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Boston   Public   Library 

Do  not  write  in  this  book  or  mark  it  with  pen  or 
pencil.      Penalties    for    so    doing    are    imposed    by    the 
Revised  Laws  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts. 

This  book   teas  issued  to   the  borrotver    on  the  date 
last    stamped    below. 

1111   i  ^  s 

JUL    \.^^    ^ 

n 

'  -1^  \  .' -;  Ij!; 

0 

B.P.L.   FORM  NO.   609:  3.13,42:  SS2H. 


SPORT 

ON  THE  NILGIRIS 

AND  IN  WYNAAD 


K^' 


BY 

F.  W.  F.  FLETCHER 


MACMILLAN    AND   CO.,   LIMITED 

ST.    MARTIN'S   STREET,   LONDON       ^ 

I  ^9M  AC 


Richard  Clav  and  Sons,  Limited, 
brunswick  street,  stamford  street,  s.e. 
and  bungay,  suffolk. 


TO    MY    450 


Let  love-sick  swains 

In  Cupid's  chains 

Bound  fast,  prate  of  their  blisses  ; 

And  rave  and  swear 

Naught  can  compare 

With  soft  vows,  sealed  with  kisses. 

Let  Britons  bold 

The  maxim  hold 

That  Cricket 's  life's  elixir  ; 

No  greater  bliss 

To  them  than  this — 

"  Well  hit  !  by  Jove  a  sixer  ! " 

Let  Scots  proclaim 

The  "Royal  Game 

Of  Golf"  without  a  rival ; 

And  quaff  a  brew 

Of  Mountain  Dew 

To  welcome  its  revival. 

Let  horsey  boys 

Chant  loud  the  joys 

Of  Polo's  mimic  battle  ; 

Strive  heart  and  soul 

To  reach  the  goal 

Mid  rush  and  "cuss"  and  rattle. 


Let  those  who  think 

That  dropping  "  chink  " 

In  vain  attempts  at  tracing 

Each  winning  "gee  " 

Is  ecstasy, 

Sing  hey  the  charm  of  Racing. 

Let  some  opine 

That  joy  divine 

Is  found  in  thee.  Lawn  Tennis  ; 

Pat-ball  at  best, 

And  I  protest 

That  "joy  "  beyond  my  ken  is. 

But  what  are  these, 

Which  others  please. 

To  US,  who  know  the  measure 

Of  bliss  past  speech 

Which  those  can  reach, 

Who  count  thee  first,  my  treasure 

Then  while  kind  Fate 

To  hold  thee  straight 

Gives  me  the  power,  I'll  stifle 

All  love,  save  love 

Of  thy  bright  groove — 

My  little,  trusty  RIFLE  ! 


PREFACE 

Someone  has  said,  and  said  truly,  that  any  "  fore- 
word "  which  touches  on  the  subject  matter  of  the  book 
to  which  it  is  prefixed,  must  be  either  the  preface 
apologetic  or  the  preface  defiant,  and  that  each  is 
equally  an  insult  to  the  reader.  For  if  an  author 
honestly  believes  it  is  necessary  to  apologise  for  the 
shortcomings  of  his  book  beforehand,  obviously  his 
right  course  is  not  to  publish  the  book  at  all ;  while  if 
he  indulges  in  prefatory  self-laudation,  he  usurps  the 
mantle  of  the  critic,  the  reader's  undoubted  prerog- 
ative. Steering,  then,  between  the  Scylla  of  apology 
and  the  Charybdis  of  defiance,  I  will  leave  my  book 
severely  alone,  and  will  only  say  that  its  object  is 
to  fill  a  gap  in  the  sporting  literature  of  India. 
There  are  books  galore  on  sport  in  Northern  India 
and  the  Central  Provinces  :  sport  in  Mysore  has  found 
an  inimitable  chronicler  in  G.  P.  Sanderson  :  and  other 
well-known  shooting  grounds  have  received  their  due 
meed  of  notice.  But  I  know  of  only  two  books,  both 
published  many  years  ago,  which  deal  with  sport  on 
the  Nilgiris,  and  of  none  which  takes  as  its  venue 
that  grand  shooting  country  the  Wynaad.  The  first  of 
these  books  is  a  brochure  entitled  "  Game,"  by  Hawk- 
eye  (the  late  General  Richard  Hamilton),  and  comprises 
a  series  of  fugitive  papers  written  for  a  local  news- 
paper, some  of  which  are  breezy  descriptions  of  different 


viii  PREFACE 

phases  of  Nilgiri  sport.  These  articles  are  entertaining 
and  instructive  ;  but  (as  I  feel  sure  the  genial  author 
would  be  the  first  to  acknowledge  could  his  spirit  be 
interviewed  in  the  Shades)  were  never  intended  to  be 
anything  more  than  the  lightest  sketches.  The  other 
book  was  written  by  the  late  G.  A.  R.  Dawson,  and  is 
called  "Nilgiri  Sporting  Reminiscences."  The  author's 
drawings,  a  few  brief  notes  by  the  late  Charles  Have- 
lock,  and  a  chapter  on  the  Ooty  Hunt  by  "  Brooksby" 
of  the  Field,  make  this  volume  of  value  :  of  the  rest 
of  the  letterpress  I  will  not  speak.  A  few  chapters  in 
the  "  Old  Forest  Ranger  "  also  touch  on  Nilgiri  sport, 
but  these  can  hardly  be  taken  seriously.  So  the  odd 
fact  remains  that  though  the  sport  afforded  by  the 
Nilgiris  and  the  Wynaad  is  varied  and  in  some  respects 
unique,  and  though  these  hills  have  been  the  happy 
hunting  grounds  of  a  long  line  of  famous  Nimrods, 
only  fragmentary  descriptions  of  the  Natural  History 
and  sport  of  the  Blue  Mountains  have  as  yet  been 
written,  and  thus,  even  in  these  latter  days,  there  is 
room  for  a  book  on  the  subject. 

My  book  is  an  attempt  to  fill  this  hiatus. 

I  fear  there  may  be  some  readers  who  will  not  dip 
very  far  into  this  volume  before  they  throw  it  down 
with  a  "  pshaw !  another  of  those  wonderful  men 
who  never  go  out  without  seeing  game,  and  who  never 
shoot  without  killing."  Let  me  disarm  such  critics  by 
saying  at  once  that,  like  every  man  who  shoots  much, 
I  have  had  my  full  share  of  blank  days.  But  a  record 
of  these  would  make  very  poor  reading  ;  and  so,  in 
illustrating  the  various  phases  of  Nilgiri  sport  by  in- 
cidents from  my  shooting  journal,  I  have  purposely 
chosen  those  which  had  a  successful  ending.  If,  there- 
fore, my  book  should  make  me  appear  to  have  been 


PREFACE  ix 

unduly  fortunate,  I  would  bid  the  reader  remember 
that  the  illusion  has  been  presented  in  his  own  interest 
— an  illusion  for  which,  after  this  candid  avowal,  every 
just  and  discriminating  critic  will  hold  me  blameless. 

I  have  thought  it  well  to  give  a  description  of  the 
country  with  which  the  book  deals.  But  a  history  of 
the  Nilgiris  and  the  Wynaad  is  far  too  large  a  subject 
to  be  adequately  handled  within  the  narrow  limits  of  a 
single  chapter — all  the  space  I  can  spare  ;  and  I  have 
merely  been  able  to  give  a  cursory  survey  of  the  two 
plateaux,  with  the  view  of  affording  the  reader  a  glimpse 
of  the  magnificent  country  in  which  sixteen  of  the  best, 
and  withal  the  happiest,  years  of  my  life  have  been  spent. 

A  few  of  the  incidents  recorded  in  these  pages 
appeared  originally  in  the  Asian,  and  I  am  much  in- 
debted to  the  late  proprietor  of  that  paper  for  allowing 
me  to  reproduce  them  here.  My  thanks  are  also  due 
to  Mr.  A.  T.  W.  Penn,  the  well-known  photographer 
of  Ootacamund,  for  permission  to  use  his  fine  series 
of  animal  photographs.  Mr.  R.  Lydekker  has  been 
kind  enough  to  go  through  the  list  of  Mammals  and 
Game  Birds  found  on  the  Nilgiris  and  in  Wynaad, 
given  in  Appendix  I,  and  his  approval  makes  this 
list  authoritative. 

F.  W.  F.  F. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Dedication  and  Preface v  and  vii 


CHAPTER  I. 

The  Nilgiris. — Physical  description— Shape— Ranges  :  the  Nidumallais 
and  Kundahs — Natural  divisions  :  upper  plateau,  lower  plateau — 
Boundaries— Area — Stations  :  Ootacamund,  Coonoor,  Wellington,  Kot- 
agiri — Population  —  Rivers  — Waterfalls  —  Monsoons  —  Temperature  — 
Rainfall — Climate — Flora  :  sholas  of  the  plateau  proper  :  the  deciduous 
forests  :  the  evergreen  forests  :  orchids  —  History  :  Roy's  mission — 
Ferreira's  mission — Buchanan's  visit — Keys'  survey — Mr.  Sullivan's  visit 
— First  mention  of  "  Wotakymund  " — Surgeon  Orton's  report — Mr. 
Sullivan  builds  the  first  house — Ward's  survey — First  Gudalur  Ghat 
opened — Gazalhatti  and  Karkur  Ghats  opened — Effect  of  Mr.  Sullivan's 
zeal — Lake  formed — Rapid  progress  in  settlement — Sir  T.  Munro — Mr. 
S.  R.  Lushington— Church,  School,  Club,  and  Jail  built — First  Coonoor 
Ghat  opened — Sir  F.  Adam — Lord  Elphinstone — First  coffee  estates 
opened — Marquis  of  Tweeddale — Wellington  barracks  built — Rapid 
growth  of  Ootacamund^Administration  :  transfer  of  hills  to  Malabar — 
Re-transfer  of  eastern  portion  to  Coimbatore — Western  portion  and 
Kundahs  placed  under  jurisdiction  of  Ootacamund  Court  —  Malabar 
portion  annexed  to  Coimbatore — The  Nilgiris  formed  into  separate 
district — Mr.  Breeks  first  Commissioner — Ouchterlony  Valley  and  South- 
East  Wynaad  added — The  Nilgiris  formed  into  a  CoUectorate — Contrast 
between  past  and  present. 

The  Wynaad.— Physical  description — Panorama  from  edge  of  Nilgiri  plateau 
— Settlements:  Gudalur,  Devala,-Pundalur,  Cherambadi,  Devara  Shola, 
Nellakota,  Nelliyalam — Climate — Effect  of  European  settlement — Rain- 
fall— -Monsoons — Rivers — Waterfalls — Marpanmadi  ridge  and  chief  eleva- 
tions— History  :  lack  of  early  records  owing  to  isolated  position — Ruins 
and  old  gold  workings  only  evidence — The  Ganga  kings — The  Kadambas 
— The  Hoysalas — The  Delhi  Muhammedans — Madhava  Dannayaka — 
The  Vijayanagar  dynasty — Battle  of  Talikota,  Vijayanagar  king  defeated 
by  Dekkan  Muhammedans — Rajah  Wodeyar  seizes  Seringapatam — 
Wynaad  passes  under  his  rule — Hiatus  of  150  years — Kottayam  Rajah — 
Kerala  Varma  Rajah — The  "  Pychy  rebel  "— Tippu  Sultan  seizes  Wynaad 
— Second  Mysore  War — Wynaad  ceded  by  Tippu  to  the  English,  and 
placed  under  the    Government   of  Bombay — Kerala  Varma   restored — 


xii  CONTENTS 


Rebels  and  flees  to  Wynaad — Pardoned  and  intrigues  with  Tippu — 
Proclaimed — Captured,  pardoned  and  pensioned — Wynaad  restored  to 
Tippu — Fall  of  Seringapatam — Wynaad  finally  ceded  to  the  East  India 
Company — Kerala  Varma  refuses  to  recognise  cession — Five  years'  war 
— Kerala  Varma  killed — Introduction  of  the  coffee  plant — Mr.  Brown 
opens  first  estate  near  Manantavadi— Ouchterlony  Valley  opened — 
Estates  in  Nilgiri-Wynaad  begun — Ghat  estates  —  Estates  in  deciduous 
belt — The  gold  boom — ^Effect  on  coffee — Introduction  of  the  cinchona 
tree — Rise  and  fall  of  the  industry — Introduction  of  the  tea  plant — 
Success  of  Nellakota  as  a  tea  district — Present  position  of  the  industry — 
Introduction  of  rubber — Minor  products — Fascination  exercised  by  the 
Wynaad 1-46 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  Elephant. — Nomenclature — Height — Sir  V.  Brooke's  tusker — Skeleton 
in  Calcutta  Museum — Height  in  Wynaad — Record  weight,  girth,  and 
length  of  tusks — Their  structure — Dentition — Tuskers  and  muknas^ 
Tushes  in  female — Colour — Nails — The  trunk— Gait — Distribution — 
Habits  of  elephants  in  Wynaad — Breeding  season — Period  of  gestation — • 
Size  of  herds — On  the  march — Rogue  elephants — Timidity  of  elephants — 
Rogues,  females  with  calves,  and  vittst  elephants  excepted — Fear  of 
elephants  exhibited  by  the  jungle  tribes — Sight,  hearing,  and  smell — 
Incident  showing  development  of  last  named  sense — Elephant  shooting — 
Study  of  skull  essential — The  brain  shot — Body  shots  deprecated — ■  . 
Weapons — The  danger  trumpet — Silent  retreat — The  charge — Pace- 
Habits — Food — Love  of  water— The  morning  bath — Elephants  as 
swimmers — The  mud  coat — Rubbing  and  digging  places — Must — 
Sounds  made  by  elephants — Pitfalls — The  Keddah  system — Its  singular 
neglect  by  Government — How  pits  are  made — The  detective's 
adventure —  Sagacity  of  elephants — Sanderson's  view  challenged  .    .    .   47- 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  Elephant  (c(7«^2«zi!erf) —The  old  ruthless  days — The  Elephant  Act — 
Plea  on  behalf  of  the  elephant — And  of  the  hunting  instinct — Incident 
showing  cruelty  of  body  shots — The  Bison  Valley  rogue  kills  two 
Nayakas — He  charges  back  and  escapes — My  second  chance  spoilt  by 
my  trackers — Meet  the  rogue  in  the  dark — His  encounter  with  herd 
tuskers — The  fight  and  its  result — We  follow  the  victors  into  the 
Sanctuary— i1/?«^  in  elephants  and  its  effects — A  viust  elephant  turns 
man-killer — His  vagaries — He  meets  his  fate — A  newly  caught  female — 
The  procession — The  kraal — Faculty  for  noiseless  movement — Chic 
Mara  is  "  blown  over  " — Ability  to  negotiate  dangerous  ground — The 
Sanctuary  tuskers — They  cross  my  boundary — The  chase 89-121 


CONTENTS  xiii 


CHAPTER  IV. 

PAGE 

The  Tiger.— Classification— Wynaad  not  a  happy  hunting  ground— The 
tiger's  vocal  accomplishments — Roared  at  by  a  tiger— Colour — 
Melanoid  and  albino  tigers— Pairing  and  cubs— Length— 12  foot  tiger 
not  a  myth— The  Nilgiri  record— How  tigers  kill  their  prey— Con- 
noisseurs of  beef— Kills  always  dragged  to  cover — The  tiger's  appetite — 
His  wanderings— Monkeys  as  markers — Tigers  arrant  cowards — 
Intrepidity  of  a  man-eater— Climbing  powers— The  "  pheal  "— Howdah 
shooting— Beating— Rules  to  ensure  safety  of  beaters— Stops— Knowledge 
of  ground  essential — Danger  of  firing  too  soon — The  shooting  ladder — 
How  the  beat  should  be  organised — Machan  shooting— Charm  of  the 
evening  watch — Reasons  for  failure — Time  of  tiger's  return — Following 
wounded  tiger  into  cover — Precautions — The  best  weapon — Buck  shot — 
Tiger  netting— poison,  traps,  and  pits — Native  description  of  trapping! — 
Playing  football  with  a  man-eater  !!— "  A  Royal  Tiger  Shot  !!!"  .    .    1 25-161 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Tiger  (continuea). — Does  a  tiger  always  make  a  circuit  round  his 
kill? — Incident  in  support  of  the  theory — A  successful  vigil — R's 
adventure — A  curious  rencontre  with  a  tiger — Kempa's  news — At  close 
quarters — Tiger's  odd  behaviour  explained — The  tiger  a  shy  animal — 
Faculty  for  concealment — A  mutual  surprise — A  cooly's  narrow  escape — 
Stripes  of  the  cross-ways — My  vigil — A  shot  by  moonlight — Vain  search — 
The  tiger  found — X's  adventure — Popguns — The  cook  boy's  luck — Effect 
of  a  charge  of  buck  shot — Its  use  advocated  in  following  into  cover — 
Stalked  by  a  tiger— Tiger-spearing  in  Wynaad — Netting  the  tiger^The 
night  watch — The  stage  set  for  Man  versus  Tiger — The  crowd — The  net — 
The  banquet — The  spears — The  "Rajah"  arrives — The  incantation — 
The  charge  :  hubet ! — Plucky  Paniyans — The  death 162-205. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Leopard. — Nomenclature— Exit  Felis  jubata — Identity  of  leopard  and 
panther — The  so-called  distinctions — Colour — Size — Food  of  the  small 
leopard— His  habitat — Food  of  the  panther — His  habitat  — Man-killing 
leopards — How  leopards  kill  their  prey — Are  kills  concealed?— Climbing 
powers — The  black  leopard — Only  a  lustis  natiircE—\Y\s>  coloration — 
Meet  a  black  leopard  on  the  Kundahs — My  gun  cooly's  folly — A  black 
leopard  in  a  tree  —Spearing  a  black  leopard — The  net  gives — Speared  in 
the  open — The  tail-tip  stolen — Boldness  in  returning  to  kill — A  leopard's 


xiv  CONTENTS 


odd  conduct— Does  he  feign  death  to  induce  his  prey  to  approach  ?— Rajah 
taken  from  the  verandah  of  my  bungalow — Fairy  carried  off  at  my  feet — 
Lady  seized — Hamilton  peppers  the  thief— Flirt  seized — My  umbrella 
suffers — The  trap — A  neighbour  traps  a  fine  leopard — The  unfortunate 
bait — Leopard's  meal  usually  begun  with  forequarter  of  kill — Bingo's 
murderer  neglects  the  rule — Marvellous  faculty  for  covert  approach — 
Bingo  avenged — Sugar  taken— My  vigil  over  her  body — "  Do  I  wake, 
do  I  dream,  or  is  \-isions  about?" — The  leopard's  eyes  betray  him — Sugar 
avenged— The  Paniyan's  tale — I  investigate — A  fruitless  watch — The 
panther  returns  to  the  kill — The  beat  blank— Chic  Mara  to  the  rescue — 
He  solves  the  puzzle— I  wound  the  panther — His  display  of  impotent 
rage — We  follow  him  into  cover — Finis — A  magnificent  specimen — Chic 
Mara  gives  the  Paniyans  away 207-23S. 


CHAPTER  VH. 

The  Bison. — Nomenclature — Description — Some  good  heads^The  record — 
Horns — Height — Colour — Range — An  in\nolable  sanctuary — Herd  bulls 
— Solitar}'  bulls — Flight  often  mistaken  for  fight — An  example — Food — 
Habits — Bulls  in  company — Breeding  season — Origin— Bison  Valley — 
Chic  Mara  nearly  wiped  out — Timidity  of  unwounded  bulls — News  of  the 
Colossus — A  wonderful  panorama — We  find  the  morning  track  and 
follow — A  second  bull  crosses — The  monster  in  sight — I  bag  him — A 
blank  week — Our  luck  changes — We  find  a  solitary  bull — The  8  bore  out 
of  action — A  narrow  shave — We  follow  next  morning — The  bull  charges— 
Masigan's  asylum — End  of  the  fight — A  snap  shot — The  bull  holds  on — 
Hamilton  and  I  follow  next  day— The  bull  keeps  ahead — A  tense  moment 
— Hamilton  throws  up  the  sponge — I  outwit  the  bull— My  reward  for  the 
long  fag — A  valuable  secret ! — Sanderson's  ad\'ice  traversed — Cunning 
displayed  by  wounded  bull — A  grand  pair — Chic  Mara  saves  me  from  a 
mishap — The  wounded  bull  charges — A  well  deserved  eulogium — The 
difiicult  art  of  tracking— Its  study  doubles  the  delight  of  sport    .    .    .  239-2S0 


CHAPTER  VHL 

The  Bear. — Nomenclature — Gait — Pace — Coloration  —  Claws — Length  — 
Cubs — Pairing  season — Food — Sight,  hearing,  and  smell — Phenomenal 
development  of  last  named  sense — Noises  made  by  bears— Why  they 
fight  on  being  disturbed — The  sloth  bear  very  far  from  a  "harmless" 
animal — Wounds  inflicted  by  bears — "Hugging"  a  fallacy — The  bear 
nocturnal  in  his  wanderings — A  favourite  road  for  bears — An  unexpected 
meeting — A  night  adventure — A  shot  by   moonlight — My   writer's  ad- 


CONTENTS  XV 


venture — An  unprovoked  attack — A  bear  in  an  atti  tree — A  noisy  dinner — 
WTiich  I  disturb — The  search  amongst  the  caves — My  writer  disappears — 
And  re-appears  wrong  side  up — The  wounded  bear  bagged — A  happy 
trio — Their  harmony  interrupted — The  survivors  indulge  in  a  scrapping 
match— I  bag  another— Effect  of  No.  6  bullet  from  my  '450  Cordite 
rifle 281-301 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Nilgiri  Wild  Goat. — Nomenclature — Distinctions  between  Himalayan 
tahr  and  Nilgiri  ibex — Coloration — The  "  brown  buck " — The  "saddle 
back  " — Horns — The  record — Height — Distribution — Isolated  habitat 
curious  in.  view  of  long  stretch  of  suitable  country  trending  northwards 
— Predilection  for  open  country — Size  of  heads — Salutary  effect  of  the 
Game  Act — Habits — The  sentinel  doe — Approach  from  above — Breeding 
season — Charm  of  ibex  shooting — In  camp  with  J. — The  sublime  view 
from  the  cliff's— Sight  a  herd  of  six  ibex  below — Out  on  the  cliff — Both 
bucks  go  over — The  return  journey  a  skeery  experience — J's  first  sight  of 
the  cliffs — My  lost  buck — Another  herd  of  three — A  good  brown  buck — 
Striking  effect  of  light  and  shade— We  shift  camp — Famed  Mukarti — A 
herd  of  five — A  tiger  takes  a  hand  in  the  game — The  tiffin  cooly  spoils 
our  plans — A  tribute  to  our  sable  chef- — A  jaunr  with  H.  to  the  Waterfall 
— A  herd  of  nine — A  saddleback  joins  them — An  exciting  stalk — Fate's 
birthday  gift — More  luck— Fascination  of  the  Kundahs 303-329 


CHAPTER  X. 


The  Sambur. — Distribution — Divergence  in  size  of  horns — Coloration — 
The  distinctive  mane — Horns — Formation — Sports — Abnormal  horns  and 
their  cause — ^^^len  horns  are  shed — Exceptions — "Josh" — A  happy 
family — Josh  as  a  lover  of  the  ladies — Hair  on  neck  and  back  erectile — 
"Swinging  places" — Josh  solves  the  riddle — His  sad  end — The  record 
head  in  point  of  length — Other  fine  heads — The  Nilgiri  record — Uniform 
system  of  measurements  advocated — Stag  solitary  while  antlers  are 
developing — Th  rutting  season — Belligerent  stags — Period  of  gestation 
— Breeding  season —Sambur  as  nocturnal  animals — Are  wild  animals 
guided  by  a  sixth  sense  in  the  dark  ? — Forms — The  sambur's  bell — His 
toleration  of  man's  society — His  foes — His  claim  to  the  title  of  "king  of 
Indian  deer  " — His  cunning — A  'cute  stag — Bill  marks  him  down — The 
beat— Pandemonium  let  loose — B's  wonderful  shot — The  big  stag  non  est 


xvi  CONTENTS 


— We  beat  the  shola  again— The  big  stag  breaks— A  grand  head — The 
Wizard — I  wipe  "Dawson's"  eye — A  group  of  stags — The  patriarch — 
A  stag  under  Rockwood  Peak — A  friendly  mist  curtain — Does  a  sambur 
bell  at  sight  of  a  man? — Incident  to  disprove  the  theory — Havelock's 
experience— My  hermit  life  is  rudely  disturbed — The  metamorphosis — 
That  awful  ladder  ! — A  fruitless  watch  for  a  tiger — Another  for  a 
leopard — Camp  on  Rockwood  Peak — The  journey — View  from  Needle- 
rock — An  uncomfortable  night— Camp  made  snug — First  blood — Miss 
C.  scorns  concealment — Another  successful  stalk — A  grand  stag  escapes 
— R.  sees  a  tiger  on  his  native  heath — Serenaded  by  a  leopard — Bag  a 
third  stag — The  big  one  escapes  again — End  of  the  trip 331-379 


CHAPTER   XI. 

The  Spotted  Deer.— The  Adonis  of  the  deer  tribe— Coloration — Horns— 
The  record  head — Only  one  species  thoughout  India — Confined  to  the  . 
bamboo  belt — His  favourite  habitat— Size  oi  herds— Habits— Rutting 
season — The  spotted  deer's  call — Impudent  marauders — The  stag's  siesta 
— The  stalk— The  stag  bagged— Chic  Mara  goes  for  the  Paniyan — And  I 
make  the  punishment  fit  the  crime. 

The  Muntjac. — Nomenclature — Distribution — Coloration — Horns — Sports 
—When  horns  are  shed— The  record  head— Usually  in  pairs— Wariness,.  . 
— Pace — Clicking  caused  by  canines — They  are  formidable  weapons  of 
defence— Gait— The  muntjac's  "  roar  "—His  call  at  sight  or  smell  of  a 
tiger — Period  of  gestation — Breeding  and  rutting  seasons — Common  on 
both  plateaux— Stalking — Aright  and  left. 

The   Mouse   Deer. — Distribution   and   range — Coloration — Call — Rutting 

and  breeding  seasons — A  pretty  pet 3^1-394 


CHAPTER  XII. 


The  Wild  Dog. — Nomenclature — Coloration — An  arrant  knave — Runs 
mute — Size  of  packs — His  usual  quarry — Damage  to  game — How  he  pulls 
down  his  prey — His  phenomenal  impudence — Hunting  of  tigers  a 
fiction — A  pack  below  Rockwood  Peak— I  bag  three— A  chase  past  my 
front  door— I  get  three  more— The  Wild  Dog  the  curse  of  the  country. 

Small  Game. — The  tabu  on  woodcock  shooting— The  first  cock  of  the 
season— The  Nilgiri  menu— The  Wynaad  menu— The  woodcock— The 
wood  snipe— The  solitary  snipe— The  pintail  snipe— The  jack  snipe— 
The  painted  snipe 395-409 


CONTENTS  xvii 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

PAGE 

On  Rifles.  —  The  passing  of  the  black  powder  rifle  —  My  first  battery — 
Express  rifles — My  double  eight  bore — The  Paradox — Cordite  high 
velocity  rifles — The  "256 — The  '450 — The  "600 — Other  cordite  rifles — 
The  "450  the  pick  of  the  basket — Its  importation  into  India  proscribed — 
Substitutes  for  the  '450 — The  perfect  battery  for  Indian  shooting — 
Advantages  of  nitro  rifles  over  black  powder  rifles — Bullets — Drawbacks 
attendant  on  nitro  rifles — Necessity  for  cleaning  directly  after  use — Axite 
powder — Recoil — Early  mistakes — Accidents  due  to  the  use  of  ordinary 
cordite  in  place  of  modified  cordite — Safety  of  modern  cordite  rifles — 
Cleaning 411-424 

Appendices      I. — Mammals  and  Game  Birds 427 

II. — Rules  and  Orders  on  the  Preservation  of  Game  and  Fish    439 
III.  — Practical  Hints  on  the  Preservation  of  Skins 453 

Glossary 456 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


Map  of  the  Nilgiris  and  the  Nilgiri-Wynaad 
Needlerock  from  the  Author's  Bungalow 

The  Indian  Elephant 

A  Nayaka  Village 

The  Tiger 

"The  next  moment  the  dead  tiger  was  the  centre 

of  a  jabbering  crowd" 

The  Leopard 

The  Bison 

The  Dying  Bison 

Chic  Mara 

The  Bear 

The  Nilgiri  Ibex 

The  Sambur         .        .        .        .  - 

Needlerock 

In  Camp 

The  Spotted  Deer 

The  Muntjac 

The  Mouse  Deer 

The  Wild  Dog 


Frontispiece 
To  face  page        30 

49 

96 

127 


171 
209 
241 
272 
278 
283 
305 
333 
373 
376 
383 
390 
393 
397 


h^ 


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MAP 

OF      THE 
Scale.  1  Inch  3 Mies. 


76°30'Eastor  Grcenwidi, 


irV 


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1  m 


li 


ADDENDA    ET    CORRIGENDA. 


kGE 

I.  Heading,     "The     Nilgiris."     Add    footnote,     Nila=blue,     giri: 
mountain. 

I.     Under  verse  heading  enter  "  Kipling." 

)3.  Line  14,     /or  "Pundaliur"  reaa  "  Pundalur." 
)i.       ,,     16,    for  "  where  "  read  "  near  vihich." 
Di.       ,,      8,     de/e^e  comma  at  end  of  line. 
35.       ,,     14,    for  "bet  he  "  read  " ba  the." 


r 


\-.  "? 


THE    NILGIRIS    AND    THE 
NILGIRI-WYNAAD 


THE  NILGIRIS 

"  Who  hath  desired  the  sea  ?     His  sea  that  his  being 
fulfils?  .... 
So  and  no  otherwise,  so  and  no  otherwise, 
Hillmen  desire  their  Hills." 

The  Peninsula  of  India  is  in  shape  a  triangle,  the 
east  and  west  sides  of  which  converge  rapidly  to  an 
acute  angle  at  Cape  Comorin.  Down  these  sides, 
— known  as  the  Coromandel  and  Malabar  Coasts — 
run  the  Eastern  Ghats  and  the  Western  Ghats,  or 
Sahyadris,  respectively.  The  latter,  which  throughout 
their  course  are  far  higher  and  bolder  than  the  eastern 
range,  approach  the  coast  in  North  Malabar  ;  thence 
they  trend  in  a  south-easterly  direction,  and  culminate 
in  the  two  grand  bluffs  of  Nilgiri  Peak  (8,  ii8  ft.) 
and  Sispara  Peak  (8,096  ft.).  Within  these  limits, 
— the  two  peaks  forming  the  north  and  south 
points  of  its  western  face — the  Nilgiri  plateau  rises, 
and  running  at  right  angles  to  the  strike  of  the 
Sahyadris,  links  the  Western  with  the  Eastern 
Ghats.  From  Nilgiri  Peak  the  north  face  of  the 
plateau  pursues  a  fairly  level  line ;  from  Sispara 
Peak  the  south  face  runs  obliquely  north-east,  till 
it  meets  the  opposite  frontier  in  the  bold  headland 
of  Rangaswami's  Pillar, — a  hill  which  marks  at  once 

B  2 


THE   NILGIRIS 


the  eastern  angle  of  the  plateau  and  the  point 
of  junction  between  the  western  mountains  and  the 
eastern  hills.  In  shape,  therefore,  the  Nilgiri  table- 
land may  be  described  as  a  right-angled  triangle,  the 
right  angle  being  marked  by  Nilgiri  Peak  at  the  point 
where  the  north  and  west  frontiers  meet  :  the  shortest 
side  being  the  western  line  of  the  Kundahs  ;  and  the 
longest  side  the  south  face,  from  Sispara  to  Ranga- 
swami's  Pillar. 

This  plateau  lies  between  latitude  1 1°  8'  and  1 1°  87' 
north,  and  longitude  76°  27'  and  ']']''  4.'  east.  Two 
ranges,  the  Nilgiris  proper  or  Nidumallais,  and  the 
Kundahs,  are  usually  held  to  be  comprised  within 
its  limits ;  but  they  are  by  no  means  distinct,  the 
rolling  grass  uplands  of  the  middle  and  western 
Nidumallais  merging  insensibly  into  the  rugged 
Kundahs  on  the  extreme  west.  Both  ranges 
pursue  generally  a  north  and  south  direction. 
The  Nidumallais  stretch  north  towards  the  edge  of 
the  plateau  overlooking  Mysore  in  undulating  hills: 
the  eastern  slopes  run  out  in  foot-hills  to  the  Coimbatore 
country ;  while  the  western  slopes  drop  down  to  the 
secondary  tableland  of  Wynaad  in  a  sharp  though  not 
precipitous  fall.  To  the  south  the  range  uniformly 
decreases  in  height  till  it  meets  the  level  country 
known  as  the  Palghat  Gap,  through  which  the  railway 
gains  access  to  the  coast.  The  Kundahs  are  infinitely 
grander ;  and  on  their  western  face  they  fall  to  the 
plain  of  Malabar  in  a  sheer  precipice,  some  thousands 
of  feet  in  height.  The  casual  visitor,  confining  his 
excursions  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Ootacamuad,  takes 
away  a  very  erroneous  impression  of  the  Nilgiris.  To 
gain  an  adequate  idea  of  these  mountains,  he  must 
climb  to  the  summit  of  one  of  the  giant  peaks  of  the 


THE   NILGIRIS 


Kundahs,  and  survey  the  plateau  from  there.  Seen 
from  such  a  vantage  point,  the  Nilgiris  compare  not 
unfavourably  in  point  of  grandeur  with  any  mountain 
range  of  their  size  in  the  world. 

An  upper  and  a  lower  plateau  are  comprised  in  the 
Nidumallais,  the  line  of  division  being  the  Doda- 
betta  ridge.  The  upper  step,  which  is  about  1,500 
feet  higher  than  the  eastern  one,  embraces  the 
tract  lying  between  the  Dodabetta  ridge  and  the 
Kundahs,  and  is  called  by  the  natives  the  Melnad 
(upland  country).  The  western  spurs  of  Dodabetta, 
on  which  the  town  of  Ootacamund  is  built,  are 
more  or  less  broken  and  steep ;  but,  as  indicated 
above,  they  lose  their  rugged  character  a  short 
distance  from  Ootacamund,  and  run  out  to  the 
Kundahs  in  low,  rounded,  grass  hills.  After  the  junc- 
tion of  these  uplands  with  the  Kundah  chain,  the  country 
rises  into  a  series  of  fantastic  peaks,  and  the  plateau 
assumes  a  grander,  bolder  aspect  than  before. 

The  lower  plateau  starts  from  the  east  and  south 
faces  of  Dodabetta,  and  takes  in  the  eastern  portion 
of  the  tableland.  The  central  ridge  alluded  to  above 
has  the  peak  of  Dodabetta  (8,642  ft,  the  highest 
of  the  range)  as  its  southern,  and  Snowdon  peak 
(8,299  ft.)  as  its  northern  boundary. 

The  Nilgiri  plateau  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the 
Mysore  country,  on  the  north-west,  south,  and  west 
by  the  district  of  Malabar,  and  on  the  south-east, 
east,  and  north-east  by  the  district  of  Coimbatore. 
Its  greatest  length  is  about  thirty-five  miles,  and 
its  breadth  about  twenty  miles.  It  comprises  an 
area  of  957  square  miles,  with  a  population  according 
to  the  census  of  1901  of  111,437  souls,  and  contains 
four  settlements  or  stations. 


THE   NILGIRIS 


Ootacamund,  the  oldest  settlement,  is  on  the  higher 
plateau,  and  lies  in  the  basin  between  two  spurs 
running  out  from  Dodabetta.  The  highest  point  of 
the  southern  spur  is  Elk  Hill  (8,090  ft.)  and  of  the 
northern,  Club  Hill  (8,030  ft.).  It  takes  its  name  from 
the  old  Toda  mund  (village)  in  the  Botanic  Gardens, 
near  which  the  first  house  was  built ;  though  I  have 
seen  some  fanciful  derivations  for  the  name.  The 
oddest  is  the  one  which  avers  that  when  Mr.  Sullivan 
was  bargaining  with  the  Todas  for  the  land  he 
acquired  near  Stonehouse,  the  headman,  who  boasted 
a  smattering  of  English,  said  "  Pay  me,  and  you  tak' 
the  mund,"  and  hence  the  settlement  was  dubbed 
Utakamund  ! 

Coonoor,  ten  miles  south-east  of  Ootacamund,  is 
situated  at  the  head  of  a  grand  gorge  facing  the 
low  country,  up  which  wind  the  ghat  road  and  the 
railway.  There  is  a  striking  difference  between  the 
vegetation  here  and  at  the  older  settlement.  Round 
Coonoor,  owing  to  the  lower  elevation  and  warmer 
climate,  it  is  sub-tropical,  while  at  Ootacamund  it 
savours  distinctly  of  the  temperate  zone.  An  equally 
marked  difference  exists  between  the  climate  of  the 
two  stations,  Coonoor  being  warmer,  and  perhaps 
more  relaxing,  than  Ootacamund  with  its  cold  but 
invigorating  air.  The  elevation  of  Coonoor  is  a  little 
under  6,000  feet. 

WellingtoUy  the  military  station,  lies  in  a  valley  a 
couple  of  miles  north-east  of  Coonoor,  and  is  more 
sheltered  than  the  latter  from  the  mist  and  wind 
which  at  times  sweep  up  the  funnel  formed  by  the 
Ghat. 

Kotagiri,  twelve  miles  north-east  of  Coonoor,  is 
built  at  the  head  of  a  fine  Ghat,  and  has  an  elevation 


THE  NILGIRIS 


of  6,500  feet.  Possibly  it  possesses  the  best  climate  of 
all  the  hill  stations,  but  it  has  never  been  popular,  and 
is  still  a  small  settlement. 

The  population  of  the  various  stations,  as  determined 
by  the  1901   census,  is  : — 

Ootacamund  ...  ...  ...  18596 

Coonoor      ...  ...  ...  ...  8525 

Wellington  ...  ...  ...  ...  4793 

Kotagiri       ...  ...  ...  ...  5100 

The  Nilgiris  are  remarkably  well  watered,  a  stream 
coursing  down  almost  every  valley  or  gorge  between 
the  hills  ;  but  only  a  few  of  these  are  large  enough  to 
merit  the  name  of  river.  On  the  north  side  of  the 
plateau  the  Pykara  river  rises  near  Mukarti  peak,  and 
for  the  first  part  of  its  course  flows  in  a  north- 
easterly direction.  As  it  approaches  the  edge  of 
the  hills,  it  turns  west,  and  tumbles  in  a  series  of 
cascades  to  the  Wynaad  tableland,  2,500  feet  below. 
Thence,  as  the  Moyar  river,  it  runs  east  along  the 
base  of  the  Nilgiris,  through  the  deep  gorge  known  as 
the  Mysore  Ditch,  and  discharges  into  the  Bhavani  a 
little  north  of  Danayakankota  below  Rangaswami's 
Pillar  in  Coimbatore. 

The  Bhavani  river  follows  the  southern  base  of  the 
Nilgiris,  and  receives  the  numerous  streams  running 
down  the  southern  spurs  of  the  plateau,  its  chief 
feeders  being  the  Kundah  and  Coonoor  streams. 

Many  large  streams  course  down  the  mighty 
western  buttress  of  the  Kundahs,  the  principal  being 
those  rising  to  the  north  and  south  of  Mukarti  peak 
(8,380  feet),  which  unite  on  the  Malabar  plain  to  form 
the  Kurrumpuzha,  one  of  the  chief  feeders  of  the 
Beypur  river.     This  last  receives  a  perfect  network  of 


THE   NILGIRIS 


streams  coming  down  from  the  Wynaad  plateau,  and 
discharges  into  the  sea  below  Calicut,  affording  a 
navigable  waterway  to  the  coast. 

As  might  be  expected  on  a  mountainous  tableland, 
dropping  down  sharply  to  the  plains  on  all  sides, 
waterfalls  are  numerous  ;  but  none  are  of  any  great 
height.  And  curiously  enough,  the  highest  are  on 
the  southern  and  eastern  faces  of  the  plateau,  where 
the  descent  to  the  low  country  is  far  more  gradual 
than  on  the  west.  On  the  south  are  Kolakambi 
Fall,  about  four  hundred  feet,  and  Kateri  Fall, 
one  hundred  and  eighty  feet, — the  latter  being 
harnessed  to  provide  power  for  the  cordite  factory 
at  Aruvenkad  near  Wellington.  On  the  east  is 
St,  Catherine's  Fall,  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet ; 
on  the  north  Kalhatti  Fall,  one  hundred  and  seventy 
feet  ;  while  on  the  north-west  the  Pykara  river 
descends  to  the  Wynaad  in  two  fine  falls,  the  upper 
one  hundred  and  eighty  feet,  the  lower  two  hundred. 
The  western  face  of  the  hills  drops  sheer  to  the 
Malabar  plain  in  a  rocky  wall  some  thousands  of 
feet  in  height,  and  this  face  is  seamed  with  cascades, . 
which,  falling  in  lines  of  silver  through  the  dense 
forest  that  clothes  the  hills  on  this  side  to  the  cliff 
line,  are  picturesque  in  the  extreme,  but  none  is 
important  enough  to  merit  detailed  mention. 

The  higher  part  of  the  plateau,  or  Melnad,  including 
the  station  of  Ootacamund,  is  much  exposed  to  the 
south-west  monsoon,  and  from  the  middle  of  June  to 
the  middle  of  September  high  cold  winds  prevail. 
Coonoor  is  sheltered  by  the  vast  mountain  mass  of 
Dodabetta,  and  during  this  period  possesses  a  far 
pleasanter  climate.  But  during  the  prevalence  of  the 
north-east   monsoon,  the  conditions  are  reversed,   for 


THE  NILGIRlS 


Coonoor,  standing  at  the  edge  of  the  plateau,  is 
exposed  to  the  full  force  of  this  monsoon,  while 
Ootacamund,  on  the  western  slopes  of  Dodabetta,  is 
in  turn  protected  by  that  barrier. 

The  mean  temperature  of  Ootacamund,  calculated 
over  a  long  series  of  years,  is  about  56°,  of  Coonoor 
about  64°,  of  Wellington  62°,  and  of  Kotagiri  62°. 

Statistics  of  rainfall  are  available  for  more  than 
thirty  years,  which  give  Ootacamund  an  average  fall 
of  48^-  inches,  Coonoor  62  inches,  and  Wellington 
nearly  51  inches.  Taking  the  figures  for  all  the 
stations  where  gauges  have  been  maintained  together, 
the  average  for  the  District  works  out  at  60*63  inches. 
This  calculation,  it  should  be  noted,  takes  no  account 
of  the  rainfall  on  the  western  slopes,  or  in  the  Nilgiri- 
Wynaad.  Had  statistics  for  these  portions  of  the 
District  been  included,  the  average  would  be  far 
higher.  These  figures  strikingly  exemplify  to  what  a 
marked  extent  the  rainfall  is  affected  by  situation  in 
a  hilly,  broken  plateau  like  the  Nilgiris.  As  the  crow 
flies,  the  distance  between  Wellington  and  Coonoor 
is  not  much  more  than  a  mile,  yet  the  average  rainfall 
over  three  decades  shows  a  difference  of  no  less  than 
eleven  inches  between  the  two  stations.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  on  the  Nilgiris  every  valley  has 
its  own  climate,  varying  with  the  configuration  of  the 
surrounding  country. 

In  the  winter  season,  from  about  December  to 
February,  at  Ootacamund  the  days  are  fine  and  hot, 
the  nights  cold  and  frosty.  At  this  time  of  the  year 
the  low-lying  valleys  are  frequently  covered  with  hoar 
frost,  while  the  cold  on  the  Kundahs  is  intense. 
Speaking  generally,  it  may  be  said  that  the  climate  of 
the  Nilgiris    is    very    bracing  and    salubrious,  except 


10  THE  NILGIRIS 


perhaps  during  the  early  months  of  the  year,  when  the 
north-east  winds  are  trying. 

With  such  marked  variations  in  altitude,  climate, 
and  rainfall,  the  plateau  naturally  possesses  a  varied 
flora.  Botanically,  the  hills  may  be  divided  into  three 
zones,  each  with  a  distinct  flora,  though  where  the 
zones  meet  the  line  of  division  is  not  sharp. 

(i)  The  sholas  of  the  plateau  proper.  These  woods 
contain  no  trees  of  any  value  as  timber.  They  are 
evergreen  ;  and  though,  owing  to  the  altitude,  the 
trees  are  all  more  or  less  dwarfed,  the  varying 
tints  they  assume  endow  them  with  a  rare  beauty. 
Originally,  these  lovely  sholas  clothed  every  ravine  ; 
but  for  many  years  after  the  settlement  of  the  hills  no 
steps  were  taken  by  Government  towards  their 
preservation,  and  they  were  ruthlessly  destroyed ; 
while  within  the  last  forty  years  eucalypti  and  other 
Australian  trees  have  been  so  widely  planted  that 
the  character  of  the  hills  has  been  completely  changed, 
and  on  every  side  the  eye  meets  with  nothing 
but  a  monotonous  sea  of  gaunt  blue  gums.  From  a 
picturesque  standpoint,  the  advent  of  the  eucalyptus 
has  ruined  the  hill  stations.  To  gain  an  idea  of  the 
pristine  charm  that  so  enraptured  early  visitors,  one 
must  now  travel  beyond  the  furthest  limit  of  civilisation, 
— away  to  the  solitudes  of  the  Kundahs,  untouched 
and  undesecrated  by  the  hand  of  man.  The  following 
are  the  principal  trees  found  in  these  evergreen  sholas 
on  the  summit  of  the  plateau. 

ElcBocarpus  oblongus,  and  other  varieties  ;  Eugenia, 
many  species;  Ilex  Wightiana;  Ternstroeinia  Japonic  a; 
Gordonia  obtusa  ;  Michelia  Nilagirica  ;  Cinnamomum 
Zeylanicum  ;  and  many  others  of  lesser  note. 

On  the  grass  lands  between    the  sholas  are  found 


THE  NILGIRIS  li 


Rhododendron  arboreum,  which  in  the  autumn  makes 
the  hillsides  gay  with  clusters  of  brilliant  carmine 
flowers  :  Wendlandia  Nottoniana ;  DodoncBa  viscosa ; 
and  other  kinds.  Mention,  too,  must  be  made  of 
the  numerous  species  of  Strobi/antkes,  especially 
Kunthianus,  which  when  in  bloom  turns  the  downs 
from  ofreen  to  vivid  blue. 

(2)  The  deciduous  forests.  These  occur  at  a  much 
lower  elevation.  During  the  dry  months,  between 
the  closing  of  the  north-east  monsoon  and  the  spring 
showers,  the  trees  are  more  or  less  deciduous,  though 
they  are  never  actually  leafless  like  an  English  copse 
in  winter.  With  the  first  showers  they  burst  into 
leaf,  when  the  glory  of  their  rejuvenescence  defies 
description  ;  and  they  retain  their  vegetation,  passing 
through  a  gamut  of  colour  from  green  to  red,  till  the 
advent  of  the  next  dry  season.  The  chief  timber- 
yielding  trees  in  this  region  are 

Tectona  grandis — teak,  which  reigns  supreme 
amongst  Indian  woods  ;  Dalbergia  latifolia — black- 
wood,  or  East  Indian  rosewood  ;  Lager stroemia 
microcarpa — venteak  ;  Cedrela  toona — white  cedar  ; 
Pterocarpus  marsupium — vengay  ;  Terminaha  tomen- 
tosa  —  mutti  ;  Chloroxylon  Swietenia  —  satinwood  ; 
Santalum  album — sandalwood. 

Other  fine  trees  are  Bomhax  Malabaricum^  with 
gorgeous  red  blooms  and  pods  filled  with  silk  cotton  ; 
Hardwickia  binata ;  Albizzia  odoratissima,  the  wood 
of  which  is  used  by  the  natives  for  cart  wheels ; 
Phyllanthus  emblica,  yielding  a  sour,  hard  fruit  which 
the  natives  pickle ;  and  the  bamboos,  Bambusa 
arundinacea  and  Dendrocalamus  strictus,  which  are 
put  to  an  infinite  variety  of  uses. 

(3)   The   evergreen   or  Ghat  forests.    These    occur 


12  THE   NILGIRIS 

chiefly  on  the  western  slopes,  up  to  an  elevation  of 
4,000  feet.  They  reach  their  greatest  perfec- 
tion from  the  edge  of  the  Wynaad  plateau  to  almost 
the  foot  of  the  ghats.  The  trees  are  enormous,  and 
owing  to  the  dense  shade  throughout  the  year, 
underwood  is  not  heavy.  The  continuous  moisture 
results  in  a  wonderful  profusion  of  rattans  {calamus), 
tree  ferns,  giant  creepers,  and  reed  bamboos  {Ochlandra 
Rheedii,  Teinostachyum  Wigktii,  and  Oxytenanthera 
Thwaitesii.)  Amongst  the  tree  ferns  is  Alsophila 
crinata,  surely  the  finest  of  the  genus  ;  and  amongst 
the  creepers  mention  must  be  made  of  Hexacentris 
Mysorensis  with  hanging  festoons  of  yellow  blossoms 
as  beautiful  as  an  orchid,  and  Gloriosa  sitperba  with 
large  crinkled  flowers,  first  green  tipped  with  red, 
then  red  and  yellow,  then  red  alone. 

These  grand  forests  contain  a  large  variety  of  trees, 
those  which  yield  valuable  timber  being 

Diospyros  ebenum — ebony  ;  AcrocarpiLS  fraxinifolius 
— red  cedar  ;  Artocarpus  hirsuta — iynee  or  wild  jak  ; 
Messua  ferrea — ironwood  ;  Hopea  parviflora — iram- 
pakam ;  Calophyllum  tomentosum — poon,  the  last  a. 
most  noble  tree  with  a  stem  often  two  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  in  height,  and  straight  as  an  arrow. 

It  is  curious  that  the  Nilgiris, — and  especially  the 
dense,  moist,  warm  ghat  forests — should  be  so  poor  in 
orchids.  The  chief  varieties  are  Ccelogyne  corrugata 
— common  round  Naduvatam  ;  Aerides  rubrum  (syn. 
radicostmi) — common  round  Naduvatam  ;  Aerides 
roseum — found  on  the  northern  slopes ;  Aerides 
Lindleyanum — on  northern  and  eastern  slopes  ;  Vanda 
Roxburghii — on  northern  and  eastern  slopes  ;  Calanthe 
masuca — on  northern  and  eastern  slopes. 

In    the    Nilgiri- Wynaad    Dendrobiuni    album    (syn. 


THE   NILGIRIS  13 


aqueum) — 4,000  feet  and  upwards  ;  Dendrobium  hetero- 
carpum  (syn.  aureum) — middle  belt,  3,000  feet  to 
3,500  feet ;  Dendrobiu^n  barbatulum — middle  belt ; 
Dendrobium  chlorops — middle  belt ;  Dendrobium  crepi- 
datum — rare  in  middle  belt ;  Aerides  crispum — common 
in  middle  belt ;  Aerides  jnaculosum — round  Gudalur ; 
Aerides  cylindricum — common  in  middle  belt ;  Rhyn- 
costylis  retusa — round  Gudalur  ;  Cymbidium-  aloifolium 
— common  everywhere  ;  Pholidota  imbricata — common 
everywhere  ;  Habenaria  Susanncs — a  grand  terrestrial 
variety  common  on  grass  hills  round  Devala.  There 
are  many  other  kinds,  of  merely  botanical  interest. 

A  list  of  the  mammals  and  game  birds  found  on 
the  Nilgiris  and  in  Nilgiri-Wynaad  is  given  in 
Appendix  I. 

The  first  record  of  Europeans  having  visited  the 
Nilgiris  occurs  in  a  narrative  written  by  a  priest  of 
the  Christians  of  St.  Thomas  in  1602.  A  few  years 
previously  a  report  had  reached  the  West  Coast  that 
certain  villages  "  in  a  country  called  Todamala  "  were 
inhabited  by  people  who  had  once  been  members  of 
the  Syrian  Church,  "  but  then  had  nothing  but  the 
name "  ;  and  in  the  above  year  Francis  Roy,  first 
Roman  Catholic  Bishop  of  the  Syrian  Church  in 
Malabar,  despatched  a  priest  and  deacon  of  that 
community  to  verify  the  rumour.  They  reached 
"  Todamala  "  ;  but  their  report  not  being  considered 
full  enough,  the  Reverend  Jacome  Ferreira  was  sent 
on  a  second  mission.  According  to  his  narrative,  he 
"proceeded  via  Manarecate  (.^^  Manarghat),"  accom- 
panied by  a  native  convert,  "  nephew  of  the  Samuri 
(?  Zamorin)  Rajah."  Their  route  "led  them  over 
steep  and  rugged  mountains  infested  with  elephants 


14  THE   NILGIRIS 


and  tigers."  On  the  third  day  they  "reached  a 
Badaga  village  called  Meleuntao  (?  Melkundah)." 
Here  they  met  the  "chief  (?)"  of  the  Todas,  but 
he  gave  no  information  to  support  the  supposition 
"  that  either  they  or  their  ancestors  ever  had  any- 
thing to  do  with  any  form  of  Christianity."  So 
apparently  the  worthy  priest  (who  does  not  explain 
how  he  contrived  to  converse  with  the  Toda 
"  chieftain  ")  returned  after  a  bootless  mission,  no 
wiser  than  when  he  came. 

Then  comes  a  hiatus  of  two  hundred  years  before 
we  get  another  record  of  Europeans  having  penetrated 
these  mountain  fastnesses.  After  the  fall  of  Seringa- 
patam  in  1799,  the  Marquis  of  Wellesley  (then 
Governor- General  of  India)  decided  that  a  survey  of 
the  country  annexed  by  the  British  was  desirable  ; 
and  for  this  purpose  Dr.  Buchanan  started  from 
Seringapatam  on  May  loth,  1800.  On  October 
24th  he  had  reached  Danayakankota,  a  fort  on  the 
Bhavani  a  little  below  its  junction  with  the  Moyar, 
and  apparently  the  headquarters  of  the  Revenue 
Division  to  which  the  unknown  Nilgiris  then  apper-- 
tained.  On  the  following  day  he  "took  along  and 
fatiguing  walk  to  the  top  of  the  western  hills,"  the 
spot  he  reached  being  probably  Arakod,  below 
Rang-aswami's  Pillar.  Dr.  Buchanan  does  not  seem 
to  have  carried  his  exploration  of  the  hills  further. 

In  18 1 2  Mr.  Garrow,  then  Collector  of  Coimbatore, 
sent  a  European  surveyor  named  William  Keys  up 
to  the  Nilgiris.  Six  years  later  two  sportsmen  ascended 
the  hills  as  far  as  Kotagiri  "  for  shikar."  The  glowing 
report  they  took  back,  "  particularly  of  the  coldness  of 
the  climate,"  induced  a  party  to  repeat  the  excursion  in 
January,  18 19.     Mr.  J.  Sullivan,  who  had  succeeded 


THE   NILGIRIS  15 


Mr.  Garrow  as  Collector  of  Coimbatore,  was  a  member 
of  this  party  ;  and  his  visit  marks  an  epoch  in  the 
history  of  the  Nilgiris,  for  he  was  so  enraptured 
by  the  climate  and  scenery  that  he  spared  no  effort 
to  make  the  glories  of  the  plateau  known  and  to 
effect  its  colonisation.  A  long  and  interesting  account 
of  the  journey  appeared  in  the  Government  Gazette  of 
January  30th,  18 19.  Mr.  Sullivan  was  back  in  May 
of  that  year,  accompanied  by  the  naturalist  Leschenault 
de  la  Tour.  This  visit  resulted  in  a  survey  of  the 
hills,  and  the  construction  of  the  first  track,  the  old 
Srimugai  Pass.  Within  a  year  more  than  twenty 
Europeans  had  climbed  the  hills,  including  a  lady  : 
unfortunately  the  name  of  this  Amazon  has  not  sur- 
vived ;  but  as  it  is  on  record  that  "  she  gave  her 
bearers  very  little  trouble,"  we  may  conclude  that  she 
was  as  charming  as  she  was  bold. 

In  March,  1821,  a  letter  appeared  in  the  Madras 
Gazette,  giving  a  narrative  of  a  journey  to  the 
"  Mukurti  belt,"  in  which  occurs  the  first  mention  of 
Ootacamund,  under  the  guise  of  "  Wotakymund." 
If  he  was  a  sportsman,  what  wondrous  sights  this 
earliest  visitor  to  the  Kundahs  must  have  seen  !  Next 
year  a  report  by  Assistant  Surgeon  Orton  was  pub- 
lished, in  the  course  of  which  he  writes,  "  in  the  Torder 
village  of  Wuttacamund  I  was  informed  that  no  death 
had  happened  for  three  years,"  an  early  testimony  to 
the  salubrity  of  the  climate.  Meanwhile,  in  1820, 
Mr.  Sullivan  had  purchased  from  the  Todas  a  site 
on  the  western  slope  of  Dodabetta,  and  there  he 
built  the  first  house,  "  Stonehouse,"  now  the  offices 
of  Government.  The  house  was  close  to  the  Toda 
village  of  "  Wottakamund,"  and  from  this  association 
the  settlement  took  its  name. 


i6  THE  NILGIRIS 


In  1823  a  survey  of  the  hills  was  carried  out  by- 
Captain  Ward  ;  and  in  this  year  Mr.  Sullivan  induced 
the  Government  to  finish  the  road  running  across  the 
hills  to  Wynaad  by  Gudalur,  "  thus  completing  the 
communication  between  the  eastern  and  western 
coasts."  This,  the  old  Ghat,  is  scarcely  a  triumph 
of  engineering  skill,  being  in  places  almost  as  steep 
as  the  wall  of  a  house  ;  but  it  served  a  useful  purpose 
till  the  new  Ghat  was  made,  and  is  still  the  road 
used  by  foot  passengers.  He  also  put  the  Gazalhatti 
Pass  to  Mysore  in  order ;  and  in  the  following  year  he 
obtained  a  grant  of  Rs.  6500  for  opening  the  "  Karkoot 
Pass" — the  Karkur  Ghat  to  Calicut  through  Nilambur 
— and  for  repairing  the  road  connecting  this  Ghat  with 
the  Mysore  frontier.  The  zeal  displayed  by  Mr.  Sullivan 
in  opening  up  communications  with  the  Nilgiris  on  all 
sides  bore  speedy  fruit  in  an  influx  of  visitors  from 
even  distant  Bombay  ;  and  to  this  fervent  lover  of  the 
Nilgiris  the  plateau  owes  more  than  to  anyone  before 
or  since  :  indeed,  the  "  Queen  of  Indian  Hill  Stations  " 
may  truly  be  called  his  creation.  Two  years  later  the 
lake  was  formed  by  a  bund  across  the  valley  at  the 
foot  of  the  Dodabetta  spurs  ;  and  Mr.  Sullivan  built 
"  Southdowns,"  now  known  as  "  Bishopsdown,"  and, 
alas,  a  mere  ruin.  At  the  same  time,  Dr.  Haines 
began  building  on  a  large  scale  on  Club  Hill,  and 
Captain  Macpherson  on  Elk  Hill. 

At  the  end  of  1826,  when  Sir  Thomas  Munro 
visited  the  hills,  there  were,  according  to  Mr. 
Sullivan's  report,  seventeen  houses  fit  for  European 
occupation.  Next  year  Mr.  Stephen  Rumbold 
Lushington,  then  Governor  of  Madras  and  another 
enthusiastic  lover  of  the  Blue  Mountains,  constituted 
Ootacamund  "the  sanatorium  of  Madras."    This  gave 


THE   NILGIRIS  17 


a  great  impetus  to  house  building,  for  by  1833  the 
number  of  houses  had  risen  to  102.  St.  Stephen's 
church  was  buih  :  a  grammar  school,  club  (the  work 
of  Sir  William  Rumbold),  and  jail  were  established, 
and  three  large  shops  opened  by  enterprising  Parsis 
from  Bombay ;  while  the  completion  of  the  first 
Coonoor  ghat  led  to  the  founding  of  that  station. 
"  It  will  be  the  glory  of  Mr.  Lushington's  Govern- 
ment," writes  Captain  Limond  in  1832,  ''without 
extravagant  hyperbole,  that  he  introduced  Europe 
into  Asia." 

Sir  Frederick  Adam  succeeded,  and  in  1837 
Ootacamund  was  made  a  "  military  bazaar."  He  took 
considerable  interest  in  the  hills,  and  the  assessment 
to  be  paid  by  settlers  was  fixed,  and  the  right  of 
the  Todas  to  the  Nilgiris  acknowledged.  Lord 
Elphinstone,  who  followed,  built  himself  a  large 
country  house  in  the  Kaity  valley,  a  few  miles  from 
Ootacamund,  and  furnished  it  in  the  most  luxurious 
style  :  this  house  is  now  the  headquarters  of  the  Basel 
Mission.  During  his  tenure  of  office  the  first  coffee 
estates  were  opened  on  the  eastern  slopes  ;  and  several 
years  later,  under  the  Governorship  of  the  Marquis  of 
Tweeddale,  the  cultivation  of  coffee  was  started  on  the 
southern  slopes  and  in  Wynaad.  Wellington  barracks 
were  begun  in  185 1,  and  thenceforward  the  growth  of 
the  settlements  was  rapid,  until  at  the  present  day  the 
Nilgiris  stand  supreme  amongst  the  hill  sanatoria  of 
India. 

In  or  about  1828  the  hills  were  transferred  to 
the  Malabar  district.  In  1843  Lord  Tweeddale 
ordered  the  re-transfer  of  the  eastern  portion  of  the 
plateau  to  Coimbatore,  leaving  the  tract  west  of  the 
Pykara  river  to  Malabar.      In   1858  this  latter  tract 

C 


THE   NILGIRIS 


and  the  Kundahs  were  brought  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Small  Cause  Court  which  had  been  established 
at  Ootacamund.  In  1863  the  anomaly  of  dividing  the 
hills  between  two  Districts  was  abolished,  and  the 
Malabar  portion  annexed  to  the  Coimbatore  Col- 
lectorate.  Five  years  later  the  importance  of  the 
Nilgiris  was  recognised,  and  they  were  formed  into  a 
separate  District,  Mr.  Breeks  being  appointed  the  first 
Commissioner.  In  1873  the  Ouchterlony  Valley  was 
added  to  the  Nilgiris,  and  finally  the  Cherankod, 
Nambalakod,  and  Munnanad  amshanis  of  South- 
eastern Wynaad  were  transferred,  thus  constituting 
the  Nilgiris  District  as  it  stands  to-day. 

Writing  of  these  early  days,   the  shikari  naturally 
draws  a  mental  picture  of  what  the  hills  must  then 
have  been.    Verily,  the  "  Old  Forest  Ranger,"  "  Hawk- 
eye,"  "  Rifle,"  and  all  the  line  of  sportsmen  who  trod 
the  hills  in  days  of  yore,   must   have   walked  in  the 
Elysian  Fields.    Time  and  again  old  residents  have  told 
me  how  in  those  far-off  days  "  Ooty  "  was  an  earthly 
paradise,  with  snug  bungalows  half  hidden   in  lovely 
sholas:  when  folks  walked  or  rode,  and  a  carriage  was 
unknown.     Then  sambur  roamed  over  every  hill,  and 
harboured    in    every   shola.       Ibex    were    not    far   to 
seek,    and    the    cheery   crow  of  the  junglecock  from 
every  thicket  marked  the  opening  and  closing  of  the 
day.       Elephants     and     bison    were    found    on    the 
Kundahs  ;  while    tigers,    panthers,    and    bears    were 
common  all  over  the  hills.     But  alas !  the  old  order 
has  changed  ;  the  dulce  has  given  way  to  the  utile;  and 
Ootacamund,  from  a  sportsman's  standpoint,  has  been 
shorn  of  its  old-time  glories.     The  grand  indigenous 
sholas  have  been  cleared  to  make  way  for  interminable 
forests  of  ugly  eucalyptus  and  wattle,  and  before  the 


THE   NILGIRIS  19 


advent  of  civilisation  the  game  has  retreated  to 
fastnesses  among  the  distant  western  hills.  Peafowl 
and  bears  are  extinct  on  the  plateau,  while,  where  in 
former  years  ibex  and  sambur  roamed  in  herds,  now 
you  will  not  find  one.  The  man  who  looks  for  sport 
in  these  degenerate  days  must  wander  far  from  the 
haunts  of  man,  away  up  amongst  the  towering  crags  of 
the  Kundahs.  There  at  least  Dame  Nature  still 
reigns  ;  and  that  her  sway  may  continue  undisturbed 
must  be  the  prayer  of  every  man  who,  like  myself, 
loves  the  Blue  Hills.  But  over  the  portals  of  modern 
Ootacamund,  with  its  railway  and  its  motor  cars 
and  all  the  other  things  that  proclaim  the  march  of 
progress,  let  there  be  written 

Sk  transit  gloria  (OotSLca.)mundt. 


C    2 


THE  WYNAAD 

It's  the  great,  big,  broad  land  'way  up  yonder, 

It's  the  forests  where  silence  has  lease ; 

It's  the  beauty  that  thrills  me  with  wonder, 

It's  the  stillness  that  fills  me  with  peace. 

The  strong  life  that  never  knows  harness  : 

The  wilds  where  the  elephants  call : 

The  freshness — the  freedom — the  farness — 

Oh  God  !  how  I'm  stuck  on  it  all ! — R.  W.  Service. 

The  plateaux  of  the  Nllglris  and  the  Wynaad  may 
be  described  as  two  gigantic  steps  to  the  West  Coast. 
As  already  said,  the  higher  plateau  drops  down 
on  the  north  to  a  narrow,  forest-covered  flat  which, 
lying  between  the  foot  of  the  mountains  and  the 
Moyar  river,  separates  the  Nilgiris  from  the  Mysore 
country  and  the  District  of  Coimbatore ;  on  the  east 
and  south  it  runs  out  in  foot-hills  to  the  plain  of 
Coimbatore  and  Malabar  ;  and  on  the  west  it  falls  in 
tremendous  precipices  also  to  Malabar.  But  on  the 
north-west  it  descends  to  the  tableland  of  the  Wynaad 
in  a  steep  slope  of  3,500  feet;  and  thence  the  latter 
plateau  runs  out  in  a  secondary  step  for  some  twenty 
miles  before  it  in  turn  drops  down  to  the  Malabar  plain 
in  an  abrupt  fall  of  similar  height.  This  subsidiary 
plateau  of  Wynaad  comprises  three  main  divisions, 
known  as  North,  South,  and  South-East  Wynaad. 
The    last    named,     together    with    the    Ouchterlony 


THE   WYNAAD  21 


Valley,  is  called  the  Nilgiri-Wynaad,  forming  the 
Gudalur  taluq  of  the  Nilgiris  District ;  the  rest  of  the 
Wynaad  being  attached  to  Malabar.  The  South-East 
or  Nilgiri-Wynaad,  split  up  into  the  three  amskams 
of  Cherankod,  Nambalakod,  and  Munnanad,  is  the 
country  in  which  I  have  spent  the  best  sixteen  years  of 
my  life  ;  and  it  is  with  this  part  of  the  Wynaad  I  here 
propose  to  deal. 

Twenty-one  miles  from  Ootacamund,  measured 
along  the  splendid  road  which  runs  from  that  town  to 
Calicut  via  Gudalur,  Devala,  Pundalur,  Cherambadi, 
Vayitri,  and  the  Tamarasseri  Ghat,  is  the  hamlet 
of  Naduvatam,  perched  on  the  north-western  edge  of 
the  higher  plateau  ;  and  it  is  from  this  point  that 
the  descent  to  the  Wynaad  begins.  From  here  a 
wonderful  panorama  of  the  Nilgiri-Wynaad  is  obtained. 
The  ground  falls  from  one's  very  feet  in  a  steep 
incline,  down  which  winds  the  Ghat  road,  turning  and 
twisting  on  itself  like  a  huge  white  snake,  till  it  reaches 
the  town  of  Gudalur,  spread  out  in  full  view  below. 
To  the  right  the  cliffs  curve  round  in  horseshoe  form, 
and  down  them  the  Pykara  river  tumbles  in  long  leaps. 
To  the  left  the  view  is  blocked  by  the  bold  headland 
of  Gudalurmallai,  behind  which  nestles  the  Ouchterlony 
Valley,  sheltered  by  the  line  of  the  Kundahs  from 
Mudimund  to  the  giant  dome  of  Nilgiri  Peak.  Below 
spreads  out  the  Wynaad  tableland,  looking  from  this 
height  as  level  as  a  billiard  table,  one  sea  of  dark 
green  forest,  broken  only  by  the  softer  green  of  the 
paddy  fields,  as  they  wind  in  and  out  between  the  hills. 
Northward  in  the  far  distance  the  picture  is  closed  by 
the  low  hills  which  mark  the  beginning  of  the  Mysore 
country  :  westward,  in  the  middle  distance,  rises  the 
Marpanmadi  ridge  with  the  twin  peaks  of  Rockwood 


22  THE   NILGIRIS 


and  Needlerock  sharply  silhouetted  against  the  sky. 
To  the  right  of  this  ridge,  and  twenty  miles  further 
inland,  stands  the  isolated  dome  of  Sultan's  Battery  ; 
while  dim  and  blue  on  the  western  horizon  runs  the 
serrated  line  of  the  grand  Vellarimallais. 

South-East  Wynaad  contains  no  settlement  of  any 
importance.  The  resident  population  is  very  small, 
and  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  labour  required  for 
its  tea  and  coffee  estates  is  drawn  from  Mysore  and 
Malabar.     The  only  villages  which  merit  notice  are  : 

Gudalur,  the  headquarters  of  the  taluq,  with  a 
population  of  2,500.  The  chief  buildings  are  the 
katcheri,  in  which  the  Deputy  tahsildar  (also 
District  munsiff)  and  the  sheristadar  (also  Sub- 
Registrar)  hold  their  courts ;  the  hospital,  the 
traveller's  bungalow,  the  Protestant  and  Roman 
Catholic  churches,  the  police-station,  and  the 
post-  and  telegraph-offices.  A  large  market  is  held 
every  Sunday,  to  which  are  brought  supplies  of 
ragi  for  the  Kanarese  coolies,  rice,  ckola7n,  gram, 
and  other  grains ;  this  is  attended  by  itinerant 
petty  Mappilla  traders  from  the  Coast,  but  the. 
resident  shopkeepers  are  all  Ravuthers  or  Tamil- 
speaking  Muhammedans.  Gudalur  is  the  meeting 
point  of  three  important  roads,  from  Ootacamund, 
Mysore,  and  Sultan's  Battery,  and  from  this  fact  its 
name  of  "junction  town  "  is  said  to  be  derived. 

Devala  lies  ten  miles  further  on,  on  the  trunk  road 
to  the  West  Coast.  During  the  gold-boom  in  the  early 
'eighties  it  rose  to  be  an  important  mining  centre,  with 
a  European  population  of  about  three  hundred ;  but  its 
glory  faded  with  the  bursting  of  the  gold  bubble,  and 
it  is  now  merely  a  cluster  of  native  huts,  with  a  small 
bazaar  and  a  native  population  of  four  hundred.      It 


THE   WYNAAD  23 


contains  a  post-  and  telegraph-office,  police-station,  and 
traveller's  bungalow.  On  Professor  Eastwick  rests 
the  responsibility  for  the  startling  assertion  that  Devala 
is  identical  with  "  the  land  oi  Havilak,  where  there  is 
gold." 

A  local  tradition  ascribes  the  old  native  gold  work- 
ings, with  which  the  surrounding  hills  are  riddled, 
to  a  bygone  race  called  the  Veddas,  whose  chief 
ruled  from  a  vanished  fort  built  on  a  hill  opposite  to 
the  police  station.  The  legend  relates  how  the 
Kurumbranad  Rajah,  learning  of  the  golden  hoard 
accumulated  by  the  Vedda  chieftain,  came  up  to 
Devala  on  plunder  bent ;  whereupon  the  treasure  was 
placed  in  a  copper  pot  and  sunk  for  safety  in  the  little 
tank,  called  the  Shulikolam,  lying  half-way  between 
Devala  and  Nadghani.  Cheated  out  of  his  expected 
booty,  the  Kurumbranad  potentate  indulged  in  whole- 
sale throat-cutting,  made  a  clean  sweep  of  the  Veddas, 
handed  over  the  country  to  the  Varnavar  of 
Nambalakod,  and  departed.  Then  the  Varnavar 
itched  to  finger  the  gold.  The  gods  were  duly 
propitiated,  chains  were  fastened  to  the  big  copper 
pot  at  the  bottom  of  the  tank,  and  elephants  were  set 
to  haul  it  out.  Up  came  the  pot ;  but  the  Veddas' 
curse  was  strong,  and  it  worked.  At  the  critical 
moment  the  chains  slipped,  down  sank  the  pot  again 
to  its  hiding-place,  and  the  only  fruit  of  all  the  toil 
was  the  copper  cover,  which  came  away  with  the 
chains.  Then  the  elements  took  a  hand  in  the  pre- 
servation of  the  treasure,  for  the  wind  howled  and  the 
rain  poured  down  in  a  storm  the  like  of  which  had 
never  been  known.  The  robbers  fled  in  terror,  but 
they  could  not  shake  off  the  curse.  That  same  night 
the  Varnavar's  son  and  most  of  the  people  who  had 


24  THE   NILGIRIS 


helped  to  lay  sacrilegious  hands  on  the  gold  died  ;  and 
the  treasure  still  lies  snug  at  the  bottom  of  the 
Shulikolam,  waiting  to  wreak  the  same  dire  vengeance 
on  anyone  who  may  be  foolhardy  enough  to  attempt 
its  recovery. 

A  similar  legend  of  buried  treasure  is  current  in 
regard  to  the  small  hollow  near  the  bungalow  on 
Woodbriar  Estate,  which  once  possibly  was  a  tank. 
Close  by  here  another  Vedda  fort  is  said  to  have 
existed,  whose  chief  also  hid  his  gold  when  the 
Kurumbranad  Rajah  made  his  raid.  It  may  well  be 
that  at  one  time  a  race  called  Veddas  held  sway 
over  South-East  Wynaad,  who  were  wiped  out  by  the 
Rajah  from  the  West  Coast  ;  but  he  must  have  done 
his  work  of  extermination  most  effectually,  for  not  a 
trace  of  the  vanished  people  now  remains.  Local 
tradition  asserts  that  a  remnant  of  the  tribe  is  still  to 
be  found  in  the  jungles  of  Mysore  and  Malabar  ;  but 
they  have  never  been  discovered,  nor  can  the  vanished 
Veddas  be  identified  with  any  of  the  existing  jungle 
tribes.  Certain  it  is  that  the  story  of  the  Vedda 
chiefs  and  their  buried  gold  obtains  wide  credence  to 
this  day  ;  and  the  lease  of  the  Woodbriar  Estate,  held 
from  the  Nilambur  tirumalpad,  stipulates  that  any 
treasure  found  on  the  property  shall  be  surrendered  to 
the  jenmi,  while  an  application  to  search  for  the  gold 
in  the  Shulikolam,  made  some  years  ago  by  a 
European,  was  refused  by  the  tirwnalpad. 

Pundalur,  five  miles  beyond  Devala  on  the  same 
trunk  road,  also  rose  into  prominence  during  the 
mining  boom,  and  sank  into  insignificance  when  the 
mines  shut  down.  It  consists  now  of  only  a  few 
bazaars,  and  all  that  remains  to  mark  its  former 
prosperity  is  the  old  racecourse  round  the  swamp,  a 


THE   WYNAAD  25 


couple  of  iron-roofed  buildings  above  the  bazaar,  and 
odds  and  ends  of  mining  machinery  scattered  along 
the  road. 

Cherambadi  lies  eight  miles  further  on  the  same 
road,  on  the  confines  of  the  District.  It  is  merely  a 
small  village,  containing  a  traveller's  bungalow,  post- 
office,  and  police-station. 

Devara  Shola  is  a  bazaar  which  has  sprung  into 
existence  since  the  opening  of  the  tea  Estate  of  the 
same  name.  It  is  seven  miles  from  Gudalur,  on  the 
Sultan's  Battery  road. 

Nellakota  is  a  village  three  miles  further  along  the 
same  road,  and  contains  a  post  and  telegraph-office, 
police-station,  and  traveller's  bungalow.  Round  here 
are  clustered  the  only  coffee  estates  now  existing  in 
South-East  Wynaad.  At  this  point  a  branch  road 
takes  off,  and  running  through  my  own  Estate,  meets 
the  great  Ootacamund-Calicut  road  at  Devala. 

Nelliyalam,  a  couple  of  miles  off  the  branch  road 
which,  starting  from  Devala,  meets  the  main  road 
again  at  "Mango  Range,"  is  the  residence  of  the 
Nelliyalam  arasu,  a  Kanarese  who  has  been  recog- 
nised as  the  jenmi  of  a  large  area  of  land  in  South- 
East  Wynaad.  How  this  Kanarese  family  became 
landowners  in  Wynaad  is  difficult  to  trace  ;  apparently 
they  owe  their  Estate  to  the  generosity  of  a  Collector 
of  Malabar  who  in  the  early  'sixties  assumed  their  title 
to  the  land. 

The  Wynaad  has  gained  an  unenviable  notoriety  in 
the  matter  of  climate,  and  has  been  described  as  a 
dense  jungle,  reeking  with  malaria,  in  which  the 
fever  demon  holds  undisputed  sway.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  that  when  the  country  was  first  opened  by 
the  pioneers  of  the    coffee    industry,    this    reputation 


26  THE   NILGIRIS 


was  to  a  large  extent  deserved  ;  and  even  now  there 
are  places  which  can  only  be  characterised  as  fever- 
traps,  such    as    Tippakadu    on    the    Mysore    frontier, 
and  the  whole  belt  of  light  jungle  which  skirts  the 
northern  foot  of  the  Nilgiri  plateau  (though  this  tract 
does  not  belong  to  Wynaad  proper),  particular  spots 
in  the  extreme  west  of  the   Nilgiri-Wynaad,  and  the 
forest  generally  at  a  lower  elevation  than  2,000  feet.   But 
taking  the  country  as  a  whole,  it  is  beyond  question 
that  the  prevalence  of  malarial  fever  is  far  lower  than, 
say,  forty  years  ago.     What  cause  has  wrought  this 
improvement,  I  cannot  say  with  certainty  ;  but  it  is  a 
well-known  fact  that  in  every  forest  belt  in  the  tropics, 
fever  is  let  loose  with  the  first  turning  of  the  soil,  and 
that  the  disease  abates    in    virulence,    if  it  does  not 
wholly  disappear,  as   the    country  is    opened  up,  the 
jungle  cleared,  and  the  land  exposed  to  the  action  of 
light  and  air.     It  is  a    reasonable    presumption    that 
these  same  causes    have   effected    the  change  in   the 
climate  of  Wynaad.     Narrowing    my    remarks    down 
to  my  own  district  of  Nellakota,  I  can  only  say  that 
during  a  continuous  residence  there  of  sixteen  years 
I  never  suffered  from  malarial  fever  for  a  single  day. 
It  was  only  when   I   began  to  open  in  rubber  in  the 
jungle  below  the  Ghats,  at  an  elevation  of  from  300  feet 
to  1,500  feet,  that  I  fell  a  victim  to  the  scourge.     In  fact, 
I  can  conceive  no  more  perfect  climate  than  that  the 
higher  portion    of  the    Nellakota  District  possesses. 
Without   the   bleakness   of  the  Nilgiri    plateau,  it  is 
always  pleasant,  the  thermometer,  even  in  the  hottest 
months,  never  climbing  above  about  eighty  degrees. 
The  average  annual  rainfall  is  considerably  higher  than 
on  the  Nilgiris  proper,  ranging  from  60  inches  in  the 
east  of  the  district  to  1 20  inches  in  the  extreme  west ; 


THE   WYNAAD  27 


but  though  there  are  spells  of  continuous  wet  during 
the  south-west  monsoon,  outdoor  exercise  then  is  never 
attended  by  unpleasant  consequences  if  ordinary  pre- 
cautions are  taken.  In  my  view,  the  climate  of 
Nellakota  at  and  above  an  elevation  of  3,800  feet  just 
hits  the  happy  mean. 

The  seasons  in  South- East  Wynaad  are  marked 
by  extraordinary  regularity.  From  October  to  the 
end  of  November,  sometimes  well  into  December, 
the  north-east  monsoon  gives  heavy  showers  : 
January  to  March  are  dry  months :  during  April 
and  May  there  are  frequent  showers,  the  "  blossom 
showers  "  so  anxiously  awaited  by  the  coffee  planter : 
with  unfailing  punctuality  the  south-west  monsoon  sets 
in  about  the  middle  of  June  and  lasts  till  the  end 
of  September.  And  does  the  world  hold,  I 
wonder,  another  phenomenon  so  striking  as  this 
annual  miracle  of  the  monsoon  ?  June  comes  in  with 
fine  weather  :  on  the  plains  below  the  sky  is  brass 
and  the  ground  iron.  Not  a  sign  betrays  the  wondrous 
store  of  life-giving  water  Nature  has  hoarded  up,  to 
be  poured  out  during  the  next  three  months  on  the 
thirsty  land.  Yet  with  absolute  confidence  the 
planter  and  the  ryot  put  the  finishing  touch  to  their 
preparations  for  the  planting  season  ;  on  every  side 
everyone  makes  ready  for  the  advent  of  the  monsoon. 
Then  suddenly,  silently,  in  the  dead  of  night,  madidis 
Notus  evolat  alis^  and  you  wake  to  find  the  whole 
country  shrouded  in  a  curtain  of  mist,  and  the  rain 
coming  down  in  the  long,  relentless  spikes  the  dweller 
on  the  West  Coast  knows  so  well  and  welcomes  so 
heartily.  The  "  monsoon  has  burst."  For  a  fort- 
night perhaps,  day  and  night  without  intermission, 
the   rain   descends    in  a  steady  sheet,  and    the  wind 


28  THE   NILGIRIS 


holds  high  revel.  Every  little  rill  becomes  a  foam- 
ing torrent,  and  the  gaunt  forest  droops  under  the 
assault  of  these  mighty  forces.  Then,  as  suddenly  as 
it  came,  the  pall  of  mist  rises  and  disappears  :  the  sun 
shines  out  of  a  sky  of  unclouded  blue  :  and  all  Nature 
smiles  and  sparkles  after  the  vivifying  deluge,  truly  a 
Giantess  refreshed.  But  the  first  "  break  "  is  of  short 
duration,  and  soon  the  country  is  once  more  in  the 
grip  of  the  rain.  And  so  for  three  months  the  weather 
alternates  between  deluge  and  shine,  the  breaks 
getting  longer  and  the  rain  lighter  as  the  monsoon 
nears  its  close.  About  the  end  of  September  its  exit  is 
marked  by  a  spell  of  fine  weather,  when  the  north-east 
monsoon  is  ushered  in  by  thunderstorms.  This  latter 
monsoon  in  this  part  of  the  country  Only  gives 
occasional  heavy  showers.  Even  on  the  Coromandel 
Coast  and  in  mid- India,  the  north-east  monsoon  is 
always  fitful,  and  sometimes  fails  altogether,  the  failure 
bringing  famine  and  misery  unspeakable  to  the  tracts 
dependent  on  these  rains.  But  the  grand  south-west 
monsoon,  immutable  as  Fate,  though  it  may  vary  in 
intensity,  has  through  all  the  centuries  pursued  its 
majestic  march  with  inflexible  regularity,  and  in  the 
favoured  strip  of  country  within  its  influence,  the 
Garden  of  India,  famine  is  absolutely  unknown. 

Though  South-East  Wynaad  does  not  contain  any 
rivers  of  importance,  the  country  is  very  well  watered. 
The  largest  stream  is  the  Pandi,  which,  coming  from  the 
Ouchterlony  Valley,  flows  down  a  gorge  parallel  with 
the  Karkur  Ghat;  thence,  as  the  Ponnupuzha,  it  empties 
into  the  Kurrumpuzha  on  the  Malabar  plain.  The 
Marpanmadi  ridge,  which  cuts  South-East  Wynaad 
in  half,  is  the  chief  water-parting.  The  eastern  face 
of  the   ridge  has  few  streams  ;   but   on    the    western 


THE   WYNAAD  29 


face  almost  every  valley  is  the  nursery  of  a  perennial 
stream,  many  of  which  assume  considerable  propor- 
tions during  the  south-west  monsoon.  The  cliffs  which 
drop  down  from  the  Nilgiri  plateau  are  seamed  with 
waterfalls  ;  and  from  any  vantage  point  which  affords 
a  view  of  these  sheer  precipices,  such  as  the  Nadghani 
bungalow,  these  falls  are  a  grand  sight  in  the  rains. 
The  secondary  drop,  from  the  Wynaad  plateau  to  the 
level  ground  of  Malabar,  is  not  nearly  so  abrupt  as 
that  from  the  Nilgiris,  and  hence  the  streams  run 
down  the  Wynaad  Ghats  without  forming  waterfalls 
in  their  course. 

Though,  viewed  from  any  point  on  the  edge  of  the 
Nilgiri  plateau.  South- East  Wynaad  appears  a  dead 
level,  the  whole  country  is  really  a  succession  of  low 
hills  which  often  form  perfect  cones,  a  formation  which 
can  be  well  seen  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Devala  and 
Nadghani.  I  hazard  the  conjecture  that  the  simul- 
taneous upheaval  of  the  Vellarimallais  on  the  west  and 
the  Nilgiris  on  the  east  crushed  the  intervening 
country  into  its  present  form  of  a  series  of  low,  rounded 
hills.  The  only  part  of  the  district  which  rises  high 
enough  to  be  called  a  range  is  the  Marpanmadi 
ridge  alluded  to  above.  This  springs  up  abruptly 
about  the  centre  of  the  taluq,  and  running  north 
and  south  splits  the  plateau  in  half  The  chief 
elevations  in  this  range  are  Rockwood  or  Marpanmadi 
North  Peak  {5,014  feet,  the  highest  hill  in  the  district) ; 
Needlerock,  separated  from  Rockwood  by  a  narrow 
tongue  of  grassland,  and  only  slightly  lower :  the 
curious  wall  of  Dharwar  rocks  which  rises  just  above 
the  old  Dingley  Dell  Estate ;  and  Hadiabetta  Peak 
(3,788  feet)  at  the  southern  extremity  of  the  range. 
Looking  east   from   my  bungalow,  a  wonderful   view 


30  THE   NILGIRIS 


of  Rockwood  and  Needlerock  Peaks  is  obtained. 
They  tower  up  into  the  sky,  huge  bare  cones  of  gneiss, 
the  northern  faces  of  both  being  precipices  of  precisely 
similar  shape  ;  and  to  make  the  similitude  more  strik- 
ing, below  each  cliff  nestles  a  lovely  little  shola.  So 
alike  are  the  two  peaks  from  my  side  of  the  ridge,  that 
the  natives  call  them  the  Twins  or  Sisters.  On  the 
south,  however,  the  likeness  ends,  Rockwood  sloping 
down  in  a  grass-covered  descent  to  the  narrow  ridge 
which  divides  it  from  Needlerock,  while  the  latter 
runs  down  in  a  sharp  rocky  knife-edge,  shaped  like 
the  dorsal  fin  of  a  shark.  This  curious  cap  of  rock 
makes  Needlerock  a  conspicuous  landmark  from  any 
part  of  South-East  Wynaad.  Hadiabetta  is  a  sugar-loaf 
of  grass,  save  on  its  north  face,  to  which  the  Ghat 
forest  (which  ends  here)  clings  up  to  the  very  summit. 
I  have  seen  it  remarked  somewhere  that  "  blessed  is 
the  country  without  a  history,"  and  if  this  be  true, 
then  the  Wynaad  is  blessed  indeed.  Most  tracts  in 
Southern  India  have  been  the  scene  of  successive 
struggles  for  sovereignty  :  kings  have  come  and  kings 
have  gone,  leaving  behind  them  monuments  and 
writings  and  inscriptions  which,  when  pieced  together 
by  the  modern  epigraphist,  yield  a  more  or  less 
accurate  history  of  the  past.  But  the  Wynaad  is  not 
of  these.  Isolated  by  the  mighty  barrier  of  the  Ghats  ; 
encircled  by  a  belt  of  malarious  jungle — to  traverse 
which  was  held,  even  in  quite  recent  times,  to  be 
merely  courting  death  ;  itself  a  plateau  clothed  with 
primeval  forest  inhabited  only  (as  Ferreira  wrote)  by 
elephants  and  tigers,  and  by  savage  junglemen  who 
were  accounted  only  one  degree  less  dangerous  than 
the  wild  beasts,  it  offered  no  attraction  to  the  invader. 
Hence  there  are  no  relics  of  the  past  to  tell  its  story. 


THE   WYNAAD  31 


That  at  one  period  South- East  Wynaad  had  a  resi- 
dent Rajah  or  Chief,  is  evident  from  the  remains  of  a 
palace  or  fort  on  the  eastern  slope  of  Rockwood 
Peak.  The  present  Woodbriar  bungalow  is  built  in 
part  of  bricks  taken  from  this  old  ruin.  Over  the  crest, 
on  my  side  of  the  ridge,  the  top  of  a  conical  hill  has 
been  terraced,  and  this  presumably  was  the  site  of  a 
large  village  connected  with  the  kovilagom  on  the 
Woodbriar  property.  Across  the  valley,  at  the 
summit  of  the  hill  above  Emerald  Estate,  there  are 
also  traces  of  a  levelled  site  and  a  ditch,  where  perhaps 
another  fort  once  stood.  But  these  slight  remains  of  a 
former  occupation  afford  not  the  slenderest  clue  as  to 
who  these  men  were,  when  or  whence  they  came, 
when  or  why  they  departed.  Save  these  few  building 
sites,  the  only  evidences  that  this  part  of  the  country 
was  once  inhabited  by  a  bygone  race  are  the  old  gold 
workings  round  Devala  and  Pundalur.  Here,  again, 
there  is  nothing  to  serve  as  an  indication  of  the  age  of 
these  workings  or  who  the  workers  were  ;  but  the 
Kurumbas  of  to-day  aver  that  the  ancient  searchers 
after  gold  were  their  ancestors,  and  colour  is  given  to 
this  tradition  by  the  fact  that  they  are  now  the  only 
people  who  are  expert  in  the  use  of  the  gold-washing 
board.  The  whole  country  round  these  villages  is 
riddled  with  old  gold  workings,  some  of  which  are  of 
great  size  and  evince  a  considerable  degree  of  mining 
skill.  For  the  most  part,  however,  the  old  men  merely 
worked  along  the  outcrops  of  the  reefs,  especially  of 
the  leaders,  and  were  stopped  by  water  at  a  short 
distance  below  surface. 

But  a  few  feeble  rays  of  light  are  thrown  on  the 
Cimmerian  darkness  which  enshrouds  the  early  history 
of  the  Wynaad  by   inscriptions  found  in  the  Mysore 


32  THE   NILGIRIS 


country — the  fertile  land  lying  to  the  north,  which 
figures  so  prominently  in  the  history  of  Southern  India. 
The  first  of  these  (about  930  a.d.,  according  to 
Mr.  Rice)  tells  how  Rachamulla  and  Butuga,  sons  of 
the  Ganga  king  Ereyappa  of  Mysore,  fought  for  the 
Byalnad  ^  (the  "  swamp-land  ")  on  the  death  of  their 
father,  how  Rachamulla  was  killed,  and  Butuga 
became  king  of  the  country  of  the  Wynaad.  Some- 
where between  this  date  and  the  beginning  of  the 
twelfth  century,  the  Ganga  king  was  driven  out  by  the 
Kadambas,  the  rulers  whose  capital  was  at  Banavasi 
in  North  Kanara.  From  the  Kadambas  who  then 
held  sway,  the  Kurumbas  now  inhabiting  the  Wynaad 
are  doubtless  descended ;  and  in  support  of  the 
assumption  that  they  were  once  a  ruling  race  may 
be  cited  the  curious  fact  that  the  headmen  of  the 
various  clans  or  families  in  South-East  Wynaad  still 
regard  the  country  as  portioned  out  amongst  them- 
selves. If  Kurumbas  belonging  to  one  Tuutt  (village) 
seek  service  in  a  part  of  the  country  over  which 
the  headman  of  another  mutt  rules,  the  permission 
of  the  latter  must  first  be  obtained.  I  have  known 
many  disputes  arise  from  a  breach  of  this  unwritten 
law. 

The  sway  of  the  Kadambas  over  the  Wynaad  does 
not  appear  to  have  lasted  very  long,  for  the  Hoysala 
king  Vishnuvadhana  (1104  to  1141  a.d.)  is  said  to 
have  conquered  the  country  "with  a  frown."  This 
dynasty  ruled  at  Dwarasamudram  in  Mysore,  now 
known  as  Halebid.  In  13 10  the  Hoysala  king  was 
conquered  by  the  Muhammedans  ;  but  whether  the 
Wynaad   ever   came  directly    under    Mussulman   rule 

^  The  name  Wynaad  is  probably  a  corruption  or  contraction  of  the 
ancient  name  Byalnad  or  Vyalnad,  vyal  signifying  "  swamp." 


THE   WYNAAD  33 


is  extremely  doubtful.  After  the  downfall  of  the 
Hoysalas,  the  Nilgiri  plateau  passed  under  the  sway 
of  Madhava  Dannayaka,  son  of  the  Hoysala  Dewan, 
and  it  is  possible  that  the  Wynaad  plateau  also  formed 
part  of  his  territory.  His  capital  was  at  Tirkanambi 
in  Mysore. 

The  Delhi  Muhammedans  were  in  turn  overthrown 
by  the  most  famous  line  in  the  early  history  of  Southern 
India,  the  Hindu  dynasty  of  Vijayanagar,  who  ruled 
from  Hampi  ;  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 
century  the  Wynaad  passed  under  their  dominion.  In 
1565  was  fought  the  battle  of  Talikota,  at  which  the 
Vijayanagar  king  was  defeated  by  the  Muhammedan 
kings  of  the  Dekkan,  a  battle  which  marks  an  epoch 
in  the  history  of  Southern  India.  Thenceforward  the 
power  of  this  great  dynasty  rapidly  declined,  and  in 
1 6 10  Rajah  Wodeyar,  a  vassal  of  Vijayanagar, 
seized  Seringapatam.  In  161 2  he  was  formally 
installed  as  ruler  of  that  tract  and  Umattur  by  the 
Vijayanagar  king,  who  was  too  weak  to  dispute  his 
authority  ;  and  the  Wynaad  came  under  Mysore  rule. 

Then  the  pall  of  darkness  once  more  shuts  down  on 
the  Wynaad  for  a  century  and  a  half.  When  it  lifts  at 
the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  just  prior  to  the 
acquisition  of  the  country  by  the  English,  we  find  a 
Malabar  chief,  the  Kottayam  Rajah,  in  possession,  so 
that  in  the  interval  the  Wynaad  must  have  been  trans- 
ferred from  Mysore  to  Malabar — when  or  how,  I  have 
not  been  able  to  determine.  The  territory  held  by  the 
Kottayam  family,  comprising  the  Wynaad  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  Kottayam  taluq,  was  portioned 
out  amongst  the  different  members,  these  units 
forming  parts  of  a  compact  whole.  The  Kurumbranad 
Rajah  was  recognised  as  the  head  of  the  family  ;  but 

D 


34  THE    NILGIRIS 


the  most  notorious  member  was  Kerala  Varma  Rajah, 
head  of  the  Padinnara  kovilagom  or  western  branch, 
who  later  came  into  such  prominence  as  the  "  Pychy 
rebel,"  a  name  derived  from  the  Fazhassi  or  Pychy 
amskam  of  the  Kottayam  taluq,  in  which  his 
kovilagom  or  palace  was  situated.  Tippu  Sultan, 
who  had  succeeded  his  father  Haider  AH  in  1782 
(the  latter  having  usurped  the  throne  of  Mysore  in 
1760),  seized  the  Wynaad  from  the  Kottayam  Rajah  in 
1787.  Kerala  Varma,  in  whose  division  as  head  of 
the  Padinnara  kovilagom  the  Wynaad  was  included, 
refused  to  recognise  the  surrender  of  this  tract  to 
Tippu,  and  till  1790  he  was  engaged  in  desultory 
warfare  with  that  monarch. 

In  1790  the  second  Mysore  war  between  the  East 
India  Company  and  Tippu  broke  out,  and  Kerala 
Varma  was  promised  by  the  Company's  agent  at 
Tellicherry  that  "  the  Company  would  do  everything  in 
their  power  to  render  him  independent  of  Tippu  "  if 
"he  would  enter  heartily  into  the  war  against  Tippu 
Sultan  and  act  rigorously  against  him."  This  war 
closed  in  1792,  the  Company  holding  that  amongst  the 
territory  ceded  by  Tippu,  Malabar  and  the  Wynaad 
were  included,  and  these  tracts  were  placed  under  the 
Government  of  Bombay.  That  Government  at  once 
restored  Kerala  Varma  to  his  former  possessions  ;  but 
he  soon  got  into  trouble  by  refusing  to  come  to  terms 
regarding  the  revenue  settlement  of  the  tract  he  held, 
and  a  little  later  he  forced  the  Government  to  take 
active  steps  against  him  by  impaling  some  Mappillas 
alive.  He  fled  to  Wynaad,  but  was  pardoned  on  a 
promise  to  amend,  the  head  of  the  family  giving  a 
bond  for  his  future  good  conduct.  His  promise  of 
reform  was,  however,  of  the  piecrust  order,  for  very 


THE   WYNAAD  35 


soon  after  his  return  he  began  to  intrigue  with  Tippu 
and  to  interfere  with  the  collection  of  the  pepper 
revenue;  and  in  1796  he  was  proclaimed.  In  the 
operations  which  followed  Kerala  Varma  received 
support  in  the  shape  of  men  and  ammunition  from 
Tippu,  who  declined  to  recognise  the  inclusion  of 
Wynaad  in  the  territory  he  had  ceded  to  the  Company 
at  the  end  of  the  last  war  ;  and  the  opening  stages  of 
the  campaign  went  decidedly  against  the  English. 
Later,  however,  both  the  Governor  and  Commander- 
in-Chief  of  Bombay  came  to  Malabar  :  Kerala  Varma's 
headquarters  were  captured  ;  and  in  1797  he  was  once 
more  pardoned,  and  given  a  pension  of  Rs.  8000  a 
year.  In  the  following  year  the  Governor-General 
accepted  Tippu's  view,  and  declared  by  proclamation 
that  the  Wynaad  had  not  been  ceded  to  the  Company 
by  the  treaty  of  1792.  In  1799,  however,  the  long 
duel  with  Tippu  ended  with  his  death  at  the  fall  of 
Seringapatam.  By  the  treaty  of  that  name  Tippu's 
territories  were  divided  between  the  Company  and  its 
allies  ;  and  by  a  curious  blunder  the  Wynaad  was 
ceded  to  the  Company  under  one  name,  and  to  the 
Hindu  king,  who  had  been  restored  to  the  sovereignty 
of  Mysore,  under  another.  From  June  ist,  1800,  the 
Wynaad  came  under  the  Government  of  Madras  ;  and 
by  a  supplementary  treaty  dated  December  29th, 
1803,  ^^^  mistake  was  rectified,  and  the  Wynaad 
formally  made  over  to  the  East  India  Company. 

But  Kerala  Varma,  the  stormy  petrel  of  the  Wynaad, 
was  not  yet  done  with.  He  maintained  that  the 
country  had  always  been  the  property  of  his  family, 
and  that  consequently  its  cession  by  the  Treaty  of 
Seringapatam  was  invalid  ;  and  once  more  he  took  up 
arms    against    the    English.      Colonel  Wellesley  (the 

D  2 


36  THE   NILGIRIS 


future  Duke  of  Wellington),  was  placed  in  charge  of 
the  military  operations ;  but  for  some  time,  being 
elsewhere  engaged,  he  was  not  able  to  act  vigorously 
against  the  "  Pychy  rebel."  At  the  end  of  1800, 
however,  systematic  operations  were  begun,  and  in  a 
few  months  Kerala  Varma  was  driven  into  the  jungles 
of  the  Wynaad.  For  five  more  years  he  successfully 
eluded  capture,  and  at  last,  in  November,  1805,  he  was 
killed,  fighting  to  the  end.  The  Collector  of  that  day 
sums  up  this  noted  character  thus  : — "  For  a  series  of 
years  he  has  kept  this  province  in  a  state  of  confusion, 
and  agitated  it  with  the  most  intricate  and  perplexing 
warfare  in  which  the  best  of  officers  and  of  troops  have 
at  various  times  been  engaged,  to  the  melancholy  loss 
of  many  valuable  lives  and  the  expenditure  of  as  many 
lakhs  of  rupees." 

With  the  death  of  Kerala  Varma  the  Wynaad 
relapsed  into  its  wonted  state  of  isolation,  and  slept 
peacefully  for  half  a  century.  Its  next  awakening  came 
with  the  introduction  of  the  coffee  plant. 

The  plant  was  in  all  probability  first  introduced 
into  Southern  India  at  the  close  of  the  eighte-enth 
century  by  Arab  traders  from  the  neighbourhood 
of  Mocha.  The  earliest  notice  of  its  cultivation  is 
found  in  a  letter  from  that  wonderful  man,  the  Abb6 
Dubois,  to  Colonel  Miller,  Resident  of  Mysore,  dated 
September  1 5th,  1 805.  The  Resident  had  applied  to  the 
Abb6  for  a  man  from  the  West  Coast  acquainted  with 
the  cultivation  of  coffee,  and  in  reply  the  Abbe  says  he 
"  never  understood  that  the  plant  grew  in  any  part  of 
the  hills  situated  in  the  west  of  Mysore."  He  adds  : 
"  About  ten  years  ago,  when  I  was  in  the  Baramahal, 
Colonel  Read,  Collector  in  that  part  of  the  country, 
undertook  to  make  a  large  plantation  at  Tripatur  by  the 


THE   WYNAAD  37 


means  of  an  American  he  sent  for  from  the  Coast." 
The  plantation  was  made,  "but  the  Manager  proving 
a  man  without  conduct,  Colonel  Read  was  soon  dis- 
gusted with  his  services  and  dismissed  him."  And  the 
Colonel,  "  perceiving  besides  that  the  produce  of  that 
kind  of  cultivation  would  in  no  case  equal  the  expenses 
necessary  in  that  part  of  the  country,  the  plantation 
was  suffered  to  perish."  From  this  correspondence  it 
would  appear  that  at  the  date  of  the  Abbe's  letter  the 
plant  was  grown  to  some  extent  on  the  West  Coast, 
but  that  the  cultivation  had  made  no  great  strides 
in  Mysore,  although  long  before  that  date  the  plant 
had  undoubtedly  been  introduced  into  the  Province. 
There  is  a  tradition,  probably  true,  "  that  the  coffee 
plant  was  introduced  into  Mysore  by  a  Mahometan 
pilgrim  named  Baba  Buden,  who  came  and  took  up  his 
abode  in  the  uninhabited  hills  in  the  Nugger  Division, 
named  after  him,  and  where  he  established  a  college, 
which  still  exists,  endowed  by  Government,  It  is  said 
that  he  brought  seven  coffee  berries  from  Mocha, 
which  he  planted  near  to  his  hermitage,  about  which 
there  are  now  to  be  seen  some  very  old  coffee  trees.  The 
coffee  plant  has  been  known  there  from  time 
immemorial,  but  the  earliest  official  account  of  it  is  in 
1822  when  the  revenue  was  under  contract  "  (Drury's 
Useful  Plants  of  India). 

Dr.  Buchanan  mentions  having  seen  thriving  coffee 
trees  near  Tellicherry  in  1801,  and  Colonel  Wilks  speaks 
of  a  garden  in  the  Baba  Buden  hills  attached  to  a 
mosque,  the  seed  having  originally  come  from  Mocha. 

The  first  coffee  estate  in  Ceylon  was  opened  by 
Sir  Edward  Barnes  in  1822,  and  in  the  following  year 
coffee  planting  was  started  in  Bengal  by  Dr.  Wallich 
and    Mr.   Gordon.     The  history   of  this  cultivation   I 


38  THE  NILGIRIS 


cannot  trace  ;  but  as  coffee  never  became  an  industry 
in  Bengal,  and  is  non-existent  there  now,  it  is  clear 
that  these  early  efforts  to  introduce  it  proved  a  failure. 

The  introduction  of  coffee  into  Wynaad  was 
apparently  due  to  Mr.  Brown  of  Anjarakandi,  who 
started  planting  in  North  Wynaad  in  1828.  This 
was  the  nucleus  of  the  many  fine  estates  which  once 
flourished  near  Manantavadi.  About  the  same  time 
the  first  estates  were  opened  by  Europeans  on  the 
Baba  Budens  in  Mysore,  and  a  few  years  later 
planting  was  begun  near  Manjarabad.  By  1839  the 
industry  had  made  fair  progress  in  Wynaad  ;  and  in 
or  about  that  year  the  earliest  estates  were  opened  on 
the  eastern  slopes  of  the  Nilgiris.  From  this  date 
onwards  extension  was  rapid. 

About  1850  Mr.  James  Ouchterlony  started  coffee 
planting  in  the  magnificent  valley  which  bears  his 
name  to  the  south  of  Gudalur — a  tract  which  probably 
combines  all  the  conditions  essential  to  success  in  this 
branch  of  cultivation  to  a  greater  degree  than  any  other 
tract  of  equal  extent  in  southern  India.  At  that 
period  south-east  Wynaad  was  a  wild  stretch  of  forest 
country,  inhabited  only  by  the  jungle  tribes,  and  Mr. 
Ouchterlony  found  pioneering  uphill  work.  In  a  letter 
to  Government,  written  in  i860,  he  thus  describes  his 
early  struggles  : — "  I  was  equally  a  pioneer  in  the 
experiment  of  coffee  planting  on  the  Nilgiri  slope 
near  the  Gudalur  pass,  where  I  first  commenced 
the  cultivation.  In  a  limited  degree  many  of  the 
features  of  a  new  colony  were  then  presented  ;  there 
was  no  resident  population  within  any  accessible 
distance  :  no  articles  of  food  to  be  had  near  the 
spot :  we  had  no  roads  (properly  so  called)  :  no  police  : 
and  no  law  save  at  courts  too  distant  to  be  reached. 


THE  WYNAAD  39 


Labour  and  food  had,  in  fact,  to  be  imported  from 
a  remote  district,  the  first  being  only  obtained  with 
difficulty,  and  then  often  scared  away  by  the  soli- 
tariness of  the  spot  and  an  undefined  dread  of  evil  in 
the  minds  of  the  coolies.  Doubts  of  success  were 
even  engendered  in  the  minds  of  most  of  those  who 
had  embarked  with  me  in  the  enterprise,  and  who 
necessarily  withdrew  from  it.  But  at  length  a  bright 
issue  attended  the  efforts,  and  I  will  only  say,  let  the 
changed  aspect  of  the  country  around  in  respect  of 
cultivation  tell  what  the  effect  has  been  on  the  general 
interests." 

Somewhere  in  the  fifties  of  the  last  century  the  first 
estates  were  opened  in  South-East  Wynaad — the  same 
initial  mistake  being  made  here  as  in  other  coffee 
districts,  viz.  the  selection  of  land  in  the  heavy  forest 
on  the  crest  of  the  Ghats,  where,  owing  to  the 
tremendous  rainfall  during  the  south-west  monsoon, 
and  their  exposed  position,  many  properties  succumbed. 
In  such  situations  the  chief  foes  of  coffee,  the  black 
bug  [Lecaniimi  coffee),  the  borer  {Xylotrechusquadrupes) 
and  leaf  disease  [Hemeleia  vastatrix),  cannot  be  fought 
successfully.  Further,  the  land  being  steep  and  the 
weeding  having  been  done  with  that  implement  of 
torture  the  mamotie,  all  the  surface  soil  was  in  a 
very  short  time  washed  down  to  the  valleys  below,  so 
that  those  Ghat  estates  which  had  withstood  the 
attacks  of  the  enemies  named  above  were  soon  in  a 
parlous  condition,  with  annual  yields  rapidly  approach- 
ing the  vanishing  point.  Ten  years  or  so  later,  estates 
were  opened  in  the  belt  of  lighter  deciduous  jungle 
between  the  Ghats  and  the  foot  of  the  Nilgiri  plateau. 
Here  the  soil  is  richer,  the  land  more  sheltered,  and  the 
rainfall  far  less  than  on  the  Ghats  ;  and  at  the  present 


40  THE   NILGIRIS 


time,  the  only  coffee  estates  in  South- East   Wynaad 
are  clustered  round  Nellakota. 

Above  I  have  mentioned  the  chief  natural  enemies 
of  coffee  :  perhaps  a  more  potent  foe  was  the  disastrous 
gold  boom  that  convulsed  South- East  Wynaad  in  the 
early  'eighties.  In  pre-mining  days  Devala,  Pundalur, 
and  Cherambadi  were  all  large  planting  centres.  Even 
before  the  advent  of  the  gold  companies,  some  of  the 
estates  on  the  Ghats  were  on  the  verge  of  extinction, 
while  others  had  seen  their  best  days  ;  but  there  were 
still  many  fine  properties  in  existence,  most  of  which 
were  acquired  by  the  mining  companies.  Starting 
from  Devala,  the  Harewood,  Kintail,  Strathearn  and 
Maryland  Estates  were  bought  by  the  Devala-Moyar 
Company  ;  Richmond,  Downham,  and  Elisabeth,  by 
the  South-East  Wynaad  Company  ;  Kingston  by  a 
company  of  that  name  which  never  got  as  far  as 
actual  mining  ;  Trevelyan,  Limerick,  and  Dingley  Dell 
by  the  Trevelyan  Company;  Needlerock  by  the  Needie- 
rock  Company.  To  the  south.  Perseverance  was 
bought  by  the  Company  of  similar  name  ;  Sheardale, 
Hamsluck,  Hamslade,  and  Adelphi  were  acquired  by 
a  company  of  whose  history  I  am  ignorant ;  Balcarres,' 
Dunbar,  Henrietta,  Phoenix,  Lytton,  Rosedell,  and 
St.  Thome  were  bought  by  the  Indian  Consolidated 
Company  ;  Glenrock,  Adeline,  Caroline,  and  Yellaman 
by  the  Glenrock  Company.  At  Cherambadi,  the 
Wentworth  Gold  Mining  Company  acquired  the 
Llewellyn,  Chanthanam,  Kanambyle,  Barbrick,  Cheram- 
badi, and  Wentworth  Estates.  Most  of  these 
properties  were  practically  abandoned  from  the  time 
of  their  transfer  to  the  various  gold  companies,  who — 
afflicted  with  auri  sacra  fames — took  no  heed  of  their 
fine  coffee.     On  others,  a  pretence  of  cultivation  was 


THE  WYNAAD  41 


maintained  for  some  little  time,  and  then  the  coffee 
was  shelved.  The  Wentworth  Company,  probably 
recognising  the  fact  that  they  were  mining  for  gold  in 
pegmatite  (having  apparently  mistaken  the  masses  of 
granular  saccharoid  quartz  enclosed  in  the  pegmatite 
veins  for  reef  quartz)  launched  out  into  cinchona 
cultivation  on  a  large  scale,  only  to  find,  when  the 
trees  were  mature,  that  the  price  of  bark  had  dropped 
to  a  figure  which  made  shipment  unremunerative  ;  and 
the  estate  was  then  abandoned.  As  a  result  of  this 
wholesale  neglect,  the  weeds  soon  overtopped  the  coffee, 
and  as  these  became  dry  as  tinder  in  the  hot  weather, 
fire  got  in  when  the  hills  were  burnt  according  to  the 
annual  custom,  and  the  cultivation  was  so  effectually 
destroyed  that  over  an  area  of  possibly  ten  thousand 
acres,  once  covered  with  fields  of  glossy,  well  kept 
coffee,  not  one  single  tree  remains.  For  mile  after 
mile,  nothing  but  an  interminable  sea  of  dkubbay  grass 
marks  the  site  of  what  were  smiling  estates — the  Ghat 
forest  from  the  Sulimallai  ridge  to  Henrietta  and  on- 
wards to  Phoenix  and  Glenrock  sharply  defining  the 
limit  of  the  old  cultivation  on  the  south.  Here  and 
there,  on  some  commanding  hilltop,  a  lichen-covered 
chimney  rises  above  the  tangle  of  lantana — sole  relics 
of  the  bungalows  occupied  by  the  cheery,  hospitable 
planters  in  days  of  yore,  when  coffee  was  king.  I 
greatly  doubt  whether  anywhere  else  in  India  a  scene 
of  such  utter  desolation  could  be  found  as  is  presented 
by  this  part  of  South-East  Wynaad — this  wilderness 
made  by  the  abortive  search  after  gold. 

Somewhere  about  the  late  'seventies  came  the 
cinchona  boom.  Quinine  was  then  selling  in  London 
at  twelve  shillings  per  ounce,  and  planters  rushed  head- 
long into  the  cultivation  of  cinchona.     Those  few  who 


42  THE   NILGIRIS 


had  taken  time  by  the  forelock  and  made  large 
nurseries,  reaped  small  fortunes  by  the  sale  of  plants. 
The  variety  chiefly  grown  in  Wynaad  was  succirubra, 
and  it  throve  magnificently.  Ledgeriana,  a  far  richer 
species,  was  also  tried  on  a  considerable  scale,  but  it 
never  made  a  really  good  tree.  The  men  who  got  in 
early  saw  their  banking  accounts  go  up  by  leaps  and 
bounds.  A  friend  of  mine  cleared  ^5,000  in  one  year 
from  only  a  small  acreage  of  succirubra.  But  the 
boom  was  of  short  duration.  In  Ceylon,  the  coffee 
had  been  wiped  out  by  leaf  disease,  and  the  planters 
had  gone  in  for  cinchona  on  a  huge  scale  in  the  effort 
to  retrieve  themselves.  All  Java  was  cinchona.  With 
over-production  came  the  inevitable  drop  in  price,  and 
it  came  with  startling  suddenness.  Twelve  shillings 
per  ounce  in  1878,  ten  shillings  in  1882,  seven  shillings 
in  1884,  two  shillings  in  1888,  down  tumbled  prices 
headlong ;  and  before  the  seven  years  which  a  cin- 
chona requires  to  mature  had  elapsed,  for  most  men  the 
cultivation  had  ceased  to  be  profitable.  Wynaad  gave 
up,  so  did  Ceylon  ;  but  Java,  where  the  industry  was 
fostered  ,,in  every  way  by  the  Government,  and  every 
effort  made,  not  only  to  increase  the  yield,  but  to 
restrict  cultivation  to  trees  rich  in  the  alkaloids,  has 
persisted  ;  and  to-day,  with  her  fine  plantations  giving 
bark  with  a  thirteen  or  fourteen  per  cent,  analysis  she 
rules  the  market  and  makes  a  fine  thing  of  cinchona 
cultivation,  though  the  present  price  of  the  drug  is  only 
7^d.  per  ounce.  The  large  cinchona  estates  in  Wynaad 
shared  the  same  fate  as  coffee  when  the  gold  mines 
were  in  the  ascendant.  They  were  allowed  to  get  high 
in  weeds,  fire  crept  in,  and  completed  their  destruction. 
In  many  cases,  in  the  rush  to  plant,  fine  coffee  estates 
had    been    interplanted    with    cinchona.     When    the 


THE  WYNAAD  43 


trees  grew  up,  it  was  found  that  they  made  too  dense 
a  shade  for  coffee,  and  also  that  the  latter  sickened, 
as  the  ground  could  not  support  both  products. 
Cinchona  being  by  this  time  valueless,  planters  were 
now  as  eager  to  get  rid  of  the  trees  as  they  had  been 
before  to  establish  them,  and  on  mixed  estates  the 
cinchona  was  ruthlessly  uprooted.  In  190 1-2  came  a 
small  boom  in  succirubra  bark,  caused  apparently  by 
a  demand  for  cinchonidine  (the  succirubra  variety, 
though  comparatively  poor  in  quinine,  being  rich  in 
the  other  alkaloids),  and  this  finished  the  history  of 
cinchona  in  Wynaad.  Every  patch  that  had  been  lucky 
enough  to  survive  was  dug  up  for  the  root  bark  ;  and 
to-day  there  are  probably  not  a  hundred  acres  under 
cinchona  in  all  South-East  Wynaad.  As  I  write,  one 
estate  of  six  hundred  acres  rises  up  before  me.  It 
was  opened  in  grand  forest,  and  is  now  merely  a  sea 
of  dhiibbay  grass.  This  is  burnt  off  yearly,  and  in 
April,  when  the  hills  are  covered  with  a  fresh  crop  of 
grass  after  the  spring  showers,  the  place  forms  a 
veritable  paradise  for  bison,  lying  as  it  does  remote 
from  all  other  estates  and  surrounded  on  three  sides  by 
dense  forest.  More  than  one  bison  have  I  intercepted 
on  his  way  up  to  this  Elysium  ;  so  I,  at  least,  have 
no  reason  to  complain  because  the  cinchona  has 
"  orone  out." 

The  tea  plant  was  introduced  on  to  the  Nilgiris  as 
early  as  1833.  In  that  year  Dr.  Christie  obtained 
some  plants  from  China.  These  were  distributed  over 
the  hills ;  but  as  South- East  Wynaad  was  at  that  time  an 
unknown  quantity,  the  history  of  tea  in  that  district 
must  date  from  a  much  later  period.  South  Wynaad, 
where  leaf  disease  and  borer  wrought  almost  as  vi\\j(}\ 
havoc  with  coffee  as  in  Ceylon,  came  into  pro  minenc 


44  THE   NILGIRIS 


as  a  tea  district  towards  the  end  of  the  'eighties,  after 
the  collapse  of  cinchona.  I  think  I  am  right  in  saying 
that  Perindotti  was  the  first  tea  estate  opened  in  that 
district.  Tea  does  well  there,  and  recently  many  of 
the  best  properties  have  been  acquired  by  two  large 
English  companies.  In  my  own  district  of  Nellakota, 
small  patches  of  tea — China  for  the  most  part — were 
planted  almost  contemporaneously  with  the  opening  of 
the  coffee  estates.  I  have  a  small  field  on  my  estate 
which  dates  back  to  about  1877.  But  the  first  large 
estate  was  only  opened  about  eight  years  ago,  and 
its  remarkable  success  has  given  tea-cultivation  a  great 
impetus  in  Nellakota.  It  has  proved  so  conclusively 
that  the  soil,  climate,  and  rainfall  of  our  district  are 
admirably  adapted  for  tea,  that  the  cultivation  of  this 
crop  is  being  rapidly  extended,  and  the  day  is  not 
far  distant  when  Nellakota  will  take  its  place  among 
the  best  tea  districts  of  India. 

Over-production  has,  of  course,  done  its  deadly  work 
with  tea  as  with  all  other  tropical  products.  In  1869 
an  Agricultural  Exhibition  was  held  at  Ootacamund,  at 
which  eighteen  samples  of  Nilgiri  tea  were  shown. 
Some  of  these  exhibits  were  sent  to  London  by 
Government  for  report,  and  were  valued  at  prices 
ranging  from  is.  4d.  to  6s.  per  lb.  The  Nilgiri  planter 
who  in  these  days  obtained  the  first  named  price  for 
even  his  best  tea  would  reckon  himself  fortunate.  In 
the  case  of  tea,  however,  the  demand  has  kept  pace 
with  the  increasing  supply  ;  and  though  the  price  has 
dropped  to  far  below  the  level  of  thirty  years  ago,  a 
good  tea  estate  is  a  most  profitable  concern,  and  gives 
every  hope  of  continuing  so  indefinitely. 

Rubber  has  only  lately  come  to  the  front.  The 
first  notice   I  can  find  of  rubber  in  South  India  is  the 


THE   WYNAAD  45 


arrival,  in  1878,  of  a  few  Ceara  plants  (Manihot 
Glaziovii),  sent  out  from  Kew,  at  the  Government 
teak  plantation  at  Nilambur,  in  the  Malabar  district. 
Whether  these  are  in  existence  now,  I  do  not  know  ; 
but  in  and  round  the  village  of  Nilambur  Ceara  trees 
are  not  uncommon,  and  possibly  these  may  be  the 
offspring  of  the  ones  first  planted.  In  the  following 
year  a  few  Para  plants  [Hevea  Brasiliensis),  sent  over 
from  the  Botanic  Gardens  at  Peradeniya,  Ceylon,  were 
put  out  in  the  same  teak  plantation.  These  stand  in 
poor  soil,  chiefly  composed  of  laterite,  but  are  now 
fine  trees.  A  few  years  later  several  Wynaad  planters 
opened  small  plots  of  Ceara  by  way  of  experiment ;  but 
no  rubber  was  planted  on  a  commercial  scale.  In 
places,  though  utterly  neglected,  these  trees  still 
flourish — there  is  a  good  sized  plot,  perhaps  four  acres, 
near  an  estate  I  own,  named  Gadbrook,  planted  by  the 
late  Mr.  W.  Hamilton.  It  was  about  ten  years  ago  that 
the  great  boom  in  rubber  in  the  East  set  in.  Starting 
in  the  Federated  Malay  States,  it  soon  leapt  across 
the  bay  to  Ceylon.  After  an  interval,  it  reached  South 
India,  and  rubber  has  been  planted  in  Nilgiri- Wynaad, 
the  Anamallais,  the  Shevaroys,  and  below  the  Ghats  in 
Malabar,  Travancore,  and  Cochin.  By  far  the  largest 
area  is  under  Para,  but  Castilloa  elastica  has  also  been 
tried. 

Many  other  minor  products,  the  chief  being  pepper 
{Piper  nigru7ii),  are  cultivated — in  fact  the  Wynaad, 
with  its  diversity  of  soil,  climate,  elevation  and  rainfall, 
is  eminently  suited  for  almost  every  product  that  can 
be  grown  in  the  tropics  ;  but  these  I  pass  over  without 
detailed  comment,  for  I  must  bring  to  a  close  this  brief 
sketch  of  the  Wynaad. 

The  Wynaad !     What  magic  the  name  holds  for  the 


46  THE   NILGIRIS 


man  who,  like  myself,  has  spent  the  best  years  of  his 
Hfe  in  that  grand  country !  What  a  glorious  vision  it 
conjures  up !  A  virgin  land  where  nature  is  seen  in  all 
her  changing  moods,  stern  and  smiling,  grave  and  gay, 
by  turns.  A  land  of  swelling  hill  and  verdant  jungle, 
over  which  the  stark  Kundahs  keep  watch  and  ward. 
Then,  westwards,  the  noble  chain  of  the  Ghats, 
clothed  in  that  mighty  forest  where  broods  the  Eternal 
Silence,  unbroken  since  the  day  when  the  Spirit  of  God 
moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters,  and,  having  bid  the 
newborn  earth  bring  forth  grass,  the  herb  yielding  seed 
and  the  fruit  tree  yielding  fruit  after  his  kind,  He  saw 
that  it  was  good.  A  land  which  holds  no  place  for  the 
trifler  whose  soul  is  set  on  "  flaming  London,  fevered 
Paris  "  ;  but  to  the  man  who  is  content  to  let  the  great 
Earth  Mother  fold  him  to  her  ample  bosom  and  whisper 
her  secrets  into  his  ear,  an  Elysium  indeed. 

"  So  send  me  far  from   Lombard    Street,  and  write    me  down  a 
failure. 
Put  a  little  in  my  purse,  and  leave  me  free ; 
Say  :  '  He  turned  from  Fortune's  offering,  to  follow  up  a  pale  lure. 

He  is  one  of  us  no  longer — let  him  be.' 
I  am  one  of  you  no  longer :  by  the  trails  my  feet  have  broken, 

By  the  forest  gods,  who  claimed  me  long  ago, 
By  the  hermit  life  I'm  steeped  in — yea,  the  final  word  is  spoken, 
I  am  signed  and  sealed  to  Nature.  ...  Be  it  so." 


THE    ELEPHANT 

Scientific  name. — Elephas  maxtmus. 
Tamil  name. — Ane  (pronounced  Ah-nay). 
Kanarese  name. — Ane. 
Kurumba  name. — And. 
Nayaka   name. — Ane. 
Malayalam    name. — Ane. 


THE    ELEPHANT. 

"  Behold  now  Behemoth." 

Most  sportsmen  will,  I  fancy,  agree  with  me  that 
the  old  scientific  name,  Elephas  indicus,  was  a  far  more 
appropriate  appellation  for  the  Indian  elephant  than 
that  by  which  he  is  now  called  ;  for  though  the  purists 
would  have  us  believe  that  the  elephants  of  India,  of 
Ceylon,  of  Sumatra,  and  perhaps  of  Siam  and  of  the 
Malay  States,  are  all  different  species,  and  that  local 
races  occur  in  the  Peninsula  itself,  the  elephants  now 
extant  fall  naturally  into  two  groups,  the  Asiatic  or 
Indian,  and  the  African  {^Elephas  africamts).  But 
Blanford  has  chosen  to  follow  the  prevailing  fashion  of 
"priority  in  nomenclature,"  and  to  call  the  Indian 
elephant  maximus  because  that  name  was  bestowed  on 
him  by  old  Linnaeus  in  the  eighteenth  century  ;  and 
so,  though  he  is  in  reality  a  smaller  animal  than  his 
African  cousin,  we  must  perforce  drop  the  name  which 
fitted  like  a  glove,  and  dub  him  inaximus  as  well. 

There  has  been  as  much  heated  discussion  over  the 
twelve  foot  elephant  as  over  the  twelve  foot  tiger. 
Blanford  says  :  *'  Adult  males  do  not  as  a  rule  exceed 
nine  feet,  females  eight  feet  in  height,  but  a  male  has 
been  measured  by  Sanderson  as  much  as  ten  feet  seven 
and  a  half  inches,"  This  latter  statement  would  appear 
to  be  an  error,  for  Sanderson  (undoubtedly  the  pre- 

'^'  E 


50  THE   NILGIRIS 


eminent  authority  on  elephants)  himself  writes  :  "  Out 
of  some  hundreds  of  tame  and  newly  caught  elephants 
which  I  have  seen  in  the  south  of  India  and  in  Bengal, 
also  from  Burma  and  different  parts  of  India,  and  of 
which  I  carefully  measured  all  the  largest  individuals, 
I  have  not  seen  one  ten  feet  in  vertical  height  at  the 
shoulder.  The  largest  was  an  elephant  in  the  Madras 
Commissariat  stud  at  Hoonsoor,  which  measured 
nine  feet  ten  inches."  Again  :  "There  is  little  doubt 
that  there  is  not  an  elephant  ten  feet  at  the  shoulder 
in  India."  Elephants  standing  far  higher  than  this 
have,  however,  been  recorded.  Burke  gives  the  follow- 
ing, all  over  ten  feet : — 

ft.  in. 

lo  7  mentioned  in  Sterndale's  Mammalia. 

lo  7  alleged  height  of  the  Bulrampur  fighting  elephant. 

ID  5  shot  by  Lieut.  S.  H.  Charrington   in  Coorg. 

lo  4  shot  by  Mr.  J.  N.  Clough  in  the  Kyaito  District,  Burma. 

lo  I  shot  by  General  A.  A.  Kinloch. 

All  these  fall  far  short  of  Sir  Victor  Brooke's  cele- 
brated tusker,  the  height  of  which  has  been  recorded 
by  "  Hawkeye "  as  eleven  feet.  He  (General  R. 
Hamilton)  writes  :  "  The  large  elephant  killed  by- 
Sir  Victor  Brooke,  with  a  tusk  six  feet  outside  the 
jaw,  which  as  he  walked  appeared  nearly  to  touch  the 
ground,  was  eleven  feet."  This  is  a  definite  statement ; 
but  we  know  that  in  bygone  days  sportsmen  were 
somewhat  lax  in  their  methods  of  measuring  big  game, 
and  it  is  possible  that  General  Hamilton  is  mistaken. 
I  say  this  because,  in  the  account  of  the  chase  of  this 
elephant  from  Sir  Victor  Brooke's  own  pen  which 
appears  in  Sanderson's  book  (though  unfortunately  no 
mention  is  made  of  the  height  of  the  elephant),  the 
following  sentence  scarcely  supports  the  phenomenal 
height  given  by  General  Hamilton  :  "  But  it  was  not 


THE   ELEPHANT  51 

merely  the  stature  of  the  noble  beast  which  astonished 
us,  for  that,  though  great,  could  not  be  considered  un- 
rivalled." Blanford  gives  the  height  of  the  well-known 
skeleton  in  the  Indian  Museum  at  Calcutta  as  eleven 
feet  three  inches,  and  adds,  "so  the  animal  when  living, 
if  the  skeleton  is  correctly  mounted,  must  have  been 
nearly  twelve  feet  high." 

In  the  Wynaad  forests,  owing  perhaps  to  the 
abundance  of  suitable  food  throughout  the  year, 
elephants  run  large.  I  have  seen  many  grand  tuskers, 
both  wild  and  tame,  and  several  of  the  latter  I  have 
had  opportunities  of  measuring.  The  largest  stood 
nine  feet  seven  inches  at  the  shoulder,  and  was  the 
property  of  a  local  landowner.  Some  of  the  wild 
tuskers  appeared  to  me  to  be  even  higher  ;  but  I 
freely  admit  that  estimates  of  size  are  valueless, 
especially  as  an  animal  seen  in  its  wild  state  conveys 
an  entirely  false  impression  as  to  the  size  of  its  body 
or  head.  Every  sportsman  who  reads  this  will  recall 
how  wofully  he  was  disappointed  by  the  discrepancy 
between,  say,  his  estimate  of  a  sambur  stag's  head 
when  first  seen  on  a  hilltop  at  early  dawn,  and  the 
length  revealed  by  the  inexorable  tape  when  he  was 
laid  low. 

For  lonor  the  rig^ht  tusk  of  Sir  Victor  Brooke's 
elephant  (the  left  tusk  was  broken  off  about  a  foot 
outside  the  gum)  was  regarded  as  a  record  for  India, 
and  was  spoken  and  written  of  as  phenomenal. 
Sanderson  gives  the  following  measurements  of  these 
tusks,  obtained  from  Sir  Victor  himself: — 


Total  length,  outside  curve 

Length  outside  socket,  outside  curve 

Length  inside  socket,  outside  curve 

Circumference      ...         

Weight      


Right. 

Left. 

ft .    in. 

ft.    in. 

...     8     0 

3       3 

...     5     9 

I       2 

...     2     3 

2       I 

...     I     49 

I       8 

...     90  lbs. 

49  lbs. 

E    2 

52  THE   NILGIRIS 


Judging  from  the  circumference  of  the  left  tusk,  it 
would  have  matched  its  fellow  had  it  not  been  injured. 
I  would  note  here  that  the  girth  of  the  right  tusk  as 
given  by  Sanderson  strikes  one  as  curious,  for  it  is 
scarcely  possible  to  measure  to  tenths  of  an  inch. 
In  view  of  the  girth  of  the  left  tusk,  it  seems  probable 
that  the  figures  as  given — i'  ^.-g" — are  a  mistake  for 
one  foot  nine  inches. 

But  these,  grand  as  they  are,  are  entirely  eclipsed 
in  length  by  two  other  pairs  mentioned  by  Burke, 
who  writes  : — "  the  longest  pair  of  tusks  on  record  is 
thus  described  in  the  Journal  of  the  Bombay  Natural 
History  Society — length  nine  feet  ten  and  a  half  inches 
and  nine  feet  six  inches  ;  girth  fifteen  and  three-quarter 
inches  and  fifteen  and  a  half  inches  ;  a  very  long  and 
slender  pair.  In  the  same  publication  Captain  S.  S. 
Flower  reports  a  pair  length  eight  feet  three  inches 
and  eight  feet  four  inches  ;  girth  fourteen  and  a  half 
inches  each."  In  girth  and  weight,  however.  Sir 
Victor's  tusker  is  still  facile  princeps,  for  I  can  find  no 
record  of  any  other  tusk  even  approaching  a  girth  of 
twenty  inches,  or  a  weight  of  90  lb. 

On  the  subject  of  record  weight  Burke  writes  : — 
"  Mr.  C.  S.  Rogers,  writing  from  Mogok  in  1897,  gives 
the  length  of  a  pair  found  in  the  Ruby  Mines  District 
(together  with  the  remains  of  the  elephant)  as — right 
tusk  six  feet  two  inches,  left  six  feet  five  inches ; 
weight  67  lb.  and  73  lb.  ;  girth  one  foot  five  and 
a-half  inches  ;  the  pair  weighed  140  lb.  and  are  thus 
heavier  than  the  heaviest  pair  recorded  by  Sanderson  " 
— the  allusion  being  to  Sir  Victor  Brooke's  elephant. 
But  it  is  obviously  unfair  to  balance  a  pair  of  perfect 
tusks  against  an  imperfect  pair,  and  then  claim 
superiority    for   the   former.      It     will    be    seen    that 


THE   ELEPHANT  53 

neither  tusk  of  the  Burma  elephant  had  anything  like 
the  weight  of  the  sound  tusk  of  Sir  Victor's  elephant  ; 
while  the  girth  of  the  stump  of  the  broken  tusk  in  the 
latter  head  justifies  the  conclusion  that  had  it  also  been 
perfect,  the  pair  would  have  weighed  at  least  180  lb. 
But  speculation  apart,  I  fancy  the  right  tusk  with  a 
weight  of  90  lb.,  and  the  left  with  a  girth  of  twenty 
inches,  will  stand  as  records  for  all  time.^ 

The  tusks  in  an  elephant  are  not  masses  of  ivory 
distinct  from  his  dentition,  but  merely  a  pair  of 
phenomenally  developed  incisor  teeth,  firmly  fixed  in 
bony  sheaths,  which  run  up  the  head  as  far  as  the 
aperture  of  the  nasal  cavity.  They  are  preceded  in 
the  young  elephant  by  milk  teeth  or  tusks,  which 
are  shed  early :  the  true  tusks  then  appear,  solid 
masses  of  dentine,  which  increase  with  the  growth  of 
the  animal  till  they  reach  their  full  development.  At 
what  age  this  occurs  I  am  not  prepared  to  say.  I  have 
seen  it  stated  that  tusks  increase  in  size  as  long  as  the 
owner  lives  ;  but  it  seems  to  me  there  must  come  a  time 
when  they  have  reached  their  maximum  size,  growth 
then  ceasing  entirely.  Were  this  not  the  case,  we 
should  find  very  old  males  with  tusks  far  longer  than 
they  now,  as  a  rule,  possess ;  for  though  the  growth 
of  tusks  is  doubtless  slow,  elephants  under  suitable 
conditions  live  to  a  patriarchal  age.  Sanderson 
expresses  the  opinion  that  "the  elephant  attains  at 
least  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  years."  Think  of  the 
proportions  a  tusk  would  reach  if  it  grew  unceasingly 
for  a  century  and  a  half! 

Tusks,  as  said  above,  correspond  to  incisors,  and  in 
living  forms  are  only  found   in  the  upper  jaw.     The 

*  There  is  an  unsupported    tradition  that   "  a   tusk   from  Gorakhpiir 
weighed  100  lbs." 


54  THE  NILGIRIS 


rest  of  the  dentition  is  most  singular.  There  are  no 
canines  either  above  or  below,  but  each  jaw  is  furnished 
with  six  pairs  of  molars.  These  are  formed  of  trans- 
verse perpendicular  plates  of  dentine,  closely  joined 
together  by  cement,  which  increase  in  number  from 
front  to  back,  the  first  molar  containing  four  such 
plates,  and  the  last  as  many  as  twenty-four.  Not 
more  than  one,  or  parts  of  two,  of  the  molars  on  right 
and  left  sides  of  both  jaws  are  in  use  at  one  time  : 
as  these  are  worn  away  by  the  ordinary  processes 
of  attrition  they  are  pushed  out  in  front  by  the  other 
molars,  which  move  forward  successively  into  their 
working  places  from  the  back  of  the  jaw.  A  very  old 
elephant  would  therefore  have  only  a  single  pair  of 
molars  left  in  each  jaw,  and  would  die  from  starvation 
when  these  at  length  ceased  to  fulfil  their  functions. 

A  striking  instance  of  the  result  of  interference  with 
the  balance  of  Nature  may  be  mentioned  here.  In  the 
wild  state,  an  elephant's  teeth  are  worn  away  not 
merely  by  the  mastication  of  his  food,  but  by  the  grit 
he  takes  into  his  mouth  with  that  food ;  and  this 
abrasion  Is  precisely  counterbalanced  by  the  growth  of. 
the  succeeding  tooth.  But  in  captivity,  an  elephant's 
food  is  comparatively  clean,  with  the  result  that  the 
teeth  do  not  wear  sufficiently  fast  to  make  room 
for  the  development  of  the  molars  behind.  Hence,  In 
tame  animals,  the  plates  composing  the  teeth  are 
frequently  piled  one  over  the  other. 

In  the  Peninsula,  by  far  the  greater  number  of  males 
carry  tusks — in  fact  a  nmkna  or  tuskless  male  is  a 
rarity.  Sanderson  notes  that  out  of  fifty-one  males  he 
captured,  only  five  were  muknas,  and  I  should  say, 
speaking  generally,  that  even  this  ten  per  cent,  average 
is  high.      In  Ceylon,  on  the  other  hand,  a  tusker  is  the 


THE   ELEPHANT  55 


exception.  I  have  seen  several  theories  advanced  to 
account  for  this  striking  difference,  the  latest  being 
that  the  viukna  is  a  variety  indigenous  to  Ceylon,  the 
occasional  tuskers  found  in  that  island  being  the 
descendants  of  imported  Indian  elephants  run  wild. 
But  how  does  this  theory  fit  in  with  the  presence 
o{  muknas  in  Indian  herds?  If  the  tuskless  male  is  a 
variety  confined  to  Ceylon,  then  we  must  reverse  the 
proposition,  and  say  that  Indian  muknas  are  the 
descendants  of  Ceylon  elephants  imported  into  India 
and  now  run  wild,  which  seems  an  absurdity.  Again, 
if  the  mukna  is  a  distinct  variety,  why  should  he 
produce  a  nmkna  when  mated  with  a  female  of  the 
"tusker"  variety?  Rather,  by  all  the  laws  of  cross- 
breeding, we  should  expect  a  hybrid  ;  yet  none  such 
exist.  The  only  hypothesis  which  would  satisfactorily 
separate  tuskers  and  muknas  into  two  distinct  species 
is  that  both  males  and  females  of  the  tusker  or  Indian 
variety  were  imported  into  Ceylon,  and  males  and 
females  of  the  mukna  or  Ceylon  variety  were  imported 
into  India,  and  that  ever  since  such  importations  were 
made  tusker  males  have  kept  to  tusker  females  and 
mukna  males  to  mukna  females.  This  supposition 
involves  such  a  tissue  of  improbabilities  that  it  is  not 
worth  while  pursuing  it  further.  There  can,  I  think, 
be  no  doubt  that  only  one  species  of  elephant  exists 
both  in  India  and  Ceylon,  and  that,  as  Sanderson  puts 
it,  "the  absence  of  tusks  is  merely  an  accidental 
circumstance,  as  the  want  of  beard  or  whiskers  in  a 
man." 

Sanderson  dissipates  the  common  belief  that  muknas 
are  generally  vicious  ill-tempered  animals.  He  also 
points  out  that,  owing  to  the  bullying  they  experience 
from  the  tuskers  in  a  herd,  which  they  must  perforce 


56  THE   NILGIRIS 


accept  meekly,  they  are  often  timid.  Possibly  this 
want  of  courage  has  been  mistaken  for  vice. 

The  female  is  equipped  with  short  tusks  or  tushes 
in  the  upper  jaw,  which  are  usually  broken  at  an  early 
age.  I  know,  however,  of  at  least  one  case  in  which 
they  have  been  retained  till  late  in  life.  This  elephant, 
a  great  "pal"  of  mine,  is  the  most  docile,  sweet- 
tempered  creature  I  have  ever  met.  Her  owner  puts 
her  age  at  ninety  years,  and  her  tushes  are  still 
perfect. 

In  colour,  the  elephant  is  a  uniform  black  tinged 
with  slaty  grey.  His  skin  is  almost  devoid  of  hair, 
but  the  tail  has  a  few  coarse  hairs  at  the  tip.  Often 
the  forehead  and  ears  are  mottled  with  flesh-coloured 
patches,  and  occasionally  similar  blotches  occur  on  the 
neck.  These  marks  are  prized  by  native  owners  in 
this  part  of  the  country,  but  to  me  they  are  repulsive, 
giving  the  elephant  possessing  them  much  the 
appearance  of  a  man  suffering  from  leucoderma.  The 
white  elephants  of  Further  India  are  celebrated  in 
story  :  possibly  they  exist  in  fact  ;  but  I  have  never 
heard  of  a  white  elephant  in  the  Peninsula.  Blanford 
merely  notes  that  "  white  elephants  are  albinoes." 
Usually  there  are  five  hoofs  or  nails  on  the  forefoot, 
and  four  on  the  hindfoot.  The  trunk  is  a  wonderful 
organ.  In  reality  a  phenomenally  developed  nose,  it 
consists  of  a  flexible  tube  of  sub-conical  form,  enclosing 
two  other  tubes  divided  by  a  septum.  At  the  tip, 
on  the  outside,  is  a  finger-like  process,  which  gives 
the  trunk  its  extreme  sensitiveness,  and  enables  an 
elephant  to  pick  up  anything  down  to  the  proverbial 
pin.  The  peculiar  gait  is  due  to  the  formation  of  the 
legs,  which  differs  radically  from  that  of  any  other 
quadruped.     The  bones  are  set  almost  in  a  direct  line, 


THE  ELEPHANT  57 

while  the  humerus  in  the  foreleg  and  the  femur  in  the 
hindleg  are  very  long.  The  knee  bends  to  allow  the 
foot  to  be  brought  to  the  rear.  It  was  this  gait  that 
originated  the  old  fallacy  that  an  elephant  had  no 
joints,  and  also  the  delusion  that  the  joints  moved  in  a 
direction  contrary  to  those  of  other  animals.  The 
absence  of  a  collar  bone  makes  it  impossible  for  an 
elephant  to  lift  his  forefoot  to  any  height.  It  is  useful 
to  remember  that  twice  the  circumference  of  the 
forefoot  is  in  most  cases  the  exact  height ;  and  the 
calculation  is  never  more  than  an  inch  or  so  out. 

In  India  the  elephant  is  found  in  suitable  localities 
all  over  the  Peninsula.  Blanford  gives  its  distribution 
thus: — "Along  the  base  of  the  Himalayas  as  far 
west  as  Dehra  Dun  ;  also  in  places  in  the  great  forest 
country  between  the  Ganges  and  Kistna  as  far  west 
as  Bilaspur  and  Mandla  ;  in  the  Western  Ghats  as 
far  north  as  seventeen  or  eighteen  degrees  ;  and  in 
some  of  the  forest  clad  ranges  in  Mysore  and  further 
south."  In  the  Ghat  forests  of  Wynaad  they  are 
exceedingly  numerous.  The  greatest  height  to  which 
they  ascend  here  may  be  set  down  as  three  thousand 
five  hundred  feet — in  other  words,  they  keep  strictly 
to  the  belt  of  heavy  forest.  Further  inland,  between 
the  Ghat  forest  line  and  the  base  of  the  Nilgiri 
plateau,  lies  the  band  of  lighter  deciduous  jungle 
interspersed  with  grass  hills  in  which  coffee  and  tea 
are  cultivated.  Elephants  do  not  now  enter  this  tract, 
though  old  elephant  pits  are  so  numerous  in  it  that 
at  some  period  not  very  remote  they  must  have 
roamed  through  it  freely.  An  ancient  Kurumba  in  my 
employ  has  told  me  that  he  can  remember  an  elephant 
being  caught  on  my  own  estate  when  he  was  a  boy. 
Usually  little  reliance  can  be  placed  on  such  statements 


58  THE  NILGIRIS 


by  the  jungle  men  ;  but  I  think  this  one  may  be  true, 
as  the  trees  now  growing  in  the  old  pits  are  not, 
judging  from  their  size,  more  than  sixty  years  old.  It 
seems  to  me  probable  that  formerly  this  belt  of  lighter 
jungle  was  used  by  elephants  as  a  path  between  the 
jungles  of  South  Mysore  and  the  Ghat  forests  below 
the  Wynaad  range,  in  South  Malabar  ;  and  that  the 
route  was  abandoned  owing  to  the  opening  up  of  the 
country  by  planters.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  old  pits 
furnish  incontrovertible  evidence  that  in  comparatively 
recent  times  elephants  were  far  more  widely  distributed 
over  South-East  Wynaad  than  they  are  now. 

Sanderson's  description  of  the  habits  of  elephants  in 
Mysore  applies  in  a  large  degree  to  Wynaad.  During 
the  hot  weather,  from  February  to  the  first  burst  of 
the  monsoon,  their  impatience  of  exposure  to  the  sun 
restricts  them  to  the  heavy  evergreen  forests  of  the 
Ghats,  and  especially  to  the  vicinity  of  the  many 
large  streams  which  course  through  these  forests  from 
the  Wynaad  tableland.  Where  the  Ghat  forest  ends, 
along  the  crest  of  the  Wynaad  hills  overlooking  the 
low  country,  the  grass  hills  start ;  and  many  abandoned 
estates  along  the  verge  of  this  forest  are  now  huge 
seas  of  dhubbay.  In  the  hot  season  these  hills 
are  burnt  by  the  natives,  and  with  the  first  rains  of 
spring  are  covered  with  a  carpet  of  fresh  succulent 
grass.  The  advent  of  the  monsoon  about  the  middle 
of  June  brings  'cloudy  skies  and  cool  weather,  and 
elephants  then  leave  their  forest  sanctuary  for  the 
open  country  above.  Here  they  spend  a  couple  of 
months,  changing  their  quarters  frequently  in  search 
of  fresh  feeding  grounds,  but  never  straying  far  from 
the  forest  line  ;  and  when,  about  August,  the  grass 
has  become  rank  and  coarse,  they  once  more  descend 


THE  ELEPHANT  59 

the  Ghats.  Sanderson  attributes  their  migration  at 
this  season  not  merely  to  the  grass  having  become 
unpalatable,  but  to  the  swarms  of  elephant-flies  which 
make  their  appearance  in  long  grass  in  the  rains,  and 
I  have  no  doubt  he  is  right,  for  this  fly  is  what 
Sanderson  calls  it,  "a  truly  formidable  pest." 

In  the  low  country  jungles — by  which  term  I  refer 
particularly  to  the  jungle  clothing  the  foot-hills  at  the 
base  of  the  Wynaad  chain — at  an  elevation  of 
three  hundred  or  four  hundred  feet  above  sea-level, 
elephants  are  found  all  the  year  round.  As  these 
jungles  are  never  wholly  deserted  even  when  elephants 
are  on  the  higher  ranges,  it  would  seem  that  only 
certain  herds  make  a  practice  of  ascending  to  the 
plateau  at  the  beginning  of  the  monsoon.  In  the 
chapter  on  bison  I  refer  to  the  curious  fact  that  females 
seldom  leave  the  foot-hills  ;  and  the  same  peculiarity 
attaches  to  elephants,  for  though  I  have  on  several 
occasions  seen  herds  of  elephants  on  the  crest  of  the 
Ghats,  as  a  rule  only  males  climb  up  to  the  open 
country  in  June.  Probably  this  marked  predilection 
for  the  flat  jungles  of  the  foot-hills  on  the  part  of  the 
females  of  both  elephants  and  bison  is  due  to  their 
desire  to  spare  their  calves  the  long  steep  climb  that 
an  excursion  to  the  plateau  involves. 

Calves  are  dropped  all  the  year  round,  for  they  can 
be  seen  with  the  herds  at  all  seasons  ;  but  Sanderson 
is  undoubtedly  right  in  his  assertion  that  by  far  the 
greater  number  are  born  from  September  to  the  end 
of  the  year.  He  gives  the  period  of  gestation,  relying 
on  native  evidence,  as  twenty-two  months  for  a  male, 
and  eighteen  months  for  a  female,  calf.  Blanford 
notes  :  "It  has  been  ascertained  to  be  about  nineteen 
months,    though   it  is   said  to  vary   from   eighteen  to 


6o  THE   NILGIRIS 


twenty- two ;  and  according  to  some  writers  the  latter 
period  has  been  recorded."  As  elephants  very  seldom 
breed  in  captivity  in  India  the  actual  period  is  not 
easy  to  determine  ;  but  reliable  information  ought  to 
be  forthcoming  from  Burma  and  Siam,  where  tame 
elephants  are  said  to  breed  freely.  A  female  has 
only  one  calf  at  a  birth  :  this  I  believe  to  be  an 
invariable  rule,  though  Sanderson  mentions  "what 
appears  to  be  a  well-authenticated  case  "  of  twins. 
The  teats  of  an  elephant  approximate  more  nearly 
to  the  human  type  than  those  of  any  other  terrestrial 
mammal,  being  two  in  number  and  placed  between 
her  forelegs.  She  suckles  her  calf  for  at  least  a 
year. 

In  this  part  of  the  country,  a  herd  may  contain  any 
number  of  individuals  from  four  to  forty.  Possibly 
much  larger  herds  exist,  but  I  have  not  seen  more 
than  forty  elephants  together.  When  elephants  are 
found  in  small  groups  of  four  or  five,  as  I  have  oft^n 
seen  them,  it  is  likely  that  these  are  scattered  parties 
belonging  to  one  large  herd,  which  have  separated  in 
search  of  food.  I  say  this  because  I  have  frequently, 
found  such  small  assemblies  close  to  one  another. 
Sanderson  says,  "  Each  herd  of  elephants  is  a  family  in 
which  the  animals  are  nearly  allied  to  each  other." 
Blanford  concurs  with  this  statement  in  these  words  : 
"  All  members  of  a  herd  generally  belong  to  the  same 
family,  and  are  nearly  related."  I  am  puzzled  to  know 
on  what  evidence  this  assertion  can  possibly  rest. 
When  a  herd  is  taking  its  midday  siesta,  the  members 
fall  naturally  into  groups,  and  I  think  it  very  probable 
that  these,  as  well  as  the  groups  into  which  a  large 
herd  often  breaks  up,  constitute  so  many  distinct 
families — the     bond     of     relationship     keeping     the 


THE  ELEPHANT  6i 

members  of  each  such  family  together.  But  in  a  large 
assembly,  and  especially  an  assembly  containing  five 
or  six  full-grown  males,  I  should  very  much  doubt 
whether  "all  belong  to  the  same  family." 

As  may  well  be  imagined  with  animals  possessing 
such  voracious  appetites,  the  food  supply  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  a  herd  is  soon  exhausted,  and 
elephants  are  therefore  constantly  on  the  move.  In 
such  migrations,  they  travel  more  or  less  in  single 
file,  the  herd  being  led  by  a  female.  On  the  march, 
the  females  and  calves  will  usually  be  found  in  the 
van,  and  the  males  in  the  rear.  But,  as  Sanderson 
notes,  if  the  herd  is  disturbed  or  frightened,  these 
relative  positions  are  speedily  reversed,  no  considera- 
tions of  gallantry  inducing  the  males  to  cover  the 
retreat. 

Sanderson  writes  :  "  Much  misconception  exists  on 
the  subject  of  rogue  or  solitary  elephants.  The 
usually  accepted  belief  that  these  elephants  are  turned 
out  of  the  herds  by  their  companions  or  rivals  is  not 
correct.  Most  of  the  solitary  elephants  are  lords  of 
some  herds  near."  It  by  no  means  follows  that  every 
solitary  elephant  is  a  "  rogue  "  :  in  fact,  though  single 
males  are  not  uncommon  in  the  Wynaad  jungles,  as 
elsewhere,  a  veritable  rogue  is  a  rarity.  An  inoffensive 
tusker  or  mukna,  when  found  by  himself,  is,  I  have 
no  doubt  whatever,  merely  a  herd  elephant  who  has 
wandered  further  afield  than  his  companions  in  search 
of  food,  or  who  has  temporarily  separated  from  the 
herd  to  which  he  belongs  for  some  other  reason 
personal  to  himself.  But  if  Sanderson  means  by  the 
passage  I  have  quoted  to  say  that  a  genuine  rogue 
— an  Ishmael  whose  hand  is  against  every  man  and 
every  man's  hand  against  him — is  also  a  male  who  is 


62  THE   NILGIRIS 


"lord  of  a  herd  near,"  I  must  join  issue  with  him.  I 
differ  on  any  point  from  so  keen  an  observer  and  so 
eminent  an  authority  with  great  diffidence  :  to  con- 
tradict him  on  any  question  concerning  the  habits  of 
elephants — ^animals  whom  he  had  better  opportunities 
of  studying  than  any  other  writer — savours  of  presump- 
tion. But  I  am  certain  that  every  true  rogue  I 
have  known  or  heard  of  has  been  an  elephant  who 
has  elected  to  lead  an  absolutely  solitary  life,  and  to 
sever  his  erstwhile  connection  with  his  herd  completely. 
Whether  his  decision  to  lead  a  hermit  life  is  voluntary 
or  compulsory  is  another  question.  Sanderson  says, 
"  I  do  not  believe  in  any  male  elephant  being  driven 
from  its  herd."  But  a  rogue  is  always  a  morose  savage 
beast,  ready  to  pick  a  quarrel  with  either  his  own  kind 
or  with  man  on  the  slightest  provocation,  often  with- 
out provocation  at  all  ;  and  it  is  certainly  conceivable 
that  if  this  savage  disposition  were  developed  while 
in  the  herd,  the  other  tuskers,  for  the  sake  of  peace 
and  quietness  in  the  community,  might  make  common 
cause  against  the  offender,  and  expel  him.  That 
they  do  combine  to  prevent  a  rogue  having  any . 
association  with  a  herd  after  he  has  become  a  rogue, 
I  can  vouch. 

A  wild  elephant  is  by  nature  a  timid  and  inoffensive 
animal  ;  in  fact,  I  would  go  the  length  of  saying  that 
in  no  denizen  of  the  forest  is  the  instinctive  dread  of 
man  possessed  by  all  animals  more  marked.  The 
merest  taint  of  a  human  in  the  air  will  make  the 
largest  herd  seek  safety  in  precipitate  flight.  None 
the  less  it  is  necessary  to  use  the  utmost  caution  in 
approaching  elephants.  I  do  not  believe  that  any 
elephant  (save  a  confirmed  rogue)  would  charge  if 
warned  by  his  acute  sense  of  smell  that  man  was  near 


THE   ELEPHANT  63 


some  time  before  that  object  of  his  fear  and  aversion 
actually  appeared  :  he  would  invariably  obey  his 
natural  impulse,  and  retreat  as  fast  as  possible. 
But  to  stumble  on  a  single  elephant  or  a  herd — which 
is  of  course  always  due  to  an  unwitting  approach  up- 
wind— almost  certainly  means  an  instant  charge. 
This  is  not  vice  :  it  is  not  even  a  contradiction  of  the 
rule  that  an  elephant  is  an  inoffensive  animal.  The 
charge  is  prompted  solely  by  that  instinct  of  self- 
preservation  which  is  the  first  law  of  all  Nature — just 
as  a  man  would  without  thought  hit  out  at  a  practical 
joker  who  crept  up  from  behind  and  startled  him. 
The  elephant  suddenly  finds  himself  confronted  by  the 
enemy  he  dreads  :  he  believes  he  is  cornered  :  and  an 
effort  to  destroy  his  enemy  is  the  result.  But  give 
him  time  for  reflection,  let  him  realise  that  retreat  is 
open  to  him,  and  an  elephant  would  no  more  initiate 
an  attack  on  a  man  than  a  tiger.  A  female  with  a 
young  calf  will  also  charge  without  hesitation,  either 
when  encountered  suddenly,  or  when  the  sportsman  is 
following  up  a  herd.  The  rogue  is  in  a  category  by 
himself.  His  innate  fear  of  man  blunted  by  the 
constant  excursions  he  makes  with  impunity  into  the 
fields  of  unarmed  ryots,  he  is  ready  and  willing  not 
merely  to  fight,  but  to  be  the  aggressor  at  all  times, 
and  many  a  poor  Nayaka  or  Kurumba  wandering  in 
the  jungle  in  search  of  roots  falls  a  victim  to  this 
perversion  of  character.  Far  worse  even  than  the 
rogue  is  the  tame  elephant  who  escapes  to  his  native 
wilds  in  a  fit  of  madness,  and  makes  man-killing  the 
business  of  his  life.  Absolutely  without  fear  of  men 
owing  to  his  association  with  them :  endued  with 
extraordinary  cunning:  bloodthirsty  as  a  man-eating 
tiger :   such  an  elephant    is   a  fiend    incarnate,    and  I 


64  THE   NILGIRIS 


have    known    one    hold    up    the    whole    country-side, 
wreaking  a  bloody  vengeance  on  his  former  masters. 
I  was  much  surprised,  when   I  first  settled  down  in 
Wynaad  and  began  to  explore  the  grand  Ghat  forests, 
at  the  dread  of  elephants  evinced  by  the  junglemen, 
Kurumbas  and  Nayakas,  who  accompanied  me  in  my 
excursions.     Men    who  laughed   at    the    charge  of  a 
bison,  or   followed    a  wounded  tiger    without   hesita- 
tion,  would  stop  at  the   crack   of  a  bamboo  in    the 
distance,    and    with    the    one    word    '' dnay''    refuse 
to  go  further.      Expostulation  was  useless  :  the    only 
reply  was  "there  are  elephants  ahead,  and  we  must 
take  another  road."     This  fear  I  regarded  as  baseless 
in  a  large  degree,  and  as  probably  induced  by  the  size 
and  formidable  appearance  of  an  elephant ;  but  I  soon 
learnt   that   it    rested    on    very    solid  ground  indeed. 
These  wild  people,  men,  women,  and  children,  spend 
the  greater  part  of  their  time    in    wandering  in   the 
forest,  digging  up  edible  roots  and  tubers  ;  and  while 
engaged    in    this    occupation,     they    not    infrequently 
stumble  on,  and  are  killed  by,  wild  elephants.     The 
number   who    meet    an    untimely  end    in  this  way  is 
never  known,  even  approximately  ;  for  living  as  these 
junglefolk  do  in  the  heart  of  the  Ghat  forests,  news  of 
a  death  amongst  them  does  not  reach  the  outer  world. 
But  I  know  of  at  least  four  instances  during  the  time 
I  have  been  resident  in  Wynaad  in  which  men  have 
been  killed  by  coming  on  elephants  unexpectedly,  and 
two  of  my  own  trackers  have  had  the  narrowest    of 
escapes. 

The  senses  of  sight  and  hearing  in  an  elephant  are 
not  very  acute  ;  but  his  sense  of  smell  is  developed 
to  an  extraordinary  degree.  I  can  recall  an  incident 
which  strikingly  exemplifies  this.     Coming  back  late 


THE   ELEPHANT  65 

one  evening  from  a  ramble  after  bison,  not  far  from  the 
hamlet  of  E.,  I  happened  on  several  elephants  belong- 
ing to  the  local  Rajah.  To  save  the  trouble  and 
expense  of  cutting  fodder,  it  is  the  practice  amongst 
elephant  owners  in  this  part  of  the  country  to  turn  their 
animals  loose  in  the  jungle  at  night,  and  let  them 
forage  for  themselves.  As  usual,  the  feet  of  these 
elephants  were  shackled,  and  the  men  who  had  ridden 
them  into  the  forest  had  just  descended  and  were 
standing  near.  One  splendid  tusker  had  his  back 
turned  to  us,  and  was  busily  occupied  in  pulling  down 
creepers  from  a  high  tree.  I  was  standing  a  few  yards 
away  admiring  him,  when  suddenly  he  swung  round  in 
a  fury,  with  ears  and  tail  cocked.  At  first  I  thought  the 
demonstration  was  directed  against  myself,  and  instinc- 
tively I  raised  my  rifle,  when  the  Paniya  keeper,  who 
was  by  my  side,  proceeded  to  explain  that  the  tusker's 
show  of  temper  was  due  to  the  appearance  on  the  scene 
of  another  Paniyan  whom  he  hated.  I  looked  round 
and  saw  the  youth  who  had  raised  the  tusker's  ire 
standing  about  three  hundred  yards  away.  Not  only 
had  the  elephant  been  able  to  wind  him  at  this  distance 
on  a  still  evening,  but  he  had  distinguished  the  taint  of 
his  enemy  amongst  the  odours  of  at  least  a  dozen  other 
Paniyans.  We  were  all — the  Paniya  keepers,  my 
Nayaka  trackers,  his  Paniya  aversion,  and  myself — 
standing  between  the  wind  and  his  nobility,  and  it 
struck  me  at  the  time  that  only  a  supersensitive  nose 
could  have  separated  the  commingled  effluvium  into 
its  component  parts. 

This  exquisite  sense  of  smell  makes  it  impossible  to 
approach  elephants  down  wind  ;  but  by  the  exercise  of 
a  very  ordinary  degree  of  caution  the  sportsman  can 
stalk  to  within  a  few  yards  of  a  single  elephant  or  a 

P 


66  THE    NILGIRIS 


herd,  provided  he  is  careful  to  get  and  to  keep  the  wind 
right.  Not  only,  as  mentioned  above,  are  sight  and 
hearing  not  highly  developed  in  an  elephant,  but  his 
kingship  over  the  jungle  is  so  universally  recognised 
and  acknowledged  that  he  is  absolved  from  the 
observance  of  any  precautions  for  his  own  safety,  and 
this  immunity  from  attack  by  other  animals  makes  him 
as  a  rule  quite  unsuspicious  of  danger.  From  the 
sportsman's  standpoint,  the  ease  with  which  elephants 
can  be  stalked  is  a  great  advantage  for  two  reasons — 
first,  because  an  elephant  can  only  be  killed  by  a  steady 
shot  from  a  favourable  position,  and  next,  because  to 
follow  up  a  wounded  elephant  is  often  a  service  of  great 
danger.  Practically,  the  only  shot  by  which  an  elephant 
can  be  brought  down  in  his  tracks  is  one  through  the 
brain,  and  for  success  in  elephant  shooting,  a  study  of 
the  animal's  skull  is  absolutely  essential.  This  is  large 
and  high,  and  consists  for  the  most  part  of  cancellous 
tissue  containing  air  compartments  of  various  sizes.  A 
bullet  passing  through  this  tissue  inflicts  no  serious 
damage,  though  it  may  temporarily  stun  the  animal  if 
in  close  proximity  to  the  brain  :  the  only  fatal  spot  is 
the  brain  itself.  This  is  small,  and  lies  low  down  and 
far  back,  a  little  below  and  in  front  of  a  line  drawn  from 
ear-hole  to  ear-hole.  When  an  elephant  is  at  rest  in 
his  normal  position,  and  both  he  and  the  sportsman  are 
standing  on  more  or  less  level  ground,  the  brain  can 
be  reached  from  the  direct  front  by  a  shot  into  the 
bump  between  the  eyes,  the  right  point  to  aim  at  being 
a  trifle  above  the  centre  of  this  bump.  When  the 
sportsman  is  opposite  to  the  ear,  at  right  angles  to 
the  position  in  which  the  elephant  is  facing,  the  shot 
should  be  into  the  ear  orifice,  or  preferably  an  inch  or 
so  in  front  of  it  towards  the  temple.      This  shot  should 


THE   ELEPHANT  67 

be  as  nearly  horizontal  as  it  is  possible  to  make  it. 
If  the  sportsman  is  opposite  the  elephant's  body  or 
further  back,  the  spot  to  aim  at  is  the  hollow  behind 
the  ear,  above  the  protuberance  which  marks  the 
junction  of  head  and  neck,  as  the  ear  flaps  forward. 
These  are  the  most  favourable  shots  (as  being  the 
easiest  to  determine)  at  the  head  of  an  elephant  at  rest 
in  a  natural  attitude  on  level  ground,  and  in  stalking 
every  effort  should  be  made  to  reach  a  position  from 
which  one  of  these  shots  can  be  obtained.  It  is 
obvious  that  any  change  in  the  relative  positions  of 
elephant  and  sportsman  will  necessitate  a  correspond- 
ing alteration  in  the  direction  of  the  bullet.  The 
sportsman  may,  by  force  of  circumstances,  be  unable 
to  get  a  shot  from  immediately  in  front  at  the  bump  in 
the  forehead,  or  exactly  at  right  angles  into  the  ear- 
hole,  or  from  half  a  right  angle  at  the  hollow  behind 
the  ear ;  the  elephant  may  be  charging  with  his  head 
held  high,  or  he  may  be  on  higher  or  lower  ground 
than  the  gunner.  It  is  not  feasible  to  discuss  every 
possible  variation  :  the  only  method  by  which  the 
would-be  elephant  hunter  can  hope  to  achieve  success 
is  to  study  closely  a  vertical  section  of  an  elephant's 
skull  in  order  to  get  a  lasting  impression  of  the 
position  of  the  brain,  and  then  to  take  imaginary  shots 
at  the  head  of  a  tame  elephant  from  every  conceivable 
direction.  I  need  scarcely  say  that  the  most  important 
shot  of  all  to  study  is  at  a  charging  elephant  with  his 
head  in  the  air,  for  that  may  be  a  matter  of  life  or 
death.  Naturally,  this  shot  must  usually  be  taken 
directly  in  front  of  the  on-coming  beast,  and  under 
such  conditions  there  is  very  little  time  (or  inclination!) 
for  calculation.  Generally  speaking,  the  bullet  should 
be   fired    into    the    centre  of  the  trunk,  between    the 

F  2 


68  THE   NILGIRIS 


tusks.  Sanderson  has  some  excellent  diagrams  in  his 
book,  showing  the  situation  of  the  brain  and  how 
the  head  shots  should  be  placed. 

Provided  the  rifle  is  of  large  calibre  and  the  powder 
charge  heavy,  an  elephant  may  also  be  killed  by  a  shot 
behind  the  shoulder  or  into  the  chest,  through  heart 
or  lungs.  But  such  a  shot  is  always  uncertain,  and 
wherever  possible  the  head  shot  should  be  preferred, 
as  penetration  of  the  brain  means  instant  death.  A 
shoulder-shot  from  a  small  bore  rifle  is  nothing  short 
of  criminal.  It  cannot  be  mortal,  and  must  always 
cause  the  animal  intense  and  lengthy  suffering. 
Further  on  I  give  an  instance  of  the  insensate  cruelty 
of  body  shots  at  an  elephant  with  a  light  rifle. 

These  remarks  on  the  vital  points  of  an  elephant 
naturally  lead  on  to  a  consideration   of  the   weapons 
that  should  be  employed  in  the  sport.     On  this  question 
there  is  not  room  for  two  opinions.     The  golden  rule 
is    "use  the  heaviest  rifle  your  strength  will  allow." 
An  elephant's  head  is  easily  penetrated  by  a   bullet, 
being  composed — as    mentioned  already — of  air   cells 
separated  by  thin  partitions  ;  and  they  have  often  been 
killed  by  bullets  from  light  rifles.      But  to  compass  the 
death  of  an  elephant  with  a  twelve-bore  or  an  Express 
presupposes  that  every  condition  is  eminently  favour- 
able.    The    sportsman  must    be  in    an  advantageous 
position,    and    he    must   have    time    and   opportunity 
to    take   aim   as  steadily  as   if  he  were    firing   at   an 
inanimate    target.      I    make    bold    to    say    that   never 
yet    has    an    elephant    been    killed    by  a    small    bore 
rifle  save  under  conditions  as  favourable  as  these ;  and 
this    happy    concatenation  of   circumstances  it  is  not 
possible  always  to  secure.     What  the  elephant  hunter 
has  to  be  prepared  for  is  a  scrimmage,  and  in  such 


THE   ELEPHANT  69 

a  contingency  a  light  rifle  would  be  of  as  much  service 
to  him  as  a  popgun.  Sooner  or  later  he  will  have 
to  stand  up  to  a  charging  elephant,  and  the  only- 
weapon  that  will  help  him  then  is  one  heavy  enough  to 
give  a  knock-down  blow,  even  if  it  does  not  kill.  I 
do  not  here  discuss  the  merits  of  various  rifles  or  indi- 
cate the  one  most  suitable  for  elephant  shooting,  as  I 
have  gone  into  the  question  in  the  chapter  on  sporting 
weapons. 

If  when  stalking  a  herd  the  sportsman's  approach  is 
detected,  the  elephant  making  the  discovery  usually 
announces  it  to  the  other  members  by  a  short 
trumpet,  a  danger  signal  which  is  thoroughly  under- 
stood. On  hearing  it,  the  elephants  stand  like  statues 
for  a  minute  or  two,  every  sense  on  the  alert,  with 
the  view  of  locating  the  direction  from  which  danger 
threatens,  and  should  they  receive  any  further  con- 
firmation of  their  suspicions,  a  general  stampede 
ensues.  If,  after  listening  intently,  they  get  no  further 
indication  of  the  sportsman's  presence,  they  decamp 
quickly  but  silently.  Once  the  danger  trumpet  is 
sounded,  elephants  never  stand  their  ground.  On 
several  occasions  a  change  of  wind  at  the  last  moment 
has  betrayed  my  presence  to  a  single  member  of  a 
herd,  and  I  have  heard  the  short  sharp  alarm  note, 
but  though  in  these  instances  the  other  elephants 
had  no  knowledge  of  my  vicinity,  the  whole  assembly 
have  invariably  made  off  Sometimes  the  elephant 
who  has  winded  the  sportsman  retreats  without  making 
any  sound,  and  in  such  cases  the  alarm  is  communi- 
cated to  the  rest  by  some  occult  means,  and  the  whole 
herd  melt  away  as  if  actuated  by  a  common  impulse. 
It  is  nothing  short  of  marvellous  how,  even  in  thick 
cover,    these    enormous    animals    can    disappear    in 


70  THE   NILGIRIS 


absolute  silence.  Frequently  when  I  have  been  sitting 
watching  a  herd,  an  elephant  has  suddenly  realised 
that  a  "chiel  was  takin'  notes,"  and  in  a  minute,  with 
never  a  sound  to  mark  their  retreat,  the  herd  have 
stolen  away.  I  know  only  one  other  animal — the 
Nilgiri  ibex — in  which  this  faculty  of  giving  silent 
warning  of  danger  is  as  marked  as  in  the  elephant. 

A  short  trumpet — but  one  quite  distinct  from  the 
alarm  signal — is  also  the  challenge  of  a  charging 
elephant ;  and  in  the  whole  wide  realm  of  Indian  sport 
there  is  nothing  to  be  compared  with  this  in  grandeur, 
in  excitement,  and  in  real  danger — the  charge  of  an 
infuriated  tusker.  As  the  elephant  is  incomparably, 
indisputably,  king  of  the  animal  creation,  so  does  his 
onslaught  dwarf  into  insignificance  that  of  any  other 
animal.  I  can  vividly  remember  how,  when  a  boy,  I 
gloated  over  the  hair-breadth  'scapes  from  elephants, 
told  in  old  books  on  African  sport  :  how  I  rode  with 
Gordon  Gumming,  bent  double  over  the  horse's  neck., 
as  the  uplifted  trunk  of  the  monster  thundering  behind 
crept  ever  nearer:  how  our  equine  wonder  "  Goles- 
berg"  responded  to  a  pressure  of  the  knee,  and  by  a- 
dexterous  twist  at  the  psychological  moment  eluded 
the  furious  pachyderm:  how  with  the  agility  of  a 
practised  acrobat  we  threw  ourselves  from  the  saddle, 
and  with  a  "  ragged  "  bullet  from  our  "  trusty  "  rifle 
laid  the  bloody  monster  low  in  full  career  ;  but  all  my 
boyish  dreams  fell  far  short  of  the  reality  when  for 
the  first  time  I  had  to  stand  up  to  a  charging  elephant. 
The  grand  head  is  held  high  ;  the  trunk  is  curled 
between  the  gleaming  tusks  ;  the  mighty  bulk  comes 
on  with  surprising  swiftness  ;  the  whole  performance 
impresses  one  with  a  sense  of  relentless,  irresistible 
power.       Gan     the     puny     mortal    standing    in    the 


THE   ELEPHANT  71 

path  of  the  on-coming  elephant  by  any  possibility 
stay  that  tremendous  attack  ?  Then  it  is  that  the 
possession  of  a  heavy  rifle  gives  one  a  feeling  of 
absolute  confidence,  and  enables  one  coolly,  calmly,  to 
stop  that  terrific  rush.  But  woe  betide  the  man  who  in 
circumstances  like  these  grasps  a  pop-gun  !  Assuredly 
an  elephant's  charge  is  an  experience  that,  once  under- 
gone, can  never  be  forgotten ! 

Sanderson  puts  the  utmost  pace  of  which  an  elephant 
is  capable  at  "  fifteen  miles  an  hour  for  a  very 
short  distance."  Personally,  I  should  say  a  charge — 
which  brings  out  his  best  pace — is  made  at  a  rate 
considerably  faster  than  this.  A  runner  who  could  do 
his  one  hundred  yards  in  even  time  would  have  all  his 
work  cut  out  to  evade  a  charging  elephant — in  fact,  I 
would  give  the  man  a  dozen  yards  start  and  back  the 
elephant  every  time  in  a  race  of  a  furlong.  Ten  yards 
per  second  means  twenty  and  a  half  miles  per  hour, 
and  I  cannot  be  far  wrong  in  saying  that,  for  a  couple 
of  hundred  yards  or  so  on  open  level  ground,  an  elephant 
can  travel  at  something  over  twenty  miles  (an  hour. 
His  ordinary  pace  is  a  fast  walk — or  more  correctly  a 
walk  which  appears  to  be  fast  owing  to  the  six  feet 
covered  in  each  stride,  for  he  does  not  move  his 
legs  rapidly  ;  and  this  carries  him  along  at  about  five 
miles  an  hour  over  fairly  easy  country.  I  have  several 
times  ridden  over  the  forest  path  between  E.  and  N., 
which  involves  a  certain  amount  of  hill  climbing  and 
the  crossing  of  two  large  streams,  in  two  hours,  the 
distance  being  some  nine  miles. 

The  daily  routine  of  an  elephant  closely  resembles 
that  of  a  bison.  He  begins  his  morning  meal 
a  couple  of  hours  before  sunrise,  and  feeds  till 
nine  or  ten  a.m.,    when  he  seeks  some  dense  shady 


72  THE    NILGIRIS 


cover  in  which  to  doze  till  the  early  afternoon.  About 
three  o'clock  he  again  sallies  out  to  feed  ;  and  here 
occurs  a  divergence  between  his  habits  and  those  of  a 
bison,  for  whereas  the  latter  retires  soon  after  dusk, 
the  elephant  often  continues  his  meal  till  midnight, 
owing  doubtless  to  the  much  larger  quantity  of  food  he 
requires.  Whether  he  then  lies  down,  or  takes  his  rest 
standing,  is  a  moot  question.  Personally,  I  incline  to 
the  former  view ;  for  though  I  have  never  seen  a  wild 
elephant  lying  down,  my  Nayakas — whose  lives  are 
spent  in  the  jungles  and  who  are  keen  observers  of 
the  habits  of  animals — have  assured  me  that  they  have 
frequently  come  across  elephants  at  night  in  a 
recumbent  position,  and  more  than  once  they  have 
pointed  out  depressions  in  soft  ground  which  certainly 
seemed  to  have  been  made  by  an  elephant's  body. 
One  thing  is  certain — that,  whether  taken  standing  or 
lying,  his  rest  is  of  short  duration  ;  for  by  three  or 
four  a.m.  he  is  on  the  move  aorain.  His  food  is 
practically  the  same  as  that  of  a  bison,  consisting 
of  grass,  leaves,  the  fruit  and  small  branches  of  certain 
jungle  trees,  the  tender  shoots  of  the  bamboo,  and- 
the  stems  and  leaves  of  the  wild  plantain.  He  is 
particularly  fond  of  trampling  down  the  dense  thickets 
of  kuglasuppu  which  grow  in  every  swamp  in 
Wynaad ;  but  these  spots  are  always  in  such  an 
indescribable  mess  after  an  elephant's  visit,  that  it 
is  impossible  to  say  whether  the  fronds  are  destroyed 
through  mere  wantonness,  or  torn  off  for  food.  Owing 
to  this  similarity  in  diet  the  ranges  of  elephants  and 
bison  in  Wynaad  are  coterminous. 

The  food  is  conveyed  to  the  mouth  by  the  trunk, 
small  fruit  and  other  like  objects  being  picked  up  by 
compression    between   the  finger  and  the  small  lobe 


THE   ELEPHANT  73 

which  form  respectively  the  upper  and  lower  extremities 
of  its  tip.  When  the  objects  are  too  minute  to  be 
handled  in  this  way,  such  as  dry  grains  of  rice,  they 
are  drawn  up  into  the  end  of  the  trunk  by  suction,  and 
then  discharged  into  the  mouth. 

In  captivity,  in  this  part  of  the  country,  elephants 
are  given  a  quantity  of  rice  every  afternoon,  and  are 
turned  out  in  the  jungles  at  night  to  find  their  own 
green  food.  The  rice  is  boiled  till  quite  soft,  and  then 
rolled  into  large  balls,  which  are  placed  far  back  in 
the  elephant's  mouth  by  the  keeper.  When  I  go  on 
to  describe  the  elephant  as  a  carnivore,  I  can  well 
imagine  the  incredulity  with  which  the  statement  will 
be  received.  Yet  none  the  less  is  it  a  fact  that  in 
Wynaad  and  Malabar  tame  elephants  are  meat-eaters, 
not  from  choice,  but  by  compulsion.  During  the 
timber  season,  they  are  worked  without  cessation,  and 
at  the  end  of  it  are  naturally  overstrained  and  out  of 
condition.  The  practice  is  then  to  give  them  a  rest, 
and  during  this  holiday  they  are  fed  on  a  meat  diet. 
A  goat  is  put  into  a  cauldron,  and  boiled  down  to  a 
thick  soup,  and  each  elephant  in  turn  is  made  to  eat  a 
portion  of  the  meat,  and  to  drink  about  a  quart  of 
the  soup.  The  native  idea  is  that  this  diet  strengthens 
them,  and  puts  them  into  good  fettle  for  the  next 
timber-dragging  season.  For  a  day  or  two  the  keepers 
have  some  difficulty  in  inducing  their  charges  to  accept 
the  change  of  food,  but  thereafter  they  eat  it  readily. 

Elephants,  both  wild  and  tame,  delight  in  water.  I 
frequently  visit  a  timber  camp  at  the  foot  of  the  hills, 
which  lies  between  two  large  rivers,  down  which 
enormous  quantities  of  timber  are  floated  to  the 
coast  every  year  from  about  September  to  February. 
The  logs  are  dragged  from  the  forest  where  they  are 


74  THE   NILGIRIS 


felled  to  the  river-banks  by  elephants,  and  during  the 
timber  season  there  are  usually  about  forty  or  fifty 
elephants  engaged  in  this  work.  Each  morning  they 
are  brought  down  to  the  river  for  a  bath  before  work 
begins,  and  this  matutinal  ablution  is  a  most  interest- 
ing sight.  They  are  made  to  lie  down  in  a  long  line 
in  shallow  water,  while  the  keepers,  two  or  three  to 
each  elephant,  go  carefully  over  them  with  a  smooth 
stone.  Every  square  inch  of  the  huge  carcase  is 
scrubbed  and  washed,  the  elephants  lying  perfectly  still 
through  the  performance,  in  a  trance  of  enjoyment. 
The  upper  side  having  been  thoroughly  cleaned,  the 
elephant  turns  over,  and  the  process  is  repeated  on 
the  other.  The  bath  occupies  at  least  an  hour,  and 
the  elephant  emerges  from  it  with  a  glossy  black  hide, 
and  looking  as  fresh  as  a  daisy.  At  intervals  during 
the  day,  as  the  logs  are  brought  to  the  waterside,  the 
elephants  are  driven  into  the  stream,  and  made  to 
syringe  themselves  ;  and  I  have  often  been  amused 
at  the  eagerness  they  display  to  get  their  refresher 
as  quickly  as  possible.  The  log  placed  in  position, 
the  elephant  drops  the  hauling  rope  with  quite  evident 
relief,  and  at  once  wades  out  into  deep  water.  There, 
with  his  keeper  standing  up  on  his  back,  he  submerges 
his  body,  only  the  veriest  tip  of  his  trunk  appearing 
above  the  water,  and  after  several  such  plunges,  wades 
slowly  back  to  the  bank  :  then  to  work  again,  till 
three  in  the  afternoon,  with  another  bath  to  wind  up 
the  day.  In  their  wild  state,  elephants  disport  them- 
selves in  these  streams  every  morning  and  afternoon  ; 
and  I  have  often  watched  a  herd  enjoying  themselves 
in  a  river-bed,  showering  water  over  their  backs  and 
sides  with  their  trunks.  They  are  addicted  to  certain 
reaches,  and  in  many  places  the  paths  leading  down  to 


THE   ELEPHANT  75 

their  bathing  pools  are  as  wide  and  smooth  as  a 
well-made  road.  As  swimmers,  they  probably  excel 
any  other  quadruped  in  endurance,  though  their  pace 
in  the  water  is  very  slow.  I  once  timed  seven  tame 
elephants  who  were  being  taken  across  a  deep  pool 
in  the  Charliyar  river.  The  breadth  of  the  stream  at 
this  point  was  about  quarter  of  a  mile,  and  none  came 
over  in  less  than  quarter  of  an  hour. 

Elephants  have  a  habit  of  plastering  themselves  with 
mud  as  a  protection  against  stinging  insects  and  flies. 
It  is  curious  that  this  huge  beast,  with  his  abnormally 
thick  hide,  should  be  so  sensitive  ;  but  no  animal  suffers 
more  than  he  does  from  the  swarms  of  blood-sucking 
flies  which  come  in  with  the  early  rains.  As  a  con- 
sequence of  this  habit,  wild  elephants  from  a  little  dis- 
tance usually  appear  of  a  dirty  brown  instead  of  black. 
They  also  have  favourite  "rubbing  places,"  often  the 
projecting  bank  at  a  turn  in  some  old  road,  where  the 
earth  for  some  distance  is  worn  quite  bare  and  smooth 
by  contact  with  their  bodies.  Tuskers  too  have  an  odd 
knack  of  dig"g;ino-  into  the  earth  with  their  tusks  at 
particular  spots  for  no  apparent  reason.  On  an  old 
road  running  down  from  the  crest  of  the  hills  to  my 
bison  valley,  miniature  caves  have  been  formed  in  the 
bank  in  several  places  by  this  means,  and  year  after 
year  male  elephants  return  to  these  spots  to  go 
through  the  same  performance.  There  is  never  any 
doubt  who  the  diggers  are,  as  the  tusk  marks  are 
always  very  distinct  in  the  soft  soil. 

Mature  males  are  subject  at  certain  intervals  to  a 
peculiar  species  of  fit,  supposed  to  be  sexual,  though 
this  has  not  been  proved.  Blanford  calls  these  fits 
"periodical  attacks  of  excitement,"  but  this  is  scarcely 
correct,  for — as  Sanderson  notes — "  elephants  are  not 


76  THE  NILGIRIS 


always  violent  or  untractable  under  their  influence." 
In  several  instances,  I  have  known  large  tuskers  to 
be  merely  dull  and  stupid  under  such  an  attack  :  they 
evinced  no  animosity  either  to  their  keepers  or  their 
fellow  elephants.  But  usually  they  are  dangerous  when 
in  this  state,  and  are  said  to  be  must  or  mad.  The  begin- 
ning of  an  attack  is  marked  by  a  flow  of  dark  oily 
matter,  resembling  coal  tar,  from  the  orifice  in  each 
temple,  and  this  flow  becomes  copious  when  the  fit  of 
must  is  at  its  height.  At  the  first  symptom  the 
elephant  is  segregated  and  strongly  secured.  I  once 
knew  a  must  tusker  break  loose  with  dire  results. 
His  madness  took  the  form  of  systematic  man-killing  ; 
he  held  up  the  whole  country-side  for  a  radius  of  five 
miles  round  the  village  of  E.,  and  he  killed  eight  men 
before  he  came  to  a  tragic  end.  Sanderson  notes  that 
females  sometimes  suffer  from  similar  attacks  of  must, 
and  he  mentions  having  seen  the  peculiar  exudation  in 
two  newly-caught  females.  I  have  never  known-  or 
heard  of  such  an  instance  myself.  An  analysis  of  this 
oily  secretion  would  be  interesting,  and  I  wonder  it 
has  never  been  made. 

I  have  alluded  to  the  alarm  signal  elephants  give  on 
winding  a  man,  and  to  the  short  trumpet  or  shriek 
which  heralds  a  charge  ;  but  they  make  many  other 
sounds.  These  are  well  classified  by  Blanford,  and  I 
cannot  do  better  than  quote  his  description.  He 
writes  :  "  First  the  shrill  trumpet,  varying  in  tone,  and 
expressive,  sometimes  of  fear,  sometimes  of  anger. 
Secondly,  a  roar  from  the  throat,  caused  by  fear  or 
pain.  A  peculiar  hoarse  rumbling  in  the  throat  may 
express  anger  or  want,  as  when  a  calf  is  calling  for  its 
mother.  Pleasure  is  indicated  by  a  continued  low 
squeaking   through    the    trunk.      Lastly,    there    is   a 


THE   ELEPHANT  77 

peculiar  metallic  sound  made  by  rapping  the  end  of  the 
trunk  on  the  ground  and  blowing  through  it  at  the 
same  time.  This  indicates  alarm  or  dislike,  and  is 
the  well-known  indication  of  a  tiger's  presence.  An 
elephant  sometimes  tries  to  frighten  its  enemies  by 
blowing  through  its  trunk." 

In  Wynaad — in  fact,  in  Southern  India  generally 
with  the  exception  of  Mysore, — elephants  are  caught 
solely  by  means  of  pitfalls.  This  method  is  not  only 
cruel,  but  wasteful,  for  a  large  proportion  of  the 
elephants  thus  caught  die  from  injuries  received  in 
their  fall  of  fifteen  feet.  But  though  the  system  must 
be  condemned  from  every  point  of  view,  Sanderson 
goes  a  little  too  far  when  he  writes:  "An  immense 
majority  of  the  elephants  that  make  the  descent  have 
their  limbs  dislocated  or  broken,  or  receive  permanent 
internal  injury,  even  if  they  are  not  killed  on  the  spot, 
as  sometimes  happens."  I  have  no  statistics  to  guide 
me,  but  I  do  not  think  I  am  wrong  if  I  put  the  number 
of  elephants  who  sustain  injuries  which  ultimately 
prove  fatal  at  a  third  of  the  total  number  caught. 
Even  33  per  cent,  is,  of  course,  a  heavy  mortality, 
and  I  have  often  wondered  why  the  Government  have 
not  adopted  the  keddah  system  to  supply  their  wants, 
in  view  of  the  large  number  of  elephants  that  roam 
uselessly  through  the  extensive  Government  Reserve 
Forests  in  various  districts  of  the  Presidency.  Ele- 
phants are  not  now  used  by  Government  to  anything 
like  the  same  extent  as  in  former  years,  their  use  in 
fact  being  restricted  to  timber  work  ;  but  I  imagine 
that  no  difficulty  would  be  experienced  in  selling  all 
not  required  by  Government  themselves  to  outside 
buyers  at  remunerative  prices.  A  keddah  establish- 
ment entails  considerable  cost  (Sanderson  notes  that 


78  THE   NILGIRIS 


the  monthly  outlay  in  Bengal  is  Rs.  3800,  irrespective 
apparently  of  the  pay  of  the  European  Superintendent), 
and  its  upkeep  could  not  be  undertaken  by  any  native 
Zemindar  or  landowner  with  any  hope  of  successful 
results,  chiefly  because  the  scope  of  his  operations 
would  be  too  limited.  But  to  Government,  with  thou- 
sands of  square  miles  of  forest  inhabited  by  elephants 
to  draw  upon,  a  well-organised  keddah  establishment 
in  regular  work  would,  I  should  imagine,  be  a  very 
profitable  business.  Sanderson  gives  some  details  of 
an  experiment  in  keddah  work  made  by  Government 
in  the  Coimbatore  District  in  the  years  1874-7. 
Between  these  dates  seventy-six  elephants  were  caught, 
the  total  cost  of  the  experiment  being  about 
Rs.  1,30,000.  As  he  points  out,  the  expenditure 
was  needlessly  high — far  higher  than  would  be  the 
cost  of  a  keddah  party  in  regular  and  systematic 
operation  ;  but  even  at  this  outlay,  the  cost  per 
elephant  works  out  at  only  Rs.  1 700,  a  low  price,  given 
that  a  fair  proportion  of  the  captured  elephants  were 
tuskers.  As  matters  stand,  the  Government  Forest 
Department  employs  the  pitfall  system  solely  ;  and  a 
keddah  establishment  on  even  a  small  scale,  if  it  did 
nothing  else,  would  obviate  the  waste  and  cruelty  of 
the  present  method. 

Pits  are  usually  about  twelve  feet  long,  eight  wide, 
and  fifteen  deep.  To  break  the  elephant's  fall, 
a  stout  pole  is  placed  across  the  pit,  and  if  the  owner 
of  the  land  is  humane,  a  thick  bed  of  branches  and 
grass  is  spread  at  the  bottom.  A  succession  of  such 
pits  is  dug  on  a  track  frequented  by  elephants  when 
migrating  from  one  part  of  the  forest  to  another,  if 
possible  in  some  spot  where  the  conformation  of  the 
ground    does   not  give   much   passage-way   on   either 


THE   ELEPHANT  79 

side.  They  are  then  covered  by  poles  or  bamboos 
laid  closely  side  by  side  ;  on  this  framework  a  layer  of 
grass  is  placed,  then  a  layer  of  soil,  and  the  covering 
made  to  resemble  the  surrounding  ground  as  much  as 
possible.  A  deadly  addition  is  a  handful  of  ragi  ^  scat- 
tered over  all.  This  sprouts  and  entirely  conceals  the 
pit  with  a  thick  green  carpet,  and  should  an  elephant 
use  the  track  while  the  ragi  is  fresh,  his  capture  is 
almost  a  certainty.  Considerable  ingenuity  is  displayed 
by  the  natives  in  the  location  of  the  pits.  Often  one 
will  be  left  open  on  either  side  to  induce  the  elephant 
to  keep  to  the  middle  of  the  track,  where  a  concealed 
pit  awaits  him.  Or  a  barrier  in  the  shape  of  a  pile  of 
stones  or  a  tree  will  be  laid  across  the  track,  compelling 
a  circuit  which  leads  to  a  pit.  Sanderson  says  ele- 
phants fall  into  these  traps  "  with  a  readiness  which  is 
remarkable  in  animals  which  are  usually  so  cautious  in 
all  sorts  of  ground."  But  my  experience  (and  this  has 
been  considerable  in  the  matter  of  pitfalls)  is  that  an 
elephant  only  falls  into  a  pit  when  it  is  so  artfully 
constructed  that  it  is  impossible  to  distinguish  it  from 
the  ground  around.  The  smallest  break  in  the 
covering,  the  least  hint  of  a  trap,  and  an  elephant 
will  carefully  avoid  the  pit,  though  other  animals, 
such  as  bison  and  deer,  will  readily  fall  into  it. 
That  an  elephant  is  no  bigger  fool  than  a  man  in 
being  unable  to  see  and  avoid  a  properly  covered 
pit,  the  following  instance  will  show.  I  was  desirous 
of  catching  an  elephant  on  the  large  area  over 
which  I  had  formerly  the  right  to  "  kill,  capture,  and 
pursue "  elephants,  and  I  offered  my  Nayakas  a 
handsome   reward  for  one.     On  an  old  road  leading 

*  Eleusine  coracatta,  a  millet  which  forms  the  staple  food  of  the  coolies 
in  Wynaad. 


8o  THE   NILGIRIS 


through  the  land,  they  dug  several  pits  and  covered 
them  with  a  living  green  carpet  in  the  way  I  have 
described  above.  I  was  at  the  bungalow  at  the  foot 
of  the  valley  one  day,  when  a  policeman  turned  up 
who  told  me  that  a  criminal  was  supposed  to  be 
workino-  on  the  estate,  and  he  had  been  sent  ahead  to 
await  the  arrival  of  the  "Station  House  Officer." 
He  waited  for  several  hours,  but  the  S.  H.  O. 
did  not  put  in  an  appearance,  and  as  the  road  to  the 
bungalow  led  through  rather  wild  country  I  sent  a  few 
Kurumbas  to  see  what  had  become  of  the  official. 
In  the  evening  they  returned  with  the  limb  of  the  law 
in  a  sadly  bedraggled  state.  He  was  limping,  and 
his  swagger  uniform  was  covered  with  mud  and  dirt. 
By  mistake  he  had  taken  the  old  road,  and  had  walked 
right  into  one  of  the  r^^z-covered  pits.  Fortunately 
I  had  insisted  on  a  very  thick  layer  of  grass  being  laid 
on  the  bottom,  so  he  had  escaped  with  nothing  worse 
than  a  shaking  and  a  sprained  ankle.  I  can  vividly 
recall  how,  as  he  sat  on  the  verandah  nursing  his 
injured  foot,  he  cursed  the  fate  that  had  sent  him 
criminal-hunting  in  country  where  people  were  trying 
to  catch  elephants !  Shortly  afterwards,  a  tusker  fell 
into  the  same  pit,  which  had  been  repaired  in  the 
interval ;  and  if  by  doing  so  he  evinced  a  lack  of 
intelligence,  well,  he  erred  in  good  company,  for  even 
the  human  "  detective  "  had  been  deceived. 

Since  Sanderson  expressed  the  opinion  in  his  book 
that  "the  elephant's  sagacity  is  of  a  very  mediocre 
description,"  it  has  become  the  fashion  to  decry  this 
animal's  intelligence.  Sanderson  is,  righdy,  held  to  be 
such  a  pre-eminent  authority  on  matters  elephantine, 
that  his  view  has  been  accepted  and  reiterated  by 
modern  writers  seemingly  without  question,  certainly 


THE   ELEPHANT 


with  little  if  any  inquiry  into  its  correctness.  Blanford, 
for  example,  says  :  "  I  quite  agree  with  Sanderson  in 
believing  that  the  intelligence  of  elephants  has  been 
greatly  overrated  "  ;  but  he  gives  no  reasons  in  support 
of  that  belief.  Now  I  do  not  for  a  moment  contend 
that  the  intelligence  of  the  elephant  is  so  highly 
developed  as  to  overstep  the  bord«r-line  between 
instinct  and  reason  :  that  fallacy  has  been  long 
exploded.  But  I  do  claim  that  if  he  is  not  the 
superior,  he  is  at  least  the  equal  of  any  other  member 
of  the  animal  creation  in  sagacity  ;  and  as  his  devoted 
lover,  I  cannot  refrain  from  makino-  an  effort  to  show 
that  Sanderson's  strictures  are  not  borne  out  by 
the  arguments  he  adduces  in  support  of  them  ;  and 
that  to  call  the  elephant,  as  he  does,  a  "stupid  animal," 
is  simply  a  libel.  The  question  is  so  interesting,  and 
I  so  greatly  regret  the  universal  adoption  of  Sanderson's 
opinion  without,  as  it  seems  to  me,  sufficient  scrutiny 
of  the  basis  on  which  it  rests,  that  I  must  be  pardoned 
if  I  go  into  the  subject  at  some  length. 

Here  is  the  charge  in  Sanderson's  words  :  "  The 
opinion  is  generally  held  by  those  who  have  had 
the  best  opportunities  of  observing  the  elephant,  that 
the  popular  estimate  of  its  intelligence  is  a  greatly 
exaggerated  one  ;  that,  instead  of  being  the  exception- 
ally wise  animal  it  is  believed  to  be,  its  sagacity  is  of 
a  very  mediocre  description."  And  here  is  the  proof 
of  this  contention  that  he  puts  forward:  "Let  us 
consider  whether  the  elephant  displays  more  in- 
telligence in  its  wild  state  than  other  animals.  Though 
possessed  of  a  proboscis  which  is  capable  of  guarding 
it  against  such  dangers,  it  readily  falls  into  pits  dug  for 
catching  it,  and  only  covered  with  a  few  sticks  and 
leaves.      Its  fellows  make  no  effort  to  assist  the  fallen 


82  THE   NILGIRIS 


one,  as  they  might  easily  do  by  kicking  in  the  earth 
around  the  pit,  but  flee  in  terror.  It  commonly 
happens  that  a  young  elephant  falls  into  a  pit,  near 
which  the  mother  will  remain  until  the  hunters  come, 
without  doing  anything  to  assist  it,  not  even  feeding  it 
by  throwing  in  a  few  branches.  .  .  .  Whole  herds 
of  elephants  are  driven  into  ill-concealed  enclosures 
which  no  other  wild  animals  could  be  got  to  enter,  and 
single  ones  are  caught  by  their  legs  being  tied  together 
by  men  under  cover  of  a  couple  of  tame  elephants. 
Elephants  which  happen  to  effect  their  escape  are 
caught  again  without  trouble  ;  even  experience  does 
not  bring  them  wisdom.  ...  I  do  not  think  I  traduce 
the  elephant  when  I  say  it  is,  in  many  things,  a  stupid 
animal ;  and  I  can  assert  with  confidence  that  all  stories 
I  have  heard  of  it,  except  those  relating  to  feats  of 
strength  or  docility  performed  under  its  keeper's 
direction,  are  beyond  its  intellectual  power,  and  are 
mere  pleasant  fictions." 

Here  then  we  have  the  proofs,  in  Sanderson's 
words,  that  the  elephant  does  not  possess  a  larger 
measure  of  intelligence  than,  or  even  the  same  intel- 
ligence as,  other  wild  animals.  In  reply,  I  would  ask 
the  harsh  critic  of  the  elephant  to  name  the  wild 
animal  which,  in  his  view,  is  the  most  sagacious,  and 
and  then  to  say  whether,  in  the  various  crises  cited  by 
Sanderson,  that  animal  would  display  more  intelli- 
gence than  the  elephant.  Categorically,  my  query 
would  be:  (i)  Would  your  selected  animal,  by  virtue 
of  its  innate  sagacity,  be  always  able  to  discover  and 
avoid  a  carefully  concealed  pit?  (2)  If  it  fell  in, 
would  its  fellows  make  any  attempt  to  rescue  it  ? 
(3)  If  it  was  a  young  one,  would  the  mother 
endeavour  to   extricate  it,  or  would  she  feed  it  while 


THE   ELEPHANT  83 

in  the  pit  ?  (4)  If  a  herd  of  your  selected  animals 
was  surrounded  on  three  sides  by  a  yelling  crowd, 
would  the  animals  not  naturally  try  to  escape  by  a 
stampede  in  the  direction  which  seemed  clear  ?  And 
if  an  enclosure — invisible  till  the  last  moment — awaited 
them  in  that  direction,  would  they  not  enter  it  in  their 
anxiety  to  find  a  way  of  escape  ?  (5)  If  the  animal 
were  caught  and  escaped,  are  you  prepared  to  say 
that  its  capture  would  be  so  indelibly  impressed  on 
its  memory  that  by  no  stratagem  could  it  be  caught 
again  ?  Unless  anyone  who  decries  the  elephant  is 
satisfied  that  his  selected  animal  would  act  with 
greater  intelligence  in  these  circumstances,  he  must 
admit  that  the  elephant  is  at  least  on  the  same  plane 
as  other  animals  in  the  matter  of  sagacity. 

But  I  go  further  than  this.  I  maintain  that  an 
elephant  in  a  difficulty  does  show  more  cleverness  than 
would  other  animals.  Sanderson  is  unfair  in  saying 
that  pitfalls  are  "  merely  covered  with  a  few  sticks 
and  leaves  "  ;  on  the  contrary,  these  traps  are  always 
most  artfully  concealed,  and  are  made  to  resemble 
the  surrounding  ground  so  closely  that  even  men, 
as  I  have  shown,  sometimes  come  to  gfrief.  On 
many  occasions  I  have  known  elephants  avoid  a  pit 
because  the  covering  had  sunk  slightly,  or  some  other 
sign  betrayed  its  presence.  In  such  cases  they  have 
left  their  usual  track  and  made  a  circuit  round  the 
danger.  Then  as  to  the  "proboscis  being  capabl'^  of 
guarding  it  against  such  dangers,"  it  certainly  is  ;  but 
an  elephant  does  not  invariably  travel  with  the  tip  of 
his  trunk  on  the  ground,  searching  for  hidden  pitfalls, 
any  more  than  a  man  invariably  carries  a  stick  to 
guard  himself  from  the  attack  of  a  mad  dog.  When 
an  elephant  falls  into  a  pit,  it  is   merely  an  accident 

G  2 


84  THE   NILGIRIS 


which  occurs  at  an  unguarded  moment :  it  does  not 
argue  an   inherent  lack  of  intelHgence.      Bison,    deer, 
and    other    animals    fall    into    these    pits    even    more 
readily  than  elephants — I  have  even  known  that  most 
wary  customer  the   porcupine   to   be  caught  napping. 
But  once  in  a  pit,  does  an  elephant  make  no  effort   to 
get    out  ?      Far    from    it :    he    strives    unceasingly    to 
escape,  and  with  success  if  he  is  given  time  enough. 
The  tusker    I   have  mentioned  as  having  fallen   into 
the  same  pit  as  the    policeman,  was  caught  at  night. 
I    was  away  at  the  time,  and  my    men  did    nothing 
towards  noosing  him.      I   arrived   at    the    pit  on    the 
third  morning,  only  to  find  the  elephant  gone — he  had 
raised  himself  sufficiently  to  climb  out  by  persistently 
dia"a-inp^     down     the     sides    with     his     tusks.      Even 
females  endeavour  to  push  down  the  earth  with  their 
feet.     How  does  a  bison  or  stag  act  in  a  like  predica- 
ment ?      He  could  bring  down  the  soft  earth  with  his 
horns  ;  yet  though  bison  and  sambur  are  often  caught 
in  pitfalls,    I   have  never  known  a  single   instance   in 
which   either  made    the    least   effort    to    free   himself. 
That  is  the  point :  the  elephant  does  make  the  effort ; 
other  animals  do  not. 

To  show  how  unfair  Sanderson  is  in  stating  that  an 
elephant  will  readily  fall  into  a  pit  "merely  covered 
with  a  few  sticks  and  leaves,"  I  will  quote  an  instance 
recorded  by  General  Hamilton.  He  writes :  "  I 
omitted  to  mention  one  trait  exhibited  by  a  female 
elephant  on  that  occasion,  which  struck  all  those  who 
were  present  as  very  curious.  She  entered  the  coopum 
some  hours  before  the  herd  was  driven  up,  having 
apparently  escaped  from  the  watcher,  and  taken,  as 
she  thought,  a  safe  line  of  her  own.  In  she  came, 
bustling  along  with  two  young  ones  with  her,  one  some 


THE    ELEPHANT  85 


three  or  four  years  old,  or  perhaps  more,  the  other 
quite  young.  Now  the  lower  part  of  the  coopiini  was 
intersected  with  a  range  of  pits,  and  the  outer  fence 
protected  by  a  V-shaped  ditch  ;  the  pits  were  arranged 
something  like  the  squares  of  a  chessboard,  with  a 
narrow  path  between  each,  wide  enough  for  a  man  to 
pass  along.  All  the  pits  were  covered  with  light 
bamboo  frames,  on  which  a  layer  of  grass  was  placed, 
and  the  whole  made  to  appear  as  natural  as  possible. 
Down  came  the  old  female,  somewhat  alarmed  at  hear- 
ing voices,  and  seeing  some  of  us  on  the  coopiwi  wall  ; 
but  the  coast  appearing  clear  in  front,  she  made  straight 
for  the  pits.  Just  as  she  reached  them  she  pulled  up, 
perhaps  suspecting  something,  and  at  the  same  moment 
down  went  first  one  child,  then  the  other,  into  a  pit 
close  by.  Taking  a  look  at  her  lost  progeny,  uttering 
a  shrill  trumpet  after  gazing  all  round,  she  seemed  to 
make  up  her  mind  ;  so,  carefully  feeling  the  ground 
before  her  with  her  trunk,  at  times  producing  the 
metallic  sound  I  have  previously  spoken  of,  she 
threaded  her  way  through  the  treacherous  labyrinth 
without  making  a  single  false  step  or  mistake,  reached 
the  barrier,  and  then  tried  to  essay  what  elephants 
cannot  do — that  is  jump  ;  her  hind  legs  fell  into  the 
ditch,  and  she  could  not  escape,  poor  thing,  and  was 
shot  with  the  rest."  I  make  bold  to  say  that  no  animal 
but  an  elephant  would  have  negotiated  such  a  maze 
without  mishap.  So  far  from  falling  blindly  into  traps, 
the  cleverness  elephants  show  in  avoiding  them  is 
extraordinary.  There  is  an  old  cart  road  near  my 
bison  preserve,  cut  by  a  mining  company  through 
dense  jungle  much  frequented  by  elephants  in  the 
spring  months.  Midway  along  this  road  is  a  bridge 
over  a  stream  built  with  heavy  iron  rails  stretched  from 


86  THE   NILGIRIS 


buttress  to  buttress,  and  floored  with  thick  sheet  iron 
covered  with  soil.  As  I  came  down  one  morning  with 
G.,  we  noticed  that  a  herd  of  elephants  had  passed  up 
the  road  the  previous  night,  and  had  turned  off  again 
into  the  jungle  near  some  old  tunnels.  TJiere  were 
no  tracks  across  the  bridge,  and  we  found  that  the 
herd  had  made  a  path  down  to  the  stream  at  this  point, 
and  up  the  opposite  bank,  joining  the  road  again  a 
little  above  the  bridge.  The  suspicion  shown  by  the 
animals  led  us  to  examine  the  bridge  above  and  below  ; 
but  it  appeared  quite  sound,  and  we  concluded  that  the 
elephants  had  been  needlessly  cautious.  Yet  shortly 
afterwards,  on  riding  over  this  bridge  on  a  large  Waler, 
G.  went  through.  It  was,  surely,  a  marvellously  devel- 
oped instinct  which  enabled  the  elephants  to  realise 
that  an  apparently  sound  bridge  was  in  reality  unsafe. 
Even  if  their  avoidance  of  it  was  due  simply  to 
inherent  caution,  this  to  my  mind  is  proof  that  they 
do  not,  as  Sanderson  would  have  us  believe,  run 
blindly  and  stupidly  into  danger. 

Further  on  Sanderson  writes  :  "  I  have  never  seen 
an  elephant  show  any  aptitude  in  dealing,  undirected, 
with  an  unforeseen  emergency."  Though,  as  I  have 
said,  I  do  not  claim  for  the  elephant  reasoning  power 
in  the  sense  in  which  that  term  is  usually  understood, 
here  again  I  must  join  issue  with  Sanderson,  for 
I  believe  that  when  an  elephant  is  placed  in  a  novel 
and  unexpected  position  of  difficulty,  he  does  intuitively 
exhibit  far  more  capacity  in  dealing  with  it  than  any 
other  animal.  I  could  cite  several  instances  which 
have  come  under  my  own  observation  in  proof  of  this 
assertion,  but  I  will  borrow  again  from  General 
Hamilton.  He  is  describing  an  adventure  with  a 
herd,  and  he  writes  :    "  Tust  then  four  or  five  of  the 


THE   ELEPHANT  87 

herd,  with  a  small  tusker  in  front,  passed  across  me, 
some  forty  yards  or  so  off.  Taking  a  shot  at  the 
leader,  down  he  went  on  his  knees,  struggled  a  bit, 
and  again  was  on  his  legs  ;  but  no  sooner  so,  than  the 
other  barrel  knocked  him  down  once  more.  Then 
occurred  the  most  extraordinary  scene  :  two  or  three 
of  the  females  following  him  set  to  and  hustled  him  up, 
and  as  he  fell  over  to  one  side,  still  half  stunned,  they 
bore  him  up,  and  again  as  he  struggled  to  keep  his 
legs,  supported  him  ;  and,  pushing  him  along,  amidst 
the  most  infernal  din  of  roaring  and  screams  and 
trumpeting  man  ever  heard  ;  and  so  actually  bore  him 
away  with  them  and  got  him  safely  off"  Now  here 
was  "an  unforeseen  emergency,"  and  doubtless  a 
novel  one  too,  for  I  think  we  may  take  it  that  these 
females  had  never  been  called  upon  to  render  succour 
to  a  wounded  tusker  before.  How  did  they  face  it, 
"undirected"?  With  a  degree  of  intelligence  which, 
I  am  confident,  no  animals  but  elephants  would  have 
displayed.  Take  another  case.  I  was  fishing  in  a 
river  at  the  foot  of  the  hills  one  day,  when  a  tusker 
came  along  in  the  shallow  water,  dragging  a  large  log. 
His  keeper  was  not  on  his  back,  but  was  walking 
along  the  bank,  keeping  pace  with  his  charge.  A 
short  distance  above  where  I  was  standing  the 
elephant  came  to  a  standstill :  something  had  obstructed 
the  log.  The  keeper  shouted  abuse  in  Malayalam, 
and  the  tusker  arched  his  back  in  a  mighty  effort  to 
get  the  log  over  the  obstacle.  But  the  tree  would  not 
move.  The  keeper  shouted  more  abuse,  and  then  the 
tusker  did  a  thing  which  impressed  me  immensely. 
He  dropped  the  hauling  rope,  walked  back,  gave  the 
end  of  the  log  a  heave  backwards  which  set  it  free, 
took  the    rope    once    more   in   his   teeth,   and   calmly 


88  THE   NILGIRIS 


proceeded  down  stream.  I  was  so  struck  with  his 
cleverness  that  I  examined  the  spot,  and  found  that 
the  forward  end  of  the  log  had  jammed  between  two 
large  rocks  just  below  water  level.  Here  again  was 
"an  unforeseen  emergency,"  and  the  elephant,  un- 
directed, proved  himself  fully  equal  to  it.  His  feat 
would  have  been  nothing  had  the  keeper  been  on  his 
back  to  direct  him  :  its  cleverness  lay  in  the  fact  that 
the  elephant's  action  was  entirely  spontaneous — that 
he  had  successfully  coped  with  the  difficulty  unaided, 
and  solely  by  the  light  of  his  innate  sagacity. 

I  have  seen  the  ease  with  which  an  elephant  can  be 
tamed,  his  quickness  in  learning,  and  his  obedience,  all 
used  as  arguments  in  his  disfavour.  In  my  view%  these 
are  strong  proofs  of  his  intelligence.  He  does  not 
carry  on  a  long  fight  when  captured  because,  like 
the  sensible  animal  he  is,  he  realises  the  futility  of 
kicking  against  the  pricks.  Is  the  man  foolish  or  wise 
who  adapts  himself  to  a  new  environment  when  he 
sees  it  is  unalterable  ?  Who  is  quicker  to  learn,  and  to 
profit  by  his  learning — the  dull  boy  or  the  bright  one  ? 
Is  not  obedience  counted  in  a  servants  favour? 
Arguing  from  human  analogy,  which  is  surely - 
justifiable,  the  wonderful  manner  in  which  an  elephant 
surrenders  to  his  altered  circumstances  after  capture, 
the  speed  with  which  he  can  be  taught,  his  implicit 
obedience,  his  gentleness,  his  retentive  memory,  his 
patience,  are  all  attributes  which  furnish  the  strongest 
proof  that  in  sagacity  he  is  far  above  all  other  wild 
animals.  As  he  is  incomparably  the  grandest,  so  is  he 
incomparably  the  most  intelligent  member  of  the 
animal  creation. 


THE    ELEPHANT  {continued). 

In  this  year  of  grace  191 1,  it  seems  scarcely  credible 
that  so  late  as  1873  the  indiscriminate  slaughter  of 
elephants  was  not  only  permitted  in  the  Madras  Presi- 
dency, but  was  encouraged  by  Government  by  the 
offer  of  a  large  reward  for  every  elephant  killed  ;  and 
even  after  this  lapse  of  time  the  elephant  lover  must 
feel  a  pang  of  regret  at  thought  of  the  wholesale 
butchery  that  was  perpetrated  under  the  segis  of  this 
deplorable  system,  I  have  heard  lurid  but  quite 
authentic  tales  of  how  men  made  elephant-killing  the 
business  of  their  lives  ;  of  how  cows  and  calves  were 
slain  by  the  hundred — yes,  literally  by  the  hundred — 
for  the  sake  of  the  reward,  which  was  not  claimed  in 
the  case  of  tuskers  because  the  value  of  the  ivory 
greatly  exceeded  the  Government  fee  ;  and  of  how,  as 
a  natural  result,  elephants  were  exterminated  in  certain 
tracts  where  previously  they  had  roamed  in  herds. 
Here,  in  S.E.  Wynaad,  the  slaughter  was  enormous, 
and  I  have  heard  (I  believe  this  is  strictly  true)  one 
man  who  was  then  resident  here  credited  with  the 
killing  of  three  hundred  elephants,  mostly  cows  and 
calves.  What  a  sad  picture  of  wanton  destruction  is 
conjured  up  when  one  goes  back  in  imagination  to 
those  dark  days ! 


90  THE   NILGIRIS 


But  fortunately  the  Government  perceived  the  error 
of  their  ways  before  it  was  too  late  ;  and  from  the 
ist  October,  1873,  the  "Act  to  prevent  the  indis- 
criminate destruction  of  wild  elephants "  came  into 
force.  Briefly,  its  provisions  are  these.  The  killing 
of  any  elephant,  male  or  female,  is  absolutely  prohibited 
on  Government  land  without  a  licence.  On  Zemindari, 
or  private  land,  the  right  to  kill  male  elephants  is 
vested  in  the  owner  of  the  land,  who  can  also  give  any 
other  person  permission  to  kill  them  ;  but  on  such  land 
females  are  protected.  Elephants,  male  or  female,  can 
be  killed  (i)  when  found  on  cultivated  land,  (2)  when 
on  or  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  a  public  road, 
and  (3)  in  self-defence  anywhere.  The  Collector  of 
the  District  has  power  to  grant  a  licence  to  kill  male 
elephants  "  for  a  period  of  one  year  from  the  date 
of  the  grant  of  such  licence." 

It  will  be  seen  that  absolute  protection  is  given 
to  females  ;  and  that  a  male  elephant  can  only  be 
killed  on  Government  land  under  licence,  and  on 
private  land  under  permission  from  the  owner  ;  and  as 
both  Government  and  private  owners  are  fully  alive  to 
the  value  of  elephants,  the  Madras  forests  are  not  happy 
hunting  grounds  for  the  would-be  elephant  shooter.  I 
have  never  heard  of  a  licence  being  granted  in  any 
Madras  District,  though  of  course  rogue  elephants  are 
proscribed  ;  and  I  should  imagine  that  a  licence  hold- 
ing good  for  a  year  is  unprocurable  by  anyone.  The 
local  Zemindars,  or  landowners,  occasionally  may  be 
persuaded  to  permit  the  shooting  of  a  tusker,  but 
in  such  instances  (except  in  the  case  of  very  "  big  guns  " 
indeed)  they  stipulate  that  the  tusks  shall  be  given  up  ; 
and,  I  regret  to  add,  I  have  known  "sportsmen  "  accept 
the  stipulation.     I  can  understand  the  keenness  of  the 


THE   ELEPHANT  91 

globe-trotting  gunner  to  bag  an  elephant  for  the  sake 
of  the  grand  trophy  ;  but  what  must  be  said  of  the 
man  who  sallies  out  to  shoot  this  noble  animal  in  the 
full  knowledge  that  if  he  succeeds  the  trophy  will  have 
to  be  surrendered  to  the  owner  of  the  land  ?  The 
only  feeling  that  can  actuate  such  a  man  is  mere  lust 
for  blood — a  feeling  which  is  certainly  foreign  to  the 
character  of  the  true  shikari. 

In  regard  to  elephant-shooting  I  at  one  time  occu- 
pied a  unique  position,  for  over  a  large  area  in  which 
elephants  are  numerous,  I  had  the  sole  right  to  "  kill, 
capture,  and  pursue  them,"  and  had  I  thirsted  for  their 
blood  I  could  easily  have  gratified  the  craving.  But  I 
have  such  an  intense  admiration  for  this  magnificent 
creature  that  I  never  see  an  elephant  without  a  feeling 
of  regret  that  the  death  of  even  the  one  I  have  shot 
can  be  laid  at  my  door  ;  and  nothing  would  now  induce 
me  to  shoot  another  unless  he  were  a  confirmed  rogue, 
or  in  self-defence.  This  view,  pushed  to  its  logical 
conclusion,  ought  perhaps  to  stay  the  hand  of  its  pro- 
pounder  in  respect  to  all  animals,  for,  prima  facie,  it 
does  seem  inconsistent  to  set  one's  face  resolutely 
against  the  killing  of  one  animal,  and  then  to  kill 
others  with  at  least  an  equal  right  to  live.  But  the 
elephant  stands  out  so  incontestably  as  the  king  of  the 
animal  creation,  that  to  me  he  seems  to  occupy  a 
class  by  himself.  In  the  wonderful  words  of  Holy 
Writ: 

"  He  is  the  chief  of  the  ways  of  God. 

"  Upon  earth  there  is  not  his  like,  who  is  made 
without  fear. 

"  He  beholdeth  all  high  things  :  he  is  a  king  over 
all  the  children  of  pride." 

Holding  this  view,  may  I  not  set  the  elephant  apart 


92  THE   NILGIRIS 


and  still  indulge  my  predilection  for  sport,  without 
laying  myself  open  to  a  charge  of  inconsistency  ?  The 
general  question  involves  a  nice  point  in  ethics,  on 
which  opinions  will  always  be  divided.  For  my  own 
part,  I  can  only  plead  in  extenuation  that  in  the  veins 
of  the  shikari  the  sporting  instinct — the  killing  instinct 
if  you  will — runs  so  strongly  that  he  must  perforce 
submit  to  its  dictates  :  the  "  Red  Gods  call  him  out, 
and  he  must  go."  It  may  be  a  brutal  instinct ;  but  it 
is  there  and  will  not  be  denied  ;  and  those  good  folk 
who,  without  the  instinct  themselves,  rail  against  the 
sportsman  for  indulging  it,  can  have  no  conception 
of  its  irresistible  force.  Yet  in  obeying  it,  I  do  not 
for  a  moment  concede  that  a  man  must  necessarily 
sacrifice  all  discretion,  and  become  a  mere  slaughterer 
of  animals.  However  ardent  his  love  of  sport  may 
be,  he  can,  and  ought  to,  refrain  from  the  killing  of 
any  inoffensive  animal  save  a  male  with  a  trophy 
worth  the  taking.  I  have  tried  to  practise  what  I 
preach,  and  in  looking  back  over  my  sixteen  years' 
residence  amongst  the  game  animals  of  Wynaad,  I 
confess  to  a  feeling  of  satisfaction  in  the  reflection  that 
never  have  I  pulled  trigger  on  a  female  elephant,  that 
only  once — and  then  by  a  pure  accident — have  I 
killed  a  cow  bison,  and  that  the  very  few  hinds  I  have 
shot  were  killed  solely  to  provide  food  for  my  followers. 
To  the  man  to  whom  sport  is  a  sealed  book,  I  have 
no  doubt  the  above  argument  will  seem  deplorably 
weak  ;  but  every  shikari  will  agree  with  me  that 
in  following  his  natural  bent  he  is  impelled  by  a  force 
he  cannot  control.  And  it  should  be  remembered 
that  the  hunting  instinct  is  not  of  man's  own  making. 
It  comes  as  directly  from  his  Creator  as  any  other 
of    the  many  instincts  by  which  his   complex  nature 


THE   ELEPHANT  93 

is  swayed,  "  Nimrod  was  a  mighty  hunter  before 
the  Lord."  But  though  this  inherent  love  of  sport 
exercises  over  its  possessor  an  influence  too  strong 
to  be  resisted,  it  is  given  to  him  to  keep  it  within 
bounds,  and  to  prevent  compliance  with  a  natural 
impulse  from  degenerating  into  mere  butchery.  It  is 
not  the  indulgence  of  the  hunting  instinct,  but  its 
abuse,  that  is  to  be  condemned.  So  much  on  the 
general  question  of  man  as  a  hunting  animal. 

In  the  previous  chapter  I  referred  to  the  cruelty  of 
body  shots  at  an  elephant  with  a  light  rifle,  as  they 
cannot  be  mortal  and  they  cause  the  animal  intense 
suffering.  Some  years  ago  a  tusker  frequented  the 
public  road  between  Pundaliur  and  Cherambadi  who, 
rightly  or  wrongly,  gained  the  unenviable  reputation  of 
a  "  rogue."  Many  stories  of  his  misdeeds  were  current 
at  the  time,  some  of  which  possibly  had  a  foundation 
in  fact,  while  others  were  palpably  exaggerated. 
People  told  how  he  had  attacked  two  inoffensive 
policemen  on  their  "beat"  between  the  above  places, 
how  these  men  only  escaped  by  taking  refuge  in  a 
drain,  how  time  after  time  the  elephant  thrust  his 
trunk  first  into  the  upper  opening,  then  into  the  lower, 
in  the  effort  to  reach  them,  and  how  he  had  held  them 
prisoners  for  hours — or  was  it  days? — in  their  narrow 
sanctuary.  Shortly  after  the  rout  of  the  bobbies  came 
the  news  that  he  had  killed  a  man,  mangling  his 
victim  in  the  most  fiendish  way  ;  then  a  cart  had  been 
smashed  and  the  bulls  oored  to  death,  and  so  on. 
Certain  it  is  that  he  established  a  state  of  "  funk  "  over 
this  particular  stretch  of  road,  and  cartmen  and  coolies 
refused  to  traverse  it  at  any  price. 

When  the  panic  was  at  its  height,  a  gallant  sportsman 
camped  at  P.  with  the  avowed  object  of  ridding  the 


94  THE   NILGIRIS 


country  of  this  terror.  Very  shortly  news  was  brought 
to  him  that  the  elephant  was  in  the  vicinity,  and  armed 
with  his  "500  Express  he  sallied  out  to  give  the  rogue 
battle.  He  came  up  with  the  tusker  a  mile  or  so  from 
P.,  and  the  description  of  the  engagement  was  given 
to  me  by  one  of  the  men  who  accompanied  him.  This 
man  was  in  my  employ  at  the  time,  and  is  so  still ;  and 
he  confessed  he  had  joined  the  sportsman's  party  in 
the  hope  of  a  substantial  reward.  He  is  a  splendid 
tracker,  and  a  trained  shikari,  and  I  have  no  reason 
to  doubt  the  accuracy  of  his  story.  According  to 
him,  he  took  the  sportsman  up  to  the  shelter  of  a  large 
tree  about  100  yards  from  the  elephant,  which  was 
feeding  in  a  hollow  in  full  view.  My  man  suggested 
a  further  advance  before  beginning  hostilities,  as  the 
elephant  was  quite  unsuspicious,  but  this  suggestion 
was  met  with  a  decided  refusal,  and  the  sportsman 
forthwith  proceeded  to  pump  lead  into  the  rogue.  On 
receiving  the  first  bullet  the  elephant  swung  round  in 
a  fury,  getting  another  pill  from  the  Express  in  his 
chest.  With  a  scream  of  rage  and  pain  he  dashed  up 
the  opposite  hill,  the  sportsman  putting  two  more 
bullets  into  his  body  before  he  disappeared  over  the 
crest. 

His  retreat  led  him  into  my  land,  and  a  few  days 
afterwards,  being  at  my  bungalow,  Chic  Mara  brought 
me  the  news  that  the  elephant  was  wandering  in  "Bison 
Valley,"  that  he  had  demolished  a  Nayaka  hut  near  the 
foot  of  the  hills,  the  inmates  escaping  by  rushing  into 
the  river,  and  that  he — Chic  Mara — had  been  chased 
himself  on  trying  to  approach  the  beast.  He  had 
crossed  the  river  after  destroying  the  hut,  and  was 
then  in  the  forest  on  the  south  side  of  the  valley,  and 
Chic    Mara    described    him    as   perfectly    mad.     The 


THE   ELEPHANT  95 

following  morning  we  started,  and  about  two  miles 
below  the  hut,  or  rather  the  sticks  and  grass  which 
marked  where  it  had  stood,  we  came  upon  the  tracks 
of  the  elephant  made  the  previous  night.  These  we 
followed  in  the  hope  that  he  had  not  travelled  far,  and 
I  then  had  ocular  demonstration  that  the  elephant  had 
good  cause  for  his  vagaries,  for  at  intervals  along  the 
track  we  came  on  bunches  of  maofofots  that  had  fallen 
out  of  his  wounds.  What  excruciating  pain  the  poor 
beast  must  have  suffered,  I  leave  the  reader  to  imagine. 
We  followed  the  tracks  till  evenino-  but  without  a 
sight  of  the  elephant ;  and  these  also  gave  ample 
evidence  of  the  agony  he  was  in.  They  zigzagged 
through  the  forest  in  the  most  aimless  way,  and  often 
we  saw  where  the  suffering  animal  had  rubbed  against 
the  trees  in  his  path,  in  an  effort  to  clear  his  wounds. 
The  track  had  led  us  roughly  in  a  circle,  and  at 
five  o'clock,  when  I  gave  up,  we  were  within  two  miles 
of  the  bungalow.  The  next  morning  I  sent  the 
trackers  out,  but  they  returned  with  the  news  that  the 
elephant  had  crossed  my  boundary,  and  gone  down 
the  hills,  so  I  had  to  abandon  all  hope  of  ending  his 
misery.  What  his  ultimate  fate  was,  I  could  never 
ascertain. 

About  a  year  after  this,  another  solitary  tusker  took 
up  his  quarters  in  Bison  Valley.  He  also  was  dubbed 
a  rogue,  and  this  time  there  was  no  question  that  the 
sobriquet  was  deserved.  At  the  foot  of  the  valley 
there  was,  at  the  time  I  am  writing  of,  a  small  Nayaka 
settlement,  in  which  lived  a  patriarch  named  Kurria 
with  his  relations,  the  community  consisting  of  five  or 
six  men,  and  the  same  number  of  women,  with  their 
children  of  various  ages.  These  men  were  of  great 
service   to  me  in  keeping  me  informed  of  the  move- 


96  THE   NILGIRIS 


ments  of  game  at  the  lower  end  of  the  long  valley,  and 
during  my  trips  to  the  foothills,  I  used  occasionally 
to  camp  near  their  little  village.  One  day  Chic  Mara 
came  over  to  tell  me  that  three  of  these  Nayakas  were 
out  In  the  forest  searching  for  roots  a  couple  of  days 
before,  when  suddenly  they  were  charged  by  an 
elephant.  One  man  was  killed  on  the  spot,  another 
caught  as  he  was  trying  to  climb  a  tree,  while  the  third 
had  escaped  and  had  brought  the  news  to  Chic  Mara, 
who  was  then  living  at  M.R.  I  started  the  following 
morning  and  reached  the  Nayaka  village  late  that 
evening.  There  I  found  the  Nayakas  living  on  plat- 
forms built  amongst  the  branches  of  large  trees,  and 
they  told  me  the  rogue  had  paid  a  visit  to  the  village 
the  night  before.  I  sent  my  trackers  out  to  try  to 
discover  his  whereabouts  ;  and  on  the  second  morning 
after  my  arrival  he  was  marked  down  about  three 
miles  away.  On  reconnoitring  the  ground,  I  found 
the  elephant  had  retired  into  a  small  and  densely 
wooded  hollow  about  five  acres  in  extent.  Through 
this  ran  a  stream,  and  the  continual  moisture  had 
given  birth  to  a  luxuriant  growth  of  underwood  and 
grass  at  least  seven  feet  in  height.  When  we  followed 
the  track  into  this  matted  cover,  we  were  completely 
swallowed  up,  and  we  agreed  that  a  further  advance 
would  be  as  useless  as  it  would  be  dangerous.  Had 
the  elephant  charged  I  should  have  been  powerless,  as 
I  could  not  see  a  step  in  front,  while  even  if  he  were 
not  inclined  for  mischief,  we  should  be  bound  to  give 
him  warning  of  our  approach,  as  it  was  impossible  to 
make  our  way  through  the  tangled  swamp  without 
noise.  I  held  a  conference  with  my  trackers,  and  we 
decided  that  the  only  plan  which  offered  a  chance  of 
success  was  for  me  to  work  round  to  the  bottom  of  the 


THE   ELEPHANT  97 

hollow  along  the  hillside  above ;  as  soon  as  I  had 
reached  my  post,  the  trackers  were  to  shout  and  throw 
stones  into  the  cover,  when  probably  the  elephant 
would  make  down  the  swamp,  giving  me  a  shot.  The 
wind  was  blowing  across  the  swamp,  and,  working  to 
leeward,  I  had  no  difficulty  in  getting  to  the  bottom 
undetected.  Just  at  this  point  the  ground  rose  again 
in  a  little  knoll,  and  by  standing  on  the  summit  of  this, 
screened  by  a  large  tree,  I  could  see  right  across  the 
patch  of  thick  cover  in  which  the  elephant  was 
ensconced,  and  all  round  it.  The  trackers  were 
squatting  at  the  head  of  the  swamp,  and  I  waved  my 
hand  as  a  signal  that  I  was  ready.  The  shouting  and 
stone-throwing  began,  but  the  effect  was  the  very 
opposite  of  what  we  intended.  I  heard  a  short  scream 
in  the  cover  just  below  me,  and  the  elephant  charged 
straight  at  the  men.  I  could  mark  his  progress  as  the 
underwood  was  mown  down  and  swayed  by  his  mighty 
bulk.  Roaring  to  the  trackers  that  the  elephant  was 
coming  right  on  the  top  of  them,  I  ran  round  the  cover 
in  the  hope  that  he  would  pull  up  outside.  My  men, 
with  the  marvellous  quickness  that  distinguishes  the 
Nayaka  at  such  critical  moments,  were  all  away  in  a 
flash,  and  the  elephant  held  straight  on.  About  a 
mile  further  on,  he  turned  to  the  right,  crossed  the 
river,  and  went  right  away  over  the  ridge  which 
bounds  the  valley  on  that  side.  We  followed  to  the 
summit  of  this  ridge,  and  then  relinquished  the  chase, 
I  spent  two  more  days  in  looking  for  him,  but  he  had 
gone  into  land  belonging  to  a  Rajah,  where  I  could 
not  follow  him. 

A  month  or  so  later,  coming  up  Bison  Valley  one 
afternoon  by  myself,  I  came  right  on  a  tusker  on  the 
path    I   was  following.      I   was   carrying  my   Express 

H 


98  THE   NILGIRIS 


loaded  with  hollow  bullets  ;  my  men  with  my  eight  bore 
and  Paradox  were  some  distance  behind.  The 
elephant  was  about  two  hundred  yards  away,  and  I  sat 
down  to  watch  him.  He  was  pulling  down  the 
branches  of  a  tree,  and  I  noticed  that  his  left  tusk  was 
considerably  shorter  than  the  right.  The  former  was 
only  a  stump  sticking  out  a  little  way  from  the  lip  :  the 
right  tusk  was  a  good  one.  This  tallied  exactly  with 
the  description  the  Nayakas  had  given  me  of  the 
rogue,  and  I  waited  impatiently  for  their  arrival  with 
the  heavy  rifle,  thanking  the  happy  accident  which  had 
given  me  a  chance  of  getting  even  with  the  beast  who 
had  killed  two  of  my  favourite  men.  Suddenly  the 
elephant  cocked  his  ears  and  wheeled  round  in  my 
direction.  Now  without  boasting  I  can  safely  say  that 
no  man  could  possibly  have  a  better  set  of  trackers 
than  mine  ;  and  one  of  the  golden  rules  which  they 
and  I  always  observe  when  out  shooting  is  never  to 
speak  above  a  whisper  in  the  forest,  and  never  to  speak 
at  all  when  signs  will  answer  the  same  purpose.  But 
on  this  occasion  they  broke  the  rule,  and  the  far-away 
tinkle  of  voices  which  had  put  the  elephant  on  the 
quivive  now  reached  me  distinctly.  Remembering  that 
this  elephant  had  on  the  previous  occasion  charged  at 
a  shout,  I  stood  up  behind  my  tree  and  gently  cocked 
both  barrels  of  the  Express.  If  he  went  for  the  men, 
he  must  pass  me  within  a  couple  of  yards,  and  I  hoped 
that  at  that  short  distance  both  barrels  Into  his  ear 
would  stop  him  ;  but  this  time  he  changed  his  tactics, 
and  after  listening  for  a  minute,  he  turned  and  went 
quickly  off  at  right  angles.  What  I  said  to  the  trackers 
when  they  came  up  need  not  be  detailed,  but  Chic 
Mara's  retort  was  so  well  deserved  that  It  took  all  the 
sting  out  of  my  rebuke.     I  think  one  reason  why  I  have 


THE   ELEPHANT  99 

such  an  affection  for  this  Nayaka  boy  is  that  he  is  so 
straightforward.  After  Hstening  to  what  I  said,  his 
reply  was  :  "  The  dhoray  is  right.  We  have  acted  Hke 
chattering  monkeys,  and  deserve  all  we  have  got.  But 
would  it  not  have  been  wiser  on  the  dhoray  s  part  if, 
when  he  saw  the  elephant,  he  had  come  back  to  warn 
us,  instead  of  waiting  for  us,  and  giving  us  the  chance 
of  making  fools  of  ourselves  ?  "  Chic  Mara  was  right ; 
that  is  what  I  should  have  done  ;  and  I  was  as  much  to 
blame  for  the  fiasco  as  they  were. 

We  followed  on  the  track  for  some  distance,  but  the 
elephant  was  travelling  fast,  and  as  we  had  to  get  back 
to  the  j\I.  R.  bungalow  before  dark,  we  had  to  let  him 
go,  and  push  on. 

My  next  rencontre  with  this  rogue  might  have  had 
serious  results,  and  I  was  fortunate  in  getting  off  scot 
free.  I  made  an  early  start  one  morning  from  the 
M.  R.  bungalow,  after  bison  ;  and  knowing  that  I  was 
in  for  a  "  big  fag,"  I  left  instructions  for  my  nag  to  be 
sent  to  meet  me  in  the  afternoon.  We  had  an  even 
harder  day  than  I  anticipated,  and  I  did  not  reach 
the  rendezvous  till  dark.  There  I  found  the  pony, 
and  a  couple  of  men  the  syce  had  brought  with  him, 
as  he  was  afraid  to  come  through  the  jungle  alone  ; 
but  none  of  these  men  had  had  sufficient  forethought 
to  bring  a  lantern.  The  night  was  pitch-dark,  and 
from  the  point  where  I  met  the  pony  to  the  bungalow 
was  a  journey  of  five  miles,  along  an  old  road — a  relic 
of  mining  days.  Chic  Mara  and  my  trackers  set  to 
work  to  make  a  number  of  torches  of  dry  reeds,  and 
when  these  were  ready  we  started.  Chic  Mara  led 
the  way,  carrying  a  huge  torch  which  lit  up  the  road 
for  several  yards  in  front ;  I  followed  on  the  pony,  and 
behind  me  came  the  men,  half  a  dozen  in  single  file. 

H  2 


100  THE   NILGIRIS 


The  pony  I   was   riding  was  a  stubborn,  ill-tempered 
brute,    with    a   mouth   of   iron  ;    and   once    he   bolted, 
which  he  often    did,   it  was   impossible  to   hold  him. 
We  jogged  along  for  a  mile,  and   I,  being  mounted, 
could  see  further  ahead  than  the  tracker  carrying  the 
torch,  which  he  held  high  above  his  head.     Suddenly, 
at    a    turn    of    the    road,    the    light    fell    full    on    an 
elephant  statiding  like   a  statue  in  the  middle  of  the 
path.      He  was  facing  us,  and  instantly  I  noticed  that 
the  right  tusk  was  much  longer  than  the  left,  and  the 
thought  flashed  through  my  mind,  "the  rogue."     He 
was  not  more  than  fifteen  or  twenty  yards  away,  and 
the  next  moment  Chic  Mara  saw  him  too.     With  the 
one     exclamation     "  dnay,''    he    dropped     the     torch, 
plunging  us    all    in    utter   darkness,   and  rushed   past 
me  back  along  the  road.      Then  followed  a  scramble 
which  almost   defies   description.      My  pony,  without 
an  effort  on  my  part,  wheeled  round  on  his  hind-legs 
and  bolted  down  the  road,  while  I  distinctly  heard  the 
elephant  give  vent  to  a  loud  rumble  from  his  throat. 
Fast  as  I  was  going — the  nag  was  beyond  control — 
the  men  kept  pace  with  me.     That  we  ever  reached 
the  bottom  of  the  road  safely  was  due   to    a  special 
interposition  of  Providence,  for  all  along  on  the  right 
was  a  big  drop,  in  many  places  a  regular  precipice,  the 
road  turned  and  twisted  like  a  snake,  and  I  could  see 
absolutely  nothing.     Just  at  the  end  of  the  road  was 
a  bridge  over  a  large  stream,  and  here  I  managed  to 
pull  up  my  pony.      The    men    rushed   up  panting  a 
moment    afterwards,    and    as    the    elephant    had    not 
followed  us,  we   stopped    to    decide  what  was   to   be 
done.     We  certainly  were  in  a  pretty  mess.      It  was 
9  p.m.,  we  were  five  miles  from  the  bungalow,  and  the 
way  was  barred  by  the  rogue.      From  the  bridge  an 


THE   ELEPHANT  loi 

old  path  led  up  to  the  head  of  the  valley  where  runs 
the  main  public  road ;  and  we  could  get  home  to 
M.  R.  by  this  road.  But  how  it  was  to  be  reached 
was  the  question.  All  round  us  was  the  virgin  forest, 
cut  only  by  the  road  we  could  not  take  ;  while  the 
old  path  had  not  been  used  for  twenty  years,  and  was 
now  merely  a  dense  mass  of  thorny  creepers  and 
undergrowth.  At  its  best  it  was  so  steep  as  to  be 
almost  impracticable  for  a  horse,  while  now  it  was 
impassable  even  for  a  man.  But  it  formed  our  only 
means  of  access  to  the  bungalow,  and  negotiate  it 
somehow  we  must.  Fortunately  the  three  Nayakas 
had  their  barcutties  with  them,  so  they  went 
ahead  to  clear  the  track,  while  we  followed.  Never 
shall  I  forget  that  night  journey.  Our  path  had 
to  be  hacked  out  of  the  matted  growth  of  thorns 
for  every  step  of  the  way,  while  the  track  was  nothing 
better  than  a  watercourse,  and  in  many  places  was 
blocked  by  boulders  and  rubbish  washed  down  from 
above.  It  was  five  in  the  morning  before  I  reached 
the  M.  R.  bungalow,  after  a  fag  of  twenty-four  hours. 

An  interval  of  three  months  elapsed  before  I  came 
across  this  rogue  again,  and  then  I  met  him  in  circum- 
stances that  ended  tragically  for  himself  I  was  going 
down  to  the  foothills  for  a  week's  shooting,  and  early 
one  morning  I  sent  off  my  tent,  rifles,  and  other 
impedimenta  from  M.  R.  bungalow.  Chic  Mara  and 
I  followed  in  the  afternoon,  and  as  I  did  not  mean  to 
look  for  game  en  route,  having  a  fourteen-mile  trudge 
to  camp,  I  took  only  a  shot-gun  with  me,  on  the 
chance  of  picking  up  a  junglefowl.  We  had  got 
almost  to  the  bottom  of  Bison  Valley,  camp  being  then 
four  miles  distant,  when  a  short  distance  above  the 
track  we  were  following,  which  was  merely  an  elephant 


102  THE   NILGIRIS 


path  through  dense  virgin  forest,  we  heard  a  tremend- 
ous racket — trumpeting,  screaming,  and  roaring,  with 
at  intervals  a  sound  as  if  two  thick  dry  sticks  had  been 
struck  against  each  other.  There  was  no  doubt  as 
to  the  cause  of  the  noise  :  we  had  happened  on  an 
encounter  between  tuskers.  Chic  Mara  was  by  no 
means  keen  on  going  closer,  but  when  I  started  he 
followed.  Keeping  well  to  leeward  we  made  our  way 
up  the  hillside,  and  having  reached  a  point  opposite 
to  the  din,  we  cautiously  approached.  And  there,  in 
a  basin  below  us,  we  came  on  this  battle  of  the  giants. 
It  was  the  sight  of  a  lifetime.  The  combatants  on 
one  side  were  two  tuskers,  one  a  huge  elephant  with 
splendid  tusks,  the  other  considerably  smaller,  their 
single  opponent  being — there  was  no  mistaking  the 
short  left  tusk — our  old  acquaintance  the  rogue.  In 
this  unequal  fight  he  had  no  chance,  but  that  he  had 
borne  himself  bravely  was  evident  from  the  wounds 
on  both  his  foes.  The  rogue  himself  was  in  a  dread; 
ful  state  :  his  head  and  sides  were  raining  blood,  and 
a  crimson  stream  ran  unceasingly  down  his  long  right 
tusk  from  a  wound  in  his  forehead.  The  struggle 
had  evidently  lasted  some  time,  and  all  three  were 
hard  at  it  when  we  arrived.  The  small  herd  tusker 
attacked  the  rogue  in  front,  while  the  big  one  rammed 
him  from  the  side.  Before  these  tremendous  rushes 
he  was  forced  to  give  way,  and  the  bushes  and  under- 
wood were  mown  down  in  swaths  as  he  was  pushed 
and  buffeted  down  the  hill.  Not  for  a  moment  did 
the  small  tusker  lose  his  position.  Head  to  head  he 
kept  as  the  rogue  backed  and  circled,  while  again  and 
again  the  big  tusker  came  down  like  a  battering  ram. 
It  almost  seemed  as  if  the  two  herd  elephants  were 
acting   on   a   concerted    plan  ;    and    so    effectual    was 


THE   ELEPHANT  103 

their  strategy  that  the  rogue  was  being  punished 
without  a  chance  of  retaHation.  We  must  have 
watched  them  for  fully  five  minutes,  when  the  elephants 
separated,  as  if  by  mutual  consent  By  this  time  the 
fight  had  taken  them  further  down  the  hill,  and  the 
two  herd  tuskers  were  some  fifty  yards  below  us,  while 
the  rogue  retreated  into  the  dense  jungle  running 
down  from  the  dip  in  which  the  battle  had  been  fought. 
Every  minute  we  expected  the  fight  to  be  renewed 
or  the  herd  tuskers  to  follow  the  rogue,  but  after  a 
short  while  the  former  turned  and  came  back  towards 
us.  They  passed  us  slowly  at  a  distance  of  not  more 
than  ten  yards  without  a  suspicion  of  our  presence, 
and  went  on  up  the  hill,  where  no  doubt  the  herd  were 
congregated.  When  they  were  out  of  sight,  we 
followed  the  tusker's  track  down  the  hill  as  far  as  the 
path — it  was  literally  a  stream  of  blood — but  he  had 
kept  on,  evidently  making  for  the  river  which  ran 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  below  ;  and  as  we  had  still 
a  long  way  to  go  to  reach  camp,  we  left  him  and 
pushed  on. 

At  daylight  the  next  morning  we  picked  up  the 
track,  and  followed  it  to  the  river.  Here  the  rogue 
had  turned  along  the  bank  for  some  distance,  and 
then  crossed  at  a  shallow.  We  crossed  too,  and  had 
not  gone  half  a  mile  on  the  further  side  of  the  river 
when  we  came  on  the  elephant,  stone  dead.  He  was 
lying  on  his  right  side  with  his  trunk  stretched  out, 
and  how  he  had  lived  to  get  so  far  was  a  mystery,  for 
he  was  riddled  with  deep  wounds. 

Being  keen  to  discover  if  possible  the  reason  for 
this  fight,  I  sent  two  men  to  follow  the  tracks  of  the 
herd  elephants  when  I  took  up  those  of  the  rogue. 
On  my  return  to  camp,  these  men  had  already  arrived, 


104  THE   NILGIRIS 


and  they  said  that  the  two  tuskers  had  joined  a  large 

herd  not  very  far  from  the  scene  of  the  fight.     This 

herd  they  had   followed,  and  had  come  up  with  the 

elephants  on  a  low  range  of  hills  about  two  miles  north 

of  my  camp.      1   had  told  them  to  try  to  get  a  look 

at  the  tuskers,  to  see  how  they  fared  after  the  hard 

knocks  they  had  received  the  previous  day  ;  but  with 

the   Nayaka's  inherent   dread  of  elephants,   they  had 

returned  after  locating  the  herd,  and  without  getting  a 

sight  of  them.     So   I    determined  to  devote  the  next 

day   to   investigating   matters   myself.     We   made   an 

early  start,  and  came  up  with  the  herd  about  noon  on 

the  further  slope  of  the  low  range.     This  particular 

stretch  of  country  is  a  perfect  sanctuary  for  elephants, 

and  they  inhabit  it  all  the  year  round.     The  low  hills 

lead  down  to  a  valley,  about  three  miles  long  and  a 

mile  broad,   covered  with  the  grandest  virgin   forest 

imaginable.        Through     this      valley      courses      the 

K.   stream,  and  on  its  further   side   rise   the   Ghats. 

Hidden  away  in  this  fold  of  the  hills,  screened  from 

all  chance  of  disturbance  by  a  ten-mile   belt  of  ghat 

forest   on  its  southern  side,   untrodden   by  man  save 

perhaps    by   a   few   prowling  Nayakas   in  the  honey 

season,  the    vale  lies  "at  the  back  of  beyond,"  and  I 

believe  I  am  the  only  white  man  who  has  explored  its 

fastnesses.     Throughout  the  year  it  holds  an  unfailing 

supply  of  water  and  food,  and  is  in  every  way  the  most 

perfect  refuge  for  game  that  I   know.     At  all  seasons 

of  the  year  it  is  alive  with  elephants,  bison,  sambur, 

pig,    tigers,    leopards,    muntjac,    and — on   its   western 

edge,  where  the  jungle  grows  lighter — spotted  deer  ; 

while  the  high  rocky  hills  on  the  north  are  a  favourite 

resort  of  bears. 

It  was  at  the  extreme  eastern  end  of  this  favoured 


THE   ELEPHANT  105 

valley  (which  I  call  the  Sanctuary)  that  we  found  the 
herd,  the  first  individuals  we  came  on  being  a  female, 
a  calf,  and  a  half-grown  tusker.  They  were  dozing  in 
the  shade  of  a  large  blackwood  tree,  and  it  was  evident 
that  the  herd  were  taking  their  mid-day  rest.  We 
worked  carefully  along,  parallel  with  their  position,  and 
lower  down  we  saw  two  tuskers,  but  not  our  friends  of 
two  days  before.  We  counted  eighteen  elephants  in 
all,  scattered  in  groups ;  and  when  we  had  passed  the 
nethermost  of  these  without  a  sight  of  the  tuskers  we 
were  after,  I  began  to  think  they  were  not  in  the  herd 
at  all,  and  that  we  had  come  on  a  wild-goose  chase. 
Just  as  I  had  made  up  my  mind  to  relinquish  the 
search  and  return  to  camp,  Kala  stopped  and  whispered 
"  ulle  ivonthu  dhod  komU  anay  wonteage  iruthatkay" 
(there  is  a  big  tusker  by  himself),  and  the  next 
moment  I  spotted  him  under  a  tree  where  the  under- 
wood grew  thick.  He  had  his  stern  to  us,  and  we 
had  no  difficulty  in  creeping  up  to  within  a  dozen 
yards.  From  this  distance  we  got  a  good  view  of 
him,  and  he  was  beyond  doubt  the  big  one  who  had 
given  the  rogue  such  a  gruelling.  So  this  was 
established — that  the  rogue  had  been  killed  by  herd 
tuskers.  To  obtain  actual  proof  of  the  motive  was  of 
course  impossible  ;  but  I  cannot  be  wrong  in  assuming 
that,  attracted  by  the  females,  or  for  some  other  reason, 
the  rogue  had  endeavoured  to  gain  temporary  admission 
into  the  herd,  and  his  intrusion  had  been  resented 
in  the  way  I  have  described.  And  it  seems  to  me 
very  probable  that  a  rogue — a  solitary  elephant  with  a 
morose  temper — is  a  tusker  who  has  been  expelled 
from  a  herd  by  a  combination  of  the  other  males 
against  him,  when  his  ill  temper  has  become  intolerable 
to  the  members.     An  outcast  from  his  own  herd,  and 


io6  THE   NILGIRIS 


debarred  from  association  with  any  other,  he  is  there- 
after forced  to  lead  a  hermit  Hfe,  a  sentence  which  does 
not  make  for  an  improvement  in  his  disposition. 

I  have  mentioned  that  a  tame  male  elephant  who 
escapes  from  captivity  in  a  fit  of  must,  is  even  more  to 
be  dreaded  than  a  wild  rogue.  It  is  curious  that  the 
fear  of  man  which  a  tame  tusker  always  displays  in  so 
marked  a  decree  should  be  converted,  when  he  breaks 
away  under  an  attack  of  must,  not  only  into  an 
absolute  contempt  for  man's  authority,  but  into  a  burn- 
ing desire  to  be  revenged  on  his  captors.  At  the 
command  of  his  keeper,  a  tusker  will  hold  up  his  fore- 
foot and  submit  to  be  beaten  on  his  nails — a  punish- 
ment which  gives  him  exquisite  pain — without  the 
slightest  attempt  at  retaliation.  I  have  seen  a  keeper 
hammer  his  charge  over  the  head  most  cruelly  with  a 
stick  as  thick  as  my  wrist  because  he  did  not  exert 
himself  when  dragging  a  log,  and  the  tusker  only 
winced  and  shrieked  with  pain  at  every  blow.  Watch 
a  tusker  at  work,  and  the  characteristic  that  strikes 
you  most  is  the  eagerness,  almost  amounting  to 
nervousness,  with  which  he  strives  to  obey  his  keeper's, 
orders.  Under  every  condition,  his  fear  of  the  man 
in  authority  over  him  is  carried  to  the  point  of 
timidity.  Yet  let  that  same  tusker  regain  his  liberty 
in  a  fit  of  must,  and  he  becomes  a  veritable  man- 
killer,  whose  sole  desire  is  seemingly  to  wreak 
vengeance  on  anyone  belonging  to  the  race  of  those 
who  held  him  in  thrall.  What,  then,  is  must  ?  By 
most  writers  it  is  held  to  be  merely  sexual  excitement  ; 
but  in  view  of  its  peculiar  effects  on  tame  males,  I 
think  the  correctness  of  this  opinion  is  open  to  doubt, 
and  that  it  may  with  at  least  equal  reason  be  regarded 
as     temporary     insanity,     identical     with     temporary 


THE   ELEPHANT  107 

homicidal  mania  in  a  man.  In  support  of  the  first 
theory  it  may  be  argued  that  the  males  of  most,  if  not 
all,  wild  animals  are  subject  to  fits  of  excitement 
when  their  females  come  into  season.  At  this  time 
even  a  stag  sambur  or  spotted  deer — in  captivity  at 
least — is  dangerous.  But  if  must  in  an  elephant  has  a 
sexual  origin,  we  should  expect  all  males  to  be  affected 
at  the  same  time,  just  as  all  stags  become  excited  and 
dangerous  at  the  beginning  of  the  rutting  season. 
The  reply  to  this  would  be  that  the  case  of  no  other 
animal  is  quite  analogous  to  that  of  the  elephant,  as 
the  latter  has  no  special  rutting  season.  If  I  am 
correct  in  holding  that  the  female  elephant  is  in  season 
all  the  year  round,  it  may  be  that  for  this  very  reason 
different  males  are  attacked  at  different  times.  But 
this  would  almost  be  tantamount  to  saying  that  the 
male  comes  into  season,  which  is  an  obvious  fallacy. 
From  the  nature  of  the  case,  a  determination  of  the 
origin  of  these  periods  of  excitement  is  a  problem  that 
defies  solution  :  all  that  can  be  said  with  certainty  is 
that  they  result  in  no  permanent  perversion  of  an 
elephant's  gentle  character,  for  tame  males  are  as 
amenable  to  authority  as  ever  when  they  recover,  and 
even  a  male  who  has  escaped  and  killed  a  man  or  men 
is  as  submissive  as  before,  if  recaptured  when  the  fit 
of  must  is  over. 

Be  the  cause  what  it  may,  the  fact  remains  that 
an  escaped  tusker  suffering  from  must  is  a  fiend 
incarnate.  One  day  late  in  September,  1905,  N. 
and  I  were  journeying  down  to  the  residence  of  a 
Rajah  with  whom  we  had  business.  On  reaching  a 
wayside  hamlet  at  the  foot  of  the  Ghat,  the  few 
Mappillas  who  constituted  the  population  came  out  in 
a  body,  and  warned  us  not  to  go  on,  as  for  two  days 


io8  THE    NILGIRIS 


an  elephant  had  been  killing  people  at  E.,  four  miles 
ahead.  We  were  both  well  mounted  and  safe  from 
any  attack  ourselves ;  but  from  what  the  Mappillas 
told  us  we  apprehended  that  our  men  and  carts, 
following  some  distance  behind,  might  run  some  risk. 
However,  to  halt  where  we  were,  with  no  shelter  and 
a  storm  threatening,  was  out  of  the  question,  so  we 
rode  on,  leaving  word  that  the  carts  were  to  follow  as 
soon  as  possible.  A  mile  further  on,  we  found  a  long 
line  of  carts  drawn  up  by  the  roadside,  the  drivers  of 
which  gave  us  an  even  more  lurid  account  of  the 
elephant's  doings.  They  were  waiting  for  news  that 
the  road  was  clear  before  proceeding.  They  told  us 
the  elephant  was  on  the  road  near  E.,  that  he  had 
already  killed  eight  men,  and  that  the  whole  country 
round  E.  was  in  a  state  of  abject  terror.  Making 
allowance  for  the  usual  native  exaggeration,  it  was 
evident  that  an  elephant  had  established  a  scare,  and 
I  feared  that  the  tales  of  these  excited  cartmen  might 
prevent  our  followers  from  coming  on  to  E.  That 
was  not  a  pleasant  prospect,  for  our  clothes,  bedding, 
food  and  everything  else  were  in  the  carts  behind. 
Keeping  a  bright  lookout  on  the  way,  we  reached  E. 
about  2  P.M.,  without  a  sight  of  the  elephant,  and  I 
was  greatly  relieved  when  our  carts  and  men  turned 
up  a  couple  of  hours  later. 

That  something  unusual  had  happened  to  disturb 
the  wonted  serenity  of  the  little  village  was  apparent 
as  we  rode  into  E.  Half  a  dozen  policemen  were 
patrolling  up  and  down  the  road  in  front  of  the  shanty 
that  is  magniloquently  styled  the  "traveller's  bungalow," 
the  village  was  deserted,  and  we  could  see  a  crowd 
gathered  near  the  big  building  belonging  to  the 
Rajah  which  stands  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  the 


THE  ELEPHANT  109 

south  of  the  road.  In  the  verandah  of  the  rest  house 
a  Mappilla  was  sitting,  who  told  me  he  was  a  timber 
merchant  and  the  owner  of  the  elephant.  From  him  I 
learnt  that  the  scare  was  due  to  this  tame  tusker,  who 
a  couple  of  days  before  had  killed  his  keeper  in  a 
fit  of  77itLst,  broken  loose,  and  then  taken  to  systematic 
man-killing.  I  told  him  we  were  due  at  N.  that 
evening,  but  that  I  had  brought  a  rifle  with  me, 
and  on  my  return  the  following  day  I  would  try 
to  end  the  elephant's  murderous  proclivities  for  good. 
His  reply  was  that  he  valued  the  tusker  at  Rs.5000, 
and  I  was  at  liberty  to  shoot  it  on  prepayment  of 
the  price ;  to  which  I  rejoined  that  he  knew  as  well  as 
I  did  that  an  elephant  who  had  taken  to  killing  people 
could  be  shot  by  anyone,  and  I  was  quite  prepared  to 
take  the  consequences.  Whereupon  he  got  up  and 
stalked  away,  speechless  with  rage.  Before  the  carts 
arrived,  I  walked  round  the  village.  There  are  several 
large  Paniya  settlements  in  the  vicinity,  the  in- 
habitants of  which  had  deserted  their  houses,  and  were 
living  on  platforms  built  in  trees.  From  the  Paniyan 
headman,  who  had  often  accompanied  me  on  previous 
shooting  trips,  I  learnt  that  the  elephant  had  retired 
into  the  jungle  to  the  north  of  the  village  early 
that  morning,  and  he  promised  to  show  me  the  beast 
on  my  return,  as  scouts  were  out,  watching  his  move- 
ments. Between  the  rest  house  and  the  Rajah's 
building  lie  extensive  paddy  fields,  and  the  Paniyan 
pointed  out  how  all  the  young  paddy  had  been  trodden 
down  and  destroyed.  For  two  nights  the  elephant 
had  held  high  revel  here,  and  had  done  an  immense 
amount  of  damage,  filling  himself  with  the  succulent 
rice,  and  pulling  up  and  trampling  far  more  than 
he  had  eaten. 


no  THE   NILGIRIS 


After  a  hasty  breakfast  we  started  for  N.,  a  journey 
of  eight  miles.  Late  the  following  afternoon  we 
returned  to  E.,  where  we  meant  to  stop  the  night,  and 
I  at  once  interviewed  the  old  Paniyan  as  to  the 
elephant's  whereabouts.  He  was  said  then  to  be  in 
the  forest  five  miles  north  of  the  village,  near  the  large 
Government  reserve  named  M.,  and  I  arranged  that  the 
three  Paniyans  who  usually  went  with  me  when 
I  was  shooting  round  about  E.,  and  whom  I  knew  to 
be  fair  trackers,  should  be  at  the  rest  house  at  five 
o'clock  the  next  morning.  And  to  ensure  punctuality, 
I  added  that  a  sight  of  the  elephant  would  mean  fifty 
bright  rupees  in  their  waistcloths. 

True  to  time,  I  was  up  and  ready,  and  so  were  the 
men  ;  but  it  was  with  a  very  rueful  face  that  the  old 
Maistry  made  his  salaam.  The  watchers  had  come  in 
during  the  night  to  say  that  the  previous  afternoon  the 
tame  elephant  had  come  across  a  wild  tusker  of  far 
superior  size ;  that  in  the  blind  rage  by  which  he  was 
possessed  he  had  given  battle  to  the  intruder  without  a 
moment's  hesitation  ;  that  there  had  been  a  two  hours' 
fight ;  and  that  the  tame  elephant  had  been  killed.  And 
so  those  fifty  bright  rupees  had  vanished  into  the 
Ewigkeit. 

At  this  same  village  I  was  the  witness  some  time 
afterwards,  while  on  my  way  to  M.,  in  company  with 
a  friend  named  G.,  of  an  incident  which  forcibly  illus- 
trated the  wonderful  faculty  possessed  by  the  elephant 
for  adapting  itself  to  a  new  environment — a  faculty 
which,  in  my  view,  not  only  differentiates  it  from,  but 
places  it  above,  all  other  wild  animals.  We  were 
sitting  in  the  verandah,  waiting  for  the  coolies  who 
were  to  carry  our  smjian  to  turn  up,  when  we  heard  a 
tremendous  din  of  shouting  and  beating  of  tomtoms 


THE   ELEPHANT  iii 

in  the  forest  behind  the  rest  house,  through  which 
runs  the  path  to  M.  Some  of  the  Rajah's  men 
were  standing  on  the  road,  and  they  told  us  that  a 
newly  caught  elephant  was  being  brought  in.  And  in 
a  minute  the  procession  appeared.  First  came  fifty  or 
sixty  Paniyans  beating  drums  and  shouting  at  the  top 
of  their  voices,  and  then  a  cluster  of  elephants.  Round 
the  captured  elephant — a  female,  and  the  finest  and 
biggest  I  have  ever  seen — were  grouped  four  grand 
tuskers,  one  on  either  side  of  her  head,  one  on  either 
side  of  her  stern.  Two  large  ropes  were  tied  round  the 
female's  neck,  the  ends  of  which  the  leading  tuskers 
held  in  their  teeth  ;  but  these  bonds  were  superfluous, 
for  she  walked  along  without  making  the  least  show 
of  resistance,  as  if  resigned  to  her  fate,  and  quite 
aware  of  the  futility  of  opposition  :  and  this,  though 
she  had  only  been  caught  the  previous  day.  Behind 
the  group  sedately  walked  a  little  calf.  It  was  a 
wonderfully  impressive  sight.  The  tuskers  kept  their 
positions  with  the  utmost  precision,  and  strode  along 
with  a  measured  dignity  which  showed  they  thoroughly 
realised  their  responsibility  ;  while  there  was  something 
very  pathetic  in  the  calm  resignation  of  the  captive. 
This  will  doubtless  sound  like  bathos  to  the  reader 
who  does  not  know  elephants  :  the  reader  who  does 
know  and  love  them  will  realise  the  force  of  what  I 
have  said. 

The  Rajah's  elephant  kraal,  for  which  the  procession 
was  making,  lay  a  short  distance  to  the  left  of  his 
bungalow  ;  and  G.  and  1  cut  across  the  paddy  flat  to 
see  the  end  of  the  performance.  The  permanent  cage 
for  captured  elephants  attached  to  this  kraal  is  an 
enclosure  just  large  enough  to  hold  a  big  animal,  and 
is    formed  of   stout  wooden   uprights   through   which 


112  THE   NILGIRIS 


wooden  bars  are  run  all  round.  On  reaching  the 
cage,  the  ropes  round  the  captive's  neck  were  passed 
through  the  bars  opposite  the  end  left  open  for  her 
reception,  and  given  to  two  of  the  tuskers  outside  the 
enclosure.  Here  for  the  first  time  the  female  became 
restive,  and  at  sight  of  the  cage  she  backed  and 
squealed.  But  no  time  w^as  wasted  in  persuasion. 
The  largest  tusker  was  brought  round  to  her  stern, 
and  at  a  given  signal  the  tuskers  holding  the  ropes 
put  their  backs  into  a  haul,  while  at  the  same  moment 
the  third  tusker  gave  her  a  mighty  heave  a  posteriori, 
and  into  the  cage  she  went  willy-nilly.  Then  the 
calf  was  pushed  in,  and  the  bars  shot.  Two  months 
afterwards  I  was  again  at  E.,  and  I  saw  that  same 
elephant  being  ridden  by  a  little  Paniyan  boy  who 
whacked  her  and  swore  at  her  in  the  most  approved 
elephant-keeper  fashion.  For  my  special  edification 
he  put  her  through  her  paces,  and  in  that  short  time 
she  had  learnt  all  the  usual  tricks. 

I  have  referred  before  to  the  marvellous  way'  in 
which  an  elephant  can  move  his  huge  bulk  through 
even  thick  jungle  in  perfect  silence,  and  an  incident 
occurs  to  me  which  illustrates  this  rather  forcibly.  I 
was  camped  in  Bison  Valley,  and  early  one  morning  I 
was  out  with  Chic  Mara  and  two  other  Nayakas, 
following  the  track  of  a  bull,  when  we  suddenly 
dropped  right  into  a  herd  of  elephants.  The  first 
intimation  we  had  of  their  proximity  was  a  short 
trumpet  in  the  thick  jungle  a  few  yards  ahead,  which 
broupfht  us  to  a  halt,  and  a  moment  afterwards  the 
whole  herd  dashed  away  with  a  noise  that  made  me 
think  of  the  crack  of  doom.  In  those  days  I  had  not 
learnt  to  love  the  elephant  so  devotedly  as  to  forswear 
taking  his  life,  and  I   ran  forward  to   try  to   catch  a 


THE   ELEPHANT  113 

glimpse  of  the  herd.  The  way  was  blocked  by  the 
rapidly  moving  sterns  of  half  a  dozen  females,  but 
ahead  I  saw  the  gleam  of  a  long  pair  of  tusks,  and 
we  followed  hotfoot  on  the  track.  The  herd  had 
made  straight  up  the  hill  to  the  north  of  the  N.  stream, 
and  here  the  forest  is  exceedingly  dense,  with  a  thick 
matted  growth  of  underwood.  Through  this  the 
elephants  had  cleared  a  broad  trail,  and  as  we 
jogged  along  up  the  steep  hill  as  fast  as  possible,  we 
were  shut  in  on  either  side  by  an  impenetrable  wall  of 
thorny  scrub.  We  had  gone  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  when 
the  head  and  shoulders  of  a  female  were  thrust  through 
the  dense  screen  on  the  right  of  the  track,  only  a 
couple  of  yards  in  front  of  Chic  Mara  who  was  leading 
at  the  time,  and  she  blew  at  him  with  such  force  that 
he  fell  back  on  the  top  of  me,  and  down  we  both  went 
together,  while,  fortunately,  the  elephant  held  on  along 
the  path  the  rest  had  taken.  My  own  view  was,  and 
is,  that  Chic  Mara  merely  recoiled  at  sight  of  the 
apparition,  though  he  declared  the  gush  of  air  emitted 
by  the  elephant  struck  him  on  the  chest  with  such  force 
that  he  was  driven  backwards  ;  but  the  effect  was 
precisely  as  if  he  had  been  blown  back  like  a  feather.^ 
Picking  ourselves  up,  we  followed  for  another  mile, 
but  it  was  evident  that  the  elephants  were  going  over 
the  ridge,  out  of  my  land,  so  we  had  to  relinquish  the 
chase.  On  our  way  back  we  stopped  at  the  scene  of 
our  discomfiture  to  talk  the  incident  over,  and  it  then 
occurred  to  me  to  ask  where  on  earth  the  elephant 
had  come  from.     The  easiest  way  to  solve  the  riddle 

1  "Hawkeye"  also  records  an  instance  of  a  man  being  "blown  over" 
by  an  elephant  he  was  following  ;  but  I  think  it  may  be  taken  that  in  this 
case  as  well  the  tumble  was  due  to  fright  at  the  sudden  appearance  of  the 
animal  close  in  front.  It  is  scarcely  credible  that  an  elephant  could 
expire  with  a  force  sufficient  to  take  a  man  off  his  legs. 


114  THE   NILGIRIS 


was  to  carry  her  track  back,  and  we  found  that  when 
we  first  came  up  with  the  herd,  this  female  had  been 
standing  by  herself  some  distance  to  the  right,  so  that 
we  had  got  between  her  and  her  companions.  From 
the  point  at  which  the  herd  had  rushed  away  to  the 
point  at  which  she  had  so  suddenly  appeared,  which  as 
I  have  said  was  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  she  had 
kept  parallel  with  us,  at  a  distance  of  only  ten  or 
fifteen  yards,  and  as  she  had  forged  ahead,  she  must 
have  passed  us  just  before  she  turned  into  the  track  of 
the  herd.  Yet  so  silently  had  she  made  her  way 
through  that  tangled  jungle,  that  we  were  quite  un- 
aware of  her  proximity  till  she  showed  herself  From 
long  training  my  own  ears  are  fairly  sharp  in  dis- 
tinguishing jungle  sounds,  but  the  ears  of  my  trackers 
are  far  sharper  ;  and  to  have  eluded  their  phenomenally 
keen  hearing  for  such  a  distance  in  such  thick  cover 
was  a  feat  that  no  animal  but  an  elephant  could  have 
performed. 

Not  only  have  elephants  this  gift  of  silent  move- 
ment, but  they  can  successfully  negotiate  dangerous 
ground  with  an  ability  which,  having  regard  to  their 
enormous  bulk  and  weight,  is  nothing  short  of  marvel- 
lous. In  this  respect  they  are  probably  the  superior 
of  any  other  quadruped.  One  monsoon  day  I  was  in 
the  G.  forest,  when  I  saw  three  elephants,  two  females 
and  a  small  tusker,  ahead  on  the  path.  Between  us 
lay  a  very  deep  and  narrow  millah,  down  which  coursed 
a  mountain  stream,  now  swollen  into  a  torrent  by  the 
heavy  rains.  In  course  of  ages  the  water  had  worn  a 
channel  about  fifty  feet  deep  in  the  friable  soil,  and 
the  banks  had  tumbled  in,  till  both  sides  of  the  V  were 
almost  as  vertical  as  the  walls  of  a  room,  the  side 
nearer  the  elephants  being  much  steeper  and  deeper 


THE   ELEPHANT  115 

than  that  on  which   I   was  standing.     When  we  first 
saw  them,  the  elephants  were  quietly  feeding,  and  we 
sat  down  to  watch  them.     Soon  they  came  leisurely 
along  the  path  towards  us,  and  I   wondered  what  they 
would   do    on   reaching   the    nullah,  as  we  had  been 
compelled  that  morning  to  cut  steps  in  the  banks  before 
we  could  get  to   the  bottom  and    up  the  other  side. 
But  the  leading  female  did  not  hesitate.     Putting  out 
a  forefoot,  she  gradually  rested  her  weight  on  it  until 
it  had  sunk  deep  enough  to  give  her    firm  foothold, 
then  the  other  foot  was  advanced  with  equal  caution, 
and  thus  step  by  step  she  felt  her  way  down,  the  other 
two  elephants  placing  their  feet  with  the  utmost  care 
in  the  tracks  of  the  leader.     On  reaching  the  bottom, 
she  did  not  seem  to  relish  the  climb  up  the  bank  on 
our  side,   and  turned  down   along  the  course  of  the 
stream,  all  three  being  soon  lost  to  view  in  the  dense 
jungle.     Had  I   not  seen  these  elephants  come  safely 
down  that  slippery  precipice,  I  would  not  have  believed 
that   it  could   have   been   negotiated  by  such  a  huge 
animal.     On  another  occasion   I  happened  on  a  herd 
coming  down  to  the  K.  stream  to  drink  and    bathe. 
At   the   point   where  the   leading  female   struck    the 
river  the  bank  was  high  and  steep,  and  as  she  stood 
on  the  brink  the  earth  gave    way    with    her    weight. 
She  slid  so  calmly  down  on  all  fours  that  I  feel  sure 
she  purposely  broke  down  the  bank  to  make  a  road 
for  the  rest,  and  when  all  the  elephants  had  walked 
into  the  water  there  was  a  road  broad  enough  for  a 
carriage  and  four.     I  do  not  know  the   country  that 
would  stop  an  elephant. 

As  I  have  said  already,  I  deeply  regret  having  at 
any  time  caused  the  death  of  this  noblest  of  the  works 
of  the  Creator ;  but  as  these  notes  would  scarcely  be 

I    2 


ii6  THE   NILGIRIS 


complete,  or  in  harmony  with  the  scheme  of  my  book, 
without  some  reference  to  elephant  shooting,  I  will 
end  them  by  a  description  of  how  I  bagged  my  big 
tusker. 

In  September  some  years  ago  I  was  out  after 
bison,  my  camp  being  pitched  on  a  river  about 
two  miles  from  the  old  Nayaka  settlement  known  as 
M.  I  had  had  excellent  sport,  and  before  going 
back  to  my  estate,  I  determined  to  pay  a  visit  to  the 
Sanctuary — the  valley  I  have  mentioned  before  in  this 
chapter — as  it  always  teems  with  game :  and  one 
lovely  morning  I  started,  with  Chic  Mara  and  two 
Nayakas  from  the  neighbouring  village.  Our  route 
led  first  across  a  dead  flat  a  mile  broad,  and  then  up  a 
low  range  of  hills,  beyond  which  lies  the  Sanctuary. 
The  formation  of  these  hills  is  very  singular.  They 
are  a  spur  from  the  main  range  of  the  Ghats,  and  run 
due  east  and  west,  at  an  elevation  of  about  seven 
hundred  feet  above  the  flat,  which  is  itself  three 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  sea-level.  The  crest  of 
the  spur  is  a  table,  with  an  average  width  of  some 
fifty  yards,  so  that  once  the  summit  is  gained,  the 
ridge  can  be  traversed  practically  on  a  level  from  end 
to  end.  This  long  narrow  plateau  is  covered  with 
grass,  and  at  all  seasons  of  the  year  is  a  favourite 
feeding  ground  for  elephants  and  bison.  On  their 
further  side  the  hills  slope  down  to  the  Sanctuary, 
which  is  another  flat  bisected  by  the  K.  stream,  and 
bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Ghats  sweeping  round  in 
a  semicircle.  The  whole  tract,  comprising  the  flat 
to  the  south,  the  dividing  ridge,  the  Sanctuary,  and 
the  Ghats  towering  above  its  northern  edge,  is  clothed 
in  primeval  forest. 

We  struck  the  ridge  about  its  centre,  and  turning  to 


THE   ELEPHANT  117 

the  right,  worked  along  the  level  crest  with  the  object 
of  reaching  the  head  or  eastern  end  of  the  Sanctuary 
before  descending.  After  going  half  a  mile,  we  came 
on  the  fresh  tracks  of  a  bull  bison,  made  early  that 
morning,  which  crossed  the  ridge  and  led  down  into 
the  Sanctuary.  Just  here  the  jungle  was  lighter  than 
usual,  as  a  large  number  of  huge  trees — teak  amongst 
the  rest — which  once  grew  on  the  ridge  had  been 
felled  ages  before  by  the  Nayakas  for  a  ragi  clearing, 
the  stools  still  standing  like  gaunt  sentinels  of  their 
past  glory.  From  the  size  of  the  bull's  tracks  he 
seemed  a  good  one,  and  we  had  decided  to  follow, 
when  a  short  distance  below  us,  on  the  very  line  the 
bull  had  taken,  we  heard  the  sharp  crack  of  bamboos. 
It  did  not  need  Chic  Mara's  whisper  of  '' anay"  to 
tell  me  that  elephants  were  near ;  and  the  village 
Nayakas  at  once  refused  to  come  a  step  further. 
They  suggested  a  retreat  down  the  hill  to  our  right, 
and  then  a  wide  detour  to  avoid  the  one  animal  they 
hold  in  awe  ;  but  I  explained  to  them  that  though  I 
could  not  shoot  elephants,  being  then  on  land 
belonging  to  a  local  Rajah,  I  certainly  would  not 
leave  without  having  a  peep  at  them  ;  and  after  some 
persuasion  they  consented  to  remain  on  the  ridge, 
while  I  crept  down  towards  the  point  where  the 
elephants  were  feeding.  We  had  just  settled  this 
programme,  and  I  had  gone  a  few  yards  on  my  stalk, 
when  a  tusker  stepped  out  into  the  open  from 
behind  a  clump  of  bamboos,  followed  a  moment  after 
by  a  smaller  companion.  I  subsided  behind  a  stump, 
and,  quite  oblivious  of  our  presence,  the  pair  sauntered 
leisurely  past  us  at  fifty  yards'  distance,  giving  us  a 
clear  view,  and  making  for  the  Sanctuary  obliquely 
down  the  hill.     The  larger  tusker  was  a  grand  animal 


ii8  THE   NILGIRIS 


with  long  tusks,  and  fervently  I  wished  (I  have  said  I 
am  speaking  of  my  unregenerate  days)  that  I  had  found 
him  on  the  land  where  I  had,  at  that  time,  the  right  to 
shoot  elephants.  This  wish  I  expressed  to  Chic  Mara, 
when  old  Chathan  quietly  remarked  there  was  no 
reason  why  I  should  not  gratify  it,  as  he  knew  the 
pair  well,  that  they  were  inseparables  in  their 
excursions,  and  that  they  often  went  up  the  hills  and 
over  my  boundary.  I  told  the  old  gentleman  that  I 
would  pay  him  a  handsome  reward  if  he  brought  me 
news  of  their  next  visit  to  my  property,  and  he 
promised  to  watch  them  and  do  this. 

A  fortnight  elapsed  without  tidings  of  any  kind, 
when  one  morning  Chic  Mara  turned  up  at  my  bunga- 
low to  say  that  Chathan  had  brought  him  word  the 
previous  evening  that  the  tuskers  had  come  up  the 
hills  into  my  land,  and  were  then  at  the  foot  of  Bison 
Valley.  I  had  had  a  sharp  dose  of  fever  for  a  week, 
and  was  feeling  quite  out  of  trim  for  a  fag ;  but  the 
opportunity  was  too  good  to  be  lost,  and  that  evening 
found  me  at  M.R.  bungalow,  with  all  arrangements 
made  for  a  trip  after  the  elephants  in  the  morning. 
Chic  Mara  had  gone  right  away  to  Bison  Valley,  to 
orlean  the  latest  news  of  the  tuskers'  movements,  and 
I  was  to  meet  him  at  a  certain  trysting-place  at  9  a.m. 
the  next  day.  My  start  was  delayed  an  hour  owing 
to  the  late  arrival  of  the  trackers,  and  when  I  reached 
the  appointed  spot,  I  found  Chic  Mara  and  Chathan 
waiting  with  the  news  that  the  pair  of  tuskers  had 
been  left  feeding  about  a  mile  and  a  half  away,  and 
that  they  had  two  females  and  a  calf  with  them.  The 
men  had  spent  the  night  in  the  jungle  to  keep  a 
watch  on  their  movements. 

We  made   straight  for  the  place,  but  the  elephants 


THE   ELEPHANT  119 

had  moved  further  down  the  valley  in  the  interval, 
and  we  had  a  long  trudge,  and  some  difficult  tracking, 
before  we  came  up  with  them  about  i  p.m.  I  may 
here  remark  that  it  would  naturally  be  supposed  that  a 
huge  animal  like  an  elephant  would  make  a  conspicu- 
ous track  in  any  ground  ;  but,  except  in  soft  soil  or  in 
dense  undergrowth — where  the  bushes  are  bent  by 
his  weight — it  is  singular  what  a  faint  trail  he  leaves, 
and  it  takes  a  good  tracker  to  pick  it  out  :  and  as 
elephants  on  the  march  walk  in  each  other's  footsteps, 
the  tyro  would  imagine  the  track  of  a  herd  to  be  that 
of  a  single  individual.  Precisely  the  same  error  can 
easily  be  made  in  the  case  of  a  herd  of  bison,  for  the 
same  reason.  In  following  a  herd  of  elephants,  the 
sign  that  they  are  close  at  hand  is  the  sudden  spread- 
ing out  of  the  tracks,  as  the  animals  separate  to  feed 
or  rest. 

When  we  caught  sight  of  the  elephants,  they  were 
at  rest  on  a  little  flat  a  hundred  yards  below  us. 
Nearest  to  us  were  a  female  and  calf,  and  slightly 
behind  and  beyond  them  stood  the  big  tusker,  lazily 
flapping  his  ears  in  blissful  repose  ;  but  the  other 
female  and  the  small  tusker  were  not  visible.  The 
huge  trees  between  aflbrded  such  ample  cover  that  a 
stalk  was  easy,  and  the  wind  was  right — a  gentle 
breeze  blowing  almost  directly  from  the  elephants  to 
us.  Conditions  were  all  eminently  favourable  :  the  rest 
depended  on  myself.  I  had  only  to  creep  up  and  shoot 
straight.  I  looked  at  my  men.  The  two  Nayakas 
I  had  brought  with  me  from  M.R.,  men  born  and  bred 
in  the  jungle,  were  literally  shivering  with  fright. 
Chathan  was  an  unknown  quantity,  but  his  eagerness 
to  give  the  elephants  a  wide  berth  when  we  had  met 
them  a  fortnight  before  convinced  me  that  no  reliance 


I20  THE   NILGIRIS 


could  be  placed  on  him.  Chic  Mara  was  staunch, 
I  knew,  except  where  elephants  were  concerned. 
Though  I  should  have  liked  a  man  with  me  to  carry 
my  spare  rifle  in  case  of  emergency,  I  felt  that  if  I  was 
to  possess  those  grand  tusks,  I  should  have  to 
venture  alone.  But  against  this  Chic  Mara  protested 
vehemently — "Where  the  dhoray  goes  I  will  go," 
he  said  ;  and  so  after  some  argument  and  against  my 
better  judgment,  I  consented  to  take  him  with  me. 

Warning  the  other  three  Nayakas  to  move  further 
back  and  keep  silent,  we  started  on  our  stalk,  I  carry- 
ing my  double  eight-bore  rifle,  and  Chic  Mara  my 
double  twelve-bore  Paradox.  Foot  by  foot  we  crept 
up,  till  we  were  within  thirty  yards  of  the  female  and 
calf,  and  I  had  just  marked  a  tree  a  little  to  my 
left  from  which  I  should  have  got  a  perfect  shot 
at  right  angles  into  the  tusker's  ear,  when  from  behind 
me — a  vicarious  blush  mantles  my  cheek  as  I  write  the 
words — came  a  smothered  cough  !  Poor  Chic  Mara ! 
the  strain  on  his  nerves  had  been  too  great  for  endur- 
ance. The  effect  was  immediate.  With  a  shrill  shriek 
of  alarm  the  tusker  wheeled  round,  and  was  into 
his  stride  before  I  could  put  my  rifle  to  my  shoulder  ; 
and  instead  of  the  steady  shot  I  had  anticipated,  I  had 
to  take  a  snapshot  at  his  head  as  he  moved  rapidly 
between  the  tree  trunks.  Weak  from  my  recent  bout 
of  fever,  and  I  fear  I  must  add  shaky  from  excitement, 
I  could  see  my  foresight  describing  small  circles  as 
I  covered  the  ear,  and  my  shot  was  too  far  back.  But 
the  solid  bullet  driven  by  twelve  drams  of  powder 
made  the  monster  stagger,  and  before  he  recovered 
I  hit  him  again  in  the  head.  This  second  shot  almost 
brought  him  down,  but  he  regained  his  feet  and  turned 
straight  down  the  hill  before  I  could  reload. 


THE   ELEPHANT  121 

Meanwhile  an  exciting  scene  had  been  enacted  to 
my  right,  of  which  I  was  in  blissful  ignorance.  As  I 
fired  my  first  shot,  I  had  heard  a  crash  close  by ;  but 
my  attention  had  been  so  wholly  fixed  on  the  tusker, 
that  all  thought  of  the  female  and  calf  had  escaped  me. 
When  I  looked  round,  the  female  was  far  up  the  hill, 
going  at  her  best  pace,  the  calf  was  following  a 
hundred  yards  behind,  and  Chic  Mara  was  nowhere  to 
be  seen.  Going  back  a  little  way,  I  picked  up  my 
Paradox,  and  my  whistle  was  answered  by  Chic  Mara 
from  a  tree.  And  in  another  tree  higher  up  were 
perched  the  other  three  Nayakas.  When  the  men 
came  down,  it  took  some  time  to  restore  Chic  Mara  to 
his  balance ;  but  at  last  he  was  able  to  explain, 
and  with  many  expressions  of  shame  and  penitence  he 
told  his  story.  After  his  overwrought  feelings  had 
found  vent  in  that  unfortunate  cough,  he  had  bolted 
back,  and  the  female  catching  sight  of  him  as  he  ran 
had  gone  for  him  without  a  moment's  hesitation.  He 
had  then  thrown  away  the  rifle,  and  shinned  up  a  tree 
with  the  agility  of  a  monkey,  while  the  elephant 
had  kept  on.  The  other  Nayakas  had  climbed 
into  their  tree  before  the  fight  began,  and  from  what 
they  said,  it  was  evident  that  Chic  Mara  had  had 
a  rather  narrow  shave. 

After  Chic  Mara  had  recovered  his  equanimity, 
I  suggested  a  move  after  the  wounded  tusker.  At 
first  the  men  declined  to  go  further,  but  I  explained 
that  I  only  wanted  them  to  do  the  tracking,  and  that 
they  could  make  themselves  scarce  if  we  came  up  with 
the  elephant.  It  needed  a  deal  of  persuasion,  the  men 
declaring  it  was  useless  to  follow  a  wounded  elephant, 
but  eventually  I  got  them  to  make  a  move.  As 
a   rule,   pursuit    of   an    elephant    who    has  got    away 


122  THE   NILGIRIS 


with  even  the  severest  head  wound  is  a  hopeless 
proceeding,  and  I  was  feeling  weak  and  "done,"  but  I 
determined  to  follow  for  at  least  a  mile  before  giving 
up  hope. 

We  carried  the  track  slowly — for  the  men  were  in  the 
last  stage  of  "  funk  " — for  half  a  mile  down  to  the  river, 
when  the  two  Nayakas  who  were  leading  suddenly 
exclaimed  "  There  is  the  tusker  !  "  and  bolted  back  as  if 
they  had  seen  the  devil  himself.  Chathan  was  not  slow 
to  follow,  but  Chic  Mara  stood  by  me,  though  his  face 
showed  plainly  that  he  did  not  relish  the  situation.  At 
first  I  could  see  nothing,  but  in  a  moment  I  spotted  the 
tusker  standing  under  a  tree  on  the  very  brink  of  the 
river.  He  was  almost  hidden  by  the  high  grass  and 
undergrowth,  and  was  swaying  his  head  from  side  to 
side  as  if  dazed.  It  was  evident  he  was  more  severely 
wounded  than  I  had  thought,  and  I  afterwards  found 
that  one  bullet  had  passed  through  his  skull  within  an 
inch  of  the  brain. 

A  second  chance  at  the  tusker  was  a  wonderful  piece 
of  luck,  and  this  time  I  determined  not  to  run  any  risk 
of  a  contretemps,  so  I  insisted  on  Chic  Mara  staying 
where  he  was,  while  I  carried  out  the  stalk  alone. 
Putting  the  stem  of  a  tree  between  myself  and  the 
elephant,  I  gradually  crept  closer,  but  I  felt  so  ill  that 
I  had  to  stop  and  rest  every  few  yards,  and  my  progress 
was  very  slow.  I  reached  the  intervening  tree,  but 
found  I  was  still  about  fifty  yards  from  the  tusker,  and 
from  my  position  I  could  not  get  a  clear  view  of  his 
head.  Thirty  yards  to  my  right  front  stood  a  large 
benteak,  and  I  felt  that  if  I  could  only  reach  that,  the 
prize  was  mine.  Between,  the  forest  was  thick  but  the 
trees  were  small.  I  had  got  halfway  to  my  goal,  when 
a  slant  in  the  wind  or  a  slight  noise  I  made  revealed 


THE    ELEPHANT  123 

my  presence  to  the  tusker.  This  time  there  was  no 
thought  of  flight :  I  heard  the  short  trumpet  that  heralds 
a  charp"e  :  and  I  saw  the  hus'e  beast  bearino-  down  on  me 
Hke  a  locomotive.  That  is  the  only  simile  I  can  think 
of  to  express  the  sensation  ;  it  was  just  as  if  I  had  been 
standing  in  the  track  of  an  oncoming  engine.  What 
made  the  charge  all  the  more  impressive  was  the 
absence  of  any  noise.  There  was  no  attempt  at 
intimidation,  no  demonstration  of  any  kind  :  the  monster 
came  on  in  absolute  silence.  When  he  was  about 
twenty-five  yards  distant  I  fired  low  into  his  trunk — 
his  head  was  held  very  high.  The  bullet  stopped  him, 
but  the  impetus  of  his  charge  carried  him  close  up  to 
the  small  tree  behind  which  I  had  slipped  after  firing, 
when  he  turned  sharp  to  the  right.  As  he  did  so,  I  got  a 
fair  shot  at  the  bump  behind  his  ear,  and  down  he  went. 
When  I  reached  him  he  was  still  struggling  convulsively, 
and  I  went  close  up  and  killed  him  with  a  shot  through 
the  brain.  He  was  a  grand  beast,  as  the  measurements 
of  his  tusks  will  show  : — 


Right  Tusk. 

Left  Tusk. 

ft.      in. 

ft.      in. 

Length... 

...      4      Ili 

4      II 

Length  outside  gum 

...       2       loj 

2         9 

Circumference  at  gum 

...       I          3 

I         3 

Weight 

...     36Ubs. 

34  lbs. 

Many  a  time  and  oft  since  that  memorable  day  have 
I  crept  up  to  a  tusker,  and  carefully  described  on  his 
massive  head  all  the  angles  and  mathematical  figures 
the  books  tell  us  the  elephant  hunter  must  mark,  learn, 
and  inwardly  digest.  Into  each  with  equal  care  I  have 
placed  a  bullet,  but — I  never  drew  trigger.  Gratitude 
is  a  trait  that  bulks  largely  in  the  elephantine  character, 
and  some  day,  surely,  and  somewhere,  I  shall  reap  the 
just  reward  of  my  forbearance  ! 


THE   TIGER 

Scientific  name. — Felis  tigris. 

Tamil  name. — Piili  (colloquially  pillee) 

Kanarese  name. — Hiili. 

Kurumba  name. — Hiili. 

Nayaka  name. — Hiili. 

Note. — The  Kanarese,  as  well  as  the  local  tribes — Nayakas, 
Kurumbas,  and  Paniyans — usually  refer  to  the  tiger  by  the 
contemptuous  name  of  nari  (jackal).  But  it  is  superstitious  fear, 
not  contempt,  that  prompts  them  to  use  this  undignified  appellation. 


THE  TIGER 

"  Tiger,  tiger,  burning  bright. 
In  the  forests  of  the  night. 
What  immortal  hand  or  eye 
Framed  thy  fearful  symmetry  ?  " — Blake. 

In  this  part  of  South  India,  as  apparently  over  the 
whole  Peninsula,  tigers  can  be  broadly  divided  into 
two  classes.  First  there  is  the  cattle-lifter — always  a 
large,  heavy,  handsome  tiger — who  has  a  well-marked 
beat  round  a  particular  line  of  country,  where  he  is  on 
more  or  less  intimate  terms  with  the  villagers  ;  and 
who  takes  life  easily — in  two  senses,  levying  a  constant 
tribute  on  the  village  herds.  And  next  there  is  the 
game-killer,  a  small  and  wiry  tiger  compared  to  his 
cousin  with  the  predilection  for  beef  He  shuns  the 
vicinity  of  man,  and  has  his  retreat  in  the  forests 
where  deer,  his  chief  food,  find  a  sanctuary.  From 
this  distinction  it  must  not  be  inferred  that  the  game- 
killer  would  not  kill  a  cow  if  he  got  the  chance,  or  the 
cattle-thief  a  deer  :  I  merely  discriminate  between 
tigers  who  haunt  the  neighbourhood  of  villages  and 
those  who  prefer  a  domain  "  far  from  the  madding 
crowd "  ;  and,  naturally,  the  principal  food  of  each 
class  is  that  most  easily  obtained  in  its  own  special 
habitat.  Naturally,  too,  it  is  the  cattle-lifter  who 
oftenest  falls  to  the  sportsman's  rifle. 


128  THE   NILGIRIS 


There  is  a  third  class  of  tiger  who,  happily,  is  con- 
spicuous by  his  absence  in  this  part  of  the  country.  I 
refer  to  that  fiend  incarnate,  the  man-eater.  Several 
instances  of  men  being  killed  by  tigers  have  come 
under  my  own  observation  ;  but  these  were  all 
accidents.  I  have  never  yet  heard  of  a  man  being 
killed  in  cold  blood,  or  of  malice  prepense,  by  a  tiger 
on  the  Nilgiris  or  in  Wynaad  ;  and  confirmed  man- 
eaters  are  undoubtedly  unknown.  It  is  difficult  to 
account  for  the  immunity  we  enjoy  from  these  fearful 
scourges,  if  there  is  anything  in  the  theory  that  a 
man-eater  is  usually  an  old  tiger,  or  a  tiger  who  from 
a  wound  or  some  other  injury  cannot  obtain  his  usual 
prey  and  who  consequently  takes  to  man  killing  as 
more  suited  to  his  failing  powers  ;  for  tigers  grow  old 
here  as  elsewhere.  Possibly  one  reason  may  be  found 
in  the  sporting  instincts  of  the  local  tribes  in  Wynaad, 
for  when  a  tig^er  becomes  as^o'ressive  in  the  cattle- 
killing  line,  they  at  once  set  about  his  destruction,  and 
in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  are  successful.  A  description 
of  the  method  they  employ— netting — is  given  at 
length  further  on.  Hence  a  tiger  who  takes  up  his 
quarters  near  a  village  is  given  such  a  short  shrift  that 
he  has  no  time  to  develop  into  a  man-eater.  But  this 
argument  has  no  application  to  the  Nilgiri  plateau, 
where  tigers  are  kept  down  solely  by  shooting,  falling 
in  beats  to  the  rifles  of  European  sportsmen,  and  on 
very  rare  occasions  to  the  muzzle-loader  of  a  native 
watching  over  a  kill.  Be  the  reason  what  it  may,  the 
happy  fact  remains  that  on  the  Nilgiris  and  in  Wynaad, 
the  man-eater  is  unknown. 

Though  no  local  sportsman  can  boast — as  they  do 
in  other  parts  of  India — of  "keeping  up  his  average 
to  a  tiger  per  day  for  a  fortnight,"  tigers  are  exceed- 


THE   TIGER  129 


ingly  numerous  in  Wynaad.  The  reason  why  so  few, 
comparatively  speaking,  are  bagged  on  these  hills,  is 
not  far  to  seek.  Not  only  is  the  tiger  a  water-loving 
animal — in  the  sense  of  a  predilection  for  the  vicinity 
of  water — but  he  must  have  close  cover  for  his  repose 
during  the  hours  of  daylight ;  and  on  the  plains  during 
the  hot  weather  he  can  with  certainty  be  marked 
down  in  the  covers  surrounding  the  scattered  pools  in 
the  dry  river-beds.  But  in  Wynaad  the  cover  is 
practically  continuous,  and  the  perennial  streams 
which  course  down  every  valley  furnish  him  with  an 
unfailing  water  supply  all  through  the  year.  To 
mark  down  a  tiger  in  this  part  of  the  country  is  there- 
fore a  very  difficult  matter ;  and  to  get  a  shot  at  him, 
when  he  is  marked  down,  a  more  difficult  matter  still, 
for  the  covers  are  connected  by  jungle-clad  ravines, 
down  which  the  tiger  can  steal  without  exposing  him- 
self. Very  seldom  is  it  that  a  tiger  lies  up  in  an 
isolated  shola,  out  of  which  he  can  be  driven.  And 
another  factor  which  militates  agrainst  success  in  tio-er 
shooting  here  is  the  high  grass  which  covers  the  hills 
throughout  the  year,  save  for  a  month  or  two  after  the 
annual  fires.  On  several  occasions  when  I  have  been 
able  to  make  a  tiger  break  cover,  he  has  sneaked 
away  in  the  six-foot  high  dlmbbay  grass,  without 
affording  me  a  chance.  Hence  it  is  that  though 
tigers  are  as  numerous,  probably,  in  Wynaad  as  any- 
where in  India,  one  is  seldom  brought  to  bag  ;  and 
large  bags  are  an  impossibility.  The  local  tribes  are, 
as  I  have  said,  very  successful  in  netting  tigers  ;  but  as 
this  method  is  in  the  nature  of  a  tamasha  (show),  and 
is  only  employed  when  a  tiger  takes  up  his  residence 
in  the  vicinity  of  a  village,  and  makes  himself 
obnoxious,    it   has    no    appreciable    effect    in  keeping 

K 


130  THE   NILGIRIS 


down  the  felines.  To  the  European  sportsman  bent 
on  tiger  shooting,  Wynaad  is  the  reverse  of  a  happy 
hunting  ground.  On  the  Nilgiri  plateau,  tiger  shoot- 
ing is  an  easier  matter,  the  sholas  being  small  and 
isolated,  and  the  grass  short.  There  possibly  a  dozen 
tigers  are  accounted  for  in  the  course  of  every  year. 

Unlike  the  lion,  the  tiger  is  a  silent  animal  during 
his  nightly  prowl.  He  gives  vent  to  a  veritable  "  roar  " 
when  hit,  to  a  much  shorter  but  none  the  less  dis- 
concerting roar  when  charging,  and  to  a  loud  "  wough 
wough  "  when  startled  ;  but  at  other  times  he  is  not 
given  to  displaying  his  vocal  accomplishments.  I  was 
once,  however,  serenaded  by  a  tiger,  and  the  experi- 
ence was  scarcely  pleasant.  At  the  summit  of  my 
estate  there  is  a  huge  wild  mango  tree  in  which  the 
large  jungle  bee  hives  year  after  year.  In  this 
particular  year  there  were  no  less  than  eleven  large 
combs  dangling  from  the  topmost  branches  ;  and  these 
I  arranged  that  my  Nayakas  (who  are  adepts  in  the 
art  of  honey  stealing)  should  take  on  the  first  dark 
night.  It  must  be  eighty  feet  to  the  lowest  branch  ; 
and  we  settled  that  the  men  should  go  up  in  the  after- 
noon and  fix  their  bamboo  ladders,  and  that  I  should' 
join  them  after  dusk,  as  bees  cannot  be  driven  from 
their  combs  with  impunity  except  during  the  dark 
hours.  I  worked  round  the  hill  on  the  chance  of  a 
stalk  ;  and  when  I  reached  the  tree  about  seven  o'clock, 
I  found  the  men  sitting  round  a  blazing  fire  built  up 
against  the  trunk.  They  were  getting  their  torches 
and  other  paraphernalia  ready,  and  I  was  watching 
the  preparations,  when  suddenly  from  the  black  dark- 
ness in  front  of  us  came  the  roar  of  a  tiger,  so  close 
and  so  appalling,  that  it  made  every  nerve  in  my  body 
tingle  and  thrill.     The  beast  circled  round  us,  giving 


THE  TIGER  131 


vent  to  roar  after  roar.  My  men  were  in  the  last 
stage  of  fright,  and  I  freely  confess  I  was  in  a  "  blue 
funk  "  myself.  We  huddled  close  to  the  fire,  and  I 
clutched  my  Express  with  the  determination  to  give 
him  both  barrels  if  he  showed  his  face  in  the  circle  of 
light  cast  by  the  fire.  Our  relief  was  great  when, 
after  a  minute  or  two,  he  took  himself  off  up  the 
hill. 

The  colour  of  the  tiger  is  very  variable,  running 
through  all  shades  from  a  light  rufous  fawn  to  a  deep 
yellow  or  orange.  In  young  animals  the  fur  is 
generally  darker  than  in  adults  ;  and  as  a  rule  the 
coloration  of  the  tiger  from  the  dense  forests  of 
Wynaad  is  darker  than  that  of  the  tiger  inhabiting 
the  more  open  jungle  on  the  plateau  of  the  Nilgiris. 
But  there  are  many  exceptions  to  this  ;  and  moreover, 
as  the  coat  of  a  tiger  gets  lighter  as  he  grows  older, 
it  is  impossible  to  lay  down  a  rule.  All  that  can  be 
said  is  that  a  young  tiger  in  Wynaad  is  generally 
darker  than  a  tiger  of  similar  age  on  the  plateau. 

In  all  tigers,  the  ground  colour  is  striped  with  trans- 
verse bars  of  black  over  the  head,  body,  and  legs  ; 
and  black  rings  encircle  the  tail.  The  under  parts  are 
white,  and  in  old  light-coloured  specimens  I  have 
sometimes  noticed  a  band  of  intermediate  lemon  colour 
between  the  ground  colour  of  the  sides  and  the  white 
of  the  stomach.  The  ears  are  black,  with  a  very 
distinctive  white  patch.  The  hair  is  short  and  glossy, 
being  longer  and  thicker  in  the  wet  season  than  in  the 
hot  months.  Round  the  neck  the  pile  grows  longer, 
giving  to  the  full-grown  male  that  ruff^ — corresponding 
to  the  far  more  fully  developed  mane  of  the  lion — 
which  so  greatly  enhances  his  beauty.  The  tail  tapers 
symmetrically  throughout  its  length  ;  and,  unlike  that 

K  2 


132  THE   NILGIRIS 


of  the  lion,  has .  no  tuft  at  the  tip.  Cubs  are  striped 
from  birth. 

Both  black  and  white  tigers  have  been  recorded  in 
natural  history  books ;  but  I  have  never  heard  of 
either  a  melanoid  or  an  albino  specimen  on  the  Nilgiris 
or  in  Wynaad.  I  recently  came  across  what  would 
appear  to  be  a  well-authenticated  record  of  a  white 
tiger  in  the  columns  of  an  Indian  paper.  It  runs 
thus:  "A  white  tigress,  eight  feet  eight  inches  in 
length  (tail  included),  was  shot  recently  in  the  Murhi 
Sub-Division  Forest  of  the  Dhenkanal  State,  Orissa. 
The  specimen  was  a  good  one.  The  ground  colour 
was  pure  white,  and  the  stripes  were  of  a  deep  reddish- 
black  colour.  The  white  colour  appeared  to  be 
natural,  as  the  tigress  was  in  good  condition  and 
showed  no  sign  of  disease.  The  skin  has  been 
presented  to  the  Rajah  of  Dhenkanal  as  a  curiosity. 
It  is  being  mounted,  and  will  be  kept  in  the  palace 
drawing-room.  The  animal  was  shot  over  a  buffalo 
kill," 

The  period  of  gestation,  as  observed  in  menagerie 
specimens,  is  about  one  hundred  days  ;  and  usually  the 
tig'ress  gives  birth  to  three  or  four  cubs.  These  cubs 
run  with  the  mother  till  almost,  if  not  quite,  full  grown. 
As  a  family  party  generally  consists  of  m.other  and 
cubs,  and  as  more  than  three  tigers  are  seldom  seen 
together,  it  is  probable  that  in  the  majority  of  cases 
not  more  than  two  cubs  reach  maturity.  Sometimes 
the  male  parent  remains  with  the  tigress  and  her 
offspring  for  a  long  time  ;  but  such  instances  are 
exceptional.  As  there  is  no  special  pairing  season, 
a  tieer  and  his  mate  are  found  toQj'ether  at  all  times  of 
the  year.  On  one  occasion  I  believe  seven  tigers 
were  seen  in  a  party  on  the  Nilgiris  :  this  gathering,  I 


THE   TIGER 


133 


imagine,  must  have  been  due  to  several  males  seeking 
the  favour  of  one  or  more  females.  But  having 
paired,  tigers  are  monogamous. 

The  maximum  length  attained  by  the  tiger  has  long 
been  a  vexed  question.  It  is,  I  think,  certain  that 
most  of  the  phenomenal  measurements  recorded  in 
old  books  on  sport  were  taken  from  the  dried  skins  ; 
and  as  during  the  drying  process  a  tiger  skin  will 
stretch  from  six  to  eighteen  inches,  no  reliance  can  be 
placed  on  measurements  obtained  from  skins.  But 
the  existence  of  the  twelve-foot  tiger,  which  for  long 
was  held  to  be  a  myth,  rests  on  the  most  unim- 
peachable evidence,  and  must  now  be  accepted  as  a 
proved  fact.  In  a  most  excellent  brochure  by 
Mr.  W.  S.  Burke,  editor  of  "The  Indian  Field," 
entitled  "The  Indian  Field  Shikar  Book,"  all  the 
evidence  on  this  subject  has  been  collected  ;  and  the 
followinof  tioers   of   twelve    feet   and    over    are    there 


recorded 


(i)  General  Sir  C.  Reid,  K.C.B. 

(2)  Col.  G.  Boileau 

(3)  Col.  Ramsay... 

(4)  Mr.  C.  Shillingford  ... 

(5)  Mr.  C.  Shillingford  ... 

(6)  Sir  Charles  Reid,  K.C.B. 

(7)  Mrs.  Laurie  Johnson 


in 

I  2 

2 

12 

12 

12 

12 

4 

12 

3 

12 

I  have  some  doubt  whether  the  same  tiger  is  not 
referred  to  in  (i)  and  (6),  and  (4)  and  (5).  Regarding 
(7),  Mr.  Burke  writes  :  "  The  twelve  foot  tiger  which 
occasioned  a  big  discussion  in  recent  years  was  shot  in 
the  Jalpaiguri  Duars  by  a  lady,  Mrs.  Laurie  Johnson, 
and  the  measurement  was,  if  I  remember  rightly, 
vouched  for  by  the  late  Mr.  Pughe,  I.  G.  of  Railway 
Police,    Colonel  Evans  Gordon,  and  others."     As  to 


134 


THE   NILGIRIS 


tigers  between  eleven  feet  and  twelve  feet,  their  name  is 
legion  in  the  book  from  which  I  have  quoted. 

I  have  seen  it  asked  by  a  sceptic,  "If  the  twelve  foot 
tiger  existed  in  former  days,  why  does  he  not  exist 
now  ?  "  The  best  answer  to  this  is  supplied  by  another 
question  :  "  Why  have  the  trophies  of  all  Indian  game 
animals,  or  for  that  matter,  of  game  animals  all  over 
the  world,  deteriorated  in  recent  years  ?  "  The 
deadly  sporting  rifles  of  modern  days,  as  compared 
with  the  muzzle-loading,  three-drachm  weapons  of  our 
ancestors:  the  increasing  number  of  men  who  "do" 
India  for  a  few  months'  shooting  :  and  the  absence  of 
all  game  laws  till  recent  years — these  are  the  reasons 
which  make  the  bagging  of  a  "record"  of  any  kind 
well-nigh  an  impossibility  in  these  degenerate  days. 
It  is  not  a  matter  for  surprise  that  trophies  are  smaller 
now  than  in  days  of  yore  :  the  wonder  is,  in  many 
places,  that  there  are  any  trophies  left ! 

The  record  for  the  Nilgiris,  so  far  as  I  have  been 

able  to  learn,  is  held  by  Mr.  G.  Hadfield.     This  tiger 

was  bagged  at  Porthimund  on  the  Kundahs,  and  the 

lencrth   over  all  was    ten    feet    four  inches.     Another 

magnificent  tiger  has  also  been  recorded  by  the  same 

gentleman,  shot  near  Pykara,  which  measured  ten  feet 

three  inches.     Amongst  my  own  very  modest  tale  of 

tigers,    the   best    of   which    I     can    boast    is    a    male 

measuring  ten  feet  one  inch  along  the  curves  of  the 

body  from  tip  of  nose  to  tip  of  tail,  and  nine  feet  eight 

inches  between  uprights,  driven  in  at  the  same  points. 

A   splendid  specimen,   by    far  the  heaviest  and   most 

massive    tiger    I    have    ever    seen,    was    speared    at 

Nelliyalam  a  few  years  ago,  whose  length,   taken  by 

myself  immediately  after  death,  was  ten  feet.     I  have 

always  regretted  that  I   was  unable   to  record  other 


THE  TIGER  135 


measurements,  as  his  muscular  development  was  pheno- 
menal ;  but  on  this  occasion  the  Chetties  were  averse 
from  my  touching  the  tiger  at  all,  and  it  was  only  through 
the  intervention  of  the  local  "  Rajah  "  that  I  was  able 
to  run  a  tape  along  his  body. 

Another  vexed  question  is  the  way  in  which  the 
tiger  kills  his  prey.  Possibly  in  no  matter  affecting 
the  life-history  of  the  tiger  are  opinions  so  divided,  or 
the  adherents  of  the  various  views  so  positive  in  the 
expression  of  those  opinions.  Captain  J.  H.  Baldwin, 
in  his  "  Large  and  Small  Game  of  Bengal,"  page  6, 
writes  thus  :  "  We  often  hear  of  the  tiger  striking 
down  his  prey  with  his  paw,  and  doubtless  he  occasion- 
ally does  so,  but  I  am  of  opinion  that  this  is  not  his 
usual  mode  of  proceeding ;  he  more  generally,  I 
believe,  springs  from  an  ambush,  or  by  grovelling 
along  the  ground  approaches  to  within  springing 
distance  ;  then  with  a  mighty  bound,  or  succession  of 
springs,  he  launches  himself  on  his  victim,  and  seizing 
it  with  his  fangs  by  the  back  of  the  neck  (not  the 
throat),  brings  it  to  the  ground,  and  then  gives  that 
fatal  wrench  or  twist,  which  dislocates  the  neck  and 
at  once  puts  an  end  to  the  struggle.  I  have  examined 
the  carcases  of  many  scores  of  bullocks  killed  by  tigers, 
and  have  in  the  majority  of  cases  found  the  neck 
broken,  and  the  deep  holes  at  the  back  of  the  neck 
caused  by  the  tiger's  fangs.  Sometimes,  though 
certainly  less  often,  I  have  discovered  undoubted 
evidence  that  the  dead  bullock  had  in  the  first  instance 
been  felled  by  a  blow  from  the  terrible  fore-arm  of  the 
tiger." 

Captain  J.  Forsyth,  in  that  charming  book  "The 
Highlands  of  Central  India,"  is  equally  emphatic  on 
the  same  side.     On  page  270  he  writes  :  "  The  tiger 


136  THE   NILGIRIS 


very  seldom  kills  his  prey  by  the  '  sledge-hammer 
stroke '  of  his  fore-paw,  so  often  talked  about,  the 
usual  way  being  to  seize  with  the  teeth  by  the  nape  of 
the  neck,  and  at  the  same  time  use  the  paws  to  hold 
the  victim,  and  give  a  purchase  for  the  wrench  that 
dislocates  the  neck." 

Sanderson's  comments  on  these  statements  are  very 
much  to  the  point.  On  page  278  of  "  Thirteen  Years 
among  the  Wild  Beasts  of  India  "  he  says  :  "  It  is 
evident  that  in  the  case  of  beasts  with  horns  a  tiger 
would  find  them  considerably  in  the  way  in  seizing  by 
the  back  of  the  neck.  Moreover,  the  beast  would  be 
borne  to  the  ground,  where  killing  it  would  be  a 
longer  affair  than  by  dislocating  its  neck  in  the  manner 
described  [by  himself].  Dislocation  could  not  be 
effected  on  the  ground  as  well  as  by  turning  the  throat 
upwards,  when  the  inertia  of  the  beast's  carcase  before 
it  is  overthrown  presents  a  sufficient  purchase  to 
effect  the  dislocation.  That  the  tiger  does  not  seize 
by  the  nape  of  the  neck  is  also  apparent  from  the  fact 
that  the  gape  of  the  largest  is  insufficient  to  take  in 
the  neck  of  big  cattle  so  as  to  bring  the  fangs  to  the 
lower  part  of  the  throat  where  the  fatal  marks  are 
always  found." 

Unless  the  tigers  of  Northern  India  kill  cattle  in  a 
manner  diametrically  opposed  to  that  employed  by  their 
congeners  in  the  South,  it  is  difficult  to  account  for 
Baldwin's  statement  that  he  "  examined  the  carcases 
of  many  scores  of  bullocks  killed  by  tigers,  and  in  the 
great  majority  of  cases  found  the  neck  broken  and  the 
deep  holes  at  the  back  of  the  neck  caused  by  the  tiger's 
fangs."  I  am  well  within  the  mark  when  I  say  I  have 
carefully  examined  the  bodies  of  fifty  cattle  killed  by 
tigers  in   Wynaad,  and   with   a  single  exception,    the 


THE   TIGER  137 


fang  marks  have  invariably  been  in  the  throat,  not  at 
the  back  of  the  neck.  That  exception  was  a  large 
bull  buffalo  ;  and  the  herdsman  told  me  that  the  tiger 
had  jumped  down  from  a  high  bank  under  which  the 
buffalo  was  standing,  on  to  his — the  buffalo's — neck. 
A  tremendous  struggle  had  ensued,  and  the  buffalo 
shook  the  tiger  off,  but  died  a  day  or  two  later.  There 
were  deep  holes  on  both  sides  of  the  vertebral  column, 
where  the  tiger's  fangs  had  penetrated. 

It  has  never  been  my  lot  to  see  a  tiger  actually 
seize  a  bullock,  though  on  several  occcasions  I  have 
spent  hours  with  the  cattle  when  I  knew  a  tiger  was  in 
the  vicinity,  in  the  hope  of  witnessing  the  sight. 
But  over  and  over  again  I  have  closely  questioned  my 
cattlemen,  who  have  been  spectators  of  a  tiger's  kill 
from  a  distance  of  a  few  yards,  and  their  description 
tallies  exactly  with  that  given  by  Sanderson.  One  of 
my  herdsmen  particularly,  a  man  named  Juddia,  who 
has  herded  my  cattle  continuously  for  fifteen  years — 
ever  since  I  have  been  in  Wynaad — has  been  a 
frequent  witness  of  the  act  of  killing  by  a  tiger  ;  and 
what  he  and  other  cattlemen  have  told  me  is  that  the 
tiger  rushes  on  the  victim  he  has  selected  :  then 
rising,  he  places  a  paw  on  either  shoulder,  and,  seizing 
the  bullock's  throat  in  his  jaws,  gives  the  wrench 
which  dislocates  the  neck. 

Sanderson  says  that  "the  tiger  makes  a  rush  at  the 
first  cow  or  bullock  that  comes  within  five  or  six  yards  "  ; 
but,  as  I  know  to  my  cost,  a  tiger  usually  selects  an 
animal  in  good  condition.  My  experience  is  that  in  a 
herd  comprising  both  old  and  lean,  and  young  and  fat 
cattle,  a  plump  juicy  cow  or  bullock  is  invariably  taken. 
Possibly  tigers  in  my  district  are  greater  connois- 
seurs of  beef  than  tigers  in  other  parts  of  the  country. 


138  THE   NILGIRIS 


I  remember  one  evening  my  cattleman  coming  to  tell  me 
that  a  bullock  had  fallen  into  a  pit  on  the  road  home, 
and  had  been  left  behind,  as  the  two  men  herding  the 
cattle  were  unable  to  get  him  out.  This  was  a  large 
bull,  who  had  long  been  driven  in  a  cart  ;  but  I  had 
pensioned  him,  as  past  service,  and  he  was  daily- 
driven  out  with  the  estate  cattle  to  graze.  It  was  too 
late  that  evening  to  extricate  the  bull ;  but  I  sent 
some  coolies  the  next  morning  to  pull  him  out  of  the 
pit.  When  they  returned  they  told  me  that  a  tiger 
had  walked  all  round  the  bull,  but  he  was  unscathed. 
It  is  possible,  of  course,  that  the  tiger's  clemency  on 
this  occasion  was  due  to  a  full  stomach  ;  but  my  own 
view  is  that  he  fully  realised  that  the  old  scraggy  bull 
would  make  very  tough  beef.  That  the, tiger  is  par- 
ticular in  his  choice  of  cattle  would,  I  fancy,  be  borne 
out  by  most  men  who  have  tied  up  "  kills  "  for  tigers. 

Having  killed,  the  tiger — unless  frightened  away  by 
the  herdsmen — at  once  drags  the  carcase  into  the 
nearest  cover.  Sanderson  writes :  "  A  little  after  sunset, 
or  sooner  if  the  jungles  are  quiet,  the  tiger  returns 
and  drags  the  carcase  to  some  retired  spot,  where  he 
commences  his  meal " ;  leaving  it  to  be  inferred  that 
the  kill  is  left  where  it  was  struck  down  till  the  tiger's 
return.  But  my  experience  is  as  I  have  stated  it 
above.  If,  on  his  return  to  feed,  the  tiger  does  not 
consider  the  place  secluded  enough,  he  drags  the 
carcase  further  into  cover  before  beginning  his  meal. 
Should  water  be  at  hand,  the  carcase  will  generally 
be  carried  close  to  this.  Occasionally,  after  his  first 
meal,  a  tiger  will  drag  the  remains  further  into  cover, 
but  I  have  never  known  him  hide  them,  as  more  than 
one  writer  has  stated  to  be  his  custom. 


THE   TIGER  139 


The  tiger  invariably  commences  with  the  hind- 
quarters ;  and  in  this  trait  he  differs  from  the  leopard, 
who  with  almost  equal  certainty  will  begin  his  feed 
with  a  forequarter  of  his  kill.  The  quantity  of  meat  a 
tiger  will  "stow  away,"  if  sharp  set,  must  be  seen  to 
be  believed.  I  have  known  a  hungry  tiger  eat  both 
hindquarters  and  a  considerable  portion  of  the  body 
the  first  night.  After  his  first  heavy  meal  he  will  lie 
up  in  some  thick  cover  close  to  the  kill  ;  and  if  undis- 
turbed, will  eat  at  intervals  till  nothing  but  the  large 
bones  and  the  contents  of  the  stomach  remain, 
Should  the  carcase  be  in  a  remote  spot,  he  will  feed 
even  during  daylight ;  but  if,  as  is  frequently  the  case, 
the  kill  lies  near  a  road  or  path  on  which  men  are 
moving  about  during  the  day,  he  eats  only  at  night. 
Cubs  are  greedy  little  beasts  ;  and  if  the  kill  is  the 
work  of  a  tigress  with  cubs,  the  latter  are  sure  to  be 
found  worrying  at  the  carcase  at  all  hours. 

In  Wynaad,  with  jungle  everywhere,  water  in  every 
valley,  and  an  unfailing  supply  of  food  in  the  shape  of 
cattle  and  deer,  tigers  do  not  wander  very  much.  But 
in  the  monsoon  months  their  peregrinations  cover  a  far 
larger  area  than  in  the  hot  season,  and  they  also  stay 
out  later  in  the  day.  This  is  a  characteristic  of  all 
game  in  the  dull  cloudy  weather  prevalent  during  the 
monsoon.  The  bear  as  a  rule  never  sallies  out  till 
dusk  ;  but  in  June  and  July  I  have  several  times  seen 
him  on  the  prowl  early  in  the  afternoon,  Sambur 
seek  cover  at  sunrise,  and  do  not  reappear  till  the.  late 
afternoon,  except  during  the  monsoon,  when  they  may 
often  be  seen  feeding  in  the  open  in  broad  day  :  and 
bison,  in  a  similar  way,  forsake  their  ordinary  habits  in 
the  wet  months.      In  the  jungle  round  my  estate  both 


140  THE   NILGIRIS 


the  Nilgiri  langur  {Semnopithecus  johni)  ^  and  the 
bonnet  monkey  {Macacus  siniais)  are  common  ;  and 
in  the  monsoon  I  have  often  been  able  to  trace  a 
tiger's  progress  over  the  hills  by  their  cries  till  late  in 
the  day. 

Tigers  are  arrant  cowards  in  the  presence  of  man. 
In  saying  this,  I  do  not  of  course  include  the  man- 
eater  ;  though — ^judging  from  the  accounts  given  by 
various  writers  who  have  followed  up  these  fiends — 
no  tiger  flies  more  readily  from  an  armed  man  than 
he.  Nor  do  I  refer  to  a  wounded  tiger,  who  is  very  far 
removed  from  a  coward.  But  the  ordinary  cattle-  or 
game-killer  is  a  white-livered  thief;  though  the  "griffin," 
roaming  through  the  jungle  with  his  heart  in  his 
mouth  in  the  full  expectation  of  meeting  the  ferocious, 
bloodthirsty  monster  of  the  story-books  at  every 
turn,  takes  some  time  to  realise  that  the  tiger  of  fact 
is  a  harmless,  cowardly  beast,  always  anxious  to  escape 
observation  ;  and  that  he — the  griffin — is  safe  anywhere 
with  a  walking  stick,  so  far  as  "  stripes  "  is  concerned. 

The  intrepidity  that  a  man-eater  (for  I  presume  he 
was  of  that  class)  will  sometimes  evince  is  shown  in 
the  following  note  by  the  Simla  correspondent  of  the 
Madras  Mail  dated  loth  May,  1909:  "Particulars 
are  published  here  of  the  adventures  of  a  party  of 
surveyors  connected  with  the  Survey  of  India  in  the 
Lushai  Hills,  adjoining  Cachar,  who  were  attacked  by  a 
tiger  in  the  early  spring.  The  tiger  had  been  prowling 
about  the  camp  for  some  time  and  one  night  seized  a 
khalasi  who  was  washing  cooking-pots  in  a  stream  not 
twenty  yards  from  the  rest   of  the  party.      A   tindal 

^  Following  Blanford,  I  have  called  the  Nilgiri  langur  by  this  name. 
Jerdon  gives  the  name  Presbytis  johniixo  the  Malabar  langur,  a  different 
monkey  altogether. 


THE   TIGER  141 


named  Nandu  pluckily  rushed  in  and  tried  to  beat  off 
the  tiger  with  a  stick,  but  it  was  not  until  the  rest  of  the 
party  came  up  that  the  tiger  dropped  the  man  and  dis- 
appeared. It  returned  a  few  minutes  later  and  seized 
Nandu,  but  was  again  beaten  off,  only  to  return  presently 
and  seize  a  third  khalasi.  This  third  attempt  to  provide 
itself  with  a  meal  was  frustrated  like  the  others  and  the 
party  spent  the  rest  of  the  night  shouting  and  surrounded 
by  fires,  and  at  daybreak  moved  to  a  Lushai  village, 
carrying  two  of  the  injured  men,  but  leaving  all  else 
behind  them.  Mr.  L.  Williams  shortly  afterwards 
turned  up,  having  heard  of  the  straits  the  party  were 
in,  and  did  what  he  could  for  the  injured  men,  one  of 
whom  died  shortly  afterwards.  Armed  Lushais  were 
then  sent  to  the  camp,  when  they  found  the  tents, 
bedding,  blankets,  and  bags  of  rice  torn  and  dragged 
about  and  a  sight-ruled  plane-table  bearing  the  marks 
of  tio-er's  fanQs.  Colonel  Lona-e  mentions  the  name  of 
the  surveyor,  Amar  Singh,  who  kept  his  men  together 
and  prevented  them  from  leaving  the  wounded  men  ; 
also  that  of  Nandu  Tindal,  who  is  only  slowly 
recovering  from  his  injuries,  for  courage  and  good 
behaviour  in  connection  with  this  affair." 

That  tigers  can  climb  trees  is  a  statement  that  has 
been  received  with  much  scepticism  ;  but  it  is  none  the 
less  a  fact.  Some  years  ago,  a  tiger  was  shot  in  a  tree 
near  Ootacamund,  and  Mr.  J.  H.  Wapshare,  who 
actually  shot  this  tiger,  sent  the  following  account  of 
the  incident  to  the  Madras  Mail,  from  which  paper  I 
take  it. 

"  I  have  read  some  correspondence  lately  in  the 
Madras  Mail  about  '  Tig-ers  climbino-  trees.'  It 
might  be  of  interest  to  your  sporting  correspondents 
to  know  that  when  out  beating  for  jungle  sheep,  pig, 


142  THE   NILGIRIS 


&c.,  in  1888,  beyond  the  Kota  village,  the  other  side 
of  the   Lawrence  Asylum,   Lovedale,   the  dogs  began 
to  bark,  and  my  late  father,  who  was  standing  on  the 
other  side  of  the  shola,  shouted  out  to  me  that  a  tiger 
was  coming   towards  me.      I    was  standing  in  rather 
high  bracken,  and  could  not  see  the  animal,  though  I 
could    see    the    fern    moving.       The    beast    evidently 
caught    sight    of   me,   for  she  (it  turned  out  to  be  a 
tigress)  turned  round  and  went  back  into  the  shola.      I 
ran  down  towards  the  bottom  of  the  wood  to  try  and 
cut  her  off  in  case  she  came  out,  to  get  into  another 
shola  close  by.     When   I  got  half-way  down  the  hill 
I  heard  one  of  the  beaters  call  out  that  the  tiger  was 
up  a  tree.      I   went  in  and  sure  enough  saw  the  brute 
standing  on  a  branch  high  up  on  a  tree,      I  got  up  to 
within  fifteen  yards  and  aimed  for  the  head,  between 
the  eyes,  as   she  was   looking  at  me,  and  fired,   but 
just  as  I  did  so,  she  turned  her  head  and  the  bullet,  a 
hollow   *500   Express,  grazed  the  side  of  her   cheek. 
The  shock  knocked  both  her  hind  legs  off  the  branch. 
When  she  scrambled  on  to  the  branch  again,  I   fired 
the  left  barrel  and  hit  her  where  the  neck  joins  the 
body,  and  she  dropped  dead  amongst  the  pack  of  dogs 
that  were  baying  her  under  the  tree.      I  remember  we 
had  eleven  couple  of  dogs  out,  the  combined  packs  of 
the  late  Rev.  O.   Dene  and  my  father.     The  tigress 
fell  right  amongst  them,  and  curiously  enough  not  one 
was    hurt.     The  party  that  was  out  on  the  occasion 
consisted  of  the  late  Rev.   O.    Dene,   Principal  of  the 
Lawrence    Asylum,   my    father    the    late    Mr.    Henry 
Wapshare,  and  myself.     The  tigress  was  standing  on 
the  branch  facing  the  trunk,   with  all  four  paws  close 
together  :    it    was    funny    how  she    managed    to    turn 
round  on  the  branch.     A  few  days  afterwards  we  went 


THE   TIGER  143 


out  to  take  measurements  of  the  height  of  the  branch  : 
I  think  it  was  thirty  feet  from  the  ground,  and  the 
claw  marks  on  the  trunk  of  the  tree  were  five  feet  up 
the  stem.  The  tree  was  about  eisfht  feet  in  circum- 
ference  at  about  five  feet  from  the  ground  and  was 
almost  perpendicular.  Colonel  Hunt  of  Madras,  and 
Captain  Dease,  of  the  7th  Royal  Fusiliers,  made 
sketches  of  the  tree,  and  I  have  the  one  made  by  the 
former  officer.  I  think  the  late  Mr.  Dene  wrote  an 
account  of  this  shoot  to  the  Madras  Mail  at  the  time, 
as  also  did  the  late  Mr.  Nick  Symons  of  Bombay,  to 
the  Asian.  The  tigress  measured  eight  feet  four 
inches  and  was  in  splendid  condition.  I  daresay 
'  funk  '  had  a  lot  to  do  with  my  first  shot  being  such  a 
bad  one,  as  I  was  quite  a  youngster  at  the  time. 
The  music  of  the  twenty-two  dogs  close  behind  her 
must  have  been  too  much  for  Mrs.  Stripes  ;  hence 
her  reason  for  climbing  the  tree." 

A  tiger,  however,  very  rarely  exercises  his  climbing 
powers  ;  and  the  sportsman  in  a  niachan  need  have  no 
qualms  on  the  score  of  safety  at  a  height  of  twenty  feet 
from  the  ground.  I  have  read  of  one  or  two  instances 
in  which  a  man  was  pulled  out  of  a  tree  by  a  tiger,  but 
the  mishap  was,  I  think,  always  due  to  the  fact  that 
there  was  rising  ground  behind  the  tree,  which  brought 
the  machan  within  easy  springing  distance.  With 
level  ground  beneath,  a  machan  at  twenty  feet  is  a 
perfectly  secure  perch.  Further,  a  tiger,  like  most 
wild  animals,  seldom  if  ever  looks  up,  his  suspicion  of 
danger  being  confined  to  the  ground  ;  and  even  at  a 
less  height  than  twenty  feet,  I  believe  a  man  would  be 
quite  safe,  provided  he  kept  still  after  firing.  When 
circumstances  permit,  it  is  of  course  well  to  be  on  the 
safe  side  in  building  the  machan.     Tigers  frequently 


144  THE    NILGIRIS 


score  the  bark  of  trees  with  their  claws  to  a  height  of 
twelve  feet  or  so  from  the  ground,  and  the  local  native 
tradition  is  that  their  motive  is  to  sharpen  their  claws. 
It  is  more  probable,  I  think,  that  this  is  done  merely  in 
play;  or  possibly,  as  tigers  do  not  disdain  carrion,  their 
object  may  be  to  relieve  the  irritation  that  would  be  set 
up  by  particles  of  rotten  flesh  lodging  in  their  claws. 
On  one  occasion,  when  I  was  felling  some  jungle  for  a 
coffee  clearing,  I  noticed  a  number  of  scratches  made 
by  a  tiger  in  the  soft  bark  of  a  large  tree  ;  and  one  of 
the  Kurumbas  who  was  felling  it  drew  my  attention 
to  the  fact  that  there  were  similar  scratches  on  the 
upper  side  of  the  lowest  branch,  which  was  at  least 
twenty  feet  from  the  ground.  In  this  case  it  was 
evident  that  the  tiger  had  climbed  into  the  tree,  the 
scratches  being  made  in  the  act  of  climbing.  His 
object  in  indulging  in  this  feat  of  agility  was  a 
mystery. 

Frequently  a  tiger  is  accompanied  by  a  jackal,  who 
on  such  occasions  gives  vent  at  intervals  to  the  rribst 
extraordinary  ululation,  quite  different  from  his  usual 
caterwauling.  The  natives  say  he  scouts  ahead  of  the 
tiger  to  give  him  warning  of  impending  danger ;  but 
this  is  an  obvious  absurdity,  the  tiger  being  quite  able 
to  look  after  himself  A  more  reasonable  explanation 
is  that  the  cry  is  one  of  fear  :  perhaps  also  an  alarm 
note  to  warn  the  jungle  folk  of  the  tiger's  vicinity,  I 
once  heard  a  muntjac  give  vent  to  a  bark  quite 
distinct  from  his  ordinary  "  roar,"  in  presence  of  a  tiger  ; 
and  it  may  well  be  that  other  animals  change  their 
usual  cries  when  the  foe  they  dread  is  near.  It  is 
certain  that  the  "  pheal "  utters  his  weird  howl  when 
consorting  with  a  tiger  ;  whether  he  does  so  at  any 
other    time,    I    am   unable  to   say.     Just    behind    my 


THE   TIGER  145 


bungalow  rises  a  hill,  the  lower  part  of  which  is  covered 
with  light  jungle  interspersed  with  glades  of  grass  ;  the 
summit  being  crowned  with  a  thick  shola  which  has 
always  been  a  favourite  resort  for  tigers,  probably 
because  my  cattle  are  often  driven  out  to  graze  on  the 
hillside.  Early  one  morning  I  was  in  my  verandah,  when 
I  heard  the  peculiar  cry  of  the  "  pheal  "  come  from  the 
opposite  hill,  and  with  my  glasses  I  saw  the  jackal 
sitting  in  the  grass.  Calling  Chic  Mara,  I  snatched 
up  my  rifle,  and  we  started  at  once.  On  reaching  the 
spot  where  I  had  seen  the  "pheal"  we  heard  his  cry 
further  up  the  hill ;  and  a  short  search  showed  us  the 
perfectly  fresh  tracks  of  a  tiger,  which  we  followed  up 
to  the  jungle  above.  On  returning  to  the  bungalow, 
I  forgot  to  warn  the  cattlemen  of  the  tiger's  vicinity; 
and  on  getting  back  after  my  round  of  the  tote,  I  saw 
the  cattle  grazing  all  round  the  shola  into  which  we 
had  tracked  the  tiger  in  the  morning.  In  the  hope  of 
seeing  a  kill,  I  started  once  more  for  the  hill, 
determined  to  stay  with  the  cattle  till  the  evening ;  but 
to  my  chagrin  I  met  my  herdsman  Juddia  on  the  way, 
and  learnt  from  him  that  the  anticipated  murder  had 
been  already  committed.  On  this  morning  the  "pheal" 
was  certainly  accompanying  the  tiger  ;  and  on  several 
other  occasions  I  had  equally  clear  evidence  to  the 
same  effect ;  but  it  is  needless  to  multiply  instances. 

Tiger  hunting  is  usually  conducted  in  the  following 
ways  : — 

(i)   By  driving  the  jungle  with  a  line  of  elephants. 

(2)  By  driving  the  cover  into  which  a  tiger  has 
been  tracked  with  beaters  or  dog^s. 

(3)  By  sitting  up  over  a  bait  or  a  kill. 

(4)  By  driving  the  tiger  into  a  net,  and  spearing 
him  when  he  is  induced  to  charge. 

L 


146  THE   NILGIRIS 


(5)  By  setting  a  spring  gun  on  the  road  the  tiger  is 
Hkely  to  take  on  his  return  to  his  kill. 

(6)  By  poisoning  the  carcase  of  the  kill,  strychnine 
being  the  poison  usually  employed. 

(7)  By  enticing  him  into  a  trap  like  an  exaggerated 
mouse-trap,  baited  with  a  cow  or  young  buffalo. 

(8)  To  this  list  must  be  added  catching  him  in  a 
pit  ;  for  though  I  have  never  heard  of  pits  being  dug 
specially  for  tigers,  I  once  knew  an  unwary  tiger  fall 
into  an  elephant  pit. 

(i)  The  first  method  is  the  one  chiefly  in  vogue  in 
Northern  India;  and  as  the  so-called  "jungles"  in 
that  part  of  the  country  are  apparently  merely  exten- 
sive plains  covered  with  high  grass  and  scrub,  this 
plan  is  eminently  successful.  I  have  had  no  experi- 
ence of  beating  with  elephants,  for  even  if  the 
elephants  to  form  the  necessary  "  line  "  were  forth- 
coming, it  would  be  impossible  to  use  them  in  the 
dense  and  continuous  forest  of  Wynaad.  Shooting 
from  a  howdah  is  tiger  hunting  de  luxe^  with,  a 
maximum  of  comfort  and  a  minimum  of  danger  to  the 
sportsman. 

(2)  With  regard  to  the  second  method,  on  the 
plains  the  usual  plan  is  to  tie  up  a  young  bull  or 
buffalo,  close  to  some  cover  which  can  be  conveniently 
driven  :  and  to  beat  the  tiger  out  of  this  when  he 
retires  to  it  after  killing  the  bait.  For  the  reason 
already  adduced — the  continuity  of  the  cover — this 
mode  of  tiger  shooting  is  very  seldom  practicable  in 
Wynaad.  It  would  be  feasible  on  the  higher  plateau, 
where  the  sholas  are  small  and  scattered,  but  it  is  not 
often  resorted  to  there.  The  Nilgiri  sportsman  waits 
till  news  is  brought  in  of  a  buffalo  having  been 
killed  at    some   Toda   mund  or    Badaga  village  :  the 


THE   TIGER  147 


tiger  is  then  tracked  to  cover,  and  driven  out  with 
dogs  and  beaters.  Occasionally,  owing  to  the  open 
character  of  the  country  on  the  Nilgiris,  a  tiger  is  dis- 
covered sunning  himself,  or  on  the  prowl  for  sambur, 
when  the  sportsman  is  afforded  a  chance  of  stalking 
the  stalker. 

In  beating  for  tiger  the  very  greatest  consideration 
should  be  given  to  the  safety  of  the  men.  Every 
man  worthy  of  the  name  of  sportsman  would  naturally 
regard  this  in  the  light  of  a  duty  ;  but  I  have  known 
instances  where  the  beaters  were  sworn  at,  even 
thrashed  and  fined,  because  they  refused  to  separate 
in  thick,  thorny  jungle,  in  which  a  tiger  was  lying  up. 
The  European,  armed  with  a  deadly  rifle,  would  not 
undertake  work  of  this  kind,  or  were  he  fool  enough 
to  follow  a  tiger  single-handed  into  such  cover,  would 
only  do  so  with  the  greatest  trepidation.  How,  then, 
in  common  fairness  can  he  expect  an  unarmed  native 
to  do  what  he  would  shrink  from  }  And  care  of  one's 
men  is  called  for  not  only  from  a  humanitarian  point 
of  view.  Once  bit,  twice  shy  ;  and  the  man  who  ill- 
treats  his  beaters,  or  exposes  them  to  grave  risks, 
simply  destroys  his  chance  of  sport  thereafter. 

The  beaters  should  be  directed  to  keep  line  at  very 
close  intervals.  If  Paniyans  are  employed  for  beating, 
some  will  come  armed  with  spears.  These  are  far  too 
unwieldy  to  be  of  real  service  in  cover ;  but  their 
possession  gives  the  men  a  feeling  of  confidence,  and 
they  should  be  allowed  to  carry  them.  The  beaters 
should  be  directed  to  collect  together  the  moment  they 
hear  a  shot,  for  a  tiger  when  fired  at  frequently 
breaks  back,  and  if  wounded,  any  single  beater  in  the 
line  of  his  retreat  would  certainly  come  to  grief,  though 
he  would  not  attack  a  group  of  men  if  they  stood  firm. 

L    2 


148  THE   NILGIRIS 


The  sportsman  should  carry  with  him  to  his  post  a  red 
and  a  white  flag  ;  and  a  man  should  be  stationed  up  a 
tree  at  the  edge  of  the  cover,  in  a  position  which 
affords  him  a  view  of  the  sportsman's  perch.  If  the 
red  flag  is  waved,  it  is  a  danger  signal,  and  the  stop 
calls  to  the  beaters  to  come  out  of  the  jungle  en  masse: 
if  the  white  flag  is  waved,  the  stop  knows  that  all  is 
safe  in  front,  and  instructs  the  men  accordingly.  This 
plan  is  useful  because  it  is  inadvisable  that  the  sports- 
man should  shout  or  make  a  noise  himself 

In  beating,  unless  there  are  enough  guns  to  command 

every  likely  point  of  exit,  stops  are  essential.     These 

should  be  picked  men,  who  can  be  trusted  not  to  lose 

their  heads  at  sight  of  the  tiger  and  make  a  din  that 

will    scare  him   back    again.      Everything — especially 

when  a  tiger  has  to  be  driven  up  to  a  single  gun — 

depends  on  the  stops  :  they  can  make  or  mar  a  beat. 

If  the  stop  does  his  work  properly,  and  merely  lets 

his  presence  be  known  by  a  tap  or  two  against  the 

trunk  of  his  tree,  the  tiger  will  swerve  but  will  maintain 

his  direction  ;   and  in  this  way  a  series  of  good  stops 

can  generally  induce  the  tiger  to  break  cover  at  the 

required  point.     Beating  is,  of  course,  not  exempt  from 

the  perverse  fate  which  makes  "the  best  laid  schemes  aft 

gang  agley,"  but  with  intelligent  stops  a  single  gun  will 

often  get  a  shot  even  when  the  cover  is  large  :  without 

them,  he  had  better  spare  himself  the  trouble  of  beating 

at  all.     The  stops  should  be  posted  so  that  each  one 

can  see  the  next :   in  this  way  communication  can  be 

maintained  without    any  shouting   outside    the   cover 

along  the  whole  line,  and  the  gunner  can  be  apprised 

of  the  tiger's  movements.     A  wave  of  the  hand  in  the 

direction  the  tiger  is  taking  is  all  that  is  necessary. 

Knowledge  of  the  ground  is  as  essential  as  a  proper 


THE   TIGER  149 


bandobast  on  the  above  lines  ;  and  if  the  sportsman 
does  not  himself  possess  that  knowledge,  he  should 
enlist  the  services  of  some  local  native  acquainted  with 
the  ground  to  be  beaten.  If,  as  is  usually  the  case  in 
Wynaad,  the  cover  is  connected  with  another  by  a 
jungle-clad  ravine,  the  tiger  is  almost  certain  to  slink 
down  this  nullah  when  disturbed ;  and  the  sportsman's 
post  should  be  at  a  point  where  he  can  see  across. 
Generally  the  tiger  will  keep  to  one  or  other  of  the 
banks,  not  to  the  bed  of  the  nullah  ;  and  in  working  his 
way  through  the  cover,  he  will  follow  the  lighter 
jungle,  for  a  tiger  no  more  relishes  pushing  through  a 
matted,  thorny  thicket  than  does  a  man.  Often  there 
are  paths  in  the  cover  made  by  deer  or  cattle  :  a  tiger 
will  assuredly  take  advantage  of  these. 

The  sportsman  should  make  it  an  absolute  rule 
never  to  fire  till  the  tiger  has  passed  his  post,  for  on 
the  observance  of  this  rule  the  safety  of  the  beaters 
depends.  On  receiving  a  bullet  after  he  has  passed 
the  gun,  a  tiger  has  no  knowledge  of  the  direction 
from  which  the  shot  came,  and  he  will  generally  obey 
his  first  impulse  and  bound  forward  ;  whereas,  if  fired 
at  while  coming  towards  the  gunner,  he  at  once  locates 
the  danger  point,  and  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  he  turns 
and  charges  back  through  the  men  behind.  If  a 
census  could  be  taken  of  beaters  hurt  or  killed,  it 
would,  I  think,  be  found  that  in  the  great  majority  of 
cases  the  contretemps  was  due  to  the  non-observance 
of  the  rule  to  allow  a  tiger  to  pass  before  firing.  It  is 
nothing  short  of  criminal  to  send  a  wounded  tiger 
back  amongst  the  men,  when  by  the  exercise  of  a 
little  forbearance  this  danger  can  be  avoided.  And 
apart  from  the  risk  to  the  beaters,  the  gunner  doubles 
his  chance    of   bagging  the   tiger  by  waiting,   for   he 


150  THE   NILGIRIS 


gets  a  far  larger  mark  to  aim  at  with  a  tiger  broad- 
side on  than  with  one  coming  towards  him,  when  only 
the  chest  and  head  form  the  target.  Even  if  the  tiger 
should  break  to  right  or  left  instead  of  directly  in 
front,  he  should  be  allowed  to  get  well  out  into  the 
open  before  the  shot  is  taken,  for  the  reason  given 
above. 

A  shooting  ladder  is  a  convenience,  for  at  best  a 
tree  affords  an  uncomfortable  perch,  and  one  from 
which  straight  shooting  is  often  difficult.  Two  long 
bamboos  form  the  sides,  and  wooden  rungs  are  let  into 
these  at  intervals,  being  kept  in  their  places  by  wedges 
driven  through  holes  in  the  rungs  where  they  project 
on  either  side.  A  few  feet  from  the  top  a  seat  is 
inserted  at  such  an  angle  that  when  the  ladder  is 
placed  in  a  sloping  position  against  a  tree,  the  seat 
will  be  level.  The  topmost  rung  is  lashed  to  the 
trunk,  and  the  gunner  has  a  comfortable  stool.  And 
as  the  wedges  can  be  knocked  out  and  the  rungs 
removed,  to  be  fixed  in  again  when  required,  the 
transport  of  the  ladder  from  place  to  place  is  an  easy 
matter.  In  any  event,  whether  he  uses  a  ladder  or 
perches  himself  astride  the  limb  of  a  tree,  the  gunner 
should  remember  that  he  can  shoot  to  his  left  with 
ease,  but  not  to  his  right  (provided  of  course  he  shoots 
from  the  right  shoulder)  ;  and  he  should  therefore 
always  face  well  to  the  right  of  the  position  he  is 
commanding. 

I  have  sometimes  known  a  beat  organised  directly 
after  a  tiger  has  killed  a  bull  or  cow  out  of  a  herd  ; 
but  this  is  a  mistake  for  several  reasons.  A  kill  of 
this  kind  usually  occurs  in  the  early  afternoon  ;  and  the 
preparations  for  a  beat  forthwith  must  necessarily  be 
hurried,   with  failure  as  the  inevitable  result.     Next, 


THE   TIGER  151 


a  tiger  after  killing  generally  retires  to  a  large  cover, 
often  at  a  considerable  distance  from  his  kill ;  and  as 
there  is  no  time  to  track  him  to  this,  all  the  covers  in 
the  neio^hbourhood  must  be  driven,  affordinsf  the  tieer 
a  chance — of  which  he  will  not  be  slow  to  avail  him- 
self— of  getting  right  away  if  the  first  jungle  beaten 
should  not  be  the  one  in  which  he  is  lying  up.  The 
necessity  for  a  "silent"  beat  may  be  impressed  on  the 
coolies  ;  but  some  of  them  are  certain  to  yell  at  the 
top  of  their  voices  directly  they  enter  the  jungle. 
Then  again,  a  tiger  with  an  empty  stomach  is  not 
nearly  so  disinclined  for  exertion  as  a  tiger  with  a  full 
one  ;  and  if  he  is  found  and  driven  out,  the  probability 
is  that  he  will  leave  the  cover  like  a  "  streak  of  greased 
lightning,"  giving  the  gunner  a  difficult  shot.  The 
better  plan,  when  a  herd  bullock  is  killed,  is  to  have  a 
7nachan  builr,  and  to  sit  up  over  the  carcase  on  the  off- 
chance  of  a  shot.  If  the  tiger  does  not  show  while  the 
sportsman  is  watching,  he  will  almost  certainly  return 
when  the  coast  is  clear,  and  indulge  in  a  big  meal. 
Early  the  next  morning  the  trackers  should  follow  his 
back  route,  and  locate  him ;  the  gunner  with  the 
beaters  joining  them  when  the  sun  is  well  up,  about 
9  A.M.  Now  the  conditions  for  a  successful  beat  are 
far  more  rosy.  All  preparations  will  have  been  made 
overnight,  under  the  sportsman's  own  supervision,  and 
nothing  will  have  been  omitted.  The  gorged  tiger 
will  be  lying  up  somewhere  near  the  kill,  and  his  exact 
whereabouts  will  have  been  already  ascertained  by  the 
trackers,  if  they  are  worthy  of  the  name  :  and  having 
fed  heavily,  he  will,  when  roused,  come  slinking  out  in 
front  of  the  men,  giving  the  sportsman  an  easy  shot. 
This  last  is  a  great  desideratum,  bearing  in  mind  the 
danger  always  attendant  on  following  up  a  wounded 


152  THE   NILGIRIS 


tiger  on  foot.  Many  a  beat  which  has  proved  blank 
owing  to  precipitate  action  might  have  been  converted 
into  a  successful  one  had  a  little  patience  been 
exercised. 

When  baits  are  tied  out,  the  conditions  are  different. 
Then  the  kill  is  generally  made  at  night,  and  the  tiger 
feeds  at  once.  In  such  event,  the  beat  ought  of 
course  to  be  organised  the  next  morning. 

(3)  Most  of  the  tiger  slayers  who  have  done  their 
shooting  from  a  howdah,  and  who  have  worked  a 
country  where  elephants  could  be  used,  sneer  at 
the  man  who  sits  up  over  a  kill  or  bait.  From  the 
standpoint  of  a  "bag,"  the  sneer  is  just  enough;  for 
while  the  howdah  shooter  is  slaying  his  dozens,  the 
humble  watcher  over  a  kill  may  esteem  himself  lucky 
if  he  gets  one.  But,  the  "  bag  "  apart,  I  quite  agree 
with  Sanderson  that  to  the  man  who  combines  a  love 
of  Nature  with  the  mere  lust  for  slaughter  (which 
latter  is,  surely,  the  less  estimable  moiety  in  a  real 
sportsman's  character),  there  is  a  charm,  an  indescrib- 
able fascination,  in  sitting  up  aloft  in  the  soft  hushed 
hours  of  evening,  and  meeting  Dame  Nature  face  to 
face.  To  me,  the  dying  of  the  day  appeals  with  the 
most  extraordinary  force  ;  especially  when  alone  in  the 
dead  silence  of  the  jungle.     Then  comes 

A  little  pause  in  life,  while  daylight  lingers 
Between  the  sunset  and  the  pale  moonrise ; 
When  daily  troubles  slip  from  weary  fingers, 
And  calm  grey  shadows  veil  the  aching  eyes. 

Old  perfumes  wander  back,  from  fields  of  clover 
Seen  in  the  light  of  stars  that  long  have  set  ; 
Beloved  ones,  whose  earthly  toils  are  over, 
Draw  near,  as  though  they  lived  among  us  yet. 

Old  voices  call  me,  through  the  dusk  returning, 
I  hear  the  echo  of  departed  feet — 


THE   TIGER  153 


To  put  this  sensation  that  steals  over  one  at  dusk  with 
irresistible  force  into  words  is  not  possible,  because 
it  is  a  sensation  that  defies  analysis.  Longfellow, 
perhaps,  comes  nearest  to  an  exact  definition  : — 

The  Day  is  done,  and  the  darkness 
Falls  from  the  wings  of  night 
As  a  feather  is  wafted  downward 
From  an  eagle  in  its  flight. 

I  see  the  lights  of  the  village 
Gleam  through  the  rain  and  the  mist, 
And  a  feeling  of  sadness  comes  o'er  me 
That  my  soul  cannot  resist. 

A  feeling  of  sadness  and  longing 
That  is  not  akin  to  pain ; 
And  resembles  sorrow  only 
As  the  mist  resembles  the  rain. 

I  once  discussed  this  feeling,  half  sadness,  half  yearning, 
that  grips  one  at  sunset,  with  that  most  highly  gifted, 
and  alas !  most  highly-strung  lady  who  wrote  her 
books  of  verse  under  the  pseudonym  of  Laurence 
Hope.  Her  feeling  was  more  one  of  dread — yet 
pleasurable  dread  as  she  was  careful  to  explain  ; 
and  her  theory  was  that  this  objectless  fear  was  a 
survival  from  prehistoric  times,  those  times  when 

Once,  on  a  glittering  icefield,  ages  and  ages  ago, 
Ung,  a  maker  of  pictures,  fashioned  an  image  of  snow. 
Later  he  pictured  an  aurochs — later  he  pictured  a  bear — 
Pictured  the  sabre-toothed  tiger  dragging  a  man  to  his  lair — ■ 
Pictured  the  mountainous  mammoth,  hairy,  abhorrent,  alone — 

It  was  at  dusk,  said  Laurence  Hope,  that  our  ancestors 
ran  the  gravest  risk  from  these  fearsome  beasts  ;  and 
at  dusk  through  fear  they  sought  the  shelter  of  the 
snuggest  cave  they  could  find.  And  that  dread  of 
dusk  having  survived  through  all  the  ages,  we  moderns 
experience  it  in  the  feeling  which,  vainly  I  fear,  I  have 
tried  to  translate  into  words.     She  gave  expression  to 


154  THE   NILGIRIS 


her  theory  in  the  poem  entitled  "The  Jungle  Fear." 
But,  be  the  origin  of  the  feeling  what  it  may,  it  is 
there ;  and  it  lends  to  the  vigil  at  dusk  a  charm 
beyond  expression,  I  frankly  admit  that  every  time  I 
have  sat  up  in  a  machan  over  a  kill  for  a  tiger 
who,  laughing  all  my  elaborate  precautions  to  scorn, 
does  not  come,  I  have,  in  the  first  feeling  of  chagrin 
registered  a  vow  never  to  sit  up  again.  But  the  sense 
of  disappointment  soon  wears  off,  while  the  fascination 
of  the  evening  watch  remains  ;  and  the  next  oppor- 
tunity always  finds  me  up  in  my  perch  once  more,  with 
as  keen  a  delight  in  my  vigil  as  ever  before. 

But  I  must  hie  back  to  Felis  tigris.  Like  everyone 
who  has  done,  or  tried  to  do,  much  shooting  from 
a  machan,  I  have  racked  my  brains  to  discover  why  it 
is  that  this  method  is  usually  so  unsuccessful.  As 
Sanderson  points  out,  a  tiger  kills  to  eat ;  and  obviously 
it  is  some  flaw  in  the  arrangements  made  by  the 
sportsman  for  his  reception  which  prevents  his  return. 
But  exactly  what  that  something  is,  is  a  very  difficult 
matter  to  determine.  I  have  had  the  materials  for  the 
machan  cut  a  mile  off  and  carried  to  the  site  :  have 
erected  the  platform  with  no  sound  above  a  whisper  :- 
have  had  wind  and  everything  else  in  my  favour — 
and  yet  no  tiger.  My  own  view  is  that  the  tiger  usually 
makes  a  circuit  round  the  kill  before  commencing  his 
feed  ;  and  that  the  ill  success  attendant  on  macha7i 
shooting  is  due  to  the  tiger  winding  the  sportsman  in  his 
tree  by  this  manoeuvre,  which  renders  all  precautions 
nugatory.  Occasionally,  the  tiger  omits  this  circuit — 
possibly  when  unusually  sharp  set — and  then,  but  only 
then,  the  watcher  gets  a  shot.  In  the  next  chapter 
an  incident  is  related  which  seems  to  bear  out  this 
view. 


THE  TIGER  155 


Sanderson  writes  :  "The  sportsman  should  seldom 
watch  for  the  tiger  beyond  half-past  eight  in  the 
evening,  as  if  he  intends  to  come  he  will  have  put  in 
an  appearance  before  that  time."  My  experience  is 
different.  I  can  only  recall  two  occasions  on  which 
the  tiger  did  not  return  and  feed  off  the  carcase  after 
I  had  left  it ;  and  frequently  I  have  watched  till  mid- 
night. In  some  Inexplicable  way,  the  tiger  makes 
certain  that  the  coast  is  clear,  and  he  then  returns  for 
his  meal,  no  matter  what  the  time  may  be.  But  I 
admit  that  when  the  tiger  is  unaware  of  the  sportsman's 
presence,  he  will  return  to  the  kill  long  before  half- 
past  eight  :  usually  just  at,  or  a  little  after,  dusk. 

In  howdah  shooting,  judging  from  the  many  accounts 
I  have  read  of  that  form  of  sport,  there  would  not 
appear  to  be  much  risk  to  the  sportsman  :  certainly  no 
risk  grave  enough  ever  to  deter  him  from  following  up 
a  wounded  tiger.  But  in  beating,  or  in  shooting  from 
a  mackan,  when  a  wounded  tiger  takes  cover,  and  has 
to  be  finished  off  on  foot,  the  danger  to  the  sportsman 
is  a  very  real  one  ;  the  exact  measure  of  that  danger 
being  determined  by  the  circumstances  of  each  indi- 
vidual case.  The  proper  course  (that  is,  the  course 
which  reduces  the  inevitable  risk  to  a  minimum)  must 
always  be  decided  by  the  sportsman  himself ;  and 
hence  no  rules  can  be  laid  down.  But  a  few  hints  as 
to  the  precautions  to  be  observed  In  following  up  a 
wounded  tiger  may  not  be  out  of  place. 

Should  the  tiger  take  refuge  In  thick  jungle  with 
dense  undergrowth,  the  wisest  plan  is  not  to  follow 
him  into  it  at  once.  Naturally  it  costs  the  sportsman 
a  very  big  wrench  to  risk  losing  the  magnificent  trophy 
for  which  perhaps  he  has  tolled  hard  through  many 
weary  days  ;  but  in  jungle  of  this  kind  the  odds  are 


156  THE   NILGIRIS 


so  much  in  the  tiger's  favour  that  no  man  who  values 
his  life  will  hesitate  to  leave  the  tiger  alone  for  the 
time  being.  In  thick  undergrowth,  generally  thorny 
as  well,  not  only  can  the  sportsman  not  see  a  step 
in  front  of  him,  but  he  must  necessarily  betray  his 
presence  by  the  noise  he  makes  in  forcing  his  way 
through  ;  even  could  he  walk  silently,  it  would  be  no 
advantage,  for  a  wounded  tiger  is  a  very  wary  beast, 
and  takes  up  his  position  in  some  dense  thicket  which 
allows  him  to  see  under  the  bushes.  There,  motion- 
less as  if  carved  in  stone,  he  watches  the  advancing 
sportsman,  crouched  ready  for  a  charge  :  then,  with 
the  harsh,  coughing  roar  which  makes  even  the  boldest 
shrink,  he  is  on  the  helpless  sportsman  like  a  lightning 
flash,  and  another  "  regrettable  incident  "  is  chronicled 
in  the  papers. 

If  the  tiger  after  being  hit  lies  up  in  such  jungle  as 
I  have  described,  let  a  full  hour  elapse  before  doing 
anything.  Then  send  the  trackers  to  make  a  cast 
round  the  entire  cover.  If  the  tiger  is  still  in  it,  leave 
him  alone  till  the  following  morning,  when  the  trackers 
should  again  carefully  work  all  round  the  shola.  If 
there  are  no  tracks  leading  out,  it  may  safely  be  con-, 
eluded  that  the  tiger  is  either  dead,  or  so  badly  hit 
that  he  cannot  show  much  fight  ;  and  then  he  should 
be  followed  up.  With  half  a  dozen  reliable  men  take 
up  the  track  into  the  cover,  and  keeping  well  together 
work  it  out  slowly.  Leave  tracking  to  the  men,  and 
with  both  barrels  at  full  cock,  keep  your  own  eyes 
on  the  jungle  ahead.  If  you  detect  the  slightest 
movement  in  the  underbush,  stop  instantly.  Make 
the  men  throw  stones  at  the  spot  where  you  saw  the 
bushes  move,  and  do  not  advance  till  you  are 
satisfied  the  bush  holds  nothing.      If  the  tiger  charges, 


THE  TIGER  157 


let  him  get  close  up  and  then  SHOOT  STRAIGHT. 
Should  the  men  stand  firm,  the  chances  are  that  there 
will  be  a  terrific  demonstration,  all  teeth  and  claws 
and  noise,  but  the  tiger's  heart  will  fail  him  in  the  last 
few  yards.  My  remarks  presuppose  that  staunch  men 
are  available :  to  find  these  is,  I  admit,  a  difficult 
matter.  Many  natives  will  aver  themselves  ready  to 
stick  to  the  dhoray  through  thick  and  thin  ;  and 
when  the  crisis  comes  will  bolt  like  sheep.  In  this 
respect  I  am  fortunate,  for  amongst  my  followers  are  at 
least  six  men  whom  I  know  to  be  absolutely  reliable  ; 
men  upon  whom  I  can  depend  in  the  tightest  corner. 
If  supports  of  this  kind  are  not  forthcoming,  leave 
tiger  shooting  on  foot  severely  alone.  These  men  of 
mine  always  carry  short-handled  spears  with  broad 
blades,  which  would  be  really  useful  in  a  scrimmage. 

The  weapon  for  work  of  the  above  nature  is  the 
"  Paradox."  It  is  handy  as  a  shot  gun,  accurate  as  an 
Express  up  to  seventy  yards  with  the  first  sight,  and 
with  Holland's  hollow-point  bullet  gives  a  knock- 
down blow.  Recently  I  saw  the  tremendous  effect  of 
buck  shot  on  a  tiger  at  short  range,  and  though  I  have 
not  yet  had  an  opportunity  of  trying  it  myself,  I  have 
no  hesitation  in  saying  that  one  barrel  should  be  loaded 
with  this  for  a  charging  tiger  at  close  quarters.  Where, 
in  the  excitement  of  a  charge,  a  hasty  shot  with  a  bullet 
might  miss,  buck  shot  would  be  sure  to  catch  the  tiger 
in  the  head,  and  would  crumple  him  up  like  a  snipe. 

If  the  tiger  can  be  tracked  into  light  jungle  with  little 
or  no  undergrowth,  following  him  up  is  a  much  safer 
proceeding  ;  but  none  the  less  every  possible  precau- 
tion should  be  taken  to  prevent  an  accident.  In  such 
cover  a  man  should  be  sent  up  a  tree  at  short  intervals, 
and  the  advance  delayed  till  he  reports  the  ground 


158  THE  NILGIRIS 


clear.  And  remember  that  the  tiger  possesses  such  a 
marvellous  faculty  for  concealment,  that  no  bush  should 
be  reckoned  too  small  to  hold  him  until  it  has  been 
proved  to  be  empty. 

(4)  A  full  description  of  tiger  netting,  as  practised  in 
Wynaad,  will  be  found  further  on. 

Methods  5,  6,  7,  and  8  do  not  call  for  detailed 
remarks,  as  they  are  all  unsportsmanlike,  and  only 
suited  to  the  native  shikari,  who  kills  tigers  solely  for 
the  sake  of  the  Government  reward.  With  regard 
to  the  trapping  of  tigers,  the  native  shall  speak  for 
himself.  The  following  description  of  a  novel  method 
employed  by  the  natives  of  Dharmapuri  appeared  in 
the  Madras  Mail: — "A  cage  is  built  of  stones — 
simply  stacking  stones,  in  the  forest  abounding  in  the 
wild  beast.  Just  opposite  to  the  entrance  a  small 
opening  like  an  oeil-de-boeuf  is  made  in  the  back  wall. 
Near  this  opening  a  goat  or  sheep  is  so  tied  without, 
that  it  may  be  seen  by  the  beast  from  within.  To 
allure  a  beast  into  the  cage,  the  bait  is  made  to  bleat 
by  piercing  thorns  into  its  ears.  The  beast,  believing 
that  the  bait  is  inside  the  cage,  goes  into  it.  As  soon 
as  it  does  so,  and  while  it  is  vainly  trying  hard  to  prey 
up6n  its  bait  through  the  opening,  the  entrance  is 
closed.  A  wooden  cage  wherein  the  beast  cannot 
move  itself  right  or  left  is  then  placed  close  to  the 
entrance  to  the  stony  one,  and  the  beast  is  then 
driven  into  it,  and  thus  caught  alive.  Some  hunters 
of  these  parts  often  catch  tigers  by  this  stratagem. 
They  generally  do  so  in  the  beginning  of  January 
so  that  they  may  play  with  them  (instead  of  the  rtit 
bulls  as  is  usual)  on  the  karinal  of  the  Pongul  feast. 
Of  course  they  make  money  out  of  it.  To  play  with 
a  tiger  they  spear  a  hole  between  the  fibulse  of  one  of 


THE  TIGER  159 


its  hind  legs,  while  it  is  in  the  wooden  cage.  It  is 
chained  through  the  hole,  brought  outside,  and  tied  to 
a  stake.  It  is  said  it  is  made  quite  powerless  when  it 
is  chained  between  fibulae  of  its  hind  legs." 

To  that  Dharmapuri  correspondent,  I  fear  I  must 
say  "  Oh,  fib  !  You  lee  !  " 

There  are  even  odder  ways  of  accounting  for  tigers 
than  the  above.  I  take  the  following  from  the  Asian, 
the  well  known  sporting  paper  : — 

"  A  Kendrapara  correspondent  writes  as  follows 
from  Kendrapara :  '  Last  Saturday  the  8th  inst.  our 
town  was  the  scene  of  a  great  stir  and  sensation  on 
account  of  the  appearance  of  a  huge  man-eater  in  the 
heart  of  our  town.  At  about  10.50  a.m.,  Mr.  Stripes 
entered  the  village,  and  on  receipt  of  this  news  people 
from  all  parts  of  the  town,  armed  with  lathis,  swords, 
axes,  daos,  shields,  and  spears,  mustered  strong  in  that 
spot,  and  a  report  was  sent  to  the  Sub- Divisional 
Officer.  He  was  immediately  on  the  spot  on  his 
cycle  with  a  revolver  and  a  gun.  Mr.  R.  Roy,  Assist- 
ant-Engineer, followed  him  also  with  pistol  and  a  gun. 
Now  followed  a  terrible  scene.  Mr.  Roy,  while 
searching  for  the  brute,  discovered  him  on  the  point  of 
springing  upon  him.  Now  a  wrestling  began  between 
man  and  beast.  Mr.  Roy,  by  no  means  daunted, 
managed  to  administer  a  severe  kick  to  the  tiger  which 
made  it  roll  on  the  ground  and  taking  advantage  of 
this  opportunity  made  good  his  escape,  not  however 
without  receiving  severe  injuries  on  his  frontal  muscles, 
in  the  face  and  the  arms  and  in  several  other  parts. 
He  then  discharged  two  shots  at  the  tiger,  one  of 
which  hit  the  animal,  but  it  was  reserved  for  our  Sub- 
Divisonal  Officer,  Babu  N.  N.  Sen,  to  give  the  coup 
de  grace  to  our  unwelcome  visitor.'  " 


i6o  THE   NILGIRIS 


The  distinction  that  Mr.  Roy  now  possesses,  of 
having  played  football  with  a  man-eater,  must  surely 
be  unique ! 

Our  Aryan  brother's  lucubrations  are  always  amusing 
when  they  turn  on  sport.  One  can  picture  the  pride 
with  which  the  author  regarded  the  following  master- 
piece of  descriptive  writing,  which .  appeared  in  the 
Madras  Mail.  It  is  entitled  "  A  Royal  Tiger  Shot," 
and  comes  from  a  Russellkonda  correspondent :  "  May 
I  request  you  to  publish  in  your  daily  issue  a  tiger  of 
extraordinary  size  shot  on  12th  May  1904  by  Mr.  A. 
S.  Laurie,  the  Assistant-Engineer  of  Russellkonda? 
The  tiger  was  attempted  by  many  a  country  shot,  but 
without  a  success.  The  tiger  was  a  shock  of  terror 
to  the  people  of  the  Kalingia  villages  because  it  took 
away  several  buffaloes  belonging  to  the  villagers  and 
subsequently  came  to  be  called  a  Royal  tiger  on 
account  of  its  huge  size.  The  country  cartmen  were 
panic  stricken  by  the  presence  of  the  tiger  in  the 
jungle  adjoining  the  Kallingia  road  and  hesitated  to 
pass  the  road  with  their  carts  for  fear  of  being  killed 
by  the  tiger.  Somehow  or  other  this  news  reached 
the  ears  of  Mr.  Laurie,  who  was  ever  ready  and 
naturally  delighted  in  such  games,  ventured  to  meet 
the  foe.  It  is  interesting  to  know  how  he  dispatched 
the  Royal  tiger  with  one  final  shot. 

"  Mr.  Laurie  was  told  by  the  villagers  that  the 
tiger  had  taken  away  one  of  their  buffaloes  and  thrown 
it  dead  on  the  Kurmungia  Ghati  road.  The  sooner 
had  he  (Mr.  Laurie)  heard  of  this,  he  lost  no  time 
and  was  ready  on  the  spot  waiting  to  welcome  the 
Royal  Master.  The  tiger  slowly  sneaked  out  of  its 
den  and  appeared  to  sympathise  over  its  dead  friend 
(buffalo),  at  about  6.15  p.m.   Mr.   Laurie,  was  watch- 


THE  TIGER  i6i 


ing  him  lying  in  concealment  about  twenty  yards 
distance.  The  grand  master  first  came  and  stood  by 
the  dead  buffalo  for  over  three  minutes,  then  sat  in 
front  of  his  dead  friend  like  a  Pilevan  (master  athletic) 
resting  both  his  hands  on  his  thighs  and  looked  up  to 
heaven  kissing  over  his  dead  fellow.  After  an  interval 
of  five  minutes  he  (the  grand  master)  twisted  his 
arrowy  whiskers  on  his  majestic  face  with  both  the 
front  paws  and  looked  to  either  side  with  a  challenging 
attention  for  a  little  over  a  minute,  and  then  com- 
menced to  give  a  bite  with  his  cadaviverous  teeth 
over  the  neck  of  his  dead  fellow  (buffalo).  Mr. 
Laurie  who  was  watching  in  concealment  the  chival- 
rous exploits  of  this  ferocious  tiger,  waited  until 
he  turn  his  head  and  thus  securing  a  position  with 
a  well-directed  aim  he  (Mr.  Laurie)  shot  him  dead 
on  the  spot  with  one  blow.  The  sudden  and 
powerful  shot  is  said  to  have  made  the  tiger  jump 
into  the  sky  as  high  as  five  yards  and  gasping  for  life 
fell  down  from  there  in  full  prostration  of  its  length 
measuring  in  all  eleven  feet." 

With  this  wondrously  told  yarn,  before  which  my 
feeble  pen  hides  its  diminished  head,  I  must  end  the 
chapter. 


M 


THE    TIGER   [continued) 

In  his  book  on  the  Game  of  Bengal,  Baldwin  writes 
thus  of  tiger  shooting  from  a  viachan  erected  over 
a  kill  :— 

".  .  .  .  the  jungle  tyrant,  stretching  himself  after 
having  lain  asleep  all  day,  issues  forth,  and  makes 
straight  for  the  spot  where  he  well  knows  he  will  find 
the  lifeless  body  of  his  victim  of  yesterday.  ...  If 
the  jungle  has  been  disturbed  since  his  form.er  visit, 
bushes  or  boughs  cut  away,  the  machan  (in  which  his 
enemies  are  lying  ensconced)  not  sufficiently  concealed, 
or  the  position  of  the  bullock  altered  from  that  in  which 
he  left  it.  he  at  once  suspects  that  all  is  not  right,  and 
makes  off 

"  But  if,  on  the  other  hand,  care  has  been  taken 
to  make  as  little  noise  as  possible  in  arranging  the- 
7nachan,  the  tree  has  been  well  selected,  and  the 
guns  properly  posted  and  concealed,  the  chances 
are  that  after  a  cautious  reconnaissance,  the  brute 
at  length  silently  emerges  from  the  jungle,  and  striding 
up  to  the  carcase,  commences  his  gory  repast." 

It  is  possible  that  the  habits  of  tigers  in  Bengal 
differ  radically  from  those  of  their  congeners  in  the 
South  ;  but  certain  it  is  that  the  above  statements  have 
no  application  to  the  ways  of  tigers  on  the  Nilgiris, 
either  in  regard  to  their  impatience  of  any  meddling 
with    their    kills,    or    to    their   sure    return  if  all    the 


THE   TIGER  163 


precautions  mentioned  have  been  observed.  I  have 
never  hesitated  to  drag  the  carcase  of  a  tiger's  "  kill" 
into  a  more  favourable  position  when  it  could  not 
be  properly  seen  from  the  inachan,  or  to  cut  away 
bushes  and  boughs  which  obstructed  a  clear  view  ; 
and  though  I  have  done  this  many  times,  I  can  recall 
only  two  instances  in  which  the  tiger  failed  to  return 
and  partake  of  his  "gory  repast,"  though  unfortunately 
his  return  was  almost  always  after  I  had  left  the 
mackan,  when  it  grew  too  dark  to  see  anything.  And 
when  every  possible  precaution  has  been  taken  in 
building  the  niachan,  so  far  from  the  "  chances  being 
that  the  brute  will  silently  emerge,  etc.,"  I  would  state 
the  chances  as  twenty  to  one  that  the  tiger  does  7iot 
return  while  the  man  with  the  gun  is  up  in  the  machaii, 
no  matter  what  care  may  have  been  exercised.  I  have 
often  puzzled  over  the  reason  for  this,  and  have  been 
driven  to  the  conclusion  that  before  approaching  his 
kill,  a  tiger  makes  a  wide  circuit — probably  at  intervals  ; 
and  does  not  beo-in  his  feed  till  his  nose  assures 
him  that  the  wind  is  free  from  the  taint  of  "  man."  In 
no  other  way  does  it  seem  to  me  possible  to  account  for 
the  fact  that  a  tiger  will  always  return  to  his  kill  if  no 
human  is  watching  over  it,  and  will  return  in  nine  cases 
out  of  ten  when  the  human  has  left  his  7iiachan  through 
darkness  or  disgust. 

I  remember  an  incident  which  would  seem  to  bear 
out  this  view.  A  tiger  had  killed  one  of  my  estate 
cattle  about  ten  o'clock  one  morning,  and  I  went  down 
to  look  at  the  kill.  It  lay  in  a  deep  secluded  ravine, 
at  the  edge  of  a  shola  which  ran  up  the  hillside 
for  perhaps  five  hundred  yards.  Above  the  shola 
grass  land  extended  to  the  summit  of  the  hill  :  on  the 
other  side  of  the  hill  lay  a  very  large  cover.      ]\Iy  first 

M   2 


i64  THE   NILGIRIS 


act  was  to  find  the  back  track  of  the  tiger ;  and, 
as  I  expected,  it  led  into  the  small  skola,  the  pugs 
being  very  clear  in  the  swampy  ground  bordering 
a  stream  that  trickled  through  the  valley.  Making  a 
cast  round  the  cover,  I  found  the  track  leading  across 
the  grass,  and  into  the  jungle  over  the  hill.  As  this 
was  far  too  big  to  beat,  I  saw  the  only  chance  was 
to  build  a  mackan,  and  sit  over  the  kill. 

Sixty  yards  from  the  carcase,  and  on  the  hillside 
above  it,  was  a  very  large  and  leafy  tree  whose 
branches  bent  over  almost  to  the  ground.  At  this 
season  of  the  year  the  prevailing  wind  in  the  afternoon 
was  from  the  N.E.,  and  the  tree  grew  exactly  to 
leeward  of  the  kill.  In  this  tree  I  built  my  mackan, 
screening  it  carefully  all  round,  though  the  dense  foliage 
in  itself  made  a  perfect  screen.  My  work  was 
finished  by  one  o'clock  ;  and  standing  near  the  kill 
I  surveyed  it  with  great  satisfaction.  The  mackan  was 
completely  hidden,  and  never,  thought  I,  had  all  con- 
ditions been  so  eminently  favourable.  The  valley 
being  quiet  and  remote  from  the  estate,  I  expected 
the  tiger  to  put  in  an  early  appearance,  so  I  hurried 
home  for  breakfast,  and  was  back  at  the  mackan 
by  3  P.M.  Usually  I  prefer  to  sit  up  alone,  but  a 
sporting  Kanarese  cooly  named  Juddia  begged  so 
fervently  to  be  allowed  to  share  my  watch,  that  I  took 
him  with  me.  This  tiger  had  killed  a  fine  bandy 
bullock  of  his  a  short  time  back,  and  he  said  he  wanted 
to  see  the  thief  brought  to  book.  All  my  cattlemen 
knew — or  said  they  knew — -the  tiger  well,  for  he  had 
haunted  the  jungle  in  the  vicinity  of  the  estate  for 
some  time  ;  and  several  kills  within  the  last  month  or 
two  were  declared  to  have  been  his  handiwork.  That 
he  was  a  large  tiger  was  evident  from  his  pugs,  and  I 


THE   TIGER  165 


felt   confident  he  was  going  to  give  me  a  chance  of 
making  his  acquaintance. 

We  climbed  into  the  7nackan,  and  drew  the  ladder 
up  after  us.  Usually,  the  ladder  to  a  niachan  is  merely 
a  long  bamboo  tied  to  the  trunk  of  the  tree,  the 
branches  beino-  cut  off  six  inches  from  the  stem  to 
serve  as  rungs.  But  after  many  unsuccessful  vigils 
over  kills,  it  had  struck  me  that  possibly  the  tiger  saw 
this  bamboo,  so  I  had  a  ladder  made  with  cotton  rope, 
wooden  rungs  being  inserted  in  the  strands.  For 
two  hours  we  watched,  but  not  a  sound  broke  the 
stillness.  Slowly  the  sun  dipped  towards  the  Vellari- 
mallais,  which  far  away  to  the  west  were  outlined  in 
a  jagged  line  against  the  sky.  So  clear  was  the  air 
that  I  could  see  the  forest  running  up  the  sides  of  this 
CTrand  range  ;    and    the  waterfalls   tumbling  over  the 


cliffs  above  the  forest  line  showed  like  narrow  ribbons 
of  white  silk.  At  last  a  muntjac  came  out  on  the 
grass  above  the  shola  in  front  of  us,  and  began  to 
feed.  Then  from  the  shola  on  the  other  side  of 
the  hill  came  the  deep  boom  of  a  black  monkey, 
followed  by  another  and  another.  I  whispered  to 
Juddia  that  this  meant  the  tiger  was  moving.  Another 
quarter  of  an  hour  passed,  when  suddenly  the  muntjac 
began  to  indulge  in  the  most  extraordinary  antics.  He 
took  four  or  five  bounds  forward  with  all  his  legs 
rigid,  giving  vent  at  the  same  time  to  short  sharp 
barks,  quite  different  from  his  ordinary  "roar."  Then 
he  stood  at  attention  for  a  moment :  then  came  another 
series  of  jumps  and  barks.  After  indulging  in  these 
gymnastics  several  times,  he  turned  and  bolted  into 
the  shola  below.  And  the  next  instant  the  reason  was 
apparent,  for  we  saw  the  tiger  come  over  the  brow  of 
the  hill,  and  walk  down  to  the  middle  of  the  grass- 


i66  THE   NILGIRIS 


covered  saddle,  where  he  sat  down.  With  eager  eyes 
I  watched  him  through  my  glasses,  and  a  grand  brute 
he  looked  with  the  low  sun  shining  full  on  his  glossy 
painted  hide.  For  full  ten  minutes  he  sat  on  the 
hillside,  taking  a  careful  scrutiny  of  the  surrounding 
country  :  then  he  rose  and  confidently  walked  into  the 
skola,  while  I  breathed  a  fervent  prayer  that  he  would 
not  linger  longer  on  the  road,  but  give  me  my  shot  by 
daylight.  Carefully  I  got  into  the  right  position  with 
just  the  muzzle  of  my  Paradox  pushed  through  the 
little  opening  in  the  screen,  and  kept  my  eyes  glued  on 
the  kill,  in  the  momentary  expectation  of  seeing 
the  striped  head  appear.     But 

"  ^ly  heart  sank  low  as  the  red  orb  set, 
And  the  soft  dark  night,  Uke  a  falUng  net, 
In  its  unseen  meshes  bound  me." 

Slowly  the  shadows  deepened,  till  the  kill  became 
a  blur,  then  faded  into  the  universal  gloom.  Still 
I  waited,  listening  intently  in  a  silence  so  deep  as  to  be 
painful,  and  determined  to  fire  directly  I  heard  the  kill 
being  moved.  At  last,  at  eight  o'clock,  I  gave  up  in 
despair,  and  lighting  our  lantern,  Juddia  and  I  wended 
our  way  back  to  the  bungalow,  I  repeating  the  vow  I 
have  so  often  made — and  broken  ! — never  again  to  be 
fool  enough  to  sit  up  over  a  tiger's  kill. 

At  sunrise  the  next  morning  I  went  back.  The 
tiger  had  returned  during  the  night  and  dragged  the 
carcase  further  into  the  skola,  where  he  had  made 
a  heavy  meal.  Chic  Mara  and  I  followed  his  track,  in 
the  hope  that  with  half  a  bullock  inside  him  he  would 
lie  up  in  the  small  skola;  but  we  found  he  had 
retreated  to  the  large  cover  over  the  hill,  out  of  which 
it  was  impossible  to   beat   him.     Then   we  examined 


THE   TIGER  167 


the  surrounding  country,  and — this  is  the  point  of  my 
narrative — -found  a  track  leading  right  round  the 
machan,  roughly,  in  a  circle  with  a  radius  of  one 
hundred  yards.  What  had  happened  was  evident  : 
the  tiger  had  waited  in  the  cover  for  some  time,  and 
had  then  made  a  wide  circuit  round  the  kill.  Having 
thus  brought  us  to  windward,  his  keen  sense  of  smell 
had  doubtless  warned  him  of  the  impending  danger, 
and  he  had  waited  till  the  ground  was  clear  before 
beginning  his  feed.  These,  in  my  view,  are  the 
tactics  generally  adopted  by  a  tiger,  and  to  them  it  is 
due  that  watching  a  kill  proves,  in  nine  cases  out  of 
ten,  a  blank. 

But  there  are  occasions  when  the  tiger  omits  to 
exercise  this  superlative  degree  of  caution,  and  then  the 
sportsman  gets  his  chance.  I  had  come  back  one  day 
about  noon,  after  my  morning  round  of  the  estate,  and 
was  just  sitting  down  to  breakfast,  when  I  heard 
someone  shouting  on  the  hill  above  my  bungalow  ; 
and  on  sendinsc  to  ascertain  what  the  noise  was  about, 
I  learnt  that  a  tiger  had  just  pulled  down  a  fine  cow. 
Hurrying  to  the  place,  I  was  told  by  the  cattleman  that 
the  kill  had  taken  place  close  to  where  he  was  standing, 
and  that  when  he  and  his  mate  had  shouted — more 
through  fright  than  with  any  intention  of  driving  away 
the  tiger — the  brute  had  charged  them  for  a  short  dis- 
tance, and  had  then  gone  into  the  jungle  below.  I 
went  to  the  spot,  which  in  a  direct  line  was  not  more 
than  five  hundred  yards  from  my  bungalow.  As  the 
tiger  had  been  disturbed  at  once,  he  had  not  in  this 
case  dragged  the  carcase  to  cover.  It  was  lying  on  the 
open  hillside.  A  hundred  yards  below  was  a  small 
shola,  which  ran  down  the  hill  till  it  met  the  coffee,  and 
then  turned  at  right  angles  up  a  ravine,  being  shaped 


1 68  THE   NILGIRIS 


like  the  letter  L  reversed,  the  ravine  representing  the 
vertical  arm.  Above  was  all  open  country.  The  cover 
being  of  such  small  extent,  this  seemed  a  most  favour- 
able opportunity  for  a  beat ;  but  first  I  determined  to 
ascertain  the  tiger's  whereabouts  myself,  though  the 
cattlemen  stoutly  declared  he  had  entered  the  cover 
below  the  kill,  and  was  still  in  it,  as  he  could  not  have 
left  it  without  being  seen  by  them.  The  up  track 
through  the  little  shola,  where  the  tiger  had  stalked  the 
cattle,  was  plain  ;  but  for  some  time  the  back  track 
puzzled  me,  as  the  hill  was  covered  with  short  thick 
grass,  on  which  the  tiger  had  left  no  imprints.  At  last, 
in  a  patch  of  soil,  I  found  a  footmark  leading  away,  and 
following  on,  I  made  out  that  the  tiger  had  passed 
through  the  jungle-clad  ravine.  Beyond  this  was  a 
grass  hill,  and  beyond  this  again  a  large  shola — far  too 
large  to  beat.  Matters  turned  out  just  as  I  expected, 
for  the  track  led  into  the  large  cover,  the  cattlemen 
having  as  usual  lied  in  declaring  he  had  entered  the 
small  shola  below  the  kill  when  disturbed. 

With  this  accurate  knowledge  of  the  tiger's  position, 
I  went  back,  and  decided  to  build  a  77tachan  at  the  edge 
of  the  jungle  below.  All  the  trees  within  a  reasonable - 
distance  from  the  kill  were  small,  but  there  was  no 
other  course  open,  so  selecting  the  one  I  thought  best 
and  pointing  it  out  to  the  cattlemen,  I  hurried  back  to 
the  bungalow  to  collect  the  men.  It  so  happened  that 
all  my  coolies  were  working  on  a  distant  part  of  the 
estate,  and  by  the  time  the  men  turned  up,  it  was 
3  P.M.  I  hurried  them  off,  but  when  I  went  back 
myself,  an  hour  later,  I  found  that  all  they  had  done 
was  to  make  a  frail  platform  in  the  tree  about  twelve  feet 
from  the  ground.  No  attempt  had  been  made  to  screen 
it,  and  as  I  climbed  into  it,  I  felt  that  with  such  a  very 


THE   TIGER  169 


obvious  trap,  there  was  small  hope  of  seeing  the  tiger. 
However  it  was  too  late  to  do  anything  more,  so  I  sent 
the  men  back  to  their  lines,  with  instructions  to  hold 
their  tongues  till  they  heard  me  fire,  or  till  I  returned. 
The  caution  was  especially  necessary  in  this  case,  as  a 
set  of  cooly  lines  lay  a  few  hundred  yards  below  ;  and 
the  noise  that  coolies  make  when  the  usual  evening 
disputes  arise  on  their  return  from  work,  must  be  heard 
to  be  believed. 

I  lay  prone  on  the  mackan,  to  make  myself  as 
inconspicuous  as  possible,  and  read  the  Five  Nations 
till  sunset.  And  what  a  sunset !  In  front,  as  I  lay 
facing  the  ravine  from  which  I  expected  the  tiger,  rose 
the  cone  of  "  Needlerock,"  with  its  helmet  of  granite, 
over  which  floated  a  plume  of  golden  light.  Away  to 
the  right,  the  serrated  line  of  the  Vellarimallais  stood 
up  against  the  western  sky,  and  above  them — as 
sharply  separated  as  if  drawn  with  a  ruler — lay  long 
horizontal  bands  of  colour — crimson,  blue,  mother-o'- 
pearl,  green,  yellow,  and  violet.  On  my  left  the  view  was 
bounded  by  the  green  sugarloaf  of  Hadiabetta,  and  on 
the  extreme  right  it  was  closed  by  the  huge  dome  of 
Balasur,  shimmering  through  a  veil  of  rosy  mist.  The 
valley  between  was  wrapped  in  mist,  each  whorl  snow- 
white  below,  and  daintiest  pink  above  from  the 
reflected  light  of  the  radiant  sky.  Say,  ye  dwellers  in 
a  smoky  city,  entombed  in  your  prison  of  brick  and 
mortar,  with  never  a  sight  of  Heaven's  blessed  sun, 
and  never  a  whiff  of  Heaven's  fresh  air,  what  would  ye 
have  given  to  change  places  with  me  }  Though  the 
planter  be  perforce  a  hermit,  verily  his  life  has  its 
compensations  ! 

I  was  drinking  in  the  sunset  in  a  sort  of  ecstasy, 
when  suddenly  I  saw  the  tiger  on  the  sward  between 


lyo  THE   NILGIRIS 


me  and  the  ravine.  At  the  same  moment  he  turned 
his  head  and  gazed  long  at  the  valley  below.  I 
could  hear  the  faint  tinkle  of  voices,  and  the  yelp  of 
a  dog  at  my  bungalow.  Would  the  grand  beast  turn 
back  ?  Or,  if  he  came  on,  could  he  miss  seeing  the 
naked  machan  and  its  occupant,  especially  as  I  was  so 
close  to  the  ground,  and  he  would  have  to  walk  straight 
down  the  hill  to  the  kill  ?  The  tiger  himself  ended 
the  suspense  by  advancing,  satisfied  apparently  that 
all  was  right.  His  great  head  rolled  from  side  to 
side,  and  his  forearms  were  bowed  out  by  the  mighty 
muscles  which  I  could  see  rippling  at  every  step. 
Then  the  expected  happened.  When  one  hundred 
and  twenty  yards  away  (I  measured  the  distance 
accurately  the  next  morning)  he  saw  me,  and  stopped 
instantly,  rigid  as  a  statue,  with  his  face  drawn  into  an 
angry  snarl  as  he  looked  up  at  me.  It  was  taxing  my 
Paradox  almost  beyond  its  powers,  but  the  next 
moment  the  tiger  would  have  been  off,  so  aiming 
behind  his  shoulder  at  the  ridge  of  his  back,  I  fired. 
And  my  grand  gun  did  not  fail  me,  for  the  shot 
was  answered  by  a  tell-tale  roar,  and  I  heard  the 
bullet  go  home.  For  a  second  I  was  blinded  by  the 
smoke  ;  then  I  saw  the  tiger  flying  down  the  hillside 
with  his  tail  in  the  air.  A  branch  of  the  tree  jutted 
across  my  perch  in  such  fashion  that  I  could  not 
use  my  left  barrel,  and  the  tiger  plunged  into  the 
jungle  without  my  being  able  to  fire  another  shot. 
I  stood  up  and  listened.  A  moment,  and  then  I 
heard  from  the  edge  of  the  shola  four  or  five  bubbling 
groans,  followed  by  a  long  drawn  gasp  :  that  the  tiger 
was  giving  up  the  ghost  I  felt  sure. 

The  lines  were  so  close  that  I  had  scarcely  reached 
the  ground  when  I  was  surrounded  by  an  eager  crowd 


.  THE   TIGER  171 


of  coolies  who  had  come  up  at  sound  of  my  shot. 
I  explained  what  had  happened,  and  one  or  two 
adventurous  spirits  were  for  following  at  once,  as 
"  the  dhoray  always  kills  with  one  bullet ! ! !  "  Flattery- 
prompted  no  doubt  by  the  thought  of  the  "  enam  " 
to  come !  "  Yes,  go  by  all  means,"  said  Ugaran,  my 
old  cattleman,  to  the  boldest  of  the  crowd,  "  the  tiger 
has  a  bullet  in  his  stomach  instead  of  half  a  cow,  and 
in  his  present  state  of  mind  no  doubt  a  fat  young  idiot 
will  soothe  him  !  " 

At  eight  next  morning  I  went  to  the  spot.  With 
Chic  Mara  I  made  a  cast  all  round  the  L-shaped  shola, 
but  the  only  track  leading  out  was  the  one  which  I 
had  seen  the  morning  before,  so,  dead  or  alive,  it  was 
clear  that  the  tiger  was  still  in  the  cover.  Then  I 
went  back  to  the  kill,  and  took  up  the  track  with  half 
a  dozen  reliable  men  from  the  point  where  the  tiger 
was  standing  when  I  fired.  As  far  as  the  shola  it 
was  well  marked  with  blood,  but  once  inside,  not  a 
drop  of  blood  could  we  find.  However,  the  pugs 
were  clear  enough,  and  step  by  step  we  followed 
these.  Chic  Mara  doing  the  tracking,  while  I  kept 
my  eyes  in  front.  A  few  yards  in,  we  reached  the 
bank  of  a  nullah  down  which  a  tiny  stream  trickled  ; 
and  below  us  in  the  watercourse  I  caught  sight  of 
something  yellow.  Stopping  the  men  by  a  sign,  I 
crept  forward,  and  very  soon  I  made  out  the  black 
stripes  clearly.  I  could  detect  no  sign  of  breathing, 
and  I  heard  the  hum  of  flies  ;  but  I  determined  to 
make  sure,  so  told  Chic  Mara  to  throw  a  stone. 
It  hit  the  tiger  on  the  body,  but  there  was  no 
'response.  "  It's  all  right,"  I  shouted,  "  come  on," 
and  the  next  moment  the  dead  tiger  was  the  centre 
of    a    jabbering    crowd.     He    was    broadside   on   to 


172  THE   NILGIRIS 


my  right  when  I  fired,  and  my  bullet  had  caught 
him  fair  behind  the  shoulder,  and  traversing  the  body 
obliquely,  was  seated  in  the  skin  on  the  opposite 
side  ;  yet  he  had  gone  full  a  hundred  yards,  with  quite 
enough  fight  left  in  him  to  have  made  short  work  of 
anyone  in  his  course. 

He  was  a  grand  brute,  in  the  primest  condition,  very 
massive,  and  with  enormous  muscular  development. 
Following  the  curves  of  his  body  he  measured  ten  feet 
one  inch,  and  nine  feet  eight  inches  between  uprights 
driven  in  at  tip  of  nose  and  tip  of  tail. 

Let  me  give  one  more  instance  of  the  luck  that 
sometimes  awaits  the  shooter  from  the  machan,  even 
when  conditions  seem  to  be  all  against  him — those 
rare  slices  of  luck  that  induce  him  to  climb  into  his 
uncomfortable  perch  on  every  opportunity,  in  spite  of 
many  heartbreaking  vigils.  One  day  I  rode  over  to 
see  a  neighbour  on  a  tea  estate  about  five  miles  away  ; 
and  on  reaching  his  bungalow,  I  found  R.  in  a  great 
state  of  excitement,  for  an  hour  before  my  arrival 
a  tiger  had  killed  a  bullock  in  the  swamp  below  the 
estate,  about  half  a  mile  away.  R.  cared  less  for  sport, 
I  think,  than  any  man  I  have  ever  seen  ;  but  he  was  a. 
connoisseur  in  cattle,  and  as  the  slain  bullock  was  one 
of  his  best,  he  was  keen  to  get  the  tiger,  and  had 
already  sent  men  down  with  ropes  and  barcutties  to 
build  a  7nachan.  After  breakfast  we  went  down  to 
look  at  the  place.  Round  the  swamp — at  the  edge  of 
which  the  kill  was  lying — the  jungle  was  very  light, 
and  consisted  merely  of  large  clumps  of  bamboo  with 
a  few  slender  trees.  A  more  unpromising  spot  for  a 
night  watch  could  not  be  conceived,  and  I  told  R.  he 
had  better  give  the  bullock  to  his  coolies,  and  abandon 
all  hope  of  getting  the  tiger.      But  he  would  not  be 


THE   TIGER  173 


persuaded,  so  we  set  about  making  the  inachan.  As 
there  was  no  tree  within  shooting  distance,  we  sent 
some  Kurumbas  to  square  off  the  top  of  a  bamboo 
clump,  and  on  this  the  platform  was  built.  When 
finished  it  was  plainly  visible  from  where  the  kill  was 
lying,  and  from  the  hill  above,  which  ran  sharply  up 
from  the  swamp,  I  had  intended  to  get  back  to  my 
bungalow  that  afternoon,  and  though  R,  begged  me  to 
stop  and  sit  up  with  him — offering  me  his  only  weapon, 
a  repeating  Winchester  shot  gun  for  which  he  had 
some  bullet  cartridges — the  prospect  was  not  tempting 
enough  to  make  me  alter  my  determination.  That  R. 
would  have  a  blank  viml  I  felt  was  a  foreP"one  con- 
elusion  in  the  circumstances. 

Chic  Mara  happened  to  be  with  me,  and  R.  asked 
me  to  let  him  stay,  none  of  his  own  men,  he  said, 
knowing  much  about  sport.  To  this  I  agreed,  and 
wishing  R.  good  luck,  and  telling  Chic  Mara  to  be 
sure  and  show  the  gentleman  the  tiger,  I  rode  off. 

Early  next  morning  Chic  Mara  turned  up  at  my 
bungalow  ;  and  the  previous  evening's  adventure  had 
best  be  told  in  his  own  words.  "  We  got  up  into  the 
machan,'''  said  he,  "  and  waited  a  little  while.  The 
dhoray  told  me  to  watch,  and  he  lay  down  on  the 
machan  and  smoked.  Suddenly  the  tiger  walked  out 
from  behind  a  bamboo  clump,  and  sat  down  near  the 
kill.  I  touched  the  dhoray  and  said,  '  The  tiger  has 
come,'  and  the  dhoray  sat  up.  I  said,  '  Shoot,  sir, 
shoot,'  but  the  dhoray  didn't  shoot."  Here  Mara 
interrupted  his  narrative  to  cover  a  grin  with  his  hand. 
"  Go  on,"  I  said,  "  if  the  gentleman  didn't  shoot,  what 
did  he  do.?"  "  He  said,  'Mara!  Mara!  the  tiger  is 
looking  at  us,'  and  then  he  lay  down  on  his  stomach 
in  the  machan.    Then  the  tiger  gave  a  '  wough  wough,' 


174  THE   NILGIRIS 


and  bolted  back  into  the  jungle  behind.  The  dhoray 
nearly  fell  off  the  7nackan,  but  I  held  him  ;  and 
after  a  time  we  got  down  and  went  back  to  the 
bungalow."  That  was  Chic  Mara's  marvellous  story, 
and  that  it  was  true  R.  subsequently  confessed.  But 
over  my  next  meeting  with  R.  I  will  draw  a  veil ! 

The  most  singular  rencontre  I  ever  had  with  a  tiger 
did  not  occur  on  the  Nilgiris,  and  so  properly  it  ought 
not  to  find  a  place  in  this  chapter.  But  it  was  so 
curious  in  some  ways  that  perhaps  it  may  bear  recital. 

I  was  staying  for  a  few  days  with  a  friend  whose 
camp  was  pitched  on  a  range  of  low  hills  covered  with 
scrub  jungle.  As  an  inducement,  my  friend  had  told 
me  in  his  letter  of  invitation  that  there  were  plenty  of 
peafowl  and  spotted  deer  to  be  had  within  easy  dis- 
tance of  his  camp,  and  perhaps  a  tiger  ;  and  that  if 
anyone  could  put  me  on  to  the  latter,  he  had  the  man 
with  him  in  the  person  of  the  most  noted  shikari  on 
the  whole  range.  On  my  arrival,  I  lost  no  time  in 
making  the  acquaintance  of  this  noted  sportsman.  .1 
number  amongst  my  shikari  friends  of  the  various 
jungle  tribes  in  Wynaad — Nayakas,  Kurumbas,  and 
Paniyans — many  curious  specimens  of  humanity  ;  but  ■ 
anything  so  bizarre  as  the  mannikin  to  whom  I  was 
then  introduced,  I  have  never  seen.  He  was  a  little 
wizened  creature  about  four  feet  in  height,  with  a  few 
long  matted  locks  of  grey  hair  hanging  down  on  his 
shoulders,  and  with  stomach  and  limbs  so  wrinkled 
and  shrunken  that  he  must,  if  looks  count  for  any- 
thing, have  been  a  centenarian  at  least.  His  only 
clothing  consisted  of  a  dirty  scrap  of  rag  brought 
between  his  thighs  and  tucked  into  a  string  round  his 
waist  before  and  behind  ;  and  in  his  hand  he  carried 
a  diminutive  bow,  while  half  a  dozen  toy  arrows  were 


THE   TIGER  175 


also  tucked  into  his  waist  string.  His  face  simply 
defies  description  :  it  must  suffice  to  say  that  by  com- 
parison a  monkey  would  be  an  Apollo.  But  H. 
assured  me  that  despite  his  looks  this  little  jungle- 
wallah  was  a  paragon  as  a  shikari  and  tracker  ;  and 
though  on  closer  acquaintance  I  found  he  was  not  to  be 
compared  with  my  Nayakas  in  the  latter  capacity,  I 
soon  discovered  that  he  really  did  possess  an  unrivalled 
knowledge  of  the  denizens  of  his  native  jungles  and 
their  ways. 

The  weather  was  blazing  hot,  so  my  shooting 
excursions  were  restricted  to  the  early  morning  and 
late  afternoon.  Spotted  deer  there  were  in  plenty  ; 
but  all  the  stags  I  saw  carried  miserable  heads,  and 
for  the  first  two  days  I  did  not  fire  a  shot — to  the 
dismay  of  my  companion,  who  patted  his  corrugated 
stomach,  and  by  other  unmistakable  signs  gave  me  to 
understand  that  he  craved  for  meat.  He  spoke  a 
jargon  I  could  not  follow  ;  and  as  I  was  not  such  an 
adept  in  sign-language  as  himself,  I  had  some  difficulty 
in  making  him  comprehend  that  I  shot  for  trophies  and 
not  for  meat.  At  last  I  managed  to  convey  to  him  that 
my  hopes  were  centred  on  a  tiger,  and  that  it  would  be 
to  his  advantage  if  he  helped  me  to  realise  them.  For 
the  next  two  days  I  did  not  see  him  ;  but  on  the 
third  morning  he  turned  up  with  the  welcome  news 
that  a  tiger  had  killed  a  sambur  fawn,  and  had  been 
marked  down  in  a  nullah  about  three  miles  away. 
From  the  old  man's  description,  the  place  seemed  an 
easy  one  to  beat ;  but  the  nearest  village  of  junglemen 
was  a  long  way  off,  and  in  a  direction  opposite  to  the 
cover  in  which  the  tiger  was  lying  up  ;  and  the  shikari 
said  he  could  not  get  them  together  till  the  following 
day,  as  they  would  all  be  absent  from  their  village  by 


176  THE   NILGIRIS 


the  time  he  reached  it.  He  therefore  proposed  that  he 
and  I  should  go  to  the  nullah  at  once,  and  take  up  a 
post  on  the  road  by  which  the  tiger  would  return  to  the 
kill.  The  scheme  did  not  promise  much  chance  of 
success  ;  but  as  our  camp  was  in  such  a  quiet  secluded 
spot,  and  the  hills  were  almost  uninhabited,  there  was 
a  possibility  that  this  tiger  might  break  the  usual  rule, 
and  return  to  his  kill  before  dark.      So  we  started. 

It  was  well  on  into  the  afternoon  by  the  time  we 
reached  the  kill.  The  sambur,  a  young  hind,  had  been 
pulled  down  close  to  a  small  shola,  lying  in  a  narrow 
valley  between  two  hills,  and  had  been  dragged  to  the 
edge  of  the  cover.  The  shikari  said  the  tiger  was  in 
a  larger  shola  a  mile  away,  and  that  about  midway 
between  the  two  covers  was  a  small  strip  of  bamboo 
jungle  through  which  the  tiger  would  be  certain  to  pass 
on  his  way  back.  In  this  last,  he  suggested  we  should 
wait.  After  leaving  the  kill  we  followed  a  deer  track 
which  led  round  a  very  steep  hill,  and  about  four  hundred 
yards  further  on  I  got  a  good  view  of  the  country. 
From  this  point  the  track  led  down  to  the  shola  in 
which  we  were  to  secrete  ourselves  :  from  the  opposite 
side  of  this  it  wound  round  another  hill :  and  some- 
distance  ahead  lay  the  shola  to  which  the  tiger  had 
been  tracked — a  large  dense  cover  in  the  fold  of  a  hill. 
The  shikari  had  just  made  me  understand  the  position 
by  signs,  when  I  heard  the  peculiar  moaning  noise  a 
tiger  sometimes  makes,  and  the  next  instant  the  beast 
himself  emerged  from  the  small  shola  below  us.  I 
squatted  down  at  once,  pulling  the  shikari  down  with 
me.  The  hillside  was  covered  with  short  grass,  and 
bare  of  cover  of  any  kind  ;  and  knowing  that  a  tiger 
has  the  keenest  sight  of  any  animal  in  the  world,  I 
expected  the  movement  to  catch  his  eye,  and  to  see 


THE  TIGER  177 


him  turn  tail  at  once.  But  to  my  intense  astonishment, 
he  held  steadily  on  up  the  deer  track  towards  us.  He 
was  then  about  two  hundred  yards  away,  and  as  he 
came  straight  at  us,  I  realised  just  why  we  were 
invisible.  We  were  exactly  between  the  tiger  and  the 
westering  sun,  which  blazed  immediately  above  us  as 
we  sat  on  the  grass,  and  blinded  him  every  time 
he  looked  up.  He  made  a  wonderful  picture  as  he 
came  on  at  a  rolling  walk.  Facing  us  so  directly,  his 
head  seemed  abnormally  large  ;  while  the  bright  light 
striking  full  in  his  face  made  his  eyes  shine  like 
emeralds,  and  threw  the  stripes  on  his  cheeks  into  high 
relief.  In  for  a  penny,  in  for  a  pound,  and  I  deter- 
mined to  wait  till  he  was  close  before  firinor.  When 
he  was  within  fifty  yards,  I  saw  the  whole  of  his  chest ; 
and,  aiming  for  the  centre,  I  gently  pressed  the  trigger. 
The  result  was  eminently  satisfactory,  for  the  tiger  fell 
backwards  with  the  roar  that  always  betokens  a  mortal 
wound — made  one  or  two  desperate  claws  at  the 
ground — and  then  went  rolling  down  the  steep  hill- 
side. When  we  got  down,  he  was  quite  dead,  and  on 
skinning  him  I  found  that  my  bullet  had  passed 
through  his  heart.  He  was  a  small  tiger,  eight  feet 
nine  inches  long,  but  beautifully  marked. 

A  friend  named  Hamilton  and  I  were  at  break- 
fast one  morning  in  my  bungalow,  when,  happening 
to  glance  through  the  open  window,  I  saw  old 
Kempa  Nayaka  standing  outside.  On  asking  him 
what  he  wanted,  to  our  great  surprise  he  said,  "  There 
is  a  tiger  down  there,"  pointing  to  a  small  ravine 
three  hundred  yards  below  the  bungalow.  "  A 
tiger?  "  I  asked.  "  What  on  earth  is  he  doing  there  at 
this  time  of  day  ?  "  "I  don't  know,"  said  Kempa, 
"  but  he  is  there,  and  the  dhoray  can  shoot  him  if  he 

N 


178  THE   NILGIRIS 


comes  with  me.  My  women  went  down  into  the  ravine 
to  gather  firewood  a  Httle  while  ago,  and  they  saw 
the  tiger."  That  a  tiger  would  lie  up  in  broad  day- 
light in  such  a  small  patch  of  jungle,  and  so  close  to 
the  bungalow,  seemed  most  unlikely  to  both  Hamilton 
and  myself;  and  we  concluded  that  the  Nayaka  women 
had  mistaken  a  stump  or  a  log  for  a  tiger.  However, 
as  we  had  nothing  better  to  do,  we  decided  to  investi- 
gate. Hamilton  would  not  take  a  rifle,  so  carrying 
my  Express,  we  started  under  the  guidance  of  the 
Nayaka.  Just  below  my  bungalow  runs  the  public 
road  ;  and  Kempa  took  us  down  to  this,  and  below 
this  again  for  fifty  yards,  to  the  stream  which  courses 
down  the  valley.  Here  there  is  a  small  cover, 
not  more  than  an  acre  in  extent,  which  we  skirted 
almost  to  the  end,  when  Kempa  pointed  to  a  patch  of 
high  grass  in  front,  and  whispering  "he's  in  that," 
he  incontinently  bolted.  Hamilton  also  beat  a  retreat, 
and  I  saw  him  disappear  round  a  big  blackwood  which 
grew  at  the  edge  of  the  shola,  some  distance  behind. 
Here  was  a  nice  situation!  Probably,  had  I  been 
quite  certain  that  Kempa's  tale  was  true,  I  would  have 
taken  discretion  to  be  the  better  part  of  valour,  and 
executed  a  strategic  movement  to  the  rear  as 
well.  But  as  I  still  thought  he  must  have  made  a 
mistake,  I  cocked  both  barrels  of  my  rifle,  and  advanced 
step  by  step,  keeping — as  may  be  imagined — a  very 
bright  lookout  ahead.  I  had  got  to  within  twenty  yards 
of  the  patch  of  grass,  when  I  saw  a  tiger's  yellow 
head  rise  slowly  above  it.  He  bared  his  fangs  in 
a  fiendish  grin  ;  and  so  close  was  I  that  I  could  see 
the  devil  in  his  eyes.  It  was  a  tense  moment ;  but 
retreat  was  now  out  of  the  question,  so  dropping  on 
one  knee,  I  took  a  fine  sight  below  the  brute's  eyes. 


THE  TIGER  179 


My  little  rifle  served  me  well,  for  the  tiger  fell  stone 
dead  with  a  bullet  through  his  brain. 

The  reason  why  he  had  lain  up  in  the  grass,  and 
probably  also  the  reason  why  he  had  not  charged  on 
seeing  me  approach,  was  apparent  when  we  went  up 
to  him  :  his  near  forepaw  was  crushed  to  a  jelly. 
Otherwise  he  was  in  perfect  condition,  and  in  the 
prime  of  life  ;  a  grand  beast  in  every  way.  What 
caused  the  accident  to  his  foot  I  was  never  able  to 
learn  with  certainty  ;  but  some  little  time  afterwards  I 
heard  that  a  tiger  had  jumped  into  a  buffalo  kraal 
about  a  mile  off  a  night  or  two  before  my  adventure, 
and  had  met  with  a  very  warm  reception  ;  and  I  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  this  was  my  tiger,  and  that  his 
foot  had  been  trodden  on  in  the  meUe. 

The  tiger — saving  always  a  confirmed  man-eater — 
is  by  nature  an  exceedingly  shy  animal,  and  just  as 
anxious  to  avoid  man  as  man  is  usually  to  avoid  him. 
Hence  it  is  that  every  shikari  who  has  shot  much  in 
Indian  jungles  is  struck  on  looking  back  by  the  very 
few  occasions  on  which  he  has  seen  a  tiger  when  he 
has  not  actually  been  in  search  of  him,  though  every 
such  shikari  has  probably  been  often  much  nearer  to  a 
tiger  than  he  guessed.  Wandering  in  the  Wynaad 
jungles,  and  especially  in  those  jungles  where  deer  are 
numerous,  I  have  frequently  noticed  the  perfectly 
fresh  tracks  of  a  tiger,  without  catching  a  glimpse  of 
the  animal  itself,  and  that  is  doubtless  a  common 
experience.  Many  a  time  I  have  come  on  pugs  near 
streams  so  fresh  that  the  water  was  running  into  them, 
though  a  search  for  the  owner  was  invariably  futile. 
A  tiger  decamps  at  the  very  first  inkling  that  men  are 
in  his  neighbourhood,  and  he  possesses  such  a 
marvellous  faculty  for  escaping  observation  in  even  the 

N    2 


i8o  THE   NILGIRIS 


lightest  cover,  that — unless  the  sportsman  is  raised 
above  the  level  of  the  ground — the  chances  are  a 
hundred  to  one  he  will  slink  awav  without  beinor  seen. 
I  remember  once  beating  a  cover  with  Hamilton  into 
which  one  of  our  men  had  seen  a  stag  enter  earlier  in 
the  morning.  It  was  a  long  shola  in  the  valley  between 
two  hills,  and  Hamilton  followed  the  beaters  down  one 
side  while  I  came  down  the  other.  I  had  reached  the 
bottom  of  the  valley,  and  could  see  Hamilton  on  the 
opposite  hill,  not  two  hundred  yards  away.  Below  me 
was  a  patch  of  unburnt  grass  about  three  feet  high  ; 
and  happening  to  look  down  at  this,  I  saw  the  brindled 
mask  of  a  tio-er  orazins:  at  me  over  it.  Before  I  could 
raise  my  rifle,  he  subsided  into  the  grass.  Through 
this  ran  a  stream,  sparsely  fringed  with  low  bushes, 
and  I  ran  along-  the  hillside  above  the  stream,  feelinor 
confident  I  should  get  a  shot  at  the  tiger  creeping 
through  the  brushwood  ;  but  I  reached  the  edge  of 
another  large  shola  which  lay  further  down,  without 
even  a  sight  of  him.  We  found  his  tracks  leading 
into  this  second  cover  ;  and  to  have  crossed  the  space 
between  the  two  sholas  as  he  did,  without  exposing 
his  striped  hide,  he  must  have  crawled  along  with  his 
belly  on  the  ground.  Looking  at  the  comparatively 
open  stretch  between  the  sholas,  no  one  would  have 
supposed  it  possible  for  a  tiger  to  cross  without  being 
seen. 

I  have,  however,  several  times  met  tigers  unex- 
pectedly, the  tiger  on  all  these  occasions  being  unaware 
of  my  approach,  or  not  having  had  time  to  slink  away 
unobserved  ;  and  some  of  these  rencontres  are  perhaps 
w^orth  r^:lating,  if  only  to  show  how  necessary  it  is  for 
the  shikari  to  be  always  on  the  qui  vive.  One  after- 
noon  I  was  sitting  in  the  verandah  of  my  bungalow, 


THE   TIGER  i8i 


sipping  my  four  o'clock  cup  of  coffee,  and  reading  my 
Mail,  and  I  noticed  that  the  sambur  in  my  preserve 
were  unusually  vocal.  Opposite  to  my  bungalow 
rises  a  lofty  ridge,  which  culminates  in  Marpanmadi 
Peak,  the  highest  in  the  district ;  and  from  the  hillside 
bell  after  bell  rano-  across  the  vallev,  now  from  one 
point,  now  from  another.  It  struck  me  that  a  tiger 
was  about,  but  as  looking  for  him  in  the  continuous 
cover  would  be  tantamount  to  looking  for  the  pro- 
verbial needle  in  the  haystack,  I  did  not  think  it 
worth  while  to  investio^ate  further,  just  then  a  coolv 
who  was  working  near  the  bungalow  ran  up  to  tell  me 
he  had  seen  a  stag  come  down  the  face  of  the  hill 
towards  the  coffee.  From  the  line  the  stag  had  taken 
it  seemed  to  me  probable  that  he  would  cross  a  swamp 
about  half  a  mile  away  ;  so,  slipping  a  couple  of 
cartridges  into  my  Paradox.  I  gave  the  gim  to  the 
cooly  and  told  him  to  follow  me.  I  had  gone  along 
the  cartroad  for  perhaps  two  hundred  yards  from  my 
bungalow,  when  I  heard  a  heavy  animal  galloping 
over  the  carpet  of  dry  leaves  in  the  thick  coffee  below, 
and  the  next  instant  a  largre  tis^er  bounded  on  to  the 


road,  not  ten  yards  in  front  of  me.  Our  surprise  was 
mutual  ;  and  while  we  looked  at  each  other,  I  put  my 
hand  behind  me  for  the  o-un.  But  alas !  no  mm  was 
forthcoming,  and  in  a  second  the  tiger,  with  a  grunt, 
jumped  up  the  high  bank  into  the  coffee  above.  I 
turned  to  look  for  the  cooly,  only  to  see  him  "legging 
it "  down  the  road  for  all  he  was  worth.  Roaring 
to  him  to  stop,  I  caught  him.  and  seizing  the  gun 
I  ran  along  the  edge  of  the  cultivation,  in  the  hope  of 
cutting  the  tiger  off  some  distance  higher  up,  where 
the  cottee  joined  the  jungle.  But  the  hill  was  steep 
and  my  progress  was  slow  ;  and  when  I  reached  the 


i82  THE   NILGIRIS 


cover,  I  was  not  surprised  to  find  that  the  tiger  had 
been  quicker  than  I,  and  had  entered  it  before  I 
arrived.  Never  was  the  truth  of  the  axiom  "Always 
carry  your  rifle  yourself"  more  forcibly  borne  in  upon 
me  than  on  this  memorable  afternoon. 

One  day  my  henchman,  Chic  Mara,  came  to  tell  me 
that  on  several  occasions,  when  going  his  rounds, 
he  had  seen  a  big  stag  feeding  near  a  strip  of  jungle 
at  the  far  end  of  the  estate.  I  could  not  spare  time 
that  day  ;  but  a  few  mornings  after  I  left  my  bungalow 
early,  with  the  view  of  looking  up  this  stag.  He  had 
taken  up  his  quarters  in  a  spot  known  locally  as  the 
"  Devil's  Crag."  Here,  at  the  summit  of  a  high  hill, 
a  huge  mass  of  rock  juts  out  from  the  hillside,  with  a 
top  as  flat  as  a  table,  and  a  sheer  drop  of  about  a 
hundred  feet  to  the  valley  below.  From  the  base 
of  the  rock  a  thin  fringe  of  scrub  jungle  runs  down 
for  a  couple  of  hundred  yards,  and  at  this  point 
the  coffee  begins.  I  reached  the  rock  just  as  day 
was  breaking,  and  creeping  to  the  edge,  I  saw  the 
stag  feeding  in  the  cup  below.  He  was  not  more  than 
seventy  or  eighty  yards  distant,  and  I  knocked  him 
over  with  a  bullet  from  my  Paradox.  On  picking 
himself  up,  he  dashed  into  the  cover,  and  Chic  Mara 
and  I  went  round  to  a  point  from  which  it  was  possible 
to  descend  into  the  valley.  We  scrambled  down, 
and  on  entering  the  jungle  found  the  stag  at  his 
last  gasp.  I  finished  him  with  another  shot  in  the 
head. 

It  so  happened  that  I  was  weeding  the  coffee  near 
by  at  the  time  ;  so,  having  secured  the  stag's  head,  I 
went  through  the  strip  of  jungle,  and  sat  down  on  a 
rock  in  the  coffee  to  await  the  arrival  of  the  coolies. 
About  half-past  seven  they  turned  up,  and  I  saw  the 


THE   TIGER  183 


Maistry  give  them  their  Hnes  some  distance  below  me. 
I  lit  my  pipe,  and  watched  them  as  they  worked  up 
towards  me.  The  line  of  coolies  had  advanced  to 
within  fifty  or  sixty  yards  of  where  I  was  sitting,  when 
I  heard  a  woman  yell  "aiyo,  aiyo  "  at  the  top  of  her 
voice,  and  simultaneously  I  heard  the  short  roar  of  a 
charging  tiger.  Glancing  down  I  saw  the  beast  reared 
up  to  his  full  height  above  the  coffee  bushes.  He 
towered  over  the  woman,  and  I  fully  thought  she 
would  be  struck  down.  This  denouement  was  so 
unexpected  that  it  took  me  a  moment  to  realise  the 
situation  :  then  I  reached  for  the  gun  lying  at  my 
side ;  but  before  I  could  pick  it  up,  the  tiger  subsided 
into  the  coffee.  I  pushed  my  way  towards  the  woman 
as  fast  as  I  could ;  but  the  coffee  was  thick  and 
matted  ;  and  long  before  I  could  reach  her  the  tiger 
had  slunk  away  in  the  dense  cover  without  exposing 
himself,  and  I  never  saw  him  again.  This  was  a  some- 
what remarkable  experience,  for  my  two  shots  at  the 
stag  an  hour  before  had  both  been  fired  at  a  distance 
of  two  hundred  yards,  quite  close  enough  to  startle 
the  tiger ;  and  as  he  had  been  lying  all  the  time  within 
fifty  yards  of  me,  he  must  have  heard  me  talking  to  Chic 
Mara  as  we  sat  waiting  for  the  coolies.  On  thinking 
the  adventure  over,  it  struck  me  that  the  only  possible 
explanation  of  the  bold  front  shown  by  the  tiger — so 
utterly  different  from  a  tiger's  usual  behaviour  when 
men  are  near — was  that  the  beast  was  a  tigress  with 
cubs  concealed  close  at  hand  ;  and  that  she  probably 
hoped  by  keeping  perfectly  still  to  escape  observation. 
I  sent  Chic  Mara  for  my  Kurumbas,  and  we  made  a 
systematic  search  through  the  coffee,  and  in  the  jungle 
and  grass  above,  but  no  cubs  could  we  find.  The 
cooly,  I   need  scarcely  add,  was  in  a  state  of  collapse, 


i84  THE   NILGIRIS 


and  it  was  some  time  before  she  recovered  sufficiently 
from  her  fright  to  walk  back  to  her  lines.  But  there 
is  a  sovereign  panacea  for  all  a  native's  ills  ;  and  after 
the  application  of  the  salve  that  evening,  in  the  shape 
of  five  rupees,  she  made  a  remarkably  quick  recovery. 
Her  escape  was  certainly  a  narrow  one,  and  afforded 
striking  proof  that  a  tiger — always  presuming  he  is 
unwounded — is  at  heart  an  arrant  coward,  and  even 
when  he  makes  a  demonstration,  has  not  pluck  enough 
to  carry  his  charge  home.  His  heart  always  fails  him 
at  the  last  moment. 

There  is  a  public  road  running  through  my  estate, 
connecting  it  with  the  village  of  Nellakota  on  the  one 
side,  and  with  the  village  of  Devala  on  the  other.  Just 
at  Devala  it  joins  the  great  road  from  Ootacamund  to 
Calicut ;  and  from  a  point  two  miles  beyond  my  estate  to 
this  junction,  a  series  of  swamps  lie  below,  and  parallel 
with,  the  road.  Now  swamps  mean  green  grass  all 
the  year  round,  and  grass  means  Badaga  villages,  and 
Badaga  villages  mean  buffaloes,  and  buffaloes  mean 
tigers.  Hence  this  road  is  a  favourite  promenade  for 
both  tigers  and  leopards  ;  and  I  seldom  pass  along  it 
without  seeing  the  fresh  tracks  of  either  or  both. 
Frequently  too  the  "  beat  "  constable,  when  he  brings 
up  his  book  of  a  morning  for  signature,  tells  me  a  lurid 
tale  of  having  come  face  to  face  with  a  tiger  on  this 
road,  when  on  his  way  to  meet  his  fellow  "  beat."  One 
September  a  few  years  ago,  tigers'  tracks  were  even 
more  numerous  than  usual,  and  the  constable's  tales 
more  lurid  than  ever  ;  and  I  was  thinking  I  ought  by 
some  means  to  plan  an  interview  with  one  of  the  striped 
gentlemen  who  were  using  the  road  so  freely.  But 
these  thoughts  did  not  take  tangible  shape  till  the 
climax   came    one   afternoon    when    I   was   out    for   a 


THE   TIGER  185 


stroll.  At  one  point  in  this  road,  where  four  roads 
meet  in  the  shape  of  a  cross,  is  an  enormous  outcrop  of 
rock  forming  the  crest  of  the  ridge  which  starts  in  front 
of  my  bungalow,  and  runs  in  a  semicircle  to  Devala. 
This  outcrop  rises  in  a  bold  bluff  with  sheer  sides 
and  a  jagged  summit  like  the  edge  of  a  gigantic  saw. 
Uprearing  itself  in  this  singular  fashion  amongst 
rounded  grass  hills,  the  mass  of  rock  at  once  strikes 
the  eye ;  but  the  most  curious  feature  about  the  out- 
crop is  that  it  is  an  isolated  and  unique  example  of  the 
Dharwar  series  amidst  the  archaean  gneiss  of  this  part 
of  Wynaad.  Having  an  hour  or  two  to  spare  on  this 
particular  afternoon,  I  determined  to  climb  up  to  these 
rocks  ;  and  giving  a  hammer  and  a  basket  to  a  cooly, 
we  set  off.  Between  the  road  and  the  base  of  the 
bluff  is  a  stretch  of  high  dJiubbay  grass,  interspersed 
with  small  trees.  We  were  pushing  our  way  through 
this,  when  with  a  loud  "  waugh  waugh  "  a  tiger  sprang 
up  in  the  grass  in  front,  and  jumped  down  on  to  the 
road.  I  caught  a  glimpse  of  him,  and  had  time  to 
note  that  he  was  a  large  and  exceptionally  light- 
coloured  beast.  This  then  was  the  retreat  of  one  of 
the  tigers  who  so  frequently  left  their  tracks  on  the 
road  :  possibly  of  the  one  who — if  the  police  con- 
stables were  to  be  credited — often  prolonged  his 
promenade  till  the  sun  was  well  up.  Early  next 
mornino-  I  sent  some  Kurumbas  to  build  a  machan  in 
a  tree  on  the  road,  and  just  at  dusk  I  climbed  into  it. 
Night  shooting,  even  under  the  most  favourable  con- 
ditions, is  unsatisfactory  work  ;  and  as  there  was  at  the 
time  only  a  half  moon,  I  should  have  been  wiser — as 
events  turned  out — to  have  deferred  my  watch  till  she 
reached  the  full.  But  September  is  a  showery  month, 
and  as  the  weather  was  fine  just  then,  I  judged  it  best 


i86  THE   NILGIRIS 


to  get  through  my  vigil  while    I   could  depend  on  a 
clear  night, 

I  had  taken  a  Kurumba  with  me,  and  as  I  did  not 
expect  to  see  the  tiger  till  the  early  morning,  if  at  all, 
I  told  my  companion  to  take  the  first  watch,  and  to 
rouse  me  when  the  moon  reached  a  point  which  I 
judged  would  be  about  midnight.  I  had  taken  the 
precaution  to  have  the  niachan  roofed,  as  a  protec- 
tion against  a  possible  shower,  and  with  a  soft  bed 
spread  out  on  the  floor  of  the  platform  I  was  so  snug 
that  very  soon  I  dropped  off  to  sleep.  Suddenly  I 
woke,  and  looking  at  my  watch,  found  it  was  a  quarter 
past  one.  The  Kurumba  was  curled  up  in  a  corner 
of  the  machan,  snoring  lustily  ;  and  as  it  was  probable 
that  he  had  gone  to  sleep  soon  after  I  did,  there 
was  a  likelihood  that  the  tiger  had  passed  unobserved 
and  that  my  trouble  had  all  been  in  vain.  However, 
being  awake,  I  determined  to  watch  till  morning,  so  I 
lit  my  pipe  and  settled  myself  to  keep  a  lookout  in  the 
direction  from  which  I  thought  it  likely  the  tiger  would 
approach.  In  this  position  the  moon  was  at  my  back  ; 
but  the  light  was  so  bad  owing  to  the  trees  which 
overhung  the  road  on  both  sides,  that  I  could  only 
distinguish  objects  for  a  distance  of  twenty  or  thirty 
yards,  and  then  very  indistinctly.  In  the  opposite 
direction  a  straight  stretch  of  road  led  into  a  shola 
about  fifty  yards  away.  Here  I  had  a  better  view,  as 
the  road  was  comparatively  open  up  to  the  cover. 
The  moon  dipped  lower  and  lower  till  she  sank  behind 
the  shola,  and  this  plunged  the  road  to  my  right  in 
darkness,  though  sufficient  light  filtered  through  the 
jungle  to  give  me  still  a  misty  view  down  the  road  to 
my  left.  For  a  couple  of  hours  I  waited,  but  nothing 
came  :    not  a    sound    broke  the    stillness :  and   I   told 


J 


THE  TIGER  187 


myself  I  was  a  fool  to  be  perched  up  in  a  tree  instead 
of  being  comfortably  asleep  at  home,  after  the  vows  I 
had  so  often  registered  not  to  let  anything  tempt  me 
again  into  that  most  aggravating  of  all  forms  of  shoot- 
ing— a  night  watch. 

But  softly,  softly  :  surely  there  is  something  moving 
at  the  edge  of  the  jungle  ?  I  clutch  my  rifle,  and  peer 
into  the  gloom,  but  the  light  is  so  cruelly  dim  that, 
strain  my  eyes  as  I  may,  I  can  distinguish  nothing. 
Full  five  minutes  pass,  which  seem  an  age :  not  a 
movement,  not  a  sound.  It  must  have  been  a  tuft  of 
grass  swaying  in  the  night  wind  that  caught  my  eye. 
But  stay !  look  again  :  there  is  something  moving  at 
the  jungle-edge  ;  and — ye  gods  ! — it  is  coming  towards 
me !  Ten  yards  from  the  cover  the  light  is  a  little 
brighter,  where  a  stray  ray  of  moonlight  strikes  across 
the  road,  and  on  this  patch  of  light  I  keep  my  rifle 
fixed.  A  moment :  and  a  shadowy  form  glides  like  a 
ghost  from  the  gloom  into  the  small  bright  circle. 
Bad  as  the  light  is,  I  can  make  him  out  now  :  a  tiger, 
and  as  big  as  a  pony  in  the  flickering  wavering  rays 
of  the  low  moon.  I  cannot  see  the  foresight  of  my 
rifle,  but  now  or  never  ;  and  hurrah !  my  shot  is 
answered  by  a  roar  that  tells  it  has  gone  home.  A  crash 
in  the  jungle  below  me  :  then  silence.  "  What  is  it, 
sir  ?  "  asks  the  startled  Kurumba  at  my  side,  and  I 
tell  him  I  have  put  a  bullet  into  a  tiger  as  big  as  a 
buffalo,  whereat  he  grins  all  over  his  frightened  face. 

At  the  first  streak  of  dawn  we  climbed  down  and 
examined  the  ground.  There  was  plenty  of  blood  on 
the  track,  which  we  carried  through  the  shola,  across 
the  swamp  below,  and  then  up  the  opposite  hill  past 
the  village  where  my  sporting  friend  Kuti  Maistry 
holds  sway.     Here  we  were  joined  by  half  a  dozen 


THE    NILGIRIS 


Paniyans  and  the  Maistry.  A  short  distance  further 
on  the  track  led  into  a  wooded  ravine,  and  in  this, 
though  the  men  did  their  best,  we  lost  it.  Oh 
how  I  longed  for  my  peerless  tracker  Chic  Mara ; 
but  he  was  miles  away  looking  after  bison.  We 
persevered  till  ten  o'clock,  and  then  I  gave  it  up  in 
despair.  A  beat  was  out  of  the  question,  for  the  cover 
was  continuous  for  miles  ;  so  disappointed  and  tired  I 
wended  my  way  home. 

A  week  or  so  passed,  and  I  was  sitting  at  breakfast 
one    morning,     when    suddenly,     through    the     open 

window, 

the  air. 
Nimbly  and  sweetly  recommended  itself 
Unto  my  gentle  senses  ; 

SO  sweetly  that,  clapping  my  napkin  to  my  nose,  I 
rushed  into  my  bedroom  with  the  feeling  that  I  should 
be  sick.  From  that  haven  of  refuge  I  roared  to  my 
"  boy  "  to  know  the  reason  of  that  most  fearsome  stench. 
The  answer  came  back  from  the  kitchen,  "  Pannia  man 
bringing  tiger  skin,  Sar."  "  Bringing  what  ?  "  "  Tiger 
skin,  Sar " ;  and  sure  enough,  on  going  into  the 
verandah,  I  saw  a  couple  of  Paniyans  standing  outside, 
with  a  nondescript  skin  on  which  hung  patches  of 
striped  fur  at  intervals,  slung  on  a  pole  between  them. 
My  tiger !  On  their  way  to  work  that  morning,  they 
had  been  attracted  by  the  smell,  and  had  found  the 
body  of  the  tiger  about  half  a  mile  from  where  we  had 
given  up  the  search.  The  skin  was  past  redemption, 
and  I  had  to  throw  it  away  ;  but  it  was  a  piece  of  real 
hard  luck  that  the  tiger  had  not  been  found  earlier,  for 
he  was  an  enormous  beast,  and  his  pelt  would  have 
been  a  trophy  well  worth  having.  The  hair  still  left 
on    it    was    singularly    light-coloured,    from    which    I 


THE   TIGER  189 


judged  he  was  the  same  tiger  I  had  disturbed  in  my 
excursion  to  the  rocks,  and  his  teeth  showed  him  to  be 
a  patriarch.  But  the  tracks  I  had  so  often  seen  were 
evidently  not  made  by  him  alone,  for  still  the  tigers 
promenade  on  the  Devala  road  and  still  the  "  beat " 
constables  get  skeered  as  of  yore.  Some  day,  perhaps, 
I  may  work  myself  up  to  another  vigil,  and  may  it  be 
attended  with  better  fortune  than  the  last. 

There  is,  in  a  way,  a  sequel  to  this  adventure. 
About  a  year  afterwards,  I  was  having  my  chota  hazj^i 
one  morning  when  a  figure  appeared  in  the  verandah 
with  a  gun  over  his  shoulder.  I  went  to  the  door,  and 
I  saw  he  was  in  a  bath  of  perspiration,  and  so  excited 
he  could  hardly  speak.  "  I  am  X.  of  the  Z.  Dept.," 
he  stammered,  "and  I  have  just  wounded  a  tiger." 
"Come  in  and  have  some  ckota,''  I  replied,  "and  tell 
me  all  about  it."  "  No,  I  can't  eat,"  said  X.,  "  I've 
wounded  a  tiger."  Bacon  and  eggs,  however,  soothed 
him  sufficiently  to  allow  him  to  tell  his  tale  coherently. 
Early  that  morning  he  had  started  from  Devala  on 
foot,  with  the  intention  of  camping  close  to  my  tote, 
as  he  had  work  to  see  to  there.  Shortly  before  he 
reached  the  junction  of  the  four  roads  I  have  alluded 
to  before,  he  came  right  on  a  tiger  round  a  bend 
in  the  road.  "  I  clapped  my  hands  and  shouted," 
said  X.,  "  but  the  tiger  took  no  notice  of  me.  He 
was  lying  in  the  middle  of  the  road,  and  there  he 
continued  to  lie.  My  carts  with  my  camp-kit  and 
my  rifle  were  half  a  mile  behind,  and  I  doubled 
back  as  hard  as  I  could  till  I  met  them.  Then  I 
got  my  rifle  and  returned.  When  I  came  to  the 
bend,  I  went  cautiously  round,  and  there  was  the 
tiger  still.     This  time  he  began  to  move  away,  and 


190  THE    NILGIRIS 


I  put  a  bullet  into  him.  He  jumped  into  the  shola 
below  the  road,  and  I  came  on."  It  seemed  a  rather 
incredible  story,  but  X.  was  in  deadly  earnest,  so  I 
got  as  many  coolies  together  as  I  could  find,  and  we 
rode  back.  We  stopped  at  the  point  where  the  tiger 
had  entered  the  cover,  and  judge  my  surprise  when  I 
found  this  was  the  very  spot  where  I  had  wounded 
my  tiger  a  year  before  !  On  examining  the  ground  it 
was  obvious  that  X.'s  bullet  had  hit,  for  the  blood  trail 
was  very  distinct,  and  just  below  the  road  the  tiger 
had  fallen — the  grass  being  beaten  down,  and  torn  up 
by  his  claws.  X.'s  rifle  was  a  '256  magazine,  but  the 
wound  was  evidently  severe.  We  beat  the  shola  the 
tiger  had  entered,  and  all  the  other  sholas  down 
the  long  valley,  but  without  success.  At  last  we  came 
to  a  long,  narrow  cover  bordering  a  stream.  We 
formed  the  beaters  up  at  the  end  of  this — into  which 
the  blood  track  led — and  telling  them  to  give  us  half 
an  hour's  start,  we  went  on  ahead  to  a  place  I  knew, 
where  the  cover  narrowed  so  much  that  we  could  see 
right  across  it.  Here  we  sat  for  over  an  hour,  when 
far  up  the  valley  we  heard  the  beaters  shouting.  As 
the  noise  seemed  stationary,  I  sent  Mara  back  to  see 
what  was  wrong,  and  he  returned  to  say  the  Maistry' 
in  charge  of  the  beat  wanted  us  to  go  back,  as  the  tiger 
was  just  in  front  of  the  men,  who  had  all  taken  to 
trees.  I  felt  sure  we  should  have  a  far  better  chance 
of  a  shot  at  the  narrow  neck  where  we  had  posted 
ourselves  than  at  the  point  where  the  beaters  had 
stopped,  as  there  the  cover  was  broad  and  thick. 
But  as  Mara  said  the  men  would  not  move  till  we 
joined  them — and  small  blame  to  them ! — we  had  no 
choice  but  to  pfo  back.  When  we  reached  the  beaters 
the  Maistry  came  down  from  his  tree,  and  told  us  the 


THE  TIGER  191 


tiger  had  jumped  up  in  front  of  the  men  with  a  roar, 
and  was  there  still.  With  Mara  and  the  Maistry 
behind  us,  X.  and  I  worked  our  way  into  the  tangled 
undergrowth,  but  the  tiger  had  passed  on  down  the 
valley.  If  the  beaters  had  only  come  on  when  the 
tiger  was  roused  he  could  not  have  escaped  us.  As  it 
was  now  late  in  the  afternoon,  we  had  reluctantly  to 
abandon  the  search.  Next  day,  and  for  two  days  after 
that,  X.  beat  all  the  covers  in  the  neighbourhood,  but 
he  never  got  sight  of  the  tiger,  nor  did  I  ever  hear  he 
was  found  dead.  Had  X.'s  bullet  been  an  honest 
one  from  a  proper  rifle,  he  would  have  bagged  his 
first  tiger  :  as  it  was,  the  hollow  "  pencil  "  from  his  '256 
Mannlicher  lost  him  the  trophy. 

I  recently  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  the  effect  of 
a  charge  of  buckshot  on  a  tiger,  and  it  was  so 
tremendous  that  I  am  induced  to  relate  the  incident 
in  the  hope  that  the  "  tip  "  may  be  of  use  to  those 
sportsmen  who  make  a  practice  of  following  up 
wounded  tigers  on  foot.  I  heard  one  day  that  a 
native  living  on  a  neighbouring  estate  had  shot  a 
tiger,  and  I  went  over  to  investigate.  Personally,  I 
hold  that  no  practice  could  be  more  pernicious  than 
that  unfortunately  adopted  by  some  planters  of  allowing 
their  native  employees  to  shoot,  first  because  there  is 
little  enough  sport  for  their  masters,  and  next  because 
they  all  kill  and  spare  not.  Meat  is  their  sole  con- 
sideration, and  stags,  hinds,  and  fawns  are  all  ruthlessly 
slaughtered  by  these  butchers  who  own  guns  and  are 
permitted  by  their  employers  to  use  them.  A  few  of 
the  local  Kurumbas,  by  the  way,  are  excellent  shots 
with  ball,  but  I  have  never  seen  one  who  could  use  a 
shot-gun,  possibly  because  a  bird  affords  such  a  scanty 
meal  to  a  hungry  jungle-wallah  that  it  is  not  worth  the 


192  THE   NILGIRIS 


cost  of  powder  and  shot,  in  his  eyes,  to  acquire  the 
knack  of  bagging  it.  All  the  local  tribes — Kurumbas, 
Nayakas,  and  Paniyans — are  keen  as  mustard  where 
shooting  is  concerned — always  with  an  eye  to  meat, 
bien  entendu — and  are  in  their  proper  place  as  gun 
carriers  and  trackers  ;  but  to  allow  them  to  shoot  is,  in 
my  view  at  least,  almost  a  crime.  However,  as  I 
have  said,  some  of  my  neighbours  do  not  subscribe  to 
this  view  ;  and  the  native  I  am  referring  to,  a  Tamil 
cook-boy,  was  permitted  to  shoot  down  anything  on  his 
master's  estate.  As  this  property  adjoins  my  sambur 
preserve,  he  had  frequent  opportunities  of  murdering 
sambur  which  strayed  over  the  hill,  and  he  did  not 
neglect  them.  Armed  with  an  old  double  smoothbore 
belonging  to  his  employer,  with  buckshot  in  both 
barrels,  he  spent  most  of  his  nights  crouched  up  on 
a  small  platform  in  a  tree  which  commands  the  pass 
from  my  preserve  ;  and  as  his  shots  were  always  fired 
at  very  close  range,  any  hind  or  fawn  imprudent 
enough  to  leave  the  safe  sanctuary  of  my  land  for 
pastures  new  paid  toll  with  its  life. 

Well,  one  day  news  reached  me  that  this  man  had 
shot  a  tiger,  and  the  information  turned  out  to  be 
quite  genuine,  for  on  going  over  I  found  the  cook-boy 
in  question  and  a  couple  of  coolies  ignominiously 
hauling  a  fine  tiger  through  the  coffee  by  his  tail. 
He  told  me  he  had  spent  the  previous  night  in  his 
rnachan,  and  that  at  daybreak  the  tiger  had  come 
slouching  along  the  path  which  led  under  his  tree,  and 
that  he  had  loosed  off  when  "stripes"  was  about  twenty 
yards  away.  On  examining  the  body,  I  found  that  the 
charge  (which,  the  man  told  me,  contained  nine  pellets) 
had  caught  the  tiger  in  the  face  and  head.  Six  pellets 
had  been  driven  clean  through  his  skull  into  his  brain, 


THE  TIGER  193 


and  I  cut  two  more  out  of  his  stomach.  The  man 
added  that  the  tiger  had  died  within  ten  yards  of  where 
he  was  hit,  and  there  was  no  doubt  that  he  must  have 
been  placed  hors  de  combat  at  once.  So  impressed  was 
I  with  the  effect  of  this  shot,  that  I  unhesitatingly 
advise  anyone  following  a  wounded  tiger  on  foot  to 
discard  his  rifle,  and  carry  a  smoothbore  or  Paradox 
loaded  with  buckshot.  A  wounded  tiger  in  the  act  of 
charging,  if  hit  in  the  head  as  this  tiger  was  hit,  would 
be  crumpled  up  and  deprived  of  all  power  for  mischief 
instantaneously  ;  and  I  need  not  dilate  on  the  handiness 
of  a  gun  as  compared  with  a  rifle,  when  following  a 
tiger  in  cover. 

I  had  rather  a  curious  experience  during  a  trip  to 
the  Kundahs,  which  is  perhaps  worth  recording.  I 
was  camped  at  the  Bison  Swamp,  and  twice  I  had 
seen  a  fine  stag  feeding  at  the  edge  of  the  dense  forest 
which  runs  up  from  the  low  country  to  the  cliff-line, 
my  stalk  on  both  occasions  being  spoilt  by  an  un- 
fortunate change  of  wind.  Before  shifting  camp,  I 
determined  to  look  up  this  stag  again  ;  and  I  left  my 
tent  early  one  afternoon  for  his  usual  haunt.  The 
formation  of  the  country  here  was  peculiar.  Follow- 
ing the  cliffs,  the  forest  swept  round  almost  in  a  semi- 
circle, and  some  distance  from  its  edge  rose  two  conical 
hills,  about  five  hundred  yards  apart.  On  the  summit 
of  one,  I  took  up  my  post  with  my  shikari ;  and  I 
sent  a  gun-cooly  who  had  come  with  us  to  the  top  of 
the  other,  with  instructions  to  signal  to  us  if  sambur 
came  out  on  his  side.  From  where  I  sat,  I  looked 
down  into  a  forest-clad  basin,  which  curved  round 
behind  me  to  my  right ;  and  I  specially  warned  my 
shikari  to  keep  a  bright  lookout  behind.  The  hill 
was  covered  with  grass  about  two  feet  high,  so  that 

o 


194  THE   NILGIRIS 


when  we  sat  down,  only  our  heads  were  visible. 
Between  us  and  the  edge  of  the  jungle  was  a  stretch 
of  grass  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  yards  broad. 
It  was  a  very  hot  afternoon,  and  after  I  had  been 
watching  some  time  I  felt  myself  getting  drowsy. 
Just  when  I  was  between  sleeping  and  waking,  I  heard 
a  dull  "  thud,  thud,"  like  the  beat  of  a  heavy  animal's 
feet  on  turf;  and  across  my  wool-gathering  senses 
flashed  the  thought  "  there  goes  a  sambur."  But  the 
moment  my  shikari  heard  the  sound,  he  stood  up,  and 
I  heard  him  say  excitedly  "  Aiyah,  aiyah,  pillee,  pillee  !  " 
(Sir,  sir,  a  tiger,  a  tiger!).  Instantly  I  was  on  my 
feet,  only  to  see  a  tiger  give  his  last  bound  into  the 
shola.  I  had  not  time  even  to  raise  my  rifle  before 
he  disappeared.  The  whole  adventure  did  not  occupy 
ten  seconds  ;  and  I  cursed  myself  heartily  for  having 
been  caught  napping.  Had  I,  like  the  shikari,  stood 
up  directly  I  heard  the  galloping,  I  would  have  had  a 
splendid  shot  as  the  tiger  crossed  the  sward  above  the 
cover.  Then  I  cursed  the  shikari,  for  the  tiger  was 
behind  us,  where  he  ought  to  have  been  keeping 
watch.  "Master  sleeping,"  was  his  reply,  ""therefore 
I  looking  out  front  side."  The  reproof  was  so  well 
deserved  that  I  could  not  say  more.  But  we  both 
wondered  where  on  earth  the  tiger  had  come  from, 
and  how  he  had  got  so  close  without  being  observed. 
Later  on,  when  the  gun-cooly  joined  us,  we  were  fully 
enlightened.  He  told  us  the  tiger  had  come  out  of 
the  jungle  below  and  behind  our  post,  and  for  some 
little  time  he  squatted  at  the  edge  sunning  himself. 
"  Suddenly,"  said  the  cooly,  "he  began  to  creep  up  to 
you  inch  by  inch  on  his  stomach.  When  he  got  quite 
close,  he  turned,  and  rushed  back.  My  liver  turned  to 
water  when  I  thought  he  would  spring  on  you  from 


THE  TIGER  195 


behind."  What  had  happened  was  then  clear.  The 
tiger  had  emerged  from  the  jungle  behind  us,  and, 
catching  sight  of  our  heads  over  the  grass,  had  taken 
us  for  sambur  lying  down.  When  he  discovered  his 
mistake,  the  innate  dread  that  a  tiger  always  has  of 
man  made  him  turn  tail  and  bolt  back  into  cover.  It 
was  a  narrow  shave  ;  and  a  piece  of  great  good  luck 
for  one  of  us  that  the  tiger  realised  it  was  a  case  of 
mistaken  identity  before  he  made  his  spring  !  Looking 
at  the  tracks,  we  found  he  had  crept  up  to  within  ten 
yards  of  where  we  were  sitting,  serenely  oblivious  to 
the  fact  that  we  were  being  stalked  by  a  tiger. 

A  striking  exemplification  of  the  truth  of  the  adage 
that  "  necessity  is  the  mother  of  invention  "  is  afforded 
by  the  curious  method  adopted  by  the  Chetties  and 
Paniyans  of  Wynaad  for  compassing  the  death  of  the 
tigers  who  cause  such  constant  havoc  amongst  their 
cattle.  Being  without  guns,  and  the  ability  to  use 
them  if  they  possessed  them,  these  aboriginal  tribes 
have  been  compelled  to  seek  some  other  means  of 
destroying  tigers  ;  and  they  have  elaborated  a  system 
of  spearing  them  which,  as  I  can  vouch,  is  more 
effective  than  any  of  the  methods  usually  employed 
elsewhere.  I  have  not  kept  a  record  of  the  spearings 
I  have  seen  or  heard  of,  but  I  must  be  within  the 
mark  when  I  say  that  during  the  last  dozen  years  at 
least  fifty  such  spearings  have  come  to  my  knowledge 
within  a  radius  of  ten  miles  of  my  estate.  In  a  single 
week  I  hav<t  known  as  many  as  five  ;  and  these  tigers 
were  not  members  of  the  same  family,  but  different 
individuals,  speared  in  different  places. 

But  before  you  can  spear  your  tiger  you  must 
catch  him.  This  is  the  modus  operandi.  Late  one 
afternoon,  as  the  village   cattle   are    slowly    wending 

o  2 


196  THE   NILGIRIS 


their  way  homewards  from  their  grazing  ground,  there 
is  a  sudden  commotion  in  front  as  they  pass  through  a 
strip  of  jungle.     The  herd  breaks  and  scatters  in  all 
directions  ;  and  the  herdsman,  astride  of  a  buffalo  in 
the  rear,  knows  only  too  well  that  when  tale  is  taken 
at    the    village   later   on,  a  juicy  young  cow  will   be 
missing.      Next  morning  the  village  shikaris  make  an 
early  start.     To  find  the  carcase,  where  it  has   been 
dragged  into  a  dense  thicket,  is  a  simple  matter  :  and 
the  shikaris  note  with  satisfaction  that  only  the  head 
and   shoulders  are    left.      His    striped    majesty  is  not 
likely  to  go  far  after  such  a  heavy  meal.     The  morn- 
ing's track  is  clearly  defined,  and  carefully  the  shikaris 
follow  it.     As    they  prophesied    at    starting,    it  leads 
direct    into    the    densely    wooded    ravine    half  a  mile 
distant.     Round  this  a  cast  is  made,  and  the  ground 
minutely  examined  :   but  there  are  no  tracks  leading 
out.     Then    the    fiery    cross    goes    round  ;    and    by 
noon  a  hundred    men   have  assembled,  with    all    the 
tiger-nets    and    tom-toms    from    the    villages    round. 
The  nets,  with  a  picked  body  of  men,  are  sent  to  the 
bottom  of  the  ravine,  and  there  set  up  in  a  semicircle 
round  the  edge  of  the  jungle  ;  while  the  rest  of  the, 
men   form   into  line  at  the   head   of  the  valley.     On 
either  fiank,  between  the  beaters  and  the  nets,  stops 
are   posted    at   short    intervals    to   prevent    the   tiger 
breaking  through  at    the    sides.     Then,  with  a  truly 
infernal  din,  the  beat  begins,  and  if  properly  conducted 
the  tiger  can  with  certainty  be  driven  down  the  shola. 
The   moment  he  appears   at   the   bottom,  the  wings 
of  the  net  are  brought  together  rapidly,  and  the  circle 
made   complete.     This   operation,    of  closing   in    the 
wings,  is  not  always  free  from  risk.     On  one  occasion 
a  gang  of  Chetties  were  driving  a  tiger  not  far  from 


THE   TIGER  197 


my  estate.  Just  as  the  beat  was  coming  to  an  end, 
four  tigers  made  their  appearance  ;  and  the  apparition 
so  "  flabbergasted  "  the  men  in  charge  of  the  net,  that 
for  a  moment  it  was  incautiously  lowered,  and  all  four 
tigers  cleared  it  at  a  bound.  Three  broke  to  the 
right,  but  one  came  straight  through  the  line.  To  the 
spectators  he  seemed  to  jump  clean  over  a  Chetty  who 
was  in  his  way.  But  the  man  fell  :  and  on  picking 
him  up  it  was  seen  that  the  tiger  had  tapped  him  on 
the  head  in  mid-air,  and  his  skull  was  crushed  like  an 
egg-shell.  Another  man  was  mauled  in  this  beat,  and 
died  the  following  day.  But  dangerous  as  the  work 
would  seem  to  be,  accidents — it  must  be  confessed — 
are  rare. 

By  the  time  the  net  circle  is  made  secure  it  is 
usually  well  on  into  the  afternoon.  Fires  are  lit  all 
round,  and  relays  of  men  told  off  to  watch  all  night,  to 
frustrate  any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  tiger  to  escape. 
Singularly  enough,  although  the  tiger  could  jump  out 
of  the  net  with  ease,  he  seldom  makes  any  effort  to  do 
so  :  the  novelty  of  his  surroundings,  and  the  noisy 
vigil  maintained  by  his  captors,  cowing  him  com- 
pletely. 

The  final  operation,  the  spearing,  is  a  long  and 
interesting  one.  The  following  detailed  description 
of  one  such  spearing  can  stand  as  a  type  of  all. 

It  was  a  balmy  morning  in  April.  I  had  just 
finished  chota  kazri,  and  had  lit  my  pipe  before  start- 
ing on  my  matutinal  round  of  my  tote,  when  my 
Maistry  arrived  with  the  news  that  a  tiger  had  been 
netted  the  previous  evening  about  three  miles  away, 
and  would  be  speared  that  morning.  So  I  ordered 
my  nag,  and  in  half  an  hour  had  reached  the  place. 

Had  the  tiger  laid  himself  out  to  be  trapped  in  the 


198  THE   NILGIRIS 


spot  best  suited  for  a  tainasha  of  the  kind,  he  could 
not  have  chosen  a  more  perfect  one.     He  had  been 
netted  at  the  foot  of  a  narrow  wooded  nullah  which 
ran    down    through    a   half-abandoned    coffee   estate. 
The  net  enclosed  a   flat  marshy  space,  some  twenty- 
yards   wide,    covered    with    a    dense    growth   of  wild 
arrowroot,  from  the  centre  of  which  sprang  a  clump  of 
bamboos  ;  and  in  this  cover  the  tiger  lay  hidden.     On 
either    side  the   ground — sparsely   dotted  with    coffee 
bushes — sloped    gently   down  to    the  flat  ;   forming  a 
natural    amphitheatre  round    the  arena  on  which   the 
drama  of  Man  versiis  Tiger  was  shortly  to  be  enacted. 
Early  as  it  was  the  news  had  spread,  for  a  crowd  of 
natives  of  both  sexes  and  many  castes,  all  decked  out 
in    their   gayest    apparel   and    evidently    bent    on    a 
holiday,    were    seated  in  rows  on  the  grass.     And  a 
motley  crowd  it  was.     Burly  Ravuthers  with  shaven 
heads  and  bearded  like  pards  in  token  of  their  Faith, 
lithe   Kanarese  from  the  uplands  of  Mysore,  stalwart 
Paniyans  with  mops  as  woolly  as  a  Negro's,  and  in  full 
dress  'mid  nodings  on,'  and  tiny  Kurumbas,  keen  as 
mustard  where  sport  was  concerned,  all  jostled  each 
other  for  front  seats.     The  Chetties,  as  over-lords — ' 
their    women   conspicuous    in    their    clean    fine    white 
cloths — kept  themselves  apart  and  bossed  the  show. 

From  Matha  my  Maistry  I  learnt  that  the  tigress 
(for  '*  Stripes  "  ultimately  proved  to  be  of  the  feminine 
gender)  had  killed  four  cows  in  a  cattle  shed  some 
distance  away,  a  couple  of  days  before,  which  led  me 
to  conclude  she  had  cubs.  The  track  led  into  the 
ravine  above  the  net ;  and  on  the  previous  afternoon 
she  had  been  driven  down,  and  by  four  o'clock  every- 
thing had  been  made  secure. 

The  net  invariably  used  is  made  of  coir  rope  about 


THE   TIGER  199 


half  an  inch  thick,  with  a  mesh  some  six  inches  square. 
It  is  loosely  attached  to  forked  uprights  eight  feet  or  so 
in  height ;  and  the  first  impression  it  gives  you  is  that 
it  certainly  would  not  hold  a  much  less  powerful  animal 
than  a  tiger.  But  in  its  very  weakness  lies  its  strength. 
If  the  structure  were  rigid — the  poles  firm  and  the  net 
taut — a  tiger  could  break  through  with  ease  ;  but  being, 
as  it  is,  as  limp  and  loose  as  possible,  it  gives  with 
every  concussion,  and  the  rush  of  a  tiger  against  it 
merely  results  in  a  convolution  of  net  and  tiger,  in 
which  the  net  always  comes  off  best.  A  tiger  could 
clear  it,  but,  as  I  have  said,  seldom  does  so.  One  does 
not  realise,  however,  at  first  sight  how  secure  the  net 
really  is  ;  and  I  can  vouch  that  when  a  tiger,  mad  with 
rage  and  pain,  makes  a  rush  against  it,  and  you  happen 
to  be  standing  in  the  line  of  his  charge,  it  is  impossible 
to  resist  the  impulse  to  "  shin  out  of  Galilee "  as 
quickly  as  possible.  I  have  seen  a  leopard  break 
through  ;  but  that  was  owing  entirely  to  a  defect  in  the 
net,  the  strands  at  the  point  of  impact  being  quite 
rotten.  A  mighty  exciting  five  minutes  we  had  on 
this  occasion,  for  the  beast  was  speared  in  the  open. 
But  in  the  majority  of  cases  the  danger  is  much  more 
apparent  than  real. 

The  spearing  is  usually  carried  out  under  the 
auspices  of  some  local  magnate,  who  provides  the 
principal  performers  with  a  feast.  Over  this  par- 
ticular tamasha  a  neighbouring  jemni  or  landholder 
presided ;  and  when  I  arrived,  preparations  for  the 
picnic  were  already  advanced.  Several  large  copper 
cauldrons  were  smoking  over  impromptu  fireplaces  on 
the  flat  below  ;  and  a  yellow  mess,  boiling  and  bubbling 
in  a  huge  earthen  pot,  denoted  "  curry "  on  a  Brob- 
dingnagian  scale.     The  spears,  weapons  with  long  steel 


200  THE   NILGIRIS 


heads  and  handles  of  blackwood  twelve  feet  in  length, 

were  ranged  against  the  net,  while  their  owners  squatted 

round    watching  the  culinary  operations  with  hungry 

eyes.     By  eleven  o'clock  the  feast  was  ready,  and  every 

Paniyan  was  served  with  a  huge  ladleful  of  rice  and 

curry  on    a  plantain    leaf.       And  in  less  time  almost 

than  it  takes  to  tell  it,  the  doughty  warriors  had  got 

outside  of  their  feed,  and  were  clamouring,  like  Oliver 

Twist,  for  more. 

Meanwhile  several  ladies  had  arrived,  and  seated  on 

the  crest  of  the  hill,  formed  an  appreciative  audience. 

Time  dragged  on  ;  but  still  the  "  Rajah  "  did  not  put  in 

an    appearance,     and    etiquette    made    his    presence 

necessary  before  the  ball  could  be  set  rolling.      Those 

of  us  who  had  come  early,  expecting  an    early  start, 

were  hungry  as  hawks  ;  and  I  heard  many  an  anathema, 

"  not  loud  but  deep,"  directed  against  his  sable  majesty. 

At  last,  about  2  p.m. 

"  An  outburst  wild  of  trumpeting  and  drumming 
Told  us  his  majesty  the  king  was  coming." 

Down  the  hill  he  came  with  stately  tread,  attended 
by  his  retinue,  and  looking,    I   have  no  doubt,  in  his 
own  estimation  and  that  of  the  crowd,  "every  inch  a' 
king."     One  herald  carried  an  antediluvian  sword,  and 
another  an  equally  antiquated  Brown  Bess.     A  rough 
pandal  had  been  erected  for  the  "  Rajah's  "  accommoda- 
tion a  short  way  up  the  hill  ;  and  when  he  reached  this, 
"bang!"  went  the  blunderbuss,  and  "over"  went  the 
shooter  like  a  rabbit.     We  roared  with  laughter ;  but 
the    native    crowd    was    duly    impressed,     and    even 
regarded    this   little   incident   as    shedding    an    added 
lustre  on  the  "  Rajah's  "  regal  head.     Now,  we  thought, 
— for  we  had  been  waiting  since  8  a.m. — now  the  fun 
will  begin  :  but  the  beginning  was  a  long  way  off  yet. 


THE   TIGER  201 


When  the   "  Rajah "   had  dimbed   into  his  pandal, 
and  the  crowd  had  made  obeisance,  four  short  sticks 
were    thrust    into    the    meshes   of   the    net.     Then    a 
passage  was  cleared,  and  an  old  man,  naked  save  for  a 
loin  cloth,  stepped  into  it.      He  began  by  striding  up 
and  down,  muttering  and  swinging  his  arms.     Gradu- 
ally his  steps  became  quicker  and  his  gestures  wilder, 
until  he  had  perambulated  himself  into  a  fit.     With  his 
kodu7nai  streaming  behind  him  as  he  jerked  his  head 
violently  up  and  down,  he  shrieked  and  raved  like  a 
man  possessed  by  a  legion  of  devils.      Then  he  rushed 
up  to  the  net,  and  shook  it  with  all  his  might ;  and 
drawing    out    one    of    the    sticks,    after    some    more 
perambulation    he   flung   it   into    the    enclosed    space. 
Having  completed  this  performance,  he  threw  himself 
into  the  arms  of  a  bystander  utterly  exhausted,  foaming 
at   the   mouth,   and   with    every   muscle    in    his    body 
quivering    in    the    most    extraordinary    way.       This 
muscular  contortion  was  the  most  curious  part  of  the 
weird  performance — whereof  this  is  the  interpretation. 
The   performer  was   supposed   to   be    possessed   {was 
possessed  for  aught   I   know  to  the  contrary)   by  the 
hunting  god,  and  the  throwing  of  the  stick  into  the  net 
while  under  the  god's  influence  signified  that  the  deity 
was   propitious,    and   would   give   his   votaries    "good 
hunting."     Had  the  local  St.  Hubert  not  impelled  the 
performer  to  throw  the  stick,  no  attempt  would  have 
been  made  to  spear  the  tigress  that  day,  nor  until  the 
divinity  declared  that  the  right  moment    had  arrived. 
They  do  say  that  the  god  is  never  unpropitious  when 
the  presiding  magnate  is  a  big  enough  swell.      Be  that 
as  it  may,  it  was  an  uncanny  performance  ;  and,  if  only 
a    bit    of    acting,    was    uncommonly    well    done.     All 
through,   the    crowd    kept    up    a   running   accompani- 


202  THE   NILGIRIS 


ment  with  loud  shouts  of  "oh-oh-oooooh,"  "oh-oh- 
ooooooooh."  Four  times  was  this  incantation  repeated 
by  different  men,  until  all  four  sticks  had  been  thrown 
into  the  net ;  and  then,  after  nine  hours  of  weary 
waiting,  the  real  business  of  the  day  began. 

Amidst  a  tremendous  din  of  tom-toms,  cholera 
horns,  and  shouts,  the  spearmen  ran  three  times  round 
the  net,  carrying  their  spears  aloft ;  while  several  long 
bamboos  were  cut.  Then  the  spears  formed  in  close 
order  round  the  net  at  the  "ready,"  and  with  shouts 
of  "  va,  va  "  (come,  come)  the  bamboos  were  thrust 
into  the  cover  at  various  points.  Twice  the  tigress 
showed  herself,  but  retired  before  a  spear  could  reach 
her.  She  was  evidently  cowed  and  confused  by  the 
uproar.  For  some  time  she  sulked,  till  a  Paniyan 
thrust  his  bamboo  into  a  thick  bit  of  underwood.  We 
saw  a  long  lithe  body  flash  through  the  green  of  the 
arrowroot ;  and  with  a  roar  the  tigress  came  open- 
mouthed  at  the  net.  Two  spears  thrust  deep  into  her 
neck  made  her  turn,  and  she  retired  once  more  into 
the  middle  of  the  enclosure,  where  she  lay  growling 
and  biting  at  the  bamboos  ;  but  do  what  they  would 
the  Paniyans  could  not  make  her  face  the  music  again. 
It  was  getting  late,  and  the  headmen  held  a  consulta- 
tion. Evidently  the  net  encircled  too  large  a  space, 
and  it  was  decided  to  reduce  this  by  closing  in  the  net 
all  round.  But  the  dense  undergrowth  formed  an 
obstacle,  and  it  puzzled  me  to  know  how  the  decision 
was  to  be  carried  out.  Then  the  Paniyans  did  an 
extraordinarily  plucky  thing.  Half  a  dozen  of  them 
entered  the  net,  and  with  their  barcutties  rapidly 
cleared  away  the  bushes  over  a  space  of  fifteen  or 
twenty  feet  inside  the  net  all  round,  protected  (save 
the  mark !)  from  a  charge  while  engaged  in  this  risky 


THE  TIGER  203 


work  only  by  a  man  on  either  flank  armed  with  a 
spear.  If  ever  men  carried  their  lives  in  their  hands, 
those  Paniyans  did.  Just  consider  :  a  wounded  tigress, 
driven  frantic  by  an  hour's  bullying  and  badgering, 
opposed  by  a  handful  of  half-naked  natives,  utterly 
unarmed  save  for  a  couple  of  spears  which — by  reason 
of  their  unwieldy  handles — would  have  been  worse 
than  useless  in  the  event  of  a  charge !  We  call  the 
European  sportsman  "  plucky,"  when — carrying  a  rifle 
which  at  least  makes  the  odds  equal,  and  generally 
backed  up  by  a  comrade  or  two  equally  well  armed — 
he  follows  up  a  wounded  tiger  on  foot.  What  term, 
then  should  be  applied  to  the  conduct  of  these 
Paniyans  ?  When  I  say  it  was  beyond  measure  the 
most  brilliantly  plucky,  foolhardy  thing  that  I  have  ever 
seen  I  have  not  said  half  enough.  When  the  net  was 
contracted,  and  the  tigress  again  induced  to  charge, 
we  found  that  these  men  had  been  within  a  yard  of 
where  she  was  lying  !  Truly  the  "  sweet  little  cherub  " 
keeps  just  as  careful  watch  and  ward  over  fools  as  over 
sailors.  My  Maistry  had  gone  into  the  net  with  the 
others  ;  and  when  the  spearing  was  over,  I  asked  him  if 
he  had  not  felt  afraid.  He  merely  laughed  and  said, 
"  Not  a  bit :  the  god  took  care  of  me." 

The  net  was  now  closed  in,  and  the  end  soon  came. 
Another  prod  or  two  with  the  bamboo,  and  again  the 
tigress  charged.  This  time  a  spear  was  driven  deep 
into  her  neck,  and  before  she  could  wriggle  clear,  a 
dozen  more  were  thrust  into  her  body.  A  gasp  or 
two,  and  she  was  dead.  But  the  men  still  kept  prod- 
ding away.  Excitement  had  worked  them  up  to  such  a 
pitch  that  they  more  resembled  devils  let  loose  than 
humans  ;  and  like  devils  they  pushed  and  struggled 
and  fought  in  their  eagerness  to  blood  their  spears. 


204  THE   NILGIRIS 


At  last,  when  the  tigress  was  riddled  like  a  sieve  with 
spear  thrusts,  she  was  pulled  out  of  the  net  for  the 
"Rajah's"  inspection;  and  while  he  gazed  solemnly 
at  her,  the  bystanders  dipped  their  fingers  in  the  blood 
and  smeared  it  over  their  foreheads  and  the  foreheads 
of  their  children,  to  imbue  them  with  a  tiger's  courage 
and  strength.  I  taped  the  tigress  as  she  lay.  She 
measured  eight  feet  three,  not  a  large  tigress  ;  but 
an  exceedingly  handsome  one,  and  in  the  pink  of 
condition.  Her  skin  of  course  was  utterly  ruined.  As 
I  had  conjectured,  she  was  in  milk  :  but  though  I 
searched  for  two  days,  I  could  not  find  the  cubs. 

When  the  "  Rajah  "  had  completed  his  inspection, 
the  whiskers — potent  charms  to  the  native  mind  every- 
where— were  plucked  out,  formally  presented,  and 
graciously  accepted.  Then  he  departed  amidst  a  din 
of  tom-toms  and  horn-blowing.  Meanwhile  a  rope 
was  hitched  round  the  tigress's  neck,  and  a  dozen  men 
ignominiously  dragged  her  up  the  hill  to  the  road 
above,  while  we  followed  to  see  the  last  act  of  the 
performance.  Half  a  mile  further  on  an  open  spot 
just  off  the  road  was  selected,  and  here  a  long  bamboo 
was  placed  across  two  forked  uprights,  about  five  feet 
high,  while  the  tigress's  face  and  paws  were  chopped  off 
for  the  sake  of  the  teeth  and  claws.  Then  three  strong- 
bands  of  fibre  were  run  at  intervals  through  the  skin 
over  the  spine,  and  she  was  tied  to  the  bamboo,  her 
tail  being  straightened  out  and  tied  behind  her  to  com- 
plete the  effect.  And  there,  in  the  sight  of  all  men, 
she  was  left  to  rot. 

As  we  left  in  the  gathering  dusk,  the  Paniyans — 
men  and  women  in  separate  groups — had  begun  the 
dancing  and  singing  which  would  go  on  the  livelong 
night  round  the  ghastly  carcase. 


THE  TIGER  205 


On  many  occasions  I  have  seen  tigers  die  even 
more  gamely  than  this  one  :  and  just  as  often,  perhaps, 
I  have  seen  them  die  Hke  sheep.  I  have  chosen  this 
particular  spearing  as  affording  an  example  of  the  sport 
that  may  usually  be  expected.  But  is  tiger-spearing 
"  sport  ".'^  Cruel  it  certainly  is,  but  then  all  sport  is 
cruel  in  the  sense  that  it  can  only  be  enjoyed  at  the 
cost  of  animal  life.  And  if,  as  I  take  it,  real  sport 
must  involve  some  personal  risk  to  the  sportsman, 
tiger-spearing  certainly  merits  the  name.  For  though 
the  actual  spearing  is  devoid  of  danger — the  tiger 
when  once  in  the  net  having  practically  no  chance  of 
escape — still  the  netting  of  the  tiger  is  a  dangerous 
service  ;  and  when  the  net  encloses  too  large  a  space, 
to  close  it  in  is  a  fearfully  risky  proceeding.  So, 
"  taking  one  consideration  with  another,"  I  think  tiger- 
spearing  as  conducted  in  the  Wynaad  is  fairly  entitled 
to  rank  as  Sport — with  a  capital  S. 


THE    LEOPARD 


Scientific  name. — Felis  pardus 
Tamil  name. — Chiruthay. 
Kanarese  name. — Kirba. 
Kurumba  name. — Kirba. 
Nayaka  name. — Kirba. 


.207 


THE    LEOPARD 

So  far  as  animal  nomenclature  is  concerned,  South 
[ndia  is  a  land  of  misnomers  ;  and  we  cling  heroically 
to  our  old-world  traditions.  The  muntjac,  though  a 
true  deer,  is  universally  called  the  "jungle  sheep"; 
;he  sambur  was  until  recently  (and  is  still,  I  believe,  in 
C^eylon)  designated  the  "  elk  "  ;  the  Nilgiri  wild  goat 
Doses  as  the  "  ibex  "  ;  the  leopard  masquerades  as  the 
'  cheetah  "  ;  and  the  gaur  is — and  despite  the  flouting 
Df  purists  always  will  be — the  "  bison."  This  adherence 
:o  old  and  quite  erroneous  names,  bestowed  on  the 
yame  animals  in  days  when  the  sportsman  did  not 
Touble  to  be  a  naturalist,  does  not  make  for  clearness. 
Confusion,  in  fact,  could  scarcely  be  worse  confounded  ; 
Dut  in  regard  to  no  animal  is  the  confusion  more  pro- 
lounced  than  in  the  case  of  the  leopard.  Not  only  is 
:he  native  name  of  "  cheetah  "  applied  indiscriminately 
:o  both  the  large  pard  or  panther  and  the  small  pard 
Dr  leopard,  but  it  is  used  to  designate  still  a  third 
inimal — the  hunting  leopard.  The  inclusion  of  this 
ast-named  animal  under  the  common  appellation  of 
'cheetah"  has  not  been,  it  is  true,  a  source  of  con- 
"usion  in  my  part  of  India,  for  the  all-sufficient  reason 
:hat  he  is  not  found  on  the  Nilgiris  or  in  Wynaad  ;  but 
t  is  none  the  less  gratifying  to  know  that  recently  the 

2og  p 


2IO  THE   NILGIRIS 


jumble,  so  far  as  the  hunting  leopard  is  concerned,  has 
been  cleared  up.  His  non-retractile  claws,  his  long 
legs,  his  dentition,  his  spots  (round  black  blots,  not 
rings  with  the  ground  colour  showing  through),  and 
other  characteristics,  have  taken  him  out  of  the  category 
of  true  cats  ;  and  he  now  occupies  a  class  by  himself,  ' 
with  the  name  of  Cynaeluriis  jitbahis.  No  longer  does 
he  intrude  as  Felis  jubata,  and  to  him  alone  now  belongs 
the  native  name  of  "  cheetah." 

But   another  source  of  confusion  still  exists  in  the 
fact  that  many  writers  and  sportsmen  regard  the  large 
pard  or  panther,   and  the  small  pard  or  leopard,  as  I 
distinct     species.         Sanderson   says  on    this    point : 
"  Most  are  now,  I  think,  agreed  in  accepting  Jerdon's  : 
view"  (Jerdon,  by  the  way,   appears  himself  to  have 
been  in  doubt  on  the  question)    "that  the  panther  and 
leopard    are    mere    varieties    of    the    same    species. 
Though  they   differ  greatly  in   size  .  .   .  there   is  not 
more  radical  difference  between  the  two  animals  than 
exists  between  horses  and  ponies.  .  .   .   Much  of  the 
confusion    that   has   arisen    regarding    panthers    and 
leopards  has  undoubtedly  been  caused  by  the  fact  that 
adult  animals  are  found  varying  in  size  as  much  as  do. 
the  dray  horse  and  the  child's  pony.    .  .   .   As   there 
are  also  various  shades  of  colour  amongst  them,  the 
question  has  puzzled  many  who  have  not  had  opportu- 
nities   of    examining    numerous    specimens    of    both 
animals."     From    this    extract    it   would    appear    that 
Sanderson  subscribed  to  the  view  that  the  panther  and 
leopard  are  not  distinct  animals,  but  merely  "varieties 
of   the    same    species."     Yet   Sanderson    proceeds   to 
enumerate  certain  differences  which,  he  says,  distinguish 
the  panther  from  the  leopard,  and  he  classifies  them — 
following  Hodgson — under  separate  names,  calling  the 


THE   LEOPARD  211 


panther  Felis  pardus  and  the  leopard  Felis  leopardus. 
(Temminck,  I  may  note,  reverses  the  names,  and  calls 
the  panther  leopardus  and  the  leopard /^r^/^^.)  If,  as 
Sanderson  says,  most  sportsmen  are  agreed,  and  I 
think  they  are,  that  the  panther  and  the  leopard  are 
not  distinct,  it  is  surely  as  unwise  as  it  is  unnecessary 
to  employ  two  names  for  one  and  the  same  animal. 
Let  us  speak  of  the  "  panther ""  and  the  "  leopard  "  as 
being  more  convenient  than  the  roundabout  phrase 
"  big  leopard  "  and  "  small  leopard,"  but  let  us  bear  in 
mind  that  both  are  leopards,  and  let  us,  when  we  don 
the  mantle  of  the  zoologist,  class  both  under  the  single 
title  of  Felis  pardus. 

The  distinctions  which  are  supposed  to  differentiate 
the  panther  from  the  leopard,  and  on  which  those 
writers  and  sportsmen  rely  who  consider  the  two 
animals  to  belong  to  separate  species,  are  thus  stated 
by  Sanderson.  "  The  leopard  is  stouter  in  proportion 
to  its  size  than  the  panther,  and  the  skull  is  rounder. 
The  spots  are  more  crowded,  and  the  fur  is  longer  and 
looser  than  in  the  panther."  After  examining  many 
specimens  of  the  leopard,  of  many  different  sizes,  I 
unhesitatingly  say  that  these  distinctions,  when  they 
do  exist,  are  merely  such  as  might  be  expected  in 
members  of  the  same  species,  differing  in  size  and  age. 
Even  if  the  leopard  is  "  stouter  than  the  panther"  (in 
my  experience  this  certainly  is  not  a  fixed  rule),  that  is 
merely  a  concomitant  of  the  difference  in  size.  A 
fourteen-hand  cob  is  stouter  than  a  sixteen-hand 
racer:  a  small  tiger  is  usually  more  "squat"  than  a 
large  one :  and  so  on  throughout  Nature.  As  to  the 
second  distinction — the  "rounder  skull"  of  the 
leopard — I  think  it  will  be  found  that  when  this  has 
been  observed,  the  skull  belonged  to  a  young  leopard. 

p  2 


212  THE   NILGIRIS 


When  the  skull  of  an  immature  leopard  is  placed  side 
by  side  with  that  of  a  full-grown  one,  there  is  a  slight 
difference  in  shape,  which  would  be  naturally  accentu- 
ated if  the  immature  skull  were  compared  with  that  of 
a  mature  panther.  I  can  even  perceive  a  similar 
slight  difference  between  the  head  of  a  tio;er  cub  and 
the  head  of  a  fully  developed  tiger ;  and  it  may  be 
that,  with  all  the  cats,  the  immature  skull  is  rounder — 
more  "dog-like"  would  express  the  variation  better — 
than  the  mature  one.  But  when  I  place  the  skull  of 
a  full-grown  leopard  in  juxtaposition  with  that  of  a  full- 
grown  panther,  it  certainly  is  not  apparent  to  me  that 
the  former  is  "  rounder  "  in  proportion  to  its  length  than 
the  latter.  The  third  distinction — the  crowding  of  the 
spots  on  a  leopard's  skin  (and  I  again  deny  that  this 
is  an  invariable  rule) — is  surely,  when  existent,  due  to 
the  difference  in  size  between  the  panther  and  the 
leopard.  I  have  not  troubled  to  count  the  number  of 
spots  on  a  large  and  a  small  skin  respectively,  but 
given  that  they  are  the  same,  or  nearly  so,  naturally 
they  would  appear  more  crowded  on  the  smaller  area. 
The  last  difference — the  longer  fur — is  in  my  view 
merely  a  question  of  age.  So  far  as  my  experience 
goes,  both  a  young  tiger  and  a  young  leopard  have 
longer  fur  than  adult  individuals  of  their  respective 
species.  To  me  the  characteristics  cited  by  Sanderson 
seem  to  be  distinctions  without  a  difference  :  certainly 
they  are  not  broad  enough  or  marked  enough  to 
warrant  the  separation  of  the  panther  and  the  leopard 
into  distinct  species.  The  one  radical  distinction  is 
the  variation  in  size,  and  that — as  Sanderson  himself 
points  out — is  a  distinction  that  holds  all  through 
Nature  amongst  various  individuals  of  a  species. 
Then  let  the  distinctive  names  be  dropped  :  let  it  be 


THE  LEOPARD  213 


-ecognised  that  both  panther  and  leopard  are  leopards  : 
ind  let  both  be  called  by  their  proper  name  of  Felis 
bardus. 

The  ground  colour  of  a  leopard's  skin  varies  in 
different  individuals  from  a  rich  rufous;  brown  through 
svery  intermediate  shade  to  a  lemon  white.  It 
ightens  with  age,  until  in  very  old  animals  the  basal 
;int  is  nearer  white  than  yellow.  The  skin  of  an  old 
Danther  I  shot  some  years  ago  is  a  light  fawn  :  he  was 
m  old  male,  and  a  magnificent  specimen,  measuring 
sight  feet  one  inch  from  tip  of  nose  to  tip  of  tail.  The 
ander  parts  are  white  as  a  rule,  but  in  some  specimens 
:hey  are  tinged  with  a  lighter  shade  of  the  general 
ground  colour.  On  these  under  parts  the  hair  is  longer, 
rhe  spots  on  the  back,  the  sides,  and  the  upper  part  of 
:he  tail  are  irregular  broken  black  rings,  through  which 
;he  ground  colour  shows  in  the  centre.  On  one  skin  I 
Dossess,  the  rings  are  in  a  few  instances  unbroken  circles ; 
Dut  usually  the  circumference  of  each  ring  is  split  into 
:wo  or  more  sesfments.  As  a  rule  the  tinted  area 
mclosed  by  the  rosettes  is  darker  than  the  prevailing 
yround  colour.  On  the  head,  the  forearms,  and  the 
highs  the  spots  are  solid  black  blots,  without  any  pale 
:entre,  diminishing  in  size  as  the  extremities  are  reached, 
A'here  they  are  mere  dots.  Towards  the  end  of  the 
;ail  the  fur  is  longer,  and  the  black  blotches  frequently 
mcircle  it.  In  some  cases  a  line  of  solid  black  blots 
extends  from  the  neck  half-way  down  the  back  ;  but 
ust  as  often  all  the  spots  on  the  back  are  rosettes. 

In  size  the  leopard  varies  from  under  five  feet  to 
Dver  eight,  and  naturally  his  habits  vary  with  his  size. 
The  chief  food  of  the  smaller  leopard  consists  of  dogs, 
jackals,  monkeys,  hares,  jungle-fowl — in  short,  no  small 
mimal  or  bird  comes  amiss  to  his  larder.      But  for  dogs 


214  THE   NILGIRIS 

he  has  a  marked  predilection,  and  hence  he  haunts  the 
vicinity  of  villages,  or,  in  my  part  of  the  world,  estates, 
where  coolies  always  keep  a  number  of  yelping  pariah 
dogs  in  their  lines.  He  clears  these  out  with  systematic 
regularity ;  but  the  coolies  are  always  considerate 
enough  to  replenish  the  supply  of  his  favourite  food, 
and  hence  a  dog-killing  leopard  often  takes  up  his 
residence  permanently  in  the  jungle  which  usually 
surrounds  an  estate.  These  small  leopards  also  seem 
to  have  a  penchant  for  dense  cover,  for  I  have  several 
times  come  across  them  in  the  heavy  forest  bordering 
the  Ghats.  Their  chief  food  in  such  localities  is 
probably  the  young  of  deer  when  obtainable,  and 
birds  and  vermin  at  other  times. 

The  large  leopard,  or  panther,  does  not  disdain  a  dog 
or  any  other  of  the  dainty  morsels  his  smaller  congener 
is  partial  to  ;  but  as  he  is  quite  equal  to  killing  a  full- 
grown  deer  or  bullock,  he  has  a  far  wider  field  of  choice 
for  his  menu.  He  is  seldom  if  ever  found  in  the 
heavy  Ghat  forests,  his  habitat  in  Wynaad  being  the 
light,  deciduous  bamboo  jungles  further  inland.  It  is 
singular  that  the  range  of  our  spotted  jungle-folk  is, 
broadly  speaking,  coterminous  :  the  panther,  the  spotted 
deer,  and  the  peacock  are  all  confined  to  the  bamboo 
belt.  They  are  absent  from  the  dense  forest  which 
clothes  the  Wynaad  Ghats,  but  directly  the  bamboo 
jungle  begins  again  on  the  Malabar  plain  they  are  once 
more  associated.  On  the  plateau  of  the  Nilgiris,  where 
there  is  no  heavy  forest — the  jungle  consisting  of 
isolated  sholas  in  the  valleys  between  the  hills — both 
panther  and  leopard  occur. 

The  leopard  is  a  far  bolder  and  more  courageous 
animal  than  the  tiger,  and,  unlike  his  striped  cousin,  he 
has  little  fear  of  man.      It  is  therefore  curious  that  he 


THE   LEOPARD  215 


so  seldom  takes  to  man-eating.  In  this  part  of  India 
I  have  never  heard  of  an  instance  of  a  leopard  turning 
professional  man-eater.  He  does  so  sometimes  in 
Central  and  Northern  India,  and,  owing  to  his  innate 
fearlessness,  his  greater  activity,  his  ability  to  climb 
trees,  and  his  remarkable  capacity  for  concealment,  he 
then  becomes  a  greater  scourge  even  than  a  man- 
eating  tiger. 

A  panther  kills  his  prey  in  the  same  way  as  the 
tiger — by  dislocating  the  vertebrae  of  the  neck :  the 
smaller  leopard,  when  he  attacks  an  animal  whose  neck 
he  is  not  powerful  enough  to  break,  seizes  its  throat 
and  clings  on  in  an  effort  to  strangle  it.  On  more  than 
one  occasion  my  estate  cattle  have  been  attacked 
by  leopards,  and  in  all  such  instances  the  throat 
was  badly  mangled.  My  cattlemen  have  invariably 
described  the  marauder  as  a  small  leopard.  The 
opinion  is  generally  received  that  leopards  conceal  the 
carcases  of  their  kills,  but  I  have  never  known  a  case 
of  the  kind.  I  have  had  many  calves  killed  by 
leopards — some  taken  when  feeding  in  the  open  during 
the  day,  some  pulled  out  of  the  calf-pen  at  night — 
and  the  carcase  has  always  been  dragged  into  cover 
near  by,  and  left  there  without  any  attempt  at 
concealment. 

The  leopard  can  climb  trees  with  ease,  and  it  is  my 
belief  that  he  often  uses  a  tree  as  a  coign  of  vantage 
from  which  to  watch  for  his  prey.  On  two  occasions  I 
have  seen  leopards  on  trees  in  the  early  afternoon  ; 
and  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  what  purpose  they  could 
have  had  in  view  save  to  keep  a  look-out  for  animals 
on  the  move  below. 

A  third  variety  of  pard,  which  is  not  uncommon  on 
the    Nilgiris   and   in   Wynaad,   is    the  black   leopard. 


2i6  THE   NILGIRIS 


Round  this  variety,  again,  controversy  has  long  raged  ; 
and  by  what  I  may  term  the  "  hair-spHtting  "  section 
of  naturaHsts  and  sportsmen,  he  has  of  course  been 
classed  as  a  distinct  species,  and  named  Felis  7nelas  or 
Felis  perniger.  Sanderson  does  not  express  an  opinion 
either  way.  He  writes  : — "  1  have  never  seen  the 
animal  in  its  wild  state,  but  I  have  seen  two  nearly 
full-grown  ones  in  captivity,  and  more  than  one  skin. 
The  two  I  saw  are  now  alive  in  England,  and  are 
apparently  cubs  of  one  litter.  This  circumstance 
would  seem  to  militate  against  the  view  held  by  some 
naturalists  and  sportsmen  that  black  leopards  are  only 
lusi  natures ;  and  the  fact  that  they  never  occur 
amongst  ordinary  leopards  in  the  open-country 
localities  of  Mysore  also  seems  to  point  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  black  leopard  is  quite  distinct.  On 
the  other  hand,  there  is  said  to  be  no  anatomical 
distinction  between  the  two  animals,  and  testimony 
exists  to  show  that  amongst  ordinary  leopards,  from 
heavy  forest  tracts  at  least,  melanoid  individuals  do 
occur."  I  do  not  myself  see  how  the  fact  that  the 
black  leopard  seldom  if  ever  occurs  in  open  country  or 
light  jungle  can  be  used  as  an  argument  for  classing 
him  as  a  separate  species.  Sanderson  himself  points 
out  that  in  Mysore  the  panther  frequents  light  jungle, 
and  the  leopard  heavy  forest ;  and  as  the  black  leopard 
is  always  a  small  pard  or  leopard,  it  is  not  a  matter  for 
surprise  that  his  usual  habitat  should  be  the  same  as 
that  of  the  ordinary  leopard,  viz.,  heavy  forest.  On 
the  plateau  of  the  Nilgiris,  even  this  distinction  is  non- 
existent ;  for  on  the  Kundahs — a  range  of  mountains 
where  the  cover  consists  merely  of  sholas  in  the 
valleys  between  the  hills — he  is  fairly  common.  But 
the  fact  which  establishes  beyond  all  doubt  that  the 


THE   LEOPARD  217 


black  leopard  is  only  a  variety  of  the  ordinary  leopard 
— a  lusits  naturcB — is  that  two  cubs,  one  black  and  the 
other  spotted,  have  frequently  been  seen  running  with 
the  same  spotted  mother. 

The  coloration  of  the  black  leopard  is  somewhat 
difficult  to  describe.  The  body  colour  is  black,  of  the 
same  shade  as  the  fur  of  a  black  cat ;  and  in  a  certain 
light  the  spots  are  visible  as  still  darker  blotches.  I 
have  somewhere  seen  the  skin  described  as  having  the 
appearance  of  "watered  silk,"  and  that  phrase  conveys 
the  best  idea  it  is  possible  to  give.  As  already 
mentioned,  I  have  never  seen  or  heard  of  a  black 
leopard  attaining  to  anything  approaching  the  size  of 
a  panther. 

I  have  never  had  the  good  fortune  to  shoot  a  black 
leopard,  but  I  have  seen  them  on  three  occasions. 
Some  years  ago  I  was  shooting  on  the  Kundahs,  my 
tent  being  pitched  near  the  Bison  Swamp.  I  had  had 
a  long  and  difficult  day  on  the  cliffs  after  ibex,  and 
when  I  reached  camp  about  4  p.m.  I  felt  a  bit  done. 
On  my  way  home,  about  half  a  mile  from  my  tent,  I 
noticed  a  clump  of  Coelogyne  corrugata  growing  on  a 
rock,  and  after  tea,  feeling  fit  again,  I  thought  I  would 
stroll  back  and  secure  it.  I  took  a  native  with  me  to 
scale  the  rock,  but  alas  ! — I  shall  never  forgive  myself 
for  the  omission — I  did  not  take  a  rifle.  Having 
crossed  the  swamp,  our  path  led  through  a  strip  of 
shola  on  to  a  grass  hill  beyond.  A  quarter  of  a  mile 
further  on  a  second  shola  ran  down  obliquely  to  meet 
the  one  I  had  traversed  in  the  valley  below,  the  two 
covers  shaping  the  tongue  of  grass  land  into  the  form 
of  a  V.  As  I  have  said,  the  distance  between  the 
arms  of  the  V  was  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  and  from 
the  path  which  led  across  the  grass  hill  to  the  angle  of 


2i8  THE    NILGIRIS 


the  V  was  a  similar  distance.  The  ground  sloped 
gently  down,  so  that  I  had  a  clear  view  over  all  the 
hill,  to  the  junction  of  the  two  covers.  Just  as  I  left 
the  skola,  I  saw  a  black  object  rolling  on  the  grass  at 
the  foot  of  the  hill,  which  at  first  I  took  to  be  a  bear. 
But  there  was  a  freedom  about  the  frolicking  in  which 
the  animal  was  indulging  that  was  foreign  to  the 
awkward  motions  so  characteristic  of  Bruin,  and  I  was 
puzzled  to  determine  what  the  black  beast  could  be. 
Telling  my  man  to  hurry  back  to  camp  as  fast  as  he 
could  and  fetch  my  rifle,  I  sat  down  behind  a  tree  at 
the  edge  of  the  skola  to  watch  till  his  return.  In  a 
few  moments  my  unknown  vis-a-vis  sprang  to  his  feet, 
and  began  a  series  of  antics  :  he  seemed  to  me  to  be 
chasing  his  own  tail.  This  game  went  on  for  a 
minute,  and  then  the  animal  came  steadily  up  the  hill 
towards  me.  When  about  two  hundred  yards  distant 
he  squatted  down  in  the  grass  ;  and,  as  the  bright 
afternoon  sun  shone  full  upon  his  black  hide,  giving  it 
a  gloss  like  silk,  I  made  him  out  clearly  as  a  beautiful 
specimen  of  the  black  leopard.  Ye  gods !  wha.t  a 
prize  :  the  chance  of  a  lifetime  :  and  on  this  day  of  all 
days  I  had  been  fool  enough  to  leave  my  Express 
behind  !  Suddenly  the  leopard  raised  himself :  glared 
straight  in  my  direction  with  ears  pricked  forward  : 
then  covered  the  stretch  of  grass  in  a  succession  of 
magnificent  bounds,  and  plunged  into  the  opposite 
skola.  The  next  moment  the  reason  for  his  alarm 
became  apparent  to  my  duller  ears,  for  I  heard  my 
cooly  coming  through  the  jungle,  making  noise  enough 
to  scare  twenty  leopards.  My  greeting  was  scarcely 
in  the  nature  of  a  benediction ;  but  luckily  for  the 
cooly,  my  sense  of  proportion  asserted  itself,  and  I 
remembered   that  if  I  had  lost  a   shot  at  the  leopard 


THE   LEOPARD  219 


through  the  cooly's  folly,  I  was  a  bigger  fool  myself 
for  neglecting  to  carry  my  rifle  always  in  a  game 
country.  So,  a  sadder  and  a  wiser  man,  I  plodded 
back  to  camp. 

My  second  meeting  with  a  black  leopard  was  in  this 

wise.      I    was   felling  some  jungle  at  the  foot  of  my 

estate,  and  one  morning  early  I   went  down  to  watch 

the  work.     Suddenly  my  dogs  rushed  into  the  jungle 

below,    and    a    minute    afterwards    I   heard  a  rousing 

chorus   from   the    whole    pack.     As    the   barking  was 

stationary,  it  was  evident  they  had  brought  something 

to  bay  ;  and   I   made  my  way  into  the    cover,  which 

was  very  thick    and  matted    with  a    close  growth  of 

underwood,  in  the  direction  of  the  hubbub.      It  took 

me  some  little  time  to  reach  the  dogs,  and  when   I  got 

up  to  them,  I  found  them  jumping  up  against  the  stem 

of  a  large  sloping  tree,  barking  furiously  at  something 

in  it.      For  some  time   I   could  not  make  out  what  all 

the   skeer  was  about ;  but    at    length    I   saw  a    black 

animal    almost    hidden    in    the    dense    foliaofe,    which 

at  first   I   took  to   be  a  black  monkey.      Shifting  my 

position,  I  got  a  good  view,  and  I  then  saw  the  animal 

was  a  black  leopard.      He  was  a  small  specimen,  but 

he  looked  a  perfect  fiend  as  he  snarled  at  the  noisy 

dogs   below,   drawing  back   his   lips    in  a  grin  which 

made  his  fangs  shine  like  ivory  in  his  black  face.     So 

intent  was  he  on  watching  the  dogs  that  for  a  moment 

or  two  he  did  not  notice  me  :  when  he  did,  he  made  a 

surprising  leap  into  the  next  tree,   and  thence  to  the 

ground.     In  spite  of  my  shouting  and  whistling,   the 

excited  dogs  rushed  after  him,  and   I   felt  certain  that 

that  some  of  them  would   pay  the  penalty   for    their 

rashness.      I    was    therefore    greatly    relieved    when, 

ten    minutes    afterwards,    the    whole    pack    rejoined 


220  THE   NILGIRIS 


me    scatheless.      They    had    evidently    had    a    blank 
chase. 

One  morning  my  Kurumba  Maistry  came  to  the 
bungalow  to  tell  me  that  the  local  Chetties  had  netted 
a  tiger  close  to  an  estate  I  own  about  nine  miles  away. 
I  have  seen  so  many  tigers  speared,  that  it  would 
need  a  tamasha  very  much  out  of  the  common  run 
to  tempt  me  into  a  nine-mile  ride  ;  but  I  have  always 
refused  to  allow  tigers  to  be  netted  on  my  land,  and  as 
the  Maistry  told  me  this  tiger  had  been  caught  on 
land  belonging  to  the  estate,  I  determined  to  ride  over 
and  see  for  myself.  If  this  were  really  the  case,  I 
fully  intended  to  have  the  nets  taken  down,  and  to  give 
the  tiger  a  run  for  his  life,  so  I  took  a  rifle  with  me. 
On  arrival,  however,  I  found  that  the  mdlah  in  which 
the  nets  were  set  up  lay  just  outside  my  boundary,  and 
that  the  usual  preliminaries  to  a  spearing  were  in  full 
swing.  Presently  the  old  Chetti  who  was  directing 
operations  came  up  to  make  his  salaam,  and  I  asked 
him  whether  the  tiger  was  a  big  one.  As  all  tigers 
are  monsters  to  a  native,  an  affirmative  reply  was  a 
foregone  coiiclusion  ;  but  I  certainly  was  not  prepared 
for  the  statement  which  followed.  "Yes,"  said  the 
Chetti,  "he  is  a  huge  beast,  and  I  am  glad  the 
dhoray  has  come  to  see  the  spearing,  because  such  a 
tiger  was  never  seen  before.  We  saw  him  last  even- 
ing when  he  was  netted,  and  again  early  this  morning, 
and  he  is  black — a  very  devil  amongst  tigers."  It  was 
useless  insisting  that  a  black  tiger  was  quite  unheard 
of:  the  Chetti  held  to  his  assertion.  He  had  seen 
the  tiger  with  his  own  eyes  :  he  was  as  black  as  a 
crow  :  and  if  the  dhoray  wished  he  would  bring  twenty 
witnesses  to  prove  it.  He  clung  to  this  statement  so 
obstinately,  that  I  began  to  think  there  must  be  some 


THE   LEOPARD  221 


ground  for  it,  and  my  first  thought  was  that  probably 
the  netted  tiger  had  a  darker  skin  than  usual  ;  but 
when  the  real  business  of  the  day  began,  the  mystery 
was  solved. 

The  nets  enclosed  a  flat  space  at  the  foot  of  a 
thickly  wooded  nullah.  Through  this  shola  coursed  a 
small  stream  ;  and  the  flow  being  checked  on  the  flat, 
this  was  wet  and  swampy,  and  covered  with  underwood 
and  scrub.  The  tiresome  preliminaries  over,  the  men 
ranged  themselves  round  the  net,  and  long  bamboos 
were  thrust  into  the  underwood  to  stir  up  the  tiger. 
At  the  very  first  thrust  into  a  particularly  thick  clump 
of  bushes,  out  he  came  like  a  Jack-in-the-box,  and 
stood  revealed  as  a  magnificent  black  leopard.  In  all 
accounts  of  the  black  leopard  I  had  read,  he  had  been 
described  as  far  more  ferocious  and  ill-tempered  than 
the  ordinary  leopard.  This  one  did  not  belie  the 
reputation.  With  ears  pressed  flat  and  twitching  tail 
he  stood  fully  exposed  to  view  in  the  open  space 
between  two  bushes,  while  he  glared  round  the  circle 
of  his  tormentors  with  a  snarl  that  I  can  only  describe 
as  hellish.  I  never  saw  such  a  picture  of  concentrated 
rage.  He  looked  what  he  was  at  that  moment :  a 
fiend  incarnate.  The  moment  I  realised  that  the 
captive  was  a  black  leopard,  I  pushed  my  way  to  the 
headman,  and  offered  him  fifty  rupees  if  he  would  let 
the  leopard  out  of  the  net,  and  give  me  a  shot  at  him 
in  the  open.  But  the  old  man,  like  all  the  rest  of  the 
yelling  crowd,  was  beside  himself  with  excitement. 
"No,  no,"  he  said,  "not  for  five  hundred  rupees," 
and  then  he  shook  his  spear  and  joined  in  the  chorus 
of  *'  va,  vay  The  leopard  was  not  slow  in  accepting 
the  invitation.  Like  an  arrow  I  saw  him  charge  the 
net  some  distance  to  my  left.      It  gave,  and  out  he 


222  THE   NILGIRIS 


came  amongst  the  spearmen,  rolling  over  and  over 
from  his  tremendous  impetus.  Before  he  could  recover 
himself,  an  old  Paniyan  drove  his  spear  clean  through 
his  body,  pinning  him  to  the  ground.  The  next 
moment  the  crowd  closed  round  me,  and  I  was  borne 
along  in  the  universal  rush.  With  both  fists  I  pom- 
melled the  shrieking  demons  that  hemmed  me  in,  and 
when  at  last  I  was  able  to  fight  my  way  to  the  leopard, 
he  was  at  his  last  gasp,  with  a  dozen  spears  thrust  into 
his  neck  and  body,  and  his  teeth  savagely  clinched  in 
the  handle  of  one  of  them.  That  nobody  was  hurt  in 
the  mU^e  was  due  entirely  to  the  pluck  of  the  old 
Paniyan,  who  speared  the  leopard  before  he  could 
regain  his  feet,  and  I  thought  five  rupees  none  too 
large  a  reward  for  his  coolness  and  courage.  How  he 
managed  the  feat  I  do  not  know,  for  a  more  unwieldy 
weapon  for  a  fight  at  close  quarters  than  one  of  these 
spears,  with  its  twelve-foot  handle,  it  would  be 
impossible  to  conceive. 

This  spearing  had  a  curious  sequel.  When  the 
excitement  had  subsided,  and  the  Paniyans  were 
preparing  to  drag  the  leopard  away,  it  was  discovered 
that  the  last  inch  of  his  tail  was  missing.  The  old' 
Chetti  who  was  actingr  as  Master  of  Ceremonies 
cursed  the  whole  crowd  as  a  pack  of  thieves,  and 
swore  the  direst  vengeance  on  the  man  who  had 
actually  committed  the  theft.  Then  a  Paniyan  stepped 
forward  and  declared  the  mutilation  was  the  work 
of  a  Eurasian  writer  who  had  been  watching  the 
tamaska,  and  that  the  missing  inch  would  be  found  in 
his  pocket.  The  writer  swore  that  he  had  not  set 
finger  on  the  leopard,  but  I  saw  his  dark  face  turn  a 
livid  green.  The  excited  crowd,  however,  meant 
business,  and  were   not  to  be  put  off  by  his  denial. 


THE   LEOPARD  223 


Wildly  protesting-  his  innocence,  and  appealing  to  me 
for  protection,  he  was  seized  and  searched,  and  the 
stolen  inch  of  tail  taken  from  his  pocket !  What  the 
result  would  have  been,  I  do  not  know  ;  certainly  un- 
pleasant for  the  writer.  However,  fearing  that  he  would 
be  mishandled,  I  intervened,  and  with  great  difficulty 
was  able  at  last  to  drag  the  trembling  wretch  from  the 
clutches  of  the  Paniyans.  I  would  have  liked  to  know 
what  possible  object  he  could  have  had  in  stealing  the 
tip  of  the  leopard's  tail,  but  I  had  no  opportunity  of 
putting  him  the  question,  for  the  moment  he  found 
himself  free  he  took  to  his  heels,  and  disappeared  over 
the  hill  in  a  twinkling.^ 

As  I  have  said,  tiger-spearing  soon  palls,  and  I 
would  not  go  out  of  my  way  to  see  one  ;  but  talking 
the  day's  events  over  that  evening  with  my  pipe, 
I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  they  had  been  well 
worth  my  nine-mile  ride. 

A  leopard  usually  returns  to  his  kill  earlier  than  a 
tiger,  and  in  doing  so  is  far  bolder.  Hence  it  is  that 
village  shikaris  account  for  perhaps  three  times  as 
many  leopards  as  tigers,  by  sitting  over  kills.  As  an 
example  of  their  boldness,  I  may  quote  the  following 
incident.  Early  one  morning  one  of  my  cattle- 
keepers  came  to  me  with  the  information  that  the  shed 
in  which  the  calves  were  kraaled — which  is  not  a 
hundred  yards  from  my  bungalow — had  been  broken 
into  during  the  night,  and  a  calf  abstracted.  He 
thought  the  robbery  was  the  work  of  a  biped  thief, 
keen  on  veal ;  but  some  scratches  on  the  bars  of  the 
shed  made  me  put  the  marauder  down  as  a  leopard  or 

^  To  the  junglemen,  the  tip  of  a  tiger's  or  leopard's  tail  (or  tongue)  is  a 
veritable  magician's  wand,  giving  its  possessor  power  to  cast  spells  over 
his  enemies. 


224  THE   NILGIRIS 


tiger.  The  ground  all  round  the  cattle-shed  was  very 
hard,  it  being  the  hot  season  ;  and  for  a  long  time  I 
could  find  no  trace  of  either  the  missing  calf  or  the 
thief  But  at  last,  some  distance  from  the  shed,  I 
came  on  the  pugs  of  a  leopard.  I  sent  Chic  Mara  to 
work  out  the  track ;  and  about  2  p.m.  he  returned  to 
the  bungalow  to  say  he  had  discovered  the  carcase  of 
the  calf  near  a  stream  about  half  a  mile  away.  It  was 
then  too  late  to  build  a  machan,  so  I  sent  Chic  Mara 
and  a  couple  of  coolies  back,  with  instructions  to  put 
up  a  rough  screen  near  the  kill.  In  an  hour  or  so 
Chic  Mara  came  to  tell  me  the  screen  was  ready,  and 
giving  him  my  Paradox,  I  at  once  went  down. 
But  on  reaching  the  spot,  no  carcase  could  we  see. 
Chic  Mara  showed  me  where  it  had  been  lying  ;  and  it 
was  evident  that  between  the  time  he  left  the  kill  to 
summon  me,  and  my  arrival,  the  leopard  had  dragged 
the  calf  away.  Below  us,  the  stream  was  fringed  with 
a  thick  growth  of  underwood  and  wild  arrowroot,  and 
while  we  were  discussing  the  disappearance  of  the  kill 
in  whispers,  I  noticed  the  long  fronds  of  the  arrowroot 
swaying,  though  there  was  not  a  breath  of  wind. 
Evidently  the  leopard  was  dragging  the  kill  through- 
this  cover,  and  I  ran  along  the  edge  to  cut  him 
off  at  a  point  where  the  undergrowth  narrowed 
to  a  space  a  few  yards  across.  But  when  we  got 
there,  we  found  the  leopard  had  been  before  us,  his 
tracks  being  clearly  marked  in  the  moist  soil.  There 
was  no  sign  of  the  carcase  having  been  pulled  across, 
and  on  going  back  to  where  I  had  first  seen  the  bushes 
moving,  we  found  it.  The  leopard  must  have  heard 
us  on  the  hillside  above  him,  and  dropped  the  calf 
when  he  bolted.  About  twenty  yards  away  was  a 
large  tree,  behind  which  I  posted  myself,  having  first 


THE   LEOPARD  225 


made  Chic  Mara  clear  away  the  arrowroot  to  where  the 
calf  was  lying,  to  give  me  a  view  of  the  body.  I 
had  not  waited  ten  minutes,  when  again  we  saw  the 
bushes  begin  to  sway  gently  as  the  leopard  slunk  back, 
and  the  next  instant  he  appeared.  Just  as  he  seized 
the  calf  by  the  throat,  I  fired  at  his  neck  and  rolled 
him  over.  He  was  a  small  beast — one  of  the  kind 
that  make  dogs  and  calves  their  special  prey. 

Many  years  ago  I  was  a  witness  to  the  most  extra- 
ordinary conduct  on  the  part  of  a  leopard — conduct  for 
which  I  have  never  yet  been  able  to  obtain  a  satis- 
factory explanation.     Late  one  afternoon,  H.  and  I  were 
returning  to  his  shooting  box  at  the  Bison  Swamp,  after 
a  jaunt  to  the  cliffs,  when'across  along,  narrow,  and  very 
steep  nullah  we  saw  a  leopard.     When  I  first  noticed 
him,  he  was  walking  along  the  further  edge  of  a  shola 
which  filled  the  valley  between  us,  and  for  a  little  time 
we  were  not  sure  whether  he  was  a  tiger  or  a  leopard. 
But  as  we  watched,  he  left  the  cover  of  the  jungle  and 
sat  down  on  the  open  grass  hill.      Quite  distinctly  then 
we   could   see   his  spotted  hide.     The  actual  distance 
across  was  not  more  perhaps  than  six  hundred  yards  ; 
but  to  get  to  him    would  have  entailed  a  long  stalk 
round  the  valley,  and  as  it  was  late  and  we  had  still 
several  miles  to  cover  to  the  bungalow,  we  decided  we 
should  have  to  leave  him  alone.     While  we  sat  watching 
him  he  suddenly  lay  down  and  turned  over  on  his  side. 
The  grass  was  short,  and  through  my  glasses  I  could 
see  him  very  clearly.     A  moment  afterwards  two  hind 
sambur  came  out  on  the  grass  hill,  just  above  him,  and 
began  to  feed.     The  leopard  lay  quite  still,  and  five 
minutes  must  have  passed  before  the  hinds  discovered 
him.     Then  one  began  to  bell  and  stamp  ;  then  both. 
H.  and  I  fully  expected  to  see  the  hinds  dash  into  the 

Q 


226  THE   NILGIRIS 


cover  ;  but  instead  of  this,  they  both  advanced  towards 
the  leopard  with  tails  and  ears  cocked,  and  the  curious 
mincing  gait  a  sambur  assumes  when  going  towards  an 
object  the  nature  of  which  it  is  not  quite  sure  of.  Soon 
the  hinds  reached  the  leopard,  and  we  made  certain  one 
would  pay  dearly  for  her  curiosity  ;  but  still  the  leopard 
lay  motionless.  Both  hinds  then  sniffed  the  prostrate 
body,  ran  fifty  yards  across  the  hill,  2Md.—inirabile 
dictu — began  to  feed  again  ;  while  the  leopard  sat  up, 
and  looked  about  him  in  the  most  unconcerned  way  ! 
For  some  little  time  longer  we  watched,  till  the  hinds 
fed  over  the  brow  of  the  hill,  and  then  we  left  Spots 
sitting  alone  in  his  glory. 

The  only  theory  I  can  put  forward  to  account  for  this 
extraordinary  behaviour  on  the  part  of  both  leopard 
and  sambur  is  that  the  leopard  feigns  death  to  induce 
his  prey  to  approach  him  ;  and  that  this  particular 
leopard  was  not  hungry  enough  to  kill,  though  he 
followed  his  usual  custom  of  counterfeiting  death  when 
he  heard  or  winded  the  hinds  before  they  came 
out  of  the  shola.  It  is  a  lame  explanation,  I  admit, 
but  it  seems  to  me  the  only  one  that  will  fit  the 
case. 

The  audacity  of  the  small  dog-killing  leopard  in 
pursuit  of  his  favourite  food  is  astonishing.  I  have 
lost  probably  twenty  dogs  at  various  times,  all  carried 
away  by  leopards,  and  some  have  been  taken  under 
my  very  nose.  I  was  sitting  in  my  verandah  one 
afternoon  about  three  o'clock,  and  a  large  black  semi- 
poligar  named  Rajah  was  asleep  a  few  feet  away.  The 
coffee  on  my  tote  extends  to  my  bungalow,  making  a 
thick  cover  almost  up  to  my  front  door.  While 
reading,  I  heard  a  yelp,  and  turning  my  head,  I  saw  a 
leopard  with  Rajah  in  his  mouth.    Stealthily  and  silently 


THE  LEOPARD  227 


he  had  crept  up  through  the  coffee,  and  he  dashed 
back  into  it  with  the  dog  before  I  could  rise  from  my 
chair.  On  another  occasion  I  was  coming  back  to  my 
bungalow  about  midday,  along  the  main  road,  when  a 
leopard  darted  out  of  some  thorny  scrub  at  the  side  of 
the  road,  and  carried  off  a  fox-terrier  named  Fairy  at 
my  very  feet.  One  evening  H.  and  I  were  out  for  a 
stroll,  when,  not  two  hundred  yards  from  the  house,  a 
leopard  seized  his  spaniel  Lady,  who  was  trotting  on 
a  little  way  ahead.  H.  was  carrying  a  gun  loaded  with 
No.  8,  and  he  promptly  gave  the  beast  both  barrels. 
We  found  plenty  of  blood  on  the  track,  but  the 
leopard  did  not  drop  the  dog,  though  he  must  have 
been  w^ell  peppered  at  that  close  distance.  I  could 
give  several  other  instances  of  a  leopard's  "  cheek  " 
were  it  worth  while  to  set  them  down  ;  but  one  odd 
adventure  I  had  with  a  dog-killer  will  bear  recital. 
One  April  afternoon  I  had  been  over  to  see  a  friend 
about  four  miles  away,  and  shortly  after  I  left  his 
bungalow  on  my  return  home,  it  began  to  rain.  As 
riding  was  uncomfortable  in  the  wet,  I  got  off  my  nag, 
and  gave  him  to  the  horsekeeper.  After  a  mile  the 
rain  stopped,  and  the  sun  came  out  ;  and  the  sunshine 
after  the  rain  made  such  a  lovely  afternoon,  that  I  shut 
my  umbrella  and  determined  to  walk  the  rest  of  the 
way  home.  Before  me  trotted  five  little  terriers, 
behind  me  came  the  syce  leading  my  horse.  We 
reached  a  sharp  bend  in  the  road,  and  the  doggies 
had  disappeared  round  it,  when  I  saw  the  whole  pack 
rushing  back  full  tilt,  with  a  leopard  at  the  heels  of  the 
hindmost  dog.  Just  as  they  reached  me,  the  leopard 
seized  Flirt,  and  at  the  same  moment  I  "landed"  him 
a  blow  on  the  head  with  all  my  force  with  the  umbrella, 
which  flew  into  splinters.     The  leopard  dropped  the 

Q  2 


228  THE   NILGIRIS 


dog,  but  his  impetus  was  so  great  that  he  could  not 
stop,  and  rushing  past  me,  he  knocked  my  syce  clean 
off  his  legs.  Then  he  jumped  into  the  dhubbay 
grass  bordering  the  road.  The  change  that  came 
over  our  peaceful  procession  in  that  one  instant  was 
astounding !  There  stood  I  in  the  middle  of  the 
road,  flabbergasted,  with  a  broken  umbrella-handle  in 
my  hand  :  my  syce  was  roaring  blue  murder  on  his 
back  :  my  horse  was  bolting  for  home  like  a  runaway 
engine  :  and  my  five  little  dogs  were  shivering  at  my 
feet !  I  picked  Flirt  up  and  carried  her  home.  She 
was  badly  bitten  in  the  neck,  but  frequent  applica- 
tions of  phenyl  soon  made  the  wounds  heal,  and  in  a 
fortnight  or  so  she  was  right  again.  But  she  was  a 
changed  dog.  Before  her  adventure  she  had  been 
keen  as  mustard  :  always  eager  for  an  outing,  always 
first  to  find  a  muntjac  or  a  junglefowl  when  I  went 
out  of  an  afternoon  to  look  for  something  for  the  pot. 
But  from  that  day  she  lost  all  her  keenness,  and  all  her 
liking  for  sport.  She  would  come  out  with  me,  but 
she  always  stuck  to  my  heels,  and  nothing  would 
induce  her  to  enter  a  shola  or  join  the  other  dogs  in  a 
hunt  of  any  kind.  She  died  a  few  months  afterwards, 
worn  to  a  skeleton  by  dysentery,  which  I  verily 
believe  was  induced  by  the  fright  she  had  received. 
Poor  litde  Flirt ! 

This  predilection  for  dogs  makes  it  an  easy  matter 
to  trap  a  leopard,  when  the  trap  is  baited  with  a 
pariah.  I  have  never  tried  this  method  of  extermina- 
tion myself,  but  a  planter  in  my  neighbourhood  has 
caught  several.  The  trap  is  merely  a  wooden  box, 
ten  or  twelve  feet  long,  and  three  feet  or  so  wide,  the 
sides  being  closed  with  strong  wooden  bars.  The 
door,  which  slides  in  grooves,  works  on  precisely  the 


THE    LEOPARD  229 


same  principle  as  the  door  of  a  rat-trap.  To  the  top 
is  hinged  a  wooden  bar,  which  leads  across  the  top  of 
the  box,  and  from  its  further  end  depends  a  rope, 
which  runs  into  the  trap  through  a  hole  in  the  roof. 
When  this  rope  is  taut  the  door  remains  open,  but  the 
slightest  disturbance  of  the  rope  releases  the  bar,  and 
the  door  falls  by  its  own  weight.  As  the  leopard 
cannot  enter  the  trap  without  touching  the  rope,  he 
invariably  shuts  himself  in.  A  space  just  large 
enough  to  hold  a  dog  is  partitioned  off  at  the  further 
end  of  the  box,  and  in  this  a  wretched  pariah  is 
placed ;  care,  of  course,  being  taken  that  the  bars 
round  the  partition  are  close  enough  to  prevent  the 
leopard  inserting  his  paw  through  them.  Hearing 
once  that  a  leopard  had  been  trapped,  I  went  over  to 
see  him.  He  was  a  fine  large  specimen,  and  did  not 
look  the  sort  of  customer  that  could  be  easily  hood- 
winked. He  lay  in  the  trap,  occasionally  showing  his 
teeth  at  the  crowd  round,  but  he  had  made  no  effort  to 
escape  or  to  bite  through  the  bars.  It  was  the  wretched 
pariah,  however,  who  was  still  in  the  trap,  that  excited 
my  sympathy.  Such  a  forlorn,  miserable  wretch  I 
never  saw  before.  He  was  crouched  in  one  corner  of 
his  cage,  as  far  away  from  his  unwelcome  companion 
as  he  could  get ;  and  the  howl  to  which  he  occasionally 
gave  vent  said  plainly  that,  for  him,  the  night  had  not 
been  "  filled  with  music  "  (save  his  own !)  or  rapture 
either  !  I  opened  the  door  of  his  cage,  and  the  moment 
he  was  free  he  "shinned  out  of  Galilee"  faster  than 
ever  a  dog  shinned  before.  My  friend  was  very  proud 
of  his  feat  in  having  caught  the  leopard,  and  calling 
for  his  gun,  he  shot  Spots  before  the  crowd  of  admiring 
coolies.  A  most  inglorious  end,  I  thought,  for  such  a 
fine  beast. 


230  THE   NILGIRIS 


Unlike  the  tiger,  the  leopard  as  a  rule  begins  his 
meal  with  the  forequarter  of  his  kill ;  but  on  a  few- 
occasions  I  have  known  him  start  with  the  hindquarters. 
I  was  walking  round  the  estate  one  morning  with  a 
friend,  when  my  dogs  rushed  down  into  the  coffee,  and 
in  a  moment  we  saw  them  tailing  away  across  a  swamp 
below  us,  in  full  cry  after  a  stag  sambur.  An  hour  or 
so  afterwards  they  all  joined  us  with  the  exception  of  a 
favourite  dog,  a  spaniel  named  Bingo.  As  he  had  not 
returned  when  we  reached  the  bungalow,  I  sent  men  to 
search,  but  they  came  back  without  news  of  the  dog. 
I  then  went  down  myself,  and  following  in  the  direction 
the  pack  had  taken  in  the  morning,  I  came  on  the  fresh 
tracks  of  a  large  leopard  near  a  belt  of  jungle.  This 
made  poor  Bingo's  fate  certain,  and  I  determined  to 
try  to  avenge  his  death.  The  next  morning  I  bought 
a  white  goat  as  a  bait,  and  sent  men  to  put  up  a  machan 
near  the  shola  into  which  Bingo  had  evidently  been 
carried.  But  as  it  chanced,  a  kind  fate  was  delivering 
my  enemy  into  my  hands  without  further  trouble  to 
myself.  I  did  not  get  back  to  the  bungalow  till  late 
that  afternoon,  and  there  I  heard  that  my  cattleman 
had  been  up  in  the  morning  to  report  that  a  tiger  had 
broken  into  an  outlying  cattleshed  the  previous  night, 
and  had  killed  a  heifer.  When  I  reached  the  shed,  the 
herdsmen  had  a  vivid  tale  to  tell  of  how  they  had  seen 
the  tiger  and  frightened  him  off  with  shouts,  and  that 
later  he  had  returned  and  draoged  the  carcase  out  of 
the  shed.  The  ground  all  round  was  hard  and  dry, 
and  I  could  find  no  footmarks  ;  but  on  examining  the 
kill,  which  had  been  carried  fifty  yards  from  the  shed, 
I  found  one  hindquarter  demolished,  which  seemed  to 
corroborate  the  cattlemen's  story  that  a  tiger  was  the 
thief.     It  was  too  late  to  build  a  mackan,  so  I  set  the 


THE   LEOPARD  231 


men  to  run  up  a  rough  screen  of  boughs  by  the  side  of 
the  shed,  and  behind  this  I  squatted.  To  my  left  a 
line  of  bushes  ran  up  nearly  to  the  shed  :  to  my  right 
lay  the  long  shed  itself :  while  in  front,  and  beyond  the 
kill,  was  an  open  stretch  of  grass  land  for  one  hundred 
yards,  at  which  point  it  met  a  patch  of  heavy  jungle. 

I  had  been  watching  for  half  an  hour,  when  a  slight 
noise  to  my  left  made  me  turn  my  head  for  perhaps 
ten  seconds  in  the  direction  of  the  scrub  on  that  side : 
when  I  glanced  at  the  kill  again,  there  stood  a  fine 
leopard  above  it.  How  he  had  got  there  unseen  and 
unheard  in  the  few  moments  during  which  my  attention 
was  diverted  from  the  kill  was  a  mystery  ;  and  it  is 
this  marvellous  faculty  for  covert  approach  that  makes 
the  leopard  so  dangerous — far  more  dangerous  in  my 
view  than  the  tiger.  A  small  bush  hid  the  beast's 
shoulder,  and  I  waited  with  my  Paradox  ready  till  he 
should  step  forward.  Just  at  that  moment  the  wind 
changed,  and  the  leopard  must  have  scented  me,  for 
like  lightning  he  crouched  with  his  eyes  fixed  on  the 
screen.  For  a  few  seconds  we  faced  each  other:  then 
he  was  off  in  a  series  of  bounds.  But  luckily  for  me 
he  took  across  the  open  ground  as  he  retreated 
towards  the  thick  cover  behind,  and  my  bullet 
caught  him  fair  behind  the  shoulder,  sending  him 
over  like  a  rabbit.  He  was  a  fine  specimen,  seven 
feet  three  inches  from  tip  to  tip. 

Why  this  particular  leopard  should  have  chosen  to 
break  the  rule,  and  begin  his  feed  with  the  hindquarter 
of  the  heifer,  I  cannot  say  :  possibly  the  cattlemen  may 
have  frightened  him  away  as  they  averred,  and  on  his 
return  he  thought  it  prudent  to  start  with  the  part  of  the 
kill  lying  nearest  to  the  thick  cover,  in  readiness  for 
instant    flight    if  he   was    disturbed    again.     Out    of 


232  THE   NILGIRIS 


perhaps  thirty  kills  by  leopards  I  have  examined,  there 
were  only  two  more  instances  in  which  the  hind- 
quarters had  been  first  attacked.  In  these  two  cases  I 
did  not  see  the  thieves,  but  the  tracks  were  plain,  and 
they  were  leopards  beyond  doubt. 

"It  never  rains  but  it  pours.  "  About  a  week  after 
I  had  shot  poor  Bingo's  murderer,  I  was  out  with  the 
dogs  in  a  different  part  of  the  tote.  Half  a  dozen 
were  trotting  at  my  heels,  while  Sugar,  a  very  keen 
terrier,  was  twenty  yards  ahead,  and  had  just  given 
tongue  to  a  jungle  fowl  she  had  flushed,  when  out 
bounced  a  leopard  from  the  coffee,  and  was  away  with 
the  dog  in  a  flash.  A  little  below  was  a  strip  of  jungle 
and  for  this  the  beast  made.  I  ran  towards  it  shouting 
my  loudest,  and  just  inside  I  found  the  dog  at  her  last 
gasp.  A  sporting  Kanarese  cooly  named  Thundukol 
was  with  me,  and  I  sent  him  off  to  the  bungalow  for 
some  more  coolies  with  ropes  and  knives  to  build 
a  machan,  while  I  watched  my  poor  little  doggie's 
body  to  keep  away  the  leopard  till  the  men  arrived  ; 
and  at  4  p.m.  I  took  up  my  post  on  the  platform  with 
Thundukol. 

The  jungle  was  very  thick,  with  a  deal  of  under- 
growth, but  my  men  had  cleared  round  the  dog's  body, 
so  that  I  could  see  this  plainly,  and  a  short  way  beyond. 
I  watched  for  an  hour,  when,  in  the  dense  shade  beyond 
the  dog,  I  thought  I  could  distinguish  the  vague  out- 
lines of  an  object  which  had  not  been  there  before. 
But  the  low  beams  of  the  setting  sun,  filtering  through 
the  jungle,  made  such  a  mosaic  of  yellow  light  and 
black  shadow,  that  for  the  life  of  me  I  could  not  deter- 
mine whether  what  I  took  to  be  the  leopard  was  fancy 
or  fact.  For  a  full  quarter  of  an  hour  I  kept  my  eyes 
fixed  on  the  spot,  but  not  a  movement  could  I  detect 


THE   LEOPARD  233 


which  might  not  have  been  the  flickering  of  the 
chequered  pattern  on  the  ground  as  the  soft  evening 
breeze  stirred  the  leaves  of  the  trees  overhead.  But 
at  last  the  sun  behind  me  sank  low  enough  to  strike 
diiect  into  the  shadow  under  the  green  canopy  of  the 
jungle,  and  the  leopard  was  clearly  revealed  as  the 
level  beams  shone  into  his  great  yellow  eyes  and  made 
them  sparkle  and  glitter  like  topazes.  His  body  was 
masked  by  a  tree,  behind  which  he  sat,  and  only 
his  head  was  visible  as  he  peered  round  the  trunk. 
With  the  utmost  caution  I  pushed  my  Paradox  an  inch 
through  the  screen  of  leaves  in  front  of  my  perch,  and 
brought  the  gun  to  my  shoulder.  But  the  leopard's 
head  was  raised  so  high  that  I  could  not  fire  for  fear 
the  bullet  might  glance  off  his  forehead.  I  kept  him 
covered  ;  and  so  we  faced  each  other  for  five  minutes 
more,  the  leopard  lazily  blinking  in  the  sunlight.  Just 
then  a  tiny  bird  flew  down  and  hopped  round  the  dog's 
body.  For  an  instant  the  leopard  lowered  his  head  to 
gaze  at  the  intruder,  and  in  that  instant  I  had  him. 
My  bullet  crashed  into  his  brain  between  the  eyes,  and 
he  fell  forward  on  to  the  dog,  stone  dead.  Dear  little 
Sugar  was  avenged.  This  leopard  was  a  male  in  prime 
condition  and  measured  just  seven  feet  from  tip  to  tip. 
I  once  had  the  good  fortune  to  bag  an  exceptionally 
fine  specimen  of  the  large  leopard  or  panther.  Five 
miles  from  my  estate  are  a  series  of  swamps,  which  in 
the  season — from  October  to  February — are  about  the 
best  snipe  ground  in  the  district.  In  the  middle  of 
one  of  these  swamps  is  a  Paniya  village,  and  as  the 
headman  always  goes  home  the  richer  by  a  couple  of 
rupees  when  I  make  a  good  bag,  he  keeps  a  watchful 
eye  on  the  snipe  and  brings  me  news  of  where  birds 
are  plentiful. 


234  THE   NILGIRIS 


On  one  of  his  visits  he  told  me  that  several  head  of 
cattle  had  been  killed  recently  near  his  village  by  a 
"  leopard  as  big  as  a  tiger,"  and  he  offered  to  turn 
out  all  his  men  to  beat  for  me  if  I  would  come  over 
and  shoot  it,  I  was  too  busy  at  the  time  to  leave  the 
estate,  and  as  I  put  down  the  description  of  the 
beast's  abnormal  size  as  a  piece  of  native  exaggeration, 
I  told  the  old  Paniyan  the  leopard  would  have  to 
wait.  But  having  a  little  spare  time  a  week  or  so 
afterwards,  I  packed  up  my  gun  and  Express  and 
started  for  the  D.  bungalow.  On  arrival  I  was 
greeted  effusively  by  the  headman,  who  gave  me  the 
welcome  news  that  a  buffalo  calf  had  been  killed  the 
previous  evening  by  this  phenomenal  leopard.  Several 
of  the  Paniyans  were  good  trackers,  and  as  the  day 
was  still  young,  I  sent  them  off  to  try  to  discover  in 
which  of  the  many  small  covers  near  the  kill  the 
leopard  was  lying  up.  At  two  o'clock  they  returned 
to  say  they  had  tracked  him  into  the  endless  forest 
which  beofins  at  the  foot  of  Sullimallai.  This  it  was 
impossible  to  beat,  so  I  determined  to  watch  over  the 
kill. 

The  buffalo  had  been  pulled  down  in  a  swamp,  and 
the  carcase  dragged  some  distance  to  the  edge  of  a 
small  shola.  Between  this  cover  and  the  Ghat  forest 
lay  a  long  grass  hill,  with  clumps  of  large  trees  at 
intervals.  Knowing  that  the  leopard's  line  of  approach 
would  be  down  this  hill,  I  had  a  screen  built  in  one  of 
the  clumps,  and  behind  this  I  took  up  my  post  with 
the  headman  at  4  p.m.  We  watched  till  it  was  too 
dark  to  see,  but  the  leopard  did  not  show  ;  and  then 
for  the  first  time  old  Kutti  told  me  the  Paniya  herds- 
men had  raised  a  tremendous  "hullabaloo"  the 
previous    day  when  the    buffalo    was    killed,    and    he 


THE   LEOPARD  235 

feared  the  leopard  had  been  frightened  away  for  good. 
We  passed  the  kill  on  our  way  home,  and  found  it 
undisturbed.  Kutti  wanted  to  remove  it  at  once  with 
the  view  of  selling  the  flesh,  already  very  high,  in  the 
bazaar  ;  but  on  the  off  chance  of  the  leopard's  return 
during  the  night,  I  promised  to  pay  for  the  calf  if  he 
would  leave  it. 

The  following  morning  just  as  I  had  turned  out  of 
bed,  Kutti  came  post  haste  to  the  bungalow  with  the 
news  that  half  the  kill  had  been  eaten  during  the 
night,  and  he  had  sent  off  his  men  to  track  the  leopard. 
They  returned  at  eight  o'clock  and  said  that  this  time 
he  had  not  made  for  the  big  forest,  but  was  lying  in  a 
cover  close  to  the  kill.  So  off  I  set  with  twenty 
beaters  following  at  my  heels.  Feeling  sure  that  the 
leopard  would  make  for  the  Ghat  forest  on  being  dis- 
turbed, I  sent  the  beaters  to  the  swamp,  with  instruc- 
tions to  beat  upwards,  while  I  took  up  my  post  on  the 
grass  hill  behind  a  large  tree  fifty  yards  from  the  upper 
end  of  the  shola.  The  Paniyans  kept  a  good  line, 
and  beat  right  through  the  cover,  but  no  leopard 
appeared.  We  held  a  consultation  as  to  the  next 
move,  and  as  it  seemed  certain  that  the  leopard  had 
again  retreated  to  the  Ghat  forest,  I  had  just 
determined  to  surrender  all  hope  of  a  shot  at  him  and 
turn  my  attention  to  snipe,  when  up  came  Chic  Mara. 
He  had  gone  to  my  bungalow  early  that  morning,  and 
finding  I  had  left  for  D.  had  followed  ;  and  lucky  it 
was  for  me,  as  the  sequel  proved,  that  he  did  so. 

In  five  minutes  I  had  explained  the  situation  to 
Chic  Mara,  and  set  him  to  work  the  puzzle  out. 
We  went  back  to  the  kill,  and  after  a  short  examina- 
tion Chic  Mara  asked  the  Paniyans  why  they  had 
said  the  leopard  was  lying  up  in  the  adjoining  cover — 


236  THE   NILGIRIS 


the  one  we  had  just  beaten.  They  pointed  to  the 
track  leading  into  it.  "  You  fools,"  said  Chic  Mara, 
"  that  track  is  a  day  old,  and  was  made  by  the  leopard 
when  he  ran  for  the  big  forest  after  you  frightened 
him.  Follow  it  up  and  you  will  see  I  am  right.  Just 
like  fools  of  Paniyans  to  come  to  the  dhoray  with  a 
strinor  of  lies  before  seeino-  whether  the  track  led  out 

o  o 

of  the  jungle."  Chic  Mara  took  up  the  track,  and 
sure  enouQfh  he  carried  it  throug^h  the  cover  and  out 
on  the  grass  hill  beyond.  "  So  much  for  a  Paniyan's 
cleverness,"  said  Chic  Mara,  "  now  let  us  try  to  find 
the  morninof  track."  Once  more  we  went  back  to  the 
kill,  and  after  a  cast  or  two  Chic  Mara  was  off  on  a 
track  leading  away  to  the  left.  With  consummate 
skill  he  held  this  for  half  a  mile,  when  it  entered  a 
considerable  shola.  Round  the  edge  of  this  he  worked, 
and  as  no  track  led  out,  he  confidently  affirmed  he  had 
bottled  up  the  leopard. 

This  cover  lay  in  the  depression  between  two  hills, 
and  as  it  was  far  too  extensive  to  be  commanded  by,  a 
single  gun,  I  felt  that  my  chance  of  a  shot  was  very 
remote,  Kutti  said  that  a  cattle  track  led  through  the 
shola,  and  that  years  before  he  and  his  men  had  beaten- 
the  same  cover  for  a  tiger,  which  had  kept  to  this  path. 
It  was  probable,  he  thought,  that  the  leopard  would  do 
the  same,  and  as  the  advice  seemed  good,  I  went 
round  to  the  point  at  which  the  cattle  track  left  the 
shola  on  the  opposite  side,  leaving  the  men  to  beat  up 
to  me.  A  short  distance  above,  on  the  open  hill-side, 
was  a  single  large  tree,  and  behind  this  Chic  Mara 
and  I  posted  ourselves.  Scarcely  had  the  beat  begun 
when  a  sounder  of  pig  broke  close  to  us.  "  That 
does  not  look  as  if  the  leopard  is  at  home,  Mara,"  I 
said,  when,  following  almost  on  the  heels  of  the  pig, 


THE   LEOPARD  237 


out  came  the  leopard  at  the  very  spot  we  had  marked 
for  his  exit.  In  an  instant  I  reahsed  that  old  Kutti 
had  for  once  kept  within  the  truth  when  he  told  me 
that  the  leopard  was  "as  big  as  a  tiger,"  for  as  he 
trotted  out  of  the  cover  with  the  sun  shining  full  on  his 
glossy,  spotted  hide,  he  looked  what  he  was — a  king 
amongst  leopards.  I  waited  till  he  was  just  past  my 
post,  and  then  gave  him  the  right  barrel  behind  the 
shoulder.  He  rolled  over  to  the  shot,  but  I  had  not 
made  quite  enough  allowance  for  the  steepness  of  the 
hill  down  which  I  had  to  fire,  for  the  bullet  took  him 
rather  high  up,  paralysing  but  not  killing  him.  Then 
followed  an  awful  exhibition  of  impotent  rage.  The 
leopard  literally  clawed  his  way  towards  a  small  shola 
ahead,  biting  the  earth  and  the  bushes  as  he  dragged 
himself  along.  For  a  few  moments  I  was  so  fascinated 
by  his  terrific  struggles  that  I  forgot  to  fire:  when  I 
did  pull  the  left  trigger  I  missed  him  clean,  and  before  I 
could  shove  in  fresh  cartridges  he  had  reached  the 
shola  and  crawled  in. 

The  cover  was  very  small,  and  the  Paniyans 
expressed  their  willingness  to  beat  it,  but  this  I  would 
not  allow.  If  we  could  make  the  leopard  break  again 
I  felt  I  had  him  for  a  certainty,  as  the  shola  was 
merely  a  patch  of  jungle  in  open  grass  land,  and  I 
could  see  all  round  it.  I  took  up  a  position  about  the 
middle,  and  the  men  kept  up  a  shower  of  stones  ;  but 
though  the  bombardment  lasted  for  ten  minutes,  ac- 
companied by  vociferous  invocations  to  the  leopard  to 
"come  out  and  be  killed,"  he  declined  the  invitation. 
Chic  Mara  said  he  was  dead  and  volunteered  to  go  in 
and  drag  him  out ;  and  he  looked  quite  crestfallen 
when  I  refused  to  let  him  run  the  risk.  There  was 
nothing  for  it  but  to  follow  him  in,  so  with  Chic  Mara 


238  THE   NILGIRIS 


and  a  couple  of  Paniyans  I  entered  the  shola.  We 
had  not  penetrated  a  dozen  yards,  when  I  saw  the 
leopard  under  a  tree.  He  was  lying  facing  us  with  his 
head  between  his  paws.  Instantly  I  stopped  the  men, 
and  brought  my  rifle  up,  but  he  was  too  far  gone  to  do 
anything  more  than  snarl.  We  watched  him  for  a 
moment,  then  feeling  sure  he  was  past  mischief,  I 
walked  up  to  within  fifteen  yards,  and  kneeling  down, 
I  finished  him.  He  was  a  magnificent  brute,  measur- 
ing eight  feet  one  inch  in  length,  and  with  a  lighter 
coat  than  I  have  ever  seen  in  a  leopard. 

That  evening  after  dinner  I  was  sitting  in  the 
verandah  of  the  bungalow  when  Chic  Mara  came  up. 
After  commending  him  for  his  skill,  I  asked  him  a 
question  that  had  been  puzzling  me  all  day  ;  "Why  the 
Paniyans  had  made  such  a  silly  mistake  in  the  back 
track  ? "  Chic  Mara  turned  away  and  covered  his 
mouth  with  his  hand,  "What  are  you  laughing  at?" 
I  asked,  whereat  he  replied  by  another  question,  "  Why 
didn't  the  dho7'ay  go  round  the  shola  and  satisfy 
himself  there  was  no  track  leading  out  ?  "  "  Because 
I  knew  the  Paniyans  were  good  trackers,  and  had  no 
reason  to  suppose  they  were  misleading  me."  "Well, 
they  were,"  said  Mara;  "  I  have  been  to  their  village, 
and  this  is  the  truth.  When  they  found  this  morning 
the  leopard  had  returned  to  the  kill,  they  tracked  him 
to  the  right  shola,  and  then  tried  to  put  you  off  the 
scent  because  they  wanted  to  net  him."  "  They 
preferred  the  tamasha  to  the  present  I  gave  them  ?  "  I 
asked.  "  They  wanted  the  tamasha  and  the  money 
too,"  said  Mara,  "  and  hoped  to  get  both."  As  f 
shook  the  ashes  out  of  my  pipe  and  started  to  turn  in, 
I  wondered  if  I  should  ever  get  to  the  back  of  my 
Aryan  brother's  sinuous  mind.      I  am  wondering  still  ! 


THE    BISON 


Scientific  name. — Bos  gaurus. 
Tamil  name. — Kdf  yeramay. 
Kanarese  name. — Karti  (and  others). 
Kurumba  name. — Karti  (and  others). 
Nayaka  name. — Karti  (and  others). 


THE   BISON 

"  Do  you  know  that  mighty  forest,  on  the  Western  Mountains'  crest, 
Where  the  lordly  bison  reigns  and  roams  at  will  ? 
Do  you  know  the  long  day's  tracking,  dawn  to  dusk  without  a  rest, 

While  the  bull  keeps  moving  Jus  f  before  you  still? 
It  is  there  that  I  am  going,  with  my  rifle  and  my  tent. 

And  a  tried  and  trusty  tracker  that  I  know ; 
Can  a  Savage  feel  contentment  in  brick  and  mortar  pent  ? 
The  Red  Gods  call  me  out,  and  I  must  go  ! " 

(With  apologies  to  R.  K.) 

Every  writer  on  Indian  sport  begins  his  chapter  on 
the  bison  with  the  emphatic  assertion  that  "he  is  the 
finest  specimen  of  the  genus  Bos  in  the  world  "  ;  and 
no  one  who  knows  this  grand  animal  will  dispute  the 
assertion.  The  name  "  bison,"  by  which  he  is  univer- 
sally known  in  India,  is  of  course  a  glaring  misnomer, 
for  he  does  not  belong  to  the  bisontine  group,  the  only 
Eastern  representative  of  which  is  the  yak  (Bos 
g-runniens).  He  falls  under  the  taurine  sub-division 
of  the  genus  Bos,  which  is  distinguished  from  the 
bisontine  sub-division  chiefly  by  the  absence  of  long 
hair  on  the  head  and  shoulders,  and  by  a  dorsal  ridge. 
He  got  his  name  of  "  bison  "  in  the  old  days  of  lax 
nomenclature,  and  the  misnomer  has  been  so  hallowed 
by  custom  that  there  is  small  chance  of  its  being 
dropped.      His  colloquial  name  ought  of  course  to  be 

R 


242  THE   NILGIRIS 


the  "  gaur."  In  Assam  there  is  a  variety  known  as 
the  gayal  or  mithun  [Bos  frontalis),  which  differs  from 
the  gaur  by  the  presence  of  a  well-defined  dewlap, 
and  in  the  shape  of  the  horns,  which  have  no  inward 
curve  as  in  the  gaur.  But  the  latter  is  also  found  in 
Assam,  side  by  side  with  his  congener  the  gayal.  In 
Burma  occurs  another  variety,  the  banting  {Bos 
sondaiciis),  which  also  has  a  dewlap,  and  apparently  a 
longer  tail  than  the  Indian  bison. 

In  body,  the  bison  is  extraordinarily  massive,  with 
possibly  the  most  powerful  neck  of  any  animal  extant 
save  the  elephant.  This  great  frame  is  mounted  on 
legs  which  seem  disproportionately  slender  in  relation 
to  his  size  and  weight,  and  they  terminate  in  hoofs  not 
much  larger  than  those  of  a  deer.  But  his  build  is 
marvellously  well  adapted  to  the  country  in  which  he 
delights — forest-clad  hills ;  and  the  pace  at  which 
this  great  animal  can  travel  up  or  down  the  steep  hills 
of  the  Western  Ghats  must  be  seen  to  be  realised. 
The  head  is  curiously  formed.  Above  a  horizontal 
line  joining  the  bases  of  the  horns  rises  a  ridge  of 
bone.  The  crown  of  this  ridge — which  forms  a  curve 
between  the  horn  cores — projects  outwards,  so  that 
immediately  below  is  a  deep  concavity  where  the 
ridge  joins  the  forehead  and  the  line  of  the  face.  In 
life,  this  high  ridge,  the  short  head  terminating  in  very 
square  nostrils,  and  the  large,  pale  blue  eye,  give  the 
bison  a  very  sedate  appearance.  Along  the  back  runs 
another  ridge  which  ends  suddenly  midway  between 
neck  and  tail  in  a  fall  of  several  inches. 

It  by  no  means  follows  that  the  oldest  bull  carries 
the  best  head  ;  I  have  shot  patriarchs  with  compara- 
tively small  horns  :  while  the  best  head  that  ever  fell 
to   my  lot   belonged   to  a   youngish   bull    I    found    in 


THE   BISON 


243 


company  with  a  veritable  Nestor.  I  bagged  them 
both  ;  and  while  the  old  bull's  head  was  not  remarkable 
for  anything  except  the  width  across  sweep,  due  to  the 
horizontal  growth  of  the  horns  (a  characteristic  of  old 
bulls),  the  head  of  the  younger  bull  was  a  beauty. 
Some  magnificent  heads  have  come  from  Wynaad — 
perhaps  the  best  recorded  from  any  part  of  India 
having  regard  to  the  tout  ense7nble.  It  is  difficult  to 
say  which  of  these  heads  is  absolutely  the  finest, 
because,  as  usual,  the  measurements  given  do  not 
follow  a  system  ;  but  I  think  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  record  honours  belong  to  the  head  shot  by  Mr.  F. 
W.  Ditmas,  erstwhile  a  planter  in  South  Wynaad. 
The  dimensions  are  given  further  on.  Mr.  G. 
Hadfield  has  a  very  fine  head,  shot,  I  believe,  near 
Nilambur,  at  the  foot  of  the  Wynaad  Ghats  : — 


Inches 

Length  ... 

...        ? 

Girth 

..      19^ 

Spread  ... 

..      44 

Tip  to  tip  across  forehead 

..      83 

Span  between  tips 

••       31 

Sanderson's  best  head,  shot  in  Mysore,  measured 


Length... 

Girth 

Spread  ... 

Tip  to  tip  across  forehead 

Span  between  tips 


Inches. 
? 

33 
74 
19 


Mysore    jungles  have    furnished    many 


good 


The 

heads.  Burke  records  one  shot  by  Surg.-Capt.  White- 
stone  in  1897,  eighty-three  inches  from  tip  to  tip  across 
forehead  ;  and  another,  which  he  calls  a   "  magnificent 

R  2 


244 


THE   NILGIRIS 


specimen,"    shot  by  Mr.   M.  B.  Follett,  the  measure- 
ments of  which  were  : — 


Inches 

Length... 

Girth 

Spread  ... 

Tip  to  tip  across  forehead 

Span  between  tips 

? 
...        ? 
...      44 
...      87 
...      24I 

Allowing  eleven  inches  for  breadth  across  forehead, 
these  horns  would  be  thirty-eight  inches  in  length,  and 
I  reckon  this  is  pretty  near  the  mark. 

Travancore  has  always  been  noted  for  big  heads. 
Burke  mentions  one  in  possession  of  H.H.  the 
Maharajah,  "the  right  horn  of  which  measures  over 
forty-three  inches."  These  are  the  longest  horns  of 
which  I  can  find  mention  anywhere  ;  but  as  the  other 
dimensions  are  not  given,  I  cannot  say  whether  the 
head  is  a  record  in  all  respects.  It  would  be  interesting 
to  know  the  history  of  this  head,  and  to  obtain  full 
measurements.  Burke  says,  "  the  length  equals  H.H. 
of  Cooch  Behar's  best  trophy,"  but  no  further  informa- 
tion is  given  regarding  the  Cooch  Behar  head.  There 
is  a  fine  Travancore  head  in  the  Madras  Museum  : — 


Length... 

Girth 

Spread  ... 

Tip  to  tip  across  forehead 

Span  between  tips 

My  own  best  head  measures  : — 


Length ... 

Girth 

Spread  ... 

Tip  to  tip  across  forehead 

Span  between  tips 


Inches. 

36 

18 

46 

? 

29  (Burke.) 


Inches. 

34 
18 
40 
79 
23 


THE   BISON 


245 


In  the  Journal  of  the  Bombay  Natural  History 
Society,  Vol.  XV.,  No.  4,  for  June,  1904,  the  measure- 
ments of  a  head  presented  to  the  Museum  in  1897  are 
given.  The  bull  was  said  to  have  been  killed  by  wild 
dogs  in  Salween,  Burma,  and  the  yiS'^^/'/z^/ characterises 
this  head  as  "  the  record."     The  measurements  are  : — 

Inches. 


Length,  right  horn 

...     39 

„        left  horn 

■■•     39^ 

Girth,  right  horn 

2o|^ 

„    left  horn 

20f 

Spread,  outside 

•••        43I 

„       inside... 

•••     35^ 

Tip  to  tip  across  forehead 

■••     93^ 

Span  between  tips 

...     18^ 

While  according  to  this  magnificent  head  the  fullest 
possible  meed  of  admiration,  I  cannot,  as  a  Wynaadian, 
admit  the  validity  of  its  claim  to  record  honours.  For 
facility  of  reference,  I  place  the  dimensions  in  juxta- 
position with  those  of  the  bull  bagged  by  Mr.  Ditmas, 
in  Wynaad,  to  which  I  have  referred  above  : — 


Bombay  head. 

Mr.   D.'s  head 

Inches. 

Inches. 

Length 

..      39I      ... 

...      40 

Girth 

..        2of       ... 

20^ 

Spread  ... 

••    .    43I       — 

...      44 

Tip  to  tip  across  forehead 

•  •     93^     ••■ 

...       ? 

Span  between  tips 

..      18I       .. 

...      23 

I  greatly  regret  that  I  am  unable  to  give  the  length 
from  tip  to  tip  across  forehead  in  the  case  of  the 
Wynaad  head,  because  this  measurement  perhaps  con- 
veys the  best  impression  of  a  bull's  head  on  paper  ;  but, 
judging  from  the  length  of  the  horns,  I  cannot  be  wrong 
in  assuming  that  in  this  respect  the  Wynaad  head  is  at 
least  the  equal  of  the  Bombay  one  ;  and  as  in  length, 
spread,  and   span  between  tips,  the  advantage  is  with 


246  THE   NILGIRIS 


Mr.  Ditmas's  head,  the  claim  of  the  Bombay  Natural 
History  Society's  head  is  certainly  not  established. 
The  absolute  record,  as  I  have  said,  must  lie  with  the 
Travancore  Maharajah's  head,  if  the  other  dimensions 
are  proportionate  to  the  length  of  the  right  horn ; 
failing  this,  I  believe  Mr.  Ditmas's  head  to  be  the 
finest  ever  bagged,  having  regard  to  all  the  measure- 
ments. 

The  horns  of  the  bison  are  dark  at  the  base,  greenish- 
yellow  for  the  middle  portion  of  their  length,  and 
black  at  the  tips.  At  their  junction  with  the  cores, 
they  are  flattened  ;  from  here  they  take  a  bold  outward 
and  slightly  forward  sweep,  while  the  tips  curve  inward 
and  backward.  This  inward  curve  is  wanting  in  old 
bulls,  as  the  tips  are  always  worn  and  blunted.  They 
are  corrugated  at  the  base,  the  corrugations  increasing 
both  in  depth  and  extent  with  age,  till  in  old  bulls  the 
entire  horn  is  rough  and  striated.  Horns  shrink 
appreciably  in  process  of  drying. 

Sanderson  writes : — "  The  largest  bulls  stand 
eighteen  hands  (six  feet)  at  the  shoulder  ....  I 
have  never  myself  shot  them  above  eighteen  hands, 
fair  vertical  measurement."  Blanford  says  : — "  Large 
bulls  are  said  to  exceed  six  feet  in  height  at  the 
shoulder,  but  this  is  rare  and  exceptional,  five  feet 
eight  inches  to  five  feet  ten  inches  being  the  usual 
height."  I  differ  from  such  authorities  as  these  with 
great  diffidence,  but  after  having  measured  many 
bison,  I  should  put  the  average  height  of  an  old  solitary 
bull  at  six  feet,  with  the  reservation  that  frequently 
that  height  is  exceeded.  Burke  records  three  bulls 
over  six  feet — one  shot  by  Col.  Pollok  being  six  feet 
ten  and  a-half  inches ;  another  by  Sir  W.  Elliott, 
standing-  six  feet  one  and  a-half  inches  ;  and  the  third 


THE   BISON  247 


by  Lieut.  R.  M.  Brind,  standing  six  feet  one  inch. 
The  biggest  bull  I  ever  bagged  stood  nineteen  and 
a-half  hands,  or  six  feet  six  inches. 

In  colour  young  bulls  and  cows  are  a  very  dark 
brown,  though  occasionally  in  herds  I  have  seen 
individuals  which  might  be  described  as  "  rufous." 
This  colour  deepens  with  age,  till  old  bulls  are  almost 
if  not  quite  black.  These  patriarchs  are  nearly  devoid 
of  hair  on  the  upper  part  of  the  body,  and  they  in- 
variably have  a  greasy  exudation  from  the  skin.  In 
speaking  of  this  Sanderson  writes  :  "The  hide  of  old 
bulls  after  a  sharp  hunt  gives  out  an  oily  '  sweat.'  " 
But  I  question  whether  this  discharge  is  sweat,  for 
the  skin  of  bulls  I  have  stalked  and  killed  in  their 
tracks  always  had  this  greasy  appearance,  though  they 
had  undergone  no  exertion.  It  seems  to  me  to  be 
rather  a  natural  exudation  from  the  pores  ;  though  it 
is  of  course  possible  that  the  sharp  pain  inflicted  by  a 
bullet,  even  when  that  bullet  dropped  the  bison  at 
once,  would  instantaneously  induce  a  sweat,  just  as  a 
wound  brings  out  a  "  cold  "  sweat  on  the  forehead  of  a 
man.  All  four  legs  are  cased  in  dirty  white  stockings 
from  slightly  above  the  knees  to  the  hoofs.  The 
upper  part  of  the  face  is  of  the  same  dull  white — 
occasionally  yellowish-white — this  colouring  being  more 
pronounced  in  old  than  in  young  animals.  The  hair 
at  junction  of  legs  with  trunk  is  a  golden  chestnut. 
The  muzzle  is  pale,  and,  as  said  already,  the  eye  is 
pale  blue. 

The  range  of  the  bison  is  very  extensive.  He 
is  found  over  the  whole  peninsula  of  India  wherever 
conditions  are  suitable,  that  is,  wherever  there  are 
hills  covered  with  dense  forest.  Eastwards,  he  in- 
habits  Assam,    Burma,    and    the    Malay    Peninsula. 


248  THE   NILGIRIS 


Judging  from  the  accounts  I  have  read,  he  appears  to 
have  been  exterminated  in  certain  parts  of  the  country 
where  once  he  was  numerous  ;  and    being  extremely 
impatient  of  man's  proximity,  in  other  locaHties  he  has 
been   driven  away  by  the  march  of  cultivation.     On 
the  West   Coast  of  India,   however,   he  possesses  an 
inviolable    sanctuary    in    the    enormous    virgin    forest 
which    clothes    the    Ghats.     I    know   places    in  these 
forests,    at    the    foot    of  the    Wynaad    Ghats,    where 
probably  no  white  man  but  myself  has  penetrated — 
where  even  the  Nayaka  is  on  unknown  ground — which 
are    perfect  asylums    for   bison.     There    I  have  seen 
herds  of  from  ten  to  thirty,  and  many  a  time  have  I 
sat  and  watched  such  herds.     In  localities  where  they 
are  likely  to  be  disturbed  bison  never  congregate  in 
herds    of  this    size.     Every    herd,    whether   large    or 
small,  is  ruled  by  a  master  bull,  to  whom  the  younger 
and  weaker  bulls  pay  the  greatest  deference.     As  the 
lord  of  a  herd  is  always  a  bull  in  his  prime,  while  a 
solitary  bull  is  invariably  an  old  and  scarred  warrior, 
it  seems  a  reasonable  inference  that  the  latter  is  a  bull 
whose  dominance  over  a  herd  has    been    successfully 
disputed  by  a  younger  and  more  lusty  rival,  and  who 
thenceforward  elects  to  lead  a  hermit's  life,  to  brood  in 
solitude  over  his  lost  sovereignty.     The  solitary  bull 
ought   to   be  a  morose  and  savage    beast    by   rights, 
ready  to  pick  a  quarrel  on  the  slightest  provocation  ; 
but  an  attack  by  an  unwottnded  bull  is  very  exceptional. 
Frequently  the  novice  in  bison  shooting  mistakes  the 
blind  rush  of  a  bull  at  scent  of  a  man  for  a  charge,   if 
it  happens  to  be  in  his  direction,  and  what  was  really 
a  frantic  effort  to  escape  is  distorted  into  an  unprovoked 
attack.      I    remember   once,    when    following   up    the 
track    of  a   bull,   hearing  a    tremendous  crash  in  the 


THE   BISON  249 


jungle  in  front  of  me,  which  was  very  thick  just  at 
that  point.  I  slipped  behind  a  tree,  and  the  next 
moment  out  bounced  the  bull,  tearing  along  at  his  best 
pace.  Had  I  been  ignorant  of  the  language,  and  thus 
unable  to  make  inquiries,  I  should  have  gone  away  in 
the  firm  conviction  that  that  bull  had  tried  to  wipe  me 
out  without  the  least  provocation.  But  on  inquiry, 
the  incident  was  explained  in  a  very  simple  way.  Just 
before  it  happened,  we  had  come  to  a  glade  in  which 
the  bull  had  been  feeding,  and  his  marks  were  all  over 
it.  By  good  luck,  Chic  Mara  and  I  hit  off  the  proper 
track  at  once  ;  but  another  Nayaka  named  Boma  had 
made  a  cast  round  the  glade  unnoticed  by  us,  with  the 
object  of  picking  up  the  forward  track.  In  doing  so 
he  gave  his  wind  to  the  bull,  who  was  lying  down  close 
by,  and  out  he  came  like  a  jack-in-the-box,  straight 
in  our  direction.  His  object  was  flight,  not  fight. 
Even  wounded  bulls  more  often  than  not  die  tamely. 

The  food  of  the  bison  consists  chiefly  of  grass,  but 
he  also  browses  on  the  young  shoots  of  the  bamboo 
and  of  certain  jungle  trees.  He  feeds  from  early  dawn 
to  about  nine  or  ten  o'clock,  and  then  lies  down  to 
chew  the  cud  and  snooze  in  the  shade  of  a  bamboo 
clump  or  under  a  large  tree.  In  quiet  country  where 
he  has  not  been  disturbed,  his  couch  is  never  far  from 
his  last  grazing  ground  ;  but  where  there  is  cultivation 
close  by,  or  the  bull  knows  he  is  likely  to  be  disturbed, 
he  will  retire  to  cover  much  earlier,  and  go  a  long 
distance  into  it  before  couching.  The  siesta  lasts  till 
about  3  P.M.,  when  he  again  seeks  food  and  water. 
He  lies  down  shortly  after  dusk,  and  makes  for  his 
feeding  ground  again  before  dawn.  A  solitary  bull  will 
stay  in  the  same  neighbourhood  for  several  days,  when 
the  feeding  is  good  and  the  jungle  quiet. 


250  THE   NILGIRIS 


In  my  preserve — a  long  valley  clothed  on  both  sides 
with  dense  forest,  and  with  a  large  extent  of  grass  land 
in  the  centre — the  movements  of  bison  are  timed  with 
the  greatest  accuracy.  In  the  valley  itself,  as  I 
mention  elsewhere,  only  solitary  bulls  are  found  ;  but 
the  gorge  runs  out  to  lighter  jungle  on  the  flat  country 
below,  and  there  herds  are  numerous.  As  this  tract 
is  ideal  bison  ground,  with  unlimited  water  and  grass 
at  all  periods  of  the  year,  these  herds  do  not  roam 
much.  I  have  visited  this  low  country  at  all  seasons, 
and  bison  have  always  been  plentiful.  During  the 
monsoon  the  solitary  bulls,  though  they  do  not  join  the 
herds,  are  found  in  their  vicinity — or  to  speak  more 
accurately,  they  also  keep  to  the  lighter  jungle  on  the 
flat  at  this  time  of  year.  Towards  the  end  of  the  year 
they  begin  to  ascend  the  hills  ;  but  it  is  in  April  and 
May,  when  the  fresh  grass  has  sprung  up  after  the 
annual  hot  weather  fires,  and  that  my  forest-clad  valley 
becomes  a  preserve  for  solitary  bulls.  At  that  season  it 
is  a  veritable  sportsman's  paradise  ;  and  as  the  middle 
part  of  the  valley — the  chief  feeding  ground — is  open 
country,  bison  can  often  be  stalked,  a  method  of 
shooting  which,  I  need  hardly  say,  is  incomparably 
more  exciting  and  pleasurable  than  it  is  to  follow  up 
the  track  of  a  bull  and  get  a  hurried  shot  as  he  dashes 
away. 

A  solitary  bull  is  frequently  found  in  company  with 
a  younger  one,  the  latter,  I  conjecture,  being  seduced 
by  the  veteran's  tales  of  happy  feeding-grounds.  And 
it  is  not  unusual  to  see  two  bulls,  too  young  to  be  called 
solitary,  together,  and  away  from  the  herds  to  which 
they  rightly  belong.  These  excursions  by  herd  bulls 
are  probably  made  in  search  of  pasture  when  the  cows 
are  gravid.     So   far  as   I    know,    there  is  no   regular 


jyu 


THE   BISON  251 


breeding  season  ;  but  the  majority  of  the  calves 
are  dropped  at  the  end  of  the  S.-W.  monsoon,  for  at 
that  time  every  herd  contains  a  number  of  tiny 
youngsters.  I  have  also  seen  quite  young  calves  with 
a  herd  in  April. 

The  origin  of  the  common  domestic  humped  ox, 
Bos  indiais,  is  involved  in  mystery.  So  far,  no 
ancestral  form  has  been  found  among  the  fossil  oxen  of 
India ;  and  it  differs  so  radically  in  structure  from  Bos 
taurus,  the  domestic  ox  of  Europe,  that  no  connection 
between  them  can  be  established.  Blyth  assigns  it  an 
African  origin,  but  the  evidence  in  support  of  this 
theory  can  scarcely  be  regarded  as  convincing.  There 
is,  however,  little  doubt  that  the  ancestral  form  of  the 
gaur  has  been  discovered  in  Bos  namadiczis,  an  Indian 
fossil  ox  of  the  Pleistocene  period,  which  does  not  differ 
greatly  from  the  living  animal  save  in  the  superior  size 
of  its  horns. 

My  bison  preserve  is  a  valley  on  the  edge  of  the 
Western  Ghats,  about  nine  miles  long  and  two  miles 
broad.  It  runs  almost  East  and  West,  and  on  both 
sides  is  bounded  by  high  hills.  North  and  South  the 
grand  forest  follows  the  line  of  the  Ghats  ;  while  to 
the  East  lies  more  open  country,  and  on  the  West  the 
valley  runs  down  into  a  plain  which  extends  to  the 
foot  of  the  hills  on  that  side.  Originally  the  whole 
valley  was  one  unbroken  stretch  of  virgin  forest ;  but  in 
the  late  'fifties  and  early  'sixties  some  five  hundred  acres, 
lying  on  both  sides  of  the  river  which  bisects  the 
valley,  were  cleared  for  coffee.  Twenty  years  later, 
the  land  passed  into  the  possession  of  one  of  the 
Wynaad  Gold  Mining  Companies  ;  and  the  cultivation 
being  neglected  under  the  new  regime,  weeds  became 
rampant,  and  eventually  the  whole  of  the   estate  was 


252  •       THE   NILGIRIS 


burnt  out.  On  this  part  of  the  land,  owing  to  the 
annual  fires,  there  is  no  secondary  growth  of  jungle  ; 
so  that,  though  the  hills  which  ring  the  valley  round 
are  still  crowned  with  primeval  forest,  a  long,  narrow 
stretch  of  grass  land  extends  on  both  banks  of  the 
river.  Every  year,  at  the  beginning  of  the  hot  season, 
I  systematically  burn  off  the  rank  grass  ;  and  with  the 
first  rains  of  Spring  the  hillsides  bordering  the  river  are 
covered  with  a  crop  of  fresh,  tender  grass,  which  forms 
an  irresistible  attraction  to  bison,  sambur,  and  other 
game.  In  some  portions  of  the  old  estate  the  grass 
— being  of  the  hurriali  variety — never  grows  coarse, 
and  in  these  spots  bison  can  be  found  all  the  year 
round.  But  after  the  Spring  showers  the  whole  valley 
becomes  a  bison  preserve,  and  it  is  during  the  months 
of  April  and  May  that  I  obtain  the  best  sport.  Were 
I  bent  on  slaughter,  I  could  bag  a  dozen  bulls  every 
season  during  these  two  months  ;  but  having  brought 
my  tale  up  to  twenty,  I  now  cry  '  Hold,  enough  ' ;  and 
though  I  visit  the  valley  often,  I  let  these  grand 
animals  go  unmolested,  unless  a  bull  with  an  excep- 
tionally fine  head  finds  his  way  into  my  preserve. 
One  remarkable  fact  connected  with  this  valley  is  that 
never  have  I  seen  a  cow  bison  in  it.  I  have  known 
seven  bison  to  be  in  the  valley  at  the  same  time,  but 
all  solitary  bulls.  My  Nayaka  game  watchmen  patrol 
the  land  constantly  all  the  year  round,  and  as  I  have 
specially  directed  them  to  watch  for  cow  bison,  I 
should  certainly  hear  of  their  advent.  But  for  some 
reason  with  which  I  am  not  acquainted,  the  bovine 
ladies  fight  shy  of  my  preserve.  And  yet,  a  few  miles 
lower  down — where  the  valley  runs  out  into  the  plains, 
and  the  dense  forest  gives  place  to  a  lighter  growth  of 
bamboo  jungle  interspersed  with  teak  and  blackwood — 


THE   BISON  253 


herd  bison  are  common  ;  and  here  I  have  often  come 
across  assembHes  of  twenty  or  thirty,  nearly  all  being 
cows.^ 

The  bison  that  visit  this  valley  annually  have  such 
well-regulated  habits,  that  usually  when  we  find  the 
fresh  track  of  a  bull,  our  programme  is  ready  made. 
South  of  the  river  is  a  stretch  of  grass  land  perhaps 
half  a  mile  wide,  and  immediately  above  this  the  forest 
begins.  A  bison  which  has  fed  during  the  night  and 
early  morning  on  this  side,  invariably  retires  to  the 
heavy  jungle  for  his  mid-day  siesta.  North  of  the 
river  comes  first  a  belt  of  light  jungle,  then  a  belt  of 
grass  interspersed  with  large  trees  which  were  left 
when  the  jungle  was  felled  originally,  then  dense  virgin 
forest  following  the  Ghat  line.  We — that  is,  my 
trackers,  and  I — know  for  a  certainty  that  any  bull 
which  has  fed  on  this  bank  is  lying  up  in  the  light 
jungle  bordering  the  river ;  and  we  know  too  that  if 
disturbed  he  will  make  for  the  forest  on  the  south  bank. 
From  the  light  jungle  a  number  of  elephant  paths  lead 
down  to  the  river  ;  and  according  to  the  point  at  which 
the  bison  has  entered  this  cover,  we  can  generally  tell 
the  very  path  he  will  choose.  If,  in  our  morning 
prowl,  we  come  across  fresh  tracks  on  the  south  bank, 
we  carry  them  as  far  as  the  heavy  forest  to  ascertain 
whereabouts  the  bison  is  lying  up,  and  then  take  up  a 
position  which  commands  a  view  of  the  forest  edge, 
where  we  wait  till  the  bison  emerges  aofain  about  four 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon — though  often  much  earlier — 
for  his  evening  feed.  On  the  other  hand,  if  we  find 
the  fresh  tracks  of  a  bull  on  the  north  bank,  my 
trackers  wait  at  the  point  where   he  has  entered   the 

^  This  description  no  longer  applies  to  the  Valley,  for  bison  have  com- 
pletely deserted  it  since  the  planting  of  rubber  on  the  foothills. 


254  THE   NILGIRIS 


light  jungle,  while  I  go  round  and  down  to  the  river, 
to  command  the  path  we  expect  him  to  take  when 
roused.  Allowing  me  half  an  hour's  grace  to  reach 
my  post,  my  men  follow  on  the  bull's  track  ;  and  the 
chances  are  ten  to  one  that  things  turn  out  exactly  as 
we  anticipate  :  that  the  trackers  come  upon  the  bull 
lying  down  :  that  he  at  once  makes  for  the  south  side 
of  the  river  ;  and  that  I  get  a  shot  as  he  crosses  the 
stream.  Sport  is  a  matter  oi  bandobast ;  and  knowing 
the  ground  as  we  do,  and  the  habits  of  the  bison,  I 
can  generally  make  sure  of  any  bull  whose  tracks  we 
find.  But  our  plans  do  sometimes  "gangagley";  and 
I  remember  one  contretemps  which  nearly  resulted  in 
the  wiping  out  of  my  favourite  Nayaka  Chic  Mara. 
We  had  found  the  fresh  track  of  a  bull  on  the  north 
bank  of  the  river  early  one  morning,  and  I  left  Matha 
and  Chic  Mara  to  follow  it  after  I  had  as  usual  gone 
round.  A  third  tracker,  Boma,  was  with  me,  carrying 
my  big  rifle.  Just  as  we  reached  the  river,  I  heard 
a  scramble  in  the  high  growth  of  wild  arrowroot  which 
fringed  the  bank,  and  the  next  instant  a  grand  bull 
bison  came  into  view  on  the  further  bank  of  the 
stream.  He  was  almost  end  on,  and  I  fired  for  the 
middle  of  his  body  with  my  twelve  bore  Paradox. 
The  bullet  raked  him,  and  he  fell  into  the  water  with  a 
tremendous  crash,  stone  dead.  We  crossed  the  river, 
and  followed  it  until  we  came  opposite  to  the  path 
down  which  we  expected  the  first  bison  to  arrive,  and 
here  I  took  up  my  post.  A  long  time  passed,  but 
neither  bison  nor  trackers  put  in  an  appearance  ;  and  I 
was  on  the  point  of  sending  Boma  back  to  see  what 
had  happened,  when  the  two  Nayakas  came  down 
the  path  and  joined  us.  They  were  both  in  what 
is    commonly   called    a    "blue"    funk,    though  green 


THE   BISON  255 


would  better  describe  the  colour  of  their  physiognomies. 
On  my  asking  the  reason  of  the  long  delay,  they  told 
me  they  were  sitting  at  the  edge  of  the  jungle,  waiting 
till  they  judged  I  had  reached  my  post ;  and  that 
directly  I  fired  in  the  valley  below,  the  bison  came 
rushing  back  along  his  tracks.  He  had  evidently  been 
lying  just  inside  the  cover,  for  he  was  on  them  before 
they  could  move.  Matha — who  is  as  agile  as  a 
monkey,  and  the  most  marvellous  tree  climber  I  have 
ever  seen — rolled  into  the  jungle,  out  of  the  bull's  way  ; 
but  poor  Chic  Mara  was  too  "  flabbergasted  "  even  to 
do  this,  and  could  only  throw  himself  full  length  on  the 
ground.  He  was  right  in  the  path  of  the  on-coming 
bison  ;  but — mii-abile  dictu — the  bull  cleared  him  in  his 
stride  and  rushed  on  ;  and  Chic  Mara  picked  himself  up 
with  no  more  damage  than  a  shock  to  his  nerves.  His 
escape  from  being  trodden  on  was  most  fortunate,  and 
incidentally  it  proves  what  an  inoffensive  animal  an 
unwounded  bison  is.  When  frightened  by  the  sound 
of  my  rifle,  the  bull's  sole  thought  was  flight,  and  he 
cleared  Chic  Mara's  body  just  as  he  would  have 
cleared  a  log  or  any  other  obstacle  in  his  road.  It 
sometimes  happens  that  when  a  bison  is  suddenly 
startled,  he  mistakes  the  point  from  which  the  danger 
threatens,  and  rushes  in  the  sportsman's  direction  ;  and 
in  such  a  case  this  would  look  suspiciously  like  a 
charge  ;  but  it  will  generally  be  found  that  the  rush  is 
preceded  by  the  unmistakable  noise  a  frightened  bison 
makes — a  sound  between  a  snort  and  a  whistle — and 
this  is  sufficient  evidence  that  mischief  is  far  from 
his  intention.  A  cow  bison  with  a  newly-born  calf 
will  charge  an  intruder  without  hesitation  ;  but  my 
experience  is  that  a  deliberate  charge  by  an  unwounded 
bull  is  very  exceptional. 


256  THE   NILGIRIS 


To  the  ordinary  native,  every  animal  he  sees  is  out 
of  the  common  run,  and  as  a  rule  I  give  little  credence 
to  his  tales.  If  a  cooly  puts  up  a  sambur  stag  on  his 
way  to  work,  he  will  tell  you  "he  had  horns  as  thick  as 
my  thigh  "  ;  let  a  tiger  kill  one  of  my  cattle,  and  the 
herdsman  will  spread  his  hands  out  three  feet  apart  to 
describe  the  size  of  his  head  ;  and  so  the  exaggeration 
goes  on  through  the  whole  gamut  of  the  animal 
creation,  from  a  muntjac  to  an  elephant.  When  I 
first  knew  them,  my  Nayaka  trackers  were  prone 
to  tall  stories  of  this  kind  ;  but  now  that  we  understand 
each  other  thoroughly,  they  have  learnt  that  they  reap 
no  advantage  from  such  yarns,  and  when  they  report 
that  an  animal  is  '' bhala  dhodiL''  (very  big),  I  can 
believe  them. 

On  several  occasions  Chic  Mara  had  reported  to  me 
that  in  the  course  of  his  rounds  he  had  seen  a  colossal 
bull  bison  in  my  "  preserve,"  and  I  had  made  three 
excursions  to  the  foot  of  the  valley,  on  the  strength  of 
these  reports,  with  the  object  of  seeing  the  monster  for 
myself,  but  without  success.  So,  when  he  came  over 
one  day  to  say  the  mysterious  bull  was  again  in  the 
valley,  I  told  him  I  was  too  sceptical  to  make  another 
jaunt ;  and  that  as  the  Fates  had  evidently  decreed  I 
was  not  to  see  this  marvellous  bull  with  my  own  eyes, 
we  had  better  leave  him  alone.  This  mild  sarcasm 
put  Chic  Mara  on  his  mettle;  and  he  earnestly  begged 
me  to  make  one  more  trip,  assuring  me  that  this  time 
we  should  find  the  bull  without  fail,  as  he  had  taken  up 
his  quarters  in  a  piece  of  jungle  surrounded  by  fresh 
grass,  which  would  afford  him  "  theni "  (food)  for 
several  days.  I  gave  in,  and  we  started  that  afternoon 
to  make  acquaintance  with  this  exceptional  bison. 

The  month  was  May,  and  the  weather  showery  ;  so  I 


THE   BISON  257 


decided  not  to  take  my  tent,  but  to  use  an  old 
bungalow  which  stands  at  the  head  of  Bison  Valley. 
Early  the  next  morning  we  were  ready  for  our  long 
jaunt,  and  as  I  stepped  out  of  the  bungalow  at  6  a.m., 
I  could  not  resist  pausing  for  a  little  to  admire  the 
magnificent  view.  Below  us  the  valley  ran  down  for 
miles  in  waves,  like  the  curves  of  a  switchback  railway, 
the  high  ridges  on  both  sides  clothed  to  their  summits 
in  forest.  Along  the  stream  which  coursed  down  the 
centre  lay  the  old  coffee  clearing,  a  vivid  stretch  of 
green — the  grass  looking  like  a  carpet  of  velvet,  though 
in  reality  several  feet  high.  Behind  me  towered  Chic 
Hadiabetta,  over  which  the  sun  was  just  peeping, 
touching  the  summits  of  the  grand  Vellarimallais 
opposite  with  bands  of  golden  light :  while  far  below, 
so  far  that  the  giant  trees  seemed  shrubs,  I  could  see 
the  plains,  framed  like  a  picture  by  the  encircling  hills. 
Dense  masses  of  mist,  soft  and  white  as  cotton  wool, 
rolled  up  the  valley  from  the  sea,  to  be  hurled  back 
and  borne  away  in  streamers  directly  they  met  the 
strong  breeze  at  the  valley-head.  And  out  of  this 
whirling,  writhing  sea  of  white,  the  rocky  crown  of 
Dhod  Hadiabetta  stood  up,  stark  and  grim,  four- 
square to  all  the  winds  of  Heaven. 

But  Chic  Mara  softly  reminded  me  that  we  had  a 
long  way  to  go,  and  that  bull  bison  seek  cover  before 
the  sun  gets  hot,  so  off  we  set.  At  the  foot  of  the  hill 
below  the  bungalow,  the  path  bifurcates,  a  track 
leading  down  the  valley  on  either  side  of  the  river; 
and  we  took  the  one  on  the  right  bank.  Some  three 
miles  down  the  valley  we  found  the  fresh  track  of  a  bull 
leading  across  the  path,  and  as  this  had  only  been  made 
an  hour  or  so  before,  we  concluded  the  bull  was  in  the 
belt  of  jungle  lying  between  the  path  and  the  river. 

s 


258  THE   NILGIRIS 


"  A  bull  in  the  hand  is  worth  two  in  the  bush,"  I  thought, 
and  suggested  that  we  should  follow  up  the  track  ;  but 
Chic  Mara  stoutly  maintained  that  "  the  bull  in  the 
bush  "  was  worth  two  of  this  one,  so  we  pushed  on. 

It  was  nine  o'clock  before  we  reached  the  flat  at  the 
foot  of  the  valley  where  Chic  Mara  had  marked  down 
the  big  bull ;  and  the  three  men  I  had  with  me  spread 
out  to  look  for  the  morning  track.  To  find  this  was 
not  an  easy  matter,  as  the  bull  had  fed  all  over  the 
fiat,  which  was  covered  with  short,  succulent  grass,  and 
his  footprints  were  everywhere.  But  at  last  I  hit  off  a 
fresh  trail,  leading  up  the  hill  in  the  direction  of  the 
heavy  forest  above  us,  and  after  a  cast  or  two  we 
decided  the  bull  had  decamped.  Evidently  we  were 
too  late  to  catch  him  at  his  morning  feed,  and  he  had 
started  to  take  cover  for  the  he  hours  of  the  blazing 
May  day.  There  were  two  courses  open  to  us  :  to  wait 
till  the  afternoon,  on  the  chance  of  his  return  to  his 
feeding  ground,  or  to  follow  the  trail  and  come  up 
with  him  where  he  had  couched.  As  I  did  not'  feel 
inclined  to  twiddle  my  thumbs  for  several  hours  in  the 
stuffy  valley,  and  as  it  seemed  likely  that  the  bull  might 
feed  closer  to  the  forest  in  the  afternoon,  I  decided  to 
follow  him  up.  So  I  sent  Chic  Mara  and  Masigan 
on  ahead,  while  I  and  my  gun  cooly  Boma  followed 
fifty  yards  behind,  just  keeping  the  trackers  in  sight. 
This  is  a  useful  tip  when  following  a  trail  which 
promises  to  be  long,  as  one  can  walk  in  comfort  when 
relieved  from  the  necessity  for  picking  one's  steps. 
To  a  Nayaka,  silent  walking  comes  naturally  ;  but  it 
costs  the  sportsman  an  effort,  and  to  avoid  treading  on 
a  dry  stick  or  leaf  every  foot  of  the  way  through  hours 
of  tracking,  is  rather  a  trial.  From  constant  practice, 
we  were  well  up  in  our  parts  on  occasions  like  this. 


THE   BISON  ±S9 


Two  trackers  went  ahead,  one  to  pick  out  the  trail, 
the  other  to  keep  a  bright  look  out  in  front ;  and  when 
I  was  wanted,  a  wave  of  the  hand  summoned  me. 

We  carried  the  track  on  for  perhaps  half  a  mile, 
when  the  trackers  stopped  and  dropped  down  in  the 
grass.  I  crept  up  to  them,  and  Chic  Mara  told  me  he 
had  caught  a  glimpse  of  a  bison  a  couple  of  hundred 
yards  in  front.  At  the  moment  he  was  hidden  by  a 
clump  of  bamboos  ;  but  Chic  Mara  averred  he  was  not 
the  big  bull  we  were  following.  I  shifted  my  position 
a  little  to  the  left,  and  then  I  saw  the  bison  ;  a  decent 
bull,  but  nothing  out  of  the  ordinary.  I  began  to 
think  Chic  Mara  had  been  the  victim  of  pseudo- 
blepsis  ;  but  he  still  declared  the  bison  in  view  was  a 
different  bull  altogether.  "  Wait  till  he  gets  a  bit 
more  ahead,  and  then.lf  we  find  his  track  distinct  from 
our  track.  Master  will  believe  me,"  he  said.  The  bull 
was  moving  leisurely  along,  stopping  now  and  then  to 
nibble  the  grass,  and  it  was  a  quarter  of  an  hour  before 
we  dared  to  advance.  Sure  enough,  a  little  in  front  we 
came  on  double  tracks.  It  was  clear  that  the  bull 
we  had  seen  had  come  up  a  ravine  to  our  right,  and  his 
tracks  crossed  those  of  the  bull  we  were  after,  the 
latter  being  plain  in  a  direction  far  to  the  right  of  the 
line  taken  by  the  bull  who  had  just  disappeared.  And 
there  was  no  question  about  the  difference  in  size  : 
Chic  Mara's  bull  had  left  prints  almost  twice  as  big  as 
the  other.  We  waited  half  an  hour  to  g-ive  the 
smaller  bull  time  to  get  well  away,  and  then  again 
took  up  the  track.  Suddenly  the  Nayakas  stopped 
and  motioned  to  me  to  come  up.  "  Look,  look,"  said 
Chic  Mara  when  I  joined  them,  "  there  is  the  big  bull, 
and  did  I  lie  when  I  told  Master  he  was  as  bio-  as 
an  elephant  ?  "     We  were  on  an  old  road  at  the  time, 

S    2 


26o  THE   NILGIRIS 


and  following  Mara's  finger,  in  the  high  grass  below 
the  road,  and  three  hundred  yards  away,  I  saw  the 
biggest  bull  bison  I  ever  set  eyes  on.  Six  feet  high 
though  the  unburnt  dhubbay  grass  was,  the  ridge  of  the 
bull's  back  showed  clear  over  it ;  and  when  in  a 
moment  he  raised  his  head,  he  did  veritably  look  as 
huge  as  an  elephant.  Telling  the  men  to  squat  where 
they  were,  I  took  my  Paradox  from  Boma,  and 
crept  along  the  road  on  hands  and  knees.  The  wind 
was  right,  and  when  I  judged  I  had  covered  a  couple 
of  hundred  yards,  I  cautiously  rose,  and  looked  down 
over  the  sea  of  grass.  The  bull  was  standing  like  a 
statue,  and  I  could  have  picked  my  shot ;  but  he  was  a 
hundred  yards  away  and  I  determined  not  to  risk  a 
lono-    shot    at    such    a    monster.      So  with    redoubled 

o 

caution  I  crept  on  another  fifty  yards.  But  when  I 
again  looked  down  over  the  grass,  no  bull  was  to  be 
seen.  Heavens,  had  the  slight  rustling  I  made  in  my 
progress  through  the  dhubbay  grass  sent  him  off,  and 
lost  me  my  chance  at  this  grand  prize  ?  Oh,  what  a 
fool  I  called  myself  for  not  having  taken  my  shot 
when  opportunity  offered !  But  hope  returned  when  I 
looked  back  at  the  Nayakas,  and  they  signalled  that  the 
bull  was  still  there.  Not  a  yard  did  I  dare  advance  : 
I  could  only  kneel  in  the  grass  and  await  events. 
Shortly,  the  bull  trotted  out  of  the  small  depression  in 
the  hillside  which  had  hidden  him  ;  and  evidently  he 
had  an  inkling  of  danger,  for  he  came  a  step  or  two 
tov/ards  me  with  his  head  in  the  air — a  menacing 
posture  always  assumed  by  a  bison  when  he  suspects 
danger,  the  nature  of  which  he  cannot  determine.  In 
that  position  I  could  do  nothing,  for  the  bull's  body 
was  almost  completely  hidden  in  the  grass,  and  with 
his  head  held  so  hieh   I  could  not  aim  for  the  brain. 


THE   BISON  261 


For  several  seconds  he  gazed  straight  in  my 
direction,  then  with  a  whistHng  snort  of  fear  he 
wheeled  and  ran  a  short  way  down  the  hill.  This 
time  he  was  broadside  on,  and  as  he  was  evidently 
very  suspicious,  I  aimed  carefully  at  his  massive  neck, 
and  pulled  the  trigger.  What  the  effect  of  my  shot 
was  I  could  not  tell,  for  when  the  smoke  cleared,  all  I 
saw  was  a  wavino-  stretch  of  orrass :  the  bull  had 
disappeared.  But  in  a  moment  the  trackers  joined  me, 
and  Chic  Mara  said  he.  had  dropped  in  his  tracks  on 
receiving  the  bullet.  Caution  was  necessary,  for  the 
grass  was  over  our  heads,  and  in  such  thick  cover  the 
advantage  was  all  on  the  side  of  the  bison.  So,  with 
Chic  Mara  behind  me  carrying  my  eight-bore,  I 
pushed  my  way  through  the  dhitbbay  grass  obliquely, 
towards  a  clump  of  large  trees  where  the  bull  had  been 
standing  when  I  fired.  Up  one  of  these,  which  grew 
a  little  to  one  side  of  the  spot,  Chic  Mara  climbed,  and 
he  called  down  that  it  was  all  right,  the  bull  was  lying 
motionless.  So  without  more  ado  we  made  a  bee  line 
for  the  fallen  bison.  Sure  enough,  there  he  lay  stone 
dead  :  my  bullet  had  killed  him  in  his  tracks. 

In  point  of  size  this  was  the  largest  bison  I  have 
ever  shot  ;  and  he  measured  between  uprights  driven 
in  at  his  shoulder  and  the  point  of  his  hoof  nineteen 
and  a  half  hands.  At  one  time  his  head  had  evidently 
matched  his  phenomenal  bulk ;  but  the  points  of  the 
horns  were  very  much  worn  and  broken. 

On  another  occasion  I  had  been  out  for  a  week  but 
so  far  had  not  fired  a  shot.  Not  that  game  was  scarce. 
I  had  seen  many  sambur,  some  fine  stags  amongst 
them  ;  but  I  was  camped  on  first  rate  bison  ground, 
and  as  a  good  bull  was  what  I  wanted,  I  did  not  wish 
to    alarm    the    country    by    firing    at    anything    else. 


262  THE   NILGIRIS 


During  my  week's  wanderings  I  had  come  across  two 
herds  of  bison,  but  as  they  consisted  of  cows  and 
young  bulls,  I  left  them  severely  alone  ;  a  solitary  bull 
I  determined  to  have,  or  nothing. 

I  was  somewhat  disappointed  at  my  ill  luck,  for 
before  starting  my  trackers  had  brought  me  news  of 
two  old  bulls  at  least ;  and  it  was  this  information 
mainly  which  had  induced  me  to  make  the  trip  into 
the  low  jungles  at  a  very  unhealthy  time  of  year.  It 
was  the  height  of  the  hot  weather,  and  this  militated 
greatly  against  success,  for  the  whole  forest  was 
covered  with  a  carpet  of  dry  leaves  which  made  silent 
walking  an  impossibility  ;  and  in  these  heavy  jungles, 
unless  you  can  walk  without  noise,  you  may  whistle  for 
sport.  So  I  determined,  unless  we  came  across  a 
solitary  bull  the  next  day,  to  throw  up  the  sponge  and 
hie  back  to  my  breezy  bungalow. 

That  evening,  after  dinner,  we  made  our  plans  for 
the  morrow.  I  and  my  gun  carrier  Matha  were  to 
climb  to  the  top  of  the  ridge  above  the  camp,  on  the 
chance  of  bison  having  crossed  from  the  K.  valley 
beyond;  while  my  Nayaka  trackers,  Chic  Mara  and 
Masigan,  were  to  work  along  the  river  where  the  grass 
was  still  fresh  and  green,  in  the  hope  that  an  old  bull 
might  have  been  tempted,  like  the  herd  bison,  by  the 
good  grazing. 

With  the  first  streak  of  dawn  we  started,  to  meet 
again  at  noon  at  the  camp,  and  report  progress.  It 
was  a  steady  two  hours'  climb  to  the  summit  of  the 
ridge,  through  grand  forest  all  the  way.  Half-way  up 
a  sudden  cracking  and  crashing  told  us  we  had 
dropped  right  into  a  herd  of  elephants.  They  were 
feeding  in  a  hollow  on  the  mountain  side,  and  we  crept 
back  and  made  a  detour  round  this.     Little   Matha 


THE    BISON  263 


was  in  a  state  of  ghastly  "funk,"  for  the  Kurumbas, 
like  all  the  jungles  tribes,  entertain  a  most  wholesome 
dread  of  the  elephant.  Climbing  a  little  higher,  we 
were  able  to  look  down  into  the  basin  in  which  the 
herd  was  feeding,  and  we  made  out  eleven,  including 
a  fine  tusker.  Several  times  we  disturbed  sambur 
who  vanished  like  grey  shadows  amongst  the  trees, 
and  when  at  last  we  emerged  on  the  rocky,  treeless 
ridge  we  saw  a  herd  of  five.  Along  the  ridge  we 
worked,  looking  for  tracks  ;  but  though  droppings  and 
marks  of  bison  were  numerous,  none  were  fresh,  and 
as  we  set  our  faces  for  camp,  it  seemed  to  me  that  a 
return  to  my  bungalow  next  day  was  a  foregone 
conclusion. 

We  reached  the  tent  about  1 1  o'clock,  and  as 
the  Nayakas  had  not  yet  come  in,  I  sat  down  to 
breakfast.  This  was  soon  despatched,  and  on  coming 
out  of  the  tent  I  saw  my  trackers  squatted  under  a 
tree.  "  Well,  Masigan,"  I  said,  "  no  bison  have 
crossed  over  from  K.  lately.  What  news  do  you 
bring?  "  For  answer,  Masigan  "smole"  a  smile  from 
ear  to  ear.  This  was  a  sign  of  good  news,  and  pre- 
pared me  for  his  tale.  Close  to  the  river  he  had 
found  the  fresh  tracks  of  a  solitary  bull,  and  had 
followed  these  down  for  some  distance,  when  he 
had  come  on  the  bull  lying  down.  Satisfying  himself 
that  the  bull  was  worth  having,  he  had  started  back 
with  the  news.  Our  preparations  were  quickly  made, 
and  by  two  o'clock  we  had  reached  the  spot  where  the 
trackers  had  left  the  bull.  But  he  had  moved  on. 
For  a  mile  the  tracks — evidently  those  of  a  large  bull 
— led  along  the  river  bank.  At  this  point  the  bison 
had  drunk  and  crossed.  We  waded  over,  and  followed 
for  another  mile,  till  we  reached  a  second  large  stream. 


264  THE   NILGIRIS 


Here  the  jungle  was  lighter  and  the  ground  harder, 
which  made  tracking  difficult  work.  Added  to  this, 
the  bull  had  stopped  to  crop  the  grass  in  every  glade, 
and  cast  after  cast  was  necessary.  Any  decent  bison 
would  have  stopped  long  before  this  for  his  midday 
sleep,  but  still  our  bull  held  on.  At  last  we  came  to 
where  the  bull  had  couched  under  a  tree,  and  Masigan 
thrust  his  toe  into  a  pile  of  droppings.  "He  did  not 
lie  here  very  long,"  was  his  comment,  "  these  droppings 
are  two  hours  old."  It  was  now  well  on  into  the 
afternoon,  we  were  miles  from  camp,  and  I  began  to 
despair  of  coming  up  with  the  bull.  He  was  making 
for  the  head  of  the  long  valley,  where  years  before 
a  coffee  clearing  had  been  opened  which  was  now 
merely  an  oasis  of  succulent  grass  in  the  centre  of  the 
forest.  "We'll  find  him  there ^'  said  Masigan  con- 
fidently. At  length  we  reached  an  old  road.  The  bull 
had  crossed  this,  but  there  were  signs  now  that  he  was 
not  far  ahead.  Above  and  below  at  this  point  was  a 
hupfe  sheet  of  slab-rock,  and  while  the  men  worked  out 

o 

the  track  over  this,  I  crept  on  along  the  road,  which 
some  distance  in  front  bent  sharply.  I  reached  the 
bend,  and  cautiously  peered  over  the  bank.  There, 
on  the  road  and  not  fifty  yards  away,  I  saw  over  the 
brushwood  the  solemn  visage  of  a  grand  bull.  I  was 
carrying  my  '500  Express  with  solid  bullets,  while 
Chic  Mara  behind  had  my  8  bore.  "  I  can  brain  him 
to  a  certainty,"  was  my  first  thought,  and  I  raised 
the  Express.  But  then  came  the  reflection,  "better 
make  sure  and  give  him  a  knock-down  blow,"  so  I 
crept  back.  The  men  were  some  distance  up  the  hill 
behind  me  (for  the  bull  had  gone  some  way  up  and 
then  turned  down  to  the  road  again),  and  it  took 
a   little    time    to    signal    what    I    had    seen    and    call 


THE    BISON  265 


them  down.  "Quick,  Mara,  the  big  rifle:  now  the 
cartrido-e  bao- " — but  no  bao:  was  forthcomino;-,  Mara 
had  dropped  it !  There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  have 
at  the  bull  with  the  Express  ;  so,  telling  the  men  to 
stay  where  they  were,  I  crawled  back.  The  bull  had 
now  changed  his  position,  and  was  standing  broadside 
on,  partly  hidden  by  the  undergrowth.  But  his 
shoulder  was  uncovered,  and  drawing  a  bead  on  this,  I 
fired.  For  a  second  I  was  blinded  as  the  smoke  blew 
back  in  my  face  :  then  looking  under  the  white 
curtain  I  saw  the  bull  coming  down  the  road  like  a 
runaway  engine.  Simultaneously  I  gave  him  the 
other  barrel  and  shouted  to  the  men  to  look  out ;  and 
as  there  was  neither  time  to  run  nor  to  seek  cover,  all 
I  could  do  was  to  make  myself  as  small  as  possible 
against  the  bank.  Round  the  bend  thundered  the 
bull :  fortunately  he  took  it  wide,  but  still  passed  so 
close  to  me  that  there  was  not  more  than  six  inches 
between  his  right  horn  and  my  anatomy.  So  great 
was  his  impetus  that  he  could  not  keep  to  the  road, 
but  crashed  into  the  jungle  below  it,  fell,  and  rolled 
down  to  the  stream  below,  where  we  heard  a 
tremendous  commotion  in  the  high  growth  of  wild 
arrowroot  as  he  strove  to  reo-ain  his  feet.     Then  there 

O 

was  silence  for  full  five  minutes,  and  I  made  sure  he 
was  dead.  But  Mara,  who  had  climbed  up  a  tree 
near,  came  down  to  say  that  the  bull  was  standing  in 
the  arrowroot,  and  evidently  very  sick.  So  we  held  a 
council  of  war.  The  undergrowth  below  was  so  dense 
that  the  bull  was  quite  invisible  from  the  road,  and  to 
have  tackled  him  in  this  would  have  been  to  court 
disaster.  Besides,  it  was  fast  growing  dark,  and  we 
had  miles  to  go  to  camp.  "And,"  said  Masigan  to 
clinch  the  argument,   "  he  is  badly  wounded.      If  we 


266  THE   NILGIRIS 


leave  him,  and  let  him  lie  down,  he  will  never  get  up 
again."  I  myself  felt  sure,  as  he  made  no  attempt  to 
get  away,  that  he  was  a  dead  bison  ;  though  I  would 
have  been  better  satisfied  had  he  carried  a  couple  of 
eight-bore  instead  of  Express  bullets.  So  we  decided 
to  leave  him  till  the  morning. 

We  were  on  the  ground  again  by  seven  a.m.,  and 
found  that  the  bull  had  climbed  up  the  farther  side  of 
the  valley.  Tracking  was  easy,  as  the  blood  had  poured 
from  the  poor  beast's  wounded  shoulder.  On  the 
crest  of  the  hill  he  had  lain  down,  evidently  exhausted 
by  the  short  climb,  and  his  couch  was  a  pool  of  blood. 
A  little  distance  ahead  the  blood  was  quite  fresh,  and 
Masigan  whispered  to  me  to  keep  a  sharp  look  out. 
Another  hundred  yards,  and  Masigan  pulled  up  with 
the  words  :  '' Nodtc  aiya,  karti."  (Look,  Sir,  the 
bison.)  I  looked  and  looked  to  where  he  was  point- 
ing, but  no  bison  could  I  see.  And  here  I  may 
remark  that  the  way  in  which  my  Nayakas  can 
distinguish  objects  in  the  deep  gloom  of  the  forest  is 
nothino-  short  of  marvellous,  I  am  blessed  with 
phenomenal  eyesight,  and  in  the  open  can  hold  my 
own  with  my  trackers  ;  but  once  in  the  forest  I  have 
to  take  a  back  seat.  "  Creep  up  to  that  log  in  front 
and  you  will  see  him,"  said  Masigan,  pointing  to  a 
huge  blackwood  which  had  fallen  years  before,  and 
lay  across  the  path.  I  climbed  on  to  this,  and  from  my 
perch  could  see  the  hindquarters  and  tail  of  the  bull, 
as  he  stood  motionless  in  a  dense  patch  of  underwood. 
I  must  have  made  a  slight  noise  in  getting  on  the  log, 
as  the  bull  turned  like  lightning,  and  stood  facing  me 
with  his  head  held  high  over  the  brushwood  which 
now  entirely  screened  his  body.  In  that  position  a 
head  shot  is  generally  ineffective,  but  I  had  no  choice. 


J 


THE    BISON  267 


In  another  instant  the  bull  would  have  been  off  again, 
and  that  might  mean  miles  of  weary  tracking.  So 
steadying  myself  on  the  log,  I  fired  straight  at  his  nose 
with  the  big  rifle.  The  effect  was  immediate.  The  bull 
staggered  :  recovered  himself  with  a  mighty  effort : 
and  then  came  for  me  like  an  arrow.  Again  flight 
or  the  cover  of  a  tree  was  out  of  the  question.  I  had 
only  time  to  drop  off  the  log  and  throw  myself  under 
it.  Just  what  happened  in  the  next  second,  I  am  not 
prepared  to  say  ;  but  I  heard  a  tremendous  smash  as 
the  bull  hit  the  log  above  me,  and  his  landing  on  my 
side  of  it  was  like  an  earthquake.  He  was  on  his  legs 
again  in  an  instant,  and  I  did  not  feel  exactly  comfort- 
able as  he  stood  shaking  his  head  from  side  to  side, 
searching,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  for  the  puny  object 
which  had  caused  him  such  pain.  Fortunately,  he  did 
not  look  back,  and  I  was  relieved  to  see  that  all  the 
men  had  made  themselves  invisible.  The  bull  paused 
for  a  few  seconds,  and  then  held  on  down  the  hill  at  a 
walk.  Soon  a  curly  black  head  peeped  round  a  tree  : 
then  another  :  and  Matha  and  Chic  Mara  walked 
into  the  open,  laughing.  But  where  was  Masigan — 
who  had  been  standing  at  my  side  when  I  fired  ?  A 
chuckle  behind  made  me  turn,  and  my  sable  friend 
crept  out  of  the  log !  The  huge  trunk  was  quite 
hollow  ;  and  Masigan,  grasping  the  fact  in  a  twinkling, 
had  found  a  secure  sanctuary  inside. 

We  were  soon  on  the  track  of  the  bull,  and  in  a  few 
hundred  yards  came  up  with  him.  He  was  walking 
slowly  along,  and  evidently  his  bolt  was  nearly  shot. 
As  he  crossed  an  open  glade,  I  got  in  another  bullet 
from  the  heavy  rifle  which  brought  him  to  his  knees. 
This  shot  took  him  just  under  the  spine,  and  completely 
paralysed  his  hindquarters ;  but  the  gallant  brute  was 


268  THE   NILGIRIS 


game  to  the  very  last.  As  we  approached,  the  bull 
contrived  to  get  into  a  sitting  posture,  with  forefeet 
spread  wide  apart.  He  made  frantic  efforts  to  reach 
me,  but  the  last  two  ounce  bullet  had  done  its  work 
too  well,  and  that  mighty  body  was  dead.  For 
a  moment  I  watched  him  with  a  feeling  akin  to  awe: 
then  I  went  close  up  and  brained  him  with  the  Express. 
So  ended  my  fight  with  this  grand  bull  ;  and  as  I  sat 
down  to  enjoy  a  well-earned  pipe,  I  heard  the  morning 
stars  sing  together  for  joy,  and  life  was  all  couletir-de- 
rose. 

One  afternoon  in  April  1904  I  was  coming  through 
Bison  Valley  with  Masigan  and  Chic  Mara,  on  my 
way  back  to  M.R.  bungalow,  after  a  trip  to  the  foot  of 
the  hills.  We  had  got  about  half-way  up  the  valley, 
and  were  walking  along  somewhat  carelessly,  when 
fifty  yards  ahead  on  the  path  up  jumped  a  bison.  He 
paused  for  a  moment  with  his  snout  in  the  air  to  gaze 
at  the  intruders  on  his  domain  :  then  dashed  into  the 
undergrowth  below  the  path.  The  surprise  was 
mutual,  and  I  did  not  recover  myself  sufficiently  to 
fire  till  he  was  disappearing,  when  I  hit  him  through 
the  body  with  a  bullet  from  my  12-bore  Paradox, - 
which  I  was  carrying  at  the  time.  On  running  up 
to  the  spot  where  he  had  plunged  into  cover,  I 
heard  a  commotion  in  the  wild  arrowroot  below. 
This  formed  an  impenetrable  screen  ;  but  shifting  my 
position  a  little,  through  a  vista  in  the  jungle  I  saw 
the  bull  lying  down  in  the  stream.  The  distance  was 
full  a  hundred  and  fifty  yards,  and  I  could  not  get  a 
clear  shot  through  the  bushes  ;  but  just  to  the  right  of 
the  bull  I  noticed  a  huge  boulder,  and  for  this  I  made 
at  once,  with  the  object  of  finishing  him  with  a 
shot  in  the  head  at  close  range.      Masigan  begged  me 


THE    BISON  269 


to  give  him  a  bullet  from  the  8-bore,  and  as  matters 
turned  out,  this  would  have  been  the  wiser  plan  ;  but 
the  bull  seemed  so  evidently  done  for,  that  I  thought 
it  better  to  get  close  up  and  brain  him.  Directly  we 
stepped  off  the  path  into  the  jungle,  the  bull  was 
hidden ;  and  the  noise  we  made  in  pushing  our  way 
to  the  rock  prevented  our  hearing  what  he  was  doing. 
It  took  us  perhaps  five  minutes  to  force  our  way 
through  the  tangled,  thorny  scrub  ;  and  when  we 
reached  the  rock,  and  I  ran  round  to  administer  the 
cotcp -de -grace,  the  dying  bull  was  gone  !  He  had 
scrambled  to  his  feet,  and  made  off  up  the  opposite 
bank.  We  pushed  up  the  steep  hill  at  our  best  pace  ; 
but  the  track  showed  clearly  that  the  bull  had 
negotiated  the  ascent  without  difficulty,  and  it  was 
evident  he  was  not  so  badly  hit  as  I  had  thought. 
We  followed  the  track  for  a  mile  without  a  sight  of  the 
bull  ;  and  as  it  was  late,  and  we  had  six  miles  to  ^o  to 
the  bungalow,  we  decided  to  leave  him  till  the  morn- 
ing. 

At  the  bungalow,  I  found  Hamilton  awaiting  my 
arrival;  and  at  daybreak  next  morning  he  and  I  started, 
with  the  two  Nayakas,  Masigan  and  Chic  Mara.  We 
picked  up  the  track  from  the  point  at  which  we  had 
left  it  the  previous  evening,  and  carried  it  for  two 
miles  or  so  till  we  reached  the  edge  of  the  old 
cultivation.  Here  the  old  estate  was  a  sea  of 
dhubbay  grass  ;  and  as  it  had  not  yet  been  swept 
by  the  annual  fires,  it  was  over  our  heads.  Pushing 
throuoh  this  was  slow  and  tiringr  work,  and  the  heat 
was  stifling,  so  by  the  time  we  had  crossed  the  old 
estate  and  reached  the  forest  at  the  further  side,  it  was 
eleven  o'clock,  and  we  were  not  sorry  to  indulge  in  a 
short  rest. 


270  THE   NILGIRIS 


The  grand  forest  the  bull  had  now  entered  was 
comparatively  free  from  undergrowth,  and  our  progress 
was  more  rapid  and  more  comfortable  under  the  dense 
cool  shade.  But  though  we  had  come  fully  five  miles, 
there  were  no  signs  that  we  had  gained  on  the 
wounded  bison  ;  and  Masigan  said  it  looked  as  if  he 
had  gone  right  away  to  K.  without  stopping.  At 
last,  about  a  mile  inside  the  forest,  we  came  to  a  place 
where  the  bull  had  couched.  His  form  was  a  pool  of 
blood,  and  as  from  this  point  the  blood  track  was 
fresh,  our  hopes  brightened  considerably.  In  another 
half  mile  we  came  up  with  him,  but  the  wind  was 
wrong,  and  a  crash  some  distance  ahead  was  the  only 
intimation  we  had  of  his  presence.  This  is  the  great 
drawback  to  tracking  any  wounded  animal  :  be  the 
wind  wrong  or  right,  one  can  only  follow.  Several 
times  more  we  put  up  the  bull  without  seeing  him  ; 
but  though  we  could  not  get  a  shot,  we  were  now 
certain  of  one  point  in  our  favour — that  the  bull  could 
not  travel  very  fast.  At  length  we  reached  a  patch-  of 
very  dense  and  thorny  jungle,  through  the  centre  of 
which  led  an  elephant  path.  Once  in  this  lane,  the 
jungle  rose  up  on  either  side  in  an  impenetrable  waU 
of  thorns  ;  and  it  flashed  across  my  mind  that  we 
should  be  in  an  awkward  fix  if  the  bull  selected  this 
spot  for  a  charge.  As  if  in  answer  to  the  thought,  at 
that  moment  we  heard  a  loud  snort  a  short  way 
ahead  at  the  end  of  the  lane,  and  as  this  was  not 
followed  by  the  usual  crash,  it  was  evident  that  the 
bull  was  listening  and  contemplated  mischief  I  was 
leading,  and  with  my  8-bore  to  my  shoulder  I  awaited 
his  oncoming.  Floor  him  I  must,  directly  he  showed 
himself  in  the  elephant  track.  No  one  moved  :  not  a 
sound  broke  the  silence  for  half  a  minute  :  then  to  our 


I 


THE   BISON  271 


relief  another  whistling  snort  and  the  noise  of  the  bull 
breaking  his  way  through  the  jungle  told  us  he  was 
once  more  in  flight. 

It  was  now  2  p.m.,  and  H.  declared  he  could  go  no 
farther.  But  I  was  determined  to  follow  while  daylight 
lasted  ;  so,  taking  Masigan  as  a  guide  H.  turned  off  for 
the  bungalow,  while  Chic  Mara  and  I  pushed  on. 
For  another  four  or  five  weary  miles  we  carried  the 
track,  coming  up  with  the  bull  at  intervals,  but  always 
with  the  same  result  owing  to  the  persistently 
unfavourable  wind,  until  I  also  began  to  abandon  all 
hope.  But  at  last  Chic  Mara,  who  was  a  few  yards  in 
front,  dropped  suddenly  to  the  ground,  and  creeping 
up  to  him,  I  saw  our  quarry.  We  were  then  on  the 
summit  of  a  hill  which  sloped  steeply  down ;  and  in  a 
small  swamp  at  the  foot,  three  hundred  yards  away, 
stood  our  bison.  His  head  was  hanging  down  from 
pain  and  fatigue,  and  evidently  his  bolt  was  nearly 
shot.  Fortunately,  as  we  were  so  much  above  him,  he 
had  not  got  our  wind.  Motioning  to  Chic  Mara  to 
draw  back  a  little,  I  told  him  to  stay  where  he  was  till 
I  had  made  a  detour  and  headed  the  bull  ;  and  that 
when  he  saw  me  appear  on  the  crest  of  the  opposite  hill 
he  was  to  come  along  the  track,  when  I  should  get  a 
shot  at  the  bison  as  he  climbed  up  towards  me. 

Carefully  I  worked  my  way  round  in  a  big  circle, 
and,  on  reaching  my  position,  to  my  delight  I  learnt 
from  Chic  Mara  in  dumb  show  that  the  bull  was  still 
in  the  swamp  below  and  between  us.  From  where  I 
stood  I  could  see  Chic  Mara  on  the  opposite  hilltop 
across  the  deep  nullah  ;  but  the  bull  was  hidden  from  me 
by  the  close  array  of  giant  tree  trunks  that  intervened. 
I  signalled  to  my  henchman  to  come  on.  I  saw  him 
stand  up  ;  I  saw  him  reach  above  his  head  :  I  heard  the 


f 


272  THE  NILGIRIS 


crack  of  the  dry  branch  he  had  seized.  Oh,  the 
sickening  suspense  of  the  next  few  moments,  as  I 
waited  to  see  if  the  bull  would  fall  into  the  trap ! 
Glory  be  to  all  the  Saints  in  the  sportsman's  calendar ! 
I  heard  Chic  Mara  call  "  ninegay  yethurage  buruth- 
athay,''  and  the  next  instant  I  saw  the  bull  coming 
slowly  along  between  the  trees,  so  done  that  he  could 
not  raise  a  trot. 

Waiting  till  he  was  within  thirty  yards,  I  stepped 
out  into  the  open.  The  bull  saw  me  at  once  and 
raised  his  drooping  head.  At  that  instant  my  bullet 
caught  him  in  the  centre  of  the  chest,  and  with  a 
bellow  of  pain  he  collapsed — dead.  I  may  say 
here  that,  with  one  exception,  this  was  the  only 
occasion  on  which  I  heard  a  bison  ^\.y^,  vent  to  any 
sound  when  dying. 

I  looked  at  my  watch :  it  marked  half  past  five. 
We  had  taken  up  the  track  at  7  a.m.,  so  that  long 
stern  chase  had  lasted  for  ten  and  a  half  hours.  I  was 
drenched  to  the  skin  with  sweat  :  my  cheek  had  been 
badly  torn  by  one  of  those  infernal  racemes  of  thorns — 
almost  invisible  but  strong  as  hooks  of  steel— that  the 
rattan  sends  down  :  the  tiffin  cooly  had  vanished  into  the 
Ewwkeit  and  I  had  not  had  a  morsel  of  food  since  the 
early  morning  :  I  was  footsore,  with  a  tramp  of  eight 
miles  back  to  the  bungalow  in  prospect.  But,  standing 
over  my  bull,  what  recked  I  of  these  trivial  discomforts  ? 
That  grand  prize  would  have  made  amends  for  far 
more  than  a  scratched  face  and  a  pair  of  weary  feet. 

To  the  seeker  after  bison  will  fall  many  such  a  fag, 
and  often  without  the  trophy  at  the  end  that  makes 
all  trials  forgotten.  The  chase  I  have  described  above 
took  me  perhaps  twelve  miles  (and  twelve  miles  over 
the  forest  clad  hills  of  the  Wynaad  Ghats  is  no  light 


^ 


THE   BISON  273 


day's  work !)  ;  and  frequently  I  have  had  to  cover  a 
longer  stretch  even  than  this  after  a  wounded  bison. 
But  recently,  and  by  a  happy  accident,  I  discovered  an 
almost  infallible  way  of  making  a  bison,  wounded  or 
unwounded,  stop  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  his  first 
rush.  I  need  hardly  add  that  wild  horses  would  not 
drag  from  me  the  secret ! 

In  writing  of  bison,  Sanderson  gives  this  advice  to 
the  novice  : — "  In  any  case,  whether  a  shot  has  been 
fired  or  not,  the  sportsman  should  run  after  bison 
without  delay.  Perhaps  only  one  animal  has  seen  the 
danger,  and  the  others  often  go  but  a  few  yards  before 
they  pull  up  in  hesitation.  Bison  have  a  formidable 
appearance  when  thus  roused,  but  they  are  not 
dangerous  in  reality  ;  they  do  not  travel  as  fast  as  they 
appear  to  do  from  the  noise  they  make,  and  several  shots 
may  almost  always  be  obtained  by  a  good  runner."  It 
is  with  diffidence  that  I  traverse  any  statement  made 
by  such  an  experienced  and  practical  sportsman  as 
Sanderson  ;  but  I  am  bound  to  say  that,  in  my  view,  no 
advice  could  be  better  calculated  to  lead  the  novice  into 
trouble  than  the  above.  There  would  be  little  if  any 
danger  in  running  after  herd  bison  the  moment  they 
dashed  away,  unless  the  herd  contained  a  cow  with  a 
newly-born  calf,  in  which  case  the  pursuing  sportsman 
would  almost  certainly  be  charged.  But  to  run  after 
a  bull — whether  solitary  or  belonging  to  a  herd — in 
this  fashion  immediately  after  wounding  him,  would  be 
simply  to  court  an  accident  if  he  were  badly  hit.  In 
the  thick  cover  in  which  bison  are  generally  found  it 
would  be  impossible  to  run  silently — to  wa//k  without 
noise  is  a  difficult  feat  enough — and  if  the  bull  after 
going  a  short  distance  found  his  wound  put  flight  out 
of    his    reach,    in    nine    cases    out    of  ten    he    would 

T 


274  THE   NILGIRIS 


determine  to  light.  The  noise  made  by  the  gunner, 
hot-foot  on  his  track,  would  enable  the  bull  to  follow 
all  his  movements  :  pulling  up  sharp,  he  would  face 
round  and,  screened  in  some  impenetrable  thicket, 
wait  his  tormentor's  advent :  and  before  that  tormentor 
could  realise  what  had  happened,  he  would  find  the 
bull  on  top  of  him — a  complication  from  which  the  tor- 
mentor usually  emerges  second  best.  Several  times  I 
have  know^n  a  badly  wounded  bull  exhibit  the  greatest 
cunning  when  waiting  for  his  pursuer  ;  and  so  far  from 
telling  the  "griffin"  to  run  after  a  wounded  bull,  I  would 
advise  him  to  exercise  the  greatest  caution  in  following 
up  the  track.  I  know  of  a  case  in  which  a  tyro  who 
followed  Sanderson's  maxim,  and  ran  after  a  bull 
directly  he  wounded  him,  escaped  with  his  life  by 
what  I  can  only  call  a  special  dispensation  of  Provi- 
dence ;  and  We  should  hear  of  many  more  such  cases 
were  it  not  that  usually,  and  very  sensibly,  men  prefer 
to  exercise  due  caution  in  following  a  wounded  bull. 

I  have  spoken  above  of  the  cunning  often  displayed 
by  a  bison  when  hard  hit.  Elsewhere  I  have  written 
of  a  bull  who  waited  for  me  in  the  anMe  between  two 
of  the  enormous  buttress-like  roots  thrown  out  by  a 
tree  which  is  common  in  the  heavy  forests  in  Wynaad  ; 
and  another  instance  recurs  to  me  in  which  a  badly 
wounded  bull  evinced  an  even  orreater  deo^ree  of  cun- 
ning.  We  came  on  the  fresh  tracks  of  a  big  bull  early 
one  morning  near  the  northern  limit  of  my  preserve, 
and  after  following  them  into  the  forest  for  some 
distance,  we  found  him  lying  down.  As  he  sprang 
to  his  feet  on  our  approach,  I  saluted  him  with  a  bullet 
from  my  Paradox  ;  but  the  undergrowth  being  thick, 
I  could  not  make  out  his  position  exactly,  and  the 
bullet    took    him    rather    far     forward,    smashing    his 


THE   BISON 


'/  D 


shoulder.  He  dashed  awav,  and  we  followed.  As 
there  had  been  heavy  rain  the  previous  night,  tracking 
was  easy.  I  was  leading,  with  Chic  Mara  just  behind, 
carrying  my  large  rifle,  when,  after  going  perhaps  half 
a  mile,  I  heard  a  tremendous  noise  behind,  and  turn- 
ing round  I  saw  the  bull  coming  for  us  at  his  best  pace. 
He  had  his  head  almost  on  the  ground,  and  a  shot  in 
the  neck  when  he  was  twenty  yards  away  finished 
him.  Both  Chic  Mara  and  I  were  non-plussed  at  the 
attack  from  the  rear  till  we  worked  out  the  track  a 
little  fdrther,  when  we  found  the  bull — evidently 
feeling  further  flight  useless — had  doubled  back,  come 
a  short  way  parallel  with  his  former  course,  and  then 
hidden  in  a  dense  thicket  of  seegay  thorns.  He 
had  allowed  us  to  pass  his  hiding  place,  and  had 
charged  from  behind  with  the  obvious  intention  of 
taking  us  by  surprise.  And  in  this  he  might  have 
succeeded,  had  not  his  broken  shoulder  hampered  his 
charge. 

One  afternoon — I  see  from  my  diar\'  it  was  the  2nd  of 
May,  1903 — I  was  coming  up  Bison  Valley  after  a  long 
and  fruitless  tramp  after  a  bear.  We  had  climbed  half 
the  distance  up  to  the  bungalow,  and  had  reached  an 
old  estate  road,  when  a  Navaka  named  Kurria  who 
was  a  short  distance  behind  called  out  that  two  bison 
were  on  the  hill  above.  Turning,  far  back  in  the 
direction  from  which  we  had  come,  and  above  the 
level  we  were  on,  I  saw  two  huge  black  objects 
against  the  skyline.  Bison  beyond  a  doubt.  It  was 
late,  and  the  bison  were  a  long  way  off,  but  I  could  not 
forego  the  chance  ;  so  telling  the  tiffin  cooly  and  another 
man  I  had  with  me  to  sit  down  on  the  road.  I  went 
back  with  Kurria  and  Chic  Mara.  The  wind  was 
blowing  freshly  from  the  forest  above,  and  we  kept  to 

T  2 


276  THE   NILGIRIS 


the  road  till  I  judged  we  were  under  the  bison  ;  then 
we  began  the  stalk  up  the  hill.  I  had  marked  a  single 
tree  some  distance  below  the  spot  where  we  had  seen 
the  bison,  and  for  this  we  made.  The  grass  at  first 
was  over  our  heads,  and  it  needed  great  care  to  push 
through  it  without  noise.  Clumps  of  unburnt 
dhubbay  grass  always  contain  a  number  of  six  foot 
dry  blades,  which  rustle  loudly  at  a  touch.  Carefully 
we  parted  each  clump  with  our  hands,  but  my  heart 
was  in  my  mouth  with  fear  that  the  unavoidable  yj'''^^^- 
frou  would  alarm  the  bison.  P'ortunately,  we  soon 
reached  better  ground,  with  shorter  grass,  and  on  all 
fours  I  crept  up  to  the  tree.  Waiting  till  I  had 
recovered  my  wind,  I  slowly  raised  myself  on  my  knees 
against  the  trunk,  and  peering  round  it,  I  saw  the 
bison.  Two  splendid  bulls,  black  as  night,  and  not  a 
pin  to  choose  between  them.  During  our  stalk  they 
had  fed  on  a  little,  and  were  now  opposite  my  position 
about  eighty  yards  away,  while  the  forest  began  about 
the  same  distance  above  them.  Quite  unconscious  of 
the  danger  which  threatened,  they  were  cropping  the 
grass,  one  with  his  head  towards  me,  the  other  a  few 
yards  further  back,  broadside  on.  Such  a  perfect  pair 
were  they,  that  I  could  not  decide  which  one  to  take  ; 
but  after  another  look,  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  further 
bull  had  the  better  head,  so  I  saluted  him  with  a  bullet 
from  the  big  rifle  behind  the  shoulder.  Stepping  to 
one  side  to  avoid  the  smoke,  I  saw  both  bulls  in  full 
flight  for  the  forest  above.  Just  to  my  left  lay  a  clump 
of  trees,  filling  a  depression  in  the  ground  ;  and  as  the 
bulls  had  put  this  between  us,  I  could  not  get  another 
clear  shot  before  they  entered  the  cover.  We  ran  up 
to  where  the  bull  had  been  standing  when  I  fired,  and  ^ 
found  the  track  from  here  onwards  marked  with  large 


THE   BISON  277 


gouts  of  blood.  We  pushed  on.  I  was  leading,  and 
had  got  to  within  forty  yards  of  the  forest,  when  Chic 
Mara  clutched  my  arm  and  exclaimed,  "  Look  out,  sir, 
there  is  the  bison."  At  first  I  could  see  nothing  ;  but 
following-  Chic  Mara's  finger,  I  made  out  the  head  of 
the  bull.  A  few  yards  inside  the  forest  grew  one  of 
those  odd  trees  with  roots  like  gigantic  buttresses, 
and  in  the  angle  between  two  of  these  the  bull  had 
ensconced  himself.  From  this  stronghold  he  was 
watching  us  intently,  with  only  his  head  showing  over 
the  root.  The  sun  had  already  dipped  behind  the 
high  ridge  above  us,  and  in  the  forest  the  light  was  so 
dim  that  I  could  not  get  a  fair  sight  at  the  bull's  head. 
His  having  pulled  up  so  soon  meant  either  that  he  was 
past  fighting,  or  ready  to  fight ;  and  I  determined,  if 
the  latter  were  the  case,  to  try  to  make  him  give  me 
a  shot  in  the  open.  A  little  to  my  left,  on  the  grass 
hill,  grew  a  single  large  tree  which  would  afford  me  a 
safe  shelter  in  the  event  of  a  charge,  so,  telling  the  two 
Nayakas  to  make  for  the  small  shola  below  us,  I 
advanced  towards  the  bull.  He  was  not  slow  to  accept 
the  challenge,  for  before  I  had  taken  a  dozen  steps 
forward,  out  he  came.  I  slipped  behind  the  tree  ;  and 
as  he  passed  so  close  that  I  could  have  touched  him 
with  my  outstretched  arm,  I  gave  him  both  barrels 
into  his  shoulder.  Down  he  went ;  and,  the  hill  being 
steep  and  slippery,  slid  for  some  distance  before  he 
could  bring  himself  up.  Then,  regaining  his  feet,  he 
made  for  the  forest  obliquely  up  the  hill.  He  was 
almost  end  on  to  me,  and  as  I  had  only  the  two 
cartridges  in  the  rifle — the  others  having  been  left  in 
the  tiffin  basket  in  the  hurry  of  starting  after  the  bison 
— I  did  not  care  to  waste  one  on  a  risky  shot  :  besides 
I   felt  sure  the  bull  was  mine.     We  followed  at  a  run  ; 


278  THE   NILGIRIS 


and  the  bull  having  retreated  slowly,  we  reached  the 
forest  just  behind  him.  Arrived  at  the  edge,  I  saw 
the  bull  standing  a  little  way  inside,  and  at  that  moment 
he  collapsed  at  the  foot  of  a  large  tree.  As  we 
approached  he  tried  to  rise,  but  the  effort  was  beyond 
him,  and  all  he  could  do  was  to  shake  his  head  at  us. 
I  walked  close  up,  and  brained  him  with  a  shot  between 
the  horns  from  behind. 

On  this  occasion  Chic  Mara's  phenomenally  keen 
eyesight  undoubtedly  saved  me  from  a  mishap.  The 
bull  had  taken  up  an  impregnable  position,  and 
subsequent  events  proved  that  he  was  only  waiting  till 
we  got  within  charging  distance  to  make  his  attack. 
Had  I  not  been  forewarned,  I  should  almost  certainly 
have  come  to  grief. 

Chic  Mara!  Any  record  of  the  sport  I  have  enjoyed 
on  the  hills  of  Wynaad,  would  be  very  incomplete  did 
it  not  include  you.  What  though  you  were,  when  I 
first  caught  you,  a  little  savage,  hiding  like  a  frightened 
deer  from  the  white  man  ?  What  though  you  are  only 
a  jungle  Nayaka  now  ?  You  have  stood  by  me  with 
unflinching  courage  in  more  than  one  tight  corner, 
ready,  aye  and  willing,  to  sink  or  swim  with  -the 
dhoray  you  love  so  well  and  serve  so  faithfully. 
To  your  peerless  skill  I  owe  many  a  grand  day's  sport, 
the  memory  of  which  will  be  with  me  when  Time  lays 
me  on  the  shelf  It  were  base  ingratitude  to  leave  you 
out  of  this  record  of  the  sport  we  have  shared.  So, 
fidus  Achates,  with  my  best  salaams,  and  as  some 
slight  return  for  your  loyal  service,  I  present  your  five 
foot  nothing  of  wiry  shape,  and  your  smiling  phiz — 
true  index  of  your  trusty  heart — to  the  public  !  ^ 

1  To  my  inexpressible  regret  he  died  after  this  was  written  from  cholera 
contracted  when  with  me  on  a  visit  to  a  rubber  estate  below  the  Ghats. 


Chic  Mara 


Drawn  by  J.  Macfarlane 
From  photo,  by  the  A  jithor 


THE  BISON 


379 


No  European  can  hope  to  equal,  much  less  to  sur- 
pass, the  marvellous  skill  in  tracking  possessed  by  the 
junglemen,  such  as  Nayakas  and  Kurumbas.      In  this 
respect  my  trackers,  especially  Chic  Mara  and  Masigan, 
seem   to  be  endowed  with  a  sixth  sense.     But  after 
years  of  practice,  backed  by  an  earnest  determination 
to  learn,    I   have   attained  to  some   slight  degree  of 
proficiency  in  the  difficult  art ;  and  I  say  unhesitatingly 
that  until  I  learnt  to  interpret  the  jungle  signs,  the  full 
meaning  of  "  sport  "  was  a  sealed  book  to  me,  as  it  must 
be  to  anyone  to  whom  the  word  is  synonymous  with 
the  mere  killing  of  game.      I  can  truly  affirm  that  life 
holds  no  joy  so  keen,  so  exquisite,  so  unfailing  as  the 
study  of  the  Book  of  Nature,  spread  out  afresh  each 
dewy  morning  for  the  trained  eye  to  read.     Trust  me, 
the  man  who  allows  his  success  to  depend  entirely  on 
the   skill   of  an  army  of  native  shikaris,  and   whose 
personal  share  in  that  success  is  limited  to  pulling  the 
trigger  of  the  newest  and  deadliest  thing  in  rifles  when 
the  game  is  found  for  him,  knows  nothing  of  the  true 
delight  of  sport.     As  well  might  one  say  that  the  man 
has  tasted  all  the  pleasures  of  photography  who  con- 
tents himself  with  snapping  the  shutter  of  his  camera, 
and  employs  a  professional  to  develop  the  plate  and 
print  the  picture.     For  my  own  part,  I   would  rather 
bag  one  tiger  or  bison    by    my   own   efforts    than    a 
hundred  which  I  owed  to  the  exertions  and  the  skill  of 
my  native  shikaris.     Mere  killing  is  not  sport :  the  real 
charm   lies   in  the   feeling  that  you  have  pitted  your 
reason  against  the  quarry's  instinct,  and  won  the  equal 
fight ;  that  your  trophy  is  the  reward  of  your  own  skill. 
This  feeling  is  the  very  essence  of  true  sport,  and  it 
makes  success  doubly  sweet. 

Obviously,   the  attainment  of  knowledge,  however 


28o  THE   NILGIRIS 


slight,  of  the  habits  of  wild  animals,  and  of  skill,  however 
limited,  in  tracking  them,  presupposes  a  lengthy- 
residence  in  a  game  country,  and,  of  course,  non  cuivis 
homini  contingit  adire  Corinthum.  But  even  the 
veriest  globe-trotting  gunner  would  derive  infinitely 
more  enjoyment  from  his  shooting  trip  if  he  allowed 
his  success  to  hinge  more  on  his  own  hard  work  and 
less  on  an  unlimited  expenditure  of  cash  in  the  making 
of  elaborate  preparations.  His  bag  might  be  smaller, 
but  every  trophy  would  gain  in  value  a  thousandfold. 


THE    BEAR 

Scientific  name. — Melursus  ursinus. 
Tamil  name. — Karadi. 
Kanarese  name. — Karadi. 
Kurumba  name. — Karadi. 
Nayaka  name. — Karadi. 


THE  BEAR 

"  There  is  no  truce  with  Adam-zad, 
The  Bear  that  walks  like  a  man." — Kipling. 

The  sloth  bear,  Melursus  ur sinus,  which  has  a 
very  wide  distribution  extending  from  Ceylon  to  the 
Himalayas,  is  the  only  one  inhabiting  South  India. 
Till  recently  he  was  known  as  Ursus  labiatus,  but  now 
he  occupies  a  genus  by  himself,  his  isolation  being 
due  to  the  fact  that  he  has  only  four  incisors  in  the 
upper  jaw,  against  six  in  Ursus.  Colloquially,  he  is 
called  the  Indian  or  sloth  bear.  The  former  name, 
though  vague,  is  appropriate  enough  in  view  of  his 
occurrence  all  over  the  Peninsula  ;  but  if  the  naturalist 
who  first  bestowed  on  him  the  cognomen  of  ■'  sloth  " 
had  ever  had  occasion  to  take  to  his  heels  with 
Melursus  after  him,  he  would  I  think  have  christened 
him  differently!  He  usually  travels  at  a  jerky  walk, 
but  he  also  has  at  command  a  wobbly  gallop  which 
enables  him  to  cover  the  ground  much  faster  than  a 
man  can  run.  Owing  to  his  peculiar  structure  and 
great  muscular  development,  this  gallop  is  an  extra- 
ordinary, even  mirth-provoking,  performance.  Seen 
end  on  from  behind,  he  appears  to  be  driven  forward 
by  hidden  springs,  going  heels  over  head  between  each 
propulsion  ;  but  odd  though  the  gait  may  be,  it  carries 
him  along  fast  enough  to  make  the  name  "  sloth " 
quite  inapplicable. 

His  fur  is  long,  coarse,  and  jet  black.     The  snout 

283 


284  THE   NILGIRIS 


is  grey,  this  colour  running  in  a  narrow  band  round 
the  under  lip,  and  up  the  forehead  to  some  distance 
above  the  eyes,  which  are  also  surrounded  by  a  narrow 
circle  of  grey.  On  the  chest,  a  little  below  the  throat, 
is  an  open  horseshoe  of  white  or  yellowish-white,  the 
curve  beinof  downwards.  The  claws,  about  four  inches 
long,  very  powerful  and  non-retractile,  are  also  white. 
The  length,  including  the  tail,  varies  from  five  to  six 
feet,  the  male  being  larger  every  way  than  the  female. 
In  this  part  of  India  I  have  not  heard  of  a  larger  bear 
than  one  I  shot,  which  measured  six  feet  one  inch 
from  tip  to  tip. 

The  female  has  one  or  two  cubs  in  a  litter,  which 
run  with  the  mother  till  almost  full-grown.  They 
accompany  her  directly  they  are  able  to  walk ;  and  on 
her  long  rambles  in  search  of  food  she  frequently 
carries  them  on  her  back.  The  pairing  season  I  take 
to  be  from  April  to  June.  I  once  came  on  a  couple 
in  coitu  in  the  former  month,  the  operation  being 
accompanied  by  a  succession  of  the  most  indescribable 
shrieks  and  howls — in  fact  it  was  the  din  that  attracted 
me  to  the  spot ;  and  if  bears  always  give  vent  to  this 
love  song,  I  have  heard  it  as  late  as  June. 

Bears  feed  entirely  on  fruit  and  insects,  the  delicacy 
most  esteemed  being  white  ants  or  termites.  The 
depth  to  which  a  bear  will  dig  in  search  of  these, 
especially  when  the  ant  hills  are  fresh  and  soft,  is 
astonishing.  I  have  sometimes  seen  such  enormous 
holes  that  it  seemed  impossible  they  could  have  been 
the  work  of  a  bear,  but  the  claw  marks  were  proof 
positive.  Another  favourite  food  is  the  fruit  of  the 
atti  (Ficus  glomerata),  and  when  this  is  ripe  bears 
come  out  to  feed  much  earlier  than  usual.  They  are 
fond  too  of  the  fruit  of  ihejak  {Artocarpus  integrifolia). 


THE    BEAR  285 


Years  ago,  this  and  the  attivi^re  used  as  shade  for  the 
coffee,  and  every  old  estate  has  a  number  of  these 
trees  growing  on  it.  This  is  the  case  with  my  own 
estate  ;  and  in  their  eagerness  to  indulge  in  a  feed  of 
jak  fruit,  bears  sometimes  come,  at  night  time,  to  my 
very  door.  Round  Rockwood  rise  high  rocky  hills, 
with  numerous  caves,  forming  a  domain  after  Bruin's 
own  heart,  so  that,  in  this  part  of  the  country,  he  has 
no  happier  hunting  ground.  But  though  by  nature 
insectivorous  and  frugivorous,  there  are  well  authenti- 
cated cases  of  bears  feeding  on  flesh.  Sanderson 
mentions  one  in  which  a  bear  devoured  a  muntjac 
shot  by  one  of  his  men,  and  other  instances  are 
recorded  in  other  books. 

Of  all  wild  animals,  the  bear  is  the  easiest  to  bag 
when  once  seen,  his  eyesight  and  hearing  both  being 
dull.  And  when  rambling  in  search  of  food,  his 
occupation  engrosses  him  so  entirely  that  he  pays  no 
attention  to  anything  else.  But  his  wonderfully  keen 
sense  of  smell  compensates  him  in  some  degree  for 
these  deficiencies  ;  and  in  bear  shooting,  more  than  in 
any  other,  it  is  necessary  to  get  well  to  leeward.  I 
remember  one  evening  I  had  climbed  to  the  top  of 
Rockwood  Peak,  and  sat  down  to  survey  the  country. 
After  an  interval  I  saw  a  black  object  far  away  across 
the  valley,  which  my  glasses  showed  me  was  a  bear. 
The  wind  was  right,  and  I  waited  a  minute  or  two  to 
determine  the  best  way  of  getting  round.  Just  then 
the  wind  changed,  as  it  often  does  at  this  height  in  the 
evening.  At  once  the  bear  sat  up,  and  the  next 
moment  scampered  off  into  the  jungle.  In  a  straight 
line  the  distance  between  could  not  have  been  less 
than  half  a  mile,  yet  the  change  of  wind  had  given  him 
my  scent. 


286  THE  NILGIRIS 


Bears  make  curious  noises.  They  suck  their  paws 
and  "  boom  "  :  when  grubbing  about  for  food  they  give 
vent  to  a  cross  between  a  grunt  and  a  sniff :  the  act  of 
copulation  is  performed  to  an  accompaniment  of  shrieks 
and  wails  which  might  well  emanate  from  a  lost  soul  in 
agony  :  they  are  equally  uproarious  when  they  fight : 
and  on  receiving  a  bullet,  the  din  a  bear  makes  can 
only  be  called  "  infernal."  When  a  bear  in  company 
with  others  is  wounded,  a  fight  is  often  the  result.  On 
this  point  Sanderson  writes  :  "  It  has  frequently  been 
stated  by  sportsmen  that  if  a  bear  be  wounded  he 
immediately  attacks  his  companions,  thinking  that  they 
have  caused  his  injuries.  But  I  think  this  is  not  quite 
correct,  at  least  in  the  majority  of  cases.  I  have 
observed  that  a  wounded  bear's  companions  generally 
rush  to  him  to  ascertain  the  cause  of  his  grief,  joining 
the  while  in  his  cries,  when  he,  not  being  in  the  best 
of  humours,  lays  hold  of  them,  and  a  fight  ensues, 
really  brought  about  by  the  affectionate,  but  ill-timed 
solicitude  of  his  friends."  This  may  be  correct ;  but  I 
once  saw  a  boxing  match  between  two  bears,  one  of 
which  I  had  fired  at  and  missed.  In  this  instance  the 
fight  could  only  have  been  due  to  the  supposition  on 
the  part  of  the  bear  I  fired  at,  that  his  companion  was 
the  cause  of  the  outrage  to  his  feelings. 

Many  writers  on  sport  describe  the  sloth  bear  as  a 
timid,  harmless  animal,  and  some  even  profess  the 
utmost  contempt  for  him.  It  may  be  that  the 
individuals  I  have  come  across  have  all  been  unusually 
cross-grained  specimens  ;  but  I  certainly  consider  the 
bear  the  very  reverse  of  timid  or  harmless.  In  my 
experience  he  is  always  a  surly,  morose  devil,  afflicted 
with  chronic  ill-temper,  who  never  misses  an  oppor- 
tunity of  venting  his  spleen  on  anyone  who  crosses  his 


J 


THE   BEAR  287 


path.  In  fact,  in  my  view,  the  bear  is  the  most 
dangerous  of  all  animals  inhabiting  this  part  of  India, 
with  the  single  exception  of  a  rogue  elephant.  The 
tiger,  metamorphosed  by  a  popular  fallacy  into  a  fear- 
some beast,  is  only  too  glad  to  leave  you  alone  in 
return  for  similar  treatment,  and  so  with  the  other 
FelidcB  ;  but  a  bear  will  attack  without  any  provocation. 
"  Surly  as  a  bear  with  a  sore  head,"  is  a  perfectly 
true  saying,  save  that  he  does  not  need  the  incentive 
of  a  sore  head  to  make  him  surly. 

Bears  inflict  the  most  fearful  wounds  with  their 
teeth — which  are  quite  as  powerful  as  a  leopard's — and 
their  formidable  claws.  I  have  seen  a  poor  wretch, 
after  one  downward  stroke  of  a  bear's  paw,  who  would 
have  been  a  prize  to  a  vivisectionist.  Eyes,  nose, 
mouth,  were  all  gone,  and  the  flesh  on  his  chest  was 
so  torn  that  his  vitals  were  exposed.  Bears  are 
popularly  supposed  to  advance  to  the  attack  on  their 
hind  legs,  and  to  hug  their  victims  ;  but  this,  in  the 
case  of  the  sloth  bear  at  least,  is  a  fallacy.  When 
charging,  he  rushes  at  you  on  all  fours,  like  any  other 
quadruped.  I  remember  one  old  sporting  writer 
advising  the  novice  to  *'  wait  till  the  bear  sits  up,  and 
then  to  plant  a  ball  in  the  horse-shoe  mark  on  the 
chest."  It  is  probable  that  the  bear  might  rise  on  his 
hind  legs  when  at  very  close  quarters,  to  give  that 
deadly  scrape  with  his  claws  ;  but  though  I  have  been 
several  times  charged  by  bears,  my  curiosity  has  never 
been  fervid  enough  to  let  the  beast  get  sufficiently 
close  for  a  solution  of  the  question.  Certain  it  is  that 
if  the  sportsman  waited  for  a  shot  at  the  horse-shoe 
mark  when  a  bear  was  charging,  he  would  inevitably 
come  to  grief  It  may  be  noted  that,  a  bear  being  a 
clean    feeder,   the   wounds    he    inflicts   are   much   less 


THE   NILGIRIS 


dangerous  than  those  inflicted  by  one  of  the  Felidce,  and 
they  heal  much  more  rapidly,  I  have  seen  natives 
who  had  recovered  completely,  save  the  disfigurement, 
from  wounds  received  from  a  bear,  which  would 
certainly  have  proved  mortal  had  they  been  given  by 
a  tiger  or  a  leopard. 

In  my  part  of  the  country  the  sloth  bear  is  indu- 
bitably the  rarest  of  all  game  animals.  By  this  I  do 
not  mean  to  imply  that  he  is  less  common  than,  say, 
the  tiger  ;  on  the  contrary,  along  the  rocky  range  of 
hills  on  which  my  estate  is  situated,  bears  are  fairly 
numerous.  But,  save  for  the  short  season  during 
which  the  fruit  of  the  atti  is  ripe,  the  bear  is  nocturnal 
in  his  wanderings,  and  his  day  retreat  is  always 
chosen  in  some  remote  spot.  Hence  it  is  that  he  is  so 
seldom  seen. 

From  my  estate  to  the  village  from  which  the 
district  takes  its  name  is  about  a  mile  and  a  half  as 
the  crow  flies.  But  as  the  road  of  necessity  follows 
the  contour  of  the  hills,  winding  round  the  shoulders, 
dipping  into  the  valleys,  and  often  doubling  back  on 
itself,  the  distance  is  spun  out  to  four  miles.  This 
road  is,  for  some  occult  reason,  a  favourite  haunt  of 
Bruin  ;  and  anyone  desirous  of  making  his  acquaintance 
could  gratify  his  ambition  any  night  by  taking  a 
stroll  from  my  bungalow  to  the  village.  I  must  have 
come  across  a  bear  half  a  dozen  times  on  or  near  this 
road  before  I  got  a  chance  of  adding  his  ugly  head  and 
shaggy  coat  to  my  collection  of  trophies.  Some  of 
these  rencontres  were  not  without  excitement. 

Late  one  miserable  monsoon  evening-  I  was  riding" 
back  to  my  tote  on  a  nervous,  excitable  Waler.  The 
rain  was  coming  down  in  a  steady  sheet,  a  wind  was 
blowing  that  chilled  me  to  the  marrow,  and  I  was  wet 


I 


THE   BEAR  289 


through.  Naturally  both  horse  and  rider  were  im- 
patient for  home.  I  was  going  at  a  hand-gallop,  when 
the  nag  stopped  dead  with  a  snort  of  fear,  nearly 
jerking  me  out  of  the  saddle.  Looking  up,  I  saw  a 
bear  sitting  in  the  middle  of  the  road,  twenty  yards  in 
front  of  me.  The  surprise  was  mutual,  for  at  the  same 
moment  the  bear  sat  up  like  a  dog  begging,  and  with 
his  long  snout  in  the  air  peered  at  me  with  his  little 
blinking  eyes  in  a  way  that,  under  happier  circum- 
stances, would  have  been  laughable.  I  shouted  and 
waved  my  arms,  the  loose  sleeves  of  my  waterproof 
flapping  like  great  black  wings  ;  but  the  only  effect  of 
my  antics  on  the  bear  was  to  make  him  step  forward  a 
pace  or  two,  seemingly  with  the  object  of  investigating 
me  more  closely.  My  horse,  who  had  been  snorting 
and  shivering  all  through  the  performance,  now 
whipped  round,  and  the  next  instant  I  was  flying  back 
along  the  road.  I  glanced  over  my  shoulder  at  the 
bear.  He  lolloped  after  us  for  a  short  distance,  and 
then  turned  off  into  the  jungle  below  the  road.  My 
frightened  nag  carried  me  a  long  way  before  I  could 
pull  him  up,  and  it  was  only  by  dint  of  coaxing  and 
petting  that  I  eventually  got  him  to  pass  the  scene  of 
our  adventure. 

On  another  occasion  a  friend  and  I  went  over  one 
afternoon  to  S.'s  bungalow  near  Nellakota  for  a  game 
of  tennis.  It  was  pitch  dark  when  we  left  for  my  tote, 
and  the  only  lantern  S.  could  give  us  was  minus  one  of 
its  glass  sides.  I  stuffed  my  handkerchief  into  the  gap, 
and  for  half  a  mile  the  lantern  gave  a  light  which  at 
least  served  to  make  darkness  visible.  Then  a  gust  of 
wind  blew  it  out.  We  were  now  in  a  pretty  pre- 
dicament :  four  miles  from  home,  the  night  so  dark 
that  you  could  not  see  your  hand  held  before  your  face, 

u 


290  THE   NILGIRIS 


and  not  a  match  between  us — truly  a  case  of  "  match- 
less "  misery.  Taking  the  inside  berth,  I  hooked  one 
hand  into  G.'s  arm,  and  with  the  other  felt  along  the 
bank  for  the  road.  We  had  to  grope  carefully  along, 
for  the  drop  below  the  road  was  very  deep  in  places, 
and  a  slip  would  have  entailed  serious  consequences. 
We  had  got  to  within  a  mile  of  my  bungalow  without 
mishap,  and  I  was  congratulating  myself  that  the 
worst  part  of  the  journey  was  over,  when  out  of  the 
black  darkness  ahead  came  a  loud  "  wough,  wough," 
and  before  I  could  realise  what  had  happened 
something  rushed  between  us,  and  I  found  myself  on 
my  back  in  the  middle  of  the  road.  Directly  I  could 
collect  my  scattered  senses  I  called  to  G.  A  reply 
came  from  somewhere  below  me,  and  it  took  me  some 
time  to  feel  my  way  to  G.  down  the  steep  bank,  and 
help  him  to  scramble  up  to  the  road  again.  Being  on 
the  outside,  he  had  been  knocked  over  the  bank,  and 
had  rolled  down  a  considerable  distance.  But  save  for 
the  shaking"  and  a  few  bruises  he  was  unhurt.  Next 
morning  we  examined  the  place.  The  broken  lantern 
showed  where  we  had  been  standing,  and  a  few  feet 
ahead  a  large  hole  was  scooped  out  of  the  bank. 
The  bear  must  have  been  so  engrossed  in  his  search 
after  white  ants,  that  he  did  not  hear  us  until  we  were 
close  on  to  him,  and  then  he  charged  straight  at  us. 
It  was  certainly  a  stroke  of  good  luck  that  the  brute 
had  not  stopped  to  maul  either  of  us. 

Some  months  after  this  a  keen  but  callow  young 
friend  came  out  to  me  for  some  shooting.  He  had 
several  good  chances  at  stags,  but  missed  them  all 
owing  to  a  bad  attack  of  buck  fever.  Just  before  he 
left  he  confided  to  me  that  his  Qrreat  ambition  was  to 
bag  a  bear.      I  told  him  his  only  chance  at  that  time  of 


THE    BEAR  291 


year  was  a  shot  by  moonlight,  and  as  he  professed 
himself  ready  for  a  midnight  excursion,  we  started  one 
night  about  1 1  o'clock.  Overhead  the  full  moon 
was  shining  as  she  only  does  in  the  tropics,  bathing 
everything  in  a  flood  of  ivory  light  which  rendered 
each  object  as  distinct  as  at  noonday.  Yet,  as  all 
Indian  sportsmen  know,  nothing  is  more  deceptive 
than  moonlight,  however  bright.  The  difficulty  in 
seeing  the  foresight  of  a  rifle,  and  in  judging  distance 
with  any  accuracy,  make  night  shooting  almost 
entirely  a  matter  of  chance.  So  I  cautioned  my 
young  friend  to  mind  his  p's  and  q's  if  we  came  across 
a  bear. 

We  followed  the  road  I  have  afluded  to  as  far  as  the 
Emerald  estate,  about  two  miles,  without  seeing 
anything  except  a  couple  of  sambur,  and  as  I  was 
getting  sleepy,  I  suggested  a  return.  Suddenly,  as 
we  came  round  a  bend  near  my  store  on  Rockwood,  I 
saw  a  large  black  object  on  the  road.  I  clutched  my 
companion's  arm,  and  drew  him  in  to  the  bank.  The 
black  figure  was  moving  about  in  the  shadow  of  a  tree 
which  overhung  the  road  ;  but  shortly  it  came  out 
into  the  moonlight,  and  stood  revealed  as  a  bear.  My 
young  friend,  who  was  in  a  state  of  collapse,  put  up  his 
rifle,  and — as  I  believe,  with  both  eyes  shut — pulled  the 
trigger.  Then  throwing  down  the  weapon,  he  bolted 
as  fast  as  his  legs  could  carry  him,  while  the  bear  with 
a  grunt  jumped  into  the  coffee  below  the  road. 

These  bears  became  insufferably  intrusive.  Not 
twenty  feet  from  the  porch  of  my  bungalow  is  a  large 
jak  tree  which  always  bears  remarkably  fine  fruit. 
This  huge  fruit  is  a  favourite  food  of  bears  ;  and  early 
one  morning  I  noticed  the  thick  white  latex  peculiar  to 
the  Artocarpus  running  down  the  stem  of  this  tree  from 

u  2 


292  THE   NILGIRIS 


a  number  of  freshly  made  scratches  in  the  bark.  On 
examining  the  tree  more  closely  I  found  a  large  fruit 
half  eaten,  while  certain  signs  made  it  clear  that  a  bear 
was  the  thief.  As  the  tree  carried  a  number  of  ripe 
fruit,  I  thought  it  probable  that  the  bear  might  return  ; 
and  I  determined  to  sit  up  for  him  that  night.  Dinner 
over,  I  had  my  usual  interview  with  my  old 
Muhammedan  writer  about  the  next  day's  work  ;  and 
as  he  left  for  his  house  (which  was  on  a  hill  above  my 
bungalow)  accompanied  by  a  cooly,  I  sat  down  in  the 
porch  with  my  Express  across  my  knees.  The  moon 
had  risen  some  time,  and  the  light  was  fairly  bright. 
My  writer  had  not  been  gone  two  minutes,  when  I 
heard  a  hullabaloo  in  the  direction  of  his  house. 
Catching  up  the  rifle,  I  ran  towards  the  noise,  and  on 
reaching  the  house  I  found  the  writer  and  cooly  had 
stumbled  on  a  bear,  evidently  the  robber  of  the  previous 
night  coming  back  for  another  supper.  Both  men 
were  so  excited  that  it  was  some  while  before  I  could 
get  an  explanation.  The  cooly's  arm  was  bleeding, 
and  he  said  the  bear  had  charged  him  ;  but  as  the 
wound  was  not  serious  I  concluded  the  beast  had 
merely  clawed  the  man  down  the  arm  when  running 
across  the  road  into  the  coffee.  I  bound  the  cooly's 
arm  up  and  adminstered  a  glass  of  whisky,  and  then 
resumed  my  vigil ;  but,  though  I  watched  till  the  small 
hours,  no  bear  came. 

However,  my  day  of  reckoning  with  these  bears  was  at 
hand.  One  afternoon  soon  afterwards  I  was  sitting  in 
my  verandah,  when  I  saw  a  herd  of  sambur  high  up  on 
the  hill  in  front  of  the  bungalow.  I  made  them  out  to 
be  four  hinds  and  a  brocket,  so  contented  myself  with 
watching  them.  Presently,  some  distance  to  the  right, 
I  saw  two  stags  fighting,  and  as  they  seemed  through 


THE   BEAR  293 


the  glass  to  carry  good  heads,  I  started  to  make  a 
closer  inspection.  It  was  a  long  and  stiff  climb  to  the 
top  of  the  hill,  the  track  in  places  leading  through 
dhubbay  grass  which  was  over  my  head.  The  after- 
noon had  been  fine  at  starting,  but  before  we  (a 
Kurumba  named  Matha  was  with  me)  had  negotiated 
half  the  climb,  a  drizzle  set  in  with  driving  mist,  which 
made  pushing  our  way  through  the  high  grass  very 
damp  work.  At  last  we  reached  a  small  plateau  which 
jutted  out  between  two  patches  of  shola.  Here  the 
grass  was  higher  than  ever,  and  from  the  mist- 
covered  stretch  in  front  I  several  times  heard  a  peculiar 
sound  between  a  grunt  and  a  snort.  We  stopped  to 
listen,  and  Matha  suggested  '' punni''\  but  though  the 
sound  was  faint  it  was  quite  different  from  that  made 
by  a  wild  pig  when  grubbing  for  food.  All  round  the 
mist  curtain  was  so  thick  that  I  could  not  distinguish 
objects  at  fifty  yards.  I  crept  through  the  grass, 
carefully  parting  it  with  both  hands,  but  some  little 
noise  in  such  thick  stuff  was  inevitable.  The  grunting 
grew  louder,  and  at  length  I  emerged  on  a  glade  where 
the  dhubbay  grass  gave  place  to  a  less  rampant  growth. 
Peeping  across  this,  I  had  just  time  to  realise  that  a 
black  mass  was  making  for  me  across  the  glade  in 
double  quick  time.  The  only  thing  possible  was  a  snap 
shot,  and  I  fired  right  into  the  huge  ball  of  black  fur. 
The  result  was  eminently  gratifying,  for  the  bear 
doubled  up  and  rolled  over  almost  at  my  feet,  giving 
vent  to  the  most  astounding  shrieks.  Matha  urged  me 
to  give  him  another  bullet,  but  it  was  not  needed.  The 
shrieks  subsided  into  bubbling  groans  as  he  writhed  on 
the  grass,  his  jaws  snapped  once  or  twice,  and 
all  was  over.  My  bullet  had  entered  at  the  junction 
of  neck  and  shoulder,  and  had  passed  through  his  heart. 


294  THE   NILGIRIS 


fc> 


Such  an  unprovoked  attack  as  this  bear  made  is  not 
usual,  though  in  my  experience  Bruin  is  always  a  morose 
and  uncertain  customer.  The  only  explanation  I  can 
offer  is  that  he  heard  the  rustling  I  made  in  the  pfrass 
and  charged  straight  at  the  sound.  He  certainly  could 
not  have  known  I  was  a  man,  for  a  strong  wind  was 
blowing  directly  from  him  to  me,  and  his  charge  must 
have  been  begun  before  I  appeared  at  the  edge  of  the 
lade.  He  was  a  magnificent  bear,  by  far  the  finest 
specimen  I  have  ever  seen,  and  measured  six  feet 
one  inch  from  tip  to  tip.  His  coat  was  in  perfect 
condition. 

Shortly  after  this  adventure,  I  started  one  evening 
for  the  hill  I  have  mentioned  on  the  chance  of  getting 
a  stag.  The  figs  were  ripe,  and  all  through  the 
estate,  almost  from  my  door,  there  were  unmistakable 
signs  of  bears,  some  made  the  night  before.  I  passed 
through  the  coffee,  and  then  turned  off  up  a  sambur 
track,  which  I  followed  for  half  a  mile,  till  I  reached 
the  crest  of  a  small  hill.  The  valley  below  was  a 
favourite  place  for  sambur,  and  I  sat  down  to  watch. 
An  hour  passed  without  my  seeing  anything,  when 
far  away  across  the  valley  I  noticed  the  branches  of  a 
large  atti  tree  shaking.  I  could  make  out  nothing 
through  the  glasses,  and  Matha,  my  gun  cooly,  said  it 
was  only  the  wind  ;  but  I  pointed  out  that  the  other 
trees  in  the  vicinity  were  still.  The  shaking  went  on 
at  intervals,  and  we  crossed  the  valley  to  get  a  closer 
look.  Huge  bunches  of  ripe  figs  were  hanging  from 
the  trunk  and  branches  of  the  tree  in  the  way  peculiar 
to  attis,  and  when  we  got  to  within  fifty  yards  I  saw 
that  the  commotion  had  been  caused  by  a  bear  who  was 
so  busily  occupied  in  tucking  into  the  fruit  that  our 
approach  had  been  unobserved.     Waiting  till  I  could 


THE    BEAR  295 


get  a  clear  shot,  I  put  a  bullet  in  behind  her  shoulder, 
which  brought  her  down  all  of  a  heap.  We  ran  up, 
but  the  bear  had  disappeared  in  the  undergrowth, 
which  all  round  here  was  very  thick.  Just  then  I 
heard  two  long-drawn  wails,  a  sign,  I  felt  sure,  that 
the  bear  was  giving  up  the  ghost.  The  blood  track 
was  very  distinct,  and  when  we  had  carried  it  fifty 
yards  we  came  on  the  bear,  quite  dead.  She  was  a 
fine  specimen,  but  not  in  such  good  condition  as  the 
other,  who  was  probably  her  mate. 

I  have  said  that  bears  make  curious  noises.  I 
remember  one  evening  going  up  to  the  jeitkul  or 
honey  rock — a  large  rock  which  stands  some  twenty 
feet  out  of  the  ground,  half-way  between  my  bungalow 
and  Rockwood  Peak,  and  a  favourite  lookout  of  mine, 
as  it  affords  a  view  all  over  the  surrounding  valley — 
on  the  chance  of  a  stalk.  A  narrow  strip  of  jungle 
runs  down  the  hill  in  front,  which  meets  a  small  stream 
a  couple  of  hundred  yards  below  the  rock,  and  at  the 
point  of  junction  grow  two  large  atti  trees.  There 
is  a  natural  seat  at  the  summit  of  the  rock,  which 
screens  the  observer  from  view,  and  I  had  been  sitting 
on  this  for  about  half  an  hour,  watching  three  hinds 
feeding  on  the  hill  above,  when  I  heard  something 
rustling  through  the  jungle  in  front.  The  cover  was 
so  thick,  and  the  grass  so  high,  that  even  from  my 
elevated  perch  I  could  see  nothing ;  but  both 
Thundukol  and  I  made  sure  it  was  a  sambur,  and  I 
whispered  the  hope  that  it  was  the  lord  of  the  harem 
we  had  in  view,  and  that  he  would  give  me  a  shot  as 
he  joined  the  ladies.  All  was  still  for  another  quarter 
of  an  hour,  when  suddenly  began  the  most  extra- 
ordinary concert  at  which  I  have  ever  been  a  listener. 
There  were  shrieks  and  growls  and  hisses  and  bubbling 


296  THE   NILGIRIS 


groans,  which  made  it  evident  that  a  party  of  bears 
were  giving  vent  to  their  enjoyment  as  they  gobbled 
the  fallen  figs.  But  still  they  were  completely  hidden, 
and  it  was  fast  getting  dark.  Owing  to  the  wind, 
which  was  blowing  down  the  hill,  I  did  not  dare 
to  get  closer — my  only  chance  was  that  they  would 
climb  the  atti  trees  when  they  had  finished  the  fruit 
on  the  ground.  For  another  half  hour  I  waited,  when 
at  last  I  saw  the  head  and  shoulders  of  a  bear  in  the 
fork  of  one  of  the  trees,  but  the  light  was  so  bad  that 
when  I  bent  my  head  over  the  stock  of  the  rifle  I 
could  scarcely  see  the  sights.  Taking  the  best  aim  I 
could  at  the  black  blotch  in  the  tree,  I  fired.  The 
bear  rolled  off  the  tree,  and  then  began  a  hubbub 
compared  with  which  the  original  concert  was  merely 
a  joke.  What  was  happening,  I  could  not  see  ;  but 
from  the  tremendous  hullabaloo  it  seemed  as  if  all  the 
bears  in  the  district  were  indulging  in  a  free  fight. 
This  went  on  for  a  few  minutes,  when  something 
rushed  through  the  jungle  below  me,  and  a  moment 
afterwards  I  saw  three  bears  making  off  up  the 
opposite  hill,  but  they  were  so  far  and  the  light  was  so 
dim  that  I  did  not  risk  a  long  shot. 

Early  the  following  morning  I  went  after  the 
wounded  bear  with  a  couple  of  men,  and  as  my  writer 
begged  to  be  allowed  to  accompany  me,  I  took  him  as 
well.  Under  the  atti  tree  was  a  pool  of  blood,  and  we 
carried  the  track  without  difificulty  through  the  jungle  to 
the  foot  of  Rockwood  Peak.  Here  the  ground  is  very 
broken  and  rugged,  huge  rocks  being  piled  pell-mell 
on  the  top  of  each  other,  forming  a  series  of  miniature 
caves,  ideal  ground  for  bears  ;  and  it  was  evident  the 
wounded  one  had  taken  refuge  in  one  of  these  hiding 
places.     As  the  blood  track  had  ceased  at  the  rocks,  I 


THE   BEAR  297 


determined  to  explore  the  caves  systematically,  and  I 
warned  the  men  to  keep  near  me.  Recent  traces  of 
bears  were  in  evidence  everywhere,  but  the  first  three 
or  four  caves  we  drew  blank.  We  then  came  to  one 
much  larger  than  the  rest,  formed  by  an  enormous 
shelving  rock,  which  sloped  down  for  such  a  distance 
that  the  back  of  the  cave  was  pitch  dark.  I  had  sent 
a  cooly  to  the  bungalow  for  a  lantern,  and  just  at  this 
moment  he  arrived.  Stones  thrown  into  the  cavern 
met  with  no  response,  but  I  decided  to  satisfy  myself 
that  it  was  empty,  so  telling  the  writer  and  coolies  to 
wait  at  the  mouth,  I  crept  in  with  the  light.  Soon  I 
had  to  go  on  all  fours,  and  as  the  cave  was  several 
yards  wide,  it  took  me  some  minutes  to  investigate  it 
thoroughly.  It  held  nothing  but  a  colony  of  bats,  so 
I  crawled  back.  On  reaching  the  entrance,  I  found 
the  writer  and  a  cooly  had  disappeared,  and  from  the 
other  cooly  I  learnt  that  they  had  climbed  further  up 
the  hill ;  but  the  words  were  hardly  out  of  his  mouth 
when  I  heard  a  yell,  and  down  came  the  two  men 
slithering  and  rolling  over  the  rocks.  I  seized  the 
writer  as  he  slid  past  me  (the  cooly  was  brought  up 
short  against  a  boulder)  and  put  him  right  side  up,  but 
for  a  moment  or  two  he  could  only  gasp.  Then  he 
told  me  that  on  rounding  a  rock  above,  he  had  come 
right  on  the  bear  lying  under  a  shelf,  and  had  been 
charged  at  once.  At  the  sudden  apparition  he  had 
fallen  backwards  on  the  cooly,  and  both  had  rolled 
down  together.  I  made  him  understand  in  the  plainest 
lancruaofe  I  could  command  what  a  fool  he  had  been  to 
disobey  my  orders,  and  as  both  he  and  the  cooly  were 
shaking  with  fright,  I  told  them  to  wait  while  I  went 
up  with  Thundukol.  If  this  was  the  wounded  bear,  it 
was  plain  he  still  had  plenty  of  life  in  him,  so  we  made 


298  THE   NILGIRIS 


our  way  up  cautiously.  Fifty  yards  higher,  sure 
enough,  was  the  bear's  couch  ;  and  as  the  dry  leaves 
which  covered  it  were  all  spotted  with  blood,  he  was 
my  wounded  friend  beyond  doubt.  The  exertion  of 
charging  had  set  the  wound  bleeding  again,  and  we 
followed  the  track  easily  over  the  rocks  for  some 
distance  higher  up  the  hill,  when  it  turned  into  a  cave 
with  a  narrow  entrance.  A  large  stone  rolled  in 
elicited  an  angry  growl,  and  the  next  instant  out 
bounced  the  bear,  startling  me  so  with  the  infernal  din 
he  made  that  I  missed  him  clean  with  the  first  bullet 
from  my  Paradox  at  five  yards.  Fortunately,  in 
expectation  of  a  charge,  we  were  standing  to  one  side 
of  the  entrance,  and  the  bear  kept  straight  on.  I  gave 
him  my  second  barrel  as  he  was  turning  round  the 
angle  of  a  rock,  and  over  he  rolled,  yelling  and  shriek- 
ing ten  times  louder  than  before.  I  heard  Thundukol, 
who  was  behind  me,  say,  "another  one  is  coming," 
and  a  second  bear  rushed  past  me  and  was  out  of 
sight  before  I  could  cram  fresh  cartridges  into  the  gun. 
The  first  one  had  rolled  down  the  rocks  up  which  we 
had  just  climbed,  and  on  reaching  the  bottom  we 
found  him  dead  within  a  couple  of  yards  of  where  I 
had  left  the  writer  and  the  cooly.  Both  these  men 
had  disappeared  into  the  large  cave,  and  my  writer's 
experiences  on  that — to  him — memorable  day  have 
considerably  cooled  his  ardour  for  sport,  at  least  where 
dangerous  game  is  concerned.  The  dead  bear  turned 
out  to  be  the  one  I  had  wounded  the  previous  even- 
ing, and  on  examining  him  I  found  that  my  first  bullet 
had  broken  his  shoulder  high  up.  He  was  a  good 
specimen,  five  feet  ten  inches  in  length,  with  a  coat  in 
splendid  condition. 

I  have  mentioned  that  I  once  saw  two  bears  indulge 


J 


THE   BEAR  299 


in  a  scrapping  match  when  I  had  fired  at  and  missed 
one  of  them — proof  that  a  bear  does  not  always 
require  to  be  wounded  to  make  him  turn  on  a 
companion.  As  the  adventure  was  rather  curious,  I 
record  it.  A  few  years  ago,  at  the  end  of  April  when 
the  atti  fruit  was  ripe,  I  noticed  that  the  trees  growing 
near  my  bungalow  all  bore  signs  of  bears  having 
climbed  them  ;  and  my  cattlemen  told  me  that  three 
bears  had  taken  up  their  quarters  in  some  large  rocks 
a  short  distance  up  the  hill.  I  was  too  busy  at  the 
time  to  look  them  up  ;  but  one  afternoon,  having  time 
to  spare,  I  sallied  out  with  the  express  intention  of 
trying  to  make  their  acquaintance.  I  was  opening  a 
tea  clearing  a  little  way  below  the  pile  of  rocks  ;  and 
as  I  passed  the  lines,  I  called  my  Maistry  with  the 
view  of  going  over  the  work  with  him  on  my  way  up 
the  hill.  I  was  talking  to  him  about  the  pitting,  when 
I  saw  three  bears  leave  the  rocks  above  us,  and  cross 
the  face  of  the  hill  on  the  other  side  of  the  valley. 
Over  the  shoulder  of  this  hill  was  a  hollow  in  which  I 
knew  were  several  large  atti  trees  covered  with  ripe 
fruit  ;  and  I  guessed  that  this  was  the  destination  for 
which  the  bears  were  bound.  The  wind,  which  was 
blowing  strongly  from  the  west,  made  a  detour 
necessary ;  and  I  went  down  to  an  old  estate  road 
that  led  past  and  just  under  the  clump  of  attis,  after 
winding-  round  the  hill  for  a  long;  distance.  From  where 
the  Maistry  was  standing  a  view  over  the  whole 
country  could  be  obtained  ;  and  I  told  him  to  stay 
there  and  signal  to  me  when  I  had  got  some  way 
along  the  road.  If  the  bears  passed  the  hollow  in 
which  the  attis  grew,  and  went  further  up  the  hill,  he 
was  to  hold  both  arms  above  his  head  :  if,  when  they 
entered  the  hollow,  they  did  not  reappear  on  the  other 


300  THE   NILGIRIS 


I 


side  by  the  time  I  reached  the  point  on  the  road  I 
showed  him,  he  was  to  hold  both  arms  out  at  right 
angles.  I  made  my  way  along  the  road  to  the  furthest 
point  from  which  I  could  see  the  Maistry,  and  on 
looking  through  my  glass  I  saw  he  was  signalling  that 
the  bears  were  in  the  hollow.  This  made  me  sure 
that  they  were  engaged  in  a  feast  on  the  ripe  atti 
fruit ;  but  my  precautions  were  not  required,  for  when  I 
got  within  a  hundred  yards  of  the  clump  of  attis,  there 
came  from  under  them  the  grunts  and  growls  bears 
always  make  when  they  find  a  dainty  that  tickles  their 
palates.  I  crept  up  for  another  fifty  yards  ;  but  the  tall 
atti  trees  w^ere  smothered  in  a  dense  growth  of  thorny 
scrub,  about  ten  feet  high,  in  which  I  could  see  nothing, 
and  a  closer  approach  might  have  frightened  the  bears 
without  giving  me  a  chance.  My  only  hope  was  that 
the  bears  might  climb  the  trees,  as  large  bunches  of 
fruit  hung  temptingly  from  the  higher  branches,  and  I 
sat  down  on  the  road  to  watch.  I  had  not  long  to 
wait,  for  in  ten  minutes  I  saw  a  large  bear  swarming 
up  one  of  the  trees.  In  a  minute  he  had  climbed  high 
enough  above  the  scrub  jungle  to  afford  me  a  clear 
shot,  and  I  brought  him  down  all  of  a  heap  with  a 
bullet  from  my  '450.  The  moment  he  fell,  with  a  thud 
audible  to  me  where  I  sat,  out  rushed  the  other  two 
bears  to  my  left,  making  straight  up  the  face  of  a 
steep  hill  as  fast  as  they  could  go.  Here  the  ground 
was  free  from  jungle,  but  covered  with  dhibbay 
grass  about  six  feet  high,  and  I  only  caught  momentary 
glimpses  of  the  bears  as  they  ran  between  the  clumps. 
During  one  of  these  I  got  a  snap  shot  at  the  leader, 
but  I  saw  the  bullet  knock  up  the  dust  just  in  front  of 
him.  He  turned  sharp  round  with  the  object  of  getting 
back  to  the  cover  he  had   just  quitted,  a  manoeuvre 


THE   BEAR  301 


which  brought  him  into  collision  with  the  second 
bear,  who  was  following  close  behind,  and  a  fight 
ensued  at  once.  As  they  fought,  the  bears  came  down 
the  hill  ;  and  catching  sight  of  me  on  the  road  below, 
they  came  straight  at  me.  The  smaller  one  thought 
better  of  it,  and  turned  into  the  cover  just  before 
reaching  the  road  :  the  other  made  a  desperate  charge, 
and  I  killed  him  with  my  Paradox  at  five  yards, 
distance.  He  was  not  a  large  specimen,  measuring 
only  five  feet  two  inches  from  tip  to  tip  ;  the  first  bear 
I  fired  at,  which  we  found  lying  dead  under  the 
atti  tree,  was  a  much  finer  animal,  its  length  being 
five  feet  seven  inches.  On  cutting  up  the  latter,  I 
found  that  the  '450  bullet  had  entered  on  the  right 
side  in  the  middle  of  the  body  and  passing  through 
obliquely,  had  shattered  the  heart.  It  was  seated 
just  under  the  skin  on  the  left  side,  a  perfect  mushroom 
in  shape.     This  was  a  Jeffery's  No.  6  bullet. 


1 


THE     IBEX,     OR     NILGIRI      WILD 

GOAT 


Scientific  name — Hemitragus  hylocrius. 
Tamil  name. — Burrayadu. 


The  Nilc.iki  Ihk\ 


Drain/  by  J.  Mac/arume 


THE   NILGIRI   WILD   GOAT 

I  chace  the  Wild  Goats  o'er  Summits  of  Rocks. — Dryden. 

By  many  writers  this  animal  has  been  classed  under 
Capra.  Gray  has  called  him  C.  warryato,^  and  Sclater 
C.  hylocrius.  But  though  he  is  a  true  goat,  he  is 
differentiated  so  sharply  from  members  of  the  genus 
Capra  by  the  absence  of  a  beard,  by  the  different  shape 
of  skull  and  horns,  and  by  the  presence  of  a  small 
muffle,  that  modern  writers  have  placed  him  in  a 
separate  genus — Hemitragus,  a  genus  which  he  shares 
with  one  other  Indian  species,  the  tahr,  or  Himalayan 
Wild  Goat  [H.  jemlaicus).  Locally  he  is  known  as 
the  Nilgiri  ibex,  but  for  the  reasons  given  above, 
the  name  is  somewhat  of  a  misnomer.  The  most 
appropriate  designation  for  this  animal  would  perhaps 
bet  he  Nilgiri  tahr,  but  the  name  ibex  is  hallowed  by 
custom,  and  ibex  he  will  remain  to  the  end  of  the 
chapter.  The  chief  differences  between  the  Himalayan 
tahr  and  the  Nilgiri  ibex  may  be  thus  summarised  : — 

H.  jemlaicus.  Hair  on  neck,  shoulders,  and  chest, 
long,  forming  in  old  males  a  shaggy  flowing  mane 
extending  to  below  the  knees.  Horns  flat  on  both 
sides.     Mammae  four. 

H.  hylocrius.  Hair  on  neck  and  shoulders  much 
shorter,  forming  in  old  males  merely  a  stiff  mane  on 

^  Obviously  from  ^«?  ray = cliff,  and  a^z^  =  goat. 

X 


3o6  THE   NILGIRIS 


the  ridge  of  the  neck.  Outer  surface  of  horns  strongly 
convex.     Mammae  two. 

In  colour  the  mature  buck  of  the  Nilgiri  Ibex  is  a 
dark  brown,  with  a  tinge  of  yellow  ;  and  at  this  stage 
he  is  known  as  a  "  brown  buck."  The  under  parts  are 
paler,  and  there  is  a  distinct  band  of  darker  brown 
down  the  whole  length  of  the  back.  As  the  male  gets 
older  the  colour  deepens  to  black  on  face,  limbs,  and 
body,  a  yellowish  ring  appears  round  the  eyes,  while 
the  hair  on  the  lumbar  region  and  the  back  of  the 
legs  assumes  a  lighter  tint.  In  very  old  males  the 
grizzled  area  on  the  loins  becomes  almost  white,  and 
the  buck  then  forms  that  chiefest  object  of  every 
Nilgiri  sportsman's  ambition  —  a  "saddle  back." 
Females  and  young  are  always  much  lighter  in  colour 
than  the  mature  bucks.  Males  have  the  usual 
disagreeable  caprine  odour.  There  is  no  seasonal 
variation  in  the  coat. 

At  their  base,  the  horns  are  set  very  close  together, 
for  a  short  distance  they  are  sub-parallel,  then  they 
curve  slowly  backwards,  outwards,  and  downwards. 
Throughout  their  length  they  are  transversely  striated, 
the  inner  surface  is  flat,  the  outer  surface  convex-, 
while  along  the  front  upper  edge  is  a  sharp  and 
strongly  marked  "  keel."  The  under  edge  is  rounded. 
In  the  females  the  horns  are  more  or  less  similar  in 
shape,  but  thinner  and  shorter.  The  record  pair 
measure  seventeen  and  a  half  inches  along  the  upper 
curve,  and  nine  and  seven-eighths  inches  round  the 
base.  Another  fine  pair  mentioned  by  Blanford  are 
seventeen  inches  and  nine  and  three-quarter  inches 
respectively-  The  largest  pair  on  record  for  a  female 
are  twelve  and  three-eighths  inches  in  length  and  five 
and  a  half  inches  round  the  base.      My  own  best  pair, 


THE   NILGIRI   WILD   GOAT  307 

shot  many  years  ago,  measure  fifteen  and  three- 
quarter  inches  in  length,  and  a  fraction  under  nine 
inches  in  circumference  at  the  base.  This  was  a 
saddle  back,  and  his  height  at  shoulder  was  forty 
inches  ;  but  much  bigger  specimens  have  been  bagged. 
According  to  Hawkeye  (Gen.  R.  Hamilton)  the 
maximum  height  is  forty-two  inches. 

The  Nilgriri  wild  o-oat  is  found  on  the  Nilo^iri  and 
Anamallai  Hills,  and  on  the  higher  spurs  of  the 
Western  Ghats  as  they  traverse  Travancore  and 
Cochin.  It  does  not  descend  below  four  thousand  feet, 
save  in  a  few  localities  where  the  lower  slopes  are 
rugged  and  broken.  North  of  the  Nilgiris,  the  grand 
western  mountain  chain  affords  in  many  places  {e.g. 
the  higher  peaks  of  the  Vellarimallais)  an  ideal  habitat 
for  this  cliff-loving  goat;  but  I  have  never  been  able  to 
obtain  evidence  of  its  occurrence  in  such  localities.  In 
view  of  this  long  stretch  of  suitable  country  trending 
northwards,  the  present  isolated  habitat  of  the  Nilgiri 
ibex  is  curious,  more  especially  as  the  relationship  to 
its  Himalayan  congener  is  sufficiently  close  to  warrant 
the  assumption  that  at  one  period  a  single  species 
inhabited  the  whole  of  Western  and  North- Western 
India  ;  the  two  existing  species  being  merely  local 
races  whose  distinctions  are  due  to  their  present 
environment. 

In  describing  the  habits  of  the  Himalayan  tahr 
Blanford  writes  :  "  Col.  Kinloch's  account  is  excellent. 
He  says,  'The  tahr  is,  like  the  markhor,  a  forest-loving 
animal,  and  although  it  sometimes  resorts  to  the  rocky 
summits  of  the  hills,  it  generally  prefers  the  steep 
slopes  which  are  more  or  less  clothed  with  trees  .... 
Old  males  hide  a  great  deal  in  the  thickest  jungle.'  " 
Here  a  wide  divergence  occurs  between  the  habits  of 

X   2 


3o8  THE   NILGIRIS 


the  two  species,  for  the  Nilgiri  ibex  is  the  very  reverse 
of  a  "  forest-loving  animal."  It  frequents  the  beetling 
crags  and  towering  precipices  of  the  Kundahs,  far 
above  the  forest  line,  coming  up  to  the  grass  slopes 
which  border  the  cliffs  to  feed.  These  grass  slopes 
usually  hold  sholas  in  the  folds  between  the  hills,  but 
save  when  wounded,  I  have  never  known  an  ibex  take 
refuge  in  them.  About  April  ibex  frequently  leave 
the  cliff-line,  and  roam  a  considerable  distance  inland, 
attracted  by  the  fresh  sweet  grass  which  springs  up 
after  the  annual  fires  ;  but  if  disturbed,  they  retreat  at 
once  to  the  inaccessible  cliffs. 

In  former  days — the  halcyon  days  of  sport  on  the 
Nilgiris — ibex  were  found  in  very  large  herds,  an 
assembly  of  even  one  hundred  being  not  uncommon 
according  to  the  accounts  of  old-time  sportsmen.  But 
owing  to  incessant  persecution  the  numbers  were 
thinned  at  such  a  rapid  rate  that  at  one  time  the  ibex 
stood  in  imminent  danger  of  extermination.  The 
introduction  of  the  Nilgiri  Game  Act  in  1879,  which 
prescribed  a  close  time  for  all  game,  did  much  to  avert 
this  calamity  :  the  absolute  prohibition  of  ibex  shoot- 
ing, which  followed  a  few  years  later,  did  more. 
Under  this  salutary  legislation  there  was  such  a  steady 
increase  in  the  herds,  that  in  1908  it  was  found 
possible  to  permit  the  shooting  of  one  saddleback 
under  each  licence  issued  in  a  season,  and  this  rule  still 
obtains,  though,  I  need  hardly  add,  a  saddleback  does 
not  fall  to  the  lot  of  every  sportsman  who  goes  on  a 
shooting  trip  to  the  Kundahs.  The  largest  herd  I 
ever  saw  was  at  Bettmund  on  a  glorious  January 
morning  in  1890,  and  numbered  twenty-nine  in- 
dividuals. Curiously  enough,  this  large  herd  did  not 
contain    a   single   warrantable    buck ;    and,  ensconced 


THE   NILGIRI  WILD   GOAT  309 

behind  a  rock,  I  contented  myself  with  watching  them 
for  a  couple  of  hours,  while  they  fed  up  to  within  a 
hundred  yards  of  my  post. 

Ibex  begin  to  feed  at  sunrise  and  continue  feeding 
till  about  nine  or  ten  o'clock.  If  the  country  is  quiet, 
they  then  lie  down  in  some  warm  nook,  sheltered  from 
the  wind,  near  the  cliff-line,  rising  to  feed  again  in  the 
early  afternoon.  But  if  they  have  recently  been 
disturbed,  they  descend  some  distance  down  the  cliffs 
before  couching.  As  said  before,  I  have  never  known 
them  seek  the  shelter  of  a  shola  for  their  midday 
siesta,  or  at  any  time  save  when  wounded :  in  fact  they 
may  rightly  be  described  as  open-loving  animals.  A 
sentinel  is  invariably  posted  to  watch  over  the 
slumbers  of  the  herd,  usually  a  doe,  and  an  extremely 
wary  sentinel  she  is.  Perching  herself  on  some  dizzy 
eminence,  for  an  hour  or  more  she  makes  the  most 
minute  survey  of  the  surrounding  country  ;  then,  if 
satisfied  that  no  danger  threatens,  she  lies  down,  being 
careful  to  place  herself  in  such  a  position  that  she  can 
still  maintain  a  vigilant  watch.  Frequently,  for  a  part 
of  the  year  at  least,  an  old  buck  leads  a  solitary  life  ; 
and  while  a  bachelor,  he  goes  through  all  the  above 
precautions  every  morning  himself.  But,  in  common 
with  most  wild  animals,  ibex  are  never  very  suspicious 
of  danger  from  above ;  and  it  is  their  want  of  caution  in 
this  respect  that  sometimes  gives  the  sportsman  his 
opportunity,  for  if  he  can  get  above  them,  a  stalk  is  an 
easy  matter  provided  the  wind  is  right.  I  say  "some- 
times "  advisedly,  for  as  ibex  usually  select  the  highest 
ground  for  their  midday  couch,  it  is  not  often  that  a 
chance  of  an  approach  from  above  occurs  ;  while  so 
wary  and  keen  sighted  are  they,  that  a  stalk  from 
below,   no  matter  how  carefully   conducted,  is  almost 


310  THE   NILGIRIS 


always  hopeless.  It  is  this  extreme  caution  on  the 
part  of  the  quarry,  coupled  with  the  grand  country 
they  frequent,  that  makes  ibex  stalking  the  cream,  the 
poetry,  of  Nilgiri  sport. 

As  young  kids  run  with  the  herds  all  the  year  round, 
ibex  do  not  appear  to  have  a  regular  breeding  season ; 
but  so  far  as  my  observation  goes,  more  kids  are 
dropped  in  the  spring  months  than  at  any  other  period 
of  the  year.  Some  writers  have  stated  that  the  doe 
always  has  two  kids  ;  but  though  I  have  seen  two  kids 
of  apparently  the  same  age  with  one  mother,  more 
frequently  I  have  seen  only  one ;  and  I  do  not  think  it 
is  the  rule  that  two  are  produced  at  a  birth. 

Every  phase  of  South  Indian  sport  has  its  own 
peculiar  charm  ;  but  from  one  standpoint — that  of 
mountain  scenery — ibex  stalking  o'ertops  them  all. 
When  following  the  Nilgiri  wild  goat  over  the  beetling 
crags  on  which  he  loves  to  dwell,  you  meet  Dame 
Nature  in  her  grandest  aspects  ;  and  there  is  ever 
present  too  that  spice  of  danger  without  which  any 
sport  loses  its  attraction.  In  the  words  of  Lindsay 
Gordon  (slightly  altered), 

"  No  sport  was  ever  yet  worth  a  rap, 
For  a  rational  man  to  pursue, 
In  which  no  accident,  no  mishap, 
Had  need  to  be  kept  in  view." 

One  needs  a  cool  head  and  a  sure  foot  amongst  the 
tremendous  cliffs  which  form  the  western  face  of  the 
Nilgiri  plateau. 

In  December,  i88 —  I  was  out  in  camp  with  J.  near 
T —  mund,  on  the  Kundahs.  We  sent  on  our  baggage 
and  tent  from  "  Ooty,"  and  shot  our  way  out  to  camp, 
getting  a  fair  bag  of  small  game,  including  two  wood- 
cock, on  the  road.     The  next  morning  J.  started  with 


THE   NILGIRI   WILD   GOAT  311 

his  shikari  to  work  up  the  long  valley  in  front  of  the 
nmiid,  while  I  paid  a  visit  to  the  B —  cliffs,  perhaps 
the  best  ibex  ground  on  the  Kundahs,  with  my  gun 
cooly.  I  reached  my  destination  just  as  day  was 
breaking,  and  the  view  that  was  unfolded  as  the  sun 
rose  over  the  rocky  ridge  behind  me  I  can  only  call 
sublime.  In  front  of,  and  round  me,  in  a  semi-circular 
sweep,  the  cliffs  dropped  down  to  the  low  country  in 
a  sheer  unbroken  wall.  A  carpet  of  green  turf  ran 
along  the  edge,  while  in  every  valley  and  ravine 
nestled  a  skola  of  beautiful  indigenous  trees,  running 
through  every  shade  of  colour  from  dark  green  to 
brilliant  red.  The  rhododendrons  were  in  full  flower, 
and  the  masses  of  carmine  blossom  turned  each  hill- 
side into  a  garden.  Far  away  below  me  the  plains 
stretched  out  to  the  sky  line  in  an  emerald  carpet, 
through  which  the  hill  streams  wound  in  bands  of 
silver,  sparkling  and  flashing  in  the  rays  of  the  morn- 
ing sun.  At  the  foot  of  the  cliffs  lay  the  dense  forest 
which  clothes  the  foothills  along  the  whole  western  face 
of  the  Nilgiris — the  home  of  elephant  and  bison.  To 
my  left,  miles  away,  the  needle-like  cone  of  Mukarti 
shot  up  into  the  blue  sky,  and  further  still  the  bold  ridge 
of  Nilgiri  Peak  ran  out  into  the  plain,  its  summit  broken 
into  fantastic  pillars  and  cupolas  of  granite.  I  know  of 
no  sensation  to  be  compared  with  the  feeling  of  awe  that 
comes  over  one  in  the  presence  of  such  mighty  works 
of  Nature  as  these.  The  towering  heights :  the 
awful  depths  :  the  vast  gloomy  forest  bring  home  to 
a  man  his  own  insignificance  with  overwhelming  force. 
And  over  all  broods  that  tremendous  silence  ;  broken 
only  by  a  stream  rippling  over  the  cliffs  in  a  veil  of 
silver,  or  the  swish  of  a  bird's  wing  as  it  darts  down 
the  sheer  drop  with  a  velocity  that  makes  one  shudder. 


312  THE   NILGIRIS 


I  very  much  doubt  whether  any  mountain  range  in 
India,  save  of  course  the  Himalayas,  possesses  such 
marvellous  scenery  as  this  part  of  the  Nilgiris. 

I  took  up  my  post  at  the  edge  of  a  dizzy  cliff,  close 
to  a  waterfall  which  fell  perhaps  two  hundred  feet  into 
a  large  pool.  I  had  not  been  watching  long  when  I 
saw  a  sambur  stag  ascending  the  opposite  hill. 
Through  the  glasses  I  made  out  that  he  carried  a 
decent  head.  After  traversing  a  small  shola,  he  lay 
down  under  a  clump  of  rhododendrons  on  the  summit 
of  the  hill ;  but  ibex  were  what  I  wanted,  so  I  left 
the  stag  alone.  An  hour  passed,  but  nothing  else 
appeared,  and  I  was  on  the  point  of  starting  after  the 
stag,  when  my  gun  cooly  spied  an  ibex  below.  I 
stretched  myself  at  full  length,  and  peeped  over  the 
edge  of  the  cliff.  There,  sure  enough,  far  down,  were 
three  ibex,  and  shortly  they  were  joined  by  three 
more.  I  made  out  that  two  at  least  were  bucks,  but 
they  were  so  far  below  that  I  could  not  with  any 
certainty  judge  the  size  of  their  horns.  For  another 
hour  we  watched  them  as  they  sauntered  along, 
nibbling  at  the  bushes  which  here  and  there  grew  out 
of  the  rock,  until  they  reached  the  fall.  Just  here  the 
cliff  curved  inwards,  the  water  falling  clear  of  the  rock. 
A  narrow  ledge  ran  round  the  face  of  the  cliff,  and  on 
this,  under  the  waterfall,  the  herd  lay  down.  I  could 
now  see  them  clearly  through  my  glass.  Two  were 
good  brown  bucks,  one  carrying  a  fine  head  :  the 
others  were  does  and  kids.  In  the  hope  that  later  on 
they  would  ascend  the  cliff  to  browse  on  the  grass,  I 
lay  still  ;  but  though  I  watched  for  a  couple  of  hours 
they  did  not  move,  and  it  was  evident  they  had 
couched  for  the  day.  If  I  was  to  get  a  shot,  the  only 
way  was  to  go  down  after  them,  but  the  prospect  was 


THE   NILGIRI   WILD   GOAT  313 

scarcely  pleasant.  Above  the  ledge  on  which  the 
ibex  were  lying,  the  cliff  was  a  sheer  wall  of  rock, 
down  which  it  was  impossible  to  climb.  But  some 
distance  to  my  right  a  narrow  ravine  ran  down  the 
cliff,  and  the  soil  in  this  cleft  supported  a  scanty 
growth  of  scrub  jungle.  From  the  peculiar  formation 
of  the  ground  I  could  not  see  where  this  ravine  led,  or 
how  far  it  descended,  but  as  it  afforded  the  only 
chance  of  reaching  the  ibex,  I  determined  to  follow  it 
down.  For  some  four  hundred  yards  the  descent  was 
easy,  as  the  trees  gave  us  support ;  but  then  the 
ravine  stopped  and  the  jungle  with  it.  I  now  found 
myself  on  the  ledge  along  which  the  ibex  had  passed 
in  the  morning.  Below  was  a  precipice  of  unknown 
depth.  Looking  ahead,  I  could  see  the  waterfall,  but 
the  ibex  were  hidden  behind  a  curve  in  the  cliff  wall. 
The  only  way  round  this  was  by  the  ledge,  and  the 
mere  thought  of  the  journey  made  my  flesh  creep. 
The  cooly  was  too  frightened  to  come  further,  and  I 
told  him  to  wait  in  the  ravine  for  my  return.  I  sat 
down  to  recover  my  breath,  and  to  wait  till  the  feeling 
of  awe  had  passed  off  a  little  :  then  I  started  along  the 
ledge.  Curiously  enough,  once  out  on  the  cliff  my 
nerve  returned,  and  borne  up  by  the  excitement,  I  lost 
all  sense  of  danger  or  risk.  Inch  by  inch  I  crept  on, 
and  soon  I  had  rounded  the  curving  face  of  the  cliff. 
The  ledge  here  was  broader,  and  peeping  round  I  saw 
the  ibex  about  sixty  yards  away  under  the  fall.  The 
big  buck  was  nearest  to  me  and  on  his  legs ;  the 
others  were  lying  down.  All  unconscious  of  danger, 
the  buck  half  turned  to  reach  a  clump  of  Strobilanthes 
over  his  head.  Taking  careful  aim  at  his  neck  I 
pressed  the  trig^ger  :  he  dropped  at  once,  and  lay 
kicking  with  his  legs  in  the  air.     I  made  sure  he  was 


314  THE    NILGIRIS 


mine,  but  alas  !  one  convulsive  kick  took  him  over  the 
ledge,  and  I  saw  him  drop  through  space  until  he  fell 
into    a   pool    far    below,    sending    the    water  up  in  a 
cascade.     At  sound  of  my  shot  the  other  ibex  rushed 
back  towards   me  along  the  ledge.     Seeing  me  they 
swerved,  and  ran  along  the  cliff  below,  over  ground 
that  I  would  not  have  believed  could  afford  foothold 
for  a  fly.     The  second  buck  was  amongst  the  last  to 
cross,  and  as  he  passed  I  fired.     The  bullet   caught 
him  in  the  flank  and  he  staggered.     Here   the  rock 
was  smooth  and  slippery  :  he  began  to  slide  :  made  a 
desperate  effort  to  recover  himself:  and  went  headlong 
over  the  precipice.     Where  he  fell   I  could    not  see, 
but  as  I  heard  no  sound,  he  must  have  gone  right  to 
the   bottom.      My  disappointment,   and  the    names    I 
called    myself   for    having    followed    ibex    over    such 
ground,  I  leave  to  be  imagined.     There  was  nothing 
left  but  to  go  back,  and  that  return  journey  was  the 
most  "  skeery  "    experience  I  have   ever  had.     With 
the  ibex  in  front  of  me,  I   had  lost  all  sense  of  danger, 
but  now  that  the  excitement  was  over,  the  thought  of 
the  road   I  had  to  traverse  made   me  shudder.     As   I 
crept  back  each  step  made  me  sick,  and  once  or  twice 
the   feeling   came  over  me  that  I  could  not  face  that 
perilous  ledge  ;  but   I   kept  my  eyes  steadily  in  front, 
and  at  last  surmounted  the  dangerous  bit.     How  long 
it  took  me,  I   cannot  say,  and  the  sense  of  relief  that 
came   over  me  when  I  joined  the  gun  cooly  can   be 
better    imagined    than    expressed.      I    have   a   strong 
head,  and  ordinarily  dangerous  ground  does  not  flurry 
me,  but   I    freely  confess  that   nothing,    not  even   the 
"biggest  saddleback  wotever  was  seen,"  would  tempt 
me  to  repeat  my  journey  down  that  cliff 

Next  morning  J.  and   I  returned  to  the  cliffs,  to  see 


THE   NILGIRI  WILD   GOAT  315 

if  there  was  any  chance  of  recovering  my  lost  ibex. 
At  the  point  where  we  struck  them,  a  Httle  north  of 
the  scene  of  my  adventure  on  the  previous  day,  the 
ground  slopes  up  in  a  long  incline,  so  that  the  cliffs 
are  hidden  till  you  reach  the  edge.  J.  had  not  visited 
the  Kundahs  before,  and  as  I  was  keen  to  see  how  the 
awful  grandeur  of  this  face  of  the  plateau  would  strike 
him,  I  did  not  give  him  warning  of  what  was  in  store. 
We  reached  the  last  valley,  crossed  the  stream,  and 
climbed  the  last  ascent,  J.  unconscious  of  what  a 
marvellous  vision  lay  beyond  the  summit.  Suddenly, 
as  suddenly  as  if  it  had  been  a  fresh  slide  in  a  magic 
lantern,  the  scene  changed.  The  grassy  upland  lay 
behind,  and  we  stood  on  the  brink  of  the  precipice, 
with  the  whole  panorama  of  rugged  spires,  yawning 
chasms,  giddy  heights  and  bare  walls  of  rock  streaked 
with  silver  ribbons  spread  out  before  us.  "  Well  ?  "  I 
asked.  J.  took  one  look  round,  and  simply  said,  "  My 
God  "  ;  and  were  I  to  write  pages  I  could  not  describe 
with  half  the  force  of  those  two  words  the  feeling  of 
mingled  pleasure  and  awe  that  seizes  and  holds  one  in 
presence  of  such  wondrous  works  of  Nature  as  these. 
Mark  Twain,  speaking  of  the  Alps,  says,  "  There  was 
something  subduing  in  the  influence  of  that  silent  and 
awful  presence  (the  Jungfrau)  ;  one  seemed  to  meet 
the  immutable,  the  indestructible,  the  eternal,  face  to 
face,  and  to  feel  the  trivial  and  fleeting  nature  of  his  own 
existence  more  sharply  by  the  contrast.  While  I  was 
feeling  these  things  I  was  groping,  without  knowing  it, 
toward  an  understanding  of  what  the  spell  is  which 
people  find  in  the  Alps  and  in  no  other  mountains  " 
(M.  T.  is  wrong  there)  "that  strange,  deep,  nameless 
influence  which  once  felt  cannot  be  forgotten — once  felt 
always  leaves    behind    it  a  restless  longing  to  feel  it 


3i6  THE   NILGIRIS 


again — a  longing  which  is  like  home-sickness,  a 
grieving  haunting  yearning,  which  will  plead,  implore, 
and  persecute,  till  it  has  its  will."  This  is  a  long 
digression  ;  but  Mark  Twain's  words  apply  as  forcibly 
to  the  Kundahs  as  to  the  Alps,  and  those  who  have 
been  under  the  spell  of  mountain  scenery  themselves 
will  forgive  me  for  lingering  on  these  reminiscences. 

We  reached  the  waterfall  and  peered  over.  Far  below, 
a  mere  speck,  we  could  see  my  first  buck  lying  in  the 
stream,  but  alas !  to  reach  him  was  an  impossibility,  and 
his  trophy  was  lost  to  me  for  ever.  How  I  wished  then 
that  I  had  left  him  in  peace  on  the  chance  of  finding 
him  on  better  ground  at  some  future  time.  After  a 
last  peep,  we  separated,  J.  and  his  shikari  turning  to 
the  right,  and  I  going  in  the  opposite  direction.  I 
sauntered  on  for  a  mile,  but  though  marks  of  ibex  were 
plentiful,  I  saw  nothing,  and  about  midday  I  sat  down 
under  a  tree  on  the  open  hillside  for  an  al fresco  meal. 
Here  the  strong  wind  disturbed  my  cooly's  equanimity, 
and  he  went  over  the  knoll  in  front  to  get  out  of  it. 
While  I  was  considering  what  line  to  take  on  my 
road  home,  the  cooly  came  running  back  to  say  three 
ibex  were  lying  down  on  the  further  side  of  the  hill.  -  I 
climbed  up,  and  through  the  glasses  made  them  out  to 
be  a  buck  and  two  does.  The  ground  was  dotted  with 
stunted  trees,  and  I  got  to  within  sixty  yards  without 
difficulty.  The  buck  was  lying  broadside  on,  lazily 
munching  a  mouthful  of  grass,  and  I  fired  for  his 
shoulder.  I  heard  the  bullet  tell  loudly,  but  he  jumped 
to  his  feet,  and,  with  the  does,  rushed  straight  down  the 
hill,  which  was  as  steep  as  the  side  of  a  house.  I  had 
a  flying  shot  at  him  with  my  second  barrel,  but  missed. 
All  three  ibex  plunged  into  a  strip  of  shola  that  fringed 
the  stream  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  but  to  my  satisfaction 


1 


THE   NILGIRI  WILD   GOAT  317 

only  the  does  reappeared  on  the  other  side.  We 
followed  as  fast  as  we  could,  though  caution  was 
necessary  in  going  down  the  slippery  hillside,  and  lying 
on  his  back  in  the  stream  we  found  the  buck,  stone  dead. 
My  cooly,  an  Ooty  "beater"  with  a  smattering  of 
English,  was  first  up,  and  he  called  out  "  saddleback 
sar,"  but  on  coming  up,  which  I  did  with  such  undue 
haste  that  I  contrived  to  fall  down  a  bank  and  hurt  my 
hip  severely,  I  found  him  to  be  a  good  sized  brown 
buck,  with  thirteen  inch  horns.  The  bullet  had  blown 
his  lungs  to  a  jelly,  but  so  great  was  the  impetus  he  got 
from  the  steep  ground,  that  he  had  travelled  full  two 
hundred  yards  before  falling.  This  was  luck  with  a 
vengeance.  Many  a  time  I  have  fagged  for  days  without 
even  a  sight  of  an  ibex,  but  during  this  trip  the  fates 
were  propitious,  for  here  on  two  successive  days  I  had 
come  across  a  herd,  and  we  saw  another  before  we  left  the 
neighbourhood. 

On  the  way  back  to  camp,  I  was  witness  of  the  most 
striking  effect  of  light  and  shade  I  have  ever  seen. 
The  morning  had  been  fine,  but  towards  the  afternoon 
the  sky  became  overcast,  and  a  dense  bank  of  clouds 
gathered  in  the  West,  which  rapidly  spread  upwards. 
In  a  short  space  they  had  covered  the  whole  dome  of  the 
sky  with  an  ink-black  mantle,  and  by  the  time  I  had 
secured  the  head  and  skin  of  the  ibex  it  was  so  dark 
and  threatening  that  I  decided  to  make  for  camp 
direct.  Just  as  I  reached  the  path  along  the  cliffs, 
the  sable  pall  split  down  the  centre  in  front  of  the  sun, 
and  through  the  rift  came  a  great  beam  of  golden 
light  which  bathed  everything  in  its  path  in  glory 
while  all  else  remained  in  deepest  shadow.  "  Heaven 
peeped  through  the  blanket  of  the  dark."  The  effect 
in  such  sublime  surroundings  was  magical,  but  I  did 


3i8  THE   NILGIRIS 


not  stay  long  to  contemplate  it,  for  it  was  evident  a 
big  storm  was  brewing.  And  sure  enough,  before  I 
had  covered  half  the  distance  to  camp,  down  came  the 
rain  in  sheets. 

The  next  day  was  a  blank,  and  that  evening  we 
decided  to  shift  camp  to  Mukarti  the  following  morn- 
ing. It  was  a  longish  tramp,  but  this  is  one  of  the 
lions  of  the  Nilgiris,  and  J.  had  not  seen  it.  If 
the  visitor  to  the  Blue  Mountains  climbs  the  hill 
behind  the  old  church,  or  better  still  if  he  strolls 
along  the  Kotagiri  road  to  the  point  where  it  over- 
looks the  Botanic  Gardens,  he  will  see,  far  away  over 
the  waving  sea  of  blue  gums  that  girdles  Ooty  and 
over  the  outlying  spurs  of  the  Kundahs,  outlined 
clearly  as  a  silhouette  against  the  setting  sun,  a  needle- 
like peak  with  a  double  apex,  which  by  its  peculiar 
formation  stands  out  prominently  about  mid-way  along 
the  serrated  line  of  peaks  that  bounds  the  horizon. 
This  is  famed  Mukarti.^  Long  ago  some  kind  but — 
from  my  point  of  view — misguided  philanthropist  cut 
a  bridle-path  to  the  summit  of  the  peak.  The  distance 
is  only  some  seventeen  miles,  so  many  visitors  ''  do  " 
Mukarti  now,  and  they  are  amply  repaid  for  their 
trouble,  for  the  view  from  the  summit  is  amongst  the 
best  that  can  be  obtained  anywhere  on  a  range 
renowned  for  glorious  views.  But  the  constant 
intrusion  of  sig^ht-seers  is  not  an  unmixed  blessing  to 

1  "Mukarti  Mallai"  signifies  in  Kanarese  "the  Peak  of  the  severed 
nose."  According  to  Metz  (a  well  known  authority  on  the  hill  tribes) 
the  local  legend  is  that  Ravana,  incensed  at  the  greater  reverence  paid 
to  his  enemy  Rama  by  the  hillmen,  cursed  them  with  a  plague  of  vermin 
(a  lasting  curse,  by  the  way  !).  Rama  in  revenge  cut  off  the  nose  of 
Ravana's  sister,  and  set  it  up — transmogrified  into  Mukarti  Peak — as  a 
proof  of  his  superior  power. 

The  Todas  believe  that  from  Mukarti's  dizzy  height  the  souls  of  dead 
men  and  buffaloes  take  their  last  plunge  into  Amnordr,  the  World  of  the 
Shades  below  this  World. 


THE   NILGIRI  WILD   GOAT  319 

the  sportsman,  for  Mukarti  and  its  neighbourhood  is  a 
favourite  haunt  of  the  ibex. 

We  pitched  camp  on  the  stream  at  the  foot  of  the 
peak,  and  early  the  next  morning  were  on  the  cliffs. 
These  we  followed  in  a  gentle  curve  until  we  reached 
a  place  where,  near  a  stream  which  went  thundering 
over  the  cliff,  there  had  recently  been  an  extensive 
landslip.  We  had  not  been  scanning  the  broken 
country  below  very  long,  when  far  beneath  us  the 
sAzkari  spotted  a  herd  of  five  ibex,  two  of  which  through 
the  glasses  seemed  to  be  bucks.  We  could  not  by 
any  possibility  get  down  to  them,  so  had  no  choice 
but  to  possess  our  souls  in  patience  on  the  chance  of 
the  herd  coming  up  to  feed  on  the  grass  above.  They 
sauntered  up  the  cliff,  and  at  last  lay  down  some  five 
hundred  yards  below  us.  The  shikari  Selvia  said  that 
from  where  they  were  lying  two  tracks  led  up  to  the 
summit  of  the  cliff,  one  of  which  had  been  swept  away 
by  the  landslip.  He  therefore  thought  our  best  plan  was 
to  wait  where  we  were,  as  the  other,  and — as  he  sup- 
posed— the  only  practicable  path  debouched  close  by. 
Between  us  and  the  landslip  lay  a  narrow  shola  which 
extended  to  the  verge  of  the  cliff-line,  scattered 
shrubs  running  some  way  down.  We  made  ourselves 
comfortable  under  a  bush,  taking  occasional  peeps  over 
the  edge  of  the  precipice  at  the  ibex,  which  still  main- 
tained their  position.  Time  passed,  and  as  we  had  a 
long  tramp  before  us  to  camp,  I  was  beginning  to 
think  we  should  have  to  leave  the  ibex  for  another 
day,  when  suddenly,  and  as  if  moved  by  one  impulse, 
all  five  sprang  to  their  feet  and  ran  a  short  way  up  the 
cliff.  There  they  stopped,  wheeled  round,  and  gazed 
intently  at  something  below.  This  manoeuvre  was 
repeated  several  times,  until  they  reached  the  landslip. 


320  THE  NILGIRIS 


Under  this  they  huddled  for  a  minute,  and  then — with 

the  peculiar  whistle  which  is  the   alarm  note  of  the 

ibex — began  to  climb  rapidly  up  the  broken  ground. 

It  was  now  evident  they  did  not  mean  to  take   the 

track  which  led  past  us.     Their  dark  hides  showed  up 

clearly  against  the  red  earth  of  the  landslip,  and  the 

distance  could  not  have  been  more  than  two  hundred 

and  fifty  yards.     "  Is  it  good  enough  ?  "  whispered  J., 

but  I  shook  my  head,  for  I  felt  sure  we  should  be  able 

to  work  round  the  head  of  the  shola  in  ample  time  to 

meet  them  when  they  reached  the  summit  of  the  cliff. 

With    this  intention  we  jumped  up  and  were  on  the 

point  of  starting,  when  the  shikari  seized  my  coat,  and 

pointing    down    said,    ''  pillee,  pilleeT      The    erratic 

movements  of  the  ibex  were  now  explained,  for  sure 

enough,  far  below  us,  was  a  tiger  creeping  up  the  face 

of  the  cliff,  on  the  line  the  ibex  had  taken.     These  of 

course  were  forgotten  at  once,  and  we  held  a  hurried 

consultation.     Selvia  urged  us  to  stay  where  we  were, 

as  the  tiger  would  perhaps  take  the  easier  path  up  the 

precipice.     But  a  glance  at  his  face  showed  me  that  this 

counsel  was  dictated  by  "funk,"  and  as  it  seemed  most 

probable  that  the  tiger  would  follow  the  track  the  ibe?c 

had  taken,  I  advised  a  general  move  for  the  landslip. 

J.  agreed  ;  but  the  shikari  begged  earnestly  that  one 

gun    should  remain  to  guard    the  other   path.     "All 

right,"  said  J.,   "  I'll  stay    here  and  you  run    round." 

So  far  all  the  luck  had  been  with  me  during  the  trip, 

and    I  would   gladly   have  given  J.  the  chance ;  but 

there  was  no  time  to  argue,  so  I  hurriedly  made  my 

way  along  the  edge  of  the  cover.     On  reaching  the 

landslip  I  looked  over,  and  saw  the  ibex  huddled  on  a 

grass  slope  about  a  hundred  yards  away.     It  was  a 

strong  temptation,  but  remembering  the  nobler  game 


THE   NILGIRI    WILD   GOAT  321 

in  view,  I  refrained.  From  my  position  the  shola  hid 
the  face  of  the  cliff  where  I  had  last  seen  the  tiger ; 
but  J.  signalled  he  was  coming  up  in  my  direction. 
With  my  heart  going  like  a  steam  pump,  I  crouched 
at  the  edge,  expecting  every  moment  to  see  the  tiger's 
round  face  appear.  But  I  was  doomed  to  bitter  dis- 
appointment, for  suddenly  J.  raised  his  rifle,  and  two 
rapid  shots  followed.  I  jumped  up,  and  far  away  down 
the  cliff  I  saw  the  tiger  going  at  breakneck  speed.  How 
he  went  over  such  ground  at  that  pace  was  a  marvel. 
In  desperation  I  sent  a  couple  of  bullets  after  him,  but 
I  have  no  doubt  both  were  misses.  I  looked  round 
for  the  ibex,  but  scared  by  the  firing  they  too  had 
vanished.  Then  slowly  and  sadly  I  rejoined  J.  He 
told  me  the  tiger  had  crept  steadily  up  until  below  the 
landslip,  when  the  wretched  tiffin  cooly  was  so  over- 
come with  fright  that  he  had  run  along  to  a  big  tree 
at  the  edge  of  the  shola,  up  which  he  began  to  climb. 
The  movement  above  at  once  attracted  the  tiger's 
attention  :  he  stopped,  gave  one  look  at  the  cooly, 
then  turned  and  ran  back  down  the  cliff.  Seeing  my 
chance  of  a  shot  had  gone,  J.  had  fired  at  a  range  of 
some  three  hundred  yards.  His  first  shot,  he  said, 
was  a  palpable  miss,  but  the  tiger  had  seemed  to 
respond  to  the  second.  However,  it  was  impossible  to 
follow,  so  we  were  obliged  to  leave  without  even  the 
satisfaction  of  knowing  that  the  tiger  had  carried  away 
a  souvenir  of  his  visit  to  Mukarti.  What  we  said  to 
the  cooly  was,  I  fear,  unfit  for  publication.  We  did 
not  reach  camp  till  9  p.m.  and  as  it  was  a  dark 
night,  and  the  ground  was  very  much  cut  up  by  deep 
buffalo  tracks,  our  tramp  was  the  reverse  of  agreeable. 
Altogether  the  day,  with  its  chapter  of  accidents,  had 
been  too  much  for  us,  and  when  we  got  back  neither 

Y 


322  THE   NILGIRIS 


of  us  was  in  a  very  enviable  frame  of  mind.  But  our 
factotum  had  not  been  idle,  and  over  the  wonderful 
repast  we  found  ready,  we  recovered  our  tempers. 
Truly  the  Indian  "boy"  is  a  marvel. 

"  There  is  a  realm  of  magic  sable, 
Sable  monarch  he  of  it ; 
One  wave  of  his  kitchen  ladle, 
And  ex  7iihilo  d^vcvaoxfit !  " 

In  April  i88 —  I  was  staying  with  H.,  who  owned 
an  estate  on  the  Kundahs  in  the  neighbourhood  of  some 
of  the  finest  ibex  ground  on  the  whole  range.  A  few 
miles  from  his  tote  the  plateau  ended  in  a  wall  of  cliffs 
that  overhung  the  low  country  in  a  sheer  drop  of 
perhaps  three  thousand  feet,  and  these  cliffs  were,  when 
the  fresh  grass  had  sprung  up  after  the  spring  showers, 
a  sure  find  for  ibex. 

We  were  sitting  in  the  verandah  of  his  bungalow, 
indulging  as  usual  in  yarns  of  shikar,  when  I 
remembered  that  the  next  day  would  be  my  birthday. 
"  What  would  you  like  best  ?  "  asked  H.  "  A  sixteen- 
incher  above  everything  in  the  world,"  I  replied,  for 
this  had  long  been  the  summit  of  my  ambition.  "  Well," 
said  H.,  "it's  rather  early  for  ibex  about  here,  but  we'll 
try  the  cliffs";  and  at  5  a.m.  the  following  morning 
we  were  well  on  our  way  thither. 

We  struck  the  cliffs  at  what  H.  called  the  Waterfall 
just  as  day  was  breaking,  and  sat  down  to  enjoy  the 
view.  To  our  right  the  cliffs  swept  round  in  a  wide 
curve  broken  into  the  most  fantastic  shapes.  Pinnacles 
of  bare  grey  rock  shot  up  from  the  dense  shola  which 
here  extended  to  the  verge  of  the  cliff-line,  the  view  on 
that  side  being  closed  by  a  bluff  capped  with  a  helmet 
of  rock,  which  towered  like  a  giant  above  the  rest.  Far 
beneath  us  the  plains  spread  out  to  the  horizon  in  a  sheet 


THE   NILGIRI  WILD   GOAT  323 

of  green,  through  which  a  stream  wound  in  a  silver 
thread.  On  our  left  the  wall  of  cliffs  was  not  so  rugged, 
and  grass  took  the  place  of  jungle  along  the  edge.  A 
couple  of  hundred  yards  lower  down  on  this  side  was 
the  Waterfall,  a  stream  which  bounded  over  the  cliff  in 
a  veil  of  gossamer,  sparkling  in  the  morning  sun  like 
burnished  steel. 

We  had  carefully  swept  every  nook  and  cranny  with 
our  glasses,  but  had  not  seen  a  living  thing  of  any  kind. 
H.  had  just  remarked  that  apparently  we  were  in  for 
a  blank  day,  when  I  chanced  to  look  below  the  fall.  A 
narrow  belt  of  jungle  crept  up  to  the  basin  into  which 
this  discharged,  clinging  to  the  bare  rock  in  a  way  that 
set  one  wondering  where  and  how  the  roots  of  the 
rhododendrons  of  which  it  was  mainly  composed  found 
support.  I  was  taking  stock  of  this,  when  out  stepped 
an  ibex  on  the  side  furthest  from  us,  followed  by  her 
kid.  Straggling  after  her  came  the  rest  of  the  herd, 
until  we  counted  nine.  Two  were  fair  bucks,  the  others 
does  and  kids.  The  wind  was  blowing  straight  down  the 
cliff,  and  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  remain  where 
we  were  until  the  herd  fed  up  to  the  level  ground  above. 
For  a  full  hour  we  watched  them  as  they  gradually 
ascended,  nibbling  at  the  bushes  amongst  the  rocks,  till 
they  reached  the  fall.  Here  a  ledge  ran  round  the 
cliff,  and  one  by  one  we  lost  them  as  they  turned  the 
angle.  Then  we  held  a  council  of  war.  The  track 
which  gave  access  to  the  summit  of  the  cliff  ran  up  a 
cleft  in  the  rock,  and  was  hidden  from  our  view.  I 
thought  we  might  with  safety  creep  a  hundred  yards 
further  down,  to  be  within  range  directly  the  ibex 
appeared,  but  H.  considered  it  would  be  more  prudent 
not  to  move  till  we  saw  exactly  what  they  meant  to 
do,  and  I  gave  in  to  his  judgment. 

Y  2 


324  THE    NILGIRIS 


Half  an  hour  passed  without  a  sign  of  the  ibex,  and 
we  were  all  getting  impatient — Bill,  H.'s  shikari,  was 
with  us — when  at  last  the  leader,  the  same  old  doe  I 
had  first  seen,  appeared  on  the  grassy  plateau  above  the 
cliff  In  another  five  minutes  the  other  members  of 
the  herd  had  joined  her,  and  my  heart  bounded  when  I 
saw  that  they  had  brought  a  grand  saddle  back  with  them. 
Ye  gods !  how  I  gloated  on  his  curving  head  and  grey 
saddle.  The  herd  were  quite  unsuspicious  of  danger, 
and  began  to  feed  at  once.  Very  soon  they  reached 
the  stream,  and  we  watched  anxiously  to  see  if  they 
would  cross.  If  they  did,  we  had  but  to  wait  till  they 
fed  within  range  ;  if  not,  to  get  a  shot  would  be  a  more 
difficult  matter.  Another  half  hour  passed,  and  still 
the  ibex  persistently  kept  on  the  further  side  of  the 
stream.  The  wind  meanwhile  had  shifted,  and  was 
blowing  directly  from  the  ibex  to  us.  H.  and  I  agreed 
that  the  Mountain  did  not  mean  to  come  to  Muhammed  ; 
but  how  was  Muhammed  to  get  to  the  Mountain — the 
saddle  back^ — who  had  kept  religiously  in  the  rear 
the  whole  time  ?  We  were  then  hidden  behind 
some  boulders  on  the  summit  of  a  knoll.  Round 
the  foot  of  this  ran  a  brook,  parallel  with  the  cliffs, 
which  fell  into  the  main  stream  just  above  where 
the  ibex  were  feeding  ;  and  we  settled  that  I 
should  creep  down  the  line  of  bushes  which  fringed 
this  brook — H.,  with  his  usual  good  nature,  resign- 
ing the  shot  to  me.  "  It's  your  birthday,  my  boy," 
he  said,  "  and  there's  the  sixteen  incher.  Go  ahead, 
and  luck  go  with  you." 

Gradually  I  crawled  backwards,  until  the  ibex  were 
out  of  sight,  and  then  made  tracks  for  the  brook. 
Silently  I  crept  along,  until  I  reached  the  larger 
stream,  on  the  further  side   of  which   the  ibex   should 


THE   NILGIRI   WILD   GOAT  325 

be.  I  half  raised  myself  and  peeped  over  the  bushes 
in  front.  Within  twenty  yards  of  me  was  the  old  doe, 
with  her  kid  frisking  round  her,  the  rest  being  some 
thirty  yards  further  back  and  to  the  left  ;  but  where — 
great  heavens  where — was  the  saddle  back  ?  I  sub- 
sided and  looked  back  to  H.  I  could  just  see  the  top 
of  his  brown  hat  over  a  rock,  and  in  dumb  show  I 
asked  him  what  had  become  of  the  big  one.  A  wave 
of  his  hand  towards  the  cliff  told  me  the  saddleback 
had  fed  lower  down  than  the  rest.  Here  was  a 
dilemma  with  a  vengeance.  I  had  been  over  the 
ground  before,  and  knew  that  a  hundred  yards  in 
front,  just  at  the  edge  of  the  cliff,  was  a  depression 
due  to  an  old  landslip,  and  in  this  the  big  buck  must 
have  ensconced  himself.  But  I  dared  not  advance 
another  step.  As  it  was,  the  doe  and  kid  were  so  close 
that  my  heart  was  in  my  mouth.  A  slight  slant  of 
wind,  an  incautious  rustle,  and  good-bye  to  any  chance 
of  a  shot  at  the  saddleback.  Either  of  the  other 
bucks  I  could  have  secured  from  where  I  knelt. 
They  had  decent  heads,  and  in  other  circumstances  I 
would  have  considered  one  of  them  an  ample  reward 
for  the  stalk ;  but  the  grand  old  fellow  I  had  seen 
made  them  appear  insignificant,  and  better  a  blank 
day  than  any  head  but  his.  In  this  position,  vis-a-vis 
with  the  doe,  I  remained  till  I  had  almost  lost  patience, 
and  thought  of  creeping  back  to  H.  ;  but  on  taking 
another  peep,  I  saw  the  doe  sauntering  in  the  direction 
of  the  others,  who  in  turn  were  feeding  up  the  side  of 
the  hill  in  front. 

Breathing  a  fervent  prayer  that  they  would  go  over 
the  crest,  I  resumed  my  vigil.  The  Fates  for  once 
were  propitious,  and  shortly  I  saw  the  last  ibex  dis- 
appear over  the   summit.     The   next   instant    I    had 


326  THE    NILGIRIS 


crossed  the  stream,  and  was  stealing  along  the  hillside. 
The  depression  I  have  mentioned  was  of  considerable 
depth ;  and,  on  hands  and  knees,  with  the  utmost 
caution  I  approached  the  edge.  Imagine  my  delight 
when,  peering  over,  I  saw  the  saddleback  lying  in  the 
sun,  with  his  head  turned  from  me,  not  fifty  yards 
away.  My  heart  was  going  like  a  steam  pump  as  I 
brought  my  Express  forward.  But  it  would  not  do  to 
risk  a  miss  through  excitement,  so  I  waited  till  my 
hand  got  steadier :  then,  with  both  elbows  planted 
firmly  on  the  ground,  I  took  a  careful  aim  well  behind 
between  spine  and  shoulder,  and  pulled  the  trigger. 
The  buck  made  a  desperate  effort  to  rise  ;  but  I  had 
heard  the  unmistakable  "  thud  " — pleasantest  of  all 
sounds  to  a  shikari  s  ear — and  knew  that  he  was  mine. 
He  had  just  strength  to  stagger  to  his  feet,  and  then 
fell  back  with  all  four  legs  in  the  air.  My  reward  for 
days  of  fruitless  toil  had  come  at  last !  H.  soon 
joined  me,  and  together  we  gloated  over  my  prize. 
He  was  a  magnificent  buck,  with  a  well  developed 
saddle,  and  horns  which: — measured  fairly  along  the 
the  outside  curve — were  just  fifteen  and  three-quarter 
inches  in  length.  My  over-night  wish  had  been  ful- 
filled almost  to  the  letter,  and  a  more  acceptable 
birthday  gift  than  the  one  Fortune  had  bestowed,  I 
could  not  possibly  have  had. 

The  day  was  still  young,  so  we  sauntered  down  the 
cliffs  for  half  a  mile,  to  a  point  where  the  grass  had 
been  burnt  over  a  wide  stretch  of  country  some  time 
before.  We  found  the  whole  area  covered  with  tender 
shoots  of  grass  springing  up  amongst  the  cinders  ;  and 
the  recent  footmarks  on  all  sides  showed  that  both 
sambur  and  ibex  had  been  busy.  Here  we  sat  down 
to  an  al  fresco  breakfast  under  a  rhododendron,  whose 


THE   NILGIRI   WILD    GOAT  327 

gnarled  trunk  and  branches  were  festooned  with  long 
beards  of  grey  moss.  The  cliffs  at  this  point  were 
rugged  and  grand  in  the  extreme,  and  we  had  a 
superb  view  of  the  foothills.  Bill,  the  shikari,  squatted 
on  the  very  edge  of  an  awful  precipice,  and  peered 
down  from  that  dizzy  height  in  the  most  unconcerned 
fashion  imaginable.  Every  time  I  looked  at  him  I 
felt  a  creepy  sensation  down  my  spine  ;  but  H.  said 
he  was  used  to  it,  and  gifted  with  an  unusually  strong 
head.  We  had  just  finished  the  contents  of  the  tiffin 
basket,  and  were  lighting  our  pipes,  when  Bill  crept 
a  yard  or  two  backwards,  and  excitedly  signalled  to  us 
to  come  up.  On  our  joining  him,  he  told  us  he  had 
seen  two  ibex  below.  I  stretched  myself  full  length 
on  the  ground  and  craned  my  neck  out  over  Eternity. 
At  first  I  could  distinguish  nothing,  but  shortly  I  saw 
the  ibex  on  a  ledge  that  jutted  out  from  the  face  of 
the  cliff,  far  down  below  us.  While  I  looked  they 
were  joined  by  four  others  which  had  been  hidden  by 
the  bushes,  and  the  herd  were  evidently  coming  up 
for  a  banquet  on  the  fresh  grass.  H.,  who  knew 
every  inch  of  the  country,  told  me  that  the  track 
reached  the  summit  of  the  cliff  some  three  hundred 
yards  further  down,  and  we  started  at  once  to  wait  for 
them  there.  The  ibex  were  in  no  hurry,  and  a  full 
hour  elapsed  before  they  rounded  the  sweep  of  the 
cliff  and  came  into  view.  We  waited  till  the  herd — 
which  consisted  of  two  grood  bucks  and  four  does — 
had  fed  some  distance  away  from  the  edge,  and  then 
began  our  stalk.  There  was  nothing  to  choose 
between  the  bucks,  and  H.  decided  to  take  the  one  on 
the  right,  nearest  the  cliff,  while  I  was  to  go  for  the 
other  directly  he  had  fired.  The  stalk  was  an  easy 
one  as  the  ground  was  strewn   with   large    boulders 


328  THE   NILGIRIS 


which  afforded  us  ample  cover,  and  in  ten  rhinutes  we 
had  crept  up  to  within  fifty  yards,  H.  had  a  perfect 
broadside,  and  hit  his  buck  fairly  behind  the  shoulder. 
He  staggered  forward,  but  dropped  almost  at  once. 
At  sound  of  the  rifle  the  rest  of  the  ibex  made  for  the 
cliff  at  top  speed.  I  got  a  fair  shot  at  the  other  buck, 
and  hit  him  hard  ;  but  the  pace  at  which  he  was  racing 
down  the  steep  slope  gave  him  an  impetus  which 
carried  him  over  the  cliff.  Luckily  he  did  not  fall  far, 
and  Bill  was  not  long  in  bringing  up  his  head.  The 
horns  of  H.'s  buck  measured  thirteen  and  a  quarter 
inches,  and  of  mine  twelve  and  three-quarter  inches — 
both  well  up  to  the  average.  It  was  now  late  in  the 
afternoon,  so  we  made  tracks  for  home,  well  satisfied, 
as  may  be  imagined,  with  our  day's  sport. 

This  is  the  record  of  an  exceptionally  fortunate  day. 
Ibex  are  scarce  now  owing  to  the  indiscriminate 
slaughter  in  the  past  of  bucks  and  does,  aye  and  even 
kids.  I  have  heard  of  one  sportsman  (?)  who  years 
ago  got  a  herd  of  nine  ibex  into  a  cul-de-sac,  and 
squatted  himself  at  the  entrance  and  blazed  away 
until  he  had  finished  the  lot.  But  for  several  y< 
ibex  shooting  on  the  Nilgiris  was  absolutely  prohi^  .  u, 
and  under  this  salutary  regulation  the  herds  have  in- 
creased. At  present,  as  already  mentioned,  one  saddle- 
back can  be  shot  in  a  season  under  each  licence 
issued,  and  this  relaxation  of  the  embargo  can  do  no 
harm,  for  only  a  couple  or  so  are  bagged  each  year, 
and  these  patriarchs  can  scarcely  be  of  much  use  for 
breeding  purposes.  But  the  difficulty  is  to  enforce  a 
rule  of  this  kind,  for  the  supervision  of  the  game  on  a 
distant  and  quite  uninhabited  range  like  the  Kundahs 
must  necessarily  be  superficial,  and  it  is  impossible  to 
stop  the  constant  poaching  by  the  Kurumbas  living  on 


THE   NILGIRI   WILD   GOAT  329 

the  lower  slopes.  Both  the  tiger  and  the  leopard 
take  their  toll  of  the  ibex  ;  but  it  is  the  two-legged 
poacher  who  does  the  damage.  That  ibex  may  again 
increase  and  multiply  is  a  consummation  devoutly  to 
be  wished,  for — from  the  sportsman's  standpoint — it  is 
ibex  shooting  that  lends  to  the  Nilgiris  their  chiefest 
charm.  Personally,  I  know  that  whether  Fortune 
smiled  or  whether  she  frowned,  I  never  regretted  a 
jaunt  to  the  Kundahs,  for  the  wild  grandeur  of  that 
mountain  chain  had  for  me  a  fascination  that  never 
palled.  The  sense  of  boundless  freedom  that  thrilled 
through  every  nerve  with  each  draught  of  the  keen 
mountain  air  was  in  itself  ample  reward  for  a  day's 
toil ;  and  I  never  look  back  to  the  halcyon  days  I 
spent  with  H.  after  ibex  without  regret.  The  Kundahs 
and  the  ibex  are  there,  and  to  them  I  can  return  at 
any  time  ;  but  H.,  true  sportsman  and  truer  friend, 
sleeps  the  sleep  that  knows  no  waking  on  the  Blue 
Mountains  he  knew  and  loved  so  well. 


THE    SAMBUR 


Scientific  name. — Cervus  untcolor. 
Tamil  name. — Kadutnay. 
Kanarese  name. — Kadavay. 
Kurumba  name.  ^Kadavay. 
Nayaka  name. — Kadavay^ 


THE  SAMBUR 

" I  by  the  Woodman's  art 

Forecast,  where  I  may  lodge  the  goodly  Hie-palm'd  Hart, 
To  viewe  the  grazing  Heards,  so  sundry  times  I  use. 
Where  by  the  loftiest  Head  I  know  my  Deare  to  chuse." 

Drayton, 

The  sambur,  the  .largest  of  the  Indian  deer,  is 
widely  distributed,  being  found  over  the  whole 
continent,  and  in  Ceylon,  wherever  there  are  hill 
ranges  covered  with  jungle.  Though  only  one  species 
exists  throughout,  with  no  marked  variation  in  size  or 
appearance,  the  divergence  in  size  of  antlers  from 
different  parts  of  the  country  is  extreme.  The  largest 
heads  are  found  in  Central  India,  and  many  very  fine 
ones  have  been  shot  on  the  Nilgiris.  In  Wynaad  the 
horns  are  usually  somewhat  shorter  and  less  massive 
than  those  on  the  higher  but  adjoining  plateau  :  they 
rule  comparatively  small  on  the  Himalayas  and  in  the 
East  of  the  Peninsula  :  while  in  Ceylon  a  really  good 
head,  judged  by  the  Indian  standard,  is  unknown.  A 
possible  explanation  of  this  difference  in  size  of  horns 
from  different  localities  may  be  found  in  the  sambur's 
usual  food.  A  stag's  antlers  contain  a  large  proportion 
of  lime,  and  it  may  be  that  horns  run  largest  where 
lime  is  most  abundant  in  the  herbage. 

In  colour  the  sambur  stag  is  a  dark  brown,  which 
deepens  with  age  till  an  old  stag  is  often  almost  black. 
The    hind    is    much    litrhter    in    colour.     There    is    a 


334  THE   NILGIRIS 


distinctive  patch  of  whitish  or  yellowish-white  hair  on 
the  chin,  the  hair  on  the  inside  of  both  fore-  and  hind- 
legs  where  they  join  the  trunk  being  of  the  same 
colour.  The  under  surface  of  the  tail  is  also  covered 
with  whitish  hair,  and  as  a  startled  sambur  always 
cocks  his  tail,  the  effect  is  curious,  viewed  from  behind, 
when  he  puts  up  the  "white  flag."  The  body  hair  is 
coarse,  and  round  his  neck  the  stag  has  a  mane  or  juba 
which  he  can  erect  on  occasion.  It  is  this  ruff  of 
erectile  hair  perhaps  more  than  anything  which  gives 
the  old  sambur  stag  his  kingly  air. 

Normal  sambur  horns  are  three-tined.  The  brow 
tine  is  variable  in  length,  but  always  meets  the  beam 
at  a  sharp  angle.  The  surroyals  are  sub-equal. 
Frequently  there  are  one  or  more  snags  or  "sports"; 
and  in  one  curious  head  I  shot  the  posterior  surroyal  is 
wanting,  while  just  above  the  brow  tine  is  a  sport  of 
equal  length.  The  cause  of  abnormal  horns  in  deer  is 
a  question  in  which  I  have  long  taken  an  interest,  and 
some  years  ago,  in  course  of  a  letter  to  the  Asian,  I 
wrote  \- — "  .  .  .  the  conclusions  I  have  reached  are  : — 

"(i)  That  in  most  cases  abnormal  horns  are  merely 
freaks  of  Nature  ;  as  unaccountable  as,  say,  the  Siamese 
Twins,  or  the  six-legged  goat. 

"  (2)  That  occasionally  deformed  horns  are  due  to  an 
injury  to  the  horns  themselves,  such  deformity 
disappearing  with  the  growth  of  a  fresh  pair. 

"  (3)  And  that  in  rare  instances  imperfect  antlers, 
recurring  yearly,  are  the  result  of  an  injury  to  the 
pedicle  or  bony  pedestal  which  carries  the  horn,  which 
is  not  shed  yearly. 

"  Abnormal  growths  of  the  second  class  are  the  most 
common,  and  several  examples  of  them  have  come 
within  my  own  ken.      In  the  head  of  a  sambur  stag  I 


THE   SAMBUR  335 


shot  some  years  ago  on  the  Kundahs,  the  right  antler, 
from  about  the  middle  point  of  its  length,  branches 
backwards,  instead  of  outwards  and  upwards,  and  ends 
in  a  stumpy  point,  the  usual  bifurcation  being  absent. 
Just  where  the  deformity  begins,  the  horn  is  fractured, 
probably  by  a  bullet,  and  the  abnormal  growth  of  the 
horn  is  clearly  ascribable  to  this.  The  left  antler  is 
perfect,  and  a  fine  one  it  is,  measuring  thirty-four  and 
a  half  inches.  The  injury  to  the  right  antler  probably 
occurred  when  the  head  was  much  smaller  and  in 
velvet  ;  and  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
same  deformity  would  have  been  continued  in  the 
subsequent  pair. 

"  But  the  other  day  I  happened  on  a  volume  entitled 
'  A  Descriptive  List  of  the  Deer  Parks  and  Paddocks 
of  England,'  by  Joseph  Whitaker,  F.Z.S.,  in  which 
quite  a  new  cause  is  assigned  for  abnormal  growths. 
This  writer  says  : — '  It  is  curious  how  slight  a  wound 
will  affect  the  growth  of  horns.  Some  years  ago  I 
was  exchanging  a  few  bucks  with  Lord  Cowley,  when 
one  of  those  we  took  there  got  a  severe  bite  on  the 
fleshy  part  of  the  thigh  from  the  dog  we  were  catch- 
ing them  with.  It  was  merely  a  flesh  wound,  and  in 
two  or  three  weeks  the  buck  was  all  right  and  sound  : 
but  though  he  remained  three  or  four  seasons  in  my 
park,  he  always  grew  an  imperfect  horn  on  the  side 
on  which  he  had  been  bitten,  and  each  year  it  was 
little  more  than  half  the  size  of  the  other  horn.' 

"  This  throws  a  (to  me)  new  light  on  the  question. 
But  I  see  no  reason  to  doubt  the  accuracy  of  Mr. 
Whitaker's  inference  that  the  imperfect  horn,  recurring 
yearly,  was  due  to  the  wound  which  the  buck  received. 
When  the  enormous  effort  it  must  cost  Nature  to 
build  up,  season  after  season,  a  mass  of  bony  tissue 


336  THE   NILGIRIS 


weighing  many  pounds,  is  borne  in  mind,  and  when 
one  considers  the  constant  drain  this  annual  process 
of  renewal  must  entail  on  the  stag's  strength,  it  is  by- 
no  means  improbable  that  any  inherent  or  permanent 
weakness  would  retard  the  growth,  and  make  itself 
manifest  by  the  formation  of  an  imperfect  antler.  I 
have  not  alluded  to  the  effect  of  castration  on  the 
growth  of  horns,  as  it  is  outside  the  scope  of  the 
present  enquiry." 

There  is,  of  course,  the  possibility  that  an  imperfect 
horn  is  the  result  of  injury  to  a  blood  vessel  whose 
function  is  to  supply  the  horn,  and  that  the  bite  re- 
ceived by  Mr.  Whitaker's  stag  injured  this  blood  vessel. 
I  should  like  to  see  the  subject  taken  up  by  some 
competent  naturalist. 

As  a  rule,  stags  have  dropped  their  horns  by  the 
end  of  April,  but  there  are  frequent  exceptions.  I 
have  shot  stags  in  perfectly  hard  horn  in  July  and 
August,  when  they  ought  to  have  been  carrying  un- 
developed heads  ;  and  I  once  bagged  a  stag  in  velvet 
in  December.  Forsyth  maintains  that  in  Central 
India  the  horns  are  not  shed  every  year  ;  and  I  think 
it  probable  that  in  Wynaad,  if  not  on  the  higher 
plateau,  individuals  occasionally  carry  the  same  head  for 
two  or  more  seasons.  On  this  point  Forsyth  writes  : — 
"  I  have  taken  much  pains  to  assure  myself  of  a  fact, 
of  which  I  am  now  perfectly  convinced,  that  neither 
in  the  case  of  the  sambur  nor  the  spotted  deer  are  the 
antlers  shed  regularly  every  year  in  these  Central 
Indian  forests,  as  is  the  case  with  the  Cervidae  in  cold 
climates.  No  native  shikari  who  is  engaged  all  his 
life  in  the  pursuit  of  these  animals  will  allow  such 
to  be  the  case ;  and  all  sportsmen  out  at  that  season 
must  have  seen  stags  with  full-grown  horns  during  the 


THE   SAMBUR  337 


hot  weather  and  rains,  when  they  are  supposed  to 
have  shed  them.  Hornless  stags  are  seen  at  that 
season,  but  the  great  majority  have  perfect  heads.  I 
have  also  known  stags  for  successive  years  always 
about  the  same  locality,  and  which  I  have  repeatedly 
stalked  at  intervals  during;  this  time  alono-  with  natives 
who  constantly  saw  them,  so  that  I  could  not  be 
mistaken  as  to  the  individual ;  and  all  the  time  they 
never  once  dropped  their  horns."  In  my  part  of  the 
country  it  certainly  is  not  the  case  that  "the  great 
majority  have  perfect  horns  during  the  rains,"  in  fact, 
conditions  here  are  precisely  the  reverse,  and  stags 
in  hard  horn  during  the  monsoon  are  most  exceptional, 
but  still  these  exceptions  make  a  hard  and  fast  rule 
impossible.  I  do  not  think  that  Forsyth,  in  the  above 
quoted  remarks,  has  furnished  conclusive  proof  that 
he  saw  the  same  stag  carrying  the  same  head  "  for 
successive  years."  I  believe  that,  occasionally,  I  have 
known  a  stag  carry  his  head  for  two  successive  years 
— my  belief  being  based  on  the  same  grounds  as  those 
adduced  by  Forsyth,  viz.,  that  in  each  case  the  stag 
frequented  the  same  locality :  that  I  stalked  him 
repeatedly  :  and  that  every  time  I  saw  him  at  different 
seasons  during  two  years  he  was  in  hard  horn.  But 
this  is  not  proof  positive,  for  there  is  the  possibility 
that  it  was  not  the  same  stag  I  saw  on  every  occasion, 
though  in  my  own  mind  I  have  no  doubt  on  the  point. 
This  annual  shedding  of  their  horns  by  deer  is  a 
remarkable  phenomenon ;  and  it  has  often  puzzled 
me  why  Nature  should,  in  the  case  of  the  deer 
tribe  alone,  build  up  a  huge  bony  structure  only 
to  destroy  her  handiwork  every  year,  and  begin  the 
whole  process  de  novo.  It  would  seem  more  rational 
and  more  in  accord  with  Nature's  usually  wise  laws,  if 

z 


338  THE   NILGIRIS 


a  stag's  horns  reached  their  maximum  by  slow  annual 
development  of  the  original  pair,  rather  than  by  the 
formation  of  a  fresh  pair  each  year  ;  and  this  method 
would  certainly  be  more  agreeable  to  the  stag,  for  the 
process  of  renewal  is  a  most  painful  one.  Some  years 
ago  I  had  a  tame  stag,  and  as  "  Josh  "  was  with  me  for 
four  years  before,  like  most  pets,  he  came  to  an  un- 
timely end,  I  had  ocular  demonstration  of  the  pain  and 
inconvenience  a  stag  suffers  while  his  horns  are 
developing.  I  caught  Josh  one  morning  when  going 
my  round  of  the  estate,  as  a  tiny  fawn.  His  mother 
dashed  away  through  the  coffee,  and  a  cooly  threw  his 
ctmibly  over  Josh,  and  we  secured  him.  I  fed  him 
with  milk  from  a  reed  until  he  was  able  to  fend  for 
himself,  and  we  became  great  pals.  We  were  a 
happy  family  in  those  days.  There  were  eleven  dogs, 
Rani  my  monkey,  two  leopard  cats,  two  wild  pigs,  a 
mongoose.  Josh,  two  mynas,  and  myself,  and  we  all 
lived  together  in  the  greatest  amity — save  the  cats, 
whose  attitude  to  everyone  but  me  was  one  of  arrned 
neutrality.  Though  the  dogs  were  keen  on  sambur, 
they  recognised  from  the  outset  that  Josh  was  one  of 
the  family,  and  never  molested  him  in  any  way.  Two 
fox  terriers,  Jack  and  Sugar,  were  Josh's  especial 
friends,  and  every  morning  the  three  would  engage  in 
a  game  of  romps.  But  it  was  always  give  and  take. 
If  in  the  excitement  Josh  lunged  too  forcibly  or  the 
dogs  nipped  a  bit  too  hard,  there  was  never  any 
display  of  temper.  When  they  were  tired  out,  Josh 
would  lie  down  in  the  verandah,  the  dogs  would  curl 
up  against  his  stomach,  and  all  three  would  go  to  sleep 
together. 

As    Josh  grew  older,  and  his    horns  developed,   he 
would  suffer  no  liberties  from  the  men  on  the  estate  ; 


THE   SAMBUR  339 


but  it  was  a  remarkable  fact  that  with  the  women  he 
was  always  gentle.  Each  morning  he  would  appear 
at  the  bungalow,  and  stand  by  my  table  while  I  called 
the  roll.  When  the  women  trooped  off  to  their  work 
he  would  follow  them.  All  day  long  he  was  their 
inseparable  companion,  lying  under  a  tree  while  they 
were  weeding  or  picking,  and  in  the  evening  he  would 
accompany  them  back  to  their  lines.  He  regarded 
himself  as  their  protector,  for  if  a  man  appeared,  he 
would  jump  up  and  menace  the  intruder  with  his  horns. 
Two  or  three  times  he  knocked  over  the  Maistry  in 
charge  of  the  women,  and  at  last  complaints  became  so 
frequent  that  I  had  to  tie  him  up  every  morning  till 
the  women  had  gone  to  their  work. 

I  have  mentioned  before  that  the  sambur's  mane  is 
erectile  ;  but  he  has  also  the  power  to  erect  the  hair 
along  his  back.  When  I  petted  Josh  his  tail  would  go 
up,  and  his  mane  and  the  hair  on  his  back  would  rise, 
while  he  would  evince  his  pleasure  by  a  low  gurgling 
sound  in  his  throat.  His  hair  would  bristle  in  the 
same  way  when  he  was  angry  or  startled.  For  a 
reason  I  could  never  determine,  he  and  the  monkey 
were  deadly  enemies ;  and  whenever  Josh  caught 
sight  of  Rani  he  would  stamp  with  his  fore-foot,  while 
the  ruff  would  rise  round  his  neck.  And  Rani  would 
scamper  to  the  top  of  her  house,  and  from  that  coign 
of  vantage  pour  out  the  invective  in  which  monkey 
lang-uaore  is  so  rich. 

Josh  dropped  his  horns  every  year ;  and  it  is  a 
reasonable  inference  that  young  stags  at  least  are 
regular  in  shedding  their  horns.  I  find  from  my  note- 
book that  the  first  pair  were  shed  early  in  April,  and 
the  others  at  the  beginning  of  May.  Josh  always  had 
a  bad  time  while  the  new  pair  were  growing.     During 

z  2 


340  THE   NILGIRIS 


this  period  he  kept  out  of  everyone's  way,  and  lost  his 
spirits.  About  September  the  new  horns  were  mature, 
and  Josh  was  then  himself  again. 

Frequently  in  the  jungles  I  have  come  across  a 
circular  piece  of  ground,  ten  or  twelve  feet  in  diameter, 
kept  quite  clean  by  the  constant  trampling  of  sambur, 
and  always  under  an  overhanging  tree.  I  never  could 
account  for  these  clear  spaces,  which  were  not  forms, 
and  certainly  could  not  credit  the  explanation  given  by 
the  natives — that  they  were  the  "swinging-places"  of 
sambur,  and  that  whenever  a  stag  passed  one  he 
hooked  his  fore-legs  over  the  overhanging  branch  and 
swung  backwards  and  forwards,  his  hind-legs  trailing 
on  the  ground,  keeping  the  space  beneath  clear !  Josh 
solved  the  riddle  for  me.  One  day  I  found  one  of 
these  open  patches  under  a  tree  close  to  my  bungalow, 
and  feeling  sure  it  was  Josh's  work,  I  watched  him. 
A  few  mornings  after  I  saw  him  go  to  the  tree  and 
indulge  in  the  most  extraordinary  antics.  He  pawed 
up  the  ground,  turning  slowly  round  at  the  same  time, 
then  stood  straight  up  on  his  hind-legs  like  a  goat ;  and 
this  was  repeated  over  and  over  again.  Many  a 
morning  and  evening  afterwards  I  caught  him  going 
through  the  same  gymnastics,  but  his  reason  was,  and 
has  remained,  a  mystery.  Possibly  stags  work  off  a 
redundancy  of  animal  spirits  in  this  way  ;  but  why  they 
should  select,  and  adhere  to,  a  special  site  for  their 
performances,  is  a  puzzle. 

Poor  Josh  came  to  a  sad  end.  I  was  at  my  pulper 
house  one  morning,  and  Josh  was  feeding  close  by, 
when  a  Maistry  from  a  neighbouring  estate  passed 
along  the  road  with  his  two  dogs,  one  a  powerful  brute, 
a  cross  between  a  retriever  and  a  pariah.  The  dogs 
winded  the  stag,  and  he,  being   so  used   to  my   own 


THE   SAMBUR  341 


pack,  allowed  them  to  get  close  before  he  realised 
their  intentions  were  hostile.  The  next  moment  Josh 
was  flying  through  the  coffee  with  the  dogs  in  full  cry- 
after  him.  I  followed  as  fast  as  I  could,  and  found 
Josh  stuck  fast  in  a  swamp  at  the  bottom  of  the  estate, 
with  the  dogs  worrying  him  cruelly.  Had  he  been 
free,  I  have  no  doubt  he  could  have  kept  them  off,  but 
with  his  legs  fast  he  was  at  their  mercy.  I  drove  the 
brutes  off,  and  led  Josh  back  to  the  bungalow,  where  I 
dressed  his  wounds.  But  ever  afterwards  he  was  a 
changed  sambur.  He  shunned  the  bungalow,  and 
grew  suspicious  of  everyone.  He  took  to  living 
entirely  in  the  jungle  near  by,  and  I  saw  him  occasion- 
ally ;  but  directly  I  tried  to  approach  he  would  rush 
away  in  alarm.  Soon  he  began  to  wander  further 
afield,  and  one  day  he  roamed  as  far  as  the  bazaar, 
four  miles  away.  I  at  once  sent  men  to  bring  him 
back,  but  they  could  not  find  him.  A  day  or  two 
after  I  learnt  he  had  wandered  to  the  lines  on  an  estate 
some  distance  past  the  bazaar,  and  the  coolies  had 
killed  him,  though  they  must  have  known  he  was  a 
tame  sambur.  Poor  Josh!  A  more  interesting  or 
intelligent  pet  I  never  owned. 

The  record  sambur  head  in  point  of  length  is 
undoubtedly  one  of  which  Major  Impey,  Political 
Agent  at  Bhopal,  wrote  as  follows  to  the  Asian  : — 
"  The  following  are  the  measurements  : 

Right.        Left. 


Along  outside  of  horn  ...         ...         ...     48  50^ 

Inside  brow  tine  from  fork. 
Girth  above  base 


Girth  round  lower  fork 
Girth  round  upper  fork 
Width  between 


.5*     . 


i3f         13 


24 

"  The  measurements  were  most  carefully  taken.  The 


342  THE   NILGIRIS 


beauty  of  the  horns  is  enhanced  by  their  massiveness. 
At  the  thinnest  place,  between  the  forks,  the  right  horn 
measures  seven  and  three-eighths  and  the  left  seven 
and  a  half  inches.  The  sambur  to  whom  these  horns 
belonged  was  shot  near  Dewangunj,  in  the  Bhopal 
State,  by  the  late  Sultan  Dulah  Nawab  Ahmedali  Khan, 
husband  of  H.H.  the  present  Begum  of  Bhopal.  The 
stag  had  been  known  to  the  villagers  for  over  twenty 
years,  and  was  killed  in  March  or  April,  1898,  on  a 
jungle  path,  one  moonlight  night,  when  returning  from 
a  feast  on  the  mhowa.  The  head  has  been  set  up,  and 
is  now  in  the  Palace  of  Bhopal,  in  the  company  ot 
three  other  splendid  heads,  the  next  biggest  being 
a  forty-eight  incher.  The  measurements  were 
taken  by  me  and  Mr.  Low  of  the  Indian  Civil 
ervice. 

I  know  of  no  head,  of  which  authentic  measurements 
have  been  recorded,  to  equal  this  in  length  ;  but  the 
"  o-irth  above  base,"  which  I  take  to  mean  orirth 
round  burr,  is  only  nine  and  seven-eighths  inches, 
and  this  has  frequently  been  surpassed.  Sclater  claims 
that  Gilbert's  head  must  have  been  fifty  inches  in 
length.  Regarding  this,  I  wrote  to  the  Madras  Mail 
some  time  back,  when  a  discussion  on  record  heads 
was  being  carried  on  in  that  paper : — "  In  the  Journal 
of  the  Bombay  Natural  History  Society,  III,  page 
two  hundred  and  twenty-eight,  Mr.  Gilbert  gives  the 
history  of  a  stag  he  fired  at  on  the  Tapti  river,  in  the 
Central  Provinces.  The  bullet  severed  one  antler  just 
above  the  brow  tine,  and  the  piece  picked  up  measured 
forty-four  and  half  inches.  Sclater  calls  this  '  the 
finest  sambur  ever  recorded,'  and  adds  'the  whole 
antler  must  doubtless  have  measured  at  least  fifty 
inches.'       But  as  the  antler  was  severed  just  above  the 


THE   SAMBUR  343 


brow  tine,  I  think  an  allowance  of  six  inches  for  the 
stump  is  too  much,  as  anyone  can  see  by  examining  the 
formation  of  a  stag's  head." 

Forsyth  gives  the  head  of  a  stag  he  shot  on  the  Bori 
as  "  the  largest  sambur  horns  he  had  ever  seen."  These 
measured  "base  to  tip  forty  one  inches,  round  base 
ten  inches,  and  eight  and  half  inches  at  thinnest  part  of 
the  beam."  This  head  is  fairly  massive,  but  the 
length  is  very  ordinary,  especially  for  Central  India. 

Osmund  Beeby,  in  the  Asian  of  3rd  September, 
1892,  gave  measurements  and  photographs  of  two  fine 
heads : — 

No.  I.  Burr 

Main  beam    ... 

Brow  antler  ... 

Spread 
No.  2.  Burr 

Main  beam    ... 

Brow  antler  ... 

Baldwin  states  that  "  the  finest  stag  he  ever  shot 
had  thirty- seven  inch  horns,  upper  tine  eleven  inches, 
lower  tine  thirteen  inches."  This  was  a  Himalayan 
head. 

Sterndale  mentions  a  head  "  right  forty-five 
inches,  left  forty-three  inches,  above  burr  nine 
inches." 

Jerdon  says  (in  his  usual  loose  way  where  dimensions 
are  concerned),  "length  rarely  exceeds  forty  inches,  but 
some  are  recorded  four  feet  along  the  curvature,  the 
basal  antler  ten  to  twelve  inches  or  more."  Where 
these  heads  are  recorded,  he  does  not  state. 

"  Hawkeye,"  in  writing  of  the  Nilgiris,  says,  "good 
heads  on  these  hills  rarely  exceed  thirty-eight  or 
forty  inches."  The  "Stag  of  the  Sentinel  Rock," 
which  appears  to  have  been  his  best,  was  a  thirty-nine 


Right. 

Left. 

in. 

in. 

•         9: 

9l 

•     45.- 

41- 

.       18; 

172: 

40I 

•       9\ 

«4 

•     39 

4i| 

•     i9f 

19^ 

344  THE   NILGIRIS 


incher  ;  while  the  head  of  "The  Monarch  of  the  Glen  " 
measured — length  thirty-six  inches,  spread  from  tip  to 
tip  thirty-eight  and  a  half  inches. 

The  Royal  Natural  History  states  "the  longest 
recorded  have  measured  forty-eight  inches,  but  girth 
at  middle  of  beam  only  six  inches."  The  history  of  this 
head  is  not  given,  but  it  certainly  is  not  a  record  for 
length.  Mr.  Lyddeker  adds,  "  perhaps  the  finest 
known  pair  is  one  in  which  the  length  is  forty-four 
inches,  span  forty-five  and  three-quarters,  and 
girth  just  above  brow  tine  seven  and  three-quarter 
inches,"  But  save  in  regard  to  span,  this  head  is 
mediocre. 

Burke  mentions  two  fine  heads — length  forty-six 
and  a  quarter,  and  forty-five  and  a  half  inches  and 
girth  ten  and  a  quarter  and  eight  and  a  half  inches 
respectively. 

With  regard  to  the  record  for  the  Nilgiris,  till 
lately  I  thought  that  a  head  in  my  possession  was  the 
largest  ever  recorded  for  these  hills.  The  measurements 
of  this  head  are  : — 


Right. 

Left. 

in. 

in. 

Length           

...       40 

39i 

Round  burr  ... 

...       Il| 

9I 

Above  burr    ... 

...       9l 

Round    main    beam 

above 

brow  antler 

...       8 

8 

Length  of  brow  antler 

. . .       2o| 

^i8| 

Greatest  spread 

4 

The  horns  are  beautifully  symmetrical,  and  more 
rugged  than  any  head  I  have  ever  seen — in  fact  the 
"beading"  on  beam  and  burr,  which  adds  so  greatly 
to  the  beauty  of  a  head,  is  quite  phenomenal. 
Curiously  enough,  in  writing  of  this  head,  Burke  gives 
the  girth  above  brow  antler  (eight  inches)  as  the 
maxiinum  girth, 


THE   SAMBUR  345 


But  I  find  from  Burke  that  my  head  is  not  the 
Nilgiri  record,  as  he  gives  the  following  measurements 
of  a  head  shot  on  the  hills  by  Mr.  E.  Hadfield,  which 
far  exceed  mine  : 

Inches. 
Length...         ...         ...         ...     42 

Girth    ...  ...  ...  ...      II 

Tip  to  tip        ...         ...         ...     39 

With  such  a  width  between  tips,  the  span  or  spread 

must  be  enormous,  if  the  tips  follow  the  usual  rule  and 

curve  sharply  inwards.     Burke  does  not  say  where  the 

girth  was  taken  :  if  it  is  girth  round  burr,  my  head  is 

more  massive  :  if  it  is  girth  just  above  burr,  this  head 

beats  mine  by  one  and  a  quarter  inches.      Putting  the 

above   evidence   together,    the    Bhopal    head    is    the 

record  for  India  in  length,  and  a  Nilgiri  head — either 

Mr.   Hadfield's  or  mine  according  as  the  girth  of  the 

former  is  or  is  not  round  the  burr — holds  the  Indian 

record  for  girth. 

It  would  be  a  great  advantage  if  sportsmen  would 
adopt  some  uniform  system  in  recording  the  measure- 
ments of  horns,  and  of  all  trophies  for  that  matter.  In 
the  case  of  horns,  the  details  required  to  convey  an 
adequate  conception  of  their  size  are: 

(i)  Length  round  outside  curve  from  burr  to  tip  of 
loftiest  tine. 

(2)  Girth  round  burr. 

(3)  Girth  an  inch  above  burr. 

(4)  Girth  at  thinnest  part  of  beam. 

(5)  Greatest  span  or  spread,  measured  from  outside 
of  beam  to  outside  of  beam.  To  obtain  this  measure- 
ment correctly,  the  head  should  be  laid  face  down- 
wards on  the  ground,  and  a  peg  driven  in  on  the 
outside  of  each  horn  at  the  widest  point.  The 
distance  between  the  pegs  will  be  greatest  span. 


346  THE   NILGIRIS 


(6)  Span  between  tips  of  horns. 

(7)  Length  of  brow  tine. 

(8)  Details  of  points  in  which  the  horns  are  out  of 
the  common,  such  as  snags,  etc. 

If  all  horns  were  measured  and  recorded  on  some 
such  system  as  this,  to  compare  them  would  be  an 
easier  task  than  it  is  at  present. 

From  the  time  his  horns  are  shed  till  the  fresh  pair 
have  reached  maturity,  which,  broadly  speaking,  would 
be  from  May  to  September,  the  stag  leads  a  solitary 
and  secluded  life.  But  in  the  comparatively  rare  cases 
in  which  stags  do  not  drop  their  horns,  they  keep  with 
the  hinds  all  the  year  round.  I  say  this  advisedly 
because  the  stags  I  have  referred  to  earlier  in  the 
chapter  as  having  carried  their  horns  throughout  the 
year,  were  always  with  hinds  when  I  saw  them. 
About  the  beginning  of  October  the  rutting  season 
begins,  and  from  this  date  to  the  following  April  or 
May  the  stags  run  with  the  hinds,  while  the  latter  are 
also  more  gregarious,  so  that  during  these  months 
herds  of  ten  or  twelve,  and  on  the  higher  plateau  much 
larger  ones,  are  common.  At  this  period  the  stags 
fight  fiercely  for  the  favour  of  the  hinds.  Many  a  time 
I  have  sat  and  watched  these  contests,  which  can  best 
be  described  as  pushing  matches,  though  often  severe 
wounds  are  inflicted  by  the  brow  antler.  The 
combatants  would  push  and  strain  for  a  few  minutes, 
then  separate,  and  frequently  begin  to  graze.  After 
an  interval  the  fight  would  be  resumed  by  mutual 
consent,  and  these  bouts  would  go  on  till  one  party 
acknowledged  defeat  by  retreating.  On  one  occasion 
I  saw  the  victor  take  a  mean  advantage  of  his 
vanquished  adversary.  While  the  latter  was  trotting 
away,  the  other  stag  rushed  at  him  from  behind.     The 


THE   SAMBUR  347 


beaten  stag  had  a  good  head,  and  I  followed  and 
bagged  him.  On  examining  him  I  found  his  assailant's 
horn  had  penetrated  his  flank,  at  the  point  of  junction 
between  hind  leg  and  stomach,  for  several  inches,  and 
I  think  it  probable  the  injured  stag  would  have 
succumbed  to  the  wound. 

The  period  of  gestation  is  about  eight  months,  most 
fawns  being  dropped  in  the  monsoon,  at  the  end  of 
June  or  beginning  of  July.  But  to  this  rule  there  are 
exceptions,  for  I  have  several  times  seen  a  hind  with 
newly-born  fawn  at  foot  in  the  early  spring.  I  think 
it  probable  that  hinds — at  all  events  the  young  ones 
— breed  every  year,  for  in  Wynaad  it  is  not  unusual  to 
see  two  fawns,  one  much  older  than  the  other,  run- 
ning with  the  mother.  In  rare  cases  the  hind  drops 
two  fawns  at  the  same  time  ;  but  in  the  instances  I 
allude  to  above,  the  difference  in  size  precluded  the 
possibility  of  both  fawns  having  been  produced  at  the 
same  birth.  The  fawns  have  no  rnactilde  :  the  sambur 
being  the  only  Indian  deer  with  unspotted  young. 
Hence  the  specific  name  unicolor  is  most  appropriate 
— far  more  so  than  the  former  one  aristotelis,  which 
was  the  name  given  by  Cuvier  to  an  abnormal  horn. 

Sambur  are  usually  described  as  nocturnal  animals, 
and  this  is  so  far  correct  that  they  feed  by  night.  But 
on  the  Nilgiris  and  in  Wynaad,  at  all  events,  the  hinds 
and  young  stags  come  out  to  feed  with  systematic 
regularity  in  the  late  afternoon,  and  they  do  not  seek 
cover  till  the  sun  is  well  up  in  the  morning.  A  big 
stag,  however,  is  always  a  wary  customer,  and  he 
seems  to  know  instinctively  that  his  trophy  makes  him 
the  object  of  the  sportsman's  quest.  He  does  not 
usually  leave  cover  for  his  feeding  ground  till  after 
dark,  and  he  seeks  his  form  again  at  the  first  flush  of 


348  THE   NILGIRIS 


dawn.  But  in  the  rutting  season  he  throws  off  his 
wariness  to  some  extent,  and  during  that  period  he 
comes  out  earher  and  stays  out  later  than  his  wont. 
It  is  this  change  of  habit  in  the  big  stags  that  gives  to 
both  plateaux  one  of  their  chief  attractions  as  a  sport- 
ing country,  for  the  stags  can  then  be  bagged  by 
stalking  ;  and  surely  one  stalk,  with  its  long  drawn  out 
excitement,  with  the  keen  pleasure  it  gives  when  you 
have  pitted  your  reason  against  the  stag's  instinct  and 
won  the  equal  fight,  is  worth  all  the  beats  in  the  world. 

While  on  the  subject  of  the  sambur  as  a  nocturnal 
animal  I  may  add  that  nowhere  can  I  remember  to 
have  seen  any  reference  to  the  wonderful  instinct 
which  guides  a  wild  animal  during  its  nightly  rambles 
— which  enables  it  to  rush  in  safety  over  even  the 
most  dangerous  ground  at  headlong  speed,  in  darkness 
where  its  keen  sight  can  be  of  no  avail.  So  unerringly 
is  the  power  exercised,  that  one  is  almost  driven  to 
endow  wild  animals  with  a  sixth  sense,  located  in  their 
feet,  and  keener  even  than  their  senses  of  sight  or 
smell,  to  which  they  trust  in  such  circumstances.  In 
the  sambur  this  faculty  is  very  marked.  Frequently 
I  have  known  them  career  at  full  speed  down  the' 
broken  ground  round  Rockwood  Peak  on  a  pitch  dark 
night — ground  which,  even  in  daylight,  I  have  to 
negotiate  with  the  greatest  care.  No  matter  how 
highly  developed  their  sense  of  touch  may  be,  this  will 
not  by  itself  explain  the  mystery,  because  the  feet 
have  not  time  to  y^^/ their  way — they  must  know  their 
proper  places  before  they  reach  the  ground. 

Sambur,  as  mentioned  above,  are  forest-loving 
animals,  and  are  never  found  away  from  heavy  jungle  ; 
but  it  by  no  means  follows  that  they  invariably  lie  up 
in   thick   cover  during  the    daylight    hours.      On    the 


THE  SAMBUR  349 


contrary  their  favourite  cover  is  a  form  in  high  grass, 
close  to  the  jungle  into  which  they  can  retreat  if 
necessary  ;  and  the  form  is  usually  made  under  the 
shade  of  a  tree.  There  are  dozens  of  such  forms  in 
different  parts  of  my  deer  preserve,  which  are  used 
year  after  year,  and  it  is  a  curious  fact  that  when 
several  animals  are  lying  close  together,  their  forms 
all  point  in  the  same  direction.  The  reason  is,  I  fancy, 
that  by  a  common  instinct  the  forms  are  designed  to 
secure  the  greatest  advantage  from  the  shade  afforded 
by  the  trees  under  which  they  are  made. 

It  is  impossible  to  convey  in  words  an  adequate 
impression  of  a  sambur's  call.  This  is  usually  spoken 
of  as  a  "bark"  or  "bell,"  and  perhaps  a  combination 
of  the  two  terms  (using  the  latter  as  implying  a  simili- 
tude between  the  deer's  call  and  the  ring  given  out  by 
metal  when  struck)  would  best  describe  the  sound. 
The  idea  of  a  bark  is  given  by  the  short  sharp  note, 
forcibly  expelled  from  the  throat  ;  while  the  sub- 
metallic  tinkle  that  runs  through  it  furnishes  the  bell. 
It  might  with  propriety  be  called  a  metallic  cough, 
and  is  common  to  both  sexes,  the  stag's  note  being 
deeper  and  more  sonorous  than  that  of  the  hind.  A 
startled  sambur  will  keep  up  a  succession  of  these 
bells,  and  frequently,  when  I  have  been  an  auditor  of 
the  performance  at  close  quarters,  I  have  noticed  that 
at  intervals  the  sambur  seems  to  miss  the  note,  when 
the  bell  becomes  a  wheezy  whistle.  Blanford  says : 
"  There  is  also  a  sharp  snort  or  cry  of  alarm  caused  by 
the  presence  of  a  tiger  or  panther,  or  by  the  sight  of 
man."  I  have  watched  sambur  when  aware  of  the 
neighbourhood  of  both  tiger  and  leopard,  but  I  have 
not  noticed  that  their  bell  on  such  occasions  is  either 
shorter  or  sharper  than  the  ordinary  one.      But  there 


350  THE   NILGIRIS 


must  be  a  subtle  difference,  because  when  a  sambur 
bells  at  a  tiger  or  leopard  or  wild  dog  the  call  is  at 
once  taken  up  by  all  the  sambur  within  hearing, 
whereas  on  ordinary  occasions  a  belling  sambur  is  left 
to  indulge  in  a  solo.  I  join  issue  with  Blanford  in 
regard  to  the  latter  part  of  his  assertion,  for  I  am 
quite  certain  that  neither  stag  nor  hind  bells  at  sight 
of  a  man  when  thoroughly  convinced  that  the  object  is 
a  man.  I  give  some  incidents  in  support  of  my 
view  further  on  in  this  chapter,  which  to  me  seem 
conclusive. 

I  have  seen  the  sambur  described  by  some  writers 
as  a  "shy"  animal,  who  shuns  the  neighbourhood  of 
man  ;  but  in  my  experience  he  is,  of  all  game  animals, 
the  one  least  impatient  of  man's  propinquity.  Compared, 
for  example,  with  the  bison,  the  sambur  may  be  said  to 
affect  man's  society.  Any  afternoon  or  morning  I  can 
see  a  dozen  sambur  within  a  few  hundred  yards  of  my 
bungalow,  while  frequently  they  come  into  my  verandah 
in  their  nightly  rambles. 

A  sambur's  life  can  scarcely  be  a  merry  one,  for  it  is 
passed  in  an  incessant  watch  against  the  attack  of  his 
insidious  foes  the  tiger  and  leopard.  But  his  most 
implacable  enemy  by  far  is  that  bloodthirsty  fiend,  the 
wild  dog.  And  so  well  does  he  recognise  this  that  the 
advent  of  a  pack  of  wild  dogs  means  the  instant  flight 
of  all  sambur  from  the  vicinity.  It  is  conceivable  that 
by  his  vigilance  the  sambur  often  escapes  from  the 
tiger  or  leopard  ;  but  when  once  the  wild  dog  is  on  his 
track,  nothing  can  save  him.  Crafty,  untiring,  cruel 
and  relentless  as  Fate,  the  wild  dog  is  the  curse  of  the 
country. 

Living  as  I  do  in  a  sambur  country,  with  a  large 
and  carefully  guarded  preserve  at  my  door,  I  have  had 


THE   SAMBUR  351 


exceptional  opportunities  of  studying  this  king  of  Indian 
deer.  To  no  sportsman  who  knows  the  sambur  need 
I  make  his  claim  to  this  ambitious  title  good  :  for  each 
such  reader  will  recall,  with  me,  many  a  glorious 
morning  when,  in  the  rosy  dawn,  he  watched  a  lordly 
stag  in  the  midst  of  his  harem,  and  admitted  that,  with 
swelling  neck  and  proudly  poised  head,  he  looked 
"every  inch  a  king."  Nor  will  the  retrospect  stop 
here,  for  that  same  reader  will  remember  how  Inch  by 
inch,  et  fert  suspenses,  corde  micante,  gradus ;  how  at 
last  under  cover  of  a  friendly  bush  he  crept  within 
range  ;  and  the  supreme  moment  when,  gulping  down 
his  excitement,  his  rifle  rang  out  and  the  stag  bit  the 
dust.  Lifeless  on  the  turf  he  had  roamed  with  majestic 
tread,  was  not  the  stag  a  king  still  ? 

But  an  old  sambur  stag  is  a  very  cunning  monarch, 
and  especially  is  his  craftiness  manifest  when  he  is 
driven  with  beaters.  Dogs  will  always  make  him 
break  cover  ;  but  when  men  are  employed,  he  will  often 
trust,  and  trust  successfully,  to  his  wits  to  escape.  I  was 
once  on  a  visit  to  a  brother  planter,  whose  estate  was 
situated  in  the  heart  of  a  grand  game  country.  B.  was  a 
rattling  good  fellow,  but  sportwith  its  ever  fresh  joys  was 
a  sealed  book  to  him.  Soon  after  my  arrival  I  made 
the  acquaintance  of  a  splendid  stag,  whose  haunt  was 
amongst  the  wooded  hills  close  to  the  tote,  and  for  several 
days  I  was  out  after  him  morning  and  evening ;  but  so 
jealously  was  he  guarded  by  the  ladies  of  his  harem  that 
I  could  never  get  within  range.  One  crisp  December 
morning  I  started  before  daylight  for  a  prowl  round 
the  stag's  usual  haunt,  but  his  lordship  did  not  show. 
I  got  back  to  breakfast  in  rather  a  despondent  frame 
of  mind  and  found  B.  after  his  morning's  work 
comfortably  ensconced  in  a  long  arm-chair.      I  dropped 


352  THE   NILGIRIS 


into  one  by  his  side,  and  as  we  were  chatting  he 
casually  mentioned  that  shortly  after  I  had  left  the 
coolies  had  brought  him  word  that  a  large  stag  was 
lying  in  the  cultivation  at  the  bottom  of  the  estate. 
He  had  not  troubled  to  investigate  himself,  but  the 
shikari  I  had  brought  with  me  had  gone  to  get  news, 
and  had  not  yet  returned. 

Before  we  had  finished  breakfast  "  Bill  "  came  in  with 
his  report,  and  I  could  see  by  the  delight  which  beamed 
from  his  pock-marked  phiz  that  it  was  favourable.  He 
said  that  before  he  reached  the  bottom  of  the  estate, 
the  stag  had  crossed  the  stream  v/hich  bounded  it  on 
that  side,  and  was  feeding  up  the  opposite  hill  with 
four  hinds.      Bill  swore  he  was  the  identical  stao-  I  had 

o 

been  after  so  long,  and  I  saw  no  reason  to  doubt  this, 
as  we  knew  him  well.  Many  a  time  had  we  watched 
him  together,  and  marked  his  dark  coat  and  unusually 
developed  mane.  Bill  had  followed  him  up  and  had 
seen  the  herd  enter  a  shola  about  half  a  mile  away. 
He  had  left  a  cooly  to  watch,  and  had  hurried  back 
with  the  news,  feeling  sure  the  stag  meant  to  harbour 
in  the  cover  for  the  day. 

All  further  thought  of  breakfast  was  of  course  at  an 
end  for  me,  and  in  half  an  hour  I  had  mustered  a  gang 
of  the  estate  coolies.  With  some  difficulty  I  persuaded 
B.  to  accompany  me,  "though  where  the  fun  comes  in," 
he  said,  "I'll  be  hanged  if  I  can  see."  We  found  the 
shola  to  be  a  long,  narrow  cover,  running  down  the 
valley  between  two  steep  grass  hills.  I  regretted 
having  left  my  dogs  at  home  when  starting  on  this  trip, 
but  the  beaters  evidently  meant  business,  for  several 
had  provided  themselves  with  tom-toms  and  empty 
kerosene  oil  tins,  while  one  man  had  had  the  forethought 
to   brinor  some  wooden   rattles  from  the  store.     The 


THE   SAMBUR  353 


cooly,  who  had  taken  up  his  post  on  a  hill  above 
the  cover  whence  he  could  command  the  country  for 
miles  round,  assured  us  the  stag  and  hinds  were  still 
in  the  shola.  This  was  encouraging,  and  Bill  and  I 
were  very  hopeful  as  we  arranged  the  beat.  The  men 
were  formed  into  line  at  the  head  of  the  ravine,  and 
were  directed  to  begin  when  B.  and  I  had  reached  our 
posts,  which  were  on  either  side  of  the  shola, 
and  about  half  way  down  its  length.  Bill  went 
with  B.,  while  I  took  a  cooly  to  carry  my  spare  rifle. 

From  my  station  on  the  hillside,  under  cover  of  a 
large  rock,  I  could  see  across  the  shola,  and  I  watched 
B.  take  up  his  position  on  the  opposite  slope. 
Directly  he  had  settled  himself  under  a  shady  tree,  I 
stood  up  on  the  rock  and  waved  to  the  beaters.  Then 
pandemonium  was  let  loose.  Closer  and  closer  came 
the  din,  until  the  beaters  reached  the  middle  of  the 
shola,  when  a  stag  broke  on  the  opposite  side,  and 
below  B.  Would  that  my  pen  could  do  justice  to  the 
scene  which  followed !  The  swell  of  the  hill  hid  the 
stag  from  B.'s  view,  but  I  signalled  that  the  stag  was 
breasting  the  hill,  just  to  his  right.  Bill  caught  my 
meaning,  and  I  saw  him  bend  down  to  B.  and  point  in 
the  right  direction.  But  B.'s  equanimity  was  not  so 
easily  disturbed,  for  he  kept  his  seat  under  the  tree, 
and  with  his  gun  across  his  knees  puffed  at  his  pipe. 
At  last  the  stag,  which  had  trotted  up  the  hill,  stopping 
once  or  twice  to  listen  to  the  beaters,  caught  sight  of 
B.  and  made  a  rush  for  the  summit.  But  B's  stoicism 
was  phenomenal,  for  even  now  he  did  not  trouble  to 
get  on  his  feet  or  raise  his  gun  to  his  shoulder.  As 
the  stag  crossed,  however,  a  puff  of  smoke  rose  from 
his  breeches,  and  I  heard  the  crack  of  his  gun. 
The  next  instant  the  stag  tottered,  fell  over,  and  rolled 

A    A 


354  THE   NILGIRIS 


headlong  down  the  hill.  B.  had  simply  pulled  the 
trigger  as  the  gun  lay  across  his  knees,  and,  mirabile 
dictu,  had  shot  the  stag  dead !  Encouraged  by  the 
sound  of  his  gun,  the  coolies  increased  their  din  inside 
the  cover,  but  though  we  beat  it  to  the  end  nothing 
else  did  we  see,  except  the  four  hinds,  which  broke 
together  at  the  end  of  the  drive.  B.  and  I  had  followed 
up  the  beaters,  and  we  met  at  the  bottom  of  the  valley. 
"  Deuced  oood  shot  of  mine,"  he  remarked  as  he  rolled 
a  cigarette,  with  as  much  nonchalance  as  if  dead  shots 
from  his  lap  were  everyday  occurrences.  "Too  good 
to  be  true,  old  man,"  I  rejoined,  laughing.  "  That's 
pure  jealousy,"  said  B.,  "  because  you  couldn't  have  done 
it."  Just  then  Bill  came  up  vainly  trying  to  conceal 
the  grin  which  spread  all  over  his  face,  and  I  took 
him  to  task  for  having  made  all  this  fuss  over  an 
ordinary  stag,  for  B.'s  head,  though  a  fair  one,  certainly 
had  not  belonged  to  the  stag  for  whose  trophy  I 
thirsted.  But  Bill  held  stoutly  to  his  story  that  he  had 
tracked  the  big  one  to  this  skola,  "and,"  he  added,  "if 
the  watcher  speaks  the  truth  in  saying  he  did  not 
leave  it  before  we  came,  he  must  be  in  it  still." 
"Nonsense,"  I  said  in  Tamil,  "no  stag  would  have 
remained  in  the  cover  through  that  infernal  din,"  but 
still  Bill  begged  to  be  allowed  to  beat  the  cover  again. 
I  felt  this  would  be  a  waste  of  time,  but  he  pleaded  so 
earnestly  that  at  last  I  consented.  This  time  Bill 
accompanied  the  coolies  himself,  and  made  the  most 
careful  arrangements,  impressing  on  the  men  the  im- 
portance of  keeping  line  and  of  ransacking  every 
nook.  Though  they  evidently  regarded  him  as  a 
harmless  lunatic,  the  men  were  in  thorough  good 
humour  at  the  feed  in  prospect,  and  willingly  went  to 
work  again. 


THE   SAMBUR  355 


B.  and  I  took  up  our  former  posts,  and  once  more 
the  din  began.  Bill  was  on  his  mettle,  and  as  they 
drew  closer  I  could  hear  him  swearing  at  the  beaters 
in  true  native  style.  "  Yell,  you  devils,  and  don't  leave 
a  bush  unbeaten."  "  Matha,  you  blank  son  of  a  blank 
mother,  if  you  get  in  front  again  I'll  teach  you  to  keep 
line."  "  Boma,  you  doubly  d-d  rascal,  you've  got  your 
mouth  shut.  I'll  open  it  when  I  get  at  you.  Yell, 
you  devils,  yell." 

The  racket  was  worse  than  ever,  and  the  beaters 
were  almost  opposite  my  post,  when  above  the  noise  I 
heard  Bill's  voice,  "  Look  out,  sir,  lookout,  the  big  stag 
is  coming.  To  the  left,  to  the  left."  I  heard  the 
unmistakable  rush  of  a  sambur  in  the  shola,  and  the 
next  instant  to  my  intense  surprise  a  grand  stag  broke 
on  the  other  side.  What  a  beauty  he  looked  as  he 
came  into  the  open,  with  his  head  held  so  high  that 
his  massive  antlers  rested  on  his  haunches !  The  line 
he  was  taking  would  have  brought  him  close  to  B.,  and 
I  ought  by  all  the  canons  of  beating  to  have  left  him 
alone.  But  taught  by  the  experience  of  an  hour 
earlier,  I  could  not  bring  myself  to  give  B.  the  shot,  so 
I  knelt  down  and  covered  the  stag  carefully.  The 
distance  was  full  three  hundred  yards,  but  I  knew  my 
rifle  ;  and  waiting  till  the  stag  stopped  and  turned  half 
round  to  listen,  I  pulled  the  trigger.  He  lurched 
forward  and  I  thought  he  was  going  to  fall  ;  but  he 
recovered  himself,  and  tore  up  the  hill.  I  sent  a 
second  bullet  after  him,  and  B.  emptied  both  barrels 
as  he  passed.  Still  the  stag  held  on,  and  the  fear  that 
I  had  missed  him  made  me  feel  sick.  B.'s  bullets  had 
gone  singing  down  the  hillside,  and  I  was  by  no  means 
sure  of  my  second  shot ;  but  surely  my  first  had  taken 
effect  ?     We  soon  found  blood  on  the  track,  which  was 

A    A    2 


356  THE   NILGIRIS 


deeply  marked  on  the  grass,  and  over  the  brow  of  the 
hill  we  came  on  the  stag,  stone  dead.  He  was  a 
grand  stag,  and  I  think  the  heaviest  I  have  ever  seen. 
His  coat  was  almost  black,  while  the  ruff  on  his  neck 
was  extraordinarily  thick  and  long.  His  head  was  one 
of  the  best  it  has  ever  been  my  lot  to  bag,  measuring 
thirty-six  and  a  half  inches. 

If  before  this  adventure  anyone  had  told  me  that  a 
sambur  stag  would  remain  concealed  in  a  shola  through 
which  a  gang  of  yelling  beaters  had  forced  their  way,  I 
should  certainly  have  regarded  him  as  a  lineal  de- 
scendant of  Ananias.  But  seeing  is  believing,  and 
I  know  now  that  an  old  sambur  stag  is  the  most  crafty 
of  his  kind. 

I  once  bagged  a  stag  that  had  achieved  such  a 
reputation  for  cunning  that  he  was  known  locally  as 
the  Wizard.  Years  ago,  I  found  myself  at  the 
bungalow  of  a  planter  near  the  village  of  P.  On  the 
first  evening  the  after-dinner  talk  turned  on  shikar,  and 
my  host  told  me  of  a  certain  stag  which  had  hitherto 
baffled  all  attempts  to  bag  him.  At  the  back  of  the 
bungalow  rose  a  lofty  hill,  up  to  the  base  of  which  ran 
heavy  forest,  and  in  this  the  stag  had  lived  for  many- 
years.  A  narrow  neck  of  grass  jutted  out  for  three 
hundred  yards  from  the  summit  of  the  hill,  surrounded 
on  three  sides  by  precipitous  walls  of  rock,  the  only 
approach  being  from  that  side  of  the  hill  on  which  the 
bungalow  stood.  A  very  steep  deer  track  led  up  from 
the  forest  to  the  summit  of  the  hill,  and  the  stag  was 
wont  to  ascend  by  this,  to  breakfast  on  the  grass  which 
covered  the  top.  More  than  one  sportsman  had 
toiled  up  the  hill  to  try  to  bag  the  stag,  but  all  efforts 
so  far  had  failed.  The  stag  was  fully  aware  of  his 
impregnable  position,  and  while  feeding  would  concen- 


THE  SAMBUR  357 


trate  his  attention  on  the  one  practicable  path  that 
gave  access  to  his  stronghold.  Directly  the  shikari 
gained  the  top  of  the  hill  and  made  for  the  isthmus  of 
grass,  the  stag  would  decamp  down  the  face  of  the 
cliff,  into  the  forest  below.  His  vigilance  and  cunning 
had  made  him  quite  a  local  celebrity,  and  the  natives 
declared  he  bore  a  charmed  life.  Many  a  bullet  had 
sped  after  him,  he  at  one  end  of  the  isthmus,  the  man 
with  the  gun  at  the  other,  but  hitherto  he  had  always 
escaped  scatheless. 

After  hearing  my  host's  account  of  this  wonderfully 
cute  stag,  I  determined  to  try  to  make  his  acquaint- 
ance the  next  morning.  I  was  ready  before  daylight, 
but  the  outlook  from  the  porch  was  scarcely  inviting. 
There  was  a  raw  feeling  in  the  air,  and  a  drizzling 
rain  was  falling  in  the  steady  way  that,  in  Wynaad, 
usually  presages  a  wet  day.  I  slowly  climbed  the 
stiff  hill,  and  advancing  with  the  greatest  caution, 
reached  the  top  after  half  an  hour's  fag.  A  strong 
cross  wind  was  blowing,  so  I  was  easy  on  that  score, 
and  gradually  raising  my  head,  I  peeped  over  the 
ridge  that  marked  the  beginning  of  the  narrow  tongue 
of  grass.  There  was  now  light  enough  to  see  clearly, 
and  my  heart  bounded  when  I  saw  the  stag  occupying 
his  usual  coign  of  vantage,  and,  contrary  to  his  usual 
custom,  engrossed  in  a  survey  of  the  valley  below 
him.  Inch  by  inch  I  wriggled  through  the  grass,  my 
heart  in  my  mouth.  I  had  got  fifty  yards  nearer,  when 
he  began  to  stamp  with  his  fore-foot ;  and  he  kept  his 
gaze  so  steadily  fixed  on  the  forest  below,  that  I  was 
able  to  creep  up  to  within  a  hundred  yards  of  his 
position.  Here  the  long  grass  ended,  and  I  dared  not 
advance  another  yard  ;  so,  covering  him  behind  the 
shoulder,   I  fired.     The  stag  turned  like  lightning  to 


358  THE   NILGIRIS 


retreat  down  his  usual  path,  but  my  second  barrel  was 
quicker  even  than  he,  and  I  dropped  him  just  at  the 
edge  of  the  precipice.  My  first  bullet,  I  found,  had 
taken  him  a  little  too  high  up  ;  my  second  had  entered 
his  neck  close  to  the  junction  with  the  head,  causing 
instant  collapse.  After  all  I  had  heard,  I  was  disap- 
pointed with  his  horns,  and  they  certainly  appeared 
much  larger  when  I  saw  him  first  in  the  light  of  early 
dawn.  They  measured  thirty-one  and  a  half  inches. 
After  I  had  looked  him  over,  I  walked  to  the  edge  of 
the  cliff  to  try  to  discover  what  had  kept  the  stag's 
attention  riveted  on  the  shola  below,  and  the  mystery 
was  soon  solved,  for  shortly  a  Kurumba,  armed  with 
an  old  muzzle-loader,  made  his  appearance.  Knowing 
from  the  shots  above  that  the  game  was  up,  he 
scrambled  up  by  the  deer  path,  and  great  was  his 
disgust  when  he  found  that  I  had  bagged  the  stag. 
This  sable  sportsman  (I  got  to  know  him  well  in  after 
years)  had  sallied  out  with  the  intention  of  outwitting 
the  stag  by  an  advance  on  his  flank  up  the  precipice ; 
but  the  wary  beast  was  on  the  alert,  and  I  am  certain 
my  Kurumba  friend  would  have  had  his  trouble  for 
nothing.  I  chuckled  at  the  thought  that  I  had  wiped' 
"  Dawson's  "  eye  after  he  had,  by  his  carefully  planned 
stratagem,  been  the  unconscious  cause  of  my  own 
success  ;  but  we  became  friends  when  I  made  him  a 
present  of  the  meat,  which  to  him  was  the  sole 
attraction. 

I  once  (from  my  diary  I  see  it  was  on  the  9th 
December,  1906)  had  the  good  fortune  to  see  five 
splendid  stags  together.  I  was  roaming  over  the 
western  slope  of  Rockwood  Peak  in  the  evening, 
when,  far  up  above  me,  I  spotted  a  stag.  As  I 
watched  him,  he  began  to  bell,  and  shortly,  higher  up 


THE   SAMBUR  359 


still  against  the  skyline,  another  stag  appeared.  Even 
at  this  distance  I  could  see  that  the  second  stag  was  a 
monster ;  and  he  leisurely  made  his  way  down  in 
answer  to  the  challenge.  "  Now,"  I  said  to  my  gun 
cooly,  "we  shall  see  a  fight,"  for  it  was  the  height  of 
the  rutting  season.  The  ground  between  the  sambur 
and  myself  was  so  open  that  I  had  to  make  a  flank 
movement,  and  work  my  way  through  the  fringe  of 
jungle  which  lies  just  below,  and  follows  the  line  of,  the 
Peak.  I  pushed  on  till  I  judged  I  had  reached  a 
point  opposite  to  the  first  stag  I  had  seen,  and  then 
crept  to  the  edge  of  the  cover.  Ye  gods,  what  a  sight ! 
There,  three  hundred  yards  away,  were  five  stags  in  a 
bunch !  The  four  nearest  to  me  were  all  warrantable 
stags;  and  alone,  any  one  of  them  would  have  been 
well  worth  shooting.  But  the  fifth,  who  was  standing 
above  them  on  the  crest  of  the  hill,  was  a  patriarch  :  a 
veritable  monster  with  a  magnificent  head  and  a  coat 
that  looked  jet  black  :  the  finest  stag  I  have  ever  seen 
in  Wynaad.  "His  head  or  none,"  I  said  to  myself; 
but  it  was  impossible  to  advance  without  being  seen, 
as  the  ground  between  was  all  grass,  and  the  four 
smaller  stags  were  below  and  all  round  the  big  one.  I 
waited  in  the  hope  that  they  would  feed  over  the  brow 
of  the  hill  ;  but  evidently  the  company  had  assembled 
for  some  other  purpose  than  dinner,  for  though  the  two 
nearest  to  me  occasionally  moved  backwards  and 
forwards  to  nibble  at  the  grass,  the  others  stood  like 
statues.  My  cooly  urged  me  to  fire,  but  the  big  stag 
was  quite  three  hundred  and  fifty  yards  away,  and  I 
determined  not  to  risk  a  miss  with  the  certainty  of 
frightening  him  out  of  my  preserve.  We  watched  till 
it  was  too  dark  to  see,  and  as  the  stags  still  kept  their 
position,    I    wended    my  way   back   to   the   bungalow, 


360  THE   NILGIRIS 


comforting  myself  with  the  reflection  that  I  had  done 
the  right  thing  in  not  risking  a  very  long  shot  in  an 
uncertain  light,  and  that  I  would  reap  the  reward  of 
my  forbearance  later  on. 

Evening  after  evening  I  prowled  over  the  hill,  but 
alas  !  I  did  not  see  the  monster  stag  again.  On  the 
fourth  evening,  I  made  out  a  stag  standing  under  a 
tree  above  the  jungle,  and  at  the  base  of  the  Peak. 
Once  again  his  position  made  a  stalk  almost  impossible, 
for  I  had  a  long  stretch  of  open  ground  to  traverse  to 
get  within  shooting  distance.  Through  the  glasses  I 
could  see  he  was  a  very  fine  fellow,  but  not  the 
monarch  I  had  seen  before.  Between  him  and  myself 
lay  the  strip  of  jungle  I  have  already  alluded  to,  and  as 
this  is  full  of  thorny  undergrowth,  through  which  it  is 
impossible  to  push  without  noise,  and  the  stag  was  just 
at  the  upper  edge,  an  approach  through  the  cover  was 
out  of  the  question.  The  only  feasible  way  was  up  the 
hill  to  the  summit,  and  then  round  the  top  of  the 
jungle ;  and  this  way  was  barred  by  the  open  nature  of 
the  ground.  It  seemed  that  once  again  I  should  have 
perforce  to  return  without  making  an  effort  to  bag  the 
stag,  when,  to  my  delight,  I  saw  a  dense  curtain  of 
mist  whirling  up  over  the  peak.  In  a  few  minutes  it 
had  covered  the  country  so  completely  that  I  could  not 
see  ten  yards  in  front  of  me.  Up  the  hill  I  streaked  at 
my  best  pace,  till  I  reached  the  summit :  then  I  crept 
along  the  top  edge  of  the  jungle.  The  mist  was  still 
so  dense  that  I  was  able  to  get  to  the  end  of  the  cover 
and  well  out  on  the  grass  hill  beyond,  at  a  rapid  pace. 
In  front  of  me  now  towered  the  rocky  crown 
of  Marpanmadi,  from  which  a  ridge  ran  down  to  the 
jungle.  Just  over  this  ridge  was  the  point  where  I 
had  marked  the  stag.     The  grass  was  high — over  my 


THE   SAMBUR  361 


head — but  the  mist  had  made  it  so  damp  that  I  could 
push  my  way  through  without  rustHng.  Fifty  yards 
would  take  me  to  the  summit  of  the  ridge ;  and  if  the 
stag  had  not  entered  the  jungle  in  the  interval,  I  had 
him.  Just  then  the  mist  lifted  with  startling  sudden- 
ness, and  at  the  same  moment  came  "DHHUNK  " 
— a  ringing  bell  that  sent  me  and  the  gun  cooly  into 
the  grass  like  shot  rabbits.  Half-way  down  the 
shoulder  of  the  hill  was  a  solitary  rock,  and  peering 
through  the  grass  stems,  over  this  rock  I  saw  the  long 
cocked  ears  of  a  hind.  Truly  a  hard  piece  of  luck ! 
The  hind  kept  belling  :  she  had  seen  us,  but  could  not 
make  out  what  we  were.  We  had  perforce  to  squat  in 
the  grass  ;  the  only  chance  now  was  that  the  stag, 
moved  by  the  curiosity  which  all  deer  possess  so 
strongly,  might  come  up  to  see  what  was  agitating  his 
wife.  A  full  quarter  of  an  hour  we  waited,  the  hind 
gazing  intently  at  us,  when  I  saw  the  ivory  tips  of  the 
stag's  horns  appear  above  the  rock.  Slowly  his  whole 
head  came  into  view  ;  and  there  the  pair  stood,  belling 
and  stamping  together.  Just  one  step  forward,  and  I 
should  get  a  sight  of  his  shoulder ;  but  though  I  waited 
another  five  minutes,  he  did  not  move.  It  was  fast 
growing  dark,  and  at  the  distance,  perhaps  eighty 
yards,  the  stag's  neck — the  only  vulnerable  part  I 
could  see — was  not  a  large  mark.  But  one  point  was 
in  my  favour  :  the  grand  head  and  shaggy  neck  formed 
a  perfect  silhouette  against  the  crimson  sky  behind. 
Slowly  I  raised  myself  on  my  knees  till  I  could  just 
see  over  the  grass,  and  put  up  my  rifle.  Ivory 
triangle,  ivory  bead,  and  the  stag's  neck  all  came  into 
line,  and  at  the  shot  I  saw  him  go  clean  heels  over 
head,  though  as  he  fell  away  from  me,  and  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  dividing   ridge,    I  could   not  see 


362  THE   NILGIRIS 


what  followed.  We  raced  along  the  hill,  and  from  the 
point  where  the  stag  had  been  standing  a  broad  trail 
was  crushed  in  the  grass,  made  by  the  stag's  body  as 
it  rolled  down.  From  here  to  the  jungle  the  hill 
dropped  in  a  series  of  miniature  precipices,  and  to 
follow  in  the  dusk  over  such  ground  was  not  easy. 
But  after  a  bad  tumble  or  two  I  reached  the  edge  of 
the  jungle,  and  there  I  found  the  stag  brought  up 
against  a  tree,  stone  dead  with  a  bullet  through  the 
neck.  He  had  a  perfect  head,  thirty-five  and  a  half 
inches  from  burr  to  tip  of  loftiest  tine. 

Does  or  does  not  a  frightened  sambur  bell  when  it 
thoroughly  realises  that  the  object  of  its  terror  is  a 
man  ?  Personally,  I  have  no  doubt  whatever  as  to  the 
correct  answer  ;  but  authorities  differ  on  the  point.  I 
have  already  quoted  Blanford,  who  says,  "there  is  a 
sharp  snort  or  cry  of  alarm  caused  by  the  presence  of 
a  tiger  or  panther,  or  by  the  sight  of  man." 
"  Hawkeye,"  a  well  known  and  very  observant 
sportsman  with  a  large  acquaintance  with  sport  on  the 
Nilgiris  when  those  Hills  were  in  their  prime  as  a 
shooting  ground,  does  not  specifically  allude  to  the 
question  in  his  book,  but  in  the  chapter  on  sambur  he 
says  incidentally,  "  in  some  instances  these  deer  may 
almost  be  considered  exceedingly  stupid  ;  and  although 
so  alive  to  danger  in  general,  at  times  display  an 
inattention  to  the  laws  of  self-preservation  that  is  quite 
surprising.  On  more  than  one  occasion  I  have  come 
suddenly  on  a  hind  returning  from  her  night-tide 
grazing,  in  a  neighbouring  swamp,  and  the  way  in 
which  the  foolish  creature  would  stand  and  stamp  with 
her  foot,  staring  at  me  all  the  time  with  both  eyes  and 
ears,  was,  to  say  the  least,  astonishing.  During  this 
scene  I  kept  aiming  at  the  animal,  killing  her  over  and 


THE   SAMBUR  363 


over  again  in  my  mind's  eye,  and  thinking  all  the  time 
what  a  chance  it  would  be  for  a  slaughterer !  On  one 
occasion,  fancying  a  stag  might  be  near  at  hand,  and 
hoping  to  prevent  the  hind  giving  the  bell  of  alarm,  I 
tried  many  dodges  to  get  her  to  move  on — threw  up 
my  arms,  took  off  and  waved  my  hat,  jumped  and 
danced  about.  The  deuce  a  bit  !  Instead  of  quietly 
making  herself  scarce,  she  came  on  towards  me,  not 
being  thirty  yards  distant  all  the  time.  At  last  I  had 
to  run  at  her,  and  she  let  me  come  on  some  few  paces 
before  she  bolted  with  one  warning  bell  into  the 
shola  close  by.  I  have  but  to  remark  that  these 
instances  have  only  occurred  with  females.  Are  we  to 
put  it  down  to  the  natural  curiosity  prevailing  with  the 
sex  at  large  ?  " 

From  the  above  extract  I  think  I  am  right  in  con- 
cluding that — "  Hawkeye"  holds  that  a  sambur  does  bell 
at  sight  of  a  man — for  he  leaves  it  to  be  inferred  that 
the  hinds  were  in  every  case  aware  of  the  nature  of 
the  object  at  which  they  were  staring.  My  own 
experience  leads  me  unhesitatingly  to  the  conclusion 
that  a  sambur,  stag  or  hind,  never  bells  or  barks  when 
it  sees  a  man  ;  but  before  giving  that  experience,  I 
will  quote  another  passage  from  "  Hawkeye's  "  book 
which  I  think  affords  the  true  explanation  for  the 
strange  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  hinds  he  observed 
— conduct  to  which  every  shikari  must  frequently  have 
been  a  witness.  In  his  chapter  on  the  tiger  he  says  : — 
"  we  know  how  proverbial  the  curiosity  of  deer  is,  and 
how,  when  uncertain  of  the  object  before  them,  they 
will  at  times  advance  towards  it ;  in  the  sambur  this 
is  constantly  the  case,  &c.,  &c."  (The  italics  are  mine.) 
Here  "  Hawkeye  "  strikes  the  right  note  :  curiosity, 
and  an  inability  to  determine  the  exact  nature  of  the 


364  THE   NILGIRIS 


object  that  has  attracted  their  attention,  are  the  only 
reasons  which  prompt  sambur  to  indulge  in  the  antics 
which  he  describes.  Had  his  hinds  in  any  instance 
realised  that  the  object  at  which  they  were  staring  was 
a  man,  they  would  have  bolted  precipitately  without 
any  "warning  bell." 

Now  for  my  experience.  I  could  quote  several 
incidents  which  go  to  prove  my  view :  perhaps  the 
most  striking  was  this.  I  was  out  at  the  S.W. 
angle  of  the  Kundahs  for  a  few  days'  shooting,  and 
early  one  morning  started  on  a  prowl  for  sambur. 
It  was  still  dark  when  I  gained  the  summit  of  a 
lofty  hill,  which  commanded  a  wide  stretch  of 
country.  It  was  bitterly  cold — so  cold  that  we  were 
glad  to  muffle  our  heads  up  in  woollen  wrappers. 
Over  the  valley  below  us  hung  a  pall  of  dense  mist ; 
every  little  pool  in  the  swamp  which  ran  through  the 
valley  was  coated  with  ice ;  while  the  grass  in  the 
hollows  was  white  with  hoar  frost.  As  I  sat  on  the 
open  hilltop  waiting  for  dawn,  I  had  to  rub  my  nose 
and  ears  to  assure  myself  that  they  were  still  on  my 
face.  S  el  via,  the  shikari,  told  me  a  lurid  tale  of  how, 
years  and  years  before,  when  the  Kundahs  were  a  verit- 
able hunter's  Arcadia,  he  had  led  a  greenhorn  up  to  a 
herd  of  bison  feeding  on  the  slopes  above  the  heavy  forest 
which  lay  in  a  dense  black  mass  away  to  our  right ;  how 
at  the  critical  moment  the  sportsman  had  demanded  a 
"  B.  and  S."  to  steady  his  nerves ;  and  how  the  pop  of  the 
cork  had  sent  the  herd  in  full  flight  to  the  low  country, 
to  the  astonishment  of  the  shooter,  and  the  disgust  of 
the  worthy  shikari  himself!  At  last  the  first  beams 
of  the  rising  sun  touched  the  hills  in  front  of  us,  and 
through  my  glasses  I  made  out  the  antlers  of  a  stag 
showing  clearly  against  the  rosy  flush  in  the  sky,  on 


THE   SAMBUR  365 


the  summit  of  a  hill  which  faced  us,  A  broad  valley 
lay  between,  and  we  found  we  should  have  to  work 
round  the  head  of  this  to  get  the  wind  right.  The  stalk 
occupied  half  an  hour,  so  that  by  the  time  we  reached 
the  foot  of  the  hill,  the  sun  was  well  up.  Carefully  we 
climbed  the  steep  ascent,  only  to  find  on  reaching  the 
top,  that  the  stag  had  disappeared.  His  track  was 
plain,  and  after  following  it  a  little  way,  we  saw  him 
feeding  close  to  the  edge  of  a  large  shola  which  ran  up 
a  hill  to  our  left,  attended  by  two  hinds.  And  a  lovely 
picture  he  made  as  we  watched  him  from  the  shelter  of 
a  clump  of  rhododendrons,  with  the  sunlight  glinting 
down  on  his  spreading  head,  tipped  with  ivory  points. 
The  ground  between  was  quite  open  ;  and  Selvia  and  I 
decided  that  the  only  feasible  plan  was  for  me  to  go  back, 
creep  round  into  the  valley,  and  then  up  the  edge  of  the 
shola  near  which  the  stag  was  feeding,  while  he  remained 
under  the  rhododendrons  to  watch  the  stag's  movements. 
I  reached  the  bottom  of  the  cover,  and  Selvia  signalled 
that  the  stag  was  still  in  the  same  position.  The  hill  up 
which  I  had  now  to  climb  was  covered  with  grass  two 
feet  high,  and  through  this  I  wriggled  as  quietly  as 
possible,  though  try  as  I  might  I  could  not  stop  the 
rustling  altogether.  I  had  advanced  a  hundred  yards 
on  all  fours,  when  a  ringing  bell  from  the  hill  above 
made  me  stop  short  and  brought  my  heart  into  my 
mouth.  Peeping  over  the  grass,  I  saw  the  heads  of 
the  two  hinds,  which  had  been  concealed  in  a  hollow,  a 
little  to  the  right  of  where  the  stag  ought  to  be.  They 
were  gazing  at  me,  all  eyes  and  ears.  "  Goodbye  to 
my  chance  at  the  stag,"  I  thought ;  but  it  was  useless 
to  remain  where  I  was,  so  once  more  I  began  my 
sinuous  progress.  As  I  crept  on  the  hinds  kept  up 
a  series  of  bells  ;  but  Selvia  telegraphed  that  the  stag 


366  THE   NILGIRIS 


was  still  in  front.  Evidently  the  hinds  could  not  make 
me  out,  and  the  hope  flashed  across  me  that  after  all  I 
might  get  a  shot  at  the  stag.  But  just  as  I  reached  a 
bend  in  the  shola,  round  which  I  knew  the  stag  must  be, 
the  long  grass  stopped  and  gave  place  to  the  ordinary- 
short  ofrass  which  covers  the  Kundahs.  Here  was  a 
dilemma.  I  could  not  cross  the  open  ;  while  the  under- 
growth at  the  edge  of  the  cover  was  so  thick  that  I 
should  have  alarmed  the  stag  before  I  had  gone  ten 
paces  had  I  attempted  to  force  my  way  through  it. 
Only  one  faint  chance  remained — a  bolt  round  the 
curve  of  the  shola.  I  was  dressed  in  a  brown  khaki 
suit  and  cap,  and  while  on  all  fours,  almost  hidden  by 
the  grass,  the  hinds  had  not  been  able  to  make  me  out 
clearly.  In  all  probability  they  had  taken  me  for  a 
tiger.  But  no  sooner  did  I  raise  myself  preparatory  to 
cutting  round  the  corner,  than  I  stood  revealed  as  a 
man,  pure  and  simple.  Instantly  the  belling  and 
stamping  ceased,  and  I  had  a  momentary  glimpse  of 
the  hinds  as  they  plunged  into  the  cover.  Once  they 
realised  I  was  a  man,  there  was  no  hesitation,  no 
"  warning  bell,"  but  precipitate  flight.  Many  other 
instances,  on  much  the  same  lines,  have  come  under 
my  notice,  all  pointing  to  the  same  conclusion — 
that  a  sambur  stag  or  hind  never  bells  at  sight  of  a 
man. 

I  will  not  stop  to  tell  how,  by  a  piece  of  good  luck, 
I  bagged  this  stag  after  all,  but  will  pass  on  to 
record  the  experience  of  a  mighty  hunter,  the  late 
Charles  Havelock,  on  this  vexed  question.  The 
adventure  (which  to  my  mind  conclusively  establishes 
my  contention)  occurred  to  him  many  years  ago,  and  I 
give  the  account  of  it  in  his  own  graphic  words,  as  he 
wrote  it  for  the  columns  of  a  local  paper,  long  since 


THE   SAMBUR  367 


extinct.  "It  was,"  he  writes,  "on  a  fine  evening  in 
April  '74,  when  the  early  showers  had  made  the  fresh 
grass,  so  attractive  to  sambur  and  ibex,  spring  up  on 
the  burnt  hillsides,  that  I  determined  on  trying  whether 
I  could  not  bag  a  stag  by  moonlight.  The  spot  I 
intended  to  visit  was  about  two  miles  from  my 
bungalow.  The  moon  had  just  passed  the  full,  so 
after  dinner  I  lay  down  and  had  a  nap,  ordering  my 
servant  to  call  me  at  nine  o'clock.  Upon  getting  up 
at  that  hour,  and  fortifying  the  inner  man  with  some 
strong  coffee,  I  set  out,  followed  by  a  cooly  carrying 
my  second  rifle. 

"  On  reaching  the  ground  I  saw  no  game,  though  I 
waited  for  some  time.  A  few  dark  clouds  floated 
across  the  moon's  disc,  and  though  partially  obscuring 
it,  there  was  still  light  enough  to  enable  me  to  see 
distinctly  for  several  hundred  yards  round.  As  the 
ground  all  about  was  covered  with  fresh  sambur  tracks, 
I  felt  sure  some  would  come  out  of  the  forest  to  feed 
during  the  night,  so  I  sat  myself  down  behind  a  bush 
to  watch.  After  I  had  been  in  this  position  for  some 
time,  my  cooly  pointed  to  an  object  on  the  ridge  in 
front  of  me.  At  first  this  looked  like  a  bush  aeainst 
the  sky  ;  but  after  watching  it  for  some  seconds  through 
my  glass,  I  saw  it  move,  and  was  satisfied  it  was  a 
sambur,  which  from  its  size  I  judged  to  be  a  large 
stag.  As  I  knew  the  ground  perfectly  I  could  tell  he 
was  not  within  four  hundred  yards  of  me.  The  forest 
to  my  left  would  cover  my  approach  for  half  that 
distance  ;  but  for  the  remainder  there  was  not  a  bush 
nor  any  cover  of  which  I  could  avail  myself,  so  that  I 
was  doubtful  as  to  whether  I  would  get  a  shot. 
However,  starting  off,  I  and  my  man  reached  the 
furthest  end  of  the  forest,  where,  taking  a  peep,  I  could 


368  THE   NILGIRIS 


see  the  sambur — a  stag,  as  I  had  thought — was  still  in 
the  same  position,  something  over  two  hundred  yards 
off;  for  daylight  a  very  good  shot,  and  I  felt  that  if  I 
could  only  see  the  sights  of  my  rifle  I  would  soon  have 
finished  the  night's  work.  As  it  was,  I  was  rather  in 
a  fix  ;  for  the  stag  could  not  fail  to  see  me  at  once  if 
I  attempted  to  cross  the  level  space  of  short  grass  in 
front  of  us.  My  experience  of  the  habits  of  the 
sambur  came  to  my  aid  in  this  extremity.  I  had  on  a 
reddish-brown  suit,  with  hat  of  the  same  colour,  which 
in  the  doubtful  light  might  easily  induce  the  stag  to 
mistake  me  for  his  striped  foe,  the  tiger.  I  therefore 
determined  to  '  act '  the  latter  ;  and  telling  my  Badaga 
to  remain  hidden  and  watch  the  tamasha,  I  crept 
forward  on  all  fours,  rifle  in  hand. 

"  I  had  not  left  the  forest  twenty  yards,  when  a  loud 
bell  announced  that  not  only  was  I  seen,  but  that  my 
stratagem  had  succeeded,  for  a  sambur  never  barks  on 
seeing  a  man.  I  knew  now  that  the  stag  would  not 
make  for  the  forest,  but  expected  he  would  keep 
walking  round  and  round  in  the  open,  stamping  on  the 
ground  and  barking,  as  I  have  seen  sambur  do  when  a 
tiger  was  really  stalking  them.  This  stag  did  better 
still  ;  he  kept  on  walking  deliberately  towards  me.  I 
knew  that  if  he  discovered  his  error  he  would  dash  off 
into  the  forest  in  an  instant,  so,  keeping  my  rifle  as 
much  out  of  sight  as  possible,  I  proceeded  steadily,  but 
very  slowly,  on  towards  the  stag,  who  made  such 
progress  that  by  the  time  I  had  gone  fifty  yards  from 
the  forest  he  had  come  a  hundred  and  fifty  yards 
nearer  his  doom. 

"  There  is  a  large  sheet  of  flat  rock  on  the  ground  of 
which  I  am  writing,  about  forty  yards  broad.  As  I 
reached   one  edge  of  this,  the  stag  just  reached  the 


THE   SAMBUR  369 


opposite  one.  His  huge  form,  as  he  stood  with  mane 
and  tail  erect,  presented  a  most  weird  appearance  in 
the  ghostly  light,  and  against  the  surrounding  gloom  ; 
and  I  could  distinctly  see  he  was  a  monster  stag. 

"Cautiously  half  rising,  I  fired  sharp,  plunging  a  shell 
into  his  massive  chest.  He  sank  down  at  once  ;  and  a 
fine  specimen  he  was,  with  horns  thirty-two  inches 
long,  very  robust  and  wide  spreading." 

I  think  this  adventure  affords  evidence  as  conclusive 
as  it  is  possible  to  obtain  of  the  correctness  of  my 
view  ;  and  the  narrator,  it  will  be  observed,  says  point- 
blank  that  "a  sambur  never  barks  on  seeing  a  man." 
That  was  the  result  of  his  experience — more  varied 
and  more  extensive  probably  than  the  experience  of 
any  other  of  the  long  line  of  sportsmen  for  which  the 
Nilgiris  have  been  famous.  I  once  had  a  moonlight 
rencontre  with  a  stag",  on  the  orrass  ridp"e  below 
Rockwood  Peak,  somewhat  similar  to  the  one  above 
quoted  ;  but  I  will  not  multiply  instances.  For  my 
own  part,  I  am  sure  that  when  a  sambur  bells  at  a 
man,  he  has  mistaken  the  identity  of  the  object  at 
which  he  is  staring ;  and  that  when  he  realises  the 
object  is  a  man,  his  one  thought  is  flight,  without  any 
bell,  warning  or  otherwise. 

A  year  ago  I  had  a  delightful,  and  withal  a  most 
successful,  trip  after  sambur  in  circumstances  which 
would  not  usually  have  made  for  sport.  I  had  lured 
two  nieces  and  a  lady  friend  down  to  my  Estate  by  a 
vivid  picture  of  the  glories  of  Wynaad  ;  but,  when 
giving  the  invitation,  I  certainly  did  not  anticipate  the 
upheaval  that  followed  the  intrusion  of  three  girls  into 
my  hermit  life !  With  the  suddenness  of  an  earth- 
quake my  bachelor  world  fell  in  ruins  about  me. 
They  began  with  what  they  called  a  "  turn-out "  of  my 

B    B 


370  THE   NILGIRIS 


bungalow.      The     accumulated     treasures     of     years 
("  rubbish,"  in  their  lingo)  vanished  before  their  tucked- 
up  skirts  and  sleeves.     Rapidly  the  pile  grew  on  the 
open  space  in  front  of  the  bungalow  until  it  topped  the 
coffee  bushes,    while    I    stood   by   agape.     "  What   a 
glorious  bonfire  it  will  make  when  we've  done,"  was 
the  only  reply  vouchsafed  to  my  timid  remonstrances. 
Room  by  room  the  turn-out  proceeded,  till  the  holy  of 
holies,  my  bed  room,  was  reached.     Then  verily  the 
crack  of  doom  sounded.     Open  flew  the  doors  of  my 
almirahs:  out  flew    the    heterogeneous    collection    of 
vestments,  the  agglomeration  of  sixteen  years.     The 
room  was  thick  with  flying  garments,  sorted  by  those 
six  deft  hands.     On  one  side  were  placed  in  orderly 
array  the  clothes  that  "  were  good  enough  to  keep  "  ; 
on  the  other  rose  the  stack  which  was  eventually  to 
gladden   the   hearts  of  all  the  poor   in   Ootacamund. 
Suit  after  suit,  cherished  relics  of  days  at  home,  went 
to  swell  the  pile  ;  vainly  I  strove  to  rescue  at  least  my 
well    worn    and    well    loved    shooting    clothes.     The 
Amazons  were  deaf  to  all  entreaty.     And  the  sight,  at 
roll  call  next  morning !     My  Maistries  strutted  in  frock 
coats  ;  my  coolies  in  tweeds  were  the  cynosure  of  the 
women  ;  my  cattleman  was  radiant  in  a  blazer.     But  at 
last  the  work  was  done,  and  I  could  survey  the  tout 
ensemble.     Could  this  clean,    neat,  orderly    house  be 
the  higgledy-piggledy  bungalow  of  my  hermit  years  ? 
Were  these  glorified  domestics  in  spotless  white  the 
henchmen  who  had  ministered  to  me  in  my  Eveless 
Eden  ?     Did    they  really    produce   the    dainty  meals 
which    had    superseded    the    eternal    round    of  tough 
chicken    and  tougher   goat  ?     Were  these    dogs   and 
horses,  growing  visibly  sleeker  every  day,  in  sooth  the 
dumb    friends    of  my    unregenerate    days  ?     Truly    I 


THE  SAMBUR  371 


owed  the  girls  a  deep  debt  of  gratitude  for  the  meta- 
morphosis they  had  wrought,  and  I  would  pay- 
it.  They  had  come  for  sport,  and  sport  I  would 
show  them  if  by  any  means  it  was  in  my  power. 

Three  days  after  their  arrival  a  tiger  mauled  a  cow 
while  the  herd  were  out  grazing  on  the  hill  opposite  to 
the  bungalow.  As  he  had  not  killed,  it  was  a  very 
slender  chance,  but  I  at  once  had  a  machan  built 
in  a  large  tree  close  by,  and  tied  up  a  cow  near  it.  Alive 
to  the  responsibility  entailed  by  the  care  of  the  ladies, 
I  had  the  machan  made  higher  than  usual,  and  at  four 
that  afternoon  we  were  at  our  post.  Aha !  my  tyrants, 
revenge  is  sweet,  and  my  turn  has  come.  My  efforts 
to  save  my  lares  et  penates  only  provoked  a  laugh,  but 
the  laugh  is  on  my  side  now,  I'm  thinking.  The  only 
way  into  that  machan  is  up  that  swaying  bamboo  ladder, 
and  up  that  ladder  willy  nilly  you  must  go.  The  more 
you  look  at  it,  the  less  you'll  like  it,  so  just  take  your 
courage  in  both  hands  and  mount !  R.  went  first,  with 
eyes  tightly  shut,  and  feeling  her  way  step  by  step, 
while  I  followed  close  behind  to  place  her  feet  securely 
on  each  rung.  The  journey  was  safely  accomplished 
at  last,  and  she  subsided  with  a  sigh  of  relief,  and  the 
muttered  question,  "  How  on  earth  am  I  going  to  get 
down  again?"  Miss  C.  came  next,  and  though  she 
would  insist  on  adding  to  her  terrors  by  looking  down 
at  each  step,  made  a  fair  job  of  it.  D.  laughed  all  my 
offers  of  assistance  to  scorn,  and  came  up  like  an 
acrobat.  We  watched  in  unaccustomed  silence  till  it 
was  dark  ;  but  as  I  feared,  no  tiger  showed.  He  was, 
we  knew,  in  the  large  jungle  below  us,  and  once  or 
twice  the  cow  became  restless,  staring  at  the  jungle-edge 
and  tugging  at  the  rope  round  her  horns.  But  our 
vigil   was  fruitless,  and  our  only  reward  a  wonderful 

B   B   2 


372  THE  NILGIRIS 


sunset,  as  the  sun  like  a  ball  of  blood  dipped  slowly 
behind  the  giant  Vellarimallais.  The  silent  watch  in 
our  leafy  perch  ;  the  tense  straining  of  eye  and  ear,  in 
the  knowledge  that  the  tiger  was  close  at  hand,  as  the 
scented  darkness  shut  slowly  down  on  us,  was  a  new 
experience  for  the  girls,  and  I  think  repaid  them 
in  some  degree  for  the  non-appearance  of  the 
tiger. 

A  couple  of  days  afterwards  a  leopard  took  a  call 
from  the  cattle-shed  near  the  bungalow,  and  again  we 
sat  up  in  a  machan  over  the  kill.  But  Spots  had  eaten 
nearly  the  whole  carcase  at  his  first  meal,  and  the 
remnants  did  not  tempt  him  back.  I  felt  that  if  I  was 
to  redeem  my  promise  of  sport,  we  should  have  to  go 
farther  afield,  and  so — not  without  missfivinpfs — I 
proposed  a  week  in  camp.  The  girls  jumped  at  the 
idea,  and  all  next  day  was  spent  in  making  prepara- 
tions, and  getting  the  saman  together.  We  had 
arranged  to  send  oft  the  coolies  with  the  tents  and 
supplies  early  the  following  morning  ;  but  it  was  noon 
before  the  long  procession  started  for  the  tramp  to  our 
objective,  Rockwood  Peak.  We  followed,  two  of  the 
girls  on  ponies,  the  third  in  a  chair  carried  by  foiir 
men.  But  the  narrow  cattle  track,  which  led  straight 
up  the  steep  hill  through  grass  five  feet  high,  was  so 
slippery  and  difficult,  that  very  soon  we  had  to  send 
chair  and  ponies  back,  and  finish  the  climb  on  foot. 
As  the  girls  were  not  used  to  such  rough  mountaineer- 
ing, we  made  slow  progress  and  it  took  us  an  hour  to 
reach  the  grassy  ridge  below  Needlerock,  where  we 
sat  down  to  rest. 

This  part  of  Wynaad  is  a  country  of  magnificent 
views,  but  few  match  that  from  the  ridge  of  which  I 
am    writing.       This    ridge,    starting    from   Rockwood 


PI.o'o.  by  t!:c  Author 


Nkedi.erock. 


THE   SAMBUR  373 


Peak,    extends — like    the    spiny    back    of    a    gigantic 
saurian — to   Hadiabetta  at  the  edge  of   the  Wynaad 
Ghats,  and  forms  the  watershed  of  the   district.     At 
the  point  at  which  we  struck  it,  it  is  a  tiny  table  land, 
ten  yards    broad    and    fifty    long.     As    we   sat   facing 
north,  directly   over  us   and  to    our  left  towered  the 
tremendous  mass  of  rock    tapering  to   a  point  which 
gives  Needlerock  its  name.     To  our  right  the  ridge 
sloped   steeply  upwards,   to  end  in    Rockwood    Peak. 
Northwards,  the  ground  fell  away  in  forest-clad  waves 
to  the  Rockwood  valley,  the  estate  buildings  specks  of 
white  set  in  the  dense  green,  and  the  iron  roof  of  the 
bungalow  sparkling   like  glass  in  the   afternoon  sun. 
Southwards,  the  country  dropped  down  in  precipitous 
grass    slopes,  with    a   shola    in    every   hollow,    to   the 
Devala   valley,    the    great    Coast    road    showing    at 
intervals  like  a  brown  ribbon  ;  the  view  on  the  west 
being   closed    by  the   low   hills    of   Devala    with   the 
mighty  buttress  of  the  Karkur  Pass  rising  behind  them, 
and  on  the  east  by  the  rocky  bluff  of  Gudalur  Mallai 
and  the  distant  Nilgiris.     At  the  foot  of  these  hills  the 
Ouchterlony  Valley  spread  out,  one  unbroken  forest  of 
silver  oak  from  this  distance,  punctuated  by  white  dots 
which  marked  the  buildings  on  the  estates  ;  while  on 
the  other  side  of  the  bluff  lay  the  town  of  Gudalur  in  a 
white   blur.     Farther  still,    so    far   that    they    seemed 
merely  a   purple    cloud    on    the    eastern    horizon,    we 
could  see  the  Billigarungans — those  Mysore  hills  which 
for  so  long  were  the  home  of  G.  P.   Sanderson.     And 
on  all  and  over  all  shone  the  January  sun,  bathing  the 
whole  wonderful  picture  in  shimmering  gold. 

From  this  point  our  track  ran  round  behind 
Rockwood  Peak  ;  but  though  comparatively  level,  the 
ground  fell  away  so  abruptly  on  one  side,  and  the  grass 


374  THE   NILGIRIS 


was  so  slippery,  that  we  resembled  flies  crawling  on 
the  wall  of  a  house,  and  great  caution  was  necessary. 
We  did  not  reach  our  camp  below  Rockwood  Peak  till 
4  P.M.,  and  as  I  had  to  get  the  tents  pitched  and  the 
camp  put  in  order  before  dark,  there  was  no  time  to  spend 
in  selecting  a  site.  The  coolies  had  put  all  the  saman 
down  on  the  grass  ridge  just  under  the  Peak,  and  as 
the  ground  here  was  level,  I  set  to  work  at  once  and 
by  nightfall  had  things  ship-shape.  But  never  shall  I 
forget  that  night !  Our  tents  were  pitched  on  the 
knife  edge  running  out  from  the  Peak,  and  on  both 
sides  the  ground  fell  away  precipitously,  to  the  estate 
on  one  side  and  the  Nellakota  valley  on  the  other. 
Just  after  we  had  turned  in,  the  wind,  which  had  been 
blowing  strongly  from  the  north-east  all  day,  rose  to  a 
perfect  hurricane,  blowing  in  gusts  which  made  the 
tents  rock  and  sway  so  dangerously,  that  every  moment 
I  expected  the  whole  "  contraption  "  to  collapse.  The 
girls  were  housed  in  a  big  hill  tent,  which  stood  the 
strain  better  ;  but  all  night  long  I  lay  awake  in  the 
shooting  pal,  watching  the  rocking  canvas  which 
flapped  with  a  noise  like  a  succession  of  pistol  shots, 
and  waiting  for  the  catastrophe.  But  fortunately  some 
of  the  pegs  held,  and  with  the  dawn  the  wind  dropped. 
With  the  first  pink  flush  over  the  Nilgiris,  we  were 
out,  and  I  found  the  girls  had  fared  no  better  than 
myself  in  the  matter  of  rest.  We  climbed  up  to  a 
favourite  eyrie  of  mine  under  the  rocky  helmet  which 
crowns  Rockwood  Peak,  and  which  on  this  face  is  so 
curiously  twin  to  Needlerock.  From  here  we  looked 
over  the  Rockwood  valley,  my  sambur  preserve. 
As  the  sun  rose,  we  made  out  a  dozen  sambur  feeding 
in  groups  below  us,  but  though  we  watched  till  nine 
o'clock,  we  saw  nothing  worth  shooting.     So  back  to 


THE   SAMBUR  375 


camp,  where  my  first  duty  was  to  clear  and  level  a 
space  in  the  jungle  a  short  way  down  on  the  Rock- 
wood  side  of  the  hill,  and  to  shift  the  tents  to  this  site. 
Here,  sheltered  by  the  trees  and  the  upward  fold  of 
the  ground,  we  were  snug  for  the  rest  of  the  trip, 
though  every  night  the  wind  howled  and  roared  above 
us.  In  the  afternoon  we  went  back  towards  Needle- 
rock,  but  though  sambur  were  numerous,  again  we  did 
not  see  a  stag  worth  shooting.  Just  at  dusk,  as  we 
were  within  a  few  yards  of  the  tents,  I  saw  a  fine  stag 
coming  quickly  down  the  steep  hill  facing  the  camp  to 
the  right.  It  was  fast  getting  dark,  and  to  reach  him 
meant  a  long  detour  ;  but  I  started  with  Juddia  at 
once,  while  the  girls  sat  down  on  the  ridge  to  watch 
the  stalk.  I  ran  along  an  old  sambur  track  in  the 
hope  of  cutting  him  off  before  he  reached  the  shola 
for  which  he  appeared  to  be  making,  but  he  topped 
the  hill  in  front,  and  disappeared  over  the  crest,  500 
yards  ahead  of  me.  I  raced  for  the  summit,  and 
followed  cautiously  down  the  opposite  slope,  which 
was  very  steep ;  and  at  last  I  made  him  out  at  the 
edge  of  the  cover.  I  dropped  into  the  grass,  and 
pulled  Juddia  down  with  me.  In  the  gloom  the  stag 
was  little  more  than  a  blur  against  the  background  of 
trees,  and  only  the  occasional  movement  of  his  head 
made  his  position  distinguishable.  I  could  hardly  see 
the  sights  of  my  rifle  ;  but  under  that  battery  of 
bright  eyes,  failure  was  unthinkable.  At  the  shot  he 
rolled  down  the  steep  hillside,  and  when  we  reached 
him,  where  he  had  been  brought  up  by  a  tree  at  the 
edge  of  the  shola,  he  was  quite  dead.  The  chorus  of 
congratulation,  with  which  the  excited  girls  met  me  on 
my  return  after  a  stiff  climb,  I  accepted  of  course  as 
my  due  :    not  for  worlds  would  I  have  confessed  the 


376  THE   NILGIRIS 


qualms  I  had  suffered  at  fear  of  a  miss  in  the  semi- 
darkness  !  Next  day  we  had  the  stag  carried  up  to 
camp.  He  had  a  good  head  of  thirty-five  inches, 
though  its  symmetry  was  marred  by  the  absence  of 
one  surroyal  on  the  left  antler. 

Next  morning  we  were  out  again  at  dawn,  and 
followed  the  path  round  Rockwood  Peak.  I  had  sent 
Juddia  on  ahead  to  try  to  mark  down  a  stag  ;  and 
we  had  not  gone  very  far  from  camp  when  we  saw  him 
on  the  path  beckoning  to  us  to  make  haste.  He  told 
us  that  two  stags  were  feeding  just  round  the  curve  of 
the  hill.  At  this  point  a  mass  of  rock  with  a  flat  top 
jutted  out  from  the  hillside  ;  and  creeping  to  the  edge 
I  saw  the  stags,  both  fine  ones,  in  a  cup  below,  not  a 
hundred  yards  away,  and  quite  unconscious  of  our 
proximity.  Here  was  a  grand  chance  of  giving  the 
girls  a  sight  of  a  sambur  stag  in  all  his  native  majesty, 
so  I  told  them  to  creep  forward  with  the  utmost 
caution  and  peep  over  the  cliff  R.  and  D.  obeyed 
my  instructions  to  the  letter ;  but  Miss  C.  (whose 
habitual  impatience  of  advice  tendered  by  a  mere  man 
would  have  done  credit  to  a  militant  suffragette)  scorned 
concealment,  with  the  result  that  next  moment  the' 
stags  were  fiying  in  terror  from  this  petticoat  intrusion, 
and  they  vanished  over  the  crest  of  the  hill  before 
I  could  get  a  shot.  The  evening  stalk  was  more 
successful.  We  were  coming  back  to  camp,  when  far 
down  in  the  valley  below  I  saw  a  stag  feeding,  and  the 
glasses  showed  me  he  was  a  good  one.  I  started  after 
him,  while  the  girls  sat  down  on  the  ridge  to  watch  the 
performance.  I  had  marked  the  stag's  position  by  a 
single  dry  tree,  and  when  I  got  to  within  two  hundred 
yards  of  this,  I  saw  him  just  under  it.  My  bullet 
dropped  him  in  his  tracks ;  when,  at  sound  of  the  shot, 


THE   SAMBUR  377 


a  magnificent  stag  bounded  like  a  Jack-in-the-box  out 
of  a  hollow  beyond  the  tree,  and  was  over  the  crest  of 
the  hill  before  I  could  ram  another  cartridge  into 
the  single  rifle  I  was  using.  It  was  real  hard  luck  that 
I  had  not  seen  both  stags  from  above,  for  even  the 
fleeting  glimpse  I  had  of  his  head  showed  me  that  the 
second  was  a  perfect  beauty.  The  horns  of  the  one  I 
bagged  measured  thirty-three  inches. 

Early  the  following  morning  we  went  to  a  look-out 
not  far  from  camp,  which  commanded  the  eastern  side 
of  Rockwood  valley.  Three  hinds  and  a  brocket  fed 
to  within  fifty  yards  of  us,  and  several  more  sambur 
were  visible,  but  no  stag  with  a  warrantable  head. 
About  nine  o'clock  D.  and  Miss  C.  went  back  to  see 
about  breakfast,  and  R.  and  I  were  just  preparing  to 
follow,  when  a  tiger  walked  out  of  a  shola  six  hundred 
yards  below  us,  leisurely  crossed  a  long  grass  hill,  and 
entered  another  cover  on  the  other  side  of  the  hill. 
We  had  a  good  view  of  him  as  he  sauntered  along  in 
the  sun,  and  that  R.  should  have  seen  a  tiger  on  his 
native  heath  was  a  quite  unexpected  stroke  of  fortune, 
seeing  how  seldom  it  is  that  one  is  encountered  in  the 
open  in  this  land  of  continuous  jungle.  The  disap- 
pointment of  the  others  on  having  missed  the  sight, 
may  be  imagined.  The  shola  was  far  too  large  to  beat, 
so  I  sent  for  a  calf ;  but  though  this  was  tied  up  near 
the  cover  every  day  for  the  rest  of  our  stay  in  camp, 
the  tiger  did  not  kill,  and  we  saw  no  more  of  him. 
Our  afternoon  outing  was  a  blank  ;  but  while  we  were 
sitting  out  in  the  moonlight  waiting  for  dinner,  we 
were  serenaded  by  a  leopard  who  kept  wandering 
round  the  tents,  attracted  probably  by  the  smell  of 
meat,  as  the  coolies  had  cut  up  both  stags  on  the  site 
of  our  first  camp  close  by. 


378  THE  NILGIRIS 


We  were  out  again  at  dawn,  and  went  back  towards 
Needlerock.  While  we  sat  watching  behind  a  pile  of 
rocks  which  commanded  the  whole  valley,  a  stag 
crossed  a  small  swamp  far  below  us  and  entered  a 
shola  which  bordered  it.  This  cover  was  not  extensive, 
and  in  the  hope  that  the  stag  would  not  harbour  in  it, 
I  made  my  way  as  fast  as  possible  down  the  precipitous 
hill  and  took  up  a  post  at  the  head  of  the  shola.  I 
waited  for  an  hour,  but  the  stag  did  not  show,  so 
I  sent  Juddia  down  to  the  swamp  with  instructions  to 
walk  through  the  shola  towards  me.  Hardly  had  he 
entered  it,  when  the  stag  and  a  hind  broke  and  raced 
along  the  hillside  below  me.  My  bullet  caught  him 
fair  behind  the  shoulder,  and  he  tumbled  headlong  into 
a  detached  clump  of  trees  just  at  the  head  of  the  main 
cover.  Instantly,  as  if  propelled  by  a  hidden  spring, 
out  of  this  clump  bounced  a  grand  stag,  and  disap- 
peared over  the  summit  of  the  hill  before  I  could 
reload  my  single  rifle.  If  not  my  friend  of  the  evening 
before,  he  was  his  twin  brother,  and  once  again  I  had 
been  cruelly  sold.  He  was  not  more  than  a  hundred 
yards  away,  and  I  judged  him  to  be  a  thirty-eight 
incher  at  least,  with  a  very  massive  head.  The  dead 
stag  carried  thirty-three  inch  horns. 

During  the  remainder  of  our  trip  we  saw  several 
more  stags  with  heads  of  about  the  same  size  ;  but  as  I 
had  redeemed  my  promise  of  sport,  I  did  not  go  after 
them.  Morning  and  evening  we  prowled  round  the 
big  stag's  haunt,  but  we  did  not  see  him  again.  His 
two  escapes  had  evidently  made  him  cautious,  and 
thereafter  he  must  have  fed  entirely  at  night.  The 
girls  returned  to  the  estate  thoroughly  pleased  with 
their  outing.  What  did  it  matter  that,  having  to  send 
a  mile  for  water,  we  had  been  limited    to  a  basinful 


THE   SAMBUR  379 


each  per  day  for  our  ablutions  ?  What  did  it 
matter  that  our  kitchen  was  merely  a  circle  of  stones 
set  under  a  tree,  when  our  "  boy "  had  produced  a 
daintily  cooked  three  course  dinner  every  day  under 
these  primitive  conditions,  with  that  wonderful  faculty 
for  evolving  a  square  meal  at  all  times  and  in  all 
places  which  seems  the  special  gift  of  the  native 
servant  ?  We  had  come  for  sport,  and  had  seen  a 
tiger  and  at  least  fifteen  stags,  and  had  bagged  three 
good  ones.  Our  trophies,  beautifully  set  up  by 
Rowland  Ward,  now  adorn  the  staircase  of  R.'s  flat  in 
Kensington,  and  often,  I  hope,  serve  to  remind  her  of 
our  trip  to  Rockwood  Peak. 


THE    SPOTTED    DEER 


Scientific  name. — Cervus  axis. 
Tamil  na.me.—I^ti/i  man. 
Kanarese  name. — Sarga. 
Kurumba  name. — Sarga. 
Nayaka  name. — Sarga. 


THE    MUNTJAC 

Scientific  name. — Cervtdus  muntjac. 
Tamil  name. — Kaf  ddu. 
Kanarese  name. — Kard'  kuri. 
Kurumba  name. — Kard'  kuri. 
Nayaka  name. — Kard'  kuri. 


THE  MOUSE  DEER 

Scientific  name. — Tragulus  memin?ia. 


THE  SPOTTED  DEER 

Where  the  bamboo  rears  its  graceful  spires, 
Where  the  tree  ferns  cluster  in  every  dell, 
Where  the  peacock  spreads  his  lambent  fires, 
It  is  there  the  dappled  deer  loves  to  dwell. 

Wynaad  Idylls. 

If  the  sambur,  by  reason  of  his  size  and  majestic 
appearance,  is  the  king  of  Indian  Cervidae,  the  axis,  in 
virtue  of  his  exquisite  grace  and  symmetry,  is  the 
Adonis  of  the  deer  tribe.  In  beauty  of  form  and 
colouring  his  only  rival  amongst  Indian  game  animals 
is  the  black  buck  [Antilope  cervicaprd).  The  ground 
colour  of  his  glossy  coat,  a  rufous  fawn,  is  somewhat 
variable,  the  shade  being  lighter  in  some  specimens 
than  in  others.  The  throat,  under  part  of  the  body, 
inside  of  limbs,  and  under  surface  of  tail,  are  white.  A 
dorsal  stripe,  considerably  darker  than  the  ground 
colour,  runs  from  the  nape  of  the  neck  to  the  end  of 
the  tail.  The  sides  are  covered  with  large  rounded 
white  spots,  irregularly  placed  in  some  specimens,  in 
others  showing  a  tendency  to  arrange  themselves  in 
lines  below  the  dorsal  stripe  and  above  the  white  of  the 
belly.  The  head  is  unspotted,  and  the  face  is  darker 
than  any  other  part  of  the  body.  The  ears,  which  are 
small  and  narrow  compared  with  those  of  other  deer, 
are  dark  fawn  outside  and  white  within.  Unlike  the 
sambur,  the  stag  has  no  mane,  and  the  absence  of  any 
long  or  shaggy  hair  is  in  perfect  harmony  with   his 

383 


384  THE   NILGIRIS 


uniformly  graceful  appearance.  The  coloration  of  the 
hind  is  very  similar  to  that  of  the  stag.  Fawns  of 
both  sexes  are  spotted  at  birth  ;  and  retain  the  spots 
throughout  their  lives. 

As  with  the  sambur,  the  horns  of  the  spotted  stag 
are  three-tined,  but  in  the  latter  the  form  is  more  lyrate. 
The  comparatively  long  brow  tine  meets  the  beam  at 
almost  a  right  angle,  while  the  outer  surroyal  is  always 
much  longer  than  the  inner.  Often  there  are  snags  at 
or  near  the  junction  of  the  brow  tine  with  the  beam. 
In  keeping  with  the  build  of  the  spotted  stag,  the  horns 
are  light  and  graceful,  lacking  the  beading  so  con- 
spicuous in  the  sambur.  The  longest  horns  of  which  I 
can  find  a  record  are  the  pair  mentioned  by  Blanford, 
measuring  thirty-eight  and  three-quarter  inches  round 
the  outside  curve,  five  and  three-quarter  inches  in 
circumference  above  the  burr,  and  four  inches  at  mid- 
beam.  My  own  best  pair  measure  thirty-two  inches 
round  the  curve,  four  and  three-quarter  inches  above 
the  burr,  and  have  a  spread  of  twenty-five  inches  ;  but 
these  dimensions  have  been  far  exceeded  in  other 
South  Indian  heads. 

It  would  seem  to  be  a  generally  accepted  view  • 
amongst  naturalists  that  the  spotted  deer  of  Southern 
India  is  a  smaller  animal  than  that  inhabiting  the 
North-West  and  Central  Provinces,  and  the  Eastern 
Ghats.  Hodgson  suggested  that  the  South  Indian 
deer  should  be  named  Axis  minor,  and  Jerdon  inclined 
to  the  opinion  that  this  deer  was  a  separate  species. 
Blanford  gives  the  height  of  stags  in  North  and 
Central  India  as  from  thirty-six  to  thirty-eight  inches 
at  the  shoulder,  while  Jerdon  makes  the  corresponding 
height  for  South  Indian  stags  thirty  to  thirty-four 
inches.      But    there    can,   I    think,   be    no   doubt    that 


THE   SPOTTED   DEER  385 

Jerdon's  figures  are  under  the  mark.  I  have  shot  a 
number  of  stags  in  Wynaad  and  below  the  Ghats, 
several  of  which  I  measured.  The  smallest  of  these 
stood  nearly  thirty-three  inches  at  the  shoulder,  the 
largest  thirty-six  inches  ;  while  I  feel  sure  that  of  the 
unmeasured  specimens  not  one  was  as  low  as  thirty 
inches.  The  stags  I  did  measure  were  not  selected  for 
their  superior  size  or  for  any  other  reason  :  that  I  did 
not  take  measurements  in  every  instance  was  due 
simply  to  the  fact  that  sometimes  I  was  without  a  tape. 
If  the  opinion  that  the  South  Indian  axis  is  con- 
siderably smaller  than  his  Northern  congener  rests 
solely  on  Jerdon's  statement  of  height,  that  opinion  is 
fallacious.  And  in  any  event,  the  variation  in  height, 
if  it  exists,  is  so  trifling  that  the  North  and  South 
Indian  forms  cannot  be  regarded  as  anything  more 
than  local  varieties  of  the  same  species. 

The  spotted  deer  is  not  found  on  the  Nilgiris,  the 
climate  and  country  being  so  different  from  his  usual 
habitat.  On  the  Wynaad  plateau  his  range  is  three 
thousand  feet  and  under,  which  is  only  another  way  of 
saying  that  he  confines  himself  to  bamboo  jungle.  It 
is  curious  how  sharply  the  dividing  line  between  the 
range  of  the  sambur  and  that  of  the  axis  is  marked  in 
Wynaad.  The  estate  on  which  I  live  has  an 
elevation  of  three  thousand  two  hundred  feet  at  the 
extreme  foot  of  the  valley  in  which  it  lies,  and  runs 
gradually  up  to  five  thousand  feet,  the  height  of 
Rockwood  Peak.  The  jungle  in  the  lower  portion 
consists  largely  of  bamboo ;  but  from  about  three 
thousand  four  hundred  feet  upwards  bamboo  is  con- 
spicuous by  its  absence,  and  the  forest  is  composed 
entirely  of  large  timber.  In  the  lower  valley — the 
bamboo  zone — spotted  deer  are  fairly  numerous  ;  but 

c  c 


386  THE   NILGIRIS 


above  the  bamboo  line  they  are  unknown.  In  this 
upper  portion,  on  the  other  hand,  sambur  are  extremely 
plentiful,  while  to  see  them  in  the  bamboo  is  a  very 
rare  occurrence.  I  think  I  can  safely  say  they  never 
enter  the  lower  jungle  except  when  driven  down  by 
the  advent  of  a  pack  of  wild  dogs  in  their  preserve. 
Five  miles  away  as  the  crow  flies  I  have  another 
estate  with  an  elevation  of  about  three  thousand  feet, 
where  the  jungle  is  all  bamboo.  Here  spotted  deer 
are  common,  but  I  have  never  yet  seen  a  sambur  on 
the  property.  Light  open  forest  on  the  banks  of 
streams,  interspersed  with  glades  of  short  grass,  is  the 
country  the  dappled  deer  love;  and  hence  they  abound 
in  the  jungles  at  the  foot  of  the  northern  face  of  the 
Nilgiri  plateau,  and  below  the  Western  Ghats  in 
Malabar,  where  their  special  taste  in  the  matter 
of  habitat  is  suited  to  a  nicety. 

The  spotted  deer  is  the  most  gregarious  of  any 
Indian  species,  and  the  stags  never  separate  from  the 
herds,  which,  where  free  from  persecution,  are  very 
large.  They  are  even  less  impatient  of  man's 
proximity  than  the  sambur,  and  frequent  the  borders  of 
cultivation  in  spite  of  the  precautions  taken  by  the 
ryots  to  drive  them  away.  They  retire  to  cover  later 
than  the  sambur,  and  come  out  to  feed  again  earlier  in 
the  afternoon ;  while,  lying  up  as  they  do  in  open 
forest,  they  can  be  met  with  at  all  hours  of  the  day  by 
the  sportsman  wandering  in  their  haunts. 

In  South  India  the  rutting  season  of  the  axis 
corresponds,  broadly  speaking,  with  that  of  the 
sambur — from  October  to  April ;  but  as  the  stags 
keep  with  the  hinds  throughout  the  year,  and  as  their 
horns   are    shed    very    irregularly,    young    fawns    can 


THE  SPOTTED   DEER  387 

be  seen  with  the  herds  at  all  seasons.  But  the 
majority  are  dropped  in  the  late  spring,  and  just 
before  the  setting  in  of  the  south-west  monsoon. 

The  call  of  the  spotted  deer  is  a  short  bark,  sharper 
and  much  less  sonorous  than  the  bell  of  the  sambur. 
Blanford  notes  that  this  deer  has  also  "  a  shrill  alarm 
cry";  but  when  startled  I  have  never  heard  it  emit  any 
sound  but  a  short  "  kop,  kop." 

On  several  occasions  prospecting  work  has  taken  me 
to  a  place  at  the  foot  of  the  hills,  where  the  whole 
country  is  alive  with  spotted  deer.  In  the  course  of  an 
afternoon  ramble  I  have  come  across  herd  after  herd, 
the  members  of  which  together  must  have  numbered 
fifty  at  least.  In  front  of  the  "  shanty  "  which  affords 
the  only  accommodation  for  the  traveller,  lies  a  long 
stretch  of  rice  fields,  and  the  young  rice  formed  such 
an  irresistible  attraction  to  the  deer,  that  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  paddy  swamps  they  swarmed.  Pigs, 
and  even  elephants,  paid  regular  nocturnal  visits  to 
these  fields,  and  the  watch-houses  of  the  Paniyans — 
little  platforms  on  four  upright  poles — were  scattered 
all  over  the  country.  Often  when  out  before  sunrise  I 
have  been  amused  at  the  efforts  of  the  watchmen 
to  drive  the  marauding  deer  away.  A  Paniyan  would 
wake  to  see  a  herd  busy  nibbling  the  rice  shoots, 
which  at  that  stage  of  their  growth  are  as  tender 
as  grass  after  a  burn,  close  to  his  watch  tower,  and 
banging  his  tom-tom  would  curse  the  robbers  who 
were  spoiling  his  crop.  With  a  great  show  of  fright 
the  deer  would  bound  away  into  the  jungle  surround- 
ing the  rice  field,  only  to  come  tripping  daintily  back  in 
a  different  direction  after  the  Paniyan's  wrath  had 
subsided.      More   cursing    from    another   quarter,  and 

c  c  2 


388  THE   NILGIRIS 


another  scamper   for   the  jungle ;  and    so    the   game 
would  go  on  till  the  sun  rose. 

The  work  on  which  I  was  engaged  took  me 
constantly  to  a  large  stream  in  the  jungle,  some  three 
miles  from  the  rest-house,  and  on  my  way  thither  I 
never  failed  to  startle  a  herd  or  two  from  their 
morning  siesta,  when  they  would  vanish  like  dappled 
ghosts  between  the  bamboo  clumps.  Had  I  been 
bent  on  slaughter,  I  could  have  shot  two  or  three  stags 
a  day  with  ease.  One  morning  I  took  my  way  to  the 
stream,  and  worked  hard  with  my  men  till  noon.  My 
inner  man  warning  me  that  it  was  breakfast  time,  I 
picked  up  the  tifhn  basket  and  wandered  away  to  find 
a  shady  place  for  my  meal.  The  stream  here  ran 
round  in  a  horseshoe,  and  I  cut  across  the  bend  till  I 
met  the  water  again,  three  hundred  yards  further  on. 
At  this  point  the  bank  was  high,  and  overhung  the 
stream,  and  I  sat  down  under  a  drooping  tree  which 
grew  just  at  the  edge.  From  my  perch  I  looked 
down  on  a  wide  pool,  and  across  at  a  shelving  bank' of 
shingle,  above  which  grew  the  jangle,  clumps  of  feathery 
bamboos  with  trees  in  between.  I  finished  breakfast, 
and  lulled  by  the  murmur  of  the  stream  I  was  smoking 
my  pipe  and  indulging  in  a  day  dream,  when  a 
movement  under  a  tree  across  the  water,  and  some 
distance  down  to  my  left,  caught  my  eye.  My  glasses 
were  in  the  basket,  and  one  glance  through  these 
showed  me  that  the  movement  was  caused  by  the 
flicker  of  a  spotted  stag's  ears,  and  such  a  stag !  He 
was  lying  tail  on  to  me,  and  I  could  see  the  graceful 
sweep  of  his  horns  as  they  towered  above  him.  He 
was  not  more  than  250  yards  away,  and  why  he  had 
not  heard  me  was  a  puzzle.      However,  there  he  lay, 


THE  SPOTTED   DEER  389 

blissfully  unconscious  of  my  proximity,  and  I  crept 
back  and  rejoined  my  men.  I  had  my  Paradox  and 
my  '500  Express  with  me,  and  giving  the  former  to 
Chic  Mara,  who  was  with  me  on  this  trip,  I  told  him 
what  I  had  seen.  The  head  Paniyan  was  anxious  to 
come  too,  and  I  had  been  told  by  the  Rajah  that  he 
was  a  noted  shikari  who  always  acted  as  cicerone  to 
sportsmen  shooting  In  these  jungles  ;  but  I  warned  him 
and  the  rest  not  to  move  till  they  heard  me  fire  or  till 
I  sent  back  for  them.  Then  Chic  Mara  and  I  crossed 
to  the  river  bank  in  a  line  which  I  judged  would  take 
us  exactly  opposite  to  the  stag.  Arrived  within  twenty 
yards  of  the  river,  I  left  Chic  Mara  behind  and  crawled 
along  to  the  edge.  The  stag  was  still  in  the  same 
position,  and  not  a  hundred  yards  away  ;  but  I  had  only 
the  neck  and  head  to  aim  at  as  the  undergrowth 
covered  his  body,  and  I  hardly  dared  to  risk  the  shot. 
Just  then  a  dry  bamboo  snapped  behind  me,  and  the 
stag  jumped  to  his  feet.  In  a  second  he  would  have 
been  off,  but  that  second's  hesitation  gave  me  my 
chance  and  cost  the  stag  his  life.  As  he  stood  gazing 
in  my  direction,  my  bullet  took  him  in  the  chest.  He 
turned,  staggered  forward  a  pace  or  two,  and  dropped 
dead.  I  turned  too,  and  gave  my  henchman  a  piece  of 
my  mind,  when  there  stood  the  Paniyan,  grinning  all 
over  his  face  with  joy  at  the  prospect  of  meat. 
Chic  Mara's  indignation  knew  no  bounds,  "/do  such 
a  fool's  trick  as  to  tread  on  a  dry  stick  ?  "  he  asked  ; 
"surely  the  dhoray  knows  me  too  well  for  that.  It  was 
this  buffalo  here,  who  was  told  to  stay  behind."  I  was 
determined  the  punishment  should  fit  the  crime,  so  I 
had  the  stag  carried  to  the  rest-house,  and  that 
evening  saw  the  meat  divided  between  my  followers, 


390  THE   NILGIRIS 


the  offending"  Paniyan  being  sent  empty  away.  This 
was  the  best  spotted  stag  I  have  ever  had  the  luck  to 
bag,  his  horns  measured 

inches. 
Round  curve      ...  ...         ...         ...     32 

Girth  above  burr  ...  ...  ...       4I 

Spread    ...          ...          ...  ...          ...     25 


THE  MUNTJAC  OR  BARKING  DEER 

The  name  vulgarly  given  to  the  muntjac,  rib-faced-, 
or  barking  deer  in  Southern  India  is  perhaps  the  most 
glaring  misnomer  current  in  a  land  where  most  animals 
are  called  by  wrong  names.  He  is  universally  known 
as  the  "jungle  sheep,"  whereas  he  has  no  more 
relation  to  the  sheep  than  to  the  elephant,  being  a  true 
deer.  So  far  as  India  is  concerned,  he  is  the  sole 
representative  of  the  genus — Cervulus — in  which  he  is 
placed,  a  genus  which  differs  from  Cervus  chiefly  in  the 
following  respects  : — 

Cervttlus,  short  horns  on  long  pedicels.  Phalanges 
to  lateral  digits  absent. 

Cervus,  long  horns  on  short  pedicels.  Phalanges' 
to  lateral  digits  present. 

The  muntjac  is  found  throughout  India,  Burma,  and 
Ceylon,  his  habitat  being  similar  to,  and  therefore 
roughly  co-terminous  with,  that  of  the  sambur,  viz.,  on 
all  jungle-clad  hills.  His  colour  is  a  rich  chestnut  red, 
deeper  on  the  back,  face,  and  legs.  The  lower 
surface  of  the  body  is  mostly  white,  from  the  chin  to 
the  end  of  the  tail.  A  black  line  runs  along  the  inside 
of  the  pedicels  and  facial  ribs.  In  a  skull  the  latter 
will  be  seen  to  be  continuations  of  the  pedicels,  and 
they  meet  at  an  acute  angle  above  the  snout.     These 


THE   MUNTJAC  391 


bony  ridges  on  the  face,  with  their  distinct  black 
colouring,  give  this  little  deer  a  very  curious 
appearance. 

The  horns  are  two-tined,  the  beam  not  being 
bifurcated  at  the  tip  as  in  other  deer.  The  brow  tine 
is  very  short,  and  not  infrequently  the  beam  carries 
sports  or  snags.  In  one  head  I  shot,  there  is  a  sport 
midway  between  brow-tine  and  tip  of  horn  which  is 
considerably  longer  than  the  former.  The  pedicels 
diverge  throughout  their  length  :  from  their  summits 
the  horns  rise  almost  perpendicularly,  while  the  tips 
curve  rapidly  inward,  backward,  and  downward.  The 
beam  is  not  round  as  in  the  sambur  and  spotted  deer, 
but  has  a  knife-edge  in  front  and  behind.  This 
peculiarity  is  more  marked  in  mature  than  in  young 
bucks.  In  the  female  a  tuft  of  hair  replaces  the  horn. 
The  buck  sheds  his  horns  in  April  and  May,  and  is  in 
hard  horn  again  by  August. 

Burke  writes: — "The  best  Indian  specimen  of  which 
we  have  particulars  is  nine  inches  (pedicel  four  inches, 
horn  five  inches)  got  in  the  Garo  Hills  in  1881."  My 
best  head  measures,  pedicel  three  and  three-quarter 
inches,  horn  six  and  a  half  inches,  total  length  ten 
and  a  quarter  inches,  which  far  exceeds  the  above,  and 
would  appear  to  be  a  record  for  India.  These  horns 
are  also  much  thicker  than  any  others  I  have  seen  or 
heard  of,  and  the  knife-edge  is  very  marked. 

The  muntjac  is  sometimes  found  singly,  more  often 
in  pairs,  occasionally  in  threes,  and  I  once  saw  five 
feeding  together  —  the  "  herd "  on  this  occasion 
consisting  of  three  does  and  two  bucks,  apparently  all 
full  grown.  It  is  a  most  wary  little  animal,  and  with 
stern  up  and  head  down  makes  its  way  through  even 
the  thickest  cover  with  extraordinary  rapidity.     When 


392  THE   NILGIRIS 


disturbed  in  the  open  it  races  away  at  a  pace  which, 
for  its  size,  I  judge  to  be  much  faster  than  that  of  any- 
other  deer.  If  the  sportsman  is  close  enough,  he  will 
notice  a  clicking  sound  as  the  muntjac  bounds  away. 
Various  writers  have  put  forward  different  theories  as 
to  how  the  sound  is  produced;  but  "  Hawkeye"  has 
noted  that  the  long  canine  teeth  are  not  firmly  set  in 
the  jaw,  and  I  agree  with  him  that  the  rattle  is  caused 
by  the  movement  of  these  teeth.  The  canines  furnish 
the  male  with  a  formidable  weapon  of  defence,  which 
he  uses  with  great  effect  when  collared  by  dogs.  On 
one  occasion  a  shikari  of  mine  was  badly  bitten  when 
he  seized  a  wounded  buck  which  had  crept  into  a 
thicket  of  thorns.  In  the  female  the  canines  are 
shorter,  but  she  can  also  inflict  a  nasty  bite. 

When  feeding,  the  muntjac  has  a  jaunty  gait,  lifting 
each  foot  high  at  every  step,  and  bringing  it  down  as 
if  he  were  "  treading  on  eggs."  In  all  respects  he  is  a 
beautiful  little  animal. 

The  call  of  the  muntjac  is  surprisingly  loud  for  an 
animal  of  his  small  size.  It  is  a  short  roar,  and  some- 
times this  barking  is  maintained  for  a  long  time. 
Frequently,  when  I  have  disturbed  a  muntjac,  he  has' 
rushed  away  with  a  short  bark  of  alarm,  and  after 
going  a  little  distance  has  kept  up  a  series  of  loud 
barks  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  On  none  of  these 
occasions  do  I  think  the  muntjac  was  aware  of  my 
identity  ;  and  in  my  view  no  deer  barks  at  a  man. 
His  call  at  sight  or  smell  of  a  tiger  is  different  from  his 
ordinary  roar,  consisting  of  a  number  of  very  sharp 
barks  in  rapid  succession. 

The  period  of  gestation  is  about  six  months,  and  as 
most  fawns  are  dropped  in  April  and  May,  the  rutting 
season  must  be  in   November  or  December.      But   I 


The  Mouse  Deer 


Drjiwn  by  J .  i^lac/a7-lnne 


THE   MOUSE   DEER  393 

have  seen  does  with  young  fawns  at  foot  all  through 
the  year ;  and  as  I  have  several  times  noticed  two 
fawns  of  apparently  equal  age  running  with  the  mother, 
two  young  at  a  birth  cannot  be  uncommon. 

Both  on  the  Nilgiris  and  in  Wynaad  the  muntjac  is 
very  common.  On  the  higher  plateau  he  is  usually 
bagged  with  a  charge  of  shot  by  sportsmen  beating  for 
small  game/  But  the  proper  way  to  shoot  him  is  by 
stalking.  Owing  to  his  wariness  it  calls  for  the  display 
of  considerable  skill  to  get  within  shooting  distance, 
while  he  offers  such  a  small  mark  that  to  bag  him  with 
a  bullet  needs  good  shooting.  In  Wynaad  he  feeds  at 
all  hours  of  the  day  at  the  edge  of  some  cover  into 
which  he  can  retreat  instanter,  and  stalking  him  has 
often  afforded  me  very  pretty  sport.  The  feat  of 
which  I  am  proudest,  was  a  right  and  left  at  a  pair  of 
muntjac  with  my  Express,  as  they  raced  across  a 
hillside  when  I  had  crept  up  to  seventy  yards. 


THE  MOUSE  DEER 

This  little  animal,  not  more  than  a  foot  high  at  the 
shoulder,  is  not  found  on  the  Nilgiri  plateau,  but  is 
common  in  the  heavy  forest  on  the  Wynaad  Ghats. 
Blanford  states  that  he  is  found  in  Southern  India  "in 
forest  at  elevations  below  2000  feet "  ;  but  he  has  a 
much  higher  range  in  Wynaad,  and  I  have  seen  him 
at  4,000  feet.  Though  a  few  are  found  in  the  lighter 
deciduous  jungle  lying  between  the  crest  of  the  Ghats 
and  the  foot  of  the  Nilgiris,  the  true  habitat  of  the 
Tragulus  is  the  dense  forest  which  clothes  the  western 
slopes  of  the  Wynaad  Ghats. 

1  The  shooting  of  muntjac  with  shot  has  lately  been  prohibited. 


394  THE  NILGIRIS 


The  upper  parts  of  the  body  are  brown,  but  there  is 
a  great  variation  in  the  shade,  some  specimens  being 
much  lighter  than  others.  The  under  parts  are  white. 
On  the  throat  are  three  white  stripes.  The  brown 
body  hairs  have  black  tips,  with  a  light  yellow  ring 
near  the  ends.  On  the  sides  are  oblong  spots  and 
bands. 

The  call  of  the  mouse  deer  somewhat  resembles  the 
bleat  of  a  young  kid.  I  have  heard  it  utter  this  when 
caught,  and  a  tame  one  I  kept  for  some  time  used  to 
bleat  in  the  same  way  as  it  followed  me  about. 

Tickell  says,  "  the  male  keeps  with  the  female 
during  the  rutting  season,  about  June  or  July,  at  other 
times  they  live  solitary  "  ;  but  I  have  seen  buck  and 
doe  together  at  any  time  between  October  and  June. 
And  as  I  have  caught  young  mouse  deer  both  in 
November  and  April,  I  do  not  think  there  is  a  regular 
breeding  season. 

Frequently,  when  felling  heavy  Ghat  jungle,  my 
coolies  have  caught  mouse  deer  by  surrounding  them, 
and  I  regret  to  say  they  killed  many  more  than  they 
caught.  After  capture  it  is  a  most  difficult  matter  to 
rear  a  chevrotain,  especially  if  full  grown  ;  but  if  he 
can  be  got  to  survive  the  first  fortnight,  he  will 
flourish  in  captivity,  is  easily  tamed,  and  makes  a  very 
pretty  and  interesting  pet. 


THE    WILD    DOG 


Scientific  name. — Cyon  dtikhunetisis. 
(Properly  dekkanensis.) 
Tamil  name. — Kaf  nai. 
Kanarese  name. — Kad'  nai. 
Kurumba  name. — Kad^  nai. 
Nayaka  name. — Kad'  nai. 


SMALL    GAME 


Dra-iVii  hv  J ■  Macja>ianc 


The  Wild  Dog 


THE  WILD  DOG 

"  The  wild  dog 

Doth  flesh  his  tooth  in  every  innocent." 

As  in  the  case  of  so  many  animals  in  South  India, 
the  name  applied  to  this  one  is  a  misnomer.  He  differs 
from  all  members  of  the  genus  Cams  in  many  important 
respects :  the  dentition  is  different  (four  molars  in  the 
lower  jaw  against  six  in  the  true  dog),  the  mammae 
are  more  numerous  (generally  fourteen  against  ten),  and 
he  has  long  hair  between  the  pads  of  his  feet ;  while 
his  intractable  disposition  shows  that  he  has  had  no 
share  in  the  evolution  of  the  domestic  dog.  The  latter 
is  far  more  nearly  allied  to  the  jackal  than  to  the  wild 
dog. 

This  pest,  which  unfortunately  is  very  numerous  in 
Wynaad,  is  rather  a  handsome  animal.  His  colour  is 
a  bright  rufous,  lighter  on  the  under  parts  than  the 
upper,  and  he  carries  a  thick  brush  with  a  black  tip, 
which  gives  him  a  jaunty  appearance.  I  must  also  do 
him  the  justice  to  say  he  has  a  bright,  intelligent  look, 
but  none  the  less  he  has  "knave"  writ  large  on  his 
countenance ;  while  his  slouching  gait  proclaims  him  the 
arrant  poacher  he  is.  No  other  carnivorous  animal  does 
a  tithe  of  the  damage  in  a  game  country  for  which  the 
wild  dog  is  responsible.  He  hunts  by  day,  running 
mute,  in  a  pack  of  from  three  to  thirty  ;  and  once  on 
the  track  of  a  deer  that  deer's  fate  is  sealed,  for  he  is 


398  THE   NILGIRIS 


an  untiring-,  implacable  foe.  A  pack  will  pull  down  a 
stag  on  occasion;  but  their  usual  quarry  is  a  fawn  or 
gravid  hind,  and  hence  it  is  that  they  are  such  an 
incalculable  nuisance  in  a  game  country.  Moreover, 
the  havoc  they  do  is  not  confined  to  the  game  they  kill, 
for  all  deer  will  at  once  leave  a  tract  of  country 
in  which  wild  dogs  make  their  appearance.  Frequently 
I  have  seen  the  sambur  in  my  preserve  migrating 
because  a  pack  was  in  the  vicinity. 

The  wild  dog  pulls  down  his  quarry  by  tearing  open 
the  stomach,  his  sharp  teeth  easily  penetrating  the 
stretched  skin  when  the  victim  is  in  fliorht.  I  have 
several  times  come  up  with  the  brutes  directly  they  had 
pulled  down  a  sambur,  and  before  they  had  begun 
their  meal ;  and  on  all  such  occasions  the  entrails  were 
protruding. 

Most  writers  state  that  the  wild  dog  is  shy  of  man, 
but  my  experience  is  just  the  reverse.  In  my  view 
he  is  endowed  with  phenomenal  impudence.  Meet  a 
jackal,  and  even  if  he  does  not  move  very  far  out  of 
your  road,  he  will  at  least  pay  you  the  compliment  of 
recognising  that  "on  earth  there  is  nothing  great  but 
man "  by  keeping  a  wary  eye  on  your  movements.' 
But  meet  a  wild  dog,  as  I  have  met  him  many  times. 
He  slouches  a  pace  or  two  off  the  path,  and  then  (if  he 
does  not  add  the  crowning  insult  of  showing  you  his 
stern)  as  you  pass  he  will  deliberately  look  the  other 
way,  as  who  should  say,  "  I'm  bound  to  get  out  of  the 
way  of  a  hulking  brute  like  you,  but  don't  lay  the 
flattering  unction  to  your  soul  that  I'm  frightened,  for 
I  don't  care  a  d — n  for  you."  I  have  often  been 
insulted  in  this  fashion  by  Mr.  Cyon  :  it  is  only  when 
I  have  come  upon  him  suddenly  that  he  has  evinced 
the  least  hurry  in  getting  out  of  my  way. 


THE   WILD   DOG  399 

The  belief  is  current  amongst  natives  that  wild  dogs 
will  hunt  down  and  kill  a  tiger  ;  and  some  sporting 
writers  have  given  credence  to  this  legend.  Personally 
I  regard  it  as  pure  fiction.  In  every  account  I  have 
read  of  a  tiger  having  been  killed  by  wild  dogs,  the 
evidence  has  rested  on  statements  made  by  natives, 
and  everyone  knows  how  unreliable  such  statements 
invariably  are.  I  have  seen  a  pack  of  four  wild  dogs 
run  from  a  small  fox-terrier  who  went  for  them,  and 
not  for  a  moment  do  I  believe  they  would  face  a  tiger. 
One  writer,  as  proof  of  the  belief,  says  that  wild  dogs 
have  been  seen  following  the  track  of  a  tiger.  I  have 
no  doubt  that  in  such  instances  Lazarus  was  merely 
waiting  for  the  crumbs  from  Dives'  table. 

It  has  fallen  to  me,  I  am  glad  to  say,  to  account  for 
a  good  many  wild  dogs  in  Wynaad.  A  description  of 
how  they  were  bagged  would  scarcely  make  interest- 
ing reading  ;  but  I  will  give  two  instances  in  support 
of  my  contention  that  the  wild  dog  is  an  impudent 
rascal,  with  little  or  no  fear  of  man.  Very  early  one 
morning  I  climbed  to  the  top  of  Rockwood  Peak,  in 
the  hope  of  a  shot  at  a  stag.  I  reached  the  summit 
just  as  day  broke,  and  sat  down  to  search  the  large 
extent  of  country  I  commanded  from  my  lofty  perch. 
Looking  over  the  precipice  to  my  left,  I  saw  a  number 
of  small  objects  running  about  on  a  grass  hill  above  a 
small  shola  ;  and  with  my  glass  I  made  them  out  to  be 
wild  dogs.  To  get  to  them  I  had  to  come  down  the 
bare  face  of  the  hill  in  full  view  of  the  dogs,  but  they 
took  no  notice  of  my  approach.  I  walked  to  within 
fifty  yards  of  them  before  they  began  to  decamp,  and 
then  the  pack,  which  numbered  sixteen,  only  moved  a 
short  way  up  the  hill,  where  they  stood  at  gaze.  I 
got  two  with  a  right  and  left  from  my  Express,  and  at 


400  THE   NILGIRIS 


the  sound  of  the  shots  the  rest  trotted  away  in  a  line. 
Ramming  in  two  more  cartridges,  I  bowled  over 
another  and  missed  the  fourth.  This  slaughter  set 
them  going  in  earnest,  and  they  disappeared  over  the 
crest  of  the  hill  before  I  could  fire  again.  At  the  edge 
of  the  shola  I  found  a  freshly  killed  hind. 

On  another  occasion  I  was  sitting  at  my  writing 
table  about  lo  a.m.,  when  I  heard  a  commotion  just 
outside,  and  something  rushed  past  the  open  door,  but 
so  quickly  that  I  could  not  see  what  it  was.  Running 
to  the  door,  I  saw  a  sambur  fawn  careering  down  the 
road  with  four  wild  dogs  in  full  chase.  It  only  took 
me  a  few  moments  to  snatch  up  a  rifle  and  follow. 
The  track  turned  off  into  the  coffee,  and  I  carried  it 
down  to  my  store,  when  I  saw  the  dogs  near  the 
bridge  on  the  public  road  just  below  the  building. 
They  allowed  me  to  come  within  thirty  yards  before 
they  showed  any  disposition  to  move,  and  I  knocked 
two  over,  whereupon  the  other  two  jumped  up  the 
bank  into  the  coffee.  The  fawn  was  lying  dead-  in 
the  stream  with  his  stomach  ripped  open.  I  was 
examining  the  dead  dogs,  when  a  cooly  came  along  the 
road,  and  he  told  me  the  brace  who  had  bolted  were 
sitting  on  the  road  bank  close  by.  Round  a  bend  I 
came  up  with  them,  and  bagged  a  third.  This  last 
was  a  bitch,  and  it  was  with  great  satisfaction  that  I 
saw  four  embryo  pups  cut  out  of  her. 

The  tiger  is  a  gentleman.  He  takes  toll  of  my 
sambur  and  cattle  in  a  gentlemanly  way,  and  I  do  not 
grudge  him  his  share,  feeling  amply  compensated  if 
at  rare  intervals  I  get  his  striped  hide  in  payment. 
Even  with  the  leopard,  though  he  has  robbed  me  of 
many  a  good  dog  and  plays  havoc  with  my  calves,  I 
have  no  quarrel.      But  the  wild  dog  is  an  impudent, 


SMALL  GAME  401 


insatiable,  bloodthirsty  poacher,  who  kills  and  spares 
not.  He  has  not  one  redeeming  point  in  his 
despicable  character,  and  personally  I  would  welcome 
his  extermination. 


SMALL  GAME      ' 

Where  lonely  Woodcocks  haunt  the  wat'ry  glade. — Pope. 

The  Nilgiris,  owing  to  their  charming  climate  and 
the  variety  of  small  game  shooting  they  afford,  have 
always  been  a  favourite  field  for  the  devotees  of  the 
"scatter  gun."  A  day's  snipe  shooting  on  the  plains 
entails  a  fag  in  the  blazing  sun  :  on  the  hills  it  means 
merely  a  delightful  outing.  And  to  add  to  its  charm, 
there  is  always  the  chance  of  picking  up  a  woodcock 
or  two  in  the  little  sholas  that  stand  at  the  head  of 
every  swamp.  By  far  the  best  woodcock  ground  is  on 
the  Kundahs ;  but  for  several  years  the  beating 
of  sholas  on  the  Kundahs  has  been  prohibited, 
which  has  indirectly  made  woodcock-shooting  "  tabu  " 
on  that  range.  With  the  object  of  the  rule  against 
beating — to  protect  and  preserve  the  large  game 
animals  by  preventing  any  disturbance  of  the  cover 
in  which  they  harbour — no  one  could  have  greater 
sympathy  than  myself ;  but  I  question  whether  the 
prohibition  does  not  go  too  far.  Beating  with  dogs 
should,  obviously,  be  forbidden  absolutely ;  but  the 
small  sholas  bordering  the  swamps  (in  which  alone 
woodcock  are  found)  are  not  usually  those  in  which 
sambur  lie  up.  And  even  if  they  did  occasionally  hold 
sambur,  no  great  harm  would  be  done  by  a  few 
beaters  going  through  them  :  the  deer  would  merely 
retreat  to  the  next   cover.     Certainly  no  greater  dis- 

D    D 


40i  THE   NILGIRI^ 


turbance  would  be  caused  by  silent  beats  than  now 
Arises  from  sportsmen  being  allowed  to  "  stalk  "  sambur 
with  a  retinue  of  shikaris  and  followers.  To  preserve 
woodcock  does  not,  naturally,  form  any  part  of  the 
scheme  of  the  Game  Association,  these  being 
migratory  birds  :  and  it  seems  rather  arbitrary  prac- 
tically to  put  a  veto  on  cock  shooting  on  the  Kundahs 
by  the  enforcement  of  a  rule  which  might  be  relaxed  a 
little  in  the  way  I  have  indicated  without  detriment 
to  the  object  it  was  framed  to  achieve. 

Some  years  ago,  when  many  elderly  but  keen 
sportsmen  were  resident  on  the  hills,  to  bag  the  first 
cock  was  reckoned  the  blue  riband  of  Nilgiri  sport  ; 
and  great  was  the  rivalry  between  them  for  the  honour. 
But  this  Fraternity  of  Old  Gunners  (I  use  the  title 
with  the  greatest  respect)  gradually  dwindled  :  some 
went  home  for  good,  some  sleep  in  the  old  churchyard  : 
and  the  bagging  of  the  first  cock  is  no  longer  heralded 
by  a  triumphal  announcement  in  the  local  paper  that 
"  the  first  woodcock  of  the  season  fell  to  the  unerring 
gun  of  Mr.  (or  Col.  or  Dr.  or  Rev.  as  the  case  might 
be)  on  ...  .  last."  But  though  the  glory  has 
departed,  the  difficulty  of  making  anything  like  a  bag- 
of  cock  is  perhaps  greater  than  ever  before,  for  gunners 
are  younger  and  more  numerous,  and  the  shooting 
area  is  restricted  to  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of 
Ootacamund. 

Besides  woodcock,  the  Nilgiri  menu  provides  snipe — 
say  half  a  dozen  couple  on  a  good  day,  with  a  jack 
thrown  in  if  the  sportsman  is  in  luck  ;  jungle-fowl  and 
spur-fowl — neither  very  plentiful ;  hares — numerous  in 
suitable  localities  such  as  the  bracken  on  the  borders  of 
Badaga  cultivation ;  and  quail — also  common  in 
favourite  spots  such  as  the  bushes  fringing  a  stream. 


SMALL  GAME  403 


Pea-fowl  were  once  found  in  numbers  on  the  plateau, 
but  are  now  extinct. 

In  Wynaad,  the  woodcock  is  not  found.  The  only- 
instance  I  know  of  its  occurrence  there  was  in  1898, 
when  the  late  Mr.  W.  Hamilton — clarum  et  venerabile 
7ionten — shot  one  in  a  swamp  below  Gadbrook  Estate. 
Snipe  are  far  more  plentiful  than  on  the  Nilgiris,  and 
wood  snipe  are  not  uncommon  in  certain  localities, 
to  which  they  are  confined  and  to  which  they  return 
year  after  year.  Jungle-fowl  and  spur-fowl — especially 
the  latter — are  more  common  than  on  the  higher 
plateau.  I  know  places  where  they  swarm,  and  where 
it  is  possible  to  make  a  bag  of  a  dozen  in  a  day. 
Hares  are  comparatively  rare.  Pea-fowl,  though  not 
extinct,  have  been  so  ruthlessly  slaughtered  by  Chettis 
and  other  natives  who  possess  guns,  that  they  are  only 
occasionally  met  with.  I  have  a  semi-tame  flock  on 
Rockwood,  but  these  are  gradually  decreasing,  being 
killed  when  they  fly  off  my  land.  On  the  flat  country 
below  the  Ghats,  in  Malabar,  they  are  still  very 
plentiful. 

The  woodcock  {Scolopax  rusticuld),  as  I  have  said,  is 
confined  to  the  Nilgiris,  and  is  there  found  in  the  small 
sJiolas  near  swamps,  in  which  latter  he  finds  his  food, 
consisting  chiefly  of  worms,  though  he  does  not 
disdain  insects.  He  feeds  at  night,  and  more  than 
once  when  crossing  a  swamp  on  the  Kundahs  in  bright 
moonlieht,  I  have  flushed  a  woodcock  at  some  distance 
from  any  cover.  While  on  the  subject  of  feeding,  one 
peculiarity  possessed  by  the  woodcock  and  by  all 
members  of  the  snipe  family  deserves  notice.  He 
finds  his  food  by  touch,  probing  the  soft  ground  with 
his  long  bill  till  it  comes  in  contact  with  a  worm. 
These    "borings"    can    be   seen    in    clusters    in    any 

D   D    2 


404  THE   NILGIRIS 


ground  frequented  by  snipe  or  woodcock.  But 
obviously  when  the  long,  thin  bill,  with  mandibles 
tightly  closed,  is  thrust  deep  into  the  tenacious  clay  of 
a  swamp,  the  pressure  of  the  ground  would  prevent  its 
being  opened  to  seize  a  worm.  Nature  has  provided 
for  this  difficulty.  Gently  squeeze  the  jaws  of  a  wood- 
cock or  snipe  with  lateral  pressure  between  the  finger 
and  thumb,  and  the  tip  of  the  upper  mandible  will  be 
seen  to  rise,  closing  again  when  the  pressure  is  relaxed. 
The  bird  can  thus  use  the  end  of  his  bill  as  a  pair  of 
forceps  with  which  to  seize  and  extract  his  food,  and  is 
not  called  upon  to  attempt  the  impossible  feat  of 
opening  his  bill  for  its  entire  length  when  embedded 
in  the  ground.  I  have  not  been  able  to  detect  any 
difference  in  colouring  between  the  Nilgiri  woodcock 
and  his  European  congener — the  only  variation 
being  that  the  former  is  considerably  smaller.  This 
variation,  which  I  believe  applies  to  woodcock 
wherever  found  in  India,  suggests  a  special  breeding 
ground  for  the  birds  that  visit  the  peninsula  ;  and 
doubtless  this  is  in  the  Himalayas,  where  the  eggs 
have  frequently  been  found.  The  sexes  are  alike ; 
and  everyone  knows  the  "artist's  feather,  "  the  outer- 
most primary  covert  lying  at  the  base  of  the  first  major 
primary. 

The  wood  snipe  {Gallinago  nemoricola)  is  not  found 
on  the  Nilgiris  :  it  occurs  in  Wynaad,  but  is  never 
plentiful.  This  bird  comes  in  later  than  the  ordinary 
snipe,  and  leaves  earlier.  I  have  a  record  of  the  dates 
on  which  I  shot  my  first  wood  snipe,  extending  over  a 
series  of  years,  and  the  earliest  date  I  find  in  my  game 
book  is  October  27,  while  I  have  shot  ordinary  snipe 
on  September  22.  It  inhabits  only  certain  favoured 
spots,  and  these   hold  birds  with   unfailing   regularity 


SMALL   GAME  405 


every  year.  In  other  places  in  the  neighbourhood, 
apparently  just  as  suitable,  a  bird  is  never  seen  :  what 
the  special  attraction  is,  I  do  not  know.  There  is  a 
small  swamp  five  miles  from  my  Estate  in  which  I  can 
make  sure  of  finding  a  few  wood  snipe  during  the 
season.  This  swamp  is  never  cultivated  with  paddy, 
and  is  covered  with  rather  higher  grass  than  usual. 
On  both  sides  are  large  thickets  of  screw  pine 
{^Pandamis  odoratissimtis)  and  I  generally  find  the  birds 
in  the  marsh  at  the  edge  of  these.  Usually  they  are 
single  ;  but  I  have  several  times  put  up  and  bagged  a 
brace  together.  The  wood  snipe  lies  very  close,  in 
fact  it  will  not  rise  till  almost  trodden  on.  On  several 
occasions  I  have  beaten  the  swamp  without  flushing  one, 
and  then,  having  gone  back  after  a  pintail  snipe,  have 
stumbled  on  the  resting  place  of  a  wood  snipe,  and  put 
him  up  on  my  return.  When  flushed  he  rises  with  a 
"  croak,"  and  flies  slowly,  giving  the  easiest  of  shots — 
so  easy,  in  fact,  that,  if  the  gunner  comes  suddenly  on  a 
wood  snipe  after  having  shot  several  pintail,  he  is  apt 
to  swing  too  far  in  front.  The  bird  never  flies  far  ;  and 
if  flushed  on  one  side  of  the  swamp  I  allude  to  it  will 
settle  down  for  certain  on  the  other.  The  laro^est  baof 
I  ever  made  was  five  in  one  day  ;  as  a  rule  this  would 
represent  my  bag  during  a  season.  As  a  table  bird 
he  is  in  my  opinion  scarcely  worth  powder  and  shot, 
the  flesh  being  coarse  and  far  inferior  in  flavour  to  that 
of  an  ordinary  snipe.  He  is  a  handsome  bird,  but  his 
coloration  is  too  intricate  to  be  set  down  in  detail. 
At  first  sight  he  might  well  be  mistaken  for  a  small 
woodcock.  His  weight  is  from  7  to  8  ounces,  about 
two-thirds  the  weight  of  an  ordinary  Indian  woodcock. 
I  can  well  understand  the  ornithological  reader 
opening  his    eyes    in    wonder    at    seeing  the   solitary 


4o6  THE    NILGIRIS 


snipe  (Gallinago  solitaria)  set  down  as  a  Wynaad 
game  bird.  But  none  the  less  I  once  found  it  there. 
In  the  Asian  of  February  8,  1898,  I  wrote  : — "  Some 
little  time  back,  when  shooting  near  D.  in  S.-E. 
Wynaad,  with  Mr.  W.  Hamilton,  we  bagged  a  good 
specimen  of  the  Himalayan  solitary  snipe.  I  say  "  we  " 
advisedly,  as  the  prize  was  only  discovered  amongst 
our  bag  after  the  day's  shoot  was  over,  and  I  do  not 
therefore  know  to  whose  gun  it  fell."  I  cannot  be 
certain,  but  I  believe  the  luck  fell  to  me,  as  I  distinctly 
remember  the  thought  crossing  my  mind,  when  I 
knocked  over  a  snipe  which  rose  at  the  head  of  a  long 
swamp,  that  it  was  much  larger  than  an  ordinary 
snipe.  Mr.  Hamilton  was  close  to  me  at  the  time,  as 
the  swamp  had  narrowed  to  a  few  yards,  and  he  told 
me  afterwards  that  the  same  impression  had  flashed 
across  him  when  the  snipe  fell.  But  neither  of  us 
examined  the  bird  at  the  time — it  was  picked  up  by 
one  of  the  beaters  and  slung  on  the  stick  with  the 
rest ;  and  it  was  only  when  we  reached  the  '  D. 
bungalow,  after  the  shoot  was  over,  that  the  superior 
size  of  the  bird,  as  it  hung  on  the  snipestick  amongst 
forty  pintails,  attracted  our  attention.  That  it  was 
something  out  of  the  ordinary  was  evident  from  the 
most  cursory  examination.  When  we  returned  to 
Rockwood  the  following  day,  we  were  able  to  refer  to 
the  books,  and  then  the  identity  of  the  bird  as  a 
solitary  snipe  stood  revealed  beyond  any  possibility  of 
doubt.  It  weighed  over  seven  ounces,  nearly  double 
the  weight  of  a  pintail.  The  coloration  corresponded 
exactly  with  the  book  description  ;  and  there  was  no 
mistaking  the  yellow-brown  bill  with  black  tip,  and  the 
olive  legs  and  feet.     So  far  as  I  know,  this  is  the  only 


SMALL   GAME  407 


solitary  snipe  recorded  from  Southern  India.  Though 
obviously  a  chance  visitant,  its  occurrence  on  this 
occasion  makes  its  inclusion  necessary  amongst  the 
game  birds  of  Wynaad. 

The  pintail  snipe  (Gallinago  stenura)  is  found  both 
on  the  Nilgiris  and  in  Wynaad,  but  is  far  more 
plentiful  during  the  season  on  the  latter  plateau.  The 
numbers  vary  greatly  in  different  seasons  :  my 
experience  is  that  a  monsoon  extending  late  into  the 
year  presages  a  good  snipe  season,  and  vice  versa. 
As  mentioned  above,  the  earliest  date  on  which 
I  have  shot  this  snipe  in  my  part  of  Wynaad  was 
September  22,  and  I  have  known  a  few  individuals 
remain  as  late  as  the  beginning  of  April.  Below  the 
Ghats,  seemingly,  they  are  later  still,  for  I  once  shot  a 
brace  near  N.  on  May  19.  In  Wynaad  this  snipe 
has  a  curious  habit  of  retiring  sometimes  during  the 
middle  of  the  day  into  the  jungle  which  borders  the 
swamps.  Frequently  I  have  drawn  a  swamp  blank  or 
almost  blank  at  noon,  and  coming  back  through  it 
some  hours  later  have  found  it  full  of  birds.  But  this 
is  not  a  universal  rule,  for  at  other  times  I  have  found 
plenty  of  birds  in  a  swamp  at  high  noon.  If  there  is 
any  special  reason  which  induces  snipe  to  seek  cover,  I 
am  unaware  of  it — with  this  reservation,  that  they  do 
not  remain  in  the  swamps  after  heavy  rain  for  the  all- 
sufficient  reason  that  the  swamps  are  then  so  full  of 
water  that  they  cannot  obtain  their  food  in  the  usual 
places.  Often,  when  flushed  in  a  swamp,  a  snipe  will 
settle  in  the  jungle  at  the  edge — occasionally  even  on  a 
bare  grass  hill.  This  propensity  for  cover  becomes  more 
marked,  I  think,  as  the  season  draws  to  a  close  and  the 
weather  gets  hotter.     The  pintail  feeds  in  the  morning 


4o8  THE   NILGIRIS 


and  again  in  the  early  afternoon.  During-  its  feeding 
hours,  as  also  after  a  shower,  it  is  wilder  and  more 
difficult  of  approach  than  at  other  times.  In  the  first 
case  the  reason  probably  is  that  the  bird  is  more  on 
the  alert  when  seeking  food  than  when  resting  ;  in  the 
second  case  the  obvious  reason  is  that  the  gunner 
makes  more  noise  when  splashing  through  the  water. 
More  than  once  I  have  seen  snipe  following  a  plough, 
doubtless  to  pick  up  the  worms  as  the  slushy  soil  was 
turned  over  and  exposed.  Like  the  wood  snipe,  the 
pintail  favours  certain  localities  to  the  exclusion  of 
others  seemingly  just  as  favourable  ;  and  in  every 
swamp  there  are  "  hot  corners."  I  will  not  go  the 
length  of  saying  that  the  fantail  or  common  snipe 
(Gallinago  gallinago)  never  visits  the  Nilgiris  or 
Wynaad,  but  I  have  never  seen  one.  When  the  late 
Mr.  Hamilton  was  alive,  our  combined  bag  of  snipe 
often  reached  four  hundred  in  a  season.  Over  and 
over  again  we  have  carefully  searched  through  a  day's 
bag,  especially  when  it  was  large,  with  the  view  of 
finding  a  fantail,  but  in  no  instance  was  the  search 
successful.  My  own  impression  is  that  the  common 
snipe  never  visits  this  part  of  India. 

The  jack  snipe  {Limnocryptes gallinuld)  is  found  both 
on  the  Nilgiris  and  in  Wynaad,  but  on  neither  plateau 
is  it  common.  This  bird  also  seems  to  have  a  pen- 
chant for  certain  localities  ;  and  most  of  the  jacks 
I  have  shot  have  been  found  in  one  place  in  a  large 
swamp  lying  just  off  the  N.  road.  In  my  experience 
the  jack  is  always  solitary.  His  weight  is  two  ounces 
or  a  trifle  over  ;  but  though  such  a  little  mite  he  is 
well  worth  bagging. 

The  painted  snipe  {Rostratula  capensis),  which  is  not 


SMALL   GAME  409 


a  true  snipe,  I  have  never  met  with  on  the  Nilgiris, 
nor  have  I  heard  of  its  occurrence  there.  In  Wynaad 
I  have  shot  it  twice.  On  both  occasions  the  bird  was 
soHtary,  for  though  I  beat  all  round  the  place  from 
which  it  was  flushed  for  some  distance,  I  could  not  find 
its  mate  in  either  instance.  These  birds  were  evi- 
dently stray  migrants  from  the  Malabar  plain,  where 
they  are  not  uncommon. 


ON   RIFLES 


ON   RIFLES 

In  almost  every  old  book  on  Indian  sport  will  be 
found  a  chapter  devoted  to  rifles  and  guns  ;  and  though 
the  writers  were  not  unanimous  as  to  the  ideal  battery 
for  Indian  shooting,  on  one  point  there  was  a  general 
consensus  of  opinion — that  for  big  game  big  rifles  were 
a  necessity.  Against  bison  and  elephants  the  tyro  was 
enjoined  to  use  nothing  smaller  than  an  eight  bore, 
and  to  invest  in  a  four  bore  if  his  physique  would  allow 
him  to  manage  a  rifle  of  this  weight  ;  while  he  was  told 
that  even  for  thin  skinned  animals  a  large  bore  Express 
such  as  the  '577  was  better  than  a  small  one  like  the 
•400  or  '360.  There  can  be  no  question  that  this 
advice  was  sound  when  it  was  given  ;  but  within  the 
last  ten  years  or  so  the  passing  of  the  black  powder 
rifle  and  the  introduction  of  "  high  velocity  "  rifles 
burning  smokeless  powder  have  brought  about  a 
revolution  in  sporting  weapons ;  and  to-day  the  opinions 
of  the  old  writers  are  obsolete,  except  with  those 
sceptics,  and  they  are  not  a  few,  who  refuse  to  have 
anything  to  do  with  '*  new-fangled "  inventions,  and 
who  stick  to  their  old  and  well  tried  ally,  black 
powder. 

When  I  first  settled  down  in  Wynaad  my  battery 
comprised  a  double  Magnum  '500  Express,  taking 
nominally  six  and  a  quarter  drams  of  diamond  grain 
black  powder,  a  single  Magnum  Express  of  the  same 


414  THE   NILGIRIS 


calibre  and  taking  the  same  charge,  and  a  double  eight 
bore  rifle  with  a  charge  of  twelve  drams  of  black  powder. 
Amongst  Express  rifles  there  was  then  as  wide  a 
choice  as  amongst  cordite  rifles  in  the  present  day. 
They  ranged  from  that  charming  little  miniature 
Express  the  -295  up  to  the  '577  with  a  bullet  weighing 
648  grains  ;  and  the  '450,  the  '500,  the  -500  Magnum, 
and  the  '577  all  had  staunch  advocates  as  the  best 
"all  round"  rifle  for  Indian  sport.  For  some  time 
I  used  a  '577,  but  ultimately  discarded  it  in  favour 
of  the  Magnum  '500.  I  found  that  the  latter,  though 
taking  a  lighter  bullet,  was  quite  as  effective  as  the 
heavier  rifle  for  all  purposes  for  which  an  Express 
could  be  legitii7tately  used,  and  in  it  the  principle  of  the 
Express — a  large  charge  of  powder  behind  a  light 
bullet — was  more  fully  developed  than  in  any  other 
rifle  of  this  class.  I  had  core  pegs  specially  made  of 
different  lengths,  so  that  I  could  cast  any  bullet  from 
a  solid  to  one  with  a  very  deep  hollow  ;  but  after  many 
experiments  I  found  the  trade  bullets  could  not  be 
improved  upon.  For  years  I  used  the  340  grain  bullet 
for  deer,  and  the  440  grain  for  dangerous  animals  ;  but 
eventually  I  adopted  the  latter  for  universal  use,  as  the- 
lighter  bullet  propelled  by  the  heavy  powder  charge 
flew  to  pieces  almost  on  impact,  and  occasionally  this 
resulted  in  unduly  low  penetration.  Both  my  Expresses 
were  built  by  Messrs.  J.  &  W.  Tolley,  and  better 
weapons  of  their  class  it  would  be  impossible  to  find. 
The  double  rifle  in  especial  was  perfect  in  every  way — 
very  strongly  built  with  lever-under-guard  action, 
wonderfully  accurate,  and  so  well  balanced  that  even 
with  a  charge  of  six  drams  and  a  bittock  (the  utmost 
charge  the  bottle-shaped  "5 7 7- "500  case  will  contain)  the 
recoil  was  no  heavier  than  that  of  a  shot-gun.     This 


ON   RIFLES  415 


rifle  I  have  still,  and  after  a  constant  and  faithful 
service  of  sixteen  years  it  is  as  good  to-day  in  every 
respect  as  when  it  left  the  maker's  hands.  My  double 
eight  bore  was  built  by  Messrs.  J.  Woodward  &  Sons, 
and  with  a  charge  of  twelve  drams  of  No.  4  diamond 
grain  is  a  most  powerful  weapon  for  thick  skinned  game. 
Most  of  my  bison  were  killed  with  it,  and  it  is  still  in 
excellent  condition  after  sixteen  years'  continuous 
use. 

Some  years  subsequently  I  became  the  possessor  of 
a  double  twelve  bore  Paradox  by  Messrs.  Holland. 
This  weapon  is  a  smooth  bore,  rifled  for  about  one  and 
a  half  inches  from  the  muzzle,  and  this  short  twist  gives 
the  conical  bullet  a  rotary  motion  sufficient  to  ensure 
great  accuracy  up  to  a  hundred  yards  or  a  trifle  over. 
Though  the  powder  charge  is  light,  within  the  above 
limits  it  is  an  extremely  powerful  rifle,  while  with  shot 
it  makes  as  good  a  pattern  as  the  best  cylinder  gun. 
There  are,  I  know,  many  sportsmen  who  scoff  at  a 
combined  rifle  and  gun  ;  and  I  quite  agree  that  the 
ordinary  ball-and-shot  gun  is  a  delusion  and  a  snare, 
neither  flesh,  fowl,  nor  good  red  herring.  But  the 
Paradox  is  in  a  class  by  itself,  and  it  is  impossible  to 
praise  it  too  highly.  Mine  has  been  my  constant 
companion  for  nine  years,  against  all  kinds  of  game 
from  a  bison  to  a  snipe,  and  it  has  never  failed  me.  Its 
light  weight,  handiness,  and  great  power  make  it  more 
eminently  fitted  to  be  the  sportsman's  vade  mecum  than 
any  other  weapon  I  know.  The  only  drawback  to  my 
Paradox  is  the  one  inseparable  from  a  black  powder 
rifle — the  smoke  from  the  powder  charge  ;  but  Messrs, 
Holland  &  Holland  now  build  these  guns  for  cordite, 
and  though  I  have  never  had  a  chance  of  using  one,  I 
can  well  imagine  that  they  are  perfect. 


4i6  THE   NILGIRIS 


My  first  purchase  in  the  shape  of  a  cordite  rifle  was 
a  '256  by  a  maker  who  shall  be  nameless.  This  rifle 
was  said  to  possess  a  muzzle  velocity  of  2400  ft.  sees., 
and  a  striking  energy  of  over  2000  ft.  lbs.  For  a 
time  I  found  it  fairly  satisfactory  with  deer,  though 
not  nearly  as  effective  as  my  Express  ;  but  when  one 
day  I  nearly  came  to  grips  with  a  bear  after  hitting 
him  through  the  body  and  again  in  the  chest,  I 
thought  it  time  to  go  back  to  a  rifle  on  which  I  could 
depend. 

It  was  a  long  time  before  I  ventured  on  a  cordite 
rifle  again,  and  then  I  bought  a  '450  high  velocity 
rifle  by  Messrs.  Westley  Richards.  A  very  short 
experience  with  this  rifle  convinced  me  that  all  I  had 
heard  and  read  of  the  superiority  of  the  cordite  rifle 
over  the  black  powder  rifle  was  true,  and  that  the  latter 
was  doomed.  Parting  with  an  old  and  tried  friend  is 
always  painful,  and  it  was  not  without  regret  that  I  put 
my  Magnum  "500  permanently  on  the  shelf;  but  there 
was  no  gainsaying  the  fact  that  the  "450  cordite  was 
in  every  way  far  superior  to  my  old  love.  The  first 
three  shots  I  fired  from  the  new  purchase  were  at 
sambur  stags,  and  a  single  bullet  sufficed  for  each. 
Soon  afterwards  I  had  an  opportunity  of  trying  it  on 
bison.  The  first  bull  collapsed  with  a  bullet  through 
the  neck  ;  but — anxious  to  do  justice  to  my  old  shooting 
tools — I  did  not  accept  this  as  convincing  proof  of  the 
cordite  rifle's  superior  powers,  for,  I  said  to  myself,  a 
solid  bullet  from  the  Express,  and  afortio7^i  a  conical 
from  the  eight  bore,  would  have  been  just  as  deadly. 
But  when,  a  day  or  two  afterwards,  a  second  bull  hit 
through  the  body  went  down  all  of  a  heap,  I  had  to 
confess  that  my  black  powder  rifles  must  take  a  back 
seat. 


ON   RIFLES  417 


Encouraged  by  my  experience  with  the  "450,  I 
invested  in  a  -600  high  velocity  cordite  rifle  by  Jeffery. 
Of  the  tremendous  power  of  this  rifle  it  is  scarcely 
possible  to  convey  an  adequate  conception  on  paper ; 
but  some  idea  of  its  capabilities  may  be  gained  from 
the  statement  that  it  has  a  striking  energy  of  8700  ft.  lbs. 
against  about  7000  in  a  four  bore  with  fourteen  drams 
of  black  powder.  Only  a  rash  man  would  prophesy 
in  these  days  of  rapid  change  and  incessant  inven- 
tion ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  that  a  more 
powerful  weapon  than  this  can  ever  be  built  to  be  fired 
from  the  shoulder.  In  cold  blood  the  recoil  from  this 
rifle  is  somewhat  severe ;  but  in  the  excitement  of 
shooting  it  is  not  noticeable — certainly  not  deterrent 
even  to  a  man  of  ordinary  physique.  Its  smashing 
power,  by  which  phrase  I  mean  its  power  of  disabling 
with  even  a  badly  placed  body  shot,  is  enormous  :  to 
hit  is  to  bag.  By  its  introduction  the  old  heavy  four 
and  eight  bores  have  been  swept  clean  out  of  the 
field. 

Of  the  making  of  cordite  rifles  there  is  no  end.  To 
mention  a  few  of  the  best  known,  there  are  the  '256, 
•275'  '303>  '375-*303.  *36o,  -360  No.  2,  -375,  -400,  -450, 
*500'  *577>  and  •600.  The  first  four  I  regard  merely 
as  toys  :  they  are  very  accurate  and  possibly  might 
prove  satisfactory  against  any  animal  not  bigger  than  a 
black  buck,  but  are  not  powerful  enough  for  general 
use.  Of  the  "360  I  have  had  no  experience,  but  those 
who  have  used  it  (for  Himalayan  shooting  chiefly) 
pronounce  it  to  be  a  better  rifle  than  the  "450  black 
powder  Express.  The  -360  No.  2  takes  55  grains 
of  cordite  with  a  320  grain  bullet.  The  '400  is 
undoubtedly  a  good  rifle.  The  one  made  by  Jeffery 
takes  a  charge  of   55  grains  of   cordite  in    a  bottle- 

E    E 


4i8  THE   NILGIRIS 


shaped  •450-*400  case,  with  a  bullet  weighing  400 
grains.  The  "450  takes  a  taper  cartridge  with  70 
grains  cordite  and  a  bullet  weighing  480  grains.  This 
rifle  is  fully  equal  in  power  to  an  ordinary  eight 
bore  with  black  powder,  and  in  my  view  is  the  pick  of 
the  basket  for  general  service.  But  the  importation  of 
the  '450  rifle  into  India  is  now  prohibited  by  Govern- 
ment, that  being  the  calibre  of  the  old  service  Martini- 
Henry.  Most  gunmakers,  however,  have  surmounted 
the  difficulty  by  building  rifles  which  approximate  so 
nearly  to  the  proscribed  rifle  as  to  be,  for  all  practical 
purposes,  the  same  weapon  ;  and  to  these  substitutes 
my  eulogium  on  the  '450  as  the  best  all  round  rifle 
applies.  Messrs.  Westley  Richards,  for  example, 
build  a  '476,  Messrs.  Holland  and  Holland  a  '465,  while 
Jeff"ery  has  a  *475.  The  slight  increase  in  calibre  admits 
of  a  higher  powder  charge  and  a  correspondingly  heavier 
bullet,  and  these  substitutes  are  therefore  rather  more 
powerful  than  the  '450  ;  but  from  a  practical  stand- 
point the  difference  is  negligible.  Messrs.  Westley 
Richards'  '476  takes  75  grains  of  cordite,  with  a 
520  grain  bullet,  against  jo  grains  cordite  with  a  480 
grain  bullet  in  my  '450  built  by  them.  The  '476  has 
a  muzzle-velocity  of  2500  ft.  sees,  and  a  muzzle  energy 
of  5250  ft.  lbs.  These  figures  show  its  tremendous 
power,  while  its  accuracy  is  so  great  that  seven  bullets 
fired  from  a  distance  of  one  hundred  yards  have  all 
been  put  into  a  sixpence. 

The  '600  I  conceive  is  the  most  powerful  sporting 
rifle  now  in  existence,  and  for  large,  thick-skinned 
game  is  without  an  equal.  Cordite  rifles  have  brought 
us  much  nearer  the  solution  of  the  problem  which 
defied  solution  when  we  had  to  rely  on  black  powder, 
viz.  an  "all  round"  rifle  effective  against  all  kinds  of 


ON  RIFLES  4*9 


game  ;  but  even  yet  the  maxim  holds  that  "  a  good  big 
*  un  '  is  better  than  a  good  Httle  *un.'  "  The  "450  is 
quite  powerful  enough  to  floor  an  elephant  or  a  bison 
with  a  No.  i  or  No.  3  Jeffery  bullet  ;  and  though  I 
have  never  tried  it,  I  believe  that  an  elephant  might  be 
killed  by  a  properly  placed  body-shot  with  this  rifle. 
But  with  the  '600  it  is  not  a  question  of  belief  but  of 
conviction.  My  rifle  takes  a  charge  of  100  grains  of 
cordite  and  a  nickel-covered  bullet  weighing  900 
grains,  and  has  a  striking  force  of  8700  lbs.  No 
animal  in  creation  could  withstand  this  terrific  shock. 
In  the  '450  the  sportsman  has  a  weapon  effective 
against  all  game  ;  but  if  he  wishes  to  possess  a  perfect 
battery  for  Indian  shooting,  and  does  not  mind  the 
extra  expense,  then  let  him  buy  a  "450  or  one  of  the 
recent  substitutes  for  all  thin-skinned  game,  and  a  *6oo 
for  use  against  bison  and  elephants. 

The  advantages  of  nitro  rifles  over  those  burning 
black  powder  are  manifold.  The  absence  of  smoke  is 
an  inestimable  boon,  especially  in  damp  still  weather, 
as  it  enables  the  left  barrel  to  be  got  in  without  loss  of 
time — an  advantage  which  frequently  means  the 
bagging  of  an  animal  which  would  be  lost  with  black 
powder,  and,  on  occasion,  may  even  save  the  gunner 
from  a  mishap.  Then  nitro  rifles  have  a  much  lower 
trajectory  and  a  much  longer  point-blank  range. 
Taking  three  hundred  yards  as  the  maximum  sporting 
range,  with  a  nitro  rifle  it  is  never  really  necessary  to 
put  up  a  sight  for  this  distance,  even  though  the  rifle 
is  fitted  with  one,  for  the  difference  in  elevation  is  so 
slight  that  due  allowance  can  be  made  by  taking  a  full 
bead  instead  of  the  fine  one  used  at  shorter  distances. 
Thirdly,  nitro  rifles  have  infinitely  greater  power  ;  in 
fact  it  may  be  said,  broadly  speaking,  that  bore  for  bore 

E  E  2 


420  THE  NILGIRIS 


they  possess  twice  the  power  of  black  powder  rifles. 
The  fourth  advantage  is  the  one  I  have  already  alluded 
to,  viz.,  that  by  varying  the  bullet  a  good  nitro  rifle 
becomes  much  more  of  an  "  all  round  "  weapon  than 
any  black  powder  one.  The  choice  of  bullets  is  large. 
Jeffery  (who  has  done  so  much  towards  making  the 
nitro  rifle  the  superb  weapon  it  is)  gives  us  six  : — 

No.  I,  in  which  the  base  and  about  two-thirds  of  the 
cylindrical  portion  are  nickel  cased,  the  rest  of  the  bullet 
(of  soft  lead)  being  exposed. 

No.  2,  which  is  similar  to  No.  i,  save  that  the 
bullet  has  a  fairly  deep  hollow. 

No.  3,  in  which  only  the  extreme  point  of  the  bullet 
is  uncovered. 

No.  4,  or  military  pattern,  in  which  the  entire 
bullet  has  a  nickel  cover,  the  base  being  exposed. 

No.  5,  a  very  short  bullet  nickel  covered  almost 
to  the  point,  which  is  blunt  with  a  deep  hollow. 

No.  6,  a  solid  bullet,  cased  like  the  No.  3,  with  only 
the  extreme  tip  exposed,  and  with  four  longitudinal 
slits. 

With  the  '450  rifle  I  consider  the  No.  i  bullet  the  best 
for  use  against  thick-skinned  game.  It  has  immense 
penetration  ;  and  though,  being  solid,  it  does  not  break 
up,  the  soft  lead  point  is  sufficiently  exposed  to  make 
the  bullet  "  mushroom  "  to  a  considerable  extent  after 
impact.  Nos.  3  and  4  have  greater  penetration  than 
the  No.  I,  but  as  they  do  not  expand,  they  give  less 
shock.  The  No.  5  is  designed  for  small  animals,  and, 
owing  to  its  lightness,  the  rifle  has  less  recoil  with  this 
bullet  than  with  any  of  the  other  patterns.  The  No.  6 
I  regard  as  by  far  the  best  bullet  for  use  against  thin- 
skinned  animals  and  the  Felidce.  It  is  also  effective 
against  bison,  but  for  the  latter  I  prefer  the  No.  i. 


ON   RIFLES  421 


With  the  '600  rifle,  which  is  meant  only  for  deal- 
ing with  the  heaviest  animals,  I  use  two  bullets. 
One  is  cased  entirely  in  nickel,  and  has  sufficient 
penetration  to  rake  a  bison  from  head  to  stern  ;  the 
other  is  a  soft  lead  bullet  with  a  very  blunt  point,  the 
extreme  tip  being  free  from  the  nickel  jacket.  With 
this  bullet  penetration  is  less,  but  the  shock  it  gives  is 
simply  inconceivable. 

The  drawbacks  attendant  on  nitro  rifles  are  insig- 
nificant when  weighed  against  the  advantages  which 
place  them  so  far  ahead  of  black  powder  rifles,  and  they 
can  be  summed  up  in  a  few  words.  First  comes  the 
absolute  necessity  for  cleaning  soon  after  use.  Though 
the  careful  shikari,  who  loves  the  tools  to  which  he 
owes  the  chief  pleasure  of  his  existence,  would 
naturally  clean  his  black  powder  rifle  at  the  earliest 
opportunity  after  a  day's  sport,  still  no  damage  would 
accrue  to  such  a  weapon  if  allowed  to  remain  in  a  foul 
condition  for  twelve  hours  or  longer.  But  a  nitro  rifle 
cannot  be  mishandled  in  this  way  with  impunity.  The 
fouling  set  up  by  the  nitro  powder  and  the  nickel 
jacket  has  a  quickly  corrosive  action  on  the  rifling,  and 
its  removal  within  a  few  hours  is  imperative.  Nor  can 
the  work  be  delegated  to  a  servant,  as  it  is  necessary 
that  every  particle  of  fouling  should  be  removed.  To 
a  certain  extent  this  disadvantage  has  been  overcome  by 
the  introduction  of  a  smokeless  powder  named  "axite." 
In  this  a  flat  ribbon  is  used  instead  of  a  round  cord, 
and  owing,  I  presume,  to  a  lubricant  being  incorporated 
with  the  powder  in  process  of  manufacture,  a  rifle  can 
be  left  uncleaned  without  risk  for  a  considerable  time 
after  "axite  "  has  been  fired  in  it.  When  the  powder  was 
first  put  on  the  market,  Kynochs  claimed  that  it  was 
non-corrosive,  non-erosive,  that  it  had  greater  velocity 


422  THE   NILGIRIS 


and  greater  striking  energy  than  cordite,  that  it  gave 
lower  pressure,  that  the  effect  of  temperature  was 
lowered  by  half,  that  the  rate  of  combustion  was  more 
uniform,  giving  a  more  comfortable  recoil,  and  that  it 
could  be  used  in  all  rifles  built  for  cordite  without  any 
alteration  in  the  sights.  I  used  the  new  powder  in  my 
•450  and  found  it  excellent ;  but  when  I  applied  to  a 
certain  firm  of  gunmakers  for  a  fresh  supply  of  cartridges, 
I  was  informed  that  they  had  ceased  to  stock  axite,  as 
they  had  received  so  many  complaints  against  the 
powder.  I  insisted  on  being  supplied  with  what  I 
asked  for,  and  eventually  I  received  my  cartridges. 
On  what  ground  the  complaints  against  the  explosive 
were  based  I  do  not  know  ;  but  the  new  cartridges  were 
just  as  satisfactory  as  the  original  lot,  and  personally  I 
have  nothing  but  praise  for  axite.  The  only  other 
drawback  I  know  to  nitro  rifles  is  the  somewhat  heavy 
recoil,  especially  in  the  large  bores ;  but  this  is  never 
prohibitive,  even  to  a  man  of  ordinary  strength,  and  is 
a  very  minor  discomfort,  compared  with  the  enormous 
increase  in  power. 

There  are  still  sportsmen — I  have  met  several — 
who  regard  nitro  rifles  as  weapons  more  dangerous  to 
the  gunner  than  to  the  quarry.  Doubtless  some  bad 
mistakes  were  made  by  gunmakers  when  these  rifles 
were  first  introduced,  and  doubtless,  too,  nitro  powders 
under  certain  conditions  give  higher  pressures  than 
black  powder.  But  now  that  the  action  of  these 
powders  is  thoroughly  understood,  and  rifles  are  built 
to  withstand  far  greater  pressures  than  could  by  any 
possibility  be  exercised  by  cordite  or  any  other  nitro 
compound,  these  rifles  are  in  every  way  as  safe  and 
reliable  as  the  old  ones  built  for  black  powder.  If  the 
owner  of  a   nitro   rifle    is    careful  not    to   expose  his 


ON   RIFLES  423 


cartridges  to  an  extreme  temperature,  and  always 
to  wipe  them  and  the  barrels  and  chambers  of  his  rifle 
quite  free  from  grease  before  use,  there  is  very  little 
variation  in  pressure — certainly  nothing  that  need  give 
the  gunner  the  smallest  alarm.  There  is  on  the  market 
a  "modified  cordite  "  powder,  intended  for  use  in  black 
powder  rifles  (I  have  never  tried  it)  ;  and  I  have  heard 
of  accidents  occurring  through  men  having  used 
ordinary  cordite  instead  of  the  weaker  compound  in 
weapons  built  for  black  powder.  But  such  mishaps 
cannot  fairly  be  attributed  to  the  dangerous  nature  of 
nitro  powders,  nor  should  these  be  decried  because, 
through  carelessness  or  ignorance,  such  accidents  have 
happened.  I  can  remember  that  a  similar  prejudice 
against  nitro  powders  was  exhibited  when  their  use 
was  first  proposed  in  shot  guns,  on  account  of 
accidents  due  to  faulty  construction  of  the  guns,  and 
faulty  manufacture  of  the  powder.  But  with  greater 
knowledge  of  nitro  compounds  came  improvement 
after  improvement  in  both  guns  and  powder,  until  the 
perfect  gun  and  the  perfect  powder  were  evolved  ;  and 
how  many  men  use  black  powder  in  shot  guns  to-day  ? 
In  like  manner  the  evolution  of  the  nitro  rifle  has  been 
gradual  and  born  of  experience,  until — if  we  do  not 
yet  possess  the  absolutely  perfect  nitro  rifle  and  the 
absolutely  perfect  nitro  rifle  powder — we  have  such  a 
close  approximation  to  perfection  that  the  reign  of  the 
black  powder  rifle  is  over.  And  as  nitro  powder 
offers  even  greater  advantages  for  use  in  a  rifle  than  in 
a  shot  gun,  I  have  little  doubt  that  in  a  short  time  the 
prejudice  against  nitro  rifles  will  die  a  natural  death, 
and  that  the  supersession  of  black  powder  will  be 
as  complete  in  the  one  case  as  it  has  been  in  the 
other. 


424  THE   NILGIRIS 


The  cleaning  of  a  nitro  rifle  is  a  matter  to  which  the 
greatest  attention  should  be  given.  I  find  the 
following  method  excellent.  First  send  through  the 
barrels  a  tightly  fitting  flannel  plug,  saturated  with 
"  Orite "  (than  which  there  is  nothing  better  for 
removing  the  fouling  of  nitro  powder),  follow  this  up 
with  a  rag  dipped  in  boiling  water  and  then  wrung  out, 
wipe  out  with  a  dry  rag,  pass  the  pull-through  half  a 
dozen  times  through  the  barrels  from  the  breech  end, 
and  finish  up  with  a  clean  soft  rag  oiled  with  Orite. 
Let  this  last  rag  fit  the  barrel  tightly  when  wrapped 
round  the  jag  at  the  end  of  the  cleaning  rod,  and 
change  it  as  often  as  necessary  until  it  comes  out  as 
clean  as  it  went  in.  This  method  Is  troublesome,  but 
the  trouble  will  be  amply  repaid. 


APPENDICES 


APPENDIX    I 


MAMMALS   AND   GAME    BIRDS 

The  following  table  gives  a  list  of  the  mammals  found  on 
the  Nilgiris  and  in  the  Nilgiri-Wynaad.  It  is  as  nearly 
correct  as  I  can  make  it ;  but  possibly  a  few  species  may  have 
been  omitted.  I  have  not  thought  it  worth  while  to  supply 
the  vernacular  names  :  those  of  the  game  animals  will  be 
found  at  the  head  of  the  chapters  dealing  with  them.  In 
regard  to  the  scientific  names,  I  have  followed  Blanford  in 
every  case. 


Common  Name. 


(i)  The  lion-tailed 
monkey. 

(2)  The       bonnet 
monkey. 


(3)  The      Madras 
langur. 


(4)  The       Nilgiri 
langur. 


Scientific  Name. 


Macacus  s  lie  mis 


Macaciis  smiciis 


Sevinopithecus 
amtis. 


pri- 


Sevi7iopitheciis  johni. 


Remarks. 


The  Wynaad  in  the  Ghat 
forests  ;  probably  not  above 
three  thousand  feet. 

Fairly  common  on  the 
Wynaad  plateau  above  the 
Ghats,  and  at  the  foot  of 
the  Nilgiris. 

Somewhat  rare  on  the 
Wynaad  plateau  :  common 
in  the  Ghat  forests  :  very 
common  below  one  thousand 
feet. 

Common  on  the  Wynaad 
plateau,  but  does  not  des- 
cend the  Ghats.  Found  also 
in  sholas  on  the  Nilgiris. 
Jerdon  calls  the  Malabar 
langur  Presbytis  johnii,  but 
Blanford's  name  for  this 
monkey  is  Sejtmopithecus 
hypoleiicus.  The  Malabar 
langur  is  common  on  the 
coast  :  rare  in  the  Ghat 
forests  and  never  ascends 
higher  than  one  thousand 
feet.  It  can  hardly,  there- 
fore, be  classed  as  a  Wynaad 
monkey. 


428 


APPENDIX   I 


Common  Name. 


(5)  The       slender 
loris. 


(6)  The  tiger 


(7)  The  leopard  or 
panther. 


(8)  The     leopard- 
cat. 


Scientific  Name. 


Loris  gracilis 
Felis  tigris.... 


Felis  pardus 


Felis  be7is'alensis 


Remarks. 


Not  uncommon  in  the 
Ghat  forests  at  about  one 
thousand  five  hundred  feet. 
Very  plentiful  in  Wynaad, 
but  rarely  bagged  owing  to 
thecontinuity  of  the  jungles. 
Fairly  common  on  the  Nil- 
giris. 

Very  common  in  Wynaad, 
and  fairly  common  on  the 
Nilgiris.  Most  variable  in 
size,  from  the  small  dog- 
killing  leopard,  not  bigger 
than  a  mastiff,  to  the 
panther  of  eight  feet.  The 
black  variety  is  not  uncom- 
mon on  both  plateaux. 

Found  both  on  the  Nil- 
giris and  in  Wynaad,  but 
rare.  Variable  both  in  size 
and  coloration.  One  speci- 
men I  shot  on  the  Kundahs 
has  the  ground-colour  a  very 
dark  rufous,  with  the  spots 
crowded  closely  together  all 
over.  A  pair  I  caught  in  Wy- 
naad had  the  ground-colour 
palest  fulvous,  with  the  spots 
sparsely  dotted  over  the 
body.  Blanford,  quoting 
Jerdon,  gives  the  length  of 
head  and  body  as  twenty- 
four  to  twenty-six  inches, . 
and  length  of  tail  eleven  to 
twelve  inches  or  more.  I 
have  never  met  with  a 
specimen  approaching  this 
size.  Probably  the  leopard- 
cat  of  the  Nilgiris  and 
Wynaad  belongs  to  the 
small  variety — Felis  ivagati 
of  Gray.  I  once  had  a 
hybrid  between  a  leopard- 
cat  and  a  domestic  cat.  The 
mother,  an  ordinary  tabby, 
belonged  to  the  man  in 
charge  of  the  Devala  travel- 
lers' bungalow,  and  was  al- 
ways hunting  in  the  jungles 
round.  The  offspring  was 
a    leopard-cat,    not    to    be 


APPENDIX   1 


m 


Common  Name. 


Scientific  Name. 


(9)  The  jungle-cat 


(10)  The      hunting 
leopard. 


(11)  The    Malabar 
civet  cat. 


(12)  The       Indian 

palm-civet. 

(13)  The     brown 

palm-civet. 


(14)  The    common 

Indian  mun- 
goose. 

(15)  The        ruddy 

mungoose. 


(16)  The       Nilgiri 

brown  mun- 
goose. 

(17)  The       stripe-      ff.  vitticollis 

necked  mun- 
goose. 


Felis  chaics 


Cyncelurus  jtibatus 


Viverra  civettina 


Paradoxitrus  niger 
P.  jerdotii 

Herpes tes  miingo... 
H.  smithi  

H.  fiiscus 


Remarks. 


distinguished  from  a  wild 
one,  save  that  the  tail  was 
barred,  not  spotted.  This 
hybrid  was  tame  with  me, 
but  savage  with  everyone 
else.  To  my  regret,  it  went 
out  hunting  in  the  cofifee 
near  the  bungalow  one  day, 
as  was  its  wont,  and  never 
returned. 

Fairly  common  in  Wy- 
naad.  Found  doubtless  on 
the  Nilgiris,  but  I  have 
never  met  with  it  there. 

I  do  not  believe  that  this 
animal  occurs  on  either 
plateau,  but  I  include  it 
because  I  once  saw  a  skin 
at  Gudalur,  presented  by  a 
native  for  the  reward.  Its 
history  I  could  not  trace, 
but  presumably  the  animal 
had  been  brought  in  from 
Mysore,  where  it  is  found, 
though  rare  in  the  extreme. 

Found  in  Wynaad,  but 
very  rare.  The  small  Indian 
civet  cat,  Viverricula  mal- 
accenszs,  should  occur  in 
Wynaad,  but  I  have  not 
heard  of  it  there. 

Found  on  both  plateaux, 
but  rare. 

Blanford  notes  this  occurs 
on  the  Nilgiris.  I  have 
never  come  across  it  there 
or  in  Wynaad. 

In  Wynaad. 


Fairly  numerous  in  Wy- 
naad. Blanford  says,  "  Jer- 
don  obtained  it  at  the  foot 
of  the  Nilgiris  "—which  foot 
is  not  stated.  Probably  on 
the  Eastern  slope. 

The  Nilgiris. 


The  Nilgiris,  possibly  also 
in  Wynaad. 


430 


APPENDIX  1 


Common  Name. 


(i8)  The       striped 
hyaena. 


(19)  The  jackal    ... 


(20)  The        Indian 

wild  dog. 

(21)  The        Indian 

marten. 

(22)  The  European 

otter. 


Scientific  Name. 


Hycena  striata 


Cams  aureus. 


Cyan  dukhunefisis 
(properly  dekkan- 
ensts). 

Mustela  flavigula 


Lutra  vulmris 


(23)  The      smooth    L.  ellioti. 
Indian  otter. 


(24)  The     clawless 

otter. 

(25)  The    sloth    or 

Indian  bear. 


(26)  The  South  In- 
dian hedge- 
hog. 


(37)  The      brown 
musk-shrew. 


L.  leptonyx    

Melursus  iirsinus. 


Erinaceus  micropus. 


Crocidura  murma. 


Remarks. 


Ample  evidence  exists  of 
its  occurrence  on  the  Nil- 
giris,  but  I  have  never  been 
fortunate  enough  to  come 
across  it  there,  or  in 
Wynaad. 

Very  common  on  both 
plateaux,  but  especially  on 
the  higher  one.  The  Indian 
wolf,  Canis  palltpes,  should 
be  looked  for  on  the  N.E. 
border  of  Wynaad,  as 
Sanderson  notes  its  occur- 
rence in  Mysore. 

Very  common  in  Wynaad. 
Not  so  numerous  on  the 
Nilgiris. 

Both  on  the  Nilgiris  and 
in  Wynaad. 

Rare  in  Wynaad,  but 
common  in  the  Ghat 
streams  below  one  thousand 
feet. 

I  have  some  hesitation 
in  including  this  amongst 
Wynaad  animals,  but  it 
certainly  occurs  with  L. 
vulgaris  low  down  on  the 
Ghats. 

The  Nilgiris. 

Common  in  Wynaad  in 
suitable  localities.  Com- 
mon also  in  former  years  on 
the  Nilgiris,  but  now  almost 
extinct. 

Blanford  writes  : — "  The 
repeatedly  asserted  occur- 
rence of  this  form  on  the 
Nilgiris  is  shown  by  Ander- 
son to  be  incorrect  :  the 
animal  is,  however,  found 
on  the  eastern  slopestowards 
the  base."  I  have  never 
seen  it. 

On  both  plateaux,  but  I 
am  somewhat  doubtful 
whether  the  common  form 
is  this  or  C.  cccrulca. 


APPENDIX   I 


43* 


Common  Name. 


Scientific  Name. 


Remarks. 


(28)  The        Indian 
pigmy  shrew. 


(29)  The  Indian 
fruit  -  bat  or 
flying  fox. 


(30)  Peters'    horse- 

shoe bat. 

(31)  The  little    In- 

dian horse- 
shoe bat. 

(32)  Thebi-coloured 

leaf  -  nosed 
bat. 

(33)  Kelaart's  bat. 

(34)  The    common 

yellow  bat. 

(35)  The      painted 

bat. 

(36)  The        black- 

bearded 
sheath- 
tailed  bat. 

(37)  D  o  b  s  o  n  '  s 

wrinkled 
lipped  bat. 


(38)  The     large 

brown  flying 
squirrel. 

(39)  The     small 

Travancore 

flying 

squirrel. 


C.  perrotteti 


Pteropus  medius 


Rhinolophus  petersi. 
R.  minor    


Hipposiderus  bicolor. 

Vesperugo  ceylonicus. 

Nycticejus  kuhli 

Cerivoulapicta 


Taphozous  inelanopo- 
son. 


Nyctinomus  tragatus. 


Pteromys  oral 


Sciuropterus       fusci- 
capillus. 


On  both  plateaux.  I 
believe  there  is  a  water- 
shrew  in  Wynaad,  for  I 
once  saw  what  I  am  certain 
was  a  shrew  swimming  in  a 
stream  near  Devala,  but  I 
was  unable  to  secure  it. 

I  cannot  say  with  cer- 
tainty that  the  flying  fox 
occurs  in  Wynaad  ;  but  I 
have  been  told  it  is  not  un- 
known near  Sultan's  Bat- 
tery. As  these  bats  fly  long 
distances  in  search  of  food, 
those  seen  at  the  Battery,  if 
they  are  found  there,  may 
possibly  have  been  visitors 
from  the  Mysore  country. 

Blanford  says,  "Coonoor, 
Nilgiri  Hills." 

The  Wynaad.  Possibly 
R.  Indus  and  the  allied  R. 
affinis  also  occur. 

In  Wynaad  ?  and  perhaps 
H.  speoris  as  well. 

The  Wynaad.  Possibly 
also  V.  abramus. 

In  Wynaad  ?  Perhaps 
also  N.  dormeri. 

In  Wynaad  .-* 

Found  in  Kanara,  and 
possibly  in  Wynaad. 


Found  in  Malabar,  and 
possibly  in  Wynaad.  Per- 
haps N.  plicatus  as  well. 
An  investigation  of  the 
Chiroptera  in  this  part  of 
India  is  greatly  needed. 

Common  in  Wynaad,  both 
in  the  deciduous  and  Ghat 
forests. 

Blanford  says,  "  Anderson 
also  gives  the  Nilgiris  as  a 
locality."  I  have  neither 
seen  nor  heard  of  this  squir- 
rel on  the  Nilgiris. 


43^ 


APPENDIX   I 


Common  Name. 


(40)  The  large  In- 
dian squirrel. 


Scientific  Name. 


Sciuriis  indicus. 


Remarks. 


Of  this  squirrel  Blanford 
writes  : — "  This  species  was 
divided  into  three  by  Jer- 
don,  and  into  two  by 
Anderson.  I  think  all  the 
three  forms  distinguished 
by  the  first-named  are  well- 
marked  races.    They  are  : — 

"  (i)  The  Bombay  squirrel 
of  Pennant  ....  called  S. 
elphinstotiii.  All  the  upper 
parts  are  red,  no  black 
occurring,  tail-tip  whitish. 
This  appears  rather  smaller 
than  the  other  varieties,  and 
inhabits  the  northern  part 
of  the  Western  Ghats,  but 
has  been  obtained  by  Sir  O. 
B.  St.  John  as  far  south  as 
Mysore. 

"  (2)  S.  maximus  of  Jerdon, 
not  of  Schreber.  This  is 
chiefly  red  above,  but  there 
is  some  black  on  the 
shoulders  and  upper  part  of 
the  tail,  the  tip  of  which  is 
usuallyyellowish.  This  race, 
which  has  no  special  name, 
is  found  in  Orissa,  Bastar, 
Chutia  Nagpur,  South- 
Western  Bengal,  and  Mani- 
pur. 

"  (3)  S.  malabaricus  or 
S.  inaximiis  (both  founded 
on  Sonnerat's  Great  Mala- 
bar Squirrel).  Shoulders, 
rump,  and  tail,  with  more  or 
less  of  the  back,  black. 
This  is  found  in  Southern 
Malabar  and  parts  of 
Central  India." 

From  these  remarks  it 
would  appear  that  Blanford 
confined  the  second  variety 
to  North-Eastern  India.  I 
must  have  examined  at 
different  times  some  fifty 
skins  from  various  parts  of 
Wynaad,  and  invariably  the 
tail,  for  about  a  quarter  of 
its  length  from  the  tip,  was 


APPENDIX   I 


433 


Common  Name. 


Scientific  Name. 


Remarks. 


yellow.  I  have  also  examined 
several  skins  from  South 
Malabar,  at  and  near  the 
foot  of  the  Ghats,  and  the 
same  characteristic,  the 
yellow  tail-tip,  was  always 
present.  The  coloration 
in  this  part  of  India  is 
generally  a  wholly  red  body 
with  black  tail,  the  latter 
tipped  with  yellow  for  the 
last  quarter  of  its  length. 
But  I  have  occasionally  seen 
the  black  on  the  shoulders 
alluded  to  by  Blanford. 

Blanford  gives  the  habitat 
of  the  third  variety  as 
"Southern  Malabar";  but 
I  have  never  yet  seen  a 
skin  from  the  foothills  of 
the  Ghats  in  South  Malabar 
with  a  wholly  black  tail.  1 
believe,  however,  that  this 
race  is  found  in  South 
Malabar,  but  only  in  the 
extreme  south  of  the  dis- 
trict, towards  Cochin, 

Blanford's  distribution 
would  therefore  seem  in 
need  of  revision.  I  think 
the  habitat  of  the  second 
variety  should  be  extended 
to  the  Wynaad,  and  the 
foothills  of  the  Ghats  lying 
to  the  north  of  the  South 
Malabar  District ;  and  that 
the  habitat  of  the  third 
variety  should  be  restricted 
to  the  extreme  south  of 
Malabar. 

The  first  variety — the 
squirrel  with  a  wholly  red 
body  and  tail,  the  latter 
with  white  tip — I  have  never 
seen  anywhere  in  my  part 
of  the  country.  But  it  has 
been  found  in  Mysore,  and 
should  be  looked  for  across 

F   F 


434 


APPENDIX  I 


Common  Name. 


Scientific  Name. 


(41)  The  grizzled  In- 

dian squirrel. 

(42)  The     p  aim- 

squirrel  or 
c  o  m  m  o  n 
striped 
squirrel. 


(43)  The   dusky 

striped 
squirrel. 

(44)  The    Malabar 

spiny  mouse. 


(45)  The     long- 

tailed     tree- 
mouse. 

(46)  The    common 

Indian  rat. 

(47)  The   white- 

tailed  rat. 

(48)  The    common 

house-mouse. 

(49)  The  metad  rat. 


(50)  The       Indian 

mole-rat. 

(51)  The  bandicoot 

rat. 

(52)  The        Indian 

bush-rat. 

(53)  The        Indian 

porcupine. 

(54)  The    black- 

naped  hare. 


Sciurus  niacruriis 
S.  palmarum     


S.  sublineatus 


Remarks. 


Platacanthomys    lasi- 
urus. 


Vandeleuria  oleracea. 

Mus  rattus 

M.  blmifurdi 

M.  muscidus 

M.  mettada    

Nesocia  bengalenszs ... 

N.  bandicota 

Golu7ida  ellioti 

Hystrix  leu  cur  a 

Lepus  7i{gricollis 


the  frontier  to  the  N.E.  of 
the  Wynaad  District. 

S.  maximiis  of  Jerdon  is 
common  all  over  the  Wy- 
naad plateau. 

Common  on  the  Nilgiris. 

Both  plateaux,  but  not 
common  on  the  lower  one. 
The  squirrels  I  have  seen  in 
Wynaad  have  always  ap- 
peared to  me  to  be  darker 
than  those  on  the  Nilgiris. 
Possibly  the  Wynaad  race 
should  be  referred  to  S. 
tristriatus. 

Both  plateaux. 


Blanford  says,  "  there  is 
a  specimen  in  the  British 
Museum  ,  labelled  Ootaca- 
mund,  but  I  am  doubtful  if 
the  locality  is  correct."  I 
have  never  heard  of  the 
animal  on  either  plateau. 

Jerdon's  ''''Mus  nilagiri- 
cus"  is  the  same  or  merely 
a  variety. 

M.  decumanus  may  occur 
as  well. 

The  Nilgiris.  I  do  not 
know  of  its  occurrence  in 
Wynaad. 

Possibly  M.  budicga  as 
well. 

I  have  included  this 
because  there  is  a  brown 
field-rat  in  Wynaad  which 
I  think  is  this  species. 

The  Nilgiris  and  probably 
also  Wynaad. 

In  Wynaad,  but  rare. 


Very  common  on  both 
plateaux. 

On  both  plateaux,  but 
much  commoner  on  the 
higher  one. 


APPENDIX   I 


435 


Common  Name. 


(55)  The       Indian 
elephant. 


(56)  The  gaur 


Scientific  Name. 


Elephas  niaximus . 


Bos  oatirtes 


(57)  The        Nilgiri    Heinitragus  hylocriiis. 
wild  goat. 


(58)  The  nilgai   or 
blue  bull. 


(59)  The      four- 

horned  ante- 
lope. 

(60)  The   rib-faced 

or      barking 
deer. 

(61)  The      sambur 

deer. 


(62)  The      spotted 
deer. 


Bosclaphus 
camelus. 


Tctraceros 
cornis. 


tra^o- 


quadri- 


Cervidiis  inimtjac 
Cervus  unicolor   , 

C.  axis    


Remarks. 


Common  in  the  Ghat 
forests,  and  also  further 
inland  where  the  forests 
are  dense.  Widely  distri- 
buted over  Wynaad  at  one 
time,  but  has  receded  before 
cultivation  by  Europeans. 
Exceedingly  rare  now  on 
the  Nilgiris.  Probably  the 
last  elephant  seen  on  the 
Kundahs  was  the  female 
shot  by  the  late  Charles 
Havelock  near  the  Bison 
Swamp  in  or  about  1870. 

The  "  bison "  of  sports- 
men. Numerous  in  the 
Ghat  forests  and  in  other 
suitable  localities  inland. 
As  rare  now  on  the  Nilgiris 
as  the  elephant. 

The  "  ibex  "  of  sportsmen. 
Found  on  the  northern  and 
western  faces  of  the  Nil- 
giris, at  the  edge  of  the 
cliffs.  Being  strictly  pro- 
tected, the  herds  are  in- 
creasing yearly.  Unknown 
in  Wynaad. 

There  is  a  tradition  (which 
may  be  true,  as  the  animal 
is  found  in  Mysore)  that  the 
nilgai  occurs  at  the  base  of 
the  hills,  near  the  Gazal- 
hatti  Pass. 

Has  been  seen  on  the 
Nilgiris,  but  is  exceedingly 
rare. 

Common  on  both  plat- 
eaux. 

Common  on  both  plateaux 
in    suitable    localities.      Ii 
Wynaad    much    more    nu 
merous   above   three   thou- 
sand feet  than  below. 

Not  found  on  the  Nil- 
giris. In  Wynaad  fairly 
numerous  in  bamboo-jungle. 

F    F    2 


436 


APPENDIX   I 


Common  Name. 

Scientific  Name. 

Remarks. 

(63)  The        Indian 

Traoulus 

mcmiiina ... 

Not  found  on  the  Nilgiris. 

chevrotain 

Common    in    the    Wvnaad 

or       mouse- 

Ghat  forests,  more  rare  in- 

deer. 

land.   Blanford  says, "below 
two   thousand  feet,"  but   I 
have   found    it    up   to   four 
thousand  feet. 

(64)  The        Indian 

Sus 

cristatus. 

Common    on   both   plat- 

wild boar. 

eaux. 

The  following  table  gives  a  list  of  the  game  birds  found  on 
the  Nilgiris  and  in  Nilgiri-Wynaad.  In  the  scientific  nomen- 
clature I  have  followed  Oates.  The  quails  need  further  in- 
vestigation, and  I  believe  this  would  result  in  the  addition  of 
several  varieties  not  usually  ascribed  to  the  Nilgiri  District. 
I  have  omitted  the  pigeons,  as  they  do  not  rank  as  game  birds. 


Common  Name. 

Scientific  Name. 

Remarks. 

(i)  The  little  but- 

Turnix dussumieri . . . 

This  quail  I  think  occurs 

ton-quail. 

in   Wynaad.      I    believe    I 
have   seen  it   on  the   N.E. 
confines     of    the     district, 
but    I    cannot   speak   with 

(2)  The        Indian 

Turnix  tanki    

certamty. 

I  have  shot  this  bird  twice 

button-quail. 

near  Gadbrook  Estate.    On 
both    occasions    I    found   a 
pair  in  stubble  in  the  same 
paddy  field.     The  field  had 

(3)  The    black- 

Coturnix       coroman- 

been  reaped  and  was  quite 
dry. 

The  Nilgiris.     May  pos- 

breasted 

delica. 

sibly  occur   at   the  foot   of 

quail. 

the     western    slopes     near 
Gudalur. 

(4)  The      painted 

bush-quail. 

(5)  The  jungle 

Microperdix  erythro- 

rhyncha. 
Perdicula  asiatica    ... 

On  both  plateaux. 
Do. 

bush-quail. 
(6)  The  red  spur- 
fowl. 

Galloperdix  spadicea. 

Do. 

(7)  The      painted 
spurfowl. 

G.  luuilhltil    

Do. 

APPENDIX   I 


437 


Conunon  Name. 


(8)  The    common 
peafowl. 


(9)  The     grey 
jungle-fowl. 


(10)  The    small 

whistling 
duck. 

(11)  The  woodcock. 


(12)  Th  e     wood- 

snipe. 

(13)  The      solitary 

snipe. 

(14)  The        pintail 

snipe. 


(15)  Thejack  snipe. 

(16)  The      painted 

snipe. 


Scientific  Name. 


Pavo  cristatus. 


Gallus  sonnerati  

Dendrocycna  javanica. 
Scolopax  rusticula. 

Gallinago  nemoricola. 

G.  solitaria    

G.  sienuf'a 


Lininocryptes  galli- 
niila. 

Rostratula  capensis  . . . 


Remarks. 


Very  plentiful  in  former 
years  on  the  Nilgiris,  but 
now  so  rare  as  to  be  almost 
extinct.  In  Wynaad  still 
fairly  numerous  in  a  few 
secluded  spots,  but  so 
harassed  by  natives  pos- 
sessing guns  that  on  a  large 
portion  of  the  Wynaad 
plateau  it  has  been  extermi- 
nated. 

Common  on  both  plat- 
eaux. The  efforts  made  by 
the  Game  Association  to 
introduce  the  red  jungle- 
fowl  [Gallus  gallus)  have 
been  unsuccessful. 

In  Wynaad,  but  rare.  I 
have  shot  it  twice. 

Not  ver}^  rare  on  the 
Nilgiris  in  the  sholas  at  the 
head  of  swamps  from  No- 
vember to  February.^ 

Found  in  Wynaad  in  cer- 
tain localities,  but  not  com- 
mon. Unknown  on  the 
Nilgiris. 

Once  shot  by  me  in 
Wynaad. 

Found  on  both  plat- 
eaux, but  much  commoner 
on  the  lower  one.  I  have 
never  met  with  the  fantail 
or  common  snipe  {Gallinago 
galli?jago). 

Found  both  on  the  Nil- 
giris and  in  Wynaad,  but 
rare.     Always  solitary-. 

I  have  shot  this  bird  twice 
in  Wynaad.  Unknown  on 
the  Nilgiris. 


Once  shot  by  Mr.  W.  Hamilton  in  Wynaad. 


APPENDIX    II 

RULES  AND  ORDERS  ON  THE  PRE- 
SERVATION OF  GAME  AND  FISH  IN 
THE    NILGIRI    DISTRICT 

I 

Madras  Act  No.  II  of  1879. 

An  Act  to  provide  for  the  protection  of  Game  and  Acclimatised 
Fish  in  the  District  of  the  Nilgiris  in  the  Madras  Presidency. 

Whereas  it  is  expedient  to  provide  for  the  protection  of  wild 
animals  and  birds  used  for  food  and  of 
Preamble.  acclimatised  fish,  and  to  prohibit  the 

killing,  capturing,  and  selling  game  and 
acclimatised  fish  in  the  district  known  as  the  Nilgiris,  as 
described  in  the  Schedule  hereto  appended,  under  certain 
conditions     It  is  hereby  enacted  as  follows  : — 

1.  This  Act  may  be  called  "  the   Nilgiri   Game  and   Fish 

Preservation  Act,  1879";  and  it  shall 
Title  and  local  extent,  come    into    operation    in    the    district 

aforesaid,  or  such  parts  thereof  and 
from  such  date  as  the  Governor  in  Council  may  from  time  to 
time  declare  by  notification  in  the  Fort  St.  George  Gazette. 

2.  In  this  Act  the  word  "  game  "  shall  include  bison,  sambur, 

ibex,  jungle-sheep,  deer  of  all  descrip- 
Interpretation-clause — tions,  hares,  jungle-fowl,  pea-fowl, 
"  Game."  partridge,   quail,  spur-fowl,  snipe   and 

woodcock,  Nilgiri  wood  pigeon,  and  the 
imperial  pigeon  or  such  birds  or  animals  as  the  Governor  in 
Council  may  deem  fit  to  specify  by  notification  from  time  to 
time  in  the  Fort  St.  George  Gazette. 

439 


440  APPENDIX    II 


3.  The  Governor   in  Council   may,  by  notification   in   the 

Fort  St.  George  Gazette,  from  time  to 
Power  to  fix  close  time,  fix    a  season  or  seasons  of  the 

season.  year  during  which  it  shall  not  be  law- 

ful for  any  person  to  shoot  at,  kill, 
capture,  pursue,  or  sell,  or  attempt  to  kill,  capture,  or  sell  game, 
as  may  be  specified  in  such  notification  within  the  district 
aforesaid. 

Provided  that  nothing  in  this  Act  contained  shall  preclude 

proprietors  or  occupiers  of  land  from 

Proviso  as  to  private      adopting  such  measures  on  such  lands 

lands.  as  may  be  necessary  for  the  protection 

of  crops  or  produce  growing  thereon. 

4.  "Whenever  any  animal,  bird,  or  fish,  useful,  for  food,  not 

indigenous  to  the  district  aforesaid,  is 
Protection  of  animal,  introduced  into  it  with  the  approval  of 
bird  or  fish  not  indig-  the  Government  with  a  view  to  becom- 
enous.  ing  acclimatised  or  being  propagated 

therein,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the 
Governor  in  Council,  from  time  to  time  by  notification  in  the 
Fort  St.  George  Gazette,  to  prohibit  altogether  or  to  regulate  in 
such  manner  and  for  such  period,  not  exceeding  three  years, 
as  may  be  declared  in  such  notification,  the  pursuit,  killing, 
or  capture  of  such  animal,  bird,  or  fish. 

5.  It  shall  be  lawful  for  the  Governor  in  Council,  by  noti- 

fication in  the  Fort  St.  George  Gazette, 
Power  to  prescribe  from  time  to  time  to  make  rules  for 

rules  for  the  regula-  the  regulation  and  control  of  fishing 
tion  and  control  of  in  any  stream  or  lake  within  the  said 
fishing.  district ;  and  such  rules  may,  with  the 

view  to  protect  acclimatised  fish,  which 
may  be  believed  to  be  there,  or  may  be  hereafter  introduced 
therein,  prohibit  or  regulate  the  poisoning  of  the  waters  of  any 
stream  or  lake,  the  throwing  of  any  deleterious  matter  therein, 
the  use  of  fixed  engines  for  the  capture  of  fish  in  any  stream, 
and  the  use  of  nets  of  a  mesh  below  a  certain  size  to  be  defined 
in  such  rules  for  the  capture  of  fish  in  such  stream  or  lake. 

6.  Any  Government  officer  or  servant   or  policeman  pro- 

ducing his  certificate  of  ofifice,  or 
Power  of  Govern-  wearing     the     prescribed     distinctive 

ment  officer  or  dress  or  badge  of  his  department,  may 
Police.  require    any  person    whom    he    finds 

committing  any  offence  against 
Sections  3,  4,  or  5  of  this  Act,  to  give  his  name  and  address, 


APPENDIX   II  441 


or  if  there  is  reason  to  doubt  the  accuracy  of  the  name  and 
address  so  given,  to  accompany  him  to  the  nearest  police 
station. 

7.  Every   person  convicted   before    a  magistrate  of    any 

offence  against  Sections  3,  4,  or  5  of 
Penalties  for  shoot-  this  Act  shall  be  liable  for  a  first  offence 
ing,  &c.,  during  close  to  a  penalty  not  exceeding  rupees 
seasons  and  for  fifty  and  to  the  forfeiture  to  Govern- 
breach  of  fishing  ment,  at  the  discretion  of  the  magis- 
rules.  trate,  of  the  game,  birds,  or  fishes  taken, 

and  of  all  guns,  engines,  implements, 
nets,  and  dogs  used  in  or  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  the  com- 
mission of  such  offence,  and,  in  default  of  payment  of  fine,  to 
simple  imprisonment  for  a  period  not  exceeding  one  month, 
and  for  every  second  and  subsequent  offence,  to  a  penalty  not 
exceeding  rupees  one  hundred,  and  the  same  liability  to  for- 
feiture, and  in  default  of  payment,  to  simple  imprisonment  for 
a  period  not  exceeding  two  months. 

8.  The  provisions  of  the  Code  of  Criminal  Procedure  rela- 

ts         1  1  ting  to  the  summoning  and  examina- 

rrocedure  under  ^.  ^    r  j        j      -^ 

,.     A  tion  01  persons  accused  and  witnesses, 

and  to  the  levying  of  penalties  shall 

be  applied  to  proceedings  under  this  Act. 

9.  All  fees,  fines,  and  forfeitures  realised  under  this  Act 
Appropriation  of  shall  be  paid  into  the  public  trea- 
fees,  fines,  &c.                 sury. 

But  it  shall  be  competent  to  the  convicting  Magistrate  to 
award  such   portion  of  the  fine,  or  of 

Award  to  informer.  the  proceeds  of  the  forfeiture  as  he  may 
think  fit,   not  exceeding  one  half  the 

amount  of  full  fine  authorised  to  be  imposed  by  this  Act,  in 

any  case  under  this  Act,  to  the  person  or  persons  on  whose 

information  the  conviction  is  obtained. 

Schedule  referred  to  in  the  Preamble. 

The  Nilgiri  District  shall,  for  the  -purpose  of  this  Act,  be 
held  to  be  bounded  by — 

The  north  bank  of  the  Bhavani  River  from  Attipadi  in 
Attipadi  Valley  to  the  junction  of  the  Moyar  River. 

The  west  and  south  banks  of  the  Moyar  River  from  its 
junction  with  the  Bhavani  to  the  point  in  the  Mudumullah 
District  nearest  Gudalur. 

A  line  carried  thence  to  the  head  of  the  Pandy  River 
(Ouchterlony  Valley). 


442  APPENDIX   II 


The  east  bank  of  the  Pandy  River  to  where  it  falls  near  the 
Karkur  Pass  in  Malabar  Payenghaut. 

A  line  along  the  south  crest  of  the  Ouchterlony  Valley  and 
across  the  western  slopes  of  the  Nilgiri  and  Mukurti  Peaks 
and  Sispara  Ranges  to  Wallaghaut. 

A  line  thence  along  the  west  crest  of  the  Silent  Valley 
(Malabar)  Range, 

N.  B. — The  district  shall  include  the  entire  tract  known  as 
the  Silent  Valley. 

A  line  from  the  south  end  of  the  above  named  range  to  the 
Bhavani  River  at  Attipadi  in  the  valley  of  the  same  name. 

II 

The  Rules  of  the  Nilgiri  Game  and  Fish 
Preservation  Association 

1.  The  name  of  the  Association  shall  be  "  The  Nilgiri 
Game  and  Fish  Preservation  Association." 

2.  The  objects  of  the  Association  are  the  preservation  of 
the  existing  indigenous  game  and  the  introduction  of  game 
birds  and  animals  and  fish,  either  exotic  or  indigenous  to 
India. 

3.  Any  person  taking  out  a  licence  under  the  Game  Act 
shall  be  eligible  for  membership. 

4.  Any  licencee  desirous  of  becoming  a  special  member  of 
the  Association,  shall  submit  a  written  request  to  the  Honorary 
Secretary  to  that  effect,  and  if  elected  a  member,  an  entrance 
fee  of  Rs.  5  must  be  remitted  to  the  Honorary  Secretary. 
Such  special  membership  shall  continue  only  so  long  as  the 
member  continues  to  take  out  a  licence  from  year  to  year, 
always  providing  that  absence  from  the  district  during  a  season 
shall  not  terminate  such  special  membership.  Any  other 
person  shall  be  eligible  for  ordinary  membership  on  payment 
of  Rs.  5  and  election,  but  shall  have  no  vote. 

5.  An  Annual  General  Meeting  shall  be  held  on  the  15th 
July  each  year  or  such  date  subsequent  thereto  as  may  be 
fixed  by  the  President,  when  the  Committee  shall  submit  an 
Annual  Report  of  their  proceedings  with  a  statement  of 
accounts. 

6.  A  Special  General  Meeting  shall  be  held  at  any  time  on 
the   application    of  10   members   of  the  Association   to  the 


APPENDIX   II  443 


Honorary  Secretary,  provided  14  days'  clear  notice  of  such 
meeting  has  been  given  in  writing  to  the  Honorary  Secretary, 
and  that  the  notice  specifies  the  subject  to  be  discussed  at  such 
special  meeting. 

7.  The  control  of  the  funds  and  the  entire  management  of 
the  Association  shall  be  under  a  Committee  comprised  of  the 
President  and  not  less  than  12  members  to  be  elected  at  the 
Annual  General  Meeting. 

8.  The  Collector,  by  virtue  of  his  appointment,  shall  be 
ex-officio  President. 

9.  The  Committee  shall  elect  its  own  Honorary  Secretary. 

10.  The  Committee  shall  meet  once  a  quarter  or  oftener  if 
necessary.  Four  Members  of  the  Committee  shall  form  a 
quorum  and  the  Chairman  shall  have  a  casting  vote. 

1 1.  The  accounts  of  the  Association  shall  be  audited  yearly 
by  two  Members  of  the  Committee  and  the  Honorary 
Secretary. 

12.  It  shall  be  competent  for  the  Committee  to  form  bye- 
laws  to  be  in  force  till  the  following  Annual  General  Meeting. 


Ill 

Notifications. 

Hunting,  Shooting,  and  Fishing. 

Fort  St.  George,  January  loth,  i8g^.     No.  4^0. 

His  Excellency  the  Governor  in  Council  is  pleased  under 
sections  21  and  26  (/)  of  the  Madras  Forest  Act,  to  make 
the  following  rules  for  the  regulation  of  fishing  in  reserved 
forests  and  in  all  lands  at  the  disposal  of  Government  within 
the  following  limits  : — 

(i)  The  south  bank  of  the  Bhavani  River;  from  Attipadi, 
in  the  valley  of  that  name,  to  its  junction  with  the 
Moyar  River  ; 

(2)  from  that  point  the  north  bank  of  the  Moyar  River  as 
far  as  the  boundary  of  the  Nilgiri  District,  and  thence 
the  boundary  of  the  said  District  as  determined  for 
ordinary  administrative  purposes  to  the  Nilgiri  Peak  ; 

(3)  from  that  point  the  western  crest  of  the  Nilgiri  Hills 
to  its  termination  below  Sispara; 


444  APPENDIX   II 


(4)  thence  along  the  northern,  western,  and  southern 
crests  of  the  Silent  Valley  range  to  its  southernmost 
point ; 

(5)  from  that  point  to  Attipadi ; 

and  of  hunting  and  shooting  in  all  the  reserved  and  rented 
forests,  fuel,  and  fodder  reserves,  grazing-grounds,  and  areas 
under  special  fire-protection  within  the  said  limits. 


Rules. 

1.  Unless  with  the  sanction  of  Government  no  person  shall 
shoot  at,  wound,  or  kill  the  females  or  immature  males  of  any 
of  the  following  animals  within  the  limits  of  any  reserved  or 
rented  forest  or  any  fuel  or  fodder  reserve  grazing-ground  or 
area  under  special  fire-protection  : — 

(i)  Bison  or  Gaur.  (4)  Ibex. 

(2)  Sambur.  (5)  Antelope., 

(3)  Spotted-deer. 

2.  Unless  with  the  sanction  of  Government  no  person  shall 
kill,  wound,  or  shoot  at  any  mature  male  sambur  or  spotted 
deer  if  it  is  hornless  or  if  its  horns  are  in  velvet. 

But  any  member  of  the  Ootacamund  Hunt  Club  may  kill 
sambur  brought  to  bay  by  the  hounds  whilst  in  the  proper 
pursuit  of  hunting.  This  permission,  however,  will  be  subject 
to  the  control  of  the  Collector  of  the  Nilgiris,  who  will  frame 
such  precautionary  measures  as  may  be  necessary. 

3.  No  person  shall  kill,  wound,  shoot  at,  or  capture  pea-hen 
at  any  time  throughout  the  year,  or  the  hens  of  jungle-fowl 
between  the  ist  of  January  and  i6th  of  September  of  each 
year.  No  person  shall  take  the  eggs  of  pea-hens  or  of  jungle- 
hens  at  any  time  throughout  the  year. 

4.  No  person  shall  hunt,  kill,  wound,  or  shoot  at  any  game 
as  defined  in  the  Madras  Act  II  of  1879,  within  any  of  the 
reserved  or  rented  forests,  fuel  or  fodder  reserves,  grazing- 
grounds  or  areas  under  special  fire-protection  comprised  within 
the  aforesaid  limits  or  shall  fish  within  these  limits*  until  he 
has  obtained  a  licence  from  the  Collector  of  the  Nilgiris. 
[*Vide  notification  70,  dated  11-2-1908]. 


APPENDIX  II  445 


5.  Any  person  may  obtain  from  the  Collector  a  licence  to 
shoot  game  and  to  fish  on  payment  of  the  following  fees 

*(i)  Licence  to  shoot  game  and  fish  for  period  not 

exceeding  one  month,  Rs.  25. 
*(2)  Licence  to  shoot  game  and  fish  for  2  months,  Rs.  3  5 

(3)  Licence  to  shoot  game  and  fish  for  the  whole  season, 

Rs.  50. 

(4)  Licence  to  fish  for  fish  other  than  trout,  Rs.  10, 


} 


The  Collector  may  refuse  to  grant  a  licence  if  the  applicant 
has  been  convicted  of  an  offence  against  the  rules  under  the 
Forest  Act  relating  to  hunting,  shooting,  and  fishing,  or  against 
the  provisions  of  Act  II  of  1879,  or  for  any  other  special  reason 
to  be  stated  in  writing.  The  licence  shall  not  be  transferable 
and  shall  hold  good  for  the  season  from  September  i6th  to 
the  following  September  15th,  whether  it  be  taken  out  at  the 
commencement  of  or  during  the  currency  of  the  season.  [Vide 
notification  No.  250,  dated  26th  May,  1908.] 

Against  any  order  issued  by  the  Collector  under  the  preced- 
ing clause  an  appeal  shall  lie  to  the  Board  of  Revenue  if  filed 
within  three  months  of  the  date  of  the  orders  appealed  against. 

The  Collector  of  the  Nilgiris  shall,  however,  have  authority, 
at  his  discretion,  to  reduce  the  payment  for  each  licence  to 
Rs.  5  in  the  case  of  non-commissioned  officers  and  soldiers  of 
His  Majesty's  forces  on  proof  to  his  satisfaction  that  the 
application  for  the  licence  is  for  bona  fide  sporting  purposes. 

6.  The  seasons  during  which  licences  shall  permit  hunting 
or  shooting  of  game  or  fishing  in  the  reserved  or  rented  forests 
or  other  areas  specified  in  Rule  4  comprised  within  those  limits 
shall  be  duly  notified  from  time  to  time  by  the  Collector  of 
the  Nilgiris,  and  shall  be  clearly  endorsed  on  the  licences. 

(i.)  Under  rule  6  the  Collector  of  the  Nilgiris  notifies  the 
following  CLOSE  SEASON  for  the  year  ending  15th 
September,  1909. 

For  reserved  forests,  fuel  and  fodder  reserves,  Toda 
putta  lands,  grazing-grounds  and  areas  under  special 
fire-protection  including  the  reserved  and  rented 
Forests  in  the  South-East  Wynaad  Division  : — 
1st  June  to  31st  October  inclusive — for  large  game. 
15th  March  to  15th  September  inclusive — for  small 
game. 

*  These  rates  apply  only  to  persons  residing  or  about  to  reside  for  less  than  3 
months  on  the  Hills. 


446  APPENDIX   II 


(2.)  The  Collector  of  the  Nilgiris  hereby  notifies  the  follow- 
ing alteration  of  season  for  bison  shooting  in  the 
Wynaad  : — 

"  The  OPEN  SEASON  for  bison  shooting  shall  be  from 
1st  May  to  31st  August  in  the  Wynaad  only,  west  of 
the  Moyar  river." 

7.  The  Collector  may  from  time  to  time  by  notification  in 
the  District  Gazette,  declare  all  or  any  rivers,  streams,  or  lakes 
closed  against  fishing  during  any  year  or  part  of  a  year  within 
any  part  of  the  aforesaid  scheduled  area,  and  may  similarly 
declare  the  whole  or  any  part  of  any  reserved  or  rented  forest, 
fuel  or  fodder  reserve,  grazing-ground  or  area  under  special 
fire-protection  within  such  scheduled  area,  closed  against 
shooting  or  hunting  for  the  whole  or  any  part  of  any  year. 
He  may  also  prohibit  within  the  same  areas  and  for  like 
periods  the  pursuit,  killing,  or  capture  of  any  particular  species 
of  game  and  fish. 

The  Collector  notifies  : — 

(i.)  That  ibex  shooting  will  be  re-opened  to  holders  of 
shooting  licences  from  ist  November,  1908,  to  the  31st 
May,  1909,  both  inclusive,  subject  to  the  proviso  that 
no  holder  of  such  licence  shall  during  the  above  period 
shoot  more  than  one  bo7ia  fide  saddle  back,  the  head 
and  skin  of  which  must  be  forwarded  to  the  Honorary 
Secretary  Game  Association  for  inspection  and  return, 
on  penalty  of  forfeiting  his  licence. 

(2.)  That  no  partridges,  pea-fowl,  or  other  game  birds 
introduced  by  the  Nilgiri  Game  Association  shall  be 
shot  at,  killed,  or  captured  within  the  areas  specified- 
above. 

(3.)  That  the  number  of  dogs  used  in  beating  for  small 
game  shall  not  be  more  than  8  a  party.  When  a  party 
goes  after  big  game  with  more  than  8  dogs,  shot  guns 
shall  not  be  taken,  and  small  game  shall  not  be  shot. 

(4.)  That  the  beating  of  the  sholas  in  the  Kundah  reserve 
and  of  the  following  reserves  in  the  Kotagiri  sub-range 
of  this  District  either  with  beaters  or  dogs,  or  firing  at 
any  small  game  therein  are  prohibited  during  the 
current  season,  i.e.,  up  to  15th  September,  1909.  Any 
licencee  may,  however,  beat  these  sholas  and  reserves 
for  tigers  or  panthers,  provided  he  does  not  fire  at 
any  other  game  whatsoever  which  may  be  started  when 
so  beating. 


APPENDIX   II  447 


List  of  Reserves. 

Longwood — Portion  north  and  east  of  a  line  from  the 

Kengarai  sign  post  to  the  top  of  the  hill. 
Longwood,  No.  I. 
Nedukaduhalla. 
Sundatti. 

Sundatti  Addition. 
Kunshola,  Nos.  I  and  II. 
Madanad. 

Madanad  Addition. 
Kodanad  Valley. 

Kodanad  Valley,  Additions  I  and  II. 
Nedugula. 
Nedugula  Addition. 
Avarahalla. 

Gudakalhalla  No.  I,  north  of  Kil-Kotagiri  bridle-path. 
Seven  Mile  Tope. 
Kannerihodai. 

Ullavanadmund  Shola  and  Additions  I  and  II. 
Sullicodu  Nos.  I  and  II. 
Attukadu. 
Warbreccan. 

Sinnattu  Reserve  and  Addition. 
Uppatti  Shola  and  Addition. 
Doddakavu. 

Curzon  Valley  Block  III,  west  of  Kil-Kotagiri-Curzon 
bridle-path, 

(5.)  The  number  of  bison  to  be  shot  by  each  licence-holder 

during  the  open  season  is  restricted  to  one  bull. 
(6.)  The  following  reserved  forests  and  areas  under  special 

fire-protection  are  closed  against  hunting  or  shooting 

during    the    current    season;    viz.,    up   to    the    15th 

September,  1909. 

Reserves  closed  against  all  shooting. 

Marlimund  Plantation. 

Konabettu  Forest  (part  of  the  Sigur  Reserve)  Northern 

Slopes. 

Reserves  closed  to  small  game  shooting  only. 


Governor's  Shola. 
Sheffield  Plantation. 


Tiger  Shola. 
Kuruthuguli  Shola. 


Sim's  Park. 
Rallia. 


The  sholas  on  the  East  and  South  sides  of  Hecuba  Hill. 


448 


APPENDIX   II 


(7).  Fishing  in  the  following  rivers  and  lakes  is  prohibited, 
except  to  licence-holders  and  except  in  the  seasons 
noted  against  each,  and  fishing  for  acclimatised  fish  is 
prohibited  except  in  those  seasons  and  in  accordance 
with  the  conditions  specified. 


Rivers. 


Parsons  Valley  Stream 


Pykara         River  and  its  tributaries. 


Avalanche     do. 


Kundah 


Karteri 


do. 


do. 


Chillahala      do. 


do. 


do. 


do. 


do. 


Closed  against  all  fishing. 

Open  to  fishing  with 
rod  and  line  only  be- 
tween February  i6th 
and  July  14th  inclusive, 
except  the  Pykara  river 
where  carp  may  be  fished 
for  all  the  year  round. 
Any  trout  caught  by 
anyone  fishing  for  carp 
in  the  Pykara  river  be- 
tween July  15th  and 
February  15  th  must  be 
returned  to  the  water. 
The  artificial  fly  only 
may  be  used  in  the 
above  rivers  with  the 
exception  of  the  Pykara 
where  any  style  of  rod 
fishing  is  permitted. 


Lakes. 


Snowdon  Ponds       Closed  against  all  fishing 

Ootacamund  Lake — the  Bay  below  Awdry  House.      Do. 
[Notification  42,  dated  2-1 1-86.] 

8.  The  poisoning  of  water,  the  dynamiting  of  fish,  the  set- 
ting of  cruives  or  fixed  engines  for  the  capture  or  destruction 
of  fish,  the  damming  and  baling  of  water  for  the  capture  of 
fish,  the  netting  of  fish  with  nets,  the  meshes  of  which  are 
under  i  J  inches  square,  and  the  setting  of  traps  and  snares  for 
the  capture  of  game  are  absolutely  forbidden  anywhere  within 
the  limits  of  the  scheduled  area  in  which  these  rules  are  in  force 

9.  Any  breach  of  the  above  rules  within  any  area  reserved 
under  Section  16  of  Act  V  of  1882  will  render  the  offender 
liable  on  conviction  before  a  magistrate,  to  the  punishment 
provided  by  Section  21   of  the  Act,  and  any  breach  of  the 


APPENDIX   II  449 


above  rules  in  any  of  the  above-mentioned  areas,  other  than 
those  reserved  under  Section  i6  of  the  Act,  will  render  the 
offender  liable  on  conviction  before  a  magistrate  to  imprison- 
ment for  a  term  which  may  extend  to  one  month  or  to  a  fine 
which  may  extend  to  Rs.  200  or  both. 

Notification  Under  Act  II  of  1879. 

His  Excellency  the  Governor  in  Council  prohibits  the 
poisoning  of  the  under-mentioned  streams  and  lakes  and  the 
throwing  of  dynamite  or  any  other  deleterious  matter  therein, 
and  the  use  of  nets  of  a  mesh  below  one  inch  and  a  half — 
Fort  St.  George  Gazette,  25th  November,  1884,  page  23. 

Streams  and  Lakes. 

1.  Ootacamund  lake  and  stream  issuing  therefrom. 

2.  Marlimund  Reservoir  in  Ootacamund. 

3.  Lawrence  Asylum  lake  and  stream  issuing  therefrom. 

4.  Pykara  river  and  its  confluents  from  their  sources  down 

to  the  limits. 

5.  Avalanche  or  Kundah  river  and  its  confluents. 

6.  The  Kateri  and  its  confluents. 

Notification  Under  Act  IV  of  1897. 

(I). 
Fort  St.  George,  February  11  tk,  1908,  No.  70. 

Under  Section  6,  His  Excellency  the  Governor  in  Council 
is  pleased  to  make  the  following  rules  in  respect  of  the  water 
specified  in  the  schedule  annexed  thereto  : — 

Rules. 

The  erection  and  use  of  fixed  engines,  the  construction  of 
weirs  and  the  use  of  nets  the  meshes  of  which  are  less  than 
one  and  a  half  inches  square  for  the  capture  or  destruction  of 
fish  at  any  time  throughout  the  year  are  absolutely  forbidden. 

2.  All  fishing,  which  means  the  capture  of  or  attempt  to 
capture  fish  by  any  means,  and  includes  the  baling  of  water 
with  a  view  to  the  capture  of  fish,  in  any  of  the  waters  specified 
in  the  schedule  hereto  annexed  is  prohibited  between  the  15th 
March  and  15th  September  annually. 

3.  A  breach  of  any  of  the  above  rules  shall  be  punishable 
on  conviction  before  a  Magistrate  with  fine  which  may  extend 
to  one  hundred  rupees,  and  when  the  breach  is  a  continuing 

G    G 


450  APPENDIX   II 


breach,  with  a  further  fine  which  may  extend  to  ten  rupees 
for  every  day  after  the  date  of  the  first  conviction  during  which 
the  breach  is  proved  to  have  been  persisted  in. 

4.  Any  fixed  engines  erected  or  used  or  nets  used  in  con- 
travention of  the  above  rules  shall  be  liable  to  seizure  and 
removal  by  any  Police  officer,  or  other  persons  especially  em- 
powered by  the  Local  Government  under  Section  7  of  the 
Indian  Fisheries  Act  to  make  arrests  without  an  order  from 
a  magistrate  and  without  warrant,  and  any  magistrate 
trying  any  breach  of  these  rules  or  any  offence  punishable 
under  the  Indian  Fisheries  Act,  may  declare  that  any  fixed 
engines  erected  or  used  or  nets  used  in  contravention  of  these 
rules,  and  any  fish  taken  by  means  of  such  fixed  engine  or 
net  shall  be  forfeited. 

Schedule. 

The  Bhavani  river  (with  its  tributaries)  from  its  source  down 
to  the  inflow  of  Tamalai  stream  below  Nirali. 

2.  The  Moyar  river  with  such  tributaries  as  are  within  the 
Nilgiri  or  Coimbatore  Districts,  from  the  Pykara  falls  to  the 
Gazzalhatti  chattram. 

3.  The  Siruvani  and  theGopaneri  rivers  and  their  tributaries, 
lying  in  the  Malabar  and  Coimbatore  Districts. 

(2). 

Under  Section  7  of  the  Indian  Fisheries  Act  IV  of  1897, 
His  Excellency  the  Governor  in  Council  is  pleased  to  empower: 

(i.)  All  Forest  Officers  (as  defined  in  Section  2  of  the 
Madras  Forest  Act  V  of  1882)  employed  in  the  Nilgiri, 
Malabar,  and  Coimbatore  Districts  ; 

(2)  The  Inspector  of  Fisheries,  Bhavani  and  Moyar  rivers, 
and  the  watchers  employed  under  his  supervision,  to  arrest 
without  an  order  from  a  magistrate  and  without  warrant,  in 
accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  Section,  any  person 
committing  in  their  view,  in  respect  of  the  waters  specified  in 
the  schedule  hereto  annexed,  any  offence  punishable  under 
Section  4  or  5  of  the  said  Act  or  any  rules  issued  under 
Section  6  thereof. 

Schedule. 

[Vide  above.] 


APPENDIX   II  451 


IV. 
Resolutions,  Etc. 

1.  No  Hcencee  shall  shoot  more  than  four  sambur  stags, 
four  spotted  deer  stags,  and  three  black  buck. 

2.  The  numbers  given  above  under  each  species  include 
any  females  or  immature  males  which  may  be  shot 
whether  fine  has  been  paid  or  not. 

3.  Any  licence-holder  who  fires  at  any  jungle-sheep,  male 
or  female,  with  shot  is  liable  to  forfeiture  of  his  licence. 

4.  Shooting  at  small  game  between  sunset  and  sunrise  is 
absolutely  forbidden. 

5.  The  Game  Association  considers  it  highly  desirable  to 
maintain  a  full  record  of  heads  obtained  in  the  Nilgiris 
District  each  season ;  licence-holders  are  therefore 
earnestly  requested  to  send  each  head  of  sambur, 
antelope  and  spotted  deer  to  the  Honorary  Secretary, 
Game  Association,  for  measurement  and  record.  The 
head  will  be  promptly  returned. 

6.  No  gaff  may  be  used. 

7.  No  trout  may  be  taken  which  is  under  13  inches  in 
length  or  which  is  evidently  in  spawn. 

8.  Fishermen  are  earnestly  requested  to  give  the  Honorary 
Secretary  all  the  information  in  their  power  regarding 
any  trout  which  they  may  see  or  catch,  as  the  informa- 
tion at  present  available  does  not  afford  sufficient  data 
to  be  able  to  definitely  determine  the  breeding  season 
of  the  fish.  The  following  particulars  are  especially 
asked  for : — 

{a)  Locality  of  fish  (which  will  not  be  divulged). 

{b)  Weight. 

{c)   Probable  species. 

{d)  Whether  any  signs  of  being  in  spawn. 

9.  For  the  guidance  of  licence-holders,  the  Committee 
decides  "  that  horns  less  than  30  inches  for  a  sambur 
stag,"  and  "22  inches  and  under  for  a  cheetal  stag, 
shall  be  the  definition  of  'immature.'" 

10.  Small  game  shooting  to  be  restricted  to  two  days  in  the 
week.     A  part  of  a  day  should  count  as  one  day. 


G    G    2 


APPENDIX    III 

THE  PRESERVATION  OF  SKINS. 

SOME   PRACTICAL   HINTS. 

Mr.  Alfred  Chatterton,  Director  of  Industries,  Madras, 
writes  to  the  Madras  Mail : — 

During  the  last  three  years  large  numbers  of  skins  have  been 
received  from  sportsmen  and  others  to  be  cured  by  chrome 
tanning  in  the  Government  Chrome  Tannery,  which  is  now- 
located  at  Sembiam,  a  small  village  near  Perambur.  We  do 
not  undertake  the  work  of  a  taxidermist,  but  do  nothing  more 
than  convert  the  skins  into  leather,  generally  with  the  hair  on. 
As  a  rule,  small  skins  are  usually  received  in  fair  condition 
and  turn  out  satisfactorily,  but  more  frequently  than  not  the 
skins  of  larger  animals,  such  as  bison,  sambur  and  mugger, 
arrive  in  a  stinking  or  damaged  condition,  and  naturally  the 
results  produced  by  tanning  them  are  by  no  means  satisfactory. 
The  great  majority  of  the  skins  seem  to  be  simply  cleaned 
and  dried  in  the  sun,  and  if  this  is  done  with  care  and  the  skin 
subsequently  protected  from  moisture,  the  result  is  satisfactory. 
But  very  often  the  drying  is  not  thoroughly  done,  or  in  the 
course  of  transit  the  skins  get  damp  or  wet,  with  the  result 
that  decomposition  sets  in  and  the  hair  falls  off. 

Preliminary  Curing. 

For  some  little  time  past  we  have  therefore  interested  our- 
selves in  trying  to  find  out  the  best  method  by  which  skins 
and  sporting  trophies  can  be  treated  in  the  jungle,  so  that 
when  they  are  subjected  to  permanent  curing  processes  the 
results  may  be  satisfactory.  In  the  first  place  it  is  essential 
that  the  skin  should  be  properly  removed  from  the  animal. 
To  do  this  satisfactorily  requires  practice,  and  to  any  one  who 
wishes    to    make   the   most   of   sporting   trophies    I    would 

4S3 


454  APPENDIX    III 


strongly  advise  a  preliminary  course  of  training  in  a  neigh- 
bouring slaughter  house.  The  work  is  not  very  pleasant,  but 
it  must  be  done  if  good  results  are  to  be  obtained.  Out  in 
the  jungle,  as  soon  as  the  animal  is  dead,  it  should  be  carried 
to  a  cool,  shady  spot,  and  when  the  skin  has  been  removed  it 
should  be  thoroughly  washed  in  fresh  water,  to  get  rid  of  the 
blood  and  dirt.  The  flesh  side  should  be  carefully  examined 
and  all  adhering  flesh  or  fat  should  be  removed  with  a  sharp 
knife.  The  skin  is  then  ready  for  the  treatment  which  will 
prevent  putrefaction  setting  in  before  it  can  be  subjected  to  i 
permanent  curing  processes. 

Salt  as  a  Preservative. 
The  basis  of  all  this  is  the  proper  application  of  common 
salt,  and  this  by  itself  yields  satisfactory  results  if  properly 
done.  When  only  salt  is  available  for  curing  the  skin,  make 
a  saturated  solution,  and  having  stretched  the  skin  out  on  the 
ground,  apply  it  to  the  flesh  side,  rubbing  it  well  in.  Then 
fold  the  skin  over  and  leave  it  to  dry  in  a  shady  place.  As 
soon  as  it  is  thoroughly  dry,  peg  it  out  on  the  ground  tightly 
and  apply  the  salt  solution  a  second  time,  and  leave  it  to  dry 
stretched  out  on  the  ground.  When  it  is  thoroughly  dry,  fold 
the  skin  down  in  the  middle  of  the  back  with  the  hair  side 
inwards,  having  first  sprinkled  it  with  powdered  naphthalene. 
Roll  the  skin  up  tightly  and  keep  it  dry. 

The  Atlas  Preservative. 
In  addition  to  common  salt  various  preservative  substances 
may  be  applied  to  the  skin  with  good  results.  As  a  prelimin- 
ary to  the  salt  treatment  the  skin  may  be  immersed  for  about 
half  an  hour  in  a  one-eighth  solution  of  formic  acid.  This 
causes  the  pelt  to  swell  up  and  renders  subsequent  application 
of  salt  more  effective.  Another  plan  which  can  be  recom- 
mended is  to  use  the  Atlas  preservative  solution.  It  is 
simply  a  saturated  solution  of  sodium  arsenite,  and  when 
applied  to  skins,  should  be  diluted  with  ten  times  its  bulk  of 
water.  The  skin  should  be  first  salted  as  described  above,  and 
then,  when  the  salt  has  dried,  the  Atlas  preservative  solution 
should  be  applied  to  it,  and  after  that  has  also  dried,  a  second 
application  should  be  applied.  Finally,  when  the  skin  is 
thoroughly  dry,  the  hair  should  be  dusted  with  naphthalene, 
the  skin  folded  down  in  the  middle  with  the  hair  inside  and 
rolled  into  a  bundle.  With  very  thick  skins  such  as  those 
of  the  bison  it  is  very  essential  that  the  salt  should  be  well 
rubbed  in. 


APPENDIX   III  455 


Chrome  Tanning, 

There  are  some  people  who  will  doubtless  be  glad  to  have 
a  simple  method  of  curing  skins  themselves,  and  this  can  be 
done  by  the  chrome  process  comparatively  easily.  Chrome 
tanning  is  a  very  simple  matter  when  the  solutions  are 
properly  made  up  and  can  easily  be  carried  on  in  a  couple  of 
big  chatties/  and  the  process  is  complete  within  a  couple  of 
days  for  ordinary  thin  skins  such  as  those  of  the  deer,  cheetah 
and  tiger. 

TanOLIN. 

Many  tanning  solutions  are  made  up  in  chemical  works 
and  sold  ready  for  use  to  chrome  tanners.  Amongst  these  is 
"  Tanolin,"  made  by  the  Martin  Dennis  Company  of  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  U.S.A.  Usually  Tanolin  is  supplied  in 
barrels  as  a  liquid,  but  some  time  ago  I  suggested  to  this 
Company  that  it  should  supply  it  in  the  form  of  a  powder, 
which  can  be  easily  carried  about  in  tins.  This  it  has  succeeded 
in  doing,  and  for  some  time  past  we  have  been  conducting 
experiments  in  chrome  tanning  with  the  dry  Tanolin  powder. 
The  results  have  been  satisfactory,  and  I  can  recommend  it 
for  use  by  any  one  who  wishes  to  become  an  amateur  tanner 
on  a  small  scale.  After  the  skins  have  been  thoroughly 
cleansed,  all  that  is  necessary  is  to  immerse  them  for  a  period 
of  from  one  to  two  days  in  a  moderately  diluted  solution  of 
Tanolin  powder.  When  the  tanning  is  complete  the  skins 
should  be  taken  out  and  thoroughly  washed  ;  they  should  be 
stretched  tightly  on  a  board  to  dry  and  finally  staked  so  as  to 
get  the  leather  in  a  soft  and  supple  condition.  The  staking 
iron  used  by  tanners  is  a  semi-circular  steel  blade  fixed  in  a 
strong  wooden  support  with  the  timber  edge  horizontally.  When 
this  is  not  so  available  the  back  of  a  chair  often  forms  a 
convenient  substitute.  The  skin  which  may  be  slightly  damp 
is  taken  hold  of  by  both  hands  with  the  flesh  side  downwards 
and  drawn  backwards  and  forwards  over  the  edge.  Consider- 
able pressure  should  be  exerted  and  this  stretches  the  skin  in 
every  direction  and  renders  it  soft  and  pliant. 

1  Pots. 


M 


GLOSSARY  OF  NATIVE  WORDS 


A  Imirah A  wardrobe. 

A/iishain In  Wynaad,  a  revenue  division,  corresponding  to  parish. 

Arasu The  title  of  the  proprietor  of  the  Nelliyalam  Estate,  who 

is  the  "jenmi"  of  a  large  part  of  Munnanad  Amsham. 

Bandy A  native  cart. 

Batcuttie    ...     A  bill-hook  or  curved  knife,  in  the  use  of  which  the  local 

tribes  are  expert. 

Bund  A  dam  for  holding  up  water. 

Ctimbly    A  rough  native  blanket,  in  universal  use  in  Wynaad. 

Dhot-ay    A  title  of  respecr,  meaning  "  Sir  "  or  "  Gentleman,"  used 

by  coolies  to  their  European  employers. 

Etidin  A  "tip"  or  gift,  usually  of  money. 

Ghat    A  pass  between   mountains.     In  the  plural,  the  name 

given  to  the  mountains  which  run  down  the  E.  and 

W.  coasts  of  India. 

Jenmi  In  Wynaad,  a  landowner. 

Katchcri The   headquarters   of  a   Taluq,  where    the   courts    and 

revenue  offices  are  held. 
Kodumai    ...     The  top-knot  of  long  hair  worn  by  Hindus. 
Kovildgom  ...     In  Malabar,  the  residence  of  a  Rajah. 

Machdn  A  raised  platform,  usually  erected  in  a  tree. 

Maistty  The  headman  of  a  gang  of  coolies. 

Mamotie A  hoe  used  on  estates. 

Muftd A  Toda  village  or  collection  of  huts. 

Munsiff A  judge  of  a  civil  court. 

Mutt    A  Kurumba  village  or  collection  of  huts. 

Nullah     A  ravine. 

Pal  A  small  tent. 

Ryot A  native  agriculturist  or  cultivator. 

Saman Impedimenta. 

Sheristadar  .     A  native  magistrate,  subordinate  to  a  Tahsildar. 

Shola   A  wood. 

Syce A  native  groom. 

Tahsildar   ...     The  officer  in  charge  of  a  Taluq,  vested  with  revenue  and 

judicial  functions. 

Tahiq  A  large  revenue  division.    A  "District"  comprises  several 

"  Taluqs." 

Tamasha A  "  show  "  or  performance. 

Tirumalpad  .     The  title  of  the  Nilambur  Rajah,  who  owns  a  large  part 
of  Wynaad. 

Tote An  estate. 

Zemindar   ...     An  influential  landed  proprietor. 


R.  CLAY  AND  SONS,  LTD.,  BRUNSWICK  STREET,  S.E.,  AND  BUNGAY,  SUFFOLK. 


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