"=?-

xXf ^"^

•5^

f/'T

^^•

: 1

THE

HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

^

o

<
w
p

THE

HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA

NOTES ON THEIK FORESTS AND WILD TRIBES,
NATURAL HISTORY, AND SPORTS.

By CAPTAIN J. FORSYTH,

BENGAL STAFF COEPH.

NEW EDITION.
WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL,

Limited.

1889.

tHAKLlCS DICKENS AM) KVAN.-
CETbTAL PALACE PKKS3.

UN-

r^ALIFORNlA

■..RA

GOKTENTS.

CHAPTEE I.

INTRODUCTORY.

Physical Description of the Central Highlands— The Satpiira
Range — Early History of Gondwana — The Rajputs and
their Bards — Mixed Races — Immigration of Hindus —
The Conquest by Akber — Fate of the Aborigines — Over-
throw of the Gond Kings — Arrival of the Marathas — The
Hill-tribes plunder the Low Country — The Pindaris —
British Conquest of the Country — Improved Administra-
tion— Recent Ignorance of the Interior of the Hills —
Constitution of the Central Provinces — Energy of the
Xew Administration — Establishment of the Forest De-
partment— Exploration of the Hill Tracts — Their Area and
Character — Settlement Operations — -Interesting N'ature of
the Country — Its Aboriginal Population — The Gonds —
K61arian Races — The Kols — The Ivorkus — The Bygas —
The Bheels — Singular Facts in Distribution of Organic
Products — Timber Trees — Relation to Geological Forma-
tions— The Fauna — Wild Buffalo — Twelve-tined Deer —
Jungle-fowl — Hog-deer — Partridges — Intrusion of Eastern
Forms — Early Destruction of the Forests — The Sal — The
Teak — Its Usefulness — Ruin of the Teak Forests

CHAPTER 11.

THE NARBADA VALLEY.

Start for the Mahadeo Hills — Camp of an Explorer — Travelling
in Wild Regions — Capture of a Camel — March down the
Narbada Valley — Gorge in the River — The Marble Rocks

CONTENTS.

FA.aB

— Colonies of Bees — Fatal Attack by a Swarm — Their
Ferocity — Capture of the Honey— Moonlight Picnics —
Crocodiles and Fish— Shooting a Crocodile — Cold Weather
Marching — Prosperity of the Country — Description of
Hindu Eaces in the Valley — Abundance of Game — Wild-
fowl and Snipe — Partridge and Quail Shooting — Adventure
with a Snake — The Black Antelope — Methods of Stalk-
ing— A Solitary Buck — The Indian Gazelle — Method of
Shooting — The Nilgai — The Hunting Leopard — The Wolf
— Man-killing AVolves — Destruction of a Pair — " Tinker "
and the Wolf — Wild Boars — The People of the Narbada
Valley — Gond Labourers — The Mhowa Tree — Coal Mines
— Snipe Shooting — Hill Forts — Jungle Clearings — Forest
Animals .......... 36

CHAPTER II L •

THE MAHADEO HILLS.

The Mahadeo Mountains — Sacred Hills — Ascent to Puchmurree
— Aspect of the Forest — Park-like Scenery — A Moist Night
— Solitary Snipe — Description of the Plateau — Fine Views
— The Denwa Valley — The Andeh Kdh — Legends of the
Place — Ancient Remains — The Great Ravine — The S6nb-
hadra Gorge — The Great Red Squirrel — A Hill Chief —
Caprice of the Hill-men — Their System of Tillage — -De-
struction of the Forests — Incursions of Wild Animals

— Gond Legend — Dense Jungles — Restlessness of the
Aborigines — Their Precarious Livelihood — Produce of the
Jungles — The Seeding of the Bamboo — Scarcity in the
Hills — Banjara Carriers — Project a Forest Lodge — Find
Lime — The Indian Bison — His Habits and Range —
Growth of his Horns — A Grand Hunt — Kill a Stag
Sambar — A Bull shot by the Tluikur — Power of the Bison

— A Hill Tiger — A Mother's Defence — Description of

CONTENTS. vii

PAGE

Gonds and Korkiis— A Midnight Revel— The Wild Men
are conciliated — We teach them to Euild and Plough —
The Denwa Sal Forest — The Twelve-tined Deer — Jungle-
fowl — Spur-fowl — Gazelles and Hares — Fire-hunting by
Night — Bears and Panthers — A Troublesome Panther —
Fox-hunting at Puchmurree — Bison-stalking — A Brace of
Bulls — Tracking the Bison — A Hard Day's Work — Death
of the Bull 86

CHAPTER IV.
THE ABORIGINAL TRIBES.

Interest of the Subject — An Historical Parallel — Influence of
Contact with Hinduism — Mixed Races — -The Eaj-G/)nds —
The Ivorkus — The Bhilalas — Introduction of Caste — Diffi-
culties of Investigation — Meagreness of Aboriginal Lan-
guages— G6nd Legends — Religion of the Gonds — Worship
of Powers of Nature — Fetishism — Worship of Ancestors —
Demigods and Heroes — Idol Worship — Sivaism — Religious
Ceremonies — The Great Spirit — Religion of the Korkiis —
Sun Worship — Burial Customs of the Tribes — Personal
Appearance — Marriage Customs — Economical Position of
the Tribes — Drunkenness — Agricultural Position — The
Timber Trade —Demoralisation of the Tribes — Retribution
— Excise Laws — Forest Regulations — Improvement in the
Condition of the Aborigines — Effect of High Prices — Cul-
ture of the Oil-seed Plant — Influence of Hinduism — Future
of the Aborigines — Measures Required — Hindoo Pilgrims
to the Shrine of Mahadeo — An Indian Fair — Description
of the Shrine — The Religion of Sivaism — Human Sacrifices
— Omkar Mdndhatta — Death of a Victim — A Priestly
Murder — Cholera among the Pilgrims — Panic and Flight
—The Scapegoat 141

vin CONTEXTS.

CHAriER Y.
THE LAY OF SAIXT LINGO.

PAG8

L The Creation and Exile of the G6nds — 2. The Coming of
Lingo — 3. The Deliverance of the Gonds — 4. Subdivision
into Tribes, and Worship of the Gond Deities . . .187

CHAPTER YI.

THE TEAK EEGIOX.

The Trap Country — Condition of the Teak Forests — Other
Timber Trees — The Tapti Yalley — The Frankincense Tree
— Aspects of the Forests in the Trap Region — Jungle
Fires — Ancient Settlements — The Korkiis of the Tapti
Yalley — Difficulty of Exploration — Wild Sports — The
Sambar Deer — Its Habits and Food — Death of the Bori
Stag — Horns of the Sarabar — Curious Occurrences in
Shooting — Incidents in Tiger Shooting — Stalking the
Sambar— The Hatti Hills— The Bheels— A Bheel Fort—
Mahomedan Architecture — Difficulty of finding Sambar —
Dhaotea — Disappearance of the Sdrabar — Return to the
Plains — The Yalley of the Yultures — Return to the
Sambar Ground — Shoot a Stag — Miss another — The Four-
horned Antelope — Bison Shooting — The " Shrimp " and
the " Skunk " — Find a Herd — Kill a Bull — A Dangerous
Position — A Solitary Bull — We miss the Water — Another
Bull Killed — A Herd of Sambar — Account of a Bag . . 211

CHAPTER YII.

THE TIGER.

Tiger-shooting in the Hot AVeather — Different Sorts of Tigers
— The Game-killer — The Cattle-eater — The Man-eater —
Haunts of the Tiger — Destructiveness of Tigers — Native
Shikaris — Beating for Tigers — Shooting on Foot — Shoot-

CONTENTS. ix

PA OB

ing with an Elephant — Difficulty of Finding Tigers —
Method of Hunting — Search for Information — Viceregal
Tiger-shooting — A Tiger in a Tobacco-field — The Hot
Weather Camp — The Village Shikari — Spying out the
Land — Nocturnal Life of Wild Animals — Tyranny of the
Tiger — Tiger Tracks — The Monkeys Inform — Death of a
Tiger — Pranks of Juvenile Tigers — The Monkeys Pre-
varicate— Almost too Close — Singular Effect of a Shell —
An Abrupt Introduction — A Man-eating Tigress — The
Monkeys are Eight — Alarm Cries of Animals — A Beef-
eater Slain — Terrific Heat — Size of Tigers — Baits for
Tigers— Caste Objections— Tiger Shikaris— The "Lalla"
— He is Killed by a Tiger — Kevenge — What a Shikari
should not be — The Tiger in his Lair — Trained Elephants
— Purchasing Elephants — Their " Points " — Selection of a
Hunting Elephant — A Man-killer — Entering Elephants —
Elephantine Vices— Keeping Elephants — A Bag of Tigers
— Eavages of a Man-eating Tiger — Unfortunate Delay —
Denizens of a Mango Grove — Sharp Treatment effects a
Cure — Start after the Man-eater — Deserted Villages — A
Pilgrim Devoured — Unsuccessful Hunt — A Bait Proposed
— Another Victim — On the Trail — A Long Day's Work —
Eenew the Chase — Exciting Sport — An Elephant Killed
by a Tiger — Find the Man-eater— He charges Home —
Blown up by a Shell — Elephant Anecdote — Destructive-
ness of Tigers — Proposals for their Extermination — What
can be Done — Get Jungle Fever — Eeturn to Puchmurree
— A Cool Climate — Completion of " Bison Lodge " — Burst
of the Monsoon — Advantages of Puchmurree — Selected as
a Sanitarium — Eeturn to Jubbulpiir .... 266

CHAPTEE VI XL

THE HIGHEE NAEBADA.

Jubbulpiir Transformed — Effects of the Eailway along the Nar-
bada — A Station Shikari — The Panther and the Leopard
— Dangers of Panther Hunting — A Man-eating Panther —

CONTENTS.

PAOB

Curious Legend — Cunning of Panthers — A Determined
Charge — -Baits for the Panther — A Hot-Weather Excursion
— Dance of the Peacocks — Deer Shooting from a " Dug-
out"— The Spotted Deer — An Interview with a Tiger —
The Monkeys' Leap — Immense Herd of Deer — A Eamous
Tiger — A Successful Beat— A Midnight Intruder — The
Man-eater of Pouhri — Ghostly Legend — Coursing the Sam-
bar — Native Dogs — The Wild Dog — Banjiira Dogs — The
Black Bear — A Family Charge — Bear Shooting — Large
Python 327

CHAPTER IX.

THE SAL FOREST.

Head Streams of the Narbada — The Mandla Plateau — A Prairie
Country — Character of the Uplands — Scenery — Climate —
Scanty Population — Gouds — Bygas — Their Retired Habits
— Poisoned Arrows — Courage of the Bygas — Patriarchal
Institutions — A Singular Race — The Byga Medicine Man
— Tiger Charming — A Pleasant Custom — Bygii Seers —
Religious Sentiments — Destruction of Sal Trees — The
Dammar Resin — Traffic of the Bygiis — Character of the
Sal Forests — Forest Products — Lac Dye — Tasser Silk —
A Grazing Country — Value of Cattle — Prospects of the
Country — Its Resources — Causes of Backwardness — Want-
ing Population — Distance of Markets — Malaria — Advan-
tages of the Tract for Settlers — European Colonisation —
Field for Enterprise — A INIissionary Attemj)t — Land
•lobbiug — Prospects of Missions — Wild Animals — The Red
Deer — Its Habits — Variety of Game — A Christmas Party
— Beating with Elephants — A Tiger Sliot Flying — The
Halon Valley — A Mendicant killed by a Tiger — Stalking
the Red Deer— Kill a Stag— A Run at a Hind— A Wild
Elephant — Singular Freak — Range of AV^ild Elephants —
Tigers Roaring at Night — A Remarkable Serenade — Large
Herds of Red Deer— The Wild Bufralo . . . . 3G9

CONTENTS. xi

CHAPTER X.
AN EXPLORATION JN THE FAR EAST.

PAGB

Commanding Promontory — The Source of the Narbada —
Sivite Legends — Fine VieAV — A Long Exploration —The
Wild Biitfalo — Its Range and Habits — Criminal Trespass
— The Police called in — We slay the Invader — Toughness
of the Buffalo — Size of his Horns — A Voyage down the
Mahanadi — The Country of the Khonds — More Buffaloes —
A Feverish Region — Buffalo Hunting on Horseback — A
Vicious Cow — Upset by a Bull — "Tinker" to the Rescue
— A Curious Sentinel— Treed by Buffaloes — The Enemy
retires — Danger of Buffalo Shooting — A Cumbrous Trophy
— March for the Elephant Country — A Decayed City — An
Unfortunate Seizure — Retire to Laiifagarh — A Hospitable
Chief — The Bygas again — A Primitive Pipe — An Amazing
Spectacle — The Elephant God — Life at Laaf;igarh — The
Doctor discomfited — Jungle Delicacies — The Thakiir's
Yarns — A Tiger shot with an Arrow — An Elephant done
to Death — A " Loathly Worm " — Wild Animals on the
Hill — An Irksome Prison — Make another Start — A
Splendid Game Country — A Herd of Elephants — A Soli-
tary Tusker — Almost an Adventure — A Villainous Ter-
mination — Explore the Country — Bluimia Trackers —
Fate of a Herd of Elephants — A Vast Siii Forest — The
Way lost — Beat out a Bhiimia — Habits of the Bhiimias —
Aspect of the Country — A Primitive Measure of Distance
— Haunts of the Buffaloes — Capture of Wild Elephants —
Coal Measures — Prospects of the Country — The Plateau
of Amarkantak — A Terrible March — End of the Explora-
tion— Effects of Exposure — The Forest Question — Utility
of Forests — Prospects of the Forests — Central India as a
Field for Sport — Where to go — Outfit — Guns and Rifles —
Conclusion ......... 402

i^

MAP OF THE

S W 1 MJc, in m IncK

r^

THE

HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY,

People commonly talk of the " hills " aud the " plains "
of India, meaning by the former the great Himalayan
range, and by the latter all the rest of the country.
The mightiest mountains of the earth are called nothing
more than " hills ; " and popular geography has no name
for the numerous excrescences of mother earth which
intersect the so-called region of "plains." A range
called the Nilgherries, in the south of the peninsula,
approaching 9,000 feet in altitude, is known to a few
beyond the limits of India as a resort of invalids, and a
nursery for cinchonas ; but of lesser ranges than this,
which would still be called mountains in any other
country, the mass of " ordinary readers " has no
cognizance.

Much of this has reallv been owinsf to the unex-
plored and undescribed condition of such regions ; but
something also to the overwhelming prominence of the
great northern range, which rivets the attention of
teachers of geography and their pupils, and also, from
the exigencies of the art of chartography, renders it

15

2 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

almost impossible to delineate on ordinary maps of India
the features of inferior ranges.

Yet in the very centre of India there exists a
considerable region to which the term Highlands, which
I have adopted for a title, is strictly applicable ; and in
which are numerous peaks and ranges, for which the
term " mountain " would, in any other country, be used.
Several of the great rivers of India have their first
sources in this elevated region, and pour their waters
into the sea on either side of the peninsula — to the
north the Son commingling with the Ganges, to the
east the Mahanadi, flowing independently to the Bay
of Bengal, to the south some of the principal feeders of
the Godavari, and to the west the Narbada and the
Tapti, taking parallel courses to tlie Arabian Gulf. If
the reader will seek the head-waters of these rivers
on the map, he wall find the region I am about to
describe. To be more precise, it lies on the 22nd
parallel of north latitude, and between the 76th and
82nd of east longitude. It forms the central and
culminating section of a ridge of elevated country which
stretches across the peninsula, from near Calcutta to
near Bombay, and separates Northern India, or Hindostan
proper, from the Deccan, or country of the south. The
traveller by the Great Indian Peninsular Railway from
Bombay to Calcutta, after some 275 miles of his journey,
will come to a point where the line branches into two.
The northern branch leads him on up the Narbada
valley, and so, by Alahabad and the Gangetic valley, to
the City of Palaces. If he takes the southern branch
instead, he will be landed at Nagpiir, a city in the very
heart of India, and its present terminal station. Between
these two branches lies a triangle of country in which is

IXTEODUCTORY. 3

situated the western half of the highlands I speak of.
From its western extremity, in the fork of these lines,
the mountainous region extends eastwards for a distance
of about 450 miles, with an average width of about 80
miles.

The general level of what may be called the plains
of Central India has here, by gradual, and to the traveller
scarcely perceptible steps, reached an altitude of about
1,000 feet above the level of the sea; and he will rise
but little higher than this at any point on the lines of
railway. So soon, however, as he leaves the railway,
and proceeds a few miles towards the interior of the
triangle, he will begin to come on ranges of hills, at first
generally low, but in places attaining at once a height
of about 1,000 feet from the plain; and beyond them
peaks and plateaux will present themselves evidently of
much superior elevation. Valleys will everywhere be
found penetrating the hills, by following which he may
rise gradually to these higher regions ; and soon he will
exchange the rich cultivation of the flat land throusfh
which the railway passes for unreclaimed w^aste and
rugged forest-covered steeps.

He will now find himself in a region where all is
chaos to the unguided traveller ; where hill after hill of
the same wild and undefined character are piled to-
gether ; where the streams appear to run in all directions
at once ; and it will not be until he has traversed the
whole region, or closely studied a map, that some
method will begiu to evolve itself, and the geography
become plain. He will find that at a height of about
1,000 feet above the plain, that is of about 2,000 above
the sea, the hills have a tendency to spread out iu the
form of plateaux ; some comprising the top of only one

4 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

hill and a small area ; others like a group of many hills,
which support, like buttresses, on their summits, large
level or undulating plains. From these again he will
find shooting up still higher, a good many other solitary
flat-topped hills, reaching the height of nearly 3,500
feet ; some of which in like manner unite into plateaux
at about the same elevation. Yet higher than these,
but never assuming the character of a plateau, he will
see here and there a peak rising to nearly 5,000 feet
above the sea.

As is usual, the inhabitants of the hills themselves
liave no general name for the whole chain ; each in-
dividual hill or minor range being called by a local
name derived from the nearest village, or the species
of tree it bears, or a god, or a river, or some other
accidental circumstance. The Hindus of the plains have
several terms for its different sections, calling the most
easterly the Mykal, the centre the Mahadeo, and the
western the Satpura Hills. Geographers have applied
the name Satpiira to the entire range ; and the name is
perhaps as appropriate as any which could be selected.

The watershed of these mountains varies in direction
in their several sections. In the extreme east the rans^o
terminates in a bluff promontory with a precipitous face
to the south, throwing the whole of the drainage of a
vast area towards the north. This is the cradle of the
Narbada river, which soon leaves its parent hills, and
flows through a wide valley of its own along the
northern face of the range. In the centre the rano^e
culminates in the bold group of the Mahadeos, crowned
by the Puchmurree peaks, throwing the drainage almost
equally to the north and south, the former into the
Narbada, and the latter into the Godavari. The western

INTRODUCTOKY. 5

section (the Satpuras proper) is cleft in two by a deep
valley, and drains inwards, forming the river Tapti,
which, like the Narbada, flows for but a short part
of its course within the hills before it leaves them
altogether, and runs along their southern face to the
sea. Such, however, is the tortuous formation of these
mountains, that their streams frequently surprise one
by turning short round in their courses, and making
off towards the wrong river, as if they had suddenly
changed their minds. The drainage of the great central
Mahadeo block is a striking example of this. Two
streams rise near its southern face, the Denwa and the
Sonbadra. Both flow nearly south, away from the
Narbada, for a short way, when the former turns to the
east, and the latter to the west. Presently, however,
they find two vast cracks in the range, and turn sharp
to the north, passing through them to the northern
face, where they unite and fall into the Narbada after
all.

This extensive region emerged from the outer dark-
ness that shrouds the early history of such immense
tracts in India only within the last three centuries.
Before then we have nothing to grope by in the thick
darkness but the will-o'-the-wisp lights of tradition, and
the scarcely more reliable indications of a few ruinous
remains and vague inscriptions. The aborigines have
never possessed a written language, and the Hindu races,
who have within the last few centuries peopled the
valleys that surround and interpenetrate the hills, have
allowed their literature to remain the monopoly of a
priestly caste, whose very existence was bound up in
the necessity of falsifying all history. Their only
writings which wear even the remotest semblance of

0 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA.

history — the Mahabharat and Eamayan epics — speak of
all India south of the Jamna as a vast wilderness in-
habited by hostile demons and snakes. Religions
hermits of the northern race are described as dwellinsf
in leafy bowers in their midst, while heroes and demi-
gods wandered about like knights-errant, protecting the
devotees from their hostile acts, which seem more like
the pranks of frisky monkeys than the actions of human
beings. The snakes and demons have been conjectured,
with some probability, to have been the black aborigines
of the country, and the scenes of the epics to portray
the gradual advance of the Aryan race and religion into
their midst. The wandering Rajiis are frequently de-
scribed as allying themselves in marriage with the
daughters of the potent demons, and so far the poems
agree with what is otherwise shown to be probable.
Nothing like a connected historical narrative is, how-
ever, to be extracted from the mass of Brahminical
fiction ; and whatever value such materials may yield to
the investigation of the history of the Aryan or con-
quering races, they are worth nothing as bearing on
that of the wild men of the wilderness, who are through-
out regarded as being as much beyond the pale of
humanity as their country was beyond the Aryan pale —
the land of clearings and the black antelope.

We have a few architectural remains and inscriptions
that tell of Aryan chiefs holding power in parts of the
Narbadd valley and the central plateaux, between the
fifth and the fourteenth centuries. But who and what
they were, and what was really their position, there is
nothing to show. Remains of religious edifices sur-
rounded by fortifications point to the probability of their
having been the heads of isolated bands of the warlike

INTRODUCTOKY. 7

caste, protecting settlements of missionary priests, and
perhaps, by superior courage and arms, liolding in
nominal subjection the aboriginal tribes around them.
Traditions exist of a pastoral race, to whom is attributed
every ancient building that cannot be otherwise ac-
counted for. It is highly probable that the cow was
unknown to the aborigines before it was brought by
their Aryan invaders. Tradition would probably fix
on so striking a feature as the possession of herds by
those early colonists; and thus it does not seem necessary
to suppose the existence of any peculiar pastoral people,
distinct from other Aryan settlers in these central
regions.

But what these early immigrants may really have
been is unimportant. For, when first the light of true
history breaks upon the country, at the period of its
contact with the invading Mahomedan in the fourteenth
century, all of them had ceased to have any separate
existence. Most probably they had been absorbed in
the great mass of the aboriginal tribes who surrounded
them ; and we find the country then called by the name
of Gondwdnd,, from the tribe of Gonds who chiefly
inhabited it. The petty tribal chieftainships into which,
there is reason to believe, it had formerly been divided,
had then been united into three considerable princi-
palities, under the sway of chiefs whom all the evidence
we have proves to have been of mixed aboriginal and
Hindu (Rajput) descent. Architectural remains, and the
recorded condition of the country at the time mentioned,
show that these little kingdoms had acquired a con-
siderable degree of stability and development ; and it has
often been wondered how a tribe of such rude savases as
the Gonds could have reached a stage of civilisation at

8 THE HIGHLxiNDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

that early period so greatly above anything they have
since shown themselves capable of. The explanation
seems to lie in the circumstance mentioned. The real
establishers of these courts, and introducers of the arts,
were not Gonds but Hindus.

It is the custom in all families which trace their
lineage to the fountain-head of Hindu aristocracy among
the Eiijpiit clans of Rajasthan to retain, like the Celtic
chieftains of our own country, family bards, whose duty
it is to record in a sjenealooical volume, and recite on
great occasions, the descent and family history of their
patrons. The bardic office is hereditary, and where the
lineage of the family is really ancient, the bard is
generally also a descendant of the bards of the original
clan. Often he is the chief bard of the clan itself, and
resides with its hereditary head at the family seat in
Eajasthc4n, visiting at intervals the cadet branches of
the house to record their domestic events. In Gond-
wana, numerous chiefs claim either a pure descent from
Eajpiit houses, or, more frequently, admit their remote
origin to have sprung from a union between some Rajput
adventurer of noble blood and one of the daughters of
the aborigines. Few of them are admitted to be pure
Rajputs by the blue-blooded chiefs of Rajasthan ; but all
have their bards and genealogies. These, like such
documents in all countries, often go back to fabulous
times, and are overlaid with modern fiction ; but the
legendary portion of the bardic chronicle can generally
be separated with little difficulty from a solid residue of
probable fact.

The general conclusion to be drawn from the evidence
of these writings, supported as they are by tradition and
later history, is that during the fourteenth and fifteenth

INTKODUCTORY. U

centuries, and it may be even earlier, a great immi-
gration of the Rajpiit clans took place into the country
of the aborigines. The Mahomedan invaders of Upper
India were then pressing hard on the country between
the Ganges and the Narbada rivers occupied by the
Rajputs ; and it was doubtless the recoil from them that
forced these colonies of Eajpiits southwards into the
wilds of Central India. Here it would seem that they
generally formed matrimonial alliances with the in-
digenous tribes. The superior qualities of the Ar3^an
race would soon assert themselves among such inert
races as these aborigines ; and there is little doubt that
before the arrival of the Mahomedans, not only the
heads of what have been termed the Gond kingdoms,
but also many of the subordinate chiefs, were far more
Hindu than aboriginal in blood. The unfailing evidence
of physical appearance supports these indications of
tradition. Most of the chiefs possess the tall, well-pro-
portioned figure and light complexion of the Hindu, but
allied with more or less of the thickness of lip and animal
type of countenance of the pure aborigine. The mass of
the tribes, on the other hand, are marked by the black
skin, short squat figure, and features of the negretto race
of humanity. Between them are found certain sections
of the tribes, who would seem to have been also imbued
with something of the foreign blood, though in a less
degree than the chiefs. Like the latter they afiect much
Hindu manners and customs ; and it is probable that
they, too, are the result of some connection in long past
times between immigrant Aryans and the indigenous
tribes.

The Hindu proclivities of the chiefs appear to have
early led them to encourage the settlement in their

10 THE HICHLAXDS OF CENTKAL INDIA.

domains of colonies of the industrious agricultural races
who had already reclaimed the soil of Northern and
Western India. But no very extensive arrival of these
races would seem to have occurred previous to the estab-
lishment, early in the seventeenth century, of a strong
Mahomedan government, under the great Akber, in the
surrounding countries. The impetus given to the de-
velopment and civilisation of the dark regions of India
by the wise rule of that greatest of eastern adminis-
trators can never be over-rated. Before the absorption
into his empire of the minor Hindu and Mahomedan
states, their history is one of continuous lawlessness and
strife ; and the further we investigate, the more cer-
tainly we perceive that political order, the supremacy of
law, sound principles of taxation, a wise land system,
and almost every art of civilised government, owe their
birth to this enlightened ruler. His treatment of these
unsettled wilds and their people was marked with the
same political wisdom. While, in the surrounding
countries, which had already been in a measure re-
claimed by Hindu races, he everywhere broke up the
feudal system, under which strong government and
permanent improvement were impossible, he asked no
more from the chiefs of these waste regions than
nominal submission to his empire, and the preservation
of the peace of the realm. Those on his borders he con-
verted into a frontier police, and the rest he left to
administer their country in their own fashion. Ac-
knowledgment of his supremacy he insisted on, how-
ever, and, in case of refusal, sent his generals and
armies, who very soon convinced the barbarous chiefs of
their powerlessness in his hands. The influence of his
power and splendour rapidly extended itself over even

INTRODUCTORY. 11

this remote region. The chiefs became courtiers, ac-
cepted with pride imperial favours and titles, and, in
some cases, were even converted to the fashionable faith
of Islam.

A vast development of the resources of these central
regions followed the coming of Akber. A great high-
way between Upper India and the Deccan was estab-
lished through a gap in the Satpiira mountains. A
vast city arose in the Tapti valley, which became the
seat of government of the southern province of the
empire. Armies marching to and fro, and the retinues
of a great court, brought with them a demand, before
unheard of, for the necessaries and the luxuries of life.
The open country, under the rule of Akber, was rapidly
reclaimed by Hindu immigrants, arriving simultaneously
from the north and from the west. Nor were they long
in extending into the fat lands of the great valleys in
the territories of the Gond princes. The reclamation of
the heavy lands of the Narbada valley, and the country
now known as the Berars, had probably been entirely
beyond the resources of the aboriginal races. The im-
migrants brought with them the necessary energy and
the necessary resources ; and from this time a process
commenced which resulted in the wholesale deprivation
of the indig;enous races of their birthright in the richest
portions of their country, and the establishment therein
of the arts of aoriculture and commerce.

The Gonds retired to the higher plateaux and slopes
of the central hills, where their hunting instincts, and
rude system of raising the coarse grains on which they
subsist, could still find scope ; the more extensive
plateaux were also soon invaded by the aggressive race,
and their level black soils covered with crops of wheat

12 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL IXDLV.

and cotton. These elevated plains are surrounded by
belts of rugged, unculturable country, which remained
in the possession of the aborigines ; and thus, ere long,
the tribes were not only surrounded but interpenetrated
by large bodies of Hindus.

The Brahman priest accompanied the warlike Rajput
and the industrious Hindu peasant to their new country ;
and brought with him the worship of the Hindu gods
and the institution of caste. No separation from the
holy mysteries of his faith was demanded from the
immigrant. Not only was he persuaded that he was
still under the protection of the old gods ; but the gods
themselves, and all their belongings, were bodily borne
into exile along with their votaries. New scriptures
were revealed, in which the religious myths of the race
were transplanted wholesale, and fitted to local names
and places. The Narbada became more holy as a river
than the Ganges. The mountain of Kailas, the fabled
heaven of Siva beyond the snows of the Himalaya,
jutted to heaven in the peaks of the Mahadeo range.
Krishna and Eiima passed their miraculous boyhood,
and achieved their legendary feats, in these central
forests, instead of in the groves of JMathura and the
Avilderness of Bindraban. Some remarks will be oflfered
in another place on the social and religious influence of
this contact with Hinduism of the aboriginal races who
retired before the invaders. A few remained in the
country occupied by the Hindus, chiefly in the position
of agricultural serfs, of watchers of the villages against
the inroads of their wilder brethren oi- of wild beasts, of
hewers of wood, prevented only by the rules of caste
from being also their drawers of water. A social status
was assiorned them below that of all but the outcasts of

INTRODUCTOKY. 13

the other race ; and they were compelled to segregate
themselves in humble hovels, beyond the limits of the
comfortable houses and homesteads of the superior
castes.

The semi-aboriginal principalities of Mandla Deogarh
and Kherla, which included the whole of this hio-hland
region, were thus permitted, by the policy of successive
Mahomedan rulers, to maintain a little irksome feuda-
tory position until the Manitha power began to supplant
that of the Moghuls in the latter part of the eighteenth
century. Then the irrepressible hordes of the Deccan,
having swallowed up the more settled dominions of
the Moslem, began to overrun also the country of the
Gonds. Before the close of the century the three
kingdoms had been entirely broken up, and are
heard of no more in history. They seem to have
at no time been more than a feudal airslomeration
of numerous petty chiefships ; and on the ruin of
their heads they resolved themselves again into the
same elements. The conquest of the Marathas as-
sumed little of a practical character in the interior of
the hills, the mountaineers continuing to waoje agjainst
them a desultory warfare from their fastnesses. The
present century broke with the commencement of that
" time of trouble," when the leaders of the Maratha
confederacy began to quarrel over their spoil, and
entered on a deadly struggle for territory and power.
The financial straits of the Mariithd chiefs now led to
wholesale disregard for all rights of property inconsistent
with their demand of a rack-rent from every acre of the
soil commanded by their troops. The hill-chiefs were
now reft of the last of their possessions in the plains ;
corrupt and overbearing farmers of the land-tax seizing

14 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

on the last of their accessi])le resources. Then they
took to the hills with their tribes, and turned their
hands against the spoiler, till the name of Gond and
Bheel became synonymous with that of hill-robber.
Whole tracts came to be distinguished by the title of
the " country of robbers." There is not a district in all
that long frontier between hill and plain where tales are
not still related of the sudden downswoop of bands of
hill-men on the garnered harvest of the phiius, of blood-
shed, torture, and blazing villages, and of the sharp and
savacre retaliation of Maratha mercenaries. A little
tributary of the Tiipti river that comes down from the
hills of Gavilgarh is still called the " stream of blood,"
from the massacre in its valley of a whole tribe of
Nahals, man, woman, and child, by a body of Arabs in
the service of Sin did ; and many similar tales have been
related to me when travelling in the hills. Then, if not
before, every pass in the hills was crowned b}'" a fortified
post of the mountain men, and every inhabited village
of the plains by a wall of earthwork and a central keep.
Then, too, arose the organised bands of mounted
plunderers who have been called Pinddris — Ishmaelites
of these central regions, who, like the vulture, sallied
forth from their fastnesses in some secluded wild to
gorge on the prey struck down by a nobler hand.
Thenceforth, for nearly twenty years, the hill-tribes,
Pinddri plunderers, and lawless Marathd, soldiery, with
their da^g^ers at each other's throats, were unanimous
only in robbing the husbandmen of the plains, who
ploughed their fields by night with swords and match-
locks tied to the shafts of their ploughs, or purchased
peace by heavy payments of blackmail. Vast areas of
the country that had been reclaimed by their industry

INTRODUCTOKY. 15

were again abandoned to the jungle and the wild beast ;
and only round the walls of fortified villages, within
which the people and their herds could retreat in time
of need, was any tillage maintained at all.

In the year 1818 this unheard-of anarchy was ter-
minated by our final success against the IMarathas, and
the extermination of the Pind;iri bands. But we
entered on the possession of our new territories to find
them almost desolated by a quarter of a century of the
utter absence of government, with the hill population
frenzied by the excitement of a life of plunder, and
branded with the character of " savage and intractable
foresters." The Sagar and Narbada territories, as the
northern half of the country was then called, were ac-
quired by us in full sovereignty after this war. The
southern portion remained nominally the territory of
the feudatory Rdja of Nagpur, but had long been under
British administration when, in 1854, it too was annexed
on failure of heirs. The Gavilg^arh hills, in the extreme
south-west, formed part of the Nizam's territory of
Berar ; but that also has for many years been under
British management.

With the establishment of a strong government the
hill-men soon proved how greatly they were maligned
when described as " savage and intractable." Since
they first came under our rule there has not been an
outbreak among them of the least importance ; and, on
the contrary, they have long since gained the character
of being a remarkably submissive and law-abiding-
people. The chiefs were early secured in their feu-
datory position, with the full proprietorship of such
territories, both in the hills and in the plains, as they
■could establish a title to ; and for many years they were

16 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

left almost to themselves in the management of their
internal affairs. Our early administrators were too fully
occupied with the work of restoring prosperity in the
open country to have much time to spare for the Gond
and liis wildernesses ; and thus we find that the interior
of their country remained an almost unexplored mystery
up to a very recent period.

Two and a half centuries ago the great Akber knew
nothing of the Gonds but as a " people who tame lions
so as to make them do anything they please, and about
whom many wonderful stories are told ; " " and within
the last twenty years even they have been described as
o-oinsc naked, or clothed in leaves, livino- in trees, and
practising cannibalism. "So lately as 1853, when the
great trigonometrical survey of India had been at work
for half a century, and the more detailed surveys for
some thirty years, Sir Erskine Perry, addressing the
Bombay branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, wrote :
'At present the Gondwana highlands and jungles com-
prise such a large tract of unexplored country that they
form quite an oasis in our maps. Captain Blunt's
interesting journey in 1795, from Benares to Eajamandri,
gives us almost all the information we possess of many
parts of the interior.' "t Till within a few years,
" unexplored " was written across vast tracts in our
best maps ; and, though lying at our very doors, un-
explored in reality they were. With few exceptions,
the civil officers of those days never dreamt of pene-
trating the hilly portions of their charges ; and the
writer is accpainted with one district containing some

* Gladwin's " Ayecn Akberee," vol. ii. p. 59.
t " riitroiluction to the Central Provinces Gazetteer," by Charles
Grant, Esq., C.S.

INTRODUCTORY. 17

3,000 square miles of forest country, and inhabited by
between 30,000 and 40,000 aborigines, in which one
officer held charge for eleven years without once having
put foot within this enormous territory. All accounts
of such tracts were filtered through Hindu or Maho-
medan subordinates, whose horror of a jungle, and its
unknown terrors of bad air and water, wild beasts, and
general discomfort, is such, as to ensure their paintino-
the country and its people in the blackest of colours.

But a new era dawned on these dark regions, when
the conscience of the British rulers of India was
awakened to the wants of their great charge, after a
rebellion which nearly ousted them from their seat.
Along with many more important provinces, this
secluded region felt the benefit of the impulse then
given to the administration of the empire. That great
civiliser of nations — the iron road — was to be driven
through the heart of its valleys ; and Manchester had
prophetically fixed an eye on its black soil plains as a
future field for cotton. Something stronger than the
divided and limited agency of the several local officers
who had been sitting still over its affairs was wanted for
the guidance of a country and a people who possessed
all the elements of a rapid progress. Accordingly, in
1861, were constituted what have since been known as
the Central Provinces, under the chief commissionership
of Mr. (now Sir Richard) Temple, of the Bengal Civil
Service.

Then were seen strange sights in that unknown
land ; when distant valleys and mountain gorges, that
had heard no other sound than the woodman's axe,
echoed to the horse-hoofs of the tireless Chief, and his
small knot of often weary followers ; when the solitary

c

18 THE HKrHLA^'US OF CENTRAL INDIA.

Goncl or Byga, clearing his patch of millet on the re-
mote hill-side, was astonished by the apparition, on some
commanding hill-top, of that veritable " Government "
(Sirkar) in the flesh, which to him and his for several
generations had been an abstraction, represented, if by
chance he ever visited the district head-quarters, by a
" Saheb " in his shirt-sleeves, sitting in a dingy oflace
smoking a cheroot !

A Chief who thus, by dint of hard riding, insisted on
seeing the requirements of the country for himself, was
not long in perceiving that the highland centre of the
province, with its extensive forests and mineral wealth,
its limitless tracts of unreclaimed waste, and scanty,
half- wild population, and its great capabilities for the
storage of precious water, was worthy of a principal
share of attention. It had already been whispered by a.
few that its forests, calculated on by the projectors of
the railway lines, then being constructed through the
province, for their supply of timber, were likely to prove
a broken reed, having been already exhausted by a long
course of mismanagement ; and one of the first steps
taken was the organisation of a Forest Department, for
the detailed examination and conservation of the timber-
bearing tracts. An ofl&cer* who had already interested
himself in the question, and had travelled extensively in
these reunions, and who was admirablv fitted for the task
by physical qualities, and the possession of that faculty
of observation which is not to be attained by the labours
of the study, was selected as superintendent of the new
department. During the five succeeding years several
officers, quorum imusfui, were unremittingly employed

* Captain. G. F. Pearson, of the Madias Army, now Conservator in
the N.W. I'rovinces.

INTRODUCTORY. 19

in the exploration of the 36,000 square miles which
may be taken to be the area of the central hills, besides
doing much to examine an almost equally extensive
tract of low-lying forest in the south of the province.
In later years the regular civil officers of the district,
those employed in the land revenue settlement, sur-
veyors, missionaries, and many others, have traversed
many j^arts of these mountains ; and a great mass of
information respecting their physical character and in-
habitants has been accumulated, which, although of very
unequal value, is yet a mine of useful ore from which
much good metal may be extracted. Much of this has
already been printed in the form of official Reports ; and
the cream of it has been abstracted into a Gazetteer
of the Central Provinces, the Introduction to which,
from the pen of Mr. Grant, late Secretary to the Chief
Commissioner, is a resume of the history of the province,
admirable for its conciseness and research. Good ma23s
of all but the remotest tracts have also now been made
available ; and statistical information of all sorts is
annually prepared with much care and made public by
the Government.

My design, then, in thus venturing before the public,
is not that of attempting to rival these most complete
official documents in accuracy or extent of information,
but rather to present, in a more popular and accessible
form, the lighter and more picturesque aspects of a
country in which an increasingly large section of our
countrymen take an interest. Though most of w^hat I
shall have to say is founded on, or corroborated by my
own observation during many years of acquaintance with
the region described, I shall not refuse to avail myself oi"
well-authenticated material collected by others.

20 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

The highland region is comprehended within eleven
of the nineteen districts into which the province has
been subdivided for administrative purposes. A portion
of most of these districts lies also in the adjacent plains,
either to the north or south of the hills, a judicious
arrangement, which combines in one jurisdiction the hill
and the plain people who have dealings together. The
total area of these districts is, in round numbers, 44,000
square miles, of which about 11,000 are under culti-
vation, and the remainder waste. Where such extensive
mountains are included, it will not be surprising to find
that of this large unreclaimed area, about 20,000 square
miles are estimated to be wholly incapable of tillage, the
remaining 13,000 being probably more or less fit for im-
provement. These figures are obtained by the returns of
the department employed in what is called the "settle-
ment of the land revenue." *

Few readers will require to be told that in India the
great mass of the land has always paid a tax to the
Government (which is really of the nature of a rent-
charge which had never been alienated by the original
proprietor of all land — the State) ; and in these provinces
most of the hill-chiefs even w^ere found, on the country
coming into our hands, to be liable to the land tax,
which in their case, however, was usually a very light
one. During the times of anarchy which preceded our
rule, the proper amount of this tax had become very
uncertain, the assessment, in fact, having very much
resolved itself into a struggle between the rulers and the
ruled, "that they should take who have the power, and
they should keep who can." It was also by no means

* The writer served for three years as settlement officer of one of
these districts, and can vouch for the general accuracy of the statistics.

JA'TKODUCTURY. 21

clear in many cases from whom the tax should be
demanded, rights of property in land having fallen
greatly into abeyance during a period when to claim
the proprietorship was to invite spoliation and oppres-
sion. Our strong and equable rule so greatly encouraged
the arts of peace, that a population soon began to press
upon the immediately available land ; and this circum-
stance, together with the moderation and certainty of
our land taxation, soon bestowed on property in land a
value which it had never before possessed. Rival
claimants then began to bring forward conflicting, and
often long-dormant, claims to possession ; and the courts
established for the ordinary business of the country
were soon swamped by the number and complexity of
these cases. It was found, too, on inquiry, that there
had never really existed any clearly recognised right of
property, in our sense of the term, which would give the
agricultural classes a real interest in the improvement of
their lands, while many classes of persons had been
allowed to exercise very undefined powers over the
whole of this immense area of unreclaimed land. The
culturable wastes were becoming much in demand by
enterprising settlers, a demand which the opening of
the country by the railway promised to largely increase.
Such operations were clogged by these uncertain claims,
and thus the progress of the country was in danger.
The forest question also became urgent, timber being
required in large quantities by the railways, while a fear
arose of the impending exhaustion of the whole forests
of the country. Nothing could be effected in this
direction either, until the question of title in these
wastes should be determined. The Government then
determined to appoint special ofl&cers for the settlement

22 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

of all these matters in every district of the province ; and
after ten years of hard work, they have now been set at
rest. Few persons can conceive the amount of personal
labour, in the field and in the ofGce, involved in the
settlement of one of these districts. Every village and
hamlet has to be visited and every acre of land appraised
and assessed ; tlie title of every claimant to any interest
in the land has to be investigated from the beginning of
time ; and finally a minute and accurate record of the
whole f)rocess has to be drawn up, to form the sub-
stantive law for the disposal of future cases in the civil
and revenue courts of the district. The grand result,
as afi"ecting rights and interests in the land, was, that
where any title which could be converted into a right of
property was established, the freehold, bearing liability
to the fixed Government rent- charge, was bestowed on
the claimant ; while all land to which no such private
title could be established was declared to be the un-
hampered property of the State. Most of the hill-chiefs
were admitted to the full ownership of the whole of
their enormous wastes, thouirh certain restrictions as to
the destruction of the forests have here (as in all civilised
countries) been imposed on these proprietors.

Few parts of India present so great a range of
interesting natural objects for investigation as this.
Situated in the very centre of the peninsula, the
ethnical, zoological, botanical, and even geological
features of north and south, and of east and west,
here meet and contrast themselves. As has been
noticed above, two distinct streams of the so-called
Indian Aryans, approaching from Northern and Western
India, here meet and intermingle, difi'ering considerably
in appearance, in character, and in speech. Where the

INTKODUCTORY. 25

land has been suitable for their agricultural processes,
the orioinal dwellers of the land have been driven out

o

to the central hills ; and there we find them in several
tribes, which yield to the investigator points of con-
nection with several branches of the human race.

The total population of the tracts I have included
in this sketch is about four and one-third millions, of
whom about three and one-third millions are Aryans,
and one million only belong to aboriginal races.
The great majority of these are the Gonds, who have
given their name to the country, and who are distri-
buted in greater or less density over the whole of the
hilly portion of the tract. The infallible test of language
shows that the Gonds belong to the same family of
mankind as the Tamil-speaking Dravidians of Southern
India.''' In the extreme north-east of the tract are
found the tribe known in the Bengal hill-tracts as Kols,
a race closely allied to the Santals and other tribes of
the north-east ; and in the very centre of these high-
lauds, on the high plateaux of Puchmurree and Gavil-
garh, surrounded and isolated by the Gonds, are found
another race, called Kurs or Korkus, whose language
and general type are almost identical with these Kols
and Santals, though they themselves are utterly unaware
of the connection. All these Kolarian tribes differ
radically in language from the Dravidian Gonds ; and
some connection has been traced between them and the
aboriginal races of countries lying to the east of India.
Further to the east again, in the Mykal range, and like

* A supposed connection Ijetween the Gonds and the Brahiiis, a
Mahomedan tribe on the Sindh frontier, ])ased on the correspondence
of a few words in their hmguages, does not appear to bear the test of
a closer examinatiim.

24 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

the Korkus imbedded among the Guilds, is found a
small body of Bygas, who have not yet been traced
either to the Kolarian or the Dravidian stock. They
present, from many circumstances to be afterwards
noticed, the most curious ethnical problem of all. Less
raised above the condition of the mere huntincr savage
than any, and clinging to the most secluded solitudes,
they have yet entirely lost all trace of their own lan-
guage, and speak instead a rude dialect of the tongue of
the Aryan immigrants. They present some points of
affinity to the Bheels of Western India, of whom also,
in the extreme west, some 20,000 are reckoned in this
cauldron of peoples. The number of the aborigines is
completed by about 25,000 souls, forming the fag-ends
of tribes who have lost all semblance of distinct cohe-
sion, without language or territory of their own.

Which of these entirely distinct families are the
autochthones of the land, or which of them first settled
here, may possibly never be known. None of them
have any reliable tradition of • their arrival ; and no
evidence bearing on the subject, beyond what has been
already mentioned, has been discovered. It is not
within the scope of my present purpose to attem]3t any
elaborate investigation into the ethnical history or pecu-
liarities of these tribes. The evidence yet recorded is
too scanty to yield valuable results ; and such has been
the admixture of their customs, religion, and language
with those of the Hindus, that it is improbable now
that much of their original distinctive peculiarity re-
mains to be discovered. Yet there is much that is
curious and interesting in their present condition,
gradually being absorbed as they are in the vast mix-
ture of races composing modern Hindiiism ; and a grave

INTRODUCTORY. 25

problem remains unsolved in the question of our duty
towards these races as a Government. What I have to
say on these points will find a place further on.

The region is also remarkable as forminof the meet-
ing-ground of some forms of vegetable and animal life,
which seem to be characteristic of North-eastern and
South-w^estern India. The principal forest-tree of upper
India is the Sal {Shorea rohusta), a tree whose habit it
is to occupy, wdiere it grows at all, the whole area,
almost to the exclusion of others. It thus forms vast
forests in the lower Himalaya, and covers also the
greater portion of the hilly region to the south of the
Gangetic valley. From the latter tract it stretches
along the table-land of the subdivision of Bengal called
Chota Nagpiir, and thence extends into the Central
Provinces in two great branches, separated by the open
cleared plain of Chattisgarh. The southern branch
reaches as far as the Godavari river, and the northern
embraces the eastern half of the highlands I have
described, both branches ceasing almost exactly at the
eightieth parallel of east longitude. To the west of this
the characteristic and most valuable forest-tree is the
Teak [Tectona grandis), which is not found at all in
Northern India, or Bengal, and but scantily in the
Central Provinces to the east of 80° longitude. The
Teak-tree is, however, not so exclusive in its habit of
growth as the Sal, appearing rather in the form of scat-
tered clumps among other forms than as the sole occu-
pant of large areas.

Some explanation of this peculiar disposition of
these two timber trees may perhaps be found in their
habits of growth and relation to various soils. The Sal
is a tree possessed of a remarkable power of propagating

26 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

itself, shedding au enormous number of seeds, at a
season (the commencement of the rains) when the usual
jungle fires have ceased, and which sprout almost imme-
diately on their reaching the ground. On the other
hand, the Teak seeds after the rainy season, and the
seeds themselves are covered by a hard shell, which
must be decomposed by long exposure to moisture and
heat before they will germinate. This necessitates their
exposure throughout one hot season, when the whole of
the OTass covering; the ground below is burnt in the
annual conflagrations. Thus a large percentage of the
seeds of the Teak never germinate at all. It is clear,
then, that if these two species were growing together,
on soil equally suitable for both, the Sal must possess
an immense advantaoe in the " struo^e-le for life" over
the Teak. And if to this natural advantage be added
an adventitious one, in the fact that the Teak is much
more generally useful to man — particularly to man in a
primitive state — as is really the case, there seems to be
a sufficient reason why the Teak should disappear before
its rival in tracts where the latter has obtained a footing
and is equally suitable to the soil and climate. Now an
examination of the tracts on which these trees are found
in Central India shows that, while the Teak does not
appear to shun any particular geological formation, it
thrives best on the trap soils which predominate in the
south and west of the province. But the Sal, on the
other hand, clearly shuns the trap formation altogether.
Not only is it unknown within the great trappean area
to the west of the eightieth degree of longitude, but
even to the east of that line, in its own peculiar region,
it does not grow where isolated areas of the trap rocks
are found. Further, I believe that in no part of India

I2s^TliODUCTORY. 27

where this tree grows is there any of the trap formation.
With the exception only of this volcanic rock, the Sal
appears to thrive on any other formation, being equally
abundant within its own area, where primitive rocks, or
sandstones, or lateritic beds predominate. Thus I
believe that the Sal, where the soil is suitable — that is,
where there are no trap rocks — has exterminated the
Teak, of which it is a natural rival. In other parts of
India, where the Teak does not meet with this rival, as
in Malabar and Burma, it flourishes on the soils from
which it is here excluded by the Sal. The general con-
clusion appears irresistible, but sharp contrasts perhaps
best illustrate such peculiarities. Many such might be
mentioned, but two in particular are very noticeable.
Within the Sal region, in the hills immediately to the
east of the town of Mandla, there is a considerable area
covered by Teak, to the total exclusion of the Sal. The
whole of this region is composed of a trap overflow ; and
all around it, as soon as the granitic and lateritic forma-
tions recommence, the Sal again entirely abolishes the
Teak. Again, within the area of the trap and Teak, in
the valley of the Denwa river, 150 miles west of the
furthest limit of the general Sal region, is found a soli-
tary isolated patch of the latter, occupyiug but a few
square miles. Here the Sal grows on a sandstone
formation. It is surrounded on three sides by trap
rocks, and there it entirely ceases, and is supplanted by
the Teak as the principal timber tree. But how^ to
account for this small and unimportant outlier of the
great Sal belt ? To maintain our theory, some link to
connect them together should be found. I think that a
hypothesis, much less extravagant than many which are
introduced into such arguments, will do so. Towards

28 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDL4.

the fourth side of the Sell patch in the Denwa valley
lies the great open plain of the Narbada, into which the
sandstone formation extends, and passes on along with
primitive rocks, and with little interruption from the
trap, right up to the main body of the Sal forest at the
head of the Narbada valley. The S;il, it is true, ceases
in the open Narbada valley, but so does all forest, the
country haviug been completely cleared and cultivated
for many generations. It is not then a very violent
assumption to suppose that the Sal forest at one time
extended down the Narbada valley as far as the Denwa,
and that, when the country was cleared, this little patch
alone was left securely nestled under the clitfs of the
Mahadeo range, in the secluded valley of the Denwa,
into which there was no road until within the last few
years.

These are strange facts. But it would be still more
strange if a corresponding distribution of animal life
could also be demonstrated. Somethinu: of the kind
is really almost possible. Equally with the Sdl tree,
several prominent members of the Central Indian fauna
belong peculiarly to the north-eastern parts of India.
These are the wild buffalo (Buhcthis Ami), the twelve-
tined " swamp " deer {Rucervus Duvaucellii), and the
red junglc-fowi [Gall as fevrufjineus). All these are
plentiful within the area of the great Sal belt, but
do not occur to the west of it, excepting in tJie Sal
patch of the Denwa valley, where the two latter, though
not the buffalo, again recur. In the Denwd valley
there is but a solitary herd of the swamp deer, I
believe ; the red jungle-fowl are not so numerous as
the rival species, 6'. Sonneratii, which replaces it in
the west and south of India ; and it is not surprising

INTRODUCTORY. 29

that tlie wild buffalo should have disappeared when
his range had been reduced, by the clearance of the
intermediate forest, to the narrow limits of this small
valley. So large and prominent an animal requires
a much larger range than deer and birds ; and there
is no part of the surrounding country suitable for his
habits until we reach the Sal tracts again, though
very probably the extensive black soil plains of the
Narbada valley were so before they were cleared. In
corroboration of the probability of his formerly having
extended further down the valley than at present, skulls
and horns have been found in the upper gravels of
the Narbadd in no way differing, except in superior
size, from those of the existing species. Their greater
size is not surprising, as they are not larger than the
horns still occasionally met with in Assam, where also
the average size is now rapidly diminishing under the
attacks of sportsmen.

Two other large representatives of the eastern and
western faunas, the wild elephant and the Asiatic lion,
also appear to have formerly extended far into this
region. In modern times, however, the advance of
cultivation and the persecutions of the hunter have
driven them both almost out of the country I am
describing. The former, in the time of Akber (as is
ascertained from Abiil Fuzl's chronicles), ranged as far
west as Asirgarh, but is now confined to the extreme
east of the province. Sir Thomas Roe, ambassador
from James I. to the Court of the Great Mogul, in the
seventeenth century, speaks of the lion as being then
common in the Narbada valley. It is now seldom heard
of further east than Rajputana ; although a solitary
specimen sometimes appears in their old haunts further

30 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

east. A lion was killed in the Sa^'ar district in 1851,
and another a few }'ears ago only a few miles from
the Jubbulpiir and Alahabad railway. The hoGf-deer
{Axis loorcimis) I have never met with in the west
of the province, nor is it very numerous even in the
east, though very common in the Sal tracts of Northern
India. The black partridge (Francolinus vulgaris) of
Northern India does not extend into these provinces
at all, its place being taken by the painted partridge
{F. pictus), a very closely allied species. The great
imperial pigeon of Southern India does not, I think, cross
the Narbadd, to the north, thou2;h not uncommon in
the hio^her forests to the south of that river. Scientific
research amon^x the minor forms of animal and vec^etable
life (for which I have had neither the time nor the
knowledge) may possibly elicit many confirmations of
tbe law of distribution I have thus roughly stated from
observations that have presented themselves to me as
a forester and a sportsman.

I need here only indicate another matter in connec-
tion with this subject. It has already been stated that
a tribe called Korkiis, closely connected with what is
called the Kolarian stock, which is represented by
the Kols and Sdntals of Bengal, is found embedded
among the Gonds of these central hills. Now the
commencement of the range of this tribe precisely
agrees with the isolated patch of the Sal forest in
the Denwa valley ; and their nearest relatives of the
same stock are the Kols of the country to the north
of Mandld, where the Sd-l forest again commences. Thus
we have an outlier of the human tribes of Eastern
India existing along wdth an outlier of its vegetable
and animal forms, and the country between the whole

INTRODUCTORY. 31

three and their nearest congeners occupied by other
forms. It is a most singidar coincidence ; and such
must be my excuse for devoting so much of my space
to what must be to many an uninteresting discussion.
I have said that at the time the Central Provinces
were constituted, little was accurately known regard-
ing the forest resources of their vast w^aste regions.
It had, indeed, been suspected that the projectors of
the railways had over-calculated the possible supply ;
but it was little guessed that the exhaustion had gone
so far as really proved to be the case. In another
place will be found an account of the system of cultiva-
tion of the hill-tribes, who had for centuries devastated
the forests, by the cutting and burning of their best
timber to form ashes to manure their wretched fields
of half-wild grain. This was itself almost sufficient
to have proved the ruin of the forests, but other
causes had not been absent. The most valuable timbers
for the railway and other useful purposes are the Teak
and the Sal ; indeed, no others have been found to be
really lasting when subjected to the great and sudden
variations of an Indian climate. The Teak tree is
perhaps the most generally useful in the whole world.
In combined strength, lightness, elasticity, and endurance
there is none to compare with it. At the present day
its uses cover a wider range than those of any other
timber, from the handle of an axe in its native forests
to the backing of an ironclad in the navy of England.
But it is unfortunate also that it is the easiest of all
timbers to fell, and makes better firewood and charcoal
than any other. It is little wonder, then, that on it
almost exclusively, where found, had fallen the weight
of the people's requirements, ever since the country

32 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

was first populated by civilised tribes. I have already
said that it is a most difficult tree to reproduce, the
seeds being exposed to the extremities of danger before
they have the opportunity to germinate. The seedlings
also, with their great dried leaves like so many sheets
of tinder, are more exposed to injury by fire than those
of any other tree. Thus the Teak had everywhere
been mercilessly cut down, and had to struggle with
the most adverse circumstances to maintain a footing
at all. Over great tracts, where it probably once grew,
it has been utterly exterminated, giving place to a
" shoddy aristocracy " of such worthless species as the
Boswellia, which no one would dream of cutting, and
on which nature has bestowed all the indestructible
vitality of a weed. The Teak has but one rare and
valuable property, by means of which it has alone
continued to survive at all in many places. However
much it may be cut and hacked, if the root only be
left, it will continue to throw up a second growth of
shoots, which grow in the course of a few years to the
size of large poles. This is the sort of timber which
was chiefly in demand for the small native houses before
the introduction of our great public works ; and thus,
perhaps, may be explained the apathy with which the
native Governments witnessed the destruction of the
forests of large timber. A further reference to this
matter will be found further on.

The Sal-tree, again, as I have explained, possesses a
much stronger vitality as a species than the Teak ;
though from its liability to heartshake, dry-rot, and
boring by insects, as well as its want of all power (like
most resinous trees) of throwing out coppice wood, the
individual trees are much more perishable than the

INTRODUCTORY. 33

Teak. It is also not so generally useful, particularly
for minor purposes, being hard to fell, of coarse grain,
and making very inferior charcoal. It, however, yields
a gum-resin valuable in commerce, and this has led to a
very great destruction of the Sal forests. Again, the
Sal tracts were very inaccessible from the populous
regions, the nearest point where any great supply could
be had for the railway being about a hundred miles, by
a bad land route. This distance has up to the present
time proved an insurmountable obstacle to the general
utilisation of the Sal timber on the railway works. The
supply of this timber is almost inexhaustible ; and a
stronger commentary on the commercial value of easy
communications could not be found than this, that the
railways have found it cheaper to import pine sleepers
from Norway, and ironwood from Australia, than to
carry the Sal timber growing within a hundred miles
of their line.* There is somethino; wrono^ where this is
the case ; and that something is the want of a good
road into the Sal regions from the railway at Jubbulpiir,
which road should have been made, for many other
reasons besides this, long ago.

So much for the Sal forests. As regards the Teak,
the supply available for railway uses had already been
much reduced from the causes mentioned. A good deal
was, however, still left in the remoter forests, where
communications were not so easy ; and the forests, if
properly taken in hand, might have yielded a stead}^
supply of large timber for many years. But unfortu-
nately the grave mistake was now made of announcing

* I would not be understood to say that no Sal timber has been
used ; but its cost as conijvared with the imported material has been
greater.

34 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

that after a certain^ time the forests would be brought
under Government management and strictly conserved.
This was the death-blow to the remainder of the Teak
throughout the northern parts of the tract. The railway
contractors, and numerous speculators, foreseeing the
value that timber was likely to acquire, owing to rail-
way operations and the closing of the forests, then went
into the jungles with bags of rupees in their hands, and
spread them broadcast among the wild tribes, with
instructions to slay and spare not — to fell every Teak
tree larger than a sapling that they could find, and
mark them with their peculiar mark. It was only too
faithfully done ; and scarcely anything that was accessible
escaped the axe. Now came delay in the railway works,
failure of the contractors, and want of money. The cut
timber was abandoned wholesale where it lay. Teak
wood is full of oil, and burns readily after lying for a
short time. The jungle fires occurred as usual in the
long dry grass where the logs were lying, and the great
majority of them were burnt ! The exact amount of the
destruction can never be known. For years afterwards,
when exploring in the forests, we continued to come on
the charred remains of multitudes of these slaughtered
innocents, most of them being quite immature and unfit
for felling at any time. All that were worth anything
were saved by the Forest Department in after years,
and the value even of these amounted to many lacs of
rupees. They were not a hundredth part of those that
were cut, which should probably be reckoned by millions
rather than thousands. The injury done to the forests
and to the country by this most mistaken measure may
never be recovered ; certainly it cannot be recovered in
less than two generations of the people's life. Such was

INTRODUCTOEY. 35

one of the most material results of the utter iofnorance
of the administrative officers of that period regarding
everything connected with the wilder portions of their
charge. The mischief had been completed, and most of
the timber speculators had bolted from their creditors,
leaving their logs smoking in the forests, before the
formation of the Central Provinces, and ere the Forest
Department had entered on their labour of exploring
and arranging for the protection of what was still worth
looking after. Succeeding chapters will give some ac-
count of such of these explorations as the writer was
engaged in, and of the penalties and pleasures that
accompanied the early investigations in these Central
Indian forests.

r> 2

CHAPTER II.

THE NARBADA VALLEY.

Acting ou instructions I proceeded to tbe Pucbmurree
(Paclimarlii) Lills — the lofty block I have described as
crowning the Sdtpura range to the south of the Narbada
river. There the centre of our operations in that ex-
tensive forest region was to be fixed ; a permanent
forest lodge was to be built in the heart of the country
of the Gonds and Korkiis, whose interests we were to
endeavour to unite with our own in the preservation of
the remnants of the fine forests that clothed the slopes
of their hills. The country to be explored was little
known ; but it was sufficiently ascertained that plenty
of rough work w^as before us in overcominor the obstacles
presented by the rugged nature of the land and its
inhabitants.

The organisation of such a camp as is admissible in
such a wild country, occupies no great time. Since the
return of my regiment to quarters a year or so before, I
had been almost constantly out on detachment duty, or
on shooting excursions ; and had added little to the
modest properties I found myself possessed of at the
close of some three years of camping out in the sub-
Himalayan Terae, and subsequent hunting up of skulk-

THE XARBADA VALLEY. 37

ing rebels over the stony wastes of Bandelkand. There
are two ways of travelling in such tracts. The one is
to take a full equipment of the large tents and their
luxurious furnishinfifs, which render marchinor about in
India, under ordinary circumstances, so little attended
by hardship, or even by inconvenience ; a corresponding
train of servants and baggage-animals ; and a small army
of horse and foot as a protection. Such a camp will
perhaps number from fifty to eighty men, and half that
number of animals of sorts. An array like this may be
allowable or even proper for the civil officer, who has
the dignity of his office to maintain, while traversing
slowly a populous and well-supplied district of the plains.
But the hardship of such an infliction on scattered tribes
of poor and resourceless aborigines is sometimes forcibly
brought home to the invaders, by finding the country,
as they advance, utterly deserted in their track. When
I come to describe the extreme poverty in resource of
these outlying tracts, this circumstance will perhaps be
more easy to realise.

In my shooting excursions I had always marched
with only a single small tent, about eight feet square, of
the sort called a Fell, which is composed of two or three
thicknesses of common double-thread country cloth,
sewn together, and thrown over a ridge-pole on two
uprights, all of the hollow (female) bamboo, which
combines strength with lightness in the highest possible
degree. It has no doors nor windov/s, but one of the
gable ends (so to speak) is slit up the middle and fitted
with stout laces in case of storms. In ordinary weather
this end is kept open to the breeze except at night, and
such a tent really affords ample protection and accom-
modation to the traveller who has no heavy indoor

38 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

business to do, unless perhaps in the extreme hot
weather when no trees are available to pitch it under.
It affords room enousjh for a light foldino; bedstead of
bamboo, a cane stool, a small folding table, a brass
basin and stand, and your portmanteau and guns, which
is all the furnishing that the mere sportsman or explorer
should require. All this, with a good supply of such
eatables and drinkables as are not to be had in the
wilderness, will go on a good camel ; and such had been
the extent of my personal requirements during many a
rough expedition and hunting trip before the present
march. On this occasion I added another tent twelve
feet square, for the servants and a few newly-entertained
native foresters who were to assist in my explorations ;
and we were also furnished with a somewhat larger
double-roofed tent by Government, which was to be
pitched on the hill as a depot while the contemplated
masonry lodge was being erected. To carry these
additional impedimenta I had four or five of the rough
little unshod and unkempt country ponies, called tattoos
— hardy little villains, whom no amount of work can
tire out of immediate readiness for a daily battle royal
with teeth and heels the moment they are cast loose
from their loads to graze.

My own tent travelled as usual upon a camel. I
don't think I would have ventured to take any other
camel but "Junglee" into the country I was going to visit.
Though the camel is far more at home in rough and
difficult country than his ungainly-looking formation
would lead one to suppose, there are many passes in
the Mdhadeo hills where these animals cannot carry
their loads, and some where they could not proceed at

THE NARBADA VALLEY. 39

all. But " Juno'lee " was a camel amongr camels. Of
the low, stout, shaggy breed used by the Cabul
merchants, who annually during the cold season hawk
the dried fruits of their country over the plains of India,
I had found and caught him running wild and ownerless
among the hills along the Cane river in Bandelkand.
When out shooting I was astonished to see him start
out of a thicket, and flee like a deer over rocks and
ravines ; and a rare chase we had — sepoys, camel-men,
and camp followers — before we got him into a corner,
and bound his sprawling legs and threatening jaws
with tent ropes, and led him away between a couple
of tame loadsters, to have his nose rebored and be starved
into a peaceful return to the uses of his race. He had
probably been abandoned by some party of hard-
pressed rebels, long enough before I saw him to have
become perfectly at home in the jungles, and to have
p'ot into first-rate condition. A better beast to scramble
over breakneck ground with a heavy load I never saw.
Poor Junglee ! he afterwards ended his days under the
paw of a tiger in the Betiil forests during one of his
periodical relapses into the life of freedom he had
tasted in the wilds of Bandelkand.

On the 11th of January, I bade adieu to the pretty
little station of Jubbulpur (Jabalpiir), and to my
comrades of the gallant 25th Punjabees. I was really
sorry to see the last of the jovial manly company of
Sikhs who composed the regiment, one of the first of
the force that rose on the ruins of the Bengal army in
1857. But soldiering in India, in time of peace, is
truly one of the dreariest of occupations ; and I con-
fess I was far from doleful at the prospect of quitting

40 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

the bondage of parade routine for the free life of the
forest ; and to think that —

No barbarous drums sliall be my wakening rude ;
The jungle cock shall crow my sweet reveill6.

For the first five marches (eighty-two miles), my route
lay down the open and well-cultivated valley of the
Narbada. In the first march I went off the highway
to pay a last visit to a remarkable scene of beauty, a few
miles to the south of the road. What visitor to
Jubbulpiir can ever forget the Marble Rocks ! In
any country a mighty river pent up into a third of its
width, and for a space of two miles or more boiling along
deep and sullen between two sheer walls of pure white
marble, a hundred feet in height, must form a scene
of rare loveliness. J3ut in a bustling, dusty, Oriental
land, the charm of coolness and cpiiet belonging to
these pure cold rocks, and deep and blue and yet pellucid
waters, is almost entrancing. The eye never wearies
of the infinite variety of effect produced by the broken
and reflected sunlight, now glancing from a pinnacle
of snow-white marble reared against the deep blue
of the sky as from a point of silver ; touching here and
there with bright lights the prominences of the middle
heights ; and again losing itself in the soft bluish grays
of their recesses. Still lower down, the bases of the
cliffs are almost lost in a hazy shadow, so that it is hard
to tell at what jooint the rocks have melted into the
water, from whose dej)ths the same lights in reverse
order are reflected as clear as above, but broken into
a thousand quivering fragments in the swirl of the pool.

Here and there the white saccharine limestone is
seamed by veins of dark green or black volcanic rock ;

THE NAEBADA VALLEY.

41

a contrast which only enhances, like a setting of jet,
the piiritv of the surrounding marble. The visitor

GORGE IX THE NARBADA. THE MARBLE ROCKS. {From a Plwtograyh.)

to these Marble Rocks is poled up through the gorge
in a flat-bottomed punt as far as the " fall of smoke,"
where the Narbada makes her first plunge into the
mighty rift ; and there is no difficulty in dreaming

42 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

away the best part of a day in the contemplation of
this marvellous'^ scene of beauty.

The only drawback to the peaceful enjoyment of
the scene is the presence of numerous colonies of bees,
whose combs are to be seen attached to most of the
jutting ledges of the rocks on the left bank. In cold
weather these insects seem to be inoffensive ; but from
about March to July, anything disturbing or irritating
them is almost certain to brinof them down in swarms
on the offender. Their attack is of a most determined
character ; and, not long before my visit, had proved
fatal to an engineer employed in sounding the river for
a projected crossing of the railway. It is believed that,
on this occasion, the bees were roused by some of his
companions above shooting at the blue rock pigeons that
build in the cliffs, on which they attacked furiously this
gentleman and a friend who were together in a boat
below. After a while both gentlemen sought protection
by taking to the water. The one by taking long dives
under water, managed to elude the angry insects and
hide in one of the few accessible clefts of the rock ; but
the other, although a practised swimmer, was never lost
sight of by the exasperated creatures, and in the end
was drowned and carried down the stream. He lies
buried above the cliff, under a marble slab cut out from
the rock beneath which he met his death.

The species of bee that frequents these rocks is, I
believe, the common Bonhrd [Apis dorsata), which
attaches its large pendent combs indiscriminately to such
rocks and to the boughs of forest trees. There are two

* A fiend in human shape has perpetrated a pun, in the visitors'
book kept at tlie little rest-house above the clitf, which will here be
sufficiently obvious.

THE :N"AEBADA valley. 43

other species of bees common in Central India, both
much smaller than the Bonhra, and neither of them
inclined to act on the otfensive. The Bonhra is of very
common occurrence in many forest tracts ; and I have
myself several times been attacked by them. If attacked,
the only resource is to rush into the nearest thick bush,
break off a leafy branch, and lay about with it wherever
there is an opening. On one occasion, when marching
in the Mandla district, my baggage animals and servants
were attacked, and scattered in every direction. Many
of the men and animals were so severely stung as to be
laid up for several days ; and one of the baggage ponies,
who could not get rid of his load, was killed on the spot.
Our kit was Hung about all over the jungle, and was not
all collected for several days. On another occasion a
valuable elephant was attacked, and driven away into
the jungle ; and was so panic-stricken that she could not
be recovered for days. I have heard of a large force of
troops in the Mutiny days being routed, horse and foot,
by a swarm of these terrible insects, in the neighbourhood
of Lucknow. The honey and wax of this and the other
species of bee are regular articles of export from our
forests. The people who engage in the business of
taking them seem to possess not a little of the art of the
bee-master ; but they usually resort to more forcible
measures, and rob the combs after suffocating the tenants
at nioht with the smoke of torches. Their richest
harvests are got from cliffs like tliis on the Narbada ;
and some of their slender ladders of bamboo slips may
usually be seen at the Marble Rocks, hanging from
the edge of the cliffs over the abyss of water. The
honey is inferior in quality to that of the domesticated
bee of Europe ; and is sometimes even of a poisonous

44 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA.

quality, owing to the bees having resorted to some
noxious flower. It is easy to procure a comb by slicing
it off the face of the rock with a ritle l)all ; and I once
had the gratification of thus operating on the colonies
at the Marble Rocks, from a safe position on the opposite
bank, sending several large comb-fulls to a watery grave
in the depths below.

The presence of these inhospitable bees renders it a
matter for congratulation that the finest impression of
the Marble Rocks is to be got '' by the pale moonlight."
The bees are then quite harmless ; and, if the scenery
has then lost something in brilliancy of contrast in its
lights and shades, it has gained perhaps more in the
mysteriousness and solemnity that well befit a spot
seemingly created by Deity for an everlasting temple to
himself. 1 am sorry to say that, in the old Jubbulpur
days, we not unfrequently used to desecrate the sanctuary
by unholy moonlight picnics, in which plenty of cham-
pagne, brass bands, and songs that were sometimes very
much the reverse of hymns, bore the most prominent
part. It was very jolly, though, like most things that
are wrong,

A spot so naturally remarkable as the Marble Rocks
could not escape sanctification at the hands of the
Bralimans. Nothing more completely refutes the ac-
cusation of want of taste for natural beauty, so often
made against the Hindus, than their almost invariable
selection of the most picturesque sites for their religious
buildings. Many of the commonest legends of Hindii
mythology have, as usual, been transplanted by the
local priests to this neighbourhood. The monkey legions
of Haniiman here leapt across the chasm on their way
to Ceylon; and the celestial elephant of Indra left a

THE XARBADA A^ALLEY. 45

mighty footprint in the white rock which is still exhibited
to the devout pilgrim. Several picturesque temples
dedicated to Siva crown the cliff on the right bank ;
and by the river's edge is a favourite ghCit for the
launching of the bodies of devout Hindus into the waters
of Mother Narbada. A pleasure party to the rocks is
apt to be not a little marred by a collision with one of
these unsavoury objects in mid-stream. In India many
a fair scene has its foul belongings and fell inhabitants ;
and these lovely waters are polluted by ghoul-like
turtles, monstrous fishes, and repulsive crocodiles, that
batten on the ghastly provender thus provided for them
by the pious Hindu.

I believe the common il/«r/ar of the rivers and tanks
of the Central Provinces is identical with that of Upper
India {Crocodilus hiporcatus). The other species of
Indian crocodile [Gavialis Gangeticus), the long-nosed
Gavidl, is found in these provinces only in the Mahanadi
river, which falls into the Bay of Bengal. The long
still reaches of the Narbada all contain a goodly comple-
ment of broad-snouted magars ; but, so far as I have
observed, they do not attain in our rocky-bottomed
rivers nearly to the dimensions I have seen in the slimy
tributaries of the Ganges and Jamna. Eight or nine
feet in length I take to be here about the limit of the
magar's growth. Nor have I ever heard an authentic
case of an adult human being having been killed by a
crocodile in our rivers. Small animals are frequently
carried off, and children sometimes disappear from the
ghats in a suspicious manner. A dog employed in
retrievinoj wild fowl is almost certain to be sooner or
later made a meal of by the saurian. The fall of a duck
in his neighbourhood generally brings the reptile near

46 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

the spot ; and many a shot bird thus disappears, as if
by magic, before the e5^es of the gunner. But he will
prefer your plump retriever, should he see him nearing
the duck as he comes up. A dear old spaniel of mine
named "Quail," possessed of an uncontrollable ''craze
after the deuks," had so many narrow escapes of this
sort that I never taught any of the four generations of
his descendants I have possessed to retrieve from water.
Although our crocodiles are thus little noxious to
life, and may even advance some claims to merit as
scavengers, it is not in human nature to refrain from
destroying so hideous a reptile when a chance occurs.
There is a spot in the gorge of the Marble Rocks where
such a chance is seldom wanting. A flat and slightly
hollowed rock-shelf at the water's edge invites to noon-
tide repose these unlovely monsters of the deep. Cold
weather and a warm sun seem to be the most favourable
conditions. The place is on the left bank, some quarter
of a mile above the rest-house ; and is marked by the
droppings of the brutes, and of the aquatic birds that
invariably watch over their slumbers. If now, as mid-
day approaches, you will take your rifle and cross over
below the house, and get you round to where a cleft in
the rocks commands the spot, and if the place has not
recently been much disturbed, you will shortly perceive
(if he is not there before you) the seeing and smelling
apparatus of one or more of the reptiles floating slowly
in from mid-stream, like two bungs out of a cask.
Nothing but experience will enable you to distinguish
them at this distance from the pieces of drift wood
always floating down the stream, so marvellously does
nature protect even the most loathsome of her pro-
ductions. The crocodile approaches the projected scene

THE NARBADA valley. 47

of his siestca with immense caution. Loni,^ and keenly
he reconnoitres it from a distance ; and if he has any
suspicious he will sink and rise again and again during
his approach. If not he will descend after the first
good look, and then swim right in under water ; and
the next thing you will see of him will be his rugged
head lying on the ledge of rock below you, and a pair of
fishy eyes slowly revolving in a last survey of the neigh-
bourhood. This done, he will heave his huge bulk and
serrated tail sideways out of the water, and lie extended
along the edge, ready to " whammle" in again on the
slis^htest alarm. You will aim at him in the centre of
the neck, just where it joins the head ; and if you then
shoot plumb-centre, but not otherwise, he will never
stir. A different shot might eventually perhaps be
fatal ; but this alone will prevent his reaching the water
and escaping, to float up in a day or two a sickening
mass of corruption. Nothing possesses such a frightful,
" ancient fish-like smell " as a crocodile that has been
■dead for even a few hours. You can seldom g:et near
enough to one of these creatures in a boat to kill him
wdth certainty ; and the only certain plans are to watch
for them at noon as I have described, or to bait with a
noisy puppy dog in the evening, at which time they
appear to be most on the feed.

Few things are more enjoyable than marching along
during the cold season in a rich open country like the
Narbada valley with a well-appointed camp, and plenty
of leisure to linger over the numerous objects of interest
or amusement presented by such a tract. Very little of
this sort of thing fell in the way of the forest officers
of those days, however. Our work lay in the depths of
distant forests, or at most in the half-reclaimed frontier

48 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

belt Ivino- between the hills and the plains, where timber
transactions generally took place, and the chief depots
for forest produce had been established. When by
chance our direct route from forest to forest led across
such an open region, our movements were as rapid as
man and beast could make them ; and at the earliest
possible moment we hurried again from the face of
civilisation, like ghosts at cock-crow, to bury ourselves
again in the depths of the wilderness. In after years,
when employed in revenue work in a populous district,
I saw the reverse of the picture. Marching by fair
roads and easy stages, with a duplicate set of canvas
houses (for such our large Indian tents really are), one
of which goes on over-night and is pitched ready for
your arrival in the morningf, in the deep shade of some
mango grove, near a populous village which supplies all
your wants ; starting after the morning cup of hot coffee
to ride slowly along through green fields and grassy
plains ; and looking on the forest-covered hills on the
blue horizon only as an agreeable vanishing point in the
landscape, or as unpleasantly complicating the questions
of liquor excise and police administration ! It is
amazing what a difference the point of view makes.
The man who has dwelt for years among the forests,
and their simple wild inhabitants, will regard nearly
every question that arises in a wholly different light
from him whose experience has lain only among the
corn fields of the plains, and their tame and settled
tillers. And each of them will probably arrive at a
conclusion as little comprehending the whole bearings
of the question as the other.

The climate of Central India in the cold season, that
is, from November to March, is almost perfect for the

THE NARBADA VALLEY. 49

life of combined outdoor exercise and indoor occupation
which forms the healthiest sort of existence in India.
The midday sun, if a little hot for hard work in the
open air, is just sufficient to make the temperature
under canvas delis^htful, while the morninofs and
eveninofs are cool and bracinoj, and the nisfhts cold
enough to make several blankets a necessity. In
January, ice will generally be found on w^ater that has
been exposed all night. Nothing can, in my opinion,
exceed the exhilarating effect of a march at such a
season, with pleasant companions, through a country
teeming with interest in its scenery, its people, and its
natural productions, such as is this region of the
Narbada valley.

The valley was not long ago — not long, that is, in
the history of countries — a hunting ground of the
Gonds and other wild tribes who are now chiefly con-
fined to the hills which surround it. At most, it could
have been but scantily patched by their rude tillage
before the arrival of the Hindu races, who have cleared
its forests, driven the wild elephant that roamed
through them to the far east, and covered its black soil
with an unbroken stretch of wheat cultivation that
strikes every visitor with admiration. In less than
three centuries this has been done ; and yet it is the
custom to say that India is an unprogressive country,
that she has been standing^ still since the besjiunino; of
history ! Everything shows that this country is still in
its very youth. The people, strong-limbed and healthy,
rejoicing in the rude abundance that falls to the lot of
energetic races tillino; an almost virsrin soil. Tillinir it
roughly, it is true, getting from it nothing approaching
to the quantity of produce extracted by the denser

50 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

populations of long-reclaimed tracts from much inferior
soils ; but still, tilling it in the way which is the most
profitable to a scanty population with a poor accumula-
tion of wealth and stock. The example of all new
countries with much available land, even when, as
in America, all the resources of capital and machinery
are available, shows that a comparatively rough culture
of a large area is more remunerative than the higher
tillage of a smaller area ; and this alone is the cause of
the rude state of agriculture still observed in this and
many other parts of India. At present, plenty for all
is the rule, poverty the very rare exception. Well-built
houses, well-stocked cattle yards, and a general air of
comfort and happiness, cannot fail to arrest the atten-
tion in Hindu villages. It is true that the people of
the soil, those of the Gonds who have preferred to stay
and serve a Hindu master to a retreat to the hills, are
poorly clad and housed, living like outcasts beyond the
limits of the Hindu quarter ; but they, too, are at least
sufficiently fed ; and nothing but their own innate
apathy and vice prevents them from receiving a greater
share of the surrounding plenty.

As the influence on the aborigines in the past, and
at the present time, of their contact with these invading
Hindu races will afterwards form matter of considera-
tion, it is important to understand of what material
these Hindu races themselves are really composed.
They have generally been comprehended in the category
of "Aryan," as distinguished from the "Tauranian"
peoples who are believed to have preceded the fair-
complexioned Aryan invaders from Upper Asia in the
occupation of Hindostan, and among whom are included
the remnants of wild tribes still found in the hills.

THE NAKBADA valley. 51

But it needs but little observation of tliese Hindu races
to perceive that they themselves have long been
subjected to some influence which has greatly modified
the original high Aryan type — a type which includes
the noblest races of mankind ; the Caucasian of Europe,
the Persian of high Asia, and the Sanscrit-speaking
"fair-skinned" people who entered India from the
north uncalculated ages ago. That influence cannot
have been one of climate only, which would have
aff"ected all their descendants equally ; whereas we see
existing the greatest range of diversity, from the light-
coloured, noble-featured Brahman of the extreme north-
west to the black and negro-like chamar or pariah of
the east and south. Everything shows that the cause
has been a mino-lino- of the immio^rant race with the
inferior Tauranian tribes whom they found occupying
the soil before them. To judge from physical ap-
pearance, few but the highest castes of Northern India
can have any claim to purity of Aryan blood ; and the
admixture of indigenous blood, as indicated by colour
and feature, appears to be greater and greater the
further we proceed from the seat of the original Aryan
settlements in the north-west. It can scarcely be
doubted, then, that the modern Hindus are a composite
race, resulting from the absorption of a wave of
Aryanism in a great ocean of peoples of a far inferior
type — the type, in fact, represented by such of them as
have still remained undiluted in their inaccessible hills.
The force of the wave diminished as it proceeded ; and
the gradations in the extent of its influence are now so
subtle, that it is hard to say where the line should be
drawn to denote a preponderance of the one element
over the other. The difiiculty is further increased by

E 2

52 THE HIGHLANDS OF CEXTKAL I^s^DlA.

the circumstance that the Aryan Language, customs, and
beliefs appear to have been carried far beyond any
perceptible influence of the Aryan blood, so that whole
races, who show little or nothing of the latter, have
become thoroughly imbued with the former.

Not, however, without notable modification have the
Aryan language, religion, and customs thus permeated
the masses of the inferior races. In lanoruagje, while the
tongue of the most northern high-caste races has changed
from the classical Sanscrit scarcely more than was in-
evitable from the wear and tear of use throug-h such lonsj
ages, that spoken by the masses of lower physical type
has suffered so radical an alteration that a large proportion
of its vocables, in some parts as much as half, are not
traceable to Sanscrit at all ; while in Southern India,
where the aboriginal type has been little modified, purely
aboriginal languages, unconnected with Sanscrit, are still
spoken. Still greater has been the effect on the Aryan
religion of contact with these lower races. The gods of
the primitive Aryans have almost disappeared from
practical recognition. The backbone of the original
system survives in its priesthood and ceremonial, just as
the backbone of the language survives in the gram-
matical forms of the invaders. But, as the vocables
of the tongue have frequently been adopted from the
aborigines, so probably have the popular gods of the
pantheon been largely drawn from aboriginal sources.
No religious system possesses such facility for prose-
lytising as a polytheism ; and history shows that when
two such systems meet, there is nothing to stand in the
way of their coalescing but the rivalry of their priests.
Here there probably was no such rivalry. To judge
from those which remain, the aborimnal tribes had no

THE is^ ARE AD A VALLEY". 53

regular priesthood, and no systematic mythology. They
had only inchoate gods, without a history, and numerous
as the natural objects whose forces they represented.
And when the tribes accepted the Hindu priest and his
ceremonial, the priest found no difficulty in admitting to
his accommodating pantheon a sufficient number of these
to satisfy the conscience of the aboriginal Pantheist.
The leading deities in the existing Hindu pantheon,
Siva and Vishnii, were wholly unknown to the early
Aryans ; and even they themselves are at the present
day scarcely worshipped at all, in their radical forms, by
the great body of the people, but only in the form of
mythological consorts and sons, and incarnations in
many forms, most of which are probably adaptations of
the gods and heroes of the races thus absorbed within
the accommodating pale of Hinduism. Nor is this all.
Even such secondary forms of the regular gods of the
Brahmans receive but little of the real devotion of the
people, which is paid rather to tribal and village deities,
unheard of in recognised mythology, and to the Lares
and Penates of the householder. And these, the Brah-
man priest, who is paid for his services, has no scruple
in recognising as orthodox. Superj&cial inquirers have
quoted Hinduism as a faith which cannot admit of a
proselyte ; but nothing could be more completely the
reverse of the truth. Anything in the way of new gods
may be brought by new worshippers within the pale of
orthodoxy, provided only that they agree to accept the
dominion of the Brahman priest, together with the caste
rules and ceremonial by means of which he exercises his
power.

It was, then, with a race thus already modified, and
with a social and religious system which had thus

54 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

already engulfed the great mass of the indigenous nations
of India, and which was still ready to absorb in a similar
manner any number more of them, that the aborigines
of Central India came in contact. What has been the
result will be discussed in a future portion of this work.

In a new country like this, few objects of antiquarian
interest attract the attention of the traveller. Allusion
has already been made to the traces of isolated settle-
ments of Aryans in the country, who had all been swept
away again, or had been absorbed in the indigenous
element surrounding them, before the true history of
the country opens; and a few shapeless ruins still remain
to mark the sites of some of these settlements "in the
unremembered ages." Generally, however, even the
religious edifices, which in the East seem to outlast all
others, will be found to be of very modern date, and of
little pretension to interest. They will frequently be
met with standing on the embankment of some water-
tank, covered with the lotus in full bloom, and shaded
by great trees of mango, tamarind, and fig. Very often
the camp will be pitched alongside of them, for the sake
of the fine shade ; and the wild fowl and snipe that
frequent the tanks will probably form an attraction, to
the sportsm^an at least, superior to the allurements of
such poor antiquities.

Snipe and wild fowl begin to arrive in these central
regions of India, voyaging from the frozen wilds of
Central Asia, early in October ; and, before the end
of November, every piece of water and swampy hollow
afibrds its continorent to the efun. The common teal,^*
and the whistling teal,t are the most numerous, as well
as the first to make their appearance. The lovely blue-
* Querqtiedula crecca. f Dendrocijgna mcsuree.

THE :J^ARBADA valley. 55

winged teal * is scarcely less common ; and of larger
ducks, the red-headed pochard,t the wigeon,| the pintail,§
and the gadwall, || are found throughout the winter
on nearly every tank of tolerable size. On the main
rivers, and on the larger reservoirs, such as those of
Bhandara and Lachora, in Nimar, which, though owing
their existence to the hand of man (the giants of past
days, who knew the requirements of India better than
their successors), yet approach the dignity of lakes,
many other species of wild fowl will be found, including
that king of ducks, the mallard,Tl the common gray
goose,*'* and the black-backed goose.tt The latter species
is extremely common ; the others, which are much
superior for the table, are comparatively infrequent.
Numerous wading birds, storks, herons, and cranes,
haunt every pool and marsh. Few of these offer much
temptation to the sportsman, except the Demoiselle
crane,|| generally known as the Coolen, which is much
sought after, and is therefore difficult to approach. Few
extensive wheat or gram fields in the Narbadii valley
will be found at this season without a flock of these
delicious birds stalking across it, in the morning and
evening, grazing on the young shoots.

If encamped in the neighbourhood of a river or
swamp, the traveller will probably be aroused at day-
break by the quavering and sonorous call of the giant
Sarus crane,§§ a bird revered by the Hindus as a type of
conjugal afi'ection. They are nearly always seen in
pairs, and, should one of them be shot by the ruthless

* Q. circia. H Anas hosclias.

t Antlda ferina. ** Anser cinereus.

X Mareca xyenelope. tt A. melarionotus.

§ Dafila acuta. %% Antliropoides virgo.

II Chandlelasmus streperus. §§ Grus antigone.

56 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

gunner, the companion bird will return again and again
to the spot, to hover and lament over its slain friend in
a manner that generally prevails on the hardest hearted
to grant immunity to the race for ever after. A contrast
to this happy union of lovers is found by the Hindu in
the Braminy ducks/'' which also associate in pairs, but,
by a cruel fate, are compelled to pass their nights on the
opposite banks of a stream, wailing forth their unavailing
love in the melancholy " chukwa, chukwi," which few
travellers by the rivers of India have failed to hear in
the dusk of the evenino^. Their unfitness for the table,
probably more than the Hindii adage against their
slaughter, protects them from the gun.

Of other winged game, the gray quail — best of Indian
game birds, in my opinion — will be found in good num-
bers in most grain fields. I have never seen them here in
such swarms as in some parts of upper India, where eighty
or a hundred brace may be bagged in a day ; but the
sport is none the worse for that. Twenty brace is a
first-rate bag in Central India, and generally the sports-
man has to be contented with much less. The common
gray partridge, which closely resembles in appearance
the English bird, abounds in many places. It hugs the
vicinity of villages, and feeds foully. I have seen a
covey of them run out of the carcase of a dead camel,
and speed across the plain like so many hares. These
nasty habits, and its skulking nature, much belie its
appearance as a bird of game. Far diff'erent is the gallant
painted partridge,t which here takes the place of the
black partridge J of upper India. I have seen the latter
in Bandelkand ; but I am positive that it nowhere occurs
in the Central Provinces. The appearance of the two
* Casarca ruhila. f Fi-ancolhms pidas, % F. vulgaris.

THE NARBADA valley. 57

species is so alike, and their habits are so identical, that
assertions to the contrary have no doubt arisen from
mistake. No game bird could afford more perfect
shooting than the painted partridge. Of handsome
plumage, and excellent on the table^ his habits in the
field admirably adapt him for the purposes of the gun.
He frequents the outskirts of cultivation, in spots where
bushes and grass-cover fringe the edge of a stream, for
he seems to be very impatient of thirst. The proximity
of some sort of jungle seems to be as necessary as the
neighbourhood of crops. Morning and evening small
coveys or pairs of them will be found out feeding in the
stubble of the cut autumn crops, that latest reaped
being the most likely find. On being disturbed they
seldom run farther than to the edge of the nearest cover,
from which, on being flushed, they rise like rockets, with
a great ivhirr, straight up for twenty or thirty yards,
and then sail away over the top of the cover to a
distance of a few hundred yards ; this time plumping
into the middle of the cover, from which it is not so easy
to raise them again. This beautiful bird is most com-
mon in the extreme west of the Central Provinces, and
in good spots a bag of ten to fifteen brace to each gun
may be made in Nimar and the Tapti valley.

The most common way of shooting quail and part-
ridges is by beating them out with a line of men ; but
it is a poor sport compared to shooting them over dogs.
I have used both pointers and spaniels in this sport. The
former secure the best of shooting in the early morning
and late in the evening, while the birds are out of cover
and the scent good, and four hours' shooting may thus
be had in the day. But a team of lusty spaniels is,
I think, on the whole preferable, as they are useful also

58 THE HIGHLA^^DS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

for many sorts of cover shooting where pointers could
not be worked. They also keep their health better,
and degenerate less in breeding than any other im-
ported dog, which is probably due to their descent from
a race originated in a warm climate. They make the
best of all companions, and are not so liable to "come
to grief " in many ways as larger dogs. Fresh imported
blood is, however, required, at least once in every two
generations, to keep all English sporting dogs up to their
best in India. The spaniels should either be large
Clumbers, or of the heavy Sussex breed, as a small dog
like a cocker cannot jDcnetrate the jungle cover. The
noble Clumber, otherwise faultless, has the fault for this
particular purpose of giving no tongue on game ; I com-
menced the breed, which I maintained for twelve years
in India, with a strain of pure Clumber in the never-to-
be-forgotten " Quail " — a dog that for looks and quality
surpassed anything of the breed I can now discover in
England. All his descendants were more or less crossed
with Sussex or cocker blood ; but none of them ever
gave tongue till the fourth generation, when symptoms
of it began to appear. On the whole, then, I think I
would prefer the heavy Sussex breed.

On one occasion the whole of my spaniels were very
nearly being "wiped out" by one of a class of accidents
that must be looked for in India. I was shooting quail
in a grain field near Jubbulj^iir, with "Quail," " Snipe,"
" Nell," and " Jess," when, on a sudden, they all began
to jump violently about, snapping at what seemed to
me to be a large rat. But coming nearer I made out
that it was a huge cobra, erect on his coil, and striking
right and left at the dogs. I lost no time in pelting
them off with clods of earth, and then cut the brute's

THE NARBADA VALLEY. 59

head off with a charge of shot ; when I fouDcl that the
snake had been in the act of swallowing a rat, of which
the hind-legs and tail were protruding from his jaws, so
that his repeated lunges at the dogs had fortunately
been harmless. All these spaniels were famous ratters,
and had no doubt been attracted by the cobra's mouth-
ful, for they generally had, like all dogs of any experience
in India, a wholesome dread of the snake tribe. I never
lost any of these dogs by an accident, though exposed to
all the dangers of panthers, hyenas, wolves, suakes, and
crocodiles; and all of them lived to a good age, in
excellent health. As with men, English dogs keep
healthy enough if properly treated in accordance with
the climate.

Of larger game, the principal animal met with in the
settled parts is the black antelope, '^' which has probably
followed the clearings made by the immigrant races.
The aversion of this animal to thick uncleared jungle
has made it, in the Hindii sacred literature, a type of
the Aryan pale, of the land fitted for the occupation of
the fair-skioned races ; and the appropriate seat of the
devotee is still upon its black and white skin. It is too
well known to require any minute description. Suffice
it to say, that not even in Africa — the land of antelopes
— is there any species which surj^asses the " black buck "
in loveliness or grace. In Central India, although this
antelope attains the fall size of body, the horns of the
buck (the female is hornless and of a fawn colour) rarely
exceed a length of 22 inches. I have shot one with
horns 24^ inches, and seen a pair that measured 26
inches. The longest horns are probably attained in
Giijerat, and about Bhurtpiir in Northern India. In all
* Anfclnpe cervicapra.

60 THE HKxHLAXDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

the corn districts of Central India it is found in con-
siderable herds, and does much damage to the young
crops. I have seen herds in the fSagar country, im-
mediately after the Mutiny of 1857, when they were
little molested, which must have numbered a thousand
or more individuals. A tolerable shot could at that
time kill almost any number he chose. In most culti-
vated districts, tracts of the poorer land are kept under
grass for cattle-grazing, etc., and these preserves are
generally the favourite midday resorts and the breeding-
grounds of the antelopes. Thence in the evening they
troop out in squadrons on to the cultivated lands in the
vicinity ; and all the night long continue grazing on the
tender wheat shoots, returning in the gray of the morn-
ing to their safe retreat. Many will, however, remain
in the fields the whole day, sleeping and grazing at
intervals, unless driven off by the cultivators. In such
places the voices of the watchers in the fields wdll be
heard in the still night shouting continuously at the
antelopes ; but they seldom succeed in effecting more
than to move them about from field to field, doing more
damage probably than if they were left alone, for a buck
killed in the morning will always be found filled nearly
to bursting with the green food. Although many of
them are shot by the village shikaris at night, and more
snared and netted by the professional hunters called
Pardis (w^ho use a trained bullock in stalking round
the herds to screen their movements), the resources
of the natives are altogether insufficient, in a country
favourable to them, to keep down the numbers of these
prolific and wary creatures ; and it is a perfect godsend
to them when the European sportsman hits on their
neighbourhood ns a hunting-ground.

THE I^AEBADA valley. 61

There are many ways of circumventing them. Living
quite in the open they rely principally on the sense of
sight for protection, although at times warned also by
their power of smell. One way is to drive up to
them in one of the bullock-carts commonly used in
agriculture. The native shikari often sfets near them
by creeping up behind a screen of leaves which he
works before him. Where they have not been much
harassed the European sportsman, in sad-coloured
garments, can usually stalk in on them when passing
between the grass plains and the crops. In the very
early morning, if a station be taken up in their usual
route, they are nearly sure to come within shot, the
grunting of the bucks warning the sportsman of their
approach some time before they emerge from the dark-
ness. One of the most successful and interesting plans
is to ride a steady shooting horse nearly up to the
herd. When within say four hundred yards, slip off
and walk on the off side of the horse in such a direction
as will lead past the herd within shot, if possible on
the down-wind side. If they have been so shot at in
this way as to be shy of the horse, take a groom and
pass them further off; and when a convenient bush
or hillock intervenes drop behind, and let the man
lead the horse on, passing well clear of the herd. They
will probably be so intent on watching them out of
the way, that you will generally be able to creep in
on them without much difficulty. Shots at antelope
in populous districts are seldom got much under 150
yards nowadays, which is, however, near enough for
modern rifles to make sure W'Ork. One great advantage
of employing a horse in stalking is that it will often
enable you to follow and spear a wounded buck which

62 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

might otherwise escape. If you have a brace of good
greyhounds in the distance ready to slip, the chances
will be still better. A wounded buck often gives a
beautiful run with greyhounds, which have never been
known to catch an untouched and perfect antelope
on fair hard ground, though under conditions unduly
favourable to the dogs they have sometimes done so.
A shooting horse, like several which I have possessed,
who is quite steady under fire, does not need to be
tied, and will come to call, is a perfect treasure for
many sorts of sport in India. As in all good qualities,
the Arab is the most likely to develop such a character ;
but most horses are capable of being taught something
of the business. Should neither horse nor hounds be
at hand, a wounded buck should not be followed up
too quickly. If left to himself he will probably lie
down in the first cover he comes to ; and by watching
the line he takes you may often follow up and secure
him.

In upper India they are frequently shot by ap-
proaching them on a riding camel. The more bells
and gay trappings he has on him the better, as the
antelope on this plan fall victims to their curiosity
and amazement. I brought down to Central India
with me a trained camel, with which I had thus be-
wildered many an antelope into rifle distance ; but
after getting some dangerous tumbles, owing to the
yawning cracks that form in the black soil in these
provinces after the rains, I had to abandon the camel
as a shooting vehicle. As a sport antelope-shooting
palls upon the taste. There is too much of it, and
it lacks variety. So I should think also w^ould be
the case with much of the African sport we read of.

THE NARBADA valley. 63

To the beginner in Indian sport, however, there is no
pursuit more fascinating. The game being nearly
always within sight, the excitement is maintained
throughout the day's sport. Simple as it seems, it
takes a grood man and a sjood rifle to make much of
a bag when the antelope have been much disturbed.
The old hand is apt to smile at the enthusiasm of
the "griff" when he dilates on the glories of antelope-
stalking ; but the time was when he too passed through
the stage at which the acquisition of a particular long
spiral pair of horns was more to him than the wealth
of all the Indies, and when nothing impressed him so
profoundly with the vanity of all human afi'airs as the
miss of "a few inches" under or over, which so fre-
quently terminated the weary stalk. Perhaps I may
be allowed to quote a description of the pursuit of a
master buck, written many years ago, when I myself
was in the throes of the " buck fever."

" I had frequently seen in my rambles over the
antelope plains a more than ordinarily magnificent coal-
black buck. I had watched him for hours through my
' Dollond,' but my most laborious attempts to reach him
by stalking had as yet proved futile. His horns were
perfection, of great size, well set on, twisted and knotted
like the gnarled branch of an old oak-tree. As the sun
glanced on his sable coat, it shone like that of a race-
horse fit to run for the Two Thousand Guinea Stakes —
in fact, he w^as the heau ideal of a perfect black buck.
Of course, the more difficult the task appeared, the more
determined was I that these superb horns should be
mine, and that in future I would disregard every buck
except the one. He was constantly attended by two
does, to whom he confidently entrusted the duty of

64 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

watching over his personal safety — and faithful sentinels
they were. They seemed to relieve each other with the
precision of sentries, and clever indeed would be the
stalker who could approach within many hundred paces
ere the warning hiss of the watchful doe aroused the
grand signior from his siesta. It was then grand to see
the majestic air of the buck, as, after stretching his
graceful limbs, he slowly paced towards the object of his
suspicion, still too far distant to cause him any alarm.
Now he stops, and, tossing his nostrils in the air, snufifs
the breeze that might convey to his delicate sense the
human taint. Now he lazily crops a blade or two of
grass, or scientifically whisks a fly from his glossy haunch
wath the tip of his horn ; anon he saunters up to one of
his partners, and seems to take counsel regarding the
state of affairs. Again, as some movement of the distant
figure catches his eye, his sudden wheel and prolonged
gaze show that, despite his careless mien, not for a
moment has he lost sight of his well-known foe. But
soon the does begin to take real alarm ; and after fidget-
ing round their lord, as if to apprise him of the full
extent of the danger, trot ofi" together tow^ards some
other haunt. Now they halt a moment, and look round
appealingly to the buck, and again with feigned con-
sternation start off" at a gallop, every now and then
taking imaginary ten-barred gates in their stride. At
last the buck, after remaining behind a decent time to
maintain his character for superior courage, follows them
at a pace that mocks the eff'orts of every animal on the
face of the earth but one — the hunting leopard.

" Such was the invariable result of my best eflforts
for upwards of a w^eek. I would not risk a long shot,
as it might drive him for ever from that j)art of the

THE NARBADA VALLEY. 65

country. His favourite haunt was a wide grassy plain,
intersected here and there by dry watercourses, up which
I had many a weary crawl, ventre a terre. I soon found
out his usual feeding and drinking places ; and observed
that to reach the latter he almost daily crossed a deepish
dry nullah about the same place. This struck me as
affording the means of circumventing him, so I took up
my position in the nullah ; but as luck would have it,
my buck took his water in some other direction for the
next two days. Many other herds of antelope constantly
passed within easy shot of where I was ensconced ; but
not until I was almost giving up hope on the third day,
and was taking a last sweep of the plain with my
binocular, did the well-known form of the master buck
greet my vision, as he slowly wound his way with his
two inseparable companions towards the pool to which
he had watched so many of his species passing and
repassing in safety.

"The wind was favourable, and the buck came
steadily on till he arrived within a long rifle shot of
where I was posted. Here he suddenly threw up his
head, and, after standing at gaze for a few moments,
turned sharp to the left and started off at a canter for a
pass in the nullah, about a quarter of a mile from where
I was. I knew he could neither have seen nor smelt me,
and was at a loss to account for his sudden panic till, on
turning round in disgust, there was the cause behind
me, in the shape of a small parcel of does, which had
evidently been returning from the water, but, having
discovered my unprotected rear, were now pulled up in
a body, and staring at me with an air which had tele-
graphed the state of affairs to the old buck in an
unmistakable manner. I felt very much inclined to

66 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDLi.

sacrifice one of the inquisitive does to my just wrath,
but preferred the chance of a running shot at the buck ;
so off I started at a crouching run (somewhat trying to
the small of the back) up the bed of the nullah, in the
hopes that the buck might have pulled up ere he crossed,
and would still afford me a shot. Nor was I mistaken,
for, on turning a bend of the tortuous nullah, there he
stood, broadside on, in all his magnificence, not eighty
yards from my rifle ; but, alas ! who could shoot after a
run, almost on all-fours, of some 500 yards or so?
When I attempted to bring the fine sight to bear on his
shoulder, my hand trembled like an aspen leaf, and the
sight described figures of eight all over his body. There
was no help for it, however ; he was moving away, and
I mio^ht never have such another chance. So, almost in
despair, I fired. I was not surprised to see the ball raise
the dust a hundred yards or so on his further side, and
with a tremendous bound of, I fear to say how many
yards, straight in the air, away went the buck like an
arrow from the bow. In for a penny, in for a pound !
Once fired at, I might as well have the other shot ; so
stepping from my cramped position, I held my breath
as I tried to cover his fleeting figure with the second
barreL He had gained at least 150 yards ere I touched
the trigger, but the ball sped true, and over rolled the
buck in a cloud of dust. Short was my triumph, how-
ever, for ere I had well taken the rifle from my shoulder
he had regained his feet, and was ofl" with hardly
diminished speed. It is very rarely that an antelojDe thus
suddenly rolled over does not succeed in regaining his
legs. Their vital power is immense, and nothing but a
brain shot or broken spine will tumble them over for
good on the spot. When shot in the heart they gene-

THE N ARE ADA VALLEY. 67

rally run some fifty yards and then fall dead, and I
much prefer to see an antelope go off thus, with the
peculiar gait well known to experienced shots as the
forerunner of a speedy dissolution, than to see even the
prettiest somersault follow the striking of the ball.

" In the present instance I watched the antelope
almost to the verge of the horizon. Now and then he
slackened his pace for a few seconds, and looked round
at his wounded flanks, and then, as if remembering that
he had not yet put sufficient distance between him and
the fatal spot, he would again start forward with
renewed, energy. The two does, as is generally the
case when the buck is wounded, had gone off in a dif-
ferent direction ; and were now standing on the plain,
a few hundred paces from where I stood, gazing wist-
fully from me to their wounded lord. Such are the
scenes that touch the heart of even the hardest deer-
stalker, and for a moment I almost wished my right
hand had been cut off ere I pulled trigger on this the
loveliest of God's creatures.

" When he dwindled before the naked eye till he
seemed as a black speck on the far horizon, I still con-
tinued to watch him through my glass, in the hope that
he mio;ht lie down when he thouo;ht himself concealed,
in which case I might steal in and end his troubles by
another shot. Suddenly I saw him swerve from his
course, and start off in another direction at full speed.
Almost at the same instant a puff of smoke issued from
a small bush on the plain — the buck staggered and fell,
and, many seconds afterwards, the faint report of a gun-
shot reached my ears."

The person who came to my aid in so timely a
fashion was a native sportsman, whom I then saw for

F 2

G8 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

the first time. He was more like the professional hunter
of the American backwoods than any other native of
India I have ever met. His short trousers and hunting-
shirt of Mhowa green displayed sinewy limbs and throat
of a clear red brown, little darker than the colour of a
sun-burnt European. An upright carriage and light
springy step marked him out as a roamer of the forests
from youth upwards ; and the English double-barrelled
gun, and workmanlike appointments of yellow sambar
leather, looked like the genuine sportsman I soon found
him to be. Many a glorious day did I afterwards pass
with him in the pursuit of nobler game than black
bucks.

The chikdrd, or Indian gazelle,^ is another antelope
very common in Central India. It is called often the
" ravine deer " by sportsmen ; and, as regards the first
part of the name, is so far well denoted. Its favourite
haunts are the banks of the shallow ravines that often
intersect the plain country in the neighbourhood of
rivers, and seam the slopes of the higher eminences
rising out of the great central table-land. These are
generally thinly clothed with low thorny bushes, on the
young shoots and pods of which it browses like the
domestic goat. Of course it is wrong to call it a
*' deer," which term properly belongs only to the solid-
horned Cervidce. Considerably smaller than the black
antelope, the gazelle also diff'ers much from it in habits.
It prefers low jungle to the open plain ; and trusts more
to its watchfulness and activity than to speed, which,
however, it also possesses in a high degree. It is very
rare to catch a gazelle, or still more a herd of them, ofi"
their guard ; and it is surprising how, on the least
* Gazella Benneitii.

THE NAEBADA VALLEY. 69

alarm, the little creatures manage to disappear as if by
magic. They have probably just hopped into the bottom
of a ravine, sped along it like lightning for about a
hundred yards, and are regarding you, intent and mo-
tionless, from behind the straggling bushes on the next
rising ground. Should you follow them up, they will
probably repeat the same manoeuvre, but this time
putting three or four ravines between you and them
instead of one. They also resort to the cultivation to
feed, though not so regularly as the black antelope ; and
their numbers are not sufficient to do any notable
damage. In the morning they may often be found
picking their way back to the network of ravines, where
they stay during the day. Should you disturb them at
this time, they will most likely seek their cover at top
speed ; and what that amounts to wall amaze you if you
let slip a greyhound at them. Chikdrd have not yet
learned the range of the modern " Express " rifle ; and
consequently they still often let one get almost within
the killing distance of the old weapon, and are easily
knocked over with the " Express." The depth of their
slender bodies is so small that a bullet must be planted
in a space little wider than a hand's-breadth to make
sure of stopping them. Shots are generally got at a
distance of from 100 to 150 yards ; and the difficulty of
such fine shooting at uncertain distances, together with
their peculiar " dodginess " in keeping out of sight,
makes the stalking of them a more difficult, and I think
more interesting, sport than the pursuit of the larger
antelope. Their art has little variety in it, however ;
and there is something to the experienced eye in the
features of the ground which will almost infallibly tell
whereabouts one is likely to have stopped after his first

70 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA.

disapjDearance. Unless they have been seen to go clean
away, they should always be followed up on the chance
of beiusf found asfain.

The last of the antelopes met with in the open
country is the Nilgae,* the male of which, called a
"blue bull," will stand about 131 hands high at the
shoulder. The female is a good deal smaller, and of a
fawn colour. Their habitat is on the lower hills that
border and intersect the plains, and also on the plains
themselves wherever grass and bushes afford sufficient
cover. The old sites of deserted villages and cultiva-
tion, unfortunately so common, which are usually
covered with long grass and a low bushy growth of
Palas and Jujube trees,t are seldom without a herd of
nilgae. They are never found very far from cultivation,
which they visit regularly every night. AVhen little
fired at, the blue bull is very easily approached and
shot. It is very poor eating, and affords no trophy
worth taking away, so that it is not much sought after
by the sportsman. The beginner, however, who is
steadying his nerves, or the inventor who wants a sub-
stantial target for a new projectile, will find them very
accessible and convenient. The blue bull is an awkward ^
lumbering, stupid brute ; and it is highly ludicrous to
observe the air of self-satisfaction with which a block-
head of a bull, who has allowed you to walk up within
fifty yards of him, will blunder off to the other side of a
nala, then turn round and stand still within easy range
of your rifle, and look as if he thought himself a very
clever fellow indeed for so thoroughly outwitting you.
He is a favourite quarry with the unenterprising
Mahomedan gentleman. The antelope his style of dress

* Fortax pidus. f Butea frondo^a, Zi::ij2>hus Jujuha.

THE NAEBADA VALLEV. 71

and powers of locomotion do not allow liini to approach ;
tlie rugged ground and thorny underwood prohibit his
succeeding; with the forest deer ; the ti^^er he likes not
the look of, and the -pig he may not touch ; so he
gets him into a bullock-cart, and is driven within a few
paces of an unsuspecting blue bull, whose carcase, when
shot and duly cut in the throat after the rules of his
faith, makes for him the beef which his soul loveth.
Awkward and inactive as he looks, however, the blue
bull, when fairly pushed to his speed, will give a good
horse as much as he can do to overhaul him. It is in
vain to attempt it in or near the jungle ; but if you can
succeed in getting at him when he has a mile or two to
go across the open plain, a real good run may be had
with the spear. I have never heard of a blue bull
attempting to charge when brought to bay, in which
respect, therefore, the sport of riding them is inferior to
pig-sticking.

Such are the principal animals which form the
objects of the sportsman's pursuit in the open country.
As, however, in a state of nature, there never are
herbivorous creatures without their attendant carnivora
to form a check and counterbalance to them, so we find
various natural enemies attendant on the herds of
antelope and nilgae, whose acquaintance the sportsman
will occasionally make. The nilgae is a favourite prey
of the tiger and the panther. But it is in the low hills
where he retires during the day, rather than in the
plains where he feeds at night, that he meets these
relentless foes ; and the chief carnivorous creatures of
the open country are the hunting leopard,'^' the wolf,t
and the jackal .|

* F. juhata. t C- pallvpes. | C. aureus.

72 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

I have several times come across and shot the
hunting leopard when after antelope ; but they cannot
be called common in this part of India. They live
mostly in the low, isolated rocky eminences called
Torias, that rise here and there like islets in the middle
of the plains, and on the central plateau, and which are
frequently surrounded by grassy plains where they hunt
their prey. They are of a retiring and inoffensive
disposition, never coming near dwellings, or attacking
domesticated animals, like the leopard and panther ;
and I never heard of their showing any sport when
pursued. Their manner of catching the antelope, by a
union of cat-like stealth of approach and unparalleled
velocity of attack, has often been described. A few are
kept tame by the wealthier natives, but more, I think,
for show than real use in hunting.

The common jackal, always ready for food of any
description, seldom fails to make a meal of any wounded
animal, and I have seen a small gang of them pursue a
wounded antelope I had just fired at. The fawns of the
antelope and gazelle frecjuently become their victims.

The wolf is extremely common in the northern parts
of the province ; frequenting the same sort of ground as
the antelope and chikdra. I have very seldom met with
them in forest tracts ; and I think that in India they
are clearly a plain-loving species. They unite in parties
of five or six to hunt ; the latter being the largest
number I have ever seen together. More generally
they are found singly or in couples. I have several
times observed them in the act of hunting the antelope ;
their method being to steal in on all sides of a detached
party of does and fawns, and trust to a united rush to
capture one or more of them before they attain their

THE NARBADA VALLEY. 73

speed. Fast as tlie wolf is (as you will learn if you try
to ride him down), I do not believe be is capable of
running down an antelope in a fair bunt, tbougb
doubtless old or injured animals are thus killed by
him. When game is not to be had, the wolf seldom
fails to get a meal in the neighbourhood of villages, in
the shape of a dog or a goat. They are deadly foes to
the former; and will stand outside a village or the
traveller's camp at night, and howl until some inex-
perienced cur sallies forth to reply, when the lot of that
cur will probably be to return no more. Unfortunately,
the wolf of Central India does not always confine
himself to such substitutes for legitimate game ; and
the loss of human life from these hideous brutes has
recently been ascertained to be so great that a heavy
reward is now offered for their destruction. Though
not generally venturing beyond children of ten or
twelve years old, yet, when confirmed in the habit of
man-eating, they do not hesitate to attack, at an
advantage, full-grown women and even adult men. A
good many instances occurred, during the construction
of the railway through the low jungles north of
Jubbulpiir, of labourers on the works being so attacked,
and sometimes killed and eaten. The attack was
commonly made by a pair of wolves, one of which
seized the victim by the neck from behind, preventing
outcry, while the other, coming swiftly up, tore out the
entrails in front. These confirmed man-eaters are
described as having been exceedingly wary, and fully
able to discriminate between a helpless victim and an
armed man.

My own experience of wolves does not record an
instance of their attacking an adult human being ; but

74 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

I have known many places where children were regularly
carried off by them. Superstition frequently prevents
the natives from protecting themselves or retaliating on
the brutes. I was once marchinof throusfh a small
village on the borders of the Damoh district, and
accidentally heard that for months past a pair of wolves
had carried off a child every few days, from the centre of
the village and in broad daylight. No attempt what-
ever had been made to kill them, though their haunts
were perfectly well known, and lay not a quarter of a
mile from the village. A shapeless stone representing
the goddess Devi, under a neighbouring tree, had
instead been daubed with vermilion, and liberally
projDitiated with cocoa-nuts and rice ! Their plan of
attack was uniform and simple. The village stood on
the slope of a hill, at the foot of which ran the bed of a
stream thickly fringed with grass and bushes. The
main street of the village, where children were always
at play, ran down the slope of the hill ; and while one
of the wolves, which was smaller than the other, would
ensconce itself among some low bushes between the
village and the bottom of the hill, the other would go
round to the top, and, watching an opportunity, race
down through the street, picking up a child by the way,
and making off with it to the thick cover in the nala.
At first the people used to pursue, and sometimes made
the marauder drop his prey ; but, as they said, finding
that in that case the companion wolf usually succeeded
in carrying off another of the children in the confusion,
while the first was usually so injured as to be beyond re-
covery, they ended, like phlegmatic Hindus as they were,
by just letting them take as many of their offspring as
they \vanted ! An infant of a few years old had thus been

THE NARBADA VALLEY. 75

carried off the morning of my arrival. It is scarcely
credible that I could not at first obtain sufficient beaters
to drive the cover where these two atrocious brutes were
gorging on their unholy meal. At last a few of the
outcaste helots who act as village drudges in those parts
were induced to take sticks and accompany my horse-
keeper with a hog-spear, and my Sikh orderly with his
sword, through the belt of grass, while I posted myself
behind a tree with a double rifle at the other end. In
about five minutes the pair walked leisurely out into an
open space within twenty paces of me. They were
evidently mother and son ; the latter about three-
quarters grown, with a reddish-yellow well-farred coat,
and plump appearance ; the mother a lean and grizzled
hag, with hideous pendent dugs, and slaver dropping
from her disgusting jaws. I gave her the benefit of the
first barrel, and dropped her with a shot through both
her shoulders. The whelp started off, but the second
barrel arrested him also with a bullet in the neck ; and
I watched with satisfaction the struggles of the mother
till my man came up with the hog-spear, which I
defiled by finishing her. In the cover they had come
through, my men said that their lairs in the grass were
numerous, and filled with fragments of bones ; so that
there was little doubt that the brutes thus so happily
disposed of, had long been perfectly at home in the
neighbourhood of these miserable superstitious villagers.
Dogs that are in the way of hunting jackals will
readily pursue a wolf, so long as he runs away. But
the wolf generally tries the effect of his bared teeth
on his pursuers before running very far, and only the
most resolute hounds can be brought to face them.
I have several times had my dogs chased back close

76 THE HIGHLANDS OF CE^^TEAL INDIA.

up to my horse by a wolf they had encountered when
out coursing foxes and jackals ; and onl}^ once saw
the dogs get the better of one without assistance from
the gun. On that occasion I had out a couple of
young greyhounds, crossed between the deerhound and
the Kampore breed ; and along with them was a very
large and powerful English bull-mastiff, rejoicing in the
name of ''Tinker," whose exceedingly plebeian looks
in no woy belied his name. He was an old hand at
fighting before ever he left the purlieus of his native
Manchester ; and in India had been victor in many
a bloody tussle with jackal, jungle cat, and pariah
dog. His massive head and well-armed jaws combined
in a high degree the qualities of a battering-ram and
heavy artillery ; and his courage was in full propor-
tion to his means of offence. On the present occasion
the three dogs espied the enemy sitting coolly on his
haunches on the top of a rising ground, and the young
dogs, taking him no doubt for a jackal, went at him
full speed, Tinker as usual lumbering along in the
rear. Soon, however, the hounds returned in a panic,
with their tails well down, and closely pursued by the
wolf, a large dark-gray fellow, snappiug and snarling
at their heels. The greyhounds fled past Tinker, who
steadily advanced, dropping into the crouching sort
of run he always adopted in his attack. No doubt
Master Wolf thought he too would turn from his
gleaming rows of teeth and erected hair, as all his
canine assailants had done before. But he never was
more mistaken, for the game old dog, as soon as a pace
or two only remained betwixt him and the enemy,
suddenly sprang to his full height, and, with a bound,
buried his bullet head in his advancing chest. I saw

THE NARBADA VALLEY. 77

the two roll over and over together, and then the
gallant Tinker rose on the top of the wolf, his vice-
like jaws firmly fastened on his throat. At this point
of a combat he usually overpowered his antagonist
utterly, by using his immense weight and power of
limb to force him prostrate on the earth, the while
riving at the throat with a force that often scooped a
hollow in the earth under the scene of action. His efforts
were now directed to effect this favourite manoeuvre ;
but the wolf was too strong for him, and repeatedly
foiled the attempt. But the young hounds, who were
not at all without pluck, soon returned to his assistance,
and seizing the wolf by different hind-legs, made such
a spread-eagle of him, that Tinker had no difficulty in
holding him down while I dismounted and battered
in his skull with the hammer-head of my hunting-
whip. None of the three dogs had been bitten, Tinker
having got his jaws in chancery from the very first.
I am sure that the three, or even Tinker alone, would
have killed him in time without my assistance ; for
Tinker never let go a grip he had once secured, and
though not so large, was not much inferior to him in
strength.

The catalogue of amusements offered to the sports-
man in the open plain would be incomplete without
a mention of the " mighty boar." He is to be found
almost everywhere — in the low jungle on the edge of
cultivation, and sometimes in the sugar-cane and other
tall crops ; and with a liberal expenditure of self and
horse may be ridden and speared in a good many places.
Generally, however, the country is highly unfavourable
to riding, the black soil of the plains being split up
into yawning cracks many feet in depth, or covered

78 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

witli rolling trap boulders, both sorts of country
being equally productive of dangerous croppers. The
neighbourhood of Ncigpiir affords the best ground ; and
there there is a regular " tent club," which gives a
Qjood account of numerous hoo;s in the course of the
year. The sport has been so voluminously described
that I believe nothing remains to be said about it.
The hogs that reside in the open plains are not much
inferior in size to those of other parts of India ; but
those met with in the hills are generally much smaller,
and far more active. A brown-coloured variety has
sometimes been noticed among them. The common
village pig of the country shows every sign of having
been derived from the wild race originally.

My march down the Narbada valley led along the
tortuous and rugged cart track, through the deep black
loam of the surrounding fields, which, before the
construction of the railway, was the only means of
communication through these fertile districts. Broken
carts strewed the roadside, and clumps of thorny acacias
overgrew the path. These were justly called the "cotton
thief" by the people, their branches being laden with
bunches of the fibre dear to Manchester, torn by their
thorns from the unpressed bales, as they lumbered along
on antediluvian bufi'alo carts towards the distant coast.

Large gangs of aboriginal Gouds from the nearer
hill tracts were labouring on thfe railway works. The
really wild tribes of the interior of the hills were not
yet attracted by the labour market in the plains,
preferring a dinner of jungle herbs and their squalid
freedom to plenty earned by steady toil under the
eye of the foreign taskmaster. But the semi-Hindii
tribes of the border -land, who are now the most

THE NAEBADA VALLEY. 79

numerous of the race, and whom long contact with
the people of the plains has imbued with wants and
tendencies strange to their wilder brethren, have reaped
a rich harvest from this sudden demand for labour
arisinoj at their doors. How far it has been to them
an unmixed advantas^e will be discussed further on.
As labourers, their innate distaste to steady toil, born
of long years of a semi-nomadic existence, renders them
inferior to the regular Maratha navvy of the Deccan,
who is also their superior in muscular power, and can
double the wages of any Gond at this sort of work.

On the 25th of January I quitted the main road down
the valley, near the little civil station of Narsiugpur,
and struck off nearly at right angles to the south,
marchinor direct for the hills that bounded the horizon
in that direction. About half-way through the march
of fifteen miles, the level deep black soil of the valley
began to give place to a red gravelly tract of undulating
conformation ; and numerous fine Mhoiva trees, forming
groups that at a little distance much resembled oaks,
and half-cleared fields, gave indications of the approach
of the border belt of half-reclaimed land which inter-
venes between the open plain and the forest-covered
hills. The Mhowa [Bassia latifolia) is one of the
most useful wild trees in this part of India. It is
not cut down like other forest trees in clearing the
land for tillage, its value being at first greater than
that of the area rendered unproductive by its shade
and roots. As the country gets more thickly peopled,
however, the case is reversed, and it generally dis-
appears in long-settled tracts. As a singular instance
of the influence sometimes exerted by social customs
on the physical character of a country, I may mention

80 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

an exception to this rule in the case of the district
of Nimar, which, even in its fully cultivated parts^
is still thickly dotted with Mhowa trees. The reason
of this I believe to be that, during the " times of
trouble " referred to in my first chapter, the majority
of the small proprietors of the land were ousted from
possession of their fields ; but the custom having been
established that possession of the fruit-trees growing
on it did not necessarily pass with the land, they
mostly retained the proprietorship of these trees. Thus
it has happened that the land is often owned by one
party and the trees by another. The rent is paid only
by the landholder ; and thus, though it would pay
him to clear oS" the trees, it would not pay the tree-
man ; and so they have remained, doubtless to the very
great advantage, and certainly to the beauty, of the
district.

The value of the Mhowa consists in the fleshy
corolla of its flower, and in its seeds. The flower is
highly deciduous, ripening and falling in the months
of March and April. It possesses considerable sub-
stance, and a sweet but sickly taste and smell. It
is a favourite article of food with all the wild tribes,
and the lower classes of Hindus ; but its main use is
in the distillation of ardent spirits, most of what is
consumed being made from Mhowa. The spirit, when
well made and mellowed by age, is by no means of
despicable quality, resembling in some degree Irish
whisky. The luscious flowers are no less a favourite
food of the brute creation than of man. Every
vegetable-eating animal and bird incessantly endeavours
to fill itself with Mhowa durinof its flowerino^ season.
Sambar, nilgae, and bears appear to lose their natural

THE NARBADA VALLEY^. 81

apprehensions of danger in some degree during the
Mhowa season ; and the most favourable chances of
shooting them are then obtained. The trees have to
be watched night and day if the crop is to be saved ;
and the wilder races, who fear neither wild beast nor
evil spirit, are generally engaged to do this for a
wage of one-half the j)roduce. The yield of flowers
from a sinole tree is about 130 lbs., worth five shillinsrs
in the market ; and the nuts, which form in bunches
after the dropping of the flowers, yield a thick oil,
much resembling tallow in appearance and properties.
It is used for burning, for the manufacture of soap,
and in adulterating the clarified butter so largely con-
sumed by all natives. A demand for it has lately
sprung up in the Bombay market ; and a good deal
has been exported since the opening of the railway.
The supply must be immense ; and probably this new
demand wdll be the means of greatly increasing the
value of the trees.

I encamped at the end of this march at a j)hace
called Mohpani, the scene of the works of the "Ner-
budda Coal and Iron Company." Most of the miners
employed at that time were Gonds, whose courage
in diving into the bowels of the earth was found to
be superior to that of other races. The universal
pantheism of the Gond stands him in good stead on
such occasions. From his cradle he has looked on
every rock, stream, and cavern as tenanted by its
peculiar spirit, whom it is only needful to propitiate
in a simple fashion to make all safe. So he just
touches with vermilion the rock he is about to blow
into a thousand fragments with a keg of powder,
lays before it a handful of rice and a nutshell full

82 THE HIGHLAI^DS OF CENTRAL IXDIA.

of Mliowa spirit, and lo ! the god of tlie coal-mine
is sufficiently satisfied to permit liis simple worshipper
to hew away as he pleases at his residence. If utility
is, as some have thought, a good quality in religions,
surely we have it in perfection in a pliable belief like
this.

Near Mohpaui is one of the best smidejheds in the
province. I went out to it in the afternoon with one
of the gentlemen connected with the w^orks, who surely
never could have seen a snipe before. We took opposite
sides of the long swamp, which swarmed with the long-
bills ; and when we met at the end I liad got twenty-
seven and a half couples, while my friend had collected
a miscellaneous bag of snippets, plovers, paddy-birds,
and minas, and not one snipe among them.

My next march lay under the northern face of the
main range of the Satpiiras, which here form a blufi"
headland rising some 500 feet above the plain, crowned
by an old fortress called Chaoragarh. This is one of
the many extensive fortifications constructed by the
chiefs of the country to the south of the Narbada, at the
time when the resistless tide of Mahomedan conquest,
after engulfing the Hindu kingdoms of upper India
and the Deccan, was rolling against the principalities
of these central regjions. The works of these forts
generally enclose a considerable space on the summit
of a naturally inaccessible hill, having been designed
for the retreat of large bodies of the inhabitants, and
of armies, in times of successful invasion. The flat-
topped and scarp-sided hills of the trap formation are
the most suitable for such strongholds, and there are
consequently more of them in the trap country than
elsewhere. Such additional works as are necessary are

THE NAEBADA VALLEY. 83

composed of massive blocks of rock, roughly squared
and laid without masonry. Inside tanks have generally
been excavated in the rock to hold a plentiful supply
of water, natural hollows being always taken advantage
of to avoid labour as much as possible. Before the
days of artillery such places must have possessed great
strength ; but we rarely hear of their being vigorously
defended by their possessors, and they were generally
surrendered after a short investment. Doubtless the
chief cause was usually want of provisions, masses of
people being suddenly huddled into the place, and
being unable to carry with them the scanty provender
afforded by a poor country in the face of danger. In
1564 the great Akber sent his lieutenant to reduce
the Gond chieftain of Mandla. The Gond troops, led
by the heroic Diirgawati, the Eajpiit widow of the
last chief, made a noble resistance to the invader near
Jubbulpiir ; but, the battle at last going against them,
their leader stabbed herself rather than suffer the dis-
grace of defeat ; and this fort of Chaoragarh immediately
afterwards fell into the hands of the Moslem, too^ether
with property and treasure valued in the chronicles at
an altosfether fabulous amount. The summits of these
old forts usually contain a little water in the old tanks ;
and being generally covered with thick jungle are
favourite resorts of the tiger and other animals in the
hot weather.

From my camp at Chaolpani a single peak of the
Puchmurree hills w^as visible. It had not a very
imposing appearance, however, as I find it recorded
as " like half an egg sticking out of an immense egg-
cup ! " A couple of bears came close up to the camp
at night and commenced to fight, making a fearful

G 2

84 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

noise, it seemed to me, as I awoke, inside the tent
ropes. The horses were tearing at their pickets, and
all the camp in a hubbub. I started out with a gun,
but the people said they had just passed through the
camp, rolling over each other and growling ; and it
was so pitch dark that I could not see any distance
before me, and had to come back. The next march
was fourteen miles to Jhilpa, the last village before
the ascent of the hills begins. The view of Puchmurree
was lost during this march from our being too close
under the intervening range of hills. On the way I
shot a young Sambar stag ; and after arriving in camp
a messenger from the village I had left in the morning
came in breathless to say that a tiger had killed a
bullock in the morning within half a mile of my
camp. At that time of year, when the jungle is very
green and thick, and tigers always on the move, it
was not worth while to go back, even if I had had the
time.

This day's march was through a much more jungly
country than I had yet met. It could not be called
a forest ; for the trees were all of the secondary growth,
which marks land repeatedly cleared and abandoned
again : and the cultivation, such as it was, was still
carried on with the regular bullock-plough, after the
manner of the plains. In many places there was a
thick growth of teak poles from old stumps of trees ;
and many of the fields had been hewn out of these
coppices, the poles being burnt on the ground as manure,
in the manner to be hereafter described. The clear
and pretty stream of the Denwa, which comes down
from Puchmurree, was crossed several times by the
track we followed, and contained on its sandy banks

TJIE NARBADA VALLEY. 85

many footprints of tigers. Tliere Wcas evidently a good
deal of forest game about. The valley is one of those
tracts on the border between open plain and dense
jungle, where much of the nocturnal life of the forest
creatures is passed. In such a tract the traveller will
often be astonished at the quantity of signs of animals
he will see in the morning all about his night's camp,
while not a wild creature of any sort will he find in
the neighbourhood if he goes to look for them after
the sun is up. The fact is that deer, bears, pigs, etc.,
travel such long distances at night to their feeding
grounds, and depart again to the remoter hills so early
in the morning, that unless a very early start be made,
nothing but the tracks they have left behind will ever
be seen. The tigers and panthers, again, which prey
on them, although not usually retreating so far, yet
seek the most secluded thickets and ravines of the
neighbourhood at an equally early hour, and in the
cold weather are so much on the alert, and can so
easily hide in the thick vegetation, that the chances
with them, except by sitting up over a bait at night,
are equally poor. The native shikari, watching by
night, kills a great deal of game at this season. But
it is very slow and cold, as well as rather poaching
work, and few Europeans are cat-like enough to succeed
in it. Now, as most Europeans who attempt shooting
at all in India (and who does not at first ?) only go out
during the cold season, and never go deeper into the
forest than this semi-cleared belt, the reason of much of
the want of success complained of is not far to seek.
To ensure success the animals must be followed up into
the deeper jungles.

CHAPTER III.

THE mAhADEO hills.

In the eyes of the Hindu inhabitants of the neigh-
bouring plains, the whole of the range of hills which
culminated in the Puchmurree plateau is sacred to their
deity Siva, called Mahadeo, or the Great God ; and the
hills themselves are called by his name, the Mahadeos.
A conception of awe and mystery had always been
associated with their lofty peaks, embosomed among
which lies one of the most sacred shrines of the god,
to which at least one pilgrimage was a necessity in the
life of every devout Hindii. But excepting at the
appointed season for this pilgrimage, no dweller of the
plains would venture, at the time of which I am writing,
to set his foot on the holy soil of Mahadeo's hills ; and,
as we approached its neighbourhood, gloomy looks
began to gather on the faces of my followers, whose
fears had been acted on by the conversation of the
people they had met. The road to the top was repre-
sented as impassable from natural difiSculties ; and
guarded by wild beasts, goblins, and fell disease.

I halted a day at Jhilpa, the last village on the
plains, to make arrangements for the ascent, and
procure guides ; and on the 22nd packed my small tent

THE MAIIADEO HILLS.

87

and a few necessaries on a pony, and with two atten-
dants started up the hill on foot. For the first ten
miles or so the pathway led up an easy and regular
ascent over shelving rocks and scanty soil, whereon
grew a thin forest of the commoner sorts of trees, Salei

CAMP AT ruCIIMURHEE. BUDDHIST CAVES IN THE BACKGROUND.

{Bosivellia thurifera), Dhiiora {Conocarpus latifolia),
and Saj [Pentapteva glabra), being the most numerous
species ; the grass and vegetation on these slopes had
begun already to assume the yellow tinge of the dry
season. Such a prospect as this, which is typical of
vast tracts in the jungles of Central India, is sadly
disappointing to him who looks for the luxuriant

88 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

tropical forest of low-lying equatorial regions. Forests
like those of Southern Africa and the littoral countries
of Asia, with their close array of giant trunks, dense
canopy of vegetation, impenetrable underwood, gorgeous
flowers, and mighty tangled creepers —

From branch to branch close wreaths of bondage throwing.

are unknown in these central regions of India ; and
their character is rarely approached save in some
occasional low moist valley, where the axe of the
woodcutter has not penetrated, and the stagnation of
some stream has united with the heat of a close valley
in giving to the vegetation a more truly tropical
character. Indeed, but for the preponderance of yellows
where rich reds and browns should be, and the rare
appearance of a palm or other eastern form, most of
these low forest tracts migrht be taken after December

O

for a late autumn scene in a temperate climate. Nothing
is more striking than the absence of brilliant flowers,
which, contrary to popular idea, are far more characteristic
of temperate than of tropical regions. The Palas (Butea
superha) is almost the only tree in our forests which
possesses really bright colouring.

When an elevation of about 2,000 feet (above the
sea) had been attained, the character of the scenery
began to change. Vertical scarps of the red sandstone
which forms the higher plateau began to rise into view
at every turn of the path, which now plunged into
narrow and gloomy glens, following the boulder-strewn
bed of a small stream. The dried and yellow grasses
and naked tree stems of the loyver . slope gave place to
a green vegetation thickly covering the soil, and in
places almost meeting overhead. The moist banks of

THE MAHADEO HILLS. 89

the stream were covered with ferns and mosses, and the
clear sparkle of the little brooks appeared singularly
refreshing after our long walk up-hill in the heat of a
sultry and lowering day. The baggage-pony found
considerable difficulty in scrambling over the boulders
that now began to block the road ; and we relieved him
by putting about half of his load on the two guides.
After scrambling thus along the sides and bottoms of
ravines for some miles, steadily rising at the same time,
we suddenly emerged through a narrow pass, and from
under the spreading aisle of a large banyan tree (from
which this pass gets its name of the Bur-ghat), on to an
open glade, covered with short green grass, and studded
with magnificent trees, which I found was the com-
mencement of the plateau of Puchmurree.

Heavy masses of cloud had now gathered overhead,
and large drops of rain began to fall, betokening, as it
proved, the coming of one of the short but severe storms
to which these hills are liable at this season. The
village of Puchmurree was still some miles distant, and
we hurried along over the now almost level plateau to
get shelter as soon as possible, as we had already walked
about seventeen miles, and the sun was almost set.
The road now lay over a hard and gently undulating
sandy soil, crossed by many small streams running
swiftly in their rocky beds. Immense trees of the dark
green Harra [Terminalia Chehida), the arboreous Jaman
[Eugenia Jamholana), and the common Mango dotted
the plain in fine clumps ; and altogether the aspect of
the plateau was much more that of a fine English park
than of any scene I had before come across in India.
By-and-by, through the vistas of the trees, three great
isolated peaks began to appear, glowing red and fiery in

90 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL l^DLA.

the setting sun against the purple background of a
cloud-bank. The centre one of the three, right ahead
of us, was the peak of Mahadeo, deep in the bowels of
which lies the shrine of the god himself ; to the left, like
the bastion of some giant's hold, rose the square and
abrupt form of Chaunideo ; while to the right, and
further off than the others, frowned the sheer scarp
of Dhiipgarh, the highest point of these Central Indian
highlands.

We had little leisure to enjoy this splendid view,
however, for a blinding rain, accompanied by thunder
and lightning, now came on ; and some distance still
intervened from the village when we were compelled
to seek shelter in a grove of trees. Fortunately there
was among them a large hollow banyan tree, within
which we all found shelter, including " Quail " and
" Snipe," who I forgot to say were of the party, and had
revelled in spur fowl all the way up.

I sent on the two guides to the village to procure
us some firewood and water ; for I determined to en-
camp here, rather than go further, and probably fare
worse, among the unknown disagreeables of a Korkii
village. A swampy hollow lay betwixt us and the
village, and after we heard the guides go splashing
through this and disappear in the darkness it was
full two hours before we heard them floundering back
again with three or four Korkiis carrying bundles of
sticks, grass, pots of water, and the various natural
productions which have always to be procured from
the village where camp is pitched. Meanwhile we
sat in our tree and smoked, and very cold and dis-
agreeable it was, though tolerably dry. With the
help of the Korkus the little tent was soon pitched,

THE MAHADEO HILLS. 91

and I transferred myself and dogs to its shelter, while
a fire was lit in the hollow of the banyan, and the
natives were soon crouching over it as jolly as sand-
boys ; while my servant plucked and grilled over its
embers one of the spur fowl I had shot as a " spatch-
cock." About midnight the rain ceased, and the sky
cleared. It was an excessively cold night ; and when
I got up shivering in the morning I found my men
had stayed up the greater part of the night by the
fire for the sake of the warmth.

The morning broke fine and bright, however, and
I started ofi" for a ramble over the plateau. In passing
through the swamp below the tent, the dogs put up,
and I shot several couples of snipe, and among them
a fine specimen of the solitary or wood snipe.* This
fine snipe is of rare occurrence in Central India, and in
fact I have only met with it on one other occasion,
in the Mandla district. I suspect this is the bird that
has stood for the woodcock in the stories told of the
latter's occurrence in the Central Provinces ; for though
I have hunted every likely spot in the hills for the
latter bird, I never found a single one of them.

There were two small settlements of Korkiis on
the plateau : one at Puchmurree itself, and another
about a mile to the north of it. The former was the
larger of the two, consisting of about thirty houses,
and, besides the Thakiir, a few families of traders from
the plains lived in it. The functions exercised by these
Hindii dealers in the rural economy of the aborigines
will form the subject of some remarks further on.

A brother of the Thakiir of Puchmurree accom-
panied me in my ramble, a fine, athletic, intelligent
* Gallinatjo nemoricola.

92 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL IXDLi.

young fellow of eighteen or twenty, and an ardent
sportsman, who was afterwards my guide over the
whole of this wonderful mass of mountains. AYe were
out nearly all day, the succession of fine views from
the different heights and bluffs luring me on and on,
till what was meant for a stroll ended in a pretty hard
day's work.

I found that the plateau had something of a cup-like
shape, draining in every direction from the edges into
the centre, where two considerable brooks receive its
waters and carry them over the edge in fine cascades.
The general elevation of this central valley is about
3,400 feet, the ridge surrounding it being a few hundred
feet higher, and here and there shooting into abrupt
peaks, of which the three I had seen the evening before
attain a height of 4,500 feet. The area of the plateau
is altogether about twelve square miles, some six of
which, in the centre, resemble the jDortion I had before
passed through, and consist of fine culturable, though
light, soils. Everywhere the massive groups of trees
and park-like scenery strike the eye ; and the greenery
of the glades, and various wild flowers unseen at lower
elevations, maintain the illusion that the scene is a bit
out of our own temperate zone rather than of the
tropics. Though the ascent on the side I had come up
was generally gradual, 1 found that in all other direc-
tions the drop from the plateau was sudden and pre-
cipitous. There are three other pathways by which
a man can easily, and an unladen animal with difiiculty,
ascend and descend, (Subsequently we took lightly
laden elephants (which, when there is room for them,
are the most sure-footed of all creatures) up and down
both of the passes leading to the south ; but the eastern

THE MAHADEO HILLS. 93

pass (Kanji Ghat) has never, I believe, been traversed
by any baggage animal. The view from the edge of the
plateau, in almost any direction, is singularly fine ; and
a still more extensive sweep is commanded from the top
of the higher peaks.

To the south, as far as the eye can see, lie range
upon range of forest-covered hills, tumbled in wild
confusion. To the east a long line of rampart-like
cliifs marks the southern face of the Mahadeo range,
the deep red of their sandstone formation contrasting
finely with the intense green of the bamboo vegetation,
out of which they rise. Here and there they shoot into
peaks of bare red rock, many of which have a peculiar
and almost fantastic appearance, owing to the irregular
weatherino^ of their material — beds of coarse sandstone
horizontally streaked by darker bands of hard vitrified
ferruoinous earth. Lookino; across this wall of rock, to
the north-east, a long perspective of forest-covered hills
is seen, the nearer ones seeming to be part of the Puch-
murree plateau, though really separated from it by an
enormous rift in the rock, the further ranges sinking
gradually in elevation, till, faint and blue in the far
distance, gleams the level plain of the Narbada valley.
Standing on the eastern edge of the plateau, again, the
observer hangs over a sheer descent of 2,000 feet of
rock, leading beyond, in long green slopes, down to a
flat and forest-covered valley. Its width may be six or
seven miles, and beyond it is seen another range of
hills rising in a long yellow grass-covered slope, dotted
with the black boulders, and ending in the scarped tops
that mark the trap formation. That is the plateau of
Motiir (Mohtoor), with which the general continuation
of the Satpiira range again commences, after the break

94 THE 111GHLA.XDS OF CEXTRAL INDIA.

in it occasioned by the Miihadeo group. On this side,
the forest that clothes the valley and the nearer slopes
presents a very dark green and yet brilliant colouring,
which will be noted as difierino- from the veo-etation in
any other direction. This is the Sal forest, wdiich I
have mentioned before (p. 27), as forming so singular
an outlier far to the west of the line which otherwise
limits the rauQ-e of that tree in Central India. It fills
this valley of the Denwa, almost to the exclusion of
other vegetation, and, creeping up the ravines, has
occupied also the south-eastern portion of the plateau
itself.

A remarkable feature in the configuration of the
plateau is the vast and unexpected ravines or rather
clefts in the solid rock, which seam the edges of the
scarp, some of them reaching in sheer descent almost to
the level of the plains. You come on them during a
ramble in almost any direction, opening suddenly at your
feet in the middle of some grassy glade. The most
remarkable is the Andeh-K6h, which begins about a
mile to the east of the villao-e, and runs risjht down
into the Denwa valley. Looking over its edge, the
vision loses itself in the vast profundity. A few dark
indigo-coloured specks at the bottom represent wild
mango trees of sixty or eighty feet in height. A faint
sound of running water rises on the sough of the wind
from the abyss. The only sign of life is an occasional
llight of blue pigeons swinging out from the face of
cither cliff, and circling round on suspended pinion,
again to disappear under the crags. If a gun is fired,
the echoes roll round the hollow in continually
increasing confusion, till the accumulated volume seems
to bellow forth at the mouth of the ravine into the plain

THE MAHADEO HILLS. 90

below. If tradition be believed, no mortal foot has ever
trodden the dark interior of tlie Andeh-K()lh I myself
never found an entrance to it, though, with the aid of
ropes, I got once at the easiest place within a few
hundred feet of the bottom. I may say, however, for
the benefit of adventurous explorers, that a way in may
probably be found by going round behind the Mjih.adeo
peak, and following down the bed of the stream which
issues from the cave of the shrine I am about to
describe, and which, I think, eventually falls into the
Koh under the scarp of Chauradeo.

Legend has made the Andeh-K6h the retreat of a
monstrous serpent, which formally inhabited a lake on
the plateau, and vexed the w^orshippers of Mahadeo till
the god dried up the serpent's lake, and imprisoned the
snake himself in this rift, formed by a stroke of his
trident in the solid rock. It needs no very ingenious
interpreter of legend to see in this wild story an allusion
to the former settlements of Biiddhists (referred to as
snakes in Brahrainical writings) on the Puchmurree hill,
and their extinction on the revival of Brahmanism in
the sixth or seventh century. Certain it is that there
once was a considerable lake in the centre of the
plateau, formed by a dam thrown across a narrow gorge,
and that on its banks are still found numbers of the
large flat bricks used in ancient buildings, while in the
overhanging rocks are cut five caves (whence the name
of Puchmurree), of the character usually attributed to
the Biiddhists. Beneath the lower end of the lake lies a
considerable stretch of almost level land, on which are
still traceable the signs of ancient tillage, in the form
of embankments and water-courses. Lookinsf from the
portico of the rock-cut caves, it is not difficult for the

96 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

imagination to travel back to the time when the lower
margin of the lake was surrounded by the dwellings of
a small, perhaps an exiled and persecuted, colony of
Biiddhists, practising for their subsistence the art,
strange in these wilds, of civilised cultivation of the
earth, and to hear aoaiu the sound of the eveninof bell
in their little monastery floating away up the placid
surface of the windino- lake.

Another very striking ravine, called Jambo-Dwip,
lies on the opposite side of the plateau from the Andeh-
Koh. About a thousand feet of steep descent, down a
track worn by the feet of pilgrims, leads to the entrance
of a gorge, whose aspect is singularly adapted to impress
the imagination of the pilgrim to these sacred hills. A
dense canopy of the wild mango tree, overlaid and
interlaced by the tree-like limbs of the giant creeper,*
almost shuts out the sun ; strange shapes of tree ferns
and thickets of dank and rotting vegetation cumber the
path ; a chalybeate stream, covered by a film of metallic
scum, reddens the ooze through which it slowly per-
colates ; a gloom like twilight shrouds the bottom of
the valley, from out of which rises on either hand a
towering crag of deep red colour, from the summit of
which stretch the ghostly arms of the white and naked
Sferculia urens, a tree that looks as if the megatherium
might have climbed its uncouth and ghastly branches at
the birth of the world. Further on, the gorge narrows
to a mere cleft between the high cliffs, wholly destitute
of veo-etation, and strewn with o;reat boulders. Climbino;
over these, and wading through the waters of a shallow
stream, the pilgrim at length reaches a cavern in the
rock, the sides and bottom of which have been, by some
* Bauldnia scandens.

THE MAHADEO HILLS. 97

peculiar water action, worn into the semblance of
gigantic matted locks of hair ; while deep below the
floor of the cavern, in the bowels of the rock, is heard
the labouring of imprisoned waters shaking the cave.
It is small wonder that such a natural marvel as this
should be a chosen dwelling-place for the god to whom
all these mountains are sacred, and that it forms one of
the most holy and indispensable points in the circuit
which the devout pilgrim must perform.

The place has also a slight historical interest.
Durinsj the last of our struo^sjles with the Marathas,
Appa Saheb Bhonsla, Raja of Nagpur, on his way to an
exile justly earned by repeated acts of treachery, escaped
and fled to the fastnesses of the Mahadeo hills ; and it
was in this secluded ravine, if tradition speaks the
truth, that he was concealed by the fidelity of his
aboriginal subjects till he finally made liis escape, while
detachments of British troops were hunting for him in
every other nook and recess in the mountains.

Beyond the Jambo-Dwip, or " great ravine " as we
called it, and between it and the valley of the
Sonbhadra, lies another group of wild hills, a little
lower than the Puchmurree block in elevation, and with
few level plateaux of any extent. One or two poor
hamlets of Korkiis occupy its most sheltered nooks ;
but the soil is everywhere extremely thin, and there is
a great absence of water in this section of the Mahadeo
range, so that it is almost uninhabited. The Sonbhadra
valley itself can only be entered Vvdiere it leaves the
southern face of the hills, by a difficult pathway along
the edges of the rapid stream ; but the scene is well
deserving of the scramble of eight or ten miles on foot
by which it is reached. It is utterly untenanted even

98 TlIK HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

by animals, save a few melancholy bears, and its steep
precipices, and long slopes of gray and naked rock,
interspersed with scanty moor-like vegetation, are
singularly suggestive of a comparison with the well-
known valley of Glencoe.

These deep and gloomy dells that seam the Puch-
murree block are the home of a splendid squirrel [Sciurus
maximus), measuring two and a half to three feet in
length, and of a rich, deep claret colour, with a blue
metallic lustre on the upper parts of the body, the lower
parts being rufous yellow. They dwell in the upper
branches of the wild mango trees, making nests of the
leaves, generally iu the very top. They live chiefly on
the mango fruit, lavishly squandering the supply while
the fresh mangoes are attainable, and afterw^irds crack-
ing the discarded stones for their kernels. They seem
to be of a retired and melancholy nature, appropriate to
the sunless ravines they reside in ; and they are not
very numerous either here or at Amarkantak, which is
the only other part of the hills where I have met the
species. They are easily captured in the nests when
young, but make most foolish and uninteresting pets,
having a singularly vacant expression of countenance,
and nothing of the light-hearted vivacity of the other
members of the squirrel family. If an exquisite fur for
a lady's mufi' or a sporran is an object, some pretty
shooting may be had in knocking them off the tops
of the high trees with a small rifle. Numerous vultures
and birds of the rapacious order build on the ledges of
the clifis. Among them is the grand imperial eagle {A.
imperialis), whose wings measure eight feet from tij)
to tip, and whose soaring flight and harsh scream forms a
errand feature in the scenery of this range of mountains.

THE MAHADEO HILLS. 99

On my return to the tent I had an interview with
the Thakiir, or chief, of Puchmurree. This potentate
is the proprietor of a considerable tract of hill and
forest in the Alahadeo range, and the valleys at its
base. He is the representative of one of the families
already referred to as having been established in the
ea,rly days of Aryan colonisation, by an intermixture
of the blood of the adventurous Rajpiit with that of
the aboriginal (in this case Korkii) occupants of the
soil. In personal appearance and habits the family
exactly correspond to their descent. Taller and fairer
by far than the undiluted Korkiis about them, they
still possess the thick lips and prominent jaw of the
aborigines. With all the love of tinsel and sounding
form of the vain Eajpiit, they unite much of the apathy
and unthrift of the savage. In religion they are (like
all converts) ultra Hindu, worshipping Siva, looking
on the slaughter of a cow with horror (though they
will kill the nearly related bison of their hills), wearing
the holy thread of the twice-born castes, and keeping
a family Brahman to do their household worship for
them. The Puchmurree Thakiir was a well-grown young-
man of about twenty -five, but awkward in manner and
incapable of any sort of conversation. I subsequently
found that he was, like most of these petty chiefs,
a confirmed opium-eater. By his side, however, stood
the Brahman "Dewan," or minister of state (!), whose
glibness of tongue was fully sufficient for both. Behind
them came four or five tatterdemalion retainers, in
quilted garments of many hues, girded as to their loins
with broad embroidered belts of Sambar leather, in
which were stuck, or suspended, swords, daggers, and
the cumbrous appointments of a mntchlock-man, the

100 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

matchlock itself being borne, with smoking match, over
the shoulder of each. These were mostly of the same
breed as the Thakur, being his poor relations in fact.
This descri])tion would serve sufficiently well for the
great majority of these petty semi-aboriginal chiefs,
who are so numerous in the hills of Central India.
Though the breed between the Edjpiit and the aborigine
produces the best of all shikaris and foresters, in a
somewhat higher sphere they are chiefly remarkable
for debauchery, and a vain and silly pride which leads
them into expenditure beyond their means, and ruinous
debt. They all call themselves "Rajas," and keep up
minute standing armies of these ragamuffin retainers,
as well as one or two Brahman bloodsuckers to manage
their holy and clerkly affairs. As they are always
seeking for brides for their sons in families with higher
claims to Rajput descent than their own, they have to
pay enormous sums for marriage expenses, and this is
probably the chief cause of their generally hopeless
poverty.

I found I was likely to have a good deal of trouble
in getting the wild hill people to help in building our
lodge. The Thakur made all sorts of excuses for with-
holding from us his influence with his "subjects." There
was great scarcity among them, owing to a failure of their
precarious crops ; they had nearly all left the hills to
seek service in the plains ; they w^ere engaged in preparing
the land for their crops ; they hated work they had not
been accustomed to ; they w^ould be afraid to help in
making a house on Mahadeo's hill — and so on. Truth
was, I saw the chief himself and his advisers hated our
intrusion. With some truth they feared we were come
to break up their much-beloved seclusion, and un-

THE MAHADEO HILLS. 101

trammelled barbarism ; their rich liaivest from the
taxation of pilgrims to Mahadeo's shrine they thought
was in danger ; and they would have none of us. They
promised, however, to send me a gang of men to start
wood and grass cutting next morning. Of course they
did not come ; and the Thakiir I found had gone off
to a village he had below the hill, and quite out of
reach of my camp; and he did not return to Puchmurree,
except when I sent for him, all the time I was there.
Luckily I had a friend in council in the shape of the
younger brother, who had shown me the lions of the
place. Not being a chief he had little to live on, and
was, in fact, scarcely to be distinguished in position or
worldly wealth from the common Korkiis about. He
promised to use his influence to get them to come and
work for me, and went off on a visit to the neighbour-
ing hamlets, partly with this object, and partly to
look for traces of any bison or other larger game there
might be on the hills, as I contemplated a grand
hunting party at which I hoped to overcome the shy-
ness of the jungle population.

They were really in great distress owing to the
failure of the previous harvest, on which great part
of their subsistence for the year depends. The system
of cultivation of all the wild tribes of these provinces
is much the same, and is, in fact, almost identical with
the method followed by all the unreclaimed aboriginal
races throughout India. Though large tracts of splendid
level land lie untilled on the Puchmurree plateau, and
in the valleys below, the Korkii has no cattle or ploughs
with which to break it up. He has nothing in the
way of implements but his axe. This is enough, how-
ever, for his wants. He selects a bill-side where there

LIBRARY

102 THE HIGHLANDS OF CE:NTRAL INDIA.

is a little soil, and a plentiful growth of grass, timber,
and bamboos. He prefers a place where young straight
teak poles grow thick and strong, as they are easiest
to cut, and produce most ashes when burnt. He cuts
every stick that stands on the selected plot, except
the largest trunks, which he lops of their branches
and girdles so that they may shortly die. This he
does early in the dry season (January to March), and
leaves the timber thickly piled on the ground to dry
in the torrid sun of the hot season. By the end of
May it will be just like tinder, and he then sets fire
to it and burns it as nearly as he can to ashes. With
all his labour, however (and he works hard at this
spasmodic sort of toil), he will not be able to work
all the logs into position to get burnt ; and at the end
of a week he will rest from his labour, and contemplate
with satisfaction the three or four acres of valuable
teak forest he has reduced to a heap of ashes, strewn
with the charred remains of the Jarger limbs and trunks.
He now rakes his ashes evenly over the field and waits
for rain, which in due season generally comes. He
then takes a few handfuls of the coarse ejrain he subsists
on and tiings them into the ashes, broadcast if the
ground be tolerably level ; if steep, then in a line
at the top, so as to be washed down by the rain.
The principal grains are Kodon [Paspalwn), Kiitki
{Panicum), and coarse rice. But nearly all the ordinary
crops raised in the plains during the autumn season
are also grown more or less in these dlnja clear-
ings, as they are called, though usually from greatly
degenerate seed, the produce of which is often scarcely
recognisable as the same species. A few pumpkins and
creeping beans are usually grown about the houses in

TllK MAHADEO HILLS. 103

addition to the dhya crop. Such is the fertilising
power of the ashes that the crop is generally a very
productive one, though the individual grains are far
smaller than the same species as cultivated in the
plains. A fence against wild animals is made round
the clearing by cutting trees so as to fall over and
interlace with each other, the whole being strongly
bound with split bamboos and thorny bushes. The
second year the dead trees and half-burnt branches are
again ignited, and fresh wood is cut and brought from
the adjoining jungle, and the same process is repeated.
The third year the clearing is usually abandoned for
a fresh one. Sometimes the owner of a dhya will
watch at night on a platform in the middle of the
field and endeavour to save it from wild animals, but
oftener he does not think it worth the labour, and lets
it take its chance till ripe, while he earns his livelihood
in some other way.

The dhya clearings are of course favourite resorts
for all the animals of the neighbourhood. The smaller
species of these — peafowl, partridges, hares, etc. — are
often trapped in ingenious "deadfall" traps set in
runs left open on purpose ; and the larger are frequently
shot by the sportsmen of the community. None of
the Gonds of the Central Hills now use the bow and
arrow ; but few villages are without their professional
hunter, who is generally a capital shot with his long
heavy matchlock, and as patient as a cat in watching
for game. He usually takes it in turn to sit up at
night in all the dhya clearings of the village, getting
as remuneration all that he kills, and a basket of
grain at harvest time besides. The skins of sambar
are of considerable value in the market for making

104 THE HIGHLANDS OF CEXTKAL IXDIA.

the well-known soft yellow leather — the best of all
materials for sporting leggings and other accoutrements.
The abandoned dhya clearings are speedily covered
again with jungle. The second growth is, however,
very dififerent from the virgin forest destroyed by the
first clearing ; being composed of a variety of low and
very densely-growing bamboo, and of certain thorny
bushes, which together form in a year or two a cover
almost impenetrable to ^man or beast. I have often
been obliged to turn back from such a jungle after
vainly endeavouring to force through it a powerful
elephant accustomed to work his way through difficult
cover. In such a thicket no timber tree can ever force
its way into daylight ; and a second growth of timber
on such land can never be expected if left to nature. The
scrub itself does not furnish fuel enousfh for a sufiicient
coating of ashes to please the dhya cutter ; and so the
latter never ag^ain returns to an old cleariuG^ while
untouched forest land is to be had. Now, if it be
considered that, for untold ages, the aboriginal in-
habitants have been thus devastating the forests, the
cause of the problem that has puzzled railway engineers
— name]}^ ^'hy, in a country w4th so vast an ex^^anse
of forest-covered land, they should yet have to send
to England, or Australia, or Norway for their sleepers —
will not be far to seek. Stand on any hill-top on the
Puchmurree or other high range, and look over the
valleys below you — the dhya clearings can be easily
distinguished from tree jungle — and you will see that
for one acre left of the latter, thousands have been
levelled by the axe of the Gond and Korkii. In fact I
can say, from an experience reaching over every teak
tract in these hills, that, excepting a few preserved by

<

THE MAHADEO HILLS. 105

private proprietors, no teak forest ever escaped this
treatment, unless so situated in ravines or on precipitous
hill-sides as to make it unprofitable to make dhya
clearings on its site.

The system of cultivation thus adopted by the wild
tribes, which seems to be a natural consequence of their
want of agricultural stock, necessitates a more or less
nomadic habit of life. The larger villages, where the
chief of a sept, and the Hindu traders who efi'ect their
small exchanges, reside, is usually the only stable settle-
ment in a whole tract ; the rest of the people spreading
themselves about in small hamlets of five or six families,
at such interv^als as will o-ive each a sufiicient rano-e of
jungle for several years of dhya cutting. Their huts
are of the most temporary character, and made from
materials found on the spot — a fevv upright posts, inter-
laced with split bamboos, plastered with mud, and
thatched with the broad leaves of the teak, and an
upper layer of grass. It costs them but the work of a
day or two to shift such a settlement as this in ac-
cordance with the changes of their dhya sites.

The system of cultivation, if it can be so termed, I
have thus described is of course of the most precarious
character. The holding off of rain for a few weeks after
the seed is sown, or when the ear is forming, will ruin
the whole, and then the owner may be compelled to
subsist entirely on what always largely supplements
his diet — the wild fruits and products of the forest.
Nature has been very bountiful in these forests in her
supply of food for their wild human denizens. Many
species of tree and bush ripen a wholesome and palatable
fruit in their season ; and the earth supplements the
supply by many nourishing roots. The Mhowa flower

106 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL iXDlA.

before referred to (p. 80), tlie plum of tlie ebony tree
{Diospyros melmioxylon), and the fruit of the wild
mango, are the staples in these hills. The berries of
the Chironji [Buchanania latlfoUa), and the Ber {Zizy-
lohus jiijuha), the seeds of the Stil {Shorea rohusta), the
bean of the giant Bauhinia creeper, and many other
products of trees, are also eaten in different parts of the
hills. A s^DCcies of wild arrowroot (Curcuma), and a
sort of wild yam, are also dug out of the earth and
consumed.

The rare occurrence of the ofeneral seeding; of the
bamboo forests, is a 2;od3end to the aborio;inal tribes.
A certain number of bamboos seed every year, but a
general seeding is said to occur only once in about
thirty years. Then every single bamboo over a vast
tract of country will drop its leaves, and form at the
end a large panicle of flowers, to be followed by the
formation and shedding of myriads of seeds which are
hardly to be distinguished from grains of rice. This
done, the parent bamboo itself immediately dies, while
a fresh and vigorous crop at once begins to spring from
the seed. For some years the scarcity of so useful an
article as the bamboo may be severely felt, though it is
not often that all the sources of supply are at once
cut off; but in the meantime an abundant supply of
wholesome grain is afforded, not only to the wild tribes
but to multitudes of the poorer inhabitants of the open
country, and the cities around, who crowd to the spot
to obtain their share of the heaven-sent provender.
There is a proverb that this occurrence portends a
failure of the common food staples of the country ;
but like many such it has not been verified by ex-
perience. It would probaljly be in vain to guess the

THE MAHADEO HILLS. 107

cause of this sudden renewal at lono; intervals of the
whole crop of bamboo.

This diet of herbs is varied and improved by the
flesh of wild animals, procured by extensive drives in
which the whole population of a tract will unite ; and
many small fish are also captured in the mountain streams,
chiefly by poisoning the pools with various vegetable
substances, of which I am acquainted only with the
leaves and fruit of the species of stryclmos that grow
wild in these hills.

Those of the wild men who live in the neiMibourhood
of the plains, and have got accustomed to contact with
their inhabitants, add considerably to their means of
subsistence by trooping out in large numbers, after they
have cut their own dhyas, to the reaping of the wheat
harvest of the plains in the month of March, much after
the fashion of the gangs of Irishmen who cross the
Channel about harvest time. But the genuine hill-man
of the far interior cannot yet bring himself to this, and
is often put to severe straits by the failure of his scanty
crop.

Such was now the case with the Gonds and Korkus
in and about the Puchmurree hills ; and I soon saw that
to make anything of them I must appeal to their bellies.
I accordingly sent down to the nearest large market in
the plains, and purchased a mighty store of wheat and
millet — about twenty-five bullock luads, I think — and
had it sent up by the agency of some of the Banjara"^''

* These liaiijaras are a curious race of nomads Avho are found
everywhere in Central India, acting as carriers with herds of pack
bullocks. Their name means " Forest Wanderer," and they appear
to be perfectly distinct both from Hindus and from the known
aboriginal tribes. It has been conjectured with some probability that
they are gipsies. They are a line, stalwart, light-coloured people.

108 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

carriers, who are in the habit of penetratiog the remotest
tracts of these hills with loads of salt, and taking back
forest produce in return.

In the meantime I got up the remainder of my
cam]^, pitched the large tent, and erected a hut of
wattle and daub as a storehouse for the grain and tools,
and made myself comfortable. At the same time I
arranged for a few artificers, carpenters, and masons,
being sent up from the plains ; but it was long before
any of them could be induced to venture into the
dreaded region. Though the geological surveyor of the
Narbada valley had given no hope of limestone being
found in these hills, I discovered an excellent supply of
it in one of the deep glens a little below the scarp of the
plateau. After searching long and wearily for it in vain,
and receiving on all hands assurances that such a thing
had never been heard of, I was directed to the place by
a Korku whom I incidentally saw in the unwonted occu-
pation of chewing paun, in the composition of which lime
has a place. I found a huge block of pure white crystal-
line limestone jammed in the bottom of this ravine ; and
it is curious to conjecture by what fortunate geological
process this immense boulder of an article without which

ready for anj' adventure, and of dauntless courage. With the aid of
their splendid dogs they do not scruple to attack and s])car tlie wild
boar, the bear, and even the tiger ; and they are at all times ardent
and indefatigable sportsmen. I'>acli tanda, as their camps are called,
is commanded by a chief called the naik, whom all obey, and who, in
council with the elders, disposes of intertribal offenders, even to the
extent of capital jDunishment, it is believed. The old men and many
of the women and children remain encamped at some favourite
grazing spot during the expeditions, where all return to pass the
rainy season and recruit their cattle. Though eminent in the art and
practice of highway robbery, the Banjiiras are scrupulously faithful in
the execution of trusts, and are constantly employed in tlie interchange
of commodities between the open country and the forest tracts.

THE MAHADEO HILLS. 109

building would be impossible at Puclimurree, could have
been brought and so conveniently deposited at an
elevation of at least 2,000 feet above the nearest
formation of the kind. Though I believe I have at one
time or other been in almost every other ravine in these
hills, I never found another piece of limestone but one
— a smaller boulder of the same sort, similarly situated,
but at a rather lower elevation.

The young Thakur came back in a day or two, with
about half-a-dozen Korkiis from the neighbouring hills,
and news of a herd of bison in the Banganga Valley,
behind and below the high peak of Dhupgarh ; so I
determined to have our grand hunt in that place.
Invitations were sent to all the Gond and Korkii chiefs
in the neighbourhood, with their followers, and every
available man in the hills was sent for to beat. A store
of grain enough to feed them all was sent down to the
little hamlet at the bottom of the Rorighat pass, where
the beat was expected to end ; and one of the Puch-
murree grog-shops was taken bodily down to the same
place to supply the drinkables.

In after days I spent many a long day in the chase
of the bison on these splendid hills ; and have also made
the acquaintance of the mountain bull in many other
parts of the province. Some account of his habits may,
therefore, not be out of place here, particularly as they
are frequently a good deal misrepresented. And first
as to his name. The latest scientific name for him is
Gavceus Gaurus, but what he is to be called in English
is not so easily settled. Sportsmen have unanimously
agreed to call him the " Indian bison," which naturalists
■object to, as he does not properly belong to the same
group of bovines as the bisons of Europe and America.

IIU TUE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

They would have us call him the Oaur, which appears
to be his vernacular name in the Nepalese forests. I
would, however, put in a plea for the retention, by
sportsmen at least, of the name "Indian Bison." In
the first place it fully accomplishes the object of all
names in distinctly denoting the animal meant. Ever
since he became known to Europeans he has been so
called, and no other animal has ever shared the name.
Then his structural distinction from the true bisontine
group appears to consist chiefly, if not solely, in his
having thirteen instead of fourteen or fifteen pairs of
ribs, and somewhat flattened instead of cylindrical horns
(Jerdon). Lastly, there is no vernacular name uni-
versally applicable to him, " Gaur " being unknown in
Central India ; while his occasional Central Indian name
of Bliinsa (with Bun or " wild " prefixed to it) is almost
identical in sound with " bison," and is no doubt derived
from the same root. If you ask for " bison " in these
forests where he is known (and speak a little through
your nose at the same time), you will certainly be shown
Gavceus Gaums and no other animal.

The respective ranges of this animal and the wild
bufialo {Buhrdus) have sometimes been defined by
sportsmen in the saying that the bison is not found
north, nor the buffalo south, of the Narbada river. Like
most apophthegms, however, this contains little more
than a flavour of the truth. Not only does the bison
inhabit many parts of the Vindhya Mountains, directly
to the north of the Narbarla, but ho also stretches round
the source of that river and penetrates into the hills of
Chota-Nagpiir and Midnapiir, and crosses over to the
Nepalese Terae, and the hilly regions in the east of
Bengal. The wild bufialo also covers the whole of the

THE mAiiadeo hills. hi

eastern part of the Central Provinces far to tlie soutli of
the latitude of the Narbada, and also the plateau of
Mandla and the Gochivari forests, directly to the south
of that river. In fact, the bison appears to inhabit
every part of India where he can find suitable conditions.
These appear to be, firstly, the close proximity of hills,
for though he is sometimes found on level ground, he is
essentially a lover of hills, and always retreats to them
when disturbed ; extensive ranges of forest little dis-
turbed by man or tame cattle, for, unlike the buffalo, he
cannot tolerate the proximity of man and his works ; a
plentiful supply of water and green herbage ; and
lastly, so far as I have observed, the presence of the
bamboo, on which he constantly browses. In the
Central Provinces of India all these conditions are
unfortunately still present over enormous tracts of
country. Thousands of square miles in the Central
range, much of which will one day be reclaimed to the
uses of the plough, are now the very perfection of a
preserve for the bison.

Perhaps he is nowhere more completely at home
than in the Mahadeo hills. There, as a general rule,
he will be found to frequent at any season the highest
elevation at which he can then find food and water.
During the cold season succeeding the monsoon, they
remain much about the higher plateaux, at an elevation
of 2,000 to 3,000 feet, where they graze all night on the
bamboos that clothe their sides, and on the short,
succulent grasses fringing the springs and streams
usually found in the intervening hollows. They
generally pass the day on the tops of the plateaux,
lying down in secure positions under the shade of small
trees, where they chew the cud and sleep. Their object

112 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

in lying under trees seem more the concealment thus
afforded to their large and dark-coloured bodies than
shelter from the sun, as the shade is seldom dense, and
a secure windy position is always secured irrespective of
the sun. I have observed that single animals always lie
looking down wind, leaving the up wind direction to be
guarded by their keen sense of smell ; and, in my
experience, it is far easier to baffle their sense of vision
in a direct approach, than to stalk them down wind,
however carefully the approach may be covered. It is
extraordinary how difficult it often is to distinguish so
strongly coloured an object as a bull bison when thus
lying down in the flickering shadow of a tree.

The colour of the cows is a light chestnut brown in
the cold weather, becoming darker as the season
advances. The young bulls are a deeper tint of the
same colour, becoming, however, much darker as they
advance in aQ;e, the mature bull beins; almost black on
the back and sides, and showing a rich chestnut shade
only on the lower parts of the body and inside of the
thierhs. The colour of both bulls and cows varies a G;ood
deal in difierent localities. The lightest coloured are
those of the open grass jungles in the west, the darkest
those of the deep bamboo forests of Puchmurree and the
oast. The white stockin2;s, which are so characteristic a
marking of this species, also change with advancing age,
assuming a much dingier colour in the old bulls. A
singular change also occurs in the growth of the horns,
which w^ill be well illustrated by the accompanying
plate of a photographed series belonging to bulls of
different ages shot in the same locality (Nimiir). No. 1
belonged to a young chestnut-coloured bull of about five
years old. Its shape, it will be seen, approximates to

THE MAHADEO HILLS. 11;}

that of the cows (No. 5), being, like them, slender and
much recurved at the points. No. 2 pertained to a
very dark, but not black, bull, evidently a year or two
older than the first, but not quite mature. The horns
have considerably increased in girth at the base, and
have assumed a more outward sweep, with less incurva-
ture at the points. No. 3 are still thicker and more
horizontal, with some signs of wear at the tips, and
were taken from a full-grown, jet-black bull, the lord of
a herd. No. 4 adorned a very old and solitary bull,
and are, it will be seen, extremely rugged and massive,
with scarcely any curve, and are considerably worn and
blunted at the points. They measure thirty- seven and
a half inches across the sweep, and seventeen round the
thickest part. No. 3 are the longest round the curve of
the horn, each measuring twenty-five and a half inches,
the extreme girth being only fifteen and a half inches.
The largest of these bulls measured exactly seventeen
and a quarter hands (five feet nine inches) at the
shoulder, measuring fairly the right line between two
pegs held in the line of the fore-leg. I once measured a
bull in the Puchmurree hills which was two inches
taller than this, and I am convinced that this is about
the extreme height attained by them in this part of
India. I strongly suspect that the much greater
heights often given have been taken from unfair
measurements. A common way is to take an oblique
line from the forefoot to the top of the dorsal ridge, and
follow the curvatures of the body besides. In this way
twenty-two hands may doubtless be made out, but we
might as well measure the distance from nose to tail for
the height as this.

At this season of the year (the winter months), the

114 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

bison are rutting, and they will be found collected in
herds numbering ten or twelve cows, with one bull in
the prime of life, and a few immature males, the re-
maining old bulls being expelled to wander in pairs, or
as solitary bachelors, in sullen and disappointed mood.
Very old bulls with worn horns are almost always found
alone, never, apparently, rejoining the herd after being
once beaten by a younger rival. These solitary gentle-
men wander about a great deal ; while the herd, if
undisturbed, will constantly be found in the same
neighbourhood. Each herd appears to possess a tract of
country tabooed to other herds ; and in this are always
included more than one stronghold, where the density
of the cover renders pursuit of them hopeless. When
frequently disturbed in and about one of these, they
make ofif at once to one of the others.

As the hot season advances, and the springs in the
higher ranges dry up, the bison come lower down the
hills ; and may even, if compelled by want of water,
come out into the forest on the plains, drinking from
the large rivers like other animals at that season. But
they are always ready to retreat to their mountain
fastnesses when much disturbed ; and as soon as the fall
of the rains has renewed the supply of water, and
freshened the grass in the higher hills, they retire again
to their favourite plateaux. At this season the cows
begin to calve, and separate a good deal, remaining for
two or three months secluded in some spot where
grazing and water are plentiful. The bulls and young
cows are then often found together in herds of six to
ten, the oldest bulls, however, always remaining alone.
During the lulls in the monsoon, a species of gadfly
appears in the jungles, which is exceedingly troublesome

116 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

to all animals. At such times tlie bison seek the high,
open tops of the mountains ; and I have then seen a
solitary bull standing for hours like a statue on the top
of the highest peak in the Puchmurree range.

Though at first sight a clumsy-looking animal, which
is chiefly due to his immensely massive dorsal ridge, the
bison is one of the best rock climbers among animals.
His short legs, and small, game-like hoofs, the enormous
power of the muscles of the shoulder, with their high
dorsal attachment, and the preponderance of weight in
the fore part of the body, all eminently qualify him for
the ascent of steep and rocky hills. For rapid descent,
however, they are not so well adapted ; and I have
known cases of their breaking a leg when pushed to
take rapidly a steep declivity ; a bull with one fore-leg
broken is at once brought to a standstill.

Terrible tales are told of the relentless ferocity of the
bison by the class of writers who aim rather at sensa-
tional description than at sober truth. I have myself
always found them to be extremely timid, and have
never been charged by a bison, though frequently in a
position where any animal at all ferocious would
certainly have done so. In all my experience, I have
only heard of one or two cases of charging which I
consider fully authentic, and in these the animal had
previously been attacked and wounded. Captain Pearson
was once treed by a wounded bull in the Puchmurree
hills, which charged and upset his gun-bearer ; and an
officer was killed by one some years ago near Asirgarh.
Often the blind rush of an animal bent on escape is put
down by excited sportsmen as a deliberate charge.
Much, too, of the romance attached to the animal must
be attributed to his formidable appearance ; for the sullen

THE MAHADEO HILLS. 117

air of a mighty bull just roused is very impressive ; and
much to the wild tales of the people in whose neighbour-
hood they live, who always dilate on their general
ferocity, but can seldom point to an instance of its
effects, and who are, moreover, frequently from religious
prejudice, desirous of withholding the sportsman from
their pursuit. Still there is sufficient evidence on
record of the occasional fierce retaliation of the bull
bison when w^ounded and closely followed up, in some
resulting even in the death of the sportsman, to invest
their pursuit with the flavour of danger so attractive to
many persons, and to render caution in attacking them
highly advisable. The ground on which they are
usually met is fortunately favourable for escape if the
sportsman be attacked, trees and large rocks being
seldom far distant.

Although a closely -allied bovine, the Gayal of trans-
Brahmapiitra India, has for ages been domesticated and
used to till the land, all attempts to do so with the
subject of my remarks, or even to raise them to maturity
in a state of captivity, have failed. After a certain point
the wild and retiring nature of the forest race asserts
itself, and the young bison pines and dies. It has always
struck me as curious why the most difiicult of all
animals to reclaim from a wild state are precisely those
whose congeners have been already domesticated. The
so-called wild horses, and the wild asses, are almost
untamable ; so also with the wild sheep and goat, the
wild dog and the jungle-fowl. A young tiger or hyena
is infinitely easier to bring up and tame than any of
these.

This unconquerable antipathy of the Indian bison to
the propinquity of man is slowly but surely contracting

118 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

its range, and probably diminishing its numbers.
Gradually cultivation is extending into the valleys that
everywhere penetrate these hills ; and the grazing of
cattle, which extends far ahead of the regularly settled
tracts, is pushing the wild bull before it into the remotest
depths of the hills. I have, in a comparatively brief ac-
quaintance with these hills, myself known considerable
areas where bison used to be plentiful almost entirely
cleared of these animals. Other wild beasts retire more
slowly before the incursions of man, partly subsisting as
they do on the products of his labour. The tiger who
finds himself suddenly in the middle of herds of cattle
merely changes his diet to meet the situation, and preys
on cattle instead of wild pigs and deer. Even deer seldom
live entirely in the deep forest, but hang on the out-
skirts of cultivation, and, mainly subsisting on it, need
not materiallv decrease in numbers so lono- as there
remain uncleared tracts to furnish a retreat when
pressed. But the bison admits of no compromise. I
have never heard of his visiting fields even when he
lives within reach ; he never interbreeds with tame
cattle ; and the axe of the clearer and the low of
domestic cattle are a sign to him, as to the traditional
backwoodsman, to move "further West."

On the day appointed for our grand hunt I started
early, with the young Th;ikiir and a few of the Korkiis,
by a way that led right over the top of Dhiipgarh.
After walking along the open plateau for about three
miles we commenced the ascent of the hill, which is
close on 1,000 feet above the plateau. The zigzag track
was hardly distinguishable among the grass and bamboos
that clothe the hill ; and every here and there a road
had to be cleared with the axe, no one having passed

THE mAhAdEO hills. Ill)

that way since the preceding rainy season, when all
vestiges of paths in these hills become obliterated. We
were amply rewarded, however, for the climb by the
magnificent prospect that awaited us when we gained
the summit — the finest by far in all this range of hills.
The further slope of Dhupgarh was not nearly so pre-
cipitous as that we had come up, but fell, by steps as it
were, to the bottom of a deep and extensive glen, which
was the one we were about to beat. Beyond this again
rose the mural cliff that buttresses the whole of this
block to the south ; and far past this, to the left,
stretched out below us the wilderness of forest-clad hills,
that reaches with scarcely a break to the Tapti river — a
distance, as the crow files, of sixty or seventy miles.
All this immense waste is the chosen home of the bison ;
and beyond it, on either side of the Tapti, on the
elevated Chikalda range, and in the wild hills of Kalibhit,
lies another tract of equally wide extent, where, too, the
mountain bull roams, as yet scarcely troubled with the
presence of man or cattle. This is the region of the
Teak tree ^9ar excellence in this central range of moun-
tains, to which I will have the pleasure of conducting
the reader in a future chapter.

Tracks of bison and sambar were numerous on the
top of the hill, which is covered with bamboo clumps
and with a low thicket of the bastard date.* I have
frequently, on other occasions, found both bison and
sambar on the very top of Dhiipgarh in the early
morning. The descent of the farther side of the hill,
over long slopes of crumbled sandstone, and the curious
vitrified pipes of ironstone that exfoliate from the
decomposed surface of these hills, was fully more tire-
* Pluenix sijlvestris.

120 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL IXDIA.

some than tlie ascent. Many a time after this did I
tread the same path to reach this valley, where bison
were nearly always to be found, and many an effort did
I make to discover a shorter and less precipitous road.
But all in vain ; for the sheer ravines that everywhere
else hem in the flanks of the Dhiipgarh mountain render
a passage round it a matter of infinitely greater time and
toil than the way over the top. At the bottom of the
valley, below a shady grove of wild mango trees, where
the stream that drains the large valley has formed a
considerable pool in a rocky basin, I found assembled
three or four of the Eaj-Gond chiefs whose possessions
lie in the hills to the south of Puchmurree. They
differed not at all from him of Puchmurree, unless that
they were somewhat more intelligent and polished in
manner. Each had brought his small retinue of match-
lock men, and a large gang of common Gonds and
Korkiis to beat ; so that altogether we mustered some
twenty guns, and between two and three hundred-
beaters. The people were well acquainted with all the
beats and passes, having always several great hunts of
this sort during the year ; and everything had been
arranged before I came. The bulk of the beaters had
gone on hours before to surround the valley, and, as we
were a little later than was expected, it was likely that
they would already have commenced to beat. We lost
no time, therefore, in taking up our posts, which
stretched in a lone^ line risjht across the lower end of the
valley. First, however, I had to furnish powder to load
the whole of the matchlocks of my native friends ; and
had I not guessed that such would be the case, as usual,
I would certainly not have had sufticient in my flask.
Six fingers deep is the rule for these weapons, and it is

THE MAHADEO HILLS. 121

of no avail to point out the superior strength of our
powder. They will have six fingers of Hall's No. '2,
whatever the consequence. As they put generally two
bullets, a leaden and an iron one, on the top of this
charge, and wad with a handful of dry leaves, the result
often is the bursting of the barrel, and always consider-
able contusion of the user's shoulder.

This was to be a silent beat ; that is, the people were
to advance without noise, beyond the rapping of their
axes aofainst the trees, as there was another dense cover
lower down which usually held bison, and sometimes a
tiger, and which was to be beaten also in the afternoon.
I had sat an hour at least behind the screen of leaves
that had been put up for me when the first sign of the
beat appeared, and for another half-hour nothing was
heard but the occasional knock of an axe-handle on a
tree. Presently a shot rang from the extreme flank of
the line of guns, then another, and a clatter of hoofs
inside showed that a herd of something had been
repulsed in an attempt to escape. As the beat advanced
more shots were heard on either side, and the galloping
about of the imprisoned animals, now and then met by
a shout from behind when they attempted to break back,
became productive of considerable excitement on my
part. At last a rush of animals advanced down the
side of the stream where I was posted, and eight or ten
sambar clattered past within half a stone's throw. I had
just fired both barrels of my rifle at a couple of the stags,
dropping one of them in his tracks, and had advanced a
few paces towards it, when I heard a shot on my im-
mediate right, and a fine bull bison, with two cows and
a small calf, trotted past almost in the same line as the
sambar had taken. Those were not the days of breech-

122 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

loaders, and tliougli I liad another rifle it was a little
behind, leaning against the tree, and before I could get
hold of it nothing but the sterns of the " beeves " (as a
friend used to call them) were to be seen. When I
got it I favoured the bull with both barrels a posteriori,
but there was no result. The young Thakiir, who
occupied the post on my right, had been more success-
ful ; and when the beaters came up immediately after-
wards I found a fine four-year-old bull lyiug dead, with
two of his bullets throus^h the centre of his neck. All
the gans now came dropping in, and gathered in a group
round the slain bison. One had seen a bear, another a
couple of sambar, and so on. All had fired, and of
course hit hard, but the net result was the Thakiir's
beeve, my sambar, and two little "jungle sheep," as
they are called, the proper name being the four-horned
antelope.'^

I had never seen a bison before, and though this
was only a young chestnut-coloured bull with small
horns, I was much struck with the bulk and expression
of power belonging to the animal. Such was the wddth
of the chest that when .lying on the side, the upper fore-
leg projected stiff and straight out from the body,
without any tendency towards the ground. The head
in particular has a fine highbred and withal solemn
appearance, which is still more noticeable in old bulls.
From the eye of a newly slain bison, turned up to the
sunlight, comes such a wonderful beam of emerald light
as I have seen in the eye of no other animal ; and the
skin emits a faint, sweet odour as of herbs.

We tracked the wounded s;imbar and bison a little
way down the valley, the former showing signs of being
* Titraceroa qiiadriroynis.

THE MAIIADEO HILLS. 123

hard Lit, and a little blood was found also on tlic track
of the bull. We left a few of the best trackers to follow
up their trail with the next beat, and went round to
take up our places about a mile further down, and close
to my camp at Korighat. The same process was repeated
here, and this time with much shoutiner and hammerinfi:
of drums, as a tiger was usually somewhere in this part
of the valley, and his tracks had been seen in the
morning. I did not o-et a shot on this occasion. One
of the Gond Thakurs shot another sambar ; and my
wounded stag was found and killed with their axes by
the Gonds. The wounded bull was in the beat, and
broke near one of the Thdkiir's retainers, who was too
astonished to fire. The rest of the bison, or another
herd, broke through the side of the beat, and plunged
down a very steep and rocky descent, which the people
said they had never attempted but once before, when
one of them had broken a leg. Certainly I should not
have thought that any animal so large as a bison could
go down that place and live.

Nothing had been seen of the tiger, and had J.
known him as well as I afterwards did, I would not
have been surprised. I knew that tiger intimately for
many months after this, and yet I never once saw him.
He was a very large animal indeed, but entirely a jungle
tiger, that is, preying solely on wild animals, and
keeping during the day to the most inaccessible ravines
and thickets. He frequented the bison ground round
Dhupgarh, and hung on the trac^es of the herds, ap-
parently with an eye to the young beeves. I never
came across evidence of his killing any of them, though
I once saw a place on the plateau where the whole night
long he had evidently baited an unfortunate cow with a

124 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL li^DIA.

calf. Within a space of some twenty yards in diameter
the grass had been closely trampled down and paddled
into the moist ground by their feet, the footprints of the
calf being in the centre, while the tiger's mighty paw
went round outside, and the poor cow had evidently
circled round and round between the monster and her
little one, I am glad to say that I tracked the tiger off
in one direction, and the courageous mother and her calf
safe in another. The tiger cannot, I believe, kill even a
cow bison, unless taken at a disadvantage ; and with
a bull he could have no chance whatever. I seldom
went out without meeting the tracks of this tiger ; and
often followed him throuQ-h his whole nio-ht's wanderings,
which were laid out as on a map in the clean sand of the
stream beds ; but I always lost him in the end, though
I believe he often let me pass within a few yards of him.
He came at rare intervals, like the bison, on to the
plateau ; but his regular beat was round the bottom of
Dhupgarh, a thousand feet lower down. Once, long
ago, a tiger took up his post on the plateau, and became
a man-eater, almost stopping the pilgrimage to Mahadeo,
till he was shot by the uncle of the Thakiir.

I followed the wounded bison bull for about a mile
from where he was last seen ; but he was moving fast,
and the blood had ceased to drop. He would never
stop, the people said, till he got to a stronghold of the
bison of these hills, about five miles off, a hill called the
Biiri-Ma (Old Mother) ; and so I reluctantly gave up
the pursuit. When I returned all the beaters were
assembled ; and a more wild and uncouth set it never
before had been my lot to see. Entirely naked, with
the exception of a very dingy and often terribly scanty
strip of cloth round the middle, there was no difficulty

THE MAIIADEO HILLS. 125

in detecting the points that mark the aborigine. They
were all of low stature, the Korkiis perhaps averaging
an inch or two higher than the Gonds, who seldom
exceed five feet two inches ; the colour generally a very
dark brown, almost black in many individuals, though
never reaching the sooty blackness of the negro. Among
the Gonds a lighter-brown tint was not uncommon.
In features both races are almost identical, the face
being flat, forehead low, nose flat on the bridge, with
open protuberant nostrils ; lips heavy and large, but the
jaw usually well formed and not prominent like that of
the negro ; the hair on the face generally very scanty,
but made up for by a bushy shock of straight black
hair. In form they are generally well made, muscular
about the shoulders and thighs, with lean, sinewy
forearm and lower leg. The ex^Dression of face is rather
stolid, though good-humoured. Some of the younger
men might almost be called handsome after their
pattern ; but the elders have generally a coarse, weather-
beaten aspect which is not attractive. All the men
present carried the little axe, without which they never
stir into the forest, and many had spears besides.
During the beat they had killed a good many peafowl
and hares, and one little deer, by throwing their axes at
them, in which they are very expert.

The Korkiis, I found, were prevented by prejudice
acquired from the Hindus from eating the flesh of the
slain bison ; so the Gonds from Almod, and a number
of a tribe called Bharyas, who had come from the Motiir
hills, had him all to themselves, while the Korkiis set
to work on the sambar with their sharp little axes,
which are all that is wanted for skinning and cutting up
the carcase of the largest animal. My servant secured

126 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

the tongues and marrow-bones, and a steak out of tlie
undercut of the bison — all delicacies of the first water
for the table of the forest sportsman ; and the remainder
of the flesh was given up to the hungry multitude. As
night fell, they lit fires where the bison had fallen, and
near the village where they had brought the deer ; and for
hours after continued carrying about gobbets of the raw
meat, which they hungup on the surrounding trees, broil-
incf and swallowino^ the titbits durinc: leisure moments.
This was only the joreliminary to the great feast, however
— the dozen of oysters to whet the appetite for turtle
and venison. Soon the trees were fully decorated with
bloody festoons, and the savages set to work in earnest
to goroe themselves with the half-cooked meat. The
entrails were evidently the great delicacies, and were
eaten in long lengths, as Italians do macaroni. The
o-orging seemed to be endless, and I sat outside my little
tent for hours looking on in wonder at the bloody orgie.
The bonfires they had lighted threw a ruddy glow over
the open glade, and on the crimson junks of flesh
hanging on the trees, bringing the dusky forms of the
revellers into every variety of picturesque relief, and
forming a wild and Eembrandt-like picture which I
shall not soon forget. Till a late hour many new
arrivals continued to add to their numbers, winding
down the steep path that leads over the Rorighat, with
lighted torches and loud shouts to show the way and
scare wild beasts. All were welcome to a raw steak and
a pull at the pot of Mhowa spirit that stood beside every
group. Ere long they began to slug, and then to dance
to a shrill music piped from half-a-dozen bamboo flutes.
The scene was getting uproarious as I turned in ; and
my slumber was broken through the greater part of the

THE MAHADEO HILLS. 127

night by the noise and the glare of the great fires
through the thin canvas of my tent.

Next morning I was roused by the crow of the red
jungle-fowl, which swarm in the bamboo cover of this
little valley, and by the unremitting " hammer, hammer "
of the little " coppersmith " barbet,* of which there
seemed to be more in this valley of Rorigh;it than in all
the rest of the country. I found the revellers lying
like logs just where they had been sitting ; and it was
no small labour to rouse and get them together. A
couple of days' supply of flour was served out to each, as
remuneration for their labour in the drive ; and plenty
more was promised if they would come and help to
build the lods^e at Puchmurree. I also ratified the
chiefs by presenting them with sundry canisters of
powder and all my spare bullets ; and we parted, I
believe, mutually pleased with each other, and with
promises of plenty more hunting-meets of the same sort.
I had had enough of that sort of sport, however ; and,
excepting once with the Thakiir of Almod, never again
drove the hills for game. It is poor sport in my opinion,
and is seldom very successful even in making a bag.

Two days after this, parties of my aboriginal friends
began to drop in at the bungalow work ; and, as a few
masons and brickmakers had also arrived from the
plains, our prospects looked cheerful. The wild people
brought their women and children along with them, and
in half a day erected huts of boughs suflicient for their
accommodation. They were all told off in parties to
cut and bring in Sdl poles for rafters, and bamboos and
grass for thatching, to break and carry up lime from
the ravine, to puddle earth for brick-making, etc. The
* Xantholcema indica.

128 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

wood-cutting part of the work they were well accustomed
to ; but those to whose lot fell the lime and earth
business were much disgusted, and were with difficulty
kept to their work. All payments were made in kind,
the convoy of Baujara bullocks being now unremittingly
employed in carrying grain from the plains. The work
rapidly progressed, and was but slightly interrupted by
the abscondinsf after a while of all our masons and
brickmakers, who had very unwillingly come up from
the plains. Their places were at once taken by the
Gonds who had been employed under them, and whom
I had selected to learn these branches of the work, with
a view to such a contingency. An old foreman carpenter,
who stuck by us and superintended the work, had
fortunately some knowledge of bricklaying, and with
his help we soon began to get the Gonds to turn out
very respectable work indeed. Nobody knew how to
turn an arch, however ; and I had to evolve the idea of
one out of my own consciousness, and build the first
over the fireplace myself. The Gonds were immensely
amused at the idea of the Koitor, or " men," as they call
themselves, dabbling in bricks and mortar, and laughed
and joked over it from morning till night. Kegular
industry, however, was not to be got from these un-
reclaimed savages ; and there were seldom half of those
on the muster-roll actually present. Every now and
then, too, they would walk off in a body, and have a
big drink somewhere for a couple of days, returning
and setting to work the next morning without appearing
to think a word of explanation necessary. The height
of absurdity was reached when I imported a plough and
a pair of bullocks from below, and sent a Korku to work
with them to plough up a piece of land for a garden.

THE MAHADEO HILLS. 129

He really made a sad buDglc of it at first, having no
conception of tlie business ; and I had to set one of my
peons, who had followed the plough before he donned
the badge of office, to help him. In a little while,
however, several of the Korkiis became quite au fait at
ploughing ; and an acre or so of fine soil in the old bed
of the tank was soon fenced in, deeply ploughed, and
prepared for gardening operations at the commencement
of the rainv season.

For the next few weeks, my spare time was
pleasantly passed in exploring the neighbourhood of the
hills and their productions. I visited the Sal forest in
the Deldkdri valley to the east of Puchmurree. It was
one of the few forests in this part of the country which
had till then escaped destruction at the hands of the
timber-speculator or the dhya-cutting aborigine, being
inaccessible to the former from want of roads, and
unsuited from its level character and the size of the trees
to the operations of the latter. It, however, afi'ords an
example of one of the great difficulties of growing large
timber in the dry upland regions of Central India.
Though the trees bore every appearance of being fully
mature, their size was by no means first-rate, the largest
averaofins" no more than six or eiQ:ht feet in stirth, while
most of them, when subsequently cut down, Avere found
to be almost useless from heart-shake and dry-rot. It
belonged to the Thakiir of Puchmurree and another
chief ; and I soon after concluded a lease of it for
Government w^ith them, and laid out a road connecting
it with the open country. The view looking upwards to
the Puchmurree heights from the Denwa valley, or
across from the opposite Motiir hills, is exceedingly
fine, the rich reds of the sandstone scarp mellowing into

130 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

an indescribable variety of delicate shades of purple and
violet in tlie evening sun, while broad belts of shadow
thrown across the green slopes at the foot, and gathering
in the recesses of the ravines, seem to project the
glowing summits of the rocks to an unnatural height in
the soft orange-tinted sky.

Here I ascertained the existence of the Bara-Singha,
or twelve-tined deer [Rucervus Duvaucellii), an animal
which, like the Sal forest in which it lives, had been
supposed not to extend to the west of the Sal belt in
the Mandla district. I was not so fortunate as to shoot
a stag myself in this place ; but I shot two does, and
saw a frontlet of the male in the possession of a native
shikari, with the unmistakable antlers attached. Since
then, too, I have heard of a fine stag being shot there
by a railway Engineer. I believe they are not very
numerous here ; inded, the Sal forest, to which I believe
their range is confined, covers an area of only a few
square miles.

1 also found that the red jungle-fowl of North-
eastern India {G. ferrugineus) inhabits this Sal forest
and the hills around it, although, so far as I am aware,
it is not found anywhere else in these hills further west
than the great Sal belt of Mandla. The other species
of jungle-fowl, which properly belongs to Western
and Southern India {G. Sonneratii), is also to be met
with on the Puchmurree hills ; and I have shot both
species in the same day in the ravine where the Mahadeo
Cave is situated. The red fowl could hardly be dis-
tinguished from many a specimen of the domesticated
race either in appearance or voice, while the gray fowl
does not crow like a cock, and is, I think, a much
handsomer bird than the red. His peculiar hackles.

THE MAHADEO HILLS. 131

each feather tipped as with a drop of yellow sealing-wax,
are much valued for fly-dressing. Jungle-fovvl shooting
with spaniels in these hills is capital fun. The cover
they frequent is very thick, and they take a good
hustling before they fly up and perch on the trees.
When you approach they generally fly off, and are
very clever at putting a thick cover between themselves
and the gun, making the shooting by no means so easy
as it looks, so that a couple of brace are a good bag for
a morning's sport. I never saw reason to suppose that
the two species interbred, nor that either of them
crosses with the domestic fowl of these hills.

I have already remarked on the singularity of thus
finding a patch of the forest peculiar to Eastern India,
together with its most characteristic mammals and birds,
isolated amonsf the veo^etation and fauna of the west, at
a distance of about one hundred and thirty miles from
the nearest point of the main forest to which thej^
belong.

Two species of spur-fowl are pretty common on the
hills. The one is the common little red bird,* which,
but for its size, might easily be mistaken for the red
jungle-fowl, being very like a small bantam cock. The
other species is, I think, the same as the painted
spur-fow],t an exceedingly handsome bird, with a long
double spur on each leg. The latter species is gene-
rally found on the edges of the ravines, down which
it drops, when flushed, like a stone, and can seldom be
found again. The red bird I found chiefly on the little
broken hills that surround the plateau, and in the same
places as the jungle-fowl ; and very pretty sport it gives
with spaniels.

* Gallojperdix spadiceus. f G. lumulosu?, Jerdon.

K 2

132 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

The common Chihdrd gazelle of the plains inhabits
the undulating part of the plateau ; and the little four-
horned antelope, already referred to, is not uncommon
in the thicker parts. The black antelope is quite
unknown, though on the similar plateau of Toran Mai,
in the western Satpiiras, it is said to be common. Hares
are very numerous. The Korkiis have a curious way of
killing them at night. I discovered it by observing a
strange will-o'-the-wisp-like light flitting about the edges
of the little eminences across the valley below my tent,
accompanied by a faint jingle as of bells. It is very
simple. One man carries a pole across his shoulders,
from the fore end of which is slung an earthen pan full
of blazing faggots of the torch-wood tree,^ arranged so
as to throw the light ahead. The pan is made out of
one of their ordinary earthen water-vessels, by knocking
out the side. It is balanced at the other end by a
basket of spare faggots. Another man carries a long
iron rod, with a number of sliding rings, that jingle as
he walks. Three or four lusty fellows follow, carrying
bamboos fifteen or twenty feet in length ; and the party
proceed to move about the edge of the thickets, where
unsuspecting hares come out to feed after nightfall. As
soon as one appears in the streak of bright light thrown
across the ground by the fire-pan, the whole party rush
towards her, jingling frantically at the bells, and keeping
her terror-stricken form in the circle of light. Poor puss
seldom attempts to escape, but sits stupefied by the
glare and noise, till a bamboo brought down on her back
ends her existence. A party generally gets five or six
hares in this way in a few hours. They sometimes come
across small deer, and kill them in the same way ; and

* CocMospermuvi gossypinm.

THE MAHADEO KILLS. 133

I have heard stories of panthers and even tigers being
met with, and turning the tables on the fire-hunters in
an unexpected fashion. I once took a gun out with one
of these parties ; but found that it spoiled the whole
affair, all the hares in the neighbourhood retreating to
the cover at the first shot.

I have already said that tigers rarely come on to the
plateau. Bears are equally scarce ; in fact, I don't
think I ever saw the track of one above the passes, and
very few below. The opposite range of Motiir, however,
as well as the Mahadeo hills further west, are full of
them. The panther, on the other hand, is pretty
common in Puchmurree. The first night my camp
came up, one of a small flock of sheep I had brought, in
case of provisions running short, was killed by a panther
close to my tent. He dropped from an overhanging
branch into an enclosure of prickly bushes that had been
put up round the sheep ; and his attempts to drag it
through the fence created such a disturbance among the
people that he left it and leaped out in the confusion.
The next night he seized one of my Clumber spaniels at
the door of my tent; but a big greyhound named " Jack "
flew to the rescue, and little " Nell " escaped with a few
scratches and a great fright. The same panther became
afterwards very troublesome on the hill when the work-
men at the bungalow had left, attacking my dogs, sheep,
and goats nearly every night, and coming boldly through
the very rooms of the house. He was a toothless old
brute, however, to which circumstance the dogs owed
several escapes out of his very jaws ; and though so
daring at night in attacking our animals he would never
face the men. Several times my horsekeepers and dog-
boys sent him skulking oS" sideways, like a crab, from

134 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA.

the vigour of their applications of long bamboos across
his back. I never could kill him, though I tried every
conceivable plan. One night I might have shot him as
he passed along below the raised plinth of the house in
the moonlight ; but of course I had seized the only
unloaded gun in the rack in the hurry, and the locks
snapped harmlessly within a foot of his back. He was
shot by a shikari after I had left the hill.

Coursing foxes was another great amusement. A
colony of the pretty little fox of the plains * inhabited a
small open glade a little to the west of my camp. They
had a great many burrows almost in the centre of the
plain, all of which appeared to run into each other. I
never failed to unearth one or more foxes here by the
aid of " Pincher," a minute black - and - tan English
terrier, with the spirit of a lion, who could get into any
of the holes, and would die rather than not get out his
fox. Often he showed signs of severe subterranean
combats ; and once I thought he was done for, when
the greyhounds ran a fox into the very hole he had gone
in at. We had to get picks and spades and dig down
to him, and we found him lying with one fox before
him pinned up in the end of a blind hole, which he had
already half killed, and another blocking the way out
behind him. Poor gallant little Pincher ! He died of
a sunstroke some three months later, from being dragged
through a long eighteen-mile march in the hot sun by a
brutal dog-boy, without getting a single drop of water.
I had two brace of capital greyhounds at that time ;
one couple crossed between the English and Kampur
breeds, and the other bred from a Scotch deerhouud out
of a Buujara bitch. The Indian fox is not above half
* Vulpes Bengalensis.

f:^'

RAJ-GO¥D FROM mTRSIMG-PORE.

THE MAHADEO HILLS. 135

the size of English Eeynard, but he has an astonishing
turn of speed, and doubles with wonderful agility.
These dogs had, however, the speed of them, and the
run was generally much in a circle ; so that though the
ground was well suited for riding, I generally went on
foot, along with some of the workpeople who greatly
enjoyed the sport, and some of whom (Bharyas) eat the
foxes afterwards. It was capital training for bison-
shooting, which severely tries the wind, and in which I
also spent a day or two now and then.

Stalking the bison in these hills is very severe work
indeed. At times they may be found pretty near at
hand, but more generally the Dhiipgarh hill, or the great
ravine, has to be crossed first, and either implies a good
many miles of stiff work before the sport really begins.
The bison, though they seem to move slowly, are often
really going very fast ; and, as scarcely a yard of the
country they live in is anything like level, what is
apparently nothing to them is really a very hard pull
for their pursuer. The bottoms of the valleys are also
very hot even at this time of year ; and at all times
exercise under an Indian sun is much more fatiguino^
than in a cold climate. A wounded bison never stops
going while he can, short of nightfall, and must be
pursued while a ray of hope remains. Thus hill after
hill, and ravine after ravine, are put between one and
home in the excitement of the chase, till suddenly you
pull up and realise what an immense distance you have
come, and that you cannot possibly get back before the
middle of the night. If you have anything to eat, the
best course under such circumstances is to sleep where
you are. I often used to bivouac thus when out after
bison ; and seldom found it much of a hardship. A

136 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

good fire can always be lit in a few minutes, dry wood
being never far off in an Indian jungle. An elevated
place, at the same time sheltered from the wind, should
be chosen for the purpose, as the valleys are more
malarious at night. A shelter of boughs should always
be knocked up, which your wild men will do hand-
somely in five minutes. I learned more of the simple
nature of the forest people during the few hours' chat
by the fire on these occasions than I believe I would
have done otherwise in as many years. I think they
got attached to me a good deal ; and, though they are
not very demonstrative at any time, I was often
touched by some simple act of thoughtfulness one
would hardly have expected from their untutored
natures.

About the hardest day I had was after a couple of
bulls I had seen grazing on the very top of Dhiipgarh,
looming against the sky-line like two young elephants
in the red sunlight. It was evening when I found
them, and, as the spot was inaccessible by stalking, I
sent round a couple of Korkus to move them, while I
posted myself on the road they would be most likely to
take down the hill. They went, however, by a pass a
few hundred yards further on ; and though I ran over
the intervening bare and slippery rocks as hard as I
could to get a shot, I was only in time to see them
fioundering down the hill-side like two great rocks, and
they never pulled up till far down in the blue haze that
hung over the bottom of the valley they looked scarcely
bigger than a couple of crows. As they had not been
alarmed by shooting, and would probably be found in
the valley next day, I went home and prepared for a
long hunt. We took the road round by the great

THE MAHAdEO hills. 137

ravine, instead of going over Dhupgarh, because it was
rather shorter when the bottom of the valley had to be
made for, and also because we expected to find another
herd on the way. AVe were disappointed, however, in
this, seeing nothing till we got to the valley except a
bear with her cub, the former of which I shot.
Arriving in the valley, we spread about in all directions
to look for bison-tracks. The young Thakiir of Puch-
murree, the best hunter and tracker in the hills, was
unfortunately laid up with a sprain he had got the pre-
ceding day ; but we picked up two capital bison-
trackers out of a lot of Korkiis from a village across the
great ravine, whom we found cutting a dhya on one of
the hill-sides as we passed. I had found the footprints
of the Dhupgarh. tiger in the bed of the stream, and
was following them up with one of the Korkijs, when
I was recalled by a whistle to a place where the tracks
of the two bulls had been discovered. They were
making for a high plateau covered with thick bamboo
jungle at the top of the valley, and we at once started
on the trail. It was clear everywhere, and the men ran
it at a sharp walk nearly to the top of the hill. Here,
however, a sheet of rock intervened, and above it was
a mass of large boulders intermixed with heavy clumps
of bamboo. We were a long time puzzling the track
through here, as the bulls had stopped and fed about
on the young bamboo shoots. At last, however, one of
the men we had picked up took a long cast over the top
of the hill, and returned with the news that the bulls
had separated, one going off to the south, apparently in
the direction of a well-known haunt in the Bori teak
forest, while his companion had gone off up the hill in
the opposite direction. We decided to follow the latter,

138 THE FIIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

as it led more nearly in the direction of home. The
wilderness of bamboo-covered hills and deep intervening
rocky-bottomed or swampy dells, over and through
which we carried that trail till the sun was gettinor low,
is beyond description. Every now and then we thought
we were just upon him, freshly-cropped bamboos and
droppings showing that he was not far in front. But
he had never stopped for long. This restlessness
I afterwards found to be the habit of bison which have
recently been disturbed. He was evidently making off
steadily for some distant retreat. We started several
herds of sambar and solitary stags, and once a bear
bustled out of a nala we were crossinof, and bundled off
down the hill-side ; but we were bent on nobler game
and durst not fire at them. By evening we had got
right to the further side of the great ravine beyond
Jambo-Dwip, and the peak of Dhiipgarh glowed pink
and distant in the rays of the declining sun. We were
descending a long slope among thin trees and high
yellow grass, and I was a little ahead of the rest, when
I suddenly saw the head and horns of a bison looking
at me over a low thicket, and was putting up my rifle to
fire when, with a loud snort, the owner wheeled round,
and plunging noisily down the hill disappeared. This
snort, which sounds like a strong expulsion of air
through the nostrils, is very commonly uttered by
bison when suddenly disturbed, and is the only sound
I ever heard from them, except a low menacing moan,
which I have heard a bull utter when suspicious of
approaching danger, and the quivering bellow which
they sometimes emit in common with most other
animals when in articulo. I ran to the edge of what
proved to be a deepish ravine full of bamboos, and was

THE MAHADEO HILLS. 139

just in time to see a small herd of six or seven cows
and calves disappearing over a low shoulder on the
opposite side. But behind them slowly stalked one
bull — a majestic fellow nearly jet-black, and towering
like a young elephant in the rapidly-closing gloom of
the evening. As he reached the top of the rise he
paused and turned broadside on, his solemn-looking
visage facing in our direction. He was about ninety
yards from where I sat, with the heavy 8 -bore rifle I
had wearily dragged after him all day rested on my
knee ; and, forbidding though he looked, I sighted him
just behind the elbow and fired, fully expecting him to
subside on the receipt of two ounces of lead driven by six
drachms of powder. But there was no result whatever,
save a dull thud as the bullet plunged into his side ;
and he slowly walked on over the brow as if nothing
had happened. My other barrel caught him in the
flank, and then I seized the spare rifle that was thrust
into my hand, and sped across the intervening ravine.
I was toiling up the other side, very hot and much out
of breath, when a heavy crash beyond fell upon my
delighted ear. I had been in agony lest I had missed
the mighty target after all ; but it was not so. There
he lay as he had fallen, and rolled over down the hill
until stopped by a clump of bamboos. A mighty mass
of beef, truly, secured at last. But we were six or
seven miles from Puchmurree, and there was no more
than half an hour of daylight left. The road I knew
was frightful, with hundreds of ravines besides the
great one to cross, and it was not to be thought of at
night. After due consideration we determined to go
and sleep at a recently cut dhya that was known by the
people, about a mile from where we were ; so, leaving

140

THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

the fallen bull to the shadows of night, we went
and made ourselves sufficiently comfortable for the
night, under a cauopy of the newly-cut branches, on
couches spread deeply with the springy shoots of the
bamboo. We had walked at least twenty miles in the
course of the day, and that over fearful ground. I was
very tired, but happy, and never slept sounder in my
life. On the whole I think stalking the mountain bull
among the splendid scenery of these elevated regions,
possesses more of the elements of true sport than almost
any other pursuit in this part of India.

liEAU OF BULL BISON.

CHAPTER IV.

THE ABORIGINAL TRIBES.

Something has already been said regarding the inter-
mixture of Hindu blood, manners, and religion, that has
taken place among the aboriginal races of Central India.
Were this an isolated event in the ethnical history of
the country it would possess a comparatively feeble
interest. Its high importance lies in its furnishing us
with a living example of a process which has, as already
suggested, played an important part in the development
of the races which compose the mass of modern
Hinduism. It is the uppermost and most accessible
stratum of a geological series of untold antiquity ; and,
as the geologist interprets ancient formations by the
analogy of the processes he sees still going on around
him, so it may be that some light may be thrown on
the construction of modern Hinduism by the process
of transformation which is here going on before our
eyes.

It is difficult to say hovv' far the actual admixture of
blood has taken place. There is small room for doubt
that the so-called Gond Eajas of pre-Mahomedan times
were nearly, or quite, pure Hindu Rajputs, exercising
a feudal authority over numerous petty chiefs of mixed

U2 TlIK TITGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

descent. The former have been nearly swept away,
their only remaining representative being the pensioned
Gond Raja of Nagpur; the latter remain in their
descendants, and, almost to a man, show the clearest
signs of possessing a mixture of the Hindu and
aborio^inal blood. The Hindu element in such cases
has not been the debased article current amonor the
masses of the labouring population, but the purer strain
derived from the aristocratic families of Rajputana. It
is as it were the Jirst cross in the mixed breed, and thus,
as might be expected, shows the characteristics of both
sides clearly developed. In other cases, among the
lower races of aborigines, crosses also appear to have
taken place ; but in such cases it appears to have been
the already debased Hindu of the lower orders that has
furnished the foreign element, and the result has been a
breed which little approaches the high Aryan character,
and is, in fact, only a slight advance on the purely
aboriginal type. Among the chiefs the cross appears to
have taken place with all the different tribes of indigenes.
Towards the east the mixed breed call themselves Gond-
Rajputs, or shortly Raj-Gonds, and are the direct result
of the alliance betw^een the Rajpiit adventurer and the
Gond. In the Korkii country the same thing seems to
have occurred between the Rajputs and the Korkus. In
this case, however, the tribe being an influential one,
the descendants are only known as Korkiis. But they
differ in many respects from pure Korkus, being tall
and fair-complexioned, ultra-Hindu in their observances,
and marrying only among their several families, or into
purer houses — never among the undiluted aborigines.
In the extreme west a distinct race called BhilaLas has
originated from the cross between the Rajpiit and the

THE ABORIGINAL TRlBEwS. 143

Bheel. The Bheels were for a much longer period in
close contact with Hindus than any other tribe, and that
during a period of Indian history when the restrictions
of caste were almost entirely in abeyance. Buddhism,
and its offspring Jainism, were the ruling faiths in that
part of the country up to the eleventh or twelfth
century ; and thus it is probable that a much greater
admixture of the races occurred there than in countries
where the Brahminical forms prevailed. The Bhilalas
are now very numerous, occupying large tracts as almost
the sole population, but still there is a marked distinction
between these and the land-holding chiefs of the same
descent. The distinction is, in fact, identical with
that between the Raj-Gond and Korkii chiefs and
the numerous commoner classes of the same tribes
who are nominally pure aborigines, but are really half
Hindii.

As is the case with the divers peoples now included
among modern Hindus, it would be wholly impossible
now to gauge the extent to which the infusion of the
Aryan element has taken place among these aboriginal
races. The facility for amalgamation between them —
the chemical affinity, so to speak, between the races —
seems to be so great, that in a very few generations
the points denoting the predominance of one or the
other become obliterated. And yet the traveller among
them will come on stratum after stratum showing in
the clearest manner the intermediate stages between the
two races. And, as a rule, variation of physical type
will be found to be accompanied in almost equal ratio
by divergence from aboriginal manners and religious
ideas in the direction of Hinduism. It is probable that
the further commixture of blood, excepting through the

144 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA.

occasional immorality of the races, has in recent times
ceased as regards the masses, though the chiefs are
still unremitting in their endeavours to purify their
families by alliance with more blue-blooded Eajpiit
houses than their own. Blue blood being a market-
able commodity here as in other countries, the chiefs
have to pay highly for such privileges ; and nothing
has so much tended to pauperise these families as these
constant bribes for the ennoblement of their race, and
the equally heavy cost of conciliating the priestly
arbitrators of their quality.

For it is through this chink that the influence of
Brahmanism has mainly succeeded in penetrating to
the very core of these indigenous tribes. The test of
purity of caste among races of uncertain descent is
much more the extent of their observance of the Hindii
code of purity and ceremonial than actual proof of
lineage. The Brahmans form a sort of Heralds' College,
to be inscribed on the rolls of which for a few genera-
tions entitles an aspirant to ally himself with families
who have already attained a higher status than himself.
Strict reverence for the Brahmans, and adherence to
ceremonial purity, are necessary to secure this ; and
thus it is that all these semi-Hindii chiefs spend the
greater part of their time and means in striving to
attain the utmost rigour of attention to Hindu religious
and social rule. To this end they have abandoned the
gods of their fathers for the deities of the Brahmans.
They have retained Brahmans as their councillors and
to conduct the worship of the gods. They eat nothing
unsanctioned by the Brahminical law ; and some even
employ Brahmans to cook their food, sprinkling the
faggots employed for the purpose with holy water.

THE ABOKIGINAL TEIBES. 145

Thus tliey have gradually separated themselves from
the mass of their aboriginal subjects, and formed a
separate caste of their own, either inter-marrying amono-
families similarly situated, or if possible seeking brides,
as I have said, in houses superior to themselves. Some
of them have thus succeeded in almost eradicatino- the
aboriginal taint ; and by continued reversion to the
purer stocks have attained to an equality of physical
type with the higher races. Their social status has
come to be acknowledged as that of the Rdjpiit rather
than the aborigine ; and many have assumed the sacred
thread, the wearing of which denotes membership of
one of the twice-born castes. Most of them, however,
whether from motives of policy or of superstition, still
concede something to their semi-aboriginal descent ;
worshipping perhaps in secret the tribal deities, and,
in cases, placing at certain festivals the flesh of cows,
abhorred of Hinduism, to their lips, wrapped in a thin
covering of cloth. Many of them also require to be
installed on their succession to the chiefship by a
ceremon}^ which includes the touching of their fore-
heads with a drop of blood drawn from the body of
a pure aborigine of the tribe they belong to.

Such an example on the part of their influential
chiefs was certain to be followed by large sections of
their subjects ; and in particular by such of them as
were themselves in some degree of mixed descent.
Accordingly we find the tribes much subdivided into
clans, or castes, distinguished from each other by a
more or less close adoption of Hindii customs and relio-ious
forms. A theory has arisen that the Gonds are divided
into twelve and a half formal castes accordino- to the
number of the gods they worship, after the pattern of the

146 THE HIGHLANDS OF CKXTRAL TXDIA.

Hindus ; but, as in the case of the hitter such a division
is purely nominal, the actual number of Hindu castes
being; almost infinite, so also amons^ the Gonds this
distinction accords with nothing to be seen in practice ;
and their subdivisions differ in almost every district,
being founded partly perhaps on tribal descent, but
chiefly on imported distinctions arising from the extent
of their approximation to Hinduism. Some of these
castes have already succeeded, like their chiefs, in at-
taining to the status of Rajputs ; and the process is
still going on before our eyes in places where the sacred
thread is openly sold to aspirants by the chiefs and
their obsequious Brahmans.

As might be expected, the Gonds have gone further
in the adoption of these Hindii sentiments than the
other tribes. They are far more numerous ; they occupy
large tracts of low country intermixed with the Hindus ;
their semi-Hindii chiefs possessed the ruling power of
the country for many generations ; and possibly they
belong to a branch of the human race more susceptible
of modification than the others. Their Tamulian con-
geners in Southern India, while losing little of their
aboriginal physical type, have conformed en 7nasse to the
cu.-toms and religion of Hinduism ; while the Kolarian
stock, wherever found, has obstinately resisted inter-
mixture with the Hindii.

In the next cliapter I propose to give a sample of
the legends current among the Goods, which indicate
their own consciousness of the importance of the change
that has been wrought among them by their acceptance
of Hindii ideas ; and in the meantime will proceed to
some description of the aboriginal beliefs and insti-
tutions, which still lie, in the most advanced of their

MALE AND F'^MALE GOND,

THE ABORIGIXAL TRIBES. 147

sections, but a little way below the surface, and which,
among the undiluted denizens of the wilder regions, are
yet found in their primitive purity.

It is not an easy matter for the inquirer among
such tribes really to ascertain the peculiarities of their
language, religion, or ideas, Like all savages there
is a child-like vagueness about their conceptions which
it is very difficult to get the better of, and to this
is added a suspiciousness which frequently leads them
to deliberately withhold information the object of which
they are unable to comprehend. In the case of these
particular tribes, moreover, the admixture of Hinduism
has proceeded so far that one has to be constantly on
his guard against admitting as belonging to them what
is in fact of foreign origin. An intimate acquaintance
with Hindu beliefs and peculiarities is therefore the
first essential quality of him who attempts to ascertain
the distinctive features of these races ; and from the
want of this great mistakes have constantly been made
in describing them. The poverty of their languages
is another great obstacle to the inquirer. In the
aboriginal tongues there seem to be no expressions
for abstract ideas, the few such which they possess being
derived from the Hindi. In fact, the aboriginal roots
are really almost confined to the exjDression of the
barest necessities of savage existence. The names even
of most of their personal deities, the nomenclature of
religious ceremony, of moral qualities, and of nearly
all the arts of life they possess, are all Hindi. The
form, and particularly the termination, of these imported
words is, however, frequently a good deal modified,
the pronunciation being as a rule broadened ; and thus
an imperfect acquaintance with the dialects of Hindi

L 2

148 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDLV.

frequently leads to tlie acceptance of such phrases as
purely aboriginah The greatest diflQculty, however, is
their vagueness of conception, and their want of abstract
ideas. Thus, for instance, in all the recorded vocabu-
laries it will be found that the term for " sky " is
nothino- but the Hindi name for "clouds," or "sun,"
or "moon," or some specific object in the sky, not
for the sky generally, for which they do not seem
to possess a name. It is only in the remotest wilds
that either Gonds or Korkiis are now found who do
not know sufficient Hindi to carry on a simple conver-
sation, although they generally employ their own
tongue in talking among themselves. The tribes
bordering on the plains, who visit some bazaar town
once a week for purposes of exchange, and who arer
constantly in contact with the people of the plains,
have in many cases lost all knowledge of their own
language, and speak the Hindi of the plains. There
is nothing that is worth preserving in these rudimentary
indigenous tongues ; and their inevitable absorption in
the more copious lingua franca of the plains is not
at all to be regretted.

In religion the Gond tribes have passed through
all the earlier stages of belief, and are now entering
on that of idolatry pure and simple — the last in which
relie^ion is still altos^ether dissevered from ideas of
morality. As has been generally observed, however,
the objects of worship of each new stage of development
here form additions to those formerly reverenced, rather
than supplant them.

The foundation of their creed appears to be a
vague pantheism, in which all nature is looked upon
as pervaded by spiritual powers, the most prominent

THE ABORIGINAL TRIBES. 149

and powerful of wliicli are personified and propitiated
by simple oflferings. Every prominent mountain top
is the residence of the Spirit of the Hill, who must
be satisfied by an ofi'eritig before a dhya can be
cut on its slopes. The forest is peopled by wood-
land sprites, for whom a grove of typical trees is
commonly left standing as a refuge in clearing away the
jungle. When the field is sown, the god of rice-fields
(Khodo Pen) has to be satisfied, and again when the
€rop is reaped. The malignant powers receive regular
propitiation. The Tiger God has a hut built for him in
the wilderness that he may not come near their dwellings.
The goddess of small-pox and of cholera receives
offerings chiefly when her ravages are threatened.
Among such elementary powers must be reckoned the
ghosts of the deceased, which have to be laid by certain
ceremonies. These consist in conjuring the ghost into
something tangible, in one case into the body of a fish
caught in the nearest water, in another, into a fowl
<ihosen by omen. The object, whatever it is, is then
brought to the house of the deceased, and propitiated
for a certain time, after which it is formally consigned
to rest by burial, or in one case by pouring it (in
solution) over the representation of the village god.
The spirits of persons killed by wild animals are believed
to be especially malignant, and are "laid" with much care
and ceremony. To this practice has been superadded
by some the rite of periodical propitiation of deceased
ancestors by sacrifice, implying their continued existence
in another world, an entirely difi"erent thing it may be
observed from the rite already described, which implies
only a restless and spiteful existence in this world of a
ghost which may be made an end of by a ceremony.

150 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

I believe the superior belief to be entirely derived
from the Hindus, with whom it is a prime article of
faith.

None of these powers of nature are represented by
idols, nor have they any particular forms or ceremonies
of worship. They are merely localised by some vague
symbol ; the mountain god by a daub of vermilion on
some prominent rock ; the tree god by a pile of stones
thrown round the stem of a tree — and so on. At these
the simple savage pays his devotion, almost furtively, as
he passes in the gray of the morning to his day's labour,
by a simple prostration, or perhaps by the offering of a
handful of rice or an onion ! More elaborate acts of
worship are engaged in by the community at certain
seasons, and then these primitive powders may be joined
with the more personal deities derived from their
neighbours in the general act of worship.

In the next stage the tribes have added certain
Fetishes to the list of powers. The principal of these is
an iron spear-head called Pharsa Pen, and he is sup-
ported by the Bell god, the Chain god, a god composed
of some copper money hung up in a pot, shapeless
stones, and many other objects, the power attributed to
which is purely arbitrary, and unconnected with any
natural agency. To this stage appears to belong the
medicine man and dealer in witchcraft, who still
possesses considerable power among the tribes. These
medicine men can scarcely be called priests, and are not
an hereditary caste. Their business is to exorcise evil
spirits, to interpret the wishes of the fetish, to compel
rain, and so on. Some of them seem to have acquired
the power of throwing themselves into a sort of trance
in which they are visited by the deity ; but in this

THE ABORIGINAL TEIBES. 151

respect they are far behind the sorcerers of the Byga
race further to the east, who will be subsequently
alluded to.

In a still more advanced stage, the Gonds have
resorted to hero worship ; but it is curious that all the
deified heroes they reverence are of purely Hindii
derivation. The chief are Bhima, one of the fi.ve Pandu
brethren, who is represented by his mythical club either
in stone or wood ; Hardy al, a Eajpiit hero of much later
date ; Dulha Deo, the apotheosis of a bridegroom, and
many others.

Lastly come the recognised divinities of the Hindii
pantheon. Amongst a race whose blessings are few and
hardships many it is not surprising that the malevolent
members of the Hindii pantheon should have found
more acceptance than the benevolent deities. Vishnii
is scarcely recognised by them, except in his one terrible
development of Narsingha or the Man-Tiger ; while
Siva the Destroyer, with his formidable consort Kali,
and son Bhairava, are the favourite objects of reverence
amonof the more advanced of the tribes. These are
represented by rude idols, Siva himself in his usual
Phallic form ; and a Brahman in many cases officiates
at their shrines. Here for the first time we find my-
thology— the science of priests — at work. In their
earlier stages the tribes had no priests, no hierarchy of
gods, and consequently no mythology. Now legends
are invented to connect the tribes, and their earlier
gods, with the great web of Hindii fiction, and bring
them within the dominion of caste and priestdom. In
the succeeding chapter w411 be found a version of one
of these frasjments. Their art is of the rudest character,
often outraging the requirements of Hindii orthodoxy —

ir.2 'llli: IIICIIl.ANDS OF (JKNTRAI. INDIA.

Huilcil, ill r,M-l, t'l tin' lliciil;il ciIiImi' of ;i jtcopic Hf.'U-CcIy

yet ('jncrL!,iii;^ IVoiii iinrc, Id isliisin,

jM.'iiin- li.ivc (U)iijc(ttiin(l tli.il tlic worsliij) ol" Si'vi'i and
]\'\H inylliii- coniiiMiiioiis, wliidi litims ko iii(',()n<^ruous .'in
iiilniHion into the iiiiMcr Lull: of IIk- Aryan Ilindi'is,
li;iH hccii, III lacl, (Icnvrd Iroiii iJif ;i,l)on!^nii;i,l r;i.ccs of
India. As rc;^Mr<ls Si'vii. liiinsclf in Jiis I'liallic loi-m there
Hccnis to be little loundation foi* .sucli iin liypotheslH.
Tin; omMcm Iimh nowhere, I lidicvc;, Ix-en Fouinl as an
olijcct of ;i(loiatioii .•iiiionL'; tin; iii(liL!,cnous races wlu^re
iirahminism has not |K;n('.trati!(l, whereas it was a very
ancient (01111 (d" woishi[) ainon*^ tlie i)eoj)I('s of Western
Asia, and wascvcii jin-vah'nt in lieathen iiomemore tlian
sixteen liiiiidred y(!ars ago. It was, as in Jmlia, so in tiie
countries ot Western Asia., connected witli human sacri-
fices. It is true that this forin of tlie Jlindi'i religion
is chielly [uevahiit in I lie wihh-r ])arts ol" the country,
wiierc I he ahoii^iiiai elcnii'iil ]ir(!Vails, many of its
chiefest shrines beiu'j; in I'aet, sil uated in se(diided wilder-
ni'ss(!S, and [^uard(!<l by aboii^^iiial, or semi-altoriL^inal, cus-
todians. It may \h\, then, that tin; |)er,--oniiied forms (jf
this deity were adaptations from tlie cultus of some;
of the aboriginal races that hav(! been absorbed in
llindiiism; but I lliiid< we must ;_;(» liiillici- back in the
history of this moveiiieiil lo liiid the oriL!;inals of K;ili'
and l)haira\;i than to an\l liin;^ we know (d t lie. indigenes
as tliey now exiht. i\Iay it not have been in ihe earliest
days of nraliminical revival, wheji coin{»elitors for the
adherence of the ])(M)|de in the great struggle with
]>i'nl(lhisni had to b(! sought lor among the ]»oj)ular
deities— when \ ishnii was transformed into the popular
deniigod.s I Jama and Krishna, into the 'Jortoise, and the
Fibh, and the Alan-Tiger, to suit the tastes of a variety

THE ABORrOlNAL TIMDKS. 153

of lialf-Hindiiised races — tliat tlion Si'va was also im-
ported from tlic West, and allied with the sterner objects
of worship of the wilder races, to draw them into tlie
great net of the priests, as the incarnations of Vishnu in
their popular heroes and totems were employed to draw
the more civilised classes of the people ? Were these
deities really indigenous amongst the Conds we should
certainly see their worship a matter of more widespread
and heartfelt devotion than it is. It is in truth still
almost confined to the chiefs and their half-Hindu
dependants, and to a few of the most advanced, and
probably half-blooded, sections of the tribes. In the
great periodical acts of public propitiation of the gods
they arc cither not admitted, or if so, frequently have
to sit under one of the fetishes or nature-gods of the
primitive faith.

The chief of these ceremonies occur at the marked
periods of their agricultural season — when the crops are
sown or reaped, and at the flowering of the valuable
Mhoiua tree — also when severe pestilence threatens the
community. On such occasions a row of small stones,
taken from the nearest hill-side, are set up in a row and
daubed with vermilion, to represent the presence of all
the gods that are to be included in the propitiation.
Sometimes small pieces of iron hung up in a pot are
used instead. A bit^jTrer stone or bit of iron represents
the " liara P(*n," or Great God of the occasion, who is
usually the one supposed to want most attention at the
time. Cocks and goats, and libations of mhowa spirit,
are then offered with much ceremony, dancing, and
music ; and the affair, like most of their great occasions,
usually winds up by the whole of them getting abomin-
ably drunk. Such is still the real religion of these peoples,

154 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDL4.

notwithstcandiDg the lacquer of Hinduism many of them
have received ; and such I may add is not very different
from that of the vast mass of the so-called Hindus of
the plains, who look on Vishnu and Siva as little nearer
to them than do these savages, and pay their real de-
votion to the village gods, to the gods of the threshing-
floor, and to their lares and joenates — all unrecognised
by the orthodox priest. In both cases their religious
belief is wholly unconnected with any idea of morality.
A moral deity, demanding morality from his creatures,
is a religious conception far beyond the present capacity
cither of the aborigine or the ordinary Hindii.

The idea of a Great Spirit, above and beyond all
personal gods, and whom they call Bhagwan, is, how-
ever, accepted by all Hindus, and has been borrowed
from them by the Gonds. He is the great First Cause
of all things, but himself endowed v.dth neither form nor
moral qualities. He is unrepresented, and receives no
adoration. A Hindii will accurately describe all the
gods of his pantheon ; but of Bhagwan he has no idea,
except that he is the great Creator. He is, in fact, that
" Unknown God " w^hom humanity has never yet learned
to approach save through the medium of some human or
anthroj)omorphous substitute.

I have not yet touched on the religion of the Korkiis.
It is, I think, purer than that of the Gonds. The
powers of nature are equally adored, such as the Tiger
God, the Bison God, the Hill God, the Deities of Small-
pox and Cholera. But these are all secondary to the
Sun and the Moon, which, among this branch of the
Kolarian stock as among the Kols in the far East, are
the principal objects of adoration. I have seen nothing
resembling Fetishism among them ; and if, as some con-

THE ABOKIGINAL TRIBES. 155

sider, that is the earliest form in which the religion of
savages develo2:)s itself, the Korkiis would seem in this
respect to have advanced a stage beyond the Gonds.
The sun and the figure of a horse (a Scythian emblem of
the sun) are carved on wooden posts, and receive sacrifices.
They also sacrifice to the manes of their dead, but only
for a certain period, to " lay " them. Belief in sorcery
and witchcraft is not so prevalent among them as with
the Gonds and Bygas. Their semi-Hindii chiefs have
accepted Siva and his companions; but the common
Korkiis seem to care little about them, excepting in the
immediate neighbourhood of his great shrine in the
Mahadeo hills. A few glorified heroes receive attention,
but not to nearly so great an extent as among the Gonds.

In disposing of the dead, the aboriginal tribes all
appear to have formerly practised burial ; but those who
have been much Hinduised resort by preference to
cremation. The process being an expensive one, how-
ever, it is not lavished on all alike, women and children
being still mostly buried, while adult males are burnt.
Also during the rainy season, when burning is incon-
venient, burial is often adopted for all alike. Most of
the tribes erect some sort of a memorial to the dead ;
the Gonds generally in the shape of little mounds,
covered by slabs of stone ; while the Korkiis carve ela-
borate pillars of teak- wood, w^ith emblems of the sun
and the crescent moon, and of the deceased party
mounted on a horse, which they erect under a tree
appropriated to the purpose near each of their villages.
A very populous cemetery of this sort may be seen close
to the village of Puchmurree.

I have already described the personal appearance of
the men of the Gond and Korkii tribes. Their women,.

156 THE lirGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

I think, differ among themselves more than do the men
of these races. Those of the Gonds are generally some-
what lighter in colour and less fleshy than the Korkus.
Eut the Gcmd women of different parts of the country
vary greatly in appearance, many of them in the opener
parts near the plains being great robust creatures — finer
animals by far than the men ; and here Hindii blood
may be fairly suspected. In the interior, again, bevies
of Gond women may be seen who are liker monkeys
than human beings. The features of all are generally
strongly marked and coarse. The young girls occasion-
ally possess such comeliness as attaches to general
plumpness and a good-humoured expression of face ;
but when their short youth is over, all pass at once into
a hideous age. Their hard lives, sharing as they do all
the labours of the men except that of hunting, suffice to
■account for this. They dress decently enough, in a
short petticoat, often dyed blue, tucked in between the
legs so as to leave them naked to the thigh, and a
mantle of white cotton covering the upper part of the
body, with a fold thrown over the head. The most
eastern section of the Korkiis (hence called Pothrias)
add a bodice, as do some of the Hindiiised Gonds.
The Gond women have the legs as far as they are
suffered to be seen tattooed in a variety of fantastic
patterns, done in indigo or gunpowder blue. The
Pardhans are the great artists in this line, and the
figures they design are almost the only ornamental art
attempted by these tribes. It is done when the girl
becomes marriageable ; and the traveller will sometimes
hear dreadful screeches issuing from their villages, which
will be attributed to some young G('>ndin being operated
upon with the tattooing-needlc. Like all barbarians,

TILE ABOEIGINAL TRIBES. 157

both races deck themselves with an inordinate amount
of what they consider ornaments. Quantity rather than
quality is aimed at ; and both arms and legs are usually
loaded with tiers of heavy rings — in silver among the
more wealthy, but, rather than not at ail, then in brass,
iron, or coloured glass. Ear and nose rings and bulky
necklaces of coins or beads are also common ; and their
ambrosial locks are intertwined on state occasions with
the hair of goats and other animals.

In marriage customs they differ from the Hindus
chiefly in the contract and performance both taking
place when the parties are of full age. Polygamy is not
forbidden ; but, women being costly chattels, it is rarely
practised. The father of the bride is always paid a
consideration for the loss of her services, as is usually
the case among poor races where the females bear a
large share in the burden of life. The Biblical usao-e of
the bridegroom, when too poor to pay this considera-
tion in cash, serving in the house of his future father-in-
law for a certain time, is universal among the tribes.
The youth is then called a lamjan ; and it frequently
happens that he gets tired of waiting, and induces his
fair one to make a moonlight flitting of it. The
morality of both sexes before marriage is open to
comment ; and some of the tribes adopt the precaution
of shutting up all the marriageable young men at nio-ht
in a bothy by themselves. Infidelity in the married
state is, however, said to be very rare ; and when it does
occur is one of the few occasions when the stolid
aborigine is roused to the extremity of passion, frequently
revenging himself on the guilty pair by cutting off his
wife's nose, and knocking out the brains of her paramour
with his axe.

158 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL IXDIA.

The marriage ceremony is very elaborate and
childish, and is generally borrowed in great part from
the Hindus. The bride is in some tribes selected from
among first cousins by preference. More usually,
however, connection is souo'ht amoufr another tribe.
Usually an understanding is come to privately before
the formal "asking" takes place, so that a "refusal"
is scarcely known. The Pardhan is the ambassador,
and arranojes the articles of the "marriao-e settlement."
In contradistinction to the Hindii practice, it is at the
bridegroom's house that the ceremony takes place, so
that the whole of the expense may full upon him.
Hindiiised tribes, however, practise the reverse. The
actual ceremonies consist, first, of an omen to discover
the propitious day, on which commences a series of
repeated carryings to and fro, anointings and sprinklings
with various substances, eating together, tying the
garments together, dancing together round a pole,
being half drowned together by a douche of water,
and the interchange of rings — all of which may be
supposed to symbolise the union of the parties. The
bridegroom sometimes places his foot on the bride's
back to indicate her subjection; and a feigned forcible
abduction of the bride is often a part of the ceremony
— the usual relic of olden times of the strong' hand.
Sacrifice to the gods, and unlimited gorging and sj)irit-
drinking, are usually the wind - up of the affair.
Widows are not precluded from re-marriage ; and
among the Gonds it is even the duty of a younger
brother to take to wife the widow of an elder. The
converse is not, however, permitted. A widow's re-
marriage is accompanied by little ceremony.

There is little in any of these customs, it will be

THE ABOKIGINAL TRIBES. 159

seen, to clistinsfuish these tribes from other races of
savages ; and it would be unprofitable to devote further
space to a record of their details. They may nearly
all be found repeated among large masses of the
so-called Hindii population of the plains ; and, in fact,
so far as religious and other customs are concerned, I
believe that, were the Gonds not associated with hills
and forests into which the Hindus have not penetrated
very far, they would long since have come to be looked
on merely as another caste in the vast social fabric of
Hinduism. The Korkiis are more peculiar, and, I think,
a far superior race in most respects ; and the Bygas or
Bhiimias of the eastern hills are still more worthy of
observation by the ethnologist. Something will be
said of them in future chapters.

It is more important, as regards the Gonds and
Korkiis of the central and western hills, to inquire
into their present economical position and their probable
future. Their methods of subsistence in the interior of
the hills have already been described ; and their life
has been shown to be one of great hardship and toil.
Although so far inured to malaria as to be able to exist,
and in some measure continue the race, in the heart
of jungles which are at some seasons deadly to other
constitutions, the effect of the climate and a poor diet
is seen in impoverishment of the constitution, constant
attacks of fever and bowel diseases, and often chronic
enlargement of the spleen. Imported diseases like
cholera and small-pox also commit dreadful ravages
among^ them. The life of labour which both sexes
undergo, and their low physical vigour, result in very
small families, of whom moreover a large percentage
never attain maturity. There has been no accurate

160 THE HIGHLANDS OF CEXTKAL IXDIA.

enumeratiou of the bill tribes at intervals, from wbicb
to judge wbetber tbey are increasing or the reverse. I
suspect tbe latter as regards tbose in tbe interior,,
tliougb tbe better fed and less exposed tribes in and
near tbe plains may probably be increasing.

Until lately, babits of unrestrained drunkenness
have aggravated the natural obstacles to their im-

DO

provement. The labour of their peculiar sj'steni of
cultivation, though severe, is of a fitful character, a
few weeks of great toil being succeeded by an interval
of idleness, broken only by aimless wanderings in the
jungle or hunting expeditions. Periods of rude plenty,
when the rains have been propitious to the crops, the
hunt successful, and the crop of mhowa abundant, have
been succeeded by times of scarcity or even of want.
Such a thing as providing for a rainy day has never
been thought of. The necessity for constantly shifting
the sites of their clearings and habitations has created
a want of local attachment, and a disposition to any-
thing rather than steadiness of occupation. Occasional
periods of hardship are sure to be followed, in such a
character, by outbursts of excess ; and thus the life of
tbe Gond has usually consisted of intervals of severe
toil succeeded by periods of unrestrained dissipation, in
which anything he may have earned has been squandered
on drink. It is this unfortunate want of steadiness that
has led to most of the misfortunes of the race, to the
loss of their heritage in the land, and in a great many
cases practically even of their personal liberty. Inferior
races give way before superior whenever they meet ;
ami whether, as here and in America, the instrument
selected be "fire-water," or as in New Zealand, it be our

THE ABORIGINAL TEIBES. 161

own favourite recipe of powder and lead, the result is
the same.

The case of the Goad has hitherto little differed,
whether he has preferred to cling to his rugged hills
and struggle with nature, or has remained on the edge
of civilisation and toiled for the superior races. Every-
where the aboriginal is the pioneer of the more settled
races in their advance against the wilderness. His
capacity for toil that would break the heart of a Hindii,
his endurance of malaria, and his fearlessness of the
jungle, eminently qualify him for this function ; and his
thriftlessness and hatred of being long settled in a locality
as certainly ensure the fruits of his labour reverting as
a permanency to the settled races of the plains. The
process is everywhere much the same. The frontier
villages in the possession of Hindu landholders, or of
the Gond Thakiirs, or chiefs, usually comprehend large
areas of culturable but uncleared land, and there are
alwavs numbers of the aborio;ines floatinof about such
frontiers, earning a precarious livelihood by wood-cutting
and occasional jobs, or working as farm-servants, who can
be induced to break it up. They have, of course, no
capital, and seldom any security to offer ; and the risk
of loss must therefore be borne by the landholder. He
either lends money himself for the purchase of a plough
and pair of bullocks, and the other small farm-stock
required to commence with, or becomes security for such
a loan borrowed from the banker who is found in every
circle of villages, with money always ready to be lent
on any such speculation. The interest charged on such
a money loan is never less than twenty-four per cent,
per annum. Seed grain has also to be borrowed ; and

1G2 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

this, as well as sufficient food to last the cultivator till
his crop is ready, is generally borrowed in kind, the
arrangement being that double the quantity borrowed
shall be repaid at harvest time. As grain is cheaper at
harvest than at seed time, this does not quite represent
a hundred per cent, interest ! Such rates of interest
seem high, but the risk of such speculations is very great,
the principal being not seldom lost altogether. The
short-sighted policy long followed by our legislature,
which rendered the recovery of such debts a matter of
the greatest difficulty and uncertainty, greatly aided in
maintaining these rates of interest. This policy is not
even yet extinct, there being, in the Central Provinces
at least, a rule which prohibits procedure against the
farm-stock of a debtor, although it may all have been
purchased with the borrowed money to recover which
execution is souo-ht.

It is obvious that transactions of this nature are
really of the nature of a partnership between the
labourer and the capitalist, the former furnishing
nothing but his personal labour and supervision. Some-
times the partnership takes a more explicit form, when
the man of money furnishes the oxen against the
manual labour of the cultivator. All the other ex-
penses, including the wages of the cultivator's family,
if he has any, are deducted from the gross produce
of the farm, with interest to the capitalist if he has
advanced any part of such expenditure, and the balance
is then divided equally between the owner of the oxen
and the cultivator. In either case the result usually
is that all the profit, beyond the bare wages his labour
would fetch in the market, is absorbed by the man that
supplies the money and takes the risk. But the culti-

THE ABORIGINAL TRIBES. 163

vator is far better off also than if be bad been working for
bire, for tben be would not bave laboured balf so steadily
as bis interest in tbe result of tbe crop induces bim to do.

Until recently, tbe babits of debaucbery I bave
mentioned, together witb tbe low value of agricultural
produce, usually prohibited tbe advance of the ab-
original cultivator from this stage. The harvest reaped,
any grain that might fall to his share was at once taken
to the spirit-dealer (who usually combined grain-dealing
with his more pernicious trade), and converted into
mhowa spirit — gangs of Gonds at this season being
constantly to be seen rolling about in a perpetual state
of drunkenness, or sitting, blear-eyed, at the door of the
bothy, until the last of their earnings had been dissi-
pated. This effected, they had no resource but to work
during tbe rest of tbe season, until sowing-time should
again arrive, at occasional jobs of wood-cutting or road-
making, or anything that might turn up, always getting
drunk whenever opportunity served.

Great numbers of them, when once they had re-
sorted to the grog-shop, never again became their own
masters, remaining practically the bond slaves of the
spirit-dealer ever after. And this introduces one of
the most pernicious evils with which we had to
contend in the early days of forest conservation. A
very great amount of timber, bamboos, grass, and other
forest produce is annually required by the people of the
plains for house-building and repairing, fencing their
fields, and other agricultural purposes. The timber-
bearing tracts in the neighbourhood of the cultivated
plains having long since been cleared, all this has to
be brought down from the interior of the hills ; and
such work can only be done by the bold and hardy ab-

164 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

orioines. Almost the whole of this trade had sjot into the
hands of the Kulars, or spirit-dealers, by means of the
power they had obtained over the tribes by tlieir devotion
to strong potations. Badly off as the poor Gond was in
the hands of the agricultural money-lender, he was at least
paid in wholesome grain or hard coin ; but here the
universal practice was to pay him in liquor, all except
the pittance necessary to keep body and soul together
in the way of food and raiment. Often the Kulars
united the three trades, making the Gond cultivate an
autumn crop of grain for his own subsistence and the
trader's profit at a season when forest operations were
impossible, exchanging his surplus grain for liquor
immediately after, until he had him deep in his books
ao"ain, and then sending him out to the forests to cut
wood to repay him, and to purchase back some of his
own orain for subsistence. He was clean done and
cheated at every turn, having to labour like a horse, and
getting out of it nothing but a scanty subsistence, and as
much vile liquor as he could swallow without interfering
too much with his working power. This trade had
become enormously profitable. The numbers of the caste
of Kulars, who alone can legitimately deal in spirits,
were limited ; and they soon were rolling in w^ealth.
A dissolute flaunting set by nature, they did no good
with the money they thus earned, spending it chiefly in
gambling and debauchery, and in loading themselves
and their women with massive golden ornaments. The
evils of the system were incalculable. In his wild state
the G6nd or Korkii has been recognised to be truthful
and honest, occasionally breaking out into passion which
might lead to violent crime, but free from tendency to
mean or habitual criminality. Now he became a thief

THE ABORIGINAL TEIBES. 165

and a scoundrel. His craving for drink made him a
ready tool in the hands of every designing knave ; and
to the dangerous temper of the drunken savage he soon
began to add the viciousness of a debased and desperate
character. To the forests the injury was scarcely less.
Having no implements but their little axes, and their
employers being wholly indifferent to economical
processes, these woodcutters procured their material in
the most wasteful way possible. To produce a post for
a cattle-pen a straight young teak sapling of ten or
fifteen years' growth would be felled, and a piece six
feet long taken from its middle, all the rest being left to
perish. To procure a plank for a door a mature tree
would be cut down, and hewn away to the requisite
thickness with the axe. Timber was then doubtless
cheap because nothing but the labour of these down-
trodden races was expended in procuring it, and as many
of them as they desired could be procured by the spirit-
dealers for a wage which to the latter was almost
nothing. In those days, the excise arrangements being
very lax, the duty levied on spirits was very low ; and
enough liquor could be brewed to make a Gond drunk
for about a penny of our money. No forests could
stand such a drain as this ; and this wasteful system of
working them was one of the main causes of their
impending exhaustion.

It is fortunate that, under an improved administra-
tion, means were found at once to put a stop to this
wholesale waste, and to greatly ameliorate the condition
of the aboriginal labourer. The first step in this
direction was the introduction of a new excise law,
under which the formerly unrestricted power of estab-
lishing spirit-stills and grog-shops among the aborigines

1G6 Tin-: }I1G1ILAXI)8 OF CENTRAL INDIA.

was withdrawn. Liquor was allowed to be distilled
only at certain central places, and on payment of a fixed
and considerable still-head duty. A certain number of
retail shops only were allowed, sufficient in number and
position to supply all the proper requirements of the
people, and capable of being regulated by the police,
without forcing temptation in the way of the less
provident classes. The licenses for this restricted
number of shops were let by public auction. Now came
a just retribution on the whole race of Kulars. There
were far more of them engaged in the liquor-trade than
were required to man these shops ; all were wealthy and
reckless ; and also jealous of each other ; and so a
strong competition for the licenses set in among them.
Fabulous sums were bid at the auctions -in many cases ;
and everywhere the price of liquor was so forced up by
this and the heavy still-head duty that the poorer
classes could no lons^er afford to drink it in excessive
quantity. Sales thus diminished, while the expenses of
a shop were largely increased ; and the result was the
almost universal ruin of the Kulars, and the complete
breaking up of their system of traffic. The gold orna-
ments they had flaunted to the world gradually
disappeared, and many of them ended in utter
bankruptcy. It may, perhaps, be regretted that a less
sudden and seemingly oppressive method of curing the
canker that was eating into the frontier society did
not suggest itself ; but it is difficult to pity so vicious
and unscrupulous a tribe as these Kulars. Though the
consumption of liquor has fallen off immensely, the state
revenue has not suffered, the avowed object of getting
"the maximum of revenue with the minimum of
consumption " being fully attained.

THE ABORIGINAL TRIBES. 167

The complement to this overhauling of the excise
law was the introduction of our system of forest conser-
vation. So large a subject, regarding which so little
knowledge existed, could not be expected to be dealt
with in an entirely satisfactory manner all at once.
Some mistakes were made, the chief of such being to
attempt too much on a sudden, and with insufficient
means. The manao-ement of all our immense tracts of
waste was thrown upon one or two officers, who had
not yet even explored the country, and had nothing
besides to guide them, and who were expected to
administer a code of rules in detail, throughout this
area, which was afterwards found to be much too strict,
and to bear very hardly on the people. It could not be
done ; and things came, ere long, to a dead lock, till
solved by the rules themselves passing into a dead
letter. Presently the proper remedy was applied, by
reserving the most promising forests to be directly
managed by the special Forest Department, while the
greater portion was left to be looked after by the
ordinary civil officers. Improved experience has still
further improved the system ; but the main features of
it were struck out as early as 1864. Restrictions on the
method of felling timber were imposed, and a fixed
timber-duty levied. These measures, if in some cases
not unopen to exception, at least had the effect of
inducing a more economical system of working the
forests. The aborigines still furnish the labour in the
forests, and, being paid in coin at the regular market
value of their work, are enabled to profit by whatever
they can earn. For some time the breaking up of the
Kular system left a want of private agency in the timber
trade ; and the Forest Department itself had to step in

168 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA.

and arrange for the supply of the country. At the
time this was beneficial in many respects, enabling us
to utilise most of the fully ripe standing trees, and the
logs lying in the forest, by enhancing the price until it
became remunerative to take these out. Now, however,
this has ceased to be necessary, and there are sufficient
legitimate dealers in the trade to supply all wants.

It was some time before we ventured to interfere
with the devastation caused by the wild tribes in their
system of tillage by axe and fire which has been
described. Having acquired the reputation of " savage
and intractable foresters," it was with considerable
hesitation that the first steps were adopted. The most
promising forests were encircled by boundary lines,
marked by terror-inspiring masonry pillars, within which
the formation of dhya clearings was prohibited. The
people obeyed with scarcely a murmur ; and presently
the rules were extended to the great mass of the wastes,
in so far that the cutting of valuable timber for clearings
was forbidden, except under such arrangements as
afforded a prospect of the reclamation of the land being
permanent. To the wildest of the tribes certain areas
were assigned, sufficient to afford room for a rotation of
sites for their dhya-fields. It cannot be said that these
comprehensive restrictions have been everywhere en-
forced to the letter, nor was it to be expected. But
the general efiect has been very marked : the " intract-
able foresters " have shown a ready acquiescence in
arrangements, the object and necessity of which were
carefully shown to them ; and year by year the influence
of law is more fully acknowledged and felt in the forest
regions.

The habits of the aborigines are now greatly changed

<;

->' 4S/

THE ABOEIGIXAL TRIBKS. 169

for the better. Excessive and constant drunkenness is
almost unknown, though drinking to a greater extent
than is good for them on occasions has not entirely
ceased. The whole of their earnings is not now
dissipated in drink ; and the accumulation of the little
capital needed to start cultivation on a more regular
system is now possible to them all. An immense
assistance in this respect has been derived from the
great enhancement in the value of all agricultural
produce, consequent on the opening up of the country
and the American war. Large areas in the west of
India, which formerly yielded cereals, have been devoted
to the production of cotton, and a great extension of
cultivation to supply the consequent scarcity of food-
grains has taken place, and is still progressing, w^here
ever the country is fitted by proper communications
to yield an exportable supply. The great undertakings
in railways, and other public works, which have marked
the last decade, have also much increased the demand
for labour ; and even the natural produce of these
central wilds has acquired a commercial value which
it never before possessed. Before I left India, the
agents of Bombay mercantile houses were probing the
recesses of my district (Nimar) in search of various
articles of natural production which had suddenly
become valuable for export, such as the oil-yielding
seeds of the Mhowa {Bassia kit if olio), and the pure
gum of the Dhaora (Conocaiyus latifolius). Altogether
a new era has dawned for these " children of the forest.'^
The relation between labour and capital, long unfavour-
able to the former, has been reversed, and hard rupees
are finding their way into the hills of Goudwana,
to the material improvement of the circumstances of

170 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

its decizens, instead of the poisonous liquor "which
was fast hurrying them to destruction. Their contact
with the Hindu races was Ions: to them nothing: but
a curse ; but there is now a creneral as:reement of
opinion that of late thej have been fast improving,
both in well-being and in character, Where they still
continue to work as farm-servants they receive better
wages, and save something out of them ; and, either
from such savin es or from their large earninojs on
the railway works, many have found the means to
settle down as small farmers on their own account.
Even as borrowers their credit is much improved, A
great deal of capital is now seeking the profitable
investment ofi'ered by agriculture ; and loans are given
on easier terms even to these still somewhat unreliable
settlers. " The high price obtainable for oil-seeds of
late years has perhaps done more towards this than
anything else. It takes a mere handful of seed to
sow an acre of tillee (sesamum) ; it flourishes with
the rudest tillage on half-cleared land, for which no
rent is usually paid for the first three years ; and
it is cut and sold by the beginning of Xovember.
I know two 'unencumbered' Korkiis who in 1867
cleared thirty acres of light land, and sowed it with
tillee. They borrowed 80 rupees (£8) to buy bullocks
and implements, and two manees (1,920 lb.) oi jowaree
(millet) to eat. The interest on the money-debt was
20 rupees, and, as usual, double the quantity of grain
had to be paid back at harvest. They had no other
expenses, no rent being charged, and they themselves
doing all the labour. The produce was 75 maunds
(6,150 lb,) of oil-seed, which sold for 215 rupees
(i*21 10^,), from which they repaid the 80 rupees' worth

Tin: ABOKIGIXAL TRIBES. 171

of grain and 100 rupees in cash, leaving them gainers
of 35 rupees (£3 105.), after paying off the whole
of their debt. Thus they got a stocked farm, free from
debt, in a single season, by their own manual labour
alone, which would afterwards yield them at least £10
apiece per annum, or much more than they could
live on in comfort. The money-lender at the same
time cleared 40 per cent, on his money in eight
months."* Such a farm as this may appear rather
a miserable little affair to the English reader ; but
such are the units of which the vast extent of Indian
tillage is made up ; and to obtain possession of such a
holding, with its slender stock, is an object of ambition
to millions of labourers for a bare subsistence.

There can be small room for doubt that the per-
meation of these aboriginal tribes with Hindu ideas,
manners, and religion, is steadily progressing ; and it
may be hoped that this influence is now w^orking rather
for the better than for the worse. The flighty,
debauched, half-tamed Gond was a being much de-
teriorated from his original state of rude simplicity ; but
the steady and sober, if illiterate and superstitious,
Hindu cultivator of the soil is a type towards which we
should by no means regret to see the aboriginal races
advancing. It is true that in thus joining the great mass
of Hinduism they will exchange their rude forms of
religious belief for a submission to the powerful priestly
influence which still prohibits the advance of the people
of India beyond a certain point, aud for a superstition
which is morally no better than their own. The
missionary may lose his chance in the meantime of

* Extract from a Report, by the writer, on the Settlement of the
Isimdr district.

172 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

getting tliem to accept some of his fetishes* in the place
of their own. But probably they will then be no
further, if so far, from the acceptance of a pure religion
of morality than they are at present ; and when the
distant day dawns for the dusky peoples of India, when
the light of education shall dissipate their hideous
superstitions, and lead them to inquire after a pure
belief, they will be there, elevated and improved hy
contact and assimilation with a race superior to
themselves.

Such seems to be the probable future of those
sections of the a1)orio^ines who lie on the confines of
Hinduism in the plains. But so long as the vast
wildernesses of these Central Highlands remain un-
cleared, which physical causes will in great measure
render a permanent necessity, so long must human
inhal)itants of a type fitted to occupy them continue to
exist. For, such civilisation as we call it is impossible,
and undesirable if it were Dossible. All that can be
done for them is to eliminate by thoughtful administration
causes which lead to their depression or demoralisation,
and to avoid any treatment irksome to their wild and
timid nature which is not necessitated by the general
requirements of the country.

To return to my doings at Puchmurree. Towards
the end of Fel:)ruary numbers of Hindii pilgrims from
the plains to the great shrine of Siva in the Mahadeo
hills began to pass my camp. They usually encamp
at the foot of the hill l)elow the shrine ; and, besides the
road over the plateau, come by a way which leads
througli tlie Ddnwa valley below the Puchmurree scarp.

* Of course I mean what would prove fetishes to tliem in tlieir
present intellectual staye — not that they are so to the missionary !

THE ABORIGINAL TRIBES. 173

Several other roads lead in from the south, all of which
are rugged and difficult, and are traversed in fear and
trembling hy the pilgrims. About this time I crossed
over from Puchmurree to visit the opposite plateau of
Motiir, which was also at that time under examination
as a possible site for a sanitarium in these provinces.
The Denwa valley lay between, necessitating a descent
and ascent of about 2,500 feet each way. On my return
from Motiir on the 26th of February I found the little
plain in the Denwa valley below the shrine, through
which my road lay, swarming with the pilgrims, some
forty thousand of whom had collected in this lonely
valley in a few days, and were now crowding up into
the ravine where the cave is situated — a ravine through
w^hich a week or two before 1 had tracked a herd of bison !
Most of these annual gatherings of pilgrims are, to
the majority of the Hindus who attend them, very much
what race-meetings and cattle-shows are to the more
practical Englishman — an episode in their hard-worked
and rather colourless existence, in which a nominal
object of little interest in itself is made the excuse for
an "outing," the amusements of which chiefly consist in
bothies for the sale of all sorts of miscellaneous articles,
universal gossiping for the elders, and peep-shows and
whirligigs for the younger members. It is surprising
how the familiar features of a fair at home come out, in
an oriental costume, at these so-called religious gather-
ings. The cow with five legs and the performing billy-
goat adequately represent the woolly horse and the
dancing bear of our childhood. The acrobats are there
to the life, tying themselves into identical knots we
loved so welk The begging gipsy appears in the
fantastic Jogee. Ginger-pop and oranges are even

174 THE iriGHLAXDS OF CENTRAL IXDIA.

faintly typified in mliowa grog and sticky sweetmeats.
Aunt Sally alone is nowhere : there is nothing at all
resembling the uproarious mirth of that ancient lady.

Doubtless at all these gatherings there are a certain
number of genuine pilgrims, whose end in coming is the
performance of sacred rites at these holy shrines at such
holy seasons ; for the fairs are all held at times when
the worship of the local deity is held to be particu-
larly efficacious. But generally their number is no
greater a proportion of the whole than is that of the
" members of the ring " in a Derby crowd. Such
gatherings usually occur near the large centres of
population, where solemn temples crown some sacred
eminence by the holy Narbada. But the gathering at
the Mahadeo shrine was of another character from these
holiday outings. It draws its multitudes into a remote
and desolate valley surrounded by the " eternal hills,"
where the Great God has his chiefest dwelling-place in
these central regions. No gorgeous temples or im-
pressive ritual attract the sight-seer. The pathways
leading to the place are mere tracks, scarcely discernible
in the rank jungle, and here and there scaling precipitous
rocks, where the feet of countless pilgrims have worn
steps in the stone. Young and old have to track out
these paths on foot ; and all the terrors of pestilence,
wild beasts, and the demons and spirits of the waste
surround the approach in their excited imaginations.
Arrived at the foot of the holy hill, the pilgrim finds
neither jollity nor anything more than the barest require-
ments of existence awaiting him. His food is dry
parched grain, his couch on the naked earth, during his
sojourn in the presence of Mahadevii. Should he be
amoDg the first to arrive, the tiger may chance to

TILE ABORIGINAL TRIBES. 175

dispute with him the right to quench his thirst at the
watering-place in the Denwa river. ^^ Those who come to
a place like this for pleasure must be few indeed.

On my way back to Puchmurree, as I passed through
the assembled multitudes, many of them were starting,
after a dip of purification in the holy stream, to scale
the heights that contain the shrine. My way also lay
up the pilgrims' pass ; and as I went I passed through
numerous groups of them slowly toiling up the steep
ascent of nearly two thousand feet. Both men and
women formed the throng, the former stripped to the
waist and girded with a clean white cloth, the horizontal
marks of red and yellow which distinguished them as
worshippers of Siva being newly imprinted on their
arms and foreheads. The women retained their usual
costume ; but the careful veiling of face and figure,
attended to on common occasions by high caste ladies,
was a good deal relaxed in the excitement of the
occasion (and besides, were they not on their way to
be absolved of all sin ?) ; and not inconsiderable reve-
lations of the charms of many of the good dames, of
light brown skins and jet black eyes, were permitted by
the wayward behaviour of their flowing robes as they
turned to stare in [astonishment at the salieb and his
strangely-attired attendants pegging away past them up
the hill with double-barrelled rifles on their shoulders.
All were talking and laughing gaily — now and then
shouting out "Jae, Jae, Mahadeo ! " (victory to the
Great God). The cry raised by each as he took the first
step on the hill was taken up by all the forward groups,
till it died away in a confused hum among the crowd

* As I went to Motiir on this occasion I saw the track of a tiger
where the pilgrims drink. They had not then arrived, of course.

176 THE HIGHLANDS OF CEXTEAL INDIA.

who had ah'eady reached the shrine, far up in the
bowels of the hill. Gloom and terror are the last senti-
ments in the religious feeling of the Hindii, even when
approaching the shrine of the deity who has been called
the Destroyer in their trinity of gods. It is considered
sufficiently meritorious to perform such a pilgrimage as
this at all, without further adding to its misery by
wailing and gnashing of teeth. They believe it will do
them good, because the priests say so ; but they do not
think it necessary to weep over it, and " boil their
peas " when they can. But at the best it is a hard
clamber for those unused to toil. The old and decrepit,
the fat trader, and the delicate high-bred woman, have
to halt and rest often and again as they labour up the
hill. The path was a zig-zag ; and at every turn some
convenient stone or rocky ledge had been worn smooth
by these restings of generations of pilgrims.

For a long way before the shrine was reached the
path was lined on either side by rows of religious men-
dicants and devotees, spreading before them open cloths
to receive alms, clothed in ashes picked out by the white
horizontal paint marks of the followers of Siva, with
girdle of twisted rope and long felted locks, hollow-eyed
and hideous, jingliug a huge pair of iron tongs with
movable riugs on them, and shouting out the praises of
Mahadeo. The clang of a large fine-toned bell and the
hum of a multitude of voices reached our ears, as, sur-
mounting the last shoulder of the hill, we entered the
narrow valley of the shrine. A long dim aisle, betwixt
high red sandstone cliffs, and canopied by tall mango
trees, led up to the cave. The roots of the great
mangoes, of wild plantains, and of the sacred Chumpun,''''
* MicJielia Chanrpara.

THE ABOEIGIXAL TRIBES. 177

were fixed in cracks in the pavement of the rock, worn
smooth by the feet of the pilgrims, and moist and
slippery with the waters of the stream that issues from
the cave.

The cave itself opens through a lofty natural arch in
a vertical sandstone cliff ; and for about three hundred
feet runs straight iuto the bowels of the hill. It is
without doubt natural ; and a considerable stream of
clear cold water issues from a cleft at its further end.
Here is set np the little conical stone (Lingam) which
represents the god, and attracts all these pilgrims once
a year. No temple made with hands, no graven image,
nothing of the usual pomp and ceremony of Brahminical
worship, adorns this forest shrine. Outside on a plat-
form a Brahman sits chanting passages in praise of the
god, out of the local Sivite gospel (the Rewa Khanda) ;
and a little way ofi" an old woman tolls the great bell at
intervals. But within there is no officiating priest, no
one but a retainer of the aborig^inal chief whose risfht it
has been from time immemorial to act as custodian of
the shrine, and to receive the offerings of the pilgrims.
No pilgrim ever brings more up the hill with him than
he means to offer ; for he may take back nothing — his
last rupee, and even the ornaments of the women, must
be left on the shrine of the god. Before passing into
the cave the pilgrim leaves with the Brahmans outside
(along with a sufficient douceur) his pair of small
earthen vessels for the receipt of holy water. These
they fill from the stream, seal up, and return to the
pilgrim, who then proceeds to make the tour of the
holy places on the MabdJeo hills. This takes him the
whole of the remainder of the day. At each place a
cocoa-nut is offered; and little piles of stones, like

178 TTIE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL IXDIA.

cliildren's card-liouses, are erected at some point of their
peregrinations to signify a desire for a mansion in Kailas
— the heaven of Siva. Many of the places which shoukl
in theory be visited are very inaccessible, such as the top
of the Chaoradeo peak, and very few of the pilgrims
make the whole round.

I sat for some hours in the ravine sketchinoj the
entrance to the cave and the picturesque throng about
it. A few sulky looks from the professional religionists,
and a drawing closer of their garments by the ladies,
when they saw my occupation, were all the notice I met
with. The brioht colourins^ which gives such a charm
to congregations of Hindus was heightened by the
• general holiday attire of the worshippers on this oc-
casion ; and, in the mellowed light from above, which
percolated rather than shone through the canopy of
foliage, would have formed a subject worthy of a much
better artist than myself. It was hard to believe that
all this gay gathering had come in a day, and would go
in another, leaving the valley again to the bison and
the jungle-fowL Unlike most shrines where such pil-
grimages occur, no one remains to look after the god
when the pilgrims are gone. The bell is unslung and
taken away, being evidently looked upon as the only
thing of value in the place. When I first visited the
cave I found that the Great God had been better at-
tended to by the wild beasts of the forest than by his
human worshippers — a panther or hyena having evi-
dently been in the daily habit of leaving the only
ofi'ering he could make before his shrine !

It is a common idea amongst Europeans that the
worship at these Sivite shrines includes rites or mysteries
of an obscene character. I believe this to be wholly

THE ABORIGIjSTAL TRIBES. 179

groundless. No such thing could take place, here at
any rate, except in public among a dense crowd ; and
neither here nor at any other of the many shrines that
I have visited have I either seen or heard of such a
practice. It is undoubted that the small sects who
worship the Sakti, or female power of Siva, do indulge
in such obscenity. Their unholy rites are not, however,
practised at the public shrines, but in the dark seclusion
of their secret meeting-places ; and their existence 1
believe is wholly unknown to the great majority even
of the ordinary followers of Siva.

There is one object which will attract attention near
this shrine of Siva, and which will receive a remarkable
explanation. Projecting from the edge of a sheer and
lofty cliff above the sacred brook is hung a small white
flag. Innocent-looking enough it is ; but it marks a
spot where, " in the days that are forgotten," human
victims hurled themselves over the rock as sacrifices to
the bloody Kali and Kal-Bhairava, the consort and son
of Siva the Destroyer. The British Government, which
cannot be accused of timidity in forbidding so-called
religious customs which are contrary to humanity, has
long since put a stop to these bloody rites. For
centuries, however, they were a regular part of the show
at these annual pilgrimages, both here and at other
principal shrines of Siva. They are connected with the
worship of the terrible mythical developments of the
god above mentioned — forms which have, with some
probability, been conjectured to be aboriginal deities
imported into the Brahminical pantheon.

Far to the west of Puchmurree, in the district of
Nimar, is a rocky island in the Narbada river called
Mandhatta, on which is situated the shrine of Siva called

N 2

180 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

Omkar — one of the oldest and most famous in all India.
Like that at Puchmurree, it is situated among rugged
hills and jungles ; but it has evidently at one time been
the seat of a great centre of Sivite worship. Ancient
fortifications surmount its scarps ; and the area of
nearly two square miles enclosed is piled up with the
ruins of a thousand gorgeous temples. The most
ancient of the temples at which worship is still paid are
held by aboriginal Bheels as their custodians, and the
more recent by a Bhihila family, who admit their remote
derivation from the former. A legend is here current,
and based on writings of some antiquity, that Kah' and
Kal-Bhairava were here worshipped by the Bheels, long
before the worship of Omkar (Siva) was introduced
along with the Pidjpiit adventurer and his attendant
priest, who were the ancestors of the present Bhilala
custodian and of the hereditary high priest of Siva's
shrine. The Kajpiit is said, by alliance with the Bheels,
to have obtained the headship of the tribe ; and the
holy man who accompanied him, to have stayed by his
austerities the ravages of their savage deities, locking
Kali up in a cavern of the hill (and if you do not believe
it you may still see the cavern closed up), and vowing to
Bhairavii an annual sacrifice of human beings. Listen
now to the inducements which the local Sivite gospel *
holds forth to devotees to cast themselves from the rock.
" At Omkdr-]\Iandh{itta is Kal Bbairavd,. Regarding
it, Parbati (wife of Siva) said unto twentj^-five crores
of the daughters of the Gandharvas (angels): 'Your
nuptials will be with persons who shall have cast them-

* The Narmada Khanda, ■which jDrofesses to be a part of the Skandd
Parana. A more detailed account of the Holy Island and its Shrines,
by tlie autlior, will be found in the " Central Provinces Gazetteer,"
second edition.

THE ABOEIGINAL TRIBES. isi

selves over that rock.' Whoever thus devotes hims(.'lf
to Kill Bbairavii will receive forgiveness, even thouojh he
had killed a Brahman. Let the devotee make a figure of
the sun on a cloth ; and take two flags, a club, and a
chawar* in his hands, and proceed joyously with music
to the rock. Whoever shall bodily cast himself down
and die, will be married to a Gandharva. But if he fall
faintheartedly, his lot will be in hell. Whosoever turns
back again in terror, each step that he takes shall be
equivalent to the guilt of killing a Brahman ; but he
who boldly casts himself over, each step that he takes is
equal in merit to the performance of a sacrifice. Let no
Brahman cast himself from the rock. A devotee who has
broken his vows, a parricide, or one who has committed
incest, shall by thus sacrificing himself become sinless."
In 1822, a European ofilcer of our Government
witnessed the death of almost the last victim to Kdl
Bhairava at this shrine. The island then belonged to
a native State (Sindia), and our Government had not
then begun to interfere with such bloody rites. The
political ofiicer who wrote the account of it was there-
fore unable to prevent it by force. I came on the
description a few years ago in MS., hidden away among
many other forgotten papers in the Government record
room of the Nimar district. The concluding portion
may be interesting, as perhaps the only account on
record, by an eye-witness, of such an occurrence. After
narrating how he vainly urged every argument on the
youth to dissuade him from his design, the writer proceeds
to relate how he accompanied him nearly up to the fatal
rock. " I took care." he sa3^s, " to be present at an early
hour at the representation of Bhyroo (Bhairava), a rough

* A yak's tail used for fanning, etc.

182 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

block of basalt smeared with red paint, before wliicli he
must necessarily present and prostrate himself, ere he
mounted to the lofty pinnacle wlience to spring on the
idol. Ere long he arrived, preceded by rude music.
He approached the amorphous idol with a light foot,
while a w^ild pleasure marked his countenance. As soon
as this subsided, and repeatedly during the painful
scene, I addressed myself to him, in the most urgent
possible manner, to recede from his rash resolve, pledg-
ing myself to ensure him protection and competence for
his life. I had taken the precaution to have a boat
close at hand, which in five minutes would have trans-
ported us beyond the sight of the multitude. In vain I
urged him. He now more resolutely replied that it was
beyond human power to remove the sacrifice of the
powerful Bhyroo ; evincing the most indomitable de-
termination, and displaying so great an infatuation as
even to request me to save him from the fell dagger of
the priestess,'" should he safely alight upon the idol.
So deep-rooted a delusion could only be surmounted by
force ; and to exercise that I was unauthorised. While
confronted with the idol, his delusion gained strength ;
and the barbarous throng cheered with voice and hand,
when by his motions he indicated a total and continued
disregard of my persuasions to desist. He made his
oflfering of cocoa-nuts, first breaking one ; and he
emptied into a gourd presented by the priestess his
previous collection of pice and cowries. She now
tendered to him some ardent spirit in the nut shell, first

* The priestess here referred to was probably the Bheel custodian
of the shrine. There is nothing to prevent the hereditary custodian
from having been a female at tliat time ; but priestesses, properly
speaking, have never existed in India. Her receipt of his collections
from the people also indicates this conclusion.

THE ABORIGINAL TRIIJES. 183

making her son drink some from his hand, to obviate all
suspicion of its being drugged. A little was poured
in libation on the idol. She hinted to him to deliver
to her the silver rings he wore. In doing so he
gave a proof of singular collectedness. One of the first
he took off he concealed in his mouth till he had pre-
sented to her all the rest, when, searching among the
surrounding countenances, he pointed to a man to whom
he ordered this ring to be given. It was a person who
had accompanied him from Oojein. An eagerness was
now evinced by several to submit bracelets and even
betel-nuts to his sacred touch. He composedly placed
such in his mouth and returned them. The priestess
at last presented him with a pann leaf,* and he left
the spot with a firm step, amidst the plaudits of the
crowd. During the latter half of his ascent he was
much concealed from view by shrubs. At length he
appeared to the aching sight, and stood in a bold and
erect posture upon the fatal eminence. Some short
time he passed in agitated motions on the stone ledge,
tossing now and then his arms aloft as if employed
in invocation. At length he ceased ; and, in slow mo-
tions with both his hands, made farewell salutations
to the assembled multitude. This done, he whirled
down the cocoa-nut, mirror, knife, and lime, which he had
continued to hold ; and stepping back was lost to view
for a moment — a pause that caused the head to swim,
the heart to sink, and the flesh to creep. The next
second he burst upon our agonised sight in a most man-
ful leap,t descending feet foremost with terrific rapidity,

* The usual signal for the termination of a formal interview,
t The place is called the "Bir-Kali" rock, which I believe means
literally the " manful leap."

184 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

till, in mid career, a projecting rock reversed his position,
and caused a headlong fall. Instant death followed this
descent of ninety feet, and terminated the existence of
this youth, whose strength of faith and fortitude would
have adorned the noblest cause, and must command
admiration when feelings of horror have subsided. Thus
closed the truly appalling scene." '"'

With the exception of the murder of a poor old
w'oman who shrank from the fatal leap when brought
to the brink, but w^as mercilessly pushed over by the
excited religionists, this was the last of these sacrifices
that was j)ermitted, the country coming in 1824 under
our administration.

But the powers of evil were not yet to be baulked
of their victims. The British Government could
prevent deluded and drugged devotees from casting
themselves over the Bir-Kali rock ; but it could not
deprive Kali and Kal-Bhairava of their fell executioner
— the cholera demon. Year by year the pestilence
invaded the encampments of the pilgrims. Sanitary
science would say that it arose from the germs of
disease brought from the festering gullies of the great
cities, and pushed into activity by the exposure, bad
food, defiled neighbourhood, and poisoned water, of the
pilgrim camps, pjut the Hindii saw nothing in it but
the wrath of the offended Divinity claiming his
sacrifice. Year after year the gatherings were broken
up in wild disorder. The valley of the cave, the steep
hillside, and that green glade in the Sal forest, were
left to bury their dead, while the multitude fled
affrighted over the land, carrying far and wide with

* Extract from a letter of 29th of November, 1822, from Captain
Douglas, Political Assistant in Nimar, to the Kesident at Indore.

THE ABORIGINAL TRIBES. 185

them the seeds of death. Everywhere their trcicks
were marked by unburied corpses ; and the remotest
villages of the Narbada valley and the country of
the South felt the anger of the destroying fiend. A
pilgrim fleeing from the fatal gathering could find no
rest for the sole of his foot. The villages on his road
•closed their o-ates a2:ainst him as if he were a mad doo- •
and many who escaped the disease perished in the
jungle from starvation and wild beasts. At last, after
a terrible outbreak of cholera in 1865, the Government
prohibited the usual gathering at the Mahadeo Cave.
The people made no complaint. They do not seriously
care about these things when left alone by the priests ;
and here the priests were satisfied by the continuance to
the hereditary custodians, on whom they were depen-
dent, of their average income from the pilgrimage, in the
form of a pension. It is very difi"erent when their
gains are atfected. Two years ago a cholera epidemic
threatened in Nimar, and the pilgrimage to Omkar
Mandhatta was closed by order. The priests and
guardians of the shrine were up in arms at once, basing
their objections entirely on the money loss they would
suffer. Since the closing of the Mahadeo pilgrimage
the deities of destruction have been baulked of their
prey. The valley of the Denwa, although now opened
up by a good timber road made to penetrate the Sal
forest, no longer witnesses the annual pilgrim congress.
The Cave of the Shrine is silent and deserted.

The interruption to the business of the country
caused by these cholera outbreaks used to be terrible.
Whole villages were sometimes swept away. I once
marched nearly twenty miles to a small Gond village
on one of the pilgrim tracks, in the district of Betiil.

186 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTliAL INDIA.

I had been eluding the tracks of cholera the whole of
the hot season, and had escaped without a single case of
the disease in my camp. My people were almost ex-
hausted with such a lonoj march in the height of the hot
season ; and I joined them at the Yillagc, likewise much
knocked up by a long exploration in the hills. I found
my tent-pitcher and one or two others who had arrived
struggling to pitch the large tent, without the usual
assistance rendered by the villagers at the camping
place. They placidly told me that the village was no
longer the home of the living, every one in the houses
being dead of cholera ! The only living object in the
place was a white kid, wandering about with a garland
round its neck. It was the scape-goat wdiich these
simple people, after the manner of the Israelites of old,
send out into the wilderness on such occasions to carry
with it the spirit of the plague. Tired out as we were,
it was death to stay in this place ; so we re-loaded the
things and marched eight miles further, straight into
the jungle ; and at nightfall pitched our camp by the
banks of the wide Tawa river, far from human habita-
tion. No one was seized by the disease ; and during
all my marching, humanly speaking I believe owing to
proper sanitary precautions, I never had a single case
ill my camp.

CHAPTER . V.

THE LAY OF SAINT LINGO.

The Pardhans, or bards, of the Gond tribes are in
possession of many rudely rhythmical pieces, which it
is their function to recite on festive occasions to their
assembled constituents, to the accompaniment of the
two-stringed lyre. The best and most complete of
these, extending to nearly a thousand bars or lines,
was laboriously taken down in writing from the lips of
one of these Pardhans by the late Rev. Stephen Hislop,
of the Free Church of Scotland mission at Nagpiir.
But the lamented death of that indefatigable investigator
into the history and manners of the Central Indian
peoples prevented his furnishing it in a complete form.
In a collection of his papers afterwards published under
the editorship of Sir R. Temple, this legend appeared
at length, with a translation of each word as it stood,
only so far modified as to conform to the first require-
ments of English grammar. In this guise, although
well suited to the purposes of the student, the piece
is almost unintelligible to ordinary readers ; and, if it
be considered that the Gonds have never had any
written language, and that these pieces have only been
preserved by tradition from one of these troubadours to

188 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

another, it will not be surprising that a good deal of
recension is requisite before it can be made suitable to
the general reader. Whether or not the piece has any-
original foundation in purely Gond tradition may be
matter of doubt ; but it is certain that it has become
greatly overlaid with the spirit and phraseology of
Hinduism. It professes to recount the creation of the
original Gonds at the hands of Hindu (Sivaic) deities ;
what may be called their subsequent fall through the
mating of meats forbidden by Hindu law ; their exile
and imprisonment by the ofiended Hindii deity ; the
appearance by miraculous birth and life among them
-of a Hindu saint named Lingo,* whom they ungrate-
fully put to death, but who rises again, and, after much
penance and sujftering, delivers them from bondage,
introduces Hindii observances, the arts of agriculture,
and the worship of tribal gods, and eventually dis-
appears and goes to the gods. The programme thus
bears a singular resemblance in many respects to the
legend of Hiawatha, the prophet of the Red Indians ;
and to some an even more startling parallelism may
suggest itself.

My own opinion is that its origin is comparatively
recent, subsequent to the propagation among the Gonds
of Hindii ideas and rules. It seems to possess little
value as bearing on their orio^in, assifrningf to them a
northern descent, which is contradicted by the strong
southern affinities of their lan";uao[e, and which is
obviously only introduced as part of the Hindu
machinery which pervades the piece. As a com-

* This name is probably typical of the Lingaet sect, who are
known to have actively propagated the worship of the Phallic Siva
in the Deccan.

THE LAY OF SAINT LTXGO. 18&

position it has little merit, though here and there
exhibiting something of beauty, and more often a
good deal of quiet humour. The style of the original
is very discursive, constantly losing sight of the
narrative, often apparently leading to nothing, and
full of repetition — defects which are probably the
natural result of its usage as a ballad, handed down
by mere word of mouth. It gives the idea of having
been composed by the gradual accretion round a very
slender thread of original story of successive episodes,
manufactured by the semi-Hindu Pardhans for recita-
tion before the almost entirely Hindu chiefs of the
G6nds. Yet even as such it possesses some interest, as
exhibiting, in a somewhat dramatic form, the recent
Hinduisation of many of the Gond tribes ; and I have,
accordingly, endeavoured to throw it into a shape that
will not greatly fatigue my readers. I have excised
from it most of the Hindii mythology with which it
was overlaid, and which was often anything but
orthodox ; and I have thought it best to omit nearly
the whole of the latter part, which consists of tiresome
details of marriage and other ceremonial, which do not
even possess the value of being an accurate account of
the practice of the present day.

Thus the present version is greatly reduced in bulk,
and is rather a paraphrase than a translation, though in
many parts it will be found to adhere almost literally to
the original, and little will be detected which has not
some foundation therein. I should, perhaps, apologise
for the adoption of the Hiawathian metre and style,
and in a few cases even of the words of the American
poet, in a piece which may appear almost like a
burlesque of his Ked Indian legend. It is probable

190

THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA,

that the originals of the two legends may not have
differed greatly in character ; and the close and curious
parallelism between them could only be brought out
by the adoption of the method introduced by the
author of " Hiawatha," and now familiar to the public.
But the "noble savage " of North America is a very
different character from the poor squalid Gond of
Central India ; and not even the o-enius of a Lono-fellow
or a Fenimore Cooper could throw a halo of sentiment
over the latter and his surroundings. I have therefore
thought it best to give full play to the grotesque
element in the tale, for which, it must be confessed,
the Hiawathian style is provokingly well adapted. I
should add that the serious student of Gond institutions
liad better, perhaps, prefer the original to the version
now offered.

I.— THE CREATION AND TEIBULATIONS OF THE GONDS.

In the Glens of Seven Moun-
tains,*

Of the Twelve Hills in the Valleys,

Is the mountain Lingawangad,

Is the flowering tree Pahindi ;

In that desert far out-spreading

Twelve coss round arose no dwell-
ing :

" Caw " saying, there no crow was ;

"Chee " saying, there no bird was ;

" Raghum " saying, there no tiger
was.

And the Gods were greatly
troubled.

In their heavenly courts and
councils

Sat no Gods of Gdnds among
them.

Gods of other nations sat there,

Eighteen threshing-floorsf of Brah-
mins,

Sixteen scores f of Teling^nas ;

Rut no Gods of Gdnds appeared
there

From the Glens of Seven Moun-
tains,

From the Twelve Hills in the
Valleys.
Then the Strong God Ktirto
Subal,t

The first-born of Mahddevd,

Of the Great God Mdh.idevd,

* The Sdfptira mountains are probably here referred to.

t Such expressions are used throughout the legend to denote
indefinite numbers.

J Kartik Swami, the son of Si'va (Mahudeva), is thus termed iu
the legend.

THE LAY OF SAINT LINGO.

191

Pondered deeply in his bosom
O'er a circumstance so curious ;
Pondered much, and then be

fasted,
Devotee-like prayed and fasted
For the coming of the Goud Gods
From the Glens of Seven Valleys
To the councils of the Godhead.
Pondered thus till on his left hand
Rose a most Portentous Tumour,
Tumour boil-like, red^ and grow-
ing _
Bigger daily, daily bigger,
Till it burst, and from its centre
Came the Koitor,* came they

trooping.
Sixteen threshing-floors they num-
bered.
Came and spread them o'er the

country.
On the hills, and in the valleys,
In the arches of the forest,
Every where they filled the country;
Killing, eating, every creature ;
Nothing knowing of distinction ;
Eating clean and eating unclean ;
Eating raw and eating rotten ;
Eating squirrels, eating jackals,
Eating antelope and sambar,
Eating quails and eating pigeons.
Eating crows and kites and vul-
tures.
Eating Dokuma the Adjutant,
Eating lizards, frogs, and beetles.
Eating cows and eating calves,
Eating male and female buffaloes,
Eating rats, and mice, and bandi-
coots ;
So the Gonds made no distinction.
For half a year they bathed not,
And their faces nicely washed not

When they fell upon the dung-
hills—
Thus at first were born the Koitor
From the hand of Karto Subal.
Soon a stench began to issue
From the forests and the moun-
tains—
Stench of Gonds that lived so

foully.
Rose the stench to M;ih;ideva,
To his mountain Dewalgiri.f
Wrathful then became the Great

God,
Called his messenger Nardyan,
Said he, " Bring these Gonds be-
fore me —
Outcast wretches ! How their

stink has
Spread o'er all my Dewalgiri,"
Then the messenger Narayan
Called the Koitor all together,
Called them up to Dewalgiri
To the Great God Mahadeva,
Ranged them all in rows before

him
In the courtyard of the Great God.
Then the Great God washed his

body,
Washed a little of the dirt oS ;
Fashioned it into the likeness
Of the King of Squirrels —

Warclie ;
Breathed the breath of life into it ;
Down before the Koitor threw it.
Straight the Squirrel then his tail

made.
Seeking passage to escape them,
Jerking in and out among them ;
And the Gonds began to chase it.
Crying, "Catch it l" crying, " Kill
it!"

* Koitor is the national name for all the Gonds of difi'erent tribes.
It signifies properly " men."

t Dewalgiri is one of the highest peaks of the Himalaya range ;
and is here used as identical with Kaihis, the mythic heaven of Siva.

192

THE HIGHLANDS OF CEXTRAL IXDIA.

" Let us catch and skin and eat it."
Some took sticks and some took

stones,
Some took clods, and off they

scurried
After Warche, King of Squirrels,
Hip-cloths streaming out behind

them.
I3ut the Squirrel— Artful Dodger-
Jerking in and out among them
Popped into a hole convenient
In the mountain Dewalgiri.
And the Gonds all ran in after —
All but four that stayed behind

them.
Then a stone took Mahadeva,
A great stone of sixteen cubits,
Shut them up within the cavern
In the mountain Dewalgiri ;
Shut them up, and placed the

demon —
Monster horrid, fierce Basmasur —
Placed him guardian o'er the

entrance.
And the four that were remaining
Swiftly fled from Dewalgiri,
PJed across the hills and valleys,
Fled to hide them from the Great

God,
From the wrath of Mahadeva.
Long they wandered thus in

terror,
But no hiding-place discovered ;
Till a tree at last ascending.
On a hill a straight-stemmed date

tree,
Thence looked forth and saw a

refuge —
Saw the Ked Hills, Lahiigada,
The Iron Valley, Kachikopa.
There they sped them through the

forest,

And they hid them from the Great

God.
Now the goddess-queen Par-

buttee —
Consort she of Mahadeva —
On the mountain top was sleeping,
On the top of Dewalgiri.
Waked she shortly from her

slumber,
Waked to find a something

wanting
In the air of Dewalgiri,
Then she grieved, and thought

within her,
" Where can all my G6nds have

gone to ?
Many days our hill is silent.
Once that echoed to their shouting;
Many days no smell ascendeth,
Pleasant smell of Gonds ascending;
My sweet-smelling Gonds, where

are they 1
And my Mahadeva, also.
Him I see not ; much I fear me
He has done my Gonds a mis-
chief."
And she grieved, and took no

dinner,
Prayed and fasted like a hermit,
Devotee-like penance doing
For her lost sweet-smelling Koitor.
Six months thus she prayed and

fasted.
Till the King of Gods, Bhag-

wantdl,*
Swinging in a SAving and snoozing,
By her penance greatly moved

was —
]\Ioved to rise and look about him ;.
Sent the messenger Narayan,
Sent him forth to Dewalgiri,
Sent to see what she Avas up to,

* This is intended for Bhagwan, the unworshipped Creator of the
Hindus (vide p. 154). His introduction here as a mythical personage
is not consonant with the usual practice in Hindu writings.

THE LAY OF SAINT LINGO.

193

"VVhy so sadly she was grieving.
Soon she told her little grievance,
How her pleasant-smelling Gonds

had
Disappeared from Dcwalgiri.

Then Bhagwantal sent and told her
He would try if he could find

them ;
And betook him to his swinging,
And bethought him how to do it.

IL— THE COMING OF LINGO.

On the mountain Lingawangad,
Grew the flowering-tree Pahindi.
Flowers budding, still unopened.
Yellow fl.owers of the Pahindi,
Saw the King of Gods Bhag-

wantal ;
Saw and thought him of the

Koitor,
"Wandering sadly in the moun-
tains,
Pining deep in Dewalgiri ;
Saw, and came as comes a rain-
cloud,
Spreading fanlike, camein thunder.
Lightning flashed, the sky was

darkened,
Thus the God came to the Flower.
Darkness spread around her cover,
Gently oped the flower her

blossom,
Softly fell the quickening shower —
Thus conceived the flower Pahindi.
In the fourth watch of the night
time
Fell a heap of yellow safi'ron ;
Fell beneath the tree Pahindi.
Morning dawned, the clouds Avere

oi:)ened ;
Thundering still the clouds were

opened.
Burst the yellow flower Pahindi,
Cracking burst it in the sunlight.
Sprang to life from it my Lingo,
Sprang into the heap of safi'ron ;
Sat and wept among the satfron.
Till his tears the God Paternal
Dried with sprinkling of the
saffron ;

Sent the Giilar tree beside him,
Honey dropping from its branches,
Dropped it in the mouth of Lingo.
Sweetness drinking then he cried

not.
Blew around him noontide

zephyrs ;
Grew my Lingo in their breathing.
In a God-sent swing reposing
Gently slept he till the evening.
Purest water may be stained ;
Stainless all and pure was Lingo.
Diamond sparkled on his navel ;
On his forehead beamed the Tika,
Mark divine of fragrant sandal,
Mark of godhead in my Lingo.
Playing grew he in the safFron,
Swinging slept he in his cradle,
Honey sucking, nothing eating
Of the wild fruits in the forest.
Nine years old became my

Lingo,
"When his soul began to wonder
Whether all alone his lot was
In that forest shade primeval.
There no wild deer cropped the

herbage.
Manlike form there none appearM;
Somewhere they must be, thought

Lingo ;
I will seek them, I may find them.
Then he rose and wandered on-
wards,
Wandered on by brook and

meadow.
Through the forest shade primeval,
Till before him rose a mountain,
Mountain pointed like a needle.
o

194

THE HIGHLAXDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

Thither climbing, on the summit
Lingo saw the tree Manditii,
Saw beneath it Kirsaclita,
Sweetly-flowering Kirsadita.
There its perfume sweet inhaling
Lingered Lingo for a little.
Then he climbed the tree Mandita,
Climbed and looked forth o'er the

forest,
To the valley Kachikopa,
To the Ked Hills, Lahugada.
Saw a little smoke ascending,
Saw and very greatly marvelled
At this circumstance portentous.
Wandered on, and soon discovered
In that forest shade primeval.
Manlike forms four discovered —
Saw the four Gonds that remained
Hiding fearful of the Great God.
Forest quarry having stricken,
Steaks of venison were roasting,
Pieces raw at times devouring.

Seeing Lingo up they started ;
Seeing them our Lingo halted ;
Long time gazed they at each other.
But the brothers inwards pondered.
Brothers four we are, bethought

them,
Let us take him for a fifth one,
Let us take him to our wigwams.
Then they brought him to their

wigwams.
To their wigwams in the forest,
And set meat before their brother.
But he asked them whence the

meat wa^,
And they answered, "Of a wild

boar."
Then he asked them for its liver ;
And they sought lung for the liver.
But no liver could discover.
Then they told him, " Lo, a

strange thing !
Without liver is this creature
We have slain in the forest."
Lingo laughed at this conception

Of a creature without liver,
Asked to see it in the forest —
Living creature without liver.
Then the brothers much con-
sidered
Where on earth they might-
discover
In the forest or the mountains
Living creature without liver.
One suggested, " He is little,
We are big, and practised roamers
Of the forest shades primeval.
Let us take him to the mountains
Rough and stony, to the thickets
Close and thorny ; he will fagged

be,
Thirst for water, get so hungry,
Glad he will be to sit down, and
Give up looking for a creature,
Living creature, without liver."
Then they took their bows and
arrows —
Bows of bamboo from the moun-
tains,
Shafts of bulrush from the

marshes ;
And they went by deepest thickets
Of that forest shade primeval.
Kurs the Antelope — they saw it.
Killed it, found it had a liver.
Mawk the Sambar — found and

slew it.
Found it also had a liver.
Malul the Hare — they saw and

killed it,
In it too they found a liver —
All the creatures had a liver.
Tired and Aveary were the Brothers ;
Lingo only was not wearied.
Thirsty very were the Brothers;
Clambered up upon a hill-top
Seeking water, but they found

none.
Clambered down again, and wan-
dered
Tlirough a close and thorny jungle,

THE LAY OF SAINT LINGO.

195

Where a man could scarcely enter.
There they found a spring of

water,
Cool and sparkling in the shadow.
And they plucked the leaves of

Puhis,
Making cups, and drank the waters,
And refreshed were from their

labours.
Then said Lingo, " "Wherefore

stay ye 1
We have not yet seen the creature.
Living creature without liver.
Witliout liver creature is not."

And he said, "Here in the forest
Let us clear a field and plant it.
Down the trees here — let us fell

them ;
And the ground here — let \is dig

it;
Seed of rice here — let ns sow it.
I will sleep here for a little
While ye clear away the forest."
Then slept Lingo, slept and

dreamed he,
Dreamed he of twelve threshing-
places,
Tbreshing-tioors that full of Gonds

were.
And his soul was greatly troubled ;
And he rose and looked about

him.
Found the Brothers sadly hewing,
Hewing sadly at a big tree ;
And their hands had blisters on

them.
Blisters large as fruit of AoM.
And their hatchets — down they

threw them ;
And went off and down they

squatted.

Then our Lingo up an axe took,

Took and hewed he at the big tree,

Hewed and levelled all the forest.

Felled the trees and grubbed their

roots out —

In an hour the field was finished.
And the Gonds said, " Mighty

Lingo !
Lo our hands were sore and

blistered,
Hewing sadly at one big tree,
Which we left still undemolished.
In an hour has Lingo done it !
He has levelled all the forest ;
Black the land appears l)elow it ;
Thick the rice is sown upon it ;
High a hedge is raised around it ;
Single left an entrance to it ;
Strong a gate is placed before it."
Then they rose and turned them

homewards,
Homewards went they to their

wigwams.
Soon the rainy season cometh,
Black a little cloud appeareth.
Strong the winds from heaven are

loosened.
All the sky is clouded over ;
Now the rain begins to patter.
lu a while the streams run knee-
deep,
All the hollows flooded brimfull.
Thus three days and nights it

rained,
Then it stopped as it begun had.
And the rice began to shoot up ;
Green became the field of Lingo.
High as fingers four it sprouted,
Sprouted thus high in a day's time.
In a month 'twas somewhat higher,
With a man's knee it wa^ level.
In the forest shade primeval
Sixteen scores of Deer were

dwelling ;
Chief among them Uncle Mamdn;
Nephew Bhasyal — heir apparent.
Rich the odour reached their

noses
Of that rice-field in the clearing.
First the Uncle sniffed the odour.
And the Nephew sniffed it after,
o 2

196

THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

Then the Nephew fetched a

gambol,
Upwards leaped he, jomts all

cracking,
And his ears with pleasure cocking.
To his Uncle near he trotted,
And he said, "^ly ancient Uncle,
See this lovely field of green stuff.
May we have it for our dinner 1"
But the Uncle, ancient Mamdn,
Warning, chiding, spake in this

wise —
" Ere you leap 'twere wise to look

well.
In the valleys of the forests
Many fields there are of green

stuff;
Touch ye not the field of Lingo —
Go and graze on some one else's.
Sixteen scores of Roliees are ye ;
But of all your nohle sixteen
Neither buck nor doe will left be
If ye touch the field of Lingo."
Then spake Bhdsyal the Nephew,
Spake disdainfully in this wise —
" Old are you and somewhat

feeble,
We are young and rather fri;^ky ;
Seven-foot-six about the mark is
We can clear a running high

jump-
Stay behind^ Old Ninkampi'ipo !
They might catch you if you tried

it."
Then his ears pricked twitchy-

witchy,
And his tail cocked jerky-perky.
And went forward to the rice-field.
And the Uncle, deeply thinking.
Greatly grieving, left behind was.
But he slowly followed after.
At the fence the Nephew halted,
And prospected for an entrance ;
But an entrance nowhere found he,
For the sixteen scores of liohees.
And the sixteen scores to mutter

'Mong themselves began in this

wise —
"Left behind is ancient Mamtin,
He the very wise among us.
Now this Bhiisyal, youthful

Nephew,
He must show us how to do it.
Uncle Maman spake of Lingo,
Said that very sapient uncle,
Look behind and look before you,
Ere ye touch the field of Lingo."
Answered them the valiant

Nephew —
"Keep not company with ancients,
Full of years and slack of sinews,
Follow me" — and then he bounded
O'er the hedge into the rice-field.
After him the Rohees leapt all —
Leapt the sixteen scores of

Eohees ;
Leapt they straight into the rice-

field,
And the rice began to graze on.
Soon the Uncle coming after
By the hedge stood and looked

over;
And his mouth began to water
Like a dripping spring in summer.
Bat no entrance seemed to offer,
And his joints were stiff and

feeble ;
So he stayed outside, reproachful,
While those sixteen scores of

Rohees
Eat up all the field of Lingo.
Eat it up, and back they leapt all,
Stood beside that ancient Mamdn,
Who in words of solemn Avisdom
Warning, chiding, spake in this

wise —
" Hear, ye sixteen scores of

Rohees !
O my children, my poor children!
Very nicely ye have done it —
Eaten up the field of Lingo.
Father Lingo, he the powerful,

THE LAY OF SAINT LINGO.

197

When lie comes to see his rice-
field,
What on earth will he think of
itr'
Then thevery youthful Ehdsyal,
To the sixteen scores of Eohees
Counsel offered, spake in this

wise —
" Listen, brethren ! let us speed

now
To our forest shades primeval.
On the stones our feet well placing,
On the leaves our footsteps

keeping,
On the grass our way selecting,
On the soil no footmarks leaving.
Let us cunningly our way take
To our forest shades primeval."
As he said so did the Rohees,
Lightly stepping left no traces,
Marks of footsteps none appeared ;
Reached their forest shades prim-
eval.
Some to sit down, some to sleep

went,
Some to stand up in the cool shade,
'Gan these sixteen scores of
Rohees.
Midst the perfume sweet of
flowers,
Swinging in a swing, was Lingo ;
Swinging slept he, and he dreamed,
Dreamt of sixteen scores of

liohees,
Of a devastated rice-field.
And his soul was greatly troubled ;
And he rose and looked about him.
Looked, and went to reconnoitre
By the way of Kachikopa;
Went he through the Iron A-^alley,
To the Red Hills, Lahugada,
Went the very valiant Lingo ;
Saw the devastated rice-field ;
Thence returning, to the Brothers,
Brothers sleeping in their Avig-
wams,

Spake our Lingo — " Listen,

Bi'others,
Listen to my doleful story,
How these sixteen scores of

Rohees
All ourrice-field havedemolishcd.''
Then the Brothers, greatly troubled
By this doleful tale of Lingo,
Wailed a wail of disappointment.
Spake the words of bitter anguish —
"To the gods our yearly firstfruits,
Firstfruits that we yearly oiler,
Now of what shall Ave give first-
fruits,
Since our rice-field is demolished'?"
AnsAvered Lingo — " Lo a first-
fruit
To the Gods of Rohees' livers,
Of the sixteen scores of Rohees
Liver firstfruits shall Ave offer.
On the perfume of the flowers
I, a devotee, can prosper ;
Ye are Gonds with hungry

stomachs,
WhereAvithal shall they be filled.
Now these sixteen scores of

Rohees
All our rice-field have de-
molished ? "
Then the Brothers took their
weapons —
Bows of bamboo from the moun-
tains,
Shafts of bulrush from the

marshes ;
And in Avrath they sought the

rice-field,
Where the soil Avas black and

naked,
SaAv they nothing but the stubble
Of the rice that waved so greenly.
Then a fiame of mighty anger,
From the heels of Lingo rising.
To his matted head ascended,
lieddened Avere his eyes like fire-
brands,

198

THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

Bit his tingcrs till the l)lood came ;
Said he — " Search ye for the

footprints
Of these sixteen scores of Rohees."
Then the Brothers bent them

downwards,
Searching closely for their traces,
Traces nowhere that appeared
Of the sixteen scores of Rohees.
Searched they long and found a

footmark,
Single footmarks scarce appearing,
Thence the jungle trodden down

■was
To the forest shades primeval.
Fast they followed on the traces,
But the sixteen scores they saw

not.
Soon a Peepul tree appeared
Towering high above the forest ;
Clambered Lingo to its summit,
Looked he from it o'er the forest,
Spied the sixteen scores of Rohees,
Rohees in the shade reclining,
Rohees sleeping, Rohees frisking
In the forest shade primeval.
Then said Lingo to the Brothers —
" Take your bows and take your

arrows ;
Quickly get ye round about them,
To the four sides of the Rohees.
Slay and spare not, smite the

rascals !
Hence my bolts I will deliver."
Then the Brothers stalked around

them,
To the four sides of the Rohees ;
Thence their bulrush shafts

delivered ;
Shot our Lingo from the Peepul.
Smitten were the herd of Rohees,
Only Maman, Uncle Maman,
And one little female Rohee,
Of tliose sixteen scores remained.
Then our Lingo aimed an arrow
At that L^ncle, ancient jMamdn :

But the arrow from his hand fell.
Thought he, surely here's an omen
That this very ancient IMaman
Of our rice has nothing taken.
Then to run began the Rohee,
Female Rohee that remained ;
And to run began the Uncle.
Brothers all behind them followed.
Shouting " Catch them " to each

other.
But they vanished and were seen

not.
And the Brothers, much disgusted,
Back returned to their Lingo.
Then said Lingo, " Search ye,

Brethren,
For a firebox in your Avaistbelts."
Flints and steel they forthwith

brought out.
Struck a spark among the tindtjr.
But the tinder would not burn.
Thus the whole night long they

tried it.
Tried in vain until the morning,
When they flung away the tinder.
And to Lingo said, "0 Brother,
You're a prophet, can you tell

us
Why we cannot light this tinder?"
Answered Lingo, " Three coss

onward
Lives the Giant Rikad Gowree,
He the very dreadful Monster,
He the terrible Devourer.
In his field a fire is smoking ;
Thither go and fetch a firebrand."
Then the Brothers went a little.
Went a very little, onwards ;
Thence returned, and said to

Lingo —
" Nowhere saw we Rikad Gowree,
Nowhere have we found this

Giant."
Then said Lingo, "Lo my arrow,
V>y its pathway see ye follow."
Then he fitted to his bowstring

THE LAY OF SAINT LINGO.

199

Shaft of bulrush straight and
slender ;

Shot it through the forest thickets,

Shot it cleaving through the
branches,

Shot it shearing all the grass
down ;

Cut a pathway straight and easy;

Fell it right into tlie fireplace

Of the Giant Eikad Gowree ;

Fell, and glanced it from the fire-
place,

Glanced, and sped into the door-
way

Of the Avigwani of the Giant ;

Fell before the seven daughters,

Seven very nice young women,

Daughters fair of Rikad GoAvree.

Then those seven nice young
women

Took the arrow and concealed it.

For they oft had asked the old
man,

Asked him when they would be
married ;

And he always answered gruffly,

" When I choose that you be
married

Good and well, if not you won't
be."

And they thought this was an
omen.
Now the Brothers, greatly fear-
ing

Lest they all should eaten up be,

Counsel taking, sent the youngest,

Sent iUikeseral the youngest.

To prospect the Giant's quarters.

By that pathway straight and
easy

"Went this very young Ahkeseral;

Saw the Giant's smoke ascending;

Coming nearer saw the Giant,

Saw him, like a shapeless tree
trunk.

Sleeping by the fire and snoring —

By the fire of mighty tree stems,
Stems of Mohwil, stems of Anjan,
Stems of S;ljn<i, stems of Tekt;l ;
Blazing red, its glow reflected
From that form huge and shaj)!'-

less
Of the Giant Rikad Gowree,
Of that very dreadful Rakshis,
Of that terrible Devourer.
Then his knees began to (juake all,
O'er his body came cold shudders.
Leapt his liver to his throat all,
Leapt the liver of Ahkeseral.
But he crept up to the fireplace,
Crept and snatched a blazing fire-
brand,
]>lazing brand of Tamadita.
Groaned the Giant, fled Ahkeseral,
Dropped the firebrand, and a

spark flew,
Flew and lighted on the Giant,
On his shapeless hip it lighted.
Raised a blister like a saucer ;
Started up the Giant swearing ;
Also feeling very hungry.
Feeling very much like eating.
Saw that very young Ahkeseral,
Plump and luscious as a cucumber.
Saw him running and ran after.
Ran and shouted loud behind

him.
But in vain he followed after.
For the very young Ahkeseral,
Speeding swiftly through the

forest.
Shortly vanished and was seen

not.
And the Giant, much disgusted,
Then returned to his fireside.
And Ahkeseral, returning,
Told his greatly trembling

brothers
Of that very dreadful Giant.
But the very valiant Lingo
Said, " Repose ye here a little,
I will go and see this monster

200

THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA.

That so mucli has discomposed

you."
At the crossing of a river,
In that straight and easy pathway,
Lingo saw the stick Wadiida
Floating down upon the current.
Saw he too a bottle-gourd tree,
Saw it growing by the river ;
Pulled a bottle-gourd from off it,
Fished Wadiid;i from the river,
Stuck the one into the other.
Plucked two hairs Avherewith to

string it,
Made a bow and keys eleven,
Played a tune or two, and found he
Had a passable guitar.
Pleased was Lingo, and proceeded
To the field of Kikad Gowree ;
Kikad Gowree lying snoring
By the fireside, mouth wide

gaping,
Tushes horrible displaying.
Lying logiike with his eyes shut.
Close by grew the tree called

Peepul,
Peepul tall with spreading

branches.
Quickly Lingo clambered up it,
Climbed aloft into its branches ;
Sat and heard the morning cock

crow,
Thought this Giant soon would

waken.
Then he took his banjo Juntur,
Struck a note that sounded

sweetly.
Played a hundred tunes upon it.
Like a song its music sounded ;
At its sound the trees were silent;
Stood the mighty hills enraptured.
Entered then that strain of music
In the ears of Kikad GoAvree,
Quickly woke him from his

slumber ;
Rubbed his eyes and looked about

Looked in thickets, looked in

hollows,
Looked in tree-tops ; nothing

finding,
Wondered where on earth it came

from,
Came that strain of heavenly

music,
Like the warbling of the ]\Iain;i.
Back returning to his fireside,
Sat down, stood up, sat down,

stood up ;
Listened, wondered at the music;
Jumped and danced he to the

music.
Sung and danced he to the music ;
Eolled and tumbled by the fire-
side
To the warbling of the music.

Soon at daybreak his old woman
Heard that strain of heavenly

music ;
Came she wondering to the fire-
side,
Saw her old man wildly dancing — ■
Hands outstretching, feet uplift-

i n f
Head back reeling, dancing,

tumbling,
To that strain of heavenly music.
Saw and wondered, saw and called

out —
"Ancient husband, foolish old

man ! "
Looked he at her, nothing said he,
Danced and tumbled to the music.
Said she, listening to that music,
" I must dance too." Then she

opened
Loose the border of her garment.
Danced and tumbled to the music.
Then said Lingo, " Lo my

Jantur !
To thy strain of heavenly music
Dance this old man and his

woman ;

THE LAV OF SAINT LINGO.

201

All my Xoitor thus I teach will,
Thus in rows to sing and d;uici3

all,
At the feasting of the G6nd Gods,
At the feast of the Dewali,
At the feast of Budhal Pena,
At the feast of Jungo Reyt;il,
At the feast of Pharsa Pena —
Salutation to the Gods all
From this various tuneful Jantur i"
Then he ceased the wondrous

music ;
Hailed the old man from the tree-
top.
Saying — " Uncle, Eikad Gowree,
See your nephew on this tree-
top ! "
Then the Giant, looking up-
wards,
Saw our Lingo on the tree-top ;
Called him down, shook hands,

and said that
He was very glad to see him.
Asked him in and made him sit

down ;
Rang and called for pipes and

coffee ;
Apologised for having thought of
Making breakfast of Ahkeseral ;
Thanked our Lingo very kindly
For his offer of the livers
Of those sixteen scores of Rohees;
In return proposed to give him
All those seven nice young women,
With their eyes bound, will they

nill they,
To be wedded to the Brothers.
And those seven nice young
women
Wlien they heard about the young

men,
Of those young men faint and

fasting
Waiting tireless by the Rohees,
Forthwith packed they up their
wardrobes,

On their heads they took their

beds up,
Back to Lingo gave his arrow —
Arrow of the truthful omen —
Saying good-bye to their parent.
Followed Lingo to the forest,
To tliat forest-shade primeval.
Reached those young men by the

Rohees,
Made a fire, and had someluncheon
Of the livers of the Rohees.
Then the brothers 'gan to

squabble
O'er those seven nice young

women.
Holy Lingo, virtuous very,
(^uite refusing to be wedded,
vSomewhat easier made the pro-
blem ;
And he soon arranged it this

wise —
That the eldest of the brethren
Each should take two nice young

women.
While the very young Ahkeseral
Should be fitted with the odd

one.
Then returning from the forest,
By the valley Ivachikopa,
To the Red Hills, Lahiigada,
Holy Lingo joined the Brothers
To those seven nice young women.
To the daughters of the Giant.
Water brought and poured it o'er

them,
Bowers of branches raised around

them^
Garlands gay he threw about

them,
iSfark of Turmeric applied he —
And declared them duly wedded.
Then the Brothers mighty

pleased were
With their good and virtuous

Lingo;
Said they'd go forth to the forest,

202

THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL [NDL4.

Go and smite tlie bounding red-
deer,
Bring its liver to their Lingo,
Gather wild flowers for their

_ Lingo,
^^^lile those Sisters seven should

swing him,
Swing him gently as he slumbered.
Then their bows and arrows took

they,
Took and started to the forest.
And the sisters swinging Lingo
Thus began to say among them —
" See this Lingo ! who so solemn
As this brother of our husbands 1
Neither laughs he, neither speaks

he,
Neither looks he even at us.
He must laugh, and speak, and

gambol,
Must this very solemn Lingo ;
Let us pinch and pull and hug

him."
And they pulled him by the arms.
Pulled his feet and pinched his

arms ;
But the more they pulled and

pinched him
All the sounder slept our Lingo.
Till the sisters, vexed to find him
Notliing caring for their toying.
Took to hugging rather closely.
Hugged that very virtuous Lingo,
Till they woke him from his

sleeping.
Wrathful then was holy Lingo,
At those wanton Giant'sdaughters ;
Kose the flame of indignation
From his boots up to las top-
knot ;
Looked about him for a weapon.
For a Aveapon to chastise them ;
Saw a pestle hard and heavy,
Pestle made for husking rice with ;
Bounded from his swing and
seized it.

"With it thrashed those Giant's
daughters ;

Thrashed them till they bellowed
loudly.

Fled and roared like Bulls of
Bashan,

Fled and hid them in their wig-
wam^.
Soon the Brothers back re-
turning.

Bringing game and bricging wild
flowers,

Found their Lingo quietly sleep-

Sisters none his swing were rock-
ing.

j\Iuch astonished, they betook
them

To the wigwams of the Sisters.

But had scarce begun to scold
them

Ere they found the tables turned —

" Pretty fellows are you truly !

Thus to leave your wives behind
you

And go hunting in the forest,

While your very holy Lingo

Tries his arts upon our virtue.

We have quite made up our
minds now

Not to stay another minute.

But to take our beds and ward-
robes.

And return to where Ave came
from —

To our poor deceived papa ! "

Then the Brothers said among
them —

" 0 that sinful, wicked Lingo !

How the villain has deceived us !

When Ave offered him the fairest.

No, he Avanted none, he told us ;

Called them sisters, called them
mothers ;

NoAv to play so mean a trick on

Us when liuntinu in the forest !

THE LAY OF SAINT LINGO.

203

Let us get him to tlie jangle,
Kill him there, and [)ull his eyes

out.
Hares and antelopes we've hunted,
Now Ave'll hunt our little Lingo.
Bread or water let us touch not
Till we've played a game of

marbles
With the eyes of faithless Lingo."
Then they went and wakened

Lingo,
Saying, " Rise, our youngest

brother."
And he rose, and wondering asked

them
Why so late they had returned,
Bringing nothing from the forest.
And they answered, " Lo, a

Creature,
Mighty strong, appeared before us ;
And we fought him with our

arrows.
But this mighty Creature fell not,
Neither fled he ; come then with

us."
Then rose Lingo, and before them
Stalked he on into tlie forest,
To the forest-shade primeval.
Looked for traces of the Creature
In the grass, among the bushes;
But this mighty Creature saw not.
Then they sat them down and

rested
By the tree called Sarekata.
And the Brothers went for water,
Went and pondered how to kill

him ;

And returning softly, liidden

]^y the stoui of S:'irek;Ua,

From tlieir bows four arrows sped

they,
liulrush shafts, at holy Lingo.
Split his skull was, pierced his

neck was,
Cleft the liver was of Lingo.
Down he dropped, and out his

life passed.
By the Tree called Sarekata.
Then a knife they took and

gouged him,
Out the eyes they bored of Lingo ;
In a hole they put the body ;
Strewed it over with some

branches ;
Pulled some leaves and made a

goblet
For the bored-out eyes of Lingo ;
Tied it up into a waistcloth,
Hied them homeward to their

wigwams ;
Called their wives, and lit some

torches,
Blazing torches made of flax-
stalks ;
Played their horrid game of

marbles
With the bored-out eyes of Lingo.

So the Brothers four of Lingo
And those seven nice young

women
Chucked his eyes about like

marbles
For an hour's time by the torch-

Ji-lit.

III.— THE EESURRECTION OF LINGO, AND DELIVERY
OF THE GONDS.

In the Court of great Bhagwantdl
Sat the Deities assembled ;
Sat they in the Upper World,
Wondering where, in earthly
regions,

Lay the body of their Lingo :
Wondered much, but nothing

knew they
In Avhat region it had fallen.
Then Bhagwantdl took a basin,

20-t

THE HIGHLANDS OF CEXTEAL INDIA.

Washed a little of his hody,
Washed a little of the dirt ofif :
Took and made of it an image;
Breathed the breath of life into it;
Made Kagesur, Lord of Ravens.
Amrit* sprinkled he upon it.
From hishand released it, saying —
" Search the forests, search the

mountains,
Search the valleys, search the

rivers,
For the body of my Lingo."
Then Kagesur, Lord of Kavens,
He the very black and cunning,
S wif tly sped him on his errand ;
Searched he first the Upper

Regions,
Thence descended to the Lower ;
Searched their hills and glens and

forests,
Till he reached the Iron Valley,
In the Red Hills, Lahiigada.
Peered among the forest thickets,
Saw the twigs that covered Lingo,
Looked below them, found our

Lingo,
Looking horrid, with his eyes out,
Split his skull, and pierced his

liver.
Hied him l)ack to great Bhag-

wantal,
Told the doleful tale of Lingo.
Then the God said, " Ha ! I see it.
By his birth-place has he fallen,
By the flowering tree Pahindi."

Then he sent for Karto Subal,
Gave a flask of heavenly Amrit
(Bade him well to .shake the

bottle).
For external application
To the .skull and neck and liver
Of the gouged and butchered

Lingo ;

And despatched hiniAvith Kagesur
To the valley Kachikopa,
To the P.ed Hills, Lahiigada.
Flew the Raven straight before

him ;
Reached the place ; then Karto

Subal
Took the flask of heavenly Amrit,
Poured it o'er his wounds and

bruises,
Stitching up the chiefest openings
In his head and his abdomen.
Soon his eyes began to open,t
And he saw the Lord of Ravens ;
Thought he'd slept a little soundly ;
Asked them, " Had they seen his

Brothers 1 "
And was very much astounded
When they told him how they

found him
Gouged and butchered by his

Brothers.
Then he thought perhaps 'twere

better
Now to leave this lot of Brothers,
And their seven nice young

Avomen ;
And go seek those other Sixteen,
Sixteen threshing-floors of Koitor.
So the Strong God and the

Raven
Hied them back and told Bhag-

wantal
()f their surgery successful.
Anil our Lingo lledivivux
Wandered sadly through the forest,
AVandered on across the mountains
Till the darkening of the evening,
Wandered on until the night fell.
Screamed the panther in the

forest,
Growled the bear upon the moiur-

tain.

* The water of immortality.

t It is not related how these organs were restored to him.

THE LAY OF SAINT LINGO.

205

And our Lingo then betliouglit
him

Of their cauiiihal propensities.

Saw at hand tlie tree Niruda,

Clambered up into its branches.

Darkness fell upon the forest,

Bears their heads wagged, yelled
the jackal —

Kolyal the King of Jackals.

Sounded loud their dreadful voices

In that forest-shade primeval.

Then the Jungle-Cock Gugotee,

Mull the Peacock, Kurs the Wild-
Deer,

Terror - stricken screeched and
shuiidered

In that forest-shade primeval.
But the Moon arose at midnight,

Poured her flood of silver radiance.

Lighted all the forest arches,

Through their gloomy branches
slanting ;

Fell on Lingo, pondering deeply

On his Sixteen Scores of Koitor.

Then thought Lingo, I will ask
her

For my Sixteen Scores of Koitor.

" Tell me, 0 Moon ! " said Lingo,

*' Tell, 0 Brightener of the dark-
ness,

"Where my Sixteen Scores are
hidden."

But the Moon sailed onwards,
upwards,

And her cold and glancing moon-
beams

Said, " Your Gunds, I have not
seen them."
And the Stars came forth and
twinkled —

Twinkling eyes above the forest.

Lingo said, " 0 Stars that twinkle !

Eyes that look into the darkness.

Tell me where my Sixteen Scores
are."

But the cold Stars, twinkling ever.

Said, " Your Gonds, we have not

seen them."
Broke the morning, the sky red-
dened,
Faded out the star of morning,
Rose the Sun above the forest.
Brilliant Sun the Lord of Morning,
And our Lingo quick descended.
Quickly ran he to the eastward,
Fell before the Lord of Morning,
Gave the Great Sun salutation —
"Tell, 0 Sun!" he said, "dis-
cover
Where my Sixteen Scores of

Gonds are."
But the Lord of Day reply made —
" Hear, 0 Lingo, I a Pilgrim
Wander onwards through four

watches
Serving God, I have seen nothing
Of your Sixteen Scores of Koitor."
Then our Lingo wandered on-
wards
Through the arches of the forest ;
Wandered on until before him
Saw the grotto of a hermit.
Old and sage, the Black Kumait,
He the very wise and knowing,
He the greatest of Magicians,
Born in days that are forgotten.
In the unremembered ages.
Salutation gave, and asked him —
" Tell, 0 Hermit ! Great Kumait !
Where my Sixteen Scores of
G6nds are."
Then replied the Black Ma-
gician,
Spake disdainfully in this wise —
" Lingo hear, your Gonds are

asses
Eating cats, and mice, and bandi-
coots,
Eating pigs, and cows, and buffa-
loes;
Filthy wretches ! wherefore ask
mel

206

THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

If you wish it I will tell you.
Our great M;iluideva caught them,
And has shut them up securely
In a cave Avithin the bowels
Of his mountain Dewalgiri,
"With a stone of sixteen cubits,
And his bulldog fierce Basmasur.
Serve them right too, I consider.
Filthy, casteless, stinking

wretches ! "
And the Hermit to his grotto
Back returned, and deeply pon-
dered
On the days that are forgotten,
On the unremembered ages.
But our Lingo wandered on-
wards,
Fasting, praying, doing penance ;
Laid him on a bed of prickles,
Thorns long and sharp and pierc-
ing ;
Fasting lay he devotee-like,
Hand not lifting, foot not lifting,
Eye not opening, nothing seeing.
Twelve months long thus lay and

fasted.
Till his flesh was dry and withered,
And the bones began to show
through.
Then the Great God Mahadeva
Felt his seat begin to tremble,
Felt his golden stool all shaking
From the penance of our Lingo.
Felt, and wondered Avho on earth
This devotee was that was fasting
Till his golden stool was shaking.
Stepped he down from Dewalgiri,
Came and saw that bed of prickles
"Where our Lingo lay unmoving.
Asked him what his little game

was,
"Why liis golden .stool was shaking?
Answered Lingo, " Miglity Kuler !
Nothing less will stop that shaking
Than my Sixteen Scores of Koitor
Rendered up all safe and hurtless

From your cave in Dewalgiri."
Then the Great God, much dis-
gusted.
Offered all he had to Lingo,
Offered kingdom, name, andriches.
Offered anything he wished for,
" Only leave your stinking Koitor
"Well shut up in Dewalgiri."
But our Lingo all refusing
"Would have nothing but his

Koitor ;
Gave a turn to run the thorns a
Little deeper in his midriff.
AVinced the Great God, " Very

well then,
Take your Gdnds — but first a

favour.
By the shore of the Black "VVater
Lives a bird they call Black Bindo;
Much I wish to see his young ones,
Little Bindos from the sea-shore ;
For an offering bring these Bindos,
Then your Gdnds take from my
mountain."
Then our Lingo rose and wan-
dered,
"Wandered onwards through the

forest,
Till he reached the sounding sea-
shore.
Reached the brink of the Black

"Water,
Found the Bindo birds were ab-
sent
From their nest upon the sea-
shore,
Absent hunting in the forest,
Hunting elephants prodigious,
"Which they killed and took their

brains out.
Cracked their skulls, and brought

their brains to
Feed their callow little Bindos,
Wailing sadly by the sea-shore.
Seven times a fearful .«erpent,
Bliawarnag the horrid serpent,

THE LAY OF SAINT LINGO.

207

Serpent born in ocean's caverns,
Cominfj forth from the ]>lack

Water,
Had devoured the little Eindos —
Broods of callow little Bindos
Wailing sadly by the sea-shore,
In the absence of their parents.
Eighth this brood Avas. Stood

our Lingo,
Stood he pondering beside them —
" If I take these little wretches
In the absence of their parents
They will call me thief and robber.
No ! I'll wait till they come back

here."
Then he laid him down and

slumbered
By the little Availing Bindos.

As he slept the dreadful serpent.
Rising, came from the Black

Water,
Came to eat the callow Bindos,
In the absence of their parents.
Came he trunkdike from the

Avaters,
Came Avith fearful jaws distended,
Huge and horrid. Like a basket
For the winnowing of corn
Rose a hood of vast dimensions
O'er his fierce and dreadful visage.
Shrieked the Bindos young and

calloAv,
Gave a cry of lamentation ;
Rose our Lingo ; saw the Monster;
Drew an arrow from his quiver,
Shot it SAvift into his stomach,
Sharp and cutting in the stomach,
Then another and another ;
Cleft him into seven pieces ;
AVriggled all the seven pieces,
AVriggled backAvards to the Avater.
But our Lingo, swift advancing.
Seized the head-piece in his arms,
Knocked the brains out on a

boulder,
Laid it down beside the Bindos,

CalloAv Availing little Bindos.
( )n it laid him, like a pilloAv,
And began again to slumber.

Soon returned the ]iarent Bindos
From their hunting in the. forest ;
Bringing brains and eyes of camels,
And of elephants prodigious,
For their little calloAv ]5indos
Availing sadly by the sea-shore.
But the Bindos young and callow
Brains of camels Avould not

SAvalloAv ;
Said — " A pretty set of parents
You are truly ! thus to leave us
Sadly Availing by the sea-shore
To be eaten by the serpent —
BhaAA-arnag the dreadful serpent —
Came he up from the Black Water,
Came to eat us little Bindos,
When this very valiant Lingo
Shot an arroAv in his stomach,
Cut him into seven pieces —
Give to Lingo brains of camels,
Eyes of elephants prodigious."
Then the fond paternal Bindo
SaAV the head-piece of the serpent
Under Lingo's head a pilloAv.
And he said, " 0 valiant Lingo,
Ask Avhatever you may Avish for."
Then he asked the little Bindos
For an offering to the Great God.
And the fond paternal Bindo,
Much disgusted, first refusing.
Soon consented ; said he'd go too
With the fond maternal Bindo —
Take them all upon his shoulders,
And fly straight to DeAvalgiri.
Then he spread his mighty pinions.
Took his Bindos up on one side
And our Lingo on the other.
Thus they soared aAvay together
From the shores of the Black

Water.
And the fond maternal Bindo,
O'er them hovering, spread an

aAvninsc

208

THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL IXDIA.

With her broad and mighty
pinions

O'er her offspring and our Lingo.
By tlie forests and the moun-
tains

Six months' journey was it thither

To the mountain Dewalgiri.

Half the day was scarcely over

Ere this convoy from the sea-
shore

Lighted safe on Dewalgiri ;

Touched the knocker on the gate-
way

Of the Great God Mahadeva.

And the messenger Narayan

Answering, went and told his
master —

" Lo, this very valiant Lingo !

Here he is with all the Bindos,

The Black Bindos from the sea-
shore."

Then the Great God, much

disgusted,
Driven quite into a corner,
Took our Lingo to the cavern,
Sent Basmasur to his kennel,
Held his nose, and moved away

the
Mighty stone of sixteen cubits ;
Called those Sixteen Scores of

Gonds out,
Made them over to their Lingo.
And they said, " 0 Father

Lingo !
What a bad time we've had of it,
Not a thing to fill our bellies
In this horrid gloomy dungeon."
But our Lingo gave them dinner,
Gave them rice and flour of millet.
And they went off to the river,
Had a drink, and cooked and

eat it.

IV.— SETTLEMENT OF THE GONDS, AND PASSING OF

LINGO.

Then they rose and followed

Lingo,
Followed onwards to tlie forest,
From the mountain Dewalgiri ;
Followed on till night descended,
And before them saw a river,
Dark and swollen with the torrent
Bursting down from Dewalgiri,
From the snows of Dewalgiri.
(Jn that river nothing saw they,
Boat nor raft, to waft them over.
Nothing saw they in the torrent
Ihit the Alligator Pus6,
And tlie River-Turtle Dame,
Playing, rolling, in the water.
Then our Lingo called them to

him,
Called them brother, called them

mother ;
Bound with oaths to bear them

And the Alligator Piise,
Looming long upon the water,
Bore the Gonds into the torrent,
Through the black and roaring

water :
And the River-Turtle Dame
AVitli our Lingo followed after.
Soon the faithless Alligator,
In the deep and roaring water.
Slipping from below his cargo,
Left them flounderinginthe water.
Then our Lingo stretched his

hand out.
Fished them out upon the Turtle ;
Faithful Diimt'' bore them onward
O'er that black and roaring torrent.
Bore them on across the river.
And the Sixteen vowed to cherish
Name of Dani(3 with them ever.
Who had borne them safe and

liurtless

THE LAY OF SAINT LINGO.

209

O'er that dark and foaming river.
Then they travelled through

the forest,
Over mountain, over valley,
To the Glens of Seven Mountains,
To the Twelve Hills in the Valleys.
There remained with Holy Lingo.
He the very wise and prudent,
Taught to clear the forest thickets,
Taught to rear the stately millet.
Taught to yoke the sturdy oxen.
Taught to build the roomy waggon.
Eaised a city, raised Narbiimi ;
City fenced in from the forest.
Made a market in Narbiimi.
Eich and prosperous grew Nar-
biimi—
So they flourished and remained.
Then our Lingo called them

round him.
Ranged them all in rows beside

him,
Spake in this wise — " Hear, 0

Brethren !
Nothing know ye of your fathers,
Of your mothers, of your brothers,
Whom to laugh with, whom to

marry ;
Meet it is not ye should be so
Like the creatures of the forest."
Then he chose them from each

other.
Chose and named their tribes

distinctive ;
Chose the first and said, "Man-

wajja."
Thus began the tribe Manwajja.
By the hand took Dahakwah',
Bard he called him " Ddhakwali."
Koilabutal named another.
And another Koikobiital —
Koikobdtal wild and tameless.
Thus he named them as he chose

them.
Till the Sixteen Scores were

numbered.

Till the Tribes had all been chosen.

Next among them chose the
eldest,

Chose an old man hoary headed.

Chose and called his name " Par-
dhdna,"

Priest and Messenger he called
him.

Called and sent him on a message

To the Red Hills Lalnigada,

The Iron Valley, Ivachikopa ;

To those Brothers four he sent
him,

Sent to ask them for their daugh-
ters

To be wedded to his Koitor —

Thus the Tribes our Lingo mated.

Thus they grew and multipliM.

Then he chose them into houses.

Into families of seven,

Of six, of four, he chose them.
And he said, " 0 Koitor listen f

Nowhere Gods of G6nds are wor-
shipped ;

Let us niMke us Gods and worship."

Then made Ghagara the Bell-God.

Made and gave he to Manwajja.

Brought the Wild Bull's Tail and
named it

Chawardeo ; brought the War
God—

God of Iron, Pharsa Pena ;

Manko Eeytal, Jango Reytal —

Thus their tribal Gods he fashioned.

Taught them how to raise their
altars ;

Taught to offer sacrifices —

Hoary goats, white cocks a year
old,

Virgin cows, and juice of mhowa ;

Taught to praise with voice and
psalter,

Twang of Jantur, sound of drum-
ming—

Drum of Beejasal resounding —

Dancing, singing, by the altars.
p

210

THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

Thus he taught them, Holy
Lingo ;
And his last words then he ut-
tered—
"Keep your promise to the Turtle,
To the River-Turtle Dame ;

To the Gods I now am going."
Then he melted from their vision;
And they strained their eyes to

see him.
But he vanished, and Avas seen

not.

GUNDS OF TUE SAHPURA RANGE. (FrOVfl a PllotufJIXqih.)

CHAPTER Vr.

THE TEAK REGION.

On the 28th of March, having seen our forest lodge
in a fair way to completion, I left the Puchmnrree
plateau, and entered on the first of many long journeys
of exploration among the forests of the Seoni, Chind-
wdra, and Betiil districts. I have already described
these as being situated on the great central table-land
of this mountain range, from the centre of which juts
up the still higher formation called the Mahadeo (or
Puchmurree) group. The general elevation of the table-
land is about 2,000 feet above the sea; but this general
level is broken by numerous minor projections, besides
the great one of the Mahadeo range, which generally
exhibit the peculiar flat-topped outline of hills of the
trap formation.* The overflow of basalt has indeed
been nearly universal over all this vast region, the
great Mahadeo sandstone block, and a few isolated
peaks of granite, known at once by their sharp and
splintered peaks, being the only notable breaks in the

* Many of these isolated hills, being flat-topped and surmounted
by precipitous scarps, and frequently furnished with depressions in
which rain-water collects, are natural fortresses of an almost impreg-
nable strength ; and, with the addition of some rude masonry works,
were generally occupied for this purpose by the hill Chiefs in former
times.

p -2

212 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

great volcanic ocean. To judge from the great extent
of table-land lying at about the elevation of 2,000 feet,
this would appear to have been the original level of
the trap overflow, the higher peaks of that formation,
which reach in a few places to 3,000 feet, being more
probably the result of subsequent upheaval. The plateau
has, however, been generally denuded by the larger
streams to a depth of about 1,000 feet, where they
still run over volcanic beds at the level of the great
southern plain of the Deccan. The extent of level
plateau is thus much diminished, on the one hand by
the ramifications of the drainage system, and on the
other by the higher ranges, and the long sloping valleys
which connect them with the plateau.

I have called this volcanic region also the region
of the teak tree in Central India. It is so generally,
but, strictly speaking, the teak tree does not actually
confine itself to the trap formation ; nor, on the other
hand, is the teak the only, or even the principal,
timber tree of the trap country. No such close lines
of distinction exist in nature, but the coincidence is,
I think, sufiicient to warrant the inference of some
link of connection between them. More or less, teak
is scattered all over this region, but the principal forests
are found clinging to the skirts of the higher ranges
rising from the general level of the plateau. The more
extensive level portions of the country have long been
cleared of jungle for purposes of cultivation, and for
a long way around these settlements the forests have
been hacked down into mere scrub for the common
requirements in timber and fuel of the people. The
outer slopes of the plateau, towards the lower plains,
have also been long ago swept of all valuable teak ;

THE TEAK REGION. 213

and, moreover, from their sterile nature, have probably
at no time produced any large quantity of timber. Even
in the higher and more secluded tracts, where forests
of teak yet remain, the causes already referred to have
now reduced the number of mature and well-grown
trees to a very small proportion of the whole, so small
that in few places are there more remaining than will
suffice to reproduce the forests by their seed in a period
of fifty to a hundred years. Everywhere the teak grows
very much in patches intermixed with other species,
the principal hardwoods of which in these forests are
the Saj [Pentapteixi), the Bijasal (Pterocarpus), the
Dhaora {Conocarpus), and in a few localities the Aujan
(Hardivickia) . Many other species have been observed,
of which a list will be found in an Appendix.

The mature teak tree of Central India attains a
girth of from ten to fifteen feet, with a bole of seventy
or eighty feet to the head of branches. Perfect speci-
mens are, however, rare, the majority of such trees as
remain having suffered injury in the sapling stage from
fire or axe, so as to permanently contort their form.
The soft scaly bark, large flabby leaves, and generally
straggling and " seedy " habit of growth of the teak,
are certainly, I think, disappointing to those accustomed
to the trim firm aspect of other hardwood forests, and
particularly to such as have had the opportunity of
comparing it with the striking appearance of the ever-
green Sal forests of the more eastern regions. In the
rainy season the teak tree is surmounted by a heavy
head of large green leaves, supporting masses of yellowish
white flowers ; and when in considerable masses it then
gives a peculiar and not unpleasant character to the
scenery. The large umbrella-like leaves are admirably

214 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

fitted for the great function of vegetation at that season,
in breaking the direct impact of the rain torrent on
the soil of the hill slopes, which would otherwise soon
end in depriving the rocky skeletons of the hills of
their covering of earth and vegetation. But this foliage
is very deciduous, and by the month of March little
of it remains on the tree. Then the yellow brittle
fallen leaves in many places strew the ground so thickly
as to make silent walking impossible. As a facetious
friend once expressed it, in a very unnecessary whisper,
when we were trying to creep up to a stag sambar in
such a cover — "It was like walking on tin boxes."

Forests containing any great number of tolerably
large teak trees are, however, now extremely few ; and,
as I have said, the teak has been indiscriminately hacked
down for every sort of purpose, for many generations,
over nearly the whole area where it is found. Among
its numerous other valuable qualities, however, it
includes that of rapidly throwing up a head of tall
slender poles from the stumps, if they are allowed
to remain in the ground. In five years this coppice
wood will attain a height of twenty-five or thirty
feet, and a girth of one to two feet. Such poles are
invaluable in a country where habitations are in great
measure very small, and built of wood alone — far more
valual)le, in fact, than larger timber, which is only
useful for the exceptional class of structures comprising
the residences of wealthy persons, European houses,
and public edifices. It was thus, perhaps, scarcely
very surprising that when we suddenly demanded from
the forests a large and permanent supply of large timber
for our railway system, we found that they could not
afford it, though it by no means follows that the forests

THE TEAK REGION. 215

were not in a useful state to meet the ordinary require-
ments of the country.

Our treatment of this question of the teak forests
is a good example of the difficulties in Indian adminis-
tration which arise from the absence of accurate infor-
mation on the real requirements of the country, and
the obstacles in the way of reconciling the conditions
of a low and almost stationary stage of society with
nineteenth-century " progress," and high-pressure civili-
sation. In the cry for great timbers for our railways
we totally forgot, or neglected, the demand of the
masses of the population for small timber for their
houses and many other purposes. We shut up every
acre of the teak-produciug country we could, and
referred them to inferior sorts of wood, all the best
species besides teak having been tabooed along with
it. The other species of timber, when used young,
mostly decay in a year or two in an Indian climate ;
and so the people were put to a vast unnecessary
expenditure of labour in renewals, while we strove,
by pruning and preserving, to make large timber grow
out of the scrubby coppice wood which had before
supplied their wants ; and, as it proved, strove entirely
in vain. This pollarded teak will not grow straight and
large, prune we never so wisely. It will grow well
to a certain size, the size the natives require it, but
after that it decays and twists into every variety
of tortuous shape. What we should have done was
to reserve the best forests for timber purposes proper,
and apply to the rest — the vastly greater part of them —
only such measures as would ensure the best and
quickest production of coppice wood for the require-
ments of the people. It has been said that they should

216 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

learn to do as European nations do, convert large trees
to smaller scantlings by the saw, as it is an undoubted
fact that forests yield a larger aggregate supply of
timber when the trees are allowed to mature. The
argument is one of a sort too readily applied to many
Indian subjects. Theoretically it is true enough, and in
the distant future it may be realised. But in the
meantime the people have not the capital wherewith to
do it, even if the large timber were growing ready for
them, which it is not.

Of other trees than teak these forests produce a
great variety, some producing highly ornamental woods
for fancy purposes, other useful in the arts, and a
good many, when fully matured and seasoned, capable
of almost supplanting teak for ordinary building purposes.
The useful sorts, however, on the whole, bear a very low
proportion to the great mass for which no general
use has as yet been found. Eound the settlements the
valuable sorts have mostly been exterminated ; and
such parts as are not actually under tillage are covered
with a scrub composed of such thorny species as Acacia
Arahica, A. catechu, Zizyphus Jujuha, and others.
It is remarkable, I think, how the thorny species,
which are the best armed to resist destruction, have
thus won the race for life in such tracts.

Vast areas, again, do not produce, and do not seem
to be capable of producing, any species but such as are,
from the softness of their timber, almost useless to the
carpenter. A typical example of such a tract is found
in the upper valley of the Tilpti river, a river which
forms so good an example of the streams of this region
as to be worthy of some description. Rising among the
western spurs of the Miihadeo range, it flows for a short

THE TEAK REGION. 217

distance over the level plateau of the Bdtiil district, in a

shallow channel, which, in the hot season, forms a chain

■of silent pools fringed by great Kowa trees and by the

thick green cover of Jaman and Karonda, in which

tigers delight to dwell. The surrounding country in

this part of its course is partially cleared and cultivated

with rice and sugar-cane. Presently, however, it

commences its descent towards the level of the lower

plains, plunging into a glen river through the basalt,

and assumes the character of a mountain torrent. Here

and there it widens out into little bays of level valley

land ; but is henceforth, for a hundred miles or so,

generally shut in between high banks rising from the

edge of its channel. Through these the rapid drainage

of the higher hills has cut innumerable narrow channels

down to the level of its bed, which spread out above

into an interminable series of rocky gullies, seeming in

every direction a long succession of rolling basaltic

waves. The surface of these tracts has been weathered

in places into a penurious soil, bearing multitudes of

round black boulders of trap, ranging in size from an

egg to a small house, and salted over with small white

agate splinters, both apparently eliminated from the

mother rock in the process of decomposition. This

surface is covered with a growth of coarse grass, varying

according to the depth of the soil from a few inches to

several feet in height, and is studded with small trees, of

which ninety-nine in every hundred are the Salei, or

frankincense tree {Boswellia tliurifera).

This tree has hitherto been regarded as a mere
incumbrance to the ground. Its timber is soft and
spongy, and is certainly valueless for building and such
purposes. It has also been rejected as firewood, its

218 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL IXDL\.

specific gravity being so low that a great bulk of it has
to be transported in comparison with teak and other
hard woods to produce a given effect. Yet it produces
excellent charcoal, and is perfectly adapted for most
ordinary purposes of fuel ; and, wherever the carriage of
better sorts from remote parts has rendered their use
more expensive, the Salei has been actually used instead.
This points to another mistake we have hitherto made
in our Indian forestry. Undoubtedly this and other soft
wood trees should have been forced into common use by
the people as fuel long ago, instead of our giving way to
their outcry for hard woods and bamboos, the use of
which should be confined to certain special requirements.
The Boswellia possesses other properties, which will
probably at some future time render these great desolate
tracts of hio-h economical value. It vields a fragrant gum
resin, which is burnt as incense in Hindu temples. It
was long thought to be the Olibanum of the ancients,
employed for a similar purpose ; but Dr. Birdwood, in a
pamphlet, attempted to show that this substance was
procured from other species of the Boswellia in countries
to the west of India. It is, however, singular that its
Sanscrit name, lahdnd, should still so closely resemble
that of antic[uity ; and it may perhaps be doubted if
our knowledge of the ancient comoaerce of India suffices
to exclude India from the list of countries which
contributed the frankincense of the BosweUia to the
fanes of heathen gods. It is highly probable that some
much more oreneral utilitv would be found in this omm

o . o

resin, were the attention of persons capable of testing
it drawn to the subject. It is also not unlikely that the
soft woody fibre of the tree would prove to be adapted
for the manufacture of coarse paper or cloth. Should

TlIK TEAK EEGIOX. 219

any economic value be found to attach to any portion of
the tree, the supply would be practically unlimited ; and
reproduction of the forests would be easy in the extreme,
large stakes when stuck in the ground during the rainy
season rapidly taking root and shooting into trees.
This quality of the tree has recently been taken
advantage of by the railway company for the con-
struction of live fence-posts on which to stretch their
fencing wires. The Salei is of a highly social character,
emulating in this respect the Sal {Shorea), but admit-
ting in a greater degree than it the companionship
of other species. The principal of these are the Saj
{Pentaptera) : the Torch wood tree (Cochlospermum),
with its bright yellow solitary flowers gleaming on the
extremities of its naked branches ; and the Ironwood
tree {HardidcJcia binata), which is perhaps the most
graceful forest tree in these regions.

The aspect of these vast forests of the Bosivellia,
of which the country about the Tapti is a specimen,
and which cover, I should say, fully one-half of the
whole of this trap region, is very remarkable. During
the height of the monsoon (July to October) the grass
is careen, and the trees have thrown out a thin foliaj^e of
small, bricrht green pinnated leaves. The river beds,
too, are then filled by foaming torrents, and the fervour
of the sun is moderated by a canopy of gray clouds.
At this season one might almost mistake the valley
for a scene in some northern primeval wilderness. But
gradually, as the clouds clear off and the rain ceases,
a change occurs. The rivers shrink in their beds, till a
tricklincr stream in a wide bed of boulders represents
the resistless mountain torrent of a month before,
while the higher gullies are utterly dried up. The

220 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDLV.

grass turns from green to yellow, and bristles with a
terrible armature of prickles, like needles of steel with
the barbs of a fish-hook, which catch in each other and
mat together into masses. Woe betide the undefended
pedestrian in grass like this. Unless defended by
leather, before he has gone half a mile every stitch of
his clothing will be run through and through, and
pinned to his flesh by multitudes of these barbs,
causing the most intolerable pain. The foliage of the
Salei withers and droops after a few weeks of sunning ;
and its naked yellow stems then fill the prospect like a
vast army of skeletons. But this stage is not even the
worst. It continues till the month of April introduces
the torrid summer season, when the fierce sun laps up
the last particle of moisture in these basaltic regions.
Then the grass has become like tinder, and a thousand
accidents may set it on fire. The traveller dropping a
light from his pipe, the wind carrying a spark from an
encampment of jungle-haunting Banjaras, the torch of
the belated traveller, and, should it escape these acci-
dents, then certainly the deliberate act of the graziers,
who bring herds of cattle with the first fall of rain in
June into these tracts to graze on the resulting new
crop of grass, will start a jungle fire which nothing can
stop till it burns itself out. Early in the hot season it
is a fine sight to watch at night the long creeping red
lines of the jungle fires on distant hill-sides. From the
hill fortress of Asirgarh the eye ranges over the whole
of the upper Tapti valley ; and at this season the whole
country appears at night ringed with these lines of fire,
curving with the curvature of hills ; here thin and
scarcely visible where the grass is scanty on a bare
hill-top ; there flaring through tracts of long elephant

THE TEAK REGION. 221

grass, or wrapping some dried and sapless tree-stem in
immense tongues of flame. By night a ruddy glow
colours all the heavens above the spot ; while by day a
thick pall of smoke hangs over the valley. Near the
scene the air is stifling and thick with falling flakes of
ash. Wild animals have fled the neighbourhood ; and
clouds of insects rise before the advancing flames, to be
devoured by myriads of birds collected seemingly from
every end of the country. Innumerable snakes and
noxious vermin of all sorts perish in the fire, in-
cluding many of the curious grass snake of these
regions, which a diligent search will frequently discover
twined among the matted masses of the spear-grass.
It is a harmless creature, living on insects, and changes
its colour from green to yellow, along with the grass.
When the fires are burnt out, the spectacle is a dismal
one indeed. Hill-side after hill-side of blackness, re-
lieved only here and there by a long streak of white
ashes where a prostrate trunk has been consumed, and
by the wilderness of Salei skeletons, scorched at the
base, and above more yellow and ghastly than ever.
Yet, even in the heart of those parts of the basaltic
region to which this description most fittingly applies,
there are few tracts where, at a little distance, some
oasis will not be found. The larger ravines are often
filled with clumps of bamboo which never entirely lose
their verdure ; and here and there a sheltered valley will
be met, where there is either a pool of water, or moisture
not far below the surface, v/ith its fringe of verdure, and
a few Mhowa or Mango trees, perhaps marking the site
of some old village, deserted long ago beyond the memory
of living man. In the central valley of the Tapti also
will be found at intervals bays of rich, deep soil, with a

•222 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

moist substratum that is never entirely parched up, and
carrying a greener grass which it is hard to burn, and
often a coverino; of forest trees. Most of these tracts
have been at one time reclaimed to the plough,
and thickly populated. That was in the days when
the Mahomedan Viceroy of the Deccan held court at
the city of Burhanpiir, some fifty miles lower down
the valley, and great armies marching between the
Deccan and Hindostan had to be fed. The bays in
the valley are still dotted over with the sites of the
villages of those times, and with the ruined forts and
tombs and mosques of their Mahomedan rulers. Near
the ancient site of Sajni, the chief town of one of
these tracts, may be seen a banyan tree of immense
spread, whose trunk has embraced and lifted bodily
up from ofi" the ground the domed masonry tomb, about
twelve feet in all dimensions, of some Moslem notable,
and so enveloped it with its thousand folds that not one
stone of it is to be seen outside, while, passing inside by
a narrow opening, the arch of the dome and the wall will
be seen to be almost perfect. A Moslem could scarcely
desire a fitter entombment than to be suspended thus
between heaven and earth, like the prophet of his fiiith.
It is now some years since the malaria of the en-
croaching jungle and famine in the country, caused by
the failure of the rains of heaven and the still more
terrible strife of men, desolated these settlements in the
Tapti valley. The rank jungle then sprang on the
deserted clearings, rendered fertile to weed as to cereal
by the labour of man, and has now clothed them wdtli
a thicket of vegetation of such thickness, and guarded
by a miasma so deadly, as to baffle all attempts at
renewed occupation by the Hindii cultivators densely

THE TEAK KEGION. l'23

crowded in the adjoining open country. Here and
there the Korkiis, whose constitutions seem impervious
to malaria, have settled down on some neifflibourinor
rising ground, and built a neat little village of Swiss-
like cottages of bamboo, and have cleared and tilled
the opener parts of the valley, raising such crops of
wheat on the unexhausted black soil as are the envy
of the laborious tiller of the hard-used lands in the
outer valley. But it is a terrible and unequal struggle
between the aborigine, even so far reclaimed as these
Korkiis are, and the jungle with its immense and
unremitting strength of vegetation, and tribes of
noxious w^ild beasts. Every now and again the heart
of the Korkii fails him, and he abandons the contest,
flitting off to some hill-side where he may more easily
contend with axe and fire against the less exuberant
vegetation of the thin mountain soils. On the whole,
however, the habits of the Korkiis of the Tapti valley
are a o-reat advance on those of the tribes inhabiting
the Mahadeo hills further east. Their cultivation is
performed with the bullock plough instead of the axe,
and is of a much more permanent character. Their
villages and houses are much more substantial, and are
seldom changed ; and habits of providence and steady
industry have been developed among them which are
unknown to either Gond or Korkii of other parts.
Much of this may, no doubt, be due to their fortunate
occupation of a country where cultivation by annual
cutting down the forest is scarcely possible, owing to
the scantiness of timber and of soil on the slopes of
the hills, while the neighbourhood of so large a city
as Burhanpiir must always have furnished them with a
regular and remunerative market for their produce.

224 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

The grass-burning, universal in the jungles of these
provinces, is undoubtedly beneficial in a great variety of
ways. It allows, and assists by the manure of the ashes,
a crop of green and tender grass-shoots to appear for the
grazing of vast herds of cattle, which form great part of
the wealth of the people in the neighbourhood of jungle
tracts. It kills multitudes of snakes and noxious insects.
It probably prevents much malaria that would arise
from the vegetation if gradually allowed to decay. It
destroys much of the harbour for wild beasts. And
the ashes no doubt form a valuable ino-redient in the
deposits of soil carried down by the drainage of these
hills to lower regions, and in the cultivable crust
gradually forming in these uplands themselves. It has
been held by some that these fires are very injurious
to the growth of saplings of teak and other valuable
trees. But it is an undoubted fact that teak seeds
will germinate and produce seedlings wdiere the grass
has been fired better than where it has not ; and it
is not well established that much permanent injury is
afterwards done to the seedlings.

The labour of exploring such forests as those I have
described during the hot season, when alone they are
sufiiciently open and free from malaria, is immense —
day after day toiling over those interminable basaltic
ridges, where many marches have often to be made
without meeting an inhabitant, without often a single
green tree for shelter, and dependent for water on a
few stagnant pools puddled up by the feet of wild
animals. This was what often fell to the lot of the forest
officers of those early days. I doubt if many of them
would have gone on with the task but for the love
of sport and adventure which probably led to their

THE TEAK REGION. 225

original selection of a jungle life ; and there is not one
of them whose health did not, after a few years, give
way under the combined assaults of malaria and a fiery
sun.

Vast tracts of the most sterile portion of this region
are absolutely without water during some months of the
hot season ; and in many others there is no more than
perhaps a single small pool, in some shaded hollow of
the rocks, for many miles on end. The only animal
which can inhabit such wastes as these is the nilgai,
which can and does pass many days without drinking ;
and scattered herds of them are accordingly found even
in the driest parts. The bison wanders over the whole
of the forest and hilly portion of the tract, wherever
the absence of man and cattle, and abundance of
bamboo cover and water, afford him the needful con-
ditions. The deer tribe comprises the Sambar {Rusa
■aristotelis) and the Axis or Spotted Deer [ylxis
maculatus) in large numbers, and, more rare, the
Barking Deer {Cervulus aureus), besides the little
four-horned antelope already mentioned. The Hog
Deer [Axis porcinus) does not, I believe, occur so
far to the south-west as the trap country. The spotted
deer is never found except in the neighbourhood of the
larger rivers. Abundance of water and green shade
appear to be first conditions of its existence. A few
barking deer are found scattered all over the tract,
though never very far from water.

Sambar are rarely found in the very dry interior,
but sometimes travel to rest during the day to a long
distance from the water hole or stream where they drink
at f night. On the level table-land they are not very
numerous, preferring the slopes and summits of the

Q

226 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

hills. But no animal changes its location so much,
according to the season of the year, abundance of food,
etc., as the sambar. Wherever the bison is found,
the sambar is certain to be as well ; but his range
is not so confined as the bison's, being much more
tolerant of the propinquity of man and of grazing
herds of domestic cattle. While the crops of the table-
land and lower plains are green the herds of sambar
come out to feed on them at night, remaining during
the day near the edge of the juno^le, unless disturbed
and driven into the depths of the forest by man. They
also feed, however, on a great variety of jungle
products ; and move about in apparently the most
capricious manner in search of them. The short
green grass that clothes the banks of pools and
springs, and the tender shoots of young trees and
bushes, may be said to be at all times the foundation of
their fare, and during the rainy season almost their only
resource. Later on, in late autumn, the young wheat
and grain crops of neighbouring clearances are made to
pay heavy toll ; and with the commencement of the hot
season comes a great variety of wild fruits, all greatly
relished by the deer. At one time (March and April)
it is the luscious flower of the Mhowa tree, which they
share with the Gond and the bear and most other
animals and birds. The Tendii, the Chironji, the Aold,
the Bher, and many other trees, also fruit plentifully in
spring ; and a little later the pods of numerous species
of acacia, chiefly Babiil,* Reuiija.t Kheir,J and of the
tamarinds which have overgrown many deserted village
sites, and the fruit of several species of wild fig,§ amply

* A. Arahica. % A. catechu.

t A. Lcucojihloea. § F. indica, F. relirjiosa, and F. guleria.

THE TEAK REGIOX. 227

support the sambar through the hot season. Wherever
any of these are plentiful, there the marks of nightly
visits by sambar will be found in the morning. But by
the earliest break of day the animals will have disap-
peared; and, having drunk well at some neighbourino-
water, will probably be well on their way to their restinsj-
place for the day. For the next hour or two they are
often to be found at a few miles' distance, apparently
loitering about, but all the time slowly making their
way in a certain direction, higher up the hills and to-
wards denser cover, and keeping a heedful watch on
possible pursuers. As they penetrate deeper into the
waste country their watchfulness diminishes, but they
generally take a long and keen survey of all their sur-
roundings before lying down for the day. At all times
but the rutting season (October and November) the
heavy old stags remain mostly solitary, a few youno-
animals only remaining with the herd, which consists of
ten to fifteen individuals. The old stags usually travel
deeper into the forest and higher up the hills before
lying down than the herd, which is often found within
a mile or so of their feeding ground. In all cases a
patch of longish grass is selected, and a regular form
like that of a hare is made by each individual. Each
form is usually in the shade of a small tree, the side or top
of the hill, where grass is long but trees not very
numerous or thick, being preferred to very dense thickets ;
and it is curious with what skill the spot is selected,
so that the deepest shade shall fall on the form at about
three o'clock in the afternoon, which is the hottest
portion of the day. Hundreds of forms will some-
times be found in one locality, every one of them
at precisely the same point of the compass from its

0. 2

228 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

sheltering tree. The Large stags do not seem to care
so much about shade, and generally lie on the side of
some little depression on a hill top, sheltered only by
lono- grass. Their forms can be readily distinguished
from those of the others by their greatly superior size.
These forms are generally made when the grass is green,
and are occupied at intervals all the rest of the year.
More than one herd and a few solitary stags will not
usually be found in the same tract of country ; but
in the rutting season they collect together in much
larger numbers on the tops of the high plateaux; and
the hoarse roar of the stags may then be heard echoing
far and wide in the silent night. When lying down
for the day, sambar, and particularly the solitary stags,
will frequently allow one to approach and pass them
quite close without getting up, trusting to conceal-
ment in the grass ; and it is really almost impossible
in many places for the sportsman on foot to see them
unless he actually stumbles on their forms. The hard,
yellow grass, while unburnt, leaves next to no trail of
the passage of a single deer, and thus the search for
sambar on foot after the hour when they lie down is
seldom very successful.

If information can be got from the people who
frequent the jungles for wood-cutting, etc., of where-
abouts the sambar are feeding and resting at that par-
ticular season, capital sport can be got with them in the
day time with the aid of a riding elephant. This
enables you to see over the grass, and generally starts
any sambar that may be lying down within about a
hundred yards. The elephant must be thoroughly
trained to stop dead short on deer getting up, and
should not be furnished with a howdah, the simple pad or

THE TEAK REGION. .'29

chdrjdmd being preferable for this sort of shootiug ; and
the smaller and more active the elephant is the better.
You should start about eleven o'clock and hunt till sun-
down, proceeding as silently as possible through the
longest patches of grass, with rifle on full cock, for )ou
do not generally get much time to make ready once the
deer get up. The presence of recently -used forms
(which will be known by the droppings) will indicate
the probable proximity of deer ; and it is better to beat
thoroughly a limited area than hastily a large extent of
country. Where the hills rise by steps, as is often the
case in the trap country, the outer edge of each step is the
most likely place, and the sambar will almost always run
up hill. A standing shot may sometimes be had during
a few seconds after the sambar first rise, but more
generally they dart off at full speed at once, and then
comes into play the most difficult of all the arts of the
rifleman — snap shooting at running game ofi" an elephant.
The elephant is never jperfectly still for more than a
moment, and its short swing must be allowed for as
well as the pace, of the deer. The sambar is, of course,
from its great size and distinct colour, much more easy
to hit than the spotted deer, or barking, or hog, deer;
but still it is amazing what a preponderance of clear
misses the best shots will make at even running sambar
off the elephant, until long and constant practice
has given the peculiar knack which is so difficult to
attain. It is, however, by far the most deadly as well
as one of the most enjoyable ways of hunting the
sambar. The best stags will, however, seldom be ob-
tained by this method, lying as they do on the tops of
remote hills, where one might search for and not find
them for a v/eek.

230 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

Driving a large extent of country witli a long line of
beaters is the commonest method of hunting sambar.
It is frequently successful, and often secures a good stag ;
but for my own part I have very rarely resorted to it.
It is difficult often to get a sufficient number of beaters
without oppression, and accidents often occur to them
from the enclosure of dangerous wild beasts. The whole
country is disturbed ; the shooting of a creature driven
up to you, without the exercise either of skill or any
other manly quality on your own part, is not sport ;
and lastly, to prove successful, a large number of sports-
men are recjuired to guard the numerous passes ; and it
never has been my fortune (not that I have much
regretted it) to be out with a large hunting party in
India. A few times, however, I have helped to drive
a jungle, generally for some other game than sambar,
and these have sometimes proved memorable occasions.

In the Jubbulpiir district, I was beating a wooded hill-
side for sambar as the shades of evening were drawing
on, and the beaters had nearly reached the end of the
drive when I suddenly saw them swarming up trees,
and the shout reached me of " Two ti2:ers are afoot ! "
I was then trying for the first time a rifle made on
Jacob's principle for explosive shells, and congratulated
myself on having so good an opportunity for testing it.
Anxiously I waited behind my little green bush, the
beaters creating a din enough to deafen a dozen tigers,
till at last I saw a striped form glide across an open spot
in front, and advancing in my direction. AVith finger
on the trigger I was awaiting his appearance at the next
break in the low jungle, when suddenly I heard the
bushes crashing on my left, and a large tiger bounded
into the jungle pathway on which I was standing, and

THE TEAK KEGION". 231

cantered towards my position. Wlieeling round, I de-
livered the right barrel of the Jacob in his left shoulder,
on receiving which he rolled over like a rabbit. At the
moment I fired my eye caught a glimpse of the other
tiger close by, in the direction I had first seen him ; so,
seeing the first disposed of, I again fronted, and, with a
steady aim, gave No. 2 the left barrel through the neck.
As luck would have it, the spine was broken, and he
dropped on the spot. All this occupied but a few
seconds, being as quick a right and left as ever I fired.
On turning my attention again to the first tiger, I was
just in time to see him reach the thick jungle some
twenty paces off, and, before I could seize another gun,
he had disappeared. I had time to perceive, however,
that his right hind leg was broken in the body ; the shell
must, therefore, as he was hit in the left shoulder, have
traversed his body from stem to stern ; and yet here
were none of the immediate paralysing efi'ects ascribed
to these shells at close quarters. On walking up to the
second " tiger," what was my disgust to find that it was
not a tiger after all, but only a huge striped hyaena I
had shot, having mistaken his disproportionately large
head in the imperfect light for that of the jungle king!
The shell had passed completely through his neck, but,
if it exploded at all, must have done so after passing
out. The other was a veritable tiger, however. We
followed him a little way by his footprints and blood,
but it was getting very dark, and prudence compelled
us to leave him till the morning. We failed, however,
to find him then, though we hunted about the whole
day; and it was not till some days after that a cow-
herd found his rotting remains beside a pool of water,
many miles away.

232 THE HIGfHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

On another occasion I secured the largest sambar
horns I have ever seen, in a drive. It was in the Bori
teak forest, a lovely little valley nestling under the
northern scarp of the Mahadeo hills, and surrounded
on three sides by its mural precipices. Being very
inaccessible from the plains, more teak trees have here
escaped the destroying timber contractor than almost
anywhere else ; and K., D., and myself were engaged in
demarcatinsj its boundaries as a reserved forest. Havinsf
toiled for some days putting up cairns of stones along
the open southern border, where it is not enclosed
by precipices, and completed the business, we decided
to wind up with a drive in the forest itself for sambar^
and the chance of a few bison whose tracks we had
seen during our work. The grass was so long and
the forest so thick that driving was then almost the
only possible way of getting game. We had had
a number of Gonds and Korkiis out with us at the
boundary work, and the prospect of abundance of
meat readily induced them to beat for us. A long
slope of broken ground between the foot of the scarp
and the bottom of the glen was to be beaten cross ways ;
D. took the post just below^ the scarp, R. remained
near the bottom, and I had the middle place. I
screened myself behind the thick double trunk of a
teak tree, forking from the ground. The beat was
a short one, and I had not waited lonfy before a tremen-
dous crashing on the hill-side above me, followed by
a shot from D., announced the approach of some heavy
animal. I thought it was a bull bison at least, and
was surprised when a sambar stag burst through the
underwood just in front of me, and, with horns laid
alonor his flanks, clattered down the steep hill-side.

THE TEAK REGION. 23.'5

He was going full speed, and was miicli screeued
by the long grass and dry bamboos, which he scattered
on every side in his passage, so that I had not much
confidence in the broadside shot wherewith I OTeeted
him proving successful. Something told me I had
hit him, however — a sportsman who has shot much
is seldom mistaken in his inward heart as to the truth
of his aim — and although he crashed away apparently
untouched I ran eagerly to the place where he had
passed to look for blood. Before I arrived I heard
the rinof of a rifle in R.'s direction, and then a lonof'

CD -' O

holloa which told me that the staof was down. Thouojh
greatly disappointed at losing the magnificent head
which I saw he carried, I went on to the trail, and
there I found great gouts of the red and frothy blood
that tells of a shot through the lungs. Some of the
Gonds now came up, and I left them to run the trail
down hill, while I hastened down to where the stag
had fallen. He lay on his side, close to R.'s post,
which he had been passing full speed when he fired and
toppled him over. The shot hole was, however, in his
haunch, and that wound I knew would never stop a stag
like this. So we turned him over and found my bullet
hole on the other side, just a little too high for the
heart. It was a true enough shot after all, and I was
very glad when I measured by spans his splendid horns,
though sorry for the disappointment of a brother
sportsman.

Though not a very large stag, he was very old and
rather mangy, and had a perfect head with the usual
three points on each horn, and measuring from base to
tip forty-one inches, round the base ten inches, and
eight and a half at the thinnest part of the beam. I

234 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

have never seen a larger head altogether than this in
Central India. It is figured at the end of the present
chapter. The horns of sambar vary greatly in
development, some being very massive but short, and
others very long but slender. Really good heads every
way like this one are the rare exception, and would not
be seen once out of perhaps fifty animals shot. About
thirty to thirty-five inches is the average length of the
horns even of mature stags. Occasionally more than
three tines are seen on one or both antlers ; but this is
^n abnormal development, and such heads will generally
be found of stunted growth and devoid of symmetry.
Sometimes the inner and sometimes the outer tine of
the terminal fork will be found the longer.

I have taken much pains to assure mj^self of a fact,
of which I am now perfectly convinced, namely, that,
neither in the case of the sambar nor the spotted deer
{both belonging to the Asiatic group of Rusinse as
distinguished from the Cervidse or true stags), are the
antlers regularly shed every year in these Central Indian
forests, as is the case with the Cervidse in cold climates.*
No native shikari, who is engaged all his life in the
pursuit of these animals, will allow such to be the case ;
and all sportsmen out at that season must have seen
stags with full-grown horns during the hot weather and
rains, when they are supposed to have shed them.
Hornless stags are seen at that season, but the great

* Probably on the higher hill ranges they shed them more regu-
larly ; on the Nilgherry hills I saw a number of stags in the month of
July, and none of them had full-grown horns, I may add here that
but one species of this deer is now recognised as inhabiting all India,
including the Gerow of the Himalayas, and that I believe, after
inspecting large collections of horns, etc., it nowhere attains greater
development than in Central India.

THE TEAK REGION. 235

majority have perfect heads. I have also known certain
stags for successive years always about the same locality,
and which I have repeatedly stalked at intervals during
this time along with natives who constantly saw them,
so that I could not be mistaken as to the individual ;
and all the time they never once dropped their horns.

One of these was a very peculiar animal, almost
jet black in colour, and with large horns so white as to
look almost like a cast pair bleached by the weather.
He frequented, during several years I knew him, an
open part of the Mona valley, a good deal resorted to by
wood and grass cutters. He never could be found like
other stags in the morning ; but seemed to lie down
before daylight in some strategical position whence he
always managed to effect an escape without being seen
till far out of shot. I had never even fired at him
though I had seen him often, wiien very early one
morning I was walking over the grassy plain where he
was often seen, and some cart-men who were loading hay
told me they had seen a stag lie down on the side of a
hillock not far off. I made a long circuit to get to the
other side of it, and then slowly, inch by inch and with
beating heart, drew myself over the brow. Nothing was
to be seen from there, and, with finger on the trigger of
my little single " Henry," I crawled down the slope.
Just then a stick crackled on my left, and looking round,
I saw the stag running in a crouching, tiger-like fashion
along the bottom of a water-course I had not noticed,
but which, doubtless, had been duly considered in the
selection of his position. I had only time for a snap
shot, which caught the top of his shoulder and heavily
lamed him. He could go just a little faster than myself
after this, and had frequently to stop. But he always

236 THE HIGHLAIs^DS OF CENTRAL INDIA,

got tlie start of me when I came up, and thus carried
me some four or five miles towards the base of the hills,
before a lucky shot at a very long range caught him in
the centre of the neck and finished the business.

It is curious how often incidents like that one with
the Bori sambar occur. A beast shot in the lunsrs will
run on, particularly down hill, for several hundred yards
before he drops, though then he will generally fall stone
dead ; and the collapse frequently occurs just when he
receives another wound, though it may be a very slight
one, or when anything occurs to interrupt his impetus.
I remember when shooting in the Kohilkhund Terai, a
hog deer ran the gauntlet of a whole line of elephants.
I had fired at him first on the right with a little rifle
carrying a very peculiar bullet, but we all thought we
had to register a miss when he fell to the Joe Manton of
old Col. S. on the extreme left of the line ; and it was
not till we were examining the goodly heap of slain
brought in by the pad elephants on our return to camp
that I thought of looking for my shot, and found that
the death wound was from my rifle after all, as we cut
out the little bullet from the top of its shoulder, while
the Colonel's round ball had only just grazed its quarter.
On another occasion I had fired at a large tiger sneaking
through some thin jungle in the Betiil district. The
brute dashed ahead out of sight with loud roars, but
presently came wheeling round in a circle, galloped along
the bottom of a small ravine, and came up the bank of
it right opposite me, as I thought with the determination
of making a home charge. As his head appeared over
the top I fired at it, at the distance of only some dozen
paces, and he tumbled back again to the bottom, where
he lay dead. My astonishment was not small to find

THE TEAK REGION. 237

that I had missed him clean the last time, and that he
had died just in the nick of time from the first shot
through the shoulders.

By far the finest sport afforded by the sambar is
when he is regularly stalked in his native wilderness,
without either elephant or beaters. I will not waste a
word on so vile a practice as that of shooting him at
night, when he comes to the crops or drinking places.
None but a native shikari, or an European with equally
poaching proclivities, would ever think of such a thing.
To succeed in stalking, the camp must be pitched as
near as possible to where they have been ascertained to
resort at night to feed and drink. A party of the
aborigines of the place must be entertained to act as
scouts, people who thoroughly know the country and
the haunts and habits of the deer, and who are not
afraid to traverse any part of the jungles in the dark.
These must be sent out in couples long before daylight
to crown the most commanding hill tops in the neigh-
bourhood, with instructions to mark any sambar they
may see on the way from their feeding grounds to the
midday resting place. When deer are observed one
should remain to watch them, while the other hastens
with the news to some well-marked central point,
whither the sportsman himself must leisurely proceed,
starting half an hour or so before daybreak, accompanied
by one or two of the wild men. It is very likely he
may fall in with a deer himself by the way, and get a
stalk ; but if not some of the scouts are almost certain
to bring information in time to get at the deer before
they have lain down. This method of scouting also
succeeds well with bison in thin jungles where they are
sometimes found ; and I do not know any place where

238 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

the sport of stalking the bison and sambar in. this
fashion can be followed with better chance of success
than in the jungles on either side of the upper Tapti
valley. Indeed, the very best of this sport can be had
within an easy morning's ride of the large city of
Burhanpiir, in the Nimar district, situated on the Tapti,
a few miles below the point where the narrow rugged
valley opens out into a wide basin of fertile and highly
cultivated black soil. Here the Tapti is joined by the
Mona, a beautiful stream which flows clear and sparkling
out of a branch of the Satpiira range called the Hatti
hills. It is one of the most singular parts of the great
basaltic formation, and forms the extreme westerly
termination of the highland region I am describing.

In the end of February we rode out from Burhanpur
to our camp, which was pitched at the last village in the
open plain. Next morning a small tent was sent up to
a little fort called Gharri, that crowns the northern face
of the Hatti range, and we ourselves took different lines
through the hills on foot to the same place. The in-
habitants of these hills are all Bheels, a good deal spoilt
by " civilisation," being mostly lazy and thriftless, and
confirmed opium eaters. They are the descendants of
ancestors who were nominally converted to Mahome-
danism in the days when a strong Moslem power was
established at Burhanpur, but now retain scarcely any-
thing of their faith besides the name of the Prophet and
the practice of its most elementary rites. In Mahomedan
times the chiefs of these Bheels were subsidised and
constituted wardens of the hill passes in this range,
over which ran the main highways between the valley
of the Tdpti and Berar ; and they still continue to
receive from our Government this subsidy, which is

THE TEAK REGION". 230

nothing but a compensation for the blackmail levied by
their turbulent ancestors from the adjoining plains. A
few unconverted Bheels still remain in this country,
who are chiefly the hereditary village watchmen of the
Hindii villages bordering on the hills. They are
usually a good deal Hinduised in manners, but retain
much of the keen natural qualities that render the
wilder members of the race such excellent hunters.
Bheels of the wildest character are also found in the
mountain region west of Asirgarh, depending for sub-
sistence much on their bows and arrows, and still ready
for any undertaking of lawlessness and peril. It is
scarcely, however, within the province of this work
to devote space to this tribe, which is but scantily repre-
sented in the highland region of which it treats.

The road to Gharri lay up a fine, level, though
narrow, valley in the Hatti hills, containing the sites of
several old villages marked by ancient trees and Malio-
medan tombs. As we overlooked, from the height of
Gharri, its lono-, level reach, and the narrow gorore
formed by a transverse chain of little hills at its mouth,
with the level, black-soil plain of the Tapti valley stretch-
ing away into the distant haze beyond, the thought sug-
gested itself at the same time to both of us, how
remarkably suited the spot was for an irrigation
reservoir. Without — the land thirsting for water, being
underlaid by a sandy subsoil so deep that no well can
tap the stratum of moisture below it, and crowded with
a dense population who pay for their dry and unfertile
acres the rent that in many places is given for irrigated
sugar-cane land. Within — a natural reservoir, fed by
the drainage of forty square miles, and only wanting an
embankment of a few hundred yards to hold back

240 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

sufficient water to convert the whole of the plain with-
out into an evergreen garden. Such sites as these,
though not always so favoured by a combination of
circumstances as this one, are met with at intervals
along almost the whole of the frontier line between the
highlands and the open plain. But, alas ! the means at
the command of so poor a country as India are unequal
to tlie task of realising her own future ; and the wealth
of life-giving water that annually escapes through these
unguarded outlets must still, for many a generation, it
may be feared, be allowed to waste itself in destructive
inundations and fruitless floods. We are only just
beginnins: to realise that at the bottom of all India's
wretched poverty and backwardness lies the exceeding
unfertility of her land in the absence of artificial irriga-
tion. What might be the changes in the physical
conditions and economy of India were the annual rain-
fall saved which now escapes to the sea, it is impossible
to foresee. An almost incredible increase in the pro-
ductiveness of the low country, and the final banish-
ment of the famine demon, would probably be combined
with a great amelioration of the climate, and improve-
ment of the forests of the hiofher regions.

Gharri is situated on the edo^e of a table-land of con-
siderable extent, but of very irregular outline ; on the
north winding round the head of long ravines which
drain down into the valley below, and towards the south
coming suddenly to a steep drop into the plains of
Berar. The more open parts of this table-land have at
some remote period been cultivated, the trap boulders
having been cleared off and piled into rough walls
enclosing large square fields. The land is in many
places very deep and rich, and, the elevation being

THE TEAK REGIOX. 241

about 2,000 feet, it would no doubt grow tea and
coffee well. Now it is utterly waste, the lazy Bheels
being satisfied with their subsidy from Government,
while want of roads, and probably a bad climate, deter
the cultivators of the neighbouring plains. There is
plenty of water on the top, and one day it will doubtless
be the seat of a considerable settlement.

At Gharri T. went out in the evening, and found
two sambar stags feeding on the pods of some acacias on
the site of a deserted village. Being a capital stalker
•and a good shot, he got close in upon them, and bagged
both with a right and left shot. Next day we crossed
the plateau to a place called Bingara, near which T. had
a survey station to put up. The road for some distance
lay over a tolerably level plain of black soil, covered by
a thin scrub of teak poles and thorny bushes ; but pre-
sently, leaving the plateau, passed on to a very narrow
ridge which forms the backbone of these singular hills
throughout their length. In some places an exceedingly
steep slope of a thousand feet or so led down from this
saddle-back to the plains on either side, leaving scarcely
room for the path we were treading. It was a terrible
business gettini]: the baofo-ao-e camels along these narrow
places, studded as they were with trees, and encumbered
with boulders of trap ; and though we had a number of
Bheels with axes to clear a passage for them they did
not get in till nightfall. The views at the turns where
the plains on both sides could be seen were remarkable,
though scarcely to be called picturesque. At our feet
steep hill-sides of crumbling basalt, covered with long
yellow grass beaten almost flat by the western blasts
that sweep the hills at this season, and studded over
with large black boulders and the naked yellow stems

242 THE HIGHLANDS OF CEXTEAL IXDIA.

of the Salei tree. Above, short scarps of dark gray-
trap leading up to the flat tops of the range ; and below,,
so near looking that you would expect a stone thrown
over to light on it, and yet so fsir beneath that towns,
and groves, and corn-fields were all melted in one in-
distinguishable blue haze, the long, level cotton-yielding
plains of Berar.

At Binoara the Mahomedan Nawabs of Berar had,
some hundreds of years ago, constructed a pleasure
house after their earnest fashion, which, despite the
effects of a destructive climate, and the searching roots
of the peepul and banyan figs, remains to this day,
though probably never repaired, an example of the
solidity of their style of construction. The massive
domes, thick walls, and narrow openings combine in
these buildings to form the coolest structures to be
found in India. The building at Bingara is erected
on the banks of a small artificial lake, the waters of
which, however, now escape a good deal through the
rotten embankment, leaving behind a slime which by
no means adds to the attractions of the place. The
building itself was the habitation of bats and owls ;
and so we pitched our little tent a short way back
from the lake under the shade of some immense banyan
trees. Just as we arrived some dosjs belono^inQ^ to the
Bheels, which had been ranging in the jungle, passed
across the dry bed of the lake in full cry after a doe
sambar they had roused. Of course we flew to our
rifles, but were just in time to miss her handsomely
as she dashed into the thick jungle, followed for a
little way by the dogs, who soon came limping back
however.

Next morning we took different directions to explore

THE TKAK REGION. 243

and hunt, each with a few Bheel attendants. My way
lay along the backbone of the range beyond Bingara.
After walking some miles, examining carefully with
glass and eye the declivities on either side, my Bheel
henchman, a sharp lad called Cliaud, or "the INfoon,"
fixed a longer look than usual on the slope of a distant
hill-side, and after a wdiile motioned me up to him,
and directed my binocular to the centre of a scrubby
patch of teak forest. Presently I caught the glint
of the sun on something moving, and made out a
noble sambar stag standing under the trees motionless,
except that he slowly turned his antlered head from
side to side, sweeping w^ith keen vision the whole
semicircle within his ken. He was not more than a
mile ofi* in a direct line ; but to get to the spot it would
be necessary to go several miles round the head of a
long ravine. As he was almost certain to lie down where
he was, we carefully marked the spot, and slipping
back over the edge of the saddle started off at a brisk
walk to circumvent him. The sun was well up now, and
it is very hot in March even at that early hour ; so
that by the time we had got round into the ravine
below, our temperature was considerably higher than
when we started. Now commenced an excruciatins;
advance on tiptoe, with bended backs, over a stratum
of fallen teak leaves of the " tin-box " description, to
step on a single one of which would be fatal to the stalk.
As the only alternative foot-ground was on rounded
trap boulders, given to rolling away from beneath
the unwary foot, the heat developed by the exertion
was greatly out of proportion to the progress made.
At last, however, we sighted the red-topped tree under
which we had marked our stag; and. then " the Moon,"

244 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

stripping himself of next to Lis last fragment of raiment,
swarmed up a teak pole to look out ahead. Nothing
was seen, however, and so we stole on again, friend
Chand swarming up trees at intervals, and I balancing
myself in fear and trembling on the rounded boulders. We
were not to succeed, however ; for the Bheel in coming
off a tree accidentally stepped on a leaf, and the game
was up. Though I dashed ahead at once, knowing
that we could steal in no further, it was too late ;
and all I saw was a dark form running low, but at
a great pace, through the teak scrub, too far off for
a shot. I believe that this was about the only sambar
then on the hills ; for though the forms where they
had been lying were numerous, and both T. and I
hunted the livelong day for them, not another hoof
or horn did we see. The Bheels said they had all
gone to "Dhowtea" — a place which we afterwards
found was so difficult of access that very few of them
had ever been there ; and so they used it, much as
we do " Jericho," to express an indefinite region where
everything that can't be found elsewhere must certainly
have gone.

Greatly to the surprise of the Bheels, w^e did shortly
after this go to Dhowtea ; and if its name was great
before, it certainly became much more so after we
had been there. Neither of us ever saw anything so
extraordinary in our lives ; and to the Bheels there
was nothing short of magical devilry in what w^e
found, or rather did not find. Dhowtea was a hollow
on the top of the range surrounded by flat plateaux
of small elevation, with a fine stream of water in the
centre, and long grass all about. After a long struggle
through thick jungle and over desperate rocky ground,

THE TEAK REGION. 245

we reached it long after sundown, and encamped un-
comfortably in the open plain for the night. The
place was perfectly puddled up with the feet of sambar,
the footmarks ranging from a day to weeks old ; and
in the grass around were literally thousands of sambar
forms, while every second or third tree was peeled of
its bark by the rubbing of the stags' horns against
them. Next morning we started off, with an extra
supply of ammunition, in different directions, our only
fear being that we had not people enough to carry
in all the enormous stags we expected to bag. For
my part, I wandered round and round the plateaux,
and over their tojDS, and through the hollow ground,
and everywhere within six miles on my side of the
hill ; and though the sambar signs were everywhere
plentiful and recent, and there were droppings of
bison also of some weeks old, not a dun hide of
stag or hind did my eyes behold that morning. It
was truly amazing, and I almost feared to return to
camp lest all the beasts should have gone across to
T.'s side, and I should find him smoking the pipe of
satisfaction amid a hecatomb of slain. He had re-
turned before myself, however ; and mutual delight
was no doubt displayed in our countenances when
we found that each was in precisely the same plight
as the other — not having seen hoof or horn between
us ! Half believing with the Bheels that the place
was enchanted, we stayed and tried again next day,
but the result was precisely the same. Then we vowed
that Dhowtea of the Bheels should be written down with
the blackest of spots in our mental map. We were
utterly ruined, of course, with the Bheels. Having
seen these multitudes of ghostly sambar tracks, we

246 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL IXDIA.

never again found any place vacant of game but to be
told with a grin, " Oh, they are gone to Dhowtea, of
course ! "

We were utterly beaten, and the unburnt jungle
having also proved too thick for our boundary opera-
tions, we determined to retreat to the plains. But we
were unwilling to return by the awful road we had
come ; and, a possible way down the northern face of
the hill being reported, we left Dhowtea behind us the
next morning, marching along the top of the range for
eight or ten miles to a place called JAmti, the residence
of another of these petty Bheel chieftains, and marked
by a conspicuous banyan tree which is visible from
ever}^ part of the surrounding country. Thence we
descended the next day to the Tapti valley, intending
to return to the hills when the jungle should be clearer.
The truth was, we had happened to visit Dhowtea just
when nearly all the sambar had gone down the hills to
feed on some jungle fruits that had ripened in the
valleys ; and the few that remained were not to be
found among the long unburnt grass. I believe that
the immense number of marks we saw were caused by
the collection of lars^e numbers of deer there durine;
the rutting season (late autumn).

The path we went dow^n by wound along the top of
a long spur of naked basalt. On either side were deep
and almost coal-black rifts in the rock, the summits
clothed scantily with thin yellow grass, and here and
there a Salei tree stunted and twisted like a corkscrew.
At one point the rock assumed the form of a sheer cliff,
many hundred feet in height, of the colunmar structure
seen occasionally in this volcanic formation, where the
rock seems composed of a vast conglomeration of pen-

THE TEAK REGION". 247

tagonal pillars standing together and broken off at
different lengths. This singularly favourable situation
for nest building had been occupied by an immense
colony of vultures, the whole face of the rock for miles
being whitened by their droppings, while numbers of
the birds were perched on the cliff or sailing over the
ravine. Among them were a good many of the common
brown carrion vulture;* but the majority were the
foul white scavengers t to be seen on every dunghill in
the villages of the plains. I had often wondered where
these birds bred, for although there are myriads in all
inhabited tracts of Central India only a few nests are to
be seen here and there in the tops of trees. Here was
the puzzle solved, in the grim and retired solitude of
the Valley of the Vultures. But a single hill — a few
minutes' flight — separated them here from the thickly
peopled plain where they find their repulsive food ; and
yet that ravine is probably as seldom looked on by the
eye of man as if it were a guano island in the Pacific
Ocean.

A few weeks after our unsuccessful trip to the Hatti
hills, 1 heard from T. that the grass was mostly burnt,
iiud sambar were plentiful on the northern slope of the
hills. He had also come across a preserve of bison, out
of which he had bagged a bull. Early in April, there-
fore, I rode out to his camp at Chondi — one of the
deserted village sites in the valley below Gharri. A
lovelier spot for a hunting camp in the hot weather
could not be found. Close by a clear and beautiful
pool of water stood an enormous banyan tree, so old
tha.t many of the suckers thrown out by the branches of
the parent tree had themselves become mighty stems,
* Gyps Bengalensis. f Neoplium Perenopterua.

248 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

with branches which again had given birth to trunks of
considerable girth, while the stem of the original tree
had utterly decayed away. Beneath its copious shade
were sheltered from the sun several tents, and numerous
servants, lascars, and Bheels, besides our horses, dogs,
etc. The grass on the lower hills had mostly been
burnt since we were last here, and the Mhowa flowers
had been falling for some time. Sambar nightly visited
some fine clumps of that tree in the bottom of the valley,,
a little higher up than the camp.

The next morning we sent out about half-a-dozen
pairs of Bheels to look out on the hill tops long before
daybreak ; and soon after ourselves started up the
valley to a point where we intended to separate and
take different beats. A colony of monkeys in the
trees overhanging the river were " swearing " lustily
about half a mile to our left, and presently we found
the remains of a sambar that had been killed during
the night under the Mhowa trees by a tiger. The
brute himself was doubtless making off up the valley
when seen by the monkeys. Many sambar had been
feeding on the Mhowa, and fresh tracks led off in
almost all directions. Just where we were about to
separate a long spur ran down from the hills on the
right to the valley up which we were proceeding ; and
as we approached it we saw in the dim gray light a long
line of deer file over the top, each pausing for a second
on the sky line before passing over to the far side.
Watching them for a few seconds, we saw that they
were followed by a large stag at a good distance in the
rear. In fact, he had just commenced to climb the spur
when we saw him ; and at the same time he must have
seen us pausinoj on the path, for his leisurely walk then

THE TEAK REGION. 249»

became a run — the low crouching run, almost like a
tiger's, with antlers thrown back, often adopted by a
stag who wants to escape quickly and without being
seen. We only saw the ridge of his back and the tips
of his horns as he stole up the other side of the spur
after the hinds. It is of no use for two men to follow one
lot of sambar ; so, as it lay in my beat, I took after
these deer, while T. held on up the valley. When I
got to the top — a stiff climb of five or six hundred feet
— the eastern heavens were suffused with that beautiful
greenish yellow flush which immediately precedes sun-
rise in an Indian sky. It was light enough (it never
is very dark at any time of night at this season of the
year) to distinguish a couple of the Bheels perched on a
higher peak of the same range ; and on seeing me top-
the rise one of them stole softly down to me, and said
that the herd, followed by the stag, had proceeded
leisurely down the thickly wooded declivity on the-
opposite side. After a consultation, it was determined
that I should keep along the top of the ridge, while t wo-
of the Bheels were to follow the track of the herd, and
if they saw them come up and let me know. I went
along slowly from one commanding point to another,
keeping a little ahead of the Bheels, who tracked the-
herd along the slope, not very far below the top. In
the course of one of these moves I started the herd
from some long grass near the top. There were fifteen
or twenty of them, but no good stags, so far as I could
see as they bustled away along the hill-side in a con-
fused mob, the round light-coloured patches on their
rumps looking like so many targets as they switched
their tails in the air. It was very tempting, but I
wanted the fine horns of the stag and let them go. I

■2bo Tlir: HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

was re^Yarded soon after by the appearance of the stai,%
walking slowly along in the same line, and showing by
his dignified gait that he had no suspicion of danger.
He was passing about a hundred yards below me when
I pulled on his shoulder with the little single " Ex-
press " rifle, and he fell to the shot without a sound.
The Bheels came running up at once, and as I had not
gone down to the stag proceeded to cut his throat in
the orthodox Mahomedan fashion, though I am certain
he was stone dead long before they arrived. He was
one of the finest harts I ever saw — in beautiful con-
dition, with much of the cold-weather mane remaining,
and of a peculiar and rare rich chestnut colour. His
horns were very stout and handsome, though about four
inches shorter than those of the Bori stasr- The colour
of the sambar of these open light jungles is generally
decidedly lighter than that of those which inhabit the
more shady forests further east. Sometimes a very
black stag will be found, however, even here ; and the
colour of all varies a good deal at different times of
tlie year.

The next day we again went out locg before day-
break. I was beckoned up a very steep hill 1jy the
Bheels on the top ; and when I got there some time
after the sun was up, and a good deal fatigued by
the climb, I found it was only to tell me that they
had seen two stags go up the opposite hill slope,
betw^een which and our hill there lay a valley as deep
as that from which I had come up. They had never
been at tliis scouting work before, or they had well
deserved a thrashing for their pains. There was nothing
for it but to descend to the valley again, which was
almost severer work than coming up. The slipperiness

THE TEAK REGION. 251

of these trap hills when every particle of grass on them
has been burnt into fine charcoal is dreadful. 1 never
found the deer that had been seen, and soon got
involved in a troublesome series of cross ravines, so
that by about nine o'clock I was pretty hot and wearied
in the April sun. I had almost given up hunting, and
had turned for home, when something caught my eye
in the bottom of a slight hollow in the hill. It looked
exactly like one of the bunches of twigs that grow out
of old teak stumps on these hills, wdth one or two
dried leaves attached to them ; and yet I fancied I
had seen it move. I looked at it intently for at least
a minute, trying to make out if it was a bunch of teak
twiofs or a sambar's head and horns. It never moved
the whole of this time ; and, as the Bheels who were
with me said it was only a stump, I turned to pass on.
The glint of my rifle barrel must then have caught
in the sun, for a noble stag started up from his lair,
and without pausing for a second wheeled round and
clattered away. My hasty shot missed him clean, and
he then plunged into a ravine that lay at the back
of the hollow he had been in. I followed across, think-
ing I might find blood, but there was no sign, and I
turned for home, swearing to expend a bullet in future
on every teak stump that bore the most distant
resemblance to a deer's head. The resemblance is so
very close between the two objects that I cannot but
think that the instinct of the animal leads him to
dispose of his head so as to resemble the bunch of teak.
Even the motion of the large ears of the sambar, which
they restrain only when actually in the presence of
danger, answers exactly to the stirring of a dried teak
leaf in a lisfht breeze. Indeed no one can hunt in these

1^52 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL ^DIA.

scantily-covered hills without wondering at the extreme
difficulty of making out such large animals as sambar^
bison, and bears on the open hill-side. The bison and
bear precisely resemble the large black trap boulders
that thickly strew every hill ; and thus the glaring
contrast of their black hides with the bright yellow
grass frequently attracts no attention whatever.

On my way back I knocked over a four-horned
antelope, with very perfect horns, a long distance across
a valley with the "Express." These little creatures are
very common in the hills we were hunting in, living
solitary or in small groups in all parts of the range.
The female is hornless, while the buck has four distinct
sheathed horns. The posterior pair are four or five
inches long, and set upon high pedicles covered with
hair. The anterior pair are generally mere knobs, and
never exceed in length an inch and three-fourths. In
some specimens they are even absent altogether. The
animal is found throughout India, and appears to be
generally without the anterior horns in the South.
Here, in Central India, some have them and some have
not. I never could see any other difference between
them ; but it is not altogether certain that there are
not two distinct species. The preponderance of females
appears to be very great, quite as great as in the case
of the ordinary Indian antelope, though from their not
congregating in large herds, it is not so much observed.
To kill a buck at all is rare, and to kill one with four
well-developed horns is much rarer still. They seem
to be very retiring little creatures, never coming to
the crops, and moving very little out of the limited
area where they find food and water. There is scarcely
a water-hole in all these regions which is not frequented

THE TEAK REGIOX. 253

by one or more, and they are nearly certain to be found
during the day lying in the nearest patch of grass.
They make little forms like those of the sambar, and
allow themselves almost to be trodden on before thev
•start. They run for a short distance at an incredible
velocity, with their necks low, and making themselves
as small as possible, till they suddenly stop, but always
with such art that a tree stump, or mound, or thick
bush shall screen them from the observer ; then another
short dash, and another halt, and so on till out of
sight. They are nearly sure to be found in the same
place next day, however. When seen walking about
undisturbed in the jungle their pace is most curious,
raising their feet absurdly high as if stepping over large
stones, and putting them down with a fastidious delicacy
and softness as if they were walking on eggs — a simul-
taneous " bobbing " action of the head and neck giving
them altogether very much the gait of " that generous
bird the hen." They live on the green shoots of bushes,
young grass, and fallen jungle fruits ; and their venison
is coarse and tasteless.

The same afternoon two of the Bheels, who had
been out scouting in a very solitary part of the hills
to the east of the valley, came in and reported a large
herd of bison as always to be found where they had
been. Nothing is more difficult than to get really
reliable news about the haunts of animals, until you
can get the few jungle people who do know thoroughly
enlisted in your interests. If you ask any one else,
or even them when they don't care to tell you, ten
to one they wdll charge their faces with a stare of
utter vacuity, and ask you "if it is not a jungle,"
implying that, if you allow so much, of course you

254 THE HrGHLAK"DS OF CENTRAL IXDIA.

must know where to find beasts. The little block of
hills we were going to visit is quite shut in from all
the ordinary lines of travelling in these parts. There
is no road into it by which carts can be taken ; cattle
are never sent to graze there by the neighbouring
villagers ; and thus no one ever goes into it, except-
ing a single family of Bheels, who are the hereditary
Turvees* of an ancient village, said to have existed in
the palmy days of Mahomedan rule in one of its valleys,
and now represented by half-a-dozen Mhowa trees, the
fruit of which these Bheels still go annually to gather.
Two of the family happened to be among our scouts,
and knew every inch of the country. The one who
brought us the news rejoiced in the name of Jhingra or
"The Shrimp;" and really, by some fortuitous acci-
dent, his long attenuated arms and legs, and curiously
shrivelled features, with a few long feeler-like bristles in
the place of a beard, gave him a very strong resemblance
to that innocent crustacean. The name of the other,
who had been left perched in a tree to watch the beeves,
cannot be handed down to fame, having been lost in
the secondary appellation of "The Skunk." I must say
the olfactory powers of the bison lost greatly in my
estimation when I found that they had remained quietly
grazing for half a day within a mile or so of this most
odorous of Turvees ! The Shrimp was very anxious
that we should proceed there and then to attack the
bison, urging: how uncomfortable the Skunk would be
if left clinging to the upper branches of a tree all
night, and patting his shrivelled stomach to show how

* Tlie Turvee is the chief of a Bheel clan or settlement; and all
heads of Bheel villages in this part of the country are so called by
courtesy.

THE TEAK EEGION. 255

deligbted they both would be to be at close quarters
with a bison steak. AVe pitied the Skunk, and poiuted
out to the Shrimp a quarter of sambar venison lianoing
up from which he might satisfy his own cravings ; but
we had no idea of starting off after bison six miles away
in that country at three o'clock in the afternoon.

It wanted a good deal of arrangement, in fact, to
hunt that country ; and we never found out the proper
way to do it till just as we were leaving it. As it
was, we sent round a tent and the needful supplies
by a very circuitous road, down our valley to the plain,
along the foot of the hills for a good many miles, and
then up another valley that was said to run into the
heart of the bison country. The people had directions
to go as far up the valley as they could find water, and
pitch there. We were to go straight across next day,
and, after hunting up the bison, come down the head
of the further valley to the camp ; and dearly we paid
for givins: such indefinite instructions before we were
done.

Next morning we started under the guidance of
the Shrimp, and mounted on two redoubtable Deccanee
ponies, who we had found could go in these hills where-
ever we could, and saved us a good lot of hard work
in the sun. The way lay up a long burnt valley, in
which tracks of sambar, and the pug of a large tiger
who had been following them during the night, were
plainly visible. It was too late, however, to see any
game out in such open country ; and we wound up the
rugged pathway leading to the top of the hill without
having come across a single animal.

We now came on to a tolerably level plateau, and
rode on for some miles, keeping a sharp look-out for

256 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

animals. The plateau was beginning to shelve down
towards a ravine filled with clumps of bamboo, beyond
which rose another flat-topped ridge, when my eye
rested on a spot of denser shadow in the thin salei
jungle that topped the further ridge. Pulling up to
use the binocular, I discovered the whole herd of bison
grazing quietly in the cover. We were a couple of
miles away at least, and silently withdrew into a hollow
that would lead us down into the ravine. T. and I
now advanced with the Shrimp, leaving our ponies and
the other Bheels to follow us on hearing a shot. We
had a long, hot stalk, and on reaching the plateau found
that the herd had disappeared. The place was evidently
a regular resort of the wild cattle, the long grass being
twisted about into wisps by their feet, and all the
bushes broken and grazed away. We stalked over the
plateau with cocked rifles, the Shrimp swarming trees
to look out ahead ; but no beeves did we see, except
a cow and her little calf making off" over a distant
rising ground at a slow trot, the sunlight glancing
every now and again on their beautifully-bronzed hides.
There were so many tracks that to follow the herd was
hopeless ; the Skunk was nowhere to be seen ; and so
we coasted round the edge of the plateau, peering down
among the bamboo clumps in the hope of discovering
the herd. After going about half round I suddenly
almost ran up against a cow in some long grass ; and
immediately T., who was a little to my right, called
out that the whole herd was standing: down below
among the bamboos. My cow had bolted off" in a
great fright, and I ran up to T. in time to see ten or
twelve bison scrambling up the opposite side of the
ravine — a Ions: shot from where we were. A bull

THE TEAK REGION. 257

brought up the rear, and there was auother covered by
the clump of cows ; so we opened fire on the former,
and the third shot broke his leg. He had the other
shots too, and after limping on a bit, staggered and
fell over down the hill. Being much fatigued by the
heat of a very sultry April day, we waited there till the
people came up with our leathern water-sack to have
a drink, and then went over to the bull, who was
still alive but unable to rise. The Skunk, who had
luckily been exactly in the line of the herd's retreat,
now came running up, and, standing afar off by special
request, told us whither they had gone.

There was a mighty black bull among them, whose
horns we determined to have, if possible ; so, sending
the ponies, and with them, alas ! the water, under the
guidance of the Skunk, to wait us at a point in the
valley beyond for which we thought the herd was
making, we started off on their tracks. In going along
the edge of a spur T. saw three or four of the bison
standing under the ridge of the hill, and we went round
to stalk them. It was a long way and the heat was
really fearful, so that we were not perhaps so cautious
in our approach as we should have been, and the result
was that before we got up we heard the alarmed snort
of the sentry, and the crash of the herd through the
jungle. We now walked along a ridge between two
deep valleys — on the right hand that in which the camp
should be, and on the left another leading down to
where we had started from in the morning. We saw
the startled herd far below us in the latter, crossing
over at a swinging trot, and afterwards mounting the
range beyond. The Shrimp said they were doubtless
making for "Dhowtea" ! Further on, the Shrimp pointed

258 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

to a motionless coal-black form standing against the
sky-line, which the telescope showed to be a mighty-
bull. He stood for a few minutes till the cows came up
and passed across him, and then stalked solemnly after
them. He, too, was no doubt going to Dhowtea ! We
were walking on disgusted when my eye caught another
jet-black figure among the trees ahead of us, and we
crouched into nothing as another bull walked slowly
into an open space about half a mile ahead. After
i^azing round in every direction he slowly began to
descend to the same valley. He, too, appeared, like the
rest of them, to have started for Dhowtea. But he was
not there yet, and we determined at least to give him a
run for it ; so, waiting till he was concealed by the fall
of the ground, we doubled down a rocky water-course to
cut him off, if possible, from the valley. We succeeded ;
for he evidently got our wind, and sheered off from the
pass down to the river, walking slowly and magnificently
along the edge of a precipitous fall, apparently looking
for another way down. There was none such, however;
and we followed him along in short running stalks,
gaining on him every time he got hidden for a minute
by inequalities of the ground. The hill we were on
gradually narrowed to the saddleback form so common
in ihis range, and not far ahead seemed to terminate in
uD abrupt descent to the valley. There seemed to be no
doubt we had him in a trap if we would only have
patience ; for he must either take that header to reach
the valley, or charge back along the ridge over our
mangled corpses ! He became very cautious as he neared
the end, zigzagging across the narrow ridge, and using
all his senses to detect the pursuer he evidently sus-
pected. We were slowly roasting on the bare, shadeless

THE TEAK EEGIOx\. 259

sheet of basalt that topped the ridge, lying as we had to
do prone on it to escape his sight. I would have given
a rupee per drop for the contents of our water-sack just
then. At last, after what seemed an age, the tall black
form of the bull slowly sank over the end of the hill. He
was going down, then, after all, and there was nothing for
it but a rush. A rush we accordingly made ; but sud-
denly pulled up, much taken aback, as we saw the bull
again emerge and stand in full sight of us, though much
covered about the body by scrubby salei stems, on the
extreme point of the ridge. It was really a most
ticklish situation. Had he charged, and our shots
failed to stop him, T. might have escaped with a few
broken bones by roiling down on his side of the hill ;
but on mine there was a sheer descent of a hundred feet,
and the ridge itself offered not the slightest shelter. But
we each had a double-barrelled, breech-loading, twelve-
bore rifle — a battery against which few animals can
stand. I saw T. sighting him, and heard the bull emit a
low tremulous moan that sounded like mischief. His
vitals were protected from me by the s^ilei stems, so
I kept my double shot in reserve in case of accidents.
The ball thudded against something, as it turned out,
probably a salei tree ; and the bull at once disappeared
over the edge. We now ran to the spot, and saw him
below thundering down the steep hill-side at a tre-
mendous pace. Utterly winded by running, and half
dead with heat and thirst, the remaining three shots had
no effect ; and then we sat down, perfectly exhausted, to
watch the bull as he gained the valley and crossed the
stream-bed, halting for a few seconds under a shady
tree to look back ere he set himself to mount the
further slope, which he did in the line taken by the

2G0 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

other bison. He, too, was fairly off for Dhowtea — and,
as it seemed and we hoped, seeing that we could not
have him, without a wound.

Life was now a blank. The Shrimp had lingered

far behind, and there was no one to show us

the way, while the Skunk was goodness knows where

with the ponies and water. So we slowly and sadly

descended the hill to our own valley, and walked on in

the probable direction of camp, chewing grass in our

speechless mouths. About a mile further on we were

joined by the villainous Shrimp, who had taken a line

of his own for home when he saw us bent on pushing

the big bull to extremities. There was no water in all

this valley, he said, excepting one pool miles ahead

where our camp should be. After getting the direction,

we started him off to find the ponies and water and

bring them to meet us. It was now midday, and the

sun was blazing hot — a quivering haze that made the

eyes twinkle playing along the surface of the earth.

After plodding along for some miles more, we came to

a pathway by which we thought the ponies must pass ;

and there we sat down completely exhausted in the

scanty shade of a wild fig-tree. A mhowa grew close

by, and some of its luscious flowers tempted us to try

if they would assuage our raging thirst. Bah ! never

was anything more horrible than the clammy taste and

fetid odour of that sickening product. Our mouths

were now glued up as well as parched, and when at last

the people came we could only make signs for the

water, and replied not at all to the Skunk when he

assured us that a big bear had been besieging him and

the ponies on the road for ever so long not very far

from where we were. After a draught that no one

THE TEAK REGION. 261

could appreciate unless be has hunted the " bounding
bison " through an April day in the trap hills of Nimar,
we jumped on the welcome ponies and galloped up the
valley to our tent. Revived by breakfast and cold
claret cup, we spent the rest of the day in skinning and
preserving the head of the bison we had shot. A fine
solemn look have the features of a dead bull. The
horns alone are nothing of a trophy compared to the
complete head, which should if possible be saved entire.

Next morning our Bheels were out early, and we
ourselves made for the hill of Ali-Bal-K(jt, or the
" Hioh Exalted Fort," which beinor translated means
the ruinous little mud keep of one of these pensioned
Bheel chiefs. They are all " Rajas " of course, and
maintain standins^ armies of one or two rao^amuffins
apiece. We always had the " king " of the territory we
were in in our camp, and it was really disappointing to
find how little His Majesty difi'ered from any other of
these debauched-looking, opium-eating, and utterly
ignorant and brutal Mahomedan Bheels. Our shikari
and scouts — Shrimp, Skunk, and Co. — were ordinary
unconverted Bheels, and far superior in every respect
to the converts, who, however, looked down upon them
as an unregenerate lot.

We had not proceeded far towards the foot of the
hills when a Bheel on a hill-toj) waving a cloth caught
our sight ; and on going up we saw about five or six
stag sambar slowly wending their way along the far side
of a valley towards the interior of the hills. Our
yesterday's shooting had no doubt cleared this part
of the hills of all the bison, so we made after these
deer, watching them over the rising grounds and then
running close in behind them. At last we saw them

262 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

apparently halted for the day in a shady place. Two of
them appeared to have first-rate antlers, and we stalked
round a long way to get in on them from above, and
without giving them our wind. We blundered it,
however, coming down at the wrong point, and the
herd broke a long way to our left hand. T. fired into
their backs as they struggled up the opposite slope in a
confused gang, but without apparent effect ; and the
last of them was disappearing over the brow when I took
a long shot at him with my single "Express." It was
two hundred and fifty yards at the least, but I had
often before killed as far with this rifle, and down he
dropped. Crossing over, we found the stag lying dead ;
but, though it was one of the two we had marked, his
antlers were very inferior. Nothing is more deceptive
than the apparent size of sambar's horns while stalking ;
as they have all the same number of points, the guide
to size and quality afforded by the branches of the red
deer is here wanting. On examination we found this
to be still another instance of the curious occurrences
before mentioned ; for it was T.'s ball after all that had
killed him, while mine had missed !

After this we made a long round through the hills
looking for bison, but without success ; and were de-
scending towards the camp by a long narrow spur of
bare basalt, when we saw the Skunk near the top of
an isolated eminence rising out of the valley violently
signalling to us ; and soon after we were scanning the
proportions of a fine bull bison lying down on the
further side under the shade of a small tree. It was a
very easy stalk, and we crept in to about seventy yards
in the grass. T. fired both barrels at him as he lay,
which is always a mistake, the vital regions being then

1

THE TEAK KEGION. 263

greatly shielded by the enormous development of the
shoulder and dorsal ridge. He sprang up and plunged
away across our front, swerving round towards us in a
fashion that made the Bheels take to their heels. On
receiving my shots, however, he turned again ; and, exe-
cuting a most extraordinary series of plunges, with his
head between his fore-legs and hind-quarters and tail in
the air, disappeared down a small ravine. We were soon
up, and followed along the side. I was rather ahead,
and found him lying very sick in the bottom of the
hollow. When he perceived me he staggered up and
shook his horns in a threatening manner ; but it was all
up with the poor brute, and a shot in the neck rolled
him over finally on his back. I think if our yesterday's
bull had been as viciously inclined as this fellow, we
might have had more of it than we bargained for on
that narrow ledge.

We had to return next day to the station, and bid
adieu to these singular hills. The hot season was fairly
on, when no one can long endure the exertion of hunting
on foot the sambar and bison in hilly country. My
readers will probably think I have described to them
but poor sport compared to what they have often read
of before. It is so easy to throw in half-a-dozen bull
bison in a day's sport by a stroke of a pen, that the
temptation to meet the wishes of the reader is difficult
to resist. I have, however, stuck to the exact facts of a
by no means heavy bag, on purpose to give a more
accurate idea of what such shooting really means —
namely, very hard work and much exposure for an
average of certainly not more than one head of game a
day, and often much less. One of the hardest workers
and best shots I ever knew, who had only time for a few

264

THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

weeks' bison and sambar shooting in the year, and then
went at it tooth and nail, told me he was always proud
if he could keep his average up to one a day for the

sAmbar horns. {Scale, one tenth.)

time he was out ; and I am certain that very few ever
do so much. By taking every chance at cow bison and
doe sdmbar, of course the bag could be largely increased ;
and I heard of two men who one year murdered in this

THE TEAK REGION. 265

way twenty-eight bison in a week. This is not sport, of
course, nor are the performers sportsmen. The bison
is already, it would seem, diminishing in numbers ;
certainly his range is becoming greatly contracted. He
is one of the most harmless animals in the whole world
to the industry of man, and, fairly hunted, affords
perhaps the best sport in India ; it would be a pity,
then, if his numbers should be unduly diminished by
unsportsmanlike conduct.

CHAPTER VII.

THE TIGER.

While wandering about during the months of April
and May, in the teak forests of the Betiil district, I
devoted a day now and then to the sport of tiger-
shooting ; and it was the laudable custom of the forest
officers to spare, if possible every year, a few weeks
during the height of the hot season, for the purpose of
making an impression on the numerous tigers which at
that time rendered working in the forests and carrying
timber so dreaded by the natives, and consequently
costly to Government.

Although there is much in the sport of tiger-
hunting that renders it inferior as a mere exercise, or as
an effort of skill, to some other pursuits of these regions
(for many a man has killed his forty or fifty tigers who
has never succeeded in bagging, by fair stalking, a single
bull bison or a stag sambar), yet there is a stirring of
the blood in attacking an animal before whom every
other beast of the forest quails, and an unarmed man is
helpless as the mouse under the paw of the cat — a
creature at the same time matchless in beauty of form
and colour, and in terrible power of offensive armature
— which draws men to its continued pursuit after that

THE TIGER. 267

of every other animal has ceased to afford sufficient
excitement to undergo the toil of hunting in a tropical
country.

It will have been gathered from previous descriptions
that the hot season, the height of which is in April and
May, is the most favourable time for hunting the tiger.
Then the water supply of the country is at its lowest
ebb ; and the tiger, being very impatient of thirst, seeks
the lowest valleys, where, too, much of the game he
preys on has congregated, and where the village cattle
are regularly watered. In Central India tigers vary a
good deal in their habits and range ; and they may be
roughly classed into those which habitually prey on
wild animals, those which live chiefly on domestic cattle,
and a few that confine their diet to the human species.
Not, of course, that any tiger adheres invariably to the
same sort of prey. But there are a large number that
appear to prefer each of the former methods of existence,
and a few that select the latter.

The reojular game-killinej tiojer is retired in his
habits, living chiefly among the hills, retreating readily
from man, and is altogether a very innocuous animal, if
not even positively beneficial in keeping down the herds
of deer and nilgai that prey upon the crops. His hot-
weather haunt is usually some rocky ravine among the
hills, where pools of water remain, and shelving rocks or
overhanging trees afford him shelter from the sun. He
is a light- made beast (called by shikaris a lodliia hdgh),
very active and enduring, and, from this as well as his
shyness, generally difficult to bring to bag.

The cattle-lifter, again, is usually an older and
heavier animal (called oontia bdgh, from his faintly
striped coat resembling the colour of a camel), very

268 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

fleshy, and indisposed to severe exertion. In tlie cool
season be follows the herds of cattle wherever they go
to graze; and then, no doubt, in the long damp grass
brings many a bead of game also to bag. In the hot
weather, however, the openness of the forest and the
numerous fallen leaves preclude a lazy monster of this
sort from getting at game ; and he then locates himself
in some strong cover, close to water, and in the neigh-
bourhood of where the cattle are taken to drink and
graze about on the greener herbage then found by the
sides of streams, and, watching his opportunity, kills a
bullock as he requires it, and drags it into his cover. Of
course, a good many head of game are also killed by
such a tiger when they come to drink, but so long as he
can easily procure cattle, he does not trouble himself to
hunt for them.

Native shikaris recognise more or less two kinds of
tigers, with the names I have given above. It may be
matter for speculation which is cause, and which is
effect. Is it that as tigers grow old and heavy they
take to the easier life of cattle-lifting ? Or has the
difference of their pursuits, continued for generations,
^actually resulted in separate breeds, each more adapted
for its hereditary method of existence ? I, myself,
believe the former to be the truth, and that there really
is only one variety of tiger in all peninsular India. It
is only to extreme specimens that the above distinctive
names are applied ; and the great majority are of an
intermediate character, and not distinguished by any
particular name. The larger and older the animal, the
more yellow his coat becomes, and the fainter and
further apart are the stripes. Small tigers are some-
times so crowded with the black stripes as almost to

THE TIGEE. 2G9

approach the appearance of a melanoid variety. A few
specimens of white tigers with fulvous stripes have also
been mentioned, thougli I have never heard of one in
Central India. The tiger, like all animals that I am
acquainted with, is subject to slight variations of ap-
pearance and conformation amongst individuals ; and
local circumstances, and perhaps " natural selection,"
may tend to give the race something of peculiarity in
different localities. But none of these has as yet, I
believe, reached the point of even permanent variation.

It is useless to devote much time to hunting the
hill tigers that prey on game alone. They are so scattered
over extensive tracts of jungle, and are so active and
wary, that it is only by accident that they are ever
brought to bag.

Favourably situated covers are almost certain to
hold one or more cattle-eating tigers during the hot
weather ; and however many are killed, others will
shortly occupy their place. A favourite resort for
these tigers is in the dense thickets formed of jaman,
karonda, and tamarisk — evergreen bushes whose shade
is thickest in the hot weather, and which grow in
islands and on the banks of partially dried-up stream-
beds. A thick and extensive cover of this sort, par-
ticularly if the neighbouring river banks are furnished,
as is often the case, with a thick scrubby jungle
of thorny bushes, through which ravines lead up to
the open country where cattle graze, is a certain find in
the hot season. Sometimes considerable gatherings
of tigers take place in such favourable places. I have
twice known five, and once seven, tigers to be driven
out of one cover at the same time ; and I think the
.season of love-makinoj has somethino; to do with these

270 THE HIGHLANDS OF CEXTEAL INDIA.

meetings. More usually it is ca solitary male tiger,
or a tiger and tigress, or a tigress with her grown-up
cubs, that are found in one place. The tigress cannot
breed more than once in three years, I believe ; for
the cubs almost invariably stay with her till they are
over two years old, and nearly full grown. The greatest
number of cubs I have ever found with a tigress was
three. These were small, however, and I never saw
more than two grown-up along with the female.

A single tiger will kill an ox about every five
days, if not disturbed, eating, if very hungry, both hind
quarters the first night. He will not go further than
he can help after this meal, but will return again next
night to the carcase, which in the meantime he often
stores away under a bank, or covers with leaves, etc.
This time he will finish all but the head ; next night
he will clean the bones ; and then for a couple of days
he wall not take the trouble to hunt for a meal, though
he W'ill strike down another quarry if it comes near him.
Should he have been fired at, however, when thus
returning to his kill, he will frequently abandon such
measures of economy, and kill a fresh bullock whenever
he is hungry. A tigress and grown cubs are also far
more destructive, finishing a bullock in a night, and,
like the daughter of the horse-leech, always crying for
more. The young tigers seem to rejoice in the exercise
of their growing strength, springing up against trees
and scratching the bark as high as they can reach
by w^ay of gymnastics, and, if they get among a herd of
cattle, striking dowai as many as they can get hold of.
The tiger very seldom kills his prey by the " sledge-
hammer stroke " of his fore paw, so often talked about,
the usual way being to seize with the teeth by the nape

THE TIGER. 271

of the neck, and at the same time use the paws
to hold the victim, and give a purchase for the wrench
that dislocates the neck.

Tigers that prey on cattle are generally perfectly
well known to the cowherds and others who resort
to their neighbourhood. They seldom molest men, and
are often driven away from their prey, after killing it,
by the unarmed herds. Frequently they are known
by particular names ; and they really seem in many
cases to live amonpf the villaorers and their herds much
like a semi-domesticated animal, though, from a mutual
consent to avoid direct interviews as much as possible,
they are chiefly known by their tracks in the river beds
and by their depredations on the cattle. They do not,
of course, confine their attacks to the cattle of a single
village, usually having a whole circle of them where
they are on visiting terms, and among which they
distribute their favours with great impartiality. The
damage they do on the whole is very great, sixty or
seventy head of cattle, worth from £5 to £10 apiece,
being destroyed by one such animal in the course of
a year. Generally there is at least one native in every
circle of villages whose profession is that of *' shikari,"
or hunter, and who is always on the outlook to shoot
the village tiger. When he hears of a bullock having
been killed he proceeds to the spot, and, erecting a
platform of leafy boughs in the nearest tree, watches
by night for the return of the tiger, who, though he
may kill and lap the blood during the day, never feeds
before sunset. Generally he does not get a shot, the
tiger being extremely suspicious when approaching his
*' kill," and the shikc4ri3 being usually such bunglers at
their work as to disturb him by the noise of their pre-

272 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

parations. Often be misses when lie does shoot, the
jungle-king being somewhat trying to the nerves ; and
if he kills one tiger in the course of the year he con-
siders himself lucky. His weapon is a long matchlock,
which he loads with six "fingers" of powder and two
bullets. These fly a little apart, and if they hit are
usually the death of the tiger. His method of shooting
is sometimes imitated by lazy European sportsmen.

Another way of hunting ordinary tigers is to beat
them out of their midday retreat with a strong gang
of beaters, supplied with drums, fireworks, etc., the
guns themselves being posted at likely spots ahead.
This plan is often successful, when the operations are
directed by some one who knows the ground. Frequently,
however, the tiger is not found at all, and moreover he
very commonly manages to escape at the sides, or break
back through the beat, without coming up to the guns
at all. It has also the disadvantage of exposing the
beaters to much danger ; and there are few who shoot
in this fashion who have not had more than one beater
killed before them. To stalk in on a tiofer in his retreat
on foot is generally impracticable, as a man commands
so little of a view in thick cover that he rarely sees the
tiger in time for a shot. In some places, however,
where tigers lie in rocky places inaccessible to elephants,
this is the only way to do ; and a very certain one it
then is, there being generally little cover and plenty of
commanding elevations whence to see and shoot. The
best way of hunting the tiger is undoubtedly that
usually adopted in Central India — namely to bring in
the aid of the trained elephant, and follow and shoot
him in his midday retreat. Any one who thinks he has
only got to mount himself on the back of an elephant.

THE TIGKR. 273

and go to a jungle where he has heard of tigers, to make
sure of killing one, will find himself very much mistaken
on trying. A number of sportsmen with a large line of
elephants may kill tigers if they simply beat through
likely covers for a long enough time ; and many tigers
are thus killed, or by driving the jungle with beaters,
without the possession of any skill in woodcraft what-
ever. But no sort of hunting requires more careful
arrangements, greater knowledge of the habits of the
animal, perseverance, and good shooting, than the pursuit
of the tiger by a single sportsman with a single elephant.

At the outset of one's experience in forest life it
is impossible to avoid the belief that the tiger of
story is about to show himself at every step one
takes in thick jungle; and it is not till every effort
to meet with him has been used in vain that one realises
how very little danger from tigers attends a mere
rambler in the jungles. During ten years of pretty
constant roamins^ about on foot in the most tio-erish
localities of the Central Provinces, I have only once
come across a tiger when I was not out shooting, and
only twice more when I was not actually searching
for tigers to shoot. In truth, excepting in the very
haunts of a known man-eater, there is no danirer
whatever in traversing any part of the jungles of this,
or I believe any other part of India.

Some people affect to despise the practice of using
elephants in following tigers, and talk a great deal
about shooting them on foot. As regards danger to
the sportsman, nine-tenths of the tigers said to be
shot on foot are really killed from trees or rocks,
where the sportsman is quite secure. The only
danger then is to the unfortunate beaters, if used ;

274 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

and when tliis is not the case the sport generally
resolves itself into an imdio^nified sneakino- about the
outskirts of the covers, in the hope of getting an
occasional pot-shot from a secure position. In this
method of hunting many more tigers are wounded
than are finally secured, the only danger lying in
following up a wounded animal, which is usually
avoided ; and thus an innocuous animal is often con-
verted into a scourge of the country-side. A very
few sportsmen do, for a short period of their lives,
make a practice of hunting and shooting tigers really
on foot ; but they are seldom very successful, and
sooner or later get killed, or have such narrow escapes
as to cure them of such silly folly for the remainder
of their days. A man on foot has no chance what-
ever in thick jungle with a tiger that is bent on
killing him. He cannot see a yard before him, and
is himself conspicuous to every sense of the brute,
who can completely hide in a place that looks scarcely
enough to conceal a rat, and can move at will through
the thickest cover without the slightest sound or stir.
At the same time the sportsman who as a rule uses
an elephant in thick cover will find quite enough
opportunities, in special cases, of testing his nerve on
foot, particularly if he marks down and tracks his
own game instead of employing shikaris to do so.
Even on the elephant all is not perfect safety, in-
stances being not rare of elephants being completely
pulled down by tigers, while accidents from the running
away of the ele^Dhant in tree jungle are still more
common. Much of the excitement of the sport dejDends
on the sportsman's method of attacking the tiger. Some
men box a tiger up in a corner and push in at all

THE TIGER. 275

hazards, getting repeatedly charged, while others keep
at a distance, circling round and offering doors of
escape to the tiger, and never get a charge at all. As
a rule, when on an elephant in fair ground, the
object should be to get the tiger to charge instead of
letting him sneak away, as the hunt is then ended in
a short and exciting encounter, while if let away it
may be hours before he is found again, if he ever is at
all.

The first difficulty is to get reliable information
of the presence of tigers in a particular neighbour-
hood. A great many reasons, besides the simple one
to which it is usually attributed, namely, that "they
are cursed niggers," combine to make the natives in
most places very unwilling to give information about
tio-ers. Firstlv, it is likely to briuo; down a larofe
encampment of " Sahibs " on their village, which
they, very justly in most cases, dislike. The military
officer who scorns to learn the rural language, and
his train of overbearing, swindling servants, who fully
carry out the principle that from him who hath not
what little he hath shall be taken away, and that
without a price, too, stink in the nostrils of the poor
inhabitants of the tracts where tio;ers are found. The
tiger himself is, in fact, far more endurable than those
who encamp over against them to make war upon
him, and demand from them grain and other supplies
which they have not, and carts, ,etc., to carry the
camp, which they want to use for other urgent pur-
poses. Then they fear that they will be made to
beat for the tiger — both those who are willing and
those who are not — with a considerable chance of
getting killed, and very little of being paid for their

276 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

services. There are few well-known resorts of tigers
where some story of the sort has not been handed
down among the people. The first essential towards
getting sport is to conciliate the willing co-operation
of the people, and make it plain to them that your
arrangements for supplies are such as to throw no
unbearable burden on a poor country, and that your
method of hunting is not one to lead to the constant
risk of life. Such, however, is the want of sympathy
often engendered in the naturally generous English-
man by the fact of his becoming a member of the
ruling caste in India, that sportsmen will sometimes
be heard on their return from an unsuccessful expe-
dition in which they had harried a quiet population
who did not want their tigers killed at all on their
terms, cursing and swearing at them, and perhaps even
expressing little regret that a few of them had been
sacrificed to their bungling ardour. On the other hand,
a properly organised expedition, where the sportsman
provides his own supplies and his means of hunting
the tigers, is certain to meet with every co-operation
from the people. They will even crowd in to help
in driving the jungles, when they know they are to
work for a good sportsman and shot who will not
unnecessarily risk their lives.

AVith luck and first-rate arransfements a few tio^ers
may be got in the cold weather. A good many
persons will remember a hunt in the month of
January, 1861, when we secured a royal tiger for the
Governor- General of India, on his first visit to the
centre of his dominions, within a mile or two of the
cantonment of Jubbulpiir. I mounted sentry over
that beast for nearly a week, girding him in a little

THE TIGER. 277

hill with a belt of fires, and feeding him with nightly
kine, till half a hundred elephants, carrying the cream
of a vice-regal camp, swept him out into the plain,
where he fell riddled by a storm of bullets from several
hundred virgin rifles. He had the honour of being
painted by a Landseer, by the blaze of torchlight, under
the shadow of the British standard ; and my howdah
bore witness for many a day, in a bullet-hole through
both sides of it, to the accuracy of aim of some gallant
member of the staff !

At this season tigers sometimes venture very close
to large towns, and even to the European stations.
Several tigers have been shot within the walls of the
town and station of Mandla, and in the *' Pau" gardens
round about ; and at Seoni, I formed one of a party who
drove a large tiger out of a tobacco field, within a
stone's throw of a considerable village, and shot him in
the main street thereof. There was nothing but fields
of short green wheat for many miles round about this
place ; and the only reason we could discover for so
singular an appearance of a tiger among the habitations
of man was that he had received a slight wound a few
days before.

But it is not until the greater part of the grass has
been burnt in the jungles, and a hot sun has contracted
the supply of water to the neighbourhood of the great
rivers, that regular tiger hunting can be commenced
with a fair prospect of success. At this season, having
discovered a tract where tigers are reported, a good
central place should be selected for a camp, in
the deep shade of some mango grove near a village,
or under the still more grateful canopy of some
spreading banyan tree. The graciousness of nature in

278 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

furnishing such plentiful shade at this arid season
cannot but be admired. It is just at the time when
all nature begins to quiver in the fierce sun and burning
blasts of April that the banyan and peepiil figs, and
the ever present mango, begin to throw out a fresh crop
of leaves, those of the first tree being then moreover
charged with a thick milky juice that forms an im-
penetrable non-conductor to the sun's rays.

Eiding up to his camp, pitched in the cool shadowy
depths of some grove like this, the sportsman will
probably find assembled the village headman, with a
small train of cultivators and cowherds, waiting to
receive him with some simple oftering — a pot of milk,
or a bunch of plantains from his garden. If he is
welcome, tales will not be wantiuo- of the neio^hbourino-
tigers — how Ram Sinsfh's cow was taken out of the
herd a few days before, or Bhyron the village watch,
o'oinof on an errand, went down for a drink to the river,
and there came on a tigress with her cubs bathing by
its brink. That youth himself will chime in, and
graphically describe how he took to a tree and was
kept there all night — the same being probably a
euphemism for a night passed with some boon com-
panions at a neighbouring grog-shop. The usual haunts
of the tiger will be described ; and the size of his foot-
prints and width of his head be drawn to a greatly
exaggerated scale. The shikari of the neighbourhood
will be present, or can be sent for — a long gaunt figure,
clad in a ragged shirt of Mhowa green, with a dingy
turban twisted round his shaggy locks, and furnished
with the usual long small-bored m.atchlock, with its
bulky powder-flask of bison horn, and smaller supply
of fine priming powder kept carefully in a horn of the

THE TIGER. 279

gazelle. Eupees, or a prospect of tiiera, will be wanted
to loosen his tongue, and then his statements will likely
be studiously vague. His hearty services must be
secured, however, for he alone knows intimately the
ways and haunts of the tiger, and he alone will have
the pluck to accompany you or your shikari to mark
him down. If you are known to be a good paymaster
he will willingly serve you, otherwise you must promise
him a handsome douceur in case of success, to induce
him to spoil his own chance of claiming the Government
reward. This reward was, till financial difficulties re-
duced it to half, fifty rupees (£5) ; and, as all sportsmen
were entitled to claim it, it used to go far to cover the
cost of the hunt. I used always to divide it equally
between the village shikari, if he worked well, and my
own shikari and elephant driver. Now, however, the
sportsman will find himself a good deal out of pocket
by every tiger he kills.

More precise information must be sought for by the
sportsman himself. The village shik;iri knows nothing
of our system of hunting by attacking the tiger in
his midday lair. His personal experience of him has
probably been confined to nocturnal interviews from the
tops of trees ; but he will be certain to know his habits
and usual resorts, and also whereabouts he is at the
time being. It is necessary, therefore, for some one to
go out with him who knows our style of work and what
particulars to note for guidance when the actual hunt
commences ; for it is absolutely necessary to have some
preliminary knowledge of the ground, and habits of the
particular tiger, to ensure success. In my earlier sport-
ing days I always went out to make the preliminary
exploration for tigers myself; and this is the only way

280 THE HIGHLAJS^DS OF CENTKAL INDIA.

to learn the business tlioroughly, so as to be able after-
wards to devolve the labour on your shikaris. A sports-
man who is not thoroughly master of this business will
never have a reliable shikari ; and the best men are
those who have been trained up in it along with their
masters.

The morning is the best time for this work. It is
then cool, and every footprint of the previous night is
sharp and clear. All the wild animals, from whose
movements much is to be learnt, are then on the move.
The movements of the tiger even may often be traced
up to eight or nine o'clock by the voices of monkeys and
peafowl, the chatter of crows and small birds, and the
bark of sambar and spotted deer. The whole nocturnal
life of the beasts of the forest is then displayed in the
clearest manner to the hunter whose eye has been
trained to read the book of nature : and I know nothins:
more interesting than a ramble in the cool gray of a
summer morning along the stream-beds of a tract in
which live a great variety of wild animals. The river
beds usually contain large stretches of sand and gravel,
with here and there a pool of water, the margin of which
will be covered with tracks of deer, wild hogs, bears,
etc., and here and there the mighty footprints of the
jungle king himself. All niust come here to drink in
the cool night succeeding a burning day ; and in the
neiojhbourhood of the water occur most of the tragical
interviews between the herbivora and their carnivorous
foes. Everywhere the cruel tyranny of the tiger has
imprinted itself on the faithful page. His track to the
water is straight and leisurely, while that of the nilgai
or spotted deer is halting and suspicious, and apt to end
in a wild scurry to right and left where it crosses the

THE TIGER. 281

tiger's. Here and there bleaching skulls and bones
show that the whole herd have not always made good
their escape. The ambush of dried leaves by the pass
down the bank marks, perhaps, an unsuccessful
stratagem ; and not seldom the trampled soil and
patches of blood and hair, show where a stubborn boar
has successfully resisted the attack of a tiger. Bruin
alone is tolerably safe from the assault of the tiger ; but
he, too, gets out of his way like the rest, and drinks at a
dififerent pool.

The sportsman will not be long under the guidance
of the villao-e shikari before he comes on tracks of tio;ers.
Where one or more have been living some time in the
neighbourhood, footprints of many dates will be found in
the sandy bed of almost every nala. The history and
habits of the tigers will generally ooze out of the local
hunter at the sight of these marks. When the fresh
tracks of the previous night are found his impassive
features will be lighted into interest, and, as he follows
the trail with the end of his gun, his speech will be low
and hurried from suppressed excitement. There is
little chance, however, of coming on the brute himself
at that early hour. He is probably lying somewhere on
an elevated place commanding the approaches to his
favourite lair, sunning himself in the soft morning
light, and watching against the approach of danger,
until the growing heat about ten o'clock shall have
extinsfuished all sious of movement in the neigjhbour-
hood, when he will creep down into some shady nook
by the water, and, after a roll in the wet sand, proceed
to sleep off the effects of his midnight gorge. Some-
times, however, if the sportsman be out early enough,
he will find, from the cries of animals, that the ti^er is

282 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

moving not far ahead of him, and he may then by
cutting him off even obtain a shot.

On one occasion I followed a tiger in the early
morning for several miles up the bed of a stream,
entirely by the demonstrations of the large Hamiman
monkey,^ of which there were numbers on the banks
feeding on wild fruits. As the tiger passed below them
the monkeys fled to the nearest trees, and, climbing to
the highest branches, shook them violently and poured
forth a torrent of abuset that could be heard a mile
away. Each group of them continued to swear at him
till he passed out of sight, and they saw their friends
further on take up the chorus in the tops of their trees,
when they calmly came down again and began to stuflf
their cheeks full of berries as if nothing had happened.
The river took a long sweep a little further on, and by
cutting across the neck I managed to arrive very much
out of breath in front of the tiger, and crouched behind
the thick trunk of a Kaivd tree till he should come up.
He came on in a long slouching walk, with his tail
tucked down, and looking exactly like the guilty mid-
night murderer he is. His misdeeds evidently sat heavily
on his conscience, for as he went he looked fearfully
behind him, and up at the monkeys in a beseeching sort
of way, as if asking them not to betray where he w^as
going. He was travelling under the opposite bank to
where I was, in the deep shadow of the overhanging
trees ; but, when nearly opposite me, he came out into
the middle, in the faint yellow light of the just risen sun,
and then he looked such a picture of fearful beauty —

* Presbytis entellus.

t The voice of the monkeys on such occasions is quite difrorent
from their ordinary cry. It is a hoarse barking roar something like
that of the ti'rer.

THE TIGER. 283

with, his velvety step and undulating movements, the
firm muscles working through his loose glossy skin, and
the cruel yellow eyes blinking in the sun over a row of
ivory teeth, as he licked his lips and whiskers after his
night's feed. He passed within about twenty yards of
me, making for a small ravine that here joined the river
from the hills. I let him get to the mouth of this
before I fired; and on receiving the shot, he bounded
forward into its cover — a very different picture from the
j)lacid creature I had jus^t been looking at, and with a
roar that silenced the chattering of every monkey on the
trees. I knew he was hit to death, but waited till the
shikaris came up before proceeding to see ; and we then
went round a good way to where a high bank overlooked
the ravine in which he had disappeared. Here we
cautiously peeped over, and, seeing nothing, came further
down towards the river, and within fifty yards of where
I had fired at him I saw a solitary crow sitting in a tree,
and cawing down at an indistinct yellow object extended
below. It seemed like the tiejer, and sittingr down I
fired another shot at it ; but it never stirred to the thud
of the ball, while the crow, after flying up a few feet,
perched again and cawed away more lustily than before.
We now went down, and found the ti^er Ivino: stone
dead, shot very near the heart.

I think it is the pranks of juvenile tigers, rather
than the serious enmity of old ones, that cause such a
terror of them to exist among the monkey community.
The natives say that the tigress teaches her cubs to
stalk and hunt by practising on monkeys and peafowl.
The gorgeous plumage of the latter, scattered about in
a thousand radiant fragments, often marks the spot
where a peacock has thus fallen victim to these ready

284 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

learners, but the remains of a monkey are seldom or
never seen. Indeed, these sagacious Simians rarely
venture to come down to the ground when young tigers
are about, though this sign is not always to be relied on
as denoting the absence of tigers. I thought so for
a long time, till one day in the Betiil country, after
hunting long in the heat of a May day for a couple of
tigers whose marks were plentiful all about, we came up
to a small pool of water at the head of a ravine, and
saw the last chance of finding them vanish, as I thought,
when a troop of monkeys were found quietly sitting on
the rocks and drinking at the water. I was carelessly
descending to look for prints, with my riHe reversed
over my shoulder, and another step or two would have
brought me to the bottom of the ravine, when the
monkeys scurried wdth a shriek up the bank, and the
head and shoulders of a large tiger appeared from behind
a boulder, and stared at me across the short interval. I
was meditating whether to fire or retreat, when almost
from below my feet the other tiger bounded out with a
terrific roar, and they both made off down the ravine.
I was too much astonished to obtain a steady shot, and
I was by that time too well acquainted with tiger
shooting to risk an uncertain one, so they escaped for
the time. I quickly regained my elephant, which was
standing above, and followed them up. It was ex-
ceedingly hot, and we had not gone more than a couple
of hundred yards when I saw one of the tigers crouched
under a bush on the bank of the ravine. I got a steady
shot from the howdah, and fired a three-ounce shell
at his broad forehead at about thirty yards. No result.
It was most curious, and I paused to look ; but never a
motion of the tiger acknowledged the shot. I then

THE TIGER. 285

went round a quarter of a circle, but still the tiger
remained motionless, looking intently in the same direc-
tion. I marclied up, rifle on full-cock, growing more
and more amazed — but the tinker never moved. Could
he be dead ? I went round to his rear and approached
close up from that direction. He never stirred. Then
I made the elephant kick him, and he fell over. He
was stone dead — converted, without the movement of a
hair, into a statue of himself by the bursting of the
large shell in his brain. It had struck him full in the
centre of the forehead. We then went on with the
track of the other. It led dow^n into the Moran river,
on the steep bank of which there was a thick cover
of Jaman bushes in which the tiger was sure to stop. I
had just before come through it, and found the place
as full of tracks as a rabbit-warren. Having a spare
pad elephant out that day, I sent her round to keep
down the bottom of the bank and mark, while I pushed
my own elephant — Futteh Rani (Queen of Victory) —
through the cover. About the centre I came on the
tiger, crouched like the other, with his massive head
rested on his forepaws, the drawn-up hind-quarters and
slightly switching tail showing that he meant mischief.
At the first shot, which struck him on the point of the
shoulder, he bounded out at me ; but the left barrel
caught him in the back before he had come many yards
and broke it, when he rolled right down to the bottom
of the bank, and fell, roaring horribly, right between the
fore-legs of the pad elephant. She was a new purchase
for forest work, called Moti Mala or " Pearl Necklace "
(such are the fantastic names given to elephants by their
Mahomedan keepers), and quite untried ; but she stood
admirably this rather abrupt introduction to her game,

286 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

merely retreating a few steps and shaking lier head at
the contortions of the tiger. There is no more striking
incident in tiger shooting than to witness the fearful and
impotent rage of a tiger with a broken back. He
cannot reach beyond a short circle, but within that
limit stones, trees, and the very earth are seized and
worried with fearful savageness, and the wretched brute
will horribly mangle even his own limbs. It is too
ghastly to look on long ; and, though the agony is that
of a monster who has caused so much himself, a
merciful bullet in the head should quickly end the
horrid scene.

These were regular cattle-eating tigers, and perhaps
had not been molesting the monkeys. On another
occasion, however, I was much struck with the caution
of the monkeys under very trying circumstances. I
had tracked a man-eating tigress into a deep ravine
near the villacfe of Pali in the Seoni district. She
was not quite a confirmed man-eater, but had killed
nine or ten persons in the preceding few months. She
had a cub of about six months old with her, and it
was when this cub was very young and unable to move
about that want of other erame had driven her to kill
her first human prey. I knew when I entered the
ravine that this was her regular haunt ; for, though
every bush outside had been stripped of its berries
l)y a colony of monkeys, I saw them perched on the
rocks above the ravine wistfully looking down on the
bushes at the bottom, which had strewed the ground
with their ripened fruit. They accompanied me along
the ravine on the top of the rocks, as if perfectly
knowing the value of their assistance in getting the
tigress — and better markers I never had. I should

THE TIGER. 287

probably have passed out at the top without seeinrr her,
as she was lying close under a shelving bank, but for
the profane language of an ancient gray-bearded
Haniiman, who posted himself right above her, and
swore away until he fairly turned her out of her com-
fortable berth. The excitement of the monkeys soon
told me she was on the move ; and presently I saw her
round face looking at me from behind a tree with
a forked trunk, throuG^h the cleft of which I cauo-ht
sight of about a square foot of her striped hide. It
seemed about the right place, so covering it carefallv
I put in a shell at about forty yards, and she collapsed
there and then, forming a beautiftd spread-eagle in
the bottom of the nala. The youngster now started out,
roaring as if he were the biggest tiger in the country ;
and, though I fired a couple of snap shots at him as he
galloped through some thick bushes, I could not stop
him. It is important to extinguish a brute, however
young, who has once tasted human flesh ; and I
followed him up till it grew nearly dark, when I
returned to the ravine to take home the tigress, and
there I found my monkey friends tucking into the
berries in all directions, and hopping about close to the
body of the dead tigress. The cub was met, much
exhausted with its run, by a gang of wood-cutters, and
killed with their axes.

The barking of deer, and the alarmed cry of peafowl,
also frequently indicate the movements of a tiger.
The sambar, the spotted deer, the barking deer, and
the little four-horned antelope, all " bark " violently at
a tiger suddenly appearing in the daytime. Once
having marched nearly a thousand miles exploring in
the forests almost without firing a shot, I halted to hunt

288 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

a very large cattle-eating tiger near Chanclvel iu the
Nimar district. This animal was believed by the cow-
herds to have killed more than a thousand head of
cattle ; and one of the best gfrazinof grounds in all that
country had been quite abandoned by them in con-
sequence. His haunts lay in a network of ravines that
lead down to the Narbada river — now included in the
Ponasa Eeserved Forest, which I was then exploring.
The herds of cattle having been withdrawn from the
grassy glades on the banks of the Narbada where he
usually preyed on them, he had lately been coming out
into the open country, and had been heard for several
nights roaming round about the village of Chandvel on
the edge of the forest. I found his tracks within a
hundred yards of the buffalo pens of the village the
morning I arrived ; and a few nights before he had
broken into a Banjara emcampment a little way off, and
killed and dragged away a heifer, which he ate within
hearing distance of the encampment, charging through
the darkness and driving back the Banjaras and their
dogs when they tried to interrupt him. I picketed a juicy
young buffalo for him the night I arrived, about half
a mile from the village where his tracks showed he
regularly passed at night. Next morning it was found
to have been killed and dragged away about a hundred
yards to a small dry watercourse ; and, after ha\ ing
been cleaned as scientifically as any butcher could have
done it, eaten up all but the head, skin, feet, and one
fore-quarter. If his footprints had not already shown
him to be an unusually large tiger, this feat of gorman-
dising would have sufficiently done so. "We started
about ten o'clock on his trail. It was the 12th of
xVpril, and a hotter day I never remember. Long before

THE TIGEli. 289

midday the little band of cowherds and .shik;Lris who
accompanied me had most of their wardrobes l)ound
round their heads to keep off the sun ; and I looked for
a tussle with such a heavy old tiger, long accustomed to
drive off the people he met, if we found him well-gorged
on such a grilling day as this. We took the track down
fully five miles till it entered a long narrow ravine with
pools of water at the bottom, and shaded over with a
thick cover of trees and bushes. We could not iro into
so narrow a place to beat him out with an elephant ; and
after much deliberation we decided to leave a pad
elephant at the head of the ravine, and post the people
we had with us on the trees round about to mark, while
I went down to the other end and quietly stalked along
the top of the bank on the chance of finding him asleep
below. There never was such a beautiful retreat for a
tiger, I think. In many places I could not see through
the dense shade at the bottom, and several times had to
fling down stones to assure myself whether some
indistinct flickering object were the tiger or not. I was
proceediog quietly along, probing the ravine in this
fashion, when the pad elephant we had left at the
further end gave one of those tremendous screams that
an untrained elephant sometimes emits when suddenly
put in pain. She had stumbled over a stone when
swinging about in their impatient fashion. There was
little chance of findins; the tigjer undisturbed after this,
and I had only to stand and watch for a chance of his
coming down the ravine or being seen by the scouts on
the trees. The first intimation I had of his presence
was from a couple of peafowl that scuttled out of a
little ravine on the opposite side ; and then I saw the
tiger picking his way stealthily up the face of a

290 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL IXDIA.

precipitous bank, where I could hardly think a goat
would have found footing. He was about a hundred
and fifty yards from my rifle ; and the first bullet only
knocked some earth from the bank below him. When
I fired the other he was just topping the bank, and
cluno- for a second as if he would have come over back-
wards, but by an efi'ort recovered himself and disap-
peared over the top. Eunning to a higher piece of
ground I saw him trotting sullenly across the burnt
plain, and looming as large to the eye as a bull buff'alo.
He certainly looked a very mighty beast ; but he was a
craven at heart, or he would never have left such a
strono-hold to face the fearful, waterless, burnt-up
country he did. I lost no time in getting round tlie
head of the ravine and giving chase on the elephant.
His tracks in the ashes of the burnt grass were clear
enough, and we followed him for about two miles,
sighting him on ahead every now and then, till he dis-
appeared in a little ravine, and we lost the track in its
bare rocky bottom. I was going along the bank, with
the other elephant in the bottom of the ravine, when I
heard the bark of a sambar to my left on some high
o-round, and, urging Futteh Rani at her best pace in
that direction, shortly came on the tiger slouching
across the open plain — evidently sufiering from a
wound, with his tongue hanging out, and wearing
altogether a most woebegone look. He made an efi'ort
when he saw me, and galloped a hundred yards or so
into a patch of bamboo jungle. I knew from the local
shikdri that he was making for a water-hole about half
a mile ahead, and cut across with the elephant to inter-
cept him. I had the pace of him now, and got clean
between him and his water. I never saw such an air of
disgust worn by any animal as that tiger had when he

THE TIGER. 201

came down the hill and saw the elephant standinfr
right in front of him. He said as plainly as possible,
" Come what will, I don't mean to run another yard ;
and it won't be the better for anybody that tries to
make me," So he lay down behind a large Anjan tree,
showing nothing but one eye and an ear round the side
of it. I marched up within fifty yards, and now saw
the switching end of a tail added to the eye and ear. I
could not fire at him thus, and therefore sidled round
till I saw his shoulder. He saw the opening thus left,
and eyed it wistfully, as if he would rather escape that
way, if he could, than fight it out. But I planted a
ball in his shoulder before he had time to make up his
mind ; on which he rose with a languid roar, and
lumbered slowly down the hill at the elephant. So
slowly ! He actually hadn't steam left in him to get up
a proper charge when he tried. A right and left-
stopped him at once, and another ball in the ear settled
him ; and then Futteh went up and kicked him, and it
was all over. He was a very large tiger, measuring ten
feet one inch in length as he lay, and was a perfect moun-
tain of fat — the fat of a thousand kine, as the cowherds
lugubriously remarked when they came up. He had a
perfect skin, clear red and white, with the fine double
stripes and W mark on the head, and long whiskers,
which add so greatly to the beauty of a tiger trophy.
The whole of the pads of his feet were blistered off on
the hot rocks he had been traversing, and his tongue
was swollen and blue. We were nearly dead ourselves,
and went down to the water he had been making for,
while a messenger went to the village for more men —
the dozen lusty cattle-herds and my own men together
being totally unable to put him on the pad elephant to
carry home. An ordinary tiger will weigh about four

u 2

292 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL ^DIA.

hundred and fifty or five hundred pounds, but this
beef-fed monster must have touched seven hundred
pounds at least ; and a tiger, from his length and
suppleness, is a very awkward object to lift off the
o^round.

I have said that ten feet one inch is the length of an
unusually large tiger. The average length from nose to
tip of tail is only nine feet six inches for a full-grown
male, and for a tigress about eight feet four inches.
The experience of all sportsmen I have met with, whose
accuracy I can rely on, is the same ; and it will
certainly be found, when much greater measurements
than this are recorded, that they have either been taken
from stretched skins or else in a very careless fashion.
The skin of a ten-feet tiger will easily stretch to thirteen
or fourteen feet, if required ; and if natives are allowed
to use the tape they are certain to throw in a foot or
two " to please master." Master also, no doubt,
sometimes pleases himself in a similar manner. A
well - known sportsman and writer, whose recorded
measurements have done more to extend the size of
the tiger than anything else, informed me himself that
all his measurements were taken from flat skins. But
the British public demands twelve-feet tigers, just as it
refuses to accept an Indian landscape without palm-trees.
So a siqjpressio veri went forth ; and not only that, but
his picture of a dead tiger being carried into camp was
improved by a few feet being added to the length of the
beast, while, to make room for it, the most of the
bearers were wiped out, leaving about four men only to
carry a tiger at least fifteen feet long !

Sporting stories are apt to breed each other, incident
leading on to incident, so that I find I have already
killed some five or six tigers while yet only on the

THE TIGER. 293

threshold of my subject — discoursing of the preliminary
exploration of the tiger's haunts. I have little more to
say on that matter, however, the sum of it all being that
every information regarding the tiger's country, the
route he usually takes from one haunt to another, the
points where he may be most easily intercepted or come
upon unawares, good points for scouts, etc., must be
obtained. Places must also be fixed on for tying out
baits for him at night. He must be induced, if possible,
to kill a buffalo or an ox so tied out ; and it must be in
such a position that he can be easily tracked from there
to one of his usual haunts.

It may seem cruel thus to bait for a tiger with a live
animal, but there is no doubt that the death of a ti2:er
saves much more suffering than is caused to the single
animal sacrificed to effect it. A natural kill will not do
so well for many reasons. It will probably not be
discovered in time to hunt the next day, and the day
after it would be useless. Farther, it would seldom be
conveniently situated with respect to some haunt of the
tiger favourable for finding him in, and the whole day
might be lost in trying to find him in wrong places. In
fine, experience shows that no bag can ever be made
worth speaking of without tying out baits. I usually
purchased at the commencement of the season a dozen or
fifteen half-grown buffaloes, these being the cheapest as
well as the most readily killed by tigers. A thin old
brute of an ox, or a tough fidl-grown buffalo, a well-fed
tiger will scorn to touch, and often in the morning his
footprints will be found all round such a bait, which he
has come and smelt, and (metaphorically) poked in the
ribs, and left untouched. But a tender juicy young bufi'
of about three and a half feet high would tempt the
most hlas6 of tigers to a meal. The cowherds being

2 94 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

good Hiodi'is, will not sell cattle avowedly to be tied up
for tigers ; nor will your Hindii sliikaiis tie them up
with their own hands, though few wdll object to super-
intend the operation. The flimsiest disguise is, however,
sufficient to quiet the consciences of the cattle men, who
will sell a herd of young buffaloes in open market to
your Mahomedan shikari dressed up as a trader in kine,
though they may have known him for a bloody-minded
baiter for tigers all their lives. I remember being very
hard up for a bait once in the Nimar district, having
come to a place where tigers were very destructive when
I had none of my own. All I could say would not induce
the Gaolis (cow-keepers) of the place to sell me a single
head during the day-time, the owner of the village
being a Bagh^l Rajpiit, a clan which claims descent from
a royal tiger, and protects the species whenever they can.
1 was standing outside my tent in the evening, when the
village cattle were being driven in, having given up all
idea of halting for the tigers another day, when a fine
tall young Gaoli stepped up with a salaam and said,
" Sahib, I have lost a very fine young buffalo in the
jungle, and it will very probably be snapped up by the
tigers ; but if you would send some one along that road
perhaps he might find it, and we will be pleased if your
Highness will keep it, as you are going away from this
to-morrow." He grinned a broad grin as he finished,
and I spotted his game ; so sending along the " Lalla "
about a quarter of a mile we found a very sufficient
young wall-eyed buffiilo tied by a piece of straw rope to
a little tree ! We had barely time to get the little brute
put out in a proper place before nightfall ; but he was
duly taken, and we shot a fine tigress, and wounded and
lost a tiger, the next day !

The morning after the baits have been tied out a

Till-: TIGER. 295

shikdri should go to see the result, untying and I (ring-
ing in those that have not been taken, and following
up the tracks from any that have, so far as to ascertain
fully whereabouts the tiger is likely to be found later in
the day. I have mentioned above the " Liilhl," and
that brings me to the subject of shikdrls. A really
first-class tiger shikdri is extremely rare. The combi-
nation of qualities required to make him is seldom
found in a native. I shall best explain what he should
be by describing the Lalla. And first as to his name.
*'LdlIa" means in upper India a clerk of the Kayat caste,
to which our friend belonged ; so that though utterly
ignorant of all letters save those imprinted on a sandy
ravine-bed by a tiger's paw, he was nicknamed the
Lalla by the people, and thereupon his real name
disappeared for ever ; and, when he was afterwards
killed by a tiger, no one had any idea what it was.
He was a little, wee man, so insignificant and so dried
and shrivelled up that, as he used to say, " No tiger
would ever think of eating me." His early days had
been passed in catching and training falcons for the
nobles of upper India, and in shooting birds for sale in
the market. He had come down to Central India to
make a bag of blue rollers and kingfishers, whose
feathers are so much valued in the countries to the
east for fancy work, when he was caught, nobody knows
how, by a gentleman with a taste for bird-stufiing,
from whom he passed into the possession of a sportsman
who put him on tigers, and eventually he came to me
with a little experience of the business. His early
training had made him exceedingly keen of eyesight,
and in reading the signs of the forest ; while in his
many w^anderings he had accumulated a store of legends
of demons and devilry, and a wdld jumble of Hindu

296 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

mythology, that never failed, when retailed over a
fire at night to a circle of gaping cowherds and village
shikaris, to unlock every secret of the neighbourhood
in the matter of tigers. Such an oily cozener of reticent
G6nds never existed. Then, miserable as he looked^
he could walk about all day and every day for a week
in a broiling sun, hunting up tracks, with nothing
but the thinnest of muslin skull-caps on his hard nut of
a head, and would fearlessly penetrate into the very
lair of a tiger perfectly unarmed. He had a particular
beaming look which he always wore on his ugly face
when he had actually seen or, as he said, " salaamed
to " a tiger comfortably disposed of for the day ; and in
late years, when I had to leave all the arrangements to
him, I hardly recollect ever going out when he reported
the fiud a likely one without at least seeing the game.
He could shoot a little, say a pot shot at a bird on
a branch at twenty paces, and kept guns, etc., in
beautiful order. But he sood came to utterly despise
and contemn everything except tiger-hunting, for which
he had, I believe, really an absorbing passion. Even
bison-hunting he looked down on as sport not fit for a
gentleman to pursue. For ten months in the year
he moped about looking utterly wretched, and taking
no interest in anything but the elephants and rifles ;
and woke up again only on the first of April — opposite
which date " Tiger-shooting commences " will be entered
in the Indian almanack of the future, when the royal
animal shall be preserved in the Reserved Forests of
Central India to furnish sport for the nobility of the
land !

Poor old Lalld ! He fell a victim in the end to
contempt of tigers, bred of undue familiarity. I was
very ill with fever, and meditating a trip home, and

THE TIGER. 297

had sent out the Ldlhi with a double gun to shoot some
birds for their feathers with a view to salmon flies. He
came upon the tracks of a tiger, and, contrary to
all orders, tied out a calf at night as a bait, and sat
over it in a tree with the gun. The tigress came and
received his bullet in the thigh, going ofi" wounded into
a very thick cover in the bed of a river. The plucky
but foolish Ldlla followed her in there the next mornino:
by the blood ; but soon found that tracking up a
wounded tiger with a gun is a very different thing
from following about uninjured tigers without intent to
disturb them. Before he had gone a dozen paces
the tigress was upon him, his unfired gun dashed from
his hands and buried for half its length in the sand, his
turban cuffed from his head to the top of a high
tree by a stroke of her paw that narrowly missed his
head, and himself down below the furious beast, and
being slowly chewed from shoulder to ankle. He was
brought in a dozen miles to Khandwa, where I was,
by some men who had gone in for him when the tigress
left him. The fire of delirium was then in his eye, and
he raved of the tiger's form passing before him, red and
bloody. But he recognised me when I came to him,
and conjured me to go out forthwith and bring in
her body next day if I wished to see him live. I
knew that the natives have a superstition to this effect ;
and, though I was then in a high fever, I sent off
my elephant at midnight to a village near the spot,
following myself on horseback at daybreak. Much rain
had fallen, and all old tracks were obliterated. The
jungle was also very green and thick, and I spent
the whole day till the afternoon, hunting, as I after-
wards found, in a wrong direction. At last I came
on a fresh trail, with one hind-foot dragging in the sand.

298 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

and then I knew I was near the savage brute. We ran
it up to a dense jaman cover in the river-bed, and
I had barely time to get the people on foot safely
up trees when the tigress came at me in the most
determined manner. She looked just like a huge cat
that had been hunted by dogs — her fur all bedraggled
and standing on end, eyes glaring with fury, and
emitting the hoarse coughing roar of a charging tiger
that no one, to the very close of his tiger-shooting, hears
without a certain quickening of the blood. The first
two shots hit fair, but did not stop her ; and she
was not more than a few yards from the elejDhant's
trunk when the third ball caught her clean in the
mouth, knocking out one of her canine teeth and
passing down the throat into the chest. She could
do no more, but lay roaring and worrying her own
paws till I put an end to her with another shot in the
head. She was a lean, greyhound-made brute, scarcely
bigger than a panther. The Lalla was avenged ; but
the poor fellow was beyond any help that the sight of
his enemy might have afforded him ; and notwith-
standing every care — for he was the favourite of every-
body who knew him — he sank under the exhausting
drain of so many fearful wounds.

Very different from the old Lalla is the usual pattern
of tiger shikari. He will probably be a tall swaggering
Mahomedan, brushing out his whiskers to the likeness
of a tiger's, and, to add ferocity of expression, dyeing
them when young a steely blue and when old a rusty
red ; clad in elaborate jungle-coloured raiment, and
hung with belts and pouches of sambar leather support-
ing a perfect armoury of cut-throat weapons which he
has not the faintest idea of using ; bragging sky high
of his own and his master's doughty exploits ; insuffer-

THE TIGER. 299

able to the people, aiicl lazy as a pampered lap-dog ; with
just enough knowledge of his work, gained in his early
days by carrying the water-bottle of some real sports-
man, to concoct a plausible but utterly fictitious story
at every place he comes to ; and convicted at every turn
of lying, stealing, and every deadly sin ; — yet possibly
the admiration of a gullible master, on whom a portion
of the glory of his whiskers and tall talk is reflected, as he
struts about his house in cantonments in full war-paint,
snapping the locks of his brand-new sixty-guinea rifles.

How the tigjer marked down in the morninfr is to be
hunted and killed at midday, when all life in the forest
is still beneath the scorchino^ heat of the sun, and the
brute himself is least on his o-uard and most unwilling
to move, will have been seen from previous descriptions.
To read the hunting of one tiger is like that of every
other ; but a difierent set of incidents marks each day's
sport in the memory of the hunter, who pictures
vividly the death of each long after the incidents of
his sport w^ith every other sort of game have faded away.
The main features are the careful preliminary arrange-
ments, the settling the direction of approach so as to cut
off all roads of escape to inaccessible fastnesses, the
posting of scouts to notify the possible retreat of
the tiger, and the cautious, silent approach, the excite-
ment gathering as the innermost recess of the cover,
where the brute is expected to lie, is approached by the
wonderfully intelligent and half-human elephant.

A strange affection springs up between the hunter
and his well-tried ally in the chase of the tiger ; and a
creature seeming to those who see him only in the
menagerie, or labouring under a load of baggage, but a
lumbering mass of flesh, becomes to him almost a seconi
self, yielding to his service the perfection of physical

300 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

and mental qualities of which a brute is capable, and
displaying an intelligent interest in his sport of which
no brute could be thought to be possessed. No one
who has not witnessed it would believe the astonishing
caution with which a well-trained elephant approaches a
tiger, removing with noiseless adroitness every obstacle
of fallen timber, etc., and passing his huge bulk over
rustling leaves, or rolling stones, or quaking bog, with
an absolute and marvellous silence ; handing up stones,
when ordered, for his master to fling into the cover;
smelling out a cold scent as a spaniel roads a pheasant ;
and at last, perhaps, pointing dead with sensitive trunk
at the hidden monster, or showing w^ith short nervous
raps of that organ on the ground that he is somewhere
near, though not actually discovered to the senses of the
elephant. Then the unswerving steadiness when he sees
the enemy he naturally dreads, and would flee from
panic-stricken in his native haunts, perhaps charging
headlong at his head, trusting all to the skill of his
rider, and thoughtless of usins; his own tremendous
strength in the encounter — for a good elephant never
attempts to combat the tiger himself. To do so would
generally be fatal to the sport, and perhaps to the
sportsman too ; for no one could stick to an elephant
engaged in a personal struggle with a tiger, far less use
his gun under such circumstances. The elephant's
business is to stand like a rock in every event, even
when the tiger is fastened on his head — as many a good
one will do and has done.

It is not one elephant in a thousand that is so
thoroughly good in tiger- shooting as this ; and such as
are command very high prices in the market. From
£200 to £400 is now the value of a thoroughly first-rate
shooting elephant, though much sport may be had with

TILE TIGEi:. 301

one purchased for a mucli smaller sum. The supply (A
elephants has much fallen off in late years, since the
Government ceased to capture them in the forests of
the north of India. I visited tlie great annual fair on
one occasion at Sonpiir, on the Ganges, to purchase
elephants for our forest work in Central India. It occurs
on the occasion of a cjreat cono-rec^ation of HindiJ
pilgrims to worship at a noted shrine of Siva, and
bathe in the Ganges at the full moon of the month
of Kartik (September — October). Several hundred
thousands of Hindus from every part of India are then
collected on the banks of the holy river ; and such a
gathering together of people is of course seized by
traders in every sort of ware, from wild yaks' tails of
Tibet to croquet implements in lac varnish, and dealers
in every sort of animal, from white mice to elephants.
The European gentlemen of Bengal have also here
constructed an excellent race-course, with grand stand
complete ; and some of the best races in India are run
during the fair. The year I was there something like
twelve thousand horses were brought by dealers for sale
— ranging from the tiny woolly-haired pied pony of
Nepal, which makes the best child's pony in the world,
to Australian thorough-breds and " made-up " casters
from the Indian cavalry.

About five hundred elephants offered a considerable
choice in my particular department. It is difficult to
buy horses at a fair ; but the difficulty is ten times
greater in the case of elephants. Every one connected
with the keeping of elephants (and camels) is by nature
and training from his youth upwards a consummate
rascal ; and the animal himself is subject to numerous
and often obscure vices and unsoundnesses. I have
given in an appendix some hints regarding these, as

302 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA.

well as on the management of elephants, which would
scarcely interest the general reader. Elephants differ
as widely in their "points" as do horses ; and it is very
difficult for an uneducated eye to distinguish these,
particularly in the fattcned-up condition the animals
generally carry at the fair. Furthermore, and fortu-
nately enough for us, a native's idea of good points in
an elephant (as in a horse) differs in toto from ours.
He looks not at all to shape, or good action, or likeli-
hood of standing hard work ; but first of all to the
p)resence or absence of certain occidental marks — such
as the number of toe-nails on the foot, which may be
five or six but not four ; the tail, which must be perfect
and with a full tuft ; and the colour of the palate,
"which must be red without spot of black. Some of the
best elephants I have known failed in each and all of
these points. Then a female or tuskless male is of
small value to a native, who w^ants big white tusks.
A rough high action, and a trunk and forehead of very
light colour, are greatly in request by the native buyer,
who looks entirely to show, and covers up every part
of the animal except the face wdtli an enormous parti-
coloured cloth. We, on the other hand, dislike the high
rough action, and never by any chance purchase a
tusker, wdio is nearly certain to be ill-tempered. We
look for a small well-bred-looking head and trunk, and
a clear confident eye devoid of piggish expression, fast
easy paces, straight back and croup, wide loins, and
generally well-developed bone and muscle — a great test
of which is the girth of the forearm, which should
measure about three feet eight inches in an elephant
nine feet high. A very tall elephant is seldom a good
working one, and generally has slow rough paces ; so
that in a male nine feet, or a female eight feet four

THE TIGER. 303

inches at the shoulder, should not be exceeded. A
smaller animal than eight feet two inches will be under-
sized for tiger-shooting purposes. A female makes the
best hunting elephant when she is really staunch with
game, as her paces and temper are generally better, and
she is not subject to the danger of becomino- "must"
and uncontrollable, as male elephants do periodically
after a certain age. But females are more uncertain
as to courage than males ; and it is a risk to buy the
former untried for shooting purposes. Most " muknas "
(tuskless males) can, I believe, be relied on to become
staunch with tigers when properly trained and entered ;
and, for my own part, if buying an entirely untried
elephant, I would always select a *' mukna." They are
generally more vigorous and better developed than
tuskers, though not usually so tall. A not improbable
explanation of this was given me by a wild inhabitant
of the forests to the east of the sources of the Narbada,
where wild elephants then existed in large numbers.
He said he had noticed that the young tuskers, after
their sharp little tusks began to prick the mother in the
process of sucking, were driven off by her and allowed
to shift for themselves, while females and muknas con-
tinued to be nourished by her until she got another
young one.

After some trouble I bought the ten elephants I
wanted — eight of them muknas and two females. Their

o

average price was £150, the dearest being £200, and
the cheapest £100. The highest price I heard of being
obtained at the fair was £800 for a noble tusker, bought
for a Eaja in the Punjab. So far as I know, none of
them had ever seen a tiger ; but they all became ex-
cellent shikaris, except one large mukna in whom I
found I had been stuck with a regular man-killing

304 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

brute. He was quite quiet at the fair, having been
probably kept drugged with opium ; but on the march
down to Central India he broke out and killed a man,
and afterwards became quite uncontrollable. He fetched
his full price, however, for a native notable ; for he was
a very handsome animal, and a wealthy native is rather
proud of having an elephant that no one can go near,
chained up at his gateway for an ornament.

All elephants intended to be used in hunting tigers
must be very carefully trained and entered to their
game. A good mahout, or driver, is very difficult to
obtain. They differ as much in their command over
elephants as do riders of horses ; and a plucky driver
will generally make a staunch elephant, and vice versd.
The elephant should first be accustomed to the firing
of guns from his back, and to seeing deer and other
harmless animals shot before him in company with a
staunch companion. He must not be forced in at a
tiger, or at a hog or bear, which he detests even more,
until he has acquired some confidence, though in some
few cases he will stand to any animal from the very first.
When they have seen a few tigers neatly disposed of,
most elephants acquire confidence in their human allies,
and become sufficiently steady in the field; but their
ultimate qualities will depend much on natural tempera-
ment. The more naturally courageous an elephant is,
the better chance there is of his remaining staunch after
having been actually mauled by a tiger, an accident to
be avoided, of course, as long as possible. It will occur
sometimes, however, in the best hands ; and then a
naturally timid animal, who has only been made staunch
by a long course of immunity from injury, will probably
be spoilt for life, while a really plucky elephant is often
rendered bolder than before by such an occurrence.

THE TIGER 305

Some elephants which are in other respects perfect
shikaris will retain some ineradicable peculiarity which
may almost unfit them for use in hunting. For some
time I had a female who would stand anything in the
way of animals (I once had her charged close up by a
whole family of bears — a terrible trial for any elephant),
but who bolted invariably in the utmost panic from the
loud shout of a human voice. On one such occasion she
carried a cargo of native clerks into the middle of a deep
river, and left them to swim for their lives. On another,
I thought I should die of laughing, though her prank
nearly ended in the death of an unhappy Gond. He
had been taken out with her by the attendant whose
business it is to cut branches of trees for fodder, and
was left on her back to pack the load, while the other
went up the tree to cut down branches. In the mean-
time a loud shout in the neighbourhood sent her off at
full speed for camp, and, a deep weedy tank lying in
the way, she marched right into it, and began to surge
up and down in the water, her unwilling rider piteously
screaming at every plunge. He was half drowned and
nearly finished with fright before we could release him
by sending in two other elephants with their drivers,
who drove her with their spears into a corner and
secured her.

The keeping of an elephant is very costly, coming
in Central India to about £80 or £90 a year. The
Government has, however, great numbers of elephants,
many of them trained shikaris ; and there is seldom
much difficulty in obtaining the use of one for a few
weeks. They may also be frequently borrowed from
wealthy natives ; but in that case will seldom be found
to possess the hard condition necessary for severe work
in the hot season. In the later years of our forest work

X

306 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA

we always had several Government elephants allowed
for the carriage of baggage and riding purposes, and,
as I always kept one of my own besides, I could generally
muster enough to drive effectively any tiger ground in
Central India. But I rarely took out more than one
elephant besides my own when shooting alone, finding
that quiet hunting was far more successful than the
bustle of many elephants and the rabble of men that
usually accompany a tiger hunt.

In the end of April and May of 1862, I bagged six
tigers and one panther in the Betul jungles, wounding
two more tigers which escaped. I was unable regularly
to devote myself to tiger-shooting, having much forest
work to do, and my shooting was also much interfered
with by accidental circumstances. A sprained tendon
laid me up for fifteen days of the best weather (the
hottest), and there was so much cholera about that
many of the best places had to remain unvisited.
Another party were also shooting in the same district ;
and, though they arrived after me in the field, contrary
to the well-understood rule in such circumstances, pro-
ceeded ahead and disturbed the whole country by
indiscriminate firing at deer and peafowl. It is scarcely
necessary to say that when after tigers nothing else
should be fired at. The Lalla came out strong under
these unfavourable circumstances, working ahead and
securing by his plausible tongue a monopoly of informa-
tion, in which he was well seconded by the conduct of
our rivals in harassing the people in the matter of
provisions, and thrashing them all round if a tiger was
not found for them when they arrived. On one occasion
I reached their ground just as their last camel was
moving off to a new camp. They had stayed here
a week trying in vain to extort help in finding a couple

THE TIGER. ao7

of tigers whose tracks they had seen. The tigers were
all the time within half a mile of their tents, and before
ten o'clock that day I had them both padded. Duriiif
a whole month I believe they only succeeded in getting
one tiger, and that by potting it from a tree at night.

I spent nearly a week of this time in the destruction
of a famous man-eater, which had completely closed
several roads, and was estimated to have devoured over
a hundred human beings. One of these roads was the
main outlet from the Betiil teak forests towards the
railway then under construction in the Narbada valley ;
and the work of the sleeper-contractors was completely
at a standstill owing to the ravages of this brute. He
occupied regularly a large triangle of country between
the rivers Mo ran and Ganjal ; occasionally making a
tour of destruction much further to the east and west ;
and striking terror into a breadth of not less than thirty
to forty miles. It was therefore supposed that the
devastation was caused by more than one animal ; and
we thought we had disposed of one of these early in
April, when we killed a very cunning old tiger of evil
repute after several days' severe hunting. But I am
now certain that the brute I destroyed subsequently
was the real malefactor even there, as killing again
commenced after we had left, and all loss to human life
did not cease till the day I finally disposed of him.

He had not been heard of for a week or two when
I came into his country, and pitched my camp in
a splendid mango grove near the large village of
Lokartalae, on the Moran river. Here I was again laid
up through over-using my sprained tendon ; but a
better place in which to pass the long hot days of
forced inactivity could not have been found. The bare
brown country outside was entirely shut out by the long

308 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

drooping branches of the huge mango trees, interlaced
overhead in a grateful canopy, and loaded with the half-
ripe fruit pendent on their long tendril-like stalks ;
while beneath them short glimpses were seen of the
bright clear waters of the Moran stealing over their
pebbly bed. The green mangoes, cooked in a variety
of ways, furnished a grateful and cooling addition to
the table ; and the whole grove was alive with a vast
variety of bird and insect life, in the observation of
which many an hour that would otherwise have flown
slowly by was passed. A colony of the lively chirping
little gray-striped squirrel lived in every tree, and from
morning to night permeated the whole grove with their
incessant gambols. My dogs would have died of ennui,
I believe, but for the unremitting sport they had in
stalkino- and chasinaf these unattainable creatures, whose
fashion of letting them get within two inches of them
while they calmly sat up and ate a fallen mango, and
then whisking up and sitting just half a foot out of
reach, jerking their long tails and rapping out a long
chirp of defiance, seemed highly to provoke them.
Clouds of little green ring-necked paroquets flew from
tree to tree, clambering over and under and in every
direction through the branches to get at the green
maj)g(jes. A great variety of bright-coloured bulbuls,
several species of woodpecker, and the golden oriole or
mango-bird, flashed about in the higher foliage, while
;m ncessant hum told of the unseen presence of multi-
tudes of the insect world.

I was much amused by the result of my tent being
pitched between two trees inhabited respectively by
colonies of the common black and red ants, so plentiful
in all wooded parts of the province. Each side sent
detachments down the ropes of the tent attached to

THE TIGER. :m

their trees, and numerous were the skirmishes and
reprisals I watched between them. At last, on cominor
in from a short stroll one morning, I found tlie top
of my tent had been the scene of a pitched battle
between the entire forces of each party, multitudes on
each side having been killed and wounded. Their
telegrams to head-quarters in the tops of the trees
must have much resembled those of the French and
Prussians, for both sides seemed to claim the victory,
and each was busily engaged in carrying off the
fallen of the other side, perhaps with a view to
provender in case of a siege ! There were far more of
the black ones, however, killed than of the red. The
latter are most unflinching and venomous little devils,
and prefer to leave their heads and shoulders sticking
where they have bitten rather than loose their hold. 1
shall never fur^^et disturbino; a nest of these red ants
in an overhanging tree when hot on the fresh foot-
prints of a tiger. In an instant the elephant, howdah,
and myself were covered with a multitude of the
creatures rearing themselves on end and watchinof for
a tender place in which to plunge their nippers. jS'o
philosophy — not even in the hot pursuit of a tiger —
could stand this ; and everything was forgotten in a
wild rush to the nearest water, where half an hour
was lost in clearing ourselves and the half-maddened
elephant of the tormentors, and in picking out the
fangs they had left behind.

A few days of a lazy existence in this microcosm
of a grove passed not unpleasantly after a spell of
hard work in the pitiless hot blasts outside ; but wlicn
the Lalla brought in news of families of tigers waitmg
to be hunted in the surrounding river-beds I began to
chafe ; and when I heard from a neighbouring police

310 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

post that the man-eater had again appeared, and had
killed a man and a boy on the high road about ten
miles from my camp, I could stand it no longer. I
had been douching my leg with cold water, but now
resorted to stronger measures, giving it a coating of
James's horse-blister, which caused of course severe
pain for a few days, but at the end of them resulted,
to my great delight, in a complete and permanent cure.
In the meantime, while I was still raw and sore, I was
regaled with stories of the man-eater — of his fearful
size and appearance, with belly pendent to the ground,
and white moon on the top of his forehead ; his pork-
butcher-like method of detaining a party of travellers
while he rolled himself in the sand, and at last came up
and inspected them all round, selecting the fattest ; his
powder of transforming himself into an innocent-looking
woodcutter, and calling or whisthng through the woods
till an unsuspecting victim approached ; how the
spirits of all his victims rode with him on his head,
warning him of every danger, and guiding him to the
fatal ambush where a traveller would shortly pass. All
the best shikaris of the country-side were collected in
my camp ; and the landholders and many of the people
besieged my tent morning and evening. The infant of
a woman who had been carried away while drawing
water at a well was brought and held up before me ;
and every offer of assistance in destroying the monster
was made. No useful help was, however, to be expected
from a terror-stricken population like this. They lived in
barricaded houses ; and only stirred out when necessity
compelled in large bodies, covered by armed men, and
beating drums and shouting as they passed along the
roads. Many villages had been utterly deserted ; and
the country was evidently being slowly depopulated by

THE TIGER. 311

this single animal. So far as I could learn, he bad
been killing alone for about a year — another tiger who
had formerly assisted him in his fell occupation having
been shot the previous hot weather. Betiil has always
been unusually favoured with man-eaters, the cause
apparently being the great number of cattle that come
for a limited season to graze in that country, and a
scarcity of other prey at the time when they are absent,
combined with the unusually convenient cover for tigers
existing alongside most of the roads. The man-eaters
of the Central Provinces rarely confine themselves
solely to human food, though some have almost done
so to my own knowledge. Various circumstances may
lead a tiger to prey on man ; anything, in fact, that
incapacitates him from killing other game more difficult
to procure. A tiger who has got very fat and heavy, or
very old, or who has been disabled by a wound, or a
tigress who has had to bring up young cubs where other
game is scarce — all these take naturally to man, who is
the easiest animal of all to kill, as soon as failure with
other prey brings on the pangs of hunger ; and once a
tiger has found out how easy it is to overcome the lord
of creation, and how good he is to eat, he is apt to stick
to him, and, if a tigress, to bring up her progeny in the
same line of business. The greater prevalence of man-
eaters in one district than in another I consider to be
that I have mentioned. Great grazing districts, where
the cattle come only for a limited season, are always the
worst. Where the cattle remain all the year round, as
in Nimdr, the tigers rarely take to man-eating.

As soon as I could ride in the howdah, and long
before I could do more than hobble on foot, 1 marched
to a place called Chiirkhera, where the last kill had been
reported. My usually straggling following was now

312 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

compressed into a close body, preceded and followed by
the baggage-el epbants, and protected by a guard of
police with muskets, peons with my spare guns, and a
whole posse of matchlocked shikaris. Two deserted
villages were passed on the road, and heaps of stones at
intervals showed where a traveller had been struck
down. A better hunting-ground for a man-eater
certainly could not be. Thick scrubby teak jungle
closed in the road on both sides ; and alongside of it for
a great part of the way wound a narrow deep water-
course, overshadowed by thick jaman bushes, and with
here and there a small pool of water still left. I hunted
along this niila the whole way, and found many old
tracks of a very large male tiger,* which the shikaris
declared to be the man-eater. There were none more
recent, however, than several days. Charkhera was also
deserted on account of the tiger, and there was no shade
to speak of ; but it was the most central place within
reach of the usual haunts of the brute, so 1 encamped
here, and sent the baggage-elephants back to fetch
provisions. In the evening I was startled by a
messenger from a place called Le, on the Moran river,
nearly in the direction I had come from, who said that
one of a party of pilgrims who had been travelling unsus-
pectingly by a jungle road had been carried oft' by the
tiger close to that place. Early next morning I started oft"
with two elephants, and arrived at the spot about eight
o'clock. The man had been struck down where a small
ravine leading down to the Moran crosses a lonely path-
way a few miles east of Le. The shoulder-stick with its
pendent baskets, in which the holy water from his place

* A little practice suliices to distinguish the tracks of tigers of
different ages and sexes. The old male has a much .^quarcr track, so
to speak, than the female, which leaves a more oval footprint.

THE TIGEIJ. 313

of pilgrimage had been carried by the hapless man, was
lying on the ground in a dricd-up pool of blood ; and
shreds of his clothes adhered to the bushes where he had
been dragged down into the bed of the nala. We tracked
the man-eater and his prey into a very thick grass cover,
alive with spotted deer, where he had broken up and
devoured the greater part of the body. Some bones and
shreds of flesh, and the skull, hands, and feet, were all
that remained. This tiger never returned to his victim
a second time, so it was useless to found any scheme for
killing him on that expectation. We took up his tracks
from the body, and carried them patiently down through
very dense jungle to the banks of the Moran ; the
trackers working in fear and trembling under the trunk
of my elephant, and covered by my rifle at full cock.
At the river the tracks went out to a long spit of sand
that projected into the water, where the tiger had drunk,
and then returned to a great mass of piled-up rocks
at the bottom of a precipitous bank, full of caverns and
recesses. This we searched with stones and some fire-
works I had in the howdah ; but put out nothing but a
scraggy hyaena, which was of course allowed to escape.
We searched about all day here in vain, and it was not
till nearly sunset that I turned and made for camp.

It was almost dusk, when we were a few miles from
home, passing along the road we had marched by the
former day, and the same by which we had come out in
the morning, when one of the men who was walking
behind the elephant started and called a halt. He had
seen the footprint of a tiger. The elephant's tread had
partly obliterated it ; but further on, where we had not
gone, it was plain enough — the great square pug of the
man-eater we had been looking for all day ! He was on
before us, and must have passed since we came out m

314 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL IXDLl.

the morning, for liis track had covered that of the
elephants as they came. It was too late to hope to find
him that evening ; and we could only proceed slowly
along on the track, which held to the pathway, keeping
a bright look-out. The Lalla indeed proposed that he
should go a little ahead as a bait for the tiger, while I
covered him from the elephant with a rifle ! But he
wound up by expressing a doubt whether his skinny
corporation would be a sufficient attraction, and sug-
gested that a plump young policeman, who had taken
advantage of our protection to make his official visit to
the scene of the last kill, should be substituted, whereat
there was a general but not very hearty grin. The
subject was too sore a one in that neighbourhood just
then. About a mile from the camp the track turned oflF
into the deep nala that bordered the road. It was now
almost dark, so we went on to the camp, and fortified it
by posting the three elephants on different sides, and
lighting roaring fires between. Once in the night an
elephant started out of its deep sleep and trumpeted
shrilly, but in the morning we could find no tracks of
the tiger having come near us. I went out early next
morning to beat up the nala ; for a man-eater is not
like common tigers, and must be sought for morning,
noon, and night. But I found no tracks, save in the
one place where we had crossed the ntila the evening
before, and gone oS" into thick jungle.

On my return to camp, just as I was sitting down to
breakfast, some Banjaras from a place called Deknd, —
about a mile and a half from camp — came running in to
say that one of their companions had been taken out of
the middle of their drove of bullocks by the tiger, just
as they were starting from their night's encampment.
The elephant had not been unharnessed, and, securing

TTIE TIGER. 315

some food and a bottle of claret, I was not two minutes
in getting under way again. The edge of a low savanna,
covered with long grass and intersected by a nald, was
the scene of this last assassination ; and a broad trail of
crushed-down grass showed where the body had been
dragged down towards the naht. No tracking was re-
quired ; it was horribly plain. The trail did not lead
quite into the nald, which had steep sides, but turned
and went alongside of it into some very long grass
reaching nearly up to the howdah. Here Sarjii Parshad
(a large Government mukua I was then riding) kicked
violently at the ground and trumpeted, and immediately
the long grass began to wave ahead. We pushed on at
full speed, stepping as we went over the ghastly half-
eaten body of the Banjara. But the cover was dread-
fully thick ; and though I caught a glimpse of a yellow
object as it jumped down into the nala, it was not in
time to fire. It was some little time before we could set
the elephant down the bank and follow the broad j^lain
footprints of the monster, now evidently going at a
swinging trot. He kept on in the ndla for about a mile,
and then took to the grass again ; but it was not so long
here, and we could still make out the trail from the
howdah. Presently, however, it led into rough, stony
ground, and the tracking became more difficult. He
was evidently full of go, and w^ould carry us far ; so I
sent back for some more trackers, and with ordei's to
send a small tent across to a hamlet on the banks of the
Ganjal, towards which he seemed, to be making. All
that day we followed the trail through an exceedingly
difficult country, patiently working out print by print,
but without being gratified by a sight of his brindled
bide. Several of the local shikaris were admirable
trackers ; and we carried the line down within about a

316 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

mile of the river, where a dense thorny cover began^
throiio:h which no one could follow a tiger.

We slept that night at the little village, and early
next morning made a long cast ahead, proceeding at
once to the river, where we soon hit upon the track
leading straight down its sandy bed. There were some
strong covers reported in the river-bed some miles
ahead, near the large village of BhddiigaoD, so I sent
back to order the tent over there. The track was crossed
in this river by several others, but was easily distin-
guishable from all by its superior size. It had also a
peculiar drag of the toe of one hind-foot, which the
people knew and attributed to a wound he had received
some months before from a shikari's matchlock. There
was thus no doubt we were behind the man-eater, and I
determined to follow him while I could hold out and we
could keep the track. It led right into a very dense
cover of jaman and tamarisk, in the bed and on the
banks of the river, a few miles above Bhadugaon.
Having been hard pushed the previous day, we hoped
he might lie up here ; and, indeed, there was no other
place he could well go to for water and shade. So we
circled round the outside of the cover, and, finding no
track leading out, considered him fairly ringed. We
then went over to the village for breakfast, intending
to return in the heat of the day.

There I was told by one of the mahouts a story,
which I afterwards heard confirmed from the lips of
one of the principal actors, regarding a notable en-
counter with tigers in the very cover where we had
ringed the man-eater. It was in 1853 that the two
brothers N. and Colonel G. beat the cover for a family
of tigers said to be in it. One of the brothers was
posted in a tree, while G. and the other N. beat through

I

THE TIGER. 31 7

on an elephant. The man on the tree first shot two
of the tigers right and left, and then Colonel G. saw
a very large one lying in the shade of a dense bush, and
fired at it, on which it charged and mounted on the
elephant's head. It was a small female elephant, and
was terribly punished about the trunk and eyes in this
encounter, though the mahout (a bold fellow named
Eamzan, who was afterwards in my own service)
battered the tiger's head with his iron driving-hook so
as to leave deep marks in the bones of his skull. At
length he was shaken oflf, and retreated ; but when the
sportsmen urged in the elephant again, and the tio-er
charged as before, she turned round, and the tiger,
catching her by the hind-leg, fairly pulled her over on
her side. My informant, who was in the howdah, said
that for a time his arm was pinned between it and the
tiger's body, who was making efforts to pull his shikari
out of the back seat. They were all, of course, spilt on
the ground with their guns; and Colonel G., getting
hold of one, made the tiger retreat with a shot in the
chest. The elephant had fled from the scene of action,
and the two sportsmen then went in at the beast on
foot. It charged again, and when close to them was
finally dropped by a lucky shot in the head. But the
sport did not end here ; for they found two more tigers
in the same cover immediately afterwards, and killed
one of them — or four altogether in the day. The
worrying she had received, however, was the death of
the elephant, which was buried at Bhadiigaon — one of
the few instances on record of an elephant being actually
killed by a tiger.

About eleven o'clock we again faced the scorching
hot wind, and made silently for the cover where lay the
man-eater. I surrounded it with scouts on trees ; and

318 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

posted a pad-elephant at the only point where he could
easily get np the high bank and make off; and then
piTshed old Sarju slowly and carefully through the cover.
Peafowl rose in numbers from every bush as we ad-
vanced ; and a few hares and other small animals bolted
out at the edg^es — such thick orreen covers being the
midday resort of all the life of the neighbourhood in
the hot weather. About the centre the jungle was
extremely thick, and the bottom was cut up into a
number of parallel water-channels among the strong
roots and overhanorinor branches of the tamarisk. Here
the elephant paused and began to kick the earth, and
utter the low tremulous sound by which some elephants
denote the close presence of a tiger. We peered all
about with nervous beatings of the heart ; and at last
the mahout, who was lower down on the elephant's
neck, said he saw him lying beneath a thick jaman
bush. We had some stones in the howdah, and I made
the Lalla, who was behind me in the back seat, pitch one
into the bush. Instantly the tiger started up with a short
roar and galloped off through the bushes. I gave him
right and left at once, which told loudly ; but he went
till he saw the pad-elephant blocking the road he meant
to escape by, and then he turned and charged back at
me with horrible roars. It was very difficult to see
him among the crashing bushes, and he was within
twenty yards when I fired again. This dropped him
into one of the channels ; but he picked himself up, and
came on again as savagely though more slowly than
before. I was now in the act of covering him with the
large shell rifle, when suddenly the elephant spun round,
and I found myself looking the opposite way, while a
worrying sound behind me and the frantic movements
of the elephant told me I had a fellow-passenger on

THE TIGER. 319

board I might well have dispensed with. All I could
do in the way of holding on barely sufficed to prevent
myself and guns from being pitched out ; and it was
some time before Sarjii, finding he could not kick him
ojBT, paused to think what he would do next. I seized
that placid interval to lean over behind and put the
muzzle of the rifle to the head of the tiger, blowins: it
into fifty pieces with the large shell. He dropped like
a sack of potatoes ; and then I saw the dastardly
mahout urging the elephant to run out of the cover.
An application of my gun-stock to his head, however,
reversed the engine ; and Sarjii, coming round with the
utmost willingness, trumpeted a shrill note of defiance,
and rushing upon his prostrate foe commenced a war-
dance on his body, that made it little less difficult to
stick to him than when the tiger was beino; kicked ofi".
It consisted, I believe, of kicking up the carcase with a
hind-leg, catching it in the hollow of the fore, and so
tossing it backwards and forwards among his feet,
winding up by placing his huge fore-foot on the body
and crossing the other over it, so as to press it into the
sand with his whole weight. I found afterwards that
the elephant-boy, whose business it is to stand behind
the howdah, and, if necessary, keep the elephant
straight in a charge by applying a thick stick over his
rump, had had a narrow escape in this adventure,
having dropped off in his fright almost into the jaws
of the tiger. The tiger made straight for the elephant,
however, as is almost invariably the case, and the boy
picked himself up and fled to the protection of the other
elephant.

Sarjii was not a perfect shikari elephant ; but his
fault was rather too much courage than the reverse, and
it was only his miserable opium-eating villain of a

320 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA.

maliout that made him turn at the critical moment.
He was much cut about the quarters ; but I took him
out close to the tents two days after and killed two
more tigers without his flinching in the least. The
tiger we had thus killed was undoubtedly the man-
eater. He was exactly ten feet long, in the prime of
life, with the dull yellow coat of the adult male — not
in the least mangy or toothless like the man-eater of
story. He had no moon on his head, nor did his belly
nearly touch the ground. I afterwards found that these
characteristics are attributed to all man-eaters by the
credulous people.

Before dismissing Sarjii from these pages, I would
like to record an anecdote of his sagacity which I think
beats everythiug I have heard of the elephant's intellect.
He was a consummate thief, and had grown so cunning
that he would unfasten any chains or ropes he was
tethered with, which he often would do of a dark night
if not watched, and proceed to roam about seeking what
he might devour. His favourite object on such occasions
was sugar-cane, and if he got into a field of this would
trample down and damage the greater part of it.
Many a long bill have I paid for such depredations.
He would never allow himself to be caus^ht again after
such an escapade while his keepers pursued him with
sticks and threats, but surrendered at once as soon as
they resorted to persuasion, and promised not to beat
him. One night the people of the camp were sitting
up late over a small fire, and saw Sarjii unloose his
foot-chain and stalk ofi" through the camp. Presently
he appeared snifiing about the place where a grain-
merchant had brought out his sacks during the day
to supply the wants of the camp. A sack of rice, nearly
empty, lay under the head of a sleeping lad, and Sarjii

TJIE TIGER. :]-2\

paused and seemed to ponder long how he might annex
its contents. At last he was seen to gradually with-
draw the bag with his trunk, while he replaced it with
the sloping edge of his big fore-foot in supporting the
head of the boy. Having gobbled up the rice with
much despatch, he then rolled up the bag, and returning
it under the boy's head, stalked away ! I was told this
story next morning by several respectable natives who
saw the whole affair, and who had no object in telling
a lie about it. For my own part, knowing what Mr.
Sarjii was capable of, I believe it.

Before quitting the subject of tigers I may notice
the obstacle presented by the number of these animals
to the advance of population and tillage. Between five
and six hundred human beings, and an uncalculated
number of cattle, are killed by wild beasts in the Central
Provinces alone every year. This enormous loss of life
and property has been the subject of much discussion,
and many schemes for their destruction have been
proposed — ruost of them unpractical, and some even
absurd. For some years heavy rewards were given
for every tiger and other dangerous animal killed,
special rewards being placed on the heads of man-eaters ;
and I am convinced that many more were killed during
that time than previously, though statistics of former
years when there was no reward are not available for
comparison. The number destroyed increased every
year under this stimulus. Eewards for the killing of
2,414 tigers, panthers, bears, and wolves were claimed in
1867 (the last year for which statistics are available),
against 1,863 in 1865. Tigers are certainly not now
so numerous by a great deal in many parts with which
I am personally acquainted as they were even six or
eight years ago. The reward has now again been much

322 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

decreased ; and the experience of a few years will show
whether the tigers again get the upper hand. It is
practically only the cattle-killing and man-eating tigers
that are productive of injury, those which principally
subsist on game being probably more useful than
noxious. Poison has sometimes been successful in
destroying a man-eater — a famous tigress, that long
ravaged the western part of Chindwara district, having
been killed with strychnine just a day before I arrived
after a forced march of a hundred miles to hunt her.
More commonly, however, poison is of no avail with
these cunning brutes ; and, as a rule, man-eaters can
only be killed by the European sportsman with the help
of an elephant, the native shikaris rarely attempting to
molest them. Elephants have been made more available
than formerly, some of the jungle districts having a
Government one attached to them, besides many
possessed by various public departments ; and man-
eaters of a bad type now rarely survive long. It is
a great point to extinguish those brutes at the outset of
their career, for, if not killed when he commences to
prey on human beings, a tiger becomes so cunning that
it is afterwards a most difficult thing to circumvent him.
On the 27th of May I shot my last tiger for that
season in the famous cover of Dapara, being seized the
next day with the preliminary symptoms of what turned
out to be a severe attack of jungle fever, brought on by
constant exposure to the hot sun by day and the mala-
rious air of these close valleys by night ; cholera, too,
was raging all around us, and so I determined to return
to the cool heights of Puchmurree, which I did by the
Borl route, in four longish marches. I was sick of the
constant severe heat of the burnt-up plains below, and
parched with the coming fever as well, and I think I

THE TIGER. 323

never enjoyed anything so much as when I bared my
head to the cool breeze that swept over the Puchmurree
plateau, as I topped its edge after climbing up the stiff
ascent of the Eori Ghat. The thermometer in my tent
below had been ranging from 98 degrees to 110 degrees
during the heat of the day, and had once reached 120
degrees, when I went out and lay like a tiger under
some jaman bushes by the water-side. In the verandah
of the lodge on Puchmurree, which was now nearly
finished, it stood at 86 degrees, while the nights, which
below had not for weeks been free from hot winds, were
cool and delicious up here. Soon after coming up I was
fairly prostrated with fever, and remained delirious for
about a couple of days, emerging at last, thanks to a
very attentive native doctor we had, much shaken and
weak, but free from the fever. Nearly all my servants
and the camp followers who had been through the
hot weather with me also got fever on coming up to
Puchmurree, and the place presented much the appear-
ance of an extensive hospital for some weeks.

The first rain of the monsoon fell on the 12th of
June, a smart shower, that, as if by magic, covered the
plateau with the greenest of tints. The wild flowers,
too, again burst forth on all sides, under the influence
of the gentle showers that now almost daily visited the
hill. It was inexpressibly delightful to be up here, in a
perfectly English climate, with cool gray skies, and
greenery all about, after the terrible grilling we had
sufiered for two long months down below. My Korku
friends seemed glad to see me back again, and I tried to
go out after the bison with them, but I found myself
far too weak to negotiate the formidable slopes of
Dhiipgarh. The early part of the rainy season which
was now approaching is the very best time of all for

Y -2

324 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

hunting tlie bison, tracks being easily followed, while
the sky is generally overcast with clouds, and the
weather cool in these high regions. Towards the end
of the month the clouds began to bank up into deep
purple masses behind the higher peaks, and at night
lightning played incessantly round the horizon. By
great exertions we got the house roofed just in time to
hans: a bison's frontlet over the door, and christen it
" Bison Lodge," before the full force of the monsoon
broke upon the plateau on the last day of June. I
must not now tell of the many pleasant days and jovial
nights passed between those four walls in after years,
when the fire blazing in the arched grate I had builded
with my own hands, and the jorum of whisky toddy
imported from my native hills, deluded us into the
belief that we were far away from the exile, if still a
pleasant exile, of the highlands of Central India. Such
a terrific storm I never saw as on the night of the break-
ins of the monsoon, crash after crash seemino; to burst
within the rooms, while a blaze of green lightning
incessantly lit up the whole features of the hill. It
lasted about the whole night, and nearly four inches of
rain fell along with it, but on its clearing up in the
morning, such is the beautiful drainage of this plateau
that in less than an hour a horse could have gallo^^ed over
it comfortably in any direction. Rain clouds continued
to shroud the higher peaks, and roll round the edges of
the plateau, the whole time I remained on the hill, but
we never had another heavy storm, and, what is very
unusual at such altitudes, the clouds never invaded the
centre of the plateau at all. I had repeated returns of
the fever, and neither could my people shake it off.
Conveniences to help recovery were also wanting, and I
left the plateau on the 20th of July to march to Jubbul-
piir. It was a melancholy procession down the hill,

THE TIGER. 325

that march of my gaunt and fever-stricken followers,
crowded on the backs of the elephants that carried them
in several trips to the carts that awaited them below.

Another officer relieved me at Puchmurree, and
remained nearly till the end of the rainy season ;
meteorological observations being kept up, in order to
compare with others which were being taken at the
same time by a party resident on the rival plateau of
Motiir. The result was that a mean temperature of about
73 degrees, and a rainfall of rather more than 60 inches,
were registered for both places during the four months
from June to September, which shows a range of heat about
8 degrees or 10 degrees lower than on the plains, and nearly
double the rainfall. Unfortunately, however, the com-
parative difficulty of access to Puchmurree was allowed
to tell against its infinitely superior beauty and
suitability in other respects ; and swampy, jungly,
hideous Motiir, which lies on the trap formation, and
very much resembles the country along the Tapti river
described in the last chapter, was preferred to this
beautiful plateau for trial as a sanitarium for European
troops during the ensuing season. It was an utter
failure, the climate being bad, and there being nothing
to interest the men in such a place.

Since then the Forest Department has regularly
occupied the lodge on the hill, and laid out extensive
gardens round about. Attempts to cultivate the quinine-
yielding cinchona made on a small scale have failed,
owing probably to want of the needful attention and
knowledge, rather than to unsuitability of the place and
climate. The potato, and all sorts of European vege-
tables and flowers, have been found to thrive admirably
at Puchmurree. Another house has been built, and
many European and native officials have enjoyed excel-
lent health during visits to the place for some years.

326

THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

I shall not say much of my long ride of a hundred
miles to Jubbulpiir in the soaking rain, through the stiff
black mud and unbridged streams of the Narbada valley.
It was very miserable, with the chills of ague in one's
bones. With the exception of a few days, when I had
the excellent society of my friend Captain Pearson, I

HORNS OF HOG-DEER, BARKING-DEER, MALE AND FEMALE CHIKARA, AND

FOUR-HORNED ANTELOPE. (Scale, oue-tenth.)

had not seen a white face during these six months of
jungle wanderings ; and though by no means tired of
the wild, independent life of a forester, or of the
company of the hill people and the kindly little band of
dependants I had gathered about me, the society of a
pleasant station like the Jubbulpiir of those days was an
agreeable change.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE HIGHER NARBADA.

JuBBULPUR is now rather an important place, being the
point of junction of the two lines of railway which
between them connect the political with the commercial
capital of India, Calcutta with Bombay, and over which
pass all the passengers, and much of the goods, in
transit between England and Upper India. At the
time of which I write it was a small civil and military
station, of which few who had not been there knew any-
thing, except that it was situated somewhere in the
wilds of Central India. I remember when we first got
our orders to march there from Upper India no one
could give us a route to it. It was trooped from
Madras at that time, and so of course the Bengal
authorities could not be expected to know anything
about it. We found it the pleasautest of Indian
stations ; situated in a green hollow among low rocky
granite hills always covered with verdure ; with tidy
hard roads and plenty of greensward about them ;
with commodious bungalows embowered in magnificent
clumps of bamboo ; remarkable for the delicacy and
abundance of its fruits and other garden products,
including the pineapple, which will not grow anywhere
else in Central India ; and withal, from its land-locked

328 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

condition forbidding exports, a most absurdly cheap sort
of place to live in. All this is now changed. The steam-
horse has torn his way through the parks, and levelled
the bamboo clumps that were the glory of the place.
Hideous embankments, and monstrous hotels, and other
truly British buildings, stare one in the face at every
turn. Crowds of rail-borne " picturesquers " assail the
Marble Eocks and other sights about the place. Every-
thing has run up to the famine prices induced by the
rapid " progress " of the last ten years. And progress it
is, in every proper sense of the word. The Narbada
valley is now a part of the great bustling world outside,
instead of being a mere isolated oasis in a desert of
jungle, thinking and caring only about its own petty
wants and concerns. The agriculturist, the merchant,
and all who " paddle their own canoe " on the great
ocean of life, are all the better for it. Their gains have
grown in more than proportion to their outgoings.
Only such wretches as sail in " foreign bottoms " have
to regret the change ; their fixed incomes have not
grown with the growth of their expenses. The poor
clerk, who could barely in the old times keep body and
soul together on his pittance of ten rupees a month,
gets no more now that his expenses are doubled.
Government schools have flooded his market with
competitors, who prevent his wages from rising by their
importunity for office ; and the Government, not having
yet discovered the way to raise its own income, when
appealed to for more, buttons up its pockets, and points
to the crowds ready and willing to serve for less. The
poor clerk has his remedy; he can pick and steal enough
to make up the deficiency ; and he does so. But the
subaltern of infantry, or the young civilian, being
incommoded with the troublesome commodity called

THE iriGKER NARBADA. 329

honour, liave no such resource ; and so they have
nothing for it but to knock oflf their Arab, and other
little luxuries, and fag away through an ill-concealed
period of indigence to higher grades and better pay.

All this civilisation has of course greatly deteriorated
the place as a residence for him whose pleasures lie with
the jungle and its wild inhabitants. In the old times,
Jubbulpiir was almost the perfection of a sportsman's
head- quarters. It lay nearly at the head of the last of
the great basins of the Narbada valley, which have been
reclaimed by population and agriculture. These basins
are a characteristic of the valley, and within the limits
of our province are four in number ; great circular
plains surrounded by steep hills, filled with deep
alluvial soil, through which the river moves slowly in
long silent reaches, with here and there a gentle stream.
Between them lie shorter sections of rus^ored ground,
where the hills on either side converge, and through
which the river tumbles in a less placid course, short
pools being connected by long broken rapids. A little
way above Jubbulpur, the last of these basins is
terminated by the again converging hills, and from this
point up to the little civil station of Mandhi the river
flows through a narrow valley, very scantily cultivated
here and there, and generally covered along the river-
side by bamboos, and on the hills by a low jungle
composed of the commoner sort of trees. Many little
tributary streams joined the river in this part of its
course. These ran up into the partially cultivated
uplands on either side of the valley ; and in the cold
season, when they contained water and green vegetation,
afforded cover to great numbers of wild animals of all
sorts. When the hot season advanced their waters
gradually dried up, and then the game all moved down

330 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

into tjbe Narbada valley, congregating at that time,
when the great mutiny had for some years prevented
their molestation, in very great numbers.

I have marched up this valley, on my way to explore
the Sal forests in the eastern part of the province. But
want of time then prevented my lingering to shoot.
The year before joining the Forest Department, however,
I had made an excursion up this valley during the hot
season ; and while cantoned at Jubbulpiir, made many
excursions through the hilly regions surrounding the
valley. Several sorts of game which have not yet been
much mentioned were then met with in great abun-
dance ; and before taking my readers towards the Sal
forests I will devote a little space to these excursions.

I was then a good deal of a "griffin," and was
obliged to rely much on the assistance of native shikaris
in finding game. The chief of these about Jubbulpur
was an arch-villain who haunted the purlieus of the
cantonment messes, and hawked about his news of
panthers, bears, deer, etc., to the highest bidder. I
don't think I ever heard his name. He was always
called " Bamanjee," or the " Brahman," for such was
his caste. He knew intimately every inch of the jungle
for twenty miles around, and had sons and nephews in
close relations with the tigers and other wild animals in
all directions. He was thoroughly acquainted with all
the different sorts of game and their habits, and really
could, when he chose, furnish first-rate sport to his
clients. But he was by nature a rogue of the first
water, generally taking his information all round the
station for offers : and taking; out the hiohest bidder to
a hunt which almost invariably ended, through some
perverse accident, in the escape without scathe of the
object of pursuit, which he would very likely bring in

THE HIGHER NARBADA. 331

the next day himself to claim the (Government reward.
He had " stumbled on it," of course, (juite by accident,
and in self-defence, etc., he was compelled to slioot it !

His great quarry was the panther, of which he was
known to have killed an almost incredible number in the
course of his long life. He lived in a little village about
four miles out of the station, just under one of the steep
isolated granite hills that rise at intervals from the
plain ; and he once showed me a notched stick, on
which fifty -two cuts recorded the number of panthers
he had killed on this hill alone. The number of these
animals in the districts round about Jubbulpiir is very
great. The low rocky hills referred to, full of hollows
and caverns, and overgrown with dense scrubby cover,
afi"ord them favourite retreats ; while the numbers of
antelope and hog deer, goats, sheep, pariah dogs, and
pigs, supply them with abundant food. A large male
panther will kill not very heavy cattle ; but as a rule
they confine themselves to the smaller animals men-
tioned. They seldom reside very far from villages,
prowling round them at night in search of prey, and
retreating to their fastnesses before daybreak. Unlike
the tiger, they care little for the neighbourhood of water
even in the hot weather, drinking only at night, and
generally at a distance from their midday retreat.

There has been much confusion among sportsmen and
writers as to the several species of Cat called "Panther,"
"Leopard," and "Hunting Leopard." Jerdou, in his
*' Mammals of India," has at last correctly distiDguished
them under the above names, recognising two varieties
marked with rosettes (the fulvous ground of the skin
showing through the black), instead of plain black spots,
which are peculiar to the Hunting Leopard (F. Julxila),
He calls both F. Fardus, considering them only as

332 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

varieties, not distinct species. In English he calls the
larger the panther and the smaller the leopard, and it
will be well if sportsmen will avoid future confusion by-
adopting this appropriate nomenclature. The points of
difference between the two varieties of F. Pardus he
states to be the larger size of the panther, which reaches
in line specimens seven feet eleven inches in length
from nose to tip of tail, the leopard not exceeding five
feet six inches ; the lighter colour, and taller and more
slender figure of the panther, and the rounder, more
bulldog-like head of the leopard.

In my early sporting days I fell into the mistake of
most sportsmen in supposing that the panther might be
hunted on foot with less caution than the tiger. On
two or three occasions I nearly paid dearly for the
error ; and I now believe that the panther is really by
far a more dangerous animal to attack than the tiger.
He is, in the first place, far more courageous. For
though he will generally sneak away unobserved as long
as he can, if once brought to close quarters he will
rarely fail to charge with the utmost ferocity, fighting
to the very last. He is also much more active than the
tiger, making immense springs clear off the ground,
which the tiger seldom does. He can conceal himself
in the most wonderful way, his spotted hide blending
with the ground, and his lithe loose form being com-
pressible into an inconceivably small space. Further,
he is so much less in depth and stoutness than the
tiger, and moves so much quicker, that he is far more
difiicult to hit in a vital place. He can climb trees,
which the tiger cannot do except for a short distance up
a thick sloping trunk. A few years ago a panther thus
took a sportsman out of a high perch on a tree in the
Chindwara district. And lastly, his powers of offence

THE HIGHER NAEBADA. 333

are scarcely inferior to those of the tiger himself ; and
are amply sufficient to be the death of any man he gets
hold of. When stationed at Damoli, near Jubbulpilr,
with a detachment of my regiment, I shot seven panthers
and leopards in less than a month, within a few miles of
the station, chiefly by driving them out with beaters ;
all of them charged who had the power to do so ; but
the little cherub who watches over " griffins" got us out
of it without damage either to myself or the beaters.
One of the smaller species, really not more than five
feet long, I believe, charged me three several times up a
bank to the very muzzle of my rifle (of which I luckily
had a couple), falling back each time to the shot, but not
dreaming of trying to escape, and dying at last at my
feet with her teeth closed on the root of a small tree.
This animal had about six inches of the quill of a porcu-
pine broken ofi" in her chest. Another jumped on my
horse, when passing through some long grass, before she
was fired at at all ; and after being kicked off" charged
my groom and gun carrier, who barely escaped by flee-
ing for their lives, leaving my only gun in the possession
of the leopard. I had to ride to cantonments for another
rifle, and to get together some beaters. When we re-
turned, I took up my post on a rock which overlooked
the patch of grass ; and the beaters had scarcely com-
menced their noise before the leopard went at them like
an arrow. An accident would certainly have happened
this time had my shots failed to stop this devil incarnate
before she reached them. She bad cubs in the grass,
which accounted for her fury; but a tigress would
have abandoned them to their fate in a similar case.
The last I killed was a man-eater, which took up his
post among the high crops surrounding a village, and
killed and dragged in women and children who ventured

334 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

out of the village. He was a panther of the largest
size, and had been wounded by a shikari from a tree,,
the ball passing through his external ear and one of his
paws, and rendering him incapable of killing game. I
was a week hunting him, as he was very careful not to
show himself when pursued ; and at last I shot him in
a cowhouse into which he had ventured, and killed
several head of cattle, before the people had courage to
shut the door.

When a panther takes to man-eating, he is a far
more terrible scourge than a tiger. In 1858 a man-
killing panther devastated the northern part of the
Seoni district, killing (incredible as it may seem) nearly
a hundred persons before he was shot by a shikari. He
never ate the bodies, but merely lapped the blood from
the throat ; and his plan was either to steal into a house
at night, and strangle some sleeper on his bed, stifling
all outcry with his deadly grip, or to climb into the high
platforms from which watchers guard their fields from
deer, and drag out his victim from there. He was not
to be baulked of his prey ; and when driven ofi" from one
end of a village, would hurry round to the opposite side
and secure another in the confusion. A few moments
completed his deadly work, and such was the devilish
cunning he joined to this extraordinary boldness that all
attempts to find and shoot him were for many months
unsuccessful. European sportsmen who went out, after
hunting him in vain all day, would find his tracks close
to the door of their tent in the morning. When, a few
years later, I passed through the scene of his chief
depredations (Dhuma), a curious myth had grown round
the history of this panther. A man and his wife were
travelling back to their home from a pilgrimage to
Benares, when they met on the road a panther. The

THE HIGHER NARBADA. 335

woman was terrified ; but the man said, " Fear not, I
possess a charm by which I can transform myself into
any shape. I will now become a panther, and remove
this obstacle from the road, and on my return you must
place this powder in my mouth, when I will recover my
proper shape." He then swallowed his own portion of
the magic powder, and assuming the likeness of the
panther, persuaded him to leave the path. Returning
to the woman, he opened his mouth to receive the
transposing charm ; but she, terrified by his dreadful
appearance and open jaws, dropped it in the mire, and
it was lost. Then, in despair, he killed the author of
his misfortune, and ever after revenged himself on the
race whose form he could never resume.

The Seoni panther is not a solitary case, several
other man-eating panthers having done scarcely less
amount of mischief in other parts of the province.
Their indifference to water makes it extremely difiicult
to bring them to book ; and, indeed, panthers are far
more generally met with by accident than secured by
regular hunting. When beating with elephants they
are very rarely found, considering their numbers ; but
they must be frequently passed at a short distance,
unobserved, in this kind of hunting. I was hunting for
a tigress and cubs near Khapa, on the Lawa river, in
Betul ; their tracks of a few days old led into a deep
fissure in the rocky banks of the river, above which
I went, leaving the elephant below, and threw in stones
from the edge. Some vray up I saw a large panther
steal out at the head, and sneak across the plain. He
was out of shot, and I followed on his tracks, which were
clear enough for a few hundred yards, till, at the cross-
ing of a small rocky nala, they disappeared. I could
not make it out, and was returning to the elephant.

336 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA,

when I saw the driver makino: sisjnals. He had followed
me up above, and had seen the panther sneak back
along the little nala, which led into the top of the
ravine, and re-enter the latter. I then went and placed
myself so as to command the top of the ravine, and sent
people below to fling in stones, and presently the
panther broke again at the same place, this time gallop-
ing away openly across the plain. I missed with both
barrels of my rifle, but turned him over with a lucky
shot from a smooth-bore, at more than two hundred
yards. I then went up to him on the elephant, and
he made feeble attemj)ts to rise and come at me, but he
was too far gone to succeed. The panther will charge
an elephant with the greatest ferocity. Near Sambalpur,
a party of us were beating a bamboo cover for pigs,
with a view to the sticking thereof, my elephant accom-
panying the beaters, when a shout from the latter
announced that they had stumbled on a panther. They
took to trees, and I got on the elephant to turn him
out, while the others exchanged their hog-spears for
rifles, and surrounded the place on trees. She got up
before me, bounding away over the low bamboos, and I
struck her on the rum^D with a light breech-loading gun
as she disappeared. Several shots from the trees failed
to stop her, and she took refuge in a very dense thorny
cover on the banks of a little stream. Twice up and
down I passed without seeing the brute, but firing once
into a log of wood in mistake for her, and was going
along the top of the cover for the third time when the
elephant pointed down the bank with her extended
trunk. We threw some stones in, but nothing moved ;
and at last a peon came up with a huge stone on his
head, which he heaved down the bank. Next moment
a yellow streak shot from the bushes, and, levelling the

THE HIGHER NARBADA. 337

adventurous peon, like a flash of liglitning came straiglit
at my elephant's head, when, just at the last spring, I
broke her back with the breech-loader, and she fell over
under the elephant's trunk, tearing at the earth and
stones and her own body in her bloody rage. She had
a cub in the cover, about the size of a cat, wliich 1 shot
on the way back.

The method usually resorted to by old Bamanjee
and other native shikaris for killing panthers and
leopards was by tying out a kid, with a line attached to
a fish-hook through its ear, a pull at which makes the
poor little brute continue to squeak, after it has cried
itself to silence about its mother. No sentiment of
humanity interferes with the devices of the mild Hindii.
A dog in a pit, with a basket-work cover over it, and
similarly attached to a line, is equally effective. I have
known panthers repeatedly to take animals they have
killed up into trees to devour, and once found the body
of a child, that had been killed by a panther in the
Betul district, so disposed of in the fork of a tree.
They are very often lost, I believe, by taking unobserved
to trees. Beating them out of cover with a strong body
of beaters and fireworks is, on the whole, the most suc-
cessful way of hunting these cunning brutes ; but it is
accompanied by a good deal of risk to the beaters as
well as to the sportsman, if he is over- venturesome ;
and it is apt, also, to end in disappointment in most
instances. My own experience is that the majority of
panthers one finds are come across more by luck than
good management.

Old Bamanjee, w^ith whom I had often been out on
short trips with considerable success, induced me to take
a month's leave, and accompany him up the Narbadd
valley from Jubbulpur to shoot. The game promised

338 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

consisted of tigers, bears, sambar, and spotted deer ;
and I found that all these were really attainable in no
small numbers. The sambar and bears lived on the hill
ranges on either side of the river ; while the spotted
deer, as usual, kept to the banks of the river, where a
network of ravines, covered with clumps of bamboo,
afforded them the plentiful shade and abundance of
water they delight in. In attendance on them was the
tio-er, who revelled in the abundance of game then con-
crreo-ated about the river. The herds of cattle and
buffaloes that w^ere grazing in the valley were seldom
touched, excepting in one place, where I found a family
of tigers wholly subsisting upon them ; but nearly every
day we stumbled on the remains of spotted deer, sambar,
and nilgai, which had fallen victims to the destroyer.
The destroyer himself, however, kept, with a good deal
of success, out of our way. I was too green a hand to
hunt him then with the silent perseverance which alone
ensures success, and could rarely resist a promising shot
at other game on the distant chance of finding a tiger.
Nor do I think that Mr. Bamanjee much desired to have
very many interviews with his jungle majesty. Spotted
deer were in immense numbers, and the bucks were every-
w^here bellowing along the banks, and in the bamboo-
covered ravines that radiate from the river. It was
very easy to shoot the poor brutes at that time, the best
plan being to embark in a canoe dug out of a single log,
and paddle slowly down the reaches a little way from
the bank, between daybreak and ten or eleven o'clock.
The air of repose worn by the wdiole scene at that time
is scarcely broken by the movement of animal life. The
lazy plunge of a crocodile, the eddying rise of a great
fish, the hover of a gem-like kingfisher, the easy flight
of the dark, square-winged buzzard, all add to, rather

THE HIGHER NART5ADA. 339

than diminish, the sense of quietness in tlic scene.
Immense numbers of peafowl live on the banks. Tlii.'j
is the season of their loves, and almost every bare knoll
may be seen covered with a Hock of tliem, tlie liens
sitting demurely in the centre, while the cocks rufile
out their magnificent plumage, and spread tlieir gorgeous
trains, and waltz round and round them in a most
absurd f^ishion. The boatmen are fond of tryino- to
catch them when absorbed in this dance of love ; and,
though I have never seen one actually secured, I have
seen an active fellow get so near as to pluck some
feathers from the tail of the collapsed and retreatin^T
swain. No riotous sounds offend the ear in this peaceful
valley. The Koel, bird of the morning, raises now and
then his staccato note from some overhanging tree, or
the giant Sarus crane floats his tremulous cry alono- the
calm surface of the lake-like river.

But hark ! From a clump of tangled bamboos, over-
hanging the mouth of a little burn that joins the river,
rings the loud bellow of a spotted buck. The boatman
sticks his long pole down to the bottom, and anchors
the dug-out, while the sportsman, with cocked rifle,
watches in the bow. Presently a rustle and a motion
in the fringe of bright-green jaman bushes that edge the
river, and the head and shoulders of a noble buck
emerge, one fore-foot advanced hesitatingly to the strip
of yellow sand beside the water. Another instant and
he stands, a statue of grace and beauty, on the open
beach. Now he has seen the boat, and his careless mien
is changed for an attitude of intense regard. IMotionless,
head thrown up, and antlers sweeping his flanks, he
might be photographed for the second or two he stands
at gaze. In an instant more he will wheel round and
plunge into the thicket, unless stopped by the deadly

z 2

340 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

bullet. The true sportsman will often spare the
beautiful creature, even when thus at the point of his
rifle, when a week or two of the easy sport has satiated
his ardour, and filled his camp with meat and trophies
of graceful antlers. It was impossible in those days to
walk half a mile along the river bank without seeing
deer, and I have known an indifferent shot kill six
bucks here in a morning.

There was some excitement in the chance of stum-
bling on a tiger in the cool thickets of green cover by
the river, or, like the sportsman, stalking the spotted
deer. I was following a wounded buck once, when I
thus almost trod upon a tiger doing the very same thing.
It was in the dusk of the evening, when I saw him about
twenty paces ahead of me, roading up the bloody trail
like a retriever on a winged pheasant. He was passing
over a low ridge between two ravines, and I was below
him — a situation awkward for a foot-encounter with any
dangerous animal. I therefore waited till he disappeared
on the other side, and then running softly up, peered
down from behind a clump of bamboos. Presently I
saw the wounded buck and two does start out of some
cover beyond the further ravine, and then a motion of
the tiger, who had been standing a little below them, as
he quickly crouched out of their sight, revealed him to
me. I sat down, and took a steady shot at his shoulder
at about seventy yards. He rolled back into the nala,
above which I was standing, and, after a good deal of
growling and struggling among the leaves, all was still.
It would have been folly to go down to him in such
uncertain light, so I returned to the boat, going back
next morning with an elephant to see the result. It
was just as well I had not ventured down in the dark
the night before ; for, after lying some time where he

THE HIGHER NAEBADA. 341

fell, and leaving a great pool of blood on the ground, he
had afterwards recovered himself, and gone slowly and
painfully off towards the river. We followed up the
track, and about three hundred yards further down
found him, by the chattering of birds, lying stiff and
stark under a bush. He had never reached the water
he sought.

About twenty - five miles above Jubbulpiir is a
curious place called *' The Monkeys' Leap." A small
tributary of the Narbada, called the Baghora (or " Tiger
Eiver "), here comes down from the southern hills, and,
after approaching the Narbadd, within about a hundred
yards, sheers off again, and runs some miles before it
finally joins it. Deep water fills both the channels
opposite the narrow neck, and the strip of cover
between the rivers is a favourite resort for all sorts of
game in the hot season. I was invited by a neighbour-
ing Thakiir, a Eajpiit, to join a drive for game he was
arranging at this place, in which he hoped to secure a
famous tiger that had long defied every effort to kill
him. Long will " Whitehead," of the Gaira Baird, be
remembered on the banks of the Narbada. He fur-
nished sport to a whole generation of the sportsmen of
Jubbulpiir, and, so far as 1 know, never was killed. He
disappeared in the course of time. Several hundred
beaters were assembled to beat the leg-of-mutton shaped
tract, of which the narrow "Monkeys' Leap" between
the two rivers formed the shank. A large old stump of
a banyan tree stood right in the centre of the neck,
hollowed like a cup at the top by the weather, and filled
a few inches deep with drift sand. A better post for the
gunner could not be, and here the Thdkiir and I took
our places. It was a long drive, and it was not for an
hour or more that the game began to appear, and groups

342 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

of spotted deer gradually collected on all the knolls
within sight on the inward side. They grew and grew
in numbers, gazing back at the beaters and forward at
the tree, where they had often run the gauntlet before.
They were very unwilling to come on, but the drive was-
strong and not to be eluded. I watched for the tiger till
many of the deer had gone past ; at first a straggling
doe with her fawn, then small groups, and finally a great
hustling mass of dappled hides and tossing antlers.
There was no tiger evidently in the beat. The Thakiir's
long matchlock had already been the death of a buck,
and he was painfully reloading its long tube from his
primitive charging implements. I had a couple of rifles,,
single and doable, and it was the work of as many
seconds only to fire the three barrels, killing two and
wounding another. There were no breech-loaders in
those days ; but I had time to reload the double while
the stream of deer poured past, and secure two more
bucks before the beaters came up. The wounded buck
was afterwards recovered. There cannot have been less
than a thousand spotted deer in this beat ; and I never
before or since saw such a sight. With a breech-loader
twenty or thirty bucks could easily have been killed.
One of the bucks I killed had the largest horns I have
ever seen, measuring each thirty-eight inches round the
curve.

1 had another beat for " Whitehead " afterwards, near
the same place. The beaters came on him in a patch
of long grass jungle, from which he obstinately refused
to move. He had been once wounded in a drive, and
never would face the guns again. At last we set fire to
the jungle, while I awaited him on a tree at one end.
The raging flames must have passed comj^letely over
him, and it was not till they had nearly reached my

THE HIGHER KARBADA. 343

post, and tlie lieat was exjDloding tlie dried fruits of a
leael tree * next to me, with reports like pistol shots,
that I retreated from my post. I had barely reached
the ground when I heard a shout from the beaters, who
were all in the trees round about the cover, and the
tiger broke out among them. Then ensued a drawing-
up of black legs, and a perfect Babel of abuse of his
remotest ancestors was poured on him from the trees
as he halted below, and looked up at them with a
longing gaze. I hurried round, but was just in time
to see him pause for a moment on the top of a ridge,
his grand form appearing dilated to an unnatural size,
from the bracing of the muscles, lashing tail, and
bristling coat, bathed in the red glow of the setting
sun and the blazing jungle. The next instant, before
my riiie could be got to bear on him, he plunged down
the farther side and disappeared.

I had one piece of really wonderful luck in this trip,
which compensated for a good deal of heavy fagging in
vain after the monarch of the jungle. I will quote the
account as written at the time, which betrays an en-
thusiasm I should scarcely be able to call up in such
a description nowadays, and which gives the details of
a method of hunting tigers which in later years 1
abandoned as involving too great a risk of human life,
namely, driving with beaters. In such a country as the
Upper Narbada valley, however, the more legitimate
method of stalking with the elephant could scarcely be
followed, owing to the extent and density of the cover
and the abundance of water.

Three tigers, namely, a tigress and her two nearly
full-grown cubs, had long been the plague of some
villases on the banks of the river. Their depredations
* ^gle marinalos.

344 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA.

extended over about five miles of country, where they
found beef so plentiful and easily got that they seldom
wandered above that distance from their usual haunts,
which lay in a mesh of most difficult ravines bordering
the Narbada, and running up towards the hills. The covert
here was of the densest description, though thinner,
of course, at this time of the year than at any other.
On my arrival in the neighbourhood, I was immediately
solicited to go and rid it of these pests, and every
assistance promised. So I pitched my camp at the
village nearest to their haunts, and began to lay plans
for their destruction. There was no need to tie animals
out as baits for the tigers, as is sometimes done, for here
they killed a cow or two every other day, although, food
being so plentiful, they seldom remained long near the
carcases. The third evening after I came, two cows
were killed about a mile from camp. I would not allow
them to be touched, trusting that, having eaten well
during the night, the tigers would lie up in some place
close at hand, to which we might track them next
morning, and beat them out in the heat of the day.

When any tracking has to be done, it is of great
importance to be at the spot very early in the morning,
as the breezes, which generally rise shortly after day-
break, are apt to destroy the fiue edges of the impressions
left, and by nine o'clock it is often impossible to tell
whether the marks are old or new. We accordingly
started for the " murrees " before daylight, and had no
difficulty in finding the place, which was deeply marked
by the feet of both tigers and cows, and a broad trail
led ofi" in the direction the tis^ers had drao-^-ed the
carcases. Following this up, it led us shortly into a
ravine, where we found the remains of both cows
deposited in different narrow clefts, where the tigers

THE HIGHER XARIJADA. 315

had retired to dine at their leisure. Of one the head
iilone was left, and the head and fore-quarters of the
other. The carcases had evidently been most scienti-
fically cleaned out by these professional butchers before
setting to work, the dung and other refuse being care-
fully piled up at a little distance, so as not to come
between the wind and their nobility during the repast.
Vultures, kites, and crows had already commenced to
demolish the remainder — a sure sio-n that our crame had
left the immediate neighbourhood.

Taking up the tracks, we followed them fur about
half a mile along the ravine towards the river. The
prints of the old lady and her daughters were nearly
the same in size, and scarcely distinguishable. The
Gonds who were tracking declared that they could tell
that the cubs were both females. This, I confess, I was
somewhat incredulous of, although I had frequently had
occasion to admire their extraordinary skill in trackinf ;
and I thought they were merely trusting to the well-
known preponderance of female over male cubs,* to get
a little kudos in the event of their prediction turning
out true. This was subsequently the case, but I have
since learned that the footmarks are really distinguish-
able. On inquiry, I found that while the foot of the
male leaves an impression nearly round, that of the
tigress is almost oval. On seeing them both together
the difierence is at once perceived. This is likewise
true of the male and female panther. With a single
exception, the footprints of all these great cats can be
distinguished with certainty after a little practice, which

* Xatives account for this by saying that the old male tiger kills
all the male cubs he comes across when they are young ; and thoy
describe so similarly, in different parts of the country, the manoeuvres
of mamma to protect her young " hopefuls" against their unnatural
papa, that I have little doubt of the truth of the story.

346 THE HIGHLANDS OF CEXTRAL INDIA.

is no small assistance to the hunter at times. The-
exception is, that a large male panther and a young
male tiger leave marks absolutely identical, and not to
be distinguished by the best native trackers.

After following the easily-read trail in the sandy
bottom of the ravine for some half-mile or so, the ravine
branched off into two ; the main branch leading straight
down to the river, and the other a narrow, rock-bound
gully, striking off almost at right angles to the left.
The sturdy little Gond who was then leading seemed to
grow somewhat anxious as we approached the junction,,
and his swarthy countenance lighted up with a smile
pleasant to see, when he found that all three tigers had
entered the ororofe to the left.

" We have them ! " he exclaimed ; " they are in the
dewur, and as good as killed."

Demur is the local name for a place where two or
three nalas meet, and form a hollow in which water
remains throughout the hot weather ; if sufficiently
shady and cool, it is a favourite haunt of the tiger ; and
it really seemed very likely that the tigers, having
gorged themselves at night, had proceeded to lie up in
the dewur, as surmised by the Gond. To make all
sure, we described a circle round the place, carefully
examining all the nalds that led from it, and findino: no
marks to indicate their exit^ returned to camp, pretty
confident of having "ringed" the family, and that
we would find them asleep about twelve o'clock. A
scorching hot wind was blowing fiercely across the plain
when I left my tent after breakfast, and mounted the
howdah. It was fearfully hot, and the flickering haze
that plays over the bare ground at this season, like an
exhalation of gas from its surface, playing the strangest
]) ranks with houses, trees, and figures, was exceedingly

THE HIGHER XAKl'.ADA. .T17

painful to the eyes. Never mind I all the more chance
of finding the tigers at liome, and we were soon
under way for the dewur. About a hundred and
fifty beaters had collected, for, the whole wealth of
these people lying in their herds, they were natu-
rally anxious for the destruction of the family of
pests.

On arriving at the scene of operations, they were
told off into four parties, each placed under charge of
one of the more respectable inhabitants ; and, after
strict injunctions about taking to trees, etc., were des-
patched to their several posts. There were only two
places where the tigers were likely to break, of which
one led to the river, and the other, a dry watercourse,
towards the neighbouring hills. Some peculiarities in
the ground induced me to select the latter for my own
post, while I entrusted the former to the old shikdri
with his matchlock. I got an excellent position in a
thick covert of jaman bushes, while at the same time
effectually commanding the pass.

Half an hour elapsed, as agreed on, and then burst
forth from the beaters the most terrific Babel of
barbarous noises ever heard out of Pcindemonium. I
had engaged a " band," that had come from some dis-
tance to assist at the marriage of a wealthy merchant in
the village, and we were, consequently, powerful in
instrumental music. Fancy drums, great and small,
*' ear-piercing fifes," "rumtoolabs" of formidable dimen-
sions (a hideous copper wind instrument, indescribable
in simple English, but which I fancy must be identical
with the "cholera horn " of Southern India), mingled
with a tempest of w^atchmen's rattles (each of iilty
landrail power), and abundantly supplemented by vocal
abuse of the tigers' ancestors to the tenth generation.

348 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

delivered in tlie loudest key of native Billingsgate, and
you have a faint idea of the row !

As they approached, it of course got more and more
exciting, and soon the various inhabitants of the dewur
began to make their appearance. First came a peacock
and two hens, pattering over the fallen leaves. Sharper
in eyesight than any other denizen of the forest, they
soon observed me, and, rising in a panic, sailed off with
their beautifully steady flight towards the river, the
gorgeous plumage of the cock flashing in the sun — six
feet of living gold and purple !

Another rustle, and a herd of spotted deer came
trotting over a little eminence ahead, led by a well-
antlered buck, with two more good ones bringing up the
rear. Entirely taken up by the noise of the beaters,
they never observed me, and, passing within fifteen
paces of my elephant, disappeared in the jungle. I
could have shot any one, or perhaps two, of the bucks,
but seeing what was more interesting at the time, held
my hand. This was a troop of baboons — hoary-bearded
old fellows, and matrons with their young ones in their
arms — who were j)erched on the trees ahead, and had
already commenced their angry warnings that the tigers
were there.

Then came the glorious moment of excitement —
ample reward for days of bootless toil. The tigress
came sneakino^ alonsj amone^st the bushes thatfrinsjed the
nala, and, halting about sixty paces off, turned round
her head for a moment towards the beaters. Steady
now ! the bottom of the neck is exposed, and the sight
of the big rifle bears full upon the proper spot. Bang !
and with a gurgling roar, over she rolls into the ndld.
Is it she ? or the devil, or what ? Certainly she fell ;
but, from the very spot she stood on, bounds forth the

Till': inrjiER xAur.Aixi. 310

image of herself, with blood pouring in torrents from a
gaping wound in the neck ! Move still ; a third leaps
the ndla just in front of my elephant, and the jungle
seems alive with tigers. I had instantly exchanged tlie
single for the double rifle, and as this one passed me at
full speed, I rolled her over with a broken back and a
bullet through the shoulder. Meantime the wounded
one had disappeared behind me, and I proceeded to
inspect the field, and count the killed and wounded.
The last shot was a cub ; so was the one that had rolled
into the nala to the first shot : and it was the old tii^ress
that had escaped behind me. This was all a mystery,
till I found that the first one was shot through the
heart, the ball entering through the ribs, whereas, the
first tig^er I had fired at was standino- almost facinor me
when I pulled ; and then it was explained. One ball,
the crashing two-ounce one, had passed through the
tisfress, and killed cub No. 1 on the other side.

My little elephant, a female called Kali, quite
untried, which I had borrowed from the Jubbulpiir
commissariat, had behaved nobly. Curling her trunk
out of harm's way, and placing her sturdy fore-legs
firmly before her, she stood like a rock in the midst of
all the noise (for the trio roared like very bulls of
Bashan). I had therefore perfect confidence in proceed-
m<y to follow up the wounded tigress. We soon found
blood in plenty leading along the nala towards the hills.
I had taken the precaution of placing scouts on all the
principal trees, some of whom had seen her cross an
open space and enter the nahi where it debouched from
a cleft in the hill-side ; she was going quite strong, they
said, although bleeding freely from the neck. On
inquiry I found that the gorge in the hill was a mere
cul-de-sac, having no exit at the other side, except on to

350 THE HIGHLANDS OF CEXTKAL IXDIA.

an elevated plateau, as bare as my hand, which a
wounded ti2:er would never dare to face. There was no
doubt, therefore, that she had stopped in this gully and
would fight, so I proceeded to make arrangements for
the attack. The first thing done was to send men up
the hill, by a circuitous route, to post themselves on
trees all round the top of the ravine, as outlooks. This
done, I advanced along the nala till I found the blood
again, which I followed up slowly, keeping a bright
look-out ahead. The ravine was densely covered on
both banks by clumps of bamboo jungle, and I had just
reached the first of these when up jumped the tigress
with a roar, and galloped off as fresh as ever towards
the head of the ravine ; I had two snap shots at her,
which made her speak still louder, but otherwise had no
effect. The people above now shouted out that
she had again laid down higher up the nald, among
some bamboos half-way up the banks. It would
not do to approach her in this position from below,
as a charge would probably have resulted in a
general roll to the bottom of the ravine ; so, with
considerable labour, we climbed up to the table-land, and
went round till we were right above her. Here, how-
ever, the bank was too steep to admit of a descent ; so,
getting a supply of stones into the howdah, I com-
menced bombarding the bamboo clumps, and at the
third shot the tigress charged out. On she came within
twenty paces, when her heart failed her ; she turned
sharp ofi" to the left, and I got two pretty fair shots at
her, which told loudly, but still she went on as strong
as ever. This time she crossed quite over to the opposite
side of the ravine, and ascended the bank, as if with the
intention of bolting across the open ground. The scouts
kept shouting out to me to come round, which I did.

THE HIGHER NAKliADA. 351

and found them in a terrible panic, for the tigress, seeing
them on the trees, kept walking about and eyeing tlioiu
in a cat-and-mouse sort of manner, growling fearfully
and lashing her tail about. The first of them 1 came to
told me she was then lying down at the foot of a tree
further on, watching two Gonds in the branches. 1 soon
reached the place : the wretched Cimds were too much
frightened to speak, but pointed to the ground below
the tree, and sat jabbering like monkeys as I approached,
I now made out the tail of the tigress impatiently switch-
ing up and down ; she herself l)cing crouched in the long
grass, I could not see her body. On perceiving the ele-
phant she jumped up, and, making a short run forwards,
crouched again. We steadily advanced, and, finding
she could not put us to flight, she took to it herself, and
suddenly bounded again towards the ravine. I had
another shot as she was disappearing over the bank.
This time it was the large rifle, and she caught it unmis-
takably ; for, on coming to the place where she had
vanished, we could hear her down below, growling and
struoforlinsr on the ground. The descent here was more
gradual, though the bamboo cover was dreadfully thick.
The elephant was sliding down on her haunches, stones
and earth rolling down before her. The growling grew
deeper as we descended, and the noise of struggling
ceased, as if the tigress had collected herself for a last
charge. The bamboo stems kept whipping me in the
face as I stood in the howdah with my double smooth-
bore ready for the coup de grdce. My face was soon
covered with blood, and my shooting-jacket torn to
ribands. A raging thirst parched my throat, for I had
now been some five hours in the sun ; and my hat
having been swept off on first entering the bamboos, its
rays had been for some time beating full on my unpro-

352 'I'm: III^;iILAM)S ok CK.N'TIiAL IXlJlA.

tcctcd .skull. I i';lt> my Ik^.'kI ])(i<^\n to Hwijn, .'lud the
baraljoo .stems to <J;ii)<:<; Ixtfojo m<; in an indistinct maze.
Had it la.stcd mucli longer, 1 feel certain I must have
liad. a Hurjstroke ; hut the last act was jjlaying out.
(Jrasli went tli(; elepliant into a den,se clump of ham-
hoos ; a j;iggcd .stem seized me hy tlie nef;k ; and a.s
1 raised my hand to disengage it, the roar of the tigress
hurst fortli in my very face; a striped form rose in the
centre of llie elump, in the act of hounding on the ele-
phant's Jie;id. licaning over tli<; railing of the howdah,
I. levelle*! the gun, douhJe-sljott(jd in hotli barrels, at
her chest; and the next moment was shouting out:
''¥()]• (aO(Vh sake, bring th;i,t claret and water, will you,
and come down, h;dl'-a-doz<;n of you, and take iij> tins
carcase ! "

8o [ bagged the wjjf^le hunily, to the no small
delight of the cittle-keepers of tin; j)lace.

A large p;uither was making himself vcvy troui)le-
sorae at that time in the neighbourhood of tli(; .luhhuljjur
and Mandia road. He had killed several children in
different vill;iges, ;ind j)romised, nnhi.ss suppi'e.ssed, to
he<;ome a i(;;nd;u' m;i,n-eatei\ I (tncampe.d for some <l<iys
in the neighl>oiirlio(i<l of his haunts, ;uid the vc.vy lirst
night tin; vilhiin h;i,d th(i impuden<;e to kill ;uid dj;ig
away a good-sized bnggJige pony out of my camp. Tin;
night being warm, i was sleejjing outside, for the ;;;i,ke
of coolness, and w.'is awaken(;d \)y the riving, gurgling
nois(i close, to my bed. it was t<jo dai'k to see; ho J
])ul!ed out the, revolver, th;it in those unc<'rl/;i,in tim(!S
always l;i.y iindei- my pillow, .-Mid lire.d off n, couj)le of
shots to scare tlu; intrude)'. (Jetting .'i, light, 1 was
relifjved to find it w;is oidy tin; pony, inst(;ad of a
humjin heing, :i,s I had half {'cnn'A, and we proceeded to
investigate the c(jiiditi(;ii of the deceased.

THK iihiiiKi; NAi:r>Ai».\. 3r>3

'rih> l>nitc li;ul soi.-.cd liiin hy (lu> week, which was
dialocalcil ; thi> jiiouhir was also diviih'tl, aiul he had
ovid(Mi(ly hccn ilriiikini;- I he l>K>t>(l whiMi m\' shots, or
porhaps (he Ii;!;ht, scarcil him oil'. 'VUo iii^hl. was loo
dark for any at(iMuj)( (o kill the |>aiither, who, moro-
ovi'r, hail [uohahly hceii scai\'il coinplclcU awaN' I'voni
tho lUMghhourhooil o( tho eamp. It was, howesfr, very
probable that he would return next, eveniii;;- in tpiest of
the pony bel'ore it was too dark to shoot, and I was
persuaded 1)\' the old shik.iia to sit up o\i a " inaehan
and wateh l't>r him. A small n.d;i ran from the river
nearly up io the eanip, as is alwa)s the ease when a
niisailventur(> like this occurs. This 1 hail ov(>rlooked
wluMj select ini; a site for my tent. We drai;t;ed the
carcase, without toui'hiui;- it ourselves, to tin' head oi'
tliis nala, where there was a convenient tree. The
slukarf — an old hand at this sort of work — strewed the
grounil for some paei>s round the pony with iVt-sh white
wlieat-chatr, which he saiil would not prevent the
l)antlier coniintJj to (\M>d. while it certainly riMidered (he
chance i>t' hitting; in tlu' dark much o'reatcr ; aiul about
SUnact he and I took our places on the machan. There
was small chance ol the panther niakini^' his appearance
so early in tlu' eveninp^, so 1 commenced a whisjiered
conversation with the old man abi>nt machan shoot inf
iu general, which he e\identl\' considert'd the linest
ajiort in tlu> worhl, as well as the aalest. lie was lull
of stories t)!' curiiuis events that had occurred io himself
and others ; and (old me many as we sat (hrouj^h the
long hours toi;'etluM-, of which 1 only rememberi'd one
next morning sutUciently well to note it down in my
journal. Sonudunv we got on the subject of man-eating
tigers, ami I hapjiened to ask him if he had ever wateluHl
for a. man-i"ater o\er the botl\' of a man lii> had killed.

'2 A

354 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

"Yes," said he, "but I didu't mucli fancy it, as it
stinks abominably, and, besides, I don't care to have
more to do with ghosts than I can help, after what
liappened to Padam Singh, Thdkiir of Ponhri."

With much pressing, I got him to tell me this
wonderful tale, which was much as follows : — ** The
village of Ponhri, about thirty coss from here, was
haunted a few years ago by a perfect shitan of a man-
eatiug tiger. lie was very old and very cunning.
There were two ghats that led from the village to the
open country, and on the hill between these he used to
live. Whenever he saw any persons leave the village,
he would rush across to the ghat they selected, and
wayhiy them there ; springing out with a roar, and
carrying off one of the party like a flash of lightning.
Often did the people of the village see him thus stalking
some wretched traveller, and sometimes were in time to
warn him to take to a tree ; but still oftener the monster
was too cunning for them, and approached his victim in
the stealthy manner only a man-eater can. He some-
times left his post for a few^ days, and w^as then sure to
be heard of at some one of the surrounding villages at
his old tricks. The road by Ponhri was soon completely
blocked up, and no one would pass that way, although
it was the high-road to several large villages. The tiger
soon became straitened for food, as, having become con-
firmed in his taste for human flesh, he could now eat no
other ; so he took to frequenting the outskirts of the
villaire, and tw^o or three times stalked the Aheers, who
were driving home their cattle, up to the very doors.
The buffaloes, how^evcr, which you know^ do not in the
least fear a tiger when in a body, always discovered him
and drove him off before he could do any mischief.
Thus repeatedly baffled, the man-eater conceived the

THE HIGHER NARBADA. 355

bold idea of lying in wait for one of the cowherds in his
own house. This he did, somehow manaoin"' to smucro-le
himself in unobserved ; and when the wretched man,
after securing his charge in their shed, returned blithely
home to his dinner, just as he reached the door forth
sprang the terrible scourge of the village, and, racing off
to the hills with the Aheer in his horrid jaws, disaj)peared
in an instant !

" It was about the hour of sunset, and most of the
villagers returned from their work were collected by the
image of Mahadeo, under the village pepul tree, discuss-
ing the events of the day. Amongst them was a Gond
Thakiir, named Padani Singh, who had killed his tiger,
and was consequently considered the village authority
on sporting matters. He was a man of determination,
as his after-conduct wdll show, and at once proposed
that they should proceed in a body and rescue the
remains of their fellow- villao-er from the maw of the
spoiler. Arming themselves as best they could, and
taking all the drums and other noisy instruments in the
village, they sallied forth and approached the spot where
the man-eater had retired to devour the Aheer. Bold
and undaunted as the tmev is when himself the ao-aressor,
the most terrible man-eater wants the courafye to stand
the approach of a body of men like this ; so he retreated
(as, indeed, the villagers very well knew he would).
They found the corpse half eaten, the upper half remain-
ing untouched. Padam Singh, the possessor of the only
matchlock in the place, proposed that the remains should
be left untouched, that he might sit up in a tree, and,
awaitinoj the return of the tiijer, rid the village for ever
of the pest. To this the dead man's relations yielded an
unwillinof assent, and Padani Singh was left to the
ghastly company of the corpse, perched high on a

2 A 2

356 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

neighbouring tree. Ere long the man-eater returned,
and the Thakiir watched his approach with immense
satisfaction from his lofty position. The tiger approached
within eighty yards or so — thirty too far for a sure
aim with the rude matchlock. Then he paused, and to
his horror the Thakur saw the mutilated corpse slowly
raise its right arm, and point with a warning gesture at
himself ! On the signal, the man-eater instantly
disappeared in the jungle. Transfixed with horror, the
Thdkiir remained glued to the tree. Shortly the tiger
again returned, and again was the same mute warning
given by the dead man, the tiger disappearing as before.
A bright idea now struck the Thdkiir, who had some-
what recovered his senses, and cutting two sharp stakes
with his knife, he slipped down the tree and pegged
both hands of the corpse firmly to the ground. Scarcely
had he regained his perch when the man-eater again
appeared ; and, concluding from the absence of the
signal that the danger no longer existed, proceeded
quietly to resume his horrid feast. He had buried his
jaws in the neck of the corpse, when the matchlock of
the aveno;er flashed forth its contents. Struck full on
the shoulder by the two bullets with which Padam
Singh had loaded his weapon, the dreaded man-eater
rolled over dead on the body of his last victim."

It is singular how widely spread is this superstition
regarding the malice against their fellows entertained by
the spirits of persons killed by wild beasts. According
to Sir J. Lubbock, many other savage races, besides
those of India, have entertained it ; and it will be seen
further on that it forms the o-round of a sinojular
ceremony among the wild Bygas of the Mandla district.

The panther of course never came to the carcase of
the pony. I never saw an animal do so yet ; but I

THE HIGHER NARBADA. 357

have, I confess, only tried it a few times. Some
sportsmen have been very successful in this machan-
shooting by night ; but it would be poor fun even if
one killed a tiger every night.

Sambar were extremely numerous at that time on
the hills on both sides of the valley, but particularly on
the north side. Shots at them could be procured by
driving almost any of the hills with beaters, and I killed
a number of them both this way and by stalking.
Although it was near the end of the month of April,
when, according to theory, both sambar and spotted
deer should have cast their horns, yet, out of the
immense number of both species that I saw in this trip,
only one sambar, and two or three spotted bucks, were
without horns. Some of the most interesting sport I
have had in this valley has been in coursing the sdmbar
with dogs. During this trip I fell in with a gang of
Gond woodcutters, who possessed a number of fine large
red-coloured dogs, with the aid of which they were able
to run down and spear many deer and wild pigs.

This red breed of pariahs is certainly the indigenous
one of these parts, whether or not, as I suspect, descended
from the wild species which frequent these jungles.
The large parti-coloured animals, seen about Hindu
villages in the open valley, were probably imported
along with their masters. The wild dogs live in packs
of fifteen or twenty, and prey exclusively on game,
running down all sorts of deer like a pack of hounds.
Where a pack has been hunting for any time, most of
the game naturally disappears. This applies to the tiger
even, which they are said to attack wherever they meet
him. Tigers would naturally follow the herds of deer
on which they prey, if they were moved by the wild
dogs ; but there is such a consensus of native opinion as

358 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

to the wild pack actually hunting, and even sometimes
killing tigers, that it is difficult altogether to discredit
it. I do not believe that any number of the dogs could
overcome a tiger in fair fight ; but I think it quite
possible that they might stick to him, and wear him out
l)y keeping him from his natural food. Many stories
are related of tigers climbing into trees (which of course
is quite against their nature) to escape from them ; and
I once saw the hones of a tiger lying on a ledge of rock,
where more than one person assured me that they had
seen him lying surrounded by a large pack of the w'ild
doofs.

The wild dog of this part of India"" is about the size
of a small setter, and the colour of the old " mustard "
breed of terriers. In shape, however, he is more vulpine
than any European breed of dogs, with a long, sharp
face, erect but not very long or pointed ears, and
slouching tail never raised higher than the line of the
back. In these respects he very much resembles the
red pariahs above mentioned, the most noticeable
distinction beins; that the latter raise their tails at times
a good deal higher, with something of a curl. Very
often, however, and particularly when moving fast, the
pariahs carry their tails just like the wild dog ; and so
close is sometimes the resemblance between them, that
I remember on one occasion, near Mandld, I allowed
wdiat afterwards proved to be really a wild dog to escape
from before my rifle, as he trotted across the road
before me, thinking him to be one of those red pariahs
strayed from some village. There is of course the
considerable distinction, that the wild dog cannot bark,
while the tame one can. But how readily the voice of
the latter reverts to the howl of the wild animal must
* Cuon rutilans.

THE HIGHER NAEBADA. 3r)9

have been remarked by every one who has passed by a
viUage when they came forth to salute him.

But to return to our muttons. I arrane^ed with the
owners of some of these red dosjs to have a morninij^'s
sambar hunting with them, assisted by two capital
hounds of my own. Scouts were out before daybreak,
and^marked down a herd of about twenty sarabar on a
spur which jutted out into the plain from the main
range^of hills. This spur was covered with mhowa
trees, the deciduous flowers of which have a strong
attraction for all sorts of deer, as well as bears and
Gonds. The former come lonsj distances at ni^ht to eat
the flowers that drop in great profusion as soon as ripe,
Bruin, if too late for the feast, having no objection to
scramble up and get some for himself. The plan was to
send a strong body of beaters round to the neck of the
spur, while we were to post ourselves with the dogs
where it ended in the plain. I call it plain, but it was
so only comparatively speaking. Broken and treacherous
*' cotton-soil" it was, intersected by numerous nalas, and
about as bad ground to ride over as could well be
wished.

We were wending our way down a somewhat
precipitous pathway that led from the village to the
scene of operations, when the Gond to whom I was
talking dropped behind on some pretence or other, and
shortly afterwards we passed one of the primitive altars
they erect near almost every pathway. This consists of
a platform of hard mud, on which are constructed, of
the same material, small models of the necessary im-
plements of their simple life, such as a cooking-place,
flat plate, etc. Near the platform is a stake planted in
the ground, from which project two wooden arms, drilled
with holes ; through these a peeled wand is passed, the

360 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

top of wliicli is decorated with a streamer of red cloth.
Close by is a cairn of stones, to which every passer-by
adds another. These altars are generally erected to the
manes of some one of their race w^ho bore a saintly
reputation during life, and offerings placed on them are
supposed to propitiate his spirit. On this occasion the
Gond who had dropped behind, and who was the leader
and concocter of the present hunt, stopped before the
altar ; and, after a prostration, extracted from the folds
of his waistcloth, and placed on the plate constructed
for- such purposes, a peeled onion ! Each of the band
then added a stone to the heap, muttering at the same
time something I could not make out, and passed on.
This was for luck.

We soon reached our station, and taking up a
properly concealed position, awaited the approach of
the game. The beaters had a long way to go round,
and we had waited about an hour when their voices
began to be heard, as they advanced in a long line that
stretched completely across the spur. They were still
about a quarter of a mile off, when I made out that
something unexpected had occurred, by their shouts
suddenly ceasing, and then breaking out into a terrific
and concentrated yell ! By my glass I saw that some
of them had taken to trees, and that all were looking
down the hill-side to the left of the line. Advancing my
Dollond in that direction, I made out some black objects
trundling dow^n the hill, and a few moments afterwards,
as they emerged on the plain, I saw that they were a
bear and two cubs ; they w^re making for another spur of
the hill that ran parallel to the one we were beating, at a
distance of about half a mile. Between them ran the dry
bed of a ndlil, formed of a natural pavement of huge flag-
stones, and strewn with boulders that had been rolled

THE HIGHER NARBADA. 361

down from the bills above. Jumping on my pony, I
started up this nala at a rattling pace, scrambling and
sliding in a most wonderful manner over the stones, till
I again caught sight of the bears going leisurely about
two hundred yards ahead. I had gained about fifty
more on them before they saw me, and was just going
to pull up and fire, when they set ofi" at a shambling
gallop, which, owing to the badness of the ground, soon
left me far in the rear. Coming to a better place, I rapidly
gained on them again, but the hill was too near, and I was
full one hundred and fifty paces behind when they com-
menced the ascent. Pulling up, I administered my two
barrels with as much steadiness as my panting steed
would admit of ; the second shot told somewhere, as testi-
fied by the growls it elicited from the old *' she," but it
was too far for such a snap shot, and their movements
seemed to be only accelerated. Throwing my bridle
over a branch, I was reloaded in a few seconds, and
scrambling up in Bruin's tracks, I heard them above me
on the hill-side rustling among the dried leaves, but
could not get another shot ; nor did I find any blood.
This was very unlucky, for if I had had a suspicion of
there being bears on the hill, I would never have taken
up the position I did, as a bear would break back
through an army of beaters rather than take to an
open plain, where he has no stronghold to make for.
The bear is very sweet upon the " mhowa," and these
had evidently come down to feed on it ; for, had they
been regular residents, the villagers must have been
aware of it from seeing their tracks and excavations.

The beaters, who had suspended operations to
witness the result of the bear chase, now resumed their
beating, while I rode slowly along the bed of the nala, in
case there might be any more of the family left. We had

362 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDLl.

reached witliiii about two hundred 3^ards of where the
dogs were concealed, when I observed a dun hide
ghmce between two bushes, and shortly afterwards the
whole herd of sambar filed slowly down the face of the
hill. Indecision still swayed them, and, fearing lest
they might yet break back, I fired off my rifle ; at the
same time a round stone from the beaters rolled down
the hill among them, and down they galloped straight
for the hounds. The Gonds, in their eagerness, slipped
their dogs too soon, and about half the herd broke back
through the beaters after all ; the rest took across the
plain in the direction of the spur the bears had reached.
Shouting to my man to let loose the greyhounds, as
the deer were in full view, I started ofl" at the best pace
I could muster over such Q:round. Had it not been for
my own dogs, the sambar would probably have reached
the hills and been safe ; but, as it was, they shot ahead
of the Gondi pack, and the sambar, finding they could not
make the hills, turned off towards the river. By cutting
off an angle here I gained a good deal on the chase, and
could see that my hounds, dog and bitch, were well up.
The dog is a heavy, powerful, Kampiir hound, while the
bitch, more lightly made, has considerably the speed of
him. As I came up, she made a gallant rush at the
hindmost stag, and, springing at his hocks, deer and
dog rolled over together. She wanted power, however ;
and, before the dog was up to help her, the stag was
up and pegging away as fast as ever. Two or three of
the Gondi dogs now joined in at a respectful distance,
but going as if they meant something. Shortly after-
wards I came up to a deep nahi, and missing the pass
by which the deer and dogs had crossed, lost a deal of
distance in trying to find it out. Everywhere else the
bank was about twenty feet deep, and nearly per-

THE HIGHER NARBADA. 363

penclicular. At last I found the place, and, crossing
over, had the satisfaction of finding that I was utterly
^lone, dogs and deer having disappeared.

I knew the direction of the river, and r(jdc for that,
but soon got into the labyrinth of nalas that fringe it3
bed, and had the greatest difficulty in forcing my nag
throuc^h amono;st the bamboos. The ndlas themselves
were a peifect puzzle ; in and out and round about, they
twisted like the alleys in fair Rosamond's bower ; and
I several times found myself in the place I had just
left. At last I got into the bed of one of the principal
of them, that led straight down to the Narbada ; and,
by dint of occasionally putting my head under my
pony's neck and forcing him through the bamboos, and
here and there leaping a fallen tree, I soon emerged on
the shingly banks of the river, and, pulling up to listen,
I thought 1 heard a faint yelp far, far up the stream.

A broad belt of sand and shingle intervened between
the jungle and the shrunken river, along which I
galloped for about a mile, the baying of the dogs
becomins: more and more distinct as I rode. A few
minutes after, I reached the scene of conflict — a shady
nook of the river, arched in by the massive boughs of
trees, interspersed with the feathering stems of the
bamboo. A giant forest-tree lay felled by the brink
of the pool, worm-eaten and water-logged, as if it had
lain there for centuries, and beyond this stood the stag
at bay, chest deep in the water. Four of the G6ndi
dogs and my greyhound bitch were baying him from
the log; and just as 1 arrived a black little Gond, spear
in hand, emerged from the forest and jumped on to the
tree. Two or three prods he made at him with his
weapon failed to reach him ; and he was just about
to leap into the water when the greyhound, encouraged

364 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

by our arrival, made a fierce leap at the stag, falling
short by about a yard of her intended mark. Instantly
the deer bounded forward, and with his fore-feet struck
the hound under water ; but in so doing he forgot his
fence, and exposed his fiank within striking distance
of his human foe. The spear was buried twice in his
side, and the dark water was streaked with crimson as
the blood poured from the wounds. The poor brute
now tries to struggle to the shore, but in vain ; the
dogs are upon him in a body, and their united weight
bears him down ; a few more spear thrusts, and the
gallant stacr is bubblino^ out his life under water.

o o o

The distance run must have been about four miles,
but I had ridden probably double that distance. The
dogs were a good deal done up, as the heat was by this
time tremendous ; but a swim in the river, and half an
hour in the cool shade made them all rio-ht ag^ain. These
Gondi docjs must have wonderful noses to follow deer
by scent over the burning ground at full speed, as they
are said to do. They had not much trouble on this
occasion, as the greyhound bitch had never lost sight
of the stag: to the finish, and cut out the work for the
others.

At other times I have had excellent sport with the
fine breed of dogs possessed by the Banjara carriers
referred to in a former chapter. If the wild dog were
available to breed from, a still better hound for sambar-
hunting might probably be obtained. With more
regular organisation, better dogs, and more sportsmen,
sambar-hunting in this country might give admirable
sport. The best breed, if the wild dog is, as is pro-
bable, unavailable, would be the cross between the
Scotch deerhound and the Banjard dog, the former
being the mother. Pups of a Banjdra bitch almost

THE HIGHER NARBADiL 3G5

invariably grow up with " vernacular " habits, and a
hatred of Europeans. A real specimen of the Banjd,iji
should however be selected, and this is not easy, the
breed having got much mixed with the common village
pariah dog. The true Banjard is a fine, upstanding
hound, of about twenty-eight inches high, generally
black mottled with gray or blue, with a rough but silky
•coat, a high-bred, hound-like head, and well feathered
on ears, legs, and tail. He shows a good deal of re-
semblance to the Persian greyhound, but is stouter
built, and with a squarer muzzle. Probably this
wandering race of gipsies may have brought the
originals with them from Western Asia, the subse-
quent modification of them being due to a cross with
some of the indigenous breeds. The Banjara breed
possesses indomitable pluck, can go about as fast as a
foxhound, and will run all day. His nose is superior
to that of any other domestic breed in a hot climate ;
but he wants better speed for coursing deer, and attach-
ment to Europeans.

The common black sloth-bear of the plains of India*
is very plentiful in the hills on either side of the
Narbada, between Jubbulpiir and Mandla. Indeed,
there are few parts of these highlands where a bear
may not at any time be met with. They are generally
very harmless until attacked, living on roots, honey,
and insects, chiefly white ants, which they dig out of
their earthern hillocks. The natives call them ddam-
zdd, or "sons of men," and^ considering them half
human, will not as a rule molest them. Really, their
absurd antics almost justify the idea. Sometimes, how-
ever, a bear will attack very savagely without provoca-
tion— generally, when they are come upon suddenly,
* Uraus lahiatus.

366 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

aud their road of escape is cut off. As a rule, in
frequented parts, they do not come out of their midday
retreats, in caves and dense thickets, until nightfall ;
but, in remoter tracts, they may be met with in the
middle of the day. I was once charged by four bears
all at once, which I had come upon near the high-road
between Jubbulpiir and Damoh, feeding under a mhov/a
tree. I had two guns, and hit three of them ; but had
to bolt from the fourth, who chased me about a hundred
yards, and then dived into a ravine. Returning to the
scene of action, I found one sitting at the foot of a tree,
bewailing his fate in most melancholy whines, and
finished him with a ball in the ear. The other two
had gone down the slope of a hill, and I started off
to head them. The ground was rocky and very
slippery, and I had not gone far when I fell, my rifle
sliding away down the hill, to the considerable damage
of its stock and barrels. I picked myself up, however,
and by dint of hard running, arrived above and parallel
to the bears, and commenced a running fight with them,
in which my chances would have been a good deal
better, had I had a breech instead of a muzzle-loader.
As it was, I had to keep one barrel unfired in case of
a charge, and peg away at long intervals with the
other. At last, one of them came round up the hill
at me, rising on his hind-legs, pulling down branches,
and dancing and spluttering in so ludicrous a manner,
that I could scarcely shoot for laughter. AVhen I did,
he got both barrels through the chest, and subsided.
1 never got the other, as it had sufticient headway to
escape into some hollow rocks near the river-side. A
wounded bear will often charge with great determina-
tion. He comes on like a great cannon-ball ; and the
popular idea, that he will rise on his hind-legs in

THE HIGHER XARBADA. 367

time to give a shot at the ** horse-shoe " mark on liis
chest, to penetrate which is fatal, is, as a rule, a mis-
take. But a shot, when he is ten or fifteen yards off,
will nearly always turn, if it does not kill him. The
most successful way of getting bears is to get up very
early, and go up to some commanding position, that
overlooks the pathways taken by the animals on their
return from the low ground, where they go nightly to
feed. They can then either be intercepted, or marked
into some cover, and afterwards beaten out. It is a
sport of which a little is great fun ; but one soon tires
of it, the animals being generally so easily killed, and
furnishing neither trophy (an Indian l)earskiu beiuo- a
poor affair) nor food. Most sportsmen ere long come
to agree with the natives, and let the ddam-zdd alone,
except when they turn up by accident.

It was in these iungles that I first saw the great
rock python of India, which is the subject of so many
wonderful tales. I was following the track of a
wounded deer, and, the day being very hot, had
mounted my horse, a chestnut Arab, from which I
could shoot, carrying a rifle. The horse almost trod
upon him, lying on a narrow pathway, and started
back with a snort, as the great snake slowly twisted
himself off the road, and down the slope of the hill,
along which it wound. A loud rustling, and here and
there the wave of a fold in the grass, told me that
something was moving down the bank, and I forced
the horse after it, very unwillingly on his part, till
with a loud hiss, and a swish of his folds, the serpent
gathered himself into a great coil, just under the horse's
nose. A very unpleasant sound, like the boiling of
a big kettle, came from the gathering pyramid of coils,
and I lost no time in leaninor over and firinor both

3G8 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

barrels of the rifle into the mass, at the same time
drawing the horse back to the pathway, as I did not
know the customer I had to deal with. The snake
made ofif down the hill, and my horse refused to follow,
so that, before I could dismount and get down on foot,
all trace of him was lost. I was taken by surprise, or
should perhaps have made a better business of it. My
impression was that the creature was about twenty-five
feet long, of a leaden colour, and about as thick as a
large man's thigh. I have seen one killed in the same
jungles, which measured sixteen feet in length. They
are of a very sluggish disposition, and do not molest
man. The stories of their swallowing spotted deer
whole, antlers and all, I believe to be utter myths.

HORNS OF broTTED DEEU. {Scak, one-ieiitli.)

CHAPTER IX.

THE SAL forests.

Above Mandla, the valley of the Narbada opens out
into a wide upland country, the main river, bet\Yeen
this and Jubbulpiir, joined by few and unimportant
tributaries, here radiating like the fingers of a hand,
and drainino; the rainfall of an extensive trianofular
j)lateau, known as the Mandla district. These con-
verging valleys rise in elevation towards the south,
where they terminate in a transverse range of hills,
which sends down spurs between them, subdividing
the drainage. The valleys themselves also suc-
cessively rise in general elevation, by a step-like
formation from west to east. Furthest to the west,
that of the Banjar river possesses a general height of
about 2,000 feet; next is that drained by the Halon
and the Phen at about 2,300 ; still further to the east
the basin of the Khorm^r has risen to about 2,800 feet ;
and furthest east of all is the plateau of Amarkantak, the
chief source of the Narbada, which attains a general
altitude of about 3,300 feet, with smaller flat-topped
elevations reaching to 4,000 feet above the sea. The
hilly range which runs along the southern border of
the district is called the Mykat, and overlooks, in a
steep descent to the southward, a flat low-lying country
called Chattisgarh, or " the land of thirty-six forts."

370

THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

The elevated cradle of the infant Narbada, thus
described, contains within its outer circle of hills an
area of not less than 7,000 square miles ; much of it, of
course, of a broken and unculturable character, but
comprising also in the valleys much of what may
properly be called virgin soil of the finest quality. The

bAL lOKliblb 1^ THE HALUJs \ALLL1.

Mykat range, and the radiating spurs which separate
the plateau, are mostly clothed with forests of the sal
tree, which, here as elsewhere, almost monopolises
the parts where it grows. The saj alone grows in any
quantity along with it. Some of the hills are covered
with the ordinary species of forest trees of other parts ;
the species of vegetation appearing, as I have said
before, to depend much on the geological formation.

THE SAL FOEESTS. 371

The valleys themselves are generally open and free
from all underwood, dotted here and there by belts and
islands of the noble sal tree, and altogether possess-
ing much of the character ascribed to the American
prairies. In their lowest parts the soil is deep, black,
and rich, covered with a growth of strong tall grasses.
As the valleys merge into the hilly ranges, the soils
become lighter and redder, from the lateritic topping
that here overlies the basaltic and granitic bases of
the hills ; the grasses are less rank and coarse ; and
in many places springs of clear cold water bubble up,
clothing the country with belts of perpetual verdure,
and conferring on it an aspect of freshness very re-
markable in a country of such comparatively small
elevation in the centre of India. Everything combines
to deprive this region of the sterile and inhospitable
appearance worn by even most upland tracts during
the hot season. The sal tree is almost the only ever-
green forest tree in India. Throughout the summer
its glossy dark-green foliage reflects the light in a
thousand vivid tints ; an^ just when all other vege-
tation is at its worst, a few weeks before the gates
of heaven are opened in the annual monsoon, the sal
selects its opportunity of bursting into a fresh garment
of the brightest and softest green. The traveller who
has lingered till that late period in these wilds is
charmed by the approach of a second spring, and it
requires no slight effort to believe himself still in a
tropical country. The atmosphere has been kept humid
by the moisture from the broad sheets of water retained
by the upland streams, which descends nightly in dews
on the open valleys. The old grasses of the prairie
have been burnt in the annual conflagrations, and a
covering of young verdure has taken their place. Now

2 B 2

372 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA.

and then tlie familiar note of the cuckoo* (identical
with the European bird), and the voices of many birds^
including the deep musical coo of the grand imperial
pigeon, heighten the delusion. But for the bamboo
thickets on the higher hills, whose light feathery foliage
beautifully supplements the heavier masses of the sal
that cling to their skirts, the scene would present
nothing peculiar to the landscape of a tropical country.

The climate of these uplands is very temperate for
this part of India, showing a mean of about 77 degrees
of the thermometer during the hot season. The varia-
tion between the temperature of day and night is,
however, considerable, ranging from about 50 degrees
to 100 degrees as extremes durinor the hot season
under canvas. It would of course be much more
equable in a house, and the range is also far less on
the higher plateaux than in the lower valleys. In
the cold season (which corresponds to our winter) it
generally descends at night to freezing-point in the
open air, rising in a tent no higher than 65 degrees
or 70 degrees in the middle of the day.

The country can scarcely be said to be jDopulated
at all, except within a short distance of Mandla itself,,
where the rich soil has been cultivated by an outlying
colony of Hindus from the Lower Narbada valley.
Mandla was at one time the seat of one of the Gond-
Eajpiit ruling dynasties, and the remains of their forts
and other buildings still crown in crumbling decay the
top of many a forest-covered mound.

The Gonds are here a very poor and subdued race,

long since weaned from their wild notions of freedom,

with its attendant hardships and seclusion ; but still

unreached by the influence of the general advancement

* Cuculus canorus.

THE SAL FOEESTS. 373

which has in some measure redeemed them in most
parts from their state of practical serfdom to the
superior races. They usually plough with cattle, in-
stead of depending on the axe, and are nearly all
hopelessly in debt to the money-lenders, who speculate
in the produce they raise. There is no local market,
and the difiSculty of exporting grain over the seventy
or eighty miles of atrocious road to the open country
is such that the prices obtained for their produce are
contemptible. They congregate in filthy little villages,
overrun by poultry and pigs, and innocent of all attempt
at conservancy.

Far superior to them in every respect are the still
utterly unreclaimed forest Bygas, another aboriginal
race, whose habitat is in the hills of the Mykat range
and its spurs, which intersect these valleys. The same
tribe extends over a vast range of forest-covered country
to the west of Mandla, where we shall subsequently meet
them again under the name of Bhiiuiias. A few have
som.ewhat modified their original habits, and live, along
with the Gonds, in villages lower down the valleys.
These have been slightly tainted with Hinduism, shave
their elfin locks, and call themselves by a name denoting
caste. But the real Byga of the hill ranges is still
almost in a state of nature. They are very black, with
an upright, slim, though exceedingly wary frame, and
showing less of the negretto type of feature than any
other of these wild races. Destitute of all clothing but
a small strip of cloth, or at most, when in full dress,
with the addition of a coarse cotton sheet worn cross-
wise over the chest, with long, tangled, coal-black hair,
and furnished with bow and arrow and a keen little axe
hitched over the shoulder, the Byga is the very model of
a hill aborigine. He scorns all tillage but the dhya

374 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

clearing on the mountain-side, pitching his neat habi-
tation of bamboo wicker-work, like an eagle's eyrie, on
some hill-top or ledge of rock, far above the valleys
penetrated by pathways ; and ekes out the fruits of the
earth by an unwearying pursuit of game. Full of
courage, and accustomed to depend on each other, they
hesitate not to attack every animal of the forest, in-
cluding the tiger himself. They possess a most deadly
poison wherewith they tip their little arrows of reed ;
and the most ponderous beast seldom goes more than a
mile, after being pierced with one of these, without
falling. The poison is not an indigenous one, but is
brought and sold to them by the traders who penetrate
these wilds to traffic in forest j^i'oduce. I believe it
to be an extract of the root of Aconitum ferox, which
is used for a similar purpose by some of the tribes of
the eastern Himalaya. The flesh is discoloured and
spoilt for some distance round the wound. This is cut
out, and the rest of the carcase is held to be wholesome
food. Their bows are made entirely of the bamboo,
" string " and all ; they are very neat, and possess
wonderful power for their size. A good shot among
them will strike the crown of a hat at fifty yards.
Their arrows are of two sorts ; those for ordinary use
being tipped with a plain iron head, and feathered
from the wing of the peafowl, while those intended for
poisoning and deadly work have a loose head, round
which the poison is wrapped, and which remains in the
wound. These poisoned arrows are altogether remark-
ably similar to those used by the Bushmen of South
Africa. Their axes are also of two sorts — one, like the
ordinary axes of the Gonds, for cutting wood, and the
other, a much more formidable implement, called a
tongid, with a long semicircular blade like an ancient

THE SAl forests. 375

battle-axe in miniature. All the iron for these weapons,
and for their agricultural instruments, is forged from the
native ore of the hills, by a class called Agurias, who
seem to be a section of the Gonds. A Byga has been
known to attack and destroy a tiger with no other
weapon than his axe. This little weapon is also used
as a projectile, and the Byga will thus knock over hares,
peafowl, etc., with astonishing skill.

Though thus secluded in the wilderness, the Mandla
Byga is by no means extremely shy, and will placidly
go on cutting his dhya while a train of strangers
is passing him, when a wild Gond or Korkii would
have abandoned all and fled to the forest. They are
truthful and honest almost to a fault, being terribly
cheated in consequence in their dealings with the
traders ; and they possess the patriarchal form of self-
government still so perfectly, that nearly all their dis-
putes are settled by the elders without appeal, though
these, of course, under our alien system, possess no legal
authority. Serious crime among them is almost unheard
of. The strangest thing about them is that, though
otherwise certainly the wildest of all these races, they
have no aboriginal language of their own, speaking a
rude dialect of which almost every word can be traced
to the Hindi. They can also communicate with the
Gonds in their language, though they do not use it
among themselves. A similar case is that of the Bheels,
in the western continuation of these hills, who, though
also extremely wild, have no peculiar language of their
own, and never have had, so far as history informs us.
There are many points of resemblance between the
Bygas and the Bheels, and there seems to be no evi-
dence to connect either with the Kolarian or the Dra-
vidian families of aborigines. Further inquiry may

376 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDLV.

show them to be remnants of a race anterior in point
of time to both, and from which the Hindi may have
borrowed its numerous non- Sanscrit vocables. We
know that, at an early period in Hindii history, Bheels
held the country up to the river Jamna, which they do
not now approach within many hundred miles.

There is every reason to believe that these Bygds
arc, if not autochthonous, at least the predecessors of
the Gonds in this part of the hills. They consider them-
selves, and are allowed to be, superior to the G6nds,
who may not eat with them, and who take their priests
of the mysteries, or medicine- men, from among them.
Theirs it is to hold converse Avitli the world of spirits,
who are everywhere present to aboriginal superstition ;
theirs it is to cast omens, to compel the rain, to charm
away the tiger or disease. The Byga medicine-man fully
looks his character. He is tall, thin, and cadaverous,
abstraction and mystery residing in his hollow eyes.
When wanted, he has to be sent for to some distant
haunt of gnomes and spirits, and comes with charms and
simples slung in the hollow of a bottle-gourd. A great
necklace, fashioned with much carving from the kernels
of forest fruits, marks his holy calling.

The Byga charmer's most dangerous duty is that of
laying the spirit of a man who has been killed by a
tiger. j\lan-eatcrs have always been numerous in
Mandla, the presence during a part of every year of
large herds of cattle fostering the breed, while their
withdrawal at other times to regions where the tigers
cannot follow causes temporary scarcity of food, too
easily relieved in the abundant tall grass cover by
recourse to the killing of man ; the desultory habits of
the wild people, and the numbers of travellers who take
this short route between the Narbada valley and the

THE SAL FORESTS. 377

plains of Cliattisgdrh, furnishing them with abundant
and easy victims. The Byga has to proceed to the spot
where the death occurred — which is probably still fre-
quented by the tiger — with various articles, such as
fowls and rice, which are offered to the manes. A
pantomime of the tragedy is then enacted by the Byga,
who assumes the attitude of a tiger, springs on his prey,
and devours a mouthful of the blood-stained earth.
Eight days are allowed to pass ; and should the Byga
not, in the interval, be himself carried off by the tiger,
the spirit is held to be effectually laid, and the people
again resort to the jungle. The theory rests on the
superstition, prevalent throughout these hills, that the
ghost of the victim, unless charmed to rest, rides on the
head of the tiger, and incites him to further deeds of
blood, rendering him also secure from harm by his
preternatural watchfulness. To remove pestilence or
sickness, they have a pleasant notion that it must be
transferred to some one else ; and so they sweep their
villaiies, after the usual sacrifices, and cast the filth on
the highway or into the bounds of some other village.

The real Byga medicine-man possesses the gift of
throwing himself into a trance, during which the afflatus
of the Deity is supposed to be vouchsafed to him, com-
municatinir the secrets of the future. 1 never saw the
performance myself, but persons who have affirm that it
is too severe in its physical symptoms to be mere acting ;
and there is sufficient evidence from other quarters to
prove that some persons can educate themselves into
the power of passing into such fits at will, to lead us to
credit the Byga at least with nothing worse than self-
deception in the matter. In religion the Bygas have
admitted a few of the Hindu deities of the destructive
type ; but their chief reverence is paid to the spirits of

378 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

the waste, and to Mother Earth, who is their tribal god.
One of their tribal names is Bhumid, meaning " people
of the soil," and it is curious that among every abo-
riginal tribe of these hills, including the Bheels, the
priests or medicine-men are called by the same name.
The rite of charming the souls of deceased persons into
some material object, before described, and which seems
peculiar to these hills, is practised also by these Bygiis.

A male Byga is easily distinguished from a Gond ;
but their women are scarcely in any respect different —
perhaps a little blacker, but dressing in a similar manner,
wearing the same ornaments (including a chignon of
goat's hair), and, like them, also tattooed as to the legs.
Though the Bygas are, like the Bheels, less given to
congregate together in large villages than some other
tribes, often indeed living in entirely detached dwellings,
there are a good many villages of a considerable number
of houses. These are arranged with much neatness in
the form of a square, and the whole place is kept very
clean.

The Byga is the most terrible enemy to the forests
we have anywhere in these hills. Thousands of square
miles of sal forest have been clean destroyed by them in
the progress of their dhya cultivation, the ground being
afterwards occupied by a dense scrub of low sal bushes
springing from the stumps. In addition to this, the
largest trees have everywhere been girdled by them to
allow the gum resin of the sdl (the clammer of commerce)
to exude.

The dammer resin, called here dliok, is extensively
used as a pitch in dockyards, and for coating commercial
packages. It is extracted by cutting a ring of bark out
of the tree three or four feet from the ground, when the
gum exudes in large bubbles. Several half-circles are,

THE SAL FORESTS. 370

however, equally efifective, and do not destroy the life of
the tree, like the former method. The rinfjinor of sal
trees has now been entirely prohibited within our terri-
tories ; but I do not think that any more economical
method has as yet been substituted, the vast area of sal
in native states being sufficient to supply the present
wants of the trade. The dammcr is collected, and^
together with lac dye, is exchanged for salt, beads, and
arrow-poison, brought by peripatetic traders with pack-
bullocks, who annually visit their wilds for the purpose.
This may be said to be the only commercial transaction
of the Byga in the whole year. He rarely visits the
low-country markets, like the other tribes, and has
scarcely a knowledge of coined money.

Fortunately the sal tree, unlike the teak, is pos-
sessed of a most inextinguishable reproductive power,
the seeds being shed by every mature tree in millions,
and ready to germinate at once in a favourable position.
The seedlings shoot rapidly above the danger of jungle-
fires, and grow straight and tall before branching out.
The timber of the sal, if inferior to the teak for some
purposes, such as carpentry and transverse beams, is
superior for others, such as wheel-work and uprights,
its straight, firm grain giving it immense power of
resistance to crushing. It is almost the only timber
tree of Upper India, where teak is unknown. The
unlimited water - power of these rivers will supply
the means of converting it on the spot ; and the
Narbadti will form a highvvay for floating it to the open
valley. Sal will not swim by itself, until seasoned for
several years ; but the hills produce an unlimited
quantity of the finest bamboos, a bundle of which tied
round a log will support it, and which are themselves of
the highest economic value. At present these forests

380 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

have scarcely been drawn on for the supply of timber,
being distant from the Narbada some thirty or forty
miles, without a road capable of conveying heavy
timber. 1 have already remarked on the appearance
of the sal tree. Singly it is a little formal in outline,
though possessing a fine, firm aspect from its horizontal
branching, bright evergreen leaves like broad lance-
heads, and straight, tapering stem covered with gray
and deeply-fissured bark. Its great charm, however,
resides in the fresh, cool aspect of the masses and belts
in which it chiefly grows.

Besides the dammer resiii of the sal, several other
kinds of minor forest produce are collected here, as in
other tracts, for sale to the traders of the plains. Some
of these have already been mentioned. Another is the
stick-lac of commerce, which is deposited by an insect
on the smaller twigs of several species of trees, among
^vhich. Butetcfrondosa, Schleichera trijuga, and Zizy pints
jvjiiba are the principal. The twigs are broken ofi", and
sold as they stand, looking like pieces of very dark red
coral. About twenty pounds will be procured annually
from a tree, so long as any of the insects are left on it
to breed. But just as often as not the improvident
wild man will cut down the whole tree to save himself
the trouble of climbing. The inborn destructiveness of
these jungle people to trees is certainly very extra-
ordinary ; even where it is clearly against their own
interest, they cannot apparently refrain from doing
wanton iujury. A Gond or Byga passing along a
pathway will almost certainly, and apparently uncon-
sciously, drop his axe from the shoulder on any young
sapling that may be growing by its side, and almost
everywhere young trees so situated will be found cut
lialf tiirouii;h in this manner. The stick-lac is manu-

THE sAl forests. 381

factured into dye in considerable quantities at a factory
in Jubbulpiir, whose agents penetrate tlic remotest
corners of these jungles in search of the raw material.

The cocoons of the wild tusser silk-moth are also
collected in great numbers for sale to the caste of silk-
spinners who live by this business in the villages of the
plains. Experience has shown that these moths will
not breed a feecond generation of healthy silk-producing
insects in captivity, and a fresh supply is therefore
procured annually from their native hills. They live
chiefly on the leaves of the saj tree, whose foliage, bci no-
deciduous, would not afford safety to the insect in its
chrysalis stage, if the cocoon were attached, as other
species are, to the leaf alone. The instinct of the little
creature teaches it therefore to anchor its cocoon by a
strong silken rope to the leaf-stalk, where it sways
about in safety after every leaf has dropped from tlie
tree. The cocoons brought from the jungles by the
breeders are attached to pollarded saj trees, grown near
their villages, till the moths have hatched and paired,
when the females are captured and made to lay their
eggs in close vessels, where they are incubated by heat.
The worms reared from the eggs are again placed on the
saj trees, where they form their cocoons, which are then
spun into the rough silk known as " tusser." The
business is a very precarious one, much depending for
success on favourable weather. Superstition of course
seizes this uncertainty for her own, and the purchased
blessings of the Byga priest must accomi)any tlic
cocoons from their native hills, if the breeder of the
plains is to expect success.

Besides such scanty exportation of the minor pro-
duce of these wilds as I have described, almost tlair
only economic use has hitherto been the splendid grazing

382 THE HIGHLANDS OF CEXTEAL IXDIA.

they afford for countless herds of cattle, annually
brought to them from great distances in the open
country on both sides during the hot season. Fine
<Trass and abundance of shade and water make this

o

one of the finest grazing countries in all India, and
the amount of wealth which thus actually seems to
depend on its continuance as a waste is very great.

At first siorht some hesitation mio;ht be felt at the
prospect of these great graziug-grounds being reclaimed
for cultivation, when it is considered how all-essential
to the life of a country like India is the breeding of
larse stocks of oxen. Here the drau2;ht ox takes the
place of the fann-horse and the steam-engine of England.
Cattle are bred, not as an article of food, but as afford-
ing perhaps the only description of power by which
the operations of agriculture could be performed at
all. Horses could not take their place in converting
the hard, burnt-up soils, under the blazing sun of the
season, when ploughing and sowing the autumn crop
goes on, nor, so far as we know the resources of the
land, could steam power, even if otherwise suitable,
find sufficient fuel at anything like a moderate cost.
Thus it may not have been without a teaching of far-
seeing policy that the Hindu has been prohibited by
his religion from converting the race of horned cattle
to the purposes of food. It may be true that the
rigid prohibition against touching the carcases of such
animals, or in any way trafficking in their death, may
have excluded the Hindu cattle-owner from much
legitimate profit in the way of leather, horn, tallow,
glue, etc. ; but it is impossible to draw fine shades
of distinction in religious sanctions, and if, as is pro-
bable, the slaughter of cattle useful for the plough
could not be otherwise prevented, then the sanctification

THE SAL FORESTS. 383

of tlie animal from all such uses was probably a measure
of the highest policy. Even looked on as an article
of food, it is probable that the sacredness of the cow-
has been productive of more gain than loss, milk and
butter being much more wholesome articles of diet
than beef in a hot climate. Certainly, any measure
which would be likely to endanger the existing supply
of plough-cattle would be highly objectionable. But
I think that no apprehension of the sort need be enter-
tained from the probable reclamation of such tracts
as the Mandla savannahs. Sufficient forest land must
always remain in the higher regions to furnish the
green bite at the end of the hot season, which is all
that is necessary to tide the herds over the most trying
part of the year, and, for the rest, the people will soon
learn to do as other countries have done, and as other
parts of India even have done, namely, devote a part
of the cultivated area to the raising of green pasture,
by irrigation, for the cattle. This fine natural pasture
is no doubt a great advantage ; but it is not at all
indispensable even in India.

The resources of the country in iron and other
mineral wealth have never been fully examined, though
it is evident on the surface that they are abundant.
Oold is washed out of the sands of more than one of
the streams, in small quantities, however, which barely
repay the labour, and it is probable that its lodes are
buried in the quartz of the primitive rocks deep below
the flow of volcanic material that has overlaid them.

In the matter of climate, like all uncleared regions
in this latitude at so low an elevation, the tract is
subject to malarious fever during the months of October
to January, But experience shows that this influence
lasts only so long as the country continues uncleared.

384 THE HIGHLANDS OF CEXTIiAL INDIA.

It is probable that the Lower Narbadd valley was equally
uuliealtliy at one time, yet it is now as healthy as any
part of the country. Several stations in these provinces
have been set clown in the middle of jungles with as
evil a reputation as this, and along with the clearance
of the jungle the fever was found to disappear. The
Wynaiid, Assam, and Cachar are also standing instances
of the successful occupation of malarious countries by
the help of European enterprise. The malaria excepted,
the climate is highly favourable to colonisation, consider-
inoj the situation of the tract. No reerion out of the
great mountain ranges could probably be pointed to as
possessing such advantages of coolness and freshness as
are here conferred by the elevated situation, abundance
of moisture, and its attendant evergreen verdure.

As for the obstacles supposed to be presented by the
rank vegetation and noxious animals, they are chiefly
imaginar}'. Immense plains lie ready for the plough, if
merely the coarse natural grasses were cleared away,
there being no brushwood or heavy timber to speak of.
The luxuriance of these grasses is only evidence of the
fatness of the land that lies below ; and a torch ap)plied
in the month of May will, over large tracts, remove all
obstacle to the immediate application of the plough.
The wild animals, here as elsewhere, would retire before
the axe and plough of the settler. Such as are noxious
to human life are not really more so here than in many
other much more open parts of the country. In the
districts of Don! and Betiil there is certainly a larger
number of tigers in the same area than in Mandld, and
there they have not been found to constitute any
serious obstacle to the steady advancement of popula-
tion and tillarre.

o

I am not one of those who believe that Europeans

THE SAl forests. 385

can ever labour profitably with their own hands in
the " plains " of India ; and even at this elevation I
believe that the power of the sun, although much
alleviated by the coolness of the breezes, the low
temperature of the nights, and the freshness of the
vegetation, would still be prohibitive of severe manual
labour by natives of a temperate region. But I think
that we have here a tract eminently fitted to yield
results from the application of European energy,
intelligence, and capital to the supervision and direction
of native labour.

The great difficulty would be to obtain the labour to
supervise. I doubt if the regular Hindu cultivators of
the plains outside could be induced to move into these
wilds by any temptation, so long as they can obtain a
pittance where they are. The aborigines are too timid
and unstable to furnish reliable workmen. I would
rather look to the teeming millions of the coast districts
to furnish the needful supply of labourers, if these
inland wastes are to be reclaimed with any reasonable
period of time. It really seems to be matter for
astonishment that these littoral races have for many
years shown themselves to be ready to cross the seas
to the West Indies, the Mauritius, and other distant
countries, and have actually been transported thither in
great numbers, while all the time vast areas of the
finest land are pining for labour in the interior of their
own country. There cannot be a doubt which they
would most willingly go to, in order to escape from
their densely crowded condition at home, were the
inducements offered to them the same. What has
tempted them to other countries has been the superior
wages which their industries could afi'ord to offer ; and
in India, wherever, as in Assdm, Cachar, and the

2 c

38G THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

Wynaild, such articles of European demand as coflfee,
tea, etc., have attracted European enterprise, and wliere
simihir wages have been held out, an abundant supply
of labour has been furnished by these fountains of
population. What appears to be necessary, then, to
effect the rapid reclamation of these wilds, is the intro-
duction of some special industry which will attract the
European energy and capital which alone can ever effect
the movement of Indian labour in large bodies from one
part of the country to another. That there are such
industries capable of introduction there cannot be a
doubt.

At present cattle-breeding would seem to be the
most promising opening, both because it wants the
few^est hands, and because the absence of roads is of
less consequence in such a business.

Before leaving the subject of these waste lands, I
should refer to the only attempt ever made to form
a settlement in them under European supervision, and
which ended in lamentable failure. Some thirty years
ago four German missionaries attempted to form a
colony among the aboriginal tribes, on the Moravian
system, in one of these upland valleys. They selected a
spot just under the Amarkantals plateau, near a small
village called Karinjea, in the middle of a fine plain
of rich soil, a few miles south of the Narbada. The
place had an elevation of about 2,700 feet, and was
well situated in every respect but one. In a country
abounding with shade and water, they pitched on a bare
mound without an evergreen tree, and more than two
miles distant from the nearest running water. They
went out in the hot weather, and failed to prepare
sufficient shelter before the arrival of tlie rainy season.
Thus they remained exposed to constant damp and cold

THE SAL FOKESTS. 387

winds, and dependent for their water on a small stag-
nant pool polluted by tlie drainage of decaying vege-
tation. The result was death from cholera, or some
other malignant bowel-complaint, of three out of the
four, and the retreat of the only survivor. However
worthy of praise, such an enterprise cannot be looked
on as a fair experiment. But it cast a gloom over the
prospect of further attempts of the same sort, and has
never again been repeated. The example of the
missions to the Kols of Bengal and the Karens of
Burma, where the combination of profitable industrial
enterprise with theological teaching has been found to
be singularly effective in the propagation of the Gospel
among aboriginal races, may point to the desirability
of some such system being attempted among the un-
sophisticated savages of these wilds by those who are
now preaching in vain to the semi-Hindii tribes further
west.

Some time ago a French gentleman took up a con-
siderable tract of the finest land in one of these valleys.
But it soon appeared that he had no intention of real
colonisation, and had, in fact, been merely speculating on
the value of the forest produce of the land. This and
other symptoms of laud-jobbing have, I believe, induced
some reconsideration of the rules for the sale of the fee
simple of waste lands. One thing may be relied on,
however — that whatever title a settler may here obtain
from the Government will be an absolute one, every
existing or possible private interest having been fully
determined before the available wastes were declared by
law to be state property.

In such a well-watered, shady, and grassy region as
this Upper Narbada valley, it is inevitable that wild
animals should abound. The hilly ranges which separate

2 c 2

388 THE HIGHLAXDS OF CEXTEAL IXDIA.

the valleys contain the bison, the sambar, and the
black bear, like similar tracts in other parts of the
province. These are animals peculiar to no part of
India, and the same may be said of the spotted deer,
which affects the densely wooded banks of the larger
streams. But, as I have said, we are here within the
limits of the great sal belt, and come upon some animals
which I have noticed as coinciding in. range therewith.

Chief in interest among these is the beautiful twelve-
tined deer {Rucervus DuvauceUii), called by some the
Baia-singha, a name which simply means " twelve-
tined," and which is applied also to the Kashmir stag
(C. Cashmiriensis). In size it is intermediate between
the sambar and the spotted deer, and almost the same
as the red deer of Scotland. In colour it is a reddish
brown during the cold season, passing through a bright
rufous chestnut in spring to a rich golden red in summer.
The antlers are very handsome, and differently shaped
from those of any other deer in the world. They have
but one basal tine over the forehead, no median tines at
all, and all the other branches arranged at the summit
of the beam. Here they show a tendency to approach
the Rusine type, to which belong the sambar and the
axis, the beam being first divided into a terminal fork,
each branch of which afterwards splits into several
points. Usually the outward or anterior branch bears
three such points, and the inward or posterior two,
making, with the brow-antler, six points on each horn.
Very old stags sometimes have more ; but, as in the
RusincB, when there are more than three the extra ones
are abnormal monstrosities, and the antlers are usually
unsymmetrical and stunted in size. The horns are
grayish in colour, and of a smoother surface than those
of the sambar. They are not nearly so massive, nor so

THE SAL FORESTS. 3S9

long, but have a very handsome outward sweep, which
renders them, I think, more efifective as a trophy for the
deerstalker. They are very diflBcult to procure fully
developed and perfect. They are cast more regularly,
I think, than those of the Rusinoe ; and as the stags
seem to be very combative, some of the points are
usually broken off soon after they lose the velvet at the
close of the rainy season, when their haunts first become
accessible to the sportsman. In form the Rucervus is
one of the most beautiful of the family — lightly and
gracefully made, and with a stately carriage ; and alto-
gether, with his splendid golden colour and finely-
shaped antlers, this stag is not surpassed, I think, iu
appearance, by any member of the deer tribe.

This animal has been called in north-eastern India
the " swamp deer," but here he is not observed to be
particularly partial to swampy ground. They graze in
the mornings and evenings, chiefly along the smaller
streams, and by springs, where the grass is green, in the
open valleys, and rest during the day about the skirts
of the sal forest. A favourite midday resort is in the
shade of the clumps of sal dotted about the open plain,
at some distance from the heavy forest. They are not
nearly so nocturnal in habits as the sambar, being often
found out grazing late in the forenoon, and again early
in the afternoon ; and I do not think they wander
about all night like the sambar. Their midday rest is
usually of a few hours only, but during that time they
conceal themselves in the grass much after the manner
of the sambar. I have never heard of their visiting
cultivated tracts, like the latter ; nor can I learn that
their apparent adherence to the sal forest is due to their
employing any part of that tree as food.

In the middle of the day the red deer (so they

390 THE HIGHLAXDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

arc called by natives, and often by Europeans) may
be shot by beating the grass with elephants in the
manner before described. During the height of the
cold weather many parts of this tract can hardly be
traversed except on an elephant ; and in such places
shooting would otherwise be impossible, owing to the
height and thickness of the grass jungle. In the course
of a day's beating of this sort in the Mandla district
a very great variety of game may easily be met
with. On one occasion, when spending Christmas
with two friends in the lovely Matiari valley, a day's
march east of the station of Mandla, we secured, I
think, a specimen of nearly every kind of game to
be found in the country, excepting the bison and
the panther. On the 26th we marched from a place
called Bartola to Gobri, both on the Matiari — a clear
sparkling stream that here runs through a valley, filled
with long grass cover, and bounded on either side by
chains of low hills, flat on the tops, and clothed with
low tree jungle and bamboos on their sides. We took
separate lines, F. going by the pathway, D. along the
tops of the hills on one side, while I beat along the
river below on an elephant. 1 had not gone far before
I put up a large herd of sambar in long grass, and,
firing right and left, dropped one small stag, and heavily
wounded a very large fellow with splendid antlers and
as black as a buff'alo. I got off", and tracked the
wounded animal for about three miles by his blood,
through the long, dewy grass, till I was as thoroughly
wetted through as if I had been wading in a tank,
when, as the deer had reached heavy bamboo cover, and
seemed to be still strong, I gave it up, and again made
for the river. On the way I came on a herd of red deer,
graziug about in an opening in the low jungle, where a

THE SAL rOEESTS. 391

fine spring kept the grass beautifully green. They saw
me before I was within shot, however, and retreated
into grass cover. Waiting a little, I got on the elephant,
and proceeded to beat the long grass ; and, after going
about a quarter of a mile, started the herd, which must
have contained fully thirty individuals. They dived
into a deepish hollow, filled with low brushwood, in
front of me, and I waited on the edge for their appear-
ance on the far side. Presently they clattered up in
single file, stags and does intermixed, the last of all
being a very large dark red stag, with beautiful antlers
that seemed almost to overpower him as he slowly
trotted up the rise. I had the sight of the double rifle
bearing full on his broad back, and was just touching
the trioraer when the man behind me seized and detained
my arm in a vice-like grasp. The moment was lost,
and I turned viciously on the culprit, who, however,
pointed silently to an object in a tree close to our
heads. It was a huge colony of bees — the terrible
Bonhrd, whose swarms had, a march or two before,
routed our whole following, leaving a good-sized baggage
pony dead upon the ground. Lucky it was I had not
fired, and I thought little of the lost stag in the hurry
to get out of so dangerous a vicinity. About half a
mile further on, near the river, a spotted doe leaped out
of a patch of grass, and scoured across the plain. It
was too tempting, she looked so round and fat ; and a
snap shot rolled her over, shot through the loins. We
were now not far from camp, and I was beating through
some longish grass, when a full, round countenance was
seen peering over the top of it at the advancing
elephant. I did not make it out for a while, and pre-
sently it disappeared, the motion of the grass showing
the progress of a large body towards the river. A little

392 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA.

further on it stopped, and the round face again glared
at me over the grass. Surely it must be a tiger ? A
glimpse of a striped red hide settled the question, and I
moved a little down to cut her ofl' from the river bed.
All was motionless for a few minutes, and then again
the slowly waving grass showed the stealthy progress
towards the deep gully in which ran the river. A
shallow ravine was a little ahead, down which she
could steal unobserved, except in one place, where a
little jungle pathway crossed it, and I took up a place
commanding this at about sixty yards, waiting with
cocked rifle and beating heart. Now she is close to
the opening, the grass rustling gently above her. Now
she sneaks rapidly across, crawling low, but halts
for a moment to look again before entering the further
cover. Fatal pause ! A ball speeds through her
shoulder, and, turning with a roar, she gallops back
again up the hollow. I thought she meant a charge,
and hastily reloaded the discharged barrel of my breech-
loader, as I had only one gun out, being on a pad. But
she left the nala, when nearly opposite me, on the wrong
side. I think she must have forgotten, for she evidently
looked out for her assailant, jumping high above the
grass at every bound — a really beautiful sight, with her
very bright-coloured skin, hair erect, and tail streaming
behind her. About the third bound I causjht her with
another bullet, and she fell, crumpled up in mid-air, for
all the world just like a partridge struck full by a charge
of shot. She was lying stone-dead when I came up,
and no wonder, for the ball had entered near her tail,
traversed the whole length of her body, and was resting
under the skin of her forehead. The rifle was a twelve-
bore breech-loader, on my own spherical ball principle,
the penetration of w^hich may be judged of by this

THE SAL FOKESTS. 393

performance. The first shot was a little high on the
shoulder, but would soon have killed her, and fully
accounted for her confusion of ideas. She had evidently
been lying on the watch for spotted deer coming to
drink. A laro;e herd of them broke out of the ejrass
while our interview was in progress. Coming to camp,
I found that F. had shot a black buck antelope on the
road ; while D. returned with a young Jxtrd-singhd stag
and a spotted deer. In the evening F. went out, and
killed a laro;e bear, which came down to the river to
drink beside him. Next day we were almost equally
fortunate, though no tiger was met with ; and we spent
a Christmas of considerable joviality in that remote
wilderness, the dinner consisting, as far as I recollect, of
a (peacock) turkey and sambar tongue, supported by
roast haunch of red-deer venison, as ]rneces cle resistance,
with cheetul cutlets and fillet of nilc-ai veal as entrees,
followed up by boiled quails and roasted teal, and con-
cluded by the orthodox plum-pudding and mince-pies
out of Crosse and Blackwell's tins. Sundry glasses of
whisky - toddy, imbibed round a rattling bonfire lit in
front of the tents, were fully justified by the really
severe cold after sunset. Stalking the hdrd-singhd,
however, alibrds the finest sport ; and from the less
exclusively nocturnal habits of the animal, as well as
the open character of the country, resembles deer-
stalking in Scotland more than any other of our field
sports.

When hurrying through this country in January,
en route to the eastern forests, I halted for two days in
the upper valley of the Halon to stalk the red deer,
which I had never before seen. The grass was very
thick and long, and, being still green, was entirely
unburnt. At a place called Motinala, where a deep

394 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

branching watercourse crosses the pathway several
times, I was walking ahead of my followers, when I
came on the remains of a poor wanderer, who had
evidently not long before been killed by a tiger. He
was a religious mendicant ; and his long iron tongs,
beo:o;ino;-bo\vl hollowed from a skull, and cocoa-nut
hooka were scattered about in the bottom of the nala,
where he had been resting on his weary march, together
with tresses of his lonoj matted hair and a shred or two
of cloth. The bones were all broken to pieces, and
many of them were missing altogether. A Banjara
drover had been taken off near the same spot about a
week before, so that it was not without some misgivings
that I wandered off the road through the longf grass to
look for red deer towards the skirts of the hills. To
hunt for the tiger in such an ocean of grass-cover would
have been hopeless. I skirted the hills to the right of
the road from here to the camping-ground at Mangli,
very soon getting drenched to the skin passing through
the high grass dripping with the morning dew. Towards
the hills the grass was shorter, and the plain much cut
up by deep fissures in the black, heavy soil. I saw
several small herds of deer wending their way towards
the clumps of sal forest on the skirt of the hills before I
found any in a position that would admit of stalking.
At last I marked a small parcel of hinds, with two fair-
looking stags, disappear over a low rising ground, slowly
feeding their way towards the forest ; and making a long
detour to gain the shelter of a deep crack, which led
into the valley they had entered, I stalked almost into
the middle of them before I was aware. My first
intimation of the fact was the sharp bark of a hind, who
had observed the top of my head over the bank, and the
next moment a rush of feet informed me that the herd

THE SAL FOEESTS. 395

was off. Stepping on to the bank, I made a clean miss
of the first running shot ; but, taking more time with
the second barrel, I saw the hindmost stag reel and
almost fall over to the shot. He made off, however,
along with the herd ; but presently left them, and took
a line of his own towards the long grass-cover in the
middle of the plain. I soon hit on his track where he
had entered the grass, and found a little blood ; but as
the grass was a long way over my head, I sent back for
the elephant with which to beat him out. Following
the blood-marks on the yellow stems for about a mile,
we started him out of a patch of grass near the river,
and I shot him through the back as he ran away.

The next day, being encamped at Topla, in the
centre of a wide valley among the sal forest, I went
out in the afternoon towards the Halon river. Here
the country was open and prairie-like, short grass
plains, dotted with clumps of sal, intervening between
the heavier masses of forest. The river was very bright
and clear, running over a pebbly bed. I took out
two young half-bred hounds, between the Eampur breed
and the Scotch deerhound, in the hope of getting them
a run at a wounded red deer, as they were as yet
guiltless of blood. Their mother, and the bull mastiff
" Tinker," of wolf renown, accompanied to help them in
the kill. A couple of lithe blacks, and nearly naked
Bygas, with their war-axes, guided the party. We
wandered a good many miles in the early afternoon
without coming on game, but I, at least, was gratified
by the delightful park-like scenery. About four o'clock,
by the advice of the Bygas, we sat down on a little
eminence crowned by a clump of sal trees, to watch
for deer coming out to drink or feed. Very soon a
good-sized herd suddenly appeared in the middle of

396 THE HIGHLANDS OF CEXTRAL INDIA.

a long, fiat stretch of grass-land beyond the river ;
and after stretching themselves, and enjoying a game
at romps, commenced feeding pretty quickly down
towards the bank of the river. We at once retreated
over the bank of our knoll ; and, getting into a hollow
protected by a fringe of bushes, crept up to the banks
and again reconnoitred. They were quite unsuspicious,
the wind being highly favourable ; and they seemed
likely to come and drink in our very faces. When
within a few hundred yards, however, they halted a
long time behind a little rising ground. I was in agony
lest the dogs should make us known, as they were
dreadfully excited by the restraint of the stalks, and
seemed to know perfectly well that there was something
to hunt at hand. Presently a single hind topped the
rise, and for full five minutes stood sniffing round
in all directions, her great ears cocked in aid of her
sense of smell. At last she seemed to be satisfied, and
moved slowly forwards, now pausing to crop a mouthful
of grass, and then again starting and looking about
as if she had heard or smelt somethinsj. A stao- now
walked up past her, and without the least precaution
came boldly on to the water, which he entered
about a hundred yards above our post. The rest
of the herd were still mostly hidden by the rise.
Creeping through the bushes I prepared to fire at
the stag, and gave orders for the hounds to be slipped
at once after I should fire. I was barely in time to
secure a shot, before the stag, alarmed by a yelp from
one of the dogs, turned to flee up the bank. As it
was I dropped him on the pebbly bank, shot through
the shoulder ; and, turning the ritle on the hind
who was pausing startled at the shot, the other bullet
passed through her thigh, injuring the hip joint. She

THE SAL FORESTS. 397

fell on her liind quarters for a few moments, but
presently recovered, and made off after the herd across
the flat. The four dogs had sprung from the slips, and
splashed through the shallow stream before she had
well got on her legs ; and they very nearly had her
before she got fairly into her pace. Then, however,
she distanced them at once for a few hundred yards,
when the old bitch " Bell," who was extremely fast,
began to draw steadily up to her. The pups were
a hundred yards behind, giving tongue like foxhounds,
and old Tinker laboured along scarcely half-way from
where they had started. Cell was very near the hind,
when I saw her disappear bodily into a hole. But
the deer was now failing fast ; and, seeing no chance
of making the forest, turned round and came back
towards the river. The pups and Tinker now made up
considerably by cutting off the corner, and very soon
the brindled one, " Sheroo," who was rather the faster,
was racing alongside of her, making uncertain snatches
at the shoulder. The yellow dog soon joined him,
and together they managed to throw over the deer just
as she reached the bank of the river. They all three
rolled down the bank together ; and before the deer
could recover herself Tinker was up and pinned her
by the throat. The bitch was not far behind, and
among them they nearly tore the poor animal limb
from limb. Fearing a row between Tinker and the
young dogs I ran up as fast as possible; but a Byga
with his axe was before me, and attempted to get
the quarry from the dogs. He didn't know Tinker,
however, who loosed his hold on the deer's throat only
to fly at the Byga. The latter defended himself as well
as he could with his axe-handle, very thoughtfully for
such a savage, not attempting to use the head ; but

398 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

lie had several pretty severe bites iu the arms and
legs before I could arrive to his rescue. As a rule
Tinker was as quiet as a lamb with men ; but when
roused by blood he was a perfect devil ; and as his size
and weight were immense I was often rather afraid
of him myself. Poor fellow, his formidable aspect
and a few outbursts of this sort were the death of
him, being poisoned by a dog boy a few months
afterwards. Bell broke her neck by chasing an antelope
down a blind well, a few marches after the hunt I have
related ; the best of the two pups was carried off
by a leopard or hyaena ; and altogether I was so disgusted
with the bad luck I had always had in keeping large
dogs in India that I gave it up altogether ; and I cannot
say that I found very much loss accrue to my sport
in consequence. I believe they lose more wounded
animals, by driving them out of reach, than they
recover.

On the way back I shot another hind, who stood too
lonof to gaze at the unwonted intruders, and saw the
tracks of a wild elephant sinking deep into the soft,
black soil. I was told afterwards that this elephant
was one wdiich had broken loose from captivity about
ten years previously, and had since inhabited the dense
covers about the head of the Halon river. He after-
wards annoyed the forest officers not a little by syste-
matically demolishing all the masonry boundary pillars
erected by them round the reserved forest. Keally wild
elephants do not come so far west as this ; the country
to the east of Amarkantak (the source of the Narbada),
or at the most the Samni valley, a little nearer than
that place, being their most westerly range in this part
of India. Formerly, how^ever, the whole of this country,
and far to the west of it, w^as the home of the wild

THE SAL FORESTS. 399

elephant. The etymology of many names, such as the
" elephant enclosure," the " elephant pool," etc., would
suffice to indicate this ; but, besides, we have it dis-
tinctly recorded, in that valuable work, the " Institutes
of Akber," that in the sixteenth century elephants were
found and captured in the Narbada valley as far west as
the Bijagarh and Haudid Sirkars,* which lie partly to
the west of the meridian of the present military stations
of Mhow and Asirgarh. This is probably the most
westerly range of the wild elephant that has been
recorded ; and their subsequent disappearance over so
large a tract of country speaks volumes for the advance-
ment which has taken place in that period.

The night I was at Topla, two tigers roared loudly
round about the camp. We were pitched in a little
glade in the sea of grass, and the effect in the clear, cold
night was very fine. The night voice of the tiger lias a
very impressive sound, conveying, though not nearly so
loud as the bray of a jackass, the idea of immense
power, as it rolls and trembles along the earth. Four
months later, when I was encamped near Matin, in the
forests of the far east, I listened one night to the most
remarkable serenade of tigers I ever heard. A peculiar,
long wail, like the drawn-out mew of a huge cat, first rose
from a river course a few hundred yards below my tent.
Presently from a mile or so higher up the river came a
deep, tremendous roar, which had scarcely died away
ere it was answered from behind the camp by another,
pitched in a yet deeper tone, startling us from its
suddenness and proximity. All three were repeated at
short intervals, as the three tigers approached each
other along the bottoms of the deep, dry watercourses,
between and above which the camp had been pitched.
* Glad^yin's " Azeen Akbery," vol. ii. p. 249.

400 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

As they drew together the noises ceased for about a
quarter of an hour ; and I was dozing off to sleep again,
when suddenly arose the most fearful din near to where
the tio-ress had first sounded the love-note to her rival
lovers, a din like the caterwauling of midnight cats
mao-nified a hundredfold. Intervals of silence, broken
by outbursts of this infernal shriekiug and moaning,
disturbed our rest for the next hour, dying away
gradually as the tigers retired along the bed of the
river. In the mornino: I found all the incidents of a
three-volume novel in feline life imprinted on the sand ;
and marks of blood showed how genuine the combat
part of the performance had been. For the assurance
of the timid, I may as well say that I have never had
my camp actually invaded by a tiger, though constantly
pitched, with a slender following, and without any sort
of precaution, in the middle of their haunts. It strikes
a stranger to jungle ways a little oddly, perhaps, to see
a man in the warm summer nights calmly take his bed
out a hundred yards from the tents, lie down under the
canopy of heaven, listen, pipe in mouth, for half an
hour to the noises of wild animals, and then placidly
fall asleep. He soon learns to do the same himself.

About the end of the rains, in September and
October, the red deer collect in large herds on the tops
of the plateaux ; and I have been told of assemblages of
several hundred head at that season. They are then
beginning to rut, and are very easy to get at, the
Gonds and Bygas killing great numbers with their axes,
aided by their strong, tall dogs. The best heads are to
be got from these people ; and that figured opposite,
which is a very typical one, was killed either thus or by
a tiger. I myself never got a complete head with more
than ten points, though I have secured some heavier

THE SAL FOEESTS. 401

than the twelve-pointed one figured below. Its length
is 33^ inches round the curve of each antler, and ex-
treme spread 3G inches. There are few larger in the
forests.

In the rains the wild buffalo wanders in herds all
over these Mandla highlands. They mostly disappear,

HORNS OF BARA-siNGHA DEER. {Scole, one-tentli.)

however, when the tame cattle are brought up to graze
in the open season, a few only lingering in the most
secluded valleys ; and they must then be sought in the
less accessible jungles to the south and west. Thither I
must carry the reader to introduce him to the animal,
as I never was in the Mandla district at the time when
the buffaloes are found there.

2 D

CHAPTER X.

AN EXPLOEATION IN THE FAR EAST.

The Highlands of Central India may perhaps properly
bo said to terminate where the steep southern face of
the Mykal range, trending away to the north-east,
culminates in the high bluff promontory of Amarkantak.
Standing here on this prominent point, the very focus
and navel of India, the eye ranges over a panorama
perhaps inferior in extent to no outlook in the whole
peninsula. The rain that clothes this little plateau of a
few square miles with the greenest of verdure, having
the peculiarity of seldom ceasing for more than a few-
days at any part of the year, forms the first beginnings
of three great rivers, whose waters flow in opposite
directions to the seas on either side of India. The
infant Narbada bubliles forth at the feet of the observer,
enclosed Ijy religious care in a wall of masonry, and
surrounded by Hindii temples, and thence meanders on
for some miles through a narrow glade, carpeted with
beautiful grass, and fringed by forests of sal ; at first a
tiny burn, but growing rapidly by union with others^
till, some three miles from the fountain, it leaps over
the edge of the plateau in a clear shoot of about thirty
feet. Seven hundred and fifty miles further on it rolls,
a mighty river, into the waters of the Arabian Gulf. In

AN" EXPLORATION IX THE EAE EAST. 403

the local Sivite Mythology the Narbada is the maiden
Mykal-Kanya, daughter of the Mykal Mountain, from
whose brow she springs. Resistless in her divine
might, at her first birth she overflowed the earth in a
destructive flood, till, in answer to the prayers and
sacrifices of men, the Great God sent the Vindhya
Mountain and his seven stalwart sons^ to restrain her,
when she shrank into her present channel, leaving
behind her the Ganges and other rivers, as pools are
left by the receding tide. Hence the sanctity of the
Narbada is superior to that of all other rivers, though
the gods gave the preference for the first five thou-
sand years of the Kall-Yug to the Ganges. Twenty-
eight years only of this period now remain unexpired,
when the local Brahmans fully expect the Narbada to
surpass as a place of pilgrimage all other rivers of India.
As it is, the parent spring at Amarkantak, and many
places along its course, are places of great sanctity to
pilgrims from all parts of India ; and the help of the
railway, which is by no means scorned by the devout
Hindu (who likes to " boil his peas "), bids fair to realise
in some degree the prophecy of the Puranas. A little
to the north of the source of the Narbada rises the
Johilld, a stream which shortly joins the Sone, also born
in these hills, and flows north into the Ganges; while,
still only a few steps from these, another little stream,
the Arpd, bubbles forth, and shortly tumbles over the
sheer clifi" to the south, and mingles with the great
Mahanadi, which drains the plains of Chattis'garh into
the Bay of Bengal. From this height of 4,000 feet
the eye embraces a view of three-fourths of a circle,

* Thence tlie name Sat-puici, applied to these highlands. Sat putrd
meaning literally the " Seven Sons."

2 D 2

404 THE HIGHLANDS OF CE2s^TRAL INDIA.

uuinterrupted by anytLing but the blue haze of distance
which limits the vision. Far below to the south,
lying like a chessboard, is the open cultivated plain of
Chattis'garh, stretching out to the uttermost range of
vision. To the east and north, 2,000 feet below, appears
a flat sea of greenery, broken here and there by an
isolated peak that appears to reach the level of the
observer. In the faint distance beyond rises another
wall of rock, visible only on a clear day as a faint
violet-coloured shade across the sky. The green plain
is a vast forest of sal, unbroken by tillage, and scarcely
inhabited by man, and the rocky rampart beyond is the
buttress of another table-land called Sirgiija, the land
of the K61 aborigines, and beyond the limits of our
province. My mission for the succeeding six months
was to explore this vast region of sal forest, lying to
the north and east of Amarkantak, and stretching far
beyond and to the south of the plain of Chattis'garh, in
the semi-independent country called the Garhjat States.

Over all this country roams the wild buffalo, and in
the forests north and east of Amarkantak were then
found large herds of wild elephants, which descended at
the ripening of the crops of Chattis'garh to the skirts of
the forest, doing immense damage, and forming a serious
obstacle to the cultivation of the country. To penetrate
to their haunts, ascertain their numbers, and propose
means for their destruction, was another object of our
expedition.

In the end of January I descended the Eajadh-ar
pass from the MandM district, and marched across the
Chattis'garh plain, where antelope, ducks, snipe, etc.,
afforded perpetual occupation for the gun, to the station
of Rai'pur, where I met the Chief Commissioner's camp

AX EXPLORATION IN THE FAR EAST. 405

and my future companion in this expedition — Captain
B., of Her Majesty's Regiment. Thence we pro-
ceeded to the eastern and southern forests, marching
rapidly to get from one portion of these forests to
another, where days and weeks would be passed in
tramping about the hills and making notes, the great
part of which would possess no interest for the general
reader. We never allowed ourselves to linger for sport ;
but the herds of buffaloes are in some parts of this
country so numerous that it would have been almost
impossible to avoid encountering them.

The extreme western range of the wild buffalo* in
Central India is almost exactly marked by the 80th
meridian of longitude, ur in physical features by the
Wyn-Ganga tributary oi tie Godavari river, and below
their junction almost by the latter river itself. I say
almost, because in a trip down the Godavari river
which I made during the rains, I saw the tracks of
a herd of buffaloes on the western side of that river, at
the "third barrier "t south of the station of Chanda,
that is, a short distance to the west of the 80th
meridian. The Udtives, however, told me there that
they only cross the river in the rainy season, and that
they do not penetrate very far to the west, so that
so slight an exception may fairly be held to prove
the general rule. So far, then, from the common adage
of the sportsman being true that the wild buffalo does

* Bicbalus ami.

t These " barriers " are points in the course of this river where
its otherwise still, lake-like character is broken by spaces in which
the river assumes more the character of a mountain stream. They
interrupt what would otherwise be an unbroken stretch of water-way
into the heart of the country, and are now being dealt with by a
staff of skilful engineers. Probably a herd of buffaloes would find it
easier to cross at one of these barriers than elsewhere.

406 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL IXDIA.

not extend south of the Narbadc4, the truth is that the
animal is unknown to the nortli of it, in the longitude
of that river. It has been stated that the feral buffaloes
of these parts are only the descendants of tame ones run
wild, an idea that will not hold water for a second.
They have all the habits of fully wild animals, are
extremely numerous in the parts they inhabit, and
exactly correspond in size and every particular with
the aboriginally wild buffaloes of Eastern Bengal. Two
varieties are recognised in India, differing chiefly in
the length and shape of the horns. They have been
called by Hodgson, B. Macroceros, and B. Speiroceros,
the horns of the former being long, straight, and more
slender, and of the latter, shorter, thicker, and more
curved. All the Central Indian species that I have
seen pertain to the latter race, the average length of
the horns of a laature bull beinsf three-and-a-half to

O

four feet. No animal has changed so little in domes-
tication as the buffalo. In appearance the wild animal
is extremely like the tame one, but fully a third larger,
and showing fine, plump, sleek condition, instead of
the slouching, scraggy appearance of the domestic
"buff," and possessing the free action and air of a
denizen of the wilds. I have never heard an authentic
case of their interbreedino^ with the domestic race,
though individuals of the latter sometimes join the
wild herds, and become difficult to reclaim. h\ height
I have never seen a wild buOalo exceed sixteen hands ;
but though thus less in stature than the bison, the
bufi"alo stands on much shorter legs, and is altogether
a heavier-built animal, so that in bulk and weiirht he
must a good deal exceed the wild bull of the hills.
They never interfere with each other, the bison adhering
to hilly tracts, while the buffalo is essentially a lover of

AN EXPLOEATIOX IX THE FAE EAST. 407

plains and level plateaux, where the extensive swamps
he delights in can be found. The very different
structure of their hoofs would suffice of itself to in-
dicate this, those of the buffalo being broad and platter-
like, to support him on soft ground ; while those of the
bison, who has to pick his way among rocks, are
wonderfully small for his size, as neat and game-like
and little larger than those of the sambar deer. The
buffalo is also much less intolerant of man and his
works than the bison, invading the rice cultivation,
and often defying all attempts to drive him from the
neighbourhood of villages. They are altogether very
defiant of man, and, unlike the bison, will generally
permit a close approach without any concealment, where
they have not been much molested, trusting apparently
to their formidable aspect to secure the retreat of the
invader, which is usually successful. If the attack be
followed up, however, they almost always make off at
last, and are then not so easily got at again. The
favourite resorts of the buffalo are on the skirts of the
lower sal forests, where they run out into the open
plain, and between them and the rice cultivation of
these regions, in the great open, swampy plains, where
long rank grass affords the sort of cover they like.

Our first introduction to the wild buffalo in this trip
was near the high-road between Ejli'piir and Sambalpiir,
when B., who had the shot (in stalking a herd together
we always arranged by turns who should have the first
shot), killed a cow. We followed the herd a long way,
and wounded another, but could not bag. For a long
time after this we were employed in the forests, and
though we saw a few, never had time to hunt them,
until, near the Mabanadi river, we came out on a
cultivated plain, of which a large bull and four cows

408 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

bad completely taken possession, devastating the rice,
and charging indiscriminately at all who approached.
A Baboo from the nearest police station had come out
a little while before to rid the place of the invader, but
contented himself with firing away all his ammunition
at half a mile's distance from the top of a house,' and
the bull remained monarch of all he surveyed. We had
scarcely entered on the plains when the owner of the
ruined rice-fields pointed out his enemy, looming out
against the horizon as large as an elephant, and we
at once made preparations for the attack. The place
was as level and open as a billiard-table, so we had
to rely on our rifles alone. We were both heavily
armed with two-ounce rifles, however, and several
smaller guns in reserve, so we marched straight on
the foe, with our very miscellaneous pack of dogs under
orders to be let go at the first shot. The bull and
his harem came boldly down to meet us, and as we
approached commenced his usual demonstrations to put
us to flight — pawing the earth with his feet, tossing his
mighty horns, and making short runs in our direction.
But we steadily advanced, and when within about
eighty yards separated a little, so that one should get
a flank shot, the full front of the bufi'alo being prac-
tically proof against lead. It was my turn for first
shot, and when about sixty yards intervened I knelt
down and brought the heavy rifle to bear on the point
of his shoulder. Crash went two ounces of lead, pro-
pelled by eight drachms of powder, against his tough
hide, and he fell upon his knees. Bang went several
more of our shots, and he stumbled off" dead lame and
very much crestfallen. Following him up with the
dogs, who were now baying round him, we overhauled
him in an open field, and repeated the dose again and

AX EXPLORATION IN THE FAR EAST. 409

again till he fell heavily against the embankment of a
rice-field, and then, stepping up, I put a three-ounce
shell behind his shoulder, and with a quiver of the
limbs he gave it up. He was a fine animal, in the
prime of life, and we were amazed at the bulk and
strength exhibited by his massive form. The horns
were each three feet ten inches long, which is nearly
the extreme length they ever attain here.* He had
sixteen bullets in him before he died, several of large
calibre, and at close quarters. We were, however,
shooting with bullets of plain lead, and I found that
my first two-ounce ball, propelled by eight drachms of
powder, had flattened out on his shoulder, pulverising
the bones, however, and completely laming him. After
this we shot with hardened projectiles.

Next day we embarked in a long canoe, hollowed
from the stem of a mighty sal tree, on the bosom of the
Mahanadi, and sailed down to Sambalpiir in two days
and a night. It was mighty exciting work, the stream
passing at intervals over long rapids, where the water,
broken into many channels, rushed between narrow
banks overhung with bushes, the boatmen steering the
canoe with long poles in the most dexterous manner,
now warding her bows from a rock on which the stream
broke in a sheet of foam, then prostrating themselves at
the bottom of the l)oat to avoid the sweep of the
branches, while the canoe shot through some narrow
passage, and presently emerging, after a final shave
against a sunken rock, into a deep and silent pool,
where the plash of huge fish, and the eye-knobs and
serrated backs of crocodiles sailing about, showed that
we had entered one of the long, silent reaches that

* Fossil horns of much larger size have been found in the
Narbada gravels, along with bones of the hippopotamus, etc.

410 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA.

break at intervals the torrent of these mountain rivers.
My companion bad got a severe attack of fever, which
marred what would otherwise have been a sufficiently
jolly trip. After resting awhile at this most secluded of
stations (they get their supplies from Calcutta, several
hundreds of miles away, on men's heads, and a convoy
had just been trampled up by wikl elephants before we
arrived), we started again for the Garhjat States, where
the next month was spent in unremitting toil among
their rushed hills. Here we were amono; the Khond
aborisfinies, famous for the Meria sacrifices of human
beings to the dread goddess Kali. How they can have
been confounded with our Central Indian Gonds I can-
not imagine. They are much blacker and more negro-
like in their jjhysique, and speak a wdioUy different
language, a few words only of which approximate, like
Gondi, to the Tamil of the south. Their country is
wholly beyond the limits of the central highlands ; and
it would be out of place to enter here into a detailed
description of the tribe, even did the few weeks I passed
among them justify such an undertaking. We returned
from this trip with most of our following severely ill of
fever, contracted in these close jungles, where water is
so scarce and bad at this time of year (April) that we
rose, like river gods, from our daily bath hung with the
green slime of the fetid pools from which our supplies
w^ere drawn. As we marched northward again we
entered the valley of the Jonk river, a tributary of
the Mahanadi, and here we fell in again with great
herds of buffaloes, and halted for a day or two to recruit
our fullowers and shoot. Our camp was pitched below
a great spreading tree at the deserted site of the village of
Jilda. Eaten up by the buffaloes, the people had moved
off to a less open space. Around us was a sea of long

AN EXPLORATIOX IN THE FAR EAST. 411

grass, bounded by low hills and sal forests on the far
horizon. Here our poor fever-stricken people paraded
themselves in rows to let the sun into their shivering
bones, and three times a day got a dose of quinine
all round, a course of treatment (preceded by a smart
dose of jalap) which soon frees a native from this hot-
weather fever.

AVhen marching in the morning, about a couple of
miles from camp we- saw a herd of fifty or sixty buffaloes
standing up to their knees in a swamp among long grass.
It was B.'s turn for the shot, and we spent several hours
trying to get near enough to shoot. The buffaloes were
very wild, having been much fired at a few weeks before
by a sportsman with long-range small-bore rifles. As
we approached on one side they waded through the
swamp and went out on the other, reversing the process
when we changed the direction of approach. At last I
got on my horse, and took a light breech-loading gun,
to try and get round and drive them across to B.
They now got alarmed, and made off towards the head
of the swamp ; and on our following them on either
bank, left it altogether, and started at their best pace
across a rising ground. The ground seemed very
favourable for riding for that country, so I could not
resist the temptation to breathe my little nag at them,
and was soon galloping full speed in their rear. My
animal was an Arab pony, about thirteen three in height,
but game as a bantam, and wonderfully sure-footed over
bad ground. To my surprise and delight, I found
myself ahead of them in less than half a mile ; and,
shooting past, looked out for a worthy c^uarry among
the labouring^ mass. I fixed on a bull with lono; horns,
whose shining tips danced, in the sunlight conspicuous
above them all, and was just ranging alongside to fire

412 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

when a tremendous bound of my little nag nearly
unseated me, and we just escaped the long pointed
horns of a lean brute of a cow that shot past my quarter,
and then pulled up beyond me, shaking her head and
looking very wicked indeed. I sheered off, and let her
proceed to rejoin the herd, giving her a broadside of two
laarrels as she passed, which was followed by another
end-on charge for several hundred yards. Eventually
she went off again towards the retreating herd ; but,
though the ground had now become very bad, cut up in
all directions by deep rifts in the black soil and pitted by
the old footmarks of the buffaloes, I was not going to
decline the challenge of this fighting cow. So after
reloading my breech-loader, which was a very light
snipe gun pressed into ball service, and wholly unfit
for this sort of work, I cantered after her, and, when
within distance, made a rush past, intending to fire into
her at close quarters. But she was too quick for me,
and we almost met, my gun going ofi", I believe harm-
lessly, in her face. I had another narrow shave as she
again charged me, the little horse stumbling heavily
several times in the frightful ground. Again she
sheered off, and once again I rode up, though not so
close as before, and gave her both barrels, holding the
gun out like a pistoL She felt these, and, though
shaking her head in a threatening manner, did not
charge again. She now held on slowly behind the
herd ; and as I felt I could not kill her with this
weapon, I waited behind, hoping she would lie down
and the heavy rifles come up. Presently she slackened
her pace to a walk, and I watched her from behind a
bush. Peeriijg cautiously all round, she went on a little
further, and then, after standing about five minutes
watching, lay down in the long grass. I marked the

AN EXPLORATION IX THE FAR EAST. 413

spot carefully, as I thought, by a bush, and then rode
back full split for a heavy rifle. About a mile behind
I met B. with the rifles and dogs, and we proceeded
together to finish off" the cow. My large rifle had got
bulged in one barrel some time before, being unable to
bear the proper charges for bufl"alo- shooting, so I had
only one barrel to depend on. We walked up through
the grass close to the spot I had marked, but she
was not there. I soon lost the bearings, there being
fifty bushes just like the one I had marked her by,
and we wandered about, a little apart, looking for her.
I had stood up on an ant-hill to get a better look, when
just below me up started her savage-looking head and
long horns, and she plunged towards me in the grass.
A ball from the heavy rifle in the neck turned her, and
she passed between B. and me, preventing both of us
from further firing. The dogs now tackled her,
" Tinker " in particular (whose deeds of valour in the
wolf line have already been recorded) striving to seize
her by the nose as she tore along. A couple of hundred
yards further on she stopped in another patch of grass,
the dogs baying round her, and Tinker, exhausted
by the great heat, lying down in the shade of a bush,
but flying at her the moment she tried to move. We
marched up, at a short interval from each other, and,
arriving first on her blind side, I saw her glance at B.,
shake ofi" the dogs, and creeping forward in a stealthy
manner like a tiger, watch for him, with horns laid back,
behind the screen of grass and bushes that intervened.
Before he arrived, however, I took a steady shot at her
neck with the little double fourteen-gauge rifle, dropping
her stone dead. We found she had an old bullet wound
in the flank, which was full of maggots, accounting for
her extremely poor condition and unusual savageness.

4U THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDLA.

The smaM-bore rifle of our predecessor in these hunting-
grounds was probably the cause. Her horns were of
full cow length, the pair measuring eight feet four inches
round the curve and across the skull.

The herd was now clean gone, of course, in the
meantime, and we turned towards camp. On the way
B. shot a cow, and I wounded a bull, and lost him in
the long grass. While smoking our pipes after break-
fast, one of the men who had remained to look after
the wounded bull came in to say that he had been
found lying down in an open plain, about a mile away,
looking very savage. We sallied forth immediately to
encounter him, and found him lying close to a little
ridofe that had been the embankment of a rice field
when the country was cultivated, and was now over-
grown with tall grass. He had taken up a position
which commanded all approaches, and, as there was no
cover, there was nothing for it but to march up on foot.
When within about sixty yards I took a shot with a
small rifle, on the accuracy of which I could rely, at his
broad forehead reclinino; on the bank. But the anHe
was wrong, and the ball glanced off without injury to
the bull, who sprang on his feet and retreated to the
middle of the field. The dogs were now loosed, and
bayed round him till he began to chase them all round
the field ; but as soon as our heads appeared over the
fringe of grass, he left them and charged down at our-
selves. There was no sort of shelter, and every one had
to look out for himself. I stood till he was within about
half-a-dozen paces, and then jumped out of his course in
the grass, not a moment too soon, my rifle being whirled
out of my hands and its ramrod broken. Kecovering it,
I fired the undischarged barrel into the back of his
shoulder, and at the same time the report of B.'s rifle in

AX EXPLORATIOX IX THE FAR EAST. 115

front of him rang in my ears. Next moment I saw B.
fall spinning to one side, while the bull came down on
his knees, Tinker, who had dashed past along with him,
clinging nobly to his nose. Neither spare gun, gun-
bearer, nor dog-boy was in sight, as I dashed about,
looking for the wherewithal to finish the struggling bull.
At last I saw them, shrunk into nothing, in a shallow
hollow in the black soil, and, seizing a couple of the
guns, was hurrying up to the scene of action, when I
met B., safe and sound, though rather pale, and at the
same time heard the report of a rifle, and saw the bull
fall over dead. My Mahomedan shikari, a man ac-
customed to shoot, had fortunately ensconced himself,
with my spare rifle, close to where the bull stopped after
knocking B. over ; and, putting the muzzle to his head,
had pulled the triggers of both barrels at once ! Tinker
was covered with mire and blood from the bull, but
otherwise uninjured, while the nose of the buff'alo
showed how determined had been his grip. B. had
been caught fortunately with the outside edge of his
horns, and but slightly, in the arms and ribs, and was
not hurt beyond loss of wind and the shock of his ftdl.

The next day B. had fever, and was so shaken as to
require a rest, and I went out alone in another direction.
I came on a herd of about forty, grazing in an open
plain some two miles south of the camp, and proceeded
to stalk them. I had an elephant with me, and sent
him round a long circuit to attract their attention while
I crept in. Getting within about a hundred yards, I
saw that the buffaloes had a bull nilgai along with them,
which maintained a sharp outlook all round, while the
buffaloes gazed stupidly at the elephant. I was crouched
in grass about three feet high, and could not get any
.nearer for this singular sentinel. So I remained still,

416 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

and presently the elephant disappeared in some low
jungle, and the herd began again to graze. They fed
down towards me, and when about seventy yards off I
fired at the leader, who was standing end on to me, and
was raked fore and aft by the heavy, hard ball, falling
prone, toes upwards, on the ground. Instead of retreat-
ing, the herd now gathered about their comrade, and
trotted round, snuffing the blood, and looking about for
their concealed enemy. The wreathing smoke of my
rifle betrayed our position, and it was not without some
alarm that I saw them draw up in a semicircle of
pawing hoofs and snorting nostrils, surmounted by forty
pairs of monstrous horns. My gun-bearer, Peer Khan,
and I thought discretion the better part of valour under
such circumstances, and espying, some way to our right,
the pollarded trunk of a saj tree, we retreated, snake
fashion, through the grass, and clambered up it. Getting
to the top, I sat on its smooth summit, while Peer Khan
roosted crow-like on a branch, the only one, a foot or
two lower down. I now opened fire on the herd, the
first shot from the large rifle almost knocking me off my
perch with the heavy recoil ; I believe Peer Khan, who
had reloaded it, had put in a double charge of powder.
I then fired two rounds from the fourteen-bore, the herd
pausing irresolute, and finally breaking into a panic-
stricken flight. The balls had knocked the dried mud
in clouds from their hides, and one remained standinsr
on the ground, while another lagged, very lame, behind
the retreating herd. I went up and finished the first,
and then tracked up the other a long way, till it went
with the herd into a heavy swamp, when I returned to
camp. I did not see, in the confusion, what became of
the nilgai ; but he was not with the herd when it
retreated.

AN EXPLORATION IN THE FAE EAST. 417

Our experience of the wild buffalo was thus different
from that of some, who have reported it to be a timid,
inoffensive animal. As is the case with most wild
beasts, it all depends, I believe, on whether you press
them hard or not ; and probably many might be
slaughtered at long: ranores without even elicitinsj a
charge. If followed up on foot, I believe the buffalo
to be a much more dangerous opponent than the bison,
being less timid, and also found in country where there
is usually no protection to be derived from trees or
rocks. In Bengal they are scarcely ever shot in any
way but from elephants ; and then have been known to
prostrate an elephant in their charge. The prime sport
with buffaloes is on horseback ; but it is rare that
ground is found fit to ride them on with any degree of
safety, and I never heard of its having been accom-
plished excepting on the occasion above related. I am
sure, though, that with a horse clever over rough
ground, and a light, breech-loading carbine, capital runs
at buffaloes might often be secured by watching them
into favourable ground. To kill them with the spear
would, I conceive, be utterly out of the question. We
cut open one bull down the chest with an axe, to see
what stopped our balls so strangely in front shots, and
found that a bullet fired into the chest has to pass
through more than two feet of hide, bone, and gristle**?
before reaching the cavity of the lungs. Nor is the
brain more accessible, the animal holding its head either
elevated till the nose is level with the eyes, or, if
charging, down between its fore-legs, and quite pro-
tected from a shot. A plain leaden bullet of an ounce
weight, with three drachms of powder, will go clean
through the skull if hit perpendicularly, which, how-
ever, it is nearly impossible to do. The best places to

418 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA.

fire, both at bison and buffalo, are through the point of
the shoulder, if the rifle be powerful enough, or, if not,
then behind and a little above the elbow. The centre of
the neck is also very deadly, if the aim be true ; natives
almost always fire there with their matchlocks. The
skull and horns of a bull bufi'alo are so large and heavy
as to form a considerable encumbrance as a trophy to
the sportsman marching fast with a light camp. Its
value is completely spoilt, however, by sawing off the
horns and throwing away the skull, as is often done.
The better way is to boil away the flesh, and wait a few
days till the horn-sheaths loosen on the bony cores,
when they can be taken off", and the cores sawn down,
leaving only a few inches to give the set of the horns.
In doing this, the wonderful provision for giving requi-
site strength to the structure, without undue weight, by.
constructing the bony cores like hollow cells, crossed by
stays in every direction, will not fail to be perceived.

We marched on down the valley of the Jonk through
tracts of sal, mostly devastated by dhya cultivation, ta
the Mahcinadi, and then along it and its tributary, the
Arpa, to the little civil station of Bilaspiir, where we
arrived on the 28th of April, and began to make ar-
rangements for an expedition to the elephant haunts in
the great sal forest to the north of that station. It was
reported to be scarcely inhabited except by a few utterly
savage Bhiimias ; and it was certain that no supplies
of any sort would be procurable. Our first business
was, therefore, to hire a large herd of Banjara bullocks,
with their drivers, and load them up with grain ; and such
was then the land-locked condition of this fertile country
that we purchased as much wheat, gram, and rice as we
required at the rate of about 100 lbs. for a shilling !

On the 3rd of May we rode out to Katanpiir, the

AN EXPLOEATIOK" IN THE FAR EAST. 419

ancient capital of a Kajpiit dynasty which ruled over the
greater part of this eastern country from the earliest
times till the invasion of the Marathas in the eighteenth
century. This ancient place is an example of the decay
which has overtaken many of the old Hindii cities
since the extinction of the native dynasties, and the
decay of orthodox Hindu religious sentiment. Standing
on a little central hill, on whose summit the white
painted dome of a temple forms a landmark to the
surrounding country, the eye looks over great vistas
of enormous banyan and mango groves, embosomed
in which sleep the waters of a hundred and fifty
tanks, and shrouded in whose recesses, with here and
there a ribbed spire visible above, lie the crumbling
ruins of a vast number of temples, palaces, and forts.
A day's ramble scarcely discovers a tithe of the archaeo-
logical treasures which here await the inspection of the
curious. Much of the city has already fallen to pieces.
Great untenanted masonry buildings attest the former
wealth and state of its inhabitants, while mean little
mud shanties and thatched hovels clustering- aofainst
their walls witness to the poverty of the diminished
number of its modern residents. As the temples of
the old faith have sufi'ered decay, so, too, has the
religion itself; and orthodox Hinduism has over all
this country been extensively displaced by a deism,
planted less than fifty years ago among the Chamar
inhabitants of Chattis'garh by a prophet of their own
race. It is, like the Buddhism of old, an uprising of
the down-trodden low castes against the tyranny of
Brahmanism, its leading principles being abjuration
of priestdom and caste, and substitution for the Brah-
manistic pantheon of the worship of one God, whom
they call Sal Nam, or the " True One."

2 E 2

420 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

Lying in a low hollow between surrounding emi-
nences, the foul water- tanks, fetid with the slime of
centuries, breed among the people of Ratanpiir every
sort of loathsome disease; and everywhere the hideous
leper, and sufferer from elephantiasis, are seen stalking
gloomily about in the shadows of these decaying groves.
I was myself destined to share in the pestilence that is
rapidly depopulating the place. Coming in heated from
our ride, and the tents not having arrived, I was foolish
enough to throw myself down on a string bedstead I
found under a tree and go to sleep, and in the evening
found myself overtaken by a sensation which I did not
recognise. It was fever, but not that of the malaria I had
become accustomed to. Next morning I marched,
though very ill, ten miles to the next halting-place ; and
the day after, being much worse, was carried on six
miles further. After tossing about all night I suddenly
felt relieved from the burning fever, and became aware
of a fine crop of small-pox pustules on my feet. This
promised to be the end of my explorations ; but, as 1
had been duly vaccinated, I hoped the attack might be
a light one, and determined not to return to the station
while a hope remained of accomplishing my desire to
see the elephant-country. It was very hot where we
now were ; but about seven miles further on rose a high
conical hill, crowned by an old fortress, called Laiifagarh,
which seemed to possess an elevation of at least 3,000
feet ; and as, on inquiring about it, I found there was
shade and water on the top, I determined to get myself
carried up there to a cooler temperature, and fight
through it with the help of the worthy though not very
skilful native apothecary attached to our camp, while B.
went off to do as much of the exploration as possible in
the meantime. Next morning I was carried up to a

AN EXPLORATION IX THE FAR EAST. 421

small village half-way up the bill, and wliicli the aneroid
showed to be about 2,450 feet above the sea. Here I
was met by the Thakiir of Laiifa, the landowner of a
considerable hilly tract round about Laiifagarh, who,
with the utmost civility, led the way to a commodious
hut he had prepared for my accommodation, of leafy
boughs from the forest, under the shade of a large ban-
yan tree, while my tent was being made comfortable in
the old fort on the top of the hill. A gang of wild
Bhumias from the Thakiir's hill villages had been col-
lected to carry up my things ; and throughout the day
I was "interviewed" by little knots of them, who would
steal to the door of the hut, squat down on their hams,
with their axes hitched over their arms and their fanny
little leaf pipes stuck behind their ears, and remain
perfectly contented as long as we let them, drinking in
the strange appearance and surroundings of the sahibs.
Without his formidable battle-axe (tongic4) and his leaf
pipe (chongee) you will rarely see the Bhumia of these
eastern regions. The pipe is twisted in a few seconds
out of the leaf of the palas tree,* a peculiar twist making
the bowl and its narrow neck in the most perfect
manner. It looks simple, but I never could acquire
the knack of it, and my pipes always came to pieces
before they were well lit. The Bhumias smoke them
once or tw^ice, and then make another. They
spoke capital Hindi, and were not at all shy in
conversation, though wilder in appearance even
than those of their race who live in the Mandia
district. Here the tril)e is known only by the name
of Bhumia, the terai Bvo;a, which is their commoner
tribal name in Mandia, being restricted to their priests

* Batea frondosa, after wliicli the ^vllole district of Bila^piir is
named.

423 THE HIGHLA:NrDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

and medicine-men in these more eastern reofions. It
was queer to see what trifles sufficed to bring a grin
of delight on their Uack and unhandsome but good-
humoured countenances. Their broadest errins were
elicited by my three lemon-and-white spaniels, when
they sat up in line to beg — " Wah Kookur ! Koo-oo-
Koo-ra ! " exclaimed among them, testifying their
delight ; and when the visitors who had been initiated
to this awful mystery were excluded from the hut to
let me have a sleep, I saw them, through the leafy
wall, form a deputation from the whole population
of the place, to solicit my dog-boy to give one more
exhibition, by the aid of a bone, of the wonderful
performing " kookurs." For days afterwards fresh
parties of these simple savages used to come up to my
tent on the hill, and sit down over against me in the
hope of seeing the wonderful spectacle, the news of
which was carried, I believe, to the uttermost ends
of this wilderness. When our elephants arrived from
below with my tent and things (there was a pathway
as far as the village), all the Bhiimiiis saluted them
by placing a hand on their broad foot|)rints and then
touching their foreheads. The wild elephants were
truly, as they said, the rajas and demons of their
country at that time, wandering whither they listed,
and devastating their fields of hill rice at will. So, as
usual with the offensive powers of nature among these
tribes, they were ranked and propitiated as an expression
of the Deity. The next morning I was carried up to
the top of the hill, where my tent had been pitched
under a shady tree by the banks of a small tank, which
in olden days had been excavated for a supply of water
to the fort. The way up was a steep zigzag of 730
feet. Near the top a clear scarp of light gray rock

AN EXPLOKATION IN THE FAR EAST. 423

rises out of the sloping forest-covered hill- side, sweeping
right round the hill, an inaccessible barrier excepting
at the point we ascended, where a pathway has been
formed by excavation, and piling up huge blocks of
rocks. The entrance itself lay through a massive
double gateway of great blocks, laid without mortar ;
and a low wall, of similar cyclopean structure, had
surmounted 'the top of the precipice. Much of this
had now fallen into ruins, which could be seen lying
in great heaps in the jungle below ; but in some places,
particularly at the bastions, it was still almost complete.
The top was a tolerably level plateau, broken by a
few knolls, and was at that time covered by long yellow
grass, and dotted with trees. Among the latter I found
some specimens of the ebony tree,'"' which had evidently
been cultivated, their plum-like luscious fruit being
much larger and more fleshy -than the wild species, and
with very small stones. The only building on the
top is a small temple dedicated to the consort of Siva.
The extreme elevation of the hill, on a rising ground
above my tent, was shown by the aneroid barometer to
be .3,410 feet, which is almost identical with that of the
source of the Narbada at Amarkantak.

I stayed up here till the 15th of May, rapidly
recovering from my attack, for which I took no medi-
cine but seidlitz powders. The only physic I ever took
from our worthy medico was what he called a " carmina-
tive," valuable in fits of ague — brandy and soda, to
wit. But he had a great eflect, with his purges, and
emetics, and seven-leagued medical talk, on the native
following. The Thakiir was exceedingly kind, visiting
me constantly, and sitting for hours talking about
the afl'airs of his jungly domain. He was a fine, tall,
* Diospyros inelanoxylon.

424 THE HIGHLAN'DS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

middle-aged man, claimiDg to be a pure PJijput, and
a descendant of the ancient dynasty of Ratanpiir, whose
stronghold for many'years \Yas the fort of Laiifagarh. He
brought me numerous delicacies produced by his wilds,
among which two were particularly acceptable, namely,
a fine pure arrowroot {Tihtr), made from the roots of
the wild Curcuma angustifolia, and a beautiful small
grain called Siker, wdiich is nothing but the produce of
old plants of the grain called Kitthl (ijanicum), gene-
rally cultivated by those hill tribes in their dhya
clearings. After a clearing has been abandoned, the
plants of Kiitki rapidly degenerate, and in their third
and fourth year the grain has become this Siker. It is
much smaller than the fully cultivated grain, but also
much sw^eeter, and with a nutty flavour about it, w^hich
is particularly delicious. Very little of it is gathered,
the labour being great for a small result; but it is
so much appreciated as to be generally kept for the
PiLTslidd, or sacrificial food of the gods. It made the
best porridge I ever tasted. The Thakiir had been a
mighty hunter in the days of his youth, and was full of
yarns of his sport. I remember few of them, and was
too listless at that time to note them dow^n. He showed
me a scar received from a man-eatinoj tio^er, which he
and another had done to death with their bows and
arrows. He told me much about the wild elephants,
which wandered all over his own and the neighbouring
chieftaincies, their head-quarters being in Matin and
Uprora, about twenty-five miles to the north. He only
knew of one of these animals having ever been killed by
a native. He was a very old male, with a broken tusk,
and was shot in the trunk with a " bisar," or poisoned
arrow, from a tree by the Bhiimia, whose rice-field he
was devastating below. He w'andered long in the

AN EXPLOKATION IN THE FAR EAST. 425

neighbouring jungle, growing thin and weak, and at hast
sank down helpless in a water-pool, where he had gone
to bathe his miserable body. Then a neighbouring
Thakiir came and fired all day into him from his match-
lock, two bushels of bullets being taken from his carcase
after he expired.

He had another story, of a " loathly worm " that
haunts the forests of the Uprora country — slimy and
horrid like a great caterpillar, a cubit and a half in
thickness, and dull gray in colour, with a scarlet head,
to look upon which was death. Many had seen it, but
none had lived to tell the tale. On pressing him as to
the source of the accurate portrait of the monster he
had drawn for me, since all who had seen it had died,
he was at no loss for a reply. The Thakur of Uprora
was travelling, with an attendant behind him, when at
the crossino; of a stream the latter called out, " What is
that great slimy caterpillar-like monster with a scarlet
hear!, etc.?" on which his master warned him not to
look at it, and did not do so himself. He was too late,
however, for the servant was dead in a few moments.

Evening after evening I sat on the highest point of
the hill listening to the incessant music of the "myriad
crickets " that seemed to permeate every nook and
cranny of the hill and its covering of trees, and gazing
over the vast forest prospect spread below. To the
south the open plain of Chattis'garh from which we
had come, to the north the o;reat grreen wilderness of the
elephant country, dotted here and there with isolated
hills. A long valley led up into this region from the
foot of Laafagarh, in which a few specks of village
clearings could be seen. Everywhere else was utter
waste. Far to the west a pink promontory glowed
hazily in the setting sun. ' That was Amarkantak, the

i26 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA.

source of the Narbada, to which I took the reader at the
opening of this chapter.

Many wikl animals had their haunts in the wooded
sloping skirts of the hill. The harsh, grating roar of the
panther was heard nearly every night ; sambar deer were
sometimes seen picking their way up the hill from the
plains in the early morning ; and once I saw a black bear
hurrying up the rocks to his cavern long after the sun
had risen. Gangs of Hanuman monkeys stalked about
the ruined ramparts and the precipice they crowned.
On the top were many hares, peafowl, and painted
partridges ; and my dogs had endless chases after the
yellow wild cat,* and the tree cat,t which were both
more numerous on this hill than anywhere else I have
seen them. Once when strolling round the camp in the
dusk, looking for a shot at the green pigeons, which
every night came to feed on the wild fruits, I saw
a pair of gleaming eyes looking down on me from the
dark shadow of an overhanging banyan tree ; and a
charge of No. 4 brought down among the dogs a fine red
lynx, I which they soon despatched in his wounded con-
dition. It takes hard fio;htingj for the best of dog-s
to kill an unwounded lynx, as my pack knew to their
cost.

I pined sadly over my imprisonment on the top of
this hill. The climate was milder by many degrees
than it had been below, with no hot wind, even at this
height of the summer season ; and it was in particular
delightfully cool at night. Cut there were only a few
weeks remaining of the dry season ; and we had to
march nearly two hundred miles after leaving the
elephant country to get into Jubbulpur ; so as soon as I

* F. cJiaus. t Paradoxus musanga.

\ F. Caragal.

AN EXPLOEATION IN THE FAK EAST. 427

could move at all, I descended tlie hill, and marched on
an elephant for Matin. At a place called Sirki, fifteen
miles from LaiifLi, a tiger had just been killed with
a poisoned arrow. His companion was reported to be
still in the jungle, and I foolishly went out to hunt him
in the heat of the day, ending in my being brought
fainting back to camp. When I reached Matin, I was
again very ill. It was far hotter than in Laiifdgarh,
lying as it does in a low valley surrounded by hills.
B. did not rejoin me for the next eight days, and I
had a very dreary time of it indeed. There was
abundance of game about, and several cow elephants
drank daily at a pool not a mile from camp. Shooting
females, or anything but old males, had been pro-
hibited by the Government, as there was an intention
of establishing a Miedda here to capture them alive.
But there was an old "rogue" about who had killed
several persons not long before, and I sent some Bhiimias
out to search for him. The second night after my
arrival I was sleeping outside for coolness, when I was
rudely awakened, and sat up to listen to the crashing
and trumpeting of a herd of elephants on the slope of
the hill above the villao;e. All night longf, till within a
few hours of daybreak, they kept on breaking the
bamboos and crying shrilly at intervals. Our tame
elephants were very uneasy the whole time ; and I took
the precaution of securing them by additional ropes,
and stationing people with spears beside them to sup-
press any attempt at an emeute. In the evening I went
out to the place, and found the hill-side completely
levelled, bamboos torn down, crushed between their
teeth, and many of their young shoots eaten away, and
many trees of the Boswellia and other scantily rooted
species overthrown and stripped of the tender bark of

428 THK HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

their top branches. The limit of their powers in over-
throwing trees appeared, however, to be confined to
those of not more than about eight inches in diameter,
and my experience with trained tame elephants leads to
a similar conclusion. Even these are not torn up by
the roots, but merely borne down by the application of
their full weight, by means of the forehead and one foot,
or, as the natives here assured me, of the stern. The
tales of some African travellers of elephants employing
large trees as projectiles (one declares he saw two trees
of eighteen inches diameter torn up and hurled ten or
twelve yards) must be utter myths, A broad track
through the jungle, like a high-road, led off in the
direction taken by the herd ; and, where they had
crossed the dry sandy bed of the Matiu river, their
tracks of every size, ranging from that of the tusker
of a foot and a half diameter to the youngster's the
size of a teacup, showed that the herd must have num-
bered some fifty or sixty individuals. I was of course
C[uite unable to follow them in my present condition.

In the afternoon, when I was asleep, some of the
Bhiimias came in with news of a solitary tusker being
within half a mile of the camp. 111 as I was I could
not stand this, so getting on my pony, in sleeping
drawers and slippers just as I was, I went out at
least to sec him. He was standing in the sandy bed
of the Matin river, where he had dug out a great
hole down to the moisture below the surface, and
plastered himself all over with the wet sand to keep
off the flies. He was a very large tusker, resembling
the Nepal breed in shape. The only striking difference
I notice! between him and domesticated elephants
was the much greater fleshiness of his neck and fore-
quarters, a circumstance also to be remarked in the

AX EXPLOEATIOX IN THE FAR EAST. 429

wild buffalo bull, as compared with the tame species.
He stood leaning on his tusks against the bank, gently
swaying his tail about, and seemingly half asleep.
There was no way of getting nearer him than about
a hundred and fifty yards — much too far to shoot at an
elephant ; and I sat long watching him in the hope
that he would move, but he didn't. Then I went
and found the road he had taken down the steep bank
of the river, and posted myself behind it, sending a
Bhumia round a long way to give him his wind. It
was interesting to see the elephant when he caught
the first whiff of the savage. He still stood leaning
on his tusks, but his tail ceased to sway, and the point
of his trunk was curled round below his ear in the
direction of the scent, while his ears stood cocked to
catch the faintest sound. Long he stood thus, perfectly
motionless. The Bhumia soon got more directly to
windward, though still unseen by the elephant, and got
up a tree. Those wild creatures had a wholesome dread
of this jungle deity of theirs, it seemed. Then the
elephant gently walked out of his hole, and never a
look did he take towards the foe ; slowly and heavily
making for another pass up the bank a couple of
hundred yards from where I was. I stole along through
the grass as near this point as I could without coming
into his view, and again sat down by an elephant path
up which I hoped he would come. And I was not
mistaken, for after a breathless pause of a minute or
so, his great solemn forehead and gleaming tusks ap-
peared, waving to and fro as he moved, and within
eighty or ninety paces of my post. I felt sure of him
with my big rifle if he came along the path, and
determined not to fire till he was quite close. About
forty yards only now intervened between us, and I

430 THE IIIGHLAKDS OF CEIs^TRAL INDIA.

was lifting the rifle to my eye, wlieu a short cough
behind caused me to L^ok round, and there, oh horror I
was a tall figure, clad in a yellow coat and bright
red turban, standing on an ant-hill and striving to
get up a tree ! Instantly I turned again to the elephant ;
but all I saw was his vast round stern in full retreat
through the trees. It was a little provoking, and I did
not bless very much the owner of that yellow garment
as I sped along frantically after the vanishing tusker. I
remember no more than this, till I found myself being
supported on my pony back to camp. They said I
had fallen senseless in the grass after runninsj about a
hundred yards. The culprit was a relative of the
Thakiir of Matin, who had stolen out after me, and,
coming up unperceived in the grass, had lain still
enough till the formidable aspect of the man-killer
had overcome his opium-shaken nerves. He looked so
utterly wretched and ashamed of himself that I could
not tell him all that I thought of him. There was also
rather a panic abroad just at the time, as not long
before a young son of the Thakiir of Uprora had been
taken out after some elephants which had come down
near the plains, by some sportsmen from Bilaspiir ; and
a large tusker charging down on them, after having
been followed and shot at for half a day, w^as trampled
up before he could get clear. It was a terrible dis-
appointment, and neither B. nor I ever had another
chance at an elephant which we might shoot. I made
a number of little excursions from Matin to the principal
elephant haunts of the neighbourhood. All about there
were great quantities of game of other sorts, spotted
deer along the nalds, and red deer in nearly every
glade of the sal forests. Bears were numerous, and
I saw a few prowling about in the early morning, but,

AN EXPLOEATION IN THE FAR EAST. 431

being unable to work on foot, never got a sliot. I
picked up four or five deer, of sorts, shooting from the
elephant ; and, having to follow up the tracks of several
which were wounded, had an opportunity of admiring
the wonderful tracking powers of these wild Bhiimias.
An ordinary track that I could barely see, they ran
breast-high, and scarcely looking at the ground, and it
was not till all sign disappeared to other eyes that real
interest in the work began to be displayed. No natives
of these highlands can compare with a Bhiimia in real
knowledge of woodcraft. A short distance north-east of
Matin is a small hill called Malindeh. Many bones of
elephants lay strewn about below the steep precipice at
one end of this hill ; and it seemed that, the year before
we were there, a singular accident had led to the
destruction on this spot of almost the whole of a small
herd. The Thakur and villagers were going up the
narrow path, by which alone it is accessible, to pay
their annual devotions to the god of the hill. The
procession was accompanied by the noise of drums and
much shouting in honour of the deity ; and they were
wholly unaware that they were driving before them
a herd of five elephants which had been ahead of
them on the path. Arrived at the summit, and the
noise still pursuing them, the elephants became panic-
stricken, and four of them tried to descend on the
opposite side. Here a slope of loose shingle led down
from the top, ending in a sheer cliff". Once embarked
on this there was no retreat for their ponderous weight,
and the poor brutes were hurried over the perpendicular
fall. The fifth — the big tusker whom I had so recently
encountered, it was said — charged back through the
procession, scattering them like chaff", and made his
escape down the path.

432 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

Outbe 26th, B. rejoined me, having covered a great
extent of country by dint of hard marching, and ex-
plored the eastern portion of the sal forest and elephant
country which belongs to the Thakiii: of Uprora. He
had seen little game, and had never stayed to shoot.
From Matin we proceeded again together, due north, to
examine the country between this and Amarkantak ;
and till the end of the month we travelled on throus^h
an unbroken forest of the sal tree. This wild is very
scantily peopled by a few utterly primitive Bhumias,
a sight of whom could only be secured by sending
on an embassy of some of their own tribesmen, whom
we took with us from Matin. One one occasion I
had wandered off the elephant track that served for
a road in these parts, into the thick sal forest, with-
out a oruide, trustiuo: to reojain it after a short detour.
But the country is here so level, and the prospect so
circumscribed by the never-ending array of great gray
stems of the sal, that I soon found I had entirely lost
my way, while the midday sun, hanging like a globe
of glowing silver right overhead, threw only vertical
shadows, which afforded no guide to the points of the
compass. I was riding on an elephant, and we wandered
on for some hours through glade after glade and clump
after clump of the sal trees, each exactly like the one
before it, till at last we emerged into a little open space,
where a few tall naked stems of sal trees killed by ring-
ing stood up from among a thick copse of bushes sprung
from the roots of the cleared forest. In the middle was
a small Bhiimia hamlet of a few huts of bamboo basket-
work, surrounded by a fence of the same material. We
marched up to the little wicket-gate of this enclosure,
and the barking of a dog brought out the two or three
inhabitants. To stare wildly like startled deer at the

AN EXPLOEATION IN" THE FAR EAST. 433

:amazing sight of an elephant ridden by a white man,
{[y over the fence with a shriek, and plunge into the
thick copse-wood of the little clearing, was the work of
a moment. But I could not do without a guide to
regain the road, and pushed in the elephant after them.
It was just for all the world like beating hog-deer out of
thick bush-cover, the naked black savages lying close in
the thickets till the elephant put her foot almost on the
top of them, when they bolted out and ran crouching
across to another patch. I thought we would never
catch one, until the man behind me slipped down the
elephant's tail and ran round, intercepting a lad in the
act of leaving the last of the underwood for the open
forest. When laid hold of he struggled a little, but
soon resigned himself, trembling in every limb, to his
fate. It was many minutes before we could get him to
speak at all, a blank shake of the head meeting every
question before he could have heard it. At last, after
much reassuring and comforting, with presents of
tobacco and the almighty rupee, and the withdrawal of
the elephant to a distance, he found a tongue, and that
in good broad Hindu, but only to declare that he knew
nothing of the road ; and, indeed, as we were making
for nothing more definite than a water-hole in the forest
rejoicing in the name of Boogloogee, I dare say the
poor youth spoke the truth. We insisted on his trying,
however, and at last he started, taking the way back to
the huts, and peering about among the bushes as if he
had lost something. Presently he put his hand to his
mouth and gave a succession of piercing yells, the last
of which was answered from the copse-wood, and in a
while a very old wrinkled little man crept out, holding
his hands across his shrivelled stomach to deprecate the
wrath of the riders on the elephantine gods of the forest.

434 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

More tobacco and another bright rupee, and the sight of
the youth safe and sound after his awful adventure,
brought a grin over the highly simian countenance of
this ancient ; and the pair of them, first diving into a
hut for their pipes and axes, stalked away before us
through the trees. Soon they got quite chatty, gabbling
and grinning to themselves about the elephant and its
riders, on whom, however, they kept a sharp look-out
over their shoulders. Once or twice I made the ele-
phant take short runs close up behind them to try their
nerves ; and the alacrity with which they skipped
behind the nearest trees, and chuckled and grinned
from their secure positions, was worth seeing. They
took us straight across country to Boogloogee without
a mistake ; and when we got there, and set them down
among their tribesmen to fill themselves with venison,
and wheat-flour from our store, they were perfectly
happy.

The Bhiimias of these parts are much wilder than
those of the Mandla district, cultivating not at all, and
subsisting solely by their bows and arrows, and the
roots and fruits of the jungle, and collecting the dammer
resin of the sal tree to barter for the few necessaries of
life not produced by their wilds with the traders who
reside at the head-quarters of their Thakiirs. They
have scarcely an idea of the use of coined money, the
rare rupees that reach them being pierced and worn as
ornaments by the women. They are said to have,
besides their little hamlets in the forest, a retreat in
some still more secluded wild, known only to the family
it belongs to, in which all their worldly substance
beyond a few days' supply is kept, and to which they
are ready to fly at a moment's notice. The sal forest
has thus here escaped much of the devastation it has

AN EXPLORATIOX IX THE FAR EAST. 435

suffered where the tribe is more numerous, and where
they cut it down for dhya cultivation. Many of the
trees are annually ringed for the extraction of dammer ;
but the forest is too extensive to be much injured by
the operations of this handful of savages ; and as it is
the oldest trees that are selected, which, if not cut
down, soon become useless from heart-shake and dry-rot
(a peculiarity of the sal), probably little harm is done
by them in so remote and inaccessible a region. The
general elevation of the country we traversed is about
1,700 feet above the sea. It is very level, and with a
light porous soil formed by the detritus of the primitive
rocks, which here mostly lie near the surface. The
water-courses are broad, shallow, and sandy, showing
that large floods do not occur. Thus in the summer
there is little or no water on the surface, but a little
below it the soil is everywhere full of moisture ; and
the brilliant greenery of the sal forest thus plentifully
supplied with sap, melting in the distant vistas with
startling rapidity into wonderful blues, is unspeakably
delicious at that torrid season of the year. Wild animals
are very scarce, owing to the absence of water, though
in the rainy season elephants, buffaloes, bison, and
innumerable red deer are reported to frequent the forest.
In this march the dainty footmarks of a few four- horned
antelopes at the water-holes, the voice of the cuckoo in
the early morning, and rare glimpses of some hornbill or
woodpecker glancing among the foliage of the Sc4I, was
all the sign we saw^ of the presence of animal life.

It is very difficult to ascertain distances in these
extensive level forests, where there are no eminences
from which the country can be examined ; and we had
some tremendous marches in consequence of relying on
statements of distance made in " coss" by the Bhiimias.

2 F 2

43G THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIi.

Considerinof that their coss is derived from so indefinite
a basis as the distance at which a yell from a hill-top
can be heard, it is little surprising if the coss itself
should be uncertain. This is their table of long

measure : —

2 yells = 1 daah (or " bittock "),

2 "bittocks"= 1 co^s,
12 coss ^^= 1 day's march;

which seems to be about thirty miles.

In the jungles of Kenda and Pendra, which form
the most easterly section of this forest, and lie right
under the range of the Mykal hills, great numbers of
wild buffaloes were reported to us ; but we had not time
at this season to stop to look after them. Doubtless it
is chiefly to these regions that they retire from the
Mandla uplands wdien the latter are invaded by the
srazinof of domestic cattle.

So far as we could learn, an area of about 1,200
square miles was occupied by herds of wild elephants,
whose number we estimated, from all accounts, to range
from tw^o hundred to three hundred. They undoubtedly
did very serious damage to the crops in the neighbour-
hood ; and for many years the annual tribute of the
Thakurs whose possessions they disturbed had been
remitted on this account. The people were totally
unable to defend themselves from such powerful foes,
and most of the villages I met with on the borders of
the jungle are furnished with platforms in high trees, to
which the people were accustomed to retreat on the
occurrence of an invasion. Shooting at wild elephants
only increases the damage they occasion, by breaking
up the herds and spreading their ravages over a larger
area ; and, besides, to shoot an elephant is like hanging
a man, the worst use that can be made of him. After a

AN EXPLOEATION IN THE FAR EAST. 437

good deal of reporting and correspondence, the Govern-
ment of India was induced to send down one of its
regularly organised elephant-catching establishments to
these wilds, which attacked the herds duriug the years
1865 to 1867. The system pursued in this country was
somewhat peculiar, and has been thus described by an
eye-witness :*

" Several modes of capture were tried here, but the
most successful was a simple stockade erected hurriedly
in one of the runs near the spot where the elephants
were tracked. To make this process successful, a very
large establishment is required, for all necessary arrange-
ments to be of any use must be made at once. A rough
ring-fence of bamboos is thrown round a large area,
traversing in circumference some two or three miles,
within which the elephants have lots of moving room.
This enclosure must contain water and fodder, or the
elephants are certain to break through. At every few
paces there are two coolies who relieve one another, and
by striking the fence with a stick, keep up a continual
clatter. Then at every hundred yards or so, there is a
matchlock-man supplied with blank ammunition. Near
this fence the jungle is cleared, so that at any point the
elephants make for, they are at once visible, and when
they are seen approaching, a rush of men occurs to the
threatened locality with an immense shouting and firing
of matchlocks. This has the effect of driving the herd
back, and as it is at night that these efforts are chiefly
necessarj'-, they entail much watchfulness and labour.
In fact, at night the whole circle is, as it were, a blaze,
for each party has lighted a grand pile of wood. These
fires surround the elephants in a ring of light, which

* Report on the Settlement of the Bihxspiir district of the Central
Provinces, by J. W. Chisholm, Esq.

438 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

they believe themselves powerless to break through,
especially as they are assailed with all the din of battle
if they approach too near, so that it is a sheer case of
despemtioD, or gross carelessness, or a weak establish-
ment, if they succeed in getting out. From a neigh-
bouring camp the scene is excitiug enough, for the hill-
side resounds wdth shouting, and the discharge of blank
ammunition seems incessant, partly from necessity, and
partly from the inherent atiection an Asiatic has for
noise. All this time the stockade is progressing, made
of immense piles of wood, capable of standing any
charge, and enclosing a few hundred square yards of
ground. The elephant runs are clearly marked-out
tracks, to which they usually keep. The stockade is on
one of them, with an open gate at one extremity, from
which an injnieuse arm of piled logs stretches on either
side, so that the rush may be, once the arms are entered,
into the single opening that has been left. The first
day after the stockade is finished the driving commences.
If fortune smiles, once the herd is started by shouting
and firing in tlieir rear, they make a rush for the
stockade run and are enclosed without further trouble ;
if not, they require to be driven several times — a
service often of difficulty and danger. When enclosed,
the decoy elephants with trained men are employed for
noosing and tying them."

An enormous area of the tract we travelled over, in
the neighbourhood of the Hasdii river and its tributaries,
was fjund to be full of coal measures, which have since
been professionally examinee], and reported to furnish
mineral uf a highly valuable character. But the
extreme remoteness of these regions from any of the
great centres of commerce or transp(jrt puts out of
the question any immediate utilisation either of th

AX EXPLOKATIOX IX THE FAR EAST. 439

€oal or the rich store of timber which are now ascer-
tained to exist. The same reason renders all idea of
colonising these wilds, except by the slow process of
extending population, a matter which it would not be
useful to discuss. Far superior lands in every respect,
whether of natural quality or situation, exist in great
areas in the Mandla highlands, which must come to be
taken up before a plough can furrow the remote regions
to the east of Amarkantak.

On the 1st of June we climbed the steep ascent
leading up to Amarkantak from the east, and rested
there for two days. I was still very ill and weak,
and obliged to travel on an elephant ; and though
it was very tempting to linger on this elevated region,
where, at this season of excessive heat below, the
temperature in a sQiall tent all day was delightful, while
at night it was cold enough to enjoy a couple of blankets,
the season was getting very late, and banks of clouds
collecting on the horizon threatened heavy rain, which
might block the way to Jubbulpiir. So we determined
to march straight to that station by the direct road to
the north of the Narbada. That frightful march still
lives in my dreams. For the first ten days we kept to
the elevated country south of the river, which we then
crossed. The country to the north is an utterly bare
sheet of black basalt, without a field or a tree, or, I
believe, hardly a blade of grass. Sharp glancing flakes
of white quartz alone relieved the inky black of the
horrible rocks. The sun was at its very hottest, and
heavy thunderous clouds now gathered round the sky,
oppressing the air with a sultry stillness far worse than
the fiercest hot blast of the earliest summer. Day after
day we toiled along in the fierce heat, pitching in a
burning plain, without a particle of shade ; and I really

440 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA.

thought that before we reached Jubbulpiir on the 16tb
of July, I should have had to sit down decently and
give up the ghost. I had marched close on a thousand
miles in changes of camp alone since I left the station in
the preceding January. How much more should be
added for our exj)lorations it would not be easy to
say.

The monsoon burst a day or two after ; and in the
comfort of the beautiful little station, and its pleasant
society, I soon got over my troubles. I was very much
broken in health, however, by constant exposure to the
malaria of the jungles, at all seasons of the year.
I had never lost the remains of the fever I had con-
tracted the previous year ; and, I may add, never did
so till I had a trip to England.

I have no intention of attempting a treatise on
Indian forestry, for which, indeed, there are as yet few
available materials ; but a few remarks on the present
aspect of the question may not be out of place before
concluding my work.

The Government of India has been ftdly awakened
to the necessity of watching over the important part of
their trust which resides in the forest regions. Even

o

now it is doubtful whether the clearances already
effected have not seriously deteriorated the rain-
fall of the country, as they certainly have much
impaired the supply of useful timber ; and the
example of many countries, ancient and modern,*
is a warning against rash interference with the life-
giving forests of hilly regions where rivers are born.
The scientific forester must now take the place of

* A pamphlet, admirable for learning and research, on this
subject, by Dr, Dalzeil, Conservator of Forests in Bombay, exhausts
the subject.

AN EXPLOEATION IN THE FAR EAST. 441

the explorer ; and the Government have taken the
proper course in seeing that all newly-appointed forest
officers shall in future go through a course of instruction
in the advanced schools of forestry in Germany and
France. The danger is lest a too purely professional
view of forest questions be allowed to exclude considera-
tions bearing powerfully on the general economy of the
masses of the people, and particularly of the hill tribes ;
and lest cut-and-dried theories, based on the example of
moist temperate regions, be applied without sufficient
caution to the very different conditions of tropical
forests. For example, one of the practices of Conti-
nental forestry, the working of forests in blocks by
rotation, though probably quite inapplicable to a hot
country, where stripping the soil of all the trees
at once converts it into an arid desert, is still aimed at
in our Indian forests, and is the cause of much, and
I believe wasteful, expenditure of money. Many
important matters can even now be dealt with only in a
tentative manner ; and the wisdom of the administrator
must always be joined to the technical skill of the
forester to secure the best results.

My narrative is now done, having carried the reader
over every portion of these Central Highlands, and even
taken a step with him below their eastern termination.
In the course of our rambles he has made the acquaint-
ance of every wild animal he is likely to meet with
in the forests ; and it only remains for me to offer
a few hints to the traveller or sportsman who may con-
template an excursion in these regions. Few men would
probably come to India merely to shoot over this central
wilderness. But as a field for general travel, and even as
a sporting ground, India is rapidly coming into favour
among the wandering section of Englishmen. I need

442 THE HIGHLANDS OF CEXTEAL INDIA.

not dilate on the general interest of the country. It
may be hoped that most Englishmen will benefit as
much from a tour through this greatest of our de-
pendencies, as India herself will assuredly benefit from
having the bull's-eye of outside observation turned
on to her obscurity. I will here speak only of the
glorious field that the country offers to the sportsman —
incomparably the finest in the world. As a field
for sportsmen, Africa may be thought to be better,
but it is not so if India be looked at as a whole.
Perhaps more animals in number or in size may
be slaughtered in Central Africa ; but that does
not surely imply superior sport. In reading accounts
of African shooting, I have often wondered how men
could continue to wade throuGfh the sickeninsf details
of daily massacre of half-tame animals offering themselves
to the rifle on its vast open plains. In India fewer animals
will perhaps be bagged ; all will have to be worked for,
and some perhaps fought for. The sport will be far
superior ; and the sportsman will return from India
with a collection of trophies which Africa cannot match.
Africa and India both have their elephants. We cannot
offer a hippopotamus; but we have a rhinoceros superior
in a sportiijg point of view to his African relative. We
have a wild bufi'alo as savage and with far superior
horns to the Cape species ; and we have fou)' other
species of wild bovines besides, to which there is nothing
comparable in Africa. In felines, besides a lion, a
panther, and a hunting-leopard, almost identical with
those of Africa, we have the tiger, and one, if not two,
other species of leopard. Our black antelope is un-
surpassed by any of the many antelopes of Africa; and
Ijesides him we have fourteen species of antelopes and
wild goats and sheep in our hills and plains, affording

AX EXPLORATION IX THE FAR EAST. 443

IIORXS OF DULL BUFFALO. {Sculc, unC-tcnth.)

444 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

the finest stalking in tlie world, to compare with the
other antelopes of Africa. Africa has no deer properly-
speaking at all, except the Barbary stag, which is out
of the regular beat of sportsmen. India, on the other
hand, has nine species of antlered deer. We have three
bears ; Africa has none at all. There is no country
in the world that can show such a list of large game as
we can in India. And for minor sport, what can compare
with our endless array of pheasants, partridges, and
wildfowl ?

All this, too, is now so easy of access. The traveller
may step ashore, in Bombay, with nothing more than a
carpet-bag if he pleases, and at once fit himself out
for a year's tour through the country. If he joins a
regular camp in the " plains," he will find the most
perfect system of open-air life that has anywhere been
devised. Though an Indian camp may not, as, accord-
ing to Mark Twain, did that of the Yankee pilgrims
in Palestine, contain " a thousand boot-jacks," he will
find pretty nearly everything that civilised man can
want, ready to move about with him at the rate of from
twelve to twenty miles a day. By the help of railways,
he may see almost the whole country south of the
Himalayas, and shoot specimens of all its game, during
the pleasant cold months from October to March ; and
by the time that April ushers in the hot blasts of summer,,
he may find himself, if he pleases, stalking the ibex
amonor the snows of Kashmir.

For mere sport England need not be left earlier
than December ; but should the traveller, as is probable,
have other objects in view, he should take an extra
month or two to see the lions of the civilised parts at
their best, which he may combine with some small game
shooting and pig-sticking if he likes, in November and

AN EXPLOEATION IX THE FAK EAST. 445

December. Should these central regions be selected by
the sportsman, the shooting camp should be organised, if
possible, beforehand, at some station on the Great
Indian Peninsular Eailway, the exact spot depending
much on whether the sportsman has any friends on the
spot who would assist him. The help of the local civil
authorities is of course of the greatest value ; and I may
say that it is always freely rendered to gentlemen project-
ing a tour through their charges. Some previous acquaint-
ance with the language, and the general requirements on
such a trip on the part of at least one of the party, is
almost essential to ensure success. In the absence of in-
ducements to take another line of country, I would recom-
mend the traveller to leave the railway at the large city
of Burhanpur, in the district of Nimar, and commence his
hunting in the country round the head-waters of the
Mond, tributary of the Tapti river. Bison, sambar, and
bears are as numerous and easy to get at there as in any
part of the country I know. Painted partridges, jungle
fowl, and other small game, would also diversify the
sport, and supply the pot. Thence he should cross over
to the Betiil district, north of the Tapti, where tigers are
plentiful, and devote the month of March to their j^ur-
suit. Spotted deer, antelojDe, nilgai, and other game, are
also abundant in this tract, and the end of March might
see the sportsman stalking the bison on the Puchmurree
hills. If he means to devote the hot weather also to
these regions, the district of Mandla and the sources of
the Narbada should be selected, where plenty of tigers
will be found, and the sambar, red deer, and wild buffiilo,
will add to the variety of the sport.

The cost of such an expedition need not be very
great. Most of the outfit required would be re-sold at
the conclusion at no very great loss. One hill-tent, ten

446 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA.

feet square, and a small " pal," would be sufficient for
two sportsmen ; and would cost at the Jubbulpiir
School of Industry (whence they should be ordered
beforehand and sent to the railway station) about £30.
A strong rough pony is the best animal to ride, unless
hunting on horseback is contemplated, when a good
Arab should be bought in the Bombay stables. The
former are not always to be picked up on the spot, but
can generally be bought in Bombay at a cost of about
£20. A good Arab, fit to hunt under eleven stone, will
cost £80 or £100. Arrangements should be made to
get the loan of or purchase a staunch shooting-elephant
and howdah ; for, though much good sport can be got
without one, a far heavier bag will be realised with the
help of an elephant. They are difficult to obtain,
however, at any time ; and a really good one will not
be bought for less than £200 to £300. Decent shikaris
can generally be obtained on the spot, though they will
not of course come up to men who have been brought
up by the sportsman himself to the work. The current
expenses, after the outfit has been bought, will come
to about £30 per mensem for each sportsman. Of
course a man accustomed to rough it could get on,
and obtain the best of sport at a much less expense
than this, which is laid down for a party wishing to
enjoy all the comforts of the Indian style of travelling
in camp. Such an adventurous sportsman need only
get for himself a small pal tent and a few necessary
implements of travel, and hire a camel to carry them,
buy a rough pony for £5 or £10, hire a couple of
servants, and plunge with his rifle into the wilderness.
If capable of speaking the Hindi language, and con-
ciliatory towards the wild men, he would soon have
about him a knot of real jungle hunters who would take

A:N' exploration in the far east. 447

him up to every sort of game ; while his monthly
expenses would not exceed £10 or £15. Saddlery,
hunting implements of all sorts (excepting boar spears,
which are made better in India), ammunition, and
clothes, should be brought from England.

In the matter of guns and rifles, improvements are
still so rapidly progressing that the dicta of one year
are very likely to be upset before the next. Regarding
breech-loading it is sufficient to say that by the universal
consent of sportsmen, the use of the muzzle-loader is now
confined to exceedingly remote countries where the
cartridge cases cannot be carried. No part of India
answers to this description, and a muzzle-loader is
now rarely seen there. The "Express" system consists
in the use of a short conical bullet, hollowed at the
point like a shell, but without any bursting charge, and
propelled by a very great charge of powder in pro-
portion to its weight. The first result of this is that
the bullet, striking with extreme velocity, has its hollow
point opened out by the shock into the shape of a
mushroom, or even, when the hollow is very deep
and the speed great, broken altogether into fragments,
which take different courses through the animal and
inflict a terrific wound. This complete breaking up
of the bullet has as yet been effected only with very
small gauges, not larger than the half- inch ('500)
diameter ; but projectiles of even this size have been
found to be amply sufficient to kill effectually all
animals of the deer class, and hardly any other de-
scription of rifle is now used for that purpose.

Their only serious disadvantage is the smallness of
the hole they make on entering, while they rarely pass
through an animal of any considerable size, rendering
the work of tracking, should the animal leave the spot,

448 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

a matter of some difficulty. I have found that generally
a deer struck by the Express bullet, even in the lungs,
will run from fifty to a hundred yards before falling.
It is then generally stone dead, having bled internally.
But very often there will not be the slightest mark
of blood on the track. The very first two shots
I ever fired with an Express were remarkable illustra-
tions of this. The first was at a lovely spotted buck,
who suddenly stood before me like an apparition,
drinking at the margin of the mirror-like lake of
Lachora, as I rounded the point of one of its bays
on my way back, tired and muddy, from an evening's
snipe-shooting. It was over two hundred yards across
the arm of the lake from where I was. I had taken
out a single Express, by Henry, to raise the flocks of
wild fowl that sat in safety in the centre of the lake,
and this my gun-boy now thrust unloaded into my
hand. The buck had turned, and was picking his
way leisurely up the bank, before I had the cartridge
in ; and his graceful form and long tapering antlers
stood out clear against the sky-line as I fired point-
blank at his shoulder. With a startled toss of the
head, and a desperate bound over the top of the bank,
he was ofi" into the thick cover that here surrounds
the lake. We tracked his footprints in the gravelly
soil for near a hundred yards, when, light failing us
altogether, we had to give it up. Next morning I
returned, and a solitary crow cawing on a branch,
pointed out the buck lying dead and stiff within a
few paces of where we had left the trail. The next
chance I had with this rifle was equally unexpected.
Walking along near midday in the Punasa forest, by a
little-travelled pathway, the ridge of a great black back
appeared through the trees, slowly passing behind a

AN EXPLORATION IN THE FAR EAST. 449

little eminence. It was a splendid stag sambar, who
had, very unusually, ventured down to that silent valley
in the midday heat to drink at a little stream. He
seemed to be dazed by the sunlight as he came out
on the pathway, and failed to notice a cortege of three
or four horses with their riders, an elephant, and ten or
a dozen men on foot. I fired at about a hundred and
seventy yards, and heard the little bullet strike against
his brawny shoulder. But he galloped away up a little
glade, leaving no blood, and I felt inclined to throw
down the little rifle in diso;ust. Less than a hundred
yards from the pathway, however, the great stag lay
perfectly dead, shot through the middle of the shoulder.
I afterwards acquired complete confidence in this weapon,
and killed a far larger percentage of the animals I fired
at than I had ever accomplished with any other. On
one occasion I shot three out of a herd of five Chikara
antelopes running across me, the nearest being over a
hundred yards. This little creature oS"ers an extremely
small mark to fire at, and these were fairly struck in
the shoulder. I could not have done such work as this
with any other rifle of my acquaintance.

These small bores, however, have not been found so
efi"ective for destroying the larger animals, such as tigers,
bufl"aloes, bison, etc., the small fragments into which the
bullets are broken up not possessing sufiicient penetrative
power to reach the vitals. It is a great object, too, with
these large and dang^erous animals to break the large
bones, so as to cripple them at once and prevent acci-
dents ; and this the small Express, with its very hollow
bullet, is quite unable to eflect. The bone-breaking and
penetrative power of these bullets can, however, be
much increased by diminishing, or altogether omitting,
the hollow in the point. A good many elephants have

2 G

450 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

been killed dead, by the dead shot, with the smaller
o;auge, using solid hardened projectiles ; and the larger
rifle, with a short hollow, has been eflfectively used
ao-ainst tio-ers and bears. Much of the shock to the
system, caused by the spreading of the hollow bullet, is
of course lost if a solid ball be employed.

The next advantage of the Express system, where
it is suitable as regards killing power, is the very flat
trajectory at sporting ranges obtained by the use of
a light l3all and heavy charge of powder. Two sizes
of the small Express are now made, the smaller, '450
of an inch, having a charge of nearly four drachms,
and the larger, '500, shooting five drachms of powder.
The first gives a perfectly point-blank range of a
hundred and sixty yards, with an extreme effective
range of two hundred and fifty ; the latter a point-
blank of rather more than two hundred, and an ex-
treme of four hundred. They both shoot with extreme
accuracy at these ranges. The smaller weighs seven
and a half pounds, and the larger eight and a quarter
as a minimum ; though the addition of half a pound
to the weight of each gives more steadiness and regular
shootius^.

The very great improvement thus effected in the
shooting of any one who uses an Express rifle, goes
a long way towards compensating for any loss of smash-
ing power in comparison with the old wide-bored rifles.
I unhesitatingly therefore recommend the adoption of
the '450 or '500 Express for all ordinari/ purposes. If
its greater weight be not objected to, the larger is
certainly preferable in every other respect ; but very
good work can be done with the smaller bore, and the
.saving of weight is a great advantage for work in the
hills.

AN EXPLOKATION IN THE FAE EAST. 451

For dangerous game, such as tigers, there is nothing
better yet available for sportsmen than the large rifle
firing the spherical ball, or the explosive shell. This
should be at least twelve-gauge, and eleven pounds in
weight. The application of breech-loading to these
rifles renders it possible also to use a spherical or short
conical ball with the same rifle, either of which gives
flatter trajectory than the shell, and which are preferred
to it by some sportsmen. If the shooting is to be from
an elephant I think the spherical twelve-bore is amply
sufficient. This ball, or the short conical, hardened
with one- twelfth part of mercury or tin, with four and
a half or five drachms of powder, will also form an
excellent charge for bufi'alo or bison shooting.

All rifles should, by preference, be double-barrelled.
To use a single rifle is to sacrifice many chances, while
it possesses no advantage whatever over a well-made
double.

The rifles should be fitted in small, handy, solid
leather cases, unencumbered by much apparatus, or by
space for cartridges. The latter should be soldered up
in tin cases, to hold two hundred and fifty each, and
should be carried unloaded until about to take the
field.

I have added in Appendices some information which
may be useful to travellers in the region I have thus
attempted to describe.

APPENDICES.

selectio:n" and treatment of elephants.

There are few subjects on whicli so little is generally known as
that of the diseases and unsoundnesses, and the general management
of tame elephants. Although there are many elephants under the
charge of officers of different public departments in India, as well as
a good number which belong to private persons, it always seems to
be assumed that to attain to any acquaintance with the nature of the
animal and its veterinary treatment is a hopeless task. The conse-
quence is that their mahouts, or native keepers, than whom a more
ignorant or careless class does not exist, are commonly allowed to do
"with them what they choose, very often to their serious detriment,
and sometimes complete disablement. They profess to possess many
secret specifics, most of which are useless, and only intended to
extract money from their masters on the pretence of purchasing
drugs ; and many of them founded on the grossest superstition. For
instance, it is common among them to give the elephant a piece of
a tiger's liver to make him courageous ! and, in order to make him
see well at night, to thrust down his throat the great yellow eyes of
the brown horned owl torn fresh from the living bird !

Having had much to do with elephants, both in my private
possession and in the forest establishment, I am induced to put on
record what I know of their management, not with the idea of
furnishing a complete guide to their treatment, but in the hope that
it may go some way towards obviating some of the mismanagement
they are now so generally subjected to, and also be of assistance to
persons engaged in purchasing elephants. In a rough country like
the forest tracts of Central India, elephants, when properly looked
after, are the most useful of animals, whether for riding purposes or
for carrying baggage and other heavy work. When neglected, how-
ever, they are subject to numerous small ailments, which have led
some persons to reject them for such services.

On looking over an elephant, the most inexperienced eye would
at once detect the presence of the disease called by natives Zhhdd.
There are two varieties of it, called Asl and Sukhd. The former is a

454 APPENDIX.

dropsical affection, in which the neck, chest, and stomach fill up to
an enormous size. It occurs most frequently in newly-caught animals,
and is probably attributable to a sudden change of food. I once had
an elephant attacked with it immediately after changing from wheat
to rice, on entering a district where the former was not procurable.
Generally, an elephant that has been two or three years in captivity
is considered pretty safe from it. Suldia Zerhdd is usually developed
out of the other, but sometimes comes on at once. It is a sort of
general atrophy, or falling away ; and is characterised by a shrivelled^
cracky skin, much emaciation, and weakness. It is apt to become
complicated with troublesome sores in various parts of the body. In
purchasing an elephant it is not likely that the actual presence of
Zerbad would be overlooked ; but without care it is easy to buy an
animal so recently caught as to be still likely to develop it. Such
an animal should be got for much less money than one longer
domesticated. The state of training the animal has reached will
generally indicate the period of his capture. If thoroughly obedient
to its driver, lying down patiently to let you examine its feet, etc.,
it will probably have been sufficiently long in hand to be pretty safe.

This brings me to unsound feet — the most common failing in an
elephant. It is of two kinds, called by natives Kandi and Sajhan.
The former is a sort of canker, that begins on the sole and gradually
eats deep into the structure of the foot, until at length it breaks out
above the toe-nails. In its earlier stages it is easily concealed by
plugging the holes ; and many of the elephants brought to the great
fairs, like that of Sonpiir, are in fact aliected with Kandi, though to
outward appearance perfectly sound. It can generally be discovered
by making the elephant lie down, and administering a series of sharp
raps with a stick all over the soles of the feet, when, if Kandi be
present, the animal will be sure to show it by shrinking.

Sajhan is what would be called " cracked heels " in a horse. Its
deep cracks, discharging matter, situated about the junction of the
horny sole with the skin, can hardly be passed over in a bad case,
though a slight one may escape observation. It is a serious un-
soundness, being generally constitutional, and often rendering useless
during every rainy season elephants that are subject to it.

The eyes of the elephant are extremely delicate, and appear to
possess in an unusual degree a sympathetic connection with the
digestive organs. Nearly every indisposition of the animal is accom-
panied by a clouding or suffusion of the eyes. Pew elephants that
have been long caught, especially if in the hands of natives, have
perfect eyes. Heating food, or undue exposure to bright sun, is often
followed by the appearance of a film over one or both eyes, which,
if not attended to, and its cause remains in operation, increases till
the cornea becomes quite opaque, and the animal loses its sight.
The leaves of the peepul fig-tree, which form excellent fodder in the
cold season, are almost sure to produce this affection if given for any

APPENDIX. 455

considerable time in the hot season. I would not reject an elephant,
otherwise suitable, merely because it had a slight film over the eye ;
for it is easily removed when attended to in time. But its presence
would of course lessen the value the animal would otherwise bear.

Another very tender point in the elephant is the back. A highly-
arched back is very liable to get galled ; and such sores, when fairly
established, are exceedingly obstinate. Such a back will almost
always show traces of old sores about the ridge, and frequently tbey
are only healed over on the surface, leaving deep sinuses below ready
to break out on the slightest pressure. Such a back should be
avoided, and a flat back, showing as nearly as possible a straight
line from the withers to the croup, should be selected. Besides its
immunit}' from galling, such a back always carries a load, or the
howdah, well and steadily.

The above are almost all the external points to which the atten-
tion of the purchaser requires to be directed. Old strains will some-
times affect the paces, but this can be seen at once. I have alluded,
in the text, to the points of build and carriage that should be looked
to in choosing an elephant. There is no critical test of the animal's
age. The ears are always a good deal split and frayed at the edges
in an old animal ; but so they sometimes are also in young ones.
The general appearance will, however, indicate the age sufficiently
well for practical purposes. The full size and development is attained
at from thirty-five to forty years, and from that age till about sixty,
the elephant is in the prime of life. It is desirable to buy an
elephant of full age if required for shooting, young animals being
nearly always timid and unenduring. A very old, or "aged," elephant
will be easily recognised by the loose, wrinkly state of the skin, deep
hollows above the eyes, and very deeply-cracked ears. I do not
think that the number of concentric rings in the ivory of the tusk
is a reliable criterion, though the natives talk a good deal about it.

At the great Sonpiir fair, mentioned in the text, which is the
principal market for elephants, the elephants offered for sale are
usually the property either of landowners from the districts of
Bengal, or of Mahomedan dealers who move about between the
places where they are captured and the chief markets and native
courts. The former are much the safest to purchase, having generally
been purchased young by the landowner, and brought up among his
own people at his farm, with plentiful food and good treatment. It
is quite a part of their business this buying of youngsters, which
they prefer for their own riding, keeping them till of full size, and
selling them at a good round profit. The dealer's strings, on the
other hand, are too often made up of the halt and the blind. There
is no end to their tricks. A dangerous man-killer is reduced to
temporary harmlessness by a daily pill of opium and hemp. Kandi
sores are plugged, and Sajhan cracks " paid " with tow. Sore backs
are surface-healed ; and the animals are so bedizened with paint, and

■I5G APPENDIX.

so fattened up ^Tith artificial feeding, that it is hard to tell what any
one of them Avould look like if "stripped to the bones." Then the
space is so confined, and the crowd so great, that very little "trotting
out" is possible; so that altogether buying elephants at such fairs is
anything but plain sailing.

The usual food of elephants in Upper and Central India consists
of cakes of wheaten flour, baked without leaven, to a weight of
about 2 lbs. each, and given with a slight spreading of clarified
butter. In the South and East, where wheat is scarce, plain un-
cooked rice is given instead. The daily ration of a full-sized animal
of, say 8i- feet high, is 24 lbs. of flour, or 32 lbs. of rice. When one
of these sorts of food is substituted for the other, it should be done
gradually ; and when rice is first given a part of it should be boiled
for some weeks. The above rations are for an animal in hard work.
In the Government Commissariat Department, where great numbers
of elephants are kept almost in idleness for a great part of the year,
lower rations are given. But the treatment of these elephants is by
no means a model for imitation. In a state of nature the animal
takes an immense deal of exercise. Here they get no work to speak
of between the close of one marching season (March) and the
beginning of the next (November). They pass quite out of con-
dition during this time; and many are lost from complaints gene-
rated by these sudden alternations of work and idleness. In tlie
text I have urged the employment of these elephants during this
season in the organised destruction of wild beasts. Of course the
amount of the ration will vary somewhat with the size of the animal,
and elephants, like horses, have their idiosyncrasies in the matter of
feeding. A sharp look-out requires to be kept over the mahouts at
feeding-time, otherwise great part of the allowance will probably go
to Moula Bux, wife, small family, and the several fathers, brothers,
and cousins, who usually aim at getting " half a seer of flour " apiece
out of their great milch cow — master's elephant. About half a
pound of clarified butter, and the same amount of salt should be
allowed daily with the food ; and spice-balls should be administered
about once a week. Besides these rations an elephant devours an
enormous amount of fodder. The principal substances given him are
the branches of various trees of the fig tribe, banyan, peepul, and
goolar. The leaves of the peepul are eaten, but should be avoided
in the hot season for reasons before mentioned. Of the others the
inner bark of the larger branches, and the whole substance of smaller
twigs alone are eaten. It is astonishing to observe the adroitness
with which the elephant peels ofi" the delicate inner bark in long
strips, and rejects all the rest. This fastidiousness necessitates an
immense supply of branches every day; and the elephant always goes
out with his keeper to bring in as much as he can carry at a time. The
bamboo is also eaten, but will not be accepted very long at a time.
Other trees are also eaten in the jungle, but as they arc seldom

APPENDIX. 457

accessible to tame elephants, tlicy need not be referred to, A long
species of grass (^Typha elephanti/ia), which grows in many tanks and
rivers during the rainy season, forms excellent fodder for elephants,
who are very fond of it ; and when they have been much pulled
down by a season's hard work, they should, if possible, be sent to pick
up again where this fodder is plentiful. In the absence of the above
descriptions of fodder, the stalks of millet, called " Kurbee," or even
dry grass, may be given, but it will not satisfy them long without a
mixture of green food. Sugar-cane is a great treat, and in moderate
quantities is very good for them, particularly if in poor condition.

Elephants should be picketed on dry ground, standing in damp
being a great cause of diseased feet. They do not require any pro-
tection from the weather but the shade of a tree, and a Jhool or
Numda (cloth of string or felt) thrown over them in cold nights.
They should be bathed as often as possible in tanks and rivers ; and
a small quantity of clarified butter should afterwards be rubbed over
their foreheads, ears, chests, and such parts as are liable to crack, or
suffer from the rubbing of the accoutrements or from the sun. They
should be allowed to drink as much water as they like. They are
often very nice about it, and reject it when muddy or stagnant. The
pad should be of full size and well-stuffed with grass. The felt cloth
that goes under the pad (Gadela) should always be in proper repair,
or a sore back is the certain consequence. Both these articles require
to be renewed about once a year, if a whole season's work has been
done. The smaller felted cloth on which the driver sits should be
made large enough to project a little in front of the elephant's fore-
head, and protect him from a vertical sun. It is not the nature of
the animal to remain out in the open in the heat of the day ; and I
am siire that he suffers from it if made to do so unprotected. If not
allowed a tree to stand under in the heat of the day, an elephant
always heaps all the leafy branches he can get on his head and back.

After much marching on stony ground, the feet are apt to get
tender from undue weariog away of the horny soles. This is to be
remedied by the process called " Ch^bing," which consists in the
application to the feet of a boiling hot mixture of a good many
ingredients, generally resembling coal tar. Its principal component
is the gum resin of the Sal tree ; but every mahout professes to have
a mixture of his OAvn, which he keeps a profound secret, and w^hich it
is as well to let him use, so long as the desired result ensues, and it
does not cost more than about five shillings. There is no doubt
that the process is beneficial, the m.ost foot-sore elephant getting
round under it in about a week. It requires to be done about twice
a year, if the animal is regularly worked on hard ground.

In dropsical Zerhdd the food must be reduced to a minimum,
about 4 lbs. of wheat or 6 lbs. of rice ; and if the latter be the diet it
should be given boiled, No green fodder should be allowed, only
■dry grass or " Kurbee," A purgative should also be given ; and the

458 APPENDIX.

following recijie, •which I got from a very experienced elephant
doctor, is as good as any : —

Croton seed ....... 1 ounce.

Calomel ........ lA drachms.

Aloes ........ 6 drachms.

made into a ball with rice flour and " goor " (crude sugar). Most
elephants take physic without any trouble. In a bad case the
swellings will have to be tapped. jNIany mahouts know how to
perform this operation. The skin should be pierced about the middle
of the abdomen where the greatest quantity of liquid is usually col-
lected, and a fleam of 11 inch blade will be required. The fluid
which comes out is said to be infectious to other elephants if they are
allowed to stand near it. The root of the Mudar plant (Calotropis
gigantea) is often given by the mahouts in this disease in doses of
one drachm twice a day, apparently with good eff'ect. This is also
their great remedy in the more advanced stage of the disease called
Sulcha Zerbdd. It should be accompanied, however, by abundance
of food, including green fodder and sugar-cane, plenty of bathing,
and regular exercise.

For Kdndi in the foot, the horny sole must be pared down till
the sinuses can be got at, and Avell washed out with warm water.
The holes should then be flUed with an ingredient composed of

Tar 1 part.

Leaves of the Nim tree (Melia Azidiraclita) . . .1 part.
Gum of the Salei tree (Boswellia thurifera) . . .2 parts.

A piece of stout leather should then be fastened over the open parts-
with small tacks driven into the adjoining homy sole, or tied on if
there is no place for the tacks.

Sdjhan, or cracked heels, cannot be remedied unless the feet are
kept dry. This alone wull suffice to cure moderate cases. The
following lotion was recommended me by the experienced friend
above alluded to ; but I never had occasion to use it myself. Take
h lb. of dry tobacco and boil it down in a quart of Avater till it
becomes a pint. Then mix with it 2 lbs. of quicklime, with 4 ounces
of bluestone, and apply at intervals to the cracks.

For dimness in the cornea of the eye caused by heating food,
change the diet, particularly avoiding peepul leaves. Give the-
elephant grass if in season. In the earlier stage of the disease this
treatment, and bathing the eye with a weak solution of nitrate of
silver (5 grains to the ounce of water), will usually effect a cure. If
a film has been formed it may generally be removed by blowing a
pinch of very finely powdered glass into the eye once or twice a day.

Sore backs are the most troublesome of all elephant affections to
cure effectually. They must not on any account be allowed to heal
ujt superficially ; and should sinuses or a sac have formed, they must

ArPENDTX. 459

he cut open and kept open \uitil they heal up from the bottom. A
downward oritice should, if possible, be secured to permit the escape
of the matter. Cutting open a sore back is generally a terrible busi-
ness, as the elephant, not realising the utility of the operation, lights
against it with all his might. He must be Avell secured and held
down, and a sharp razor is the best weapon to use. The wounds
should then be thoroughly washed out with a solution of alum ; and
then filled with a stufliing composed of two parts of Nim leaves and
one part common salt well pounded together. If they should slough
or throw up proud flesh, they must be touched with bluestone at
intervals. This cleaning and dressing will have to be repeated at
least twice a day ; and the practitioner will have his hands full while
it lasts in keeping the lazy elephant attendants up to their work.
They will always, if allowed, let a sore back heal up superficially
only to break out again on the first pressure. They rather like their
elephant to have a sore back, as it saves them the trouble of loading
it and going out to cut fodder. I have known them cause a sore
back on purpose by inserting a stone below the pad ; and I knew one
case in which an elephant was destroyed by these ruffians, by the
continued application of quicklime to a sore near the spine.

Elephants are very liable to intestinal worms. They generally
cure themselves, when they get very troublesome, by swallowing
from ten to twenty pounds of earth. They always select a red-
coloured earth for the purpose. In about twelve hours after,
purging commences and all the worms come away. When this
occurs the hard food should be stopped for a week, fodder only being
given ; and a ball of spices should be given every day. Some
elephants will not eat earth when they require it ; and they are
considered a very bad lot in consequence. I do not know how to
treat them for worms. Should an elephant get wounded by a tiger,
or otherwise, the places should be well cleaned and kept moistened
with cold water. If they get foul apply Holloway's ointment. The
mahouts have a cruel practice in such cases of heating balls of
elephant's dung in the fire and splitting them open, applying them
hot and hot to the wounds. I believe it to be as iiseless as it is
barbarous. Eomentations and rest are required in the rare event of
a strain.

The above are the commonest cases that will call for treatment by
the elephant owner. They seldom prove fatal (excepting Zerhdd),
but are very troublesome when not properly attended to. Besides
these elephants are subject to several obscure internal diseases, which
fortunately are of very rare occurrence, but when they do occur
usually prove fatal from the difficulty of diagnosing or treating them.
Among them are fever and inflammation of the internal organs.
Bleeding can, I believe, be effected from some small arteries behind
the ears ; but I have never seen it done. It would probably offer the
only chance of a cure in such cases.

460 APPENDIX.

Occasional injuries and complaints will give an opportunity for
the display of ingenuity in the application of remedies. One of the
most singular operations of dentistry I ever heard of was the removal
of a large excrescence on the back tooth of an elephant, which had
grown into the poor brute's cheek, and almost prevented his feeding.
One of tlie best mahouts I ever knew volunteered to remove it. He
got a good thick log of wood, and made a hole through it large
enough for his arm to pass. Outside he covered it all over with nails,
leaving about a quarter of an inch of each sticking out of the wood.
The elephant was made to lie down and fastened Avith hobbles, while
the log thus prepared was placed in his mouth like a bit, and bound
with ropes across his neck. Twenly or thirty persons now sat upon
his head and trunk (if these be kept down an elephant cannot rise
from his side), and the operator introduced his arm through the hole
and began to saw off the protuberance. He took several hours to
effect it, the elephant after a while lying perfectly still, with the
expression of a martyr in his upturned eye. The piece sawn off was
as large as one's fist ; and the animal got perfectly well very soon
afterwards.

APPENDIX.

461

p

w

>

«

N

Cf)

W

O

w

H

O

P

Q

rr

o

W

«

r-)

^J4

12;

1— (

o

Ph

<

H

P5

^

H

K

o

H
O

p=3

-n

H

;2i

pq

<i

O

ro"

02

H

H

W

C/J

H

o

P5

;^

t-H

O
H

:;3 rd

.S 5

c8 ^

^ O rri
tO^ g

O O

a

CD

,- fe

fcb <" ri

1-1 ; — I gi

© p

CO a

as

C a "^ m o

=« "2 M 3 •£:

^ '*-' "^ r£3 ^0

S O O '3 cS

■^ o

" o

■g =^5 ;^ IS > il -g -nj

• S w S2

o

oq

c -g

0:1

w

0

^

;^'

0

PI

--!

t3

0

P-,

s-T

0

•T3

a

0

0

>5

ri^

-tj

en

XI

03

oT

Tl

r^

0

cS

01

^

0

AJ

<r1

02

^

■* ^ r.-

03

cc

O O M _" !^
03 55 O O ^

:^;2 S to

0)

^~i

t?

bO

P!

o

pi

eS

<^ <1 K -^

2 -^o'pi '^ -^^

O

^ e ^ Cs ^ -52

'O O r^ r-i

W W

S W O) W

w

<^

<^ <<

462

APPENDIX.

«

c3

^

r-

ffl

■4-3

ri

^

^ ^>

'-u

-tJ

p

o

^

;.i

o

-as

'E

a

o <»

5"

3

05

;=!

> 3

'El

i^

t^

!-i

CJ

a '^

r!

r-i

H

>iS

rt

>

o

05

s

S .2

c3
=3

zip

S-l

o

,^ o

rt

^

a

>

o

a> -(J

13

•"^

>

2 C

1=! CS

a

h' Sc

0)

OJ ^

^ J

o

o

;> =+-1

a;

«+H

O -4-3

^

<'1

^ OJ

O) pi .

CD >^'

:3 g

o o •-'

^ ^ a

o

rt

•- ;^ ?2

^ -S ^" fi 3

0 5 c3
o >

'S S 2 °

CO a ■> -^

r7-3 t:: e ri

c3

O 2

S b: •''.P t>5+^

^ S

o ir; o

Oh -■'

C o Jh"

M O

-go ^-;S ^ ■^ S -S

-ti O --J r/! CS

•'3 CC
O -"^ -S i--^

3 =«.S «

cc „ a cT

CD O .^

" :::: "3

CD O r;3

§ g g

a g rt fe >
>< ^ fi

a ^:S

Ci O rH CO

^ ?1 a iS
^ 3 o ^'^ -"

t^

rQ

o

J-

OJ

^3

^

<XI

O)

r^

w

o

n3

a

o

tC 03

O rt fe ^

a ^ I s

a i-a

a 05

» 05

" 05 CO

2 o^

c3 c r;3

^-r --N 2

o-s S

rs 05 g

l'^'^

<!

"05^pE2o'rto

COr^CSiOOOQpj;

a rt

05 CO

cS c3

CSS

"S ri^

la

cq 0:5

t3 T3 . ^ ^

3

^

el

bD

,

CS

w

cS

:3

PQ

p:i

rO

a

as

pq

a

•

3

c3

-4-i

c5

o

o

rt

G

'TS

^

ca

rt

3
^

o

cS

R"

OJ

a.

o

:3

a

3

<J

m

,£1

o

m

f^

1=1

o

to
o
Pi
p

•5

<5

1—4

.2

-1-3

1— I

ee

03

(-1

• -N

rt

• •N

m

!-l

1

-to

m

<D

o

m

<D

<v

■d

o

<v

M-(

o

>

&.

CO

M

a

n-l

:3

T3

■73

a

cS

•1—5

CO

CO

^

<s

«<-i

■"

1 — '

APPENDIX. 463

•--• CO

r-T P^-Sfl—'^Sr-iP! ^coco«,r?a3--g^^ abn&a^a^^^fl

-2^

^3

■73

1=1

r3

'T3

a

■-d

«

c

crt

'-0

I3s

!^

Q.

CO

crt

Oi

•73

_a

+1) t3i |x| WW

" _i o

Ph o M

a

,

;3

0)

S

,^

■s

c3

IS

ce

^

o

•73

rO

a

09

o

o

w

pq

464

APPENDIX.

®

S

<^

o

-4-3

g

-1-3

03*
CO

o

CO

3

0

_o

0
-1^

TO

0
0

fH TO

0 -*^

^

tc

-t-3

Ch

'o

0

&/:

2

"-1J

0

fe

■^ -S

3 m

o

-t^

72

05

s

O

CO

c5

rH

o

p-(

c3

*; ^

G CO

MS

O 'r-'
W

CI

o
o

.2
o

o
o

3,

CO

"2
'>^

CO

■D

'^

o

o
tc

O
OJ

03

s

CO

!-i

O

-1-3
u

03
p.

TO

o

s

C3

03

'o
o
o

'o

o
o

co"

03

03

P,
03"

d

03
>

03

03
TO

TO
• »\

03

+3
0

03

-k3

0
-1^

03

CO _^

03 g

0
0

03

-1-3

TO

03

03

TO CO

:2 0

?>-J TO

^5

03

'*'G

^ a

E

fcC

"Tl

0)

"S

o
o

> t+i

S-l o

o

'^

=3

-t^

CO

_ca

CO

03

-1-3

TO

TO

2

0
-1-3

03

-1.3

0

,i3

-^ *- d 03

bo ba § -g

rt 03 ^ 03

^ G P ^

c3 bD 0 ,^

a '-« ^^^^

5^ -Ti 03" Oh

— 1 -i^ -tf '^

1=1 G pi ^

cs 03 j: G

=+H 03 3 H_,

Ph

CO

2 CD

-" fcC

•73

O
to

C3
C

o

3

t»

o ^

« =^

2 ^

P CD

S s -

-4-:' r— 1 "^

'p. O *<^

03
03

'a

OP
CO

nd

03
03
CO

a

o
o

PI

o

a

c
o

03
>

03

o
a

,£3
0

03

03
0

[0

d
-1-3

03

to"

0

03

P-,

TO
0"

-s-s §^

2 ^^ S -<
^ K- ^ 0

0

a

0
0

b

03
>

_S

e

dJ m

'^

C)

c5

'^

o

;z; ^

• rS

o

"^

•

e

•

8

«

" t-,

-. P

o

i

■S

'^

5s2

c^^

S

c

-^^

J

§

=1

0

S
Q

r-' r-j

r^

r-'

^

r3

•^

nd

nd

P S

C

c^

^

G

G

G

ss

h-i

^

1— (

S

s

W

S

-C

ll

C
C

1

1

1

1

1

.2

1

1

1

1

1

3

bD

o

f3

c

i^

W

a

^

s

_c3

'&.

TO

C-

. ,

"3

en

TO

;S

.

<o

CO

"^

^

■*^

O

,^H

_cS

ci

.2

to

■3

•J^

.^

i^i

cc

2

il

M

S

"-I-3

a

TO

TO
1^

0

0

_5
pq

o

o
o

5

TO

o

o
O

0

0
0

^-1

c3
0
0

c
0

0

G

c3

.2

0
0

c6

0
0

APPENDIX.

465

00 'zi

60

g >^

lis

&-( f^ ^

Pi 'o ."S

.2 - '*-'

(B <D fH

•^ +^ ^

03 TJ

m 03 S -i^ ^ o

2 o A;:^ &.i^

:2 «

9 ^ ^

1^ IT'

<B rj

a a o

1 a-g

rd O

. ^

F^T^ !*

CS QJ

_ o

cS o

S S'^

2 ^M rt

C3 <» r^

tH (jj rt -^ M

C3 (D »>

2 « S* ^-^

^ -*5 S ^

« .2

^ ^

2 o ^ .y

03 -l-i O Kj'

o "ii^ o 'S

■73 d fe c3

..3 ^ -^

r^ OJ 03 '-^

"3 Cj ""

03 ,d --

S ce.2

03 «4H 5-| O

in

O '3 03 g

r; 03

03

^ CO

>^ a

C3 O

O 0^

•3^ ^

.-I 03

:3

<l <1 P^

c3^ g CD S-;-" «^

r-5 03 tOjf

C3 fH rrj c;

Oh O

03 <B

iTd oT

o
I— I -1^

OT 03 O

?? ^ rt

fl ^ 42 .3

n3

PI
c3

Pi

W W td

e; ^

'd
1=1

d
p

^ 2
o '^

1 °

^3

S

is§

n3

■73
O

o

W

o

o

i^ fl

p

'-!-=>

CJ

c3

c3

s

■73

c3

ert

Pi

a

O

a-^

f3

03

O

PI

rQ

M

P!

P»5

03

o

u

w

PI ^

Oh

P fi

a

P!

03

•

P!

•

ce

O

as

Pi

Oh

PI

2

PI

o

fl

O

yd

m

■73

o

rt

o3

PM

03
^3

^O

H

'Z H

466

APPENDIX.

Q)

o

^-1 ri

'^ " !^r

CO -^^ r-l

0 M

-1^ _!

p! Pi

0 03

5 ^;

a g

° a

13 0

a

Pl -r!

c3 c3 c3

ill

CO fl 2
03 C13 "=
S fcD 03

.9 ^
r p!

13 c3
C

c^T

13 '3

^ 0

03

-4J CO

1 1

H! 0

03

-a

i S

S CO

Is

a brown dye ; gro
1 stream beds, and
e tree on higher pi

d

L-ed timber of small usef

aible and slightly astr

fine gum used in medic

0

0
0

a^

'^ 03-
03 (D
CO ^

p3 -J3

sometimes frequents it.
ght-coloured wood, well >
cks, for which it is mue

03 ^"^

''" pi

-^ ^
■'^ 0

3 'rf

1 Pi

1

to

o

03
r-l

•fH ;-)

a 13

— 1 03

gl3 ?P

a

>

0

03

as

0 2

03 0
0

1^ ?:

rt 03

=" 9

<ZJ TO

PI

0)

P3

^^

% S^

pi

pi 13 "
O OT

03 ^

2 M

ri a ^

1?^ s

0 d m

^-^

c3

^ a

-^.3 s

Ph

'0.2^ §

CO

S '

03 0 CS

^ r^ (2

2 ^ ^
"^ '^ 0

03.9

^ ©

o

y,
Pi

m
o
o

3 ^

r— ' 13

ri ^ D

13 3 ^

o

CO

^ ^ 0
•cC^Ii p.

03

+3

^ 03 S
PI a r^

r-l 03

CO 0

-11

>

.^

H

fa H

0-1

H

a

33

.

a

h

c8

!zi

lO,

-Ul

u

a

03

1=1

t-i

o3

Stt

a

Tl

03

k

•-a

?^ ■

*

=3

c^

•

•

■^

i^

f^

8

i

«

Ci

^

cS

l^fii

CO

T3

•TJ

13 ^

nS

PI

PI

PI rt

w

w

WDl

w

w

PQ

Oh

,£1

:a

^^

« 03
C3 03

WP4

O

c3
h-1

C3

c3

PI

PI

r^

0

a

c3

CO

pi

t-7>

&.

03
0

03
60

&i

PS

w

fcj

.^

C3

CO

0

• i^H

&.

0

<s.2

r?

-1-3

-3

a
0

.2 !;o

t3 ;^

c3

c3

1 — 1

j-H 0)

c3

fcO

:3

a

PI

CO

CO CO

p

§

P!
0

pi a

C3 0

03

a

Ph

fa

fa fa

0

6

APPENDIX. 467

2 S -n" ^ S X E 2 o" o '^ ^^ ^0 ^"2 ^'^ § b !=! -73 oT i=l -

£ ^ ^ :S § s ^ -? s s 2 3s g § - ^ .| .2 S ;^ »"r:i § I . 8 .|

'^ 55 !=i 7^ cs ^^ =* " .5 S o ^ K' 'Tf. c s»o-e'^Spg<s'^~'3 t^S?"

<1 W -^ <1 ^ <1

-"' «^

•. :^ S

•

^J"^

C3

8 S o

^«

^^ s

s

^-^

,

. m

r^

■73 o n;

^

i=l p: S

M

W K

N

IS

L?*

t^

n3 -tD ^«

?5

'■*^ i- ^ rH £-1 ^_^

c3

r- ,

■ — '

'Tl

b

rt

i=!

rt

o

o

2

rt

1 — 1

:o

>J

o

X

CO

^

to

s.

M~i

a

g' f ^ 3 I I

468

APPENDIX.

M

n1

c8

y,

p.

-u

u

f1

(1)

s

u

o

C3

8:1

a Ti

rt r-: a

2 0-,

o o •:;
o irj ?=

03 «

^ p

fj TO ^
O ® p

s ^

03 Pi
2 oT-JI

o 'i; "^-i r2
^ to g. ° -2

.S 6 3""

5-:^ rt == 2

3?^ ::^

2 C O 05

o

^ -^

o ^ " a

a

-t= >J-IJ

c3 ^

O e3 OJ 5;^

O r5 -^

d X .a ^

'^iJ —

> .S « r-

M .2
CD "^

-o to

^ ■? i5

O m

=« s ?i j: X

13 O ij .«

?! ?a t: o g m

o a 5; ic cs :::

3 :=!

a g "

S "^ 03

i2 13 -73
;^ "-^ 03

rt 2^ o
^■^"

fl .^ •->

J ^ §

^-2 2
« a a

i'^ tog
■ g •-' ;q <*-!

rt ^ a _i i»
<u ■♦^ .0 w a>
ti ij ""^ •'-' _o

a a^ .^r^

uh '■♦^ 'oj 3 r3
'^ r3 " ~ ^
to

> •

■fcc-

-3^ ^

i:^^ a

^ a ^ '^

::; „, PI J e8

<J H

o ~

-- CO i>^

e^

n-; "^ rr^

2 § S

CQ

fip

W

n3
(=1

a

w w

d

*

a

c3

^

0

•

00

1

1

ft

0

■4^

1

1
1

bO

Ti

0

•

s

t

<c3
02

m

d

„.^

a

0

'0

s

^^—^

'&c

C3
0

c3
0

eg
*>

.2

c3

a

0

1

c3

0

3

en

pi

rt

Ul

3

0

0

c3

'3

a.

0

S
0

p
c3

0

0

"S

©

0

0

8

'0

0

APPENDIX. 469

^"•3 ^ 2^ fl -s .2 s =^ -« -^ ^ J ^ ^ fl - •" -a § li .s i s -^ «

^3 ,0

pq

c^>

Qs

^

^

'^ .

0

0

^e

k

'^ ^

rj

rttij

a

W

W

<c s

c3

•>*

S

«"i»

'^ 5^

5^

t^ Cq

(^ oT

't^ ^3

-a S

i=! a

« S^

WW

w

t3 2

T)

rt

C-l

08

CJ

a>

HH

H

pq

o
DO .„

0

r1

• •

3

P

c3

<fl

0

Ch

0

P3

>

-1-3

■73 w

S

><!

c3

tf ^

^-

P
C

C

oj rt

<

3 ti

rt

0

0

"73 SO

C
.^

.3 =«

.2

03 c3

ri2

O-Ta-ScS®® (DO .^

02 CO CO HH H H H N

470

APPENDIX.

VOCABULARY OF A FEW USEFUL TERMS IN THE LOCAL HINDI,
GOND. AND KORKOO LANGUAGES.

ENGLISH.

mxDi.

GOXD.

KORKOO.

Antelope .

Hirn ....

Hirn (h) . . .

Kutsar

,, four-liorned

Chonsingha . .

Bun-Blier (h) .

Bherki

Axe, common

Kulliari .

Maro ....

Akae

„ battle

(Bygas)Tonugya

Pharcbia .

Bamboo . . .

Bans ....

Bans (h) .

Mad

Bear ....

Keech ....

Yedjal. . . .

Bana

Bison ....

Bun-Boda

Bun-Bhainsa (h)

Hela (h)

Blood ....

Looli ....

Nattur . . .

Puchna

Buffalo (wild) .

Arna-Bliainsa .

Camp ....

Dehra ....

Bungla (h) . .

Purno

Deer, barking

Ivakur. . . .

Bherki . . .

Bherki

„ hog . . .

Bher-Samur .

Bber-Samur (h) .

-

„ red . . .

Bara IS^erwaree

or Sal-Samur.

Gowna . . .

„ sambar .

Samur . .

Mauk ....

Stag, Kakur ;
HindjSamri

,, spotted.

Cheetiil ; Buck,

dank .

Kurs ....

Darkar

Dog

Kutta .

ISTae

Seeta

Elephant

Hathi .

Yani

Hathi (h)

Fever .

Bokliar or

Tup .

Yerki

Rua

Fire .

Angar .

Kis.

Sengal

Food .

Khana .

Nena

Jo jam

Forest .

Jimgal .

Kaira

Tharee (h)

Fowl .

Moorgbee

Pitte

Seem

Fox. .

Lorn .

Kliekree

Kakree

Gazelle .

Cbikara

Hirni (h)

Guide .

Agwa .

Agwa (h)

Agwa (h)

Gum

G(5nd .

Dbok .

Deek

Gunpowde]

Barood

Burko .

Daroo

Hare

Kargosh

Malol .

Koarli

Hill. .

Dongur

Mata

Bulla

APPENDIX.

471

ENGLISH,

HINDI.

GOND.

KORKOO.

Horn ....

Singh ....

Kor ....

Singh (h)

Hyena ....

Turrus. .

Renhra . . .

Dhopre

Jackal ....

Geedur

Kolial ....

Kolea

Jungle fowl . .

Bun-Moorgh . .

Bun-Moorgh (h)

Komba

Leather

Chumra .

Chumra (h) . .

Kutrae

Leopard . . .

Borbacha . . .

Gordag . .

Sonora

„ hunting .

Cheeta

Chitra. . . .

Man ....

Admi ....

Maursal . . .

Koro

Milk ....

! Doodh . . .

Pal

Deedum

Monkey (Hunoo-

man)

Lungoor . . .

Lungoor (n) . .

Sara

Morning . . .

l>unsare .

Sukre ....

Pathar

iSTilgai ....

Rojh (male)

Gorayen (female)

Goorya . . .

Rooi

Panther

Tendwa and Adh-

naira .

Burkal . . .

Kairea

Partridge, painted

Kala Teetur . .

Kukkura . . .

Chitree

Peafowl

Mdr . . .

^lal ....

Mara

Pigeon, wild

Kabutur .

Parewal . . .

Kubdoor (h)

Plains, the

Khulotee . . .

Maidan (h) ,

S eh wan

Plateau

' Mai ....

Dadur ....

Tor

Porcupine

Seyal ....

Hoigu ....

Jekra

Quail .

Batair ....

Batte ....

Ore

Kain

Bursaat . . .

Pirr ....

Salla

Ravine .

Khudda . . .

Kori ....

Lor

River .

..

J^uddee (small.

Nala) . . .

Dhoda. . . .

Gada

Road .

1 Rasta ....

Sarri ....

Kora

Rock .

Dhata ....

Ton gun g . . .

Gota

Rope .

Rursee , .

Dor (h) . . .

Dora (h)

Sal tree

Sal and Renga .

Surye ....

Surye

Sand

Balu ....

Waroo. . ,

Beetil

Snake .

Surp ....

Turas ....

Beeng

Spurfowl

|Chota Bim-moorgb

Bunteetur (u) .

Toteang

Stone .

Puthur . . .

Puthur (h) . .

Gota

Teak tree

Sagon ....

Sag ....

Seepna

Tiger .

Bagh and Xahr .

Poolie. . . .

Koola

Torch .

Massal

Doote ....

Marsal (h)

Track .

Pug and Punja .

Koj(H) . . .

Mang (h)

Tree .

Per

Mara ....

Seeng

Y alley, or low

ground

•

Keechwas . .

Daab ....

Bono

472

APPENDIX.

ENGLISH.

HINDI.

GOND.

KORKOO.

Village. . . .
Wild l)oar. . .
„ dog . . .
Wolf ....
Wound.

Bustee . . .

Dookur .

Son-Kutta .

Bherya

Ghao ....

Naru ....
Puddee . . .
Nerka ....
Land gal .
Chot (h) . . .

Gaon (h)
Bun-Sookree
Bun-Seeta
Lendya (h)
Gaae (h)

Numerals.

One.

Two.

Three

Four

Five

Six .

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten .

Ek.

Do.

Tin

Char

Panch

Cheh

Sat .

Ath

Nau

Dus

Oondi .
Eand .
Moond

Nalu .

Saighan

Sarung

Yedung

Yermud

Nau (h)

Daha (h)

Meea

Barya

Apya

Opoonya

Moonya

Toorae

Aie

Elar

Araie

Goolya

DIRECTIOKS AS TO THE PRESERVATION OF THE
SKINS AND OTHER TROPHIES OF ANIMALS ON
THE FIELD.

Conb-iluted hy Edwin Ward, F.Z.S.

General. — It must always be borne in mind that the value of any
object secured and preserved depends on the completeness with which
all its natural features are saved, as well as the condition in which
they are kept. This is true in degree, for whatever purpose the
object is designed ; but it is an absolute essential in regard to
specimens for the illustration of natural history.

Large Game. — Those met with in the Central India district will
most generally be, the Felidoe, most important of which is the Tiger ;
many smaller Garnivora ; of horned beasts, the gigantic gour —
Bos Sylhetanus — commonly called the Indian bison ; buffalo,
sambar, cheetal, and other deer. There is also the elephant, largest
of all, and other pachyderms.

When the great game is secured, first turn the animal on its
back, and stretching apart the fore and hind legs, proceed to remove
the skin. In all cases where the skin is wanted entire, this is best
done by making incision from one corner of the mouth through the
medial line of belly to the extremity of tail. Next make lateral
incisions in order to strip the limbs ; for the fore-legs, from the edge
of central incision through the armpit along the inner side of the
limb, the line of incision inclining slightly to the outer portion, in
order that the seam may be less perceptible when the perfect specimen
is mounted. A like process through the groin is necessary for the
hind-legs. The incisions thus made leave the skin in form of
tongue pieces over the breast. First apply the knife to these points
and detach the skin round to the spine. In doing this it is necessary
to clear the limbs, and great care must be taken to leave intact the
natural features of the foot. The last metacarpal and metatarsal
bones must be left in the skin, whether in the case of Felldce or
Cervidce. Now turn over the carcase and draw back the whole skin
over the head, exercising particular care in separating the ears and
the eyes from the skull. Similar care must be taken as to the lips.
For if the rim of the eyelids be severed by the scalpel the injury
spreads in a remarkable manner, often so badly as to render the
damage seriously conspicuous. As to the ears, they should be
separated from the skull close to the bone, or the lower structure will
present too large an aperture. The lips must be cut off close to the

2 I

474 APPENDIX.

wums. Having thus taken off the skin, it must be cleaned of all
superfluous fat and flesh. The cartilage of the ear must be turned
through. The lip must be treated thus : Pass the knife between the
mucous lining and the outer skin all round the mouth so as to admit
of the preservative penetrating this thick portion of the specimen
completely. The eyelids and feet must each be treated in a similar
manner for the same reason. Now peg the skin out with the fur
downwards for drying, and anoint it thoroughly with arsenical soap
if preferred ; but at the same time use freely a sufficient quantity of
powdered alum, especially on the lips, eyelids, ears, feet and all other
fleshy parts. In regard to the employment of arsenical soap as a
preservative against insect ravages, it is not in my opinion always
completely efficacious. I therefore recommend that spirits of tur-
pentine should at the same time be freely poured over both sides of
the skin. When the skin is sufficiently dried it can be folded and
packed.

Although the process just described is a very good one, I should
myself adopt the following, which would be much more simple,
and is thoroughly successful : The skin having been removed from
the carcase and cleaned, instead of being pegged out for drying,
should be thickly covered over the flesh side with powdered alum,
then folded in convenient form, and thus immersed in a barrel of
brine, what we technically call "liquor"; add parts of alum and
common salt in the proportion of six pounds of alum and two pounds
of salt to a gallon. A number of skins may be placed in the same
barrel, which is thus ready either for storing or transit. They are
quite exempt from the ravages of insects ; native dressing wdth lime
and other deleterious material is avoided. They will keep safely for
a long period, and the process is at once inexpensive and a saving of
time. In the case of horned beasts where the head only is frequently
preserved, I have no hesitation in recommending this system as the
best. Of course in such case the skull and horns are cleaned and
packed separately. In cutting off bison and stag's heads be sure to
leave a long neck ; they are too frequently cut close to the jaws, and
this considerably mars the effect when mounted.

It is important for the proper preservation of the skulls of Felidce
that they should be protected from injury to or loss of the teeth.
This is best done as follows : When the skull has been boiled and
cleaned, it should be tied up in a calico bag and placed in a separate
compartment of the packing-case designed for it. Stuffing should
moreover be put into each compartment to prevent the skull from
injury from being shaken.

Small Mammalia, etc. — In the case of the small mammals the skull
and bones of the legs are to be left in the skins. The animal being
placed on its back, incision is made from the sternum (breast bone) to
root of the tail. The skin is then separated from the carcase as far as
can be conveniently reached, and the limbs are severed from the body

APPEXDIX. 475

at the shoulder and thigh. Each limb can then be drawn out — as a
glove might be turned inside out — but the bone must not be separated
at its junction with the toe, or the skin of the foot or leg in any way
injured. The muscles can then be removed from the bone, and this
can best be done by cutting the tendons near the toes, and carefully
drawing the whole mass away at one operation. It must come in one
piece, not piecemeal. The bone will now be clean. Clean the skin
of the limb, and at the same time the remainder of the skin of all
superfluous flesh and fatty matter. Dress the inside all over with
arsenical soap, and apply freely powdered alum all over it, but par-
ticularly to the fleshy parts, as the eyes, nose, lips, feet, etc. Then
replace the bones in the limbs, having previously, if possible, bound
them with tow or similar material, so as to replace the muscle that
has been removed. A portion of stuffing should be placed in the
skin of the head and trunk, and the whole can be suspended to dry.

Birds. — First of all plug up with cotton wool the throat, nostrils,
and all shot holes. Place the specimen on its back, the head towards
you. Break the wing bones {humeri) near the body. Xext separate
the breast feathers carefully, and make an incision along the medial
line from chest to vent ; having done which, turn back the skin and
raise the specimen to a perpendicular position, resting it on the vent.
Xow skin round the chest, cut through the neck, windpipe, and gullet,
detach the wings from the body, and remove the skin all down the
back to the thighs. Push the thigh through at the same time,
carefully drawing off the skin, and having cut the tendons near the
tarsus remove the muscle of the thigh in one piece, leaving the bone
clean. This bone must be cut near the femur joint, leaving the head
of the bone, which is useless, with the flesh attached to the thigh
and body. Having treated both legs thus, skin round root of tail ;
but in cutting the vertebrae take care to leave the small bone which
supports the tail. The next operation is to turn back the skin of
the head with care so that the eyes and ears may not be injured.
Cut away the back part of the skull with neck, tongue and palate.
Remove the brain and eyes, skin the wings and trim the tail, and the
whole skin is in condition to be cleaned and prepared. Having
taken away all fat and superfluous flesh, dress it with arsenical soap,
bind tow in place of the muscles on the bones, and return them to
their places. It is not desirable to use powdered alum to bird skins,
as it tends to make them brittle. The specimen should be filled out
to natural size, and a band of paper placed round it in order to keep
the wings and other parts in proper position till dry. During the
whole operation wood-dust or other dry powder should be freely
employed to absorb blood and grease, so that the plumage may be
kept clean.

THE END.

CHiEtHS DIC^BNS AND EVAJfS CETSTAL PALACE PBE8

THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA.

Notes o?i the Forests and Wild Tribes, Natural History and Sports.
By CAPTAIN J. FORSYTH,

Bengal Staff Corps.
New Edition, with Map and Illustrations. Demy 8vo.

SOME OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

FROM "the graphic."

"This volume has the by no means common merit of being precisely what such a
book ought to be. Captain Forsyth was for many years Acting Conservator of
Forests, Central Provinces of India, and afterwards Deputy Commissioner of Nimar.
He writes like a scholar, a naturalist, and a sportsman, and with a very fair share of
literary skill ; and contrives in an easy unaffected fashion to give us a wonderful
amount of information concerning the hardly known region which was the scene of
his duties. ... A Shikari of very high pretensions he undoubtedly was, but, as we
have said, an ardent naturalist as well ; and he seems to have taken at least as much
pleasure in studying the denizens of hill and forest as in slaying them. . . . Though
Captain Forsyth considers tiger hunting as a mere effort of skill far inferior to the real
'blue ribbon' of sportsmanship, stalking the Indian bison, he confesses that it must
always have attractions of its own, and we heartily commend the chapter which
contains his adventures in the pursuit of the king of the jungle. We have not space
for extracts, so we must content ourselves by saying that a pleasanter volume in its
own way we have seldom had the good fortune to meet with."

FROM "the ATHEN>EUM."

" We have in Captain Forsyth's posthumous work a well-written and pleasing narra-
tive, containing much valuable information respecting the wild hill-tribes, some
admirable descriptions of scenery, an interesting account of the forests and the
system of conservancy, and very full details of sporting capabilities of the Central
Provinces, interspersed with many well-told and exciting incidents of a sportsman's
life ; for James Forsyth was a true hunter, and talks of ' poaching proclivities ' and
' unsportsmanlike conduct ' as among the deadly sins. Captain Forsyth was a
keen observer, and his piges are full of su'^gestive remarks on the natural peculiarities
of the region which was the scene of his labours. . . . A perusal of this pleasant narra-
tive will furnish the reader with a complete account of the highlands of India, of their
forests, of their wild inhabitants, and of all the game that is met with in their recesses."

FROM "the SATURDAY REVIEW."

" In the volume now before us the lighter and more picturesque aspects of the
country form the subject of a popular and agreeable narrative from the pen of Captain
Forsyth. ... A rapid yet clear sketch of the physical geography of the district, with
an outline of the ethnology of the singularly marked tribes that inhabit it, will be
found in Captain Forsyth's introductory cliapter. . . . Captain Forsyth's duties
called upon him to explore the district, and to which he has devoted rare powers of
observation and great insight into character. We hardly know which to speak of
more highly, his accounts of the physical features, the scenery, and the natural
resources of the country, or what he has to tell us of the tribal distinctions, the
religious and social usages, and other strongly marked characteristics of the people.
... In the volume at large he has bequeathed to the public an interesting record
of a career too early cut short, but already made memorable by duties faithfully and
ably discharged, as well as by a degree of promise which renders its premature close
the more acutely felt."

FROM "the spectator."

" We have left ourselves no space for any of the sporting adventures, of which there
are many in the volume, described with much spirit. Indeed, the whole book is
extremely well written, terse, clear, and picturesque, and it affords another instance
of the kind and degree of culture and abil ty that has been happily introduced into the
government and regulation of British India."

ti

3 1205 02702 5178

L*