Sport and adventure in the Indian jungle

GIFT OF

PROFESSOR C.A. KOFOIf

Sport and Adventure
in the Indian Jungle

Sport and Adventure

in the Indian Jungle

A. MERVYN SMITH

, , 9

With Illustrations from Original Drawings and Photographs

LONDON
HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED

13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET, W

1904
All rights reserved

GIFT OP

PRCFE^SOR C.A, X3F3IO

PREFACE.

THE following stories originally appeared in the columns of the
Calcutta Statesman, and are reproduced in their present form with
the permission of the proprietors of that journal.

Most of the incidents narrated fell within the personal experience
of the writer, much of whose professional life was spent in the
jungle tracts of India. Where his description of the habits of wild
beasts differs from that of accepted authorities, he can only plead
that he has recorded the facts as they appeared to him at the
time of their occurrence, and that he does not pretend to a scientific
knowledge of the Indian fauna.

A. MERVYN SMITH.

LONDON, March, 1904.

M217012

CONTENTS.

PAGE

1. AT THE KHEDDAHS WITH THE DUKE OF CLARENCE . i

2. THE KING COBRA 15

3. ALADDIN'S CAVE 26

4. MY SHIKAREE FRIENDS. — (I.) PANDU THE GOND . . 32

5. PEER Bux, THE "MUST'' ELEPHANT .... 38

6. THE TERROR OF HUNSUR 52

7. ADVENTURE WITH A BOA ...... 63

8. THE ONE-EYED MAN-EATER 68

9. MY SHIKAREE FRIENDS. — (II.) LUTCHMAN, THE BEYDAR 79

10. A MAN-EATING WOLF 86

11. SEE ALL, THE WOLF-BOY 96

12. MY FRIEND THE BAGH-MAREE 101

13. THE WITCH-PANTHER 107

14. TREED BY A WILD BUFFALO . . . . .112

15. THE WILD MAN OF THE WOODS 121

1 6. A WATER HOOPOO 130

17. THE WHITE TIGER 138

18. BEARS AT CLOSE QUARTERS 146

19. MY SHIKAREE FRIENDS. — (III.) PURDASEE THE DOM . 151

20. HUNTING WILD DOGS IN A DUG-OUT . . . .158

21. A MAD ELEPHANT 163

22. THE "AHNAY PAYEE" 170

23. His FIRST BISON 180

x CONTENTS.

PAGE

24. THE MONKEY-EATERS . . . . . . .186

25. AFTER A WOUNDED TIGER 193

26. IN CROCODILE VALLEY 201

27. WILD ELEPHANTS BY RAIL 209

28. THE "DHOLE" 214

29. A TIGER IN THE NETS 226

30. MY SHIKAREE FRIENDS. — (IV.) FAZUL THE MAHOUT . 233

31. A BIG SNAKE 243

32. AFTER BISON IN CHOTA NAGPORE .... 247

33. WILD DUCK TRAPPING IN SOUTH INDIA . . . 253

34. Do TIGERS DREAD FIRE? 259

35. A CHAT WITH A SNAKE-CHARMER .... 268
3-6. THE HUNTING LEOPARD OR CHEETAH . . . .275

37. THE BANDYPORE MAN-EATER . . . . .281

38. STRANGE PETS ........ 289

39. THE KODERMA MAN-EATER 295

40. TRAPPING A MAN-EATER FOR THE CALCUTTA Zoo . 301

SPORT AND ADVENTURE
IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

AT THE KHEDDAHS WITH THE DUKE OF
CLARENCE.

ALL Mysore was agog when it was known that the
Heir-presumptive of the mighty Empire of the
Kaiser-i-Hind was to visit that province. What
sort of a reception should we give him ? Was it to
be the usual review of troops in garrison, triumphal
arches, fireworks, and illuminations, the reiteration
of sights which must have palled on him long ere he
reached far-off Mysore ? It was a happy thought
indeed which fixed on a hunt of the leviathans of
the forest as worthy the attention of our illustrious
visitor. Sanderson, the hathee (elephant) king, was
amongst us. He had just returned from his big
catch of six hundred elephants in one lot on the
Garo hills, and was now in charge of the kheddah, or
elephant-catching operations, in Mysore. To him
was entrusted the task of arranging a drive and
capturing a herd of wild elephants in the presence

2 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

of the Royal Duke. The Mysore table-land is
almost denuded of jungle in the east, north, and
centre. Along its western and southern borders
primeval forests clothe the deep valleys of the
Shayadri or Neilgherry mountains, and in this
canopy of green, herds of wild elephants have
disported themselves unmolested, from time im-
memorial. The Belligherry Rungan hills form an
outlying mass of the Neilgherries, on the south-
eastern frontier of Mysore, and, rising to a height
of nearly five thousand feet, are clad with dense
vegetation. Save for a solitary planter who had
made a home in these solitudes, they were thus
far untouched by the ruthless hand of the coffee-
planter. Here was the favourite feeding-ground
of numerous herds of elephants ; and here was
the spot chosen for the great " drive " to be
witnessed by the grandson of our Queen.

Mysore's first glimpse of its illustrious visitor so
shocked its anticipations of the Royal advent,
that I am tempted to describe it. It was on
a cold, misty morning in November that the
special train conveying his Royal Highness steamed
into the Pettah station. All official Bangalore and
a large sprinkling of the native population were
assembled there to do him honour, although his
stay was to be for only a few minutes on the
way to the capital and thence to the scene of the
elephant-hunt. The train drew up, and all was
expectation to catch a glimpse of the Prince. My
native friends expected to see a personage decked
out in cloth of gold and resplendent with jewels of

AT THE KHEDDAHS. 3

inestimable value, such as they were accustomed to
see among their own rajas; or at least a gorgeous
uniform with cocked hat and feathers, and breast
blazing with orders ; and it took a good deal to
convince them that the tall, slight figure which
after some delay emerged from a saloon carriage,
dressed in a pink silk night-suit, with naked feet
thrust into slippers, and bare head, and alighted
on the platform rubbing his sleep-heavy eyes,
was the Royal visitor ! The Prince had been
asleep, and was awakened to have his cup of
early tea. After he had partaken of this beverage,
however, the Dewan (Chief Minister) of Mysore,
Sir Sheshadri Iyer, and one or two others were
presented to him. " What/* said a native friend,
" can this be his Royal Highness ? No chobdars
(silence-keepers), no mace-bearers, no guards, no
standards, no firing of guns, nothing to distinguish
him from the common ? "

The kheddahs, or elephant-traps, were constructed
in a heavily-wooded valley at the foot of the
Belligherry Rungan hills, fifty-six miles from
the railway terminus at Mysore city. For fifty
miles the Maharaja of Mysore — a skilful whip —
drove his illustrious guest in his four-in-hand up
to the edge of the forest, whence saddle horses
conveyed the party to the platform overlooking the
massive drop-gate which was to close the entrance
of the kheddah, once the herd of elephants had
been driven into it. The kheddah had been con-
structed months before. A short description of this
elephant- trap may not be uninteresting. During

4 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

the dry months from January to May, when fodder
is scarce on the plains, the elephants retire to the
upper slopes of the hills, where green food is more
abundant. With the first rains in June the herds
seek the rich pastures at the foot of the hills, and
make occasional raids into the neighbouring grain
fields. During the absence of the elephants (from
January to May) a site for the trap is selected at
the foot of the hills, in some low, heavily-wooded
valley known to be one of their favourite resorts.
Plenty of forage, such as they love, and an ample
supply of water are the great desiderata, and a
ploughing or two, and planting with coarse cereals
make the locality chosen more enticing. Three
circular stockades, the largest one hundred and
fifty acres in extent, the next one acre, and the
smallest half an acre, with an opening from the
largest into the second, and from that into the third,
and all surrounded by a ditch eight feet deep and
six feet wide, form the kheddah. Diverging lines
of stockade and trench radiate from the circumfer-
ence of the largest enclosure, and stretch across the
width of the valley. When the herds come down
from the hills and enter the top of the valley they
gradually feed towards the lower end, till stopped by
the diverging trench and turned towards the open-
ing of the largest enclosure. Once within this en-
closure the herd is practically secured, the entrance
being guarded by a line of beaters, who frighten
away the animals should they make any attempt
to return. Here the elephants may be left till such
time as it is convenient to begin the drive into the

AT THE KHEDDAHS. 5

second or securing stockade. This large enclosure
must be plentifully supplied with food and water,
so that the beasts may not be in want of either
during the time they are kept within the encircling
stockade.

It was at this stage of the proceedings that the
Prince and his party arrived on the scene to witness
the drive into the second or securing stockade. Plat-
forms high up among the branches of the trees, and
overlooking the trap-door closing the entrance to
the second enclosure, had been erected for the
spectators, and to these the party was silently
conducted. A cord connected with the arrange-
ment for closing the great doors was placed in the
hand of the Prince, and he was requested to give
it a slight tug as soon as the last of the herd had
passed from the first into the second enclosure. A
herd of thirty-seven elephants had been quietly
enticed into the largest enclosure about a fortnight
before, and now at a preconcerted signal the drive
was to begin. Boomay Gowda, the famous Sholigay
tracker, of whom Sanderson gives an interesting
account in his " Thirteen Years Among the Wild
Beasts of India," had charge of this delicate opera-
tion. Beaters had been placed at intervals of thirty
paces all round the large enclosure. These men
were concealed from view, but should an elephant
attempt to break through the stockade they would
come out of their concealment, and the elephant,
catching sight of them, would at once turn away.
The beat was conducted in perfect silence, the
spectators being asked to keep as quiet as possible.

6 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

We were told the drive had begun, but there were
no signs of it to -our uninitiated ears. The herd
was being gradually worked in our direction ; the
beaters would flit from tree to tree, and the keen
scent of the elephants would indicate the direction
from which their human foes were approaching, and
send them off in the opposite direction. It took
fully an hour to drive the beasts half-a-mile and
bring them within view of the platforms. When I
first caught sight of them they were packed close
together like a herd of swine. Some of the larger
ones were evidently alarmed, and with trunks
uplifted were endeavouring to scent on which side
the danger lay. The younger ones — and there
seemed to be several baby elephants among their
number — were disporting themselves and chasing
one another under the bodies and between the legs
of their seniors. Browsing as they went, the herd
gradually approached the trap-door. A young
tusker was the first to enter ; then followed some
of the younger ones. Two large females, with very
young calves at their heels, seemed instinctively to
know that there was danger beyond the narrow
opening, and would not approach the entrance,
although the remainder of the herd had passed
through. It looked as if they would have to
be left out, and the trap-door closed, lest the
others should return to the outer enclosure and
rejoin the wary females. At this point the forest
craft of Boomay Gowda came into play. The short
yap of the wild dog was heard in the distance.
Instinctively the little calves took shelter under

AT THE KHEDDAHS. 7

their mothers, while these latter turned anxiously in
the direction of the sound. Another and apparently
nearer yap settled the matter, and the anxious
mothers, forgetful of the danger in front and only
mindful of the foe behind, set off to join the herd and
passed through the gates, which closed with a bang.
A hurrah from the spectators sent the whole herd
flying to the far end of the second enclosure, and
through that into the third. This ended the first
day's drive. It should here be mentioned that
the second enclosure is cleared of underwood and
small trees ; only the large trees are allowed to
stand, and to these the elephants are secured when
captured. The third enclosure is completely bared
of trees and brushwood. Just before the drive,
large bamboos, with all their branches and leaves
on, are stuck firmly in the ground to resemble a
bamboo forest. The frightened elephants rush
eagerly into this cover, and remain concealed
in it while the door is being secured. Watchers
encircle the stockade, and there the animals remain
till next day, when the more exciting operation
of singling out and securing each member of the
herd begins.

A fine camp of some thirty-two tents, pitched in
open ground, three miles away from the trap, af-
forded accommodation for the night to the shikar
party. After an early breakfast, we were off to the
kheddahs to witness the lassoing and securing of the
elephants. On arriving at the platform overlook-
ing the third or smallest enclosure, what a strange
sight met our gaze ! During the night the elephants

8 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

had trodden down all the artificial shelter of bam-
boo trees, and were now grouped together in the
centre, sterns inwards, and heads facing the circle
of stockade. The previous evening they had
entered with skins black and glossy, and with all
the pride of independence in their gait ; now mud-
bespattered, disreputable, and cowed, they looked
exactly like a herd of swine awaiting slaughter.
The squeal of the baby elephant resembles that
of a young porker, and squeals and grunts were
of frequent occurrence as the calves kept chasing
one another and frolicking among the massive
pillar-like legs of their parents. In order to secure
the elephants it was necessary to get the captured
herd, a few at a time, into the second or securing
stockade. The spectators on the platform were
asked to conceal themselves. The Prince and Mr.
Sanderson took up a position near the door, which
had been thrown open, leading to the second en-
closure. The beaters on the side furthest from the
door were directed to clap their hands. Immediately
the clapping began there was a stampede among
the elephants. The more timid ones rushed tumult-
uously towards the open door ; the largest of the
females turned in the direction of the beaters and,
trumpeting shrilly, charged up to the stockade
and kicked showers of dust and stones with her
fore legs into the faces of the beaters behind
the stockade. She was making some attempt to
pull down the stakes in order to get at the
beaters, when a shrill cry from her baby made
her hurry back to the herd, now assembled near

AT THE KHEDDAHS. 9

the open door. A renewed clapping of hands sent
a young tusker and five large females through the
entrance, when down came the ponderous door
and separated them from the rest of the herd.
Bang ! bang ! with blank cartridge into the faces
of those nearest to the gate, and the herd retreated
to the middle of the enclosure, where they were left
for the time while the six animals on the other side
were being dealt with. Among these was a very
large female — with one exception the largest in the
herd — which had been separated from her calf. She
appeared to be nearly frantic, and made repeated
charges at the door, in spite of rounds of blank cart-
ridge fired in her face. Her charges were terrific
and would probably have brought down the great
door if the koonkies, or tame elephants, had not
been sent in to secure her. Six trained female
elephants, with mahouts (drivers) on their necks,
were turned into the enclosure and endeavoured to
surround the frantic mother ; but she simply
pushed them aside and again made for the door.
Jung Bahadoor, the great fighting elephant of the
Maharaja of Mysore, was then sent in, and took up
a position before the gate with his formidable tusks
in front, making a barrier on which the furious
female would impale herself should she attempt to
charge. She approached within a few yards of
Jung, looked at him attentively and then trumpeted
loudly, and was answered by a shrill signal from
her calf on the other side. She appeared inclined
even to push by the great tusker, but a warning
grunt from him seemed to cow her. The koonkies

io IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

had again approached and, close-packed behind her,
had cut off her retreat. She had the tusks of Jung
before her and six tame elephants jostling her
behind. The famous noosers, Gunnee and Fuzlee,
were soon down, and had the hobbles round her hind
legs. To these a great hawser was attached, and
two of the tame elephants taking the end of
the hawser in their trunks commenced to drag her
away from the gate. Her efforts to break from the
hawser were truly marvellous. She would throw her-
self flat on the ground with legs spread far apart,
and roll clean over on her back. Then she would
rise suddenly and throw up her hind legs, exactly
like a horse kicking. Again she would rise high
in the air, supported on a single foot, and with
trunk uplifted trumpet shrilly. I had often seen
ancient Hindoo carvings representing elephants in
positions that I thought to be impossible and to
exist only in the designer's imagination, but after
what I saw at the kheddahs I know that the sculp-
tors were close observers, and that the seemingly im-
possible poses are really true to nature. These huge
unwieldy brutes seem to have no joints, or rather
one universal joint, as they can turn and twist in
a manner that is truly astonishing. As all efforts
to drag the recalcitrant female to a tree were un-
availing she was left for the time while the other
five were secured. Some were hobbled and dragged
to a tree, and there made fast. Others were lassoed
and secured between two tame elephants, and led
out of the enclosure and fastened to posts. It was
now about noon and the beaters had gone off to get

AT THE KHEDDAHS. n

their midday meal, when it was time to lift the
ponderous door and let a few more elephants into
the securing stockade. The few natives present
were unable to lift the gate and Mr. Sanderson im-
pressed the British officers present to help. It was
amusing to watch Captains Holford and Harvey, of
the Prince's staff, Colonels Macintire and Grant,
of the Maharaja's staff, Mr. Claude Vincent, of the
Madras Governor's staff, Sir Oliver St. John, the
British Resident, and others, take hold of the
hawser supporting the door and draw it up with
a " Heave, oh ! " Up went the gate, and in rushed
the little baby elephant, whose mother was still
trying to shake off her hobbles. It was touching to
watch her fondling her calf as soon as it rejoined
her. She felt it all over with her trunk, thrust it
from her to have a good look at it, and drew it again
to her side, and repeated this a dozen times, her
head wagging up and down, and her forelegs
beating time as if to a dancing measure. Now
and again she would put her trunk down her
own throat into her stomach and draw thence
a quantity of water, which she would blow
over her body in a fine spray and also sprinkle
over her calf. With the second batch let into
the enclosure was a huge female, the largest in the
herd. She was said to be very old, as the top of
her ear curled forward — a sign of extreme age in
elephants. This brute was very vicious, and had
shown no fear of the beaters. Indeed, she had
made frequent attempts to get at them by putting
her trunk over the palisading. When driven into the

12 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

second enclosure, and cut off from the main body
of the herd, she kept running hither and thither,
pulling at the log partition between the two
pounds, and seemed likely to break her way
through, when Sanderson ordered in six more
koonkies — a dozen in all — to secure her.

It was thought that with a dozen trained ele-
phants inside the enclosure there would be very
little danger from the wild ones, so the Prince and
Sanderson entered to get a nearer view. The
mahouts mounted on the necks of the tame
elephants are in perfect safety, as the wild ones
take not the slightest notice of them, being
apparently unaware that the little object on the
neck of their domesticated brethren is their real
source of danger. Should a rogue elephant (one
that has made its escape from captivity) be among
the captives, it at once attacks the mahout. The
vicious female had been close-hemmed in by the
tame elephants, and repeated unsuccessful attempts
had been made to hobble or lasso her But she
was a wary brute and with her trunk threw off
the lasso, and by swinging her hind legs backwards
and forwards prevented the hobbles being fixed.
The Prince was intently watching a young tusker
being dragged to a tree, when suddenly there went
up a shout, and the great female was seen to
break through the encircling tame ones and rush
straight in the d.rection of the Prince. Our hearts
were in our mouths ; some involuntarily closed
their eyes as if to shut out the sight of an Empire's
heir torn limb from limb or crushed out of human

AT THE KHEDDAHS. 13

shape. What would the scion of our Royal House
do ? The infuriated beast charged down on him
with several tame elephants close at her heels.
The Prince calmly awaited its approach, but when
the brute was within a dozen paces Sanderson,
who had been standing beside the Prince all the
while, stepped forward, raised his hand, and
shouted. Well was he called the hathee king ! As
if obedient to an order, the brute turned sharply
to the left and made off. This is what actually
took place, but Renter's agent, who was not
present when the incident occurred, telegraphed
home the camp version of the story, and numerous
were the mistaken messages sent to the Duke
of Clarence from all parts of the world !

Of the thirty-seven elephants captured on this
occasion, eight were shot next day by Sanderson's
order, as they were too old for work and could not
be tamed. I asked him why he could not let them
go free rather than destroy the poor brutes. He
told me that a herd consisted of a single family
—youngsters, parents, grandparents, great-grand-
parents, sisters, cousins, aunts, et hoc genus omne ;
that the members of a herd always kept together ;
and that if he set some of them free they would not
take themselves off, but would linger around and
probably attack the camp at night. He added that,
on one occasion, when he was fresh to the business
of elephant-catching, he set free several old beasts,
after he had removed the remainder of his captives
to a camp twenty-six miles away. At night the
animals he had set free stampeded his camp and

H IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

nearly killed several keepers. There was no help
for it, therefore, but to kill the old and useless
beasts. To prevent the air being contaminated by
the carcases, a large fire was kindled over their
bodies and the mountain of flesh was burnt to
ashes.

THE " RAJ-NAG," OR KING-COBRA.

u SAR ! Sar ! the village-mans bring the cock-coop "
—thus shouted my boy, or Madrasee servant, as I
was taking an afternoon nap in my tent of green
leaves in one of the valleys of the Nullamullays,
not far from the famous diamond mines of Banagan-
pully. I had been directed by a London syndicate
to discover the mines of Buwapatam, said to be
the only ones in India where diamonds are found in
their true matrix. These mines were visited by Dr.
Heyne as far back as 1808, but have since passed
out of notice, no later writer on the diamond
mines of India making any mention of them.
The following is a description from " Heyne's
Tracts Historical and Statistical " : "I was for-
merly of opinion that limestone, or a compound in
which lime forms the predominating constituent,
would be found the matrix of the diamond. Nor
was this opinion unreasonable, as in general the
bed in which diamonds are found is covered or
mixed with calcareous marl. But since my
acquaintance with the Banaganpully mines, and
with those of Buwapatam, I have been obliged to
change my opinion. In the former place we find
them in a conglomerate in which no calcareous

16 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

admixture is discoverable, and in which an argilla-
ceous matter — probably wacke — forms the cement ;
and in the latter place the mines are absolutely
in mountains composed of wacke, in which I have
not discovered any jasper or other pebbles. The
latter mines are particularly remarkable. They
are said, about eighty years ago, to have fur-
nished the largest gems to the Nizam's collection,
at all events they deserve future and particular
investigation. I made an excursion to them in
1808, but when there, was so ill and so weak that
I was barely able to walk to the hills where the
diamond mines had been worked. They are very
extensive, on a kind of table land which is inter-
sected by ranges of hills, on which these mines
wind from one to another/'

I had inspected the Banaganpully mines ; had
then gone east to Nundial, and had been for the
last week hunting up and down the gorges and
hill-tops of the Nullamullays near to the famous
peak of Eshwarnacoopum (God's Hill), over three
thousand feet high. I had received native in-
formation which led me to believe that I would
find the place of which I was in search to the
north-east of the above-mentioned peak. That
part of the country was said to be very heavily
wooded and extremely malarious, so that none
but the wild Chentsus — a race inhabiting these
hills — could live there ; and there were tracts so
deadly that even the wild Chentsus dared not
enter them. The diamond mines were said to be
there, but guarded by enormous serpents of the

THE KING-COBRA. 17

most venomous kind. " Raj -Nag Pamoo (king-
cobra snakes)/' said my native guide. " The dia-
monds are the eyes of the Raj-Nags themselves.
In those deep valleys are their burial grounds, and
the largest of the serpents keep watch over the
remains of their fellows. It is only by sacrificing
a buffalo to Garuda (the eagle), the lord of the
serpents, that you may obtain permission to visit
them/' This strange fable irresistibly recalled to
my mind the story of Sinbad the Sailor and his
adventure with the serpents and eagles in the valley
of diamonds. Nicolo Conti, who visited this region
in the early part of the fifteenth century, was
apparently told the same tale, as he writes that
" the mountain where the diamonds are, is infested
with great and deadly serpents. The natives bring
oxen, which they drive to the top of a high moun-
tain which overtops the hill of diamonds, and here
they offer sacrifice and cast the flesh of the oxen
into the valley below. Diamonds sometimes adhere
to the warm flesh. Great vultures and eagles,
build in the precipitous rocks, scent the
iesh and swoop down into the valleys and carry
;he meat and adhering diamonds to their nests,
md in these nests the men find diamonds enough
:o repay them all their labour and expense.''
It was with great difficulty that I procured
>lies to carry my baggage, and guides to show
:he way into the dense forests which clothe the
>w ranges of hills that lie at the foot of the
eastern slope of the Nullamullays. When engaged
the forest I never carry a tent, but run up a

2

i8 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

light shelter of branches and grass, as I find this
cooler and pleasanter than canvas, and it saves the
carrying of tents, a most difficult job where labour
is scarce and the mountain paths hard to climb.

I had engaged some Chentsus to clear a path
and build the shelter of our camps, and I had quite
won the heart of the headman by little presents of
tobacco, so that he became very communicative,
and offered to show me shikar (sport) of all sorts.
I endeavoured to find out from him where the old
diamond workings were, but he knew nothing of
them, and did not even know what a diamond was
when shown one. He knew of some pits on a low
hill, but he said a Raj-Nag Pamoo had taken up
its abode there, and no one would go to the place,
as a Raj-Nag was more dreaded than a dozen
man-eating tigers. I may here say that there is
no denizen of the forest more dreaded than the
king-cobra. Natives who would think nothing of
beating up a man-eater in his favourite haunts,
or bearding a bear in its cave, will shrink with
dismay when asked to face this dreaded brute.

The Ophiophagm Elaps or King- Cobra is the
fiercest and most venomous of all the serpent
kind. Attaining to a length of seventeen feet-
one was recently shot in the Kurnool forests which
measured eighteen and a half feet — gliding over
the ground at a speed which soon outstrips the
swiftest man ; climbing trees with ease, and more
at home on the tree-tops than even the monkeys ;
fearlessly attacking without the slightest provoca-
tion all it meets, men or beasts, it is no wonder

THE KING-COBRA. 19

that the forest haunted by this terrible crea-
ture is forsaken by all other animals. Scientists
tell us that the Ophiophagus feeds on other snakes
—hence its name ; but this assertion is disputed
by the native shikars of the wild tribes found in
the various forest tracts of India, who declare that
the chief food of the king-cobra is young monkey,
and that to secure this dainty it will lie in wait for
days in the branches of the fruit-bearing trees in the
forest. Birds, young pigs, deer, and wild dogs are
not amiss, and it is only when other food fails that
it will feed on its own kind. I have shot a king-
cobra thirteen feet long, which had begun to
swallow a python eight feet in length. About four
feet of the body of the boa had already disappeared
down the throat of the Ophiophagus when a charge
of No. 6 shot at close range broke the latter 's back.
Even then it attempted to show fight, and its
efforts to lift its head with four feet of flesh as
thick as one's arm still hanging from its jaws, were
truly marvellous.

The natives recognise three kinds of cobras,
distinguished by the markings on the head. The
common Cobra-di-capello, found about houses and
gardens, seldom attains a greater length than six
feet. It is marked with a V, or spectacle, on the
hood. About the same length, but more rare,
being found only in Eastern Bengal and the Sun-
derbunds, is the Padma-cobra or lotus-marked
Nag. Instead of the V, it has a star or padma
mark on the hood. The king-cobra is the rarest
of all, only being found in the densest and most

2*

20 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

remote jungles. It has a black circle on the hood.
It is this serpent, with its enormous hood nearly
a foot in width, which, legend relates, sheltered the
infant Krishna from the sun and weather. Its
range is over all the wooded tracts of India. It
has been shot in Travancore, on the Neilgherries,
in the forests of the East Coast, in Chota Nagpore,
in Assam and in Burmah. But nowhere is it found
in large numbers. Although the female lays as
many as eighteen eggs, most of the young are
devoured by the parents, so difficult is it for
these creatures to find food, as, according to
the natives, nearly all small animals desert the
tract in which a pair of these snakes take up
their abode.

I asked Permal, the Chentsu headman, how he
knew that a king-cobra had taken possession of
the old pits. He said that the hill in question had
been a favourite spot for snaring pea-fowl, but
that about three years ago the Raj-Nag had come
and then all other animals had left the place. He
knew the Raj-Nag had come, because the monkeys
did not answer the decoy call used by the Chentsus
when trapping these creatures. This only occurred
when a Raj-Nag was about — so their forest lore
taught them. I asked him if he would lead me to
the place, as I had my double-barrel gun with me,
and would shoot the Nag if it showed itself. " The
Davaru " (lord), he replied, " does not know the
Raj -Nag ; it is as lightning in its attack. It will
be concealed in the branches or brushwood, and
will dart forward and bite before you see it.

THE KING-COBRA. 21

Ammavaru (the goddess Kali} herself cannot save
you if it gets its poison fangs into you."

I told Permal I was determined to go, even if he
would not go with me, as I had come to see the old
pits, and the old pits I must see. After much
cogitation with his fellows, he said if Davaru insisted
on going, then he would devise a means to outdo
even the Raj-Nag. His grandfather had done so
years and years ago, when a mad gentleman who
broke stones (a geologist !) had visited these parts.
Permal promised to come again next day. With
this the Chentsus took their departure, and we saw
nothing of them till next afternoon, when my
servant called out " Sar ! sar ! the village-mans
bring the cock-coop." On going out to see what
was up, I perceived Permal and another Chentsu
with two enormous wicker baskets of the kind
known throughout South India as cock-baskets or
hen-coops. The baskets were a little larger and
rather more strongly made than those ordinarily
sold for penning fowls. Permal said these baskets
were to be put over our heads when we got near
the haunts of the king-cobra, and that we should
then be perfectly safe. The meshes of the basket,,
he explained, were too small for the serpent's head
to pass through, so that it could not bite us, and
when it attacked all we had to do was to squat
down with the basket over us (like a candle
extinguisher) and fire at the brute through the
meshes. I laughed at the idea of being cooped
up in a cock-basket ; but as there was no other
method of inducing the Chentsus to show me the

22 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

old mines, I agreed to this plan, and arranged to
go next morning. Nothing would induce any of
my camp-followers to accompany me, cock-coop or
no cock-coop.

Starting off early next morning, we had a good
ten miles to go before we got to the low hills,
some two hundred feet above the broad valley of
the Nullamullays, where the old pits were said to
be. The jungle was very dense — giant bamboos and
large forest trees, with much tall grass and under-
growth of thorns. The Chentsus stalked on in front,
with the baskets on their heads. As we neared the
site of the old pits, I noticed that the large trees
had disappeared, but the undergrowth was more
dense, showing that at one time this had been a
forest clearing. Permal now advanced with great
caution, and asked me to put one of the baskets
over my head, he and his fellow getting under
the other. After some demur I did so, and we
had gone less than half-a-mile in this fashion,
when suddenly a peculiar whistling noise was heard
on our right. The Chentsus immediately squatted
down and seized the cord hanging from the centre
of the basket, so as to hold it firmly down with-
out exposing the hands. Permal made signs to
me to do the same, and said there were two king-
cobras about ; and that the whistle was that of the
female calling to her mate, and that we should be
attacked almost immediately. Down we all three
squatted therefore, with the baskets over us, and
firmly held on to the centre cord, so as to fix
them hard on to the ground. We waited perhaps

THE KING-COBRA. 23

five minutes in this position, but no snakes were
visible. I could see the Chentsus gesticulating to
one another, but could not make out what it was
all about.

It was only now that I began to realise the
danger of our position, and the value of the wicker
baskets as a protection from a sudden attack of
these fearful brutes. The undergrowth was so
dense that it was impossible to see more than a
yard or two around. It would not, therefore, be
difficult for the snakes to attack us unperceived,
nor would it be possible to use a gun before they
were on us. The Chentsus still continued to ges-
ticulate and point in my direction. Keeping a
firm grasp of the rope, I turned round, and, there,
above me and within eighteen inches of the top of
the basket, I saw the expanded hood and gleaming
eyes of the dreaded Ophiophagus. How it got
there without my knowing it I cannot say, but
there it was, looking down at me, and apparently
bothered by the novel structure between it and its
prey. Immediately I turned the creature set up
a hissing that made my blood run cold. It re-
sembled nothing so much as the hissing noise
made by steam escaping from an engine. The
hood appeared to be fully nine inches wide, and
over a foot in length, and the forked tongue,
which shot in and out, was quite three inches
long. I began to feel quite sick and my eyes
to swim, whether through the fascinating power
said to be exerted by the eye of the serpent,
or from the strong musky odour emitted by the

24 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

snake at each hiss, or from sheer funk, I cannot
say. Why I did not use my gun when I might
easily have blown the head off the horrid monster,
I do not know.

I now saw the utility of the cord hanging from
the apex of the basket. As I felt my head spinning,
I threw my weight on the cord and kept the basket
firmly planted on the ground. It was well I did so,
for suddenly I heard a dull thud, and then a suc-
cession of blows on the sides of the basket, and
saw the great cobra wriggling on the ground en-
deavouring to extract with its mouth an arrow
deeply imbedded in its body about three feet
from the head. A second and a third arrow
were now planted in its body by the Chentsus,
who shot from under their basket, raising it
for the purpose. I now felt a violent tug at the
top of the coop, and looking up saw a second
king-cobra biting the knot of the cord out-
side the basket, and by which I held it down,
and shaking it just as a dog does a rat. The
terror of that moment I cannot express. What
if it should overturn the basket ! The strength
of thirteen feet of muscle must be enormous, and
if used in the right direction would soon over-
come my pull at the cord. What would then
happen ? Certain death for me I felt sure.
Again the whiz of an arrow, and I saw a gaping
wound along the neck of the fierce brute as it
quitted its hold to look for this new foe. Fixing
my knee on the cord, I now placed the muzzle of
my gun just through one of the square openings

THE KING-COBRA. 25

of the basket, and, aiming at the hood, fired both
barrels in rapid succession, and had the satis-
faction of seeing the horrid brute fling up the
leaves and dust in its death throes. I looked
round for the first assailant, and found it lying in
the path with several more arrows planted in it,
but still biting fiercely at the arrow that had
first entered its body. A shot in the head soon
settled this brute also.

Permal said we might now leave the shelter
of the baskets, as there could be no more full-
grown king-cobras in that place. There might be
very young ones, but they would not attack us.
There were never more than a pair of large snakes
of this species in any one locality, he added. As
soon as the little ones could hunt for themselves,
they went off to other places, or else fell victims
to the rapacious appetites of their parents. The
snakes were at once skinned by the Chentsus,
who used the sharp iron heads of their arrows
for this purpose. The poison fangs and glands,
the palate, and the gall were carefully preserved by
them for medicine. Diluted with gingelly oil, the
poison is drunk in small portions, and is said to
be a wonderful preservative against all snake-bites.

I measured the skins when we got home late ,that
evening. The larger one was fourteen feet eight
inches, and the other thirteen feet. Leaving the
younger of the Chentsus to finish the skinning, I
went on with Permal to visit the old diamond
mines, and there a most singular adventure befell
me ; but I must reserve this for another chapter.

26

ALADDIN'S CAVE.

IN my account of the destruction of the king-
cobras, I promised to relate a very strange ad-
venture that befell me at the old diamond mines
of Buwapatam.

Permal led the way to the old pits, which were
situated on some rising ground a little way to the
east. He said there were several hundreds of
these pits extending over some miles of ground,
but that they were more numerous and larger just
at the spot we were now visiting. Mounds of
earth, probably excavated from the digging, marked
the mouth of each pit. A dense, thorny vegetation
grew around and overhung the entrance of the
shafts and concealed it from view, so that one
might easily stumble into one of these traps, or
pitfalls, which, indeed, they closely resembled.
Selecting one of the largest and best preserved
of the pits for examination, the Chentsu's axe
quickly cleared away the brushwood. A strong,
light rope, which I always carry on these expedi-
tions, was fastened to a stump, and I prepared
to descend the old mine, but, before doing so, I
threw in a wisp of lighted grass to test the condi-
tion of the air — a very needful precaution — and to

ALADDIN'S CAVE. 27

get some idea of the depth I would have to descend.
The grass kept alight at the bottom of the pit,
showing the air was fit to breathe, and the depth
appearing to be not more than thirty feet, I
began the descent, first sticking a lighted candle
to a piece of damp clay attached — miner fashion
—to my cap. On arriving at the bottom, I found
myself on the top of a mound of debris fallen in
from the mouth of the pit. The ground sloped
away on all sides, to a very considerable distance,
making a very large chamber, the full extent of
which I could not see, owing to the darkness, the
glimmering light of my candle not extending very
far. After waiting a little time, to accustom my
eyes to the darkness, I proceeded to examine the
sides, in order to discover the nature of the
" working," and whether it was for diamonds or
some other mineral. On approaching the side,
I suddenly found it sparkling with gleams of
gold and green and red light, as if studded all
over with gems, from which the light I held in
my hand was scintillated and refracted. Turning
round, I found a similar twinkling light all round
on the walls of the mine, as if ten thousand fire-
flies had settled all over the sides, only that the
light differed in colour, there being sparkles of
white and red and green. Was this a' veritable
Aladdin's Cave, and were all these glints of light
flashing from real diamonds, rubies, and emeralds !
The adventure of the early part of the day had
given me cause to believe that there was at least
some foundation of truth in the stories of the

28 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

" Thousand and One Nights." Could this be the
same cave in which Aladdin was shut up by the
cruel magician ? And were all those diamonds and
rubies and emeralds, within my reach ? It only
wanted a Genius of the Ring to complete the illu-
sion. Great Heavens ! What was that ? A dis-
tinct hiss as of a cat, and then in the distance a
gigantic cat itself. As I looked it appeared to grow
in size and swell to enormous dimensions. A veri-
table Genius, and this the enchanted cave ! With
my heart in my mouth, I hurried back to the mound
in the centre of the shaft, and shouted to Permal to
join me and bring my gun with him. I had now
time to collect my thoughts and try to work out
some explanation of this strange adventure. Ex-
perience had long ago taught me that diamonds,
rubies, and emeralds are never found together in
their natural state, and I was also aware that these
gems do not reflect light or sparkle to any extent in
their uncut condition. Perhaps it might be a mica
mine, and the light be reflected from flakes of that
mineral. But what about the monstrous cat ?
Was that the result of imagination, or stern reality ?
There was no mistaking the hiss and growl, which
again emanated from a far corner of the mine
on our throwing a stone in that direction. Permal
at once declared that he could smell tiger. He
kept sniffing about, and said, " Ullee, davaru (tiger,
my lord)." The strange sparkles of light still kept
twinkling around, as if innumerable stars were set
in the walls. I noticed, however, that, if we
attempted to move, thus agitating the air, the

ALADDIN'S CAVE. 29

scintillation would be more brilliant. Cutting up
several candles into pieces, we soon had a brilliant
light about us, and this enabled me to see that the
underground chamber was very irregular in shape,
about thirty feet wide from east to west, and some-
what longer towards the north. It was from the
latter direction that the hissing and growling
seemed to come, and Permal declared he could see a
large tiger crouching down behind a piece of rock in
the far corner. But if it was a tiger, why did not it
attack us, as it could not be more than twenty paces
away from us ? I was inclined to believe it was a
hyena, and therefore plucked up heart to have a
shot at it, as I would not have ventured to attack
a tiger at such close quarters, and on foot. Cocking
both barrels, I directed Permal to throw stones at
the creature to induce it to break cover ; but no,
the brute would not move, but continued spitting
and growling. I was now convinced it was a hyena,
and advanced more boldly until I could just see a
dark object behind a rock. I could see the gleaming
eyes distinctly, so, taking careful aim, I fired, and
then retreated hastily to the mound. We waited
some time, but could hear no sound, and the smoke
made it more difficult to see. We threw several
large stones in the direction, but there was no
movement. The hissing, too, had ceased. Re-load-
ing the empty barrel, we again advanced cautiously,
and then I made out the body, in the same position
apparently. Again aiming carefully, I tried a
second shot. There was no missing so large an
object within a few paces, so I felt quite sure the

30 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

creature was hit, but not so sure that it was dead.
We retreated once more to the mound, and after
some time advanced again to the attack, but not a
movement had taken place in the object. Feeling
quite sure it was dead, we now got close up and
examined it, and found it to be a tiger of the
largest size, in a most emaciated condition — nothing
but skin and bone. Probably its last effort was to
rise on its legs on my first intrusion. It had not
strength for any further effort and must have died
in a day or two from sheer starvation. The
Chentsu surmised that it had fallen into this natural
trap while in pursuit of wild pig, and I could well
understand the tiger's inability to get out again,
as the widening out of the chamber began about
fifteen feet above our heads, so that it would require
a leap of that height in order to fasten its claws
into the narrow neck of the shaft, which was
shaped somewhat like a Florentine flask.

Emaciated as it was, there was no use attempting
to draw that weight of skin and bone up the shaft.
It was as much as our united efforts could do to
drag it to the mound. Here Permal proceeded to
flay it, while I continued my examination of the
cave. The sides were covered with a dense growth
of moss, with here and there a fern and lichen. This
growth seemed to confine itself to a bed of conglo-
merate about three feet thick. I had no difficulty
in recognising this as one of the beds of the Kurnool
series, known to be diamondiferous in many parts
of South India. I knew it was hopeless looking
for diamonds in situ, but I took samples of the con-

ALADDIN'S CAVE. 31

glomerate for further testing. There was nothing
to show whence the strange gleams of light had
come — not a trace of mica was to be seen anywhere.
The sparkling had now entirely disappeared, and
to this day I have been unable to account for it,
nor could the friends I consulted give any expla-
nation of it. Permal also had seen the lights, so it
was not due to my imagination.

After the tiger was flayed we tied the skin to the
rope. I then made my way up, hand over hand,
and the Chentsu followed, and together we drew up
the skin. On examination it proved to be in splen-
did condition, the fur being beautifully soft and
long. It measured ten feet one inch from snout to
tip of tail, and from ridge of shoulder to fore-claws
three feet ten inches ; so that it must have stood a
greater height than most tigers. Thus, two king-
cobras and a large tiger were the spoils of one of
the most exciting day's adventures I have ever
experienced in all my journeyings in the wild places
of India.

MY SHIKAREE FRIENDS.

I. — PANDU THE GOND.

How little do we know of India even after a hundred
and fifty years' occupation of the country ! Off
the beaten tracks — the great trunk roads, the well-
known lines of railway — and we are lost in a wil-
derness of peoples and things of whose existence we
know nothing unless we search the pages of the
Gazetteer, and even that often fails us, since how-
ever carefully compiled, its information is chiefly
derived from European sources — and Europeans as
a rule are slow to win the confidence of the natives.
I do not claim to be anything very different from
my fellows, but perhaps from constant association
with wild tribes in various parts of India, I have
learned to appreciate their many virtues. I have
found them as staunch and as true as men of my
own blood, and have come to look on their little
failings with a kindly eye. However, I am not
writing a dissertation on ethnology ; I merely wish
to describe some of my shikaree friends.

Let me begin, then, with a pen-and-ink sketch of
Pandu, the hunter. Tall for a native, nearly six
feet high, and a frame so gaunt that he would not

PANDU THE GOND. 33

take a bad place in a skeleton show, yet withal as
straight as a reed and with an eye as keen as a
hawk's. Not the slightest thing moves in the
forest but his keen vision or sharp ears detect it.
He must be over fifty, as his scanty locks and long
moustache are quite grey ; yet he thinks nothing
of a forty-mile trudge beside my pony, and is up
and away for khubber (early news) as soon as we
get into camp, as if the long walk were nothing
more than his regular morning exercise. I have
known him go twenty-four hours without food or
drink, beyond a pinch of snuff thrown into his
mouth wherever I have stopped for a rest. By
caste a Gond, he will not touch cooked food from
my hands, but will gratefully accept a handful of
rice, which he eats raw by preference. Armed
with an old Brown Bess (army musket), presented
to him years ago by Mr. Hewett, a former Com-
missioner of Chota Nagpore, he is an unerring
shot, and will fearlessly face a wounded tiger or
raging buffalo. He makes his own powder, purchas-
ing the sulphur and saltpetre at Ranchi and burn-
ing some twigs of the Hilla bush for his charcoal.
He also fashions his own bullets, in rude moulds of
clay. But his great difficulty is the percussion caps.
These are extremely difficult to be got, now that
breech-loading small arms are in general use ; and I
won his heart by a present of several hundred of
the large caps of the kind used with the old Brown
Bess. He has frequently asked me if I could not
convert his cap-gun into a flint-lock, as with the
latter there would be no bother about caps. Cloth-

3

34 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

ing does not trouble Pandu. A narrow cotton cloth
wrapped round the loins is his only garment. A
bag, somewhat like a soldier's haversack, is sus-
pended from his shoulder, and in this are carried all
his belongings when on the march. Powder-horn,
lead pellets, a rag containing the caps, an old
clasp-knife, a little opium, a little tobacco, and a
seer or two of rice, and Pandu is ready for a journey
of a week's duration. He has enormous hands and
feet — I don't know that I have ever seen a human
being with larger. The fingers are very long, the
thumb being short. The sharpest rocks seem to
have no effect on the horny soles of his feet, and
he uses no covering for his head even in the hottest
day in May.

Pandu first attached himself to my camp in the
Chota Nagpore district several years ago. Scarcely
a day passed but he brought me in a pea-fowl,
green pigeon, jungle cock, or teal, and occasionally
a haunch of venison. Pandu dearly loved venison
days, because then he was certain of buksheesh (a
present), and this he spent in a regular carouse on
rice-beer. Rice-beer can only be had at Somij on
Sundays, as on that day the coolies get their
weekly wage and a hdty or bazaar, is held under the
mango tree near the village. I soon noticed that
it was on Sundays also that Pandu brought his
venison, and on questioning him he smiled and
said : " The Sahib's luck is great, even the deer
cannot withstand it." The amount of rice-beer
that Pandu could drink was simply astonishing. I
am afraid to say how much, but it was certainly not

PANDU THE GOND, 35

less than three gallons. Leaf-cup after leaf-cup
would be drained, and beyond a grunt of satisfac-
tion and an endearing word to Motee, his little
shikaree bullock and constant companion, he would
continue drinking till he spent all his money at one
sitting. A favourite expression of his to denote his
poverty was, that " the skin of his stomach adhered
to his backbone." This was almost literally true,
for he was painfully emaciated. On an occasion
like this however his abdomen would visibly swell,
till he resembled a water-bag mounted on two
sticks. When he had drunk his " skinful " Pandu
would stand with his back leaning against a tree,
one foot resting on the other, his head bent forward
and his hands hanging straight down. He would
stand in this position for hours, muttering to him-
self, the vigilant Motee keeping watch the while
and allowing no one, man or beast, to approach his
master.

I have read of the affection of a dog for its master,
but nothing could surpass the devotion of this little
bullock to Pandu. Motee (the pearl) was an ordi-
nary Indian bullock, about four feet high and of the
whitey-brown colour common among the stunted
cattle in native villages. He was thoroughly trained
to shikar by Pandu, and seemed to comprehend his
master's wishes intuitively. A glance, and Motee
would move forward or backward, as required. A
motion of the finger, and he would lie down or
kick up his heels and rush about as if mad. Pandu
did all his stalking with the aid of this bullock, and
much of his success depended on its intelligence.

3*

36 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

An old piece of sacking, painted with green
daubs on one side to resemble shrubbery, on
the other side with bars of vivid red, was thrown
over Motee's back like a horse-cloth, and hanging
down to the ground effectually concealed the
crouching hunter. Did he wish to stalk antelope,
then the red bars were exposed, and Motee would
graze quietly in a direction oblique yet approaching
the herd. The bright bars would attract the
curiosity of the deer, and they would approach so
near as to allow of an unfailing shot from Pandu's
place of concealment under the stomach of the
bullock. Was it a flock of pea- fowl that was in
sight, then the green side of the sacking would be
turned towards the birds, and the same stealthy
approach made, the pea-fowl exhibiting no alarm,
as the village cattle commonly range the forests
in their neighbourhood. Motee evidently took a
delight in shikar, as he was on the alert and frisked
about immediately the old man shouldered his gun.
When the game was killed — and Pandu seldom
missed — the little bullock would come up for his
caress. If he missed, Motee would smell the gun,
as if he thought there was something wrong there.
On one occasion I had the bad taste to offer the
old man fifty rupees for his bullock. I was heartily
ashamed of myself immediately afterwards, for the
look of distress on Pandu's face I shall never forget.
" Sahib," said the old man, with tears in his eyes,
" if you knew all that Motee is to me, if you knew
that he has repeatedly saved my life, you would
not make me such an offer. What is money to me ?

PANDU THE GOND. 37

I would only drink it in a little time, and then
what would I do ? Motee is my life ; he cheers
me, he helps me, he looks after me. I once had a
wife and son ; both are gone ; but I have Motee,
and I live. If Motee dies, I will die too ! " Poor
old man ! I really believe he would die if anything
happened to Motee. Old, drunken, degraded,
and stupid as he is, I have still an affectionate
regard for Pandu, and number him among my
shikaree friends.

"PEER BUX," THE TERROR OF HUNSUR.

PEER Bux was the largest elephant in the Madras
Government Commissariat Department. He stood
nine feet six inches at the shoulder and more
than ten feet at the highest point of the convexity
of the backbone. His tusks protruded three and a
half feet and were massive and solid, with a slight
curve upwards and outwards. His trunk was large
and massive, while the skin was soft as velvet
and mottled red and white, as high-class elephants'
should be. His pillar-like fore legs were as straight
as a bee line from shoulder to foot, and showed
muscle enough for half-a-dozen elephants. Physi-
cally Peer Bux was the beau ideal of elephantine
beauty, a brute that should have fetched fifteen
thousand rupees in the market and be cheap at
that price, for was he not a grander elephant to
look at than many a beast that had cost its
princely owner double that sum ? He was quiet
too and docile, and could generally be driven by
a child. Yet with all his good qualities, with all
his majestic proportions, Peer Bux was tabooed by
the natives. No Hindoo would have him at a gift.
He was a marked beast ; his tail was bifurcated at
the extremity. This signified, said those natives

THE TERROR OF HUNSUR. 39

learned in elephant lore, that he would one clay
take human life.

When captured in the kheddahs in Michael's
Valley, Coimbatore district, the European official
in charge of the kheddah operations imagined the
animal would bring a fancy price ; but at the
public sale of the captured herd no one would
give a bid for him, although his tusks alone
would have fetched over a 'thousand rupees for
their ivory. The fatal blemish — the divided tail
—was soon known to intending purchasers, and
there being no bidders he had to be retained
for Government use.

The Commissariat Department was justly proud
of Peer Bux. He had done good service for
six years. Did the heavy guns stick in the mud
when the artillery was on its way to Bellary,
Peer Bux was sent to assist, and with a push
of his massive head he would lift the great
cannon, however deep its wheels might be im-
bedded in the unctuous black cotton soil. Were
heavy stores required at Mercara, Peer Bux
would mount the steep ghaut road, and think
nothing of a ton and a half load on his back.
The Forest Department too found him invaluable
in drawing heavy logs from the heart of the
reserves. His register of conduct was blameless,
and beyond occasional fits of temper during the
must season once a year he was one of the most
even-tempered as well as one of the most useful
beasts in the Transport establishment.

The Commissariat sergeant at Hunsur, who had

40 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

known Peer Bux for two years, would smile when
allusion was made to his bifurcated tail and the
native superstition regarding that malformation.
u Look up his register/' he would say; " no man-
killing there. Why I would rather trust him
than any other elephant, male or female, in the
lines. Just you see that little beggar, no higher
than this " (showing his walking cane), " the
mahout's son, take him out to the jungles and
bring him back loaded with fodder, and lambaste
him too, if he won't obey the little imp. He kill
a man ! Why he wouldn't kill a fly. The niggers
know nothing ; they are a superstitious lot."

But a little while, and quite another story had
to be told of Peer Bux. This pattern animal had
gone must. Fazul, his usual mahout (keeper), was not
there to manage him (he had gone with Sanderson
to Assam), and the new keeper had struck Peer Bux
when he showed temper, and had been torn limb
from limb by the irritated brute. Peer Bux had
broken his chains ; had stampeded the Amrut-
mahal cattle at Hunsur ; had broken into the
Government harness and boot factory and done
incredible damage ; had gone off on the rampage,
on the Manantoddy road ; had overturned coffee
carts and scattered their contents on the road ;
had killed several cart-men ; had looted several
villages and torn down the huts. In fact a
homicidal mania seemed to have come over
him, as he would steal into the cholum (sorghum
millet) fields and pull down the machans (bamboo
platforms) on which the cultivator sat watching

THE TERROR OF HUNSUR. 41

his corn by night, and tear the poor wretch to
pieces or trample him out of all shape, and it
was even said that in his blind rage he would
eat portions of his human victims. I may here
mention that natives firmly believe that ele-
phants will occasionally take to man-eating. It
is a common practice when a tiger is killed for
the mahouts to dip balls of jaggery (coarse sugar)
in the tiger's blood and feed the elephants that
took part in the drive with this mess. They say
the taste of the tiger's blood gives the elephant
courage to face these fierce brutes. The taste
for blood thus acquired sticks to the elephant,
and when he goes mad or must and takes to
killing human beings, some of their blood gets
into his mouth and reminds him of the sugar and
blood given him at the tiger-hunts, and he occa-
sionally indulges in a mouthful of raw flesh.

Was Peer Bux must, or was he really mad ? The
mahouts at Hunsur, who knew him well, said he
was only must. Europeans frequently speak of
must elephants as " mad " elephants, as though the
two terms were synonymous. Must, I may state,
is a periodical functional derangement common to
all bull elephants, and corresponds to the rutting
season with deer and other animals. It generally
occurs in the male once a year (usually in March
or April), and lasts about two or three months.
During this period a dark-coloured mucous dis-
charge oozes from the temples. If this discharge
is carefully washed off twice a day, and the
elephant given a certain amount of opium with

42 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

his food and made to stand up to his middle in
water for an hour every day, beyond a little
uneasiness and irritability in temper no evil con-
sequences ensue ; but should these precautions be
neglected, the animal becomes savage and even
furious for a time, so that it is never safe to
approach him during these periods. When an
elephant shows signs of must — the dark discharge
at the temples is an infallible sign — he should
always be securely hobbled and chained. A must
elephant, even when he breaks loose and does a
lot of damage, can if recaptured be broken to
discipline and will become as docile as ever, after
the must period is passed.

It is wholly different with a mad elephant.
These brutes should be destroyed at once, as they
never recover their senses, the derangement in
their case being cerebral and permanent, and not
merely functional. This madness is frequently due
to sunstroke, as elephants are by nature fitted
to live under the deep shade of primeval forests.
In the wild state they feed only at night, when
they come out into the open. They retire at
dawn into the depths of the forests, so that they
are never exposed to the full heat of the noon-
day sun.

Peer Bux being the property of the Madras
Government, permission was asked to destroy him,
as he had done much damage to life and
property in that portion of the Mysore territory
lying between Hunsur and the frontier of
Coorg and North Wynaad. The Commissariat

THE TERROR OF HUNSUR. 43

Department however regarded him as too valuable
an animal to be shot, and advised that some
attempt should be made to recapture him with
the aid of tame elephants. Several trained
elephants were sent up from Coimbatore, some
more were obtained from the Mysore State, and
several hunts were organised ; but all attempts at
his recapture entirely failed. The great length of
his fore-legs gave Peer Bux an enormous stretch,
so that he could easily outpace the fleetest shikar
elephants ; and when he showed fight, none of
the tuskers, not even the famous Jung Bahadoor,
the fighting elephant of the Maharaja of Mysore,
could withstand his charge. Meanwhile so great
was the terror he inspired that nearly all traffic
was stopped between Hunsur and Coorg, and
Mysore and Manantoddy. He had been at large
now for nearly two months, and in that time was
known to have killed fourteen persons, wrecked
two villages, and done an incredible amount of
damage to traffic and crops. In an evil moment
for himself he took it into his head to stampede
the Collector's camp on the Wynaad frontier.
The Collector was away at Manantoddy, but his
tents and belongings were destroyed, and one
camp follower killed. Permission was now obtained
to destroy him by any means, and a Government
reward was offered to any one who would kill
the brute.

Several parties went out from Bangalore in the
hope of bagging him, but never got sight of him.
He was here to-day, and twenty miles off next

44 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

day. He was never known to attack Europeans.
He would lie in wait in some unfrequented part
of the road and allow any suspicious-looking
object to pass ; but when he saw a line of native
carts, or a small company of native travellers,
he would rush out with a scream and a trumpet
and overturn carts and kick them to pieces, and
woe betide the unfortunate human being that fell
into his clutches ! He would smash them to a pulp
beneath his huge feet, or tear them limb from
limb.

Much of the above information regarding Peer
Bux was gleaned at the Dak Bungalow (travellers'
rest-house) at Hunsur, where a party of four, in-
cluding myself, were staying while engaged in a
shooting trip along that belt of forest which
forms the boundary between Mysore and British
territory to the south-west. Our shoot thus far
had been very unsuccessful. Beyond a few
spotted deer and some game birds we had
bagged nothing. The Government notification of
a reward for the destruction of the rogue-elephant
stared us in the face at every turn we took in
the long, cool verandah of the bungalow. We had
not come out prepared for elephant-shooting, yet
there was a sufficiency of heavy metal in our
armoury, we thought, to try conclusions with even
so formidable an antagonist as Peer Bux, should
we meet with him. Disgust at the want of
success hitherto of our shikar expedition, and the
tantalizing effects of the Government notice show-
ing that there was game very much in evidence

THE TERROR OF HUNSUR. 45

if we cared to go after it, soon determined our
movements. The native shikaris were summoned,
and after much consultation we shifted camp
to Karkankotee, a smaller village in the State
forest of that name, and on the high road to
Manantoddy. The travellers' bungalow .there, a
second-class one, was deserted by its usual native
attendants, as the rogue - elephant had paid
two visits to that place and had pulled down a
portion of the out-offices in his attempts to get at
the servants. In the village we found only a
family of Kurambas left in charge by the Potail
(village magistrate) when the inhabitants deserted
it. These people, we found, had erected for them-
selves a machan (platform) on the trees, to which
they retired at night to be out of the reach of the
elephant, should he come that way. From them
we learned that the rogue had not been seen for a
week, but that it was about his time to come that
way, as he had a practice of making a complete
circuit of the country lying between the frontier
and the Manantoddy-Mysore and Hunsur-Mercara
roads. This was good news, so we set to work
at once, getting ammunition ready for this the
largest of all game. Nothing less than eight drams
of powder and a hardened solid ball would content
most of us. K— — , poor fellow, had been reading
up " Smooth-bore " or some other authority on
Indian game, and pinned his faith to a twelve-
bore duck gun, " for," he argued, " at twenty
paces " —and that was the maximum distance from
which to shoot at an elephant — " the smooth-bore

46 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

will shoot as straight as the rifle and hit quite as
hard."

Our horses and pack-bullocks were picketed
within one of the out-offices, and all the native
servants took shelter inside the other. Great
fires were kindled before the out-offices as a pre-
cautionary measure — not that we expected the
elephant that night. We were in bed betimes, as
we meant to be up at daybreak and have a good
hunt all round, under the guidance of the Kuram-
bas, who promised to take us to the rogue's
favourite haunts when in that neighbourhood.
The dak-bungalow had but two rooms. That in
which O— - and myself slept had a window over-
looking the out-offices. In the adjacent room

slept F and K— — . Towards the small hours

of the morning I was awakened by a loud discharge
of fire-arms from F- — 's room, followed by the
unmistakable fierce trumpeting of an enraged
elephant. There is no mistaking that sound when
once heard. Catching up our rifles we rushed into
the next room and found F— — , gun in hand,
peering out through the broken window frame, and
K— - trying to strike a light. When F- - had
recovered sufficiently from his excitement, he ex-
plained that he had been awakened by something
trying to encircle his feet through the thick folds
of the rug he had wrapped round them. On
looking up he thought he could make out the
trunk of an elephant thrust through the opening
where a pane of glass had been broken in the
window. His loaded gun was in the corner by his

THE TERROR OF HUNSUR. 47

side, and, aiming at what he thought would be
the direction of the head, he fired both barrels
at once. With a loud scream the elephant with-
drew its trunk, smashing the whole window at the
same time. He had reloaded and was looking
out for the elephant, in case it should return to
the attack, but could see nothing, as it was too
dark. F- -'s was a narrow escape, for had the
elephant succeeded in getting his trunk round one
of his legs nothing could have saved him. With
one jerk he would have been pulled through the
window and quickly done to death beneath the
huge feet of the brute. The thick folds of the
blanket alone saved him, and even that would
have been pulled aside in a little time if he had
not awakened and had the presence of mind to fire
at the beast.

No amount of shouting would bring any of the
servants from their retreat in the out-office,
although we could distinctly hear them talking to
each other in low tones ; and it was scarcely fair
of us to ask them to come out, with the probability
of an infuriated rogue elephant being about. How-
ever, we soon remembered this fact, and helping
ourselves to whisky pegs, as the excitement had
made us thirsty, we determined to sit out the
darkness, as nothing could be done till morning.

At the first break of day, we sallied out to learn
the effects of F- -5s shots. We could distinctly
trace the huge impressions of the elephant's feet
to the forest skirting the bungalow, but could find
no trace of blood. The Kuramba trackers were

48 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

soon on the spot, and on matters being explained
to them they said the elephant must be badly
wounded about the face, otherwise he would have
renewed the attack. The shots being fired at such
close quarters must have scorched the opening
of the wound and prevented the immediate flow
of blood. They added that if wounded the
elephant would not go far, but would make for
the nearest water in search of mud with which
to plaster the wound, as mud was a sovereign
remedy for all elephant wounds, and all elephants
used it. The brute would then lie up in some
dense thicket for a day or two, as any exertion
would tend to re-open the wound. The Kurambas
appeared to be so thoroughly acquainted with the
habits of these beasts, that we readily placed our-
selves under their guidance, and swallowing a hasty
breakfast we set off on the trail, taking with us
one shikar to interpret and a gun-bearer, named
Suliman, to carry a tiffin-basket.

The tracks ran parallel with the road for about
a mile, and then crossed it and made south in
the direction of the Kabbany river, an affluent
of the Cauvery. Distinct traces of blood could
now be seen, and presently we came to a spot
covered with blood, where the elephant had
evidently stood for some time. The country
became more and more difficult as we approached
the river. Dense clumps of bamboo and wait-a-
bit thorns, with here and there a large teak or
honne tree, made it difficult to see more than a few
yards ahead. The Kuramba guides said that we

THE TERROR OF HUNSUR. 49

must now advance more cautiously, as the river
was within half a mile, and that we might come
on the " rogue " at any moment. Up to this
moment, I don't know if any of us appreciated
the full extent of the danger we were running.
Following up a wounded must elephant on foot,
in dense cover such as we were in, meant that
if we did not drop the brute with the first shot,
one or more of us would in all probability pay for
our temerity with our lives. We had been on the
tramp two hours and we were all of us more or
less excited, so taking a sip of cold tea to steady
our nerves, we settled on a plan of operations.
F— - and I, having the heaviest guns, were to
lead, the Kuramba trackers being a pace or two

in advance of us. O and K— were to

follow about five paces behind, and the shikari and
Suliman were to bring up the rear at an interval
of ten paces. If we came on the elephant, the
advance party were to fire first and then move
aside. If the brute survived our fire, the second
battery would surely account for it. It never
entered our minds that anything living could with-
stand a discharge at close quarters of eight such
barrels as we carried. Having settled matters to
our satisfaction, off we set on the trail, moving
now very cautiously, the guides enjoining the
strictest silence. Every bush was carefully ex-
amined, every thicket scanned before an advance
was made ; frequent stops were made, and the
drops of blood carefully examined to see if they
were clotted or not, as by this the Kurambas could

4

50 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

tell how far off the wounded brute was. The
excitement was intense. The rustle of a falling
leaf would set our hearts pit-a-pat. The nervous
strain was too great, and I began to feel quite sick.
The trail now entered a cart-track through the
forest, so that we could see twenty paces or so
ahead. Now we were approaching the river, for
we could hear the murmuring of the water some
two or three hundred yards ahead. The bamboo
clumps grew thicker on either side. The leading
Kuramba was just indicating that the trail led off
to the right, when a terrific trumpet directly
behind us made us start round, and a ghastly
sight met our view. The elephant had evidently
scented us long before we appeared in view, and
had left the cart-track and, making a slight detour
to the right, had gone back a little way and con-
cealed itself behind some bamboo clumps near
the track. It had quietly allowed us to pass, and
then, uttering a shrill scream, charged on the rear.
Seizing Suliman in its trunk, it had lifted him
aloft prior to dashing him to the ground, when we
turned. K— was standing in the path, about
ten paces from the elephant, with his gun levelled
at the brute. " Fire, K— — , fire ! ' we shouted,
but it was too late. Down came the trunk, and
the body of poor Suliman, hurled with terrific
force, was dashed on the ground with a sickening
thud, which told us he was beyond help. As the
trunk was coming down K— - fired. In a moment
the enraged brute was on him. We heard a second
shot, and then saw poor K- - and his gun flying

THE TERROR OF HUNSUR. 51

through the air from a kick from the animal's
fore-foot. There was no time to aim. Indeed,
there was nothing to aim at, as all we could see
was a great black object coming down on us with
incredible speed. Four shots in rapid succession,
and the brute swerved to the left and went off
screaming and crashing through the bamboos in its
wild flight. Rapidly reloading we waited to see
if the rogue would come back, but we heard the
crashing of the underwood further off and knew it
had gone for good. We had now time to look
round. The body of K— - we found on the top
of a bamboo clump a good many yards away.
We thought he was dead, as he did not reply to
our calls, but on cutting down the bamboos and
removing the body we found he had only swooned.
A glass of whisky soon brought him round, but he
was unable to move, as his spine was injured and
several ribs broken. Rigging a hammock, we had
him carried into Manantoddy, where he was on
the doctor's hands for months before he was able
to move, and finally he had to go back to England
and, I believe, never thoroughly recovered his
health. Suliman's corpse had to be taken into
Antarasante, and after an inquest by the native
Magistrate it was made over to the poor fellow's
co-religionists for burial.

The subsequent history of Peer Bux — how he
killed two English officers and afterwards met his
own fate — I must reserve for another chapter.

4*

THE TERROR OF HUNSUR.— II.

OUR tragic adventure with Peer Bux, the rogue
elephant, related in the last chapter, was soon
noised abroad and served only to attract a greater
number of British sportsmen, bent on trying
conclusions with the " Terror of Hunsur," as this
notorious brute came to be called by the inhabitants
of the adjacent districts. A month had elapsed
since our ill-fated expedition, and nothing had been
heard of the rogue, although its known haunts had
been scoured by some of the most noted shikars of
South India. We began to think that the wounds
it had received in its encounter with us had proved
fatal, and even contemplated claiming its tusks
should its carcase be found, and presenting them
to K— - as a memento of his terrible experience
with the monster, but it was a case of " counting
your chickens," for evidence was soon forthcoming
that its tusks were not to be had for the asking.
The beast had evidently been lying low while its
wounds healed, and had retreated for this purpose
into some of the dense fastnesses of the Begur
jungles. Among others who arrived on the scen<
at this time to do battle with the Terror were
two young officers from Cannanore — one a subal-
tern in a native regiment, the other a naval

THE TERROR OF HUNSUR. 53

officer on a visit to that station. They had come

with letters of introduction to Colonel M in

charge of the Amrat Mahal at Hunsur, and that
officer had done all in his power to dissuade the
youngsters from going after the " rogue/' as he saw
plainly that they were green at shikar and did not
fully comprehend the risks they would be running,
nor had they experience enough to enable them to
provide against possible contingencies. Finding
however that dissuasion only strengthened their
determination to brave all danger, he thought
he would do the next best thing by giving
them the best mount possible for such a task.
Among the recent arrivals at the Commissariat
lines was " Dod Kempa" (the Great Red One),
a famous tusker sent down all the way from
Secunderabad to do battle with Peer Bux.
Dod Kempa was known to be staunch, as he had
been frequently used for tiger-shooting in the
notorious Nirmul jungles and had unflinchingly
stood the charge of a wounded tiger. His mahout
declared that the Terror of Hunsur would run at
the mere sight of Dod Kempa, for had not his
reputation gone forth throughout the length and
breadth of India, even among the elephant folk ?
Kempa was not as tall as Peer Bux, but was more
sturdily built, with short, massive tusks. He was
mottled all over his body with red spots : hence his
name Kempa (red). He was a veritable bull-dog
among elephants and was by no means a hand-
some brute, but he had repeatedly done good ser-
vice in bringing to order recalcitrant pachyderms,

54 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

and for this reason had been singled out to try
conclusions with the Hunsur rogue. With such a
mount Colonel M- - thought the young fellows
would be safe even should they meet the
" Terror/' so seeing them safely mounted on the
pad he bid them not to fail to call on D— -,
the Forest officer on the Coorg frontier, who
would put them up to the best means of
finding the game they were after.

They had been gone about four days when one
morning the Commissariat sergeant turned up at

Colonel M 's bungalow and with a salute

informed him that Dod Kempa was in the lines,
and that his mahout was drunk and incapable
and he could get no information from him.
The elephant and mahout had turned up some
time during the night ; the pad had been left
behind, and the man could give no information
about the two sahibs who had gone out with
him. Fearing the worst, the Colonel sent for
the mahout, but before the order could be
carried out, a crowd of mahouts (elephant drivers)
and other natives were seen approaching, shouting
" Pawgalee hogiya / Pawgalee hogiya / (he has gone
mad ! he has gone mad !)." Yes, sure enough,
there was Dod Kempa' s mahout inanely grinning
and shaking his hands. Now and again he would
stop and look behind, and a look of terror would
come into his eyes. He would crouch down and
put his hands to his ears as if to shut out some
dreadful sound. He would remain like this for a
minute or two, glance furtively around, and then

THE TERROR OF HUNSUR. 55

as if reassured would get up and smile and shake
his hands. It was plainly not liquor that made him
behave in this manner ; the poor fellow had actually
become an imbecile through fear. It was hopeless
attempting to get any information from such an
object, so handing him over to the care of the
medical officer, a search party mounted on ele-
phants was at once organised and sent off in the
direction of Frazerpett, twenty-four miles distant,

where D Js camp was. When they got about

half-way they were met by a native forest ranger,
who asked them to stop and come back with
him to a country cart that followed, in which
were the dead bodies of the two unfortunate
officers of whom they were in search. On coming
up with the cart and examining its contents a most
gruesome sight met their eyes. There, rolled up
in a native kumbly (blanket), was an indistinguish-
able mass of human flesh, mud, and clothing.
Crushed out of all shape, the bodies were inextri-
cably mixed together, puddled into one mass by
the great feet of the must elephant. None dared
touch the shapeless heap, where nought but the
boot-covered feet were distinguishable to show that
two human beings lay there. A deep gloom fell
on all, natives and Europeans alike ; none dared
speak above a whisper, and in silence the search
party turned back, taking with them what was
once two gallant young officers, but now an object
that made anyone shudder to look at. The forest
ranger's story was soon told : he had been an
eye-witness of the tragic occurrence. Here it is :-

56 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

' The officers arrived two days ago at Periya-
patna, a large village half-way to Frazerpett, and
while camped there, a native brought in informa-
tion of a bullock having been killed at his village
some four miles off. The Sahibs determined to sit
up in a machan over the kill, and do for the tiger
when he returned to his meal. They left their
camp-followers and baggage at Periyapatna, and
accompanied only by himself (the ranger) and
the native who brought the information, they
rode out on Dod Kempa, took their places on the
machan, and sent the mahout back with the ele-
phant with orders for him to come back at dawn
next day to take them back to camp. The tiger
did not turn up that night, and the whole party
were on their way back to Periyapatna in the
early dawn, when suddenly Dod Kempa stopped,
and striking the ground with the end of his trunk,
made that peculiar drumming noise which is the
usual signal of alarm with these animals when they
scent tiger or other danger. It was still early
morning, so that they could barely see any object
in the shadow of the forest trees. The elephant
now began to back, curl away his trunk, and sway
his head from side to side. The mahout said he was
about to charge, and that there must be another
elephant in the path. We could barely keep our
seats on the pad, so violent was the motion caused
by the elephant backing and swaying from side to
side. The officers had to hold on tight by the
ropes, so that they could not use their guns, when
there in the distance, only fifty yards off, we saw

THE TERROR OF HUNSUR. 57

an enormous elephant coming towards us ! There
was no doubt that it was the rogue, from its
great size. It had not seen us yet, as elephants
see very badly ; but Dod Kempa had scented
him out as the wind was in our favour. The
Sahibs urged the mahout to keep his elephant
quiet so that they might use their guns, but
it was no use, for although he cruelly beat the
beast about the head with his iron goad yet it
continued to back and sway. The rogue had now
got within thirty yards, when it perceived us and
stopped. It backed a few paces and with ears
thrown forward uttered trumpet after trumpet and
then came full charge down on us. No sooner did
Dod Kempa hear the trumpeting than he turned
round and bolted off into the forest, crashing
through the brushwood and under the branches of
the large trees, the must elephant in hot pursuit.
Suddenly an overhanging branch caught in the side
of the pad, ripped it clean off the elephant's
back, and threw the two officers on the ground. I
managed to seize the branch and clambered up out
of harm's way. When I recovered a little from my
fright, I saw the rogue elephant crushing something
up under its fore feet. Now and again it would
stoop and drive its tusks into the mass and begin
stamping on it again. This it did for about a
quarter of an hour. It then went off in the direc-
tion that Dod Kempa had taken. I saw nothing of
Dod Kempa after the pad fell off. I waited for
two hours, and seeing the mad elephant did not
come back, I got down and ran to Periyapatna

58 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

and told the Sahibs' servants, and we went back
with a lot of people, and found that the mass the
elephant had been crushing under its feet was the
bodies of the two officers ! The brute must have
caught them when they were thrown to the ground
and killed them with a blow of its trunk or a
crush of the foot, and it had then mangled the
two bodies together. We got a cart and brought
the bodies away."

Simple in all its ghastly details, the tale was
enough to make one's blood run cold, but heard
as it was, said one present, " within a few yards
of what that bundle of native blankets contained,
it steeled one's heart for revenge." But let us
leave this painful narrative and hasten on to
the time when the monster met with his deserts
at the hand of one of the finest sportsmen that
ever lived, and that too in a manner which
makes every Britisher feel a pride in his race
that can produce such men.

Gordon Gumming was a noted shikari, almost as
famous in his way as his brother, the celebrated
lion-slayer of South Africa, and his equally famous
sister, the talented artist and explorer of Maori
fastnesses in New Zealand. Standing over six feet
in his stockings and of proportionate breadth of
shoulder, he was an athlete in every sense of
the word. With his heavy double rifle over his
shoulder, and with Yalloo, his native tracker and
shikari at his heels, he would think nothing of a
twenty-mile swelter after a wounded bison even
in the hottest weather. An unerring shot, he was

THE TERROR OF HUNSUR. 59

known to calmly await the furious onset of a tiger
till the brute was within a few yards, and then lay
it low with a ball crashing through its skull. It is
even said that, having tracked a noted man-eater to
its lair, he disdained to shoot at the sleeping brute,
but roused it with a stone and then shot it as it was
making at him open-mouthed. He was known to
decline to take part in beats for game or to use
an elephant to shoot from, but would always go
alone save for his factotum Yalloo, and would
follow up the most dangerous game on foot. He
was a man of few words and it was with the
greatest difficulty he could be got to talk of his
adventures. When pressed to relate an incident
in which it was known that he had done a deed of
the utmost daring, he would dismiss the subject
with half-a-dozen words, generally : " Yes, the beast
came at me, and I shot him." Yalloo was as
loquacious as his master was reticent, and it was
through his glibness of tongue round the camp fire,
that much of Gordon Gumming' s shikar doings
>ecame known. Yalloo believed absolutely in his
taster and would follow him anywhere. " He
carries two deaths in his hand and can place them
where he likes (alluding to his master's accuracy
with the rifle) ; therefore, why should I fear ? Has
a beast two lives that I should dread him ? A
single shot is enough, and even a Rakshasha (giant
demon) would lie low."

A Deputy Commissioner in the Mysore service,
Cumming was posted at Shimoga, in the north-west
of the province, when he heard of the doings of

60 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

Peer Bux at Hunsur, and obtained permission to
try and bag him. He soon heard all the khubber
(news) as to the habits of the brute, and he deter-
mined to systematically stalk him down. For this
purpose he established three or four small camps
at various points in the districts ravaged by the
brute, so that he might not be hampered with a
camp following him about but could call in at any
of the temporary shelters he had put up and get
such refreshment as he required. He knew it
would be a work of days, perhaps weeks, following
up the tracks of the rogue, who was here to-day
and twenty miles off to-morrow ; but he had con-
fidence in his own staying powers, and he trusted
to the chapter of lucky accidents to cut short a
toilsome stalk.

Selecting the banks of the Kabbany as the most
likely place to fall in with the tracks of Peer Bux,
he made Karkankote his resting-place for the time,
while a careful examination was made of the ground
on the left bank of the river. Tracks were soon
found, but these always led to the river, where they
were lost, and no further trace of them was found
on either bank. He learned from the Kurambas
that the elephant was in the habit of entering the
river and floating down for a mile or so before it
made for the banks. As it travelled during the
night and generally laid up in dense thicket during
the day, there was some chance of coming up with
it, if only the more recent tracks could be followed
up uninterruptedly ; but with the constant breaks
in the scent whenever the animal took to the

THE TERROR OF HUNSUR. 61

water he soon saw that tracking would be useless
in such country, and that he must shift to where
there were no large streams. A couple of weeks
had been spent in the arduous work of following
up the brute from Karkankote to Frazerpett and
back again to the river near Hunsur and then on
to Heggadavencotta. Even the tireless Yalloo now
became wearied and began to doubt the good
fortune of his master. Yet Gordon Cumming was
as keen as ever, and would not give up his plan of
following like a sleuth-hound on the tracks of the
brute. On several occasions they had fallen in with
other parties out on the same errand as themselves,
but these contented themselves with lying in wait
at certain points the brute was known to frequent.
These parties had invariably asked Gordon Cum-
ming to join them, as they pronounced his stern
chase a wildgoose one and said he was as likely
to come up with the Flying Dutchman as he was
with the Terror of Hunsur.

It was getting well into the third week of this
long chase, when the tracks led through some
scrub jungle which would not give cover to anything
larger than a spotted deer. They had come on to
the ruins of an ancient village, the only signs of
which were a small temple fast falling into decay,
and an enormous banyan tree (Ficus religiosa). It
was midday ; the heat was intense, and they sat
under the shade of the tree for a little rest. Cum-
ming was munching a biscuit, while Yalloo was
chewing a little pan (betel-leaf), when a savage
scream was heard and there, not twenty paces off,

62 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

was the Terror of Hunsur coming down on them
in a terrific charge. From the position in which
Gumming was sitting a fatal shot at the elephant
was almost impossible, as it carried its head high
and only its chest was exposed. A shot there
might rake the body without touching lungs or
heart, and then the brute would be on him. With-
out the least sign of haste and with the utmost
unconcern Gordon Gumming still seated, flung his
sola topee (sun hat) at the beast when it was about
ten yards from him. The rogue stopped moment-
arily to examine this strange object, and lowered
its head for the purpose. This was exactly what
Gumming wanted, and quick as thought a bullet,
planted in the centre of the prominence just above
the trunk, crashed through its skull, and the
Terror of Hunsur dropped like a stone, shot dead.
" Ah, comrade," said Yalloo, when relating the
story, " I could have kissed the Bahadoor's (my
lord's) feet when I saw him put the gun down, and
go on eating his biscuit just as if he had only shot
a bird of some kind, instead of that devil of an
elephant. I was ready to die of fright ; yet here
was the Sahib sitting down as if his life had not been
in frightful jeopardy just a moment before. Truly,
the Sahibs are great ! >J

AN ADVENTURE WITH A BOA.

SAMOO, my Jhora boatman, is the finest story-
teller I know. He is a man of few words, but
with appropriate gesture and imitation he paints
such a word-picture that you can fancy the scene
enacted before you. He is no traveller — has never
been twenty miles from his native village — yet he
has had strange experiences, and strangest of the
many is his adventure with a boa.

I might have been inclined to doubt the accuracy
of his description of the great snake's method of
fight if it were not for the singular confirmation
it receives from Rudyard Kipling's work, " The
Jungle Book," in which an account is given of
the serpent Kaa's fight with the bander-logue
(monkeys).

As I cannot give Samoo's gesture and imitation, I
must endeavour to paraphrase them.

" It was in the rains, Huzoor (your worship),
three years ago, when the Koel was in flood. I
was fishing at the gagra (rapids). When the water
is muddy we can only fish with the rod and line,
and then we only get small cat-fish. These fish
take bait readily in flood time, and I was seated
behind a large rock fishing in a pool above the

64 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

rapids when a rustling in the long grass, some
twenty yards above stream, attracted my attention.
It seemed as if a herd of bullocks were rushing
down to the stream. Then I heard splash ! splash !
and ough ! two huge snakes, from ten to fifteen
cubits long and as thick as my thigh, entered the
water. I felt great fright and could not run, but
crouched behind the stone and looked. Whether
they were fighting or merely gambolling I cannot
tell. They twined their bodies round one another
and raised themselves higher than a man out of
the water, and fell with a great crash. This they
did several times, and then one — the smaller of the
two — unloosed itself from the coil of the other and
swam to the opposite shore, where I lost sight of it.
Its mate, after swimming once or twice round the
pool, came out on the bank near where it entered
the water, and stretched itself beside a log of sal
(wood) which was lying on the sands. So well did
it conceal itself that not a vestige of it was to be
seen, and had I not seen it creep beside the log I
should not have known there was so large a snake
there. I waited some time, and then was about
to steal off home when I heard a shrill squeal,
followed by a succession of grunts, in the forest
behind me. The snake also seemed to have heard
the sounds, for when I next looked at him his
head was resting flat on the log and his body
drawn up in zigzags behind him. The log was
lying across the mouth of a small water-course
leading to the river, and down this water-course
the sounds were fast approaching. A wild pig

ADVENTURE WITH A BOA. 65

rushed out of the water-course and made for
the river. Just as it was leaping over the log
the snake darted forward and coiled itself round
the body and neck of the pig, and held it fast.
The pig gave a struggle or two and was dead.
The snake had its coil still round the body of the
pig, when out rushed a pack of wild dogs which
were evidently hunting the pig. The foremost
dog was nearly on to the snake before it saw him.
With a sharp yell it sprang to one side, while the
boa uncoiled itself from the pig and hissing loudly
sheltered itself behind the log. The whole pack
now formed themselves up behind their leader,
snarling savagely and showing their teeth and eye-
ing the carcase of the pig the while. But the snake
was not to be baulked of his prey. His body was
close-drawn in great folds near to his head, which
was only just raised off the ground ; his eyes
gleaming and his forked tongue flickering in and
out of his closed lips, while the end of his tail
kept swaying from side to side, as hiss after hiss
replied to the snarls of the dogs. This went on
for a little while, until one of the dogs made a snap
at the pig. Quicker than an arrow from a well-
strung bow, shot forward the head of the snake,
full six feet, and struck the venturesome dog
straight in the ribs, and was back to its original
position in a moment. The dog was thrown clean
off its legs several paces, and with a convulsive
kick or two was dead. You smile, Huzoor, but
it is true words I am telling. These snakes always
fight in that way. I have seen a bullock's ribs

5

66 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

broken by a blow from the head of a boa. The
boa has a square nose, like that of a buffalo, and
it is not soft, but hard and bony, and it can deliver
a blow as hard as that of twenty men together,
and strike an object eight feet away. Seeing one
of their number killed, the dogs now took counsel
together and settled on a plan of action. They
formed a complete circle round the snake and
kept trotting round and round. One would then
make a feint of attacking the snake, and when he
launched forth to strike his adversary, another
dog would rush from the opposite side and drive
its teeth into the great snake's body. This ruse
answered admirably for a time, and the snake
began to bleed profusely from several severe
wounds, and I was expecting a speedy victory for
the dogs, when the boa, grown more wary, declined
to be drawn by the feigned attack, but reserve<
himself for the dog that actually seized him, an<
again despatched it with a single blow of hi;
formidable head. Several dogs were killed in thi<
way, when the whole pack rushed on him at o
and tried to seize him by the head. As well try t<
seize a rat in a hut. The head was here, there, and
everywhere. Ough ! bah ! bah ! it was a sight. The
snarls of the dogs, the hiss of the snake, the yelps
of the dying dogs ! It was all over in a moment
only three dogs were left, and these took to flight.
The snake glided back to its old position behin<
the log, and seemed to go to sleep. After a tim<
I crept cautiously away and went to my village.
Several of us came down in our boats in the evening.

ADVENTURE WITH A BOA. 67

We threw stones at the log, but there was no snake
there. On landing we found the bodies of the pig
and eight dogs. The snake had crept away into
the forest. We saw his tracks marked with blood,
but were afraid to follow. The Sonthals from
Godamarree ate the pig ; the dogs we threw into
the river."

Such is Samoo's tale, told in fewer words but far
less graphically. How much truth there is in it
I cannot say, but the villagers all believe it to be
true. One can well conceive the enormous force
of a blow delivered with the tremendous power
of the mass of muscle making up the body of
these great serpents. But the question remains,
" Do boas strike such blows with the head ? JI
Mr. Kipling asserts it in his " Jungle Book/' and
now Samoo tells the same tale. The generally-
accepted belief is that pythons always use their
power of constriction to crush and kill their prey.
I have myself seen a nine-foot rock snake thus kill
a large-sized goat, but Samoo and other natives
assert that boas merely use their constrictive
power to break the bones and squeeze the body
of their prey into a shape fit to swallow, but that
they first kill it with a blow of the head.

5*

68

THE ONE-EYED MAN-EATER.

SOME years ago I was engaged in prospecting for
gold on the north-west-frontier of Mysore, between
the districts of Chittaldroog and Shimoga. The
forest tracts of Ubrani and Gangur, where my work
lay, are made up of stunted growths of bamboo,
babul and date-palm — a very desolate country, the
villages being few and far between and the cultiva-
tion limited to the margins of the few streams that
drain this hilly region. This portion of the country
had a very evil reputation, for it was said to be in-
fested with tigers, which found ready shelter in the
low thorny jungle seen all over these hills. At the
time of my visit a notorious man-eater was ravaging
the country around Gangur, and it was reported
that twenty-six human victims had fallen a prey to
the savage monster in the past six months. A
large reward had been offered for his slaughter by
the Mysore Government, and some of the most
noted native shikaris had been after him but had
failed to bag the cunning brute. Several parties of
British officers from the military stations of Ban-
galore and Belgaum had also been after him, and al-
though a number of other tigers had been shot, the

THE ONE-EYED MAN-EATER. 69

famous man-eater was still at large. There could be
no mistaking him. He was said to have but one
eye, the other having been knocked out by a native
when out duck-shooting on the Sulikeray tank (a
large artificial lake in this neighbourhood). The
man's story was that he was perched in the fork of a
large tree on the margin of the lake, waiting for day-
light in order to shoot the wild geese which frequent
this tank. At daybreak he noticed an enormous
tiger go down to the lake to drink. It then came
and stretched itself under the very tree on which
he was perched. After a time it appeared to go to
sleep, with its head between its paws. He had
only small shot in his single-barrel fowling-piece,
but he thought at this short range he might be
able to kill the brute, and the Government reward
of thirty-five rupees for a tiger appeared to be
within his grasp. He took careful aim at its eye
and fired, dropping his gun at the same time in
his agitation. With a fearful roar the tiger rushed
away, tearing the bark from the trees with his
teeth in his savage fury. After the lapse of some
considerable time, and when the sun was well up in
the heavens, the man got off his perch and made
his way as quickly as he could to his village.
The next day a careful search was made for the
tiger, but nothing was seen of him. A few weeks
later a man was carried off from the path between
Uhrani and Gangur and partially eaten by the
tiger. This happened again, and then it became
a common occurrence, not a week passing but a
human being was carried off. The brute seemed

70 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

to frequent the high road between the district
stations of Chittaldroog and Shimoga, and so
daring had he become that all traffic between
these two towns was at a stand-still for the
time. He had been seen several times by vil-
lagers and goat-herds, and the loss of one of his
eyes was noted. Probably it was this very loss of
an eye that led him to take to man-eating, as when
wounded he would have been unable to roam far
in search of his natural prey, and driven by hunger
to attack man, he found him so easy a victim that
thenceforth he hunted man instead of beast. He
had been known to carry off a cartman and leave
the bullocks from an ox-waggon conveying goods
along the road. Latterly he had taken to killing
the ddk-men, or native runners who carry the
post from station to station in outlying parts
of the country. These dak - runners carry the
letter-bags slung on a stick thrown over the
shoulder. At the further end of the stick is
a bunch of small bells which make a kind of
rhythmic jangle as the men trot along. The sound
of these bells can be heard a considerable way off,
and evidently this tiger had learned to associate
their tinkle-tinkle with approaching prey. He
would lie in wait in some unfrequented corner
and then pounce on the unfortunate ddk-ruuner
as he passed with the mails. Four poor wretches
had fallen in succession to the maw of the fearful
creature, and none would now venture to carry the
mails.

I had with me as my assistant a young Cornish-

THE ONE-EYED MAN-EATER. 71

man named Provis, out from England for the first
time. We had pitched our camp at a wayside
overseer's bungalow, about ten miles from the vil-
lage of Gangur and on the Chittaldroog side. The
country was open for several miles on all sides of
the bungalow, the forest beginning some four miles
west, where the road descended a kind of ghat
(hill-side) into the valley leading to the Badra
river. It was this spot that the man-eater was
said chiefly to frequent, although his range ex-
tended to villages many miles away. Owing to
four ddk-men having been carried off by the
tiger we could not get our letters from the
nearest postal station, but had to ride in our-
selves once a week to Shimoga, forty miles off.
None of our servants nor the villagers dared to go
alone any distance from the bungalow. Provis had
heard and read so much of tiger-shooting that
he was eager to have a pot at the tiger, all the
more so from the fact of its being a man-eater, for
great would be the kudos should he bag him. We
scoured the country for miles, doing our prospect-
ing at the same time, but never got sight of the tiger.
We sat out night after night in a machan in all
the most likely places, with a fine buffalo as a bait ;
yet no tiger came. When we were at Gangur
we heard of him at Ubrani ; when we got there,
he had " killed" at some village ten miles off.
We should have grown sceptical as to the ex-
istence of the tiger if it were not for the
gruesome sight of the partially-eaten body of
a young woman taken from the fields in broad

72 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

daylight at a village seven miles from our camp
If we could have induced the poor weeping re-
latives to leave the body where it was found, we
might probably have got a shot at the monster
on his return to complete his meal. But we had
not the heart to urge it on them, when they
wished to remove what was left of their kins-
woman for burial. We gave them sufficient
money to bury their dead and drown their
sorrow in arrack, and turned away heart-sick at
the ghastly spectacle we had just witnessed,
vowing that we would not relax our efforts to
rid the place of the brute.

Talking over the events of the day at the bunga-
low, Provis suggested that if one of us disguised
himself as a ddk-man and carried the bells over his
shoulder and trudged the bit of ghat road where the
tiger had carried off the four ddk-men, while the
other perched himself in a machan just near the
spot where the tiger had made his previous attacks,
we might probably get a shot at him. He thought
that even if nothing came of it, the attempt would
still serve to hearten the natives and show them
that ddk-running was not so dangerous after all.
This last argument, the inconvenience we had our-
selves suffered from the stoppage of the post to-
gether with the need of a little excitement in our
hum-drum life, induced me to consent to his pro-
posal. No thought of danger ever entered my mind
for the moment. The toss of a rupee soon decided
that I was to enact the ddk-maxi and Provis do the
shooting from the machan. We sat up long, talking

THE ONE-EYED MAN-EATER. 73

over the details of our mad-cap scheme, and pro-
bably dreamt of it that night. Next morning we
got together a number of villagers, and set off for
the scene of the night's operations. The news of
our plot to circumvent Master Stripes soon got
wind, and the whole male population of the village
assembled to help to erect the machan. Half-way
down the declivity was a large tree which overhung
the road at the angle of a zig-zag. In order to cut
off this corner the natives took a short cut across
the zig-zag. This path was worn into deep ruts,
and it was along these ruts that the tiger concealed
himself when lying in wait for the ddk-men. From
the machan in the tree the roadway on both sides,
as well as the short cut, could be plainly seen.
Provis was to ride over at four o'clock in the after-
noon and conceal himself in the machan. I was to
ride over at about six, dismount some distance away
from the edge of the jungle, send the pony back and
then begin my experience as a <^&-man. Nothing
would induce our syces (grooms) to remain with the
ponies anywhere near the ghdt, so we arranged to
walk back to the bungalow after our adventure.
Prompt to the hour Provis set out and en-
sconced himself in the machan , taking with him our
whole battery of two double-barrel smooth-bores
and a Snider carbine. Meanwhile I got myself up in
a dark serge suit, shikar shoes, a white cummerbund
and turban, and, provided with a stout staff and
bells to complete my personation of a native post-
runner, I set off amid the plaudits of the natives,
who assembled in crowds to witness this escapade

74 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

of the pitheya dor ays (mad gentlemen). It was just
dusk when I got to within a mile of the head of
the ghat. A bright moon was soon shining, so
objects were clear enough. I dismounted and sent
back my pony and began my tramp towards the
jungle, shaking my bells as I went. I had two
miles in all to go before reaching the machan.
The first mile was in comparatively open ground ;
after that the forest deepened and but little
of the roadway could be seen. I had started
my tramp in a careless mood, thinking more of
my ludicrous disguise than of any danger to myself.
As I descended the declivity I began to realise my
position. Supposing the tiger actually attacked me,
what was I to do ? I was wholly unarmed with
the exception of the wooden staff, but what was
that when matched against a tiger ! I felt more
than half-inclined to turn back and concoct some
tale as to my return. But what of Provis ? Could I
shout to him from where I was ? Might not this very
shouting attract the tiger ? To turn back then
was perhaps as dangerous as to go forward, for
the tiger might already be behind me. A glance
backward sent a cold shiver all over me, and I set
off at a sharp trot to join Provis. The jingling
of the bells seemed to reassure me, and I went along
for a few hundred yards. Suddenly I came to a
stop, my heart beating furiously. There was a
dark object standing by the road. The tiger !
Should I run from it ? My sudden stopping evi-
dently alarmed the beast and it scampered off into
the jungle, with the unmistakable lope of a jackal.

THE ONE-EYED MAN-EATER. 75

I cannot recollect what happened in the next few
minutes, but I found myself under the machan
and Provis shouting, " What on earth has scared
you, old man ? Did you see the tiger ? " A
strong nip from Provis's flask and I was able to
give some garbled account of having been out of
wind with the trot. Shouldering our guns we
walked down the ghat and then back to camp,
but saw no signs of the tiger. Several times that
night I got up with a feeling of the " creeps/'
and imagined I was being stalked by the man-
eater.

Next morning Provis insisted that we must make
another attempt, this time changing places. No
argument of mine would alter his determination.
" If you don't come, old man, I go alone and do
the dak-man. I won't have the natives say that
the chick doray (little gentleman) is afraid." I
tried to persuade him to take one of the double
guns with him ; but no, he would go just as I went.
Well, I got into the machan at 5 o'clock and made
a nice little opening on three sides, so as to rest
my gun and command the road on both sides, as
well as the short cut. After that I sat down to
wait quietly but found it a most difficult matter,
as at dusk the mosquitoes got scent of me and kept
me on the move trying to beat them away from my
ears. At last I heard the bells in the distance,
when it occurred to me that should anything
happen to Provis I would be seriously to blame. I
ought at any cost to have dissuaded him from his
rash attempt. Every tinkle of the bells I feared

76 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

would be the last, and it was with the utmost relief
that at length I saw his figure looming in the
distance. Now he has left the main road and got
into the short cut. He is still about two hundred
yards off, when — Merciful Heaven ! What is that
I see stealing along some thirty yards behind him ?
The ruts hide it from view for a moment, but
there it is again. There is no mistaking that huge
head. It is the tiger ! The bright moonlight shows
up his yellow body between the little ridges in the
road, as crouching low he stealthily follows my
friend, actually stalking him. I was in an agony
of nervous tremor. Should I shout to warn Provis ?
But that would probably cause him to stop, and
the tiger would be on to him. Every moment
seemed an age, yet there was my friend in the
jaws of death and yet wholly unconscious of his
extreme danger. Could I but stay the shaking
of my hands there was a chance yet, as I could
depend on my Snider for anything up to a hundred
yards. I aimed as best I could at the tiger, but
those who have done tiger-shooting know how
small a mark this great brute offers when, crouched
low, he steals along after his prey. He was visibly
lessening the distance between himself and Provis,
and would probably make his final rush in another
moment or two. I aimed at a spot a few yards
in advance where the path was comparatively
level, so that I would be able to see the whole of
the tiger's body, and immediately he appeared
there I fired. Provis stopped a moment ; then
rushed forward exclaiming, " D n it, old man,

THE ONE-EYED MAN-EATER. 77

stop that ; your bullet pinged within an inch of
my ear ! Don't crack jokes in that way ! " " Hurry
up ! hurry up, for God's sake ! There is the tiger
after you ! " I gasped out ; and hastily helped my
friend into the machan beside me. We then looked
out for the brute, but could see nothing of him.
I felt sure of my shot, and declared he must be
dead or dying behind one of the ruts. Pro vis
was thoroughly scared when I told him of his
narrow escape ; and we both vowed we would
never attempt tiger-shooting in that manner again.
After waiting a quarter of an hour we fired several
shots into the air. Waiting an hour and hearing
nothing, we again discharged our pieces and then,
re-loading carefully, descended and walked to where
I last saw the tiger ; but there was no tiger there.
Feeling quite sure that we would recover him in
the morning, we walked home and received quite
an ovation from the natives when I told them that
their arch-enemy was slain. Next morning we
carefully searched the ground ; but although the
mark where my bullet struck the ground and
glanced off and the marks of Provis's shoes were
distinct, there was not the slightest trace of a
tiger's pug anywhere about. To this day I cannot
be sure whether it was a tiger I fired at, or merely
a phantom of my heated imagination. That the
tiger was not dead we had sickening evidence a
week later, when the head, arms and legs of a
man were brought to us. The poor fellow had
been killed the previous day at Ubrani, and the
remnants of the tiger's meal were brought us to

78 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

view, as a silent reproach for our want of success.
Four months later, the one-eyed man-eater was
shot by a native in his betel-garden and brought
into Shimoga. There was no mistaking the brute,
as one eye was completely gone. He was an enor-
mous animal, of a fine bright yellow — certainly with
the finest skin I have ever seen.

79

MY SHIKAREE FRIENDS.

II. — LUTCHMAN THE BEYDAR.

WHEN in the sixteenth century the confederate
Mussulman forces under Adil Shah, the monarch of
Goolburga, defeated the Hindoo sovereign of
Vijianuggar at the decisive battle of Talikot, and
thus finally overthrew the last of the Hindoo king-
doms of South India, it was noticed that the
utmost efforts of the brilliant Mussulman cavalry
could make no impression on a body of Hindoo
infantry which kept the field when all around was
rout and slaughter. " Who/' asked Adil Shah,
" are those brave spearsmen ? " " Beytars (hunts-
men)," replied his attendants. " Nay, rather Bey-
dars (without fear)/' said the chivalrous Mussulman
sovereign. " Henceforth they shall be known, not
as Beytars (huntsmen), but as Beydars (the fear-
less)." This punning title of Beydar Beytar (the
fearless huntsmen) is still borne by the clansmen
of the famous caste of huntsmen inhabiting North
Mysore and parts of the Southern Mahratta
country. Under their P alegars, or tribal chiefs,
they formed the flower of that Mysore army which,
under Hyder AH, struck terror into the hearts of

8o IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

the Governor and Council of Fort St. George, and
set at defiance the united efforts of the English,
the Nizam, and the Mahrattas for twenty years.
The ruthless proselytizing of the bigoted Tipu
alienated these brave clansmen and turned them
into bitter foes, and thus hastened the destruction
of that mighty kingdom which his father Hyder
had founded with their help.

Under British rule this once famous soldiery
have settled down into peaceful cultivators, but
they still retain much of their traditional habits
as huntsmen, and at stated intervals assemble in
large numbers and organise a regular battue of all
the game in their neighbourhood. Armed with
short stabbing spears they will fearlessly meet the
raging wild boar in full career, and with a well-
planted stab nearly sever the shoulder from the
body of the brute, while they leap nimbly aside to
avoid its formidable tusks, still retaining hold of
the spear, which they never throw. A favourite
weapon with which they kill hare, jackals, and
birds of all kinds is the kirasoo, or curled stick,
a kind of Indian boomerang. The kirasoo is made
from the ironwood shrub, common all over Mysore.
It is a spiral stick about three feet long, and
ending in a knob. Its weight varies from eight
to twelve ounces. There are two methods of
throwing the kirasoo, and in both the narrow
end is held in the hand, the knob being forward.
If an object on the ground is aimed at, the kirasoo
is thrown under-arm with a jerk, its flight being
straight with a screw motion. Immediately the

LUTCHMAN THE BEYDAR. 81

knob strikes the ground the curled portion swings
over it, describing a circle. The knob now jerks
away a few feet and another circle is described,
and so on a series of loops or circles are made by
the stick until finally it falls to rest. Any hare
or jackal within a range of several yards from the
spot where the knob first touches the ground is
almost certain to be knocked down by the stick in
its gyrations. If thrown among a lot of birds the
weapon does great damage. I have seen as many
as six quail killed with a single throw. The other
method of throwing the kirasoo is far more difficult
and requires very considerable skill. The stick is
swung round the head several times, and then
launched forward. After a straight flight of about
twenty yards it makes a series of zig-zags upwards
and then drops. Among a flock of pigeons in
flight this does great execution, killing and maiming
many.

My friend Lutchman, the Beydar, was an expert
with the curled stick, and would do far more
execution with it among the birds than I with my
double-barrelled shot-gun. Innumerable blue rock
pigeons take up their abode in the old pits and
shafts of the ancient gold-workings seen on the
auriferous tracts in Mysore. The mouths of these
shafts are generally concealed by scrubby thorn
bushes. Our method was to approach as quietly
as possible, and when within a few yards to throw
some stones, when out would fly a great flock of
birds. Bang ! bang ! would go both my barrels,
and whizz went Lutchman' s kirasoo ; we each

6

82 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

secured our bag, but Lutchman's nearly always
exceeded mine. When I extolled his skill and
pointed to his larger number of birds, he would
modestly remark : " My lord and father shoots for
pleasure, I kill for a living ; if my lord hunted
for a living, how great would be the load ! '

Lutchman was a fine specimen of a native
athlete. About five feet four inches in height,
with clean cut features, a straight nose, and small
flexible nostrils, he would be considered a good-
looking man anywhere. Well-shaped limbs, small
hands and feet, slim waist and sloping shoulders,
he could outrun all the men of his village, whether
in a short sprint or a five-mile race ; while at lifting
weights he was not far behind our stalwart North
Country and sturdy Cornish miners. Unlike most
of his clansmen Lutchman was a Lingayet by
religion, and he wore the Phallic emblem in a little
silver box on his right arm. Before starting on
an expedition of any kind, before beginning a race
or putting the stone, even before beginning his
day's work, he would touch the lingam on his
right arm with his left hand, and then touch
his forehead— this being his method of asking a
blessing on his undertaking. A small section of
the Beydars are Lingayets ; the great bulk of
them worship the sanguinary goddess Kali. Tipu
Sultan forcibly seized a number of Beydars and
had them circumcised, hoping in this way to con-
vert them to Mahomedanism ; but the infuriated
tribesmen rose in rebellion, and retiring into their
strong hill-fortresses, or droogs, bid defiance to

LUTCHMAN THE BEYDAR. 83

Tipu and all his hosts. They were besieged for years
in the famous fort of Chitaldroog, and although
at times reduced to the utmost extremities, a bold
sally on more than one occasion enabled them to
seize the enemy's camp and re- victual the fortress.
It is said that on the capture of Chitaldroog
by treachery, there were found several thousand
human heads before the shrine of the goddess Kali
within the fort. During the siege, at daybreak
each day, the collary horn — a long brazen trumpet
used by these tribes — would sound, and out would
rush a number of Beydars from the most un-
expected quarters, and kill and behead such of
the enemy as fell into their hands. These heads
were offered as a morning sacrifice to the san-
guinary goddess.

Wild boar hunting is the chief sport among the
Beydars. In the luxuriant millet fields and cane-
brakes of the Mysore table-land this brute attains
an enormous size. When the millet is in ear and
the cane ripens, a sounder of pig will do an immense
amount of damage in a single night. The path
taken by the swine in their course from their
haunts to the fields is carefully marked, and a
day for the hunt is selected when the moon shines
bright towards morn. At that hour the herds have
finished feeding and make for their haunts. The
most skilful among the spearsmen post them-
selves on each side of the path the pigs take
when returning. A leafy branch resting on the
ground and supported by the left hand, conceals
the spearsman. In his right hand is held the

6*

84 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

short stabbing spear, with its keen blade nearly
a foot long and four inches wide. The whole of
the inhabitants of the village, men, women and
children, with all the village curs, surround the
fields, leaving open only the path that the animals
use. At a given signal the men shout, women
and children scream, dogs bark and the whole
make such a din that the frightened swine at once
bolt for the jungle. The sows and pigs first break
cover, and are allowed to pass the foremost spears-
men, to be despatched by the less skilful hunts-
men behind. Now a large black object looms in
the distance and trots slowly up the path, stopping
now and again to turn and give a grunt of defiance.
To my friend Lutchman has been assigned the
place of honour — the foremost spear. A bright
gleam in his eye and a rising of the muscles of his
arms alone show that he is all alert. A shower of
stones from behind, thrown by lads concealed for
the purpose, sends the huge brute up the path
at a gallop, his jaws champing furiously the while.
Now he approaches the branch held by Lutchman.
A bright gleam of steel, a shrill scream of rage
and pain, and the boar stumbles forward a few
paces in his death throes, his shoulder nearly
severed from his body by the well-planted thrust
and upward jerk of Lutchman' s spear. A shout
of " Shabash ! shabash ! / (Well done ! well done ! ! )"
rings out from his brother hunters, and Lutchman,
the hero of the hour, proceeds to plant his foot on
the body of his fallen foe and declare himself " the
lord of the wild boar " (a favourite title of honour

LUTCHMAN THE BEYDAR. 85

among these people), amid the plaudits of his
companions. The boar is carried in triumph to
the village, where an equal division is made
of the flesh, the head being the perquisite of his
slayer. Lutchman has the tusks of many boars in
his hut ; some of these are quite five inches long
and must have belonged to hoary monsters. Yet
he never boasts of his prowess, and even when
asked to tell the tale of his victories, he merely
says, " The foolish animal rushed on my spear,
thinking it was a millet stalk, but he was mis-
taken."

86

A MAN-EATING WOLF.

AN Engineer in the Public Works Department,
India, who has had much experience of India
lately told me that he thought none of the wild
beasts of that country were equal to the wolf
in savage ferocity, wanton destructiveness and
wild daring. He has spent much of his life in
the North-West Provinces and Oude, where wolves
are very plentiful, and he has often had occasion
to remember that there are other animals in India
as dangerous as the man-eating tiger and even
more destructive to human life.

On one occasion, while engaged on some bridge-
work at Sheegottee, near Gya on the Grand
Trunk Road, the native watchmen set to guard
a brick-field were so frequently carried off by
a pair of wolves that at last no one would remain
after dark anywhere near the brick-kilns. One
incident that my friend related well exemplifies the
daring of these brutes. A watchman's hut had
been erected near the brick-fields, and two men
were appointed as care-takers. One moonlight
night they were sleeping in the verandah of the
hut, and, as natives of India generally do, they
slept with their cloths drawn over their heads.

A MAN-EATING WOLF. 87

One of the men was awakened by a gurgling noise
and a sound of struggling. On looking up he saw
that a large wolf had seized his brother-watchman
by the throat, and was endeavouring to drag him
off, while a second wolf was sitting on its haunches
calmly watching the proceedings from outside. He
at once got hold of his laihie (quarter-staff), and
began belabouring the wolf, but it was only after
repeated blows that it loosened its hold ; and then
it only went off a few yards and kept growling and
showing its teeth. Fortunately the watchman was
a brave fellow, and a man of resource. The fire had
not yet gone out, and tearing a wisp of grass
from the thatched roof, he lighted it and rushed
at the wolves with the flaming firebrand, thus
putting them to flight, as there is nothing the
wolf dreads so much as flaming fire. He had now
time to attend to his companion, who had fainted
away. There were several slight wounds in the
neck, but the thick cloth the man had drawn over
him had prevented the wolf from seizing him
by the throat, the spot for which these animals
always make, and dragging him away.

Some years ago I was camped near the village
of Sat-bowrie (Seven Wells) on the high-road from
Nagpore to Jubbulpore. The village had an un-
enviable notoriety for thieves and was more
frequently called Chor-bowrie (Thieves' Wells) than
Sat-bowrie. The hill ranges to the north were
inhabited by a wild race known as Bheels, the
most expert thieves in the world, and a number of
these Bheels had settled round Sat-bowrie, and were

88 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

known to be concerned in the numerous robberies
that had recently taken place in that neighbour-
hood. A special officer — Lieutenant Cumberledge,
I think, of the Thuggi Department — had been sent
down to investigate, as several persons had dis-
appeared from the village of late and it was thought
that the Thugs (professional stranglers) had had
something to do with their disappearance, as the
bodies were not recovered and these wretches
were known to be particularly skilful in hiding
away the corpses of their victims.

Cumberledge told me a strange story. His first
search was for signs of Thugs, but no strangers
were known to be about nor had parties of seemingly
respectable Hindoo travellers (the usual disguise
of Thugs) gone up or down the road. He then
thought that the murderers might be Bheels ; but
Bheels were also among the missing persons, and
a great fear had fallen on their people, as they
ascribed the disappearance of their fellows to a
malignant spirit. Robbery evidently was not an
object, since most of those who had disappeared
were poor people with few or no ornaments. The
officer then imagined that the cause of all this
mischief might be a man-eating tiger ; but he soon
had to dismiss that idea from his mind, as no tiger
pugs had been seen, and the keenest trackers had
been unable to find traces of one of these brutes
anywhere in the neighbourhood. A man-eating
wolf then suggested itself, as it was known that
wolves frequently took to man-eating, and then
became very daring. The circumstances attending

A MAN-EATING WOLF. 89

the mysterious disappearances were very like the
work of a man-eating wolf, as the victims — if
victims they were — always vanished at night ;
they were generally taken from the verandah of
their huts, and not a bone of the unfortunates
was found. The tiger will usually leave the larger
bones of the creatures he preys on ; wolves will not
leave a vestige, as they are more fond of bones
than even dogs are. But even this reasoning
appeared to be at fault, for at first no trace of
any creature's foot-marks could be found.
Eventually, however, near to some of the houses
from which people had disappeared, there was seen
the trail of some animal which no one could recog-
nise. It certainly was not the track of any known
animal, and the Bheels and local shikaris regarded
it as :< uncanny/' and ascribed it to a wood-
demon or rakshasha. Four rounded holes, with a
brush-like mark before and behind, were all that
could be seen, and these disappeared sometimes
in places where distinct trail should have been
found. Cumberledge was nonplussed, and told
me his tale with much chagrin. He had been
a fortnight on the spot and was no nearer the
solution of the mystery than when he arrived.
Indeed, he admitted to me that he was more
puzzled now than when he first came, as the
ideas he had formed on the subject had had
to be abandoned one by one, and he was now
further off than ever from scenting a trail. Two
persons were missing since his arrival on the
spot : one the wife of the village herdsman, taken

90 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

from inside her hut ; the other a youth of seven-
teen, last seen sleeping before the village shop
in the heart of the hamlet. He asked me if I
would join him in the endeavour to unearth this
strange mystery, and as I expected to be in that
neighbourhood for a month I readily consented.

About a week after this a child was taken from
a Bheel's hut some distance from the village. The
child was said to be sleeping in its mother's arms
at the time. She heard a rustle during the night
and, getting up, missed the child. Thinking that it
had crawled away, she searched round the hut
and, not finding it, gave the alarm. She found
the bamboo door partly pushed aside, so knew
that some animal had entered. Not a trace was
to be seen on the hard-beaten clay in front of the
hut, only a drop or two of blood showed that the
poor infant had been carried away by some brute.
We felt sure now that this night's work at least
was done by a wolf, as both Cumbeiiedge and I
had heard of cases of wolves stealing into houses
at night and taking sleeping children from their
mother's arms without awakening the parent. We
scouted the country for miles round, using several
good dogs in the search, without any result. Two
days afterwards the lieutenant's servant came to
me early in the morning and said his master wished
to see me, as the Demon had come to the village
in the night and had carried off the sonar (gold-
smith). He knew it was the Demon, as his marks
were plainly to be seen in the roadway. When I
got there I found a large crowd collected near the

A MAN-EATING WOLF. 91

goldsmith's house, but they were carefully kept
away from the vicinity of some well-marked signs
in the dust before the house. They were similar
to the marks seen near other houses from which
inmates had been taken — four rounded holes,
about fifteen inches apart and placed two and
two together. The back holes were much wider
than those in front, and from these latter a slight
depression extended for about ten inches ter-
minating in a knuckle mark. A similar knuckle
mark was seen behind each of the near holes, but
further away, and the longitudinal mark was
wanting. My attention was drawn to these pecu-
liarities by Cumberledge, whose training as a police
officer qualified him for taking note of signs that
others would have overlooked. The natives were
loud in their expressions of opinion as to the
machinations of a forest demon. One old man
indeed declared that he had seen the evil thing.
It first appeared as an old man, and then changed
into a dog, and then vanished. His story, though
laughed at by us, was firmly believed by the
simple villagers, and after-events proved that there
was some truth in it. Careful search showed the
trail to lead to some stony ground outside the
village, where all further trace of it was lost.
Returning from an unsuccessful hunt all over the
neighbourhood, we came back to the goldsmith's
house, with the faint hope of finding some clue,
when suddenly a thought struck me that I had
seen a similar trail before, and I accordingly told
one of the natives present to go down on all fours,

92 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

knees and elbows on the ground, and crawl lor a
bit. His tracks gave a fairly good representation ,
with certain marked differences, of the mysterious
track that had puzzled us. " Wolf-boy ? " I said
to Cumberledge. He was sceptical. (< Surely, you
don't think a wolf-boy has taken to man-eating ?
I have heard of such creatures, but I doubt all
the stories I have been told of them," he replied.
" I don't say we have a man-eating wolf-boy ; I
merely assert that the tracks have been made by
such a creature. I have lately seen one at Seoni,
and I noticed that he crawled on his knees and
elbows. If you ask a native to go down on all
fours, he will either go on his hands and feet or
hands and knees ; never on his elbows. I noticed
this as a peculiarity of the wolf-boy I saw."

On enquiring of the natives whether they had
ever heard of or seen a wolf-boy in that neigh-
bourhood, they all had stories to tell of boys being
carried away by wolves and brought up by those
creatures, but none could personally vouch for
having seen one. Numbers of children had been
carried off by wolves from their village, but they
had been eaten by the beasts. Once, however, the
mysterious marks had been cleared up by my
explanation, the native shikaris appeared to
regain all their astuteness. Now that all fear of
demons and spirits had vanished, an old Bheel
offered to lead us to a ruined temple near to which
he had seen similar marks. We bade him lead the
way, and we followed. The Bheel took us along
some stony ground near to a rivulet about half a

A MAN-EATING WOLF. 93

mile off. Going down the course about a mile and
a half we entered a dense jungle of thorn and
brushwood among some hillocks, and at length in
a thick clump we saw the ruins of a Sivaite temple.
This was carefully surrounded, and guns and spear-
men placed in position. The Bheel showed us
tracks similar to those already noticed, near the
margin of a water-hole in the rivulet, and along a
path leading thence to the temple. In addition to
these were the well-marked paws of a large wolf.
The men were instructed on no account to injure
the wolf-boy should he be found, but to capture
him alive. The circle gradually narrowed round
the old temple, and stones were now thrown
among the brushwood to start the game, but with-
out effect. Soon the stone plinth or platform on
which these temples are always built was reached,
yet no wolf or wolf -boy was to be seen. There was
the little chamber in the temple, where the phallic
emblem is displayed ; the single entrance to this
was almost concealed by ruins and brushwood, and
was just the kind of place a wolf would select
as a den. The shikaris were sure we should find
the wolves within this lair. Several stones were
thrown in, but nothing moved. Now a lighted
firebrand was flung in, yet not a sound. Our Bheel
guide at last ventured within, with a firebrand in
hand, but the place was empty nor was there any
sign of its having been frequented by animals of
any kind. We turned away in disgust and were
just leaving the precincts of the temple when an
exclamation from one of the men caused us to

94 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

return to the platform ; and there, adhering to a
stone, was a small splash of blood and a little
human hair. The splash was recent and evidently
made by a body being drawn over the stone. The
search was redoubled, but all in vain ; not a cranny
or nook that would hide a hare was left unprobed.

Sivaite temples are built in the form of a square,
for about eight feet of their height, and within
this square is the altar or fane. Above the square
a four-sided pyramid, highly ornamented, rises
to a greater or less height, according to the size
of the temple. Archways about eighteen inches
high generally pierce the pyramid from side to
side. One wall of the square had slightly fallen
down at the top, and here also a splash of blood
was observed. The men quickly surrounded the
temple, and one or two who had mounted the
terrace from which the pyramid starts, now
announced that the wolf was within the low arch
and that a dead body was there also ! We were
quickly drawn up on the terrace, and there sure
enough was the wolf, crouched behind the dead
body and snarling viciously. A well-directed shot
from Cumberledge killed him on the spot, and one
of the Bheels drew out the dead body of the gold-
smith, and that of a large-sized female wolf. Not
a trace of a wolf-boy was however to be seen
anywhere about. The goldsmith's body was only
partly eaten, the stomach being nearly gone. The
tooth marks in the neck showed how he must have
been seized by the wolf and all cry stifled, while
death must have been almost instantaneous. The

A MAN-EATING WOLF. 95

Bheels pointed to a portion of the arm that was
eaten, and said that that had been done by the
wolf-boy, as the teeth marks were human. This
well might be, for it is well known that when wolf
children have been captured and kept in captivity
they evince great fondness for raw meat and bones.
It was horrible to think of. A careful watch was
now set for the wolf-boy ; but the story of how he
was captured I must reserve for another chapter.

SEEALL, THE WOLF-BOY

Two days after the destruction of the man-
eating wolf the Bheel guide and a crowd of
followers turned up at our camp late in the
evening, with an object swung on a pole and borne
by two men. It proved to be the wolf-boy, with
wrists and ankles firmly bound together and a
pole thrust in between — just as one sees a pig
carried about by the natives in country places.
Marks of severe handling showed themselves all
over his body, and bleeding wounds on several
of his captors proved that his teeth and long
talons had been freely used. We directed his
captors to loose his hands and feet, but they
declared he would make off at once if they did
so. However, a dog-chain round the waist was
all we would permit, and his hands and feet were
soon free. Instead of taking to flight he cuddled
up hands and feet together, just as children do
when asleep. His hair was long, hanging down
to his shoulders, and matted in places. It was
of a blackish hue with ends of a sandy brown.
His legs and arms were thin and sinewy and
showed many a scar and bruise ; the stomach
large and protuberant, the shoulders rounded.

SEEALL, THE WOLF-BOY. (PHOTO TAKEN IO YEARS AFTER HIS CAPTURE/,

\TofacepcwQ 96.

SEEALL, THE WOLF-BOY. 97

His teeth were worn to stumps in front, but the
canines and molars were well developed. On being
given a piece of roast mutton he first smelt it,
and then fell to greedily, tearing off pieces with
the side of his mouth and swallowing them without
mastication. The bone he kept crunching at and
gnawing for hours ; this explained the worn state
of his front teeth. He emitted a strong foxy
odour, so that at first even the dogs avoided him,
but he appeared to take at once to a large Brinjaree
dog of mine, that much resembled a wolf in
appearance. When taken into the tent, he showed
a great dread of the light, and no persuasion or
threats would get him near it. He at once made
for a corner, or under the camp stretcher, and
coiled himself up. But he was not allowed to
stay in the tent as it was found that his hair
swarmed with large ticks, and the smell from his
body was overpowering. He was therefore given
a truss of straw and chained near to the dogs,
and a watchman was told off to look after him,
Next morning we were able to examine our
strange captive more closely. He was apparently
about ten years old. With difficulty we got him
to stand upright. He measured four feet one inch
in height. His knees, toes, elbows, and the lower
part of his palms were hard, and covered with a
horny skin, showing that he habitually crawled on
knees and elbows. He would occasionally get on
to his feet, run a few paces, and then fall on to his
palms and hurry along much as one sees a monkey
do. When moving he was usually on his elbows

7

98 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

and knees. This mode of progression was probably
acquired from having to crouch low when entering
and leaving the wolf's den. He would not tolerate
clothing of any kind nor would he use straw. He
preferred to scratch a hole in the sand and cuddle
himself up in this. We had his hair close cropped
and then took him to the river for a wash, but to
this he most strongly objected, and it required all
the exertions of two syces (grooms) and the mehter
(sweeper) to force him into the water. We could
only get him quiet when Nandair, the Brinjaree
dog, was washed beside him. He quite took to
the big Brinjaree, but showed a strong aversion
to a hairy terrier belonging to Cumberledge.

On being shown the skin of the large she-wolf
he became quite excited, smelled at it several
times, turned it over, and then uttered the most
plaintive howls it has ever been my lot to listen to.
They resembled somewhat the first cry of a jackal;
hence the servants called him Seeall (jackal).
After this he would never go near the skin, but
showed evident marks of terror when taken near
it. He would sleep all day, but became restless
at nights, and would then try to escape to the
woods. He would not touch dog-biscuits or rice
stewed with meat, but would select all the meat
and leave the rice. Raw meat he snatched at
greedily. He appeared to be particularly partial to
the offal of fowls. When on one occasion the
cook threw away the entrails of a chicken in his
presence, he instantly seized it and swallowed it
before anyone could prevent him. He also showed

SEEALL, THE WOLF-BOY. 99

a strong predilection for carrion. His sense of
smell was so acute that he could scent a dead
cow or buffalo a long distance off, and at once
began tugging at his chain to get to it.

Unlike all the other " wolf -boys " of whom we
have any record, this creature soon showed he
had a great deal of intelligence. He could not
speak during the time I knew him, but I was
afterwards told he had learnt the Gond language
from his keeper and could converse fairly well.
In a week's time he was far more intelligent
than a dog, and many of his tricks showed that
he thought and planned. He would sit by when
the dogs were fed, and would remove pieces
of meat from the dishes of the other dogs and
give them to his particular friend, the great Brin-
jaree. After a few days we had his head close
shaved, and turmeric and oil rubbed well into his
skin, and he was then washed with hot water.
This treatment soon removed the foxy smell, and
the present of a raw chop every day if he kept
on his loin-cloth soon induced him to take to
clothing. He was an object of great curiosity
among the natives, who came in from miles round
to see him. All his hair and the parings of his
nails, which were abnormally long, were bought
by the natives from the mehter (sweeper) — in
whose charge all private dogs in India are placed,
and who therefore took over the care of " Seeall "
— and used by them as a remedy for hydro-
phobia. The women asked permission to worship
him, and brought presents of milk and fowls.

7*

ioo IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

With the favour of the C( Lord of the Wolves/'
as they called him, their flocks would, they said,
be safe from the ravages of these fierce beasts.
But Seeall disliked these offerings of the women,
and his eyes would glare so savagely at the sight
of the children that several attendants had to
watch him at such times to see that he did no
mischief. It required no stretch of imagination to
believe that he had often shared in a meal, with his
wolf companion, off a freshly-killed child, even if
he did not himself help to carry off the little
victim. The strange disappearance of his trail in
the softer parts of the track, noticed in the
account of the man-eating wolf, was accounted
for by his rising on his feet in such places, and
leaving marks undistinguishable from those of
other human beings.

The natives declare that when a she-wolf has
lost her whelps, from accident or otherwise, she
experiences a soreness at the teats from the accu-
mulation of milk, and she then generally steals
a child. The sucking of the child relieves the
wolf, and the infant is thenceforth regarded as
a member of the family and shares the wolves'
den and food. When young whelps have been
noticed with a wolf-boy, they have always been
of a subsequent litter.

When Lieutenant Cumberledge returned to
Bhopal, Seeall went with him, and I learnt
that he was afterwards sent to a missionary in
the North- West. I have reason to believe that he
was the original of Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli.

101

BEEMA, THE BAGH-MAREE (TIGER-
SLAYER).

' I WONDER how you can tolerate such fellows.
I would whip them out of the place. They are
the curse of all shikar, with their cowardly
method of killing tigers. There will soon be no
tigers left to shoot if you encourage these
rascals." So said a planter friend who was staying
with me, to whom I had introduced " my friend
the bagh-maree " (tiger-slayer). Now, I do not in
any way share these sentiments, but on the
contrary I regard the bagh-maree as a most
useful member of society. Beema, the bagh-maree,
has to my knowledge accounted for two panthers,
two cheetahs (hunting leopards), one tiger and
one bear. Their skins now adorn the verandah
of my bungalow. These animals were all killed
within a mile of the village of Somij (Chota
Nagpore district), and in about two months' time.
When it is remembered how vast is the number
of cattle and goats annually destroyed by tigers
and panthers in India, it will be seen that my
friend Beema is anything but deserving of the
hard words used by my European shikaree friend.
In the last twelve months twenty-six head of
cattle had been killed within two miles of my

i02 INT TttE INDIAN JUNGLE.

bungalow. This of itself is a very seiious loss
to the villagers, whose chief means of subsistence
is agriculture, for which cattle are essential ; and
if Beema had not thus come to their assistance
several families of ryots (cultivators) would pro-
bably have been ruined.

So much to establish the claims to gentle treat-
ment of my friend the tiger-slayer ; and now for
his story :—

" I was not always a bagh-maree, Huzoor (Sir).
I am a tantee (weaver) by caste. But a chota bagh
(panther) did it. It made me a bagh-maree. It
was not a tiger at all ; it was a witch that had
entered the body of a tiger, to do me an injury.
I paid Gagee the Gond two rupees for a charm,
and after three years I killed it. Huzoor, you
know that I killed it behind your bawarchee-khana
(kitchen) the day after it had killed and eaten
Madho's son last year. I know the animal to be
the witch by the piece out of its ear which I cut
off with my bulloova (battle-axe) three years ago
at Bara, my village. Gagee the Gond made the
charm out of that piece of its ear, and I have the
charm yet. Here it is, and there (pointing to
the skin on my verandah wall) is the devil. I
became a bagh-maree out of revenge. You see
my head ; it is nearly bald, and the girls laugh
at me and say I am old, pointing to my baldness,
but the witch did that three years ago.

" I made a cloth for an old woman of our village,
and charged her one rupee and a half for it. It
cost me one rupee two annas worth of cotton

BEEMA, THE BAGH-MAREE. 103

thread, so my gain was only six annas. She only
paid me Rs. 1-2, and when I pressed for the balance,
six annas, she refused to pay, and cursed me, saying
a tiger would eat me.

'"A few nights after this a chota bagh (panther)
got into my goat pen and killed two goats and was
carrying off a third when I aimed a blow at its
head with my axe, but only cut off its ear. It
clawed me on the head and the wound caused all
the hair to drop off. I vowed revenge and learned
how to set the thair (spring bow) and poisoned
arrows, from Maun Sing the Kowtia. I have been
a bagh-maree for three years and I have killed
two tigers, ten panthers, two hunting leopards and
five bears. The Sirkar (Government) gives me
Rs. 25 for each tiger and Rs. 5 for each leopard or
panther. They don't pay for bears. The villagers
also give me four seers (=9 Ibs.) of paddy each,
whenever I kill a tiger or panther that has carried
off any of their cattle. I also get fed when I am
staying at any village. I do all the killing within
ten miles of Bara. There are other bagh-marees
elsewhere.

" We bagh-marees chiefly use dakara (aconite) for
poisoning our arrows. Dakara is a root about a
span long, and as thick as my wrist. We buy
it at Chyebassa from the native medicine shops
at four annas a tola. We grind it up with a little
boiled rice to make a paste. This paste we rub
over a rag, and wind the rag round the back of
the arrow-head just behind the barb. The head
fits loosely into the shaft of the arrow, so that

104 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

when the animal is hit the poisoned rag enters
the wound with the arrow-head and the shaft drops
off. The animal dies within a few hours, and we
easily trace it by the blood and broken twigs.
Bears are the most difficult to kill. They will
sometimes live a whole day with the poisoned arrow
inside them. Tigers die very soon. We some-
times use cobra poison, but it is difficult to get. I
keep two cobras from which I take the poison
once a month. If I take the poison oftener it
is of no use. I cannot take the poison while the
cobra is changing his skin, which he does once
every two months or so. He has no poison then,
and won't bite the plantain. How do I get the
cobra's poison ? Why, I take a ripe plantain
and tie it to the end of a stick, and with this I
irritate the cobra until he bites the plantain. If
he turns his head when he- bites, I know the poison
has come. He sometimes bites without giving a
twist of his head, and then no poison comes. We
rub the plantain over the rag, just as we do the
dakara. A plantain with two bites in it is enough
for a large tiger. Cobra poison is the best, as
it never spoils ; dakara gets weaker the longer
you keep it. Dakara does not grow here ; it comes
from Calcutta. How do we know where to set
our spring bows ? Huzoor, you know that a
tiger never crashes through the brushwood. That
would alarm the game. He always takes paths
through the jungle. He will not take a narrow
path. He sticks his whiskers out straight, and
with these he feels the brushwood and knows if

BEEMA, THE BAGH-MAREE. 105

there is room for him to pass. He also crouches
low when walking. In the dry season there are
many paths in the jungle, and as we know not
which the tiger will take, we don't usually set our
traps in the dry weather. During the rains, when
the underwood has grown, we know that the
tigers must take the beaten paths, and we set our
traps accordingly. The bow is set on V-shaped
twigs about eighteen inches from the ground.
The bow is placed on one side of the path and a
string connected with the trigger stretches across
the path, about eighteen inches above the ground,
and is tied fast to a twig on the opposite side.
If a tiger or panther attempts to follow the path
he must breast the string and the strain sets free
the poisoned arrows (we generally use two to each
bow), which enter his side, and he dies in a few
hours within a few hundred yards of the trap.
In case men or cattle should stray on to the path,
two other strings are attached to the trigger and
tied to twigs three and a half feet off the ground
and three or four yards away from the trap. This
greater height allows a tiger to pass underneath,
but should a bullock or a man come that way, he
brushes against the higher string, which sets free
the arrows before he comes up to them, and they
pass harmlessly into the brushwood.

' There is no danger in following up a tiger
wounded with poisoned arrows, for even if he is
not dead he is so weakened by the potency of the
poison that we easily despatch him with our
battle-axes. I have never been hurt by a tiger

io6

IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

since I was wounded by the witch-panther I told
you about. But that was before I became a
bagh-maree. When we go to a new village we
generally make poo j ah (worship), sacrificing a white
cock. If we don't make sacrifice we lose our
tigers/7

This briefly is the story of Beema the bagh-
maree, elicited from him by a series of questions.
The trap used by these native bagh-marees is
most ingenious and seldom fails ; and the dange]
from them is nil. The weird story of the witch-
panther of my friend the bagh-maree must
reserved for another occasion.

to;

THE WITCH-PANTHER.

" THE Huzoor knows," began my friend the Bagh-
maree, ''' that Lagon, the witch, cursed me for
asking her for the price of the cloth I made for her.
The curse was a great curse and made with bent
fingers, and her great toe marked the curse on the
sand. After this I was afraid to go to the jungle
alone, as I was always in dread of tigers. I killed
a cock and sprinkled the blood round my hut, yet
the witch's curse was strong and I felt the water
on my back the (Bagh-maree's definition of fear).

' The Huzoor does not believe that our old
women can turn themselves into tigers ? But they
can do so. All our people know it. It may not
be the case with Sahib-logue (English people), but
with our people it is common. Ask Matha and
Lutchman (referring to the village headmen).
They will tell you that Lagon can turn herself
into any animal she pleases, and do injury to
those whom she dislikes. I know that Lagon
turned herself into a panther, and killed my goats.
I cut at it with my battle-axe, and took off a
portion of its ear, and wounded it in the fore-paw.
It is well I found and secured the piece of its ear.
This saved me, and I knew I was safe so long as I

io8 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

kept this piece in my possession. The next morn-
ing, after my goats were killed, Lagon came to my
hut and said she heard I had a piece of the tiger's
ear, and offered me four rupees for it as she wanted
to make medicine with it ; but I refused, and then
she shut one eye and marked the sand with her
big toe and went away. Then I knew it was a
question of her life or my life, so I went to Gazee,
the Gond, for the charm. Lagon was sick for
some time, and did not leave her hut. It was
harvest time, and the women were in the fields
cutting paddy, and Kunkoo left her baby under
the mahua tree, within sight of the gleaners. At
noon, when the gleaners rested, the baby was gone !
Ah, Huzoor ! the cry that went up when Kunkoo
missed her infant ! 'Twas the cry of the chiel
(water-hawk) when its nest is robbed. We searched
high, we searched low. The child was too young
to crawl, and no one had seen it carried off. Had
a Dave (goddess) taken it ? A few drops of blood
leading to the water-course was the first clue. T<
the water-course we went, and all was plain. Th(
pugs of a panther were plainly seen. Someon<
remarked that the panther had but three legs,
only three pugs could be traced ; the impression
of the left fore-paw was missing. We followed the
trail to the hills, and there it was lost among the
rocks.

' Thereafter scarcely a month passed but we losl
some children. The goat-herds were afraid to go
to the jungles with their flocks. Not our village
alone, but Dalki, Huthutwa, Derwa, and Somi;

THE WITCH-PANTHER. 109

were all haunted by this devil. We knew it to
be the same, from the pug marks. It was the
three-legged witch-panther. After a time it grew
more daring and carried off women. No one
would go out alone ; while after dark all were
afraid, and even the men stayed within their huts.
One moonlight night in Magh (April-May), when
the young men and girls were dancing in the
' house-of-drums ' and drinking mudh (rice-beer),
the witch-panther entered the village and carried
off the beer-seller's daughter, a grown young
woman of fourteen. No one saw the panther, but
the girl was missing and there were the pugs of
the three-legged devil. Late next day her feet and
a portion of the chest and head were found near
Lagon's hut. The old witch was examined, and it
s found that she, who had previously been all
Dones, was now sleek and fat. Some silver orna-
nents belonging to the gowla's daughter, who had
Deen killed by the panther three months before,
re found in the witch's hut. The lying old seeall
jackal) said she found them while out gathering
wood, but we none of us believed her, and it was
proposed that we should burn her for having killed
Dur children ; but we were afraid of the Sirkar
(Government). After taking counsel it was deter-
mined that she should be turned out of our village,
and her hut burned. This we did that same day,
and the chowkidar (village watchman) saw her to
tier relative's house in Morong.

" After this we had no fear, and went about our
work as usual, until one day in the rice harvest two

i io IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

years ago. When the paddy is cut we do not thresh
it at once, but stack it in piles for a few days, when
the ears become loose, and are readily parted from
the straw on being trodden by cattle. Our head-
man and his son and three others were sleeping in
the fields near their piles of paddy. In the morning
the headman's son was missing, and on search being
made, the fatal pugs of the witch-panther were seen.
There was weeping in our village, and the most
noted Bagh-marees were sent for, and traps laid
for the witch ; but to no purpose. It seemed to
be able to avoid all snares. We asked the railway
sahibs (officials) to come to our help, but although
several hunts were organised, and several tigers
and panthers killed, yet the dreaded witch-panther
still remained at large. When we looked for it in
Bara, it was heard of in Derwa, and when we got
there, it was back again at Bara. Cocks, goats,
and even a buffalo calf were sacrificed, but th
panther continued its ravages, and a great fe
fell on all the villagers, so that many families left
for Patkoom and other places. I alone was not
afraid, as I had Gazee's charm, and this kept me
safe. Meanwhile the Sirkar offered fifty rupees for
the destruction of this brute, but it was of no use.
" Last November, the Huzoor will remember,
Matho's son, a young man, was taken from hi
house at night and eaten on the roadway, and onl
his head and legs were left. The Huzoor himse
saw this. Then the trap was set at the back of th
bawarchee-khanah (cook-house), and the witch wa
killed. At first we did not know it was th

THE WITCH-PANTHER. in

witch, but the piece out of the ear proved it
was the panther I struck at three years previously,
and the broken fore-paw showed it was three-
legged. I must have done this also when I cut
off its ear. The death of the old woman Lagon
about a week after the panther was shot proved
conclusively that she was the witch-panther. May
her bones be accursed ! '

I may here remark that I cannot answer for
the truth of all my friend, the Bagh-maree, has
related of the witch-panther ; but on my arrival
at Somij I certainly was told of the ravages of
a man-eating panther in that neighbourhood. A
small panther, about twenty inches high and four
feet long (exclusive of tail) was killed with
poisoned arrows at the back of my bungalow
last November. This, the villagers declare, was
the witch-panther. It had only half of one ear,
and had lost the use of its left fore-paw. I have
the skin to this day.

112

TREED BY A WILD BUFFALO.

OPINIONS differ as to the best time for buffalo hunt-
ing. Some prefer the dry months of March and
April. Water, it is argued, is then scarce, and the
herds don't stray far from known water-holes.
Much depends, I think, on locality. Buffaloes are
big feeders and you may have water-holes but no
grass, and then you are not likely to get buffaloes
as they are slow travellers, and will not go long
distances away from food to drink. For myself, I
like September and October in the forests of Chota
Nagpore. Then the rice-fields are one sheet ol
green, and knee-deep with water from the monsooi
rains ; and there is nothing these huge brutes lik<
so much as a feed on the young rice and a wallow ii
the unctuous clay. Indeed, the damage they cau<
by wallowing in the rice flats is greater than thai
they do by eating the young shoots of rice, as th<
natives say that this nibbling off of the top blad(
makes the rice plant throw out more grain-bearin{
shoots. In Gangpore, Sarunda and the southen
parts of Chota Nagpore, wild buffaloes come dowi
from the hills immediately after the rains set in, an<
can generally be found near the little patches o1
rice cultivation dotted here and there in the den<

TREED BY A WILD BUFFALO. 113

forests of this region. At one time, before the
opening of the Bengal-Nagpore Railway, they were
very plentiful, and I have known seventeen head
fall to a single gun in the course of three weeks.
They are rather more difficult to get nowadays,
but there are still spots near to the line of railway
where you are sure of your buffalo during the
Poojas (annual native holidays in Bengal, occurring
generally in September or October).

As a rule, an Express rifle is almost useless
against such a mountain of flesh. Weight of lead
tells, and I find a well-planted shot in the neck
most effectual, as this is about the most vulner-
able part of the Bubalas ami. He either drops
at once from a broken spinal column, or runs
a few hundred yards and falls with a perforated
wind-pipe. Some years ago I fired a whole maga-
zine into the shoulders and quarters of a huge
bull buffalo before I could get him, and then he
only fell from sheer loss of blood. Charun, the
famous Kol shikaree of Bisra, in Gangpore, put me
up to the neck-shot. Charun is a mute, but unlike
most mutes he has a very keen sense of hearing,
and can detect the stampede of a herd long before
the faintest rustle reaches ordinary ears. Although
over sixty years of age, he can out-walk the best
trackers, and seems never to tire. He was the
favourite shikaree of Mr. Hewett, a former Chief
Commissioner of Chota Nagpore, who presented
him with a percussion-cap smooth-bore gun,
of which he is very proud. With signs and
gestures he easily makes you understand his mean-

8

ii4 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

ing, and I have never known him fail when once
on the track of elephant, buffalo or bison.

I was camped near the Bisra station, Bengal-
Nagpur Railway, some years ago, when Charun
turned up one morning with his arms spread wide
over his head— a gesture which I understood to
mean buffalo ; then a single finger upheld, meaning
a solitary buffalo ; out-stretched fingers over his
foot to indicate the large size of the spoor ; adding
to the south of the railway line, and that we would
come up to it by nine o'clock a.m., by a wave of
his hand to the south and pointing to where the
sun would be, which conveyed his meaning to me
as plainly as words could do. During the rains I
find an elephant a very useful animal in a shikar
expedition. The ground is sloppy ; there are
numerous rivulets to cross, and after a fatiguing
day the return to camp is better done on a pad
than on foot. Again, the trophies of the day's
sport can easily be brought home if your pad-
elephant is kept a few hundred yards behind the
trackers. Bheestie, the baggage elephant, was soon
in full swing after Charun, who stalked on before,
accompanied by two other of his confreres, while
I was safely perched up on the pad behind the
mahout. I had only a double 12 smooth-bore — my
heavy elephant rifle being away at Calcutta under-
going repair — and Charun had his cap-gun. After
crossing some low hills to the south of the line, we
turned up a valley to the west, keeping along the
course of a nullah (dry river-bed) for a mile, when
Charun signalled to us to dismount and pointed

TREED BY A WILD BUFFALO. 115

out the tracks of a buffalo, plainly seen in the soft
mud. The foot-prints were of enormous size, fully
seven inches from front to rear, indicating that
the beast was of the largest size. Instructing the
mahout to keep within sight, we followed up the
trail rapidly. In a small paddy-flat, miles away
from any village, we saw where he had had a
wallow and had trampled down a large part of the
field. Charun signed to us now to be careful
as the bull was not far off, and kept throwing
quick glances from side to side, as it is a well-
known habit of these solitary bulls before resting
to make a slight detour and come back to within
sight of their own tracks, so as to see any animal
that might be following them up. We had just
cleared the little paddy-flat and had got into the
heavy forest beyond, when we heard a shrill scream
from Bheestie, the elephant, and saw her flounder-
ing across the flat with apparently another elephant
behind her urging her on. Trumpet after trumpet
from Bheestie, and the yells of the mahout soon
made it clear that the second animal was none
other than the solitary bull, who had probably
made a detour and hidden himself in the dense
jungle near his tracks. Why he had allowed us
to pass and then charged the elephant it was
hard at the time to say, as these brutes will not
charge unless wounded or hard pressed ; but an
explanation was forthcoming afterwards. Anyhow,
there he was, prodding at Bheestie behind, and
fairly lifting her off her hind legs, while she let
out a shrill scream at each successive prod. The

8*

ii6 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

soft clay and water of the flat prevented them
from making much progress, and gave us time
to clamber up a large tree near the side of the
flat. The elephant, followed by the buffalo, was
making in our direction, and just as they were
nearing the edge of the flat I thought I had
a good mark at the bull and fired. He stopped
for a moment, looked up, and seeing nothing but
Bheestie's quarters before him charged furiously
into them, and sent her clean out of the flat
and on to her shoulder, the pad flying off at the
same time. The mahout miraculously escaped
and ran off to a neighbouring tree. Bheestie
soon regained her feet, and went off into the
forest trumpeting loudly. After his furious charge
the bull apparently slipped and fell on his knees,
and while in that position I was able to put in
a second shot. There was no doubt about his
being hit this time, for over he went on his
side ; but he was up again in a moment, and
charged the elephant-pad which was lying on the
margin of the flat. He tossed it high into the
air and about ten yards to the front, and it was
barely down when he was on to it again, pounding
it with his forelegs and dancing on it. I never saw
such an exhibition of rage and exultation as that
pictured in the mad trampling of the pad by the
furious buffalo. He would retreat a few paces, eye
the pad a moment, and then rush forward as if to toss
it again, but changing his mind at the last moment,
would trample it instead. I now had time to put
in a third and a fourth shot, but without any

TREED BY A WILD BUFFALO. 117

marked effect. Charun then let slip his cloth,
and waved it up and down. Catching sight of
the cloth the bull charged it furiously, and came
with such a thud against the trunk of the tree on
which we were seated that he made it quiver again,
while he himself was thrown quite off his legs by the
impact. Charun had now an opportunity, and with
my permission, fired. The bull regained his feet and
looked about, apparently dazed with the shock of his
mad rush against the tree. Charun again waved
his cloth, and the bull looking up caught sight of
me. Down went his head, up went his tail, and he
careered wildly in a circle round the tree, tossing
an imaginary enemy at times. He did this several
times, stopping at each turn to look up at us, stamp
with his feet, emit a bellowing grunt, and then
circle round again. The grunt of the wild buffalo
is exactly like that of the tiger, and it would re-
quire a trained ear to tell the difference at a dis-
tance. I feel sure, from the accounts one often
hears of tigers roaring at nights, that the noise
is frequently only the bellowing of the buffalo or
bison. Experienced native shikarees tell me that
the male tiger seldom roars ; while the tigress is
noisy only when she is in season.

Covered with mud from head to foot, with masses
of soft clay adhering to the long hair on his fore-
head, the bull looked a strange sight, peering at
us with his small eyes, stamping his forelegs im-
patiently, and bellowing his challenge to us to come
down and try conclusions with him. There was
no use firing at his head with a smooth-bore, so I

ii8 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

tried a shot on the back, meaning to break his spine.
Evidently my shot struck one of his ribs, and
glanced off, making a deep wound in his stomach,
for we saw the blood gushing out as he galloped
off some fifty paces, and then turned and watched
us from behind a large tree. He had now had six
bullets at close range, and yet he appeared full of
life. After a time he went down on his fours, and,
with his head between his knees, kept watching us.
We now began to realise that we were " treed " by
the buffalo, and that we might be kept there all
day and all night until such time as the beast cared
to move off, unless we could make an end of him.
There was no use looking for relief from the camp,
as there was no one there to relieve us. The
elephant might make her way home, but the
mahout was as much a prisoner as we were,
and there was no one to bring her back even if
she did return, so we could expect no help from
that quarter. There was nothing for it therefore
but to sit it out, especially as I had but three
more cartridges left, and it would not do to blaze
those away and be left defenceless. One of the
other trackers thought the buffalo would go for
water at about noon, but Charun shook his head,
pointing first to the sun and then under his
feet, to show that it would be midnight before
our foe would give us a chance of escape. Here
was a cheerful look-out ! To be kept prisoners
on a tree till midnight, and it was not yet
noon ! We must try and draw our enemy and
get another chance of a close shot. Charun let

TREED BY A WILD BUFFALO. 119

down his cloth several times, but the brute had
grown too wary and would not move. The men
declared they saw his eyes gleam and his head move
as he watched us, so none dared to get down. I
was beginning to feel the constrained position on
the branch, and in an attempt to change it I dropped
my gun ! Worse and worse. No use attempting to
attract the bull now, as we had only Charun's gun
and one charge. Natives seldom take out more
than a second charge for their guns. We waited
an hour, and then Charun signed that he was
going down the tree for my gun. I knew that
he could swarm up a tree much quicker than
I could, so I allowed him to try. He got down
very carefully on the side of the tree furthest
from the bull, then going on his stomach crawled
to the gun, and springing to his feet ran to
the tree. His next move took me by surprise. I
saw him coolly stalking in the direction of the
buffalo. I shouted to him to be careful, but he
went on heedless. What had come over the man ?
Had he become dazed ? I expected each moment
to see him tossed high in the air by the infuriated
monster, and I kept his gun on the cock to try
the effects of a shot to stop the charge I momen-
tarily expected. When he got to within ten paces
of the bull he stopped, and motioned to us that
the beast was dead. We made haste to get
down, and found that such was indeed the case.
It had been dead an hour or more. In fact, it
must have died immediately after it went down
on its fours. An arrow sticking in its flank

120 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

explained the reason why it had charged the
elephant when unmolested by us. We learnt
afterwards that the Kol who owned the rice-plot
had shot it with an arrow shortly before our arrival.
It was the pain of this wound that had made the
animal furious, and caused it to charge. My last
shot in the back had brought about its death, as
there was a gaping wound in the stomach from
which the blood had flowed in such quantities as
to saturate the ground under him. He was
certainly the largest bull I had ever shot, and
I think one of the largest ever seen in the
forests of Chota Nagpore. The elephant was re-
covered next day and was uninjured ; there was
not, in fact, a mark of the buffalo's horns on
her stern. This was due to the extreme forward
curvature of the points of the horns, showing
the great age of the buffalo. This adventure did
Bheesti a lot of good, for finding she sus-
tained no injury from this close attack she be-
came fearless, and would afterwards stand the
charge of a tiger.

121

THE WILD MAN OF THE WOODS.

PERHAPS there is no profession in the world
that brings one more closely into contact with un-
civilised man than that of the mining engineer.
The nature of his calling — the exploitation of
untrodden ground in the search for metals-
takes him away from the haunts of civilisa-
tion into wilds unutterable, the home of savage
man and beast.

In the winter of 1890 I was engaged in pro-
specting for gold on the hills forming the boundary
between the native States of Bonai and Keonjur,
in South- Western Bengal. The whole of that
portion of the Bengal Presidency known as Chota
Nagpore, or more correctly Chutia Nagpur,
together with the Tributary Mehals of Orissa,
are for the most part made up of hills varying
from one to four thousand feet in height, and
covered with dense forests of sal, dhor, arsun and
other valuable timber. Until the opening of the
Bengal-Nagpore Railway, which now passes through
the heart of this region, this part of the country
was scarcely known to Europeans. Witch-burning,
human sacrifice (meriah\ and cannibalism were
until very recently universally practised by the

122 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

savage tribes inhabiting this wild region, and
the records of the criminal courts at Ranchee
and Chyebassa show that instances of these
horrible practices are not unknown even at the
present day. The tribes inhabiting this tract of
country are chiefly of Kolarian descent, supposed
by some to be the oldest of the races which in-
vaded India from the North-East ; by others, the
aborigines of the country.

The particular district I was prospecting is,
perhaps, the least known part of this wild region.
The hills here rise to over four thousand feet in
elevation and are covered with dense vegetation.
Few and far between are the small patches of
cultivation surrounding the huts of a few Lurka
Khols, Bhumijs and Gonds. It is in fact the
boast of the Raja of one of these States that
he can ride forty miles in a direct line within
his dominions without seeing human habitation.
Wheeled traffic is unknown on the uplands, and
it was with the greatest difficulty that my camp
baggage had been transported thus far on pack
bullocks. My little hill tent had been pitched
on the banks of the Korsua, an affluent of the
Brahmini river, in Bonai, and I was working up
towards the Keonjur frontier. It was mid-
day. We had done a heavy tramp along the
banks of the little stream, washing a dish or
two of earth as we went, in all likely - looking
places. The yellow metal was scarce, and beyond
a " colour or two " our day's work had been
blank. I had with me Mookroo, my Khol handy-

THE WILD MAN OF THE WOODS. 123

man, and a couple of Jhora gold-washers. We
were resting awhile under the shade of a huge
sdl tree ; my companions were eating a little snuff
—a common stimulant among men, women and
children in these parts — and I was stretched at
full length and munching a biscuit, when suddenly
all of us sprang to our feet as peal upon peal of
girlish laughter rang out from the direction of a
pool of deep water in the river a hundred yards
or so below the spot where we were resting.

Who could it be ? There was not a village within
ten miles. My own camp was fully that distance
down stream, yet the laughter was certainly human
and girlish. Mookroo was off at once to recon-
noitre, while we stood silent and expectant. The
Khol returned in a few minutes and told us
it was a party of Juangs, or wild people, who
had come down to the pool to bathe, and that
the women and children were in the water, and
probably the men were in the forest on the
other side. I had heard much of the Juangs,
by some described as gigantic monkeys, by
others as wild people of the woods, who wore
no clothing and lived in trees. Mookroo asked
us to be cautious if we wished to see them,
as the least unusual sound would send them off
into the forest, like frightened deer. We made
a detour and stealthily advanced in the direction
of the pool, where a strange sight met our gaze.
The whole party, consisting of ten persons, men,
women and children, were assembled on the bank,
performing their toilet. The women were innocent

I24 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

of clothing beyond the garb of mother Eve after
her expulsion from the Garden of Eden, but instead
of fig-leaves sewn together, each Juang woman had
a narrow cord round the waist to which were
suspended a few sal leaves in front, and a large
bunch behind. I afterwards learnt that it is only
the married women that are permitted by Juang
custom to use even such little covering, the un-
married girls going entirely naked. The men wear
a narrow strip of the wild plantain bark as a
lungotee. I asked Mookroo if he could induce
them to come over to our side of the stream.
" Hejumay / Hejumay / (Come here ! Come here !) "
he shouted in the Khol dialect, and the whole
group vanished as if they had sunk into the
ground. Not a rustle in the bushes, not a
moving object to be seen ; yet they were there
just now, and gone the instant after. We searched
the ground minutely without finding any trace of
them. I was much disappointed, as I wished to
make a closer acquaintance with this wild people.
Mookroo said that if the Jhoras and I would
return to camp, he would remain behind, and
he felt confident he would be able to induce
them to visit my camp if I promised them
tobacco, of which they were very fond.

We accordingly set out for camp, leaving the
Khol behind. I was having a cup of tea at
about five p.m., when Mookroo advanced, and
said that the Juangs had come. With some
difficulty they were induced to come up to my
tent — a grey-headed old man leading the way.

THE WILD MAN OF THE WOODS. 125

In addition to the grey-head there were two
men in their prime, an old woman, three grown
women and three children. Apparently the white
man was as much ' an object' of curiosity to
them as they were to me. A liberal donation
of tobacco, rice and coarse sugar soon made
us good friends, and they quickly lost all their
fear. They spoke a dialect of the Khol language,
and through Mookroo I learnt much of their manners
and customs. The men were armed with bows and
arrows. The bows were made of bamboo, the string
also being a thin strip of that material. The arrows
were of reed, tipped with a round knob of bamboo,
and were most curiously feathered. Instead of
three straight lines of feathering, there was a
perfect spiral of plumes at the string end, giving
the arrow a screw motion when in flight. The
blunt knob arrows are used for shooting birds.
The men wore strings of beads round the neck
and feathers in the hair, and a strip of plantain
bark suspended from the waist. The women wore
no covering of any kind. Some months later a
party of seventeen of these strange folk visited
my camp at Somij and asked for work. They
would not live in a hut, which they said choked
them, but took to the forest and lived under the
trees. They generally seek the shelter of a large
overhanging rock, and against this they rest a
few branches torn from the neighbouring trees,
creep within this passage and kindle a fire at the
two openings. I found they could do very little
work, as they were averse to continued labour.

126 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

At mid-day the women would ask leave to go
into the forest to change their leaves, which had
by that time become crisp and begun to fall to
pieces from the heat. After they had been with
me a week, I directed my store-keeper to supply
each of the women with a few yards of cloth,
as I thought it was their poverty alone that
prevented their clothing themselves. Next day
the whole of them struck work, and the men
came to me with a complaint that if their
women were compelled to wear clothing, they
would all leave, as only bad women wore clothing !
Eve's garment was a symbol of innocence with
them. Polyandry is practised among these people,
or more correctly communism, since the married
women are the property of the sept or tribe. They
appear to have no notion of numbers except one
and many. They cannot grasp the idea of two.
I asked one woman how many children she had.
She said, " Many — not one, but many/' She had
but two. They measure limited time by the
withering of the sal leaf. " How far is such a
place ? " " As far as two sal leaves take to
wither," i.e., twelve hours' journey or thirty-six
miles, a sal leaf taking, they say, about six hours
to wither. Different seasons of the year are
determined by such expressions as " When the
pea-fowl lay," " when the mohua tree blooms,"
" in the rice harvest," " when the nights are
cold."

On one occasion I was treated to a Juang nautch,
and certainly nothing quainter or more amusing in

THE WILD MAN OF THE WOODS. 127

the terpsichorean art has come under my notice.
The women do all the dancing, the men taking
only a subordinate part. They would not dance
before my bungalow. I had to go to the forest
to witness the dancing. A small clearing of under-
growth had been made in the jungle near my
bungalow, and on one side of this clearing the
spectators were asked to station themselves. The
first item on the programme was the " Peacock
Dance." The clearing was quite bare ; the Juangs
were nowhere to be seen. Suddenly the harsh
scream of the peacock was heard some distance off.
The imitation was perfect. Now there was a rust-
ling in the bushes, and three Juang maidens, squat-
ting low on their hams, with arms bent close to their
sides to represent wings and necks craned forward
as if listening, showed themselves on the edge of
the clearing. After peering about in the quaintest
manner for a few seconds, they all three hopped
forward (still on their hams) and began chasing
one another about, heads almost touching the
ground, and emitting the peculiar chirp of pea-hens
when performing their matutinal frolic. Now one
would throw up the leaves and earth with her
feet, and pretend to pick up food. If another
hen attempted to eat in the same place, there
was a rush at the poacher, and a few sal leaves
were torn from her tail amid shrill screams as
she took to flight. Now enters the cock bird,
distinguished from the hens by its greater abundance
of sal leaves for a tail and a tuft of leaves on the
head. With one hand spreading the tail high and

128 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE

giving it a jerky motion, he struts round the females,
just as a turkey-cock does. Suddenly he stops his
strut, as the scream of a rival is heard in the distance.
His tail is at once dropped from its elevated position,
his head thrown back and chest protruded. Then
the head is shot forward and the answering
challenge is given, as he advances in the direction
of his expected rival. The scream is repeated
several times by the rival cocks, and then the
combat begins. This was the most amusing part
of the show, and must be seen in its utter ludi-
crousness to be appreciated. Watch a pair of
country cocks making a great show of fight, yet
half-afraid to come to close quarters, and you
have a good idea of what took place. The two
women representing the peacocks would face each
other, about ten paces apart, heads lowered to
the dust, and their attitude seeming to say,
" Come on, if you dare ! >; Then one would
begin to crow, but before he was half through
his note of defiance, the other would prance
forward a few paces. This went on until they
came face to face — and now for the duel !
Heads wagging close together, and tails jerking
spasmodically, suddenly both birds spin round, and
clash come their tails together, and the feathers
(leaves) fly. Again they face, and again they spin
round, and bang go the tail bunches, amid the
shrieks of laughter of the hen birds. Now they
spin round continuously, the tails going " whack,
whack/' till no tails are left, when one of the
combatants sinks down exhausted, and with a

THE WILD MAN OF THE WOODS. 129

shrill scream of triumph the victor struts off witfc
the hens.

The vulture dance is even quainter. In the
peacock dance only the women take part. In
the vulture dance, one of the young men enacts
the part of the carcase discovered by the vultures.
The carcase is discovered in the centre of the
clearing, and one of the vultures (girls squatting,
as before, on their hams) hops round it cautiously,
stopping now and again to peer at the carrion.
Now comes a second vulture, and joins in the hop
round. Then a third, a fourth and several others
join in the circle, which goes hopping round
the carcase, approaching nearer and nearer at
each turn. At last one vulture rushes forward
and makes a tug at the great toe of the
youth representing the dead body. Should he
show the faintest symptom of having felt the
pinch, he is greeted with shouts of derisive laughter
from all the girls, in which the spectators join. If
he remains unmoved, the fun goes on, and another
vulture rushes forward, and pulls his hair ; a third
grips one of his fingers ; then there is a general
pinching of his body and much fun and laughing.
At last, one bolder than the rest jumps on to the
prostrate body, which is too much for the patient
youth, who squirms and wriggles as half-a-dozen
more jump on to him, and finally he runs off
amidst shouts of laughter from all.

There were also a jackal dance and a crocodile
dance gone through, but the two dances described
were the most amusing.

9

130

A WATER-HOOPOO.

READERS of African travel and adventures will
remember the descriptions given of the method
adopted by the natives in the capture of game
on a large scale in Central and South Africa. The
scene of the hunt is carefully selected in some
locality where game abounds, care being taken
that the natural conformation of the ground shall
assist in the object of the hunt. A V-shaped
stockade is then erected, each leg of which ex-
tends perhaps for a mile. The entrance of the
stockade is also about a mile wide. Near the
apex of the V the stockade is made very strong
to resist the attacks of the animals driven into it.
At the apex is a small opening, and immediately
beyond this an enormous pit is dug, some fifteen
feet deep and fifty feet square, with perpendicular
sides.

When a beat is arranged the inhabitants of the
neighbouring villages assemble, and men, women,
and children assist in driving the country for miles
towards the entrance of the hoopoo, as the trap
is called. This may take some days, and is slowly
and cautiously conducted, in order to prevent
the game becoming alarmed and breaking through

A WATER-HOOPOO. 131

the line of beaters. The villagers encamp on the
ground and light their fires at night, and gradually
advance during the day until all the game in the
selected area is within the two sides of the hoopoo.
Now the women and children retire, and the men,
armed with bows, arrows, spears, etc., advance with
loud shouts, so that the terrified animals within the
stockade rush tumultuously towards the apex only
to be engulfed in the yawning pit at the small
opening. The animals in front cannot turn back
at sight of the pit, as they are pushed on by those
behind, and soon the pit is one living mass of game
of all kinds, large and small — deer of all kinds,
pig, buffalo, rhino, giraffe, lions, panthers and
even the lordly elephant. The first in the pit are
trampled out of all shape by the succeeding animals
tumbling on to them. When the pit is full, what is
left of the game within the stockade escapes over
the bodies of their comrades. Then ensues a scene
of rejoicing and butchering, of cutting up and
dividing, till each village has its share of the spoil
and the villagers go home with meat enough to
last for weeks.

A water hoopoo is a hunt after fish, and is
arranged in somewhat the same style. I will give
a description of such a hunt, which I witnessed
recently.

In parts of Western Bengal are a tribe of Gonds
known as Jhoras. These people are professional
gold-washers and fishers. That is, they are engaged
during the rainy months, when water is every-
where available, in washing the sands in the

9*

i32 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

small streams and rivulets among the hills of Chota
Nagpore for the small specks of gold they contain ;
and during the dry months when the rivers are low
they take to fishing. The gold-washing gives them
a precarious livelihood ; the fishing time is a season
of abundance — of feasting, rejoicing and rice-
beer drinking. The planning of the water hoopoo
and the water hunt is directed by the most experi-
enced Jhora present, and as one-sixteenth of the
whole catch falls to his share, the post of
headman of the hunt is a most lucrative one.
My boatman, Samoo, was chosen on this par-
ticular occasion, as he had been chosen for the
three previous years, and a better choice could
not have been made. He seems as perfectly
acquainted with the habits of fish as the most
experienced shikaree is with the habits of the
denizens of the jungle. Every nook and cranny,
every pool and rapid, all the favourite resorts of
the various families of the finny tribe for miles
around are known to him. He is as familiar with
the reaches of the Koel and Karo rivers for miles
above and below their junction, as he is with the
inside of his own hut.

The river was low, great stretches of sand and
thin streaks of water made up its bed. It was
fordable in most places. A deep pool at the
junction of the two rivers was selected by
Samoo as the terminal of the hoopoo. The
pool is nearly circular, about one hundred feet
in diameter and about sixteen feet deep, with
a shelving bank on one side. This was enclosed

A WATER-HOOPOO. 133

on three sides by deep nets secured by long
bamboo floats at the surface and sinking
down to the sand at the bottom. On the fourth
side is the shelving bank. All the villagers from
the hamlets for miles around had assembled,
numbering over three hundred persons. Of these,
about forty were fishermen (Jhoras). A stockade
of nets closed the passages up and down river,
leaving open only one channel which led to the
pool. One party of Jhoras went down the river
for half a mile and the others up stream, and
spreading themselves across the river began beating
down towards the pool. In deep water the dug-
outs were used, and by constant splashing of
the water and striking the surface violently
with paddles, the fish were gradually frightened
into the pool. At the pool itself all was quiet.
Only the headman and myself were allowed
near while the driving was going on. Unlike
the land hoopoo, where the game is silently driven
into the stockade and frightened with a rush
into the pit, in the water hoopoo all the noise
was made away from the nets, and the beaters
are not allowed to approach within two hundred
yards of the pool. Samoo, the headman, was
watching the pool intently the while. He seemed
to be able to peer down into its very depths. The
fish driven from up and down stream, and com-
pelled by the nets to keep to one particular channel
which led to the pool, were soon safe within the
enclosure. At a signal from Samoo the dug-outs
rushed forward and closed the entrance to the pool

134 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

with nets, and some fifty men plunged into the water
and took up positions about six feet from one
another outside the nets surrounding the pool.
In a moment all was life and animation. Dug-
outs and rafts and youngsters on logs of wood
suddenly made their appearance and took up
places outside the nets. These were gradually
worked in towards the landing place. The men
would dive down and shift the bottom of the
nets a few feet at a time, taking particular care
to see that while the net was passing over the
rocks at the bottom of the pool, there was no
passage left unguarded by the meshes. The
Jhoras, by the way, are splendid divers and
swimmers. I believe they can keep longer under
water than even the amphibious Somali diving
boys so familiar to steamship travellers at Aden.
As the space becomes contracted by the gradual
approach of the nets, the water within the pool
appears to be alive with fish. One particular kind,
called locally the rowee, leaps clean out of the
water for many feet and frequently falls into the
canoes and rafts outside the line of nets. The
eager rush of the occupants to secure the prize
often upsets the frail craft and pitches its freight
into the water. But this only excites bursts of
laughter from the assembled crowd. On the
shore too all is excitement. Men and boys
armed with bows and arrows shoot the larger
fish as they show at the surface. The head of
the arrow is a trident, and to the arrow is
attached a long string, which serves to draw in

A WATER-HOOPOO. 135

the fish or recover the weapon. When an extra
large fish is thus struck, it takes several men and
much play before it is landed.

When the nets approach shallow water, several
Jhoras enter within the circle of nets and skilfully
scooping out the fish with their hands, fling them
on to the shore ; here others are ready with battle-
axes, and a blow on the head stops all floundering.
Fish of from ten to fifteen pounds in weight are thus
thrown out and dispatched. A great number also
are entangled in the nets, and these are killed with
a blow from a club. When it is thought that all the
fish over a span long have been secured, the women
and children are allowed to enter the water and
take what they can get. And now ensues a scene
of laughter and mirth. Women armed with baskets,
others with portions of their clothes used as nets,
others again with pieces of mats, rush pell-mell
into the water, shouting and screaming, laughing
and tumbling, yet still with an eye to business.
Soon the pond is cleared of even its tiniest occu-
pant ; and now begins the division of the spoil.

Immemorial custom has decided that the headman
shall get a sixteenth. One-half goes to the Jhoras
taking part in the hunt, and one-fourth to the
villagers (cultivators and others) present. A six-
teenth goes to the owners of the nets and canoes ;
another sixteenth to the zemindar — in this case
the Takoor of Anandapore ; and the remaining
sixteenth is taken by the priests.

It is easy to calculate the catch. I had the
curiosity to weigh the share of the headman. This

1 36 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

amounted to ninety-two pounds and was made up
of forty-four fish, of which three were over ten
pounds each, the bulk being under half a pound.
The take of large fish over a span long was nearly
one thousand five hundred pounds, and perhaps the
fifteen baskets of small fish would weigh about
five hundred pounds, so that the entire take was
two thousand pounds of fish — not a bad day's work
for four hundred people.

A brief description of one or two of the more
numerous varieties of fish thus caught may not
be uninteresting. A large scaleless kind is very
like the becktie (pike), and at this season of the
year was large with roe ; some of these were quite
three and a half feet long and over ten pounds
in weight. The rowee, a scaly fish, is very like
the mahseer in appearance and is very delicate eat-
ing. The river herring is about double the
size of our Yarmouth favourite, but, unlike that
dainty, is only edible around the stomach, though
from here a pound of the most delicious eat-
ing can be cut. An ugly monster is the kana,
which looks for all the world like a ground
shark in miniature. A spotted hide, tiny eyes,
numerous feelers, an enormous head and jaws
and powerful tail make the resemblance very
close. It lurks among the rocks and seizes any
fish that may approach. Its flesh is pink, very
like that of salmon.

With the division of spoil the day's labour
did not end. A bright moon at night lighted
up the scene and showed the sand-bars where

A WATER-HOOPOO. 137

the natives were curing the fish over smoky fires.
This smoking and a three days' drying over a slow
fire keep the fish sweet without the addition of
salt. The art of kippering apparently is not a new
one. It was known to the Egyptians four thousand
years ago ; and here we have a wild race perfectly
well acquainted with the art of curing without the
aid of salt. Their dried fish will keep for years, and
the smoky flavour is not at all unpalatable.

A second and a third hoopoo were arranged in
other parts of the river during the same week, but
neither of these was as successful as the first.

133

THE WHITE TIGER.

" THE Sahib wishes to know which is the most dan-
gerous animal I have ever killed ? What do we
baghmarees (tiger-slayers) know of danger ? We set
our traps, and it is nusseeb ka bath (a question of
luck) whether we kill or not. There is no danger.
The bow is fixed in the evening, and we go to
see next morning whether the arrow is shot.
We follow the trail and generally get the animal
that day or the next. Bears are the most difficult
to kill ; not only do they take longer to die, but
they generally make off to their caves when
wounded and die there. No, we never go near
the wounded animal. We follow it up, and if it
shows signs of life we go away and come later on,
when it is dead. When we use cobra poison the
wounded animal goes to sleep and dies in its
sleep. Dakar a (aconite) is also good. Krait
(snake) poison is not so good. When the arrow
has been poisoned with krait venom the animal
may recover if there be much bleeding from the
wound. Yes, we have antidotes for all the
poisons. Sometimes a man is wounded by our
poisoned arrows. If we know it in time, we apply
certain jungle leaves as a poultice and the man

THE WHITE TIGER. 139

recovers. If large water blisters form round the
wound within half-an-hour, the man will recover.
If no blisters come, he will die.

" What has all this to do with dangerous animals ?
the Sahib asks. Well, hear me. I was once in
great danger. Twenty men were in fear of their
lives for a week because of one animal. It was
in Gangpore, seven years ago. The Sahib knows
the motee-joad (twin pearls). Yes, the Sahib has
seen it ; he shot one on the river a fortnight ago

—the large brown-breasted wild duck, that is
called by us the motee-joad because when once
these birds pair their affection for one another is
so strong that it has passed into a proverb with
us — " As faithful as the motee-joad." What affec-
tion can be greater ? When the Huzoor shot the
wild duck, its mate would not leave the spot for
hours although all its companions had taken to
flight, and the Huzoor could have shot it also but
that his heart is soft. At night these birds do
not roost together, but rest on opposite sides of the
river, and all night long you will hear their qua !
qua ! as they call to each other. The Sahib is
impatient, but I am coming to my story of the
white tiger. Yes, white tiger. Your servant does
not lie. Why should I lie to the Sahib ? These
eyes have seen it, and others have seen it but
they are not here now. White tiger, not panther ;

—does not your servant know the difference be-
tween a tiger and a leopard when he has lived
all his life in the forest ? Yes, there are white
tigers in Gangpore, and I have killed one. It was

140 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

at the ghur (Gainghur, the Raja's residence). A
tiger had killed several cattle. The pugs were
small and some said it was a panther ; but I knew
it was a tiger because the pugs of a tiger show the
toe marks distinctly, whereas in a panther's pugs
the toe marks are very faint, because it treads more
on the ball of the foot, to preserve its claws for tree
climbing. The tiger cannot climb trees but the
panther can. I have seen it run up a tree like a
squirrel and bite a man's leg on the topmost bough.
On a tree you are safe from a tiger.

" I said it was a tiger, and the Raja asked me to
kill it. I set my bow and poisoned arrows near the
next kill but the tiger did not come near it. I set
it at several different kills but the thief of a tiger
was too cunning. He would not come near it. The
people laughed and said I was a tantee (weaver), and
not a baghmaree (tiger-killer), and that I had better
go back to my trade. But the Huzoor can see I am
a man " —stroking his moustache — c< and am not to
be beaten by a janwar(wild animal). I took counsel
with no one but walked the jungle every day to
see if I could not circumvent this dog that had
thrown dirt in my face and caused the villagers to
laugh at me. I soon noticed that there were two
sets of pugs, which went together. This led me to
believe there were a tiger and a tigress. I went to
every kill before the Khols got scent of it and
carried away the flesh, as these people eat every
kind of flesh, even rats and snakes and carrion,
and I carefully noted that the trails all led in
one direction — to a rocky hill covered with dense

THE WHITE TIGER. 141

jungle. This was where the tigers had taken up
their abode. I soon found that the tigers took a
particular path to the river to drink. That was
the clue I wanted. I would now have my revenge,
and the villagers would see I was a real baghmaree,
although only a weaver by caste. Shabash ! I set
my bow to command the path the tiger took when
going to the river, and went home quite pleased
with myself ; but I did not tell anybody that I
had set my trap, as I waited for my triumph to
be complete. I hardly slept that night, and was
away at grey dawn to see the trap. The bow was
sprung and both arrows had taken effect as they
were not to be found anywhere, while pug marks,
blood and signs of struggling were to be seen on
the path. I knew the arrows would do their
work, for I had put on some fresh cobra poison the
previous day. Imagine my feelings, Sahib, when
I saw I had triumphed ! The bridegroom on his
wedding-day, when the village girls anoint him with
turmeric and oil ; or when you have just secured
a pair of strong buffaloes for your plough at half
price ; or when your field has yielded forty-fold ;
or when your enemy is dead — mine were all these
feelings in one ! I felt a hero. I gathered up my
bow and ropes and walked to the village a new
man. I went straight to the gathering-tree in the
centre of the village and sat down. First came one
and jibed, ' Well, tantee (weaver), is that your loom
you have rolled up ? ' pointing to my bow. ' Make
me a saree (woman's garment) for my wife, and I
will give you half a candy of grain when the crop

142 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

comes/ said another. Many joined in the laugh,
but I waited quietly till the principal men of the
village had assembled to talk, when I said,
' Brothers, don't laugh any more, but come with
the poor weaver. I have something to show ' ; and
I strode on with the gait of an elephant with the
great Maharaj on his back. All the village followed,
and I led straight to the place where I had set my
trap, and the trail from there was clear. Not two
hundred yards off we found the body of the tiger.
It was a white tiger. Pure white : no spot or stripe
of any kind. Believe me, Sahib, when I tell you
it was white. A great shout went up from the
villagers and I was happy. Such moments come
seldom.

" After a time the villagers left and only the
shikarees (hunters) of the village remained with me
to do pooja (religious ceremony). The oldest of the
shikarees made a slight wound in my head and took
some of the blood and rubbed it in on the head of
the tiger. I walked three times round the body of
the tiger, and then touched its body with my fore-
head while the others looked aside. We now slung
the tiger to a pole and took it to the village in
triumph. When we got there, the shikarees' wives
came out and washed my feet with water and
salaamed to me. You don't want to hear all that—
you want to know where the danger came in. I
will pass over the triumphs of the day ; how the
Raja gave me two rupees and a dhotee (cloth) ; how
the villagers also rewarded me, each according to
his means. I was a great man that day. Don't

THE WHITE TIGER. 143

be impatient, Sahib ; one likes to talk of one's
victories — we are all alike.

' We skinned the tiger, and found it was very
old — fifteen years old. How do we know a tiger's
age ? By the number of lobes in the liver. This
one had fifteen distinct marks, one for each year.
Panthers have these marks also, but not other
animals. All shikarees know this, as we always
take out the liver for medicine. This is how we
judge of a tiger's age, and it is true. We pegged
out the skin in the sun to dry, the head being
boned and stuffed with straw and the mouth
agape. At night we rolled up the skin and placed
it on some sticks in an empty cow-shed. Our
huts were about thirty yards away ; but be-
side the empty shed was another in which several
bullocks were stalled. It was barely dark when we
heard the ' ough ! ough ! ' of the other tiger in the
distance. This we knew was the tiger calling for
his mate. The tiger seldom cries, only when call-
ing its mate ; it never speaks at other times. Soon
the ' ough ! ough ! ' came nearer, and we knew
the tiger had scented out his dead mate. Soon it
was near the cattle-shed, and we could hear the
cattle struggling in alarm. We all shouted to-
gether, but the tiger still kept prowling round and
round the empty shed. He then sprang on to the
roof and tore away the thatch. We now kept
very quiet as we began to be afraid. We heard a
purring sound and then a roar, and the tiger was
inside the empty shed. Soon we heard a great crash-
ing and breaking of wood, and the whole roof of

H4 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

the shed was torn down. He then passed into the
next shed, where the bullocks were stalled. The
bullocks were so terrified that they broke the barred
gate and ran out ; but the tiger was down among
them and killed four, as we found next morning.
He went back to the empty shed and kept alter-
nately roaring and purring. He would go off a
couple of hundred yards and roar, and finding no
answering roar he would come back. He kept this
up the whole night. The whole village was in a
fright ; not a soul slept. At dawn the tiger went
off to the hills, still roaring occasionally. Next
morning what a scene met our eyes. Thick bam-
boos had been bitten in two by the tiger in his
rage. The shed was completely wrecked, but the
skin was intact. We took the skin to the ghur
(house) two miles away, where the Raja lived, and
told our tale. An old Khol, who knew the habits
of all wild beasts, said it was a motee-joad bagh
(twin-pearl tiger), and that it would never leave
its mate, but would kill all in the village unless
we killed it. The Raja ordered the skin to be
put into a strong shed where the grain was stored,
and commanded twenty of the best shooters in
the village to get up into machans near the shed
and shoot the tiger when it came at night. Every-
body strongly barricaded their doors that night.
I was on a machan near the shed. Night came
on, but no tiger roared. It grew late ; half the
night went by ; and from fear and trembling we
grew light-hearted, and began to twit the Khol
about his knowledge of tigers. Suddenly we heard

THE WHITE TIGER. 145

a roar at our very feet that made us lie down and
cover our heads in fear. Then we heard a great
scratching at the door of the shed where the skin
was, and we knew the tiger was trying to break in.
We could not see the tiger, so some of us shouted
and others fired their guns, but he continued
scratching and roaring. We then arranged to fire
together at the door in the hopes of hitting him. We
fired and heard a scream of rage and then a great
scuffling as if something was trying to climb the
tree on which our machan was built. Of the eight
men on my machan, six had fired off their match-
locks, and only two shots were left. If the tiger
succeeded in climbing the tree we were dead men.
I can assure you, Huzoor, I was like a twisted rag ;
there was no sap in me. The tiger would rush up
the trunk of the tree, and then fall back. This he
did several times, and then went back to the door
and began his scratching. When the other men
had reloaded, we arranged to fire four at a time.
This we did several times, and at last it appeared
as if we had struck him, for the scratching ceased,
but he continued to roar. We kept on firing till
all sounds from him ceased, and then we knew we
had killed him, or he had gone off. In the morning
we saw he was dead near the door and near to his
mate. He had twenty shots in his body. He was,
in truth, a motee-joad. He gave up his life rather
than leave his mate ! "

10

146

BEARS AT CLOSE QUARTERS.

" HAS the Sahib got any ball cartridges ? There
are bears about, and that is better shikar (sport)
than green pigeon. How do I know that there are
bears about ? Look yonder ; do you see that haze
above those trees ? It looks like thin smoke ; but
that is a cloud of flying white ants which are
swarming now, after this morning's rain. Do you
see those birds flying in and out of the haze ?
They are feeding on the ants which are issuing
in myriads from the ant-hill at the foot of the
tree. Those large birds are hornbills, and they
would not fly about like that and eat the ants on
the wing, if they were not disturbed. They would
sit round the ant-hill and pick up the ants as they
issue from their holes. There is a bear at that ant-
hill eating the ants. It has driven away the birds.
All animals are fond of flying white ants. Dogs,
jackals, cats, tigers, leopards, bears, birds of all
kinds and even men will gorge on them. They
are sweeter than new corn and taste like cocoa-
nut. Oh, yes ; I have eaten them, and if the
sahib will only once taste them he will always
eat them. Bears like them better even than mahua
fruit, and I feel sure we shall find a bear under
those trees, if the sahib will come/'

BEARS AT CLOSE QUARTERS. 147

Luckily I had with me a couple of ball cartridges,
so I told the Purdhan, or headman of Dalki, who
was out with me shooting green pigeon, to lead
the way. A few hundred yards up the steep slope
of the hill and under the shade of lofty forest-
trees, a strange scene presented itself. Crows,
minas, jays, the great and little hornbill, swallows,
finches, and birds of all kinds were darting hither
and thither amid great chattering and cawing, after
white-ants which were taking the wing in thousands.
At the foot of a decayed tree, near to which was an
ant-hill, a female bear and two well-grown cubs
were literally licking up the flying-ants as they
issued from their holes. Slobbering their forepaws
over with saliva, they brought them down on the
ants, whose thin gauze-like wings adhered to the
wet paws, and were thus easily licked off by the
bears. So busy were they at this evidently delect-
able occupation, and so intent on securing as much
as possible of this dainty, that we were able to
approach unobserved to within fifty yards. The
wary crows alone spotted us and flew off a little
way, but soon returned to the feast. A perfect
cloud of ants went up like a haze from the foot of
the tree, and into this flying mass the birds darted
open-mouthed, greedily gobbling up the tooth-
some morsels. The shrill notes of the smaller
birds, the hoarse caw of the crows, and the harsh
scream of the hornbills made such a noise that it
was possible to approach much nearer without
being heard. I stood gazing at this strange scene
for fully five minutes, when suddenly I heard a

10*

i48 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

shot some twenty yards in advance of me, and then
found that the Purdhan had stolen away unob-
served by me and had had a pot at the bears on
his own account. All was still in a moment. The
birds flew off on the report of the gun, and the cubs
also bolted ; but I could see that the she-bear
was struck in the side, as she bit viciously at the
wounded part, growling savagely as she tugged out
bunches of hair. The Purdhan now attempted to
retreat to where I was concealed, and in his flitting
from tree to tree the bear caught sight of him and
at once gave chase. It is astonishing the pace such
a clumsy-looking animal as Bruin can put on. Be-
fore the man got half-way to me the bear nearly
overtook him, and it was only by dodging behind
the trunk of a large tree that he escaped her
clutches. Finding the man had stopped, she rose
on her hind legs and with her snout elevated high
in the air gave vent to a series of short snapping
howls, such as one hears from the tame animals
brought round by showmen when irritated. With
a kind of a waddle she advanced to the tree and
clutched at the trunk, but it was much too thick
for her to get at her foe. Down she now went on
her fours and chivied the man round and round,
but here he had the advantage, as he could turn
more quickly than the bear and so kept well out
of her reach. After a dozen turns or more, finding
she could not reach him, she once more rose on her
hind legs and began clawing the trunk of the tree
and scoring the bark with her great nails. Then
she stuffed both forepaws into her mouth and

BEARS AT CLOSE QUARTERS. 149

began biting them, grunting savagely the whole
time.

The Purdhan shouted to me to shoot, but the
whole scene looked so ridiculous and there seemed
to be so little immediate danger that I decided
to await developments. Finding no satisfaction
apparently in biting her own paws, down she
went again and after the headman as hard as she
could go. Anon she would rise on her hind legs
and hop forward in the most comical manner, and
then down again. How long this would have
lasted it is hard to tell, as natives are long-winded
and can keep up a race for miles ; but now an
unforeseen danger threatened, which made me
regret that I had not fired before. The cubs,
which had bolted on the report of the first shot,
finding their dam did not follow them and pro-
bably hearing her growling, now came shambling
up. Although not quite full-grown, they were
large enough to make formidable opponents to
an unarmed man, and it would be all up with the
headman if they came to the assistance of their
mother. Only two ball cartridges left and three
bears to face ! A bear robbed of her whelps has
passed into a proverb for ferocity, but a wounded
bear with her cubs present is even worse. There
was not much time for deliberation. Shouting to
the Purdhan to throw his turban at the she-bear
and then run towards me, I decided to let her have
both barrels when she stopped to worry the turban,
and to take our chance with the cubs. As I antici-
pated, she at once clutched at the turban and began

150 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

tearing it to shreds, while the Purdhan flew to-
wards me. Aiming low, as she was at close range
and the shots might rise in their trajectory, I fired
both barrels in rapid succession. Over she went a
regular somersault and kept turning over and over
every time she attempted to rise. Presently she
got on to three legs and began staggering along
after her cubs, which had again bolted on the
noise of the firing. It was evident that the bone
of one of her forelegs was broken, as the paw hung
limp by her side. Now and again she would stop
and look back at us, as if not quite decided
whether she would return to the attack or not. The
Purdhan was for bolting, but I threatened to knock
him down if he attempted to move, as I knew
that to run away would be a direct invitation to
the bear to attack, and with only No. 6 shot in my
gun a bear, even though badly wounded, would
make short work of us. We could hear her savage
growls as she went shambling up the hillside to
her cave in the rocks above. Next morning,
with a better provided magazine, we followed up her
trail, and found she had taken refuge in a cave on
the hill-top. We could distinctly hear the gurgling
sound that bears make when sucking their paws—
a sound closely resembling that of a hubble-bubble
(native hookah) when smoked — but all our endea-
vours to get them to break cover were fruitless.
Stones, firebrands, repeated shots — all were in-
effectual, and I had to return empty-handed, re-
solving mentally never again to go bear-shooting
when after green pigeon.

MY SHIKAREE FRIENDS.— III.

PURDASEE, THE DOM.

MY first acquaintance with Purdasee was under
circumstances of so terrible a character that
I can never forget them. It was during the dreadful
famine of 1877-78, when upwards of five million
persons died from starvation and disease en-
gendered from a scarcity of food in South India.
Out of a population of five and a quarter
millions, Mysore lost a million and a quarter, while
the Bellary district suffered even more severely.
In Madras mountains of grain in bags were stacked
all along the sea-shore, brought in by ships from
Calcutta, Burmah, Gopalpore and elsewhere, but
transport into the interior — to the districts most
affected by the famine — was utterly inadequate.
The Madras Railway in those days terminated
at Bangalore on the south-west and at Bellary
on the north-west, while the whole of the large
stretch of country between these two towns was
entirely without railways. Cattle had suffered
even more severely than human beings during
these two seasons of drought, so that even
transport in bullock - carts was sadly crippled.

1 52 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

In parts of the Bellary district and in North
Mysore grain there was none, and whole villages
were depopulated, the inhabitants literally dying
of starvation. I was through the worst parts of
these two districts during this terrible time, and
the awful sights of mute human suffering that
met my gaze I have no wish to recall.

To come to my story. I was riding along
the high road between Chitaldroog and Bellary a
few days before Christmas, and was anxious to
make the latter town in order to get in to Bangalore
by Christmas day. I had ridden across country
some twenty miles and had just struck the high-
road and hoped to fall in with my camp, which I
had sent on a few days in advance, to await me at
a large village I had named. The country through
which I had ridden was extremely desolate. At
that time of the year the fields should have been
laden with cholum (millet), which thrives wonder-
fully on the black cotton soil of Bellary ; but the
failure of the North-east monsoon had resulted in
a very scanty crop, which was plucked and eaten
by the starving population before it had even
had time to ripen. I had gone about a couple of
miles when I noticed a few huts a hundred yards
off the road, and as I was anxious to hear of my
baggage I rode over to see if the villagers could
tell me whether my carts had gone on. I shouted
when I came to the huts, but no one answered.
Some of the huts were closed, others open, but
there did not seem to be a soul about. I was
just about to ride off when I heard some low

PURDASEE, THE DOM. 153

moans near a thicket of milk-hedge (euphorbia).
On going to the spot I was witness of a
most horrible sight. A couple of village pariah
dogs were tugging at the legs of a man, trying
to drag him out of a small hut of millet stalks.
The poor wretch was so emaciated and weak
from starvation that he had not the strength
to beat them off, but was clinging convulsively
to the sides of the hut and moaning faintly now
and again. A shower of blows with my whip
failed to drive off the dogs, which had grown
ferocious by feeding on human corpses, so that I
had to draw my revolver and shoot one of them
before the other took to flight. My terrible ex-
periences of the previous few months had taught
me that the village dogs, grown savage with
hunger, had taken to feeding on the bodies of
the dead and dying villagers, and had I not
opportunely arrived when I did, they would
have made short work of the poor wretch
in the hut. My syce now came up, and I sent
him on to hunt up my camp and to bring some
villagers with a charpoy (village bedstead) on
which to carry the poor fellow to my tent. A
few drops of brandy from my flask soon revived
him, and he greedily devoured a biscuit moistened
in brandy. I could see that hunger was his chief
ailment, but I would not for the present give him
more than a second biscuit, as I knew that in ex-
treme cases such as his, food must be administered
with caution. After a little time he was able to sit
up, and he then told me he did not belong to the

154 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

village, but was one of a party of Doms or Pahariahs
(hill-men), who were on their way to the wooded
tracts to the South-east. They had been without
food for days, and on the bare plain in this part
of the country there were no birds to snare. They
found the village deserted, and as he was too weak
to follow his people they had left him in the hut
to die. He had lain there all the previous day,
and not a soul had come near the village. At night
the dogs had smelt him out and attempted to
attack him, but he had beaten them off. They
renewed their attack in the morning and he again
kept them off, but only for a time, as they had
recommenced their attack and would certainly
have killed him had I not come up and saved
him from being eaten by them. " Ough ! ' the
poor wretch quivered and fainted off.

In a little time my chuprassee (messenger) came
up with several villagers and a charpoy, and the
poor fellow was carried to my camp and taken
care of by my servants.

On my return to camp after the Christmas
vacation I found Purdasee much better. Pur-
dasee was not his real name, but on being
asked who he was, he said he was a " Purdasee "
(literally a man from foreign parts, but used col-
loquially to designate anyone extremely poor) ; so
the name stuck to him. He belonged to the great
clan of wanderers and outcasts found all over
India and known under various names, such as
Doms, Ghassias, Bhujs, Kooravers, etc. They are
wanderers all of them, having no settled habitation,

PURDASEE, THE DOM. 155

but with a few donkeys to carry their household
pots and baggage may be seen on the outskirts
of most Indian villages. The women weave mats
and tell fortunes ; while the men snare birds
and lift hen-roosts. They are notorious thieves,
and not a fowl, kid, or cat is safe for miles
round their encampment. Of the flesh of the
cat these people are particularly fond, and
when later on I occasionally took Purdasee
with me into Bangalore many a fine Tabby mys-
teriously disappeared, to the surprise and grief
of its ovmer. It was no use expostulating
with Purdasee. His sense of meum and tuum
was dead as regards tabbies. His gratitude to
me for saving his life was heartfelt, but I really
believe that even that would have counted for
little if weighed in the balance against his love
for cat's flesh.

It took several months before Purdasee thoroughly
recovered his strength and was able to accompany
my camp. He then attached himself to my tent,
would assist in pitching it, and would hang around
all day for some word or notice from me. In the
wooded districts he proved a great aid to my com-
missariat, as never a day passed but he brought
in quail, partridge, pea-fowl, jungle cock, etc.
He was expert at all kinds of snares, traps, nets,
nooses and devices for trapping birds and small
animals. He was also a most perfect mimic and
could imitate the cry of the jackal, partridge, quail
and jungle fowl. I have several times been present
when he has decoyed birds, hare and jackal into

156 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

his traps, and I could not for the life of me tell the
difference between his call and that of the animals
he imitated. Was it jackal he wanted— he would
partly shade his mouth with his left hand and a
series of yells would break forth, as if all the jack-
als had assembled to join chorus. He could make
the notes sound distant or near by merely opening
and closing his hand. If he were after a quail,
the " ronk " of the male bird was heard to per-
fection. From the thigh bones of a cat he shaped
a whistle from which the strangest sounds would
issue at will. Far off larks would come down in
flight, or crow-pheasants and pea-fowl would answer
the harsh scream. Sometimes he would be absent
for days, and then he would return with a low
flat basket filled with partridges and quail on his
head, a long rod slung across his shoulder and a
peacock perched on either side. To prevent the
pea-fowl taking to flight he would sew their eyelids
together with a small feather, so that they could
not see, and in that condition they remained
perfectly quiet on their perch and could be handled.
Purdasee was delighted when work took me to
the wooded districts. There he was in his element,
snaring game. On the plains he could only
exercise his ingenuity on the village roosters, and
when he found that I compelled him to take them
back to their owners, and that he was in disfavour
for the remainder of the day, he brought me no
more village fowl ; but I felt sure that the thieving
went on all the same, as he would find ready
receivers in my camp servants, who were not so

PURDASEE, THE DOM. 157

scrupulous as to how the fowls were come by.
I asked him one day how he managed to catch
the fowls without noise. He said he drugged
them with rice which he kept in his mouth all
night. It fermented there and became very in-
toxicating. The fowls eating this rice became
drunk and stupid, and were easily caught.

Poor Purdasee ! He fell a victim to his devotion
to me. I was out fowling one day and had shot a
couple of duck in a tank (pond), but found that they
were too far out and the water too deep to recover
them by wading. I sent Purdasee to see if he could
find a villager who could swim, but all of them said
they could not. I turned away disappointed, and
was wending my way home when a villager ran
up and said that Purdasee had gone into the
tank after the duck and had not returned. We
instituted a most careful search, and constructing
a couple of rafts, I had the tank carefully dragged
in the direction where he was last seen, but with-
out result. His body was not recovered till two
days later. Poor Purdasee !

i58

HUNTING WILD DOGS IN A DUG-OUT.

<{ Sahib, Sahib, bagh / Nudhee may — do bagh/"
(Sir, Sir, a tiger in the river — two tigers !)

It was early dawn— perhaps five o'clock — and
the cool morning breeze in July induced sleep
after a restless night passed in the muggy warm
atmosphere of the monsoon. However, the
khubber (news) of two tigers under my very nose
sent sleep to the winds, and I was up in a
moment and hastened out in my slippers to
get full particulars from my " kit " (valet) who
was standing expectant at the doorway. The
villagers had reported that two tigers were
swimming over the river towards my bungalow,
which was situated on the right bank of the
Koel river. The tigers were said to be now in
mid-stream, and the villagers were assembled on
the bank and shouting to keep them off. A most
hideous yell, or rather succession of yells, heard
at that moment proved that the latter part at
least of the " kit's " story was true. No time
to dress, so seizing four ball cartridges for my
double-barrelled 12-bore, I hastened down to the
river.

HUNTING WILD DOGS IN A DUG-OUT. 159

The recent heavy rains had raised the water-
level twenty feet and the Koel was full from
bank to bank, a seething, swirling volume of
yellow liquid, dotted all over with floating masses
of foam. The river at this point is about 200
yards wide in mid-stream, and some 300 yards
further up two black objects could be plainly seen
among the masses of foam, breasting the current
and swimming vigorously up stream.

The flood had prevented the ferrying over of
some score of carts on their way to Beru, so that
on the left bank were assembled all the carters and
their following. On the right bank were the villagers
of Somij, armed with bows, spears and matchlocks.
These two crowds lining the banks kept the animals
—whatever they were — from landing. A dug-out
was speedily launched, and two sturdy Jhoras
(fishermen) armed with paddles took their places
at bow and stern. For the information of the
uninitiated I may say that a dug-out is a tree
log of light wood, some twenty feet long and fifteen
inches in diameter. The ends are pointed like the
bows and stern of a canoe, and the trunk hollowed
out. To trust one's self in such an unstable craft,
even in still waters, requires a good deal of nerve,
as it is impossible to stand upright without danger
of overbalancing this primitive contrivance ; but
to face it in a rough, boisterous stream in flood
required the excitement of the chase after a brace
of tigers to enable one to screw up one's courage
to the sticking point and venture forth.

The dug-out speeded on its way, propelled by

160 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

two pairs of strong arms, but once we were
in mid-current it required all the efforts of the
boatmen to stem the raging stream and make head-
way. The two " tigers " were now some 350 yards
up stream, and it really seemed wonderful how
these animals could make headway in such a mill-
race. Finding we could make little progress in
mid-stream, I directed the canoe-men to get nearer
the bank into slack water, and when we were
abreast of the animals to shoot out again into
the centre. When we got within fifty yards we
perceived that the so-called " tigers" were nothing
more than a pair of wild dogs. So great was my
disappointment that I was inclined to direct the
boatmen to return, but I suppose that the innate
love of bloodshed said to be characteristic of man
prevailed, and we continued the chase. The wild-
dogs now perceived our approach, and putting on
a spurt actually distanced the dug-out, although
with alternate promises of reward and punish-
ment I urged the Jhoras to do their utmost.
Finding their efforts unavailing I fired at the nearest
dog, which was about fifty yards ahead. I missed
— the mark being a very bad one, as I dared not
stand and all that I could see of the brute was its
ears and nose ; however, the shot was sufficient
to turn its fellow, which now made down stream,
still keeping to the centre. It passed within
twenty yards of me, but I could not fire for fear
of the bullet glancing off the water and hitting
one of the many people who lined the bank. I
therefore directed the boatmen to turn and follow

HUNTING WILD DOGS IN A DUG-OUT. 161

this one, as I made quite sure we could come up
with it going down stream. By the time we had
turned it had got forty yards' start of us, and it
kept that distance for nearly half a mile. I never
saw such swimming in all my life. It was simply
racing speed. We must have been going eight
miles an hour (the current being four and a half
to five), and yet we had not gained ten yards in
that half-mile race ! The excitement was intense,
the crowds shouting and running along the banks,
while I was using very unparliamentary language
to urge the boatmen on, and the poor brute doing
its best to get away. The river Karo joins the
Koel on its left bank, about half a mile below my
bungalow, and as the cartmen on the left bank
could not cross the Karo, the animal would find
the bank free, if it managed to clear the Karo.
The creature saw this at a glance, and put forth all
its efforts to gain this point. We in the dug-out
also saw that if not overtaken before it crossed
the junction of the rivers it would escape. Now
then for the final struggle. The dug-out seemed
to fly through the water, yet the dog kept its dis-
tance and crossed the Karo. In making for the
shore however it got into slack water, and here
we gained perceptibly. A last chance offered when
the animal got within ten yards of the long grass
edging the river. I fired and again missed, and
the dog disappeared in the dense undergrowth.
I must say that I was scarcely sorry I had
missed. The chase had lasted nearly an hour, up
stream and down, and the animal had beaten

ii

162 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

the boat in both directions. Its exertions were
truly marvellous, and I would not have believed
any land animal capable of such powers of swim-
ming had I not witnessed this wild-dog's efforts to
escape.

We now turned our attention to its fellow, which
we saw some two hundred yards up stream, follow-
ing in the direction its mate had taken. The dug-
out was hastily drawn under some overhanging
branches, and we silently awaited the approach
of the animal. When within ten yards a shot
smashed his skull, and he sank to rise again
some distance down stream. The boatmen neatly
harpooned him, and brought him to land. He
proved to be a full-grown male, of a reddish-
brown colour, flecked with a little black about
the face and ears. The tail ended in a tuft of
hair. In size he was very much larger than the
wild-dogs of Southern India and more nearly
resembled the dingo of South Australia. Marvel-
lous were the tales the villagers related of the
prowess of the wild-dog. According to native
accounts a pack of wild dogs when pressed by
hunger will not hesitate to attack a tiger.

163

A MAD ELEPHANT.

" HONORED SIR, — I would bring to your honor's kind recol-
lection the caprices of a demented mad elephant, and ask for
your honor's instructions in the same. He is beastly bad one,
and notwithstanding that he has already suicided thirty-three
of his defunct relatives, he now is murderously intent on all
having a similitude to his kind, in the appearance of domestic
milch buffaloes ; and thereafter. He has raided all the villages
in the environs of No. 2 Division, and the coolies and ryots are
frightened for the lives and persons, although he has not yet
crimed the man-slaughter, but only the buffaloes and not the
cows. Mr. Theobald is here just now, and wants your honor's
geenerous advice to shoot or otherwise this furious packshide-
dams. The fire-lines are awaiting the monster's removal, as
the men wont work, in fear and trembling. A quick response
will ever be grateful to your most humble servant,

"S. RAMALINGUM,
"Sp. Ranger, F. A., Madras University.

"To the Assistant Forest Officer,

" Kollegal Division, Coimbatore."

The above is a true copy of a letter addressed
to the Assistant Conservator of Forests a few years
ago by one of the native subordinates of the Forest
Department, and gives in native B.A. English a
graphic account of the doings of a mad elephant
then at large in the forests of Kollegal, bordering

1 64 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

the Mysore Province. The history of this brute
is well worth relating, as his madness took a very
singular form, his fury seeming to be directed
against his own kind or anything bearing a re-
semblance thereto.

Complaints had for some time been pouring in to
the Collector of Coimbatore of the destruction to
fields of corn and sugar-cane by herds of wild ele-
phants which came down from the hills in Kolle-
gal, and laid waste the cultivation in the low
country. As it would be dfncult to shoot down
whole herds of these animals it was determined
to build a kheddah, or elephant trap, capture
the brutes wholesale, and break them in to
forest work as beasts of burden. A series of
stockades and enclosures were accordingly con-
structed in the bottom of a densely wooded valley
draining into the river Cauvery. Hundreds of
beaters had been assembled and a herd of thirty-
three huge animals had been successfully driven
into the impounding stockade, and the heavy gate
of logs made fast. Watchmen had been told off
to feed great fires surrounding the stockade and to
prevent all attempts of the captured herd to
break through the log-fence and ditch of the khed-
dah. There was much jubilation throughout the
camp. The Collector was there with numerous
guests who had come down from Ootacamund and
neighbouring stations to witness the drive. Next
day was to be devoted to separating the wild
herd and to hobbling individual elephants and
making them fast to trees, as a preliminary to

A MAD ELEPHANT. 165

breaking them in. The aid of half-a-dozen koon-
kies, or female elephants specially trained to assist
in the dangerous operation of securing and making
fast their wild brethren, had been obtained, and
several large tuskers were also present to overawe
any of the captured ones that might show fight.
All was quiet for the night. The guests had re-
tired to their tents after a late dinner ; the tame
elephants had gone to their camp some half-a-
mile away ; the watchmen were dozing over their
watch-fires — when suddenly a fierce trumpeting was
heard from within the kheddah, followed by a
squealing and shrieking as if a legion of pigs were
being slaughtered. The din was terrific ; the whole
herd seemed to have gone mad. There was a rush-
ing here and a rushing there, as the huge animals
tumbled over one another in their fright. By the
light of the moon and the blaze of the watch-fires,
now heaped with faggots, a perfect mountain of
flesh could be seen huddled up in one corner of
the kheddah — elephant over elephant, a writhing
mass which heaved and squealed and groaned in
the vain efforts of those undermost to escape from
the vast overburden of their fellows, who came
tumbling on the top of them in the attempt to
escape from some object of terror behind. The
shouts of the watchers, the din of tom-toms
(drums), the bray of trumpets and the springing of
rattles added to the noise and confusion. The
camp was now thoroughly alarmed but no one
could tell what had happened. That there was
something very wrong within the kheddah was evi-

1 66 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

dent, but what it was none could say. Most of those
assembled at the camp had climbed into trees over-
looking the kheddah, and could see the huge black
masses huddled on one another and squealing most
shrilly. Now and again there would be an interval
of silence within the kheddah and the mountain
of flesh would disentangle itself and the elephants
hurry off here and there, leaving many of their
number dead or dying. The tame elephants were
sent for and soon arrived on the scene, but none
dared to enter the enclosure, so appalling was the
sight that gradually unfolded itself. The whole
enclosure was strewed with dead and dying ele-
phants, and a huge tusker was seen driving deep
his tusks into the bodies of his fallen victims, stamp-
ing on those that showed the least signs of life, and
kicking the carcases here and there in his diabolical
rage, emitting at the same time the most unearthly
yells and screams that had ever been heard from
one of these brutes. When satisfied that the body
before him was lifeless, away he would charge after
the herd and single out another victim. There
was no escape. The enclosure was of limited ex-
tent, and strewn as it was with the bodies of dead
and dying elephants it prevented any lengthened
chase. Elephant after elephant had fallen before
his blind fury, and now all was still within. By
this time the spectators of this ghastly scene had
formed some idea of what had happened, and the
guns were sent for. None of the tame elephants
would approach the kheddah. They appeared to
know what had happened, and with trunk elevated

A MAD ELEPHANT. 167

they scented the air, and knew there was danger for
themselves if they approached the raving brute.
The trees were too far off to permit of a good shot
at him from among the branches, and the only
place that appeared at all likely to give a chance was
at the great drop gate. T- — , taking one of the
oldest native shikaris with him, made for this point
of vantage and waited patiently the approach of
the mad elephant, which was going round the en-
closure turning over the bodies of those it had killed
and stamping out what remained of life in those that
had escaped his first furious onset. Aiming as best
he could, T— - fired, and shouted to the shikari to
escape through a narrow postern in the palisading
making the avenue which led to the gate, as he saw
that his shot had failed and the raging brute was
charging down on them. The native seemed para-
lysed with terror, or believed in the strength of the
gate, and would not move. T- - barely escaped
through the opening, when crash went the strong
timbers of the gate like matchwood before the
terrible impact. The white clothing of the shikari
caught the elephant's eye. In a moment his trunk
was round the unfortunate man, and placing a
foot on one leg and seizing the other in its trunk it
simply tore the poor wretch in two and threw
the pieces high into the air. With a demoniac
trumpet it then charged down the avenue, and
was away to the hills before the horrified spec-
tators could fairly grasp what had occurred.

The morning showed a dreadful sight within the
kheddah. The earth, sodden with the blood of the

i68 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

elephants, had been churned into a quagmire by
their ponderous feet in their wild rushes to escape
from their mad companion. Great bodies strewed
the enclosure, some mangled and trodden out of
all semblance to the living creature. In one corner
the bodies were so piled up and mixed together that
it was difficult to conceive how they could have got
into that position. This mass showed some move-
ment, and with immense difficulty two living ele-
phants were exhumed from this veritable mountain
of flesh. All the others were dead. Of the thirty-
three leviathans captured the previous evening,
thirty dead bodies, two maimed brutes more than
half-dead, and the runaway made up the tale !

Great heavens ! Could this scene of slaughter be
the work of one brute ! Was it possible for one
animal to destroy thirty of his fellows in the space
of a couple of hours ? Many of the victims were as
large as, if not larger than, their mad assailant,
and two were immense tuskers. The labour of six
months and a large expenditure of money gone in an
hour ! The herd when secured would have been
worth more than half a lakh of rupees (Rs. 50,000),
now all gone through the instrumentality of one
luckless brute ; and, more than this, one ill-fated
human being had been torn limb from limb.

Nothing more was heard of the runaway for some
time. Then came in reports from numerous vil-
lages bordering the forest lands of Kollegal of the
depredations of a mad elephant. His insanity took
a peculiar form, as I have said, inasmuch as it
was directed against his own kind and against

A MAD ELEPHANT. 169

buffaloes. He killed two of the forest elephants
engaged in timber work, so that the working
elephants had to be removed. He would enter
a village, make for the cattle enclosures and
destroy every buffalo he saw. Bullocks he
would not touch, nor did he show any particular
animosity to human beings ; but buffaloes seemed
to be his pet aversion. On one occasion he kept a
whole village within their huts for two days in his
vain attempts to enter a stone enclosure, such as
the natives use for penning cattle, in which there
was a herd of buffaloes.

A large Government reward was now offered for
his destruction, and numerous native shikarees
endeavoured to bag him without success. He
was frequently shot at and received many
wounds, and at length became so wary that
he was seldom seen, and it was only news of
his continued depredations — here to-day, twenty
miles off next day — that kept up the terror of his
name.

The story of how this cunning brute was circum-
vented and at length laid low I will tell in
another chapter.

I/O

THE FATE OF THE AHNAY PAYEE.

So numerous were the petitions to the Collector of
Coimbatore regarding the damage done by the
mad elephant — of which some account was given
in the last chapter — that special means had
to be devised to rid the district of its presence.
Not only had it killed thirty of the herd captured
in the kheddah, but since that night's savage work
it had destroyed half-a-dozen more tame ele-
phants, belonging to Government and private
individuals. Buffaloes by the score had also
fallen victims to its peculiar form of insanity,
and so great was the terror it inspired that
many villages on the Kollegal frontier were aban-
doned, with the result that cultivation suffered and
forest work was much impeded. Mr. Theobald,
the well-known assistant to Mr. Sanderson, the
elephant-catcher, at that time a Forest Officer
in the employ of the Madras Government and
known to be a keen shikaree, was deputed on
special duty to endeavour to shoot the brute.
It had now been at large for about six months
and during that time it had done an immense
amount of damage. Traps of all kinds — pit-
falls, spring-guns, balanced spears, nooses, decoys

THE FATE OF THE ANNA Y PA YEE. 171

—all had been tried, but without effect. It
had been wounded several times and had now
become so wary that it lay concealed during
the day and made its attacks only on the
darkest nights. It was so cunning that imme-
diately after destroying the buffaloes in a village
it would leave that locality at once, and be next
heard of twenty or thirty miles away. Another
peculiarity about it was that it never travelled the
same path twice, as if it were aware that danger
was most likely to be met along those tracks. The
Government reward for its destruction was high, so
that many native shikarees from the neighbouring
districts had been attracted to Kollegal in hopes
of securing it ; but all their efforts had proved
fruitless. The elephant was seldom seen ; yet the
damage went on all the same. The Tamil inhabitants
of the district called it the Ahnay Payee (elephant
devil), and offered sacrifices of cocks and sheep to
appease its wrath. Captain Godfrey, the famous
elephant-killer from the Wynaad, spent a month
in search of the brute but never once caught sight
of it. Such was the animal Theobald was now
directed to destroy.

His first measures were to collect all the native
shikarees of note and find out from them what had
been done and what plans were left untried. As
the beast showed such a strong antipathy to
buffaloes, it was thought it might be got at
by the hunters being concealed in a cattle-pen
among buffaloes. An open kraal was accordingly
selected, and a pit sunk in the centre. This

i;2 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

was protected by a light fencing to keep out
the cattle. The hunters spent over a week in this
unsavoury spot amid the intolerable smell of the
buffaloes and plagued by myriads of insects. On
the last night of this vigil, towards midnight, the
buffaloes manifested signs of uneasiness. They
thronged close up against the side of the kraal
furthest from that in which the wind was blow-
ing and, with faces turned windward, seemed
to scent something unusual. The night was pitchy
dark so that it was impossible to see anything
beyond a dozen paces. Now the cattle came rush-
ing to the centre of the kraal and against the light
fencing, as if to seek the protection of their human
fellows. It appeared as if an opportunity was at
last going to offer and the hunters were all alert ;
but no ! the excitement passed off and after a
time the cattle returned to their usual positions of
repose. The morning showed the tracks of the
elephant clearly all round the kraal, but it had not
made the slightest attempt to break in. It must
have scented its human foes, and made off noise-
lessly. It was seen therefore that this plan would
not answer, so something fresh had to be devised.
There was not the slightest use attempting to
track the brute for it appeared to be ever on the
move, and so cunning had it become that when
feeding it would make a detour and take up a
position from which it could see its own tracks ;
its hearing and scent also were so acute that it
generally detected its pursuers before they saw it,
and while they were plodding their way straight

THE FATE OF THE AHNAY PAYEE. 173

ahead, a loud trumpet, as if of derision, on their
right or left would show them they were dis-
covered, and it would be twenty miles off in a few
hours.

After much cogitation a plan suggested by one
of the mahouts that looked promising was tried.
Two of the most intelligent female elephants em-
ployed in forest work were selected, and these were
taught to elevate their trunks on the approach of
another elephant. The one which first gave warn-
ing was always rewarded with some little dainty,
so that in a short time they became so clever that
another elephant could not approach within several
hundred yards but they would scent it out and give
warning by elevating their trunks. When suffi-
ciently trained, Theobald mounted on one of these
animals, and with two good shikarees on the other
set out on the trail of the mad elephant. Some
fifteen miles of country were traversed on the
first day, yet nothing was seen of the runaway.
On the second day about noon, while going
through some bamboo-covered bottom, both ele-
phants gave sign towards the right of the trail.
All was excitement now. The guns were got
ready, and with an interval of about four hundred
yards between them the tame elephants were
moved off to the right and a cautious advance
was made. Now was heard a crackle of branches
ahead. The brute was probably feeding ! The
jungle became denser. There, behind a clump, a
dark object was seen ! Now a gleam of white — his
tusks ! Yes, a solitary elephant, and a^tusker !

I74 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

It must be the rogue ! A still further advance was
made, and yet it had not taken the alarm. Another
twenty yards and it would be near enough for
a shot. Squeal ! Squeal ! What is that ? A baby
elephant ! And now its mother shows itself, and
then another and another. Pshaw ! Not the rogue
after all ! Merely a herd of wild elephants. An-
other such disappointment and this plan had also
to be given up. Theobald was at his wits' end.
There was no getting a shot at the wary brute. He
now bethought him of some of his Sholiga friends.
The Sholigas are a wild race inhabiting the Belli-
gherry Rungan Hills on the Kollegal frontier,
and are the most expert trackers of wild beasts in
the world, besides being better acquainted with
the habits of elephants than any other people.
Boomay Gowda, a Sholiga headman (and the ex-
pert tracker referred to in the chapter headed
"At the Kheddahs"), was under obligation to
Theobald. The latter therefore decided to send
for him and ask his advice. Boomay Gowda
arrived.

" I will bring the mad elephant to the dor ay
(gentleman)," he said when he had heard the
whole story.

" Bring the mad elephant to me, Boomay Gowda !
What ? Are you mad yourself ? "

' The dor ay will see. Give me a week's time,
and I will make the Ahnay Payee come up to
your place of concealment, so that you can shoot
him."

The old man would give no further information.

THE FATE OF THE AHNAY PAYEE. 175

He would explain matters after the kill, he said.
The native shikarees and mahouts present were
inclined to laugh at Boomay Gowda as a junglee
(a term of contempt among natives, meaning a
man from the jungles), but Theobald knew him
better. A few days later a Sholiga came to Theo-
bald and said he had been directed by Boomay
Gowda to take the hunters to a place of conceal-
ment in a water-course some ten miles off, and
that they were to camp there till Boomay Gowda
arrived. The spot indicated was a dry nullah with
a steep rocky bed and banks of clay about ten
feet high. The width of the water-course was not
more than ten to fifteen feet. Heavy forest trees
with little or no underwood covered the country
on both banks for miles, so that it was easy to see
any object approaching the water-course without
oneself being seen. The hunters were directed to
camp about a mile away from the water-course
on the left bank, and were instructed that when
Boomay Gowda came they were to take up a
position in the nullah so that their heads would be
level with the right bank, from which direction
the mad elephant would approach. They were
not to climb into a tree or machan, as from that
height their scent would be wafted far and wide
and the elephant would not come ; but they were
to lie low in the water-course, whence their^scent
would not be carried to the elephant and they
could shoot him as he approached.

Two days afterwards Boomay Gowda came
early in the morning and said the elephant would

i/6 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

be at the water-course about ten o'clock and that
they must hurry off. Theobald and one shikari
took up a position pointed out to them by the
Sholiga in the nullah commanding the right bank.
He told them to be careful and not show them-
selves nor to make any noise, but to peer over
the edge of the bank now and again to see the
elephant approach, while he would be off to see
that all was right. Perching themselves on a
small ledge in the bank they waited till about
half-past nine when they saw a huge elephant ap-
proaching cautiously from a direction at right angles
to the nullah. There was the great brute with the
point of his trunk nearly touching the ground,
smelling carefully at a trail of some kind. Now
and again he would stop and elevate his trunk,
turning it on all sides to scent out anything strange.
Being reassured, he would again move cautiously
forward, still carefully scenting the ground and
making direct for the spot where the hunters lay
concealed. There all was in readiness. No mistake
this time. It was the mad elephant. Theobald
would have liked a side-shot just behind the
opening of the ear, as he had bagged dozens of
elephants each with a single shot there ; but
from the direction in which the elephant was
approaching, there was no chance of the ear-shot,
so he determined to take the next best place — the
fleshy protuberance in the middle of the forehead.
The elephant was advancing slowly, with head
lowered, and was now about twenty paces off. Sud-
denly he stopped and raised his head, with the flaps

THE FATE OF THE AHNAY PAYEE. 177

of his great ears thrown forward. The movement
disconcerted Theobald, who fired just as the brute
stopped. The shot struck six inches too low, in the
hollow where the bones of the head are thickest.
There was no time for a second shot. With a scream
of rage the elephant was on them, and over them,
his tusks embedded deep in the opposite bank.
Apparently he had not noticed the nullah in his
wild charge, or he could not stop himself if he
had seen it.

Theobald and his shikaree were knocked off the
ledge by great masses of earth hurled from the top
of the bank, which gave way under the enormous
weight of the charging elephant. In the clouds of
dust raised by the falling earth and the struggles
of the elephant they managed to scramble to their
legs and run up the nullah, without thought of their
guns, which fell from their hands when they were
knocked over by the clods of earth. The instinct
of self-preservation was strong within them, and
they knew their lives were not worth a minute's
purchase once the elephant got on to his legs. Up
stream they scrambled as best they cculd, over the
boulders and loose stones, looking round nervously
for a place up which they could clamber out of the
nullah ; but none offered. They had barely got
fifty paces, when they heard a heavy fall of earth,
and knew that the elephant had brought down the
bank in which its tusks were embedded and was
again on its feet. It appeared dazed for the
moment, and then looked round in search of its
foes. The noise of their running soon attracted

12

i;8 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

it, and with a shrill scream of rage, it was after
them. What occurred next is best told in Theo-
bald's own words :

" My legs appeared to give way — I felt as if
I could not run another pace. The shikaree shot
ahead of me, and gained a point some twenty yards
in front, where a bush overhung the nullah. With a
leap he gained the branches, and was on the bank in
safety. Already I thought I felt the cold, clammy
clutch of the elephant's trunk round my neck. I was
choking ! I thought of the poor shikaree torn in
two at the kheddah} and knew that would be my
fate in another minute or two, unless I gained the
bush up which the shikaree had clambered. My legs
appeared to be made of lead ; I could not for the
life of me do more than a trot. ' lyo / lyo f
hodoo I hodoo cheekrum / ' (O ! O ! run ! run
fast !), shouted the shikaree from the bank. No !
my head began to swim. I could not go faster,
when suddenly down the bank leaped Boomay
Gowda, and, seizing me by the hand, hurried
me along. How we gained the bush, and how
we got up the bank, I know not. When I re-
covered recollection I was standing on the bank,
supported by the shikaree and Boomay Gowda,
while the elephant was below us, trumpetting and
screaming as it tore into shreds the bush up which
we had escaped, and on which it was now
venting its rage. That would have been my
fate, I thought, as I squeezed the hand of the
brave old man who had just risked his own life
for me. Finding it could not get at us, the ele-

THE FATE OF THE AHNAY PAYEE. 179

phant set off up stream. Were we to lose it
after all ? Our guns were in the nullah, some hun-
dred yards away. No ! here comes a Sholiga with
them. Bdomay Gowda had sent him off at once
for them, immediately we were in safety. ' Come,
sir ! come this way ! The nullah takes a bend
up stream, and we can get ahead of the elephant
easily/ said Boomay Gowda, and off we set at a
run. We got to the bank, and concealed ourselves
behind some bushes. Now we heard the elephant
coming along, stumbling over the stones, and
making as much noise as a whole herd of cattle
rushing down a steep. I could see the blood oozing
out of the wound in its head, and its face was one
mass of blood, with the flicking of its ears. I was
quite cool now. It is opposite me, not ten paces
off. Its ear is quite exposed. I fire ! It drops
like a shot. Not a move. Thank God ! it is
ours ! "

Old elephant hunters will recognise at once the
plan adopted by Boomay Gowda to bring the
elephant to the hunters. It is a device practised
by the wild tribes of the Garo Hills, as well
as the jungle races in the South of India, to
entice male elephants to their pit-falls. Certain
ingredients are mixed with water, and this
is dropped on the ground, here and there, in
the direction in which the male is to be enticed.

12*

i8o

HIS FIRST BISON.

' ' GOD forgive you, Ned, but I think you have
brought me on this tramp purposely, in order to
pay me out for the slating I gave you last field-
day, when you made such a mess of it. Great
Scott ! you did get your company mixed up.
Could not have done worse if you'd tried. Bison,
indeed ! and only three miles off ! Why, we have
been on the tramp since chota hazree (early break-
fast), and that's four hours ago. The trail is
warm ? Is it ? ; not as warm as I am, I can tell
you, and I don't budge a foot until I have had
a peg ; so, banghy-wallah, baito (rest) you here,
my man, and let us lighten your load. They are
just over that ridge, are they ? Well, it won't
harm them to wait a bit till this child has
quenched his thirst. I vote we lunch now, and
take them after. You see, if you once get into
the heat of the chase we don't know when we
may stop. No, no, let us start afresh, I say, as
I mean to have a bison this day, and no mistake.
Come along, man, sit down ; tiffin (lunch) — then
bisin — good that, eh ?

" Heigho ! After tiffin rest awhile. Sound advice
that, whoever was the author. He does not say

HIS FIRST BISON. 181

how long ; but that, I fancy, should be according
to the time of year and the latitude. Here, in
Chota Nagpore, and in April, it means till you
feel an inclination to move, and that feeling has
not come over me yet. Don't be impatient, old
chap. One would fancy you are to shoot the
bison, and not I. Remember, this is my first
bison, and I am all excitement. Catch your
hare ? Gad, the fellow is becoming sententious.
Just see me dance — no, see me on the war-path,
and you won't talk of catching. That bison is
as good as nobbled. I wonder if W— - will let
me put the head up at the head-quarters
armoury. Not a bad idea that, a kind of in-
centive to good shooting among the B. N. R.
(Bengal-Nagpur Railway) Volunteers, as each and
every man might do likewise. Don't laugh,
man ; they laugh best who laugh last ! Come,
I don't mind going you a fiver that the honour
and glory of this shoot falls to me.

" Nay, nay, if thou lovest me, Ned, let me rest
awhile, and I'll forgive you your next ' spoof '
at company drill. This weather is too killing,
so be off and kill that bison, for I don't budge
till sundown."

Kartik, the shikaree, had just returned with
khubber (news) that the herd was grazing in a
glade beyond the ridge, only a mile off. There
was no time to lose, so leaving our worthy
Adjutant under the shade of the sal tree, I
moved off double quick. A smart tramp up the
rise, and there was the herd, not six': hundred

182 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

yards off. With my glass I could make out four
cows, a couple of well-grown calves, all huddled
up together ; and in all his lordly majesty, a
little distance away from his family, a mag-
nificent bull, keeping watch and ward. This is
the usual habit with bison ; the master of the
herd grazes by himself some little distance away
from the rest.

There was a little rough ground to the windward,
and I saw that, if I gained that spot there would
be the chance of a shot at the big bull, so
going down on our stomachs we crawled along
as fast as we could, taking advantage of every
bit of cover. There is no part of the hunt—
not even when you have plugged your beast
and brought him down — that equals in excite-
ment the ten minutes or so that elapses between
the time when you sight your quarry and the
getting within range. Heat, fatigue, wounded
hands and knees, all are forgotten ! Every
moment you expect him to be off. You clutch
your gun convulsively as you reach each little
scrap of cover, and think " Shall I fire ? Is he
too far off— another yard or so ? )! This is the
experience of even those who have shot their score
and more. It appeared to take only five minutes
to crawl the five hundred yards and bring us
within range. I was pouring with perspiration,
and my eyes were so wet that I could barely
see the sights as I got on to my knees and
grasped my Paradox. An attempt to brush the
moisture from my_eyes attracted the attention

HIS FIRST BISON. 183

of one of the cows, and a short warning grunt
gave notice to the herd that something unusual
was approaching. Instantly every head was
turned in our direction. Kartik was much too
good a shikaree to move. He was flat on his
stomach. Any sudden movement on my part
would have sent the herd off helter-skelter. Inch
by inch I rose to my feet, the whole herd gazing
intently at this novel object. Inch by inch, and
my Paradox is raised to my shoulder. With an im-
patient stamp the bull comes a yard or two nearer
to view this strange intruder. Ah ! the excitement,
the intense pleasure of that moment, to know
that one clutch of the fingers, and that great brute
would be at my feet. Black as jet, with brown
to the knees, and a patch of brown on the
forehead, he looked superb as, pawing the
dust, he gazed in my direction with lowered head
ready for the attack. What chance had the
heaviest weapon against that massive frontal bone ?
No, I must not move. I must wait till a vulnerable
point offers. Will he never move ? At last he
raises his head, and sniffs the air, as if to scent
out the danger. Fatal movement ! He exposes his
chest, and a single bullet lays him low, while the
remainder of the herd scamper off helter-skelter.
I stood with gun at shoulder, ready for a second
shot, should he rise and charge, or attempt to
make off. The well-trained Kartik was still prone
on his stomach, as he knew that, if he moved and
attracted the bull's attention, and it had still life
enough left to charge, he would be the objective.

1 84 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

A convulsive kick or two, and all was still. Nine-
teen hands high of flesh and bone had succumbed
to an ounce and a half of lead. Five feet seven
and a half inches gave the circuit of his horns
from tip to tip. He was in his prime, not a bit
aged, and in splendid condition.

Kartik was sent off to collect the villagers to
bring in the spoil, while I tried the soothing in-
fluence of a cigar. Not the slightest fatigue did
I feel. The excitement and triumph had carried
that off, and I felt fit for another ten-mile tramp.
Skilful hands were soon engaged disembowelling
him, and even after this, it was as much as thirty
men could do to get him on to a sugger (village
cart) and take him on to the station, as I wished
personally to superintend the flaying.

" Well, Ned ! drawn a blank ? " said the
Adjutant. a Thought so. Knew you would spoil
matters with your hurry. Now, if you had
waited a bit till I was ready, we should have
had something to show for all our trouble.
Didn't think you would sling a bison at your
waist, like a brace of snipe ? No, old boy. 'Tis
your gills I look at. No triumph there. White,
man ! white ! Gory is the colour of success. Never
mind, Ned ; take a peg, old man, it will cheer
you up. But all said and done, old man, it is a
beastly shame your spoiling our day's sport with
your impatience. It is just the way with you
fellows who know nothing of game and their
ways."

Quietly imbibing my peg, I told him the tale

HIS FIRST BISON. 185

of the shoot, every detail being fresh in memory,
and success adding an eloquence to my tongue
which at other times could barely tell a story of
twenty lines coherently.

' Here, puckerow juldee ! Pack up ek-dum ! (take
hold quick, pack up at once). Gad, we must get
into the station sharp, and see that those fellows
don't maul our skin. Say, won't we have the
laugh of those fellows at C— - ? We did the
trick nicely, didn't we ? I feel as if I could do
another bull. But I am always in luck. Fellows
always like to go out with me ; I never draw a
blank. Nineteen hands ? By Jove, won't the
Colonel feel small ? He never shot one more than
sixteen ; and here, at my first attempt, we bag
a nineteen-hander. Do you know, I don't feel a
bit fatigued. I am as fit as possible."

Two months later, while dining at Nagpore,
I heard a full and detailed account of how our
Adjutant had bagged his first bison !

1 86

THE MONKEY-EATERS.

WHILE tramping along the banks of the northern
Karo river, just above the point where it precipi-
tates itself over a waterfall eighty feet high, into the
Koel river, in the south-east corner of Lohardugga,
in Chota Nagpore, strange shouts of " hill-hillo-
lowee / hill-hillo-lowee ! hill-hillo-lowee / ' (with a
long pause on the second word) were heard from
an elbow in the river a little way up stream. On
inquiry I was told that the shouts came from a
party of Behurs, or monkey-eaters, who were en-
gaged in hunting monkeys, and that if we concealed
ourselves and approached cautiously we should
be able to witness the hunt, but that the advance
must be made carefully, as the Behurs are a very
wild race who live only in the forests, on the trees,
or in holes in the rocks ; that they hold no inter-
course with any but their own people, and avoid
all villages, and that if they saw us they would most
likely make off. As the hunt was evidently being
made towards the river from its right bank, we
went over to the opposite side and concealed our-
selves in the forest just opposite the elbow or bend
in the river towards which the hunt seemed to

THE MONKEY-EATERS. 187

be directed. The river, not being more than
fifty yards wide at this point, we could dis-
tinctly see all that was taking place on the
other side. The loud " Whoop ! Whoop ! " of
the lungur monkey (a note that can be heard
miles off), with the occasional harsh, coughing
cry of the animal when alarmed, was now
heard in the point of land opposite. The
" hill-hillo-ing " approached nearer and nearer, and
now we could see the tree tops opposite shaken
by the monkeys as they leaped from branch to
branch. Presently about a dozen long-tailed, black-
faced monkeys appeared in the trees overlooking
the river. They would peer down into the water,
and then jabber among themselves as if hold-
ing a consultation. Several large fellows now
descended the trees and approached the stream,
in search of a place where to cross. The stream
was deep at this point, and much too wide to leap
over ; and as there is nothing this class of monkey
dreads so much as deep water, they made up their
minds there was no crossing there. This was soon
communicated to their fellows on the trees, and
now began a scene of rushing from branch to branch,
with shrill screams of fear as the hunters began
to draw near them. Several of the Behurs were up
in the trees armed with bows and arrows, more were
on the ground with slings from which they hurled
stones into the topmost boughs to drive forth
any of the monkeys that might have concealed
themselves there. The women and children, armed
with sticks and branches, kept on beating the

i88 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

bushes, and shouting " hill-hillo-lowee ! hill-hillo-
lowee!" As they approached, the monkeys, now
mad with fear, threw themselves tumultuously from
the trees, and scampered off along the sandy margin
of the stream, the hunters in hot pursuit. The
monkeys were kept to the stream by a line of
Behurs, who now appeared on the margin, and
thus chased, they rushed headlong into nets
previously stretched across the sandy shore from
the water to the bank, and for some distance along
the edge. Into this cul-de-sac they were driven,
and while entangled in the nets clubbed to death
by the Behurs. There was not the slightest attempt
on their part to show fight, although some of the
lungurs were of the largest size — quite four feet
without the tail — and had large powerful teeth.
That lungurs can fight I have occasion to re-
member, in the loss of two fine dogs and the
serious injury of another. But now a great fear
seemed to come over them, and, huddled up in
the nets, they tried to hide themselves under one
another as they were mercilessly brained by the
clubs of the Behurs.

We thought it time to show ourselves, as there
was less chance of the hunters running away now
that they had bagged their game. Perhaps it was
their numbers gave them courage — there were about
thirty in all, men, women, and children — and we
were but three. The women and children collected
the nets, while the men proceeded to flay the
monkeys, of which there were a dozen, or
more. The skinning Jwas most effectually done in

THE MONKEY-EATERS. 189

a very simple manner. A small hole was made in
the skin of one of the legs. Into this the thumb
was inserted, and the flesh separated from the skin
for a little distance. A reed was now inserted
into the hole, and strongly blown through, so
as to inflate the space made by the thumb. The
hole was now firmly pinched so as to allow none
of the air to escape, and the air squeezed forward
with the hands, so that a further portion of the
skin was separated from the flesh. This space
was now inflated, and the squeezing forward pro-
cess of the air again carried out, and continued
until in a little time the skin was swelled out
like a balloon and loosened entirely from the
carcase. A hole was now made under the
neck, and the whole body withdrawn, or rather
the skin was turned back on itself, and pulled
off like a sock. The hands were then cut off
at the wrist and, the tail being removed at the
stump, the skin is rubbed over with powdered
wild turmeric, to preserve it from insects. The
tails, with skins on, are carefully preserved, and
when dried make formidable clubs, quite four feet
long and immensely strong ; and these are used
by the Behurs for killing monkeys and other game.
The skins find a ready sale among the Gassis and
makers of tom-toms (drums), as monkey-skins
make better drum-heads than the skin of any
other animal.

We found that the Behurs spoke a dialect of
Mundaree, or Kol, language common to all the
aborigines of Chota Nagpore. A few cigars dis-

190 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

tributed amongst the men and a handful of
coppers among the women and children soon
placed them at their ease, and they were ready
to answer our questions. For some little time
we watched them cutting up the carcases. The
liver, heart, and other tit-bits were first re-
moved, and cut up into small pieces and
skewered on little sticks and put out in the sun
to dry. A certain portion of flesh was put aside
for present consumption, and the remainder cut
into narrow strips, and hung on a frame-work of
green branches under which a fire was kindled
and plentifully heaped with green sal leaves, the
smoke from which, they said, preserved the meat,
so that it would keep for months. It never went
bad. In reply to questions put by me, one of the
men replied : " Why should we live in houses when
we have the forest trees ? They shelter us from
sun and rain, and give us food ; what more do
we want ? In the rains we have roots of all kinds ;
in the dry weather we have wild fruit and the larvae
of the red ant, which is good to eat, as it makes
us strong. Then there are monkeys and wild
pigs, and sometimes a deer. No, we never want ;
the jungle people never starve ; the forest is a
beautiful mother. We never live in huts ; we
sleep under a tree in fine weather, or within the
shelter of a rock when it rains. We never go far
from the streams, as there is no forest where
there is no water. From Surguja to Bonai, from
Mohurbhunj to Palamow, we wander along the
river banks, and we are content. We go to the

THE MONKEY-EATERS. 191

hat (markets) only for tobacco and salt and to sell
our skins."

On being asked, one or two of the men readily
showed us how they hunted monkeys. If the
animals could be got into a broken portion
of forest, they could be readily captured, as
they could be driven from one side into the
open ground, where the nets were set. Monkeys
always ran away from their pursuers, and never
tried to break back. If the forest was con-
tinuous there was no use hunting them, as they
escaped from tree to tree. If the Behurs hunted
them from the ground they might escape in the
branches over their heads, but a certain number
of their men were always sent up into the trees,
which they climbed almost as expertly as the
monkeys themselves. The nets are about four
feet wide, and of various lengths, and not much
stronger than the ordinary fishing-nets. From the
intestines of the monkeys they also make a fine
gut, which they manufacture into nooses for snaring
pea-fowl, jungle-fowl, partridge, etc.

Their method of catching jungle-fowl is very
ingenious. Several tame cocks form part of their
stock-in-trade. The early morning is the time
chosen for the snaring. A tame cock is fastened
by a string attached to its leg to a peg driven
in the ground, in the part of the forest selected.
Round this is described a complete circle, ten
or twelve yards in diameter, the circumference
being represented by a thin cord about a foot
from the ground, and securely fastened to pegs

192 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

driven in at intervals. From this cord are hung
a number of nooses of monkey gut, so as to enclose
the decoy cock in the centre with a circle of snares.
The Behur now conceals himself in some brush-
wood near at hand. The tame cock begins to crow,
and very soon an answering challenge is heard
from some of the jungle cocks. The decoy continues
his note of defiance, and presently a jungle-cock is
seen in the branches overhead ready to do battle
with this intruder on his own peculiar domains.
Down he flies towards his opponent, who with
ruffled feathers is ready to meet him, and just
as they are about to begin battle, the man appears
on the scene. This at once frightens off the jungle-
cock, which, instead of taking to flight, bends its
head low and runs off, and, meeting with the
nooses, is almost certain to be caught by the
neck or legs. The man quickly bags it, re-
adjusts his snares, and goes back to his place of
concealment, and the challenge and crowing go on
again till all the cocks in the neighbourhood are
secured. Four or five birds, sometimes, are
secured in this way in the course of a morning.

193

AFTER A WOUNDED TIGER.

A TIGER having killed a cow at noon, within a
couple of hundred yards of my bungalow, the
occurrence was promptly reported to me. As I
was suffering from fever at the time, I did
not care to sit up at night over the kill, so
I told the village baghmaree (tiger-killer) to set
his poisoned arrows. A slight obstruction of
branches was made on two sides of the carcase
of the cow, the other two sides being left free,
so that the tiger might approach to feed. Two
bows, each provided with two poisoned arrows,
were set to command these paths. On going to
the spot next morning we found that the tiger had
been there during the night, and had stumbled over
the cord attached to the trigger of one of the bows,
and that two of the arrows had evidently lodged
in its body, as they were not to be found on
the spot. Apparently when struck the beast
must have sprung forward, and to one side,
right on to the other bow, as that had been
set off also, the arrows being found a little
distance away. The marks of the tiger's pugs
and a little hair and blood were strewed about
the trap. The natives declared it was sure to

13

194 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

be dead in the forest, and they set out in search
of it. They came to my bungalow after an hour's
time, and said they had found the tiger in a
water-course about six hundred yards off, and that
it was not dead, but had charged them. I advised
them to leave it alone, as a wounded tiger was a
very dangerous customer, and I added that they
would probably find it dead in the evening, by
which time the poisoned arrows would have taken
effect.

They came back at four in the afternoon, and
told me the tiger was still in the same place,
and that it appeared to be very weak, and they
asked me to come and shoot it. I did not like
to refuse this request as it would appear to the
men that I was afraid to go where they had
already been. I knew the extreme danger of
following up a wounded tiger, yet I could see the
natives did not appreciate its full extent, and any
further delay on my part would have been put
down to fear. In dealing with wild races it is
very necessary that you should show them that
you are at least as courageous as themselves ;
if not, they soon lose all respect for you. I
told them therefore that I did not care to risk
their lives, as they were only armed with battle-
axes, but if they promised to remain at my bunga-
low, I would go, with one of their number to show
me the way, and try to shoot the tiger. At first they
demurred to letting the sahib go alone where there
was danger, but finding I was firm, they squatted
down near my bungalow, while one man accom-

AFTER A WOUNDED TIGER. 195

panied me. The brute, I found, was last seen in
some thick brushwood in the forest, about six
hundred yards from my camp. I had with me a
double twelve-bore gun and four cartridges. We
cautiously approached within twenty yards of
the spot where the animal was said to be
lying, and sheltering myself behind a large tree,
I got my guide to throw stones from behind
me into the dense jungle in front. A dozen
stones or more had been thrown at the spot
where he was last seen and on each side of it, and
I was just about to step out from my place of
shelter, when I heard a voice behind me exclaim :
" Throw the stone further ; the tiger is beyond the
mohua tree." Turning round I saw the whole group
of villagers assembled some forty yards off watch-
ing me. On remonstrating with them for breaking
their word and following me, they remarked,
" There is no danger where the sahib is ; the
tiger might have found us alone at the bungalow,
and then what should we have done ? " As there
was thus no help for it, I allowed them to ac-
company me. They appeared to know no fear, and
several times tried to go on in advance of me, but
I would not permit them. We carefully searched
about, and saw a few drops of blood in places, but
no signs of the tiger. As it was now getting dusk
I persuaded the men to give up the search, and pro-
mised to go out with them the following morning.
That night I had a sharp attack of fever, and was
up all night. Towards midnight I heard the hideous
cry of the "Pheeall," an animal of the jackal kind,

13*

196 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

which is said to accompany tigers and leopards
in their nightly prowls, and to make its supper off
their leavings. This night it seemed to me that the
"PheeallV cry ended off with a plaintive yell, and
it kept up this cry for more than an hour, just round
the spot where the tiger was said to be lying. My
chuprassee said this was a sure sign that the tiger
was dead, as the " Pheeall" was bemoaning the loss
of its supper-finder.

Feeling sure the tiger was dead, I next morning
told my jemadar (headman) to accompany the
men in their search, and gave him my gun
with a couple of rounds of ball cartridge,
just to lend confidence to the party. The
searchers were barely gone half-an-hour when
I heard two reports in rapid succession. Fearing
some accident, I hastily placed four ball cartridges
in my pocket, and ran to the spot where we had
searched the previous evening. There I found
about a dozen men up in the trees, and my
jemadar and two villagers coolly searching in
the jungle. On inquiry, my jemadar told me
the tiger was still alive, and had apparently been
sleeping all night under some bushes a few paces
behind the tree that had sheltered me the previous
day ; so that while we had been looking for it in front,
it was all the time watching us from behind. The
wonder is that it did not rush out and attack us !
There was its form distinct enough, on the
ground, and a little dried blood from the arrow
wound. The natives said the tiger was weak from
the effect of the poison of the arrows. These arrows

AFTER A WOUNDED TIGER. 197

had been dipped in dakara (aconite) some months
previously, and the poison was not strong enough
to kill the tiger. My jemadar had seen the tiger from
some ten or twelve paces off, and had fired, but the
first shot missed. The tiger was then bolting, and
he fired a second time, and hit it (we found after-
wards that this shot struck it in the stomach near
the arrow wound). He pointed to fresh drops of
blood on the grass, and said he was following
these up to find the spot where the tiger had
taken shelter, and then he meant to come and
tell me. He held the empty gun in his hand, and
two other natives had battle-axes with them ; yet
here they were following up the trail of a wounded
tiger ! These people really seemed to know no
fear. Owing partly to the fever, I myself was a
little excited, and taking possession of the gun, and
carefully loading and full-cocking it, I directed
the men to get behind me while I took up the
search myself. The blood marks were faint and
the jungle very dense, so I had soon to allow the
men to approach and track for me. The whole
party was now at my heels assisting in the search.
We had gone about two hundred yards or so, the
underwood becoming denser every step, and the
men had spread out a little, when suddenly, just in
front of me, I heard " crunk ! crunk ! crunk ! " and
there, only ten paces ahead, and directly facing me,
was the tiger, with its mouth agape and emitting
the peculiar rasping sound of this animal when irri-
tated. I levelled my gun at its open mouth, and
was just about to fire when it sank down behind

1 98 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

the bushes out of sight. Keeping my piece still
levelled at the spot, I directed the men to retire ;
but there was no need for this, as all but two had
vanished at the first sound of the tiger's note. The
names of these two brave men ought to be recorded
in print, and I give them here — Lalloo the
Tantee, and Purdan the Boomij. These two
brave fellows stuck to me and one of them
whispered : " Don't fire, sahib, till you see its head,
for if you don't kill it with your shot it will
kill all three of us." There we stood for a good
five minutes peering about, but unable to catch
a glimpse of it, so well had it concealed itself,
although now and again it would emit a growl and
the peculiar gurgling sound tigers make. I now
directed Purdan to climb a tree close by and
endeavour to see the tiger. This he did, and told
me the tiger was still behind the bushes, watching
me and lashing its tail. Peer as I would, I could
not catch a glimpse of it, and knew it would be
foolhardy to advance any nearer. There was a
little open ground behind the tiger, and Purdan
advised that I should make a detour and get a
shot from behind, while he remained on the tree.
This I proceeded to do, accompanied by Lalloo.
The jemadar now put in an appearance, and I
directed him to get on to a tree also. We had barely
been gone five minutes when Purdan shouted that
the tiger was making in our direction. There it
was, true enough, some fifty yards off, slouching
along, and stopping now and again to look in my
direction. Directing Lalloo to get behind me I

AFTER A WOUNDED TIGER. 199

awaited its approach, hoping to get a fair shot at
twenty paces distant. When still thirty paces off
down it dropped again, and concealed itself. I
was once or twice tempted to fire at what I thought
was its head among the bushes, but wisely resisted
the inclination. My jemadar now called to me that
he could plainly see the tiger from his perch, and
asked me to come round to his side. When I got
there he said the tiger was still in the same place,
but I could not see it. I endeavoured to climb the
tree, but found my efforts unavailing. The jemadar
said that if I would hand him the gun he was sure
he could shoot the brute, as he could see its head
plainly. I directed him to fire only one shot, and
not on any account to fire the second unless the
tiger charged. Handing him my gun, I sheltered
myself behind the tree, my heart going pit-a-pat at
a furious rate. The jemadar now said the tiger had
turned and was approaching us ; should he fire ?
—"Yes, fire, but aim at his head."-— Bang !
11 Ough ! " roared the tiger, and all was still again.
I hastily took the gun and reloaded. We waited a
little, and the jemadar said the tiger was dead, as it
had turned on its back. After a little time we
approached, and found the tiger stone dead, the
jemadar's last shot having struck it fairly over the
right eye. WTe took it home in triumph, and there
carefully measured it. It was a tigress, eight feet
three inches from nose to tip of tail, and three feet
six inches high.

The poisoned arrow had made a nasty wound in
the stomach, the arrow-head being still within the

200 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

wound. It must have been the potency of the
poison which had induced the lethargic feeling
in the tiger and prevented its charging ; other-
wise that day might have had a very different
ending !

201

IN CROCODILE VALLEY.

THE finest shooting grounds I know of in India
—and I have been over the greater part of
the country — are in the Native State of Bonai,
in Chota Nagpore. Before the opening of the
Bengal-Nagpore Railway, few Europeans ever
visited this out-of-the-way district, and even
now not a dozen persons know of its exist-
ence outside the pages of the Gazetteer. Fifteen
hundred square miles of densely-wooded, well-
watered hill and dale, never trodden by civilised
man, and little troubled with cultivation of any
kind, is just the ideal home for wild beasts in India.
Within twenty-four hours by railway from Cal-
cutta, the wonder is that it has not been more shot
over. Here the lordly elephant, the shaggy bison,
the sullen buffalo, the stately sambhur, tigers and
their kind, deer of sorts, bears, immense crocodile,
wild hogs, pea-fowl, and a dozen other game birds
can be had galore. The Raja, a fine old sportsman
himself, is only too ready to give permission to
European gentlemen to shoot over his estate, and
will, on occasion, join in the sport and bring with
him a most unique armoury of offensive weapons.
He will at such times be attended by match-lock

202 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

men armed with bell-mouthed smooth-bores, having
a barrel seven feet long, and a straight stock with a
crutch-end to fit round the shoulder. It takes three
men to fire off such a piece. A forked stick is first
planted in the ground, and on this the barrel rests.
One man places the crutch-end against his shoulder
and aims, while a second plants himself immediately
behind, back to back, as a buttress against the
recoil. A third stands on one side and blows vigor-
ously at the match, and the first brings it down into
the pan by means of a rude kind of trigger. The
animal is supposed to stand still while all these
varied operations are going on ! Then there is a
fizz-fizz-fizz — bang ! And after the volumes of
smoke have cleared away, the two men behind the
barrel, who have been sent sprawling by the recoil,
pick themselves up, carefully search for the gun,
which will be lying somewhere about, and then set
out to see the effects of the shot. If by chance an
animal has been shot, great is the jubilation. The
aimer at once takes rank among the Raja's follow-
ing as a marksman. u If a janwar (wild animal) is
shot by one of my men it seldom survives," said
the Raja ; and I can well believe this, for two large
handfuls of locally manufactured powder and several
murderous-looking slugs form the usual charge of
one of these match-locks. Since the opening of the
railway the fine sal forests of the valley and the
supposed mineral wealth of the State have been the
means of increasing the Raja's armoury with speci-
mens of most kinds of modern small arms. Re-
volvers, rim and central fire ; smooth bores ; rifles .

IN CROCODILE VALLEY. 203

Colt's repeating rifles ; Paradox and other guns, with
and without ammunition, are among the offerings
of would-be concessionaires. But our Rajpoot Chief
dislikes modern fire-arms, and in this view he is
strongly supported by his following. " In modern
times everything is getting miserly/' says this
sturdy representative of the kingly class. " In my
time everything was large ; men were large, the
guns were large, the charges were large, and sport
was sport. Now a puttass (cracker) goes ' pitt ' ;
there is no noise, no smoke, even the man behind
holding the gun is not thrown down ; is it likely,
then, that the animal in front will be killed ? No,
no ; give me my father's guns, and I am satisfied."
Accordingly the well-meant presents of the gun-
makers' best work are stored away with time-
pieces and cuckoo clocks, tinsel robes of state,
mirrors, and other frippery, only to be brought out
on State occasions to parade before the Raja's few
European visitors. An attempt was once made
to utilise some of the ammunition, and on one
occasion several central-fire revolver cartridges
were rammed into a match-lock as slugs. When
discharged the barrel burst, and the man blowing
the match had his ear and the greater portion of his
scalp taken off, since when even these " modern
slugs " are viewed with suspicion.

Bonai is a veritable sportsman's paradise. Are
you fond of fishing ? The Brahmini river, which
flows through the State from north to south, teems
with fish of all kinds. Is it a tusker you want ?
With the Raja's permission you can shoot over the

204 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

elephant reserves of Jorda and Champa, and take
your choice of the herds. Buffalo and bison are
plentiful in the deep valleys, and deer everywhere.
Quite recently a railway man in a fortnight's time
bagged two bison, three buffalo, and several fine
sambhur in this neighbourhood ; while a young
gunner shot a tusker whose ivory sold for more
than the cost of the trip several times over.

Mountains over four thousand feet high make
up the bulk of the State, and through this barrier
the Brahmini has cut for itself a passage, making
deep valleys on either side. Some idea of the
depth of these valleys may be formed when it is
stated that Bonai town, on the banks of the river,
is only five hundred feet above sea-level, while only
nine miles off you are on the top of a range four
thousand six hundred feet above the sea ; so that
it is quite possible to swelter in the heat of the valleys
in March during the day, and get back at night to
the bracing climate of four thousand feet in the
clouds. In its passage through these hills a series
of rapids and long reaches of still water occur, and
with the hills coming right down to the banks and
rising abruptly thence, in places forest clad, in places
scarped faces of quartzite rocks, crag over crag in
regular steps, the scenery is singularly beautiful and
quite equal to that of the Rhine. Even the ruins
of ancient chateau and tower, which make the Rhine
valley so interesting, are here simulated by the
quartzite rocks, which are jointed vertically and
horizontally, so that they stand out as great towers
and buttressed walls, very like the battlements of

IN CROCODILE VALLEY. 205

some ancient fortress. A run down the river from
Champa, where it enters the mountains, to Durjung,
where the valley begins to broaden out, is well
worth doing in March and April, when the river
is low, and the waters of a deep-blue. During the
rains, or when the river is full, this cannot be done,
owing to the rapids being too dangerous. The
sturdy Jhora boatmen shoot the rapids fearlessly in
their dug-outs during the dry months.

One of the reaches of still water in this valley
is known locally as Mugger Gagra (crocodile pool).
This is a small lake about half-a-mile long, one
hundred and fifty yards wide, and many fathoms
deep. A low sand bar stretches along the left bank,
and it is this bank that is a favourite breeding place
for the gharial, or long-nosed crocodile.

At the time of my visit dozens of these great
saurians were basking in the sun on the sand bar on
the left bank. They allowed us to approach within
twenty yards without making any attempt to move.
Our guides said they were females watching over
their eggs, which were buried in the sand. We threw
several stones at them from the bank above, but
they merely snapped their jaws viciously and made
a loud hissing sound. They were of a fine slate-blue
colour on all the exposed parts, and a creamy white
below. The long snout, terminating in a saucer-
like enlargement, is the most curious part of this
strange animal. The jaw, at its thinnest part, is not
more than nine inches round, and the snout ter-
minates in a ball about six inches in diameter.
Two males shot during the day measured respec-

2o6 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

lively nineteen feet four inches and eighteen feet
six inches, the massive tail making up fully one-
third of the bulk.

When we had irritated the females (all small
animals under twelve feet) for some time, they
began to give off a strong musky odour. This,
our Kol guides told us, was to call the bull croco-
diles, and true enough, shortly afterwards we saw
several of these monsters in the middle of the
pool, with just the point of the snout and the
dorsal ridge appearing above the surface, but
from the height at which we stood we could see
their great length in the clear water. Presently the
water seemed quite alive with crocodiles, and two
monsters showed themselves on the opposite bank.
It was of no use shooting at the brutes in the
water, as so little of them was to be seen above the
surface ; so, sighting my Martini for one hundred
and fifty yards, I aimed carefully behind the
shoulder of one and fired. Ere the echoes from
the neighbouring hills had ceased, the sand bank
was quite clear of the great lizards, the unaccus-
tomed sound of the explosion sending them tumul-
tuously into the deep water. I could see that my
shot had taken effect on the opposite bank, as there
was a great splashing of water, and every minute
or two a great brute would come to the surface
and raise his jaws quite clear of the water and snap
them viciously together. This occurred several
times, and then he drew himself up on to a rock on
the opposite bank and there snapped and snapped
his teeth for fully five minutes, when he died.

IN CROCODILE VALLEY. 207

In the meantime a second large bull swam to the
sand bar just below us, and with his body half out
of the water kept watching us with his small fishy
eyes. I and my friend fired together, and both
our bullets took effect. He was into the water with
a splash, and we saw no more of him till next day,
when we found him lying dead on the sand bar.
The creatures had now become more wary, and
would not show themselves on land, although they
kept swimming about in the pool not fifty yards
off. We fired repeatedly at them in the water, but
failed to drive them off, and the boatmen declared
it would be dangerous to cross in the dug-out, as
the animals would be certain to attack us if we
entered the water. We had to walk back to camp
at Durjung, three miles away, and come next day
to recover our spoil. The brute first shot was a
monster bull with a body larger round than a
big buffalo's. He had one hundred and ninety-
six teeth (large and small) in his jaws. According
to the natives, these creatures have sixty-four teeth
when young, and get four fresh teeth every year.
If this assertion be true, then this brute must have
been thirty-three years old, and since they are
said to live often to a hundred years, what a row
of teeth such a hoary monster would have !

The cork-like substance on the top of the round
saucer nose was secured by the Kols as medicine.
The fat also was carefully saved, and boiled down
into oil, which finds a ready sale all over Bengal
among native women as a sovereign remedy for
sterility. It took a large amount of curing before

208 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

the skins were fit to hang up. For the curing we
used wheat, ground to a flour with all bran and
husk, boiled with skimrned milk and made into a
paste with other ingredients, in the following pro-
portions : wheatmeal, 2 Ibs. ; alum, i Ib. ; wood-
ashes, 2 Ibs. ; skimmed milk, 4 quarts ; water, 4
quarts. This paste was rubbed in night and
morning for a fortnight, when the skins became soft
and free from smell.

209

WILD ELEPHANTS BY TRAIN.

THERE is no wild animal that takes to captivity
so kindly as the lordly elephant. An elephant
farm is an unknown institution. It is even very
generally doubted whether these huge animals
breed in captivity ; but instances have been re-
corded where domesticated females have had
young, although the instances are so few that
there appears to be reason for the accepted
belief. As far back as recorded history, it can be
shown that the elephant was the servant of man.
Some of the earlier Egyptian inscriptions, going
back to B.C. 3,000 years, exhibit the elephant as a
beast of carriage, and, strangely enough, these
early drawings all depict the Asiatic variety,
although Africa produces the lordly pachyderm
in enormous numbers. That the African elephant
has been tamed we know, from the fact of his
having been used in the triumphal processions of
several of the Roman emperors and generals. Thus,
though thousands and hundreds of thousands of
these animals have done man service, yet their
ranks have always been recruited by capture
from the herds of wild elephants that roam the
forests of tropical Asia and Africa. Now, if the

210 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

difficulty of training these creatures were at all in
proportion to their size, a domesticated elephant
would be a rarity ; but the ease with which they
can be broken into service, and the very great
value of these services, account for their whole-
sale slavery from time immemorial. Eliminate
from a captured herd all elephants above forty
years of age, and in a fortnight's time the others
will be amenable to discipline, and in a month
may be set to work. I have given, in a previous
chapter, some account of the capture of a herd of
thirty-seven wild elephants in the presence of the
late Duke of Clarence, when he visited Mysore
in 1889. Within six weeks of their capture, most
of them were sufficiently broken in to permit of
their being brought into Bangalore and sent by
rail to Calicut on the Malabar coast, where these
animals are much in demand to work the timber
forests.

At the Bangalore Railway station a large crowd
had assembled to witness the transference into
trucks of these unwieldy monsters. It was ex-
pected that the half-trained brutes would give
some trouble before they could be got into the
wagons intended to convey them to Calicut.
About a dozen of them were tethered in a
mango tope near the station, and when I saw
them they did not show the least uneasiness at
the crowds of human beings gathered around
them. While watching a young tusker regaling
himself on a bundle of sugar-cane, I suddenly felt
something cold and clammy encircling my neck

WILD ELEPHANTS BY TRAIN. 211

from behind. I sprang forward in alarm, and
turning round was horrified to see, as I moment-
arily thought, the expanded hood of a huge cobra
elevated above a small enclosure near which I
had been standing. Fortunately, however, there
was no cobra ; and on closer inspection I saw a
number of baby elephants within the enclosure,
and one of these little creatures had put its trunk
over and was feeling me round the neck, when
I started forward in such alarm. There were five
of these babies, all under a year old, and standing
about the height of a donkey. All the mothers
had been shot, as too old for work, so that the
little ones, deprived of their natural nourishment,
were fed on boiled rice and milk poured down
their throats from hollow bamboo vessels. It
was amusing to see the little things curl up their
trunks and elevate their mouths, so that the pap
might be poured in without losing a drop. Quite
a bucketful is a square meal, and this they indulge
in twice a day. The preparations at the station
were now sufficiently advanced, and a great
muckna (tuskless male elephant) was the first
taken to the siding to be entrained. Specially
strengthened horse-trucks, with the tops and
partitions removed, had been got ready by the
Railway authorities for their transport. A strong
gangway led from the platform into the truck,
and the mahout (driver) was endeavouring to
get the muckna over this and into the wagon,
but without success. Nothing would induce him
to go further than the entrance of the gangway.

14*

212 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

No amount of coaxing, no amount of goading, could
get him to advance a single step. More than an
hour had been wasted in these vain endeavours, and
then someone suggested that a hawser should be
fitted round him, and that he should be dragged
bodily into the truck. The hawser was adjusted,
and fifty coolies started pulling. Step by step
he was dragged half-way across the gangway. A
shout of triumph went up from the spectators.
Alas for their hopes ! That very shout dashed
them to the ground. Apparently alarmed at the
noise, the elephant backed suddenly, and sent all
the coolies sprawling on their faces. A windlass
was next tried, but had to be given up, as the
brute, finding his strength of no avail against the
machine, turned himself sideways and jammed his
body against the entrance of the gangway, so
that he could not be pulled further without up-
setting both gangway and truck.

The whole morning had now been wasted, and
not a single animal had been got into the trucks
provided for them. Many of the spectators had
gone away disappointed. Mr. Sanderson, the famous
hathee (elephant) king, who was in charge of the
operations, was in despair, when a drunken
mahout came forward and offered to get the ele-
phants aboard if he were given a bottle of arrack
(country spirit) as a present. Although doubting
the man's ability to do what he undertook, the
arrack was readily promised, and the mahout set
to work at once. He directed two tame elephants
to be brought up, and placed one on each side of

WILD ELEPHANTS BY TRAIN. 213

the muckna. All three were then led up to the
entrance of the gangway, the muckna in the centre,
facing the entrance. A huge commissariat tusker
now took up a position behind him, and at a
word from its mahout, gave the muckna a prod
in the stern with its tusks, and pushed him
bodily forward. A scream of rage and fear burst
from the recalcitrant beast, and he endeavoured
to turn round, but found himself hemmed in by the
mountains of flesh on either side of him. Another
word from the mahout, and another prod from the
tusker sent him half-way across the gangway. A
third push, and he was safely landed within the
truck, the tusker keeping guard at the entrance
while the muckna was being hobbled and the door
of the truck made secure. A shout of approval
went up from the spectators, and many rupees
and half-rupees fell to the drunken mahout for
his clever, yet simple and effectual, method of
overcoming recalcitrant elephants. By adopting
the same means, in a very little time the whole
batch were safely within the train and on their
way to their destination.

214

THE DHOLE, OR WILD DOG.

NATURALISTS recognize but one species of wild-
dog (Cuon rutilans) in India, but there can
be no doubt there is a very great dissimilarity
between the varieties noticed in different parts of
the Peninsula. The dhole, or red dog, is found in
the uplands and hill-tracts. In size not much
larger than the common jackal, it is of an
orange-red colour shading off to yellow under the
stomach. It is of very slender build, and is shaped
like a hound. It hunts by the scent, and is very
courageous and tenacious of purpose. When once
on the scent, it will follow up its quarry with the
utmost determination, pursuing it for days until,
utterly wearied out, it falls an easy victim to
the pack.

A second variety of wild dog is found in the
large stretches of forest at the foot of the various
ranges of hills. It is more than double the size
of the dhole, and of a lighter orange colour,
flecked with grey along the back and tail. It is
of a different build from the dhole, being more
massive in the shoulder and loins. It is a
splendid water dog, and will swim the largest
rivers when in flood, and attack cattle in the

THE DHOLE. 215

water. This variety is very common in Assam,
the Terai, and the Central Provinces. There is
also a third, or intermediate, variety, from which
the village or pariah dog is said to be descended.

The dhole, or red dog, is the most dreaded by
the natives, and many are the stories they tell of
its ferocity and determination. They say it will
even attack the tiger and drive it off from its kill.
The dholes hunt in packs of from six to eight
(members of one family — parents and pups), but
several packs have been known to combine to run
down large game, such as a cow-bison with a very
young calf, or an aged buffalo. I was once witness
of an attack of the wild dog on a solitary wild
buffalo of the largest size, and from what I then
saw I can well believe many of the native stories
of the courage and determination of these creatures.

We were encamped in an open glade in the great
elephant forest of Jorda, about fifteen miles west
of the town of Bonai, in Chota Nagpore. It
was early morning, and the table for chota
hazri (early breakfast) was laid outside the
tent, when, while partaking of tea, we heard
an occasional " yap ! yap ! ' in the forest some
distance away. On inquiry the native trackers
told us that the sound proceeded from wild dogs
on the trail, and that they were following up game
of some kind, most probably a sambhur. The
noise approached nearer and nearer, until now
there was a great rustling in the forest and a magni-
ficent bull-buffalo trotted leisurely into the glade.
When he caught sight of the tents he stopped

216 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

suddenly, and began pawing the ground, and threw
up great tufts of grass and earth with side thrusts
of his wide-spreading horns. There was an imme-
diate scramble for guns, as we knew what that
meant, and we hoped to be able to turn him with
a well-directed shot before he wrecked our tents
and furniture. We had not been a minute getting
our guns, and had rushed out, momentarily
expecting the buffalo to charge, when a strange
sight presented itself. As if by magic, the bull
was surrounded by a pack of fourteen dholes.
They did not appear to be larger than half-grown
setter puppies, and looked even smaller by the
side of the great brute they had surrounded. How
they were going to attack this enormous creature,
or what chance they could have against its for-
midable horns and giant strength, we were curious
to know, and watched the scene with great interest.
The dogs took not the slightest notice of us, but
kept circling round and round the buffalo and
avoiding his charges with great skill. We soon
noticed that all their feints of attack were directed
to one side, so as to draw him into some low
brushwood to the south of the glade. Our shika-
rees said this manoeuvre to get their victim among
the brushwood was for the purpose of blinding
him ; the dogs would micturate on the bushes, and
then, when he charged with lowered head, their
acrid urine on the leaves would get into his
eyes and cause great irritation, so that he would
be partially blinded, and they could attack him
without fear. Sure enough, in a little time the

THE DHOLE. 217

buffalo was lured among the brushwood, and
then we actually saw the dogs urinating on
the bushes all around him. Charge after charge
the buffalo made, but he never seemed to get
up to his agile foes, who bounded out of reach
of the great swinging horns. The bull did not
make the slightest attempt to run, but would
charge here, and then there, at his ever retreating,
yet ever present, foes. The ground was scored up
in every direction by the furious lunges of the
great brute. Bushes were torn up by the roots,
and sent flying in the air ; yet not a casualty
had occurred among his wily foes. We soon saw
that there was some truth in what the shikarees
had told us of the strange method the wild dog
has of crippling its victim. I had often heard of
this habit in the dhole, but had never credited
it ; yet here was the buffalo rubbing his eyes
violently against his knees, springing into the air,
and tossing about in a fury of agony. There
could be no doubt that his eyes were affected,
as he now began to charge blindly, and stumbled
and fell repeatedly. We now approached nearer,
as there was no danger from the buffalo, who
seemed intent only on his canine foes, who had
redoubled their activity, and no longer feinted, but
made actual attacks on their huge opponent now
that they saw he was blinded. We noticed, too,
that all their assaults were delivered in the same
spot, viz., under the stomach of the buffalo, and
that the scrotum was entirely torn away, and the
poor brute bleeding to death. This is the favourite

218 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

method of attack with wild dogs when attacking
buffalo, bison, domestic oxen, and deer of all kinds.
Indeed, in no other way would they be able to
overcome these thick-skinned animals, as the tiny
jaw of the wild dog would not be able to inflict
fatal wounds in any other part.

Very soon the buffalo became exhausted from
loss of blood, and sat down on his haunches. The
dogs now became more audacious, and one actually
pinned the buffalo by the nose. In a moment,
with one stroke of its great hoof, the dog was
struck dead, and the buffalo sprang to its feet,
and kept stamping the body of the dhole to a pulp.
Now it went on its knees, and kneaded the mass
into the ground ; and although the other dogs
were tearing at its vitals, it took not the slightest
notice, but seemed bent on wreaking its vengeance
on the one which had fallen into its power. We
thought it now time to interfere. A shot in the
shoulder sent the bull forward a dozen paces in
a wild charge ; a second shot in the neck, and
he fell dead. The dogs took to flight at the first
shot, but seemed inclined to return when they
saw the bull drop. A couple of charges of SS.,
and two of their number bit the dust, and the
remainder scampered off.

It was singular that during all this fight, which
lasted more than half an hour, the dogs had
not given tongue in the least. Neither bark
nor growl had escaped them. The buffalo fre-
quently roared with rage. There is no other term
for the cry of an infuriated buffalo. It is

THE DHOLE. 219

certainly not a bellow, nor is it a grunt, but
is very like the roar of a tiger when charging.
We now had time to examine the buffalo. It was
a magnificent beast, in its prime. The spread
of the horns was enormous, quite twelve feet
from tip to tip, measured round the curve. The
dholes had torn the poor creature's genitals com-
pletely out ; both scrotum and testes were gone,
so that death would have occurred in a little time
if we had not shot it. I don't know whether any
other writer on shikar has noticed this peculiar
method of attack by wild dogs. I have seen it
stated that they generally make for the eye and
seize their prey there. Some say that they make
for the heels, and hamstring their quarry ; but I
have invariably noticed in deer, buffalo, and bison
that have been run down by wild dogs that the
genitals have been the place of attack. Only
three weeks ago, a young sambhur was run down
by a pair of wild dogs near my camp. The poor
brute ran in among the coolies, who drove off
the dogs and secured the sambhur, but it had
to be killed, as the genitals were almost torn out
and it would have died in a short time.

A friend of mine, a coffee planter in the Wynaad,
once had a pair of dhole puppies brought him by
the coolies. Although only just able to run about,
the foxy smell from them was so intolerable that
no amount of washing would remove it, and they
had to be sent away from the bungalow and
lodged in the hen-house. My friend succeeded
in rearing the slut, and from her he got a litter

220 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

of puppies from a cross with a half-bred Poligar.
When she was big with pup, she disappeared for
some time, and it was thought that a leopard had
carried her off. Some of the servants declared,
however, that they saw her about at night.
In a little time the fowls began to disappear
mysteriously. Nearly every morning a good fat
hen would be missing. The servants were set
on the watch, and Junglee, as the bitch was
called, was soon seen in the act of seizing a
hen and running off in the direction of a
large stack of timber. A careful search was
made, and a burrow ten feet in length, driven
clean under the timber, was discovered. The
timber was removed and the burrow dug out, and
six pups about three weeks old were discovered
among a heap of feathers. Junglee had to be
chained up, as she several times made attempts
to carry off and conceal her pups. I secured one
of the pups ; he turned out a large and powerful
dog, double the size of his mother, but with all her
keen powers of scent and alertness of movement,
and with the shoulders and weight of his Poligar
father. He was one of the best sporting dogs I
ever had, and was an invaluable companion in
the jungle. He always gave notice of game long
before it could be seen, by a peculiar low whine,
which could not be heard more than a few yards off,
and by the erection of the hair along his back. His
only failing was want of voice, as he would never
give tongue when following a scent, or even when
he brought the game to bay ; but this was soon

THE DHOLE. 221

remedied by giving him a pariah dog as a com-
panion. This was a most cowardly brute that
would not approach within twenty yards of any
animal brought to bay by Tiger (the half-breed
dhole), but he barked most vociferously, and thus
gave notice of the whereabouts of Tiger and game.
Tiger would attack anything under the sun, if
ordered to do so — a snake or an elephant, it was
all the same ; he knew no fear. He was only
wounded on one occasion, and then by a mongoose.
He, too, always directed his attacks on the same
place as did the dholes, and, like them, he was
without voice, beyond an occasional whine.

In a former chapter I gave an account of the re-
markable powers of swimming of the larger grey
variety of wild dog. On that occasion, the reader
will remember, a couple of these creatures breasted
the Koel river when in flood, and kept ahead of a
dug-out paddled by two powerful boatmen. What
was more astonishing still, they did this even down
stream, and kept up the pace for over a mile, diving
on several occasions to avoid my shots. The tails
of this variety are extremely long, with a large
tuft of strong hair at the end. This they use as
a kind of propeller when swimming. It also
enables them to turn readily in the water, and is
of material use when diving. I don't know
whether this kind of dhole hunt by scent or
merely course like the greyhound. That they
have means of communicating with each other,
and can concert a regular plan of attack, is
evident from the following incident.

222 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

We had just ascended some rising ground over-
looking a stretch of scrub jungle extending as far
as the left bank of the Koel, when our attention
was drawn to a pack of four wild dogs squatted
on their haunches, close together, and evidently
watching something in the scrub towards the river.
Their backs were towards us, so we had time to
conceal ourselves and watch their further move-
ments. Now and again one of the group would
leave its companions, make a short reconnoitre,
and return with information which it evidently
imparted to its fellows. In a little time two of
the dogs set off, one in a direction down stream,
and the other up ; the other two separated a few
hundred yards, but without advancing towards the
game they had evidently spotted. About ten
minutes after the dogs had gone up and down
stream, one of those that had remained behind
rushed forward into the scrub and roused a fine
stag sambhur (C. Aristotelis) that must have been
lying up in a dense cover of scrub. The stag at
once made off down stream, the dog pursuing
for a hundred yards or so and then returning to
the place whence it started. For a little time
the sambhur had disappeared from view, and we
were about to resume our journey, when we saw
him in the distance making back with a wild dog
in hot pursuit. Now the sambhur headed up
stream, the dog following a few hundred yards and
then lying close. We began to understand the
tactics of the dogs, but still did not take in all
the details, so waited to see the denouement. The

THE DHOLE. 223

stag must have made up stream until he was
turned by the dog we saw go off in that direction,
as we now saw him returning with the dog close
at his heels. The chase was not long continued,
as this dog also stopped short and concealed itself,
while the now thoroughly alarmed deer continued
its headlong flight till within a hundred yards
of the spot where the dog down stream had con-
cealed itself , when it sprang into view and caused the
stag to swerve away to the left, until again turned
by one of the dogs concealed in that direction. The
now thoroughly bewildered brute began running
round and round in a gradually narrowing compass,
as at each point he was met and turned by one
of his adversaries, who advanced a little way and
then stopped. The stag made repeated and in-
effectual attempts to break away up and down
stream and to the left, but on every occasion it
was headed by the dogs concealed in those direc-
tions and driven back. We thought it was the
plan of the dogs to thoroughly tire the sambhur
out, and then fall upon him ; yet, this could
scarcely be their object, as the direction of the
river was left quite open, and to this point the
hunt was evidently making. Closer and closer
drew the cordon of ever-watchful dogs, husbanding
their strength for the finale, which now could not
be far off, as the river was in view and the gradually
lessening space allowed the affrighted deer was
now not more than an acre or two. We hurried
up to be in at the death, when we saw the stag
make a bound and disappear into the river, all

224 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

four dogs in close pursuit. When we got to the
banks we saw the sambhur in deep water with a
dog hanging on to each ear, and two hanging on to
his tail. We soon made out that the object of the
dogs was to keep the brute in deep water, for they
pulled with all their strength whenever he attempted
to swim in the direction of a sand-bank in the
river, as they probably knew that if he got into
shallow water he would be more than a match for
them, since he would be able to use his feet and
antlers when the water would still be too deep
for them to escape his attack. Now and again one
of the dogs at his tail would dive down and attack
his groin, when the sambhur would throw up his
haunches to avoid his antagonist ; the dogs at
the ears would seize this moment to drag his head
under water and keep it there till he was nearly
suffocated. The dogs were in much better wind,
as they had done little or no chasing, while the
stag was nearly done with the long coursing he
had undergone from point to point. After three
or four unsuccessful attempts to drown the poor
brute, his efforts to shake off his foes becoming
weaker and weaker, he was at length overcome
and kept under so long that when the dogs re-
appeared at the surface and actually towed him
by the ears till near the sand-bank, he made no
movement and we knew he was dead. They now
took him by the tail and drew the body partly
out of the water and began feasting on his groin,
which we saw was dreadfully lacerated by their
attacks when in the water. My men were now

THE DHOLE. 225

for interfering, but I would not permit them, as
I thought the dogs deserved their meal for their
very clever scheme for capturing a brute so much
larger and stronger than themselves. It was not
until the dogs had had a surfeit that I allowed
such of my servants as chose to take any of the
flesh.

226

A TIGER IN THE NETS.

PERHAPS one of the strangest methods of hunting
tigers is by capturing them in nets, and when
so entangled, spearing them to death. That this
method of capture dates from very early times
we have evidence in the fable of the Lion and
the Mouse, which is undoubtedly of Indian origin,
being founded on the beast fables of the Pancha
Tantra, one of the oldest Sanskrit books.

It is hard to conceive so large and ferocious
an animal as a tiger, with his strong teeth and
sharp claws, imprisoned in so frail a contrivance
as a mesh of fine cords. One would think that
with a single bound he would break and be through
them ; or that with his sharp teeth he would
quickly sever the thin cords to shreds. But it
is just this inability to bound, with the entangling
skeins of the net clogging all his limbs, and the
uselessness of biting through a single mesh when
the very effort brings fifty other meshes round
his ears, that makes him fall an easy victim to
the treacherous net, and keeps him a fast prisoner
till the arrival of his human foes, who make short
work of him with their spears, since he is unable
to offer the least show of fight, so hampered is he

A TIGER IN THE NETS. 227

with the folds of the light yet strong fabric of
the nets. This method of destroying the dread
monster may sound unsportsmanlike to English
ears ; but the Indian does not hunt for sport.
With him the destruction of animals that prey
on his flocks and herds is a stern necessity, and
any means of getting rid of such creatures is
justifiable.

I know of only one part of India where tigers
are still captured in nets. In the Wynaad, a part
of the Malabar district on the west coast of South
India, the natives employ this method of entrapping
and killing tigers, which are very numerous and
destructive on the forest-clad hills and valleys
that make up the bulk of this region. In the
uplands abutting on the coastal reaches are long,
low, marshy valleys, where much rice is grown by
a race of people called Chetties. These are the
landlords of the soil, and each Chetty owns a number
of Punniar slaves (a dark squat race of the negroid
type), who do most of the hard work and who are
bought and sold with the land, as a kind of fixture,
the number of such slaves materially increasing
the value of the paddy flat. The Chetties are, in
fact, a fine race of men, tall and fair, with clean-
cut features of the Aryan type. They are extremely
hospitable, open, and free in their manners, dearly
loving a lotah of palm-wine (toddy), which they
tap from the talipot palms that are usually found
near their dwellings, and not unwilling to share
it with the planter Sahibs whose coffee estates dot
the hill-sides for miles round-

15*

228 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

I was camped near a paddy flat some seven
miles from Gudaloor on the Sultan's Battery
Road in South East Wynaad, when, early
one morning in March, a fine old Chetty called
at my tent and wished to know whether the dor ay
(gentleman) would like to see a tiger which was
caught in the nets the previous night. Of course
the doray was only too willing to witness so
novel a sight, so off we set, I taking the pre-
caution to carry with me a gun in case of
emergency.

The nets are about twelve feet wide and thirty
yards long, with four-inch meshes. They are made
of quarter-inch cord of green cocoanut fibre,
which is immensely strong. A stronger cord passes
through the top and bottom of the length of the
net. There are two methods of using these nets.
When a tiger has killed a cow or bullock, his lair
for the time, which is generally near to his kill,
is marked down and is surrounded by beaters
from all the neighbouring villages. One path alone
is left open, and across this the nets are stretched.
The lower rope of the net, which runs along the
ground, is fastened to pegs on either side of the
path. The top rope is loosely supported on bamboo
uprights, at intervals of a few yards, which spread
out the net and make a fragile and scarcely per-
ceptible barrier across the unguarded space. The
uprights are so lightly fitted that the slightest
pressure on the net knocks them away and the
whole net comes to the ground, covering the creature
that attempts to force its way through. When

A TIGER IN THE NETS. 229

all is ready a frightful din begins ; all the beaters
shouting and screaming at the top of their voices
and clashing every noise-making utensil they can
get hold of. The tiger roused from his sleep after
a full meal, hears the noise approaching him from
all sides but one. He makes in that direction,
and scarcely notices the thin netting barring his
way. He presses against the meshes and down the
uprights go, the net falling on him and enclosing
him in its folds. On feeling the net over him
he makes a few frantic bounds, which only serve
to pull out the pegs to which the lower rope is
fastened, and bring the ends together so as to
completely envelop him. If left to himself he
might probably be able to bite through the meshes
in time and free himself, but the spearsmen, who
have been concealed in the branches of the neigh-
bouring trees, are quickly on the spot and dis-
patch him with thrusts of their long-handled
spears.

Kills are not of every-day occurrence, and are
rather expensive items to the unfortunate owner
of the beast, so that this kind of beat into the
nets is uncommon. The more usual practice is to
set the nets across some known track of the tiger,
either to the spot where he drinks water or where
he prowls round the cattle pen. In this case the
nets are placed three deep with intervals of a yard.
His struggles when he brings the first net down
on himself, bring him within the toils of the second,
and perhaps of the third, so that he is a fast prisoner
till the men arrive next morning and dispatch him.

230 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

This was the position of the tiger on the morning
the Chetty came for me. When we arrived at the
village, every soul was afoot, and our appearance
was the signal for a vigorous beating of tomtoms,
to which the spearsmen of the village did a kind
of war-dance, circling round and round the pole,
in the centre of the threshing-floor, to which the
cattle are attached when treading out the corn.
The spears were most murderous-looking weapons,
with blades a foot long and bamboo handles
twelve feet in length. The Punniars were not
allowed to use the spear ; only Chetties were so
armed. The spear handles were marked with
stripes of turmeric, in honour of the occasion.
We now moved off to the scene of the capture,
which was near to the cattle pens. The drummers,
who were Punniars, beat vigorously on a long,
barrel-shaped drum, each head of which was
strung to give a different note, and as this
pitch could be varied by pressure of the hands
on the drum-head, a sort of rhythmic measure
was kept up, to which the spearsmen danced
in their onward march. The women were not
allowed to follow the procession. On arrival at
the scene, the spectators formed a wide circle
around what appeared to me a mass of cordage
inextricably entangled. The spearsmen lined the
inner front of the circle and kept back the crowd,
who were armed with axes, reaping-hooks, stout
sticks, rice-beaters, etc. I was told I could enter
the circle and examine the tiger, as there was no
danger. On our approach there was a subdued

A TIGER IN THE NETS. 231

growl, with a convulsive movement of the cordage,
as the only signs that the tiger was within the
network of ropes. Probably the brute had quite
exhausted himself in his previous efforts to shake
off the nets. Successive prods with the blunt end
of the spear failed to elicit more than a savage
growl. I suggested that they should throw a pail
of water over the brute, as the cold douche might
rouse him, but to this the Chetties objected. " It
was not the custom/' they said, and they are
great sticklers for custom.

We were now told to stand back, as the Slaying
Ceremonies were about to begin. The drums re-
newed their thumping, when the chief Chetty
stepped into the ring with spear in hand and began
a kind of step dance. With legs outspread he
made a complete circuit of the enclosure, measuring
off the distance as one would with a drawing
compass. Now commenced a series of hops on
one foot and feints and lunges with the spear.
Soon he was joined by a second and a third, and so
on to a sixth spearsman, all of whom did exactly
like their leader. Now they divided into two parties
on opposite sides of the circle and cut the same
antics. Rushes were made with levelled spears
at the inert body in the centre, but these were
only feints to rouse the tiger. Then all was silent
and the leader of the Chetties began apostrophizing
the tiger, and wished to know if that was the
na-andamaganay (son of a dog) that frightened
the old women and ran off with their cattle.
" Yes ! yes ! " shouted the multitude, " that is

232 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

he ! ' "Is that the thief who would not show
his face to the daylight, so that the sons of
Ram might know him ? " " Yes ! yes ! " shouted
the mob again. " Is this the lord of the
forest, the mighty one at whom even the
elephant trembles ? " " No ! no ! this is a dog
and a son of a dog ! " This abuse is kept up
for some time, and then the leader says : " Ye
mighty ones of Pursuram, show what you do
with stealers of cattle, frighteners of old women,
and prowlers of the night." There is silence for
a moment. The six spearsmen range themselves,
three on each side, with spears levelled at the object
in the centre. Suddenly there is a loud thump of
the drums, and a shout from the multitude, as
the six spearsmen rush forward and thrust their
spears simultaneously into the body of the tiger.
With a mighty effort the tiger brings his legs together
and springs clean into the air, nets and all ; the
upward bound sends the spearsmen sprawling, two
of the spear handles snapping short off, while the
others still stick in the body of the tiger like the
quills of a porcupine. Now the mob rush forward
and begin belabouring the body, till all signs of life
are extinct. The spears are withdrawn, and boys
over a certain age are marked across the chest
with the blood of the tiger, as a sign of manhood.
Then the nets are unloosened, and the body is
carried in triumph to the village.

233

MY SHIKAREE FRIENDS.

IV.— FAZUL THE MAHOUT.

'' How long have I been a mahout ? As long as I
know of — from a child I have been with elephants.
My father, who is an old man, is still a mahout, and
his father was before him. We are a family of
mahouts for many generations back. My grand-
father was mahout to one of the nobles of the
Emperor of Delhi, and was present with his ele-
phant at the battle of Punputh (Paniput). We are
Rohillas by race, but have settled down in Behar
these two generations. I am now in the service of
th^ Sircar, but formerly I worked for the Raja of
Durbhunga under whom my father is still employed.
" Elephants are like women — they cannot be
trusted. When they appear most attached to you,
then they meditate mischief. My uncle Oomer was
killed by his elephant at Dacca. The fuss he made
with that elephant ! Twice a day he rubbed it
down with a brick and painted its ears with ver-
milion and white. He spent half his wages on oil
and gur and metay (sweet-stuff) for the wretch ;
yet in an evil hour it killed him. Why or wherefore,
no one knows. Certainly it was sorry afterwards,

234 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

and wept — yes, wept, Sahib ; we saw the tears in
its eyes ; elephants cry. Ask any mahout ; he will
tell you. It is true words I am telling you. When
my aunt saw her husband's dead body, she took
up her infant son and threw it before the elephant
and cried, ' Oh, wretch ! you have taken the life
of my life, now take that of my son also. You have
eaten of our best and have had more attention than
even I had from him whose life you have taken.
Here is his son ; kill him, I say, kill him ! ' That
elephant was ashamed and cried and fondled the
little one, and none dared take him from the brute
but my aunt. Then it was told to Sanderson Sahib
and he made the baby mahout in my uncle's place,
and my aunt had charge of the elephant till the boy
grew. Whenever my aunt went to the bazaar or
was engaged cooking or about her household duties,
she would make over her baby to the elephant to
look after, and it was strange to watch how that
great animal would fondle it with its trunk and whisk
the flies off it and pull it out of the sun ; and when
he began to crawl it was fun to see the elephant
take him by his leg and prevent him crawling away.
None dared take the baby from the elephant but
my aunt, and if the little one was not brought to it
in the morning it would become restless and excited
and would try to break its chain, and could only be
appeased by the little fellow's presence. When
my cousin grew old enough to run about and talk,
the way he bullied that elephant was astonishing.
He would get under its belly and prick it with
thorns, he would pinch its trunk, he would remove

FAZUL THE MAHOUT. 235

sugar-cane from its mouth, but the great creature
would only grunt its satisfaction. Sanderson Sahib
would sit for hours and watch that elephant and
boy at play ; and he took their pictures. How is it
my aunt took charge of the elephant after it killed
her husband ? That was his nusseeb (fate) ; who
can help his fate ? The elephant fed her child and
herself after my uncle's death, therefore why should
she not look after him ? Yet still, for all, elephants
are not to be trusted. I have lived my life with
them, and I ought to know.

'' No, Sahib, elephants are not clever ; it is only
with the ankwas (goad) that we can make them
understand. The elephant is as the mahout is. If
the latter is sharp, the elephant will do almost
anything. Even a well-trained elephant grows dull
under a stupid mahout. Sanderson Sahib used to
say, ' Give me a good mahout and indifferent ele-
phant rather than a clever elephant and stupid
mahout.''

" Yes, I have been to Assam and Burmah ; I
have been in the Terai and in Mysore and Ceylon.
I went to Mysore with Sanderson Sahib when the
Padishaw (Duke of Clarence) came to India. We
went to show them how to catch elephants. I was
chief nooser, and the Lord Sahib spoke to me
through the one-handed Sahib (Sir Charles Brad-
ford). See, here is the certificate the one-armed
Sahib gave me. We caught fifty elephants in the
kheddah at Mysore when the Padishaw came. We
took twelve koonkies (decoy elephants) with us
from Dacca. Without koonkies elephants could

236 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

not be secured when driven into the kheddah.
There is no danger when on the koonkies' neck ; the
only danger is when we are hobbling the wild
elephant's feet. If we are not quick with the noose,
the brute will swing out its hind foot, and should
it hit you, death or broken bones are certain to
result.

" Where are the largest herds ? Herds always
number about the same, twenty to thirty, seldom
more. The members of a herd are all of one family.
There may be several herds in one district, but they
never mingle ; they always keep apart. If from any
cause an elephant should become separated from
its herd and try to join another, it won't be allowed
to ; the members will turn it out — hence the solitary
elephants one sometimes sees. In the Garo Hills,
in Assam, there are the most herds. In one season
we caught four hundred and thirty elephants there.
In Burmah also there are many herds. Sometimes
two or three herds may be driven into a kheddah at
one time, but these will always keep apart.

" Do wild elephants dance ? Wagh ! Weigh !
What talk is this ? Are elephants nautch-girls, that
they should dance ? Who has been lying to the
Sahib ? The Assamese and Kachees are liars and
sons of liars if they say so. Yes, there are ele-
phant-circles or cleared spaces in the heart of the
forest, where no man has been, but these are the
elephant meeting-places when they meet to go to
a far country. When the bamboo leaves become
black with leaf disease the elephants all leave that
country and go away for a year or two, and then

FAZUL THE MAHOUT. 237

come back. They do not go in single herds, but
hundreds assemble at these meeting-places and talk
and talk and then decide where they will go and
how they will go. Yes, I have seen these meeting-
places when out with Sanderson Sahib, but I have
never witnessed a meeting. The Sahib must know
that elephants are the most restless creatures in
the world ; you can never get an elephant to stop
perfectly quiet for five minutes. It will shift from
leg to leg, fling its trunk about, flap its ears or shake
its head. If not chained it will walk about, and
never stand still in one place. When the elephants
meet to take counsel when they shall leave the
country, they cannot keep quiet but walk about in a
circle — hence the open spaces in the forests. Moving
about from foot to foot may look like dancing to
the wild men. Yes, that is how they must say that
elephants dance. The Sahib is wise. Only old
elephants go to the meeting-places — the leaders of
the herd, male or female. Why should not a female
lead a herd ? Have you not got a Ranee ? I have
seen herds led by a female, and such herds are always
more difficult to capture, as we cannot send koonkies
to decoy them. The koonkies are female elephants,
and we always use them to decoy the tusker that
leads the herd, and then the herd will follow him.

" Have I seen an elephant-fight ? Yes, often.
During the kheddah-works in Assam we had to
watch the herd of wild elephants night and day for
months, and gradually drive them towards the
valley in which the kheddah was made, and thus one
sees much of elephant life and learns their ways

238 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

when in the wild state. In the uthee-khana (ele-
phant stables) the elephants are under control and
are mostly grown animals, so one learns little of
their natural habits. Three or four seasons in the
jungle at kheddah-work and you learn a deal. When
a young bull becomes must for the first time it
always fights, generally with some other young
tusker. It is only when the leader becomes very
old or enfeebled from disease that he has to fight to
maintain his place as leader. Then it is a fight to
the death, or the challenger has to leave the herd
and becomes the dangerous brute known as a
solitary bull. When one young tusker wishes to
fight another he challenges him by kicking dust in
his face with his forelegs. When the challenge is
accepted the remainder of the herd clear off some
distance, and go on feeding without taking the
slightest notice. The fighters face each other about
twenty paces apart. They grunt and trumpet out
defiance. Then they back a few paces like fight-
ing rams, and rush at each other with heads
lowered and trunks coiled between the forelegs.
The shock is great, and should either be thrown
the other immediately proceeds to kick the prostrate
one until he gets up and runs away. They seldom
stand a second charge, unless it be a fight between
the leader and some aspirant for his post. Then
tusks are used and great wounds are inflicted, and
the battle lasts hours. The greatest fight I have
seen was between two tame ones. Sanderson Sahib
has put it in his book, so you may have seen it. I
was mahout to Motee Goocha, the great fighting

FAZUL THE MAHOUT. 239

tusker at Dacca. We were up at kheddah-work in
the north when Luxa, a large tusker we had caught
the previous season, went must and killed Pichee,
his Mug mahout. Pichee was a bay coop (fool). He
drank muddut (smoked opium). When Luxa was
must, instead of giving it the opium served out by
the jemadar for must-elephants, Pichee stole it and
made muddut. In his drunken fits he beat Luxa
with a bamboo when taking it to water. Luxa
stamped on him and killed him, and ran off into
the jungles. We give our elephants twelve seers of
paddy every day. In the jungles Luxa got no
paddy, so it went to the villages at night and smelled
out the place where the villagers keep the paddy in
baskets in a corner of their huts. It would quietly
pull off the thatch, put its trunk down into the
basket and suck up its trunk full of paddy and blow
the paddy into its mouth. After emptying the
basket, it would go to another hut and do the same.
One night while stealing paddy, the man of the
house got up, and thinking there was a thief there
he stabbed the elephant in its trunk with his spear.
The elephant ran off with a scream and was not
seen again for a week. The next time it came it
pulled down the house and killed a couple of vil-
lagers, and when they all ran away it quietly took
possession of the village and remained there till all
the rice was eaten ; then it would go off and attack
another village.

" In this way it had killed many persons and looted
several villages, when Sanderson Sahib determined
to recapture it. Motee Goocha and two of the best

240 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

koonkies were selected. The jemadar, All, and my-
self were the mahouts, and I drove Motee Goocha,
with Sanderson Sahib on the pad behind me. A
strong cable noose (lassoo) was on the neck before
me, and made fast at the other end to Motee
Goocha's girth. We were to go five miles, to a
village which Luxa had looted that night. When
we got near the village some of the villagers who
were hiding in the forest told us that Luxa was
still at the village eating paddy. Sanderson Sahib
told the jemadar to keep the koonkies some distance
behind, and while we were fighting Luxa they were
to get behind and try and surround it, so that it
could not run away. We went along quietly, I
encouraging Motee Goocha the while, but he wanted
no encouraging ; he was only too ready for the fight.
I could tell that by the feel of his jaws on my toes.
With knees and feet, we mahouts can tell all the
feelings of an elephant when we are seated behind
its ears. Motee Goocha's were now worked con-
vulsively, so I knew he scented a fight. The rogue
watched us approach, but did not take any notice,
as elephants see badly, and it did not perceive San-
derson Sahib or myself, but probably mistook Motee
Goocha for a wild one. When we got within fifty
yards it scented us and began trumpeting and
screaming and kicking the dust towards us. It
advanced a few paces as if to frighten us ; and
finding we still approached, it threw forward
its ears, backed a few paces and then came on with
a rush. ' Asthe, Bayta / Asthe / (easy, my son !
easy). Don't waste your breath on that son of

FAZUL THE MAHOUT. 241

a dog,' said I to Motee Goocha who was but
too eager for the fray. When within ten paces
Sanderson Sahib told me to shout to Luxa to stop
and sit down, as runaway elephants frequently
remember the words of command they have been
accustomed to, and involuntarily obey. The sound
of my voice seemed only to infuriate the rogue, for
it only screamed the fiercer and continued to come
on with head lowered and trunk coiled away. In
these face-to-face charges elephants don't use their
tusks until after the first shock is received on the
thick frontal bone of the skull, otherwise the tusks
would be broken clean off in the terrific force of two
such enormous weights coming together with such
speed. Forehead to forehead like two rams came
they together, and both were thrown back on their
haunches by the dreadful shock. Recovering them-
selves they both backed several paces and looked
at each other a moment, and then to it again, but
this time not so fast as the first charge. Trunks
were now entwined and each tried to lift the other's
head, so as to get at the chest and deliver a fatal
thrust with the tusks. Now they reared on their
hind legs like two horses, and continued the struggle
with their trunks. Sanderson Sahib was thrown
off the pad at this time by the unexpected move-
ment of Motee Goocha rising on his hind legs.
Luxa was the taller beast, and when on his hinds
Motee Goocha' s head was below that of the run-
away, and he was able to get his opponent's neck
between his tusks and with a dexterous twist he
threw it on its side. In a moment my noose was

16

242 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

over the fore-foot and I felt sure of the brute.
Urging Motee Goocha close up, he kept Luxa down
with his tusks while Sanderson Sahib shackled the
hind legs of the rogue. The koonkies now came up,
and Luxa thoroughly cowed was allowed to rise.
With great difficulty a hawser was fastened round
its neck and lashed to the koonkies, one on each
side, so that it could not run away without dragging
the koonkies with it. A prod or two from Motee
Goocha' s tusk applied behind soon set it in motion,
and thus we rode home in triumph. Luxa turned
out a first-rate elephant after that, and did a lot of
good work. Whenever it showed temper, the very
sight of Motee Goocha reduced it to order. That
was the grandest elephant fight I ever saw."

243

A BIG SNAKE.

SOME years ago we were at Sumpta, a part of the
Sarunda State Forest, Chota Nagpore, seeing to
the marking of sal trees to be cut down for
sleepers which the Forest Department had under-
taken to supply to the Oudh and Rohilkund Rail-
way. The heat was intense, something like 114°
in the shade, so that even the physical training
of a Cooper's Hill course, where physical fitness
is a sine qua non, had to admit itself beaten and
prefer a siesta in the shade to a ten-mile tramp
over hill and dale even after the largest of solitary
bison. Our coolies had come in with reports
of a solitary bull here, a cow and a calf there, or
a herd somewhere else, all within easy march ; but
bison-shooting meant a day or two away from
duty, and our Chief C— - was a devil for work,
and thought more of a sleeper or two brought to
the railway station than bagging the biggest
tusker in Singbhoom, or the record horns of a bull
bison.

We were talking of school-days and of football
matches, and arguing whether M. or S. was not
the best half-back of his year and entitled to a
place in any county fifteen, when my servant

1 6*

244 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

Karim interrupted our reminiscences of Cooper's
Hill with " Sahib ! coolie loka boltha burr a samp
hai pad may najeek (coolies say there is a large
snake in the hill near)/' With all the ardour of
schoolboys we sprang to our feet, forgetting the
sweltering sun and our half-told tales of school-
life, and set off at a run to scotch the snake. The
old Hebrew writer was correct, I think, so far as
Eve's descendants were concerned : "I will put
enmity between thy seed and her seed." The
horror and detestation of a snake is pretty general
among human beings ; at least I can answer for
myself. Taking my shot-gun with me, we hurried
off with our informants, who stated that they had
just seen a monster snake, as large and as thick as
a sal tree, take refuge in a cave among some rocks

on a neighbouring height. S g declared it must

be an Ophiophagm elaps, or King-Cobra, of which
a specimen had been seen in these parts. He
declared he was acquainted with the forest of
Singbhoom and there were no boas in the district.
I was new to the country so could not offer an
opinion either way, and was only half-inclined
to go for our friend the King-Cobra after the
dreadful accounts I had heard of the ferocity and
deadliness of that monster snake. The natives
however said it was not a nag (cobra), and after
seeing the cave — a mere hole about a foot or more
wide — I was more inclined to think it an iguana,
common in these parts. But peering in at the en-
trance, we could make out the great coils of an
enormous snake round a projecting rock in the

A BIG SNAKE. 245

further part of the chamber, under the overhanging
rocks. The coolies were posted with lathies and
axes along the passage the snake was likely to
take, while I endeavoured to dislodge him with a
shot in the body ; no sign of his head could be
seen. Telling the men to be careful of his rush
should he be a King-Cobra, I fired into the cave
and then bolted to one side.

Not a stir or rustle to show that the shot had
taken effect, neither did the reptile — whatever it
was — charge out of the hole. When the smoke
had cleared away we could still see the coils
round the rock, and fancying the snake was dead
we got a long stick with a crook at the end and
endeavoured to haul it out ; but the united efforts
of six of us could not move it an inch. Beyond
an occasional hiss, the monster gave no other
signs of life than a convulsive clinging to the rock
round which it had thrown its folds. I now tried
the effects of a second shot, aiming with great care
at the body, as I was inclined to think my first
shot had missed. There was no doubt that this
shot had gone home, as the brute at once uncoiled
and made for the entrance ; but the sight of so
many foes ready to do battle, sent it back to its
shelter again. A third shot, and this time the
creature was fairly out of the hole and making down-
hill at good speed, the coolies belabouring it with
clubs. We now saw that it was a rock snake or boa,
common to many parts of India, and non-poisonous.
Finding itself hard pressed by its human foes, the
creature turned round and again made for its hole,

246 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

and, in spite of the merciless belabouring it got with
great sticks, it had nearly reached its shelter when

S g rushed forward and seizing it by the tail,

which he placed over his shoulder, and turning his
face downhill, began hauling away as if at a great
cable. More than half its body was now off the
ground, so that the creature could not obtain a

purchase, yet it struggled hard and S g swayed

and shook with each movement of its great body,
and I expected momentarily to see him knocked
to the ground or in the coils of the gigantic brute.
But his football experience stood him in good stead,
and clinging to the tail of the serpent in regular
Rugby style he struggled onwards, pulling the
snake after him. A native now rushed up and split
open its head with a battle-axe, and a fourth shot
finished the fight.

Before skinning, it measured twelve feet two
inches in length, and was about as thick round
as the small of a man's thigh. We removed the
skin, thinking to send it home to Cooper's Hill to
show the fellows there what was expected of
Foresters in India, but before morning there was
but little of it left, for the ants having found their
way up had played havoc with the whole carcase.

x * 2

A BIG SNAKE.

[To face page 246.

247

AFTER BISON IN CHOTA NAGPORE.

IT is not generally known that within a night's
railway journey of Calcutta there is a shooting pre-
serve where, on the payment of a fee of ten rupees a
month, permission to shoot game of any kind but
elephant can be had for the asking. The Saranda
Reserved Forest covers some seven hundred miles
of heavily-wooded country, alive with game of all
kinds — buffalo, bison, deer, tiger, leopard, bear, pig,
huge snakes and game birds. It is easy of access,
as the Bengal-Nagpore Railway runs through it
from Goilkora to Rourkela, and no part of it is more
than twenty-five miles from a railway station.
Excellent food supplies too can be had from
Messrs. Kellner's Railway Refreshment Rooms at
Chakardarpore. This fine shooting ground was little
known, because the Forest Officers had come to
regard it as their own little preserve, where they
were sure of a bag whenever they were inclined for
a day's shoot ; or where a particular friend or two
could be invited down during the holidays and
treated to sport usually reserved for friends and
acquaintances of Cooch Behar and other Rajas with
shooting preserves. It is not long since Dr. P— — ,
from Fort William, spent a few days here and

248 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

bagged one of the finest solitary bison to be seen.
He was out by himself with only a tracker or two,
and came on the brute end on, and at twenty paces
was able to put in a right and left from a heavy
ten-bore, but the position was a bad one for a mortal
shot, the bullets hitting high on the withers. The
beast made off and put a mile of ground between
itself and its pursuers before, overcome with the
loss of blood, it sank down in the long grass to rest
awhile. When first seen, the rain was coming
down in torrents, so that P— - was able to get
within twenty yards without difficulty ; but after
delivering his fire he was unable to get in two fresh
cartridges, as the wet had swollen the cases and
they jammed. The torrents of rain and the noise
of the shower prevented the bison seeing from
which direction the shot had come, or he might have
charged and done some damage ; so after sniffing
the air awhile he made off down hill and took
shelter in some heavy grass. It was some little

time before P could reload his gun, and he then

set off in search of the bison, which he was sure
could not have gone very far after being so badly
wounded. The tracks were plain and easily fol-
lowed up, and the native shikarees soon pointed out
the huge brute lying in a clump of grass. Two
more shots, which were afterwards discovered to
have taken effect in the region of the ribs, and the
brute was up and away like the wind, receiving
two hasty shots as he was scurrying through the
grass. The rain now came down in torrents so
that all sight of him was lost, and the tracks were

AFTER BISON IN CHOTA NAGPORE. 249

washed out by the streams of water running down
the hillside. Close search was made next day, but
they were unable to find any trace of the bison and
thought it lost for ever. P— - returned to Cal-
cutta ; but two days later the body of the bull was
recovered miles away from the spot where he was
last seen. The skin was quite spoilt ; but the
head was cut off and sent to P— — , who was strongly
enjoined not to tell where he had bagged the brute,
or the whole of Saranda would be overrun with
sportsmen from Fort William and the State Forest
would no longer be the preserve it is.

The best places for shikar are to the south and
east of the Manharpore railway station, and some
eight miles away among the Ankua range of hills,
for twenty miles south. At Thamsi, Phoolbari, and
Hundagudi the country abounds with large game.
There is not the slightest difficulty about trackers
and shikarees ; they can be had at all the native vil-
lages near the forest, while the railway stations make
capital rest-camps. Provisions can be had from
Chakardarpore daily if necessary, so that the
usual discomforts of a long shooting trip and the
heavy expenses of transport are not incurred if
Saranda be the scene of the excursion. The jungles
are not unhealthy during the wet months, and if
one is provided with stout boots and a good water-
proof there need be feared nothing beyond a good
wetting now and again. The damp ground makes
tracking simple work and game can be followed up
more easily than in the dry weather. During the
hot months it is more difficult to obtain a permit,

25o IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

as there is always the danger of forest fires from a
lighted end of a cigar, or from camp fires. All
things considered the monsoon is about the best
time for shooting within the forest reserve.

The native shikarees dread the solitary bull-bison,
and will if possible lead the hunter off the track
and take him to a herd of several cows and calves,
with perhaps a young bull as master of the herd.
The solitary bulls are generally aged animals, no
longer fit to rule the herd, and ousted perhaps by
some younger rival. It is hard to say why the
natives dread this animal, as unlike the solitary
buffalo he will not attack unless molested, and
always endeavours to make off unless brought to
bay at close quarters.

Some years ago I saw one of these animals brought
to bay and fighting for its life, when the reflection
forced itself upon me that had it been a buffalo
the consequences would have been more serious.
We were shooting up the Champa, a small stream
flowing into the Brahmini river in Bonai, and
forming the southern boundary of the Saranda
Forest for some distance. We had done fairly
well, having bagged thirteen head of game in a week.
Nearing the Koenjure frontier we came on to some
grass hills where there were numerous tracks of
bison. After a little search we managed to hit on
one which the trackers told us was that of a solitary
bull. In spite of the eloquence of the guides, who
would have had us go after a herd, promising us
much sport, we elected for the solitary bison and
made our preparations accordingly. There were

AFTER BISON IN CHOTA NAGPORE. 251

three Sahibs, so we tossed for first shot much to the
wonderment of the natives, who thought we were
performing some charm to ensure our safety if we
came up with the bison. We had no difficulty in
following up the trail, which was very distinct in
the damp ground ; and on nearing a thicket of
bamboos, the shikaree told us to be prepared, as the
bison was in all probability among them, taking
his midday rest. We therefore proceeded cau-
tiously, keeping the bamboos well to the windward,
R_ _^ a hot-headed Welshman who had won the
toss, leading. We had got well within the bamboos
and were peering cautiously to the front, when
suddenly up sprang a large bison within a few
yards to our right rear and went tearing down the
hill. R— - let drive at once at the stern of the
brute as it was making off, and luckily one of his
shots took effect and broke its hind leg below the
knee. We now made sure of the beast and followed
up rapidly, R— being a long way in advance.
There was a slight spur of the hill on which stood
a few rocks, and round this the bison had disap-
peared. On nearing the rocks we saw R— - stop,
put his gun to shoulder, bring it down without
firing, feel his pockets and then come scampering
back to us. He had no ammunition — it was with
the shikaree — and he had not re-loaded after
firing at the bison. It was now at the rocks
and had turned to bay and waited for R — —
with lowered head ; but why it had not charged,
especially when it saw its enemy retreating, it
is hard to say. Had it been a buffalo R— -'s

252 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

life would not have been worth a minute's pur-
chase.

We now hurried up, and, yes ! sure enough, there
was the bison ready to receive us. He looked a
truly magnificent brute, with his forehead covered
with long hair of a bright brown colour, the rest of
the head and body being black. The extreme
height of the fore-quarters and their massive build
make the bison appear a more formidable beast than
he is. From his position it was hard to get at a
vital spot, and although hats, stones and turbans
were thrown near him to induce him to charge, he
would not move from his position. Several shots
were tried at his head, but made no impression, as
we had nothing beyond four drachms of powder in
our cartridges, and this did not give sufficient pene-
tration. At last, one of us was compelled to go
above the rocks and fire down on him. A shot in
the spine near the shoulder did for him.

253

WILD DUCK TRAPPING IN SOUTH
INDIA.

I WAS spending a few days with my friend, Abdul
Gunnee, the Commissariat contractor, at his country
house in a village not far from Vellore, in the
Madras Presidency. My friend's residence was once
a palace belonging to one of the magnates of
Mahomed Ali's Court when that unscrupulous ruler
was Nawab of Arcot. The country around Vellore
and Arcot is dotted with many such buildings,
erected by the nobles of the Carnatic Court when
that State was the chief of the Mahomedan King-
doms of South India. Surrounded with gardens of
cocoanut and areca palms, orange groves, mango,
pomegranate and other fruit trees, these old build-
ings at once testify to the wealth, good taste and
love of ease of their former owners.

I had ridden my friend's horses, had admired the
fountains which threw their myriad jets in various
parts of the garden, had tasted his mulgovas and dil-
pusund (varieties of graft-mango), and now what
else was there to do ? There was no shikar in the
neighbourhood beyond duck, and " surely the
Sahib was tired of walking in the mud and getting
wet to the middle in search of duck that he could

254 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

buy for a few pice." This was my friend's idea of
duck-shooting and all its attendant pleasures.
Would I like to see how duck were trapped by the
natives ? Of course I would, so the village thaliarree
(watchman) was sent for, and directed to engage
some bestars (fisherman) to show the Sahib some wild-
duck trapping.

There were numerous large tanks in the neigh-
bourhood, which served to irrigate the extensive
rice-fields for which this district is famous, and
these tanks were the resort of numerous flocks of
wild duck at certain seasons of the year. The
bestars are expert fishermen and takers of water-
fowl of all kinds, and have several very ingenious
methods of trapping ducks. These birds generally
frequent the shallow water near the margin of
tanks, as here aquatic plants are most abundant,
and among them they find the small shell-fish and
fry of fish on which they live. Having sighted a
flock of wild duck the bestar gets a large earthen pot
such as natives use for carrying water. The mouth
of the pot must be sufficiently large to admit his
head, and in the sides of the pot he knocks two little
holes to see out of. Inserting his head into the pot
until the rim rests on his shoulders, he wades into
the water neck-deep, or crouches down until only
the pot is seen above water. The little holes in
the sides admit fresh air, and permit him to see. In
this fashion he gently moves along in the direction
of the flock of ducks. In order to accustom the
ducks to the appearance of the pot, several pots
mouth down have been previously placed among

WILD DUCK TRAPPING IN SOUTH INDIA. 255

the weeds the birds are known to frequent, and near
to these pots small rafts of plantain bark are placed,
with a little paddy, or snails or other bait to attract
the birds. The ducks do not take alarm at the
approach of the pot under which the bestar is con-
cealed, as they imagine it similar to the pots around
them. When the bestar gets near to the flock he
adroitly puts his hand under the nearest duck,
seizes it by the legs, and sharply draws it under
water. This creates no alarm, as ducks fre-
quently dive down after small fish, etc. He breaks
the neck of the duck under water and hangs it to a
string round his waist, and then goes for another.
In this way he is able to secure a number before
the others take alarm and seek safety in flight.

Another method by which large numbers of wild
duck are taken alive shows that the natives are
keen observers of the habits of the game. A rough
model of the body of a duck is made of pith (the
substance of which sola topees are made), and this
is stuck over with the feathers of a wild drake of
the species they wish to capture. The feathers
are most carefully inserted in the pith so as to give
a good imitation of the live bird as it floats on the
water. Water fowl do not sleep on the water as is
generally believed, but make for an island or the
sedge-covered margin of the tank at dusk, and
sleep there at night. The bestar s note the spots the
flocks usually resort to at night, and during the
absence of the birds in the day they clear away a
funnel-shaped entrance in the sedges. The taper
end of the funnel, or V, is towards the shore The

256 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

whole of the cleared space is covered by a net hung
about two feet above the water. In the evening
the decoy is floated in the water a little distance
away from the trap and a thin string is attached
to it, the other end being in the hands of the bestar,
who is carefully concealed among some bushes or
other shelter on the bank. On the approach of the
flock at dusk the decoy is made to bob about in a
most odd manner. This attracts the wild duck
which swim up to know what is wrong with one of
their number, as they imagine the decoy to be. The
bobbing stops on the near approach of the wild
birds, and the decoy swims off in the direction of
the trap, being drawn that way by the string in
the hands of the bestar. Soon the flock follows,
and are gradually led into the funnel. When the
flock is well within the trap, the net at the mouth
is dropped, and the birds secured.

I did not on this occasion see the decoy used and
the wild duck captured alive, but I saw the bestar
at work with the pots. A singular incident occurred
while the bestar was among the flock of wild ducks.
He had drawn down several when suddenly we
saw the pot turn over and a great splashing ensue
in the water. The ducks took to flight while the
bestar kept shouting that a mugger had seized him
by the leg and was drawing him into the water.
Fancying there might be some truth in his assertion,
as crocodiles had been known to stray away from
the trench round the Vellore Fort, where these crea-
tures were to be seen in large numbers (being pro-
bably put there in the first instance as one of the

WILD DUCK TRAPPING IN SOUTH INDIA. 257

means of preventing an enemy entering the fort),
we rushed towards the spot, shouting and making
as much noise as possible to frighten off the horrid
creature. By the time we got round to where the
bestar had been at work, he came floundering out,
yelling and crying out, " Uppa / Uppa ! (Father !
Father !) I am dead ! '' We noticed some creature,
long and black, with white under its stomach, flop-
ping about his waist, which, on nearer approach,
we saw was an enormous murrel or ball fish (the
Indian trout), common in all South Indian tanks.
This is the most voracious of Indian fish and
answers in this respect to the pike in England. It
had probably made a dash at the wild duck dangling
from the waist of the bestar, and its gills got en-
tangled in the folds of the cloth he had round his
loins. In its efforts to get away it struck frequently
against the man's naked thigh, hence his idea
that he had been seized by a mugger. The fish
was fully two and a half feet long and weighed
twelve pounds. We congratulated the bestar on
having caught the mugger instead of being caught
by it, and rewarded him for his trouble.

I expressed a wish to my friend to do a little duck
shooting on my own account, and he at once directed
the bestars to make a raft on which I was to seat
myself and be towed out by the swimming bestars,
to any position I wished to make. Four large
earthen pots were arranged in the form of a square,
and kept in position by means of bamboo frame-
work. Over this a native charpoy (bedstead) was
placed, and on this I was seated with my heavy

17

258 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

duck gun, the bestars pushing this fragile yet buoy-
ant concern into deep water. The party on the
shore directed our movements, and soon I was
ensconced behind some tall rushes near to where
several flocks of wild *duck were feeding. My
bestars now left me to drive the duck in my direc-
tion, as I hoped to take them on the wing. Soon
I heard a quack ! as the birds took the wing, and
presently a large flock were sailing overhead.
Rising on my fragile support to get a better shot, I
let drive right and left among them, and then found
myself head over heels in the water and nearly
drowned. With great difficulty I managed to get
back to my seat on the raft, leaving my gun in the
water for the bestars to recover. In my anxiety to
get a good shot at the duck I had stepped too near
the edge of the raft, and that, with the heavy recoil
of the duck gun, sent one side of the raft down and
me into the water. My friend was too much of a
gentleman to laugh at my woe-begone figure, wet
and covered with mud, but he remarked : " You
Sahibs are hard to understand ; you will risk your
necks to drive a spear into a pig ; you will slave
all day for birds that can be bought for two pice."

259

DO TIGERS DREAD FIRE ?

IT is a popular belief that all wild animals dread
fire ; hence it is that when camping in the open,
in districts frequented by the great carnivora,
hunters and travellers kindle large fires round their
camps at night to frighten off wild beasts. Living-
stone and other writers on African travel have
recorded instances where men and domestic animals
have been carried away from camp-fires by lions.
I have known an instance where a tiger has come
night after night and warmed itself at a large
fire, not taking the least notice of the coolies
working around. We were sinking a prospecting
shaft in Chota Nagpore, and as we wished to push
the job to completion we worked night and day,
in shifts of eight hours. We had no pumps, and as
the ground was wet a pulley was fixed over the
shaft and sixteen women worked up and down
a ramp, pulling a large bucket which was emptied
by a man stationed at the mouth of the shaft.
The nights in December and January are very
cold, and as the hauling was not continuous we
kept a large fire going near the shaft to light
up the work, round which the women warmed
themselves when not working the rope. One night,

17*

26o IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

just after the women had left the fire and gone to
the rope, a large tiger was seen to walk deliberately
up to the fire, look about for a little while and
then lie down and warm itself. Of course there
was a stampede of the workpeople at the surface,
and the miner in charge of the night-shift was
informed of the occurrence. He went to the
shaft accompanied by several men, and there saw
the tiger lying by the fire. The men shouted
and the tiger got up and walked quietly off among
the neighbouring bushes. I was told of the circum-
stance next day but was not inclined to credit it ;
however, I lent my gun to the night-shift man,
and told him not to fire at the tiger if it came again
but merely to shout and discharge the gun in the
air to scare the beast. The tiger did not turn
up next night, nor for several following nights,
but it did turn up at irregular intervals, and in
time the coolies got used to its coming and would
go on with their work as usual. This tiger was
well known to the inhabitants of several villages
around, and one man claimed relationship with it.
He seriously told me it was his great-uncle, who
was the gowala (cattle herd) of the Tentudee village
some years ago. In his time tigers were common
in those parts, and carried away numbers of cattle
and occasionally human beings. So great was the
loss of cattle that the villagers stopped the usual
allowance of paddy given to the village herdsman,
as they said he was careless and allowed the cattle
to stray, so that tigers could easily seize them.
His great-uncle was nearly starved by this stoppage

DO TIGERS DREAD FIRE? 261

of his allowance, and he vowed a vow to Mahadev
that if she took the tiger away she could do with him
what she pleased. Shortly after the gowala died,
and since that time the present tiger kept guard
over the villages and allowed no other tiger near.
When I pointed out that this tiger had killed several
buffaloes and cows to my knowledge he replied,
' Well, must he not live ? Is he to die of hunger ?
He does not kill men nor allow other tigers here—
he is my great-uncle."

The following incident, related by a gentleman
of whose veracity there can be no question, would
seem to prove that tigers, like the African lion,
have occasionally taken away men from the camp-
fire and shown no particular dread of light :—

" We were surveying a district lately acquired by
the British in North Burmah, and as we had found
great difficulty in procuring local labour in the
previous season, we took with us from Bangalore
a number of Madrassee lascars. The country was
in a very disturbed state, as bands of dacoits looted
villages and robbed and murdered travellers where-
ever they found them. Six military police under
a naik were sent with us for our protection, and a
couple of elephants to carry our baggage and
provisions, as nothing was to be had in the district
we were going into. The first part of our journey
lay through low marshy country, with here and
there a little rice cultivation, but we soon got
past this into a ' terai ' at the foot of a range
of hills, and here our troubles began. The country

262 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

was the most difficult for survey operations that I
have seen. Dense jungle and tall grass with
fearful canes everywhere. You could take a sight
nowhere. Lines had to be cleared before we could
make any progress. We had scarcely cleared a
mile or two of pathway, when we missed one of our
Madrassees. He was not missed till we got home
in the evening. Fancying he might have strayed away
and got lost in the jungle, we kindled large fires,
kept shouting out at intervals, and I got the police
to fire off an occasional shot, thinking that if he
were within hearing this might direct him to our
camp. Next day search-parties were organised and
the country carefully scoured, but the men would
not go far for fear of losing themselves, the jungle
being so dense. After a two days' wait and
continuous search we were obliged to go on with
our work, having reported the circumstance to
head-quarters. On the fourth day after the dis-
appearance of the man, a second Madrassee was
missing. We had a suspicion that the first man
had deserted, but in this instance that could not
be, as we were too far advanced into the heart
of the jungle for the man to find his way back
alone. It could not be dacoits, as they would not
molest a coolie with nothing valuable about him, and
as we were well out of the Wa country, that being
on the other side of the river, the head-hunters
were not to be feared. The general opinion was
that this man had also strayed away into the
forest and had become lost ; he might find his
way to some Shan settlement on the hills, or stray

DO TIGERS DREAD FIRE? 263

back to the open ground near the river. The men
received orders to keep as much as possible together,
and even when going into the forest for water or
other purposes to go two at a time. In another
four days we had made about fifteen miles,
when a third man was missing at night. The
men used to cluster round the camp-fires at
night ; a policeman was on guard at intervals
of four hours, and the elephants were picketed
near at hand ; yet none knew how the man had
disappeared. The police on guard said that at
about midnight one of the coolies left the fire to
go into the bushes for a little while. He thought
he saw the man return, but he was not sure. A
careful search was made all around, yet no trace of
the man was visible, nor track of any wild animal.
A great fear fell on all. I confess that I myself felt
some alarm at this unknown danger. If we knew
the source from which to look for an attack, a
proper defence might be provided. But here were
three men missing, at intervals of four days, and
none could say how or where they had gone. Was
it a head-hunting party of the wild Wa that had
crossed the river and were carrying off human
heads to grace the village ' Avenue of great
deeds ' ? Was it a party of dacoits that were
following us up and not feeling strong enough
to attack us together were cutting off stragglers
and would eventually storm the camp. It could
not be a tiger for there were no signs of these
creatures about, and then what of the intervals
of four days, and the following up of our camp,

264 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

which had shifted quarters some thirty miles since
the first man was missing ?

" The men were unmanageable from fear. They
would not leave camp but in groups of half a dozen,
and when the fatal fourth day came round again,
not a soul would leave the clearing to bring even
a pot of water. That night extra precautions
were used ; additional fires were kindled all round
the camp, and the elephants were made to patrol
round and round while darkness lasted. The
morning-roll was called and thank Heaven ! not
a soul was missing. Having got over the fatal
day, the men took heart and said we could go
on working for the next three days, but on the
fourth the same precautions were to be taken.
We shifted camp a few miles and did an indifferent
day's work, the men going about cautiously and
in groups. That night an enormous fire was
kindled a little distance from the entrance of my
tent, and in a circle round the large fire, and at
some distance from it, smaller fires were burned, the
men sleeping within this circle of fire. The night
passed off without disturbance, and we were
congratulating ourselves on having at last overcome
the danger, when the roll was called and a Madrassee
was reported missing. The men who slept on
either side of him were questioned. No, he had
not left the camp fire, at least not to their know-
ledge ; they had not missed him in the morning.
While this examination was going on, an excla-
mation from Kissen Sing, the naik of the military
police, drew us to the spot where the missing man

DO TIGERS DREAD FIRE? 265

had slept at the large fire. Motioning the crowd
to keep off, the naik called me to the place, and there
pointed out what appeared to be a drop of blood,
and, what was of more significance still, the well-
marked pug of a tiger. The marks were so small
that I said these were those of a panther, but
Kissen Sing, who was a noted shikaree, and had
often taken part in tiger shooting expeditions
in Tirhoot, declared it was a tigress and with cubs.
How on earth he inferred all this I cannot make
out, but subsequent events proved he was right.
He was of opinion that the tigress was answerable
for the four persons missing. She had followed
us up from day to day and when pressed with
hunger had carried off one of the men. Now that
we knew the source of danger, the men were not
so much scared, although still timid and moving
about in groups. A careful search was made with
the aid of the elephants, but not a trace of the
tiger or its prey could be found. We shifted camp
that day and the next and took no extra precautions,
as Kissen Sing said the tiger would not look for a
victim till it was again hungry. On the third
night he had a strong platform erected, about
twelve feet from the ground, among the trees,
and upon this the men slept, the elephants being
chained one on each side. The men slept in safety,
and there were no casualties to report in the morning.
The next day the same precautions were taken,
and the men safely stowed on the platform be-
fore it was dark. I had called for dinner, and
Ramaswamy, my Madrassee cook, had just left

266 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

the kitchen pal (small tent) to dish the dinner
on a camp-table outside, on which there was
a kerosene lantern. The man and the table were
not ten yards from me, and I was seated in my
hill tent directly facing him, when I saw something
dark spring over the table, seize the cook by the
neck, and spring back. Not a sound from the
cook — not a rustle of the leaves — nothing dis-
turbed. The cook's mate within the pal heard
nothing, and here was the cook carried away from
within a few feet of a bright light. I immediately
raised the alarm, and fired off a couple of shots
in the direction the tiger had taken, and the police
began a regular fusillade. Next morning a care-
ful search was made, but to no purpose. The
men declined to work further, and said they would
leave me and go back in a body. They did not
care for their back wages ; their lives were of more
consequence. I was without a cook, so there was
nothing for it but the back track. The elephants
were loaded and back we went. We had almost
reached our last camp when the elephants stopped,
and sounded the alarm by striking the ground
with their trunks, making a kind of kettle-drum
sound. Kissen Sing said there was a tiger about.
We proceeded cautiously, the men keeping near
to the elephants. On getting into our former
camp, and near to the watch-fire, there we saw
the head and other portions of my cook Ramaswamy.
The tigress and two cubs were evidently disturbed
at their meal, as we saw their pug marks in close
proximity to the remains of the cook, which were

DO TIGERS DREAD FIRE? 267

on the ashes of our camp fire. We gave the remains
of the poor fellow what burial we could and hurried
off on our return journey. We passed several
other of our late camps and did fifteen miles that
day. The next day we had passed one camp
and were just entering a second when the elephants
swerved on one side of what was the site of our
camp fire, and here on the ashes we found the
skull, feet, and thigh bones of a second human
being, which, from scraps of cloth about, were
recognised as those of the Madrassee carried off a
few days before Ramaswamy, the cook. The next
day the remains of another lascar were come on,
several camps away. We could now see the cunning
tactics of the tigress by which she had avoided
detection. She had actually followed us up on
our own tracks, and, having made a kill, dragged
the unfortunate back to our previous day's camp,
some four or five miles off, and there stayed with
her cubs till pressed by hunger to follow us up
again. The marks of the elephants and men
made a kind of a beaten track, along which she
would leave no trace. The cubs, which Kissen
Sing said were not more than six months old,
judging from their pugs, were not allowed to
accompany their mother when on the hunt, but
remained behind to feast on what she brought.
We hurried back to head-quarters and saw nothing
of tigress or cubs. The survey in that locality had
to be abandoned that season, as none of the lascars
would work there."

268

A CHAT WITH A SNAKE-CHARMER.

" WILL the Huzoor see the snakes ? Many snakes ;
snakes from Raipore, Bilaspore ; snakes from the
hills, and snakes from the plains ; snakes of all
kinds. Yes, the Sahib is right ; we are humbugs.
I am a poor man, and I must talk for my stomach.
I have nags (cobras), and I have kraits. I have
the swift dhamna (whip snake), and I have the
deadly, yet tiny, bingraj (the sand viper, the most
deadly of all snakes). No, Sahib, I have not the
raj nag (king-cobra), nor have I got the bandpost.
I see the Huzoor understands about snakes, since
he asks for the rarest of all snakes, the raj nag
and the bandpost. I have seen the raj nag, but I
have never had one myself. They are useless for
our purposes, as they are too fierce and cannot
be tamed. The bandpost also is hard to keep,
as it lives on bees, and where am I to get bees
all the year round ? Yes, the Huzoor is right ;
the bandpost stings with its tail and bites with its
mouth, and both are deadly. Have I seen it
sting anything ?— Yes, I have seen it sting a dog
that went near to smell it after its head had been
broken, and the dog died. The Huzoor does not

A CHAT WITH A SNAKE-CHARMER. 269

believe me ? The Huzoor is right, I am a liar,
and the Huzoor is my father and my mother ;
but the bandpost has got a sting in its tail, like a
scorpion. Am I not a catcher of snakes and
should I not know ?

' Yes, I can cure the bite of all snakes — all but
the bingraj. It is the smallest of snakes, and yet
if it bites, death is almost instantaneous. It is
generally found during the hot months in the fine
dust of pathways. It lives in the dust, and feeds
on insects, ant-lions and such like. See, here it
is " —and he turned out a tiny snake about six
inches long from a purse he had stuck in his
waist-cloth. The creature looked somewhat like
a dry twig, and was very slow in its movements,
and but for the forked tongue which it protruded
from its mouth now and again it gave no
sign of life. Its flat viper head showed that it
belonged to the poisonous family of snakes. I had
often heard from the natives of this deadly snake,
but this was the first I had ever seen. It is
commoner in the Punjab and Rajpootana than
in the more wooded districts of India, and is well
known for its deadly venom. The natives say
that if this snake bites one in the foot, death is
instantaneous ; but if it bites one in the chest,
a gentle drowsy sensation of sleep overcomes one,
and one dies with a pleasant look on the face.
Rajpoot women when they wish to commit suicide
apply one of these snakes to the bosom and make
it bite them there, when they enjoy the most
pleasurable sensations and die quietly. There is

27o IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

no cure ; whether it bites in the foot or chest,
death comes all the same, only the one is quicker
than the other. Can there be any connection
between this story and that of Cleopatra and the
viper ?

" Yes, Sahib, I can cure the bite of the cobra
and krait, in fact, of all serpents but the bingraj.
I can show the Sahib the medicines I use if he
will give me bucksheesh (a present). This is nag ka
thitka (gall of a cobra). If this is applied to the
bite at once there is no danger of death, although
the person bitten will have fainting fits and cold
sweats for a week ; but we give a little gall mixed
in milk to the person once a day, and he is cured.
I am proof against snake venom, as I take a little
snake poison every week, in a pill. I have taken
it for years. All our people take snake poison,
and we are not afraid of snakes. We dip a paddy-
straw into snake venom and wipe the straw on a
paste of hillul (a creeping plant that looks like
sarsaparilla), and this we swallow. We must take
this every week, or it will have no effect. I have
been bitten frequently on the back of my hands
by snakes that I keep. Yes, we draw the venom-
fangs, but they grow again in a fortnight or a
month. We can also take out the venom without
drawing the fangs. See, Sahib, if I press here,
in the snake's jaw, with this piece of stick, the
fangs are erected and the poison exudes at the
point of the fang. The fangs are hollow like a
pipe, and the poison comes out through this pipe
when the poison bags are squeezed. We sell the

A CHAT WITH A SNAKE-CHARMER. 271

poison to the baghmarees (tiger killers) and kobirajs
(native physicians).

' Will the Sahib now see the snakes dance,
since he has talked his stomach full, or will I
catch the snakes that are in the Sahib's bunga-
low ? "

I was residing in a thatched bungalow that had
been uninhabited for years, and the old straw in
the roof seemed to be a breeding place for snakes.
I was seated in the verandah one evening just
after a shower of rain, reading the newspaper,
when something dropped on to my lap. To my
horror I saw it was a small snake of the viper or
house krait kind. In a moment I was up, tossing
the snake on the floor, and crushed it under foot.
I resumed my reading, but in about a quarter of
an hour I heard a flop on the floor just behind my
chair, and on looking round saw this was another
snake of the same size and kind as that I had just
killed. This I despatched with a stick, and, feeling
that I could no longer enjoy my reading when
there was a chance of a deadly serpent dropping
on to me, I went into the bedroom, the roof of
which had a ceiling of cloth. I had been in the
bedroom about an hour when I noticed a snake,
similar in all respects to the other two, creeping
in at the door. It was now patent that a brood
of these creatures must have been hatched some-
where in the roof, and were now on the move.
A careful search was made, and the doors secured
for the night. In the morning my servant killed a
fourth snake in the verandah. In all we killed

272 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

some fourteen snakes in the bungalow in three
months, all of them poisonous.

I thought perhaps the snake-charmer had heard
of this plague of snakes, and wished to take ad-
vantage of it for his own purposes. No, I did
not want a krait from the bungalow, but would
he bring a snake of a different kind from the bed
of zinnias in front of the bungalow ? Yes, he was
quite prepared to bring a snake from anywhere,
even out of the floor of the verandah. Fearing a
trick, I made him divest himself of as much
clothing as possible, and with only his calabash
snake-charming pipes to his mouth he approached
the zinnias in a cautious manner, myself and
my servants watching his every movement closely.
He kept blowing vigorously, and circled round the
bed of zinnias once or twice, and then with a leap
he was into the flower-bed, and hauled forth a
large snake about six feet long which struggled
violently to get away. But he held it firmly
by the middle and brought it to the verandah,
when there was a stampede among the lookers-on,
myself among the number. We made him put
away his capture in one of his snake baskets
before we again approached.

Suspecting that he had put one of his tame
snakes in the flower-bed beforehand, in case I
should ask him to catch a snake, I now determined
to watch him more closely and to give him no
chance of preparation. I said, " I will give you
five rupees if you will take a cobra out of there "—
pointing to a spot in the cement floor about four

A SNAKE FROM THE ZINNIA BED.

[To face page 272

A CHAT WITH A SNAKE-CHARMER. 273

feet away from where I was sitting. The snake-
charmer readily consented, and began a kind of
a war-dance in the verandah, keeping step to a
weird tune he played on his calabash. The only
stitch of cloth he had on was a rag, some six
inches wide between his legs, fastened before
and behind to a cord round his waist, so that
it was impossible for him to conceal anything in
his clothing. I asked my servants to watch him
closely, while I did the same. After dancing a
measure or two, and approaching and receding
several times from the spot I indicated, he sud-
denly shouted " There ! Sahib, there ! " pointing
to the spot. All eyes were involuntarily turned
thither, and he leaped forward and pretended to
clutch something from the ground, and held up a
cobra about two and a half feet long. There
were shouts of approbation and wonder from my
servants in which I did not join. It is a common
trick among conjurors of all nations when some
sleight of hand is to be performed to call off
attention from the expert's hands to some other
spot. I was prepared for this, so did not look
at the spot the snake-charmer pointed to, but kept
my eyes on him, watching his every movement.
As he sprang forward to seize the supposed snake,
as quick as lightning one hand was thrust into
his hair, which was tied in a large knot somewhat
like that the Cingalese women wear, and from
this hiding place he drew the small cobra he
pretended to pick off the floor.

The man quickly noticed that I did not join

18

274 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

in the plaudits of his audience and said : " Who
can deceive the Sahibs ? we are their children,
and we learn from them. It is for my stomach's
sake, Huzoor, but don't you tell the fools around.
The Sahib will give me what he pleases since I
have not earned the five rupees."

275

THE HUNTING LEOPARD OR CHEETAH.

IT is singular that while the tiger, the leopard
and the wolf are the recognised enemies of the
cultivator, in that they prey on his flocks and
herds, and that the Government offers a reward
for the destruction of these predatory animals,
probably the most daring and destructive of all,
and the one which does more damage to cattle
and goats than all the other wild animals put
together, is generally regarded as a harmless
creature and one to be protected rather than
destroyed. One reason perhaps for this good
name is that the cheetah, or hunting leopard, has
never been known to prey on mankind, while tigers,
leopards and wolves are all known to be man-
eaters on occasion. The cheetah also can be
domesticated and taught to run down antelope
and small deer, and thus be rendered subservient
to man — another reason for overlooking its well-
known habit of preying on the sheep, goats and
calves of the villagers. But for courage, daring,
cunning and audacity it can give points to any
beast of the field, and it is fortunate indeed that
it does not prey on man, as few would be safe
from its attacks.

1 8*

2;6 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

At Jeraikela, on the Bengal-Nagpur Railway,
a villager had a pet spotted deer, which would
follow him about like a dog. I frequently wished
to purchase it, and offered him a price many
times its value and sufficient to tempt most
natives. But he would not sell. He was as fond
of the deer as the deer was of him. His hut was
in the heart of the village. One warm moonlight
night he drew his charpoy (bedstead) as usual
across the entrance of his hut and slept on
it. While he was asleep, a hunting leopard
crept under his charpoy, seized and killed the
deer, and crept back the way it came, drawing
the deer after it, and made off to the woods.
The man only knew of his loss on awakening
in the morning, when the unmistakable dog-
like foot-prints of the animal showed who the
midnight marauder was. Not long ago one of
these brutes entered the village of Sendee during
the dark hours just before dawn. It dug a
passage for itself through the wattle-and-dab
walls of the bazaar-man's hut, seized and killed
a two-year-old calf, and endeavoured to drag
the body through the passage it had made for
itself, but the calf's body was too large to pass
that way. The noise made by the cheetah's
efforts to drag the calf through the hole in
the wall awakened an old woman who was
sleeping in the hut, and she immediately opened
the door, rushed out and raised an outcry. The
cheetah, seeing the door open, re-entered the
dwelling and pulled the calf away through the

THE HUNTING LEOPARD OR CHEETAH. 277

door ! It made off to a neighbouring nullah and
there devoured the stomach and a great part
of the rump. The calf certainly weighed over
200 Ibs. ; yet the cheetah was able to drag the
body several hundred yards, when its own weight
could not have been over 70 Ibs. even if full
grown.

The cheetah is particularly fond of dog's flesh
and does useful service in carrying off super-
fluous pariah dogs which otherwise would in-
crease to such an extent as to be a source of
danger to the villagers themselves. It is seldom
one sees a dog in the country where the hunting
leopard has taken up its abode. Sooner or later
even the 'cutest of 'cute pariah dogs falls a
victim to its arch enemy. I have had seven dogs
carried away from my bungalow in eighteen
months. Among these was a black pariah that
the servants had named Hooseearee (the wary
one), so alert was it. It would never on any
pretence leave the servants' quarters after night-
fall. I often tried to tempt it out with a bone
after dinner, but no ; hungry or not, Hooseearee
was not to be cajoled into the open. One night
while I was having my dinner, a pheeall (an animal
of the jackal kind said to act as a decoy to tigers,
leopards and other of the great carnivora) sent
forth its hideous howl near the servants' quarters.
I was long anxious to secure one of these
creatures, as I had heard so much of them, but
had never come across anyone who had shot one.
I ran for my Winchester and hurriedly loading it

2;8 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

went into the verandah facing the servants' quarters.
The moon was slightly obscured with clouds, so
that objects in the open could be seen, but not
very distinctly. Hooseearee was barking loudly,
when again the unearthly yell of the pheeall was
heard, this time just in front of the servants'
quarters. This was too much for flesh and
blood, and Hooseearee gave chase. Instead of
making for the jungle, which was near at hand,
the pheeall made for some logs of timber lying in
the open. As soon as the black dog in pursuit of
the pheeall neared the timber, swift as a flash
of light the cheetah was on him and seized him
by the back of the neck ; a single bark of agony
and Hooseearee was no more. I fired twice at
the cheetah, but he was off like a bird, carrying
the body of the dog with him. It looked as if
it were all planned out by the cheetah and the
pheeall ; the latter was to decoy the dog out, and
run in the direction of the logs behind which
the cheetah was concealed. I cannot conceive
any other reason why the pheeall should have
run to the logs instead of to the jungle.

After the loss of Hooseearee I had all my
dogs shut up in a godown at dusk every evening.
On several occasion I was awakened by the furious
barking of the dogs, and generally found signs
in the morning that the cheetah had tried to enter
through a barred window. After several attempts
to break in this way he gave it up, as he found
iron bars too hard for even his powerful teeth.
But one day three of my dogs accompanied

THE HUNTING LEOPARD OR CHEETAH. 279

the syces taking out my horses for their morning
constitutional. All three were large dogs, half-
breeds, about the size of a foxhound. One of
them was particularly large and heavy. All had
broad leather collars with steel pricks to protect
the neck from the assaults of wild animals. The
horses were being promenaded along the road
within half-a-mile of my bungalow, when a cheetah
sprang out of the neighbouring bushes and seized
the largest of the dogs by the neck, in spite of his
protecting collar, and made off with him

The cheetah is said to be the swiftest animal
under the sun for distances not exceeding half-a-
mile. In six hundred yards he could probably
give a fleet greyhound half the distance and
overtake him. The cheetah, or hunting leopard,
in no way resembles the ordinary leopard or
panther. The latter has retractile claws like the
cat, while the cheetah's paws are like those of
the dog. Most shikarees are agreed that he
belongs to the hyaena family, and is to that animal
what the greyhound is to the foxhound. Sir
Samuel Baker has stated that he has seen one of
these creatures run up the smooth trunk of a
tree for about fifteen feet and then crouch in the
fork, out of reach of its keepers, whence it could
only be tempted down by the offer of a ladleful
of warm blood taken from an antelope just slain
by another hunting leopard used in the morning's
chase. It is generally believed that the cheetah
is only found in the more open parts of the scrub
jungle of Central India, but I have killed them in

28o IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

the dense forest of Saranda in Chota Nagpur.
The skin is differently marked to that of the
panther. Both have a yellowish brown ground
with black spots. The spots on the panther are
rosettes ; on the cheetah they are simply black
dabs without a central opening of yellow. For
purposes of hunting the antelope and other small
deer the cheetah must be caught when full grown
and then domesticated. When taken as cubs
they never learn to hunt.

28l

THE BANDYPORE MAN-EATER.

IT was before the days of railways when the Seegor
pass via Mysore was the only road to Ootacamund,
and bullock transits the quickest means of travelling.
It was a fair road from Bangalore to Mysore, but
from thence onwards to Seegor at the foot of the
Neilgherries there was nothing but a clayey track
(known as a second class road) with quagmires
and pits during the rainy season, in which it was
a miracle if your coach wheel did not stick and
remain a fixture till help was procured from
Bandypore or Mussencoil, the only large villages
along this route. Such had been my fate the
previous July, when travelling to Madras from
Ooty via Bangalore. My transit came to grief in
a mud-hole in the centre of the road and in our
efforts to extract the wheel by means of a long
pole used as a lever, a felloe was smashed. This
necessitated a delay of two days at the Bandypore
bungalow, before a new felloe could be made by
the village artizan, and it was while thus stranded
far away from the haunts of civilization that I
first heard of the Bandypore man-eater. Having
nothing better to do I had strolled into the village
to watch the carpenter at his work, and help with

282 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

advice as to the repairs of the transit, and was
soon in friendly converse with the villagers who
crowded round the " Doray " (gentleman). " Had
the Daveru heard of the ' pille ' (tiger) 'perun
pillee ' (large tiger) which was living on them and
on their children, and their cattle ? Poojah (pro-
pitiatory ceremonies) was of no avail ; the devil
of a tiger had even carried away the poojahree
(village priest), and now, no one was safe ; they
could not go to the jungle for firewood, and brattees
were consequently getting dear. Would the Doray
stay a day and try and shoot the brute ; his children
(the motley assemblage around) would be grateful
for ever/'

The Doray had nothing better than a six-shooter
—a kind of travelling companion — with which
to try conclusions with the monster if met with^
and as he did not like to add himself to the already
long list of those the brute had killed and eaten,
he, with many expressions of what he would do
if he had the weapons, gratefully declined the offers
of those who volunteered to lead him to the edge
of the forest the tiger haunted, and leave him there.
On my return journey to Ooty some eight months
after, I again found myself delayed at Bandypore,
and this time because the transit drivers refused
to drive through the Tippoo Kadu as that portion
of the forest was called, as two transit drivers had
been carried off from their coaches only a few days
before by the man-eating tiger.

At the bungalow I found Messrs. Kaye and
Ward, the Government Tiger Slayers. Kaye I

I

fi

THE BANDYPORE MAN-EATER. 283

frequently met later on as a successful coffee
planter on the Hills, and a better shot or a more
fearless hunter I have never seen. Ward belonged
to the 6oth Rifles, then stationed at Ootacamund,
and had been specially selected for his keen shikar
instincts to exterminate the tigers which then
infested the Neilgherries. I have lost sight of
him for many years, but I am told that he left
the army and joined the Madras Railway where
he did right good work. He had so happy a way
of relating his shikar experiences — so little of the ego
in them, yet so full of dash — that the long evenings
seemed to fly while listening to deeds of daring
unrecorded in printer's ink. If ever he writes
his experiences of jungle life, his will be a book
worth reading. Kaye and Ward had heard of the
Bandypore man-eater and were now collecting infor-
mation on the spot, and finding out its favourite
haunts. They had already been out a couple of
days but had not succeeded in coming across
it, and had only heard that morning that a coolie
on the Moyar Coffee Estate, some fifteen miles
away, had been carried off the previous day by the
brute, and they were now hurrying to get off while
the scent was warm. I had a new Westley-
Richards with me, a recent purchase in Madras,
and was anxious to try its qualities on big game,
but the time at my disposal was not enough to
permit of my joining them. In such company
I believe I would have faced a dozen tigers, as both
were deadly shots, and as cool as cool could be
under the most exciting circumstances. Wishing

284 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

them all success I saw them off and then went
on to the village to induce the transit drivers to
supply bullocks for the next two stages, there
being none available at the station five miles off,
the men having deserted owing to fear of the
tiger. I pointed out to the men that with two
such noted shikarees as Kaye and Ward before
us there was nothing to fear as they were certain
to account for the tiger if it was about. After
much persuasion I managed to procure two
drivers and two sets of bullocks, one to yoke
to the coach and the other to follow behind,
to drag from the next station. It was about
four in the afternoon when we set out, my
servant on the box beside the driver, and the
extra pair of bullocks trotting close behind the
keeper at their heels urging them on. To inspire
confidence I had my double Westley-Richards in
my hand, having carefully loaded it with an extra
charge of powder, ready for contingencies. Keeping
a bright look-out ahead, we were jogging along
in the hot sun and amid clouds of dust, and hoped
to get to the changing station in a few minutes.
I had been chaffing the driver as to the man-eater,
and asked him where it had got to ? Was he
alarmed now ; and had he not done wisely in coming
with me ; when suddenly with a snort of alarm the
bullocks behind the transit galloped to the front
and went tearing along with tails erect. Turning to
learn what had alarmed them, I saw an enormous
brute of a tiger slouching off in the brushwood
beside the road, with the unfortunate bullock

THE BANDYPORE MAN-EATER. 285

driver in its mouth ! It held him by the neck
and his legs were dragging on the ground as it
was stealing off. I rapidly cocked my rifle, and
placing the stock to my shoulder took a rough
aim and pulled off both triggers, as I hoped
that even if I missed the tiger, the sudden
report would make him drop his victim. Snap !
snap ! went both barrels, and I found I had
not capped the gun (this was in the days
before breech-loaders were in common use). By
this time the bullocks yoked to the transit had
also taken the alarm and were dashing away
after their companions and no amount of tugging
at the reins would stop them in their wild flight.
It was fully a mile before they could be brought
under control and then no amount of persuasion
or threats would induce either my servant or the
driver to go back with me to try and recover the
body of the poor fellow carried off by the man-
eater. That he was dead there could be no doubt,
as his neck must have been broken by the first
bite of those tremendous jaws. Probably the brute
would have begun his gruesome meal ere this,
but still there was a chance of recovering some
portion of his body. The next best thing to be
done was to hurry on and try and overtake Messrs.
Kaye and Ward and bring them back to the scene
of this dreadful adventure. I felt that I had
indirectly been the cause of the man's death, as
it was my representation that had induced him
to come with me. We hurried on till we came
to a small hamlet on the southern skirts of the

286 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

forest, the inhabitants of which had securely
fastened their doors at dusk, as this tiger had been
known to enter a village and carry off a woman
who was drawing water from a well. We learned
from the villagers that the Government tiger
slayers had left the road and taken a short cross
cut to Moyar. While in converse with the villagers
a transit from Ooty drew up, and in it were two
officers of the 6oth Rifles on their way to Bandypore
to look up the famous tiger. My tale was soon
told, and after a hasty meal we set out for the spot
where the driver was carried off. We had to do
the driving ourselves as the natives were too
frightened to sit on the box alone. We camped
at the deserted transit station and were out
betimes next morning, but nothing could be
found of the body, nor were there any traces
of the tiger. We searched all that day and
part of the next, but no tiger, nor any signs of
the unfortunate man's body could we see. Leaving
the officers to continue the hunt the transit was
once more turned to the Ooty direction, I driving,
and my servant inside — (the driver had decamped
the previous day). I was in hopes of getting a
change of bullocks and new driver at Seegor,
and was driving along slowly when we arrived
at a large stream (the Moyar river) about two in
the afternoon. My servant asked me to stop
a little as he wished to obtain a drink at the river.
There is a fine masonry bridge of several arches
over the stream, and on this I stopped the coach
to allow my boy to quench his thirst. He had

THE BANDYPORE MAN-EATER. 287

barely been away a minute when he came hurrying
back, and in a trembling voice told me the tiger
was in the river with all his body in the water,
and merely his head out. Telling him to hold the
bullocks by their nose-strings I got my Westley-
Richards, this time careful to see it capped, and
stealing to the parapet and peeping over saw,
sure enough, the enormous head of a tiger just
protruding out of the water. Luckily it was
looking in a direction opposite to that from
which we had come and the noise of the stream
had prevented its hearing our coach- wheels.
Taking careful aim at the head I fired, keeping
the other barrel ready if I required to use it.
With a convulsive movement forward, that brought
its body half out of the water, the tiger fell
never to rise again, the ball having gone (as
I afterwards saw) clean through the brain. Waiting
for some time to make sure the beast was not
foxing nor merely stunned by the shot, and finding
no movement in the body, we unyoked the bullocks
and fastened them to a tree, and then went down
to examine my kill. It was a magnificent male
tiger, one of the largest I have seen, and in splendid
condition. There were no marks of mange about
the skin to show that it was a man-eater — the
popular idea being that eating human flesh causes
the tiger to become mangy ; this, like many other
popular beliefs, is incorrect, as I learned by later
experience, some of the finest skins being those of
man-eaters. With the greatest difficulty I and
my servant were just able to drag the body out

288 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

of the water, and there I had to leave it till my
servant returned with a cart from Seegor. The
villagers of Seegor on arrival pronounced the tiger
to be the man-eater of Bandypore, but this I was
not inclined to credit as I then believed in the
mange theory. However, I allowed them to carry
the body in triumph to Seegor, where certain cere-
monies were performed by the village priest over
the dead tiger's body. On careful measurement
before skinning, the length from tip of tail to snout
was ten feet two inches. After skinning the length
was nearly eleven feet. I wrote to the Collector
of Coimbatore relating the circumstance of the kill,
and some two months later received a letter of
thanks and a Government reward of two hundred
rupees for having unwittingly shot the man-eater
of Bandypore.

289

STRANGE PETS.

IT is unaccountable the taste some men have for
odd pets. I knew a man in the Railway at Coopum,
in the fifties, who had a rock-snake or boa for a
pet. He was an assistant on construction at the
time the Madras Railway was being built from
Jollarpett to Bangalore, and the snake was taken
in a large-sized mouse-trap with a falling door. The
snake was known to take shelter in a natural fis-
sure in the rocks that abound on the ghauts near
Coopum, and the trap was set near its entrance and
baited with a live fowl. The snake was found within
the trap next morning and the fowl had disappeared,
probably down the snake's throat. My friend trans-
ferred the snake to a rabbit hutch and there at-
tended to it himself until it got quite tame and
allowed him to handle it freely. He would take it
out and fold it round his neck like a comforter, or
stretch it out at arm's length, when it would wind
itself round his arm. Its length when caught was
nearly five feet, but it grew very quickly on the
diet of eggs and young chickens that it got twice
a week, and in six months' time, it was quite six
feet and weighed fifty pounds. After a time it was
allowed to roam the house at will when its master

19

290 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

was within doors, and only caged when he was at
work. It appeared to know him well and recog-
nised his voice, as it would protrude its tongue on
his approach and raise its head.

There was nothing it more dearly loved than to
nestle under the blankets near my friend's chest,
in the cold days of December and January. It was
a long time before his dogs would take to it, but a
little terrier soon made friends and then the others
tolerated it all except Fan, a fine spaniel, which
could never be persuaded to allow the snake to
approach her. There seemed to be reason in this
antipathy, for some time after Fan had a litter of
four puppies, and one morning when the master
was having his breakfast and the boa was loose as
usual, Fan left her puppies a moment and went
into the breakfast room, on the chance of getting a
scrap. Shortly after she set up a tremendous
barking, and on going out to see what was the
matter, my friend found the boa coiled up in Fan's
corner, and two of her puppies missing. The
boa was in disgrace for some time after, and not
allowed out of its hutch.

Visitors were chary of approaching my friend's
house, and always stopped at the gate and shouted
out, " Put away your d d snake " before ven-
turing within doors. Its presence also kept away
the natives, and few of the domestic servants would
go near it. When carefully fed it was perfectly
harmless and slept away the most of its existence.
During the time it shed its outer skin it would take
no food for about a month, but would constantly

STRANGE PETS, 291

rub itself against any rough substance in order to
assist in peeling off the exterior gauze-like mem-
brane.

Leopards were common about Coopum and proved
a great nuisance, as they carried off a great number
of my friend's dogs. One night the little fox-
terrier that had first struck up a friendship with the
boa was asleep near the steps of the verandah, the
snake was coiled up near it, and my friend was in
his office-room getting through some correspondence
when he heard a sharp " yap ! " (the sound a dog
emits when seized by the neck by a leopard). He
at once recognised the sound and knew that one of
his dogs had been seized by a leopard. Rapidly
picking up his gun which stood loaded in a corner
of the room, he hurried out and heard a tremendous
row in the verandah, as if a dozen cats were engaged
in deadly strife. In the imperfect light he could
see a dark mass wriggling about, and fancying it
was the leopard, he fired two shots at it. When
lights were fetched, he found "Tricks," the little
fox-terrier, quite dead with a dreadful bite on the
neck, and a small-sized leopard still in the coils of
the boa and nearly dead from the gunshots. With
some difficulty the snake was made to uncoil, and
it was then found that my friend's shots in the dark
had also seriously wounded the snake. It had
probably seen the leopard attack the terrier, and
had flung itself on the leopard, and would have in
all probability squeezed it to death had not my
friend unfortunately shot both. It died in the
course of the day.

19*

292 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

Lieutenant Frere, a son of Sir Bartle Frere, who
was well known in Bangalore twenty or thirty years
ago, had an enormous tame hyaena. This he picked
up when a very tiny cub on the Agram plains one
field day, and brought it up on the " bottle " until
it was large enough to eat meat, when it shared
their food with his dogs. It grew up quite tame
and apparently much attached to its master, as it
whined sorrowfully whenever he left it. Nothing
pleased it better than to accompany him in his
walks. It would trot close to his heels, and no
amount of barking or baying by dogs would make
it leave its position. It made a splendid pet,
but for its insufferable odour, which repeated
tubbing could not remove. The enormous power of
its jaw was amply verified by the way it would
crush up and swallow the largest beef-bones. It
was thought so tame and harmless that it was
left always loose and only chained up when Frere
went to parade, to prevent its following him.

One morning he was strolling along the ride on
South Parade with the hyaena at his heels when a
native ayah with a perambulator passed. With-
out a moment's warning the hyaena sprang at her
and tore her cloth, when Frere rushed up and
struck it repeatedly with a light walking cane he
had with him. The hyaena left the woman and
attacked its master furiously, seized him by the
forearm, and would have probably done him serious
mischief had not Mr. L. been passing that way and
seen the attack. He at once rushed up and with
a stout stick he had with him. brained the creature.

STRANGE PETS 293

Snakes and hyaenas are strange pets, but strangest
of all is a full-grown tiger, and such a pet had Major
Mansell-Pleydell. It used to be chained up just
in front of the door of his bungalow. The Major
had a method of running up bills with local trades-
men, but there was great difficulty in getting pay-
ment, as none of the bill collectors were venturesome
enough to cross the guardian at the door. It was
a great joke of the Major's when asked to pay his
bill to reply, " have you sent your bill; your man
has never presented it at my house/' Brutus,
as the tiger was named, seemed to know what was
required of him. When chained before his master's
door he would lie with his head between his fore-
paws and watch the gate. If a stranger entered
he would lift his head and breathe heavily, and this
was enough to scare the most venturesome of bill
collectors.

Pleydell and another were out shooting at Arsi-
keri (before railway times) and Brutus went with
them. The scrub jungle making up the Amrut
Mahal Kavals, to the south of the village, was a
noted place for tiger. The native shikarees had
marked down four of these dreaded beasts — a tiger
and tigress with two well-grown cubs. In the
morning's shoot Pleydell had been very success-
ful, and had bagged the mother and two cubs before
breakfast, within a mile of the travellers' bungalow.
The tiger wras still about, and they made up their
minds to try and get him before night. Brutus
was chained up before leaving. Pleydell and his
friend, each with a shikaree and beaters, had taken

294 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

different routes. The friend had been very un-
successful and was returning to the bungalow in no
good humour, when the skikaree pointed out a large
tiger just off the path, evidently watching some-
thing in the distance. It was but a moment's work
to bring his rifle to his shoulder and let the tiger
have one in the chest ; as it bounded forward
a second shot fair in the head sent it over quite
dead. Rushing forward to view his triumph, he
saw Brutus — Pley dell's pet — dead before him !

295

THE KODERMA MAN-EATER.

" How long, oh Sahib ! how long are thy servants
to be food for the tiger ? Are you not our father and
mother, and we, servants of the Great Queen ? Can
you not tell the Dipty Sahib or the Lot Sahib, and
proclaim by beat of drum in the three thanas of
Chorporan, Koderma and Gay a that the agrarees
(charcoal-burners) are not to be eaten of tigers ?
What have we done that we, who share the forests
with the wild beasts, who burn charcoal and collect
iron-sand for our smelting furnaces in the most
lonesome parts of the jungle, should now be
debarred from pursuing our daily avocations by
this son of shaitan (devil). It mattered not when
he killed the cheating golas (herdsmen), who
watered our milk and sold curds that had
gone bad ; or even the evil-smelling chamar
(the lowest caste in the native village, whose
perquisite it is to have all cattle killed by
tigers, or which have died from disease), who
robs the tiger of half his kill, and even eats
that which Mahadev has slain. Had I not given
Kadun, the Poojaree, two white cocks to be sacri-
ficed at the shrine of the Great Mother, when Bola
was taken by the tiger, and then did not we charcoal-

296 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

burners subscribe and buy a kassee (he-goat) when
Moortah fell a victim ? No later than bazaar-day
we got two pigs from Chirala and sacrificed at
Kali's shrine, and yet at noon this very day my
own mother's sister's son was taken at Bageetand
by the devil and son of a devil."

Such was the tale of Jiban — shikaree and char-
coal-burner— poured out in disjointed phrases on
my arrival at camp after a few days' absence.

Many is the fine haunch of venison, plump pea-
fowl and smaller game of sorts that Jiban has sup-
plied for my larder, and many is the chat I have
had with him on the habits of wild beasts, with
which he is familiar ; his days being spent in char-
coal-burning and many of his nights in sitting be-
hind a light screen of branches at some forest pool
that wild animals frequented. He was a little bit
given to exaggeration, but withal truthful ; hence
it was that I gave more attention to his story of
the famous man-eating tiger that was doing so
much damage to human life in the police thanas of
Koderma, Chorporan and Gaya. This brute made
his first human kill in March, and since that
date no fewer than twenty-seven persons have
been carried off in the three above-named police
circuits within three months — this is the record
even among famous man-eating tigers. Natives
say that the number is even higher, and that it
is the invariable custom of this ferocious brute
to kill and devour a human being every other day,
and that many of these cases are not reported to
the police,

THE KODERMA MAN-EATER. 297

Bageetand has gained an unenviable reputa-
tion, as from here no fewer than four people
have been carried off within the last few
months. Three golas (cattle herdsmen) were
cutting brambles for fencing in some low scrub
not far from Bageetand bungalow about midday.
One of these fancied he heard a low cry from the
direction in which his fellows were working. He
called to him several times, and, receiving no re-
sponse, he and his fellow gola went in search of their
comrade, when they saw a large tiger carrying off
the man. They at once raised a shout and bolted
to Koderma to inform the European residents there.
Several gentlemen and a gang of coolies searched
the locality, and in a dry water-course they found
the body of the gola, one thigh and all the lower part
of the belly having already been eaten. The tiger
had seized the man by the back of the neck, so
that death must have been almost instantaneous.
Here to-day, ten miles away to-morrow, in the
very opposite direction the next day, he held the
borderland of the Hazaribagh and Gaya Districts
in absolute terror so that the natives will not
go about their usual avocations unless in large
gangs, and even Europeans go armed when
visiting their mining blocks. This brute has
become more and more daring with each suc-
cessive kill, and he has lately taken men from
the middle of a gang. Very recently five natives
were going along the forest road from Koderma
to Rajowlee. The road winds through some low
scrub before it enters the Reserved Forest of

298 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

Koderma. The fourth in the line of coolies was
a man with a black umbrella over his head. His
wife, with an infant child on her hip, was following.
The foremost coolie fancied he saw something
move behind a felled tree some distance ahead. He
thought nothing more of the circumstance until he
had passed the tree, when he heard a scream from
the woman, who was standing in the middle of the
road, with her child at her feet, shouting : " The
tiger ! The tiger ! See ! See ! " There, sure
enough, was the tiger carrying off the man with the
umbrella, which he still grasped in his hand ; the
open umbrella catching in the brushwood and im-
peding the progress of the tiger. The men raised
a shout, and moved a few paces in the direction
of the brute, when it dropped its prey and turned
on the men, snarling ferociously, which at once put
them to flight. One of the men remarked that the
tiger had lost its left ear and its eyesight appeared
defective, as if it had been wounded by a charge of
shot. It is of large size and of a light tawny colour.
Hitherto it has baffled all the attempts of Euro-
pean and native shikarees to shoot it. So great
has been the loss of human life, and so great the
terror this man-eater has inspired in the neighbour-
hood, that it behoves the Government to take
special measures to destroy it.

Jiban's tale was true as regards the peculiarities
of this brute. At first he took to killing and eating
only golas. Jiban says that it was because the
golas always smell of |' cattle — a common food of
tigers — and that this odour attracted him at first.

THE KODERMA MAN-EATER. 299

As golas grew more wary and kept out of his haunts,
he tried a chamar or two. He has now taken to
agragrees (iron smelters and charcoal-burners), and
his last six kills have been among these men ; hence
Jiban's appeal to me. Jiban's ideas of the power
of the Government are great. By mere beat of
drum the tiger can be debarred from slaying
charcoal-burners. Apparently the report that this
man-eater is of defective vision is correct, as only
a few days ago, some coolies were returning from
work at dusk, and one of the women had a bundle
of wood on her head. The tiger sprang out of a
thicket at the woman and seized the bundle of wood,
with which he went crashing down the khud, growl-
ing ferociously the while. The coolies all bolted
while the tiger was engaged with this novel prey,
and no damage was done. One more instance of
this brute's cunning. About six weeks ago a wood-
cutter was engaged felling a semul tree within a
hundred yards of the village of Pardiah. The time
was about midday, and his wife usually took him
a drink of water at this hour. On arrival at the
tree she found only his axe, and noticed a few drops
of blood on the ground. She raised an alarm, and
the whole of the men employed at the mines turned
out with drums, empty kerosine tins, spears, lathis,
etc. All the European employes turned out also
with guns. The whole of the forest near the village
was beaten over, but no signs of the brute or his
kill were found. Next day some vultures were seen
alighting in a field in the immediate vicinity of
the village. This was searched, and the poor

3oo IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

victim's head, hands, and feet were found. The
tiger had evidently taken the body among the
tall corn-stalks and calmly devoured him while
the beat was still going on in the forest.

3oi

TRAPPING A MAN-EATER FOR THE
CALCUTTA ZOO.

MOST of those who travel by the East Indian Rail-
way, know of Simultala as a picturesque little sta-
tion at the head of the only ghaut along this other-
wise almost dead level of a railway. From Gidhour
to Simultala the line winds and twists over steep
gradients among low hills covered with scrub forest,
which stretch away north and south as far as the
eye can see. From Monghyr on the north to Hazari-
bagh on the south, this belt of forest extends for
more than two hundred miles. Its width is not
much more than ten miles.

The scrub forest between Gidhour and Simultala
is infested with tigers of the most dangerous type-
man-eaters. More persons have been carried off and
devoured by tigers between Gidhour and Simultala
than in any other locality -of similar size in all India.
Mention is made of this tiger-infested tract in the
Ain-i-Akbari, the revenue collectors of the Mogul
Emperor Akbar being unable to collect the land tax
for fear of man-eating tigers. Over three hundred
persons are known to have been carried off by tigers
in the country around Gidhour and Simultala
during the last ten years. Skirting the densely

302 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

populated and highly cultivated lands of South
Behar, this forest is resorted to by the villagers
for firewood, and while engaged in felling brush-
wood and tying it into bundles, they fall easy vic-
tims to the tigers that abound in this jungle. Last
year no fewer than thirty-eight persons were de-
voured by one of these brutes, and so great was the
terror he inspired that the woodcutters abandoned
their calling, and the price of firewood went up
several hundredfold in this neighbourhood. The
villagers subscribed a sum of three hundred rupees
and offered it as a reward for the destruction of this
notorious man-eater. He was credited with ab-
normal powers. He was said to be many times the
size of ordinary tigers and to be beautifully marked.
He was also thought to be mad, as he would wan-
tonly destroy cattle, killing five and six in a herd
at one time. It is well known that tigers, as a
rule, will kill one or at most two of a herd at one
time, or just enough to last them for food for a
week. It does not matter if the carcase becomes
putrid, as apparently the tiger likes his meat
" high." It is rare that the " kill " will last a
week as vultures, jackals and crows devour all
they can during the absence of the tiger. The
Gidhour man-eater seemed to kill for the mere
pleasure of killing, and on one occasion he destroyed
in the afternoon four large milch buffaloes belonging
to a small zemindar, but left their carcases un-
touched.

Human beings were his favourite food, and to
get at his prey he has been known to stalk them

TRAPPING A MAN-EATER. 303

for miles. Owing to his depredations, it was diffi-
cult to get cultivators to remain in the rice
fields after dusk, so that much of the crops
were destroyed at night by deer and pigs. The
zemindar above alluded to, with considerable diffi-
culty, managed to get a Kol and his wife from the
Karagpur hills to watch his fields by night. A
high platform on slender poles was erected in the
centre of the field, and on this the Kol and his wife
took up their quarters at dusk. The night being
cold in winter, the pair had with them an earthen
pot filled with fire and a supply of firewood to last
the night. They had scarcely taken their places
on the platform before a large tiger made his appear-
ance, and walking up to the machan began sniffing
round and round. Apparently he had not seen
the couple, but had followed them up by scent,
as he walked round and round the platform making
larger circles in his hunt for the lost trail and re-
peatedly came back and sniffed at the poles of the
frail edifice on which the pair were crouching in
helpless terror. After a time he realised that his
prey was on the platform above, and rearing him-
self on his hind legs he tried repeatedly to pull down
the shaky fabric, but the slender poles gave him no
foothold, so that he could not climb on to the struc-
ture, which was just beyond his reach. The hours
went by, and time and again he renewed his efforts
to pull down or climb the machan. The moon rose
late and the occupants were in hopes that with the
moon, the tiger would take his departure. The
moon was in her zenith and the tiger had ceased his

304 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

efforts for some time, which emboldened the Kol
to peer over the edge of the platform, when the
tiger rushed forward with a fierce snarl and re-
doubled his efforts to climb the poles. Reared on
end, the tiger's head was within a few feet of the
trembling pair, and they could feel and smell his
hot foetid breath as he snarled at the Kols above.
Fearing that the structure would give way under the
renewed efforts of the tiger, the man set about devis-
ing some means of getting rid of their dangerous
assailant. His wife suggested that they should
heat the piece of iron which forms the cutting part
of a ploughshare which they had luckily taken up
with them, and throw it on to the tiger's face when
next he reared himself. The suggestion was good,
and the fire was replenished with extra wood and
blown to a brisk flame. Soon the iron was red hot,
and when the tiger with open jaws again tried to
claw them off their perch the Kol dropped the
fuming metal straight into the gaping mouth of the
tiger. With a fierce howl of rage and pain the
tiger rushed away, and crouching down among some
bushes, he kept groaning in pain and tried with his
paws to soothe the burnt portion. This he kept up
till late in the morning, and it was only when other
cultivators arrived in a body to reap the corn that
he went off into the forest. None of the native
shikarees would venture into the forest to hunt this
brute so great was their dread of his prowess. Even
the few European sportsmen from Calcutta who
tried to bag him failed in their efforts. The land-
lords were losing heavily, as not only was the

TRAPPING A MAN-EATER. 305

royalty on firewood gone, but even the fields were
neglected.

One day a mild-looking native called on the
zemindar of Sheikpura who was a heavy loser by
the depredations of the tiger, and offered to trap
him, if he was given the promised reward. Eventu-
ally a bargain was struck that the man should get
one hundred rupees, and that all expenses of con-
structing the trap should be borne by the villagers.
The man disappeared for a day or two saying he
was going to watch the tiger and find out its habits
and the places it most frequented. On his return
he asked that a ring fence, some twenty feet in
diameter, of strong poles should be constructed at
a point he indicated near a water-course. At one
point the fence was open for about five feet and
parallel walls of poles made a passage some thirty
feet long, leading into the ring fence. Within the
ring and near to the entrance he constructed a huge
pit twelve feet long, eight feet wide and twelve feet
deep. All the earth from this pit was carefully
removed to some distance. Over the mouth of this
pit he pegged down a cloth of sufficient size to cover
it, and over this he strewed leaves. Beyond this
pit and within the fence he securely fastened a
buffalo to a stake, so that it could be plainly seen
from the passage, but could not be got at, without
crossing the pit. Before baiting his trap, he asked
that no cattle should be allowed near the forest,
and that the villagers should keep away, so that the
tiger would be without food for some time. He
then baited his trap with the live buffalo, and

20

306 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE.

all went off till next day. It was found in the
morning that a tiger had been round and round
the trap, but had not entered the fence. The man
was not disheartened. He said he was now certain
of his foe, as the tiger was sure to come back if he
did not kill elsewhere. A second night passed and
the villagers again hastened to the trap, and there
crouching in a corner of the pit was a tiger of the
largest size, growling and snarling furiously at the
sight of his human foes. In rushing to seize the
buffalo he had to cross the pegged cloth, which gave
way to his weight and hurled him into the pit.
Immediately the joyful news went round, the
villagers assembled in their thousands and made
the forest ring with their shouts of exultation,
and abuse of the tiger and his relatives for
several generations. The magistrate was com-
municated with, and he thought the catch so
good that the tiger ought to be sent to the
Calcutta Zoo. There was no doubt it was the
terrible man-eater, as the marks of the burn
inflicted on it by the Kol were plainly visible.

The Zoo authorities sent up a portable cage on
wheels. An inclined plane was cut leading from" the
exterior of the ring fence to the bottom of the pit
and the cage, with door toward the pit, was gradu-
ally lowered. On nearing the pit the door was shut
and the men from inside the cage cautiously worked
through the bars until the intervening earth was
removed. On the barrier of earth being removed,
the tiger rushed furiously at the iron bars, but the
stout iron resisted all his efforts. When all was

TRAPPING A MAN-EATER. 307

ready the door was cautiously raised and the tiger
hustled with long spears. He made for the open
door, which was dropped on his entrance, and the
famous Gidhour man-eater was now a close prisoner.
Hundreds of willing hands took hold of the ropes
attached to the cage and drew it amid resounding
shouts to the surface. The old women and the
village children assembled in crowds, and throwing
pebbles at the tiger invited him to come now and
eat them. " We will singe your whiskers and burn
your tail, you coward/' shouted they. This was
kept up till the Gidhour station was reached, quite
a multitude of persons joining the cortege, until the
cage, with its contents, was safely entrained and
on the way to Calcutta. Visitors to the Zoo at
Alipore may still see this dreaded brute, a label on
the cage giving the necessary information to
identify him.

THE END.

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