboo 
 stick which stood handy against the wall, and rushed upon 
 the prostrate Bal Khrishun and with lusty whacks began to 
 belabour his luckless carcase. Still keeping to his self- 
 imposed character, the hapless Lothario began rolling about, 
 imitating a brass pot when it is half full of water and over- 
 turned upon the floor. 
 
 At every whack " Tung ng, glug glug ! tung ng, glug 
 glug ! " came from his miserable lips, until at length human 
 nature could stand it no longer ; and after having his body 
 whacked and battered, and Ins nose and face bruised beyond 
 all recognition, he emitted a dismal yell, and rushed from the 
 house as if all the furies were after Mm, and was never again 
 seen in the village. 
 
 There is such a vein of humour pervading the whole story 
 that I have thought it well to give it at some length. The 
 general idea, I know, is that the village Hindoo is rather a 
 melancholy, saturnine creature, with no sense of humour, but 
 any one who has lived as long as I have amongst the merry 
 residents of the upland districts of Purneah and Bhaugulpore, 
 would soon know how erroneous an estimate this is of native 
 character. 
 
 With this, however, I think we may take our leave of the 
 hapless Bal Khrishun, and only hope that Petuinber and 
 Mahaboobun lived to a good old age, and saw troops of 
 children growing around them, in peace and quiet prosperity. 
 
 It is only fair to state that I gave the narrator a hand- 
 some bucksheesh, and certainly felt quite indebted to him for 
 one of the pleasantest evenings I ever remember to have 
 spent in my tent life. 
 
 Perhaps it would not be out of place to conclude this 
 chapter by another rather good story which illustrates the 
 marvellous way in which Western ideas are making progress 
 in the minds of the natives. 
 
 It is all very well for half-informed critics at a distance
 
 246 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 to decry the efforts of missionaries, of schoolmasters, civil 
 servants, planters and merchants, and of the many institu- 
 tions which,, under the fostering beneficence of British rule, 
 are slowly but surely effecting a real revolution in native 
 modes of life and thought. The influence of Western 
 civilisation is evident in every department of industry in 
 India. 
 
 The very food and clothing of this most interesting and 
 conservative people is being affected by the introduction of 
 Western fashions. 
 
 All the modern appliances in the arts and sciences are 
 being rapidly introduced. 
 
 Municipal institutions flourish in most of the towns, and 
 the criminal law is being administered under a penal code, 
 which, for comprehensiveness and excellence in its provisions, 
 can hardly be excelled in any part of the civilised world. 
 With all this, however, the contrasts one meets with in every 
 Indian district are, as I have already observed, very striking. 
 
 Within the sound of the shrill whistle of the locomotive, 
 you will find a temple dedicated to some horrible eight-armed 
 idol, or possibly decorated with the most obscene sculptures, 
 and consecrated to the procreative forces in nature, within 
 the shelter of whose courtyard deeds of infamy are per- 
 petrated, incredible almost in their horrible obscenity. 
 
 These are the dark shades of Paganism, but happily 
 evidences are not wanting to show that the bright beams of 
 " the Sun of Eighteousness " are splintering and shivering 
 the gloomy mass of shadow. 
 
 Within a few hundred yards of the busy clank of the 
 engine-room of an indigo factory you may haply find a 
 reputed witch, a witch-finder, a wizard, a magician, an 
 astrologer, or one of these strange and curious castes, a 
 description of which I gave in the opening of this chapter, 
 and the simple villagers are quite ready still to believe that 
 through the mantras or spells of some of these uncanny
 
 CASTE CHARACTERISTICS. 247 
 
 practitioners, he or she can blight their crops, destroy their 
 cattle, influence their destiny, cast spells, work divinations, 
 and " raise the devil generally." 
 
 The Brahmins are of course the reputedly holy and sacred 
 caste. 
 
 As among the Levites of old there were different grades, 
 so are there different kinds of Brahmins. There are wander- 
 ing Brahmins, who lead a lazy, vagabondish, itinerant life, 
 certain of a meal wherever they halt for the night, and sure 
 to be made a guest, by virtue of their caste, at any house 
 where they may sojourn, at any time whenever the whim 
 seizes them. 
 
 Others are attached to various temples, hold and cultivate 
 the various temple lands, amass wealth from the rich endow- 
 ments, and, like " Jeshurun " of old, " wax fat," although they 
 get too lazy even to " kick." Others again officiate as family 
 priests, puroJiits as they are called. 
 
 These get attached to wealthy families, and perform a role 
 corresponding exactly to that of a domestic chaplain in a 
 wealthy nobleman's family at home. 
 
 Brahminism under various modifications is no doubt the 
 religion of the vast mass of Hindoos generally. 
 
 The sanctity of the Brahmin, the necessity for his 
 priestly office in all the duties of life, forms the fundamental 
 basis of the gigantic system of sacerdotal supremacy which 
 their superior cunning and organisation have established 
 during the long course of centuries. To refuse a Brahmin 
 food is to call down condign punishment from the skies. 
 To beat him is to consign yourself to an eternity of woe; 
 but to spill his blood, or even to be the remote cause of 
 having his blood spilt, brings down upon your head eternal 
 wrath, which is shared by all your relations who have 
 preceded or may come after you, and actually includes 
 even your neighbours in the evil consequences of such 
 awful impiety. Such is the orthodox faith re Brahmins.
 
 248 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 An amusing incident in exemplification of the fact I have 
 just stated, that Western ideas are beginning to permeate the 
 masses, and an illustration of " the little leaven that will 
 finally leaven the whole lump " of Oriental superstition and 
 credulity, occurred not long ago. 
 
 One of these oleaginous, self-complacent, peripatetic, 
 sacerdotal "loafers," on a begging expedition, like a 
 mendicant friar of old, came one day and set him down at 
 the door of a grain-seller who was reputed to be wealthy, 
 but was also suspected of being rather heterodox in other 
 words a freethinker, and a dissident from the old school of 
 Hindoo thought. 
 
 The lazy, fat Brahmin was determined to test the Bunncah's 
 orthodoxy, and, sitting down by the door, demanded, with all 
 the haughty imperiousness of a high-caste Brahmin, some 
 refreshment. 
 
 The Bunneah, however, had determined that he would no- 
 longer pander to this constant drain upon his resources, for 
 he remembered that he had a family to support, and taxes to- 
 pay, and had to \vork hard himself for his living. 
 
 He was not averse to alms-giving in the abstract, and 
 indeed, as a rule, the better classes of Hindoos are con- 
 spicuously benevolent. 
 
 So he did not stint his charity when a deserving object 
 was presented to his notice, but he justly thought that this 
 perpetual blackmail levied by able-bodied but indolent 
 priests, be they Byragee, Moulvie, or Brahmin, was but a 
 premium on laziness, and altogether "too much of a good 
 thing." 
 
 So that, being in this mood, it was in vain that the Brahmin- 
 clamoured for a meal. 
 
 The Bunneah, like John Grumly's wife in the song, " heard 
 as if he heard him not." 
 
 Others of the more pious or less enlightened villagers 
 pressed their presents of food on the clamorous Brahmin,
 
 Page 248 
 
 finer rtf Bi-wki, Day it Son. Lith.
 
 CASTE CHARACTERISTICS. 249 
 
 but his obstinacy and priestly intolerance were now roused, 
 and he was determined to vindicate his arrogant pretensions, 
 and break the spirit of the recalcitrant Bunneah. 
 
 So passed the first day hierarchical statement of right 
 on the one hand, against modern heterodox defiance on the 
 other. 
 
 On the second day the Brahmin, still persistent, but now 
 really hungry, poured forth all the curses and comminations 
 of his stock-in-trade upon the Bunncah's devoted head, ac- 
 companying these with mantras, muttered spells, and open 
 objurgations. 
 
 Still obdurate was the Oriental John Knox. 
 Finding that the Bunneah did not care so much as he 
 expected for his ban and malison, the chagrined Brahmin 
 began to lacerate his arms, cutting himself like one of the 
 priests of Baal, no doubt thinking that the awful conse- 
 quences resulting from having the blood of a Brahmin at 
 his door would break the proud spirit of the grain-dealer, 
 and force him into submission. 
 Not a bit of it. 
 
 The hard-hearted Bunneah was determined to maintain 
 the position which he had taken, and although the roused 
 and horror-stricken neighbours crowded around him, and 
 piteously implored him to make his peace with the Brahmin, 
 and so avert the dire consequences, so they imagined, of 
 having sacred blood spilt among them that, in fact, their 
 unhappy village might not be consigned with all its inhabi- 
 tants to dreadful pains and penalties. Still, however, the 
 undaunted grain-seller turned a deaf ear to their imploring 
 entreaties. 
 
 On the third day the oily old priest, now goaded to 
 desperation, possibly maddened into an excess of Oriental 
 fury one of those paroxysms which come upon Easterns 
 in moments of strong excitement and thinking, by a bold 
 move a coup de main, as it were to terrify the Bunneah
 
 250 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 into submission, he, after solemnly abjuring the obstinate 
 heretic by the names of all the gods, calling down upon him 
 and upon all the villagers the dire penalties due to one who 
 was guilty of the death of a heaven-descended Brahmin, made 
 for a deep well that was situated in the courtyard, and (the 
 proceedings having attracted nearly all the inhabitants), 
 amid horror-stricken cries from the crowd of onlookers, and 
 agonising wailings and a thrill of superstitious dread, plunged 
 down sheer into the gloomy depths of the well. 
 
 The pious villagers were paralysed with horror. 
 
 The men tore their hair and their garments, the women 
 screamed and beat their breasts, and every one in horror- 
 stricken accents shrieked aloud. 
 
 Would nothing move the obduracy of this determined old 
 iconoclast ? 
 
 Yes ; the Bunneali seemed at last to relent. 
 
 His face betrayed conflicting emotions. 
 
 He rushed to the well, the excited crowd gazing with 
 intense interest at his every action. 
 
 Bending over the well, in whose humid depths the floating 
 form of the discomfited priest was dimly discernible, he 
 besought the Brahmin not to drown himself. 
 
 You can fancy how the heart of the half-submerged sacer- 
 dotalist leaped for joy at having at length, as he exultantly 
 thought, established the triumph of orthodoxy. 
 
 Behold, now, the reward of his persistency had come 
 after all his long fasting, humiliation, and suffering ! 
 
 Unwinding his long, strong silken puggree, the Bunneali 
 lowers it slowly down. 
 
 With trembling eager fingers it is grasped by the Brahmin. 
 
 The Bunneali hauls up the spluttering unfortunate; but 
 when he reached the top of the well, guess the awful 
 revulsion of feeling, the supreme dumbfounderment he must 
 have felt, as the strong, vigorous fingers of the Bunneali 
 tightened on his wrists, and deftly tied these with the
 
 CASTE CHARACTERISTICS. 251 
 
 puygrce which had just served as a draw-rope; and then, 
 amid the outcries and lamentations of the shrieking crowd, 
 he hauled the half-drowned and wholly crestfallen Brahmin 
 off to the nearest police station, and charged him under the 
 Penal Code with an attempt to commit suicide. 
 
 The sequel is short. 
 
 Under the Indian Penal Code this offence is visited with a 
 minimum punishment of two years imprisonment. 
 
 As the case was so clear, the full penalty was inflicted. 
 
 This did more to break down the absurd pretensions of the 
 Brahmins in that village than many a long argument could 
 ever have done. 
 
 But this is only one of a hundred indirect ways in 
 wiiich missionary teaching and English example are bearing 
 fruit. 
 
 Doubtless the Brahmin reflected in his cell on the muta- 
 bility of human affairs, and must have come to the orthodox 
 conclusion that "the Church w r as going to the dogs" 
 altogether. 
 
 If I might be permitted the obvious reflection, is not this 
 an expressed idea with sacerdotalists in other latitudes, and 
 with priests who are not Brahmins ? 
 
 Take some of our advanced ritualists, for instance, with 
 their vain equipments and foolish ceremonies, really offering 
 a " stone " to the people in place of the Bread of Life, giving 
 the " serpent" of priestly arrogance and pretentiousness instead 
 of the wholesome " fish " of Divine Truth, and estranging from 
 the Church the sympathies and support of all those in the 
 community who, like our bunneah, are perhaps not the least 
 advanced and intelligent in their ideas. Possibly so. But 
 on these matters I am old-fashioned. 
 
 The moral is perhaps w r orthy of some little consideration. 
 
 Lest some of my readers may think the story of the 
 Brahmin and the Bunneah overdrawn, and as further illus- 
 trative of the change in the mental attitude of the more
 
 252 TENT LIFE 1$ TIGERLAND. 
 
 progressive and liberal-minded natives towards their old 
 faith and old caste exactions, let me give an extract 
 or two from a most interesting book written by Sahib 
 Chunder Bose, of Calcutta, himself formerly, I believe, a high 
 caste Hindoo, and which is well worth the perusal of 
 any one who wishes to see "The Hindoos as they are." 
 Indeed, that is the title of the book, published in 1881. 
 London : Edward Stanford, 55 Charing Cross, and Newman 
 and Co., Calcutta. 
 
 At page 108, speaking of Doorga Poojah Festival, the 
 learned Baboo writes : 
 
 " On the third or last day of the Poojah, being the ninth 
 day of the increase of the moon, the prescribed ritualistic 
 ceremonies having been performed, the officiating priests 
 make the hoam and dhukinanto, a rite, the meaning of which 
 is to present farewell offerings to the goddess for one year, 
 adding in a suitable prayer that she will be graciously pleased 
 to forgive the present shortcomings on the part of her 
 devotees, and vouchsafe to them her blessings in this world 
 as well as in the world to come. This," says the Baboo, 
 " is a very critical time for the priests, because the finale of 
 the ceremony involves the important question of their 
 respective gains." He then shows how the priests generally 
 three in number fight among themselves for the biggest 
 share of the fees, and will not complete the ceremony by 
 pronouncing the last prayer till the knotty question of the 
 distribution of fees is satisfactorily settled. He thus proceeds : 
 " It is necessary to add here that the presents of rupees which 
 the numerous guests offered to the goddess during the three 
 days of the Poojah, go to swell the fund of the priest, to 
 which the worshipper of the idol must add a separate sum, 
 without which this act of merit loses its final reward in a 
 future state. The devotee must satisfy the cupidity of the 
 priests or run the risk of forfeiting divine mercy. When the 
 problem is ultimately solved in favour of the officiating priest
 
 CASTE CHARACTERISTICS. 253 
 
 who actually makes the Poojah, and sums of money are put 
 into the hands of the Brahmins, the last prayer is read. It is 
 not perhaps generally known," adds the writer, " that the 
 income the Indian ecclesiastics thus derive from this source 
 supports them for the greater part of the year, with a little 
 gain in money or kind from the land they own." 
 
 At page 155, speaking of the Saraswati Poojah, the following 
 very suggestive sentences occur : " In every cliatoospati, or 
 school, the Brahmin Pundit and his pupils worship this 
 goddess with religious strictness. The Pundit, setting up an 
 image, invites all his patrons, neighbouring friends and 
 acquaintances on this occasion. Every one who attends 
 must make a present of one or a half rupee to the goddess, 
 and returns home with the hollow benediction of the Brahmin!' 
 (The italics are mine.) " To so miserable a strait have the 
 learned Pundits been reduced of late years, that they anxiously 
 look forward to the anniversary of this festival as a small 
 harvest of gain to them as the authoritative ministers of the 
 goddess. They make from fifty to one hundred rupees a 
 year by the celebration of this Poojah, which keeps them for 
 six months ; should any of their friends fail to make the 
 usual present to the goddess, they are sure to demand it as a 
 right." And in a pregnant footnote he adds : 
 
 " A gift once made to a Brahmin must be continued from 
 year to year till the donor dies ; in some cases it is tenable 
 from one generation to another." 
 
 At page 187 he says : " If Manu were to visit Bengal now, 
 his indignation and amazement would know no bounds in 
 witnessing the sacerdotal class reduced to the humiliating 
 position of a servile, cringing and mercenary crowd of men. 
 Their original prestige has suffered a total shipwreck. Gener- 
 ally speaking, a Brahmin of the present day is practically a 
 Soodra (the most inferior class) of the past age, irretrievably 
 sunk in honour and dignity. Indeed it was one of the curses 
 of the Vedic period that to be a Brahmin of the present, Kali
 
 254 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 ycigu, would be an impersonation of corruption, baseness and 
 venality." 
 
 And he sums up by saying t 
 
 " He " (the Brahmin) " can no longer plume- himself on his 
 religious purity and , mental superiority, once so pre-eminently 
 characteristic of the order. The spread of English education 
 has sounded the death-knell of his spiritual ascendency. In 
 short, his fate is doomed ; he must bear or must forbear, as 
 seems to him best. The tide of improvement will continue 
 to roll on uninterruptedly," etc., etc. 
 
 So much for Baboo Sahib Chunder Bose. His view is un- 
 doubtedly the correct one in great measure, and little wonder 
 need be felt that the erstwhile " lordly Brahmin " bitterly 
 hates the white-faced beefeaters from across the "Black Water," 
 and would hail the day with glad acclaim that would see the 
 last of our red-coats swept into the river or the sea. 
 
 The classes like the Bunneah, however the trading, indus- 
 trial and cultivating classes do not, I am willing and glad to 
 believe, share in this dislike of British rule ; and after all, 
 these are the people, the mainstay of any system of govern- 
 ment ; and our chiefest and proudest boast as conquerors of 
 India is, that we have consolidated the rule we won by the 
 sword/ through the grateful recognition of an emancipated 
 people, that we seek to do justly by them, and endeavour to 
 reign in their affections, and govern by their free good will.
 
 ( 255 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 PERILS BY FLOOD. 
 
 Xativc characteristics Pioneer work Riverside villages The harvest 
 of the flood The cousins Bad blood A murderous blow My arrival 
 on the scene We must find the body The boat The river in flood 
 Swept away by the torrent Shooting the rapids Straining every 
 nerve to avoid the main stream One spot of refuge amid the raging 
 waters The deserted cattle camp The floating island Teeming with 
 fugitive life Unexpected flotsam A babe in strange company The 
 mangy tiger Rescue Return to factory. 
 
 IT will surely be pretty evident now, that in these wild out- 
 lying districts, life presents many tragic features, and with 
 all the savage elements of paganism that exist, there is no 
 lack of sensation. The difficulty indeed is to present 
 pictures of frontier life in such guise as not to excite the 
 incredulity of the ordinary stay-at-home reader. 
 
 Many stories of the hunting-field I have purposely ab- 
 stained from telling, knowing that they would be received 
 with derisive unbelief. Tragedies of "horrid cruelty" and 
 of the most melodramatic character are of daily occurrence 
 in the village life of the East at all events, in such a wild 
 district as that in which I lived for some years. 
 
 Opportunity is almost daily given to the administrator of 
 the affairs of a large indigo concern, demanding the most 
 decisive and prompt action, and calling into play every atom 
 of reserve strength of character with which he may be 
 endowed. 
 
 Indeed, a weak man is of no use as an indigo planter.
 
 256 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 There are no keener observers of character than the 
 astute, calculating, scheming denizens of a frontier village, 
 whose native wits are polished to preternatural brightness in 
 the atmosphere of constant intrigue with which they are 
 always surrounded. 
 
 They are ever on the alert to defeat some cunning plan 
 concocted against themselves or their neighbours by some 
 inimical agency, and they are constantly cudgelling and 
 racking their brains to devise some dodge to be put into 
 effect against the factory or neighbouring landholder, or some 
 hereditary or caste enemy over whom they wish to take some 
 unfair advantage. 
 
 Doubtless there are exceptions. 
 
 Happily there are many large districts where the usual 
 farming avocations of the peasantry are pursued as peace- 
 fully and honestly as in the Lothians or in Devonshire ; but 
 it must be remembered that for many years Lutchmeepore 
 factory, which was now under my management, had been 
 almost entirely neglected. It had been under the manage- 
 ment of natives. Eents had fallen into arrears, village 
 cultivation had been given up, the whole population had 
 become disaffected ; and when I first went there, a small 
 standing army had been kept, of between two and three 
 hundred fighting men, who regularly harried the country, 
 and were a perpetual source of annoyance to the more 
 peacefully-disposed villagers, and were, in fact, a regular 
 horde of human locusts doing no good either to the factory 
 or to themselves. 
 
 I need not repeat the story here which I have already 
 told, of how patiently I strove to bring back a better state 
 of things. 
 
 My work as a pioneer planter " on the Nepaul frontier " I 
 have already spoken of, but it is only proper that I should 
 again impress the mind of the reader with a knowledge of 
 this state of things, else he might accuse me of trying to fill
 
 PERILS BY FLOOD. 257 
 
 up sensational records, when as a matter of i'act I am only 
 extracting from my diary the points of greatest interest 
 which seem to me to illustrate some of the wilder phases of 
 " Tent Life in Tigerland." 
 
 One morning, during the rains in 1874, a man came 
 running into the factory to tell me that a foul murder had 
 been committed in the small village of Khoohee, near the 
 Ghat, and asking me to hurry down to make an inquiry. 
 Accordingly, getting on the elephant, I started for the 
 scene. 
 
 It appeared that most of the villagers had turned out, as 
 was their custom in nearly all these riverside villages 
 during floods, to save the wreckage which was being 
 brought down by the flood waters from the villages 
 higher up. 
 
 In these great Koosee dyaras or riverine plains, of course 
 firewood is very scarce, but during the floods enormous 
 quantities of drift wood come floating down stream, some- 
 times valuable logs of cedar or Sal, or other hard woods, that 
 have been cut in the Terai during the dry weather, and have 
 been lying on the banks of the creeks there until the annual 
 rains would fill the channels and allow the rafts to be 
 floated down. 
 
 The hardier riverside villagers then look upon these 
 floods as quite a favourable harvest time for them, and 
 sometimes they actually secure boats which have broken 
 adrift, occasionally floating granaries full of grain, and other 
 flotsam. 
 
 As the Koosee is a most Arctic stream, hot weather causes 
 the snows to melt in the distant highlands, and the volume 
 of water thereby set free comes down with a sudden im- 
 petuous rush, and being swollen by the heavy rains which 
 at this season flood the Terai } the river sometimes com- 
 pletely overtops its banks, and rushes tumultuously through 
 cultivated lands, making fresh channels for itself, sweeping 
 
 s
 
 258 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND, 
 
 away whole villages, devastating whole tracts of country and 
 even sometimes cutting away big factories, and thus in many 
 of the poorer villages a class of hardy semi-savage men 
 exist, not unlike the wreckers of our own wild coast in 
 former times, and it was to such a village that I was now 
 making my way. 
 
 Two men, named respectively Bagoober and Kunchun, 
 both of the Mandal caste, had got into a dispute over a log 
 of wood which had come down the river, and which they 
 had both seized simultaneously. 
 
 They happened to be cousins, but were not any the better 
 friends on that account. 
 
 Eagoober was a great big powerful fellow, had often been 
 to the factory, and was rather a favourite of mine; as, 
 although a bluff, outspoken rather rough-and-ready fellow, 
 I had always found him fairly honest, and ever ready to give 
 me assistance in any of my hunting expeditions. In fact, 
 he had often brought me news of " tiger," and I was ex- 
 ceedingly sorry now to hear that in the struggle which had 
 taken place between the two men for the possession of the 
 flotsam log, Kunchun, according to the testimony of several 
 witnesses, had struck Eagoober over the head with a jagged 
 piece of wood, both men being up to their middle in the 
 water at the time, and then pushing the end of the log 
 against Eagoober's chest, the poor fellow had missed his 
 footing, had fallen back into the turbid stream, and in a 
 moment had disappeared in its rapid flood. 
 
 Of course an outcry was at once raised. 
 
 The village ChowTcedliar had rushed up to the factory to 
 tell me, and Kunchun had retired to his own house, where 
 several of his relations \vere watching over his safety, and a 
 crowd of the village friends of Eagoober were waiting outside, 
 ready either to cut him down if they could get hold of him, 
 or hand him over to myself or to the police, whichever might 
 make their appearance first.
 
 PERILS BY FLOOD. 259 
 
 I was met, as usual, with the customary voluble outburst 
 of excited comment and narration ; each one trying to give 
 his version of the story first, and out of the Babel of 
 conflicting sounds, I arrived at a pretty correct under- 
 standing of the facts. 
 
 Every narrator was unanimous in stating that Kunchun 
 had struck the fatal blow, that poor Eagoober's head had 
 been split open ; and several witnesses testified that they had 
 seen the poor fellow, with blood streaming from a wound in 
 his head, throw up his arms and fall back into the swift 
 swollen torrent that was rushing rapidly past. 
 
 It immediately struck me that the man might only have 
 been stunned, and as I knew him to be a powerful swimmer, 
 in that event I knew there was a possible chance of his 
 escaping, as he might have been swept into some eddy and 
 then have contrived to crawl ashore ; and wishful to divert 
 the attention of the missing man's friends and relatives from 
 the object of their revengeful fury, I suggested this phase of 
 the matter, and I was rather glad to find that they took it 
 up at once. 
 
 Several of the young men immediately rushed off to 
 secure a boat, which was moored to the tall bamboo pole 
 which marked the ford in ordinary times, but which was 
 now deep in water reaching nearly up to the men's necks. 
 
 The boat was one of the usual flat-bottom high-stemmed 
 river craft, possibly capable of carrying twenty or thirty tons 
 of produce, and having a little thatched hut-like cabin in the 
 middle. 
 
 They brought the boat down to where my elephant was 
 standing, and I got in, accompanied by half-a-dozen lusty 
 fellows, and pushing off with ourjong bamboos, we were soon 
 fairly out in the swift stream. Keeping a careful watch as 
 we went along, we commenced to make a search for the body 
 of poor Eagoober, scarcely daring to hope that we would ever 
 see him alive again, but still knowing it to be important for 
 
 s 2
 
 260 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 the purpose of investigation, that the body, dead or alive, 
 should be found. 
 
 Well ! we did not get the body of poor Eagoober. He was 
 never seen again. 
 
 Doubtless he made a meal for some grim alligator, or 
 possibly the jackals by the river's brink may have had an 
 unholy feast off his poor carcase. But in searching for the 
 dead, we succoured the living. A most strange and romantic 
 adventure befell us. 
 
 We succeeded in saving one innocent life, that but for 
 Kunchun's murderous blow must have perished by an awful 
 fate. But you shall hear. I had never seen the Koosee in 
 sue] i a flood. Great rolling undulations of water yellow 
 turbid billows were hurrying madly down towards the 
 mighty Gauges. 
 
 For leagues on either side, the yellow flood sped swiftly 
 past. 
 
 Tar away, almost on the verge of the horizon, little 
 indistinct specks betokened the locality of some tall mango 
 grove, or bamboo clump, or village, perched high above the 
 level of the plain, but for miles and miles between, a tremen- 
 dous volume of tortured and distracted water, swished and 
 swirled, and rushed madly down to the far distant plains ; 
 there to mingle with the kindred waters of " Gunga's sacred 
 stream." Our lumbering boat, albeit specially constructed 
 for such river navigation, was swept along, as might have 
 been an infant in a giant's grasp. 
 
 We had instantly lost all control over our own motion, and 
 the men could only, by putting out their long heavy bamboo 
 poles on each side, endeavour to keep our unwieldy craft stem 
 on to the course of the river. 
 
 Sometimes we spinned round and round like a teetotum. 
 Anon we plunged, and rocked and wildly swayed as the 
 fierce current tossed us hither and thither. 
 
 Had we come upon a snag, which was not at all an
 
 PERILS BY FLOOD. 261 
 
 unlikely thing, we would have been drowned to a dead 
 certainty. 
 
 Never in all my life did I feel how absolutely impotent 
 and helpless is man in the presence of the fierce uncontrolled 
 forces of nature. My men, although accustomed to the river, 
 born on its banks and acquainted with its every mood, were, 
 I could see, terribly frightened, and I am ashamed to confess 
 that I bitterly repented having set foot in the boat, and 
 wished myself well out of the adventure. 
 
 Down we went round we spinned rocking, rolling, 
 heaving, rushing at headlong pace. 
 
 Past the factory like an arrow we went I could see 
 the smoke from the boiling house loom up like a dark 
 cloud before me for one minute, and the next it was far 
 behind us. 
 
 Speedily it faded from our view. 
 
 Very soon I could see the tall feathery bamboos, marking 
 the site of my gomastatis village. 
 
 Next the roar of the flood waters rushing in mad exodus 
 from the swollen Dhaus, and leaping up like hungry wolves 
 upon their prey, as they met the fiercer rush of the swollen 
 Koosee, made us set our teeth and hold our breath, to meet 
 the impending shock ; and we knew that our lives depended 
 on the result of the next few minutes. 
 
 The boat rose and fell on the crest of the tumultuous waves ; 
 dashed down again as some frail shallop might be in the 
 midst of an angry sea, and for a few thrilling minutes our 
 lives were not worth the purchase of an obolus, and then 
 we glided calmly and softly into a long smooth reach of 
 water, the eddy or back wash from the Dhaus, and we 
 breathed easier once more. 
 
 The men strained now their swarthy bodies, tossing their 
 black hair back from their wet shoulders their gleaming 
 eye-balls and set teeth showing how tense and strung was 
 every nerve, as they strained and laboured to propel the boat
 
 262 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 away from the mad centre of the rushing river, to the safer 
 neighbourhood of the hither shore. 
 
 But presently we seemed to have got over the shallow bar, 
 and were again whisked by the impetuous rush of another 
 current, and away once more we were hurried on our mad 
 career, and now I really began to feel exceedingly alarmed, 
 as to the ultimate issue of our desperate progress. 
 
 The men however assured me that there was not so much 
 clanger now, and I found that they had been in a terrible 
 fright lest we should be caught and overturned in the ugly 
 " rip " or rapid that had been caused by the meeting of the 
 Dhaus waters and the main stream. 
 
 They told me that now for some ten or twelve miles, as far 
 as beyond Fusseah, there was likely to be deep water, and 
 though, of course, it was dangerous in such a flood, it was 
 not nearly so bad as what we had just passed through. 
 
 One of the men, Boukie Mandal, and his brother, Hunoo- 
 man, now grasped the long tiller, and while the others got 
 out their poles and a couple of sweeps, we tried to make for 
 the long low line of distant bank, which we could faintly see 
 over the wide expanse of flooded country. 
 
 We had nothing to eat, in the boat, and in any case now, 
 we were in for a very unpleasant time of it. 
 
 The men struggled and strained, and tried with might and 
 main to put what distance they could between the heaving 
 raging line of tumultuous billows, which marked the fierce 
 strength of the mid stream, and which looked at from our 
 boat suggested to me the figure of the back of some great 
 yellow serpent. 
 
 Here and there the roof of a thatched hut and other debris 
 which had been swept down by the tremendous current could 
 be seen. 
 
 The whole effect was magnificent and awe-inspiring. 
 A long way ahead we could see the waving tops of a wide 
 low line of partly submerged jungle grass, swaying as the
 
 PERILS BY FLOOD. 263 
 
 water rushed through it, and to this point the men were 
 making the most desperate efforts to propel the boat. 
 
 If we could once get -within poling reach of ground, we 
 could manage to pole ourselves across the long ridge of 
 flooded plain, and get out at one of the villages of the high 
 land beyond, from whence we could make our way back to 
 the factory. 
 
 And now befell an adventure which I consider one of the 
 most extraordinary which, in the long course of a not un- 
 eventful career in India, ever occurred to me ; but which, as 
 it happened, resulted most happily for all concerned. 
 
 The persistent efforts of our crew had been so far success- 
 ful that we were now well out of the main stream, and drift- 
 ing at a slower rate although still rapidly, down on the bank 
 of drift-wood, and waving grass which I have just referred to. 
 As we got nearer, I was able to recognize the spot as the 
 site of a favourite batan, which was usually resorted to in the 
 cold weather by a family of gwallas from northern Tirhoot. 
 
 There were seven brothers well-to-do men, having a 
 pretty large patrimony near Singhessur and for many years 
 they had been in the habit of taking out a grazing lease in 
 my dehat on the subsidence of the annual rains. 
 
 This was a favourite camp of theirs, it being the highest 
 land in the dyara for many miles around, and in the cold 
 weather it was surrounded on all sides by dense growths of 
 jungle grass ; and amid their shady recesses, large numbers of 
 cattle and buffaloes belonging to the seven brothers were wont 
 to graze. Of course where the cattle came there also were sure 
 to be tigers, and I had often got valuable information from 
 these men, and had not unfrequently visited their camp and 
 received their valuable assistance in some of our hunting 
 expeditions. 
 
 To any one who reads between the lines, and looks for a 
 little more than a mere record of sport in these pages, they 
 cannot but be struck with the numerous analogies which
 
 264 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 my journals record, between old patriarchal life in scriptural 
 times and that which is still the rule in these remote Eastern 
 localities. 
 
 Here we have a perfect counterpart of a scriptural scene 
 a picture of the sons of the household leaving the old father 
 and the younger children at home, while they take the flocks 
 and herds to some distant locality for change of pasture, 
 
 I have myself seen, many a time and oft, some such 
 stripling carrying news from the old ancestral homestead, to 
 the brethren in the far-off pastures, as Joseph must have been, 
 or as David, when he visited his brethren at the time when 
 the giant Philistine was defying the armies of Israel. 
 
 The ordinary routine of everyday life is not much changed 
 in the East since those old times, and a host of these associa- 
 tions are stirred up, and historic biblical incidents are illus- 
 trated, by what one sees every day in his usual experiences 
 in these remote frontier tracks. 
 
 But a truce to these reflections. You doubtless want to 
 hear my adventure. 
 
 Our boat was now steadily bearing down on the great 
 heaving, swaying mass of Hood-debris, which had been caught 
 upon the fringe of these small islands ; and knowing from 
 past experience what we might expect, everyone of our party 
 was on the look-out to see that we might not be boarded by 
 snakes or wild animals, which were certain here to have 
 taken refuge in greater or fewer numbers, owing to the 
 suddenness and severity of the flood. 
 
 I have landed dozens of times, myself, on these isolated 
 elevations in the midst of the surging waters during a great 
 flood such as I am describing, and the seething mass of 
 fugitive life would afford a rich ground for the investigations 
 of a naturalist. 
 
 Here are collected representatives of all the denizens of the 
 great valley, through which ordinarily the attenuated current 
 of the river runs, but which in time of flood sweeps every-
 
 PERILS BY FLOOD. 265 
 
 thing before it ; and so creeping crawling insects, reptiles, and 
 beasts of all descriptions, get cast up on some such refuge as 
 this, and there, under the pressure of a common fear, their 
 natural antipathies and predatory instincts are held in check ; 
 and you may see the snake and the hare, and even the tiger 
 and the lamb cower together; each seemingly oblivious of 
 the other's presence. 
 
 On every stem of every reed that surmounts the tide, great 
 clusters of ants, and winged and creeping insects of all kinds, 
 swarm thickly together. 
 
 In amongst the brush and drift-wood you may find snakes 
 innumerable, and so thick is the swarm of life, that you 
 might stock a museum from the different genera found on one 
 of these small prominences during flood time. 
 
 It was not however to my feelings as a naturalist or as a 
 sportsman that an appeal was about to be made. 
 
 As we got closer to the floating, swaying bank of drifted 
 wreck, one of the men in the bow called out something in a 
 very excited tone to one or two of the others, and immediately 
 all hands rushed forward, and my curiosity being roused I 
 followed them. 
 
 Eight in front of us, on the very extreme point, poised on 
 the mass of jammed up drift and dead wood rocking to and 
 fro with every surge of the flood water ; swaying and bending, 
 now on this side and now on that, as the current prepon- 
 derated this way or that way; seemingly hesitating and 
 halting, as if it were a sentient thing, not knowing which 
 channel to make for ; now and then being momentarily sub- 
 merged 'neath the yellow foam was a fragile ragged piece of 
 frail roof, from some village hut, which had been swept down 
 stream by the sudden rising of the river ; and right in the 
 ternce of this, swathed in voluminous folds of cotton cloth, lay 
 a chubby little infant, with its fat little arms stretched out to 
 us in mute supplication, and its great black eyes looking at 
 us with a wistful appealing look ; and the poor little thing,
 
 266 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 like a second Moses in his ark of bulrushes, seemed to have 
 been abandoned by God and man ; and but for our timely 
 and providential arrival, must undoubtedly have proved a 
 prey to the raging elements around. 
 
 No other sign of living human being was apparent. 
 
 Already the CTiupper or roof on which the babe lay had 
 been invaded by several snakes, desperately struggling to 
 extricate themselves from the mass of brush-wood and half- 
 submerged flotsam in which they had become entangled. 
 
 Two mangy-looking jackals crouched and cowered and 
 trembled in one corner of the triangular patch of ground, 
 which stood above the level of the flood, the earth being 
 blackened and charred with the marks of numerous fires ; and 
 in the far off corner, crouching on his belly, amid floating 
 leaves and twigs, and the bending stems of the insect-laden 
 reeds, crouched a lank, mangy, hungry -looking tiger, evidently 
 in deadly fear, with his lips pale and retracted, showing 
 the very gums to be of a deathly pallid colour, and the yellow 
 fangs, worn almost to a stump. 
 
 And there he crouched, with his baleful, cruel eyes 
 glowering at us, abject fear struggling in his expression, with 
 the native ferocity and hatred of human kind, which was only 
 held in check by the desperateness of his position. 
 
 Such was the picture. 
 
 The reader can perhaps realize the whole scene from my 
 description. 
 
 It is certainly not an uncommon occurrence for children to 
 be thus swept away by floods in some such manner, but here 
 are, surely, all the elements of a first class sensational romance. 
 
 And yet such events are happening every day in the 
 remote wilds of an Indian frontier. I need not weary the 
 reader by piling incident upon incident. I shot the tiger. 
 The skin was mangy and worthless. 
 
 The two poor devils of jackals at the sound of my rifle took 
 to the water with a most melancholy howl, and were
 
 PERILS BY FLOOD. 267 
 
 presumably drowned. We rescued the baby the poor 
 little thing chuckling and crowing, and little conscious of the 
 terrible death from which we had rescued it and I might 
 give you another chapter, detailing all the efforts that we 
 made to discover its paternity, but ever without avail. I 
 never knew from what village it had been taken. 
 
 I know not whether some poor mother may not have for 
 weary years consumed her soul in sadness thinking of the 
 loss of the bonnie bairn which the angry goddess Koosee Mai 
 had selected as a victim. 
 
 Possibly the infant may have been the sole survivor of 
 some little jungle nook, every soul of which may have been 
 swept away by the sudden rising of the angry waters. 
 
 At all events, the child found a loving guardian in the 
 person of my old Keranie and his half-caste wife. 
 
 And to make a long story short, we got safely to shore, got 
 back to the factory all right, and I could not help thinking 
 that there was some sort of poetic justice in our having 
 rescued from the hungry embrace of Koosee Mai one young 
 life in return for the strong Eagoober whose blood had dyed 
 the stream in the morning, and to recover whose body had 
 led us into such a perilous adventure. 
 
 Kunchun, during our absence, had managed to steal away. 
 He was never brought to justice as far as I know. He 
 compounded with Eagoober's relatives. Possibly married the 
 widow for all I know to the contrary. At all events the 
 murder for such it undoubtedly was blew over, and I 
 heard no more about it.
 
 268 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 CHAPTEP XVI HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOO 
 
 BOSTON. 
 
 A JUNGLE TRAGEDY. 
 
 Varieties of winged game News of a " big beat " Get to camp The 
 marshes country " Hunter's pot " Charge of a wounded bull 
 buffalo A terrible impalement On the track Difficult country 
 Slow and dangerous tracking Indications of our quarry An un- 
 successful day A bad night News with the dawn Resume our 
 quest Horrible signs Sickening gusts A ghastly sight Close of the 
 tragedy The funeral pyre. 
 
 IN the middle of December, 1874, I was down at Burgammah 
 superintending the packing of my indigo cakes, having 
 already finished my own packing at the head factory ; and 
 as, unfortunately, the season had not been a very profitable 
 one, and my assistant, Tom Hill, was on the spot, although 
 suffering from fever and ague, poor fellow, my work was 
 certainly not very onerous. I had, as may easily be imagined, 
 plenty of spare time on my hands. There was splendid 
 shooting in the neighbourhood, and I was not slow to take 
 advantage of it. Some mornings I would go for a spin with 
 my bobbery pack over the hard turfy uplands to the south of 
 the factory, and kill a jackal or two, or possibly have a good 
 course after a hare ; and as my syce or other attendants would 
 generally be waiting at some predetermined on spot with my 
 gun, I would there dismount and shoot back to Burgammah, 
 calling at various little jheels, i.e. small lagoons, on my way ; 
 or beating up sundry patches of thatching grass intervening ; 
 and could always be certain of making a heavy, though 
 certainly a motley, bag.
 
 A JUNGLE TRAGEDY. 269 
 
 Hares were numerous, quail were abundant, wild duck, 
 mallard, widgeon, teal, red-heads, blue fowl, painted snipe, 
 jack snipe, and ordinary snipe, to say nothing of wading birds of 
 various kinds, and other varieties such as the golden plover, 
 the tiny ortolan, ground pigeon green pigeon occasionally 
 and the beautiful florican, with its graceful plumes, might 
 any day be met with in a single beat. 
 
 And down by the river the varieties of small game were 
 equally abundant. 
 
 I especially remember one day, having made some good 
 shooting, coming into the factory with some half-dozen 
 coolies laden with game of all kinds.- 
 
 It happened to be one of Hill's good days, and he had met 
 me in high spirits near the cake house, waving what seemed 
 to be a letter excitedly over his head. 
 
 I found it to be a summons from my friend Joe to come 
 down at once, as he was getting up a big hank i.e. a drive 
 after big game, and stating that tiger and buffalo were both 
 plentiful, and asking me to get as many elephants as I 
 could, and to send down one of my tents and some stores. 
 As our packing was just finished, we determined to enjoy a 
 week's outing ; and accordingly the next day, having in the 
 meantime made every arrangement to carry out Joe's wishes, 
 we dropped down the river in one of the factory boats, and 
 arrived at night-fall in the vicinity of the camp. 
 
 We slept on board that night, to give time for our elephants 
 and camp equipage to get down and to be in readiness, and 
 next day rode for some three or four miles to where Joe had 
 pitched his camp, south of Dumdaha village, and in the 
 vicinity of a long chain of lagoons and marshes, which had 
 been in former years a famous hunting-ground, and had 
 been notable as a favourite haunt for the now very rare 
 rhinoceros. 
 
 Between the marshes were high ridges of dense jungle 
 grass and matted bamboo thickets. Wild boar and hog-deer
 
 270 TENT LIFE IN TIGEBLAND 
 
 were very plentiful, and it was always a certain haunt for 
 tigers. 
 
 Down by the margin of the marshes, great herds of wild 
 buffalo might generally be found, feeding on the succulent 
 herbage and wallowing in the oozy slime round the edge of 
 the lagoons. While on the broad reaches of shallow water, 
 countless flocks of aquatic birds found favourite feeding- 
 quarters. 
 
 The great drawbacks were the still more teeming swarms 
 of mosquitos, which in the hot weather really held undisputed 
 sway, and absolutely forbade hunting of any kind in this 
 otherwise favourite spot. But when the cold weather came, 
 these buzzing pests were not, of course, so aggressive, and I 
 had long looked forward to a hunt under Joe's captaincy in 
 this famous locality. 
 
 On our arrival we found some indication of what we might 
 expect in the way of sport, by seeing three fine tiger skins 
 pegged out in front of Joe's hut, and half-a-dozen magnificent 
 heads of great swamp buffaloes with splendid horns, the 
 trophies of the preceding two or three days' shooting. We 
 were soon deeply absorbed in the study of the mysteries of a 
 " hunter's pot." 
 
 The hunter's pot was a thick luscious olio, podrida of 
 tongues and cuttings of various kinds of deer, the 'tit-bits 
 from the breasts of florican, wild duck, snipe, etc., plovers' 
 eggs galore, and a rich jelly cementing the mass, in which 
 was embedded the contents of a couple of tins of cham- 
 pignons and a like proportion of truffles, two or three olives 
 and some fine herbs ; and a spoonful or two of this, eaten 
 cold, with a mayonnaise dressing, for which I was renowned, 
 and accompanied with crisp hot toast, generally formed our 
 hunting breakfast. 
 
 Indeed we did not turn up our noses at it both for the 
 mid-day and evening meal ; and when washed down with 
 copious draughts of artificially cooled beer or champagne
 
 A JUNGLE TRAGEDY. 271 
 
 cup, we considered it quite good enough for us poor hungry 
 hunters in these far-off jungle solitudes. 
 
 " Yes ! you had better believe it ! ! " They used to know 
 how to take care of the inner man in the Purneah jungles. 
 
 Now a dreadful thing had just happened. We were soon 
 put in possession of the particulars. 
 
 One of Joe's trusted beaters had met with an appalling 
 death, the record of which may sound like a romance, may 
 even excite the derision of the flippant sceptic, but which 
 happened in all its tragic ghastliness just as I shall describe 
 it, if you permit me. 
 
 The facts were these. 
 
 Two days before, Joe had been " out " with his party, and 
 they beat along the edge of one of these lagoons I have 
 spoken of. 
 
 They had put up a large herd of buffaloes, amongst whom 
 were two or three very fine bulls. 
 
 One fierce, solitary brute had charged down on the line, 
 and although Joe had undoubtedly wounded him, yet, not 
 having his Express rifle, he had not succeeded in inflicting 
 any serious wound, but had only infuriated and maddened 
 the already sufficiently fierce and ill-tempered brute. Tearing 
 through the thick jungle, up the side of one of the hog-back 
 ridges, the infuriated beast had charged right into a knot of 
 coolies and beaters, who had there retired to a little cleared 
 space while the shooting had been going on below. Making 
 straight for these poor frightened fellows, with his strong, 
 cruel horns lowered to the charge, the buffalo impaled one of 
 Joe's men ; and so determined was his charge and so terrible 
 the force of his thrust, that one of the sharp-pointed horns 
 had crushed clear through the coolie's body, right between 
 the collar-bone and the shoulder-blade of the unfortunate 
 victim, while the other horn pierced sheer through the bones 
 of the pelvis, and pinned the hapless wretch to the earth. 
 So fierce was the thrust that the wounded brute was not
 
 272 TENl LIFE IN TIOERLAND. 
 
 able to shake his ghastly burden off, and before the horror- 
 stricken companions of the poor man could do anything to 
 help him, and long before the elephants could come up, the 
 buffalo had run into the fastnesses of the jungle beyond, 
 bearing the shrieking man impaled alive upon the cruel horns. 
 The party quickly formed into line and followed up as 
 speedily as they could. 
 
 It was an awful fate, and each felt European and native 
 alike chilled with horror as they thought over the sickening 
 details of the ghastly tragedy. There was little doubt that 
 the poor creature could not long have survived the first agony 
 of his terrible position. 
 
 Evidences were not wanting at almost every step, in the 
 blood-marked, trampled bushes and stained earth, that the 
 maddened beast had vainly striven to rid himself of the 
 burden of poor bleeding, bruised humanity that had thus 
 found such an awful resting-place. 
 
 Time after time they came upon trampled grass and bushes 
 where the experienced eye of the trackers could see that the 
 beast had endeavoured to brush the dead body of the hapless 
 hunter from off his horns. 
 
 But the first deadly thrust had been so terribly fierce, that 
 it was evident the bull could not so easily dispose of his 
 novel burden. 
 
 They followed the trail all that day, and the next day also 
 they took it up. 
 
 The tracks led them into most dangerous and little 
 frequented ground. 
 
 Two or three elephants had become almost hopelessly 
 bogged, and on the morning of our arrival the third day 
 since the terrible catastrophe they had not succeeded in 
 getting either the buffalo or the mangled carcase of the poor 
 fellow whose fate they were all eager to avenge. Being put 
 in possession of these facts, we determined to make one final 
 effort to track the buffalo, so striking camp, we sent the tents
 
 A JUNGLE TRAGEDY. 273 
 
 forward some eight or ten miles, and then forming in line 
 with our thirteen elephants, the number we had been able to 
 procure, we set out on what was one of the most horrible 
 quests in which I had ever been a participator. 
 
 All that day we floundered through the most terrible quag- 
 mires and frightful country. 
 
 "We put up numberless herds of buffalo, but in none of them 
 could we see that ONE weighted with his dread burden for 
 which we were searching. 
 
 The sun vaulted high in the heavens, reached his zenith 
 and declined, until at length he sank, a great red fiery globe, 
 beneath the copper-coloured sky in the west. 
 
 Every now and then during the day we had been stimulated 
 to an increased vigour in our search by frequent indications 
 of the nearness of the wounded buffalo. 
 
 But tracking in such dangerous country was very difficult 
 work for elephants. The great, tall water reeds grew in 
 dense masses so thick that even one's adjacent elephant in 
 the line, although but a few paces distant, was frequently 
 quite undiscernible ; and in amongst the great peaty masses 
 of gigantic tussocks, amid which the black oozy mud quivered 
 for yards all around at every step, and from whose slimy 
 depths rose great green bubbles of deadly gas, our progress 
 was necessarily very slow. At nightfall, therefore, we were 
 perforce obliged to retire to the tents, and seek the welcome 
 refreshment of our camp dinner, and weary and agitated, 
 with the gloom of this fatal event depressing our spirits, we 
 sought our couches and were soon asleep. 
 
 The horrible details had taken such possession of my 
 imagination that my dreams were full of frightful sugges- 
 tions, and I re-enacted all the shocking tragedy over again 
 in my sleep. I could not help thinking too of the poor 
 creature's humble home, so suddenly plunged into mourning. 
 Too commonly in India, where life is often held so cheap, 
 where there are such teeming multitudes of little-considered
 
 274 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 humble fellow-mortals around us, whom we are accustomed 
 to regard as just so many pawns in the game of fortune we 
 play, the keener susceptibilities get blunted, and we are apt 
 to forget that each dusky body envelops a soul, with 
 emotions, affections, aspirations, and relationships quite as 
 keen and binding as our own. "We enter too little in our 
 sympathies with the tender and touching human ties which 
 are as strong and passionate in the poor jungle beater as 
 perhaps they are with the lordly Sahib who orders him about 
 with such regal disdain. 
 
 I spent a bad night. The thought of the poor fellow's 
 bereaved wife and helpless orphans would intrude itself on 
 my imagination, and I was glad when the grey chill streaks 
 of dawn began to struggle with the dank mists around the 
 tents. 
 
 Early next morning we were roused to a fresh prosecution 
 of our search by news brought in by one of the trackers, that 
 he had run the buffalo to earth at last, or rather to water, 
 for, as the sequel proved, the distracted brute, still bearing its 
 ghastly burden, had retreated to a dense bamboo jungle in 
 the midst of a wide stretch of shallow lagoon, much like 
 what we had searched the day previous, only more open, but 
 with here and there a ridge of bamboo crowned island, almost 
 inaccessible to elephants, and on that account very seldom 
 disturbed. 
 
 After a hasty breakfast, away we hied. Our guide led us 
 by devious, difficult paths through some most terrible country, 
 till at length he pointed out to us horrible evidences that we 
 were on the right track, by showing here and there portions 
 of tattered rags stained with horrible human juices, and with 
 bits of putrid rotting human flesh still adhering in fragments 
 to them. 
 
 We had now to proceed warily. The footing was treache- 
 rous. The broad shallows of the gleaming lagoon stretched 
 before us. In the middle rose the long hog-backed ridge of
 
 A JUNGLE TRAGEDY. 275 
 
 the bamboo thicket. In the centre of the island we were 
 told was a clear space, the site of a long dismantled shrine ; 
 and here it was the buffalo had taken sanctuary. Slowly 
 we splashed and floundered through the slimy shallows. 
 Again the black surging ooze emitted its poisonous gases, 
 and as we neared the island, the stench became almost 
 overpowering. 
 
 The wind was toward us, and sickening gusts came 
 wafted to us ; and presently we could dimly discern through 
 a slight break in the boscage ahead an indistinct mass 
 moving slowly to and fro in seemingly ceaseless incertitude ; 
 and as we still pressed on, and the elephants now cautiously 
 bent aside the intervening stems, we saw a sight which for 
 downright ghastliness and sickening horror I never have 
 seen equalled. 
 
 In the centre of the raised clearing, gaunt, grisly, and with 
 hollow heaving flanks, stood the buffalo, his tottering legs 
 bending 'neath the weight of his emaciated shrunken frame, 
 his massive neck swaying feebly from side to side beneath 
 the weight of his great bony skull, and on the wide im- 
 paling horns THAT GHASTLY BURDEN ! 
 
 An awful burden that ! A gruesome spectacle ! The 
 poor rotting carcase still fixed on the terrible horns. The 
 festering juices from the decomposed body had streamed 
 down glistening and ghastly over the shaggy front and into 
 the eyes and nostrils of the wretched wild beast. A baleful, 
 buzzing swarm of flies and hornets circled round in a dark 
 moving mass, settling thick as blight on the sweltering 
 remains of what the sun had scorched and blistered, and the 
 night mists had sodden, and the cruel bushes and thorns had 
 lacerated and torn, and which, in the mad, furious efforts to 
 disengage itself of his ghastly burden, the buffalo had dashed 
 against every obstacle in his path, till it was battered and 
 beaten out of all semblance to humanity, but which only 
 four days agone had been a lusty, sinewy, agile hunter, with 
 
 T 2
 
 276 TENT LIFE IN T1GEBLAND. 
 
 bounding pulse and vigorous limbs. But now ! Horrible ! 
 Horrible ! ! 
 
 The buffalo presented indeed a pitiful spectacle. For at 
 least two or three days it must have been nearly blind. It 
 was now wholly so. It could not have eaten for some days. 
 Its great bones stared out from the shrunken, wrinkled hide. 
 The poor beater, even in death, had taken a living and 
 a terrible revenge. 
 
 The stench was so overpowering and the spectacle so 
 appalling, that, hardened as we were, and accustomed to 
 weird sights in these wild jungles, we did not care long to 
 stay. 
 
 The blinded brute wearily lifted his burdened head, and 
 turned his trembling front towards us, as his deadened 
 senses caught the tokens of our approach. 
 
 Ah God ! what a horrible sight was that ! The maggots 
 moving in the festering mass of dropping flesh the sightless 
 sockets of the living brute swarming with the hateful, odious 
 crawling things, eating into the yet living tissues, and 
 mingling dead and living in one horrible medley of seething 
 corruption ! The charnel smell the sickening horror of the 
 whole scene was indescribable. 
 
 " Put the poor brute out of this awful misery," said I to 
 Joe. 
 
 Joe raised his rifle glanced along the polished barrel. 
 
 A bang a puff a lumbering lurch a staggering forward 
 roll, and all was over ! 
 
 Angrily buzzed the swarm of carrion flies. A few faint 
 specks hovering far aloft in the pure empyrean betokened 
 that the vultures were gathering for the feast. 
 
 At least we could avert that one last crowning horror. 
 We could baulk the jackals, too, of their anticipated snarling 
 orgie over the remains of the hapless hunter, and save the 
 poor frail tenement of clay that one last crowning indignity. 
 And so, though only a poor coolie, we remembered that, after
 
 A JUNGLE TRAGEDY. 
 
 all, he had been a brother sportsman, and giving hasty 
 orders, we soon had a great pile of withered grass and 
 bamboos heaped high over both the wretched buffalo and his 
 unhappy victim, and then the pyre was lit. We watched 
 while the fierce flames roared and raged over the senseless 
 remains, and licked the bones and greedily devoured the 
 flesh, and so, in a wild holocaust of furious fire, the hollow 
 bamboo stems crackling and exploding with a sound like 
 guns, as if a funeral volley were being fired over the 
 hapless hunter's remains, we consumed all traces of this sad 
 and awful tragedy of the Koosee jungles.
 
 278 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 "A DAY AT THE DUCKS." 
 
 Fresh sensations at every footstep The endless procession to the water 
 Daybreak The annual exodus begins The Kutmullea Pokra The 
 first shot What a commotion ! Tank shooting A good bag for the 
 pot The river banks River scenery What variety of life ! Shoot 
 an alligator A miss Entangled in a Baliur Khet Hornets A 
 sudden and unwelcome rencontre A lucky escape In the Oude 
 jungles Abundance of big game A quiet saunter through the forest 
 The coolies give news of nil ghai Muster the coolies for a beat 
 Take up a good position Jungle sights and sounds Sound of the 
 distant beaters My first nil ghai Sudden appearance of a bull rhino 
 A glorious prize indeed ! Measurement. 
 
 DUCKS like water ! 
 
 I suppose no one will deny that self-evident proposition, 
 and if you desire ducks, you will naturally look for water. 
 
 Now duck shooting, although not so exciting a sport as the 
 pursuit of big game, is, for an off day's pastime, one of the 
 most delightful exercises in which Indian sportsmen can 
 indulge ; and then the plenitude of the air and water is 
 such, and the potentialities of a day on the river are such, 
 that at every fresh footstep you may experience a new 
 sensation, and in fact you never know from moment to 
 moment what may happen. 
 
 For instance, in taking a short cut through the grass or 
 growing crops, to circumvent a bend in the river, you may 
 haply chance upon a solitary stag, a morose bachelor boar, or 
 possibly a wary leopard, lying up during the heat of the day, 
 and waiting till the " shades of night " enswathe the village
 
 "A DAY AT THE DUCKS." 279 
 
 in their garments of mystery, when with stealthy foot and 
 red tongue licking his cruel chops, he will prowl around the 
 precincts of the hamlet, to see if haply he may not pounce 
 upon a belated dog, some luckless calf, or, if the circumstances 
 be favourable, perhaps carry off a " kid of the goats," sheep of 
 the fold, or possibly some luckless truant boy or girl or 
 helpless babe for he is not particular, and is quite willing 
 to make a meal off any chance plump morsel that fortune 
 may throw in his way. 
 
 Then, of course, there are such small deer as otter, 
 porcupines, jackals, wolves, foxes, tiger-cats, florican, quail, 
 plover, green-pigeon in fact, a bewildering variety of winged 
 creatures and four-footed beasts, from the great, heavy, 
 lumbering nil ghai, down to the swift nights of tiny 
 ortolans, flashing like diamond dust in the sunlight. 
 
 Beautiful as these little creatures certainly are, they are 
 none the less savoury on that account, on toast, when nicely 
 fried. 
 
 Possibly you do not know how to "do" ortolans? It 
 would be no use to pluck them, they are too tiny. So you 
 simply put two or three handfuls in a dipper, plunge them in 
 scalding hot water, which brings off all the feathers, and in 
 fact parboils them, and then you fry them in boiling butter 
 or fat, serve on toast with a little red pepper and a dredging 
 of bread-crumbs nicely browned, and you may just believe it, 
 that in these same tiny little ortolans you have one of the most 
 savoury dishes that not even the luxurious fancy of Apicius 
 himself could have improved upon. In the thick jelly of 
 " Hunter's Pot " they are most toothsome, or in an aspic they 
 are simply delicious. At one time or another during the day 
 or night, almost every kind of indigenous game may be found 
 near the river or tank or lake as the case may be. In the 
 early morning the water is alive with a bobbing mass of 
 duck, mallard, widgeon, teal, and other kinds of web-footed 
 swimming creatures, pruning their feathers, flapping their
 
 280 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 wings, scolding, wooing, conversing in their extraordinary 
 quack-lingo, waking the echoes on every side, and making a 
 scene of such unlimited noise and motion as can only be 
 witnessed to perfection in these great haunts of water-fowl 
 life that abound in the clwwrs and rivers of India. 
 
 Thus all day long the wading birds, numberless in their vari- 
 ety, run up and down the sand banks, parade in lines through 
 the oozy marshes and humid hollows stirring up with their 
 busy beaks the retiring denizens of the ooze and slime upon 
 which they prey ; and 'neath the shade of the high banks, 
 beasts of prey retire for their midday siesta; the stately 
 elephant and truculent rhinoceros come down to slake their 
 thirst when the broad afternoon shades are widening ; and 
 when the shadows of night begin to fall, singly and in 
 twos and threes come the fierce beasts of prey ; and then in 
 troops the stately deer and graceful antelope advance, and 
 the long lines of thirsty kine and ponderous buffalo deploy ; 
 while during all the livelong night the melancholy cry of 
 the curlew or the monotonous dialogue of the Brahminee 
 duck, give endless evidence that the teeming life of the 
 Indian water-side is still awake and ever represented. 
 
 Let me try to give the reader an idea of a day amongst 
 the ducks and water-fowl. 
 
 It is still grey dawn. 
 
 The long, slender, whip-like shafts of the swaying bamboos 
 gently rustle 'neath the first faint breath of awakening 
 morn, or, shivering through the dank mists that are now 
 rallying their reserves of grey battalions, as if to present a 
 last front of desperate but hopeless battle to the onslaught 
 of yonder quivering shafts of light, that begin to shoot forth 
 tremulously yet strong from the " chambers of the East," 
 where the mighty sun is shaking his tawny locks and rousing 
 himself " like a strong man to run his race." You have long 
 been up, for in India we retire early, and are up before the 
 dawn.
 
 "A DAY AT THE DUCKS." 281 
 
 A few minalis are giving forth a husky modest twitter in 
 the bamboo grove beside the river. The blue smoke curls 
 lazily up from the heaped fire of withered leaves and dry 
 cow-dung, around which are confusedly grouped the prone 
 figures of your night-watchmen and a few of your domestic 
 servants of the lower caste, who, having wrapped themselves 
 in their cotton garments like so many patients in a hydro- 
 pathic establishment, have there been tasting " Nature's sweet 
 restorer, balmy sleep," during the " silent watches of the 
 night," placidly resting on the great calm bosom of " Mother 
 Earth." 
 
 As you emerge from your tented chamber and sound the 
 dog whistle, the bobbery pack yelp out a motley chorus of 
 delighted greetings in response to your cheery salutation. 
 
 The horses rattle their picket chains and neigh responsively ; 
 the recumbent figures round the fire unwind themselves like 
 so many mummies getting rid of their cerements, assume a 
 sitting attitude, lazily stretch themselves ; and as the great 
 red disc of the morning sun peeps above the horizon, and 
 sends his shafts and arrows piercing through the rolling 
 columns of the mist, the full life of your establishment 
 awakens once again to the tasks and duties of the day. 
 
 And presently the Khansamah, with his graceful gait and 
 flowing white robes, emerges from some nook in rear of the 
 camp with your cJwta hazree, which consists of some simple 
 dish and cup of fragrant tea, and you partake of your modest 
 morning meal, feeling a grateful sense of coolness and re- 
 freshment. 
 
 For the few morning hours are always the most delicious 
 of the day in your Indian home. 
 
 But hark ! 
 
 Whish! 
 
 Whis-s-sh. Whi-sh-sh-sh ! ! ! 
 
 A sound as of " a mighty rushing wind " passes over your 
 head !
 
 282 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 Instinctively you look aloft. 
 
 There is a tremulous flash through the sky, and then the 
 mighty winged squadron of the annual flight of migratory 
 water-fowl fills the air with sound and motion ; and remem- 
 bering with a sigh that the hot weather is approaching, you 
 determine to have "a day at the ducks." Have you ever 
 seen this annual migration from the Indian clioiors ? 
 
 It is a wonderful sight. 
 
 On they come in ceaseless, rapid, unfaltering flight, with 
 that swift, rushing sound that is so hard to describe, but 
 which gets familiar to every Indian sportsman. 
 
 Sometimes it is a long single line of birds in the shape of 
 .the letter V clearly limned against the morning sky. 
 
 With outstretched neck and eager wing ftiey hurry on, 
 cleaving the air with steady unwavering flight, moved by 
 some mysterious impulse to wend their way northwards, to 
 the Siberian steppes or Thibetan marshes, until the torrid 
 heat of the Indian summer shall again have passed, and they 
 .shall once more revisit the broad welcome rice cliowrs, to 
 feast upon the dainties that their fat margins afford. These 
 first V-shaped battalions are the grey geese and heavy- 
 winged mallards. 
 
 And now far in the distance, like mere specks in the 
 infinity of space, another line is seen, wavering, rising, 
 falling, aye advancing now a long-drawn, thin echelon, 
 anon a dark, compact, wedge-like mass. 
 
 In a few minutes they are over us and now they are but 
 flickering specks again. They swoop past with a rush like a 
 charge of cavalry. Here again they rally to the onset. 
 
 On they come, without pause or check. 
 
 Sometimes in large bodies that almost make a current in 
 the air, and again in smaller detachments, and sometimes 
 only in twos or threes. 
 
 It is evidently the commencement of the great annual 
 exodus.
 
 "A DAT AT THE DUCKS." 283 
 
 My young assistant D is still abed. 
 
 " Alioy ! " I shout. " Are you going to sleep all day ? " 
 
 A gurgle and a groan. 
 
 " Get up, man ! " 
 
 A lazy roll. 
 
 " Come, come, get up ! Here's Clwtali Hazree ! " 
 
 " Urn in m, all right ! " said very slowly and indistinctly. 
 Something follows that might be taken for a muttered 
 malediction. 
 
 Then there is a desperate digging of knuckles into the 
 
 reluctant eye-lids, and at length D is wide awake ; and 
 
 we are soon fully equipped and ready for "a day at the 
 ducks." We will first try Kutmullea pokra ! 
 
 The pokra is about two miles from the factory, and the 
 most picturesque spot I know in all the dehat. 
 
 No one knows when it was dug, and for the matter of 
 that, I suppose, no one cares. 
 
 And yet it must have been a marvellous work, for it is in 
 fact one of the largest tanks or artificial reservoirs of water I 
 have seen even in this land where such huge works are so 
 common. 
 
 It is perfectly four-square, and the embankments on all 
 sides, formed in olden time by the up- throwing from the great 
 excavations inside, are very high indeed, exceptionally so. 
 
 As a rule, the embankments around these old tanks, from 
 erosion and other natural causes, have gradually subsided 
 into the plain, and often silted back into the old bed from 
 which they were originally dug; and thousands of tanks 
 in India, from sheer neglect and laziness, have gradually 
 silted up, and become mere depressions of mud and water, 
 lush with rushes and aquatic vegetation, the haunt of 
 malarious fever; and the habitat of snipe and duck, and 
 mallard and teal, and other wading and swimming birds in 
 bewildering but welcome profusion from a sportsman's point 
 of view.
 
 284 TENT LIFE IN TIGEBLAND. 
 
 Around the Kutmullea pokra several old temples are 
 perched here and there on picturesque " coigns of vantage," 
 each shaded by some magnificent tamarind trees, amid whose 
 feathery foliage the white, slender shaft of the lime-washed 
 minaret or dome gleams brightly ; and the surface of the 
 tank itself presents a dense mass of tangled weeds and 
 water-lilies, which form a tempting covert to the myriads 
 of water-fowl that are generally to be found here located. 
 The battle between the morning sun and the dank night 
 mists has not yet been altogether fought out here. 
 
 At present a canopy of fog, which one might fancy was 
 the sulphurous smoke of an artillery engagement, has just 
 settled down over the still surface of the pokra. 
 
 But this condition of affairs is rather favourable for our 
 sport than otherwise. 
 
 It wants but three days to our annual race-meeting. 
 
 And, let not the reader start. 
 
 We are not bent so much on sport this morning as on 
 murder. 
 
 The fact is, we are out on a pot-hunting expedition. 
 
 A sharp canter brings us to the tank. 
 
 Here we are met by one of my zilladars, from whom 
 we receive the welcome intelligence that there are lots of 
 birds. 
 
 The west side is rather bare, but the east and south banks 
 being much overgrown with brushwood, afford excellent 
 shelter for our stalking. 
 
 Sending D around to the east side, I give him time to 
 
 get a good position, and then cautiously top the bank under 
 cover of one of the giant tamarind trees, and I am delighted 
 to find a dense flock of birds right at my feet. 
 
 They are quite unsuspicious, and are paddling about, 
 feeding in quiet security, and I have ample time to select 
 my victims. 
 
 Singling out three large doomer beautiful fat plump
 
 "A DAT AT THE DUCKS." 285 
 
 birds I take a murderous aim, and bang! bang! go the 
 two barrels, and I can see seven or eight birds floundering 
 hopelessly in the water. 
 
 Saw you ever such a commotion ? 
 
 With a wild shriek or scream, or multitudinous quack, 
 if you like it better, the whole flock rise en masse, and 
 after one wild, plunging, hurrying, circling flight, just as I 
 expected, away they go right over to the eastern side, where 
 
 D has taken up his ambush. 
 
 Bang ! bang ! ! I hear his breechloader speak, and several 
 birds come tumbling to the earth. 
 
 Again the breechloader strikes the ready note, and again 
 the feathers fly. 
 
 In hurried, circling, eddying flights, the bewildered ducks, 
 now fairly nonplussed, make for my side, and again I get 
 two successful shots. 
 
 This drives them higher, but still they hover over the 
 pokra, and by-and-by they settle down well out of range in 
 the middle of its broad expanse. 
 
 Alas for the pity of it ! away go several crippled ones, 
 slowly and painfully battling their way from the main body, 
 while numbers of dead birds remain floating here and there 
 at intervals. 
 
 "While the birds have been circling out of range, we have 
 retreated behind the outside cover of- the embankments, and 
 
 now D rejoins me. 
 
 A tall, lanky chowkedar from the village now puts in an 
 appearance ; and encasing his head in a great wide-mouthed 
 gumla, or earthen pot, with perforations in it for eye-holes, 
 he enters the water, retrieves the dead birds, and as many of 
 the wounded ones as he can get at, and then rejoins us. 
 There is no boat, nor raft, nor even a dug-out on the tank, 
 
 and so I propose to D that he should go back to his 
 
 former place while I go down to the edge of the water and 
 try a long shot.
 
 286 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 My idea being that, whether successful or not, this would 
 at least " rise " the birds, and probably send them near us 
 again. 
 
 To this he agreed ; and when he had got to his place I 
 proceeded to fulfil my part of the programme. Having been 
 at this game before, I walked down quite openly to the edge 
 of the water. 
 
 But the ducks are now thoroughly scared and shy, and 
 scuttle across the water as I come on. At such a distance 
 there is no use of my trying a shot ; but the nearer I get to 
 the margin of the water, they gradually edge nearer and 
 
 nearer to the east side, where D lies perdu, and so at 
 
 last bang ! bang ! goes again his iron tube, and several 
 more birds are added to the list of killed and wounded. 
 
 This was too much for them. 
 
 Away they fly round and round, high over our heads, with 
 the exception of a couple of foolhardy teal, that come in- 
 cautiously near me, so I drop one and wound the other, 
 which struggled on a little further, and then fell into a 
 stubble-field, where my syce picked it up. 
 
 The main flock were by this time completely out of range, 
 but this last shot of mine raised a fine large grey duck, 
 which from some reason or other had stayed behind, and 
 away he now flew with a scared quack ! quack ! right athwart 
 D 's ambush. 
 
 A puff of white smoke above the bushes, a sharp report, 
 and the strong, swift flight of the bird is arrested as if by 
 magic, and amid the " wah wahs " and " bapre laps " of a 
 lot of gaping assamees that the sound of our shooting has 
 attracted to the spot, the fine fat duck comes down with a 
 dull crash among the undergrowth. 
 
 I certainly never saw a finer shot, for it must have been 
 over sixty yards' range, and this was before the days of 
 choke bores. 
 We now sent the lanky chowkedar to D again, and
 
 "A DAY AT THE DUCKS." 287 
 
 ordered the village doosad to collect the spoil ; then having 
 watched the ducks go off eastwards, and knowing that there 
 was another little tank about a mile further on, I proposed 
 to give that a visit, as I had a strong belief that our game 
 would halt there. 
 
 Nor were we disappointed. 
 
 Leaving the doosad to try as best he might to retrieve the 
 cripples, we jogged along to Chota BhelwyaJi, the name of the 
 other pokra. 
 
 This is a mere pond as compared with the big tank we 
 had just been shooting over, and is completely surrounded 
 with a thick belt of trees and undergrowth. 
 
 There is just a little pool of water in the centre, the rest of 
 the tank being almost choked with silt and weeds. I knew 
 the spot well, as it was a favourite place for snipe, and I had 
 made frequent visits to its weedy margin. 
 
 Dismounting behind the belt of trees on the bank, we had 
 at once abundant oral evidence that the ducks were here. 
 They were keeping up a fearful quacking clamour, no doubt 
 discussing the rude interruption to their quiet existence which 
 they had just experienced. 
 
 Cautiously creeping through the cover, we found the little 
 pool in the centre simply a living mass of ducks. Losing no 
 time, we fired together ; and never was such execution done 
 
 in such short time. D had time for two. long flying 
 
 shots as the flock circled overhead, and we could scarcely 
 believe our luck as we watched them swiftly wend their 
 way back to Kutmullea again. 
 
 " Hurrah ! " cried I, " we'll have another chance at them 
 
 yet." 
 
 From this little tank we added twelve couple to the bag, 
 but we spent a long time searching for the wounded. 
 
 I put about twenty assamees into the rushes, and regularly 
 beat the tank from end to end. 
 
 Telling D to look out for snipe, we each took one
 
 288 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 side of the tank, and went slowly along with the line of 
 beaters. 
 
 It was great fun, as every now and then a poor wounded 
 duck would try to get away, when there would be a rush and 
 struggle for the prize, amid much mutual vituperation on the 
 part of the free-spoken agriculturists who were acting as our 
 retrievers. 
 
 As they got over more than half the tank, the snipe began 
 to rise, and some very pretty shooting followed on the part 
 
 of D . 
 
 I don't know what was the matter with me, but I missed 
 
 over and over again, and only got three snipe to D 's 
 
 eleven. 
 
 Committing the slain to the care of a tokedar, we hurried 
 back to the Kutmullea tank. 
 
 We made our approaches very gradually, as you may 
 imagine, but our star of fortune shone still brightly, 
 for we secured a place among the bushes just within 
 range. 
 
 We both fired together, one barrel each, and running quickly 
 down, got still another shot, dropping three more between us. 
 Once again, as the flock swept past us, our shooting irons 
 spoke, adding still another quota to the bag. 
 
 We now called a halt, and on counting the birds, found 
 the bag consisted of thirty-three and a half couple of duck, 
 teal and mallard mixed, one goose, and seven couple of 
 snipe. 
 
 While sitting waiting for the horses to be brought up, a 
 poor solitary duck, lured into rash confidence by the stillness, 
 emerged from some weeds close by, and was immediately 
 spotted. 
 
 I had one barrel loaded, but D had withdrawn the 
 
 cartridges from his gun. 
 
 The bird was a long way off, and was evidently a wounded 
 one, and more for the sake of emptying my barrel than with
 
 "A DAY AT THE DUCKS." 289 
 
 any hope of hitting it, I took aim, giving lots of elevation to 
 the old gun, and fired. 
 
 The result certainly exceeded my most sanguine expecta- 
 tions. 
 
 Of course the charge scattered fearfully, but one fatal 
 pellet found out a vital spot. We saw the duck regularly 
 leap out of the water, and then alight, dead as a herring. 
 The pellet had gone clean through the eye into the 
 brain. 
 
 It was now breakfast-time, so we rode back to the bun- 
 galow, cleaned our shooting-irons, and after breakfast I 
 proposed that we should try the river. 
 
 D was delighted, and to provide against all eventu- 
 alities, as there was a chance of both deer and pig, I took 
 
 my carbine with me as well as my gun, while D also 
 
 took some ball cartridges with him. 
 
 The river named the CJiota Gunduck is quite close to 
 the bungalow, and we soon arrived at its banks. 
 
 The river has cut its way through the rich alluvial mould 
 of the fertile plain, and at this season of the year rolls its 
 pellucid waters in a contracted channel some fifty or sixty 
 feet beneath the surface of the adjacent country, the banks 
 for the most part are ragged and over-hanging. 
 
 So keen is the struggle for life, and so dense is the popu- 
 lation in the numerous villages, that even where the banks 
 have toppled over and lie in tumbled, ridgy masses beside 
 the verge of the river, the industrious cultivators, wherever 
 there is a foothold, have planted vetches or other crops, and 
 utilised even that tiny patch. And thus the river runs in a 
 deep canal-like cutting as it were, clothed with luxuriant 
 verdure from top to bottom of the cliffy banks ; and it is only 
 on the long sand-bars, where the river takes some sudden 
 turn, that duck may be expected to be found. Quail, how- 
 ever, are abundant everywhera 
 
 In fact you may go right across the plain, where you 
 
 u
 
 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 would never imagine tliat a deep river was close to you, 
 until all of a sudden your horse pulls you up right on the 
 giddy verge of the over-hanging banks. The country around 
 is one vast rolling sheet of green. The rich flat expanse is 
 thickly clad with the young luxuriant cold weather crops. 
 
 Scarcely a tree is to be seen. 
 
 The only relief to the uniformity is an occasional collection 
 of wretched huts the odorous habitation of a considerable 
 colony of mullahs or fishermen. Their ragged brown nets 
 are festooned on sundry pliant bamboo poles, and a circling 
 flight of scavenger kites constantly hover overhead. 
 
 The villages of the cultivators who own these great tracts 
 of rich green lands are far away back from the river's edge, 
 on the higher lands ; for be it remembered, that when the 
 rainy season comes on, all this magnificent basin, waving 
 with green though it be now, will be a vast rice swamp then, 
 with the river water rolling sluggishly along, and boats will 
 be plying over the very spot where we now stand. Be it 
 understood this chapter is not for the sportsman. I am 
 trying to describe the country. 
 
 Well, we started at Bailah village, and walked our horses 
 slowly down to the river. 
 
 The first thing " shootable " we saw was a pair of Brah- 
 minee ducks. 
 
 They were resting on a sand spit in the middle of the 
 river, but on seeing us they got up with their slow, heavy 
 flight, and uttering their melancholy monotonous cry, were 
 soon out of danger's way. (They are not considered fairly to 
 come under the category of game.) 
 
 A middle-sized alligator, with his serrated back and ugly 
 long snout, on the end of which is a protuberance of a sponge- 
 like character, perhaps divining that we were on rather a 
 cockney sort of pot-hunting expedition, seemed to apprehend 
 some danger, and slowly slid off the ooze into the greenish 
 depths of the river.
 
 "A DAY AT THE DUCKS." 291 
 
 Now apart from the attractions of the spot, I always like a 
 ride along the river on such a day as this ; the air is balmy 
 and still, the heat is tempered by plenteous clouds, and the 
 temperature is much akin to that of a lovely autumn day in 
 England. 
 
 The silent swallows skim backwards and forwards in swift 
 evolutions. 
 
 Here and there, at some infrequent bare spot in the loamy 
 cliffs, a colony of sand martins have taken up their abode, 
 and a chattering flock of minahs the Indian starling hop 
 about in your immediate vicinity. 
 
 The ever-watchful kingfisher hovers above a whirling 
 eddy, now plunges down as rapid as lightning, anon skim- 
 ming the surface like a glancing sunbeam, or perched on 
 some projecting point, quietly ruminates on the trials and 
 troubles of life, as he digests the last unfortunate member of 
 the finny tribe which he has transferred to his capacious 
 maw. 
 
 Then there are the gulls, ever flitting backwards and 
 forwards like restless spirits over the bosom of the deep, 
 occasionally swooping down till their pinions ruffle the 
 surface of the sluggish stream, and often rising again, in 
 triumph over the capture of another hapless fish. 
 
 The snippets, sandpipers, plovers, blue-fowl, and countless 
 other long-legged, long-beaked, big and little birds, are 
 grouped about in every sandy shallow and on every muddy 
 ridge. 
 
 A bloated porpoise shows his pointed snout for a moment, 
 and then his ugly black back rolls heavily through the 
 stream as the unwieldy-looking brute surges slowly ahead. 
 
 Here and there a turtle shows his little head above the 
 water, enjoying the genial warmth of the mid-day sun, while 
 another alligator, disturbed by our approach, slides noiselessly 
 like some unclean thing through the slimy mud, and dis- 
 appears amid the turbid depths. 
 
 u 2
 
 292 TENT LIFE IN TIQERLAND. 
 
 We have just turned the bend of the river, and there is 
 a broad, shelving sandbank before us. See ! there is an 
 alligator now on ahead. 
 
 Now warily and cautiously back yet further from the 
 bank, and now we come quietly up till we are within thirty 
 yards of him. 
 
 He hears us. 
 
 See, he raises his head ! 
 
 Now, good bullet, do your duty. 
 
 Bravo ! We had him then, right behind the shoulder. 
 
 Hurrah, we have fairly bagged an alligator ! 
 
 Remember we were at this time veritable griffins, 
 and used to blaze away at everything that came in 
 the way. 
 
 Another shot into him as he flounders about, and now he 
 is stone dead. 
 
 One of the dangur boys is carrying my spare gun, and I 
 can see his eyes glisten with delight, for the dangurs will 
 have a feast to-night, and will make very short work with 
 the alligator, tough and nasty as he looks. 
 
 We have already seen several duck, but they are too wary, 
 and we cannot get within range, so we go further down to a 
 place which is generally good for a couple or two. 
 
 It is a muddy stretch at a bend of the river, with a high 
 sandbank behind it, affording good cover for a stalk. 
 
 Sure enough the ducks are there, and I allow D to 
 
 try the stalk. 
 
 He got fairly within range, and was just about to fire, 
 when whir-r-r ! away they went, and though he fired after 
 them, the result was nil. I tried a long shot after them as 
 they flew past me between the two banks, but they were too 
 far off, and my attempt also resulted in a miss. 
 This was discouraging. 
 
 However, on we went, and on nearing Ghoreah village we 
 got into a tangled wilderness of raliur, where I was literally
 
 "A DAY AT THE DUCKS." 293 
 
 brushed off my horse by the strong branches, and D had 
 
 a narrow escape from falling over the steep bank into the 
 river. 
 
 To add to the contretemps, we floundered into a nest of 
 hornets, who stung tKe horses and caused them to stampede, 
 and we had to crouch down with our faces to the ground 
 amidst the undergrowth, whilst the angry brutes buzzed away 
 most viciously overhead. 
 
 This was certainly not funny, and we fully experienced 
 the sensations and sympathised with the feelings the Serpent 
 must have felt when he received the announcement in Eden 
 that he would have to become a " crawler " for the rest of his 
 life. 
 
 Our adventures were not, however, at an end yet. 
 
 Just as we were beginning to congratulate ourselves that 
 we had escaped from our angry buzzing assailants, and were 
 still in our undignified prostrate attitude, I heard an 
 ominous hoo Two right in front of me. 
 
 Casting my eyes in D 's direction, I noticed a look of 
 
 agonised horror overspread his usually rubicund countenance, 
 and in a whisper, whose deep, hissing intensity showed me 
 
 that my doughty little D was in a mortal funk, he 
 
 said, " Great Caesar, there's a soar I " 
 
 And a soor sure enough it was. 
 
 Fortunately not a tusker, but a gaunt, mud-encrusted, 
 yellow-fanged old sow, with vicious twinkling, blood-shot 
 eyes, lanky legs, and ragged ears, and an interesting litter of 
 brindled little curly-tailed squealers, arching their backs and 
 bristling up like so many tom-cats almost, all huddling 
 around the old mother's hind legs, as with an alert front 
 and an angry snort of defiance she made most portentously 
 hostile demonstrations against the two unlucky " crawlers " 
 who had thus rashly intruded upon her privacy. 
 
 Now this may read somewhat amusing, but I can assure 
 you it is no laughing matter to be tackled even by an angry
 
 294 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 old sow in a thick, matted tangle of rahur stalks. It might 
 very easily be a matter of life and death. 
 
 Fortunately I was able to bring my carbine to shoulder, 
 and before the brute could charge us, I planted a bullet fair 
 in her chest and toppled her over. 
 
 But I can honestly say that in all my after experience 
 with wild boar, leopard, tiger, buffalo, rhinoceros, and other 
 big game, I never was in such a mortal funk as for the first 
 two or three eventful seconds after hearing that ominous and 
 startling hoo hoo in the rahur field. This settled our duck 
 shooting for the day, and we were right glad to get back 
 scatheless to the factory. 
 
 I remember another day of quite as varied incident on the 
 Kutna Nuddee, when I had gone up many years after to Oude 
 to take over charge of the forest grants, which I shall 
 refer to presently at greater length. 
 
 On the Kutna one could encounter quite as great a variety 
 of water-fowl as on either the Baugmuttee or the GunducJc. 
 
 But with this added excellence, that the primeval jungles 
 stretched all around for leagues, and big game might be come 
 upon at any moment. 
 
 For example, in one day, while out after pea-fowl osten- 
 sibly, I have come across half-a-dozen different kinds of deer, 
 leopards, wild pig, wolves, wild buffaloes, and even a lordly 
 tiger himself. 
 
 On the particular occasion to which I allude, I was saun- 
 tering slowly along the river bank, trying to shoot a muggur, 
 which haunted a sluggish pool near where the coolies were 
 clearing the jungle. This particular brute was reputed to be 
 a man-eater, and while gingerly treading the narrow forest 
 track, two or three of my men came up in a state of great 
 excitement, to tell me that three nil gliai had gone into the 
 forest a little distance ahead, and they earnestly entreated 
 me to allow them to have a hank, as they were very desirous 
 of having roast venison for their Sunday dinner.
 
 "A DAT AT TEE DUCKS." 295 
 
 This was on a Saturday afternoon. 
 
 Nothing loth, I sent them back to call all the coolies off 
 their work, and making them take a wide detour so as to 
 drive the game towards me, I posted myself on a small 
 eminence jutting out into the stream, having a piece of 
 boggy ground between me and the jungle in front, and of 
 course being surrounded by the sinuosity of the water-course 
 on all the other sides. 
 
 It was a capital position to take up, for it gave me com- 
 mand of all the slope trending towards the river, while at the 
 same time any game being driven in my direction must of 
 necessity pass across the marshy piece of ground to get to the 
 river, and while floundering about in the bog, I could not 
 fail to have ample opportunity of making a good shot. 
 
 I had not long to wait. 
 
 But in these sylvan haunts, one need never feel a trace of 
 ennui, as there is little monotony in an Indian jungle. 
 
 In the river, sluggish and muddy as was its current, 
 various kinds of water-fowl steal silently in and out among 
 the sedges, while a lazy raho would ever and anon poke his 
 ugly blunt snout above the surface and lazily absorb an 
 unconscious fly. 
 
 Small turtle here and there might be seen basking on a 
 half-submerged and rotting log. 
 
 A dainty little squirrel, with tail elevated over his prettily 
 barred back, would run up and down frisking and playing 
 with his mate ; and darting through among the trees might 
 be seen whole troops of gleaming noisy parrots and other gay 
 plumaged birds, while if you could not see, you could still 
 hear the muffled drum of some strutting pea-fowl as he swelled 
 himself in all the pride of his glorious plumage, and made 
 himself an object of wonder and admiration to his timorous 
 harem of pea-hens in the leafy covert beyond the river. 
 
 There is never much sound in these jungles during the 
 day.
 
 296 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 But to the keen observer, who has been trained to scan the 
 jungle with an eye that lets nothing escape it, every little 
 knot of bushes, nay, every clump of grass, gives evidence of 
 life. 
 
 The deep, monotonous boom of the great croaking swamp 
 frogs breaks in ever and anon upon the current of your 
 reflections ; the arrowy flight of the iridescent kingfisher, as 
 she shoots from aloft and cleaves the water with her wedgy 
 beak, and then emerges triumphant with a wriggling tiny fish 
 in her bill, sometimes startles you. 
 
 A snake or two may stealthily slide across the half-worn 
 track made by the deer through the grass as they come to 
 the salt-lick near the margin of the water night after 
 night. 
 
 A lizard or a great wriggling iguana, shooting out his 
 quivering fork-like tongue, may catch your eye for a minute, 
 as he warily puts a tree-bole between him and yourself, and 
 peers around at you as if wondering what in the world has 
 brought this curious-looking two-legged thing within the 
 circuit of his vision. 
 
 High overhead, in the still tremulous atmosphere, you see 
 the great silent sweep of the ever- watchful vultures, circling 
 round and round in never ceasing flight. 
 
 A tiny cliikara, or four-horned antelope, the most delicate 
 looking of the deer tribe, peeps out gingerly for a moment 
 from behind that Jhamun bush, and then catching sight of 
 your glinting gun-barrel, he is off with a bound, like a 
 grasshopper. 
 
 The ugly grey muzzle of a plethoric jackal is protruded 
 for a moment behind yonder log, and then again withdrawn, 
 and you feel conscious that all around, numerous eyes of bird 
 and beast and reptile are peering at you through the leafy 
 screen, and you know not but that some hungry beast is 
 gloating greedily with looks of fear yet hate upon his natural 
 enemy man.
 
 "A DAY AT THE DUCKS," 297 
 
 Now you hear the distant sound of the shouting beaters, 
 and see ! on the slope beyond, a hurrying, agitated, wavy 
 motion in the dense undergrowth, the sharp crack of dry 
 sticks being snapt by a heavy tread, and above the leafy 
 bushes just for a moment you see the antlered outline of a 
 noble stag as he plunges through the jungle. 
 
 He seeks the ford below, and after him in swift and stately 
 procession troop the graceful hinds that constitute his 
 following. 
 
 After a pause, you hear above the distant shouting another 
 lumbering onward rush, and right through the bosky dell, 
 scorning concealment, blundering blindly on to his fate, a 
 heavy, awkward nil ghai conies floundering on, ploughing 
 right through the marshy, treacherous ground in front, and as 
 he tops the bank within twenty feet of you, he receives your 
 bullet full in the chest; the w r arm gouts of spouting blood 
 quickly follow the wound, and he topples over with a last 
 desperate quivering kick. 
 
 And so falls your first nil ghai. 
 
 It was rather sorry work. 
 
 The poor brute, although belonging to the antelope family, 
 has little of the elegance or grace of that genera. 
 
 The flesh is coarse and rank, and as the poor beast shows 
 little fight and is not easily missed, there is very little 
 excitement in the sport. 
 
 I was just about to saunter leisurely from my concealment 
 to have a good look at the animal, for this was the first nil 
 ghai I had ever shot, when a roar of augmented intensity 
 from the beaters, with shrieks and hoarse cries of " Ghenra ! 
 Ghenra ! " were heard, and the heavy crashing, as if of a 
 ponderous body in front, apprised me that nobler and more 
 dangerous game was afoot. 
 
 Well was it for me that I had chosen the position 
 I had. 
 
 I had risen from my seat and was standing full in view,
 
 298 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 having, of course, re-loaded, when right in front of me 
 not thirty yards away, but on the other side of the boggy 
 ground I have referred to forth from the jungle, in head- 
 long, desperate flight, came a magnificent full-grown bull 
 rhinoceros. 
 
 " Ugh ! what an ugly exterior," I mentally exclaimed. 
 "Here's a pickle if I happen to miss." My heart, I must 
 confess, gave a desperate beat. 
 
 There was little time for reflection. It was evident the 
 angry brute had seen me, and with a hoarse, choking grunt 
 of wrath and defiance he came plunging straight for me, 
 rushing right into the morass. 
 
 He plunged in up to the shoulders, and luckily for me 
 there he floundered. 
 
 Now was my opportunity ! 
 
 Hastily running down towards him, taking half-a-dozen 
 paces to the right, to get him more broadside on, 1 
 let him have a bullet right behind the thick fold of his 
 meshy skin that hung over his ponderous shoulders, and 
 the deep sob, or grunt rather, of pain, found a triumphant 
 echo in mine heart as it told me that the bullet had gone 
 home. 
 
 I let drive again with the second barrel, taking him right 
 behind the ear, and with a yell of triumph which I could 
 not repress, I saw the mighty brute sway to and fro, heaving 
 his ponderous body as one may see a giant of the forest 
 swayed by a rushing wind, and then with a hoarse groan 
 he lurched forward, struggled again through the tenacious 
 clinging mud, and then crashed heavily over almost at my 
 feet. What a glorious prize ! 
 
 This was indeed a piece of luck. 
 
 Presently up came the eager, panting beaters, and you 
 may imagine the scene that followed. 
 
 The horn was a very fine one, being nine and a half inches 
 from the apex to the base in front.
 
 G> 
 
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 fi
 
 " A DAY AT TEE DUCKS." 299 
 
 The length of the body from snout to end of tail was 
 eleven feet one inch. 
 
 The girth, eleven feet, five and one-half inches. 
 
 Girth of fore-arm, three feet one-half inch ; and from toe 
 to shoulder, the height was five feet nine and one-half 
 inches.
 
 300 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 CHAPTEE XVIII. 
 
 IN THE WILDS OF OUDK 
 
 New surroundings Waste land grants A forest Alsatia Pioneer work 
 The bungalow and its environment My pets An outpost near 
 the Sarda River Reducing chaos to order Surveying the country 
 A likely spot for tiger Send Juggroo for the elephant A sudden 
 inteiTuption A roar and a panic The young tiger charges A picture 
 of savage grace Lucky escape and fortunate shot Another surprise 
 Advent of the elephant Preparing to beat Motee refuses More 
 elephants needed Renew the beat next day Forming line A plucky 
 charge A stampede The coolies refuse Trying it single-handed 
 Once more to the charge A hit! The tigress turns tail A 
 foolish resolve Following the tigress " A dry and weary wilder- 
 ness" Cross the Sarda Intense excitement A stern chase In a 
 dangerous fix Hopelessly lost " No sign of life or water " Deadly 
 thirst Delirium I am deserted A terrible night Digging for 
 water Unconsciousness Found by the searchers. 
 
 IN a far-off corner of this historic province of " Tigerland " 
 were my next experiences of Indian " Tent Life " destined to 
 lie. The death of the rhino just described was one of my 
 first experiences in my new environment. Let me describe it. 
 The chill swamp mists and sweltering steams of the 
 Koosee jungles had nearly made an end of me, and were 
 like to lay my bones to rest beside the three lonely mounds 
 in the factory garden at Lutchmeepore ; but happily yielding 
 to the solicitations of a beloved brother alas ! since gone to 
 his rest I took a short run home after the famine year, and 
 early in 1876, I found myself back again in India, and in- 
 stalled in charge of very extensive waste-land grants, in the
 
 IN THE WILDS OF OUDE. 301 
 
 northern corner of Oude. Indeed, portions of my forest land 
 and not a few of my villages extended right away up to the 
 banks of the Sarda in the North-West Provinces. 
 
 The surroundings here were entirely different to anything 
 to which I had hitherto been accustomed. The very habits 
 and castes of the people were different; the dialect was 
 strange to me at first. The crops were new to me. The 
 system of agriculture was more primitive. The whole 
 country, instead of being flat, sandy, and covered with the 
 tall coarse Koosee grass, was clad thick with dense forest 
 jungle, interspersed with broad plains ; and these covered 
 with short crisp herbage, on "which vast herds of black buck 
 browsed, and which were as entirely opposite to the swampy 
 marshes of the Koosee Dyaras as they well could be. 
 
 The " grants " were held under certain conditions of im- 
 provement clearly laid down and defined in the Waste Land 
 Regulations ; and my improvements were liable to be measured 
 up, or at all events inspected, once every five years. Owing 
 to a succession of bad seasons and very indifferent manage- 
 ment, the estates had been allowed to drift. Improvements 
 were at a stand-still. Village settlement had been totally 
 arrested. That is, settlement of the proper kind ; but owing 
 to incompetence and neglect, large portions of the forest had 
 been encroached upon by indiscriminate and irresponsible 
 selectors ; and the grazing and forest rights had been so 
 badly conserved that the grants had in reality become a 
 sort of no man's territory a kind of Alsatia, to which 
 Adullamites resorted, and where, as in the time of the 
 Judges in Israel, "every man did that which was right in 
 his own eyes/'' 
 
 I had got the survey maps of the place and studied them 
 well. I had also made a careful and patient survey for 
 myself, and I found that, under proper management and 
 with judicious outlay, the grants could be made a very- 
 payable property; and so I accepted the charge, and began
 
 302 TENT LIFE IN TIGEBLAND. 
 
 again iny wild, lonely forest life, under new conditions, 
 but with the most perfect confidence reposed in me, and 
 with carte Uanche at my disposal so far as funds were 
 concerned. 
 
 The nearest city was Shajehanpore, some thirty miles 
 distant on the one side to the south; while on the south- 
 east lay the cleanly little town and military cantonment 
 of Sitapore. Midway between Sitapore and Doddpore, which 
 was the name of my headquarters, lay the village and police 
 station of Mahumdee, a place famous in the annals of the 
 great mutiny ; but I cannot tell that story now. 
 
 My only European neighbour was a burly Angus-shire man, 
 bearing a well-known and honoured Angus name ; and he 
 was so reserved and retiring that all sorts of rumours were 
 afloat concerning him. But of him more anon. 
 
 The main topographical feature of the greater " grant" 
 (the one on which most work and money had been expended) 
 was a deep, sluggish, tortuous watercourse, which wound 
 snakelike through the almost impervious forest jungle, and 
 which, though choked up and impeded in almost every yard 
 of its course by tons of debris, masses of fallen timber, and 
 great unsightly accumulations of rotting vegetation, drift and 
 rubbish generally, yet contained a goodly volume of water, 
 which ran perennially with a sluggish, almost imperceptible 
 flow, but which I felt convinced, if properly cleared and 
 judiciously conserved, would give me a magnificent source 
 of wealth in the facility which it afforded for irrigation on 
 a large scale; and to this important work of clearing the 
 Kutna nuddee for so was it called and preparing the rich 
 virgin lands on its banks for indigo and other crops, were 
 my first energies and endeavours directed. 
 
 I had, too, simultaneously with the more immediate rough 
 work, such as this was, of forest reclamation and water 
 conservation, to make an accurate survey of what the grants 
 really comprised. I had to assert my rights where these had
 
 IN THE WILDS OF OUDE. 303 
 
 been invaded. Village clearings had to be made in the most 
 salubrious localities procurable for my faithful followers from 
 Tirhoot and Bhaugulpore, who had accompanied me into these 
 inhospitable and fever-haunted solitudes. Wells had to be 
 dug; groves of fruit trees planted; brick kilns erected, 
 and an indigo factory, with vats, reservoir, and all necessary 
 buildings and appurtenances, had to be established. I had to 
 check the incursions of lawless desperadoes from neighbour- 
 ing talooks, who periodically swooped down on my scattered 
 villages, and harried the herds, stole the grain, or filched the 
 forest products of my domain. Sometimes on horseback, more 
 commonly on my staunch and trusty little mukna elephant 
 Motee (" The Pearl "), and often, when the fever and ague were 
 on me, in a litter borne by faithful bearers, I perambulated 
 the forest, supervising the operations of the coolies, cheering 
 and encouraging them by my presence, and generally directing 
 the beneficent work of industrial settlement and reclamation 
 of the wilderness to the use and habitation of man ; surely as 
 noble a task as can well engage the energy and brain of any 
 pioneer, and, in my humble judgment, far transcending the 
 too often abused and degraded role of politician or even, alas ! 
 preacher. 
 
 In very truth, I at all events can say, that having come 
 through many and varied experiences, having sounded nearly 
 every note in the gamut of a busy life's vicissitudes, I look 
 back to my happy days of "tent life" as a planter and 
 pioneer of settlement with the most unalloyed feelings of 
 satisfaction, and with a supreme longing that I could live 
 them all over again. 
 
 I have tried to conjure up, all too imperfectly, a dim, 
 indistinct vision of the hopes and aspirations that animated 
 me. I have tried, all too inadequately, to give you some 
 faint conception of the problems that press for solution in 
 the daily routine of a life such as is led by hundreds of the 
 finest spirits of our race, in the mysterious and seductive
 
 304 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 East. I have endeavoured to paint in bold outline, by only 
 a few suggestive touches, the opportunities for real honest 
 work that are included in the range of duties pertaining to 
 such a sphere of labour as that in which so many brave young 
 pioneers are fighting now. The reader, if he has any sympathy 
 and imagination, can supply the rest. 
 
 Let me now fill in the picture by a few rapid details. Let 
 me pourtray the environment, physical and material, in which 
 I now found myself. 
 
 The bungalow of earthen walls, thick and cool, well 
 plastered with ochre-coloured earth outside, and kalsomined 
 interiorly, having a broad shady verandah, a well thatched, 
 steep pitched roof, and commodious comfortable rooms, is- 
 shadowed by a mighty peepul tree, around whose giant butt 
 I have grouped numberless ferns and orchids, culled from 
 the forest, and beneath whose grateful amplitude of bough 
 and twig and leaf, the dogs lie placidly dozing nearly all the 
 day. In the shadow, too, and close by, is a stout wooden 
 cage with iron bars, and chained to a great staple in the tree 
 itself is a magnificent black panther, one of my numerous 
 pets. Two affectionate porcupines here also generally have 
 their siesta during the day. Their frugivorous tastes make 
 them ardent "cupboard lovers," and they can always be 
 "wooed and won" into docility by a present of bananas. 
 How their quills rattle as they shuffle along after me 
 sometimes ! They freely consort with the terriers, and are 
 not a bit afraid of their proximity, feeling no doubt perfectly 
 safe in their panoply of mail. In the verandah, at one end 
 I have a litter of four jackals, and two little foxes, with their 
 beady black eyes and sharp roguish muzzles; and at the 
 other end, in an ample wired-in space, I have some dozen 
 young pea-fowl from the jungle, being tended in most 
 matronly fashion by a fat old clucking foster-mother from 
 the fowl-yard. The young pea-fowl are ravenously fond of 
 white ants, and my " sweeper " brings in a supply of these
 
 IN THE WILDS OF OUDE. 305 
 
 dainty but dangerous delicacies every morning I say 
 dangerous, because I have to watch that none of the insidious 
 termites are allowed to effect a lodgment in the walls or floor 
 of the bungalow. 
 
 Then there is my daintily formed, delicate little antelope 
 "Nita," dearest pet of all. She comes tripping up at my 
 call, the silver collar of tiny bells round her neck making 
 fairy music to the graceful undulations of her supple sylph- 
 like form. And she often leaps up into my lap when I am 
 lying reading, and disputes possession of couch with a great 
 Persian long-haired, blue-eyed cat, and a couple of wiry- 
 haired, pink-nosed, affectionate and playful mongoose. 
 
 In front extends a trimly kept garden, gay with flowers, 
 redolent of sweet perfumes, and sloping gradually down to 
 the circumference of the guarding hedge of thorny shrubs, 
 beyond which lies a tangled expanse of thick thatching grass, 
 in which lurk the slouching jackal, the sly fox, the lanky 
 Indian hare, and any quantity of red-legged quail, grey 
 partridge, and occasionally a stray florican, perhaps a belated 
 pea-fowl, or sometimes the more deadly and dangerous wolf 
 or leopard. 
 
 Beyond that again, stre telling around in a continuous dark 
 circle, without a break, hemming in the spacious plain with 
 a mysterious belt of glossy foliage, stands the forest primeval ; 
 and in the glades and coverts, and around the rank tangle of 
 undergrowth, there are to be found nearly every variety of 
 game known to the Indian sportsman from the fierce 
 rhinoceros and savage tiger, down to the little four-horned 
 chikara, the smallest antelope we have got. 
 
 The great plain, in which my group of buildings is the 
 central object, has been carven or hewn out of the forest; and 
 it is now well cultivated, and, indeed, the harvest is even now 
 well begun. Various groups of Assamees, or cultivators, 
 working in the fields, give an air of life to what is generally, 
 I must confess, a rather lonely and solitary prospect. Two 
 
 X
 
 306 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 or three semi-deserted villages are scattered at intervals over 
 the plain, and tiny curling columns of whitish-grey smoke 
 rise in clear relief against the black background of sombre 
 sal jungle. A pakur tree (not unlike the aspen) raises at 
 intervals its canopy of brighter green, or a Parass (the flame 
 tree), gorgeous with its crimson blossom, breaks in like a splash 
 of fire on the uniform dull tint of the surrounding woods. 
 There are no tall palms, no feathery clumps of bamboos, no 
 fringed streamers of the flag -like banana, no glistening dome 
 of sacred shrine as yet in this infant settlement, to break the 
 melancholy monotony of the far-stretching forest. 
 
 There is one gap to be sure. I had almost forgot. Eight 
 in front there is a jagged break in the continuity of the 
 circumference of boscage, yawning like the mouth of a tomb. 
 A thick black smoke ascends day and night from this cleft 
 aperture, for here my gangs of coolies are busy clearing a 
 wide track to the river opening out fresh land for the 
 plough and here the brick-kiln burns, and great piles of 
 charcoal are constantly being made. 
 
 Having had a sprinkling of rain during the night, the air 
 is crisp, and the atmosphere is unusually clear, and far away 
 in the extreme distance, over the long low line of forest 
 country, the mighty crests of the majestic Himalayas rise 
 clear, sharp, glistening, and well defined in the fresh morning 
 air. There is a rosy glow, high up there, on the fretted 
 battlements of snow, as if the Aurora had settled per- 
 manently on those towering heights of eternal whiteness and 
 dazzling purity. 
 
 I have said that one of the outlying grants to the north 
 was not far from the Sarda river ; and my first view of the 
 Sarda, about which I had heard so much in connection with 
 the great irrigation schemes of the North- West Provinces, 
 was rather disappointing. 
 
 I had been for some months at Doddpore, trying to get 
 the mass of detail connected with the work there into proper
 
 IN THE WILDS OF OUDE. 307 
 
 form ; and at length, one fine morning in the Indian mid- 
 summer, I found time to make my long deferred visit to 
 Allengunge, the furthest outlying post of my widely-scattered 
 charge, and situated on the banks of the Sarda. 
 
 I need not weary the reader with a detailed account of 
 the factory work I had to undertake. 
 
 Indeed, my recollections of that trip, so far as work was 
 concerned, are not of the most pleasant character. 
 
 I found that wholesale swindling had been going on. 
 
 Everything was in confusion. 
 
 The herds of cattle belonging to the factory had been 
 looted right and left. 
 
 Factory lands had been settled upon surreptitiously 
 boundary disputes were of daily occurrence ; and it was only 
 by dint of the most vigorous and unrelaxing vigilance and 
 effort that I managed to get matters into a fairly workable 
 condition ; and at length, after two or three weeks of 
 unremitting toil and unflagging exertion, I managed to get 
 things pretty fairly reduced to order, and felt that I deserved 
 n holiday. 
 
 I had only the one elephant with me my little " Motee " 
 and hearing that there was a piece of likely jungle close to 
 the banks of the river, I set out one morning on horseback, 
 telling the attendants to bring the elephant up quietly 
 behind my object being to make a sort of reconnaissance, 
 with a view more of acquainting myself with " the lay of 
 the country " than with any serious intention of having a 
 beat. 
 
 The country on the hither side of the Sarda I found con- 
 sisted almost entirely of elevated sandy ridges, the sand 
 being of a blackish hue, mixed here and there in the hollows 
 with a peaty loam, which was extensively cultivated, the 
 crops being mainly rice, maize, and tobacco. 
 
 On the intervening ridges, gingdly and cotton were the 
 most common crops, with here and there long strips of urhur, 
 
 X2
 
 308 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 from which the Dhall pea is obtained ; and in all directions, 
 where the plough had not been used, were dense, thorny 
 thickets of acacia, and long, straggling bits of forest land, 
 the undergrowth in which was sparse and open. 
 
 So far as the prospects of game were concerned, I thought 
 it, after the Koosee dyaras and the thickly wooded jungle 
 near Doddpore, to be very unlikely country indeed. 
 
 But one thing I had forgotten viz., that it was quite 
 out of the beaten track, and had never, perhaps, been visited 
 by European sportsmen at all; and the natives were so 
 poor and so primitive in their ways, that I doubt very much 
 if the sound of a gunshot had ever awakened the echoes in 
 any of the likely haunts about the whole district. 
 
 I had a Mussulman syce with me Juggeroo by name 
 who was a most enthusiastic sportsman, and, indeed, a good 
 tracker, and who seemed to know instinctively every likely 
 spot where there was any probability of our finding any 
 big game. 
 
 We saw numerous marks of pig and deer of various kinds, 
 and small game was abundant, but I thought there was little 
 chance of finding any really good sport, and after a long 
 circuit of some ten or twelve miles, I was on the point of 
 returning, when Juggeroo earnestly besought me to visit a 
 spot on the banks of the river some half a mile ahead, 
 which he assured me was a very favourite haunt of 
 tigers. 
 
 Eather sceptical, I allowed myself to be persuaded, and 
 on we went. 
 
 At the top of a long sandy ridge, bearing evidences, in the 
 stunted cotton bushes and withered stalks of the sesamum 
 plant, both of the perversity of the soil and the slovenly 
 character of the cultivation, we suddenly came to an abrupt 
 break, which dipped straight from our feet into a densely 
 wooded amphitheatre of luxuriant jungle growth. 
 
 It was a regular "pocket," evidently caused by some
 
 IN THE WILDS OF OUDE. 309 
 
 extensive landslip into the river, the rapid waters of which, 
 sparkling merrily over the sandy bars, we saw gleaming in 
 the distance through the still foliage. The very smell of the 
 air spoke to my practised senses at once that here was at 
 last a likely spot for game. 
 
 Any man who has had a large jungle experience can tell 
 by numberless subtle sensations, which no one can explain, 
 whether a locale is a likely one or not. 
 
 I felt at once that here there was certain to be game. 
 
 It was just the very spot for a tiger. 
 
 The declivity was sufficiently deep to afford dense shade 
 at the bottom of the hollow. 
 
 All around, the cultivated slopes were such as to afford 
 capital stalking ground for a tiger of even the most varied 
 and dainty tastes, as cattle, pig, and deer were plentiful. 
 
 Then the water was close by, and the covert was thick 
 enough to afford ample security against the sudden inter- 
 ruption of any dangerous visitor " on hostile thoughts intent." 
 
 In fact, looking down on Juggeroo, I could see a grin of 
 smug self-satisfaction on his face, which said as plainly as if 
 he had spoken" There, Sahib ! didn't I tell you ? What do 
 you think of Juggeroo now ? " 
 
 My look of quick response broadened the grin on his 
 face, and when I finished the hitherto unspoken colloquy by 
 saying to him in Hindostanee, " Yes, this will do, Juggeroo," 
 he seemed delighted, and suggested at once that I should 
 alight and let him ride back to bring up the elephant. 
 
 To this I agreed ; and presently Juggeroo, with his bare feet 
 in the stirrups, hammered his horny heels into my horse's 
 ribs, and with his hair streaming behind him, like one 
 possessed of a demon, he quickly vanished, and I was left 
 with two or three stray villagers to more critically survey 
 the position. 
 
 Feeling satisfied that the dingle could only be beaten by 
 an elephant, I leisurely lit my pipe, and reclining against
 
 310 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 a shady tree, began to enter into a conversation with the 
 villagers. 
 
 A young lad who was with us, after some time began, in 
 the idle, desultory way that conies natural to a man who is 
 waiting and has little to occupy his mind, to toss some 
 clods of earth that were lying close by into the dell below. 
 Indeed, I was not attending to him, or perhaps I might have 
 forbidden him. 
 
 " Behold what great events from little causes spring ! " 
 You can imagine the consternation which seized our party 
 when after the third or fourth divot, as we would call it in 
 Scotch, which he threw down, a response came from the 
 hollow below, in the shape of a terrific roar, which set our 
 blood tingling through every vein, blanching the faces of the 
 natives to almost an ashen pallor, and, I am not ashamed to 
 say, causing me in double quick time to shin up the tree 
 beneath which I had been lying with all the celerity, if not 
 the grace, of a professional acrobat. 
 
 The whole thing was so sudden and unexpected that I 
 actually committed the unpardonable sin of leaving my gun 
 behind me. 
 
 And presently, following upon the roar, out bounced a 
 three-parts-grown young tiger defiance glowing from his 
 fiery eyes, his mustachios bristling with wrath, the hair on 
 his neck as stiff as the quills of the proverbial porcupine, and 
 his tail as stiff as a ramrod. He came tearing out just as a 
 hawk comes down on a covey of frightened partridges. 
 
 The luckless lad who had been the immediate cause of this 
 ebullition of wrath, was not to escape scot-free. With two 
 or three terrific bounds, the young tiger was upon him, and 
 with one swoop of his tremendous paw sent the poor wretch 
 flying through the air as if he had been projected from a 
 catapult. 
 
 Quick as a cat leaps after a mouse, the lithe young tiger 
 bestrode the prostrate young villager, but luckily without
 
 IN THE WILDS OF OUDE. 311 
 
 seeking to tear or molest him further. There he stood, a 
 splendid embodiment of savage grace, his noble head poised 
 grandly on his muscular neck and shoulders, his swinging 
 tail lashing his flanks, and slowly turning his head from side 
 to side, he growled out in a sullen undertone his defiance 
 of all and sundry who dared to intrude upon his kingly 
 domain. 
 
 I had now gathered my scattered wits together, and feeling 
 ashamed of my temporary panic, I gently shifted my position 
 from the forked branch upon which I had taken refuge, and 
 slid down the tree as quickly as I could, and gripping my 
 gun a number 12 central fire, side-snap action, breech- 
 loader, which had stood me in good stead on many a critical 
 occasion I hastily slipped in two ball cartridges, and peer- 
 ing round the bole of the tree, let the growling young savage 
 have the contents of both barrels, one bullet taking him 
 behind the ear, and the other going clean through his 
 heart. 
 
 He dropped like a piece of lead right across the recumbent 
 form of the terrified coolie ; and presently I was surrounded 
 by the exultant villagers, and we were able to drag the young 
 fellow, saturated from head to foot in the blood of the tiger, 
 he himself, barring a long lacerated wound across his flanks, 
 not a bit the worse for the rough shaking of the mighty paw 
 which he had just experienced. 
 
 And now another roar from the dense patch of jungle 
 behind again startled our scarcely recovered nerves, and 
 sauve qui pent was once more the order of the day. 
 
 I got behind my tree this time, not up it, and thought to 
 myself that these northern tigers were a trifle more energetic 
 in their responses than those of the grass jungle country to 
 which I had been so long accustomed. However, beyond a 
 terrific caterwauling and a deep bass accompaniment of surly 
 growls, there was no further manifestation on the part of the 
 concealed denizen or denizens, for we knew not whether
 
 312 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 there were more than one or not in the dense jungle 
 below. 
 
 Here too in the distance we could see the elephant ap- 
 proaching, in company with Juggeroo, still on horseback, 
 and with several of my villagers and factory servants, form- 
 ing quite a goodly cavalcade. 
 
 You can judge of their surprise at seeing the evidences of 
 our sharp skirmish. 
 
 The young fellow who had been clawed, received their 
 condolences and congratulations ; while of course I came in 
 for the usual amount of hyperbole, and was likened to the 
 great Ram Earn himself, and called the biggest Rustoom, or 
 hero, that had ever been heard of or seen in these parts. 
 
 Judging from the evidences just afforded us that the 
 temper of the concealed tiger might be somewhat fiery, I 
 determined not to subject my companions to the danger of 
 being clawed and perhaps killed. 
 
 So telling them to retire to safe positions, and then make 
 as much din as they liked, I got Juggeroo up with me on the 
 guddee, and with a lot of clods piled between us, we put 
 Motee straight for the jungle. 
 
 She evidently did not like the situation. 
 
 I should explain too that the mahout was not her usual 
 driver, but a raw, inexperienced, and rather impulsive youth 
 worse luck, as you shall see. 
 
 Moving her fore feet ominously backwards and forwards, 
 and curling up her trunk, she emitted a shrill piping explo- 
 sion, and it was as much as the mahout could do to get her 
 to face the steep descent. In fact, no sooner had she got 
 about two body-lengths into the dense undergrowth, than 
 another terrific growling roar from our concealed antagonists 
 seemed to quite seal her determination as to what course she 
 was to pursue; and in spite of buffetings and blows and 
 angry objurgations, she resolutely refused to have any- 
 thing more to do with the task we wished to set her, and
 
 IN THE WILDS OF OUDE. 313 
 
 incontinently rushed out of the jungle with such evidences 
 of " funk " as I had never seen her display on any former 
 occasion. 
 
 Now you must not judge Motee too harshly. 
 
 The fact is, it was quite unfair to make her face the 
 determined tiger in his chosen abode, when she had such a 
 break-neck road to travel. And had her own old mahout, 
 been in charge, he would never have attempted to force her 
 to do any such thing. 
 
 Some such reflection crossed my mind, and so patting poor 
 old Motee on the trunk for I had now got down, being at some 
 distance from the jungle she showed her appreciation of my 
 kindness by caressing my hair with her trunk, and rumbling 
 out a sort of muffled volume of thanks, which expressed as 
 plainly as possible that she would do anything for me in 
 reason, but she would be hanged if she would face the tiger 
 in such a place as that, with no support, and with the almost 
 certainty of getting the worst of any encounter that might 
 ensue. " All right, old woman," I said ; " we will try it in 
 another way." 
 
 Making a wide detour, therefore, we got down by a rather 
 precipitous bank to the little flat bordering the river; and 
 from which side we could get a much better view up the dell, 
 and were able to form some estimate of the rotten nature of 
 the ground and the extreme difficulty of the approach which 
 we had first attempted. 
 
 The whole circumference of the hollow could not have 
 been more than some forty or fifty acres, but it was disrupted 
 and riven as if by an earthquake. 
 
 Great yawning fissures were perceptible in the broken 
 banks. There was a perfect network of hanging creepers, 
 tumbled trees, and masses of brushwood. 
 
 And I felt certain that the growling party in this splendidly 
 chosen retreat was very likely an old tigress, with possibly 
 another cub, and that it would be the height of foolhardiness
 
 314 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 to attempt to dislodge her from such a well-chosen position 
 with only one elephant. 
 
 And so, after posting sentinels all around the place, with 
 strict orders to immediately report any occurrence that came 
 within their ken, and with the promise of substantial reward 
 in case we got the tiger, we withdrew from the jungle, flayed 
 the youngster I had shot, and then hied back to Allengunje, 
 where my munshec at once sent off mounted messengers to 
 try to get the loan of two or three elephants, with a view to 
 renewing the beat on the morrow. 
 
 To make a long story short, by eleven o'clock next 
 morning four elephants came in, and all the able-bodied men 
 from the scattered hamlets around accompanied us, bearing 
 with them all the most murderous-looking weapons that the 
 imagination of man could conceive clubs, spears, reaping 
 hooks, ancient swords, and unwieldy battle-axes, ct hoc genus 
 omne; and at the head of my motley crew like Falstaff 
 leading his ragged regiment through Coventry away we 
 went to the scene of our late encounter, determined this 
 time either " to do or die." 
 
 An honest intelligent young baboo, son of a neighbour 
 zemindar, and the proud possessor of an old matchlock, which 
 dated possibly back to the middle of the last century, and who 
 bestrode a savage-looking elephant belonging to his father, was 
 my companion. I gave Juggeroo one of my spare guns, and 
 mounted him upon another of the elephants ; I rode Motee 
 myself, and taking the two spare elephants with me to act as 
 beaters when we reached the jungle, I posted the baboo and 
 Juggeroo one on each side of the dingle, and forming a line 
 below, of my nondescript army of beaters, we started to beat 
 from the river bank. 
 
 This, barring the cub of the previous day, was my first 
 experience of a North-west tiger, and I am bound to say a 
 more plucky brute never charged a line. 
 
 We had scarcely begun our operations, raising din enough
 
 IN THE WILDS OF OUDE. 315 
 
 to awaken the dead, when, immediately accepting the 
 challenge, she came roaring down on us, open-mouthed, and 
 made for one of the elephants, leaping from the bank clean on 
 to its head, sending the mahout flying off into a dense, thick, 
 thorny scrub behind, where he lay yelling with forty horse- 
 power lungs, and calling on all the gods and goddesses to 
 save him from instant destruction, while the elephant, with a 
 shrill scream of consternation and dismay, turned tail and 
 made straight for the stream, where he got half submerged in 
 a quicksand ; while my coolies, like an ants' nest in a 
 thunderstorm, went hurry scurry, hither and thither, casting 
 their staves and other warlike implements behind them, and 
 in fact such a stampede I never before witnessed. 
 
 Motee behaved, however, very pluckily, sustaining well 
 her old character for courage. 
 
 Curling up her trunk, and setting her ears back, she hastily 
 swirled around in the direction of the charging tiger, nearly 
 unseating me by the rapidity of her movements ; but before I 
 could draw a line on the vixenish brute as she clawed the 
 first elephant, the incidents which I have been describing 
 were accomplished, and the tigress had again gone back into 
 the jungle to sulk. 
 
 At all events her immediate object had been accomplished. 
 Despite all my subsequent endeavours, she had succeeded in 
 striking such "a blue funk" into the hearts of all my 
 followers, that not one of them would again face the jungle. 
 
 In vain I entreated, commanded, promised, besought, 
 stormed, raved, and, I am sorry to say, swore. But as it was 
 in Hindostanee perhaps it doesn't count. 
 
 It was no use. 
 
 Not one of my craven crew would face the jungle. 
 
 With my heart swelling with indignation, and my gorge 
 rising in disgust, I at length determined to tackle the brute 
 single-handed. 
 
 So putting Motee once more face to the foe, we cautiously
 
 316 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 entered the cover by a winding beaten path, that seemed to 
 have been made by the deer and other wild beasts coming 
 down to the river to drink, and we had not penetrated far 
 into the shade before the gallant tigress, with a terrific roar, 
 seeming nothing loath to accept our challenge, came bounding 
 out again straight at the elephant. 
 
 This time I was enabled to get a quick snap shot, which 
 must have taken her somewhere in the hindquarters. She 
 must have been a bit of a " cock-tail " after all, for with a 
 howl of mingled rage and pain, her warlike fury seemed to 
 collapse all of a sudden, and turning tail in the most currish 
 manner, she slunk away among the undergrowth ; and pre- 
 sently hearing a terrific hullabaloo from the bank above, we 
 withdrew from our position, only to receive the assurances of 
 the excited mob high above our heads, that the tigress was 
 making off across the stream, with her tail between her legs, 
 and evidently hard hit. 
 
 Ah, now ! what a revulsion of feeling in the bosoms, what 
 a change in the attitudes of the dusky warriors ! 
 
 How proudly they swelled out their chests like pouter 
 pigeons, and told what they " would have done " if the Sahib 
 had only waited ! How they plumed themselves on their 
 bravery, and with what eagerness they pressed advice upon 
 me to follow up without loss of time ! And here came in a 
 string of adjectives reflecting upon the poor tigress's ancestors 
 which I had better leave unrecorded. 
 
 However, as the day was young, and the tigress evidently 
 wounded, I determined to at once follow up the trail. 
 
 And so, acting most foolishly on impulse, as the sequel 
 will prove, began one of the most wearisome and disastrous 
 stern chases it has ever been my bad fortune to take part 
 in. 
 
 The country of the Sarda was indeed " a dry and weary 
 land." 
 
 This was its character.
 
 IN THE WILDS OF OUDE. 317 
 
 Great rolling successions of undulating sand-dunes, with 
 not a particle of vegetation, except rank, harsh, wiry bent- 
 grass in unsightly clumps, and ever and anon a barricade of 
 thorny acacia bushes. Here and there sweltering pools of 
 stagnant water, covered with a greenish, glairy scum ; and 
 as the hot winds swept across the inhospitable expanse, 
 swirling columns of sand whirled and eddied around, like 
 mad dancing dervishes, and the blazing sun shot forth his 
 fiery darts with ruthless directness ; in fact, a more bare, 
 bleak, uninviting tract of country it would be difficult to 
 imagine. 
 
 This was doubtless the old bed of the Sarda, and extended 
 for miles to the north, right away up, in fact, to the BAHRAICH 
 Talook, beyond the swift-flowing Gogra on the south, and 
 right away northwards to the Nepaul Terai without a break. 
 Indeed for leagues there is not a vestige of human habitation 
 in this barren and inhospitable wilderness. 
 
 And into this wild and forbidding tract I was rushing with 
 all the temerity of a rash, inexperienced young fool, when I 
 really ought to have known better. 
 
 But so it was, and what will not an ardent sportsman do 
 when he sees the stripes of a wounded tiger practically, as 
 he thinks, within his grasp ? 
 
 To tell the truth, I lost my head, and w r hat added to my 
 misfortune, my young and inexperienced malwut and attend- 
 ants lost theirs too. 
 
 Our miscalculation was a disastrous one for me, as will 
 presently be shown. 
 
 We all thought that the tigress could only go for a short 
 distance, and that we would be sure very speedily to bring 
 her to bay ; but we little knew the demon we had to deal 
 with. 
 
 And so the mahout began to ply toe and heels on the 
 elephant's neck, in the most approved usual fashion, digging 
 his hard toes behind the poor brute's ears, wriggling on his
 
 318 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 seat as if he was trying to win the Derby ; and to the accom- 
 paniment of a series of resounding whacks with the gudjbaz 
 or goad on the poor elephant's cranium, we plunged into the 
 swift current of the Sarda, sending the spray flying before 
 us, and amid the most intense excitement we emerged on 
 the other side, seeing the tigress at a considerable distance 
 ahead, just disappearing behind an undulating ridge of sand, 
 and apparently very hard hit. 
 
 Away we went in wild pursuit. 
 
 The jolting motion of the elephant was anything but 
 pleasant, and I had to hang on by the ropes with one hand, 
 and keep hold of my gun with the other. 
 
 We topped the sandbank just in time to see her majesty 
 disappearing over the succeeding ridge in front; but seemingly 
 going as fresh as before. 
 
 Our poor elephant put on all the pace she knew, but we 
 did not seem to gain on the tigress. 
 
 After we had covered perhaps two or three miles in this 
 fashion, I began to dimly realise that after all we were not 
 to have such an easy prey as we had imagined. 
 
 And even then I would have turned back, but that my 
 infernal mahout, for a wonder, strongly urged me to go on, 
 and so on we went. 
 
 To make a long story short, we followed up our retreating- 
 quarry for miles, and to this day I have grave doubts as to 
 whether that never-to-be-sufficiently-objurgated brute was 
 not possessed by some malign spirit, some baleful enticing 
 demon, seeking to lure us on to our destruction. 
 
 At any rate, after experiencing agonies of thirst ; with the 
 fierce excitement of the chase long since pounded out of me, 
 depressed with the inevitable reaction from strong emotion, 
 with my tongue feeling like a piece of parched leather, and 
 my temples throbbing as if the veins would burst, we were 
 at last warned by the lengthening shades that the day was 
 .wellnigh spent, and I had begun to fully realise the actual
 
 IN TEE WILDS OF OUDE. 319 
 
 danger of our position, when to my dismay I found that the 
 mahout knew nothing of the country, and the elephant began 
 to show signs of being thoroughly fagged. Of course the 
 others had hours ago tailed off, and we two were alone in this 
 wild and weary wilderness. 
 
 By this time the tigress (the demon-possessed tigress) had 
 evidently vanished apparently into thin air, for we saw no 
 more of her. May maledictions pursue her ! 
 
 Then began such a night of pain and thirst and weariness 
 as I hope never again to experience. No doubt, too, I was 
 sickening for the fever that afterwards fell upon me. 
 
 We began to cast about for water, or sign of habitation, 
 but we were verily in a desert land, for sign of life or water 
 was there none ; and by-and-by the blood-red sun sank to 
 rest behind the distant bronzed horizon, and the great full- 
 orbed moon came slowly sailing up, flooding the bleak sand 
 ridges with a ghastly light ; and as if all the evil spirits of 
 Gadara had revisited " the glimpses of the moon ; " baying 
 packs of jackals seemed to start up around us from every 
 hollow, and the unearthly chorus struck a weird, uncanny 
 chill upon our already drooping spirits. 
 
 We were now hopelessly bewildered. 
 
 In searching for the water the maTiout had completely lost 
 all knowledge of his whereabouts; and instead of leaving 
 the elephant to find its way by its own unaided intelligence, 
 as we ought to have done, the stupid man kept directing it 
 hither and thither, in a most aimless fashion, until at length 
 the poor brute began to show signs of resentment, and falling 
 into a fit of the sulks, commenced rocking and shaking most 
 violently, in the attempt to dislodge us from its wearied back. 
 Here was a pretty kettle of fish ! 
 
 But in all sober seriousness it was no light matter. 
 
 I cannot describe to you my sensations. I was racked 
 with pain, and a consuming thirst had possession of me. 
 
 I fancy I must have received a slight sunstroke during
 
 320 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 the day, and so when, at length, utterly wearied and un- 
 nerved, I slid to the ground, a fit of trembling came upon 
 me, and I must have become unconscious. My next re- 
 collection was awaking as if from a horrid nightmare, and 
 sitting up in a dazed manner I found myself entirely alone, 
 with a pack of some fifteen or twenty jackals, squatting on 
 their haunches all around me, and gazing on me with greedy 
 eyes that blazed like live coals ; and they seemed to be ap- 
 parently debating amongst themselves whether they should 
 " go for me straight," or wait until the breath left my helpless 
 body altogether, when I would fall an easier prey to their 
 unholy appetites. 
 
 The strangest and most whimsical absurdities flashed 
 through my brain. 
 
 One mangy old brute, lying down at full length, struck me 
 as being like an old woman that used to sell toffee in my 
 old native village when I was a boy, and I could not help 
 laughing as the brute champed its yellow fangs, licking its 
 hungry chops, and, as I thought, leering at me in a most 
 horribly suggestive and familiar fashion. 
 
 I fancy I must have been still somewhat delirious, and what 
 my fate might have been I know not, had not, fortunately, 
 two of the jackals begun snarling at each other; and the 
 whole pack, open-tongued, gave utterance to the most un- 
 earthly, diabolical series of long-drawn yells which would not 
 have shamed the dogs of Cerberus himself. 
 
 I suppose this roused me a bit, for staggering to my feet 
 I raised my gun, and immediately the cowardly pack scattered 
 as if a rocket had burst amongst them. Shaking in every 
 limb, my knees trembling under me, my dry tongue almost 
 rattling in my mouth, every sense lost in the one agonising 
 desperate desire for water, I staggered on, plunging wildly 
 about, yet with a blind instinct clutching my gun; and 
 again I must have fallen and become unconscious, for when 
 I came to myself the morning sun was struggling to cast
 
 IN THE WILDS OF OUDE. 321 
 
 his feeble, fitful rays through a dense canopy of fog that 
 had settled down on this bleak, inhospitable tract, and sitting 
 up I ruefully surveyed my forlorn surroundings. I was 
 racked with pain and stupid with fever, and yet that scene 
 is burned in up*on my memory. 
 
 At a little distance in front of me was a slight depression, 
 filled with mimosa bushes ; and the thought struck me, that 
 perhaps by digging with my hunting-knife I might find water. 
 
 I was in a burning fever, and very weak so weak that 
 I had to crawl on my hands and knees to the hollow. 
 
 This happy inspiration doubtless saved my life. After 
 a weak and weary effort, I came upon water, and saturating 
 my handkerchief in the unwholesome-looking liquid, I 
 squeezed it again and again into my mouth, until at length 
 I began to feel a little refreshed. 
 
 But oh, that weary, weary day ! 
 
 All day long, until about mid-afternoon, I must have 
 lain there beside this scooped-out hole, with the hot sun 
 beating down upon me, and when at length my fellows found 
 me, I was in a raving delirium and fever, and how I got back 
 to the factory I know not to this day. 
 
 At all events, the result of that unlucky adventure was the 
 breaking up of my jungle home : I was ordered to take a sea 
 voyage round to Bombay, where I lay for nearly two months, 
 almost helpless with rheumatic fever, and eventually I had 
 to seek a radical change by a trip to Australia; but not 
 before I had come back to my lonely post in the jungle, 
 where I made a brave effort to combat my growing weakness, 
 in the endeavour to fulfil the trust imposed on me, but in 
 such an unequal contest I of course soon had to succumb.
 
 322 TENT LIFE IN TIGEBLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 INCIDENTS OF THE "BIG BEAT." 
 
 News from the military Arrangements for grazing commissariat 
 elephants Advent of a jolly party News of big game An im- 
 posing procession The start The country Lagging behind A 
 sudden apparition " A Sambur, by Jove ! ! " Only a Swamp deer after 
 all Points of difference We proceed down the river A likely spot 
 for game A sudden diversion The monkeys' warning A hurried 
 consultation Briggs left on the watch Grows impatient Determines 
 to reconnoitre A soliloquy A wary stalk " A sight that sets his 
 ears a tingling" "Angry green eyes glaring" Bang! A miss A 
 shot and a charge simultaneously Bullet and teeth both " get home " 
 Poor Briggs carried home After the cubs next day The " Old 
 General " in charge Discovery and capture of the cubs A likely spot 
 for leopard Gopal on the track " Not one but two leopards " They 
 will not break Halt for tiffin and send for fireworks One more try 
 The end of a memorable day. 
 
 ONE day, while vainly trying to bear up against my growing 
 weakness, I was lying on a couch in my cool and darkened 
 middle room, which served as parlour, drawing and dining 
 room all in one, when a baying chorus of yelps and barks, 
 and every variety of canine noises, apprised me that some 
 stranger had surely broken in upon my forest solitude. 
 
 I heard the clatter of accoutrements, the black panther 
 tugged at his chain, growling hoarsely, the horses neighed 
 loudly from the stables, the denizens of the fowl-yard added 
 their cackling clamour to the general din, and then my soft- 
 footed bearer came in to tell me that a sJiutr sowar waited 
 without, with a message for " His Highness " that was for
 
 INCIDENTS OF THE " BIG BEAT." 323 
 
 
 me. (A shutr sowar is a mounted camel trooper.) Going 
 
 out, I found a fine picturesque-looking and most soldierly 
 fellow, who had come from Sitapore, and was the bearer 
 of various pleasant chits from my friends the officers 
 stationed there with their regiment. They had heard of my 
 illness, and were anxious to know if I would be well enough 
 to put them up if they came across, as they intended, a few 
 of them, to make a hunting trip to my jungles. There was 
 also a letter from one of the Government officers belonging 
 to the Commissariat department, saying he had been informed 
 that I had extensive grazing rights " to let " in my jungles, 
 and wishing to know if there was forage enough for about 
 forty commissariat elephants, what I would charge per head, 
 and generally full particulars. He had a large number of 
 elephants under his charge, and they needed rest, and a spell 
 in the forest for a few months. 
 
 I may as well at once inform the reader that I succeeded 
 in making a bargain with the Captain, to allow the elephants 
 the full range of the jungles for four months, at thirty rupees 
 per head, the attendants to have the right of cutting fodder 
 as they pleased, in certain defined localities : and very 
 shortly thereafter the ponderous brutes arrived, and were 
 formed into two camps ; and I started a small bazaar to 
 supply the men in charge with grain, salt, and their other 
 simple wants. This helped me much in my work of village 
 settlement and the little bazaar has long since become a 
 flourishing village. 
 
 I sent back a message to my friends, making arrangements 
 for the proposed hunting trip, and in due time they arrived. 
 
 We managed to persuade our friend the Captain to allow 
 us the use of some dozen of the best elephants ; and one fine 
 morning we started across the Kutna, to beat up the forest 
 in the direction of my friend and neighbour the old General's 
 place, and a merry and motley party we were. For con- 
 venience sake I will use fictitious names. 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 There was old Major Burns, Captain Steel in charge of the 
 elephants, Captain Green, a gallant young Lieutenant named 
 Briggs, and myself. I was still very shikust, that is, weak, 
 " washed out," " seedy ; " but the jovial company had roused 
 me up a bit, and as we had ample supplies of all those 
 creature comforts that aid so much to make life bearable in 
 India, we felt pretty jolly on the whole. 
 
 Some two miles from my bungalow the sluggish creek 
 opened out into a series of marshy shallows, thickly over- 
 grown with reeds, and it was reported that a tiger, or a 
 leopard some accounts said a pair, for the reports were 
 conflicting had here formed a lair, and he, she, or they was or 
 were in the habit of levying black-mail on the scanty flocks 
 and herds of the scattered forest dwellers in the vicinity. 
 This part of the forest did not lie under my charge, and, 
 truth to tell, I knew very little about the locality ; but we 
 were to meet the " Old General " on the ground, and he knew 
 every inch of the country, and he was to take the direction 
 of the hunt. 
 
 It was a picturesque sight to see the straggling but im- 
 posing procession of stately elephants, with here and there a 
 howdah, surmounted by the white-coated sahibs, with their 
 broad, mushroom-looking sun hats. The cortege included 
 numbers of my red-turbaned peons, from down country, 
 several trim-whiskered Rajputs of the district, numbers of 
 my wood-cutters with ragged blue puggrees, and clothing 
 of the scantiest, and a goodly number of the nondescript 
 tatterdemalion crew that invariably turn up from " Heaven 
 knows where " whenever there is " a big beat " afoot. Here 
 were charcoal-burners, swart and grimy, cowherds from the 
 forest country to the north, with long elf-like locks, weather- 
 beaten faces, and a look of resolute daring, mingled with a 
 cunning, leering, furtive expression which was very suggestive 
 of many an unauthorised foray into the territory of some 
 villagers with whom they were on hostile terms, and whose
 
 INCIDENTS OF THE "BIG BEAT." 325 
 
 cattle accordingly were held to be lawful spoil. We had 
 several professional trackers of course, and under the most 
 favourable auspices we sallied forth, crossed the sluggish 
 ford, and plunged into the gloomy recesses of the thick Sal 
 forest beyond. 
 
 The ground we found to be rather rocky and difficult. 
 Near the Kutna, in the low lands, the swamps were frequent, 
 and the ground treacherous, so for the time being we had 
 to skirt a rocky, barren range, that lay parallel to the course 
 of the stream, and which afforded but poor cover for game, 
 and naturally we, or rather they, pushed on as fast as we 
 could, in the endeavour to reach our trysting-ground while 
 yet the day was young. 
 
 . Briggs and I were lagging behind, and so indifferent were 
 we to our surroundings, that we were chatting away quite 
 unconcernedly, and smoking our cigars, and letting the 
 mahouts do pretty much with us as they liked. These, 
 wishing to spare the elephants the trouble of surmounting 
 the rocky ridge, over which our motley train had already 
 disappeared, took the low ground by the river, which, though 
 soft and slushy, and slightly longer as to distance, was still 
 much easier for the big brutes on which we were leisurely 
 riding. 
 
 A patch of thick nurlcul skirted the swamp. The nurkul 
 was juicy, succulent, and green. The elephants sidled 
 towards it, and the brushing of the long reeds against my 
 hoivdah, was the first intimation I had that we had fallen 
 out of the line. I was seated most comfortably, with my 
 legs up on the front bar, puffing away at a particularly nice 
 number one Manilla, when all of a sudden I saw Briggs, 
 who was similarly engaged, start up, pitch his cigar away, 
 seize his gun, and, following with my eye the outstretched 
 hand of the mahout, who was eagerly pointing ahead, I 
 distinguished through the nurkul the fine branching horns 
 of a noble sta<?.
 
 326 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 " A Sambur ! Maori ! By Jove ! " yelled Briggs, letting 
 drive at the same moment, and the quick thud that followed, 
 told us that the bullet had sped home. 
 
 The noble brute made a convulsive leap forward, three 
 hinds simultaneously dashing with him into the sluggish 
 water, here covered with dead leaves and a brown scum, and 
 as the wounded stag gallantly breasted the torpid current, 
 Briggs put another bullet into him, and he only reached the 
 further bank to fall prone to earth ; and there he lay, con- 
 vulsively struggling, till at length he turned over on his 
 side, his antlered head fell slowly back, and he rolled down 
 the bank, stone dead, into the water. 
 
 " Bravo Briggs ! " said I, quite pleased at my friend's 
 success. 
 
 " Oh, I'm so glad, old man ! " responded Briggs. " I have 
 been longing so to kill a Sambur." I had my doubts as to 
 its being a real Sambur ; and when we had secured our prize, 
 by the aid of some of the attendants that the sound of our 
 "firing had brought to the spot, I had no difficulty in deciding 
 that it was a very fine specimen of the Marsh or Swamp 
 deer (Rucervus Duvaucellii). The Sambur (Cervus Aristotelis) 
 is very often mistaken for the Swamp deer; but any one 
 who has shot both, and narrowly observed the differences, 
 would not be likely to make the mistake. The confusion 
 often arises, no doubt, from the natives using the same name 
 to both, indifferently. 
 
 Broadly speaking, the Sambur is a somewhat larger animal 
 than the Swamp deer. His coat is darker and more shaggy, 
 and he has a mane not unlike the Red deer at home. He 
 frequents, too, comparatively elevated and broken ground, 
 while the Swamp deer, as the name implies, loves to haunt 
 the vicinity of marshes, and may often be found in the heat 
 of the day, when the flies are troublesome, immersed up to 
 his neck nearly, like an old buffalo in the water ; and at any 
 time he may be found in great herds, in suitable localities,
 
 INCIDENTS OF THE "BIG BEAT." 327 
 
 browsing on the aquatic plants, to reach which he will wade 
 in till the water is up to his shoulders. He has a bright red, 
 shining coat, as glossy generally as that of a well-groomed 
 horse, and very often may be observed a line of indistinct 
 whitish spots on either side of the ridge along the back: 
 while the Sambur has no marking of any such sort to disturb 
 the uniformity of his dun-brown coat. The skin of the 
 Sambur is thicker and more valuable than that of the Swamp 
 deer. (I had a pair of Sambur skin slippers once made for 
 me in Calcutta, that I wore for over ten years, and they were 
 pretty well in constant use.) The young of both are very 
 much alike, but the difference in size, in colour, in the setting 
 of the horns, and other distinct and marked points of diver- 
 gence, are quite sufficient to settle the disputed point to any 
 unprejudiced mind. 
 
 However, Briggs would have it that he had killed a 
 Sambur. And we had the whole matter thoroughly discussed 
 in the bungalow that night, and the notes I have above 
 recorded are the result of that discussion. 
 
 Being elated with this piece of luck, we very naturally, as 
 I imagine, determined to stick to the river. I had in fact 
 never before visited this part of the forest, and being assured 
 by one or two of the attendant hangers-on that deer and 
 pig were numerous farther down, we, after padding the 
 slaughtered stag, proceeded on our way. 
 
 We certainly thought ourselves under a fortunate star, for 
 after leaving the swampy patch in which we had just been so 
 lucky, we crossed a swelling spur of the high land, which 
 here trended downwards toward the river, causing the stream 
 to make a wide bend to the south. And on the other side I 
 recognised a bit of a grassy glade, with a towering Semul tree 
 on its far side, which I knew from past experience to be a 
 favourite haunt of various kinds of deer. 
 
 What lay beyond this spur, however, I knew not, and on 
 topping the rise we were agreeably surprised to find another
 
 328 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 large stretch of swampy country, which lay at right angles to 
 the Kutna, and which in fact proved to be the valley or water- 
 shed of a sinuous, sluggish, forest tributary of the Kutna 
 itself, and as it was well grassed throughout, with here and 
 there clumps of denser green where the tall nurkul waved its 
 feathery tops, I congratulated Briggs on our happy discovery, 
 and we prepared to descend into the grass, when a sudden 
 diversion took place which had the effect of altering our 
 plans. 
 
 At a little distance to the right of where we stood was a 
 thick clump of bright and glossy Jhamun bushes, and just 
 beyond that a stately Mhoiva tree in full flower, scenting the 
 whole glade with its luscious, rather sickly perfume; and 
 just as we appeared on the scene, a troop of monkeys the 
 individuals of which had been regaling themselves on the 
 sticky mass of fallen flowers suddenly sprung up helter 
 skelter from the ground, scampered in wild affright hand over 
 hand, from branch to branch, and then from their vantage 
 ground of overhanging boughs gave vent to an extraordinary 
 series of short, sharp, hoarse barking sounds w r hich once heard 
 is always significant. Briggs was amused. He thought this 
 was merely their mode of venting their anger at our intrusion, 
 but I did not think they had yet seen us. 
 
 I had heard that signal too often before and knew what it 
 meant. 
 
 " Hold hard ! " I hissed out to Briggs. 
 
 " What!" ("Halt!") this to the mahout. 
 
 " What's up ? " said the bewildered Briggs, seeing plainly 
 from my looks that there was something important on the 
 tapis. 
 
 " There must be a tiger or leopard there," I said in a low, 
 impressive tone. 
 
 I had scarce uttered the words, when another fierce 
 chattering demonstration from the monkeys seemed to 
 accentuate my warning, and our surmises were further
 
 INCIDENTS OF TEE "BIG BEAT." 329 
 
 strengthened by the corroboration of one or two of the ex- 
 perienced foresters who were standing close by the elephants, 
 who huddled up closer to us, and told us that there must 
 doubtless be a tiger beside the MJiowa tree. 
 
 Now the little valley, as I have said, was well grassed. The 
 thick forest extended beyond, and if there was the chance of 
 getting a tiger, I knew it would be futile to try to beat him 
 up with only two elephants. 
 
 We moved back behind the shelter of the rise, and after a 
 hasty consultation, it was resolved that I would take one of 
 the trackers with me, hasten after the rest of our party, and 
 bring them back, while Briggs should quietly wait, and watch 
 the ground. 
 
 At once I set off on my errand, and left Briggs with a 
 fervent injunction to be patient, and NOT spoil sport by 
 moving a step till we returned. 
 
 I found that the Major and party had been seduced into 
 following a troop of spotted deer, and after a long search 
 I at length found them several miles out of the track they 
 should have taken, and not in the very sweetest humour 
 either, as they were under the impression, until I undeceived 
 them, that they were very near the rendezvous where we 
 expected to meet " The General." 
 
 They had shot at, but missed, numerous deer, and were 
 cursing the jungles, their luck, the elephants, themselves 
 and my own poor self; and wondering where I had got 
 to, when my news completely changed the current and 
 tone of their thoughts; and after a "peg" all round, we 
 lost no time in beginning to retrace our steps. 
 
 Now this is what was happening elsewhere. 
 
 Briggs, never noted for excessive wisdom, quite inex- 
 perienced in the ways of Indian woodcraft, and blissfully 
 ignorant of the peculiarities of elephants and tigers, began 
 to grow impatient. 
 
 For a time he watched the antics of the monkeys, still
 
 330 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 vigilant and excited on their tree. Then, getting tired of 
 his cramped position in the howdah, for the elephant had 
 been well withdrawn, back into the shade of the valley near 
 the river, he made the mahout move her back still a bit 
 farther, and getting down to stretch his legs, he lit a cigar 
 (a most foolish thing to do under such circumstances), while 
 the maliout tightened the liowdali ropes. Next the socially- 
 disposed maliout prepared and shared with the three or four 
 attendants who were waiting with him, a palm full of Soortee ; 
 that is, in vulgar parlance, " a chew of baccy," prepared a la 
 Hindostanec, by briskly rubbing together some acrid tobacco 
 leaf, some powdered betel-nut, and some specially prepared 
 lime. A pinch of this delectable bonne bouche is then handed 
 to each friend, while the remainder is thrown from the grimy 
 palm into the wide distended mouth of the operator, and 
 then the delicious sensation of chewing begins, and a feeling 
 of supreme content steals over the gratified senses, descending 
 even to the regions of the oesophagus. 
 
 "Well, this did not particularly interest Briggs. 
 
 The demon of curiosity now took possession of him. 
 
 " What harm could there be," he asked himself, " if he stole 
 cautiously forward to reconnoitre ? " 
 
 There could be no danger. He would be very cautious. 
 Besides, had he not his gun with him ? What a glorious lark 
 if he could bag the tiger to his own cheek, if it was a tiger ! 
 Perhaps after all " Maori " was mistaken, and it might only 
 be a pig, or even a deer. Besides, how could any one tell 
 what meaning should be attached to the jabber and chatter 
 of a lot of monkeys ? How long that fellow " Maori " was 
 in coming back ! Hang it all ! He would chance it. Just 
 a quiet peep to see. if there was really anything stirring or 
 not ! " 
 
 All this passed through Briggs's brain, I have no doubt. 
 
 At all events he yielded to temptation ; and with a make- 
 believe- assumption of the most innocent unconcern, though
 
 INCIDENTS OF THE "BIG SEAT." 331 
 
 his heart was going pit-a-pat, he left the little group beside 
 the elephant, and began a slow wary approach towards 
 the brow of the hill again, making this time a deviation 
 to the right, which would bring him up abreast of the line of 
 the M/unca tree. 
 
 Of course every blessed monkey had its eye on him now at 
 every step he took, and signified their contempt for his 
 inexperience by grinning and chattering at him as he stooped 
 and dodged from bush to bush and from tree to tree. Of 
 course, too, every beast of the jungle, from the frisky little 
 squirrel behind the big Bael tree on his right, the Saap goli 
 or iguana, in the hollow log beside him, down to the jackal 
 with his two wives slouching along beside the water in 
 the swampy hollow, were all watching his every movement, 
 and he, poor fellow, all the time imagining that he was doing 
 his stalk so splendidly and so unobserved. 
 
 Why, the golden oriole as it flitted swiftly past exchanged 
 a look full of amused contempt with the meditative owl 
 that, with half-open but very observant " peepers," vigilantly 
 watched every movement of the sublimely unconscious and 
 self-deluded Briggs. 
 
 But now he has breasted the rise. The MJi&wa tree is 
 within thirty paces of him. 
 
 There is a friendly screen of jhamun bushes, behind which 
 he creeps, as he thinks, all unseen and unnoted. 
 
 Stooping down, he cautiously and gently presses aside the 
 intervening twigs, and there right in front of him not 
 twenty paces away he sees a sight that sets his ears 
 tingling causes his nerves to twitch, and his face to flame, 
 as every drop of blood goes bounding at accelerated speed 
 through every vein of his intensely excited and eager 
 frame. 
 
 Briggs, mind you, was no coward. Not he ! Briggs was 
 as bold as a lion, and about as inexperienced as a gosling. 
 
 His few sporting experiences hitherto had been in the
 
 332 TENT LIFE IN T1GERLAND. 
 
 shires at home, and after a "bobbery pack, for a short time 
 killing jackals in a sporting civil station in Lower Bengal. 
 His first impulse was to yell out " Yoicks tally ho ! " 
 His second impulse, quick as thought, was to bring his gun 
 to his shoulder. 
 
 There, right in front of him, quite out in the open, lay a 
 magnificent tigress on her side ! Her lithe lail twitched 
 spasmodically from side to side, with short, sharp, nervous 
 jerks. A sleek pair of well-grown cubs sprawled playfully 
 about her majestic form ; and like a great cat as she was, 
 she rolled about, now on her back, now on her side, now right 
 over, with ears back, and great mustachios twitching, and 
 mighty paws held aloft, the cruel claws extending and 
 retracting, and for a minute the gleaming fangs showing like 
 a fleck of white upon a blood-red ground, as the file-like 
 tongue licked the paws. She was for a wonder quite off her 
 guard, and all unconscious of the near proximity of a foe. 
 
 That suggestive tongue and those gleaming fangs sobered 
 Briggs like a sudden douche of cold water. The flame died 
 away from his cheeks, his quivering nerves became rigid as 
 steel, all in an instant. 
 
 He had brought his piece to full cock, and the noise, slight 
 as it was, had apprised the graceful but suspicious and cruel 
 beast that her solitude had been invaded. 
 
 Lithe and light, swift as thought, and supple as an eel, 
 she bounded up, and for a moment she stood with angry 
 green eyes glaring at the bushes, behind which lay the rash 
 intruding Briggs. The two cubs, with backs arched, their 
 bristles stiff, and spitting like angry torn cats, had, as if by 
 an electric touch, found themselves cowering behind the 
 alarmed tigress mother. What a picture of savage life ! 
 
 For the life of him Briggs could have done no other than 
 he did. ... He fired ! ! 
 
 His hand must have been shaking, though he swears to 
 this day that he was as cool as a cucumber.
 
 INCIDENTS OF THE "BIG BEAT." 333 
 
 Bang ! went the piece ! The bullet went singing harm- 
 lessly away over the waving reeds in the swampy dingle. 
 The monkeys shook the branches with both hands, screamed, 
 barked hoarsely, and "raised Cain generally." The little 
 squirrel rushed in wild affright to the topmost bough of his 
 friendly tree ; and the slouching jackal with his harem turned 
 tail and fled incontinently from the scene. 
 
 A thin spiral column of smoke curls up above the Jliamun 
 bushes, and, if one had been near, a muttered exclamation 
 which sounded very like a British expletive of one syllable, 
 and beginning with " a big big D," might have been distinctly 
 heard. 
 
 The angry green light flashes lurid and uncanny in the 
 eyes of the crouching tigress now. Her creamy paunch 
 presses the ground, and her terrible striped flanks are 
 twitching and quivering with nervous and muscular force, as 
 she lays her ears back, and draws aside her cruel lips, so that 
 her gleaming fangs are clearly seen. 
 
 What an embodiment of devilish cruelty, of hate and 
 savagery incarnate ! 
 
 " God help you now, good Briggs, if your second bullet 
 speeds as idly as the first ! " 
 
 Bang ! Crash ! The report and the spring are simul- 
 taneous. 
 
 The bullet HAS found a billet this time; but the cruel 
 claws and teeth have got home too. 
 
 When, some half-an-hour later, the cavalcade of elephants 
 reached the spot, we found poor Briggs half dead from pain 
 and loss of blood ; a fearful seam across his brow, laying 
 both temples bare, and a great ugly, punctured wound in his 
 thigh, where the dying tigress had made her teeth meet. 
 
 The bullet had gone right through the fierce brute's heart, 
 but she had made good her charge. With one terrific sweep 
 of her great paw she had almost scalped poor Briggs. He 
 had instinctively ducked his head and thus saved his life ;
 
 334 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND, 
 
 for had the tigress caught him fair, she would doubtless have 
 dislocated his neck, and ended his sporting career there and 
 then for ever. This blow stunned him, and he remembered 
 no more until we brought him to with a drop of brandy 
 forced between his clenched teeth. The tigress had fallen 
 in a heap upon him, and beyond the last dying bite in his 
 thigh, and a few insignificant bruises and scratches, he was 
 otherwise unhurt. 
 
 The little group of attendants down in the hollow had 
 after a time mustered up courage, being emboldened by the 
 stillness, and when we arrived, we found them attempting to 
 staunch the wounds of poor Briggs, and with his poor torn 
 scalp resting on the prostrate body of his slain foe, he did 
 look a most ghastly and distressful sight indeed. 
 
 " Well, what happened next ? " 
 
 " I need not keep you in suspense. Briggs recovered. He 
 had careful nursing and skilful surgery, and he has shot 
 many a tiger since then. But and here lies the moral. 
 
 NEVER AGAIN ON FOOT ! 
 
 This misadventure, as you may imagine, spoilt our sport, 
 and put an end to further proceedings for that day. We 
 conveyed the wounded Briggs back to my bungalow, sent in 
 to Sitapur for the doctor, and acquainted " The General," by 
 messenger, of the accident, and in the evening we had the 
 satisfaction of seeing his burly form and jovial face at table, 
 and full many a tale of stirring jungle life and vivid sporting 
 incident did he that night recite to us. 
 
 Next day poor Briggs was very feverish and in great 
 pain. 
 
 I remained behind with him, as in duty bound, and in 
 truth I was pretty well on the invalid list myself, and " The 
 General," therefore must tell you how they managed to 
 secure the cubs. I simply tell the tale as told to me. 
 
 Next morning the Major, with Steel, Green, and the " Old 
 General," made an early start, and sending my pony on to
 
 INCIDENTS OF THE "BIG BEAT." 335 
 
 the ghat, I accompanied the elephants that far ; then taking 
 a detour through the forest to see my coolies at work on the 
 several clearings, I rejoined poor little Briggs in the bungalow, 
 and did my best to alleviate his sufferings through the day. 
 
 The hunting party meanwhile made good progress down the 
 river, and on arriving at the scene of Briggs's misadventure, 
 they formed line, and proceeded to beat the jungle from 
 south to north. The ground, right in the centre, was too 
 boggy for the elephants, but din enough was raised to startle, 
 one would have thought, every living thing out of its recesses. 
 The occupants of the various guddces and hoivdaJis threw 
 clods and stones into every clump of bushes and grass that 
 the elephants could not reach, but not a rustle or sign of 
 any living thing rewarded their efforts. 
 
 Knowing well how close a tiger will lie, and rightly 
 assuming that the cubs would not likely have gone far from 
 cover, " The General " was not satisfied, even after they had 
 thus beaten the jungle twice lengthways, and once again 
 across from corner to corner. 
 
 A number of the natives having become emboldened some- 
 what by the apparent absence of anything uncanny, now 
 boldly leapt into the jungle, and plunging about in the miry 
 and uncertain foothold, belaboured the bushes and clumps 
 with their long lathees, poked their spears into every likely 
 recess, and had gone nearly three-parts through the tangled 
 brake, when a joyful shout from Green announced a 
 discovery. He had gone saunteringly and quite aimlessly 
 round to the northern end of the little valley, and passing 
 close to a rather overhanging ledge of rock which jutted 
 forward from the hillside, he discovered in a sparse fringe of 
 trailing bushes the objects of their quest. 
 
 There lay the two little vixens, not bigger than spaniels, 
 their green eyes glaring in the semi-obscurity ; and with their 
 backs set against the hollow in the cleft rock, they snarled 
 and spat and showed their teeth in such defiant fashion as
 
 336 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 to make the attempt to capture them alive anything but an 
 inviting or engaging task. 
 
 At Green's shout a number of the beaters near the edge 
 of the jungle hurried up, and presently the Major jolted 
 up on his elephant to enjoy the spectacle of the lucky 
 find. 
 
 Now, right in the centre of the morass, in the most 
 inaccessible part of it, there was a dense tangled patch of 
 jungle, consisting of Thamun and other bushes all inter- 
 laced and tangled together; the still black water showing 
 clear around the gnarled and twisted roots and branches. A 
 sort of natural platform had been formed by the deposition 
 of layers of flood- wrack at different times; and both "The 
 General" and Steel, who were old, experienced shikarees, 
 had noted the spot as just the very place a leopard would 
 choose for a stronghold. 
 
 They had noticed, too, that while a few egrets and water- 
 hens had been flushed from other parts of the swamp, not a 
 solitary bird had been seen near this most likely of all spots, 
 where they might have been most looked for. 
 
 The beaters, too, seemed to manifest a strange and sus- 
 picious aversion to going near the place ; and the elephants 
 betrayed a very suggestive and significant inquietude when 
 brought as close up to it as the nature of the boggy ground 
 permitted. 
 
 At the first beat Steel had said, " By Jove ! what a place 
 for leopard ! " 
 
 "The General" now came up, and quietly said to 
 Steel 
 
 " I say, old man, I could almost swear there's something 
 lying up in that Baree there" pointing to the tangled 
 thicket I have just described. 
 
 "Hi! Gopal!" he shouted to a lean, cadaverous, old 
 fellow, who stood apart from the others, on the bank. 
 
 Gopal, tucking up his clothes inside his waistbslt, im-
 
 INCIDENTS OF THE "BIG SEAT." 337 
 
 mediately responded to the summons, and plunged into the 
 jungle 
 
 " Gopal," said " The General," in a low tone and in 
 Hindostanee, " we think there's a janwar inside here. 
 The others are afraid to go in are you afraid ? " 
 
 " Whatever ' the Protector of the Poor ' orders, that will 
 his slave perform," was the ready answer of GopaL 
 
 " Bravo ! then see ! get round if possible to that firm 
 landing-stage on the other side, and note the signs." 
 
 " Bahut utchha" was all the response. Divesting his 
 wiry frame of every shred of clothing, and handing his 
 clothes up to the mahout, keeping only his puggaree on 
 which he more tightly wound round Ms elf-like locks, Gopal, 
 cautiously probing with his iron-bound staff, and feeling 
 the inky, oozy depths in front of him, slipped in up to his 
 shoulders, and half swimming, half floundering, lurched 
 across the worst part of the treacherous ooze, and presently 
 emerged, dripping with mud and water and slime, on to a 
 quaking sort of island, right in the centre of the swamp, 
 whereon no foot of beater had yet trod. 
 
 One quick glance around, a step or two forward, a close, 
 peering scrutiny among the sedge and bushes, then with a 
 quick, lithe, backward motion, Gopal seemed to glide like a 
 snake backwards into the water again, and hurrying back 
 announced to " The General," while his eyes fairly blazed 
 with excitement, that there were evidently not one, BUT TWO 
 LEOPAEDS even now in the thicket. The marks were fresh, 
 and there could be no doubt on the matter. 
 
 " Ah, I thought so ! " 
 
 " Didn't I tell you ? " broke simultaneously from the 
 lips of " The General " and Steel. Just at this moment it 
 was that Green's joyful shout announced the discovery of 
 the two tiger cubs, already narrated. 
 
 Glad, rather, of the diversion, our two friends made 
 their way out of the jungle, and rejoined Green ancf the 
 
 z
 
 338 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 Major, and very shortly the full strength of the party was 
 congregated round the hollow, in the depths of which the 
 two cubs were now plainly visible. 
 
 The little beggars were not captured without a tussle. 
 But at length, by cutting down bundles of reeds, and 
 with these blocking up the sides of the crevice, and then 
 pushing these fascines before them, the natives were able 
 almost to smother the two hapless little cubs, and after a 
 deal of scuffling and excitement the two young tigers were 
 fairly caught, enveloped in country-made blankets, and, 
 despite their snarling and fighting and biting, were strapped 
 and tied down, and consigned to safe keeping. 
 
 " Now, boys," said " The General," " we had better have a 
 go at the leopards." 
 
 " A go at the leopards ? " said the Major. " What 
 leopards ? " 
 
 " What do you mean ? " queried Green. 
 " Mean ! " quoth Steel. " He means that there's a pair of 
 leopards in the Baree there, that's all ! " 
 
 The others were still incredulous, till Gopal was recalled 
 and re-examined, and then the ardour of the chase revived, 
 and it was resolved to make a determined effort to dislodge 
 the two spotted robbers from their stronghold. 
 
 Well, to make a long story short, they tried for over two 
 hours to force the leopards to break. 
 
 Despite large promises of reward, the beaters only per- 
 functorily performed their functions. Gopal was the only 
 one that would venture across the Stygian bog; and he, 
 armed with a puggaree full of stones, once again forced his 
 way across; and although he succeeded in actually getting 
 a glimpse of one of the leopards, he could not prevail on. 
 them to break. 
 
 Fact was, the two brutes knew well enough the im- 
 pregnability of their position. 
 This fact by-and-by became discernible to " the General."
 
 INCIDENTS OF THE "BIG SEAT." 339 
 
 " Boys ! it's no use," he said. " They will never break 
 while so many of us are all around. Small blame to them ! 
 let's go to lunch." 
 
 So posting various scouts to keep watch, an adjournment 
 was made for tiffin, and a messenger was despatched on 
 horseback for sundry persuaders from the bungalow, in the 
 shape of native bombs and other fireworks, which are very 
 often used in like circumstances, where the beaters are afraid 
 to enter the cover," as in the present case ; and as a rule 
 the bombs are used with signal success. 
 
 So it was on this occasion. 
 
 A dead silence settled down over the little swampy valley, 
 so recently the scene of wild din and commotion. 
 
 Possibly the leopards thought the danger all over. They 
 were mistaken if they thought anything of the kind. 
 
 It was now getting late in the afternoon, and the shadows 
 were lengthening. "The General" had posted his men 
 judiciously and well. The messenger had returned with a 
 load of fire bombs. The line of beaters, now swelled by 
 various additions from the villages round the jungle, were 
 marshalled in imposing array by "The General" himself; 
 and then, at a given signal, they gave tongue like a pack 
 of hounds, pressed into the covert, and when near enough, 
 the old Director of the Hunt, igniting one two three of 
 the bombs, hurled them with all his force right into the 
 heart of the dense covert, where it was known the sulky and 
 treacherous quarry lurked. 
 
 The combined din of the yelling beaters rent the air. 
 The very elephants seemed to catch the contagion and 
 trumpeted shrilly with excitement. The sputtering bombs 
 fizzled and crackled, and emitted a dense grey column of 
 smoke, and then breaking into active ignition, there was a 
 hissing roar, as they volleyed forth their pent-up fires ; and 
 with a sharp note of rage and defiance the two leopards 
 sprang from their long hugged covert, and while one fell 
 
 z 2
 
 340 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 at once to a well-directed shot from Steel, who was advan- 
 tageously posted, the other doubled like a hare, sprang 
 unharmed through the beaters, and quickly disappeared 
 over the brow of the eminence right behind the line. 
 
 The wounded one lay sprawling and floundering, making 
 impotent attempts to get up and do mischief; but it was 
 " spined " (the shot had been a lucky one) ; and presently it 
 got its " coup de grace" and was padded. 
 
 Then away went the whole cavalcade in hot pursuit after 
 the survivor of the long and wearisome beat. 
 
 They never caught it up. 
 
 So ended a very memorable hunt. Briggs was so bad that 
 he had to be taken into the station, and I became so ill that 
 I had in a few days to follow him ; and shortly afterwards I 
 left the Oude jungles, never again I fear to revisit them, and 
 for many months first at Bombay, then at Bareilly with my 
 brother, then in Calcutta I fairly fought with death, and 
 by-and-by, after long, long months of pain and weariness, I 
 found renewed health and a fresh lease of life in the glorious 
 atmosphere of sunny Australia, laden with the scent of the 
 fragrant gum trees, and redolent with the perfume of the 
 golden wattle bloom. 
 
 Before closing these sketches of my old forest life, however, 
 I must narrate an adventure which befell my dear old forest 
 companion " The General." 
 
 However strained and unnatural may seem the narrative, I 
 have reason to believe it is not one whit exaggerated ; and 
 nothing I could relate of my own personal experiences could 
 more vividly bring before the mind of the reader the wild 
 life and startling vicissitudes which pertain to the lot of the 
 lonely pioneer in a frontier Indian district.
 
 ( 341 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN A LIVING TOMB. 
 
 Native and European ideas of sport contrasted Illustrations Pitfalls 
 How formed A morning tour of inspection Prepare for pea-fowl 
 Method of the sport Start a herd of spotted deer Off for a stalk 
 Noonday heat and stillness An anxious wait Death of the stag 
 Wending homewards A treacherous path Hidden pitfalls A sudden 
 shock Miraculous escape Happy issue Visit the "old General" 
 His camp levee A yarn after tiffin " The General " takes a trip 
 north after tiger A rascally groom Trapped in a pit of miry clay 
 Caged with a cobra A terrible fight for life Reaction Breaking of 
 the monsoon A new danger Doomed to be drowned like a rat in a 
 hole Rescue at the eleventh hour A parting tribute to the glad 
 old days and the gallant and true old comrades A few parting words 
 Conclusion. 
 
 IT is a trite illustration of the workings of the Oriental mind, 
 whenever it is intended to show how different are their ideas 
 from ours, to cite the old story of the native magnate who, 
 on seeing a ball-room for the first time, expressed his astonish- 
 ment that "the Sahib logue" took the trouble to dance 
 themselves, when they could so easily procure hirelings to 
 do the dancing for them. In the pursuit of field sports, the 
 difference is not less marked. For instance, at a " Tent club 
 meet," if any European were deliberately to spear a sow, the 
 achievement, by his fellows, would probably be judged with 
 as much, if not more, severity than a grave infraction of some 
 well-known canon of the moral law. Not so with the native, 
 however. If a cultivator, he is content to have one more soor 
 slain, as that represents to him one enemy to his crops the
 
 342 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 less, and he cares not whether it be a " tusker " or one of the 
 weaker sex. If he is a low-caste camp-follower, sow's flesh 
 is even a more welcome comestible than boar's flesh, and 
 his sporting conscience has no qualms. So too we will say 
 with quail-shooting or duck-shooting. The European ideal 
 of the sport is to give the bird something like a fair chance. 
 Only the tyro, or the sordid pot-hunter, would think of such 
 devices as are in the eyes of the native perfectly legitimate 
 and even praiseworthy. The European sportsman will even 
 at times exercise considerable ingenuity to " flush " his birds ; 
 to make them " rise," so that he may " take them on the 
 wing." The native shikaree, on the contrary, will exhaust 
 every conceivable cunning device to lull his intended quarry 
 into a false security, and then will deliberately " pot " half-a- 
 dozen as they sit, or even steal on them as they sleep, and 
 appropriate them as a "down South nigger" would rob a 
 hen-roost. 
 
 In fact, the sporting ideas of the native approach some- 
 what closely those characteristics that we are wont to 
 associate with the methods of the poacher in the old country. 
 The Oriental scouts the idea of sport altogether, as we hold 
 it. His ideal is to gain his object with the least amount of 
 personal risk and the smallest expenditure of physical effort. 
 So it is that traps, lures, gins, pitfalls, and cunningly devised 
 wiles and snares are more in accord with his ideas of sport 
 than our bolder and more open methods. Thus for instance 
 they will sometimes poison a tank or stream, and for the 
 sake of securing enough fish to serve for one feast, they will 
 destroy that particular source of food supply for a whole 
 village for quite an indefinite period. 
 
 Doubtless one explanation is not far to seek, and difference 
 in idiosyncracy is not the only element in the contrast. 
 Naturally, where arms of precision are, or were, until recently, 
 unknown, and where wild beasts are numerous and often 
 aggressive, man will set his wits to work to overcome
 
 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN A LIVING TOMB. 343 
 
 savage aggression and brute force with the superior cunning 
 which is the heritage of reason. Among all savage tribes, 
 therefore, we find the most ingenious stratagems are resorted 
 to and the most clever contrivances brought into play to 
 secure the spoils of the chase, judging, of course, from the 
 native standpoint. 
 
 In the Doddpore jungles, I met with numerous illustrations 
 of this. One of the most common and not the least danger- 
 ous of these was the one I am about to describe. 
 
 To trap deer, wild hog, or even more dangerous game, the 
 rude forest dwellers adopted the following plan : 
 
 They would usually select a forest path near the edge of 
 the jungle one of those leading to the cultivated lands in 
 the vicinity, and one most likely from evidences which they 
 are keen to detect, to be most frequented by the animals they 
 wish to kill. In this path, then, they, with much care and 
 skilful contrivance, dig a deep, narrow, well-like pit. These 
 pits are commonly made rather broader at the bottom than 
 at the top ; and so far as form is concerned, they present 
 somewhat the appearance of a great sunken lamp chimney. 
 To make the trap more deadly, a single stake, or even a 
 couple of hardwood stakes, with the protruding points 
 hardened by fire, are planted upright in the bottom of the 
 pit. 
 
 Over the opening, slight branches or twigs are then 
 cunningly woven, to give an admirable simulation of the 
 natural appearance of an ordinary jungle path ; and the whole 
 surrounding area is strewed with a loose layer of leaves, 
 withered grass, and other rubbish natural to the environment. 
 
 If the pitfall is meant for tiger or leopard, a decoy goat or 
 calf may be tethered in the vicinity, in such a way as to 
 tempt the unwary depredator along the path and over the 
 dangerous spot. In Assam and some other districts, even 
 elephants and rhinoceros are not unfrequently entrapped 
 and destroyed in such pits.
 
 344 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 For the ordinary purpose of the villager, who wants not 
 only to protect his crop but to replenish his larder with 
 venison or wild pork, those pitfalls were quite numerous in 
 the sal jungles surrounding Doddpore. 
 
 When settlement increases, and herds of cattle begin to 
 take the place of deer and hogs, these pits become of course 
 dangerous, and many an unlucky cow or wandering plough 
 bullock, and sometimes even the great hunter, man himself, 
 falls a victim to their cunningly concealed destructiveness. 
 
 My first introduction to one of these horrid holes was 
 nearly making an end of me altogether, and putting a com- 
 plete finish to my hunting experiences. 
 
 I remember the circumstance well ; and as it affords a 
 good illustration of the nature of the life we had to lead in 
 these remote wilds, I think the narration may prove interest- 
 ing, and form a fitting finish to my book. 
 
 It was not long after I had taken over charge of the 
 grants from my predecessor, and when as yet I was not 
 familiar with the jungles, and rather sceptical as to their 
 dangers. 
 
 One morning I went out, as I had repeatedly done, with 
 my pony and gun, and accompanied by my syce, to have a 
 survey of the work going on, and at the same time take a 
 shot at anything in the nature of game that might present 
 itself. The belt of forest was distant, as I have already said, 
 about one mile from the bungalow. I had gone over 
 part of the cultivation, visited a number of workmen that 
 were busy building a masonry well in the village, closely 
 inspected the progress being made by a party of brickmaking 
 contractors who were engaged in the preparation of a great 
 brick-kiln ; and at length, having got through most of my 
 work, I was free to indulge my sporting tastes, and very 
 quickly had the cartridges in the gun. 
 
 I halted the pony near the edge of the jungle, and having 
 seen several pea-fowl among the growing barley, I told the
 
 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN A LIVING TOMB. 345 
 
 syce to lead the pony along the skirt of the forest, while I 
 entered the underwood myself, knowing from observation and 
 experience that the pea-fowl would make for the forest as the 
 syce disturbed them, and that I might expect some good 
 shooting. 
 
 This plan of action succeeded just as I had anticipated. 
 The great handsome birds, with their heavy crops, run like 
 hares, and, when gorged with food, it is no easy task to make 
 them rise. With a small rifle they afford pretty shooting as 
 they run, and with swan shot, one can do swift execution if 
 you intercept their escape into the jungle, and see their 
 gorgeous extended plumage spread out before your observant 
 gaze as they soar overhead. 
 
 Unless an eye-witness of their flight, no one would imagine 
 with what graceful celerity these great heavy birds can cleave 
 their way through even close forest. It is not nearly such 
 easy shooting as the tyro might think, and a vigorous pea-fowl 
 will take away a lot of lead sometimes, and not after all fall 
 a victim. 
 
 I had shot one running bird, and succeeded in bringing to 
 earth with a gladdening dull thud, and a crash as the bodies 
 tore through the bushes, two more very fine-plumaged cocks, 
 which were retrieved by the syce and strapped on the pony, 
 when not far ahead of me, to the right of a little open 
 glade, I spied the moving antlers and the sleek hide of a 
 stately spotted deer (Axis Maculata). Gazing more intently, 
 I saw moving warily along with him some seven or eight 
 dainty hinds and fawns a complete harem and family, in 
 fact; and at once forgetful of the pea-fowl, and intent on 
 securing what seemed to be a good head of horns, I struck off 
 on the trail, the wind in my favour, and was soon out of 
 sight and hearing of my syce, and deep in the gloom of the 
 forest. 
 
 I made a pretty wide detour to still further better my 
 vantage ground, and stalked cautiously but quickly on,
 
 346 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 occasionally hearing some slight indication ahead that con- 
 vinced me I was on the right track, but that the deer were on 
 the move, and evidently in a suspicious mood. 
 
 The sun was now mounting high, and presently I came to 
 an oval open space one of those frequently recurring grassy 
 glades which are, during the rainy season, full of water and 
 become the haunt of aquatic birds, but which was now quite 
 dry, and rustling high with wavy grass. By stooping down, 
 I could just keep my body hidden among the clumps of 
 elephant grass and nurkul (the succulent reeds that the 
 elephants and buffaloes love). 
 
 Dodging rapidly and noiselessly in and out among the 
 apertures between these clumps, I gained the further side of 
 the glade; and creeping up the slight incline, I lay down 
 behind a prostrate tree, and waited patiently to see if there 
 was any chance of the deer coming in my direction. I had 
 not long to wait perhaps about twenty minutes. It was 
 now getting hotter and hotter, as the sun mounted higher 
 above the tree tops. The breathless, oppressive heat -began to 
 shimmer and palpitate over all the forest. The cicadas' shrill 
 chorus alone broke the brooding stillness. I knew the deer, 
 having been once disturbed, would seek the more secluded 
 depths of the forest that lay behind me. 
 
 Presently I hear a rustle. That nameless intuition which 
 every hunter knows, warned me that my game was afoot and 
 near me. The " shrilling " of the grasshoppers sometimes stops 
 suddenly. There is a pause. A silence that may almost be 
 felt, and then some faint crackle or rustle reaches the ex- 
 pectant ear, and you feel it is time to look along the barrels 
 and see that the trigger is ready. 
 
 Peering eagerly through my leafy screen, I now see a noble 
 old buck showing his antlered head from the opposite range 
 -of bushes. The scrutiny was keen, searching, and prolonged, 
 but it was evidently considered satisfactory, for now his well- 
 proportioned front and glossy 'spotted body emerged boldly
 
 TWENTY^FOUR HOURS IN A LIVING TOMB. 347 
 
 into the comparatively clear space. After him came trip- 
 pingly and daintily three graceful fawns and a couple of does. 
 I thought there were others moving in the bushes behind 
 these ; but the old buck was now well within range of my 
 No. 12, and pulling the trigger, I had the satisfaction of 
 putting a bullet right through his neck, and seeing him turn 
 and topple over. Hurrying forward, I was able to put 
 another through his heart as he struggled to his feet 
 attempting to escape, and that settled him. 
 
 Phew! it ivas hot. There was not a breath of air now 
 stirring. One of these sudden lulls that mark the approach 
 of high meridian, had succeeded the faint, languorous breeze of 
 morn, and away out of the shade, the direct rays of the sun 
 came scorchingly down, and made their power very decidedly 
 felt. The buck had a fine head, and I congratulated myself 
 on my acquisition, and then thinking that perhaps my syce 
 might possibly be within hail of a " coo-ee," I " coo-eed " 
 loudly and in most approved Australian fashion, sending the 
 clear echoing cry ringing down the vaulted arcades of the 
 Indian forest. That's the proper way to put it, isn't it ? 
 
 I kept this up for some little time ; but getting no response, 
 I came to the conclusion that I must, in the excitement of 
 the stalk, have miscalculated the distance I had come, and 
 that I must have penetrated farther into the forest than I had 
 fancied. I had not been long in charge of these estates, and 
 was not very well acquainted with the jungles, but I knew 
 the general direction I had come. Doing what was necessary, 
 therefore, with my hunting^knife to prevent the venison from 
 acquiring a rapid taint, I dragged the carcase into the shade, 
 cut down a sapling, and tying my handkerchief to it, stuck it 
 in the ground beside my quarry, and shouldering my gun, off 
 I set in quest of my lagging syce and pony. 
 
 I knew I must keep the sun in my face, so off I ploughed 
 through the undergrowth, and after a little progress, I luckily, 
 as I thought, struck a pretty well-worn cattle track, as it
 
 348 TENT LIFE IN TIOEBLAND. 
 
 seemed to me, and which led in the direction I wished to 
 pursue. I mentally thanked my stars for their friendly 
 guidance, and onwards I strode with quickened step, feeling 
 quite elated at my good morning's sport, and picturing to 
 myself the nice cool bath I would have when I got back 
 to the bungalow. 
 
 I knew I must now be nearing the confines of the forest, 
 for there was a lighter appearance on ahead; and, indeed, 
 presently I could see the heaped-up barricade of prickly 
 bushes laid by the natives along the border of their green 
 fields, all along the edge of the jungle, as some defence 
 against the incursions of the deer and other animals. Just 
 here I diverged from the path along a narrow green alley 
 which seemed to be a feeder to the main path, and looked as 
 if it led to a gap in the prickly fence, so I quickened my 
 pace and hastened along, rejoiced to think I was about to 
 quit the jungle. 
 
 All of a sudden, without a moment's warning, I felt as if 
 the ground had receded right away from under my feet. I 
 had the sensation one has when he fancies he has come to 
 the bottom of a stair or ladder in the dark, and instead of 
 firm ground, he treads wildly out into space. My body was 
 violently thrown forward. My gun, which I was carrying 
 in my right hand in front of me, to break and clear the 
 cobwebs from the bushes, was jerked out of my grasp, and 
 fell in front with an ominous smash, and exploded as it fell. 
 I had not an instant to steady myself, or to make any 
 distinct endeavour to save myself from falling. Yet, quick 
 as thought, by a swift instinct I grasped the situation, 
 and intuitively knew I must have gone through one of those 
 concealed pitfalls I have spoken of. 
 
 In sudden emergencies the mind acts quickly. A jungle 
 life such as I have endeavoured to describe, amid constant 
 adventures with wild animals, and all the changing ex- 
 periences of dealing with both wild beasts and cunning men,
 
 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN A LIVING TOMB. 349 
 
 develops a quick-wittedness and promptitude of action in 
 dangerous straits ; and rapid as an electric shock, there 
 darted through my mind the fear that there might be a 
 pointed stake in the pit, and that I might be horribly im- 
 paled and possibly killed. 
 
 I drew my feet together. I set my teeth. A muttered 
 prayer flashed across my lips. There was a crackling of 
 dry twigs, a cloud of dust, withered leaves, and insects, a 
 swift descent, and sudden darkness. As I fell, my face 
 struck on the jagged end of a branch, and ripped a portion 
 of the skin off my cheek. But beyond that and a few 
 trifling abrasions on my knees and elbows, I found, when 
 I had a moment to realise my position, that I had escaped 
 almost as by a miracle from a frightful and sudden death, 
 or at least from a horrible mutilation. 
 
 Of course you have guessed what it was. I found myself 
 at the bottom of one of these pitfalls I have described ; and 
 I shuddered as I contemplated the awfully narrow escape 
 I had so providentially experienced. There were two stakes 
 hard, fire-burnt, pointed stakes planted upright in the 
 pit, and by a merciful interposition, I had fallen or slid 
 right between the two. It was about as close a " shave " 
 as could well be imagined. One of the stakes had actually 
 grazed my back and torn my shirt ; while the other in 
 front was but a few inches from my chin. I felt a cold 
 sweat come out all over my body as I realised how narrow 
 had been my escape from a cruel mutilation or death. 
 
 The cold stage did not last long, however. It was in- 
 sufferably close and hot down in that noisome hole. I felt 
 like a caged rat. I could scarce wriggle free of the stakes, 
 and the inwards-inclining wall of the odious trap in which 
 I found myself, precluded all possible chance of escape 
 unaided. I daresay I could eventually, with some hard 
 work and difficulty, have got out, for I had my good hunting 
 knife with me, and I could have cut holes in the sides of
 
 350 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 the pit; but very luckily for me, as it happened, my lazy 
 wretch of a syce was close by, taking it coolly under the 
 welcome shade of a peepul tree, and when my gun went 
 off as I popped into the hole, he was roused into curiosity to 
 see what I had shot, and came towards the spot. Of course 
 he soon divined what had occurred, and unbuckling the 
 pony's reins and stirrup-leathers, he gave me very welcome 
 assistance in extricating myself from my unwelcome and 
 involuntary quarters. 
 
 When he saw the deadly peril I had so miraculously 
 escaped, his wonder was as great as mine, though his ac- 
 knowledgments were considerably more noisy. For days and 
 weeks afterwards the syce could speak of nothing else ; and 
 used to pile curse upon curse on the head or heads of the 
 unknown digger or diggers of that never-to-be-sufficiently 
 objurgated deer pit. 
 
 For my own part, I was all right again in a few days; 
 but I never came across one of these dangerous holes in 
 the vicinity of my villages without issuing at once a peremp- 
 tory order for the villagers to fill them up, and this was done. 
 
 In point of fact, very few animals are ever deceived by 
 these pitfalls, and as I have shown, and shall now still 
 further show, they are a very real source of danger to either 
 men or cattle who may be unaware of their locality, and 
 are unlucky enough to stumble across them as I did. 
 
 My nearest neighbour in the same jungly district, to whom 
 I have already referred as "the General," was the hero of 
 the episode I am now about to tell. "The General" had 
 been all through the Mutiny, and was one of the fortunate 
 fugitives who escaped from the Sitapore district. He had 
 many a thrilling tale to tell of those dreadful days, and 
 on more than one occasion his escapes from death had 
 been all but incredible. For many years he had lived 
 almost the life of a recluse on his " grants " near Doddpore, 
 and I can never forget the cordial welcome he gave me
 
 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN A LIVING TOMB. 351 
 
 when I first called on him after I had taken charge of 
 my new sphere of labour. I had heard strange stories of 
 his morose disposition, and was prepared to meet a sort of 
 modern Timon of Athens ; but you may judge of my surprise 
 when, after a few minutes' conversation, I found he hailed 
 from boiinie Forfarshire ; and there and then began a friend- 
 ship which ripened into the most brotherly and entire un- 
 animity of feeling. He and I were the only two non-official 
 Europeans in the district. Our estates were contiguous for 
 many miles, and as his bungalow was only some five miles 
 from my headquarters, we had many opportunities of seeing 
 each other. 
 
 He was a man of very powerful frame. He was a master 
 of the languages of India. There was not a turn or phase of 
 native character and thought with which he was not familiar, 
 and he was universally respected and loved by his own wild 
 forest people, among whom he had lived so long ; although 
 many of the neighbouring land owners had frequently been 
 worsted by him in land disputes and territorial feuds. 
 
 Two or three days after my pitfall adventure, I rode over 
 to "Bun Budailee," one of his outlying villages, where he 
 had pitched his tent while superintending the harvesting 
 of some of his crops in a clearing he had made in that 
 remote village. 
 
 I found " the General " in his pyjamas and 'banian, smoking 
 his hookah and surrounded by a motley group of villagers 
 listening to the wild and not unpleasing twanging of a sitar 
 played by a wandering bard and accompanied by the brattle 
 and din of two or three tom-toms, one of which was being 
 vigorously thumbed and rattled by no less a personage than 
 "the General" himself. (He was quite an adept in the 
 musical art as practised by the natives, and there was 
 scarcely a native instrument he had not mastered, while 
 the native songs he could sing were simply " legion.") 
 
 After tiffin, when the crowd had gone, we laid down in
 
 352 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 the tent, and " the General," slowly puffing the smoke from 
 his hookah, with a far-off, dreamy look in his big brown eyes, 
 asked me 
 
 "Did you never hear of my narrow escape from death 
 in one of those pits ? " 
 
 " No ! you never told me anything about it. How was 
 it?" 
 
 " Man ! it's a queer story. Ugh ! the very thought of 
 it makes me shiver." 
 
 I settled myself to listen, and " the General " proceeded. 
 
 " It's now, let me see, six years ago ; and I had gone 
 up near to the banks of the Sardah to have a short spell, 
 for I had been hard at work clearing, and had just got over 
 a long quarrel with one of my neighbouring maliks (i.e. land 
 proprietors), so as I heard there were ' tiger ' up on the other 
 side of the Sardah, I determined to take a run up, by way 
 of change, before the rains set in." 
 
 " What time of the year was it ? " I asked. 
 
 " It was just before the breaking of the monsoons. They 
 were late that year, I remember, and it was awfully hot down 
 here, and most of my ' fellows ' were down with fever. It 
 must have been about the first week in June." (I can scarcely 
 do justice to the vigour of the General's narration, but will 
 try as nearly as possible to reproduce his exact words.) 
 
 " Well, I arrived at my camp all right, turned in, and next 
 day started out on foot, as I had news of Sambur close 
 by, and I wanted a 'skin/ 'Tiger' were reported on the 
 other side of the river, but none had been for a long time 
 seen near Palimpore, the village where my tents were now 
 pitched. 
 
 " I took with me a blackguard of a syce that I had recently 
 got on trial from Sitapore, and I had that morning given him 
 a severe but well deserved thrashing, because I found he 
 had been stealing the old mare's grain and selling it. In 
 fact, to tell you the truth, I was afraid he would ' bolt ' if
 
 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN A LIVING TOMB. 353 
 
 I did not keep an eye on him, and so instead of taking Baeka, 
 my old peon, I left him in charge of the camp and took this 
 syce with me. 
 
 " We wandered about through the jungle for some time, 
 when at length we came on signs of sambur. The jungle 
 was very dense, and though there had been months of almost 
 constant drought, the ground here was quite moist. I was 
 hurrying along a slight track, when, bang all at once, down I 
 went into one of these concealed pits just much in the same 
 manner as you say you fell. The syce was close behind me, 
 and in falling I yelled out to him, ' KuHberdar \ ' and pro- 
 bably saved him from the same fate that had overtaken 
 myself. You will see how the ' SalaJi ' requited my friendly 
 warning. 
 
 " But now comes the curious part of the affair. I went 
 plop ! straight down into a deep, dismal hole, and at the 
 bottom landed right up to my waist in a deposit of tenacious 
 clayey mud. Eegular 'panic' it was. In fact, when I 
 tried to struggle and free myself I found I was held as firm 
 as if I had been birdlimed. I had been wearing riding boots 
 rather tight for me, and struggle as I might, I found I was 
 ' properly planted,' and utterly powerless to free myself 
 Indeed, the more I struggled the firmer I seemed to get 
 stuck, so never doubting but that with the assistance of my 
 syce, I would get out all right, I called to him ; and for the 
 first time with a feeling akin to dismay, I discovered that 
 there was no response. The truth was that the syce, after 
 seeing, as he thought, that I had dropped in for a permanent 
 ' billet,' had seized the opportunity and made straight back 
 for the tent. 
 
 " I found out afterwards that he went back, and told Baeka 
 and my other servants that I had met another sahib, the 
 deputy collector, who was also out hunting, and that I had 
 gone to his camp, and was to spend the night there. He also 
 said I had ordered him to take the mare across, and that 
 
 2 A
 
 354 TENT LIFE IN TIQEELAND. 
 
 Baeka was to give him 10 rupees to take to me. The story 
 was so probable, that my man believed him readily ; and to 
 get quit of that character in my tale at once, I may say 
 that he got clean off with the 10 rupees, and I never saw 
 him again from that day to this. The mare, he must have 
 ridden to Mohumdee, for the Thannadar (i.e., police inspector) 
 there found her near the police station, and she was after- 
 wards returned to me at the ' grant.' 
 
 " However, to return to my prison pit. Here I was, like a 
 second Joseph, buried up to my waist in a stiff, unyielding 
 clay, left all alone in the middle of a pathless jungle, and 
 utterly unable to lift my legs one inch out of the horrible 
 miry trap into which I had fallen. 
 
 " When I had nearly bawled myself hoarse shouting for 
 the syce, the conviction forced itself on my mind that he had 
 really deserted me, and I must confess I began to be seriously 
 alarmed. An examination of the pit showed me that it 
 must have formerly been a ' kutcha well.' (A kutcka well, 
 I may note for the reader's edification, is one merely dug 
 down for a temporary supply of water, and as distinguished 
 from a pucca or masonry well.) 
 
 " Or possibly it may have been dug by ' Koomhars ' (the 
 potter caste) on account of the plastic brick clay of which 
 the bottom and sides were composed ; but it had evidently 
 been long disused, for .great flakes had fallen from the sides 
 and there were cracks and rents and fissures all around, 
 owing to the subsidence of the lower strata, and these had 
 settled into the tenacious quagmire at the bottom, in which I 
 was now as firmly embedded as if I had grown there. 
 
 " I shuddered as I noted the dismal surroundings. There 
 were several great gaunt-looking, yellowish-green frogs, 
 peering at me with curious eyes ; and then as I turned my 
 head around a little, I made a discovery that made my very 
 heart cease beating for a minute, and sent every drop of 
 blood in my body bounding back in my veins. There, right
 
 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN A LIVING TOMB. 355 
 
 on a level with my face, its length half concealed in a crevice 
 in the crumbling sides of the pit, its hood half expanded, 
 its forked tongue quivering as it jerked it out and in, and its 
 eyes glittering with a baleful glare, I saw a great cobra." 
 
 "By Jove!" I exclaimed, "that was no joke." "The 
 General " proceeded : 
 
 "It was evidently half afraid, half angry, and did not 
 know what to make of me. I could see it was a prisoner 
 like myself, and it had most probably been lured into the pit 
 by hearing the croaking of the frogs, and in endeavouring to 
 reach them it must have fallen in." 
 
 " You must have been frightened, General ? " I exclaimed. 
 
 " Frightened ? I tell you, man, I felt my heart for the 
 moment cease beating. You know I am not a coward, but I 
 was petrified almost with the dread of my luckless position. 
 I could not say but what the brute might at any moment 
 make a dart at me. I felt utterly helpless and despairing, 
 and for a moment my heart whispered to me that my end 
 had come. Then came a sort of nervous recklessness. I 
 suppose it was ' the fury of despair ' we read about. I know 
 I uttered a savage curse, and, snatching my hard helmet, I 
 hit the brute a smashing blow in the face, and then began a 
 fight for life. 
 
 " It was a big powerful snake. The blow had only maddened 
 it. Its hood expanded, its hissing filled the pit, and swaying 
 and rearing its clammy length, it launched full at my face. 
 My gun was lying choked up with dirt and half buried in 
 the ' pank,' but I had my hunting-knife with me, and while 
 I parried the fierce darts of the infuriated brute with my 
 helmet, I made quick stabs and slashes at it whenever I 
 could get a chance, and after a short, exciting struggle it 
 succumbed, and tried to withdraw behind the crevice, but 
 with a slice of my knife I nearly severed its head from its 
 body. And then for awhile you may laugh at me or no, as 
 you will all was a blank. I must have fainted. 
 
 2 A 2
 
 356 TENT LIFE IN TIGEBLAND. 
 
 " When I came to myself, I felt still faint and weak, and a 
 feeling of utter prostration and despair crept over me. It 
 must have been some hours now since I had fallen into the 
 hole. Still I hoped that perhaps the syce had gone for help, 
 and I tried to buoy myself up with the idea that, even if he 
 had deserted me, Baeka would miss me after a time and come 
 in search of me. 
 
 " The weary hours dragged along. It was intensely still 
 and sultry above, I conjectured, for even in the deep dank 
 pit the air was stifling and oppressive, and I could not detect 
 a sound or rustle in the vegetation that overhung the mouth 
 of my living tomb. 
 
 " Oh, man," said the General, here becoming quite pathetic, 
 " it was an awful weary wait. 
 
 "Hour after hour passed on. Again and again I tried 
 to drag myself free, but I only exhausted myself in fruitless 
 struggles." 
 
 (To those who know what Indian "parik " is, the General's 
 woful plight will be easily understood. In Mofussil parlance 
 to be " pank lugged" [Anglice, bogged] in this tenacious 
 clayey mud is one of the most justly dreaded mishaps that 
 can befall the traveller. Many a horse has been ruined in 
 the attempt to flounder out of a quagmire of this description. 
 They strain their sinews past remedy, and, indeed, in many 
 instances I have known even cattle and tame buffaloes unable 
 to struggle out until help has arrived.) 
 My friend continued : 
 
 " I could now see that the day was waning. The heat had 
 become if possible still more sultry and intense, and once or 
 twice I had fancied I heard a low muttering rumbling sound 
 as if of distant thunder. As the daylight grew fainter and 
 fainter this rumbling increased, and then short sudden flashes 
 began to play overhead, lasting only a second, and at length 
 it became totally dark, and then the flashes increased in 
 brilliancy and frequency, and soon the conviction forced
 
 TWENTY-FOUR HOUES IN A LIVING TOMB. 357 
 
 itself on me that this was the beginning of the rains. The 
 monsoon was breaking. The drought was at an end. The 
 clouds were hurrying up in tremendous solid masses, and soon 
 a big drop or two of rain began to come hurtling through the 
 overhanging grass, and another dread began to take possession 
 of my mind. I knew what was coming. 
 
 "Ere long the expected event happened. The roar and 
 crashing of the thunder increased in intensity. The lightning 
 seemed to roll along the heavens in continuous jets, and 
 circles, and bands of fire. I could smell the rain, and then 
 the floodgates of heaven were opened, and down it came in. 
 one continuous sheet of water, and the thirsty earth licked 
 it up." 
 
 I could see the whole picture in my mind's eye, and did 
 not need the General's vivid narration to realise what had 
 happened. It was this : 
 
 The young cracks in the rice fields lap greedily of the life- 
 giving element. A diapason of sounds from myriads of 
 yellow frogs fills the air. The rain comes down in a blinding 
 hurtling steady rush. Soon the runlets and depressions in 
 the ground fill with a turbid eddying stream, in which leaves, 
 drowned crickets and grasshoppers, knots of ants, reptiles, 
 and all the flotsam of the forest, whirl and rise and sink and 
 eddy and float along. " And now," pursued the General, re- 
 suming his narrative, " from a hundred ticy crevices and gaps 
 in the edge of my pit the troubled turbid rain-water began to 
 trickle down, crumbling the clay away, and I was soon 
 drenched to the skin, and felt with alarm the water beginning 
 slowly but surely to mount up the sides of the pit. 
 
 " I thought then it was all up with me. I can hardly 
 describe to you my thoughts. I know I thought of home. 
 I reviewed my past life. I made desperate struggles again 
 and again to free myself. I shouted and screamed for help. 
 I believe I prayed and swore. In fact, for the time I believe 
 I must have gone demented, but I found myself utterly
 
 358 TENT LIFE IN TIGEBLAND. 
 
 powerless. The miry clay and treacherous pank held me 
 firm, and then again I must have relapsed into unconscious- 
 ness. 
 
 " When I came to myself it was barely light, it was still 
 raining heavily and stolidly, the big drops plashed down ; I 
 could see a dull leaden sky above, and I knew the nullahs 
 and water courses would soon be full. The battle of the 
 elements had ceased, and but for the continuous crash of 
 falling rain, all was still. The water in the pit was nearly up 
 to my shoulders. I felt I was doomed to die, and a sort of 
 sullen, despairing stupor took possession of me. I had now 
 given up all hope, when, hark ! I thought I heard the sound 
 of a human voice ! 
 
 "With all the agony of despair I raised a cry for help. 
 There was an awful pause, and then I heard my faithful 
 Baeka crying in response. Again I cried out, and I soon saw 
 his dear old wrinkled face peering down at me from the edge 
 of the pit. 
 
 " Man, Maori ! ! " said the poor General, " the revulsion of 
 feeling was nearly making me bekosJi again" (beliosli, i.e., 
 without breath or life). 
 
 " Well, I needn't pile on the agony. Baeka had passed a 
 miserable night. His misgivings were aroused when the 
 storm broke. The head man of the village had been into the 
 camp, and told him there was no other saliib out in the 
 jungles for miles and miles around, nor had been for months ; 
 so, before dawn, the faithful old fellow had roused the camp ; 
 he got the choivkeydars of the nearest villages to turn out, 
 with many of the guallalis or cowherds, and through the 
 rain, they set out in quest of me, and knowing the general 
 direction I had taken, they providentially arrived just in the 
 nick of time for my salvation." 
 
 " Well, how did they manage to get you out ? " I asked. 
 " Oh, that was not so easy, but they managed it ; some of 
 them cut down saplings and managed to make a sort of ladder,
 
 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN A LIVING TOMB. 359 
 
 and Baeka came down with a long lathee, and loosened the 
 pank round my body sufficiently for me to do the rest myself. 
 Then they tied their puggrees and kummerbunds together, and 
 I knotted these round my waist, and under my armpits, and 
 with that help, they tugging away at the free ends, I managed 
 to clamber out. But, oh man ! I was awfully done ! I could 
 scarcely stand, and trembled like a baby ; in fact, they had to 
 make a litter and carry me to the tent." 
 
 " Poor old General ! It was indeed a providential de- 
 liverance. And how did you get home ? " 
 
 "Oh, I got the loan of an elephant from one of the 
 neighbouring malliks and got home right enough, but for 
 weeks I was ill with rheumatic fever ; and, indeed, old man, 
 I doubt if ever I will cease to feel the effects of that "twenty- 
 four hours in a living grave. "When I fell in, it must have been 
 about 8 or 9 in the morning, and it was about that time next 
 day when Baeka found me, and I was at length extricated " 
 
 Such was the tale my old chum told me in the shadow of 
 the tent, while the hot breath of high noon brooded over 
 the silent forest without, and the parched air quivered over 
 the tree-tops. 
 
 And now, dear reader, I must for a time again perchance 
 for ever close my records and reminiscences of the dear 
 old " Tent Life in Tigerland." 
 
 Ah ! the glad days that will never come back ! How 
 many of the faithful gallant spirits, that were so kindly and 
 true, now rest quietly in the far-off Eastern land. The ranks 
 are thinning fast now ; but still from time to time I hear a 
 pleasant note of the old seductive Eastern strain. 
 
 For instance, some years ago, dear "Old Mac" and 
 " Jamie " came down to see me in my Australian home ; 
 and we did have such a jolly yet sad talk over old times 
 and vanished friends. 
 
 " The General," like myself, fell a victim to the sapping, 
 insidious, fever-laden climate, but is now, at last accounts, a
 
 360 1ENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 fairly prosperous settler in Texas, and, mirabile dictu, has 
 become a Benedict. 
 
 "Pat Hudson" and "Butty" still survive, and mellow 
 with the advancing years. Such natures, such examples 
 are a perennial fount of all good influences ; and while old 
 fogeys like myself look back on our intercourse together 
 with grateful loving recollection, the younger and more 
 ardent generation who now live "the Tent Life in the old 
 Tigerland " look up to them with affection and esteem, 
 and learn many a lesson in the ethics of true manly sport 
 from these fine gallant fellows, with whom I spent so many 
 happy days in the " auld lang syne." 
 
 Yes, my task is done ! 
 
 It has been a pleasant one to me, and I hope not altogether 
 an uninteresting one to you. 
 
 I have tried to show you one phase of the sturdy Anglo- 
 Saxon colonising life, as for twelve stirring years I lived it. 
 Try to think, lads, of your brother Britons in the sweltering 
 plains, or the tiger-haunted jungles of regal HincTostan, with 
 a little more interest, a little more liking, a little more 
 federal regard, than you have hitherto done. 
 
 Try to realise that the same promptings, the same 
 honourable ambitions, the same chivalrous traditions of 
 manly honest sport must actuate YOU, if you are to be 
 loved and honoured and esteemed by YOUK fellows ; and 
 whether my words greet you on the Scottish or Irish moors, 
 or in the shires of merry England and ancient Wales ; amid 
 the snows and fir forests of Canada, or over the thorny arid 
 plains of Africa; on the bracken-covered slopes of ISTew 
 Zealand, or through the trackless gum forests of Australia ; 
 or over the dry plains of the vast interior of that sunny land 
 of promise wherever, in short, throughout the realm of 
 British Empire you pursue your work, or engage in your 
 sport, let the honourable instincts of true English gentle- 
 men actuate you ; and let the grand old country ever have
 
 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN A LIVING TOMB. 361 
 
 reason to be proud of her scattered sons ; as they hand down 
 her illustrious traditions untarnished by degeneracy; her 
 ancient honour unsullied by a sordid stain ; and her peerless 
 pre-eminence un weakened by dividing jealousies or unworthy 
 rivalries. 
 
 SO MOTE IT BE !
 
 362 TENT LIFE IN TIGERLAND. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXI. 
 
 A CHAPTER OX GUNS. 
 On guns How to cure skins Different recipes Conclusion. 
 
 MY remarks on guns shall be brief. The true sportsman has 
 many facilities for acquiring the best information on a choice 
 of weapons. For large game perhaps nothing can equal the 
 Express rifle. My own trusty weapon was a '500 bore, very 
 plain, with a pistol grip, point-blank up to 180 yards, made 
 by Murcott of the Haymarket, from whom I have bought 
 over twenty guns, every one of which turned out a splendid 
 weapon. 
 
 My next favourite was a JSTo. 12 breechloader, very light, 
 but strong and carefully finished. It had a side snap action 
 with rebounding locks, and was the quickest gun to fire and 
 reload I ever possessed. I bought it from the same maker, 
 although it was manufactured by W. W. Greener. 
 
 Avoid a cheap gun as you would a cheap- Jack pedlar. A 
 good name is above riches so far as a gun is concerned, and 
 when you have a good gun take as much care of it as you 
 would of a good wife. They are both equally rare. An 
 expensive gun is not necessarily a good one, but a cheap gun 
 is very seldom trustworthy. Have a portable, handy black 
 leather case. Keep your gun always clean, bright, and free 
 from rust. After every day's shooting see that the barrels 
 and locks are carefully cleaned and oiled. Nothing is better 
 for this purpose than Eangoon oil. 
 
 For preserving horns, a little scraping and varnishing are
 
 A CHAPTER ON GUNS. 363 
 
 all that is required. While in camp it is a good plan to 
 rub them with deer, or pig, or tiger fat, as it keeps them 
 from cracking. 
 
 To clean a tiger's or other skull. If there be a nest of 
 ants near the camp, place the skull in their immediate 
 vicinity. Some recommend putting in water till the particles 
 of flesh rot, or till the skull is cleared by the fishes. A 
 strong solution of caustic water may be used if you wish 
 to get the bones cleaned very quickly. Some put the skulls 
 in quicklime, but it has a tendency to make the bones 
 splinter, and it is difficult to keep the teeth from getting 
 loose and dropping out. The best but slowest plan is to fix 
 them in mechanically by wire or white lead. A good 
 preservative is to wash or paint them with a very strong 
 solution of fine lime and water. 
 
 To cure skins. I know no better recipe than the one 
 adopted by my trainers in the art of shikar, the brothers S, 
 I cannot do better than give a description of the process 
 in the words of George himself. 
 
 " Skin the animal in the usual way. Cut from the corner 
 of the mouth, down the throat, and along the belly. A 
 white stripe or border generally runs along the belly. This 
 should be left as nearly as possible equal on both sides. 
 Carefully cut the fleshy parts off the lips and balls of the 
 toes and feet. Clean away every particle of fatty or fleshy 
 matter that may still adhere to the skin. Peg it out on the 
 ground with the hair side undermost. When thoroughly 
 scraped clean of all extraneous matter on the inner surface, 
 get a bucket or tub of buttermilk, which is called by the 
 natives daliye or mutlia. It is a favourite article of diet 
 with them, cheap and plentiful. Dip the skin in this, and 
 keep it well and entirely submerged by placing some heavy 
 weight on it. It should be submerged fully three inches in 
 the tub of buttermilk. 
 
 " After two days in the milk bath, take it out and peg. it
 
 364 TENT LIFE IN TIGEELAND. 
 
 as before. Now take a smooth oval rubbing-board about 
 twelve inches long, five round, and about an inch thick in 
 the middle, and scrub the skin heartily with this instrument. 
 On its lower surface it should be cut in grooves, semicircular 
 in shape, half an inch wide, and one inch apart. During 
 scrubbing use plenty of pure water to remove filth. In 
 about half-an-hour the pinkish-white colour will disappear, 
 and the skin will appear white, with a blackish tinge under- 
 neath. This is the true hide. 
 
 " Again submerge in the buttermilk bath for twenty -four 
 hours, and get a man to tread on it in every possible way, 
 folding it and unfolding it, till all has been thoroughly 
 worked. 
 
 " Take ,it out again, peg out and scrub it as before, after 
 which wash the whole hide well in clear water. Never mind 
 if the skin looks rotten, it is really not so. 
 
 " When washed put it into a tub, in which you have first 
 placed a mixture consisting of half an ounce of alum to each 
 gallon of water. Soak the skin in this mixture for about six 
 hours, taking it up occasionally to drain a little. This is 
 sufficient to cure your skin and clean it." 
 
 The tanning remains to be done. 
 
 " Get four pounds of babool, tamarind, or dry oak bark. 
 (The babool is a kind of acacia, and is easily procurable, as 
 the tamarind also is.) Boil the bark in two gallons of water 
 till it is reduced to one-half the quantity. Add to this nine 
 gallons of fresh water, and in this solution souse the skin for 
 two, or three, or four days. 
 
 " The hairs having been set by the soaking in alum, the 
 skin will tan more quickly, and if the tan is occasionally 
 rubbed into the pores of the skin it will be an improvement. 
 You can tell when the tanning is complete by the colour the 
 skin assumes. When this satisfies the eye, take it out and 
 drain on a rod. When nearly dry it should be curried with 
 olive oil or clarified butter if required for wear, but if only
 
 A CHAPTER ON GUNS. 365 
 
 for floor covering or carriage rug, the English curriers' 
 common "dubbin," sold by shopkeepers, is best. This 
 operation, which must be done on the inner side only, is 
 simple. 
 
 " Another simple recipe, and one which answers well, is 
 this. Mix together of the best English soap, four ounces ; 
 arsenic, two and a half grains ; camphor, two ounces ; alum, 
 half an ounce ; saltpetre, half an ounce. Boil the whole, 
 and keep stirring, in a half-pint of distilled water, over a 
 very slow fire, for from ten to fifteen minutes. Apply when 
 cool with a sponge. A little sweet oil may be rubbed on the 
 skins after they are dry. 
 
 " Another good method is to apply arsenical soap, which 
 may be made as follows : powdered arsenic, two pounds ; 
 camphor, five ounces ; white soap, sliced thin, two pounds ; 
 salt of tartar, twelve drams ; chalk, or powdered fine lime, 
 four ounces ; add a small quantity of water first to the soap, 
 put over a gentle fire, and keep stirring. When melted, add 
 the lime and tartar, and thoroughly mix ; next add the 
 arsenic, keeping up a constant motion, and lastly the 
 camphor. The camphor should first be reduced to a powder 
 by means of a little spirits of wine, and should be added to 
 the mess after it has been taken off the fire. 
 
 " This preparation must be kept in a well-stoppered jar, 
 or properly closed pot. When ready, the soap should be of 
 the consistency of Devonshire cream. To use, add water till 
 it becomes of the consistency of clear rich soup." 
 
 I have now finished my book. It has been pleasant to 
 me to write down these recollections. Ever since I began 
 my task, death has been busy, and the ranks of my old 
 friends have been sadly thinned. Failing health had driven 
 me from my old shooting grounds, and in sunny Australia I 
 have been successful in recruiting the energies enervated by 
 the burning climate of India. Australia has become indeed
 
 366 TENT LIFE IN TIGEBLAND. 
 
 a second Fatherland to me, and amid the busy whirl of 
 commerce, and the battle of politics, I still find room for 
 the exercise of the old hunting ardour, and sometimes have 
 occasion, alas ! like the old apostle, to war with wild beasts, 
 and so I find that I have not lost all my old nerve and 
 sporting zeal. I have achieved high honour and distinction 
 in my adopted country, and its interests demand my best 
 and highest service. That my dear old planter friends may 
 have as kindly recollections of the " Maori " as he has of 
 them, is what I ardently hope ; that I may yet share in the 
 sports, pastimes, joys, and social delights of Mofussil life in 
 India, is a cherished wish, which a visit may one day gratify. 
 If this volume meets the approbation of the public, I 
 may be tempted to draw further on a well stocked memory, 
 and gossip afresh on Indian life, Indian experiences, and 
 Indian sport. Meantime, courteous reader, farewell.
 
 SPORT AND WORK 
 
 OX THE 
 
 NEPAUL FRONTIER 
 
 OB 
 
 TWELVE YEAKS' SPORTING REMINISCENCES 
 OF AN INDIGO PLANTER 
 
 P,Y "MAORI" 
 
 2 n
 
 SPORT AND WORK 
 
 ON 
 
 THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL, 
 
 CHAPTEE I. BOSTON. 
 
 Province of Behar Boundaries General description District of Chum- 
 parun Mooteeharree The town and lake Xative houses The 
 Planters' Club Segoulie. 
 
 AMONG the many beautiful and fertile provinces of India, 
 none can, I think, much excel that of Behar for richness of 
 soil, diversity of race, beauty of scenery, and the energy and 
 intelligence of its inhabitants. Stretching from the Nepaul 
 Hills to the far distant plains of Gya, with the Gunduck, 
 Bagmuttee and other noble streams watering its rich bosom, 
 and swelling with their tribute the stately Ganges, it includes 
 within its borders every variety of soil and climate ; and 
 its various races, with their strange costumes, creeds, and 
 customs, might afford material to fill volumes. 
 
 The northern part of this splendid province follows the 
 Nepaulese boundary from the district of Goruckpore on the 
 north, to that of Purneah on the south. In the forests and 
 jungles along this boundary line live many strange tribes, 
 whose customs, nay even their names and language, are all 
 but unknown to the English public. Strange wild animals 
 dispute with these aborigines the possession of the gloomy 
 jungle solitudes. Great trees of wondrous dimensions and 
 strange foliage rear their stately heads to heaven, and are 
 
 2 B 2
 
 370 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 matted and entwined together by creepers of huge size and 
 tenacious hold. 
 
 To the south and east vast billows of golden grain roll in 
 successive undulations to the mighty Ganges, the sacred 
 stream of the Hindoos. Innumerable villages, nestling amid 
 groves of plantains and feathery rustling bamboos, send up 
 their wreaths of pale grey smoke into the still warm air. At 
 frequent intervals the steely blue of some lovely lake, where 
 thousands of water-fowl disport themselves, reflects from its 
 polished surface the sheen of the noonday sun. Great masses 
 of mango wood show a sombre outline at intervals, and here 
 and there the towering chimney of an indigo factory pierces 
 the sky. Government roads and embankments intersect the 
 face of the country in all directions, and vast sheets of the 
 indigo plant refresh the eye with their plains of living green, 
 forming a grateful contrast to the hard, dried, sun-baked 
 surface of the stubble fields, where the rice crop has rustled 
 in the breezes of the past season. In one of the loveliest 
 and most fertile districts of this vast province, namely Chum- 
 parun, I began my experiences as an indigo planter. 
 
 Chumparun, with its subdistrict of Bettiah, lies to the north 
 of Tirhoot, and is bounded all along its northern extent by 
 the Nepaul hills and forests. When I joined my appoint- 
 ment as assistant on one of the large local indigo concerns, 
 there were not more than about thirty European residents 
 altogether in the district. The chief town, Mooteeharree, 
 consisted of a long bazaar, or market street, beautifully 
 situated on the bank of a lovely lake, some two miles in 
 length. From the main street, with its quaint little shops 
 sheltered from the sun by makeshift verandahs of tattered 
 sacking, weather-stained shingles, or rotting bamboo mats, 
 various little lanes and alleys diverged, leading one into a 
 collection of tumble-down and ruinous huts, set up appa- 
 rently by chance, and presenting the most incongruous 
 appearance that could possibly be conceived. One .or two
 
 CHUMPARUN MOOTEEHARREE. 371 
 
 pucca houses, that is, houses of brick and masonry, showed 
 where some wealthy Bunneah (trader) or usurious banker 
 lived, but the majority of the houses were of the usual mud 
 and bamboo order. There is a small thatched hut where the 
 meals are cooked, and where the owner and his family could 
 sleep during the rains. Another smaller hut, at right angles 
 to this, gives shelter to the family goat, or, if they are rich 
 enough to keep one, the cow. All round the villages in India 
 there are generally large patches of common, where the village 
 cows have free rights of pasture ; and all who can, keep either 
 a cow or a couple of goats, the milk from which forms a 
 welcome addition to their usual scanty fare. In this second 
 hut also is stored as much fuel, consisting of dried cow-dung, 
 straw, maize-stalks, leaves, etc., as can be collected ; and a 
 ragged fence of bamboo or raJmr* stalks encloses the two 
 unprotected sides, thus forming a small court, quadrangle, or 
 square inside. This court is the native's sanctum sanctorum. 
 It is kept scrupulously clean, being swept and garnished re- 
 ligiously every day. In this the women prepare the rice for 
 the day's consumption ; here they cut up and clean their 
 vegetables, or their fish, when the adjacent lake has been 
 dragged by the village fishermen. Here the produce of their 
 little garden, capsicums, Indian corn, onions or potatoes 
 perchance turmeric, ginger, or other roots or spices are dried 
 and made ready for storing in the earthen sun-baked reposi- 
 tory for the reception of such produce appertaining to each 
 household. Here the children play, and are washed and 
 tended. Here the maiden combs out her long black hair, or 
 decorates her bronzed visage with streaks of red paint down 
 the nose, and a little antimony on the eyelids, or myrtle 
 juice on the finger and to nails. Here, too, the matron, or 
 
 * The rahur is a kind of pea, growing not unlike our English broom in 
 appearance ; it is sown with the maize crop during the rains, and garnered 
 in the cold weather. It produces a small pea, which is largely used by 
 the natives, and forms the nutritive article of diet known as dhall.
 
 372 SPORT AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 the withered old crone of a grandmother, spins her cotton 
 thread ; or, in the old scriptural hand-mill, grinds the corn 
 for the family flour and meal ; and the father and the young- 
 men (when the sun is high and hot in the heavens) take 
 their noonday siesta, or, the day's labours over, cower round 
 the smoking fire of a cold winter night, and discuss the prices 
 ruling in the bazaar, the rise of rents, or the last village 
 scandal. 
 
 In the middle of the town, and surrounded by a spacious 
 fenced-in compound, which sloped gently to the lake, stood 
 the Planters' Club, a large low roofed bungalow, with a 
 roomy wide verandah in front. Here we met, when business 
 or pleasure brought us to "the Station." Here were held 
 our annual balls, or an occasional public dinner-party. To 
 the north of the Club stood a long range of barrack-looking 
 buildings, which were the opium godowns, where the opium 
 was collected and stored during the season. Facing this 
 again, and at the extremity of the lake, was the district jail, 
 where all the rascals of the surrounding country were con- 
 fined ; its high walls topped at intervals by a red puggree 
 and flashing bayonet wherever a jail sepoy kept his " lonely 
 watch." Near it, sheltered in a grove of shady trees, were 
 the court houses, where the collector and magistrate daily 
 dispensed justice, or where the native moonsiff disentangled 
 knotty points of law. Here, too, came the sessions judge 
 once a month or so, to try criminal cases and mete out 
 justice to the law-breakers. 
 
 "We had thus a small European element in our " Station," 
 consisting of our magistrate and collector, whose large and 
 handsome house was built on the banks of another and yet 
 lovelier lake, which joined the town lake by a narrow stream 
 or strait at its southern end, an opium agent, a district 
 superintendent of police, and last but not least, a doctor. 
 These formed the official population of our little " Station." 
 There was also a nice little church, but no resident pastor,
 
 SEOOUL1E. 373 
 
 and behind the town lay a quiet churchyard, rich in the dust 
 of many a pioneer, who, far from home and friends, had here 
 been gathered to his silent rest. 
 
 About twelve miles to the north, and near the Nepaul 
 boundary, was the small military station of Segoulie. Here 
 there was always a native cavalry regiment, the officers of 
 which were frequent and welcome guests at the factories in 
 the district, and were always glad to see their indigo friends 
 at their mess in cantonments. At Bettiah, still further to 
 the north, was a rich rajah's palace, where a resident European 
 manager dwelt, and had for his sole society an assistant 
 magistrate who transacted the executive and judicial work of 
 the subdistrict. These, with some twenty-five or thirty 
 indigo managers and assistants, composed the whole European 
 population of Chumparun. 
 
 Never was there a more united community. We were all 
 like brothers. Each knew all the rest. The assistants 
 frequently visited each other, and the managers were kind 
 and considerate to their subordinates. Hunting parties were 
 common, cricket and hockey matches were frequent, and in 
 the cold weather, which is our slackest season, fun, frolic, and 
 sport was the order of the day. We had an annual race meet, 
 when all the crack horses of the district met in keen rivalry 
 to test their pace and endurance. During this high carnival, 
 we lived for the most part under canvas, and had friends 
 from far and near to share our hospitality. In a future 
 chapter I must describe our racing meet.
 
 374 SPOUT AND WOEK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 My first charge How we get our lands Our home farm System of 
 farming Collection of rents The planter's duties. 
 
 MY first charge was a small outwork of the large factory 
 Seeraha. It was called Puttihee. There was no bungalow ; 
 that is, there was no regular house for the assistant, but a 
 little one-roomed hut, built on the top of the indigo vats, 
 served me for a residence. It had neither doors nor windows, 
 and the rain used to beat through the room, while the eaves 
 were inhabited by countless swarms of bats, who in the 
 evening flashed backwards and forwards in ghostly rapid 
 flight, and were a most intolerable nuisance. To give some 
 idea of the duties of an indigo assistant, I must explain the 
 system on which we get our lands, and how we grow our 
 crop. 
 
 "Water of course being a sine qua non, the first object in 
 selecting a site for a factory is, to have M^ater in plenty, con- 
 tiguous to the proposed buildings. Consequently Puttihee 
 was built on the banks of a very pretty lake, shaped like a 
 horseshoe, and covered with water lilies and broad-leaved 
 green aquatic plants. The lake was kept by the native 
 proprietor as a fish preserve, and literally teemed with fish of 
 all sorts, shapes, and sizes. I had not been long at Puttihee 
 before I had erected a staging, leading out into deep water, 
 and many a happy hour I have spent there with my three or 
 four rods out, pulling in the finny inhabitants. 
 
 Having got water and a site, the next thing is to get land 
 on which to grow your crop. By purchase, by getting a long
 
 OUR HOME FARM. 375 
 
 lease, or otherwise, you become possessed of several hundred 
 acres of the land immediately surrounding the factory. Of 
 course some factories will have more and some less as 
 circumstances happen. This land, however, is peculiarly 
 factory property. It is in fact a sort of home farm, and goes 
 by the name of Zeraat. It is ploughed by factory bullocks, 
 worked by factory coolies, and is altogether apart and separate 
 from the ordinary lands held by the ryots and worked by 
 them. (A ryot means a cultivator.) In most factories the 
 Zeraats are farmed in the most thorough manner. Many 
 now use the light Howard's plough, and apply quantities of 
 manure. 
 
 The fields extend in vast unbroken plains all round the 
 factory. The land is worked and pulverised, and reploughed 
 and harrowed and cleaned, till not a lump the size of 
 a pigeon's egg is to be seen. If necessary, it is carefully 
 weeded several times before the crop is sown, and in fact, a 
 fine clean stretch of Zeraat in Tirhoot or Chumparun will 
 compare most favourably with any field in the highest farm- 
 ing districts of England or Scotland. The ploughing and 
 other farm labour is done by bullocks. A staff of these, 
 varying of course with the amount of land under cultivation, 
 is kept at each factory. For their support a certain amount 
 of sugar-cane is planted, and in the cold weather carrots are 
 sown, and gennara, a kind of millet, and maize. 
 
 Both maize and gennara have broad green leaves, and long 
 juicy succulent stalks. They grow to a good height, and 
 when cut up and mixed with chopped straw and carrots, form 
 a most excellent feed for cattle. Besides the bullocks, each 
 factory keeps up a staff of generally excellent horses, for the 
 use of the assistant or manager, on which he rides over his 
 cultivation, and looks generally after the farm. Some of the 
 native subordinates also have ponies, or Cabool horses, or 
 country-breds ; and for the feed of these animals some few 
 acres of oats are sown every cold season. In most factories
 
 376 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 too, when any particular bit of the Zeraats gets exhausted by 
 the constant repetition of indigo cropping, a rest is given it, 
 by taking a crop of oil seeds or oats off the land. The oil 
 seeds usually so\vn are mustard or rape. The oil is useful in 
 the factory for oiling the screws or the machinery, and for 
 other purposes. 
 
 The factory roads through the Zeraats are kept in most 
 perfect order ; many of them are metalled. The ditches are 
 cleaned once a year. All thistles and weeds by the sides of 
 the roads and ditches are ruthlessly cut down. The edges 
 of all the fields are neatly trimmed and cut. Useless trees 
 and clumps of jungle are cut down ; and in fact the Zeraats 
 round a factory show a perfect picture of orderly thrift, 
 careful management, and neat, scientific, and elaborate 
 farming. 
 
 Having got the Zeraats, the next thing is to extend the 
 cultivation outside. 
 
 The land in India is not, as with us at home, parcelled out 
 into large farms. There are wealthy proprietors, rajahs, 
 baboos, and so on, who hold vast tracts of land, either by 
 grant, or purchase, or hereditary succession ; but the tenants 
 are literally the children of the soil. Wherever a village 
 nestles among its plaintan or mango groves, the land is 
 parcelled out among the villagers. A large proprietor does 
 not reckon up his farms as a landlord at home would do, but 
 he counts his villages. In a village with a thousand acres 
 belonging to it, there might be 100 or even 200 tenants 
 farming the land. Each petty villager would have his acre 
 or half acre, or four, or five, or ten, or twenty acres, as the 
 case might be. He holds this by a " tenant right," and cannot 
 be dispossessed as long as he pays his rent regularly. He 
 can sell his tenant right, and the purchaser on paying the 
 rent, becomes the bond, fide possessor of the land to all intents 
 and purposes. 
 
 If the average rent of the village lands was, let me say,
 
 SYSTEM OF FARMING. 377 
 
 one rupee eight annas an acre, the rent roll of the 1000 acres 
 would be 1500 rupees. Out of this the government land 
 revenue comes. Certain deductions have to be made some 
 ryots may be defaulters. The village temple, or the village 
 Brahmin, may have to get something, the road-cess has to be 
 paid, and so on. Taking everything into account, you arrive 
 at a pretty fair view of what the rental is. If the proprietor 
 of the village wants a loan of money, or if you offer to pay 
 him the rent by half-yearly or quarterly instalments, you 
 taking all the risk of collecting in turn from each ryot in- 
 dividually, he is often only too glad to accept your offer, and 
 giving you a lease of the village for whatever term may be 
 agreed on, you step in as virtually the landlord, and the ryots 
 have to pay their rents to you. 
 
 In many cases by careful management, by remeasuring 
 lands, settling doubtful boundaries, and generally working 
 up the estate, you can much increase the rental, and actually 
 make a profit on your bargain with the landlord. This de- 
 partment of indigo work is called Zemindaree. Having, 
 then, got the village in lease, you summon in all your tenants ; 
 show them their rent accounts, arrange with them for the 
 punctual payment of them, and get them to agree to cultivate 
 a certain percentage of their land in indigo for you. 
 
 This percentage varies very considerably. In some places 
 it is one acre in five, in some one in twenty. It all depends 
 on local circumstances. You select the land, you give the 
 seed, but the ryot has to prepare the field for sowing, he has 
 to plough, weed, and reap the crop, and deliver it at the 
 factory. For the indigo he gets so much per acre, the price 
 being as near as possible the average price of an acre of 
 ordinary produce : taking the average out-turn and prices of, 
 say, ten years. It used formerly to be much less, but the 
 ryot nowadays gets nearly double for his indigo what he got 
 some ten or fifteen years ago, and this, although prices have 
 not risen for the manufactured article, and the prices of labour,
 
 378 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 stores, machinery, live stock, etc., have more than doubled. 
 In some parts the ryot gets paid so much per bundle of plants 
 delivered at the vats, but generally in Behar, at least in north 
 Behar, he is paid so much per acre or Beegali. I use the 
 word acre as being more easily understood by people at home 
 than Beegah. The Beegah varies in different districts, but 
 is generally about two-thirds of an acre. 
 
 When his rent account, then, comes to be made out, the 
 ryot gets credit for the price of his indigo grown and de- 
 livered; and this very often suffices, not only to clear his 
 entire rent, but to leave a margin in hard cash for him to 
 take home. Before the beginning of the indigo season, how- 
 ever, he comes into the factory and takes a cash advance on 
 account of the indigo to be grown. This is often a great help 
 to him, enabling him to get his seeds for his other lands, 
 perhaps ploughs, or to buy a cart, or clothes for the family, 
 or to replace a bullock that may have died ; or to help to 
 give a marriage portion to a son or daughter that he wants 
 to get married. 
 
 You will thus see that we have cultivation to look after in 
 all the villages round about the factory which we can get in 
 lease. The ryot, in return for his cash advance, agrees to 
 cultivate so much indigo at a certain price, for which he gets 
 credit in his rent. Such, shortly, is our indigo system. In 
 some villages the ryot will cultivate for us without our having 
 the lease at all, and without taking advances. He grows the 
 indigo as he would grow any other crop, as a pure speculation. 
 If he has a good crop, he can get the price in hard cash from 
 the factory, and a great deal is grown in this way in both 
 Purneah and Bhaugulpore. This is called Kooskee, as against 
 the system of advances, which is called Tuccavee. 
 
 The planter, then, has to be constantly over his villages, 
 looking out for good lands, giving up bad fields, and taking 
 in new ones. He must watch what crops grow best in certain 
 places. He must see that he does not take lands where
 
 THE PLANTERS DUTIES. 379 
 
 water may lodge, and, on the other hand, avoid those that do 
 not retain their moisture. He must attend also to the state 
 of the other crops generally all over his cultivation, as the 
 punctual payment of rents depends largely on the state of the 
 crops. He must have his eyes open to everything going on, 
 be able to tell the probable rent-roll of every village for miles 
 around, know whether the ryots are lazy and discontented, or 
 are industrious and hard-working. Up in the early morning, 
 before the hot blazing sun has climbed on high, he is off on 
 his trusty nag, through his Zeraats, with his greyhounds and 
 terriers panting behind him. As he nears a village, the farm- 
 servant in charge of that particular bit of cultivation, comes 
 out with a low salaam, to report progress, or complain that 
 so-and-so is not working up his field as he ought to do. 
 
 Over all the lands he goes, seeing where re-ploughing is 
 necessary, ordering harrowing here, weeding there, or rolling 
 somewhere else. He sees where the ditches need deepening, 
 where the roads want levelling or widening, where a new 
 bridge will be necessary, where lands must be thrown up and 
 new ones taken in. He knows nearly all his ryots, and has 
 a kind word for every one he passes ; asks after their crops, 
 their bullocks, or their land ; rouses up the indolent ; gives a 
 cheerful nod to the industrious ; orders this one to be brought 
 in to settle his account, or that one to make greater haste 
 with the preparation of his land, that he may not lose his 
 moisture. In fact, he has his hands full till the mounting 
 sun warns him to go back to breakfast. And so, with a 
 rattling burst after a jackal or fox, he gets back to his 
 bungalow to bathe, dress, and break his fast with fowl 
 cutlets, and curry and rice, washed down with a wholesome 
 tumbler of Bass.
 
 380 SPOUT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 How to get our crop The " Dangxirs " Farm servants and their duties 
 Kassee Eai Hoeing Ploughing " Oustennie " Coolies at work 
 Sowing Difficulties the plant has to contend with Weeding. 
 
 HAVING now got our land, water, and buildings which latter 
 I will describe further on the next thing is to set to work 
 to get our crop. Manufacture being finished, and the crop 
 all cut by the beginning or middle of October, when the 
 annual rains are over, it is of importance to have the lands 
 dug up as early as possible, that the rich moisture, on which 
 the successful cultivation of the crop mainly depends, may be 
 secured before the hot west winds and strong sun of early 
 spring lick it up. 
 
 Attached to every factory is a small settlement of labourers, 
 belonging to a tribe of aborigines called Dangurs. These 
 originally, I believe, came from Chota Nagpore, which seems 
 to have been their primal home. They are a cheerful 
 industrious race, have a distinct language of their own, and 
 only intermarry with each other. Long ago, when there were 
 no post carriages to the hills, and but few roads, the Dangurs 
 were largely employed as dak runners, or postmen. Some 
 few of them settled with their families on lands near the foot 
 of the hills in Purneah, and gradually others made their way 
 northwards, until now there is scarcely a factory in Behar 
 that has not its Dangur tola, or village. 
 
 The men are tractable, merry-hearted, and faithful. The 
 women betray none of the exaggerated modesty which is 
 characteristic of Hindoo women generally. They never turn
 
 THE DANGURS, 381 
 
 aside and hide their faces as you pass, but look up to you 
 with a merry smile on their countenances, and exchange 
 greetings with the utmost frankness. In a future chapter I 
 may speak at greater length of the Dangurs ; at present it 
 suffices to say, that they form a sort of appanage to the 
 factory, and are in fact treated as part of the permanent staff. 
 
 Each Dangur when he marries, gets some grass and 
 bamboos from the factory to build a house, and a small plot 
 of ground to serve as a garden, for which he pays a very small 
 rent, or in many instances nothing at all. In return, he is 
 always on the spot ready for any factory work that may be 
 going on, for which he has his daily wage. Some factories 
 pay by the month, but the general custom is to charge for 
 hoeing by piece-work, and during manufacture, when the 
 work is constant, there is paid a monthly wage. 
 
 In the close foggy mornings of October and November, 
 long before the sun is up, the Dangurs are hard at work in 
 the Zeraats, turning up the soil with their kodalies (a kind 
 of cutting hoe), and you can often hear their merry voices 
 rising through the mist, as they crack jokes with each other to 
 enliven their work, or troll one of their quaint native ditties. 
 
 They are presided over by a " mate," generally one of the 
 oldest men and first settlers in the village. If he has had a 
 large family, his sons look up to him, and his sons-in-law 
 obey his orders with the utmost fealty. The " mate " settles 
 all disputes, presents all grievances to the sahib, and all 
 orders are given through him. 
 
 The indigo stubble which has been left in the ground is 
 perhaps about a foot high, and as they cut it out, their wives 
 and children come to gather up the sticks for fuel, and 
 this of course also helps to clean the land. By eleven 
 o'clock, when the sluggish mist has been dissipated by the 
 rays of the scorching sun, the day's labour is nearly concluded. 
 You will then see the swarthy Dangur, with his favourite 
 child on his shoulder, wending his way back to his hut,
 
 382 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 followed by his comely wife carrying his hoe, and a tribe of 
 little ones bringing up the rear, each carrying bundles of the 
 indigo stubble which the industrious father has dug up during 
 the early hours of morning. 
 
 In the afternoon out conies the hengJia, which is simply a 
 heavy flat log of wood, with a V-shaped cut or groove all 
 along under its flat surface. To each end of the hengha a 
 pair of bullocks are yoked, and two men standing on the log, 
 and holding on by the bullocks' tails, it is slowly dragged 
 over the field wherever the hoeing has been going on. The 
 lumps and clods are caught in the groove on the under 
 surface, and dragged along and broken up and pulverized, 
 and the whole surface of the field thus gets harrowed down, 
 and forms a homogeneous mass of light friable soil, covering 
 the weeds and dirt to let them rot, exposing the least surface 
 for the wind and heat to act on, and thus keeping the 
 moisture in the soil. 
 
 Now is a busy time for the planter. Up early in the cold 
 raw fog, he is over his Zeraats long before dawn, and round 
 by his outlying villages to see the ryots at work in their 
 fields. To eaqh eighty or a hundred acres a man is attached 
 called a ToJccdar. His duty is to rouse out the ryots, see the 
 hoes and ploughs at work, get the weeding done, and be 
 responsible for the state of the cultivation generally. He will 
 probably have two villages under him. If the village with 
 its lands be very extensive, of course there will be a Tokedar 
 for it alone, but frequently a Tokedar may have two or more 
 villages under his charge. In the village, the head man 
 generally the most influential man in the community also 
 acts with the Tokedar, helping him to get ploughs, bullocks 
 and coolies when these are wanted ; and under him, the 
 village choiukeydar, or watchman, sees that stray cattle do not 
 get into the fields, that the roads, bridges and fences are not 
 damaged, and so on. Over the Tokedars, again, are Zillahdars. 
 A " zillah " is a small district. There may be eight or ten
 
 FARM SERVANTS AND THEIR DUTIES. 383 
 
 villages and three or four Tokedars under a Zillahdar. The 
 Zillahdar looks out for good lands to change for bad ones, 
 where this is necessary, and where no objection is made by 
 the farmer ; sees that the Tokedars do their work properly ; 
 reports rain, blight, locusts, and other visitations that might 
 injure the crop ; watches all that goes on in his zillah, and 
 makes his report to the planter whenever anything of im- 
 portance happens in his particular part of the cultivation. 
 Over all again comes the JEMADAR the head man over the 
 whole cultivation the planter's right-hand man. 
 
 He is generally an old, experienced, and trusted servant. 
 He knows all the lands for miles round, and the peculiar 
 soils and products of all the villages far and near. He can 
 tell what lands grow the best tobacco, what lands are free 
 from inundation, what free from drought ; the temper of the 
 inhabitants of each village, and the history of each farm; 
 where are the best ploughs, the best bullocks, and the best 
 farming ; in what villages you get most coolies for weeding ; 
 where you can get the best carts, the best straw, and the 
 best of everything at the most favourable rates. He comes 
 up each night when the day's work is done, and gets his 
 orders for the morrow. You are often glad to take his 
 advice on sowing, reaping, and other operations of the farm. 
 He knows where the plant will ripen earliest, and where the 
 leaf will be thickest, and to him you look for satisfaction if 
 any screw gets loose in the outside farm-work. 
 
 He generally accompanies you in your morning ride, shows 
 you your new lands, consults with you'about throwing up 
 exhausted fields, and is generally a sort of farm-bailiff or 
 confidential land-steward. Where he is an honest, intelligent, 
 and loyal man, he takes half the care and work off your 
 shoulders. Such men are however rare, and if not very closely 
 looked after, they are apt to abuse their position, and often 
 harass the ryots needlessly, looking more to the feathering of 
 their own nests than the advancement of your interests. 
 
 2 o
 
 384 SPORT AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 The only Jemadar I felt I could thoroughly trust, was my 
 first one at Parewah, an old Eajpoot, called Kassee Eai. He 
 was a fine, ruddy-faced, white-haired old man, as independent 
 and straightforward an old farmer as you could meet 
 anywhere, and I never had reason to regret taking his advice 
 on any matter. I never found him out in a lie, or in a 
 dishonest or underhand action. Though over seventy years 
 of age he was upright as a dart. He could not keep up with 
 me when we went out riding over the fields, but he would be 
 out the whole day over the lands, and was always the first 
 at his work in the morning and the last to leave off at night. 
 The ryots all loved him, and would do anything for him ; 
 and when poor old Kassee died, the third year he had been 
 under me, I felt as if an old friend had gone. I never spoke 
 an angry word to him, and I never had a fault to find with 
 him. 
 
 When the hoeing has been finished in zeraat and zillah, 
 and all the upturned soil battened down by the hengha, the 
 next thing is to commence the ploughing. Your ploughmen 
 are mostly low-caste men Doosadhs, Chumars, Moosahurs, 
 Gwallahs, et hoc genus omne. The Indian plough, so like a 
 big misshapen wooden pickaxe, has often been described. 
 It however turns up the light soft soil very well considering 
 its pretensions, and those made in the factory workshops 
 are generally heavier and sharper than the ordinary village 
 plough. Our bullocks too, being strong and well fed, the 
 ploughing in the zeraats is generally good. 
 
 The ploughing is immediately followed up by the Jiengka, 
 which again triturates and breaks up the clods, rolls the 
 sticks, leaves, and grass roots together, brings the refuse and 
 dirt to the surface, and again levels the soil, and prevents 
 the wind from taking away the moisture. The land now 
 looks fine and fresh and level, but very dirty. A host of 
 coolies are put on the fields with small sticks in their hands. 
 All the Dangur women and children are there, with men
 
 COOLIES AT WORK. 385 
 
 women, and children of all the poorest classes from the 
 villages round, whom the attractions of wages or the 
 exertions of headmen Tokedars and Zillahdars have brought 
 together to earn their daily bread. With the sticks they 
 beat and break up every clod, leaving not one behind the size 
 of a walnut. They collect all the refuse, weeds, and dirt, 
 which are heaped up and burnt on the field, and so they go 
 on till the zeraats look as clean as a nobleman's garden, and 
 you would think that surely this must satisfy the fastidious 
 eye of the planter. But no, our work is not half begun yet. 
 
 It is rather a strange sight to see some four or five 
 hundred coolies squatted in a long irregular line, chattering, 
 laughing, shouting, or squabbling. A dense cloud of dust 
 rises over them, and through the dim obscurity one hears the 
 ceaseless sound of the thwack ! thwack ! as their sticks rattle 
 on the ground. White dust lies thick on each swarthy skin ; 
 their faces are like faces in a pantomime. There are the 
 flashing eyes and the grinning rows of white teeth ; all else 
 is clouded in thick layers of dust, with black spots and 
 stencillings showing here and there like a picture in sepia 
 and chalk. As they near the end of the field they redouble 
 their thwacking, shuffle along like land-crabs, and while the 
 Mates, Peons, and Tokedars shout at them to encourage them, 
 they raise a roar loud enough to wake the dead. The dust 
 rises in denser clouds, the noise is deafening, a regular mad 
 hurry-scurry, a wild boisterous scramble ensues, and amid 
 much chaffing, noise, and laughter, they scramble off again 
 to begin another length of land ; and so the day's work 
 goes on. 
 
 The planter has to count his coolies several times a day, 
 or they would cheat him. Some come in the morning, get 
 counted, and their names put on the roll, and then go off till 
 pay-time comes round. Some come for an hour or two, and 
 send a relative in the evening when the pice are being paid 
 out, to get the wage of work they have not done. All are 
 
 2 c 2'
 
 386 SPORT AND WORK ON TEE NEPAVL FRONTIER. 
 
 paid in pice little copper bits of coin, averaging about sixty- 
 four to the rupee. However, you soon come to know the 
 coolies by sight, and after some experience are rarely " taken 
 in " ; but many young beginners get " done " most thoroughly 
 till they become accustomed to the tricks of the artless and 
 unsophisticated coolie. 
 
 The type of feature along a line of coolies is as a rule a 
 very forbidding and degraded one. They are mostly of the 
 very poorest class. Many of them are plainly half silly, or 
 wholly idiotic ; not a few are deaf and dumb ; others are 
 crippled or deformed, and numbers are leprous and scrofulous. 
 Numbers of them are afflicted in some districts with goitre, 
 caused probably by bad drinking water ; all have a pinched, 
 withered, wan look, that tells of hard work and insufficient 
 fare. It is a pleasure to turn to the end of the line, where 
 the Dangur women and boys and girls generally take their 
 place. Here are the loudest laughter, and the sauciest faces. 
 The children are merry, chubby, fat things, with well-distended 
 stomachs and pleasant looks ; a merry smile rippling over 
 their broad fat cheeks as they slyly glance up at you. The 
 women with huge earrings in their ears, and a perfect load 
 of heavy brass rings on their arms chatter away, make 
 believe to be shy, and show off a thousand coquettish airs. 
 Their very toes are bedizened with brass rings; and long 
 festoons of red, white, and blue beads hang pendent round 
 their necks. 
 
 In the evening the line is re-formed before the bungalow. 
 A huge bag of copper coin is produced. The old Lallah, or 
 writer, with spectacles on nose, squats down in the middle of 
 the assembled coolies, and as each name is called, the mates 
 count out the pice, and make it over to the coolie, who forth- 
 with hurries off to get his little purchases made at the village 
 Bunneah's shop ; and so, on a poor supper of parched peas, 
 or boiled rice, with no other relish but a pinch of salt, the 
 poor coolie crawls to bed, only to dream of more hard work
 
 " OUSTENNIE." 
 
 387 
 
 and scanty fare on the morrow. Poor thing ! a village coolie 
 has a hard time of it ! During the hot months, if rice be 
 cheap and plentiful, he can jog along pretty comfortably, but 
 when the cold nights come on, and he cowers in his wretched 
 hut, hungry, half naked, cold, and wearied, he is of all objects 
 most pitiable. It is, however, a fact little creditable to his 
 more prosperous fellow-countrymen, that he gets better paid 
 for his labour in connection with factory work, than he does 
 
 COOLIE S HIT. 
 
 in many cases for tasks forced on him by the leading ryots 
 of the village in connection with their own fields. 
 
 This first cleaning of the fields or, as it is called, Oustennie 
 being finished, the lands are all again re-ploughed, re- 
 harrowed, and then once more re-cleaned by the qoolies, till 
 not a weed or spot of dirt remains ; and till the whole surface 
 is uniformly soft, friable, moist, and clean. We have no\v 
 some breathing time ; and as this is the most enjoyable
 
 388 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 season of the year, when the days are cool, and roaring wood 
 fires at night remind us of home, we hunt, visit, race, dance, 
 and generally enjoy ourselves. Should heavy rain fall, as it 
 sometimes does about Christmas and early in February, the 
 whole cultivation gets beaten down and caked over. In such 
 a case amusements must for a time be thrown aside, till all 
 the lands have been again re-ploughed. Of course we are 
 never wholly idle. There are always rents to collect, matters 
 to adjust in connexion with our villages and tenantry, law- 
 suits to recover bad debts, to enforce contracts, or protect 
 manorial or other rights, but generally speaking, when the 
 lands have been prepared, we have a slack season or breathing 
 time for a month or so. 
 
 Arrangements having been made for the supply of seed, 
 which generally comes from about the neighbourhood of 
 Cawnpore, as February draws near we make preparations for 
 beginning our sowings. February is the usual month, but it 
 depends on the moisture, and sometimes sowings may go on 
 up till May and June. In Purneah and Bhaugulpore, where 
 the culivation is much rougher than in Tirhoot, the sowing is 
 done broadcast. And in Bengal the sowing is often done 
 upon the soft mud which is left on the banks of the rivers 
 at the retiring of the annual floods. In Tirhoot, however, 
 where the high farming I have been trying to describe is 
 practised, the sowing is done by means of drills. Drills are 
 got out, overhauled, and put in thorough repair. Bags of 
 seed are sent out to the villages, advances for bullocks are 
 given to the ryots, and on a certain day when all seems 
 favourable no sign of rain or high winds the drills are set 
 at work, and day and night the work goes on, till all the 
 cultivation has been sown. As the drills go along, the hengha 
 follows close behind, covering the seed in the furrows ; and 
 once again it is put over, till the fields are all level, shining, 
 and clean, waiting for the first appearance of the young soft 
 shoots.
 
 WEEDING. 389 
 
 These, after some seven, nine, or perhaps fifteen days, 
 according to the weather, begin to appear in long lines of 
 delicate pale yellowish green. This is a most anxious time. 
 Should rain fall, the whole surface of the earth gets caked 
 and hard, and the delicate plant burns out, or being chafed 
 against the hard surface crust, it withers and dies. If the 
 wind gets into the east, it brings a peculiar blight which 
 settles round the leaf and collar of the stem of the young 
 plant, chokes it, and sweeps off miles and miles of it. If hot 
 west winds blow, the plant gets black, discoloured, burnt up, 
 and dead. A south wind often brings caterpillars at least 
 this pest often makes its appearance when the wind is south- 
 erly ; but as often as not caterpillars find their way to the 
 young plant in the most mysterious manner no one knowing 
 whence they come. Daily, nay almost hourly, reports come 
 in from all parts of the zillah : now you hear of " Lahee," 
 blight on some field ; now it is " Jhirka," scorching, or 
 "Pilooa," caterpillars. In some places the seed may have 
 been bad or covered with too much earth, and the plant 
 comes up straggling and thin. If there is abundant 
 moisture, this must be re-sown. In fact, there is never- 
 ending anxiety and work at this season, but when the plant 
 has got into ten or fifteen leaf, and is an inch or two high, 
 the most critical time is over, and one begins to think about 
 the next operation, namely WEEDING. 
 
 The coolies are again in requisition. Each conies armed 
 with a coorpee, this is a small metal spatula, broad-pointed, 
 with which they dig out the weeds with amazing deftness. 
 Sometimes they may inadvertently take out a single stem of 
 indigo with the weeds : the eye of the mate or Tokedar espies 
 this at once, and the careless coolie is treated to a volley of 
 Hindoo Billingsgate, in which all his relations are abused to 
 the seventh generation. By the time the first weeding is 
 finished, the plant will be over a foot high, and if necessary 
 a second weeding is then given. After the second weeding,
 
 390 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 and if any rain has fallen in the interim, the plant will be 
 fully two feet high. 
 
 It is now a noble-looking expanse of beautiful green 
 waving foliage. As the wind ruffles its myriads of leaves, 
 the sparkle of the sunbeams on the undulating mass produces 
 the most wonderful combinations of light and shade ; feathery 
 sprays of a delicate pale green curl gracefully all over the 
 field. It is like an ocean of vegetation, with billows of rich 
 colour chasing each other, and blending in harmonious hues ; 
 the whole field looking a perfect oasis of beauty amid the 
 surrounding dull brown tints of the season. 
 
 It is now time to give the plant a light touch of the 
 plough. This eases the soil about the roots, lets in air and 
 light, tends to clean the undergrowth of weeds, and gives it a 
 great impetus. The operation is called Bcdalienee. By the 
 beginning of June the tiny red flower is peeping from its 
 leafy sheath, the lower leaves are turning yellowish and crisp, 
 and it is almost time to begin the grandest and most im- 
 portant operation of the season, the manufacture of the dye 
 from the plant. 
 
 To this you have been looking forward during the cold 
 raw foggy days of November, when the ploughs were hard at 
 work, during the hot fierce winds of March, and the still, 
 sultry, breathless early days of June, when the air was so 
 still and oppressive that you could scarcely breathe. These 
 sultry days are the lull before the storm the pause before 
 the moisture-laden clouds of the monsoon roll over the land 
 " rugged and brown," and the wild rattle of thunder and the 
 lurid glare of quivering never-ceasing lightning herald in the 
 annual rains. The manufacture however deserves a chapter 
 to itself.
 
 ( 391 ) 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL, 
 BOSTON. 
 
 Manufacture of Indigo Loading the vats Beatiug Boiling, straining,. 
 and pressing Scene in the Factory Fluctuation of produce Chemistry 
 of Jndigo. 
 
 INDIGO is manufactured solely from the leaf. "When arrange- 
 ments have been made for cutting and carting the plant from 
 the fields, the vats and machinery are all made ready, and a 
 day is appointed to begin "Mahye" or manufacture. The 
 apparatus consists of, first, a strong serviceable pump for 
 pumping up water into the vats : this is now mostly done by 
 machinery, but many small factories still use the old Persian 
 wheel, which may be shortly described as simply an endless 
 chain of buckets, working on a revolving wheel or drum. 
 The machine is worked by bullocks, and as the buckets 
 ascend full from the well, they are emptied during their 
 revolution into a small trough at the top, and the water is 
 conveyed into a huge masonry reservoir or tank, situated 
 high up above the vats, whicli forms a splendid open-air bath 
 for the planter when he feels inclined for a swim. Many of 
 these tanks, called Kajhana, are capable of containing 40,000 
 cubic feet of water or more. 
 
 Below, and in a line with this reservoir, are the steeping 
 vats, each capable of containing about 2000 cubic feet of 
 water when full. Of course the vats vary in size, but what 
 is called a pucca, vat is of the above capacity. When the 
 fresh green plant is brought in, the carts with their loads are 
 ranged in line, opposite these loading vats. The loading 
 coolies, " Bojhunneas " so called from " Bojh" a bundle
 
 392 SPOUT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 jump into the vats, and receive the plant from the cart-men, 
 stacking it up in perpendicular layers, till the vat is full : a 
 horizontal layer is put on top to make the surface look even. 
 Bamboo battens are then placed over the plant, and these are 
 pressed down, and held in their place by horizontal beams, 
 working in upright posts. The uprights have holes at 
 intervals of six inches. An iron pin is put in one of the 
 holes ; a lever is put under this pin, and the beam pressed 
 down, till the next hole is reached and a fresh pin inserted, 
 which keeps the beam down in its place. When sufficient 
 pressure has been applied, the sluice in the reservoir is opened, 
 and the water runs by a channel into the vat till it is full. 
 Vat after vat is thus filled till all are finished, and the plant 
 is allowed to steep from ten to thirteen or fourteen hours, 
 according to the state of the weather, the temperature of the 
 water, and other conditions and circumstances which have all 
 to be carefully noted. 
 
 At first a greenish yellow tinge appears in the water, 
 gradually deepening to an intense blue. As the fermentation 
 goes on, froth forms on the surface of the vat, the water 
 swells up, bubbles of gas arise to the surface, and the whole 
 range of vats presents a frothing, bubbling, sweltering ap- 
 pearance, indicative of the chemical action going on in the 
 interior. If a torch be applied to the surface of a vat, the 
 accumulated gas ignites with a loud report, and a blue 
 lambent flame travels with amazing rapidity over the 
 effervescent liquid. In very hot weather I have seen the 
 water swell up over the mid walls of the vats, till the whole 
 range would be one uniform surface of frothing liquid, and on 
 applying a light, the report has been as loud as that of a 
 small cannon, and the flame has leapt from vat to vat like the 
 flitting will-o'-the-wisp on the surface of some miasmatic 
 marsh. 
 
 When fermentation has proceeded sufficiently, the tem- 
 perature of the vat lowers somewhat, and the water, which
 
 MANUFACTURE GF INDIGO. 393 
 
 has been globular and convex on the surface and at the 
 sides, now becomes distinctly convex and recedes a very 
 little. This is a sign that the plant has been steeped long 
 enough, and that it is now time to open the vat. A pin is 
 knocked out from the bottom, and the pent-up liquor rushes 
 out in a golden yellow stream tinted with blue and green 
 into the beating vat, which lies parallel to, but at a lower 
 level than the loading vat. 
 
 Of course as the vats are loaded at different hours, and the 
 steeping varies with circumstances, they must be ready to 
 open also at different intervals. There are two men specially 
 engaged to look after the opening. The time of loading each 
 vat is carefully noted ; the time it will take to steep is 
 guessed at, and an hour for opening written down. When 
 this hour arrives, the Gunta parree, or timekeeper, looks at 
 the vat, and if it appears ready he gets the pinmen to knock 
 out the pin and let the steeped liquor run into the beating 
 vat. 
 
 Where there are many vats, this goes on all night, and by 
 the morning the beating vats are all full of steeped liquor, 
 and ready to be beaten. 
 
 The beating now is mostly done by machinery; but the 
 old style was very different. A gang of coolies (generally 
 Dangurs) were put into the vats, having long sticks with a 
 disc at the end, with which, standing in two rows, they 
 threw up the liquor into the air. The quantity forced up by 
 the one coolie encounters in mid air that sent up by the man 
 standing immediately opposite to him, and the two jets 
 meeting and mixing confusedly together, tumble down in 
 broken frothy masses into the vat. Beginning with a slow 
 steady stroke the coolies gradually increase the pace, shouting 
 out a hoarse wild song at intervals ; till, what with the swish 
 and splash of the falling water, the measured beat of the 
 furrou-ahs or beating rods, and the yells and cries with which 
 they excite each other, the noise is almost deafening. The
 
 394 SPORT AND WOBK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER^ 
 
 water, which at first is of a yellowish green, is now beginning 
 to assume an intense blue tint; this is the result of the 
 oxygenation going on. As the blue deepens, the exertions of 
 the coolie increase, till with every muscle straining, head 
 thrown back, chest expanded, his long black hair dripping 
 with white foam, and his bronzed naked body glistening with 
 blue liquor, he yells and shouts and twists and contorts his- 
 body till he looks like a true " blue devil." To see eight or- 
 ten vats full of yelling howling blue creatures, the water 
 splashing high in mid air, the foam -flecking the walls, and 
 the measured beat of the furrowahs rising weird-like into the 
 morning air, is almost enough to shake the nerve of a 
 stranger, but it is music in the planter's ear and he can scarce 
 refrain from yelling out in sympathy with his coolies, and 
 sharing in their frantic excitement. Indeed it is often 
 necessary to encourage them if a vat proves obstinate, and 
 the colour refuses to come an event which occasionally 
 does happen. It is very hard work beating, and when this 
 constant violent exercise is kept up for about three hours 
 (which is the time generally taken), the coolies are pretty 
 well exhausted, and require a rest. 
 
 During the beating, two processes are going on simultane- 
 ously. One is chemical oxygenation turning the yellowish 
 green dye into a deep intense blue ; the other is mechanical 
 a separation of the particles of dye from the water in which 
 it is held in solution. The beating seems to do this, causing 
 the dye to granulate in larger particles. 
 
 When the vat has been beaten, the coolies remove the 
 froth and scum from the surface of the water, and then leave 
 the contents to settle. The fecula or dye, or mall, as it is 
 technically called, now settles at the bottom of the vat, in a 
 soft pulpy sediment, and the waste liquor left on the top is 
 let off through graduated holes in the front. Pin after pin 
 is gradually removed, and the clear sherry-coloured waste 
 allowed to run out till the last hole in the series is reached,.
 
 -2 
 "s 
 
 (9 
 
 ^O 
 
 C 
 
 - 
 
 cr
 
 BOILING, STEAINING, AND PRESSING. 395 
 
 tind nothing but dye remains in the vat. By this time the 
 coolies have had a rest and food, and now they return to the 
 works, and either lift up the mall in earthen jars and take it 
 to the mall tank, or as is now more commonly done they 
 run it along a channel to the tank, and then wash out and 
 clean the vat to be ready for the renewed beating on the 
 morrow. When all the matt has been collected in the mall 
 tank, it is next pumped up into the straining room. It is 
 here strained through successive layers of wire gauze and 
 cloth, till, free from dirt, sand and impurity, it is run into the 
 large iron boilers, to be subjected to the next process. This 
 is the boiling. This operation usually takes two or three 
 hours, after which it is run off along narrow channels, till it 
 reaches the straining-table. It is a very important part of 
 the manufacture, and has to be carefully done. The straining- 
 table is an oblong shallow wooden frame, in the shape of a 
 trough, but all composed of open woodwork. It is covered 
 by a large straining-sheet, on which the mall settles ; while 
 the waste water trickles through and is carried away by a 
 drain. When the mall has stood on the table all night, it is 
 next morning lifted up by scoops and buckets and put into 
 the presses. These are square boxes of iron or wood, with 
 perforated sides and bottom and a removable perforated lid. 
 The insides of the boxes are lined with press cloths, and 
 when filled these cloths are carefully folded over the mall, 
 which is now of the consistence of starch ; and a heavy beam, 
 worked on two upright three-inch screws, is let down on the 
 lid of the press. A long lever is now put on the screws, and 
 the nut worked slowly round. The pressure is enormous, 
 and all the water remaining in the mall is pressed through 
 the cloth and perforations in the press-box till nothing but 
 the pure indigo remains behind. 
 
 The presses are now opened, and a square slab of dark 
 moist indigo, about three or three and a half inches thick, is 
 carried off on the bottom of the press (the top and sides
 
 396 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 having been removed), and carefully placed on the cutting 
 frame. This frame corresponds in size to the bottom of the 
 press, and is grooved in lines somewhat after the manner of a 
 chess-board. A stiff iron rod with a brass wire attached is 
 put through the groove under the slab, the wire is brought over 
 the slab, and the rod being pulled smartly through brings the 
 wire with it, cutting the indigo much in the same way as 
 you would cut a bar of soap. When all the slab has been 
 cut into bars, the wire and rod are next put into the grooves 
 at right angles to the bars and again pulled through, thus 
 dividing the bars into cubical cakes. Each cake is then 
 stamped with the factory mark and number, and all are noted 
 down in the books. They are then taken to the drying-house ; 
 this is a large airy building, with strong shelves of bamboo 
 reaching to the roof, and having narrow passages between the 
 tiers of shelves. On these shelves or mychans, as they are 
 called, the cakes are ranged to dry. The drying takes two or 
 three months, and the cakes are turned and moved at 
 frequent intervals, till thoroughly ready for packing. All 
 the little pieces and corners and chips are carefully put by 
 on separate shelves, and packed separately. Even the 
 sweepings and refuse from the sheets and floor are all carefully 
 collected, mixed with water, boiled separately, and made into 
 cakes, which are called " washings." 
 
 During the drying a thick mould forms on the cakes. 
 This is carefully brushed off before packing, and, mixed with 
 sweepings and tiny chips, is all ground up in a hand-mill, 
 packed in separate chests, and sold as dust. In October, 
 when maliye is over, and the preparation of the land going 
 on again, the packing begins. The cakes, each of separate 
 date, are carefully scrutinised, and placed in order of quality. 
 The finest qualities are packed first, in layers, in mango - 
 wood boxes ; the boxes are first weighed empty, re- weighed 
 when full, and the difference gives the nett weight of the 
 indigo. The tare, gross, and nett weights are printed legibly
 
 SCENE IN TEE FACTORY. 397 
 
 on the chests, along with the factory mark and number of 
 the chest, and when all are ready, they are sent down to the 
 brokers in Calcutta for sale. Such shortly is the system of 
 manufacture. 
 
 During mahye the factory is a busy scene. Long before 
 break of day the ryots and coolies are busy cutting the plant, 
 leaving it in green little heaps for the cartmen to load. In 
 the early morning the carts are seen converging to the 
 factory on every road, crawling along like huge green 
 beetles. Here a cavalcade of twenty or thirty carts, there in 
 clusters of twos or threes. When they reach the factory the 
 loaders have several vats ready for the reception of the plant, 
 while others are taking out the already steeped plant of 
 yesterday; staggering under its weight, as, dripping with 
 water, they toss it on the vast accumulating heap of refuse 
 material. 
 
 Down in the vats below, the beating coolies are plashing 
 and shouting and yelling, or the revolving wheel (where 
 machinery is used) is scattering clouds of spray and foam in 
 the blinding sunshine. The firemen, stripped to the waist, 
 are feeding the furnaces with the dried stems of last year's 
 crop, which forms our only fuel. The smoke hovers in 
 volumes over the boiling-house. The pinmen are busy 
 sorting their pins, rolling hemp round them to make them fit 
 the holes more exactly. Inside the boiling-house, dimly 
 discernible through the clouds of stifling steam, the boiler- 
 men are seen with long rods, stirring slowly the boiling mass 
 of bubbling blue. The clank of the levers resounds through 
 the pressing-house, or the hoarse gutteral " hah, hah ! " as the 
 huge lever is strained and pulled at by the press-house 
 coolies. The straining-table is being cleaned by the table 
 " mate " and his coolies, while the washerman stamps on his 
 sheets and press-cloths to extract all the colour from them, 
 and the cake-house boys run to and fro between the cutting- 
 table and the cake-.house with batches of cakes on their
 
 398 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 heads, borne on boards, like a baker taking his hot rolls from 
 the oven, or like a busy swarm of ants taking the spoil of 
 the granary to their forest haunt. Everywhere there is a 
 confused jumble of sounds. The plash of water, the clank 
 of machinery, the creaking of wheels, the roaring of the 
 furnaces, mingle with the shouts, cries, and yells of the 
 excited coolies ; the vituperations of the drivers as some 
 terrified or obstinate bullock plunges madly about ; the 
 objurgations of the " mates " as some lazy fellow eases his 
 stroke in the beating vats; the cracking of whips as the 
 bullocks tear round the circle where the Persian wheel 
 creaks and rumbles in the damp, dilapidated wheel-house ; 
 the dripping buckets revolving clumsily on the drum ; the 
 arriving and departing carts ; the clang of the anvil, as the 
 blacksmith and his men hammer away at some huge screw 
 which has been bent ; the hurrying crowds of cartmen and 
 loaders with their burdens of fresh green plant or dripping 
 refuse ; form such a medley of sights and sounds as I have 
 never seen equalled in any other industry. 
 
 The planter has to be here, there, and everywhere. He 
 sends carts to this village or to that, according as the crop 
 ripens. Coolies must be counted and paid daily. The 
 stubble must be ploughed to give the plant a start for the 
 second growth whenever the weather will admit of it. 
 Eeports have to be sent to the agents and owners. The 
 boiling must be narrowly watched, as also the beating and 
 the straining. He has a large staff of native assistants, but 
 if his maliye is to be successful, his eye must be over all. It 
 is an anxious time, but the constant work is grateful, and 
 when the produce is good, and everything working smoothly, 
 it is perhaps the most enjoyable time of the whole year. Is 
 it nothing to see the crop, on which so much care has been 
 expended, which you have watched day by day through all 
 the vicissitudes of the season, through drought and flood 
 and blight ; is it nothing to see it safely harvested, and your
 
 FLUCTUATION OF PRODUCE. 399 
 
 shelves filling day by day with fine sound cakes, the 
 representatives of \realth, that will fill your pockets with 
 commission, and build up your name as a careful and 
 painstaking planter ? 
 
 " What's your produce ? " is now the first query at this 
 season, when planters meet. Calculations are made daily, 
 nay hourly, to see how much is being got per beegah, or how 
 much per vat. The presses are calculated to weigh so much. 
 Some days you will get a press a vat, some days it will 
 mount up to two presses a vat, and at other times it will 
 recede to half a press a vat, or even less. Cold wet weather 
 reduces the produce. Warm sunny weather will send it up 
 again. Short stunted plant from poor lands will often 
 reduce your average per acre, to be again sent up as fresh, 
 hardy, leafy plant comes in from some favourite village, 
 where you have new and fertile lands, or where the plant 
 from the rich zeraats laden with broad strong leaf is tumbled 
 into the loading vat. 
 
 So far as I know, there seems to be no law of produce. It 
 is the most erratic and incomprehensible thing about 
 planting. One day your presses are full to straining, next 
 day half of them lie empty. No doubt the state of the 
 weather, the quality of your plant, the temperature of the 
 water, the length of time steeping, and other things have an 
 influence ; but I know of no planter who can entirely and 
 satisfactorily account for the sudden and incomprehensible 
 fluctuations and variations which undoubtedly take place in 
 the produce or yield of the plant. It is a matter of more 
 interest to the planter than to the general public ; but all I 
 can say is, that if the circumstances attendant on any sudden 
 change in the yielding powers of the plant were more 
 accurately noted ; if the chemical conditions of the water, 
 the air, and the raw material itself, more especially in 
 reference to the soil on which it grows, the time it takes in 
 transit from the field to the vat, and other points, which will 
 
 2 D
 
 400 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 at once suggest themselves to a practical planter, were more 
 carefully, methodically, and scientifically observed, some 
 coherent theory resulting in plain practical results might be 
 evolved. 
 
 Planters should attend more to this. I believe the 
 chemical history of indigo has yet to be written. The whole 
 manufacture, so far as chemistry is concerned, is yet crude 
 
 INDIAN FACTORY PEOX. 
 
 and ill-digested. I know that by careful experiment, and 
 close scientific investigation and observation, the preparation 
 of indigo could be much improved. So far as the mechanical 
 appliances for the manufacture go, the last ten years, 1870 
 to 1880, have witnessed amazing and rapid improvements. 
 What is now wanted, is, that what has been done for the 
 mere mechanical appliances, should be done for the proper 
 understanding of the chemical changes and conditions in the
 
 CHEMISTRY OF INDIGO. 401 
 
 constitution of the plant, and in the various processes of its 
 manufacture.* 
 
 * Since the above chapter was written, Mons. P. I. Michea, a French 
 chemist of some experience in Indigo matters, has patented an invention 
 (the result of much study, experiment, and investigation), by the 
 application of which an immense increase in the produce of the plant has 
 been obtained in several factories where it has been worked in Jessore, 
 Purneah, Kishnaghur, and other places. This increase, varying according 
 to circumstances, has in some instances reached the amazing extent of 
 30 to 47 per cent., and so far from being attended with a deterioration of 
 quality the dye produced is said to be finer than that obtained under the 
 old crude process described in the above chapter. This shows what a 
 waste must have been going on, and what may yet be done by properly 
 organised scientific investigation. I firmly believe that with an intelligent 
 application of the principles of chemistry and agricultural science, not only 
 to the manufacture, but to growth, cultivation, nature of the soil, 
 application of manures, and other such departments of the business, quite 
 a revolution will set in, and a new era in the history of this great industry 
 will be inaugurated. Less area fjpr crop will be required, working 
 expenses will be reduced, a greater out-turn, and a more certain crop 
 secured, and all classes, planter and ryot alike, will be benefited. 
 
 M. D. (HAIIV'D) 
 OOTT KBAI/TH DHJFT. 
 
 2 D 2
 
 402 SPOUT AND WOEK ON- THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 Fare-wall factory A " Bobbery Pack " Hunt through a village after a 
 cat The pariah dog of India Fate of " Pincher " Eampore hound 
 Persian greyhound Caboolee dogs A jackal hunt Incidents of 
 the chase. 
 
 AFTEK living at Puttihee for two years, I was transferred to 
 another out-factory in the same concern, called Parewah. 
 There was here a very nice little three-roomed bungalow, 
 with airy verandahs all round. It was a pleasant change 
 from Puttihee, and the situation was very pretty. A small 
 stream, almost dry in the hot weather, but a swollen, deep, 
 rapid torrent in the rains, meandered past the factory. 
 Nearing the bullock-house it suddenly took a sweep to the 
 left in the form of a wide horseshoe, and in this bend or 
 pocket was situated the bungalow, with a pretty terraced 
 garden sloping gently to the stream. Thus the river was in 
 full view from both the front and the back verandahs. In 
 front, and close on the bank of the river, stood the kitchen, 
 fowl-house, and offices. To the right of the compound were 
 the stables, while behind the bungalow, and some distance 
 down the stream, the wheel-house, vats, press-house, boiling- 
 house, cake-house, and workshops were grouped together. I 
 was but nine miles from the head-factory, and the same 
 distance from the station of Mooteeharree, while over the 
 river, and but three miles off, I had the factory of Meerpore, 
 with its hospitable manager as my nearest neighbour. His 
 lands and mine lay contiguous. In fact, some of his villages
 
 " THE BOBBER? PACK." 403 
 
 lay beyond some of mine, and he had to ride through part of 
 my cultivation to reach them. 
 
 Not unfrequently we would meet in the zillah of a morning, 
 when we would invariably make for the nearest patch of 
 grass or jungle, and enjoy a hunt together. In the cool early 
 mornings, when the heavy night dews still lie glittering on 
 the grass, when the cobwebs seem strung with pearls, and 
 faint lines of soft fleecy mist lie in the hollows by the water- 
 courses ; long ere the hot, fiery sun has left his crimson bed 
 behind the cold grey horizon, we are out, each on our favourite 
 horse, the wiry, long-limbed syce or groom trotting along 
 behind us. The mehter or dog-keeper is also in attendance 
 with a couple of greyhounds in leash, and a motley pack of 
 wicked little terriers frisking and frolicking behind him. 
 This mongrel collection is known as " the Bobbery Pack," 
 and forms a certain adjunct to every assistant's bungalow in 
 the district. I had one very noble-looking kangaroo hound 
 that I had brought from Australia with me, and my " bobbery 
 pack " of terriers contained canine specimens of all sorts, 
 sizes, and colours. 
 
 On nearing a village, you would see one black fellow, 
 " Pincher," set off at a round trot ahead, with seemingly the 
 most innocent air in the world. " Tilly," " Tiny," and 
 "Nipper," follow. 
 
 Then "Dandy," "Curly," "Brandy," and "Nettle," till, 
 spying a cat in the distance, the whole pack with a whimper 
 of excitement dash off at a mad scramble, the hound straining 
 meanwhile at the slip, till he almost pulls the mehter off his 
 legs. Off goes the cat, round the corner of a hut with her 
 tail puffed up to fully three times its normal size. Eound 
 in mad, eager pursuit rattle the terriers, thirsting for her 
 blood. The syce dashes forward, vainly hoping to turn them 
 from their quest. Now a village dog, roused from his morn- 
 ing nap, bounds out with a demoniac howl, which is caught 
 up and echoed by all the curs in the village.
 
 404 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 Meanwhile the row inside the hut is fiendish. The 
 sleeping family, rudely roused by the yelping pack, utter 
 the most discordant screams. The women, with garments 
 fluttering behind them, rush out beating their breasts, 
 thinking the very devil is loose. The wails of the un- 
 fortunate cat mingled with the short snapping barks of the 
 pack, or a howl of anguish as puss inflicts a caress on the face 
 of some too careless or reckless dog. A howling village cur 
 has rashly ventured too near. "Pincher" has him by the 
 hind leg before you could say "Jack Robinson." Leaving 
 the dead cat for " Toby " and " Nettle " to worry, the whole 
 pack now fiercely attack the luckless Pariah dog. A dozen 
 of his village mates dance madly outside the ring, but are 
 too wise or too cowardly to come to closer quarters. The 
 kangaroo hound has now fairly torn the rope from the 
 keeper's hand, and with one mighty bound is in the middle 
 of the fight, scattering the village dogs right and left. The 
 whole village is now in commotion ; the syce and keeper shout 
 the names of the terriers in vain. Oaths, cries, shouts, and 
 screams mingle with the yelping and growling of the com- 
 batants, till riding up, I disperse the worrying pack with a 
 few cracks of my hunting whip, and so on again over the 
 zillah, leaving the women and children to recover their 
 scattered senses, the "old men to grumble over their broken 
 slumbers, and the boys and young men to wonder at the pluck 
 and dash of the Bdaitee KooJcoor, or English dog. 
 
 The common Pariah dog, or village dog of India, is a 
 perfect cur ; a mangy, carrion-loving, yellow-fanged, howling 
 brute. A most unlovely and unloving beast. As you pass 
 his village he will bounce out on you with the fiercest bark 
 and the most menacing snarl ; but lo ! if a terrier the size of 
 a teacup but boldly go at him, down goes his tail like a 
 pump-handle, he turns white with fear, and, like the arrant 
 coward that he is, tumbles on his back and fairly screams for 
 mercy. I have often been amused to see a great hulking
 
 FATE OF " PINCHER." 405 
 
 cowardly brute come out like an avalanche at "Pincher," 
 expecting to make one mouthful of him. What a look of 
 bewilderment he would put on, as my gallant little " Pincher," 
 with a short, sharp, defiant bark, would go boldly at Mm! 
 The huge yellow brute would stop dead short on all four legs, 
 and as the rest of my pack would come scampering round 
 the corner, he would find himself the centre of a ring of 
 indomitable assailants. 
 
 How he curses Ms short-sighted temerity. With one long 
 howl of utter dismay and deadly fear, he manages to get 
 away from the pack, leaving my little doggies to come 
 proudly round my horse with their mouths full of fur, and 
 each of their little tails as stiff as an iron ramrod. 
 
 That "Pincher," in some respects, was a very fiend in- 
 carnate. There was no keeping him in. He was constantly 
 getting into hot water himself, and leading the pack into all 
 sorts of mischief. He was as bold as brass and as courageous 
 as a lion. He stole food, worried sheep and goats, and was 
 never out of a scrape. I tried thrashing Mm, tying him up, 
 half starving him, but all to no purpose. He would be into 
 every hut in a village whenever he had the chance, over- 
 turning brass pots, eating up rice and curries, and throwing 
 the poor villager's household into dismay and confusion. He 
 would never leave a cat if he once saw it. I've seen him 
 scramble through the roofs of more than one hut, and oust 
 the cat from its fancied stronghold. 
 
 I put him into an indigo vat with a big dog jackal once, 
 and he whipped the jackal single-handed. He did not kill 
 it, but he worried it till the jackal shammed dead and w r ould 
 not "come to the scratch." "Pincher's" ears were perfect 
 shreds, and his scars were as numerous almost as Ms hairs. 
 My gallant " Pincher " ! His was a sad end. He got eaten 
 up by an alligator in the "Dhaus," a sluggish stream in 
 Bhaugulpore. I had all my pack in the boat with me, the 
 stream was swollen and full of weeds. A jackal gave tongue
 
 406 SPOUT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 on the bank, and " Pinclier " bounded over the side of the 
 boat at once. I tried to " grab " him, and nearly upset the 
 boat in doing so. Our boat was going rapidly down stream, 
 and " Pincher " tried to get ashore, but got among the weeds. 
 He gave a bark, poor gallant little dog, for help, but just then 
 we saw a dark square snout shoot athwart the stream. A 
 half-smothered sobbing cry from " Pincher," and the bravest 
 little dog I ever possessed was gone for ever. 
 
 There is another breed of large, strong-limbed, big-boned 
 dogs, called Eampore hounds. They are a cross breed from 
 the original upcountry dog and the Persian greyhound. 
 Some call them the Indian greyhound. They seem to be 
 bred principally in the Kampore-Bareilly district, but one or 
 more are generally to be found in every planter's pack. 
 They are fast and strong enough, but I have often found 
 them bad at tackling, and they are too fond of their keeper 
 ever to make an affectionate faithful dog to the European. 
 
 Another somewhat similar breed is the Tazi. This, 
 although not so large a dog as the Eampooree, is a much 
 pluckier animal, and when well trained will tackle a jackal 
 with the utmost determination. He has a wrinkled almost 
 hairless skin, but a very uncertain temper, and he is not very 
 amenable to discipline. Tazi is simply the Persian word for 
 a greyhound, and refers to no particular breed. The common 
 name for a dog is Kutta, pronounced Cootta, but the Tazi has 
 certainly been an importation from the North-west, hence the 
 Persian name. The wandering Caboolees, who come down to 
 the plains once a year with dried fruits, spices, and other 
 products of field or garden, also bring with them the dogs of 
 their native country for sale, and on occasion they bring 
 lovely long-haired white Persian cats, very beautiful animals. 
 These Caboolee dogs are tall, long-limbed brutes, generally 
 white, with a long thin snout, very long silky-haired drooping 
 ears, and generally wearing tufts of hair on their legs and 
 tail, somewhat like the feathering of a spaniel, which makes
 
 A NEIGHBOURLY HUNT. 407 
 
 them look rather clumsy. They cannot stand the heat of the 
 plains at all well, and are difficult to tame, but fleet and 
 plucky, hunting well with an English pack. 
 
 My neighbour Anthony at Meerpore had some very] fine 
 English greyhounds and bulldogs, and many a rattling burst 
 have we had together after the fox or the jackal. Imagine a 
 wide level plain, with one uniform dull covering of rice 
 stubble, save where in the centre a mound rises some two 
 acres in extent, covered with long thatching grass, a few 
 scrubby acacia bushes, and other jungly brushwood. All 
 round the circular horizon are dense forest masses of sombre- 
 looking foliage, save where some clump of palms uprear their 
 stately heads, or the white shining walls of some temple, 
 sacred to Shiva or Khristna, glitter in the sunshine. Far to 
 the left, a sluggish creek winds slowly along through the 
 plain, its banks fringed with acacias and wild rose jungle. 
 On the far bank is a small patch of Sal forest jungle, with a 
 thick rank undergrowth of ferns, thistles, and rank grass. As 
 I am slowly riding along I hear a shout in the distance, and 
 looking round behold Anthony advancing at a rapid hand- 
 gallop. His dogs and mine, being old friends, rapidly 
 fraternise, and we determine on a hunt. 
 
 " Let's try the old patch, Anthony ! " 
 
 "All right," and away we go, making straight for the 
 mound. When we reach the grass the syces and keepers 
 hold the hounds at the corners outside, while we ride 
 through the grass urging on the terriers, who, quivering 
 with excitement, utter short barks, and dash here and there 
 among the thick grass, all eager for a find. 
 
 " Gone away, gone away I " shouts Anthony, as a fleet fox 
 dashes out, closely followed by " Pincher " and half-a-dozen 
 others. The hounds are slipped, and away go the pack in 
 full pursuit, we on our horses riding along one on each side 
 of the chase. The fox has a good start, but now the hounds 
 are nearing him, when with a sudden whisk he doubles
 
 408 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 round the ridge encircling a rice field ; the hounds overshoot 
 him, and ere they turn the fox has put the breadth of a good 
 field between himself and his pursuers. He is now making 
 back again for the grass, but encounters some of the terriers 
 who have tailed off behind. With panting chests and lolling 
 tongues, they are pegging stolidly along, when fortune gives 
 them this welcome chance. Redoubling their efforts, they 
 dash at the fox. " Bravo, Tilly, you tumbled him over that 
 time ! " But he is up and away again. Dodging, double- 
 turning, and twisting, he has nearly run the gauntlet, and 
 the friendly covert is close at hand, but the hounds are now 
 up again and thirsting for his blood. " Hurrah ! Minnie has 
 him ! " cries Anthony, and riding up we divest poor Reynard 
 of his brush, pat the dogs, ease the girths for a minute, and 
 then again into the jungle for another beat. 
 
 This time a fat old jackal breaks to the left, long before 
 the dogs are up. Yelling to the mehters not to slip the 
 hounds, we gather the terriers together, and pound over the 
 stubble and ridges. He is going very leisurely, casting an 
 occasional scared look over his shoulder. " Curly " and 
 " Legs," two of my fastest terriers, are now in full view, they 
 are laying themselves well to the ground, and Master Jackal 
 thinks it's high tirne^ to increase his pace. He 'puts on a 
 spurt, but condition tells. He is fat and pursy, and must 
 have had a good feed last night on some poor dead bullock. 
 He is showing his teeth now. Curly makes his rush, and 
 they both roll over together. Up hurries Legs, and the 
 jackal gets a grip, gives him a shake, and then hobbles slowly 
 on. The two terriers now hamper him terribly. One 
 minute they are at his heels, and as soon as he turns, they 
 are at his ear or shoulder. The rest of the pack are fast 
 coming up. 
 
 Anthony has a magnificent bulldog, broad-chested, and a 
 very Goliath among dogs. He is called " Sailor." " Sailor " 
 always pounds along at the same steady pace ; he never
 
 A JACKAL HUNT. 409 
 
 seems to get flurried. Sitting lazily at the door, he seems too 
 indolent even to snap at a fly. He is a true philosopher, 
 and nought seems to disturb his serenity. But see him after 
 a jackal, his big red tongue hanging out, his eyes flashing 
 flre, and his hair erected on his back like the bristles of a 
 wild boar. He looks fiendish then, and he is a true bulldog. 
 There is no flinching with " Sailor." Once he gets his grip 
 it's no use trying to make him let go. 
 
 Up comes " Sailor " now. 
 
 He has the jackal by the throat. 
 
 A hoarse, rattling, gasping yell, and the jackal has gone to 
 the happy hunting grounds. 
 
 The sun is now mounting in the sky. The hounds and 
 terriers feel the heat, so sending them home by the keeper, 
 we diverge on our respective roads, ride over our cultivation, 
 seeing the ploughing and preparations generally, till hot, 
 tired, and dusty, we reach home about 11.30, tumble into 
 our bath, and feeling refreshed, sit down contentedly to 
 breakfast. If the dak or postman has come in we get our 
 letters and papers, and the afternoon is devoted to office 
 work and accounts, hearing complaints and reports from the 
 villages, or looking over any labour that may be going on in 
 the zeraats or at the workshops. In the evening we ride over 
 the zeraats again, give orders for the morrow's work, consume a 
 little tobacco, have an early dinner, and after a little reading 
 retire soon to bed to dream of far-away friends and the 
 happy memories of home. Many an evening it is very 
 lonely work. No friendly face, and no congenial society 
 within miles of your factory. Little wonder that the arrival 
 of a brother planter sends a thrill through the frame, and 
 that his advent is welcomed as the most agreeable break to 
 the irksome monotony of our ofttimes lonely life.
 
 410 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Fishing in India Hereditary trades The boatmen and fishermen of 
 India Their villages Nets Modes of fishing Curiosities relating 
 thereto Catching an alligator with a hook Exciting capture 
 Crocodiles Shooting an alligator Death of the man-eater. 
 
 only in the wild jungles, on the undulating plains, 
 and among the withered brown stubbles, does animal life 
 abound in India ; but the rivers, lakes, and creeks teem with 
 fish of every conceivable size, shape, and colour. The 
 varieties are legion. From the huge black porpoise, 
 tumbling through the turgid stream of the Ganges, to the 
 bright, sparkling, silvery shoals of delicate chillooahs or 
 poteealis, which one sees darting in and out among the rice 
 stubbles in every paddy field during the rains. Here a huge 
 Wiowarree (pike), or ravenous coira, comes to the surface with 
 a splash ; there a raJw, the Indian salmon, with its round 
 sucker-like mouth, rises slowly to the surface, sucks in a fly 
 and disappears as slowly as it rose ; or a pacligutchea, a long 
 sharp-nosed fish, darts rapidly by ; a shoal of mullet with 
 their heads out of the water swim athwart the stream, and 
 far down in the cool depths of the tank or lake, a thousand 
 different varieties disport themselves among the mazy 
 labyrinths of the broad-leaved weeds. 
 
 During the middle and about the end of the rains, is the 
 best time for fishing ; the whole country is then a perfect 
 network of streams. Every rice field is a shallow lake, with 
 countless thousands of tiny fish darting here and there
 
 FISHING IN INDIA. 411 
 
 among the rice stalks. Every ditch teems with fish, and 
 every hollow in every field is a well-stocked aquarium. 
 
 Bound the edge of every lake or tank in the early morn- 
 ing, or when the fierce heat of the day begins to get tempered 
 by the approaching shades of evening, one sees numbers of 
 boys and men of the poorer classes, each with a couple of 
 rough bamboo rods stuck in the ground in front of him, 
 watching his primitive float with the greatest eagerness, and 
 whipping out at intervals some luckless fish of about three 
 or four ounces in weight with a tremendous haul, fit for 
 the capture of a forty-pounder. They get a coarse sort of 
 hook in the bazaar, rig up a roughly -twisted line, tie on 
 a small piece of hollow reed for a float, and with a lively 
 earth-worm for a bait, they can generally manage in a very 
 short time to secure enough fish for a meal. 
 
 With a short light rod, a good silk line, and an English 
 hook attached to fine gut, I have enjoyed many a good 
 hour's sport at Parewah. I used to have a cane chair sent 
 down to the bank of the stream, a punkah, or hand fan, 
 plenty of cooling drinks, and two coolie boys in attendance 
 to remove the fish, renew baits, and keep the punkah in 
 constant swing. There I used to sit enjoying my cigar, 
 and pulling in little fish at the rate sometimes of a couple 
 a minute. 
 
 I remember hooking a turtle once, and a terrible job it 
 was to land him. My light rod bent like a willow, but the 
 tackle was good, and after ten minutes' hard work I got the 
 turtle to the side, where my boys soon secured him. He 
 weighed thirteen pounds. Sometimes you get among a 
 colony of freshwater crabs. They are little brown brutes, 
 and strip your hooks of the bait as fast as you fling them 
 in. There is nothing for it in such a case but to shift your 
 station. Many of the bottom fish the ghurai, the saourie, 
 the lamee (eel), and others make no effort to escape the 
 hook. You see them resting at the bottom, and drop the
 
 412 SPORT AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 bait at their very nose. On the whole, the hand fishing is. 
 uninteresting, but it serves to while away an odd hour when 
 hunting and shooting are hardly practicable. 
 
 Particular occupations in India are restricted to particular 
 castes. All trades are hereditary. For example, a tatmah,. 
 or weaver, is always a weaver. He cannot become a black- 
 smith or carpenter. He has no choice. He must follow 
 the hereditary trade. The peculiar system of land-tenure 
 in India, which secures as far as possible a bit of land for 
 every one, tends to perpetuate this hereditary selection of 
 trades, by enabling every cultivator to be so far independent 
 of his handicraft, thus restricting competition. There may 
 be twenty lohars, or blacksmiths, in a village, but they do 
 not all follow their calling. They till their lands, and are 
 de facto petty farmers. They know the rudiments of their 
 handicraft, but the actual blacksmith's work is done by the 
 hereditary smith of the village, whose son in turn will 
 succeed him when he dies, or if he leave no son, his fellow 
 caste men will put in a successor. 
 
 Nearly every villager during the rains may be found on 
 the banks of the stream or lake, angling in an amateur sort 
 of way, but the fishermen of the Behar par excellence are the 
 mullahs; they are also called Gfonhree, Been, or Muchooah. 
 In Bengal they are called NiJcaree, and in some parts Baeharee, 
 from the Persian word for a boat. In the same way muchooali 
 is derived from much, a fish, and mullah means boatman, 
 strictly speaking, rather than fisherman. All boatmen and 
 fishermen belong to this caste, and their villages can be 
 recognised at once by the instruments of their calling lying 
 all around. 
 
 Perched high on some bank overlooking the stream or 
 lake, you see innumerable festoons of nets hanging out to 
 dry on tall bamboo poles, or hanging like lace curtains of 
 very coarse][texture from the roofs and eaves of the huts. 
 Hauled up on the beach are a whole fleet of boats of different
 
 FISHING IN INDIA. 413 
 
 sizes, from the small dugout, which will hold only one man, 
 to the huge dinghy, in which the big nets and a dozen men 
 can be stowed with ease. Great heaps of shells of the fresh- 
 water mussel, show the source of great supplies of bait; 
 while overhead, a great hovering army of kites and vultures 
 are constantly circling round, eagerly watching for the slight- 
 est scrap of offal from the nets. When the rains have fairly 
 set in, and the fishermen have got their rice fields all planted 
 out, they are at liberty to follow their hereditary avocation. 
 A day is fixed for a drag, and the big nets are overhauled 
 and got in readiness. The head mullah, a wary, grizzled old 
 veteran, gives the orders. The big drag-net is bundled into 
 the boat, which is quickly pushed off into the stream, and 
 at a certain distance from shore the net is cast from the 
 boat. Being weighted at the lower end, it rapidly sinks, and, 
 buoyed on the upper side with pieces of cork, it makes a 
 perpendicular wall in the water. Several long bamboo 
 poles are now run through the ropes along the upper side of 
 the net, to prevent the net being dragged under water 
 altogether by the weight of the fish in a great haul. The 
 little boats, a crowd of which are in attendance, now dart 
 out, surrounding the net on all sides, and the boatmen beat- 
 ing their oars on the sides of the boats, create such a clatter 
 as to frighten the fish into the circumference of the big net. 
 This is now being dragged slowly to shore by strong and 
 willing arms. The women and children watch eagerly on 
 the bank. At length the glittering haul is pulled up high 
 and dry on the beach, the fish are divided among the men, 
 the women fill their baskets, and away they hie to the near- 
 est bazaar, or if it be not bazaar or market day, they hawk 
 the fish through the nearest villages, like our fish-wives at 
 home. 
 
 There is another common mode of fishing adopted in 
 narrow lakes and small streams, which are let out to the 
 fishermen by the Zemindars or landholders. A barricade
 
 414 SPORT AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 made of light reeds, all matted together by string, is stuck 
 into the stream, and a portion of the water is fenced in, 
 generally in a circular form. The reed fence being quite 
 flexible is gradually moved in, narrowing the circle. As the 
 circle narrows, the agitation inside is indescribable; fish 
 jumping in all directions a moving mass of glittering scales 
 and fins. The larger ones try to leap the barrier, and are 
 caught by the attendant mullahs, who pounce on them with 
 swift dexterity. Eagles and kites dart and swoop down, 
 bearing off a captive fish in their talons. The reed fence 
 is doubled back on itself, and gradually pushed on till the 
 whole of the fish inside are jammed together in a moving 
 mass. The weeds and dirt are then removed, and the fish 
 put into baskets and carried off to market. 
 
 Others, again, use circular casting nets, which they throw 
 with very great dexterity. Gathering the net into a bunch 
 they rest it on the shoulder, then with a circular sweep round 
 the head, they fling it far out. Being loaded, it sinks down 
 rapidly in the water. A string is attached to the centre of 
 the net, and the fisherman hauls it in with whatever prey 
 he may be lucky enough to secure. 
 
 As the waters recede during October, after the rains have 
 ended, each runlet and purling stream becomes a scene of 
 slaughter on a most reckless and improvident scale. The 
 innumerable shoals of spawn and small fish that have been 
 feeding in the rice fields, warned by some instinct, seek the 
 lakes and main streams. As they try to get their way back, 
 however, they find at each outlet in each ditch and field a 
 deadly wicker trap, in the shape of a square basket with a 
 Y-shaped opening leading into it, through which the stream 
 makes its way. After entering this basket there is no egress 
 except through the narrow opening, and they are trapped 
 thus in countless thousands. Others of the natives in mere 
 wantonness put a shelf of reeds or rushes in the bed of the 
 stream, with an upward slope. As the water rushes along,
 
 FISHING: MODES OF CAPTURE. 415 
 
 the little fish are left high and dry on this shelf or screen, 
 and the water runs off below. In this way scarcely a fish 
 escapes, and as millions are too small to be eaten, it is a 
 most serious waste. The attention of Government has been 
 directed to the subject, and steps may be taken to stop 
 such a reckless and wholesale destruction of a valuable food 
 supply. 
 
 In some parts of Purneah and Bhaugulpore I have seen a 
 most ingenious method adopted by the mullalis. A gang of 
 four or five enter the stream and travel slowly downwards, 
 stirring up the mud at the bottom with their feet. The fish, 
 ascending the stream to escape the mud, get entangled in the 
 weeds. The fishermen feel them with their feet amongst the 
 weeds, and immediately pounce on them with their hands. 
 Each man has a gila or earthen pot attached by a string to 
 his waist and floating behind him in the water. I have seen 
 four men fill their earthen pots in less than an hour by this 
 ingenious but primitive mode of fishing. Some of them can 
 use their feet almost as well for grasping purposes as their 
 hands. 
 
 Another mode of capture is by a small net. A flat piece 
 of netting is spread over a hoop, to which four or five pieces 
 of bamboo are attached, rising up and meeting in the centre, 
 so as to form a sort of miniature skeleton tent-like frame 
 over the net. The hoop with the net stretched tight across 
 is then pressed down flat on the bottom of the tank or stream. 
 If any fish are beneath, their efforts to escape agitate the net. 
 The motion is communicated to the fisherman by a string 
 from the centre of the net which is rolled round the fisher- 
 man's thumb. When the jerking of his thumb announces a 
 captive fish, he puts down his left hand and secures his 
 victim. The Banturs, Nepaulces, and other jungle tribes, also 
 often use the bow and arrow as a means of securing fish. 
 
 Seated on the branch of some overhanging tree, while his 
 keen eye scans the depths below, he watches for a large fish, 
 
 2 E
 
 416 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 and as it passes, he lets fly his arrow with unerring aim, and 
 impales the luckless victim. Some tribes fish at night, by 
 torchlight, spearing the fish who are attracted by the light. 
 In Nepaul the bark of the Hill Sirccs is often used to poison 
 a stream or piece of water. Pounded up and thrown in, it 
 seems to have some uncommon effect on the fish. After 
 water has been treated in this way, the fish, seemingly quite 
 stupefied, rise to the surface, on which they float in great 
 numbers, and allow themselves to be caught. The strangest 
 part of it is that they are perfectly innocuous as food, not- 
 withstanding this treatment. 
 
 Fish forms a very favourite article of diet with both 
 Mussulmans and Hindoos. Many of the latter take a vow 
 to touch no flesh of any kind. They are called Kuntlues or 
 Baghuts, but a Bagliut is more of an ascetic than a Kuwtliec. 
 However, the Kunthee is glad of a fish dinner when he can 
 get it. They are restricted to no particular sect or caste, but 
 all who have taken the vow wear a peculiar necklace, made 
 generally of sandal-wood beads or neem beads round their 
 throats. Hence the name, from kunth, meaning the throat. 
 
 The right to fish in any particular piece of water is let out 
 by the proprietor on whose land the water lies, or through 
 which it flows. The letting is generally done by auction 
 yearly. The fishing is called a shilkur, from shal, a net. 
 It is generally taken by some rich Bunneali (grain seller) or 
 village banker, who sublets it in turn to the fishermen. 
 
 In some of the tanks which are not so let, and where the 
 native proprietor preserves the fish, first-class sport can be 
 had. A common native poaching dodge is this : if some oil 
 cake be thrown into the water a few hours previous to your 
 fishing, or better still, balls made of roasted linseed meal, 
 mixed with bruised leaves of the ' sweet basil,' or toolsee 
 plant, the fish assemble in hundreds round the spot, and 
 devour the bait greedily. With a good eighteen-foot rod, 
 fish of from twelve to twenty pounds are not uncommonly
 
 ALLIGATORS. 417 
 
 caught, and will give good play too. Fishing in the plains 
 of India, is, however, rather tame sport at the best of times. 
 
 You have heard of the famous maJiseer some of them over 
 eighty or a hundred pounds weight ? We have none of 
 these in Behar, but the huge porpoise gives splendid rifle 
 or carbine practice as he rolls through the turgid streams. 
 They are difficult to hit, but I have seen several killed with 
 ball ; and the oil extracted from their bodies is a splendid 
 dressing for harness. But the most exciting fishing I have 
 ever seen was what do you think ? Alligator fishing ! 
 Yes, the formidable scaly monster, with his square snout and 
 terrible jaws, his ponderous body covered with armour, and 
 his serrated tail, with which he could break the leg of a 
 bullock, or smash an outrigger as easily as a whale could 
 smash a jolly boat. 
 
 I must try to describe one day's alligator fishing. 
 
 When I was down in Bhaugulpore, I went out frequently 
 fishing in the various tanks and streams near my factory. 
 My friend Pat, who is a keen sportsman and very fond of 
 angling, wrote to me one day when he and his brother Willie 
 were going out to the Teljuga, asking me to join their party. 
 The Teljuga is the boundary stream between Tirhoot and 
 Bhaugulpore, and its sluggish, muddy waters teem with 
 alligators the regular square-nosed mugger, the terrible 
 man-eater. The ndkar or long-nosed species may be seen in 
 countless numbers in any of the large streams, stretched out 
 on the banks basking in the noonday sun. Going down the 
 Koosee particularly, you come across hundreds sometimes 
 lying on one bank. As the boat nears them, they slide noise- 
 lessly and slowly into the stream. A large excrescence forms 
 on the tip of the long snout, like a huge sponge ; and this is 
 often all that is seen on the surface of the water as the huge 
 brute swims about waiting for his prey. These nakars, or 
 long-nosed specimens, never attack human beings at least 
 such cases are very very rare but live almost entirely on fish. 
 
 2 E 2
 
 418 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 I remember seeing one catch a paddy-bird on one occasion 
 near the junction of the Koosee with the Ganges. My boat 
 was fastened to the shore near a slimy creek that came 
 oozing into the river from some dense jungle near. I was 
 washing my hands and face on the bank, and the boatmen 
 were fishing with a' small hand-net, for our breakfast. 
 Numbers of attenuated melancholy-looking paddy-birds 
 were stalking solemnly and stiltedly along the bank, also 
 fishing for theirs. I noticed one who was particularly 
 greedy, with his long legs half immersed in the water, 
 constantly darting out his long bill and bringing up a hapless 
 struggling fish. All of a sudden a long snout and the ugly 
 serrated ridgy back of a nakar was shot like lightning at the 
 hapless bird, and right before our eyes the poor paddy was 
 crunched up. As a rule, however, alligators confine them- 
 selves to a fish diet, and are glad of any refuse or dead 
 animal that may float their way. But with the mugger, the 
 loach, or square-nosed variety, "all is fish that comes to 
 his net." His soul delights in young dog or live pork. A 
 fat duck comes not amiss ; and impelled by hunger he 
 hesitates not to attack man. Once regaled with the flavour 
 of human flesh, he takes up his stand near some ferry, or 
 bathing ghaut, where many hapless women and children 
 often fall victims to his unholy appetite, before his career is 
 cut short. 
 
 I remember shooting one ghastly old scaly villain in a 
 tank near Eyseree. He had made this tank his home, and 
 with that fatalism which is so characteristic of the Hindoo, 
 the usual ablutions and bathings went on as if no such 
 monster existed. Several women having been carried off, 
 however, at short intervals, the villagers asked me to try and 
 rid them of their foe. I took a ride down to the tank one 
 Friday morning, and found the banks a scene of great 
 excitement. A woman had been carried off some hours 
 before as she was filling her water jar, and the monster was
 
 AVENGING A MURDER. 419 
 
 now reposing at the bottom of the tank digesting his 
 horrible meal. The tank was covered with crimson water- 
 lilies in full bloom/their broad brown and green leaves show- 
 ing off the crimson beauty of the open flower. At the north 
 corner some wild rose bushes drooped over the water, casting 
 a dense matted shade. Here was the haunt of the mugger. 
 He had excavated a gloomy-looking hole, into which he 
 retired when gorged with prey. My first care was to cut 
 away some of these bushes, and then, finding he was not at 
 home, we drove some bamboo stakes through the bank to 
 prevent him getting into his Maun, which is what the 
 natives term the den or hole. I then sat down under a 
 goolar tree to wait for his appearance. The goolar is a 
 species of fig. and the leaves are much relished by cattle and 
 goats. Gradually the village boys and young men went off 
 to their ploughing, or grass cutting for the cows' evening 
 meal. A woman came down occasionally to fill her water- 
 pot in evident fear and trembling. A swarm of minas (the 
 Indian starling) hopped and twittered round my feet. The 
 cooing of a pair of amatory pigeons overhead nearly lulled 
 me to slumber. A flock of green parrots came swiftly 
 circling overhead, making for the fig-tree at the south end of 
 the tank. An occasional raho lazily rose among the water- 
 lilies, and disappeared with an indolent flap of his tail. The 
 brilliant kingfisher, resplendent in crimson and emerald, 
 sat on the withered branch of a prostrate mango-tree close 
 by, pluming his feathers and doubtless meditating on the 
 vanity of life. Suddenly, close by the massive post which 
 marks the centre of every Hindoo tank, a huge scaly snout 
 slowly and almost imperceptibly rose to the surface, then a 
 broad, flat, forbidding forehead, topped by two grey fishy 
 eyes with warty-looking callosities for eyebrows. Just then 
 an eager urchin who had been squatted by me for hours 
 pointed to the brute. It was enough. Down sank the 
 loathsome creature, and we had to resume our attitude of
 
 420 SPOUT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 expectation and patient waiting. Another hour passed 
 slowly. It was the middle of the afternoon, and very hot. 
 I had sent my tokedar off for a " peg " to the factory, and 
 was beginning to get very drowsy, when, right in the same 
 spot, the repulsive head again rose slowly to the surface. 
 I had my trusty No. 12 to my shoulder on the instant, 
 glanced carefully along the barrels, but just then only the 
 eyes of the brute were visible. A moment of intense 
 excitement followed, and then, emboldened by the extreme 
 stillness, he showed his whole head above the surface. I 
 pulled the trigger, and a Meade shell crashed through the 
 monster's skull, scattering his brains in the water and 
 actually sending one splinter of the skull to the opposite 
 edge of the tank, where my little Hindoo boy picked it up 
 and brought it to me. 
 
 There was a mighty agitation in the water ; the water- 
 lilies rocked to and fro, and the broad leaves glittered with 
 the water drops thrown on them; then all was still. 
 Hearing the report of my gun, the natives came flocking to 
 the spot, and, telling them their enemy was slain, I departed, 
 leaving instructions to let me know when the body came to 
 the surface. It did so three days later. Getting some 
 cliumars and domes (two of the lowest castes, as none of the 
 higher castes will touch a dead body under pain of losing 
 caste), we hauled the putrid carcase to shore, and on cutting 
 it open, found the glass armlets and brass ornaments of no 
 less than five women and the silver ornaments of three 
 children, all in a lump in the brute's stomach. Its skull 
 was completely smashed and shattered to pieces by my shot. 
 Its teeth were crusted with tartar, and worn almost to the 
 very stumps. It measured nineteen feet. 
 
 But during this digression my friends Pat and Willie have 
 been waiting on the banks of the " Teljuga." I reached 
 their tents late at night, found them both in high spirits 
 after a good day's execution among the ducks and teal, and
 
 HOOKING AN ALLIGATOR. 421 
 
 preparations being made for catching an alligator next day. 
 Up early in the morning, we beat some grass close by the 
 stream, and roused out an enormous boar that gave us a 
 three mile spin and a good fight, after Pat had given him 
 first spear. After breakfast we got our tackle ready. 
 
 This was a large iron hook with a strong shank, to which 
 was attached a stout iron ring. To this ring a long thick 
 rope was fastened, and I noticed for several yards the strands 
 were all loose and detached, and only knotted at intervals. 
 I asked Pat the reason of this curious arrangement, and was 
 told that if we were lucky enough to secure a mugger, the 
 loose strands would entangle themselves amongst his formid- 
 able teeth, whereas were the rope in one strand only he 
 might bite it through ; the knottings at intervals were to 
 give greater strength to the line. "We now got our bait 
 ready. On this occasion it was a live tame duck. Passing 
 the bend of the hook round its neck, and the shank under its 
 right wing, we tied the hook in this position with thread. 
 We then made a small raft of the soft pith of the plantain- 
 tree, tied the duck to the raft and committed it to the stream. 
 Holding the rope as clear of the water as we could, the poor 
 quacking duck floated slowly down the muddy current, 
 making an occasional vain effort to get free. We saw at a 
 distance an ugly snout rise to the surface for an instant and 
 then noiselessly disappear. 
 
 " There's one ! " says Pat in a whisper. 
 
 " Be sure and not strike too soon," says Willie. 
 
 " Look out there, you lazy rascals ! " This in Hindostanee 
 to the grooms and servants who were with us. 
 
 Again the black mass rises to the surface, but this time 
 nearer to the fated duck. As if aware of its peril it now 
 struggles and quacks most vociferously. Nearer and nearer 
 each time the black snout rises, and then each time silently 
 disappears beneath the turgid muddy stream. Now it 
 appears again ; this time there are two, and there is another
 
 422 SPORT AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 at a distance attracted by the quacking of the duck. We 
 on the bank cower down and go as noiselessly as we can. 
 Sometimes the rope dips on the water, and the huge snout 
 and staring eyes immediately disappear. At length it rises 
 within a few yards of the duck ; then there is a mighty rush, 
 two huge jaws open and shut with a snap like factory shears, 
 and amid a whirl of foam and water and surging mud the 
 poor duck and the hideous reptile disappear, and but for the 
 eddying swirl and dense volumes of mud that rise from the 
 bottom, nothing gives evidence of the tragedy that has been 
 enacted. The other two disappointed monsters swim to and 
 fro still further disturbing the muddy current. 
 
 " Give him lots of. time, to swallow," yells Pat, now fairly 
 mad with- excitemfciifrl . ,.v x . ..^ . ::./." 
 
 The grooms* and; gr-ass -cutters howl and dance. Willie and 
 I dig each othr ; ;in: the: ribs 1 , and all generally act in an 
 excited and insane way. 
 
 Pat now puts the rope over his shoulder, we all take hold, 
 and with a " one, two, three ! " we make a simultaneous rush 
 from the bank, and as the rope suddenly tightens with a pull 
 and strain that nearly jerks us all on our backs, we feel that 
 we have hooked the monster, and our excitement reaches its 
 culminating point. 
 
 What a commotion now in the black depths of the muddy 
 stream ! The water, lashed by his powerful tail, surges and 
 dashes in eddying whirls. He rises and darts backwards 
 and forwards, snapping his horrible jaws, moving his head 
 from side to side, his eyes glaring with fury. We hold 
 stoutly on to the rope, although our wrists are strained and 
 our arms ache. At length he begins to feel our steady pull, 
 and inch by inch, struggling demoniacally, he nears the 
 bank. When once he reaches it, however, the united efforts 
 of twice our number would fail to bring him farther. 
 Bleeding and foaming at the mouth, his horrid teeth 
 glistening amid the frothy, blood-flecked foam, he plants his
 
 THE CAPTURE. 423 
 
 strong curved fore-legs against the shelving bank, and tugs 
 and strains at the rope with devilish force and fury. It is 
 no use the rope has been tested, and answers bravely to 
 the strain ; and now with a long boar spear, Pat cautiously 
 descends the bank, and gives him a deadly thrust under the 
 fore arm. With a last fiendish glare of hate and defiance, 
 he springs forward ; we haul in the rope, Pat nimbly jumps 
 back, and a pistol shot through the eye settles the monster 
 for ever. This was the first alligator I ever saw hooked ; he 
 measured sixteen and a half feet exactly, but words can give 
 no idea of half the excitement that attended the capture. 
 
 M. D. (HARV'D) 
 <J1TV KBAI/FH DEFT. 
 
 IX>S AJS QUIZES. OAJL*.
 
 424 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Native superstitions Charming a bewitched woman Exorcising ghosts 
 from a field Witchcraft The witchfinder or "Ojah" Influence of 
 fear Snake bites How to cure them How to discover a thief 
 Ghosts and their habits The "Haddick" or native bone-setter 
 Cruelty to animals by natives. 
 
 THE natives as a rule, and especially the' lower classes, are 
 excessively superstitious. They are afraid to go out after 
 nightfall, believing that then the spirits of the dead walk 
 abroad. It is almost- impossible to get a coolie, or even a 
 fairly intelligent servant, to go a message at night, unless 
 you give him another man for company. 
 
 A belief in witches is quite prevalent, and there is scarcely 
 a village in Behar that does not contain some withered old 
 crone, reputed and firmly believed to be a witch. Others 
 either young or old are believed to have the evil eye ; and, as 
 in Scotland some centuries ago, there are also witchfinders 
 and sorcerers, who will sell charms, cast nativities, give 
 divinations, or ward off the evil efforts of wizards and witches 
 by powerful spells. When a wealthy man has a child born 
 the Brahmins cast the nativity of the infant on some 
 auspicious day. They fix on the name, and settle the day 
 for the baptismal ceremony. 
 
 I remember a man coming to me on one occasion from the 
 village of Kuppoorpuckree. He rushed up to where I was 
 sitting in the verandah, threw himself at my feet, with tears 
 streaming down his cheeks, and amid loud cries for pity and 
 help, told me that his wife had just been bewitched. Getting
 
 NATIVE SUPERSTITIONS. 425 
 
 him somewhat soothed and pacified, I learned that a reputed 
 witch lived next door to his house ; that she and the man's 
 wife had quarrelled in the morning about some capsicums 
 which the witch was trying to steal from his garden ; that 
 in the evening, as his wife was washing herself inside the 
 angana, or little courtyard appertaining to his house, she 
 was seized with cramps and shivering fits, and was now in a 
 raging fever ; that the witch had also been bathing at the 
 time, and that the water from her body had splashed over 
 this man's fence, and part of it had come in contact with 
 his wife's body hence undoubtedly this strange possession. 
 He wished me to send peons at once, and have the witch 
 seized, beaten, and expelled from the village. It would have 
 been no use my trying to persuade him that no witchcraft 
 existed. So I gave him a good dose of quinine for his wife, 
 which she was to take as soon as the fit subsided. Xext I 
 got my old moonslicc, or native writer, to write some Persian 
 characters on a piece of paper ; I then gave him this paper, 
 muttering a bit of English rhyme at the time, and telling him 
 this was a powerful spell. I told him to take three hairs 
 from his wife's head, and a paring from her thumb and big- 
 toe nails, and at the rising of the moon to burn them outside 
 the walls of his hut. The poor fellow took the quinine and 
 the paper with the deepest reverence, made me a most lowly 
 salaam, or obeisance, and departed with a light heart. He 
 carried out my instructions to the letter, the quinine acted 
 like a charm on the feverish woman, and I found myself 
 quite a famous witch-doctor. 
 
 There was a nice flat little field close to the water at 
 Parewah, in which I thought I could get a good crop of oats 
 during the cold weather. I sent for the " dangur " mates, 
 and asked them to have it dug up next day. They hummed 
 and hawed and hesitated, as I thought, in rather a strange 
 manner, but departed. In the evening back they came, to 
 tell me that the dangurs would not dig up the field.
 
 426 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 "Why?" I asked 
 
 " Well you see, Sahib," said old Teerbouan, who was the 
 patriarch and chief spokesman of the village, " this field has 
 been used for years as a burning ghaut " (i.e. a place where 
 the bodies of dead Hindoos were buried). 
 
 "Well? "said I. 
 
 " Well, Sahib, my men say that if they disturb this land, 
 the ' Bhoots ' (ghosts) of all those who have been burned 
 there, will haunt the village at night, and they hope you will 
 not persist in asking them to dig up the land." 
 
 " Very well, bring down the men with their digging hoes, 
 and I will see." 
 
 Accordingly, next morning, I went down on my pony, 
 found the dangurs all assembled, but no digging going on. 
 I called them together, told them that it was a very reason- 
 able fear they had, but that I would cast such a spell on the 
 land as would settle the ghosts of the departed for ever. I 
 then got a branch of a lad* tree that grew close by, dipped 
 it in the stream, and walking backwards round the ground, 
 waved the dripping branch round my head, repeating at the 
 same time the first gibberish that came into my recollection. 
 My incantation or spell was as follows, an old Scotch rhyme 
 I had often repeated when a child at school 
 
 " Eenerty, feenerty, fickerty, feg, 
 Ell, dell, domun's egg ; 
 Irky, birky, story, rock, 
 An, tan, toose, Jock ; 
 Black fish ! white troot ! 
 * Gibbie Gaw, ye're oot.' " 
 
 * The l>ael or wood-apple is a sacred wood with Hindoos. It is 
 enjoined in the Shastras that the bodies of the dead should be consumed 
 in a fire fed by logs of bael-tree ; but where it is not procurable in 
 sufficient quantity, the natives compound with their consciences by 
 lighting the funeral pyre with a branch from the bael-tree. It is a fine 
 yellow-coloured, pretty durable wood, and makes excellent furniture. A 
 very fine sherbet can be made from the fruit, which acts as an excellent 
 corrective and stomachic.
 
 THE ' OJAH' OH WITCHFINDEE. 427 
 
 It had the desired effect. Xo sooner was rny charm uttered, 
 than, after a few encouraging words to the men, telling them 
 that there was now no fear, that my charm was powerful 
 enough to lay all the spirits in the country, and that I would 
 take all the responsibility, they set to work with a will, and 
 had the whole field dug up by the evening. 
 
 I have seen many such cases. A blight attacks the melon 
 or cucumber beds ; a fierce wind rises during the night, and 
 shakes half the mangoes off the trees ; the youngest child is 
 attacked with teething convulsions ; the plough-bullock is 
 accidentally lamed, or the favourite cow refuses to give milk. 
 In every case it is some ' Dyne/ or witch, that has been at 
 work with her damnable spells and charms. I remember a 
 case in which a poor little child had bad convulsions. The 
 ' Ojah,' or witchfinder, in this case a fat, greasy, oleaginous 
 knave, was sent for. Full of importance and blowing like a 
 porpoise, he canie and caused the child to be brought to him, 
 under a tree near the village. I was passing at the time, and 
 stopped out of curiosity. He spread a tattered cloth in front 
 of him, and muttered some unintelligible gibberish, un- 
 ceasingly making strange passes with his arms. He put 
 down a number of articles on his cloth which was villain- 
 ously tattered and greasy an unripe plantain, a handful of 
 rice, of parched peas, a thigh bone, two wooden cups, some 
 balls, &c., &c. ; all of which he kept constantly lifting and 
 moving about, keeping up the passes and muttering all the 
 time. 
 
 The child was a sickly-looking, pining sort of creature, 
 rocking about in evident pain, and moaning and fretting just 
 as sick children do. Gradually its attention got fixed on 
 the strange antics going on. The Ojah kept muttering 
 away quicker and quicker, constantly shifting the bone 
 and cups and other articles on the cloth. His body was 
 suffused with perspiration, but in about half an hour the 
 child had gone off to sleep, and attendel by some dozen
 
 428 SPORT ANT) WOEK ON THE NEPAUL FEONTIEE. 
 
 old women, and the anxious father, was borne oft' in triumph 
 to the house. 
 
 Another time one of Mr. D.'s female servants got bitten 
 by a scorpion. The poor woman was in great agony, with 
 her arm swelled up, when an Ojah was called in. Setting 
 her before him, he began his incantations in the usual 
 manner, but made frequent passes over her body, and over 
 the bitten place. A gentle perspiration began to break out 
 on her skin, and in a very short time the Ojah had thrown 
 her into a deep mesmeric sleep. After about an hour she 
 awoke perfectly free from pain. In this case no doubt the 
 Ojah was a mesmerist. 
 
 The influence of fear on the ordinary native is most 
 wonderful. I have known dozens of instances in which 
 natives have been brought home at night for treatment in 
 cases of snake-bite. They have arrived at the factory in a 
 complete state of coma, with closed eyes, the pupils turned 
 back in the head, the whole body rigid and cold, the lips pale 
 white, and the tongue firmly locked between the teeth. I do 
 not believe in recovery from a really poisonous bite, where 
 the venom has been truly injected. I invariably asked first 
 how long it was since the infliction of the bite ; I would then 
 examine the marks, and as a rule would find them very slight. 
 When the patient had been brought some distance, I knew 
 at once that it was a case of pure fright. The natives wrap 
 themselves up in their cloths or blankets at night, and lie 
 down on the floors of their huts. Turning about, or getting 
 up for water or tobacco, or perhaps to put fuel on the fire, 
 they unluckily tread on a snake, or during sleep they roll 
 over on one. The snake gives them a nip, and scuttles off. 
 They have not seen what sort of snake it is, but their 
 imagination conjures up the very worst. After the first 
 outcry, when the whole house is alarmed, the man sits down 
 firmly possessed by the idea that he is mortally bitten. 
 Gradually his fears work the effect a real poisonous bite
 
 NATIVE FEAR OF SNAKE-BITES. 429 
 
 would produce. His eye gets dull, his pulse grows feeble, 
 his extremities cold and numb, and unless forcibly roused by 
 the bystanders he will actually succumb to pure fright, not 
 to the snake-bite at all. My chief care when a case of this 
 sort was brought me, was to assume a cheery demeanour, 
 laugh to scorn the fears of the relatives, and tell them he 
 would be all right in a few hours, if they attended to my 
 directions. This not uncommonly worked by sympathetic 
 influence on the patient himself. I believe, so long as all 
 around him thought he was going to die, and expected no 
 other result, the same effect was produced on his own mind. 
 As soon as hope sprang up in the breasts of all around him, 
 his spirit also caught the contagion. As a rule, he would 
 now make an effort to articulate. I would then administer a 
 good dose of sal volatile, brandy, eau-de-luce, or other strong 
 stimulant, cut into the supposed bite, and apply strong nitric 
 acid to the wound. This generally made him wince, and I 
 would hail it as a token of certain recovery. By this time 
 some confidence would return, and the supposed dying 
 man would soon walk back sound and whole among his 
 companions after profuse expressions of gratitude to his 
 preserver. 
 
 I have treated dozens of cases in this way successfully, 
 and only seen two deaths. One was a young woman, my 
 chowkeydar's daughter ; the other was an old man, who was 
 already dead when they lifted him out of the basket in which 
 they had slung him. I do not wish to be misunderstood. I 
 believe that in all these cases of recovery it was pure fright 
 working on the imagination, and not snake-bite at alL My 
 opinion is shared by most planters, that there is no cure yet 
 known for a cobra bite, or for that of any other poisonous 
 snake, where the poison has once been fairly injected and 
 allowed to mix with the blood.* 
 
 * Deaths from actual snake-bite are sadly numerous ; but it appears 
 from returns furnished to the Indian Government that Europeans enjoy
 
 430 SPOET AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 There is another curious instance of the effects of fear on 
 the native mind in the common method taken by an Ojah or 
 Brahmin to discover a suspected thief. When a theft occurs, 
 the Ojah is sent for, and the suspected parties are brought 
 together. After various muntras, i.e. charms or incantations, 
 have been muttered, the Ojah, who has meanwhile narrowly 
 scrutinized each countenance, gives each of the suspected 
 individuals a small quantity of dry rice to chew. If the thief be 
 present, his superstitious fears are at work, and his conscience 
 accuses him. He sees some terrible retribution for him in all 
 these muntras, and his heart becomes like water within him, his 
 tongue gets dry, his salivary glands refuse to act ; the innocent 
 munch away at their rice contentedly, but the guilty wretch 
 feels as if he had ashes in his mouth. At a given signal all 
 spit out their rice, and he whose rice comes out, chewed 
 indeed, but dry as summer dust, is adjudged the thief. This 
 ordeal is called clioivl chipao, and is rarely unsuccessful. I 
 have known several cases in my own experience in which a 
 thief has been thus discovered. 
 
 The llwots, or ghosts, are popularly supposed to have 
 
 a very happy exemption. During the last forty years it would seem that 
 only two Europeans have been killed hy snake-bite, at least only two well 
 substantiated cases. The poorer classes are the most frequent victims. 
 Their 'universal habit of walking about unshod, and sleeping on the 
 ground, penetrating into the grasses or jungles in pursuit of their daily 
 avocations, no doubt conduces much to the frequency of such accidents. 
 A good plan to keep snakes out of the bungalow is to leave a space all 
 round the rooms, of about four inches, between the wall and the edge of 
 the mats. Have this washed over about once a week with a stroc^ 
 
 O 
 
 solution of carbolic acid and water. The smell may be unpleasant for a 
 short time, but it proves equally so to the snakes ; and I have proved by 
 experience that it keeps them out of the rooms. Mats should also be all 
 firmly fastened down to the floor with bamboo battens, and furniture 
 should be often moved, and kept raised a little from the ground, and the 
 space below carefully swept every day. At night a light should always 
 be kept burning in occupied bedrooms, and on no account should one get 
 out of bed in the dark, or walk about the rooms at night without slippers 
 or shoes.
 
 NATIVE CRUELTY TO ANIMALS. 431 
 
 favourite haunts, generally in some specially selected tree; 
 the neem tree is supposed to be the most patronised. The 
 most intelligent natives share this belief with the poorest and 
 most ignorant ; they fancy the ghosts throw stones at them, 
 cast evil influences over them, lure them into quicksands, 
 and play other devilish tricks and cantrips. Some roads are 
 quite shunned and deserted at night, for no other reason than 
 that a ghost is supposed to haunt the place. The most 
 tempting bribe would not make a native walk alone over that 
 road after sunset. 
 
 Besides the witch-finder, another important village 
 functionary who relies much on muntras and charms, is 
 the Huddick, or cow doctor. He is the only veterinary 
 surgeon of the native when his cow or bullock dislocates or 
 breaks a limb, or falls ill. The Huddick passes his hands 
 over the affected part, and mutters his muntras, which have 
 most probably descended to him from his father. Usually 
 knowing a little of the anatomical structure of the animal, 
 he may be able to reduce a dislocation, or roughly to set a 
 fracture ; but if the ailment be internal, a!draught of mustard 
 oil, or some pounded spices and turmeric, or neem leaves 
 administered along with the muntra, are supposed to be all 
 that human skill and science can do. 
 
 The natives are cruel to animals. Half-starved bullocks 
 are shamefully overworked. When blows fail to make the 
 ill-starred brute move, they give a twist and wrench to the 
 tail, which must cause the animal exquisite torture, and 
 unless the hapless beast be utterly exhausted, this generally 
 induces it to make a further effort. Ploughmen very often 
 deliberately make a raw open sore, one on each rump of the 
 plough-bullock. They goad the poor wretch on this raw 
 sore with a sharp-pointed stick when he lags or when they 
 think he needs stirring up. Ponies, too, are always worked 
 far too young; and their miserable legs^get frightfully 
 twisted and bent. The petty shopkeepers sellers of brass 
 
 2 F
 
 432 SPOET AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FEONTIEE. 
 
 pots, grain, spices, and other bazaar wares, who attend~the 
 various bazaars, or weekly and bi-weekly markets, transport 
 their goods by means of these ponies. 
 
 The packs of merchandise are slung on rough pack-saddles, 
 made of coarse sacking. Shambling along with knees bent 
 together, sores on every joint, and frequently an eye knocked 
 out, the poor pony's back gets cruelly galled; when the 
 bazaar is reached, he is hobbled as tightly as possible, the 
 coarse ropes cutting into the flesh, and he is then turned 
 adrift to contemplate starvation on the burnt-up grass. 
 Great open sores form on the back, on which a plaister of 
 moist clay, or cowdung and pounded leaves, is roughly 
 put. The wretched creature gets worn to a skeleton. 
 A little common care and cleanliness would put him 
 right, with a little kindly consideration from his brutal 
 master, but what does the Kulwar or Bunncali care ? he 
 is too lazy. 
 
 This unfeeling cruelty and callous indifference to the 
 sufferings of the lower animals is a crying evil, and every 
 magistrate, European, and educated native, might do much 
 to ease their burdens. Tremendous numbers of bullocks 
 and ponies die from sheer neglect and ill-treatment every 
 year. It is now becoming so serious a trouble, that in many 
 villages plough-bullocks are too few in number for the area 
 of land under cultivation. The tillage suffers, the crops 
 deteriorate, this reacts on prices, the ryot sinks lower and 
 lower, and gets more into the grasp of the rapacious money- 
 lender. In many villages I have seen whole tracts of land 
 relapsed into purtee, or untilled waste, simply from want of 
 bullocks to draw the plough. Severe epidemics, like foot 
 and mouth disease and pleuro, occasionally sweep off great 
 numbers ; but, I repeat, that annually the lives of hundreds 
 of valuable animals are sacrificed by sheer sloth, dirt, in- 
 attention, and brutal cruelty. 
 
 In some parts of India, cattle poisoning for the sake of
 
 NATIVE CRUELTY TO ANIMALS. 433 
 
 the hides is extensively practised. The Chumars, that is, 
 the shoemakers, furriers, tanners, and workers in leather 
 and skins generally, frequently combine together in places, 
 and wilfully poison cattle and buffaloes. There is actually 
 a section in the penal code taking cognisance of the 
 crime. The Hindoo will not touch a dead carcase, so 
 that when a bullock mysteriously sickens and dies, the 
 Chumars haul away the body, and appropriate the skin. 
 Some luckless witch is blamed for the misfortune, when 
 the rascally Chumars themselves are all the while the 
 real culprits. The police, however, are pretty successful 
 in detecting this crime, and it is not now of such frequent 
 occurrence.* 
 
 Highly as the pious Hindoo venerates the sacred bull of 
 Shiva, his treatment of his mild patient beasts of burden is 
 a foul blot on his character. Were you to shoot a cow, or 
 were a Mussulman to wound a stray bullock which might 
 have trespassed, and be trampling down his opium or his 
 tobacco crop, and ruining his fields, the Hindoos would rise 
 en masse to revenge the insult offered to their religion. Yet 
 they scruple not to goad their bullocks, beat them, half 
 starve them, and let their gaping wounds fester and become 
 corrupt. When the poor brute becomes old and unable to 
 work, and his worn-out teeth unfit to graze, he is ruthlessly 
 turned out to die in a ditch, and be torn to pieces by jackals, 
 
 * Somewhat analogous to this is the custom which used to be a common 
 one in some parts of Behar. Koomhars and Gramies, that is, tile-makers 
 and thatchers, when trade was dull or rain impending, would scatter 
 peas and grain in the interstices of the tiles on the houses of the well-to-do. 
 The pigeons and crows, in their efforts to get at the peas, would loosen 
 and perhaps overturn a few of the tiles. The gramie would be sent for to 
 replace these, would condemn the whole roof as leaky, and the tiles as old 
 and unfit for use, and would provide a job for himself and the tile-maker, 
 the nefarious profits of which they would share together. 
 
 Cultivators of thatching-grass have been known deliberately and 
 wantonly to set fire to villages simply to raise the price of thatch and 
 bamboo. 
 
 2 F 2
 
 434 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 kites, and vultures. The higher classes and well-to-do 
 farmers show much consideration for high-priced well-con- 
 ditioned animals, but when they get old or unwell, and 
 demand redoubled care and attention, they are too often 
 neglected, till, from sheer want of ordinary care, they rot 
 and die.
 
 ( 435 ) 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Our annual race meet The arrivals The camps 'The " ordinary " 
 The course "They're off" The race The steeple-chase Incidents 
 of the meet The ball. 
 
 Oun annual Eace Meet is the one great occasion of the 
 year when all the dwellers in the district meet. Our races 
 in Chumparun generally took place some time about Christ- 
 mas. Long before the date fixed on, arrangements would be 
 made for the exercise of hearty hospitality. The residents 
 in the " station " ask as many guests as will fill their houses, 
 and their " compounds " are crowded with tents, each holding 
 a number of visitors, generally bachelors. The principal 
 managers of the factories in the district, with their assistants, 
 form a mess for the racing week, and, not unfrequently, one 
 or two ladies lend their refining presence to the several 
 camps. Friends from other districts, from up-country, from 
 Calcutta, gather together ; and as the weather is bracing and 
 cool, and everyone determined to enjoy himself, the meet is 
 one of the pleasantest of reunions. There are always several 
 races specially got up for assistants' horses, arid long prior 
 to the meet, the youngsters are up in the early morning, 
 giving thep favourite nag a spin across the zeraats, or seeing 
 the groom lead him out swathed in clothing and bandages, to 
 get him into training for the Assistants' race. 
 
 As the day draws near, great cases of tinned meat?, 
 hampers of beer and wine, and goodly supplies of all sorts 
 are sent into the station to the various camps. Tents of
 
 436 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 snowy white canvas begin to peep out at you from among 
 the trees. Great oblong booths of blue indigo sheeting show 
 where the temporary stables for the horses are being erected ; 
 and at night the glittering of innumerable camp-fires betokens 
 the presence of a whole army of grooms, grass-cutters, peons, 
 watchmen, and other servants cooking their evening meal of 
 rice, and discussing the chances of the horses of their respec- 
 tive masters in the approaching races. On the day before 
 the first racing, the planters are up early, and in buggy, 
 dogcart, or on horseback, singly, and by twos and threes, 
 from all sides of the district, they find their way to the 
 station. The Planters' Club is the general rendezvous. The 
 first comers, having found out their waiting servants, and 
 consigned the smoking steeds to their care, seat themselves 
 in the verandah, and eagerly watch every fresh arrival. 
 
 Up comes a buggy. " Hullo, who's this ? " 
 
 "Oh, it's 'Giblets!' How do you do, 'Giblets,' old 
 man ? " 
 
 Down jumps " Giblets," and a general handshaking 
 ensues. 
 
 " Here comes ' Boach ' and the ' Moonshee,' " yells out an 
 observant youngster from the back verandah. 
 
 The- venerable buggy of the esteemed " Boach " approaches, 
 and another jubilation takes place ; the handshaking being 
 so vigorous that the " Moonshee's " spectacles nearly come to 
 grief. Now the arrivals ride and drive up fast and furious. 
 
 " Hullo, ' Anthony ! ' " 
 
 " Aha, ' Charley,' how d'ye do ? " 
 
 " By Jove, ' Ferdie,' where have you turned up from ? " 
 
 " Has the ' Skipper ' arrived ? " 
 
 " Have any of you seen ' Jamie ? ' ' 
 
 " Where's big ' Macs' ' tents ? " 
 
 " Have any of ye seen my ' Bearer ? ' ' 
 
 " Has the ' Bump ' come in ? " and so on. 
 
 Such a scene of bustle and excitement. Friends meet that
 
 OUR ANNUAL RACE MEET. 437 
 
 have not seen each other for a twelvemonth. Queries are 
 exchanged as to absent friends. The chances of the meeting 
 are discussed. Perhaps a passing allusion is made to some 
 dear one who has left our ranks since last meet. All sorts of 
 topics are started, and up till and during breakfast there is a 
 regular medley of tongues, a confused clatter of voices, dishes, 
 and glasses, a pervading atmosphere of dense curling volumes 
 of tobacco smoke. 
 
 To a stranger the names sound uncouth and meaningless 
 the fact being, that we all go by nicknames.* 
 
 " Giblets," " Diamond Digger," " Mangel wurzel," " Goggle- 
 eyed Plover," " Gossein " or holy man, " Blind Bartimeus," 
 " Old Boots," " Polly," " Bottle-nosed Whale," " Fin Mac- 
 Coul," " Daddy," " The Exquisite," " The Mosquito," " Wee 
 Bob," and " Napoleon," are only a very few specimens of this 
 strange nomenclature. These soubriquets quite usurp our 
 baptismal appellations, and I have often been called Mr. 
 " Maori," by people who did not actually know my real name. 
 
 By the evening, all, barring the very late arrivals, have 
 found out their various camps. There is a merry dinner, 
 then each sahib, well muffled in ulster, plaid, or great coat, 
 hies him to the club, where the "ordinary" is to be held. 
 The nights are now cold and foggy, and a tremendous dew 
 falls. At the " ordinary," fresh greetings ensue between 
 those who now meet for the first time after long separation. 
 The entries and bets are made for the morrow's races, 
 although not much betting takes place as a rule; but the 
 lotteries on the different races are rapidly filled, the dice 
 circulate cheerily, and amid laughing, joking, smoking, noise 
 
 * In such a limited society every peculiarity is noted ; all our 
 antecedents are known ; personal predilections and little foibles of 
 character are marked ; eccentricities are watched, and no one, let him 
 be as uninteresting as a miller's pig, is allowed to escape observation and 
 remark. Some little peculiarity is hit upon, and a strange but often very 
 happily expressive nickname stamps one's individuality and photographs 
 him with a word.
 
 438 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 and excitement, there is a good deal of mild speculation. 
 The " horsey " ones visit the stables for the last time ; and 
 each retires to his camp bed to dream of the morrow. 
 
 Very early, the respective bearers rouse the sleepy sahibs. 
 Table servants rush hurriedly about the mess tent, bearing 
 huge dishes of tempting viands. Grooms, and grasscuts are 
 busy leading the horses off to the course. The cold raw fog 
 of the morning fills every tent, and dim grey figures of 
 cowering natives, wrapped up over the eyes in blankets, with 
 moist blue noses and chattering teeth, are barely discernible 
 in the thick mist. 
 
 The racecourse is two miles from the club, on the other 
 side of the lake, in the middle of a grassy plain, with a neat 
 masonry structure at the further side, which serves as a grand 
 stand. Already buggies, dogcarts in single harness and 
 tandem, barouches and waggonettes are merrily rolling 
 through the thick mist, past the frowning jail, and round the 
 corner of the lake. Natives in gaudy coloured shawls, and 
 blankets, are pouring on to the racecourse by hundreds. 
 
 Bullock carts, within which are black-eyed, bold beauties, 
 profusely burdened with silver ornaments, are drawn up in 
 lines. EUcas small jingling vehicles with a dome-shaped 
 canopy and curtains at the sides drawn by gaily caparisoned 
 ponies, and containing fat, portly Baboos, jingle and rattle 
 over the ruts on the side roads. 
 
 Sweetmeat sellers, with trays of horrible-looking filth, 
 made seemingly of insects, clarified butter, and sugar, dodge 
 through the crowd dispensing their abominable-looking but 
 seemingly much relished wares. Tall policemen, with blue 
 jackets, red puggries, yellow belts, and white trousers, stalk 
 up and down with conscious dignity. 
 
 A madcap young assistant on his pony comes tearing along 
 across country. The weighing for the first race is going on ; 
 horses are being saddled, some vicious brute occasionally 
 lashing out, and scattering the crowd behind him. The
 
 1HE RACE. 439 
 
 ladies are seated round the terraced grand stand ; long strings 
 of horses are being led round and round in a circle, by the 
 syces; vehicles of every description are lying round the 
 building. 
 
 Suddenly a bugle sounds ; the judge enters his box ; the 
 ever popular old " Bikram," who officiates as starter, ambles 
 off on his white cob, and after him go half-a-dozen handsome 
 young fellows, their silks rustling and flashing through the 
 fast rising mist. 
 
 A hundred field-glasses scan the start ; all is silent for a 
 moment. 
 
 " They're off ! " shout a dozen lungs. 
 
 " False start ! " echo a dozen more. 
 
 The gay colours of the riders flicker confusedly in a jumble. 
 One horse careers madly along for half the distance, is with 
 difficulty pulled up, and is then walked slowly back. 
 
 The others left at the post fret, and fidget, and curvet 
 about. At length they are again in line. Down goes the 
 white flag ! " Good start ! " shouts an excited planter. Down 
 goes the red flag. " Off at last ! " breaks like a deep drawn 
 sigh from the crowd, and now the six horses, all together, and 
 at a rattling pace, tear up the hill, over the sand at the south 
 corner, and up, till at the quarter mile post " a blanket could 
 cover the lot." 
 
 Two or three tails are now showing signals of distress; 
 heels and whips are going. Two horses have shot ahead, a 
 bay and a black. "Jamie" on the bay, "Paddy" on the 
 black. 
 
 Still as marble sit those splendid riders, the horses are 
 neck and neck ; now the bay by a nose, now again the black. 
 The distance post is passed with a rush like a whirlwind. 
 
 " A dead heat, by Jove ! " 
 
 " Paddy wins ! " " Jamie has it ! " " Hooray, Pat ! " " Go 
 it, Jamie ! " " Well ridden ! " A subdued hum runs round 
 the excited spectators. The ardent racers are nose and nose.
 
 440 SPOET AND WOEK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 One swift, sharp cut, the cruel whip hisses through the air, 
 and the black is fairly " lifted in," a winner by a nose. The 
 ripple of conversation breaks out afresh. The band strikes 
 up a lively air, and the saddling for the next race goes on. 
 
 The other races are much the same ; there are lots of 
 entries : the horses are in splendid condition, and the riding 
 is superb. What is better, everything is emphatically " on 
 the square." No pulling and ropiny here, no false entries, no 
 dodging of any kind. Fine, gallant, English gentlemen meet 
 each other in fair and honest emulation, and enjoy the 
 favourite national sport in perfection. The "Waler" race, 
 for imported Australians, brings out fine, tall, strong-boned, 
 clean-limbed horses, looking blood all over. The country 
 breds, with slender limbs, small heads, and glossy coats, look 
 dainty and delicate as antelopes. The lovely, compact Arabs, 
 the pretty-looking ponies, and the thick- necked, coarse-looking 
 Cabools, all have their respective trials, and then comes the 
 great event the race of the day the Steeplechase. 
 
 The course is marked out behind the grand stand, follow- 
 ing a wide circle outside the flat course, which it enters at 
 the quarter mile post, so that the finish is on the flat before 
 the grand stand. The fences, ditches, and water leap, are all 
 artificial, but they are regular howlers and no make-believes. 
 
 Seven horses are despatched to a straggling start, and all 
 negotiate the first bank safely. At the next fence a regular 
 snorter of a " post and rail " topped with brushwood two 
 horses swerve, one rider being deposited on his racing seat 
 upon mother earth, while the other sails away across country 
 in a line for home, and is next heard of at the stables. The 
 remaining five, three "walers" and two country-breds, race 
 together to the water jump, where one waler deposits his rider, 
 and races home by himself, one country-bred refuses, and is 
 henceforth out of the race, and the other three, taking the leap 
 in beautiful style, put on racing pace to the next bank, and 
 are in the air together. A lovely sight ! The country is now
 
 THE STEEPLECHASE. 441 
 
 stiff, and the stride of the waler tells. He is leading the 
 country -breds a " whacker," but he stumbles and falls at the 
 last fence but one from home. His gallant rider, the un- 
 daunted " Holey," remounts just as the two country-breds pass 
 him like a flash of light. " Nothing venture, nothing win," 
 however, so in go the spurs, and off darts the waler like an 
 arrow in pursuit. He is gaining fast, and tops the last hurdle 
 leading to the straight just as the hoofs of the other two reach 
 the ground. 
 
 It is now a matter of pace and good riding. It will be a 
 close finish; the waler is first to feel the whip; there is a 
 roar from the crowd ; he is actually leading ; whips and spurs 
 are hard at work now; it is a mad, headlong rush; every 
 muscle is strained, and the utmost effort made; the poor 
 horses are doing their very best; amid a thunder of hoofs, 
 clouds of dust, hats in air, waving of handkerchiefs from the 
 grand stand, and a truly British cheer from the paddock, the 
 " waler " shoots in half a length ahead ; and so end the 
 morning's races. 
 
 Back to camp now, to bathe and breakfast. A long line 
 of dust marks the track from the course, for the sun is now 
 high in the heavens, the lake is rippling in placid beauty 
 under a gentle breeze, and the moving groups of natives, as 
 well as vehicles of all sorts, form a quaint but picturesque 
 sight. After breakfast calls are made upon all the camps and 
 bungalows round the station. Croquet, badminton, and other 
 games go on until dinner-time. I could linger lovingly over- 
 a camp dinner ; the rare dishes, the sparkling conversation, 
 the racy anecdote, and the general jollity and brotherly 
 feeling; but we must all dress for the ball, and so about 
 9 P.M. the buggies are again in requisition for the ball room 
 the fine, large, central apartment in the Planters' Club. 
 
 The walls are festooned with flowers, gay curtains, flags, 
 and cloths. The floor is shining like silver, and as polished 
 as a mirror. The band strikes up the Blue Danube waltz, and
 
 442 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 amid the usual bustle, flirtation, scandal, whispering, glancing, 
 dancing, tripping, sipping, and hand-squeezing, the ball goes 
 gaily on till the stewards announce supper. At this to the 
 wall-flowers welcome announcement, we adjourn from the 
 heated ball-room to the cool arbour -like supper tent, where 
 every delicacy that can charm the eye or tempt the appetite 
 is spread out. 
 
 Next morning early we are out with the hounds, and enjoy 
 a rattling burst round by the racecourse, where the horses are 
 at exercise. Perchance we have heard of a boar in the 
 sugar-cane, and away we go with beaters to rouse the grisly 
 monster from his lair. In the afternoon there is hockey on 
 horseback, or volunteer drill, with our gallant adjutant 
 putting us through our evolutions. In the evening there is 
 the usual drive, dinner, music, and the ordinary, and so the 
 meet goes on. A constant succession of gaieties keeps every 
 one alive, till the time arrives for a return to our respective 
 factories, and another year's hard work.
 
 443 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Pig-sticking in India Varieties of boar Their size and height Ingenious 
 mode of capture by the natives The " Batan " or buffalo herd Pigs 
 charging Their courage and ferocity Destruction of game A close 
 season for game. 
 
 THE sport par excellence of India is pig-sticking. Call it 
 hog-hunting if you will, I prefer the honest old-fashioned 
 name. With a good horse under one, a fair country, with 
 not too many pitfalls, and " lots of pig," this sport becomes 
 the most exciting that can be practised. Some prefer tiger 
 shooting from elephants, others like to stalk the lordly ibex 
 on the steep Himalayan slopes, but anyone who has ever 
 enjoyed a rattle after a pig over a good country, will recall 
 the fierce delight, the eager thrill, the wild, mad excitement, 
 that flushed his whole frame, as he met the infuriate charge 
 of a good thirty-inch fighting boar, and drove his trusty spear 
 well home, laying low the gallant grey tusker, the indomitable, 
 unconquerable, grisly boar. The subject is well worn ; and 
 though the theme is a noble one, there are but few I fancy 
 who have not read the record of some gallant fight, where 
 the highest skill, the finest riding, the most undaunted pluck, 
 and the cool, keen daring of a practised hand are not always 
 successful against the headlong rush and furious charge of a 
 Bengal boar at bay. 
 
 A record of planter life in India, however, such as this 
 aims at being, would be incomplete without some reference 
 to the gallant tusker, and so at the risk of tiring my readers, 
 I must try to describe a pig-sticking party.
 
 444 SPOUT AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FEONTIEE. 
 
 There are two distinct kinds of boar in India, the black 
 and the grey. Their dispositions are very different, the grey 
 being fiercer and more pugnacious. He is a vicious and 
 implacable foe when roused, and always shows better fight 
 than the black variety. The great difference, however, is in 
 the shape of the skull ; that of the black fellow being high 
 over the frontal bone, and not very long in proportion to 
 height, while the skull of the grey boar is never very high, 
 but is long, and receding in proportion to height. 
 
 The black boar grows to an enormous size, and the grey 
 ones are, generally speaking, smaller made animals than the 
 black. The young of the two also differ in at least one 
 important particular ; those of the grey pig are always born 
 striped, but the young of the black variety are born of that 
 colour, and are not striped but a uniform black colour 
 throughout. The two kinds of pig sometimes interbreed, 
 but crosses are not common; and, from the colour, size, 
 shape of the head, and general behaviour, one can easily tell 
 at a glance what kind of pig gets up before his spear, whether 
 it is the heavy, sluggish black boar, or the veritable fiery, 
 vicious, fighting grey tusker. 
 
 Many stories are told of their enormous size, and a " forty - 
 incli tusker " is the established standard for a Goliath among 
 boars. The best fighting boars, however, range from twenty- 
 eight to thirty-two inches' in height, and I make bold to say 
 that very few of the present generation of sportsmen have 
 ever seen a veritable wild boar over thirty-eight inches high. 
 
 G. S., who has had perhaps as much jungle experience as 
 any man of his age in India/a careful observer, and a finished 
 sportsman, tells me that the biggest boar he ever saw was 
 only thirty-eight inches high ; while the biggest pig he ever 
 killed was a barren sow, with three-inch tusks sticking out 
 of her gums ; she measured thirty-nine-and-a-half inches, 
 and fought like a demon. I have shot pig in heavy jungle 
 where spearing was impracticable over thirty-six inches
 
 THE "BATAN," OR BUFFALO HERD. 445 
 
 high, but the biggest pig I ever stuck to my own spear was- 
 only twenty-eight inches, and I do not think any pig has 
 been killed in Chumparun, within the last ten or a dozen 
 years at any rate, over thirty-eight inches. 
 
 In some parts of India, where pigs are numerous and the 
 jungle dense, the natives adopt a very ingenious mode of 
 hunting. I have frequently seen it practised by the cow- 
 herds on the Koosee dyaras, i.e. the flat swampy jungles on 
 the banks of the Koosee. When the annual floods have 
 subsided, leaving behind a thick deposit of mud, wrack, and 
 brushwood, the long thick grass soon shoots up to an amazing 
 height, and vast herds of cattle and tame buffaloes come 
 down to the jungles from the interior of the country, where 
 natural pasture is scarce. They are attended by the owner 
 and his assistants, all generally belonging to the gualla, or 
 cowherd caste, although, of course, there are other castes 
 employed. The owner of the herd gets leave to graze his 
 cattle in the jungle, by paying a certain fixed sum per head. 
 He fixes on a high dry ridge of land, where he runs up a few 
 grass huts for himself and men, and there he erects lines of 
 grass and bamboo screens, behind which his cattle take 
 shelter at night from the cold south-east wind. There are 
 also a few huts of exceedingly frail construction for himself 
 and his people. This small colony, in the midst of the 
 universal jungle covering the country for miles round, is 
 called a batan, 
 
 At earliest dawn the buffaloes are milked, and then with 
 their attendant herdsmen they wend their way to the jungle, 
 where they spend the day, and return again to the batan at 
 night, when they are again milked. The milk is made into 
 ghee, or clarified butter, and large quantities are sent down to 
 the towns by country boats. When we want to get up a 
 hunt, we generally send to the nearest batan for kkubber, i.e. 
 news, information. The Batanea, or proprietor of the estab- 
 lishment, is well posted up. Every herdsman as he comes
 
 446 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 in at night tells what animals he has seen through the day, 
 and thus at the latan you hear where tiger, and pig, and deer 
 are to be met with ; where an unlucky cow has been killed ; 
 in what ravine is the thickest jungle ; where the path is free 
 from clay or quicksand ; what fords are safest ; and, in short, 
 you get complete information on every point connected with 
 the jungle and its wild inhabitants. 
 
 To these men the mysterious jungle reveals its most hidden 
 secrets. Surrounded by his herd of buffaloes, the gualla 
 ventures into the darkest recesses and the most tangled 
 thickets. They have strange wild calls by which they give 
 each other notice of the approach of danger, and when two 01 
 three of them meet, each armed with his heavy, iron-shod or 
 brass-bound lathee or quarter staff, they will not budge an 
 inch out of their way for buffalo or boar ; nay, they have 
 been known to face the terrible tiger himself, and fairly beat 
 him away from the quivering carcase of some unlucky 
 member of their herd. They have generally some favourite 
 buffalo on whose broad back they perch themselves, as it 
 browses through the jungle, and from this elevated seat they 
 survey the rest of the herd, and note the incidents of jungle 
 life. When they wish a little excitement, or a change from 
 their milk and rice diet, there are hundreds of pigs around. 
 
 They have a broad, sharp spear-head, to which is attached 
 a stout cord, often made of twisted hide or hair. Into the 
 socket of the spear is thrust a bamboo pole or shaft, tough, 
 pliant, and flexible. The cord is wound round the spear and 
 shaft, and the loose end is then fastened to the middle of the 
 pole. Having thus prepared his weapon, the herdsman 
 mounts his buffalo, and guides it slowly, warily, and 
 cautiously to the haunts of the pig. These are, of course, 
 quite accustomed to see the buffaloes grazing round them on 
 all sides, and take no notice\mtil the gualla is within striking 
 distance. When he has got close up to the pig he fancies, 
 he throws his spear with all his force. The pig naturally
 
 PIGS CHARGING. 447 
 
 bounds off, the shaft conies out of the socket, leaving the 
 spearhead sticking in the wound. The rope uncoils of itself, 
 but being firmly fastened to the bamboo, it brings up the pig 
 at each bush, and tears and lacerates the wound, until either 
 the spearhead comes out, or the wretched pig drops down 
 dead from exhaustion and loss of blood. The gualla follows 
 upon his buffalo, and frequently finishes the pig with a few 
 strokes of his latJwc. In any case he gets his pork, and it 
 certainly is an ingenious and bold way of procuring it. 
 
 Wild pig are very destructive to crops. During the night 
 they revel in the cultivated fields contiguous to the jungle, 
 and they destroy more by rooting up than by actually eating. 
 It is common for the ryot to dig a shallow pit, and ensconce 
 himself inside with his matchlock beside him. His head 
 being on a level with the ground, he can discern any animal 
 that comes between him and the sky-line. When a pig 
 comes in sight, he waits till he is within sure distance, and 
 then puts either a bullet or a charge of slugs into him. 
 
 The pig is perhaps the most stubborn and courageous 
 animal in India. Even when pierced with several spears, 
 and bleeding from numerous wounds, he preserves a sullen 
 silence. He disdains to utter a cry of fear and pain, but 
 maintains a bold front to the last, and dies with his face to 
 the foe, defiant and unconquered. When hard pressed he 
 scorns to continue his flight, but wheeling round, he makes a 
 determined charge, very frequently to the utter discomfiture 
 of his pursuer. 
 
 I have seen many a fine horse fearfully cut by a charging 
 pig, and a determined boar over and over again break through 
 a line of elephants, and make good his escape. There is no 
 animal in all the vast jungle that the elephant dreads more 
 than a lusty boar. I have seen elephants that would stand 
 the repeated charges of a wounded tiger, turn tail and take to 
 ignominious flight before the onset of an angry boar. 
 
 His thick short neck, ponderous body, and wedge-like head 
 
 2 G
 
 448 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 are admirably fitted for crashing through the thick jungle he 
 inhabits, and when he has made up his mind to charge, very 
 few animals can withstand his furious rush. Instances are 
 quite common of his having made good his charge against a 
 line of elephants, cutting and ripping more than one severely. 
 He has been known to encounter successfully even the kingly 
 tiger himself. Can it be wondered, then, that we consider 
 him a " foeman worthy of our steel " ? 
 
 To be a good pig-sticker is a recommendation that wins 
 acceptance everywhere in India. In a district like Chum- 
 parun where nearly every planter was an ardent sportsman, 
 a good rider, and spent nearly half his time on horseback, 
 pig-sticking was a favourite pastime. Every factory had at 
 least one bit of likely jungle close by, where a pig could 
 always be found. When I first went to India we used to 
 take out our pig-spear over the zillali with us as a matter of 
 course, as we never knew when we might hit on a boar. 
 
 Things are very different now. Cultivation has much 
 increased. Many of the old jungles have been reclaimed, 
 and I fancy many more pigs are shot by natives than 
 formerly. A gun can be had now for a few rupees, and every 
 loafing "ne'er-do-weel" in the village manages to procure 
 one, and wages indiscriminate warfare on bird and beast. It 
 is a growing evil, and threatens the total extinction of sport 
 in some districts. I can remember when nearly every tank 
 was good for a few brace of mallard, duck, or teal, where 
 never a feather is now to be seen, save the ubiquitous paddy- 
 bird. Jungles, where a pig was a certain find, only now 
 contain a measly jackal, and not always that ; and cover in 
 which partridge, quail, and sometimes even florican were 
 numerous, are now only tenanted by the great ground owl, or 
 a colony of field rats. I am far from wishing to limit sport 
 to the European community. I would let every native that 
 so wished sport his double barrels or handle his spear with 
 the best of us, but he should follow and indulge in his sport
 
 A CLOSE SEASON FOE GAME NECESSARY. 449 
 
 with reason. The breeding seasons of all animals should be 
 respected, and there should be no indiscriminate slaughter of 
 male and female, young and old. Until all true sportsmen 
 in India unite in this matter, the evil will increase, and by- 
 and-by there will be no animals left to afford sport of any 
 kind. 
 
 There are cases where wild animals are so numerous and 
 destructive that extraordinary measures have to be taken for 
 protection from their ravages, but these are very rare. I 
 remember having once to wage a war of extermination against 
 a colony of pigs that had taken possession of some jungle 
 lands near Maharajnugger, a village on the Koosee. I had a. 
 deal of indigo growing on cleared patches at intervals in the 
 jungles, and there the pigs would root and revel in spite of 
 watchmen, till at last I was forced in sheer self-defence to 
 begin a crusade against them. We got a line of elephants, 
 and two or three friends came to assist, and in one day, and 
 round one village only, we shot sixty-three full-grown pigs. 
 The villagers must have killed and carried away nearly 
 double that number of young and wounded. That was a 
 very extreme case, and in a pure jungle country; but in 
 settled districts like Tirhoot and Chumparun the weaker sex 
 should always be spared, and a close season for winged game 
 should be insisted on. To the credit of the planters be it 
 said, that this necessity is quite recognised ; but every pot- 
 bellied native who can beg, borrow, or steal a gun, or in any 
 way procure one, is constantly on the look out for a pot shot 
 at some unlucky hen-partridge or quail. A whole village 
 will turn out to compass the destruction of some wretched 
 sow that may have shown her bristles outside the jungle in 
 the daytime. 
 
 In districts where cultivated land is scarce and population 
 scattered, it is almost impossible to enjoy pig-sticking. The 
 breaks of open land between the jungles are too small and 
 narrow to afford galloping space, and though you turn the 
 
 2 G 2
 
 450 SPORT AND WOEK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 pig out of one patch of jungle, he immediately finds safe 
 shelter in the next. On the banks of some of the large 
 rivers, however, such as the Gunduck and the Bagmuttee, 
 there are vast stretches of undulating sand, crossed at 
 intervals by narrow creeks, and spotted by patches of close, 
 thick jungle. Here the grey tusker takes up his abode with 
 his harem. When once you turn him out from his lair, there 
 is grand hunting room before he can reach the distant patch 
 of jungle to which he directs his flight. In some parts the 
 jowah (a plant not unlike broom in appearance) is so thick, 
 that even the elephants can scarcely force their way through, 
 but as a rule the beating is pretty easy, and one is almost 
 sure of a find.
 
 ( 451 ) 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 Kudercnt jungle Charged by a pig The biter bit " Mac " after the 
 big boar The horse for pig-sticking The line of beaters The boar 
 breaks " Away ! Away ! " First spear Pig-sticking at Peeprah 
 The old " lungra " or cripple A boar at bay Hurrah for pig- 
 sticking ! 
 
 THERE was a very fine pig jungle at a place called Kudercnt, 
 belonging to a wealthy landowner who went by the name of 
 the Mudhobunny Baboo. We occasionally had a pig-sticking 
 meet here, and as the jungle was strictly preserved, we were 
 never disappointed in finding plenty who gave us glorious 
 sport. The jungles consisted of great grass plains, with 
 thickly-wooded patches of dense tree jungle, intersected here 
 and there by deep ravines, with stagnant pools of water at 
 intervals; the steep sides all thickly clothed with thorny 
 clusters of the wild dog-rose. It was a difficult country to 
 beat, and we had always to supplement the usual gang of 
 beaters with as many elephants as we could collect. In the 
 centre of the jungle was an eminence of considerable height, 
 whence there was a magnificent view of the surrounding 
 country. 
 
 Far in the distance the giant Himalayas towered into the 
 still clear air, the guardian barriers of an unknown land. 
 The fretted pinnacles and tremendous ridges, clothed in their 
 pure white mantle of everlasting snow, made a magnificent 
 contrast to the dark, misty, wooded masses formed by the 
 lower ranges of hills. In the early morning, when the first 
 beams of the rising sun had but touched the mountain tops,
 
 452 SPOUT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIEE. 
 
 leaving the country below shrouded in the dim mists and 
 vapours of retiring night, the sight was most sublime. In 
 presence of such hills and distances, such wondrous-combina- 
 tions of colour, scenery on such a gigantic scale, even the 
 most thoughtless become impressed with the majesty of 
 nature. 
 
 Our camp was pitched on the banks of a clear running 
 mountain stream, brawling over rocks and boulders ; and to 
 eyes so long accustomed to the never-ending flatness of the 
 rich alluvial plains, and the terrible sameness of the rice 
 swamps, the stream was a source of unalloyed pleasure. 
 There were only a few places where the abrupt banks gave 
 facilities for fording, and when a pig had broken fairly from 
 the jungle, and was making for the river (as they very 
 frequently did), you would see the cluster of horsemen 
 scattering over the plain like a covey of partridges when the 
 hawk swoops down upon them. Each made for what he 
 considered the most eligible ford, in hopes of being first up 
 with the pig on the further bank, and securing the much 
 coveted first spear. 
 
 When a pig is hard pressed, and comes to any natural 
 obstacle, as a ditch, bank, or stream, he almost invariably gets 
 this obstacle between himself and his pursuer ; then wheeling 
 round he makes his stand, showing wonderful sagacity in 
 choosing the moment of all others when he has his enemy at 
 most disadvantage. Experienced hands are aware of this, 
 and often try to outflank the boar, but the best men I have 
 seen generally wait a little, till the pig is again under weigh, 
 and then clearing the ditch or bank, put their horses at full 
 speed, which is the best way to make good your attack. The 
 rush of the boar is so sudden, fierce, and determined, that a 
 horse at half speed, or going slow, has no chance of escape ; 
 but a well-trained horse at full speed meets the pig in his 
 rush, the spear is delivered with unerring aim, and slightly 
 swerving to the left, you draw it out as you continue your
 
 CHAEGED BY A PIG. 453 
 
 course, and the poor pig is left weltering in his blood behind 
 you. 
 
 On one occasion I was very rudely made aware of this 
 trait. It was a fine fleet young boar we were after, and we 
 had had a long chase, but were now overhauling him fast. I 
 had a good horse under me, and " Jamie " and " Giblets " 
 were riding neck and neck. There was a small mango 
 orchard in front surrounded by the usual ditch and bank. It 
 was nothing of a leap ; the boar took it with ease, and we 
 could just see him top the bank not twenty spear lengths 
 ahead. I was slightly leading, and full of eager anxiety and 
 emulation. Jamie called on me to pull up, but I was too 
 excited to mind him. I saw him and Giblets each take an 
 outward wheel about, and gallop off to catch the boar coming 
 out of the cluster of trees on the far side, as I thought. I 
 could not see him, but I made no doubt he was in full flight 
 through the trees. There was plenty of riding room between 
 the rows, so lifting my game little horse at the bank, I felt 
 my heart bound with emulation as I thought I was certain 
 to come up first, and take the spear from two such noted 
 heroes as my companions. I came up with the pig first, sure 
 enough. He was waiting for ine, and scarce giving my horse 
 time to recover his stride after the jump, he rushed at me, 
 every bristle erect, with a vicious grunt of spite and rage. 
 My spear was useless, I had it crosswise on my horse's neck ; 
 I intended to attack first, and finding my enemy turning the 
 tables on me in this way was rather disconcerting. I tried 
 to turn aside and avoid the charge, but a branch caught me 
 across the face, and knocked my -puggree off. In a trice the 
 savage little brute was on me. Leaping up fairly from the 
 ground, he got the heel of my riding boot in his mouth, and 
 tore off the sole from the boot as if it had been so much 
 paper. Jamie and Giblets were sitting outside watching the 
 scene, laughing at my discomfiture. Fortunately the boar 
 had poor tusks, and my fine little horse was unhurt, but I got
 
 454 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 out of that orchard as fast as I could, and ever after hesitated 
 about attacking a boar when he had got a bank or ditch 
 between him and me, and was waiting for me on the other 
 side. The far better plan is to wait till he sees you are not 
 pressing him, he then goes off at a surly sling trot, and you 
 can resume the chase with every advantage in your favour. 
 When the blood however is fairly up, and all one's sporting 
 instincts roused, it is hard to listen to the dictates of prudence 
 or the suggestions of caution and experience. 
 
 The very same day we had another instance. My manager, 
 " Young Mac," as we called him, had started a huge old boar. 
 He was just over the boar, and about to deliver his thrust, 
 when his horse stumbled in a rat hole (it was very rotten 
 ground), and came floundering to earth, bringing his rider 
 with him. Nothing daunted, Mac picked himself up, lost 
 the horse, but so eager and excited was he, that he continued 
 the chase on foot, calling to some of us to catch his horse 
 while he stuck his boar. The old boar was quite blown, and 
 took in the altered aspect of affairs at a glance ; he turned to 
 charge, and we loudly called on Mac to " clear out." Not a 
 bit of it, he was too excited to realise his danger, but Pat 
 fortunately interposed his horse and spear in time, and no 
 doubt saved poor Mac from a gruesome mauling. It was 
 very plucky, but it was very foolish, for heavily weighted 
 with boots, breeches, spurs, and spear, a man could have no 
 chance against the savage onset of an infuriated boar. 
 
 In the long thick grass with which the plain was covered 
 the riding was very dangerous. I remember seeing six riders 
 come signally to grief over a blind ditch in this jungle. It 
 adds not a little to the excitement, and really serious acci- 
 dents are not so common as might be imagined. It is no 
 joke, however, when a riderless horse, intent on war, comes 
 ranging up alongside of you as you are sailing along ; biting 
 and kicking at your own horse, he spoils your sport, throws 
 you out of the chase, and you are lucky if you do not receive
 
 THE EXCITEMENT OF PIG-STICKINQ. 455 
 
 some ugly cut or bruise from his too active heels. There is 
 the great beauty of a well-trained Arab or country-bred ; if 
 you get a spill, he waits beside you till you recover your 
 faculties, and get your bellows again in working order ; if you 
 are riding a Cabool, or even a waler, it is even betting that 
 he turns to bite or kick you as you lie, or he rattles off in 
 pursuit of your more firmly-seated friends, spoiling their 
 sport, and causing the most fearful explosions of vituperative 
 Avrath. 
 
 There is something to me intensely exciting in all the 
 varied incidents of a rattling burst across country after a 
 fighting old grey boar. You see the long waving line of 
 staves and spear heads, and quaint -shaped axes, glittering 
 and fluctuating above the feathery tops of the swaying grass. 
 There is an irregular line of stately elephants, each with its 
 towering howdah and dusky mahout, moving slowly along 
 through the rustling reeds. You hear the sharp report of 
 fireworks, the rattling thunder of the big doobla or drum, and 
 the ear-splitting clatter of innumerable tom-toms. Shouts, 
 oaths, and cries from a hundred noisy coolies, come floating 
 down in bursts of clamour on the soft morning air. The din 
 waxes and wanes as the excited beaters descry a " sounder " 
 of pig ahead ; with a mighty roar that makes your blood 
 tingle, the frantic coolies rally for the final burst. Like 
 rockets from a tube, the boar and his progeny come crashing 
 through the brake, and separate before you on the plain. 
 With a wild cheer you dash after them in hot pursuit ; no 
 time now to think of pitfalls, banks, or ditches ; your gallant 
 steed strains his every muscle, every sense is on the alert, 
 but you see not the bush and brake and tangled thicket that 
 you leave behind you. Your eye is on the dusky glistening 
 hide and the stiff erect bristles in front ; the shining tusks 
 and foam-flecked chest are your goal, and the wild excite- 
 ment culminates as you feel your keen steel go straight 
 through muscle, bone, and sinew, and you know that another
 
 456 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 grisly monster has fallen. As you ease your girths and wipe 
 your heated brow, you feel that few pleasures of the chase 
 come up to the noblest, most thrilling sport of all, that of 
 pig-sticking. 
 
 The plain is alive with shouting beaters hurrying up to 
 secure the gory carcase of the slaughtered foe. A riderless 
 horse is far away, making off alone for the distant grove, 
 where the snowy tents are glistening through the foliage. 
 On the distant horizon a small cluster of eager sportsmen 
 are fast overhauling another luckless tusker, and enjoying in 
 all their fierce excitement the same sensations you have just 
 experienced. Now is the time to enjoy the soothing weed, 
 and quaff the grateful " peg " ; and as the syces and other 
 servants come up in groups of twos and threes, you listen 
 with languid delight to all their remarks on the incidents of 
 the chase ; and as, with their acute Oriental imaginations 
 they dilate in terms of truly Eastern exaggeration on your 
 wonderful pluck and daring, you almost fancy yourself really 
 the hero they would make you out to be. 
 
 Then the reunion round the festive board at night, when 
 every one again lives through all the excitement of the day. 
 Talk of fox-hunting after pig-sticking, it is like comparing a 
 penny candle to a lighthouse, or a donkey race to the " Grand 
 National " ! 
 
 Peeprah Factory with its many patches of jungle, its 
 various lakes and fine undulating country, was another 
 favourite rendezvous for the votaries of pig-sticking. The 
 house itself was quite palatial, built on the bank of a lovely 
 horseshoe lake, and embosomed in a grove of trees of great 
 rarity and beautiful foliage. It had been built long before 
 the days of overland routes and Suez canals, when a planter 
 made India his home, and spared no trouble nor expense to 
 make his home comfortable. In the great garden were fruit 
 trees from almost every clime ; little channels of solid masonry 
 led water from the well to all parts of the garden. Leading
 
 " BONNIE MORN." 457 
 
 down to the lake was a broad flight of steps, guarded on the 
 one side by an immense peepul tree, whose hollow trunk and 
 wide stretching canopy of foliage had braved the storms of 
 over half a century, on the other side by a most symmetrical 
 almond-tree, which, when in blossom, was the most beautiful 
 object for miles around. A well-kept shrubbery surrounded 
 the house, and tall casuarinas, and glossy dark green india- 
 rubber and bhur-trees, formed a thousand combinations of 
 shade and colour. Here we often met to experience the warm, 
 large-hearted hospitality of dear old Pat and his gentle little 
 wife. At one time there was a pack of harriers, which would 
 lead us a fine sharp burst by the thickets near the river after 
 a doubling hare ; but as a rule a meet at Peeprah portended 
 death to the gallant tusker, for the jungles were full of pigs, 
 and only honest hard work was meant when the Peeprah 
 beaters turned out. 
 
 The whole country was covered with patches of grass and 
 thorny jungle. Knowing they had another friendly cover 
 close by, the pigs always broke at the first beat, and the 
 riding had to be fast and furious if a spear was to be won. 
 There were some nasty drop jumps, and deep, hidden ditches 
 and accidents are frequent. In one of these hot, sharp 
 gallops poor " Bonnie Morn," a favourite horse belonging to 
 "Jamie," was killed. Not seeing the ditch, it came with 
 tremendous force against the bank, and of course its back was 
 broken. Even in its death throes it recognised its master's 
 voice, and turned round and licked his hand. We were all 
 collected round, and let who will sneer, there were few dry 
 eyes as we saw this last mute tribute of affection from the 
 poor dying animal. 
 
 THE DEATH OF " BONNIE MOKN." 
 
 Alas, my " Brave Bonnie ! " the pride of my heart, 
 The moment has come when from thee I must part ; 
 No more wilt thou hark to the huntsman's glad horn, 
 My brave little Arab, my poor " Bonnie Morn."
 
 458 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 How proudly you bore me at bright break of day, 
 How gallantly " led," when the boar broke away ! 
 Sut no more, alas ! thou the hunt shalt adorn, 
 For now thou art dying, my dear " Bonnie Morn." 
 
 He'd neigh with delight when I'd enter his stall, 
 And canter up gladly on hearing my call ; 
 Eub his head on my shoulder while munching his corn, 
 My dear gentle Arab, my poor " Bonnie Morn." 
 
 Or out in the grass, when a pig was in view, 
 None so eager to start, when he heard a " halloo " ; 
 OS, off like a flash, the ground spurning with scorn, 
 He aye led the van, did my brave " Bonnie Morn." 
 
 O'er nullah and ditch, o'er hedge, fence, or bank, 
 
 No matter, he'd clear it, aye in the front rank ; 
 
 A brave little hunter as ever was born 
 
 Was my grand Arab fav'rite, my good " Bonnie Morn." 
 
 Or when in the " ranks," who so steady and still ? 
 None better than " Bonnie," more " up " in his drill ; 
 His fine head erect eyes flashing with scorn 
 Eight fit for a charger was staunch " Bonnie Morn." 
 
 And then OH the " Course," who so willing and true ? 
 Past the " stand " like an arrow the bonnie horse flew ; 
 No spur his good rider need ever have worn, 
 For he aye did his best, did my fleet " Bonnie Morn." 
 
 And now here he lies, the good little horse, 
 No more he '11 career in the hunt or on " course " : 
 Such a charger to lose makes me sad and forlorn ; 
 I can't help a tear, 'tis for poor " Bonnie Morn." 
 
 Ah ! blame not my grief, for 'tis deep and sincere, 
 As a friend and companion I held " Bonnie " dear ; 
 No true sportsman ever such feelings will scorn 
 As I heave a deep sigh for my brave " Bonnie Morn." 
 
 And even in death, when in anguish he lay, 
 
 When his life's blood was drip dripping slowly away, 
 
 His last thought was still of the master he'd borne ; 
 
 He neighed, licked my hand and thus died " Bonnie Morn." 
 
 One tremendous old boar was killed here during one of 
 our meets, which was long celebrated in our after-dinner 
 talks on boars and hunting. It was called "THE LUNGKA," 
 which means the cripple, because it had been wounded in
 
 THE OLD " LUNG R A." 459 
 
 the leg in some previous encounter, perhaps in its hot 
 youth, before age had stiffened its joints and tinged its 
 whiskers with grey. It was the most undaunted pig I have 
 ever seen. It would not budge an inch for the beaters, and 
 charged the elephants time after time, ousting them repeatedly 
 from the jungle. At length its patience becoming exhausted, 
 it slowly emerged from the jungle, coolly surveyed the scene 
 and its surroundings, and then, disdaining flight, charged 
 straight at the nearest horseman. Its hide was as tough as a 
 Highland targe, and though L. delivered his spear, the weapon 
 turned aside as if it was merely a thrust from a wooden pole. 
 The old lungra made good his charge, and ripped L.'s horse 
 on the shoulder. It next charged Pat, and ripped his horse, 
 and cut another horse, a valuable black waler, across the knee, 
 laming it for life. Eider after rider charged down upon the 
 fierce old brute. Although repeatedly wounded none of the 
 thrusts were very serious, and already it had put five horses 
 hors de combat. It now took up a position under a big " bhur " 
 tree, close to some water, and while the boldest of us held back 
 for a little, it took a deliberate mud bath under our very 
 noses. Doubtless feeling much refreshed, it again took up its 
 position under the tree, ready to face each fresh assailant, 
 full of fight, and determined to die but not to yield an inch. 
 
 Time after time we rode at the dauntless cripple. Each 
 time he charged right down, and our spears made little mark 
 upon his toughened hide. Our horses too were getting tired 
 of such a customer, and little inclined to face his charge. 
 At length " Jamie " delivered a lucky spear and the grey old 
 warrior fell. It had kept us at bay for fully an hour and a 
 half, and among our number we reckoned some of the best 
 riders and boldest pig-stickers in the district. 
 
 Such was our sport in those good old days. Our meets 
 came but seldom, so that sport never interfered with the 
 interests of honest hard work ; but meeting each other as we 
 did, and engaging in exciting sport like pig-sticking, cemented
 
 460 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 our friendship, kept us in health, and encouraged all the 
 hardy tendencies of our nature. It whetted our appetites, it 
 roused all those robust virtues that have made Englishmen 
 the men they are, it sent us back to work with lighter hearts 
 and renewed energy. It built up many happy, cherished 
 memories of kindly words and looks and deeds, that will only 
 fade when we in turn have to bow before the hunter, and 
 render up our spirits to God who gave them. Long live 
 honest, hearty, true sportsmen, such as were the friends of 
 those happy days. Long may Indian sportsmen find plenty 
 of " foemen worthy of their steel " in the old grey boar, the 
 fighting tusker of Bengal. 
 
 PIG-STICKERS.
 
 ( 461 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The sal forests The jungle goddess The trees in the jungle Appear- 
 ance of the forests Birds Varieties of parrots A " beat " in the 
 forest The " shekarry " Mehnnan Singh and his gun The Banturs, 
 a jungle tribe of wood-cutters Their habits A village feast We 
 beat for deer Habits of the spotted deer "Waiting for the game 
 Mehrman Singh gets drunk Our bag Pea-fowl and their habits 
 How to shoot them Curious custom of the Nepanlese How Juggroo 
 was tricked, and his revenge. 
 
 TIRHOOT is too generally under cultivation and too thickly 
 inhabited for much land to remain under jungle, and except 
 the wild pig of which I have spoken, and many varieties of 
 wild fowl, there is little game to be met with. It is, however, 
 different in North Bhaugulpore, where there are still vast 
 tracts of forest jungle, the haunt of the spotted deer, nilghau, 
 leopard, wolf, and other wild animals. Along the banks of 
 the Koosee, a rapid mountain river that rolls its flood through 
 numerous channels to join the Ganges, there are immense 
 tracts of uncultivated land covered with tall elephant grass, 
 and giving cover to tigers, hog deer, pig, wild buffalo, and 
 even an occasional rhinoceros, to say nothing of smaller 
 game and wild fowl, which are very plentiful. 
 
 The sal forests in North Bhaugulpore generally keep to the 
 high ridges, which are composed of a light, sandy soil, very 
 friable, and not very fertile, except for oil and indigo seeds, 
 which grow most luxuriantly wherever the forest land has 
 been cleared. In the shallow valleys which lie between the 
 ridges rice is chiefly cultivated, and gives large returns. The 
 sal forests have been sadly thinned by unscientific and
 
 462 SPOET AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 indiscriminate cutting, and very few fine trees now remain. 
 The earth is teeming with insects, chief amongst which are 
 the dreaded and destructive white ants. The high pointed 
 nests of these destructive insects, formed of hardened mud, 
 are' the commonest objects one meets with in these forest 
 solitudes. 
 
 At intervals, beneath some wide-spreading peepul or bhur 
 tree, one comes on a rude forest shrine, daubed all over with 
 red paint, and with gaudy festoons of imitation flowers, cut 
 from the pith of the plantain tree, hanging on every 
 surrounding bough. These shrines are sacred to Cliumpa 
 luttee, the Hindoo Diana, protectress of herds, deer, buffaloes, 
 huntsmen, and herdsmen. She is the recognised jungle 
 goddess, and is held in great veneration by all the wild 
 tribes and half-civilized denizens of the gloomy sal jungle. 
 
 The general colour of the forest is a dingy green, save 
 when a deeper shade here and there shows where the mighty 
 bhur uprears its towering height, or where the crimson 
 flowers of the seemul or cotton tree, and the bronze-coloured 
 foliage of the sunput (a tree very like the ornamental beech 
 in shrubberies at home) imparts a more varied colour to the 
 generally pervading dark green of the universal sal. 
 
 The varieties of trees are of course almost innumerable, 
 but the sal is so out of all proportion more numerous than 
 any other kind, that the forests well deserve their recognised 
 name. The sal is a fine, hard wood of very slow growth. 
 The leaves are broad and glistening, and in spring are 
 beautifully tipped with a reddish bronze, which gradually 
 tones down into the dingy green which is the prevailing tint. 
 The sheshum or sissoo, a tree with bright green leaves much 
 resembling the birch, the wood of which is invaluable for 
 cart wheels and such-like work, is occasionally met with. 
 There is the Jcoombhe, a very tough wood with a red stringy 
 bark, of which the jungle men make a kind of touchwood for 
 their matchlocks, and the parass, 'whose peculiarity is that
 
 TEE SAL FORESTS. 463 
 
 at times it bursts into a wondrous wealth of bright crimson 
 blossom without a leaf being on the tree. The parass tree 
 in full bloom is gorgeous. After the blossom falls the dark- 
 green leaves come out, and are not much different in colour 
 from the sal. Then there is the mJunva, with its lovely 
 white blossoms, from which a strong spirit is distilled, and 
 on which the deer, pigs, and wild boar love to feast. The 
 peculiar sickly smell of the mJunva when in flower pervades 
 the atmosphere for a great distance round, and reminds one 
 forcibly of the peculiar sweet, sickly smell of a brewery. 
 The hill sirres is a tall feathery -looking tree of most elegant 
 shape, towering above the other forest trees, and the natives 
 strip it of its bark, which they use to poison streams. It 
 seems to have some narcotic or poisonous principle, easily 
 soluble in water, for when put in any quantity in a stream 
 or piece of water, it causes all the fish to become apparently 
 paralyzed and rise to the surface, where they float about 
 quite stupefied and helpless, and become an easy prey to the 
 poaching " Banturs " and " Moosahurs " who adopt this 
 wretched mode of fishing. 
 
 Along the banks of the streams vegetation gets very 
 luxurious, and among the thick undergrowth are found some 
 lovely ferns, broad-leaved plants, and flowers of every hue, 
 all alike nearly scentless. Here is no odorous breath of 
 violet or honeysuckle, no delicate perfume of primrose or 
 sweetbriar, only a musty, dank, earthy smell which gets 
 more and more pronounced as the mists rise along with the 
 deadly vapours of the night. Sleeping in these forests is 
 very unhealthy. There is a most fatal miasma all through 
 the year less during the hot months, but very bad during 
 and immediately after the annual rains ; and in September 
 and October nearly every soul in the jungly tracts is smitten 
 with fever. . The vapour only rises to a certain height above 
 the ground, and at the elevation of ten feet or so, I believe 
 one could sleep in the jungles with impunity; but it is 
 
 2 H
 
 464 SPORT AND WOEK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 dangerous at all times to sleep in the forest, unless at a 
 considerable elevation. The absence of all those delicious 
 smells which make a walk through the woodlands at home 
 so delightful, is conspicuous in the sal forests, and another 
 of the most noticeable features is the extreme silence, the 
 oppressive stillness that reigns. 
 
 You know how fall of melody is an English wood, when 
 thrush, blackbird, mavis, linnet, and a thousand warblers flit 
 from tree to tree. How the choir rings out its full anthem 
 of sweetest sound, till every bush and tree seems a centre of 
 sweet strains, soft, low, liquid trills, and full ripe gushes of 
 melody and song. But it is not thus in an Indian forest. 
 There are actually few birds. As you brush through the 
 long grass and trample the tangled undergrowth, putting 
 aside the sprawling branches, or dodging under the pliant 
 arms of the creepers, you may flush a black or grey partridge, 
 raise a covey of quail, or startle a quiet family party of pea- 
 fowl, but there are no sweet singers flitting about to make 
 the vaulted arcades of the forest echo to their music. 
 
 The hornbill darts with a succession of long bounding 
 flights from one tall tree to another. The large woodpecker 
 taps a hollow tree close by, his gorgeous plumage glistening 
 like a mimic rainbow in the sun. A flight of green parrots 
 sweep screaming above your head, the golden oriole or mango 
 bird, the Jcoel, with here and there a red-tufted bulbul, make 
 a faint attempt at a chirrup ; but as a rule the deep silence 
 is unbroken, save by the melancholy hoot of some blinking 
 owl, and the soft monotonous coo of the ringdove or the 
 green pigeon. The exquisite honeysucker, as delicately 
 formed as the petal of a fairy flower, flits noiselessly about 
 from blossom to blossom. The natives call it the " Mudh- 
 penah " or drinker of honey. There are innumerable butter- 
 flies of graceful shape and gorgeous colours ; what few birds 
 there are have beautiful plumage ; there is a faint rustle of 
 leaves, a faint, far hum of insect life ; but it feels so silent,
 
 TEE FOREST BIRDS. 465 
 
 so unlike the woods at home. You are oppressed by the 
 solemn stillness, and feel almost nervous as you push warily 
 along, for at any moment a leopard, wolf, or hyena may get 
 up before you, or you may disturb the siesta of a sounder of 
 pig, or a herd of deer. 
 
 Up in those forests on the borders of Nepaul, which are 
 called the morung, there are a great many varieties of parrot, 
 all of them very beautiful. There is first the common green 
 parrot, with a red beak, and a circle of salmon-coloured 
 feathers round its neck ; they are very noisy and destructive, 
 and flock together to the fields where they do great damage 
 to the crops. The lutkun sooga is an exquisitely-coloured 
 bird, about the size of a sparrow. The ghural, a large red 
 and green parrot, with a crimson beak. The iota, a yellowish- 
 green colour, and the male with a breast as red as blood; 
 they call it the amereet bhela. Another lovely little parrot, 
 the taeteea sooga, has a green body, red head, and black 
 throat ; but the most showy and brilliant of all the tribe is 
 the putsoogee. The body is a rich living green, red wings, 
 yellow beak, and black throat ; there is a tuft of vivid red as 
 a topknot, and the tail is a brilliant blue ; the under feathers 
 of the tail being a pure snowy white. 
 
 At times the silence is broken by a loud, metallic, bell- 
 like cry, very like the yodel you hear in the Alps. You hear 
 it rise sharp and distinct, " Looralei ! " and as suddenly cease. 
 This is the cry of the kookoor ghet, a bird not unlike a small 
 pheasant, with a reddish-brown back and a fawn-coloured 
 breast. The sherra is another green parrot, a little larger 
 than the putsoogee, but not so beautifully coloured. 
 
 There is generally a green, slime-covered, sluggish stream 
 in all these forests, its channel choked with rotting leaves 
 and decaying vegetable matter. The water should never be 
 drunk until it has been boiled and filtered. At intervals the 
 stream opens out and forms a clear rush-fringed pool, and 
 the trees receding on either bank leave a lovely grassy glade, 
 
 2 H 2
 
 466 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 where the deer and nilghau come to drink. On the glassy 
 bosom of the pool in the centre, fine duck, mallard, and teal, 
 can frequently be found, and the rushes round the margin 
 are to a certainty good for a couple of brace of snipe. 
 
 Sometimes on a withered branch overhanging the stream, 
 you can see perched the ahur, or great black fish-hawk. It 
 has a grating, discordant cry, which it utters at intervals 
 as it sits pluming its black feathers above the pool. The 
 dark ibis and the ubiquitous paddy-bird are of course also 
 found here ; and where the land is low and marshy, and the 
 stream crawls along through several channels, you are sure to 
 come across a couple of red-headed sarus, serpent birds, a 
 crane, and a solitary heron. The moosahernee is a black and 
 white bird, I fancy a sort of ibis, and is good eating. The 
 dolcaliur is another fine big bird, black body and white wings, 
 and as its name (derived from dokha, a shell) implies, it is 
 the shell-gatherer, or snail-eater, and gives good shooting. 
 
 When you have determined to beat the forest, you first get 
 your coolies and villagers assembled, and send them some 
 mile or two miles ahead, under charge of some of the head 
 men, to beat the jungle towards you, while you look out for 
 a likely spot, shady, concealed, and cool, where you wait with 
 your guns till the game is driven up to you. The whole 
 arrangements are generally made, of course under your own 
 supervision, by your Sliekarry, or gamekeeper, as I suppose 
 you might call him. He is generally a thin, wiry, silent man, 
 well versed in all the lore of the woods, acquainted with the 
 name, appearance, and habits of every bird and beast in the 
 forest. He knows their haunts and when they are to be 
 found at home. He will track a wounded deer like a blood- 
 hound, and can tell the signs and almost impalpable evi- 
 dences of an animal's whereabouts, the knowledge of which 
 goes to make up the genuine hunter. 
 
 When all is still around, and only the distant shouts of 
 the beaters fall faintly at intervals on the ear, his keen
 
 THE SEEK ABET. 4(57 
 
 hearing detects the light patter of hoof or paw on the crisp, 
 withered leaves. His hawk-like glance can pick out from 
 the deepest shade the sleek coat or hide of the leopard or the 
 deer ; and even before the animal has come in sight, his 
 senses tell him whether it is young or old, whether it is 
 alarmed, or walking in blind confidence. In fact, I have 
 known a good shekarry tell you exactly what animal is 
 coming, whether bear, leopard, fox, deer, pig, or monkey. 
 
 The best shekarry I ever had was a Nepaulee called 
 " Mehrman Singh." He had the regular Tartar physiognomy 
 of the Nepaulese. Small, oblique, twinkling eyes, high 
 cheekbones, flattish nose, and scanty moustache. He was a 
 tall, wiry man, with a remarkably light springy step, a bold 
 erect carriage, and was altogether a fine, manly, independent 
 fellow. He had none of the fawning obsequiousness which 
 is so common to the Hindoo, but was a merry laughing 
 fellow, with a keen love of sport and a great appreciation of 
 humour. His gun was fearfully and wonderfully made. It 
 was a long, heavy flint gun, with a tremendously heavy 
 ban-el, and the stock all splices and splinters, tied in places 
 with bits of string. I would rather not have been in the 
 immediate vicinity of the weapon when he fired it, and yet 
 he contrived to do some good shooting with it. 
 
 He was wonderfully patient in stalking an animal or 
 waiting for its near approach, as he never ventured on a long 
 shot, and did not understand our objection to pot-shooting. 
 His shot was composed of jagged little bits of iron, chipped 
 from an old JcuntJiee, or cooking-pot; and his powder was 
 truly unique, being like lumps of charcoal, about the size of 
 small raisins. A shekarry fills about four or five fingers' 
 depth of this into his gun, then a handful of old iron, and 
 with a little touch of English powder pricked in with a pin 
 as priming, he is ready for execution on any game that may 
 come within reach of a safe pot-shot. When the gun goes off 
 there is a mighty splutter, a roar like that of a small cannon,
 
 468 SPOUT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 and the slugs go hurtling through the bushes, carrying away 
 twigs and leaves, and not unfrequently smashing up the 
 game so that it is almost useless for the table. 
 
 The Banturs, who principally inhabit these jungles, are 
 mostly of Nepaulese origin. They are a sturdy, independent 
 people, and the women have fair skins, and are very pretty. 
 Unchastifcy is very rare, and the infidelity of a wife is almost 
 unknown. If it is found out, mutilation and often death are 
 the penalties exacted from the unfortunate woman. They 
 wear one long loose flowing garment, much like the skirt of 
 a gown; this is tightly twisted round the body above the 
 bosoms, leaving the neck and arms quite bare. They are 
 fond of ornaments nose, ears, toes and arms, and even 
 ancles, being loaded with silver rings and circlets. Some 
 decorate their nose and the middle parting of the hair with a 
 greasy-looking red pigment, while nearly every grown-up 
 woman has her arms, neck, and low down on the collar-bone 
 most artistically tatooed in a variety of close, elaborate 
 patterns. The women all work in the clearings ; sowing, and 
 weeding, and reaping the rice, barley, and other crops. They 
 do most of the digging where that is necessary, the men con- 
 fining themselves] to ploughing and wood-cutting. At the 
 latter employment they are most expert ; they use the axe 
 in the most masterly manner, but their mode of cutting is 
 fearfully wasteful ; they always leave some three feet of the 
 best part of the wood in the ground, very rarely cutting a 
 tree close down to the root. Many of them are good charcoal- 
 burners, and indeed their principal occupation is supplying 
 the adjacent villages with charcoal and firewood. They use 
 small narrow-edged axes for felling, but for lopping they 
 invariably use the Nepaulese national weapon the JcooJcree.. 
 This is a heavy, curved knife, with a broad blade, the edge 
 very sharp, and the back thick and heavy. In using it they 
 slash right and left with a quick downward stroke, drawing 
 the blade quickly toward them as they strike. They are.
 
 "HEHBMAN SINGH." 469 
 
 wonderfully dexterous with the kookrce, and will clear away 
 brush and underwood almost as quickly as a man can walk. 
 They pack their charcoal, rice, or other commodities, in long 
 narrow baskets, which they sling on a pole carried on their 
 shoulders, as we see the Chinese doing in the well-known 
 pictures on tea-chests. They are all Hindoos in religion, but 
 are very fond of rice-whiskey. Although not so abstemious 
 in this respect as the Hindoos of the plains, they are a much 
 finer race both physically and morally. As a rule they are 
 truthful, honest, brave, and independent. They are always 
 glad to see you, laugh out merrily at you as you pass, and 
 are wonderfully hospitable. It would be a nice point for 
 Sir Wilfrid Lawson to reconcile the use of rice-whiskey with 
 this marked superiority in all moral virtues in the whiskey- 
 drinking, as against the totally-abstaining Hindoo. 
 
 To return to Mehrman Singh. His face was seamed with 
 smallpox marks, and he had seven or eight black patches on 
 it the first time I saw him, caused by the splintering of his 
 flint when he let off his antediluvian gun. When he saw 
 my breechloaders, the first he had ever beheld, his admira- 
 tion was unbounded. He told me he had come on a leopard 
 asleep in the forest one day, and crept up quite close to him. 
 His faith in his old gun, however, was not so lively as to 
 make him rashly attack so dangerous a customer, so he told 
 me. " Hum usko jan deydea oos imikt" that is, " I gave the 
 brute its life that time, but," he continued, " had I had an 
 English gun like this, your honour, I would have blown the 
 soar (Anglice, pig) to Jehuddum, i.e. Hades." Old Mehrman 
 was rather strong in his expletives at times, but I was not a 
 little amused at the cool way he spoke of giving the leopard 
 its life. The probability is, that had he only wounded the 
 animal, he would have lost his own. 
 
 These Nepaulese are very fond of giving feasts to each 
 other. Their dinner-parties, I assure you, are very often 
 " great affairs." They are not mean in their arrangements,
 
 470 SPOUT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 and the wants of the inner man are very amply provided for. 
 Their crockery is simple and inexpensive. When the feast 
 is prepared, each guest provides himself with a few broad 
 leaves from the nearest sal-tree, and forming these into a cup, 
 he pins them together with thorns from the acacia. Squatting 
 down in a circle, with half-a-dozen of these sylvan cups 
 around, the attendant fills one with rice, another with dludl, 
 a third with goafs-flesh, a fourth with turkaree or vegetables, 
 a fifth with chutnee, pickle, or some kind of preserve. Curds, 
 ghee, a little oil perhaps, sugar, plantains, and other fruit are 
 not wanting, and the whole is washed down with copious 
 draughts of fiery rice-whiskey, or, where it can be procured, 
 with palm-toddy. Not unfrequently dancing boys or girls 
 are in attendance, and the horrid din of tom-toms, cymbals, 
 a squeaking fiddle, or a twanging sitar, rattling castanets, and 
 ear-piercing songs from the dusky prima donna, makes night 
 hideous, until the grey dawn peeps over the dark forest line. 
 
 Early in January, 1875, my camp was at a place in the 
 sal jungles called Lohurneah. I had been collecting rents 
 and looking after my seed cultivation, and Pat and our 
 sporting District Engineer having joined me, we determined 
 to have a beat for deer. Mehrman Singh had reported 
 numerous herds in the vicinity of our camp. During the 
 night we had been disturbed by the revellers at such a feast 
 in the village as I have been describing. We had filled 
 cartridges, seen to our guns, and made every preparation for 
 the beat, and early in the morning the coolies and idlers of 
 the forest villages all round were ranged in circles about our 
 camp. 
 
 Swallowing a hasty breakfast w T e mounted our ponies, and, 
 followed by our ragged escort, made off for the forest. On 
 the way we met a crowd of Banturs with bundles of stakes 
 and great coils of strong heavy netting. Sending the coolies 
 on ahead under charge of several headmen and peons, we 
 plunged into the gloom of the forest, leaving our ponies and
 
 BEATING FOR DEER. 471 
 
 grooms outside. When we came to a likely-looking spot, the 
 Banturs began operations by fixing up the nets on the stakes 
 and between trees, till a line of strong net extended across 
 the forest for several hundred yards. We then went ahead, 
 leaving the nets behind us, and each took up his station about 
 200 yards in front. The men with the nets then hid them- 
 selves behind trees, and crouched in the underwood. With 
 our kookries we cut down several branches, stuck them in 
 the ground in front, and ensconced ourselves in this artificial 
 shelter. Behind us, and between us and the t nets, was a 
 narrow cart track leading through the forest, and the reason 
 of our taking this position was given me by Pat, who was an 
 old hand at jungle shooting. 
 
 When deer are being driven, they are intensely suspicious, 
 and of course frightened. They know every spot in the 
 jungle, and are acquainted with all the paths, tracks, and 
 open places in the forest. When they are nearing an open 
 glade, or a road, they slacken their pace, and go slowly and 
 warily forward, an old buck generally leading. When he 
 has carefully reconnoitred and examined the suspected place 
 in front, and found it clear to all appearance, they again put 
 on the pace, and clear the open ground at their greatest 
 speed. The best chance of a shot is when a path is in front 
 of them and behind you, as then they are going slowly. 
 
 At first when I used to go out after them, I often got an 
 open glade, or road, in front of me ; but experience soon told 
 me that Pat's plan was the best. As this was a beat not so 
 much for real sport, as to show me how the villagers managed 
 these affairs, we were all under Pat's direction, and he could 
 not have chosen better ground. I was on the extreme left, 
 behind a clump of young trees, with the sluggish muddy 
 stream on my left. Our Engineer to my right was about one 
 hundred yards off, and Pat himself on the extreme right, at 
 about the same distance from H. Behind us was the road, 
 and in the rear the Ions: line of nets, with their concealed
 
 472 SPOUT AND WOEK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 watchers. The nets are so set up on the stakes, that when 
 an animal bounds along and touches the net, it falls 
 over him, and ere he can extricate himself from its meshes, 
 the vigilant Banturs rush out and despatch him with spears 
 and clubs. 
 
 We waited a long time hearing nothing of the beaters, and 
 watching the red and black ants hurrying to and fro. Huge 
 green-bellied spiders oscillated backwards and forwards in 
 their strong, symmetrically woven webs. A small mungoose 
 kept peeping out at me from the roots of an old india-rubber 
 tree, and aloft in the branches an amatory pair of hidden 
 ringdoves were billing and cooing to each other. At this 
 moment a stealthy step stole softly behind, and the next 
 second Mr. Mehrman Singh crept quietly and noiselessly 
 beside me, his face flushed with rapid walking, his eyes 
 flashing with excitement, his finger on his lip, and a look of 
 portentous gravity and importance striving to spread itself 
 over his speaking countenance. Mehrman had been up all 
 night at the feast, and was as drunk as a piper. It was no 
 use being angry with him, so I tried to keep him quiet and 
 resumed my watch. 
 
 A few minutes afterwards he grasped me by the wrist, 
 rather startling me, but in a low hoarse whisper warning me 
 that a troop of monkeys was coming. I could not hear the 
 faintest rustle, but sure enough in a minute or two a troop of 
 over twenty monkeys came hopping and shambling along, 
 stopping every now and then to sit on their hams, look back, 
 grin, jabber, and show their formidable teeth, until Mehrman 
 rose up, waved his cloth at them, and turned them off from 
 the direction of the nets toward the bank of the stream. 
 
 Next came a fox, slouching warily and cautiously along; 
 then a couple of lean, hungry-looking jackals ; next a sharp 
 patter on the crisp dry leaves, and several peafowl with 
 resplendent plumage ran rapidly past. Another touch on 
 the arm from Mehrman, and following the direction of his.
 
 WAITING FOB THE GAME. 473 
 
 outstretched hand, I descried a splendid buck within thirty 
 yards of me, Ms antlers and chest but barely visible above 
 the brushwood. My gun was to my shoulder in an instant, 
 but the shekarry in an excited whisper implored me not to 
 fire. I hesitated, and just then the stately head turned round 
 to look behind, and exposing the beautifully curving neck 
 full to my aim, I fired, and had the satisfaction of seeing the 
 fine buck topple over, seemingly hard hit. 
 
 A shot on my right, and two shots in rapid succession 
 further on, showed me that Pat and H. were also at work, and 
 then the whole forest seemed alive with frightened, madly- 
 plunging pig, deer, and other animals. I fired at, and 
 wounded an enormous boar that came rushing past, and now 
 the cries of the coolies in front as they came trooping on, 
 mingled with the shouts of the men at the nets, where the 
 work of death evidently was going on. 
 
 It was most exciting while it lasted, but, after all, I do not 
 think it was honest sport. The only apology I could make 
 to myself was, that the deer and pig were far too numerous, 
 and doing immense damage to the crops, and if not thinned 
 out, they would soon have made the growing of any crop 
 whatever an impossibility. 
 
 The monkey, being a sacred animal, is never molested by 
 the natives, and the damage he does in a night to a crop 
 of wheat or barley is astonishing. Peafowl too are very 
 destructive, and what with these and the ravages of pig, deer, 
 hares, and other plunderers, the poor ryot has to watch many 
 a weary night to secure any return from his fields. 
 
 On rejoining each other at the nets, we found that five 
 deer and two pigs had been killed. Pat had shot a boar and 
 a porcupine, the latter with No. 4 shot. H. accounted for a 
 deer, and I got my buck and the boar which I had wounded 
 in the chest; Mehrman Singh had followed him up and 
 tracked him to the river, where he took refuge among some 
 long swamp reeds. Replying to his call, we went up, and a
 
 474 SPORT AND WOEK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 shot through the head settled the old boar for ever. Our 
 bag was therefore for the first beat, seven deer, four pigs, and 
 a porcupine. 
 
 The coolies were now sent away out of the jungle, and 011 
 ahead for a mile or so, the nets were coiled up, our ponies 
 regained and off we set, to take another station. As we 
 went along the river bank, frequently having to force our way 
 through thick jungle, we started " no end " of peafowl, and 
 getting down we soon added a couple to the bag. Pat got 
 a fine jack snipe, and I shot a Jhecla, a very fine waterfowl 
 with brown plumage, having a strong metallic, coppery 
 lustre on the back, and a steely dark blue breast. The 
 plumage was very thick and glossy, and it proved afterwards 
 to be excellent eating. 
 
 Peafowl generally retire to the thickest part of the jungles 
 during the heat of the day, but if you go out very early, 
 when they are slowly wending their way back from the 
 fields, where they have been revelling all night, you can 
 shoot numbers of them. I used to go about twenty or thirty 
 yards into the jungle, and walk slowly along, keeping that 
 distance from the edge. My syce and pony would then 
 walk slowly by the edges of the fields, and when the syce 
 saw a peafowl ahead, making for the jungle, he would shout 
 and try to make it rise. He generally succeeded, and as I 
 was a little in advance and concealed by the jungle, I would 
 get a fine shot as the bird flew overhead. I have shot as 
 many as eight and ten in a morning in this way. I always 
 used No. 4 shot with about 3 drams of powder. 
 
 Unless hard hit peafowl will often get away ; they run 
 with amazing swiftness, and in the heart of the jungle it is 
 almost impossible to make them rise. A couple of sharp 
 terriers, or a good retriever, will sometimes flush them, but 
 the best way is to go along the edge of t the jungle in the 
 early morn, as I have described. The peachicks, about seven 
 or eight months old, are deliciously tender and well flavoured
 
 TEE SPOTTED DEES. 475 
 
 Old birds are very dry and tough, and require a great deal of 
 that old-fashioned sauce, Hunger. 
 
 The common name for a peafowl is mdr, but the Nepaulese 
 and Banturs call it majoor. Now majoor also means coolie, 
 and a young fellow, S., was horrified one day hearing his 
 attendant in the jungle telling him in the most excited 
 way, " Majoor, majoor, Sahib ; why don't you fire ? " Poor S. 
 thought it was a coolie the man meant, and that he must be 
 going mad, wanting him to shoot a coolie, but he found out 
 his mistake, and learnt the double meaning of the word, 
 when he got home and consulted his manager. 
 
 The generic name for all deer is in Hindustani HUBIN, but 
 the Nepaulese call it CHEETER. The male spotted deer they 
 call KUBEA, the female KUBREE. These spotted deer keep 
 almost exclusively to the forests, and are very seldom found 
 far away from the friendly cover of the sal woods. They are 
 the most handsome, graceful-looking animals I know, their 
 skins beautifully marked with white spots, and the horns 
 wide and arching. When properly prepared the skin makes 
 a beautiful mat for a drawing-room, and the horns of a good 
 buck are a handsome ornament to the hall or the verandah. 
 When bounding along through the forest, Ms beautifully 
 spotted skin flashing through the dark green foliage, his 
 antlers laid back over his withers, he looks the very embodi- 
 ment of grace and swiftness. He is very timid, and not 
 easily stalked. 
 
 In March and April, when a strong west wind is blowing, 
 it rustles the myriads of leaves that, dry as tinder, encumber 
 the earth. This perpetual rustle prevents the deer from 
 hearing the footsteps of an approaching foe. They generally 
 betake themselves then to some patch of grass, or long-crop 
 outside the jungle altogether, and if you want them in those 
 months, it is in such places, and not inside the forest at all, 
 that you must search. Like all the deer tribe, they are 
 very curious, and a bit of rag tied to a tree, or a cloth
 
 476 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 put over a bush, will not unfrequently entice them within 
 range. 
 
 Old skekarries will tell you that as long as the deer go 
 on feeding and flapping their ears, you may continue your 
 approach. As soon as they throw up the head, and keep the 
 ears still, their suspicions have been aroused, and if you 
 want venison, you must be as still as a rock, till your game 
 is again lulled into security. As soon as the ears begin 
 flapping again, you may continue your stalk, but at the 
 slightest noise, the noble buck will be off like a flash of 
 lightning. You should never go out in the forest with white 
 clothes, as you are then a conspicuous mark for all the 
 prying eyes that are invisible to you. The best colour is 
 dun brown, dark grey, or dark green. When you see a deer 
 has become suspicious, and no cover is near, stand perfectly 
 erect and rigid, and do not leave your legs apart. The 
 " forked-parsnip " formation of the " human form divine " is 
 detected at a glance, but there's just a chance that if your 
 legs are drawn together, and you remain perfectly motionless 
 you may be mistaken for the stump of a tree, or at the best 
 some less dangerous enemy than man. 
 
 As we rode slowly along, to allow the beaters to get ahead, 
 and to let the heavily-laden men with the nets, keep up with 
 us, we were amused to hear the remarks of [the syces and 
 skekarries on the sport they had just witnessed. Pat's old 
 man, Juggroo, a merry peep-eyed fellow, full of anecdote 
 and humour, was rather hard on Mehrman Singh for having 
 been up late the preceding night. Mehrman, whose head 
 was by this time probably reminding him that there are 
 " lees to every cup," did not seem to relish the humour. He 
 began grasping one wrist with the other hand, working his 
 hand slowly round his wrist, and I noticed that Juggroo 
 immediately changed the subject. This, as I afterwards 
 learned, is the invariable Nepaulese custom of showing anger. 
 They grasp the wrist as I have said, and it is taken as a
 
 JUGGROO'S REVENGE. 477 
 
 that, if you do not discontinue your banter, you will have a 
 fight. 
 
 The Nepaulese are rather vain of their personal appearance, 
 and hanker greatly after a good thick moustache. This 
 Nature has denied them, for the hair on their faces is scanty 
 and stubbly in the extreme. One day Juggroo saw his 
 master putting some bandoline on his moustache, which was 
 a fine, handsome, silky one. He asked Pat's bearer, an old 
 rogue, what it was. 
 
 " Oh," replied the bearer, " that is the gum of the sal 
 tree ; master always uses that, and that is the reason he has 
 such a fine moustache." 
 
 Juggroo's imagination fired up at the idea. 
 
 " Will it make mine grow too ? " 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 " How do you use it ? " 
 
 " Just rub it on, as you see master do." 
 
 Away went Juggroo to try the new recipe. 
 
 Now, the gum of the sal tree is a very strong resin, and 
 hardens in water. It is almost impossible to get it off your 
 skin, as the more water you use, the harder it gets. 
 
 Next day Juggroo's face presented a sorry sight. He had 
 plentifully smeared the gum over his upper lip, so that when 
 he washed his face, the gum set, making the lip as stiff as a 
 board, and threatening to crack the skin every time the 
 slightest muscle moved. 
 
 Juggroo IOCLS " sold " and no mistake, but he bore it all in 
 grim silence, although he never forgot the old bearer. One 
 day, long after, he brought in some berries from the wood, 
 and was munching them, seemingly with great relish. The 
 bearer wanted to know what they were. Juggroo with much 
 apparent nonchalance told him they were some very sweet, 
 juicy, wild berries he had found in the forest. The bearer 
 asked to try one. 
 
 Juggroo had another fruit ready, very much resembling
 
 478 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 those he was eating. It is filled with minute spikelets, or 
 little hairy spinnacles, much resembling those found in ripe 
 doghips at home. If these even touch the skin, they cause 
 intense pain, stinging like nettles, and blistering every part 
 they touch. 
 
 The unsuspicious bearer popped the treacherous berry into 
 his mouth, gave it a crunch, and then with a howl of agony, 
 spluttered and spat, while the tears ran down his cheeks, as 
 he implored Juggroo by all the gods to fetch him some 
 water. 
 
 Old Juggroo, with a grim smile, walked coolly away, 
 discharging a Parthian shaft, by telling him that these 
 berries, were very good for making the hair grow, and hoped 
 he would soon have a good moustache. 
 
 A man from the village now came running up to tell us 
 that there was a leopard in the jungle we were about to beat, 
 and that it had seized, but failed to carry away, a dog from 
 the village during the night. Natives are so apt to tell 
 stories of this kind that at first we did not credit him, but 
 turning into the village he showed us the poor dog, with 
 great wounds on its neck and throat where the leopard had 
 pounced upon it. The noise, it seems, had brought some 
 herdsmen to the place, and their cries had frightened the 
 leopard and saved the wretched dog. As the man said he 
 could show us the spot where the leopard generally remained, 
 we determined to beat him up; so sending a man off on 
 horseback for the beaters to slightly alter their intended line 
 of beat, we rode off, attended by the villager, to get behind 
 the leopard's lair, and see if we could not secure him. These 
 fierce and courageous brutes, for they are both, are very 
 common in the sal jungles ; and as I have seen several killed, 
 both in Bhaugulpore and Oudh, I must devote a chapter to 
 the subject.
 
 ( 479 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL, 
 BOSTON. 
 
 The leopard How to shoot him Gallant encounter with a wounded 
 one Encounter with a leopard in a dak bungalow Pat shoots two 
 leopards Effects of the Express bullet The "Sirwah Purrub," or 
 annual festival of huntsmen The Hindoo ryot Rice-planting and 
 harvest Poverty of the ryot His apathy Village fires Want of 
 sanitation. 
 
 WRITING principally for friends at home, who are not 
 familiar with Indian life, I must narrate facts that, although 
 well known in Indian circles, are yet new to the general 
 reader in England. My object is of course to represent the 
 life we lead in the far East, and to give a series of pictures 
 of what is going on there. If I occasionally touch on what 
 may to Indian readers seem well-worn ground they will 
 forgive me. 
 
 The leopard, then, as a rule keeps to the wooded parts of 
 India. In the long grassy jungles bordering the Koosee he 
 is not generally met with. He is essentially a predatory 
 animal, always on the outlook for a meal ; round the villages, 
 nestling amid their sal forests, he is continually on the prowl, 
 looking out for a goat, a calf, or unwary dog. His appear- 
 ance and habits are well known ; he generally selects for his 
 lair a retired spot surrounded by dense jungle. The one we 
 were now after had his home in a matted jungle, growing out 
 of a pool of water, which had collected in a long hollow, 
 forming the receptacle of the surface drainage from the 
 adjacent slopes. This hollow stretched for miles towards 
 the creek which we had been beating up ; and the locality 
 having moisture and other concurring elements in its favour, 
 the vegetation had attained a luxuriance rarely seen in the 
 dry uplands, where the west winds lick up the moisture, 
 
 2 i
 
 480 SPORT AND WOEK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 and the soil is arid and unpromising. The matted inter- 
 twining branches of the creepers had formed an almost 
 impervious screen, and on the basis thus formed, amid the 
 branches and creepers, the leopards had formed their lair. 
 Beneath, was a still stagnant pool; above, was the leafy 
 foliage. The tracks led down to a well-worn path. 
 
 Climbing like a cat, as the leopards can do, they found 
 no difficulty in gaining a footing on the mass of vegetation. 
 They generally select some retired spot like this, and are 
 very seldom seen in the daytime. "With the approach of 
 night, however, they begin their wandering in quest of prey. 
 In a beat such as we were having " all is fish that comes to 
 the net," and leopards, if they are in the jungle, have to yield 
 to the advance of the beaters, like the other denizens of the 
 forest. 
 
 Experience tells you that the leopard is daring and ferocious. 
 Old experienced hands warn you, that unless you can make 
 sure of your shot, it is unwise to fire at a leopard approaching. 
 It is better to wait till he has got past you or at all events 
 is "broadside on." If you only wound him as he is ap- 
 proaching, he will almost to a certainty make straight at you, 
 but if you shoot him as he is going past, he will, maddened by 
 pain and anger, go straight forward, and you escape his charge. 
 He is more courageous than a tiger, and a very dangerous 
 customer at close quarters. Up in one of the forests in Oudh, 
 a friend of mine was out one day after leopard, w r ith a com- 
 panion who belonged to the forest department. My friend's 
 companion fired at a leopard as it was approaching him, and 
 wounded it severely. Nothing daunted, and recognising 
 whence its hurt had come, it charged directly down on the 
 concealed sportsman, and before he could half realise the 
 position, sprang on him, caught his left arm in its teeth, and 
 began mauling him with its claws. His presence of mind 
 did not desert him ; noticing close by, the stump of a sal tree, 
 that had been eaten by white ants till the harder parts of the
 
 LEOPARD SHOOTING. 481 
 
 wood alone remained, standing up hard and sharp like so 
 many spikes of steel ; and knowing that the leopard was 
 already badly wounded, and that he himself was in all 
 probability struggling for his life, he managed to drag the 
 animal up to the stump ; jammed his left arm yet further 
 into the open mouth of the wounded beast, and being a 
 strong man, by pure physical force dashed the leopard's 
 brains out on the jagged edges of the stump. It was a 
 splendid instance of presence of mind. He was horribly 
 mauled of course ; in fact I believe he lost his arm, but he 
 saved his life. It shows the danger of only wounding a 
 leopard, especially if he is coming towards you ; always 
 wait till he is past your station if it is practicable. If 
 you must shoot, take what care you can that the shot be a 
 sure one. 
 
 In some of the hill stations, and indeed in the villages on 
 the plains, it is very common for a leopard to make his 
 appearance in the house or verandah of an evening. 
 
 One was shot in Bhaugulpore station by the genial and 
 respected chaplain, on a Sunday morning two or three years 
 ago. As we went along, H. told us a humorous story of 
 an Assistant in the Public Works Department, who got 
 mauled by a leopard at Dengra Ghat, Dak Bungalow. It 
 had taken up its quarters in a disused room, and this young 
 fellow, burning with ardour to distinguish himself, made 
 straight for the room in which he was known to be. He 
 opened the door, followed by a motley crowd of retainers, 
 discharged his gun, and the sequel proved that he was not 
 a dead shot. He had only wounded the leopard. With a 
 bound the savage brute was on him, but in the hurry and 
 confusion he had changed front. The leopard had him by 
 the back. You can imagine the scene ! He roared for help. 
 The leopard was badly hit, and a plucky bearer came to his 
 rescue with a stout latlwe. Between them they succeeded in 
 killing the wounded animal, but not before it had left its 
 
 2 I 2
 
 482 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAVL FRONTIER. 
 
 marks on a very sensitive portion of his frame. The mora 
 is, if you go after leopard, be sure you kill him at once. 
 
 They seldom attack a strong, well-grown animal. Calves, 
 however, goats, and dogs are frequently carried off by them. 
 The young of deer and pig, too, fall victims, and when nothing 
 else can be had, peafowl have been known to furnish them a 
 meal. In my factory in Oudh I had a small, graceful, four- 
 horned antelope. It was carried off by a leopard from the 
 garden in broad daylight, and in face of a gang of coolies. 
 
 The most commonly practised mode of leopard shooting, is 
 to tie a goat up to a tree. You have a myclian erected, that 
 is, a platform elevated on trees above the ground. Here 
 you take your seat. Attracted by the bleating of the goat, 
 the prowling leopard approaches his intended victim. If 
 you are on the watch, you can generally detect his approach. 
 They steal on with extreme caution, being intensely wary 
 and suspicious. At a village near where we now were, I had 
 sat up for three nights for a leopard, but although I knew he 
 was prowling in the vicinity, I had never got a look at him. 
 We believed this leopard to be the same brute. 
 
 I have already described our mode of beating. The 
 jungle was close, and there was a great growth of young 
 trees. I was again on the right, and near the edge of the 
 forest. Beyond was a glade planted with rice. The inci- 
 dents of the beat were much as you have just read. 
 There was, however, unknown or at any rate unnoticed 
 by us, more intense excitement. We knew that the leopard 
 might at any moment pass before us. Pat was close to a 
 mighty bhur tree, whose branches, sending down shoots from 
 the parent stem, had planted round it a colony of vigorous 
 supports. It was a magnificent tree with dense shade. All 
 was solemn and still. Pat, with his keen eye, his pulse 
 bounding, and every sense on the alert, was keeping a careful 
 look-out from behind an immense projecting buttress of the 
 tree. All was deadly quiet. H. and myself were occupied
 
 LEOPARD SHOOTING. 483 
 
 watching the gambols of some monkeys in our front. The 
 beaters were yet far off. Suddenly Pat heard a faint crackle 
 on a dried leaf. He glanced in the direction of the sound, 
 and his quick eye detected the glossy coats, the beautifully 
 spotted hides of not one leopard, but two. In a moment the 
 stillness was broken by the report of his rifle. Another 
 report followed sharp and quick. We were on the alert, but 
 to Pat the chief honour and glory belonged. He had shot 
 one leopard dead through the heart. The female was badly 
 hit and came bounding along in my direction. Of course we 
 were now on the qui vim. Waiting for an instant, till I 
 could get my aim clear of some intervening trees, I at length 
 gob a fair shot, and brought her down with a ball through the 
 throat. H. and Pat came running up, and we congratulated 
 ourselves on our success. By-and-by Mehrman Singh and 
 the rest of the beaters came up, and the joy of the villagers 
 was gratifying. These were doubtless the two leopards we 
 had heard so much about, for which I had sat up and 
 watched. It was amusing to see some villager whose pet 
 goat or valued calf had been carried off, now coming up, 
 striking the dead body of the leopard, and abusing it in the 
 most unmeasured terms. Such a crowding round as there 
 was ! such a noise, and such excitement ! 
 
 While waiting for the horses to be brought, and while the 
 excited mob of beaters and coolies carried off the dead 
 animals to the camp to be skinned, we amused ourselves by 
 trying our rifles at a huge tree that grew on the further side 
 of the rice swamp. We found the effects of the " Express " 
 bullet to be tremendous. It splintered up and burst the 
 bark and body of the tree into fragments. Its effects on an 
 animal are even more wonderful. On looking afterwards at 
 the leopard which had been shot, we found that my bullet 
 had touched the base of the shoulder, near the collar-bone. 
 It had gone downwards through the neck, under the collar- 
 bone, and struck the shoulder. There it had splintered up
 
 484 SPORT AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 and made a frightful wound, scattering its fragments all over 
 the chest, and cutting and lacerating everything in its way. 
 
 For big game the "Express" is simply invaluable. For 
 all-round shooting perhaps a No. 12 smooth-bore is the best. 
 It should be snap action with rebounding locks. You should 
 have facilities and instruments for loading cartridges. A 
 good cartridge belt is a good thing for carrying them, but go 
 where you will now, where there is game to be killed, a 
 No. 12 B. L. will enable you to participate in whatever shoot- 
 ing is going. Such a one as I have described would satisfy 
 all the wishes of any young man who perhaps can only 
 afford one gun. 
 
 As we rode slowly along, we learned many curious facts of 
 jungle and native life from the followers, and by noticing 
 little incidents happening before our eyes. Pat, who is so well 
 versed in jungle life and its traditions, told us of a curious 
 moveable feast which the natives of these parts hold annually, 
 generally in March or April, which is called the Sirwali 
 Purrub. 
 
 It seems to be somewhat like the old carnivals of the 
 middle ages. I have read that in Sardinia, and Italy, and 
 Switzerland something similar takes place. The Sirwah 
 Purrub is a sort of festival held in honour of the native 
 Diana the chumpa buttee before referred to. On the ap- 
 pointed day all the males in the forest villages, without 
 exception, go a-hunting. Old spears are furbished up ; 
 miraculous guns, "of even yet more ancient lineage than 
 Mehrman Singh's dangerous flintpiece, are brought out from 
 dusty hiding-places. Battle-axes, bows and arrows, hatchets, 
 clubs and weapons of all sorts, are looked up, and the motley 
 crowd hies to the forest, the one party beating up the game 
 to the other. 
 
 Some go fishing, others try to secure a quail or partridge, 
 but it is a point of honour that something must be slain. If 
 game be not plentiful they will even go to another village and
 
 THE " SIRWAH PUR RUB." 485 
 
 slay a goat, which, rather than return empty-handed, they 
 will bear in triumph home. The women meet the returning 
 hunters, and if there has been a fortunate beat, there is a 
 great feast in the village during the evening and far on into 
 the night. The nets are used, and in this way they generally 
 have some game to divide in the village on their return from 
 the hunt. Ordinarily they seethe the flesh, and pour the 
 whole contents of the cooking-pot into a mess of boiled rice. 
 With the addition of a little salt, this is to them very palatable 
 fare. They are very good cooks, with very simple appliances : 
 with a little mustard oil or clarified butter, a few vegetables 
 or a cut-up fish, they can be very successful. The food, 
 however, is generally smoked from the cow-dung fire. If 
 you are much out in these villages this smoke constantly 
 hangs about, clinging to your clothes and flavouring your 
 food, but the natives seem to like it amazingly. 
 
 In the cold mornings of December or January it hangs 
 about like the peat smoke in a Highland village. Eound 
 every house are great stacks and piles of cow-dung cakes. 
 Before every house is a huge pile of ashes, and the villagers 
 cower round this as the evening falls, or before the sun has 
 dissipated the mist of the mornings. During the day the 
 village dogs burrow in the ashes. Hovering in a dense cloud 
 about the roofs and eaves, and along the lower branches of 
 the trees in filmy layers, the smoke almost chokes one to ride 
 through it. I have seen a native sit till half-choked in a 
 dense column of this smoke. He is too lazy to shift his 
 position ; the fumes of pungent smoke half smother him ; 
 tears run from his eyes ; he splutters and coughs, and abuses 
 the smoke, and its grandfather, and maternal uncle, and all 
 its other known relatives ; but] he prefers semi-suffocation to 
 the trouble of budging an inch. 
 
 Sometimes the energy of these people is surprising. To go 
 to a fair or feast, or on a pilgrimage, they will walk miles 
 upon miles, subsisting oil parched peas or rice, and carrying
 
 486 SPOUT AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 heavy burdens. In company they sing and carol blithely 
 enough. When alone they are very taciturn, man and woman 
 walking together, the man first with his lathee, or staff, the 
 woman behind carrying child or bundle, and often looking 
 fagged and tired enough. 
 
 Taking vegetables, or rice, or other commodities to the 
 bazaar, the carrier often slings his burden to the two ends 
 of a pole worn over the shoulder, much as Chinamen do. 
 But they generally make their load into one bundle which 
 they carry on the head, or which they sling, if not large and 
 bulky, over their backs, rolled up in one of their cloths. 
 
 During the rice-planting season they toil in mud and water 
 from earliest morn till late into twilight. Bending and 
 stooping all the day, their lower extremities up to the knee 
 sometimes in water, and the scorching sun beating on their 
 backs, they certainly show their patient plodding industry, 
 for it is downright honest hard work. 
 
 The young rice is taken from the nursery patch, where 
 it has been sown thick some time previously. When the 
 rice-field is ready a sloppy, muddy, embanked little quag- 
 mire the ryot gets his bundle of young rice-plants, and 
 shoves in two or three at a time with his finger and thumb. 
 These afterwards form the tufts of rice. Its growth is very 
 rapid. Sometimes, in case of flood, the rice actually grows 
 with the rise of the water, always keeping its tip above the 
 stream. If wholly submerged for any length of time it dies. 
 There are over a hundred varieties. Some are only suited 
 for very deep marshy soils ; others, such as the sdtce, or sixty- 
 days rice, can be grown on comparatively high land, and ripen 
 early. If rain be scanty, the sdtee and other rice crops have 
 to be weeded. It is cut with a jagged-edged sort of reaping- 
 hook called a liussooa. The cut bundles are carried from the 
 fields by women, girls, and lads. They could not take carts 
 in many instances into the swamps. 
 
 At such times you see every little dyke or embankment
 
 SICE-PLANTING. 487 
 
 with a crowd of bustling villagers, each with a heavy bundle 
 of grain on his head, hurrying to and fro like a stream of busy 
 ants. The women, with clothes tucked up above the knee, 
 plod and plash through the water. They go at a half run, a 
 kind of fast trot, and hardly a word is spoken garnering the 
 rice crops is too important an operation to dawdle and gossip 
 over. Each hurries off with his burden to the little family 
 threshing-floor, dumps down his load, gives a weary grunt, 
 straightens his back, gives a yawn, then off again to the field 
 for another load. It is no use leaving a bundle on the field ; 
 where food is so eagerly looked for by such a dense popula- 
 tion, where there are hungry mouths and empty stomachs 
 in every village, a bundle of rice would be gone by the 
 morning. 
 
 As in Greece, where every man has to watch his vineyard, 
 so here, the kurcchan or threshing-floor each has its watchman 
 at night. For the protection of the growing crops, the vil- 
 lagers club together, and appoint a watchman or chovikeydar, 
 whom they pay by giving him a small percentage on the 
 yield; or a small fractional proportion of the area he has 
 to guard, with its standing crop, may be made over to him as 
 a recompense. 
 
 They thresh out the rice, when it has matured a little, 
 on the threshing-floor. Four to six bullocks are tied in a 
 line to a post in the centre, and round this they slowly pace 
 in a circle. They are not muzzled, and the poor brutes seem 
 rather to enjoy the unwonted luxury of feeding while they 
 work. When there is a good wind, the grain is winnowed ; 
 it is lifted either in bamboo scoops or in the two hands. The 
 wind blows the chaff or bhoosa on to a heap, and the fine 
 fresh rice remains behind. The grain merchants now do 
 a good business. Rice must be sold to pay the rent, the 
 money-lender, and other clamouring creditors. The bunniahs 
 will take repayment in kind. They put on the interest, and 
 cheat in the weighments and measurements. So much has
 
 488 SPOMT AND' WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 to be given to the weighman as a perquisite. If seed had 
 been borrowed, it has now to be returned at a ruinous rate of 
 interest. Some seed must be saved for next year, and an 
 average poor ryot, the cultivator of but a little holding, very 
 soon sees the result of his harvesting melt away, leaving little 
 for wife and little ones to live on. He never gets free of the 
 money-lender. He will have to go out and work hard for 
 others, as well as get up his own little lands. No chance of 
 a new bullock this year, and the old ones are getting worn 
 out and thin. The wife must dispense with her promised 
 ornament or dress. For the poor ryot it is a miserable hand- 
 to-mouth existence when crops are poor. As a rule he is 
 never out of debt. He lives on the scantiest fare ; hunger 
 often pinches him; he knows none of the luxuries of life. 
 Notwithstanding, the majority are patient, frugal, industrious, 
 and to the full extent of their scanty means even charitable 
 and benevolent. With the average ryot a little kindness goes 
 a great way. There are some irreconcileable, discontented, 
 worthless fellows in every village. All more or less count a 
 lie as rather a good thing to be expert in ; they lie naturally, 
 simply, and instinctively ; but with all his faults, and they 
 are doubtless many, I confess to a great liking for the average 
 Hindoo ryot. 
 
 At times, however, their apathy and laziness is amazing. 
 They are very childish, pettish, and easily roused. In a 
 quarrel, however, they generally confine themselves to vitu- 
 peration and abuse, and seldom come to blows. 
 
 As an instance of their fatalism or apathetic indolence, I 
 can remember a village on the estate I was managing taking 
 fire. It was quite close to the factory. I had my pony 
 saddled at once, and galloped off for the burning village. It 
 was a long, straggling one, with a good masonry well in the 
 centre, shadowed by a mighty pcepul tree. The wind was 
 blowing the fire right along, and if no obstruction was offered, 
 would sweep off every hut in the place. The only soul who
 
 APATHY OF THE RJOT. 489 
 
 was trying to do a thing was a young Brahmin watchman 
 belonging to the factory. He had succeeded in removing 
 some brass jars of his own, and was saving some grain. One 
 woman was rocking to and fro, beating her breast and crying. 
 There sat the rest of the apathetic villagers in groups, not 
 lifting a finger, not stirring a step, but calmly looking on 
 while the devouring element was licking up hut after hut, 
 and destroying their little all. In a few minutes some of my 
 servants, syces, and factory men had arrived. I tied up the 
 pony, ordered my men to pull down a couple of huts in the 
 centre, and tried to infuse some energy into the villagers. 
 Not a bit of it : they would not stir. They would not even 
 draw a bucket of water. However my men got earthen pots ; 
 I dug up fresh earth and threw it on the two dismantled 
 huts, dragging away as much of the thatch and debris as we 
 could. 
 
 The fire licked our faces, and actually got a footing on the 
 first house beyond the frail opening we had tried to make, 
 but we persevered, and ultimately stayed the fire, and saved 
 about two- thirds of the village. I never saw such an instance 
 of complete apathy. Some of the inhabitants even had not 
 untied the cattle in the sheds. They seemed quite prostrated. 
 However as we worked on, and they began to see that all 
 was not yet lost, they began to buckle to ; yet even then their 
 principal object was to save their brass pots and cooking 
 utensils things that could not possibly burn, and which they 
 might have left alone with perfect safety. 
 
 A Hindoo village is as inflammable as touchwood. The 
 houses are generally built of grass walls, connected with thin 
 battens of bamboo. The roof is bamboo and thatch. Thatch 
 fences surround all the little courtyards. Leaves, refuse, 
 cow-dung fuel, and wood are piled up round every hut. At 
 each door is an open-air fire, which smoulders all day. A stray 
 puff of wind makes an inquisitive visit round the corner, and 
 before one can half realise the catastrophe, the village is on
 
 490 SPOET AND WOEK ON THE NEPAUL FEONTIEE. 
 
 fire. Then each only thinks of his own goods ; there is no 
 combined effort to stay the flames. In the hot west winds of 
 March, April, and May, these fires are of very frequent 
 occurrence. In Bhaugulpore, I have seen from my verandah 
 three villages on fire at one and the same time. In some 
 parts of Oudh, among the sal forests, village after village is 
 burnt down annually, and I have seen the same catastrophe 
 visit the same village several times in the course of one year. 
 These fires arise from pure carelessness, sheer apathy, and 
 laziness. ' 
 
 Sanitary precautions too are very insufficient ; practically 
 there are none. Huge unsightly waterholes, filled during the 
 rains with the drainage of all the dung-heaps and mounds of 
 offal and filth that abound in the village, swelter under the 
 hot summer sun. They get covered with a rank green scum, 
 and if their inky depths be stirred, the foulest and most 
 fearful odours issue forth. In these filthy pools the villagers 
 often perform their ablutions ; they do not scruple to drink the 
 putrid water, which is no doubt a hotbed and regular nursery 
 for fevers, and choleraic and other disorders. 
 
 Many home readers are but little acquainted with the 
 Indian village system, and I shall devote a chapter to [the 
 description of a Hindoo village, with its functionaries, its 
 institutions, its inhabitants, and the more marked of their 
 customs and avocations.
 
 491 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Description of a native village Village functionaries The barber 
 Bathing habits The village well The school The children The 
 village bazaar The landowner and his dwelling The " Putwarrie " 
 or village accountant The blacksmith The " Punchayiet " or village 
 jury system Our legal system in India Remarks on the adminis- 
 tration of justice. 
 
 A TYPICAL village in Behar is a heterogeneous collection of 
 thatched huts, apparently set down at random as indeed it 
 is, for every one erects his hut wherever whim or caprice 
 leads him, or wherever he can get a piece of vacant land. 
 Groves of feathery bamboos and broad-leaved plumy-looking 
 plantains almost conceal the huts and buildings. Several 
 small orchards of mango surround the village ; the roads 
 leading to and from it are merely well-worn cattle tracks 
 in the rains a perfect quagmire, and in the hot weather dusty 
 and confined between straggling hedges of aloe or prickly 
 pear. These hedges are festooned with masses of clinging 
 luxuriant creepers, among which sometimes struggles up a 
 custard apple, an avocado pear, or a wild plum-tree. The 
 latter is a prickly straggling tree called the Hhyre ; the wood 
 is very hard, and is often used for making ploughs. The 
 fruit is a little hard yellow crisp fruit with a big stone inside 
 and very sweet ; when it is ripe, the village urchins throw 
 sticks up among the branches, and feast on the golden 
 shower. 
 
 On many of the banks bordering the roads, thatching grass 
 or rather strong upright waving grass, with a beautiful 
 feathery plume, is planted. This is used to make the walls
 
 492 SPORT AND WOEK ON THE NEPAUL FE ON TIER. 
 
 of the houses, and these are then plastered outside and in 
 with clay and cow-dung. The tall hedge of dense grass keep& 
 what little breeze there may be away from the traveller. 
 The road is something like an Irish " Boreen," wanting only 
 its beauty and freshness. On a hot day the atmosphere in 
 one of these village roads is stifling and loaded with dust. 
 
 These houses with their grass walls and thatched roof are 
 called cutcha, as opposed to more pretentious structures of 
 burnt brick, with maybe a tiled sloping or flat plastered roof, 
 which are called pucca. Pucca literally means " ripe," as 
 opposed to cutcha, " unripe " ; but the rich Oriental tongue has 
 adapted it to almost every kind of secondary meaning. Thus 
 a man who is true, upright, respected, a man to be depended 
 on, is called & pucca man. It is a word in constant use among 
 Anglo-Indians. A pucca road is one which is bridged and 
 metalled. If you make an engagement with a friend, and he 
 wants to impress you with its importance, he will ask you, 
 " Now is that pucca ? " and so on. 
 
 Other houses in the village are composed of unburnt bricks 
 cemented with mud, or maybe composed of mud walls and 
 thatched roof; these, being a compound sort of erection, are 
 called cutcha pucca. In the cutcha houses live the poorer 
 castes, the Chumars or workers in leathers, the Moosahurs, 
 Doosadlis, or GwallaJis. 
 
 The Domes, or scavengers, feeders on offal, have to live 
 apart in a tolah, which might be called a small suburb, by 
 themselves. The Domes drag from the village any animal 
 that happens to die. They generally pursue the handicraft 
 of basket making, or mat making, and the Dome tolah can 
 always be known by the pigs and fowls prowling about in 
 search of food, and the Dome and his family splitting up 
 bamboo, and weaving mats and baskets at the doors of their 
 miserable habitation. To the higher castes both pigs and 
 fowls are unclean and an abomination. Moosalmrs, Doosadlis, 
 and other poor castes, such as Dangurs, keep, however, an army
 
 VILLAGE FUNCTIONARIES. 493 
 
 of gaunt, lean, hungry-looking pigs. These may be seen 
 rooting and wallowing in the marshes when the rice has been 
 cut, or foraging among the mango groves, to pick up any 
 stray unripe fruit that may have escaped the keen eyes of 
 the hungry and swarming children. 
 
 There is yet another small tolaJi or suburb, called the 
 Kusbcc tolah. Here live the miserable outcasts who minister 
 to the worst passions of our nature. These degraded beings 
 are banished from the more respectable portions of the 
 community ; but here, as in our own highly civilised and 
 favoured land, vice hovers by the side of virtue, and the 
 Hindoo village contains the same elements of happiness 
 and misery, profligacy and probity, purity and degradation, 
 as the fine home cities that are a name in the mouths of 
 men. 
 
 Every village forms a perfect little commonwealth ; it 
 contains all the elements of self-existence ; it is quite a little 
 commune, so far as social life is concerned. There is a 
 hereditary blacksmith, washerman, potter, barber, and writer. 
 The dlidbee, or washerman, can always be known by the 
 propinquity of his donkeys, diminutive animals which he 
 uses to transport his bundle of unsavoury dirty clothes to 
 the pool or tank where the linen is washed. On great 
 country roads you may often see strings of donkeys laden 
 with bags of grain, which they transport from far-away 
 villages to the big bazaars ; but if you see a laden donkey 
 near a village, be sure the dhobee is not far off. 
 
 Here as elsewhere the hajam, or barber, is a great gossip, 
 and generally a favourite. He uses no soap, and has a most 
 uncouth-looking razor, yet he shaves the heads, beards, 
 moustaches, and armpits of his customers with great deftness. 
 The lower classes of natives shave the hair of the head and 
 of the armpits for the sake of cleanliness and for other 
 obvious reasons. The higher classes are very regular in 
 their ablutions ; every morning, be the water cold or warm,
 
 494 SPORT AND WOEK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONT1EE. 
 
 the Eajpoot and Brahmin, the respectable middle classes, 
 and all in the village who lay any claim to social position, 
 have their goosal or bath. Some hie to the nearest tank or 
 stream ; at all hours of the day, at any ferry or landing 
 stage, you will see swarthy fine-looking fellows up to mid 
 waist in the water, scrubbing vigorously their bronzed arms, 
 and neck and chest. They clean their teeth with the end of a 
 stick, which they chew at one extremity, till they loosen the 
 fibres, and with this improvised toothbrush and some wood 
 ashes for paste, they make the teeth look as white and clean 
 as ivory. 
 
 There is generally a large masonry well in the middle of 
 the village, with a broad smooth pucca platform all round it. 
 It has been built by some former father of the hamlet, to 
 perpetuate his memory, to fulfil a vow to the gods, perhaps 
 simply from goodwill to his fellow townsmen. At all events 
 there is generally one such in every village. It is generally 
 shadowed by a huge Wiur, peepul, or tamarind tree. Here 
 may always be seen the busiest sight in the village. Pretty 
 young women chatter, laugh, and talk, and assume all sorts of 
 picturesque attitudes as they fill their waterpots ; the village 
 matrons gossip, and sometimes quarrel, as they pull away at 
 the windlass over the deep cool well. On the platform are 
 a group of fat Brahmins nearly nude, their lighter skins 
 contrasting well with the duskier hue of the lower classes. 
 There are several groups. With damp drapery clinging to 
 their glistening skins, they pour brass pots of cold water 
 over their dripping bodies ; they rub themselves briskly, and 
 gasp again as the cool element pours over head and shoulders. 
 They sit down while some young attendant or relation 
 vigorously rubs^them down the back ; while sitting they clean 
 their feet. Thus, amid much laughing and talking, and 
 quaint gestures, and not a little expectoration, they perform 
 their ablutions. Not unfrequently the more wealthy anoint 
 their bodies with mustard oil, which at all events keeps out
 
 THE VILLAGE WELL THE SCHOOL. 495 
 
 cold and chill, as they claim that it does, though it is not 
 fragrant. Bound the well you get all the village news and 
 scandal. It is always thronged in the mornings and evenings, 
 and only deserted when the fierce heat of midday plunges 
 the village into a lethargic silence; unbroken save where 
 the hum of the hand-mill, or the thump of the husking-post, 
 tells where some busy damsel or matron is grinding flour, or 
 husking rice, in the cool shadow of her hut, for the wants of 
 her lord and master. 
 
 Education is now making rapid strides ; it is fostered by 
 government, and many of the wealthier landowners or 
 Zemindars subscribe liberally for a schoolmaster in their 
 villages. Near the principal street then, in a sort of lane, 
 shadowed by an old mango-tree, we come on the village 
 school. The little fellows have all discarded their upper 
 clothes on account of the heat, and with much noise, swaying 
 the body backwards and forwards, and [monotonously inton- 
 ing, they grind away at the mill of learning, and try to get 
 a knowledge of books. Other dusky urchins figure away 
 with lumps of chalk on the floor, or on flat pieces of wood 
 to serve as copy-books. The din increases 'as the stranger 
 passes: going into an English school, the stranger would 
 probably cause a momentary pause in the hum that is always 
 heard in school. The little Hindoo scholar probably wishes 
 to impress you with a sense of his assiduity. He raises his 
 voice, sways the body more briskly, keeps his one eye firmly 
 fixed on his task, while with the other he throws a keen 
 swift glance over you, which embraces every detail of your 
 costume, and not improbably includes a shrewd estimate of 
 your disposition and character. 
 
 Hindoo children never seem to me to be boys or girls ; 
 they are preternaturally acute and observant. You seldom 
 see them playing together. They seem to be born with the 
 gift of telling a lie with most portentous gravity. They 
 wear an air of the most winning candour and guileless. 
 
 2 K
 
 496 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 innocence, when they are all the while plotting some petty 
 scheme against you. They are certainly far more precocious 
 than English children ; they realise the hard struggle for life 
 far more quickly. The poorer .classes can hardly be said to 
 have any childhood ; as soon as they can toddle they are 
 sent to weed, cut grass, gather fuel, tend herds, or do any- 
 thing that will bring them in a small pittance, and ease the 
 burden of the struggling parents. I think the children of 
 the higher and middle classes very pretty. ; they have 
 beautiful dark, thoughtful eyes, and a most intelligent ex- 
 pression. Very young babies however are miserably nursed ; 
 their hair is allowed to get all tangled and matted into 
 unsightly knots ; their faces are seldom washed, and their 
 eyes are painted with antimony about the lids, and are often 
 rheumy and running with water. The use of the pocket 
 handkerchief is sadly neglected. 
 
 There is generally one open space or long street in our 
 village, and in a hamlet of any importance there is weekly 
 or bi-weekly a bazaar or market. From early morning in 
 all directions, from solitary huts in the forest, from 
 struggling little crofts in the rice lands, from fishermen's 
 dwellings perched on the bank of the river, from lonely 
 camps in the grass jungle where the herd and his family live 
 with their cattle, from all the petty thorpes about, come the 
 women with their baskets of vegetables, their bundles of 
 spun yarn, their piece of woven cloth, whatever they have to 
 sell or barter. There is a lad with a pair of wooden shoes, 
 which he has fashioned as he was tending the village cows ; 
 another with a grass mat, or bamboo staff, or some other 
 strange outlandish-looking article, which he hopes to barter 
 in the bazaar for something on which his heart is set. The 
 bunniahs hurry up their tottering, over-laden ponies; the 
 rice merchant twists his patient bullock's tail to make it 
 move faster : the cloth merchant with his bale under his arm 
 and measuring stick in hand, walks briskly along. Here
 
 THE VILLAGE BAZAAR. 497 
 
 comes a gang of charcoal-burners, with their loads of fuel 
 slung on poles dangling from their shoulders. A box wallah 
 with his attendant coolie, staggering under the weight of a 
 huge box of Manchester goods, hurries by. It is a busy 
 sight in the bazaar. What a cackling ! What a confused 
 clatter of voices! Here also the women are the chief 
 contributors to the din of tongues. There is no irate 
 husband here or moody master to tell them to be still. 
 Spread out on the ground are heaps of different grain, bags 
 of flour, baskets of meal, pulse, or barley; sweetmeats 
 occupy the attention of nearly all the buyers. All Hindoos 
 indulge in sweets, which take the place of beer with us ; 
 instead of a " nobbier," they offer you a " lollipop." Trinkets, 
 beads, bracelets, armlets, and anklets of pewter, there are in 
 great bunches ; fruits, vegetables, sticks of cane, skins full 
 of oil, and sugar, and treacle. Stands with fresh " paun " 
 leaves, and piles of coarse-looking masses of tobacco are 
 largely patronised. It is like a hive of bees. The dust 
 hovers over the moving mass ; the smells are various, none 
 of them " blest odours of sweet Araby." Drugs, condiments, 
 spices, shoes, in fact, everything that a rustic population can 
 require, is here. The pice jingle as they change hands ; the 
 haggling and chaffering are without parallel in any market 
 at home. Here is a man apparently in the last madness of 
 intense passion, in fierce altercation with another, who tries 
 his utmost to outbluster his furious declamation. In a 
 moment they are smiling, and to all appearance the best 
 friends in the world. The bargain has been concluded; it 
 was all about whether the one could give three brinjals or 
 four for one pice. It is a scene of indescribable bustle, noise, 
 and confusion. By evening, however, all will have been 
 packed up again, and only the faint outlines of yet floating 
 clouds of dust, and the hopping, cheeky crows, picking up 
 the scattered litter and remnants of the market, will remain 
 to tell that it has been bazaar day in our village. 
 
 2 K 2
 
 498 SPOET AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 Generally, about the centre of it, there is a more pre- 
 tentious structure, with verandahs supported on wooden 
 pillars. High walls surround a rather commodious court- 
 yard. There are mysterious little doors, through which 
 you can get a peep of crooked little stairs leading to the 
 upper rooms or to the roof, from dusky inside verandahs. 
 Half-naked, listless, indolent figures lie about, or walk 
 slowly to and from the yard, with seemingly purposeless 
 indecision. In the outer verandah is an old palkee, with 
 evidences in the tarnished gilding and frayed and tattered 
 hangings, that it once had some pretensions to fashionable 
 elegance. 
 
 The walls of the buildings however are sadly cracked, and 
 numerous young peepul trees grow in the crevices, their 
 insidious roots creeping farther and farther into the fissures, 
 and expediting the work of decay, which is everywhere 
 apparent. It is the residence of the Zemindar, the lord of 
 the village, the owner of the lands adjoining. Probably he 
 is descended from some noble house of ancient lineage. His 
 forefathers, possibly, led armed retainers against some rival 
 in yonder far off village, where the dim outlines of a mud 
 fort yet tell of the insecurity of the days of old. Now he is 
 old, and fat, and lazy. Possibly he has been too often to the 
 money-lender. His lands are mortgaged to their full value. 
 Though they respect and look up to their old Zemindar, the 
 villagers are getting independent ; they are not so humble, 
 and pay less and less of feudal tribute than in the old days, 
 when the golden palanquin was new, when the elephant had 
 splendid housings, when mace, and javelin, and match-lock 
 men followed in his train. Alas ! the elephant was sold 
 long ago, and is now the property of a wealthy Bunniah 
 who has amassed money in the buying and selling of 
 grain and oil. The Zemindar may be a man of progress 
 and intelligence, but many are of this broken-down and 
 helpless type.
 
 THE VILLAGE ACCOUNTANT. 499 
 
 Holding the lands of the village by hereditary right, by 
 grant, conquest, or purchase, he collects his rents from the 
 villages through a small staff of peons, or un-official police. 
 The accounts are kept by another important village 
 functionary the putwarrie, or village accountant. Put- 
 warries belong to the writer or Kayastli caste. They are 
 probably as clever, and at the same time as unscrupulous as 
 any class in India. They manage the most complicated 
 accounts between ryot and landlord with great skill. Their 
 memories are wonderful, but they can always forget 
 conveniently. Where ryots are numerous, the landlord's 
 wants pressing, and frequent calls made on the tenantry for 
 payment, often made in various kinds of grain and produce, 
 the rates and prices of which are constantly changing, it is 
 easy to imagine the complications and intricacies of a 
 puhvarries account. Each ryot pretty accurately remembers 
 his own particular indebtedness, but woe to him if he pays 
 the putwarrie the value of a " red cent " without taking a 
 receipt. Certainly there may be a really honest putwarrie, 
 but I very much doubt it. The name stands for chicanery 
 and robbery. On the one hand, the landlord is constantly 
 stirring him up for money, questioning his accounts, and 
 putting him not unfrequently to actual bodily coercion. 
 The ryot, on the other hand, is constantly inventing excuses, 
 getting up delays, and propounding innumerable reasons 
 why he cannot pay. He will try to forge receipts, he will 
 get up false evidence that he has already paid, and the 
 wretched putwarrie needs all his native and acquired 
 sharpness to hold his own. But all ryots are not alike, and 
 when the putwarrie gets hold of some unwary and ignorant 
 bumpkin whom he can plunder, he does plunder him 
 systematically. All cowherds are popularly supposed to be 
 cattle lifters, and a putwarrie after he has got over the stage 
 of infancy, and has been indoctrinated into all the knavery 
 that his elders can teach him, is supposed to belong to the
 
 500 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER- 
 
 highest category of villains. A popular proverb, much used! 
 in Behar, says : 
 
 " Unda poortee, Cowa maro ! 
 Jinnum me, billar : 
 Bara burris me, Kayasth mariye ! ! 
 Humesha mara gwar ! ! " 
 
 This is translated thus : " When the shell is breaking kill 
 the crow, and the wild cat at its birth." A Kayastli, writer, 
 or putwarrie, may be allowed to live till he is twelve years 
 old, at which time he is sure to have learned rascality. Then 
 kill him ; but kill gwars or cowherds any time, for they are^ 
 invariably rascals. There is a deal of grim bucolic humour- 
 in this, and it very nearly hits the truth. 
 
 The putwarrie, then, is an important personage. He has; 
 his cutcherry, or office, where he and his tribe (for there are 
 always numbers of his fellow caste men who help him in his. 
 books and accounts) squat on their mat on the ground. Each 
 possesses the instruments of his calling in the shape of a 
 small brass ink-pot, and an oblong box containing a knife, 
 pencil, and several reeds for pens. Each has a bundle of 
 papers and documents before him, this is called his busta,. 
 and contains all the papers he uses. There they sit, and 
 have fierce squabbles with the tenantry. There is always, 
 some noise about a putwarrie's cutcherry. He has generally 
 some half dozen quarrels on hand, but he trusts to his pen,, 
 and tongue, and clever brain. He is essentially a man of 
 peace, hating physical contests, delighting in a keen argument, 
 and an encounter with a plotting, calculating brain. Another 
 proverb says that the putwarrie has as much chance of" 
 becoming a soldier as a sheep has of success in attacking a . 
 wolf. 
 
 The lohar, or blacksmith, is very unlike his prototype at 
 home. Here is no sounding anvil, no dusky shop, with the 
 sparks from the heated iron lighting up its dim recesses. 
 There is little to remind one of Longfellow's beautiful poem..
 
 
 
 a 
 
 "8 
 C 
 5
 
 THE BLACKSMITH. 501 
 
 The lohar sits in the open air. His hammers and other im- 
 plements of trade are very primitive. Like all native handi- 
 craftsmen he sits down at his work. His bellows are made 
 of two loose bags of sheepskin, lifted alternately by the 
 attendant coolie. As they lift they get inflated with air ; 
 they are then sharply forced down on their own folds, and 
 the contained air ejected forcibly through an iron or clay 
 nozzle, into the very small heap of glowing charcoal which 
 forms the fire. His principal work is making and sharpening 
 the uncouth-looking ploughshares, which look more like flat 
 blunt chisels than anything else. They also make and keep 
 in repair the hussoivahs, or serrated sickles, with which the 
 crops are cut. They are slow at their task, but many of 
 them are ingenious workers in metal. They are very imitative, 
 and I have seen many English tools and even gun-locks, made 
 by a common native village blacksmith, that could not be 
 surpassed in delicacy of finish by any English smith. It is 
 foreign to our ideas of the brawny blacksmith, to hear that 
 he sits to his work, but this is the invariable custom. Even 
 carpenters and masons squat down to theirs. Cheap labour 
 is but an arbitrary term, and a country smith at home might 
 do the work of ten or twelve men in India ; but it is just as 
 well to get an idea of existing differences. On many of the 
 factories there are very intelligent mistrecs, which is the term 
 for the master blacksmith. These men, getting but twenty- 
 four to thirty shillings a month, and supplying themselves 
 with food and clothing, are nevertheless competent to work 
 all the machinery, attend to the engine, and do all the iron- 
 work necessary for the factory. They will superintend the 
 staff of blacksmiths ; and if the sewing- machine of the mem 
 sahib, the gun-lock of the burra sahib, the lawn-mower, 
 English pump, or other machine gets out of order, requiring 
 any metal work, the mistree is called in, and is generally 
 competent to put things to rights. 
 
 As I have said, every village is a self-contained little com-
 
 502 SPORT AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 mune. All trades necessary to supplying the wants of the 
 villagers are represented in it. Besides the profits from his 
 actual calling, nearly every man, except the daily labourer, 
 has a little bit of land which he farms, so as to eke out his 
 scanty income. All possess a cow or two, a few goats, and 
 probably a pair of plough-bullocks. 
 
 When a dispute arises in the village, should a person be 
 suspected of theft, should his cattle trespass on his neigh- 
 bour's growing crop, should he libel some one against whom 
 he has a grudge, or, proceeding to stronger measures, take 
 the law into his own hands and assault him, the aggrieved 
 party complains to the head man of the village. In every 
 village the head man is the fountain of justice. He holds 
 his office sometimes by right of superior wealth, or intelli- 
 gence, or hereditary succession, not unfrequently by the 
 unanimous wish of his fellow-villagers. On a complaint 
 being made to him, he summons both parties and their 
 witnesses. The complainant is then allowed to nominate 
 two men, to act as assessors or jurymen on his behalf, his 
 nominations being liable to challenge by the opposite party. 
 The defendant next names two to act on his behalf, and if 
 these are agreed to by both parties, these four, with the head 
 man, form what is called a punchayiet, or council of five, in 
 fact, a jury. They examine the witnesses, and each party to 
 the suit conducts his own case. The whole village not un- 
 frequently attends to hear what goes on. In a mere caste or 
 private quarrel, only the friends of the parties will attend. 
 Every case is tried in public, and all the inhabitants of the 
 village can hear the proceedings if they wish. Respectable 
 inhabitants can remark on the proceedings, make suggestions, 
 and give an opinion. Public feeling is thus pretty accurately 
 gauged and tested, and the punchayiet agree among themselves 
 on the verdict. To the honour of their character for fair play 
 be it said, that the decision of a punchayiet is generally 
 correct, and is very seldom appealed against. Our compli-
 
 OUR LEGAL SYSTEM IN INDIA. 503 
 
 cated system of law, with its delays, its technicalities, its 
 uncertainties, and above all its expense, its stamp duties, its 
 court fees, its bribes to native underlings, and the innumer- 
 able vexations attendant on the administration of justice in 
 our revenue and criminal courts, are repugnant to the villager 
 of Hindostan. They are very litigious, and believe in our 
 desire to give them justice and protection to life and property ; 
 but our courts are far too costly, our machinery of justice is 
 far too intricate and complicated for a people like the Hin- 
 doos. " Justice within the gate " is what they want. It is 
 quite enough admission of the reality of our rule that we 
 are the paramount power that they submit a case to us at 
 all ; and all impediments in the way of their getting cheap 
 and speedy justice should be done away with. A codification 
 of existing laws, a sweeping away of one half the forms and 
 technicalities that at present bewilder the applicant for 
 justice, and altogether a less legal and more equitable 
 procedure, having a due regard to efficiency and the conser- 
 vation of Imperial interests, should be the aim of our Indian 
 rulers. More especially should this be the case in rural 
 districts where large interests are concerned, where cases 
 involve delicate points of law. Our present courts, divested 
 of their hungry crowd of middlemen and retainers, are right 
 enough ; but I would like to see rural courts for petty cases 
 established, presided over by leading natives, planters, mer- 
 chants, and men of probity, wliich would in a measure 
 supplement the puncliayut system, which would be easy of 
 access, cheap in their procedure, and with all the impress of 
 authority. It is a question I merely glance at, as it does not 
 come within the scope of a book like this ; but it is well 
 known to every planter and European who has come much 
 in contact with the rural classes of Hindostan, that there is 
 a vast amount of smouldering disaffection, of deep-rooted 
 dislike to, and contempt of, our present cumbrous costly 
 machinery of law and justice.
 
 SPOET AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FEONTIEE. 
 
 If a villager wishes to level a withering sarcasm at the 
 head of a plausible, talkative fellow, all promise and no 
 performance, ready with tongue but not with purse or service, 
 he calls him a vakeel, that is, a lawyer. If he has to cool 
 his heels in your office, or round the factory to get some little- 
 business done, to neglect his work, to get his rent or produce 
 account investigated, wherever there is worry, trouble, delay, 
 or difficulty about anything concerning the relations between 
 himself and the factory, the deepest and keenest expression 
 of discontent and disgust his versatile and acute imagination 
 can suggest, or his fluent tongue give utterance to, is, that 
 this is " Adawlut ka mafick," that is, " like a court of justice." 
 Could there be a stronger commentary on our judicial insti- 
 tutions ? 
 
 The world is waking up now rapidly from the lethargic 
 sleep of ages. Men's minds are keenly alive to what is 
 passing ; communications are much improved ; the dissemi- 
 nation of news is rapid ; the old race of besotted, ignorant 
 tenants, and grasping, avaricious, domineering tyrants of 
 landlords is fast dying out ; and there could be no difficulty 
 in establishing such village or district courts as I have 
 indicated. All educated respectable Europeans with a stake 
 in the country should be made Justices of the Peace, with 
 limited powers to try petty cases. There is a vast material 
 loyalty, educated minds, an honest desire to do justice, 
 independence, and a genuine scorn of everything pettifogging 
 and underhand that the Indian Government would do well 
 to utilise. The best friend of the Baboo cannot acquit him 
 of a tendency to temporise, a hankering after finesse, a 
 too fatal facility to fall under pecuniary temptation. The 
 educated gentleman planter of the present day is above 
 suspicion, and before showering titles and honours on native 
 gentlemen, elevating them to the bench, and deluging the 
 services with them, it might be worth our rulers' while to 
 utilise, or try to utilise, the experience, loyalty, honour, and
 
 THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 505 
 
 integrity of those of our countrymen who might be willing 
 to place their services at the disposal of Government. 
 " India for the Indians " is a very good cry ; it sounds well ; 
 but it will not do to push it to its logical issue. Unless 
 Indians can govern India wisely and well, in accordance 
 with modern national ideas, they have no more right to India 
 than Hottentots have to the Cape, or the black fellows to 
 Australia. In my opinion, Hindoos would never govern 
 Hindostan half, quarter, nay, one tithe as well as English- 
 men. Make more of your Englishmen in India then, make 
 not less of your Baboo if you please, but make more of your 
 Englishmen. Keep them loyal and content. Treat them 
 kindly and liberally. One Englishman, contented, loyal, 
 and industrious in an Indian district, is a greater pillar of 
 strength to the Indian Government than ten dozen Baboos 
 or Zemindars, let them have as many titles, decorations, 
 university degrees, or certificates of loyalty from junior 
 civilians as they may. Not India for the Indians, but 
 India for Imperial Britain say I.
 
 506 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPATJL FRONTIER. 
 
 CHAPTEK XIV. 
 
 A native village continued The watchman or " chowkeydar " The 
 temple Brahmins Idols Keligion Humility of the poorer classes 
 Their low condition Their apathy The police Their extortions 
 and knavery An instance of police rascality Corruption of native 
 officials The Hindoo unfit for self-government. 
 
 ONE more important functionary we have yet to notice, 
 the watchman or chowkeydar. He is generally a Doosadh, or 
 other low caste man, and perambulates the village at night, 
 at intervals uttering a loud cry or a fierce howl, which is 
 caught up and echoed by all the clwwkeydars of the neigh- 
 bouring villages. It is a weird, strange sound, cry after cry 
 echoing far away, distance beyond distance, till it fades into 
 faintness. At times it is not an unmusical cry, but when 
 he howls out close to your tent, waking you from your first 
 dreamless sleep, you do not feel it to be so. The chowkeydar 
 has to see that no thieves enter the village by night. He 
 protects the herds and property of the villagers. If a theft 
 or crime occurs, he must at once report it to the nearest 
 police station. If you lose your way by night, you shout out 
 for the nearest chowkeydar, and he is bound to pass you on 
 to the next village. These men get a small gratuity from 
 government, but the villagers also pay them a small sum, 
 which they assess according to individual means. The chow- 
 keydar is generally a ragged, swarthy fellow with long matted 
 hair, a huge iron-bound staff, and always a blue puggree. 
 The blue is his official colour. Sometimes he has a brass 
 badge, and carries a sword, a curved, blunt weapon, the 
 handle of which is so small that scarcely an Englishman's 
 hand would be found to fit it. It is more for show than
 
 s 
 
 s 
 
 -s 
 
 cr
 
 THE VILLAGE TEMPLE BRAHMINS. 507 
 
 use, and in thousands of cases it has become so fixed in the 
 scabbard that it cannot be drawn. 
 
 In the immediate vicinity of each village, and often in 
 the village itself, is a small temple, sacred to Vishnu or 
 Shiva. It is often perched high up on some bank, over- 
 looking the lake or village tank. Generally there is some 
 umbrageous old tree overshadowing the sacred fane, and 
 seated near, reclining in the shade, are several oleaginous 
 old Brahmins. If the weather be hot, they generally wear 
 only the dhotce or loin cloth made of fine linen or cotton, 
 and hanging about the legs in not ungraceful folds. The 
 Brahmin can be told by his sacred thread worn round 
 the neck over the shoulder. His skin is much fairer 
 than the majority of his fellow villagers. It is not un- 
 frequently a pale golden oli ve, and I have seen them as fair 
 as many Europeans. They are intelligent men, with acute 
 minds, but lazy and self-indulgent. Frequently the village 
 Brahmin is simply a sensual voluptuary. This is not the 
 time or place to descant on their religion, which, with many 
 gross practices, contains not a little that is pure and beautiful. 
 The common idea at home that they are miserable pagans, 
 "bowing down to stocks and stones," is, like many of the 
 accepted ideas about India, very much exaggerated. That 
 the masses, the crude uneducated Hindoos, place some faith 
 in the idol, and expect in some mysterious way that it will 
 influence their fate for good or evil, is not to be denied, but 
 the more intelligent natives, and most of the Brahmins, only 
 look on the idol as a visible sign and symbol of the divinity. 
 They want a vehicle to carry their thoughts upwards to God, 
 and the idol is a means to assist their thoughts heavenward. 
 As works of art their idols are not equal to the fine pictures 
 and other symbols of the Greeks or the Roman Catholics, but 
 they serve the same purpose. Where the village is very 
 poor, and no pious founder has perpetuated his memory, or 
 done honour to the gods by erecting a temple, the natives
 
 508 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 content themselves with a rough mud shrine, which they 
 visit at intervals and daub with red paint. They deposit 
 flowers, pour libations of water or milk, and in other ways 
 strive to shew that a religious impulse is stirring within them. 
 So far as I have observed, however, the vast mass of the poor 
 toilers in India have practically little or no religion. Material 
 wants are too pressing. They may have some dumb, vague 
 aspirations after a higher and a holier life, but the fight for 
 necessaries, for food, raiment, and shelter, is too incessant for 
 them to indulge much in contemplation. They have a dim 
 idea of a future life, but none of them can give you anything 
 but a very unsatisfactory idea of their religion. They observe 
 certain forms and ceremonies, because their fathers did, and 
 because the Brahmins tell them. Of real, vital, practical 
 religion, as we know it, they have little or no knowledge. 
 Ask any common labourer or one of the low castes about 
 immortality, about salvation, about the higher virtues, about 
 the yearnings and wishes that every immortal soul at periods 
 has, and he will simply tell you, " Khoda jane, hum gureeb 
 adnai," i.e. " God knows ; I am only a poor man ! " There 
 they take refuge always when you ask them anything 
 puzzling. If you are rating them for a fault, asking them to 
 perform a complicated task, or inquiring your way in a 
 strange neighbourhood, the first answer you get will ten to 
 one, be " Hum gureeb adnai." It is said almost instinctively, 
 and no doubt in many cases is the refuge of simple disincli- 
 nation to think the matter out. Pure laziness suggests it. 
 It is too much trouble to frame an answer, or give the desired 
 information, and the " gureeb admi " comes naturally to the 
 lip. It is often deprecatory, meaning " I am ignorant and 
 uninformed, you must not expect too much from a poor, 
 rude, uncultivated man like me." It is often, also, a delicate 
 mode of flattery, which is truly Oriental, implying, and often 
 conveying in a tone, a look, a gesture, that though the 
 speaker is "gureeb," poor, humble, despised, it is only by
 
 CONDITION OF THE POORER CLASSES. 509 
 
 contrast to you, the questioner, who are mighty, exalted, and 
 powerful. For downright fawning obsequiousness, or delicate, 
 implied, fine-strung, subtle flattery, I will back a Hindoo 
 sycophant against the courtier or place-hunter of every other 
 nation. It is very annoying at times, if you are in a hurry, 
 and particularly want a direct answer to a plain question, to 
 hear the old old story, "I am a poor man," but there is 
 nothing for it but patience. You must ask again plainly and 
 kindly. The poorer classes are easily flurried; they will 
 always give what information they have if kindly spoken to, 
 but you must not fluster them. You must rouse their minds 
 to think, and let them fairly grasp the purport of your inquiry, 
 for they are very suspicious, often pondering over your object, 
 carefully considering all the pros and cons as to your motive, 
 inclination, or your position. Many try to give an answer 
 that they think would be pleasing to you. If they think 
 you are weary and tired, and you ask your distance from 
 the place you may be wishing to reach, they will ridiculously 
 underestimate the length of road. A man may have all the 
 cardinal virtues, but if they think you do not] like him, and 
 you ask his character, they will paint him to you blacker 
 than Satan himself. It is very hard to get the plain un- 
 varnished truth from a Hindoo. Many, indeed, are almost 
 incapable of giving an intelligent answer to any question 
 that does not nearly concern their own private and purely 
 personal interests. They have a sordid, grubbing, vegetating 
 life ; many of them indeed are but little above the brute 
 creation. They have no idea beyond the supply of the mere 
 animal wants of the moment. The future never troubles 
 them. They live their hard, unlovelyUives, and experience 
 few pleasures and no surprises. They have few regrets ; their 
 minds are mere blanks, and life is one long continued struggle 
 with nature for bare subsistence. What wonder then that 
 they are fatalists ? They do not speculate on the mysteries of 
 existence, they are content to be, to labour, to suffer, to die
 
 510 SPOUT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 when their time comes like a dog, because it is Kismet their 
 fate. Many of them never strive to avert any impending 
 calamity, such, for example, as sickness. A man sickens, he 
 wraps himself in stolid apathy, he makes no effort to shake 
 off his malady, he accepts it with sullen, despairing, pathetic 
 resignation as his fate. His friends mourn in their dumb, 
 despairing way, but they too accept the situation. He has 
 no one to rouse him. If you ask him what is the matter, he 
 only wails out, " Hum kya kurre ? " " What can I do ? I 
 am unwell." No attempt whatever to tell you of the origin of 
 his illness, no wish even for sympathy or assistance. He 
 accepts the fact of his illness. He struggles not with Fate. 
 It is so ordained. Why fight against it ? " Amen ; so let it 
 be." I have often been saddened to see poor toiling tenants 
 struck down in this way. Even if you give them medicine, 
 they often have not energy enough to take it. You must see 
 them take it before your eyes. It is your struggle, not theirs. 
 You must rouse them, by your will. Your energy must compel 
 them to make an attempt to combat their weakness. Once 
 you rouse a man, and infuse some spirit into him, he may 
 resist his disease, but it is a hard fight to get him to TRY. 
 What a meaning in that one word TRY ! To ACT. To DO. 
 The average poor suffering native Hindoo knows nothing 
 of it. 
 
 Of course their moods vary. They have their " high days 
 and holidays," feasts, processions, and entertainments; but 
 on the whole the average ryot or small cultivator has a hard 
 life. 
 
 In every village there are generally bits of uncultivated or 
 jungle lands, on which the village herds have a right of 
 pasture. The cow being a sacred animal, they only use her 
 products, milk and butter. The urchins may be seen in the 
 morning driving long strings of emaciated-looking animals to 
 the village pasture, which in the evening wend their weary 
 way backwards through the choking dust, having had but
 
 TEE POLICE. 511 
 
 "short commons" all the day on the parched and scanty 
 herbage. 
 
 The police are too often a source of annoyance, and become 
 extortionate robbers, instead of " the protectors of the poor." 
 It seems to be inherent in the Oriental mind to abuse 
 authority. I do not scruple to say that all the vast army of 
 policemen, court peons, writers, clerks, messengers, and 
 underlings of all sorts, about the courts of justice, in the 
 service of Government officers, or in any way attached to the 
 retinue of a Government official, one and all are undeniably 
 shamelessly venal and corrupt. They accept a bribe much 
 more quickly than an attorney a fee, or a hungry dog a shin 
 of beef. If a policeman only enters a village he expects a 
 feast from the head man, and will ask a present with 
 unblushing effrontery as a perquisite of his office. If a theft 
 is reported, the inspector of the nearest police-station, or 
 ihanna as it is called, sends one of his myrmidons, or, if the 
 chance of bribes be good, he may attend himself. On arrival, 
 ambling on his broken-kneed, wall-eyed pony, he seats 
 himself in the verandah of the chief man of the village, who 
 forthwith, with much inward trepidation, makes his appear- 
 ance. The policeman assumes the air of a haughty 
 conqueror receiving homage from a conquered foe. He 
 assures the trembling wretch that, "acting on information 
 received," he must search his dwelling for the missing goods, 
 and that his women's apartments will have to be ransacked, 
 and so annoys, goads, and insults the unfortunate man, that 
 he is too glad to purchase immunity from further insolence 
 by making the policeman a small present, perhaps a " kid of 
 the goats," or something else. The guardian of the peace is 
 then regaled with the best food in the house, after which he 
 becomes " wreathed with smiles." If he sees a chance of a 
 farther bribe, he takes his departure saying he will make his 
 report to the thanna. He repeats his procedure with some 
 of the other respectable inhabitants, and goes back a good 
 
 2 L
 
 512 SPOET AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 deal richer than he came, to share the spoil with the 
 thannadar or inspector. 
 
 Another man may then be sent, and the same course is 
 followed, until all the force in the station have had their 
 share. The ryot is afraid to resist. The police have 
 tremendous powers for annoying and doing him harm. A 
 crowd of subservient scoundrels always hangs round the 
 station, dependents, relations, or accomplices. These harry the 
 poor man who is unwise enough to resist the extortionate de- 
 mands of the police. They take his cattle to the pound, foment 
 strife between him and his neighbours, get up frivolous 
 and false charges against him, harass him in a thousand ways, 
 and if all else fails, get him summoned as a witness in some 
 case. You might think a witness a person to be treated 
 with respect, to be attended to, to have every facility offered 
 him for giving his evidence at the least cost of time and 
 trouble possible consistent with the demands of justice and 
 the vindication of law and authority. 
 
 Not so in India with the witness in a police case, when 
 the force dislike him. If he has not previously satisfied their 
 leech-like rapacity, he is tormented, tortured, bullied, and 
 kicked " from pillar to post " till his life becomes a burden 
 to him. He has to leave all his avocations, perhaps at the 
 time when his affairs require his constant supervision. He 
 has to trudge many a weary mile to attend the Court. The 
 police get hold of him, and keep him often in real durance. 
 He gets no opportunity for cooking or eating his food. His 
 daily habits are upset and interfered with. In every little 
 vexatious way (and they are masters of the art of petty 
 torture) they so worry and goad him, that the very threat of 
 being summoned as a witness in a police case, is often enough 
 to make the horrified well-to-do native give a handsome 
 gratuity to be allowed to sit quietly at home. 
 
 This is no exaggeration. It is the every-day practice of 
 the police. They exercise a real despotism. They have set
 
 VENALITY OF POLICE IN INDIA. 513 
 
 up a reign of terror. The nature of the ryot is such, that he 
 will submit to a great deal to avoid having to leave his home 
 and his work. The police take full advantage of this feeling, 
 and being perfectly unscrupulous, insatiably rapacious, and 
 leagued together in villany, they make a golden harvest out 
 of every case put into their hands. They have made the 
 name of justice stink in the nostrils of the respectable and 
 well-to-do middle classes of India. 
 
 The District Superintendents are men of energy and probity, 
 but after all they are only mortal. What with accounts, 
 inspections, reports, forms, and innumerable writings, they 
 cannot exercise a constant vigilance and personal supervision 
 over every part of their district. A district may comprise 
 many hundred villages, thousands of inhabitants, and leagues 
 of intricate and densely peopled country. The mere physical 
 exertion of riding over his district in about a week would be 
 too much for any man. The subordinate police are all inter- 
 ested in keeping up the present system of extortion, and the 
 inspectors and sub-inspectors, who wink at malpractices, 
 come in for their share of the spoil. There is little combina- 
 tion among the peasantry. Each selfishly tries to save his 
 own skin, and they know that if any one individual were to 
 complain, or to dare to resist, he would have to bear the brunt 
 of the battle alone. None of his neighbours would stir a 
 finger to back him ; he is too timid and too much in awe of 
 the official European, and constitutionally too averse to 
 resistance, to do aught but suffer in silence. No doubt he 
 feels his wrongs most keenly, and a sullen feeling of hate and 
 wrong is being garnered up, which may produce results 
 disastrous for the peace and well-being of our empire in the 
 East. 
 
 As a case in point, I may mention one instance out of 
 many which came under my own observation. I had a 
 moonshee, or accountant, in one of my outworks in Purneah. 
 Formerly, when the police had come through the factory, he 
 
 2 L 2
 
 514 SPOET AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 had been in the habit of giving them a present and some 
 food. Under my strict orders, however, that no policemen 
 were to be allowed near the place unless they came on busi- 
 ness, he had discontinued paying his black-mail. This was 
 too glaring an infringement of what they considered their 
 vested rights to be passed over in silence. Example might 
 spread. My man must be made an example of. I had a case 
 in the Court of the Deputy Magistrate some twenty miles 
 or so from the factory. The moonshee had been named as a 
 witness to prove the writing of some papers filed in the suit. 
 They got a citation for him to appear, a mere summons for 
 his attendance as a witness. Armed with this, they appeared 
 at the factory two or three days before the date fixed on for 
 hearing the cause. I had just ridden in from Purneah, tired, 
 hot, and dusty, and was sitting in the shade of the verandah 
 with young D., my assistant. One policeman first came up, 
 presented the summons, which I took, and he then stated 
 that it was a warrant for the production of my moonshee, and 
 that he must take him away at once. I told the man it was 
 merely a summons, requiring the attendance of the moonshee 
 on a certain date to give evidence in the case. He was very 
 insolent in his manner. It is customary when a Hindoo of 
 inferior rank appears before you, that he removes his shoes, 
 and stands before you in a respectful attitude. This man's 
 headdress was all disarranged, which in itself is a sign of dis- 
 respect. He spoke loudly and insolently ; kept his shoes on ; 
 and sat down squatting on the grass before me. My assistant 
 was very indignant, and wanted to speak to the man ; but 
 rightly judging that the object was to enrage me, and trap me 
 into committing^ some overt act, that would be afterwards 
 construed against me, I kept my temper, spoke very firmly 
 but temperately, told him my moonshee was doing some work 
 of great importance, that I could not spare his services then, 
 but that I would myself see that the summons was attended 
 to. The policeman became more boisterous and insolent. I
 
 AN INSTANCE OF POLICE RASCALITY. 515 
 
 offered to give him a letter to the magistrate, acknowledging 
 the receipt of the summons, and I asked him his own name, 
 which he refused to give. I asked him if he could read, and 
 he said he could not. I then asked him if he could not read, 
 how could he know what was in the paper which he had 
 brought, and how he knew my moonshee was the party 
 meant. He said a chowkeydar had told him so. I asked 
 where was the chowkeydar, and seeing from my coolness and 
 determination that the game was up, he shouted out, and 
 from round the corner of the huts came another policeman 
 and two village chowkeydars from a distance. They had 
 evidently been hiding, observing all that passed, and meaning 
 to act as witnesses against me, if I had been led by the first 
 scoundrel's behaviour to lose my temper. The second man 
 was not such a brute as the first, and when I proceeded to ask 
 their names and all about them, and told them I meant to 
 report them to their superintendent, they became somewhat 
 frightened, and tried to make excuses. 
 
 I told them to be off the premises at once, offering to take 
 the summons, and give a receipt for it, but they now saw 
 that they had made a mistake in trying to bully me, and 
 made off at once. Mark the sequel. The day before the case 
 was fixed on for hearing, I sent off the moonshee, who was a 
 witness of my own, and his evidence was necessary to my 
 proving my case. I supplied him with travelling expenses, 
 and he started. On his way to the Court he had to pass the 
 thanna, or police-station. The police were on the watch. 
 He was seized as he passed. He was confined all that night 
 and all the following day. For want of his evidence I lost 
 my case, and having thus achieved one part of their object to 
 pay me off, they let my moonshee go, after insult and abuse, 
 and with threats of future vengeance should he ever dare to 
 thwart or oppose them. This was pretty " hot " you think, 
 but it was not all. Fearing my complaint to the superin- 
 tendent or to the authorities might get them into trouble,
 
 516 SPORT AND WOEK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 they laid a false charge against me, that I had obstructed 
 them in the discharge of their duty, that I had showered 
 abuse on them, used threatening language, and insulted the 
 majesty of the law by tearing up and spitting upon the 
 respected summons of Her Majesty. On this complaint I 
 was accordingly summoned into Purneah. The charge was a 
 tissue of the most barefaced lies, but I had to ride fifty -four 
 miles in the burning sun, ford several rivers, and undergo 
 much fatigue and discomfort. My work was of course 
 seriously interfered with. I had to take in my assistant as 
 witness, and one or two of the servants who had been present. 
 I was put to immense trouble, and no little expense, to say 
 nothing of the indignation which I naturally felt, and all 
 because I had set my face against a well-known evil, and 
 was determined not to submit to impudent extortion. Of 
 course the case broke down. They contradicted themselves 
 in almost every particular. The second constable indeed 
 admitted that I had offered them a letter to the magistrate, 
 and had not moved out of the verandah during the colloquy. 
 I was honourably acquitted, and had the satisfaction of seeing 
 the lying rascals put into the dock by the indignant magistrate 
 and prosecuted summarily for getting up a false charge and 
 giving false evidence. It was a lesson to the police in those 
 parts,, and they did not dare to trouble me much afterwards ; 
 but it is only one instance out of hundreds I could give, and 
 which every planter has witnessed, of the barefaced audacity, 
 the shameless extortion, the unblushing lawlessness of the 
 rural police of India. 
 
 It is a gigantic evil, but surely not irremediable. By 
 adding more European officers to the force ; by educating the 
 people and making them more intelligent, independent, and 
 self-reliant, much may be done to abate the evil, but at 
 present it is admittedly a foul ulcer on the administration of 
 justice under our rule. The menial who serves a summons, 
 gets a decree of Court to execute, or is entrusted with any
 
 THE HINDOO UNFIT FOR SELF-GOVERNMENT. 517 
 
 order of an official nature, expects to be bribed to do his 
 duty. If he does not get his fee, he will throw such 
 impediments in the way, raise such obstacles, and fashion 
 such delays, that he completely foils every effort to procure 
 .justice through a legal channel. No wonder a native hates 
 our English Courts. Our English officials, let it be plainly 
 understood, are above suspicion. It needs not my poor 
 'testimony to uphold their character for high honour, loyal 
 integrity, and zealous eagerness to "do justly and to walk 
 uprightly." They are unwearied in their efforts to get at 
 truth, and govern wisely ; but our system of law is totally 
 unsuited for Orientals. It is made a medium for chicanery 
 and trickery of the most atrocious form. Most of the native 
 underlings are utterly venal and corrupt. Increased pay 
 does not mean decrease of knavery. Cheating, and lying 
 and taking bribes, and abuse of authority are ingrained into 
 their very souls ; and all the cut and dry formulas of namby- 
 pamby philanthropists, the inane maunderings of stay-at- 
 home sentimentalists, the wise saws of self-opinionated 
 theorists, who know nothing of the Hindoo as he really 
 shows himself to us in daily and hourly contact with him, 
 will ever persuade me that native, as opposed to English, 
 rule would be productive of aught but burning oppression 
 and shameless venality, or would end in anything but 
 anarchy and chaos. 
 
 It sounds very well in print, and increases the circulation 
 of a paper or two among the Baboos, to cry out that our task 
 is to elevate the oppressed and ignorant millions of the East, 
 to educate them into self-government, to make them judges, 
 officers, lawgivers, governors over all the land. To vacate 
 our place and power, and let the Baboo and the Bunneah, to 
 whom we have given the glories of Western civilization, rule 
 in our place, and guide the fortunes of these toiling millions 
 who owe protection and peace to our fostering rule. It is a 
 noble sentiment to resign wealth, honour, glory, and power ;
 
 518 SPOET AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 to give up a settled government ; to alter a policy that has 
 welded the conflicting elements of Hindostan into one stable 
 whole ; to throw up our title of conqueror, and disintegrate 
 a mighty empire. For what? A sprinkling of thinly- 
 veneered, half-educated natives want a share of the loaves 
 and fishes in political scrambling, and a few inane people of 
 the " man and brother " type cry out at home to let them 
 have their way. 
 
 No. Give the Hindoo education, equal laws, protection 
 to life and property ; develop the resources of the country \. 
 foster all the virtues you can find in the native mind ; but 
 till you can give him the energy, the integrity, the singleness 
 of purpose, the manly, honourable straightforwardness of the 
 Anglo-Saxon ; his scorn of meanness, trickery, and fraud ;. 
 his loyal single-heartedness to do right; his contempt for 
 oppression of the weak ; his self-dependence ; his probity. 
 But why go on ? When you make Hindoos honest, truthful, 
 God-fearing Englishmen, you can let them govern them- 
 selves ; but as soon " may the leopard change his spots " as 
 the Hindoo his character. He is wholly unfit for self- 
 government; utterly opposed to honest, truthful, staple 
 government at all. Time brings strange changes, but the 
 wisdom which has governed the country hitherto will surely 
 be able to meet the new demand that may be made upon it 
 in the immediate present or in the far distant future.
 
 ( 519 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Jungle wild fruits Curious method of catching quail Quail nets Quail 
 caught in a blacksmith's shop Native wrestling The trainer How 
 they train for a match Rules of wrestling Grips A wrestling 
 match Incidents of the struggle Description of a match between a 
 Brahmin and a blacksmith Sparring for the grip The blacksmith 
 has it The struggle The Brahmin getting the worst of it Two to 
 one on the little 'un ! The Brahmin plays the waiting game, turns 
 the tables and the blacksmith Eemarks on wrestling. 
 
 A PECULIARITY in the sombre sal jungles is the scarcity of 
 wild fruit. At home the woods are filled with berries and 
 fruit-bearing bushes. Who among my readers has not a 
 lively recollection of bramble hunting, nutting, or merry 
 expeditions for blueberries, wild strawberries, raspberries, 
 and other wild fruits ? You might walk many a mile 
 through the sal jungles without meeting fruit of any kind, 
 save the dry and tasteless wild fig or the sickly mhowa. 
 
 There are indeed very few jungle fruits that I have ever 
 come across. There is one acid sort of plum called the 
 Omra, which makes a good preserve, but is not very nice to 
 eat raw. The GorJcah is a small red berry, very sweet and 
 pleasant, slightly acid, not unlike a red currant in fact, and 
 with two small pips or stones. The Nepaulese call it 
 BuncJiooree. It grows on a small stunted-looking bush, with 
 few branches, and a pointed leaf, in form resembling the 
 acacia leaf, but not so large. 
 
 The Glaphur is a brown, round fruit; the skin rather 
 crisp and hard, and of a dull earthy colour, not unlike that of 
 a common boiled potato. The inside is a stringy, spongy-
 
 520 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 looking mass, with small seeds embedded in a gummy viscid 
 substance. The taste is exactly like an almond, and it forms 
 a pleasant mouthful if one is thirsty. 
 
 Travelling one day along one of the glades I have 
 mentioned as dividing the strips of jungle, I was surprised to 
 see a man before me in a field of long stubble, with a cloth 
 spread over his head, and two sticks projecting in front at an 
 obtuse angle to his body, forming horn -like projections, on 
 which the ends of his cloth, twisted spirally, were tied. I 
 thought from his curious antics and movements that he 
 must be mad, but I soon discovered that there was method 
 in his madness. He was catching quail. The quail are 
 often very numerous in the stubble fields, and the natives 
 adopt very ingenious devices for their capture. This was 
 one I was now witnessing. Covering themselves with their 
 cloth as I have described, the projecting ends of the two 
 sticks representing the horns, they simulate all the move- 
 ments of a cow or bull. They pretend to paw up the earth, 
 toss their make-believe horns, turn round and pretend to 
 scratch themselves, and in fact identify themselves with the 
 animal they are representing ; and it is irresistibly comic to 
 watch a solitary performer go through this alfresco comedy. 
 I have laughed often at some cunning old herdsman or 
 shekarry. When they see you watching them, they will 
 redouble their efforts, and try to represent an old bull, going 
 through all his pranks and practices, and throw you into 
 convulsions of laughter. 
 
 Eound two sides of the field, they have previously put fine 
 nets, and at the apex they have a large cage with a decoy 
 quail inside, or perhaps a pair. The quail is a running bird, 
 disinclined for flight except at night ; in the day-time they 
 prefer running to using their wings. The idiotic-looking old 
 cow, as we will call the hunter, has all his wits about him. 
 He proceeds very slowly and warily, his keen eye detects 
 the coveys of quail, which way they are running ; his ruse
 
 CATCHING QUAIL. 521 
 
 generally succeeds wonderfully. He is no more like a cow 
 than that respectable animal is like a cucumber ; but he 
 paws, and tosses, and moves about, pretends to eat, to nibble 
 here, and switch his tail there, and so manoeuvres as to keep 
 the running quail away from the unprotected edges of the 
 field. When they get to the verge protected by the net, they 
 begin to take alarm ; they are probably not very certain 
 about v the peculiar-looking " old cow " behind them, and 
 running along the net, they see the decoy quails evidently 
 feeding in great security and freedom. The V-shaped mouth 
 of the large basket cage looks invitingly open. The puzzling 
 nets are barring the way, and the " old cow " is gradually 
 closing up behind. As the hunter moves along, I should 
 have told you, he rubs two pieces of diy hard sticks gently 
 up and down his thigh with one hand, producing a peculiar 
 crepitation, a crackling sound, not sufficient to startle the 
 birds into flight, but alarming them enough to make them 
 get out of the way of the " old cow." One bolder than the 
 others, possibly the most timid of the covey, irritated by the 
 queer crackling sound, now enters the basket, the others 
 follow like a flock of sheep ; and once in, the puzzling shape 
 of the entrance prevents their exit. Not unfrequently the 
 hunter bags twenty or even thirty brace of quail in one field 
 l)y this ridiculous-looking but ingenious method. 
 
 The small quail net is also sometimes used for the capture 
 of hares. The natives stretch the net in the jungle, much as 
 they do the large nets for deer described in a former chapter ; 
 forming a line, they then beat up the hares, of which there 
 are no stint. My friend Pat once made a novel haul His 
 lokarkhanna or blacksmith's shop was close to a patch of 
 jungle, and Pat often noticed numbers of quail running 
 through the loose chinks and crevices of the walls, in the 
 morning when any one went into the place for the first time ; 
 tliis was at a factory called Eajpore. Pat came to the con- 
 clusion, that as the blacksmith's fires smouldered some time
 
 522 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 after work was discontinued at night, and as the atmosphere 
 of the hut was warmer and more genial than the cold, foggy, 
 outside air, for it was in the cold season, the quail probably 
 took up their quarters in the hut for the night, on account 
 of the warmth and shelter. One night, therefore, he got 
 some of his servants, and with great caution and as much 
 silence as possible, they let down a quantity of nets all round 
 the loharkhanna, and in the morning they captured about 
 twenty quails. 
 
 The quail is very pugnacious, and as they are easily 
 trained to fight, they are very common pets with the natives, 
 who train and keep them to pit them against each other, and 
 bet what they can afford on the result. A quail fight, a 
 battle between two trained rams, a cock fight, even an en- 
 counter between trained tamed buffaloes, are very common 
 spectacles in the villages ; but the most popular sport is a 
 good wrestling match. 
 
 The dwellers in the Presidency towns, and indeed in most 
 of the large stations, seldom see an exhibition of this kind ; 
 but away in the remote interior, near the frontier, it is a 
 very popular pastime, and wrestling is a favourite with all 
 classes. Such manly sport is rather opposed to the commonly 
 received idea at home of the mild Hindoo. In nearly every 
 village of Behar, however, and all along the borders of 
 Nepaul, there is, as a rule, a bit of land attached to the 
 residence of some head man, or the common property of the 
 commune, set apart for the practice of athletic sports, chief 
 of which is the favourite khoosthee or wrestling. There is 
 generally some wary old veteran, who has won his spurs, or 
 laurels, or belt, or whatever you choose to call it, in many a 
 hard fought and well contested tussle for the championship 
 of his little world ; he is " up to every dodge," and knows 
 every feint and guard, every wile and tactic of the wrestling 
 ground. It is generally situated in some shady grove, 
 secluded and cool ; here of an evening, when the labours of
 
 NATIVE WRESTLING. 523 
 
 the day are over, the most stalwart sons of the hamlet meet, 
 to test each other's skill and endurance in a friendly tussle. 
 The old man puts them through the preliminary practice, 
 shows them every trick at his command, and attends strictly 
 to their training and various trials. The arena is dug knee 
 deep, and forms a soft, good holding ground. I have often 
 looked on at this evening practice, and it would astonish a 
 stranger, who cannot understand strength, endurance, and 
 activity being attributed to a " mere nigger," to see the severe 
 training these young lads impose upon themselves. They 
 leap into the air, and suddenly assume a sitting position, 
 then leap up again and squat down with a force that would 
 seem to jerk every bone in their bodies out of its place ; this 
 gets up the muscles of the thighs. Some lie down at full 
 length, only touching the ground with the extreme tips of 
 their toes, their arms doubled up under them, and sustaining 
 the full weight of the body on the extended palms of the 
 hands. They then sway themselves backwards and forwards 
 to their full length, never shifting hand or toe, till they are 
 bathed in perspiration ; they keep up a uniform steady back- 
 ward and forward movement, so as to develop the muscles of 
 the arms, chest, and back. They practise leaping, running, 
 and lifting weights. Some, standing at their full height, 
 brace up the muscles of the shoulder and upper arm, and 
 then leaping up, allow themselves to fall to earth on the 
 tensely strung muscles of the shoulder. This severe exercise 
 gets the muscles into perfect form, and few, very few indeed 
 of our untrained youths could cope in a dead lock or fierce 
 struggle with a good village Hindoo or Mussulman in active 
 training, and having any knowledge of the tricks of the 
 wrestling school. No hitting is allowed. The Hindoo 
 system of wrestling is the perfection of science and skill ; 
 mere dead weight of course will always tell in a close grip, 
 but the catches, the holds, the twists and dodges that are 
 practised, allow for the fullest development of cultivated
 
 524 SPOUT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 skill, as against mere brute force. The system is purely a 
 scientific one. The fundamental rule is " catch where you 
 can," only you must not clutch the hair or strike with the 
 fists. 
 
 The loins are tightly girt with a long waist-belt or 
 Cummerbund of cloth, which, passed repeatedly between the 
 limbs and round the loins, sufficiently braces up and protects 
 that part of the body. In some matches you are not allowed 
 to clutch this waist-cloth or belt, in some villages it is 
 allowed ; the custom varies in various places, but what is a 
 fair grip, and what is not, is always made known before the 
 competitors engage. A twist, or grip, or dodge, is known as 
 a paench. This literally means a screw or twist, but in 
 wrestling phraseology means any grip by which you can get 
 such an advantage over your opponent as to defeat him. 
 For every paench there is a counter paench. A throw is 
 considered satisfactory when BOTH shoulders of your opponent 
 touch the ground simultaneously. The old JchaUfa or trainer 
 takes a great interest in the progress of his ckailas or pupils. 
 Chaila really means disciple or follower. Every khalifa has 
 his favourite paenches or grips, which have stood him in 
 good stead in his old battling days ; he teaches these 
 paenches to his pupils, so that when you get young fellows 
 from different villages to meet, you see a really fine exhibition 
 of wrestling skill. There is little tripping, as amongst our 
 wrestlers at home ; a dead-lock is uncommon. The rival 
 wrestlers generally bound into the ring, slapping their thighs 
 and arms with a loud resounding slap. They lift their legs 
 high up from the ground with every step, and scheme and 
 manoeuvre sometimes for a long while to get the best corner ; 
 they try to get the sun into their adversaries' eyes ; they 
 scan the appearance and every movement of their opponent. 
 The old wary fellows take it very coolly, and if they can't 
 get the desired side of the ground, they keep hopping about 
 like a solemn old ostrich, till the impetuosity or impatience
 
 NATIVE WRESTLING THE TRAINER. 525 
 
 of their foe leads him to attack. They remind you for all 
 the world of a pair of game cocks, their bodies are bent, 
 their heads almost touching. There is a deal of light play 
 with the hands, each trying to get the other by the wrist or 
 elbow, or at the back of the head round the neck. If one 
 gets the other by a finger even, it is a great advantage, as he 
 would whip nimbly round, and threaten to break the im- 
 pounded finger ; this would be considered quite fair. One 
 will often suddenly drop on his knees and try to reach the 
 ankles of his adversary. I have seen a slippery customer 
 stoop suddenly down, grasp up a handful of dust, and throw 
 it into the eyes of his opponent. It was done with the 
 quickness of thought, but it was detected, and on an appeal 
 by the sufferer, the knave was well thrashed by the on- 
 lookers. 
 
 There are many professionals who follow no other calling. 
 Wrestlers are kept by Eajahs and wealthy men who get up 
 matches. Frequently one village will challenge another, like 
 our village cricket clubs. The villagers often get up small 
 subscriptions, and purchase a silver armlet or bracelet, the 
 prize of him who shall hold his own against all comers. The 
 " Champion's Belt " scarcely calls forth greater competition, 
 keener rivalry, or better sport. It is at once the most manly 
 and most scientific sport in which the native indulges. A 
 disputed fall sometimes terminates in a general free fight, 
 when the backers of the respective men lay on the stick to 
 each other with mutual hate and hearty lustiness. 
 
 It is not by any means always the strongest who wins. 
 The man who knows the most paenches, who is agile, active, 
 cool, and careful, will not unfrequently overthrow an antago- 
 nist twice his weight and strength. All the wrestlers in 
 the country-side know each other's qualifications pretty 
 accurately, and at a general match got up by a Zemindar or 
 planter, or by public subscription, it is generally safe to let 
 them handicap the men who are ready to compete for the
 
 526 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 prizes. We used generally to put down a few of the oldest 
 professors, and let them pit couples against each other ; the 
 sport to the onlookers was most exciting. Between the men 
 themselves, as a rule, the utmost good-humour reigns, they 
 strive hard to win, but they accept a defeat with smiling 
 resignation. It is only between rival village champions, 
 different caste men, or worse still, men of differing religions, 
 such as a Hindoo and a Mahommedan, that there is any 
 danger of a fight. A disturbance is a rare exception, but I 
 have seen a few wrestling matches end in a regular general 
 scrimmage, with broken heads and even fractured limbs. 
 With good management, however, and an efficient body of 
 men to guard against a breach of the peace, this need never 
 occur. 
 
 It rarely takes much trouble to get up a match. If you 
 tell your head man that you would like to see one, say on a 
 Saturday afternoon, they pass the word to the different 
 villages, and at the appointed time, all the finest young 
 fellows and most of the male population, led by their head 
 man, with the old trainer in attendance, are at the appointed 
 place. The competitors are admitted within the enclosure, 
 and round it the rows of spectators, packed twenty deep, 
 squat on the ground, and watch the proceeding with deep 
 interest. 
 
 While the Punchayiet, a picked council, are taking down the 
 names of intending competitors, finding out about their form 
 and performances, and assigning to each his antagonist, the 
 young men throw themselves with shouts and laughter into 
 the ring, and go through all the evolutions and postures of 
 the training ground. They bound about, try all sorts of 
 antics and contortions, display wonderful agility and activity ; 
 it is a pretty sight to see, and one can't help admiring their 
 vigorous frames and graceful proportions. They are hand- 
 some, well made, supple, wiry fellows, although they be 
 NIGGERS, and Hodge and Giles at home would not have a
 
 GETTING UP A MATCH. 527 
 
 chance with them in a fair wrestling bout, conducted accord- 
 ing to their own laws and customs. 
 
 The entries are now all made, places and pairs are arranged, 
 and to the ear-splitting thunder of two or three tom-toms, 
 two pair of strapping youngsters step into the ring; they 
 carefully scan each other, advance, shake hands, or salaam, 
 leisurely tie up their black hair, slap their muscles, rub a 
 little earth over their shoulders and arms, so that their 
 adversary may have a fair grip, then step by step slowly and 
 gradually they near each other. A few quick passages are 
 now interchanged ; the lithe supple fingers twist and inter- 
 twine, grips are formed on arm and neck. The postures 
 change each moment, and are a study for an anatomist or 
 sculptor. As they warm to their work they get more 
 reckless ; they are only the raw material, the untrained lads. 
 There is a quick scuffle, heaving, swaying, rocking, and 
 struggling, and the two victors, leaping into the air, and 
 slapping their chests, bound back into the gratified circle of 
 their comrades, while the two discomfited athletes, forcing a 
 rueful smile, retire and " take a back seat." Two couple of 
 more experienced hands now face each other. There is pretty 
 play this time, as the varying changes of the contest bring 
 forth ever varying displays of skill and science. The crowd 
 shout as an advantage is gained, or cry out " Hi, hi " in a 
 doubtful manner, as their favourite seems to be getting the 
 worst of it. The result however is much the same ; after a 
 longer or shorter time, two get fairly thrown and retire. If 
 there is any dispute, it is at once referred to the judges, 
 who sit grimly watching the struggle, and comparing the 
 paenches displayed with those they themselves have prac- 
 tised in many a well-won fight On a reference being made 
 both combatants retain their exact hold and position, only 
 cease straining. As soon as the matter is settled, they go at 
 it again till victory determines in favour of the lucky man. In 
 no similar contest in England, I am convinced, would there be 
 
 2 M
 
 528 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 so much fairness, quietness, and order. The only stimulants 
 in the crowd are betel nut and tobacco. All is orderly and 
 calm, and at any moment a word from the sahib will quell 
 any rising turbulence. It is now time for a still more 
 scientific exhibition. 
 
 Pat has a man, a tall, wiry, handsome Brahmin, who has 
 never yet been beaten. Young K. has long been jealous of 
 his uniform success, and on several occasions has brought an 
 antagonist to battle with Pat's champion. To-day he has 
 got a sturdy young blacksmith, whom rumour hath much 
 vaunted, and although he is not so tall as Pat's wrestler, his 
 square, deep chest and stalwart limbs give promise of great 
 strength and endurance. 
 
 As the two men strip and bound into the ring, there is 
 the usual hush of anticipation. Keen eyes scan the appear- 
 ance of the antagonists. They are both models of manly 
 beauty. The blacksmith, though more awkward in his 
 motions, has a cool, determined look about him. The 
 Brahmin, conscious of his reputation, walks quickly up, with 
 a smile of rather ostentatious condescension on his finely cut 
 features, and offers his hand to the blacksmith. The little 
 man is evidently suspicious. He thinks this may be a 
 deeply laid trap to get a grip upon him. Nor does he like 
 the bland patronising manner of " Eoopnarain," so he surlily 
 draws back, at which there is a roar of laughter from the 
 crowd, in which we cannot help joining. 
 
 K. now comes forward, and pats his " fancy man " on the 
 back. The two wrestlers thereupon shake hands, and then 
 in the usual manner both warily move backwards and 
 forwards, till, amid cries from the onlookers, the blacksmith 
 makes a sudden dash at the practised old player, and in a 
 moment has him round the waist. He evidently depended 
 on his superior strength. For a moment he fairly lifted 
 Eoopnarain clean off his legs, swayed him to and fro, and 
 with a mighty strain tried to throw him to the ground.
 
 THE STRUGGLE. 529 
 
 Bending to the strain, Koopnarain allowed himself to yield 
 till his feet touched the ground, then, crouching like a panther, 
 he bounded forward, and, getting his leg behind that of the 
 blacksmith, by a deft side twist he nearly threw him over. 
 The little fellow, however, steadied himself on the ground 
 with one hand, recovered his footing, and again had the 
 Brahmin firmly locked in his tenacious hold. Eoopnarain 
 did not like the grip. These were not the tactics he was 
 accustomed to. While the other tugged and strained, he, 
 quietly yielding his lithe lissom frame to every effort, tried 
 hard with obstinate endeavour to untwist the hands that 
 held him firmly locked. It was beautiful play to see the 
 mute hands of both the wrestlers, feeling, tearing, twisting at 
 each other ; but the grasp was too firm, and, taking advantage 
 of a momentary movement, Eoopnarain got his elbow under 
 the other's chin, then, leaning forward, he pressed his 
 opponent's head backward, and the strain began to tell. 
 He fought fiercely, he struggled hard, but the determined 
 elbow was not to be baulked, and to save himself from an 
 overthrow the blacksmith was forced to relax his hold, and 
 sprang nimbly back beyond reach, to mature another attack. 
 Eoopnarain quietly walked round, rubbed his shoulders with 
 earth, and with the same mocking smile, stood leaning 
 forward, his hands on his knees, waiting for a fresh onset. 
 
 This time the young fellow was more cautious. He found 
 he had no novice to deal with, and the Brahmin was not at 
 all anxious to precipitate matters. By a splendid feint, after 
 some pretty sparring for a grip, the youngster again succeeded 
 in getting a hold on the Brahmin, and, wheeling round quick 
 as lightning, got behind Eoopnarain, and with a dexterous 
 trip threw the tall man heavily on his face. He then tried 
 to get him by the ankle, and bending his leg up backwards, 
 he would have got a purchase for turning him on his back. 
 The old man was, however, "up to this move." He lay 
 extended flat on his chest, his legs wide apart. As often 
 
 2 M 2
 
 530 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 as the little one bent down to grasp his ankle, he would put 
 out a hand stealthily and silently as a snake, and endeavour 
 to get the little man's leg in his grasp. This necessitated a 
 change of position, and round and round they spun, each 
 trying to get hold of the other by the leg or foot. The 
 blacksmith got his knee on the neck of the Brahmin, and by 
 sheer strength tried several times with a mighty heave to 
 turn his opponent. It was no use, however ; it is next to 
 impossible to throw a man when he is lying flat out as the 
 Brahmin now was. It is difficult enough to turn the dead 
 weight of a man in that position, and when he is straining 
 every nerve to resist the accomplishment of your object it 
 becomes altogether impracticable. The excitement in the 
 crowd was intense. The very drummer I ought to call 
 him a tom-tomer had ceased to beat his tom-tom. Pat's 
 lips were firmly pressed together, and K. was trembling with 
 suppressed excitement. The heaving chests and profuse 
 perspiration bedewing the bodies of both combatants, told 
 how severe had been their exertions. The blacksmith seemed 
 gathering himself up for a mighty effort, when, quick as 
 light, the Brahmin drew his limbs together, and was seen to 
 arch his back, and, with a sudden backward movement, 
 seemed to glide from under his dashing assailant, and, quicker 
 than it takes me to write it, the positions were reversed. 
 
 The Brahmin was now above, and the blacksmith, taking 
 in the altered aspect of affairs at a glance, threw himself flat 
 on the ground, and tried the same tactics as his opponent. 
 The different play of the two men now came strongly into 
 relief. Instead of exhausting himself with useless efforts, 
 Roopnarain, while keeping a wary eye on every movement of 
 his prostrate foe, contented himself, while he took breath, 
 with coolly and yet determinedly making his grip secure. 
 Putting out one leg then within reach of his opponent's hand 
 as a lure, he saw the blacksmith stretch forth to grasp the 
 tempting hold.
 
 THE STRUGGLE BEAHMIN OR BLACKSMITH* 531 
 
 Quicker than the dart of the python, the fierce onset of the 
 kingly tiger, the sudden flash of the forked and quivering 
 lightning, was the grasp made at the outstretched arm by 
 the practised Brahmin. His tenacious fingers closed tightly 
 round the other's wrist. One sudden wrench, and he had 
 the blacksmith's arm bent back and powerless, held down on 
 the little fellow's own shoulders. Pat smiled a derisive 
 smile, K. uttered what was not a benison, while the Brahmins 
 in the crowd, and all Pat's men, raised a truly Hindoo howl 
 of joy. The position of the men was now this. The stout 
 little man was flat on his face, one of his arms bent helplessly 
 round on his own back. Eoopnarain, calm and cool as ever, 
 was astride the prostrate blacksmith, placidly surveying the 
 crowd. The little man writhed and twisted and struggled, 
 he tried with his legs to entwine himself with those of the 
 Brahmin. He tried to spin round; the Brahmin was 
 watching with the eye of a hawk for a grip of the other arm, 
 but it was closely drawn in, and firmly pressed in safety 
 under the heaving chest of the blacksmith. The muscles 
 were of steel ; it could not be dislodged : that was seen at a 
 glance. The calmness and placidity of the old athlete was 
 surprising, it was wonderful. Still bending the imprisoned 
 arm further back, he put his knee on the neck of the poor 
 little hero, game as a pebble through it all, and by a strong 
 steady strain tried to bend him over, till we thought either 
 the poor fellow's neck must break, or his arm be torn from its 
 socket. 
 
 He endured all without a murmur. Not a chance did he 
 throw away. Once or twice he made a splendid effort ; once 
 he tried to catch the Brahmin again by the leg. Eoopnarain 
 pounced down, but the arm was as quickly within its shield. 
 It was now but a question of time and endurance. Every 
 dodge that he was master of did the Brahmin bring into 
 play. They were both in perfect training, muscles as hard 
 as steel, every nerve and sinew strained to the utmost
 
 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 tension. Koopnarain actually tried tickling his man, but he- 
 would not give him a chance. At length he got his hand in 
 the bent elbow of the free arm, and slowly and laboriously 
 forced it out. There were tremendous spurts and struggles, 
 but patient determination was not to be baulked. Slowly the 
 arm came up over the back, the struggle was tremendous, but 
 at length both the poor fellow's arms were tightly pinioned 
 behind his back. He was powerless now. The Brahmin 
 drew the two arms backwards, towards the head of the poor 
 little fellow, and he was bound to come over or have both his 
 arms broken. With a hoarse cry of sobbing pain and shame, 
 the brave little man came over, both shoulders on the mould, 
 and the scientific old veteran was again the victor. 
 
 This is but a very faint description of a true wrestling bout 
 among the robust dwellers in these remote villages. It may 
 seem cruel, but it is to my mind the perfection of muscular 
 strength and skill, combined with keen subtle, intellectual 
 acuteness. It brings every faculty of mind and body into 
 action, it begets a healthy honest love of fair play, and an 
 admiration of endurance and pluck, two qualities of which 
 Englishmen certainly can boast. Strength without skill and 
 training will not avail. It is a fine manly sport, and one 
 which should be encouraged by all who wish well to our 
 dusky fellow subjects in the far-off plains and valleys of 
 Hindostan.
 
 ( 533 
 
 CHAPTEK XVI. 
 
 Indigo seed growing Seed buying and buyers Tricks of sellers Tests 
 for good seed The threshing-floor Seed cleaning and packing Staff 
 of servants Despatching the bags by boat The " Pooneah " or rent- 
 day Purneah planters their hospitality The rent-day a great 
 festival Preparation Collection of rents Feast to retainers The 
 reception in the evening Tribute Old customs Improvisatores and 
 bards Nautches Dancing and music The dance of the Dangurs 
 Jugglers and itinerary showmen " Bara Roopes," or actors and 
 mimics Their different styles of acting. 
 
 BESIDES indigo planting proper, there is another large 
 branch of industry in North Bhaugulpore and along the 
 Nepaul frontier there, and in Purneah, namely, the growing 
 of indigo seed for the Bengal planters. The system of 
 advances and the mode of cultivation is much the same as 
 that followed in indigo planting proper. The seed is sown 
 in June or July, is weeded and tended all through the rains, 
 and cut in December. The planters advance about four 
 rupees a beegah to the ryot, who cuts his seed plant, and 
 brings it into the factory threshing-ground, where it is beaten 
 out, cleaned, weighed, and packed in bags. When the seed 
 has been threshed out and cleaned, it is weighed, and the 
 ryot or cultivator gets four rupees for every niaund a maund 
 being eighty pounds avoirdupois. The previous advance is 
 deducted. The rent or loan account is adjusted, and the 
 balance made over in cash. 
 
 Others grow the seed on their own account, without taking 
 advances, and bring it to the factory for sale. If prices are 
 ruling high, they may get much more than four rupees per 
 maund for it, and they adopt all kinds of ingenious devices
 
 534 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 to adulterate the seed, and increase its weight. They mix 
 dust with it, seeds of weeds, even grains of wheat, and 
 mustard, pea, and other seeds. In buying seed, therefore, one 
 has to be very careful, to reject all that looks bad, or that 
 may have been adulterated. They will even get old useless 
 seed, the refuse stock of former years, and, mixing this with 
 leaves of the neem tree and some turmeric powder, give it a 
 gloss that makes it look like fresh seed. 
 
 When you suspect that the seed has been tampered with 
 in this manner, you wet some of it, and rub it on a piece of 
 fresh clean linen, so as to bring off the dye. Where the 
 attempt has been flagrant, you are sometimes tempted 
 to take the law into your own hands, and administer a little 
 of the castigation which the cheating rascal so richly deserves. 
 In other, cases it is necessary to submit the seed to a 
 microscopic examination. If any old, worn seeds are detected, 
 you reject the sample unhesitatingly. Even when the seed 
 appears quite good, you subject it to yet another test. Take 
 one or two hundred seeds, and, putting them on a damp piece 
 of the pith of a plantain tree, mixed with a little earth, set 
 them in a warm place, and in two days you will be able to 
 tell what percentage has germinated, and what is incapable 
 of germination. If the percentage is good, the seed may be 
 considered as fairly up to the sample, and it is purchased. 
 There are native seed buyers, who try to get as much into 
 their hands as they can and rig the market. There are also 
 European buyers, and there is a keen rivalry in all the 
 bazaars. 
 
 The threshing-floor and seed-cleaning ground presents a 
 busy sight when several thousand maunds of seed are being 
 got ready for despatch by boats. The dirty seed, full of dust 
 and other impurities, is heaped up in one corner. The floor 
 is in the shape of a large square, nicely paved with cement, 
 as hard and clean as marble. Crowds of nearly nude coolies 
 hurry to and fro with scoops of seed resting on their
 
 SEED TEEESHING AND SELLING. 535 
 
 shoulders. When they get in line, at right angles to the 
 direction iii which the wind is blowing, they move slowly 
 along, letting the seed descend on the heap below, while the 
 wind winnows it, and carries the dust in dense clouds to 
 leeward. This is repeated over and over again, till the seed 
 is as clean as it can be made. It is put through bamboo 
 sieves, so formed that any seed larger than indigo cannot 
 pass through. What remains in the sieve is put aside, and 
 afterwards cleaned, sorted, and sold as food, or if useless, 
 thrown away or given to the fowls. The men and boys dart 
 backwards and forwards, there is a steady drip, drip, of 
 seed from the scoops, dense clouds of dust, and incessant 
 noise and bustle. Peons or watchmen are stationed all 
 around to see that none is wasted or stolen. Some are 
 filling sacks full of the cleaned seed, and hauling them off to 
 the weighman and his clerk. Two maunds are put in every 
 sack, and when weighed the bags are hauled up close to the 
 godown or store-room. Here are an army of men with sail- 
 makers' needles and twine. They sew up the bags, which 
 are then hauled away to be marked with the factory brand. 
 Carts are coming and going, carrying bags to the boats, 
 which are lying at the river bank taking in their cargo, and 
 the returning carts bring back loads of wood from the banks 
 of the river. In one corner, under a shed, sits the sahib 
 chaffering with a party of paikars (seed, merchants), who have 
 brought seed for sale. 
 
 Of course he decries the seed, says it is bad, will not hear 
 of the price wanted, and laughs to scorn all the fervent 
 protestations that the seed was grown on their own ground, 
 and has never passed through any hands but their own. If 
 you are satisfied that the seed is good, you secretly name 
 your price to your head man, who forthwith takes up the 
 work of depreciation. You move off to some other depart- 
 ment of the work. The head man and the merchants sit 
 down, perhaps smoke a Iwokali, each trying to outwit the
 
 536 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 other, but after a keen encounter of wits perhaps a bargain is 
 made. A pretty fair price is arrived at, and away goes the 
 purchased seed, to swell the heap at the other end of the 
 yard. It has to be carefully weighed first, and the weighman 
 gets a little from the vendor as his perquisite, which the 
 factory takes from him at the market rate. 
 
 You have buyers of your own out in the deliaat (district), 
 and the parcels they have bought come in hour by hour, with 
 invoices detailing all particulars of quantity, quality, and 
 price. The loads from the seed depots and outworks come 
 rolling up in the afternoon, and have all to be weighed, 
 checked, noted down, and examined. Every man's hand is 
 against you. You cannot trust your own servants. For a 
 paltry bribe they will try to pass a bad parcel of seed, and 
 even when you have your European assistants to help you, 
 it is hard work to avoid being overreached in some shape or 
 other. 
 
 You have to keep up a large staff of writers, who make 
 out invoices and accounts, and keep the books. Your corre- 
 spondence alone is enough work for one man, and you have to- 
 tally bags, count coolies, see them paid their daily wage, 
 attend to lawsuits that may be going on, and yet find time to 
 superintend the operations of the farm, and keep an eye to 
 your rents and revenues from the villages. It is a busy, 
 an anxious time. You have a vast responsibility on your 
 shoulders, and when one takes into consideration the climate 
 you have to contend with, the home comforts and domestic 
 joys you have to do without, the constant tension of mind 
 and irritation of body from dust, heat, insects, lies, bribery,, 
 robbers, and villainy of every description, that meets you on 
 all hands, it must be allowed that a planter at such a time 
 has no easy life. 
 
 The time at which you despatch the seed is also the very 
 time when you are preparing your land for spring sowings. 
 This requires almost as much surveillance as the seed-buying
 
 THE "POONEAH" OB RENT-DAY. 537 
 
 and despatching. You have not a moment you can call 
 your own. If you had subordinates you could trust, who 
 would be faithful and honest, you could safely leave part of 
 the work to them, but from very sad experience I have 
 found that trusting to a native is trusting to a very rotten 
 stick. They are certainly not all bad, but there are just 
 enough exceptions to prove the rule. 
 
 One peculiar custom prevailed in this border district of 
 North Bhaugulpore, which I have not observed elsewhere. 
 At the beginning of the financial year, when the accounts of 
 the past season had all been made up and arranged, and the 
 collection of the rents for the new year was beginning, the 
 planters and Zemindars held what what was called the 
 Pooneah. It is customary for all cultivators and tenants to 
 pay a proportion of their rent in advance. The Pooneah 
 might therefore be called " rent-day." A similar day is set 
 apart for the same purpose in Tirhoot, called tousce or 
 collections, but it is not attended by the same ceremonious 
 observances and quaint customs, as attach to the Pooneah on 
 the border land. 
 
 When every man's account has been made up and checked 
 by the books, the Pooneah day is fixed on. Invitations are 
 sent to all your neighbouring friends, who look forward to 
 each other's annual Pooneah as a great gala day. In North 
 Bhaugulpore and Purneah, nearly all the planters and 
 English-speaking population belong to old families who have 
 been born in the district, and have settled and lived there 
 long before the days of quick communication with home. 
 Their rule among their dependents is patriarchal. Every- 
 one is known among the natives, who have seen him since 
 his birth living amongst them, by some pet name. The old 
 men of the villages remember his father and his father's 
 father, the younger villagers have had him pointed out to 
 them on their visits to the factory as " Willie Baba," " Freddy 
 Baba," or whatever his boyish name may have been, with the
 
 538 SPOUT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 addition of " Baba," which is simply a pet name for a child. 
 These planters know every village for miles and miles. They 
 know most of the leading men in each village by name. The 
 villagers know all about them, discuss their affairs with the 
 utmost freedom, and not a single thing, ever so trivial, 
 happens in the planter's home but it is known and com- 
 mented on in all the villages that lie within the ilaJca 
 (jurisdiction) of the factory. 
 
 The hospitality of these planters is unbounded. They are 
 most of them much liked by all the natives round. I came 
 a "stranger amongst them," and in one sense, and not a 
 flattering sense, they tried " to take me in," but only in one 
 or two instances, which I shall not specify here. By nearly 
 all I was welcomed, and kindly treated, and I formed some 
 very lasting friendships among them, Old traditions of 
 princely hospitality still linger among them. They were 
 clannish in the best sense of the word. The kindness and 
 attention given to aged or indigent relations was one of 
 their best traits. I am afraid the race is fast dying out. 
 Lavish expenditure and a too confiding faith in their native 
 dependents has often brought the usual result. But many 
 of my readers will associate with the name of Purneah or 
 Bhaugulpore planter, recollections of hospitality and unosten- 
 tatious kindness, and memories of glorious sport and warm- 
 hearted friendships. 
 
 On the Pooneah day then, or the night before, many of 
 these friends would meet. The day has long been known 
 to all the villages round, and nothing could better show the 
 patriarchal semi-feudal style in which they ruled over their 
 villages than the customs in connection with this anniversary. 
 Some days before it, requisitions have been made on all the 
 villages in any way connected with the factory for various 
 articles of diet. The herdsmen have to send a tribute of milk, 
 curds, and ghee or clarified butter. Cultivators of root crops 
 or fruit send in samples of their produce, in the shape of huge
 
 THE "POONEAH" OB RENT-DA?. 539 
 
 bundles of plantains, immense jack-fruits, or baskets of sweet 
 potatoes, yams and other vegetables. The koomhar or potter 
 has to send in earthen pots and jars. The mochee or worker 
 in leather brings with him a sample of his work in the shape 
 of a pair of shoes. These are pounced on by your servants 
 and omlah, the omlah being the head man in the office. It 
 is a fine time for them. Wooden shoes, umbrellas, brass 
 pots, fowls, goats, fruits, in fact all the productions of your 
 country side are sent or brought in. It is the old feudal 
 tribute of the middle ages back again. During the day the 
 cutcherry or office is crowded with the more respectable 
 villagers, paying in rents and settling accounts. The noise 
 and bustle are great, but an immense quantity of work is got 
 through. 
 
 The village putwarries and head men are all there with 
 their voluminous accounts. Yo'ur rent-collector, called a 
 teJiseeldar, has been busy in the villages with the tenants and 
 putwarries, collecting rent for the great Pooueah day. There 
 is a constant chink of money, a busy hum, a scratching 
 of innumerable pens. Under every tree, 'neath the shade 
 of every hut, busy groups are squatted round some acute 
 accountant. Totals are being totted up on all hands. 
 From greasy recesses in the waistband a dirty bundle 
 is slowly pulled forth, and the desired sum reluctantly 
 counted out. 
 
 From early morn till dewy eve this work goes on, and you 
 judge your Pooneah to have been a good or bad one by the 
 amount you are able to collect. Peons, with their brass 
 badges flashing in the sun, and their red puggrees showing 
 off their bronzed faces and black whiskers, are despatched in 
 all directions for defaulters. There is a constant going to 
 and fro, a hurrying and bustling in the crowd, a hum as of a 
 distant fair pervading the place, and by evening the total of 
 the day's collections is added up, and while the sahib and 
 his friends take their sherry and bitters, the omlah and
 
 540 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 servants retire to wash and feast, and prepare for the night's 
 festivities. 
 
 During the day, at the houses of the omlah, culinary pre- 
 parations on a vast scale have been going on. The large 
 supplies of grain, rice, flower, fruit, vegetables, &c., which 
 were brought in as salamee or tribute, supplemented by 
 additions from the sahib's own stores, have been made into 
 savoury messes. Curries and cakes, boiled flesh and roast 
 kid, are all ready, and the crowd, having divested themselves 
 of their head-dress and outer garments, and cleaned their 
 hands and feet by copious ablutions, sit down in a wide 
 circle. The large leaves of the water-lily are now served out 
 to each man, and perform the office of plates. Huge baskets 
 of clmpattics, a flat sort of " griddle-cake," are now brought 
 round, and each man gets four or five doled out. The cooking 
 and attendance is all done- by Brahmins. No inferior caste 
 would answer, as Kajpoots and other high castes will only 
 eat food that has been cooked by a Brahmin or one of their 
 own class. The Brahmin attendants now come round with 
 great deJcckces or cooking-pots, full of curried vegetables, 
 boiled rice, and similar dishes. A ladleful is handed out to 
 each man, who receives it on his leaf. The rice is served out 
 by the hands of the attendants. The guests manipulate a 
 huge ball of rice and curry mixed between the fingers of the 
 right hand, pass this solemnly into their widely-gaping 
 mouths, with the head thrown back to receive the mess, like 
 an adjutant-bird swallowing a frog, and then they masticate 
 with much apparent enjoyment. Sugar, treacle, curds, milk, 
 oil, butter, preserves and chutnees are served out to the more 
 wealthy and respectable. The amount they can consume is 
 wonderful. Seeing the enormous supplies, you would think 
 that even this great crowd could never get through them, 
 but by the time repletion has set in, there is little or 
 nothing left, and many of the inflated and distended old 
 farmers could begin again and repeat " another of the
 
 THE " POONEAH" FESTIVAL. 541 
 
 same" with ease. Each person has his own lotah, a 
 brass drinking vessel, and when all have eaten they again 
 wash their hands, rinse out their mouths, and don their 
 gayest apparel. 
 
 The gentlemen in the bungalow now get word that the 
 evening's festivities are about to commence. Lighting our 
 cigars, we sally out to the shamiana which has been erected 
 on the ridge, surrounding the deep tank which supplies the 
 factory during the manufacturing season with water. The 
 shamiana is a large canopy or wall-less tent. It is festooned 
 with flowers and green plantain trees, and evergreens have 
 been planted all round it. Flaring flambeaux, torches, 
 Chinese lanterns, and oil lamps flicker and glare, and make 
 the interior almost as bright as day. When we arrive we 
 find our chairs drawn up in state, one raised seat in the 
 centre being the place of honour, and reserved for the manager 
 of the factory. 
 
 When we are seated, the malee or gardener advances with 
 a, wooden tray filled with sand, in which are stuck heads of 
 all the finest flowers the garden can afford, placed in the 
 most symmetrical patterns, and really a pretty tasteful piece 
 of workmanship. Two or three old Brahmins, principal 
 among whom is " Hureehar Jha," a wicked old scoundrel, 
 now advance, bearing gay garlands of flowers, muttering a 
 strange gibberish in Sanskrit, supposed to be a blessing, but 
 which might be a curse for all we understood of it, and 
 decking our wrists and necks with these strings of flowers. 
 For this service they get a small gratuity. The factor)* 
 omlah, headed by the dignified, portly gomastha or confidential 
 adviser, dressed in snowy turbans and spotless white, now 
 come forward. A large brass tray stands on the table in front 
 of you. They each present a salamee or nuzzur, that is, a 
 tribute or present, which you touch, and it is then deposited 
 with a rattling jingle on the brass plate. The head men of 
 villages, putwarries, and wealthy tenants, give two, three, and
 
 542 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 sometimes even four rupees. Every tenant of respectability 
 thinks it incumbent on him to give something. Every man 
 as he comes up makes a low salaam, deposits his salamee, his 
 name is written down, and he retires. The putwarries present 
 two rupees each, shouting out their names, and the names of 
 their villages. Afterwards a small assessment is levied on 
 the villagers, of a " pice " or two " pice " each, about a half- 
 penny of our money, and which recoups the putwarree for 
 his outlay. 
 
 This has nothing to do with the legitimate revenue of 
 the factory. It never appears in the books. It is quite a 
 voluntary offering, and I have never seen it in any other 
 district. In the meantime the JRajbhats, a wandering class 
 of hereditary minstrels or bards, are singing your praises and 
 those of your ancestors in ear-splitting strains. Some of 
 them have really good voices, all possess the gift of im- 
 provisation, and are quick to seize on the salient points of 
 the scene before them, and weave them into their song, 
 sometimes in a very ingenious and humorous manner. They 
 are often employed by rich natives, to while away a long 
 night with one of their treasured rhythmical tales or songs. 
 One or two are kept in the retinue of every Eajah or noble, 
 and they possess a mine of legendary information, which 
 would be invaluable to the collector of folk-lore and anti- 
 quarian literature. 
 
 At some of the Pooneahs the evening's gaiety winds up 
 with a nautch or dance, by dancing girls or boys. I always 
 thought this a most sleep-inspiring exhibition. It has been 
 so often described that I need not trouble my readers with it. 
 The women are gaily dressed in brocades and gauzy textures, 
 and glitter with spangles and tawdry ornaments. The 
 musical accompaniment of clanging zither, asthmatic fiddle, 
 timber-toned drum, clanging cymbal, and harsh metallic 
 triangle, is a sore affliction, and when the dusky prima donna 
 throws back her head, extends her chest, gets up to her high
 
 THE DANCE OF THE DANQURS. 543 
 
 note, with her hand behind her ear, and her paun-stained 
 mouth and teeth wide expanded like the jaws of a fangless 
 wolf, while the demoniac instruments and performers redouble 
 their din, the noise is something too dreadful to experience 
 often. The native women sit mute and hushed, seeming to 
 
 * O 
 
 like it. I have heard it said that the Germans eat ants, 
 ^inlanders relish penny candles. The Nepaulese gourman- 
 dise on putrid fish. I am myself fond of mouldy cheese, and 
 organ-grinders are an object of affection with some of our 
 home community. I know that the general run of natives 
 delight in a nautch. Tastes differ, but to me it is an 
 inexplicable phenomenon. 
 
 Amid all tliis noise we sit till we are wearied. Paun- 
 leaves and betel nut are handed round by the servants. 
 There is a very sudorific odour from the crowd. All are 
 comfortably seated on the ground. The torches flare, and 
 send up volumes of smoke to the ornamented roof of the 
 canopy. The lights are reflected in the deep glassy bosom 
 of the silent tank. The combined sounds and odours get 
 oppressive, and we are glad to get back to the bungalow, 
 to consume our " peg " and our " weed " in the congenial 
 company of our friends. 
 
 In some factories the night closes with a grand dance by 
 all the inhabitants of the dangur tola. The men and women 
 range themselves in two semicircles, standing opposite each 
 other. The tallest of both lines at the one end, diminishing 
 away at the other extremity to the children and little ones 
 who can scarcely toddle. They have a wild, plaintive song, 
 with swelling cadences and abrupt stops. They go through 
 an extraordinary variety of evolutions, stamping with one 
 foot and keeping perfect time. They sway their bodies, 
 revolve, march, and countermarch, the men sometimes 
 opening their ranks, and the women going through, and vice 
 versa. They turn round like the winding convolutions of a 
 shell, increase their pace as the song waxes quick and shrill, 
 
 2 N
 
 544 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 get excited, and finish off with a resounding stamp of the 
 foot, and a guttural cry which seems to exhaust all the 
 breath left in their bodies. The men then get some liquoiv 
 and the women a small money present. If the sahib is very 
 liberal he gives them a pig on which to feast, and the 
 dangurs go away very happy and contented. Their dance is 
 not unlike the corroborry of the Australian aborigines. The 
 two races are not unlike each other too in feature, although I 
 cannot think that they are in any way connected. 
 
 Next morning there is a jackal hunt, or cricket, or pony 
 races, or shooting matches, or sport of some kind, while the 
 rent collection still goes on. In the afternoon we have grand 
 wrestling matches amongst the natives for small prizes, and 
 generally witness some fine exhibitions of athletic skill and 
 endurance. 
 
 Some wandering juggler may have been attracted by the 
 rumour of the gathering. A tight-rope dancer, a snake 
 charmer, an itinerant showman with a performing goat, 
 monkey, or dancing bear, may make his appearance before 
 the admiring crowd. 
 
 At times a party of mimes or actors come round, and a rare 
 treat is not seldom afforded by the bara roopecs. Bara means 
 twelve, and roop is an impersonation, a character. These 
 " twelve characters " make up in all sorts of disguises. Their 
 wardrobe is very limited, yet the number of people they 
 personate, and their genuine acting talent would astonish you. 
 With a projecting tooth and a few streaks of clay, they make 
 up as a withered, trembling old hag, afflicted with palsy, 
 rheumatism, and a hacking cough. They make friends with 
 your bearer, and an old hat and coat transforms them into a 
 planter, a missionary, or an officer. They whiten their faces, 
 using false hair and moustache, and while you are chatting 
 with your neighbour, a strange sahib suddenly and mysteri- 
 ously seats himself by your side. You stare, and look at 
 your host, who is generally in the secret, but a stranger, or
 
 THE " BAB A ROOPEES." 545 
 
 new comer, is often completely taken in. It is generally at 
 night that they go through their personations, and when they 
 have dressed for their part, they generally choose a moment 
 when your attention is attracted by a cunning diversion. On 
 looking up you are astounded to find some utter stranger 
 standing behind your chair, or stalking solemnly round the 
 room. 
 
 They personate a woman, a white lady, a sepoy policeman, 
 almost any character. Some are especially good at mimick- 
 ing the Bengalee Baboo, or the merchant from Cabool or 
 Afghanistan with his fruits and cloths. A favourite roop 
 with them is to paint one half of the face like a man. 
 Everything is complete down to moustache, the folds of the 
 puggree, the lathee or staff, indeed to the slightest detail. You 
 would fancy you saw a stalwart, strapping Hindoo before you. 
 He turns round, and lo, a bashful maiden. Her eyes are 
 stained with henna (myrtle juice) or antimony. Her long 
 hair neatly smoothed down is tied into a knot at the back, 
 and glistens with the pearl-like ornaments. The taper arm 
 is loaded with armlets and bracelets. The very toes are 
 bedecked with rings. The bodice hides the taper waist and 
 budding bosom, the tiny ear is loaded with jewelled ear- 
 rings, the very nose is not forgotten, but is ornamented with 
 a golden circle, bearing on its circumference a pearl of great 
 price. The art, the posturing, the mimicry, is really 
 admirable. A good bara roopee is well worth seeing, and 
 amply earns the two or three rupees he gets as his reward. 
 
 The Pooneah seldom lasts more than the two days, but it 
 is quite unique in its feudal character, and is one of the old- 
 fashioned observances ; a relic of the time when the planter 
 was really looked upon as the father of his people, and when 
 a little sentiment and mutual affection mingled with the 
 purely business relations of landlord and tenant. 
 
 I delighted my ryots by importing some of our own country 
 recreations, and setting the ploughmen to compete against 
 
 2 N 2
 
 546 SPORT AND WORE ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 each other. I stuck a greasy bamboo firmly into the earth, 
 putting a bag of copper coins at the top. Many tried to climb 
 it, but when they came to the grease they came down " by the 
 run." One fellow, however, filled his kummerbund with 
 sand, and after much exertion managed to secure the prize. 
 Wheeling the barrow blindfold also gave much amusement, 
 and we made some boys bend their foreheads down to a stick 
 and run round till they were giddy. Their ludicrous efforts 
 then to jump over some water-pots, and run to a thorny 
 bush, raised tumultuous peals of laughter. The poor boys 
 generally smashed the pots, and ended by tumbling into the 
 thorns.
 
 ( 547 ) 
 
 HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL, 
 BOSTON. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 The Koosee jungles Ferries Jungle roads The rhinoceros We go to 
 visit a neighbour We lose our way and get belated We fall into a 
 
 ^" quicksand No ferry boat Camping out on the sand Two tigers 
 close by We light a fire The boat at last arrives Crossing the 
 stream Set fire to the boatman's hut Swim the horses They are 
 nearly drowned We again lose our way in the jungle The towing 
 path, and how boats are towed up the river We at last reach the 
 factory News of rhinoceros in the morning Off we start, but arrive 
 too late Death of the rhinoceros His dimensions Description 
 Habits Rhinoceros in Nepaul The old " Major Captan " Description 
 of Napaulese scenery Immigration of Nepaulese Their fondness for 
 fish They eat it putrid Exclusion of Europeans from Nepaul 
 Kesources of the country Must sooner or later be opened up In- 
 fluences at work to elevate the people Planters and factories chief 
 of these Character of the planter His claims to consideration from 
 government. 
 
 IN the vast grass jungles that border the banks of the 
 Koosee, stretching in great plains without an undulation for 
 miles on either side, intersected by innumerable water-beds 
 and dried up channels, there is plenty of game of all sorts. 
 It is an impetuous, swiftly-flowing stream, dashing directly 
 down from the mighty hills of Nepaul. So swift is its current 
 and so erratic its course, that it frequently bursts its banks, 
 and careers through the jungle, forming a new bed, and 
 carrying away cattle and wild animals in its headlong rush. 
 
 The ghauts or ferries are constantly changing, and a long 
 bamboo with a bit of white rag affixed, shows where the boats 
 and boatmen are to be found. In many instances the track 
 is a mere cattle path, and hundreds of cross openings, leading 
 into the tall jungle grass, are apt to bewilder and mislead the
 
 548 SPOET AND WOEK ON THE NEPAUL FEONTIEE. 
 
 traveller. During the dry season these jungles are the resort 
 of great herds of cattle and tame buffaloes, which trample 
 down the dry stalks, and force their way into the innermost 
 recesses of the wilderness of grass, which grows ten to twelve 
 feet high. If you once lose your path you may wander for 
 miles, until your weary horse is almost unable to stumble on. 
 In such a case the best way is to take it coolly, and halloo 
 till a herdsman or thatch-cutter comes to your rescue. The 
 knowledge of the jungles displayed by these poor ignorant 
 men is wonderful ; they know every gully and watercourse, 
 every ford and quicksand, and they betray not the slightest 
 sign of fear, although they know that at any moment they 
 may come across a herd of wild buffalo, a savage rhinoceros 
 or even a royal tiger. 
 
 The tracks of rhinoceros are often seen, but although I 
 have frequently had these pointed out to me when out tiger 
 shooting, I only saw a very few of the animals themselves 
 while I lived in that district. 
 
 The first occasion was after a night of discomfort such as 
 I have fortunately seldom experienced. I had been away at 
 a neighbouring factory in Purneah, some eighteen or twenty 
 miles from my bungalow. My companion had been my 
 predecessor in the management, and was supposed to be well 
 acquainted with the country. We had gone over to one of 
 the outworks across the river, and I had received charge of 
 the place from him. It was a lonely solitary spot ; the house 
 was composed of grass walls plastered with mud, and had 
 not been used for some time. F. proposed that we should 
 ride over to see H., to whom he would introduce me, as he 
 would be one of my nearest neighbours, and would give us 
 a comfortable dinner and bed, which there was no chance of 
 our procuring where we were. 
 
 We plunged at once into the mazy labyrinths of the jungle, 
 and soon emerged on the high sandy downs, stretching mile 
 beyond mile along the southern bank of the ever-changing
 
 THE KOOSEE JUNGLES. 549 
 
 liver. Having lost our way, we got to the factory after dark, 
 but a friendly villager volunteered his services as guide, and 
 led us safely to our destination. After a cheerful evening 
 with H., we persuaded him to accompany us back next day. 
 He took out his dogs, and we had a good course after a hare, 
 killing two jackals, and sending back the dogs by the sweeper. 
 At Burgamma, the outwork, we stopped to tiffin on some cold 
 fowl we had brought with us. The old factory head man got 
 us some milk, eggs, and chupattics ; and about three in the 
 afternoon we started for the head factory. In an evil moment 
 F. proposed that, as we were near another outwork called 
 Fusseah, we should diverge thither, I could take over charge 
 and we could thus save a ride on another day. Not knowing 
 anything of the country I acquiesced, and we reached Fusseah 
 in time to see the place, and do all that was needful. It was 
 a miserable tumbledown little spot, with four pair of vats; it 
 had formerly been a good working factory, but the river had 
 cut away most of its best lands, and completely washed away 
 some of the villages, while the whole of the cultivation was 
 fast relapsing into jungle. 
 
 " Debnarain Singh," the gomastha or head man, asked us 
 to stay for the night, as he said we could never get home 
 before dark. F., however, scouted the idea, and we resumed 
 our way. The track, for it could not be called a road, led us 
 through one or two jungle villages completely hidden by the 
 dense bamboo clumps and long jungle grass. You can't see 
 a trace of habitation till you are fairly on the village, and as 
 the rice-fields are bordered with long strips of tall grass, the 
 whole country presents the appearance of a uniform jungle. 
 We got through the rice swamps, the villages, and the grass in 
 .safety, and as it was getting dark, emerged on the great plain 
 of undulating ridgy sandbanks, that form the bed of the river 
 during the annual floods. We had our syces (grooms) and 
 two peons with us. We had to ride over nearly two miles 
 of sand before we could reach the yliat where we expected the
 
 550 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 ferry-boats, and, the main stream once crossed, we had only 
 two miles further to reach the factory. We were getting both 
 tired and hungry ; a heavy dew was falling, and the night 
 was raw and chill. It was dark, there was no moon to light 
 our way, and the stars were obscured by the silently creeping 
 fog, rising from the marshy hollows among the sand. All at 
 once F., who was leading, called out that we were off the 
 path, and before I could pull up, my poor old tired horse was 
 floundering in a quicksand up to the girths ; I threw myself 
 off and tried to wheel him round. H. was behind us, and we 
 cried to him to halt where he was. I was sinking at every 
 movement up to the knees, when the syce came to my rescue, 
 and took charge of the horse. F.'s syce ran to extricate his 
 master and horse ; the two peons kept calling, " Oh ! my 
 father, my father," the horses snorted, and struggled de- 
 sperately in the tenacious and treacherous quicksand; but 
 after a prolonged effort, we all got safely out, and rejoined 
 H. on the firm ridge. 
 
 We now hallooed and shouted for the boatmen, but beyond 
 the swish of the rapid stream to our right, or the plash of 
 a falling bank as the swift current undermined it, no sound 
 answered our repeated calls. We were wet and weary, 
 but to go either backward or forward was out of the 
 question. We were off the path, and the first step in any 
 direction might lead us into another quicksand, worse perhaps 
 than that from which we had just extricated ourselves. The 
 horses were trembling in every limb. The syces cowered to- 
 gether and shivered with the cold. We ordered the two peons 
 to try and reach the ghat, and see what had become of the 
 boats, while we awaited their return where we were. The 
 fog and darkness soon swallowed them up, and putting the 
 best face on our dismal circumstances that we could, we lit 
 our pipes and extended our jaded limbs on the damp sand. 
 
 For a time we could hear the shouts of the peons as they 
 hallooed for the boatmen, and we listened anxiously for the
 
 LOST IN THE JUNGLE. 551 
 
 response, but there was none. "We could hear the purling 
 s wish of the rapid stream, the crumbling banks falling into 
 the current with a distant splash. Occasionally a swift 
 rushing of wings overhead told us of the arrowy flight of 
 diver or teaL Far in the distance twinkled the gleam of a 
 herdsman's fire, the faint tinkle of a distant bell, or the 
 subdued barking of a village dog for a moment alone broke 
 the silence. 
 
 At times the hideous chorus of a pack of jackals wcke the 
 echoes of the night. Then, at no great distance, rose a 
 hoarse booming cry, swelling on the night air, and subsiding 
 into a lengthened growl. The syces started to their feet, the 
 horses snorted with fear; and as the roar was repeated, 
 followed closely by another to our left, and seemingly nearer, 
 H. exclaimed " By Jove ! there's a couple of tigers." 
 
 Sure enough so it was. It was the first time I had heard 
 the roar of the tiger in his own domain, and I must confess 
 that my sensations were not altogether pleasant We set 
 about collecting sticks and what roots of grass we could find, 
 but on the sand-flats everything was wet, and it was so dark 
 that we had to grope about on our hands and knees, and pick 
 up whatever we came across. 
 
 With great difficulty we managed to light a small fire, and 
 for about half-an-hour were nearly smothered by trying with 
 inflated cheeks to coax it into blaze. The tigers continued to 
 call at intervals, but did not seem to be approaching us. It 
 was a long and weary wait, we were cold, wet, hungry, 
 and tired ; F., the cause of our misfortunes, had taken off his 
 saddle, and with it for a pillow was now fast asleep. H. and 
 I cowered over the miserable sputtering flame, and longed and 
 wished for the morning. It was a miserable night, the hours 
 seemed interminable, the dense volumes of smoke from the 
 water-sodden wood nearly choked us. At last, after some 
 hours spent in this miserable manner, we heard a faint 
 halloo in the distance ; it was now past eleven at night.
 
 552 SPOUT AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 We returned the hail, and by-and-bye the peons returned 
 bringing a boatman with them. The lazy rascals at the ghat, 
 where we had proposed crossing, had gone home at nightfall, 
 leaving their boats on the further bank. Our trusty peons, 
 had gone five miles up the river, through the thick jungle, 
 and brought a boat down with them from the next ghat to 
 that where we were. 
 
 We now warily picked our way down to the edge of the 
 bank. The boat seemed very fragile, and the current looked 
 so swift and dangerous, that we- determined to go across first 
 ourselves, get the larger boat from the other side, light a fire 
 and then bring over the horses. We embarked accordingly 
 leaving the syces and horses behind us. The peons and 
 boatmen pulled the boat a long way up stream by a rope 
 then shooting out we were carried swiftly down stream, 
 the dark shadow of the further bank seeming at a great 
 distance. The boatman pushed vigorously at his bamboo 
 pole, the water rippled and gurgled, and frothed and 
 eddied around. Half-a-dozen times we thought our boat 
 would topple over, but at length we got safely across, far 
 below what we had proposed as our landing place. 
 
 We found the boats all right, and the boatman's hut, a 
 mere collection of dry grass and a few old bamboos. As it 
 could be replaced in an hour, and the material lay all around, 
 we fired the hut, which soon blazed up, throwing a weird 
 lurid glow on bank and stream, and disclosing far on the 
 other bank our weary nags and shivering syces, looking very 
 bedraggled and forlorn indeed. The leaping and crackling 
 of the flames, and the genial warmth, invigorated us a little, 
 and while I stayed behind to feed the fire, the others recrossed 
 to bring the horses over. 
 
 With the previous fright, however, their long waiting, the 
 blazing fire, and being unaccustomed to boats at night, the 
 poor scared horses refused to enter the boat. The boats are 
 flat-bottomed or broadly bulging, with a bamboo platform
 
 A NIGHT OF DIFFICULTIES. 553 
 
 strewn with grass in the centre. As a rule they have no 
 protecting rails, and even in the daytime, when the current 
 is strong and eddies numerous, they are very dangerous for 
 horses. At all events, the poor brutes would not be led 
 on to the platform, so there was nothing for it but to swim 
 them across. The boat was therefore towed a long way up 
 the bank, which on the farther side was nearly level with 
 the current, but where the hut had stood was steep and 
 .slushy, and perhaps twenty feet high. This was where the 
 deepest water ran, and where the current was swiftest. If 
 the horses therefore missed the landing ghat or stage, which 
 was cut sloping into the bank, there was a danger of their 
 being swept away altogether and lost. However we deter- 
 mined on making the attempt. Entering the water, and 
 holding the horses tightly by the head, with a leading rope 
 attached, to be paid out in case of necessity ; the boat shot out, 
 the horses pawed the water, entering deeper and deeper, foot 
 by foot, into the swiftly rushing silent stream. So long as 
 they were in their depth and had footing, they were all right, 
 but when they reached the middle of the river, the current, 
 rushing with frightful velocity, swept them off their feet, and 
 boat and horses began to go down stream. The horses, with 
 lips apart showing their teeth firmly set, the lurid glare of the 
 flame lighting up their straining eyeballs, the plashing of the 
 water, the dark rapid current flowing noiselessly past ; the 
 rocking heaving boat, the dusky forms of syces, peons, and 
 boatmen, standing out clear in the ruddy fire-light against 
 the utter blackness of the night, composed a weird picture I 
 can never forget. 
 
 The boat shot swiftly past the ghat, and came with a 
 thump against the bank. It swung round into the stream 
 -again, but the boatman had luckily managed to scramble 
 ashore, and his efforts and mine united, hauling on the 
 rnooring-rope, sufficed to bring her into the bank. The three 
 struggling horses were yet in the current, trying bravely
 
 554 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 to stem the furious rush of the river. The syces and my 
 friends were holding hard to the tether-ropes, which were 
 now at their full stretch. It was a most critical moment. 
 Had they let go, the horses would have been swept away to 
 form a meal for the alligators. They managed, however, to 
 get in close to the bank, and here, although the water was 
 still over their backs, they got a slight and precarious footing, 
 and inch by inch struggled after the boat, which we were 
 now pulling up to the landing place. 
 
 After a sore struggle, during which we thought more than 
 once the gallant nags would never emerge from the water, 
 they staggered up the bank, dripping, trembling, and utterly 
 overcome with their exertions. It was my first introduction 
 to the treacherous Koosee, and I never again attempted to 
 swim a horse across at night. We led the poor tired creatures 
 up to the fire, heaping on fresh bundles of thatching-grass, 
 of which there was plenty lying about, the syces then rubbed 
 them down, and shampooed their legs, till they began to 
 take a little heart, whinnying as we spoke to them and 
 caressed them. 
 
 After resting for nearly an hour, we replaced the saddles, 
 and F., who by this time began to mistrust his knowledge of 
 the jungles by night, allowed one of the peons, who was sure 
 he knew every inch of the road, to lead the way. Leaving 
 the smouldering flames to flicker and burn out in solitude, 
 we again plunged into the darkness of the night, threading 
 our way through the thick jungle grass, now loaded with 
 dewy moisture, and dripping copious showers upon us from 
 its high walls at either side. of the narrow track. We crossed a 
 rapid little stream, an arm of the main river, turned to the 
 right, progressed a few hundred yards, turned to the left, 
 and finally came to a dead stop, having again lost our way. 
 
 We heaped execrations on the luckless peon's head, and I 
 suggested that we should make for the main stream, follow 
 up the bank till we reached the next ghat, where I knew
 
 AFTER A RHINOCEROS. 555 
 
 there was a cart-road leading to the factory. Otherwise we 
 might wander all night in the jungles, perhaps get into 
 another quicksand, or come to some other signal grief. We 
 accordingly turned round. We could hear the swish of the 
 river at no great distance, and soon, stumbling over bushes 
 and bursting through matted masses of grass, dripping with 
 wet, and utterly tired and dejected, we reached the bank of 
 the stream. 
 
 Here we had no difficulty in following the path. The 
 river is so swift, that the only way boats are enabled to get 
 up stream to take down the inland produce, is by having a 
 few coolies or boatmen to drag the boat up against the current 
 by towing-lines. This is called gooning. The goon-ropes are 
 attached to the mast of the boat. At the free end is a round 
 bit of bamboo. The to wing- coolie places this against his 
 shoulder, and slowly and laboriously drags the boat up 
 against the current. We were now on this towing-path 
 and after riding for nearly four miles we reached the ghat, 
 struck into the cart-road, and without further misadventure 
 reached the factory about four in the morning, utterly fagged 
 and worn out. 
 
 About eight in the morning my bearer woke me out of a 
 deep sleep, with the news that there was a gaerha, that is, a 
 rliinoceros, close to the factory. We had some days pre- 
 viously heard it rumoured that there were two rhinoceroses 
 in the Battdbarrce jungles, so I at once roused my soundly- 
 sleeping friends. Swallowing a hasty morsel of toast and a 
 cup of coffee, we mounted our ponies, sent our guns on 
 ahead, and rode off for the village where the rhinoceros was 
 reported to be. As we rode hurriedly along we could see 
 natives running in the same direction as ourselves, and one 
 of my men came up panting and breathless to confirm the 
 news about the rhinoceros, with the unwelcome addition that 
 Premnarain Singh, a young neighbouring Zemindar, had 
 gone in pursuit of it with his elephant and guns. We hurried
 
 556 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 on, and just then heard the distant report of a shot, followed 
 quickly by two more. We tried to take a short cut 
 across country through some rice-fields, but our ponies sank 
 in the boggy ground, and we had to retrace our way to 
 the path. 
 
 By the time we got to the village we found an excited 
 crowd of over a thousand natives, dancing and gesticulating 
 round the prostrate carcase of the rhinoceros. The Baboa 
 and his iparty had found the poor brute firmly embedded in 
 a quicksand. With organised effort they might have secured 
 the prize alive, and could have sold him in Calcutta for at 
 least a thousand rupees, but they were too excited, and 
 blazed away three shots into the helpless beast. "Many 
 hands make light work," so the crowd soon had the dead 
 animal extricated, rolled him into the creek, and floated him 
 down to the village, where we found them already beginning 
 to hack and hew the fish, completely spoiling the skin, and 
 properly completing the butchery. We were terribly vexed 
 that we were too late, but endeavoured to stop the stupid 
 destruction that was going on. The body measured eleven 
 feet three inches from the snout to the tail, and stood six 
 feet nine. The horn was six and a half inches long, and the 
 girth a little over ten feet. We put the best face on the 
 matter, congratulated the Baboo with very bad grace, and 
 asked him to get the skin cut up properly. 
 
 Cut in strips from the under part of the ribs and along 
 the belly, the skin makes magnificent riding-whips. The 
 bosses on the shoulder and sides are made into shields by the 
 natives, elaborately ornamented and much prized. The horn, 
 however, is the most coveted acquisition. It is believed to 
 have peculiar virtues, and is popularly supposed by its mere 
 presence in a house to mitigate the pains of maternity. A 
 rhinoceros horn is often handed down from generation to 
 generation as an heirloom, and when a birth is about to take 
 place the anxious husband often gets a loan of the precious
 
 RHINOCEROS IN NEPAUL. 557 
 
 treasure, after which he has no fears for the safe issue of 
 the interesting event. 
 
 The flesh of the rhinoceros is eaten by all classes. It is 
 one of the five animals that a Brahmin is allowed to eat by 
 the Shastras. They were formerly much more common in 
 these jungles, but of late years very few have been killed. 
 When they take up their abode in a piece of jungle they are 
 not easily dislodged. They are fierce, savage brutes, and do 
 not scruple to attack an elephant when they are hard pressed 
 by the hunter. When they wish to leave a locality where 
 they have been disturbed, they will make for some distant 
 point, and march on with dogged and inflexible purpose. 
 Some have been known to travel eighty miles in the twenty- 
 four hours, through thick jungle, over rivers, and through 
 swamp and quicksand. Their sense of hearing is very 
 acute, and they are very easily roused to fury. One pe- 
 culiarity often noticed by sportsmen is, that they always 
 go to the same spot when they want to obey the calls of 
 nature. Mounds of their dung are sometimes seen in the 
 jungle, and the tracks show that the rhinoceros pays a daily 
 visit to this one particular spot. 
 
 In Nepaul, and along the terai or wooded slopes of the 
 frontier, they are more numerous ; but " Jung Bahadur," the 
 late ruler of Nepaul, would allow no one to shoot them but 
 himself. I remember the wailing lament of a Nepaul officer 
 with whom I was out shooting, when I happened to fire at 
 and wound one of the protected beasts. It was in Nepaul, 
 among a cluster of low woody hills, with a brawling stream 
 dashing through the precipitous channel worn out of the- 
 rocky, boulder-covered dell. The rhinoceros was up the 
 hill slightly above me, and we were beating up for a tiger 
 that we had seen go ahead of the line. 
 
 In my eagerness to bag a " rhino " I quite forgot the 
 interdict, and fired an Express bullet into the shoulder of 
 the animal, as he stood broadside on, staring stupidly at me.
 
 558 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 He staggered, and made as if he would charge down the hill. 
 The old " Major Captan," as they called our sporting host, 
 was shouting out to me not to fire. The mahouts and 
 beaters were petrified with horror at my presumption. I 
 fancy they expected an immediate order for my decapitation, 
 or for my ears to be cut off at the very least, but feeling I 
 might as well be " in for a pound as for a penny," I fired 
 again, and tumbled the huge brute over, with a bullet 
 through the skull behind the ear. The old officer was 
 horror-stricken, and would allow no one to go near the 
 animal. He would not even let me get down to measure it, 
 being so terrified lest the affair should reach the ears of his 
 formidable lord and ruler, that he hurried us off from the 
 scene of my transgression as quickly as he could. 
 
 The old Major Captan was a curious character. The 
 government of Nepaul is purely military. All executive 
 and judicial functions are carried on by military officers. 
 After serving a certain time in the army, they get rewarded 
 for good service by being appointed to the executive charge 
 of a district. So far as I could make out, they seem to farm 
 the revenue much as is done in Turkey. They must send in 
 so much to the Treasury, and anything over they keep for 
 themselves. Their administration of justice is rough and 
 ready. Fines, corporal punishment, and in the case of 
 heinous crimes, mutilation and death are their penalties. 
 There is a tax of Trind on all produce, and licences to cut 
 timber bring in a large revenue. A protective tariff is levied 
 on all goods or produce passing the frontier from British 
 territory, and no European is allowed to travel in the 
 country, or to settle and trade there. In the lower valleys 
 there are magnificent stretches of land suitable for indigo, tea, 
 rice, and other crops. The streams are numerous, moisture 
 is plentiful, the soil is fertile, and the slopes of the hills are 
 covered with splendid timber, a great quantity of which is 
 cut and floated down the Gunduck, Bagmuttee, Koosee, and
 
 NEPAULESE IMMIGRANTS. 559 
 
 other streams during the rainy season. It is used principally 
 for beams, rafters and railway sleepers. 
 
 The people are jealous of intrusion and suspicious of 
 strangers, but as I was with an official, they generally came 
 out in great numbers to gaze as we passed through a village. 
 The country does not seem so thickly populated as in our 
 territory, and the cultivators had a more well-to-do look. 
 They possess vast numbers of cattle. The houses, have 
 conical roofs, and great quadrangular sheds, roofed with a 
 flat covering of thatch, are erected all round the houses, for 
 the protection of the cattle at night. The taxes must weigh 
 heavily on the population. The executive officer, when he 
 gets charge of a district, removes all the subordinates who 
 have been acting under his predecessor. When I asked the 
 old Major if this would not interfere with the efficient 
 administration of justice, and the smooth working of his 
 revenue and executive functions, he gave a funny leer, 
 almost a wink, and said it was much more satisfactory to 
 have men of your own working under you, the fact being, 
 that with his own men he could more securely wring from 
 the ryots the uttermost farthing they could pay, and was 
 more certain of getting his own share of the spoil 
 
 With practically irresponsible power, and only answerable - 
 directly to his immediate military superior, an unscrupulous 
 man may harry and harass a district pretty much as he 
 chooses. Our old Major seemed to be civil and lenient, but 
 in some districts the exactions and extortions of the rulers 
 have driven many of the hard-working Nepaulese over the 
 border into our territory. Our landholders or Zemindars, 
 having vast areas of untilled land, are only too glad to 
 encourage this immigration, and give the exiles, whom they 
 find hard-working, industrious tenants, long leases on easy 
 terms. The new comers are very independent, and stren- 
 uously resist any encroachment on what they consider their 
 rights. If an attempt is made to raise their rent, even 
 
 2 o
 
 560 SPOUT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER.. 
 
 equitably, the land having increased in value, they will 
 resist the attempt " tooth and nail," and take every 
 advantage the law affords to oppose it. They are very fond 
 of litigation, and are mostly able to afford the expense 
 of a lawsuit. I generally found it answer better to call 
 them together and reason quietly with them, submitting 
 any point in dispute to an arbitration of parties mutually 
 selected. 
 
 Nearly all the rivers in Nepaul are formed principally 
 from the melting of the snow on the higher ranges. A vast 
 body of water descends annually into the plains from the 
 natural surface drainage of the country, but the melting of 
 the snows is the main source of the river system. Many of 
 the hill streams, and it is particularly observable at some 
 seasons in the Koosee, have a regular daily rise and fall. In 
 the early morning you can often ford a branch of the river,, 
 which by midday has become a swiftly-rolling torrent, filling 
 the channel from bank to bank. The water is intensely 
 cold, and few or no fish are to be found in the mountain 
 streams of Nepaul. When the Nepaulese come down to the 
 plains on business, pleasure, or pilgrimage, their great treat 
 is a mighty banquet of fish. For two or three annas a fish 
 of several pounds weight can easily be purchased. They 
 revel on this unwonted fare, eating to repletion, and very 
 frequently making themselves ill in consequence. When 
 Jung Bahadur came down through Chumparun to attend the 
 durbar of the lamented Earl Mayo, cholera broke out in his 
 camp, brought on simply by the enormous quantities of fish, 
 often not very fresh or wholesome, which his guards and 
 camp-followers consumed. 
 
 Large quantities of dried fish are sent up to Nepaul, and 
 exchanged for rice and other grain, or horns, hides, and 
 blankets. The fish-drying is done very simply in the sun. 
 It is generally left till it is half putrid and taints the air for 
 miles. The sweltering, half-rotting mass, packed in filthy
 
 OUR TRADING POLICY WITH NEPAUL. 561 
 
 bags, and slung on ponies or bullocks, is sent over the 
 frontier to some village bazaar in Nepaul. The track of a 
 consignment of this horrible filth can be recognised from 
 very far away. The perfume hovers on the road, and as you 
 are riding up and get the first sniff of the putrid odour, you 
 know at once that the Nepaulese market is being recruited 
 by a fresh accession of very stale fish. If the taste is at all 
 equal to the smell, the rankest witches' broth ever brewed in 
 reeking cauldron would probably be preferable. Over the 
 frontier there seems to be few roads, merely bullock tracks. 
 Most of the transporting of goods is done by bullocks, and 
 intercommunication must be slow and costly. I believe that 
 near Katmandoo, the capital, the roads and bridges are good, 
 and kept in tolerable repair. There is an arsenal where they 
 manufacture modern munitions of war. Their soldiers are 
 well disciplined, fairly well equipped, and form excellent 
 fighting material. 
 
 Our policy of annexation, so far as India is concerned, 
 may perhaps be now considered as finally abandoned. We 
 have no desire to annex ISTepaul, but surely this system of 
 utter isolation, of jealous exclusion at all hazards of English 
 enterprise and capital, might be broken down to a mutual 
 community of interest, a full and free exchange of products, 
 and a reception by Nepaul without fear and distrust of the 
 benefits our capitalists and pioneers could give the country 
 by opening out its resources, and establishing the industries 
 of the West on its fertile slopes and plains. I am no 
 politician, and know nothing of the secret springs of policy 
 that regulate our dealings with Nepaul, but iu does seem 
 somewhat weak and puerile to allow the Nepaulese free 
 access to our territories, and an unprotected market in our 
 towns for all their produce, while the British subject is 
 rigorously excluded from the country, his productions saddled 
 with a heavy protective duty, and the representative of our 
 Government himself treated more as a prisoner in honour- 
 
 2 2
 
 562 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 able confinement, than as the accredited ambassador of a 
 mighty empire. 
 
 I may be utterly wrong. There may be weighty reasons 
 of State for this condition of things, but it is a general feel- 
 ing among Englishmen in India, that we have to do all the 
 GIVE and our Oriental neighbours do all the TAKE. The 
 un-official English mind in India does not see the necessity 
 for the painfully deferential attitude we invariably take in 
 our dealings with native states. The time has surely come 
 when Oriental mistrust of our intentions should be stoutly 
 battled with. There is room in Nepaul for hundreds of 
 factories, for tea-gardens, fruit - groves, spice - plantations, 
 woollen - mills, saw - mills, and countless other industries. 
 Mineral products are reported of unusual richness. In the 
 great central valley the climate approaches that of England. 
 The establishment of productive industries would be a work 
 of time, but so long as this ridiculous policy of isolation is 
 maintained, and the exclusion of English tourists, sportsmen, 
 or observers carried out in all its present strictness, we can 
 never form an adequate idea of the resources of the country. 
 The Nepaulese themselves cannot progress. I am convinced 
 that a frank and unconstrained intercourse between 
 Europeans and natives would create no jealousy and 
 antagonism, but would lead to the development of a country 
 singularly blessed by nature, and open a wide field for 
 Anglo-Saxon energy and enterprise. It does seem strange, 
 with all our vast territory of Hindostan accurately mapped 
 out and known, roads and railways, canals and embankments, 
 intersecting it in all directions, that this interesting corner 
 of the globe, lying contiguous to our territory for hundreds 
 of miles, should be less known than the interior of Africa, 
 or the barren solitudes of the ice-bound Arctic regions. 
 
 In these rich valleys hundreds of miles of the finest and 
 most fertile lands in Asia lie covered by dense jungle, wait- 
 ing for labour and capital. For the present we have enough
 
 PROGRESSIVE CHANGES IN INDIA. 563 
 
 to do in our own possessions to reclaim the uncultured 
 wastes ; but considering the rapid increase of population, the 
 avidity with which land is taken up, the daily increasing use 
 of all modern labour-saving appliances, the time must very 
 shortly come when capital and energy will need new outlets, 
 and one of the most promising of these is in Nepaul. The 
 rapid changes which have come over the face of rural India, 
 especially in these border districts, within the last twenty 
 years, might well make the most thoughtless pause. Land 
 has increased in value more than two-fold. The price of 
 labour and of produce has kept more than equal pace. 
 Machinery is whirring and clanking, where a few years ago 
 a steam whistle would have startled the natives out of their 
 wits. With cheap, easy, and rapid communication, a journey 
 to any of the great cities is now thought no more of than a 
 trip to a distant village in the same district was thought of 
 twenty years ago. Everywhere are the signs of progress. New 
 industries are opening up. Jungle is fast disappearing. 
 Agriculture has wonderfully improved; and wherever an 
 indigo factory has been built, progress has taken the place of 
 stagnation, industry and thrift that of listless indolence and 
 shiftless apathy. A spirit has moved in the valley of dry 
 bones and has clothed with living flesh the gaunt skeletons 
 produced by ignorance, disease, and want. The energy and 
 intelligence of the planter has breathed on the stagnant 
 waters of the Hindoo intellect the breath of life, and the 
 living tide is heaving, full of activity, purging by its resist- 
 less, ever-moving pulsations the formerly stagnant mass of 
 its impurities, and making it a life-giving sea of active 
 industry and progress. 
 
 Let any unprejudiced observer see for himself if it be not 
 so ; let him go to those districts where British capital and 
 energy are not employed ; let him leave the planting districts, 
 and go up to the wastes of Oudh, or the purely native 
 districts of the North-west, where there are no Europeans
 
 56 J: SPORT AND WOEE ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 but the officials in the station. He will find fewer and 
 worse roads, fewer wells, worse constructed houses, much 
 ruder cultivation, less activity and industry ; more dirt, 
 disease, and desolation ; less intelligence ; more intolerance ; 
 and a peasantry morally, mentally, physically, and in every 
 way inferior to those who are brought into daily contact 
 with the Anglo-Saxon planters and gentlemen, and have 
 imbibed somewhat of their activity and spirit of progress. 
 And yet these are the men whom successive Lieutenant- 
 Governors, and Governments generally, have done their best 
 to thwart and obstruct. They have been misrepresented, 
 held up to obloquy, and foully slandered ; they have been 
 described as utterly base, fattening on the spoils of a cowed 
 and terror-ridden peasantry. Utterly unscrupulous, fearing 
 neither God nor man, hesitating at no crime, deterred by no 
 consideration from oppressing their tenantry, and compassing 
 their interested ends by the vilest frauds. 
 
 Such was the picture drawn of the indigo planter not so 
 many years ago. There may have been much in the past 
 over which we would willingly draw the veil, but at the 
 present moment I firmly believe that the planters of Behar 
 and I speak as an observant student of what has being going 
 on in India have done more to elevate the peasantry, to 
 rouse them into vitality, and to improve them in every way, 
 than all the other agencies that have been at work with the 
 same end in view. 
 
 The Indian Government to all appearance must always 
 work in extremes. It never seems to hit the happy medium. 
 The Lieutenant-Governor for the time being impresses 
 every department under him too strongly with his own 
 individuality. The planters, who are an intelligent and 
 independent body of men, have seemingly always been 
 obnoxious to the ideas of a perfectly despotic and irre- 
 sponsible ruler. In spite, however, of all difficulties and 
 drawbacks, they have held their own. I know that the poor
 
 UNJUST PREJUDICE AGAINST PLANTERS. 565 
 
 people and small cultivators look up to them with respect 
 and affection. They find in them ready and sympathizing 
 friends, able and willing to shield them from the exactions 
 of their own more powerful and uncharitable fellow-country- 
 men. Half, nay nine-tenths, of the stories against planters, 
 are got up by the money-lenders, the petty Zemindars, and 
 wealthy villagers, who find the planter competing with them 
 for land and labour, and raising the price of both. The poor 
 people look to the factory as a never-failing resource when all 
 else fails, and but for the assistance it gives in money, or 
 seed, or plough bullocks and implements of husbandry, many 
 a struggling, hard-working tenant would inevitably go to the 
 wall, or become inextricably entangled in the meshes of the 
 Bunneah and money-lender. 
 
 I assert as a fact that the great majority of villagers in 
 Behar would rather go to the factory, and have their sahib 
 adjudicate on their dispute, than take it into Court. The 
 officials in the indigo districts know this, and as a rule are 
 very friendly with the planters. But not long since, an 
 official was afraid to dine at a planter's house, fearing he 
 might be accused of planter proclivities. In no other 
 country in the world would the same jealousy of men. who 
 open out and enrich a country, and who are loyal, intelligent, 
 and educated citizens, be displayed; but there are high 
 quarters in which the old feeling of the East India Company, 
 that all who were not in the service must be adventurers and 
 interlopers, seems not wholly to have died out. 
 
 That there have been abuses no one denies ; but for years 
 past the majority of the planters in Tirhoot, Chupra, and 
 Chumparun, and in the indigo districts generally, not merely 
 the managers, but the proprietors and agents, have been 
 laudably and loyally stirring, in spite of failures, reduced 
 prices, and frequent bad seasons, to elevate the standard of 
 their peasantry, and establish the indigo system on a fair and 
 .equitable basis. During the years when I was an assistant
 
 566 SPOUT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 and manager on indigo estates, the rates for payment of 
 indigo to cultivators nearly doubled, although prices for |the 
 manufactured article remained stationary. In well-managed 
 factories, the forcible seizure of carts and ploughs, and the 
 enforcement of labour, which is an old charge against 
 planters, was unknown ; and the payment of tribute, common 
 under the old feudal system, and styled furmaish, had been 
 allowed to fall into desuetude. The NATIVE Zemindars or 
 landholders, however, still jealously maintain their rights, and 
 harsh exactions were often made by them on the cultivators 
 on the occasions of domestic events, such as births, marriages, 
 deaths, and the like, in the families of the landowners. For 
 years these exactions or feudal payments by the ryot to the 
 Zemindar have been commuted by the factories into a lump 
 sum in cash, when villages have been taken in farm, and this 
 sum has been paid to the Zemindar as an enhanced rent. 
 In the majority of cases it has not been levied from the 
 cultivators, but the whole expense has been borne by the 
 factory. In individual instances resort may have been had 
 to unworthy tricks to harass the ryots, the factory middle- 
 men having often been oppressors and tyrants; but as a 
 body, the indigo planters of the present day have sternly set 
 their faces to put down these oppressions, and have honestly 
 striven to mete out even-handed justice to their tenants and 
 dependants. With the spread of education and intelligence, 
 the development of agricultural knowledge and practical 
 science, and the vastly improved communication by roads, 
 bridges, and ferries, in bringing about all of which the 
 planting community themselves have been largely in- 
 strumental, there can be little doubt that these old-fashioned 
 charges against the planters as a body will cease, and public 
 opinion will be brought to bear on any one who may promote 
 his own interests by cruelty or rapacity, instead of doing his 
 business on an equitable commercial basis, giving every man 
 his due, relying on skill, energy, industry, and integrity, to
 
 HONEST ENDEAVOURS OF TEE PLANTERS. 567 
 
 promote the best interests of his factory ; gaining the esteem 
 and affection of his people by liberality, kindness, and strict 
 justice. 
 
 It can never be expected that a ryot can grow indigo at a 
 loss to himself, or at a lower rate of profit than that which 
 the cultivation of his other ordinary crops would give him, 
 without at least some compensating advantages. With all 
 his poverty and supposed stupidity, he is keenly alive to his 
 own interests, quite able to hold his own in matters affecting 
 his pocket. I have no hesitation in saying that the steady 
 efforts which have been made by all the best planters to treat 
 the ryot fairly, to give him justice, to encourage him with 
 liberal aid and sympathy, and to put their mutual relations 
 on a fair business footing, are now bearing fruit, and will 
 result in the cultivation and manufacture of indigo in Upper 
 Bengal becoming, as it deserves to become, one of the most 
 firmly established, fairly conducted, and justly administered 
 industries in India. That it may be so is, as I know, the 
 earnest wish, as it has long been the dearest object, of my 
 best friends among the planters of Behar.
 
 568 SPOET AND WORK ON THE NEPAVL FRONTIER. 
 
 CHAPTEE XVIII. 
 
 The tiger His habitat Shooting on foot Modes of shooting A tiger 
 hunt on foot The scene of the hunt The beat Incidents of the 
 hunt Fireworks The tiger charges The elephant bolts The 
 tigress will not break We kill a half-grown cub Try again for the 
 tigress Unsuccessful Exaggerations in tiger stories My authorities 
 The brothers S. Ferocity and structure of the tiger His devastations 
 His frame-work, teeth, &c. A tiger at bay His unsociable habits 
 Fight between tiger and tigress Young tigers Power and strength of 
 the tiger Examples His cowardice Charge of a wounded tiger 
 Incidents connected with wounded tigers A spined tiger Boldness of 
 young tigers Cruelty Cunning Night scenes in the jungle Tiger 
 killed by a wild boar His cautious habits General remarks. 
 
 IN the foregoing chapters I have tried to perform my promise, 
 to give a general idea of our daily life in India ; our toils 
 and trials, our sports, our pastimes, and our general pursuits. 
 No record of Indian sport, however, would be complete with- 
 out some illusion to the kingly tiger, and no one can live 
 long near the Nepaul frontier, without at some time or other 
 having an encounter with the royal robber the striped and 
 whiskered monarch of the jungle. 
 
 He is always to be found in the Terai forests, and although 
 very occasionally indeed met with in Tirhoot, where the 
 population is very dense, and waste lands infrequent, he is 
 yet often to be encountered in the solitudes of Oudh or 
 Goruckpore, has been shot at and killed near Bettiah, and 
 at our pig-sticking ground near Kudercnt. In North Bhau- 
 gulpore and Purneah he may be said to be ALWAYS at home, 
 as he can be met there, if you search for him, at all seasons 
 of the year. 
 
 In some parts of India, notably in the Deccan, and in some
 
 TIGER SHOOTING. 
 
 districts on the Bombay side, and even in the Soonderbunds 
 near Calcutta, sportsmen and shekarries go after the tiger on 
 foot. I must confess that this seems to me a mad thing to 
 do. With every advantage of weapon, with the most daring 
 courage, and the most imperturbable coolness, I think a man 
 no fair match for a tiger in his native jungles. There are 
 men now living who have shot numbers of tigers on foot, but 
 the numerous fatal accidents recorded every year, plainly 
 show the danger of such a mode of shooting. 
 
 In central India, in the North-west, indeed in most districts 
 where elephants are not easily procurable, it is customary to 
 erect myclians or bamboo platforms on trees. A line of 
 beaters, with tom-toms, drums, fireworks, and other means 
 for creating a din, are then sent into the jungle, to beat the 
 tigers up to the platform on which you sit and wait. This 
 is often a successful mode if you secure an advantageous 
 place, but accidents to the beaters are very common, and it 
 is at best a weary and vexatious mode of shooting, as after 
 all- your trouble the tiger may not come near your myckan, 
 or give you the slightest glimpse of his beautiful skin. 
 
 I have been out after tiger on foot but on few occasions. 
 One was in the sal jungles in Oudh. A neighbour of mine, 
 a most intimate and dear friend, whom I had nicknamed the 
 "General," and a young friend, Fullerton, were with me. 
 A tigress and cub were reported to be in a dense patch of 
 nurkool jungle, on the banks of the creek which divided the 
 General's cultivation from mine. The nurkool is a tall, 
 feathery-looking cane, very much relished by elephants. It 
 grows in dense brakes, and generally in damp, boggy ground, 
 affording complete shade and shelter for wild animals, and is 
 a favourite haunt of pig, wolf, tiger, and buffalo. 
 
 We had only one elephant, the use of which Fullerton had 
 got from a neighbouring Baboo. It was not a staunch animal, 
 so we put one of our men in the howdah, with a plentiful 
 supply of bombs, a kind of native firework, enclosed in a
 
 570 BPOBT AND WOEK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIEE. 
 
 clay case, which burns like a huge squib, and sets fire to the 
 jungle. Along with the elephant we had a line of about one 
 hundred coolies, and several men with drums and tom-toms. 
 Fullerton took the side nearest the river, as it was possible 
 the brute might sneak out that way, and make her escape 
 along the bank. The General's shekarry remained behind, 
 in rear of the line of beaters, in case the tigress might break 
 the line, and try to escape by the rear. My Gomasta, the 
 General, and myself, then took up positions behind trees all 
 along the side of the glade or dell in which was the bit of 
 nurkool jungle. 
 
 It was a small basin, sloping gently down to the creek 
 from the sal jungle, which grew up dark and thick all 
 around. A margin of close sward, as green and level as a 
 billiard-table, encircled the glade, and in the basin the thick 
 nurkool grew up close, dense, and high, like a rustling 
 barrier of living green. In the centre was the decaying 
 stump of a mighty forest monarch, with its withered arms 
 stretching out their bleached and shattered lengths far over 
 the waving feathery tops of the nurkool below. 
 
 The General and I cut down some branches, which we 
 stuck in the ground before us. I had a fallen log in front of 
 me, on which I rested my guns. I had a naked kookree 
 ready to hand, for we were sure that the tigress was in the 
 swamp, and I did not know what might happen. I did not 
 half like this style of shooting, and wished I was safely seated 
 on the back of "JoKROCKS," my faithful old Bhaugulpore 
 elephant. The General whistled as a sign for the beat to 
 begin. The coolies dashed into the thicket. The stately 
 elephant slowly forced his ponderous body through the 
 crashing swaying brake. The rattle of the tom-toms and 
 rumble of the drums, mingled with the hoarse shouts and 
 cries of the beaters, the fiery rush of sputtering flame, and 
 the loud report as each bomb burst, with the huge volumes 
 of blinding smoke, and the scent of gunpowder that came on
 
 ON THE TEAOK OF A TIGER. 571 
 
 the breeze, told us that the bombs were doing their work. 
 The jungle was too green to burn ; but the fireworks raised 
 a dense sulphurous smoke, which penetrated among the tall 
 stems of the nurkool, and by the waving and crashing of the 
 tall swaying canes, the heaving of the howdah, with the red 
 puggree of the peon, and the gleaming of the staves and 
 weapons, we could see that the beat was advancing. 
 
 As they neared the large withered tree in the centre of 
 the brake, the elephant curled up his trunk and trumpeted. 
 This was a sure sign there was game afoot. We could see 
 the peon in the howdah leaning over the front bar, and 
 eagerly peering into the recesses of the thicket before him. 
 He lit one of the bombs, and hurled it right up against the 
 bole of the tree. It hissed and sputtered, and the smoke 
 came curling over the reeds in dense volumes. A roar 
 followed that made the valley ring again. "We heard a 
 swift rush. The elephant turned tail, and fled madly away, 
 crashing through the matted brake that crackled and tore 
 under his tread. The howdah swayed wildly, and the peon 
 clung tenaciously on to the top bar with all his desperate 
 might. The mahout, or elephant-driver, tried in vain to 
 check the rush of the frightened brute, but after repeated 
 sounding whacks on the head he got him to stop, and again 
 turn round. Meantime the cries and shouting had ceased, 
 and the beaters came pouring from the jungle by twos and 
 threes, like the frightened inhabitants of some hive or ant- 
 heap. Some in their hurry came tumbling out headlong; 
 others, with their faces turned backwards to see if anything 
 was in pursuit of them, got entangled in the reeds, and fell 
 prone on their hands and knees. One fellow had just 
 emerged from the thick cover, when another terrified com- 
 patriot dashed out in blind unreasoning fear close behind 
 him. The first one thought the tiger was on him. With 
 one howl of anguish and dismay he fled as fast as he could 
 run, and the General and I, who had witnessed the episode,
 
 572 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 could not help uniting in a resounding peal of laughter, that 
 did more to bring the scared coolies to their senses than 
 anything else we could have done. 
 
 There was.no doubt now of the tiger's whereabouts. One 
 of the beaters gave us a most graphic description of its 
 appearance and proportions. According to him it was bigger 
 than an elephant, had a mouth as wide as a coal scuttle, and 
 eyes that glared like a thousand suns. From all this we 
 inferred that there was a full-grown tiger or tigress in the 
 jungle. We re-formed the line of beaters, and once more 
 got the elephant to enter the patch. The same story was 
 repeated. No sooner did they get near the old tree, than the 
 tigress again charged with a roar, and our valiant coolies and 
 the chicken-hearted elephant vacated the jungle as fast as 
 their legs could carry them. This happened twice or thrice. 
 The tigress charged every time, but would not leave her safe 
 cover. The elephant wheeled round at every charge, and 
 would not show fight. Fullerton got into the howdah, and 
 fired two shots into the spot where the tigress was lying. 
 He did not apparently wound her, but the reports brought 
 her to the charge once more, and the elephant, by this time 
 fairly tired of the game, and thoroughly demoralised with 
 fear, bolted right away, and nearly cracked poor Fullerton's 
 head against the branch of a tree. 
 
 We could plainly see, that with only one elephant we 
 could never dislodge the tigress, so making the coolies beat 
 up the patch in lines, we shot several pig and a hogdeer, and 
 adjourned for something to eat by the bank of the creek. 
 We had been trying to oust the tigress for over four hours, 
 but she was as wise as she was savage, and refused to become 
 a mark for our bullets in the open. After lunch we made 
 another grand attempt. We promised the coolies double pay 
 if they roused the tigress to flight. The elephant was forced 
 again into the nurkool very much against his will, and the 
 mahout was promised a reward if we got the tigress. The din
 
 THE " GENERAL " KILLS A CUB. 573 
 
 this time was prodigious, and strange to say they got quite 
 close up to the big withered tree without the usual roar 
 and charge. This seemed somewhat to stimulate the beaters 
 and the old elephant. The coolies redoubled their cries, 
 smote among the reeds with their heavy staves, and shouted 
 encouragement to each other. Eight in the middle of the 
 line, as it seemed to us from the outside, there was then a 
 fierce roar and a mighty commotion. Cries of fear and conster- 
 nation arose, and forth poured the coolies again, helter skelter, 
 like so many rabbits from a warren when a weasel or ferret 
 has entered the burrow. Eight before me a huge old boar and 
 a couple of sows came plunging forth. I let them get on 
 a little distance from the brake, and then with my " Express " 
 I rolled over the tusker and one of his companions and just 
 then the General shouted out to me, " There's the tiger ! " 
 
 I looked in the direction of his levelled gun, and there at 
 the edge of the jungle was a handsome, half-grown tiger cub, 
 beautifully marked, his tail switching angrily from side to 
 side, and his twitching retracted lips and bristling moustache 
 drawn back like those of a vicious cat, showing his gleaming 
 polished fangs and teeth. 
 
 The General had a fine chance, took a steady aim, and shot 
 the young savage right through the heart. The handsome 
 young tiger gave one convulsive leap into the air and fell on 
 his side stone dead. We could not help a cheer, and 
 shouted for Fullerton, who soon came running up. We got 
 some coolies together, but they were frightened to go near 
 the dead animal, as we could plainly hear the old vixen 
 inside snarling and snapping, for all the world like an angry 
 terrier. We heard her half-suppressed growl and snarl. 
 She was evidently in a fine temper. How we wished for a 
 couple of staunch elephants to hunt her out of the cane. It 
 was no use, however, the elephant would not go near the 
 jungle again. The coolies were thoroughly scared, and had 
 got plenty of pork and venison to eat, so did not care for
 
 574 SPORT AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 anything else. We collected a lot of tame buffaloes, and 
 tried to drive them through the jungle, but the coolies had lost 
 heart, and would not exert themselves ; so we had to content 
 ourselves with the cub, who measured six feet three inches 
 (a very handsome skin it was), and very reluctantly had to 
 leave the savage mother alone. I never saw a brute charge 
 so persistently as she did. She always rushed forward with 
 a succession of roars, and was very wary and cunning. 
 She never charged home, she did not even touch the elephant 
 or any of the coolies, but evidently trusted to frighten her 
 assailants away by a bold show and a fierce outcry. 
 
 We went back two days after with five elephants, which 
 with great difficulty we had got together,* and thoroughly 
 beat the patch of nurkool, killed a lot of pig and a couple of 
 deer, shot an alligator, and destroyed over thirty of its eggs, 
 which we discovered on the bank of the creek ; and returning 
 in the evening shot a nilghau and a black buck, but the 
 tigress had disappeared. She was gone, and we grumbled 
 sorely at our bad luck. It was doubtless intensely exciting 
 work, and both tiger and cub must have passed close to us 
 several times, hidden by the jungle. We were only about 
 thirty paces from the edge of the brake, and both animals 
 must have seen us, although the dense cover hid them from 
 our sight. I certainly prefer shooting from the howdah. 
 
 Although it is beyond the scope of this book to enter into 
 a detailed account of the tiger, discussing his structure, 
 habits, and characteristics, it may aid the reader if I give a 
 sketchy general outline of some of the more prominent 
 points of interest connected with the monarch of the jungle, 
 the cruel, cunning, ferocious king of the cat tribe, the beau- 
 tiful but dreaded tiger. 
 
 * This was at the time the Prince of "Wales was shooting in Nepaul, 
 not very far from where I was then stationed. Most of the elephants in 
 the district had been sent up to his Eoyal Highness's camp, or were on 
 their way to take part in the ceremonies of the grand Durbar in Delhi.
 
 CHARACTER OF THE TIGER. 575 
 
 I should prefer to show his character by incidents with 
 which I have myself been connected, but as many statements 
 have been made about tigers that are utterly absurd and 
 untrue, and as tiger stories generally contain a good deal 
 of exaggeration, and a natural scepticism unconsciously haunts 
 the reader when tigers and tiger shooting are the topics, it 
 may be as well to state once for all, that I shall put down 
 nothing that cannot be abundantly substantiated by reference 
 to my own sporting journals, or those of the brothers S., 
 friends and fellow-sportsmen of my own. To G. S. I am 
 under great obligations for many interesting notes he has 
 given me about tiger shooting. Joe, his brother, was long 
 our captain in our annual shooting parties. Their father and 
 his brother, the latter still alive and a keen shot, were noted 
 sportsmen at a time when game was more plentiful, shooting 
 more generally practised, and when to be a good shot meant 
 more than average excellence. The two brothers between 
 them have shot, I dare say, more than four hundred and fifty 
 male and female tigers, and serried rows of skulls ranged 
 round the billiard-rooms in their respective factories bear 
 witness to their love of sport and the deadly accuracy of their 
 aim. Under their auspices I began my tiger shooting, and as 
 they knew every inch of the jungles, had for years been 
 observant students of nature, were acquainted with all the 
 haunts and habits of every wild creature, I acquired a fund 
 of information about the tiger which I knew could be de- 
 pended on. It was the result of actual observation and 
 experience, and in most instances it was corroborated by my 
 own experience in my more limited sphere of action. Every 
 incident I adduce, every deduction I draw, every assertion I 
 make regarding tigers and tiger shooting can be plentifully 
 substantiated, and abundantly testified to, by my brother 
 sportsmen of Purneah and Bhaugulpore. From their valuable 
 information I have got most of the material for this part of 
 my book. 
 
 2 P
 
 576 8POET AND WOEK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 Of the order FEKAE, the family felidae, there is perhaps 
 no animal in the wide range of all zoology so eminently 
 fitted for destruction as the tiger. His whole structure and 
 appearance, combining beauty and extreme agility with pro- 
 cfigious strength, his ferocity, and his cunning mark him out 
 as the very type of a beast of prey. He is the largest of the 
 cat tribe, the most formidable race of quadrupeds on earth. 
 He is the most bloodthirsty in habit, and the most dreaded 
 by man. Whole tracts of fertile fields, reclaimed from the 
 wild luxuriance of matted jungle, and waving with golden 
 .grain, have been deserted by the patient husbandmen, and 
 allowed to relapse into tangled thicket and uncultured waste, 
 on account of the ravages of this formidable robber. Whole 
 villages have been depopulated by tigers, the mouldering 
 door-posts and crumbling rafters, met with at intervals in 
 the heart of the solitary jungle, alone marking the spot where 
 a thriving hamlet once sent up the curling smoke from its 
 humble hearths, until the scourge of the wilderness, the 
 dreaded " man-eater," took up his station near it, and drove 
 the inhabitants in terror from the spot. Whole herds of 
 valuable cattle have been literally destroyed by the tiger. 
 His habitat is in those jungles, and near those localities, 
 which are most highly prized by the herdsmen of India for 
 their pastures, and the numbers of cattle that yearly fall 
 before his thirst for blood, and his greed for living prey, are 
 almost incredible. I have scarcely known a day pass, during 
 the hot months, on the banks of the Koosee, that news of a 
 kill has not been sent in from some of the villages in my 
 ilaka, and as a tiger eats once in every four or five days, and 
 oftener if he can get the chance, the number of animals that 
 fall a prey to his insatiable appetite, over the extent of 
 Hindostan, must be enormous. The annual destruction of 
 tame animals by tigers alone is almost incredible, and when 
 we add to this the wild buffalo, the deer, the pig, and other 
 untamed animals, to say nothing of smaller creatures, we can
 
 STRUCTURE OF TEE TIGER. 577 
 
 form some conception of the destruction caused by the tiger 
 in the course of a year. 
 
 His whole frame is put together to effect destruction. In 
 -cutting up a tiger you are impressed with this. His tendons 
 are masses of nerve and muscle as hard as steel. The muscular 
 development is tremendous. Vast bands and layers of muscle 
 overlap each other. Strong ligaments, which you can scarcely 
 cut through, and which soon blunt the sharpest knife, unite 
 the solid, freely-playing, loosely-jointed bones. The muzzle 
 is broad, and short, and obtuse. The claws are completely 
 retractile. The jaws are short. There are two false molars, 
 two grinders above, and the same number below. The upper 
 carnivorous tooth has three lobes, and an obtuse heel; the 
 lower has two lobes, pointed and sharp, and no heel. There 
 is one very small tuberculous tooth above as an auxiliary, and 
 then the strong back teeth. The muscles of the jaws are of 
 tremendous power. I have come across the remains of a 
 buffalo killed by a tiger, and found all the large bones, even 
 the big strong bones of the pelvis and large joints, cracked 
 and crunched like so many walnuts, by the powerful jaws of 
 ;the fierce brute. 
 
 The eye is peculiarly brilliant, and when glaring with fury 
 it is truly demoniac. With his bristles rigid, the snarling 
 lips drawn back disclosing the formidable fangs, the body 
 crouching for his spring, and the lithe tail puffed up and 
 swollen, and lashing restlessly from side to side, each muscle 
 tense and strung, and an undulating movement perceptible 
 like the motions of a huge snake, a crouching tiger at bay is 
 a sight that strikes a certain chill to the heart of the onlooker. 
 When he. bounds forward, with a hoarse barking roar that 
 reverberates among the mazy labyrinths of the interminable 
 jungle, he tests the steadiest nerve and almost daunts the 
 bravest heart. 
 
 In their habits they are very unsociable, and are only seen 
 together during the amatory season. When that is over the 
 
 2 P 2
 
 578 SPORT AND WOEK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 male tiger betakes him again to his solitary predatory life, 
 and the tigress becomes, if possible, fiercer than he is, and 
 buries herself in the gloomiest recesses of the jungle. When 
 the young are born, the male tiger has often been known 
 to devour his offspring, and at this time they are very savage 
 and quarrelsome. Old G., a planter in Purneah, once came 
 across a pair engaged in deadly combat. They writhed and 
 struggled on the ground, the male tiger striking tremendous 
 blows on the chest and flanks of his consort, and tearing her 
 skin in strips, while the tigress buried her fangs in his neck, 
 tearing and worrying with all the ferocity of her nature. 
 She was battling for her young. G. shot both the enraged 
 combatants, and found that one of the cubs had been mangled, 
 evidently by his unnatural father. Another, which he picked 
 up in a neighbouring bush, was unharmed, but did not survive 
 long. Pairs have often been shot in the same jungle, but 
 seldom in close proximity, and it accords with all experience 
 that they betray an aversion to each other's society, except at 
 the one season. This propensity of the father to devour his 
 offspring seems to be due to jealousy or to blind unreasoning 
 hate. To save her offspring the female always conceals her 
 young, and will often move far from the jungle which she 
 usually frequents. 
 
 When the cubs are able to kill for themselves, she seems 
 to lose all pleasure in their society, and by the time they are 
 well grown she usually has another batch to provide for. I 
 have, however, shot a tigress with a full-grown cub the 
 hunt described in the last chapter is an instance and on 
 several occasions, my friend George has shot the mother 
 with three or four full-grown cubs in attendance. This is, 
 however, rare, and only happens, I believe, when the mother 
 has remained entirely separate from the company of the male. 
 
 The strength of the tiger is amazing. The fore paw is the 
 most formidable weapon of attack. With one stroke de- 
 livered with full effect he can completely disable a larger
 
 TEE TIGERS GEE AT STEENGTH. 579 
 
 buffalo. On one occasion, on the Koosee dyardhs, that is, 
 the plains bordering the river, an enraged tiger, passing 
 through a herd of buffaloes, broke the backs of two of the 
 herd, giving each a stroke right and left as he went along. 
 One blow is generally sufficient to kill the largest bullock or 
 buffalo. Our captain, Joe, had once received Tchubber, that is, 
 news or information, of a kill by a tiger. He went straight 
 to the batan, the herd's head-quarters, and on making 
 enquiries, was told that the tiger was a veritable monster. 
 
 " Did you see it ? " asked Joe. 
 
 " I did not," responded the gwala or cowherd. 
 
 " Then how do you know it was so large ? " 
 
 " Because," said the man, " it killed the biggest buffalo in 
 my herd, and the poor brute only gave one groan." 
 
 George once tracked a tiger, following up the drag of a 
 bullock that he had carried off. At one place the brute came 
 to a ditch, which was measured and found to be five feet in 
 width. Through this there was no drag, but the traces 
 continued on the further side. The inference is, that the 
 powerful thief had cleared the ditch, taking the bullock 
 bodily with him at a bound. Others have been known to 
 jump clear out of a cattle pen, over a fence some six feet 
 high, taking on one occasion a large-sized calf, and another 
 time a sheep. 
 
 Another wounded tiger, with two bullets in his flanks, the 
 wound being near the root of the tail, cleared a nullah, or 
 dry watercourse, at one bound. The nullah was stepped by 
 George, and found to be twenty-three paces wide. It is 
 fortunate, with such tremendous powers for attack, that the 
 tiger will try as a rule to slink out of the way if he can. He 
 almost always avoids an encounter with man. His first 
 instinct is flight. Only the exciting incidents of the chase 
 are as a rule put upon record. A narrative of tiger shooting 
 therefore is apt in this respect to be a little misleading. The 
 victims who meet their death tamely and quietly (and they
 
 580 SPOET AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 form the majority in every hunt) those that are shot as- 
 they are tamely trying to escape are simply enumerated; 
 but the charging tiger, the old vixen that breaks the line, and 
 scatters the beaters to right and left, that rouses the blood of" 
 the sportsmen to a fierce excitement, these are made the most 
 of. Every incident is detailed and dwelt upon, and thus the 
 idea has gained ground, that ALL tigers are courageous, and 
 wait not for attack, but in most instances take the initiative. 
 I. is not the case. Most of the tigers I have seen killed 
 would have escaped if they could. It is only when brought 
 to bay, or very hard pressed, or in defence of its young, that 
 a tiger or tigress displays its native ferocity. At such a 
 moment indeed, nothing gives a better idea of savage deter- 
 mined fury and fiendish rage. With ears thrown back, brows 
 contracted, mouth open, and glaring yellow eyes scintillating 
 with fury, the cruel claws plucking at the earth, the ridgy 
 hairs on the back stiff and erect as bristles, and the lithe 
 lissom body quivering in every muscle and fibre with wrath 
 and hate, the beast comes down to the charge with a defiant 
 roar, which makes the pulse bound and the breath come short 
 and quick. It requires all a man's nerve and coolness to 
 enable him to make steady shooting. 
 
 Eoused to fury by a wound, I have seen tigers wheel round 
 with amazing swiftness, and dash headlong, roaring dreadfully 
 as they charged, full upon the nearest elephant, scattering 
 the line and lacerating the poor creature on whose flanks or 
 head they may have fastened, their whole aspect betokening 
 pitiless ferocity and fiendish rage. 
 
 Even in death they do not forget their savage instincts. I 
 knew of one case in which a seemingly dead tiger inflicted 
 a fearful wound upon an elephant that had trodden on what 
 appeared to be his inanimate carcase. Another elephant, 
 that attacked and all but trampled a tiger to death, was 
 severely bitten under one of the toe-nails. The wound 
 mortified, and the unfortunate beast died in about a week
 
 FEROCITY OF WOUNDED TIGEES. 581 
 
 after its infliction. Another monster, severely wounded, fell 
 into a pool of water, and seized hold with its jaws of a hard 
 knot of wood that was floating about. In its death agony, it 
 made its powerful teeth meet in the hard wood, and not until 
 it was being cut up, and we had divided the muscles of the 
 jaws, could we extricate the wood from that formidable 
 clench. In rage and fury, and mad with pain, the wounded 
 tiger will often turn round and savagely bite the wound that 
 causes its agony, and they very often bite their paws and 
 shoulders, and tear the grass and earth around them. 
 
 A tiger wounded in the spine, however, is the most 
 exciting spectacle. Paralysed in the limbs, he wheels round, 
 roaring and biting at everything within his reach. In 1874 
 I shot one in the spine, and watched his furious movements 
 for some time before I put him out of his misery. I threw 
 him a pad from one of the elephants, and the way he tore 
 and gnawed it gave me some faint idea of his fury and 
 ferocity. He looked the very personification of impotent 
 viciousness ; the incarnation of devilish rage. 
 
 Urged by hunger the tiger fearlessly attacks his prey. 
 The most courageous are young tigers about seven or eight 
 feet long. They invariably give better sport than larger and 
 older animals, being more ready to charge, and altogether 
 bolder and more defiant. Up to the age of two years they 
 have probably been with the mother, have never encountered 
 a reverse or defeat, and having become bold by impunity, 
 hesitate not to fly at any assailant whatever. 
 
 Like all the cat tribe, they are very cruel in disposition, 
 often most wantonly so. Having disabled his prey with the 
 first onset, the tiger plays with it as a cat does with a mouse, 
 and unless very sharp set by hunger, he always indulges this 
 love of torture. His attacks are by no means due only to 
 the cravings of his appetite. He often slays the victims of a 
 herd, in the wantonness of sport, merely to indulge his 
 murderous propensities. Even when he has had a good meal
 
 582 SPOUT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FEONTIER. 
 
 he will often go on adding fresh victims, seemingly to gratify 
 his sense of power, and his love of slaughter. In teaching her 
 cubs to kill for themselves, the mother often displays great 
 cruelty, frequently killing at a time five or six cows from 
 one herd. The young savages are apt pupils, and " try their 
 prentice hand " on calves and weakly members of the herd, 
 killing from the mere love of murder. 
 
 Their cunning is as remarkable as their cruelty ; what 
 they lack in speed they make up in consummate subtlety. 
 They take advantage of the direction of the wind, and of 
 every irregularity of the ground. It is amazing what slight 
 cover will suffice to conceal their lurking forms from the 
 observation of the herd. During the day they generally 
 retreat to some cool and shady spot, deep in the recesses of 
 the jungle. Where the soft earth has been worn away with 
 ragged hollows and deep shady watercourses, where the 
 tallest and most impenetrable jungle conceals the winding 
 and impervious paths, hidden in the gloom and obscurity of 
 the densely matted grass, the lordly tiger crouches, and 
 blinks away the day. With the approach of night, however, 
 his mood undergoes a change. He hears the tinkle of the 
 bells, borne by some of the members of a retreating herd, 
 that may have been feeding in close proximity to his haunt 
 all day long, and from which he has determined to select a 
 victim for his evening meal. He rouses himself and yawns, 
 stretches himself like the great cruel cat he is, and then 
 crawls and creeps silently along, by swampy watercourses, 
 and through devious labyrinths known to himself alone. 
 He hangs on. the outskirts of the herd, prowling along and 
 watching every motion of the returning cattle. He makes 
 his selection, and with infinite cunning and patience 
 contrives to separate it from the rest. He waits for a 
 favourable moment, when, with a roar that sends the 
 alarmed companions of the unfortunate victim scampering 
 together to the front, he springs on his unhappy prey,
 
 THE TIGERS CUNNING. 583 
 
 deprives it of all power of resistance with one tremendous 
 stroke, and bears it away to feast at his leisure on the warm 
 and quivering carcase. 
 
 He generally kills as the shades of evening are falling, 
 and seldom ventures on a foraging expedition by day. After 
 nightfall it is dangerous to be abroad in the jungles. It is 
 then that dramas are acted of thrilling interest, and 
 unimaginable sensation scenes take place. Some of the old 
 shekarries and field-watchers frequently dig shallow pits, in 
 which they take their stand. Their eye is on the level of 
 the ground, and any object standing out in relief against the 
 sky line can be readily detected. If they could relate their 
 experiences, what absorbing narratives they could write ! 
 They see the tiger spring upon his terror-stricken prey, the 
 mother and her hungry cubs prowling about for a victim, or 
 two fierce tigers battling for the favours of some sleek, 
 striped, remorseless, blood-thirsty forest-fiend. In pursuit of 
 their quarry they steal noiselessly along, and love to make 
 their spring unawares. They generally select some weaker 
 member of a herd, and are chary of attacking a strong big- 
 boned, horned animal. They sometimes " catch a Tartar," 
 and instances are known of a buffalo not only withstanding 
 the attack of a tiger successfully, but actually gaining the 
 victory over his more active assailant, whose life has paid 
 the penalty of his rashness. 
 
 Old G. told me he had come across the bodies of a wild 
 boar and an old tiger, lying dead together near Burgamma. 
 The boar was fearfully mauled, but the clean-cut gaping 
 gashes in the striped hide of the tiger, told how fearfully and 
 gallantly he had battled for his life. 
 
 In emerging from the jungle at night, they generally 
 select the same path or spot, and approach the edge of the 
 cover with great caution. They will follow the same track 
 for days together. Hence in some places the tracks of the 
 tigers are so numerous as to lead the tyro to imagine that
 
 584 SPOUT AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 dozens must have passed, when in truth the tracks all belong 
 to one and the same brute. So acute is their perception, so 
 narrowly do they scrutinize every minute object in their 
 path, so suspicious is their nature, that anything new in 
 their path, such as a pitfall, a screen of cut grass, a myclian, 
 that is, a stage from which you might be intending to get a 
 shot, nay, even the print of a footstep a man's, a horse's, an 
 elephant's is often quite enough to turn them from a 
 projected expedition, or at any rate to lead them to seek 
 some new outlet from the jungle. In any case it increases 
 their wariness, and under such circumstances it becomes 
 almost impossible to get a shot at them from a pit or 
 shooting-stage. Their vision, their sense of smell, of hearing, 
 all their perceptions are so acute, that I think lying in wait 
 for them is chiefly productive of weariness and vexation of 
 spirit. It is certainly dangerous, and the chances of a 
 successful shot are so problematical, while the desagredblcs 
 and discomforts and dangers are so real and tangible, that I 
 am inclined to think this mode of attack " hardly worth the 
 candle." 
 
 With all his ferocity and cruelty, however, I am of opinion 
 that the tiger is more cowardly than courageous. He will 
 always try to escape a danger, and fly from attack, rather 
 than attack in return or wait to meet it, and wherever he 
 can, in pursuit of his prey, he will trust rather to his 
 cunning than to his strength, and he always prefers an 
 ambuscade to an open onslaught.
 
 ( 585 ) 
 
 CHAPTEE XIX. 
 
 The tiger's mode of attack The food he prefers Varieties of prey 
 Examples What he eats first How to tell the kill of a tiger 
 Appetite fierce Tiger choked by a bone Two varieties of tiger 
 The Royal Bengal Description The Hill tiger His description The 
 two compared Length of the tiger How to measure tigers Measure- 
 ments Comparison between male and female Number of young at a 
 birth The young cubs Mother teaching cubs to kill Education and 
 progress of the young tiger Wariness and cunning of the tiger 
 Hunting incidents showing their powers of concealment Tigers taking 
 to water Examples Swimming powers Caught by floods Story of 
 the Soonderbund tigers. 
 
 THE tiger's mode of attack is very characteristic of his 
 whole nature. To see him stealthily crouching, or crawling 
 silently and sneakingly after a herd of cattle, dodging 
 behind every clump of bushes or tuft of grass, running 
 swiftly along the high bank of a watercourse, and sneaking 
 under the shadowing border of a belt of jungle, is to under- 
 stand his cunning and craftiness. His attitude, when he 
 is crouching for the final bound, is the embodiment of 
 suppleness and strength. All his actions are graceful, and 
 half display and half conceal beneath their symmetry and 
 elegance the tremendous power and deadly ferocity that 
 lurks beneath. For a short distance he is possessed of great 
 speed, and with a few short agile bounds he generally 
 manages to overtake his prey. If baffled in his first attack, 
 he retires growling to lie in wait for a less fortunate victim. 
 His onset being so fierce and sudden, the animal he selects 
 for his prey is generally taken at a great disadvantage, and 
 is seldom in a position to make any strenuous or availing 
 resistance.
 
 586 SPOET AND WOEK ON THE NEPAUL FEONTIEE. 
 
 Delivering the numbing blow with his mighty fore paw, 
 he fastens on the throat of the animal he has felled, and 
 invariably tries to tear open the jugular vein. This is his 
 practice in nearly every case, and it shows a wonderful 
 instinct for selecting the most deadly spot in the whole body 
 of his luckless prey. When he has got hold of his victim by 
 the throat, he lies down, holding on to the bleeding carcase, 
 snarling and growling, and fastening and withdrawing his 
 claws, much as a cat does with a rat or mouse. Some 
 writers say he then proceeds to drink the blood, but this is 
 just one of those broad general assertions which require 
 proof. In some cases he may quench his thirst and gratify 
 his appetite for blood by drinking it from the gushing veins 
 of his quivering victim, but in many cases I know from 
 observation that the blood is not drunk. If the tiger is very 
 hungry he then begins his feast, tearing huge fragments of 
 flesh from the dead body, and not unusually swallowing them 
 whole. If he is not particularly hungry, he drags the 
 carcase away and hides it in some well-known spot. This is 
 to preserve it from the hungry talons and teeth of vultures 
 and jackals. He commonly remains on guard near his 
 cache until he has acquired an appetite. If he cannot 
 conveniently carry away his quarry, because of its bulk, or 
 the nature of the ground, or from being disturbed, he returns 
 to the place at night and satisfies his appetite. 
 
 Tigers can sneak crouchingly along as fast as they can 
 trot, and it is wonderful how silently they can steal on their 
 prey. They seem to have some stray provident fits, and 
 on occasions make provision for future wants. There are 
 instances on record of a tiger dragging a kill after him for 
 miles, over water and through slush and weeds, and feasting 
 on the carcase days after he has killed it. It is a fact, now 
 established beyond a doubt, that he will eat carrion and 
 putrid flesh, but only from necessity and not from choice. 
 
 On one occasion my friends put up a tigress during the
 
 THE TIGERS FOOD. 587 
 
 rains, when there are few cattle in the dyaralis or plains near 
 the river. She had killed a pig, and was eagerly devouring 
 the carcase when she was disturbed. Snarling and growling, 
 she made off with a leg of pork in her mouth, when a bullet 
 ended her career. They seemed to prefer pork and venison 
 to almost any other kind of food, and no doubt pig and deer 
 are their natural and usual prey. The influx, however, of 
 vast herds of cattle, and the consequent presence of man, 
 drive away the wild animals, and at all events make them 
 more wary and more difficult to kill. Finding domestic 
 cattle unsuspicious, and not very formidable foes, the tiger 
 contents himself at a pinch with beef, and judging from his 
 ravages he comes to like it. Getting bolder by impunity, he 
 ventures in some straits to attack man. He finds him a very 
 easy prey; he finds the flesh too, perhaps, not unlike his 
 favourite pig. Henceforth he becomes a "man-eater," the 
 most dreaded scourge and pestilent plague of the district. 
 He sometimes finds an old boar a tough customer, and 
 never ventures to attack a buffalo unless it be grazing alone, 
 and away from the rest of the herd. When buffaloes are 
 attacked, they make common cause against their crafty and 
 powerful foe, and uniting together in a crescent-shaped line, 
 their horns all directed in a living chevaux-de-frisc against 
 the tiger, they rush tumultuously at him, and fairly hunt 
 him from the jungle. The pig, having a short thick neck, 
 and being tremendously muscular, is hard to kill ; but the 
 poor inoffensive cow, with her long neck, is generally killed 
 at the first blow, or so disabled that it requires little further 
 effort to complete the work of slaughter. 
 
 Two friends of mine once shot an enormous old tiger on a 
 small island in the middle of the river, during the height of 
 the annual rains. The brute had lost nearly all its hair from 
 mange, and was an emaciated, sorry-looking object. From 
 the remains on the island the skin, scales, and bones 
 they found that he must have slain and eaten several
 
 588 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 alligators during his enforced imprisonment on the island. 
 They will eat alligators when pressed by hunger, and they 
 have been known to subsist on turtles, tortoises, iguanas, and 
 even jackals. Only the other day in Assam a son of Dr. B. 
 was severely mauled by a tiger which sprang into the verandah 
 after a dog. There were three gentlemen in the verandah, 
 and, as you may imagine, they were taken not a little by 
 surprise. They succeeded in bagging the tiger, but not until 
 poor B. was very severely hurt. 
 
 After tearing the throat open, they walk round the prostrate 
 carcase of their prey, growling and spitting like " tabby " cats. 
 They begin their operations in earnest, invariably on the 
 buttock. A leopard generally eats the inner portion of the 
 thigh first. A wolf tears open the belly, and eats the 
 intestines first. A vulture, hawk, or kite, begins on the 
 eyes ; but a tiger invariably begins on the buttocks, whether 
 of buffalo, cow, deer, or pig. He then eats the fatty covering 
 round the intestines, follows that up with the liver and udder, 
 and works his way round systematically to the fore- quarters, 
 leaving the head to the last. It is frequently the only part 
 of an animal that they do not eat. 
 
 A " man-eater " eats the buttocks, shoulders, and breasts 
 first. So many carcases are found in the jungle of animals 
 that have died from disease or old age, or succumbed to 
 hurts and accidents, that the whitened skeletons meet the 
 eye in hundreds. But one can always tell the kill of a tiger, 
 and distinguish between it and the other bleached heaps. 
 The large bones of a tiger's kill are always broken. The 
 broad massive rib bones are crunched in two as easily as a 
 dog would snap the drumstick of a fowl. Vultures and 
 jackals, the scavengers of the jungle, are incapable of doing 
 this ; and when you see the fractured large bones, you can 
 always tell that the whiskered monarch has been on the 
 war-path. George S. writes me : 
 
 " I have known a tiger devour a whole bullock to his own
 
 VARIETIES OF THE TIGER. 589 
 
 cheek in one day. Early in the morning a man came to 
 inform me he had seen a tiger pull down a bullock. I went 
 after the fellow late in the afternoon, and found him in a 
 bush not more than twenty feet square, the only jungle he 
 had to hide in for some distance round, and in this he had 
 polished off the bullock, nothing remaining save the head. 
 The jungle being so very small, and he having lain the 
 whole day in it, nothing in the way of vultures or jackals 
 could have assisted him in finishing off the bullock." 
 
 When hungry they appear to bolt large masses of flesh 
 without masticating it. The same correspondent writes : 
 
 " We cut out regular ' fids ' once from a tiger's stomach, 
 also large pieces of bone. Joe heard a tremendous roaring 
 one night, which continued till near morning, not far from 
 JSlpunneah. He went out at dawn to look for the tiger, 
 which he found was dead. The brute had tried to swallow 
 the knee-joint of a bullock, and it had stuck in his gullet. 
 This made him roar from pain, and eventually choked him." 
 
 As there are two distinct varieties of wild pig in India, so 
 there seems to be little doubt that there are two distinct 
 kinds of tigers. As these have frequently crossed we find 
 many hybrids. I cannot do better than again quote from 
 my obliging and observant friend George. The two kinds he 
 designates as " The Koyal Bengal," and " The Hill. Tiger," 
 and goes on to say : 
 
 " As a rule the stripes of a Eoyal Bengal are single and 
 dark. The skull is widely different from that of his brother 
 the Hill tiger, being low in the crown, wider in the jaws, 
 rather flat in comparison, and the brain-pan longer with a 
 sloping curve at the end, the crest of the brain-pan being a 
 concave curve. 
 
 " The Hill tiger is much more massively built ; squat and 
 thick-set, heavier in weight and larger in bulk, with shorter 
 tail, and very large and powerful neck, head, and shoulders. 
 The stripes generally are double, and of a more brownish
 
 590 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 tinge, with fawn colour between the double stripes. The 
 skull is high in the crown, and not quite so wide. The 
 brain-pan is shorter, and the crest slightly convex or nearly 
 straight, and the curve at the end of the skull rather abrupt. 
 
 " They never grow so long as the ' Bengal,' yet look 
 twice as big. 
 
 " The crosses are very numerous, and vary according to 
 pedigree, in stripes, skulls, form, weight, bulk, and tail. 
 This I find most remarkable when I look at my collection of 
 over 160 skulls. 
 
 " The difference is better marked in tigers than in 
 tigresses. The Bengal variety are not as a rule as ferocious 
 as the Hill tiger. Being more supple and cunning, they can 
 easier evade their pursuers by flight and manoeuvre than 
 their less agile brothers. The former, owing to deficiency of 
 strength, oftener meet with discomfiture, and consequently 
 are more wary and cunning ; while the latter, prone to carry 
 everything before them, trust more to their strength and 
 courage, anticipating victory as certain. 
 
 "In some the stripes are doubled throughout, in others 
 only partially so, while in some they are single throughout, 
 and some have manes to a slight extent." 
 
 I have no doubt this classification is correct. The tigers I 
 have seen in Nepaul near the hills, were sometimes almost a 
 dull red, and at a distance looked like a huge dun cow, while 
 those I have seen in the plains during our annual hunts, 
 were of a bright tawny yellow, longer, more lanky, and not 
 showing half such a bold front as their bulkier and bolder 
 brethren of the hills. 
 
 The length of the tiger has often given rise to fierce 
 discussions among sportsmen. The fertile imagination of the 
 slayer of a solitary " stripes," has frequently invested the 
 brute he has himself shot, or seen shot, or perchance heard 
 of as having been shot by a friend, or the friend of a friend, 
 with a fabulous length, inches swelling to feet, and di-
 
 LENGTH OF TIGERS. 591 
 
 mansions growing at each repetition of the yarn, till, as in 
 the case of boars, the twenty-eight incher becomes a forty- 
 inch tusker, and the eight-foot tiger stretches to twelve or 
 fourteen feet. 
 
 Purists again, sticklers for stern truth, haters of bounce or 
 exaggeration, have perhaps erred as much on the other side ; 
 and in their eagerness to give the exact measurement, and 
 avoid the very appearance of exaggeration, they actually 
 stretch their tape line and refuse to measure the curves of 
 the body, taking it in straight lines. This I think is 
 manifestly unfair. 
 
 Our mode of measurement in Purneah was to take the 
 tiger as he lay before he was put on the elephant, and 
 measure from the tip of the nose, over the crest of the skulL 
 along the undulations of the body, to the tip of the tail 
 That is, we followed the curvature of the spine along the 
 dividing ridge of the back, and always were careful and fair 
 in our attempts. I am of opinion that a tiger over ten feet 
 long is an exceptionally long one, but when I read of 
 sportsmen denying altogether that even that length can be 
 attained, I can but pity the dogmatic scepticism that refuses 
 credence to well-ascertained and authenticated facts. I 
 believe also that tigers are not got nearly so large as in 
 former days. I believe that much longer and heavier tigers 
 animals larger in every way were shot some twenty 
 years ago than those we can get now, but I account for this 
 by the fact that there is less land left waste and uncultivated, 
 There are more roads, ferries, and bridges, more improved 
 communications, and in consequence more travelling. Pop- 
 ulation and cultivation have increased ; fire-arms are more 
 numerous ; sport is more generally followed ; shooting is 
 much more frequent and deadly ; and, in a word, tigers have 
 not the same chances as they had some twenty years ago of 
 attaining a ripe old age, and reaching the extremest limit of 
 their growth. The largest tigers being also the most 
 
 2 Q
 
 592 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 suspicious and wary, are only found in the remotest recesses 
 of the impenetrable jungles of Nepaul and the Terai. or in 
 those parts of the Indian wilds where the crack of the 
 European rifle is seldom or never heard. 
 
 It has been so loudly asserted, and so boldly maintained 
 that no tiger was ever shot reaching, when fairly measured 
 (that is, measured with the skin on, as he lay), ten feet, that 
 I will let Mr. George again speak for himself. Eeferring to 
 the Eoyal Bengal, he says : 
 
 "These grow to great lengths. They have been shot as 
 long as twelve feet seven inches (my father shot one that 
 length) or longer ; twelve feet seven inches, twelve feet six 
 inches, twelve feet three inches, twelve feet one inch, 
 and twelve feet, have been shot and recorded in the old 
 sporting magazines by gentlemen of undoubted veracity in 
 Purneah. 
 
 " I have seen the skin of one twelve feet one inch, compared 
 with which the skin of one I have by me that measured as he 
 lay (the italics are mine) eleven feet one inch, looks like the 
 skin of a cub. The old skin looks more like that of a huge 
 antediluvian species in comparison with the other. 
 
 " The twelve-footer was so heavy that my uncle (C. A. S.) 
 tells me no number of mahouts could lift it. Several men, if 
 they could have approached at one and the same time, might 
 have been able to do so, but a sufficient number of men 
 could not lay hold simultaneously to move the body from the 
 ground. 
 
 '' Eventually a number of bamboos had to be cut and placed 
 in an incline from the ground to the elephant's saddle while 
 the elephant knelt down, and up this incline the tiger had 
 to be regularly hauled and shoved, and so fastened on the 
 elephant. 
 
 "He (the tiger) mauled four elephants, one of whom died 
 the same day, and one other had a narrow butch, i.e. escape, 
 of its life."
 
 MEASUREMENT OF TIG ESS. 593 
 
 In another communication to me, my friend goes over the 
 same ground, but as the matter is one of interest to sportsmen 
 and naturalists, I will give the extract entire. It proceeds as 
 follows : 
 
 " Tigers grow to great lengths, some assert to even fourteen 
 feet. I do not say they do not, but such cases are very 
 rare, and require authentication. The longest I have seen, 
 measured as he lay, eleven feet one inch (see 'Oriental 
 Sporting Magazine/ for July, 1871, p. 308). He was seven 
 feet nine inches from tip of nose to root of tail ; root of tail 
 one foot three inches in circumference ; round chest four feet 
 six inches ; length of head one foot two inches ; forearm two 
 feet two inches ; round the head two feet ten inches ; length 
 of tail three feet four inches. 
 
 " Besides this, I have shot another eleven feet, and one ten 
 feet eleven inches. 
 
 " The largest tigress I have shot was at Sahareah, which 
 measured ten feet two inches. I shot another ten feet 
 exactly " (see 0. S. M., Aug., 1874, p. 358). 
 
 "I have got the head of a tiger, shot by Joe, which 
 measured eleven feet five inches. It was shot at Baraila. 
 
 "The male is much bigger built in every way length, 
 weight, size, &c., than the female. The males are more 
 savage, the females more cunning and agile. The arms, 
 body, paws, head, skull, claws, teeth, &c., of the female, are 
 smaller. The tail of tigress longer ; hind legs more lanky ; 
 the prints look smaller and more contracted, and the toes 
 nearer together. It is said that though a large tiger may 
 venture to attack a buffalo, the tigress refrains from doing so, 
 but I have found this otherwise in my experience. 
 
 " I have kept a regular log of all tigers shot by me. The 
 average length of fifty-two tigers recorded in my journal is 
 nine feet six and a half inches (cubs excluded), and of sixty- 
 eight tigresses (cubs excluded), eight feet four inches. 
 
 "The average of tigers and tigresses is eight feet ten 
 
 2 Q 2
 
 594 SPORT AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 and a quarter inches. This is excluding cubs I have taken 
 alive." 
 
 As to measurements, he goes on to make a few remarks, 
 and as I cannot improve on them I reproduce the original 
 passage : 
 
 " Several methods have been recommended for measuring 
 tigers. I measure them on the ground, or when brought to 
 camp before skinning, and run the tape tight along the line, 
 beginning at the tip of the nose, along the middle of the skull, 
 between the ears and neck, then along the spine to the end of 
 the tail, taking any curves of the body. 
 
 "No doubt measurements of skull, body, tail, legs, &c., 
 ought all to be taken, to give an adequate idea of the tiger, 
 and for comparing them with one another, but this is not 
 always feasible." 
 
 Most of the leading sportsmen in India now-a-days are 
 very particular in taking the dimensions of every limb of the 
 dead tiger. They take his girth, length, and different pro- 
 portions. Many even weigh the tiger when it gets into camp, 
 and no doubt this test is one of the best that can be given for 
 a comparison of the sizes of the different animals slain. 
 
 Another much disputed point in the natural history of the 
 animal, a point on which there has been much acrimonious 
 discussion, is the number of young that are given at a birth. 
 Some writers have asserted, and stoutly maintained, that two 
 cubs, or at the most three, is the extreme number of young 
 brought forth at one time. 
 
 This may be the ordinary number, but the two gentlemen 
 I have already alluded to have assured me, that on frequent 
 occasions they have picked up four actually born, and have 
 cut out five several times, and on one occasion six, from the 
 womb of a tigress. 
 
 I have myself picked up four male cubs, all in one spot, 
 with their eyes just beginning to open, and none of their teeth 
 through the gums. One had been trampled to death by
 
 THE TIGRESS AND HER CUBS. 595 
 
 buffaloes, the other three were alive and scatheless, huddled 
 into a bush, like three immense kittens. I kept the three for 
 a considerable time, and eventually took them to Calcutta 
 and sold them for a very satisfactory price. 
 
 It seems clear, however, that the tigress frequently has 
 four and even five cubs. It is rare, indeed, to find her 
 accompanied by more than two well-grown cubs, very seldom 
 three; and the inference is, that one or two of the young 
 tigers succumb in very early life. 
 
 The young ones do not appear to grow very quickly ; they 
 are about a foot long when they are born; they are born 
 blind, with very minute hair, almost none in fact, but with 
 the stripes already perfectly marked on the soft supple skin ; 
 they open their eyes when they are eight or ten days old, at 
 which time they measure about a foot and a half. At the age 
 of nine months they have attained to five feet in length, and 
 are waxing mischievous. Tiger cubs a year old average 
 about five feet eight inches, tigresses some three inches or so 
 less. In two years they grow respectively to the male seven 
 feet six inches, and the female seven feet. At about this time 
 they leave the mother, if they have not already done so, and 
 commence depredations on their own account. In fact, their 
 education has been well attended to. The mother teaches 
 them to kill when they are about a year old. A young cub 
 that measured only six feet, and whose mother had been shot 
 in one of the annual beats, was killed while attacking a full- 
 grown cow in the Government pound at Dumdaha police 
 station. When they reach the length of six feet six inches 
 they can kill pretty easily, and numbers have been shot 
 by George and other Purneah sportsmen close to their 
 "kills." 
 
 They are most daring and courageous when they have just 
 left their mother's care, and are cast forth to fight the battle 
 of life for themselves. While with the old tigress their lines 
 have been cast in not unpleasant places, they have seldom
 
 596 SPOET AND WOEK ON THE NEPAUL FEONTIEE. 
 
 known hunger, and have experienced no reverses. Accus- 
 tomed to see every animal succumb to her well-planned and 
 audacious attacks, they fancy that nothing will withstand 
 their onslaught. They have been known to attack a line of 
 elephants, and to charge most determinedly, even in this 
 adolescent stage. 
 
 Bye-and-bye, however, as they receive a few rude shocks 
 from buffaloes, or are worsted in a hand-to-hand encounter 
 with some tough old bull, or savage old grey boar, more 
 especially if they get an ugly rip or two from the sharp tusks 
 of an infuriated fighting tusker, they begin to be less 
 aggressive, they learn that discretion may be the better part 
 of valour, and their cunning instincts are roused. In fact, 
 their education is progressing, and in time they instinctively 
 discover every wile and dodge and cunning stratagem, and 
 display all the wondrous subtlety of their race in procuring 
 their prey. 
 
 Old tigers are invariably more wary, cautious, and sus- 
 picious than young ones, and till they are fairly put to it by 
 hunger, hurt, or compulsion, they endeavour to keep their 
 stripes concealed. When brought to bay, however, there is 
 little to reproach them with on the score of cowardice, and it 
 will be a matter of rejoicing if you or your elephants do not 
 come off second best in the encounter. Even in the last 
 desperate case, a cunning old tiger will often make a feint, 
 or sham rush, or pretended charge, when his whole object is 
 flight. If he succeed in demoralising the line of elephants, 
 roaring and dashing furiously about, he will then try in the 
 confusion to double through, unless he is too badly wounded 
 to be able to travel fast, in which case he will fight to the 
 end. 
 
 Old fellows are well acquainted with every maze and 
 thicket in the jungles, and they no sooner hear the elephants 
 enter the " bush " or " cover " than they make off for some 
 distant shelter. If there is no apparent chance of this being
 
 INCIDENTS IN TIGER-HUNTING. 597 
 
 successful, they try to steal out laterally and outflank the 
 line, or if that also is impossible, they hide in some secret 
 recess like a fox, or crouch low in some clumpy bush, and 
 trust to you or your elephant passing by without noticing 
 their presence. 
 
 It is marvellous in what sparse cover they will manage to 
 lie up. So admirably do their stripes mingle with the 
 withered and charred grass-sterns and dried-up stalks, that it 
 is very difficult to detect the dreaded robber when he is lying 
 flat, extended close to the ground, so still and motionless 
 that you cannot distinguish a tremor or even a vibration of 
 the grass in which he is crouching. 
 
 On one occasion George followed an old tiger through some 
 stubble about three feet high. It had been well trampled 
 down too by tame buffaloes. The tiger had been tracked into 
 the field, and was known to be in it. George was within 
 ten yards of the cunning brute, and although mounted on a 
 tall elephant, and eagerly scanning the thin cover with his 
 sharpest glance, he could not discern the concealed monster. 
 His elephant was within four paces of it, when it sprang up 
 at the charge, giving a mighty roar, which however also 
 served as its death yell, as a bullet from George's trusty gun 
 crashed through its ribs and heart. 
 
 Tigers can lay themselves so flat on the ground, and lie so 
 perfectly motionless, that it is often a very easy tiling to 
 overlook them. On another occasion, when the Purneah 
 Hunt were out, a tigress that had been shot got under some 
 cover that was trampled down by a line of about twenty 
 elephants. The sportsmen knew that she had been severely 
 wounded, as they could tell by the gouts of blood, but there 
 was no sign of the body. She had disappeared. After a 
 long search, beating the same ground over and over again, an 
 elephant trod on the dead body lying under the trampled 
 canes, and the mahout got down and discovered her lying 
 quite dead. She was a large animal and full grown.
 
 598 SPORT AND WOEK ON THE NEPAUL FEONTIEE. 
 
 On another occasion George was after a fine male tiger. 
 He was following up fast, but coming to a broad nullah, full 
 of water, he suddenly lost sight of his game. He looked up 
 and down the bank, and on the opposite bank, but could see 
 no traces of the tiger. Looking down, he saw in the water 
 what at first he took to be a large bull-frog. There was not 
 a ripple on the placid stagnant surface of the pool. He 
 marvelled much, and just then his mahout pointed to the 
 supposed bull-frog, and in an excited whisper implored 
 George to fire. A keener look convinced George that it 
 really was the tiger. It was totally immersed all but the 
 face, and lying so still that not the faintest motion or ripple 
 was perceptible. He fired and inflicted a terrible wound. 
 The tiger bounded madly forward, and George gave it its 
 quietus through the spine as it tried to spring up the opposite 
 bank. 
 
 A nearly similar case occurred to old Mr. C., one of the 
 veteran sportsmen of Purneah. A tiger had bolted towards 
 a small tank or pond, and although the line followed up in 
 hot pursuit, the brute disappeared. Old C., keener than the 
 others, was loth to give up the pursuit, and presently dis- 
 cerned a yellowish reflection in the clear water. Peering 
 more intently, he could discover the yellowish tawny outline 
 of the cunning animal, totally immersed in the water, save 
 its eyes, ears, and nose. He shot the tiger dead, and it sank 
 to the bottom like a stone. So perfectly had it concealed 
 itself, that the other sportsmen could not for the life of them 
 imagine what old C. had fired at, till his mahout got down 
 and began to haul the dead animal out of the water. 
 
 Tigers are not at all afraid of water, and are fast and 
 powerful swimmers. They swim much after the fashion of a 
 horse, only the head out of the water, and they make scarcely 
 any ripple. 
 
 " In another case," writes George, " though not five yards 
 from the elephant, and right under me, a tiger was swimming
 
 INCIDENTS IN TIGER-HUNTING. 599 
 
 with so slight a ripple that I mistook it for a rat, until I saw 
 the stripes emerge, when I perforated his jacket with a 
 bullet." 
 
 Only their head remaining out of water when they are 
 swimming, they are very hard to hit, as shooting at an object 
 on water is very deceptive work as to judging distance, and 
 a tiger's head is but a small object to aim at when some little 
 way off. 
 
 Old C. had another adventure with a cunning rogue, which 
 all but ended disastrously. He was in hot pursuit of the 
 tiger, and, finding no safety on land, it took to swimming in 
 a broad unfordable piece of water, a sort of deep lagoon. Old 
 C. procured a boat that was handy, and got a coolie to paddle 
 him out after the tiger. He fired several shots at the exposed 
 head of the brute, but missed. He thought he would wait 
 till he got nearer and make a sure shot, as he had only one 
 bullet left in the boat. Suddenly the tiger turned round and 
 made straight for the boat. Here was a quandary. Even if 
 he killed the tiger with his single bullet it might upset the 
 boat; the lagoon was full of alligators, to say nothing of 
 weeds, and there was no time to get his heavy boots off. He 
 felt his life might depend on the accuracy of his aim. He 
 fired, and killed the tiger stone dead within four or five yards 
 of the boat. 
 
 On one occasion, when out with our worthy district ma- 
 gistrate, Mr. S., I came on the tracks of what to all appearance 
 was a very large tiger. They led over the sand close to the 
 water's edge, and were very distinct. I could see no re- 
 turning marks, so I judged that the tiger must have taken to 
 the water. The stream was rapid and deep, and midway to 
 the further bank was a big, oblong-shaped, sandy islet, some 
 five or six hundred yards long, and having a few scrubby 
 bushes growing sparsely on it. We put our elephants into 
 the rapid current, and got across. The river here was nearly 
 a quarter of a mile wide on each side of the islet. As we
 
 600 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 emerged from the stream on to the island we found fresh 
 tracks of the tiger. They led us completely round the 
 circumference of the islet. The tiger had evidently been 
 in quest of food. The prints were fresh and very well 
 denned. Finding that all was barren on the sandy shore, 
 he entered the current again, and following up we found his 
 imprint once more on the further bank, several hundred 
 yards down the stream. 
 
 One tiger was killed stone dead by a single bullet during 
 one of our annual hunts, and falling back into the water, 
 it sank to the bottom like lead. Being unable to find the 
 animal, we beat all round the place, till I suggested it might 
 have been hit and fallen into the river. One of the men was 
 ordered to dive down, and ascertain if the tiger was at the 
 bottom. The river water is generally muddy, so that the 
 bottom cannot be seen. Divesting himself of puggree, and 
 girding up his loins, the diver sank gently to the bottom, but 
 presently reappeared in a palpable funk, puffing and blowing, 
 and declaring that the tiger was certainly at the bottom. The 
 foolish fellow thought it might be still alive. We soon dis- 
 abused his mind of that idea, and had the dead tiger hauled 
 up to dry land. 
 
 Surprised by floods, a tiger has been known to remain for 
 days on an ant-hill, and even to take refuge on the branch of 
 some large tree, but he takes to water readily, and can swim 
 for over a mile, and he has been known to remain for days in 
 from two to three feet depth of water. 
 
 A time-honoured tiger story with old hands, used to tell 
 how the Soonderbund tigers got carried out to sea. If the 
 listener was a new arrival, or a gobc, mouchc, they would 
 explain that the tigers in the Soonderbunds often get carried 
 out to sea by the retiring tide. It would sweep them off as 
 they were swimming from island to island in the vast delta 
 of Father Ganges. Only the young ones, however, suffered 
 this lamentable fate. The older and more wary fellows,
 
 A STORY OF TIGERS. 601 
 
 taught perhaps by sad experience, used always to dip their 
 tails in, before starting on a swim, so as to ascertain which 
 way the tide was flowing. If it was the flow of the tide they 
 would boldly venture in, but if it was ebb tide, and there was 
 the slightest chance of their being carried out to sea, they 
 would patiently lie down, meditate on the fleeting vanity of 
 life, and like the hero of the song 
 
 " Wait for the turn of the tide." 
 
 Without venturing an opinion on this story, I may con- 
 fidently assert, that the tiger, unlike his humble prototype 
 the domestic cat, is not really afraid of water, but will take 
 to it readily to escape a threatened danger, or if he can 
 achieve any object by " paddling his own canoe."
 
 602 SPORT AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 MEOiCAL SCHOOL, 
 
 CHAPTEE XX. 
 
 No regular breeding" season Beliefs and prejudices of the natives about 
 tigers Bravery of the " gwalla," or cowherd caste Clawmarks on 
 trees Fondness for particular localities Tiger in Mr. F.'s howdah 
 Springing powers of tigers Lying close in cover Incident Tiger 
 shot with No. 4 shot Man clawed by a tiger Knocked its eye out 
 with a sickle Same tiger subsequently shot in same place Tigers 
 easily killed Instances Effect of shells on tiger and buffalo Best 
 weapon and bullets for tiger Poisoning tigers denounced Natives 
 prone to exaggerate in giving news of tiger Anecdote Beating for 
 tiger Line of elephants Padding dead game Line of seventy-six 
 elephants Captain of the hunt Flags for signals in the line "Naka," 
 or scout ahead Usual time for tiger shooting on the Koosee Firing 
 the jungle The line of fire at night Foolish to shoot at moving 
 jungle Never shoot down the line Motions of different animals in 
 the grass. 
 
 TIGEES seem to have no regular breeding season. As a rule 
 the male and female come together in the autumn and winter, 
 and the young ones are born in the spring and summer. All 
 the young tigers I have ever heard of have been found in 
 March, April, and May, and so on through the rains. 
 
 The natives have many singular beliefs and prejudices 
 about tigers, and they are very often averse to give the 
 slightest information as to their whereabouts. To a stranger 
 they will either give no information at all, pleading entire 
 ignorance, or they will wilfully mislead him, putting him on 
 a totally wrong track. If you are well known to the villagers, 
 and if they have confidence in your nerve and aim, they will 
 eagerly tell you everything they know, and will accompany 
 you on your elephant, to point out the exact spot where the 
 tiger was last seen. In the event of a " find " they always 
 look for lacksheesli, even though your exertions may have rid 
 their neighbourhood of an acknowledged scourge.
 
 NATIVE BELIEFS ABOUT TIGERS. 603 
 
 The gwalla, or cowherd caste, seem to know the habits of 
 the yellow striped robber very accurately. Accompanied by 
 their herd they will venture into the thickest jungle, even 
 though they know that it is infested by one or more tigers. 
 If any member of the herd is attacked, it is quite common for 
 the givalla to rush up, and by shouts and even blows try to 
 make the robber yield up his prey. This is no exaggeration, 
 but a simple fact. A cowherd attacked by a tiger has been 
 known to call up his herd by cries, and they have succeeded 
 in driving off his fierce assailant. No tiger will willingly 
 face a herd of buffaloes or cattle united for mutual 
 defence. Surrounded by his trusty herd, the gwalla 
 traverses the densest jungle and most tiger-infested thickets 
 without fear. 
 
 They believe that to rub the fat of the tiger on the loins, 
 and to eat a piece of the tongue or flesh, will cure impotency ; 
 and tiger fat, rubbed on a painful part of the body, is an 
 accepted specific for rheumatic affections. It is a firmly 
 settled belief, that the whiskers and teeth, worn on the 
 body, will act as a charm, making the wearer proof against 
 the attacks of tigers. The collar-bone, too, is eagerly coveted 
 for the same reason. 
 
 During the rains tigers are sometimes forced, like others of 
 the cat tribe, to take to trees. A Mr. Mel. shot two large 
 full-grown tigers in a tree at Gunghara, and a Baboo of my 
 acquaintance bagged no less than eight in trees during one 
 rainy season at Eampoor. 
 
 Tigers generally prefer remaining near water, and drink a 
 good deal, the quantity of raw meat they devour being no 
 doubt provocative of thirst. 
 
 The marks of their claws are often seen on trees in the 
 vicinity of their haunts, and from this fact many ridiculous 
 stories have got abroad regarding their habits. It has even 
 been regarded by some writers as a sort of rude test, by which 
 to arrive at an approximate estimate of the tiger's size. A
 
 604 SPORT AND WOBK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 tiger can stretcli himself out some two or two and a half feet 
 more than his measurable length. You have doubtless often 
 seen a domestic cat whetting its claws on the mat, or 
 scratching some rough substance, such as the bark of a tree ; 
 this is often done to clean the claws, and to get rid of chipped 
 and ragged pieces, and it is sometimes mere playfulness. It 
 is the same with the tiger, the scratching on the trees is 
 frequently done in the mere wantonness of sport, but it is 
 often resorted to to clear the claws from pieces of flesh 
 that may have adhered to them during a meal on some 
 poor slaughtered bullock. These marks on the trees are a 
 valuable sign for the hunter, as by their appearance, whether 
 fresh or old, he can often tell the whereabouts of his quarry, 
 and a good tracker will even be able to make a rough guess 
 at its probable size and disposition. 
 
 Like policemen, tigers stick to certain beats ; even when 
 disturbed, and forced to abandon a favourite spot, they 
 frequently return to it; and although the jungle may be 
 wholly destroyed, old tigers retain a partiality for the scenes 
 of their youthful depredations; they are often shot in the 
 most unlikely places, where there is little or no cover, and 
 one would certainly never expect to find them ; they migrate 
 with the herds, and retire to the hills during the annual 
 floods, always coming back to the same jungle when the 
 rains are over. 
 
 Experienced shekarries know this trait of the tiger's 
 character well, and can tell you minutely the colour and 
 general appearance of the animals in any particular jungle ; 
 they are aware of any peculiarity, such as lameness, scars, 
 &c., and their observations must be very keen indeed, and 
 amazingly accurate, as I have never known them wrong 
 when they committed themselves to a positive statement. 
 
 An old planter residing at Sultanpore, close on the Nepaul 
 border, a noted sportsman and a crack shot, was charged on 
 one occasion by a large tiger ; the brute sprang right off the
 
 AWKWARD ATTACK. 605 
 
 ground on to the elephant's head; his hind legs were 
 completely off the ground, resting on the elephant's chest 
 and neck ; Mr. F. retained sufficient presence of mind to sit 
 close down in his howdah ; the tiger's forearm was extended 
 completely over the front bar, and so close that it touched 
 his hat. In this position he called out to his son, who was 
 on another elephant close by, to fire at the tiger ; he was 
 cool enough to warn him to take a careful aim, and not hit 
 the elephant. His son acted gallantly up to his instructions, 
 and shot the tiger through the heart, when it dropped down 
 quite dead, to Mr. F.'s great relief. 
 
 Some sportsmen are of opinion, that the tiger when 
 charging never springs clear from the ground, but only rears 
 itself on its hind legs ; this however is a mistake. I saw a 
 tiger leap right off the ground, and spring on to the rump of 
 an elephant carrying young Sam S. The elephant proved 
 staunch, and remained quite quiet, and Sam, turning round 
 in his howdah, shot his assailant through the head. 
 
 I may give another incident, to show how closely tigers 
 will sometimes stick to cover ; they are sometimes as bad to 
 dislodge as a quail or a hare ; they will crouch down and 
 conceal themselves till you almost trample on them. One 
 day a party of the Purneah Club were out ; they had shot 
 two fine tigers out of several that had been seen ; the others 
 were known to have gone ahead into some jungle surrounded 
 by water, and easy to beat. Before proceeding further it 
 was proposed accordingly to have some refreshment. The 
 tiffin elephant was directed to a tree close by, beneath whose 
 shade the hungry sportsmen were to plant themselves ; the 
 elephant had knelt down, one or two boxes had actually 
 been removed, several of the servants were clearing away the 
 dried grass and leaves. H. "W. S. came up on the opposite 
 side of the tree, and was in the act of leaping off his 
 elephant, when an enormous tiger got up at his very feet, 
 and before the astounded sportsmen could handle a gun, the
 
 606 SPORT AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 formidable intruder had cleared the bushes with a bound, 
 and disappeared in the thick jungle. 
 
 The following adventure bears me out in my remark, that 
 tigers get attached to, and like to remain in, one place. Mr. 
 F. Simpson, a thorough-going sportsman of the good old type, 
 had been out one day in the Koosee dyaras ; he had had a 
 long and unsuccessful beat for a tiger, and had given up all 
 hope of bagging one that day ; he thought therefore that he 
 might as well turn his attention to more ignoble game. 
 Extracting his bullets, he replaced them with No. 4 shot. 
 In a few minutes a peacock got up in front of him, and he 
 fired. The report roused a very fine tiger right in front of 
 his elephant; to make the best of a bad bargain, he gave 
 the retreating animal the full benefit of his remaining charge 
 of shot, and peppered it well. About a year after, close to 
 this very place, C. A. S. bagged a fine tiger. On examination, 
 the marks of a charge of shot were found in the flanks, and 
 on removing the pads of the feet, numbers of pellets of No. 4 
 shot were found embedded in them. It was evidently the 
 animal that had been peppered a year before, and the pellets 
 had worked their way downwards to the feet. 
 
 On another occasion, a man came to the factory where 
 George was then residing, to give information of a tiger. He 
 bore on his back numerous bleeding scratches, ample 
 evidence of the truth of his story. While cutting grass in 
 the jungle, with a blanket on his back, the day being rainy, 
 he had been attacked by a tiger from the rear. The blanket 
 is generally folded several times, and worn over the head 
 and back. It is a thick heavy covering, and in the first 
 onset the tiger tore the blanket from the man's body, which 
 was probably the means of saving his life. The man turned 
 round, terribly scared, as may be imagined. In desperation 
 he struck at the tiger with his sickle, and according to his 
 own account, he succeeded in putting out one of its eyes. 
 He said it was a young tiger, and his bleeding wounds, and
 
 TIGERS EASILY KILLED. 607 
 
 the persistency with which he stuck to his story, impressed 
 George with the belief that he was telling the truth. A 
 search for the tiger was made. The man's blanket was 
 found, torn to shreds, but no tiger, although the footprints of 
 one were plainly visible. But some months after, near the 
 same spot, George shot a half-grown tiger with one of its 
 eyes gone, which had evidently been roughly torn from the 
 socket. This was doubtless the identical brute that had 
 attacked the grass-cutter. 
 
 It is sometimes wonderful how easily a large and powerful 
 tiger may be killed. The most vulnerable parts are the back 
 of the head, through the neck, and broadside on the chest. 
 The neck is the most deadly spot of all, and a shot behind 
 the shoulder, or on the spine, is sure to bring the game to 
 bag. I have seen several shot with a single bullet from a 
 smooth-bore, and on one occasion, George tells me he saw a 
 tigress killed with a single smooth-bore bullet at over a 
 hundred yards. The bullet was a ricocliet, and struck the 
 tigress below the chest, and travelled towards the heart, but 
 without touching it. She fell twenty yards from where she 
 had been hit. Another, which on skinning we found had 
 been shot through the heart, with a single smooth-bore bullet 
 at a distance of one hundred and fifty yards, travelled for 
 thirty yards before falling dead. Meiselbach, a neighbour of 
 mine, shot three tigers successively, on one occasion, with a 
 No. 18 Joe Manton smooth-bore. Each of the three was 
 killed by a single bullet, one in the head, one in the neck, 
 and one through the heart, the bullet entering behind the 
 shoulder. 
 
 On the other hand, I once fired no less than six Jacob's 
 shells into a tiger, all behind the shoulder, before I could 
 stop him. The shells seemed to explode on the surface the 
 moment they came in contact with the body. There was a 
 tremendous surface wound, big enough to put a pumpkin 
 into, but very little internal hurt. On another occasion 
 
 2 K
 
 608 SPOUT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 (April 4, 1874), during one of the most exciting and most 
 glorious moments of my sporting life buffaloes charging the 
 line in all directions, burning jungle all around us, and 
 bullets whistling on every side I fired TWELVE shells into a 
 large bull before I killed him. As every shell hit him, I 
 heard the sharp detonation, and saw the tiny puff of smoke 
 curl outward from the ghastly wound. The poor maddened 
 brute would drop on his knees, stagger again to his feet, and, 
 game to the last, attempt to charge my elephant. I was 
 anxious really to test the effect of the Jacob's shell as 
 against the solid conical bullet, and carefully watched the 
 result of each shot. My weapon was a beautifully finished 
 No. 12 smooth-bore, made expressly to order for an officer in 
 the Eoyal Artillery, from whom I bought it. From that day 
 I never fired another Jacob's shell. 
 
 My remarks about the tiger springing clear off the ground 
 when charging, are amply borne out by the experience of 
 some of my sporting friends. I could quote pages, but will 
 content myself with one extract. It is a point of some 
 importance, as many good old sportsmen pooh-pooh the idea, 
 and maintain that the tiger merely stretches himself out to 
 his fullest length, and if he does leave the ground, it is by a 
 purely physical effort, pulling himself up by his claws. 
 
 My friend George writes me: "In several cases I have 
 known and seen the tiger spring, and leave the ground. In 
 one case the tiger sprang from fully five yards off. He 
 crouched at the distance of a few paces, as if about to spring, 
 and then sprang clean on to the head of Joe's tusker. An 
 eight-feet-nine-inch tigress once got on the head of my 
 elephant, which was ten feet seven inches in height. Every 
 one present saw her leave the ground. Once, when after a 
 tiger in small stubble, about six feet high, I saw one bound 
 over a bush so clean that I could see every bit of him." And 
 so on. 
 
 For long-range shooting the rifle is doubtless the best
 
 BEST WEAPON FOR TIGER. 609 
 
 weapon. The Express is the most deadly. The smooth-bore 
 is the gun for downright honest sport. Shells and hollow- 
 pointed bullets are the things, as one sportsman writes me, 
 "for mutilation and cowardly murder, and for spoiling the 
 skin." Poison is the resource of the poacher. No sportsman 
 could descend so low. Grant that the tiger is a scourge, a 
 pest, a nuisance, a cruel and implacable foe to man and beast ; 
 pile all the vilest epithets of your vocabulary on his head, 
 and say that he deserves them all, still he is what oppor- 
 tunity and circumstance have made him. He is as nature 
 fashioned him; and there are bold spirits, and keen sights, 
 and steady nerves enough, God wot, among our Indian 
 sportsmen, to cope with him on more equal and sportsman- 
 like terms than by poisoning him like a mangy dog. On 
 this point, however, opinions differ. I do not envy the man 
 who would prefer poisoning a tiger to the keen delight of 
 patiently following him up, ousting him from cover to cover, 
 watching his careful endeavours to elude your search; 
 perhaps at the end of a long and fascinating beat, feeling the 
 electric excitement thrill every nerve and fibre of your body, 
 as the magnificent robber comes bounding down at the charge, 
 the very embodiment of ferocity and strength, the perfection 
 of symmetry, the acme of agility and grace. 
 
 Natives are such notorious perverters of the truth, and so 
 often hide what little there may be in their communications 
 under such floods of Oriental hyperbole and exaggeration, 
 that you are often disappointed in going out on what you 
 consider trustworthy and certain information. They often 
 remind me of the story of the Laird of Logan. He was 
 riding slowly along a country road one day, when another 
 equestrian joined him. Logan's eye fixed itself on a hole in 
 the turf bank bounding the road, and with great gravity, and 
 in trust-inspiring accents, he said, " I saw a tod (or fox) gang 
 in there." 
 
 " Did you, really ? " cried the new comer. 
 
 2 B 2
 
 610 SPORT AND WOEK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 " I did," responded the laird. 
 
 " Will you hold my horse till I get a spade ? " cried the now 
 excited traveller. 
 
 The laird assented. Away hurried the man, and soon 
 returned with a spade. He set manfully to work to dig out 
 the fox, and worked till the perspiration streamed down his 
 face. The laird sat stolidly looking on, saying never a word ; 
 and as he seemed to be nearing the confines of the hole, the 
 poor digger redoubled his exertions. When at length it 
 became plain that there was no fox there, he wiped his 
 streaming brow, and rather crossly exclaimed, "I'm afraid 
 there's no tod here." 
 
 " It would be a wonder if there was," rejoined the laird, 
 without the movement of a muscle, " it's ten years since I 
 saw him gang in there." 
 
 So it is sometimes with a native. He will fire your 
 ardour, by telling you of some enormous tiger, to be found 
 in some jungle close by, but when you come to inquire 
 minutely into his story, you find that the tiger was seen 
 perhaps the year before last, or that it used to be there, or 
 that somebody else had told him of its being there. 
 
 Some tigers, too, are so cunning and wary, that they will 
 make off long before the elephants have come near. I have 
 seen others rise on their hind legs just like a hare or a 
 kangaroo, and peer over the jungle trying to make out one's 
 whereabouts. This is of course only in short light jungle. 
 
 The plan we generally adopt in beating for tiger on or near 
 the Nepaul border, is to use a line of elephants to beat the 
 cover. It is a fine sight to watch the long line of stately 
 monsters moving slowly and steadily forward. Several 
 howdahs tower high above the line, the polished barrels of 
 guns and rifles glittering in the fierce rays of the burning 
 and vertical sun. Some of the shooters wear huge hats made 
 from the light pith of the solah plant, others have long blue 
 or white puggrees wound round their heads, in truly Oriental
 
 A3 EXTRAORDINARY BEATING PARTY. 611 
 
 style. These are very comfortable to wear, but rather trying 
 to the sight, as they afford no protection to the eyes. For 
 riding they are to my mind the most comfortable head-dress 
 that can be worn, and they are certainly more graceful than 
 the stiff unsightly solah hat. 
 
 Between every two howdahs are four or five pad elephants. 
 These beat up all the intervening bushes, and carry the game 
 that may be shot. When a pig, deer, tiger, or other animal 
 has been shot, and has received its coup de grace, it is quickly 
 bundled on to the pad, and there secured. The elephant 
 kneels down to receive the load, and while game is being 
 padded the whole line waits, till the operation is complete, as 
 it is bad policy to leave blanks. Where this simple pre- 
 caution is neglected, many a tiger will sneak through the 
 opening left by the pad elephant, and so silently and 
 cautiously can they steal through the dense cover, and so 
 cunning are they and acute, that they will take advantage of 
 the slightest gap, and the keenest and best trained eye will 
 fail to detect them. 
 
 In most of our hunting parties on the Koosee, we had 
 some twenty or thirty elephants, and frequently six or eight 
 howdahs. These expeditions were very pleasant, and we 
 lived luxuriously. For real sport ten elephants and two or 
 three tried comrades not more is much better. With a 
 short, easily worked line, that can turn and double, and 
 follow the tiger quickly, and dog his every movement, you 
 can get far better sport, and bring more to bag, than with a 
 long unwieldy line, that takes a considerable time to turn 
 and wheel, and in whose onward march there is of necessity 
 little of the silence and swiftness which are necessary 
 elements in successful tiger shooting. 
 
 I have been out with a line of seventy-six elephants and 
 fourteen howdahs. This was on 16th March 1875. It was 
 a magnificent sight to see the seventy-six huge brutes in the 
 river together, splashing the water along their heated sides
 
 2 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 to cool themselves, and sending huge waves clashing against 
 the crumbling banks of the rapid stream. It was no less 
 magnificent to see their slow stately march through the 
 swaying, crashing jungle. What an idea of irresistible 
 power and ponderous strength the huge creatures gave us, 
 as they heaved through the tangled brake, crushing every- 
 thing in their resistless progress. It was a sight to be 
 remembered, but, as might have been expected, we found 
 the jungles almost untenanted. Everything cleared out 
 before us, long ere the line could reach its vicinity. We 
 only killed one tiger, but next day we separated, the main 
 body crossing the stream, while my friends and myself, with 
 only fourteen elephants, rebeat the same jungle and bagged 
 two. 
 
 In every hunt, one member is told off to look after the 
 forage and grain for the elephants. One attends to the 
 cooking and requirements of the table, one acts as paymaster 
 and keeper of accounts, while the most experienced is un- 
 animously elected captain, and takes general direction of 
 every movement of the line. He decides on the plan of 
 operations for the day, gives each his place in the line, and 
 for the time, becomes an irresponsible autocrat, whose word 
 is law, and against whose decision there is no appeal. 
 
 Scouts are sent out during the night, and bring in reports 
 from all parts of the jungle in the early morning, while we 
 are discussing cJwta liaziree, our early morning meal. If 
 tiger is reported, or a kill has been discovered, we form line 
 in silence, and without noise bear down direct on the spot. 
 In the captain's howdah are three flags. A blue flag flying- 
 means that only tiger or rhinoceros are to be shot at. A 
 red flag signifies that we are to have general firing, in fact 
 that we may blaze away at any game that may be afoot, and 
 the white flag shows us that we are on our homeward way, 
 and then also may shoot at anything we can get, break the 
 line, or do whatever we choose. On the flanks are generally
 
 FIRING THE JUNGLE. 613 
 
 posted the best shots of the party. The captain, as a rule, 
 keeps to the centre of the line. Frequently one man and 
 elephant is sent on ahead to some opening or dry water-bed, 
 to see that no cunning tiger sneaks away unseen. This 
 vedette is called naka. All experienced sportsmen employ 
 a naka, and not unfrequently where the ground is difficult, 
 two are sent ahead. The naka is a most important post, and 
 the holder will often get a lucky shot at some wary veteran 
 trying to sneak off, and may perhaps bag the only tiger of 
 the day. The mere knowledge that there is an elephant on 
 ahead, will often keep tigers from trying to get away. They 
 prefer to face the known danger of the line behind, to the 
 unknown danger in front, and in all cases where there is a 
 big party a naka should be sent on ahead. 
 
 Tigers can be, and are, shot on the Koosee plains all the 
 year round, but the big hunts take place in the months of 
 March, April, and May, when the hot west winds are 
 blowing, and when the jungle has got considerably trampled 
 down by the herds of cattle grazing in the tangled wilderness 
 of tall grass. Innumerable small paths show where the 
 cattle wander backward and forward through the labyrinths 
 of the jungle. In the howdah we carry ample supplies of 
 vesuvians. We light and drop these as they blaze into the 
 dried grass and withered leaves as we move along, and soon 
 a mighty wall of roaring flame behind us attests the presence 
 of the destroying element. We go diagonally up wind, and 
 the flames and smoke thus surge and roar and curl and roll, 
 in dense blinding volumes, to the rear and leeward of our 
 line. The roaring of the flames sounds like the maddened 
 surf of an angry sea, dashing in thunder against an iron- 
 bound coast. The leaping flames mount up in fiery columns, 
 illuminating the fleecy clouds of smoke with an unearthly 
 glare. The noise is deafening ; at times some of the elephants 
 get quite nervous at the fierce roar of the flames behind, and 
 try to bolt across country. The fire serves two good purposes.
 
 614 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 It burns up the old withered grass, making room for the fresh 
 succulent sprouts to spring, and it keeps all the game in 
 front of the line, driving the animals before us, as they are 
 afraid to break back and face the roaring wall of flame. A 
 seething, surging sea of flame, several miles long, encircling 
 the whole country in its fiery belt, sweeping along at night 
 with the roar of a storm-tossed sea ; the flames flickering, 
 swelling, and leaping up in the dark night, the fiery particles 
 rushing along amid clouds of lurid smoke, and the glare of 
 the serpent-like line reddening the horizon, is one of those 
 magnificent spectacles that can only be witnessed at rare 
 intervals among the experiences of a sojourn in India. 
 Words fail to depict its grandeur, and the utmost skill of 
 Dore could not render on canvas, the weird, unearthly mag- 
 nificence of a jungle fire, at the culmination of its force and 
 fury. 
 
 In beating, the elephants are several yards apart, and, 
 standing in the howdah, you can see the slightest motion of 
 the grass before you, unless indeed it be virgin jungle, quite 
 untrodden, and perhaps higher than your elephant ; in such 
 high dense cover, tigers will sometimes lie up and allow you 
 to go clean past them. In such a case you must fire the 
 jungle, and allow the blaze to beat for you. It is common 
 for young, over-eager sportsmen, to fire at moving jungle, 
 trusting to a lucky chance for hitting the moving animal ; 
 this is useless waste of powder; they fail to realise the 
 great length of the swaying grass, and invariably shoot over 
 the game ; the animal hears the crashing of the bullet 
 through the dense thicket overhead, and immediately stops, 
 and you lose all idea of his whereabouts. When you see an 
 animal moving before you in long jungle, it should be your 
 object to follow him slowly and patiently, till you can get a 
 sight of him, and see what sort of beast he is. Firing at the 
 moving grass is worse than useless. Keep as close behind 
 him as you can, make signs for the other elephants to close
 
 A FEW NECESSARY PRECAUTIONS. 615 
 
 in; stick to your quarry, never lose sight of him for an 
 instant, be ready to seize the first moment, when more open 
 jungle, or some other favourable chance, may give you a 
 glimpse of his skin. 
 
 Another caution should be observed. Never fire down 
 the line. It is astonishing how little will divert a bullet, 
 and a careless shot is worse than a dozen charging tigers. 
 If a tiger does break back, let him get well away behind 
 the line, and then blaze at him as hard as you like. It is 
 particularly unpleasant to hear a bullet come singing and 
 booming down the line, from some excited dunderhead on 
 the far left or right. 
 
 A tiger slouching along in front moves pretty fast, in a 
 silent swinging trot ; the tops of the reeds or grass sway very 
 gently, with a wavering, side to side motion. A pig rushes 
 boldly through, and a deer will cause the grass to rock 
 violently to and fro. A buffalo or rhinoceros is known at 
 once by the crashing of the dry stalks, as his huge frame 
 plunges along ; but the tiger can never be mistaken. When 
 that gentle, undulating, noiseless motion is once seen, be 
 ready with your trusty gun, and remove not your eye from 
 the* spot, for the mighty robber of the jungle is before you.
 
 616 SPOET AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXI. 
 
 Howdahs and howdah-ropes Mussulman custom Killing animals for 
 food Mysterious appearance of natives when an animal is killed 
 Fastening dead tigers to the pad Present mode wants improving 
 Incident illustrative of this Dangerous to go close to wounded tigers 
 Examples Footprints of tigers Call of the tiger Natives and their 
 powers of description How to beat successfully for tiger Description 
 of a beat Disputes among the shooters Awarding tigers Cutting 
 open the tiger Native idea about the liver of the tiger Signs of a 
 tiger's presence in the jungle Vultures Do they scent their quarry 
 or view it ? A vulture carrion feast. 
 
 THE best howdahs are light, single-seated ones, with strong, 
 light frames of wood and cane-work, and a movable seat with 
 a leather strap, adjustable to any length, on which to lean 
 back. They should have a strong iron rail all round the top, 
 covered with leather, with convenient grooves to receive the 
 barrels of the guns, as they rest in front, ready to either hand. 
 In front there should be compartments for different kinds of 
 cartridges ; and pockets and lockers under the seat, and at 
 the back, or wherever there is room. Outside should be a 
 strong iron step, to get out and in by easily, and a strong 
 iron ring, through which to pass the rope that binds the 
 howdah to the elephant. 
 
 You cannot be too careful with your howdah ropes. A 
 chain is generally used as an auxiliary to the rope, which 
 should be of cotton, strong and well twisted, and should be 
 overhauled daily, to see that there is no chafing. It is 
 passed round the foot-bars of the howdah, and several times 
 round the belly of the elephant. Another rope acts as a 
 crupper behind, being passed through rings in the terminal 
 frame-work of the howdah, and under the elephant's tail ; it
 
 HOWDAHS. 617 
 
 frequently causes painful sores there, and some drivers give 
 it a hitch round the tail, in the same way as you would hitch 
 it round a post. Another steadying rope goes round the 
 elephant's breast, like a chest-band. " A merciful man is 
 merciful to his beast." You should always, therefore, have a 
 sheet of soft well-oiled leather to go between the chest and 
 belly ropes and the elephant's hide ; this prevents chafing, 
 and is a great relief to the poor old Tiathi, as they call the 
 elephant. Hatnee is the female elephant. Duntar is a 
 fellow with large tusks, and muJcna is an elephant with 
 small downward growing tusks. 
 
 Many of the old-fashioned howdahs are far too heavy; a 
 firm, strong howdah should not weigh more than 28 Ibs. In 
 most of the old-fashioned ones there is a seat for an attendant. 
 If your attendant be a Mussulman, he hurries down as soon 
 as you shoot a deer, to cut its throat. The Mohammedan 
 religion enjoins a variety of rules on its professors in regard 
 to the slaying of animals for food. Chief of these is a 
 prohibition against eating the flesh of an animal that has 
 died a natural death ; the throat of every animal intended to 
 be eaten should be cut, and at the moment of applying the 
 knife, Bismillali should be said, that is, " In the name of 
 God." If therefore your mahout, or attendant, belong to the 
 religion of the Koran, he will hurry down to cut the throat 
 of a wounded deer if possible before life is extinct ; if it be 
 already dead, he will leave it alone for the Hindoos, who 
 have no such scruples. 
 
 A number of moosahurs, banturs, gwallas, and other idlers, 
 from the jungle villages, generally follow in the wake of the 
 line. If you shoot many pigs, they carry off the dead bodies, 
 and hold high carnival in their homes in the evening. To 
 see them rush on a slain buffalo, and hack it to pieces, is a 
 curious sight; they fight for pieces of flesh like so many 
 vultures. Sportsmen generally content themselves with the 
 head of a buffalo, but not a scrap of the carcase is ever
 
 618 SPORT AND WOEK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 wasted. The natives are attracted to the spot, like ants to a 
 heap of grain, or wasps to an old sugar barrel; they seem to 
 spring out of the earth, so rapidly do they make their 
 appearance. If you were to kill a dozen buffaloes, I believe 
 all the flesh would be taken away to the neighbouring 
 villages within an hour. 
 
 This appearance of men in the jungles is wonderful. You 
 may think yourself in the centre of a vast wilderness, not a 
 sign of human habitation for miles around ; on all sides 
 stretches a vast ocean of grass, the resort of ferocious wild 
 animals, seemingly untrodden by a human foot. You shoot 
 a deer, a pig, or other animal whose flesh is fit for food ; the 
 man behind you gives a cry, and in ten minutes you will 
 have a group of brawny young fellows around your elephant, 
 eager to carry away the game. The way these natives thread 
 the dense jungle is to me a wonder ; they seem to know 
 every devious path and hidden recess, and they traverse the 
 most gloomy and dangerous solitudes without betraying the 
 slightest apprehension. 
 
 In fastening dead game to the pad of the carrying 
 elephant, great care is necessary. Some elephants are very 
 timid, and indeed all elephants are mistrustful and suspicious 
 of anything behind them. They are pretty courageous in 
 facing anything before them, but they do not like a rustling 
 or indeed any motion in their rear. I have seen a dog put 
 an elephant to flight, and if you have a lazy hatJii, a good 
 plan is to walk a horse behind him. He will then shuffle 
 along at a prodigious pace, constantly looking round from side 
 to side, and no doubt in his heart anathematising the horse 
 that forces the running so persistently. 
 
 The present method of roughly lashing on dead game any- 
 how requires altering. Some ingenious sportsman could surely 
 devise a system of slings by which the dead weight of the 
 game could be more equally distributed. At present the 
 dead bodies are hauled up at random, and fastened anyhow.
 
 CARRYING THE DEAD GAME. 619 
 
 The pad gets displaced, the elephant must stop till the burden 
 is rearranged ; the ropes, especially on a hot day, cut into the 
 skin and rub off the hair, and many a good skin is quite 
 spoiled by the present rough method of tying on the pad. 
 
 One day, in taking off a dead tiger from the pad, near 
 George's bungalow, the end of the rope (a new one) remained 
 somehow fixed to the neck of the elephant. When he rose 
 up, being relieved of the weight, he dragged the dead tiger 
 with him. This put the elephant into a' horrible funk, and 
 despite all the efforts of the driver he started off at a trot, 
 hauling the tiger after him. Every now and then he would 
 turn round, and tread and kick the lifeless carcase. At 
 length the rope gave way, and the elephant became more 
 manageable, but not before a fine skin had been totally 
 ruined, all owing to this primitive style of fastening by ropes 
 to the pad. A proper pad, with leather straps and buckles, 
 that could be hauled as tight as necessary a sort of harness 
 arrangement could easily be devised, to secure dead game on 
 the pad. I am certain it would save time in the hunting- 
 field, and protect many a fine skin, that gets abraded and 
 marked by the present rough and ready lashing. 
 
 It is always dangerous to go too close up to a wounded 
 tiger, and one should never rashly jump to the conclusion 
 that a tiger is dead because he appears so. Approach him 
 cautiously, and make very certain that he is really and truly 
 dead, before you venture to get down beside the body. It is 
 a bad plan to take your elephant close up to a dead tiger at 
 all. I have known cases, where good staunch elephants have 
 been spoiled for future sport, by being rashly taken up to a 
 wounded tiger. In rolling about, the tiger may get hold of 
 the elephants, and inflict injuries that will demoralise them, 
 and make them quite unsteady on subsequent occasions. 
 
 I have known cases where a tiger left for dead has had to 
 be shot over again. I have seen a man get down to pull a 
 seemingly dead tiger into the open, and get charged.
 
 '620 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 Fortunately it was a dying effort, and I put a bullet through 
 the skull before the tiger could reach the frightened peon. 
 We have been several times grouped round a dying tiger, 
 watching him breathe his last, when the brute has summoned 
 up strength for a final effort, and charged the elephants. 
 
 On one occasion W. D. had got down beside what he 
 thought a dead tiger, had rolled him over, and, tape in hand, 
 was about to measure the animal, when he staggered to his 
 feet with a terrific growl, and made away through the jungle. 
 He had only been stunned, and fortunately preferred running 
 to fighting, or the consequences might have been more tragic ; 
 as it was, he was quickly followed up and killed. But 
 instances -like these might be indefinitely multiplied, all 
 teaching, that seemingly dead tigers should be approached 
 with the utmost respect. Never venture off your elephant 
 without a loaded revolver. 
 
 In beating for tiger, we have seen that the appearance of 
 the kill, whether fresh or old, whether much torn and 
 mangled or comparatively untouched, often affords valuable 
 indications to the sportsman. The footprints are not less 
 narrowly looked for, and scrutinised. If we are after tiger, 
 and following them up, the captain will generally get down at 
 any bare place, such as a dry nullah, the edge of a tank or 
 water hole, or any other spot where footprints can be 
 detected. Fresh prints can be very easily distinguished. 
 The impression is like that made by a dog, only much larger, 
 and the marks of the claws are not visible. The largest foot- 
 print I have heard of was measured by George S., and was 
 found to be eight and a quarter inches wide from the outside 
 of the first to the outside of the fourth toe. If a tiger has 
 passed very recently, the prints will be fresh-looking, and if 
 on damp ground there can be no mistaking them. If it has 
 been raining recently, we particularly notice whether the rain 
 has obliterated the track at all, in any 'place ; which would 
 lead us to the conclusion that the tiger had passed before it
 
 NATIVE DESCRIPTIONS OF TIGERS. 621 
 
 rained. If the water has lodged in the footprint, the tiger 
 has passed after the shower. In fresh prints the water will 
 be slightly puddly or muddy. In old prints it will be quite 
 clear ; and so on. 
 
 The call of the male tiger is quite different from that of 
 the female. The male calls with a hoarse harsh cry, some- 
 thing between the grunt of a pig and the bellow of a bull ; 
 the call of the tigress is more like the prolonged mew of a cat 
 much intensified. During the pairing season the call is 
 sharper and shorter, and ends in a sudden break. At that 
 time, too, they cry at more frequent intervals. The roar of 
 the tiger is quite unlike the call. Once heard it is not easily 
 forgotten. The natives who live in the jungles can tell one 
 tiger from another by colour, size, &c., and they can even 
 distinguish one animal from another by his call. It is very 
 absurd to hear a couple of natives get together and describe 
 the appearance of some tiger they have seen. 
 
 In describing a pig, they refer to his height, or the length 
 of his tusks. They describe a fish by putting their fists 
 together, and saying he was so thick, itna mota. The head 
 of a tiger is always the most conspicuous part of the body 
 seen in the jungle. They therefore invariably describe him 
 by his head. One man will hold liis two hands apart about 
 two feet, and say that the head was itna burm, that is, so big. 
 The other, not to be outdone, gives rein to his imagination, 
 and adds another foot. The first immediately fancies 
 discredit will attach to his veracity, and vehemently asserts 
 that there must in that case have been two tigers ; and so 
 they go on, till they conclusively prove, that two tigers there 
 must have been, and indeed, if you let them go on, they will 
 soon assure you that, besides the pair of tigers, there must be 
 at least a pair of half-grown cubs. Their imaginations are 
 very fertile, and you must take the information of a native as 
 to tigers with a very large pinch of salt. 
 
 For successful tiger shooting much depends on the beating.
 
 C22 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 When after tiger, general firing should on no account be 
 allowed, and the line should move forward as silently as 
 possible. In light cover, extending over a large area, the 
 elephants should be kept a considerable distance apart, but in 
 thick dense cover the line should be quite close, and beat up 
 slowly and thoroughly, as a tiger may lay up and allow the 
 line to pass him. On no account should an elephant be let 
 to lag behind, and no one should be allowed to rush forward 
 or go in advance. The elephants should move along, steady 
 and even, like a moving wall, the fastest being on the flanks, 
 and accommodating their pace to the general rate of progress. 
 No matter what tempting chances at pig or deer you may 
 have, you must on no account fire except at tiger. 
 
 The captain should be in the centre, and the men on the 
 flanks ought to be constantly on the gui mm, to see that no 
 cunning tiger outflanks the line. The attention should never 
 wander from the jungle before you, for at any moment a tiger 
 may get up and I know of no sport where it is necessary to 
 be so continuously on the alert. Every moment is fraught 
 with intense excitement, and when a tiger does really show 
 his stripes before you, the all-absorbing eager excitement of a 
 lifetime is packed in a few brief moments. Not a chance should 
 be thrown away, a long, or even an uncertain shot, is better than 
 none, and if you make one miss, you may not have another 
 chance again that day : for the tiger is chary of showing 
 his stripes, and thinks discretion the better part of valour. 
 
 All the line of course are aware, as a rule, when a tiger is 
 on the move, and a good captain (and Joe S., who generally 
 took the direction of our beats, could not well be matched) 
 will wheel the line, double, turn, march, and countermarch, 
 and fairly run the tiger down. At such a time, although you 
 may not actually see the tiger, the excitement is tremendous. 
 You stand erect in the howdah, your favourite gun ready; 
 your attendant behind is as excited as yourself, and sways 
 from side to side to peer into the gloomy depths of the jungle ;
 
 DISPUTES AMONG THE SHOOTERS. 623 
 
 in front, the mahout wriggles on his seat, as if by his motion 
 he could urge the elephant to a quicker advance. He digs his 
 toes savagely into his elephant behind the ear; the line is 
 closing up ; every eye is fixed on the moving jungle ahead. 
 The roaring of the flames behind, and the crashing of the 
 dried reeds as the elephants force their ponderous frames 
 through the intertwisted stems and foliage, are the only 
 sounds that greet the ear. Suddenly you see the tawny 
 yellow hide, as the tiger slouches along. Your gun rings 
 out a reverberating challenge, as your fatal bullet speeds on 
 its errand. To right and left the echoes ring, as shot after 
 shot is fired at the bounding robber. Then the line closes 
 up, and you form a circle round the stricken beast, and watch 
 his mighty limbs quiver in the death-agony, and as he falls 
 over dead, and powerless for further harm, you raise the heart- 
 felt, pulse-stirring cheer, that finds an echo in every brother 
 sportsman's heart. 
 
 Disputes sometimes arise as to whose bullet first drew 
 blood. These are settled by the captain, and from his decision 
 there is no appeal. Many sportsmen put peculiar marks on 
 their bullets, by which they can be recognised, which is a 
 good plan. In an exciting scrimmage every one blazes at the 
 tiger, not one bullet perhaps in five or six takes effect, and 
 every one is ready to claim the skin, as having been pierced 
 with his particular bullet. Disputes are not very common, 
 but an inspection of the wounds, and the bullets found in the 
 body, generally settle the question. After hearing all the 
 pros and cons, the captain generally succeeds in awarding the 
 tiger to the right man. 
 
 After a successful day, the news rapidly spreads through 
 the adjacent country, and we may take the line a little out of 
 our way to make a sort of triumphal procession through the 
 villages. On reaching the camp there is sure to be a great 
 crowd waiting to see the slain tigers, the despoilers of the 
 people's flocks and herds. 
 
 2 s
 
 624 SPOET AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 It is then you hear of all the depredations the dead robber 
 has committed, and it is then you begin to form some faint 
 conception of his enormous destructive powers. Villager after 
 villager unfolds a tale of some favourite heifer, or buffalo, or 
 cow having been struck down, and the copious vocabulary of 
 Hindostanee Billingsgate is almost exhausted, and floods of 
 abuse poured out on the prostrate head. 
 
 On cutting open the tiger, parasites are frequently found in 
 the flesh. These are long, white, thread-like worms, and are 
 supposed by some to be Guinea worms. Huge masses of 
 undigested bone and hair are sometimes taken from the in- 
 testines, showing that the tiger does not!waste much time on 
 mastication, but tears and eats the flesh in large masses. The 
 liver is found to have numbers of separate lobes, and the 
 natives : say that this is an infallible test of the age of a tiger, 
 as a separate lobe forms on the liver for each year of the 
 tiger's life. I have certainly found young tigers having but 
 two and three lobes, and old tigers I have found with six, 
 seven, and even eight, but the statement is entirely un- 
 supported by careful observation, and requires authentication 
 before it can be accepted. 
 
 A reported kill is a pretty certain sign that there are tigers 
 in the jungle, but there are other signs with which one soon 
 gets familiar. When, for example, you hear deer calling 
 repeatedly, and see them constantly on the move, it is a 
 sign that tiger are in the neighbourhood. When cattle are 
 reluctant to enter the jungle, restless, and unwilling to graze, 
 you may be sure tiger are somewhere about, not far away. A 
 kill is often known by the numbers of vultures that hover 
 about in long, sailing, steady circles. What multitudes of 
 vultures there are. Over head, far up in the liquid ether, you 
 see them circling round and round like dim specks in the 
 distance ; farther and farther away, till they seem like bees, 
 then lessen and fade into the infinitude of space. No part of 
 the sky is ever free from their presence. When a kill has
 
 VULTURES. 625 
 
 been perceived, you see one come flying along, strong and 
 swift in headlong flight. With the directness of a thunderbolt 
 he speeds to where his loathsome meal lies sweltering in the 
 noonday sun. As he comes nearer and nearer, his repulsive- 
 looking body assumes form and substance. The cruel, ugly 
 bald head, drawn close in between the strong pointed shoulders, 
 the broad powerful wings, with their wide sweep, measured 
 and slow, bear him swiftly past. With a curve and a sweep 
 he circles round, down come the long bony legs, the bald and 
 hideous neck is extended, and with talons quivering for the 
 rotting flesh, and cruel beak agape, he hurries on to his repast, 
 the embodiment of everything ghoul-like and ghastly. In his 
 wake comes another, then twos and threes, anon tens and 
 twenties, till hundreds have collected, and the ground is 
 covered with the hissing, tearing, fiercely clawing crowd- 
 It is a horrible sight to see a heap of vultures battling 
 over a dead bullock. I have seen them so piled up that 
 the under ones were nearly smothered to death; and the 
 writhing contortions of the long bare necks, as the fierce 
 brutes battled with talons and claws, were like the twisting 
 of monster snakes, or the furious writhing of gorgons and 
 furies over some fated victim. 
 
 It has been a much debated point with sportsmen and 
 naturalists, whether the eye or the sense of smell guides 
 the vulture to his feast of carrion. I have often watched 
 them. They scan the vast surface spread below them with 
 a piercing and never-tiring gaze. They observe each other. 
 When one is seen to cease his steady circling flight, far up in 
 mid air, and to stretch his broad wings earthwards, the others 
 know that he has espied a meal, and follow his lead; and 
 these in turn are followed by others, till from all quarters 
 flock crowds of these scavengers of the sky. They can detect 
 a dog or jackal from a vast height, and they know by in- 
 tuition that, where the carcase is there will the dogs and 
 jackals be gathered. I think there can be no doubt that the 
 
 2 s 2
 
 626 SPORT AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 vision is the sense they are most indebted to for directing 
 them to their food. 
 
 On one occasion I remember seeing a tumultuous heap of 
 them, battling fiercely, as I have just tried to describe, over 
 the carcases of two tigers we had killed near Dumdaha. 
 The dead bodies were hidden partially in a grove of trees, 
 and for a long time there were only some ten or a dozen 
 vultures near. These gorged themselves so fearfully, that 
 they could not rise from the ground, but lay with wings 
 expanded, looking very aldermanic and apoplectic. Bye- 
 and-bye, however, the rush began, and by the time we had 
 struck the tents, there could not have been fewer than 150 
 vultures, hissing and spitting at each other like angry cats ; 
 trampling each other to the dust to get at the carcases ; and 
 tearing wildly with talon and beak for a place. In a very 
 short time nothing but mangled bones remained. A great 
 number of the vultures got on to the rotten limb of a huge 
 mango tree. One other proved the last straw, for down came 
 the rotten branch and several of the vultures, tearing at each 
 other, fell heavily to the ground, where they lay quite 
 helpless. As an experiment we shot a miserable, mangy 
 pariah dog that was prowling about the ground seeking 
 garbage and offal. He was shot stone dead, and for a time 
 no vulture ventured near. A crow was the first to begin the 
 feast of death. One of the hungriest of the vultures next 
 approached, and in a few minutes the yet warm body of the 
 poor dog was torn into a thousand fragments, till nothing 
 remained but scattered and disjointed bones. 
 
 Ivl. U. (HARV'D) 
 DKPT.
 
 ( C27 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 "\Ve start for a tiger hunt on the Kepaul frontier Indian scenery near 
 the border Lose our way Cold night The river by night Our 
 boat and boatman Tigers calling on the bank An anxious moment 
 Fire at and wound the tigress Reach Camp The Nepaulee's 
 adventure with a tiger The old Major His appearance and manners 
 The pompous Jemadar Nepatilese proverb Firing the jungle- 
 Start a tiger and shoot him Another in front Appearance of the 
 fires by night The tiger escapes Too dark to follow up Coolie shot 
 by mistake during a former hunt. 
 
 EARLY in 1875 a military friend of mine was engaged in 
 inspecting the boundary pillars near my factory, between our 
 territory and that of Xepaul. Some of the pillars had been 
 cut away by the river, and the survey map required a little 
 alteration in consequence. Our district magistrate was in 
 attendance, and sent me an invitation to go up and spend a 
 week with them in camp. I had no need to send on tents, 
 as they had every requisite for comfort. I sent off my bed 
 and bedding on Geerdharee Jha's old elephant, a timid, 
 useless brute, fit neither for beating jungle nor for carrying a 
 howdah. My horse I sent on to the ghat or crossing, some 
 ten miles up the river, and after lunch I started. It was a 
 fine cool afternoon, and it was not long ere I reached the 
 neighbouring factory of Imanmugger. Here I had a little 
 refreshment with Old Tom, and after exchanging greetings, 
 I resumed my way, over a part of the country with which I 
 was totally unacquainted. 
 
 I rode on, past villages nestling in the mango groves, past 
 huge tanks, excavated by the busy labour of generations long 
 since departed; past decaying temples overshadowed by
 
 628 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 mighty tamarind trees, with the pepul and pakur insinuating 
 their twining roots amid the shattered and crumbling masonry. 
 In one large village I passed through the bustling bazaar, 
 where the din, and dust, and mingled odours were almost 
 overpowering. The country was now assuming quite an 
 undulating character. The banks of the creeks were steep 
 and rugged, and in some places the water actually tumbled 
 from rock to rock, with a purling pleasant ripple and plash, 
 a welcome sound to a Scotch ear, and a pleasant surprise 
 after the dull, dead, leaden, noiseless flow of the streams 
 further down on the plains. 
 
 Far in front lay the gloomy belt of Terai, or border forest, 
 here called the morung, where the British territories had 
 their extreme limit in that direction. Behind this belt, tier 
 on tier, rose the mighty ranges of the majestic Himalayas, 
 towering up in solemn grandeur from the bushy masses of 
 forest-clad hills till their snow-capped summits seemed to pierce 
 the sky. The country was covered by green crops, with here 
 and there patches of dingy rice-stubble, and an occasional 
 stretch of dense grass jungle. Quail, partridge, and plover 
 rose from the ground in coveys, as my horse cantered through ; 
 and an occasional peafowl or florican scudded across the track 
 as I ambled onward. I asked at a wretched little accumu- 
 lation of weavers' huts where the ghat was, and if my 
 elephant had gone on. To both my queries I received 
 satisfactory replies, and as the day was now drawing in, I 
 pushed my nag into a sharp canter and hurried forward. 
 
 I soon perceived the bulky outline of my elephant ahead, 
 and on coming up, found that my men had come too far up 
 the river, had missed the ghat to which I had sent my spare 
 horse, and were now making for another ferry still higher up. 
 My horse was jaded, so I got on the elephant, and made 
 one of the peons lead the horse behind. It was rapidly 
 getting dark, and the mahout, or elephant driver, a miserable 
 low caste stupid fellow, evidently knew nothing of ^ the
 
 ON THE RIVER BY NIGHT. 029 
 
 country, and was going at random. I halted at the next 
 village, got hold of the chowkedar, and by a promise of 
 backsheesh, prevailed on him to accompany us and show us 
 the way. We turned off from the direct northerly direction 
 in which we had been going, and made straight for the river, 
 which we could see in the distance, looking chill and grey in 
 the fast fading twilight. We now got on the sandbanks, and 
 had to go cautiously for fear of quicksands. By the time we 
 reached the ghat it was quite dark and growing very cold. 
 
 We were quite close to the hills, a heavy dew was falling, 
 and I found that I should have to float down the river for a 
 mile, and then pole up stream in another channel for two 
 miles before I could reach camp. 
 
 I got my horse into the boat, ordering the elephant driver 
 to travel all night if he could, as I should expect my things 
 to be at camp early in the morning, and the boatmen pushed 
 off the unwieldy ferry-boat, floating us quietly down the 
 rapid " drumly " stream. All is solemnly still and silent on 
 an Indian river at night. The stream is swift but noiseless. 
 Y r ast plains and heaps of sand stretch for miles on either 
 bank. There are no villages near the stream. Faintly, far 
 away in the distance, you hear a few subdued sounds, the 
 only evidences of human habitation. There is the tinkle of 
 a cow-bell, the barking of a pariah dog, the monotonous dub- 
 a-dub-dub of a timber-toned tom-tom, muffled and slightly 
 mellowed by the distance. The faint far cries, and occasional 
 halloos of the herd-boys calling to each other, gradually 
 cease, but the monotonous dub-a-dub-dub continues till far 
 into the night. 
 
 It was now very cold, and I was glad to borrow a blanket 
 from my peon. At such a time the pipe is a great solace. 
 It soothes the whole system, and plunges one into an 
 agreeable dreamy speculative mood, through which all sorts 
 of fantastic notions revolve. Fancies chase each other 
 quickly, and old memories rise, bitter or sweet, but all tinged
 
 630 SPOUT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 and tinted by the seductive influence of the magic weed. Hail, 
 blessed pipe ! the invigorator of the weary, the uncomplaining 
 faithful friend, the consoler of sorrows, and the dispeller of 
 care, the much-prized companion of the solitary wayfarer ! 
 
 Now a jackal utters a howl on the bank, as our boat shoots 
 past, and the diabolical noise is echoed from knoll to knoll, 
 and from ridge to ridge, as these incarnate devils of the night 
 join in and prolong the infernal chorus. An occasional splash, 
 as a piece of the bank topples over into the stream, rouses the 
 cormorant and gull from their placid dozing on the sandbanks. 
 They squeak and gurgle out an unintelligible protest, then 
 cosily settle their heads again beneath the sheltering wing, 
 and sleep the slumber of the dreamless. A sharp sudden 
 plump, or a lazy surging sound, accompanied by a wheezy 
 blowing sort of hiss, tells us that a seelun is disporting 
 himself ; or that a fat old " porpus " is bearing his clumsy 
 bulk through the rushing current. 
 
 The bank now looms out dark and mysterious, and as we 
 turn the point another long stretch of the river opens out, 
 reflecting the merry twinkle of the myriad stars, that glitter 
 sharp and clear millions of miles overhead. There is now a 
 clattering of bamboo poles. With a grunt of disgust, and a 
 (juick catching of the breath, as the cold water rushes up 
 against his thighs, one of the boatmen splashes overboard, 
 and they commence slowly and wearily pushing the boat up 
 stream. We touch the bank a dozen times. The current 
 swoops down and turns us round and round. The men have 
 to put their shoulders under the gunwale, and heave and 
 strain with all their might. The long bamboo poles are 
 plunged into the dark depths of the river, and the men puff, 
 and grunt, and blow, as they bend almost to the bottom of 
 the boat while they push. It is a w r eary progress. We are 
 dripping wet with dew. Quite close on the bank we hear 
 the hoarse wailing call of a tigress. The call of the tiger 
 comes echoing down between the banks. The men cease
 
 ^-V ANXIOUS MOMENT. 631 
 
 poling. I peer forward into the obscurity. My syce pats, 
 and speaks soothingly to the trembling horse, while my peon 
 with excited fingers fumbles at the straps of my gun-case. 
 For a moment all is intensely still. 
 
 I whisper to the boatman to push out a little into the 
 stream. Again the tigress calls, this time so close to us that 
 we could almost fancy we could feel her breath. My gun is 
 ready. The syce holds the horse firmly by the head, and as 
 we leave the bank, we can distinctly see the outline of some 
 large animal, standing out a dark bulky mass against the 
 skyline. I take a steady aim and fire. A roar of astonish- 
 ment, wrath and pain follows the report. The horse struggles 
 and snorts, the boatman calls out "Oh, my father!" and 
 ejaculates " hi-lii-hi ! " in tones of piled-up anguish and 
 apprehension, the peon cries exultantly " "Wah wah ! khoda- 
 wund, lug, gea," that bullet has told ; oh your highness ! and 
 while the boat rocks violently to and fro, I abuse the boat- 
 men, slang the syce, and rush to grasp a pole, while the peon 
 seizes another; for we are drifting rapidly down stream, and 
 may at any moment strike on a bank and topple over. "We 
 can hear by the growling and commotion on the bank, that 
 my bullet has indeed told, and that something is hit. We 
 soon get the frightened boatmen qxiieted down, and after 
 another hour's weary work we spy the white outline of the 
 tents above the bank. A lam}) shines out a bright welcome ; 
 and although it is nearly twelve at night, the Captain and 
 the magistrate are discussing hot toddy, and waiting my 
 arrival. My spare horse had come on from the ghat, the 
 syce had told them I was coming, and they had been 
 indulging in all sorts of speculations over my non-arrival. 
 
 A good supper, and a reeking jorum, soon banished all 
 recollections of my weary journey, and men were ordered 
 to go out at first break of dawn, and see about the wounded 
 tiger. In the morning I was gratified beyond expression to 
 to find a fine tigress, measuring 8 feet 3 inches, had been
 
 632 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 brought in, the result of my lucky night shot ; the marks of 
 a large tiger were found about the spot, and we determined 
 to beat up for him, and if possible secure his skin, as we 
 already had that of his consort. 
 
 Captain S. had some work to finish, and my elephant and 
 bearer had not arrived, so our magistrate and myself walked 
 down to the sandbanks, and amused ourselves for an hour 
 shooting sandpipers and plover; we also shot a pair of 
 mallard and a couple of teal, and then went back to the 
 tents, and were soon busily discussing a hunter's breakfast. 
 While at our meal, my elephant and things arrived, and just 
 then also, the " Major Cap tan," or Nepaulese functionary, my 
 old friend, came up with eight elephants, and we hurried out 
 to greet the fat, merry-featured old man. 
 
 What a quaint, genial old customer he looked, as he bowed 
 and salaamed to us from his elevated seat, his face beaming, 
 and his little bead-like eyes twinkling with pleasure. He 
 was full of an adventure he had as he came along. After 
 crossing a brawling mountain-torrent, some miles from our 
 camp, they entered some dense kair jungle. The kair is, I 
 believe, a species of mimosa ; it is a hard wood, growing in 
 a thick scrubby form, with small pointed leaves, a yellowish 
 sort of flower, and sharp thorns studding its branches ; it is 
 a favourite resort for pig, and although it is difficult to beat 
 on account of the thorns, tigers are not unfrequently found 
 among the gloomy recesses of a good kair scrub. 
 
 As they entered this jungle, some of the men were 
 loitering behind. When the elephants had passed about 
 half way through, the men came rushing up pell mell, with 
 consternation on their faces, reporting that a huge tiger had 
 sprung out on them, and carried off one of their number. 
 The Major and the elephants hurried back, and met the man 
 limping along, bleeding from several scratches, and with a 
 nasty bite in his shoulder, but otherwise more frightened than 
 hurt. The tiger had simply knocked him down, stood over
 
 THE OLD MAJOR. (J33 
 
 him for a minute, seized him by the shoulder, and then 
 dashed on through the scrub, leaving him behind half dead 
 with pain and fear. 
 
 It was most amusing to hear the fat little Major relate the 
 story. He went through all the by-play incident to the 
 piece, and as he got excited, stood right up on Ids narrow 
 pad. His gesticulations were most vehement, and as the 
 elephant was rather unsteady, and his footing to say the 
 least precarious, he seemed every moment as if lie must 
 topple over. The old warrior, however, was equal to the 
 occasion; without for an instant abating the vigour of his 
 narrative, he would clutch at the greasy, matted locks of liis 
 mahout, and steady himself, while he volubly described 
 incident after incident. As he warmed with his subject, 
 and tried to show us how the tiger must have pounced on 
 the man, he would let go and use his hands in illustration ; 
 the old elephant would give another heave, and the fat little 
 man would make another frantic grab at the patient mahout's 
 hair. The whole scene was most comical, and we were in 
 convulsions of laughter. 
 
 The news, however, foreboded ample sport ; we now had 
 certain khulbcr of at least two tigers ; we were soon under 
 weigh ; the wounded man had been sent back to the Major's 
 headquarters on an elephant, and in time recovered com- 
 pletely from his mauling. As we jogged along, we had a 
 most interesting talk with the Major Captun. He was 
 wonderfully well informed, considering he had never been 
 out of Xepaul. He knew all about England, our army, 
 our mode of government, our parliament, and our Queen; 
 whenever he alluded to her Majesty he salaamed profoundly, 
 whether as a tribute of respect to her, or in compliment to us 
 as loyal subjects, we could not quite make out. He de- 
 scribed to us the route home by the Suez Canal, and the fun 
 of his talk was much heightened by his applying the native 
 names to everything ; London was Shuhur, the word meaning
 
 634 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 " a city," and lie told us it was built on the Thamass nuddee, 
 by which he meant the Thames river. 
 
 Our magistrate had a Jemadar of Peons with him, a sort 
 of head man among the servants. This man, abundantly 
 bedecked with ear-rings, finger-rings, and other ornaments, 
 was a useless, bullying sort of fellow ; dressed to the full 
 extent of Oriental foppishness, and because he was the 
 magistrate's servant, he thought himself entitled to order 
 the other servants about in the most lordly way. He was 
 now making himself peculiarly officious, shouting to the 
 drivers to go here and there, to do this and do that, and 
 indulging in copious torrents of abuse, without which it 
 seems impossible for a native subordinate to give directions 
 on any subject. We were all rather amused, and could not 
 help bursting into laughter, as, inflated with a sense of his 
 own importance, he began abusing one of the native drivers 
 of the Nepaulee chief; this man did not submit tamely to 
 his insolence. To him the magistrate was nobody, and the 
 pompous Jemadar a perfect nonentity. He accordingly 
 turned round and poured forth a perfect flood of invective. 
 Never was collapse more utter. The Jemadar took a back 
 seat at once, and no more that day did we hear his melodious 
 voice in tones of imperious command. 
 
 The old Major chuckled, and rubbed his fat little hands, 
 and leaning over to me said, " at home a lion, but abroad a 
 lamb," for, surrounded by his women at home, the man 
 would twirl his moustaches, look fierce and fancy himself a 
 very tiger ; but, no sooner did he go abroad, and mix with 
 men as good, if not better than himself, than he was ready to 
 eat any amount of humble pie. 
 
 We determined first of all to beat for the tiger whose 
 tracks had been seen near where I had fired my lucky shot 
 the preceding night. A strong west wind was blowing, and 
 dense clouds of sand were being swept athwart our line, from 
 the vast plains of fine white sand bordering the river for
 
 STAUT A TIGER. 035 
 
 miles. As we went along we fired the jungle in our rear, 
 and the strong wind carried the flames raging and roaring 
 through the dense jungle with amazing fury. One elephant 
 got so frightened at the noise behind him, that he fairly 
 bolted for the river, and could not be persuaded back into 
 the line. 
 
 Disturbed by the fire, we saw numerous deer and pig, but 
 being after tiger we refrained from shooting at them. The 
 Basmattea Tuppra, which was the scene of our present hunt, 
 were famous jungles, and many a tiger had been shot there 
 by the Purneah Club in bv^one davs. The annual ravages 
 
 v i/ O O 
 
 of the impetuous river had, however, much changed the face 
 of the country ; vasts tracts of jungle had been obliterated 
 by deposits of sand from its annual incursions. Great 
 skeletons of trees stood everywhere, stretching out bare and 
 unsightly branches, all bending to the south, showing the 
 mighty power of the current, when it made its annual 
 progress of devastation over the surrounding country. Now, 
 however, it was like a thin streak of silver, flashing back the 
 fierce rays of the meridian sun. Through the blinding clouds 
 of fine white sand we could at times, during a temporary lull, 
 see its ruffled surface. And we were glad when we came on 
 the tracks of the tiger, which led straight from the stream, in 
 the direction of some thick tree jungle at no great distance. 
 We gladly turned our backs to the furious clouds of dust and 
 gusts of scorching wind, and, led by a Xepaulee tracker, were 
 soon crashing heavily through the jungle. 
 
 When hunting with elephants, the Xepaulese beat in a 
 dense line, the heads of the elephants touching each other. 
 In this manner we were now proceeding, when S. called out, 
 " There goes the tiger." 
 
 We looked up, and saw a very large tiger making off for a 
 deep watercourse, which ran through the jungle some 200 
 yards ahead of the line. We hurried up as fast as we could, 
 putting out a fast elephant on either flank, to see that the
 
 636 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 cunning brute did not sneak either up or down the nullah, 
 under cover of the high banks. This, however, was not his 
 object. We saw him descend into the nullah, and almost 
 immediately top the further bank, and disappear into the 
 jungle beyond. 
 
 Pressing on at a rapid jolting trot, we dashed after him in 
 hot pursuit. The jungle seemed somewhat lighter on ahead. 
 In the distance we could see some dangurs at work breaking 
 up land, and to the right was a small collection of huts with 
 a beautiful riband of green crops, a perfect oasis in the 
 wilderness of sand and parched-up grass. Forming into line 
 we pressed on. The tiger was evidently lying up, probably 
 deterred from breaking across the open by the sight of the 
 dangurs at work. My heart was bounding with excitement. 
 We were all intensely -eager, and thought no more of the hot 
 wind and blinding dust. Just then Captain S. saw the 
 brute sneaking along to the left of the line, trying to out- 
 flank us, and break back. He fired two shots rapidly with 
 his Express, and the second one, taking effect in the neck of 
 the tiger, bowled him over as he stood. He was a mangy- 
 looking brute, badly marked, and measured eight feet eleven 
 inches. He did not have a chance of charging, and probably 
 had little heart for a fight. 
 
 We soon had him padded, and then proceeded straight 
 north, to the scene of the Major's encounter with the tiger in 
 the morning. The jungle was well trampled down ; there 
 were numerous streams and pools of water, occasional clumps 
 of bamboos, and abrupt ridgy undulations. It was the very 
 jungle for tiger, and elated by our success in having bagged 
 one already, we were all in high spirits. The line of fire we 
 could see far in the distance, sweeping on like the march of 
 fate, and we could have shot numerous deer, but reserved 
 our fire for nobler game. It was getting well on in the 
 afternoon when we came up to the kair jungle. We beat 
 right up to where the man had been seized, and could see the
 
 BEATING HOMEWARDS. C37 
 
 marks of the struggle distinctly enough. "NVe beat right 
 
 through the jungle with no result, and as it was now getting 
 
 rather late, the old Major signified his desire to bid us good 
 
 evening. As this meant depriving us of eight elephants, we 
 
 prevailed on him to try one spare straggling corner that we 
 
 had not gone through. He laughed the idea to scorn of 
 
 getting a tiger there, saying there was no cover. One 
 
 elephant, however, was sent wliile we were talking. Our 
 
 elephants were all standing in a group, and the mahout on 
 
 his solitary elephant was listlessly jogging on in a purposeless 
 
 and desultory manner, when we suddenly heard the elephant 
 
 pipe out a shrill note of alarm, and the mahout yelled 
 
 " Bagh ! Bagh ! " tiger ! tiger ! The Captain was again the 
 
 lucky man. The tiger, a much finer and stronger built 
 
 animal than the one we had already killed, was standing not 
 
 eighty paces off, showing his teeth, his bristles erect, and 
 
 evidently in a bad temper. He had been croucliing among 
 
 some low bushes, and seeing the elephant bearing directly 
 
 down on him, he no doubt imagined his retreat had been 
 
 discovered. At all events there he was, and he presented a 
 
 splendid aim. He was a noble-looking specimen as he stood 
 
 there grim and defiant. Captain S. took aim, and lodged an 
 
 Express bullet in his chest. It made a fearful wound, and 
 
 the ferocious brute writhed and rolled about in agony. We 
 
 quickly surrounded him, and a bullet behind the ear from 
 
 my No. 16 put an end to his misery. 
 
 The old Major now bade us good evening, and after padding 
 the second tiger, and much elated at our success, we began to 
 beat homewards, shooting at everything that rose before us 
 A couple of tremendous pig got up before me, and dashed 
 through a clear stream that was purling peacefully in its 
 pebbly bed. As the boar was rushing up the farther bank, I 
 deposited a pellet in his hind quarters. He gave an angry 
 grunt and tottered on, but presently pulled up, and seemed 
 determined to have some revenge for his hurt. As my
 
 638 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 elephant came up the bank, the gallant boar tried to charge, 
 but, already wounded and weak from loss of blood, he tottered 
 and staggered about. My elephant would not face him, so I 
 gave him another shot behind the shoulder, and padded him 
 for the moosahurs and sweepers in camp. Just then one of 
 the policemen started a young hog-deer, and several of the 
 men got down and tried to catch the little thing alive. They 
 soon succeeded, and the cries of the poor little butcha, that is 
 " young one," were most plaintive. 
 
 The wind had now subsided, there was a red angry glare, 
 as the level rays of the setting sun shimmered through the 
 dense clouds of dust that loaded the atmosphere. It was like 
 the dull, red, coppery hue which presages a storm. The vast 
 morung jungle lay behind us, and beyond that the swelling 
 wooded hills, beginning to show dark and indistinct against 
 the gathering gloorn. A long line of cattle were wending 
 their way homeward to the batan, and the tinkle of the big 
 copper bell fell pleasingly on our ears. In the distance, we 
 could see the white canvas of the tents, gleaming in the rays 
 of the setting sun. A vast circular line of smouldering fire, 
 flickering and flaring fitfully, and surmounted by huge 
 volumes of curling smoke, showed the remains of the fierce 
 tornado of flame that had raged at noon, when we lit the 
 jungle. The jungle was very light, and much trodden down, 
 our three howdah elephants were not far apart, and we were 
 chatting cheerfully together and discussing the incidents of 
 the day. My bearer was sitting behind me in the back of 
 the howdah, and I had taken out my ball cartridge from my 
 No. 12 breechloader, and had replaced them with shot. Just 
 then my mahout raised his hand, and in a hoarse excited 
 whisper called out, 
 
 " Look, sahib, a large tiger ! " 
 
 " Where ? " we all exclaimed, getting excited at once. He 
 pointed in front to a large object, looking for all the world 
 like a hu2;e dun cow.
 
 AN UNEXPECTED TIGER. WE MISS. 639 
 
 " Why, you fool, that is a bullock," I exclaimed. 
 My bearer, who had also been intently gazing, now said, 
 " No, sahib ! that is a tiger, and a large one." 
 At that moment, it turned partly round, and I at once saw 
 that the men were right, and that it was a veritable tiger, and 
 seemingly a monster in size. I at once called to Captain S. 
 and the magistrate, who had by this time fallen a little 
 behind. 
 
 " Look out, you fellows ! here's a tiger in front." 
 At first they thought I was joking, but a glance confirmed 
 the truth of what I had said. When I first saw the brute, he 
 was evidently sneaking after the cattle, and was about sixty 
 paces from me. He was so intent on watching the herd, that 
 he had not noticed our approach. He was now, however, 
 evidently alarmed and making off. By the time I called out, 
 he must have been over eighty yards away. I had my No. 
 12 in my hand, loaded with shot ; it was no use ; I put it 
 down and took up my No. 16 ; this occupied a few seconds ; 
 I fired both barrels ; the first bullet was in excellent line but 
 rather short, the second went over the animal's back, and 
 neither touched him. It made him, however, quicken his 
 retreat, and when Captain S. fired, he must have been fully 
 one hundred and fifty yards away ; as it was now somewhat 
 dusky, he also missed. He fired another long shot with his 
 rifle, but missed again. Oh that unlucky change of car- 
 tridges in my Xo. 12 '. But for that but there we are 
 always wise after the event. We never expected to see a 
 tiger in such open country, especially as we had been over 
 the same ground before, firing pretty often as we came along- 
 We followed up of course, but it was now fast getting dark, 
 and though we beat about for some time, we could not get 
 another glimpse of the tiger. He was seemingly a very large 
 male, dark-coloured, and in splendid condition. We must 
 have got him, had it been earlier, as he could not have gone 
 far forward, for the lines of fire were beyond him, and we had 
 
 2 T
 
 640 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FE ON TIER. 
 
 him beween the fire and the elephants. We got home about 
 6.30, rather disappointed at missing such a glorious prize, so 
 true is it that a sportsman's soul is never satisfied. But we 
 had rare and most unlooked-for luck, and we felt considerably 
 better after a good dinner, and indulged in hopes of getting 
 the big fellow next morning. 
 
 In the same jungles, some years ago, a very sad accident 
 occurred. A party were out tiger-shooting, and during one of 
 the beats, a cowherd, hearing the noise of the advancing 
 elephants, crouched behind a bush, and covered himself with 
 his blanket. At a distance he looked exactly like a pig, and 
 one of the shooters mistook him for one. He fired, and hit the 
 poor herd in the hip. As soon as the mistake was perceived, 
 everything was done for the poor fellow. His wound was 
 dressed as well as they could do it, and he was sent off to the 
 doctor in a dhoolie, a sort of covered litter, slung on a pole 
 and carried on men's shoulders. It was too late, the poor 
 coolie died on the road, from shock and loss of blood. Such 
 mistakes occur very seldom, and this was such a natural one, 
 that no one could blame the unfortunate sportsman, and 
 certainly no one felt keener regret than he did. The coolie's 
 family was amply provided for, which was all that remained 
 to be done. 
 
 This is the only instance I know, where fatal results have 
 followed such an accident. I have known several cases of 
 beaters peppered with shot, generally from their own care- 
 lessness, and disregard of orders, but a salve in the shape of 
 a few rupees has generally proved the most effective ointment. 
 I have known some rascals say, they were sorry they had not 
 been lucky enough to be wounded, as they considered a 
 punctured cuticle nothing to set against the magnificent 
 douceur of four or five rupees. One impetuous scamp, being 
 told not to go in front of the line during a beat near 
 Burgamma, replied to the warning caution of his jemadar, 
 " Oh, never mind, if I get shot I will get backsheesh."
 
 RESULT OF THE DATS HUNTING. 641 
 
 Whether this was a compliment to the efficacy of our 
 treatment (by the silver ointment), or to the inaccuracy and 
 harmlessness of our shooting, I leave the reader to judge. 
 
 Our bag during this lucky day, including the tigress 
 killed by my shot on the river bank, was as follows : three 
 tigers, one boar, four deer, including the young one taken 
 alive, eight sandpipers, nine plovers, two mallards, and two 
 teal. 
 
 2 T 2
 
 642 SPOUT AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIII. 
 
 We resume the beat The hog-deer Nepaulese villages Village granaries 
 Tiger in front A hit! a hit! Following up the wounded tiger 
 Find him dead Tiffin in the village The Patair jungle Search for 
 tiger Gone away! An elephant steeplechase in pursuit Exciting 
 chase The Morung jungle Magnificent scenery Skinning the tiger 
 Incidents of tiger hunting. 
 
 o o 
 
 NEXT morning, both the magistrate and myself felt very ill, 
 headachy and sick, with violent vomiting and retching ; 
 Captain S. attributed it to the fierce hot wind and exposure 
 of the preceding day, but we, the sufferers, blamed the 
 dekcliees or cooking pots. These dekchees are generally made 
 of copper, coated or tinned over with white metal once a 
 month or oftener; if the tinning is omitted, or the copper 
 becomes exposed by accident or neglect, the food cooked in 
 the pots sometimes gets tainted with copper, and produces 
 nausea and sickness in those who eat it. I have known, 
 within my own experience, cases of copper poisoning that 
 have terminated fatally. It is well always thoroughly to 
 inspect the kitchen utensils, particularly when in camp ; 
 unless carefully watched and closely supervised, servants get 
 very careless, and let food remain in these copper vessels. 
 This is always dangerous, and should never be allowed. 
 
 In consequence of our indisposition, we did not start till 
 the forenoon was far advanced, and the hot west wind had 
 again begun to sweep over the prairie-like stretches of sand 
 and withered grass. "We commenced beating up by the 
 Batan or cattle stance, near which we had seen the big tiger, 
 the preceding evening. S., however, became so sick and
 
 WE EESUME THE BEAT. C43 
 
 giddy, that he had to return to camp, and Captain S. and I 
 continued the beat alone. Having gone over the same 
 ground only yesterday, we did not expect a tiger so near to 
 camp, more especially as the fire had made fearful havoc 
 with the tall grass. Hog-deer were very numerous ; they are 
 not as a rule easily disturbed ; they are of a reddish brown 
 colour, not unlike that of the Scotch red deer, and rush 
 through the jungle, when alarmed, with a succession of 
 bounding leaps ; they make very pretty shooting, and when 
 young, afford tender and well-flavoured venison. One hint I 
 may give. When you shoot a buck, see that he is at once 
 denuded of certain appendages, else the flesh will get rank 
 and disagreeable to eat. The bucks have pretty antlers, but 
 are not very noble looking. The does are somewhat lighter 
 in colour, and do not seem to consort together in herds like 
 antelopes ; there are rarely more than five in a group, though 
 I have certainly seen more on several occasions. 
 
 Tliis morning we were unlucky with our deer. I shot 
 three, and Captain S. shot at and wounded three, not one of 
 which, however, did we bag. This part of the country is 
 exclusively inhabited by Parbutteas, the native name for 
 Xepaulese settled in British territory. Over the frontier line, 
 the villagers are called Pahareeas, signifying mountaineers or 
 hillmen, from Pahar, a mountain. We beat up to a 
 Parbuttea village, with its conical-roofed huts ; men and 
 women were engaged in plaiting long coils of rice straw into 
 cable-looking ropes. A few split bamboos are fastened into 
 the ground, in a circle, and these ropes are then coiled round, 
 in and out, between the stakes ; this makes a huge circular 
 vat-shaped repository, open at both ends ; it is then lifted up 
 and put on a platform coated with mud, and protected from 
 rats and vermin by the pillars being placed on smooth, 
 inverted earthen pots. The coils of straw are now plastered 
 outside and in with a mixture of mud, chaff, and cow-dung, 
 and allowed to dry ; when dried the hut is filled with grain
 
 644 SPORT AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 and securely roofed and thatched. This forms the invariable 
 village granary, and looks at a distance not unlike a stack or 
 rick of corn, round a farm at home. By the abundance of 
 these granaries in a village, one can tell at a glance whether 
 the season has been a good one, and whether the frugal 
 inhabitants of the clustering little hamlet are in pretty 
 comfortable circumstances. If they are under the sway of a 
 grasping and unscrupulous landlord, they not unfrequently 
 bury their grain in clay -lined chambers in the earth, and 
 have always enough for current wants, stored up in the 
 sun-baked clay repositories mentioned in a former chapter. 
 
 Beyond the village we entered some thick Patair jungle. 
 Its greenness was refreshing after the burnt-up and withered 
 grass jungle. "We were now in a hollow bordering the 
 stream, and somewhat protected from the scorching wind, 
 and the stinging clouds of fine sand and red dust. The 
 brook looked so cool and refreshing, and the water so clear 
 and pellucid, that I was about to dismount to take a drink 
 and lave my heated head and face, when a low whistle to my 
 right made me look in that direction, and I saw the Captain 
 waving his hand excitedly, and pointing ahead. He was 
 higher up the bank than I was, and in very dense Patair ; a 
 ridge ran between his front of the line and mine, so that I 
 could only see his howdah, and the bulk of the elephant's 
 body was concealed from me by the grass on this ridge. 
 
 I closed up diagonally across the ridge ; S. still waving to 
 me to hurry up ; as I topped it, I spied a large tiger slouching 
 along in the hollow immediately below me. He saw me at 
 the same instant, and bounded on in front of S. His Express 
 was at his shoulder on the instant ; he fired, and a tremendous 
 spurt of blood showed a hit, a hit, a palpable hit. The tiger 
 was nowhere visible, and not a cry or a motion could we 
 hear or see, to give us any clue to the whereabouts of the 
 wounded animal. We followed up however, quickly but 
 cautiously, expecting every instant a furious charge.
 
 TIFFIN IN THE VILLAGE. C45 
 
 We must have gone at least a hundred yards, when right 
 in front of me I descried the tiger, crouching down, its head 
 resting on its fore paws, and to all appearance settling for a 
 spring. It was about twenty yards from me, and taking a 
 rather hasty aim, I quickly fired both barrels straight at the 
 head. I could only see the head and paws, but these I saw 
 quite distinctly. My elephant was very unsteady, and both 
 my bullets went within an inch of the tiger's head, but 
 fortunately missed completely. I say fortunately, for finding 
 the brute still remaining quite motionless, we cautiously 
 approached, and found it was stone dead. The perfect 
 naturalness of the position, however, might well have deceived 
 a more experienced sportsman. The beast was lying crouched 
 on all fours, as if in the very act of preparing to spring. 
 The one bullet had killed it; the wound was in the lungs, 
 and the internal bleeding had suffocated it, but here was a 
 wonderful instance of the tiger's tenacity of life, even when 
 sorely wounded, for it had travelled over a hundred and 
 thirty yards after S. had shot it. 
 
 It was lucky I missed, for my bullets would have spoiled 
 the skull. She was a very handsome, finely-marked tigress, 
 a large specimen, for on applying the tape we found she 
 measured exactly nine feet. Before descending to measure 
 her, we were joined by the old Major Captun, whose elephants 
 we had fur some time descried in the distance. His con- 
 "ratulations were profuse, and no doubt sincere, and after 
 
 O i 
 
 padding the tigress, we hied to the welcome shelter of one of 
 the village houses, where we discussed a hearty and substan- 
 tial tiffin. 
 
 During tiffin, we were surrounded by a bevy of really fair 
 and buxom lasses. They wore petticoats of striped blue 
 cloth, and had their arms and shoulders bare, and their ears 
 loaded with silver ornaments. They were merry, laughing, 
 comely damsels, with none of the exaggerated shyness anil 
 affected prudery of the women of the plains. We were
 
 646 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 offered plantains, milk, and chuppaties, and an old patriarch 
 came out leaning on his staff, to revile and abuse the tigress. 
 From some of the young men we heard of a fresh kill to the 
 north of the village, and after tiffin we proceeded in that 
 direction, following up the course of the limpid stream, whose 
 gurgling ripple sounded so pleasantly in our ears. 
 
 Far ahead to the right, and on the further bank of the 
 stream, we could see dense curling volumes of smoke, and 
 leaping pyramids of flame, where a jungle fire was raging in 
 some thick acacia scrub. As we got nearer, the heat became 
 excessive, and the flames, fanned into tremendous fury by 
 the fierce west wind, tore through the dry thorny bushes. 
 Our elephants were quite unsteady, and did not like facing 
 the fire. We made a slight detour, and soon had the roaring 
 wall of flame behind us. We were now entering on a moist, 
 circular, basin-shaped hollow. Among the patair roots were 
 the recent marks of great numbers of wild pigs, where they 
 had been foraging among the stiff clay for these esculents. 
 The patair is like a huge bulrush, and the elephants are very 
 fond of its succulent, juicy, cool-looking leaves. Those in 
 our line kept tearing up huge tufts of it, thrashing out the 
 mud and dirt from the roots against their fore-legs, and with 
 a grunt of satisfaction, making it slowly disappear in their 
 cavernous mouths. There was considerable noise, and the 
 jungle was nearly as high as the howdahs, presenting the 
 appearance of an impenetrable screen of vivid green. We 
 beat and rebeat, across and across, but there was no sign of 
 the tiger. The banks of the nullah were very steep, rotten 
 ooking, and dangerous. We had about eighteen elephants, 
 namely, ten of our own, and eight belonging to the Nepaulese. 
 We were beating very close, the elephants' heads almost 
 touching. This is the way they always beat in Nepaul. 
 We thought we had left not a spot in the basin untouched, 
 and Captain S. was quite satisfied that there could be no 
 tiger there. It was a splendid jungle for cover, so thick.
 
 GONE AWAY! 647 
 
 dense, and cool. I was beating along the edge of the creek, 
 which ran deep and silent, between the gloomy sedge-covered 
 banks. In a placid little pool I saw a couple of widgeon all 
 unconscious of danger, their glossy plumage reflected in the 
 clear water. I called to Captain S., " We are sold this time, 
 Captain, there's no tiger here ! " 
 
 " I'm afraid not," he answered. 
 
 " Shall I bag those two widgeon ? " I asked. 
 
 " All right," was the response. 
 
 Putting in shot cartridge, I shot both the widgeon, but we 
 were all astounded to see the tiger we had so carefully and 
 perseveringly searched for, bound out of a crevice in the 
 bank, almost right under my elephant. Off he went with 
 a smothered roar, that set our elephants hurrying backwards 
 and forwards. There was a commotion along the whole line. 
 The jungle was too dense for us to see anything. It was 
 one more proof how these hill tigers will lie close, even in 
 the midst of a line. 
 
 S. called out to me to remain quiet, and see if we could 
 trace the tiger's progress by any rustling in the cover. 
 Looking down we saw the kill, close to the edge of the 
 water. A fast elephant was sent on ahead, to try and 
 ascertain whether the tiger was likely to break beyond the 
 circle of the little basin-shaped valley. "We gathered round 
 the kill ; it was quite fresh ; a young buffalo. The Major 
 told us that in his experience, a male tiger always begins 
 on the neck first. A female always at the hind quarters. 
 A few mouthfuls only had been eaten, and according to the 
 Major, it must have been a tigress, as the part devoured was 
 from the hind quarters. 
 
 While we were talking over these things, a frenzied shout 
 from the driver of our naka elephant caused us to look in 
 his direction. He was gesticulating wildly, and bawling 
 at the top of his voice, " Come, come quickly, sahita, the 
 tiger is running away."
 
 648 SPORT AND WOKE ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 !Nbw commenced such a mad and hurried scramble as I 
 have never witnessed before or since, from the back of an 
 elephant. As we tore through the tangled dense green 
 patair, the broad leaves crackled like crashing branches, the 
 huge elephants surged ahead like ships rocking in a gale of 
 wind, and the mahouts and attendants on the pad elephants, 
 shouted and urged on their shuffling animals, by excited 
 cries and resounding whacks. 
 
 In the retinue of the Major, were several men with 
 elephant spears or goads. These consist of a long, pliant, 
 polished bamboo, with a sharp spike at the end, which they 
 c.ill a jhetha. These men now came hurrying round the ridge, 
 among the opener grass, and as we emerged from the heavy 
 cover, they began goading the elephants behind and urging 
 them to their most furious pace. On ahead, nearly a quarter 
 of a mile away, we could see a huge tiger making off for the 
 distant morung at a rapid sling trot. His lithe body shone 
 before us, and urged us to the most desperate efforts. It was 
 almost a bare plateau. There was scarcely any cover, only 
 here and there a few stunted acacia bushes. The dense forest 
 was two or three miles ahead, but there were several nasty 
 steep banks, and precipitous gullies with deep water rushing 
 between. Attached to each Nepaulee pad, by a stout 
 curiously plaited cord, ornamented with fancy knots and 
 tassels of silk, was a pestle-shaped instrument, not unlike an 
 auctioneer's hammer. It .was quaintly carved, and studded 
 with short, blunt, shining, brass nails or spikes. I had 
 noticed these hanging down from the pads, and had often 
 wondered what they were for. I was now to see them used. 
 While the mahouts in front rained a shower of blows on the 
 elephant's head, and the spear-men pricked him up from 
 behind with their jhethas, the occupant of the pad, turning 
 round with his face to the tail, belaboured the poor hathee 
 with the auctioneer's hammer. The blows rattled on the 
 elephant's rump. The brutes trumpeted with pain, but they
 
 EXCITING CHASE. 649 
 
 did put on the pace, and travelled as I never imagined an 
 elephant could travel. Past bush and brake, down precipi- 
 tous ravine, over the stones, through the thorny scrub, 
 dashing down a steep bank here, plunging madly through a 
 deep stream there, we shuffled along. ~\Ye must have been 
 going fully seven miles an hour. The pestle-shaped hammer 
 is called a lohath, and most unmercifully were they wielded. 
 "We were jostled and jolted, till every bone ached again. 
 Clouds of dust were driven before our reeling waving line. 
 How the Xepaulese shouted and capered. We were all mad 
 with excitement. I shouted with the rest. The fat little 
 Major kicked his heels against the sides of his elephant, as if 
 he were spurring a Derby winner to victory. Our usually 
 sedate captain yelled actually yelled ! in an agony of 
 excitement, and tried to execute a war dance of his own on 
 the floor of his howdah. Our guns rattled, the chains clanked 
 and jangled, the howdahs rocked and pitched from side to 
 side. AVe made a desperate effort. The poor elephants made 
 a gallant race of it. The foot men perspired and swore, but 
 it was not to be. Our striped friend had the best of the 
 start, and we gained not an inch upon him. To our unspeak- 
 able mortification, he reached the dense cover on ahead, where 
 we might as well have sought for a needle in a haystack. 
 Never, however, shall I forget that mad headlong scramble. 
 Fancy an elephant steeplechase. Header, it was sublime; 
 but we ached for it next day. 
 
 The old Major and his fleet racing elephants now left us, 
 and our jaded beasts took us slowly back in the direction of 
 our camp. It was a fine wild view on which we were now 
 gazing. Behind us the dark, gloomy, impenetrable moruiig, 
 the home of ever-abiding fever and ague. Behind that the 
 countless multitude of hills, swelling here and receding there, 
 a jumbled heap of mighty peaks and fretted pinnacles, with 
 their glistening sides and dark shadowless ravines, their 
 mighty scaurs, and their abrupt serrated edges showing out
 
 650 SPORT AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 clearly and boldly defined against the evening sky. Far to 
 the right, the shining river a riband of burnished steel, for 
 its waters were a deep steely blue rolled its swift flood 
 along amid shining sandbanks. In front, the vast undu- 
 lating plain, with grove, and rill, and smoking hamlet, 
 stretched at our feet in a lovely panorama, of blended and 
 harmonious colour. We were now high up above the plain, 
 and the scene was one of the finest I have ever witnessed in 
 India. The wind had gone down, and the oblique rays of 
 the sun lit up the whole vast panorama with a lurid light, 
 which was heightened in effect by the dust-laden atmosphere, 
 and the volumes of smoke from the now distant fires, hedging 
 in the far horizon with curtains of threatening grandeur and 
 gloom. That far away canopy of dust and smoke formed a 
 wonderful contrast to the shining snow-capped lulls behind. 
 Altogether it was a day to be remembered. I have seen no 
 such strange and unearthly combination of shade and colour 
 in any landscape before or since. 
 
 On the way home we bagged a florican and a very fine 
 mallard, and reached the camp utterly fagged to find our 
 worthy magistrate very much recovered, and glad to con- 
 gratulate us on our having bagged the tigress. After a 
 plunge in the river, and a rare camp dinner such a meal as 
 only an Indian sportsman can procure we lay back in our 
 cane chairs, and while the fragrant smoke from the mild 
 Manilla curled lovingly about the roof of the tent, we 
 discussed the day's proceedings, and fought our battles over 
 again. 
 
 A rather animated discussion arose about the length of the 
 tiger as to its frame merely, and we wondered what 
 difference the skin would make in the length of the animal. 
 As it was a point we had never heard mooted before, we 
 determined to see for ourselves. We accordingly went out 
 into the beautiful moonlight, and superintended the skinning 
 of the tigress. The skin was taken off most artistically.
 
 INCIDENTS OF TIGER HUNTING. Col 
 
 We had carefully measured the animal before skinning. She 
 was exactly nine feet long. We found the skin made a 
 difference of only four inches, the bare carcase from tip of 
 nose to extreme point of tail measuring eight feet eight 
 inches. 
 
 As an instance of tigers taking to trees, our worthy 
 magistrate related that in Eajmehal he and a friend had 
 wounded a tiger, and subsequently lost him in the jungle. 
 In vain they searched in every conceivable direction, but 
 could find no trace of him. They were about giving up 
 in despair, when S., raising his hat, happened to look 
 up, and there, on a large bough directly overhead, he saw 
 the wounded tiger lying extended at full length, some 
 eighteen feet from the ground. They were not long in 
 leaving the dangerous vicinity, and it was not long either 
 ere a well-directed shot brought the tiger down from his 
 elevated perch. 
 
 These after-dinner stories are not the least enjoyable part 
 of a tiger-hunting party. Round the camp table in a snug, 
 well-lighted tent, with all the "materials" handy, I have 
 listened to many a tale of thrilling adventure. S. was full of 
 reminiscences, and having seen a deal of tiger shooting in 
 various parts of India, his recollections were much appreciated. 
 To show that the principal danger in tiger shooting is not 
 from the tiger himself, but from one's elephant becoming 
 panic-stricken and bolting, he told how a Mr. Aubert, a 
 Benares planter, lost his life. A tiger had been " spined " ly 
 a shot, and the line gathered round the prostrate monster to 
 watch its death-struggle. The elephant on which the unfor- 
 tunate planter sat got demoralised and attempted to bolt. 
 The rnahout endeavoured to check its rush, and in desperation 
 the elephant charged straight down, close past the tiger, 
 which lay writhing and roaring under a huge overhanging 
 tree. The elephant was rushing directly under this tree, and 
 a lar^e branch would have swept howdah and everything it
 
 652 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 contained clean off the elephant's back, as easily as one 
 would brush off a fly. To save himself Aubert made a leap 
 for the branch, the elephant forging madly ahead; and the 
 howdah, being smashed like match-wood, fell on the tiger 
 below, who was tearing and clawing at everything within 
 his reach. Poor Aubert got hold of the branch with his 
 hands, and clung with all the desperation of one fighting for 
 his life. He was right above the wounded tiger, but his 
 grasp on the tree was not a firm one. For a moment he hung 
 suspended above the furious animal, which, mad with agony 
 and fury, was a picture of demoniac rage. The poor fellow 
 could hold no longer, and fell right on the tiger. It was 
 nearly at its last gasp, but it caught hold of Aubert by the 
 foot, and in a final paroxysm of pain and rage chawed the 
 foot clean off, and the poor fellow died next day from the 
 shock and loss of blood. He was one of four brothers who 
 all met untimely deaths from accidents. This one was killed 
 by the tiger, another was thrown from a vehicle and killed 
 on the spot, the third was drowned, and the fourth shot by 
 accident. 
 
 Our bag to-day was one tiger, one florican, one mallard 
 and two widgeon. On cutting the tiger open, we found that 
 the bullet had entered on the left side, and, as we suspected, 
 had entered the lungs. It had, however, made a terrible 
 wound. "We found that it had penetrated the heart and 
 liver, gone forward through the chest, and smashed the right 
 shoulder. Notwithstanding this fearful wound, showing the 
 tremendous effects of the Express bullet, the tiger had gone 
 on for the distance I have mentioned, after which it must 
 have fallen stone-dead. It was a marvellous instance of 
 vitality, even after the heart, liver, and lungs had been 
 pierced. The liver had six lobes, and it was then I heard 
 for the first time, that with the natives this was an infallible 
 sign of the age of a tiger. The old Major firmly believed it, 
 and told us it was quite an accepted article of faith with all
 
 INCIDENTS OF TIGER HUNTING. (553 
 
 native sportsmen. Facts subsequently came under my own 
 observation which seemed to give great probability to the 
 theory, but it is one on which I would not like to give a 
 decided opinion, till after hearing the experiences of other 
 sportsmen.
 
 654 SPORT AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIV. 
 
 HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL, 
 BOSTON> 
 
 Camp of the Nepaulee chief Quicksands Elephants crossing rivers 
 Tiffin at the Nepaulee camp We beat the forest for tiger Shoot 
 a young tiger Bed ants in the forest Bhowras or ground bees The 
 ursus Idbialis or long-lipped bear Kecross the stream Florican 
 Stag running the gauntlet of flame Our bag Start for factory 
 Eemarks on elephants Precautions useful for protection from the sun 
 in tiger shooting The puggree Cattle breeding in India, and whole- 
 sale deaths of cattle from disease Nathpore Ravages of the river 
 Mrs. Gray, an old resident in the jungles Description of her sur- 
 roundings. 
 
 NEXT morning we started beating due east, setting fire to the 
 jungle as we went along. The roaring and crackling of the 
 flames startled the elephant on which Captain S. was riding, 
 and going away across country at a furious pace, it was with 
 difficulty that it could be stopped. We crossed the frontier 
 line a short distance from camp, and entered a dense jungle 
 of thorny acacia, with long dry grass almost choking the 
 trees. They were dry and stunted, and when we dropped a 
 few lights amongst such combustible material, the fire was 
 splendid beyond description. How the flames surged through 
 the withered -grass. We were forced to pause and admire 
 the magnificent sight. The wall of flame tore along with 
 inconceivable rapidity, and the blinding volumes of smoke 
 obscured the country for miles. The jungle was full of deer 
 and pig. One fine buck came bounding along past our line, 
 but I stopped him with a single bullet through the neck. 
 He fell over with a tremendous crash, and turning a complete 
 somersault broke off both his horns with the force of the fall. 
 We beat down a shallow sandy watercourse, and could 
 see the camp of the old Major on the high bank beyond.
 
 QUICKSANDS. 655 
 
 Farther down the stream there was a small square fort, the 
 whitewashed walls of which flashed back the rays of the sun, 
 and grouped round it were some ruinous-looking huts, several 
 snowy tents, and a huge shainiana or canopy, under which 
 we could see a host of attendants spreading carpets, placing 
 chairs, and otherwise making ready for us. The banks of 
 the stream were very steep, but the guide at length brought 
 us to what seemed a safe and fordable passage. On the 
 further side was a flat expanse of seemingly firm and dry 
 sand, but no sooner had our elephants begun to cross it, than 
 the whole sandbank for yards began to rock and tremble ; 
 the water welled up over the footmarks of the elephants, and 
 S. called out to us, " Fussun, Fussun " quicksand, quick- 
 sand ! We scattered the elephants, and tried to hurry them 
 over the dangerous bit of ground with shouts and cries of 
 encouragement. 
 
 The poor animals seemed thoroughly to appreciate the 
 danger, and shuffled forward as quickly as they could. All 
 got over in safety except the last three. The treacherous 
 sand, rendered still more insecure by the heavy tread of so 
 many ponderous animals, now gave way entirely, and the 
 three hapless elephants were left floundering in the tenacious 
 hold of the dreaded fussun. Two of the three were not far 
 from the firm bank, and managed to extricate themselves 
 after a short struggle ; but the third had sunk up to the 
 shoulders, and could scarcely move. All hands immediately 
 began cutting long grass and forming it into bundles. 
 These were thrown to the sinking elephant. He rolled from 
 side to side, the sand quaking and undulating round him in 
 all directions. At times he would roll over till nearly half 
 his body was invisible. Some of the Nepaulese ventured 
 near, and managed to undo the harness-ropes that were 
 holding on the pad. The sagacious brute fully understood 
 his danger, and the efforts we were making for his assistance. 
 He managed to get several of the big bundles of grass under 
 
 2 u
 
 656 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 his feet, and stood there looking at us with a most pathetic 
 pleading expression, and trembling, as if with an ague, from 
 fear and exhaustion. 
 
 The old Major came down to meet us, and a crowd of his 
 men added their efforts to ours, to help the unfortunate 
 elephant. We threw in bundle after bundle of grass, till we 
 had the yielding sand covered with a thick passage of firmly 
 bound fascines, on which the hathee, staggering and floun- 
 dering painfully, managed to reach firm land. He was so 
 completely exhausted that he could scarcely walk to the 
 tents, and we left him there to the care of his attendants. 
 This is a very common episode in tiger hunting, and does 
 not always terminate so fortunately. In running water, the 
 quicksand is not so dangerous, as the force of the stream 
 keeps washing away the sand, and does not allow it to settle 
 round the legs of the elephant ; but on dry land, a dry 
 fussun, as it is called, is justly feared ; and many a valuable 
 animal has been swallowed up in its slow, deadly, tenacious 
 grasp. 
 
 In crossing sand, the heaviest and slowest elephants 
 should go first, preceded by a light, nimble pioneer. If the 
 leading elephant shows signs of sinking, the others should at 
 once turn back, and seek some safer place. In all cases the 
 line should separate a little, and not follow in each other's 
 footsteps. The indications of a quicksand are easily recog- 
 nised. If the surface of the sand begins to oscillate and 
 undulate with a tremulous rocking motion, it is always wise 
 to seek some other passage. Looking back, after elephants 
 have passed, you will often see what was a perfectly dry flat, 
 covered with several inches of water. When water begins to 
 ooze up in any quantity, after a few elephants have passed, 
 it is much safer to make the remainder cross at some spot 
 farther on. 
 
 In crossing a deep swift river, the elephants should enter 
 the water in a line, ranged up and down the river. That is,
 
 ELEPHANTS CROSSING RIVERS. 057 
 
 the line should be ranged along the bank, and enter the water 
 at right angles to the current, and not in Indian file. The 
 strongest elephants should be up stream, as they help to 
 break the force of the current for the weaker and smaller 
 animals down below. It is a fine sight to see some thirty or 
 forty of these huge animals crossing a deep and rapid river. 
 Some are reluctant to strike out, when they begin to enter 
 the deepest channel, and try to turn back ; the mahouts and 
 " mates " shout, and belabour them with bamboo poles. The 
 trumpeting of the elephants, the waving of the trunks, 
 disporting, like huge water-snakes, in the perturbed current, 
 the splashing of the bamboos, the dark bodies of the natives 
 swimming here and there round the animals, the unwieldy 
 boat piled high with howdahs and pads, the whole heap 
 surmounted by a group of sportsmen with their gleaming 
 weapons, and variegated puggrees, make up a picturesque 
 and memorable sight. Some of the strong swimmers among 
 the elephants seem to enjoy the whole affair immensely. 
 They dip their huge heads entirely under the current, the 
 sun flashes on the dark hide, glistening with the dripping 
 water ; the enormous head emerges again slowly, like some 
 monstrous antediluvian creation, and with a succession of 
 these ponderous appearances and disappearances, the mighty 
 brutes forge through the surging water. When they reach a 
 shallow part, they pipe with pleasure, and send volumes of 
 fluid splashing against their heaving flanks, scattering the 
 spray all round in mimic rainbows. 
 
 At all times the Koosee was a dangerous stream to cross, 
 but during the rains I have seen the strongest and best 
 swimming elephants taken nearly a mile down stream ; and 
 in many instances they have been drowned, their vast bulk 
 and marvellous strength being quite unable to cope with the 
 tremendous force of the raging waters. 
 
 When we had got comfortably seated under the shamiana, 
 a crowd of attendants brought us baskets of fruit and a very 
 
 2 u 2
 
 658 SPORT AND WOEK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 nice cold collation of various Indian dishes and curries. We 
 did ample justice to the old soldier's hospitable offerings, and 
 then betel-nut, cardamums, cloves, and other spices, and paun 
 leaves, were handed round on a silver salver, beautifully 
 embossed and carved with quaint devices. We lit our cigars, 
 our beards and handkerchiefs were anointed with attar of 
 roses ; and the old Major then informed us that there was 
 good khubber of tiger in the wood close by. 
 
 The trees were splendid specimens of forest growth, 
 enormously thick, beautifully umbrageous, and growing very 
 close together. There was a dense undergrowth of tangled 
 creeper, and the most lovely ferns and tropical plants in the 
 richest luxuriance, and of every conceivable shade of amber 
 and green. It was a charming spot. The patch of forest 
 was separated from the unbroken line of morung jungle by a 
 beautifully sheltered glade of several hundred acres, and 
 further broken in three places by avenue-looking openings, 
 disclosing peeps of the black and gloomy-looking mass of 
 impenetrable forest beyond. 
 
 In the first of these openings we were directed to take up 
 a position, while the pad elephants and a crowd of beaters 
 went to the edge of the patch of forest and began beating up 
 to us. Immense numbers of genuine jungle fowl were 
 calling in all directions, and flying right across the opening 
 in numerous coveys. They are beautifully marked with 
 black and golden plumes round the neck, and I determined 
 to shoot a few by-and-bye to send home to friends, who I 
 knew would prize them as invaluable material in dressing 
 hooks for fly-fishing. The crashing of the trees, as the 
 elephants forced their way through the thick forest, or tore 
 off huge branches as they struggled amid the matted 
 vegetation, kept us all on the alert. The first place was 
 however a blank, and we moved on to the next. We had not 
 long to wait, for a fierce din inside the jungle, and the excited 
 cries of the beaters, apprised us that game of some sort was
 
 SHOOT A YOUNG TIGER. 659 
 
 afoot. We were eagerly watching, and speculating on the 
 cause of the uproar, when a very fine half-grown tiger cub 
 sprang out of some closely growing fern, and dashed across 
 the narrow opening so quickly, that ere we had time to raise 
 a gun, he had disappeared in some heavy jhamun jungle on 
 the further side of the path. 
 
 We hurried round as fast as we could to intercept him, 
 should he attempt to break on ahead ; and leaving some men 
 to rally the mahouts, and let them know that there was a 
 tiger afoot, we were soon in our places, and ready to give the 
 cub a warm reception, should he again show his stripes. It 
 was not long ere he did so. I spied him stealing along the 
 edge of the jungle, evidently intending to make a rush back 
 past the opening he had just crossed, and outflank the line of 
 beater elephants. I fired and hit him in the forearm; he 
 rolled over roaring with rage, and then descrying his 
 assailants, he bounded into the open, and as well as his 
 wound would allow him, came furiously down at the charge. 
 In less time however than it takes to write it, he had received 
 three bullets in his body, and tumbled down a lifeless heap. 
 We raised a cheer which brought the beaters and elephants 
 quickly to the spot. In coming through a thickly wooded 
 part of the forest, with numerous long and pliant creepers 
 intertwisted into a confused tangle of rope-like ligaments, the 
 old Juddeah elephant tore down one of the long vines, and 
 dislodged an angry army of venomous red ants on the 
 occupants of the guddee, or cushioned seat on the elephant's 
 pad. The ants proved formidable assailants. There were 
 two or three Baboos or native gentlemen, holding on to the 
 ropes, chewing pan, and enjoying the scene, but the red ants 
 were altogether more than they had bargained for. Recog- 
 nising the Baboos as the immediate cause of their disturbance, 
 they attacked them with venomous pertinacity. The mahout 
 fairly yelled with pain, and one of the Baboos, smarting from 
 the fiery bites of the furious insects, toppled clean backwards
 
 660 SPOUT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 into the undergrowth, showing an undignified pair of heels. 
 The other two danced on the guddee, sweeping and thrashing 
 the air, the cushion, and their clothes, with their cummer- 
 bunds, in the vain effort to free themselves of their angry 
 assailants. The guddee was literally covered with ants; it 
 looked an animated red mass, and the wretched Baboos 
 made frantic efforts to shake themselves clear. They were 
 dreadfully bitten, and reaching the open, they slid off 
 the elephant, and even on the ground continued their 
 saltatory antics before finally getting rid of their ferocious 
 assailants. 
 
 In forest shooting the red ant is one of the most dreaded 
 pests of the jungle. If a colony gets dislodged from some 
 overhanging branch, and is landed in your howdah, the best 
 plan is to evacuate your stronghold as quickly as you can, 
 and let the attendants clear away the invaders. Their bite is 
 very painful, and they take such tenacious hold, that rather 
 than quit their grip, they allow themselves to be decapitated 
 and leave their head and formidable forceps sticking in your 
 flesh. 
 
 Other dreaded foes in the forest jungle are the Bhowra or 
 ground bees, which are more properly a kind of hornet. If 
 by evil chance your elephant should tread on their mound- 
 like nest, instantly an angry swarm of venomous and enraged 
 hornets comes buzzing about your ears. Your only chance 
 is to squat down, and envelope yourself completely in a 
 blanket. Old sportsmen, shooting in forest jungle, invariably 
 take a blanket with them in the howdah, to ensure them- 
 selves protection in the event of an attack by these blood- 
 thirsty creatures. The thick matted creepers too are a great 
 nuisance, for which a bill-hook or sharp kookree is an 
 invaluable adjunct to the other paraphernalia of the march. 
 I have seen a mahout swept clean off the elephant's back by 
 these tenacious creepers, and the elephants themselves are 
 sometimes unable to break through the tangle of sinewy, lithe
 
 A BEAR IN THE JUNGLE. 661 
 
 cords, which drape the huge forest trees, hanging in slender 
 festoons from every branch. Some of them are prickly, and 
 as the elephant slowly forces his way through the mass of 
 pendent swaying cords, they lacerate and tear the mahout's 
 clothes and skin, and appropriate his puggree. As you crouch 
 down within the shelter of your howdah, you can't help 
 pitying the poor wretch, and incline to think that, after all, 
 shooting in grass jungle has fewer drawbacks and is pre- 
 ferable to forest shooting. 
 
 One of the drivers reported that he had seen a bear in the 
 jungle, and we saw the earth of one not far from where the 
 young tiger had fallen ; it was the lair of the sloth bear or 
 Ursus labialis, so called from his long pendent upper lip. 
 His spoor is very easily distinguished from that of any other 
 animal; the ball of the foot shows a distinct round im- 
 pression, and about an inch to an inch and a half further on, 
 the impressions of the long curved claws are seen. He uses 
 these long claws to tear up ant hills, and open hollow 
 decaying trees, to get at the honey within, of which he is 
 very fond. We went after the bear, and were not long in 
 discovering his whereabouts, and a well-directed shot from S. 
 added him to our bag. The best bear shooting in India 
 perhaps is in CHOTA NAGPOOR, but this does not come within 
 the limits of my present volume. We now beat slowly 
 through the wood, keeping a bright look out for ants and 
 hornets, and getting fine shooting at the numerous jungle 
 fowl which flew about in amazing numbers. 
 
 The forest trees in this patch of jungle were very fine. 
 The hill seerees, with its feathery foliage and delicate clusters 
 of white bugle-shaped blossom; the semul or cotton tree, 
 with its wonderful wealth of magnificent crimson flowers ; 
 the birch-looking sheeshum or sissoo ; the sombre-looking 
 sal; the shining, leathery-leafed bhur, with its immense 
 over-arching limbs, and the crisp, curly-leafed elegant- 
 looking jharnun or Indian olive, formed a paradise of sylvan
 
 662 SPORT AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 beauty, on which the eye dwelt till it was sated with the 
 woodland loveliness. 
 
 In recrossing the dhar or water- course, we took care to 
 avoid the quicksands, and as we did not expect to fall in 
 with another tiger, we indulged in a little general firing. I 
 shot a fine buck through the spine, and we bagged several 
 deer, and no less than five florican ; this bird is allied to the 
 bustard family, and has beautiful drooping feathers, hanging 
 in plumy pendants of deep black and pure white, inter- 
 mingled in the most graceful and showy manner. The male 
 is a magnificent bird, and has perhaps as fine plumage as any 
 bird on the border ; the flesh yields the most delicate eating 
 of any game bird I know ; the slices of mingled brown and 
 white from the breast are delicious. The birds are rather 
 shy, generally getting up a long way in front of the line, and 
 moving with a slow, rather clumsy, flight, not unlike the 
 flight of the white earth owl. They run with great swiftness, 
 and are rather hard to kill, unless hit about the neck and 
 head. There are two sorts, the lesser and the greater, the 
 former also called the bastard florican. Altogether they are 
 noble-looking birds, and the sportsman is always glad to add 
 as many florican as he can to his bag. 
 
 We were now nearing the locality of the fierce fire of the 
 morning; it was still blazing in a long extended line of 
 flame, and we witnessed an incident without parallel in the 
 experience of any of us. I fired at and wounded a large 
 stag ; it was wounded somewhere in the side, and seemed 
 very hard hit indeed. Maddened probably by terror and 
 pain, it made straight for the line of fire, and bounded 
 unhesitatingly right into the flame. We saw it distinctly go 
 clean through the flames, but we could not see whether it 
 got away with its life, as the elephants would not go up to 
 the fire. At all events, the stag went right through his fiery 
 ordeal, and was lost to us. We started numerous hares close 
 to camp, and S. bowled over several. They are very common
 
 WE RETURN TO CAMP. OUR BAG. 663 
 
 in the short grass jungle, where the soil is sandy, and are 
 frequently to be found among thin jowah jungle ; they afford 
 good sport for coursing, but are neither so fleet, nor so large, 
 nor such good eating as the English hare. In fact, they are 
 very dry eating, and the best way to cook them is to jug 
 them, or make a hunter's pie, adding portions of partridge, 
 quail, or plover, with a few mushrooms, and a modicum of 
 ham or bacon if these are procurable. 
 
 We reached camp pretty late, and sent off venison, birds, 
 and other spoils to Mrs. S. and to Inamputtee factory. Our 
 bag showed a diversity of spoil, consisting of one tiger, seven 
 hog-deer, one bear (Ursus laUalis), seventeen jungle fowl, 
 five florican, and six hares. It was no bad bag considering 
 that during most of the day we had been beating solely for 
 tiger. We could have shot many more deer and jungle fowl, 
 but we never try to shoot more than are needed to satisfy 
 the wants of the camp. Were we to attempt to shoot at all 
 the deer and pig that we see, the figures would reach very 
 large totals. As a rule, therefore, the records of Indian 
 sportsmen give no idea of the vast quantities of game that 
 are put up and never fired at. It would be the very wanton- 
 ness of destruction, to shoot animals not wanted for some 
 specific purpose, imless, indeed, you were waging an in- 
 discriminate war of extermination, in a quarter where their 
 numbers were a nuisance and prejudicial to crops. In that 
 case, your proceedings would not be dignified by the name of 
 sport. 
 
 After a few more days' shooting, the incidents of which 
 were pretty much like those I have been describing, I started 
 back for the factory. I sent my horse on ahead, and took 
 five elephants with me to beat up for game on the homeward 
 route. Close to camp a fine buck got up in front of me. I 
 broke both his forelegs with my first shot, but the poor 
 brute still managed to hobble along. It was in some very 
 dense patair jungle, and I had considerable difficulty in
 
 664 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 bringing him to bag. When we reached the ghat or ferry, I 
 ordered Geerdharree Jha's mahout to cross with his elephant. 
 The brute, however, refused to cross the river alone, and in 
 spite of all the driver could do, she insisted on following the 
 rest. I got down, and some of the other drivers got out the 
 hobbles and bound them round her legs. In spite of these 
 she still seemed determined to follow us. She shook the 
 bedding and other articles with which she was loaded off her 
 back, and made a frantic effort to follow us through the deep 
 sand. The iron chains cut into her legs, and, afraid that she 
 might do herself an irreparable injury, I had her tied up to a 
 tree, and left her trumpeting and making an indignant 
 lamentation at being separated from the rest of the line. 
 
 The elephant seems to be quite a social animal. I have 
 frequently seen cases where, after having been in company 
 together for a lengthened hunt, they have manifested great 
 reluctance to separate. In leaving the line, I have often 
 noticed the single elephant looking back at his comrades, and 
 giving vent to his disappointment and disapproval by grunts 
 and trumpetings of indignant protest. We left the refractory 
 hathee tied up to her tree, and as we crossed the long rolling 
 billows of burning sand that lay athwart our course, she was 
 soon lost to view. I shot a couple more hog-deer, and got 
 several plover and teal in the patches of water that lay in 
 some of the hollows among the sandbanks. I fired at a huge 
 alligator basking in the sun, on a sandbank close to the 
 stream. The bullet hit him somewhere in the forearm, and 
 he made a tremendous sensation header into the current. 
 From the agitation in the water, he seemed not to appreciate 
 the leaden message which I had sent him. 
 
 We found the journey through the soft yielding sand very 
 fatiguing, and especially trying to the eyes. When not 
 shooting, it is a very wise precaution to wear eye-preservers 
 or " goggles." They are a great relief to the eyes, and the 
 best, I think, are the neutral tinted. During the west winds,
 
 PRECAUTIONS AGAINST SUNSTROKE. C65 
 
 when the atmosphere is loaded with fine particles of 
 irritating sand and dust, these goggles are very necessary, 
 and are a great protection to the sight. 
 
 Another prudent precaution is to have the back of one's 
 shirt or coat slightly padded with cotton and quilted. The 
 heat prevents one wearing thick clothes, and there is no 
 doubt that the action of the direct rays of the burning sun 
 all down the back on the spinal cord, is very injurious, and 
 may be a fruitful cause of sunstroke. It is certainly pro- 
 ductive of great lassitude and weariness. I used to wear a 
 thin quilted sort of shield made of cotton-drill, which 
 fastened round the shoulders and waist. It does not in- 
 commode one's action in any particular, and is, I think, a 
 great protection against the fierce rays of the sun. Many 
 prefer the puggree as a head-piece. It is undeniably a fine 
 thing when one is riding on horseback, as it fits close to the 
 head, does not catch the wind during a smart trot or canter, 
 and is therefore not easily shaken off. For riding I think it 
 preferable to all other head-dresses. A good thick puggree is 
 a great protection to the back of the head and neck, the part 
 of the body which of all others requires protection from the 
 sun. It feels rather heavy at first, but one gets used to it, 
 and it does not shade the eyes and face. These are the two 
 gravest objections to it, but for comfort, softness, and pro- 
 tection to the head and neck, I do not think it can be 
 surpassed. 
 
 After crossing the sand, we again entered some tliiu 
 scrubby acacia jungle, with here and there a moist swampy 
 nullah, with rank green patair jungle growing in the cool 
 dank shade. Here we disturbed a colony of pigs, but the 
 four mahouts being Mahommedans I did not fire. As we 
 went along, one of my men called my attention to some 
 footprints near a small lagoon. On inspection we found 
 they were rhinoceros tracks evidently of old date. These 
 animals are often seen in this part of the country, but
 
 666 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 are more numerous farther north, in the great morung 
 forest jungle. 
 
 A very noticeable feature in these jungles was the immense 
 quantity of bleached ghastly skeletons of cattle. This year 
 had been a most disastrous one for cattle. Enormous 
 numbers had been swept off by disease, and in many villages 
 bordering on the morung the herds had been well-nigh 
 exterminated. Little attention is paid to breeding. In some 
 districts, such as the Mooteeharree and Mudhobunnee 
 division, fine cart-bullocks are bred, carefully handled and 
 tended, and fetch high prices. In Kurruckpore, beyond the 
 Ganges in Bhaugulpore district, cattle of a small breed, 
 hardy, active, staunch, and strong, are bred in great numbers, 
 and are held in great estimation for agricultural require- 
 ments; but in these Koosee jungles the bulls are often 
 ill-bred, weedy brutes, and the cows being much in excess of 
 a fair proportion of bulls, a deal of in-breeding takes place ; 
 miniatured young bulls roam about with the herd, and the 
 result is a crowd of cattle that succumb to the first ailment, 
 so that the land is littered with their bones. 
 
 The bullock being indispensable to the Indian cultivator, 
 bull calves are prized, taken care of, well nurtured and well 
 fed. The cow calves are pretty much left to take care of 
 themselves ; they are thin, miserable, half-starved brutes, and 
 the short-sighted ryot seems altogether to forget that it is on 
 these miserable withered specimens thnt he must depend for 
 his supply of plough- and cart-bullocks. The matter is most 
 shamefully neglected. Government occasionally through its 
 officers, experimental farms, etc., tries to get good sire stock 
 for both horses and cattle, but as long as the dams are bad 
 mere weeds, without blood, bone, muscle, or stamina, the 
 produce must be bad. As a pretty well established and 
 general rule, the ryots look after their bullocks, they recog- 
 nise their value, and appreciate their utility, but the cows 
 fare badly, and from all I have myself seen, and from the
 
 NATEPOSE. 667 
 
 concurrent testimony of many observant friends in the rural 
 districts, I should say that the breed has become much 
 deteriorated. 
 
 Old planters constantly tell you, that such cattle as they 
 used to get are not now procurable for love or money. 
 Within the last twenty years prices have more than doubled, 
 because the demand for good plough-bullocks has been more 
 urgent, as a consequence of increased cultivation, and the 
 supply is not equal to the demand. Attention to the matter 
 is imperative, and planters would be wise in their own 
 interests to devote a little time and trouble to disseminating 
 sound ideas about the selection of breeding stock, and the 
 principles of rearing and raising stock among their ryots and 
 dependants. Every factory should be able to breed its own 
 cattle, and supply its own requirements for plough- and cart- 
 bullocks. It would be cheaper in the end, and it would 
 undoubtedly be a blessing to the country to raise the standard 
 of cattle used in agricultural work. 
 
 To return from this digression. We plodded on and on, 
 weary, hot, and thirsty, expecting every moment to see the 
 ghat and my waiting horse. But the country here is so wild, 
 the river takes such erratic courses during the annual floods, 
 and the district is so secluded and so seldom visited by 
 Europeans or factory servants, that my syce had evidently 
 lost his way. After we had crossed innumerable streams, 
 and laboriously traversed mile upon mile of burning sand, we 
 gave up the attempt to find the ghat, and made for Nathpore. 
 
 Nathpore was formerly a considerable town, not far from 
 the Nepaul border, a flourishing grain mart and emporium 
 for the fibres, gums, spices, timbers, and other productions of 
 a wide frontier. There was a busy and crowded bazaar, long 
 streets of shops and houses, and hundreds of boats lying in 
 the stream beside the numerous ghats, taking in and dis- 
 charging their cargoes. It may give a faint idea of the de- 
 structive force of an Indian stream like the Koosee when it
 
 668 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 is in full flood, to say that this once flourishing town is now 
 but a handful of miserable huts. Miles of rich lands, once 
 clothed with luxuriant crops of rice, indigo, and waving 
 grain, are now barren reaches of burning sand. The bleached 
 skeletons of mango, jackfruit, and other trees, stretch out 
 their leafless and lifeless branches, to remind the spectator 
 of the time when their foliage rustled in the breeze, when 
 their lusty limbs bore rich clusters of luscious fruit, and when 
 the din of the bazaar resounded beneath their welcome shade. 
 A fine old lady still lived in a two-storied brick building, 
 with quaint little darkened rooms, and a narrow verandah 
 running all round the building. She was long past the 
 allotted threescore years and ten, with a keen yet mildly 
 beaming eye, and a wealth of beautiful hair as white as 
 driven snow, neatly gathered back from her shapely forehead. 
 She was the last remaining link connecting the present with 
 the past glories of Nathpore. Her husband had been a 
 planter and Zemindar. Where his vats had stood laden with 
 rich indigo, the engulfing sand now reflected the rays of the 
 torrid sun from its burning whiteness. She showed me a 
 picture of the town as it appeared to her when she had been 
 brought there many a long and weary year ago, ere yet her 
 step had lost its lightness, and when she was in the bloom 
 of her bridal life. There was a fine broad boulevard, 
 shadowed by splendid trees, on which she and her husband 
 had driven in their carriage of an evening, through crowds 
 of prosperous and contented traders and cultivators. The 
 hungry river had swept all this away. Subsisting on a few 
 precarious rents of some little plots of ground that it had 
 spared, all that remained of a once princely estate, this good 
 old lady lived her lonely life cheerful and contented, never 
 murmuring or repining. The river had not spared even the 
 graves of her departed dear ones. Since I left that part of 
 the country I hear that she has been called away to join 
 those who had gone before her.
 
 RAVAGES OF THE RIVEK. 
 
 I arrived at her house late in the afternoon. I had never 
 been at Natlipore before, although the place was well known 
 to me by reputation. What a wreck it presented as our 
 elephants marched through. Ruined, dismantled, crumbling 
 temples; masses of masonry half submerged in the swift 
 running, treacherous, undermining stream ; huge trees lying 
 prostrate, twisted and jammed together where the angry 
 flood had hurled them ; bare unsightly poles and piles, stick- 
 ing from the water at every angle, reminding us of the gran- 
 aries and godowns that were wont to be filled with the 
 agricultural wealth of the districts for miles around ; hard 
 metalled roads cut abruptly off, and bridges with only half 
 an arch, standing lonely and ruined half way in the muddy 
 current that swept noiselessly past the deserted city. It was 
 a scene of utter waste and desolation. 
 
 The lady I mentioned made me very welcome, and I was 
 struck by her unaffected cheerfulness and gentleness. She 
 was a gentlewoman indeed, and though reduced in circum- 
 stances, surrounded by misfortunes, and daily and hourly 
 reminded by the scattered wreck around her of her former 
 wealth and position, she bore all with exemplary fortitude, 
 and to the full extent of her scanty means she relieved 
 the sorrows and ailments of the natives. They all loved 
 and respected, and I could not help admiring and honouring 
 her. 
 
 She pointed out to me, far away on the south-east horizon, 
 the place where the river ran in its shallow channel when 
 she first came to Nathpore. During her experience it had 
 cut into and overspread more than twenty miles of country, 
 turning fertile fields into arid wastes of sand ; sweeping away 
 factories, farms, and villages ; and changing the whole face 
 of the country from a fruitful landscape into a wilderness of 
 sand and swamp. 
 
 My horse came up in the evening, and I rode over to 
 Inamputtee, leaving my kindly hostess in her solitude.
 
 670 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXV. 
 
 Exciting jungle scene The camp All quiet Advent of the cowherds 
 A tiger close by Proceed to the spot Encounter between tigress and 
 buffaloes Strange behaviour of the elephant Discovery and capture 
 of four cubs Joyful return to camp Death of the tigress Night 
 encounter with a leopard The haunts of the tiger and our shooting 
 grounds. 
 
 ONE of the most exciting and deeply interesting scenes I 
 ever witnessed in the jungles, was on the occasion I have 
 referred to in a former chapter, when speaking of the number 
 of young given by the tigress at a birth. It was in the 
 month of March, at the village of Eyseree, in Bhaugulpore. 
 I had been encamped in the midst of twenty-four beautiful 
 tanks, the history and construction of which were lost in the 
 mists of tradition. The villagers had a story that these 
 tanks were the work of a mighty giant, Bheema, with whose 
 aid and that of his brethren they had been excavated in a 
 single night. 
 
 At all events, they were now covered with a wild tangle 
 of water lilies and acquatic plants ; well stocked with mag- 
 nificent fish, and an occasional scaly monster of a saurian. 
 They were the haunt of vast quantities of widgeon, teal, 
 whistlers, mallard, ducks, snipe, curlew, blue fowl, and the 
 usual varied liobitues of an exceptionally good Indian lake. 
 In the vicinity hares were numerous, and in the thick jungle 
 bordering the tanks in places, and consisting mostly of 
 nurkool and wild rose, hog-deer and wild pig were abundant. 
 The dried-up bed of an old arm of the Koosee was quite 
 close to my camp, and abounded in sandpiper, and golden, 
 grey, goggle-eyed, and stilted plover, besides other game.
 
 IN CAMP AT ETSEREE. 671 
 
 It was indeed a favourite camping spot, and the village was 
 inhabited by a hardy, independent set of Gwallas, Koormees, 
 and agriculturists, with whom I was a prime favourite. 
 
 I was sitting in my tent, going over some village accounts 
 with the village putwarrie, and my gomasta. A posse of 
 villagers were grouped under the grateful shade of a gnarled 
 old mango tree, whose contorted limbs bore evidence to the 
 violence of many a tufan, or tempest, which it had weathered. 
 The usual confused clamour of tongues was rising from this 
 group, and the subject of debate was the eternal " pice." 
 Behind the bank, and in the rear of the tent, the cook and 
 his mate were disembowelling a hapless inoorglwc, a fowl 
 whose decapitation had just been effected with a huge jagged 
 old cavalry sword, of which my cook was not a little proud : 
 and on the strength of which he adopted fierce military airs, 
 and gave an extra turn to his well-oiled moustache when he 
 went abroad for a holiday. 
 
 Farther to the rear a line of horses were picketed, including 
 my man-eating demon the white Cabool stallion, my gentle 
 country-bred mare Motee the pearl and my handsome 
 little pony mare, formerly my hockey or polo steed, a present 
 from a gallant sportsman and rare good fellow, as good a 
 judge of a horse, or a criminal, as ever sat on a bench. 
 
 Behind the horses each manacled by weighty chains, with 
 his ponderous trunk and ragged-looking tail swaying to and 
 fro with a never-ceasing motion, stood a line of ten elephants. 
 Their huge leathery ears napped lazily, and ever and anon 
 one or other would seize a mighty branch, and belabour his 
 corrugated sides to free himself of the detested and trouble- 
 some flies. The elephants were placidly munching their 
 charra (bait, or food), and occasionally giving each other a 
 dry bath in the shape of a shower of sand. There was a 
 monotonous clank of chains, and an occasional deep 
 abdominal rumble like distant thunder. All over the camp 
 there was a confused subdued medley of sound. A hum from 
 
 2 x
 
 672 SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 the argumentative villagers, a lazy flop in the tank as a raho 
 rose to the surface, an occasional outburst from the ducks, an 
 angry clamour from the water-hens and blue-fowl. My dogs 
 were lying round me blinking and winking, and making an 
 occasional futile snap at an imaginary fly or flea. It was a 
 drowsy and peaceful scene. I was nearly dropping off to 
 sleep, from the heat and the monotonous drone of the 
 putwarrie, who was intoning nasally some formidable 
 document about fishery rights and privileges. 
 
 Suddenly there was a hush. Every sound seemed to stop 
 simultaneously as if by pre-arranged concert. Then three 
 men were seen rushing madly along the elevated ridge 
 surrounding one of the tanks. I recognised one of my peons, 
 and with him two cowherds. Their head-dresses were all 
 disarranged, and their parted lips, heaving chests, and eyes 
 blazing with excitement, showed that they were brimful of 
 some unusual message. 
 
 Now arose such a bustle in the camp as no description 
 could adequately portray. The elephants trumpeted and 
 piped; the syces, or grooms, came rushing up with eager 
 queries; the villagers bustled about like so many ants 
 aroused by the approach of a hostile foe ; my pack of terriers 
 yelped out in chorus ; the pony neighed ; the Cabool stallion 
 plunged about ; my servants came rushing from the shelter 
 of the tent verandah with disordered dress ; the ducks rose 
 -in a quacking crowd, and circled round and round the tent ; 
 and the cry arose of " Bagh ! Bagh ! Khodawund ! Arree Bap 
 re Bap ! Earn Earn, Seeta Earn ! " 
 
 Breathless with running, the men now tumbled up, 
 hurriedly salaamed, and then each with gasps and choking 
 stops, and pell-mell volubility, and amid a running fire of 
 cries, queries, and interjections from the mob, began to unfold 
 their tale. There was an infuriated tigress at the other side 
 of the nullah, or dry watercourse, she had attacked a herd of 
 buffaloes, and it was believed that she had cubs.
 
 A TIGEESS AND A HERD OF BUFFALOES. 673 
 
 Already Debnarain Singh was getting his own pad 
 elephant caparisoned, and my bearer was diving under my 
 camp bed for my gun and cartridges. Knowing the little 
 elephant to be a fast walker, and fairly staunch, I got on 
 her back, and accompanied by the gomasta and mahout 
 we set out, followed ^by the peon and herdsmen to show 
 us the way. 
 
 I expected two friends, officers from Calcutta, that very 
 day, and wished not to kill the tigress but to keep her for our 
 combined shooting next day. We had not proceeded far 
 when, on the other side of the nullah, we saw dense clouds of 
 dust rising, and heard a confused, rushing, trampling sound, 
 mingled with the clashing of horns, and the snorting of a 
 herd of angry buffaloes. 
 
 It was the wildest sight I have ever seen in connection with 
 animal life. The buffaloes were drawn together in the form 
 of a crescent ; their eyes glared fiercely, and as they advanced 
 in a series of short runs, stamping with their hoofs, and 
 angrily lashing their tails, their horns would come together 
 with a clanging, clattering crash, and they would paw the 
 sand, snort and toss their heads and behave in the most 
 extraordinary manner. 
 
 The cause of all this commotion was not far to seek. 
 Directly in front, retreating slowly, with stealthy, prowling, 
 crawling steps, and an occasional short, (pick leap or bound 
 to one side or the other, was a magnificent tigress, looking 
 the very personification of baffled fury. Ever and anon 
 she crouched down to the earth, tore up the sand with her 
 claws, lashed her tail from side to side, and with lips 
 retracted, long moustaches quivering with wrath, and hateful 
 eyes scintillating with rage and fury, she seemed to meditate 
 an attack on the angry buffaloes. The serried array of 
 clashing horns, and the ponderous bulk of the herd, seemed 
 however to daunt the snarling vixen ; at their next rush she 
 would bound back a few paces, crouch down, growl, and be 
 
 2x2
 
 674 SPOUT AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 forced to move back again, by the short, blundering rush of 
 the crowd. 
 
 All the calves and old cows were in the rear of the herd, 
 and it was not a little comical to witness their ungainly 
 attitudes. They would stretch their clumsy necks, and shake 
 their heads, as if they did not rightly understand what was 
 going on. Finding that if they stopped too long to indulge in 
 curiosity, there was a danger of their getting separated 
 from the fighting members of the herd, they would make a 
 stupid, headlong, lumbering lurch forward, and jostle each 
 other in their blundering panic. 
 
 It was a grand sight. The tigress was the embodiment of 
 lithe and savage beauty, but her features expressed the 
 wildest baffled rage. I could have shot the striped vixen 
 over and over again, but I .wished to keep her for my 
 friends and I was thrilled with the excitement of such a 
 novel scene. 
 
 Suddenly our elephant trumpeted, and shied quickly 
 to one side, from something lying on the ground. Curling 
 up its trunk it began backing and piping at a prodigious 
 rate. 
 
 " Hullo ! what's the matter now ? " said I to Debnarain. 
 
 " God only knows," said he. 
 
 " A young tiger ! " " Bagh ka butcha ! " screams our 
 mahout, and regardless of the elephant or of our cries to 
 stop, he scuttled down the pad rope like a monkey down 
 a backstay, and clutching a young dead tiger cub, threw it 
 up to Debnarain; it was about the size of a small poodle, 
 and had evidently been trampled by the pursuing herd of 
 buffaloes. 
 
 "There may be others," said the gomasta; and peering 
 into every bush, we went slowly on. 
 
 The elephant now showed decided symptoms of dislike 
 and a reluctance to approach a particular dense clump of 
 grass.
 
 THE TIGRESS KILLED. HER FOUR CUDS. 675 
 
 A sounding whack on the head, however, made her quicken 
 her steps, and thrusting the long stalks aside, she discovered 
 for us three blinking little cubs, brothers of the defunct, and 
 doubtless part of the same litter. Their eyes were scarcely 
 open, and they lay huddled together like three enormous 
 striped kittens, and spat at us and bristled their little 
 moustaches much as an angry cat would do. All the four 
 were males. 
 
 It was not long ere I had them carefully wrapped in the 
 mahout's blanket. Overjoyed at our good fortune, we left 
 the excited buffaloes still executing their singular war-dance, 
 and the angry tigress, robbed of her whelps, consuming her 
 soul in baffled fury. 
 
 We heard her roaring through the night, close to camp, 
 and on my friends' arrival, we beat her up next morning, 
 and she fell pierced by three bullets, after a fierce and 
 determined charge. We came upon her across the nullah, 
 and her mind was evidently made up to fight. Nearly all 
 the villagers had turned out with the line of elephants. 
 Before we had time to order them away, she came down 
 upon the line, roaring furiously, and bounding over the long 
 grass a most magnificent sight. 
 
 My first bullet took her full in the chest, and before she 
 could make good her charge, a ball eacli from Pat and 
 Captain G. settled her career. She was beautifully striped, 
 and rather large for a tigress, measuring nine feet three 
 inches. 
 
 It was now a question with me, how to rear the three 
 interesting orphans ; we thought a slut from some of the 
 villages would prove the best wet nurse, and tried ac- 
 cordingly to get one, but could not. In the meantime an 
 unhappy goat was pounced on and the three young tigers 
 took to her teats as if "to the manner born." Tho poor 
 Nanny screamed tremendously at first sight of them, but she 
 soon got accustomed to them, and when they grew a little
 
 676 SPOET AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 bigger, she would often playfully butt at them with her 
 horns. 
 
 The little brutes throve wonderfully, and soon developed 
 such an appetite that I had to get no less than six goats to 
 satisfy their constant thirst. I kept the cubs for over two 
 months, and I shall not soon forget the excitement I caused, 
 when my boat stopped at Sahibgunge, and my goats, tiger 
 cubs, and attendants, formed a procession from the ghat or 
 landing-place, to the railway station. 
 
 Soldiers, guards, engineers, travellers, and crowds of 
 natives surrounded me, and at every station the guard's 
 van, with my novel menagerie, was the centre of attraction. 
 I sold the cubs to Jamrach's agent in Calcutta for a very 
 satisfactory price. Two of them were very powerful, finely 
 marked, handsome animals; the third had always been 
 sickly, had frequent convulsions, and died a few days after 
 I sold it. I was afterwards told that the milk diet was a 
 mistake, and that I should have fed them on raw meat. 
 However, I was very well satisfied on the whole with the 
 result of my adventure. 
 
 I had another in the same part of the country, which 
 at the time was a pretty good test of the state of my 
 nerves. 
 
 I was camped out at the village of Purindaha, on the 
 edge of a gloomy sal forest, which was reported to contain 
 numerous leopards. The villagers were a mixed lot of low- 
 caste Hindoos, and Nepaulese settlers. They had been 
 fighting with the factory, and would not pay up their rents, 
 and I was trying, with every probability of success, to make 
 an amicable arrangement with them. At all events, I had 
 so far won them round, that they were willing to talk to me. 
 They came to the tent and listened quietly, and except 
 on the subject of rent, we got on in the most friendly 
 manner. 
 
 It was the middle of April. The heat was intense. The
 
 NIGHT ENCOUNTER WITH A LEOPARD. 077 
 
 whole atmosphere had that coppery look which denotes 
 extreme heat, and the air was loaded with fine yellow dust, 
 which the daily west wind bore on its fever-laden wings, to 
 disturb the lungs and tempers of all good Christians. The 
 kanats, or canvas walls of the tent, had all been taken down 
 for coolness, and my camp bed lay in one corner, open all 
 round to the outside air, but only sheltered from the dew. 
 It had been a busy day. I had been going over accounts, 
 and talking to the villagers till I was really hoarse. After a 
 light dinner I lay down on my bed, but it was too close and 
 hot to sleep. By-aiid-bye the various sounds died out. The 
 tom-toming ceased in the village. My servants suspended 
 their low muttered gossip round the cook's fire, wrapped 
 themselves in their white cloths, and dropped into slumber. 
 "Toby," "Xettle," "Whisky," "Pincher," and my other 
 terriers, resembled so many curled-up hairy balls, and were 
 in the land of dreams. Occasionally an owl would give a 
 melancholy hoot from the forest, or a screech owl would 
 raise a momentary and damnable din. At intervals, the 
 tinkle of a cow-bell sounded faintly in the distance. I 
 tossed restlessly, thinking of various things, till I must have 
 dropped off into an uneasy fitful sleep. I know not how 
 long I had been dozing, but of a sudden I felt myself wide 
 awake, though with my eyes yet firmly closed. 
 
 I was conscious of some terrible unknown impending 
 danger. I had experienced the same feeling before on 
 waking from a nightmare, but I knew that the danger 
 now was real. I felt a shrinking horror, a terrible and 
 nameless fear, and for the life of me I could not move 
 hand or foot, I was lying on my side, and could distinctly 
 hear the thumping of my heart. A cold sweat broke out 
 behind my ears and over my neck and chest. I could 
 analyse my every feeling, and I knew there was some 
 PRESENCE in the tent, and that I was in instant and 
 imminent peril. Suddenly in the distance a pariah dog
 
 678 SPOUT AND WOEK ON THE NEPAUL FE ON TIES. 
 
 gave a prolonged melancholy howl. As if this had broken 
 the spell which had hitherto bound me, I opened my eyes, 
 and within ten inches of my face, there was a handsome 
 leopardess gazing steadily at me. Our eyes met, and how 
 long we confronted each other I know not. It must have 
 been some minutes. Her eyes contracted and expanded, 
 the pupil elongated and then opened out into a round 
 lustrous globe. I could see the lithe tail oscillating at its 
 extreme tip, with a gentle waving motion, like that of a 
 cat when hunting birds in the garden. I seemed to possess 
 no will. I believe I was under a species of fascination, but 
 we continued our steady stare at each other. 
 
 Just then, there was a movement by some of the horses. 
 The leopard slowly turned her head, and I grasped the 
 revolver which lay under my pillow. The beautiful spotted 
 monster turned her head for an instant, and showed her 
 teeth, and then with one bound went through the open side 
 of the tent. I fired two shots, which were answered with 
 a roar. The din that followed would have frightened the 
 devil. It was a beautiful clear night, with a moon at the 
 full, and everything showed as plainly as at noonday. The 
 servants uttered exclamations of terror. The terriers went 
 into an agony of yelps and barks. The horses snorted, and 
 tried to get loose, and my chowkeydar, who had been asleep 
 on his watch, thinking a band of dacoits were on us, began 
 laying round him with his staff, shouting, Chor, chor ! lagga, 
 lagga, lagga ! that is, " thief, thief ! lay on, lay on, lay 
 on!" 
 
 The leopard was hit, and evidently in a terrible temper. 
 She halted not thirty paces from the tent, beside a jhamun 
 tree, and seemed undecided whether to go on or return and 
 wreak her vengeance on me. That moment decided her 
 fate. I snatched down my Express rifle, which was hanging 
 in two loops above my bed, and shot her right through the 
 heart.
 
 TEE HAUNTS OF THE TIGER. 679 
 
 I never understood how she could have made her way 
 past dogs, servants, horses, and watchman, right into the 
 tent, without raising some alarm. It must have been more 
 from curiosity than any hostile design. I know that my 
 nerves were very rudely shaken, but I became the hero of 
 the Purindaha villagers. I believe that my night adventure 
 with the leopardess did more to bring them round to a 
 settlement than all my eloquence and figures. 
 
 The river Koosee, on the banks of which, and in the 
 long grass plains adjacent, most of the incidents I have 
 recorded took place, takes its rise at the base of Mount 
 Everest, and, after draining nearly the whole of Eastern 
 Nepaul, emerges by a deep gorge from the hills at the 
 north-west corner of Purneah. The stream runs with 
 extreme velocity. It is known as a snow stream. The 
 water is always cold, and generally of a milky colour, 
 containing much fine white sand. No sooner does it leave 
 its rocky bed than it tears through the flat country by 
 numerous channels. It is subject to very sudden rises. 
 A premonitory warning of these is generally given. The 
 water becomes of a turbid, almost blood-like colour. Some- 
 times I have seen the river rise over thirty feet ill twenty- 
 four hours. The melting of the snow often makes a raging 
 torrent, level from bank to bank, where only a few hours 
 before a horse could have forded the stream without wetting 
 the girths of the saddle. 
 
 In 1876 the largest channel was a swift broad : 
 called the Dhaus. The river is very capricious, seldom 
 flowing for any length of time in one channel. This i 
 owing in great measure to the amount of silt it came 
 with it from the hills, in its impetuous progress to the 
 
 plains. 
 
 In these dry watercourses, among the sand rid 
 the humid marshy hollows, and among the thick strips 
 grass jungle, tigers are always to be found. They are much
 
 680 SPORT AND WORK ON TEE NEPAUL FRONTIER. 
 
 less numerous uow, however, than formerly. As a rule, 
 there is no shelter in these water- worn, flood-ravaged tracts 
 and sultry jungles. Occasionally a few straggling plantain 
 trees, a clump of sickly-looking bamboos, a cluster of tall 
 shadowless palms, marks the site of a deserted village. All 
 else is waving grass, withered and dry. The villages, in- 
 habited mostly by a few cowherds, boatmen, and rice-farmers, 
 are scattered at wide intervals. In the shooting season, 
 and when the hot winds are blowing, the only shadow on 
 the plain is that cast by the dense volumes of lurid smoke, 
 rising in blinding clouds from the jungle fires. 
 
 According to the season, animal life fluctuates strangely. 
 During the rains, when the river is in full flood, and much 
 of the country submerged, most of the animals migrate to 
 the North, buffaloes and w r ild pig alone keeping possession 
 of the higher ridges in the neighbourhood of their usual 
 haunts. 
 
 The contrasts presented on these plains at different 
 seasons of the year are most remarkable. In March and 
 April they are parched up, brown, and dead ; great black 
 patches showing the track of a destroying fire, the fine 
 brown ash from the burnt grass penetrating the eyes and 
 nostrils, and sweeping along in eddying and blinding clouds. 
 They then look the very picture of an untenable waste, a 
 sea of desolation, whose limits blend in the extreme distance 
 with the shimmering coppery horizon. In the rainy season 
 these arid-looking wastes are covered with tall-plumed, 
 reed-like, waving grass, varying from two to ten feet in 
 height, stretching in an unbroken sweep as far as the eye 
 can reach, except where an abrupt line shows that the 
 swift river has its treacherous course. After the rains, 
 progress through the jungle is dangerous. Quicksands and 
 beds of tenacious mud impede one at every step. The rich 
 vegetation springs up green and vigorous, with a rapidity 
 only to be seen in the Tropics. But what a glorious hunting
 
 THE KOOSEE DY ARABS. 681 
 
 ground ! What a preserve for Kimrod ! Deer forest, or 
 Leathered moor, can never compete with the old Koosee 
 Dyarahs for abundance of game and thrilling excitement 
 in sport. My genial, happy, loyal comrades too while 
 memory lasts the recollection of your joyous, frank, warm- 
 hearted comradeship shall never fade. 
 
 HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL, 
 BOSTON.
 
 682 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 BOOKS BY THEISAME AUTHOR. 
 
 Sport and Work on the Nepaul Frontier \ 
 
 OR, 
 
 Twelve Tears' Sporting Reminiscences of an Indigo Planter. 
 BY "MAOEI," 
 
 AUTHOR OF "TIBHOOT RHYMES," ETC., ETC. 
 
 MACMILLAN & CO., LONDON, 1878. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 A graphic and unvarnished account of experiences gained during twelve 
 years of a planter's life in North Behar. Animated and even picturesque. 
 Saturday Review. 
 
 Englishmen will read his book both with pleasure and profit. Has 
 the art of communicating information in a very agreeable way exceedingly 
 lively and versatile in the mixed contents of his chapters. Curious, 
 interesting and most valuable. Has gone on the plan of being compre- 
 hensive and exhaustive, and has the happy knack of putting subjects in 
 fresh and agreeable lights. Describes his sport in animated detail, 
 graphically told. The best and most instructive chapters on the habits 
 and pursuit of the tiger that we have ever read. The volume is well 
 worth reading all through. Pall Mall Gazette and Budget. 
 
 By far the best book of its kind we have ever read. . . . He is always 
 bright and interesting, and at times graphically descriptive, the chapters 
 devoted to tiger shooting being notably so. His remarks are pointed and 
 sound, and it would be well for our rule in India if they were carefully 
 attended to. Examiner. 
 
 He wields the pen with equal address and success. His description of 
 the delights of tiger shooting in the Koosee jungles and sal forests, of
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 683 
 
 hunting trips across the Xepaul frontier, or of a grand burst after a 
 "fighting boar," are capitally written fresh, vigorous, and full of the 
 true sportsman's fire. Many of them will hardly be read without a 
 sympathetic thrill of excitement. Such a book deserves to be popular. 
 It is gossipy without being tedious, and informatory without being dull. 
 Scotsman. 
 
 A most enjoyable record. . . . " SPORT AND WORK " gives evidence of 
 being written by a keen sportsman. It abounds with information of 
 every imaginable kind ; and at the present time, when matters are so 
 unsettled in the East, and public attention is so much directed in that 
 quarter, there is no doubt it will be warmly welcomed. Illustrated 
 Sporting and Dramatic News. 
 
 We have plenty of books describing the ways and manners of the army 
 and of the civil service in India, but we know very little about the life of 
 the pushing and thriving gentleman from Europe, who occupies India on 
 his own account and brings his British businesslike activity to bear upon 
 the astonished indolence of the native whose lands he cultivates and whose 
 labour he employs. Here we see a specimen of the energetic ruling race 
 carrying into industry and commerce the qualities by which empires are 
 won and sustained, etc. The features of native life are most vividly 
 presented in these lively pages. London Daily News. 
 
 Will certainly interest all who take it into their hands. An expert with 
 both rifle and pen, his book will well repay perusal by those who have a 
 taste for capitally written stories about sport. We hope " Maori " will 
 soon take pen in hand again to give the world a further instalment of his 
 manifold experiences as a sportsman. Globe. 
 
 " Maori's " former literary efforts have proved him incapable of being dry, 
 and that lucky incapacity is here more strikingly emphasised than ever. 
 He is the keenest of observers, and wields a pen of rare vividness and 
 force. Excellent and manly throughout. Much real information scattered 
 throughout the book in the pleasantest form and the most unpretentious 
 way. Possesses great descriptive power. Dundee Advertiser. 
 
 Exactly what is wanted. The author has succeeded in rendering his 
 book one of more than ordinary interest. Written in a frank and 
 cheery spirit. His sketches are spirited and interesting. His information 
 about all Indian subjects is never without interest Related with great 
 freedom, and full of interest. Glasgow Herald. 
 
 The writer of this pleasant book is well known to sportsmen all 
 Northern India, and his reminiscences of a dozen years' sport and work 
 on the borders of the Nepaul Terai will bo read with interest by all who 
 have before followed his easy style of story-telling. Unconvention.il- 
 dealt with in a spirit of enthusiasm. Trenchantly written, honeat and 
 without bias. Pioneer, India. 
 
 The healthy open-air character of the indigo planters life is rcfk 
 in the style and tone of the writer. Free from any attempt at sen- 
 sationalism, yet sufficiently stirring to be full of interest for ordinary 
 readers. Englishman, Calcutta.
 
 634 OPINIONS OF THE PKESS. 
 
 The " Maori " must be a genuine lover of nature and a true sportsman 
 or he never could have written the descriptions he here gives. The book 
 is studded with gems of description. The chapters on the tiger are the 
 fullest and the best that have yet been published. Intensely interesting, 
 marked by much vigour of expression and a bright sparkling style, the 
 valuable and elaborate details of indigo planting, and management of the 
 people and lands necessary to its production and preparation, are in 
 themselves sufficient to ensure a large circle of readers. It ought to 
 become the book of travel for the season. Oriental Magazine. 
 
 Interesting and instructive. " Maori " is an eager sportsman, and one- 
 half of his book is taken up by a stirring narrative of his adventures in 
 field and jungle. Many of the scenes well deserve reproduction. The 
 writer is the sort of man, honourable, high-souled, fearless and compassion- 
 ate, that England is proud to own, and to whom her success in India and 
 elsewhere is so largely due. Queenslander. 
 
 One of those frank, fresh, breezy books, which by their vividness of 
 presentation and graphic narration have almost the charm of actual 
 experience. Given with an ease and simplicity, and yet a fulness and 
 accuracy of information which render this unpretentious volume more 
 valuable than many professedly instructive works. The reader forgets 
 that he is having his experience at second hand. The book is so inter- 
 esting and picturesque that the scenes to which it relates, themselves 
 appear before him, and he follows with breathless excitement the incidents 
 of dangerous hardihood told with a flow of sporting enthusiasm with 
 which it abounds. A quiet analysis of native life, much wise comment, 
 irresistible verve and freedom of real sport in many of its anecdotes. Its 
 merits are so various as to render its popularity assured, and to reflect the 
 greatest credit upon the intelligence and acumen of the author. 
 Melbourne Age. 
 
 It is only justice to say that his object of giving a full and clear idea of 
 the life of an Anglo-Indian planter is most successfully attained. The 
 author always writes in good spirits, his pages are animated with the moving 
 reflex of his active life, and the life which he so enjoyed he has brought 
 clearly and strongly before his readers. Australasian. 
 
 Agreeable without pretension, and fluent without verbosity gives us 
 the impression of having been written by one of those manly Englishmen 
 whose courageous energy, intelligence, and administrative capacity qualify 
 them alike to become the pioneers of colonisation and to obtain and 
 exercise a commanding and beneficial influence over subject races. A 
 careful and accurate observer, etc., etc. Melbourne Argus. 
 
 One of the most cheery, dashingly written, yet sensible books of the 
 kind that we have had the pleasure of perusing. Positively thrilling 
 recitals of hairbreadth adventures follow each other in rapid succession. 
 The reader is irresistibly led on from chapter to chapter by the manner in 
 which the various scenes and their incidental surroundings are made to 
 appear before him. Newcastle Morning Herald. 
 
 It is seldom we meet with a bcok in which abundance of striking
 
 OPIXIOXS OF THE PRESS. G35 
 
 incident and picturesque reminiscences arc dwelt upon with such vigorous 
 facility of diction comes to one with the interest of a long letter from an 
 old acquaintance in which there is not one uninteresting sentence. 
 Xarrative after narrative, and incident after incident, each instinct with 
 warm picturesque colouring, and breathing of a writer who tells of what 
 he has seen or knows to be true. Might with advantage be added to the 
 library of every one interested iu Indian life and sport. Sydney Morning 
 Herald. 
 
 A more appropriate title for this work could not have l>eon chosen. 
 The volume is truly a description of sport and work. The work relates to 
 indigo planting; the sport to nearly all the wild animals of Nepaul. The 
 writer is a keen and enthusiastic sportsman, and evidently tliinks that 
 most of his readers are of his own way of thinking, and will peruse with 
 interest the accounts which he gives of his adventures. We think he is 
 right in this respect. Scattered throughout the work, like blossoms on the 
 rich green of the forest, are descriptive passages illustrative of the habits of 
 
 birds and animals Contains a mass of information Will be 
 
 interesting to most readers, etc., etc., etc. Town and Country Journal. 
 
 To all lovers of field sports, to all who cm appreciate country life with 
 lots of work and lots of play, " Maori " offers a rare book. The interest 
 from the fiitt page never flags the fascination never abates it is like a 
 first-rate novel right through. Anent pig-sticking, all Australian horse- 
 men must read with admiration and perhaps envy. A book of rare 
 interest, equally suited for country house, library, and drawing-room. We 
 recommend it to our readers with confidence.- Australian M'tgazin*. 
 
 Capital descriptive picture. Varied, readable, interesting, handsomely 
 got up and well illustrated. Would make a capital gift book. Sydney 
 J/atf. 
 
 Of more than passing interest. We know of no book which can be 
 perused with a keener relish. Well merits the success it has achieved in 
 the London book world this season. Illustrated Sydney yews. 
 
 The volume so favourably reviewed by the Press of England, India, and 
 Australia, has already been re-printed in America by Harper Brothers, 
 New York.
 
 686 OPINIONS OF THE PKESS. 
 
 " Our Australian Cousins." 
 
 BY " MAOEI " (THE HONOURABLE JAMES INGLIS), 
 
 AUTHOB OF " TIBHOOT KHYMES," " SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPACL 
 FEONTIEB," ETC., ETC. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PEESS. 
 
 We need hardly say that " Maori's " book, as its name imports, is human 
 all through. The ties of blood and kin are warm in the author. He 
 acknowledges heartily the links which bind us Southerns to the Northern 
 ancestral race, and he depicts our institutions, sports, works, incomings 
 and outgoings, not in the vein of a dandified, cat-witted tourist, but in 
 the hearty spirit of one who has come to live and take his share among us 
 of what is going. Australian Magazine. 
 
 Of the book as a whole it gives us pleasure to speak in terms of warm 
 appreciation. The author is demonstrably a diligent and keen observer. 
 .... It. may be read as quickly as a novel ; and, indeed, it is more 
 interesting than are many novels. This brings us to what we deem to be 
 Mr. Inglis's special gifts, namely, remarkably vivid and racy descriptive 
 and narrative powers. He has a capital vocabulary, and a bright, frank, 
 cheery, racy, graphic style which evidently carried him along easily and 
 pleasantly in the writing, and has equally carried us along in the reading. 
 Sydney Mail. 
 
 His descriptions are outlined with broad effective touches, and his 
 narrative rushes along with impetuous vivacity. " Our Australian 
 Cousins" is an eminently readable book, and its stratified construction, in 
 which alternations of light and of solid matters are presented, will in all 
 likelihood assure for it a wider circle of readers than would have been 
 reached had it been either exclusively trifling or strictly didactic. Pacific 
 Weekly. 
 
 Altogether this is one of the best books of Australian travel that have 
 appeared in recent times. London Daily News. 
 
 " Our Australian Cousins " is a pleasant and an entertaining book, and 
 we shall be glad to find that it has a wide circulation. Sydney Morning 
 Herald.
 
 OPINIONS OF TTIE PKESfi. 687 
 
 The book will be found highly interesting, valuable, and entertaining. 
 Even the faults do not seem out of place in an account of a young, 
 vigorous, and expanding nation, proudly conscious of its abounding energy 
 and vitality, and not indisposed to " bounce " regarding its wonderful 
 progress and industrial achievements. The Scotsman. 
 
 Its trenchant observations on colonial public life, public men, and public 
 measures, are consequently of recent, and, therefore, more weighty, forma- 
 tion. Natural history is a strong element in the useful character of this 
 book, although its main interest is the honest criticism of Australian 
 society. London Daily Telegraph. 
 
 We heartily recommend Mr. Inglis's book ; among other things, he is a 
 keen sportsman, and his description of a Kangaroo battue will delight 
 those who love a well-told tale of slaughter. The Graphic. 
 
 The style is always light, cheerful, and agreeable. The writer has 
 great descriptive powers, and he has chosen topics and themes to write 
 upon which are full of interest when they are ably handled. Any reading 
 man could sit out a couple of hundred pages of his book without feeling 
 
 any sense of weariness It contains a large amount of valuable 
 
 information, and it is interesting, exciting, and pleasant to read. Sydney 
 Daily Telegraph. 
 
 We can thoroughly recommend Mr. Inglis's work, and we feel sure that 
 he has rendered a service to the public by treating his important subject 
 in a lucid, interesting, and practical manner. Liverpool Daily Post. 
 
 We have thoroughly enjoyed the perusal of " Our Australian Cousins," 
 and warmly congratulate Mr. 'Inglis on his successful production. His 
 style is plain and to the point, and the information contained is both 
 interesting and amusing. European Mail. 
 
 Mr. Inglis possesses one singular merit, not often to be found in writers 
 upon Australia ; he has the courage to expose abuses ami to denounce 
 their authors, as well as to praise the climate and to extol the riches and 
 capabilities of the country. ... He indulges in warmer hopes of its 
 future than most authors, and describes its scenery and rural sports in the 
 bright, fresh style which characterised his former volume, " Sport and 
 Work on the Xepaul Frontier." The Athenxum. 
 
 It is the characteristic and recommendation of the work that it fulfils 
 the promise of the preface. It is naturally and frankly written, with ft 
 good deal of the ease and unreserve of private correspondence, and i 
 author is exceedingly outspoken with respect to the flaws in the political 
 and social life and institutions of these communities. ... It is written 
 in a lively and entertaining style, and it contains a fund of information 
 respecting these colonies, besides offering some valuable suggestions I 
 the introduction of novel industries. Tlie Argus, Melbourne. 
 
 Besides describing the legal, commercial, and legislative aspect: 
 Australia Mr. Inglis depicts with a skilful hand some curious adventni 
 
 he met with in the social world In his broad survey of the col 
 
 he has not omitted to describe Australian forest and coast scenery, 
 together with many of the interesting dcni/.cns u f plain and river 
 
 '2 Y
 
 688 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 sketches of his shooting expeditions are vivid, picturesque, and useful 
 from a strictly scientific point of view. The London Standard. 
 
 Mr. Inglis has written a very pleasant and a very valuable book, not for 
 colonists only, but for those at home who wish to know what our colonies 
 are like. . . . The portions of his book that will most please the general 
 reader are those devoted to descriptions of the scenery, animal life, and 
 sports of the colonies. We have seldom read fresher, healthier de- 
 scriptions. . . . The scraps of natural history, too, are all exceedingly 
 interesting, as well as some of the tales about animal sagacity. . . . The 
 book is full of matter that will delight the sportsman and naturalist, and 
 about which there can be no doubt of any kind. The Spectator. 
 
 He (Mr. Inglis) has been a busy traveller ; he has a passion for the sports 
 of the field and the stream ; he has seen something of the world ; and he 
 has the habit of close and accurate observation. These are valuable 
 qualifications for the task he has undertaken, which is to answer the 
 common inquiries, what the country and people are like, and what are 
 the temptations Australia offers to the immigrant. Although his personal 
 experience refers only to the older settlements of the west coast, in the 
 colonies of Queensland and New South Wales, he has accomplished his 
 purpose in a highly satisfactory manner, presenting a great amount of 
 practical information in clear and sensible language. He modestly dis- 
 claims literary accomplishments; but his style has the merit of being 
 simple, and well adapted to his subject, so that his book is not only a 
 useful but a very entertaining one. New York Daily Tribune.
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PHKSS. 689 
 
 "Our New Zealand Cousins." 
 
 BY "MAORI" (THE HOXOUKABLE JAMES IXGLIS), 
 
 AUTHOR OF "TIKHOOT RHYMES," " SPORT AND WORK ON TUB NEl'AtU. 
 FROSTIER," " OUU AUSTRALIAN COUSINS," ETC., ETC. 
 
 SAMPSON LOW & CO., LONDON, 1887. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 This volume comprises a series of letters contributed by the Author, 
 who is the Minister of Public Instruction of New South Wales, t<> a 
 Sydney paper. The writer's observations of the condition of the Colony 
 and its inhabitants are fresh and suggestive. London Daily News. 
 
 The Minister of Instruction of New South Wales, as his previous books 
 on Nepaul and Australia bear witness, is a past master in the art of 
 writing genial, lively, gossipy notices of men and manners in the countries 
 where he has sojourned. "Our New Zealand Cousins" is certain, there- 
 fore, of a hearty reception in the Antipodes and at home. The Scotsman. 
 
 "Our New Zealand Cousins'' is an interesting account of the New 
 Zealand group of islands by a man who has visited them thoroughly at 
 various times during the last twenty years. Saturday Jieviem. 
 
 This work is one of the most interesting and should prove one of the 
 most useful volumes that has been published respecting New Zealand. 
 The writer has evidently travelled much, observed much, experienced 
 much, thought much, written much. His style is easy and free, his 
 descriptions of scenery are graphic and strikingly tme. . . . The little 
 work, in addition to being most entertaining reading, is one of great 
 utility and instruction. Auckland Eveniny Star. 
 
 The publication of his book must be of benefit to these Colonies. Nrw 
 Zealand Herald and Daily Southern Cross. 
 
 The Author of this book is well known to Australian readers as a fluent 
 speaker and racy writer, who adds to a keen jwrception of what nature 
 has done for these Colonies, an intelligent judgment of all that th
 
 690 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 Colonists have done for themselves, and enterprising and liberal views as 
 to a great deal more that should now be undertaken. Sydney Morning 
 Herald. 
 
 Mr. Inglis's criticisms upon the various phases of colonization in New 
 Zealand are characterised by considerable keenness of observation and by a 
 truly British sympathy with the energetic and intelligent development of 
 a young country's resources. Sydney Daily Telegraph. 
 
 "Our New Zealand Cousins." Under this heading, Sampson Low, 
 Marston, Searle & Rivington have reprinted in book form a series of very 
 attractive papers on New Zealand by "Maori." .... The papers, which 
 only profess to be a description of a revisit to New Zealand, are in reality 
 much more. They are full of shrewd and pleasant observation withal, 
 and their literary style is admirable. Indeed, in places, Mr. Inglis rises 
 into graphic and beautiful word painting that many a more pretentious 
 author has failed in attaining. The book . . . gives clear notions on the 
 condition of our sister-colony, the settlement of its people, the development 
 of its resources, and all that pertains to its growth and progress as a 
 country. Sydney Evening News. 
 
 As a work of history the book will no doubt be a valuable acquisition 
 to a library. Sydney Evening News. 
 
 Anything coming from the pen of " Maori " is sure to command respect. 
 . . . Our author is both pertinent and practical as well, and does not 
 hesitate to lay his hand on honest truths which needed laying bare. 
 Sydney Quarterly Magazine. 
 
 9 
 
 LONDON : I'KINTKD BY WM. CLOWKS AND SONS, LIMITED. 
 
 f.l AMKiKP M Kl I r AM. i-IIAUV, CltOSS.
 
 V