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diff --git a/10818.txt b/10818.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b8d9e91 --- /dev/null +++ b/10818.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10831 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Sport and Work on the Nepaul Frontier, by James Inglis + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Sport and Work on the Nepaul Frontier + Twelve Years Sporting Reminiscences of an Indigo Planter + +Author: James Inglis + +Release Date: January 24, 2004 [EBook #10818] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN NEPAUL *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + +[Illustration: _Frontispiece_. TIGER HUNTING. RETURN TO THE CAMP.] + + +SPORT AND WORK + +ON THE + +NEPAUL FRONTIER + + +OR + + +TWELVE YEARS SPORTING REMINISCENCES + +OF AN INDIGO PLANTER + + +By "MAORI" + + +1878 + + + + +[Note: Some words in this book have a macron over a vowel. A macron +is a punctuation mark ( - ) and is represented herein as [=a], [=e] +or [=o].] + + +PREFACE. + +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 enlist the attention and +interest of my readers, in my reminiscences 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. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. + +Province of Behar.--Boundaries.--General description.--District of +Chumparun.--Mooteeharree.--The town and lake.--Native houses.--The +Planters' Club.--Legoulie. + +CHAPTER II. + +My first charge.--How we get our lands.--Our home farm.--System of +farming.--Collection of rents.--The planter's duties. + +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. + +CHAPTER IV. + +Manufacture of Indigo.--Loading the vats.--Beating.--Boiling, straining, +and pressing.--Scene in the Factory.--Fluctuation of produce.--Chemistry +of Indigo. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +CHAPTER X. + +Kuderent 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! + +CHAPTER XI. + +The sal forests.--The jungle goddess.--The trees in the jungle. +--Appearance of the forests.--Birds.--Varieties of parrots.--A 'beat' +in the forest.--The 'shekarry.'--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. + +CHAPTER XII. + +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 Purrul,' or +annual festival of huntsmen.--The Hindoo ryot.--Rice-planting and +harvest.--Poverty of the ryot.--His apathy.--Village fires.--Want of +sanitation. + +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. + +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.--Corruption of native officials.--The +Hindoo unfit for self-government. + +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. + +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 Dangurs.--Jugglers +and itinerary showmen.--'Bara Roopes,' or actors and mimics.--Their +different styles of acting. + +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 Capt[=a]n.'--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.--Has claims to consideration from government. + +CHAPTER 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. + +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 description. +--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 cubs to kill. +--Education and progress of the young tiger.--Wariness and cunning +of the tiger.--Hunting incidents shewing their powers of concealment. +--Tigers taking to water.--Examples.--Swimming powers.--Caught by +floods.--Story of the Soonderbund tigers. + +CHAPTER 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. + +CHAPTER 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. + +CHAPTER XXII. + +We start for a tiger hunt on the Nepaul frontier.--Indian scenery near +the border.--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.--Reach camp.--The Nepaulee's adventure with a +tiger.--The old Major.--His appearance and manners.--The pompous +Jemadar.--Nepaulese 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. + +CHAPTER 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. + +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 labialis_ or long-lipped bear.--Recross the stream.--Florican. +--Stag running the gauntlet of flame.--Our 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.--Nathpore.--Ravages of the +river.--Mrs. Gray, an old resident in the jungles.--Description of +her surroundings. + +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. + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +Remarks on guns.--How to cure skins.--Different Recipes.--Conclusion. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + +Tiger Hunting--Return to the Camp +Coolie's Hut +Indigo Beating Vats +Indigo Beaters at work in the Vat +Indian Factory Peon +Indigo Planter's House +Pig Stickers +Carpenters and Blacksmiths at work +Hindoo Village Temples + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +Province of Behar.--Boundaries.--General description.--District of +Chumparun.--Mooteeharree.--The town and lake.--Native houses.--The +Planters' Club.--Legoulie. + +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 Gunduch, Bogmuttee and other noble streams +watering its rich bosom, and swelling with their tribute the stately +Ganges, it includes 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 Goruchpore 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, and 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 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 shew 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, Chumparun, 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 appointment as assistant on one +of the large indigo concerns there, 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 +apparently by chance, and presenting the most incongruous appearance +that could possibly be conceived. One or two _pucca_ houses, that is, +houses of brick and masonry, shewed 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 were 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 _rahur_[1] stalks encloses the two unprotected +sides, thus forming inside a small court, quadrangle, or square. This +court is the native's _sanctum sanctorum_. It is kept scrupulously +clean, being swept and garnished religiously 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 repository 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 toe +nails. Here, too, the matron, or 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 dung 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 confined; its high walls tipped 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, 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 Legoulie. 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 Rettiah, 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 canvass, and had friends from far and near to share our +hospitality. In a future chapter I must describe our racing meet. + + +[1] 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_. + + + + +CHAPTER 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 water in plenty contiguous 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 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 +farming 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 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 sown 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 shew 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 plantain 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 _bona fide_ possessor of the land to all intents and purposes. + +If the average rent of the village lands was, let me say, 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 individually, 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 department of indigo work is called Zemindaree. +Having, then, got the village in lease, you summon in all your tenants; +shew 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, 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 +_Beegah_. 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 delivered; 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, however, 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 estimate 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 _Tuccaree_. + +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 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. + + + + +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. + +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 Nagpoor, 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 dale 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 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, 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 comes the _hengha_, 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 each eighty or a hundred +acres a man is attached called a _Tokedar_. 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 +_chowkeydar_, 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 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 importance 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. + +The only Jemadar I felt I could thoroughly trust, was my first one at +Parewah, an old Rajpoot, called Kassee Rai. 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, Churnars, 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 _hengha_, 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, 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 paytime 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 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 forthwith 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 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 in many cases for +tasks forced on him by the leading ryots of the village in connection +with their own fields. + +[Illustration: COOLIE'S HUT.] + +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 coolies, till not a weed or spot of dirt +remains; and till the whole surface is uniformly soft, friable, moist, +and clean. We have now some breathing time; and as this is the most +enjoyable 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 cultivation +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. + +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 southerly; 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 +'Ihirka,' 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 comes 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, 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 _Bedaheunee_. 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 +important 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. + +[Illustration: INDIGO BEATING VATS.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Manufacture of Indigo.--Loading the vats.--Beating.--Boiling, +straining, and pressing.--Scene in the Factory.--Fluctuation of +produce.--Chemistry of Indigo. + +Indigo is manufactured solely from the leaf. When arrangements 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, which 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--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 appearance, 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 temperature of the +vat lowers somewhat, and the water, which 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 one 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 time-keeper, 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 _furrovahs_ or beating rods, and the yells and cries with which +they excite each other, the noise is almost deafening. The 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 _furrovahs_ +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. + +[Illustration: INDIGO BEATERS AT WORK IN THE VATS.] + +During the beating, two processes are going on simultaneously. 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, and +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 _mall_ 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 removeable 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 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 _mahye_ 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 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 boilermen 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 guttural '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 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. +Reports 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 _mahye_ 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 shelves filling day by day with fine sound +cakes, the representatives of wealth, 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 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 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 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 constitution of the plant, and in the various processes of its +manufacture[1]. + +[1] 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 during the last season, + 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 for + 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. + +[Illustration: INDIAN FACTORY PEON.] + +[Illustration: INDIGO PLANTER'S HOUSE.] + + + + +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. + +After 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 +bead-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 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 watercourses; long ere the hot, fiery sun has left his crimson bed +behind the cold grey horizon, we are out 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. +Round 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 morning nap, bounds out with +a demoniac howl, which is caught up and echoed by all the curs in the +village. + +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 unfortunate +cat mingle 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 combatants, 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 +_Belaitee Kookoor_, 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 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 him. +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 his 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 incarnate. 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 him, 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, overturning 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 would not 'come to the scratch.' 'Pincher's' +ears were perfect shreds, and his scars were as numerous almost as his +hairs. My gallant 'Pincher!' His was a sad end. He got eaten up by an +alligator in the 'Dhans,' 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 on the bank, and 'Pincher' 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 +Rampore 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 Rampore-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 Rhamporee, 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 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!' 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 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 time 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 shewing 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 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 fire, +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 lonely life. + + + + +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. + +Not 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 +_poteeahs_, which one sees darting in and out among the rice stubbles +in every paddy field during the rains. Here a huge _bhowarree_ (pike), +or ravenous _coira_, comes to the surface with a splash; there a +_raho_, 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 _pachgutchea_, 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 among the rice stalks. Every ditch teems with +fish, and every hollow in every field is a well stocked aquarium. + +Round the edge of every lake or tank in the early morning, 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 _barnee_ (eel), and others, make no effort to escape the +hook. You see them resting at the bottom, and drop the bait at their +very nose. On the whole, the hand fishing is uninteresting, but it +serves to wile 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 blacksmith 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 Behar _par excellence_ are the _mull[=a]hs_; they are also called +_Gouhree, Beeu_, or _Muchooah_. In Bengal they are called _Nikaree_, +and in some parts _Baeharee_, from the Persian word for a boat. In the +same way _muchooah_ 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 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 freshwater 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 slightest 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 beating +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 nearest +_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 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 V-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, 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 _mullahs_. 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 fisherman's +thumb. When the jerking of his thumb announces a captive fish, he puts +down his left hand and secures his victim. The _Banturs_, _Nepaulees_, +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, 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 Sirres_ 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, notwithstanding 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 _Kunthees_ or _Boghuts_, but a _Boghut_ is more of an +ascetic than a _Kunthee_. 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 +_Bunneah_ (grain seller) or village banker, who sub-lets 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 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 _mahseer_--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 _nakar_ 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 noiselessly 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. 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 themselves to a fish diet, +and are glad of any refuse or dead animal that may float their way. But +with the _mugger_, the _boach_, 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 +Ryseree. 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 woman 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 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 showing off the crimson +beauty of the open flower. At the north corner some wild rose bushes +dropped over the water, casting a dense matted shade. Here was the +haunt of the _mugger_. He had excavated a huge 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 _manu_, 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 waterpot 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 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 invisible. 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 _chumars_ 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 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 +formidable 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 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 +excitement. + +The grooms and grass-cutters howl and dance. Willie and I dig each +other in the ribs, 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 +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. + + + + +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 witch-finders 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 date 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 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 been also 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. Next I got my old _moonshee_, +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. + +'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 reasonable 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 _bael_[1] 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."' + +It had the desired effect. No sooner was my 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 +witch-finder, in this case a fat, greasy, oleaginous knave, was sent +for. Full of importance and blowing like a porpoise, he came 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, +unceasingly making strange passes with his arms. He put down a number +of articles on his cloth--which was villainously 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 attended by some dozen old women, and the anxious father, +was borne off 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 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 +round 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[2]. + +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 _chowl chipao_, and is rarely +unsuccessful. I have known several cases in my own experience in which +a thief has been thus discovered. + +The _bhoots_, or ghosts, are popularly supposed to have 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 witchfinder, 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 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 plaster 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 _Bunneah_ 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, inattention, and brutal cruelty. + +In some parts of India, cattle poisoning for the sake of 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 +[3]. + +Highly as the pious Hindoo venerates the sacred bull of Shira, 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, kites, and vultures. The higher classes and +well-to-do farmers show much consideration for high-priced +well-conditioned 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. + + +[1] The _bael_ 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. + +[2] Deaths from actual snake bite are sadly numerous; but it appears + from returns furnished to the Indian Government that Europeans + enjoy a very happy exemption. During the last forty years it would + seem that only two Europeans have been killed by 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 walls and the edge of the + mats. Have this washed over about once a week with a strong + 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. + +[3] Somewhat analogous to this is the custom which used to be a + common one in some parts of Behar. _Koombars_ and _Grannes_, 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 grannes 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. + + + + +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. + +Our annual Race 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 Christmas. 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 every one determined to enjoy himself, the meet +is one of the pleasantest of reunions. There are always several races +specially got up for assistants' horses, and long before, the +youngsters are up in the early morning, giving their 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 meats, hampers of beer and +wine, and goodly supplies of all sorts are sent into the station to the +various camps. Tents of 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 respective 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 +Planter's 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 "Mars'" 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 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[1]. + +'Giblets,' 'Diamond Digger,' 'Mangelwurzel,' 'Goggle-eyed Plover,' +'Gossein' or holy man, 'Blind Bartimeus,' 'Old Boots,' 'Polly,' +'Bottle-nosed Whale,' 'Fin MacCoul,' '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 '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 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, 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. _Ekkas_--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 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. 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 +_roping_ 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, following 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 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 +undaunted 'Roley,' 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 long lines +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 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 everyone alive, +till the time arrives for a return to our respective factories, and +another year's hard work. + + +[1] 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. + + + + +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. + +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 +shews 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-inch 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 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 cowherds on the Koosee _derahs_, 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 _khubber_, +i.e. news, information. The _Batanea_, or proprietor of the +establishment, is well posted up. Every herdsman as he comes in at +night tells what animals he has seen through the day, and thus at the +_batan_ 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 or 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 until 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 bounds off, the shaft comes 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 _lathee_. 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 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 Chumparun 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 _zillah_ 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 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 bye-and-bye +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 Maharjnugger, 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 shewn 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 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 Gunduch 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. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Kuderent 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 Kuderent, 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, 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 combinations 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 +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 _me_, and scarce giving my horse time to recover his stride +after the jump, he came rushing 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 +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 accidents are not so common as might be +imagined. It is no joke however when a riderless horse comes ranging up +alongside of you as you are sailing along, intent on war; 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 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 wrath. + +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 excitement culminates as you feel your keen +steel go straight through muscle, bone, and sinew, and you know that +another 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 imagination nations 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 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 were 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 MORN.' + + 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.' + + How proudly you bore me at bright break of day, + How gallantly 'led,' when the boar broke away! + But no more, alas! thou the hunt shall 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; + Rub 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'; + Off, 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-- + Right fit for a charger was staunch 'Bonnie Morn.' + + And then on 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'll 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 LUNGRA,' which means the cripple, because it had been +wounded in 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, sending them flying from the jungle most ignominiously. 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, it turned the +weapon 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. Rider 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 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. + +[Illustration: PIG-STICKERS.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +The sal forests.--The jungle goddess.--The trees in the jungle. +--Appearance of the forests.--Birds.--Varieties of parrots.--A 'beat' +in the forest.--The 'shekarry.'--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. + +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 wildfowl, 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 +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 _Chumpa buttee_, 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 _sunpul_ (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 _sissod_, 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 _kormbhe_, 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 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 _mhowa_, with its lovely white blossoms, from which a strong +spirit is distilled, and on which the deer, pigs, and wild bear love to +feast. The peculiar sickly smell of the _mhowa_ 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 +stupified 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 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 full 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 peafowl, 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 _koel_, 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 honey-sucker, as delicately formed as the petal of a fairy +flower, flits noiselessly about from blossom to blossom. The natives +call it the 'Muddpenah' or drinker of honey. There are innumerable +butterflies 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, 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 _ghur[=a]l_, +a large red and green parrot, with a crimson beak. The _tota_ 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 gh[=e]t_, 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, 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 _dokahur_ 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 _Shekarry_, 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 bloodhound, +and can tell the signs and almost impalpable evidences 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 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 barrel, +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 _kunthee_, 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, 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. Unchastity 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 +tattooed 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 confining 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 _kookree_. 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 wonderfully dexterous with the _kookree_, 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 +admiration 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 jans deydea oos wukt,' +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 _soor_ (_Anglice_, pig) to hell.' 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, 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 _dhall_, a third with goat's-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 we 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 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 +themselves 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 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 long line of nets, +with their concealed 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, systematically 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 eye 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 outstretched hand, I descried a splendid buck within thirty yards +of me, his 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, +shewed 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 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 on 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 _Jheela_, 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 3-1/2 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 the +jungle in the early morn, as I have described. The peachicks, about +seven or eight months old, are deliciously tender and well flavoured. +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 _m[=o]r_, 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 HURIN, but the Nepaulese +call it CHEETER. The male spotted deer they call KUBRA, 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, his +beautifully spotted skin flashing through the dark green foliage, his +antlers laid back over his withers, he looks the very embodiment 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 put over a bush, +will not unfrequently entice them within range. + +Old shekarries 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 shekarries 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 sign 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 _was_ '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 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. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +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 Purrul,' 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 +appearance and habits are well known; he generally selects for his +lair, a retired spot surrounded by dense jungle. The one we were after +now 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, and the soil is arid and +unpromising. The matted intertwining 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 approaching, 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, with a companion 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 wood alone remained, standing up hard and sharp +like so many spikes of steel; and knowing that the leopard was already +badly wounded, and in all probability struggling for his life, he +managed to drag the struggling 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 +has passed 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 _lathee_. Between them they +succeeded in killing the wounded animal, but not before it had left its +marks on a very sensitive portion of his frame. The moral 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 _mychan_ 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 +incidents 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 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 +vive_. Waiting for an instant, till I could get my aim clear of some +intervening trees, I at length got 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 bye 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 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 shooting 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 _Sirwah 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 appointed 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 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. Round 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 +on parched peas or rice, and carrying 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 quagmire--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 _s[=a]tee_, or sixty-days rice, can be grown on comparatively +high land, and ripen early. If rain be scanty, the _s[=a]tee_ and other +rice crops have to be weeded. It is cut with a jagged-edged sort of +reaping-hook called a _hussooa_. 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 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 population, 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 at night, so +here, the _kureehan_ or threshing-floor each has its watchman at night. +For the protection of the growing crops, the villagers club together, +and appoint a watchman or _chowkeydar_, 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 +to be given to the weigh-man 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 all, 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 business 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, petted, and easily roused. In a quarrel, however, they +generally confine themselves to vituperation 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 _peepul_ 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 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, cowdung 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 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 water-holes, 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. + + + + +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. + +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 _bhyre_; 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 of the houses, and these are +then plastered outside and in with clay and cowdung. The tall hedge +of dense grass keeps 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 +_kutcha_, 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 a _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 _Moosahms, Doosadhs_, or _Gwallahs_. + +The _Dornes_, or scavengers, feeders on offal, have to live apart in a +_tolah_, which might be called a small suburb, by themselves. The +_Dornes_ drag from the village any animal that happens to die. They +generally pursue the handicraft of basket making, or mat making, and +the _Dorne tolah_ can always be known by the pigs and fowls prowling +about in search of food, and the _Dorne_ and his family splitting up +bamboo, and weaving mats and baskets at the doors of their miserable +habitation. To the higher castes both pigs arid fowls are unclean and +an abomination. _Moosahms, Doosadhs_, and other poor castes, such as +_Dangurs_, keep however an army 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 _tolah_ or suburb, called the _Kusbee +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 _dhobee_, 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, the Rajpoot 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 them +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 _bhur, 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 cold and chill, as they claim that it +does, though it is not fragrant. Round 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 intoning, 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 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 anything 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 expression. 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, overladen 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 +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 'nobbler,' 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. + +Generally, about the centre of it, there is a more pretentious +structure, with verandahs supported on wooden pillars. High walls +surround a rather commodious courtyard. 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 matchlock-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. + +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. _Putwarries_ belong to the writer or _Kayasth_ 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 _putwarrie's_ 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 highest category of villains. A +popular proverb, much used in Behar, says:-- + + 'Unda poortee, Cowa maro! + Iinnum me, billar: + Bara burris me, Kayashh marige!! + Humesha mara gwar!!' + +This is translated thus: 'When the shell is breaking kill the crow, and +the wild cat at its birth.' A _Kayasth_, 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. The _lohar_ sits in the open air. His +hammers and other implements of trade are very primitive. Like all +native handicraftsmen 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 +_hussowahs_, 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 _mistrees_, 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 ironwork 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 _luna 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. + +[Illustration: CARPENTERS AND BLACKSMITHS AT WORK] + +As I have said, every village is a self-contained little commune. 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 neighbour'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 intelligence, +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 unfrequently 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 complicated 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 +innumerable 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 Hindoos. '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 conservation 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, merchants, and men of probity, which would +in a measure supplement the _punchayiet_ 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. + +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 'Adanlut lea mafich,' that is, 'Like a court of justice.' +Could there be a stronger commentary on our judicial institutions? + +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 dissemination 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 in 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 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 Hindustan half, +quarter, nay, one tithe as well as Englishmen. 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. + + + + +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.--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 _chowkeydars_ +of the neighbouring 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 _chowkeydar_ is generally a ragged, swarthy +fellow with long matted hair, a huge iron-bound staff, and always a +blue _puggra_. The blue is his official badge. 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 use, and in thousands of cases, it +has become so fixed in the scabbard that it cannot be drawn. + +[Illustration: HINDOO VILLAGE TEMPLES.] + +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, overlooking 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 +_dhote_ 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 +unfrequently a pale golden olive, 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 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 +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 greel admi,' 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 greel admi.' It is said almost instinctively, and no doubt in +many cases is the refuge of simple disinclination 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 'greel 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 'greel,' poor, +humble, despised, it is only by 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, unvarnished 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, unlovely lives, and experience no 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 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 of 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 '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 _thanna_ 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 appearance. 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 is '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 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 demands 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 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 would be too much +for any man in about a week. The subordinate police are all interested +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 combination 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 wellbeing 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 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 business, 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 +disrespect. 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 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 superintendent, or to the authorities, might get them into +trouble, 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 +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 shews 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; to +give up a settled government; to alter a policy that has welded the +conflicting elements of Hindustan 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 themselves; 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, stable +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. + + + + +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. + +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 _Gorkah_ 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 _Bunchooree_. 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-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 +movements 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 _al fresco_ 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. + +Round 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 +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 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 dry 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, by 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 _lobarkhanna_ 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 anyone went into the place for the first time; this was at a +factory called Rajpore. Pat came to the conclusion, that as the +blacksmith's fires smouldered some time 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 lobarkhanna, 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 encounter 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 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 in some shady grove, secluded and cool; here of an +evening when the labours of the day are over, the most stalwart sons +of the hamlet meet, to test each others skill and endurance in a +friendly _shake_. 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 ground is dug knee deep, and +forms a soft, good holding stand. 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 backward and forward +movement, so as to develop the muscles of the arms, chest, and back. +They practice 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 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 _kummerbund_ 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 _khalifa_ or +trainer takes a great interest in the progress of his _chailas_ 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 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 impounded 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 onlookers. + +There are many professionals who follow no other calling. Wrestlers +are kept by Rajahs 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 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 antagonist 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 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 +men 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 proceedings 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 handsome, +well made, supple, wiry fellows, although they be NIGGERS, and Hodge +and Giles at home would not have a chance with them in a fair +wrestling bout, conducted according 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 back +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 intertwine, 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 +practised 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 +determine in favour of the lucky man. In no similar contest in England +I am convinced would there be 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 appearance 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 +'Roopuarain,' 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 Roopnarain clean off his legs, swayed him to and fro, and with +a mighty strain tried to throw him to the ground. Bending to the +notes, Roopnarain 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. Roopuarain 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 lissome 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, Roopnarain 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. Roopnarain 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 Roopnarain, +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 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, 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 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. + +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. 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. Roopnarain, 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. Roopnarain 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 tension. Roopnarain 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 play, 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. + + + + +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 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, which is 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 +maund--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 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 +shoulders. When they get in line, at right angles to the direction in +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 +sailmaker's 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 department of the +work. The head man and the merchants sit down, perhaps smoke a +_hookah_, each trying to outwit the 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 _dehaat_ (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 +over-reached 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 correspondence 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 villany 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 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 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 _tousee_ 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 dependants is patriarchal. Everyone 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 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 commented +on in all the villages that lie within the _ilaka_ (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 dependants 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 unostentatious 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 shew 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 bundle 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 men 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. Your rent-collector, called a _tehseeldar_, has +been busy in the villages with the tenants and putwarries, collecting +rent for the great Pooneah 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 shewing 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 servants retire to wash +and feast, and prepare for the night's festivities. + +During the day, at the houses of the omlah, culinary preparations on a +vast scale have been going on. The large supplies of grain, rice, +flour, 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 _chupatties_, 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 Rajpoots 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 _dekchees_ or +cooking-pots, full of curried vegetables, boiled rice, and similar +dishes. A ladle-full 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 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 factory omlah headed by the dignified, portly +_gornasta_ 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 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 halfpenny 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 +_Raj-bhats_, 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 +improvisation, 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 +Rajah or noble, and they possess a mine of legendary information, +which would be invaluable to the collector of folk-lore and +antiquarian 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 note, with her +hand behind her ear, and her poura-stained mouth and teeth wide +expanded like the jaws of a fangless wolf, and 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 like it. I have heard it said that the Germans eat +ants. Finlanders relish penny candles. The Nepaulese gourmandise on +putrid fish. I am 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 this noise we sit till we are wearied. Parin-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, 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 liquor, 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 roopees_. _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 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 mysteriously seats himself by your side. You stare, +and look at your host, who is generally in the secret, but a stranger, +or 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 mimicking 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 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. + + + + +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 Capt[=a]n.'--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 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 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 two 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 river. 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 +_chupatties_; 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 _gomorsta_ 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 _ghat_ where we +expected the 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 desperately 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 together 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 response, but there was +none. We could hear the purling swish 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 woke 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 a blaze. The tigers continued to call at intervals, but +did not seem to be approaching us. It was a long 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. We returned the hail, and bye-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 boatman 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 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 determined 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 alright, 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 +boatman, 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 mooring-rope, sufficed to bring her in to the bank. The +three struggling horses were yet in the current, trying bravely 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 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 chumps 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 towing-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 rhinoceros, close to +the factory. We had some days previously heard it rumoured that there +were _two_ rhinoceroses in the _Battabarree_ 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. 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 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 Baboo and his party had found the poor +brute firmly imbedded 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 flesh, 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 +a heirloom, and when a birth is about to take place the anxious +husband often gets a loan of the precious treasure, after which he has +no fears for the safe issue of the labour. + +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 peculiarity 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 shew 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. He staggered, and made as if he +would charge down the hill. The old 'Major Capt[=a]n,' 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 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 Capt[=a]n 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 _kind_ on all produce, and licenses +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 Gunduch, Bagmuttee, Koosee, and 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 strenuously resist any +encroachment on what they consider their rights. If an attempt is made +to raise their rent, even 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 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 +Nepaul, 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 it 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 honourable 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 feeling 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 Hindustan 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, waiting for labour and +capital. For the present we have enough 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 resistless 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 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 been 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 irresponsible ruler. In spite +however of all difficulties and drawbacks, they have held their own. I +know that the poor 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-countrymen. 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 hardworking 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 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 such 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 instrumental, 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 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. + + + + +CHAPTER 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 without some allusion 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 Goruchpore, has been shot at and killed +near Bettiah, and at our pig-sticking ground near Kuderent. In North +Bhaugulpore 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 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 +shew 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 +_mychans_ 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 _mychan_, or give you +the slightest glimpse of his beautiful skin. + +I have only been out after tiger on foot on one occasion. It 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 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 'JORROCKS,' 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 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 hole +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 her 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 +compatriot 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, 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 +shew 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 hog-deer, 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 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. Right 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 consternation arose, and forth +poured the coolies again, helter skelter, like so many rabbits from a +warren when the weasel or ferret has entered the burrow. Right 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 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[1], 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. That was the only occasion I was ever after +tiger on foot. It was doubtless intensely exciting work, and both +tigress 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 beautiful but dreaded tiger. + +I should prefer to shew 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, on 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 daresay, 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 +depended 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. + +Of the order FERAE, 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 prodigious 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 Hindustan, 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 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 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 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 delivered with full +effect he can completely disable a large buffalo. On one occasion, on +the Koosee _derahs_, 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 _khubber_, that is, news +or information, of a kill by a tiger. He went straight to the +_baithan_, 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 _goala_ 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 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. It 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 determined 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 lissome 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. + +Roused 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 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 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 water-courses, 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, 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, bloodthirsty +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 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 _mychan_, 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 _disagreeables_, 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. + + +[1] 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 Royal Highness's + camp, or were on their way to take part in the ceremonies of the + grand _Durbar_ in Delhi. + + + + +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 +description.--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 cubs +to kill.--Education and progress of the young tiger.--Wariness and +cunning of the tiger.--Hunting incidents shewing 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 +understand 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. + +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 shews 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 rains, when +there are few cattle in the _derahs_ 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 seem 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 _cheval-de-frise_ 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 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 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 Nipunneah. 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 Royal Bengal,' and 'The Hill +Tiger,' and goes on to say:-- + +'As a rule the stripes of a Royal 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 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 shewing 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 dimensions 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. Population and cultivation have increased; firearms +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 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. Referring to the royal 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 _batch_, i.e. escape, of its life. + +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; fore arm 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 O.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 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 proportions. 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 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 known hunger, and have +experienced no reverses. Accustomed 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 suspicious 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 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 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-stems 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 thing 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. + +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 though 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 discerned 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 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 lie 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 magistrate, 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 returning 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 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 defined. 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 disabused 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 _gobe mouche_, 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, 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 confidently 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.' + + + + +CHAPTER 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. + +Tigers 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 _backsheesh_, even +though your exertions may have rid their neighbourhood of an +acknowledged scourge. + +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 _gwalla_ 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. McI. 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 Rampoor. + +Tigers generally prefer remaining near water, and drink a great 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 tiger can stretch 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 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 shew 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 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 derahs; he had had a long and unsuccessful beat for 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 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 _ricochet_, 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. Meiselback, 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 +(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 Royal 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 to 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 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 opportunity 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 sportsmanlike +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. + +'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 enquire 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 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 +precaution 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 to cool themselves, and sending huge +waves dashing 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 everything 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 unanimously 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 +_chota baziree_, 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 shews 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 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 shew 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. 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 magnificence 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 realize 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 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. + + + + +CHAPTER 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 moveable 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 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 _hathi_, as +they call the elephant. _Hatnee_ is the female elephant. _Duntar_ is a +fellow with large tusks, and _mukna_ 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 lbs. 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, _Bismillah_ +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 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 _hathi_, 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 anyhow 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. 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. 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 scrutinized. 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 footprint 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 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, something 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 his two hands +apart about two feet, and say that the head was _itna burra_, 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. 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 _qui vive_, 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; 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 heartfelt, +pulse-stirring cheer, that finds an echo in every brother sportman'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. + +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 intestines, shewing 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 unsupported 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. Overhead, 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 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 intuition that, where the carcase is there +will the dogs and jackals be gathered. I think there can be no doubt +that the 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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +We start for a tiger hunt on the Nepaul frontier.--Indian scenery near +the border.--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.--Reach camp.--The Nepaulee's adventure with a +tiger.--The old Major.--His appearance and manners.--The pompous +Jemadar.--Nepaulese 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 +Nepaul. 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 far +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 Im[=a]mnugger. 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 mighty tamarind +trees, with the _peepul_ 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 cases 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 accumulation 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 country, and +was going at random. I halted at the next village, got hold of the +chowkeydar, 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 liver 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. Vast 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 resolve. Fancies chase +each other quickly, and old memories rise, bitter or sweet, but all +tinged 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 quick 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 weary 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 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 boatmen 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 +astonishment, wrath, and pain follows the report. The horse struggles +and snorts, the boatman calls out 'Oh, my father!' and ejaculates +'hi-hi-hi!' in tones of piled up anguish and apprehension, the peon +cries exultantly 'Wah wah! khodawund, lug, gea,' that bullet has told; +oh your highness! and while the boat rocks violently to and fro, I +abuse the boatmen, 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 quieted +down, and after another hour's weary work we spy the white outline of +the tents above the bank. A lamp 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 find a fine tigress, measuring 8 feet 3 inches, +had been 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 Capt[=a]n,' 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 halfway 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 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 his 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 he +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 his mahout, and steady himself, +while he volubly described incident after incident. As he warmed with +his subject, and tried to shew 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 _khubber_ +of at least two tigers; we were soon under weigh; the wounded man had +been sent back to the Major's head-quarters on an elephant, and in +time recovered completely from his mauling. As we jogged along, we had +a most interesting talk with the Major Capt[=a]n. He was wonderfully +well informed, considering he had never been out of Nepaul. 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 described 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 'a city,' and he told us it was built on the _Tham[=a]ss +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 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 Basinattea Tuppoo, which +was the scene of our present hunt, were famous jungles, and many a +tiger had been shot there by the Purneah Club in bygone days. The +annual ravages of the impetuous river, had however much changed the +face of the country; vast 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, shewing 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 ruined +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 +Nepaulee tracker, were soon crashing heavily through the jungle. + +When hunting with elephants, the Nepaulese 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 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 outflank 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 marks of the struggle distinctly enough. We 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 while 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, +shewing his teeth, his bristles erect, and evidently in a bad temper. +He had been crouching 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 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 gloom. 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, shewed 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 huge dun +cow. + +'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 cartridges in my No. 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 him between 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 +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 carelessness, 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 get shot I will get backsheesh.' + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER 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. + +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 _dekchees_ 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 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. + +This 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 Nepaulese settled in British territory. Over the +frontier line, the villages 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 cowdung, and allowed to dry; +when dried the hut is filled with grain, 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 shewed 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. + +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 Capt[=a]n, +whose elephants we had for some time descried in the distance. His +congratulations were profuse, and no doubt sincere, and after padding +the tigress, we hied to the welcome shelter of one of the village +houses, where we discussed a hearty and substantial 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, and affected prudery of the women of the plains. We were +offered plantains, milk, and chupatties, 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 forelegs, 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 looking, +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, 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 am 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, sahibs, the tiger is running away.' + +Now 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 call 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 small 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 +elephants 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 _did_ put on the pace, and travelled as I never imagined an +elephant _could_ travel. Past bush and brake, down precipitous ravine, +over the stones, through the thorny scrub, dashing down a steep bank +here, plunging madly through a deep stream there, we shuffled along. +We 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 Nepaulese +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. We 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 +unspeakable 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 +steeple-chase. Reader, 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 morung, 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 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 sand-banks. In front, +the vast undulating 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 hills 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 congratulate 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. 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 skeleton 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 Rajmehal 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 shew 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' by a shot, +and the line gathered round the prostrate monster to watch its +death-struggle. The elephant on which the unfortunate planter sat got +demoralised and attempted to bolt. The mahout 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 large branch would have swept howdah and everything it 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, +shewing 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 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. + + + + +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 labialis_ or long-lipped bear.--Recross the stream.--Florican. +--Stag running the gauntlet of flame.--Our 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.--Nathpore.--Ravages of the +river.--Mrs. Gray, an old resident in the jungles.--Description of her +surroundings. + +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. 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 shamiana 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, quicksand! 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 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 floundering 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 recognised. 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, 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 how-dahs 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 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 pauri 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 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 lines, 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. Recognising the Baboos as the immediate cause of their +disturbance, they attacked them with indomitable courage. The mahout +fairly yelled with pain, and one of the Baboos, smarting from the +fiery bites of the furious insects, toppled clean backwards 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 cummerbunds, 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 Avith them in the howdah, to ensure themselves 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 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 preferable 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 impression, and about an inch to an inch and a half further on, +the impression of the long curved claws are seen. He uses these +long-curved 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 +sissod; the sombre looking sal; the shining, leathery-leafed bhur, +with its immense over-arching limbs, and the crisp, curly-leafed +elegant-looking jhamun or Indian olive, formed a paradise of sylvan +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, +intermingled 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 though 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 +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 Inamputte factory. Our bag shewed a diversity +of spoil, consisting of one tiger, seven hog-deer, one bear _(Ursus +labialis)_, 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 wantonness of destruction, to shoot animals not wanted for some +specific purpose, unless indeed, you were raging an indiscriminate 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 bringing him +to bag. When we reached the ghat or ferry, I ordered Geerdharee 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, 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 +productive 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 incommode 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 headdresses. 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 protection to the head and neck, I do not think +it can be surpassed. + +After crossing the sand, we again entered some thin 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 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 Kurruchpore, 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 requirements; 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; unmatured +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 +that 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 recognise their value, and appreciate +their utility, but the cows fare badly, and from all I have myself +seen, and from the 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 discharging their cargoes. It may give a faint idea of +the destructive force of an Indian stream like the Koosee when it 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 engulphing sand +now reflected the rays of the torrid sun from its burning whiteness. +She shewed 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. + +I arrived at her house late in the afternoon. I had never been at +Nathpore 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, sticking from +the water at every angle, reminding us of the granaries 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 circumstances, 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 Inamputte, +leaving my kindly hostess in her solitude. + + + + +CHAPTER 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 +Ryseree, 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 aquatic plants; well stocked with magnificent 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 _habitues_ 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. + +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 sub; ect of debate was the eternal +'pice.' Behind the bank, and in rear of the tent, the cook and his +mate were disembowelling a hapless _moorghee_, 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 too and fro with a never-ceasing +motion, stood a line of ten elephants. Their huge leathery ears +flapped 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 troublesome flies. The elephants were placidly munching +their _chana_ (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 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, shewed 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! Khodamund! Arree Bap re Bap! Ram Ram, Seeta Ram!' + +Breathless with running, the men now tumbled up, hurriedly salaamed, +arid 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. + +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 shew 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, quick 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 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 their 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 shewed decided symptoms of dislike and a reluctance +to approach a particular dense clump of grass. + +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 each 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 accordingly 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.' The poor Nanny screamed +tremendously at first sight of them, but she soon got accustomed to +them, and when they grew a little 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 +Sahribgunge, 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 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 and 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,' +'Nettle,' '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 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 shewed 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 shewed +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. + +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. Sometimes I have seen the river +rise over thirty feet in 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 stream called the Dhaus. +The river is very capricious, seldom flowing for any length of time in +one channel. This is owing in great measure to the amount of silt it +carries with it from the hills, in its impetuous progress to the +plains. + +In these dry watercourses, among the sand ridges, beside the humid +marshy hollows, and among the thick strips of grass jungle, tigers are +always to be found. They are much less numerous now 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, inhabited 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 +wild 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 shews 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 +ground! What a preserve for Nimrod! Deer forest, or heathered moor, +can never compete with the old Koosee Derahs 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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + +Remarks 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 No. 12 breachloader, 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 avoid a cheap Jew 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 +rangoon oil. + +For preserving horns, a little scraping and varnishing are 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 _shibar_, 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 _dahye_ or _mutha_. +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 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 cuts +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 underneath. 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 +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 friends have been sadly thinned. Failing health +has driven me from my old shooting grounds, and in sunny Australia I +have been trying to recruit the energies enervated by the burning +climate of India. 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 get back to share in the sports, pastimes, joys, +and social delights of Mofussil life in India, is what I chiefly +desire. 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. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sport and Work on the Nepaul Frontier +by James Inglis + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN NEPAUL *** + +***** This file should be named 10818.txt or 10818.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/8/1/10818/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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