3POI

^^KjeW

London. Published by R . Jennings . 2 Poultry. 1827

SKETCHES

OF

INDIAN FIELD SPORTS:

WITH OBSERVATIONS ON THE ANIMALS :

ALSO

AN ACCOUNT OP SOME OF THE CUSTOMS OF THE INHABITANTS :
WITH A DESCRIPTION OP THB ART OP

CATCHING SERPENTS,

AS PRACTISED BY THE CONJOORS,
AND THEIR METHOD OF CURING THEMSELVES WHEN BITTEN :

WITH REMARKS ON
HYDROPHOBIA AND RABID ANIMALS.

BY DANIEL JOHNSON,

FORMERLY SCRCEOV IV THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'? F*E.V:CE CV THK
BENGAL ESTABLISHMENT.

Utilissimum saep<J quod contemnitur. PHJSD.

£econft IZtttum:

TO WHICH IS ADDED AN ACCOUNT OF

HUNTING THE WILD BOAR,

A3 FOLLOWED B7 EUROPEANS IK BENGAL AND ITS DEPEVDANCKS.

a ontjon :

PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR,

BY ROBERT JENNINGS, 2, POULTRY.
1827.

SK23.T

CARPENTIER

PRINTED BY

GUNNELL AND SHEARMAN,

13, SALISBURY SQUARE.

DEDICATION.

TO THE HONOURABLE

COURT OF DIRECTORS

OF THE

least Inttia

HONORED SIRS,

MY dedicating this little work to you,
arises from my being " Nimuc Allol/'
an expression in frequent use by the
people whose amusements, customs, and
occupations, are the principal subjects of
consideration in this book ; and who have
the happiness of living under your pro-
tection and government. The phrase

M29490

IV DEDICATION.

conveys more than I can express, and the
best interpretation I can give you, is,
" that I have not eaten your salt un-
gratefully ;" in confirmation of it, I hope
this will be received as a small token, and
a tribute of profound respect,

from,

Honored Sirs,

Your Obedient Servant,

D. JOHNSON.

.

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PREFACE.

THE wide extent of the British Empire
in India, and the great number of Euro-
peans residing there, have contributed to
render that portion of the globe an object
of particular interest to the inhabitants
of this island. To gratify the natural
curiosity respecting so important a part of
our dominions, various publications have
from time to time issued from the press,
giving copious and detailed accounts of
the country and its inhabitants, with their
manners, customs, and habits. These
have for the most part been very expen-
sive ; some of them being printed on hot-
pressed paper, and with a fine type, to
enhance the profit of the author or pub-
lisher ; while others, by their prolixity, and
from combining much matter with various

b

VI PREFACE.

political considerations, are rendered dull
and uninteresting to the common reader.
— I believe I may venture to say, that no
cheap publication has yet appeared con-
taining any description of the country
with its animal and vegetable productions,
or of the customs of this singular people.
Under this impression I have undertaken
to write this book, (which is of a mo-
derate price,) with the hope of afford-
ing some entertainment during a winter's
evening to such as have relatives in that
part of the world, or who take an interest
in field sports.

The inhabitants, their customs, and the
whole character of the country, differ so
widely from every thing that is seen in
Europe, that any true description will ne-
cessarily wear the garb of fiction or exag-
geration. I should not therefore have
ventured to offer this to the public on my
own credit, had not others before me pub-
lished books on similar subjects. All per-
sons who have not been in India would

PREFACE. V

naturally doubt my veracity, and even
those who have visited that country only
of late years would imagine that my ac-
count was exaggerated, in as much as most
of the sporting which I have described, I
saw about 26 years ago and before that
period.

In those days the Prince of Lucknow
and all the great Zemeendars of the coun-
try were much more opulent than at pre-
sent. No Zemeendars of consequence,
then, ever quitted their houses without a
retinue of at least a hundred or more per-
sons riding and running before them; some
carrying silver sticks, spears, guns, &c.,
and others proclaiming their titles and
riches. When Heft India in 1809, the
same personages often appeared with a
single Harcarrah* or Peon^ carrying an

* Harcarrah is an attendant on a gentleman, or person in
office, to go messages, carry letters, &c., and bears a spear ^
or ornamented stick,
f Peon is also a servant to carry messages letters, &c., but

Vlll PREFACE.

iron spear, and preceded by a few half
naked and ragged slaves or peasants.
Such has been the change in a few years,
to which hundreds can bear testimony ;
and with this change, their pastimes and
amusements have fully corresponded. Mr.
Wm. Blane, formerly Surgeon to the ATa-
waub Vizier Asoph-Ul-Dowlah, of Luck-
now, published an account of that Prince's
method of sporting, as well as I can recol-
lect, about 27 years ago, which book I then
saw, but have not been able to procure
since my return to England. Captain T.
Williamson has also published a very
elegant and expensive work on the Wild
Sports of the East, but in this he describes
the sports principally as followed by Eu-
ropeans, which partake of the customs of
Europe and India, whereas, my account
of sporting is confined to the methods
pursued by the natives. To the last men-

is not so regular in attendance on his master, and does not
always bear a badge of office.

PREFACE. IX

tioned author we are also indebted for a
Vade Mecum, a work of considerable
merit, comprising a perspicuous and de-
tailed description of the native servants
in India and their customs ; and is, in pro-
portion to the fund of information which
it contains, the cheapest publication of
the kind that I am acquainted with: yet
the price of this book is now one pound
and eight shillings. I have found it neces-
sary to refer frequently to that gentle-
man's publications, and I have done it with
much gratification, being truly sensible of
their great merit.

Unaccustomed as I am to composition,
I readily admit that the critics may find
much to censure in the inelegancy of my
style, and perhaps in the inaccuracy of my
language. I have not the vanity to think
that I am capable of communicating my
observations and ideas with perfect cor-
rectness ; and while I endeavour to give
my narrative in as plain a manner as
possible, my only claim from the public

Xll PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

gination ; and that it is chiefly intended for sportsmen.
The language is that of a Hog Hunter, and may
contain many inaccuracies, which the Author hopes
will be overlooked by all who derive any amusement
in the perusal of it. The critics may see much to
find fault with ; but as it is not a literary work, the
Author has little to fear from their animadversions,
trusting that they will act with liberality, and give
him credit for endeavouring to amuse others, and of
being as plain and perspicuous as his ability and the
subject would admit.*

Great Torrington,
August 6th, 1826.

• * One of the periodical Reviews contained some unfair remarks on
the first publication of this book, by giving to the Annual Obituary
credit for the whole account of Asop-Ul-Dowlah, whereas a small
part only was taken from that work ; namely, the account of Vizier
Ally's Wedding, which was merely inserted to corroborate the Author's
description of the magnificent style in which the Nawaub lived, and
is marked with inverted commas ; if he erred in making the extract,
it was unconsciously, and with no bad motive. Also, they have not
done him justice, by giving to Dr. James Johnson credit for the de-
scription of Indian Customs. If the Reviewer had looked into Dr.
James Johnson's book, he would have seen that it was supplied by the
Author of Indian Field Sports, and his name is there affixed to it.

Although the Author is sensible, that all who read his book, and the
Reviewer's remarks, will see the unjustness of them, and value the
criticisms accordingly, he would not in a Second Edition pass over
such glaring misinformation unnoticed.

INTRODUCTION.

ALTHOUGH there are very few natives in India
who sport often for amusement, there are a great
number whose profession or business is solely to
catch or kill animals and game, by which they gain
their livelihood : these men (whose forefathers have
followed the same profession,) are brought up to
it from their infancy, and, as they pursue no other
business through life, they become surprizingly
expert. Many of their contrivances are extremely
curious, some of which I shall endeavour from
recollection to describe. In many parts of India,
animals of prey are numerous, and in other parts
those only are found which destroy vegetation;
wherever either or both kinds are found, it is ab-
solutely necessary that the farmers or villagers
should have some contrivance for their destruc-
tion, in order to preserve themselves, their cattle,

4 DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY.

All native troops are now sent by this route, but
European regiments still go by the old road, which
follows the course of the river Ganges, partly in
consequence of the great difficulty of procuring
supplies for them on the new tract, and partly for
the sake of the accommodation afforded to the sick
of transporting them by water. This new road,
for upwards of two hundred miles, from Bundbis-
sunpore to Sheherghautty, continues the whole
way through one of the wildest forest countries
imaginable. Captain Charles Rankin, and after
him his brothers, were allowed by government a
sum of money annually for keeping the road in
repair, and also a large sum for cutting down and
destroying the jungle, to the distance of fifty yards
on each side of it, without which, it would have
been dangerous in the extreme for any small body
of people to have traversed that road, the tigers
being so numerous. In Bundbissunpore there
are a greater number of villages, and of course
more cultivation, than in Rogonautpore, and in
Rogonautpore far more than in Ramghur ; the
first two countries, in comparison with the latter,
have but few hills, and less jungle and uneven
ground.

The Ramghur Rajah's country consists almost
entirely of hills and dales, covered with jungle :

DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY. 5

soon after you enter it from Calcutta, you have
to ascend the Chittro Ghaut , a wild terrific pass
into the mountains, which extend their range on
each side at right angles, from the new road, from
Monghier on the bank of the Ganges on the right
of the road, to small Nagpore on the left ; a dis-
tance greater than the jungle part of the new road.
By my saying that the country is made up of hill
and dale, it must not be understood that they are
in continual succession without any plains ; on the
summits of many of the hills are plains of many
miles in extent, intercepted now and then with
small ravines, and hollow ground.

The villages throughout the greater part of the
country are from six to twelve miles distant from
each other ; the land around them being cultivated
only for a small space in proportion to the number
of inhabitants : in the line of the road the villages
are inhabited chiefly by persons wrho supply pro-
visions to travellers, and the cultivation there does
not extend above a quarter, or half a mile. All
the intermediate parts are covered with forest-
trees and underwood, in some places quite imper-
vious, and into which the eye cannot penetrate
even for a few yards. In other parts the trees are
smaller and more scattered, and the underwood

6 DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY.

thinner : near the foot of the hills the trees are
largest, and the underwood thickest. The country
is here and there intersected by deep ravines,
caused by the heavy rains rushing down from the
mountains towards the rivers, the channels of
which are for the most part dry in the hot and cold
seasons, but in the rainy season are generally full,
and the streams run with great rapidity. The ra-
vines often cross the road, and afford excellent shel-
ter to animals of prey. It is generally near them that
they commit their depredations, and particularly
at the foot of every ghaut, where the ravines are
of a tremendous size. Sometimes the road winds
about in a serpentine direction, and the traveller is
ast9nished and delighted by the great variety of
picturesque views around him. On either side are
seen detached clusters ofSeeso* (Delbergia,) and
Saul (Shorea Robusta,) trees, tall, straight and
handsome in their growth, looking like artificial
plantations, with other large spreading trees

* A small species of Delbergia, of a dark colour with
reddish veins, exceedingly brittle, are common in these hills.
It is a singular circumstance that most of the trees contain
large stones in their centre or heart, and there is not the
least appearance of the bark having been injured ; therefore
these stones must be generated in the trees.

DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY. 7

scattered amongst them, the whole presenting
the beautiful appearance of a gentleman's plea-
sure grounds. In the month of April, nearly all
the shrubs, and many of the large trees, are cover-
ed with blosoms of various tints, delightful to the
eye, whilst the organ of smelling is not less gra-
tified by the fragrant perfume which impregnates
the whole atmosphere, and is often too powerful
to be pleasant. At other times, a straight road
may be seen for many miles, with a thick wood on
each side, cut down to the distance of fifty yards,
forming a most magnificent and regular avenue.

Sometimes you pass through hollows, dreary
and dismal, exciting in the traveller sensations not
the most pleasing. The idea immediately occurs
of their being the haunts of tigers, the prints of
whose feet he will actually see in the sand, yet
rarely have a view of the animals themselves, as
they are remarkably waiy, and, on hearing the
least noise, skulk into the thick cover, or behind
some bush or rock, where, being themselves con
cealed, they see every thing which passes, and,
from this their hiding place, often rush unexpect-
edly on the weary traveller.

At every village near the ghauts are stationed

8 DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY

Ghautwars, who accompany travellers through
the ghauts. They have a strange appearance,
being generally covered with the skin of a tiger,
leopard, or some other animal, and carry with
them a bow and arrows, ornamented with pea-
cock's feathers, or a cow's tail, a large shield also
ornamented, a spear or a match-lock gun and
sword. These people give the travellers confi-
dence, but very little protection ; and although
they have land for nothing, as well as an allowance
from the Rajah, they get much more by presents
from people passing on the road. There are
four ghauts to be passed ; first the Chittro, then
the Dungy e, both of which you ascend : the next
are the Kutlmmsany and Kendy ; by them you
descend into the low country. The distance
from each is nearly the same, and the average, to
the best of my recollection, is about twenty-two
miles. From this delineation of the features of
the country, we may clearly judge how great is
the improbability that the race of tigers should
ever be annihilated.

To pass the different rivers on the new road
from Calcutta to Sheherghautty, there are no
boats at any of the ferries, excepting at the Da-
moodah river. All the other rivers are dry in the

METHOD OF PASSING RIVERS. 9

hot arid cold seasons, and any boat would be des-
troyed from one rainy season to another by the
heat of the weather.

To convey travellers across the rivers, they
have a curious contrivance. A lattice-work is
composed of split bamboos, through which the
necks of about thirty earthen pots (each of them
capable of containing about a gallon and a half) are
inserted and fastened ; they are then nearly half
filled with sand, and mats are fixed over them.
This raft they call a gurrara, which two men
with a pole, and sometimes with their bare hands
and feet, conduct across those rapid streams, often
carrying on it a palanquin and ten or twelve men.
Merchandise is also transported in the same man-
ner. Over rivers that are very narrow the raft of
pots js pulled from side to side by ropes. The
men who conduct them are excellent swimmers,
and to an European who had never seen such
people, they would almost appear amphibious.

It is astonishing how very few accidents occur,
particularly when it is considered that were the
raft to meet with any hard substance in its pas-
sage, to which it is very liable from the number
of rocks in the beds of the rivers, and trees and

10 METHOD OF PASSING RIVERS.

roots floating down them, or even were it to strike
against a sand-bank, it would bedashed to pieces :
breaking a few of the pots, when laden, would put
it off its equilibrium, and cause the others to fill
with water and sink the raft.*

Many travellers, and also cattle, are lost every
year in crossing these rivers when nearly
dry; they fall suddenly, and become beds of
quick-sand; it then sometimes happens that tra-
vellers and cattle are stuck in them ; at the time
they fill again, which is often so rapid that
the people have no warning or time to escape, it
has very much the appearance of the bore of the
tide coming into a river. A great number of
people, chiefly pilgrims, are destroyed on this road
in the hot season, for want of water to allay their
thirst. It is much to be lamented that more wells
are not dug and reservoirs formed near this road
through the jungles. I am satisfied that our
Indian Government is not aware of the necessity

* When the rivers are partly full and are fordable,
before attempting to cross them, it is a necessary precaution
to ascertain if they are filling- rapidly, which may be done
by sticking a twig into the bank ; if they are rising, it would
be imprudent to venture into them.

METHOD OF PASSING RIVERS. 11

which exists for them, or they would cause some
to be made, which might be done at a small
expence. It might induce people to settle and
establish villages near them, which would be very
beneficial to the government and the country.

CHAP. II.

A DESCRIPTION OF A HUNQUAH,* OR THE ANNUAL
DRIVING OF ANIMALS OF THE FOREST INTO
NETS.

THIS sport was formerly carried on with con-
siderable spirit in the countries of Ramghur,
Rogonautpore, Bissunpore, commonly called
Bundbissunpore^ to distinguish it from other
places of the same name, and by some of the
minor Rajahs and Zemeendars, whose territories
abound with jungle J and animals.

Of late years it has seldom been followed,
except by the Rajah of Bundbissunpore, and

* The word Hunquah is derived from the verb hunkna, to
drive.

•(• Bund signifies heavy cover ; but this word is seldom
used, unless the cover is very extensive.

J Jungle signifies thick cover, either of large trees, under-
wood, grass, rhur (a species of vetch), &c. &c., and the name
of one or more of them being added to jungle, forms the
distinguishing appellation, as grass jungle, rhur jungle,
&c. &c.

DESCRIPTION OF A HUNQUAH. 13

by him on a reduced scale. The other Rajahs,
although they have not adopted it as an amuse-
ment, have sometimes had recourse to it, in order
to rid their countries of the tigers that were
troublesome; whole villages being often entirely
depopulated by them. It is wonderful to see the
number of villages (or rather the sites where
they once stood,) in Ramghur^ wholly unculti-
vated and deserted. About the end of May, or
early in June, when all the grass, and a great
part of the underwood becomes dry, and water
every where scarce, it was the custom to set the
jungles on fire* for the sake of new grass, and to
drive off animals of prey from the neighbourhood

* Many an evening I have been amused for hours with
looking at these fires, burning in every direction ; some-
times most furiously, at other times the flames proceed-
ing calmly over the lowlands for miles in extent, whilst
the mountains were burning with rage and violence : the
whole producing one of the grandest sights imaginable,
rendering the air throughout that country intolerably hot.
Sometimes, when the wind is high, the jungle on the hills
takes fire spontaneously, in consequence of the friction
produced by two bamboos crossing, and rubbing one against
the other, the fire from which falling on the grass, then
dry, like tinder, soon kindles into a flame and spreads rapidly
on all sides.

14 DESCRIPTION OF A HUNQtTAH.

of their villages, into the impenetrable covers on
the mountains, or into the ravines bordering on
large rivers, Without this precaution, it would
have been almost impossible for any one to have
lived in many parts of those countries.

When the Rajah purposed to have a Hunquah,
his intention was made known to the inhabitants
sometime before, and no fires were kindled
within his Zemeendary, or Rajahship, until with-
in a day of the appointed time.

A jungle having been selected into which the
animals were to be driven, the fires were then all
lighted together for the distance of from ten to
twenty miles around it, in every direction where
there were rivers or plains to intercept the pro-
gress of the fire and prevent its immediate com-
munication with the reserved cover; the conse-
quence was, that nearly all the animals in the
neighbourhood were compelled to take shelter in
the reserved jungle.

The day before the hunt or driving commenced,
several hundred people were sent to the leeward*

* The wind at that season seldom varies.

DESCRIPTION OF A HUNQUAH. 15

extremity of the reserved cover, where they fixed
on a proper place, and set the nets, which extended
about a mile, not in continuation, but at intervals.
They required four or five elephants and twenty
or thirty bullocks to carry them. Each net was
about forty feet long, and seven feet high ; the
cords being of the size of a man's little finger,
lightly twisted, with meshes about eight inches
square, made without any knot whatever, simply
by twisting the cords into one another, by which
they were rendered more elastic, less visible to
the animals, and not so cumbersome and heavy,
as if made with knots. Sometimes three or four
nets were placed in succession touching or over-
lapping one another, but more frequently they
were intersected by jungle, which was made
almost impenetrable by stakes driven down in
the midst of it, and thorns twisted between them.

For the following description of their method
of fixing their nets, I am indebted to Captain
Williamson's book of Wild Sports, p. 32. " Holes
" being dug about a foot deep in the ground,
" two small cavities are made in the sides, near
" its bottom and opposite to each other. A strong
" pin, to the middle of which the rope is fastened,
" is then buried in the hole, having each end in

16 DESCRIPTION OF A HUNQUAH.

" one of the burrows, thus lying horizontally antl
" at right angles with the point where the rope
" is to be drawn tight. The earth being return-
" ed to the excavation, renders it utterly impos-
" sible to force up the pin even in loose soil. The
" bottom, or ground-line of the net, is drawn as
" tight as several men can strain it, but the
" upper rope is left somewhat slacker; it being
" required to deviate considerably from its right
" line, by the height to which it is raised by the
" distending poles, which should be as few as
" possible. These are all fixed on that side of
" the net which is next the game. The sudden
" jerk occasioned by an animal rushing at speed
" against the toil, gives a spring to the upper
" line, and relieves the poles sufficiently to allow
" the net to fall to the ground, where the upper
" and lower ropes collapse, and prevent the game
" from retreating. Such as attempt to run along
" the net become more and more entangled, espe-
" cially deer with horns, which are necessarily
" more straightened than others."

When the nets were all set, platforms were
raised near each extremity of them, in the fol-
lowing manner : — Four poles, of about twenty
three feet long, were firmly fixed in the ground,

DESCRIPTION OF A HUNQUAH. 17

at each corner of a square of five or six feet; on
the top of them was formed with mats a small
house; to which one or two persons ascended
by notches cut in one of the poles, and there sat :
the height of the houses not allowing them to
stand erect.

These houses are sometimes made on trees ;
and not unfrequently, the sportsmen remain in
holes dug in the ground, somewhat like a grave,
but wider, and just deep enough for a man to
look out of.

Two bamboos are placed lengthwise, one on
each side within the pit, a little below the surface,
and have their points inserted into the ground at
each extremity; strong thorns are then bent
transversely over the pit, with their ends fixed
in the earth, and are fastened on the inside to
the bamboos, by slips of bark or cord. A small
opening is left, through which the person or
persons enter, and at this part the thorns, being
fixed at one end only, are drawn down by the
person within, and afterwards fastened as the
others. The thorns are both long and sharp,
and are so firmly bound, that it is impossible for

c

18 DESCRIPTION OF A HUNQUAH.

any animal to remove them. Loop holes are
made for shooting through.

In these places, and sometimes on elephants
(but not often, as it requires very well- trained
animals to remain quiet at such times), the
Rajah and his friends station themselves.

At the time I was out, they were on platforms
and on an elephant to see the sport, and to shoot
at the animals which either passed on the outside
of the nets, got through them, or leaped over
them ; and although it was not right, many were
fired at as they approached.

The night before the sport commenced, the
Nagarrah* was beaten at the Rajah's resi-
dence, and from ten to twenty thousand people
assembled before morning at the spot appointed.

At day break, about a hundred were sent off to
set fire to the sides of the reserved jungle ; and

* Nagarrah is a large drum, usually made of baked
clay, with a skin at each 'end ; — they are raised on the high-
est trees, and then beaten, and are heard at a considerable
distance.

DESCRIPTION OF A HUNQUAH. 19

the main body, consisting of men, women, and
children, many of them carrying all sorts of noisy
instruments, match-lock guns, bows and arrows
spears, fire-works, &c., proceeded to the extremity
of it, where they ranged themselves in a line of some
miles in extent. They then raised a most hideous
noise, continuing it as they advanced towards the
nets, which they tried to do as well as they could
in the form of a crescent, but it was impossible to
proceed regularly, on account of the unevenness of
the ground, and the thickness of the cover in many
parts. Numbers were left far behind, and yet
none of them were injured. It seldom happens
that any are killed or taken away by tigers
on such occasions ; the animals are all too much
alarmed to think of any thing but their own safety,
and naturally run from the noise ; the only part
where there is danger, is near the nets ; the tigers
seeing them, and not knowing which way to escape,
become enraged, and sometimes a poor fellow
in their way feels the effects of their fury.

When they had arrived within about a mile or a
mile and a half of the nets, which occupied many
hours to accomplish, they increased their pace and
noise, and were then joined by the party sent to set
fire to the sides of the jungle, who constantly let off

c 2

20 DESCRIPTION OF A HUNQUAH.

fire-works and guns, which assisted them much in
urging the animals on towards the nets. When
they approached, such confusion arose as is past
description. Balls and arrows were flying in all di-
rections; some of the party were screaming, others
shouting, drums and other noisy instruments beat-
ing ; many animals were caught in the nets, but
a far greater number escaped, either by leaping
over them, or not becoming entangled, and so
passing over them after they had fallen.

Unfortunately, the day on which I was out, no
very large animals, or animals of prey, were
taken. The Rajah was very angry, and at-
tributed this ill success to their neglecting to keep
their line properly, so that the game had escaped
by retreating to the rear. I was given to under-
stand that had a tiger been caught, he would have
drawn all the attention of the Rajah and his
friends, and that the Rajah most certainly would
have given him his death wound.

The excessive heat of the weather, and the con-
stant noise, gave me a violent head-ache, which,
added to the sensations arising from the danger to
which I was exposed from the balls and arrows
flying in all directions, and from which no exertion

DESCRIPTION OF A HUNQUAH. 21

or skill could protect me, determined me never
again to be present at a Hunquah, a sport which
afforded me no other amusement than what was
derived from its novelty. It was such a scene as
I believe very few Europeans have ever witnessed.
If any credit could be given to the assertions of
the people, there were very few of them who had
not seen tigers, leopards, gours (a species of
wild bullocks), and all sorts of wild animals, in
the course of the day.

CHAP. III.

SHECARRIES METHOD OF CATCHING QUAIL,

PARTRIDGES, — JUNGLE FOWL, — AND ALL SORTS

OF BIRDS. INDIAN METHOD OF TRAINING AND

KEEPING PIGEONS. SHECARRIE's METHOD OF

CATCHING HARES, DEER. DISTURBED BY A

BANDITTI OF THIEVES. KOONDAH RAJAH'S

METHOD OF KILLING DEER.

SHECARRIES are generally Hindoos of a low cast,
who gain their Livelihood entirely by catching
birds, hares, and all sorts of animals ; some of
them confine themselves to catching birds and
hares, whilst others practice the art of catching
birds and various animals; another description of
them live by destroying tigers.

Those who catch birds equip themselves with a
frame-work of split bamboos, resembling the frame
of a paper kite, the shape of the top of a coffin,
and the height of a man, to which green bushes
are fastened, leaving two loop-holes to see through,

CATCHING BIRDS. 23

and one lower down for their rod to be inserted
through. This frame- work, which is very light,
they fasten before them when they are in the act
of catching birds, by which means they have both
hands at liberty, and are completely concealed
from the view of the birds. The rod which they
use is about twenty-four feet long, resembling a
fishing rod, the parts of which are inserted within
one another, and the whole contained in a walk-
ing-stick.

They also carry with them horse-hair nooses of
different sizes and strength, which they fasten to
the rod ; likewise bird-lime, and a variety of calls
for the different kinds of birds, with which they
imitate them to the greatest nicety.* They take
with them likewise two lines, to which horse-hair
nooses are attached for catching larger birds, and
a bag or net to carry their game.

Thus equipped, they sally forth ; and as they

* Many times, when I have been shooting1, hearing the
call at a distance, I have gone to it expecting to find a co-
vey of partridges, and to my great mortification found it to
be a Shecarrie.

24 SHEC AERIE'S METHOD OF

proceed through the different covers, they use calls
for such birds as generally resort there, which,
from constant practice, is well known to them, and
if any birds answer their call, they prepare accord-
ingly for catching them : supposing it to be a bevy
of quail, they continue calling them, until they
get quite close ; they then arm the top of their rod
with a feather smeared with bird-lime, and pass it
through the loop-hole in their frame of ambush,
and to which they continue adding other parts,
until they have five or six out, which they use with
great dexterity, and touch one of the quail with
the feather which adheres to them; they then
withdraw the rod, arm it again, and touch three
or four more in the same manner before they
attempt to secure any of them.

In this way they catch all sorts of small birds,
not much larger than quail, on the ground and in
trees. If a brown or black partridge answers their
call, instead of bird-lime, they fasten a horse-hair
noose to the top of their rod, and when they are
close to the birds, they keep dipping the top of
their rod with considerable skill until they fasten
the noose on one of their necks ; they then draw
him in, and go on catching others in the same way.
It is surprising to see with what cool perseverance

CATCHING BIRDS. 25

they proceed. In a similar manner they catch all
kinds of birds, nearly the size of partridges.

There are five different species of partridges in
Ramghur : the common brown partridge in ap-
pearance is very like the English partridge ; they
occasionally fly into trees, and always roost in
them. The long-legged partridge is somewhat like
the French partridge. The black partridge is a
beautiful bird of a jet black colour, with white
spots on the breast. The long -tailed partridge is
of a dark brown colour, and has two long spurs on
each leg; and the speckled partridge is also a
beautiful bird, but rare ; I have only seen a few of
them. They have the appearance of a mixture
between the rock pigeon and black partridge. I
believe there are seven, if not eight different
kinds of quail in the hills of Ramghur ; I have
killed six distinct species in one day.

To catch peacocks and jungle fowl (a species
of wild fowl that are to be met with throughout
the country of Ramghur in great abundance, and
are very like our domestic ones, but rather of a
smaller size, and always of the same colour; the
cocks are of a black red with large combs and
joles, and the hens of a dark brown, somewhat

26 SHECARRIE'S METHOD OF

speckled), two or three Shecarries go together,
and proceed in the following manner. A line
of thirty or forty yards long is fastened to the
ground with wooden pegs at each extremity,
which is then elevated by props to the height of
about eighteen inches; to this line, nooses of
horse-hair are fixed at a distance from each other of
about two feet, and when the birds pass under the
line, they are caught in the nooses by their neck.

Sometimes a similar line is fastened to the
ground, and left lying there with all the nooses
spread, and as they pass over them they are
caught by the legs : this line is never laid where
there is much jungle. When the line or lines are
ready, they go off to a considerable distance, and
beat the bushes in a direction towards them.

The corn in India is never put into ricks, or
threshed, as in this country. As soon as they cut
it, it is collected into heaps in the same field, on
an even piece of ground, and a spot of about
eight cloth yards in diameter is smoothed and
plastered over with clay, cow dung and water.
In the middle of it a post is driven into the
ground, to which two, four, or six bullocks are
linked, according to the opulence of the cultivator:

CATCHING BIRDS. 27

a man supplies the spot with fresh corn as the
bullocks tread out the grain from the ears, by
being driven round the post. They are always
muzzled to prevent their eating the grain. The
grain is carried off and put into large hampers
made of split bamboos, some of them holding
a hundred bushels or more ; the hampers are
plastered on the inside with the same composi-
tion as is used for the ground ; and over the grain,
reed is put, being plastered in the same manner;
thus it is kept from one season to another.

To these places paroquets and wild pigeons
resort in large flights, and when they are vacated
by the farmers, the She carries commence their
harvest. They use two nets, each about twelve
feet long, and five wide, which they lay on the
ground where the bullocks were linked, and
fasten them down lengthwise on one side. On
the other side of each net a split bamboo is in-
serted into the meshes, and fastened to two
others inserted in like manner at each end ; they
are then laid on the ground at such a distance
from one another, that when they are turned over
they meet exactly ; the space between them is
strewed with grain ; a line is fixed to each frame,
which is first run through a loop or ring in the

28 SHECARRIE' s METHOD OF

opposite frame ; at a little distance they unite into
one string, which is held by a Shecarrie con-
cealed within green bushes, at the distance of
thirty or forty yards from the nets ; when he sees
a great many birds between the nets, he pulls
the string which turns the nets over, often in-
closing twenty or thirty birds at a time.

They also have another method of catching
birds at such places. A line is fastened to the
ground, to which a great number of horse-hair
nooses are fixed, so near, that when they are
spread, they almost touch one another. This line
for some distance is curved, and the nooses are
spread out on the ground ; some grain is then
thrown over them ; the Shecarrie holds the line
in ambush, as on the former occasion, and when
the birds are eating the grain, he gives it a
sudden pull, and catches several at a time by
the legs.

They sell their birds in the markets and vil-
lages to Mahometans, and a few to the low casts
of Hindoos, for the value of a halfpenny or a
penny each. These people buy them for food,
and the higher casts of Hindoos frequently buy
paroquets, solely for the pleasure of letting them

CATCHING BIRDS. 29

loose, which I believe is considered by them to be
pleasing to the Almighty.

It is extremely wonderful to see to what per-
fection the natives train their tame pigeons, of
which there are great varieties in India; scarcely
a village being without them. In the middle of
their market places, may be often seen families
living in huts, not much larger than pigs' houses,
yet each family keeping forty or fifty pigeons in
boxes or cages. They take them out to fly,
regularly two or three times every day ; as soon
as the box or cage is opened the pigeons ascend
into the air, and when their owner thinks they
have had exercise enough, he calls them by whist-
ling loudly; upon which they immediately de-
scend, and fly straight into the cage or box. They
are sometimes allowed to run about the streets to
pick up grain strewed by the market people, but
they return to their houses whenever called.
Many of them have brass bells fastened to their
legs, which tingle as they run about; I believe
they are put on chiefly for ornament, yet I think
it probable that they keep off kites and hawks
from darting on them.

The natives are not only expert at training

30 SHECARRIE'S METHOD OF

pigeons, which the wealthy often fly for large sums
of money, but they are equally adroit in stealing
them. I had a couple of the Vizier's large
pigeons given to me, which I valued as a curiosity ;
in less than a month they were stolen, with several
other rare and pretty ones ; the common pigeons
that were kept in the same place all remained ; so
I concluded that they did not think them worth
the trouble and risk of taking away.

Wild blue pigeons are plentiful throughout In-
dia, and in the upper provinces they may be met
with in such very large flights as few would
believe without seeing. Green pigeons are also
common in India; they never alight on the
ground, are always in trees, and most commonly
in the wild fig, which is their principal food, where
it is very difficult to discern them, their colour
being so exactly like the leaves.

In the lower parts of Bengal, wild ducks, wid-
geon, and teal, are often taken by means of
earthern pots ; a number of these pots are floated
amongst them in the lakes where they abound, to
the sight of which they soon become reconciled,
and approach them fearlessly. A man then goes
into the water up to his chin, with one of

CATCHING HARES. 31

these pots over his head, in the centre of
which two small holes are made for him to see
through, and when he gets into the midst of the
birds he pulls them by the legs under water,
fastening them to a girdle round his waist.

The Calcutta market is well supplied with wild
fowl taken chiefly in this manner. It is also well
supplied with snipes. Their method of catching
them I have not seen, but have been told they
catch them in nooses and with nets, probably much
in the same manner as I have before described.

The variety of wild fowl in Bengal is very
great. Mr. Taylor, the commercial resident at
Comercolly, had a collection of more than thirty
different kinds of wild geese, widgeon and teal ;
there is a species of widgeon or teal very common
throughout India, that roost and build their nests
in trees, and are known to Europeans by the
appellation of whistling teal.

To catch hares requires three people; frequent-
ly an old man, his wife and child (a little boy or
girl) , compose the three. They carry with them
four or five nets, each of them about sixteen feet
long, and eighteen inches high ; these nets, when

32 SHECARRIE'S METHOD OF

set, extend forty or fifty yards, according to the
ground and other circumstances. If there are
no bushes growing in the intervals between the
nets, they cut some, and insert them into the
ground : the manner of setting the nets is the
same as before described for catching large ani-
mals ; but for hares, they are generally laid in
hollow places leading to thick covers to which
they generally run when disturbed, being found in
the greatest number in covers near cultivation.

One person is left concealed near the nets to
watch them ; the other two go off to the distance of
about a quarter of a mile, and commence beating
the underwood with sticks, making as much noise
as possible by striking on the large leaves, and as
soon as a hare is seen or heard to start from his
form in the bushes, the person near it makes a
shrill noise, which is well understood and an-
swered in the same manner by the other at a con-
siderable distance; they then run towards the
nets, approaching nearer to each other as they
proceed, continuing the noise with their voices
and sticks. It is wonderful to see how they drive
the hares to the exact spot where the nets are set,
being surrounded on every side by cover. After
they have beaten one side of the nets, they beat the

CATCHING HARES. 33

other in the same manner, and sometimes catch
six or seven hares in a day ; they, however,
more frequently leave off after catching three or
four, which is sufficient to supply them with food
for that and the next day, and also with as much
spirit as will make them all drunk ; for they sell
the hares to the natives at about the value of
three-pence each, but not to Europeans under
seven-pence or eight-pence, their usual price being
four annas, which is a quarter of a rupee ; a rupee
is the value of half a crown.

If they see a hare in its form in a place where
they can run round it, and approach near enough
to take it up, they commence running in a circle
of about eight yards diameter, keeping up an in-
cessant shrill noise, dwelling as it were on the same
note, and lessening their circle gradually, with
their eyes steadfastly fixed on the animal, whose
eyes are fixed on them, and in fact it becomes so
fascinated as to allow itself to be taken up delibe-
rately by the ears, when it commences a disagree-
able melancholy cry.

I have often gone close to them when fright-
ened as described above, and turned them out

D

34 SHECARRIE'S METHOD OF CATCHING HARES.

for myself or others to shoot at while running : it
was always difficult to get them to move ; some-
times I have absolutely been obliged to toss them
out with the muzzle of my gun.

A gentleman with myself hired two Shecar-
ries during the hot weather, at three rupees a
month each, to kill game, and they supplied our
tables everyday with some kind or other. I often
accompanied them, and had an opportunity of
seeing all their methods of catching it. I
usually took my gun with me ; my servants
carrying a chair and my hookah, and I sat down
near the nets or nooses, and fired at all that flew
over, or passed on the sides ; it astonished me to
see how much game three or four of them would
drive out of the covers — more, I am certain, than
twenty common people would have done, not being
professed Shecarries.

Some danger attended these excursions ; it not
unfrequently happening that Shecarries were taken
away by tigers; and on these occasions, their
apathy, from a thorough belief in predestination,
was seldom if ever surpassed ; although a father,
mother, or brother, should be carried away by a

INDIAN METHOD OF CATCHING DEER. 35

tiger, the rest of the family would follow the same
business at the same place the next day.

There are a great variety of deer in Ramghur ;
— Saumws, a species of elk — Nylgaus (Picta
antelopes), — the common red deer, — spotted
deer, — the common antelopes, — deer with four
horns, and a very small kind of deer, not larger
than the English hare, with long ears, exceedingly
active and delicately formed ; they are very com-
mon throughout the country ; and other kinds may
be occasionally met with.

Deer are either caught in nets placed as I have
already described, or on a smaller scale ; they are
also caught in nooses, or are shot from michauns
(platforms), or pits, by Shecarries and villagers:
to catch them in nooses, a strong line is fastened
to trees, and extends across the cover fifty or a
hundred yards. At all the openings, or paths,
strong nooses of thong, or of the bark of a tree,
are suspended to the cord and kept open by a
little wooden pin at the top, which, on the least
force being applied, readily gives way. They are
kept expanded on the sides by bushes, if any are
growing near enough, or split sticks inserted into

D2

36 INDIAN METHOD OF CATCHING DEER.

the ground ; they drive the covers towards the
line, and the deer are caught by their necks.

Sometimes they set nooses in the path-ways to
catch them by the legs. Two strong ropes with
loops made at the time of twisting the cord, and
lined with a bit of horn on the inside to make
them slip easily, are fastened to branches of trees,
if there are any near enough ; if not, to pegs
firmly fixed in the ground. To these cords a
small twine or silk thread is fixed, which is passed
across the path-way, and is suspended by two
forked sticks, about the height of the breast of a
deer. When the deer run against this line, it
draws together the nooses, at the same time
elevating them a little, which, being placed imme-
diately under the twine, catches them by the legs.
The cord on the ground is kept from view by
being covered with dry or green leaves.

When deer are known to destroy gram, a kind
of vetch of which they are very fond, they erect
platforms as before mentioned, which seldom have
houses on them, but simply a place to sit on, secure
from the tigers, where they wait to shoot them
when they come to feed at night. Sometimes the

BANDITTI OF THIEVES. 37

platforms are made in trees, and often the people
wait in holes made in the ground, as I have
before described.

A very curious circumstance happened to me
when I was sitting in a pit for the purpose of shoot-
ing Nylgaus, near the village of Pindar choon^
on the New Road. When out shooting, a villager
informed me that some of those animals came
every night to feed in a gram field, about half a
mile from my tent: as there were not any large
trees near the spot, and I could not conveniently
get a michaun erected for want of some of the
materials, I had a pit dug as before represented,
and took with me an Harcarrah, two guns, one
single and one double-barrelled, and a spear ; at
twelve o'clock at night I had a shot at a Nylgau,
which I severely wounded; it was found dead
the next day at a considerable distance from the
pit. About half an hour afterwards we heard a
murmuring of voices, and presently saw a number
of men armed with match-lock guns, spears, bows
and arrows, and swords; although I understood
the common Hindoostanee language tolerably well,

* It takes its name from a hot spring near it.

38 BANDITTI.

yet I could not comprehend a word they said ; but
the Harcarrah told me that they were debating
whether or not they should plunder my tent : they
remained near us a considerable time, and then
went off in a direction towards it. Very soon
after, we saw the village of Pindar choon in
flames.

At day-light we quitted our hiding place, and,
to my great joy when I returned to the tent, I
found every thing safe, without a soul having been
disturbed. The thieves set fire to the village, and
plundered it of all the carriage-bullocks they
found, which they loaded with every thing they
could lay their hands on ; the whole was not of
much value, the village being small, and the
people who lived in it poor.

Whenever a number of thieves enter a village
for plunder, it is termed dakka; the very sound
of the word will drive all the inhabitants, men,
women and children, from their village, leaving
the thieves in quiet possession to ransack it at
their will. It seldom happens, in such cases, that
any resistance is made.

The Koondah Rajah has a peculiar method of

RAJAH'S METHOD OF KILLING DEER. 39

killing deer. He keeps a particular breed of
dogs, differing from any of the common dogs of
India, larger, and possessing an exquisite sense
of smelling. These dogs are trained to hunt deer,
and although it is reasonable to conclude that
scent will soon evaporate and die away in very
hot weather, I have heard the natives assert that
they take on the scent of deer many hours after
they have passed. In the hottest season of the
year, when water is every where scarce, the Ra-
jah , early in the morning, sends some of his people
with eight or ten of these dogs to the covers bor-
dering on water, where they seldom fail of get-
ting on the scent of deer ; they worry the poor
animals about the covers, until, when almost dead
with heat and thirst, they are obliged to go to
the water to drink and cool themselves ; there
the Rajah and his friends are stationed on plat-
forms, or concealed in some kind of ambush to
shoot them.

CHAP. IV.

A SHORT ACCOUNT OF HAWKING, - GREYHOUNDS, -
WILD HOGS, - WOLVES, WITH A PECULIAR ME-
THOD OP CATCHING THEM IN PIT-FALLS, - HYENAS,
WITH AN INSTANCE SHEWING THE POSSIBILITY OF
THEIR BEING TAMED. - SURPRISING QUALIFICA-
TIONS OF A SHECARRIE. — DHOLES, OR QUIHOES,
A SPECIES OF ANIMAL NOT DESCRIBED BY NATU-
RALISTS. - BADGERS, - GOURS, - BUFFALOES, -
BEARS, AND ELEPHANTS.

the native gentlemen of India, who are in
the least degree fond of sporting, keep hawks of
various kinds, and never travel without some of
them. The largest kind are trained to kill deer,
by pitching on their heads and picking out their
eyes: they also kill large water-fowl somewhat
like the heron; a sport affording considerable
amusement. Some are very small, and are only
used for killing small birds. Others are trained
to hover over ponds of water in which there are
wild fowl, which, on being fired at, rise imme-

HAWKS AND GREY-HOUNDS. 41

diatety, when the hawk darls on them, arid obliges
them again to drop into the water, by which
means the sportsmen get many shots, and kill a
great number.

They also have grey-hounds, which, although
not fleet, are naturally extremely savage, and are
rendered more so by being kept without food the
day before they are used.

A Rajah in Bahar received as a present a
brace of large Persian grey-hounds, which he
took out on a sporting excursion with a party of
gentlemen, with a view of exhibiting their perfec-
tions. He slipped them after a jackall, and rode
off himself in the direction of the animal, halloo-
ing the dogs, who, mistaking the object intended
for them, attacked the Rajah's horse, and obliged
him to ride into a neighbouring river, up to the
horse's back, in order to escape from their attack,
to the great amusement of the gentlemen present,
and the Rajah's mortification.

As Captain Williamson observes, it is very true
that the native gentlemen of India are rarely
expert at any active sport ; they consider it be-

42 HOGS.

rteath them to use any exertion to which they are
not compelled.

Wild hogs are plentiful in every part of India
where there are covers near water in which they
may lie undisturbed. The natives kill them from
platforms, and catch them in nets when they come
to feed on their sugar plantations. They lay the
nets at the places where they are known to
enter the cane,* which is easily seen by the fences
being broken down. They drive them in the
night time with dogs and noisy instruments, out of
the plantations into the nets. They also catch
them in nooses made with ropes, and shoot them
from elephants.

.

Wolves are found in all parts of India ; but ]
have remarked that they are most numerous
where there are no tigers, panthers or leopards ;
in Ramghur they are very scarce. In the upper
provinces, at Cawnpore, Futtyghur Agra, and
Muttrah, they exist in great numbers : the method
by which they are caught is very curious. A

* This term is used in India for a plantation of sugar.

WOLVES. 43

deep pit is dug, and over it a kid or lamb is sus-
pended in a basket, with a pot of water hang-
ing above, having a small hole in it, through
which a drop at a time falls on the kid and
makes it cry. The sound attracts the wolves to
the spot, and when they make their spring at
the bait, they fall into the pit beneath, which is
kept from their view by being covered with loose
green leaves.

When I was stationed at Cawnpore, a wolf had
young under a gentleman's pleasure house in his
garden, about a hundred yards from my house.
A child two years old, belonging to one of my ser-
vants, was carried away by it. I made applica-
tion to the gentleman for leave to dig out the
wolves, which he refused, observing that I should
undermine and throw down his house. I then
contrived to fix a noose, made with wire and strong
cord twisted together, over the hole, and placed
above it a tin cannister, partly filled with stones,
which, felling down when the wolf pulled the noose,
frightened him and gave alarm to my people. It
was caught the first night, and secured in a box ;
the next day, several gentlemen assembled, when
we procured many mastiffs, and let them loose
together in a compound, surrounded by a wall

44 HYENAS.

about nine feet high ; but the dogs were afraid to
attack the wolf.

A gentleman present, of his Majesty's 73rd
Regiment, had a number of terriers, which he sent
for: these worried and obliged it to scamper
round the enclosure, making the company caper
about in all directions to avoid it ; so that it was
difficult to say, which was most frightened. At
last the wolf made a spring at the wall, and fairly
leaped on the top of it and ran away, to the
gratification of most of the party, who were more
annoyed than pleased with the sport.

Hyenas are common on all the south side of the
river Ganges ; I believe they are also to be met
with on the north, but I have never seen any
there. Their natural history is defective, inas-
much as they are described to be so fierce as not
to be tamed.

A servant of Mr. William Hunter's, by name
Thomas Jones, who lived at Chittrah, had a full
grown hyena, which ran loose about his house like
a dog, and I have seen him play with it with as
much familiarity. They feed on small animals
and carrion, and I believe often come in for the

HYENAS. 45

prey left by tigers and leopards after their
appetites have been satiated. They are great
enemies of dogs, and kill numbers of them.

A gentleman at Chittrah who kept a pack
of hounds, lost a dog every night for several
nights successively ; the dog-keepers reported
that they were carried off by hyenas — the truth of
which could not be ascertained, but it appears
likely. The dogs were accustomed to be tied
down separately every night; and after it was
ordered that they should be all loosened, none
disappeared.

The natives of India affirm that tigers, panthers,
and leopards have a great aversion to hyenas, on
account of their destroying their young, which I
believe they have an opportunity of doing, as the
parents leave them during the greatest part of the
day. The inhabitants, therefore, feel no apprehen-
sion in taking away the young whenever they
find them, knowing the dam is seldom near.
Whether it is true, as the natives say, that they
have a great aversion to hyenas, or that it is one
of their many fabulous stories, I shall leave to
the judgment of my reader, having never had an
opportunity of ascertaining it. Hyenas are slow

46 HYENAS.

in their pace, and altogether inactive; I have
often seen a few terriers keep them at bay, and
bite them severely by the hind quarters; their
jaws, however, are exceedingly strong, and a
single bite, without holding on, more than a few
seconds, is sufficient to kill a large dog. They
stink horribly, make no earths of their own, but
lie under rocks, or resort to the earths of wolves,
as foxes do to those of badgers, and it is not
uncommon to find wolves and hyenas in the same
bed of earths.

I was informed by several gentlemen, whose
veracity I could not doubt, that Captain Richards,
of the Bengal Native Infantry, had a servant of
the tribe of Shecarries, who was in the habit of
going into the earths of wolves, fastening strings
on them, and on the legs of hyenas, and then
drawing them out ; he constantly supplied his
master and the gentlemen at the station with them,
who let them loose on a plain, and rode after them
with spears, for practice and amusement. This
man possessed such an acute and exquisite sense
of smelling, that he could always tell by it, if
there were any animals in the earths, and could
distinguish whether they were hyenas or wolves.
What makes it the more extraordinary, is, that

DHOLES OR QUIHOES. 41

the man's nose was depressed to a level with his
cheeks, either from lues, or accident, which I
should have thought would have injured the pow-
ers of that organ.

In the Ramghur hills there exist some animals
which I believe have never been fully described
by any naturalist. Captain Williamson has given
some account of them, calling them Dholes, a
name by which I have heard them called, but
more frequently by the name of Quihoes ; they
are extremely shy, and seldom approach any
villages.

In all my rambles through the jungles, I have
only seen them three or four times, and then there
were always a number together, never appearing
within shooting distance. They are between the
size of a wolf and a jackall, slightly made, of a
light bay colour, with fierce eyes, and their faces
sharp like that of a grey-hound. I have heard
it said that their claws are retractile ; if so, they
may be considered as belonging to the feline
species.

They hunt their prey in packs, and kill large
animals ; it is said even tigers, panthers and

48 BADGERS.

leopards ; but this, as well as many stories related
of them, I consider as fabulous. I can, however,
affirm, that there exist such animals, and I have
known them kill wild hogs. It jiiay therefore be
believed that they sometimes kill larger animals ;
for as they are armed with talons, and generally
keep together in a body, they must be very for-
midable. A young one was sent by Rajah Futty
Narrainto Mr. Archibald Seton, at Gyah, which
was extremely fierce and shy, and lived but
a short time.

Badgers are scarce, but are occasionally to be
met with in the hills. In their nature they very
much resemble the bear, and what is singular they
are called by the natives of Ramghur, Badger-
Ball^ — Ball being the Hindoostanee word for
Bear. Captain Williamson calls bears, balloos,
which I believe is a corruption.* Badgers in
India are marked exactly like those in England,
but they are larger and taller, are exceedingly
fierce, and will attack a number of dogs ; I have
seen dogs that would attack an hyena or wolf,
afraid to encounter them.

* Quere — Are not both these English words derived from
the Hindoostanee ?

COURS. 49

There is also another species of animal in
Ramghur, called Gour, a kind of wild bullock of
a prodigious size, not well known to Europeans.
I have never obtained a sight of them, but have
often seen the prints of their feet, the impression
of one of them covering as large a space as a com-
mon china plate. According to the account which
I received from a number of persons, they are
much larger than the largest of our oxen, are of
a light brown colour, with short thick horns, and
inhabit the thickest covers ; they keep together in
herds, and a herd of them are always near the
Luggo hill. They are also in the heavy jungles
between Ramghur and Nagpore.

On reading the 8th Vol. of Asiatic Researches,
since the preceding sheets have been printed, I
have met with an account of Gay ah, by H. T.
Colebrooke, Esq., which appear, by his descrip-
tion, to be animals of the same species as the Gour,
noticed above, but not of so large a size, or
so vicious. The animal described by a Bengal
officer, and introduced by Mr. Kerr, in his trans-
lation of Linnaeus's Sy sterna Natures, under the
appellation of Bos Arna, appears to me to be the
Gour of Ramghur, which Mr. Colebrooke thinks
should be rejected from all systems of Zoology,

50^ BUFFALOES.

merely from his supposing that they have mistaken
the wild buffalo for it, owing perhaps to their
using the word arna. Arna being the Hin-
doostanee name for wild buffalo.

The wild buffalo is always of a black colour,
with very long horns, whereas the Gour has short
horns, and is of a bay, or reddish brown, colour.
The former inhabits low marshy ground, and the
latter hills and forests. If any doubt remains
of the existence of such animals, a true history of
them may be easily procured. — Gour is the name
they are known by in Ramghur, but it may not
be the proper Hindoos tanee name of the animal.

I saw the skin of one that had been killed by
Rajah Futty Narrain. Its exact size I do not
recollect, but I well remember that it astonished
me, having never seen the skin of any animal so
large. Some gentlemen at Chittrah have tried
all in their power to procure a calf, without suc-
cess. The Shecarries and villagers are so much
afraid of those animals, that they cannot be pre-
vailed on to go near them, or to endeavour to
catch any of their young. It is a prevailing opinion
in that part of the country, that if they are the
least molested, they will attack the person or
persons molesting them, and never quit them until

BUFFALOES. 51

they are destroyed ; and should they get into a
tree, they will remain near it for many days.

Rajah Futty Narrain resided at Norungabad,
and was the keenest native sportsman I ever met
with. He shot remarkably well with ball, and
sometimes used English rifles ; but he could not
shoot so well with them as with a match-lock
gun.*

Wild buffaloes are plentiful in many parts of
Bengal, and also in some parts of Bah a. I have
never seen how they are destroyed by the natives,
but I believe their only method is, shooting them
from platforms, trees, boats, or elephants. They
are too powerful to be attacked openly, or in any
other way.

Female buffaloes are not naturally inclined to
attack men, unless they have calves with them ;
they then are fierce, and should be avoided. The
bulls are at all times fierce, particularly so when
in company with a single female, and they often
attack men without any provocation whatever;

* He enjoyed a Jagier (estate of land) given to him by
the East India Company for services rendered them.

E 2

52 BUFFALOES.

many natives are killed by them, and some few
Europeans have shared the same fate.

An officer of the Bengal army had a most
miraculous escape from one, by having the pre-
sence of mind to pull off his red jacket, and throw
it at him when he made his charge ; the buffalo
received it on his horns, and continued tossing it
about, which gave the gentleman an opportunity
of climbing up into a tree, by which he escaped
unhurt, to the great joy of the rest of the party,
who despaired of his life. It is a well known fact,
that to the showy colour of red, buffaloes have a
particular aversion ; for they always attack a per-
son wearing that coloured cloth, in preference to
any other.

Mr. William Down, who now resides in the
neighbourhood of Great Torrington, was one of
a party shooting, when they saw a bull-buffalo;
they fired several balls at him, and wounded him
in one of his hind legs. Mr. Down pursued him
across some water, when the animal attacked him,
and threw him into a ditch ; fortunately it was so
narrow that the buffalo could not bring his horns
to bear on him ; they were so long, and lay so
much in a direction over his back that he could

BEAKS. 5-3

not get their points under, or against his body.
After trying a long time in vain, he trod and
stamped on him with his fore feet, broke several
of his ribs, and bruised the calves of his legs in
such a manner as to leave severe marks, which
are not yet effaced. He then treated him with
such contempt as large dogs often do smaller ones,
sprinkling him well with his water; and then
decamped into a plantation of indigo, leaving the
poor gentleman almost dead ; however, after a
short time, he recovered sufficiently to creep to-
wards the boat, where he was met by some of
the boat-men, who were all the time at some
distance observing what passed.

Black bears are common throughout the hills,
and are very numerous in Rogonaiitpore and
Geldah. They are caught in nets, or killed from
michaims, or pits, and are considered by the in-
habitants of these countries not as the enemies of
man ; being innocent in comparison with some
other large animals. They live chiefly on bulbous
roots, fruit and ants ; of the termites (white ants)
they are particularly fond, and I have been in-
formed that they are sometimes caught when feed-
ing on them in this manner — a strong noose being
placed around the hillocks in which the ants are
imbedded is drawn over the neck of the bear,

64 BEARS.

by a person in ambush, at the time he is lowering
his head in order to draw up the ants with his
breath through his nostrils.

I never heard of more than one person being
killed by a bear, and that was an old man who
was cutting wood at the foot of Muckangunge
hill, about two miles from Hazaree Bang canton-
ments, when a female bear, having two cubs,
being disturbed by him, attacked, and killed
him.

They are often met by travellers on the New
Road ; the carriers of palanquins are so accustomed
to see them, that they take little notice of them,
unless they think they are carrying a person un-
accustomed to the country, whom, in that case,
they endeavour to intimidate by pretending that
there is great danger in going on. This they do
with the hope that a reward will be offered them
to proceed ; but if they find that the person is
aware of their tricks, they try to get a present,
by amusing him with a song, in which they
imitate the bear.

Bears will often continue on the road in front
of the palanquin for a mile or two, tumbling and
playing all sorts of antics, as if they were taught

ELEPHANTS. 55

to do so ; I believe it is their natural disposition ;
for they certainly are the most amusing creatures
imaginable in their wild state. It is no wonder
that with monkeys they are led about to amuse
mankind. It is astonishing, as well as ludicrous,
to see them climb rocks and tumble, or rather
roll down precipices. If they are attacked by
any person on horse-back, they stand erect on
their hind legs, shewing a fine set of white teeth,
and making a cackling kind of noise: if the
horse comes near them, they try to catch him by
the legs, and if they miss him, they tumble over
and over several times. They are easily speared
by a person mounted on a horse that is bold
enough to go near them, which, however, few will
do, unless they are much accustomed to it.

Elephants are numerous on the north side of
the river Granges, near the mountains from Chit-
tagong to Hardwar. The principal Keddah
for catching them is in the district of Tipperah.
They are caught in Nepaul, and at many places
near the mountains, in pits and by phauns
(nooses made with slip knots) which are thrown
over their heads, and are at last brought round
their .necks, by people on large tame elephants.
The elephants thus caught are not considered so

56 ELEPHANTS.

valuable as those caught at Tipper ah, Chittayong,
and Sylhet. I believe there are no wild elephants
in any of the English territories on the south of
the river Ganges. I have known eight together,
in a wild state, pass through part of the town of
Chittrah ; one of them had a brass ring round one
of his tusks ; I imagine, therefore, they were all
elephants that at some time or other had escaped
from their keepers into the jungles. Their natural
history is so generally known, that it would be
presumption in me to enter into a detail of it.
Two extraordinary instances of their wonderful
sagacity (or reasoning faculty), came within my
knowledge, which strongly corroborate the state-
ments given of their general character.

An elephant belonging to Mr. Boddam, of the
Bengal civil service at Gyah, used every day
to pass over a small bridge leading from his mas-
ter's house into the town of Gyah ; he one day re-
fused to go over it, and it was with great difficulty,
by goring him most cruelly with the haukuss,
(an iron instrument) that the Mahout (driver)
could get him to venture on the bridge, the
strength of which he first tried with his trunk,
shewing clearly that he suspected that it was not
sufficiently strong ; at last he went on, and before

ELEPHANT*. 67

lie could get -over, the bridge gave way, and they
were precipitated into the ditch, which killed the
driver, and considerably injured the elephant. It
is resasonable to suppose that the elephant must
have perceived its feeble state when he last passed
over it. It is a well known fact, that elephants
will seldom or ever go over strange bridges, with-
out first trying with their trunks if they be suffi-
ciently strong to bear their weight, — nor will
they ever go into a boat without doing the same

I had a remarkably quiet and docile elephant,
which one day came home loaded with branches
of trees for provender, followed by a number of
villagers, calling for mercy, (their usual cry when
ill used,) complaining that the Mahout had
stolen a kid from them, and that it was then on the
elephant, under the branches of the trees. The
Mahout took an opportunity of decamping into
the village and hiding himself. I ordered the
elephant to be unloaded, and was surprised to see
that he would not allow any person to come near
to him, when at all other times he was perfectly
tractable and obedient. Combining all the
circumstances, I was convinced that the Mahout
was guilty, and to get rid of the noise, I recom-
pensed the people for the loss of their kid. As

58 ELEPHANTS.

soon as they were gone away, the elephant
allowed himself to be unloaded, and the kid was
found under the branches, as described by the
people. I learnt from my Sarcar, that similar
complaints had been made to him before, and
that the rascal of a Mahout made it a practice to
ride the elephant into the midst of a herd of goats,
and had taught him to pick up any of the young
ones he directed ; he had also accustomed him to
steal their pumpions and other vegetables that
grew against the inside of their fences, like French
beans, which could only be reached by an ele-
phant. He was the best Mahout I ever knew,
yet so great a rogue, that I was obliged to dis-
charge him.

The very day that he left my service, the ele-
phant's eyes were closed, which he did not open
again in less than a fortnight, when it was disco-
vered that he was blind. Two small eschars, one
in each eye, were visible, which indicated pretty
strongly that he had been made blind by some
sharp instrument, most probably by a heated
needle. The suspicion was very strong against
the former keeper, of whom I never heard any
thing after. This elephant I frequently rode on,
shooting for many years after this, through heavy

ELEPHANTS. 59

covers, intersected with ravines, rivers, and over
hollow and uneven ground, and he scarcely ever
made a false step with me, and never once tumbled.
He used to touch the ground with his trunk on
every spot where his feet were to be placed, and in
so slight and quick a manner, as scarcely to be per-
ceived. The Mahout would often make him remove
large stones, lumps of earth or timber out of his
way, frequently climb up and down banks, that
no horse could get over ; he would also occasion-
ally break off branches of trees that were in the
way of the Howdah, to enable me to pass.

Although perfectly blind, he was considered
one of the best sporting elephants of his small size
in the country, and he travelled at a tolerably
good rate, and was remarkably easy in his paces.
On my returning to England, I sold him to Mr.
Wemyss, of the Bengal civil service.

CHAP. V.

A DESCRIPTION OF TRAPS FOR CATCHING TIGERS.
METHOD OF KILLING THEM WITH POISONED AR-
ROWS, FROM CAPTAIN WILLIAMSON'S BOOK, WITH

OBSERVATIONS THEREON. SHOOTING THEM FROM

PLATFORMS. EXULTATION OF THE NATIVES AT

THEIR DEATH. AN ANECDOTE OF AN OWL,

WHOSE APPEARANCE WAS CONSIDERED OMINOUS

OF THE DEATH OF A FAVOURITE SERVANT.

PROOF AGAINST THE COMMON NOTION OF THE
TIGER'S PROVIDER. — THE MEETING WITH TI-
GERS WHEN SHOOTING. — WHY TIGERS PREFER
FEEDING ON MEN TO ANIMALS. GREAT DE-
STRUCTION MADE BY A TIGRESS, WITH ANEC-
DOTES. AN INSTANCE OF GREAT FEROCITY.

EXTRAORDINARY ESCAPES FROM TIGERS. — A
FATHER AND SON KILLED BY THE SAME ANI-
MAL. SUPERSTITIOUS CEREMONY PERFORMED TO

ENSURE SAFETY FROM TIGERS. REFLECTIONS

ON THE FORMATION OF A TIGER' S FORE LEG
AND FOOT. CAPTAIN WILLIAMSON'S REMARKS

TIGERS. 61

ON THEIR METHOD OF KILLING THEIR PREY,
AND MY OBSERVATIONS THEREON. AN IN-
STANCE OF THEIR GREAT STRENGTH AND FERO-
CITY. AN ACCOUNT OF A VIOLENT HAIL-STORM.

—THE FLIGHT OF A DEER TO A REGIMENT OF

SOLDIERS FOR PROTECTION. AN ACCOUNT OF

A GENTLEMAN'S HAVING KILLED 360 TIGERS.

TIGERS are caught in nets, as I have already de-
scribed. They are likewise caught in traps, but
rarely, being extremely wary. Shecarries kill
them with poisoned arrows : they also shoot them
from platforms and pits. The villagers do the
same ; and they are killed by opulent natives from
the backs of elephants.

One kind of trap for catching them is made of
wood, and not unlike a common rat trap, twelve
or fourteen feet in length, and about five in
breadth, with both ends open, and two doors, one
at each end ; which are elevated by levers on the
top, and kept suspended by an iron rod passing
over the end of them, which rod communicates by
a tongue with a board on the inside at the bottom
of the box. A kid or goat is fastened in the
middle of the box, and when the tiger seizes it,
and steps on the board, he disengages the tongue

62 TIGERS.

from the iron rod, which flies up, allowing the
doors to fall down through grooves so strongly
made, that he cannot force them open, so that he
is caught.

The traps are sometimes made with only one
door, and an open grating at the other end. An-
other kind is made by driving stakes into the
ground and fastening bamboos to the top of them,
with doors similar to those already described, and
which are let fall much in the same way ; they
are made considerably larger, and are immove-
able; covered all over with green bushes, and so
well hidden, as not to be easily discovered from
the natural cover. Whenever tigers are caught
in these traps, they are driven into others prepared
to receive them, in which they are carried off.

The following description of a tiger killed by
poisoned arrows, is taken from Captain William-
son's book of Oriental Field Sports. " The con-
" struction of the apparatus for shooting tigers
" with arrows, either poisoned or not, is extreme-
" ly simple. There are various modes ; but
" that in general use is as follows : — The bow is
" fixed at the middle by two stakes, distant enough
" to allow the arrow to pass freely without touch-

TIGERS. 63

" ing, and at about eighteen inches, or two feet
" from the ground, according to the size of the
" animal to be killed. The great nicety is, to fix
" the bow so that the arrow may fly quite horizon-
" tally; or, at least as much so as the principles
" of projectiles will admit. The cord should be
" parallel to the road frequented by the tiger.
" The string being drawn back, so as to bend
" the bow sufficiently, is kept at its stretch by
" means of a stiff piece of stick, cut just the
" length, so as to pinch a wedge against the in-
" side of the bow. This wedge comes down six
" or eight inches, and at its lower end has a
" strong line fastened to it; which, being carried
" across the pathway, for perhaps twenty or
" thirty yards, and strained moderately tight, is
" there fastened to a strong stake driven into the
<c ground for the purpose, if no sufficient bush
" be at hand. This being done, the arrow is
" gently deposited in its proper place. To give
" it the requisite position before the cord was
" stretched would be dangerous ; as in setting
" the latter tight, the wedge might be drawn,
" and the arrow be discharged at the operator.

" The reader will, from this description, un-
" derstand, that the bow is firmly fixed; and that,

64 TIGERS.

" the wedge introduced between the inside and
" the extended string of the bow, operates as a
" lever; for when any power, such as the step
" of a tiger, presses against the string, and
" causes it to depart from its right line, the
" wedge must nessesarily give way to the force,
" and turn the extending stick downwards ; there-
" by setting it at liberty, and occasioning the
'* bow to act instantaneously.

" Such is the velocity of the arrow, and so
" quick does this simple contrivance act, that
" tigers are, for the most part, shot near the
" shoulder. But even were it less rapid, we
" might naturally conjecture, that the tiger, feel-
" ing his leg obstructed by the line, would pause,
" arid afford ample time for the arrow to take
" effect, before he could completely pass its range.
" Generally, tigers fall within two hundred yards
" from the fatal spot, they being most frequently
" struck through the lungs, and sometimes straight
" through the heart. If the arrow be poisoned,
" as is most frequently the case, locality is no
" particular object; though without doubt, such
" wounds as would of themselves prove effectual,
" unaided by the venom, give the Shecarrie
" least trouble. The poison never fails to kill

TIGERS. 65

c< within an hour. It is not always necessary,
" but it is usual, for one or more persons to be
" at hand, in the nearest trees, or in some secure
" situation, commanding a view of the spot, to
" watch the event, as well as to caution travellers
" who might inadvertently be proceeding towards
" the snare, and be liable to its mischief.

" The bows are, however, with little deviation,
" laid in places not much frequented, and mostly
"at a time when all the surrounding villagers,
" understanding that some tiger has committed
" ravages, expect the bows to be laid near his
" haunts; which, in consequence, are carefully
" avoided.

» " When bows are fixed in grass jungles, for
" which, indeed, they seem peculiarly calculated,
" the tops of the grass are cut away with a sickle,
" so as to form a narrow vista for the passage of
" the arrow. The string which passes across the
*' path, is, however, carefully concealed ; the grass
" being brought over to meet, and cover it from
" the tiger's observation. It is not that the force
" of the arrow would be sensibly diminished in so
" short a course ; but that some rather stiff reed
or stick might touch, and divert it from its pro-

c;

ti.

) TIGERS.

per direction. For the bow is ordinarily so
very substantial as to require the whole force
of a strong well-accustomed man to bend and
draw it properly. The Pakariahs, or hill
" people, who may be said to be the only persons
" practising this part of sporting, are, as already
" observed, quite a distinct race from the rest of
" the inhabitants of Bengal; and, from every
" circumstance, may be with reason considered as
" the aborigines.

" The arrows used for shooting tigers have
" generally but a moderate barb; I have seen
" some without any. The poison is for the most
" part a liquid, in which thread is steeped, and
" wound round at the back of the barb. We
" are not acquainted with the real nature of the
" poisons in general use, but we are certain of
" their deleterious effects. Some pretend that
" only one kind is infallible; namely, litherage of
" lead, poured hot on some bruised herbs. This
" may probably be in part true. Litherage
"appears to be the basis of the poison; but,
c ' assuredly it is blended with some other stimulant,
" or active body, else it would fail of sufficient
" powers to operate so very suddenly as poisoned
" arrows often do."

TIGERS. 67

The method of killing tigers with poisoned
arrows is so curious and interesting, that, wish-
ing to give my reader as clear an idea of it as
I possibly can, I have extracted the foregoing
account from Captain T. Williamson's book of
Oriental Field Sports, which, although detailed in a
perspicuous manner, is in many points incorrect.
That gentleman's book conveys an exceedingly
good general idea of the different kinds of sport-
ing, but it cannot be expected that he should be
personally acquainted with them all. He must
have gained a great part of his knowledge from
the information of others, consequently not
always to be depended on, which I think has
been the case respecting tigers killed by poisoned
arrows.

He observes that the mechanism of their bows
is very simple. In this, I cannot agree with him ;
to me, it appears a complicated and ingenious
apparatus ; the different uses of the number of
strings attached to a bow would puzzle any one ;
although I have seen them often set, I am certain
that I could not set them myself: of course I
cannot well describe how it is done, and I am
confident that it would require a considerable
time for any person to understand its principle

F2

68 TIGERS.

sufficiently to be able to set them without
instruction.

Captain Williamson says that the Shecarries
remain in trees, or somewhere near, so as to
enable them to see the bow and string, where
they can also apprize people going that way, of
their danger. This is not often, if ever, the case.
The tigers are generally shot with poisoned
arrows during the night, and in the midst of
some thick cover, or in the dry beds of small
rivers. They lay their bows and arrows before
sun set, and then go to some village where they
sleep the night; early the next morning, they
visit the spot to examine their bows, and if an
arrow has been discharged, they are certain that
some animal, most probably a tiger, has been
wounded, and consequently is dead.

They then trace him by the blood, or, if they
cannot follow it, they look about in all the thick
covers near; being well acquainted with their
haunts, they know the direction he will most pro-
bably take, and seldom fail of finding him in a
few hours. Some Shecarries take a dog with
them, which, being trained, hunts them out in a
few minutes. They do not take the dog with

TIGERS. 69

them at the time of laying the bow, for fear of
disturbing the tiger, or of his smelling the scent
of the dog, which might induce him to go another
way — tigers having a great dislike to dogs. I do
not think the Shecarries would consider them-
selves safe in trees, nor do I see of what use it
would be : on the contrary, it might prevent so
wary an animal as a tiger from approaching the
line; nor do I consider it probable that villagers
would frequent such places in the night. When-
ever their bows are laid in the day, or in the
night, across public roads, pathways, or any
places where people often travel, they lay twe
other strings, passing them across the road or
pathway, communicating with the tongue that lets
the arrow fly, as the one already described by
Captain Williamson. These strings cross the
road or pathway, one on each side of the former,
at about six yards' distance, and are raised from
the ground about four feet and a half, allowing a
tiger to pass under them, but a man, or any large
cattle, would run against them, and the arrow
would be discharged before they arrived within
its direction.

The centre line is raised about two feet from
the ground, and strikes against the tiger's breast >

70 TIGERS.

the arrow generally enters behind the shoulders.
According to the account given to me by the
Shecarries, they seldom live half an hour after
receiving the wound.

The Captain observes that this method of shoot-
ing arrows is exclusively followed by Pahariahs,
or hill people. In this, he has been misinformed ;
I believe the only people who practise it, are a
race of men, inhabitants of the district ofDinage-
pwe, east of the river Ganges, who travel all
over Bengal, wherever tigers are to be met with,
for the sole purpose of killing them, in order to
obtain the reward given by government, of ten
rupees for every tiger. Something more they
receive as presents from the inhabitants, and gain
a little by the sale of their teeth and claws, which
are worn by the natives as charms.

I believe it frequently happens that they are
paid twice by government for killing the same
animal, by producing the head of a tiger to a
collector of one district, and the skin to the col-
lector of another. They travel about killing
tigers nearly all the hot and cold seasons ; and, if
they are successful, return to their families, with
a sufficiency to .maintain them for a year or two :

TIGERS. 71

when it is nearly expended, they commence an-
other excursion. They are extremely fond of spirits,
and of smoking intoxicating herbs ; and live a
horrid life, independent of the danger they incur
by searching for tigers, and in setting their bows,
in the act of which, they are often taken away by
the very animals whose destruction they are
preparing.

With respect to the poison, Captain Williamson
has also been misinformed. They use only one
kind, which is extracted from the roots of a large
tree, the bark of which is smooth like the ash,
with very large leaves, and is known to the
natives, by the name of Boglear, which signifies
tiger's poison. An incision is made in the large
roots, and a gummy liquid oozes out, which soon
inspissates. They mix it with litherage, and apply
it, whilst moist, around the extremity of the iron
of the arrow, at its insertion into the wood, where
a hollow is left for the purpose : it is then wound
round with a few turns of fine silk to prevent it from
cracking, and then exposed to the sun ; by which,
in a short time, it becomes as hard or harder than
the wood. The iron point is very short, made with
a small barb, and the arrow is discharged with
sufficient force to bury the poison in the animal, v

72 TIGERS.

It is rather a strange circumstance, that the
same poisonous substance which they fix to their
arrows, is used by the native distillers to lute their
stills. I had a young tree of the Boglear trans-
planted into my garden, but I quitted that part of
the country before the tree had attained a suffi-
cient size to try any experiments with.

Whenever a bullock is killed by a tiger, and
the people of the village can find the dead carcass,
they erect a michaun in a tree, or on poles, or
dig a pit in the ground near it ; and if there are
no people in the village bold enough to remain in
it, to shoot at the tiger when he returns to feed at
night, they send for some from the next village, or
employ Shecarries ; neither of which have they
occasion often to do, there being scarcely a village
in RamgJiur without people who are accustomed
to shoot tigers in this way.

Whether Shecarries or villagers undertake the
business, they conduct it in the same manner.
Villagers seldom remain alone, a companion gene-
rally accompanies the marksman, and sometimes
they are both marksmen. Shecarries, from being
more accustomed to it, are not afraid, and often
sit in michauns alone, with hopes of receiving the

•-

TIGERS. 73

whole reward. They arm themselves with match-
lock guns, swords and spears. It is necessary
that they should possess patience, and a consider-
able degree of coolness, and be perfectly silent.
The tiger having glutted his appetite on the bul-
lock not long before, cannot be veiy hungry, there-
fore the least noise would prevent him from re-
turning to it. If he should return, they generally
wound him, and most times mortally ; yet it sel-
dom happens that he falls dead on the spot.

Capt. Williamson says, that the Shecarries,vfhen
they have wounded a tiger, frequently dismount
from michauns, and follow him through the
jungles. This I have never known to take place ;
however, it may have happened. Whenever it
has occurred, I should think it must have been
before dark, or after day light in the morning. I
cannot think that any man would be so fool-hardy
as to be searching about in the dark, through thick
cover, for a wounded and enraged tiger, for even
in moon-light, the eye cannot penetrate the thick-
ets on account of the shade. These animals are
so tenacious of life, that they often require many
balls to enter them before they die. I knew an
instance of a tiger's receiving eighteen balls before
he fell. Like other animals of the feline species,

74 TIGERS.

their vision in the night is much more perfect than
that of a man, and if the Shecarries or villagers
dismount from their michaun, and should be seen
by the tiger, they would be attacked, and could
have no chance of escaping. I believe that they
generally remain on the michaun until day light,
when they descend, and if they have fired at a
tiger during the night, they collect from the village
or neighbouring villages, a number of armed
people. With these, and a few dogs, they search
all the covers, and if any blood is seen, they fol-
low it, and often succeed in finding the tiger
wounded or dead. Although it may require more
resolution to sit in the michaun, the searching
for the tiger is really the most dangerous part of
the business ; however, being a number together,
they encourage one another, and are not ap-
parently aware of their danger, though they are
frequently carried off in the pursuit.

If a tiger kills and carries away a man or
woman, and the body should be found not half
devoured, none of the Shecarries or villagers will
ever sit up to kill the tiger when he returns to
feed on the remainder. They are more afraid of
the apparition of the dead person, than of the liv-
ing tiger. On several occasions I offered to sit

TIGERS. 75

up with them, and to give them a present if we
did not succeed in killing the tiger, but I could not
prevail on any of them to accompany me.

I have often seen large tigers brought to Chit-
trah, in the Ramghur district, by ten or twelve
men, on poles, from the most distant parts of the
district, frequently a distance of a hundred and
twenty, to a hundred and sixty miles, to obtain
the reward of ten rupees. Sometimes in the hot
weather the carcasses, on their arrival, were so ex-
ceedingly putrid, that it was almost impossible to
approach them, without being made ill by the
stench. It may, in some measure, be conceived
what joy their having killed them must have oc-
casioned, to induce them to carry the animals such
a distance, with such a horrid smell immediately
under their noses, when they might have obtained
the reward just as well by carrying only the head,
or skin. No commander of an army ever felt
more elated after a victory, than these poor crea-
tures experienced at the success of their prowess
in destroying, perhaps, the pest of their neighbour-
hood. When any person praised them for their
valour and dexterity, their countenances shewed
what pleasure they felt. It might also be plainly
seen, how gratifying it was to them to hear it

76 TIGERS.

said, that it was a large tiger, On receiving the
reward, they generally got gloriously drunk, and
no doubt returned to their villages, determined to
risk their lives on a similar exploit, the first op-
portunity that might offer.*

Many of the natives of India believe in the doc-
trine of the metempsychosis, or transmigration of
souls ; as soon, therefore, as a tiger or leopard is
killed, they light a fire and burn off the long
whiskers that grow near the mouth ; by doing this,
they have a superstitious idea that they shall not
be turned into tigers in another world.

A tailor at Chittrah went out with the gentle-
men of the station, and a number of natives, to kill
a tiger that had taken shelter in a plantation of
sugar-canes near the town. He happened to be
the fortunate man who shot the tiger, and in the
excess of his joy, vauntingly exclaimed that he
would shoot a tiger at any time. Mr. Mathew

* These poor ignorant men often receive only half the re-
ward ; the remainder goes into the pocket of the Dewan, or
his assistant. The English gentlemen, for the most part, are
aware that such peculation is common, and, much to their
credit, make it a point of paying the reward themselves.

TIGERS. 77

Leslie, who was then the judge magistrate, and
collector of the district, promised to call on him
for his assistance the first opportunity. Not long
after, a tiger killed a bullock about a mile from the
town ; the tailor was sent for, whose courage was
considerably abated ; however, he consented to sit
up in a michaun, which was soon erected, and
he took with him a young man, or rather a stout
boy.

In the dead of the night, the tiger came to
feed on the carcass. The gloominess of the place
at such a time, with the fierce horrid look of the
tiger, had an instantaneous effect on poor Snip's
nerves, and threw him into a fit; the noise it
occasioned, made the tiger carry off the bullock
into thicker cover, instead of feeding on it where
it was. The boy seeing the tiger go off with the
bullock, tied his master to the michaun, descend-
ed, and ran to the nearest village, and gave the
alarm that his master was dead; but when the
people came to the michaun, they found him
perfectly recovered; protesting that he would
never sit up again in the night to shoot a tiger, —
for he had seen the Devil. The truth of the whole
story I will not vouch for, although I have often
heard it related. It happened before I was
stationed at Chittrah.

78 TIGERS.

Being informed that a number of deer came
every night to feed in some fields of grain
adjoining a thick jungle, about a mile from my
house, I had a michaun erected, and on a moon-
light night, took with me a Classic, named Dildar
Kauri, who always had the charge of my guns,
cleaned them, and accompanied me whenever I
went out to shoot, unless his services were wanted
for the tent; the management of which was his
particular business. He was a favourite servant,
and had lived with me many years. The
michaun was erected higher than they usually
are ; we therefore ascended it by a ladder, which
was then carried away, and brought again at day
light for us to descend. About midnight an owl
perched immediately over our heads, and com-
menced hooting; presently after we heard at a
distance the Phedll (commonly called the lion
or tiger's provider), which is a jackall, following
the scent of the tiger, and making a noise very
different from their usual cry ; which I imagine
they do for the purpose of warning their species
of danger, as small birds often do when they are
flying after a hawk, kite, or owl.*

* Tigers and other animals of prey are often discovered
by the screeching of lapwings, or the croaking of crows, or
ravens. The former are numerous throughout the jungles,
and they often follow a tiger for hours.

TIGERS. 79

The Classic felt a little alarmed when the owl
began hooting, but as soon as he heard the Pheall,
he tremblingly put his hand on my shoulder, (a
liberty no native would presume to take, unless
actuated by excess of fear or danger,) and
begged, for God's sake, that I would not fire at
the tiger, observing, that if I did, one of us would
certainly be killed, and that the owl's hooting over
us was ominous. The excessive gloominess of
the place, and the dead silence that prevailed,
unless when interrupted by the dismal cry of the
single jackall, or hooting of the owl, made me feel
uncomfortable, yet I determined to fire at the
tiger, if I should see him within a short distance,
confiding in our security, having two guns and
other weapons for our defence. The tiger passed
within a few yards of us ; and although we heard
him distinctly purring as he went along, like a cat
that is pleased, we could not see him, in con-
sequence of his keeping in the shade of the bushes.
In a minute or two after he had passed, we plainly
saw the jackall, and heard him cry when very
near us. No deer came there to feed during the
night.

About a week after sitting in this michaun,
Mr. William Towers Smith, of the Bengal civil

80 TIGERS.

service, and myself, were going seven or eight
miles from Ckittrah, to spend a few days in a
tent, to shoot and course. My tent was sent off
on four bullocks conducted by a bullock-man, the
same Classic, and two servants of Mr. Smith's.
We remained behind, took our breakfast, and then
followed. Between ten and eleven o'clock, when
we were within sight of the party, we heard a
horrible roar, followed by a shocking scream ; we
then quickened our pace and joined our servants
just as a tiger ran over a small hill formed of
large rocks interspersed with underwood, with my
poor Classic in his mouth.

The bullocks had all thrown off their loads, and
were running away in different directions ; the men
were so panic-struck, that it was several minutes
before they could articulate. When they had
recovered a little, they informed us that they
were all within a few yards of each other, and
that, as the Classic was driving the hindmost
bullock through a hollow place between two
banks, the tiger sprung from behind a bush on
him and knocked him down; but, from the
situation of the ground, he passed over him a few
yards, after giving the blow. He then returned,
took him up in his mouth by the thigh, and ran

TIGERS. 81

off with him at full speed, with his head dangling
on the ground. The Classic and all the men
were armed with spears and swords, but the attack
was so sudden and unexpected, that no resistance
was thought of; in fact, they were all so much
frightened, that they were incapable of giving the
poor man the least assistance. We galloped off to
the nearest village as fast as possible, assembled
as many people as we could collect, with drums
and other noisy instruments, and, with our
guns loaded, on horseback, followed the track
of the tiger, by the blood of his victim and the
locks of hair which caught the thorns as he was
dragged along, for more than a mile. I then saw
something under a large banyan tree that was
surrounded by bushes ; it had not the appearance
of the tiger, though I expected he was there ; and
with more madness than prudence, I galloped
through the bushes with my gun presented to the
object; fortunately for me, it was only the remains
of the poor man. The tiger, I suppose, hearing
the noise we made as we approached, and having
glutted his appetite, had skulked away into the
deep ravines that were near.

He had devoured the whole of the poor man's
entrails, and the flesh of one leg and thigh. The

G

82 TIGERS,

horror I felt can be better imagined than described.
All my servants and the natives who knew the
circumstances, firmly believed that the owl was an
omen of the poor Glassies death. All the par-
ticular circumstances of the foregoing event, were
so forcibly imprinted on my mind at the time, that
although it took place upwards of twenty-eight
years since, it appears but as yesterday.

It is remarkable that during the first three years
I resided at Chittrah, although I was shooting on
foot almost every day, through the thickest cover,
sometimes in company with Mr. Smith, and often
alone, I never saw a tiger ; and then, within the
space of a month, I met with five or six, in places
where I had been constantly in the habit of
shooting.

I have often heard it said that the P he all,*

* Pheall 1 believe was the original, and is now the pro-
per name, but they are better known in Ramghur by the
name of Phinkarr, which in my opinion is more appropriate,
as it explains what it is. Phinkarr signifying crier, pro-
claimer, or warning giver. The former word I imagine was
first used from its resembling the cry they make, and I
believe many names of animals owe their original to the
sound they bear to the calls of such animals, — for example, —

TIGERS 83

or provider as it is commonly called, always goes
before the tiger : in the instance I have related,
he followed the tiger, which I have also seen him
do at other times. Whether he is induced to
follow the tiger for the sake of coming in for
part of the booty, or whether it is from instinct, as
small birds follow a bird of prey, I cannot say.
Evidently his ciy is different from what it is at
other times, which indicates danger being near,
particularly, as, whenever that cry is heard, the
voice of no other jackal 1 is, though at every other
time of the night, they are calling in all directions :
nor is that particular call ever heard in any part
of the country where there are no large animals
of prey.

Dogs are not of much use for shooting in the
Ramghur district; they more frequently drive
the game from, than towards you. The method
I generally followed was nearly the same as I
have before described for driving animals into nets.
I took with me from ten to a hundred people,

Cowah, a crow, — Chieel, a kite, — Hooloo, an owl, — Bahaare,
a sheep, &c. &c.

This strongly impresses the mind with the probability of
its being a primitive language.

o2

84 TIGERS.

according to the size and thickness of the covers
I intended to beat; always stationing myself at
some open place, and the people beating the
cover in the direction towards me; by which
arrangement most of the animals and birds came
near to me, and I was enabled to kill large quan-
tities of game ; but it was attended with consider-
able danger, as the following circumstances will
evince.

A young gentleman, named Barret, one day
accompanied me ; and as we were beating a small
cover for hares, not above half a mile from my
house, a hare passed me, and ran into an adjoining
cover, which was not extensive. In hastening
through it, in order to reach the opposite side and
shoot at the hare as it came out, I stepped into a
bush, where a tiger was lying asleep ; it awoke
him ; he looked at me, grinning horribly, but
did not move ; my situation at the moment cannot
be depicted. Had he sprung at me, I could not
have made any resistance: as soon as I had re-
covered a little from the fright, I retreated, walk-
ing backward, my gun presented to him; in a
few seconds he arose, but apparently with consider-
able reluctance ; when he was on his feet he be-
gan stretching himself, and then I saw Mr. Barret,

TIGERS. 85

who was about fifteen yards from me, in the act
of firing at him with shot. I called loudly, that
if he fired at the tiger, one of us would certainly
be killed : on which he immediately dropped his
gun.

He had not seen the animal distinctly, and had
no idea that it was a tiger, until he heard what I
said; I joined him, and immediately put balls
over each load of shot. The tiger moved off in
an oblique direction from us, at a slow pace, and
passed close by a servant of Mr. Barret's, who
actually fell down from fright. A few yards
further on, he met with our servants leading our
horses, which he also passed without molesting.
As soon as I thought he was clear of all our people,
in order to prevent his lurking about near us, I
fired my gun in the air, at the sound of which
he gave a most tremendous roar, which he
repeated several times as he went down the valley.
About thirty yards from the spot where he was
reposing, we found the carcass of a small bullock,
nearly half devoured : and to the circumstance of
the tiger's being glutted with his prey, and being
in consequence in an inactive lethargic state, I
entirely attribute my preservation.

An occurrence nearly similar happened to me

86 TIGERS.

soon after, which put an end to my shooting on
foot. From that time to the period of my leaving
Chittrah, which was many years after, I always
went out to shoot on an elephant. The circum-
stance I allude to was as follows : — Fifty or sixty
people were beating a thick cover, as before de-
scribed ; I was on the outside of it, with a man
holding my horse, and another servant with a
hog's spear; when those who were driving the
cover called suer ! suer ! which is the Hindoos-
tanee name for hog : seeing something move the
bushes about twenty yards from me, and supposing
it to be a hog, I fired at the spot, with ten or a
dozen small balls ; instantly on the explosion of
my gun, a tiger roared out, and came galloping
straight towards us. I dipped under the horse's
belly and got on the opposite side from him ; he
came within a few yards of us, and then turned off
growling into the cover.

When the people came out, they brought with
them a dead hog partly devoured. These two
cases, I think, shew clearly that tigers are natu-
rally cowardly. They generally take their prey
by surprise, and whenever they attack openly, it is
reasonable to conclude that they must be extreme-
ly hungry, which I believe is often the case, as
their killing animals of the forest must be very

TIGERS. 87

precarious. It is the general opinion of the inha-
bitants, that when a tiger has tasted human blood,
he prefers it to all other food. A year or two some-
times elapses, without any one being killed by a
tiger for several miles round ; although they are
often seen within that space, and are known to
destroy cattle ; but as soon as one man is killed,
others shortly after share the same fate ; this, I
imagine, is the reason why the natives entertain an
idea that they prefer men to all other food. I ac-
count for it otherwise. Tigers are naturally afraid
of men, and, in the first instance, seldom attack
them, unless compelled by extreme hunger.
When once they have ventured an attack, they
find them much easier prey than most animals of
the forest, and always to be met with near villages,
and on public roads, without the trouble of hunt-
ing about for them through the covers.

A tigress, with two cubs, lurked about the Kut-
kumsandy pass, and during two months, killed a
man almost every day, and on some days two.
Ten or twelve of the people belonging to govern-
ment, (carriers of the post bags), were of the num-
ber. In fact, the communication between the
Presidency and the upper provinces, was almost
entirely cut off. The government, therefore, was

88 TIGERS.

induced to offer a large reward to any person who
killed the tigress,

Michauns were erected in different places; still
she continued her depredations. A gentleman
was travelling post up the New Road at this time,
carried by eight bearers, accompanied by two
link-men, and two others carrying baskets con-
taining cloaths and provisions : early in the morn-
ing, when they came to the ghaut, the tigress
was seen by the bearers, and they informed the
gentleman of it, who doubting what they said,
urged them to go on ; at which, they put the pa-
lanquin down, and ran away, leaving him to shift
for himself; he was therefore obliged to return on
foot to Hazaree Baug, a military station about
eight miles in his rear, at a time when it was ex-
tremely hot. On another occasion, a Jemidar (a
native lieutenant), with about forty soldiers, were
marching to Chittrah from Hazaree Bang, for
treasure to pay the battalion : when they arrived
at the middle of the ghaut, the tigress before
mentioned was lying in the road. The Jemidar
having received no orders to fire on such an
occasion, marched back to the cantonments, for
orders what he should do. The commanding
officer could not help smiling at the circumstance,

TIGERS. 89

ordered him with the soldiers to return immediate-
ly, and if they found her still lying in the road, to
fire a volley at her, and charge with bayonets,
and destroy her if possible.

On their return, the tigress had shifted her
quarters, and was not to be seen. A few days
after this, the Rajah had a Hunquah to kill or
drive the tigress away ; she was seen by some
of the people, and fired at, and was never heard
of after; from which it may be presumed she
was wounded. It is fortunate for the inhabitants
of that country, that tigers seldom survive any
wound ; their blood being always in a state pre-
disposing to putrefaction, a consequence of the
extreme heat, and their living entirely on animal
food.

A grass, called by the natives Churaunt,
grows plentifully throughout the jungles. The
seeds of it are ripe about April. They have a
serrated beard with a sharp point, barbed, and
adhere to almost every thing they touch. This
grass annoys the tigers exceedingly during all
the hot months ; it grows about the height of a
tiger's belly, where they tease him much by ad-
hering to his hinder parts in clusters. This is

90 TIGERS.

given as a reason for their being more troublesome
during the hot months, than at any other season,
the grass obliging them to quit the heavy covers,
and the pursuit of animals of the forest, for the
easier prey of men and cattle.

Major General Sir Dyson Marshal, command-
ing a Battalion at Hazaree Bang, received in-
formation that a tiger was lying in an open field
of barley not far from the cantonments.

The general, accompanied by the surgeon of
the Battalion, Mr. Law, mounted his elephant, and
went in pursuit of the animal ; the barley was
thin, so that they could see the tiger as he lay at
a considerable distance from them. When they
approached within a hundred yards of him, he
rose up and ran furiously towards them, roaring ;
and just as he was crouching to make a spring on
the elephant, they both fired at the same instant.
Both their balls took effect; one in the breast,
and the other in the head. The tiger must have
been off the ground when the balls struck him, as
he fell close to the elephant's feet, which alarmed
the elephant so much, that he set off at full speed,
and with all the driver could do, it was not in his
power to stop him until he reached home. This

TIGERS. 91

was the only instance I ever knew or heard of a
tiger's attacking an elephant unprovoked ; and on
examining the body of the tiger, the cause was
discovered. Not long before this, he must have
struck at a porcupine, as several of the quills were
still remaining between the joints of * one of his
fore feet, which was swollen greatly, and must
have given him excruciating pain. This, I sup-
pose, made him quit the covers for the open
country, and accounts for his being so furious.

Of the few people that I have known survive
after having been wounded by tigers, the two fol-
lowing were the most extraordinary cases : —

Two Biparies * were driving a string of loaded
bullocks to Chittrah from Palamow ; when with-
in a few miles of the former place, a tiger seized
on a man in the rear, which was seen by a
Guallah (herdsman) as he was watching his
buffaloes grazing. He boldly ran to the man's
assistance, and cut the tiger severely with his
sword ; upon which, he dropped the Biparie and
seized the herdsman : the buffaloes observing it,

* Bipur signifies merchandise, and Biparies are people
who buy grain and other articles, which they transport from
one part of the country to another on bullocks.

92 TIGERS.

attacked the tiger, and rescued the poor man ;
they tossed him about from one to the other, and,
to the best of my recollection, killed him ; but of
that I am not quite positive. Both of the wounded
men were brought to me ; the Biparie recovered,
but the herdsman died.

A elderly man and his wife, (of the lowest cast
of Hindoos, called dooms, who live chiefly by
making mats and baskets,) were each carrying
home a bundle of wood ; and as they were resting
their burdens on the ground, the old man hearing
a strange noise, looked about and saw a tiger run-
ning off with his wife in his mouth. He ran after
them, and struck the tiger in his back with a small
axe : the tiger dropped the wife, who was soon
after brought to me. One of her breasts was al-
most entirely taken away, and the other much la-
cerated : she had also several deep wounds in the
back of her neck ; by which I imagine the tiger
struck at her with his two fore paws ; one on the
neck, and the other on the breast : this, if I may
judge from the number I have seen wounded, is
their usual way of attacking men. The old wo-
man was six months under my care, and at last
recovered.

As an old Mahometan priest was travelling at

TIGERS. 93

mid-day on horseback, within a few miles of Chit-
Irak, with his son, an athletic young man, walking
by his side, they heard a tiger roaring near them.
The son urged his father to hasten on ; the old
man continued at a slow pace, observing, that
there was no danger, — the tiger would not molest
them. He then began counting his beads, and
offering his prayers to the Almighty ; in the act
of which he was knocked off his horse, and car-
ried away by the tiger ; the son ran after them,
and cut the tiger with his sword ; he dropped the
father, seized the son, and carried him off. The
father was brought to Chittrah, and died the same
day ; the son was never heard of afterwards. In
this instance I think the tiger must have been ra-
venously hungry, or he would not have roared
when near his prey ; it is what they seldom or
ever do, except in the veiy act of seizing.

Whenever a tiger has carried off a man near
a public road or path-way, a stick is erected with
a piece of coloured cloth at the top of it, as a
warning to travellers ; and every person passing
that way throws a stone near it, by which, in a
short time, a large heap is accumulated. Such
heaps are to be met with throughout the Ram-
ghur district, and in great abundance in the

94 TIGERS.

ghauts, and at other dangerous places near their
accustomed haunts.

At the time when the tigers infest any particu-
lar road or pass, a Buoyeah* erects a temporary
hut near, and remains in it every day, from morn-
ing until sun set. The travellers assemble at this
hut, until ten or a dozen are collected together.
The Buoyeah then kills a fowl, over which he
says a prayer, offering it as a sacrifice to the
Deity in behalf of the present company, that they
may not become food for tigers ; for which, each
person gives him something, according to his
circumstances, from the value of a few cowries,
(shells) to a rupee. They then travel on with
perfect confidence, and should any one of them
be killed by a tiger, the Buoyeah says that his
sins were too great for the Almighty to admit of
any intercession for him.

The formation of a tiger's fore leg and foot is
so exquisitely contrived for the purpose it is in-

* Buoyeahs are a low cast of Hindoos, inhabitants of the
hills. Most of them are supposed to become tigers in an-
other world, and to possess the power of charming them in
this.

TIGERS. 95

tended to answer, that I cannot imagine any thing
more worthy the contemplation of an anatomist,
artist, or philosopher. It combines beauty and
elegance of proportion, with immense strength
and intricacy of mechanism, beyond the power of
human contrivance. Each claw has a tendinous
communication with strong muscles, and is kept
in a retractile state, that its sharpness may not be
injured by walking. Whenever a tiger strikes at
any animal, not only the claws enter it, but the
toes often follow ; I have frequently probed
wounds made by them, to the depth of at least
five inches.

It should be observed that the claws and toes
together are rarely, if ever, of that length ; but
the force of the blow compresses the soft parts,
and although they do not penetrate deeper than
three or four inches, yet when the parts com-
pressed resume their natural state, the wounds
appear much deeper. With what force they are
capable of striking may be judged from the fol-
lowing circumstance : — A Battalion of Bengal
Native Infantry was marching up the New Road,
on its return from the Carnatic, and as it was
passing through Chittro ghaut , a tiger made a
spring at one of the loaded camels, and with one

96 TIGERS.

blow, broke the thigh-bone. He would have im-
mediately commenced devouring it, if the rear
guard, and a number of camp followers had not
been at hand. The force required to break such
a large bone must have been very great, and the
tiger extremely hungry to venture an attack at
such a time.

Captain Williamson's remarks (in his book of
Wild Sports, page 52,) on the tiger's fore paw are
so very extraordinary, that I shall here insert them ;
not that I think any sensible person will be induced,
by reading them without comment, to think that the
talons of a tiger are of no use to him in killing his
prey, but there are many who may have eccentric
ideas, as well as Captain W., and others who cre-
dit any thing they read in print, without using
their own judgment, and who would probably
believe all that he has said. " The tiger's fore
" paw is the invariable engine of destruction —
" most persons imagine, that if a tiger were de-
" prived of his claws and teeth, he would be ren-
" dered harmless ; but this is a gross error. The
" weight of the limb is the real cause of the mis-
" chief; for the talons are rarely extended when
" a tiger seizes. — The operation is similar to that
" of a hammer; the tiger raising his paw, and

TIGERS. 97

" bringing it down with such force, as not wily
" to stun a common sized bullock or buffalo, but
" often crushing the bones of the scull! I have
" seen many men and oxen that had been killed
" by tigers, in most of which no mark of a claw
" could be seen ; and where scratches did appear,
" they were obviously the effect of chance, from
" die paw sliding downwards, and not from
" design!"

My opinion is, that, whenever there are
scratches, it is owing to the claws meeting with
resistance from some bone, and not penetrating-
deep ; sometimes it may be in consequence of the
hinder part only of the paw having struck the
animal, the talons having gone beyond it, and,
when the limb was retracted, came in contact
with the animal's body, and scratched it

During a residence of nine years at Chittrah,
I never saw a man or animal killed by a tiger,
that had not the marks of talons ; yet I admit that
the force with which a tiger generally strikes, is
sufficient of itself, without the aid of his claws,
to kill men or large animals, and I believe that it
occasionally takes place in the manner I have de-
scribed, but never from its weight, like the fall of

H

98 TIGERS.

a hammer. That their talons are their destructive
weapons, I think any one will be convinced, who
will give himself the trouble to examine their for-
mation ; or if he will look at the foot of a cat,
which is in appearance a tiger in miniature, he
will observe the same, or nearly the same, won-
derful contrivance and proportions ; and does not
that animal use his claws when he strikes at a rat
or mouse *? It is absurd to suppose that the re-
markably fine muscles in a tiger's fore leg, con-
nected as they are with the talons, were intended
for no purpose.

Once, when I was on a visit to Captain John
Ranken, at Sheherghautty, about twenty-eight
miles from Chittrah, below the ghauts, my return
was suddenly required. It was in the month of
June, when the weather was extremely hot, and
the palanquin carriers at Sheherghautty were all
engaged, so that I was compelled to travel on
horseback. I left Captain Ranken's house about
eleven o'clock at night, accompanied with a Syce
and a link-man — another link-man, — and two
men carrying my clothes and hookah, two
Khedmutghars, and a Hookahburdar, followed
at a short distance. Just before I arrived at the
village of Lucina, near the foot of the ghaut, in

TIGERS. 99

a close part of the road, bordering on a deep
ravine, where the bushes were very thick, I was
suddenly alarmed by a hideous bark or grunt of
an animal close to me, which I could not see, from
liis keeping behind a very thick bush. I instantly
spurred my horse to get on, but he would neither
go forward nor backward, and when urged, began
to rear; the animal still remaining behind the
bush, grunting quicker and quicker, as if on the
point of charging. I had the presence of mind to
direct the link-man to pour more oil on his link,
with hopes that a larger flame would keep him
off; unfortunately, he threw on so much, as en-
tirely to extinguish the flame, and every moment
I expected that he would spring on one of us, from
which I think he was deterred, by hearing the
near approach of our second division.

As soon as I heard them near us, I called out
for them to make a loud shout, in which we all
joined ; which drove the brute off, grunting and
growling horribly. I have since heard tigers
make the same kind of grunt, therefore I now be-
lieve it was a tiger ; though at the time the cir-
cumstance happened, I supposed it to be a bear,
which was the cause of my being less alarmed than
I should otherwise have been. — It was a caution

100 TIGERS.

to me never again to ride on horseback at night
on such a road.

One day, when I was driving a small cover for
game, assisted by the natives with some terriers
and grey-hounds, more with the intention of
coursing than shooting, the dogs came out of it,
running towards me, with their tails between
their legs, as if they had been frightened, and
when urged again to go into the cover, they came
closer to me, and I could not by any means induce
them to quit my heels ; which clearly indicated
that some large animal of prey was there. I,
therefore, ordered all the people to be instantly
called out of the cover, and to be assembled on
the plain. On mustering them, a boy about
twelve years old was missing ; we called loudly to
him for a considerable time, and no answer being
returned, I felt alarmed for his safety ; however,
after waiting at least a quarter of an hour, he
made his appearance, running out of a small
ravine, straight toward us, one of the completest
spectacles of terror that can possibly be imagined.
It was several minutes before he could articulate a
word, and not until he had been relieved by a
copious flood of tears, (nee urinam continere
poterat.) He then informed us, that he had been

VIOLENT HAIL STORM. 101

knocked down, and ran over by a tremendous
large tiger, which he met as he was passing
through the ravine ; the animal had not at all in-
jured him ; but the boy could not describe how
long he had lain on the ground, or which way the
tiger was gone. To prevent his doing us any
mischief, I discharged my gun several times in
the air, and the people made a general shout,
which had the desired effect of driving the tiger
out of the small cover, and we saw him as he
crossed a plain, leading to deep ravines and heavy
jungle.

I imagine that the tiger must have been con-
siderably alarmed by the dogs and people, or the
poor boy would not have escaped so well.

In the month of April, when the weather was
extremely hot, I was travelling between Ramghur
and Belleah. Soon after I had passed the ghaut,
a black cloud appeared in the sky, from which
some hail fell, so large as to compel me to take
shelter under a tree. The shower passed off in a
few minutes, when I pursued my journey, and
had not proceeded above a mile, before I per-
ceived that the hail had fallen very thick, nearly
of the same size, making impressions on the road,
as large as the prints of musket ball, weighing an

102 TIGERS.

ounce each. On my arrival at a village two or
three miles in advance, where my tent was pitched,
I learnt from the inhabitants, that the hail had
fallen there so thick, as to blind many of their
cattle. The vegetables on the ground were all
beaten down, and two hares were brought to me
that had been killed by it. I had no sooner taken
my breakfast, than I heard a great noise of instru-
ments and men, and on enquiring the cause, was
informed that the villagers were gone to drive a
tiger from a deer, that he had just killed near the
village. Soon after, I heard the roaring of the
tiger, which continued for a quarter of an hour,
with very little intermission ; and from the sound
it appeared that he was going towards the ghaut.
The people brought the deer to me as a present ;
it was a large buck, and the tiger had only de-
voured a part of his inside.

A Battalion of Sepoys were exercising on the
parade at Chittrah, the commanding officer, now
Major General Sir Dyson Marshal, with Captain
Kelly? the adjutant, being present, when a large
buck came from the jungle straight towards them,
and took his stand with his tail against a tree,
about sixty yards distant, looking steadfastly at
them. The General ordered some of the soldiers
to advance and fire at him : they approached

TIGERS. 103

very near, and killed him : this they might have
accomplished with their bayonets, for the poor
creature came to them for protection, having re-
cently received several scratches in his side from
a tiger, and his wounds were still bleeding.

Some idea may be formed how numerous the
tigers must have been at one period in Bengal,
from the circumstance that one gentleman is re-
ported to have killed upwards of three hundred
and sixty. I heard Mr. Henry Ramus, at the
time he was Judge of the circuit of Bahar, declare
that he had killed that number, and I was told
that others fell by his hand before his death. He
kept a particular account of every one which he
killed, of which I suppose his friends are now in
possession. Having charge of the Company's
elephants for many years, at a time when the Co-
sumbazar island and Patellee jungle were over-
run with tigers, he enjoyed better opportunities of
killing them than has fallen to the lot of any
other man, even of the German Paul, of whom
Captain Williamson has said so much.

CHAP. VI.

LEOPARDS AND PANTHERS. A CIRCUMSTANCE

SHEWING THEIR WONDERFUL STRENGTH AND

AGILITY. ANOTHER EXHIBITING THE FOLLY OF

ATTACKING SUCH ANIMALS ON FOOT. A SHORT

DESCRIPTION OF CHEETAHS AND SEEHAR-

GHOOSHS* (HUNTING LEOPARDS), AND THEIR

METHOD OF CATCHING DEER. — FOXES AND POR-
CUPINES.

LEOPARDS and panthers are numerous through-
out the jungles ; they are caught and destroyed
much in the same manner as tigers, but more fre-
quently in traps, owing to their being less wary,
and more accustomed to prowl about villages.
They feed chiefly on deer and small animals ;
such as calves, hogs, goats, sheep, and now and
then they are known to kill bullocks. Like tigers,
they are supposed never to eat any animal they

* Seehar, or Seer, signifies head, and Ghoosh theft,
meaning, I suppose, head thief.

LEOPARDS AND PANTHERS. 105

do not kill. I have never heard of their attacking
men, unless first irritated by them. I have fre-
quently seen them in the covers, when they al-
ways appeared alarmed, and fled as fast as pos-
sible. In proportion to their size, they are as
strong as tigers, and more active. In proof of
which, a circumstance occurred whilst I was at
Chittrah, which is almost incredible, but I pledge
myself for the truth of it. Mr. Hunter, the Judge
and Collector, had about a dozen curious and rare
deer confined in a compound, surrounded by a
wall about seven feet high.

During the absence of himself and family, a
a servant, who had charge of his house, informed
Mr. Smith and myself, that a panther or leopard
had leapt over the compound wall, two or three
nights in succession, and had killed and carried
off a deer each night.

On going to the spot, we saw the print of the
leopard's foot in many places within the wall, and
a part of the carcass of a deer that he had carried
off, on the outside. We, therefore, determined
to sit up the next night, and try to shoot him, and
accordingly took our station in a small house that
had a window looking into the compound. About

106 LEOPARDS AND PANTHERS.

midnight, we heard and saw the deer running
about as if they were much frightened ; and at
last we got sight of the leopard on his retreat, at
the moment he leaped on the wall.

Our guns at the time were pointed through the
Venetian blinds of the window, in a direction to
shoot at any thing on the ground, or at the height
of a leopard, and when we saw him on the wall,
we could not elevate them sufficiently, or we
might have killed him. It was a moon-light
night, and he kept in the shade all the time he
was in the compound. He continued his depre-
dations every night, and the last deer that he
carried off, which we saw on the outside partly
devoured, was a very large buck, of the full size
of our forest deer. It surprised us to think how
he could possibly have carried it over the wall ;
and upon examining the place minutely, we at
length discovered the marks of his claws, fresh
and distinct, on the stalk of a mango tree; by
which it appeared that he must have ascended
the tree with the deer in his mouth, and sprung
from it upon the wall; the distance of which,
from any branch of the tree sufficiently strong to
bear such a weight, must have been seven or
eight feet.

LEOPARDS AND PANTHERS. 107

As we could discover no old marks, he must
have carried off the others by a direct leap over the
wall, an effort requiring extraordinary strength
and activity. I have called it a leopard, but I
rather think it was a panther, an animal larger
than a leopard.

On another occasion, a native doctor informed
me that a tiger had just killed a yearling bullock
close to his house, and that he was still in a
rhw* field at the back of the town, and eagerly
solicited me to go and kill him. I went to the
guard-house, and four soldiers immediately vo-
lunteered to accompany me. A number of people
with arms and noisy instruments were already as-
sembled at the place, to drive him out of the
field. We took our station on a bank, between
the field and jungle, and I directed two only of
the soldiers to fire at him when I gave the signal,
and the other two to reserve their fire, lest he
should attack us ; which precaution, together
with my second barrel, I thought sufficient to en-
sure our keeping him off, if we did not kill him.
The people beat through the field twice, without

* Rhur is a kind of vetch, a species of Lupin that grows
on a shrub from four to six feet high.

108 LEOPARDS AND PANTHERS.

seeing him, and were all inclined to give up the
search, concluding that he must have gone off to
the jungle which was near ; but the doctor persist-
ed in asserting that he must still be there ; I there-
fore desired them to beat it a third time, observ-
ing that their numbers being now considerably
increased, they might keep so close to one an-
other, that if he were there he must come out.
Before they had traversed half the field, we ob-
served something creeping by the side of the
rhur, not apparently larger than a jackall, which
we conceived it to be : it at last quitted the
rhur field, and we instantly discovered that it
was a leopard : he would have passed about fif-
teen or twenty yards from us, if we had not in-
terrupted him, by firing at him when at the dis-
tance of fifty yards.

As soon as the report was heard, we saw him
drop, rise again immediately, and run straight to-
wards us : on looking round, I found that all
the soldiers had fired, for they were all four re-
loading their guns : this being the case, I deter-
mined to keep my second fire until he came quite
close to us : however, he changed his course, and
made off towards a hill that was near, formed of
large rocks and loose stones : when he had fairly

LEOPARDS AND PANTHERS. 109

turned his back, I discharged my other barrel at
him, mounted my horse as quickly as possible,
and rode round to the opposite side of the hill, to
see if he passed over it, and into the jungle : not
seeing him, I was certain that he had stopped in
the hill. By this time, there were at least five
hundred persons present, who went over the hill,
which did not cover more than an acre of ground,
without seeing the leopard : I insisted that he
was there, and they ascended it a second time :
at last, we heard a man cry out, as if wounded,
which was presently followed by a general shout :
we soon found that the leopard was killed.

One man came on him suddenly, where he lay
between two rocks, upon which the leopard
sprung at him, and seized him with his mouth by
the thigh : another man, close by, seeing it, cut
at him with his sword, and made him quit his
hold : he then instantly seized the man who cut
him by the neck, but a number quickly coming to
his assistance, disengaged him, and literally cut
the leopard to pieces. On examining the body,
two balls had entered ; one near the heart, the
other near the hip.

I have inserted this account, as a warning to

110 LEOPARDS AND PANTHERS.

others, shewing how imprudent it is ever to at-
tack such animals on foot. The men were se-
verely wounded, but recovered.

There are two kinds of animals, whether of the
panther or of the leopard species I cannot say,
that are kept by the opulent natives, trained to
kill deer, and known by the name of cheetah and
seeharghoosh. I saw two of the former, when
they were led out with leathers over their eyes by
a servant belonging to the Rajah of Furrucka-
bad. They were beautiful animals, in form very
like grey-hounds, and just of their general size,
with small black spots over their bodies. Two of
the latter kind I also saw that once belonged to
Tippoo : they were sent to England in the Earl
Howe, Indiaman, as a present to his late Majesty.
They were rather of a brownish colour, and nearly
of the same make and size as the cheetahs, and
are now, I believe, in the Tower. I saw them on
board the ship when they were very dirty, but
could not discern any spots on them, which per-
haps might have appeared when their skins were
clean.

It is distressing to see them catch the deer :
they are led out in chains, with blinds over their

LEOPARDS AND PANTHERS. Ill

eyes, and sometimes they are carried out in carts,
and whenever antelopes or other deer are seen on
a plain, should any one of them be separated
from the rest, the cheetah's head is brought to
face it, the blinds removed, and the chain taken
off.

He immediately crouches, and creeps along
with his belly almost touching the ground, until he
gets within a short distance of the deer, who, al-
though seeing him approach, appears fascinated,
and seldom attempts to run away. The cheetah
then makes a few surprising springs, and seizes
him by the neck. If many deer are near each
other, they often escape by flight ; their number,
I imagine, giving them confidence, and preventing
the full force of that fascination which to a single
deer produces a sort of panic, and appears to di-
vest him of the power, or even inclination, to run
away, or make any resistance. It is clear that
they must always catch them by stealth, or in the
manner I have described, for they are not so swift
even as common deer. Antelopes are the swiftest
of all deer.

The keeper carries with him some carrion, com-
monly bullocks liver, which he gives the cheetahs

112 FOXES AND PORCUPINES.

when they have caught a deer, to induce them to
surrender it. They are then allowed to satisfy
their hunger, and are again blinded and chained.
I believe they seldom if ever kill more than one
deer with each cheetah or seeharghoosh on the
same day. Two are often loosened after the same
deer, but more frequently after two, or a herd.

Foxes are numerous in all parts of India. They
are about half the size of the English fox, of a
greyish colour, with large black brushes to their
tails, which are most times tipped with white.
They are beautiful animals, and live chiefly on
rats and mice, and other small animals, and afford
excellent amusement to sportsmen, by being
coursed with grey-hounds. They, having the
power of turning remarkably quick, often baffle
the dogs, and escape to their earths, of which
there are generally three or four beds within a
couple of miles ; and for this reason they afford
no sport in being hunted with hounds. Jackalls
are the game which English gentlemen generally
hunt with hounds in India.

Porcupines are common in most parts of India,
and live chiefly in earths, often under old mud
forts, or other ruins, and feed on bulbous roots

FOXES AND PORCUPINES. 1 13

and herbs. I do not think they ever afford any
amusement to sportsmen; but they are some-
times dug or smoked out of their earths ; in doing
which, there is some danger of being wounded by
their quills when they rush out. But the general
idea of their having the power of throwing their
quills, is erroneous. They can only erect them
as a defence, and sometimes in the act of doing
this quickly, they fall out, but not with sufficient
force to cause any serious injury.

CHAP. VII.
MONKEYS.

THERE are two species common throughout
Hindoostan. One of them is of a large kind, with
a black face and a brown body : the other is a
small brown monkey, such as we often see in this
country with dancing bears, &c. I believe there
are many other species in the Tibet mountains
and other large forests, but I have never seen any
of them in a wild state. Although all the monkeys
in India are in a perfectly wild state, they are not
much afraid of men, and I attribute it to their
never being molested by the natives. They often
follow boats on the banks of the Ganges and other
rivers, with expectation of having bread or fruit
thrown on shore to them, which is often done ;
but if a gun be presented to them, they instantly
decamp.

Rama, one of the Hindoo gods, according to
their mythology, conquered India and other coun-
tries— delivering many nations from tyrants, with
an army of satyrs ; their General was named

MONKEYS. 115

Hunamat, (described by Sir William Jones to be
the Grecian Pan), and the large monkeys with
black faces are now called Hunamans, and are
much venerated by the Hindoos ; every other
kind of monkey is held by them in veneration,
but in a less degree.

At Bindrabun, (which name, I imagine, was
originally Baunder-bund, literally signifying a
jungle of monkeys,) a town only a few miles distant
from the holy city of Muttra, more than a hun-
dred gardens are well cultivated with all kinds of
fruit, solely for the support of these animals ; which
are kept up and maintained by religious endow-
ments from rich natives. There are thousands of
monkeys in and about that place, and it is rather
strange that I should never have seen among them
any of the Hunaman tribe ; they were all small
brown monkeys, such as accompany jugglers, and
which, I believe, are the most sagacious of any.
When I was passing through a street in Bin-
drabun, an old monkey came down to the lower
branches of a tree we were going under, and
pulled off my Harcarrah's turban, as he was run-
ning in front of the palanquin, decamped with it
over some houses, where it was impossible to fol-
low him, and was not again seen.

i2

116 MONKEYS.

I once resided a month in that town, occupying
a large house on the banks of the river, belonging
to a rich native ; it had no doors, and the monkeys
frequently came into the room where we were sit-
ting, carrying off bread and other things from the
breakfast table. If we were sleeping, or sitting in
a corner of the room, they would ransack every other
part. I often feigned sleep, to observe their ma-
noeuvres, and the caution with which they proceed-
ed to examine every thing. I was much amused to
see their sagacity and alertness. They would often
spring twelve or fifteen feet from the house to
another, with one, sometimes two young ones
under their bellies, carrying with them also a loaf
of bread, some sugar, or other article ; and to have
seen the care they always took of their young,
would have been a good lesson to many mothers.

Whilst I was stationed at Muttra, two young
officers on a sporting excursion at Bindrabun,
imprudently fired at a monkey, which enraged the
inhabitants, Fakeers, and other Hindoos of the
place, to such a degree, as to cause them to assem-
ble in a large body ; they pelted the gentlemen, and
the elephant on which they rode, with bricks and
other missiles, and drove him into the river, where
they were both drowned with the driver ; the ele-

MONKEYS. 117

phant was saved, and landed about six miles down
the river without the howdah, or any of the tack-
ling. It being well known that all Hindoos have a
religious veneration for these animals, European
ought never to injure them — humanity also dic-
tates it, as the following circumstance, which hap-
pened to myself, fully shews.

I was one of a party at Teekarry, in the Bahar
district ; our tents were pitched in a large mango
garden, and our horses were piquetted in the same
garden, at a little distance off. When we were
at dinner, a Syce came to us, complaining that
some of the horses had broken loose, in conse-
quence of being frightened by monkeys on the
trees, and that, with their chattering and breaking
off the dry branches in leaping about, the rest'
would also get loose if they were not driven away.
As soon as dinner was over, I went out with my
gun to drive them off, and I fired with small shot
at one of them, which instantly ran down to the
lowest branch of the tree, as if he were going to
fly at me, stopped suddenly, and coolly put its paw
to the part wounded, covered with blood, and held
it out for me to see ; I was so much hurt at the
time, that it has left an impression never to be
effaced, and I have never since fired a gun at any

118 MONKEYS.

of the tribe. Almost immediately on my return
to the party, before I had fully described what
had passed, a Syce came to inform us, that the
monkey was dead ; we ordered the Syce to bring
it to us ; but by the time he returned, the other
monkeys had carried the dead one off, and none
of them could any where be seen.

I recollect reading an account of a very similar
circumstance in Captain Seeley's description of
Elora, and I think as it has occurred at different
times, it indicates more than sagacity.

I have been informed, by a gentleman of great
respectability, on whose veracity I can rely (as
he is not the least given to relating wonderful
stories), that in the district of Cooch-Bakar, a
very large track of land is actually considered by
the inhabitants to belong to a tribe of monkeys in-
habiting the hills near it, and when the natives cut
their different kinds of grain, they always leave
about a tenth part piled in heaps for the monkeys ;
and as soon as their portion is marked out, they
come down from the hills in a large body, and
carry all that is allotted for them to the hills, stow-
ing it under and between rocks in such a manner,
as to prevent vermin from destroying it. On this

MONKEYS. 119

grain they chiefly live ; and the natives assert, that
if they were not to have their due proportion, in
another year they would not allow a single grain
to become ripe, but would destroy it when green.
— In this account, perhaps, superstition has its
full influence.

In Bundbissunpore and Roganautpore, the
Hunamans abound. They destroy a great part
of the vegetables belonging to the natives, parti-
cularly pumpions, cucumbers, and melons. When
out shooting, I have been frequently requested by
villagers to drive them away, they being actually
afraid to do it themselves, from religious or
superstitious reasons.

CHAP. VIII.

PEOPLE BREAKING UP A MARKET AND DESERTING
A VILLAGE, IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE ARRIVAL
OF MY ELEPHANT WITH A TENT. JOY EXPE-
RIENCED BY A NATIVE ON RECEIVING A COM-
MON KNIFE AS A PRESENT. THEIR EXTRAOR-
DINARY METHOD OF ASSEMBLING AND SPORT-
ING. AN ACCOUNT OF THE PRINCIPAL INHA-
BITANTS OF THE HILLS. OF IRON MANU-
FACTURERS, AND THEIR SIMPLE METHOD

OF MAKING THE IRON. OTHER SPECIMENS

OF THE SIMPLICITY OF THE PEOPLE, SHEWING
HOW THEY RESEMBLE THOSE MENTIONED IN

OUR SACRED HISTORY. THEIR METHOD OF

BREAKING IN BULLOCKS FOR PLOUGHING. AN

ANECDOTE THAT OCCURRED ON A HOG HUNTING
EXCURSION.

HAVING an Iron concern at Pitturea, in small
Nagpore, I had occasion to go there. My ele-
phant, laden with a tent, arrived at the place a
short time before me ; it happened to be on a

EXCURSION TO PITTURKA. 121

market clay, and I was informed that three or
four thousand people were assembled, when my
elephant appeared ; at the sight of it, they all
decamped, so that at the time of my arrival,
there was not the least appearance of a market ;
the head man of the place came to me and
begged that I would not be alarmed at the circum-
stance, observing, that they had run away from
the supposition that a battalion of soldiers were
approaching, and that he could not persuade them
to the contrary ; that he was obliged to send off
an express to the Rajah at Palcote, about sixty
miles distant, to explain the particulars, or the
market people would give him false information,
and drive him from his residence into the thickest
jungles; for such was his dread of the English
Lascar (troops) that he had made a vow to his
father never to see an Englishman ! — the cause of
it was well known to the inhabitants, and com-
monly talked of ; but as it is not my intention to
enter into any political disquisition, I shall only
observe that our jurisdiction did not then extend
to this country, which was considered only tri-
butary to the English.

I requested the head man to procure me a few
people the next morning to beat the covers, as I

122 EXCURSION TO PITTUREA.

intended to amuse myself with shooting. In the
evening I heard the nagarrah (great drum)
beating on a high tree ; and I was surprised to
see five or six hundred people assembled around
my tent, armed with bows and arrows, spears
and swords ; two of them only having match-
lock guns. They all accompanied me to the
sport, but I had not the least controul over them ;
in fact, they were too anxious to kill the game
themselves to listen to my directions, taking it
for granted that all I wanted was to have game
killed ; and indeed had they attended to what I
said, I do not think they would have understood
my language, as I could not understand theirs.
Although I saw several deer, I could not fire
at any, through fear of wounding the people.
They killed with their arrows several small ani-
mals, a peacock, and an owl of large size and
most beautiful plumage.

To one of the young men who was extremely
active, I gave an English sixpenny clasp knife,
and when I shewed him how to open it, he was
so delighted that he fell on the ground salaming
(the most submissive obeisance), and I could riot
prevent his accompanying me two days march on
my. return.

INHABITANTS OF THE HILLS. 123

The inhabitants of the hills near Monghier
and Bauglepore, called Pahariahs, are of short
stature, with large flat noses, and their hair is
like wool ; altogether they resemble the Africans
on the coast of Guinea. In small Nagpore the
people are much of the same stature, with the
same kind of hair, and are called Coles and
Daungers* In the intermediate part of the
same range of hills forming the district of Ram-
ghur, the inhabitants appear to be a mixture
between the before mentioned people, and the
inhabitants of the lower part of Bengal ; their

* Daungers, in a body of fifty to a hundred, leave their
own country in search of work, and go to Gyah, Patna, or
Benares, or wherever there are large works going on, as
cutting water courses, digging tanks, &c. &c. ; and as soon
as they have saved a few rupees, they always return to their
native hills, where they live on it a year or two ; rice,
their chief article of food, being there very cheap. A
Daunger may be hired at Chittrah to go to Calcutta, which
is upwards of three hundred miles, and return with a
heavy load, carried on a bargy, for three rupees, eight
annas, which is eight shillings and nine pence. — Their
usual load is 18 bottles of wine ; I have often known
them to carry two dozen. — Most of the wine drank at
Chittrah whilst I was there, was conveyed thither in this
way.

124 INHABITANTS OP THE HILLS.

hair being long, and their noses not remarkably
flat or sharp. The greater part of them are
known by the appellation of Buoyeahs and Bouc-
tas-) who, according to their tradition, were the ab-
origines of that country ; but, from appearances,
I should judge that they descended from an
intercourse between the hill people with woolly
hair and flat noses, (who, I imagine, were the
aborigines of that country) and the Bengalees.

These are Hindoos, and probably their casts go
by other names in the Shaster or Barren Sunker.
They have a great veneration for Brahmins, but
eat of almost every kind of animal food, and few
of them object to drink spirituous liquors. They
have always been accustomed to decide their
disputes by punchite, which is an assemblage of
a number of their own cast, to whom all injuries
as well as quarrels are referred for decision. They
have a thorough belief in witchcraft. A very
curious circumstance happened while I was at
CMttrah, during Earl Comwallis's Government.

A man accused a woman of witchcraft, on
which a punchite* assembled, and condemned

* This word I think should be spelled paunchite, and is

INHABITANTS OF THE HILLS. 125

her. She was stoned to death, and her father
or brother (I do not recollect which,) threw the
first stone. Several people, among whom were
some of her near relatives, were apprehended by
the magistrate, tried for the murder, and con-
demned by the circuit judges, who forwarded a
representation of the whole affair to the Governor
General, by whom a special deputation was sent
to inquire into the particulars of the prevailing
custom. The consequence was, the criminals
were forgiven, but a proclamation was issued,
forbidding the practice in future, on penalty of
death.

Whenever a woman had been found by her
cast, guilty of witchcraft, it had been the custom,
from time immemorial, to suspend around her
neck, two earthen pots, half filled with sand or
stones, and then to throw her into the water. If
she sunk, they considered her innocent, and
endeavoured to save her, but if she floated, they
stoned her to death.*

derived from the word paunch, signifying five, which I
imagine were the original number of persons; and our
beverage punch, I suspect, has the same origin, from its
consisting of five ingredients.

* Exodus, Chap. xxii. v. 18, " Thou shall not suffer a
" witch to live."

126 INHABITANTS OF THE HILLS.

Throughout the jungles, every here and there,
may be seen a collection of large stones, from
twenty to a hundred, raised six or eight feet
above the ground, and from eighteen inches to
two feet diameter; some standing perpendicu-
larly, others obliquely, and some lying flat on
the ground between them.

There was a collection of these stones near my
house, arid in taking out some of them for steps
to my front door, we found under one of them
an earthern pot, the mouth of which was well
closed with a resinous cement ; I expected that it
contained treasure, but, to my great mortification,
it proved to be a woman's brass ornaments, weigh-
ing at least three or four pounds ; under it some
human bones were dug up, which induced me to
conclude the spot to have been a place of burial?
and, I imagine, the stones were intended as a

Formerly it was a common practice in England to nail
a horse-shoe to the threshold of the door, to prevent witches
from entering Even to this day it is sometimes used by the
illiterate in many parts of this country. In India the same
idea prevails, and horse-shoes may be often seen nailed to
their thresholds. This, with many other old customs, being*
alike in both countries, indicate that there must have been a
communication, formerly with the inhabitants of this island,
and the Hindoos.

AUGUREEAS. 127

defence of the dead bodies against animals of
prey.

Such a method of burying the dead was un-
known to any of the people of whom I made en-
quiry, nor had they any tradition by which they
could account for such collections of stones, which,
however, were supposed to be marks where
there had been villages, inhabited by Bouctas.

There are other casts of Hindoos who inhabit
the district of Ramghur, and gain their liveli-
hood by manufacturing iron, with which the
whole countiy is more or less impregnated, and
it is the chief article of exportation.

The first class of these people I shall describe
are known by tne name of Augureeas, and are
of the very lowest description of human beings.
In the hot months they are all naked, with the
exception of a small piece of leather or rag hang-
ing from their middle ; but in the cold and rainy
season, most of them have the skin of some
animal thrown over their bodies. Their huts are
loosely made with green branches of trees, thinly
covered with grass, not sufficient to shelter them
from any inclemency of weather.

128 MANUFACTURING IRON.

The only cattle they keep, are a few goats, and
they do not cultivate the land. Their method of
manufacturing iron is the most simple that can
possibly be imagined. Having cut down wood
and burnt it into charcoal, they collect at the
bottom of the hills the stones which, as being
good judges, they know are much 'impregnated
with iron ore, and after every heavy fall of rain
are found in such abundance on the surface, that
I believe they seldom if ever dig for any. These
stones with the charcoal, they carry on , bangys*
to the spot where they have erected their chim-
neys, for smelting. The chimneys are formed of
clay, on a ground work of stones, about four feet
and a half high, and eighteen inches diameter,
with the funnel about nine inches wide ; two open-
ings are made in each chimney ; one at the bot-
tom through which the lava or dross runs off, the
other a little above, through which, by removing
a stone or two, the iron is taken out.

On a level with the top of the chimney, a stage
is erected, covered with leaves or mats, on which

* Bangy is a split bamboo, or other elastic piece of wood,
carried across the shoulder, to which two strings or nets
are fastened, and to them 'the burdens are fixed.

MANUFACTURING IRON. 129

are deposited the stones containing the ore,
pounded as small as nutmegs, and the charcoal js
also broken small. For bellows they use two
circular wooden or ear them bowls, with flat bot-
toms, about fourteen inches diameter; into each
of which a hollow bamboo, of about two feet and
a half long, is fixed, the other ends of them being
inserted into the chimney : the bowls are covered
with the skins of animals, and in the middle of
each, a small slit is made ; the skins are kept
always wet, and it is the business of the females to
stand on them, and by their resting on each leg
alternately, the bowls act as two pair of bellows,
or rather as a blacksmith's forge bellows, keeping
up a constant stream of air on the fire.

They hold a small wooden shovel in their hands,
with which they supply the chimney with ore
and charcoal, and at the same time are often
loaded with a child or two at their backs. When
the lower part is choked by being full of iron,
they take it out in a lump, weighing from sixty
to seventy pounds. It is also a part of the fe-
males' duty to break the stones and charcoal.
When good stones for their purpose, or wood fit
for making charcoal, become scarce near their
huts, they remove to some other spot, seldom

K

130 MANUFACTURING IRON.

remaining at one place more than a month or
two. Sometimes whole families of them are
destroyed by tigers. — The lumps of iron which
they make, contain a considerable quantity of
dross ; they therefore sell or barter it to a class
of people denominated Loharias, whom they
also supply with charcoal, and whose business
is solely confined to purifying and manufactur-
ing the iron into pegs about thirteen inches
long, weighing seven or eight pounds, which
they sell or barter again to Biparies, who bring
tobacco, coarse cloths, cow-tails, and a variety
of articles from the low countries, to exchange
for it.

The cow-tails are very krge and bushy, fall
of fine silken hairs, and come from a particular
breed of bullocks in Asam, of a white colour. *
By opulent natives and many Europeans, they
are put into silver handles, for the purpose of
keeping off flies, f They are also used as orna-
ments to their shields, bows, and to a variety of

* This animal is common in Tartary, and is there called
Yak : it is also common in Tibet , As am, and Bootan, and
is called in Hindoostan Soorah Gan.

• Which are called Chowries.

MANUFACTURING IRON. 131

things. The principal marts for them are Be-
nares and Patna, and they are sold by weight.
From these places, they are sent to all parts of
India; a great number to Ramghur, to exchange
for iron and other merchandise; from thence,
most of them are again transported into the
Mahratta country, where they are much valued.
The iron is sold at the places where it is thus
made, at the rate of about a penny per pound.
The principal place to which it is earned, is the
city of Patna : it is conveyed there by Biparies,
on the backs of bullocks, each bullock carrying
about three hundred pounds weight, — a distance
from where it is manufactured of a hundred and
sixty, to a hundred and eighty miles. From
thence it is transported to most parts of India
by water.

The head residence of the Loharias is called
Belle ah, and is about forty miles from Chittrah,
in the direct road to Ramghur. At that place the
Sardar, or chief of the Loharias, always resides,
who regulates the price of iron throughout the
country, and decides all disputes relating to the
manufactory, between the Augureeas, Lohars,
and Loharias ; and, on extraordinary occasions,
assembles a punchite, of which he is always the
K 2

132 MANUFACTURING IRON.

president. It therefore seldom happens that any
disputes amongst these people are carried to
the Judge of the district for his decision.*

There is also another class of people residing
in the hills, who manufacture iron, known by
the name of Lohars^ not so respectable as the

* I was at Belleah during the vernal festival of the Huli,
and was much gratified to see several old men, at least sixty
years of age, dancing on the green, and throwing habbear
(pink powder) over one another with as much cheerfulness
and glee as if they had been children. It is a strange co-
incidence, that at this festival, which generally finishes
about the end of March or beginning of April, they
should have the custom of making Huli fool (as we have
of making April fools on the 1st of that month), by sending
letters, and making appointments, in the names of persons
who are known to be absent from their homes, and the
laugh against the fool is proportionable to the goodness of
the plot. — They have another vernal festival, named Bhu-
vina, on the 9th of Baisach, exclusively for such as keep
horned cattle for use or profit, when they erect a pole and
adorn it with garlands, and perform much the same rites as
used to be adopted by the English on the 1st of May, which
is another strange coincidence in the customs of the two
countries. With the Hindoos these are very ancient fes-
tivals.

•f- Lohah is the Hindoostanee word for iron.

MANUFACTURING IRON. 133

Loharias, nor so indigent as the Augureeas.
They smelt the iron from the stones, and ma-
nufacture it into pegs, but not of so pure a qua-
lity as that made by the Loharias. The Lohars
have fixed habitations, cultivate some ground,
and sell and barter their iron to Biparies. In
some parts of the country towards Monghier,
they smelt the iron from sand, collected from
the rivers after heavy floods ; which is considered
of the best quality.

! It is extremely curious to observe with what
simplicity most of their manufactories are carried
on. The shepherd, as he looks after his flock,
may be seen, having a small stick with a reel at
one end and a weight at the other, twisting
worsted as he walks about ; the wool he cuts off
the sheep's back as he uses it. His wife or
children, out of doors, and sometimes in the
same field where the flocks are grazing, weaving
it into coarse blankets, which are sold at about
two shillings or half a crown each.

The palanquin-bearers (or carriers) in Cal-
cutta^ whilst they are waiting for their master
or mistress at shops, or gentlemen's houses, may
be frequently seen twisting twine from flax or
hemp, whilst others of the same set are knitting

134 MANUFACTORIES.

it into nets to fish with when they return to
their villages, which they do as soon as they have
saved a little money ; when others repair to Cal-
cutta to supply their places.

The method of manufacturing sugar is equally
simple. The canes are cut, and the juice ground
from them on the same spot where they are cul-
tivated ; and the dry stalks of the canes, after
being expressed, serve for fuel to evaporate the
juice to sugar, which is done also in the same
place.

I have often contemplated on the simplicity with
which every thing is carried on in India, and I
really think that no person of the least observation
can reside long in the interior of the country
among these people, and read our sacred history,
without being forcibly struck with a similarity in
the simplicity of their manners and manufactories.
— For instance — " Ordering the oxen not to be
muzzled when treading out the corn." The na-
tives of India, as the Jews, have the custom of
treading out all their grain by means of oxen ;
but I am not aware that they strictly follow the
injunctions of the law in allowing the oxen always
to remain unmuzzled.

MANUFACTORIES. 135

" The Sick to take up their beds and walk,"
which was the command of our Saviour at the
time of his miraculous cure, is forcibly brought
to our mind by the prevailing habit of this people
carrying their beds with them, which are so very
light that men are often met in India with them
on their backs, and at the same time carrying all
the little property they possess with them,
consisting of a few brass or copper cooking
utensils.

In the Bible it is often enjoined to build and
take care of wells, water courses, and plantations.
There is a physical cause for this, which operates
the same in India as in the Holy Land, namely, the
scarcity of water in the hot season, and to defend
travellers from the oppressive heat of the sun's
rays ; which in India is the cause of trees being
planted, wells, tanks, and water courses dug,
at the expence of the proprietors of the villages,
for the accommodation of all.

So general is the idea of their being neces-
sary, that it is common with most of the rich
Hindoos to bequeath a large sum of money to
dig a well or tank, and to plant a tope (which is
a plantation of mango trees) close to it, as a

136 MANUFACTORIES.

memorial of their benevolence to their fellow
creatures.

It is also frequently inculcated in the Bible
to be kind to bondsmen, and to be frequent in
ablutions to keep the body clean. Wherever
bondage or any other species of slavery is so
common as in India, it becomes good policy to
treat them with kindness and humanity ; which I
believe is generally practised in India. The
Hindoos, every morning before they offer their
prayers to the Almighty, undergo ablution, and
seldom partake of any meal without doing the
same, (if they have the means,) which they repeat
after having eaten.

In hot climates, frequent ablutions have been
found from experience to be beneficial to health,
as well as a comfort to the people, and is therefore
wisely enacted in the divine code.

The various superstitions of the Hindoos, with
many of their forms of religion, such as frequent
offerings of animals sacrificed — division into tribes
or casts — their method of cultivating their land
— having but few fences — following the same
business as their forefathers, and a variety of

MANUFACTORIES. 137

other customs, all coincide in shewing that India,
even now, represents a country peopled by such as
are mentioned in our sacred history.

Doctor Prichard, in his learned researches into
the physical history of man, makes the following
observations : " We set out in the historical
" inquiry which has occupied the last chapter,
" with the observation that the traces of con-
" nexion which we have marked between the
" Indians and Egyptians are so full and extensive,
" that they can be accounted for in no other way
" than by supposing these nations, though
" distinctly separated at the period of authentic
" history, to have formed in an earlier age but
" one people.

" In the days of the patriarch Abraham, two
" great monarchies existed in the world — the
" empire of Elam and the kingdom of Egypt;
" the dominions of the former bordering on the
" territories of the latter. The subjects of the
" first were the Indo — Persians of Hindus ; the
" inhabitants of the second were the Egyptians."

It is wonderful to think that their manners and
customs have not changed during such a long

138 HINDOO CUSTOMS

period of time. On my return to England from
India, after an absence of but a few years, com-
paratively speaking, I found such an alteration in
the appearance of the people as far surpasses, ac-
cording to my idea, the change the Hindoos have
undergone from the time the sacred history was
written to the present day.

It was not my intention to enter into any disqui-
sition on the religion of the Hindoos, or to vin-
dicate, in the smallest degree, any of its absurdi-
ties ; yet I cannot help looking with consideration
on the poor Hindoo, who adopts them punctili-
ously from a conviction of their being essential to
his salvation. In describing a few of their cus-
toms and manufactories, I have been led on to
make these general observations, which were
strongly impressed on my mind; and having
written thus much, I shall further observe that
I am fearful of the consequences of missionaries
and others interfering with their religion, lest, in
their anxiety to remove some of their long esta-
blished customs, they should go too far, and
cause the whole country to revolt ; even should
they succeed in dissuading them from their re-
ligion, the question is, will they be able to per-
suade them to adopt another? And if in this latter

COMPARED WITH THE ENGLISH. 139

case they should not succeed, I conceive they
would deprive them of the greatest comfort in
this life, — Faith in their religion.

We should not hastily condemn the customs
of the Hindoos because they are not agreeable to
our own way of thinking. It would ill become a
man who is fond of hunting and shooting to
condemn, as a foolish prejudice, their not liking to
take away the life of any animal.

Let us but place ourselves for a moment in the

situation of the Hindoos; how many customs

have we which must appear to them ridiculous :

for example : — What must they think of our dress

varying every year. At one time wearing wigs

made with the hair of others, both living and

dead. At another time, clogging our hair with

grease and flour, sufficient to feed a Hindoo.

Removing teeth from one living person to another.

Distorting our bodies into all manner of shapes

by our dress. At one time making ourselves

appear to have very long waists, at another

remarkably short. At one time making ourselves

appear as if we had no necks; at another, making

them appear as long as possible with stiffenings,

which almost prevent our heads from moving.

140 HINDOO CUSTOMS.

In fact, we cannot ourselves look back for cen-
turies on the costumes of our ancestors without
smiling at the folly of those who adopted them ;
whereas, their customs and dress have always
remained the same, and in consequence of its
simplicity, a deformed person is seldom seen
amongst them.

Zealous Christians may blame me for dis-
approving of our interfering with their religion
with the view of converting them to Christianity ;
but I believe there are very few who have been
long in India who do not on that point agree with
me; and also think with me, that the natives
known by the appellation of Kalla Feringees
(black Christians) are the worst race of people
inhabiting that part of the world.

It is, however, the duty of every Christian who
has it in his power, mildly to dissuade Hindoo
widows from burning themselves — parents from
destroying their offspring, and others from in-
flicting on themselves horrid penances and self
destruction ; but I hope no coercive measures will
be resorted to, even for this, being well convinced
that it will have an effect directly opposite to the
one intended.

HINDOO CUSTOMS 141

Mr. Colebrook, in his account of the duties of
a faithful Hindoo Widow, in the 4th Vol. of the
Asiatic Researches, remarks that a Sati is of rare
occurrence, and I should think his observation
just ; for, during upwards of 18 years' residence
amongst these people, I never had an opportunity
of witnessing the ceremony.

From the accounts lately given by missionaries
and others, it appears now to be very common,
which I attribute to the great notice that has been
taken of it by Europeans, if not owing to their
interference. In my opinion, good example, and
the gradually enlightening their minds, will in time
do more than any exertions of missionaries and
priests towards changing the religion of the
Hindoos.

Sir Wm. Jones, in his account of the Gods of
Greece, Italy, and India, makes the following
observations : — u We may assure ourselves,
" that neither Mussulmans nor Hindoos will ever
" be converted by any mission from the Church
" of Rome, or any other Church."

The natives of India have a very strange me-
thod cf breaking in their bullocks for ploughing.

142 HINDOO CUSTOMS.

The cattle with which they plough the ground
are in general small, yet they are strong enough
for the purpose ; the earth being only turned up
a few inches deep. The larger cattle are selected
for carriage, or for drawing hackeries (carts).
They are first yoked ,to an experienced bullock ;
and as most of them are of an obstinate, restive
disposition, they soon lie down. To make them
rise, the men twist their tails, and if that does not
succeed, a man throws a tiger's or leopard's skin
over his head, and runs towards the bullock,
which never fails of making him get up imme-
diately. After three or four repetitions of this,
they seldom attempt to lie down again. It has the
same effect on bullocks which have never been
in a country inhabited by tigers or leopards, and
therefore they could- never have seen a skin of the
kind before.

It is remarkable that horses which are bold in
disposition, and quiet in management, when first
they come into the hilly country, should soon
become timid, and frequently start at trifling ob-
jects. I can account for it in no other way, than
their having at some time or other smelt a tiger
or leopard, and natural instinct causes that
fear.

GOLD AND DIAMONDS. 143

Previously to my being at Chittrah, a Mr.
Archibald Keir had resided there on a mining
speculation. I was informed that he found silver,
copper, and tin, in small quantities, also coal, and
a large vein of lead, from which he made a con-
siderable return, notwithstanding which, he sus-
tained great loss in the concern ; more, I believe,
from not meeting with the protection and en-
couragement he deserved, than from any other
cause. Gold abounds in that country; and in
Tomar there is a hill called Sonah Pahar (gold-
en hill), at the foot of which large quantities of
gold may be collected. Two gentlemen had
entered into an engagement to invest a large sum
of money in the speculation of collecting and
manufacturing it, but the death of one of them
frustrated their plan. Gold dust may be seen in
all the beds of the rivers after heavy falls of
rain, and diamonds are occasionally found in
them.*

* A gentleman residing in Ramghur was informed that
a petty Rajah, who resided on the borders of the English
territories, possessed an immense diamond, of considerable
value. For a long time the gentleman used every art .in
his power to procure a sight of this diamond with the hopes
of purchasing it, but without success. The Rajah declared

144 WILD SILK.

Talk is also plentiful in Currucdea, which is
a part of the same range of hills towards Mon-
ghier. Gum Lac and Dammah, (a kind of resin,)
are produced in most parts of Ramghur> and
are articles of exportation. Kino is also pro-
duced in large quantities throughout the hills ;
it is extracted from a tree called by the natives
Kyre^ in the following manner : — They cut
down the trees and hew them into small pieces,
which, by boiling, gives out the kino ; they then
evaporate it to an extract. This, with areca
nut, and betle leaf, is chewed by all the natives
of India.

A coarse kind of silk, known by the name of
tussar, is produced there in large quantities.
The insects are much larger than the common
silk worm ; the coocoons, or chrysalis, being full

that no European should ever see it; however, at last, by
repeated entreaties, he was prevailed on to visit the gentle-
man : he carried the diamond with him, which being pro-
duced, caused considerable mortification to all parties, it
proving to be a cut glass stopper of a decanter, which most
probably had been dropped in one of the beds of the rivers
by some officer's servant, where it was found by one of the
Rajah's people.

WILD SILK. 145

double their size, and the butterfly is one of the
most beautiful creatures imaginable.

The silk is manufactured in many parts of the
country into pieces which are chiefly worn by the
women as petticoats. In some manufactories it
is mixed with fine silk, and in others with cotton.
I believe that the insect may be met with there in
its wild state. The silk is obtained with very
little trouble. The people who make it their
business to propagate the insect, prepare a num-
ber of large trees in the jungle (called by the
natives asseri) by burning grass and wood un-
der them to drive away all other insects ; they
then smear part of the stalks of the trees with a
sticky substance, consisting of petroleum, or dam-
mah, and oil, which prevents ants from ascending
them, or they would soon destroy all the cater-
pillars. The caterpillars are then placed on the
trees, and when they have eaten all the leaves,
they are removed to others, and so kept, until
they begin to spin the silk, when they are carried
to their houses, and in proper time they are
sold to Biparies ; keeping a sufficient quantity to
breed from.

In travelling through the country, great num-
L

146 ANECDOTE.

bers of those trees may be seen with their foliage
thus destroyed. Quere — If those insects were
fed on mulberry leaves, and kept in houses,
would it not improve the texture of the silk?

A very ludicrous circumstance occurred when
I was hog-hunting in the district of Bahar, with
two gentlemen ; one of them a keen sportsman,
and dexterous in the use of the spear ; the other a
spruce sort of a man, who would now be styled a
dandy, though very fond of accompanying sports-
men, talked a great deal of the sport, but was not
famed for killing. It so happened that two hogs
came out of a sugar plantation at the same time,
and at the side where the keen sportsman and my-
self were stationed : the beau was on the other
side of the plantation, but it was sometime be-
fore he learnt that we were gone off in pursuit of
the hogs. As he rode round to the opposite side
of the sugar cane, he had to pass over some
opium ground, in which an old woman was then
sowing the seed ; in gallopping up to her, to in-
quire the direction we had taken, his horse started
at a white cloth, laid out on a bank with seeds on
it, and threw the gentleman into the liquid mud,
with which he was completely bedaubed, to the
ruin of a fine pair of new buckskins : as soon as

ANECDOTE. 147

he got up, he ran to horse-whip the old woman
for leaving her cloth there, when the poor creature
seeing him in such a miserable plight, hastened
to meet him, and began to wipe away the mud
from his clothes. Whether he was frightened at
the old woman's running to meet him, or that her
kindness softened his anger, I cannot say, but
when we returned, it was evaporating in a volley
of abuse ; but as his language was a mixture of
English and Hindoostanee, she fortunately could
not understand a word he uttered : a servant
present explained to us the whole affair, and on
our return to dinner, where a large party was as-
sembled, it may be easily supposed the beau
was well roasted.

L 2

CHAP. IX.

NAWAUB VIZIER ASOP-UL-DOWLAH's METHOD OP
SPORTING.

THIS prince took the field at all seasons of the
year, but more frequently in the months of March,
April, and May : at these times the best sport
was expected, the covers being thin, and the
animals of the forest in the greatest abundance,
where cover and water could be found together,
or near to each other. The excursion was talked
of, and preparations made during many preced-
ing months. All the court, great part of his
army, and seraglio, accompanied him; a guard
only being left for the protection of his capital.
About ten thousand cavalry, nearly the same
number of infantry, thirty or forty pieces of ar-
tillery, and from seven to eight hundred elephants,
attended. The number of bullocks, camels, carts,
&c., for the tents and baggage, were innumerable.
For himself, his women, ministers, European
gentlemen of his suite, and visitors, double sets
of tents were sent off, of large dimensions.

VIZIER'S SPORTING. 149

Some with extensive enclosures, made of cloth
and bamboos, about seven feet high, forming a
kind of wall round each tent, of a hundred yards
or more in circumference.

In the rainy season, or whenever the ground
was damp or wet, square wooden tables, with
feet, about ten inches high, and four feet diameter,
made to fit close to one another, were placed in
the tents, forming a floor which covered the whole
space within; on these, carpets were spread,
which made them perfectly dry and comfortable.

A market accompanied them, supplied with
every article the country afforded, consisting of
from forty to sixty thousand persons, or perhaps
more,* who carried their grain and merchandise

* The reader may well be surprised at the immense num.
ber; yet he may be assured that I am not dealing in the
marvellous. The number of followers of an army in India,
can scarcely be conceived by any that have not seen them.
A gentleman had the curiosity to employ a person to count
the number of followers of the 73rd King's Regiment, as
they passed through the gates of the city of Patna, and I
was informed they amounted to upwards of nineteen thou-
sand. The strength of the regiment, at the time, could not

150 VIZIER'S SPORTING.

on camels, carts, bullocks, tattoos, (small ponies,)
asses, and on men's backs on bangys. The day
before the Vizier sallied forth, a set of tents, with
all their appendages, were forwarded and pitched
on the spot fixed on for their first day's halt, and
another set at the same time, were sent on to the
next stage, so that by being forwarded alter-
nately, a set were always ready to receive them.

Most of the bazar or market people travelled
at night, and exposed their goods for sale from
eight or nine o'clock in the morning, until dark.
The route was often towards the Thibet mount-
ains, and a part of the army accompanied the tents
and market.

Early in the morning, his Highness left his
palace at Lucknow, with a number of noisy in-
struments playing before him : as soon as he was
clear of the city and suburbs, a line was formed
with the Nawaub Vizier in the centre, generally
on an elephant elegantly caparisoned, with two
spare elephants, one on each side of him. The one
on his left* bore his state howdah empty; the

have been more than 700 men, as the sick were transported
by water.

* This elephant was thought the finest animal of the kind

VIZIER'S SPORTING. 151

other on his right carried his spare guns and
ammunition, also in a howdah, in which two men
were placed to load the guns, and give them to
his Highness when required, and to take back
others that had been discharged. Several guns
were kept ready loaded with ball and shot, on
each of the two elephants. I believe that I am
within bounds, when I say that he took with him
from forty to fifty double barrel guns, besides a
number of single barrel long guns, rifles, and
pistols. Behind him were several beautiful led
horses handsomely caparisoned. All his private
stud, which were kept solely for his own riding,
accompanied the camp, and for all of them
(amounting to about three hundred) were pro-
vided tents with a very large inclosure surround-
ing the whole, both to secure their comfort and
prevent their being seen.* On the right of his

in the country: he was a most majestic creature, and al-
though not the tallest I have seen, he was altogether the
largest, and in every respect perfect ; he was so great a
favorite with the Vizier, that he gave a considerable estate
of land for his maintenance, and his attendants.

* None but the Vizier's particular favorites were ever
allowed to see them, excepting when taken out for him to
ride, fearing they might fancy any of them ; after which,
according to their superstitious ideas, they would not thrive.

152 VIZIER'S SPORTING.

ammunition elephant, his adopted son, Vizier
Ally,* took his station on a fine animal, also
superbly caparisoned, with his prime minister,
Ussan Huza Kawn, on the left of his state ele-
phant ; while all the rest of his court arranged
themselves to the right and left, agreeably to their
rank, of which they were extremely punctilious.

The line of elephants on the march amounted
to four or five hundred, and at each extremity of
them were the cavalry, forming altogether a
curved line, with the centre pointing forward.
Close before the Vizier ran two men with bags of
money in each hand, of different degrees of
value ; and immediately before them several men
carrying hawks of various kinds ; on each side of
these, the dog keepers, each holding a brace or
leash of grey-hounds, f The line thus formed,
proceeded straight towards the tents, indiscrimi-
nately over cultivated and uncultivated ground,

* Who, after the death of the Nawaub, ascended the
throne, and was notorious for having massacred Mr. Cherry,
and several other English gentlemen. He died at Calcutta,
in the year 1818, after a confinement of 17 years.

•j- The author was disgusted to see some beautiful English
dogs, coupled with country dogs, ill formed, and without
a single hair on any part of their bodies.

VIZIER'S SPORTING. 153

presenting a most distressing sight; the poor
cultivators running behind the Vizier's elephant
bawling out for mercy, but were seldom attended
to : how ever, to the credit of the Vizier, I have
been informed, that many thousand pounds yearly,
were allowed for injury done to them ; none of
which, I believe, ever found its way into the
pockets of the sufferers.

"When any game was sprung or started, those
near it commenced firing ; sometimes a line of
firing was kept up, resembling a feu dejoie, at a
poor diminutive quail, and whenever the bird fell,
should his Highness have fired, a general shout of
approbation followed PPah ! Wah ! the Vizier
killed it! Should a jackall or fox be seen, the grey-
hounds were slipped, and the fortunate keeper
whose dog caught it, brought the animal to his
Highness with great exultation, and received half
a rupee, a rupee, and, on extraordinary occasions,
a gold Mohur, (value two pounds,) in proportion
to the amusement the sport afforded. The same
took place, when a poor dove, curlew, or any
other bird was sprung, not considered game for
the gun, but likely to afford more sport with the
hawks, which were loosened after it, and the

154 VIZIER'S SPORTING.

fortunate keeper whose bird caught it, received a
reward in like manner.

When their track was over a barren uncultivated
plain, where no animals or birds were likely to
be seen, to amuse the Vizier, some of the native
gentlemen sallied forth, informing him, that they
had agreed, for a bet, to ride a race to a given
spot before them. Bets on the winner were imme-
diately made by most of the party, and often to a
very large amount. To a European the race was
a most ludicrous one ; the legs and arms of the
riders appeared in quicker motion than the feet
of the horses, while their knees were almost on a
level with the point of the shoulder. The horses
also being much on their haunches, gallopped high,
and, being encumbered with a variety of loose
trappings and ornaments, made more noise than
speed.

At other times, tumbling boys, girls, and men,
exhibited their wonderful agility and skill in front
of his Highness. — As soon as a herd of antelopes,
or other deer, made their appearance, the line of
elephants halted, or proceeded slowly; at the
same time, the cavalry quickened their pace, and

VIZIER'S SPORTING. 155

endeavoured, by closing into a circle, to surround
them ; if they succeeded in this, they lessened
the circle gradually, and an opening was made
close to the Vizier, like an inverted funnel, by
which contrivance his Highness and many of his
courtiers were enabled to fire at them, as they
attempted to make their escape, without risk of
hitting one another. Greyhounds were slipped
after such as were wounded, and the horsemen
gallopped after them.

Thus the march was passed to the tents, where
they found refreshments ready prepared, of which
they partook immediately after undergoing ablu-
tion ; they then reposed until the evening : at
that time the men of consequence met in a very
large grand tent, unless the weather was very
hot, in which cases it was under a shumeeana
(awning), where they were amused with knotch-
ing (dancing), performed by ten or more sets of
dancing girls ; each set consisting of from four
to eight courtezans, and nearly the same number
of musicians, who always accompanied the Vizier
on these occasions.

In this manner, from ten to fifteen or twenty
days were spent, before they arrived at the spot

156 VIZIER'S SPORTING.

determined on for their halting place, where they
expected to meet with abundance of large game ;
such as tigers, lions, panthers, leopards, buffa-
loes, &c. &c. Here they fixed their encamp-
ment ; and from this time their sporting was
conducted on a much more grand and formid-
able scale ; though to an European, who never
witnessed such scenes, I consider the line of march
equally amusing. The first day or two was
usually spent in arranging their encampment,
market, &c. ; in making inquiry after game, and
in preparing every thing for the field. All the
elephants and camels that were hitherto used for
carrying baggage, were now taken with the rest
to join the sport. The Vizier had with him about
eight hundred elephants ; while many of the
opulent natives were mounted also on that noble
animal, and carried their tents and baggage on
camels and elephants, all their own property ; so
that with this addition, and some of the infantry,
the cavalcade was tremendous, presenting the
appearance of a large army going to a field of
battle, rather than that of a hunting party.

To battle they actually went, not against men,
but against the destroyers of men. It should also
be taken into consideration, that in such excur-

VIZIER'S SPORTING. 157

sions in India, they are liable to meet with ene-
mies, and are obliged to be prepared accordingly.
They remained three weeks or a month near the
same place, occasionally changing their ground,
as they destroyed the animals in the neighbour-
hood, and then returned to Lucknow, much in
the same manner and style as they left it, but by
a different route.

The number of tigers, buffaloes, hogs, deer, and
other animals that were killed, can only be con-
ceived, by the prodigious magnitude of the force
employed for their destruction, in a country where
they abounded. Notwithstanding this, should I
insert the number of animals killed on one excur-
sion, as reported to me from the best authority,
my readers would scarcely credit it.

CHAP. X.

A SHORT SKETCH OF THE CHARACTER OF NAWAUB
VIZIER ASOP-UL-DOWLAH.

IF the foregoing description of the manner of
sporting has interested the reader, he may
perhaps feel a wish to know somewhat more of
the man who carried it on with so much splendour
and magnificence. I lament that it is not in my
power to delineate him as well as I could wish.
The little I knew of him from personal observa-
tion, with the few anecdotes I have heard, I will
endeavour to communicate, and I hope the account
will not be uninteresting ; although I designedly
omit some of his habits, which, in my opinion,
are better buried in oblivion. Many European
gentlemen resided long with him, and it is a
matter of surprise that none of them have ever
given to the public his history and character at
large. In this observation I may be mistaken ;
but I have never seen any thing more than
detached anecdotes of him. He was indeed a

VIZIER'S CHARACTER. 159

very extraordinary man, and lived in a style
perhaps of more grandeur than any potentate in
the world, since the downfall of the kings of
India.

Being protected by the English, he was en-
abled to dedicate his whole time to amusement,
so that his history, replete with anecdotes, would,
if well written, probably afford more entertain-
ment than most novels. He was of a moderate
stature, rather corpulent, with a handsome face
and sharp penetrating eyes, and possessed much
activity of body for a man of his size. He pos-
sessed great quickness of mind and volubility of
tongue, with no apparent want of capacity to a
superficial observer; yet that his understanding
was weak, might easily be discovered by the
style of his conversation, which dwelt chiefly on
frivolous and childish subjects, and by the tenor
of his actions and habits ; the greater part of his
time being occupied with trifles and trifling
amusements. He was very generous and affable,
and on most occasions humane; however, the
latter qualification may be much doubted ; for so
contradictory were his actions, that much may be
said on both sides.

160 VIZIER'S CHARACTER.

I have been credibly informed that he has been
known to amuse himself with firing ball from the
foil of Allahabad, at pots of water carried on the
heads of persons, passing to and from the river
Jumna. Although an excellent marksman, he,
on these occasions, shewed great want of feeling ;
for, to promote his own amusement, he thus
shamefully exposed to great hazard the lives of the
people who carried the water pots : of this he
himself was sensible, as appears by the obser-
vation which he has been known to make, " that it
" was of little consequence if he killed any one,
" having plenty of subjects in his country."

I once witnessed, on the line of march before
described, his stopping at a tank (pond of water),
and proposing to the gentlemen of the party,
that they should fire ball with pistols at a flower
of the lotus, growing in the centre of the tank, to
ascertain who was the best marksman. On the
opposite side, at a distance of not more than forty
yards from the water, was a public road, or path-
way, on which a constant string of his camp
followers were passing at the time, and I am
certain that more than a hundred balls were fired,
many of them rebounding from the water across

VIZIER'S CHARACTER. 161

the road, — a sight which made me shudder:
fortunately no person was wounded.

On all occasions he seemed to have little con-
sideration for the lives of his subjects, particularly
when following his sport in pursuit of animals;
yet it is said that he always provided comfortably
for such as were maimed, and for the families of
any that were killed ; and he seldom, and with
much reluctance, ordered any punishments. He
had a strong attachment to, and friendship for,
Colonel John Mordantx to whom he owed a
considerable sum of money ; and whenever the
Colonel asked for it, his answer was always the
same — " No, no, my dear Mordant : if I were to
" pay you, you would go to England, which must
•" not be. I cannot part with you ; — every thing
" in the world that you can wish, you shall have
" here."

In many points there was much similarity in
their characters. The Colonel was rather illite-
rate, and passionately fond of all kinds of spoil,
in most of which he excelled. He was the life of
all parties at Lucknow, possessing a vast deal of
ready wit, and inventive faculty ; scarcely a day
passing without his having contrived some new

M

162 VIZIER'S CHARACTER.

amusement for his Highness. He was a strong
man, and one of the best marksmen with ball
in the country ; had good natural sense, and
was generally liked both by Europeans and na-
tives, though the latter were very jealous of him,
in consequence of the great influence he held
over the Vizier.

The Vizier attended his funeral at Cawnpore,
the nearest English military station to Lucknow,
and wept like a child. It has been remarked
that he never enjoyed himself after the Colonel's
death, as he had done before. — Many Europeans
resided at Lucknow ; and considerable fortunes
have been brought to this country by those who
knew well the Vizier's love for curiosities and
trifles, by contriving to supply him with them at
an enormous profit.

Colonel Claud Martin, a Frenchman, made an
immense fortune, chiefly in that way. How
much the prince was imposed upon, the following
circumstance will clearly show. The Colonel, by
some means or other, perhaps by accident, pro-
cured two white mice, which he placed in a
beautiful silver cage, and exhibited to the Vi-
zier, who, as usual, wished immediately to

VIZIER'S CHARACTER. 163

possess them, and asked the Colonel if he would
part with them. The sly Colonel knew the man
he had to deal with, and refused, being well
convinced that his Highness would not be easy
until he possessed them. After having withstood
all entreaties for several days, he consented to
sell the cage and mice for ten thousand rupees
(£1250), and I heard, that the Vizier offered him
five or six thousand rupees, which he declined.
The whole sum would have been given, had not
the Vizier's minister persuaded him to wait a few
days, and see if they would not be surrendered
at the price he had offered. In the mean time,
whilst the negociation was pending, a man brought
a cage full of these white mice, which his High-
ness bought for a few rupees — to the great mor-
tification of the. Colonel.

Whenever his Highness purchased any piece
of mechanism, or other curiosity, Martin forth-
with searched the world for something superior
of the same kind ; which he was certain of selling
to him at an immense profit. His Highness
could never bear to hear that any person pos-
sessed any thing superior to his own ; an instance
of which may be seen in the following anecdote.
He had a large room filled with mirrors, amongst

M2

164 VIZIER'S CHARACTER.

which were two of the largest size that could be
made in Great Britain, and which he had lately
received. The Colonel seeing them, immediately
wrote to France, where plate glass is cast of
larger dimensions than in England, and pro-
cured two of the largest size, which he sold to
the Vizier at a very extraordinary high price.

He had an immense room filled with all sorts
of curiosities, forming such a ridiculous museum,
as perhaps could not be met with elsewhere in
the world. Toys of all descriptions, Chinese,
Dutch, and English, huddled together with some
of the finest pieces of mechanism ever made by
man.

Some of the finest paintings by the first Italian
masters, hanging promiscuously with profane
Chinese daubs. His own picture painted by na-
tives, by Zophani, Renaldi, and others, might
be seen in different dresses every few paces.

When I was at Lucknow, he was most de-
lighted with two pieces of mechanism — two boys ;
one beating a drum, and the other playing a tune
on a fife. At that time, he had a great rage for
Manton's double barrel guns, and application was

VIZIER'S CHARACTER. 165

soon made to me, to know if I had any in my
possession. They have an idea that all European
gentlemen will sell whatever they have, if well
paid for it. I had with me a double^barrel Pro-
bin, and when they found that money would not
induce me to part with it, Serif Ally Kawn
offered me the choice of a horse out of a large
string, in exchange for it : this I politely refused,
giving as a reason — that I had no other with me,
— that I was very fond of shooting, and expected
much sport before I returned to my station (this
happened on the line of march before described) ;
upon this he requested that I would allow him to
introduce me to the Vizier, which he did the next
morning in the field.

His Highness was on horseback ; he dismounted,
and I got off the elephant on which I was riding.
His Highness then presented me with a very
fine string of pearls, which he took from his own
neck:* I touched them, and made a salam. We
then embraced, — that is, we crossed each other's
necks with our right arms; after which he

* I was much laughed at afterwards for not taking the
pearls, which were of great value : and I was given to
understand that it was expected ; and my not having done
it, considered an ill compliment.

166 VIZIER'S CHARACTER.

mounted an elephant, and I remounted mine,
and joined the line of march ; his Highness having
directed my elephant driver to take his station by
the side of his.

He was extremely affable, and conversed with
me very freely; talking chiefly on the subject of
sporting. With the natives who were near him,
his conversation during the whole morning's
march, was solely confined to the good qualifica-
tions of a new cook, and the excellent dishes he
gave them the day before. He asked me why I
never fired at any of the birds that got up ? and
when I answered, that I was too much amused
with looking at what was going on to think of
firing myself, he shook his sides with laughing,
and observed, that Serif Ally Kawn had informed
him that I was a good shot ; therefore, said he,
I wish you to go out with him alone to morrow,
and try if you cannot kill more game than he can ;
for he thinks that he shoots well. The next day
I went out with Serif Ally to a considerable dis-
tance from the general line : we had ten elephants
with us, about fifty or sixty people on foot, and
from twenty to thirty horsemen.

When I had killed my first bird, Serif Ally

VIZIER'S CHARACTER. 167

requested I would allow a Mahometan present to
cut its throat, that the Vizier might be able to
partake of it ; a compliment, I thought, intended
to me. Of all the game that was shot, the throats
were cut in like manner, and all from which blood
flowed were sent to the Vizier. — A circumstance
occurred on that day, that will never be effaced
from my memory. Serif Ally invited me into
his liowdah to partake of some refreshments,
which invitation I willingly accepted, as I wras
both hungry and thirsty ; the weather being very
hot.

The food consisted of bread (resembling pan-
cakes), composed of flour, well soaked \\ithgkee
(clarified butter), and baked on an iron plate,
with kabobs, which is meat well seasoned, cut
into small pieces, then stuck on a wooden skewer,
and roasted. Unfortunately, I had always a
strong aversion to garlic, with which the kabobs
were very much impregnated ; politeness induced
me to eat some of them, much against my incli-
nation, by which I suffered severely all that
evening, and the next day.

A captain of an Indiaman purchased two of
the largest draught horses he could get in this

168 VIZIER'S CHARACTER.

kingdom, and carried them to Calcutta, where
he sold them to some one, who resold them to the
Vizier for the sum (as I was informed) of ten
thousand rupees (£1250). They were fine ani-
mals. He took great delight in shewing them to
the native gentlemen, calling them the English
elephants. For a long time he amused himself
daily in seeing what a quantity of grain they
devoured at each meal, in fact, they were never
put to any use whatever, and were soon killed by
overfeeding.

The Vizier was supposed to have the largest
and finest collection of pigeons and doves in the
universe. Their number and variety were so
great, that I should fail in any attempt to describe
them. They were kept in a large enclosure con-
taining a number of houses. Some of them were
as large as common fowls, others very small.
Many of the doves were less than the common
thrush of this country.

This extraordinary man, spent the whole of his
time in viewing the different things he possessed,
or in shooting, cock-fighting, quail fighting,
pigeon flying, or paper kite flying, or in witness-
ing the combats of tigers and buffaloes, or ele-

VIZIER'S CHARACTER. 169

phants. In the pursuit of such kind of amuse-
ments a variety of anecdotes are related of him.

What I have written I think will be sufficient
to give a tolerably fair idea of his general cha-
racter ; in the account of which, I hope I have not
been so prolix as to exhaust the patience of the
reader.

Sometime after having written the foregoing
description of the character of Asop-Ul-Dowlah,
and his method of sporting, I met with the fol-
lowing very interesting account of him in the
English Annual Biography and Obituary for 1819,
under the head of Vizier Ally ; and, as it far
exceeds my statement of his magnificence and
wealth, and at the same time most decidedly cor-
roborates what I have related of him, I trust the
reader will not be displeased with my inserting it
at large. To which I shall add an account of
Vizier Ally's magnificent wedding, celebrated at
Lucknow, in 1795. — "Having succeeded to the
" musnud (throne) of Oude by the assistance of
44 the East India Company, he professed great
" partiality to the English. Mild in manners,
" polite and affable in his conduct, he possessed

170 VIZIER'S CHARACTER FROM THE

" no great mental powers; his heart was good
" considering his education, which instilled the
" most despotic ideas. He was fond of lavishing
" his treasures on gardens, palaces, horses, ele-
" phants, European guns, lustres and mirrors.

" He expended every year about two hundred
" thousand pounds in English manufactures.
" This Nawaub had more than a hundred gar-
" dens, twenty palaces, twelve hundred elephants,
" three thousand fine saddle horses, fifteen hun-
" dred double barrel guns, seventeen hundred
" superb lustres, thirty thousand shades of va-
" rious forms and colours ; several hundred large
u mirrors, girandoles, and clocks ; some of the
" latter were very curious, richly set with jewels,
" having figures in continual movement, and
" playing tunes every hour ; two of these clocks
" cost him thirty thousand pounds. Without
" taste or judgment he was extremely solicitous
"to possess all that was elegant and rare; he
" had instruments and machines of every art and
" science, but he knew none ; and his museum
" was so ridiculously disposed that a wooden
" cuckoo clock was placed close to a superb time-
" piece which cost the price of a diadem : while

ENGLISH ANNUAL BIOGRAPHY FOR 1819. 171

" a valuable landscape of Claude Lorraine's was
" suspended near a board painted with ducks and
" drakes.

" He sometimes gave a dinner to ten or twelve
" persons, sitting at their ease in a carriage
" drawn by elephants. His harem contained
" above five hundred of the greatest beauties of
" India, immured within high walls, which they
" were never to leave except on their biers. He
u had an immense number of domestic servants,
" and a very large army, besides being fully
" protected from hostile invasion by the Com-
" pany's subsidiary forces, for which he paid five
" hundred thousand pounds per annum.

" His jewels amounted to about eight millions
" sterling. — Amidst his precious treasure, he
" might be seen for several hours every day
" handling them as a child does his toys. He
" was in the habit whenever he saw a pregnant
" woman whose appearance struck his fancy, to
" invite her to his palace to lie in; and several
" women of this description wrere delivered there,
" and amongst the number was the mother of
" Vizier Ally. Several children so delivered
" were brought up and educated in the palace."

172 VIZIER ALLY'S WEDDING.

The following is a description of the Wedding : —
" The Nabob had his tents pitched in the plains
" near the city of LucJcnow ; among the number,
" were two remarkably large, made of strong
" cotton cloth, lined with the finest English broad
" cloth, cut in stripes of different colours, with
" cords of silk and cotton. These two tents cost
" five lacs of rupees, or about fifty thousand
" pounds sterling. They were each one hundred
" and twenty feet long, sixty broad, and the
" poles about sixty feet high; the walls of the
" tents were ten feet high, partly cut into lattice-'
" work for the women of the Nabob's seraglio,
" and those of the principal nobility to see
" through. His Highness was covered with jewels
" to the amount of at least two millions sterling.

" The shumeeana was illuminated by two
" hundred elegant girandoles from Europe, as
" many glass shades with wax candles, and se-
" veral hundred flambeaux; the glare and re-
" flection were dazzling to the sight. Under
u this extensive canopy, above a hundred danc-
" ing-girls, richly dressed, went through their
" elegant but rather lascivious dances and mo-
" tions, and sung some soft airs of the country,
" chiefly Persic and Hindoo-Persic.

VIZIER ALLY'S WEDDING. 173

44 The bridegroom was about thirteen years
44 of age, the bride ten ; both of a dark com-
44 plexion and not handsome. The former was
44 so absurdly loaded with jewels, that he could
44 scarcely stagger under the precious weight.

44 From the shumeeana the company invited
44 to this festivity proceeded on elephants, to an
44 extensive and beautiful garden about a mile
44 distant. The procession was grand beyond
44 conception ; it consisted of about twelve hun-
44 dred elephants richly caparisoned, drawn up in
44 a regular line like a regiment of soldiers. About
44 one hundred elephants in the centre had howdahs,
44 or castles covered with silver: in the midst of
4- these appeared the Nabob, mounted on an un-
44 commonly large elephant, within a howdah co-
44 vered with gold, richly set with precious stones.
44 On his right hand was the British resident at
44 the court of Lucknow ; on his left the young
44 bridegroom : the English gentlemen and ladies
44 and the native nobility were intermixed on the
44 right and left. On both sides of the road from
44 the tents to the garden, was raised artificial
44 scenery of bamboo- work, very high, repre-
44 senting bastions, arches, minarets and towers,
" covered with lights in glass lamps, which made

174 VIZIER ALLY'S WEDDING.

" a grand display. On each side of the proces-
" sion, in front of the line of elephants, were
" dancing-girls superbly dressed, (on platforms
" supported and carried by bearers,) who danced
" as the company went along. These platforms
" consisted of a hundred on each side of the
" procession, all covered with gold and silver
" cloths, with two girls and two musicians at
" each platform.

" The ground from the tents to the garden
" forming the road on which the procession
" moved, was inlaid with fire-works ; at every
" step of the elephants the earth burst, and
*• threw up artificial stars in the heavens, to
" emulate those created by the hand of Provi-
" dence, besides innumerable rockets and many
" hundred wooden shells, that burst in the air
" and shot forth a thousand fiery serpents. These
" winding through the atmosphere, illuminated
" the sky, and, aided by the light of the bamboo
" scenery, turned a dark night into a bright day.
'• The procession moved on very slowly, to give
" time for the fire- works inlaid in the ground to
" go off. The whole of this grand scene was
" farther lighted by above three thousand flam-
" beaux carried by men hired for the occasion.

VIZIER ALLY'S WEDDING. 175

" Thus the company moved on in stately pomp
" to the garden which, though only a mile off,
" they were two hours in reaching.

" On arriving at the garden gate about nine
" in the evening, they descended from the ele-
" phants, and entered the garden, illuminated
" by innumerable transparent paper lamps or
" lanterns of various colours, suspended to the
" branches of trees. In the centre of the garden
" was a large edifice to which the Nabob and his
" guests ascended, and were introduced into a
" grand saloon, adorned with girandoles and
" pendant lustres of English manufacture, lighted
" with wax candles. Here they partook of an
" elegant and sumptuous collation of Euro-
" pean and Indian dishes, with wines, fruits,
" and sweetmeats ; at the same time about a
" hundred dancing-girls sung their sprightly airs,
" and performed their native dances.

" Thus passed the time till dawn, when the
" Engh'sh visitors returned to their respective
" homes, delighted and wonder-struck with the
" enchanting scene, which seemed to realize all
" the extravagance of oriental fiction. The
" affable Nabob rightly observed, with a little

176 VIZIER ALLY'S WEDDING.

" Asiatic vanity, that such a spectacle was never

" before seen in India, and never would be seen

" again. The whole expense of this marriage-

" feast, which was repeated for three successive

" nights in the same manner, was upwards of

" £300,000 sterling."

CHAP. XL

AN ACCOUNT OF CUNJOORS (SNAKE CATCHERS),
AND THEIR METHOD OF CURING THEMSELVES
WHEN BITTEN BY VENOMOUS SNAKES; ALSO
A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE FORMATION OF
THE TEETH OF THESE ANIMALS, AND SOME

ANECDOTES RESPECTING THEM. ANOTHER

ANECDOTE.

THE immense number of venomous snakes in all
parts of India, are a vast check to the enjoyment
of every person residing there ; to the timorous,
apprehension and fear attend every step ; even
within their houses there is danger of meeting
with them ; and the most courageous and strong
minded, cannot help often feeling uneasy at the
unexpected appearance of these reptiles.

I had not been long in India, before I most
sensibly felt this, and my thoughts were a good
deal occupied with the subject ; and when in
Calcutta general hospital in 1790, I took Fontana
as a guide, and employed two men, denominated

N

. • v-

178 SNAKE CATCHERS.

Cunjoors, or snake catchers, for nearly twelve
months, at four rupees each per month, to-vcatch
snakes for me to try experiments with. The
result of those experiments I have unfortunately
lost, but I well remember that J. could find no
medicine to counteract entirely the effect of the
poison. I had dogs, cats, poultry, and other
animals bitten, and all the cases tended to prove
that the power of the animal to destroy vitality
became considerably weakened after every bite.
It required a tolerably large cobra de capello to
destroy a cat ; a second cat, bitten by tjie same
snake about half an hour afterwards, recovered.
I shall here remark that a cat withstood the poison
better than any other animal, excepting the
Mungoose (Ichneumon) ; the commonly re-
ceived opinion that the latter animal is never
killed by the poison, is certainly erroneous, and
that it repairs, when bitten, to the grass, and eats
of some particular herb, which acts as an antidote^f
is also imaginary. I have seen several Mungooses
die almost instantly after being bitten by snakes,
and have often observed them, after the bite, to
appear for a time sick, and tumble about in the
grass, without ever attempting to eat any ; per-
haps they may sometimes eat grass, but I am
confident it is not of any particular kind, and

..

SNAKE CATCHERS. 179

3r ^
thfcy do it merely as dogs, in order to cause

vomiting. As sooti as the sickness and effects of
the poison are abated, they renew the attack,
and with more apparent violence, but with con-
siderably mor^aution.

.

It is curious to observer with what dexterity
these little animals conduct the fight, always at-
tacking the tail first, and by that means disabling
their enemy with the least danger to themselves ;
they then approach nearer and nearer, towards
the head, taking off a scale or two at a time ; at
last they seize him behind the head, and destroy
him. I have reason to think that the people who
exhibit the fight, in most cases, first deprive the
snake of his venomous teeth, as they very un-
willingly allow the Mungoose to attack a snake
fresh caught. I have had a dozen fowls bitten
by the same snake ; the first died in a few seconds,
\and so on, each in a proportionably longer time,
to the twelfth, which was more than an hour in
dying.

The snake catchers always carried off the bodies
to eat, which shews that the poison does not
much affect the alimentary canal, as Fontana
proved on himself respecting vipers. The pro-

N2

180 SNAKE CATCHERS.

fessed snake catchers in India are a low cast of
Hindoos, wonderfully clever in catching snakes,
as well as in practising the art of legerdemain :
they pretend to draw them from their holes by
a song, and by an instrument somewhat re-
sembling an Irish bagpipe, on which they play a
plaintive tune.

The truth is — this is all done to deceive. If
ever a snake comes out of a hole at the sound of
their music, you may be certain that it is a tame
one, trained to it, deprived of its venomous teeth,
and put there for the purpose ; and this you may
prove, as I have often done, by killing the snake,
and examining it, by which you will exasperate
the men exceedingly.

It is, however, astonishing with what dexterity
they hide them about their persons, with very little
clothes on ; and it is amusing to see the manner in
which they draw the attention of the spectators
by their grimaces and volubility of tongue, whilst
they secretly deposit the snake in a hole, or under
wood. It is almost incredible, and I have known
several sensible men positively insist that it could
not be. I witnessed myself a circumstance which
proved it.

SNAKE CATCHERS. 181

As some gentlemen were sitting with me in a
bungalow at Calwar ghaut, smoking our hookahs
behind a check, (screen,) we observed a man
tumbling over some logs of wood that lay on the
plain ; at last, we noticed that he made a stand
at one of them, and appeared to deposit some-
thing ; just at that time we were called to dinner.
After dinner, it was proposed by some of the
party, (I believe the master of the house) to
take a walk aud see the snake catchers charm the
snakes out of their holes ; we were led by the
men in the direction of the wood, and after sing-
ing and playing before several holes, they came
to the log of wood at which we had before re-
marked the man to make a stand ; from under it
there soon came a large cobra de capello : whether
we enjoyed the fun to ourselves, or mentioned it
to the whole party, I do not recollect.

Not many days after this, at the same place,
and at the house of Mr. T. Brooke, who was
then making a collection of drawings of snakes,
a man exhibited one of his dancing cobra de
capelloes before a large party. A boy about
sixteen years old was teazing the animal to make
it bite him, which it actually did, and to some
purpose, for in an hour after, he died of the bite.

182 SNAKE CATCHERS.

The father of the boy was astonished, and pro-
tested it could not be from the bite ; that the
snake had no venomous teeth, and that he and the
boy had often been bitten by it before, without
any bad effect. On examining the snake, it was
found that the former fangs were replaced by
new ones, not then far out of the jaw, but suffi-
cient to kill the boy. The old man said that he
never saw or heard of such a circumstance be-
fore, and was quite inconsolable for the loss of
his son.

The method these people adopt to catch snakes
is as follows : — As snakes never make holes for
themselves, but inhabit those made by other
animals, such as lizards, rats, mice, &c., in order
to ascertain if they are occupied by snakes, they
examine the mouths of the holes, and if frequent-
ed by them, the under part is worn smooth by the
snake passing over it, with sometimes a little
sliminess ; whereas, if frequented by any animal
having feet, they cause a roughness in the earth.
When they discover a hole frequented by a snake,
they dig into it very cautiously, and if they can
lay hold of its tail, they do it with the left hand,
at the same instant grasping the snake with the
right hand, and drawing it through with the left,

METHOD OF CURING THEMSELVES. 183

with astonishing rapidity, until the finger and
thumb are brought up by the head, when they are
secure. I have seen them catch them in the same
manner when gliding fast on the ground.

They never could catch for me a cobra de
monilo alive, although I offered them a large
reward for one : they said it was too small and
active for them to attempt to lay hold of it,* their
bite being certain death. It is thought by the
natives of India, and by many Europeans, that
snake catchers possess secrets that enable them
to cure the bites of all snakes : I questioned them
frequently on the subject, both when sober and
intoxicated, and at last, for a small reward, I
believe they disclosed all they knew, which I shall
relate; and that they do not know of any infallible
remedy, their refusing to catch cobra de moniloes
is a proof.

Whenever they attempt to catch snakes, there
are always more than one present, and a second
person carries with him a goor goone, which is a

» In general they are about the size of a man's little
finger, and from twelve to fifteen inches long.

184 VENOMOUS TEETH.

smoking machine, made generally of a cocoa nut
below, with an earthen funnel above, containing
fire balls ; in this fire they have always secreted a
small iron instrument about the size of a prong of
a table fork, curved into the shape of a snake's
tooth, tapering from above, and whenever they
are bitten, they first put on a tight ligature above
the bite, then suck the part, and as soon as blood
appears, they introduce this instrument red-hot
into the two orifices made by the teeth, and take
some bazar spirits, if they can procure any, in
which they infuse a small quantity of bang (a
species of wild hemp), which mixture by the
natives is called gongeah^ but sometimes they use
tobacco instead of bang.

As far as I could learn, these are the only reme-
dies that they ever adopt, and which, according to
their account, often succeed. It is a great many
years since I saw Fontana on Poisons ; but as well
as I can recollect, he gives a drawing and descrip-
tion of the formation of a viper's venomous
tooth ; however, as but few of my readers may be
acquainted with its mechanism, I will attempt a
short description of it.

There are generally two in the upper jaw,

VENOMOUS TEETH. 185

perforated through their centre from the root to
within a line or two of their point, acting as a
conductor for the poison : these teeth are extreme-
ly sharp and small ; the snakes also have the power
of elevating or depressing them. In a large
snake they can penetrate the flesh at least a fourth
of an inch, and the poison is introduced about the
sixth of an inch deep into the flesh of a person
bitten : the glands near the eyes, which secrete
the poison, have strong muscles attached to, or
rather acting on them, which muscles act at the
will of the animal, forcing the poison through a
cysted conductor into the hollow of the tooth, and
through it into the person bitten ; which, in my
opinion, clearly shews that any external applica-
tion* will have little effect in stopping the pro-
gress of the poison.

The apertures made by the teeth are filled
with the venom, which being glutinous, chokes
them, and prevents any blood from flowing, so
that the person bitten cannot often discover the
exact places of their insertion.

1 By external application should be understood, unaccom-
panied with incision or burn.

186 VENOMOUS SNAKES.

There is one kind of snake in India of a slug-
gish nature, with beautiful marks on its skin
resembling the eyes in a peacock's tail, which has
four venomous teeth, and is the only kind that I
have ever seen with more or less than two.* —
The hotter the weather, the more deadly their
bite ; which I conceive is owing to the poison
being more fluid, passing more readily into the
wounds, and being sooner absorbed, than in cold
weather, when it is in a more tenacious state. It
acts, I imagine, principally on the nervous sys-
tem, from the rapidity of its effects ; and, I think,
causes death by stopping the action of the heart.

In all the animals I opened, which died of this
poison, I found the heart, and great blood vessels,
gorged with blood of a blacker colour than
natural.

The natives of India always ascertain whether
a snake is venomous or not, by the length of its
tail, which, if less than a fourth of the whole

* Since writing the above, I have met with a viper with
three venomous teeth on one side, and one on the other,
perfect, and all surrounded at their roots with the usual
cyst.

ANECDOTES RELATING TO SNAKES. 187

length of the animal, they consider it to be of the
venomous kind ; but a more certain mark is their
teeth ; none but the venomous having hollow
teeth. I believe all the snake species that bring
forth their young alive, are venomous, and all
that are oviparous are innocent; I only mean
that they do not contain poison : some of the
enormously large snakes kill by their mechanical
powers. Some people think a particular kind
kill by a blow with their tail ; such effect I have
never seen, and think it is fabulous and imaginary.

I was once on a shooting excursion with Cap-
tains T. Williamson and Hamilton : we left our
budgerows in an afternoon after dinner, in conse-
quence of hearing a number of partridges calling
near us ; it was on a spot which had been lately
over-flowed by the Ganges ; we remained out
until near dark, and in returning to our boat, the
dogs were constantly pointing ; each time we ex-
pected to see partridges spring, but, to our great
surprise, it was always at cobra de capelloes; at
last we became so much alarmed, that we hastened
to pick our way back, as well and as fast as we
could, in fear at every step of meeting with a
snake.

188 ANECDOTES

We had not reached the boat many minutes,
when one of the pointers was seized with a fit,
and died instantly. No doubt was entertained,
by any of us, but that it was owing to his having
been bitten by one of the snakes, and as long as
he continued muscular action in running about,
the venom had not its full effect, but as soon as
that stimulus ceased it had.

Some months after this, as I was sleeping on a
bed, without covering, in the open air, under the
thatch of a house, I was awakened by a smart
bite in my great toe ; on turning round, I per-
ceived a large black snake on the bed ; I instantly
ran into the house, but there being no light, I
could not readily find any proper medicine. A
bottle, nearly full of Madeira, being on the table,
I laid hold of it, and drank the whole, and then
commenced running up and down the verandah,
which in a very short time threw me into a vio-
lent perspiration ; I continued running until quite
exhausted.

I felt a considerable dull pain all up the leg and
thigh in which I was bitten, which fixed in the
groin, with a slight giddiness, and a strong incli-

RELATING TO SNAKES. 189

nation to sleep. My servants called in people
that were supposed to possess the power of charm-
ing ; and to please the servants, I allowed them to
remain and say what prayers they liked, but for-
bad their touching me. On inquiry, I was
vexed to find that they had not killed the snake.
They had an opportunity, and alleged as an
excuse for not having done it, that if they had,
there would have been no hopes of my recovery.
The pain after some hours went gradually off,
and I fell into a sound sleep, from which I
awoke quite well.

From the experiments which I made in Cal-
cutta, it appeal's clear that snakes do not always
possess the same power of destroying life. It is,
how ever, a doubt with me, whether they expend
any of their venomous fluid in swallowing and
digesting their food, as they do in killing it ; if
they do, their bite soon after eating will not be
so mortal as after long fasting ; in fact, whatever
they do eat, I believe they first kill : at all events,
I conceive the longer it has been contained in
their bodies, the more venomous it is ; and the
hotter the weather, the thinner the venomous
fluid.

190 ANECDOTES RELATING TO SNAKES.

I have teazed them with a piece of cotton, and
made them expend their poison into it, and then
gave them a fowl to kill, which was a consider-
able time in dying. It is not fabulous, but true,
that they sometimes take their prey by fascination.
I once witnessed it in company with Captain
Trench, of the Bengal Native Infantry. Sitting
on a terrace near the house,, we observed a small
bird on a tree, at a little distance, shaking his
wings, and trembling : we could not imagine the
reason of it.

In a few minutes, we observed it fall from the
tree, and ran to pick it up ; to our great sur-
prise, we saw a large snake running off with it in
his mouth. He got into his hole before we could
procure any thing with which to destroy him.

At the time I was trying experiments with
snakes at the Calcutta general hospital, a name-
sake of mine, an assistant surgeon, Mr. John-
stone, played me a very foolish, though laugh-
able trick. A large cobra de capello, that was
killed in the evening, Johnstone coiled up in my
bed ; I slept with it by my side the whole night,
without perceiving it. In the morning, when I

REMEDIES FOR PEOPLE BITTEN. 191

threw off the clothes, I perceived the snake, and
supposing it to be alive, I tumbled out of bed
head foremost, and ran to Johnstone, and Mr.
Ewart, an assistant surgeon, to inform .them of
the circumstance ; procured a sword, and returned
to destroy the horrid looking creature. I made a
cut at it, and not only cut in two, but also cut
the bed clothes, to the great amusement of my
mess-mates. Such tricks, however, should never
be played, as the consequences might be very
serious.

Having now related all the principal anecdotes
I recollect concerning snakes, it may be expected
of me to recommend something as a remedy for
people bitten. On this head, I lament that I
have little to communicate that is not well known
in India.

Eau-de-luce is considered by most people
there to be a specific, but not by me ; I have no
idea that it possesses any peculiar virtues, or that
it acts differently from any other stimulant, nor
do I consider it so strong as some other volatile
spirits. I am of opinion that any volatile alkali
will be of service; in fact, any medicine that will
stimulate the heart to action, will be serviceable ;

192 REMEDIES FOR PEOPLE BITTEN.

and the strongest the most so. The remedies
used by the snake catchers, may be as good as
any, but since leaving the Calcutta hospital, I
have never had an opportunity of trying them;
unfortunately, whenever I have known a person
bitten, I have not had an iron instrument at hand,
and it will not admit of delay ; perhaps sucking
the part, and applying nitric or sulphuric acid to
the bite, would be as good as any application,
particularly if accompanied with incision, at the
same time taking carbonate of ammonia, or any
volatile spirit. Such things, as also the hot iron,
are seldom ready when wanted.

With the natives I have always used a whip or
stick to oblige them to continue in action, and
when I could get them to move no longer, I used
friction, by rubbing their bodies with flannel, and
I think often with good effect. It is strange to
say that there is scarcely a person in India that
has not some particular nostrum for the bites of
snakes. I once witnessed such a medley of
remedies administered, that they were sufficient
of themselves to kill any person of a delicate
constitution, and it was doubtful with me whether
the person died of the supposed remedies or the
bite.

ANECDOTES. 193

No person should walk over grass or through
jungle in India, without having boots on, or travel
without having some volatile spirits with him. —
It strikes me that a clever mechanic might invent
a machine, upon the principle of a cupping-glass
and syringe, that would draw the poison from the
wound, which also might be serviceable for the
bites of mad dogs.

When shooting with another gentleman (who
is now in England, and can vouch for the truth of
the occurrence I am about to relate), in a thick
jungle near MongJiier, he being at some distance
behind, and feeling fatigued with heat and exer-
cise, I approached, as I thought, a large trunk of
a date tree, lying on the ground, with the inten-
tion of sitting down on it ; but when I came near,
I discovered that they were snakes, coiled up ex-
actly like head ropes of horses, when the horses are
not in the stable : at that instant, the gentleman
made his appearance, and I called out to him in a
hasty violent manner, desiring him to come to me
immediately. I believe he first thought I saw a
tiger, or some animal of prey ; but when I de-
scribed what they were, and he saw them, he im-
mediately presented his gun at them, and we both
fired with shot at the same instant. Being very

o

194 ANECDOTES.

near, all the shot must have had effect, for we
mortally wounded the snakes. They proved to be a
male and female of the boa kind, coiled up
together. To the best of my recollection, one of
them measured sixteen feet, the other twelve. It
was as much as a man could do to drag the
largest to the boat, which was about a mile off.
I had them both skinned, and I now regret that
I did not keep them : they were given to the
natives to make scabbards for their swords.

Soon after my arrival in India, I was appointed
surgeon to a detachment of recruits and dis-
charged men, from the Calcutta hospital, com-
manded by Lieutenant William Knox, (now a
Colonel in Bengal), ordered to join the 73d King's
regiment at Cawnpore.

On the river Ganges, somewhere between Ra-
jemaul and Boglepore^ I saw thousands of wild
duck and teal in a nook of the river, where the
water was shallow, and I imagine they were at-
tracted to the place by a multitude of small fish
which appeared in every part. Having a dingy
(small boat like a canoe) attached to my budge-
row, I sallied forth in it with a Harcarrah, one
of the boatmen, and two guns. I had excellent

ANECDOTES. 195

sport, killing two or three birds every time I fired;
sometimes many more. In this manner several
hours passed away very pleasantly. I calculated
that I had killed about a hundred, when I thought
it high time to give up, as evening was near
approaching On looking about for the fleet of
boats, to my great suprise they were not in sight ;
a fair wind having sprung up, they had given
up tracking, and sailed on before the wind at a
rapid rate. It was impossible to overtake them,
and I probably might not reach their halting
place by morning by rowing or tracking against
the stream, and we had no sail for the boat:
the boatman suggested the idea of rigging out a
sail with his and the HarcarraJis blankets fast-
ened to one of the oars, which was immediately
done; it was not long hoisted before a sudden
gust of wind upset the boat which was exceedingly
narrow ; luckily for us we had not got into deep
water ; the guns were saved, but rendered useless by
all the powder being spoiled ; and I had the morti-
fication to see the ducks and boat float down the
river before us without the smallest hope of re-
covering them. We were obliged to wade through
water and mud up to our necks for nearly a mile,
and by the time we reached the shore, night had
set in ; we travelled all night along the banks of

o2

196 ANECDOTES.

the river, the greater part of the way through
thick jungle covered with heavy dew, scarcely
seeing a yard before us. I well remember in
going through some grass, at least ten feet
high, being alarmed at hearing some large ani-
mal near us — the gloominess of our situation
created fear, and made me fancy that it must be a
tiger ; however it proved to be a tame buffalo that
had straggled from the herd which were grazing
a few hundred yards farther on: we soon heard
the bell buffalo* which was recognised by the
men with me, and delighted us ; we hastened on
to the sound, expecting to see the herdsman, and
when we came up to the buffalo the Guallah, or
herdsman, was riding on its back, and was as much
surprised and alarmed as we had been, taking us
for thieves. When he was told who we were, he
good naturedly showed us the nearest way out
of the long grass, and directed us how to proceed,
observing, that we had run considerable risk
of having been taken off by tigers, but assured
us there was no danger of meeting with any further
on. We arrived at the place where the fleet of

* One of the oldest always carries a wooden bell round the
neck, which keeps them together, and prevents tigers from
attacking- any of them.

ANECDOTES. 1 97

boats were lying soon after day-break, having
travelled all night about eighteen miles. I was
quite exhausted with fatigue, and by the advice
of my friend Kennedy (who is since dead), I drank
half a pint of cherry-brandy, and lay down to
sleep between two blankets — slept soundly until
the next morning, and never experienced any
ill effects from the fatigue I had undergone.

CHAP. XII.

OBSERVATIONS ON HYDROPHOBIA AND RABID
ANIMALS.

A BITE from a mad dog is more dreaded than
any thing I know, which arises from the horri-
bleness of the disease, the uncertainty of the
animal's being mad, or of the infection being
received. The not knowing at what period to
expect the effects, or to feel confident of having
escaped it, keeps the person in a state of cruel
suspense for months, or even years.

We may thank the Almighty that mad animals
are rare in this country ; in hotter climates they
are more frequently met with, and nothing can
be more distressing than to see a person in the fit
occasioned by their bite. To a medical man at-
tending, it is as painful a duty as he can have to
perform, from his having but little prospect of
affording relief. Although two or three instances
are recorded of recovery from the fit of hydro-
phobia, they are not sufficient to induce much

HYDROPHOBIA . 199

hope of success from adopting the same remedies
which have since so often failed. I have attended
a great many persons in the fit, and in no instance
could I give the smallest relief; such scenes were
most distressing at the time, and now often pain-
fully intrude themselves on my recollection.

Our forefathers (could they be told) would
not readily believe that inoculating with vaccine
virus, would prevent the small pox ; or at least
render it so mild as to be of little consequence ;
of which I believe every unprejudiced mind must
now be convinced, and feel thankful for so ines-
timable a discovery. I wish it were alike in my
power to offer to the public some successful re-
medy for this terrific disease ; unfortunately it is
not, and I now communicate my ideas principally
with the hope of affording some consolation to
such as are unfortunately bitten by mad animals,
and who have it in their power to use preventives.
I shall also give a short description of the fit of
hydrophobia as it always appeared to me, which
may help such as have never witnessed it to dis-
tinguish it from other fits. For the first I shall
copy part of a paper communicated by me to
Dr. James Johnson, and inserted by him in his
Medical Chirurgical Journal for April, 1819.

200 HYDROPHOBIA .

" The number of persons bitten by mad dogs,
and mad jackalls, that came under my care while
surgeon at Chittrah (Ramghur), would appear
almost incredible, were they to be stated here.
In every instance when I had time or permission
to impregnate the system with mercury after the
infliction of the bite, and before the symptoms of
hydrophobia had shewn itself, the latter was en-
tirely prevented. If it be feared that I may have
been deceived in this point, I hope to dissipate
such fears by stating, that not a year passed at
the station, in which I had not numbers to attend,
bitten by the same animal. Of these there were
some, who, from religious prejudices, would not
submit to the course of medicine I prescribed,
preferring the prayers of a Brahmin priest.

" These regularly perished by the disease,
while the others, bitten by the same animal, and
at the same period of time, were invariably pre-
served from hydrophobia where salivation was
induced. This, which I think may be fairly
called the eocperimentum wucis, I have put to
the test so often, with the same identical result,
that not a shadow of doubt remains on my mind
relative to the entire efficacy of the prophylactic.
The proofs, indeed, are positive, negative, and

H YDROPHOBI A . 201

comparative ; and I leave it to the consideration
of the profession at large, and especially of those
employed in our Indian territories, where the
occurrence of hydrophobia is so frequent, whether
or not, to adopt a preventive measure which offers
so certain a check to this most dreadful of all
diseases."

The fit of hydrophobia (or Rabies Canina^)
is easily and PARTICULARLY distinguished from
every other fit, by VIOLENT CONTRACTIONS of
the DIAPHRAGM, accompanied with a spasmodic
affection of the throat, glottis, and epiglottis,
rendering inspiration violent, and suspending
for a time expiration, which at last takes place,
in a spasmodic way, with a kind of stertor,
causing a noise which has often been com-
pared to the barking of a hoarse dog, but is not
much like it. This I conceive is owing to the
closing of the glottis, and the spasms overpower-
ing the action of the muscles of the chest, which
are unusually stretched by violent inspiration,
caused by the spasmodic action of the diaphragm.

These muscles, I believe, are considered the
natural counteractors to the diaphragm, lungs, and
external air. This spasmodic action, and perhaps

202 HYDROPHOBIA .

the inflamed state of the glottis, epiglottis, and
muscles of deglutition, also accounts for the
difficulty of swallowing, which in the latter stages
of the disease is so great, that, although the
patients are almost famishing from intense thirst,
they cannot bear the sight of liquids ; even
talking of them, by associating the idea of
swallowing, instantly brings on, or increases the
spasms; and I imagine death to be the conse-
quence of their violence ; stopping respiration,
and BY THAT, the circulation.

Sudden light, noise, the appearance of a
stranger, or a rush of air, will bring on the fit,
which indicates great nervous irritability : tentigo
also attend ; these are all concomitant symptoms,
but the grand characteristic one, and that which
causes death, is, I conceive, the spasmodic action of
the diaphragm. Whenever death is occasioned
by any sudden fright, I think it is much in the
same way.

On reading Doctor Hutchinson's proemium for
January, 1821, I was sensibly struck with the
observations therein of Drs. Hutchinson, Curson,
and Ker, and the experiments of Mr. Bourdon,
which I think are strongly and particularly

HYDROPHOBIA. 203

exemplified in a fit of hydrophobia. I have long
thought that the medical world has not allowed
sufficient influence to the diaphragm and lungs on
the circulation of the blood, and in a little pamphlet
which I published in 1820, (Maxims and Remarks
on the Pulse, for young Students,) page 27, I
particularly remarked that the lungs act on the
heart and circulation, as fire on a steam engine,
or as a spring on machinery, keeping it in constant
motion, — a comparison that will carry more with
it to the mind than I can explain.

It may not be thought inopportune here to
suggest a remedy that may possibly succeed in
removing this terrible disease. Were I again in
practice, and had the opportunities which hereto-
fore occurred to me, I would try the actual cautery
to the throat, and chest. May it not, by causing
a strong stimulus, counteract that produced by
miasma of Rabies, and cause a revulsion from
the diaphragm and glottis? which may be
assisted by a copious bleeding, and also medi-
cines.

These observations I submit to the medical
world, with much diffidence as to their success :
where no probable remedy is known, every

204 HYDROPHOBIA.

means ought to be used to discover something
efficacious ; and it is a duty incumbent on medical
gentlemen to exert their best abilities. Little as
mine are, they may have the effect of inducing
others better qualified to take up the subject.

•

I have already observed that the fit of hy-
drophobia destroys life in the same manner as
sudden fright, and, I may add, drowning. In all
cases of death from fright, I am of opinion the
same resources should be had recourse to, as for
drowned persons. In either case, life may only
be suspended for want of the action of the lungs.

I conceive it is of great importance to people
in general, and particularly to such as keep dogs,
to be well acquainted with the progress of this
disease in these animals, and above all things to
know the manner in which they are affected
when it first commences, in order to use the
necessary precautions to prevent the propagation
of it. I will therefore endeavour to describe it as
well as I can, from the observations I have been
enabled to make on rabid animals.

At first they are dull and heavy for a few days,
shewing no other signs of illness ; eating their

MAD DOGS. 205

food sparingly, but drinking more than usual;
yet neither to such a degree as to excite much
observation ; this heaviness and want of appetite
is soon reversed, and they become more than
usually lively, and eat and drink rather vora-
ciously, and seem particularly eager to jump on
their master or keeper, apparently with the wish
of being taken notice of and fondled. Under
such circumstances they should be avoided. This
vivaciousness soon turns to great irritability,
which is the first clear indication of the disease,
and is often shewn by their raising the hair on
the upper part of their necks, on the most trivial
occasions. In this state they are never still, but
continue running from place to place, and refuse
food, or if induced to take a small quantity,
swallow it with much difficulty, and are rather
anxious for water, but lap it with great agitation.
If they chance to see another dog, or a cat, they
instantly fly at it, but with respect to man, or
other animals, they do not in general seem in-
clined to go out of their way to attack them. I
have known a few instances of their deviating :
one occurred to myself as follows : — At mid-day
when I was walking through underwood, a jackall
attacked me furiously ; fortunately I Kept him off,
and escaped to my tent unhurt.

206 MAD DOGS.

Shortly after, the same animal attacked a man
driving loaded bullocks, first biting the cattle,
and then the man, who received a bite in his leg,
but succeeded in killing the jackall, which was
decidedly rabid. In consequence of the poor
fellow's bullocks having run off with their loads,
I could not prevail on him to stay to have any
thing done to his wounds, and I know not what
became of him. If any living animal intercepts
them in their path, they bite at it. At this
period, they are both strong and active, with
lively inflamed eyes, and have more than a natural
secretion of saliva. Their strength, however,
soon begins to fail, and their breathing from being
quick, becomes laborious, with their tongues
hanging a little out ; and, as their disorder ad-
vances, dropping lower, and at last becoming of
a dark colour, while the foam issues from their
mouths ; at that period, they appear to drag
rather than lift their hind legs.

Almost the whole of the hair on their backs
and necks stands erect, and their eyes are blood-
shot, emitting a purulent discharge. The fatal
crisis then soon follows, and according to my
observations, they generally die on the third day
from the time the irritability first shews itself;

MAD DOGS. 207

I have never known them to eat or lap after
having dropped their tongues.

Whenever a dog is more lively than usual, par-
ticularly if he raises his bristles on trifling occa-
sions, and seems unusually ready to quarrel
with other dogs, he should be confined ; for these
are the principal symptoms in the early stage that
characterize the disease. It should be observed
that dogs are subject to various disorders like
other animals, in which these symptoms do not
commonly attend. As far as my observations go,
they induce me to think, that the communication
of the disease is confined to the canine species,
(perhaps including the feline) and by them to
men or animals by the insertion only of saliva
into a wound or abraded skin ; I cannot offer any
proof of this, but I think it is fair to conclude so,
as no instance is recorded that I know of, of its
having been communicated by other animals, or
by dogs to other animals in a different way ; but
with respect to one another, I am of a different
opinion, for the following reasons, which were
detailed in my communication to Doctor James
Johnson.

" It often happens that mad dogs or jackalls

208 MAD DOGS.

get into the kennels or dog-houses in India, and
sometimes even mingle with the dogs in the field
while sporting. This is when they are in the first
stage of madness, and they will go considerably
out of their way to attack and bite all dogs that
come in their sight. In such cases a general ex-
amination should be made, and every dog that
bears the least mark of a scratch or bite should be
put to death. Even this precaution does not
always ensure perfect safety, as the following,
selected from several other facts, will tend to
show.

While I was coursing one day, with a leash of
grey-hounds, and several terriers, a jackall ap-
peared at a considerable distance, on a plain.
The grey-hounds were slipped ; the dogs saw the
animal, and immediately made direct for him.
To my great surprise, the jackall, instead of
making off, ran straight towards the dogs, and I
soon discovered that he was raging mad. It was
impossible to separate them till they had killed
him. I went immediately home, had all the dogs
washed, and examined them myself in the most
minute manner.

I found four favourite dogs bitten, and these

MAD DOGS. 209

were instantly hanged. The others, having no
marks of the least scratch, I considered as safe
About three weeks after, on my march to Cal-
cutta, my dog-keeper came running up to my
tent, crying aloud, and at the same time keeping
three terriers, as well as he could, at arm's length,
they making all possible effort to bite him.

As soon as he approached, I saw by their
hair erected like bristles, their inflamed eyes, and
foaming mouths, that they were mad : I there-
fore directed the poor fellow to twist their cords
round a tree, which he dexterously effected, and
I then caused them to be dispatched with a wooden
mallet, used for driving tent-pins. The dog-
keeper was bitten in at least twenty places ; some
of them trifling, others large bites. To the whole
of these I applied lunar caustic, and put him into
a salivation as quickly as I could.

The ptyalism was kept up for fourteen or fif-
teen days. He lived with me several years after,
and remained in perfect health. On another
occasion, I had a small pet spaniel puppy, about
six months old, tied up in a verandah, which one
night cried out violently, as if something was
killing it. On the servant's running to see the

p

210 MAD DOGS.

cause, an hyena threw it out of his mouth, and very
reluctantly went off. The puppy was washed
and minutely examined, but no injury could be
discovered. The puppy was smeared over with
slime, which must have been the saliva of the
hyena. No idea was entertained at the time,
that the hyena was mad, though he certainly
quitted the premises with more reluctance than
is commonly observed. About three weeks after
this, the puppy came running into a room where
nearly fifty people were at a notcli, or Hindoo-
stance dance, raging mad. The little creature
immediately attacked every thing that came in his
way, and the whole notch was instantly dispersed
in all directions. Several chairs were broken
before the rabid animal could be killed.

Whether, in these instances, the dogs received
the poison by some of the saliva of the mad
animals passing into their mouths, or by respir-
ing the effluvia arising from them, I cannot take
upon me to say; but I can confidently assert,
that they had no wounds. The above, I hope,
will satisfy gentlemen that, after a dog has been
worried, or has come in contact with another that
is mad, he should be tied up for a month to see
the event. I may here state an important fact,

ATAD DOGS. 211

which I had ample means of unequivocally ascer-
taining, namely, that in no one instance did a
dog become mad, after remaining well for a month
after the bite. The usual period in India, at
least as far as came under my observation, was
from fourteen to twenty-five days after the recep-
tion of the poison. There is a generally received
opinion in India, that dogs and jackalls become
more frequently mad there, in consequence of the
number of putrid human carcasses which they
have to feed on. But this idea, I think, is erro-
neous ; because, at Chittrah, rabid animals are
as common as in any part of India, or perhaps
more so ; yet in that place, no human carcass is
to be seen, in consequence of the abundance of
fuel to be procured for nothing, which enables the
inhabitants to burn their dead, — a ceremony from
which the Hindoos are in any place prevented
only by a scarcity of fuel.

I may remark another curious circumstance
which I have repeatedly and invariably observed,
namely, "that the animals above mentioned are
most frequently mad at the time when the jungle
fever is most prevalent, and vice versa"

Another remark I shall make, which I think not
p2

212 MAD DOGS.

unworthy the consideration of the faculty, namely,
that nulla animalia praeter canes et alia ejusdem
generis initu facto, inter se manent conjunctas, and
never shew any evident marks of perspiring
through their skin ; whether the feline, which are
nearly allied to the canine, should be included in
this last observation, I shall leave to others to
determine. I have never seen an instance of
their communicating hydrophobia, but many cases
are recorded of their having done so. If my ob-
servations are just, respecting dogs perspiring, or
rather discharging the perspirable fluid chiefly
through their mouths, may not that have an in-
fluence in confining the communication of the
disease to such animals'? With respect to the
first cause of this disease, I fear we shall ever
remain in ignorance.

CHAP. XIII.

INDIAN CUSTOMS.

I HE following observations on the customs of
the natives of India, is part of a communication
from me to Doctor James Johnson, and published
by him last year, in a very valuable medical book
" On the Influence of Tropical Climates on Euro-
pean Constitutions:" the remaining part being on
particular diseases of that climate, I shall not
insert, as it may not be interesting to the general
reader ; and should any person wish to peruse it,
he can refer to that book.

The climate of India not being salutary to
European constitutions, it is highly necessary for
those who are doomed to reside there great part
of their lives, to do all in their power to counter-
act its baneful influence; for which purpose, I
recommend to them particular attention to the
prevailing customs of the natives, which have
been handed down to them by their forefa-
thers, who were more enlightened than the pre-

214 INDIAN CUSTOMS.

sent inhabitants, or even, perhaps, than we can
have any idea of from their present state ; and
although Europeans in general look down on
them with contempt, I am persuaded much may
be learnt from them, by any one who will give
himself the trouble to observe them narrowly.

When a European first arrives amongst them,
he is sensibly struck with their strange appearance,
their dress being so very different from what he
has been accustomed to see in Europe, where
fashion and elegance of appearance are studied in
preference to ease and usefulness. In India the
same method of dress has continued for centuries,
and is, in fact, a part of their religion; and I
imagine was first adopted from physical principles,
as being the best suited to that hot climate. The
rich natives have every thing on them loose, ex-
cept their Cumberland (that is a cloth bound round
the lower part of their loins), which is of great
use in supporting the belly, and thereby prevent-
ing ruptures. The poorer classes go almost
naked, and besmear their bodies with oil, to pre-
vent the direful effects of a burning sun on their
naked skins. The females dress very like the men,
all loose except their breasts, which are tightly
suspended in cloth or silk, to prevent their fall-
ing down from their weight and relaxation.

INDIA N CUSTOMS, 215

They ornament their persons in a variety of
ways, which, though considered by them as
adding to their charms and beauty, is at first
viewed by Europeans with disgust; and notwith-
standing that a residence for some time amongst
them may somewhat reconcile such unbecoming
decorations, few ever give themselves the trouble
to think much on the subject, or trace them to
their first principle, physical utility, from which,
I conceive, they for the most part originated. — I
will now enumerate a few, which I think will be
sufficient to elucidate my observations ; and, al-
though I do not approve of all their customs,
many of them I can account for very differently
from the generally received opinion, and can ex-
cuse them for adopting them. The few I shall
notice, I think, will clearly show that we ought not
to condemn them all hastily; for we should
recollect that length of time and experience have
established them.

I shall begin with observing the custom which
females have of colouring the palms of their hands,
soles of their feet, and nails, red; which they
do by pounding the leaves of mindy, or hinnah,
(a species of myrtle,) mixing it with lime, and
applying it to those parts, where it remains some
hours. This is considered an ornament ; but I

216 INDIAN CUSTOMS.

imagine it was first used to check the inordinate
perspiration in the hands and feet, which prevails
to a great degree with the natives of India, giving
their hands a very disagreeable cold clammy feel,
like the sensation produced by handling a frog,
and which the application alluded to entirely
removes.

The next I shall remark is their blacking their
eyelids with powdered antimony:* this custom
must be of great antiquity, as it is mentioned in
the Bible.f It produces a strange contrast to the
whites of their eyes, which are exceedingly clear.
This, also, I conceive not to have been first used
for ornament, but to cure or prevent the ophthal-
mia tarsi, and it is one of the best remedies I
know for it.

Again : females, after they attain a certain age
or get married, use an application to stain their
teeth black. This, I also believe, wras, and is
used to destroy the tartar, and preserve the teeth

* The Hindoostanee nam.e for antimony is Surmeh ; but
they often sell a sulphuret of lead in the bazars, under the
same name, and 1 believe many gentlemen* s horses have been
destroyed by taking it, instead of antimony.

•j- Ezekiel, Chap, xxiii. v. 40.

INDIAN CUSTOMS. 217

and gums, which it certainly does. The time of
life at which they first begin to use it, is when
tartar collects most, and were it used solely for
ornament, the young would all have their teeth
black, which none of them ever have. This ap-
plication is called "Micee" and what it is com-
posed of, I cannot say. — Whatever it is, it de-
stroys the tartar, hardens the gums, and makes
the teeth of a jet black, without destroying the
enamel.

The next custom I shall notice, is their chewing
pawn, which is a betle leaf enclosing a small
quantity of areca nut, Cardamom seeds, a clove,
some gum : Rub : Astring : and a small portion
of lime. The poorer people use it without spices.
This is universally chewed both by men and
women, and is offered to all strangers as a com-
pliment. It is a fine aromatic, acts as a stimulus
to the fauces and stomach, and sweetens the
breath. It causes the saliva to flow, and reddens
the mouth, giving it an appearance not pleasing
to Europeans.

Another custom is, their sitting always on the
ground with their knees up to their chins, which
I know not how to account for, unless it is by

218 INDIAN CUSTOMS.

bringing the extremities more on a level with the
heart. Europeans in India cannot sit long with
ease, without using a morah (a kind of stool to
put the legs on) ; if they have not got that, they
put their legs on the table, and it is not uncom-
mon to see a whole party after dinner with their
legs on the table. A restless uneasiness, occa-
sioned by languid circulation in the feet and
legs, causes this, which I attribute to the heat of
the climate causing great exhaustion and relax-
ation ; for, Europeans, after having resided long
in India, do not feel the same inclination on their
return to their native country.

Tattooing and Shampooing, (that is using
percussion and pressure,) have also the effect of
assisting the languid circulation, and the relief
experienced from it after fatigue, can only be
judged of by those who have experienced it.
Smoking is another custom, in general through-
out India, and I firmly believe, is of salutary
effect, particularly if not indulged in to excess,
or poisoned by the introduction of intoxicating
ingredients. Smoking pure tobacco acts as a
gentle stimulus to the intestines, and causes re-
gular evacuations ; without the use of which, re-
course to medicines would be often found neces-

INDIAN CUSTOMS. 219

sary. I can vouch from experience, that the first
pipe of a morning always causes a desire to go
to stool, and such as are in the habit of smoking,
and are deprived of it any morning, seldom have
an inclination to visit Cloacina's temple that day,
and are generally troubled with head-aches in
consequence.

The remaining salutary customs I shall here
notice, is, their daily habit of bathing in cold
water, washing out their mouths after every thing
they swallow, and cleaning their teeth every
morning. Their sacred book enjoins a Brahmin,
under the penalty of losing the benefit of all rites
performed by him, to rub his teeth every morning
with a proper withe. It is so particularly incul-
cated as to specify the racemiforous fig-tree as
the best kind of twig, which is of a soft fibrous
nature, and by being bruised between two stones,
makes a good brush for the teeth, containing a
mucilaginous fluid which readily unites with the
oily particles on the teeth and gums, and is
therefore well adapted for the purpose. A fresh
twig must be used every morning. These are
customs much to be commended in eveiy country,
particularly in a hot one, where animal and ve-
getable matter soon becomes putrid under any

220 INDIAN CUSTOMS.

circumstance. I shall here digresss a little and
remark, that Europeans too often accustom them-
selves to wash their feet many times a-day, in
hot water. Although pleasing at the time, and
apparently of trifling consequence, it is, I am
convinced, a serious evil, by increasing the se-
cretions which were before too copious, and, if
persevered in for a length of time, will add con-
siderably to other unwholesome practices, which,
together with the heat of the climate, will soon
wear out an English constitution, and bring on
premature old age.

I began this chapter with observing that the
customs of the natives of India ought to be at-
tended to by Europeans, and I shall here remark
that they did follow them in many instances on
their first settling there, which they have now
foolishly left off. One in particular I shall men-
tion, and that is — their dressing with cool and
light apparel during the hot weather. When I
first arrived in India, a broad cloth coat was
scarcely ever seen in the hot months, except
on formal visits. At that time the Governor
General, Earl Cornwallis, always set a good ex-
ample at his own table, by taking off his coat at
dinner time, which was generally followed by all

INDIAN CUSTOMS. 221

the company. When I left India in 1809, broad
cloth coats were worn at dinner in the hot months
by almost all the European inhabitants, which I
conceive was owing to the examples set them by
the heads of the settlement. Also throughout
the army, they were worn at all times. In this,
etiquette and fashion have prevailed over good
sense, in not adopting that which contributed
both to comfort and health ; and I hope, if pro-
perly noticed, as adding considerably to the
many other causes in that hot climate, tending to
impair European constitutions, that the heads of
Government will take it into consideration, and
be induced to set an example to the contrary ;
and also, that when discipline and duty do not
absolutely require it, commanding officers will
do the same, and not oblige officers and men to
wear warm clothes at those times, when they
are panting with heat, and perspiring at every
pore, to the great injury of their constitutions,
and eventually to the Government by whom they
are employed.

The inhabitants of India have a curious method
of discovering theft, or any kind of concealment,
by means of chewing rice. A Brahmin is sent
for, who writes down all the names of the people
in the house, or who are suspected ; the next day

222 INDIAN CUSTOMS.

he consecrates a piece of ground, by covering it
with cow dung and water, over which he says a
long prayer; the people then assemble on this
spot in a line facing the Brahmin, who has with
him some dry rice, of which he delivers to each
person the weight of a four cornered rupee, or
that quantity weighed with the sacred stone called
Salgram, which is deposited in a leaf of the
pippal, or banyan tree ; at the time of delivering
it, the Brahmin puts his right hand on each
person's head arid repeats a short prayer, and,
when finished, he directs them all to chew the
rice, which, at a given time, must be produced on
the leaves, masticated.

The person or persons whose rice is not
thoroughly masticated, or exhibits any blood with
it, is considered guilty. The faith they all have
of the power of the Brahmin, and a guilty con-
science operating at the same time, suppresses the
natural flow of saliva to the mouth, without which,
the hard particles of the rice bruise and cut the
gums, causing them to bleed, which they them-
selves are sensible of, and in most instances con-
fess the crime.

A gold Mohur that had lain a long time in an
open writing desk being missing, I ordered a

INDIAN CUSTOMS. 223

Brahmin to be sent for to find out the thief; he
came, and wrote down all the names of my ser-
vants, as a preliminary step to their undergoing the
rest of the ceremony ; however, it became unne-
cessary, for in the morning the gold Mohur was
replaced in the box.

At another time a large glass mortar was
broken, and none of my servants would confess
having done it ; I therefore threatened to deduct
from all their wages the value of the mortar ; my
head bearer, (who in India is often a kind of house-
keeper, and considers himself answerable for
every thing under his charge,) thinking it a re-
flection on his integrity, sent for a Brahmin, who
went through all the ceremony to the delivery of
the rice, when the culprit acknowledged. It is
much to the credit of the native servants in India,
that the before mentioned theft is the only
instance that I know of, of any servant's attempt-
ing to steal any thing from me, during such a
long residence there.

Having met with Sir John Shore's (now Lord
Teignmouth) account of the trial of three men of
Ramghur for the murder of five women for being

224 INDIAN CUSTOMS.

witches, which account is taken from official re-
cords, and is in itself very curious, and at the same
time corroborates strongly the description I have
given of the ignorance and superstition of the
inhabitants of that country, I shall here in-
sert it.

This is the same trial I have given a short de-
scription of in page 124 ; and although it differs
in some particulars, the material points are alike.
It happened upwards of thirty years since : I was
stationed there at the time, but was not in court
during the trial, or present at the investigation
which took place soon after, (in consequence of
a special deputation from the Governor General,)
which, I trust, will be some apology for my not
having a perfect recollection of all the circum-
stances. I had an idea that more than one
woman was murdered, but not recollecting the
number, I stated it only as one.

The custom which I have related of their
throwing women suspected of being witches into
water, might not be mentioned in court on that
trial ; if not, I am confident it was in some former
case, and I have repeatedly heard the natives

INDIAN CUSTOMS. 225

assert that it was a prevailing custom with some
of the inhabitants of that country.

" The judicial records contain a case of great
enormity, in which five women were put to death
for the supposed practice of sorcery. I shall
submit the circumstances of this transaction, with
some detail, before the Society, premising that it
happened in a district of Ramghur, the least
civilized part of the Company's possessions,
amongst a wild and unlettered tribe, denominated
Soontaar, who have reduced the detection and
trial of persons suspected of witch-craft to a
system."

" Three men of the cast of Soontaar , were,
in the year 1792, indicted for the murder of five
women ; the prisoners, without hesitation, con-
fessed the crime with which they were charged,
and pleaded in their defence that with their tribes
it was the immemorial custom and practice to try
persons notorious for witch-craft. That for this
purpose an assembly was convened of those of tjie
same tribe, from far and near, and if, after due
investigation, the charge was proved, the sorcerers
were put to death, and no complaint was ever
preferred on this account to the ruling power.

Q

226 INDIAN CUSTOMS.

That the women who were killed had undergone
the prescribed form of trial, were duly convicted
of causing the death of the son of one of the
prisoners by witch-craft, and had been put to
death by the prisoners, in conformity to the
sentence of the assembly."

The prosecutors who, agreeably to the forms
of the Mahommedan law, were the relations of
the deceased women, declared they had no charge
to prefer against the prisoners, being satisfied
that their relations had really practised sorcery.

The custom pleaded by the prisoners was fully
substantiated by the testimony of a great number
of witnesses, who recited specific facts in support
of it, without any denial or disagreement ; and,
from the collective evidence exhibited in the
course of the inquiry, the following curious and
extraordinary circumstances appeared : —

That the successive demise of three or four
young people in a village, led to suspicion of
sorcery as the cause of it ; and the inhabitants
taking alarm, were upon the watch to detect
the witches. They were generally discovered
dancing naked at midnight by the light of a lamp,

INDIAN CUSTOMS. 227

with a broom tied round their waists, either near
the house of a sick person, or on the outside of
the village.

To ascertain with a greater degree of certainty
the persons guilty of practising witch-craft, the
three following modes are adopted : —

First. — Branches of the Saul tree, marked
with the names of all the females in the village,
whether married or unmarried, who have attained
the age of twelve years, are planted in the water
in the morning, for the space of four hours and a
half; and the withering of any of these branches
is proof of witch-craft against the person whose
name is annexed to it.

Secondly. — Small portions of rice enveloped
in cloths, marked as above, are placed in a nest
of white ants ; the consumption of the rice in
any of the bags, establishes sorcery against the
woman whose name it bears.

Thirdly. — Lamps are lighted at night ; water
is placed in cups made of leaves, and mustard-
seed and oil are poured, drop by drop, into the
water, whilst the name of each woman in the
Q2

228 INDIAN CUSTOMS.

village is pronounced ; the appearance of the
shadow of any woman on the water, during this
ceremony, proves her a witch.

Such are the general rules for ascertaining
those who practice witch-craft. In the instance
which I have quoted, the witnesses swore, and
probably believed, that all the proofs against the
unfortunate women had been duly verified : they
asserted in evidence, that the branches marked
with the names of the five women accused were
withered ; that the rice in the bags having their
specific names, was devoured by the white ants,
whilst that in the other bags remained untouched ;
that their shadows appeared on the water, on the
oil being poured upon it whilst their names were
pronounced ; and, farther, that they were seen
dancing at midnight in the situation above
described.

It is difficult to conceive that this coincidence
of proof could have been made plausible to the
grossest ignorance, if experience did not shew
that preposession will supersede the evidence of
the senses.

CHAP. XIV.

A DESCRIPTION OF THE METHOD OF HUNTING WILD
BOARS, AS FOLLOWED BY EUROPEANS IN BENGAL
AND ITS DEPENDENCIES.

HOG hunters differ in opinion respecting the
length the shaft of a spear ought to be, as also
with regard to the size and form of the iron part.
Some use very long spears, and others prefer
shorter. I recommend long spears, for the follow-
ing reasons. A short spear, when thrown, is apt
to rebound against the horse or rider, and although
it may be carried through covers with more ease
than a long one, it is more liable to injure the
horse by being turned against him ; and in case
of a fall from a horse, there is considerably more
danger from a short spear than from a long one.
A short spear requires less skill to throw, but a
long one does the most execution. From all
these circumstances, I consider their best length
to be about seven feet, including the iron part,
which should not exceed a foot in length. The

230 BOAR SPEARS.

ferrule of the spear, at its upper end, should be
sufficiently large to admit the heavier end of the
shaft without taking off the bark, which in the
bamboo is exceedingly tough and strong, render-
ing it less liable to split. It should be fixed into
the ferrule with melted gum lac. At the top of
the shaft there should be a leaden ferrule, through
which a small iron ring may be fastened to hang
it up by, which will prevent it from becoming
crooked. The leaden ferrule at the end of the
shaft will cause the balance of the spear to be
farther from the point, by which means it may be
carried more free from the horse than if the bal-
ance were nearer the point of the spear, which is
of great consequence when riding through thick
covers. — It often happens that the end of the
shaft which should be carried across the horse's
neck (in spite of every exertion to prevent it)
gets entangled in or strikes against long grass,
rhur,* jow^ sugar cane, castor oil plant, or

* Rhur is a species of Lupine, or pulse, which grows to
the height of from four to six or seven feet; the seeds
are eaten by the natives of India, and are also given to
cattle.

•j- A species of broom, which generally grows on islands,
or on the banks of large rivers.

BOAR SPEARS. 231

whatever high vegetation or jungle it may be
necessary to ride through, forcing the point of the
spear against the horse's side ; and if it is not suf-
ficiently long to pass free from his thigh and hip,
he will most probably be wounded.

It is necessary to have the metal of a good
temperature, and the outer edges of the spear
well sharpened ; the point also sharp, but not too
fine and taper. English spears are generally too
brittle, and when they are thrown against any
hard substance, as bone, &c., often break at the
point. It is a good plan for each person to fasten
a bit of coloured riband, or cloth, to the ring of
his spear, to distinguish it; it being considered
unfair to take up and use another person's spear.
When hunting for a pool, which is gained by the
person who first spears the largest hog in the
course of the day, it is particularly necessary to
have some distinguishing mark on them.

The best kind of spear for hunting in company
with others is represented in Plate I. fig. 2. It is
light to carry, and, if well thrown, will cause a
wound sufficiently large to destroy any hog, and
it is easily extricated from the animal, which is a

232 BOAR SPEARS.

matter of veiy great consideration. It often
happens that no second spear is at hand when
the hunter has thrown his spear which remains
in the hog, and which he is not able to approach
near enough to lay hold of, without running great
risk of having his horse ripped — then a light spear,
acted on by the elasticity of the shaft's bending
with the hog's motion, will soon be extricated; or
if it should not, will give him so much pain that he
will stop and shake himself to effect it. The best
kind of shafts are hill bamboos which have no hol-
low, and, if naturally straight, they are more valu-
able than if straightened by the force of fire, (which
makes them stiff,) nor should they be very taper for
the same reason, and because it would occasion
the balance to be too near the point. Some sports-
men insert the small end of the shaft into the
ferrule of the spear, and use no leaden ferrule at
the top, which has the same effect as the ferrule,
causing the balance to be farther from the point
of the spear; the great objection to this is their
frequently breaking close to the ferrule, where the
greatest strength is required. Shafts are also
made with splitted pieces of cane bound round
with coarse silk, or slips of raw hide, and var-
nished ; these are chiefly made at Benares and

BOAR SPEARS. 233

Bnxar. The next best kind to bamboos are
such as are made of Singeree Damen, which
wood, as also solid bamboos, may be procured in
most parts of the jungle-terre^ or range of hills
from Monghier to Nagpore.

The spear represented in Plate II. fig. 1. is of
a larger size, and is better calculated for hunting
alone, or jabbing : it will do more execution than
the one represented in Plate I., but is not so easily
extricated from the hog, and will make the arm
ache to carry it many hours. I always bound
some coarse silk or twine round the shaft at the
part where it balances, (which may be seen in
Plate I. fig. 1.) by which it is more easily carried,
and unnecessary to poise before throwing. The
shaft should be about six inches longer than is
represented in Plate I. fig. 1.

Plate II. fig. 2. is a spear that is preferred by
many hog hunters, being broader and thinner
than fig. 1., and capable of receiving a sharper
edge, which, however, is more liable to be injured,
and to cut the horse's sides, and therefore I
prefer the others.

234 SPEARS.

For hunting bears, hyenas, and all animals
whose skins are lax, the broader may answer
better than the others.

Sections of the spears may be seen in the
plates.

CHAP. XV.

USE OF THE SPEAR. BEST HORSES FOR THE SPORT ;

AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THEM WHEN HUNT-
ING. SADDLES, &C. PRECAUTION TO HUNTERS.

HAVING, as well as I am able, described the best
kind of spears to be used, I will now endeavour
to point out how they should be used.

All who wish to become hog hunters, should
first practice throwing a spear, on foot, which
requires some dexterity to do well. They should
first balance the spear, laying hold of it loosely, at
the part where it balances, with the fingers and
thumb, (as represented in Plate III. fig. 2.) carry-
ing it back as far behind the head as possible,
and then throwing it in an elevated direction to
form nearly the third of a circle by the time it
reaches the object thrown at — supposing it to be
about twenty yards off. When thrown properly,
it will pitch on the point of the spear, penetrate
the ground, and remain nearly erect. A dexterous
spearsman will throw it from twenty to thirty yards
and make it always stick in the ground. I have

236 THROWING THE SPEAR.

seen some throw it farther; but a novice will riot
be able to throw it ten yards, and make it stick
in the ground. This is of very great conse-
quence when following the sport, as a great deal
depends on throwing the spear well ; if it misses
the hog, and does not stick into the ground, the
rider must dismount to pick it up, and by the
time he has remounted, hogs often escape : if it is
thrown badly and strikes the hog, it does little
execution. It distinguishes a bad hog hunter
from a good one; therefore, to follow and enjoy
the sport, it is absolutely necessary to acquire the
method of throwing a spear well. After having
learnt how to throw it on foot, it should be prac-
tised on horseback, both when the horse is still
arid at full speed; the difference of force required
is only to be learnt by experience : if a just allow-
ance for the speed of the horse be not given, the
spear will not hit the object aimed at. The more
perpendicularly a spear enters a hog, the deeper
it will penetrate, having the weight of the spear
in addition to the force it is thrown with, which
gives a great advantage to gentlemen mounted
on high horses.

When near enough, I would always aim at the

THROWING THE SPEAR. 237

back of the hog, about the loins ; in that part the
spear penetrates easily to a great depth ; there, a
slight wound disables, and a severe one is certain
of bringing him to the ground.* Captain Wil-
liamson recommends aiming at the shoulder to
wound the heart : to hit that pail, the spear must
be thrown in an horizontal direction, which can-
not be done with much force, and it will there
meet with substantial bones, which, in all proba-
bility, will prevent it from penetrating far. He
says, that he has known a spear go through both
shoulder blades, a circumstance, I conceive to be
almost impossible; for I cannot imagine, that any
person on horseback, can be capable of throwing
a spear at an animal running, that is much lower
than himself, so horizontally, as to go through

* My differing in opinion with, explaining or correcting
any errors in Captain Williamson's book, on the sport of hog
hunting, I hope will not be attributed to any invidious
motive ; he was a very old acquaintance of mine, for
whom I had much esteem, and should be exceedingly sorry
not to allow him every credit he deserves for the laborious
and interesting account he has given of the sports in India,
and the customs of the natives, &c. &c. &c. ; and I lament
that he is not in being, that I might make the communica-
tions to him, before I offered them to the public.

238 JABBING.

both shoulders ; if it be thrown with the force
requisite, it must form a greater angle. It may
easily be done, when a hog is lying on his side.
Nearly the same objections as the foregoing may
be made to aiming at the side or head, that is,
of meeting with bone ; but it must be acknow-
ledged, that sportsmen are sometimes glad to hit
any where to bring him to bay. Whenever deli-
berate aim can be taken, according to my judg-
ment, the loins is the best part to aim at.

When hunting with a party, I disapprove of
jabbing the spear into a hog, (that is, spearing
a hog, and not quitting your hold of the spear;)
it is attended with considerable danger of dislo-
cating the shoulder, and prevents all the rest of
the party from participating in the sport; the
horse and rider are more liable to be ripped, and
it requires no dexterity, comparatively with
throwing the spear, though more resolution and
strength of arm ; and it is not considered a fair
method of sporting. When alone, it is fair to
jab, and the only means by which you have much
chance of killing hogs; for if you throw your
spear, it may miss, and if it should hit, it may be
carried off into cover, and broken, or lost, which

THROWING THE SPEAR. 239

are sufficient reasons for giving jabbing the pre-
ference when you are thus situated.

Whenever a person is following a hog, and
others are near behind, it is expected that he will
deliver his spear the instant he approaches near
enough, that they may have a chance of throwing
theirs ; if he does not throw it soon, he will be
hurried by their calling to him to deliver, and if
he then delays, he will run the risk of being
jostled by another riding on between him and the
hog, which is attended with danger to both.

Agreeably to my experience, the best distance
for delivering a spear, is when the hunter is about
six feet behind the hog, and nearly as much to
his left, which is sufficiently near to enable you
to spear him with effect, and to turn your horse
to the left immediately after having delivered the
spear, avoiding his charge, and preventing him
from ripping your horse.

No good hog hunter will ever attempt to throw
his spear from the right side of a hog, unless he
is left handed, in which case, he will have an
advantage over others; but it is always dangerous

240 MANAGEMENT OP HORSES.

to throw a spear, when another person is near
the hog on the opposite side. It is also highly
improper to throw a spear across the left arm,
and horse's neck, which cannot be done with
much force, without quitting the seat of the
saddle, losing the balance and command of the
bridle to turn the horse instantly to the opposite
side, and thereby running great risk of having
the horse ripped.

When a hog charges in front, and you have
no way, or wish, to escape from him, face your
horse to him, and, by means of your spurs and
curb, keep him in constant motion, as if he were
in the pillars — the horse will then be prepared,
and, although never taught to do it, he will, of his
own accord, rise on his hind legs, and leap over
the hog as he charges, and the spear may be
thrown into him at the time. — (The proper posi-
tion may be seen in Plate IV.)

Horses should have good mouths, Und be well
on their haunches for this sport, qualities Indian
horses generally possess, and when* they do not,
they should be trained to them, by being rode
with severe bits, and exercised between pillars.

MANAGEMENT OF HORSES. 241

The best position for riding them, is between the
manage and the hunter's seat ; their bridles should
be double bitted, long and severe ; the snaffle
rein should be tied up on the horse's neck, and
only the curb used ; the stirrups should be short
enough to enable you to rise on them a few inches
above the saddle, which should seldom be done ;
but it is requisite they should be short, that, when
in the attitude of delivering the spear, you may
be able to sit back on the saddle, and have a firm
rest on the stirrups, which should then be more
forward than at other times, forming the point of
resistance to the force used in throwing the spear,
which will prevent the body from being carried
forward with it ; at the same time, it is indispen-
sably necessary that the muscles of the legs and
thighs should be exerted to keep a firm seat. —
(The position may be seen in Plate III. fig. 1.)

Unfortunately, many hog hunters pay more
attention to the hog, and the delivery of their
spear, than to themselves and their horses, and
have many mined which might be saved by a
little more attention to the latter, which also
would prevent many falls. I would much rather
miss a hog, or not throw my spear, lhan have a
fall, or my horse ripped. I do not consider that

R

242 POSITION FOR THROWING.

person the best sportsman who kills most hogs,
but he who kills the greatest number with the
least risk. Young sportsmen are very apt to rise
in their stirrups at the time of delivering their
spears, and it is an equal chance that they follow
them to the ground. From habit, some old hog
hunters bend forward when they deliver their
spears ; though it is evidently a bad practice, they
will not be convinced of it, because they can kill
hogs ; it throws them off their balance, and they
cannot, in that position, be so well prepared to
receive the hog's charge, nor can they throw the
spear with the force they might be able, if they
sat back firm on the saddle. On the other hand,
a person may sit in too stiff a position, and be
liable to receive a considerable wrench in the
loins from the horse turning suddenly, or from the
hog charging unexpectedly, which I, as well as
many others, have experienced.

The best position, and also method of throwing
a spear, can only be learnt by practice, yet these
few hints may enable the inexperienced to acquire
it sooner, and save them some falls. Good hog
hunters fall occasionally with their horses, but
seldom if ever without them.

Whenever a spear is jabbed into a hog, it

JABBING. 243

should be held in such a manner, as to resist a
small force, but allowed to give way and slip
through the hand when the force is great, or
there would be danger of having the shoulder
dislocated: few men have sufficient strength to
resist the charge of a large boar, whose efforts
are very strong, though holding a spear in the
animal's body, unless it be inserted into some vital
part. If the hog should not exert his strength
immediately on being jabbed with a spear, the
hunter should shift his hand as near as possible
to the end of the shaft, by which he will have a
long powerful lever to act on, and which the hog
will not easily be able to overcome; by then
forcing it into the hog, and pressing it downwards
laterally, he may be upset; but if the person
should find his strength not equal to this, or to
keep the hog off from his horse, he should
instantly quit his hold, spurring and turning his
horse from the hog ; probably the wound which
he has received will in a very short time lessen his
strength, and then the spear may be again laid
hold of ; however, to do this, he must be guided
by circumstances which cannot well be laid down
in writing. — A wounded boar is a very formidable
animal, and it is often much better to let him

R2

244 NUMBER OF SPEARS NECESSARY.

escape, than to run the risk of being made a
cripple.

Every hunter should take with him at least
four spears ; one he should always carry himself,
and the other three should be distributed among
his most active servants; if any one of them
should be mounted, he will be of infinite service by
carrying one of the spears. I shall here give a cau-
tion to all young hog hunters, that it is dangerous
ever to allow servants to give them spears from
horses' backs ; they should always stick them into
the ground where they may be readily laid hold of.
I have known many serious accidents happen from
spears being given by people on horseback when
the horses were heated, full of spirit, and im-
patient to follow a chase, (they are often more
anxious for the sport than their riders,) and it may
happen from the hog's charging at the time.

I have had three spears rendered useless in the
pursuit of one hog ; sometimes their points are
broken off, or bent in the ground, or by being
thrown against bones ; at other times the shafts
are broken by the hog's running with them into
cover. I have sometimes seen them pull them

PRECAUTION TO HUNTERS. 245

out with their teeth, grinding the wood to pieces.
I once saw a hog shake a spear out of his back
several feet perpendicularly in the air.

For this sport saddles, bridles, stirrup-leathers,
and girts, ought to be of the best materials, and
not old. Though new, and of European manu-
facture, entire confidence ought not to be placed
in their strength ; for in India insects frequently
destroy the sewing thread of the bridles, stirrup-
leathers, saddle-straps, or girts, in one night :
therefore gentlemen ought always to make a
point of examining these tilings before they mount
their horses. Should any of them give way
during a chase, serious falls may be the conse-
quence, which would be prevented by the above
precaution.

I recommend every gentleman to have a spare
stirrup-leather tightly fastened round his waist.
I have found it of great service for preventing a
stitch in the side, which the violent exertions of
the sport often bring on> and it may be of great
service if either of the others should break or
give way.

CHAP. XVI.

METHODS OF HOG HUNTING. — SEARCHING FOR HOGS.

I SHALL now proceed with an account of the usual
methods of hunting hogs at the different seasons,
commencing with the first months of the year.

In January, February, and part of March, they
are more frequently to be met with in sugar
canes* than in any other covers ; in them they
find a sheltered retreat, with plenty of food which
they are remarkably fond of. In this season the
ricef is nearly all cut, water scarce, and the

* Plantations of the sugar plant in India are denominated
canes.

f I have used the word rice, agreeably to its general
acceptation, which is not correct ; for rice, when growing,
has a different name, and is called, in Hindostan, Dhaun ;
the seeds, when separated from the plant, are called Paddy,
and when freed from their husks, Choul, which is, in the
English language, rice.

SEARCHING FOR HOGS. 247

ground so hard that they cannot easily turn it up
to search for roots and insects. Should there be
any swamp near the canes, you may be almost
certain of finding hogs in them, and marks of
their grooting* and feet may be seen in the moist
ground, which, by the size and depth of the im-
pressions, will enable you to judge if there are any
large boars among them. It is prudent to recon-
noitre the country the day before hunting, for this
purpose, to examine the canes, which are gene-
rally surrounded with a frithwork of thorns ; if
hogs frequent them, it will be discovered by the
manner those fences are broken down. Although
this is the usual method of ascertaining if there are
any hogs in the canes, it is not always to be
depended on ; the fences are sometimes nearly all
destroyed by hogs, and marks of their feet and
grooting are visible in eveiy moist place, yet a
hog is not to be found in them. In this case,
they feed on these canes at night, and go to some
other cover where they think themselves more

* Grooting is a term used by hog-hunters for the places
where they have been muzzling the earth in search of insects
and roots. Whether it is a corruption of grubbing, or
griting, I know not. In Devonshire the word groot is used
by all farmers and peasants for dry earth.

248 SEARCHING FOR HOGS.

secure during the day, which is often the case
near heavy wood, or grass jungles. When there
are only two or three gaps in the fences, it is more
probable hogs will be found there, than when they
are nearly all broken down, as it indicates that
they do not often quit them. I have frequently
known the fences to be apparently perfect all
round a sugar cane, and, nevertheless, have found
a large herd of hogs in it, with a considerable
portion of the cane destroyed ; which I think may
be attributed to their never having quitted it
after they first entered.

CHAP. XVII,

BEATING CANES FOR HOGS.

WHEN it is determined what canes are to be
beaten, a number of people should be collected
agreeably to the size of the canes, with a pro-
portionable number carrying noisy instruments.
It is desirable to have more than a sufficient
number of people to form a line across the cane,
allowing two or three yards between each person ;
for they never keep at a regular distance from
each other as they go through them ; and if they
are separated, when they see or hear a large boar,
they run towards one another and collect into
groups, leaving intervals which the hogs see. and
pass through, after which it is difficult to make
them quit the cane, for they become bold and
charge through the line of people, and often rip
them severely.

Captain Williamson observes that a cane Ire-

250 OBTAINING MEN FOR BEATING.

quently occupies fifty or sixty acres of ground.
I have seldom seen any of half that size; the
average I take to be from three to ten acres.
In the upper provinces of Bengal, canes some-
times continue for a mile or more in extent, with
intermediate spots between every five or six
acres, cultivated with grain, or lying waste.
These canes seldom exceed a hundred and fifty
or two hundred yards in breadth, running by the
side of a water-course, river, or lake, and therefore
do not require more beaters than a square cane
of four acres ; but it is considerably more difficult
to get hogs clear off from them, as they keep
running backwards and forwards from one cane to
another, and the distance between each is seldom
sufficient to enable hunters to spear them; therefore
it requires some able manoeuvring with the men
to cut off their retreat, and oblige them to quit
such canes. It is customary to apply to the head
men of villages for people to beat the covers ;
if they find it is to beat their own canes, they
will seldom supply them without an order from a
Civil servant of the district ; (it should, however,
be understood that a present will have the same
influence in India, as it has in all other parts of
the world,) — if it is to beat canes belonging to

OBTAINING MEN FOR BEATING. 251

other people, they will readily assist, because
they wish to have the hogs destroyed, and their
reluctance to assist in beating their own, arises
from the injury they generally see done to them,
by the beaters breaking them down and eating
the cane. If not well looked after, they will
be chewing cane all the time they are in it, which
makes it necessary to have a servant between
every eight or ten men.

Although the injury done to canes by hogs
residing in them, is ten times as great as the
the injury done by beating them, it is often not
seen or discovered until the cane is cut — the hogs
generally lying in the central part, and eating it
in detached places. Sometimes they will eat it
bare for a considerable space round the spot
where they lie, which is generally, though not
always, discovered; yet I have known them to
destroy nearly half an acre of cane in this man-
ner without its being known to the proprietor
that a hog was in it — (so he protested.) For
the foregoing reasons, I consider the most effec-
tual procedure to be, to apply for people Jiving at
a distance from the canes you intend beating, and
if it be from towns or large villages, you will be
more likely to succeed in getting the number you

252 PAYING THE CANE BEATERS.

wish, than if you sought for them nearer, or in
smaller villages. This disagrees with Captain
Williamson's statement in his book on Indian
Sports, (page 8,) where he says, that "When
the villagers have canes and corn standing, they
are all activity, and afford every aid to facilitate
the progress of the sport, but when their pro-
perty is secured, they become selfish in the ex-
treme." I have always experienced the reverse
of this, and I believe most other Europeans have
done the same. Zemeendars, and other pro-
prietors of sugar canes, will endeavour all they
can to persuade you there are no hogs in their
canes, and at the same time induce you to believe
that there are plenty in canes at a distance, or in
their neighbours' ; and I have always found them
ready to assist in beating grass or wood jungles.

When the people are all assembled, they
should be counted, and a small square piece of
English writing-paper, given to each person,
which he must produce after the sport is over, to
receive his hire, three or four pice,* according to

* A pice is an Indian copper coin, about the value of a
halfpenny.

PREPARING FOR BEATING. 253

his size. One or two extra are given to men
who carry instruments. After having received
the paper, many of them will take the first op-
portunity of slinking back to their village, and
appear again when the sport is over, at the time
of distributing the money : to counteract this,
they are sometimes mustered in the middle of
the day's sport, the papers received back, and
returned to them with a pencil mark on each,
and none are paid who do not produce the
marked paper.

When arrived at the cane to be beaten, all
small children should be driven back, and the
men arranged at the opposite side of the cane to
where it is wished the hogs should come out;
they should be on the inside of the thorn fence,
with the gentlemen's servants regularly distributed
between them. They should commence beating
all at the same time, making as much noise as
possible. The hunters should place themselves
in such a manner as to have every part of the
cane watched, and every one should be in sight
of another to give the signal to, whenever a hog-
breaks cover, which is done by taking off the
hunting cap, and pointing it in the direction the

254 TO AVOID LOSING HOGS.

hog has taken ; (a flourish of the cap round the
head indicates it to be a large boar) — this signal
is repeated to the next, and so on until it is made
known to all. They should take their stands
fifteen or twenty yards from the edge of the cane,
behind a tree, or bush, if there is any; at all
events, as much out of sight as possible, and not
ride after a hog as soon as he breaks cover,
particularly if he is proceeding towards an open
country, but let him go quietly off one or two
hundred yards, that he may not be induced to
return to the same cane, from which it is often
difficult to start him a second time, and by
waiting, the other sportsmen will be close after :
many hogs are lost from too much eagerness.

It is always advisable that one or two sports-
men, according to the number that are out,
should remain behind for a few minutes, to see if
any more hogs break cover ; if there should not,
and a large part of the cane has not been gone
through by the beaters, their proceeding and
making a noise should be stopped, until the hog
pursued is killed or lost, when they should re-
commence beating. I have known all the
gentlemen ride off after a small boar, and no

LOSING LARGER HOGS. 255

sooner were they out of sight and hearing than
several very large ones came out, when not a
mounted person was near to spear or ride after
them, and observe to what covers they went.

CHAP. XVIII.

HOG HUNTING — MANCEUVRES OF HOGS — ADVICE
TO HUNTERS.

IT is difficult to imagine or express the anxiety
a keen sportsman feels when sitting on his horse
near a sugar cane, hearing the beaters call-
ing out " Burr ah Suer" (a large boar,) and
perhaps at the same instant, hearing his grunt,
and the crashing of the cane as he dashes on
before them through it, expecting every moment
to see him come out. I have often been thus
situated, and have trembled all over as if I were
in a cold fit of an ague, which did not arise from
fear, but from extreme anxiety, which went off
the moment the hog made his appearance.

When a hog has proceeded to what is con-
sidered a sufficient distance from a cane, the
nearest hunter should follow him at a good rate,
and when he is off about a quarter of a mile, he
should put his horse out at full speed, pressing
him as much as possible, observing minutely his
motions. If he slackens his pace suddenly, and
at the same time flaps his ears to and fro, or is

AVOIDING THE CHARGE. 257

heard sharpening his tusks, they are certain signs
that he is waiting for an opportunity of making a
desperate charge at the horse, and if he be in
wind, it would be hazardous to withstand his
charge ; but if the hunter is determined to push
on and spear him, which is often necessaiy near
a heavy cover, by understanding and observing
his manoeuvres, he will be prepared for the
charge.

If the country is open and clear, I think it is
more prudent to draw in the horse, slackening
his pace agreeably to the hog's, keeping nearly
at the same distance from him, as he was before
he shewed signs of hostility : when he finds that
the horse does not come on as he expected, and
sees others following, he will be induced to
increase liis pace again, soon be out of wind, and
allow the hunter to ride up near him without
preparing to charge : then he should dash on at
full speed, and as soon as he arrives within a
proper distance, he should deliver his spear, and
turn his horse instantly off to the left. If there
are three other gentlemen following, the nearest
to the first should keep immediately behind him,
to take his place when he has delivered his spear ;
the other two should ride distant from each

258 HOGS ON BAD GROUND.

other, and wide of the hog, keeping him in a
line between them: he will then see them,
which will tend to prevent his turning about
towards the cane he started from; and if he
should, they will be ready to meet him. If he is
in bad ground, near to cover, and not in a good
situation for spearing, crossing him in front will
often bring him to bay, or draw him from his
course into better ground, where he can be more
easily speared. It is surprising to observe how
well they are acquainted with all the bad ground
in the country. If there is any rotten ground —
gounchies,* ravines, or other inequalities in the
ground near their route, they will certainly go
through them. Rather than cross a plain of
half a mile extent, they will prefer a circuitous
route of two or three miles over such ground :
where .there is not such to be met with, they will
generally make for the nearest bushes, or standing
grain they see, and then on to the next, diverg-
ing from a straight course; which makes it
difficult to ascertain for what place of security
they are making, particularly if their haunts
are not well known.

* Gounchies Dignify small hillocks, formed by the roots
of the surput grass, carrying the earth with them above
the surface.

ADVICE TO HUNTERS. 259

Following them over rotten ground is the
most dangerous part of the sport. It is not
uncommon to see two or three horses tumble
at the same instant, going over ground to all
appearance perfectly even and smooth.* Such
ground, I imagine, is made hollow by a quantity
of saline matter in the earth being dissolved in
the rainy season, and carried off through cracks
or small holes in the turf, which otherwise
remains perfect, but gives way to the weight of
the horse, when he suddenly sinks to a consider-
able depth, and cannot avoid falling with the
rider.

* As severe falls from horses frequently occur in hog
hunting-, it is desirable that one of a party should be provided
with a lancet. Without presumption I may safely say, that
1 have saved many lives after such falls, by being enabled to
draw off blood immediately on the spot.

CHAP. XIX.

SAGACITY AND CUNNING OF HOGS. — HIDING IN

CANES.

ALTHOUGH hogs appear to be heavy and stupid,
they somewhat resemble the elephant, in possess-
ing more sagacity and cunning than most other
animals, and often out-manceuvre the most ex-
perienced sportsman. Although there are in-
stances to the contrary, it may be considered
their general custom, that when they are fairly
off from a sugar cane, where they resided only
for a time to feed, they never stop long in any
cover, between that cane and their general place
of resort; therefore, whenever a hog enters
another cane, or any kind of cover, the hunter
should ride round as quickly as possible to
the opposite side, to observe where he breaks
through ; it is necessary that he should keep out
of sight, for when the hog arrives at the edge
of the cane, or cover, (which he will in a sur-
prisingly short time,) he always takes a survey
before he ventures out, and if he sees his pursuer,
he will most probably turn about and break in

HOGS HIDING IN CANES. 261

some other quarter, or remain for some time in
the cane. Whenever he meets with water, or
mud, he will wallow in it and refresh himself
considerably. I have known them to stop in
lakes, small tanks, or other stagnant water that
has had grass or leaves on its surface, and hide
themselves so completely, by keeping their
bodies under water, with their snouts only above
among the leaves, that no person could have
discovered them who did not see them go into it
and lie down, and I am confident they often
escape from their pursuers by such means.

CHAP. XX.

ANECDOTES OF HOGS AND HOG-HUNTERS. — CHARGES

OF HOGS. THEIR COURAGE AND FEROCITY.

HOG IN A VILLAGE ; BROUGHT TO BAY AND SHOT.

HOGS, at the season I am now describing, are ge-
nerally in good condition, and cannot run either
fast or far without being blown, and therefore
may be soon speared ; however, there are excep-
tions to this, for some may be found that are thin
and run well. Old boars, that are not fat,
frequently will not run away from the hunters,
but stand at bay, charging every horse that comes
near them. Such hogs afford excellent sport,
and it requires a bold and experienced hunter
and horse to kill them. If the rider shows the
least timidity, the horse is sensible of it, and is
soon infected. I have seen a horse that was
considered an excellent hog hunter, from being
rode by a timid person, who checked him when
he expected to be dashed on to the charge,
instead of receiving the hog's charge as he ought,
and had been accustomed to do, wheel about
in a half rear, and set off at full speed in a
contrary direction from the hog, and could not be
stopped for two or three miles.

ANECDOTES OF HOGS. 263

Sometimes hunters take their stand too near a
cane that is beating, and have their horses
suddenly and unexpectedly ripped.

I remember a horse that was thought one of
the best hog hunters in the country, being so much
alarmed by such a circumstance, that he could
never after be made go near a hog. When I was
once trying for hogs in a bulrush jungle, not far
from Calcutta, an elderly gentleman came out in
a tonjohn, (a kind of open chair carried by four
men at a time — he had twelve with him to relieve
one another,) to see the sport : he was frequently
cautioned to keep farther off from the jungle, but
he would not attend to it : at last several hogs
bolted at the same instant close to the tonjohn,
upset it with the old gentleman and several of
his carriers into the mud, which created much
laughter and amusement at the time, and was a
sore subject with the gentleman ever after.

I was one of a party of eight gentlemen, on a
sporting excursion at Lye, near the city of Patna,
on the banks of the Soane river. Returning one
morning from shooting, we met with a very large
boar in a rhur, which we did not fire at, or
molest, as several of the gentlemen were very fond

264 CHARGES OF A HOG.

of hunting them, and we had no spears with us.
The next morning we all sallied forth in search
of him, and just as we arrived at the spot where
we saw him the day before, we discovered him at
some distance, trotting off towards a grass jungle,
on the banks of the river: we pressed on our
horses as fast as possible, and were nearly up
with him, when he disappeared all at once; our
horses were then nearly at their full speed, and
four of them could not be pulled up in time to
prevent their going into a deep branch of the
river, the banks of which were at least fourteen
or fifteen feet high : luckily for us, there was no
water in it, or any thing but fine sand, and no
person was hurt; one of the horses, which was
very vicious, got loose, attacked the others, and
obliged all the gentlemen to quit them, and walk
to their tents, where one of the horses had arrived
before them, and the rest were soon caught. A
few days after this, we went again early in the
morning in pursuit of the same hog, and found
him farther off from the grass jungle, in a rhur
field, from which, with much difficulty, we drove
him into a plain, where he stood at bay, chal-
lenging the whole party, boldly charging eveiy
horse that came within fifty yu-ds of him,
grunting loudly as he advanced. I was then a

ATTACK OF OLD AND YOUNG BOARS. 265

novice in the sport, but I have never since seen
any hog charge so fiercely. The horse I rode
would not go near him, and when I was at a con-
siderable distance off, he charged another horse
with such ferocity, that mine reared and plunged
in such a violent manner, as to throw me off:
two or three others were dismounted nearly at
the same time, and although there were many
horses present that had been long accustomed to
the sport, not one of them would stand his
charge : he fairly drove the whole party off the
field, and gently trotted on to the grass jungle,
(foaming and grinding his tusks), through which
it was impossible to follow or drive him from.

From the boldness of this boar, he might be
thought to be old, but from the activity he dis-
played, I consider him to have been in the prime
of his vigour. Old boars are generally the most
savage, and often attack people without the least
provocation, and when hunted, are soon brought
to bay ; but the charges of such as are only three
or four years old are the most desperate, owing to
the vigour they possess, and the sharpness of
their tusks.

The largest boar I have ever seen killed, was

266 COURAGE AND FEROCITY OF HOGS

extremely old and thin; he measured, in height
to the top of the shoulder, forty-three inches, and
his tusks were ten inches long; he was fierce,
but shewed little sport, owing to his taking shelter
in a thick rhur field, from which we could not
drive him. Two very large greyhounds were
slipped to him ; one of them he instantly killed,
and the other he severely wounded. A random
spear, thrown by a gentleman who did not see
him distinctly at the time, struck him in the head,
and he fell dead without receiving any other
wound.

Whenever a boar is found in company with a
single sow, he is fiercer than at any other time,
and will seldom run from the hunters. I have
known them to quit the sow, allowing her to go
on, lie down, and wait behind a bush out of sight,
arid as soon as one of the hunters approached,
sally forth with a desperate charge at him. Per-
haps no animal possesses more courage than the
wild hog. Although it is almost incredible, I
have several times seen young pigs, not three
months old, charge horses and elephants ; harm-
less as such charges must be, it shows their natural
courage and ferocity. I have never heard a wild
boar cry, although I have seen them put to the

HOG RETREATING INTO A VILLAGE. 267

greatest tortures. After receiving seven or eight
spears into their bodies, I have known them dodge
about from one small spot of cultivation or cover
to another, for hours, charging the hunters upon
every opportunity. They never give up but with
their lives, nor do they ever appear to suffer
pain : an instance of which happened when I
was hunting them, in company with several other
gentlemen, in the neighbourhood of Gyah. Early
in the morning, I slightly speared a large boar in
one of his hind legs, which disabled him from run-
ning off to any large cover ; he dodged about from
one field of grain to another for several hours,
charging every horse that came near him ; one of
them he severely ripped. I am certain that more
than fifty spears were thrown at him ; yet he re-
ceived only two or three wounds ; but he was so
wearied, that he ran to a large village, and into
the first house for shelter, driving the inhabitants
out : as soon as he was forced to quit one house,
he entered another : in this mariner he continued
through a great part of the village. In many of
the houses, we were obliged to remove the thatch
on the top of them to start him ; at last he took
possession of a court that was surrounded with a
wall on three sides, and a house on the other, and
laid down just in the centre, too far from the

268 HOG AT BAY IN A COURT.

wall or house to be speared from either, and we
could not enter the court on horseback. Whilst
we were consulting what was best to be done to
get him out, a native servant belonging to one of
the gentlemen present, denominated a Belchaba-
dar,* dressed in muslin, with a fine pink coloured
turban, boldly volunteered to drive him out, and
as soon as he entered the court, with his spear
pointing towards the hog, he received a desperate
charge; fortunately for him, the hog's tusk en-
tangled in his cumberband^ which, giving way,
preserved his body : the hog was much too high
to pass between his legs, and he was carried off on
the hog's back, through the door way, for about
forty yards, safely lodged in a drain, and com-
pletely covered with mud, to the great amuse-
ment of all the party. The hog finding no place
of safe retreat, returned by a circuitous route to
the same court. The head man of the village
then came to us, and requested, as a favour, that
we would allow him to be shot, representing that
he had wounded several of the people he had
driven out of their houses, and that the rest were

* Belchabadar signifies " Silver spear bearer."
f Cumberland is a narrow cloth, of eight or ten yards
long, worn by the natives, bound tightly round their waists.

SHOOTING A HOG. 269

so much alarmed, that they had all quitted their
homes. On inquiry, we found it to be true that
two people had been slightly cut, and therefore
consented to his being shot, which was immedi-
ately done.

CHAP. XXI.

SOW-HUNTING. — ANECDOTE OF THE ATTACK OF A
SOW. — HUNTING PIGS. — BEATING COVERS FOR
THEM.

Sows are seldom so fat as boars, and having no
tusks, do not generally charge the hunters or
afford them much sport ; they therefore are seldom
followed when there are plenty of the latter to
be met with. When boars are scarce, sportsmen
are glad to pursue a fat sow; their venison is
superior to boars', which is sometimes tainted with
a rankness common to male animals ;* yet their
flesh in general is considered much better than
the flesh of any tame swine, or of any animal
that I have ever tasted.

Sows run faster than boars, and sooner quit

* Which in a great measure maybe prevented by perform-
ing an operation as soon as the animal can be laid hold of
with safety — or before he is cold.

ANECDOTE OF A SOW. 271

the covers, unless they have young ones with
them : they are more frequently jabbed, as being
the most expeditious way of killing them, which
however is sometimes attended with injury to the
hunter, or his horse, their bite being very severe :
if wounded they will attack both horse and rider,
rise on their hind legs, and bite at the hunter's
thighs, legs, or feet, or run under the horse's
belly, attacking his hind quarters between the
thighs, or lay hold of one of his legs, throwing
him down. I have witnessed many instances of
people being severely bitten by them — one I re-
collect happened near the village of Lye, as
follows : — A gentleman, who is now in India, and
myself, in pursuing a sow, came to the commence-
ment of a deep ravine ; he being nearest to the
sow, followed her ; I rode on the opposite side, to
be ready to pursue her if she crossed ; he soon
overtook and jabbed his spear into her ; she then
attacked the horse, which reared and enabled her
to lay hold of the gentleman's foot with her teeth,
which she held fast, pulling with all her strength ;
the horse at the same time was rearing from the
hog, causing the gentleman excruciating pain,
which was distressing to see, and which was in-
creased by my hearing him call for me to come
to his assistance, which was impossible, owing to

272 HUNTING PIGS.

the great depth of the ravine. In a few minutes
the top of his boot gave way, with part of his
great toe nail, the agony of which producing faint-
ness, gave the sow an opportunity of getting clear
off, with the spear in her back. It was a long
time before I could find a place to cross the ra-
vine, to assist my friend, and then it was too late
to follow the sow, she having reached a heavy
cover.

Young pigs, under three months old, are of a
dark brown colour, with faint yellow stripes,
running lengthwise, which disappear gradually
as they grow older, until their skins become per-
fectly black. They are excellent food when
roasted, and are often killed by dogs, but are
seldom or never speared. Many gentlemen take out
with them country grey-hounds, for the purpose
of killing them, and village dogs generally acT
company the beaters, which by good sportsmen
is never wished, as they do considerably more
mischief than good, by preventing hogs from
breaking through covers, and by being in the
way of the hunters when in the act of spearing,
causing hogs to be unsteady, and constantly
shifting their course. Although hogs may gener-
ally be found in sugar-canes at this season, it

BEATING COVERS FOR PIGS. 273

sometimes happens they are not so, in which
case, if there are any small covers of wood or
grass near them, they should be beaten; for, as
I have before observed, they often repose in them,
and feed on the canes at night.

CHAP. XXII.

HOG HUNTING IN THE SECOND QUARTER OF THE

YEAR. SHOOTING HOGS FROM ELEPHANTS.

DRIVING OLD BOARS FROM THEIR MARSHY
RETREATS.

FROM March to the end of June, the weather is
so extremely hot, that hogs are seldom hunted on
horseback: they are more frequently killed by
being shot from elephants. At this season, most
of them go into extensive heavy bunds,* near
the bottoms of mountains, and the remainder
repair to other large wood, surput^ ratan, jow,
or dagger-grassj jungles that are nearer, which
are often so large, that they cannot be driven out

* Bund signifies a heavy extensive cover either of wood,
or a mixture of grass and wood.

f Surput, or tassel-grass, is a kind of grass resembling
Guinea-grass, and grows to the height of from six to twelve
feet.

J Dagger-grass is a species of bulrush, very common in
Bengal, particularly in the lower parts, near Calcutta : mats
are made of it by the natives, and with it they build the
sides of their huts.

OLD BOARS IN MARSHES. 275

of them to be speared, but are frequently shot
in them from the backs. of elephants. They are
now and then to be met with in grass plains,
but finding them in such situations at this season
is so rare and uncertain, that it is seldom at-
tempted. The best method of hunting them at
this period, is to find out any water or swampy
places to which they resort for food, and cut off their
retreating to their jungle haunts at day break.
Sometimes, at this season of the year, old boars
may be found in bushy covers surrounding old
tanks, where they cool themselves in the heat of
the day, and feed at night; from such places
they may be easily driven, as these covers are
generally of small extent. I am inclined to
think that when they become aged, they do not
like to live in heavy covers, where they often
meet with enemies of the forest to encounter, and
therefore prefer a quieter retreat, with the food
which all tame swine are fond of, and of which
there is no scarcity in such situations, though I
have often heard it asserted that wild hogs will
not eat such food. They may occasionally be met
with in small patches of surput, dagger-grass, or
other jungles near rivers or other marshy places,
from which they may likewise be driven out and
speared.

T 2

CHAP. XXIII.

HUNTING IN MAY AND JUNE, NOT PRACTICABLE

IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE HEAT. SHOOTING

HOGS. CATCHING THEM IN NETS. HOGS IN

PAWN-GARDENS.

IN March and April they are generally in good
condition, but in May and June, most of them are
lean, and run so fast as to astonish Europeans
who have never seen them before, and who
estimate their speed by what they know of tame
swine. They are sometimes driven out of jungles
by setting them on fire : in this case, they are
usually shot or caught in nets, the weather being
too hot, with the increased heat of the surrounding
atmosphere from the fire, for people to undergo
the violent exercise of hunting them on horseback
with spears. In the lower parts of Bengal, they
frequently inhabit pawn* gardens, which are

* Pawn gardens are enclosures made with strong bam-
boos, covered on the top with a lattice work, on which the
betel plants spread their leaves : these leaves are used to
enclose spices, gum kino, lime, and tobacco, which the
natives chew, and are called pawns.

HOGS IN PAWN-GARDENS. 277

almost impervious to the rays of the sun, and are
moist at the bottom, where they find plenty of
grubs, and other insects to feed on ; but there is
no means of getting them out of these gardens
excepting by dogs, and the country for the most
part near the gardens is too much enclosed to
afford good sport to hog hunters.

CHAP XXIV.

HOG HUNTING IN THE RAINY SEASON. DRIVEN

INTO SMALLER COVERS IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE
OVERFLOWING OF THE RIVERS. HOGS IN MEA-
DOW GRASS.

THE rainy season generally sets in about the
middle of June ; from that time to the middle of
July, hogs chiefly remain in the same covers they
previously inhabited, but feed more in open plains,
and where people are preparing ground for culti-
vation. They may be easily intercepted and
hunted, as they return to their covers in the
mornings.

In July, many of the grass and j ow jungles on
islands in the Ganges, or on its banks, and on the
banks of the Dawah, Soane, and other great
rivers, on the island of the Cosumbazar, and many
other parts of Bengal, are partly overflown,
reducing the covers to so small a size, that hogs
may be easily driven out of them. Many are en-
tirely overflown, obliging all animals to quit them,
and seek shelter in smaller covers, in the neigh-

HOGS IN MEADOW GRASS. 279

bourhood, from whence, by the facility with which
they are driven, they afford good sport, shooting
and hunting. A species of grass, somewhat like
the great meadow grass of this country, having
a more silky feel, grows on most of the large un-
cultivated plains in Bengal and Bahar, which is
cut about February, and put into ricks, or carried
to different towns and villages, to be sold for
thatching houses. It grows to the height of three
or four feet ; about the end of July, it is about two
feet high, arid affords hogs shelter, which they are
extremely fond of. They cut it down with their
teeth as if it were done with a scythe, and pile it
up into oblong heaps as regularly as thatch on
houses, which they creep under at one end, and
go out at the other, without disturbing the regu-
larity of the pile ; these we call their beds, in
which they are often found.

CHAP. XXV.

HOG HUNTING FROM JULY TO NOVEMBER.

DRIVING HOGS FROM THE PLAINS. — GREAT

SPEED OF THE HOG. RIVERS, DITCHES, &C.,

DANGEROUS IN THE PLAINS.

FROM July, to about the middle of November,
they resort chiefly to these plains, and hunters
seldom seek for them in any other covers. The
usual method of hunting them on these plains is
as follows: — The hunters ride thirty or forty
yards wide of each other, according to the num-
ber that are out, and thickness of the grass, with
their servants, led horses and elephants (if they
have any with them) between them in a regular
line, in which manner they proceed slowly and
slightly through the grass, until a boar starts up,
or one of their beds is seen : in the latter case a
signal is given, and they all draw near together,
when the person who first discovered it, rides up
by one of the sides of the bed, and either throws
his spear into it, or makes a noise, and drives the
hog out : if he rides up with his horse's side opposite

DITCHES IN THE PLAINS. 281

to the end of the bed, where the hog's head points,
he will run great risk of having his horse suddenly
ripped. Hogs have always places in their beds
to see through, which are not visible on the out-
side, and their motions are exceedingly rapid. If
the spear misses the hog and he takes off, two or
three hunters (agreeably to the number out)
should follow him immediately at full speed, in
the same manner as if he were started from a
sugar cane, leaving some sportsmen behind to
pursue others that may get up : — hogs being gre-
garious animals are seldom alone. At this season
they feed chiefly on grubs and roots, which they
find in the plains, but occasionally go far off at
night for rice and other grain, and return to the
grass plains in the morning, which keeps them
thin and in good wind ; and they run at a rate
that will keep a good hunter at his utmost speed
for two or three miles, and if they are not hard
pressed at first, they are seldom overtaken. For
many reasons, it is necessary to keep in constant
sight of them, which can be more easily done
before the grass attains its full height, than after-
wards, their backs being a little above the grass ;
but when it is full grown, they can only be traced
through it by the waving of the grass, excepting
in particular spots where it is thin or low.

282 HOGS DISAPPEARING SUDDENLY.

The plains are frequehtly intersected with
ditches, water courses, small rivers, and buffalo
pits, which are often not seen until approached
within a few yards, when perhaps too late to pre-
vent the horse from going headlong into them : it
is therefore necessary to watch the hog narrowly,
and if he is seen to take a leap, the hunter is
prepared for his horse doing the same ; if he sud-
denly disappears, by pulling in the horse in time,
the rider will be enabled to examine the cause of
his disappearing, and, in all probability, will dis-
cover that he is gone into a river, large drain,
or some such place, through which he will pro-
bably find the same way to pass as the hog ;
whereas, if he kept on at full speed, he would
run a great risk of breaking his horse's neck or
his own.

CHAP. XXVI.

HORSES FOR THIS SEASON MUST BE ABLE TO SWIM.

ANECDOTE PROVING THE NECESSITY OF IT.

MANNER OF GUIDING HORSES. ANECDOTES OF

CROSSING THE GANGES.

FOR hunting hogs at the time I have just
described, it is necessary that every hosre should
be accustomed to swim, and that their riders
should know how to manage them when swim-
ming. It frequently happens, in pursuing a hog,
that they have to cross small rivers which are not
fordable, or to ride through lakes where the water
in some places is so deep as to require the horse to
swim ; and sometimes when the country is nearly
all overflown, they ride into rivers without know-
ing it, which happened to myself in the Poon-
poon river, and, if I had not been able to swim,
I must have been drowned. When the horse
first entered the river, he sunk to a considerable
depth, and remained under water some seconds,
which obliged me to quit him ; he was an excel-
lent swimmer, and was caught several miles below
where he entered, and was brought to me three
days after by a villager. When horses go sud-

284 GUIDING A HORSE SWIMMING.

denly and unexpectedly into deep water, they will,
almost invariably, try to touch the bottom with
their hind feet before they strike off to swim : the
rider in such cases should be particularly cautious
not to pull the bridle, for the least touch will pull
the horse back, obliging the rider to quit the
saddle, and he will run a great risk of being in-
jured by the horse's feet. A horse that has never
swam before will often continue nearly in the same
place for a long time, beating the water with his
fore-feet, with his head nearly erect ; in such a
situation, the rider should rest forward his whole
weight on the horse's neck, urging him on : if the
rider is able to swim, he should quit the saddle,
holding fast by the mane, and strike out with his
legs as in swimming, which will induce the horse
to lower his head and strike forward : as soon as
he perceives that he makes way through the
water, he will go on violently, snorting all the
time, and if the rider is as much alarmed as the
horse, and does not guide him to a proper land-
ing-place, he may meet with difficulties insur-
mountable.

It is always the best plan to lay hold of the
horse's mane with the left hand, and the snaffle-
rein of the bridle with the right, which should

CROSSING THE GANGES. 285

never be pulled excepting to guide the horse,
and then very gently, by holding it as near the
horse's mouth as possible, pulling only on one side
at a time, as the horse may be required to go.
Horses that are much accustomed to swimming,
will continue at it for many miles without being
knocked up. The same horse that I rode into thf
river Poonpoon, would never remain for a minute
in a ferry-boat; for as soon as he wras in, he
would leap out of it into the water on the opposite
side, in defiance of the exertions of many men,
and I have several times been obliged to fasten
him with a long rope to a boat, forcing him to
swim across the river Ganges, where it was
about four miles broad.

CHAP. XXVII.

HOG HUNTING MORE DANGEROUS THAN FOX

HUNTING. THE DANGERS AND INCONVENIENCES

STATED.

ALTHOUGH it rarely happens that any high fences
are required to be leaped by hog hunters, the
sport, exclusive of the danger of being ripped
by the animal, is much more hazardous than fox
hunting in England. In addition to the many
risks already recounted, many others may be
named ; for instance, the number of old wells that
are frequently to be met with in rhur fields and
other places, as also pits for catching wolves,
veiy common in Oude, neither of which are often
seen until nearly approached, and are consequently
attended with considerable danger to people riding
at such a swift rate as is required to kill hogs ;
and, when the rhur fields are cut, the stalks are
left five or six inches above the ground, as sharp
as skewers, or spikes, which occasionally run
into horses' feet, throwing them down as if they

WOOD JUNGLES DANGEROUS. 287

were shot, often producing incurable lameness.*
Wood jungles are also dangerous to ride fast
through, owing to the number of drains and
hollow places in them, and the quantity of
crooked prickles on many of the plants, which
are very apt to pull riders off their horses, and
in going through them and other thick covers,
there is risk of meeting with tigers, leopards,
and buffaloes.

* Prickles, stumps of small trees, splinters of wood, and
stalks of grain, are frequently running into the feet of the
natives, who seldom wear shoes, as also into the feet of
horses and elephants, which induced me to make it a constant
practice of carrying with me, on sporting excursions, a pair
of pliers, which I found so very useful, that I recommend
all sportsmen in India to do the same.

CHAP. XXVIII.

HOG HUNTING IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER. —

HUNTING PARTY MADE BY THE AUTHOR.

CURIOUS ACCIDENTS, &C. — CHRISTENING HUNTS-
MEN.— CONCLUSION,

THE rainy season breaks up about the end of Sep-
tember, at which period the hogs begin to disperse
about the country, and may occasionally be found
in any high and thick cultivation.* In Novem-
ber and December, they are frequently in red
sugar canes, which are ripe much earlier than
yellow, and are driven out of them and hunted
in the same manner as described before, when
found in the yellow ; but the sport is seldom so
good, owing to the quantity of high vegetation
then standing in every part of the country, par-

* When the rainy season is at an end, the cold season is
supposed to commence, which is not strictly the case ; for
throughout October it is very hot all the day, though cold
at night, which may be accounted for from the great exha-
lation in the day falling again at night, causing this
month to be extremely unhealthy.

HUNTING PARTY. 289

ticularly near the canes, which makes it very
difficult to get them out into sufficiently open
places to ride them down and spear them : how-
ever, I have seen very good sport at this season,
and although the hogs are not so soon killed, the
sport is much enhanced by the delightful tempera-
ture of the weather. Being once on a visit at
Calcutta, and having my tent and equipage with
me, a friend requested that I would make a
party to Oreahparrah, (which place, to the best
of my recollection, is about sixteen miles from
Calcutta,) to have a few days hog-hunting. Our
party consisted of five — a young civilian, another
gentleman, a midshipman of an Indiaman, my
brother, and myself. The first day we killed
two hogs, and during the sport, the following
ludicrous scenes took place : — In riding after the
first hog, the midshipman fell from his horse in
leaping over a drain ; he then mounted an ele-
phant, which, not keeping up with the horses,
caused the young gentleman violently to abuse
the driver because he would not make the animal
gallop. The second hog took shelter in the centre
of some thick prickly bushes, from which we
could not start him. One of the party insisted
on the elephant being rode in to drive him out,

u

290 HUNTING A VILLAGE HOG.

to which I reluctantly consented, it being my
property : as soon as he approached the hog, he
received a severe charge, ripping his trunk con-
siderably, which gave him great pain, and made
him scamper back without any consideration for
the poor driver and midshipman, who were well
scratched with the prickles. The greater part of
the next morning was spent in unsuccessful search
after hogs ; at last we observed a villager at some
distance off beckoning to us ; we galloped on to
him, he then pointed to another man about three
hundred yards further off, who told us that a hog
had just gone into some grass and bushes sur-
rounding an old tank, about a quarter of a mile
in our front ; it was so near to a village that I had
some suspicion of the truth of what he had said ;
however a half grown pig was soon started, and
all the party, excepting myself, went off in eager
pursuit of it ; the chace lasted only to the village,
where one of the gentlemen speared it. When
I joined them, he exultingly exclaimed, " We
have had glorious sport : you are a pretty hog
hunter; I suppose you have had a tumble, which
makes you so much behind." I cooly replied, that
I had not tumbled, and that I was not in the
habit of killing village hogs, which made him
very angry; but when I shewed him the curled

CONCLUSION. 291

tail and white marks on the hind legs, he was
so much disconcerted, that it was the cause of
our party being broken up the next morning.
I was afterwards informed that this was a trick
the inhabitants of these villages had long been
in the habit of practising on young civilians, for
the sake of the remuneration they received,
which was generally ten times the value of the
hogs.

The first time a person is in at the death of a
hog, it is customary to initiate him by christening
him, — not with pure water, nor in the most delicate
and courteous manner, but according to the es-
tablished custom of hog hunting. I once saw a
fine gentleman so much annoyed by it, and by
having his horse ripped after the hog appeared
dead, that he never after followed the sport, and
was always considered by sportsmen to be a Miss
Molly.

I have now concluded my description of Hog
Hunting, which may not be fit to bear the eye of
criticism — yet I hope it will be intelligible and
satisfactory to sportsmen, as a true delineation of
the most entertaining, noble, and manly of all
sports; and the best school for young cavalry

292 CONCLUSION.

officers. They will learn to ride arid manage
their horses, so as to encounter any difficulties
they may meet with in going through unknown
countries, better from one day's keen hog hunting
than from a year's exercise with their regiment.

SONG.

THE HOG HUNT.

"TU » fine sporting morning as Ra - ma foretold, And the breakfast is

r r n

waiting, Kegeree cold ! Tally ho ! Tally ho ! Sing Hie Tally ho ! The

Horses are ready, each Syce has a spear, All the Koolies are muster'd, the

Tom-Toras are there. Hie Tally ho ! Hie Tally ! Hie Tally ! Hie Tally ho !

294 SONG.

The Harcarrah comes smiling-, good news to convey ;
He has found out their grooting and haunts, I dare say.

Tally ho ! &c. &c.

And reports there are hogs — in every cover,
The marks of old boars he cou'd plainly discover.

Hie Tally ho ! &c. &c.

Come haste, my brave boys- — let's away to thejeel,
And we'll try the thick covers on th' side of the hill.

Tally ho ! &c. &c.

If there's hogs in the country they'll surely be there,
And the hunter who fears them shou'd keep in the rear.

Hie Tally ho! &c. &c.

See already Vanrennon is twirling his cap,

A Bahauder has started, I'll swear, exclaims Pat !

Tally ho ! &c. &c.

Push on, brother sportsmen — come spur on your nags,
And the D-v-1 take him who intention' ly lags.

Hie Tally ho ! &c. &c.

He slackens his running — will soon be at bay !
For his tusks he is grinding to give us some play.

Tally ho ! &c. &c.

A thick jungle is near him, strait for it he bears,
Dash at him, bold hunters — deliver your spears.

Hie Tally ho! &c. &c.

I have done him at last, cries Paddy O'Donnel,

For the spear which I've thrown has stuck in his noddle.

Tally ho! &c. &c.

As he's dying, my lads, let's go back to the kate,
Beat about for another before it's too late.

Hie Tally ho! &c. &c.

SONG. 295

All true Nimrods of spirit this sport does invite,
Neither hare nor fox-hunting gives half the delight.

Tally ho! &c.&c.

To spear the wild boar well has surely some merit,
For it cannot be done but by men of true spirit.

Hie Tally ho ! hie tally ! hie tally ! hie tally ho !

A GLOSSARY.

Rama — one of their Gods. Servants are often called by the same name.

Kegeree — is a mixture of rice and pulse, often eaten for breakfast,

Syce — a groom.

Kooliet— common labourers, who carry things on their heads, drive out the hogs
from canes, &c. &c.

Tom-Toms — small drums.

Jeel— a lake.

Harcarrah—a. servant who attends his master, goes messages, &c.

Bahauder— is a title given to warriors :— a bold hog is so called by sportsmen.

Jungle — thick cover.

Kate— is generally applied to a plantation of sugar-cane. It is also sometimes
used for any piece of cultivation.

FINIS.

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